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[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How come playing a game in split screen doesn't destroy performance?"
] | Yes, and a lot of games that used to offer split screen don't anymore such as call of duty and Halo. When splitting screens each display only is half the resolution as usual, which is easier to render. Also, many games actually cap the framerate when playing split screen resulting in a much less smooth game. Mario kart and Halo did this. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"When you eat animal fat, how does your body turn it into human fat?"
] | It's not initially human fat. Everything we eat is broken down by enzymes into smaller bits. Proteins become amino acids, and fats become glycerol and fatty acids (sugars just become another kind of sugar). Any of those can be used by cells to make energy. The thing about fatty acids is that if they're not used by our cells to make ATP at the time we eat and digest, they can simply become fat in our body when they are moved to our existing fat cells. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why would people prefer life in prison without the possibility of parole, over the death penalty?"
] | Everyone says, they would prefer dying over doing something. However, most people change their minds once death is an option |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"When a orchestra conductor is waving around his stick while the orchestra is playing, why does he do that and Is there a method as to how he does it."
] | There is a precise reason. It's to keep time for the musicians as well as give cues to perform certain actions. While it is possible to have everybody keep time on their own, having a conductor to maintain pace, give cues, etc is helpful. At least it's how I see it when I would conduct. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why don't police officers use rubber bullets?"
] | Rubber bullets hurt, but they don't stop people who don't want to be stopped. Lead bullets do. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"the point of changing your network's password if it can be hacked anyway."
] | What's the point of locking your door at night if someone can break it down or enter through the window anyways? Why not leave your keys in the car if someone can break in and hotwire it anyways? It's a deterrent. There's no point in a hacker to spend hours and hours trying to get into your home network when there's such little potential payoff if they were to break the encryption. So they're not going to bother. If it's wide open and it's zero effort, or you're using default passwords which takes them 10 seconds to look up? Then you're making it a lot more appealing. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"What do the two guys in the middle of the bobsled do?"
] | They contribute to the initial acceleration of the bobsled, and help steer by leaning. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Are the chewing sounds you hear while you're chewing magnified or what you actually sound like chewing?"
] | Not really amplified, but directly routed into your ears by your jawbone. While in contrast to third parties they get dampened by the meat around your mouth (i.e. cheeks and lips) ... so keep your pie hole shut while chewing. EDIT: also obviously the volume gets greatly reduced simply by distance, considering sounds drop of with a square function with distance. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why are Japanese periods ( 。) different than English periods (.) --"
] | People are correct as to it being from Chinese. However, no one has really mentioned why. Chinese and Japanese were both originally written with brushes, not pens or quills. Thus, a circle was a more effective method of writing a full stop, since a period as we know of it could simply be an ink drop in the wrong place, which could render a sentence utterly unreadable if you weren't careful. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Do the eyes have a shutter speed?"
] | Imagine a spinning wheel getting faster and faster. At some point, it looks like it's suddenly reversed direction, spinning backwards, right? And then as it keeps on accelerating, it looks like the wheel is stopped. (Of course, the wheel is blurry, since it's going fast -- your brain interprets this as a spinning wheel.) This also works for fan blades, propellers, etcetc. You get the point. This is a similar idea to how a camera can match the shutter speed of a helicopter blade, making it seem like the helicopter is rising into the air without even spinning its rotors. Eyes don't have something like a shutter speed (hypothetically you could blink... a LOT....). The reason for this behavior is still unknown, but one theory is that we see the world as a bunch of discrete images put together (this is similar to a shutter speed, potentially), and another is something known as the "Temporal Aliasing Theory" (now, an ELI5 for this would be pretty interesting too). |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why is being anti-immigration considered racism"
] | Being anti-immigration, in and of itself, is not racist. However... there tends to be overlap. You don't hear a lot of people saying "We should limit immigration because our infrastructure can't handle it," for example... but you get a lot of "Those People are coming over to take our jobs" and "Those People are all criminals" and "Those People will ruin AMERICA!" and it is statements like those that cross the line into racism. In general, it seems to be racism that's pushing anti-immigration, not the other way around. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"I understand \"heat\" but what creates \"coldness\"? What makes up the cold waves that I feel when I put my hand near an ice block?"
] | The temperature of the ice block affects the air around it. It cools the air immediately around it, which makes it more dense, and thus heavier, and it falls to ground. When it does this, it displaces other air. Meanwhile, more hot air has taken the place of the cold air, which becomes cold and falls. This creates a very small current of air around the ice block in very small waves. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How is a dead body disfigured after being submerged in water for a long period of time?"
] | Typically, bacteria in the water rots in the body and emits gases. The gases usually bloat the body quite large, making it disfigured and smelly. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How can you \"feel\" someone behind or near you?"
