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[Lord of the Rings] Which members of the original Fellowship were virgins?
| 105 |
Probably only gandalf and legolas simply due to how their races treat sex like marriage.
The rest are pretty middle age by now, all the hobbits are in around the 40s or above, boromir too, with aragorn and gimli much older. Odds are they have had sex at one point or another.
| 150 |
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ELI5: Why is League of Legends so popular?
| 86 |
First of all, it's free. You can download the game and immediately play the game without paying anything. There are a number of people who continue to play for months or years without ever buying anything. That's immediately going to make a game popular.
There are things you can buy within the game, but individual champions and runes, which buff up the characters you play can both be bought with in game currency, which you earn as you play. A lot of money is actually spent on cosmetic items like skins for champions, but these don't improve the strength of your champions.
There is a weekly rotating schedule of free champions that you can play in normal games, so even if you don't own many, you can try new champions every week.
The games are fairly short, most lasting around 30-40 minutes. So, you can queue up for a game, find one in about a minute, play with people and be done under an hour. If you immediately queue up for another one, or play the next day, or come back weeks or months later, there may be small changes, but the basic games stays the same and you won't necessarily be behind other people who play all the time (except that they're more likely to have refined their skills).
| 51 |
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If we're able to identify the position once of a quantum particle, would it not then be feasible to time a ton of pictures to happen at nearly the same nanosecond on the same quantum particle to track it's 'position'?
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1) Why is it not possible to measure the position of a single quantum particle multiple times? (aka a video) Would we be able to then track it's momentum?
2) If the answer to the above is that it pops in and out of existence, how exactly does that happen?
3) How large of a field would you need to track a single quantum particle?
4) Would that be able to be done on Earth? Would we have to develop a large science facility in space somehwere?
5) Would it even be possible to build a machine large/small enough to do this?
| 30 |
>Why is it not possible to measure the position of a single quantum particle multiple times?
We **can** detect the position of a particle multiple times.
>Would we be able to then track it's momentum?
Yes, although this does not allow for violations of the uncertainty principle. And anyway the product of the experimental uncertainties on the position and momentum will be much larger than the Heisenberg uncertainty lower limit anyway.
>If the answer to the above is that it pops in and out of existence, how exactly does that happen?
It's not the answer to the above. It doesn't really make sense to consider a real particle popping in and out of existence.
>How large of a field would you need to track a single quantum particle?
Particle detectors in experimental particle and nuclear physics come in various sizes. Some can fit in your hand, and some are huge arrays of many detectors, much larger than a human body.
>Would that be able to be done on Earth? Would we have to develop a large science facility in space somewhere?
There's no need to be in space, unless you're specifically interested in particles of extraterrestrial origin. Even then sometimes you can detect them from the ground.
| 10 |
[Stargate] Where does the iris go when it is open?
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There is no housing of any kind around the gate, would such an advanced piece of technology have a massive cavity inside conveniently located to allow for the installation of a metallic shield?
| 50 |
You remember the Jaffa Guards from the first film? They had Eagle and Jackal helmets that could completely fold in to themselves without any apparent space to hide them?
This is one of the first technologies the SGC got from the program and utilised when they build there Iris to protect earth.
| 58 |
[Avengers] How much stronger is Thanos than the Hulk? Is he naturally stronger or was it because of the infinity stone?
| 134 |
Its not only Strength its training.
The Hulk fought with brute force and rage, the hulks only power is the madder he gets the stronger he gets.
That isn't exactly helpful in a tight space hand to hand combat.
Thanos' first strike was pinpointed, Thanos knew precisely where to strike.
But for Thanos to pull apart Hulk's hands was just a raw display of over powered strength.
For Thanos to pull apart Hulk's hands , when Hulk's Hands had all the leverage.
Hulk was in shock.
No one , no one had ever stood up to hulk like that.
Hulk was afraid.
Hulk's only weapon was diminished.
So Hulk needs anger to get stronger. Hulk couldn't be stronger, because Hulk became afraid of Thanos.
| 173 |
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Would we weigh more if the earth wouldn't be spinning?
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Is there any centrifugal force working against gravitation that pushes us away from earth because it is spinning or even rotating around the sun? If yes, how big of an impact does that have on our weight?
Thanks a lot
| 105 |
Yes, the centrifugal force does reduce your "apparent weight" from mg, everywhere except at the poles.
The effect is maximal at the equator, where the centrifugal force is maximal in magnitude and points entirely in the "up" direction.
Assuming the Earth is a rigid sphere with radius R (not accurate, because the Earth itself also bulges due to the centrifugal force, etc.), your effective weight at the equator is:
W = mg - mRΩ^(2).
The ratio of the correction term to your "normal" weight is RΩ^(2)/g, which works out to be about 0.003. So under these assumptions (Earth as a rigid sphere), your effective weight is 0.3% lower at the equator than at the poles.
| 107 |
[The force awakens] How did the first order manage to perfectly aim the starkiller base to where it would shoot down all 5 hosnian planets?
| 26 |
They didn't really aim it so much as bend it around in hyperspace. The beam entered hyperspace and portions were allowed to splinter off into real space. It technically was aimed near Hosnian and grazed each planet and moon as it passed by.
| 48 |
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[Santa Claus is Coming to Town] Did Burgermeister Meisterburger have the legal authority to not just ban toys, but search all of the houses of the citizens of Sombertown to find toys?
| 17 |
[](/communerd)Sombertown ran under a political ideology that theorists describe as a "cynicocracy," which is defined by the governance of cynics in order to create a more cynical society. The idea that whimsy is of an existential threat to a pragmatic, well-ordered civilization is intrinsic to this form of political system; just as fascism cannot allow free journalism to exist and critique it, cynicocracy cannot allow a whimsical mode of life to critique the drab mode of life that its citizens otherwise are forced to endure.
Fascism justifies the suppression of individual rights with the welfare of the state; cynicocracy behaves similarly but with more of an emphasis on the welfare of order as an abstract concept, as opposed to a specific nation. The denizens of Sombertown, by and large, had been taught from an early age to believe that the government had the best interest of order in mind, and that any actions it took were not to be questioned or opposed.
And just as fascism ceases to ask questions of legal authority and individual rights in favor of the cult of personality and the emotional assumption that the leader can do no wrong, so too does cynicocracy behave. It isn't a question of whether the Burgermeister had the right to do what he did. Almost none of the adults of Sombertown would ever have thought of that question. What matters is that the Meisterburger dynasty in times past had sculpted a society which would accept just about *anything* in the name of suppressing child-like emotions in favor of a solely pragmatic and undistracted society.
Sources: *Christmas Against Kings: An Examination of the Holiday's Effects on World Politics* by Snowy the Frostman, *On the Ramifications of a Whimsy-Led World* by Comet, and *A Comprehensive History of Meisterburger Politics* by Jingleshoes Elfmann III.
| 12 |
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[Star Wars: Battlefront II/Star Wars] Can Yoda breathe underwater?
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I am a soldier of the Old Republic, and I've just fought alongside Wookies, other clones, and Yoda himself, in order to liberate Kashyyk from the invading droid army, that is the CIS. I was wondering....
Yoda had this uncanny thing he could do, where he'd just run where there was water at. And whenever the enemy's fire shot toward him (everybody knew it was him, just a lightsaber tip poking straight upward out of the waters in the ocean. I was wanting to know, because this seemed like something we should tell somebody... Is Yoda actually breathing underwater? Does Yoda have some sort of gill apparatus?
How is he doing that? They weren't unable to run him over sometimes, but it seemed to take a lot before he actually fled the battle, that's all. Thanks
| 17 |
Jedi carry breathers for going underwater, you probably can't see it because: Yoda is underwater, Yoda is a small creature with a small mouth and would use a small breather and least but not least, you're in a goddamn battle stop staring at the dyslexic frog and shoot that damn clanker.
| 28 |
ElI5: Why does wasabi burn your sinuses and not your tongue/mouth?
| 208 |
The chemical that makes wasabi spicy doesn't get absorbed by the tongue like the chemical that makes peppers spicy. Wasabi spice is also less hot by eating it with water or watery liquids like soy sauce, whereas hot pepper spice is not. You need alcohol or something fatty like milk to lessen the spiciness of peppers.
| 131 |
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CMV - "We don't leave a man behind" isn't just a platitude, it's a key tenet that is essential for morale.
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When a young person is contemplating joining the US military, it gets explained to them that, should something bad happen, they will not get left behind, no matter what. That tenet, it seems to me, is absolutely essential to recruiting and to the continued morale of those in service. There are no asterisks for a very good reason.
Soldiers in the field endure a lot of stress, and sometimes they do stupid things. Sometimes they desert or commit crimes or go crazy. Putting people into those sorts of situations will do that. But a soldier in the field KNOWS that no matter what, even if he goes crazy or goes AWOL and gets captured by the enemy, he will not be left to rot. That knowledge gives a soldier the faith he or she needs to risk their lives. Knowing that doctrine is in place is what convinces young people that they can put their lives into the hands of an institution, and that no matter what, they will not be forgotten about.
I find all of the talk about how Bergdahl was a deserter, and should have been left behind, to be deeply disturbing. He is a US soldier, and if he committed any crimes, then the US army will punish him. But the reason we don't leave a man behind isn't primarily for the lost soldiers benefit, it's for the soldier in the fields benefit, so he or she doesn't have to worry about whether or not anybody would come looking for them should they get lost, even if there are unsavory rumors about them.
I am posting this here because I have found this forum to be one of the better at generating interesting discussions. I have never been in the military, and don't claim to have any real knowledge of how battlefield stress effects people. I am open to changing my views, and will gladly hand out deltas to anyone who can help me evolve my thoughts on the subject in any way.
| 25 |
>it's a key tenet that is essential for morale.
The first problem with your argument is simple; you think that this particular exchange is good for morale. The second problem with your argument is that you imply that there were only two courses of action- never getting this man back, or accept the deal to free our most viscous enemies.
I'll tackle the second issue first. The people who are upset with this transfer aren't upset because they would rather have left him behind. They are upset because we did something so terrible, so unthinkably dangerous, something arguably illegal, to get him released. There is a reason we don't negotiate with terrorist organizations. We could have waited until another opportunity to reclaim our soldier and we didn't. The taliban said they wanted their leaders back and Obama immediately jumped on the opportunity.
Now on to the morale issue. You suggest that trading terrorist leaders for one soldier is somehow something that will raise the morale of the troops (or at least keep it on an even keel). But you seem not to have been paying attention to the troops who have been very vocal about their opposition to this exchange. Do you know why they are so upset? It's because there is now a precedent set. Now our enemies know that all they have to do is kidnap any single soldier they can get their hands on and they will be rewarded with whatever they ask for.
There is a reason we don't negotiate with terrorists- it emboldens them. It rewards their terrible behavior and it makes them more aggressive towards obtaining the next pawn they see.
It's a game of chess and Obama just gave up his queen, his knights and his bishops just because the other side said that they might eventually take a pawn that's been under threat since the beginning of the game. How would that make you feel if you were in the armed forces and you realized that your own commander and chief was so easily outsmarted by our enemies???
