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[MCU] Would learning about Thanos and the infinity stones have changed the events of 'Civil War'?
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The whole conflict of CW seems so insignificant in comparison to the possible destruction of half of the Universe (if they follow the comic book route). At the very least, the threat level is cosmic tier.
| 26 |
In a way, Tony had already been worrying about Thanos, he just doesn’t have a name for the impending threat. His all-consuming worry was manifested in the work he does in IM3 – An army of clumsy semi-autonomous suits of armor + a subtly introduced ability to personally control a suit remotely (Tony was becoming afraid to be on the front lines due to his PTSD so he creates what is essentially “drone” armor.
By the time of AoU –he refines the concept with the creation of the more elegantly designed Iron Legion but at this point he had hit a technological wall –Jarvis is merely a façade of artificial intelligence. The Wanda induced vision drives Tony to pursue the Ultron initiative. But once again, our modern day Icarus flies too close to the sun and Sokovia paid for it.
So as we head into CW – Tony still has this impending threat on his mind –only now its been driven home that he can’t science his way into a solution. He has never been so humble as we see him in CW. The only thing he can do is keep this group of powerful friends together so they can be ready for the next invasion.
Like Tony, Thor is aware of the danger, he simply lacks a name for it. Yet.
Cap pretty much proved why future proofing against an invasion is a fruitless endeavor in both CA:WS and AoU –It never works out. That kind of power ends up corrupting the original good intentions. He knows it could happen again but he isn’t willing to betray his principles to counter it.
| 30 |
[Infinity War] When Strange is looking at the 14,000,605 possible outcomes, how does he perceive them? Does he see them one at a time, perhaps sped up? Does he see them all at once?
| 38 |
One fan theory described it as watching 14 million lights, then watching them blink out one by one. Then he fast-forwarded to see if any came back on, even for a brief moment and then examined them closer to find a pattern of events.
As he had already spent a long time being repeatedly killed by Doramammu we can assume he has *some* kind of magical protection against the insanity surely caused by experiencing such loops.
| 58 |
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Dumb Question: Why can't airplanes be fitted to huge (~ mile wide) parachutes to slowly come down to the ground in case of an emergency?
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From a physics standpoint, a large enough parachute to withstand the weight can probably be made. Even if it slows the plane down just a bit, it could save lives. I'm sure there is a reason this hasn't been done, but I'm just not aware of any.
| 15 |
Because for most all airplane crashes, it wouldn't help. Very rarely is a plane somewhere out over the desert when suddenly "boom!" all power is lost and it starts plummeting towards the ground, everything else in tact.
Airplanes normally crash during takeoff, landing or due to catastrophic failure. During takeoff and landing, the plane is too close to the ground for a parachute to work. During catastrophic failure, who is to say that the parachute would still work? Also, you can't just deploy a huge parachute, it would have to be a complicated system of drag chutes to slowly slow the airplane down. If the plane is spinning, well good luck.
Ejection systems from fast moving objects are a topic of research. But the fact is, when you are moving that fast, it is hard to get down safely. Fighter pilots have to train for it, astronauts have a very elaborate evacuation procedure, but it only works for the smallest of time windows. If it were as simple as a parachute, it would probably be installed.
| 16 |
How Does Auto-Shut Off Engine Design Not Destroy Engines?
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I rent cars quite a bit for work and over the last six months I have gotten a handful that have a feature where they basically shut off when the car stops and then start back up when the car tries to move.
I've been told starting up the engine is one of the harshest things an engine goes through, yet this approach to design seems to unnecessarily add a ton of off/on cycles to a drive.
Is the notion / assumption that start up is the harshest out of date or are special precautions taken to mitigate the damage of this particular feature?
| 37 |
Starting an engine is only harsh when all of the lubricants have trickled away from the bearing surfaces.
Worst when the engine is cold because that is when lubricant is most viscous and slow to circulate. Exacerbated by richer mixture (in a petrol engine) needed for cold start that washes some oil from the bores.
None of these are of consequence when the engine is warm and only been off for a minute or so. Auto start systems will even restart the engine occasionally if you are stopped for a long time, say in a traffic jam.
Wear an tear on the starter is minimal. A good modern warm engine will fire on the first compression stroke. Starter has to only compress one cylinder stroke. Nothing like cold start cranking.
| 35 |
How does a fan cool down a room?
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like i understand how a ceiling fan can push hot air where you want i (heat rises etc.) but how does a desk fan which simply circulates air make a room feel colder? does it? is this just an illusion?
| 23 |
A fan doesn't cool the room (unless it's colder outside, there's an open window or door and the fan helps the airflow through it).
However, we experience heat not necessarily by the absolute temperature of the air around us, but rather by the rate at which heat is exchanged between the air and our skin.
When there's air flow around us, our bodies can get rid of heat more easily, which causes the sensation of cooling.
| 64 |
ELI5: why is gold so valuable ?
|
But really, why does gold have so much value? Why not copper or silver?
| 59 |
Because it's rare, it's portable, it's easily identifiable, and rich people like to dangle it from their bodies and fashion their belongings out of it, all of which makes it a perfect candidate for a kind of unbacked universal currency.
| 43 |
When patients get blood transfusions, does the blood need to be warmed up to body temperature or can it just go in cold?
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I've seen on a lot of medical dramas (I know that they're not always accurate though) that blood bags are kept in coolers. But when the doctors put the blood into a patient, is it warmed up? If so, is there a specific tempature it needs to be at?
| 17 |
Warmed. Even in an emergency, blood can go through a rapid-infuser which also warms the blood. Some blood products (like plasma or cryoprecipitate) are frozen and need to be thawed before the blood bank issues it. - signed your friendly neighbourhood laboratory professional :)
| 54 |
What is the 4D equivalent of 3D volume?
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Is there a different/special term for the space a 4D object occupies in 4D space?
Thanks in advance.
| 24 |
Some suggestions:
* Hypervolume works in the same vein as ‘hyperplane’ etc. A lot of syllables though.
* Measure is the general term for what you are talking about, but it's very general so make sure it's clear from context which measure you mean. This is usually not a problem.
* Content is one of those great flexible middle-ground words that you can define on a paper-by-paper basis.
* Prefix by dimension, e.g. 4-volume, 4-measure, 4-content. Useful if you have to deal with many different dimensions.
| 19 |
CMV:Sweden is overrated.
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Most people in Reddit compliment this country a lot. There's an article saying that [Sweden has more poverty than the USA](http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/09/10/america-has-less-poverty-than-sweden/). I found this article when looking for a source that says Sweden would become Albania-level poor in the near future, like [this one](http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6697/sweden-collapse). I can't say any more things because my country is also in an economic crisis and also likely to become a Saudi-like theocracy (but Christian and republican). I almost didn't sleep because of the possibility of Sweden of a cold, oil-less version of Saudi Arabia. And everyone on Reddit knows about the high rape rate.
P.S.: it's expected that Sweden would have problems, but some people here treat her and the other Nordics as a utopia.
________
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| 18 |
Except that article comes up with an irrelevant measurement of poverty, which only ends with the result you mention when the subsidized healthcare, education, and other social services provided by the Swedish government to their poor, which the US does not provide, are not included.
As for the second article, it is focused on the fact that Swedes will be a minority in Sweden if current immigration rates continue as they are for the next 10-15 years, which is not really expected by anyone.
As for rape rates in Sweden, that is a result of higher reporting rates, a wider definition of rape than in the US and other countries, and the fact that repeated rapes must be reported individually in Sweden (e.g. a woman says her husband has raped her every night for a year; US=1 charge of rape, Sweden=365 charges of rape).
EDIT: Grammar
| 27 |
ELI5: What does a pilot see when they say turbulence is to be expected for the next X duration of the flight? How do they know how rough it is going to be? Why can't they just go higher or lower than whatever the weather is?
| 28 |
It depends where it is.
Sometimes it's possible to see bad weather visually - large cumulus clouds are nearly always turbulent. Other times it shows up on the weather radar - a device which sends out a radar signal that bounces off of water droplets and shows how big the droplets are.
Clear Air Turbulence is the one that's most hard to spot. Mostly, pilots rely on reports from other pilots ahead of them on the same route. This is especially true on routes like the North Atlantic, where communication with Air Traffic Control is difficult. In other, more populated areas, Air Traffic Control might collate information from pilots.
And finally, there is often turbulence near the ground, either due to the wind being mixed up as it blows across trees, buildings or mountains, or due to the thermal effect of the sun heating the ground, and the ground heating the lowest layer of air, which then starts to rise. But usually you'd have your seatbelts on for take-off or landing anyway, so no special action is required to warn you of that.
| 27 |
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ELI5: How come my twins have blue eyes when both my husband and I have brown eyes.
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We have 3 year old twins (non identical) who both have the exact same shade of blue eyes. I have brown eyes and my husband has hazel. Their paternal grandfather has blue eyes, their maternal grandparents have brown eyes. Both my grandmothers had blue eyes.
I know that the gene for blue eyes is recessive, so I'm curious how they both by-passed all the brown eye dominant genes!
Thanks!
| 25 |
Genes work like this: we have two sets of genes for everything (only exception is the gender-specific ones), one passed on from the father, one passed on from the mother. Which of the two sets of your parents you inherit is entirely random.
This simply means that both you and your husband inherited one set of brown-eye-genes and one set of blue-eye-genes from your respective parents and you both passed on the blue-eye-genes to each of your twins. Unlikely, but entirely normal.
| 32 |
[Star Trek] Why doesn't anybody seem to care about the temporal prime directive?
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While the "normal" prime directive is a enforced strictly (with some exceptions), Starfleet is pretty loosey goosey when it comes to interfering in past events. I can count numerous times when the Enterprise-D alone has meddled in history, not always in a way that was inevitable or necessary for survival or to complete the mission at hand (taking freakin' Mark Twain for a tour on the ship in Time's Arrow, for example). Doesn't anyone seem to mind it? Due to the complexity temporal physics, it can be argued that this type of meddling could be quite dangerous, even more so than violating the "normal" PD.
| 69 |
One of the problems is that Star Trek never really defined how time travel works. Do you need to worry about killing Hitler, or will *something* always prevent it from happening before his recorded death, either via your efforts or that of the time cops from the Future Federation?
Just claiming that traveling back in time can't affect the future is paradoxical if one assumes that there is only one timeline. Either you *always* went back and meddled or you *never* did. Further, with this model, you *can't* change anything that you'd notice, because you are a product of history. If you remember Hitler being killed in 1939, then you'll never travel back in time to alter that fact.
The closest this came to happening was the episode "Yesterday's Enterprise." Only a higher-dimensional being, Guinan, could even suspect something had altered time, and in the end, she was the only one who knew anything happened (until Denise Crosby showed up again).
In order for you to remember why you traveled into the past to change something, you'd have to forge a new timeline when you arrived. You could alter whatever you wanted willy-nilly, since you've basically entered a new universe that branched off from your home universe the second you showed up.