] | There's no special ability to detect people outside of your line of sight other than your normal senses. These may not always be immediately apparent to you, for instance you might hear a disturbance and turn to look and see a human. It's also reasonable there's a degree of confirmation bias at work. If you think something is near you, look, and nothing is there, you forget about it. If you look and there's an unexpected person, then it sticks out in your memory. If you don't notice a person, and don't look, then there's nothing to remember in the first place. Thus when you review your memory, you see a string of unfailing human detection that doesn't really match the reality. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Were there more serial killers in the 20th century or did the media just pay more attention to them?"
] | Short answer is Yes. Longer answer is, not, really: We're only 15 Years into the 21th Century, so, yes of course there were more Serial Killers in the entire 20th Centuryas opposed to the (Beginning of the) 21th. But that doesn't mean that there will be less serial killers coming in the next 85 Years. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How come smoking weed for me intensifies my pain rather than masks it like it does for other people?"
] | First off : you might simply be using the wrong strain. Different strains have (somewhat) different effects. It doesn't seem to be terribly clear cut - the genetics of sativa and indica strains have huge levels of crossovers, and are rarely exactly what they're claimed to be. But as a general rule look for an Indica (higher CBD) as opposed to a Sativa (higher THC). The other possible reason, is that you naturally don't get as much benefit from it as other people. For some people weed helps mask pain, especially if it distracts them. On the other hand, if weed tends to make you slightly more alert, and slightly more aware of what's hurting, it may make the pain more noticeable, albeit not "intensified". It's like the opposite of using distraction for pain relief. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why do some people like a certain taste/smell while others don't like it (or even hate it)?"
] | That's a product of education, upbringing, customs, flavors and food you are familiar with... Also perseverance. Have you hear that "tonic water is an acquired taste"? You have to keep drinking it until you taste other things that the initial bitterness and end up liking it. And there are certain tastes that can only be noticed by the bearers of a certain gene. _URL_0_ |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Body Parts falling asleep; lack of oxygen or blood pressure too high?"
] | > lack of oxygen or blood pressure too high? Neither. It's caused by compression of nerves to/from the affected limb, effectively cutting off communication between the limb and the brain. The "pins and needles" feeling is caused by the sensory neurons restoring their electrochemical gradients once the pressure is removed. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"I just had a full length dream about an insignificant person from school I talked to maybe once. Why is this? It's been 12 years"
] | I'm not an expert in Psychology, but this can be answered with basic fundamentals. We believe dreams are your brains way of catagorizing and storing memories. This could be anything throughout your life. Think of your dreams as a collage of memories. Take someone you met 20 years ago, add that to a volcano documentary you watched last Christmas, finally sprinkle the Avengers saving New York. Your dream is now playing the floor is lava with that childhood friend while the Avengers are insulting your jumping skills. Just your brain going through these memories and throwing them in your subconscious. Our brains process hundreds or some believe thousands of memories (dreams) everytime we sleep. What you remember dreaming when you wake up can be entirely random. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why do we drop so much ordinance on targets? I know this sounds inhuman, but the ROI seems absurd after looking through combat footage. Shouldn't targets be eliminated in a more cost effective manner?"
] | Its cheaper to shoot twice and make sure they're gone than to shoot once and find out a week later that you have to send somebody else to go shoot them again. Bombs and missiles are expensive, but they're not the only cost to be factored into such decisions. Launching another sortie because the first one was insufficient means using more ordinance, but more importantly it means putting soldiers back into a hostile situation. Every time you send people out, there's a risk that some won't come back, so you want to minimize the number of sorties without compromising your objectives. If that means dropping more bombs, then you drop more bombs. Bombs can be replaced faster than the pilots who drop them. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"the emotion 'annoyed'"
] | It is a subtler form of anger, which is founded out of the desire for reality to be different from what it is (probably more complicated but thats the vernacular Ive heard). |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"how does remembering a dream work? How does that fit with long term and short term memories?"
] | People arent used to paying attention to their dreams, and they generally put very little effort into remembering them. This leads to people remembering less and less of them. If you look back, you might remember having more dreams when you were a child compared to now. With some training (writing down as much as you remember from each dream you had that night, right after you wake up), you will easily be able to remember your dreams with as good recollection as you would were they real life events. Sorry for not giving a very scientific explanation, but I'm pretty confident this is the case. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"What is the speed of electricity?"
] | The speed of a signal(charge) through the wire is extremely fast - between 60% and 99% of the speed of light, depending on the material the wire is made out of and its construction. The physical speed of the electrons themselves is very slow - in range of milimaters per hour for DC. For AC, the electrons don't move at all - they just "jiggle" both ways constantly. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"In finance, what does it mean when an investment group \"bets\" on an outcome?"
