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CMV: South African Apartheid only ended because because Afrikaners had modern Western European values
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So I was thinking about totalitarian and fascist regimes and it got me to thinking about which group gave up power rather peacefully. While my knowledge is pretty weak the only thing I can think about is South Africa during the apartheid era and even then it had unique characteristics. Apartheid only ended when the fairly educated and Western influence Afrikaners themselves voluntarily gave up their minority rule and allowed the blacks to essentially take over, from what I read it was mainly because of sanctions and massive internal guilt because they were oppressing people. The thing is that I just cant imagine any other group of people outside of Western Europeans and Americans to do the same thing. I Imagine if somehow the Iraqis under Saddam Hussein were in the the same exact position as the Afrikaners then they wouldn't have bowed down to international condemnation and instead would have massacred the blacks no matter how many sanctions were in place. The same goes for any other group, Turkey would have commited a genocide just like they did with Armenians and have heavily oppressed their Kurds, Serbians would have killed the blacks off just like they did with many Bosnians and as a Filipino I genuinely believe if Filipinos were put in a similar apartheid situation then a wide scale massacre would occur since I just dont think we would give up power. Basically Western Europeans and Americans(with Canada) believe that liberty and freedom is a right for all and that is why Afrikaners ended apartheid but for many others freedom is a privilege and genocide is an available option to quell unruly groups of people so that my people will persevere.
_____
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| 17 |
For starters, "Afrikaners" generally refers to Dutch-descended, Afrikaans-speaking white South Africans (with Afrikaans being a daughter language of Dutch). Is that what you used the word to refer to, or do you mean white South Africans in general?
>I Imagine if somehow the Iraqis under Saddam Hussein were in the the same exact position as the Afrikaners then they wouldn't have bowed down to international condemnation and instead would have massacred the blacks no matter how many sanctions were in place. The same goes for any other group, Turkey would have commited a genocide just like they did with Armenians and have heavily oppressed their Kurds, Serbians would have killed the blacks off just like they did with many Bosnians...
Can you elaborate on why you believe that? Right now it sounds like your reasoning is "it's in their nature to do that."
| 12 |
[MCU] (spoilers) Has Thanos given any consideration to repopulation?
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Let's take Earth as an example. Assuming the population at the time was around 7.5 billion. So Thanos snaps out half, dropping it to around 3.75. And let's assume that the 0.75 died in the resulting chaos (car crashes, plane crashes and so on).
So that's a remaining population of 3 billion. That's around the world's population in the 50s. Meaning that it's only a human lifetime before the planet repopulates and the problem of overpopulation starts all over again.
Is Thanos going to re do the snap every half century or something?
| 15 |
Yes. He assumes that everyone in the universe will know exactly what he did and why, and be so grateful for their reprieve that they will start limiting their population by conventional means.
His nickname's not "the rational titan" for a reason.
| 53 |
Why does an electron and a proton have the same magnitude of charge even though the electron is a lot smaller than the proton?
| 15 |
A proton is a composite particle made up of 3 valence quarks and many many more "sea quarks" and gluons. The charges of sea quarks cancel because there are as many sea antiquarks as there are sea quarks for any given flavor. The gluons carry no charge. So all of the charge of the proton comes from the three valence quarks, two of which have the "up" flavor and the third has "down" flavor. The up quark carries two-thirds the charge of an electron but of the opposite sign (2/3 e). The down quark carries a third of the electron charge with the same sign (-1/3 e). So it adds up as follows.
2/3 e + 2/3 e - 1/3 e = e.
For some reason, charge always comes in packets of +e/3 or -e/3. Dirac has showed that this "charge quantization" is a necessary condition for the existence of magnetic monopoles, but we haven't found them yet.
| 18 |
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CMV: The American way of naming big numbers is actually superior to the European standard
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For those who may not know, most of Europe uses something called the long scale as opposed to the American short scale. Short scale looks like this:
Million
Billion
Trillion
Quadrillion etc.
Long scale looks like this:
Million
Milliard
Billion
Billiard
Trillion
Quadrillion etc.
It makes no sense! How is trillion 5th in line when it literally has 'tri' in it, same goes for every other number that follows because milliard and billiard completely throw off and destroy the logic of the *entire* naming convention. It's absolutely infuriating.
Mi, bi, tri, quad, quin, sex, sept other than million not following the convention (that's fine because it doesn't affect wether billion is second or not), that's basically counting in Latin (with some liberties), so why would you count the same prefix twice in a row, twice? What's the point of that naming convention when you ruin it right out of the gate?
The metric system is obviously better than the imperial system but we have to admit that the Americans have us beat here.
Edit: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names\_of\_large\_numbers#Standard\_dictionary\_numbers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_large_numbers#Standard_dictionary_numbers) threw me off. Trilliard, quadrilliard and all the rest are actually a thing. So this post is largely based on misinformation. My view is now that either the American system makes more sense, or the European system should change thusly:
Don't give 1.000.000 a special name and call it a thousand thousand. 1.000.000.000 will be a million, 1.000.000.000.000 is a thousand million and 1.000.000.000.000.000 is a billion, etc.. 765.384.427.091.658 for example is seven-hundred and sixty-five thousand three-hundred and eighty-four million four-hundred and twenty-seven thousand and ninety-one thousand six-hundred and fifty-eight. It's a mouthful but it makes more theoretic sense.
​
Edit 2: Actually, let's just scrap thousand altogether because it doesn't fit the metric system. 1.000 should be a million, 1.000.000 a billion, 1.000.000.000 a trillion, seems like the superior system to me, and I don't think I'm even kidding.
| 25 |
In the European system a million is one million. A billion is two millions i.e. (1 million)². A trillion is 3 millions i.e. (1 million)³.
The American system is based on 1000 instead of 1 million but it's numbers are all off by one. Million is 1 but 1000². Billion is 2 but 1000³. Trillion is 3 but is 1000⁴.
So the European system is better because it doesn't have this off by one error.
| 16 |
[Marvel Comics] Do we ever get Bruce's reaction to planet hulk/world war hulk?
|
What kicked off World War Hulk is the Illuminati try to send the Hulk to an empty planet where he can live in peace. As they tend to in comics, stuff happens and things go wrong. If I remember correctly the Hulk had actually made peace with their decision when he became champion of Skarr (until he thought they blew up his family). They also mention they couldn't risk asking Banner incase he said no, but Banner takes a bunch of precautions against the Hulk hurting people, including having Hawkeye kill him to stop the Hulk coming out. After the events of the series did Banner ever say whether he thought it was a good plan or not?
| 17 |
You see, when Hulk and Banner crash landed on Skarr they actually made peace with each other to survive, so Banner knew what happened because he was there working together with the Hulk.
In World War Hulk we even get a scene where Dr. Strange travels into Banners physique to calm down the raging Hulk and talks to Bruce who inot only knows what's going on, but also calls Hulk's wife his wife.
Tl,dr: Banner knows what's happening and is not only complicit, but might also be partly responsible for it.
| 29 |
[Star Wars] Could Obi-Wan have turned Anakin on Mustafar by any means?
|
"Anakin, I loved you like a brother. I won't fight you. If you think I've done wrong, kill me in cold blood" [throws down light saber]
?
| 35 |
if he got there before padme maybe, after Anakin started choking padme for refusing to go along with his delusions i think he'd see any attempt to persuade him as trickery or lies.
Before Padme he might have a chance since the thing that seemed to set Anakin of against Obi wan personally was his paranoia that he turned Padme against him, even then i think Anakin at that mental state would just see any final appeal as Obi wan holding him back once again like he did as a padawan
| 33 |
ELI5: Why is it that people who are woken up in the middle of a nap seem panicked and confused?
| 330 |
You have sleep cycles that alter your physiological states. If you wake up from the middle of one, your physiological state can be quite different from awake (lower core temp, different brain waves etc.), so you don't deal with the situation in a normal awake way.
| 118 |
|
[King Kong 2005] If the crew of the Venture had known about the various dangerous creatures they would encounter, which guns and other weapons available at the time would have been the best choice to take with them?
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Edit-Based on the [wiki](https://kingkong.fandom.com/wiki/SS_Venture) of the SS Venture, I’m going to assume there were around 50 crew members in total. Based off of this, in addition to what weapons they would use, how do you think they would have been distributed?
| 46 |
Well, they actually *did* bring a surprisingly decent number of some of the firearms they should have brought— M1928 Thompson’s. The ‘ole Chicago Typewriter.
They also would have been better served to bring along M1918 BARs; the .30-06 round would go a longer way to taking down the bigger Predators while also being capable of high volumes of fire
To deal with something like Kong & the larger dinosaurs, they’d be smart to have some “elephant guns” along for the ride— large caliber, very powerful rifles. The .416 Rigby, based on the Mauser rifle, would be a good choice considering they had actual Mausers in the ship’s surprisingly well stocked armoury. (For some perspective, a .30-06 like what’s fired from the BAR can be used to hunt virtually any big game in North America. It’s only a little underpowered for things like elephants, rhinos, etc. The Rigby .416 has nearly twice the energy when fired. Big holes)
They’d be even better off if they had mounted, crew-served weapons like the M1919 Browning (a belt fed .30-06) or the M2 Browning in .50 BMG, which had been developed after WWI and was in service by 1933.
However, those would post *massive* logistical challenges to trek through the jungle. So, a few elephant guns, and the rest armed with BARs and Tommy guns. Shotguns like the the Winchester Model 1897 would also be useful for the cramped conditions of the jungle, and are arguably more feasible than the BARs and Elephant guns. For sidearms, I’d recommend C96 Mausers, for volume of fire, but the M1911 and similar autoloading handguns would be sufficient
The problem isn’t so much that they didn’t have the right guns— again, lots of Tommy guns— but that they were walking into a giant nightmare full of creatures that ambushed them in swarms and/or laughed at bullets. Their best course of action, knowing what they were walking in to, would be to *not* go to that island.
And, with that in mind, time to go have some fun with the old King Kong video game for PS2 lol
| 44 |
I'm pretty sure that almost nobody ACTUALLY believes in hell. CMV
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Let's assume we're talking about the Christian tradition here.
I don't believe in hell. But if I thought that hell was actually a literally real place where, according to my behavior in life, I might be tortured for eternity, I would live my life in a very, very different way. I wouldn't just bank on getting into heaven, saying "eh, I'm probably being a decent enough guy." I would give all my money to the poor and dedicate my life to helping those in need. And that wouldn't be a difficult decision at all. *It would be a no-brainer.*
So these people that say they believe in hell, yet go about their lives much like I do -- not doing EVIL things but focusing on wealth, having premarital sex, enjoying idle pleasures instead of contributing meaningfully to the world, etc etc -- can't REALLY believe there's a danger of going to hell, right? At the very least, they probably doubt enough to say "yeah, my religion says there's a hell, but just in case it's all nonsense, I'm gonna live it up while I'm here."
| 57 |
If you are talking about the Christian version of hell, then Christians don't believe that you can avoid hell simply by doing charitable deeds ... most of them don't believe that people are judged and segregated according to their good or bad deeds, they believe that we are *all* sinners and that we *all* deserve to go to hell, and the only way to avoid it is to repent and ask God to forgive us and save us, and yes, also to pledge to follow God's will, but acknowledging that we will keep failing.
| 60 |
ELI5: how can TOR, or other proxy tools, provide anonymity, when all the traffic, howsoever directed, goes from our computer to the internet via the ISP?
| 39 |
Lets say that Adam wants to send a letter to Zack. The only way to do this is to give it to Larry to deliver. The problem is that he doesn't trust Larry not to read the letter, so what does he do? Well, he establishes a code between himself and Zack, encodes the letter and sends it. Now Larry can deliver the letter but can't read it. That is the basis of encryption.
The problem there is that while Larry can't read the letter, he still knows the letter is being mailed to Zach. We can fix this by sending the letter to Carol first. We set up a new code with Carol and send her a letter that says (in code), "Send this letter to Zach". Now Larry can deliver the letter without knowing the contents _and_ without knowing the recipient.
Now, what happens if we don't fully trust Carol either? Well, we can get _another_ person involved - Dan. We set up the same system - we send a coded letter to Carol that says, "Send this letter to Dan". Dan gets the letter, decodes it and reads, "Send this letter to Zach." Now _no one_ in the entire chain knows the full story; Larry knows the sender, Dan knows the recipient, and Carol only knows the intermediaries.
