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[Harry Potter] Why didn't Harry just check to see if Sirius was safe before venturing into the Ministry of Magic?
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I understand that the attack on Mr Weasley turned out to be real so it would have caused Harry to believe Sirius' capture was real too, but surely Harry could have just given Grimmauld Place a call? It takes a lot less time, Grimmauld Place is safe and even Snape was able to eventually contact Sirius.
| 20 |
The whole book/movie was about how Harry wasn't in his normal state of mind, and that Voldemort was starting to have an effect on him mentally. Harry was coming off the tri wizard tournament where he saw his friend murdered and the mad man that murdered his family among so many others get resurrected. Immediately after that most of the wizarding world began to turn on Harry and Dumbledore, which also deeply effected him. Then he gets attacked by dementors and almost gets expelled for defending himself. Not long after that he comes to learn that the people he cares about are being instructed to keep a safe distance because of Harry's connection to Voldemort. Dumbledore, someone who has always been there for Harry during his time at Hogwarts, has also completely shut him out, which really hurt. Then there's him and his friends being tortured by umbridge. All this adds up to Harry not being rational. He's angry, he feels abandoned, he feels like the world, save for some close friends and Sirius, has turned away from him. They called him the boy who lived, the one that stopped Voldemort, and now they called him mad, a liar, etc. When he gets the vision of Sirius, he's not thinking about calling him, he's thinking he's about to lose the only family he has left, and he needs to save him.
| 34 |
ELI5: what does long term laxative abuse (as a 'weight loss' regime) do to the body?
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A friend mentioned she's been doing this. I can't seem to convince her to stop.
| 138 |
She loses electrolytes every time she uses laxatives to purge - prolonged imbalance in electrolytes can lead to heart problems, brain swelling, seizures, coma and death, among other things.
She may also suffer from edema, where her body holds onto water and swells. Repeated diarrhea may lead to a tear in her bowels and bleeding.
There's also something called "reflex constipation" where the bowel stops being able to move things along as it should. She might also permanently break her digestive system, so she might end up needing a colostomy bag.
Colon cancer risk increases.
Edit: two words
| 147 |
If the US was able to put men on the moon in the '60s with less computing power than a modern cell phone, why is it that modern countries such as China or even North Korea can't pull it off?
| 1,071 |
For one thing there's no good reason to do it, so you have to be willing to spend hundreds of billions of dollars just for the fun of it.
For another, there's a lot more to it than just shooting a rocket at the Moon. You have to develop space suits, docking mechanisms and procedures, landing spacecraft, re-entry methods, rockets that can launch at least 50 tons to translunar injection, etc.
Finally, China is working on completing a manned Moon mission by 2025, so these days they _do_ have the cash to do it just for the fun of it.
| 694 |
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[Futurama] Why Bender can't get a Backup Unit installed ?
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In a lesser extent, was it really impossible to upgrade his son to allow to bend without erase his memory ? At worst if they had to replace the component with his personnality, they still could copy it in a better one. (Since robots use 24 hours backup they don't have a problem with continuity of consciouness)
And why humans don't use a Backup Unit implant / Cortical Stack themselves ? they could become immortals (Without living in the Near-Death Star's simulation) or at least avoid premature death.
| 41 |
What you're suggesting is the Futurama robot version of "Download more RAM."
Its just ridiculous. Now what you want to be spending your time on is some kind of atomic supermen with octagonal shaped bodies that suck blood....
To be a bit more specific, the very act of changing how a robot works by adding something integral that wasn't there when it was created (or born even, depending on how you look at it) changes the very fundemental base that makes that robot who they are.
You saw what happened when MoMCorp brought that new floaty robot out and all the old models had to go for "upgrades". There are two things you can do to a robot without changing their personality. Cosmetic upgrades (Extendo arms, X-ray vision, neon crotch) or a kind of electro therapy minor reprograming.
Anything more than that pretty much gives it a new personality, so Bender would cease being Bender. He'd have the same body, but he'd be a different bot altogether.
| 29 |
Why do monotremes (Platupi and echidnas) lay eggs?
| 37 |
Monotremes are share a common ancestor with all other mammals that was warm blooded and hairy, but this common ancestor was still similar to reptiles in that in laid eggs.
Marsupials and placental mammals (such as ourselves) share a more recent common ancestor that did not lay eggs.
So essentially monotremes evolved down a path that continued to lay eggs whereas all other mammals went down a path where we gave birth to live young.
| 24 |
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[Warhammer 40000/ Mass Effect] How would the Mass Effect governments react or interactions with the Tau Empire?
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Assume no other Warhammer force exists and the tau were magically placed in the mass effect universe.
| 59 |
By ME standards Tau are the oppressive evil empire worse then Batarian Hegemony because they don't infight, are good at brainwashing people they conquer and are innovative and quickly spreading on par with Humans if not better.
| 102 |
I don’t think I want to get my PhD anymore, but I don’t know what else to do.
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I’m (22F) a first year PhD student in physics, and I kind of absolutely hate it. I know at least some of the problem is my mental health, adjusting to having moved across the country, and a bunch of non-school external stressors that I have been dealing with… I’m in therapy and I take meds.
But I wake up and dread my classes. I dread my research. I feel like a disappointment to my advisor who is so nice and puts so much faith in me. I’m skipping class and sleeping and I’m still so exhausted. I don’t think this is what I want to do, and academica was never something I planned on doing after my doctorate anyway. I think I just want it so everyone knows I’m smart. And it’s always been my plan.
But I don’t know what to do from here. I kind of want to teach. My mom was a teacher and she hated it, but I think I would enjoy teaching math, and it seems like that’s at least somewhat in demand.
I don’t know what to do. Any advice from teachers, grad students, physicists, or anyone would be useful. Thank you.
| 258 |
Youre figuring this out in first year? Good for you, quit. Quit right away. The sunk cost fallacy (which is less of a fallacy because you do only get your PhD at the end so you kinda get stuck gutting out out) gets worse with every passing year. Run now.
| 219 |
[My Hero Academia] Will One For All eventually get so powerful that nobody can use it?
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As it is now, Deku can use a bit of it, but if he uses too much he breaks his bones and otherwise hurts himself. But One For All grows stronger every time it's passed on, so will it eventually reach a point where so many users have contributed to it that nobody will be able to safely use it?
| 42 |
Maybe.
Deku seems to have gotten supremely unlucky in how the quirk manifested in him, but his quirk changes several times early in his career as he accesses more of its power. Previous holders didn't have this problem, and All Might was quirkless, so the quirk probably isn't too strong for mortal hands (yet). The problem seems to not be the One For All, but how Deku manifested it. His successor probably won't have as many problems as he did.
Still, just to be safe, it would be a good idea to only give it to quirkless people, or make sure the next holder has a durability or defensive quirk.
| 26 |
ELI5: Are cats' ear movements a reflex that corresponds to incoming sound, or a conscious movement?
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I was watching my room mates cat flick it's ears in my direction whenever I called its name. Is that a reflex or a conscious muscle movement? Is it possible to know the answer to this question?
| 49 |
It can be either, just like you can move your leg both as a reflex and under conscious muscle movement.
They will point their ears to focus their attention on something, or their ears will orient to an unexpected sound. The latter can be done with "lower level" brain structures, so likely doesn't involve conscious muscle movement (that doesn't mean the cat isn't aware of the movement, just that they didn't "think to point their ears that way").
| 20 |
ELI5: how does a monitoring software know the clock speed, data transfert etc. of components at any given time (CPU/GPU/disk/...)?
| 26 |
Sometimes, the monitor will show what the component itself is reporting. The component knows it is using a certain amount of power, or is performing operations at a certain rate. The driver allows for the monitor to request and interpret this data.
The monitor may also request data from the motherboard, which can control voltage or report bandwidth.
Other times, the monitor will measure this with the help of the operating system, as it is doing its own monitoring.
Some utilities may measure by testing the component, such as timing how long it takes to do a certain task. This is different from merely asking for a report, and takes more effort.
| 10 |
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book recs on political violence?
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Does anyone have any book recommendations on the topic of political violence? Discussions of the morality/justifications of it or whether it differs from other forms of violence would be great. I'd be especially interested in leftist works. thanks!
edit: thank you everyone for the recommendations
| 25 |
Some leftists works:
Bart de Ligt's *Conquest of Violence*, a famous book arguing for (anarcho-)pacifism.
Peter Gelderloos' *The Failure of non-violence* another anarchist book arguing against dogmatic pacifism, taking a more "moderate" position on the use of violence arguing for a diversity of tactics. Although it is less of a philosophical book.
Alfredo M. Bonnano's *Armed Joy* according to the author the book was ordered to be burnt by the Italian courts for its contents and he received jail time for it(not too surprising seeing its blatant calls for violence against, among others, judges), argues for the justification of armed insurrection.
Sorel's *Reflections on Violence*, infamous book arguing for justifications of violence to achieve socialist goals. Sorel was an odd character, a syndicalist in between being an anarchist, a Bolshevik/Marxist, a liberal and a proto-fascist.
Rosa Luxemburg's *Reform or Revolution* arguing for the inadequacy of reformist socialism and social democracy in achieving a socialist society, from a Marxist historical materialist perspective.
Walter Benjamin's *Toward the Critique of Violence*. Opposing Marxist view on violence, as well as partially a response to Sorel. The English critical edition of Benjamin's text also offers excerpts of multiple related texts, including *Reflections on Violence*.
| 24 |
ELI5: How do antibiotics work?
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How exactly do antibiotics work?
| 74 |
Pretend your cells and the cells of everything living are made from Lego. Bacteria have some of the same pieces of Lego in their cells as humans do, but also have some Lego pieces that are very specific to bacteria and are not found in humans. Most antibiotics work to target those Lego pieces that exist in bacteria, but do not exist in human cells. This way they can selectively target bacteria and hopefully human cells will not be affected.
| 32 |
I have been reading Kierkegaard's Either Or and this part is particularly difficult for me to understand. Please explain this part to me.
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Someone please explain this part to me from Either/Or by Kierkegaard
"Since sensuality in general is what is negated, it first comes into view, is first posited, through the act that excludes it by positing the opposite, positive principle. As a principle, power, a system in itself, sensuality was first posited with Christianity, and to that extent Christianity has introduced sensuality to the world."
| 64 |
Kierkegaard is saying that Christianity, by defining itself in opposition to sensual desires and pleasures, has actually brought attention to and introduced the concept of sensuality to the world. Prior to Christianity, sensuality may not have been considered a distinct principle or system in and of itself. However, by defining itself in opposition to sensual desires and pleasures, Christianity has effectively posited sensuality as a principle or system worthy of opposition, and thus introduced it to the world. The negation of something is deeply related to the acknowledgement of that thing.
| 113 |
[Star Wars] Everyone knows about order 66, but were there any other orders? What did they do?
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If order 66 was the only one programmed, then why was it called 66?
| 54 |
I assumed the other orders were fairly generic things- "the senate's under attack, return to the capital", "Battle is lost, focus on defense and escape", "aim for non-lethal capture of targets", so forth so forth. Standard stuff you might want your army to do
Order 66 was hidden by being stuck in a batch of long, boring military orders which most people just assumed the clones had memorized and they didn't need to. They knew the orders for their department, and no-one connected the dots enough to realise that no-one knew what order 66 was.
| 52 |
[Star Wars] If they can build a space station capable of destroying a planet, why can't they make armor strong enough to withstand a laser blast.
