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ELI5: How do we know that languages like Sanskrit and most the European languages are descended from the same language but languages like Basque we know are completely unrelated to any known language?
| 65 |
We can compare the words for different things in different languages. If the words are almost the same then it is likely that the languages are very closely related. For example Spanish and Portuguese share a lot of words and grammar. The less similar they are the longer back they separated. For example Spanish and French both share some words and most words have the same base but are pronounced and spelled differently. When you get really far back it can be hard to see how they are related but you can track some words back to their origins. For example French and German sounds very differently but if you compare each word you can find similarities. Where possible you can also go back in ancient texts and find the original common language between them. For example French and Hindu have very little in common but there are texts from the bronze age which show similarities with both of the languages. And then you have languages like Basque, Mandarin and Finish which do not have anything in common with most other languages even how hard we try to find a link.
| 33 |
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Ask Anything Wednesday - Biology, Chemistry, Neuroscience, Medicine, Psychology
|
Welcome to our weekly feature, Ask Anything Wednesday - this week we are focusing on **Biology, Chemistry, Neuroscience, Medicine, Psychology**
Do you have a question within these topics you weren't sure was worth submitting? Is something a bit too speculative for a typical /r/AskScience post? No question is too big or small for AAW. In this thread you can ask any science-related question! Things like: "What would happen if...", "How will the future...", "If all the rules for 'X' were different...", "Why does my...".
**Asking Questions:**
Please post your question as a top-level response to this, and our team of panellists will be here to answer and discuss your questions. The other topic areas will appear in future Ask Anything Wednesdays, so if you have other questions not covered by this weeks theme please either hold on to it until those topics come around, or go and post over in our sister subreddit /r/AskScienceDiscussion , where every day is Ask Anything Wednesday! Off-theme questions in this post will be removed to try and keep the thread a manageable size for both our readers and panellists.
**Answering Questions:**
Please only answer a posted question if you are an expert in the field. [The full guidelines for posting responses in AskScience can be found here](http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/wiki/index#wiki_answering_askscience). In short, this is a moderated subreddit, and responses which do not meet our quality guidelines will be removed. Remember, peer reviewed sources are always appreciated, and anecdotes are absolutely not appropriate. In general if your answer begins with 'I think', or 'I've heard', then it's not suitable for /r/AskScience.
If you would like to become a member of the AskScience panel, [please refer to the information provided here](https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/about/sticky).
Past AskAnythingWednesday posts [can be found here](http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/search?q=flair%3A%27meta%27&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all). Ask away!
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[Neuroscience]
It’s said that, when you go though some trauma (I’m thinking about ptsd) your brain is physically damaged in the process. How can that happen? How does that actually happen? (So what is damaged and how)
Thanks!
| 23 |
ELI5: Why do stores like Walmart or Meijer have 25 registers yet only keep 2 open?
| 32 |
It doesn't cost much to install registers. It does cost a lot to pay people to stand next to them. Most stores have software that predicts how many customers they'll have that day & thus the absolute minimum number of employees they need. Sometimes they'll underestimate (and often managers are encouraged to staff a little bit under the software estimate to save money). But, usually they'll have the minimum necessary to get people through.
On Black Friday they might need to have every register staffed, and they actually will be. Every other day, it costs the store nothing to have extra registers sitting there, and they will have just enough open to get everyone through (in a time they've estimated will not make you quit shopping there) & still make a profit.
| 40 |
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National grid: When demand outstrips supply, why does the frequency drop rather than the voltage/current?
|
I’ve heard that in the UK when there are massive demands for power (or a generator goes offline) the mains frequency dips, why isn’t it the voltage or the current that decreases?
Thanks
| 15 |
Two things:
1) frequency of mains current is set by the frequency of turbines spinning in generators connected to the grid.
2) generator turbines receive a "back emf", a force resisting their motion proportional to the load in the circuit.
When one generator goes offline the load on the others increases. This slows them down decreasing current frequency for a short period until demand can be met again.
| 26 |
ELI5: How can the SCOTUS rule that healthcare laws put too much pressure on states to comply when it was ok to use federal highway funding to pressure states into adopting the national speed limit and drinking age?
|
There was a 2012 ruling in healthcare where the SCOTUS said fed put too much pressure on states. Now, today, they're discussing this idea with the Affordable Care Act and the fed withholding tax credits for compliance. This idea sounds ridiculous to me in light of all the federal laws passed by holding money hostage from states, such as speed limit and drinking age. Can anyone explain this contradiction?
| 35 |
In *South Dakota v. Dole*, South Dakota challenged the federal government's conditioning of highway funds on states raising the drinking age to 21. South Dakota wanted to continue to let 19-year-olds drink and receive federal money. The Court held that the government can condition policy changes on funds provided that condition is related to the funds being withheld. In that case, the funds were related because the reason the federal government wanted to raise the drinking age was to help cut down on drunk driving.
In *National Federation of Independent Business, et al. v. Kathleen Sebelius*, which is prior ACA case and the one where the Court laid out the rule about pressure that Justice Kennedy is referring to, the funds that would be withheld were clearly related to the policy change (everything had to do with medical care), so that argument wasn’t made. Instead, the Court said that the government could pressure states, but not coerce them. In drawing the distinction between pressure and coercion, the Court pointed out that the funds that were being withheld from South Dakota amounted to about .5% of South Dakota’s budget, but here some of the funds would account for 10% of a state’s budget. The court didn’t draw a clear line between what is pressure and what is coercion, but it said that .5% is pressure and 10% is coercion. The line is somewhere in between there.
Here are the relevant case excerpts. From *South Dakota v. Dole*:
>Incident to this power, Congress may attach conditions on the receipt of federal funds, and has repeatedly employed the power "to further broad policy objectives by conditioning receipt of federal moneys upon compliance by the recipient with federal statutory and administrative directives."The breadth of this power was made clear in United States v. Butler, 297 U. S. 1, 297 U. S. 66 (1936), where the Court, resolving a longstanding debate over the scope of the Spending Clause, determined that "the power of Congress to authorize expenditure of public moneys for public purposes is not limited by the direct grants of legislative power found in the Constitution. [Internal citations omitted]
And from *National Federation of Independent Business, et al. v. Kathleen Sebelius*:
> Congress may use its spending power to create incentives for States to act in accordance with federal policies. But when “pressure turns into compulsion,” ibid., the legislation runs contrary to our system of federalism. “[T]he Constitution simply does not give Congress the authority to require the States to regulate.” New York, 505 U. S., at 178. That is true whether Congress directly commands a State to regulate or indirectly coerces a State to adopt a federal regulatory system as its own.
From the same opinion:
>It is easy to see how the Dole Court could conclude that the threatened loss of less than half of one percent of South Dakota’s budget left that State with a “prerogative” to reject Congress’s desired policy, “not merely in theory but in fact.” 483 U. S., at 211–212. The threatened loss of over 10 percent of a State’s overall budget, in contrast, is economic dragooning that leaves the States with no real option but to acquiesce in the Medicaid expansion.
| 23 |
If the Moon was orbiting the Sun instead of the Earth, would it be classified as a planet or a dwarf planet ?
| 25 |
If it was orbiting amongst a collection of similarly sized bodied and didn't have enough mass to gravitationally affect them and toss them out of that orbit, then it would be classified as a dwarf planet. Like Pluto and Charon cannot clear out their orbit of other Kuiper Belt objects. Yes, it's a dodgy definition, but it works for the time being until there's a better one!
| 28 |
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What are the differences between Nietzsche’s Will to Power and Schopenhauer’s Will to Life?
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I know Nietzsche took many of Schopenhauer’s pessimistic ideas and transformed them to be more life affirming, but how does the Will to Power differentiate from Schopenhauer? Schopenhauer writes a lot about how humans can never be satisfied and that life is a pendulum between pain and boredom, so does Nietzsche comment on this?
| 30 |
Schopenhauer's Will is to be suppressed and eliminated, since it is the origin of all suffering. On the other hand, Nietzsche's Will is to grow and have its influence on the subject's life, since it is the only way he can live an authentic life.
| 10 |
[D&D] Why does the skill, "use magic item" require the charisma stat modifier?
| 24 |
Charisma represents force of personality and innate aptitude for magic in D&D (and a few other seemingly unrelated things. Its a bit of a grab bag stat). It's the same reason why sorcerers and bards use their charisma bonus for spellcasting.
| 37 |
|
(General) Why would someone invade a planet already settled?
|
Why would we invade a planet? If it's settled then all you would need to do is establish a blockade and make any ship coming off planet pay a tax and if it doesn't it's boarded and taken or just blown up.
The argument against is that it's really hard to have that many ships surrounding one planet, let alone multiple systems. However when you think about it you probably need 100 million to 1 billion troops to attack, take and secure a planet.
The only reason I can think of invading a planet is for religious reasons (cleanse the infidel) or genocide (which can fall under religious).
| 15 |
Well for the reasons you listed (and genocide doesn't always fall under religion).
If you don't need the tax money then a blockade is pointless. Maybe the native population doesn't even have taxable space flight (earth). Could be territorial and we're too close to their home or political and were made out to be a threat (earth peoples are terrorist!). The invaders might not be intelligent and just attack anything they can find. Maybe your space craft suck but your ground game is unmatched or you receive great honor in face to face combat?
Edit: Forgot one, maybe they need to build a highway!
Seems to me when were making justifications for war... any reason will do.
| 11 |
ELI5: Why does room temperature water feel cold (in your mouth) after chewing minty gum?
| 38 |
You're triggering cold-sensing nerves.
When you drink water, you're washing other chemicals off of those cold-sensing nerves, and the menthol remaining in your mouth snags right onto them and sets them off. (You get similar effects when you drink water after eating other foods, like artichokes.)
It doesn't actually lower the temperature of anything, but the nerves think that they do, and that's all that matters.
| 22 |
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Is long-run economic growth going to be higher after the corona crisis?
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I recently got into economics and while studying the Solow model, the main conclusion I got is to maintain economic growth technological progress is required. As far as I know, this crisis has led to increasing technological advances.
In so a question has been bothering me, after we reach steady-state, would the economic growth be higher because of accelerated technological progress? Or is my reasoning flawed?
| 60 |
Could you elaborate?
The assumption that technology creates most long-term economic growth relies on the assumption that all tech is some kind of efficiency or quality improvenent. The COVID vaccine and policies might not have a long-term effect if they are only used to solve one crisis (although getting out of the crisis faster is good for the economy). However if this leads to a change in culture, international cooperation and medical research then it will improve the long term economy. On issue complicating this is that the long term economy is mostly made up of short-term economies, so while innovation might have positive long—term effects, some short term issues (slowed down education and investment now) might slow down economic growth in the long run.
| 21 |
[Star Wars] Are droids conscious and enslaved?
| 68 |
Pretty much, yeah. Can't even make the argument "but you can't reprogram a person like you can a droid, thus they aren't actually sapient" when the Jedi Mind Trick is a known phenomenon in this universe. Have little doubt it depends on the sophistication of the AI - can't imagine what cruel bastard would make a roomba capable of feeling emotions and contemplating its own existence - but advanced models are just straight-up robotic people denied personhood. Some droids are even conscious of this, like Lando's companion in Solo.
| 90 |
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[META] With all due respect, what has happened to this subreddit?