In this example, you are Adam, the website you want to go to is Zach, Larry is your ISP and Carol/Dan are Tor nodes. Your ISP knows you are connecting to a Tor node but has no idea what data you are sending nor who you are sending it to. Each of the intermediary Tor nodes knows the previous node, but not the origin or destination. The final node knows the destination, but nothing before the node that send the request.
Since no individual node knows all the information, you are protected from any individual finding out the whole story - the only way for any given person to learn who the sender and recipient were is to get _every_ node to agree to give up the data and put the pieces together - something that is near impossible to do given the number of Tor nodes out there and their commitment to privacy.
| 115 |
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[The Egg]What will happen when I refuse to get reincarnated and instead decide to stay in the after life where I can enjoy all human knowledge?
| 19 |
If you’re done living every life that’s ever been, then you’re ready to be born into the next form of existence, the universe of the Creator. Whatever that is, you’ll carry the experiences of untold billions with you into that future.
Worth noting, reincarnation doesn’t appear to be optional. You don’t get to decide to stay in that place, when you die you briefly meet your Creator and then you are sent along your way to live again. Only when you have lived every human life throughout the span of the universe will you be ready to emerge into the existence beyond. All of the lives, every single one, short to long, end to beginning. No shortcuts, no skips. Every human life. Just you.
On your way, then. :)
| 25 |
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ELI5: How are nuclear power plants "better" than renewable energy sources like hydroelectricity and wind generators?
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Edit: Thanks for all the replies, very insightful!
| 17 |
* you can put a nuclear power plant just about anywhere, hydroelectric is very limited, wind and solar are somewhat limited
* hydroelectric requires dams that can be environmentally disruptive
* nuclear is on 24/7, wind and solar are on and off unpredictably, and hydroelectric can vary seasonally
* nuclear takes up less space than wind and solar
| 32 |
[FUTURAMA] How did Zapp Brannigan become such a high ranking official is he didn’t even finish the run in boot camp and is clearly inadequate?
| 242 |
What makes a man fit to lead? Skills? Knowledge? The ability to finish an obstacle course? No! It's the ability to deliver orders in a deep commanding voice and look handsome while doing so. Why Brannigan is a decorated leader. He defeated an army of killbots by sending wave after wave of his own men, knowing they had a pre-set kill limit.
| 456 |
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Leaving academia with no idea where to go?
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I’m a TT professor at an R1 in the US, about halfway into my tenure clock. In brief, I kind of suck at research and am very unlikely to get tenure (I’ll probably pass mid tenure review, because to fail that here you need to have almost literally nothing to show for yourself).I’ve considered quitting but haven’t because I have no idea what I would transition *to*. I’m taking an accounting course this semester, which I’m really enjoying, and I could go back for that full-time (to be CPA eligible), but financially that doesn’t make a lot of sense, as I’m in my 30s and need to save for retirement. I’ve also considered just running out the tenure clock and trying to check off the requirements of a career change, but honestly even trying to half-ass this job is a 40-hour workweek at least.
Thoughts?
Thanks!
| 27 |
Do you like teaching enough where it's worth considering going to a "lower tier" university or college where teaching tends to be more important and research requirements much less?
You could start applying for those kinds of jobs.
Unless you don't like to teach. Then maybe start leaning on some contacts from grad school who went non-academic? Could you do research for government where publication isn't always the goal?
You can also see if your alumni association from your grad school has networking events and whatnot. A lot of that stuff has gone online in this COVID era.
Just some thoughts.
| 18 |
ELI5: Why don't you hear about "fair trade" or "single source" when it comes to hop farmers for beer and grape farmers for wine, but you hear it all the time when it comes to coffee bean farmers?
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You always hear about coffee bean farmers getting ripped off and the initiative for consumers to help alleviate this issue by only buying fair trade or single source or both. Why don't you hear about these issues with grapes or hops for example?
| 1,720 |
Fair trade is mostly to protect international farmers. They get ripped off in third world countries. Coffee is grown in tropical areas, so there are not many places in America or first world nations in general where they can be grown. Coffee is native to Africa and much of it is still grown there. Jamaica is another big growing market. In the U.S., there are Hawaii growers but they are very small and "premium".
Hops, on the other hand, are overwhelmingly grown in Washington State. The vast majority of hops in the US are from Yakima Valley.
| 835 |
[FireFly] How did Jayne's gun get out of his safe onto the floor of the ship for River to find?
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In "Objects in space" River finds a gun (she thinks it's a twig) on the floor and picks it up, causing everyone to lose their shit. And the gun is loaded with the safety off.
Jayne said he always keeps his gun in a safe (I think), so how did it get there?
Was he careless that one time or something else?
| 43 |
I can think of two possibilities:
1) Jayne was in the middle of checking the mechanism of the gun when he got hungry. We did see him getting food just moments before River picked up the weapon. Jayne just got sloppy in the middle of maintenance and didn't think River would wander around the ship and definitely not around a loaded weapon.
2) It wasn't loaded and the safety was on when she picked it up. But she didn't remember getting it out of Jayne's locker and making it ready to fire. Remember that as she stood in the cargo hold, she wasn't aware of everyone around her until it was almost too late. What if her tour around the ship wasn't her physically walking through the corridor, but just her mind wandering as she left Jayne's gun cabinet and walked into the cargo?
| 40 |
ELI: How does muscle growth and decay work?
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If I remember from biology class correctly, large muscles are a result from large sarcomeres, not more of them. So how does working out (i.e. tearing and rebuilding muscles) make them bigger? And why do they get smaller if they're not used?
| 54 |
Your body is like anything in life that needs "fuel".There are 3 Macro - Nutrients. Protien/Fats/Carbohydrates. Fats and carbs are the primary "fuel" and the protein is the building blocks or new cells. Exercise breaks down muscle fibers which causes micro tears. These are repaired stronger and bigger to try to stop the muscle breaking down again if enough protein has been consumed. Lack of protein will cause limited muscle growth and cause them not to repair to the same or or bigger than before. Too little carbs/fats your body uses stored body fat to fuel your body. Too little for long periods of time it then breaks down muscle as a final back-up to keep your body running. Too much fats/carbs creates fat cells in which the "fuel" can be stored for times when food isn't in constant supply.
Hope this helps :)
| 32 |
[Diablo] What in the hell (pun intended) are the Whimsyshire and Secret Cow levels? How do they fit in the universe of Sanctuary and Heaven and Hell?
| 35 |
We have seen pocket dimensions in diablo before.
The cow level was probably a demon experiment on corrupting cattle that got out of hand and was abandoned when somebody started killing major demons left and right and they had other things to worry about.
Whimsyshire... Powerful mage high on shrooms. Even Tal Rasha was young once...
| 32 |
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[Starship Troopers] How did the plasma bugs evolve? Half an eye will detect light, half a wing will help you glide, but what benefit is there to shooting plasma/spores into the sky at half of escape velocity?
| 61 |
The brain bugs have directed the evolution of the various castes by selective breeding and genetic manipulation for tens of thousands of years. The original warrior bugs probably spit something like superheated secretions by squirting different chemicals from glands to create an exothermic reaction. Or perhaps they used caustic fluids.
Through time, as the brain bugs mastered the sciences, they incorporated their discoveries into new breeds, which were based on the older types. They are tool users as much as Man, but their tools are their drones and workers and soldiers.
| 93 |
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If desalinating ocean water becomes a widespread thing, is there potential for the ocean to become too salty/not salty enough as a result?
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Suppose that desalinating ocean water becomes cheap and easy and it's used to solve the drinking water issue on earth.
If it's done too much could it have a negative impact on the ocean where the ocean becomes too salty or not salty enough? (Side q. Where does the salt in the ocean come from?)
| 23 |
Nope. You drink. You pee. Water evaporates and it rains. Most of that rain ends up in the ocean. Water from the land drains to the oceans - I.e. the water cycle. Fun fact the water molecules you drink today are the same ones a dinosaur drank 65 million years ago. Water doesn't leave the planet.
Ocean water is salty because salts existed on the Earth before water did. Most of the water on Earth arrived from comets. The oceans are the geologically lowest areas on the planet. The salts and minerals that exist on Earth dissolved in the oceanic basins that formed over time. Once clouds and rain existed, the rivers and glaciers that formed washed more salts into the oceans.
| 13 |
ELI5: What's that wall of gibberish text when you open some type file in notepad?
|
"¾xàÏù" An enormous wall of basically **that** is what you can expect when you open up any type of random file in notepad that isn't meant to be in notepad. What is it? What happens if you just erase a random part of this gibberish? What is it representing and is there any way to comprehensively read it?
| 15 |
You can classify computer files into two main types: text files and binary files.
All computer files are just a big sequence of numbers -- or in computer terms, bytes.
In a text file, each of these numbers is intended to corresponds to some human readable letter. For example, the number 65 usually corresponds to an "A". When you open these files in Notepad, it has an easy time translating each number to a letter for you to read.
In a binary file, anything goes. It could be a picture where each number corresponds to a color of a pixel; it could be a database file where the numbers could mean all sorts of things.; it could be anything at all. When you try to open these files in Notepad, it will attempt to translate each number into a letter, but since that data is not intended to be interpreted that way, you wind up with gibberish.
| 20 |
ELI5: Why do we vomit when we see or smell something that is disgusting or uncomfortable?
|
NSFW just in case.
| 15 |
I saw an article once that suggested this is an evolutionary response. Imagine life in prehistoric times, or maybe going as far back as the common ancestor between apes and men. Nobody knows which plants are poisonous and which ones are safe to eat. A bunch of us are sitting around eating and someone gets violently ill due to being poisoned. If we're all eating the same plant, it's too late for the guy who got poisoned but it might not be too late for the others. Those who get grossed out and throw up stand a better chance of not getting poisoned. Evolution selected for the ones who puked.
| 20 |
[Star Wars] How did the Sith lords maintain control over their dark jedi?
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I'm using KOTOR as my reference. In KOTOR, Malak and Revan followed the rule of 2. However, they have a multitude of dark jedi serving them. They aren't just padawan status either; in the game there are padawans/students, normal "jedi", and even some masters. I'm assuming the rule of 2 is for the Lords of the sith only, but what prevents their dark side followers from pursuing their own path of dominance? Two master level dark jedi could either run off to make their own legacy, or even attempt to grow powerful enough to overthrow the 2 themselves. Even disregarding the rule of 2, a sith is mandated to grow powerful and eventually overthrow their master when they have outgrown them. That mandate makes sense when there is only 2 sith, but with a small army all clamoring to kill and usurp their masters, I feel like it would be highly ineffective and impossible to properly maintain. So that begs the question, how *did* Revan and Malak control their dark jedi?
| 18 |
The Rule of Two did not come about until some 3000 years after the KOTOR series. So the easy answer is, they didn't. At that point, its a simple heirarchy of might makes right. Malak/Revan were stronger in the dark side than their underlings, so they could control them via strength, intimidation, and the Force.
| 19 |
If my end goal is to teach at a community college, is it worth being miserable for the PhD or should I master out?
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I’m a first year STEM PhD student and suffice it say I am pretty miserable with my current situation. I’ll admit some of misery may be from the covid isolation, but I’m simply not enjoying my research at all. It is a struggle to get even the smallest of tasks done. I’m not sure how I can sustain this for the 4+ more years it will take to finish, especially once I’m done with classes and doing research all day every day. I’ve got guaranteed funding and my advisor is perfectly fine, so I have no complaints there. I simply don’t enjoy staring at papers and trying to think of how to approach problems in a new way. I lack the creativity or motivation to care about creating new research on my own. And yes, I probably should have realized that before I pursued the research-focused degree that is the PhD.
However, I really, really enjoy being a TA (teach my own lab section) and I have no problems finding the motivation to prepare lectures and assignments, grade, and work on other professorial duties. In fact I find all of TA work quite gratifying and use teaching as a motivator to get me through the week. That’s why I’ve been thinking more and more about going the teaching route, whether it be at a community college or AP/dual enrollment teacher at a charter high school (where discipline problems are hopefully minimal).
If my end goal is to be a teacher or community college professor, Is it worth being miserable for 5+ years to get the PhD or will my job prospects be identical with a masters? I know job openings for community colleges are scarce (mostly adjunct slots) so would having a PhD actually give you a leg up if there’s so few full-time jobs to begin with? I know it’s purely speculative, but I’m struggling with how to justify staying for the PhD if job prospects for lecturer gigs are pretty awful. I just don’t know if the PhD will open up that many more doors to teaching opportunities.
Thanks for any thoughts you have on the matter!
TL;DR: I want to teach at a community college or elite high school and I’m not sure whether it’s worth staying for the PhD if I’m miserable.