] | A source would help, but I think I can be fairly certain that "bet" in this sense was just a euphemism. That's all investing is, really. When you invest in something, you're taking a calculated risk that it will pay off. Nothing is certain. It isn't exactly gambling in the sense that the payouts are not up to random chance (although it is almost totally unpredictable, in the sense that you can never be *completely* sure of a particular outcome). Goldman Sachs probably made some investment or acquisition in Greece that will heavily depend on the outcome of the bailout (again, context would help here; I'm just guessing) because they strongly believe it will go one way or the other. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"what does a military or terrorist organisation gain by shooting down a civilian plane and then denying it?"
] | Because they didn't intend to shoot down a civilian airliner. They thought they were shooting down a Ukrainian military transport aircraft. No one has anything to gain from shooting down a bunch of civilians. That's why they are attempting to deny it. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Whats the point in war?"
] | You have something I want. I shoot you and take it. That's robbery. You and your 99 friends have something me and my 99 friends want. We shoot you and take it. That's war. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"why is a lieutenant general Senior to a major general? It seems backwards because a major his senior to a lieutenant."
] | The rank of Major General is a shortened title. Historically it was Sergeant-Major General. Somewhere along the way in the 18th century, the sergeant part of the name was dropped. It could easily have been the major part that was dropped and that would have made more sense. Sergeant-Major means "sergeant-leader" or "greater sergeant" and is an enlisted rank, greater than a sergeant but junior to a Lieutenant. As the Major-General rank is named after the enlisted rank of Sergeant-Major and not the commissioned rank of Major, it is the most junior of General ranks. So next time, think "Sergeant General" instead and it will make more sense. Edit: a word as I can't grammar today |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why do people in war movies always not seem to notice their excessive sweating"
] | Well I'd imagine there are greater worries than how much you are sweating such as surviving. And since many of these movies take place in hot climates they just got used to sweating heavily all the time. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why do different car engines need a different oil viscosity?"
] | Because oil need to penetrate very small niches inside engine. But size of these niches varies between different engines. Viscosity needs to be low enough to penetrate niche (not to stop at the edge) but high enough to stay inside and lubricate instead of just going through without much effect. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How does a paint roller hold so much paint?"
] | It's literally a sponge, but for paint. The paint roller is full of tons of little holes (most you can't see) that the paint goes into. This is why most sponges (and paint rollers) are very squishy, they're mostly air. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"The current fracturing of the Republican Party."
] | The more moderate establishment Republican members in the House are being pulled right by a small minority of ultra-conservative, tea party-style members who feel that they aren't being given a voice. The.minority is also angry with the leadership who worked with the Democrats to make the government function. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"When getting a tattoo, how come the ink from the stencil or pen doesn't contaminate the skin?"
] | I have 6 tattoos from 4 different artists and have never seen anyone freehand with a sharpie on a person and tattoo on that. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why does it seem like I have to change my deodorant brand every year or so to avoid body odor?"
] | The smell that emanates from your armpits is largely caused by the bacteria that makes its home there. Deodorants, in addition to smelling pleasant, discourage bacterial growth. Over time bacteria may grow resistant to some extent if you always use the same type of deodorant. Occasionally switching can help combat that problem. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How did we come to the conclusion about the number of days in the calendar? Why are some 30 and some 31? Why did they choose February as 29 or 28?"
] | Our calendar was based on the Old Roman calendar. They divided the year into 10 months (March - December). Those 10 months were 300 days (31 and 29 days alternately, because odd numbers were good luck, or please the gods), with the remaining 60 days being written off since nothing happened in the dead of winter anyway. Eventually, January (then February) was added to the end of the calendar. Since February was at the **end** of the year it got short shrift in terms of the number of days. This left 10 days off of the calender, which was resolved with an interstitial period decided on by the Roman Senate to align the calendar with the solar seasons. This failed (as you can imagine) So, Julius Caeser reformed the calendar into (mostly) how we know it today. the 10 "missing" day were added to the months with 29 days in them (2 to January, 4 to February, 1 to April, June, September and November). |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why can't I just eat gummy vitamins, protein supplements, iron supplements, etc. and survive?"
] | Apart from the supplements lacking many vital components that are found in actual food, the rate at which you absorb the vitamins and the rate at which the actual solids pass through your body do not allow for adequate intake of the nutrients. Eating just supplements and not any solid food will just give you very nutrient rich urine and poop. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How do boats like this stay afloat?"
] | Pretty sure the have hydrofoils on the fins, wich work like an airplane wing only with water. Essentially creating lift and allowing them to glide above the waves. It probably helps that the entire boat is made of carbon fiber and other lightweight materials. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why in the United States, with the exception of soccer, are there not sponsors or advertisements on professional sports team's uniforms?"
