post_title
stringlengths 5
304
| post_text
stringlengths 0
37.5k
| post_scores
int64 15
83.1k
| comment_text
stringlengths 200
9.61k
| comment_score
int64 10
43.3k
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
Eli5: why is there a limit on how strong a human can get
|
If strength is developed by lifting heavier and heavier weights why do some people reach a plateau on their max, and why isn't a new world record set every year for lifts like the bench press which has sat at 1075 since 2008
| 38 |
It is extremely hard to reach that limit. You have to dedicate decades of your life just training every day, and the time you're not training you're pretty much just constantly eating food. And then as you get closer to the world record weights, the risk of career-ending injury increases dramatically.
At a certain point tendons snap, muscles get torn,bones break, joints break ect. Even if you have the strength to lift a certain weight, your body needs to be able to take it as well.
| 34 |
What is the difference between Advil and Motrin?
|
I know that Advil and Motrin are both brand name Ibuprofen, but is there any difference? I haven't ever heard of a drug molecule have two different brand name manufacturers. I know that many drugs have generics, but this is the first drug I have seen with two brand names. I have asked multiple doctors/nurses, but have yet to get a satisfactory answer.
| 32 |
Both contain ibuprofen 200mg, and differ only by the inactive ingredients in the tablets. Tablets need things to increase their mass because trying to measure out and take 200mg of drug would be impossible. These ingredients can impart color, smell, taste, and most importantly size and stability to the drug in tablet form.
Per the package insert, Advil tablets contain the following:
>acetylated monoglycerides, colloidal silicon dioxide, corn starch, croscarmellose sodium, methylparaben, microcrystalline cellulose, pharmaceutical glaze, pharmaceutical ink, povidone, pregelatinized starch, propylparaben, sodium benzoate, sodium lauryl sulfate, stearic acid, sucrose, synthetic iron oxide, titanium dioxide, white wax
Per Motrin's package insert, the tablets contain the following inactive ingredients:
>carnauba wax, collidal silicon dioxide, corn starch, FD&C yellow no.6, hypromellose, iron oxide, magnesium stearate, polydextrose, polyethylene glycol, pregelatinized starch, propylene glycol, shellac, stearic acid, titanium dioxide
Some people may be sensitive to one or more of these ingredients. I've had patients that were allergic to certain color dyes that made it difficult to find an appropriate formulation for them. Same goes for prescription drugs.
Source: Pharmacy student and practicing pharmacy technician and intern
| 31 |
[Star Wars] How did Luke explain to the galaxy that Darth Vader redeemed himself?
|
I can’t imagine the people who had loved ones killed by Vader and the 501 would appreciate Luke saying “well he was a good man deep down”.
| 79 |
I don't think he did, for precisely the reason you're putting in there; returning to the light and killing the Emperor may be a personal victory for Anakin, Luke, and the Force, but it in no way undoes twenty years of atrocities.
Legends actually addresses this; Anakin appears as a Force Ghost to Leia in order to beg her forgiveness, and Leia *dismisses him out of hand,* completely unable to see past the evil deeds he had done. She does eventually get around to it, but it takes decades (and this is with the family connection, mind). In current canon, Leia's blood ties to Vader are exposed, and this revelation is the iceberg that goes on to sink her political career.
| 121 |
How much productivity is enough?
|
What does ‘enough’ work in a year look like for you? With the ambiguous pressure to always be publishing more, getting more grants, and taking on more teaching and service, how do you assess whether you’re meeting your goals and progressing in your career? Do you have finite numbers (publications, grant dollars, etc) that you strive for, or some other metric that you use to gauge success?
| 31 |
How do you feel? Are you happy with your accomplishments in a given time frame? If not, why not? Is it due to external pressure or do you really think, after laying out all the obstacles in your life and work, that you actually could have done more with that time? If the answer is yes, you can try pushing harder, but dont let the parts of your life that make you happy OUTSIDE work slip. You are a human first and a scientist second. Never forget that.
| 25 |
[ATLA] Could air benders take out the air right out of someone's lungs? If so, why don't they do it more often?
|
It seems like the quickest way to end a fight against benders and non benders alike
| 275 |
Zaheer did it against the earth queen. It's also Implied Gyatso bent all the air out if the room he was in with a dozen comet boosted fire benders. Gyatso is seen with absolutely no scorch marks on either him or the room he's in, despite the comet boosted firebenders.
This can only conclude he bent all air away from the room, thereby suffocating all fire from the firebenders, and killed both the firebenders and Gyatso.
So it's guaranteed that airbenders can take the air from someone, but generally don't for 3 reasons.
1. They're pacifists by nature. The thought of using their precious and highly personal bending for such a gruesome and horrible act is just unfathomable to the majority of air nomads.
2. It's not generally effective against opponents who can fight back. When Zaheer did it to the earth queen it was slow and painful, but could easily be countered by another bender, so it's not really battle useful.
3. it can be a double edged sword. Gyatso did a much more powerful version of what Zaheer did, but he needed to sacrifice himself as well for it to have been effective.
| 383 |
What was the Bretton Woods system?
|
I'm having trouble understanding it's goals or how exactly it worked. Also what effects did it have on the world while it was followed? Sorry if this is a super broad topic.
Edit: thanks for the responses
| 34 |
Short version: Bretton Woods was the post-WW2 international monetary system. The US and UK were the major designers of the system. The US enjoyed some lit af benefits from it before 1971 when the gold exchange part of the system collapsed.
They were worried about unrestrained exchange rates being extremely volatile. They were worried about economic warfare. They also wanted to be able to adjust their exchange rate for fears of a "fundamental disequilibrium" emerging and finally they wanted an international forum for monetary discussion.
Before 1971 the 29 countries at Bretton Woods agreed that the US would maintain currency exchange into gold at a fixed rate, the countries on the other end had to maintain an adjustable pegged exchange rate with the US dollar.
In effect, all Bretton Woods participant currencies exchange rates between countries were fixed within a small band since all those participants currencies were fixed against the US dollar.
This greatly limited the concerns mentioned above.
International trade expanded greatly and inflation was relatively stable throughout the existence of the system. It collapsed when the US dollar had rowdy inflation in the 70s which made it impossible to finance the US balance of payments deficit needed for other countries to maintain their pegged exchange rates.
Like you said, it is a super broad topic, and semester-long classes exist on it.
| 21 |
ELI5: Why do dogs seem to be able to nod off whenever they are comfortable?
|
My dog seems to fall asleep whenever he puts his head down, especially when he's touching me. That sounds awesome. Why can't I do that? When I want to nap or go to bed, I feel like it is a conscious decision with a plan that involves a certain amount of effort.
| 73 |
We also don't have as sensitive senses as dogs do, so we can't wake ourselves up at the slightest sound, touch, smell, change in light or taste.
You'll notice that while the dog nods off easily, he'll be awoken by certain things that won't wake us up. Not to mention that they sleep when the need/can, whereas humans usually sleep when we should.
ie A dog that just lives around the house and is nothing more than a pet will more likely nap throughout the day and night, occasionally getting up to make sure everything is alright.
Whereas a work dog, such as a search and rescue dog, or a hunting dog will stay awake while they are working and sleep when they aren't. Much more similarly to humans.
The reasons dogs can sleep in much shorter spans is because their sleep cycles are shorter. This means they sleep for a shorter amount of time, get up, do their stuff and then fall asleep multiples times a day, whereas we only sleep for one extended period, with a possible nap.
| 49 |
CMV: Making bathroom access contingent on the gender on your birth certificate actually makes it easier for non-trans men to use women's bathrooms.
|
So, let us propose that a bathroom bill has passed. To the delight of people who think all trans women are rapists, everybody must now use the bathroom corresponding to the gender they were assigned at birth. Intersex people are still a thorn in the side of the lawmakers, but let's forget about them for now.
[An example of a room full of trans men](https://www.reddit.com/r/traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns/comments/9fkix8/trans_men_are_women/)
​
Now, these dudes are all highly hunky, and I'm not going to pretend all or even most trans men look like them. But they're all cis-passing (you probably wouldn't know they were trans if you saw one on the street).
Now, under our new law, these handsome hunks now need to use the women's room. Some of them may have a had a phalloplasty to give them a penis, or may be wearing packers (something that gives the impression of having a penis). But this is all irrelevant. They have to use the women's room, and if challenged, can say 'sorry, it's the law. I don't like it any more than you do'.
There is nothing to stop cis (non-trans) men from going into a women's bathroom, without doing any preparation at all, and doing the exact same thing. Bathroom bills make bathrooms less safe by my view, not more safe.
One last point: In my circles, I know a few trans people living in areas where bathroom bills are in effect. They don't even follow them. For both trans men and trans women (sorry, non-binary people), even something small like using the wrong bathroom can cause dysphoria, and, particularly for trans women, can be unsafe. There's literally no way to police them. A cisgender lesbian was recently thrown out of a bowling alley because she tried to use the women's bathroom - she wasn't trans, she just had short hair and wasn't wearing a dress.
In conclusion, I believe that bathroom bills make bathrooms themselves less safe for both trans and cis people, and are impossible to police.
| 47 |
Depends on what length they go to to enforce it. If there's literally a cop at the door of every bathroom checking birth certs then that does make it very difficult. Of course such a law is horribly impractical, although maybe could be arranged with sufficient technology.
Of course bathroom bills aren't really about trans ppl at all, they're about political point-scoring by punching down on trans ppl. Should your CMV really be: "CMV: Changing the law to make bathroom access contingent on your sex at birth makes it easier for bigots to get elected". Fortunately the answer mostly appears to be no, but then the people crafting these laws really don't care if the law actually gets passed, it's just a cynical effort to 'virtue signal'.
| 19 |
ELI5: why do all things fall at the same speed regardless of weight?
| 25 |
The short answer is because heavier things have a greater attaraction to the earths gravity (hence why they are heavier), but they also take more force to move. So a baseball has less of a force acting on it that a bowling ball, but is less massive (lighter) so it takes less force to move at the same speed.
| 13 |
|
ELI5:Why do catchers in baseball give the pitchers signals?
|
What do these hand signals mean? Shouldn't the pitcher know what pitch to choose?
| 31 |
The pitcher and the catcher usually work out in advance a general strategy, so in most cases the catcher is simply *confirming* what kind of throw to expect. The pitcher will sometimes shake a signal off, which tells the catcher "no, try something else." The pitcher makes the ultimate call, but it's up to the catcher to offer suggestions.
>Catcher: "Are we doing this?"
>Pitcher: Shakes his head "no."
>Catcher: "How about this?"
>Pitcher: "Yes."
>Now the catcher positions himself properly for the expected pitch.