Morale is down.
| 11 |
Christian professors in secular universities, do you have religious objects in your office?
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I'm wondering to what extent other professors bring their spiritual life to their campus environment.
| 34 |
There's an standard in first amendment law that young children can't tell the difference between "my teacher believes it" and "it's absolutely true", but older adolescents and young adults can. Thus, a kindergarten teacher who tells students about his Christian beliefs is evangelizing, even if he never says something like, "You should believe this too." A 5 year old doesn't understand the that "I believe Jesus Christ rose from the dead" is a different kind of sentence than "A dime is worth 10 pennies."
College students have enough mental development that they can separate the professor's personal religious beliefs from the factual content taught in class, so there's not so much worry that the professor is promoting one religion over another just by expressing personal beliefs.
That doesn't mean there are no downsides.
If you express strong religious adherence, especially to a sect that is known to judge or exclude populations that may include some of your students, even if you don't personally hold with those beliefs, students might see your objects and worry that you do. They might avoid you, skip office hours, refuse to go to you for help, etc. This could be mitigated if you also displayed a clear sign of commitment to those groups. To be concrete: If a professor has a lot of Mormon stuff in their office, LGB students might choose to stay away, believing (not necessarily correctly) that this professor probably won't really respect them. If that professor also gets Safe Zone training, participates in the university sex and gender diversity caucus, etc., the signals would probably cancel each other out.
| 93 |
Are colorblind people able to watch 3D movies with the red-green glasses?
| 23 |
Theoretically, yes. The lens of the glasses filters out some of the light so that one eye gets one image and the other eye gets another. If the person is red-green colorblind, that doesn't mean that red or green are invisible, just that there are wavelengths of light that they cannot distinguish. The 3D effect arises from your two eyes getting different images, not because they are processed as being different colors. This would still be the case for a colorblind individual.
| 14 |
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I believe those sentenced to life in prison should simply be executed. CMV.
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I honestly believe life sentences in our American prison system is inhumane and cruel. Not only will these people never have a chance to contribute to society, they will never leave their prison with the exception of their death.
I know in the current system that is costs more to execute a prisoner than house them indefinitely because of the extensive appeal process. I believe these appeals should be severely limited for those cases where the evidence is indisputable, for example if there are several different camera shots of a murder being committed along with extensive DNA evidence.
CMV.
| 17 |
No case is ever totally indisputable.
In America we have executed many people who have later been found innocent, or at least there was a reasonable doubt that they committed the crime.
You have to remember that DNA proves you were there, camera's can show someone who looks like you, and even confessions are extremely untrustworthy. These are far from indisputable evidence. Maybe 99 out of a 100 cases with all of those pieces of evidence are guilty, there is still the 1 out of that 100 that is innocent and could be you.
Since we have so many criminals who are sentenced to life in prison but are then later found innocent it make absolutely no sense to believe that they should be executed.
Also it is not inhumane or cruel. As our prisoners have the ability to kill themselves. It's not exactly difficult to jump off a high building or tell the wrong gang one thing. If people preferred death they could take that choice.
| 23 |
What is wrong with String Theory?
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I've always been under the impression that String Theory was incomplete, but conceptually intact. (If that makes any sense). But, as I look into it more, it seems like a lot of string theorists may have all of the math worked out, but their only problem is that it is extremely difficult to test whether or not there actually is 11 dimensional hyperspace.
**So, is the difficulty of testing the theory its only downfall?**
I am quite obviously a layperson.
Separate question: By accelerating subatomic particles to near that of the speed of light and smashing them into each other, is the collision expected to produce enough energy to truly gain any real insight on extra dimensions? Or are we simply doing the best we can?
Thanks to anyone who read this.
Edit: Thanks so much for the responses! I now have a lot more to read up on just to try to further understand the concepts at play.
| 46 |
>So, is the difficulty of testing the theory its only downfall?
Yes. If it cannot be examined or of use experimentally, it's a useless theory to science.
String Theory has more in common with abstract Mathematics than present-day Physics.
| 22 |
ELI5: Why is x/0 undefined while 0/0 is undetermined?
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What's the difference between the two anyway? Aren't both inapplicable?
| 56 |
The first thing to note is that we can never divide by 0. So both of these expressions are undefined, technically.
However, in the context of limits (I'll explain in a second) when things look like they're going to x/0 or 0/0 we do different things.
To start, a limit is simply explained as what does a function look like its doing as we get close to a point. We typically introduce limits by picking points closer and closer to a value and see where these results looks like they're going.
So, we want to know what's going on around x = 1 of the function (x^2 - 1)/(x-1). We try to plug in x = 1 but we quickly realize that we see 0/0. So we pick the point 0.9 and plug it in then 0.99 and 0.999 and numbers closer and closer to 1. Then we point 1.1 and 1.01 and 1.001 and number closer and closer to 1 from the other direction and get this table
x f(x)
0.9 1.9
0.99 1.99
0.999 1.999
1 0/0???
1.001 2.001
1.01 2.01
1.1 2.1
and we can easily see that in this case 0/0 meant 2.
In another case: (x^2 + x - 6)/(x^2 - x -2) as we get close to 2. Well, plugging in x = 2 gives us 0/0 again. But a table analysis like above will tell use that this is really 1.666
Yet another case: (e^x -x -1)/x^2 as x gets close to 0. Plugging in 0 tells us 0/0. But a table analysis (taking a limit) tells us 0.5
So 0/0 can really mean anything!
----
Alternatively, let's look at things that end up as x/0. First example is (x^2 )/(x-2) as we get closer to 2. We try to plug in 2 and we get 4/0. Let's do a table:
x f(x)
1.9 -36.1
1.99 -396.01
1.999 -3996
Things are going way off to negative infinity! Let's try the other direction:
x f(x)
2.1 44.1
2.01 404.01
2.001 4004
Things are going way off to the positive infinity!
Okay... maybe it was a fluke. Let's try another limit of the form x/0: say... 2/(e^x -1) as we get close to x=0. Plugging in x =0 tells us 2/0. Right form. But building a table gives us infinities again!
So, we can see from a few examples here that x/0 means infinities, while 0/0 can mean anything. So, we call one of them undefined (or really infinite) and the other we call indeterminate because it can be anything, we just don't know what. (There are advanced ways of determining the "what" without building a table, but this should convey the point.)
----
But really, what does all this mean? Why do we care about limits? Well, limits are the foundation for modern calculus. They can explain how rockets fly, how fireworks explode, nuclear reactors, electrical circuits, and many many more things.
----
TL;DR: This deals with the calculus topics of limits. Which is the question "what happens when we get close to _____". And if it looks like x/0 then we get an infinity (undefined) and if looks like 0/0 we can get anything (undetermined).
| 86 |
Is there any way for a layperson to test whether a car's Active Noise Cancellation system is actually doing anything?
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The conspiracist in me says there's no way this thing is actually making any sort of meaningful difference. System is "always on" and there does not appear to be any easy way to turn it off to do some subjective testing.
The only engineering info I could find is a very detailed [Finnish report](http://www.nordtest.info/images/documents/nt-technical-reports/NT%20TR%20487_Performance%20testing%20of%20active%20noise%20control%20%28ANC%29%20systems%20-%20Guideline_Nordtest%20Technical%20Report.pdf) [pdf alert] which is way beyond the scope of my limited skills.
Is there something simpler that I'm just overlooking?
[ANC system at issue](http://i.imgur.com/rjOhhJKl.jpg).
| 35 |
Depending on the car there could be a fuse attached to the system, and there certainly will be a fuse for the stereo system that powers the speakers.
Drive the car once with the system on and again with the fuse pulled. Same route and same speed, scientific experiment style. Pulling the fuse which protects the speakers and/or amps will be the easiest way to trivially defeat that system.
| 10 |
[Marvel/DC] Would the Punisher Kill Amanda Waller?
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If Punisher was dropped into the DC universe, would he consider the choices and actions made by Amanda Waller worthy of punishing?
| 20 |
Yes.
She is very much on the evil with ‘good’ intentions side. Castle has shown repeatedly that he does not hold with that excuse.
Waller is responsible for a HUGE number of innocent deaths and is behind some seriously heinous shit. Castle would put her down a thousand time over, especially as she’s repeatedly shown to cause more issues than she solves.
| 51 |
[Star Wars] Why exactly does Anakin begin acting so differently after being put in the suit?
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It seems like his entire personality is very different after being put in the armor. Suited Vader, for instance, acts far more statistically than he had prior to the Mustafar fight. In ROTS, everyone Vader kills were people he was ordered to kill, where as in the comic immediately afterwards he seemingly can't get enough of the violence and keeps on killing and killing, even beyond any real point. That's just one thing I thought of, Vader also talks differently, has different body language, etc. Why?
| 100 |
He is emotionally and physically shattered. He realized his place and stayed within it. He also was always a skilled commander and cunning tactician before when he wasn't whining about not being a master. He was still that angry, confused boy who slaughtered the Tuskens, he just was more scary looking.
| 114 |
ELI5: How can martial arts specialists punch through rock or wood?
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How can some people punch through bricks or wood boards without getting hurt. What's the scientific explanation behind this?
| 18 |
The trick is you have to break it or you're really going to hurt yourself.
Let's say that you have a block of wood. That block of wood will break if you apply enough force to it. Let's say you need to apply 100 pounds of force to break it. You could rest 100 pounds of weights on it or you could hit it with your 1 pound fist going really fast.
But, let's say you only hit it with 90 pounds of force. You'll probably bend the wood some but the majority of the energy will bounce back into your hand, possibly causing injury. If you hit it with 100 pounds of force or more then the energy will be used to break the fibers of the wood and it won't rebound into your fist.
| 21 |
Is the Big Bang theory the only scientifically supported theory on the origins of our universe? Do we have ideas of other ways it could have conceivably happened that would make as much sense?
| 89 |
Note: The Big Bang theory does not really attempt to explain the Big Bang as "origin of the universe". It rather describes the early development of our universe. It doesn't state that the universe came from nothing or something like that.
| 95 |
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ELI5: Why are snowflakes geometrical?
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How can it be true that no 2 snowflakes are identical? Why are they mostly 6 sided and identical on every "arm"?
cool snowflake article: http://www.boredpanda.com/snowflake-macro-photography-diy-alexey-kljatov/
| 29 |
Snowflakes are geometric because they are crystals and the angles which water will form crystals at are rather limited. The hexagonal structure comes from the bond angles of the water which tend to arrange themselves in hexagons and that basic structure continues as the crystal grows.
These are examples of fractals, structures which are built using simple rules, but which are extremely sensitive to very slight differences in starting conditions. The final appearance of a snowflake has a huge amount of diversity based simply on the starting shape of the first few molecules which stick together, thus the claim that no two snowflakes are the same. In fact, extremely similar snowflakes have been discovered, so similar that the claim only stands based on such tiny differences that it would be nigh impossible to find two of anything which were 'the same' based on the criteria, reducing the impact of the statement.