] | Soccer is played without any breaks during either half. Because the clock never stops running, there is rarely an opportunity for television broadcasters to play commercials. Jersey sponsors are a way to earn revenue in spite of this constraint. American Football, baseball, and basketball by contrast have many breaks and/or instances when the clock is stopped. Therefore, broadcasters are able to schedule commercials throughout the games rather than just during half time. Since these sports are already commercialized to such a great extent, the teams could be seen as overreaching by also introducing jersey sponsors. Fans are accustomed to jerseys with team names and logos, and could be upset at those insignias being replaced by jersey sponsors. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How come when I punch in my dreams, it feels like I am punching underwater?"
] | As answered [here](_URL_0_), > It's because punching (like running) is a highly-coordinated activity that relies on proprioceptive feedback throughout the motion to work. Since the thalamus clamps down both on the transmission of the motor signals you'd need to effectively complete the motion and the perception of joint-motion data while you're asleep, everything feels bogged down and slow. > Compare that to 'flying', which is a), something we can't do normally, so we have no basis for comparison to see if it feels right or not, and b) superman-style flying about doesn't require significant body motion anyway. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why are some instruments (presumably) harder to synthesize than others? Why do, say, MIDI pianos usually sound better than MIDI horns?"
] | Pianos make noise one way- by hitting a string with a hammer. You can control how hard or soft you press the key, but you can't change anything besides that. Brass instruments derive their sound from the vibrations of your lips, which have far more minute detail and control which is extremely complicated for a computer to simulate. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"If bruising is the body's way of protecting itself, why do we try to reduce swelling when treating an injured person?"
] | Bruising is not the body's way of protecting itself. A bruise is the result of a trauma that ruptures capillaries/blood vessels. The resulting swelling is blood "leaking" into the surrounding tissue. The treatment for swelling is applying something cold to the bruised area. The cold causes blood vessels to constrict which reduces blood flow to the area. This allows the capillaries to heal more quickly. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"What is UKIP and why is their victory so controversial?"
] | Basically they want withdrawal from the European Union, membership of which they say costs the UK £120bn per year. Along with that they would remove EU fishing quotas, withdraw from the Common Agricultural Policy and enforce much tighter controls on immigration. Basically UKIP is seen as an isolationist and racist party, a magnet to all sorts of crazy and scary people, as well as leaning well to the right, being friends with all sorts of nasty parties in Europe. Edit: Here is a Guardian article, [10 good reasons not to vote UKIP](_URL_0_). |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"What is the white foamy stuff when you put Hydrogen Peroxide on an infection and why does it become foamy?"
] | There are enzymes in your blood that attack the peroxide and turn it into water and oxygen. The bubbles are what that looks like. As a sidenote, though, you should **not** put peroxide on wounds. It kills germs, but it kills everything else it touches, too, including healthy tissue. And since you have a cut you're letting the peroxide in pretty deep. It'll actually impede the healing. Same goes for alcohol, by the way. Warm water and soap are the best thing for a wound. After that, put some antibiotic lotion on it. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why wind speed on land is measured in mph while wind speed on the ocean is measured in kn(ots)"
] | Using knots as a measurement makes sense on the ocean. 1 knot is 1 nautical mile per hour. 1 nautical mile also represents one minute of longitude at the equator. When sailing was easier to use knots to determine distance traveled when using a chart. One degree of longitude is 60 nautical miles at the equator. The math gets a bit more complex away from the equator, but If I know my latitude, and know I have to travel 5 degrees east, I can calculate the distance required to go in knots much easier. Knots are not needed today with GPS and all the other technology, but due to tradition it is still used. Also, the way to determine speed originally was to throw a piece of wood or something overboard with a rope attached to it. You would have a knot tied at certain intervals, and you would count how many knots passed through your hand in 30 seconds. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"why isn't inflation in America based on bread/sugar (past) and why is it based on things like price of iPad (present)?"
] | Well, it's based on all of those things. It's based on what the average consumer buys and then it's the percentage difference in price between each good. However each good has a weighting on how important they are, bread and sugar being more important than iPads. A rise in the price of bread and sugar leads to a greater increase in inflation percentages than the same rise in iPads. Atleast, that's what I learnt in school I believe Edit: also the goods that are measured change every year or so, items are removed if their popularity drops and are added if they become popular. This year they'll probably remove selfie sticks and add fidget spinners... |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How do dogs smell/sense a persons they know without seeing them?"
] | Dogs also have really good hearing it could be anything from the particular sound of their car to the rustling of keys. Dogs are very good at recognizing certain patterns. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"the OJ Simpson trial and why it was a big deal"
] | 1. It involved a celebrity 2. It involved a black man who was accused of murdering a white woman, lots of racial tension 3. Despite overwhelming evidence, a team of very expensive lawyers were able manipulate a less competent prosecutor and judge, and allow their client to get away with murder 4. Both before and after the trial, consensus about his guilt or innocence ran along racial lines |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why are humans unable to consume raw meat such as poultry and beef without becoming sick but many animals are able to?"