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I mean no disrespect at all, I used to really value and enjoy the discussions that went on in this sub but as of recently it seems that Rule 1 and Rule 3 are being broken constantly and nothing is being done about it anymore.
In the past, I would take the time to report inappropriate comments and posts (whilst trying to redirect users towards more appropriate subs) because I wanted to do my part and help maintain the quality and legitimacy of this sub but now it seems to be overrun and neglected.
Can anyone (mods?) shed any light on this? I would be more than willing to do my part if we had some reassurance that it was still being maintained.
| 55 |
Just needs more active modding. A sub like this is prone to become overrun with people asking for diagnostic impressions, and as long as that's happening, laypeople are going to weigh in with what they read on wikipedia or heard in their undergrad classes. It just needs to be modded out.
| 24 |
[Star Wars] What if Luke Skywalker would have turned to the dark side when Vader revealed himself as Luke's father?
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Vader says that they can end the war, overthrow emperor Palpatine, and rule the galaxy as father and son. Would this have happened? Or would there have been a different outcome?
| 18 |
Luke was incredibly strong in the Force, as was Vader to a more limited extent. With some secret training a la Starkiller, it's feasible that they could have united and overthrown the Emperor (breaking the Rule of Two), though Vader might die in the process due to his vulnerability to Sidious' lightning. Then, the Rebellion is almost entirely doomed - but they still have Leia. Within a few years, she could be ready to confront her brother (and possibly her father).
| 19 |
[Resident Evil 1996; 2002] Why is S.T.A.R.S uniform policy so lax?
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Seems like ever member just wears whatever they want on each mission. Why does the Racoon City Police Department not have a policy regarding the uniforms of their elite force?
| 44 |
Same reason US Special Forces have a lax uniform policy. At that level, it is assumed that you know best what the mission requires, clothes and grooming standards both. US Special Forces regularly grow beards because it helps them integrate with local culture that they work closely with, furthermore from a tactical perspective, different missions require different items and people have different strengths and preferences so there's no standardization of loadout, this is in stark contrast to regular military units. Basically, if your paying someone to be Special Forces and you want them to operate at a high level, you aren't going to dictate what shirt they wear
| 68 |
ELI5: What happens when holding back a sneeze?
| 51 |
The neurons that are triggering a sneeze reflex (mostly nose hairs) are trying to set off a huge sneeze. You are attempting to use different muscle groups to suppress it. Heard once that it is dangerous cause you could rupture a blood vessel doing so.
| 12 |
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[Dungeons and Dragons] Many of the greatest villains have believed that their actions were just. So, how does that effect their alignment? If a person does evil things, but with good intentions, are they good or evil?
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As an example, from our perspective, ISIS seems chaotic evil. But, they believe they're fighting to create a better world. So, does that mean they're actually lawful good?
Really, very few people view themselves as evil. Most everyone thinks they're a good person. So, how does alignment get applied to bad people who think they're good?
| 35 |
Alignment only work in multiverses in which there is an absolute definition for the extremes.
If, in yours, the definitions of good and evil are subjective, alignment must also be, which means that someone believing they are doing good will be good in their reference system, but not necessarily in yours.
| 34 |
I can't help but dislike rich kids for no reason other than the fact they are well-off. CMV.
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I have a roommate who is pretty wealthy. He embodies the rich white boy stereotypes (pretty much a fratbro), which is almost funny because of how stereotypical it is. With that being said, he has treated me with nothing but respect and kindness thus far. Not only that, he's quite considerate, if I'm napping and he has his bros over, he'll keep the music down as to not wake me up. Overall, he's a nice guy.
However, I still think he's a fratty douche for no reason. I know I shouldn't think this way, but there's something about his lifestyle and his upbringing that rubs me the wrong way. When he talks about his problems, I can't sympathize, because in my mind, he has had the world handed to him on a silver plate. What problem could he POSSIBLY have that is that bad, as compared to everyone else?
I know some people are going to think I'm jealous, which is slightly true. However, wouldn't everyone be jealous of a guy who has everything handed to him in life?
| 24 |
> However, wouldn't everyone be jealous of a guy who has everything handed to him in life?
And a billion people in the world are thinking about the same thing about you and your lifestyle. Do you think you are deserving of their dislike?
| 73 |
Whats going on with the euro??
| 268 |
The Euro is a shared currency. Basically, a bunch of countries all use the Euro as their currency. This means that when these countries borrow money, they borrow Euros, and repay it in Euros. Now, a bit about the value of money - it's all based on how much there is in the market, and how much people want that money. The more Euros are out there, the less each one is worth, and the fewer people want Euros, the less each Euro is worth.
So, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ireland have all borrowed heavily (in Euros). Way too heavily, by all appearances, and it looks like they'll be unable to save themselves from bankruptcy. Now, when this happens normally, the country just prints a ton of its currency, and pays the loans with that. Your currency value drops because there are so many of them out there now, but you survive without having to refuse to pay anyone back. That means you are marginally better to borrow from than if you had just let the loans default, so you can maybe get credit again if you institute the right policies.
The thing is, Greece et al. don't control how many Euros there are in the market. The European Central Bank does, and they don't want to make new Euros, for a bunch of reasons outside the scope of this question. So if Greece is going to pay its loans, it has to look to actual taxed Euros, not Euros it can create out of thin air.
This leaves Greece with a few options, when it can't pay: first, it could just not pay, in which case, they're totally screwed, financially. Banks stop lending to them, nobody wants to do business with the government, and other European nations' banks (who lent Greece all that money to begin with) get totaled by the losses. Second, they could get the money from someone else - this is the idea with getting France and Germany to give them a bailout. They pay their debts, but accept restrictions on spending in return, sorta like how you might have to turn over your spending to your mom if she just paid off all your credit cards. Third, they could leave the Euro, return to the drachma (their pre-Euro currency) and pay all their debts back in drachma, which will be basically worthless. This isn't much better than the first option, *but* it allows them the print-money option if they ever find themselves unable to repay loans they get later.
If Greece leaves the Euro, it means a bunch of things: first, all those people who were lending to Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and Italy are suddenly terrified that *they* are going to make their own (worthless) currency to pay their debts, so they stop buying. Spain and Co. grind to a halt when they can no longer pay their debts. Meanwhile, the value of the Euro drops precipitously, because nobody wants to get Euros to loan to Spain and Co., and there's suddenly a whole country's worth of Euro-spenders gone from the market (Greece). This is bad for Germany and France and the other, more stable Euro partners, because they rely on a strong currency for buying power.
| 303 |
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[Mario Kart] Since when they start allowing babies to drive?
| 18 |
These are closed course races held in the Mushroom Kingdom where the Princess is one of the racers. Anything goes. Also the races are actually remarkably safe. Even after high speed crashes no one is ever injured or even damaged enough to stop racing.
| 23 |
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[Mystery Dungeon] Where did Mewtwo come from?
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If humans don't exist/are extinct in this world, where did Mewtwo come from?
Mind you, Super Mystery Dungeon explicitly states that the main characters came from the world of humans. While I may be taking it a bit literally, does that mean that this is a separate universe with no humans?
| 25 |
World of humans may mean that it is just a world that primarily has humans. After all, there was a human natively in an offshoot future timeline...
Also, the humans seem to know about what the pokemon are... perhaps Mewtwo could have also come from the human world?
| 10 |
[astronomy] If the universe expanded at the same rate during the Big Bang why are there areas of high mass density( galaxies) and areas of low mass densities?
| 25 |
That is actually a great question, but very hard to answer. It touches on many different parts of cosmology and there is still a lot of debate around this.
One part is basically the question of initial conditions. What did the universe look like at the beginning? And why? Answering this involves topics like: string theory, inflation, pre-heating, baryogenisis, primordial nucleosynthesis. (In ascending order of how much we know about them). Some of this is very controversial and theoretical, so I'll leave it out.
What we do know *really* well is how the universe looked after those processes. At this point the universe is around 400 000 years old and filled basically with a neutral gas (mostly hydrogen). (We know this because of the Cosmic Mircowave Background). The gas is *almost* perfectly homogeneous, with fluctuations of about 10^(-5). Those initial fluctuations grow with time: denser areas have stronger gravitational pull, attract more gas and get even denser. Eventually they form galaxy clusters, galaxies and on the smallest scale gas clouds collapse to form stars. Therefor fluctuations are the seeds of the large scale structure we observe today. This is of course *way* more complex! Cosmologists use massive computer simulations to understand how exactly tiny fluctuations evolve into the universe we observe today. (There are many feedbacks/non-linear effects, dark matter...)
I hope this rough overview is somewhat helpful. Please ask if you want more details.
| 16 |
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How important is it to publish as sole author or without PhD supervisor as co-author after finishing a PhD?
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Hi, so I recently finished my PhD and have been told by several people now that I should now think about publishing as sole author or without my PhD supervisor as some Post-Doc applications have such a requirement.
There are two opportunities for me to publish data which my supervisor was not a part of (not the PI of those projects). However, it's difficult to publish as the sole author since most of the work is collaborative - I could manage something but probably without upsetting some colleagues.
How important is this though? Is it worth the awkward conversation with my supervisor? (Got my degree just yesterday but have a research contract till the end of this year with the same supervisor).
Edit: so papers without PhD supervisor as co-author after a PhD do make sense.
I am working on a project in another group and hoping to get about 2-3 publications from that (without my supervisor). This is probably my best bet even though I'm probably not first author is any of these publications (maybe 2nd or 3rd). But as first author, I don't see anything in my near future without my supervisor as co-author.
| 40 |
If you're in STE, don't do this unless it's 100 % your own work. As you said, most research is collaborative, and if other people had a part in it, it would be a severe violation of publishing ethics.
If you look around the literature, you'll notice that sole-author papers these days are in most cases not research papers, but review or perspective papers. Sole-author research papers are either from a different time, or papers with fancy theory that are usually written by scientists in advanced career stages or even retired professors.
>[...] have been told by several people [...] publishing as sole author [...] as some Post-Doc applications have such a requirement.
I have literally never seen this as a requirement anywhere in STEM, and especially not for Post-Doc positions or programs. If you apply for a position as a group leader or assistant professor or research fellowships at that career stage, they usually require you to have conducted "independent" research, but that in no way implies that you need to have sole-author papers. And that won't matter at your career stage anyway.
| 58 |
[Marvel] Do characters who are always fully armored like Dr. Doom have to completely remove their armor any time they need to use the restroom, bathe, or sleep?
| 35 |
DOOM is beyond petty things like using the restroom.