Most snowflakes which make it to the ground, however, tend to be rather boring as flakes often hit each other early in being produced or melt slightly and re-freeze and the result is nothing quite as compelling as the selected flakes used for pictures such as that which you linked.
| 17 |
Eli5 - If a person with Leukemia donates blood to a normal person, how come the other person doesn't contract Leukemia also?
| 33 |
Leukemia is a bone marrow disorder. That is where the disease originates from- the over production of certain leukocytes. Most leukocytes don’t have that long of a life, so the excess WBC would not cause disease in the recipient
| 61 |
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New USA Government Budget Proposal
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President Biden proposed $6 trillion dollars of new spending for the 2022 fiscal year. Even with his tax increases we should expect $1.6-$1.8 trillion to be printed or loaned. Ignoring the politics on whether or not this will actually happen, I have a few questions. Feel free to answer any number of them:
What will be the immediate affects of just the proposal?
Will the US dollar see a considerable change in value due to inflation from this amount?
Bonus question: a friend has been telling me to get into the crypto market. Will cryptocurrencies be affected? And if there is inflation would that make alternate currencies more or less valuable?
| 71 |
The immediate effect is likely zero. The amount of spending is has been expected, plus president's budget proposals mean very little.
No, whatever inflation could result will be adjusted for by the fed.
Crypto is a controversial topic, but there is no evidence that crypto will make a good inflation hedge. However, all of the inflation bugs will likely look for one in crypto, so it will likely go up, unless the bubble is popping.
| 13 |
Why are C API functions are badly named?
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As an example consider the function `strstr()`. How is one supposed to understand the usage of this function solely by its name? Had I wrote such function my pull request would have been rejected for bad naming of a function.
Why is that so in the C standard library?
| 56 |
because C was invented in a time and on a machine where memory and computing power was scarce and extremely expensive, so short names made sense. Shorter names meant saving on compile time and memory usage. Also input methods were very clunky back then, that also might be one of the reasons.
| 60 |
ELI5: Why did humans evolve mentally when every other species evolved physically?
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Why did we evolve for intelligence instead of strength, speed or some other physical trait?
**Edit:** I know I phrased this question awkwardly, I'm not the best with words. And although the question has been answered I still love to read all the new well explained and thought-out responses to this question, but please stop telling me that human's also evolved physically and that animals also evolved mentally. I know this, I'm not oblivious, I just was speaking broadly in the sense that a Shark or Lion's most advantageous quality lies in their strength while a humans most advantageous quality is our mind.
| 27 |
Essentially every evolutionary niche that could provide an advantage got filled by something. It's not that we evolved for intelligence instead of strength, it's that we happen to be the ones that evolved for intelligence so we can even ask the question...other animals went for strength (or speed or camoflage or...).
Humans are, physically, actually quite astounding in terms of endurance. If we're in good physical condition, we can run many other land animals to exhaustion.
| 45 |
What kind of cameras are mounted on Space-X rockets? How're they designed?
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I noticed [Space-X's rocket mounted cameras are of a slightly lower quality](https://imgur.com/a/GYHIIH4) than the cameras that *don't go to SPACE*.. This got me wondering-
* How does one design a camera that can go to space on the outside of a rocket?
* What're the design challenges and considerations?
* On the Falcon rockets are they mounted in plexi-glass housings or some other material?
* How're they not destroyed by vibrations from the motor or the drastic atmospheric temperature changes?
* Does anyone know what brand and model of Camera Space-X uses? It'd be one hell of a marketing tactic.. "Buy our cameras, they're able to ride rockets to SPACE*!!!*"
| 19 |
They've used lots of GoPro cameras on the earlier launches. They had some custom firmware or encryption, so when you looked at the SD card, no files appeared on a standard windows machine. This is known, because a fairing piece washed upon some beach and the finder couldn't see any files, but after sending everything to SpX, they published a neat videos of the fairing reentering.
Not sure if they're still using them though.
| 17 |
[Star Wars] Yoda defeats Palpatine at the Senate Chambers, what happens next? What are the next 19 years in galactic history like?
| 62 |
Yoda is considered an enemy of the Empire still and is arrested or goes into hiding temporarily. However, the Empire falls apart without Palpatine to control things. The Republic is reestablished, perhaps with Senator Organa in charge. The next decade or two is spent figuring out how to deal with the remnants of the Separatists. Think reconstruction in post civil war America.
| 67 |
|
CMV: Polygamy should be legalized in the US
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My view is pretty simple: laws against polygamy are incompatible with the social values that Americans in majority champion. I'll focus on two main areas:
Gender equality and reproductive choice - Laws against polygamy are rooted in antiquated notions that women need to be protected from decisions that they might make for themselves if given liberty to choose. An adult individual has the freedom to choose who to love and how to express that love, and that choice should not be arbitrarily limited in number by laws.
Separation of church and state - The restrictions on polygamy are also clearly centered in a certain type of Christian theology, and equally on selective suppression of Mormonism in the 19th century. Neither Judaism nor Islam categorically forbid polygamy, but mainstream Christian denominations all do.
For these reasons and others, I think laws against polygamy violate the Constitutional rights of all Americans and should be quickly ended. CMV!
_____
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| 18 |
What do you mean by "polygamy"?
The problem is that there's nothing straightforward that can be done in this respect. You'd have to rewrite a large framework of laws including divorce, immigration, court testimony, inheritance, tax, and pretty much everything marriage touches.
This is nowhere near as simple as gay marriage. It makes no real difference whether in a divorce a man and a woman, or a man and another man try to split their property -- in the end it's just a bunch stuff to be divided among two people. But what if there are 20? Now that's different. Do you need to consider seniority? Can people in a multiple marriage stop the divorce from happening? Can a marriage form a network, and what are the implications of a divorce where two people divorce each other but still remain connected to the network by other links? There's a lot to solve there.
So there's no simple change that can be made that'd be meaningful.
| 11 |
Why does salt melt ice and mess up slugs?
|
What allows it to have these properties?
| 25 |
Salt doesn't really melt ice like heat does. When you add salt to water, it lowers the temperature that it freezes at. So when water would normally melt/freeze at 32F, it now happens at, say 5F
So, if you wanted to have a salt popsicle, you would have to make your freezer a lot colder in order to freeze them.
Slugs die when you put salt on them because too much water leaves their body and they dry out and die (called osmosis). There's a simple saying "water follows salt". You could also kill them by pouring sugar on them, but it might not be *as* efficient.
| 25 |
AskScience AMA Series: We're Cheryl Bowman, Deputy Branch Chief for High Temperature and Smart Alloys, and Sean Clarke, Principal Investigator, X-57 Maxwell Experimental Aircraft. We are part of the NASA team that is developing new technology for Electrified Aircraft. Ask us anything.
|
Join us today at 2 p.m. ET (19 UT) to ask anything about NASA's recent technology developments for Electrified Aircraft Propulsion - the use of propulsors (propellers or fans) driven by electric motors to propel or help propel aircraft ranging from air taxis to subsonic transports. From developing technology to aircraft concepts to flight testing, we're working toward a new generation of aircraft with a lower carbon footprint.
+ We built and tested a lithium-ion battery pack that uses Space Station technologies to improve safety and reliability - already being used in other experimental aircraft!
+ We've doubled the temperature capability of soft magnetics for flight electronics.
+ We will soon be flight testing the all-electric X-57 Maxwell Experimental Aircraft in a 2-motor, 150 kW mode followed by a 14-motor, 300 kW flight test on a high-performance wing.
+ We are using what we learn on experimental aircraft and in laboratories to help write the design and test standards for electric propulsion system in future passenger aircraft.
+ We can't wait to answer your questions on how we're turning this idea from science fiction to reality.
Participants include:
+ Cheryl Bowman, Deputy Branch Chief for High Temperature and Smart Alloys
+ Sean Clarke, Principal Investigator, X-57 Maxwell Experimental Aircraft and Advanced Systems Development Engineer
Proof: https://twitter.com/NASAaero/status/1338884365632331779
Username: /u/nasa
-----
EDIT: Thanks for joining us for today's AMA! We're done answering questions for now but you can learn more about NASA Aeronautics [here](https://www.nasa.gov/topics/aeronautics/index.html).
| 2,653 |
Hey team, greetings from an X-59 alumnus!
What are some the challenges remaining for solid State batteries, and where do you see the most promising innovations improving the energy density:weight challenges with current battery designs?
Do you think improved fuel storage or propulsion efficiency is the bigger breakthrough for achieving commercialization?
| 85 |
[ATLA] How do last names/surnames work in the Avatar universe?
|
Toph Beifong and Asami Sato have last names but most characters don't.
| 20 |
Toph and Asami both come from extremely affluent families, so it's possible that surnames are something used more to denote being part of a wealthy family. They're also both Earth continent natives, so it could also be an Earth people culture naming convention.
Other characters may lack surnames because their culture doesn't use them, or we the audience simply don't know them because they're never used in-series. Or nobody uses them because they're all named Lee. After all, there's like a million Lees
| 55 |
When an electron and positron annihilate, they give off two gamma rays - is it always exactly two? Might it be more?
|
And what if a proton and an antiproton annihilate? Will that also usually be two gamma rays?
| 801 |
>When an electron and positron annihilate, they give off two gamma rays - is it always exactly two? Might it be more?
It's *at least* two, but it can be more, with small probability.
>And what if a proton and an antiproton annihilate? Will that also usually be two gamma rays?
With protons and antiprotons, there are more channels open even at zero relative kinetic energy. So you don't have to get gamma rays, you can, for example get various mesons. Those mesons then decay to leptons, photons, etc. So proton-antiproton annihilation is more complicated than electron-positron annihilation.
| 351 |
ELI5: Why do we keep our belly buttons for life?
|
Why do belly buttons heal and leave behind a hole (or bump) that never goes away? Shouldn't they leave a surface scar on the skin that eventually fades like other injuries?
| 967 |
Nothing on your body will regrow after you've been born - at that point the basic layout of your body is set in stone and nothing that's missing or damaged will regenerate beyond creating scar tissue.
The umbilical cord tunnels all the way through your abdomen, extending through your skin and subcutaneous fat. Because of its position, that skin and fat just never forms. The skin will "heal" through the formation of a scar, so you don't end up with a big hole in your stomach (though that's not really the same thing as healthy skin). But there's no similar process to fill the space of the underlying fat, which causes your belly button to dip inward into the gap caused by the missing fat.
Other injuries that destroy subcutaneous fat later in life, such as animal bites, produce scars that look like shallow belly buttons. These injuries destroy the subcutaneous fat, which never comes back. The scar tissue that forms above then "falls" in to the hole left by that missing fat, creating a pit like scar.
The belly button happens to be really prominent because of how much fat there is surrounding it, which results in an extremely deep pit. But again, any scar that destroys the underlying fat will look like that down to the depth of the surrounding fat in the area of the scar.
| 685 |
CMV: A committed open relationship doesn't exist.
|
I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I asked my girlfriend of six years what her thoughts were on open relationships. She said she might be into it if I was capable, but my personality being what it is, it would probably would not work. It's a sacrifice she's not willing to make.
Sure, I get jealous easily. But that aside, it seems to me that being "committed" to someone means you lend yourself to them entirely. It seems mathematically impossible to give 100% of one thing (yourself) to two or more different things (other people). You commit to someone you think is worthy; someone who is special. That being said, and in relation to how much of yourself you can give, either one person is special to you, or nobody is.
