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[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why does Japan seem to have such a low proportion of immigrants when compared to other developed countries?"
] | Japan is a very (ethnically) homogeneous society and was essentially closed to foreigners for more than 250 years. Foreigners are not made to feel particularly welcome there. Anyone "different" stands out like a sore thumb. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Does laying in bed resting before you sleep actually do anything to rejuvinate your body for the upcoming day?"
] | Sleep is mostly important to renew the brain neurotransmitters and do some housekeeping around the brain. When you think about it, sleep is mostly about shutting down your consciousness. We are only starting to understand what really happens in the brain during sleep. Conclusion: laying in bed is rejuvenating your body without doing much for your brain. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why does our fingernails have faint lines going up and down?"
] | well first you should know that its normal. Evenly spaced vertical lines are never a sign of a problem (But horizontal lines, you should see a doctor.) What happens is that as you get older, parts of the nail matrix (the part of your fingers that the nail grows out of) atrophy. They become weak and dont function quite as well. This results in the increasingly prominent vertical ridges. They're very similar in this way to skin wrinkles. Just the natural result of the aging process. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"(Serious) Can a person get rid of their freckles?"
] | Just as a reminder, the [Serious] tag isn't required here on ELI5. All questions here are assumed serious. /uncalled for mod |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Software Installation"
] | Most apps store data all over the place. A Steam game is going to have an install directory, a save game directory, drop dll's into a systems folder, update DirectX, and change registry settings. A flash drive is only going to handle one of these, the install directory. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it makes it easier to do stuff like uninstall the game without losing your saves. It also serves as a form of DRM. Game producers don't want to make it easy for games to be portable without going through them or a service like Steam. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"When floating in space, or any zero gravity environment, would a person always feel as if they were standing upright?"
] | You would feel as though you were falling. "Zero-gravity" actually means you are in free fall, or in a motion that imitates free fall, such as the planes that fly in steep parabolic arcs to simulate zero-g for short periods of time without having to go into orbit. Imagine you jump down an elevator shaft that just goes on forever. That's what being in zero-g feels like, and that is why people often feel sick/throw up when experiencing it. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How does a child get a recessive gene if both parents have dominant?"
] | Passing on a recessive gene means that they are both carriers, giving you the lucky 25% of cases that would have the thumb. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"what happens if you leave the microwave door open and it's turned on?"
] | Microwaves are electromagnetic radiation with fairly large wavelength. If you take away the spinning mechanism and put in something like a block of cheese, you'll pretty reliably be able to see that the heat will most be applied in certain sections. If you measure the distance between those sections, you'll be able to tell the wavelength of the microwaves. What'll happen if you leave the door open? Microwaves will leak out. What does this do to you? Well it affects the water in your system which definitely can't be good for you, but it isn't a HUGE deal. It'll also really fuck with the wifi at your house so long as the microwaves are leaking out |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Sometimes my rings feel more loose on my fingers then other times, why?"
] | Finger tissue swelling/shrinkage. Rings will allwsys be looser in cold conditions. Somebody else wanna take the "it must be cold in here" dick joke?? |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How does a vinyl record work?"
] | Vinyl should be the easiest to understand - the waveforms are etched directly into the vinyl. Open up a music file in a viewer like Audacity - you see that waveform? That's what is etched into the vinyl. The needle gets moved up and down (and left-to-right as well for stereo records) and the vibrations are carried to some electronics that amplify them. In fact, if you take a record player with no power whatsoever and spin a record, you'll be able to hear the music directly from the needle (but it'll be very very quiet). |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"What happens when you \"see stars\"?"
] | When you hit the back of your head, you're hitting the part of your brain that perceives vision, this can temporarily disorient you and cause little "stars" to appear in your vision |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Can someone explain hockey rules to me like I am a five year old Californian?"
] | While I don't know hockey well enough to give you a good explanation, I do know you can anger any hockey fan watching a game by saying the following words: "Hey, what quarter are we in?" |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"why do people constantly compare communists and nazis? Aren't they diametrically opposed ideologies and didn't the communists defeat the nazis?"
] | Both systems result in the deaths of millions. By shear numbers, communist russia killed way more people than the Nazis did. Politics is a horseshoe, as you get closer to the extreme edges, they start to look a lot like each other. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"The reasoning behind Mormon polygamy."
] | For what it's worth, here's [the Church's official explanation](_URL_0_). Consider the source, obviously, but you sometimes see claims of one official reason or another and this is the only real official answer I suspect you'll find. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why is haggling something that just doesn't happen any more?"
] | Market efficiency in action. Used to be if I wanted to buy something, I didn't have a lot of choices. There were no supermarkets or shopping malls, and I was pretty much stuck with wherever I was willing to walk to. If a seller was charging more than I wanted to pay, I couldn't just go somewhere else. Luckily, the seller was stuck with me too. If they wanted to make a sale, they might not be able to count on a bunch of other people walking through the door. The only real alternative either of us had for getting a better price was to argue about it. In addition, a lot of sellers were selling goods they made themselves, which gave them some flexibility. If you are selling something for $10 and paid $8 wholesale, you rarely will sell it for less than that. But if you paid $1 for materials and put an hour of your time into it, you still might want to sell it for $10, but selling it for $5 isn't losing money. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why are computer and calculator number pads in the opposite order of phone keypads?"