Really though, he likely just has a system in place to recycle or expel waste. With him, it could be tech or magic. Hell, maybe he really has done some kind of magic on himself so he doesn't need to go.
| 42 |
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[Star Wars] What is the criteria for a weak minded individual who can be manipulated by the force?
| 16 |
Basically anyone that isn't feeling any strong emotion or feelings towards whatever you're trying to do. A more skilled force user can implant an idea into a person's mind or even dominate their will but the basic mind trick isn't going to be too effective on most people. Someone just going through their day as fast as they can you can influence someone that cares about their job or the repercussions of doing it won't be as easily fooled. And someone that's in a heightened emotional state can be either more easily influenced or harder to influence depending on what you're trying to do. Telling someone that's mad to get into a fight is easier than trying to tell someone that's mad to forget what they're mad at.
| 20 |
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ELI5: Why does the key of a song playing on a set earphones change when the earphones are at some distance from the ears?
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I was listening to a playlist on my earphones and after a while I dropped them not too far from my ears. I could still hear them but it sounded like the key had changed. Same thing happened when I put them back on, key returned to normal. Whats the cause of this?
| 24 |
Higher frequencies get dampened harder over the same distance.
Additionally, you can only hear sound thats at least a certain loudness.
Headphones are low-power speakers and if you increase the distance high frequencies seem do drop out because the fall under that threshold.
The last thing to disappear if you increase distance is bass.
| 12 |
[Superman]How does he work out? Also, what's stopping him from putting on the pounds?
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If he's so strong, then how does he build muscle? I feel like nothing will ever be heavy enough to give him a workout.
Also, if he doesn't need to expend energy like a normal human does (working out, walking, running, etc.), then why doesn't he get fat?
Can he get fat?
| 56 |
Remember: Superman *does* expend energy to move and use his powers; otherwise he would violate the basic laws of physics. But he has an enormous stockpile of yellow-sun energy stored in his cells, from the photonucleic properties of his Krypton physiology. Expending this energy doesn't make him tired or sore, as it does for humans, but it's still the equivalent of an enormous workout. All we can theorize is that not all species have the same pain response to natural muscle tearing and rebuilding.
As for getting fat, Superman doesn't have to worry about that. Earth food only has a limited amount of calories, and that energy is probably burned away in a split second considering Superman's power output.
| 55 |
Can somebody explain version control to me, the difference between push and commit and the other things about it, I'm having trouble picturing how it works?
| 60 |
It depends on which version control your using / plan on using but simply for git:
* Pull, take the changes from the remote machine into your machine.
* Commit, the changes you've made making a save point on your local machine.
* Push, put one or more commits onto the remote machine.
* Pull request, request that your one or many pushes of a particular branch get merged into a master branch or release branch - if your new to version control it might be best to think of this as a push request instead.
* Branch, a copy of the master or release code base for either development or for a particular use case, such as platform specific code - eg different code will be required for Windows, Linux, Android versions of Chrome.
Hope this helps
| 47 |
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Is it true that mosquitos and fleas like the taste of some people better than others?
| 106 |
It's not taste so much as smell. Mosquitos are attracted to the CO2 we emit, but also more attracted to some people than others. Exactly why this is the case is still being studied, but genetics and lifestyle are likely part of it, as is determines the exact composition of your sweat and body oils. Everyone is slightly different in that regard.
| 75 |
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[Star Wars] What happened to force sensitive storm troopers?
|
If a storm trooper trained from a young age began showing signs of being force sensitive what would the empire or first order do with them?
| 50 |
With the Empire, there are standing orders to look out for potential force-sensitives, who are brought to the attention of the Inquisitors.
They may be recruited and trained as Inquisitors themselves - or simply disappear.
| 61 |
[John Wick 3] What does it take to be an IT specialist for the High Table?
|
Based on the offices we've seen, here are some of the technologies that need to be interconnected:
* iMacs
* iPhones
* Flip phones
* 1980's-era terminals
* Typewriters
* Carrier pigeons, perhaps using the [IP over Avian Carriers protocol](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1149)
Is there a bootcamp I can attend to prepare for this line of work?
| 36 |
The carrier pigeons are the Bowery King's intranet, so you can let his people take care of that translation.
The typewriters seemed to be for internal records in the central office, which is inefficient (but very secure) - but, again, not part of the actual communications network; the clerks will enter everything separately into the 1980s terminals. So, again, not a network problem (arguably a modernisation ~~nightmare~~ *opportunity*).
So now you've just got to worry about a system with:
* A decent secure database of contracts
* Write access from hardwired 1980s terminals - just a simple text UI sending a few strings over TCP/IP, nothing too fancy
* Read access over the internet
* Send out SMS messages
An APACHE stack should be more than capable.
| 28 |
[King Kong (1933)] What was the theater show going to be about if King Kong hadn't escaped?
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So end of the movie King Kong escapes and does his iconic scene on top of the Empire State Building, but what would have happened if he hadn't escaped? People paid $20 (almost $400 today) to see Carl Denham's show. [This is what we see before King Kong escapes.](https://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1.42483013.1583454846!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_768/image.jpg) The show starts off with the press taking pictures of Carl, Ann Darrow, and John Driscoll. Then what? How does the rest of the night play out? As far as we know Carl didn't take any of the animals or dinosaurs back with him. Seems like it would be a pretty boring show after the initial reveal of King Kong.
| 84 |
Isn't it implied that they brought camera equipment to Skull island? (I know it's explicit in the 2005 remake but don't remember about the original) It's possible that the plan was to show some of that footage.
Although, honestly, if King Kong was real people would definitely shell out 400 dollars to be among the first to see him.
| 57 |
[VtM] What is the smallest herd a Vampire could live off without killing them?
|
Under Vampire: The Masquerade rules, a Kindred must expend one blood point (defined as a pint or half a liter, iirc, feel free to correct me if that's wrong) to awaken every night, and further points to use his/her vampiric powers (Usually 1 point per use). Vampires in this setting can also feed without killing their victims, and it's fairly common for them to keep 'herds' of mortals to sate their apatite, feeding from a different member each night so as not to drain any of them.
So, I propose three scenarios:
1. A vampire who never uses his/her disciplines or powers, only wakes up each evening, expending one blood point to do so.
2. A vampire who does make use of his/her powers in addition to waking each evening, spending, on average, an additional 2 BP per night.
3. A vampire who, in addition to waking up and using his/her powers, keeps a ghoul. Ghouls are humans who drink vampire blood. It keeps them from aging, gives them limited use of vampiric powers, and makes them utterly devoted to the vampire who feeds them. Let's say our hypothetical vamp feeds his ghoul once a week, meaning that s/he expends a total of 22 BP in an average week.
What is the smallest herd of mortals this Kindred could maintain in each of these scenarios, without killing them, and feeding exclusively from them?
EDIT: I checked it V20. I was right. A blood point is half a liter, or approximately "One tenth of the blood in an average adult mortal."
| 67 |
A safe ballpark figure for "humans" is about 5000ml of blood total. After a single point loss of around 2000ml you're looking at life threateningly low pressure and will generally be incapable of doing much of anything for yourself. A healthy adult human with plenty can sustain 500ish ml of replenishment of all the various components that go into blood per week. This figure can vary pretty wildly and can be as low as 300 or as high as 800 from some cursory googling.
So if you're willing to kill them and hang them upside down for all that red goodness, a human is worth 10BP.
If you're willing to risk killing them but otherwise don't need them to do anything but lay there and survive, a human is worth 4BP.
The average healthy human replenishes 1 BP a week, assuming each BP represents about half a liter of whole, complete blood including all the plasma, red cells, etc.
* Scenario 1 requires seven thralls. (One each day)
* Scenario 2 requires twenty one. (Three each day)
* Scenario 3 requires.. well.. twenty two. (Specified as 22BP per week).
In any case this represents the bare minimum figures. It would be wise to add a percentage of replacements and backups. People have accidents and become ill. A single Kindred that did not particularly care to exert him or herself could probably make due with a steady flock of about thirty people, maybe less if they expend some of their powers in pursuit of keeping everybody safe.
| 39 |
CMV: No pandemic has been as politically polarizing in American history as COVID-19.
|
Things are getting better for a lot of America right now...
In my own state number of new cases found and percent of people found positive have both dropped like a stone.
But when I see stuff like this...
[https://www.businessinsider.com/white-republicans-more-likely-to-reject-covid-19-vaccine-2021-3](https://www.businessinsider.com/white-republicans-more-likely-to-reject-covid-19-vaccine-2021-3)
[https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/new-yahoo-news-you-gov-poll-covid-19-vaccine-acceptance-is-rising-except-among-republicans-003242019.html](https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/new-yahoo-news-you-gov-poll-covid-19-vaccine-acceptance-is-rising-except-among-republicans-003242019.html)
[https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2021/03/10386020/republican-men-against-covid-vaccine-anti-vaxxers](https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2021/03/10386020/republican-men-against-covid-vaccine-anti-vaxxers)
I get worried...
Even when all Republican Presidents and all the Democratic Presidents got vaccinated, it still doesn't seem to do much to convince people that its a good idea.
It seems like we as a nation are incapable of accepting the idea that infectious diseases are bad things and that we should all be getting vaccines to stop them. I sure as heck have never heard anything about large groups of people refusing the polio vaccine back in the 50's and 60's!
That said I'm a child of the tail end of the eighties, and as Captain cis, het, male I'm in no position to talk about how bad things were when AIDS first came out.
My general understanding was that Regan tried to keep the pandemic from being considered a big deal because it was mainly infecting "those people" at the time... which you know, that's all kinds of f\*\*ked up, but at least we didn't have politicians telling us how great it is to share needles or become "blood brothers" right?
[https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/01/15/Blood-Brothers-may-fall-victim-to-AIDS/8788506149200/](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/01/15/Blood-Brothers-may-fall-victim-to-AIDS/8788506149200/)
Is this modern pandemic the most polarized America has ever been over an illness... or am I just one more person shouting that they sky is falling and things have never been as bad as currently are?
Basically I'd like to learn more about the political divides America went through during past pandemics/illnesses....
| 16 |
The HIV/AIDS pandemic was probably more polarizing in some ways and less in others. After all, there's never been a huge stigma against people who have/had COVID or a large group of people saying COVID is a good thing because it means God is punishing "degenerates." It also took way less time to get the political and economic will of the country behind developing vaccines and therapeutics with COVID, while it tooks years and constant protests before any of that got properly underway with HIV/AIDS.