The catcher might also give a signal which basically says "Hey, this isn't coming from me. The pitching coach is telling us to do this pitch against this batter."
The catcher is *behind* the batter, so he is in the best position to do this secret signalling. If it were reversed, then the batter would know what to expect.
When there are runners on base they sometimes use a more subtle signalling method. This is where that general strategy meeting that took place before the game comes in.
| 39 |
[Pokemon] What does a Diglett look like underground? Also, why is the Diglett the only Pokemon to appear partially underground after being summoned from a Pokeball?
|
Bizarrely, the only records of Diglett that anyone's seen is them above ground. What do they look like underground? Why hasn't anyone (I'm look at you, Professor Oak) tried to document them in more detail? It can't just be a head, because something else has to be digging below it for it to be able to dig underground after emerging.
Also, when I summon a Diglett, it automatically morphs partially underground. Why does this phenomenon only apply to this one Pokemon?
| 72 |
Notice no matter where you call the diglett the stones and mud around its base are the same? It never changes based on the ground type and appears even when not on stone or dirt or inside a steel floored gym.
Diglett is a type of slug and the 'molehill' is the edge of its foot, there's nothing underground.
| 83 |
Do cameras that see through walls exist?
|
Is it possible to have cameras installed behind your walls? And for the resolution high enough to read text messages and emails?
I’m asking because I feel like my house has been bugged and I’m being watched/under surveillance but I do not see any camera lenses.
I also remember watching a crime show where police used cameras in the walls to read the subject’s text messages and emails.
What do you guys think of this kind of technology?
| 15 |
hahah wow.
1st: you arent important enough to be tracked like that
2nd: things cant see thru solid objects - heat cameras may pick up on heat signatures of people thru the right walls but even then its a blob
3rd: 99.9% of what you see on crime shows cant happen/doesnt exist.
4th: stay off and delete social media, uninstall any 3rd party apps off your phone, and dont link google accounts to your shit.
| 23 |
ELI5: Why do those "pan-tilt" photos make things look like models?
|
You know the ones. like [this](http://i.imgur.com/7heY9wq.jpg) and [this](http://i.imgur.com/2L2DlTh.jpg).
| 19 |
I'll try and actually explain this as easily as possible.
The quickest reason for this miniature illusion is depth-of-field, which is the blurry background or foreground effect you see in photography when an object is in sharp focus.
Depth-of-field is usually not achieved in photographs that are taken in landscape or super wide because there is not an object close to the lens for the camera to focus on, and there is no reason for the background to be very blurry.
When we take a landscape shot, like the second image you provided, and make the statue in sharp focus, and blur the background and foreground, the illusion of it being miniature is created because that effect is achieved normally on objects where the camera is very close to the object in focus. This, combined with increasing the saturation of the image, makes it seem like these landscapes are miniature toy models.
| 10 |
ELI5: Recent supercomputer simulation of the Universe
|
In the news recently are stories of our universe being [simulated in a supercomputer](http://www.wired.com/2014/05/supercomputers-simulate-the-universe-in-unprecedented-detail/).
Can someone explain to me why this is a big deal? The simulation was programmed by humans based on our understanding of the universe so, of course, the simulation should replicate our own universe based on the information supplied by the programmer. What am I missing?
Like I tell a computer 2+2=4 and then I ask the computer to define 2+2 and it gives me the answer of 4 and this is somehow astonishing.
| 29 |
Imagine a timeline from A -> B.
Very very small changes in A create *enormous* changes in B. These types of systems are called "chaotic."
We can't see what was happening during time A because we exist in time B. What scientists did was took our understanding of time B, worked backwards, using our current body of knowledge, through that chaotic system to try to figure out what A might've looked like.
When we play the simulation using the predicted past conditions (interesting wordplay), it turns out looking like our own universe. That means the "current body of knowledge" used to work backwards was probably fairly accurate!
EDIT:
Imagine catching the last 5 minutes of a movie (modern universe) and trying to figure out the entire plot (the evolution of the universe) that led up to those 5 minutes. You only have a glimpse of all the characters, the conflicts, the film style, etc. But using those, you try to figure out the rules/guidelines/inspirations the writer referred to (the laws of physics) in order to write the movie. Using just those last 5 minutes and the writer's rulebook, you reconstruct what the first 5 minutes (the Big Bang) might've looked like. Then you "play" the movie and let the computer write everything between those two points. If it all makes sense, then your interpretation of the rulebook was probably correct.
| 27 |
ELI5: Why is it that we have to turn our mobile devices off when taking off and landing when on a plane?
|
I know the whole, "sensitive equipment" thing but like more specifically?
| 21 |
It's not so much to do with radio communications with air traffic control. The reason is because the aeroplane has certain navigation systems that are EXTREMLY sensitive... equipment such as an 'ILS' (instrument landing system) is designed to such tolerances that the aeroplane can land in technically zero visibility.
The aircraft flies down two 'beams'... a localiser, an extended line going from the centre of the runway, and a glide slope... an artificial slope projected from the touch down zone of the runway... the runway is about 25-30m wide and the aircraft lands at about 140 knots (or to put it another way at a speed equating to about 2.3 miles flown every minute)... close to the beams even a small deviation away from them can have big consequences... and if it is a risk that can be avoided then why not avoid it?
Whilst is is unlikely that a cell phone will cause deviation to the aircrafts trajectory, SEVERAL cell phones could (in theory) cause a deviation significant enough to lead to a crash at low level.
Source: am pilot
| 29 |
ELI5: How and when did we realize stock trading was something we needed? What prompted the first companies to issue stock for outsiders to buy shares in their company?
|
Since the whole sector from the outside looks really silly (it isn't), how did the first few pioneers in the sector realize there was a need for it?
| 22 |
It was a long time ago (think like the 1700s) and it was necessary to fund growth and to create bigger opportunities.
To start, let's understand what came before. If you were a merchant in the Middle Ages you were basically trading on your family's money. You paid for the goods, you paid for the ship to transfer them, and if that ship sunk you were in deep trouble. You were *personally liable* for the debts of your business. Even a group of people funding an expedition would be in the same boat (heh) in regards to what happened.
Obviously this means that early companies tended to be a single very wealthy family and relatively limited ventures anyway. You simply couldn't fund the kind of large scale companies that you see today. There wasn't enough money in one or a few people's hands, and it was risky. A single bad deal could break an entire family.
Jumping forward a bit, as business ventures got larger and more complex (because empire) people came up with an interesting idea. Instead of paying for an expedition to the Americas or to sell wool in Flanders or whatever by yourself... why not crowd fund the thing? So you would create a company, and sell ownership stakes in it to your wealthy family, friends and fools. This gave you a source of funds to make it happen without having to fund it all yourself. Everyone risked a little bit and would get paid based on their stake at the end. Of course there was still some issues with the debts of the company falling back on the owners... but this was fixed with the notion of "limited liability" which basically means that as a owner of a company you are only responsible for YOUR share of the company and if that hits zero that is the limit of what you can lose.
That developed into our modern system where shares of ownership in massive companies are traded at the rate of millions a day.
| 36 |
[The Stand] What happens to the more supernatural elements like vampires and Pennywise?
|
So, Stephen King's shared universe has a lot of different things that go bump in the night and eat people.
What happens when their food supply is cut short?
I don't know if the vampires can get the flu, I believe in the Dark Tower, it was said that they could act as carriers for various diseases.
With everyone dead, what's gonna happen when Pennywise wakes up, or the vampires start getting hungry? Will they starve?
| 27 |
Pennywise doesn't need humans specifically he just prefers us for our flavor. As for other things dependant on humans for survival they'll slowly die out or resort to feeding on each other if possible.
| 17 |
ELI5: Why do electric tooth brushes vibrate slowly when on low power instead of running normally then suddenly shutting off?
| 18 |
They use a simple electromagnetic motor, which means that when the electricity goes through it then it pushes a magnet attached to the part of your brush that’s vibrating. Now the battery provides the electricity, but as the chemical reaction that is happening inside the battery starts slowing down it doesn’t stop all at once, rather it slowly peters out, like a fire does. So the motor still gets pushed, but not as fast. This keeps going until the battery just isn’t pushing the electricity enough to start the motor at all and your toothbrush is dead.
| 15 |
|
[Marvel] Can Wolverine get fat?
|
I might be wrong but isn't Wolverines strength a side effect of his healing factor? Doesn't his regeneration stop him from losing muscle when inactive so if he got fat would it keep regenerating even if he tried losing it?
| 32 |
I find it hard to imagine Wolverine getting fat because 1) Wolverine's healing factor is fueled at least in part by the food he consumes and 2) The dude's bones are coated in heavy metal. He is literally weightlifting every waking second of his life.
| 35 |
[Star Wars] The ion cannon that the rebels had on Hoth looked like a giant ball turret. Could it have been aimed horizontally to zap a few of the AT-ATs assaulting the base?
| 219 |
Yes, but it would be like using a sledgehammer to swat a fly. Besides, the ion cannon was already doing a much more important job, targeting the Star Destroyers to allow rebel transports to evacuate.
| 223 |
|
[Blade Runner] What is it like off-world?
| 247 |
"The actual conditions on these colonies are never shown in the original film, but the setting hints that the situation off-world is not as rosy as the advertisements claim. The Replicants are designed to survive dangerous and harsh labor and environments. Roy was designed specifically for use as a soldier, recalling the battles he fought off-world, and it appears that all three other of the escaped Replicants had considerable combat training. Zhora was described as having been a member of a kick-murder-squad. Finally, there is intensity of the marketing campaign itself; although the Los Angeles of 2019 is a miserable dystopia, its population still apparently requires aggressive promotion and considerable financial incentives to leave for these supposed paradises."
- Wikia
| 168 |
|
[any Star Trek] The Borg (or worse) have proven unstoppable and the Federation is collapsing. Eventually all of the powers like the Klingons and Romulans will be gone. Does Starfleet have a contingency plan? Do ships run? Where to? Do they hide? Do they make futile kamikaze attacks?
| 30 |
At that level of breakdown it'd likely come down to individual captains. Some would probably try and escape the galaxy, others would carry out guerilla attacks or go down in a blaze of glory.
We see the mentality of Riker in such a situation in the episode where they ran into every enterprise-D from every alternate universe. There was one captained by Riker from a timeline where the Borg were on the cusp of wiping the federation out. He tried to attack the main enterprise rather than be sent back.
| 43 |
|
It's okay to downvote for disagreement. CMV.
|
First, if upvotes and downvotes are there to improve the quality of the comments, then why shouldn't people upvote the posts they like and downvote the posts they dislike? Preventing yourself from downvoting for disagreement just clutters up the comments with nasty people who everyone hates but nobody wants to challenge by downvoting.