] | The original calculator had a 1x9 column of number buttons for each digit, with 1 at the bottom and 9 at the top. To make an 8 digit calculator you had 8 "5" keys in a row. When calculator people figured you could use one "5" key if you did numbers in order with a "0" key, they folded the 1x9 up into a 3x3 grid with a "0" (and often a ".") below it. At that time, phone dials were rotary. Bell did a huge experiment with both formats, but only a very small fraction of society had ever used a calculator (math was done with pencils at the time). They decided on the 3x4 grid with "1 2 3" at the top because that was the pad that most people used most quickly/correctly. Then calculators became digital, and cheap, and it was noticed that these two big systems were different. Alas, neither could agree to change. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why are autopsies almost always definitive? How come they can give answers when biopsies and other medical procedures can't?"
] | Sometimes, trying to cure a living person is like working on a car while it's still running. There are a lot of limits to what can be done without being too invasive. When the car is turned off (or the person is dead) you can delve endlessly into researching the engine, taking things apart and so on without being limited to what you can do without risk. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why do some people get incredibly grumpy when they are hungry?"
] | It could be an effect of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). Take a look at this list of symptoms on the wiki page: _URL_0_ |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"What should an adult do if they are being assaulted by a minor?"
] | Flee or defend themselves. You can defend yourself against anyone, minor or not. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"What makes the F-14 so loved and the F-35 so hated?"
] | F-14 takes you on a highway to the danger zone F-35 will not. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"why do we feel energized after shower?"
] | Hot showers relaxes muscles and releases oxytocin -which eases stress-. Cold showers, on the other hand, put the brain on an alert state, thus "waking" or "energizing" -as you said- the body. I believe you refer to the latter. EDIT: As mentioned by u/Weaponomics, cold showers also stimulate blood flow. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How does an Etch-a-sketch work?"
] | The inside of an etch-a-sketch is filled with a very fine powder that clings to the transparent screen at the front, the 2 knobs direct a small stylus to scrape the powder off of the screen, allowing you to draw. By shaking it, you redistribute the powder and fully coat the front of the screen again. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why couldn't artists 500+ years ago achieve the same level of detail as artists today?"
] | I heard it had a lot to do with the invention / discovery of the camera obscura. This helped people understand perspective / proportions / etc better. Here's a quick article I found about it - but there are a ton of others, videos, books, etc that talk about it in more depth. _URL_0_ |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"What makes some humans generally considered more attractive than others?"
] | It is just a tool of evolution. We are programmed to seek out optimal mates for reproducing, and we can dicern more than just physical attributes from looks. Just over 200 years ago, being obese to morbidly obese was considered very attractive, because it meant their family was wealthy and could afford to eat enough to make them fat, which was an uncommon thing at the time. It isnt even a conscious effort, our subconscious breaks down the subtle meanings and gives us either positive or negative feedback. These days, when someone is obese or morbidly obese (this coming from a former obese man and student of Philosophy, so dont get too offended), it no longer means they are incredibly wealthy, so we do not find it attractive. On the contrary, it typically (not always) shows that they lack discipline, have difficulty setting long term goals, and struggle controlling their impulses, all traits that would effect a partner negativley when trying to reproduce and raise offspring. The mind is a fascinating thing. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Can a piece of toilet paper absorb the same amount of water after a cycle of wet-dry-wet?"
] | Probably not. Toilet paper is designed to break up in water. I would expect the gaps in the fibers, the gaps that hold the water, would collapse as it soaks, leaving less volume for water retention after drying out. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why is it when I'm working on a programming problem, or something with numbers, when I get up and do something else away from the computer for awhile, it comes to much easier when I get back?"
] | I'm certainly no voice on the matter, but I'd venture to say in those cases that tunnel vision is the issue. Taking a breather if you're tunneling is usually the best way to stop tunneling and get back on track. Could be completely wrong though. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"why can I sing reasonably well in my choirboy voice but horribly out of tune in my man voice."
] | All I can think of is that singing in falsetto is utilizing another vocal cords than what causes the deep voice. Since they are muscles, maybe you have not trained your normal voice to sing, while the falsetto one has been chilling there, ready to sing. Trust me, I took singing lessons for 3 years. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"why water completely damages a cell phone when submerged."
] | Electronic circuits are designed to only allow electricity to pass through certain parts at certain times. That's how your phone works. It's a set of boolean functions (1 or 0/true or false). Electricity passes through chip, and it makes a decision such as "and/or". If it's 'and', it sends the signal one way, and if it's 'or', it sends it another way. After it does that, this step is repeated through other logic gates that have other functions that aren't and/or (not/or or any of the many other variants). Once you submerge it into water, it doesn't follow this designed 'trail', and the phone short-circuits. Because water is conductive, the electrical signals go wherever they can, and electronics can't handle that. To make something of a comparison; It's the same reason you get in a line when you're shopping. Imagine if all the customers just threw all their items onto the counter at the same time and talked over each other. The cashier wouldn't know what to do. That's what the submersion is. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How can people argue for mandatory drug testing to receive government benefits? Doesnt this violate the constitution through self incrimination? Doesnt testing for BAC when pulled over also do this?"