For sure it wasn't the same type of polarization, but it was intense in its own way, just stretched out over a longer period.
| 26 |
ELI5: Why are/were Dalmatians fire dogs?
| 16 |
Dalmatians got along well with the horses that pulled the old fire carriages that were common before the advent of the modern fire engine. They would apparently keep other animals away from the horses and even keep the horses calm once they approached the fire. Also, they learned to recognized the fire bells and would run out of the station barking, warning civilians to clear a path for the carriage to come out.
| 10 |
|
ELI5 Why batteries (cameras,power banks, cells, etc) are not allowed in luggage bags in airport but are allowed in carry bag.?
| 652 |
These items contain batteries which store a lot of energy. If there is a short circuit they can generate a lot of heat starting a fire. In a cabin with lots of people these fires could quickly be extinguished or at least contained until the airplane lands. However if the fire breaks out in the cargo compartment it might not even be noticed before it is quite big and can not be easily extinguished as people can not gain access to it.
| 918 |
|
CMV: The US/world is headed in a direction that leaves young adults/teens hopeless.
|
Maybe it’s the media, from Reddit to cable news, but it seems like a lot of young adults like myself, and younger teens, are distraught and hopeless. Housing, jobs, government, climate, etc. we all know the “tone” for the future based on the present narrative. It’s bleak. Or seems so.
I’d love for someone to offer new information or a different perspective. I hate feeling like this, but maybe all the media around me is tainted and there’s a positive outlook that exists. Something I can look to besides being hopeless. Some path to hope for, even if I find it unlikely, it’s better than thinking there is nothing.
Because currently, it’s hard to be excited for the future, and I’d latch onto anything someone can offer.
Edit: A lot of these answers seem to be comparing real world evidence of exaggerated negatives from the media, against “possibilities” that have yet to come. Which brings some hope to look for, but still feels like a carrot on a stick.
Edit 2 possible answer: the best answer so far, and has been stated by a few people, is that this happens to every generation. But when it happens to “you/me”. It seems more real than the issues in the past that we conquered. So while there is no “answer” to change the view of being concerned with world ending problems, or perceived world end problems, it’s normal to have a time of despair and hopelessness. And if you persevere, like generations before us, we will see that most of us will be just fine. So it is nice to know there’s not a direction or solution we can see currently, hence the hopelessness, if you stick around and do the right thing, you’ll see (I’ll see) that these issues weren’t that end of the world as we know it.
And I guess if it is the end of the world as we know it we are fucked anyway so why worry.
| 916 |
Did you know that you're less likely to be murdered now than at any time previously in history?
Yup, taken as an aggregate and normalized on a per capita basis, even a couple of world wars doesn't equal the violence of endemic warfare, slavery, and vigilante justice prevalent in previous centuries.
This little factoid comforts me, hopefully it will comfort you too.
| 237 |
ELI5:How were (pre)renaissance scientiests paid for working on seemingly non-pragmatic ideas such as the motions of the planets etc.?
|
It seems like some scientists weren't set out to solve problems such as why does this wine turn sour, but many seemed to just be trying to find out more about what the hell is going on, however how did that bring an income for them to fund their experiments & time doing mathematics and scientific method?
| 25 |
Because then as now, some people were curious and wanted to know the truth. Including powerful and wealthy people. A king or queen interested in astronomy or astrology or alchemy would take a learned man under their wing and provide him with a place to live, a salary, and means to perform their experiments.
In some cases this is not exclusive with working on "practical" applications also, IIRC Galileo drew a monthly salary from the Medici family to advise them on practical matters of architecture, engineering, and others, which left him with enough time to perfect the telescope and peek at Jupiter.
| 23 |
[Batman] Whats the deal with the Ventriloquist's dummy Scarface? is Scarface a split personality? Is he really a cursed demon doll forcing an innocent man to commit heinous acts like Wesker says. Is Wesker actually faking it and is really in control but pretends to be nuts to gain a lighter sentance
|
There's also the in between that Wesker IS in control but doesn't realize it because he uses Scarface as an outlet to convince himself he isn't in control. But I'm not really certain what his deal is all together!
| 83 |
Funnily enough, Wesker has a split personality but it's something entirely separate and Scarface is indeed a possessed doll. The dummy has been passed on to other people (and in fact did not start with Wesker) and it keeps it's personality and memories.
| 75 |
[Amazing Spider-Man 2] Why does Spider-Man take his sweet time with stopping the plutonium heist? Every second he spends cracking jokes and not stopping the truck just further endangers innocent people and allows more property damage to occur!
| 104 |
The jokes are a part of his thought process. They help him adapt on his feet. He doesn't have Mission Control on the radio; he has to figure things out himself. The jokes are his way of coming to terms with his situation.
There are plenty of times when he responds wordlessly in a split-second when things are *really* on the line.
| 63 |
|
Can electrical breakdown, such as lightning or electric arc, be considered as quantum tunneling effect?
| 20 |
No arcing is cause by the potential (voltage) increasing to the point that the permittivity of air can no longer insulate it. Once the arc is struck the air around the arc is physically different. Quantum tunneling has a signature aspect of negative resistance. Voltage increases and current actually drops.
| 13 |
|
Will NSF let me use student funds for summer salary during a no cost extension?
|
I won't be able to use all the remaining funds on my CAREER award before it expires in 1.25 years, so I'll need to request a no cost extension. The problem is that most of my remaining funds are for grad student support, but it's not nearly enough to hire a new student. Are they likely to let me use the remaining money for my own summer salary during the no cost extension instead?
| 61 |
Yes. The NSF doesn’t track (or care) how you spend your grant funds as long as it is more or less on the work you proposed to do. This isn’t something you even have to request approval for. You can just do it.
Edit: You need to request the NCTE. You do not need to request the use of the funds for summer salary instead of grad students.
| 49 |
[Harry Potter] Do wizards have to get real-life skills or jobs after going to Hoggwarts or do they just live in the wizard world forever?
|
Setting up my young kids to play Lego Harry Potter and seeing the the game broken up into Year 1-4 and 5-7 made me realize the kids in Harry Potter spend a shitload of their lives at Hoggwarts. Once they graduate from Wizarding School... then what? Do they go on to become lawyers and doctors and accountants and graphic designers and web developers with their education on alchemy and black magic defense?
Do they then have to go to Muggle-school for another 15 years and catch up like normal kids and learn actual history and life skills or do they just conjure up Muggle money for their whole lives and live however they want? Or do they just live in the wizard world forever now and do their careers in that world as whatever alchemist or wand-crafter or gryphon-whisperer or something?
I haven't read the books so forgive me if this is a really stupid question answered on page 2.
| 18 |
It is answered in the books. Hogwarts graduates get professions within the wizarding community.
With some notable exceptions, they essentially live their entire lives in a secret parallel society from Muggles, having little to no interaction with anybody who is not in the magical community.
| 52 |
[Batman] When Bruce calls villains by their real names, like Crane, Felicia, Victor, Garfield, etc. is that a sign of respect, or a psychological tactic to dismiss their reputation by refusing to use their title?
| 636 |
It's more him trying to pull them out of their personas. When Crane puts on his mask he isn't Crane anymore, he's the Scarecrow.
Batman off all people knows how powerful this can be and tries to appeal to their humanity whenever possible.
| 716 |
|
How does a language handle an array "pointerwise"?
|
I know that variables in higher languages, for example python, just point to specific places in the storage (to be accurate its just a reference but I think I know that the code "behind" variables work with pointers). What is an array? Is it just a bunch of auto-generated variables numerated? And those variables "point" to memory?
| 23 |
In C the way it works is that when you declare an array, you specify its size and the type of the values the array will hold. When you store this array in a variable, you are actually storing the address of the first element of the array. Let's say that the address is 10 and let's say the array contains 4 byte ints. Then when you want to access the third element (i.e. array[2]), you just retrieve the value that is stored in memory address 10 + 2*4, which is address 18, does that make sense? 10 is the initial address, 2 is the index and 4 is the size of each element. So first element will be stored in address 10, second in address 14, third in address 18, and so on (if each element has a size of 4).
This works because in C an array is allocated in memory with all its elements sequentially, which is not the case for all languages. Some languages can store each element of an array in random places with each element pointing to the address of the next one (in a "linked list" structure).
| 23 |
CMV:Curving grades is a poor teaching practice that lowers the overall quality of an education.
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Curving grades is a popular teaching technique because it makes both the students and the teachers look better, which is seemingly a win win. But at the end of the day, curving a grade is giving a student credit for knowing things that they do not know. Establishing a curve simply lowers the standards of performance, which ultimately hurts a student rather than helping them. There is no such thing as a curve in the real world, therefore implementing one in college is setting students up for failure. Even as a college student who has benefited many times from the use of curves, I cannot help but think that they hurt more than they help. CMV.
_____
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| 40 |
> There is no such thing as a curve in the real world,
Relative performance in the real world is huge. You just need to be the best looking person in the club. You just need to be the best worker in your company. You just need to be the best player on the court. etc.
Since its huge in the real world, it is a good way to introduce this to young people when they are in school.
| 59 |
ELI5: Why did older video games use checkpoints or locations to have to save your game instead of an options menu button like is most common now?
|
more like why technically, was it limited by the systems or etc...
| 32 |
I did some reading on this and it seems that the method of saving really depends on the developer, and less about technology. Not to say there were technological constraints, of course.
Games use to be cartridge based, so saves had to be as predetermined points because all of the information was on the cartridge itself, done with either direct savepoints and sometimes with passwords.
When games converted to disc, the save information was stored on memory cards in earlier consoles because CD-ROMs are Read Only Memory and can not personally store the save.
But now all console saves are done on hard drives, and some games like *Destiny* and *Tom Clancy's The Division* require to be always connected to the internet and use the cloud to store information.
But it really depends on the developer, but almost all games have gone the way of autosaving so the player isn't too far behind after dying.
| 21 |
How does silver kill germs/ sterilize stuff when other metals do not?
| 22 |
It's called the Oligodynamic effect. Silver binds to thiol groups on enzymes and denatures those enzymes, forming sulfides.
There's no special explanation for this. A lot of metals are toxic in high doses. Silver happens to be especially reactive with bacterial amino acids.
| 22 |
|
I believe that giving food to starving nations during a famine only worsens the problem in the long run. CMV.
|
The argument is basically this: say during a famine, in a certain area, 100 children are saved by foreign aid. Those 100 children will grow up, and have an average of 2-3 children each. This will cause a population surge and, with too many people to feed, the area will go into famine again, inciting more foreign aid. Repeat the cycle until you get a population that is dependent on foreign aid to survive. If an area can only support a population of 10,000 there should only be that many people there.
Instead of feeding Developing nations, Developed nations should focus more on education and sex ed in those areas.
| 33 |
Famines do not happen because there are too many people to feed. Famines happen when you have a combination of overreliance on a single crop, inadequate government welfare, and random bad weather. Overpopulation just doesn't have anything to do with it.
| 26 |
ELI5: What is the difference between forward and reverse osmosis?
|
I see "reverse osmosis water" on a lot of products these days and I'm curious how reverse osmosis is different.
| 261 |
In osmosis, water travels through a membrane from a low-concentration (i.e. less dissolved solids) mixture to a high-concentration mixture until the concentration on both sides is the same.