Edit: My view has been changed. I think what I've learned from everyones varied responses is that when it comes to interpersonal relationships the only rules that exist are those which you and your partner (or partners) agree on, and that such agreements or disagreements result from how each individual feels on a solely personal level. So basically, the rules are made up. This leads me to question the validity of marriage, as marriage is just another set of rules, but hey... I can save that for a later post. Thank you everyone for the responses.
| 80 |
If your definition of "committed" is "exclusive", then by definition you can't have a committed open relationship.
But looking for another angle, you don't share everything 100% only with your SO. For example you sometimes go eating with friends, or have activities for other people, don't you ?
For most people that are in an open relationship, sex is at the same level that eating a good burger or playing video games: it's pretty cool, but not sacred at all. As such, they can do it with people that want to share that with them, without restricting it exclusively to their SO. But if you think that sex is more than something pleasant and that it's something that define a couple, then sure you're not going to share this with other people.
| 86 |
ELI5 why do women not bald as prominently as men?
| 24 |
Hormones + Genetics.
The gene for baldness is on the sex chromosomes. Men have a "half-chromosome" in their 23rd pair, while women have 2 "full" chromosomes.
When you get the genes from your parents (let's say eye color, because it's not on the sex chromosomes), the gene from your father and the gene from your mother both contribute to the color of eyes that you have (one color will be dominant, but the non-dominant gene can still be passed on).
When a trait exists on the sex chromosomes, you will notice that these traits occur far more in men than in women because it's a trait that men only get from their mother (the father passes on the Y chromosome, which is more like a lower-case v).
They'd look like this:
Female: XX
Male: Xv (we say XY, but you notice that there's half of an X missing there as far as genetic real estate)
That's the 'why'
The 'how' is that in people who have the baldness genes, the follicles on the top of their head shrink in the presence of a specific hormone (which is why when performing hair transplants, they use the hair further down the neck. Those follicles don't shrink in the presence of that hormone.
in short: women can go bald, but it requires that both parents carry the baldness gene. Men go bald because it only requires that their mother carry the baldness gene (they don't get a gene from their father for that trait. Colorblindness follows the same rules)
edit: several edits
| 11 |
|
[The First Purge] About the government's role...
|
I wasn't sure if this would be considered a spoiler, so I thought I'd play it safe. My question:
Why did the government want to kill the poor, criminals, minorities, etc...?
| 16 |
Because the government is *seriously* corrupt. They're more worried about their investors and special interest groups, who have taken the reins of power and shifted the guiding purpose of authority from helping the people to helping line the pockets of a few mega-billionaires who don't give two shits about the people at the bottom of the pile.
This has always been the way to keep society in line. Create arbitrary "classes," make the people in the middle feel like they're superior to *someone.* Then turn them against each other. The people in the middle are too worried about the people "beneath" them to notice the fact that you're fucking them all over the same. In Purge-America, they've taken the "turn them against each other" and dialed it up to eleven.
| 31 |
How exactly does nothing (or almost nothing) react with glassware?
|
I've been watching CodysLab and HTME on YouTube and seeing them put all those incredible reactive and dangerous into glass started wondering why/how it works? Are there other things that are as resistive to chemicals as glass is?
| 57 |
It really depends on the chemical in question, but plastics can hold lots of things and even some things that glass cannot (think of how many household chemicals are sold in plastic containers). Some metals are also great at holding things, especially various grades of stainless steel.
The main reason this works is that there are relatively few ways that glass can interact with chemicals inside. The surface of glass is a bunch of Si-O bonds with usually H+ hanging onto the surface O, or some other positive ion like Na+. For anything that isn't basic enough to pull that proton off the surface the glass will be fairly inert. However, this means that glass is really bad at holding strong bases. If you ever mix up a solution of NaOH you best store it in a plastic bottle.
Plastic is good in different ways. Plastics are not usually susceptible to basic attack, and most are fine against acids as well. However, some organic solvents can worm their way into the polymer chains and essentially melt the container or just leak through, and that isn't a problem organic solvents have with glass.
| 54 |
ELI5: What makes a film a "Film Noir"?
|
What are the "ingredients" please? Are there key themes? What are they? Please ELI5 because I don't have the language to understand academics. Thank you!
| 28 |
Film Noir is an artistic movement. It started in the 1940s when screenplays inspired by American crime fiction were brought to the screen, primarily by European directors.
The films share a certain storytelling: highly stylized, overtly theatrical, with imagery from an earlier era of German “expressionism” (a movement that started before WWI that rejected realism).
To this day the debate goes on as to whether “noir” is a film genre defined by its content, or a style of storytelling or identified by its visual attributes.
| 17 |
[Star Wars] How does a Jedi go from 1 lightsaber to 2, or a double-sided saber? Do they get to choose?
| 23 |
Depends entirely on the combat form they're using.
However most Jedi and Sith prefer the dueling/defensive styles, as a result not many use dual wields, or special variants.
Usually everyone starts with a single lightsaber though.
| 21 |
|
ELI5: Screaming usually damages your voice and changes the quality of your speaking. How are horror movie actors able to get multiple consistant shots without their voices sounding scratchy or swollen in between scenes?
| 64 |
The final sound you hear in a movie, especially a scream, has very likely been enhanced or overdubbed in post production. That’s also when they add the foley effects (sounds of walking, punching, etc).
| 44 |
|
Are smell/taste memories as fallible as memories of feelings and events?
| 1,538 |
I can't speak to the nature of sensory memories, but as someone who has studied cognitive psychology quite a bit, the "weakness" of declarative memory that makes it vulnerable to manipulation is that it's tightly coupled with language. The memories themselves are stored symbolically, with words. Therefore, by accidentally accessing language that's not strictly tied to a real past event, you've now experienced a false memory.
In other words, when you access a declarative memory, it's not like you're accessing and replaying audiovisual security footage, but more like reading the notes of a stenographer. And it's easier than you might think to slip false facts into that stenographer's record.
It seems unlikely to me that this same phenomenon could occur with a sensory memory that isn't intrinsically linked to language in that same way. Other commenters have pointed out several plausible mechanisms for experiencing seemingly different sensations than you remembered from a prior experience.
| 518 |
|
ELI5: How can "making the body more alkaline" be a good thing?
|
I've seen a few things about the idea you should make your body more alkaline (chicken is acidic etc.), it seems like bullshit, but just wondering if there is even the slightest real science behind this idea. Most foods seem to have a pH lower than 7 from what I've seen?
edit: I know it should technically be flaired as chemistry, but I'm seeking more of a biological explanation.
| 28 |
Organic chemical reactions are in some cases pH dependent, pH is actually defined as the concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution, this is expressed as acid or alkaline 7 being neutral, lower then 7 is acid and higher is alkaline.
now the body usualy operates at around 7.4, Slightly alkaline, and if it differs from that it could affect some body functions but it shouldnt differ too much unless you have some serious condition.
As for miracle cures and treatments being pushed by womens magazines and fake doctors on TV... Ignore that bullshit and follow the advice of your GP.
| 23 |
Is there any part in the body that cannot get cancer?
| 6,542 |
Cancer is unchecked cell growth that interferes with healthy function by changing or blocking blood flow, co-opting resources, and causing deterioration.
Both body parts and cancer cells that are alive need circulation. Ostensibly, "dead parts" like hair and nails can't get cancer because they are not growing. But they can be affected by cancer, certainly.
| 7,714 |
|
[Spongebob Squarepants] I just saw the owner of The Krusty Krab somehow make a pizza out of 8 hamburgers using one claw. Please someone tell me what sort of black magic he is using and how he did this?!?!
| 29 |
he used masterful hand eye coordination, experience as a scammer and magician along whit his sheer incredible speed and presentation skills into making you think that is a pizza when is actually just a really big and flat hamburger without the top part made of the ingredients of the hamburger, normally doing such a feat would be ridiculously hard and lengthy but Krabs is just *that* good
| 23 |
|
[Kill Bill] If Bill had confined himself to a wheelchair and didn't walk after the five point palm heart technique, would he have lived?
|
Let's say he had a wheelchair on hand. Would he had lived until he took those five steps?
| 38 |
As Bill proves, it is possible to survive for a while by not taking steps (he doesn't die until he stands up and walks away) but the strain of rolling a wheelchair under one's own power would probably serve the same result, so one would be forced to rely on others for any kind of movement.
| 37 |
While the period of a pendulum is not affected by its mass, would it be affected by changes in the distribution of mass up and down the pendulum due to rotational inertia?
| 51 |
The period of a pendulum is affected by its length. Redistributing the mass at the end of the string changes this length. An intuitive example is sliding a weight up and down the string. The tension will act from the centre of mass of this object (the string below it will be slack) so as you re arrange the mass the effective length of the pendulum will change and hence its period will also.
| 23 |
|
If pi has an infinite number of digits, but it is non-repeating, then could you imagine any possible (finite) sequence of numbers and it is contained somewhere within the depths of pi?
|
We know that pi won’t ever become a sequence of infinite 9s. However, does it contain a sequence of, let’s say, 100 googolplex 9s in a row?
| 32 |
Nobody knows. There are plenty of non-repeating numbers that don't contain arbitrary strings of digits of your choice. For example, consider a number comprised only of 0s and 1s that follows no particular repeating pattern. The property of having all strings of digits in its decimal expansion is a consequence of another property called 'normality,' which is known to apply to most numbers, by some relatively advanced theoretical arguments, but we don't know very many specific numbers it applies to. It is most certainly not known for pi.
| 31 |
CMV: social conservatives are typically on the wrong side of history.
|
In my lifetime, the things that social conservatives fight for are typically issues that 1. Run counter to American values like freedom and liberty for ALL. 2. In retrospect seem like outdated ideas.
I can understand the argument that without social conservatives in the mix, social progressives would run wild and make changes to fast for most people to adapt. But that still means that their "purpose" is to work in the opposite direction of progress towards equality and liberty for all.
Are there examples of socially conservative policies or values that we can look back and all be thankful that they got their way?
*Please note the distinction between social and fiscal conservatives, the latter of which I consider myself. Economics is off the table for this discussion please :)
EDIT: Thanks for all the posts everyone. I'm sorry I can't respond to everyone, but I can summarize the most convincing arguments:
1. Survival Bias: Because social conservatives are typically supporting some status quo, their victories are unnoticed by history, while their defeats are usually praised.
2. Prohibition and Eugenics: Clear cut cases where progressives went against my definition of liberty for all.
3. History isn't done: This one is a bit obvious but I should give it credit. The "wrong side of history" is subjective to the moment in time that the claim is made.
BONUS ∆: Shoutout to my girl /u/SwellAsDanielle for reframing my perspective on the whole Rainbow Cake issue.
_____
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| 867 |
I feel like we're going to have an argument about definitions. Your definition for social conservative seems to be someone who "opposes social progress" so it's sort of wrapped up in the premise that social conservatives are never on the "right side of history", because the group that you're considering as social conservatives is going to be whoever opposed any sort of change.
| 603 |
CMV: We need to allocate way more funds to just directly pay teachers more.
|
I believe that just across the board we need to raise the salary of teachers as a baseline. On top of that we urgently need more ways to compensate the extra effort that goes on outside of schooltime to be a good teacher.