Second, I also think people have walled out a little area of "agreement" and "disagreement" which they believe is somehow entirely separate from "correct" and "incorrect". If I disagree with someone who says the earth is flat, and downvote him, I'm "downvoting for incorrectness", and am justified. If I disagree with someone who says God made the earth in seven days 10,000 years ago, and downvote him, I'm "downvoting for disagreement" and am not justified. How does this make any sense? Is the second guy somehow more right because his position has supporters?
I've held this view pretty much since I started on reddit, and have seen a lot of people make a lot of angry noise about "downvoting for disagreement", but I'm wondering what's reddit's actual justification for conventional downvote reddiquette.
| 27 |
If the opposition clearly states their point, then you want to upvote it, because obviously you will be debunking their logic in the following reply.
Hiding bad logic doesn't allow it to be pilloried and rejected to a wide audience, which if you disagree with it, should be your objective.
It's the same reason why you don't want to censor things. If your view is correct, then you should feel comfortable that your argument will win. Censoring implies that you fear the disagreement.
Downvoting for incorrect facts is different, since they simply confuse the issue. It's important to be able to discern what is an bad argument, and what is a false claim.
| 44 |
Diatomaceous Earth. How does it actually function as an insecticide?
|
I keep seeing that it works via a mechanical action, by abrading the joints of insects, or all sorts of other "cool" analogies about working like "broken glass" on insects, but I suspect it is more of a dessicant. If it IS a dessicant, wouldn't corn starch or other dessicants work as well?
| 18 |
The abrasion model is correct. Put some under a microscope and check it out for yourself. It is made up of the exoskeletton of diatom frustules, which are quite angular, sharp and made of silica (essentially glass). As such, it is chemically inert from an insects point of view.
It is not a dessicant as it remains effective even in rainy conditions, which would definitely not be the case for soaked corn starch.
| 11 |
ELI5: Why do horses start side by side while runners are spread at equal distance before the race?
|
Is the difference just negligible for horses? Don't we want the race to be the same length for all the participants?
| 57 |
They will generally only spread runners out to compensate if they are restricted to a certain lane during the race. In races where there's no "lane" (like horse racing) everyone can move to the innermost lane basically immediately.
| 45 |
Where does the energy to break a frozen bottle of water come from?
|
If I put a bottle of liquid water in the freezer, the freezer takes out heat energy in the water down to about -18 deg. C. But in the process the water expands and breaks the bottle. If the heat energy was taken out by the freezer, then where did the energy come from to break the bottle?
Is it just that some of the heat energy was converted to kinetic energy, and the freezer only took out the rest of the heat energy?
Bonus question:
How can I calculate the energies/forces involved? i.e. if 1 L of liquid water is encased in a bottle, and taken from +1 deg C down to -18, then how much force can i expect the expanding water to exert on the bottle?
Thanks!
| 30 |
The way to think about this (and indeed most problems involving energy) is in terms of relative energy and relative stability.
Everything in the universe "wants" to be in as stable a state as possible. That means systems lose energy in favour of stability if they can.
Something that is suspended above the earth is in a high energy but low stability state - it would "rather" exchange its energy for stability by falling to the earth. The same is true of both nuclear fusion and fission: small elements fuse and large elements split to lose energy and gain stability by becoming more iron-like (iron is the most stable element). The same is also true of water when it freezes - it exchanges the high energy liquid state for the lower energy (high stability) ordered structure of ice. The difference in energy between the two states is called a "driving force" and determines the direction of processes in chemistry (a and b react to give c, but c does not spontaneously split into a and b), physics and biology. The driving force has the potential to do "work". An example of this would be the huge explosion that results from a nuclear bomb.
The energy lost by water when it freezes is similarly converted into work. As ice is less dense than water this work takes the form of pressure being exerted on its container as the water expands - if enough work is done, the container will break.
| 21 |
ELI5: Why do men's clothes have buttons on the right while women's clothes have buttons on the left?
| 17 |
The general explanation for this is a few hundred years ago it was common for gentlemen to dress themselves while ladies would be dressed by others. Since right-handedness is by-far the dominant trait, the buttons would be on the right for a man, but on the left for a woman so that for a second woman facing the first, the buttons would be on _her_ right.
With many things, these fashions trickled down to the gentry then just stuck around ever since.
| 40 |
|
[Star Trek] If the Borg encountered a more advanced version of themselves from the future, would they allow themselves to be assimilated?
|
Or would they fight back?
| 210 |
Wouldn't the future borg be able to find their registration numbers in the cube's database? It would only seem logical that the future borg would help their forefathers by giving them additional technology.
| 140 |
ELI5:Why, when I've done nothing wrong, do I feel guilty when passing by a cop? What's the psychology behind it?
| 458 |
You evaluate a threat using two criteria: intent and capability. "Does this person want to harm me? Does this person have the ability to harm me?"
Law enforcement officers score high on both these scales. In terms of intent, the police might not have any desire to harm you physically, but they are motivated to harm you financially by issuing a traffic ticket, for instance.
For capability, they peg the needle. You know for a fact that they have the tools and authority to fine, detain, or even kill you.
It's a rational response to be wary of the police, because in rational terms, they are somewhat more motivated to do you harm than an average person, and far, far better equipped to do it.
| 459 |
|
ELI5: Why are bulletproof vests not stabproof?
| 17 |
For a start, vests are not really bulletproof. They are bullet resistant. They work one of two ways. The lightest and most flexible ones use multiple layers of material, usually kevlar, that are strong enough to resist the bullet traveling through them. With each layer, the force gets spread over a wider and wider area, until it reaches the user and is (hopefully) spread out enough to not do lethal damage. A knife, though, just cuts the fibers; that being said, the vest will slow a blade down.
The other method uses high-strength armor plates, usually ceramic that absorb the impact but crack (and must be replaced); these plates are quite stab-resistant.
| 27 |
|
ELI5: What's the benifit of working at your desk while standing instead of sitting?
|
A number of people at my company have something at their desks that they can raise up to stand while working.
| 2,993 |
It's better for your back/body. Sitting for long periods of time is bad for the human body. By standing you remove those health problems, including back strain from poorly adjusted chairs/desks.
Edit: Yes... standing all day is equally bad. The point of standing desks is to stand for a few hours and sit for a few hours. The key is **balance** people.
| 2,454 |
What determines if a material melts or burns?
|
When you apply fire/heat to some materials like ice or plastic they melt, while some metals and coal is set on fire themselves. What determines if a material melts or burns when applied to heat/fire?
| 27 |
There are two variables: the actual melting point of a material, and the temperature at which the material starts combining with oxygen.
Many materials doesn't combine well with oxygen (like water) so the combustion is small or absent. In that case, they are more likely to melt.
Many others release flammable gases or particles that reacts violently with the oxygen (like wood), or can be directly oxydized (like alcohol). In that case, a combusion is more likely to occur.
In other cases, both can happen: aluminium can melt, but a fine aluminium dust or ribbon is more likely to burn, because of a different ratio between surface exposed to oxygen and volume.
| 29 |
ELI5: What is the purpose of those rare traffic lights that have "foggy" lights that end up only showing the color of the light when you're about 30 feet away?
| 155 |
Generally it's because they are near other lights. They are designed so that you can only see the light from a certain location, which also sometimes limits the distance from which you can see it.
If you have a weird 3 way stop it might there's sorta looks like this _\\| where all three of those lines are going into an intersection. It could be feasible that someone on that angle street could see regular lights for one of the other streets and assume they are following the correct order. The 'foggy lights' would prevent others from even being able to see the lights of the other lane.
| 80 |
|
[ The Incredibles] Why do children of supers have different powers than there parents?
| 61 |
Possibly that it is more of genetic anomaly that accentuates a prominent feature within the person already, i.e. Bob was built more for strength, and when his powers developed that was the emphasis, etc.
So, the genetics might be a predisposition to developing powers, but not specific types of powers.
| 57 |
|
[general fantasy/science fiction/superheroes] Do mind readers run into a language barrier?
|
In real life people don't think in these neat, orderly thought bubbles you see in comics, but one's native language and its structure surely has some effect on our general thought process. Do you think a mind-reader peaking into the head of someone whose language they don't understand is going to have problems?
| 31 |
In the Wizarding World (Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts), it does but it's a lot worse than merely language. Queenie, when the Goldsteins have Newt and Jacob over for dinner, outright identifies herself as a natural Legilimens (natural mind reader) but says that Newt's mind is extra-hard to read due to his *accent*.
This is actually in-line with earlier sources on the ability; legilimency is extremely hard to perform effectively since a human mind *isn't* some sort of book to read but a whole bunch of abstract sounds, images and shapes loosely connected by ideals.
Legilimens need to sift through a *lot* of material to get even the slightest amount of usable information. This is why those skilled in it are rightly feared; it takes a lot of willpower and skill to use, all hallmarks of master wizards.
| 33 |
ELI5 How do microbial lifeforms with no brain like parameciums, amoeba, bacteria, etc know what to do and where to go?
|
I've seen videos of them chasing down food and eating it, if they have no brain and no sensory organs, how do they do this?
| 48 |
Generally, they dont. Many can't move intentionally at all (microbes in the ocean are totally at the mercy of water currents/turbulence). The ones who do intentionally move, like amoebas, are only complex enough to sense certain chemicals in one direction, or light vs shadow, and move toward/away from it.
| 36 |
[Ethics] Is it okay to enjoy the rain?
|
Dumb question but here it goes.
Is it ethically ‘okay’ to enjoy the rain brought by a typhoon/hurricane, when that weather disturbance is wreaking havoc on the lives of marginalized people?
I am from a country that is frequently visited by typhoons, and being an introvert I find rains comforting. I certainly enjoy the times when it is raining but I can’t help but to feel guilty on finding enjoyment to a weather disturbance that makes life harder for other people.
| 103 |
So long as you're just enjoying the rain itself and not other people's suffering, you're good utilitarianly speaking.
Rain increases your own happiness and you're not personally adding to anyone's suffering by enjoying it.
| 97 |
Is my chemistry teacher smarter than a 5th grader?
| 26 |
There IS enough information, and the pressure does indeed increase.
1. Assuming it starts as an inflated soccer ball (in the conventional understanding of "inflated" for a sports ball), the initial pressure of the gas is greater than the ambient/atmospheric pressure. The gas is contained by a thin, closed elastic membrane, and static equilibrium of the system is maintained via mechanical stress in the membrane. (This is physics, not chemistry).
2. Let us also assume that the initial and final shapes of the membrane are perfectly spherical (which is a very reasonable assumption).
3. Using PV = nRT, the constants of this system are R and T while n is increasing (by the problem statement). We can immediately conclude that the product PV increases as gas is added.