Now, what I'd assume the Future Federation would have to be is some group that exists outside of spacetime. In essence, they'd have to observe from another universe somehow, so that they aren't subject to the causality changes. There's a series of Asimov short stories about that, where a group of volunteers (since you're basically signing on to *technically* not exist due to alterations in history) will study the timeline and decide what events, starting with the founding of their organization, results in the best possible outcome. Then, they work to steer history towards said outcome, able to watch and remember changes due to being outside of the universe where they take place.
| 46 |
If pi is irrational, and therefore it is impossible for it to be expressed as a relationship between two (real) numbers, then how can it be the relationship between a circumference and a diameter?
| 19 |
Not two real numbers. Two integers. If the diameter of a circle is an integer, the circumference will not be. The same is true for squares: all sides can be 1 cm long, but the length across the diagonal is 1.41......irrational.
| 67 |
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Do successive covid reinfections increase or decrease in severity?
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Will they eventually wear-down a person's immune system or prime it to better handle it?
eta...
I mean an individual who gets it several times, which I guess would include variants.
Particularly health workers who are continually at risk of exposure.
With it being endemic, it's likely we all will potentially get more than one case of it even with vaccination, so with long-covid being a concern, will we all just eventually get weaker and more debilitated till it takes us out, or will we find it less and less of an issue?
| 103 |
This is honestly a really difficult question to answer now given we have so little data on reinfection and long covid effects.
There are signs pointing to the virus staying dormant / hidden after recovery (ie hepatitis or herpes), and potentially having longer term complications we might not yet be aware of but it’s still too early to tell.
| 59 |
Is language the limit of thought?
| 99 |
When you experience a memory, do you consider that thought?
It seems like a large portion of memory has no language involved, although language can obviously play a part therein (and within any further narrative analysis of the memory).
When you perform an action, willingly and knowingly, is language-based thought involved?
Automated actions (driving a car, typing on the keyboard, etc) might be considered 'thoughtless' to some degree, but it is certainly possible to do a thing without any language getting involved in the process.
When you subconsciously interpret signals sent by others, such as body language and tone, does that count as thought?
This sort of thing could be seen as programming or conditioned response, but unconscious thought is certainly thought (language-based or not).
When people learn through many hours of practice to reduce narrative thought to negligible levels, they no longer use much language to think; are they no longer thinking?
Some people have no narrative or visual thought naturally. There appears to be a whole spectrum available, as far as thought is concerned, yet it can be challenging to share an individual experience accurately with others.
Your post seems to point towards a view/exploration of linguistic determinism somehow (but that could be me reading into it?).
More fleshing out of the question would lead to more subtle answers (though other commenters have made good points thus far).
| 41 |
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If The Doctor was bitten by a zombie, could he cure himself by regenerating? [Doctor Who]
| 15 |
There's a question before this one.
Could a timelord even be infected?
Seeing as animals are *generally* not able to get infected by most strains of zombie plagues it seems unlikely any non human DNA including timelord would be compatible.
If they *could* get infected regeneration would likely cure it because the whole reason for regeneration was to revive a wounded or diseased timelord.
| 25 |
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[GoT] why didn’t the Targaryens ever go beyond the wall?
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So I’m currently read the world of ice and fire and was wondering why the Targaryens never tried to conquer the wildings? Targaryens ruled Westeros and had dragons for centuries before the dance of dragons killed most of them. Did none of them think it would be worth it to at least explore what’s up there? They had been used to dealing with with hostile natives with a home field advantage (the dornish) and seemed comfortable enough with the dragons to fly the long distances require. The least they could do is run a bunch of recon flights from winterfell to get an accurate map of their kingdom. Seems weird they had seemingly no interest in that part of the continent.
| 18 |
Mostly it's for the same reason the Starks haven't conquered the Wildlings. It's a lot more trouble than it's worth, they have a massive wall, there isn't a stable governmental structure like Dorne has, and the Night's Watch is an incredibly effective way to dispose of the unwanted.
The dragons can't do recon, they refuse to go into those lands.
| 31 |
I want to start reading philosophy books what’s the 1 book I should get to start philosophy?
| 31 |
I'd recommend starting with some of the more introductory books on philosophy, like Bertrand Russell's "The Problems of Philosophy." It will give you a good overview of a variety of philosophical problems.
| 27 |
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[28 Days Later] Do The Infected Drink?
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So I recently watched 28 Days Later, and it was pretty good. However, I was wondering: how do the zombies drink? They clearly don't eat humans or have any values of self-preservation. They can last for maybe a month before starvation (like a normal human) but survive without water somehow... do they drink? They don't eat victims, only kill them, so they don't eat at all. Do they drink and not eat? I would imagine they dehydrate faster since they expel so much blood regularly, which is all precious water.
Just wondering.
| 66 |
We excrete urine to get rid of salts and metabolic waste products. Clearly the infected are able to tolerate high concentrations of these things in their blood, and they don't waste water washing then out.
They're allowed to violate lots of rules of physiology, but they cannot violate the law of conservation of mass. Fun fact; a lot of people assume that the oxygen molecules that you breathe in end up as the oxide part of carbon dioxide, because that's what you breathe out, but that's not true! Those particular oxygen molecules turned into H2O. In this case, water is waste!
The only viable explanation for something to be constantly bleeding and frequently vomiting is that it has near perfect metabolism that somehow shunts waste water from all these processes in such a way that it can be converted to precious blood and vomit.
Unless they harness some kind of extradimensional matter, this is the only way that they don't end up as angry human raisins.
| 58 |
What actually makes something move along a concentration gradient?
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Is this something to do with the probabilities of particle paths, or do particles have some property which I don't know about?
| 49 |
Microscopically, each particle is undergoing some chaotic thermal motion, which we can model as being random, according to some phase space probability distribution.
The phenomenon of diffusion just results from the simple fact that most particles in the system are moving, and any particle which is moving will be in a different position in then next instant of time than where it is now.
In other words, they're more likely found to be *somewhere else* in the next instant of time.
So on average, this will lead to a net flow of particles in the direction of high concentration to low concentration.
| 59 |
ELI5: Why are mid-90s shows like Friends available in high definition, while shows from the same time period (and same network) like Frasier only in standard definition?
| 586 |
It depends on the media used to record the show - traditional film can be rescanned at higher resolution, magnetic media maybe, maybe not. It also depends on how much money the studios think they will make by re-releasing.
| 214 |
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[Doctor Who] What's the dalek's plan for after they kill everyone?
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So, the Daleks don't seem to have a culture or art or games or relationships or any such thing. All they do is kill people. They socially interact? It's a ploy to kill people. They farm? It's resources to kill people. They scientifically investigate? It's inventing ways to kill people. That's all they do, hate and kill.
So, suppose they succeed. Say the reality bomb from *Journey's End* does in fact go off, as it's probably the most final victory. Everything that's not a Dalek is gone. Even the *possibility* of something not being a Dalek is destroyed. They've won, absolutely and definitely, in every universe.
So...now what?
Do they just deactivate? Do they turn on each other? Do they reinvent art and culture? Do they sit and stare into space for eternity?
The Dalek empire is one big war machine. What does it do one the war is over?
| 31 |
They go on preparing for war in case they missed something. They eventually diverge until they go to war against each other. They've fragmented into factions before.
The daleks are meant to be alien fascists. Just like real fasists, their ideology is centered on the idea of glorious war. With no one to fight there's no point to them, which is part of why daleks and fasists tend to lose.
| 65 |
[Cool Runnings] That loose bolt
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So I am watching Cool Runnings again and I have a massive issue.
The whole finale and the crash and them wiping out is basically caused by that loose bolt right. Yeah the sled was a piece of shit, needed some love ans care.
Now I don't know much about Bob Sledding, but wouldn't a very basic thing to do after every single run be basic maintenance? Like a check of things like that? Of bolts, making sure everything is tight, and oiled, well maintained?
It really bugs me.
| 19 |
Mostly likely the team did check and perform maintenance on their sled, yes. Certainly Irv was a knowledgeable coach, and Derice was a conscientious captain, so with their influence it's hard to picture the team skipping out on their maintenance duties.
So why did the bolt get loose then? Most likely it was due to the sheer age of the sled and the wear and tear it'd been through already. Team USA had been using the sled as a practice sled, which meant it had probably gone through multiple runs a day for who knows how long. There's also no guarantee that proper maintenance had been performed on it by Team USA, because again it's just a practice sled. So there might be minor issues with the sled, such as a bolt's threads no longer being tight enough, or certain parts or cables rubbing against the wrong places during runs, or excess vibrations running through certain parts of the sled when it's in use. However, these problems might not be caught or even detectable during maintenance by the Jamaicans.
But as we see, when you're going downhill at a million miles per hour in a slippery-slidey missile, even the smallest defect can become a major issue.
| 24 |
ELI5: Why does risk of Down Syndrome increase with the mother's age?
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If the woman has all her eggs at birth, then why does the risk of Down Syndrome increase with age? I assume the eggs would have no reason to replicate, so how does the mutation occur? I searched ELI5 beforehand but found nothing.
Thanks!
~WaffleTwats
| 771 |
The chance of having a child with Down syndrome increases with age because older eggs have a greater risk of improper chromosome division. If the cells don't split properly, an egg or a sperm cell could get an extra chromosome. If an egg with 24 chromosomes is fertilized, then the baby will end up with a total of 47 chromosomes. The same thing happens when a sperm with 24 chromosomes fertilizes an egg. If the extra chromosome happens to be number 21, then the child will have Down syndrome.
| 294 |
ELI5: Why are movies all 1.5~2 hours long?
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Who decided all movies (excluding short films) would be generally the same length? Why this length in particular?
| 17 |
It's an average at which a compromise occurs between holding the audience's interest and attention and the feeling of getting value for money paid. Any longer and the brain starts thinking about doing other things; any shorter and the brain starts thinking it's been ripped off because it paid for a certain "duration" of entertainment. A half-hour flick isn't interesting enough to invest in a trip to the movie theater.
Kids movies are usually shorter than adult drama features because younger audiences have less of an attention span and have a much greater sense of the passing of time (which is why rainy afternoons lasted forever and killed us with boredom as toddlers but we barely remember them passing as adults).
All of this can be overridden if you are really into something that immerses you like a videogame, and it's more about averages than about individual watchers.
| 31 |
ELI5: If the Earth has no moon, what would our oceans be like?
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There wouldn't be tides as we know them now, or none at all? Would temperatures and currents be different?
| 85 |
Tides would generally be about two-thirds less powerful, and be much more closely tied to the time of day. The moon's tidal force would be gone, but the sun's tidal force -- about half as powerful as the moon's -- would remain.
| 63 |
Why do I hear ringing/buzzing from certain electronic devices and appliances?
| 22 |
The devices employ a switch-mode transformer. Basically this chops up the electricity into pulses with a certain frequency(the switching frequency). This frequency may change, depending on the load of the power supply. E.g. whether your phone is charring(heavy load), or if it is done charging but still plugged in(light load).
What happens is that the chopped up electricity runs through a coil/transformer/inductor, which actually physically begins to vibrate because of the magnetic fields created by the chopped electricity that runs through it. If the frequency changes with respect to the load, it may be that the frequency drops into the audible range, thus allowing the coil/transformer/inductor to produce audible noise. If the frequency doesn't change, it may be that heavy load introduces a larger current which again produces a larger magnetic field, which causes more vibration. It can also be a combination of those two.
It is essentially the same sound you hear when you stand next to a transformer station, but there the sound is 50/60Hz because that is the mains frequency. In switch mode power supplies, the switching frequency is several kilohertz, which is why the sound is at a higher pitch.