My case is that:
A free market is good for the short term. However things such as education falls outside of its scope, because education very indirectly contributes to any single party's immediate success, yet it is arguably the greatest contributor to a society's success. In these situations, a government needs to step in and readjust the value of education so that it falls within the scope of a free market.
I believe that the recompense for an educational role is so far away from the value it brings to a society. The capability of being an excellent teacher is rare. It is also very valuable and transferable. And yet the reward for choosing an educational career pales so much in comparison to going into the industries.
I believe we should make it so that to a potential teacher, the choice of going into education or going into industry is tied or close to tied, with that particular person's passion being the tiebreaker.
| 73 |
So are you saying that we need to re-allocate already existing funds to pay teachers? Or to just throw more money into the education fund?
The education budget has been increasing every year, but schools are choosing to spend the increases on things other than paying teachers.
| 17 |
[Marvel] So what's the deal with the multiverse now?
|
As far as I understand it, after Secret Wars, all the different realities got destroyed and then some of them got remade, but not all of them? So like 1610 is definitely gone, but is the main continuity still on 616 or is it something else now?
| 56 |
Everything pre-SW was restored. We were led to believe 1610 was offed, but we've since seen it on (I believe) two different occasions (Spider-Men to name one).
Main continuity is still 616. The only real difference is that Miles and his close supporting cast now (as far as we can tell) exist within 616.
| 37 |
Can someone explain in the simplest terms how a railgun would work/works?
|
I'm in high school physics and we started magnets today, which I assume is how a railgun fires?
Actually follow up as well, what exactly is an electro-magnetic pulse? (EMP)
| 37 |
A traditional rail gun uses a force resulting from an electric current and a magnetic field. There is a rule to figure out how these interact. Using a flat right hand with your thumb sticking out (like thumbs up), point your fingers in the direction of the current and your palm in the direction of the magnetic field. Your thumb will be pointing in the direction of the resulting magnetic force.
Refer to the picture in this link to make it easier to visualize.
www.upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e4/Rail_Gun.png
The current goes through one rail, then the projectile itself, then out the other rail. Because of another rule, the current going through the rails makes a magnetic field that has a net UP direction in between the rails. The current will then obviously be going from right to left through the projectile.
To get this force to move a projectile of any notable size, you have to use A LOT of power and run it through the rail/projectile.
| 10 |
ELI5: If hair and fingernails are made of the same thing, why don't your fingernails match your hair color?
| 16 |
Even though both fingernails and hair is made of the same material hair also has something called Melanin in it that gives it color while fingernails do not.
Think of it as having made to chairs that re both made of wood, but one is painted the other is not. You would still say they were both made of the same material even though the painted chair also had paint mixed in with it's building material because the majority of the things (in this case wood) used to make the chairs was the same.
So yes they are more or less made of the same thing, just not 100% the same thing.
| 13 |
|
CMV: as real estate prices rise in major cities around the world, with a large variation in that price caused by foreign investment, the government should ban those who are not citizens (or have not been domiciled in the country for x amount of years) from purchasing residential property.
|
(There are obvious exceptions to this rule which you would expect to be combed out in the finer details. Inheriting property or those fleeing their own country for political reasons (see those from Hong Kong purchasing property in London now as a prime example.))
​
In many of the developed world's largest cities, real estate prices are rising at incredible rates. The average person entering the workforce now cannot reasonably expect to purchase a home for a very long time, compared to how generations above them did.
​
These housing crises are not being solved. Instead of affordable homes being built, private enterprise is building luxury homes for foreign nationals to invest in. These homes are being left unoccupied for long periods of time as they are owned by people with multiple homes and those living in other countries.
​
A further pumping of the price is caused by those investing in "buy-to-let" schemes in already existing homes, using renters to pay off their mortgage for them. This further bump in supply has exacerbated the price.
​
However, I am not arguing against the premise of buy-to-let. If buy-to-let schemes were only available to that country's citizens, house prices would decrease, and those investments could be made by those living there. By banning foreign nationals from purchasing residential property, housing can be made more affordable (fewer demand), while supply of affordable housing can also increase. The capital gains from buy-to-let schemes will remain in the country.
| 23 |
Is the rise in real estate prices due to non-citizens buying homes? It sounds like the problems you've highlighted are using homes as investments, or buying homes for the purpose of renting. Neither of these depend on whether the person who's buying the house is a citizen or not.
Why is buy-to-let fine with citizens do it, but not fine when non-citizens do it?
| 13 |
[Marvel] What is the difference between magic and "energy"?
|
I read everywhere that Infinity Stones aren't magic, they include energies left from the universe's creation. Thus using them is not using magic but using the fundamental forces of the universe.
What I'm wondering is, what's the difference? Manipulating the primal energies of Reality to summon creatures sounds like magic to me.
So what's the difference between using the reality stone to summon creatures vs. using magic to summon creatures? What's the difference between using the power stone to send energy blasts vs. using a spell to send energy blasts? What is the difference between the energy within the stones and the energy magicians use?
| 24 |
Comparing magic and energy is like comparing electro magnetism and gravity. Yes magnets draw two things together and so can gravity, but the mechanics behind them are very different.
> So what's the difference between using the reality stone to summon creatures vs. using magic to summon creatures?
We have no examples of this happening, so any explanation would just be speculation.
> What's the difference between using the power stone to send energy blasts vs. using a spell to send energy blasts?
Energy blasts from the power stone is the same energy used in forming the universe, energy blasts from magic is shaped mana from the caster.
> What is the difference between the energy within the stones and the energy magicians use?
Let's say we're playing World of Warcraft. A magician can cast a nice variety of spells there and a dedicated player can get pretty strong. Using the infinity gauntlet would be like a developer actually going into the program and coding out specific actions (though it's much more streamlined). Things that aren't possible with magic are possible with the infinity gauntlet because nothing is impossible for it.
| 21 |
[DC] How to resist psychic interrogations?
|
I'm a highly paid professional assassin and while I don't always hit my mark and my employers understand it's a bit much to hope for any hitman to take out Batman or Superman or whoever they're hanging around with lately it's still from time to time very important who hired me remain a secret in the event that I am apprehended and questioned on the matter. While it's easy to call Superman or even Batman's bluff when you realize they aren't actually willing to do anything permenant to you, it's quite another when they get someone like Martian Manhunter to do the weird glowy eye thing, so how can I resist that and keep my reputation as a discrete hitman secure?
| 15 |
In one of the Children of the Corn films, a man is faced with trying to overcome the sinister psychic children named in the title. He discovers that by focusing on a phenomena or concept more powerful than even the supernatural Children, he could produce a resistance to their abilities.
He imagined the ocean. In all it’s majesty, it truly is a powerful and terrible force. Beautiful, yet deadly. Anyways, whenever they tried to probe or control him, he could resist by essentially just making his mind go turtle mode and not let them wheedle their way in.
With psychics, they often have to overcome your minds conscious thoughts to loot your subconscious. Once in, it’s a free for all. But if you can put up a stout enough defense consciously... you might be able to resist.
| 13 |
[Frozen] Can Elsa thaw natural ice?
|
When Elsa finally understands how love can overcome her fears, she manages to thaw the unnatural ice and snow that she accidentally created. But can she also thaw natural ice? For example, if she came across a lake that froze naturally during winter, could she unfreeze it? Perhaps more extreme, could she thaw a natural winter to create a magical summer?
Or is the "reverse ice magic" aspect of her powers exclusive to ice she herself created?
| 27 |
There doesn't appear to be any difference between the ice she forms and normal ice, with two exceptions. The first exception is when she creates living things out of ice and snow - they can control themselves (and the big guy can even manipulate his body to produce more ice.) The second exception is when her magic interacts with someone - it appears to begin a process that slowly chills the person before transforming them into ice in a single move.
Beyond those exceptions, there is no indication that her powers wouldn't be able to affect normal ice, or that the ice she forms is in any way different from normal ice. I'd say yes.
On the thawing a natural winter to create a magical summer, though, thawing the ice doesn't necessarily make things *warm*. It's cold because the sun is hitting that part of the earth at more of an angle (instead of more straight on,) reducing the heat that it receives. She might be able to thaw a winter, but the cold temperatures would remain. Arendelle was in summer during the events mentioned, and so removing the magical clouds allowed the sun's light to warm the area.
| 20 |
CMV: Voice voting in deliberative assemblies is terribly outdated and should be replaced by show of hands
|
The US congress as well as the UK House of Commons and the Indian parliament do often vote by voice vote. Furthermore, the voice vote method is often employed in other deliberative assemblies in the English speaking world, such as party congresses, non-profits as well as some assemblies in the corporate world. Actually, Robert's Rules of Order, one of the most followed rule books for deliberative assemblies, suggests
In this method, the chair of a meeting asks members to loudly say Yes or No, and determines which side wins by estimating which side is louder.
This method is rather error-prone, and in most rule books, if a majority is not clear, a rather complicated method - roll call, division of the assembly by entering two different lobbies, recorded vote by electronic voting machines, or a rising vote where members rise in favor or against.
Compare this to the method more common in Western Europe - the show of hands, or voting cards. Members of the assembly - whether small or huge - will rise their hands in favor or against, giving the chair of the meeting an easy estimate of the support of a motion. If the visual is inconclusive, votes can instantly be counted. If so desired, the chair can ask for active opposition for a motion expected to pass; if no assembly member demands a vote, the motion passes.
To change my view, I would like to see why voice voting is easier and more reliable than a show of hands.
_____
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| 71 |
Normally when acclamation of this kind is used, anyone in the assembly who is unsatisfied with the result or unsure, can as you say demand a recount.
This is a fairly good check against uncertain results, as if there is any doubt, someone from the minority is bound to demand a count. In an assembly like a parliament, which holds many votes with more or less the same group of participants, the members will likely get reasonably good at distinguishing a clear result from an uncertain one.
Replacing this with show of hands or voting cards would make it much harder for a random participant to accurately judge the result and protest it. Consequently it would lead to many more demands for recounts, and defeat the purpose of the proposal.
| 12 |
What's the difference between henchmen and minions?
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I say they are synonyms for each other. My husband says that henchmen are like security guards, and minions are like lab assistants.
| 54 |
Henchmen are highly skilled. Minions are basically just numbers. Your minions march in your army, your henchmen are sent in to assassinate the king. The 500 guards of your fortress are minions, your 20 personal bodyguards are henchmen.
If you know their name, they're probably henchmen.
| 78 |
ELI5: How capacitors work
|
I have a pretty good understanding of DC power, this just always confused me.
| 85 |
First you have to think about the fact that "current" basically means that negative charges are moving one way through a wire, and positive charges are moving the other way. A capacitor is basically two conducting plates with an "insulator" between them called a dielectric. The reason it is called a dielectric and not just a insulator is because it has special electromagnetic properties where it blocks the flow of current, but it allows an electrics field to pass through it. So what happens is, the dielectric material will block the charges from passing through it. This is sort of like a traffic jam, and negative charges will all start building up on one plate, and all the positive charges that are moving the other way will start building up on the other. There will be no current passing through the dielectric, but because there is a large difference in the charge of the plates (one is largely positive and the other is largely negative) there will be an electric field in the dielectric (which means there will be a voltage across it).
| 22 |
ELI5: Why do beaches have sand instead of dirt or soil?
|
Are patches of sand restricted to beaches, deserts and underwater? If so, why only there? And if not, then why do those places have so much sand?