4. From here, the relation between P and V is in question. If the volume contained within the elastic membrane were to increase, the surface area of the membrane must also increase. This is because we assumed the initial volume to be spherical in shape. Any increase in the surface area requires a deformation of the elastic membrane, with which comes an increase in the mechanical stress. To maintain static equilibrium, this must be balanced by an increase in pressure inside the membrane. In other words, pressure and volume either both increase or both decrease; otherwise, static equilibrium cannot be maintained.
5. Since the quantity PV increases (from 3) and since an increase in P requires an increase in V (from 4), we may conclude with certainty that the pressure increases.
QED
| 33 |
|
ELI5: Why do malls and businesses not have peaked roofs like you see on houses?
|
I remember hearing about a store collapsing from too much snow collecting on the roof. Is there a reason not to have a peaked roof to prevent this?
| 17 |
Flat roofing is cheaper to build, is accessible (you can go up on it and do stuff up there more easily, including maintenance and are unlikely to fall), and you can add another floor more easily if you want to.
Providing you have a decent membrane on there and it doesn't need much maintenance, it will be cheaper in the longer run than a pitched roof, and gives you more options.
| 13 |
[Star Wars] In term of combat is the Dark side straight up better than the light side?
| 58 |
Luke: Is the Dark Side stronger?
Yoda: No, no, no, quicker, easier, more seductive.
​
The Light Side has plenty of abilities, we just don't see them as much. Things like healing, lightning absorption, and projection.
| 86 |
|
Why does thermite release it's energy as incredible heat rather than exploding?
| 59 |
Thermite doesn't produce any gas. Aluminium reacts with Iron oxide. The result is Iron and Aluminium oxide, both solids (or, liquids because of the heat). So the volume stays (mostly) the same, and no explosion happens.
| 32 |
|
[Pokemon] Did the Pokemon we know today evolve from prehistoric types? Was Pokemon science at one point more a kind of religious, spiritual thing?
|
I know several people practice seemingly religious or spiritualist varieties of Poke'science. I wonder though if there were any druidic cults or communities that helped to spur on early Pokemon studies? Were these the people who made early drawings of Mew or Unown, for example?
| 47 |
Yes, the Pokémon we know today have their origins in fossil Pokémon. There are exceptions, though (Godlike Pokémon, Arceus, Rayquaza and stuff.)
An example is Archen, according to his Pokédex entry, it is assumed to be the origin of all bird-like Pokémon.
Furthermore, lore says that there were cults surrounding certain Pokémon: Regice, Regirock and Registeel have been imprisoned in Hoenn region by those people.
Lately, those cults are rising: Team Plasma and Team Flare are some of those.
And at least their ideas are not completely wrong: Plasma wants to make Pokémon happy by releasing them. What they did not understand is that Pokémon are happier with a trainer than alone in the wilderness.
| 22 |
ELI5 How did knights participate in tournaments like jousting without killing themselves?
|
If movies have not lied to me (😜), knights' tournaments are involve hacking, slashing, and jousting each other. How did they not kill each other using such weapons or speed on horses? And if it was actually dangerous, why did they participate?
| 157 |
Oh, they did die. Henry II of France famously died due to an eye and brain injury sustained during a jousting bout. Wood splinter got in his eye.
\>And if it was actually dangerous, why did they participate?
The recognition they would get was often worth the risk to them. The sport was dangerous, and people did die, but it was a relatively uncommon occurrence and they felt it would show their bravery and honor to everyone else.
| 322 |
ELI5: Why did Gandalf barely use any magic in both the Hobbit and LotR? Isn't he supposedly a very powerful wizard?
| 156 |
Gandalf is a Maiar, which is something similar to what we would call an Angel.
It's not the case that he is a man who has learned magic, he is a supernatural entity older than the world itself, and has never been human.
He was sent by the Creator/God of the LOTR universe, Eru Ilúvatar, to help swing the balance of good vs evil back towards good, but through advice and guidance only, without direct interference.
In fact, the few times he uses magic are times when strictly speaking he *shouldn't* have, and was simply letting sentimentality get the better of him in order to help the people he has come to view as friends.
**TL;DR:** Yes, Gandalf is very powerful, but isn't supposed to be using his magic, and is technically supposed to be present only in an advisory capacity.
| 271 |
|
ELI5: Why was it better for swords to only have ONE edged blade (like the Katana or Falchion)?
|
Just wandering if it was better at all, or if there are disadvantages to having both blades edged.
| 25 |
Swords were designed for various purposes. Double edged blades were used to impale or stab the opponent. Whereas katanas are curved and one sided to provide a better slicing motion.
The shape of the blade provides structural strength. To simplify, the cross section of a katana would resemble a triangle. Impacting a triangle on a point would distribute the force and stop the blade from breaking.
| 34 |
[Kick-Ass] What kind of bodily damage did Dave receive from the live torture?
|
I know it is justified that he can walk away with his metal plates and damaged nerves, but are there any major injuries to be expected? Also don't know how those injuries can be explained to his dad as well as the recovery time.
| 22 |
Maybe early Parkinsons, microfractures in his spine paralyzing him by age 60-70 and permanent nerve damage in the future.
I believe in the comics, he accidentally spread a rumour in his school he's a gay prostitute and is frequently raped on the streets.
After he told the girl he liked he's actually KickAss, she kept his secret, but her and her boyfriend bullied him by sending him pics and vids of them fucking, and probably beat him up between 1 and 2.
His father was pretty negligent and thinks he's been mugged a lot.
**Edit:**
Oh, and infertility.
His balls were fucking destroyed.
| 18 |
ELI5: Where do STDs come from if you can only get them from someone who has one?
|
Where did STI/STDs come from? I’ve always been taught that you can only contract ‘most’ of them from sexual contact.
This begs the question of where did they originate from?
| 17,438 |
Most STDs came from close contact with animals. Not necessarily sexual contact, just close contact.
Gonorrhea came from close contact with cattle. A person working on an infected animal could easily be exposed to the bacteria. Milking a cow or helping birth a calf and then going to the bathroom without washing your hands would be enough.
Chlamydia is caused by a very common bacteria that affects all sorts of animals including humans. Most famously almost the entire population of Koalas are infected.
Syphilis may have come from Sheep or Cattle, but it also may have come from Llamas. Working theory is that it was a disease that early explorers brought back to Europe from America.
HIV likely came from a human eating an infected monkey or another primate.
Herpes is by far the most interesting (from a historical standpoint) because humans have always had Herpes. Our species inherited the disease from our evolutionary ancestors. Genetic testing shows junk DNA from Herpes infected our species hundreds of thousands of years before we even left Africa. Likely because one of our ancestors ate another infected primate. So Herpes, Warts, and Cold Sores are older than humans.
So when you hear on the news that we caught a bird flu, or a bat virus, it's because a disease mutated and jumped species to us. But does it work in reverse? Is there a common Human virus that could potentially jump to another species? yup... Herpes.
Dogs can get Herpes Cold sores... and they got it from close contact with us.
**EDIT for clarity:** Dog Cold sores aren't like ours, but they get wart like growths and lesions and it can be very serious so if you suspect your dog is infected see a vet.
Dogs have their own version of the Herpes virus and can't be infected by regular human herpes directly and vice versa. But Dog Herpes likely originated from humans ages ago when it jumped species and mutated.
| 19,216 |
is eating animals wrong?
|
If causing pain and death only so someone else can have a pleasant (but not necessary) experience is morally wrong then wouldn’t it also be morally wrong to kill/eat animals? Just like it would be wrong for me to imprison, chop and eat a human just so i could experience the pleasure of consuming their flesh, how is it not wrong for us to do the same thing to a dog, cat, pig, cow or chicken?
| 124 |
>If causing pain and death only so someone else can have a pleasant (but not necessary) experience is morally wrong then wouldn’t it also be morally wrong to kill/eat animals?
Most philosophers believe something like this, yes. There are other arguments for why it is wrong to kill animals, but this is one of them.
| 75 |
Is there a sound analogue of one-way mirrors? Can we,do we have constructs that can look t sound through one way, but block it completely in the other direction?
| 28 |
One way mirrors, transmit light in both directions, the reason that they work is that the side you want to be a mirror is kept brighter than the other, so that the brighter reflection drowns out the transmitted dimmer light.
| 26 |
|
How are the aluminum compounds in antiperspirants effective in blocking sweat production? What is unique about their acid/base properties that help them do this?
|
\- Aluminum chloride
\- Aluminum chlorohydrate
\- Aluminum hydroxybromide
| 3,367 |
Aluminum salts form all kinds of gel-like hydrated precipitates in water -- the exact chemical composition depends on pH. In antiperspirants, the aluminum salts interact with moisture coming out of your sweat glands and create precipitates that block the ducts of those glands, preventing sweating.
| 1,329 |
[The Elder Scrolss] ...Where are the bathrooms?
| 28 |
You are not normal, and Nirn is not like Earth.
You are a Prisoner Hero. You have cast off your chains. You do not necessarily perceive the universe the way others do. Details like bathrooms are only *visible* to you if they are important - conservation of detail. To you, the massive farms of Whiterun might look like gardens, because acres and acres of wheat is not important to the Dovahkiin.
| 85 |
|
ELI5: Why is the rate of homelessness in the USA so high?
| 64 |
In the 80s, President Reagan gutted the system of mental hospitals which had existed for decades to care for people not fit to live on their own and remanded their care to the states. Federal funding for state-run mental hospitals was inadequate, and as a result thousands of mentally ill people had nowhere else to go. The problem hasn't gotten better since then.
| 50 |
|
If I swallow a large piece of food, will I still digest all of it?
|
I've have some idea how food moves around inside the body and some about the timeframes, but I've no idea of the capabilities and mechanics of the system.
Are large pieces of food broken into smaller pieces chemically somehow and then digested? Or does digestion happen layer-by-layer, no matter the size of the object? If so, will it just continue until it's all gone?
| 37 |
Digestion has a few phases. Your mouth begins the first part, where saliva breaks down starches. The stomach is next, which has two primary methods of digesting food: acid mostly kills bacteria, but does help to break down the structure of food. Pepsin is a very active digestive enzyme in the stomach that is activated by the acid. Primarily though, your stomach is a muscle, and churns the food to break it into pieces. Big chunks of food simply won't proceed out of the stomach after this: if you swallow a big piece of meat whole, it will slowly break apart in your stomach and won't move as a chunk into the intestines.