This happens spontaneously and can be quite dramatic if one side is extremely highly concentrated. This is why drinking salt water is so harmful, osmotic pressure starts sucking water out of your cells.
*Reverse* osmosis is the inverse process, forcing water to cross from the concentrated side to the pure side. This *won't* happen naturally and requires high pressures, but also acts as a very effective filtration process because the membrane excludes most particulates and large ions.
| 131 |
ELI5: Why are prices in stores like Costco and Sam's Club much cheaper than your average grocery store?
| 227 |
They don't sell just anything, you will notice that while the core offerings are fairly consistent, the overall items they sell changes throughout the year. They are spot buying what they can get at a large discount.
Because they offer far less "choice" than a regular store, they will buy significantly larger lots of a smaller number of items. This kind of bulk buying gets them discounts because the manufacturer that sells it to them is assured a large transaction. The seller has a streamlined process to only ship to a small number of stores and the buyer (Costco, etc) can receive fewer but larger shipments. Much more efficient.
They in turn sell to consumers in larger lots. Big boxes, full cases, big bottles. They eliminate the inefficiencies of lots of small things, and only stock, inventory, and process at checkout large efficient units.
The stores are also designed to be very efficient with bulk storage right where it's needed. It not fancy, but makes their jobs of managing inventory much easier.
Lastly some charge membership. The people who are shopping are willing to stake $50 a year to do so. They want be there and quickly learn the drill. That gets them in and out of there more efficiently.
(Edited to clarify 1st paragraph)
| 432 |
|
Does the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, create any gravitational distortion while running?
| 82 |
No. The mass of the beams is about 7x10^-13 kg (2 x 1.5x10^11 proton/bunch x (1.67x10^-27 kg) x 1380 bunches) and it's uniformly distributed around the ring. Even if you account for the protons having 4 TeV of energy instead of 1 GeV for its rest mass, that's only an extra factor of 10^3.
| 23 |
|
Eli5 What is Plasma?
|
I can't grasp the concept of it. And why and how is harnessing it from our bodies help cure diseases?
| 21 |
Since you tagged the post as "Physics", i think the issue is you are mixing up *plasma*, as the state of matter, and *blood plasma*, as in blood which have been centrifuged to remove the blood cells.
The latter is often abberviated to plasma, which causes much confusion.
| 50 |
Does the existence of a stereotype make a stereotyped person more likely to do the action of the stereotype?
|
than
| 58 |
Check out the wikipedia about Stereotype Threat. It will lead you to a lot of sources, but the general consensus is that exposure to the stereotype makes people more likely to comply with the stereotype.
Most of these studies, however, deal with a lack of performance (eg, performing more poorly at a game of chess) rather than the induced presence of actions (eg, becoming a thief).
| 24 |
[The Martian] Was there any opposition to putting in billions, if not trillions, into multiple attempts to rescue just one person?
| 110 |
Nobody who mattered, and nothing that made a big enough splash to get national coverage.
Sure, there were plenty of people posting to Facebook and other social media that it was a waste of money to rescue one man from Mars when there are billions of dollars worth of problems that still need solving on Earth, but from the people who mattered? Not at all -- Watney was considered an international hero for even *trying* to stay alive on Mars after the world thought he was dead. There's no politician or pundit alive who could survive the storm of negative press they'd get trying to fight his rescue.
| 132 |
|
CMV: I think the ending of the Watchmen movie was better than the ending of the comic.
|
*Spoiler alert*
If you haven't watched the movie and read the comic, this is quite a major spoiler, and since they are both good, go enjoy both of them and come back to prove me wrong.
In the comic, as you know, a giant squid comes out of nowhere and destroys New York. That's framed as some kind of alien invasion and it supposedly makes the world decide to unite against the threat. That's... kind of silly (they are both silly, but that's beside the point). When it comes for the story, it basically comes out of nowhere, out of theme, out of message out of character, everything.
On the other hand, the whole character arc of Dr. Manhattan is that he is drifting away from society. It also makes sense that he's collaborating with Veidt on energy tech - they both want to solve the world's problems and both have capabilities to assist in that field.
When Manhattan goes to Mars, to the world, that's an indication that he's completely given up on society so when it's implied he's the one who did the damage back on Earth, it would make sense. He has become, over time, a kind of a third party, not really tied by his allegiance to the US or even the human race.
Moreover, humanity has gotten to know Manhattan, they know that he's a real thing AND that he can be a real threat if he wants to be. While it's also a silly premise for world peace, it would at least make more sense for the world to unite against basically a one-man nuclear arsenal from Mars.
_____
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| 68 |
>When it comes for the story, it basically comes out of nowhere, out of theme, out of message out of character, everything.
That's kind of the point though. Veidt's intentions are to unite the world. The idea of the squid is that the world needs to band together to be able to fight any unforeseen enemy. The squid is the epitomy of this. No one saw it coming, not even the reader. Manhattan doesn't fit this criteria. Even if Dr. Manhattan had gone of the rails, he was a extension of the US military for a long time. Russia would likely blame the US for not properly controlling Dr. Manhattan/foreseeing his eventual plan. This would not cause the peace Veidt wanted and would probably cause more tension between Russia and the US.
Think of a parallel to terrorism. Say a rogue US military agent decided to release chemical bombs in Russia and the US. Do you think Russia would not place some blame on the US for not foreseeing and preventing this from occurring? Of course they would. The agents past affiliations with the US would be used as a political weapon against them. The same issue would happen with Manhattan.
>When Manhattan goes to Mars, to the world, that's an indication that he's completely given up on society so when it's implied he's the one who did the damage back on Earth, it would make sense. He has become, over time, a kind of a third party, not really tied by his allegiance to the US or even the human race.
I don't get this either. If Manhattan was indifferent towards humanity, he would have just left and never came back. People who are indifferent towards things don't go out of their way to destroy them. The only reason he would want to destroy mankind is if he is either angry with them or wants to rule them. In either of these situations, Russia would likely blame the US for not properly handling Manhattan.
>Moreover, humanity has gotten to know Manhattan, they know that he's a real thing AND that he can be a real threat if he wants to be.
Yes, that's true. They also know that Nixon used Manhattan to win a war. There would be tons of blame placed on the US for abusing Manhattan's powers and making him give up on mankind.
| 37 |
ELI5: Why were pants mainly for men and skirts for women back in the olden days?
|
Wouldn't skirts be better for males because of our genitalia? Wouldn't pants be better for females because of their genitalia?
| 195 |
First off, many cultures around the world don't have this distinction - men and women in skirts is normal and they wouldn't understand the fuss. For the western world, trousers came about for practical reasons - they're easier to ride horses with is a big one. Women have kept skirts and dresses as western attitudes on femininity remained stuck with the idea that women can look pretty but don't really need to do anything practical. World War II was a major catalyst for wardrobe changes for women, but 100 years ago the idea of a woman in trousers was as difficult to understand for majority of people as a guy wearing a skirt today.
Up until about 100 years ago, children in the west still wore unisex outfits (think boys in frilly dresses) and even 50 years ago the idea of pink is for girls and blue is for boys didn't exist (historically, red was for men, pink was for boys and blue was for girls - red fabric dye was very expensive, and blue was a cheaper colour to produce).
On a side issue, you'll probably find that women's trousers have the flap covering the fly opening opposite to men's, with the explanation being that men dressed themselves and women were dressed by their maids (except for jeans).
Depending on the shape of the skirt, of course it's better for men, but western society in general has an issue with accepting this. Skirts are simpler to make and can even be warmer than trousers. For women, pants may make more sense than for men but skirts still do too.
| 125 |
ELI5: why are prices always a cent cut short? Like "5.99" "299.99"?
| 15 |
Two reasons. 1) people don't really pay attention to the cents so if the dollar is lower the price looks significantly lower.
2) cents are used as code in store so x.99=full price, x.98=on sale, x.95 = clearance.
| 13 |
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ELI5: How does a radio station determine the popularity of their shows?
|
Obviously they'd need stats to know whether a specific talk show/ dj is getting a lot of viewers to let advertisers know that it's worth paying to put an ad on their station. Can they tell, like television, how many "listeners" there are? I doubt it because they just send out a signal that other devices pick up. Do they rely on surveys? Callers?
| 19 |
There are "consumer research companies" specializing in studying this issue for radio stations and other media companies. These consumer research companies, such as Nielson, do large surveys to determine what people are listening to, watching, and reading. They've benefitted enormously from the refining of "scientific" polling and have used it to make a successful business.
After the surveys, consumer research companies sell the information back to the media companies (radio, TV stations) who can then better determine where to spend their advertising dollars and which radio hosts, for example, are doing well with particular demographics.
| 10 |
ELI5: Do hand sanitizers really kill 99.99% of germs? How can they prove that's true?
| 8,062 |
ELI5 answer: they use the product on a surface covered in bacteria, fewer than 1 in 10,000 cells remain. Therefore they can say it's 99.99% effective. Simple as that.
Longer answer:
First it's important to note that "kills 99.99% of bacteria" doesn't mean that it kills all of 99.99% of known bacterial species, or anything like that, it's literally just number of cells present on a surface. So it doesn't say anything specific about the type of bacteria that it is good against - it's not that they know of one particular species that doesn't die but the others all do. These hand sanitizers are broad in their action and don't have much in the way of specific targets against specific things like an antibiotic does. Their active ingredients are various types of alcohol... which just generally kills stuff by denaturing proteins.
The 99.99% is just due to the methodology of testing these products. They're saying that after the treatment, fewer than 1 cell in 10,000 remain - that's pretty good!
If you wanted 100% effectiveness and all bacteria dead, you could try sticking your hand in bleach, or a flamethrower... but neither of those are going to do your hand much good. Hence the alcohol-based santizer is a good compromise between effectiveness and not damaging you.
| 4,706 |
|
If you lay or sit in a position that causes a limb to "go to sleep," would you then be able to amputate that limb painlessly?
| 140 |
Extremely unlikely. Parasthesia is usually caused by reduced circulation; reducing circulation enough to inhibit nerve responses would cause both tissue damage and significant pain of its own accord.
| 14 |
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ELI5, how will the two spending bills (totaling $5 Trillion) not create hyperinflation?
| 51 |
Hyper inflation is a lot, like 50% or more like everyday. Where normal is like 2% a year. If we had hyper inflation meat would cost $5 a lb one day and like $7.5 the next and then $10 the next day after that. We won't have that. The central bank would clamp down hard on lending and try and pull back in a lot of the money supply before that happened.
The two spending bills are designed to replace economic activity that is not being allowed because of quarantine. Not making money is deflationary so if everybody not being allowed to work is causing deflation and spending bills are causing inflation, we get right back to where we were, theoretically.