] | You can consume it without becoming ill. Uncooked meats however are breeding grounds for bacteria. So its got to be handled carefully Steak tartar is raw beef and its considered a delicacy is many places |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How do I set the office thermostats to make the most number of people happy?"
] | Set it cool to keep the men happy, hand out sweaters to the females. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why power buttons on power strips say \"off\" and \"reset\" instead of \"off\" and \"on\""
] | That is a surge protector, not just a power strip. Reset means "reset the breaker", like if too much power goes through it it'll turn off but if you flip it on and off again after fixing the power issue it'll come back on, instead of being just a fuse that breaks once and is dead. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"ELI'veonlyexperienced1season: How does the 4 seasons feel like?"
] | In New Jersey, our summers can get up to around 37C, and our winters can get to -17C. Spring and fall are basically the perfect temperatures (fall is a little chillier) but you're really only missing out on one season: winter. And you're not missing out. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Is it possible to become physically addicted to weed?"
] | No. Marijuana is not physically addictive, but it is possible to become psychologically addicted to it. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How can 0's and 1's tell different pieces of hardware in a computer to do certain things?"
] | 1 and 0 correspond to "voltage" and "no voltage" on a hardware level. So, for example, when "1001" is stored in RAM, it's put in a bank of four capacitors, which go (voltage) (no voltage) (no voltage) (voltage) The voltage (or lack thereof) can then be used to control transistors, which act like little switches. Lots of transistors together can be used to build logic circuits, which do the computing and stuff. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Does an ad blocker prevent your bandwidth from being wasted on the ads?"
] | Normally, an ad blocker works by blacklisting certain domains, so that stuff embedded from them isn't even loaded. So yes, they do save bandwidth. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How does a micro chip, which is seemingly just a bunch of metal and plastic, actually remember things and perform tasks?"
] | What all that metal and plastic make are a huge amount of transistors which are then used to make what are called logic gates. A logic gate takes two inputs (electrical currents) and produces one output. The two most basic logic gates are the "and gate" and the "or gate". With "and" if both inputs are true (usually a certain voltage of electrical signal like +5v) you get a true output otherwise you get a alse output (usually 0v), with or if either one of the inputs is true you get a true output otherwise you get a false. Using this most basic logic you can build amazingly complex systems including memory. The key is you have a huge number of these gates and they work incredibly fast. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"What is happening in California that is causing such a lack of water?"
] | Basically: California gets its rainfall from the ocean. The ocean has been giving less, just as there is escalating demand for water from cities and agriculture. The ocean is providing less rain because of a persistent high pressure "bar" off the coast of California preventing rain clouds from forming. This high pressure is associated with a La Niña event, where the Pacific ocean is unusually warm on the Australasian side. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why were there so many big supporters of eugenics in the early 1900s (e.g., Tesla, Churchill), and what changed from then to now to shift views on the subject?"
] | The main reason eugenics fell out of favor is that the people carrying it out were worse than the people they claimed were sub-human. The things the Nazis did ended up convincing just about everybody that eugenics was something only a crazy person would believe in. Eugenics doesnt purify anything, it only kills everybody else and leaves those who believe in it. When somebody does something that awful, its hard for people to accept anything related to it any more. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why do ultra conservative Christians care so much about gay marriage but don't care about eating shrimp (forbidden in Leviticus 11:10)?"
] | Because Jesus fairly clearly said it was okay, according to the English standard version of the Bible. (Mark 7) > And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? **Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)** And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness, All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How did Pakistan end up with nuclear weapons?"
] | Pakistan got its ass handed to it in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. They ended up having to sign a humiliating surrender, much like Germany post WWI. Pakistan was livid over it, and wanted to put itself in a position where it never had to surrender again, so they invested **a lot** of money and manpower into making nuclear weapons. Also, Saudi Arabia donated a lot of money to the program as well, with the belief that they would be able to simply *buy* a Pakistani nuclear weapon if they ever needed it. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"how do you cook them . step by step . ?? thank you i need the help ."
] | I was wondering the same thing just the other day. Hopefully we can find an expert on . |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why does eating the same food everyday make it taste bad after a while?"
] | Humans are omnivores. That doesn't just mean we *can* eat a wide variety of foods, it means we *must* eat a variety. Every evolutionary advance, it seems, is a compromise: in return for being able to eat many foods, our bodies don't produce everything we need - the missing ingredients are vitamins and amino acids. To make sure we eat enough of the right types of food, we've evolved also the need for variety in our diets. This may also be why we like so many spices. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why does everyone have to die?"