Your intestines are where the "real" digestion occurs. Bits of food (at this point called "chyme") are squirted through the pyloric sphincter into the intestine. Here is where we see real protein and fat digestion occur. Most nutrients are actually absorbed within the first foot of the intestine, fats take longer and are broken down and absorbed over the first few feet. The small intestine are where the primary enzymatic breakdown of food occurs; the stomach is mostly a preparatory step but is not a good environment for most protein activity (because it is so acidic).
| 22 |
[40k] Is it worth the Imperiums' time to try and save an injured guardsman?
|
Like say he got his arm blown off, would the Imperium try to save him? Or is it more cost effective to let him die?
| 15 |
This is, of course, very dependent on who the guardsman is, what regiment they're in, and (as a natural follow on from that) where they're fighting.
Generally speaking, the Guard is well known for its high initial casualty rate. Within the first 24 hours of battlefield action, a good proportion (estimates vary, but it can be as high as 50%) of rookies die. Those people are less likely to be saved if their arm is being blown off: a rookie batallion will have comparatively fewer available medics, the soldiers are less valuable, and they're being sent in to soften the enemy up and probe for weaknesses anyway. It's not that saving them is bad, it's just not necessarily practical. These are very intense zones.
The people that survive become much more important. Once they've gained a bit of battlefield sense, commanders tend to be more careful with them, might send them into less deadly zones with more support (might not, but rookies get treated worse overall). If there is a medic there, and if they can stabilise the person, and if they can evacuate them, the guardsman might even get a biotic arm. Probably not a very fancy one, but one fancy enough to operate a lasgun, to aim, fire, strip it down, and clean it. For the wealthy, the Imperium has very nice augmented limbs. That expertise trickles down, and as you rise in the ranks better options are going to become available.
Warp travel is very unpredictable, difficult, and expensive in terms of logistics. Recruiting another soldier is a link in the supply chain they don't want. Replacing limbs is not as expensive. Guardsman are cheap, but they aren't free, and for that reason they get patched up when it's practical. Not normally practical for newbies, but for the rest it's more likely to be. Some of the greatest heroes in the Imperium have mechanical body parts, and that includes Colonel "Iron Hand" Straken, and Commissar "Fuck-off Killy Klaw" Yarrick. It's not a hindrance when you're really good at what you do.
| 23 |
ELI5:How can we not yet replicate the composition of expensive aged drinks like old Whiskey and Cognac
|
If it all comes down to chemistry, and there are some burnt oak traces and such... Shouldnt it all be reverse engineerable at this point in time?
| 30 |
Which would you rather have? An autographed original rookie babe Ruth baseball card? Or a replica? Which would you rather pay more for?
Could some whiskey be made in sped up fashion to replicate an aged 100 year old product? Maybe. Do the type of trees used still exist? Do the types of crops, growing conditions and distillery still exist? Will people pay for a replica? Or is the age, rarity and brand value important?
| 15 |
[Half-Life/Portal] So Black Mesa is stupid enough to practically invite an alien invasion, and Aperture Science is dangerous to my financial and physical security, is there ANYONE I can work for that's high profile and not going to kill me?
|
Seriously, seems like I'd sneeze and Cave would fire me. Black Mesa has what I can only describe as a "bureaucracy" issue. Oh, and what's even better is that now Aperture is run by some AI they just rolled out. "Take your daughter to Work Day" has always been a terrible idea (R. I. P. Lindsey, loving sister and dear friend).
I just want to pay bills and make a name for myself, is there anyone I can work for that can give me that without the threat of death?
| 37 |
Have you considered joining the Civil Protection under the Combine regime? You get certain perks, such as better food and living conditions. Also you get a cool uniform and mask. And you can knock over cans and then order people to pick them up.
| 36 |
[Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated] In the final episode after destroying the Evil Entity, why did this suddenly altered reality to where the Entity never existed?
| 39 |
I assume it's a matter of temporal mechanics. That creature must not exist entirely in a single time, so it being destroyed caused effects that were, from our perspective, before the cause, destroying it before it ever influenced the species of Earth despite the destruction happening well after.
Mystery Inc are basically refugees from a destroyed timeline, in which talking animals exist, who have found themselves in a world where that never occurred.
| 21 |
|
ELI5: How come new e-mail is first pushed to my iPhone before I can see it on mail.google.com?
|
I noticed when an e-mail arrives to me, I get a notification on an iPhone. When I try to read it on desktop, I have to wait few seconds (even after refreshing) before it appears in GMail web interface. How can the e-mail be pushed faster? Or is GMail web interface so slow?
| 29 |
The gmail web interface is a "pull" technology -- the page periodically refreshes itself and checks for new mail. If your mail is being pushed to your phone, then it will get it very quickly, while your gmail session is waiting until it checks mail again.
| 10 |
ELI5: Because the number of babies born is pretty much the same every day, how do we get clear generations?
|
Not sure how else to phrase this. If the amount of people born every day stays relatively balanced (there aren't drastically more babies born in one month than another), then there is about a balanced amount of people of all ages getting older all the time. So, how do we arrive at generations? If someone is said to be a part of a distinct generation, there will always be lots of people born a few years before and a few years later. Where do they fit? How is the line drawn on something so continuous and always moving?
| 48 |
It's just a generalization - it has no real basis in fact. The Baby Boom, at least, was a period of elevated birthrates from about 1946 to 1964, with the contrast made greater because WW2 was a time of fairly low birthrates, but even then there's plenty to distinguish someone born in 1947 from someone born in 1963. A person born in 1965 would be much closer.
In general, yes, it is continuous. The "generations" are merely a convenient way of speaking about people. Oftentimes the generation names can even be somewhat misleading. For example, people born in the mid 1920s to mid 1940s are often called the "Silent Generation", yet it included Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Andy Warhol, John Lennon, and Allen Ginsburg, among many others.
| 47 |
CMV: Elite college athletes don't have the leverage they think they do, because college sports would be fine without them.
|
With NIL you hear lot about how college athletes are realizing the leverage they have, and how they should push to be paid, to get a percentage of TV deals, etc. because college sports would be screwed if they stopped playing. This is usually backed with some kind of statement about how the players are the product that's bringing in all the money. This is incorrect. If all the best players joined a minor league system, held out until they were old enough to be pros, went overseas or just flat out refused to play unless paid, it wouldn't have a huge impact. College sports would do just fine without elite athletes. I believe this for a few reasons...
​
1. College sports fans accept they're watching a less talented product (otherwise they'd just watch the pros.) If pro level athletes didn't play collegiate sports, college fans would still be happy watching a less talented product than before. After all, many NCAAF fans will watch games with no pro prospects already. And even if the highest rated games are between the best teams, that is likely just because they're the best teams, not because they have the most pro prospects.
2. College fans often cite loyalty to the school, a wider variety of offensive and defensive schemes, traditions, etc. as why they prefer college athletics. None of this changes if you only have decent , never gonna be a pro, student-athletes playing. Michigan alum will cheer for Michigan students, whether they're five star future first rounders or local students, the same way you cheer for your local high school team.
3. Without elite athletes your players have a new appeal. This new brand of players will be much more like average students than future multimillionares who have no need for class, won't skip bowl games, will likely stay all four years, will likely be more locally based, etc. You will need to do more marketing and storytelling to replace the "this kid will be a first round draft pick" marketing angle college sports currently rely on, but fans might actually like watching them play more. After all, tons of college sports fans favorite players are the guys who didn't become pros, and the NCAA bball Tournament was just as fun without the straight out of high school players like Lebron competing.
4. Bit of a stretch here, but: Jake Paul has proven people will watch amateurs compete if given an interesting enough storyline. If nobody cares about an elite Cuban professional who can't be hit but would happily watch two sloppy Youtubers box, are we so sure the connection between ratings and talent is what we've been led to believe all these years?
| 93 |
What the fans care about doesn't matter. What matters is what the schools care about. You know the people who actually end up signing the checks. If your a school famous for their sports programs, ignoring top players essentially kills your school. The schools that make concessions to their player will dominate the league and those that dont will no longer be relevant. Of course you could argue that the schools need to band together with the leagues and just issue blanket bans for compensating players. The response is always going to be "why would a school like Duke or USC ever do this". Those schools spend millions of dollars in talent scouts, coaches, Nutritionist, etc. All so they can get the best players. Why would they suddenly limit their own ability to get the best players?
Duke university spent over 100million dollars in order to have one of the best sports programs in the U.S . They do this because they see value in having the best sports program. Losing the best players in their respective leagues will impact their sports program. Therefor the players have leverage.
| 45 |
ELI5: Why do newspapers or news put brackets around words or letters in a quote from someone?
| 30 |
Usually to provide context for a quote that originally used pronouns. If the quoted person actually said, "He does not know what he's talking about," but the newspaper wants to make clear who the subject of that sentence was, they would write, "[Barack Obama] does not know what he's talking about."
It can also be used to properly capitalize a quote that begins in the middle of a sentence. If the quoted person said, "This movie is terrible because the acting is so bad," but the newspaper wants to truncate that quote, they could write, "[T]he acting is so bad."
| 29 |
|
[Star Wars] in AOTC (episode 2), why Jango Fett dive for Mace Windu's lightsaber??
|
Seems like the worst thing to do in that scenario. He's supposed to be some great bounty hunter and it seems like he's never even heard of Jedi before
| 28 |
Basic combat strategy. Take away your opponents weapon and leave them defenseless. Of course the Jedi have the Force, but it's one less thing to deal with.
And he's heard of Jedi before, and Jango knows how to kill them. Didn't you see him gun down Colmen Trebor?
| 40 |
Humans apparently share 50% of their DNA with bananas. We can all see the genetic differences but how do the similarities manifest themselves?
| 2,738 |
All multicellular organisms need to do some basic things like divide cells, have all the parts of cells, have cells stick to each other, decide how each new cell will function. For example, we all have structures in our cells called ribosomes that help make new proteins. The ribosomes of humans and the ribosomes of bananas do pretty much the same thing (even using the same code instructions for how to make new proteins).
The basic building blocks of cells are the same, with minor changes. So, the basic genetic code for these things is the same, with minor changes.
| 2,665 |
|
[Star Wars] We've seen the silly rebel propaganda. Now what really happened in the Clone wars and Galactic Civil War?
| 23 |
Many video records of the events of the Clone Wars exist. The famous Clone Wars trilogy, a dramatization made several years after the fact, consisted in significant part of character assassination of Anakin Skywalker. These more accurate records show that rather than a petulant child, Anakin was a measured man who harbored a few deeply reactionary tendencies-- one can clearly wee the man who would one day become Darth Vader, but in those days he was a good man with a shadow in his heart rather than the evil man with a last spark of good he ultimately became. A recent Holovision series provided a much more accurate portrayal.