(im an electrical engineer)
| 19 |
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[One Punch Man] How are monsters and heroes born?
| 19 |
Monsters are the result of a genetic mutation that happens when an individual is obsessed with something or have extremely strong feelings towards or about something in some way, always negative. The stronger the obsession and the physical potential of the human the stronger the monster becomes. Some animals have also undergone this type of monsterification
Of course, this is just the most common type of monster. There's also natural monsters such as the Sea Folk and the giant centipedes, organisms that have been subjected to pollution, genetic experiments, people drinking super serums, and people that have eaten Orochi's monster cells.
​
The super strong human heroes such as Bang, Darkshine, Flash, Metal Bat and Tank-Top Master were born with their potential to become as strong, and has achieved their level through intensive training.
| 34 |
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ELI5:Since almost all of the water on earth is saltwater, why didn't we evolve to be able to drink it?
| 167 |
There was always enough fresh water around that we didn't have to. Things don't evolve because it would be a good idea, they evolve because if they don't they die. Not being able to drink seawater didn't kill enough of our ancestors.
| 130 |
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If a parent decided not to vaccinate their child, who in turn decided to get those vaccinations in adulthood, would they be as effective? Would the immune system be positively or negatively affected?
| 20 |
They should be as effective.
However, you are most likely to die from a disease that requires vaccination during your childhood since your immune system has yet to develop fully, so getting your shots as an adult requires surviving to adulthood.
If nothing else, it contributes to herd immunity and helps prevent pandemic outbreaks to have your vaccinations.
| 15 |
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[WH40K] What is the proper etiquette in the Empire of Man?
| 16 |
It really depends on who you are, where you are ect ect.
But im going to assume you meant a civilian, which narrows it down a bit. There is still a lot of variation, so this is the general picture. Don't question the emperor's rules, or you'll be killed. Everyone is more important than you.
Thats pretty much the picture, because the majority of the imperium is kept in ignorance of what is really out there in the galaxy.
I'd love to give a more specific answer but the imperium is so big and varied anything can happen.
| 26 |
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What is the point in Spinoza referring to the physical universe as God?
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In what way does belief in the Pantheistic conception of God differ from Atheism? I fail to see how it is not simply materialism that Spinoza refers to.
| 17 |
You're not alone in your charge, since he was indeed accused of atheism in his time and excommunicated from the Jewish community. However, only one of the attributes of god is extension (materialism), and god has an *infinite* number of attributes, so he's definitely not a materialist.
| 17 |
We know that there are Suns in the visible spectrum, are there suns that exists purely in the gamma or radio ranges?
| 135 |
As you make an object hotter, the peak frequency of the emitted light shifts towards the higher frequencies. However, the intensity of the source will increase for every given frequency. This means that any object hotter than a few thousand degrees will emit radiation in the visible spectrum, no matter how hot it gets.
I don't know enough about the classification of stars to know if one can be cold enough to not emit a noticeable amount of visible radiation, whilst still being classified as a star.
| 51 |
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[Marvel + DC] Batman is given the Super Soldier Serum. What happens?
| 31 |
In the MCU version of Captain America, they said that the Super Soldier Serum brought out and elevated what was already there--- it made Steve Rodgers an all American hunk and made the Red Skull and a super strong.... red skull.
So what was already in Batman? Yes, he'd get peak human physical strength but on top of that, he'd get a sharpening of the mind--- perhaps going from genius level, to human computer level, able to juggle multiple, far-ranging scenerios in his head all at once, to the point he might as well be pychic.
He's insanely prepared *now*-- with Super Serum, he would be a mix between Oxymandias from Watchmen and the Midnighter from the Authority. And yes, he *could* dodge bullets.
| 37 |
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I believe that debate over abortion eventually comes down to whether a fetus is a person or not, cmv.
|
I believe that the principal point of contention with regards to abortion is ultimately whether a fetus has the rights of a person and that other issues are secondary. (In case it comes up, I am pro-choice). I'm not arguing whether or not fetus have these rights, or at what point a fetus would gain these rights, just whether this issue is the central one to the abortion debate.
If one believes that a fetus is a person, then they would be pro-life. This view would imply theat abortion would be the moral equivalent to murder (except in cases where the mother's life is at risk). All other issues, such as a woman's right to her body would be secondary, as saving a life - forgoing an abortion- comes first morally. Many pro-lifers feel that personhood begins at conception, hence they feel that abortion at any stage of pregnancy is wrong)
If one feel that a fetus is not a person, then they would be pro-choice. Although one might dislike abortion, if one does not feel a fetus is a person, then abortion would not be equivalent to killing someone. In this case, a woman's right to her body would come first.
| 21 |
>All other issues, such as a woman's right to her body would be secondary, as saving a life - forgoing an abortion- comes first morally.
Legally, the right to your own body comes before somebody else's right to live. You cannot force someone to give up organs, blood, or any other part of their body to save someone else. In this line of thinking, the personhood of the fetus is irrelevant since no matter the answer, a woman can still get an abortion.
| 43 |
[Marvel] Why do so many peopl want to Kill Wolverine?
|
I was noticing that so many of wolverines enemies really want to kill him with a vengeance and was wondering why is that? Most villains I know just want the hero out so they can go about their business. Yet it seems with Logan it’s personal
| 20 |
While it tends to vary just how long, Logan has been around a long time. Long enough to make enemies of just about anyone and sometimes twice. Logan is also 5’3 and a bit of a dick, so he has a way of getting under people’s skin.
| 29 |
ELI5: What do viruses/bacteria exactly do inside of our bodies that makes them dangerous and causes us to get sick?
| 105 |
Just a little additional info:
When you "feel sick" most of these symptoms are not caused directly by the infection, but by your own immune system attempting to kill/flush out the infection.
Fever to kill the infection
Runny nose (increased secretion) to flush out the system
Cough/sneeze. To expel built up secretions and infectious organisms.
In fact allergies are just your immune system reacting to things that aren't pathogens.
| 78 |
|
Did humans discover or invent mathematics?
|
Plato said that numbers, as well as all mathematical phenomena, objectively exist, and humans uncover the mysteries of these phenomena. According to him, mathematics is a manifestation of logic itself.
While this view makes sense, and is quite practical, I find that there are some problems with it. Some mathematical phenomena seem to be defined into existence, for example, imaginary numbers and the complex plane. Do imaginary numbers have any relation to reality, or do they exist simply because we've arranged our axioms in their favor?
For that matter, how do we know any of our axioms are correct? We develop axioms because the only way to coherently prove anything with mathematics is by rigorously defining the terms used. But how do we know that our definitions are true?
| 21 |
>Some mathematical phenomena seem to be defined into existence, for example, imaginary numbers and the complex plane.
How are the complex numbers any more or less "defined into existence" as, say, the natural numbers?
| 13 |
[Biology] Is it theoretically possible for a human to stop producing digestive waste?
|
If such a food existed that only gave the body exactly what it needed, could humans stop urination or defecation?
| 4,871 |
Not defecation. Besides food, feces contains bilirubin which is made from destroyed red blood cells. You need to be able to excrete bilirubin, otherwise you'd get hepatitis and jaundice. The urine excretes like 5% of the bilirubin (which makes your urine dark btw), but it's incapable of handling all the bilirubin.
With urination, your electrolytes will be out of whack and you'll likely die. This is what happens in renal artery obstruction
| 3,930 |
[MCU] How much did S.H.I.E.L.D. grow between "Iron Man" and "The Avengers"?
|
Although S.H.I.E.L.D. has been around since the 50's, they weren't well known until very recently. In Iron Man, they seemed fairly small-scaled. They had difficulty getting an interview with Stark, and Director Fury himself went to Stark's house to invite him to join them.
But by the time that Avengers rolled around, they seemed to be much larger. And in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. they seem to be as well known as any other governmental organization.
Did the sudden rise of superheroes in the MCU cause S.H.I.E.L.D. to drastically expand? Or were they just better about hiding in the past?
| 61 |
I wound't call it "grow"... it became more visible. At first they were near secrete, they didn't give press releases, no comments, their budgets were tied with some obscure laws that no one wanted to touch, etc.
They were a secret organization in the open. Their offices were modest, their teams small, and they did not used their status to force anyone's hand if it wasn't crucial. You could go and walk in their main office and ask for an appointment with anyone inside. Of curse, their real goals and technological advances were secret, go ask and they were a technological analysis. They did studies and tried to contain potential threatening technologies.
After the first time we saw Iron Man, it was clear that their way of acting wasn't working anymore, and they started making the Agency more public. Within a few months of PR, press releases and whatnot, everyone knew how S.H.I.E.L.D. was.
>Director Fury himself went to Stark's house to invite him to join them.
That was Fury, he likes to hire his team personally.
| 34 |
ELI5: the Yugoslav Wars
|
This is a piece of history that has somehow always evaded my understanding. It's not included in typical American public school curriculum for some reason, and the touchy nature of the wars make it difficult to find a summary that isn't overly politicized.
| 64 |
**TL;DR:** Differences of opinion regarding internal Yugoslav politics led to the break-up of Yugoslavia; war between the various peoples within was fuelled by nationalist sentiment and exacerbated by various historical factors.
First, some background information. During WW2, a number of factions emerged in Yugoslavia:
- The Ustase (pronounced oo-stash-e) were Croat fascists who allied with the Germans, and ruled the Independent State of Croatia. They sought to create an ethnically pure Croatia, and saw Serbs as the main obstacle to doing so.
- The Cetniks (chet-niks) were Serb guerillas; while the movement was not entirely homogeneous, much of it engaged in collaboration with the Germans and Italians. They sought to create a 'Greater Serbian' state, which, naturally, would be ethnically pure and free of Croats/Muslims.
- The Partisans were a multi-ethnic resistance force led by the Communist Party. They were the 'official' allies in Yugoslavia, and in addition to the Nazis, fought the Ustase and Cetniks.
Eventually the Partisans won, and their leader Josip Broz Tito became the Yugoslavian president. Despite repression of both by the Yugoslavs - many former Ustase and Cetniks were executed - ethnic tensions remained. However, these tensions were largely suppressed by Tito during his rule.
In 1980, Tito died. At the time, Yugoslavia consisted of six republics: Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia; and two semi-autonomous provinces (Kosovo and Vojvodina, both in Serbia). Each of these had a vote in the federal presidency. With Tito's death, relations between the six republics began to deteriorate, and the communist leadership began to fragment along national lines. In the late 80s, this was exacerbated by the worsening economy and rising nationalism throughout the country.
Essentially, Croatia and Slovenia wanted greater autonomy, whereas Serbia sought to strengthen federal authority over all of Yugoslavia. During the 80s, the Serbian president, Slobodan Milosevic, replaced the representatives of Kosovo, Montenegro, and Vojvodina with people loyal to him. This effectively granted Serbia four out of eight votes in the federal presidency, along with significant influence over decision making, as the other republics only had one vote. In early 1990, at a meeting of the communist party, Milosevic used this influence to vote down proposals from the Croat and Slovene delegates, causing them to walk out, thus breaking up the communist party.
Referenda were held in both Slovenia (in late-1990) and Croatia (in mid-1991) regarding independence from Yugoslavia. These were overwhelmingly won by the pro-independence sides, leading both countries to declare themselves independent of Yugoslavia. The federal presidency sought to stop secession, with the Yugoslav prime minister, Ante Markovic, declaring it illegal under the constitution.