] | There's a timer in the cells that make up your body called [the Hayflick Limit](_URL_0_). They can only repair and replicate themselves a set number of times. After that they begin to break down, and the larger body parts and organs that your cells make up begin to break down, too: your joints wear away, your skin loses elasticity. Eventually something vital stops working and you die. Some people's timers are longer than others'. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why Are The Winners of Running Competitions Like Marathons Almost Always From Africa?"
] | The "Kenyans" train very hard. They also train at a very high altitude. When they come down to sea level and run with us puny Americans they have an easier time because of how much oxygen they need to accomplish the same thing. Kind of like how sherpas can jog all over Mt Everest. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"why are latitude lines parallel, but longitudinal lines converge at the polls?"
] | Because it makes the most sense. If you walk east/west, you're only changing longitude, if you walk north/south, you're only changing latitude. If longitude were defined like latitude, only orthogonal, then you'd get really weird results that would be confusing. For example, there'd be some arbitrary line (wherever the longitudinal equivalent of the equator would be) where things would work as they do now, but anywhere else, moving east/west would cause your longitude to change at different rates depending on your latitude, and also there'd be some latitudes at which certain longitudes aren't possible. And if you went north/south, you'd be changing both your latitude and longitude. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why are some people \"mouth breathers\" and other people \"nose breathers\"?"
] | It's more natural for people to breathe through their noses when they are at rest. In about 85% of cases, mouth breathing is caused by blockage in the nasal cavities that prevents people from getting enough air through their noses. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How is betting allowed on WrestleMania, when the outcome is predetermined?"
] | The outcome might be predetermined but it is not publicly announced before it happens. The people that are betting for and against a certain wrestler are not people that know what the outcome will be, only a few people (the production crew and the wrestlers in this case) will actually know what the outcome will be, and they are most likely not allowed to bet on the outcome themselves. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Those \"fundraisers\" that have grade school kids running around selling a company's products door to door. Are they technically legal? If so, why?"
] | Of course they're legal, though I believe (if I remember from the days of being a kid) your parents had to sign a consent form; I might be wrong. These fundraisers are often part of a sale of things like Girl Scout cookies, magazines, candy bars and other little stuff. The products are over priced intentionally because the customer knows a portion of the sale is going towards the fundraiser, which is usually used to bring money in to the club or team the child is a part of. That money can go towards things like field trips (camp outs perhaps) as well as incentives/rewards/points the kid can earn by selling certain quotas. Want a new pocket knife Johnny, go sell 40 subscriptions of Mens Health. It's a win for the kid, win for the club they're in, and a win for the customer (if they're honestly interested in supporting their community by purchasing something they want for a little more than retail). |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"What was so good about the 'good' old days?"
] | People tend to be nostalgic and look back on the past with rose tinted glasses; forgetting bad events or remembering them more fondly than at the time they took place. When something is in the past and not going to happen again or cause you any problems in the future it is much easier to look back on it with a happy thought. Plenty of young people do it too. Go over to /r/gaming and you will find that 10-15 years ago was the high point in media when everything was wonderful. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How did the whole microchip credit card thing start?"
] | For under $100, you can buy a device that will write a credit card number to the magstrip on a card. There is virtually *zero* security involved there. It was also becoming increasingly common for criminals to place "skimmers" - devices that would capture the number of cards run through it - on ATMs & gas pumps. Those chips, OTOH, are nearly impossible to copy with a single use. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why do we all perceive time going in the same direction?"
] | There is a concept in physics called the [Arrow of Time](_URL_0_). This is basically the fact that time seems to only flow in one direction, despite the fact that on the smallest scales physics should be independent of the direction in which time flows. However, the reason why this is the case is an outstanding unsolved problem. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"What do people mean when they say a singular sperm contains 35MB of data and how did somebody figure this out?"
] | Because a sperm cell contains data in the form of DNA. All cells (except some weird ones like red blood cells) contain DNA. DNA is a code of four base units in groups of 3 in various combinations. A section of a string of DNA might say GGGAAACCC which is GGG, AAA, and CCC, which would correspond to three different amino acids. So, all cells with a nucleus contain data. Sperm cells are a little special because they are small, and contain very little cellular organnelles except a nucleus, mitochondria, and a tail & motor. So proportionally, they contain more data per gram than say, a muscle cell. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"What's the difference in meaning of the word \"liberal\" as in 1) Liberal Democracy and 2) Liberal political candidate?"