] | You are not legally entitled to most government benefits; you must be eligible. If not using illegal drugs is a condition for eligibility, then you can be required to prove that to obtain the benefits. That's not unconstitutional, because you're not being compelled to do anything--it is your choice to seek the benefit of the program. Mandatory tests for intoxication without any suspicion are highly questionable, but that's a very different situation. Going about your lawful business and being required to submit to a test is not the same thing as applying for a benefit and having to submit to a test to prove eligibility. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"the beef between G-Unit and Murder Inc."
] | Basically Ja-Rule (murder inc.) and 50-Cent (G-Unit) took slight jabs at each other, Ja-Rule calling 50 jealous because of the respect Ja has in the hood. 50 and Ja then dissed each other in a couple of songs back to back thus causing each others' groups to beef. Eminem and 50 were real close friends and Eminem talks about how he almost got involved with the beef in his song "Toy Soldiers". He didn't get involved until Ja-Rule said in a song "Em, you claim your mother's a crack head, and Kim (his wife at the time) is a known slut, so what's Hailie (his daughter) gonna be when she grows up?" And nobody talks shit about Em's daughter so Em got involved and verbally tore Ja a new asshole with his song "Nail in the Coffin" and also "Hailie's Revenge". |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"why do computer hackers get a longer/harsher sentence than a murderer would?"
] | Because governments are afraid of hackers. Murderers only kill people. Hackers can kill banks, defense systems, nuclear plants, expose politician's dirty secrets etc. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Since China landed on the moon I've heard talk of helium-3 mining. What are the practical applications of helium-3 and why would we need to go to the Moon to get it?"
] | Helium-3 is used in fusion research, neutron detection, cryogenics, and medical imaging according to wikipedia. Helum-3 is one neutron short of being normal Helium-4. Helium-3 fusion is attractive for a few reasons. First, there are no radioactive byproducts. Also it can lead to direct electrical production as opposed to using fusion to generate steam to drive a generator turbine. So it's theoretically more efficient. Neutron detection is important for detecting radioative materials like plutonium. He3 gets colder than He4, to within a few tenths of absolute zero. If you inhale it it shows up in an MRI and can be used to image the air ways and lung passages. The reason you need to go to the moon to get it is that it's even more rare than regular helium. Helium is light enough to escape Earth's atmosphere and float off into space. He-3 is even lighter. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"In regards to firearms"
] | A lot of differences between weapons are in areas that don't feature so much in games. For example the cost, the weight, the distribution of the weight, whether or not the ammo is the same as for other weapons, the weight of the ammo, how easy it is to take apart and clean, how often it requires cleaning, etc. Even on areas which are shown in game stats (accuracy, damage) there's more or less variation than shown in games. In accuracy there's all sorts of differences between weapons that appear identical (bolt-action rifle users are always harping on about accuracy). Meanwhile, in terms of damage, in the real-world there's a lot less variation than in games, as almost any bullet (maybe not .22 rimfire) is capable of ending someone. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"What would happen to a dead body in space?"
] | It would dry out over time as the liquid boils out of it and, if left in direct sun light long enough, could probably gets some nasty burns. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why do only women wear makeup?"
] | For a variety of reasons, through history, due to biological, cultural, economic and other factors, beauty and sexuality became of larger emphasis for women than for men and so products were made to supposedly enhance one's beauty. Men however do wear makeup. Not as much but many men do. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How exactly does fat exit my body after a workout?"
] | Fat (triglyceride) is made up of Oxygen, Hydrogen and Carbon. When 'burned', the fat is combined with Oxygen from the atmosphere to create CO2, which you exhale. About 85% of the weight you lose is exhaled as CO2. The remaining ~15% is turned into water, which you expel in your urine. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why are 7 and 13 considered lucky and unlucky respectively?"
] | this is a cultural thing and if you travel to various parts of the world you'll find the same does not hold true for them. for instance, Chinese and Japanese consider 4 to be unlucky and not 13. The reason for that specifically, is because some of the pronunciations of 4 are similar or the same as their word for death. 13 may be considered unlucky for many reasons but a common belief is because of the christian religions "last supper" where jesus and his 12 disciples ate... judas, the one that betrayed jesus, was the 13th person to sit at the table. 7 on the other hand may be a rule of 5s type thing... i.e. people looking for certain patterns will eventually see them in just about everything. I also suspect christian religion has something to do with it though... I've heard many times how 6 (specifically 666) is supposed to be the number of the devil and so 7 which is above six, would be the number of god. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Is it even possible to change a U.S Supreme Court ruling?"