Thanks for any thoughts you have on the matter!
| 34 |
Given the lack of jobs, you'll be up against PhDs for the CC positions. So that's up to you.
But a master's isn't going to guarantee anything. (Of course, neither will a PhD. Have you thought about other positions where you can teach/train people?)
| 51 |
[Star Wars] What would happen if the Jedi found a baby strong with the force,but the baby is the sole child of a royal family that rules over a planet. Would the Jedi take the baby or send Jedi to teach the baby about the force the baby is raised as royal?
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I was thinking that Jedi persuade parents to let them take their baby if they are force sensitive, but about a baby who is the sole crowned prince/princess who was born to royal family. Would the Jedi take in the baby dooming the planet without a royal heir or send Jedi to teach the heir about the force while the heir is raised by their birth parents?
| 34 |
Jedi don't take babies without explicit permission of the parents, so while they might approach the royal house and explain the situation, if monarchs say no, then it's no.
But then again, Count Dooku was exactly the heir of a noble house, and he was let to train as a jedi with no problems - and later left the Order to reclaim his legacy. At least, according to his cover story. Technically nothing really stops a more normal jedi with no sith affiliations to do the same if shit on their home gets real bad and they need a heir to the throne NAW. Jedi Order won't be particularly happy about people leaving, but they won't hold them.
EDIT: Traditionally jedi don't homeschool people, especially if people are explicitly won't be full members of Jedi Order, but depending on which canon you follow, Jedi are hardly the only Force tradition in the galaxy, so with a good research it would be possible to find someone to teach young heir how to properly harness his or her Force potential.
| 59 |
{ST:TNG/ME} What would happen if Picard's Enterprise-D were to encounter a Sovereign-Class Reaper from Mass Effect?
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My brother and I kinda had this little argument while drunk, with me asserting that, once Picard's usual attempts at Diplomacy failed, the Enterprise would proceed to blast the Reaper into star-dust. My brother insists that the Reaper would not wait for Picard to try and negotiate, instead going straight for the kill.
What do you guys think? I believe the Enterprise has a better chance at taking down a Reaper than any solo Alliance ship, simply because its engines are powerful enough to let it cruise the galaxy without the use of Mass Effect Fields. Furthermore, the Enterprise's phasers aren't kinetic weapons: They're energy based, so there's no guarantee that the Reaper's shields would be all that effective.
I'm no expert on either fandom, just a guy who loves'em, and I really want to know what the consensus is: Who wins in a Deathbattle between Picard's Enterprise-D and a Sovereign Class Reaper?
EDIT: I believe we have our answer: as stated below, Picard and his Enterprise would likely win the first fight, using superior firepower, maneuverability, speed, and defensive shielding to render the reaper's size and weapons innefective. That said, there is a distinct possiblity that recovery of the destroyed reaper's fragments and further study would result in Indoctrination, and thus an overall Reaper victory.
| 25 |
Well, just in terms of firepower the Enterprise has the Reaper out classed. A Sovereign class Reaper's main weapon has a yield of 450 Kilotons TNT. Where as the Enterprise fires photon torpedoes with a 1.5kg antimatter warhead with a 64 Megaton yield. That is orders of magnitude more powerful. The Enterprise hits much much harder.
| 39 |
Why are some US grad students on food stamps?
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I often see on Reddit mentions of grad students living on food stamps - how common is this, and how come this is a thing?
To put my question in context, I’m not from the US and I’ve been led to think that US grad schools are well-funded unlike the UK. If there’s funding, why do students have to rely on food stamps? I’m confused!
| 216 |
Funding levels differ dramatically; at some institutions they are adequate to support a grad student, and possibly even minimally support children of a grad student, but at other institutions the pay is absurdly low. It's a real mess and (imo) a disgrace on academia.
| 228 |
[Terminator] Skynet wins. Now what?
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What if the Terminator in the first movie quickly achieved its objective and killed Sarah Connor? No John, no resistance. Skynet completely eliminates all humanity with 100% certainty. What does it do after?
It’s an AI with a robot army and no enemy to fight. What does it do after there are no humans?
| 18 |
Skynet seems preoccupied with perpetuating its own existence, so the next step is to prepare itself for asteroid collisions or solar flares. Skynet would likely go into space, either developing FTL or just waiting (it's immortal, after all) and colonizing the rest of the solar system before systematically spreading out throughout the galaxy. Terminator vs Alien vs Predator would be *awesome*.
| 38 |
[Doctor Who] The Silence's Motive
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The Kovarian Chapter of the Silence (the religion, not just the dudes in suits) have the goal of keeping the Doctor from restarting the Time War, since they foresaw that he was going to restore the Time Lords on Trenzalore. They want to preempt the destruction of the universe, an understandable motive.
So why not just, you know, talk to the Doctor?
Presumably he doesn't _want_ the universe destroyed; he kinda lives there, as do all his loved ones. If you told him that he was gonna destroy everything, he'd probably work with you to avoid that, but he's gonna try to stop whatever plans you have if you jump straight to _killing him_ and psychologically torturing his wife and friends.
The Silence are evil to the point they seem to hinder their own plans, and it's bothering me.
| 48 |
> Presumably he doesn't want the universe destroyed
No, but both the Time Lords and the Daleks came close to destroying the Universe on several occasions; sometimes, thanks to wibbly-wobbly shenanigans, they did so even after The Doctor had already genocided the lot of them^* .
And now, the Doctor, a law unto himself at the best of times, looks like he's going to restore them all over again. And - let's be honest - it's extremely difficult, if not impossible, to talk the Doctor out of something he's set his mind to unless you're part of his inner circle. Remember, someone he liked and respected had to _kill themselves_ to prevent him from fucking the timeline up on a whim.
So, with that in mind, imagine how much damage the Time Lords could do if they were restored to full power, and imagine how difficult it would be to stop the Doctor from doing restoring them if a) he wants to and b) _a whole fucking prophesy is backing him up._ It's no wonder there were factions around who were willing to take desperate measures to prevent that from happening.
\* >!or so everyone thought!<
| 27 |
How does ‘breaking’ something work? If I snap a pencil in two, do I take the atoms apart? Why do they don’t join together back when I push them back together?
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To break something you are basically applying energy to overcome the molecular bonds in it.
Some materials will in fact join back up if you push them back together. But most everyday materials do not, mostly due to the molecules having been changed and requiring added energy to go back to the original state. Like many pure metals will “cold weld” back together, but in reality the surfaces will for example instantly react with the air, so they are no longer pure.
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[Halo: Combat Evolved] Why is the sniper rifle useless against the Flood?
| 381 |
It's like stabbing a sponge.
The sniper rifle fires armor piercing rounds *really* fast. To kill the Flood you need to destroy a significant percentage of their biomass, which is what makes the shotgun so effective.
| 532 |
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CMV: Trying to save the pandas is a waste of time, money, and resources. We should let them go extinct.
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First off, I like pandas I think they are cute and interesting; however, I think we should let that species meet whatever natural end is coming. Many valuable resources are devoted to saving the panda because pandas are extremely well known and popular, not because they have a good chance of survival. Here are the reasons I believe this:
1) Pandas have lost much of their natural habitat due to the population explosion in China. While this is regrettable, it is not likely to get fixed anytime soon. This means that even if we are able to revive this species they won't have anywhere to live.
2) pandas, as a species, have chosen poorly. They are carnivorous animals who's main diet is bamboo. Their digestion can only process about 5% of the stuff in bamboo. That means they have to eat huge amounts of bamboo everyday. With the reduced habitat this is getting harder and harder. Either they need some microevolutionary shift to eat more nutritious sources of food orthey should join the likes of the dodo bird.
3) human efforts to revive the population have shown some increases, but at what cost? It is incredibly difficult to get pandas to mate with one another, it's like they don't even want their species to survive. I get they aren't actually making this choice, this is just a facetious way of saying that their instincts and biology do not support the kind of growth in population hey need. Hell, half of their births are twins and the mother almost always lets one die because she doesn't produce enough milk. I realize this would take evolution to fix and this problem is way too short term, but it means that their survival requires an exorbanant amount of human intervention. Since their is a finite amount of resources conservationists can dedicate to endangered resources they are killing other more likely to survive species.
4) I'm not saying we should encourage the decline of the panda. We should still try to preserve what habitat they have left and ban hunting them, but they are so far gone and require so much help that we shouldnt waste too many resources on them. Let the panda try to support a small and natural population without our interference. If they cannot achieve this goal, I don't think it's worth the resources to help them grow.
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I don't think it's a waste of money. In short, we conserve pandas because people like them. Whoever spends the money on keeping pandas around has already considered this, and he thinks it's worth it.
Many other things, such as music and balloons could be considered a waste of resources if people didn't like them.
| 21 |
What’s the logic behind giving entrepreneurs the ability to fail, dispense with their debts and start again, but not having a similar system/route available for students whose degrees aren’t paying for themselves?
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I’m reading about Ossic, the headphone startup that raised 3.2 million dollars and then abruptly closed, leaving their investors out to dry. AFAIK they won’t have to cough up that money.
Why not?
Why shouldn’t they while someone who can’t recoup the comparatively puny 100k or so they spent on their not-so-lucrative degree have to be saddled with that debt permanently?
| 24 |
Unfamiliar with the startup you’re referencing, but the simplest answer is the difference between debt and equity. A VC that invests with equity into a startup assumes that the investment will pay off, and accepts the risk that if it doesn’t, they won’t see a return. On the other hand, if a company goes under and they owe debt (in your analogy, student loans) they have to pay that back to their creditors, usually by liquidating the company’s assets.
| 26 |
ELI5: What is a government shutdown, and how does it happen/work?
| 17 |
It's important that we make the distinction between the civil service and elected officials. The civil service is government employees, there are hundreds of thousands of them and they are the nuts and bolts of making the government actually function. They are the worker bees, the doors, they are the people who push paper and the bureaucrats. The president, as the head of the executive, is the leader of the civil service. While he's elected most civil servants are not.
Then there are the elected officials, the legislative branch. There are only a few hundred of them and they have quite a bit of power. They pass laws, they decide how much you will be taxed, they decide how that tax money is to be spent.
By law, the civil servants cannot spend government money without the legislative branch passing a bill each year saying how much money goes to what activities.
So if the legislative branch fails to pass this bill, the civil servants are not permitted to spend any public money, not one cent. The managers can't pay the underlings, the department heads can't pay the managers and even the department heads don't get paid. Since it's not legal to require someone to come to work when you can't pay them (that would be slavery) the civil servants are told to all stay home.
Without those hundreds of thousands of civil servants, the government grinds to a halt. If the government can't pay park rangers, they can't open the national parks, and so on and so on. People on food stamps don't get their benefits because there's no one there to process the payments. Social security cheques stop because there's no postman to deliver them and even if there was there's no employee stuffing the envelopes or signing the cheques.
So a government shutdown happens because congress (the legislative branch) can't or won't pass a bill allowing the civil servants to spend money and be paid. Therefore they don't come to work, therefore nothing gets done.
There are some special exceptions for critical services. But most services the government provides are critical to the people that get them. So it's only the REALLY critical stuff that gets an exemption.
| 25 |
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ELI5: How is corrosive acid stored? How does it not just eat through the container?
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corrosive acid isn't one term that means it'll eat/burn through anything.
there are mainly two types. ones that are corrosive to metals and ones that are corrosive to organic materials. sometimes a particular acid will overlap in metals/organic materials.
so you just use the container that the acid is not corrosive to.
| 25 |
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Why do Marxist ideas seem to be more accepted in the many social sciences except for economics?
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It might help to specify which of Marx's ideas you mean. Do you mean Marx's economic theory specifically or his ideas more generally?
More generally, social scientists have found Marx useful for thinking about a wide range of social phenomena such as alienation, commodity fetishism, ideology, etc.
One simple reason that Marx's ideas are studied more in social science departments is because social scientists often study these sorts of phenomena while economists study other things.
| 67 |
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ELI5 why .ini (or other config) files exist if they are just plain text?
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I mean just a .txt would suffice, right?
| 24 |
Convention. You can rename config.ini to cheeseburger.avi, as long as the content structure remains the same and the program looks for that file name, it will work.
However, in IT culture this is considered a dick move, so people simply don't do it.
| 36 |
ELI5: Why does some technology (laptops, phones, etc.) run slower over time?
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I am talking about even after completely deleting everything (factory reset) and the device still runs much slower than when it was first created...
| 42 |
Modern software/apps demand more resources than older versions. So the internet explorer 6 you were running ran more quickly than IE 11 you have installed now. Funnily enough computers in 95 were powerful enough for 90% of modern day uses (i.e. internet browsing and word processing).