Obviously this isn't actually going to work, you cannot constrict 20 trillion dollars in GDP in America, throw a few trillion at it and be like, good now.
| 88 |
|
[LoTR] Could Sauron have taken a different approach and rather than put all his eggs in one basket instead split his power between several rings of equal power, or even held back a minor portion for himself? How might things have gone differently if he had gone in this direction?
| 37 |
He likely wouldn't have been able to corrupt people like he did if the Ring wasn't as powerful. Remember, the ring was designed to try and bend even the elves to his will.
Granted it failed, but it was a risk he was willing to take.
| 34 |
|
ELI5: When you become partner at a corporation, why must you "buy-in" and what happens with your money?
| 22 |
You cannot become a partner at a corporation; you can become a partner at a partnership (sometimes called a "firm") or you can become a shareholder of a corporation.
In both cases, the money you contribute becomes the property of the company, and can be used however the managers of the company wish to use it. Since you are now one of the owners of the company, you will receive a fair share of all future profits, and have a vote in how the company is managed and by whom.
| 12 |
|
ELI5: How do hydrographics work?
|
I've seen lots of videos of people dipping various objects in water with some sort of design, like army helmets in camo, and the object comes out with an awesome print on it but nothing in their arms or anything. How do the designs transfer from the water to the object so perfectly?
| 1,497 |
It's the same process as painting anything. You need to prepare the surface for adhesion between the print and the surface. You actually have to lay down a basecoat color before dipping. You lay the pring on the dipping tank, spray with an activator, slowly dip the object into the tank, swirl around and take it out. Once the print is dry you can then clearcoat it.
It takes a lot of practice to get the print to come out perfect every time. Flat objects are easy, objects with a lot of curves, holes, or grooves make it harder to produce. you can run into problems with stretching the print out and distorting it or getting air bubbles that will leave a void.
| 296 |
Existentialism in the contemporary times.
|
Do you think existentialism would hold up with the recent advancements in neuroscience and physics?
I.E. Does the freedom of choice (or lack thereof) dictate the existentialist movement in the recent times? Or do Existentialists ignore the mechanisms of the brain and carry out their lives according to "Existence precedes Essence" and "We are condemned to be free"?
| 51 |
I don't think recent advancements in neuroscience and physics in general - is there some in particular you have in mind? - would pose much of any problem for existentialism.
On the contrary to what a lot of people who haven't read much existentialist philosophy seem to assume about it, existentialism doesn't postulate that we have some *transcendental* free will which is beyond "mechanisms of the brain." To use the Heideggerian jargon that Sartre makes a lot of use of: the discoveries of neuroscience and physics, and much else, are part of one's facticity, or "throwness," which is the concrete background of which human freedom exists and is limited. These are only the facts of existence that precedes essence.
| 47 |
CMV: If the right was being honest about wanting to stem the flow of illegal immigration, there is a very simple solution. Go after the people who benefit from their labor by seizing their assets.
| 316 |
I've seen a lot of people on the right propose that we fine employers that hire illegal/undocumented workers. Not all on the right oppose these measures.
It should be noted that not all the right are even anti-immigrant. Take the Wall Street Journal for example. They frequently take a pro-immigration stance on their editorial pages, precisely because it's a big boon for business.
Even if someone was opposed to fines on employers but did support deportation of those here illegally, it'd still have a negative effect on employers of undocumented workers. It would limit the labor pool from which they hire, driving up their labor costs. Businesses would still suffer, albeit less directly.
If you're point here is to argue that the right is hypocritical on immigration, then you could turn the tables and argue the left is, too. I've seen a lot on the left support fines on employers of illegal immigrants while at the same time supporting a lax immigration policy. In other words, they want to make it easier for someone to come to the United States illegally, but make it more difficult to find work once they're here since we'd be fining those that employ them. Seems almost like a cruel joke to me. Those on the right seem almost humanitarian by comparison, since they'd make it harder for illegal aliens to come and stay here, but at least they'd have a means to sustain themselves all the while "living in the shadows."
| 44 |
|
ELI5: How is buying a textbook, starting a Meetup group, and chipping in for a professor to stop by every week for a few hours is different than paying $40k a year to attend grad school?
| 16 |
Accreditation. If you go through a proper university course, there are standards in place to make sure you've been taught certain information, and having a degree reflects that. Plus, when you attend a university, you're also paying for access to a lot of the facilities.
| 34 |
|
ELI5: Why do some people get car sick, even if they are looking at the road while they are moving? And why is it more likely while you are on a hill or mountain?
| 17 |
Car sickness generally comes as a result of your vestibular system sensing motion that does not agree with what your brain expects.
The vestibular system is essentially the system your body uses to sense normal movement. Your inner ear and other nervous system functions work together to let your brain figure out if your body is moving.
Normally, your brain takes input from the vestibular system and combines it with other senses to understand what's going on. What you see is one of the most powerful tools your brain uses to check and validate what the vestibular system senses.
When you turn your head left, your vestibular system says "hey, we think the head is turning left". Your eyes say "hey, it looks like we're looking left now". Your brain recognizes that both systems are in agreement and accepts the turn as normal.
When you're in a car, your vestibular system is sensing motion outside the control of the body. It feels acceleration, turning, and all sorts of input. Meanwhile, your eye's don't necessarily see the same things the body feels. Oftentimes looking out the window helps, but without a constant frame of reference, not all brains are able to reconcile what is seen and what the vestibular system feels.
Any time the vestibular system isn't in agreement with other senses, the brain can potentially trigger a nauseous response. Very literally, your brain thinks it may be poisoned (that's how it explains why things aren't in agreement), and it wants you to puke up the potential poison.
The reason it may be more common on a hill or mountain can come from many different reasons:
- If you can't see the horizon clearly, you may not be able to accurately judge what "level" is, and it may confuse the brain.
- Road conditions on mountains are often poor, and the small bumps may exacerbate the problem.
- Driving on a flat surface generally means that motion happens on two axis. Driving on hills or a mountain introduces a third axis. That's another variable that might be off with your vestibular system, and it can lead you to getting sick easier.
Essentially, the more chances you give your brain to have mismatched inputs, the more likely you are to get sick.
| 11 |
|
ELI5: How come a Liger is larger on average than both a Lion and a Tiger despite being the product of them mating?
| 56 |
It's a genetics thing. Male lions have a gene that stimulates growth. Female lions have one that mitigates growth. Put them together and you get a normal sized lion.
However, female tigers don't have the same "Whoa, stop growing now" gene, so when a male lion and a female tiger mate, it produces offspring that just grow and grow (to a point at least).
Contrast this with tigons, where you have a male tiger and a female lion mating, and you end up with offspring about the size of a tiger.
| 59 |
|
ELI5 why sunsets have orange, red and purple, while purple is on the complete other end of the spectrum
| 194 |
The purple is from blue scattered off particles in the upper atmosphere mixing with the normal reds and yellows. The red and yellow are due to the fact that the path of sunlight through the atmosphere is much longer at sunrise and sunset, and the atmosphere scatters blue-er light more than red and yellow.
| 70 |
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Lisp Programmers: Is there actual use of Lisp in industry? How do you use it at your work? How do you overcome the "Lisp quirks"?
|
Hi all
I'm mainly a Python programmer but also know a little C. After diving a bit into Scheme (a dialect of Lisp), I found that:
- the monotone syntax are source of a lot of bugs and confusion (like parentheses, quoting, knowing what expression is evaluated, etc)
- the almost typeless design makes introducing type mistakes very easy
- the little to no distinction between code and data can be a security threat
I think Lisp is an interesting concept but I can't see how it can be used effectively in the real world.
Do you use a dialect of Lisp (Clojure, Common Lisp, Scheme, etc) at your work?
What do you use it for?
How do you overcome these issues (or I guess features if you use it properly) listed above (and perhaps more)?
| 28 |
I have this weird friend of a friend who got an internship in a company that does exclusively Lisp, despite never having used it before, and this company is actually profitable to the point it is basically printing money.
| 16 |
ELI5: The plot of the Starcraft Series
| 25 |
Backstory
A long, long time ago, an ancient race called the Xel'Naga decide to create the perfect species, with both "Purity of Form" and "Purity of Essence."
First they find and uplift the tribal Protoss, who have psychic abilities and Purity of Form, but not Purity of Essence. The Protoss worship the Xel'Naga as gods, but eventually break out into religious wars and are abandoned by the Xel'Naga.
The Xel'Naga then find and uplift the Zerg, a race that can absorb and assimilate the genetic traits of other species. The Zerg have Purity of Essence but not Purity of Form, and their psychic abilities are much weaker. To prevent to Zerg from splitting up like the Protoss did, the Xel'Naga create the Overmind, a giant brain that telepathically controls all the Zerg. However, the Zerg Overmind eventually rebels against its creators and the Zerg Swarm drives the Xel'Naga away from the Known Galaxy.
Meanwhile, Earth has gone to shit. A world dictatorship is in full control. In an attempt to expand into space, they load up a bunch of huge spaceships with convicts and political dissidents in cryo storage and send them to colonize a nearby star system. However, the navigation computers malfunction and the spaceships end up overshooting until they run out of fuel and crash-land near Protoss and Zerg space. The survivors are cut off from Earth and create their own govenments, the largest of which is the Terran Conferderacy. They use their supplies to colonize dozens of planets and build up. It is discovered that some of the survivors carried genes that allow psychic abilities, and within a few generations many humans become psychic. The Terran Confederacy recruits them as children to become supersoldiers called Ghosts.
As Starcraft begins, the Zerg, Terran, and Protoss are closing in on each other's territory.
| 39 |
|
[ATLA] Could Toph have learned to read/write by having the words written in sand?
|
Mild spoilers for the last(?) season(Not suuuuper important spoilers, but it's a neat scene that I'd rather not spoil too heavily):
​
>!Toph is at the beach, and using sand bending, creates a sand version of Ba Sing Se. !<
&#x200B;
Idk how to avoid this tiny spoiler, but the TL:DR is that Toph learns to sand bend, and with pretty good accuracy, too. My idea was that, based on her ability to sand bend, someone could write in the dirt/sand, and toph could see it, and learn to read/write through drawing in dirt/sand.
| 54 |
I suppose so, but one could also gain the same results from scratching letters on a rock, inscribing them on a clay tablet, or embossing them on a metal sheet. With an earthbender as strong as Toph, she might even be able to sense the letters written on a piece of paper with iron gall ink or lead paint.
| 44 |
ELI5: What are NASDAQ and Dowjones
|
Are they corporations or what? Every day on the local news they talk about those two and I'm not sure what their significance is.
| 125 |
NASDAQ is a market where stocks are sold. A stock is essentially a share of a company: if you own a stock in, say, Apple, it means you own a part of Apple, and are entitled to a percentage of their profits, depending on the percentage of total stock that you own.