Here's where the war formally began. Without going into too much detail - this is where the politicisation you mentioned *really* comes to the fore - the Yugoslav Wars consisted of:
- The Ten-Day War (1991), fought when the Yugoslav army invaded Slovenia to prevent secession.
- Croatian War of Independence (1991 - 1995), fought between the newly-independent Croatia, and the Serbian population of Croatia (backed by the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army).
- Bosnian War (1992 - 1995). Effectively a civil war fought among the Bosniak (Muslim), Croat, and Serb populations of Bosnia, each of which had differing desires for the future of a Bosnian state.
- Kosovo War (1998 - 1999), fought initially between Serbia and Albanian insurgents, with NATO joining the Albanian side in 1999.
| 52 |
[Spider-Man]How come the entire symbiote race copied Spider-Man's Powers?
|
The entire race seems to have developed powers, not just the ones spawned from the venom symbiote, similar to spiderman. How come all symbiotes share this trait?
| 24 |
They don't really have Spider-Man's specific powers? They are super strong and powerful, and their tendrils can sometimes act as webbing, but their powers mostly result from their gooey semi-fluid nature.
| 26 |
ELI5: How does time "fix" electronics?
|
Similar things have happened in the past but a week ago my son dropped a stuffed bunny he has that sings, claps its hands and waggles its ears when you press on its foot. He dropped it on the floor hard and instead of working it would just slightly vibrate until you flipped a hard off on switch. Tried resetting it a few times and it was still broken. This morning, a week later my son turned it on and it functioned fine again.
It seems like sometimes, just giving it time will solve problems such as this, curious as to what could be a reason for that.
| 41 |
Electronics are made possible by metal connections that allow electricity to flow through them. Over time or through repeated use, these metal connections can be corroded and/or lose contact. Normally this ends making the electronics unusable.
However, with random luck, these contacts can reconnect due to some force knocking them back together or through temperature changes stretching or shrinking the components. This is why back in the days, you can sometimes "fix" electronics by bashing them a few times. However, nowadays, the circuits in advanced electronics like smart phones are small enough that this doesn't help. Nevertheless, more simple electronics like the stuffed bunny can sometimes reactivate this way.
A similar thing happens with batteries. You may notice that removing and placing the same dead batteries in a device makes it power on even when previously it was dead. A small amount of corrosion forms between the contact of the battery and the electronics which will stop a bit of the energy. When you remove and place the battery back in, you may end up making a fresh contact, allowing the energy to flow again (though for a limited amount of time).
| 24 |
ELI5:Why can't we legalize prostituion simply by filming it?
| 113 |
In prostitution, someone is getting paid to have sex. In porn, two people are having sex, and they are both getting paid to let sometime film them. It's legal because technically no one is getting paid to have sex. They are just getting paid to let people film it.
| 70 |
|
How does a few people not getting vaccines cause an outbreak of the disease ?
|
Shouldn't the disease only affect the people that have not got the disease (and may be for those the vaccine isn't that effective) ?
| 26 |
With the vast majority of people being vaccinated, the spread of disease follows Herd Immunity. This is where the people who aren't vaccinated compared to the people who are vaccinated are so few, that the spread of the disease can be stopped/controlled and fizzes out. Once a larger percentage of the population decides to not get vaccinated, than the Herd Immunity starts to vanish, resulting in the ability for the disease to spread to increasing amount of people that are not vaccinated. The people who get vaccinated should be protected against, until a mutation/genetic-drift/-shift/different strain causes the need for a modified vaccination. Hope this answers your question!
| 15 |
ELI5: Where does the term 'ninja' come from if in Japanese it's 'sasuke'? And is ninjutsu something different in Japanese? Sasukejutsu?
|
I was watching a documentary and it occurred to me that the Japanese-speakers weren't actually saying the word 'ninja'.
| 163 |
Are you talking about the show Ninja Warrior? That show was called Sasuke. Ninja is a Japanese word, as is the alternate reading, Shinobi. The word literally stems from the character "endure."
There's arguments that there was never really a historical ninjutsu, as a distinct art, but that most of the ninja aesthetic comes from theater, where the all-black outfit originated with stagehands.
| 75 |
ELI5: Why is Japan mocked for its' prevalence in suicide, when there are 9 countries that have higher rates?
|
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate
Greenland's suicide rate almost quadruples Japan's, others are significantly higher, too. Why are there so many suicide references in popular culture about Japan in particular?
| 240 |
Because of the whole concept of Bushido and Seppuku. It's such a prevalent cliche that the media keeps showing parallels to it in popular culture. Granted, even in Japanese society it still means something to them, due to pressures of social expectations.
| 127 |
ELI5: Why does cleaning your ear with a q-tip sometimes cause coughing?
| 20 |
There's a nerve in your ear canal called Arnold’s Nerve which carries touch sensation from the ear canal to the brain. This nerve is a branch of a larger nerve called the vagus nerve, which also has branches in your throat. Because those 2 nerves are connected to the vagus nerve, it's possible (although uncommon) for the brain to mistake where the sensation is coming from, and interprets the sensation in your ear as something in your throat that needs to be coughed out.
That being said, if you're putting anything in your ear deep enough to stimulate Arnold's nerve, you're putting it in \*way\* too deep. You could perforate your eardrum.
| 40 |
|
[MCU] Did Tony Stark have a contingency plan if Peter Parker had responded violently to his intrusion?
|
Stark shows up in his apartment, macks on his weirdly attractive aunt, and then reveals that he knows about Parker's extracurricular activities, which kind of freaks Peter out. Did Tony have a backup plan (beyond "get beaten to death") if the kid who could catch a car in mid-air had gotten violently defensive of his secret identity?
| 267 |
Besides shouting at him to stop before threatening to unleash his Iron Legion on him and his aunt? Probably not much. He'd activate his watch gauntlet device to at least have some defense and offensive capabilities, then stall for time and evade (it helps Peter is trapped inside, lots of obstacles) until he can get some more Iron Man parts. Then he can get outside for some space, and contend with Peter on equal (if not pro-Iron Man) terms.
But he did his research. Peter is a pretty chill kid, and he would either try to lie to Tony about it or he would panic and anxiously demand to know what Tony is going to do with the information or what he wants with him. Peter isn't the kind of guy to flip shit and kill a guy, especially not a fellow hero that's saved the world a few times. You can tell from their interactions in Civil War and Homecoming that Peter sees Tony as an idol of sorts. How could he not? Successful genius who tinkers with tech and also helps save the world? Father figure he never had. Peter wouldn't attack Tony, certainly not full force unless Tony snapped and killed one of Peter's friends or Aunt May. Tony was at very little risk.
| 275 |
ELI5: why do our muscles require constant training to be strengthened instead of strengthening them once and having strong muscles forever?
| 42 |
Our bodies strive to be as efficient as possible in order to increase our likelihood of continued survival. Muscles, while being useful for motion, are quite expensive energy-wise, so the body only keeps enough muscle to meet the usual requirements for moving around.
Now if you regularly use your muscles to a degree that they get worn out a lot, such as by lifting heavier weights or running longer and farther, then the body builds those muscles bigger and stronger to meet the new requirements and prevent damage.
However, if you stop the additional exercise that built those muscles up, then the body starts breaking them back down because maintaining them costs too much energy and it doesn't seem to need the extra strength anymore.
| 126 |
|
Why is it the governments fault that companies (especially financial ones) are going to collapse the world economy? Are the companies aware of what they are doing? (are THEY even doing it?) Wont they go down as well if the world economy does?
| 133 |
It's the government's fault the financial industry collapsed, and will collapse again, for the same reason it's your parent's fault when you eat too much candy and throw up. Some kids will just keep eating as much candy as they can, because it tastes good and they either don't realize or don't care it'll make them sick if they have too much. Companies are the same way, sometimes all they care about is making as much money as they can right now without thinking about if it's a good idea overall, and it's up to the government to make rules to stop them from doing dumb things right now that will hurt them later, the same way your parents have to help kids eat properly so they stay healthy.
| 99 |
|
ELI5: What is the tiny *crack* that happens when you touch/move just a tiny bit things like TVs, monitors, furniture, doors after they've been untouched for a while?
| 46 |
If its been there for a while the dust will accumulate right around the edge of contact with the surface its stood on.
The dust gets right into the tiniest gaps as all dust does and over time it gets a little sticky as a result of the temperature and humidity levels changing throughout the day.
This can ve observed by just not dusting some finished countertops for a really long time. They will eventually become sticky to the touch.
The crack you are hearing is the sticky dust seal breaking.
| 25 |
|
CMV: Youtube Red isn't shit
|
The only negative I can see is that it is restricting shows to people in certain countries but this is with stuff like Netflix too.
It eliminates annoying ads and offers an actual way to bypass them while still supporting the channels. Now people can watch youtube without Adblock and Ads.
It allows creators to make more expensive shows. I mean, the youtube red stuff is different from their regular things so it's like complaining that Satellite is paid. Eg- Even though I don't like the show CH is producing, it doesn't look like something that would get made without Youtube Red.
It seems that people just don't want to pay for something they consider free. But, a lot of this content is completely different.
So, why does everyone hate it?
_____
> *Hello, users of CMV! This is a footnote from your moderators. We'd just like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please remember to* ***[read through our rules](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/rules)***. *If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which,* ***[downvotes don't change views](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/guidelines#wiki_upvoting.2Fdownvoting)****! If you are thinking about submitting a CMV yourself, please have a look through our* ***[popular topics wiki](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/populartopics)*** *first. Any questions or concerns? Feel free to* ***[message us](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/changemyview)***. *Happy CMVing!*
| 90 |
I think alot of it has to do with Youtube being free primarily. Wouldn't you be upset if a service you were used to using suddenly started charging you? Of course they aren't forcing you to pay, the regular ad-ridden version of Youtube is the same as ever but people are upset that any big changes to youtube in the future might be exclusive to Red or at least time exclusive forcing them to pay if it's worth the feature.
Another angle is that many youtubers will directly donate to the Patreon (or other) accounts of the channels they care most about already, rather than have them rely on ad-revenue because content creators today that are not on the top of the viewership food chain aren't making very much money to justify treating Youtube as a job. These people lost faith in youtube's distribution of add money and remain unconvinced that Red improves this at all and would probably double down on their patreon tiers for their favorite subs.
| 52 |
Would it be possible to create a larger scale experiment of a straw holding water?
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So if u put something over the top of a straw as it is in water, could u then create the same scene but say 10 times larger. Would this work? would the force of gravity pull it down?
| 32 |
Excellent question! The bottom surface of the water in the straw (with water above it and air below) would be an unstable surface if not for surface tension. That is to say, although it's in equilibrium (if the surface were PERFECTLY flat and it were in a hypothetical zero-vibration environment nothing would happen), it's subject to something called the Ralyeigh-Taylor instability which means the surface gets exponentially wavier and wavier until the air bubbles up through the water and the water falls out.
So the Rayleigh-Taylor instability would make the situation unstable, but the surface tension of water stops waves/ripples from forming on the surface, making it stable again.
So there is a maximum width for the straw, which you could determine experimentally!
| 23 |
ELI5: Why are universities unable to respond to questions about admission decisions?
|
I read that at some universities you can appeal the decision.