] | Is it possible to *change* the ruling? No. The ruling is a single event, in the past - it can't be changed. But the decision can be overriden in a number of ways. 1) Most common - lawmakers in Congress look at the Supreme Court ruling and figure out a way to do what they want to do without violating the Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court 2) The Supreme Court decides it was wrong in the past and issues a new opinion overturning the previous decision 3) Least common - A Constitutional amendment can be passed to make it clear that issue X does or does not violate the Constitution |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why do individuals vomit after a concussion?"
] | Did you know that there is a part of the brain that controls vomitting? See: _URL_0_ When the brain encounters a physical shock, it is possible that this part of the brain becomes triggered. Once that happens, nausea may occur, which sometimes leads to vomitting. Because of the triggering, the brain might be trying to eject (a non-existant) toxin from the stomach. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why isn't there dry human food with all the needed essentials like there is for pets?"
] | Because we don't want it. There is no demand for it and we prefer a varied diet. There is [soylent](_URL_0_) which is a smoothie type thing which is essentially all you need to eat. It claims to have all the nutrients, fats, calories and whatnot a human needs to be able to survive on it alone. It exists, but it isn't exactly revolutionizing the way humans eat. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why is my doctor visit almost double the price when I use my copay and bill it to my insurance?"
] | Insurance companies only pay a fraction of the billed price so it needs to be marked up. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why do christians focus so much on the homosexuality part of leviticus but nothing else; i.e. shell fish, tattoos, not shaving..."
] | Christians don't actually focus on any part of Leviticus. In Christian tradition Leviticus details the original covenant with God that was replaced by Jesus in the New Testament. Christians might mention elements of the Old Testament in a historical sense or to amplify where certain rules came from, but it's not really part of the overarching theology. Christians who condemn homosexuality do so because it's condemned in the New Testament as well. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why has the fasces symbol, which is often associated with fascism, been incorporated by so many official offices and institutions in the United States?"
] | You've got it backwards. The fasces was a symbol of power which the fascists adopted later, just like how the swastika was a symbols before it was adopted by the Nazis. It was a symbol of government power going back to the Roman empire, and the founding fathers, who attempted to emulate Rome, adopted it themselves. Mussolini did the same thing, but it was 200 years after the founding of America. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Prior to radios, satellite imagery, and other military technology, how did opposing armies locate eachother for battle?"
] | So, when you think of things like this, you're probably thinking of something like in the movies, where a few guys are moving through the woods or jungle or wherever and can hide their tracks. That's not an army. An army is *thousands* of people. A scout can find traces of 4,000 people walking somewhere -- either from just the massive amounts of tracks left, or the fact that someone will notice thousands of people on their way to somewhere, and one of those people will tell you about it. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"What is the feeling of semi-weakness people sometimes get when they are cold?"
] | At cold temperatures, oxygen is more tightly bound to the hemoglobin in blood and does not release as easily. This slower rate of release leads to a lower amount of oxygen available to your muscles, making contraction more difficult. Also when we are cold, blood is conserved around our vital organs to ensure our body continues to function, but this part may not be relevant. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"If Tupac is dead, who receives the royalties when someone listens to his music? And same for other deceased artists"
] | Tupac's estate was managed by his mother until she died a few years ago. Control of the estate then passed on to a a trustee that his mother appointed before her death. His mother and now the trustee was the beneficiary of all financial gains from his estate as well as empowered to make legal decisions regarding copyrights, release of previously unreleased music...etc. Most artists have similar situations in place. Many artists and musicians continue to make millions of dollars a year even decades after their deaths, and they usually have wills that provided instructions for how to manage their estates. For those who die with no will, a court usually grants control of the estate to the next-of-kin, or may divide it up between close relatives if there's a dispute, although disputes can drag on for years. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"[BIOLOGY] Why does it hurt when theres air passing through you? Flatulence meaning.."
] | Excessive gas literally causes your intestines to bloat and stretch. Most of the pain comes from the muscular contractions of your intestines trying to squeeze air instead of digested food which results in cramping pains. A good fart should make things feel better :) |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"If attorneys have a monopoly on the practice of law, why are they so unwilling to help average citizens?"
] | If no one was injured (mentally, physically, or monetarily) then there is no case, so that means that you aren't looking to hire legal representation. No chance of pro bono or conditional work from the firm. What you were looking for in those cases was legal advice. Legal advice is never free from a law firm. It is one of the services that the firm offers, and unless the firm agrees to take you on as a client ($$$) they are not going to waste their time or get involved in the situation. Additionally, I've heard that there can be legal repercussions for a firm that gives out bad advice to clients, so no law firm is going to take that risk without payment. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why drug treatment seems to be so popular in US for various psychological disorders ?"
] | Because it makes people money, and it's the answer people want to hear. Most people don't want to be told that dealing with certain problems is going to take an immense amount of work and time, that things are not going to immediately be better. Of course, there are a great deal of disorders than can only be effectively treated with medicine, but those are not the most common. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How is the ratio between different currencies calculated?"