Stocks are sold on different markets around the world. There are many big ones in major financial cities, such as London, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, etc. The NASDAQ Market is the second largest in the world behind the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (often abbreviated to just 'the DOW') is an index measuring the value of the 30 largest publicly traded companies in the United States. (To be publicly traded means that you have issued stock, and those stocks are traded on markets such as the NASDAQ, NYSE, etc).
| 91 |
ELI5: What actually is that static or buzzing "noise" you hear when wearing earplugs or in a very quiet environment?
| 20 |
It's difficult to know exactly what buzzing noise you're referring to, but here are three potential answers.
1.) Electricity. When in your living room with nobody talking and no programming on, there are still lights, or computers, or some electronics plugged in. In North America electricity hums at 60 hertz, and in Europe it hums at 50 hertz. These are both near the bottom of human hearing, so this is a low pitched hum.
2.) Your circulatory system. When you put a seashell up to your ear and hear 'the ocean', that's the sound of your blood flowing echoing off the walls of the shell. It's possible for you to hear this in less extreme circumstances.
3.) tinnitus. Tiny hairs in your ear vibrate when sound waves hit them, and those vibrations are interpreted by your brain as 'hearing'. Sometimes, when those hairs haven't vibrated in a long time, they spontaneously vibrate just to make sure they're still working. This results in a perceived sound (a ringing or a buzzing) that doesn't come from any perceivable source. This happens frequently in people who have hearing damage.
| 11 |
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ELI5: How can a fighter jet force a (kidnapped) airliner to land?
|
Threaten to shoot it down? That wouldn't be very wise.
| 33 |
Wise compared to what?
It's definitely better to kill everyone on the plane than let the plane be used as a missile and kill everyone on the plane and everyone in a 100 story building.
300 deaths is better than 3000 deaths....
| 46 |
ELI5: Are Forensic Pathologists able to know if a person's body was mutilated while they're still alive or if their body was mutilated after their death?
|
I once read a comment on a [Disturbed Reality](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWScrRn_sGcFis-wGZZb9fQ) video which states that some "not so evil" cartel sicarios prefer to kill the victim first by shooting them in the head (or smth like that) before mutilating their bodies (perhaps a way to ease their conscience), as opposed to some of the gory cartel execution videos we see in the internet where they are being tortured by mutilation, castration, etc. while they're still alive.
Edit: This question of mine must've put me under the authorities' watchlist but nonetheless, very big thanks to those who answered. Also, just to be clear, to those having doubts if I'm planning on killing somebody, my answer is a big fucking NO. I'm just a random teenager here in the internet who's curious about these morbid stuff, but still, I know my limitations, and I 110% do not condone these acts being done to people.
| 3,881 |
Dead people don’t bleed much without a heartbeat, so it’s sometimes possible to tell if an injury was inflicted after death because there will be no significant blood accumulation in the damaged tissues near the injury.
Of course if the body has been badly burned or decomposed in the meantime it can be hard to tell either way.
| 1,749 |
[Limitless] What exactly does NZT do?
|
Beyond being super smart, Eddie gets unnatural abilities like being able to recall his time spent in the womb and perfectly imitate fighting moves he's seen on tv(which hints at the pill not only affecting his mind). He describes using as not getting high but having ''clarity''.
The pill seems to have less side effects if you sleep weel and don't cosume other drugs(Eddie's words) and is a lot more effective is somebody is already smart. Also in the series, Eddie is puzzled why the main character isn't using NZT to chase greater ambitions which means being agressively ambitious is an expected effect.
What the hell does that pill do?
| 41 |
theory. The pill doesn’t “do” or add anything to you the way you’d think of like caffeine or something. It removes what is blocking our perception and kind of enables what everyone’s probably capable of doing (to an extent).
| 23 |
ELI5: What exactly is Communism?
|
I just can't wrap my head around it.
| 63 |
The noble idea that mankind should work together in equality, each giving according to his ability, and receiving according to his needs.
Unfortunately, it has historically been implemented by people who thing that they are more equal that others. A great read on the mentality behind Soviet communism is Animal Farm, by George Orwell, in which Lenin-Pig and Stalin-Pig create the perfect society on a small country farm...
| 42 |
[Star Wars: Rogue One] Spoilers - About the Death Star plans
|
[Repeat: Spoilers](#s "Vader was literally breathing down their necks. After the Rebels finished downloading it, why did they have to physically carry the disk containing the plans? Was the shipboard wifi out? Or did *Star Wars* Comcast cap their HoloNet usage?")
| 37 |
So they established that it's a pretty big chunk of data, with the massive planetside broadcast array and its super phat government bandwidth they were able to beam it to a battleship in orbit but then they had to transfer it to the docked *Tantive IV*. Maybe there's not a fast enough data connection wired between the two ships, maybe the Mon Cal cruiser had excellent receivers but low upload bandwidth and couldn't rebroadcast the data as quickly as they had received it. Whatever the data limitation was somebody in charge made the decision to use 'sneakernet' (Seriously IRL if you ever need to transfer 500 Petabytes from one side of the country to the other don't underestimate the bandwidth of a box full of hard drives in an SUV barreling down the highway) and pull the drive out physically and pass it off to the other ship.
| 57 |
ELI5: [Physics/Chemistry] Degrees of freedom
| 19 |
Degrees of freedom are basically all the ways a thing can move. Imagine a square bead on a taught string. It can slide all along that string, that's one degree of freedom. It can also spin on its axis, that's another. So that bead on a string has 2 degrees of freedom.
There can be degrees of freedom in terms of movement through space, like sliding on a string, and then there's freedom in terms of rotation like spinning on an axis. But rotational degrees only apply if the movement makes a meaningful change in orientation. A monoatomic gas has 3 degrees of freedom because it can move freely through space (x, y, z). It can rotate, but because it's symmetrical (being only a single atom, more or less a sphere), it doesn't really make a difference. It looks exactly the same. A diatomic gas has an extra atom. It can move through space, but the extra atom means it does make a difference if it rotates. Spinning on its axis doesn't change anything, but rotating it up or to the side changes its orientation. EDIT: It can also stretch along its axis, like a bungee cord. So it has three spacial degrees of freedom, two rotational degrees, and one longitudinal degree, for a total of six.
EDIT: Thanks /u/pyrespirit for the correction.
| 15 |
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ELI5: How do stores like dollar general make profit?
| 17 |
Cheaper off-brand products bought in bulk.
Think of it like this...You have Scotch-brite brillo pads for washing dishes you can buy at a Wal-Mart for $2 right?, Where as Dollar General sells the knock off "Scot-brit" brillo pads for $1.
It costs the "Scot-brit" company 20 cents per pad they make, They sell them in bulk to the retailer at 40 cents a pad for 50,000 pads to distribute to all their stores nationwide, Which they sell for $1.
| 26 |
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Can Weyl fermion particles escape the event horizon of a black hole?
|
Since these newly discovered particles have no mass are they completely unaffected by gravity? Could they then easily escape from a black holes event horizon?
| 17 |
Mass generates gravitational fields, but everything is affected by gravity. Gravity is not a force in the way you think of forces.
Light (photons) also have no mass, but they are affected by gravity. The key thing to understand is that gravity doesn't affect mass, it affects space itself. When something is moving in a gravitational field, it's moving in a straight line from the point of the view of the object, but the straight line itself is warped. So, for example, the planets are moving in a straight line, but the line itself is bent into an ellipse around the sun. That's why everything is affected by gravity, because everything is travelling through the same space.
In the case of a black hole, space is actually warped so severely that it bends back on itself. That's why there's no escape -- it's not that the force of gravity is strong (because gravity isn't a force at all), it's because there's literally no physical path from inside the black hole to outside the black hole.
| 16 |
(XCOM: Enemy Unknown) Why does XCOM only have one VTOL?
|
I don't quite understand why my organization, with the full backing of most industrialized nations of the world, only has one Skyranger. It seems that for humanities "first and last line of defense" we only get enough money and resources to spread ourselves too thin around the world. I can build more fighter jets and am currently researching how to build out own flying saucers. But why can't I make any more troop carrying vehicles that'd let me carry out operations in more than one part of the world at a time. Given random nature of the extraterrestrial attacks and that there's always more than one attack going on, it seems like that would take top priority over autopsies and interrogations.
| 18 |
You may be familiar with the single Skyranger used in the primary operations conducted by XCOM. There are in fact multiple Skyrangers held in reserve in the event that one is lost during an operation. The Skyranger constitutes the best in stealth and engine technology developed by humanity pre-invasion. This being the case XCOM conducts only one operation at a time with only a single strike team in an effort of mitigate the loss of vital equipment and personnel should they be captured and their weaknesses exposed.
Along with this, the amount of assets brought to bear during an XCOM operation is staggering. The intelligence and information support could could easily support an entire battalion but is instead used to support the small strike team. This is only sustainable for one operation at a time due to limitations of the the command and control systems developed thus far. However this fact is most attributed to the success of the XCOM project.
Conducting strike operations may be the most prevalent, but the XCOM project is much greater in scope. The advanced information gathering and support systems are also used in support of the client nations. The XCOM CIC is linked in with the conventional military forces around the world, providing tactical and strategic support. Many XCOM soldiers, when not conducting operations, are sent as military advisers to support and train the conventional military forces in combating the Alien threat. If the situation calls for it and time is a limiting factor the reserve Skyrangers are used to transport XCOM personnel supporting the client nations.
| 18 |
in the FAQ it is stated that one proof of the universe's expansion is that "more distant galaxies are packed closer together". What sort of measurements have been made to show this?
| 68 |
Telescope observations were done to establish two things.
1) The distance to galaxies using Supernova Light curves and redshifts.
2) How seperated the galaxies are (basically galaxies "per square inch")
Its found that at larger distances, there are more galaxies per unit area at that distance.
So at 10 billion ly we might have 5 galaxies per unit area. At 12, the average is 8, at 13 the average is 14 per unit area.
&#x200B;
Its essentially a matter of sectioning off a portion of the sky and counting. Then comparing that to the distances for each galaxy.
| 32 |
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CMV: Gender fluidity is a misidentified form of Trait Ascription Bias
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I would like to preface this post by saying that I fully support trans rights and non-binary individuals, but as of yet I've not seen a compelling argument for why gender fluidity is anything more than [trait ascription bias](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trait_ascription_bias) which I believe is an excellent explanation for this phenomenon. For those that don't feel like reading the Wikipedia page, trait ascription bias (hereby abbreviated as TAB) is a cognitive bias that states that we are more likely to view our own personality as fluid and changeable while viewing others as static and unchanging.
It's true that to a degree, gender is inexorably linked with one's personality. Gender is not a subset of personality, but it is related - those who are transgender will typically have personality traits that make them identify with the opposite sex more than their birth one. Therefore according to TAB, we are more likely to view our own gender as changeable compared to how we perceive and are perceived by others.