I got this message that my application to the Masters program was unsuccessful, along with "Regrettably we are not able to respond to inquiries about this decision"
Is it because it is too difficult to reply or they don't have enough staff on hand?
| 21 |
Both.
If they open themselves up to responding to questions about why they aren't admitting people, they will have to spend a ton of time dealing with upset folks, answering e-mails and finding polite ways to say "We didn't think you had what it took." They'd have to pay someone to answer those e-mails, and that person would need to have the patience of a saint. It's just easier for them to not accept any questions about it.
| 20 |
[The Mist] Why didn't her followers try to save or avenge her?
|
When Mrs. Carmody begins gathering followers, they were shown to be pretty protective of her and were always around her. When they lynched the soldier, David and his group tried to save him, but her followers blocked the way and held them back.
If her followers were so protective of her and so devoted to her, why did they immediately run off or hide when Ollie shot her the first time and leave her completely exposed? Why didn't they pull her to safety, throw themselves in front of her, or try to stop Ollie from shooting a second time?
When Ollie shot her the first time, he walked up to her and paused for a few seconds. There were 4-5 people armed with weapons: the mechanic and butcher each had huge knives, there was a guy wielding a baseball bat, I saw a guy with a hammer, and I think I saw a woman with a frying pan. Why, during that time where he was paused, didn't any of those people rush at Ollie and try to subdue or even kill him and take the gun away from him?
Even better, after she was killed, why didn't anyone, especially those with the weapons, make any effort to avenge her or stop David's group from leaving the store? Why not sneak up behind any member of David's group and kill them?
They had a chance to at least somewhat avenge her when the store manager ran back and begged to be let back in. They could have locked the door and just walked away or killed him the second they let him in, but no. They squandered that chance too.
Just doesn't make any sense as to why they would protect their beloved leader one moment, then leave her to die and not make any efforts at revenge the next.
| 25 |
Up to that point she had all the power in their eyes. Getting shot by the gun-wielding opposition group is a pretty big power shift. Without her charisma, they were just meek and scared individuals. Sure they protected her from that assault you're talking about first, but when someone whips out a pistol you start thinking of yourself and not as a group with a goal in mind.
| 20 |
ELI5: Why do people with dark skin have lighter skin on their palms and the soles of their feet; and yet not in other places devoid of sunlight: scalp, armpits etc.?
| 1,004 |
The difference is not due to sunlight, but skin thickness. The skin on your palms and feet is fundamentally different than the rest of your body, because we use these surfaces to perform numerous physical tasks. So the skin there is full of extra protein called "keratin" that makes it much thicker and durable. It also makes the skin appear much lighter.
| 825 |
|
[Dr who] If the doctor alone is so powerful why did the timelords never conquer the universe?
|
We know they are militaristic and the doctor himself destroyed whole armies of daleks by himself so wouldn't it be easy to dominate everything?
| 133 |
Because they already control the universe.
The Time Lords of Gallifrey are not threatened by anything short of the entire Dalek armada. That means everything else in the universe - the Judoon, the Weeping Angels, the Zygons, the Cybermen - dealing with them would be as much effort as swatting a fly in comparison. At the peak of their power, there was nothing the Time Lords did not or could not know, there was no achievement they had not accomplished, and as previously mentioned there was only one race in all of creation that could stand up to them. And when the Daleks finally did come to call, they had to push the universe to its absolute breaking point to succeed. *That* is how powerful the Time Lords are. And none of this even begins to get into the Time Lords' biggest schtick; their unrivaled mastery of time travel. Much like the Great Intelligence once did on a smaller scale, every battle was a guaranteed victory, every war destined to end with a Time Lord victory.
The Time Lords don't fight for control of the universe for the same reason you think nothing of pouring water down an anthill to make room for your new patio. Not only have they already won before the first shot is fired, actually firing the shot would be almost insultingly easy.
| 175 |
How to determine what am I?
|
I know that my character traits, decisions I make, my hobbies, likes, friends, job, home and everything else around and inside me could be temporary and aren't fixed through my entire life. Thus, it wouldn't be correct to think of myself as a set of these temporary preferences.
In the meantime, there is something I'm driven by, some force inside me that pushes me and helps me make decisions and take actions. Is it just complexes, insecurities, my ego that is trying to achieve something and fulfill its (or my own) needs? I don't really like the idea of thinking about myself as a bunch of anxieties, doubts and stresses, even though from scientific point of view we all are just bodies with some biochemical reactions going on.
So, has anyone figured out how to explain to answer yourself a question "what am I?" or it's impossible to answer until your last days of life when you have a full perspective of the life you've lived (this is just one of my assumption of how you can get to know yourself)?
Any related articles, videos, books are appreciated.
| 34 |
A question like that takes a lot of meditation and sorting through complexities and intricacies of your identity. Simone de Beauvoir describes her realization when she told herself "I am a woman", a statement which seems so obvious and yet was so impactful to her identity and development as a human being. Instead of searching for books, articles, videos, and hearing what other people say, look inside yourself. It could take months of quiet time & long walks, but it'll be worth it.
| 17 |
CMV: As Stephen Hawking suggests, we should be cautious towards capitalism, not machines.
|
In a recent AMA, Stephen Hawking explained, "If machines produce everything we need, the outcome will depend on how things are distributed. Everyone can enjoy a life of luxurious leisure if the machine-produced wealth is shared, or most people can end up miserably poor if the machine-owners successfully lobby against wealth redistribution. So far, the trend seems to be toward the second option, with technology driving ever-increasing inequality." Hawking seems to be critical of the current capitalist state given the rapid automation of low skill industries. Eventually, robots and automation could even replace high skilled labor, like doctors, if IBM's Watson is any indication of the future.
While this type of technological development seems scary to those who's jobs are at risk, we should not fear the machines, but rather the economic system that contributes to massive wealth disparity that would increase even more as the demand for human labor shrinks. At the root, capitalism is the problem, not the machines.
_____
> *Hello, users of CMV! This is a footnote from your moderators. We'd just like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please remember to* ***[read through our rules](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/rules)***. *If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which,* ***[downvotes don't change views](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/guidelines#wiki_upvoting.2Fdownvoting)****! If you are thinking about submitting a CMV yourself, please have a look through our* ***[popular topics wiki](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/populartopics)*** *first. Any questions or concerns? Feel free to* ***[message us](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/changemyview)***. *Happy CMVing!*
| 38 |
Stephen Hawking is a physicist, his view on economics are basically meaningless. It is like listening to Alan Greenspan talk about black holes. Could his views have good points? Sure, but it is no different than hearing Bono talk about ending world hungar. No plan in place, no details on how this is going to happen, just words.
| 10 |
[Skyrim] How do the Thalmor at the Embassy not recognise me straight away?
|
I've been targeted by the Thalmor for ages. Apparently I gave them a black eye after killing some of them or messing with their plans. Dunno what it was specifically, I tend to cause all sorts of mischief across Skyrim.
Had this Thalmor execution squad spot me over the wild plains of Eastmarch hold, immediately rushing in to attack. After defeating them, they had written orders to take me (by name) out.
Flash-forward a bit. Helping The Blades figure out who's behind the dragon threat, so I decided to infiltrate the Thalmor Embassy. Figured when my co-conspirators arranged my invitation that they'd give me a convincing cover story and new identity or something. At least they gave me suitable clothing to wear. But then I roll up at the door, greeted by Elenwen of all people. Turns out both my invitation and the guest list have my real name instead of an alias, and Elenwen wasn't even given a convincing background as to why this mysterious person (who should have been recognised as the same target of execution squads) was worthy of invitation alongside Jarls and notable business people.
Thankfully my contact on the inside distracted Elenwen (making up for the lack of foresight on their part, should have given me a decent alias), but I still reckon I should have been clocked as the Dragonborn they knew by name and description. Thought Elenwen might have known who I was and was just pretending for the sake of civility at the party. But later at peace negotiations at High Hrothgar, she says "And so we meet again, but this time I know who and what you are", suggesting she really didn't know who I was at the Embassy.
**TL;DR:** How are the Thalmor so incompetent that they give my name and description to execution squads roaming the nation looking for me, but also have no-one at the Embassy including the First Ambassador realise who I am especially after seeing my name (and presumably description) on the guest list and in person with the invitation?
| 329 |
It seems like you have the story backwards, friend. Obviously the embassy encounter came first, before the Thalmor death squads. Time can be funny like that, sometimes it seems like we spend a few minutes at the forge or enchanting table, when in reality days have gone by. Obviously you, the Dragon born and savior of our world, went straight to the embassy as soon as possible. Imagine if you were told about a Dragon-god that was planning to end the world, and you stood around in a field chasing butterflies. That would be silly. Is this a game to you?
Alternative answer, the Thalmor are effectively face blind to all "not-Thalmor" races, because they're racist, and racists are idiots.
| 373 |
A question about Coulomb Force and its equivalence in real life ?
|
So i was solving a question " Two 1 Coulomb charges are placed 1 km apart the force on them will be "
Answer was 9000 Newton .
Now when we life weight of ground suppose 100 kg it takes Mg newton that is 980 Newtons .
My question is why we cannot see that 9000 Newtons force around us and why it doesnt affects us plus i am sure there are hell lot of charges around 1 km distance
| 94 |
Because everything is pretty close to neutral in charge.
The Coulomb force causes positive and negative charges to attract each other, to form atoms etc. Two neutral atoms don't attract each other very much. Their protons push away from each other, their electrons push away from each other, but their protons attract each others electrons, and their electrons attract each others protons. These forces almost entirely cancel out. It's only at very short distances that you can "feel" that the electrons and protons aren't in exactly the same place, and this is basically how atoms stick together to form molecules.
Generally, you can only have very weak net charges, because the Coulomb force is so strong that any strong charge will cause electrons to fly away or get drawn in, and the charge will become mostly neutralised. If you have too strong a charge, the electric field (i.e. the Coulomb force) is strong enough to rip electrons right off the atoms in the air, and you get a spark or basically an arc of lightning, as the electrons are pulled towards the positive charge/away from the negative charge.
This even happens in space, where everything is an ionised plasma made up of positive ions and negative electrons. You don't have strongly positive or negative regions of space for very long, because the plasma will be forced to flow to cancel it out.
Just to bring that all together: positive and negative charges cancel out, generally things end up close to neutral because positive and negative charges attract each other so much, and you end up with weaker net forces than you might expect.
| 59 |
Is the heat energy that we get from the sun just from Photons?
| 53 |
Yes. Since there is (almost) nothing between the sun and the earth to transfer the heat through conduction or convection, the only way for thermal energy to be transferred is through radiation, which consists of photons.
| 30 |
|
ELI5:How do some websites keep you from navagating back?
| 170 |
Usually, this is done by sending people to a page, which immediately redirects to another page. So, if you click back on the second page, it just sends you back to the first page which immediately redirects you again.
Usually, if you click back fast enough, you can get past it and eventually make it back to where you were.
| 93 |
|
ELI5: Why can you only see the at edges of your peripheral vision in the dark?
| 18 |
The center of your vision is filled with color sensitive cone cells. They're great at telling colors and giving a crisp image, but need a lot of light to work.
The far periphery of your vision is mostly light sensitive rod cells. They can work even in extremely low light conditions, but can't differentiate colors.