If anything, the most well-nown dramatization of the Galactic Civil War was softer on the Empire than they deserved. The real Empire were as competent as they were villainous. Its portrayal of the Alliance and of the life of Luke Skywalker (being its primary concern) are actually shockingly accurate.
| 19 |
|
I believe that the world would be a better place if nobody was allowed to be payed over US$100,000 a year, CMV.
|
Basically I think that salaries in excess of US $100,000 a year are not a fair reflection on the work that people put in to high paying jobs and lead to inequality and prejudice in our society. In my opinion, a better alternative would be to force anyone who earns over $100,000 a year net to pay, either as charitable donations or additional tax, to reduce their income to $100,000 a year.
Note: I don't live in the USA but used USD as a standard that everyone can easily compare to.
| 77 |
You are not American, but there is an interesting side note to the US healthcare system. We had a president who thought almost exactly what you do. He tried to get congress to place a "salary cap" on workers. It didn't make it into law, but he did manage to get a 94% income tax on money made above this proposed salary cap.
What happened? Companies wanted to keep good workers. They found ways to make it worth their while. They paid them below this level, but they offered to pay doctor bills. They offered very generous pension plans. They offered education benefits, vacation days, travel money... It was this desire for equality that led to healthcare in the US being connected to having a job!
The bottom line is, companies will find a way to retain and recruit top talent. Whatever laws are created, there will be ways worked around them. The workarounds may have worse repercussions than what the laws were trying to prevent!
| 110 |
[Marvel] Multiple Man makes copies of himself. He sends them out to do whatever. When they recombine the new whole has all memories. If one dies, it's irrelevant, he'll survive from even one left. But the body remains. How the hell could anyone discretely do multiple careers? A death unravels all.
|
I send copies of me out to work five jobs (why not?) and two to different colleges. Several of me are on all day home care and yard work. One's whacking off. One's playing X-Box. Several more are running odd errands, one is volunteering, one's out fishing.
One gets t-boned by a drunk driver and dies instantly. The cops are on site in minutes and I.D. me immediately, and call it in.
Now what...? I'm dead. They got a body.
| 805 |
It works because it's not really a secret. He's a little more low-profile than many heroes, but he uses his real name all the time, doesn't wear a mask and usually wears a variant of the same garment his dad made for him when he was a child. And since at least one of the duplicates is in law enforcement himself (SHIELD agent) he can probably clear things up quickly when things get awkward. So the cops ID the body and the system tells them who and what this is. Probably a nightmare for paperwork, though.
| 533 |
[MCU] In Universe, how do you think the rest of the heroes view Spider-Man?
|
We really only know Tony’s full thoughts on him. And some dialogue of Steve, Sam, and Bucky. What do y’all think the rest of the team thinks of him seeing as the Avengers roster went through universal combat of the highest order with him. Just thought it was interesting seeing as he was probably the youngest combatant out there next to shuri.
| 348 |
They probably liked his potential but his age and maturity may have had some scratching their heads, this would probably include War Machine, and black widow. Steve would probably like him and view him similar to how tony did. Sam and Bucky may find him annoying but would respect his fighting ability since he whooped them w/no experience, and Dr. Strange probably thought he was a goofball. The rest would probably be indifferent since they barely knew him.
| 291 |
ELI5: If Bandura's Bobo doll experiment proposes that aggressive behaviour can be learnt via observational learning, how come there are no stronger links between violent games/movies and violent behaviour?
|
So, social psychologist Albert Bandura performed a couple of experiments in the 1960s, and he proposed that aggressive behaviour can be learnt. Basically, in experimental group he had kids watch an adult physically and verbally assault a Bobo doll. Kids in control group watched an adult play with other toys while the Bobo doll was left untouched. Then, kids from both groups played with some toys from a different room, until they were no longer allowed (this was done to build up frustration). Instead they were offered to play with toys in a room, where the Bobo doll and some other toys were. The results concluded that kids in experimental group showed more aggressive behaviour towards the Bobo doll. In a different experiment he also concluded that aggressive behaviour can be learnt trough cartoons or movies. [Here's](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobo_doll_experiment) a link to a more detailed explanation.
So my question is, how is it possible that there are apparently no newer and stronger links between violent games/movies and violent behaviour, especially since games/movies are getting more realistic?
| 20 |
Of course there is a connection, but is it important? All Bandura showed was that it was possible. Hardly anybody expected something else. Children are often seen play acting things their parents do.
However, when thousands of people play a violent video game almost all of them do not become violent in real life. Something is "different" in the people who become violent, and it's not the game.
| 19 |
CMV: Schools Cause Psychological & Developmental Harm
|
Hi, I'm a preschool teacher, and I've been studying psychology a lot over the past several years. It led me to psychoanalyze myself pretty thoroughly, and realize the causes for a lot of the difficulty that I was having (depression, anxiety, OCD, ADHD).
Having gotten to the root cause of a lot of different problematic thought processes, and realizing that these later developed into disorders, it seems to me that school causes huge problems for us, psychologically. I'll approach this topic by pretending we're all currently back in school. Put your imagination hats on, and come with me! ;-)
For example, we sit... for 8 hours. We're still basically animals, and yet we're not allowed to move, stretch, talk, or even use the bathroom without an external authority approving us first.
We aren't allowed to exercise our executive function, which atrophies as it stays dormant for most of the day. Then, when we need to make choices for ourselves, it hasn't been used much, and isn't very strong. This can make it difficult to act upon what you want to do, or what you need to do, and are trying to do. Since this is happening while we're developing into adults, our developing brain and body aren't using as much of the chemicals related to making choices and acting upon them, so it gets used to producing less...Which is a problem that happens with mental disorders.
Lack of stimulation causes developmental delays and stunting. We sit at a desk, stare at a blackboard, and listen to a lecture, for basically 8 hours straight.
I believe that we naturally learn by being inspired or curious -- seeing something interesting, and playing with it. Trying different ways to use it, or combine it with things. We learn by playing, building, trying, expressing. Playing allows newness to occur. Expression is part of the process of understanding something, and saving it to memory.
Basically, I think school is ruining us all. Hurting more than helping. And I wont even start on which classes are taught vs what would be much better to include. Except to say that emotional management and understanding, mediation & conflict resolution, how to empathize, and how to cooperate, are all things that we desperately need to know, now, and we should be teaching.
| 29 |
It seems more like your point is "bad teaching causes harm" - like this part:
> Lack of stimulation causes developmental delays and stunting. We sit at a desk, stare at a blackboard, and listen to a lecture, for basically 8 hours straight
That's a bad teacher. A *good one* is calling on students and eliciting opinions and discussion and whatnot - stimulating their minds.
Also, what would you replace the current system with if we agree it's bad and abolish it?
| 15 |
ELI5 what is my body doing in the "Aaaah, AAAAAAH-" moment of a sneeze? Why does it vary in length?
| 16 |
When you start to sneeze, it's because of some sort of irritation in your nose to release histamines. When histamines reach the nerve cells in your nose, it tells the brain to start what I'll call the Sneeze Sequence.
The "Ah" sound you make is due to your body reflexively taking a large breath. During this time, the muscles in your throat and nose expand, creating an opening that allows large amounts of air to pass through. Then, your chest muscles rapidly contract, forcing the air out of your lungs and through your nose.
The variation in length is based on personal anatomy and how your brain handles the Sneeze Sequence. It's different from person to person.
| 19 |
|
[Spongebob Squarepants] Why is Plankton investing so much time and effort into stealing the Krabby Patty secret formula? Surely making his own KPs would be illegal?
|
Krabbs being the shrewd businessman that he is, *must* have copyrighted/patented/trademarked the Krabby Patty. So even if Plankton steals the formula, he can't legally produce and sell them, correct? Really he's dooming his own business venture by stealing and reselling an existing product.
Why doesn't he just focus his efforts on either making enough money to *legally* buy out Krabbs and the right to sell Krabby Patties, or improve his own products? I presume a large amount of his mission is down to his desire to beat Krabbs, but surely it would be even better to beat him legally by producing a superior product? Why not also create a side business selling technology and gadgets to fund research and development into decent food production?
And why hasn't any governing body shut down Plankton for his illegal business practices and (I'm assuming based on his lack of customers) presumed bankruptcy?
| 100 |
Patients require you to post how a thing is made, when the patent expired anyone can make it. Trademarks protect the name, not the product itself, someone can still make the exact same burger under a different namr. And you can't copyright a recipe; you can copyright a specific wording but not the "concept" of the recipe itself.
There is a reason that Coca-Cola, KFC, Pepsi, etc keep their recipes in a vault, Trade Secrets are the only long term way to keep a recipe secure.
The industrial espionage that plankton engages in is wildly illegal though, in the real world companies are careful never to cross that line. Pepsi even turned in a Coke employee for trying to sell them the recipe for Coca-Cola.
| 108 |
Why are batteries considered voltage sources instead of current sources?
|
When using batteries as your source in a physics/engineering problem, it's considered as a voltage source. You'd say "a 9V battery". However, looking at the battery as an electrochemical cell, I'd guess that it's a current source. The reaction is going _this_ fast and therefore provides _this_ rate of electrons to the load. The only problem with me looking at it that way, is that I can also see it being a voltage source anyway: the ions diffuse through the electrolyte so fast that the total voltage across the battery is pretty much constant.
I still haven't fully convinced myself that this chemistry based argument for being a voltage source really makes sense, but the question still remains: why are batteries modeled as voltage sources?
| 35 |
When a battery isn't connected to anything (an open circuit), the buildup of charge in each half-cell causes the internal reactions to reach equilibrium, stopping the current. This is contrary to the behavior of a current source, which would maintain the same current no matter the load resistance. Instead, what remains constant is the "push" behind the chemical reactions, so when the battery is hooked up to different devices, its voltage stays the same.
Also interesting is that when a battery tries to power a very low resistance, it cannot maintain the high current that an ideal voltage source would generate - so, if you connect your 9V battery to a 1 ohm resistor, its actual voltage might drop down to 4V.
| 17 |
[DC Universe] How has the discovery of aliens with similar physiology to humans impacted theories of evolution?
|
While aliens like Superman are very different to us in their genetic makeup, they share remarkable similarities in physiology, given the diversity in evolutionary traits in Earth. Have scientific theories of evolution developed to take account of this?
| 15 |
It's a semi-open secret in the DCU that all humanoid life was seeded billions of years ago by a race called the Dominators. Humans with the "Meta-Gene" actually should be the norm, the same way super-strong Kryptonians are the norm, but something fucked with the species's DNA so we wouldn't overrun everything.
| 28 |
[LOTR] How did Gandalf defeat the Balrog?
|
As I recall, his sword, Glamdring, had no special features other than being effective against orcs.
Was it just that lighting sword attack? Why didn't he use that more often in the trilogy.
| 37 |
The sword had nothing to do with it. It was Gandalf's power that defeated the Balrog.