Edit: if on a computer; try installing a lightweight version of linux, it should run just fine!
| 27 |
[Matrix] What happens to the person that the Agents take over the bodies of?
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So I was rewatching the first Matrix and I ran across something I couldn't explain... Let's say I'm hooked up to the Matrix, and an Agent takes over my body randomly. What's happening to my from my perspective? Assuming i'm still alive after the Agent takes over my body, do I remember any of it? Do I die in the real world?
| 33 |
In a normal takeover (pre Revolutions) the agent would basically Hack the avatar of the other user. To the user, they have a sense of lost time if they are alive afterwards. Think of every time you've been driving to work, or walking down the street; only to arrive at your destination with no memory of the inbetween parts.
In a Smith style takeover you are completely overwritten and your avatar and your computer now belong to the agent with no trace of the original "operating system".
| 31 |
CMV: "Ending capitalism" isn't the simple quick fix solution to climate change that people say it is
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I'll start this by saying I fully accept the scientific research on climate change being a reality, that I identify as a leftist, and that I believe in and support a lot of socialist concepts (I'd describe myself as more of a social democrat than a full on Marxist though).
That out of the way, I really don't understand why "end capitalism" has become the rallying cry for so many people interested in climate activism. Socialism just means self-managed worker control of production (or state-controlled production as some states have interpreted it), not elimination of that production. Historically we've only seen communist states try to ramp up production and become even bigger polluters. Stalin and the USSR as a whole notoriously had a love affair with heavy industry (five-year plans). China had a communist revolution several decades ago and is currently responsible for nearly 30% of the world's carbon emissions, making it by far the world's worst polluter. You might argue that neither the USSR nor the PRC are examples of true communism, but in that case why should I believe that a communist revolution in 2019 would provide any more of a quick fix to either solving climate change or achieving true communism than China's did in 1949? They've had 70 years now and haven't succeeded. We don't have 70 years to solve our climate change problem. I keep seeing this "100 companies are responsible for climate change" statistic pop up, but if you look at the [actual report](https://b8f65cb373b1b7b15feb-c70d8ead6ced550b4d987d7c03fcdd1d.ssl.cf3.rackcdn.com/cms/reports/documents/000/002/327/original/Carbon-Majors-Report-2017.pdf?1499691240) those people are citing you'll see the top "company" is China's nationalized coal industry which is responsible for 14.3% of the world's emissions, approx. three times more than ExxonMobil, BP, and Chevron's share of emissions *combined*.
Why can climate change allegedly not be solved without first dismantling capitalism? Encouraging conservation of energy and resources, implementing carbon pricing, funding research into more efficient renewable energy sources, etc. all seem like far less nebulous and unattainable goals than global revolution. Carbon pricing has been proven to work extremely well even at reducing emissions, and it can even spur economic growth.
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with critiquing capitalism for other reasons, and I think leftist economic thought can help alleviate the consequences of climate change, either via welfare or socialist labor organizing, but I don't understand why it's sold as such a guaranteed solution without alternative. I'm not even saying that solving climate change is impossible in a communist state, I just don't see why it would happen any more quickly in a communist state than a capitalist one when contemporary communist states haven't accomplished any such thing. Why exactly would worker ownership of production be such a simple fix to the negative environmental consequences of that production? Why is a solution to climate change allegedly impossible within a capitalist or mixed-economy framework?
| 175 |
Who, specifically, do you think is saying that ending capitalism is a simple quick-fix solution to climate chance? We should really read something written by the people who say this before commenting on your view about them. To do otherwise would be unfair to those people.
| 53 |
ELI5: if our brains can technically store almost every experience, why do we forget so much?
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I've read somewhere that we relate our brains to have something like 2.5 pentabytes of "storage"
If this is the case, then why are we so liable to forgetting things like text, words, or memories?
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The very best answer is simply: we aren't sure. We don't know exactly what the mechanism is for generally forgetting memories over time is, or how memories are transferred into long term memory.
We know that humans are capable of incredible feats of memory, especially in the cases of savants.
Chances are that there is only so much evolutionary pressure to remember and retain details.
Lets take a simple example. You are walking through the forest for twenty minutes, There are branches all around, trees, flowers, bushes. In the long grass by the water you smell a strange smell, and a wolf leaps out and attacks you, but you escape into a nearby tree.
Now, what evolutionary pressures are there for retaining memories. A human who can instantly recall that memory of being attacked when they smell that strange smell, over time, will be less likely to die. There is some pressure to remember and learn from how we escaped from a predator. There is no pressure to remember walking idly through the forest, except perhaps remembering roughly the path in order to find water/food again. There is no or little pressure yet to remember the smell of each flower and bush either. A human who can recall how many leaves are on each tree or which notes each bird sang has no advantage over one who doesn't, and so there is no reason for that ability in memory retention to be selected for.
As time went on we probably selected for a greater and greater ability to remember (which plants are poisonous -> how to make items and retain taught information -> what each person in the community likes, does, and has said -> current needs).
But there would still be a threshhold beyond which improvements to memory gave no evolutionary benefit. Perfect memory still wouldn't be selected for. Would being able to memorize every detail of an entire area by looking at it once, recalling how many trees are on any route they've taken in the last 40 years help a human survive enough to be selected for? Even today having a bad memory isn't a good trait, but IMO it isn't so bad it is really being selected against.
Would being able to recall every, or even most, conversations and emotions you've felt decades ago actually help a human reproduce, in a significant way for thousands of years?
Memory, like everything else about us, has developed over a long time from environmental pressures. A perfect memory remains disadvantageous, so while that ability presents itself in the occasional human, it doesn't seem to stick around and be selected for.
**TL;DR: Our memory only got as good as our environment required, and our environment has never required a perfect memory.**
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CMV: "colour blindness" is a workable counter to prejudice for a vast majority of people.
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The idea that "i will treat people the same regardless of skin colour" has recently been attacked as harmful recently and im not sure I agree with that notion in most cases.
So my understanding of why "colour blindness" is bad is that because minorities have the extra barriers of prejudice and racism we should attempt to correct for that mistreatment. So if an individual treats a black and white person equally, its still not equal because the system itself treats the black one worse.
I think the critique makes sense if you are in a position of relative power, but for the average person I dont think it makes a difference.
I'm not in charge of hiring anyone, I dont get to decide who gets a loan, or who gets pulled over.
Really the only interactions I have with people regardless of identity are social, and I think colour blindness is a perfect rational for how I look at race.
Now I understand that I (like everyone) have bias and its important to understand that/try to work through it. But thats a case by case issue and very different from a blanket "rule".
| 70 |
You've actually put your finger on it. You are aware you have bias, you have an inability to not see colour so acting like you don't is harmful since it encourages others not to examine their unconscious biases at all.
| 18 |
ELI5: I read online something about how 85% of Earth's species are still yet to be discovered. How do we know that we've only discovered 15% of all species when we don't know what "all" is?
| 53 |
Take a bunch of samples from all over the world, look at them really carefully and count how many different species you find in them.
Some of them you will already know, and some will be completely new.
If in 1000 samples, you find 100 different species, of which you only knew 15 before taking the sample, then you now have your answer as to why we estimate only 15% of species have been discovered.
| 41 |
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CMV: Advertising of alcohol should be banned
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I think alcohol should be treated the exact same way that cigarettes are treated - as a threat to public health. Therefore, the government should take necessary steps to reduce consumption without outright banning it, because that didn’t work. A major component of this strategy is preventing advertising of alcohol. Let’s be honest, alcohol is a recreational drug, and it kills over 100,000 people each year, so why is it ok to advertise? What makes it different from cigarettes?
People might say, “banning alcohol commercials won’t do anything.” I don’t agree. It’ll be a slow process, but this will prevent alcohol companies from controlling the way people think about alcohol consumption. And over time drinking will become less ingrained in society and less cool.
| 67 |
Alcohol is rooted way more deeply in our society than cigarette. Religion use alcohol, our food culture use alcohol etc.
Trying to make it disapear as strongly as what we do with cigarettes would only backfire spectacularly. At least, what is advertised through normal channels is low-danger, tested alcohol. If the only legal advertising become word of mouth, then you can expect lots of unsafe, garage-distilled alcohol to get on the market. Contrary to Tobacco, crafting alcohol is easy, and pretty dangerous if you mess up (while crafting cigarettes if difficult and not that dangerous when hand-worked) so you should make sure that when someone think about alcohol, he think about something safe and government approved which won't make you blind when drunk.
| 25 |
ELI5- What does Direct X do?
| 84 |
DirectX talks to your graphics card. Programmers talk in one language (C++ in the case of DirectX) and the graphics card (GPU) talks in another language. DirectX translates for the programmer, so they can talk (program) in C++.
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Is there an auditory processing disorder that is similar to dyslexia?
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There is a disorder literally called Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) that is similar to Dyslexia. It is an abnormality in the processing of sound in the central auditory nervous system and it affects the brain’s ability to filter and process sounds and words. Most people that have Dyslexia also tend to have this disorder as well.
| 20 |
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ELI5: what is Ferromagnetism and why does it mean the iron in your blood is not attracted to an MRI?
| 16 |
Really simple answer - iron atoms on their own are always magnetic, and that phenomenon is called ferromagnetism. In your body, there's basically no free iron as it's all bound up in other compounds - hemoglobin bound to red blood cells, or a protein called ferritin that binds up any free iron to store it and release it later when needed.
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ELI5: How do some mountains have an ecosystem around the peak? Wouldn't the nutrients from the soil of any wash down and make it difficult?
| 28 |
"Life, uh, life finds a way"
Extremophile bacteria can find ways to make energy/nutrients out of basically anything that'll react, and lichen can survive on nothing more than air, water, sun, and minerals in the stone They can create soil conditions in pockets or depressions (where nutrients don't wash out) suitable for alpine plants and insects. Once plants get established, their roots can help hold soil in place and prevent nutrient leaching.
| 29 |
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[Iron Man] Could the Hulk-Buster suit actually stand a chance against the Hulk?
| 16 |
Everyone is pointing out that Hulk gets bigger and stronger the madder he gets.
So a real Hulk Buster suit would have to be:
1. Made of Adamantium to ensure survival, as per /u/almighty_smiley.
2. Be painted a soothing green or blue. Lets go with blue.
3. Smell of lavendar and vanilla.
4. Play calm music, maybe emit whale songs.
5. Repulsors replaced with dark chocolate cannons.
Then all Iron Man has to do is stand there and get beat up until Hulk relaxes for a bit, and then feed him some chocolate.
It's almost *too* easy.
| 56 |
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ELI5 The Standard Model of particle physics
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Quarks, Leptons, Bosons, what the hell does that all mean?
| 35 |
There are four forces of nature. You've all probably heard of electromagnetism. There are two more which are less know but just as important. The strong force holds every nucleus together and the weak force is responsible for radioactivity. The bosons are the carriers of these four forces. You have photons for electromagnetism, gluons for the strong force and the W and Z bosons for the weak force. Gravity is an outsider and doesn't have a boson for as far as we know.
The quarks are the buildingblocks of protons and neutrons. Those quarks are held together by the strong force. Leptons are a bit rarer and less known. The most common lepton is the electron and revolves around a nucleus. The force that keeps the electrons around the nucleus is electromagnetism. After all, the electrons are negativly charged and the protons in the nucleus positive.
I hope this clears things up a bit, but this explanation is far from complete. If you have any questions still, don't be afraid to ask.
| 10 |
Do spiders always build their own webs, or do they sometimes live in a web vacated by another spider?
| 816 |
Tangentially related to this subject are Social or Colony spiders. These all live communally in a large web complex constructed over time by many different members of the colony. So not all spiders exclusively make just their own web.
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ELI5: Why cant atoms like hydrogen and chlorine have full shells and not make a molecule of 2??
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What I mean is, why cant chlorine gain an electron to get a full shell without making Cl2 molecules?? Why cant it exist as a single atom?? The same with hydrogen, why does it have to form H2 molecules?? If the element has a full sub shell and is stable, isnt that enough?
| 18 |
There is nothing that says they can't. But that would only likely happen in a vacuum. The electron they have had to come from somewhere. In your examples, the two Cl and H atoms are basically sharing electrons in a covalent bond.
Even if you had a free electron to give them, they would become ions, meaning they would have an electric charge, so would be attracted to positively charged ions elsewhere, forming ionic bonds.
| 15 |
[Terminator] why can't terminators self-terminate?