In a very dark room, the cones in the middle are useless but the rods at the edges can still resolve some detail. You may also notice that your vision is also oddly greyscale in the dark, because the rods are doing most of the work.
| 21 |
|
[Witcher] What are all the different Witcher schools like?
|
Does the cat school focus on using speed instead of strength and vise versa for the bear school? Is there a best school? Does each school specify in a certain weapon? etc.
| 57 |
- All Witchers have the same basic mutations and training, resulting in increased strength, speed, resistance to disease, sterility, knowledge of alchemy, and an aptitude for signs. Regardless of what they focus on, any Witcher will be stronger, faster, and more skilled than all but the most capable unmutated humans.
- Different schools do appear to have different talents. The Griffon school is known for being generally better with signs. The Cat school is known for using light armor, quick strikes, and favoring speed over strength. All known members of the Viper school use short swords, rather than long swords. dual-wielding and poison use is more common for them than it is for the other schools.
- That said, Witchers are very individualistic, and it would be a mistake to prepare *solely* for the expected fighting style of a Witcher based on the school they belong to. You might prepare fortifications against a Bear-school witcher only to find they're still dexterous enough to climb the sheer cliffs at your back and take you by surprise. You might ward yourself against the signs of a Griffon School Wtcher only to blown apart by alchemical bombs your protections against magic are worthless against.
| 30 |
What actionable information would the proof showing p = np actually provide?
|
It p = np was proven true, how would this actually help us determine the algorithms to solve non-polynomial time problems in polynomial time? Just because it’s proven that they could be reduced, that doesn’t necessarily mean we would be any closer to figuring out how to actually reduce them. Are we assuming that the proof for p = np would give us some grand insight that would show us how to reduce the problems?
| 24 |
I don't think anyone is assuming that, no.
You are entirely correct that a proof of P = NP might not have any practical significance. Just because algorithms to solve NP problems in polynomial time were proven exist doesn't mean that we could actually find them, and even if we do find them that doesn't mean they're practical - O(n^1000000 ) is polynomial time, after all.
| 24 |
ELI5: Why do things hurt more when you are cold?
| 42 |
The receptors that sense pain are the same ones that sense cold. Which is why when you are in pain, a cold compress usually soothes it. The pain/cold receptors, instead of saying "pain, pain, pain, pain," have to transmit both signals "pain, cold, pain, cold" cutting down on the pain signals sent.
Ironically, if you are cold and something painful happens, the receptors switch to pain, but in the process of switching from cold to pain signals, transmit some of the cold signals as pain signals, thus transmitting more pain than there actually is.
| 19 |
|
Who is actually able to perform a man-in-the-middle attack?
|
I am reading about man-in-the-middle attacks. I was just wondering, who can actually do this?
I assume that a computer with a static IP can’t just request all IP packets sent from some IP address to another?
Is it always some physical attack like digging up optic fibres under your house or listening to the radio waves emitted by some WiFi box in a cafe?
Or is it some software trick?
Obviously if data is encrypted, the attacker can’t do much. I’m asking about how the data is even accessed in the first place
| 47 |
The simplest method is hosting a 'free' wifi network. Cell phones autoconnect to it and boom, you're in.
Another relatively simple method is to use another attack vector to get into the network. For example exploiting a router with outdated, vulnerable firmware* or phishing. From there you set up your MITM attack.
| 39 |
[physics] The hadron collider is 27kms in size. My question is how much does upping the scale of size help with research? If we made a collider that wrapped around the planet would it be significantly more powerful than the Hadron?
|
Basically I'm wondering the extent to which the size of the collider helps with understanding physics questions.
| 22 |
I work(ed) on the CMS experiment. You can think of the LHC as a giant microscope. The smaller the scale you want to study, the larger the energies are that are required to probe it. In order to obtain those energies, you need to make particles travel at increasingly relativistic speeds. To keep the particles in the LHC travelling inside the ring, you need to curve their path with magnetic fields. The velocity that a charged relativistic particle will travel at is *v=rqB/γm*, so the energy is *E~pc=γmvc=rqBc* where γ is the Lorentz factor, v is velocity, m is rest mass, q is charge, and B is magnetic field. Even the superconducting magnets used in the LHC can only produce a field of about 13T, so once you can no longer increase B, you can increase r.
Given the current record for LHC magnetic field strength, this gives you a theoretical maximum energy per nucleon of about 16.7TeV. A collider that wrapped around the planet using the same magnetic field strength would be able to produce energies of 24829TeV. However, these increasing energies give declining returns, as we think we have a "mostly complete" model of particle physics, and the energies required to probe more fundamental physics, such as string theory, are (arguably) thought to be many orders of magnitude larger than this.
| 19 |
ELI5:When a bank goes bankrupt where does all the money from people's accounts go?
| 32 |
I don't know if this is what you are looking for, but it's important to keep in mind that banks don't just hold onto your money after it's deposited.
In some sense, what you're actually doing is loaning your money to the bank in return for some (admittedly small) amount of interest.
The bank then takes that money, and loans it to other people, in the form of mortgages or other loans, or even invests it (usually in bonds).
They then get a higher amount of interest than what they pay you, and this is how they make money.
A bank probably doesn't have enough money on hand to pay back every account people have opened with them. In most situations, that's not a problem, because some people are usually depositing money when other people are withdrawing it, and it mostly balances out. They also have a steady stream of loans being paid back, so there's money available from that.
(as a side note, this is part of why banks close so early. A large part of their business is not actually dealing with the public, but instead tracking where all this money is at any given moment. Closing early stops new transactions from coming in so that they can sort through all the existing ones and move money around appropriately.)
To answer your question, when a bank goes bankrupt, it's at least in part because they don't have enough money to pay back all the loans they have taken out, including the savings accounts from individuals. In a bankruptcy, it's mostly a process of all the people who loaned money to the bank lining up in some order of priority (determined by a court) and taking what they can get.
Banks are also a special case, in that they are insured by the FDIC. Basically, the federal government has said that it's in our best interest to protect people's bank accounts in the case that a bank goes bankrupt. They'll step in, and pay back all the balances on people's accounts up to $250,000. Any more than that, and you'll need to wait in line like every other creditor.
| 25 |
|
[Zach Snyder's Justice League] Spoilers - Why does Zod's ship have a bunch of Kryptonian suits with Superman's "S" symbol on the chest?
| 33 |
It's not Zod's ship. It's an ancient vessel from back when the Kryptonians wanted to colonize the galaxy. The original crew on this ship didn't survive and the ship was left to rot until Kal-El showed up.
The ship also served as Supe's Fortress of Solitude in the first movie.
| 54 |
|
[Culture] What do people do for fun in the Culture?
|
What do people do for fun in the Culture?
I've read that people can enter virtual heavens/virtual realities.
If I wanted to rule my own planet would I have to go inside a virtual heaven to do so?
| 22 |
Anything and everything they want*
Want to climb some dangerous mountain or play some high risk sports in some asteroid gambling your life for it? Want to play politics and shake nations under your command? Want to drug yourself senseless? In the mood for some orgy with some really kinky individuals? Into aliens, monsters, furries or robot sex? The Culture has something just for you!
As long as it doesn't hurt the freedom of other individuals or minds The Culture allows to explore many different pleasures both real and virtual. You can also ask to become a Mind but its not common as it incurs more responsibility and the citizens don't feel the need to deal with that baggage, better to leave the minds to tend to their desires.
*Disclaimer: Within that mind's scope and rules. Though some minds are more gray and allow for more things, also if you don't like it you can just move to another mind more suiting to your desires.
| 22 |
Why can't we create any material (with any properties), substance, or chemical reaction we want?
|
I'm bad at explaining my thoughts, please ask if you need elaboration. :(
| 21 |
In short, because chemistry is *HARD*. Even for chemists.
Because your question is so broad it's hard to be specific, but we are limited by the availability of the correct atoms and molecules, and the limits of chemical bonds. For example, we can't make a plastic that can handle 1000 C, because at that temperature, carbon-carbon bond are completely broken (or Si-O if you must). We have materials that will handle those temperatures, but they are ceramics, and aren't hardly "plastic."
We live in a real world in which choice must be made, and choices always have trade-offs.
| 34 |
[Superhero powers] What would be a good defensive/support powerset that isn't a waste?
|
I write for therapeutic therapy, so I'm not that good, but I have a group of heroes with powers and I don't want to give all of them strong offensive powers. Out of a group of 5, two have a strong offensive set, one is defense/offense, one is support. The last one can't be offensive but I don't want it to be weak or make it seem she is sidelined. Defense/offensive is fine, if it's clearly stacked on the defense side though, or a support/offense powerset.
| 16 |
intangiblity is great for a defense/utility power, and can be easily suited to almost any group, and it has some easy power limiters too if you want(can go through living things, cant use it to fly, blocked by X material, just to list some examples)
| 17 |
ELI5: Why do gnats swarm in seemingly random spots in mid air?
|
I see little gnats in small swarms just flying around in just random spots in the air. Not necessarily over trash or standing water, just in a ball of gnats in the air. What's the reason?
| 117 |
When they are swarming they are mating. You are basically watching an orgy. When they are done they will go lay their eggs (often on decaying plant matter) and then typically die. Some species are attracted to street lights and the like others are not.
| 92 |
[Warhammer40K] Why wasn't the Emperor more forthcoming about the Warp and Chaos?
|
I'm reading the Horus Heresy series of books. I'm up to the second book (False Gods) and so far all of the Imperium characters; the Iterators, Remembrancers, Astartes, even Horus a Primarch and the Warmaster himself, seem unaware of the existence of Chaos and the true nature of the Warp/Immaterium and are shocked when exposed to Chaos which they had previously thought to be nothing more than primitive superstition akin to "sorcery."
The Emperor has based the Imperium on the notions of secularism and using science to understand the material universe, but the Emperor himself is clearly aware of what lies within the Warp as it is heavily implied that he bargained/stole some power of the Warp in order to create the Primarchs in the first place.
It occurred to me that much of the difficulties surrounding people falling victim to the temptations of Chaos (especially Horus) could have been avoided in the first place if the Emperor had just been honest with everyone from the start about the nature of Chaos and how our minds can and *do* affect the material and immaterial worlds around us.
Something along the lines of "Yes, we will banish religion and superstition and bring the light of the truth of the Imperium throughout the galaxy, but also btw there is an actual, scientifically provable entity called 'Chaos' which will try and fuck your mind up so be careful and mindful out there, okay?"
| 40 |
The Immaterium is a psychic dimension, and it's linked to the souls of everything with significant warp presence via information in the mind.
It's essentially a memetic virus. The more you know, the more access it (and the "gods" that currently rule it) has to you. The more access it has to you, the more it wants to increase that access (or reproduce, to continue the virus metaphor). This may come about in dreams, visions, compulsions, or even idle curiosity similar to the concept of gateway drugs (i.e. "this minor working wasn't so bad, why not try something grander?").
This, generally, eventually leads to daemonic posession, lots of blood sacrifice, formations of portals to the immaterium, and a fucktillion daemons coming through to do nasty daemony shit.
The Emperor, in his wisdom, weighed the options between telling everyone (and thus making EVERYONE susceptible, including the young, the old, and the stupid, all categories we view with suspicion when they try to do potentially dangerous mundane things) and telling no one (thus putting the problem off for another day and endangering that minority that actively encounters daemons).