] | Short answer - the market. The exchange rate is decided by people buying and selling currency. So the market thinks that 1 Euro is = to $1.25. Therefore that's what the rate is. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"When a meteorite strikes a planet and leaves a crater, why is there a big hole but no meteorite in it?"
] | When it hits the planet, there is so much energy it literally explodes. That's why there's a crater and nothing bigger than meteorite gravel left behind. Think about tossing a snowball at a wall. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"what the deal is with Hugo Chavez?"
] | I know this is not an actual answer but if you are interested you should check out a documentary called "South of the border", its not really good but the first minutes about venezuela are spot on. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why is what's going on in Ukraine right now not already considered war?"
] | It's not a war because Russia hasn't formally declared war on the entire country and has only moved units into the eastern portion currently being contested. If they insert unmarked units there, it's not war because they still officially deny that the units are theirs, meaning that they're supporting the rebels by proxy. Ukraine, NATO, and most external observers know that they're Russian, but even Russia doesn't want a formal declaration of war. It's what the new kids call a 'low intensity conflict'. This is different from full-scale conventional warfare in that they are restrained from using their full capabilities for political reasons, and their operational area does not include the entire country or engaging its national forces. Granted, this particular conflict is going to be a lot hotter than what are normally considered 'low intensity', but it looks as though Russia doesn't want to commit to rolling over the Ukrainians with their considerable amount of available forces. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Who is the USA so in debt to?"
] | This article explains it: _URL_0_ Most of the debt is owned by a domestic organization called "social security". I'm assuming you Americans know what that is. Some sort of social safety net provider? Anyway bottom line is US debt is denominated in USD and the federal reserve can print unlimited quantities of that so you are never in danger of defaulting on your debt. Other countries have their external debt denominated in foreign currencies which they can't print themselves so they get into trouble because of that. But America doesn't have that problem. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why do man made satellites, such as the ISS, appear bright like stars when they pass overhead even though they have no signifigant light source?"
] | If you ever look at the ISS sighting times for your city, you will notice they are always early morning or late evening - never the middle of the night. This is because the sky has to be dark to see it, but the spacecraft must still be in view of the sun to reflect its light. When you watch the ISS go by what often happens is that it appears over the horizon, travels in an arc for a few minutes and then just dissapears, this is because the station has crossed the terminator - it has passed into the shadow of the earth. _URL_0_ |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Can black holes bend light from planets so we are actually seeing them in the wrong place?"
] | This is an occurrence known as gravitational lensing and isn't specific to black holes, but any object with significant mass. Objects whose light is bent do then appear in the "wrong" place. We can even see objects (stars, galaxies) that would've been otherwise obstructed (blocked) from vision if lensing didn't occur. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why does tomato ketchup taste nothing like tomatoes"
] | Ketchup contains a lot of sugar and vinegar, both of which will mask the flavor of a tomato, not to mention also mask the flavor of the food you use it on. There's usually plenty of sodium in ketchup as well, which will overwhelm your tastebuds, hiding the tomato flavor even further. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why do organized crime groups(especially well-known ones, such as Mafias etc.) still exist and thrive? Why are they not being taken down?"
] | In Italy, it depends on politics. Well funded organizations are able to infiltrate the politic environment at various levels, by electing or corruping politicians. In return the organization give money to the electors before and after the election. Usually when a group is taken down, it's because it has lost the favor of the politician in command. Various organizations tend to form "cartels" in order to improve their business avoiding direct competition. Feel free to get more informations about our organized crime on wikipedia. _URL_0_ |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why is the current generation waiting for the baby boomers to die out?"
] | They're the ones running the world. They have all the jobs, all the money, run all the businesses & control the government. The younger generations, even into their 30s and 40s, are left with a world run by their parents that they can't change. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why don't highlighter colors exist on anything digital?"
] | Highlighter colors are a type of [blacklight-reactive ink](_URL_0_). They reflect light like normal, but they *also* absorb ultraviolet light and re-remit it at a visible wavelength. That means that the ink appears brighter than it should given the level of ambient light, making it look like it's glowing. Computer monitors are already glowing, so you can't really have this type of phenomenon with a lit screen. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Germans eat raw pork, almost nobody gets sick"
] | I believe that prosciutto is also raw pork that has been carefully prepared and aged. In the case of Mett, > Unless pre-packaged, the German Hackfleischverordnung ("minced meat directive") permits mett to be sold only on the day of production. That is likely to keep it safe to eat, and it may be subject to more rigorous testing standards as well. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"My brother just came in and took me to say silk 5 times and spell it. Then he asked me what do cows drink and I responded \"milk\" even though it is water. Why did I say this?"
] | In addition to what /r/katembers says, you're not actually wrong. Calves drink milk. Calves are baby cows. Therefore cows drink milk. So feel free to go right back in there, whack your dumb brother on the side of his fool head, and pronounce this truth to demonstrate your accuracy. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why metal is forbidden from the microwave."