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I mean, come on.
| 44 |
Good armor is expensive. Clones and recruits are numerous.
This is the same reason why, though X-Wings are heavily armored, Tie fighters have almost no armor. Escort missions, blockades, tax enforcement - a constant show of great numbers is more important than actual combat readiness.
Statistically, the chances of any given Imperial soldier seeing actual combat is incredibly slim.
| 55 |
Karl Popper called Marxism a pseudoscience, what other philosophical theories would be pseudoscientific according to his theory of demarcation?
| 94 |
According to Karl Popper his own developed view on the scientific method is non-scientific, and this is completely fine.
There is no automatically implied derogation in a mere fact that some theory is not a scientific theory, and in general Karl Popper's method is applicable just to empirical sciences, and for instance mathematics or philosophy are aside of it, this includes Marxism.
| 49 |
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Why do electrons have spin 1/2 and photons have spin 1?
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I learned in quantum mechanics that electrons are fermions and fermions have half integer spin, and that photons are bosons and bosons have full integer spin. However, this was always just stated as fact, and we didn't derive it. Is this just one of those measured quantities, like the charge of an electron? Or is there some theoretical way of showing that electrons must have half integer spin and photons have full integer spin?
| 17 |
In the Standard Model these are postulates. In other words, you can't derive the fact that the electron has spin 1/2; indeed, having spin 1/2 is one of the properties that makes the electron an electron, by definition. Other theories might be able to deduce the particle content of the universe from more basic laws, but none have been confirmed so far.
| 10 |
[Cartoons] How do Roger Rabbit and Bugs Bunny feel about each other?
| 43 |
They had a brutal rivalry with Roger always coming up short of bugs. Always living in his shadow you know?
It came to a head one day in the late 80's when Roger was at his peak. Bugs was still acting like hot shit even though his popularity was at a low point and Roger was just fed up. He had been the king since 88 and Bugs was clearly old news. At union party Roger called Bugs out and boy oh boy did that backfire.
This was around 95, bugs wasnt obscure but definitely wasn't riding any kind of high point. Roger name drops him a few times and Bugs, like the true OG he is, says that he could make a better movie without giving a shit.
So he gets some pull in the studio and Space Jam becomes a thing. He gets Jordan on board and the movie is a smash hit, popular with families and hipsters who watch it ironically. What should have been a shameless plug for Jordan and all around piece of crap turns out to be a cult hit.
Roger once again becomes second fiddle to the titan that is Bugs Bunny. Bugs sleeps with Jessica as a final jab at Roger.
The king reigns.
| 43 |
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How are memories stored at a cellular level?
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Moreover, are short term memories stored by a different physiological mechanism than long term memories? Or is all memory and learning achieved by the same fundamental cellular changes to neurons?
| 136 |
Lots of people think that it's CamKII/NMDAR. It sits in between neurons that are connected. As they fire together, the complex strengthens the association between the two neurons. The process involves successive incidents of calcium binding. This is called a "molecular coincidence detector." As the neurons fire together more frequently, they become wired together. Neat!
| 41 |
[DC/Batman] What is Gotham City's signature food?
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Every major city in the US is known for a signature food, or cuisine-- in some cases, multiple foods and cuisines. Philadelphia has its cheesesteak, Minneapolis has the Juicy Lucy, Chicago has the deep dish pizza, Italian roast beef sandwich, and its signature hot dog; Los Angeles has Mexican and Korean, New York City has pizza, Chinese food, Italian food, and Jewish delis; Miami has Cuban food; and so on. What is Gotham City known for? Does it have a signature dish, or ethnic cuisine it is known for?
| 68 |
Since Gotham is supposed to be in New Jersey, probably some variant of Pork Roll.
Probably hard to have a famous signature dish in Gotham, makes you a prime target for Super villain capers.
Because come on there's no way the Joker wouldn't screw over a Gotham institution forever just because that wouldn't name a signature sandwich after him.
| 58 |
Why does pi appear so much in physics?
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Coulombs law, Uncertainty principle, Einsteins field equations- Why do these include pi? They don't seem to be related to circles in any obvious way.
| 612 |
Usually either because something displays spherical symmetry, or is periodic. There are also mathematical techniques that pick up factors of pi: anything that involves a fourier transform or integrating a Gaussian.
Coulomb's law is because of spherical symmetry: the electric field is unchanging over the 4pi steradian surface. In the uncertainty principal it arises from your choice of h instead of hbar, the difference being that one describes a full cycle and one describes a radian of a cycle. There are 2pi radians in a cycle.
| 425 |
CMV: Batman's recruitment of Robin as a fellow crimefighter is immoral and unjustified
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In the Batman comics, Robin (a role that is taken on by various individuals) is a youngster, sometimes even a pre-teen, but more recently between 13-15.
Here is another Redditor's informed opinion on the ages of Batman characters, including Robin: [https://www.reddit.com/r/DCcomics/comments/96hxnx/what\_would\_be\_the\_correct\_ages\_for\_batman\_the/](https://www.reddit.com/r/DCcomics/comments/96hxnx/what_would_be_the_correct_ages_for_batman_the/)
Here is the Fandom site, which pegs his age as 13 (and all of 84 lbs): [https://characterprofile.fandom.com/wiki/Robin\_(DC\_Comics)](https://characterprofile.fandom.com/wiki/Robin_(DC_Comics))
There's no justification for Batman recruiting a child sidekick and placing him in harm's way. I don't really know how the writers have tried to deal with this deranged choice, but if they have justified it in some way that's reasonable, please let me know.
I don't think I really need to elaborate too much on why this is an immoral action on Batman's part - a moral individual does not bring a child into dangerous situations involving crime, weapons, fighting, and known killers (some of whom have super powers).
I would imagine that one explanation is that Robin insists on fighting crime, and this is Batman's way of helping him do it more safely. But by giving him gadgets, costumes, crime-fighting assignments and taking him on missions, Batman is enabling him and actively putting him into harm's way.
| 168 |
The current Robin (Damian Wayne) was genetically perfected from birth and trained by his mother Talia al Ghul and the League of Assassins from an early age. He had already survived a litany of trials involving crime, weapons, fighting, and known killers before he even met Batman. Realistically, if Batman hadn't recruited him, Damian would have become a supervillain or a lethal crimefighter on his own.
| 118 |
What is happening when you burn NH4Cr2O7 With HgSCN that causes it to make those scary burnt horns that come out?
| 48 |
The ammonium dichromate just acts as an oxidizing agent here. The reaction produces some solids irrelevant to the spectacle (chromium(III) oxide and mercury(II) sulfide), but, more importantly, it violently produces nitrogen gas. The rapid volume expansion associated with producing the N2 is what causes the solids to swell up (it kind of "carries" the solid stuff up as it expands) and make the "horns".
| 13 |
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Evolution of defensive poisons
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How can a defensive poison (such as that of a poisonous frog) evolve if the selective pressure depends on its predator knowing it's poisonous? That is there no advantage to the individual to being poisonous if you die anyway.
Is that why poisonous animals are colourful, because only the distinctive ones are remembered by the poisoned predator as being poisonous? (that is only animals that evolve a poison and a distinctive colour simultaneously can pass on a benefit to their kin?
| 47 |
The selective pressure doesn't depend on the predator knowing it's poisonous. The poison kills the predator, regardless of whether it knows what it ate was good for it or bad for it - however, those predators that don't eat the poisonous prey will live, while those that don't will die. Eventually, you select for the predators that avoid the poisonous animal - if it happens to have a distinct colouring, that's ok.
The distinctive colouring would, by expectation, be secondary, as the predators have stopped eating the animal that isn't camouflaged so well any more. Otherwise, if the fancy colour evolved before the toxin, the brightly coloured prey would be easier to see, and thus would have been depleted faster, favouring those that are better camoflaged.
| 16 |
[X-Men, Marvel] So Wolverine's been all over the place since the mid/late 1800's and had had lost his memory of alot of it, so would he know how many lil bastards he actually has out there? or how many mutants maybe some he's even met and lived/fought with could actually be of his lineage ?
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Like how many students at Xavier's could actually be a descendant or great/grandchild of his that he doesn't even know about ?
| 119 |
There was an arc where Wolverine unknowingly fought and killed a group of his children recruited by his son Daken as a part of a revenge plot.
As many women he’s had sex with there’s no way Wolverine would know how many children he’s had in over 120 years and they wouldn’t all be mutants like him. Not all mutant offspring have powers like their parents.
| 87 |
ELI5: How do CGI artists know what's behind the objects they remove in live action movies?
| 17 |
Copying parts of the background if it is visible at any point during the shot (most common, also mostly automated process at this point)
or
Using a reference shot. Basically they film the scene several times with some elements simply not there, for SFX background references
or
If all else fails, rotoscoping. Painting shit out frame by frame.
| 12 |
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[Star Wars] Can non-Force users construct their own lightsabers? Has this ever happened?
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From what I've read in other questions on this sub, there tends to be a lot of ritual involved in how Jedi and Sith create their lightsabers, but there doesn't appear to be any big secret to the technology of it. The blade is made essentially the same way as blaster "bullets", and the crystals can be found in lots of different places, or synthesized. Is there anything that would stop a dedicated "muggle" from building their own lightsaber and learning how to use it (even if they couldn't become as skilled as a Force user)?
| 22 |
Most of a lightsaber is commonly available, off the shelf components, and obviously anybody can lay hands on those and assemble them into a lightsaber-like configuration. There's no tricks there.
The kyber crystal is the issue. Proper functioning of the lightsaber requires the crystal to be attuned and mounted via the Force. Mundane mounting techniques apparently do not work.
| 39 |
eli5: Why does a glass of water left out overnight have bubbles in it the next morning?
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Is it to do with the glass? Does the H2O split (and if so, what gas is in the bubbles)? What is the cause?
| 91 |
Water from the tap has some amount of gasses dissolved in it, mostly oxygen and nitrogen picked up from the air at some point between the water treatment plant and your house. Gasses have an easier time staying dissolved in cold liquids than in warm liquids, so when the water warms from the cold temperature out of the tap up to room temp, some of the gas can't stay dissolved anymore and forms those little bubbles of gas instead
| 87 |
Things you wished you knew while still studying
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I am a recent graduate and I've been asked to give a small talk to current students regarding my experiences, how I've landed a job in one of the big 4 etc. I'm really grateful I can give back, as I remember talks like these were very motivational during my time at uni.
I thought it would be awesome to include a section "Things I wished I knew while still at University", and it would be awesome to get input from the community here.
Things I have so far (and will expand upon) include:
* I’m not smarter than you - My grades were average, but I found that my confidence and perseverance helped excel more than my peers during interviews and work.
* You don’t owe your internship/workplace loyalty - It took me far too long to realize that I don't owe my first workplace loyalty (although I was pressured to stay). Leaving was the best decision I made, as I was underpaid and undervalued.
* Imposter syndrome is a heartless beast.
* Start applying for industry jobs early - They fill up quick!