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I can think of multiple scenarios where SkyNet would be better off if their terminators could self-destruct, such as, for example **the terminator being hacked into and re-purposed by humans**. So why give them that arbitrary limit?
| 20 |
Because humans are sneaky, there's always a chance that they could reprogram the terminator before it could do what it was supposed to do and send it back to Skynet to return the favour.
Didn't Skynet start to coat the access port to the terminators chips with explosives to stop the resistance from turning them?
| 25 |
When does a fetus become a person?
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I don't really know where to draw the line. I personally don't view an embryo/fetus as a person in the first trimester... But that isn't really an argument, right? Because someone else could view it differently. Hell, someone could view the sperm and egg as persons... And I technically couldn't say they're wrong in doing so. Point is, I don't have a good way of determining when a blob of tissue becomes a person. Thoughts?
| 19 |
This question is frequently asked with the hidden premise that personhood is binary, in that one either has it (and is deserving of moral consideration) or does not have it (and is not deserving of moral consideration.)
The Gradient Theory of Personhood suggests that this may not be the case, and rather than being like a on/off switch that is toggled at some point (which we have yet to agree on, if it exists at all) personhood is a quality which one can have in varying amounts.
This may be unsatisfying in the goal of defining some 'hard boundary' which delineates personhood, but also can provide guidance to who may be *more deserving of moral treatment.*
Based on the premise that the genetic material which develops into a person starts out as a non-person, and if we accept that personhood can be granted *gradually*, one could argue that an expecting mother is *more of a person* (that is to say she has more personhood, and therefore is more deserving of moral consideration) than the fetus she carries. This is not a complete account of the concept, but illustrates an alternative view of personhood which, while unsatisfying from a 'line in the sand' perspective, may be useful when faced with moral decisions.
| 19 |
ELI5:Why do Americans feel special about freedom considering almost entire developed world has it?
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I am an American and I am asking this seriously, with no offence.
| 178 |
During the 1950s -- 1980s the Soviet Union (the only real challenger to American world dominance) was demonized for being Communist and 'freedom' was cast as the opposite. This was hammered into us with a lot of popular culture and propaganda. Often 'bringing people freedom' was used to explain why the USA was justified in attacking various other countries around the world, including more recently Iraq.
To a lessor degree the USA's National Rifle Association also promotes 'freedom' as the justification for our love of firearms.
Americans are flooded with these concepts starting at a young age and it never really stops.
| 116 |
CMV: -The purpose of free speech is to allow the stupid, the vile and the dangerous to freely self identify so that we can avoid and shun them. Anything that suppresses that very public self identification process only drives such speech underground where it is harder to guard against.
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Lets face facts- Alex Jones is an occasionally entertaining idiot. I am convinced that a significant fraction of his fan base follows him for purely entertainment purposes. But banning him from social media platforms has only made him front page news and significantly increased his news letter subscriptions. His jackassery is still available on the internet. He has in no way "gone away" by de-platforming him.
Suppressing - by deplatforming or shadowbanning or banning- free speech only drives it underground where it cannot be monitored -is counterproductive. I have no problem with mockery or downvoting a submission or comment to the very bottom of a conversation (there are subs where my opinion is un-welcome and no useful conversation comes from it but I simply stop wasting my time there).
When power- whether it be government power or corporate power or community power- is exercised to exclude someone, anyone from a conversation, the opportunity to persuade, to convince, to educate is not just lost but deliberately thrown away.
| 63 |
>Suppressing - by deplatforming or shadowbanning or banning- free speech only drives it underground where it cannot be monitored -is counterproductive.
Is monitoring speech which you find troublesome better? The point of free speech isn't there because we know people with different ideas will out themselves and we can shame them. If that were the case, wouldn't people with hateful ideologies just take their ideas underground anyways?
Free speech is designed to protect your ideas from government oppression. The problem we have today is a free speech issue not related to the government. It has to do with a businesses tolerance of free speech in an era where a previously unknown employee can be put on blast around the world for any opinion he might hold. Before this point the people who suppressed speech were governments. With the ability to let the world know your opinion on the internet free speech has become something of concern for private companies. In either case, free speech isn't there so we can trick people into exposing there true racist intentions, but to protect their ability to speak freely and contribute more to public discourse. We decided as a society that this public discourse was more beneficial to society than the lack of open discourse brought about by suppressed speech.
| 11 |
ELI5:Why do we still have a need for hundreds of separate sovereign nations?
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I can understand how different areas of the world developed separately. I'm not advocating this situation; but sharing resources, advancements, surpluses, etc. just seems to make sense.
| 17 |
It makes perfect sense.
It wouldn't work though. The French wouldn't want to be ruled from Berlin; the Japanese from Beijing; the Zimbabweans from Pretoria; the Americans from Ottawa.
There is too much national pride for it to happen in our life time. Governments wouldn't want to give up their power, and citizens of a small country wouldn't want to be ruled by a big or vice verse.
| 13 |
After a nuclear detonation, why do rings appear sometimes around the mushroom cloud?
| 5,305 |
They're called Wilson clouds, and they're caused by the shockwave of the explosion.
The pressure front of an explosion causes a decrease in pressure to occur behind it. This is intuitive to anyone who has ever made a wave in their bathtub: in a closed system like the atmosphere, any increase in density somewhere has to correspond to a reduction somewhere else. With a gas, a decrease in density translates to a decreased temperature: this is another effect that you can witness for yourself by playing with compressed air: as the pressure inside the can is reduced by venting the compressed air, it rapidly cools. This is the same mechanic used by refrigeration systems across the planet.
On a large scale explosion like a nuclear detonation, the power of the shockwave can cause *substantial* cooling of the atmosphere, dropping it below dew point. When this happens, the humidity of the air condenses into water droplets, forming the ring clouds that we see around the explosion.
| 2,457 |
|
CMV: Negative opinions toward GMOs are dangerous to the future of the planet
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Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are defined as organisms that have had their genetic material altered or modified in a way that does not occur naturally. They have been a hotbed issue since their inception. However, GMOs are crucial for improving the health of the environment and provide a laundry list of additional benefits. Such as more efficiency, better prices for consumers, improved durability in harsh climates, and increased nutritional value. The higher yield of GMO crops benefits consumers with lower prices \[1\]. The improved durability of the GMOs and higher yield greatly benefits farmers, especially farmers in developing nations \[2\]. GMOs can also be more nutritious than non-GMO food \[3\]. GMOs provide an array of benefits to display their importance in the modern world. Moreover, there is a consensus among the scientific community that GMOs are safe to eat. A survey of members of the Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) displayed that 88% agree that GMOs are safe to consume. Additionally, 92% of Biomedical Ph.D. scientists also agree that GMOs are safe to eat.
With all that being said a Pew Research poll from 2016 revealed that 48% of millennials and 39% of US adults believe that genetically modified foods are worse for health than foods with no genetically modified ingredients. An interesting aspect of this poll is the more adults have heard about GMOs the more they see them as worse for their health. The same Pew Research poll displayed that 45% of adults that had heard “a lot” about GMOs believed they were worse for their health. Furthermore, these views on GMOs are almost completely non-partisan, the question of GMOs being worse for your health versus them being neither better nor worse displays a near 50-50 split of Republicans and Democrats \[4\].
In developing nations especially GMOs have already made major impacts. In India, the use of genetically modified cotton has greatly reduced the amount of insecticide use on crops, cutting down the number of insecticide poisoning cases as well \[5\]. Similar results have been displayed in China too \[6\]. GMOs also provide environmental benefits. One study that evaluated the economic and environmental impacts of a global GMO ban highlighted that a global GMO ban would increase agricultural emissions by nearly 14% \[7\].
Negative opinions towards GMOs are dangerous because they could have an impact on how much GMOs are used in the future. These negative opinions of GMOs could lead to legislation preventing further development of the technology. Therefore, it is vital to better educate the public on the long list of benefits provided by GMOs and how they can lead to a better world.
1: [https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2015/03/cost-of-organic-food/index.htm](https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2015/03/cost-of-organic-food/index.htm)
2: [https://www.banglajol.info/index.php/BJAR/article/view/37313](https://www.banglajol.info/index.php/BJAR/article/view/37313)
3: [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2442550/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2442550/)
4: [https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2016/12/01/public-opinion-about-genetically-modified-foods-and-trust-in-scientists-connected-with-these-foods/](https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2016/12/01/public-opinion-about-genetically-modified-foods-and-trust-in-scientists-connected-with-these-foods/)
5: [http://blogs.nature.com/news/2011/07/bt\_cotton\_cuts\_pesticide\_poiso.html](http://blogs.nature.com/news/2011/07/bt_cotton_cuts_pesticide_poiso.html)
6: [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1046/j.1365-313X.2002.01401.x](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1046/j.1365-313X.2002.01401.x)
7: [https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/235591/](https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/235591/)
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This post is for a class project, any interaction is greatly appreciated!
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Edit: Thank you everyone for commenting on this, I do intend to continue replying to everyone that comments. But, I will continue replying tomorrow!
Final Edit: Really appreciate all the participation in this thread! I believe that I have had a softening of my original view. Really loved learning how other people view this subject. I learned a great deal from both sides of the GMO debate. Thank you again! -JarodMGMT
| 69 |
You've talked a lot about what the technology is capable of but not about where that technology fits into present day society. GMOs while offering a number of agricultural benefits also exist in the real of big agriculture where a small group of companies can exert huge amounts of control on food supply because they own the legal rights to the GMO and own the means to produce them. It also pushes more towards a monocultural farming system which is inherently more at risk of disease as there is no genetic diversity.
So on a social level we should be very concerned about handing huge amounts of power to unaccountable systems and no matter how good a technology is hypothetically it's place in the social world can be the exact opposite.
>Negative opinions towards GMOs are dangerous because they could have an impact on how much GMOs are used in the future. These negative opinions of GMOs could lead to legislation preventing further development of the technology. Therefore, it is vital to better educate the public on the long list of benefits provided by GMOs and how they can lead to a better world.
There are plenty of negative opinions that are necessary and criticism while negative isn't an inherently destructive act. It is the means by which we know how to properly extract the maximum benefit and make things better. Bringing up the issues of soil and monocultural farming are very important to properly understand the technology because very rarely is something a panacea that doesn't introduce problems on both technological and social levels.
| 18 |
[Resident Evil] Why do the villains keep intentionally turning themselves into horrible monsters?
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Specifically I'm thinking of Saddler but there are numerous other examples of this trope. At some point the villain decides they need to "power up" and trigger some form of violent body horror mutation to kill the heroes. Aside from the obvious desire to kill the protagonists, why in hell would anyone do this? It seems incredibly unlikely these things are reversable, and it doesn't seem like it's worth it to spend the rest of your life as a monstrous crab/insect thing with a giant eyeball forever blocking your trachea.
What's weirder is that some characters who end up turning into monsters (Gionne, the arms dealer in V with the absolutely hilarious voice acting) react normally with fear and confusion, but other times it's Alexia Ashford over here turning into an ant queen that certainly isn't going to be able to move from her chosen position...in a maintenance corridor of an exploding Arctic base. Even if these people win they've inflicted a fate worse than death on themselves, so why do they keep doing it?
| 375 |
In the case of Saddler, who clearly has the most advanced form of the Plaga, it's not entirely clear whether or not changing back is impossible for him.
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I mean, the dude already has a giant ass tentacle available to him in his human form, can change his arms from normal to tentacle then back, and otherwise have some limited transformation abilities separate from his final boss mode.
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For all we know, if he had killed Leon, he could have shed his giant monster form and resumed being humanoid. The Las Plagas as a whole is a lot more versatile than other viruses/parasites in the series.
| 230 |
ELI5: How can my prescription cost $400 at my local pharmacy, yet the same prescription cost $0 from a mail order pharmacy located in a different state?
|
This is something I simply cannot understand. Insurance makes no sense.
| 360 |
It's how your plan is structured. Even if the cash price of the drug were the same (which is unlikely) your plan will pay less of that cost for going to your neighborhood pharmacy. Many insurance companies own their own mail order, basically paying themselves to dispense to you.
TL;DR: the insurance coverage changes, not the actual cost of meds
| 87 |
[Captain America] How long would it take a normal 25 year old male to adjust waking up in 2015 after being frozen in 1945?
|
Captain America adjusts fairly quickly to the future thanks to enhanced intelligence from the super soldier serum. But how long does it take Joe Schmoe from New York in 1945, having already graduated with a college degree, to educate himself on a technological, social, cultural, and historical level that allows him to blend in with other people seamlessly?
| 79 |
Well, first things first- he needs a shitload of vaccinations. There are lots of nasties that didn't exist back in his day. Conversely, he'll probably need to be treated with a strong round of antibiotics and antivirals to kill all the nasties that he might be carrying, like smallpox or polio.