] | Not really an expert on this, but basically the way microwaves work is they send a lot of microwaves (duh) across the heating chamber. This makes the particles of items inside move a lot faster and therefore raise the temperature of the item. This works fine for foods etc, but for metals accelerating the particles means creating electricity. All that electricity cannot be contained inside the metal (since it is a conductor, which means it only passes the current along). This causes the electricity to escape in form of sparks. I don't think I need to explain to you why sparks flying freely inside an electronic device can be dangerous ;) Hope I made it clear enough? |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How does a hose work with an attachment? How does it not explode off? Does the water pressure stop?"
] | > Does the water pressure stop? Pressure is static, it doesn't change. When allowed the escape the water will constantly flow out but when stopped it doesn't continually build up. Normal water pressure is about 40-45 psi. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Can someone explain the fall of the Soviet Union (like I am five)?"
] | It was extremely complex, but some simple reasons are: - The Soviet occupation of Afganistan, which was an incredible failure, costs a ton of money, and left the nation demoralized. - The arms race with America, which further drove up the nation's debt. - Internal conflict, economic troubles, problems with the fundamental basis of Communism - Several Soviet leaders, mostly Gorbachev, enacted [reforms](_URL_1_) to attempt to modernize, and head towards capitalism. This kills the crab. So ultimately, it wasn't just Reagan smashing the Berlin wall with his bare hands. It was a long, complicated series of wars, economic woes, and debt. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why don't game AIs use self-learning behavior like they do with robotics simulations?"
] | Genetic algorithms (not Markov chains) are not without their problems, but I think you fundamentally miss the point of game AI here. It's not supposed to be good at it's job. It's supposed to be believable. You want the guards to act like real human guards, for example. I can tell you pretty categorically that the easiest way to do that is to programme them. Genetic algorithms might lead you to an *effective* solution, but would it look natural or believable? Would it be enjoyable to play against? Probably not. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"The ridiculously high and growing suicide rate in Japan."
] | Suicide rates among males have always been high in Japan. The culture praises both a collectivist mentality to supporting the group, plus a strong sense of personal honor. When a man supposes that his utility to the group is less than his contribution (due to age, infirmary, failure or circumstances beyond his control) and/or his honor has been compromised in a way that it can not be recovered, suicide is considered a way to recover that honor or cease to be a burden. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why doesn’t stereo volume stop at a point before distortion occurs in stock speakers? Conversely, why don’t stock speakers hold up to the capability of their stereo counterparts?"
] | Manufacturers often make more variety of speaker than head unit, so low quality speakers are often paired with more powerful head units. They want to keep the overall system inexpensive, but they're not able to get a cheaper head unit. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why do my eyes water when I do a really satisfying wee?"
] | A great piss can beat an ejaculation in my honest opinion. You know that piss that you have been holding onto since breaking the piss seal 56 minutes earlier at the train station. And in that 56 minutes those last minute traveller beers have mutated into an agonising need to evacuate your bladder only exacerbated by the constant rocking of the carriage. When you arrive at your destination, a quick sprint is followed by a godly piss lasting what seems like hours, you can only breath a sigh of relief as this orgasmic piss escapes... thats what I live for |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why do we sneeze sometimes as a response to pain?"
] | The nerves in your face are very close together and sometimes a signal on one can cause an adjacent one to fire. Same reason some people sneeze in bright light. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Dimples on a golf ball, how do they work?"
] | There was a wonderful mythbusters on this, I can't quite remember the mechanics however. The dimples reduce drag, which is a force in opposition to the balls movement caused by the air around the ball. I believe, but I can not be certain, that the dimmples break up the 'profile' of the ball when it flies through the air. This causes less of a slipstream tail behind the ball, which is where much of the energy gets consumed by drag. But I would have to check my facts and I'm sadly on my phone. The mythbusters episode was quite good though if you can find it, they covered a car in dimples by the end of the test to see if it would get better mileage |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why does video compression make red so pixelated?"
] | This can be an effect of "Chroma subsampling": _URL_0_ In ELI5, more compression is done to the color parts of images/video than to the black-and-white parts of it. This saves a lot of space but is not _that_ noticable to us usually. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why is Republican leadership voting to approve Obama's budget?"
] | There are several parts to the Bipartisan Budget Agreement. * It eases spending caps for FY 2016 and FY 2017. That includes defense spending which is huge for defense hawk Republicans. * It takes the possibility of going beyond the debt limit/extraordinary measures off the table which provides stability in the marketplace. This is beneficial to Republicans who understand what would happen if there market meltdown if the U.S. credit is downgraded again. * It "Cleans the barn" for Speaker Ryan. That is to say it gives Speaker Ryan a relatively clean slate to start working on bigger spending cuts and mandatory spending reforms with the Freedom Caucus. So "establishment" types are helping Ryan start on stronger footing. * And on top of all of that, the spending cap increases are offset elsewhere in the bill. That includes mandatory reforms in Medicare, Social Security, and Social Security Disability Insurance. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Can ice get old? If so, how long does it take and what happens to it?"
] | Ummm glaciers? Pretty sure those are like upwards of 100000+ years old and are still palatable |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why are there \"runts\" of, for instance, a litter of puppies?"