* Don’t be scared of mistakes - As long as you learn from them.
* Testing is fun and important ;)
Any contributions and input are appreciated. I will add as many as possible to my talk.
| 21 |
computer science != software engineering/development != systems administration
this might be less applicable today with the advent of separate programs/degrees for all of these things. these didn't really exist back before i dropped out of college and so people interested in any of these fields would all be studying computer science.
the stuff you learn while studying compsci is usually applicable but doesn't scratch the surface of what you'll eventually need to know. chances are you're going to start your first job and not really know how to do anything.
try and learn on your own time about the stuff relevant to your career goals.
if you want to actually get into compsci academia, you're probably fine with just your classes. but, you probably want to start looking at grad schools and the type of research each one is doing to make sure it aligns with what you want to study (you'll get more support from your mentors if they're already familiar with your interests).
if you want to program for a living, you should probably start learning about source control management, design patterns, common tech stacks, and web development in general. you don't have to master any of these things, but at least being aware of them will greatly help you out when going into interviews and such.
if you want to get into systems admin, dick around with hardware. use linux. write scripts that automate simple computer tasks you do on a daily basis. learn about security groups, networking, disk imaging/cloning, and so on.
| 15 |
[Star Wars] If Anakin was a pretty angry Jedi would he have been better off and less likely to fall to the dark side if he used the Vapaad style instead?
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Since Vapaad is a saber style that focus's on using the negative emotions and dark side force to channel your power in combat would Anakin have been better suited to the style to help him gain some control over his anger or would he have tilted a lot sooner then when he did?
| 123 |
If anything it would push him more to the dark.
Windu has quite a bit of self control and dicipline, something that brat Anakin never learned. Only a handful of people can properly use Vapaad and not lose themselves.
| 79 |
ELI5: Why do some US electrical plugs have a "ground" and many do not?
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I don't know much about how plugs or electricity works, obviously, but I was taught that one side is the "positive", one side is the "negative", and the bottom (seemingly quite optional) is the "ground". It's odd to me that so few plugs use the "ground", so it made me curious why it exists, and why it's optional. Are there any safety benefits to having a "ground", or safety concerns with not having one? Thank you!
| 21 |
Positive and negative doesn't really apply here, because they switch back and forth 60 times per second. You have hot and neutral. Hot is connected to one of the phases, neutral is the same potential as ground, but only connected to ground in the main breaker box. stuff that uses a lot of power will often have two hot wires with 240v between them, and the neutral wire is halfway in between. If you have an appliance with a metal case, you connect the ground wire to the case, so that in the event of a failure somewhere, the outside of the device shorts that back to ground and trips the breaker, instead of sitting there at mains voltage waiting for someone to touch it.
Two prong plugs are used for double insulated appliances, usually items with plastic shells that won't conduct electricity if there's a failure, but it can also apply to metal items so long as a single fault won't cause an electrocution hazard.
| 18 |
[Star Wars Canon] What are legitimate reasons the Separatists were rightfully mad at the Republic for?
| 29 |
I think it was mostly due to an unequal treatment/services provided around the galaxy (inner rim gets more focus, mid rim/outer rim gets little to none), lack of protection, corruption, general lack of competency. The crisis on Naboo in TPM was engineered by palpatine to demonstrate just this - the republic saw a planet being held hostage and they sat around doing virtually nothing until Queen Amidala spoke and the Jedi intervened. It was the republics job to provide for its member planets and it was woefully slow to aid the planet in any meaningful way.
| 78 |
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[Harry Potter] Why does the school bother grading assignments, when career paths are determined by OWLs and NEWTs?
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Even in OotP and HBP, it seemed the only determining factor in course eligibility was a student's scores on these standardized tests. If that's the case, then in theory, I could skip all assignments and still end up Head Auror with the right test scores.
EDIT: I've learned form /u/MugaSofer that the UK school system (or maybe just the Irish) also similarly disregards class grades. I'm an American, and in the States, GPA is very important when considering future opportunities (either employment or higher education). That's why Hogwarts' system seems so strange to me.
| 104 |
So the teachers know if you understand the material. A smart student could skip out on a lot of work. Fred and George basically did this, they went to class and obviously understood the material but just didn't give a shit.
| 100 |
[Harry Potter] Does Hogwarts have an orientation program for Muggle-born students and their families?
|
It seems unreasonable to expect these families, who have no knowledge or understanding of the wizarding world, to be able to navigate the process of finding school supplies, using the owl post system, etc. And what about the kids? Is it just presumed that an 11 year old can handle being thrown into an utterly alien environment alone for months at a time without massive psychological problems? How are the various rules of the wizarding world, such as the Statute of Magical Secrecy, communicated to these families?
| 23 |
It's likely that a representative from the Ministry (or potentially a Hogwarts faculty member like Hagrid) would meet with the student and their parent chaperone to get the lowdown on all things Wizarding World, and then get assistance with getting to Diagon Alley and purchasing the necessary equipment for their enrollment at Hogwarts. The representative would assess the finances of the student and their parents, and either take them to Gringotts to exchange Muggle currency to Wizard currency, *or* they would add the student to the "Wizarding Assistance for New Denizens" (WAND for short) initiative.
This would either work out with the Ministry/Hogwarts staff guide purchasing the basic equipment for the student on some sort of loan basis (I would assume having the witch or wizard paying it back when they are employed, or cleared if the witch/wizard gets top grades in their OWLs) *or* more likely, that the guide informs each shop keeper that the child is a WAND applicant, and thus will require a free (and likely second hand) version of each product required for learning at Hogwarts.
After getting the student and their supplies to Platform 9¾, the guide (if a Hogwarts faculty member) will briefly explain the owl post system and how to reply to the student through means of owl, as well as an emergency Muggle phone number to call if the need arises (with the call being directed to a Ministry representative who can go on to directly contact the student and or Hogwarts). If the guide is from the *Ministry*, then it's likely they (and the parent) bid farewell to the student, and take the parent somewhere (preferably a wizarding location) to discuss important information. Communication, education, Hogsmeade trips and the Triwizard Tournament, all and more are explained. The parent will be made aware of what needs to be done from their end, as well as assistance they will receive as Muggles *and* how they can be further involved in their child's time at Hogwarts (watching them compete in Quidditch, picking them up after the term ends, and alternatives to Muggle tech communications for example).
| 35 |
ELI5: How do non optical finger print biometrics such as on the Galaxy S7 differ from optical based ones?
|
Yes I've searched and seen the post about smart phone fingerprints being "faster" than traditional, but how is it actually imaging the print?
| 75 |
Optical scanners work by taking a picture of your finger then processing that image for things like edge detection. This takes time but the hardware is relatively cheap.
The capacitive scanners some devices use is essentially a row of tiny touch screens. They can detect the raised ridges on your skin by touch. This data can be processed in many different ways but for the most part it's simpler - the ridges on your finger are either touching or not touching a part of the sensor. It's sort of like a black and white image - no color data, and the edges are far easier to detect. This has the potential to be faster but the hardware is more expensive.
| 15 |
I believe that if a woman lies to her sexual partner about taking birth control, the man bears no responsibility (financial or otherwise) for any child that is conceived. CMV
|
I am not completely sure of the relevant laws here, and of course they vary by country/state. But correct me if I'm wrong: if a woman says she's taking birth control but she isn't, and pregnancy results, the man is legally obligated to pay child support, right? If that's the case, I think that is extremely unjust to the man. It is a kind of sexual fraud/extortion. If a woman wants a baby, she can just trick a man into helping her conceive it, and then hand him the bill for the cost of raising it to age 18. The financial consequences of this for men can be extreme. And nothing is forcing the woman to have the baby. She could just get an abortion. The law favors her selfish interest in having the baby and somehow portrays the man as the selfish/unjust one instead if he doesn't want to strain his finances with child support. I think that instead, in cases like this, the government should provide 100% funding for the woman to get an abortion. And if the woman chooses to carry the baby to term instead, she is 100% financially responsible for raising it.
EDIT: Woah, this is definitely my highest rated post by far. BTW [this was the post that inspired mine](http://www.reddit.com/r/AskMen/comments/1o8tl2/i20m_got_a_former_coworker35f_pregnant_i_dont/).
Thanks for all the comments, I see if I can respond to some.
EDIT2: It occurred to me that my post might seem a little anti-women. Totally not my intention at all. So here's (I think) an equivalent moral scenario with the roles reversed. Suppose that a man wears a condom, but without the woman's knowledge, he pokes holes in it. Because the man is wearing a condom, the woman decides not to take birth control. Pregnancy results.
Does the man bear 100% responsibility for the cost of raising that child (or at least the cost of getting an abortion, if that's what the woman would prefer)? Suppose that the law burdened the woman with that cost, and let the man off scot-free. Would that be fair? A lot of people here are saying that in the other scenario (woman lying about birth control), the man should have just worn a condom, otherwise he is being irresponsible because no method of birth control is 100% effective anyway. Well then, in this hole-poked condom scenario, do you think the woman is partially responsible for that pregnancy? Is she irresponsible for assuming that the man did not poke holes in the condom, and failing to take birth control as a precaution? Are we okay with saying that anyone who places any trust in their partner is foolish and deserves to be slammed by the law if it turns out their trust was misplaced?
| 1,288 |
I agree with you but want to play devil's advocate.
I am going to argue that what's important here first and foremost is the child. Whether or not the man wanted to be a father, he is now. That child exists. It's a shitty situation, but the kid has to eat. The kid has needs. We can't condemn the kid to suffer just because his mother was dishonest. Someone's got to feed that kid- and it makes more sense for it to be the guy whose kid it is, than to burden the rest of society who had no part in making the child and no genetic stake in the child, with that child's care.
Edit: Holy crap, this thread blew up fast, huh?
| 480 |
[Pokemon]If a trainer has a legendary pokemon, why are no eyebrows raised over how they got it?
|
In the anime a trainer has a darkrai and a latios at his disposal and brings them to a league, why wouldn't anyone ask how he got what are essentially deity pokemon?
| 167 |
In the anime, most of the legendary pokemon aren't unique, just exceptionally rare. We see evidence of multiple Lugia, multiple Articuno, even (inexplicably) multiple Mewtwo.
In fact, the 4th gen cover legends and Arceus are the only ones we explicitly know to be completely unique.
| 134 |
[Minecraft] Where do Wither Skeletons get stone to make stone swords when they live in the Nether?
|
Lol i'm sure there's no answer but it's worth asking y'know?
| 15 |
There’s stone everywhere in the Nether, it’s just so hot that it’s been melted down into the lava you see. Now, you of course can’t use water to turn that lava back into cobblestone yourself in the Nether, but that doesn’t mean creatures native to the Nether don’t have some tricks up their sleeves. Hitting you with the sword infects you with the wither, which is evidence that there’s some connection between whatever magic keeps them going and gives them purpose and their weapons. So the most likely explanation is that they use their wither magic to harden the lava back into stone for their weapons, then they continue to channel that magic through the weapon until they’re destroyed causing the sword to revert back into a regular old stone one.
| 23 |
CMV: There is nothing wrong with the IRS targeting Tea Party members
|
This is something I've heard people try to hold against the Obama administration. It's also something the IRS themselves tried to blame on low level employees, rather than just owning up to it as a sanctioned policy.