Edited for spelling.
| 21 |
Sand is everywhere. It's just ground up rocks after all. There's a lot of rocks and they've been grinding together for a very long time.
Rotting plants make dirt, and in places where it won't get washed away the dirt will overwhelm the amount of sand.
In places where dirt doesn't get laid down, or gets washed or blown away, all that's left is the sand
| 16 |
ELI5 Why is everything in the universe spinning?
| 26 |
There is a wide spectrum of levels of rotational kinetic energy. Zero is a very unusual value. All non-zero values leave the object spinning. So, spinning is the default state. It's not at all like being in an atmosphere, where air resistance moves all things towards not spinning. There is no resistance to rotation in space.
| 14 |
|
[Star Wars] People that are supposed to be hidden/hiding using their real names?
|
The queen Padme Amidala is going to hide as one of her handmaids so she goes by Padme?
Luke is going to be hidden from Vader, but still goes by Skywalker? Does no one think that may be a problem down the road? I get that Vader doesn't know the name Luke, but Skywalker seems pretty unique.
| 156 |
Weridly enough, this is realitvely commonly used strategy in real life hiding methods.
Your name is almost certainly not unique- there are 8 billion people in the world. Even if your name is rare or obscure, odds are there will be a decent number of people who share it. As such, simply finding someone with your name won't inspire suspicion in and of itself- Aoife is a rare name. but if Aoife Green commits a crime and is on the run, it's still obviously not a good strategy to arrest every Aoife Green in Ireland one by one. This only expands in the star wars world- when there's a million inhabited planet, even if Skywalker is vanishingly rare, there are likely still tens of thousands of skywalkers completely unrelated to Anakin.
So this is why using your real name isn't inherently a bad move, so why might it be a good idea? Well, simply enough, you're used to using it. Someone who has the same name as the queen is a coincidence, someone who accidentally uses the name of the queen and then hastily corrects herself is the queen in disguise. In these situations, any slip up might be deadly, and anything that minimises the odds of a slip up is a good thing.
If you are otherwise hiding yourself, it can be easier to simply keep the name- if anyone brings it up? "haha, yeah, hear that all the time". It's a galaxy of a million planets. There's a lot of Padmes and Skywalkers out there.
| 152 |
TA in relationship with a student: must I tell anyone?
| 19 |
Involving yourself in someone else's stupidity never ends well. Worst case scenario- they get in trouble, but nobody gets hurt, I'd say keep your head down. If you want to help, the best thing you could do would be to let them know they're not as discrete as they think.
| 36 |
|
ELI5: how do gnats just "appear" in my house overnight?
| 18 |
Could be fruit flies. They lay their eggs on soft spots on fruit, which you may then take into your home, where they hatch. If you have a lot of fruit about, they may then subsequently lay more eggs on more of your fruit, and you wind up with a pest.
| 10 |
|
Does the moon get earthlight, like we get moonlight?
|
While the moon is on the sun side of earth, does the dark side of the moon get reflected light from earth. Would the earth have "phases" like the moon or is the moon not large enough to do that?
| 28 |
Certainly. The dark part of the Moon is faintly visible because of this.
The phases depend only on the angles of the Sun-Moon-Earth triangle, not on the sizes of the Earth or Moon. If you swap the positions of the Earth and Moon, someone on the Moon would see the same Earth phase that an Earthling would have seen before the swap.
| 24 |
ELI5: What would happen to airplanes during a massive power outage?
|
Assuming all the planes themselves didn't lose power, just a massive power outage on the ground. Could most planes safely land?
| 27 |
Major airports have backup generators that would power them long enough for the planes to land.
Failing that, planes can always talk to each other, and negotiate who is landing where. In fact, this is how it's done at small airports that don't have dedicated air traffic controllers. If there weren't any more planes going out (due to the power outage), it would significantly cut down on the amount of runway and air traffic, too.
| 25 |
ELI5: The Scandinavian educational system, why it's successful, and why America doesn't model their system after it
| 15 |
The US educational system is very DIFFERENT from the Scandinavian ones, and it isn't clear that it's the classroom differences that matter.
US schools are mostly locally funded, which means poor kids go to crappy schools. Money doesn't solve everything, but it doesn't hurt. Scandinavian schools are funded at a much more uniform level.
US schools are locally-districted, and US residential areas are HIGHLY segregated by income and race. This means that poor kids go to school with mostly other poor kids. That can't be good for instilling a productive outlook on life. Scandinavians live in more mixed-income communities, and have fewer extremes of wealth and poverty. So there aren't any schools where poverty values are the only ones available to the students.
US schools (and society) do a crappy job with nutrition and early-childhood health. These have a big impact on school performance, if for no other reason than sick kids miss lots of school days.
US schools are subject to local control, meaning there's a lot of variation in standards and quality. Scandinavian schools are kept on a rigid norm. This means that there are many American schools that are BETTER than Scandinavian ones, but also many that are much worse.
US schools work on the assumption that nearly every kid will graduate a general-education high school and MOST will go to college. Scandinavia (and Europe generally) assume that only about 1/3 of kids are going on the academic college-bound track. Less talented 12-year-olds are put into technical schools, so they can learn trades. It's a practical system, but the US won't tolerate that early a judgment of destiny in life. If that means less able students struggle with algebra and Emily Dickinson instead of learning automobile repair at 16, so be it.
| 10 |
|
ELI5: Why is the triangle the 'strongest shape'?
| 17 |
Because you can't change the angles without change the lengths of the sides.
With a square, it can deform into a rhombus without bending or otherwise changing the lengths of the sides. With an equilateral triangle, you have to do both.
| 32 |
|
[Matilda] What would've happened if Bruce Bogtrotter was seriously injured when Miss Trunchbull smashed that plate on his head?
|
It's used as a quick gag to end the triumphant scene of an obese child being force-fed an entire large cake by a 'roid head... Okay, it was indeed pretty awesome and watching The Trunch's breakdown was glorious... but glass most-definitely *isn't* fragile like it is shown in film.
At the very least, Bruce is going to get his head cut to pieces by glass debris; at most, Miss Trunchbull cracked his skull or gave him a lethal concussion.
So did Miss Trunchbull ever consider what would happen if she... I don't know... killed a student in front of a hundred witnesses?
| 19 |
They're elementary school students, nobody is going to believe them when they say Trunchbull murdered a student. The police are going to assume it was an accident, and the children are blaming the authority figure because she's unpopular for enforcing discipline in the school.
| 24 |
[Star Wars] How many Jedi/force users survived Order 66, and how many were alive/are currently alive in the Star Wars canon?
|
By "now", I'm talking about after the events of Episode 7.
As we've seen in Rouge One, we'll be getting a blind force user who will accompany the rebels on their mission to steal the Death Star plans. My question is, how many force users or Jedi were not executed during the Jedi purge, and of those, how many (if any) survived through the original trilogy (4,5 and 6)?
| 18 |
You'll never have a complete accurate list of all Order 66 survivors, at most we have a list of individuals that we know survived.
Also, Order 66 specifically targeted the Jedi, no other Force users. We are currently unaware of whether or not any other Force traditions got destroyed under Imperial reign.
One more thing, the character from Rogue One you mentioned isn't a Force user - just one that practices a religion based around the Force.
| 18 |
ELI5: On staplers, whats up with the other side of the plate? When would I need to reverse-staple something?
|
Neat, so it's called pinning. Good information to know. But no one has answered the second question, when would I use it? Would this be common knowledge if I was a paralegal or CPA or some other career that deals with collating papers?
| 141 |
Pinning is midway between a staple and a paperclip. It's more secure than a paperclip, but more removable than a staple. You use it to temporarily bind two things together, knowing you want to separate them later. This can be used when you want to attach to pieces of cloth together for sewing, but don't want to use straight pins or safety pins or two pages when you only need them attached temporarily.
| 65 |
[The Matrix] Are the hovercraft actually from before the Machine War or are they just props to help hide the fact Zion keeps getting reset?
|
The core of the ships are labelled from being before the war, but does that mean everytime Zion is (violently) reset, that the machines keep extra care to not damage the hovercraft? Or do they just repair/make new ones and just label them from being 2069 (or whatever year they're supposedly from)?
If those are the originals, they're doing extremely well for being something like 600 years, on the other hand if they're just props, the machines must be dedicating time to make sure they look used and old. Both of these scenarios seem a little odd
| 78 |
The machines would have to put in a *lot* of work to make the new Zion believable as being of pre-war origin. Salvaging or recreating hulls marked with pre-war labelling is probably one of the simpler things required of them.
That first group of humans is going to know they were in the Matrix, they're going to be aware that only a few thousand of them started the city out of nothing. The Machines might be able to overwrite memories to some extent (like Smith was going to do with Cypher), but if the movies also make it clear that human minds will tend to reject fake memories, so you're always going to have some group that remembers the real history of the city. Any imperfection in the reconstructed Zion might trigger memories of the fake origin, and break the illusion of one Zion.
| 36 |
Why do elements need 2 or 8 electrons in their outer shell for it to be full? What makes these numbers so special?
|
Does the fact that they are both powers of two affect this phenomenon in any way?
| 22 |
This has everything to do with quantum numbers. In general the shrodinger wave equation describes all the ways electrons can interact with an atom. Each of these different ways is associated with a different set of quantum numbers. If you're asking what is stable you're simply adding electrons to an atom in order of lowest energy and keeping track of how adding each additional electron affects the overall energy of the atom.
The way this works out is for non transition metals you have two orbitals S (sphere like) and p (dumbbell like) . The p orbital has 3 orientation that solve Schrodinger's equation (x y z). The final piece of the puzzle is that each one of these four orbitals can hold two electrons (spin up and spin down). It turns out that when you have both spin up and spin down electrons an orbital becomes much more stable. Therefor you either have two electrons and a full S orbital which is stable. Or you need 6 more for 8 to get a full P orbital.
Of course this is a general rule and for many elements the stability might be different. ( The transition metals for example are very ruled by the D orbitals and can shuttle electrons from S orbitals to fill D).
| 18 |
What shape is the universe? Also what's outside of the universe?
| 23 |
Measurements indicate that the Universe has overall flat curvature. Why this should be the case is contested, but that's what the data suggests. This also means the Universe is probably infinite in all directions, though not the *Observable* Universe. It's hard to grasp what curvature means in a 3D space but it's mathematically well-defined and has to do with whether or not parallel paths remain parallel - in curved spaces, they will not, either converging or diverging.