He didn't use his power more often because he wasn't there to magically fix all the world's problems. He was sent to Middle-Earth to act as an advisor and counselor to men to guide them into fixing their own problems. The Balrog was a special situation as it was a divine being just like him, making it beyond the ability of men/elves/dwarves to handle.
| 82 |
What are the current limitation of our present technology of building a "Drydocks" around earth's orbit aside from budgeting?
|
I've always wondered if just like when we build naval ships to go on the ocean, we build them near the water so we don't have to spend all the energy to transport them to the water.
Why after so many shuttle launches / satellites, etcetera, have we not developed a "Dry dock orbital space launching station" that could be remote controlled from earth so that we don't need to spend so much fuel to launch from the ground, and just do it from orbit?
I realize the limitation of resources such as oxygen and materials to build said spacecraft are obvious at the moment, but what's stopping us from building some sort of an space elevator in a desolate area of Earth that we could launch materials to an orbiting station that would pass by this space elevator location certain times of the year?
From my layman understanding of satellites orbiting our planet, they are constantly in a decaying orbit, and it requires human manipulation to constantly adjust their trajectories. Is this also another limitation being imposed on building an actual structure to build ships?
I am incredibly fascinated by thinking that someday we will finally leave the cradle we call Earth, and I was wondering with all the budget and resource limitations aside is there any more explanation as to why we haven't done anything similar to this yet?
I don't believe power would be an issue, with solar power, so what are the current limitations we have?
| 28 |
Heat.
Heavy industry produces a lot of heat, and without a convenient chunk of air or water to dump that heat into, your options are limited.
Heat is transferred by conduction, convection, and radiation...on earth, the first two dominate, but in space, you only have radiation, which is especially slow.
Thermal control of satellites is a whole field unto itself. Thermal control of a space factory? That would require technologies we just do not yet possess.
| 19 |
[Animorphs] How were the Iskoort any less morally objectionable than the Yeerks' current M.O.?
|
Despite the fact that I never ended up finishing it, I was pretty big on this series when I was a kid so occasionally it still pops up into my head. I'm haven't touched it in probably over a decade and a half, so correct me if any details are wrong.
The reason Crayak wants the Iskoort dead is because he doesn't want the Yeerks to discover that there is another way to live, as symbiotes rather than parasites. However, the reason the Iskoorts are symbiotic rather than parasitic is that the Yoorts either created or genetically modified the Isk so that the Isk couldn't live without the Yoorts. I remember the book acting like that was OK because the Yoorts modified themselves so that they couldn't live without the Isk either (meaning they can't infest any other species), but this still sticks out to me as horrific.
You have sentient creatures (the Isk) who are essentially slaves, and cannot escape their slavery or they will die. Surely there are some of them who want the ability to control their own bodies, so how are the Iskoort fundamentally different from controllers? There is a difference on the grand scale between Iskoort and Yeerk, sure, because the Yeerks' invasions carry casualties beyond the beings they enslave, but being the slightly lesser of two evils doesn't make the Iskoort not evil.
As far as I can tell, unless I'm missing something major, the only way the Iskoort are the good guys is if either the Isk aren't sentient, or if they can opt out and be modified in a way that allows them to survive without the Yoort in their head.
Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly and the Iskoort aren't really portrayed as a morally good version of the Yeerks? Maybe the Animorphs realize they're still evil but are just trying to foil Crayak's plans because Crayak is a dick (who, if memory serves, is specifically against the Yeerks becoming like the Iskoort because he wants the Yeerks to continue to invade and cause destruction, not because of some position on the symbiotes vs. parasites argument).
I'm not entirely sure that a morally related question is allowed on this sub but I hope it's OK. This one bothers me every time I think about it because it feels like I must be missing something, and I don't know of a better group of people to fill in the blanks in my memory than this place.
| 19 |
It's entirely possible that it *is* exploitative and just that nobody thinks of it that way because hey, we aren't conquering anymore.
It's possible that the Isk aren't sentient and the Yoort are just driving around what would otherwise be vegetative clone bodies.
Another possibility is that the Iskoort are some kind of gestalt consciousness comprised of cognitive function from both the Isk and the Yoort - they need each other to be considered truly "conscious" or sentient. It might be misleading to even consider them separate organisms - the Yoort at this point might almost be as if a piece of your brain needed to crawl out and eat periodically.
| 24 |
ELI5:Why does my cup of water that was left out during the night taste bad the next day?
|
What happens in there. I have a full cup of filtered water sit out over night. then the next day at any time it tastes very weird. Why is that?
| 66 |
The water will also absorb odours from the air.
It used to be a painters' trick to leave a bucket of water in a newly decorated room. The water would absord some of the paint smell and solvents from the air.
| 37 |
ELI5: How do neurosurgeons get to the middle of someone’s brain without damaging other parts of the brain?
| 49 |
In short, they don’t.
Detailed imaging (pre-op MRI and intra-operative CT) are often used to create a robust surgical plan which includes trajectories, burr hole locations, and implant targets to minimize risk of bleeding, damage to important speech regions, etc. Unintended cognitive, personality, speech, and motor symptoms are not uncommon following major neurosurgery. These kinds of side effects are often temporary, but no guarantees.
Source: neural engineer who studies deep brain stimulation.
| 69 |
|
[Marvel/MCU] How does Wakanda keep Vibranium in it's borders
|
I know Wakanda is supposedly a strong nation, but it is quite small and isolated, how does one small African nation keep the entire world from getting at least some of the rarest, strongest and most sought after resource on the planet?
EDIT: I knew they were strong but like everyone else I appear to have underestimated them, interesting stuff!
| 83 |
Wakanda is not just a strong nation, it's a world power and either one of the most technologically advanced, or the most (Latveria gives it competition here). While they are small and could be overwhelmed, there hasn't been a terrestrial force powerful enough to take Wakanda. They have even repelled significant extra-terrestrial threats like Skrulls and even a portion of Thanos' army.
That's how, by bloodying the noses of anyone who comes knocking at their door. Don't underestimate Wakanda, and especially not their King.
EDIT: To give context it took Thanos' army's full force to just breach the Golden City's first wall. Thanos, the guy who crushes planets. The guy who breaks Kings casually.
| 92 |
How is friction possible if atoms never actually touch each other?
|
Hopefully I put the right words in the title. I don't know of any other way to put this.
| 20 |
Atoms may not touch in the way we normally imagine touch, but that's just because that idea of touch doesn't make sense on an atomic scale. It does not mean that touch never happens, it just means that our mental picture is only accurate at human scales.
When things interact through touching, such as with friction, it just means that the atoms have gotten close enough together to interact across the gap between them. The same way that magnets can interact withought getting into physical contact, atoms interact across microscopic distances to create the phenomena of friction.
| 33 |
ELIF: Why is it that every time we put something down our throat toothbrush, finger etc. we start to gag but when we but food and water down our throat we don't gag at all?
|
ELIF: Why is it every time we put something other than food and water down our throat- a toothbrush or a finger etc. we start to gag?
| 433 |
Because when you eat, you're mushing it and mixing it with your saliva until it becomes a mushy soup of mushiness. For example, you can't shove a chocolate bar down your throat without gagging, despite it being food. An experiment you can do is to start eating something, but instead of swallowing you spit it out on a plate. It looks absolutely disgusting. But you will see the food is not solid at all anymore, it's like a mushy soup. And as we all know, swallowing soup isn't really an issue. Furthermore, we swallow things in steps, so to speak. If you put a lot of food in your mouth, you won't be able to swallow it all in one go (maybe some can). You will swallow it bit by bit, although you won't consciously think about it.
| 179 |
ELI5:How do flocks of birds and shoals of fish communicate to make instant and sharp turns in the same direction?
| 71 |
In flocks of starlings (murmurations), one individual's actions affects its seven closest neighbours. Then each of those 7 starlings affect another 7 neighbours and it ripples outwards in a chain reaction.
| 15 |
|
Why is Kuru only caused by eating a human brain and not any other animal’s?
|
Title
| 118 |
Kuru is a prion disease, which is characterized by misfolding of a specific protein called PRP. By mechanisms that are not well known, these proteins are “contagious” in that once introduced into the body, they gradually cause all of the person’s PRP proteins to convert to the diseased conformation. This phenomenon only seems to occur if the prion that was ingested has a similar amino acid sequence to sequence of the host’s native PRP. This is why transmission of prion diseases is usually only caused by eating contaminated tissues from the same species, as there is usually variation from species to species. However, sometimes they can be similar enough (like with mad cow disease) to be able to spread.
| 151 |
ELI5 why do doctors work 24 hour shifts instead of the normal 8 hour shift?
| 15 |
It's very simple, it ensures that in most cases one doctor would be able to work with a patient from entrance to the hospital to stabile/release.
Tests, diagnosis, and treatment could be hampered if say the doctor had to hand you off to a changing shift and pass on the information gathered up to that point. It's possible that someone could be forgotten all together or that a vital bit of information could get lost in the transfer of your case.
It also is easier to establish trust in care.
| 18 |
|
Can neutrinos pass through neutron stars like they pass through earth?
|
Since neutrinos are super-abundant, nevertheless elusive and hard to detect even by brute force, I was wondering what happens when they meet a neutron star where matter is condensed.
Do they pass through as easily?
If not, what happens when they hit a neutron? Since they interact more often, do they make the weak force appear stronger in a neutron star?
| 15 |
The density of a material affects how likely a neutrino is to interact. Neutrinos interact via the weak force, and only the weak force. The weak force is so named because of the relatively weak nature of the force. The interaction is also dependant on neutrino energy.
At energies characteristic of beta decays, the mean free path of a neutrino is such that about half of the neutrinos will decay in about 1.5 lightyears **of lead**, or 17 lightyears of water. The theoretically much denser neutron star density would therefore contract the mean free path through the star. However, due to the extreme conditions in the local area of that interaction, the interaction is likely discouraged by the effects causing neutron degeneracy to be favored in the first place: if protons and electrons could survive in the core, they would. Instead, the effects of gravity favor denser neutron degenerate matter. The energy of the neutrino likely isn't enough to allow for a neutron-neutrino interaction to form a proton-electron pair.
| 19 |
CMV: I have no obligation to give place to people who are in their lane, who are speeding up in their lane but don't have their signal on
|
I am referring to a very specific kind of situation - the one in which a person speeds up in their lane even though there is a car in front of them because they plan to change lanes at the last second before they ram into the car in front of them - they usually change lanes by not using a signal, or by putting their signal on at the last minute.