A modern American history course will catch him up on major events.
A basic technology literacy course will teach him how to operate our technology. Also, practice- give him lots of electronics and stuff to play with.
Lots of movies and TV will help catch him up on the social/cultural aspect
Finally, you probably need a specific tutor to help fill in the other gaps- credit cards, microwaves, phones, etc.
All in all, it could probably be done in a year or 2, depending on how long it takes to make him safe for the general public
| 118 |
[Kool-Aid Commercials] What the hell is the Kool-Aid man anyway? And why does he bust through walls?
| 16 |
What is he? A giant, sentient pitcher of cool, refreshing, cherry flavored Kool-Aid.
Why does he bust through walls? Well let me ask you this, how is a giant pitcher of Kool-Aid going to fit through a door?
| 23 |
|
Question: How much should i charge someone for implementing a opensource program in their business.
|
Like the title says, I work in IT in a small country in Central America, I currently am very interested in working in small projects besides my job, i have a business question, i can manipulate and configure open source project like openemr for small clinics or independent doctors, but how much should i charge for implementing an opensource project in a small business, or how could I have a business model around it, I'd like to point out that I'm not interested in working for said business, just install it, configure it, provide some support and go.
Sorry for my English it is not my main language.
Is it wrong to charge someone for installing an opensource software?
Currently wondering about how to make some money with my current skill handling those programs
| 24 |
You should consider a model where you host it or keep it updated and provide paid support if they need it. Small businesses don't usually have enough money to keep a full-time IT person and don't know how to run their own software.
The value you provide would be keeping backups, ensuring the projects are secure, issuing password resets, upgrading, and patching. If they need additional help beyond that it's an additional fee. If you're going to be serving lots of the same type of business, you might also offer training and guides.
> Is it wrong to charge someone for installing an opensource software?
No! Lots of companies work like this, you're not charging for the software, you're charging for your understanding of the software.
| 16 |
[X-men] Why is Mystique not harmed when Wolverine cuts off Mystique-Wolverine's claws?
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Mystique takes the form of Wolverine and fights against Wolverine, who promptly cuts off her claws. She shows expression of pain, but when she morphs back, she is fine. The claws must have come from somewhere, so her fingers, bones, or something must have been hurt when she cuts them off.
Furthermore, after getting stabbed by Wolverine, she still carries the scars in her later form of Jean, so we know that injuries and damaged tissue gets carried from her original form to morphs, and probably vice versa.
| 44 |
Looking at S.H.I.E.L.D. files...
>**Subject:** Raven Darkholme(A.K.A. Mystique )
>**Mutant Powers:** Metamorph, Can psionically alter the formation of her biological cells at will. As a result she can cause herself to look and sound like an exact duplicate of any human, humanoid, or semi-humanoid being of either sex, wearing virtually any kind of clothing. Her control is so exact that she can precisely duplicate another persons retina pattern in her own eyes, finger, palm and skin-pore patterns on her own hands and skin, and vocal cords to match voices to the point of corresponding voiceprints.
This gives her certain level of accelerated healing, also means part of adopted forms may be made of bone, nail, etc, meaning even if it hurt her, the claws weren't living tissue, but organic matter easily recycled during transformation. And since her powers are psionic, it also means the scars are more mental than physical, her scars remained 'cause she though they were something important, or literally scarred her mind.
| 49 |
Would it be possible to send another probe like Voyager 1 in the same direction which serves as a repeater or extender?, listening to Voyager1 from a closer distance and repeating that to earth.
|
I was reading about [Voyager 1](http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/basic-space/2012/12/03/voyager-1-is-still-not-out-of-the-solar-system/) and how it will lose contact with earth soon. I wondered what prevents us from starting a string of probes that repeat the captured information until it reaches the earth?
Would it be possible with current technology?
| 237 |
The problem isn't it's distance away, it's that the onboard power supplies are dwindling and we will eventually have to shut down all processes (~2025). It will still be 'ping'-able but no recordings or data will be transmitted from it.
Source: The article you posted.
| 128 |
ELI5: Melanin and aging
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Mostly in India and near neighboring countries, kids are born with lighter tone or colour and with aging they turn dark or brown and become more closer to their parents skin tone. What changes in the body causes this to happen? Normal parent talk is this happens because teens run around in the hot sun, i suspect that's not the full story.
| 50 |
Certain genes that control melanin production are not activated until the babies grow older or during puberty.
You will see this with people with lighter hair or eye colors as these children may be born with blond hair that darkens with age or with blue eyes that eventually changes to a darker color. The same would happen with someone with someone born with a lighter color skin which gets darker with age.
| 27 |
ELI5: If Almonds contain all of the essential Amino Acids to form complete proteins, why are they considered incomplete protein sources?
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Almonds contain all 9 of the essential amino acids, obviously in very different levels. In a 95g serving, the lowest amino acid is Methionine, at about 143mg, and the highest amino acid is Leucine, which is 1414mg. Couldn't you, in theory, eat a bunch of almonds, and have your RDA for all 9 essential amino acids and have complete proteins?
| 26 |
Technically yes you could eat 1000 calories worth of almonds to reach your essential amino acid requirement across the board. However it is much more reasonable to combine almonds with a grain which is higher in methionine and leucine, this is called complementary protein intake. So when they are talking about a complete protein they are limiting it to a certain amount of such a protein and it's ability to meet the necessary requirements. With animal protein (complete proteins) it is very easy to reach the needed amount of the 9 essential amino acids but using the equivalent amount of almonds would not be possible. This is why they stress for vegetarians to pair complementary proteins to fulfill their essential amino acid requirements. However as mentioned theoretically since almonds do contain all 9 essentials in varying amounts it would be possible to consume a great deal of almonds to fulfill that need but not really necessary when certain grains are available to complement.
| 11 |
CMV: It's patriotic to support higher taxes, our tax rates should mirror post-WWII rates until modern wars are paid for.
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Regardless of how one feels about tax policy in general, the war on terror has been ongoing for a couple decades so tax rates should be higher until the full cost of these wars has been paid for. After WWII, the top marginal tax rates were over 94%, however today calls for a 70% top marginal tax rate are called extreme or radical. Pointing out this previously high tax rate is often met with responses of, "well that was after WWII, so that's why it was high." But we are in that same situation now, we have spent more on this modern war on terrorism than we spent in WWII, so it should make sense that our tax rates should mirror post-WWII rates until the war is paid for. Calls for patriotism, and "supporting our troops" and giant flags at sporting events are commonplace but this patriotism ends when it comes to actually paying for that support. We call that generation the greatest generation not just for what they did overseas but also what they did at home; we should share that same patriotic spirit by paying for the wars we have entered. This should all be separate from one's opinion on taxes in general, or on the morality or necessity of these wars, the point is that we entered these wars, it cost money, so if you consider yourself to be a patriotic person you should support paying for those wars.
| 134 |
> After WWII, the top marginal tax rates were over 94%
and we had 4 recessions in that time. Also, our tax code was over 20 thousand pages long. The first two pages were what the government could tax. The rest were EXEMPTIONS from that tax. Money was moved away from productive areas in the economy to avoid the taxes. If you think tax avoidance is bad now oh boy are you in for a treat. Also, there's zero things stopping rich people from moving. France in 2014 had a 75% progressive tax they had to scrap because anybody with money was leaving the country. Look at New York right now tax revenue is down 2 billion because of Cuomo's tax increases because rich people just LEFT. What do you think he's doing? Oops sorry middle class those tax breaks we promised you are now unfeasible. Look at Amazon's new headquarters it is getting a TAX REDUCTION/EXEMPTION for its new headquarters because the area is desperate for them to establish there. And MANY municipalities across the country were trying to offer them exemptions to get them to locate in their area.
| 50 |
[Star Trek] Does Chief O' Brien just stand at the transporter console ALL day?
| 63 |
He only as to stand there during his 8 hour shift. There are two others guys with less seniority who get the other 16 hours.
That is until Jellico switches them to a 4 shift rotation and he only has to stand there 6 hours a day.
| 65 |
|
[Lord of the Rings] What level of communication exists between the orcs and their trolls?
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Also, what's the relationship between the two like? Are the trolls slaves or indentured servants or minimum wage workers?
| 17 |
Think of it like this, the Orc is a guy holding a pointy stick, and the troll is an angry bear. Just gotta make it seem like away from you is where they want to rampage.
The trolls they use are inbred feral beast fit only for smashing things smaller than them,
| 26 |
ELI5: How does gravity bend light if light is massless?
| 4,163 |
Because gravity bends space-time itself.
The light is still going straight, by its own point of view, but the space-time is curved by the gravity, so something traveling straight through curved space-time alters its direction relative to an observer outside the curved region.
Black holes basically curve space-time inward to the point that there's no getting back out of that gravity well.
| 3,735 |
|
[Babylon5/MassEffect] What if: The Systems Alliance had access to Shadow Tech?
|
In the year 2150, the Systems Alliance uncovers buried in the surface of Mars a Shadow Vessel from the B5 franchise. With this discovery of a highly advanced species how will the SA adapt these new technologies? How will the rest of the series play out with the discovery of Shadow technology? How will the other races view the SA? Will they be able to survive the Reapers?
| 24 |
This depends on a few things:
- Is the Shadow technology well understood and can be made functional, given the lack of telepaths in the Mass Effect universe?
- Assuming it can be activated, will the Shadow Battlecrab either go berserk (as it did in *Messages from Earth*) or summon another Battlecrab to finish freeing it and depart SA space?
- Assuming it can be activated and does not flee or go berserk, can the Systems Alliance can replicate the technology involved in it in time for First Contact and/or the Reapers?
If it can be made functional, but goes berserk or escapes, nothing the Systems alliance has can functionally stop it.
If it stays in place and the Systems alliance can replicate its, however, the Systems Alliance is now developing tech based on a ship whose weapon that is capable of exceeding a Reaper's primary armament by *over two thousand times* and phasing in and out of hyperspace at will. The Systems Alliance promptly becomes untouchable in a direct confrontation, easily overrunning the entire Turian Hierarchy when the First Contact War happens (if it even does) and earning the total fear and perhaps even reverence of other Citadel races.
Needless to say, if the Reapers do turn up - even if Sovereign's original plan succeeds - they're in for a *very* bad time.
| 14 |
ELI5 how are gps ETA’s calculated? Does every traffic light get the same amount of time? Do left turns get the same amount of time as right turns?
| 159 |
Navigation software that's internet-based such as Google Maps on a phone and some newer nav units in cars base their calculations on how long previous drivers using such a device have needed to travel along a certain stretch of road, so their information is very up-to-date.
Offline GPS units that don't have an internet connection such as standalone nav units and older systems in cars just do a rough approximation based on what type of road it is. So they may figure that 1 mile on the highway takes on average 1 minute, 1 mile in the city takes say 4 minutes and so on. That's why they're a lot less accurate, and why some of them give you the same estimate at 3am as during rush hour, which is obviously not realistic.
| 159 |
|
Eli5: Why does the same thermostat temperature feel different in different seasons?
|
Why is it that when I set my thermostat to 73° F in the winter it is comfortable. However, 73° F in the summer feels uncomfortably hot? Shouldn't the same temperature feel the same indoors in a controlled environment (via the thermostat)?
| 37 |
It's probably more humid in the summer. With more moisture in the air sweat from the pores doesnt move out of your body/evaporate as quickly. So more heat stays on your skin. If it was the same humidity and temp you would feel the same
| 15 |
Why does water pouring make that weird folded shape?
|
I was pouring water from my water bottle into another to combine some halves I had left out and I noticed it came out in a specific foldy shape. It changed depending on how hard I was pouring it. Why does it do that?
| 24 |
The water coming out is not just experiencing gravity pulling it down, but also inertia (from it spinning around the top before coming out) and cohesion (a result of hydrogen bonding) between water molecules. Because the water molecules have a strong degree of cohesion, the faster water bits pull along the slower water bits. This can result in some interesting patterns or water appearing “stretched out”.
| 23 |
Why do we have "baby" teeth?
|
What is the purpose of baby teeth? Why don't we just keep them and have additional teeth grow in?
| 18 |
Actually, you're asking the wrong question. Let me explain.