While the thought of "weaponizing the IRS" is scary, I don't feel like its fair to describe targeting the tea party in that way. We're talking about a group of people banded together for the most part around their desire to not pay taxes. When allocating limited resources, they seem like a great place to look for people who are evading taxes. I don't think they should be unnecessarily burdened by said investigations, but I don't think there is anything wrong with investigating people who are so vocally trying to avoid paying taxes to see if they are in fact already not paying taxes.
EDIT:
handed out plenty of deltas already, my view has been sufficiently changed.
| 21 |
Do you think that it would be acceptable for the cops to start pulling over and targeting anyone who had a #BlackLivesMatter sticker on their car? After all, that's a group of people who've banded together to protest the police, right? So wouldn't it make sense that they'd be breaking at least SOME law? Might as well check, right?
The government exists to serve ALL people, not just the people that agree with the party in power.
If you agree that this is okay, then it would make sense for the Trump administration to purposely target anyone who's being particularly vocal on Facebook about their displeasure with the election results, because those people are going to be the most likely to not pay taxes in protest.
| 26 |
Eli5: Why does the ISS require thrusting to maintain orbit, while the moon has been orbiting the earth for a long time without any problems.
| 30 |
Atmospheric drag. The ISS is high, but there's still enough atmospheric drag to slowly lower its orbit. Without the regular boost, the orbit would drop lower into the atmosphere and drag would keep increasing to the point the orbit gave out.
| 59 |
|
Is it possible that when my microwave is turned on, the wifi signal becomes weaker?
| 130 |
If you have a wifi network on the 2.4 GHz band, then yes.
Microwave ovens also work on 2.4 GHz, so they could interfere with wifi. Microwave ovens are shielded to prevent the radiation from leaking out, but if the shielding is in somehow deteriorated, there may be some leakage. A typical microwave oven that's active can emit 10,000 times more microwave radiation than a wifi router, so even a small amount of leakage can interfere with signals.
| 195 |
|
ELI5: What exactly are logarithms and natural logs?
|
So, I'm in Calculus I, and we are deriving a lot of equations, and math is one of my strong suits, so this is easy for me.. But I like to be able to think of things logically while I am doing math. I'm pretty sure that the idea of logs and natural logs have escaped my mind. Would someone please explain exactly what logs are, and then how they differ from natural logs? Thank you!
| 16 |
Logarithms are like the opposite of exponents. Just like how adding and subtracting are "opposite" operations (and multiply/divide). For example:
10^3 = 1000. 10 is the base, 3 is the exponent, 1000 is the result.
The opposite direction of this is:
log10(1000) = 3. Again 10 is the base (it should be subscripted), 1000 is the result, and 3 is the exponent. Except now you're working backwards from the result.
Generally log() means base 10. If it's not base 10, they'll write what base it is in subscript. Natural log, or ln(), is a special log where the base is *e*.
This is the gist of it
| 28 |
CIA, NSA, FBI, Homeland, DoD What are all these different security establishments trying to accomplish?
|
Please explain their purposes? I am frustrated with all this recent news, the USA has so many agency's and establishments for security? Yet, it seems as if there is NO security at all. How do they benefit from this much security, why not fewer more effective solutions?
| 20 |
CIA: The Central Intelligence Agency is basically the spy agency. CIA agents (spies) gather intelligence and perform operations in foreign countries. They protect American interests abroad by using sneaky tactics, such as assassination and infiltration.
NSA: The National Security Agency also monitors foreign activity, but they focus on the communications. So, if North Korea is sending radio signals to their bases to launch an attack, it's the NSA that would pick that up. The NSA also strengthens the security of American communication.
FBI: The Federal Bureau of Investigation is a national police force, similar to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Canada. They investigate and enforce federal crimes. They do not deal with the activity of foreign countries, unless those foreign countries start committing crimes on US soil.
Homeland Security: This department was created after 9/11. Basically they deal with foreign and domestic threats at the civilian level. Homeland Security absorbed other establishments such as Customs and Immigration. These are the guys that check your passports at the airport and search cargo ships when they arrive in port, and patrol the American-Mexican border.
DoD: The Department of Defense is basically the US military: the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and the Marines. They defend American sovereignty by using guns and bombs in open and direct conflict.
| 18 |
cmv: "Save the planet" is a futile sentiment
|
I believe in climate change and I definitely believe that human beings are single handedly destroying the natural resources of the planet we live in. I also support the movement towards sustainable living for human sustenance.
What I cannot get on board is the theory that we are destroying the planet and that we have to save it. If there is anything history abd science have taught us, it is the fact that Earth has outlived every single species it has fostered for more than 4.5 billion years. Earth doesn't need saving. If we refuse to change our ways, oxygen would be depleted and human beings would become extinct but Earth would still survive for the next species.
That's just the way nature works. All we are doing is hoping to save humankind. Or am I completely wrong?
| 19 |
I think everyone who uses the expression "save the planet" probably/really means "save the planet as we currently know it rather than having it alter to a point that human civilization collapses due to rising sea levels, droughts, severe weather patterns and other aspects of climate change"... but that's not a very snappy slogan.
Hence why they say "save the planet" instead.
| 51 |
ELI5: What makes hypoallergenic dogs/cats hypoallergenic?
|
I saw someone say that it's because these animals have hair, not fur. What's the difference?
| 61 |
The part that makes people allergic to cats is actually a protein (FEL D1) found in their saliva. When a cat licks herself, she deposits the protein on her skin, and when it dries off, the flakes become airborne and trigger symptoms of allergy in people. So, it's not the fur that's the issue, it's the dead skin.
In short, there's no cat that's 100% hypoallergenic, they can only produce less of the protein FEL D1 than regular cats. Some cats tend to be preferred because of trial and error, and even then, some of the most likely to not cause allergies still do because maintenance is required (like bathing or brushing) to make those pets optimal.
| 20 |
CMV: Lebron's stance on the Darryl Morey tweet is hypocritical
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/oct/14/lebron-james-daryl-morey-china-hong-kong-nba-tweet
LeBron has stated that Morey didn't think about the repercussions of his tweet and how it would affect the league. This is insanely hypocritical because when Colin Kapernick was kneeling during the anthem LeBron expressed his support of Kapernick even though that hurt the NFLs revenue. This is visible by the fact that nfl viewership was down during the height of the kapernick controversy.
More over LeBron has publicly proclaimed he won't "shut up and dribble" and will speak out against injustices, which he has. He has publicly come out in support of multiple causes most notably BLM. Here people are dying and he is choosing to remain silent.
To alter a famous Kanye West quote LeBron doesn't care about Asian people.
Change my mind
| 142 |
LeBron is actually completely consistent in his stance. His criticism of Morey is about "how it would affect **the league**". Here, "the league" means the NBA.
Supporting Kapernick is a popular PR move. Nike literally sponsors Kapernick for the good PR. Hence, LeBron supporting Kapernick is good for the NBA. In contrast, Morey endangered a $1.5 billion broadcasting deal with China. Which is bad for the NBA.
In conclusion, LeBron only cares about making money for the NBA and therefore for himself (higher revenue = higher cap = higher salary for him since he's always supermaxed).
| 50 |
ELI5:How did ancient Romans do complicated math using Roman numerals?
| 31 |
The normal method of calculation in ancient Rome, as in Greece, was by moving counters on a smooth table. Originally pebbles (calculi) were used. Marked lines indicated units, fives, tens etc. as in the Roman numeral system. This system of 'counter casting' continued into the late Roman empire and in medieval Europe, and persisted in limited use into the nineteenth century.
| 21 |
|
ELI5: Instead of using salt to melt ice and snow off of road surfaces, couldn't you just hook up power to the rebar in the road and heat the concrete to a few degrees above freezing?
|
It seems like a pretty good alternative to using salt, the pieces of the puzzle are already there but are there any drawbacks?
| 67 |
Other than extremely high energy consumption and cost of having all that set up. Probably animals would like to sleep on the warm road because it would be warmer than anything else. Animals love free heat.
| 154 |
[Marvel] How do Cyclops glasses stay on his head? Why does the red crystal stop the beam?
|
I was getting a drink with some fellow mutants and the talked turned to Cyclops and his laser eyes. I was saying it must be terrible to have to wear red glasses all the time to have your laser eyes nuetralized.
Then one of my fellows slurred," ...snot lasers. Its kinectic...like a punch, from some sort of..... punch dimension."
That doesnt make sense, how do his glasses his glasses stay on then? Also why does red crystal affect kinetic energy?
| 16 |
The glasses are made of a ruby quartz and are the only known natural substance (there's not many things you can ask the guy to wear over his eyes before he thinks you're taking the piss, we got lucky) which can block the blasts as they resonate at the same frequency as Cyclops own psionic field.
On another note snot lasers sound great as a mutant power!
| 20 |
[Ex Machina] What happens to Caleb?
|
Presumably there's a bathroom in Nathan's room so he won't die of dehydration. Maybe there's a fridge or bar with some snacks in that room, but food will quickly become an issue. He's got the weights and weight bars to use as tools to break out.
At some point someone's going to notice that Caleb is overdue or that there hasn't been any communication from Bluebook's CEO in his remote hideaway and a welfare check will be launched.
So does Caleb survive?
| 69 |
He manages to noticeably crack the glass by smacking it once, no way he'll stay stuck in that room once he finishes panicking. After he gets out of there it shouldn't be that much harder to get access to the food. No reason he shouldn't be able to last until the next restocking helicopter arrives.
| 37 |
ELI5: Fat32 vs. NTSF
|
Like I'm *five* please.
| 29 |
A file system consists of two parts: a map of where all the files are, and then the actual contents of the files. FAT32 and NTFS are two different ways of storing the map data.
NTFS's map structure has a bunch of benefits over the one used in FAT32. For one thing, FAT32 only uses 32 bits (binary digits) to store the file size which means it can't represent files larger than 4GB (which is 32 1s in a row in binary- the maximum number you can represent). NTFS uses 64-bits to describe the file size so it can have a maximum file size of about 16 Exabytes (about 16 million terabytes). There's a similar limitation on the maximum hard drive size- FAT32 can only support 2TB drives, NTFS can support up to 256TB right now and that can be extended in the future.
There's also some other things that users won't notice as much happening behind the scenes. The structure NTFS uses is less prone to getting messed up than FAT32's structure. And NTFS supports some really awesome features that are cool for developers but don't matter to much to you, which enables things like Windows 8's OneDrive integration (as far as every program on your computer is concerned, the files look like they're on the hard drive but they aren't actually downloaded until you open them the first time).
| 24 |
[AVATAR] If all the Airbenders were killed during Sozin’s genocide why was the Avatar expected to be an air bender still, 100 years later? Shouldn’t the Fire Nation have started searching the Water Tribes for the next Avatar assuming they had killed Roku’s successor?
| 23 |
They were.
They were attacking waterbenders to the point that the Southern Tribe had lost all but one of them and the Northern Tribe had to completely isolate themselves.