Outside the Universe is a question which we cannot currently answer, and may possibly not be able to answer, since we are limited in our scope of what we can observe. In fact, the question may not even make sense, philosophically-speaking, since outside implies space and space is a property of the Universe.
| 39 |
|
[Star Wars] Why is Darth Vader able to block blaster bolts in ESB, but we never see such an ability used ever again?
|
First what allows him to do this, the force? Second why don't we see this used more often as a tactic to avoid death?
| 116 |
In the EU, this is chalked up to a particular aspect of Vader's suit - that is, the gloves were a variant of Mandalorian Crushgaunts, incredibly rare and expensive armor pieces. Although resistant (not indestructible!) to blaster fire, actually 'catching' blaster fire was something that would require force sensitivity to predict the bolt's path as well - and this doubly-rare combination combination of gear and skill was rarely seen together; Vader is the only known Force-sensitive to use a pair.
| 137 |
[Matrix] What happens if the One dies prematurely? A sentinel gets a lucky laser round at the end of the movie while Neo is hooked up. Do the robots have a contingency?
| 118 |
The One is an emergent property of the system, and aren't actually the sort of official "One" until they actually return to the source. If Neo gets aced, he just dies, and a new prospective One emerges.
This could be problematic for the machines, but we do know there is at least some wiggle room, as the Matrix didn't immediately implode when Neo refused to return to the Source.
Then, worst case scenario, as mentioned by the Architect, is that the Machines just let the Matrix crash, lose that crop of humans, and start over from scratch. It's not their preferred solution, but they would survive it.
| 70 |
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Should sufficiently intelligent animals that constitute moral persons, such as dolphins and octopuses, likewise be treated as moral agents responsible for unethical behavior?
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I was reading about the pre-modern european tradition of [animal trials](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_trial) where animals could be tried for perceived crimes and thought, wait, dolphins are both the go-to example of a non-human person and notorious for raping humans and each other. Should they be prosecuted?
Presumably they belong to a class of moral persons who are not moral agents, such as children or the developmentally disabled, but I'm curious to see if that can be fully theorized or if anyone bites the bullet.
| 116 |
You said it yourself, their intelligence is comparable to that of young human children. As such, there’s a real sense in which we can’t hold them morally responsible for their actions. Also, insofar as they can’t really grasp the concepts of right and wrong, legally they aren’t fit to stand trial according to our legal system.
Moreover, your question tacitly assumes that the moral norms that apply to humans apply to any person regardless of what kind of thing it is. That’s widely held, but it’s still controversial. Neo-Aristotelian moral naturalists, for example, take a set of moral norms to apply to something in virtue of the characteristic form of life of its species. Accordingly, on such a view, human moral norms don’t apply to things that have a characteristic form of life distinct from ours
| 47 |
Can you build a program in C++ to compile any language?
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I was reading up on how Node.js came about, which lead me to Google V8 and what it was. I know some Java, and not C++, and the "compiling Javascript to Native Machine Code" description, finally made me interested in the JVM, and made me look up some of the differences between Java and C++.
So, is there something special about JavaScript that lets C++ make a program to compile it, or can it do with any language?
And when you do something like that, how complicated of a task is it? It seems pretty complicated to build a program from another language, whose purpose is to understand another language and then compile that.
| 15 |
Yes, you can write a compiler for any language in C++. In fact, you can write a compiler for any language in any language, because all a compiler does is read your source code file and write another file that your operating system and CPU are able to interpret; that obviously requires knowledge of the OS and CPU your compiler targets. A program that has input and output is by definition "a program".
Writing a fast virtual machine (like the JVM, or even VirtualBox/VMware/dotNet) however, does require a programming language that can direct the CPU to execute any code it wants directly. That's something that C++ and C can do, but there's no implementation of JavaScript or Java that can do that directly. (Oversimplification alert: you can write a very small unit of code that your Java VM will load via JNI that could do that... but that's not Java anymore).
| 21 |
Do we know how old disorders like Downs, Cerebral Palsy, etc. are? Why have they not been eliminated via evolution/selective breeding?
|
**tl;dr** Why are disorders like Down, etc. not extinct, if not through evolution than by ancestors suffering from these diseases/disorders not breeding?
Over in /r/shittyaskscience someone asked "Why hasn't evolution solved the problem of genetic mutations by now?" which got me thinking, why hasn't evolution taken care of some of our more debilitating disorders?
My only reasoning was that they've simply not been around long enough for evolution to make them extinct. I would have thought that a lot of these conditions would have been made extremely unlikely by the fact that folks who would have these conditions would be either (a) killed for being a hindrance to the society (b) not reproduce even if they lived.
So why do we still have these issues with our genetics?
*edit*
I chose Down and CP only because they were the first two I could think of. My question was about allergies, genetic disorders in general relating to physical and mental capabilities.
| 874 |
Neither are inherited genetic conditions, so are not affected by evolution.
Down Syndrome in its most common form is caused by a random genetic mutation that is not inherited from either parent.
Cerebral Palsy has nothing to do with genetics - it is essentially permanent damage caused to the brain in early life, for example if a baby doesn't breath for a long time at birth, or has a very severe infection around the time of birth.
Thus the prevalence of these conditions are not affected by natural selection or evolutionary processes.
| 1,438 |
ELI5: when space shuttles blow up, someone has to explain it. How do they reverse engineer the debris to say that an engine valve was stuck?
| 115 |
The two space shuttles that blew up had their explanation from video and understanding of what was going on.
The Challenger had a bad o-ring seal which was expected by some of the engineers in advance but they were overruled the flight took off anyway. They demonstrated later that an o-ring at a low temperature wouldn't be able to keep things sealed and that was consistent with what happened.
With Columbia they could see where the problem started and then reviewing video they could see the damage that happened to the wing.
Edit: corrected shuttle name
| 105 |
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META: I'm concerned that this place is getting trolled like Yahoo Answers.
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Looking at some of the questions, it seems to me that an awful lot of people are just in it for the lulz, finding the most abstruse possible questions to ELT5.
Yeah, funny the first dozen times.
Can we move on, though? This place has a whole lot of potential, but if it just fills up with endless iteration of the same joke, only the trolls will remain.
Could we consider making a point of downvoting the obvious hyucks?
| 53 |
Most of the trolly questions get answered adequately. The problem isn't trolling, but that the same troll questions get asked over and over. Rather than using the sidebar for the announcement, it might be more useful to use the sidebar for the top twenty re-asked and already-answered questions.
| 15 |
CMV: All advertising is a form of propaganda
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Edit: Alright, I've been persuaded Reddit, well done. Not ALL advertising is propaganda.
I was generalizing advertising to the large or pervasive advertisements seen on tv, internet, or radio and thinking very little of the little advertisements that literally just say "Eggs here" on the side of the road next to a house or something.
I still don't believe that propaganda must political to be considered advertising and I still believe most mass-produced advertising is propaganda, but I forgot about the little guys. Advertisements showing nothing but availability or location I wouldn't consider propaganda and I'm sure there are other examples.
I'll change my Venn Diagram to move the advertising circle to be partially outside of the propaganda circle :)
_____
A coworker of mine made a joke about propaganda and I responded "sounds like advertising!" He then mentioned that propaganda required force and it spawned a large debate that's been going on since yesterday.
He has since backed down that propaganda requires force in any capacity but that advertising and propaganda are definitively different.
My argument is this: Advertising, as a whole, is a component of propaganda. Whether you're selling hot dogs or promoting the local high school theater, it is both advertising and propaganda. Propaganda may not be advertising, but advertising is propaganda.
Defining advertise (verb): describe or draw attention to (a product, service, or event) in a public medium in order to promote sales or attendance.
Defining propagandize (verb): promote or publicize a particular cause, organization, or view, especially in a biased or misleading way.
Both are intended to drive an intention or effort on the audience to take a particular action. Propaganda may take multiple forms (advertising, wartime, political, religious, employment). Many times, those forms of propaganda are also advertisments (political attack ads, WW2 era draft posters, jet flyovers of large sports venues today).
His arguments have those far been comparisons between food advertisements and socialist/communist propaganda in WW2 era germany or mid 20th century china. I suggested both pieces are an attempt to inspire a particular action (purchase food, follow supreme overlord's commands), which he disagreed with.
I drew on a white board that my argument boiled down to this: I drew a venn diagram where one circle completely encompassed the other. Propaganda was the larger circle, encompassing the advertising circle. He drew a venn diagram with propaganda as a very large circle and advertising as a very small circle with a sliver of intersection between the two. He also stated the size of circles was equal to social effect.
So Reddit, change my view: convince me how all advertising is not propaganda.
Thank you!
_____
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| 26 |
Personal ads, Craig’slist ads, are advertising, but I’m not sure I’d consider them propaganda.
But in general, you are correct. Most advertising pushes ideology — if only an ideology of capitalist, materialist consumption — and works as part of a larger ideological apparatus, in that news organizations and media in general depend on advertising for revenue, and therefore are incentivized to bend truths in favor of their benefactors, the corporations who pay them for advertising space.
| 10 |
[The Batman/DC] Is the Riddler smarter than Batman? SPOILERS for The Batman
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So after watching The Batman this weekend, it kind of surprised me that Batman essentially lost. The Riddler accomplished almost all of his goals. Everyone is talking about this movie showing how good of a detective Batman is, but in the movie the Riddler is really just pulling his stings the whole time, and Batman just plays along by solving his riddles. He doesn't ever outsmart the Riddler.
Does anyone else have this interpretation of The Batman? In other Batman stories, is the Riddler shown to be smarter than Batman usually?
| 78 |
Think of it this way, the Riddler had over a year to set up his plans and Batman had a few days to solve it. Twice he missed a clue, one of which was so open that it could've referred to any number of things and the second time was a relatively short time after his father figure almost died and relied on a very specific tool that only one guy knew about because his father happened to have a niche job.
As for how clever the Riddler is compared to Batman, he's generally supposed to be a much better cryptographer and detective. Batman has admitted that the only reason he can solve Riddler's crimes is because he compulsively leaves clues about the next crime.
| 103 |
[Game of Thrones] How good a fighter was Eddard Stark
| 95 |
Ned was part of Westerosi nobility and was obviously trained in swordsmanship and fighting. Otherwise he would have had no place in Robert's Rebellion and all of the other battles he fought. And given his status at the top of society, his training was some of the best money could buy. Not only that, he was also taught by family members who had fought for generations to keep the north safe, mixing practical experience with textbook knowledge in ways many other nobles down south couldn't dream.
That being said, Ned's reputation was for his sense of honor and duty, rather than his swordsmanship. So even though he was an extremely skilled and well trained fighter, he was still massively outshone by the likes of Robert Baratheon, Barristan Selmy, Jaime Lannister and Arthur Dayne. All of those men have built reputations, if not legends, for their battle prowess. Ned has not.
Ned himself would have said that Brandon was the true swordsman of his immediate family, and that he was simply good enough to be "competent" compared to his brother. He'd still utterly destroy a commoner with a sword, and would give any mercenary a tough fight, but he's still nowhere near the top echelons of swordsmen in Westeros.
| 112 |
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Is boiling hot water more effective at killing bacteria than a dish soap?
| 15 |
There are a lot of factors that go into this and it's impossible to answer the question without defining things more strictly.