He chose a middle ground. Tell people heavily, heavily, heavily censored semi-truths. Don't worship daemons, daemons are scary. Don't trust xenos, they might be scary. If its not human, DAKKA the shit out of it just in case it's scary.
Best option chosen? As we found out, not in the slightest. But hindsight has the benefits of time, distance, and access to way more information then foresight does.
Honestly, your option would likely work if one were in abyssal space (that space between galaxies) or in another galaxy which either had no immaterium or an immaterium that wasn't driven to madness and insanity by the War in Heaven, but that unfortunately doesn't really seem to be an option at this time.
| 31 |
ELI5: Why do ads on YouTube, no matter how long, stream so quickly but video does not?
| 66 |
Ads pay for YouTube.. They are on better servers with less traffic that gets full priority over regular videos.
You browse and upload for free, so you get shitty service... Ads pay to be there so they get premium servers
| 46 |
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[Lord of the Rings] When Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli thought they were about to run into Saruman, they worried about him putting a spell on them if allowed to speak. What, SPECIFICALLY, were they worried about?
| 145 |
Saruman's speech in specific has the ability to be extremely persuasive. His spell is that of charm, influencing them to drop their guard or even join him. When the group had taken Orthanc and Saruman was locked in the tower, he and Gandalf spoke. The men of Rohan were almost immediately charmed by him and would have turned away if Gandalf was not present and commanded even greater power than Saruman.
| 166 |
|
ELI5: What happens when you "double bounce" somebody on a trampoline?
|
How and why does it work?
Thanks
| 22 |
When the first person jumps they begin their upward momentum when they are still in contact with the trampoline surface but with upward momentum the second person jumps down. This action will apply tension to the trampoline surface effectively pushing all other areas of the trampoline upward which will propel the first person upward with more force than if they were to continue upward under the initial force of the jump
| 19 |
How do we know that space is expanding and it's not only the matter that's being spread across after Big Bang ?
|
Sorry for simple examples but I think it's going to be clearer.
What we think takes place:
* Space is expanding since the big bang, so we're like ants walking on the balloon that's constantly being pumped.
Why isn't that the case:
* The ballon is finite and stationary, it does not expand. What happened was, on some spot on that balloon matter exploded throwing space debris across it's surface. So in this case space is not expanding, it's the matter that's just being propelled from initial bang.
Both ideas seem to fit to our observations (universe getting colder, galaxies running away from us). But second does not require the space itself to expand. Why can't it be a fixed size ?
| 67 |
But if the second idea were true, we would expect the observed expansion to be anisotropic. We indeed observe that the expansion seems to be isotropic, and furthermore, the galaxies seem to be moving faster the farther away they are from us.
| 27 |
[General Sci-Fi] A silicon based life form found its way in a small town, can the high-school science teacher understand its nature?
|
I hope this doesn't break the rules, otherwise, please feel free to mark it down.
Anyway, I'm the master in a role playing campaign set in modern times, the players just found some traces of a silicon based organism, they don't know it yet and (being highschoolers in the game) they want to show it to their science teacher.
Can the teacher reveal the nature, and if yes how?
Is it possible within the means of a small town school budget to at least have a glimpse of its nature?
Thanks!
| 15 |
Of course! The science teacher in question has a shady past, being posted at a military facility with a number instead of a name. She's seen this sort of thing before.
The test you're looking for is referred to as *Qualitative Chemical Analysis.* Basically, discerning the chemical composition of an unknown sample. This can be as simple as setting the sample on fire (which a high school science teacher can do) or as complex as looking at the sample under a scanning electron microscope. (Which would be a bit outside a high school's budget)
Depending on how competent/ nerdy / well informed the teacher in question is, it is perfectly believable for them to identify the sample in question as silicon and extra terrestrial in origin.
| 20 |
[Warhammer 40k] So what does an STC look like?
|
Is it some giant factory, or something like a construction guide?
| 52 |
No one knows. We know it's a combined assembler system and database, but the exact form they took is unknown. There have been some discoveries which indicate that they didn't have a set form, but were really a collection of various automated manufacturing systems for different purposes (IE a Rhino Assembler was different than a Men of Iron assembler).
There is some speculation that the Ark Mechanicus ships are the 'Base' form of the STC system. Massive ship-sized factories.
| 38 |
[Star Wars] What exactly is the extent of Jedi precognition in battle?
|
How far into the future can they see? Do they consciously know exactly what attack is coming or is it more spontaneous instinct?
| 42 |
jedi precognition in a battle allows them to sense an attack that is about to hut them. Fire around a jedi 99 times but only aim at him once and the jedis force survival instinct will pick it out. No different to you closing your eyes when something flies in front of them or a trained boxer reflexively blocking a punch.
However, the instinct only goes so far, and enough blaster fire will overwhelm it. A force sensitive like a sith or rival jedi can also use the force to be faster than their opponents senses, making lightsabre duels true battles of the mind as well as the body.
Sith also can use the force to mask their attacks and make it harder to predict them, like when Darth maul fought qui gon and defeated him by hitting him with the handle of his lightsabre to catch him off guard before killing him.
| 28 |
Is there is a dead-end where you can't go higher in free-fall parachute jump records?
|
[The free-fall parachute jump record has been broken](http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/24/7062023/alan-eustace-google-vp-free-fall-parachute-jump-world-record) , and i was wondering if there's a certain level where you can't go higher or you would escape earth's gravitational pull?
it would be interesting to see all records stops there.
| 17 |
In theory, no. Gravity has infinite range so you could start any distance away from Earth and fall (slowly) towards it. However, in reality there are many other massive objects that you are more likely to fall towards.
In astrophysics, you can define the 'Sphere of Influence' of a body, in relation to another. If we take the Earth and Sun as the two bodies (most likely, if you aren't falling towards the Earth it'll be the Sun instead) then the SOI is 925 million meters, or about two and a half times farther than the moon. The Moon's sphere of influence is much smaller, only about 6.6 million meters so if you pick a random point in the Earth SOI it's much more likely that you'll fall towards the Earth.
As such, in the real world, you could fall to Earth as long as you were less than two and a half times farther away then the moon. When you hit the atmosphere, you'd be traveling at a rather worrying 11 km/s.
| 11 |
ELI5: Why do liquids like beet juice stain so effectively?
| 3,338 |
The bonds of the compound that give beet juice (and other things that stain) their deep color are oriented in a way that make them very strong. These compounds (called chromophores) absorb visible light so you see them as colored.
It is quite difficult to break these bonds using just soap or water. However, something like bleach (an oxidizing or reducing agent) can break or reorient these bonds so that the chromophore loses its ability to absorb light, and becomes invisible to you.
| 2,065 |
|
[General] Let's say the universe big bang, big crunches, then repeats, endlessly. Zillions of years from now, when humanity will soon become extinct, would there be any way for our species to leave a record and pass on their knowledge to the inhabitants of the next iteration of the universe?
| 34 |
Unless we can figure out a way to get the cosmic background radiation to spell out something, probably not, but assuming big crunches don't sync up between dimensions, we can just leave a message in a dimension that is static or doesn't crunch at the same rate.
| 29 |
|
Arguments on being sober
|
Which philosopher have good arguments against loosing yourself in pleasure ( why being sober is better, for example). I'm looking for a book where self-control is talked about, I think the Greeks and buddhism had some good insights on this.
| 26 |
Book III of Artistotle's *Nicomachean Ethics* is on moral virtue, and vice, as a conscious choice. So, for example, someone might try to excuse their behavior while intoxicated, on the basis that, in that state, they are no longer in possession of their rational faculties, they would still be morally culpable for the voluntary decision to become intoxicated in the first place. The book also covers temperance as an example of moral virtue at the end of that book.
| 15 |
[40K] Who/what are the fallen angels?
| 21 |
They're renegade Space Marines from the Dark Angels legion (this was before the chapter system). The important distinction is they aren't Chaos Space Marines, only broke off the Dark Angels and became renegades.
Long story short. Dark Angel Primarch Lion El'Jonson's second-in-command and adoptive father Luther was corrupted by Chaos during the Horus Heresy. He convinced a sizable number of the legion to betray El'Jonson which ultimately ended with Luther's capture, El'Jonson falling into a coma, and the destruction of legion's homeward of Caliban.
Both Luthor and Johnson are alive, granted the former is probably insane and the latter is still in a coma. The traitors that survived are refereed to as The Fallen, or fallen angels to outsiders. The chapter goes through a great deal of trouble to hide the event and aftermath out of shame. Quietly they're on a hell-bent crusade to hunt down and kill every Fallen who hasn't already died.
| 26 |
|
CMV: Trans activists who claim it is transphobic to not want to engage in romatic and/or sexual relationships with trans people are furthering the same entitled attitude as "incel" men, and are dangerously confused about the concept of consent.
|
Several trans activist youtubers have posted videos explaining that its not ok for cis-hetero people to reject them "just because they're trans".
When you unpack this concept, it boils down to one thing - these people dont seem to think you have an absolute and inalienable right to say no to sex. Like the "incel" croud, their concept of consent is clouded by a misconception that they are owed sex. So when a straight man says "sorry, but I'm only interested in cis women", his right to say "no" suddenly becomes invalid in their eyes.
This mind set is dangerous, and has a very rapey vibe, and has no place in today's society. It is also very hypocritical as people who tend to promote this idea are also quick to jump on board the #metoo movement.
My keys points are: 1) This concept is dangerous on the small scale due to its glossing over the concept of consent, and the grievous social repercussions that can result from being labeled as any kind of phobic person. It could incourage individuals to be pressured into traumatic sexual experiances they would normally vehemently oppose.
2) This concept is both dangerous, and counterproductive on the large scale and if taken too far, could have a negative effect on women, since the same logic could be applied both ways. (Again, see the similarity between them and "incel" men who assume sex is owed to them).
3) These people who promote this concept should be taken seriously, but should be openly opposed by everyone who encounters their videos.
I do not assume all trans people hold this view, and have nothing against those willing to live and let live.
I will not respond to "you just hate trans people". I will respond to arguments about how I may be wrong about the consequences of this belief.
Edit: To the people saying its ok to reject trans people as individuals, but its transphobic to reject trans people categorically - I argue 2 points.
1) that it is not transphobic to decline a sexual relationship with someone who is transgendered. Even if they have had the surgery, and even if they "pass" as the oposite sex. You can still say "I don't date transgendered people. Period." And that is not transphobic. Transphobic behavior would be refusing them employment or housing oportunities, or making fun of them, or harassing them. Simply declining a personal relationship is not a high enough standard for such a stigmatized title.
2) Whether its transphobic or not is no ones business, and not worth objection. If it was a given that it was transphobic to reject such a relatipnship (it is not a given, but for point 2 lets say that it is) then it would still be morally wrong to make that a point of contention, because it brings into the discussion an expectation that people must *justify* their lack of consent. No just meams no, and you dont get to make people feel bad over why. Doing so is just another way of pressuring them to say yes - whether you intend for that to happen or not, it is still what you're doing.
| 1,455 |
1. "I will never have sex with any trans person"
2. "I have preferences sexually that some trans people do not fulfill."