Zuko was sent off on a wild goose chase to find an airbender avatar so as to make him go away, but the Fire Nation's main energy was going after waterbenders.
| 73 |
|
Our water is hard. If we want to minimize limescale deposits in our electric kettle, is it better to only boil the amount of water we need or to boil a kettle full every time?
|
[Water Quality numbers](https://imgur.com/a/PeUDIQU)
The kettle boils between .5L and 1.7L at a time.
This is to settle a longstanding marital disagreement.
| 35 |
It doesn't really matter. Higher temperature causes the dissolved solids to precipitate since they're actually less soluble at boiling temps. Counter-intuitive, but that's how it is.
So, less water means what's left will likely have more evaporation relative to the water volume (as most heat will be lost through conduction via the walls of the kettle) thus concentrating the minerals more, but more water means more dissolved minerals to begin with wanting to precipitate out when the temp rises to boiling.
Overall less water would be better as it would reduce the amount of minerals available to deposit, however if you only used the bare minimum and left just a few cc's of hot water in the kettle the evaporation would likely cause more deposits to form.
Your best bet is actually to use just a bit more water than you need (which reduces energy use too as you're not heating water only to let it cool to room temp again) and then immediately refill it to 0.5 liters (or whatever the minimum is) with cold water.
| 22 |
ELI5: Hypotheticaly, if you made a hole straight through the earth and someone jumped through. What would happen to gravity?
|
Would the person free fall and then at the exact middle stop, essentially being stuck in the middle; would there be equal amounts of gravity working in all directions?
| 26 |
Assuming a perfectly spherical ~~cow~~ Earth with completely uniform density and an airless tunnel etc, etc....
>would there be equal amounts of gravity working in all directions?
Yes. Which is the same as saying they're weightless (at this point).
> then at the exact middle stop
No - they've already built up a ton of speed falling. As they rushed past the center, they'd gradually *de*celerate until they stopped at the surface of the other side and started the whole process over again.
| 13 |
ELI5: Why do things always look farther away on a camera?
| 28 |
It basically all depends on the lens you're using. Most cameras that we use, such as those on cell phones, have a relatively wide field of view. The wider your lens, the further away the subject will appear. The opposite is also true, where a much less wide angle lens, or a telephoto, will make the subject appear closer to the photographer.
Source: am photographer
| 18 |
|
[Lord of the Rings] Do orcs age?
|
Considering they are corrupted elves, are they immortal?
| 41 |
they do age, they are not immortal and will die of old age.
them being corrupted elves is a theory that tolkien abandoned. he never decided on what the orcs origin was, the last theory he was thinking on was that they were corrupted humans. he didnt like the idea that morgoth could corrupt the elves so much that they lost their immortality, which is a very big part of the elven soul. infact, he had several origin stories for the orcs which he never decided upon. his first was that they were corrupted elves. later he went between that they were either creations of morgoth (soulless creations, like the trolls, since morgoth cant create souls) or spawn of some maia, like the giant spiders are, or that they were corrupted humans, which would be the simplest solution, except morgoth made the orcs before the humans ever arrived.
so, a tldr is that we dont know where the orcs come from, but we know they age.
| 54 |
[Groundhog Day] How far could Phil get from Punxsutawney before he resets to the next day?
|
I'm sure at some point Phil decided to try to travel. We don't know what kind of funds he had access to, but how far could he realistically get? Could he somehow get to and on a plane and make it to Hong Kong for a meal?
| 46 |
The roads were closed due to the blizzard, can't get out by car. Same goes for air travel. The local municipal airport would only be home to a few light personal aircraft, none of which could safely fly in blizzard conditions.
His best bet is to get the biggest truck around and try to go around the closed roads, but still he's probably not making it farther than Pittsburgh.
| 45 |
Considering that all organisms on earth seem to have a common ancestor is it safe to say that abiogenisis only occurred once? And if that is so, why hasn't it happened more than once?
| 16 |
Considering how quickly life emerged after the Earth became stable, it's unlikely it has happened only once. However, we really only have one data point, and there is still a lot more to do before we can say anything with high confidence.
The reason we don't see multiple sets of life *probably* isn't because of lack of abiogenisis - but rather, whenever new life does emerge, it finds itself in a world with competition that has had billions of years to evolve. It wouldn't stand a chance.
Again though - the best answer anyone can give you on this is just speculative.
| 18 |
|
CMV: Trading card games and loot boxes are no different from gambling except that they are aimed at children
|
Trading card games, like Magic the Gathering, sell booster packs with a small chance of a large pay out. These booster packs are designed to be pleasurable to open, and always pay out a small prize, in exactly the same way the slot machines do. Booster packs for in game upgrades are the same, except without the physical object.
The most profitable slot machines are [penny slots](https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/episode-78-no-armed-bandit/) these machines allow you to place multiple bets on each spin and will almost always pay out, in a variable amount. This elicits a dopamine response in the brain causing addiction. A booster pack or loot box will always contain a "Prize" but the prize is a random reward [which has been shown to be effective at maintaining behaviour](https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-wise/201311/use-unpredictable-rewards-keep-behavior-going).
The "No Real world value" counter argument
[It has been posited that loot boxes and booster packs are not gambling because the prizes cannot be exchanged for cash at the point of service.](https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/201300)
However,
1. There is a well known grey market for these items
2. Money is not the only thing of real world value i.e. Prestige from being at the top of a leader board or having a rare card.
Edit: A lot of people are commenting that you always gets something so it isn't gambling.
But you can still gamble with the knowledge that you will definitely win something. e.g. betting on every outcome of a tournament. Also if we gave out a lollipop with every spin of a slot machine does that make it okay for children to play? obviously not so gambling does not require a no win state.
_____
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| 148 |
Have you played Magic? If so you know the cardinal rule - don't buy booster packs, buy the singles you need. In the modern era, the only people cracking packs are large stores who buy 100,000s of packs or more. At which point they are statistically guaranteed to open everything possible. They then sell the valuable cards at a price which generates profits.
The only actual players opening packs are playing draft - a format which utilizes the common slots very heavily. The rare you open plays a role, but often not a large one, and the games are centered around the common cards.
Finally, the format which is gaining the most popularity in recent years is pauper, where you aren't even allowed to play rares at all. You have to play with only commons. Almost all decks are $20-$40.
| 52 |
[Dragon Ball Z] So I get that Popo is the strongest life form. What is he? What's his story?
| 40 |
Taken from kanzenshuu.com, which derives its material from official guides and from an in-depth research of the source material:
"One method by which the gods of the afterlife govern the Living World is by dispatching personnel to each planet. This is in order to oversee and protect a planet’s sentient life-forms. But beyond this, the main goal is to stimulate an immature sentient species’ growth, guiding it towards the greatest happiness. However, these personnel dispatched to each planet often do not become that planet’s god, but instead serve as a sort of attendant for the god. Instead, an appropriate person from among the planet’s sentient life-forms is selected to serve as god. The principle seems to be that a species’ fate should be entrusted to the species itself, and so the dispatched personnel are only permitted to act in a purely subsidiary role. In fact, Mister Popo and Karin were dispatched from the afterlife to Earth and devote themselves to supporting whoever is selected as god.
— “Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 7: Dragon Ball Large Encyclopedia” (p. 37)"
| 18 |
|
Considering its solid core, why is Saturn referred to as a gas giant rather than a rocky planet with immensely thick atmosphere? Can you "fly through" a gas giant?
|
Than you for your time and answers.
| 72 |
Our gas giants are referred to as gas planets because the vast majority of their mass is composed of materials found as gas on Earth.
In reality all four have large non-gaseous regions in the center.
Jupiter and Saturn are large enough that the pressure increases steadily until the hydrogen enters a supercritical state and behaves more like a molten metal than a gas.
Uranus and Neptune are smaller and colder and likely have pressurized water-ammonia "seas" deep beneath the clouds.
So no, you could not fly through them.
In our solar system there's a clear difference between rocky planets and gas planets since there's a huge mass jump from Earth to Uranus. We've never observed a planet in the 5-10 Earth mass range to see how it behaves.
| 58 |
Could we ever stop an Asteroid hitting earth?
|
Lets say the Asteroid is 1/4 the size of the moon.
PS excuse me for my dumb question :p
| 31 |
An asteroid 1/4 the size of the moon would be absolutely **enormous**.
Can it be done? Yes, it can in theory.
We'd need sufficient warning time. The earlier we know about it the better. If we find it early enough, it'd only take a minor course correction to deflect it. The closer it is to hitting, and the more massive the object, the harder it would be to deflect.
The way to do this isn't to blow it up, but alter its trajectory. There are a lot of theories on how to do this, but one of the easiest, though it's definitely a "long game" idea, would be to park a small(ish) object next to the thing that's going to hit Earth, maintain its distance using thrusters and let the gravity of our little launched object pull the celestial one out of the danger zone.
| 19 |
ELI5: Why does the Fed adjust the funds rate, and what does it typically mean/signal for the economy?
| 54 |
The Fed Funds Rate is the primary -- and easiest -- "tuning knob" which the Fed can use to try to influence the economy.
Raising it means that they are worried more about inflation than they are unemployment and economic growth.
Lowering it means they are worried more about unemployment and economic growth than they are inflation.
Normally these adjustment are small and highly telegraphed (they don't like investors to ever be surprised!). They become newsworthy when they think that they are worried about inflation so much that they might actually trigger a minor recession with their rate hike... or if they end up lowering the rate super low to near zero. Once the rate gets to zero the Fed is "out of bullets" and extraordinary measures might be needed the next time around.
| 24 |
|
[Fallout] Why are we protecting all of our computers, from the humblest personal terminal to the executive branch comp with the launch codes on it, with what appears to be a very-easily beaten game of mastermind.
| 43 |
That is the RobCo maintenance password recovery interface. It requires you to be able to bootstrap the terminal with another computer. At the time someone walking around with a computer is as it is now, practically unheard of. Back then the only people that did it were technical professionals at RobCo and people who lived in underground vaults, now it is just people that have managed to get a Pipboy and figure out how to use it.
| 56 |
|
[Princess Bride] How did Humperdink get his goons and their horses to the top of the Cliffs of Despair?
| 32 |
The rope climb is not the only way to the top of the cliffs. It is merely the most direct, fastest if you are fit enough, and most likely to prevent their follower from following (which didn't work in Vesini's case).
Humperdink and his posse rode up the back way, on winding mountain trails, and it likely took them hours versus the minutes that it took to climb the rope.
| 40 |
|
[Marvel] What benefits and/or drawbacks would Wolverine encounter if his skeleton were coated in Uru instead of Adamantium?
| 25 |
Uru may not be quite as strong as adamantium, but it holds enchantments like no other. An uru-infused Logan is, if anything, even more formidable when paired with a sorcerer like Dr. Strange or Scarlet Witch.
Additionally, uru may be significantly less toxic and/or less prone to leaching into the bloodstream than adamantium as well as possibly non-ferrous. This could significantly improve his healing factor and/or prevent Magneto from ripping it out of him in the late 90s.
| 35 |
|
CMV: A lot of disagreements would benefit from people being more willing to believe each other about their personal experiences
|
One thing I see a lot when I see people get angry with each other about a controversial issue, like sexism in the workplace, is that both people do not believe the other person's reported experience.