] | They were just born smaller then the rest, and when it comes to feeding time they get pushed to the side by the bigger puppies. Why it happens is just genetics, they got the short straw and ended up a little smaller, aka they are the Runt of the litter. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How does Flonase work?"
] | Flonase is fluticasone, a corticosteroid. Basically it's a synthetic derivative from a class of chemical naturally occurring in your body which function to regulate immune response, among other things. When you have a stuffy nose due to allergies is because your immune system is over-reacting to the allergen. Fluticasone acts on immune cells etc to reduce their activity (anti-inflammatory / immunosuppressant). For example, the excess fluid is often caused by substances released by immune cells that cause your nose blood vessels to become leaky, so fluid can get out and clog up your nose. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why aren't there any well known businesses that existed before the industrial era?"
] | [There are a few](_URL_0_), but most companies from that era just didn't last into the modern age. A few breweries and textile operations have been around for hundreds of years, but all the plague doctors and sail-riggers are out of business. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"when I go to delete or move a file open in another program why doesn't Windows tell me which program I should close?"
] | Because it's simply not the default behaviour of the OS. The phrase you're looking for is "which process has a handle to this file" - there are a number of utilities, such as Process Explorer by Sysinternals, that can illuminate handles for you |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why do some people call muslims moslems?"
] | I think it's just a language thing. That first syllable in "Muslim" is a sound that you won't really find in the English language. Some say Moslem, some say Mooslim, when it's really right down the middle. Muslim. Source: Brown person who speaks brown person languages that contains sounds problematic for English-only speakers. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How does an Anti Virus know whats a Virus and what isnt?"
] | It typically has two layers of defense. The first is the actual signature database. It's a bunch of "wanted" posters, a catalogue of *known* malware. The second layer is searching for suspicious activity. Executables that run themselves automatically, request access to key systems and otherwise do shady stuff are going to be tagged as suspicious, and possibly relayed to the antivirus's producers for analysis. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Does the numerical order of dimensions matter? Does time need to be, explicitly, the 4th dimension?"
] | Not really. The first three, length, width, and depth were accepted as "dimensions" after René Descartes described how to find something's location. But as theoretical mathematics provided new things that counted as "dimensions," they just tacked it onto the list. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why does Obamacare get so much bad press?"
] | The Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) is not the same thing as universal healthcare. It has a lot of issues, but it has also solved a lot of problems. There is definitely room for reform, but I don't condemn it, nor do I think all liberals feel one way or the other on it. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why do race cars omit airbags in their cars?"
] | The purpose of an airbag is to keep your head from slamming against the dashboard and causing an injury. It is necessary because the seatbelts we use do not fully prevent your body from flailing about. Race car drivers are fully secured with a system of harnesses and don't move as violently during an accident. An airbag would not provide any additional safety. I'm not an expert, so I'm not exactly sure how it could be more dangerous. Perhaps it would prevent safety officials from getting the driver out of a wrecked car. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why do some dogs not eat over their bowl?"
] | It has to do with the "fitness" of the dog. i.e., an alpha dog would not do this. This is because in the wild, the stronger dog will have taken a bigger part in the hunting of the food, simultaneously less threatened overall, while the less fit dogs in the pack will likely obtain the "scraps" of meat and retreat to eat it without fear of losing it. It's instinct and evolution, really. _URL_0_ |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How high and far could you jump on Pluto?"
] | Gravity on Pluto is about 1/15 of gravity on Earth, or about half of the Moon's gravity. If we assume you can put the same energy into your jump as you can on Earth, you'll leave the ground at the same speed and jump 15 times higher than you can on Earth. You're also in the air for 15 times longer, so if you also take off with the same horizontal speed as you can manage on Earth, you'll jump 15 times further. I suspect that with enough practice (and really good running spikes) you'd actually be able to run a bit faster on Pluto because you could put more of the energy from each stride into forward motion and less into upwards movement. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"What would really happen if everyone tried to empty their bank accounts all at once?"
] | When banks started to run out of physical cash to hand out they would freeze all accounts and close the bank for the day (or week). That is what they did during the Depression rushes. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why was/is there no special prosecutor for the top secret emails or Flynn unmasking or Clinton foundation?"
] | There have been no credible issues with the Clinton Foundation. It's routinely one of the top rated charities in the world and publishes audited financial statements. _URL_0_ _URL_1_ |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"When did a tax break (\"we'll take less of your money\") become synonymous with a subsidy (\"we'll give you someone else's money\")?"
] | I cannot answer the "when" part but can address the "why" part. People think of a subsidy as a deviation from the *status quo,* not from a baseline of zero. So if government has decided to tax everyone at 10% and this becomes the norm, and *then* government decides to cut a certain party's taxes, it can be thought of as mathematically equivalent to taxing that party at 10% and also giving them a payment. Since this is ELI5 I will make no attempt to turn this into a discussion of right and wrong, etc., but that's why the term is seen by some people as valid in this usage. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why do I often wake up a few seconds or minutes before my alarm goes off?"