] | 'Liberalism' is basically broken down into two broad schools of thought. "Social liberalism" is basically what most people think of as "left-wing", whereas "classical liberalism" is something closer to libertarianism. This explains the difference. Some conservatives embrace aspects of classical liberalism, free market economics, etc. In Australia, the main conservative party is actually called the "Liberal Party", based on this broader definition of liberalism. But these people would not identify as social liberals or "left wing". The confusion in the US comes because this broader definition of liberalism seems to have been lost, and "liberal" seems to mean exclusively "social liberalism". (Also note that like many other political terms, "liberal" is sometimes just thrown out there as a generic grab-bag political insult, and may not be meant in any literal or meaningful sense). |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"If USPS postman doesn't ask for my sign and drops off package, what's stopping someone from ordering expensive stuff from amazon and claiming it never arrived ?"
] | The shipper decides if a signature is needed. I have delivered $5 items requiring a signature and also left $2000 items on a porch when the shipper did not require proof of delivery. Source: Ex FedEx driver |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"What's the big deal with electric vehicles? Doesn't coal still have to burn somewhere to provide the electricity to charge the car, which means that they're still releasing CO2 into the air?"
] | The coal plant is more efficient and more cost effective than a car engine at producing power and scrubbing pollutants. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"What would happen realistically if North Korea invaded South Korea?"
] | they would lose, after completely destroying the country. The first wave of rocket fire would be devastating. It would last as long as it takes for NATO to get in position. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"[meta] Can we put a note about the trillion-dollar coin in the sidebar?"
] | Not specifically the trillion dollar coin, but a common question section would be good. There also needs to be much, much more moderation. If someone asks a repeat question that has been asked this often or if someone asks a question that isn't coherent enough to answer it should be deleted. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How and why did \"I have to\" come into existence in English as a substitute for \"I need to?\""
] | The earliest meaning of "to have" was "to grasp", way back, before English even existed. From there it took on many more functions. First, it started meaning "to own", which was not too far from it's original meaning. Then, it became an auxiliary (helping) verb: "I have seen him". This happened in Old English, during the Middle Ages. It then became a modal auxiliary, "to have to", also in Old English. *Why* this happened is unclear, as always in language. There have been similar developments in other languages with verbs like "to have", such as Latin and German. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Would our perception of time change if we were many times larger (100x, 150x) than we are today?"
] | Yes, probably. Larger animals in general perceive time more slowly, as it takes longer for any impulse to cross their larger nervous systems. That's why it's so hard to catch or swat flies; to them, you're moving in slow-motion. _URL_0_ |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why does getting hit/shot/stabbed/any other type of injury, in the arm hurt less or seems to hurt less than anywhere else on the body?"
] | TV is not reality. It hurts like a motherfucker. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why do people create computer viruses?"
] | Some men just want to see the world burn. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why is it that over time reposted images become smaller and blurrier?"
] | Many websites don't initially display the full image, but a downscaled version of it that you need to view in full resolution by clicking it or opening it in a new window. They do this to reduce unnecessary traffic, for example when people look at it on mobile devices that wouldn't be able to display the full picture anyways. If people don't know know that, they save the smaller version, and when they repost that one, the same thing can happen. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"What is the Internet of Things?"
] | It's where everything you own would be connected to the internet. For instance your fridge or your fruit bowl. Each device would behave differently and post data to the internet. For instance your fridge would relay its temperature and allow you to adjust it. Maybe your fruit bowl would send you a text when there's been nothing in it for a few days. That way you could theoretically control everything you own from anywhere in the world. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Is gravity's effects instantaneous, or does its influence take time to reach an object, like light does?"
] | Gravitons move at the speed of light. Gravity is not instant. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why can't I do my taxes like I am a business?"
] | The standard deduction, personal exemptions, and progressive tax brackets should accomplish the same goal, without the book keeping effort. That is, you don't pay federal income taxes until you are making above sustenance level of income, and taxes increase as you are more able to pay those taxes. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"If there are so much garbage orbiting the earth such that they collide with each other, how come view of sky is not changed since 20 years?"
] | That garbage is really far away and for the most part really small. The ISS is fucking huge in comparison and you can barely see it if you know when and where to look. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why isn't beer sold in plastic bottles, like soda?"
] | _URL_0_ Also, plenty of sporting events and concerts sell beer in plastic bottles so drunk people don't throw glass bottles at each other. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Are the arguments for racial differences in intelligence, such as proposed by the 1994 book 'The Bell Curve', strong or weak?"
] | Current theory is less about racial differences and more about socio-economic differences. Poorer groups with less focus on education tend to perform worse on IQ tests than wealthier groups with more focus on education (over the past few generations). Of course, the current theory is largely biased away from connecting intelligence to race, as that is a very socially dangerous topic. It's the same reason we can't say that "blacks are better at sports in general", or "the Jews are better in school in general", even if it might be true. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why do so many types of pills result in dry-mouth?"
] | A lot of medications have anticholinergic effects, that is, they block the receptors for acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter that induces salivation. Anything that stimulates adrenalin receptors might cause the same effect too |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"When can you carry something heavy why do you always only 'just make it'?"