We have two sets of teeth, like most mammals (some mammals, such as rodents, only have one set of teeth, and still others, such as baleen whales, have none at all). But our distant ancestors, hundreds of millions of years ago, had the ability to grow endless sets of teeth. Today, we see this ability retained in modern fish, amphibians, and reptiles.
Now, replacement teeth seem to grow in a really stereotyped manner. There's a layer of cells in the mouth that lay just medial (tonguewards) of the tooth, called the successional lamina. In mammals, the successional lamina is contained within the cavity that holds the root (the alveolus) but in reptiles and amphibians, the successional lamina will often be part of the medial gumline. The successional lamina contains stem cells as well as epithelial cells. Periodically, the successional lamina will form a pocket, that will then fold up in various ways, then differentiate into an enamel organ and pulp cavity, which will then produce a tooth. The remainder of the successional lamina will then proliferate to create more successional lamina, and will later repeat the whole cycle.
In mammals, this is disrupted. The successional lamina forms a replacement tooth (your adult tooth) but it does not form a new successional lamina. This is not the case in all people; some people are able to produce a third or even a fourth set of teeth, but this is the case in most people, and indeed in most mammals.
So now we know how humans came to have only two sets of teeth. But why? It's kind of ridiculous, considering that a tooth really doesn't last very long, even with modern dentistry. However, our early mammal ancestors were small and likely had short lifespans, much like modern shrews, rodents, possums, and other small furry creatures.
This was, of course, probably also the case for many of our early nearly-mammalian ancestors, and our early somewhat-mammalian ancestors, and before that our early almost-amniote (egg-laying) ancestors, our early almost-amphibian ancestors, and so on. But our early mammalian ancestors did something special; they fed their offspring milk. The benefit of milk is that it doesn't require an adult dentition to consume, and it contains a lot of energy, minerals, and other things the body needs to grow. So baby mammals grow up really, really fast. Furthermore, as soon as a baby mammal reaches sexual maturity, it stops growing. So, a baby reptile or amphibian or almost-mammal might take a few years to reach adulthood, and during that time, it's going to be using its teeth to eat plants, or insects, or other reptiles, amphibians, or almost mammals, and once it becomes an adult, it's going to *keep* growing for a while longer, although it will slow down considerably. So, a reptile, amphibian, or almost-mammal is going to need to keep on replacing those teeth as they grow, because the teeth that were good for catching small insects when they're a few months old won't be all that good for catching small amphibians or reptiles when they're a year or two old, and so on, so they need to keep on making more teeth and larger teeth as they grow. A mammal, however, doesn't need to do that. That first generation of teeth (baby teeth) are good enough to get it through the growing stage of its life, and when the mammal reaches adulthood, it gets its adult teeth, at which point it's as large as it's going to get, and thus will never need to replace its teeth. And because our early mammal ancestors probably only lived a couple of years at most, they didn't have to worry about cavities too much, because by the time their adult teeth were too damaged to use well, they had likely produced plenty of little baby early mammal ancestors, and, more importantly, had probably been devoured by a small dinosaur anyways. So our early mammal ancestors did away with additional replacement teeth, because they simply didn't need them. They still needed those baby teeth, and they still needed adult teeth, so that's why we have two generations of teeth.
**tl;dr: "baby" and "adult" teeth are holdovers from our reptile-like ancestors, who replaced their teeth continuously throughout their lifespan. We lost the "continuously" but still kept the "replacement."**
| 41 |
ELI5:Why use a primary language and a scripting language in game dev?
|
I've noticed that a lot of games are coded in both a primary language (eg, C++) along with a scripting language (eg Python).
As someone who only knows scripting languages, I sort of know the difference thematically but not completely functionally.
Basically, my question is: if you're already coding in a primary language like C++, what is the point/benefit of also having code in there that was written in a scripting language like Python? Why not do everything in C++?
| 122 |
Scripting languages are usually faster to work with. They don't need to be compiled, changes can be made on the fly. They don't have hard to debug memory leaks and corruption. The downside is they usually have lower performance.
The performance critical graphics engine is written in C++. The game logic is written in a scripting language.
It also allows modders to modify the game logic while keeping the source code to the engine secret.
| 52 |
Why do so many tarantula species contain the word "Baboon"?
|
"king baboon spider"
"orange baboon spider"
"horned baboon tarantula"
"blue baboon spider"
Are they related or do arachnologists just like the word baboon?
| 3,162 |
The thing to keep in mind is that these are vernacular names, in English. They are not the taxonomic names for the various species. For example, *Pelinobius muticus* is simply referred to as the "King Baboon Tarantula" in English-speaking countries, including Kenya and Tanzania where it is often found.
There are a number of theories regarding why "baboon" was included, but as you're really asking about the etymology of non-scientific terms, that isn't surprising.
The theory that often gets repeated (I had two professors repeat it in separate classes) is that many species of tarantula have legs that are reminiscent of a baboon's fingers. And many certainly do, when you compare.
| 1,716 |
ELI5: Why did(does) China lend so much money to the USA?
|
From what I hear everywhere these days and on articles that America is in debt with China for 1.23 approx trillion dollars.
What I dont understand is, how is China lending this much money to America or Why in the first place?
China is enjoying a decent economic growth and all though I am not well educated in these matters, it seems to me like China could be using its own money to invest in its own country and on its own population to further increase that economic growth.
People in America dont really give a shit about developing a relationship with China, especially with China being a communist power and also supporting and defending North K-o-r-e-a from western interference. Most of the world still considers China to be a developing or a 3rd world country. Again I might be ignorant about these as I dont know a lot about international politics or have a finance background.
| 23 |
Sovereign debt isn't really lending as most people are familiar with it.
Nobody is "lending" America money. They are purchasing American treasury bonds. A T-bond is basically a promise from the US government that in X number of years they will pay you the value of the bond plus a small percentage of interest. People buy these bonds because the US government *always* pays. They are a super-safe way to invest money.
| 21 |
Professor asked me for letter of support
|
Hi all,
My professor asked me for a letter of support for a teaching award he is being nominated for. I had two neuro classes with him (I graduated in Spring 2013) and he was one of the best professors I've had. He made neuro very enjoyable and was probably the main reason I declared a minor in it.
I have something written, but would just like some feedback (I'd love a professor's feedback or somebody in graduate school). Could one or two people give me their thoughts?
Many thanks.
| 24 |
Just in general: specific, personal anecdotes are very powerful. It's far better to relate a personal story that illustrates one or two of a nominee's strengths than it is to shower the nominee with unsupported accolades.
It's also helpful if you include one or two succinct, quotable sentences -- sound bites, if you prefer. The principal nominator will be looking for support for the letter he or she will need to write, and having a few powerful quotes to use makes that job easier.
| 23 |
ELI5 - Why do communications companies make themselves so impossible to get hold of?
| 29 |
Customer service is an expense. It doesn't generate any revenue for them and so it's a low priority. The only reason it gets any attention in most companies is because good customer service can prevent a customer from moving to a competetor but in most places communications companies have monopolies or duopolies so there's little risk in loosing a customer due to bad service.
So they set up the bare minimum number of people to answer questions, they force customers to answer their own questions and set up automated systems with technology that isn't anywhere near maturity with the idea that they can answer enough customer questions to get by and avoid most formal complaints.
| 35 |
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[Hobbit] How did Sauron or the Nazgul not see/sense Bilbo when he uses the ring in the Hobbit?
|
Or for that matter Gollom for all the time he had it. When the dwarves are captured by the wood elves in the Mirkwood forest, Bilbo spends days if not weeks wearing the ring. Yet every time Frodo even *thinks* about putting on the ring he is instantly a target and everyone knows where he is…?
| 116 |
The films are... different. Sauron only knew where Frodo was on Amon Hen, and when he claimed the Ring inside Mordor. Amon Hen was sort of a weird place, which encouraged farsight but also apparently made you "stick out" more to those with farsight of their own. That plus the Ring meant that Sauron found him -- albeit not enough to identify him, thanks to the intervention of either Galadriel or Gandalf. And claiming the Ring was directly challenging Sauron in his own land, so it was more the claim than the use of the Ring that drew the attention of Sauron.
Bilbo never outright, knowingly claimed it as his own and challenged Sauron for its ownership. Neither did Gollum (though he likely would have done so given the chance). Use of the Ring never functioned as a homing beacon for Sauron. The films changed this to make some things easier to show visually and enhance the menace of the Ring. But, for example, Sam uses the Ring for an extended period in the Pass of Cirith Ungol, following around orcs and evading Shelob. Sauron never notices that.
| 130 |
ELI5: what makes pain differentiate into various sensations such as shooting, stabbing, throbbing, aching, sharp, dull, etc?
| 7,504 |
How big the area causing the pain is, plus the method of damage of the tissue e.g. are the cells too hot, or physically cut, and therefore which types of nerve cells are stimulated (e.g. A-d fibres can be stimulated by mechanical or thermal stimuli, or C fibres which can be mechanical, thermal or chemical).
Some nerve fibres have special coatings (myelination) which allows the signal to travel faster e.g. A-d pain fibres
| 3,452 |
|
ELI5: Difference in "Sell By," "Best by," and expiration dates?
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How long does food usually last, and in what quality, up to these dates? I feel like they all mean something different if not similar, yet I only ever see one on something that I buy.
| 249 |
* A "Sell-By" date tells the store how long to display the product for sale. You should buy the product before the date expires. It is a stock control system for the stores.
* A "Best By (or Before)" date is recommended for best flavor or quality. It is not a purchase or safety date. It is a guarantee for the consumer that if you use the food on or before the date listed, it should taste fresh. It is advisory only and says nothing about the safety (or lack thereof) of the food on or after a certain date.
* A "Use By" date is generally a date at which food is no longer considered safe to eat. You might see something like "Keep refrigerated and use within 5 days of opening" on a carton of egg whites, for example. You should not get sick if you eat within 5 days - you may get sick after 5 days.
| 190 |
ELI5: When you "sell" stocks, who is buying them? What if nobody wants to buy them? What if nobody wants to sell them? How do they work?
| 140 |
When you sell a stock, as in you've hit the "sell" button on your trading platform or called in an order, you're selling it to someone who has hit the "buy" button on his trading platform for the same price.
If you sell and no one wants to buy, then your order will just not be filled at that price. Then, depending on your choice of broker or personal settings, your order will be canceled, wait to be filled at the price, or fill at the next available price(s).
So pretty much, when you sell a stock, you're selling to some guy who happens to be buying at that moment. If no one's there to buy from you, you'll be left hanging. And vice versa.
| 66 |
|
The film Arrival hints at b-theory of time. Does it actually support it?
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I have done a lot of searching, and all I can come up with is a Quora answer that I’m not sure answers my question.
The film Arrival involves individuals’ ability to experience time differently. Does this only work in a world where b-theory is correct?
Forgive me if this has been asked before, I searched both through Reddit and Google without any luck.
| 17 |
Yes, pretty much. It's based on a short story called 'Story of Your Life' which brings it out a bit more clearly.
>'The physical universe was a language with a perfectly ambiguous grammar. Every physical event was an utterance that could be parsed in two entirely different ways, one causal and the other teleological, both valid, neither one disqualifiable no matter how much context was available.
>'When the ancestors of humans and heptapods first acquired the spark of consciousness, they both perceived the same physical world, but they parsed their perceptions differently; the worldviews that ultimately arose were the end result of that divergence. Humans had developed a sequential mode of awareness, while heptapods had developed a simultaneous mode of awareness. We experienced events in an order, and perceived their relationship as cause and effect. They experienced all events at once, and perceived a purpose underlying them all. A minimizing, maximizing purpose.'
| 16 |
ELI5: How do miners know when a mine is tapped out ? Or how they know where to mine in the first place?
| 51 |
> **when a mine is tapped out ?**
they rarely know it that specifically but when they can't bring out enough valuable ore/cost they lose interest fast. there might still be good stuff down there and there might be nothing so you keep going until you start to lose profit and then you bail.
| 55 |
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[DC] Martian man hunter don't look a like human so why doesn't he just use his real form?
| 15 |
At first, J'onn adopted the more humanoid and superheroic Martian Manhunter look to put humanity at ease, and would only revert to his natural Martian appearance when he was relaxed in private, or under significant stress that couldn't maintain the 'transformation'. But after enough time on Earth he subconsciously started to feel like the Martian Manhunter appearance everyone came to know him by reflected his true current self and that became his default natural appearance which he didn't need to consciously maintain at all.
| 27 |
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ELI5: The Hare Krishna movement
|
I've never really been aware of what this is about, despite seeing many references to it in popular culture. Most recently I realized that in the first GTA game, you had the option to run over a group of orange individuals (who apparently chant "Hare krishna", which I never noticed before), and if you ran them all over you would receive a message saying "Gouranga". [This post inspired me to figure out what it meant.](http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/w3891/my_best_moment_in_gta/)
| 78 |
They are a hinduist organisation. "Krishna" is a concept in hinduism that i am not fully aware of.