Let's talk about sexism for example. I have seen many men express that they don't believe it when women talk about how many times they've been sexually harassed. The thing is, thousands of women have come forward and talked about experiences being discriminated against or sexually harassed and there's little reason to assume people are making that up. Of course I don't think that 100% of people are telling the truth but I definitely think the majority are! Assuming that most people are lying about things that happened to them to further an agenda is really shitty and overly cynical.
In that same exact sense, when a man expresses frustration about men as a whole being called gross and predatory and his fear of interacting with women on that basis, he's often called oversensitive or fragile, but I really don't think most men who say that are lying about that experience. If they use that as an excuse to be sexist then obviously I don't agree with that, but saying "no you're not feeling demoralized by stereotypes about nerdy men, you're just an asshole" is a terrible thing to say to a person who feels like people are saying they were born inherently shitty.
One guy I used to follow on Twitter once mentioned that despite the increase in anti-Asian racism in the US surrounding COVID, he hasn't experienced it himself. (He's Chinese and lives in New York iirc). Two people in the replies *disagreed with him* and insisted that he had experienced it but didn't realize. That's just frustrating. It definitely might be reasonable to discuss whether you and him have different ideas of what's considered "experiencing racism," but straight up denying his experience makes no sense. Maybe it opens the door to discuss things like "I wonder if anti-Asian racism has been a lot worse than some parts of the country than others." Not "your experience is wrong."
In the same sense one thing I've seen people mention that I legitimately don't understand is the idea that un-feminine teenage girls are pressured to be transgender. I am trans and my only experience is being pressured NOT to be trans. But I don't assume that a person who says that they felt pressured to call themselves transgender is lying. Instead I genuinely think that they had a very different experience than me-- maybe they grew up in a different area, had a different group of friends, interpreted pressure in a different way than I did. If someone says "lesbians all feel pressure to become transgender!" I wouldn't believe them. But if a person talked to me about how *they personally* felt pressured, I would believe that and try to understand!
Data is clearly better than anecdotes for making policy decisions. But when it comes to two people talking about their views, it's true that whether we want them to be or not, our views are affected by our experiences. I'm white, so my experiences aren't the same as someone who's Black or Asian. Since I'm transgender, so I've had some different experiences than people who aren't.
Of course I'm aware that people lie sometimes about things that have happened to them, but the majority of people aren't making up their personal experiences and I don't assume someone is just because they disagree with me on a controversial issue. I have friends who have had all kinds of experiences, some of which seem directly contradictory.
Even if two directly conflicting opinions can't be true ("organized religion is good" and "organized religion is evil"), two directly conflicting experiences ("religion has had such a positive impact on my life" and "religion really harmed me") can absolutely be true for two of my friends. What conclusions we should draw based on that is a lot more complicated and depends on understanding more of the circumstances surrounding the issue.
CMV?
| 44 |
Honestly, people shouldn’t just believe people without evidence. People are bad actors and they will lie in order to further their agenda. To be perfectly honest, people should do exactly the opposite of what you are suggesting. They should completely ignore anecdote in favor of the hard data. You also have the issue that often times the loudest and most vocal people do not represent real majority sentiment or experience.
| 28 |
Why is it wrong to value strangers as much as you value your loved ones?
|
Every stranger you see has a life that could be richer than yours or anyone you know. They may be more righteous. There are millions of starving children, why do they come after your own?
| 49 |
Utilitarians would argue that it doesn’t matter. But for me it’s because we have an intuitive feeling of obligations based on proximity. Yourself, your loved ones, your friends are all people that you have moral obligations for. You can’t just stop feeding your dog because you’re giving the money to a charity that saves children’s lives, even if that would be a moral action purely based on utility. Why this is the case is harder to argue because it rests on the assumption that obligations actually matter. If you don’t have this presupposition then it is very hard to convince you as it hits the bottom of what assumptions should be taken as intuitive truths when dealing with morality.
| 46 |
Hello guys. I have seen a lot of people in this sub mention that phd graduates have a very low probability to get a permanent job on academia. Is this an accurate fact, about both on humanities and natural sciences?
|
If it is true, then isn't it a problem of academia? Isn't it better for academia to have 'new blood' - young smart people instead of saying to them 'hey, you have worked incredibly hard but go find a job somewhere outside of academia'?
| 90 |
Academia only employs a small proportion of PhDs. Think of it as a factory that produces PhDs for the benefit of society. It only needs to retain a few of those to keep operating.
Some people have spent their lives in school, and imagine that their whole future will be there as well. That is an understandable, but extremely dangerous misperception.
| 161 |
ELI5: Why does the last bit of ice in a cup refuse to come out without me having to bang the cup?
| 21 |
The same thing that gives water its surface tension gives it the ability to stick to other surfaces. Each water molecule is basically a tiny, weak permanent magnet. This allows it to stick to other water molecules pretty well, but it also allows it to stick to other substances since most other substances have a tiny bit of charge, as well. However, this magnetic/sticky force is very weak (this is why some bugs can walk on the surface of water, but you can easily push your finger through the surface.
So knowing all this, the reason you have to bang on the cup is because the ice is always melting (assuming you're in a room temperature environment), so the ice has a layer of water all around it and on the bottom of the cup. That surrounding water's sticky force is only strong enough to hold the smallest pieces of ice. A second piece of ice sitting on top of the bottom layer of ice doesn't have the advantage of being surrounded so thoroughly by water, so it easily falls out.
tl;dr: only a thin layer of water can stick to the bottom of the cup. If a piece of ice is small/light enough, the bottom layer of water sticks to both the cup and that piece of ice, holding it in place.
| 16 |
|
ELI5: Why is it that when you start hanging out with someone a lot you eventually begin to talk like them, even without realizing it?
| 17 |
Humans are social animals. Which means, unlike cats for example, we are not born with many neurological instincts on how to behave. From birth, we copy others to learn behavior. It's a crazy thing and we don't even consciously realize we're doing it. Spending a lot of time with someone will often cause is to mimic what they do because it helps us relate to each other and further a social relationship. When you find yourself talking and acting like someone else, chances are they're mimicking you as well.
Fun fact, this can also be used to your advantage. If you just met someone, mimic their movement and speech. They'll be much more open and comfortable with you.
| 19 |
|
ELI5: Most cooks know that opening the oven releases heat which slows cooking. But on cooking competition shows, many skilled chefs check their oven often, resulting in undercooked food. Do these chefs know something we don’t know, or are they actually making this rookie mistake?
| 163 |
Professional working chef here. You can open an oven when something is cooking often depending on what oven you have. Most ovens in professional kitchens have multiple fans or an advance heating method as opposed to what most people have at home with just a raw heating element. It heats up really fast so opening it and checking to see what your food looks like won’t really drop the temp that much. Overcrowding the oven will mess with the heat source more than opening it a lot.
| 204 |
|
ELI5: The answer to the 100 monk riddle
|
Riddle and solution explained here: http://quizzes-online.com/logic/index.php?puzzle=5
| 26 |
I thought these monks were supposed to be highly logical. If that were true, after hearing what the doctor had said, they simply wouldn't look at anyone else's forehead, ever. They would then never know they had the disease and then they'd never die from it.
| 24 |
ELI5: How in the world does zipping a file work? How can a much smaller file still contain all the same information as multiple, larger files?
| 333 |
Large file:
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABBBBBCCCCCCCCCC
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAABBBBBBBBBBCCCCCCCCCC
Small file:
20A5B10C
15A10B10C
If the program (Winzip or 7zip) can interpret the small file’s “code”, it can reproduce the large file at any time just from the small file’s instructions.
| 1,061 |
|
What are the physical limits of eyesight, given all technology?
|
Is there any way to calculate what are the physical limits to eyesight/how sharp could you see, given any and all futuristic technologies? For example, could you ever, say, see bacteria from a meter away?
If this simplifies the matters at all, assume we're just dealing with the visible light spectrum and the physical size of the cyborg-eye is similar to that of the human eye.
| 44 |
An approximate diffraction limit can be calculated as
θ = 1.22 * λ / D,
where λ is the wavelength and D is the diameter of the entrance pupil.
For wavelength of about 400 nanometers and a maximum pupil diameter of 7 mm (7 * 10^6 nm) we get
θ = 1.22 * 400 / 7000000 = 0.0000697 radians = 14.38 arcseconds.
| 19 |
What exactly is happening when a computer or other digital device "freezes," and what is taking place once it finally catches up?
|
I work at a distribution center, so I essentially spend my entire shift using an RF scanner. The devices freeze up quite often, and once they unfreeze, they cycle through all the inputs you made during its downtime. What all is taking place while it's having its little digital crisis?
| 17 |
It's a classic producer/consumer problem. There are two pieces of code, one producing data to be processed, the other consuming data. When the producer isn't working, the consumer has nothing to do. When the consumer isn't working, the queue gets backed up.
So, let's think of that little device. It's running some kind of multi-tasking operating system (it's able to do stuff while other stuff is waiting, and switch between those tasks on the fly). It's got some memory, so it's able to hang onto information in a buffer.
Alright, there's a process that runs the laser scanner. When it recognizes an input, it puts the scan into the buffer, queuing it up for some other process to process it. Another process takes scans from the buffer and reaches out to the server wirelessly asking info about the scan. When it gets the info it needs, it tosses that info up on the screen for you to work with.
Now, let's say the server is having a bad day (lots of people using it, admin spilled coffee on it, etc.) It's taking longer than usual to process the request.
The process handling the scanner is still working, even if the process handling the scans is hung up. Each scan puts a new input into the buffer, waiting to be processed.
The server finally gets back on track, and the process puts the info on screen, but notices that there are more scans in the queue, so it sends those off to the server as well, one at a time. The server is all caught up now, so they get processed pretty quick.
| 13 |
[The Mandalorian] Could Bo Katan claim the darksaber and avoid combat with Din Djarin by marrying him?
|
I promise this is not for a fanfic
| 371 |
She would theoretically be able to have a child of hers eventually inherit the darksaber that way, but she wouldn't be leader of Mandalore, Din Djarin would be, even if he abdicated all responsibility to his wife.
Bo Katan isn't interested in being regent for someone else. She wants that darksaber, she wants to be recognized as leader of Mandalore, so even if that would be a reasonable solution many other people would take, she wouldn't.
| 271 |
CMV: Given the weak pound, even a "hard Brexit" with WTO tariffs in place could still be good for Britain
|
Let me preface my argument by saying that the hardest of all Brexits (10% trading tariffs in place) is not something I am saying is the best option. However, when debates about Brexit occur, there is often an unchallenged assumption that this outcome is universally unfavourable. I would like to propose that a hard Brexit is a viable outcome, and when Britain negotiates it should be from the view that it can settle for this option if no better alternative can be negotiated.
There seems to be a consensus that a fall in the pound is synonymous with a weaker economy. On the contrary, a weaker pound is most likely responsible for the *increase* in economic activity seen after the vote, counteracting the very real uncertainty created by the referendum. The £ has fallen (approximately) 10% to most currencies. Remember that this means:
* Exports are now 10% cheaper to the rest of the world, giving our exports a competitive advantage.
* Imports are now 10% more expensive, increasing the cost of foreign goods for consumers and businesses. This will make some business unviable, or prompt businesses to source what they can domestically rather than abroad.