I believe that I shouldn't have to anticipate if someone may or may not be changing lanes because sometimes people speed up on the car in front of them just for tail-gating and they don't actually end up changing lanes. Why should I have to play this game of will they won't they? It's up to the person who is changing lanes to provide sufficient signal. This CMV isn't about "if you care about your own safety then..." or insurance costs or anything like that. This is more about who has the moral high ground and more along the lines of is this line of thinking correct or valid?
_____
> *This is a footnote from the CMV moderators. We'd like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please* ***[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)****! Any questions or concerns? Feel free to* ***[message us](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/changemyview)***. *Happy CMVing!*
| 21 |
well legally you're not obligated to do anything.
​
morally, you have an obligation to protect life when possible so why intentionally put yourself and others in harms way.
​
if you're CMV is that your position is more morally defensible than theirs, thats pretty subjective
| 16 |
Could you non destructively remove a viruses dna?
|
And would it afterwards be harmless while still providing enough information to further immunity?
| 26 |
Can you extract a virus’ genetic material while leaving the capsid intact? No.
I don’t quite know what you mean by the second question. Are you asking whether the empty capsid triggers the immune system? If so, yes. For instance, Gardasil, the vaccine for HPV, consists of engineered, empty capsids.
| 21 |
How do we know what dinosaurs ate exactly if only their bones were fossilized?
|
Without their internal organs like the stomach, preserved or fossilized, how do we know?
Edit: Thank you all for your very informative answers!
| 7,778 |
The shape of their teeth is still intact in some of the fossils. From the shape you can determine if the teeth was used for example grinding plants, or ripping and tearing flesh. Omnivores typically have some middle ground.
| 6,206 |
[Star Wars] How might Wilhuff Tarkin have responded, had he been aware of the fact that Palpatine was behind the Clone Wars (and, by extension, the extermination of the Jedi order)?
|
This excerpt from the book, "Tarkin," features a conversation between him and Count Dooku that implies that he was never aware:
>“The count nodded in assessment. “I may not be able to forestall repercussions, Governor, but should this situation escalate to war between the Confederacy and the Republic, I will do my best to see that no lasting harm comes to your homeworld.”
>Tarkin’s brows beetled. “Why would you?”
>“Because in the end, you and I are likely to find ourselves under the same roof.”
>Tarkin had long wondered why Dooku’s prophecy had never come to pass. It was the Separatists who had wound up on the losing side, along with Dooku and, most unexpectedly, the entire Jedi Order, and the Emperor and Tarkin who had found themselves under the same roof.”
If Tarkin was aware of Palpatine's role in the war, is there any indication that he might have tried to stop him?
| 68 |
Honestly, he probably wouldn't have cared. He was on a first name basis with Sheev Palpatine and was in full support of the eradication of the Jedi. He might have been annoyed at the deception, but that's it.
| 44 |
[DC] What are the limits to the Lazarus Pit?
|
From what I understand from the animated movie Son of Batman, Talia said that Rah's Al'Ghul's body was too badly damaged for the Lazarus Pit to revive(though it may have been bullshit so she could assume leadership of the League of Assassins) and Deathstroke said that the Pit couldn't revive Talia if he blew her head off. So it got me wondering, how severe does damage to the human body have to be before the Lazarus Pit can't repair it, and if used to raise the dead, how long does a person have to have been dead before the Pit can't revive them?
| 21 |
Presumably it restores life to the body, but if the body is missing all its vital organs, then you're just giving a rejuvenating treatment to a nonviable lump of meat
Every time I've seen it used, the Pit was either on someone who was not dead, but in terminal condition, or else they were only recently/clinically dead
| 21 |
ELI5 How does a thermal camera work?
| 17 |
You know how hot things can glow red and very hot things might even glow white hot. The same effect works with colder things as well. But instead of glowing in red they glow in infrared. A thermal camera is a camera which does not capture the regular red, green and blue color bands but rather captures several infrared color bands. And by looking at what colors of infrared they glow it can determine what the temperatures are.
| 19 |
|
ELI5: Why are humans ticklish?
| 56 |
Think about where people are ticklish: Their sides, the bottom of their feet, armpits, the back, etc. The prominent school of thought is that parents instinctively tickle their young to teach them a defensive response to protect the most vulnerable areas of their bodies.
| 29 |
|
[TLOTR] Is the Arkenstone of Thrane the silmaril lost by Maedhros into the fiery pit?
| 16 |
Almost certainly not. The light of the Silmarils is the last remnant of pure untainted light in all of Arda and would be immediately recognizable as such; the Arkenstone is described as giving off "a little globe of pallid light". The Arkenstone was "cut and fashioned by the dwarves", but the Silmaril could not have been cut and would have needed no fashioning. The leaders of the Army of Valinor also predicted that "those jewels could not be found or brought together again unless the world be broken and remade", which could refer to the Downfall of Numenor but more likely refers to the much more relevant (to the Silmarils) Second Music of the Ainur, when the Silmarils will be used to recreate the Two Trees.
| 23 |
|
Eli5: why does it feel good to crack your back?
|
I know what chiropractors would say but I want to hear others.
| 37 |
In people with back pain, one theory is that your joint is slightly off its axis, kind of like those sliding closet doors when one of the pegs comes out of the track. Cracking your back restores the two surfaces of the joint to their optimal position.
The "cracking" sound you hear is called cavitation, which is essentially gas bubbles forming and instantaneously being reabsorbed back into your joint fluid. This happens because of changes in pressure in your joint.
| 18 |
[General Sci-Fi] Would being born from incest be an issue for one's physical and mental health if there is a significant amount of progress in the field of genetic engineering?
| 56 |
Nope. Then again, it isn't an issue in the modern age either, unless the parents either have or are carriers of genetic diseases, or it is done over many generations. If you add in genetic engineering, you can easily do gene therapy to fix any issues that could arise.
| 51 |
|
ELI5: How small chips in toy cars/action figures can contain melodies/sounds?
| 22 |
The answer to this is the same as the answer to "how can a thousand decent-resolution pictures or iStore songs fit on a single little tiny microchip in a USB drive?" - digitization.
Sounds can be transformed into digital signals, where a series of numbers is used to represent frequency and other characteristics that comprise a complex noise. You use computer hardware and software to transform it from a listened-to-noise into a digital string of numbers. Then you store those numbers on a microchip. We've miniaturized computer memory to the point where the numbers can be so closely packed together on a single chip that we can easily store TRILLIONS of numbers in something that'll fit on a fingernail with tons of room to spare... and that's a tremendous amount of room to store pre-recorded voices plus some programming logic to play them in a certain sequence as needed.
All you need to do then is have a second battery-powered microchip (or some other storage room on the same microchip) that is programmed to transform those sounds back into electrical signals that are then sent to a tiny speaker... and Furby is given the gift of annoying the living hell out of anyone within earshot that older than four years old.
| 10 |
|
[MCU] How can Thanos resist the beheading attempt from Thor and Cap in Endgame?
|
In Endgame just after Captain Marvel tries to fly to the van with the gauntlet and Thanos destroys it, Thor comes at Thanos to stop him getting the gauntlet and then attacks him with Stormbreaker and calls Mjolnir using that to force Sb towards Thanos who is barely holding it back. Then comes in Captain America who jumps on Thanos's back and pulls sb towards Thanos while Thor is pushing it forward.
Since cap has the power of Thor at this point in the movie due to being worthy, why are basically 2 Thor's not able to behead Thanos right then and there?
| 587 |
I think it could be that yes, both Cap and Thor are really powerful, but consider that
-Cap just learn about the powers and might not know how to use the full potential of it all. And he was wrecked in the beginning of the battle. He did have part of his arm exposed.
-Thor has been idle for 5 years, recked with depression, guilt, and PTSD. He definitely not as peak as he used to be.
Compare to Thanos who was at peak on that point.
| 437 |
ELI5: How do we know forsure that light has to be the fastest thing in the universe if we haven't observed it all?
| 21 |
The idea that nothing can be faster than the speed of light is not really an observation about light so much as it as an observation about how speed really works.
The problem is that the normal idea about how we treat speeds, like that you can simply add one speed to another does not actually work.
In school you had problems about one train going 130 km/h one way and another train going 200 km/h the opposite way and you calculated that they are going away from one another at 330 km/h.
It turns out that what you were taught in school was a lie.
Speed does not really work that way at all in real life.
It turns out it only looks that way when you have really slow speeds. If you get faster speeds the error becomes more obvious.
if you add half the speed of light to half the speed of light, you would expect to get out the speed of light if you use the math they taught you in school. It is actually closer to 4/5 of the speed of light.
The math works that no matter how you add stuff up you can never go over the speed of light.
So there really is no way to go faster than light, not because light is special, but because it already moves at the fasted speed there is. The idea that there might be faster speeds is an illusion that comes from being taught about speeds the wrong way in school.
The speed of light is the speed at which the universe works in general.
| 75 |
|
ELI5: Why does putting one foot out from under the blankets bring so much relief of heat while laying in bed?
| 767 |
The veins in your foot are relatively close to the surface, making heat transfer from your inner body to the outside temperature much easier. The blanket (or socks) are isolating your feet, making this transfer more difficult.
| 491 |
|
ELI5: Please explain the differences in roles and responsibilities among different military ranks (lets say Corporal to General)
|
What different roles do different ranks in the military have? What is the major difference between a 2nd Lieutenant's responsibility and a Major's responsibility? At which point does a particular rank stop seeing frontline combat, or combat at all. You get what I'm saying.
| 41 |
Think of it in comparison to a large retail chain.
Think of privates and specialists like the on-the-floor salesmen and stockers, who do the actual work of working with customers, stocking shelves and that kind of thing.
Now you've got your NCOs (non-commissioned officers), your corporals and sergeants. These guys are sort of like the shift supervisors and department managers, who keep the regular workers organized and on task based on the directions they're given from management.
Lieutenants are your store managers. The whole staff reports to them, the floor managers carry out their instructions, and the performance of the store as a whole is their responsibility.
Majors are your mid-level managers. Some of them might be attached to one larger store, others might be working at headquarters, others are running half a dozen stores in one given area. Most haven't set foot on a retail floor in years, except for the occasional tour or inspection. These are the guys who organize the bigger picture based on the strategy handed down from senior management. They're responsible for ensuring standards are met consistently, and for keeping senior management informed of conditions in the stores and in the market.
Colonels are your junior vice presidents. Same as majors, one rank might involve any of ten different roles, but generally they're running larger business units or working at HQ to coordinate overall strategy, supply and performance.
Generals are your senior management, your heads of marketing or your VPs. These guys are working out detailed strategy in support of the overall plan, bringing multiple different elements together in a coordinated effort to overcome the competition.
Then of course you've got your three- and four-star generals, who are your top-level executives (CEO, CFO etc). These guys are generally doing big-picture strategy and representing the company to the board, the investors etc.
| 39 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.