The most natural counterargument that stems from this line of reasoning is that perhaps all of our genders are more fluid than we give them credit, but to me this kinda defeats the point of the label in the first place. I'm happy to have my view changed on this topic though. If this label helps people cope with their dysphoria then I am all for it, however, I think it should be recognized as a result of cognitive bias rather than an inherent trait of gender fluidity.
| 113 |
Trait ascription bias would support the existence of gender fluidity, i.e., we tend to see other's traits as essential. So we tend to assign an essential and unchanging gender to others while our own experience (which we have much more ready access to) suggests that gender is less static and for some people perhaps even fluid.
| 27 |
ELI5: Silica Gel Packets
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Some products (bags, cases, ...) come with those silica gel packets inside to control humidity. Should I leave them there while I use it? Is it bad for electronics or something else? Or is it used only while it is stocked in the store before selling?
| 20 |
They are there to absorb moisture in the packaging. To prevent misting during transport through different temperatures.
They won't help much after openning. Also they have a "capacity" for absorbtion, after a while they are useless.
| 13 |
ELI5: Why does drinking water when you need to pee, make that urge much stronger even though that water is far from reaching your bladder?
| 4,355 |
Tl;dr: if your bladder is already full of urine, your body was pretty happy with its water level. The body is very picky about its water level. If you add more water, it will quickly make more urine to allow for absorption of the water you just drank. An overfull bladder is potentially harmful, so normal urge to pee can be upgraded to "urgency" to protect the bladder when the body knows you're about to have an increase in urine production and your bladder is already full.
Long version:
Top answer covers where this reflex comes from from an evolutionary standpoint, but not the actual mechanism of *how* this happens.
The brain has a very specific group of nerves called the thirst center that use a few different means to tell how much water is in the body. The thirst center is *extremely* sensitive.
If you already have a full bladder, your body was likely already happy with the amount of water available in the body. The exceptions here would be if you are on certain types of medication or have some specific medical conditions.
If you add more water to the equation, the thirst center flips from "we are happy with this amount of water" to "we have too much water." Flipping this switch sends a few signals to certain blood vessles and the kidneys. The signal is an order for the kidneys to produce more urine by working harder and faster. We are wired this way because having too much water is extremely dangerous.
We don't know this for sure, but based on what we see in people who experience urinary incontinence, the sensation we typically experience telling us we need to pee is produced by certain nerves in the bladder as it fills. The more intense version you describe is called urgency. Urgency appears to involve sensors not just in the bladder, but also the kidneys. The kidneys that just got the order to work double time.
The kidneys know they are about to start making more urine. If the bladder is already full, adding more urine can damage the bladder itself or the muscles that allow us to retain urine and pee voluntarily. Thus the stronger "urgency" signal helps protect the bladder by encouraging immediate emptying before more urine is produced.
There is also speculation that the thirst center receives signals during the process of swallowing water. The theory is that the muscles that move stuff through your throat can tell the brain whether that stuff is liquid or solids. This part of the process appears to be a "shut off" signal to stop us from drinking too much water when thirsty. It may also contribute to "urgency" directly or by kick-starting the process by fast-tracking the message to the "thirst center" to begin the rest of the process.
Edit: clearer distinction between the Tl;dr and full text.
| 1,344 |
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ELI5: How did Crysis look so good for it's time?
| 16 |
We've been doing photo realistic CGI for years. If it's a movie, you can calculate all the effects ahead of time on a supercomputer and just show the end product. If it's a game you have to calculate the effects at least 30 times a second on whatever combination of hardware player has.
Crysis had effects that only computers of a future could generate in real time. Hardly anyone had PCs powerful enough to run it in all its glory.
| 12 |
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[John Wick] How will John Wick fare in a fight with goons that have military experience and military teamwork against him?
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I remember in the Punisher Max Slavers arc, Frank Castle tried to ambush the slavers but he made a mistake underestimating them and was forced to flee. In the John Wick films, the majority of the enemies just rush at John and spread out all at once to attack him. Would John Wick be forced to flee in that same scenario?
| 23 |
We actually see about how it'll go at the beginning of John Wick 2 when Santino blows up John's house. When confronted with a one man army like John, a proper squad with military training and equipment will go to combined arms tactics with an emphasis on heavy ordinance.
That is to say John will be located, pinned down at a distance, and then exploded with a rocket launcher.
| 34 |
How much more rain does California need before it's out of drought trouble?
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This question brought to you by a concerned Californian!
| 81 |
The drought in California has 1 measure and it is snowpack. For California to get out of drought the state needs a snowpack over 40 inches(across the whole mountain range) and maintain it from the months of November to March.
2013 snowpack averaged 25 inches, 2014 snowpack average is 8 inches thru February 1st. Snowpacks will fill the reservoirs.
| 22 |
How do black holes attract light if photons have no mass?
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Nothing can escape the gravitational pull of a block hole once past the event horizon, not even light can. Furthermore, light that passes near the black hole but does not reach the event horizon is distorted quite a bit, as seen in the gravitational lensing effect. However, how can light be attracted by the gravitational pull of a black hole if photons have no mass? Unless I'm missing something, it seems as though a massless particle cannot be affected by gravity, so what is happening here?
| 19 |
Gravity is the curvature of spacetime around momentum energy (of which mass is a component). Momentum energy naturally follows these curves. Photons have momentum energy, therefore they follow the curves of spacetime just like mass.
Edited according to some feedback by /u/Meditato.
| 22 |
How come transits of Venus are very rare yet we can detect exoplanets with them much farther away?
| 17 |
There are two planets that are closer than are closer to the sun than Earth.
There are millions or billions of stars we can watch for transits. Even if only a small fraction have planets and a smaller fraction of those can be seen from Earth, there are still many many more planets that we could see transiting than just two.
There is also the issue that Earth moves around outside of Venus so the angles line up less often. Exoplanets are so far away that the Earth's position is not relevant.
| 20 |
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ELI5 How are beavers benificial for ecological systems?
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Beavers were recently reintroduced in my country to help the ecological system develop. All I know is that they build dams, which I would assume isn't very good for river fish. I also just learned they tend to eat/use young trees, which can't be good for the forest growth. How do they actually benifit the ecological system?
| 61 |
They store water above sea level. Among other things, this makes them one of the most valuable creatures nature has ever created. They are classified as a keystone species like salmon. This means without them, other parts of the ecosystem will collapse.
You could rid all the humans off the planet and leave the beavers. In a century they can reforest what we deforested in Canada, which is a lot. They can turn deserts into rainforests if you give them enough time.
| 69 |
Why do intuitionists reject classical logic and mathematics?
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I am on a section of my Philosophy of Mathematics course on intuitionism, and am having a difficult time wrapping my head around the idea of intuitionism. Most of the primary reading I've been assigned, especially the Brouwer, is very difficult to break in to. I understand that the movement rejects the Completed Infinite and the Law of the Excluded Middle, but why do intuitionists choose to reject such things? Thank you very much in advance!
| 21 |
Because intuitionists believe that mathematical reasoning depends crucially on processes of mental construction, and this requirement leads to certain consequences that are at odds with classical logic.
For example, on this view, you cannot prove the existence of something by simply negating its non-existence, as you can in classical logic. That is, in classical logic, you can prove that Ex(Px)—i.e., "There exists an x such that x is P"—if you can prove \~\~Ex(Px), or "It is not the case that there does not exist an x such that x is P". This is a *very* common proof technique in classical mathematics and logic.
In intuitionistic mathematics, however, you have to be able to actually *construct* some particular object *n* such that Pn. For example, you have to be able to construct some particular number n that has the property P. From Pn, you can then infer Ex(Px) using existential generalization.
| 13 |
[Warhammer 40K] The Empror lived during the DAoT. Does he posses knowledge of how humanity's technology worked at that time?
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I mean yeah I know there were other Prepetuals living back then but the Emperor is a super genius who most likely guided humanity from the shadows since he was born so he must know a lot of cool, super powerful technology right? And if he does then why didn't he restore humanity to that technology level(minus AI)?
Bonus question, did the Iron Men rebelled because of chaos corruption or did they just find being slave labour surprisingly unenjoyable?
| 53 |
Probably not. At the time humanity had this sweet system where machines just did everything. All the higher technology was basically designed and built by the AIs, it is why the Mechanicum literally communicates in binary.
Anyway the Emperor probably understood more than most but he clearly wasn't aware of what was coming otherwise he'd have done more about it before hand.
| 45 |
The mitochondria and chloroplast are examples of endosymbiotic relationships, but are there any other examples of eukaryotic cells forming an endosymbiotic relationship with another organism?
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If there aren't, then what stops cells from forming such relationships? If there are, what is the nature of the symbiotic relationship, and are they able to pass on these endosymbionts to subsequent generations?
| 18 |
Corals have a symbiotic relationship with Zooxanthellae. The symbiont performs photosynthesis and helps feed the coral. The coral aids the symbiont with waste removal, safety, and a supply of carbon dioxide. Corals are not born with symbionts, they acquire them from the environment. In times of stress, the coral may eject their symbiont. That's called coral bleaching because the photosynthetic symbionts are the primary source of coral's color.
| 11 |
What is the power my computer uses turned into?
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Am I right in thinking that most of the energy is simply turned to heat and some of it into light and other electro-magnetic fields?
So would a computer have the same efficiency for heating as an electric heater would? (Of course on a smaller scale, while my CPU might get up to 65°C it's much smaller)
| 35 |
You are correct. Practically everything is converted to heat. Even the light radiating from the computer is eventually turned into heat when it hits the walls.
Your computer works just like electric heater + tiny fan combo but the placement is important. If you have PC that is placed in some corner, the room feels much colder than if you would have electric heater placed under window. Laptops can work as nice spot heaters in the wintertime.
| 28 |
Would being underwater help survive a nuclear bomb?
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If I jump in my pool, on the river near my house knowing that a nuclear bomb, or atomic or H-Bomb exploded around 10 km from my house, would I survive?
The way I see it is that water will protect me from the heat, so then I will be able to surface up after the explosion and escape.
| 27 |
If it was a powerful airburst, in a clear cloudless sky, the thermal radiation from the initial burst, expanding at the speed of light, could give you severe burns before you realize anything unusual was afoot. If you were looking in the wrong direction at the wrong time, you're also blind now.
A modest weapon – 100kt – isn't going to do much blast damage at 10 km. So if the prompt thermal radiation didn't get you, you might not even need the pool to evade the pressure wave. And if you're upwind of the blast, you may not have to worry about fallout.
A 1 or 2Mt airburst is a different story. A 10km, you're probably toast regardless. The thermal radiation will spontaneously ignite suseptible materials out to 10km and beyond. Blast effects will be harder to survive as well.
| 11 |
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