A weak £ can therefore be good or bad depending on which sectors you are looking on. Fortunately for Britain, the most important import to fuel an economy - oil - is at rock-bottom prices. A 10% increase in this is easily affordable, as the market itself will frequently offers larger shocks than this.
In this context, let us consider a Britain with no access to the single market, and a flat 10% tariff on exports between the UK and the EU.
The UK's exports are now 10% more expensive in Europe because of tariffs, but also 10% cheaper because of currency. Net effect: Britain's competitiveness in Europe is largely unchanged.
The UK imports approximately £290 billion from the EU every year. If you slap a 10% tariff on that, the treasury will receive an extra **£29 billion per year**. In addition to the £9 billion saved in membership fees (that's £180 million per week, not £350 million), then this money could go a long way to subsidising sectors that don't profit from Brexit, paying down the deficit, or vaguely approach giving the NHS adequate funding.
In reality, the 10% tariff and the 10% currency change will decrease EU exports to the UK. Let us take a fairly extreme scenario, and say that this 20% increase in cost will decrease demand by a third. This is still in the order of £19 billion per year.
Finally, if you look at which sectors the UK is a key exporter for the EU, it tends to be sectors such as cars, high-tech (engineering, renewables etc) and food. These sectors do carry political clout in their respective countries, and aren't likely to want additional costs on top of the losses incurred by currency.
In conclusion, a hard Brexit would see little change in the price of UK goods to the EU, a 20% hike in the price of EU goods to the UK, and substantial windfall to the treasury.
I completely accept the volume of trade in both directions will fall; and there is still a neoliberal bias in me which dictates that unlimited free trade must be a good thing. However, the above described outcome does not strike me as a "worst-case scenario". The fact that the EU would experience a substantial negative impact on its economy too should give it impetus to negotiate a more mutually beneficial deal.
_____
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| 58 |
The problem is that the UK is a net import economy (due to being an Island) not a net export economy. That means that having a weakened currency is a very bad thing for them, and even if they are able to export their goods easier they will still have problems importing what they need.
| 27 |
[Star Wars] What if before Anakin was found by the Jedi, he was found by the Sith?
|
What do you think would change if Anakin was found by either Plagueis or Palpatine before the Jedi? Let's say he is found when he's six years old and sold to either one of them. He is trained from then on to be their Apprentice, what do you think would change? Do you think Anakin would be similar to the Vader we all know or that he'd be different? Do you think he'd be stronger (since he'd probably be suitless)?
| 35 |
He was. They left him where they found him precisely so that he'd grow to adulthood with the necessary emotional trauma to become a candidate for Sith training. The Sith don't train Force users from the ground up, they select candidates who already have a firm grounding in basic Force use.
| 17 |
[US Constitution & vampires] I'm doing life in prison, no chance of parole. I become the first ever confirmed vampire kill and rise in my cell but cannot escape.
|
Some mystic quirk binds me in the cell until given proper permission to leave. By any biological human measurements I read as "dead". No EKG, EMG, E-whatever, no pulse, breathing, etc.
Would I be legally set free as I did die and am now undead? Would it be legally cruel and unusual to hold me eternally?
| 301 |
We'd need a court ruling on your position. You would likely be held to legally be the same entity as the 'living' being you used to be. The court would probably tailor its position narrowly so as to not get bogged down in metaphysical and religious concerns. If the US had enough vampires we might even end up with new sentencing language that adjusts what a "life sentence" means and how it applies.
As for staying in prison, a lot would hinge upon whether you presented a danger to society. If you couldn't control your bloodlust a court would probably have no problem determining that you should stay imprisoned indefinitely. If you didn't present a danger, though, a new precedent would have to be set for how and when you could rejoin society.
| 195 |
Does the vast amount of air-conditioning units running year round have an affect on global warming? They seem like they produce more heat than cool air overall and with temperatures rising globaly they are more and more common.
|
Hope I used the correct flair.
| 192 |
Air conditioning units always produce more hot air than cool air overall, this is a basic thermodynamic principle. Compare this to your fridge, which gets hot outside (on the back), but cools its inside. This is why if you would leave your fridge open on a hot day, the fridge would *warm* up your house overall.
This has no real effect on global warming though, it would only be localized effects such as heat islands in cities. The energy they use, and the CO₂ produced, do affect climate change though.
| 337 |
Muscle memory: what exactly is it? Does it happen in the brain or the muscle? Is the title a misnomer?
|
Everyone always talks about muscle memory, and everyone has experienced it. But is it actually 'muscle memory'? Or is it just the brain getting better at a certain activity?
| 20 |
Complex motor movements are subject to a higher degree of "muscle memory" whereas simplistic movements which are encoded almost completely in the primary motor cortex don't show as much effect.
For example, people are really good even without practice at reaching out and touching a point in space. Neurons in the primary cortex can encode force, distance, direction, and spacial resolution pretty well on their own (with help from the basal ganglia loop and cerebellar loop and these are active for any type of motor movement). We don't need to "learn" how to do these things.
On the other hand, using the correct force to delicately balance a spoon as you scoop up food without flinging it everywhere, keep the spoon level through 3d movement with consideration of velocities, bring it to your mouth where you lose sight with it, open your mouth, and know where to dump the food is quite a process. And wouldn't you know it is encoded by a very specific area in the premotor cortex. When stimulated this area will produce the same movement every time, you'll bring the spoon to your mouth and open it up. This took a considerable amount of practice and the theory is that this area that is a coordination center that has to "learn" through experience to get very good at recruiting the correct muscles, timing, force, etc.
People who play instruments know this concept very well, guitar players will learn a phrase sometimes are excruciatingly slow paces knowing that once their fingers "learn" the pattern speed is easily built up. Some areas of the brain are responsible for the mental rehearsal of the movement, and another to load the program to be executed. The program can now be sent to the muscles to be executed. Part of these complex motor programs involves receiving sensory information back from the joints, muscles and other sensory organs. This seems to work as a check loop where the areas that rehearse and those that gather and execute the program can check the outcome and through some mechanism (read: things we don't know yet) and eventually become very good at recognizing the program and executing it.
If you took the first step of a staircase in an apartment building and raised it 1" one night almost all of the daily users of those stairs is going to bump into the step instead of clear it. As they approach the stairs the 'go up these stairs' program is executed and it is extremely efficient since it does this all the time. Like with most complex motor movements once you have rehearsed enough the movement is very economical, there is not much wasted energy. So even just a 1" change may cause some big problems from people. On the other hand, someone who had just moved in that week probably wouldn't experience the same problem, they are not yet as efficient at clearing the first stair so they have a greater margin of error.
FYI: the actual execution of volitional control is much more complex with incredible amounts of participation of many many areas of the cortex, basal ganglia, vestibular area, cerebellum, etc and the parallel loops through the BG and cerebellum modify actual movement to a great extent. This was just about the executive functional part of motor movement...sorry so long
| 18 |
ELI5: What are cow licks, why do some people have them while others don't, and why were they evolved?
|
By why were they evolved I mean why did us humans get them, was it for better vision or something?
| 16 |
Hair comes out from "follicles" which are little pits in your skin that nourish the hair and make it grow.
If the follicle doesn't point straight up, then the hair growing out if it won't point straight up either, instead it will grow out at an angle.
The follicles on most people's heads are arranged in circular patterns called "whorls" where all the follicles slant in the same direction around the circle (if you have ever seen a picture of a crop circle, that's basically the same idea). Most people have several whorls on their heads.
So if you comb or brush your hair in the opposite direction from where it naturally wants to slant towards, your hair will point in a different direction than other hair near it, making a cowlick - but only if your hair isn't too short or too long, and if your hair texture is stiff enough.
You also could get a cowlick where the hairs in two whorls meet, because the hair from one whorl will be coming out of your head in a different direction from the hair next to it.
Nobody is certain why hair evolved to grow in whorl patterns on people's heads. But it probably didn't evolve to help vision since even if you have those whorls, you won't get a cowlick unless your hair is just the right length and you comb it in just the right (wrong) way - so our ancestors probably didn't encounter cowlicks enough for it to influence their survival by keeping hair out of their eyes.
EDIT: Revised paragraph explaining whorls and added paragraph saying you could also get a cowlick where two whorls meet.
| 11 |
[META] Can we please actually try to answer questions and not reinforce misconceptions?
|
Hey ELI5,
Now I took time to answer a question about ELI5 Occupy movement. I'm not trying to pretend my answer was the best of the bunch, but I was surprised that I was downvoted while the best answer was the typical it-was-a-hippy-movement-dude. Could we at least answer something and not just resort to over-simplified answers with resonates with stereotypes. I expected at least to find the best answer to be critique of mine while actually bettering it. These answers don't help anyone. At least have a factual answer and not an opinionated one.
| 97 |
>At least have a factual answer and not an opinionated one.
History is all about interpretation. There is no one answer, as everyone has a different perspective. In this circumstance, someone who was not affiliated with the movement can still be equally (and quite possibly more) knowledgeable about it than someone who was camping out.
***
Also, OWS was not a huge success because there was no organization, no collective message. It was a lot of pointing fingers, a lot of "this is bad, that is bad," and a lot of victimization-- but not a lot of "we can fix this."
| 17 |
[Harry Potter] Is there a limit to how far a person can Apparate? What about Portkeys or Floo powder?
|
Additionally, is there a limit to how much mass can be transported through Apparation or other methods?
| 24 |
>Is there a limit to how far a person can Apparate?
Apparition distance is limited by skill; it's mentioned that Apparating between continents requires a master of the art. Voldemort needed to fly part of the way from Nurmengard before he could Apparate to Hogwarts.
>What about Portkeys or Floo powder?
We see international Portkeys used to travel to e.g. the World Cup, so they appear to have global range. There's mention of them requiring permission from the government at both ends, but this is clearly a legal rule rather than a magical one; Dumbledore breaks it, to Fudge's indignation.
Floo powder requires some kind of magical "network" linking the fireplaces you travel between. The network in Britain is controlled by the Ministry. We never see anyone use Floo outside of Magical Britain, and it's mentioned in supplemental materials that the recipe is a secret known only to the manufacturer Floo-Pow (who have their office in Diagon Alley) - this may suggest that it's entirely limited to Britain.
>Additionally, is there a limit to how much mass can be transported through Apparation or other methods?
All of these methods seem to be limited to what you can carry, but with magic you can carry entire shrunken buildings and landscapes, so mass is not a limit per se.
| 31 |
ELI5: If the power grid can't store power and the amount of energy produced doesn't change, why do they ask us to limit our use?
| 25 |
The amount of energy produced DOES change, a lot. Late at night, production can drop to half the level of the mid-afternoon peak (when people run the lights and AC both at work and at home).
The grid can only handle so much power -- usually there's somewhat more power plant capacity than grid ability to distribute it. Usually, requests to minimize use come on hot summer days, when everyone is blasting AC.