Dish soap will absolutely disrupt cell membranes for bacteria, but its effectiveness will vary depending on the soap's concentration. Boiling water is a very effective disinfectant, but the time that water boils is an important consideration. Briefly dipping an object in boiling water won't completely sterilize it, while boiling for an extended period will. It's also going to vary depending on the bacteria. Some will be more or less vulnerable to soap, while others will be more or less resistant to heat.
| 25 |
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[MCU] Why does Heimdall send Hulk/Bruce Banner directly to Dr Strange?
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I know Heimdall sees all, and possibly knows Thor’s connection to him, but considering they both go straight to Tony Stark right after, why not just send him straight to Tony, or better yet, send him to Captain Marvel!?
| 20 |
Heimdall sees all in the nine realms, which are nine cosmically linked regions of space. Captain Marvel is out in space who knows where, almost certainly beyond his vision.
As to tony vs Strange, Heimdall is a member of a society that has completely leaned into the 'sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic' vibe, and has a bit of a condescending attitude towards technology that still looks like technology. In a pinch, he's always going to go for the magic user.
| 39 |
[Batman] On that fateful night, the Waynes ultimately decide to stay home. No tragedy occurs, they live a normal life. What does Gotham look like today?
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Does a Batman arise? Does some other hero patrol Gotham's streets? Do supervillains even come to the city without a superhero to clash with?
| 130 |
Gotham is almost certainly better off. Thomas and Martha spend the rest of their lives pouring their wealth into helping the afflicted and the poor, instead of their deranged son donning body armor and attempting to do the same with his fists.
Edit: Gotham is good until Darkseid shows up. Then humanity dies. Earth needs Batman.
| 146 |
[The Martian] What did NASA change in later Aeres missions after the Aeres III incident?
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I'm sure their after-accident report has plenty of suggestions to avoid similar incidents in the future, and improve survivability in similar situations.
| 61 |
Redundant comms systems at landing sites. The MAV has three comms systems but it isn't automatically good to go when you get there. The Hab only has one long range radio and its apparently pretty dinky.
| 37 |
[The Stand] Why didn't Randall Flagg allow vices in Las Vegas?
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In a scene in the mini series, a couple of guys sitting around a campfire mention that Flagg didn't allow hookers, dope or drinking in Vegas. Why was this?
You'd think the "evil" city would allow people to partake of their vices. Obviously those in Flagg's inner circle (like Lloyd) were allowed these things.
And since I'm sure Mother Abigail's community wouldn't allow those things either, (except drinking apparently) where's a dude gotta go in post-SuperFlu America to have a good time?
| 19 |
Think of it like this: He's not trying to build the Weimar Republic. More like the Third Reich.
You want productive, obedient workers, not ones that are freebasing junkies.
It's a world full of pharmacies just ripe for the looting, full of oxycodone and amphetamines. All it takes is one guy to come up from Cartel territory in Mexico with a truck full of coke and heroin, and the city could become a junkie-infested, unproductive town. It's not like there's a whole hell of a lot of people left, and a few kilos of heroin is a lot of doses, let alone when someone brings in a ton of the stuff in a cargo-truck.
He wants an army of soldiers, not junkies. Now, if it came down to the actual war between Boulder and Vegas, for the big push, he might have his pilots pop go-pills, his tank drivers loaded up on amphetamines, ala the Blitzkrieg, but for a productive society on a day to day basis, you can't have everyone high out of their minds.
I think Mother Abigail's community had a pretty permissive drug policy to be honest.
| 29 |
eli5: if cigarettes contain so many bad chemicals, then can’t we just take them out?
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my biology textbook says that there are over 60 carcinogens in cigarettes that cause cancer, but can’t we take them out? aren’t people just addicted to the nicotine? couldn’t we just put nicotine and some sort of smoke producing substance that isn’t a carcinogen and leave it at that
Edit: Thank you for the answers, everyone!
| 42 |
E-cigarettes are basically that. Nicotine, plus a carrier fluid (usually propylene glycol and/or glycerine), and some flavorings. Except there’s no smoke involved - it doesn’t get hot enough to actually burn anything, at least not in significant quantities.
The problem with cigarettes is that the smoke itself contains carcinogens, and this is true for essentially any organic material that is burned. Wood smoke, cannabis smoke, even over-toasted bread. When carbon-based materials burn, you never have complete, clean combustion down to CO2 and water vapor, unless you have an extremely hot fire. And several of those partially-combusted byproducts that make up smoke, like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, are carcinogenic.
Edit: low molecular weight carbon-based fuels like natural gas and propane do burn quite cleanly. Large amounts of smoke are mostly from solid materials combusting
| 114 |
ELI5: How do the carcasses of marine animals, particularly large ones like whales, not spread diseases throughout the ocean?
| 53 |
The same reason the carcasses of land animals don't spread diseases: it's difficult to spread diseases when you don't move around, and they're eaten before they have a chance to do much moving around.
Apart from this, diseases that thrive in warmblooded air breathers rarely do particularly well in cold blooded water breathers. The environments are simply too different.
| 58 |
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ELI5 How jet-fighters can detect when a missile is locked onto them
| 49 |
Air Force munitions guy here. They don't always, the only detect a certain *kind* of missile.
The "familiar" kind of "missile lock" is a radar "paint." Older air-to-air missiles (for one plane to shoot down another plane) would work thusly: The shooter "sees" his target with radar. Radar kind of "lights up" a target, it's radio waves, and just like shining a flashlight at a wall makes a bright spot, radar does the same, just at different frequencies and ranges. Anyway, the shooter sees his target with radar, and aims a more focused targeting radar at the target, lighting it up. The missile he fires is told to pretty much "head towards the light" and follows that specific frequency. If the pilot can keep his radar aimed correctly, the missile will follow and then destroy the target.
The plane that is about to get shot down can sense this "painting" radar and pretty much says "Oh shit, we're lit up brighter than anything else up here, shit is going to come towards us and then probably explode!"
Keep in mind, this is how it was done in the 60s. It was called "passive radar" and it was a pain because pilots had to keep their sights on target until they actually hit it with the missile. More modern missiles have their own complete radar systems built in, where they can not only follow, but they can do their own "painting" once they're told what their target is. So a target plane can still tell they've been targeted, but it's more subtle, as a missile can only keep track of one target, and it's smaller radar is less powerful.
Now, those are the two big types of radar guided missiles used in shooting down planes, but there are still "heat seeking" missiles out there.
The exhaust from a jet engine is *hot*. If you look at infrared, it stands out like crazy. Even propeller-driven planes are hot, and military jets are *really* hot. A heat seeking missile is really only told "Look at *this* warm spot in the sky (the sun also stands out, and old missiles have been known to get confused and try to blow up the sun) and follow it until you bump it. Then blow up." In this case, the only thing the targeted jet will know is (assuming his radar can pick up a really fast piece of metal pipe with fire out of one end) is that there is a new, smaller, faster target in the air and that it's coming toward him. It's not really a "lock on" so much as "a missile is in the air and headed towards us."
We deal with stuff called "countermeasures" to protect against missiles. "Chaff and flare." Chaff is a bunch of little bits of aluminum foil that a jet basically shits out. The idea is to confuse radar. If you get a lock on with a radar missile, you dump a bunch of chaff and (hopefully) the radar can't tell your jet from all the bits of metal. Flare is, well, a flare. It's like a candle you spit out that gets set on fire and burns *very* hot. Hot enough that the heat-seeking missile can't really tell if it should blow up your engine or the flare you just shot out.
| 169 |
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ELI5: How do lungs clean themselves out?
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Besides coughing and sneezing, which I understand *outside* of the lugs. So like, what exactly is happening when a smoker quits smoking and lungs get to work expelling gunk?
| 59 |
Your lungs are always "expelling gunk" by using a massive network of what look like little tiny hairs capable of movement. These hair like cells are called cilia and they slowly move anything that shouldn't be In the lungs out. Most of what's moved out ends up going down into your stomach as you swallow. But some get coughed up.
| 54 |
[O Brother, Where Art Thou?] The KKK was a political force to be reckoned with in the 1930s, so how did Pappy O'Daniels create and maintain a political powerhouse without their support? Conversely, why did Homer Stokes lose his bid for governor despite having the support of the 'silent majority?'
| 51 |
Money changed hands, extensively.
As for the 1937 gubernatorial election... you're not taking into account the sheer star power of the Soggy Bottom Boys. Their cover of "Man of Constant Sorrow" took the south by storm, coming as it did in the midst of a major fad for old-timey singers. Stokes made an enemy of what was, briefly, the biggest act in the entire state, who threw their endorsement behind O'Daniels. That was enough to tip the scales.
| 55 |
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What will happen to a piece of wood, placed in a "pot"with no oxygen and then placed over a fire?
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also the same question but what if the "pot" was pressurised?
| 17 |
That's basically a way to make charcoal. By starving the wood of oxygen you allow the moisture and volatile compounds to be burned off leaving you with a mostly pure carbon. It's important that it has some kind of vent though because the steam and volatile compounds will pressurize the container.
| 39 |
Is there any way to utilize "undefined behavior" in C/C++?
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In class, I have learned to avoid things that might lead to undefined behavior (like division by 0). But I was thinking that if you needed something unpredictable or random, could there be a case where you would intentionally do this?
​
| 15 |
Undefined behaviour means the standard doesn't say what to do in that case, and each implementation is free to do as it wants. Crashing being a valid option.
And division by 0 is very well defined for floats ( IEEE 754)
| 24 |
ELI5: How does oily skin cause acne on face?
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Can someone please explain the process of pimples forming that is caused by oil to me?
| 16 |
The oils block up your pores in the skin. They build up more secretions behind it, including bacteria and various other lipids and fluids. The raised tension behind the buildup causes the visible red bump of the pimple.
| 20 |
CMV: A Universal Basic Income plan would drastically improve the quality of workers doing a given job.
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Ok, so most people have had at least one experience with an employee that really didn't care about their job. Whether they're your lazy coworker or someone at a call center "helping" you with your issue, they're just their to put in their hours and not get fired.
I think that a UBI plan would be an incredible boon for those of us who want to work with competent, motivated individuals. No more would someone be there to "help" you just because they had to work or starve! No longer would your lazy coworker talk for 6 hours and work for 1! They would all be off doing something else, and leaving the work to the people who want to be doing it.
I do recognize that this would shrink the total pool of people doing a job, but those were the people who weren't motivated to do the work anyway.
Ok, folks. CMV!
_____
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| 392 |
You're forgetting the math that says in order to pay all of those people for doing literally nothing, it means everyone who IS doing something has to get paid less for it. Now, the incentive is there to do less and less work, because why bother if you can still draw a paycheck by sitting at home playing Xbox?
| 104 |
Why do we teach braille to blind people instead of stamped ”normal“ letters?
| 28 |
Stamped (raised) "normal" letters would need to be considerably larger than braille characters in order to be distinguished from one another through tactile sensation. Large enough that the finger tip would need to move, or trace, the letter. If you were to make the letters smaller, several letters would be too difficult to distinguish. With Braille, the finger doesn't need to move for one single character. And the dots are simply easier to feel.
| 27 |
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