These are two seperate statements and its the nuance your view doesnt look at.
| 175 |
ELI5: What makes hangovers get worse with age?
|
Even after only a couple of years. At 18-20 I could drink a ton and wake up like nothing happened. Now at 24, I wake up and I don't feel like I am going to make it.
| 682 |
Alcohol is broken down in basically a two-step process: Alcohol (Ethanol) is converted to a molecule called Acetaldehyde, and then to more stable products (like acetic acid, acetyl-coA, water, CO2).
Acetaldehyde is highly unstable and can cause a lot of damage and inflammation to your body. As we age, our livers grow worse at breaking down acetaldehyde, and this is thought to play a part in why hangovers get worse as we get older.
There's still a lot of debate as to what actually causes hangovers, however, so this is only a partial answer.
| 285 |
[The Purge] If all crime is legal, can another nation commit a terrorist attack against the US on Purge night without any repercussions?
| 46 |
*All* crime isn't legal. It's stated that "government officials 'ranking 10 or higher' must remain unharmed and the usage of weaponry above 'Class 4' is forbidden."
From here we can infer that if you light off a nuke or assassinate the president you're going to be executed, which is what happens if you don't follow the rules of The Purge. And if they're not going to let their own citizens to it, they're certainly not going to let a foreign nation do it either.
| 85 |
|
What is modernism, postmodernism and post-postmodernism?
|
And how do these movements relate to the previous movements (like those before modernism). I feel like this is a very broad question (as modernism in art might not be modernism in something else). But I genuinely want to know if someone's codified all of the stuff, like what were the common elements.
| 75 |
In philosophy it's common to think of "modernist" philosophers as those who begin to break with 19th century thought and belief– so, essentially, it's post-Enlightenment thought. An example, then, of a modernist philosopher might be Nietzsche, though confusingly he is also claimed by postmodernism depending on who you read. This suggests that modernism can be seen as a sensibility rather than a time period– which is an additional complication of classification. By contrast, in literature and the arts, Modernism is a post-Victorian movement involving, primarily, the explosion of form. Confusingly, none of the above would have considered themselves modernists– it's a retrospective label. One prominent aspect of modernism is structuralism– which is important because it's one of the key things critiqued by the PoMos.
Postmodernism is generally thought to begin after the Second World War, and was first identified in the writings of figures like Lyotard, Jameson and Baudrillard. By this point in history, philosophy and the arts had atomised so much that there are countless strands of thought and talking of them cohesively is a difficult task. However, postmodernist thought and art is characterised by a few things: incredulity towards meta narratives, a foregrounding of the polysemous nature of language and signification, and an explosion of the traditional binary of high and low culture.
If modernism is reacting to Victorian ideas and values, then postmodernism reacts to modernist ideas and values. Post-pomo does the same again, critiquing postmodernism for its various excesses etc.
Hope this helps.
edit: cleaned up numerous confusing phrasings.
| 58 |
[The Matrix] If the Agents exist by taking over a body of someone within the Matrix would killing the entire population within the Matrix also eliminate the Agents?
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I'm currently watching The Matrix and this question arose during the scene when they are fighting on the helipad. The Agents exist in a physical form by taking over an already existing body within the matrix (when they "die" the body reverts back to it's original self and that original self is what's really dead). If Neo and the others killed the entire population of the matrix would that, in turn, no longer allow the Agents to exist?
Obviously that's not really an option for them but I was just curious. Thanks!
| 38 |
It's not really implied that the Agents *need* to borrow an existing body; it's just a quick way to get around -- and to scout, since they can see what anyone plugged into the Matrix can see. That's what happens in the subway scene, when the Agents find Neo through the eyes of the homeless man and Smith takes over that man to stop Neo from leaving.
That said, killing the entire population of the Matrix *would* stop the Agents from existing...because you'd kill the machines' power source. They'd run on backup power for at least a few months, presumably, but they're in trouble in the long run now that solar energy's gone.
| 32 |
[Mass Effect] How precisely can biotics control the mass effect fields they generate?
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For example, could a biotic whose arms had been amputated use biotics to interact with the environment in place of their hands?
| 19 |
Likely not. The level of biotic control we've seen so far already takes massive amounts of willpower and concentration, and can cause headaches and brain damage if used injudiciously. Using biotic fields is also physically draining. For example, biotic soldiers are given a much larger daily calorie ration than normal field soldiers (something like a 50% increase). Thus, it's likely that the current level of control over biotics is the limit of what is possible.
Furthermore, the asari have been using biotics much longer than humans have, and they also have much longer lifespans to refine their biotic prowess. When even asari matriarchs don't ever demonstrate such fine control, then it's likely no one else would be able to pull it off either.
So, all in all, while we can't definitively say it's impossible for someone to use biotics in such a precise way, current evidence suggests we've reached the physical limit of how finely tuned our biotic control can be.
| 12 |
CMV: We should NOT hit/spank children.
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I want to be more vocal about being anti-corporal punishment, so I would like to try to have my view changed incase I’m wrong when telling people how to raise their child. In my state of Florida, although “physical abuse” is illegal, parental spanking is not illegal. The majority opinion seems to be pride in spanking their children because they feel they’re able to be a tough parent in order to fix their child. The Bible says to beat children with rods.
What they don’t realize is that corporal punishment isn’t effective in the long term! The ignorant parent lets out their anger physically on a child, sees them fall in line directly afterwards, and then figures that the corporal punishment is effective in long term positive behavior adjustment. [That’s not what the data suggests.](https://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/04/spanking) It’s a nearly unanimous consensus in the scientific community that not only is corporal punishment not effective, it is counterproductive. Corporal punishment increases the likelihood of the child committing violence, and even is linked to lowering IQ. We shouldn’t hit kids because it doesn’t achieve the intended goal of positively influencing the child’s behavior.
We also shouldn’t hit kids because it’s morally wrong. It’s understood in almost all societies that everyone has the right to not be physically assaulted. Children should have that same right for the same reason everyone else has it. The amount of injustice done to children historically and even currently in the west is very sad. If we could convince people not to hit their children, it might lead towards a better future generation.
To change my view you must convince me that hitting children is effective in positively affecting children’s behavior in the long term. I would also give deltas if someone could make a moral argument that it’s morally permissible for parents to hit their children, but I figure that would also require hitting to be effective.
To be clear, I’m speaking about hitting children to make them feel pain as a form of punishment (not rough and tumble play or accidents). I linked one article from the American Psychological Association, but you might have to google to find some of the findings I mentioned. Scientific evidence would best change my view.
CMV
| 21 |
>The ignorant parent lets out their anger physically on a child, sees them fall in line directly afterwards, and then figures that the corporal punishment is effective in long term positive behavior adjustment.
This is where the issue with a corporal punishment discussion comes in. Lashing out physically at a child out of anger is abuse. Corporal punishment is done calmly and clearly with the child. It's the same action/consequence as any other punishment.
That can also bring into the question of the studies. If you treat the abusive lashing out in anger the same as the calm, rational punishment, it's possible the negative consequences are largely due to the abusive form of spanking.
| 25 |
CMV: I think it is absurd to demonize the wealthy for persuing their own personal interests at the cost of the masses.
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Whenever I access reddit, yahoo news, flipboard, etc there's alyways articles, which insinuate that the Koch brothers are the enemy of social (and economic) progress as seen in this article:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3207565/Democratic-candidate-Bernie-Sanders-says-billionaire-Koch-brothers-greedy-contribute-corrupted-political-system.html
However, I don't necessarily think anything is wrong with them lobbying for their own intersts. I agree that there should be a limit to how much money can be poured into elections, that the extent of their influenced should be checked and that they should be subject to the same controles and taxes as every other American citizen. However, I disagree that they're detremental to America simply because they're greedy. If their ethos is to protect their revenue and to defend their interests, I have no problem with that. Infact, they're entitled to it. If they want to fund (by fund I mean lobby, not bribe) a politician who will be their mouthpiece in washington, I have no problem with that either.
To quote Ayn Rand: " If any civilization is to survive, it is the morality of altruism that men have to reject." This "morality of alturism" ia a topic, which is problematic. Capitalism harnesses greed to propel the economy and individuals forwards. The Koch brothers are not obligated to respect the needs of others. It's the government that should be tasked with protecting fundamental freedoms and providing everything necessary for others to prosper. Other than in the moral (ethical monotheistic european), sence what reasons do the rich have to submit any of their fortune/ interest to anyone (Other than in the of taxes)?
As citizens, we are entitled to act upon our interests ourselves. If that means that I stand (which I do) against the actions of the Koch brothers, then I should fight against them. We are all entitled to propel our own interests. That means that I should vote for the person who represents my interests, fundraise for my own causes and work towards my own ends. It doesn't make sense for me to simply assume that because they're "evil" that they have lost some sort of divine/social/human mandate. The priviliges and rights, which we all enjoy are not our prerogatives (we must assume that they are not static, but liquid). Individuals who stand firmly against the instests of individuals like the Koch's must always fight to expand, reduce or maintain the rights we have in order to have equitable laws, which are seen as just. Why must I find them greedy if my opposite interest is furthured by my own greed/ desires also?
edit: Sorry for the late responses, I got called into work. Please be patient. A lot of your points are valid and I wish to explore them more.
edit II: Again, my apologies for being so slow to respond. Will respond to as many CMV's as possible
_____
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| 37 |
Your title says it all, really. "I think it is absurd to demonize the wealthy for persuing [sic] their own personal interests at the cost of the masses." So, you think it's fine for a few people to take advantage of the majority of the population just because they have the means to do so? So, wealth trumps morality?
And then you quote Ayn Rand...
| 51 |
[Star Trek/Warhammer 40k] The Tau come to the Federation's galaxy. Do they assimilate, or join any factions?
| 24 |
They send a diplomat telling great things if they join the Tau for the greater good.
Naturally, 95% of everyone they meet say "na, but thanks for asking" or "We already with the Federation" (assuming they start in the Alpha Quadrant).
Then said 95% find drop ships all over their plants and some incredibly impressive weapons shooting at them. Then the Federation relies they don't actually have that many warships.
I think they start with minor races who only possess 1 or a few planets and don't go after someone big like the Klingon or Romulans right away, they need some strongholds and cannon fodder for the Greater Good first.
| 34 |
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[Harry Potter] Did the heir of Slytherin have any way of ACTUALLY TARGETING muggleborns with the Basilisk?
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I presume the answer is "yes" otherwise Lucius Malfoy just gambled pretty heavily with his son's life by allowing the chamber to be opened again...
I mean the Basilisk seems to be fairly animalistic - from what Harry seems to hear we just get hunger and bloodlust from the snake - no obvious semblance of intelligence. It seems like more or less pure luck that no purebloods were hit by paralysis-o-vision.
| 18 |
He was a parseltongue. The Basilisk was inclined to listen because it could determine wether or not the heir was true - Harry Potter had exactly zero control over it, whereas a word from the Heir had it leaping to obey. He could easily designate targets.
But yeah, it was likely a gamble combined with a degree of faith approaching the religious in the glorious pure blood future.
| 18 |
ELI5: By what mechanism does the body force you to take another breath after you've held it for a long time?
| 26 |
O2 levels in the blood fall. CO2 levels rise. Acidity of blood rises. Hypothalamus in the brain can detect this change, notifying the brain the O2 levels are getting dangerously low. Instincts kick in, and forces the diaphragm to take in another breath.
Correct me If im wrong please (I might be)
| 21 |
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