Anyway, with the hippieculture 60-70 they grew incredibly fast and were considered a sect by some. The most obnoxious thing about them was probably the way they collected donations to finance temples. They werent liked very much back then and normaly people dont tend to give donations to organizations they dislike.
They solved this problem by using a psychological concept known as reciprocity. Basically, when someone gives you a present *no matter how small*, you feel compelled to give them a present back. There is a lot of evidence that shows how incredibly well that works and that you actually often give back more than you originally got. Whenever a person tries to sell you something and gives you a small present - *anything* - at the beginning of the conversation, they are using this technique. But back to hare krishna.
So, when you got out of the airport or the trainstation (so you couldnt dodge them), a hare krishna would give you a small flower. You were not allowed to take it back. Most people actually threw it away, only for a hare krishna to fish it back out of the dumpster and give it to the next person.
A couple yards down the road was another hare krishna ,collecting donations. They all looked alike, so it was easy to identify. Everybody who got a flower felt compelled to donate, even though they didnt really wanted to.
You are probably wondering how well something like this can actually work. The answer is: well enough to fund 321 temples.
//EDIT//
For more on manipulation, see: Cialdini; 1984; Influence: the psychology of persuation
| 35 |
ELI5: Why did Sega die so quickly? Their systems often seemed superior to the ones that were out during the time.
| 35 |
Personal thoughts:
* Primary reason that Sega hardware and some games where superior was Sega had excellent Arcade machines. When Arcades died off so did this advantage.
* Hardware strategy all over the place and costly, Genesis had too many add ons that no one would develop for because not enough people had them
* Saturn was a flop
* even though the Dreamcast was a good system it was crushed by the Playstation 2 and Xbox
* Unlike Nintendo who had several first party mega series to keep people purchasing even in slow times, Sega had... Sonic, and we all know that there haven't been very many good Sonic games.
| 16 |
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ELI5: How does food in the fridge stay good for a few days and then one day just go bad.
|
Some food seem to be fine one day and the next just smell or look weird the next.
| 38 |
Bacteria multiply by binary fission, which means they double when they reproduce and therefore exhibit exponential growth. When you first put the food in the fridge there are only a few bacteria, and when they double there are only a few more. By the time there are a few hundred thousand, this exponential growth means it wont take long for there are millions then billions spoiling your food.
E.coli, for example, has a doubling time of 20 mins under ideal conditions. Refrigeration will slow most bacterial growth increasing the doubling time.
| 40 |
ELI5: How is a computer programmed to *not* play a game optimally? (Chess, for example)
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For reference, on lichess.org, you can play against the machine. You must choose a "level" to play on from 1-8. How is the programming different between each of these levels?
| 46 |
Many programs work by searching through thousands or even millions of possible moves. Not just what move is next, but what will happen after that, and what will happen after that. When you reduce the computer's level, you tell it to examine fewer possible moves, less far into the future, before making its decision.
| 43 |
Why is breast cancer so relatively common?
|
From my understanding cancer is more likely to occur in tissues that divide often (skin cancer, colon cancer, leukemia, etc). What is it about breast tissue that makes it prone to cancer?
| 37 |
After ovulation, the terminal duct epithelium proliferates and the number of terminal ducts within a lobule increases and the basal epithelial cells become vacuolated. The intralobular stroma becomes edematous and loose. These changes result in progressive fullness, heaviness and tenderness of the breast. As the levels of estrogen and progesterone fall with the onset of menstruation, there is an increase in apoptosis in the TDLU. Lymphocytes infiltrate the intralobular stroma, which becomes dense. The TDLU finally regresses to its resting appearance
| 16 |
[Avatar] Why was the Northern Water Tribe so incompetent?
|
The Northern Water Tribe stays almost completely out of any combat and instead plays the fortify and defend game. [They move all of their cities and villages into one mega city surrounded by huge glaciers and a large ice wall.](http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/avatarthelastairbenderrp/images/2/28/Entrance.png/revision/latest?cb=20110906204857) They stand by and watch the Fire Nation genocide the Air Benders, the South Water Tribe be completely decimated, and the Earth Kingdom be slowly but surely dismantled. That's not where I have a problem though, I understand their fear of the Fire Nation and I don't think fortify and defend was a bad strategy.
My problem is how poorly they did it. They obviously knew the Fire Nation would eventually come for them (the Chief said as much) and they were blessed with **~100 years** of prep time, but they were completely unprepared. The Fire Nation is able to waltz a **massive** naval fleet to the north pole and is only noticed, what, a couple hours before they arrive at the NWT? They are **water benders**, at the north pole, filled with glaciers, and they seriously have no permanent outposts to scout something like that? They only noticed the fleet was coming because there were ashes in the snow that was falling on the city ffs.
If that isn't enough incompetence they then allow the fleet to approach their **ICE WALL** completely unchallenged. They don't have any navy at all? The Southern Water Tribe, even though it's in ruins, has *dozens* of ships and in it's prime was much smaller than the Northern Water Tribe. Navy aside, Northern Water Tribe had skiffs, they could've done some serious damage to the fleet before it reached the wall. Instead they try the lamest assassination attempt of General Zhao and then allow the Fire Nation to land their ships, destroy their wall, and launch an on foot assault. The NWT had a ton of water bending soldiers and they had a lot of potential advantages and IMO could've won the battle without Avatar state Aang.
It seems like the most obvious explanation is this was done to allow the plot to move forward, but it's really disappointing. I think seeing a prepared and battle ready NWT fight the Fire Nation would've been really sweet. What are some things you guys think they could've done to repel the attack better? Excuse my text wall.
| 79 |
The Northern Water Tribe stays largely isolated because they *are* isolated. They couldn't do anything about the fall of the SWT because they were literally on the opposite side of the world. It took the Gaang weeks to get there from the SWT, and that was on Appa flying over the Earth Kingdom. NWT ships would have to go all the way around the Earth Kingdom and by the time they got there the SWT would have been ash. As for the Earth Kingdom, there would have been nothing they could do on that front. What took the Earth Kingdom down wasn't the assaults of the Fire Nation Army, it was the Earth Kingdom's own corruption. Internal politics are what led to its fall.
As for the Fire Nation assault on the North Pole, sure they had scouts up ahead (don't forget Sokka and Yue had flown decently far outside of the city on Appa) but it's not like the Fire Navy is going to stop its advance and allow the scouts to go warn everybody before continuing. "Oh, sorry, you're the scouts? Go ahead, we'll wait. Let us know when you're ready." Besides, what really alerted the NWT to the coming invasion was the soot-filled snow, which depending on the air currents at high altitudes could have extended for potentially tens of miles in front of the fleet.
And no, they didn't let them approach the wall unchallenged. Aang went out on Appa and started taking out ships, and NWT ships were even shown going around spearing Fire Navy ships on giant icebergs. The problem was that this was the largest fleet the Fire Nation had ever formed. It was at the very least 100 ships large and was composed of multiple regular fleets all working together.
And despite all of this, the NWT was actually winning the fight. The Fire Navy managed to breach the wall, yes, but they took too long. Many of their troops were in the city when the full moon rose and got cut off. The waterbenders were handily beating the firebenders until Zhao's strike force managed to take down the moon spirit. At that point it was over for the waterbenders; they had literally no way to fight. So yes, Avatar State Aang was required to win the battle, but it's not like the NWT was completely defenseless. They were doing very well until Zhao temporarily removed waterbending from the face of the earth.
Oh, and stood by and watched the Fire Nation wipe out the Air Nomads? Just, no. That was literally the attack that launched the war. It was a surprise attack by the Fire Nation that absolutely nobody saw coming, and it happened during Sozin's Comet so even if they had been aware ahead of time good luck stopping it.
| 69 |
[Eli5] Why are wind turbines on a horizontal axis like a traditional windmill? Do they turn into the wind? If at a slight angle from wind direction doesn't efficiency drop? Wouldn't a tower-style set up, with blades spinning around a vertical axis spin regardless of wind direction?
| 24 |
Horizontal axis wind turbines do indeed turn into the wind. On some older smaller systems this was done by the help of a rudder so the wind would push the wind turbine in the right direction. However modern turbines use motors to turn them into the wind at all times. This would obviously not be needed with vertical axis wind turbines. And this style is being researched as a possible better alternative. However a big problem with vertical axis wind turbines is that the blades are only catching the wind perfectly once per revolution and is even going against the wind at times. While the blades on a horizontal axis wind turbine always have the perfect angle into the wind.
| 29 |
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ELI5: How was the straight line invented?
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It is said there are no straight lines in nature. There are things that come very close to straight (a weight at the end of a string), and maybe even things that are arguably straight (crystal structures at the ionic level). To create anything straight (or flat if considering an additional dimension), we must use a straight stencil or tool. How did we get to the point where we can create perfectly straight edges and flat surfaces (at least down to the molecular level)?
| 22 |
You're mistaken. The easiest way to make a straight line is to pull a string tight. It's extremely easy.
The second easiest way is to look from one point at another point, and mark the items that are directly in the path.
| 50 |
How do I get better at philosophy without majoring in philosophy?
|
I'm a politics major. I'm almost done but I'm realizing how important philosophy is. I'm assigned snippets of political philosophy but I'm realizing how all of philosophy is important.
It's honestly amazing how much the humanities overlap. I need a deep understanding of philosophy to perform well. I kind of regret my major but it's too late, I see now why philosophy majors score higher than politics majors on the LSAT.
I spent much of my teens engaging in "scientism" (Dawkins, hitchens, Harris) and I'm realizing how incorrect that is.
My professors are helpful but I feel like I'm really lacking. So my question, who are the most influential philosophers that I must read and what philosophers are most involved in political philosophy?
I was taught history, math, science in highscool but not philosophy. I feel like I barely have a foundation.
| 35 |
The philosophers you need to know to understand politics are the major historical ones like Plato, Hobbes, and Locke. Reading contemporary academic political philosophy will have a smaller payoff in that specific respect, because it has had less time to influence the culture.
| 19 |
[DC/Marvel] do other nations Heroes feel jealous that the American Based heroes get all the fame and glory?
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So given that it always seems that an American or American based superhero or super team is the one who always beats the biggest bad or it’s at least portrayed as such does that make supers in other nations jealous or upset that they seem to be second string?
| 34 |
Interesting question! It's a mixed bag, but by and large the answer is yes, though not for the reasons you're thinking. At both Marvel and DC, most non-american heroes tend to exist as *extensions* of their country's government rather than operate *in* their country as freelance vigilantes. They're mad about the American heroes doing everything because they view it as an infringement of their sovereignty.
Over at DC, The recent crisis crossover *Doomsday Clock* was built on this idea. Basically, the plot is that various world governments notice that while America has an *incredible* number of superhumans created by freak lab accidents, most non-american superhumans are created by their *respective governments,* usually as a direct response to the American supers. (pick a foreign cape at DC and the odds are good this will be their backstory.) This leads the world at large to assume that the U.S. Government is secretly behind most of the "freak accident" heroes, with Russia spearheading an anti-U.S. Coalition to try and frame the Justice League as an out-of-control extension of American Foreign policy.
Marvel had a similar Arc where the core Avengers team went, "Hey, we're getting kind of sick of constant U.S. Government plots to destroy or enslave all the superheroes- we've got enough resources between us to count as our own nation. Peace!" They then relocate to Antartica and throw in with Black Panther for whatever funding they can't get from Iron Man. On top of royally pissing off the entire U.S. Government, pretty much every nation capable of fielding a superhuman program *immediately* starts churning out capes in order to make sure that they'll have a way to keep the Avengers off their property if need be- because *nobody* wants a superhero team that's on America's shitlist butting in if they can avoid it.
| 33 |
[Dungeons And Dragons] How does the world of Torill have such incredible biodiversity
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Seriously, there's over 100 sentient races, hundreds of apex predators. how does the world support this level of biodiversity?
| 39 |
Alien invasions and immigrations mostly. Mindflayers, everything fae related, Dragons, Genasi, and many others come from other worlds or realities. Others like Gnomes were artificially created.
A lot of flora and fauna also comes from other realities as well. Just glancing through the Monster Manuals you'll see some cone from the Faewild, others from the Far Realm, others from Elemental Planes, and so on.
| 48 |
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