Keep in mind that we run the cheapest source, best plants first (nukes run 24/7 as "base" power), and save the most expensive plants (emergency backup plants) for the last resort -- when demand is highest. So society can keep power costs down by reducing the peaks. Run your washer/dryer/dishwasher late at night, and turn down the AC on hot afternoons.
| 27 |
|
Voyager 1 is almost outside of our solar system. Awesome. Relative to the Milky Way, how insignificant is this distance? How long would it take for the Voyager to reach the edge of the Milky Way?
|
Also, if the Milky Way were centered in the XY plane, what if the Voyager was traveling along the Z axis - the shortest possible distance to "exit" the galaxy? Would that time be much different than if it had to stay in the Z=0 plane?
EDIT: Thanks for all the knowledge, everyone. This is all so very cool and interesting.
EDIT2: Holy crap, front paged!! How unexpected and awesome! Thanks again
| 1,107 |
>Relative to the Milky Way, how insignificant is this distance?
Almost completely insignificant. Get a ball point pen and set it down. Imagine that the ball at the end is the entire solar system, out to the edge of the heliosheath. Now, take another ball point pen and put it nine feet from the first. The ball on *that* pen is the *closest* star to our sun. With this arrangement, the center of the galaxy is 20 *miles* away, and the intervening space is filled with these balls.
>How long would it take for the Voyager to reach the edge of the Milky Way?
It won't; neither Voyager probe has sufficient velocity to escape the galaxy.
| 1,294 |
ELI5: Why are most jetliners painted white?
| 37 |
In addition to the paint being cheaper, the weight of the paint can actually cause the plane to use more fuel. That's one if the reasons American Airlines (used to) keep their hulls unpainted. Getting the aluminum buffed and nice looking was expensive, but still cheaper than the weight of the paint over the course of the aircraft's life.
| 26 |
|
Eli5: What are real and non real roots?
|
I keep googling it and I still don't understand what they are and their differences 😭😭
| 19 |
A root of an equation is a number where that equation is equal to zero. Some expressions, like x^2 - 4, have real roots. In this case the expression is zero when x = 2 or x = -2.
Other expressions, like x^2 + 4 have no real numbers that can make them equal zero. There are, however, complex numbers that can. Recall a complex number is a number that includes the imaginary unit i, where i = sqrt(-1). We can set x = 2i, and that means x^2 = -4. So the expression x^2 + 4 becomes -4 + 4 = 0 and we say that the expression has a complex root at x = 2i.
| 25 |
[Cabin in the woods] If the corporation follows horror movie protocol as set ups for their sacrifices, how would they set up "sequels"?
| 15 |
Drug the survivors, put em in a VR of some sorts to simulate reality, then release them back later when they think they lived through that amount of time, they will think they have moved on and they can go through the experience all over again.
OR, if we're talking about a no-survivors series then that's easy. You just have to get a new group of people and set em through the same scenario again.
Though sequels are highly unrecommended to make. Most of the time the Old Gods dislike sequels unless they were to offer something new to the original. Unfortunately, most horror sequels don't add anything new so the Old Gods hate them.
| 17 |
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[DC] If Beast Boy turns into a sea creature can he be controlled by Aquaman?
| 53 |
I believe in modern day continuity, Aquaman’s telepathic-ish abilities can be used beyond just sea creatures and are more like telepathic persuasions that he can place in the mind of creatures (since all native earth animals evolved from aquatic organisms, aquaman can target that part of their physiology that is shared/evolved from sea life).
But it seems that the more complex, intelligent, and/or strong willed a creature is, the more difficult it is to control them. Beast boy AFAIK retains full intelligence in his other animal forms and therefore would be hard to control beyond the level that he can control any other human.
| 52 |
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[Mad Max] Who makes spark plugs, batteries, alternators...etc or where do we find them?
| 187 |
Well it's a little from column A and a little from column B.
There are people with knowledge of mechanics and engineering (black thumbs) like Nux who know what they are looking for and could scavenge parts. There are also people from before who understand how these things were made. They could pass on this knowledge so that more could be made.
| 102 |
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Are there any major advantages to flapping wings, or are fixed wing aircraft something we have truly improved upon nature? Given advanced enough materials and power supply, could ornithopters theoretically be practical compared to fixed wing and rotor craft?
| 31 |
Short of a propulsion system powered by explosive flatulence, our aircraft design, while very efficient, is simply impractical for animals. In the same way, cars with wheels are more efficient than limbs but a living organism can't support a wheel. Our machinery is certainly simpler and requires less energy but is only practical for man made mechanisms with replaceable parts and deliberately designed with physics in mind rather than by chance powered evolution.
| 22 |
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CMV: All Drugs Should Be Legal in the US
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In the United States, we are facing a terrible opiod and benzo crisis. We lock up the victims while the cartels are still going strong and reeking havoc in Central and South America. The reason MOST people are dying from these drugs is due to the cutting of drugs, improper dosage, or completely fake drugs. Obviously there are people dying from long-term use or committing suicide, but with the user knowing exactly what and how much of a given substance they are putting in there body, the OD rate across the board would decrease significantly.
Law Enforcement can also use drug usage as a scape-goat to invade the privacy of impoverished or minority families. A very large majority of the cases of police brutality is connected to suspicion of drug usage or possession.
The increase in violence in Central and South America is connected to the production of heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and others. We have families fleeing their home countries due to the violence of cartels and terrorist groups. Now seeking asylum in the United States. The violence in the countries would greatly be diminished if there biggest market for profit was gone.
The medicinal properties of marijuana, psychedelics, and mdma are listed as Schedule I by the FDA. With legalization of these substances, we would have far better treatment for people suffering from PTSD, Despression, Anxiety, and other mental health problems.
Another problem with prohibition is the gateway drug theory. A very large percentage of drug addicts start with weed. Lets say Jim wants to buy some weed and finds a guy at his local high school. Jim is now connected to the illegal drug trade and can also get coke, heroin, xanax, meth, etc. Jim gets caught smoking weed and and is getting drug tested, so he moves to a harder drug that can't be tested by a general drug test. Now Jim is addicted to K2 or something along those lines. He doesn't stop there and starts doing other drugs that his K2 dealer has. At 25, Jim is addicted to heroin and dies of an overdose of Fent.
​
My last point is people will always get what they want. If someone wants to get heroin, they will get heroin. Why cause all these problems so we can try to stop people from doing what they want to do? How many people would start doing heroin just because it was legal? If we had proper education and reformed our drug policy, our society would have more trust in the government. My question is how would you go about solving these problems? I'm very eager for this discussion and want to know other peoples solutions to solving these problems.
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| 51 |
If meth became legal it would allow companies to heavily market it and push it towards people who previously would not have tried it. These chemicals strongly affect peoples brains in a very negative and exploitable way. Letting companies use this is asking for trouble.
Legalize the safer drugs, LSD, weed etc, and leave the ones that are basally poison illegal.
| 34 |
ELI5: if you were held at gunpoint and ordered to shoot a third person, would you be in legal trouble?
| 743 |
yes.
There is a defense, called "duress" that allows you to avoid conviction of a crime if your life, or another's life, was threatened, and that threat forced you to commit the crime.
But, it never applies to ~~murder~~ homicide.
| 521 |
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ELI5: China creates 55 billion tons of artificial rain a year using cloud seeding. Why can't California use the same technology to combat droughts?
| 3,936 |
Artificial rain is just water that's forced to fall out of the sky as rain by some chemical. So a plane will "seed" a cloud with this chemical, and the chemical reacts with the water in the cloud to make it form drops and fall.
It doesn't actually create any new water moisture though. So in California's case, where it's not just a lack of rain, but a lack of moisture in the atmosphere, seeding the clouds wouldn't help because there wouldn't be very much rain to seed in the first place.
| 3,483 |
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ELI5: Why do you have to pour acids into water and not the other way around?
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Why do you have to pour acids into water and not the other way around? And does it change if doing two different acids, or a base and water?
| 17 |
When concentrated acids become dilute, they release a lot of heat.
This heat can and will boil water, causing it to splash/explode out of the flask.
Heat increases temperature less the more mass there is. Furthermore, the less acid is diluted at once, the less heat is released.
So!
You have a pool of concentrated acid. You add a tiny bit of water. A lot of heat is released where the water impacts, gets transferred to the water. Then, the water boils and causes a splash.
On the other hand, you have a pool of water. You add a tiny bit of acid. Heat is released, but far less. You swish and swirl the flask, distributing the heat across the whole liquid rather than where acid enters the water. By doing so, no point of water can get hot enough to boil.
It can still end up overheating - if you're diluting a lot of acid. In such cases, you either put the flask in a ice-water bath or just wait for it to cool back down. This is especially likely when dissolving drain cleaner (sodium hydroxide - a base, but similar mechanism).
| 45 |
ELI5: Grapes placed in strong sugar solution don't shrink, but when they are placed in a strong salt solution, they do shrink
| 21 |
Water always follows salt. The water inside a grape will leave to try to balance the high salt content outside of it, so it shrivels.
Assuming the sugar solution is sucrose (table sugar), you probably have a situation where the percent of sugar inside the grape is equal to the percent of sugar in the solution. Grapes have a high concentration of sugar naturally so it probably takes much more sugar than salt to see a shriveling effect in the grape.
| 20 |
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If Hawking Radiation is caused by the absorption of one side of a pair of virtual particles, how does this lead to a loss of mass/energy?
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Unless my understanding of virtual particle theory is completely incorrect (and I have no formal training, so it most likely is), isn't it essentially the creation of matter/antimatter pairs based on the premise that energy and mass are equivalent?
My conceptual view of this phenomenon is based on the assumption that the energy at a given point in the vacuum can be equated to two complementary particles, which upon annihilation would equate to that level of energy.
If these virtual particle pairs are ripped apart near the event horizon, vacuum energy from outside the event horizon is essentially converted to matter/antimatter with half emitted as 'radiation' but the other half falling to within the black hole.
I fail to understand how this can lead to the black hole LOSING mass/energy, when it seems that the mass/energy responsible for
generating Hawking Radiation originates outside of the black hole itself and it seems that the absorption of one of these virtual particles (be it a matter or antimatter) would actually increase the total mass/energy of the black hole.
| 21 |
You're forgetting the gravitational potential energy of the particles, which is negative. In particular, for a particle at the horizon the potential energy is -mc^2, and so the total energy is mc^2 - mc^2 = 0. If you were to create a pair, one inside and one outside, the one inside would have potential slightly lower than -mc^2 and the other slightly higher. Which means their total energies are very small negative and very small positive respectively. Thus pairs with total energy 0 are possible, and so you can tunnel through the transition: 0-energy vacuum -> 0-energy pair (remember conservation of energy **always** holds, even in virtual processes!)
As the pair is created, the particle inside has negative energy and joins the BH, decreasing its energy, while the one outside escapes as Hawking radiation of positive energy.
| 13 |
[Beauty and the Beast] Gaston decides to try and read a book for Belle...
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He decides that since Belle is so interested in books he will do whatevsr he can and decides to read a whole book to better understand belle and to woo her. What book would he pick and how would it go over?
Hope this is the right sub for this, apologies if it isnt.
| 54 |
One with pictures, if his problem with reading is that it's too boring without visual stimulus.
If he's actually illiterate, who knows.
[edit] yes, it's the right sub, I've personally seen everything from economics to politics to sex ed here and nobody seems to have a problem with it. This question has hints of sociology (pick-up culture, literacy rates) and french bibliology (since that's where the story takes place).
| 45 |
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