] | For the same reason you always have to pee more the closer you get to a bathroom when you really have to go. Your mind sets limits and your body reacts to those limits. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why are movies rated PG-13, but TV shows rated TV-14 in the US? Why do they increase the age by 1 for TV shows?"
] | The film ratings system is administered by the Motion Picture Association of America, while television content ratings are governed by the Federal Communications Committee. Other than that there really isn't a reason. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How does electricity get converted to movement in machines?"
] | Magnets. If you coil wire around a piece of metal and apply electricity, you make an electromagnet. If you also have a regular magnet nearby, you can get them to pull together. If you also set this up in a cycle, you can keep applying electricity and pulling to the next magnet, and create a motor. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How do musicians sample older songs?"
] | There are many ways to do this, but procuring original individual tracks is not one of them. I'm not going to type a novel here, but EQ, filters, and other effects are commonly used. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How come Americans have large portion sizes and relatively cheap prices for their food?"
] | When you go to a restaurant, you pay for the service first, then for the actual food. As a rule of thumb, the ingredients usually make up only 1/4 to 1/3 of the costs. Additionally, the work of preparing a dish twice as large usually isn't twice as much for the chef. So it comes down to the customer's expectations. Americans expect large meals, so the restaurants deliver - without hurting their profits much. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Does drinking water actually have a flavor?"
] | If they were all pure H2O, they would taste the same. However, water from different sources have different chemicals and minerals in them - it's not "just" water by a long shot. Different bottlers, different municipalities and other water sources all have different kinds and amounts of impurities that affect the taste of water. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"When repaving a road, why do they skip the overpass?"
] | I don't think they can pave continuously because of the expansion joints. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"What is Matroid Theory?"
] | It is like matrix on steroids. Matrices are studied in linear algebra and they are easy because they have a well understood structure with straightforward consequences. Matrices are are hard because such said rules are still much more abstract that what you see in high school or basic calculus. Matroids are like matrices except that they are even more general and will thus remain unaccessible until you master linear algebra. Matroids are useful in graph theory, combinatorics, and coding theory. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How do induction cooktops stay cool to the touch but still effectively heat pans?"
] | First of all, heat is pretty much just vibration among atoms. More heat = more vibration. The "cooktops" (never heard that specific word before) use "induction" to make electrons move in the pan. That basically means that they uses a magnetic field to push around electrons so much that they start to colliding with the atoms to create heat, they "induce" an electric current (and and electric current is of course just electrons that move). And the reason for why it's cool to touch is that it's much harder for that magnetic field to induce a current in your hand compared to in the metal of the pans. It's simply easier to make electrons move in a metal than in organic materials (which accounts for most of your body). So there's almost no electrons caused to jump around in your hand, but a lot of them is made to jump around in the pan. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why is gold worth so much?"
] | For most of history, gold was the densest substance known. So when it came to making money, gold was the natural choice. Anything you might try to adulterate a gold coin with would make it lighter, so you could instantly know it was a fake just by weighing it. Gold provided a degree of security that no other metal could match. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why are Swiss bank accounts always mentioned when pursuing (in movies and in real life) supposedly corrupt individuals? Why are they usually tied in with large amounts of money that has been illegally obtained? Why are they the rich, corrupt individuals bank of choice?"
] | Laws in Switzerland mean banks do not have to give personal information to police or government upon request. So a lot of criminals put their illegally made money into a Swiss bank account knowing the Police will never be able to find out who owns the account or how much money is in it or where the money came from. It's a way of cutting off the paper trail without storing it all in cash |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"I'm sufffering, first world drama style, from the common cold. Please ELI5 the epic battle between the virus and my immune system."
] | First, the virus enters the cells in your body. Then it uses all the machinery in the cell to make more viruses. Then it pops the cell to release all the new viruses. This is not healthy. ~~Rinse and~~ repeat. At some point your body realizes this is happening. Its usual response is to raise your temperature, giving you a fever. This has two uses: * Makes your body a terrible place for viruses. They hate the heat (seriously). * Increases your body's production of the things that fight the virus, due to... an explanation that goes beyond ELI5. Anyway, other signs of infection like muscle pain, vomiting, headaches, diarrhea etc. etc. are all caused by either the the virus destroying your cells or are a side result of your body destroying the virus. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How to ophthalmic emulsifiers work?"
] | If you leave a bowl of water on your kitchen counter for a few days it will dry up (water evaporation). Similarly, your eyes will dry up faster if you only had water on them. To prevent that, your eyes has a thin layer of lipids (like oil) that reduces water evaporation. Certain eyedrops (refresh endura, systane balance, etc.) have emulsifiers that helps stabilise the fatty layer to reduce evaporation/dryness. |
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