] | Your'e body recognizes patterns and acts accordingly. If you ever want to try to maximize your sleep schedule, try going to bed and waking up at the same time 7 days a week. I started around new years and haven't used an alarm since March. Humans are awesome. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"The four-color-map problem and how it was proven mathematically that a flat map on a plane will never need more than four colors"
] | > [The use of a program to prove the 4-color theorem will not change mathematics - it merely demonstrates that the theorem, a challenge for a century, is probably not important to mathematics.](_URL_0_) |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Whats going on with the euro??"
] | If you find out please drop an email to Brussels. They'd like to know as well. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"As a heavy alcoholic why my hands shake when I'm sober but don't shake when I drink."
] | Alcohol works by altering the level of neurotransmitters, or making them work better or worse in your system. There are two kinds of neurotransmitters, inhibitory and excitatory. The inhibitiory kind are enhanced by the alcohol, and the excitatory are diminished. These alterations cause the nerves that are firing off your muscles to also calm down. This is why the shaking goes away, as well as the other calming effects that alcohol produces. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"What is DNS cache poisoning?"
] | So imagine you've got a massive phone book with everyone's names and phone numbers in. If you think you might need a particular persons number often (say, your friend 'Bob'), you might write a copy of Bobs number down on a sticky note instead of going and taking the time to find their number in the phone book each time. It saves you time and effort. This is your 'cache'. Now imagine that your evil house mate comes along and replaces that sticky note with a different one with the same name but a different phone number. Next time you go to call Bob, you don't bother with the book and just look at the sticky note that you thought you had. Only its been tampered with, and thus you end up calling someone else. And that person you call pretends to be Bob. Now without realising it you could be telling someone else something you only originally intended to tell Bob. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How does the martian surface have pebbles?"
] | Weathering still takes place on Mars, it just does so much more slowly than it does on Earth. That said, water is believed to have been active fairly recently (in geological terms) in Gale Crater (Curiosity's site), and those pebbles may very well be water-deposited (some are believed to have been, though I don't know if these particular pebbles were). |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why do most of African countries are still dirt poor despite having massive natural resources.?"
] | * Corruption * Neo colonialism (especially on the "strategic ressources") * Instability * Countries region vs ethnic region * Not so much arable land (dryness, concentration in some places) and generally global harsh conditions. You could check this [out.](_URL_0_) |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Those websites that don't let you navigate away from, close, or go to a different page."
] | Web browsers have a few features that allow webmasters to program things to happen when someone tries to leave. They are *intended* to be used for *good*; for example, you have an online word processor, and if you leave before saving your work, it can warn you that it will be lost. But they can also be used for *evil*. It massively pisses off users, so no reputable site would do it, but many sketchy sites have no reputation to lose, so they use it for one last chance to try to sell you something. You may have to click "no" a few times, but the people that make web browsers are aware of this tactic, and after a few they give you an option to ignore any further attempts by the site to keep you there. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Can someone explain this effect where a camera picks up the \"reflection\" of the eclipse, but not the eclipse itself? (Video and images inside)"
] | It's lens flare. Lens flare happens when you point a camera at a very bright light source, usually the sun. Some of the light from that source bounces around the lens, creating multiple images of the source along with rings, starbursts and other effects. A movie camera has a very complicated lens made up of many parts, so it can create pretty spectacular lens flare -- traditionally, directors and camera operators did everything they could to minimize lens flare, but these days it's often created deliberately to add atmosphere. Your phone has a very simple lens, so you're only getting the one reflection. (There may be a couple of others that are just too faint to see.) The light source itself -- the sun -- is still far too bright for the sensor, so it's overexposed and smudged out so you can't see the eclipse at all. But the reflection is much, much fainter so you can see the shape very clearly indeed. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why do fans cool us down if they're just moving the hot air around?"
] | you make air hotter and wetter. Yes you, you stinky human. You're sweating. you're producing heat. These things move from you to the air. But they move slower, the closer you are to the heat and moisture of the air. Heat and moisture transmit more readily to the air the greater the difference. So the advantage of the fan, is it takes the hot wet air you've gone and contributed to, and moves it away. Instead you're left with new, cooler, dryer air. And so your body can move heat and wetness to it faster. Thus cooling you. |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"Why does my brain prefer songs that rhyme to ones that don't?"
] | It's probably a lot more to do with how you identify rhythm in song. You like the once that rhyme because that adds to the rhythm of the song, and is easier for you to identify. The language center in your brain might be slightly larger than the music one |
[
"Provided a user question, retrieve the highest voted answers on Reddit ELI5 forum",
"How come China population is so huge if Mao's Great Leap Forward killed 45 Million just less than 60 years ago?"
] | China's population had been in the hundreds of millions for [centuries](_URL_1_) before that. A lot of people died under Mao, but eventually they got things like food production under control, the [birth rate](_URL_0_) spiked and people didn't die of famine, so you had huge population increases. In the end, their population roughly doubled over the second half of the 20th century, which isn't actually so far removed from the US, which saw it's own population grow by about 85% over the same period of time. |
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