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explainlikeimfive/dqiu6fc | 7gg8kr | Why is fainting so common at weddings? | It isn't? Although to the extent people might faint at them, weddings are normally in the summer, in old buildings which get very hot, stacked to the brim with people (including lots of old people), all of whom are stuck in there, socially obligated not to move, for a long period of time, wearing smart (read: hot) clothing. Now add in standing for long periods and not having eaten anything because there is a big wedding reception afterwards. That's pretty much the perfect storm for fainting. | 3 |
AskReddit/di41tvc | 6do0ce | Why do most people not share their suicidal thoughts with their loved ones? | This is a pretty heavy question. I've been suicidal before and even attempted it (thankfully I failed) and my reasoning was that they just didn't care. I was wrong, they did care, but that didn't change my thoughts. I didn't care about whether I lived or died so why would anyone else? That's obviously not the same reason for everyone but it was my reasoning. | 2 |
AskReddit/erjpdh8 | c2fdqz | What was the first anime you watched that got you into it? | I remember watching Totoro for the first time when I was little over and over again in my friend’s RV on a trip to Yosemite. That forever solidified Miyazaki movies and, by extension, anime, in a special place in my heart. | 3 |
AskReddit/c0n5xg8 | bjxqq | What do former weed smokers think about weed? | Non-former weed smoker here. I consider weed to be kind of like reddit. It can be highly entertaining and intellectually stimulating, but you can also waste a lot of time with it. It can help you achieve great insights or you can laugh at pictures of cats. It's up to you. The key to enjoying weed responsibly is to always be doing something either physically or intellectually stimulating when you're high. I enjoy skiing, going for long walks, playing piano, drawing and having a conversation. But sometimes I do just relax and watch a movie or listen to music. It's all about balance. And the same is true even if you never smoke at all. | 53 |
AskReddit/cabp8dx | 1fmjy4 | What's the weirdest question you've ever been asked? | I used to work on the salesfloor at Target when a cute young female customer asked me about vasaline. "Is it. safe. down there?" Where I replied "Ma'am I'm no doctor, but I think you'll be just fine". | 3 |
AskReddit/cm0439r | 2m1eaf | What is something you wanted as a child that you still want as an adult? | I could give all the normal answers of love, money, or a certain career. I could tell you all about the clothes I still want or the lamborghini, the treehouse or the comic books I still seek. I could tell you about all of that, but it wouldn't matter. None of it would. What I still want, that I wanted as a child, I can not have. I want to ride a goat. I will settle for a large sheep. A bighorn ram? An ibex, even. Preferably a goat. I will never have it. I will never ride a horned steed into battle. We shall never charge through mountain trails, me waving a spider stick before us to capture the webs before we plow through them. We will never wage war against the cows together. This can not be, as I am a full sized adult. I have researched this. The largest species of domestic goat, the boer, will usually only weigh 200-300lbs. Goats in general are capable of carrying 10-20% of their body weight, and up to 25%, maybe 30%, if the weight is very well distributed on their back. Unfortunately, as a human female, my weight would not be well distributed. Assuming the 10% rule, in order to not cause injury, my steed would need to be roughly 1200lbs of healthy goat to carry my 120lb body. That type of goat does not exist. It's all the same. Bighorn sheep? Roughly 300lbs at largest. Mountain goat? 300lbs. Various Ibex species? Generally no more than 250lbs. I'm stuck. There is no future for me. No way to obtain my dream. I can't shrink. Even if I starved myself to the point of near death, there doesn't exist a goat large enough to carry me. I can't just cut off my legs, that would be silly, a goat could carry me then but what would I use to hold on with? The whole image would be ruined. I can only pray that they splice goat and horse together during my life. Until then, I can dream. | 51 |
AskReddit/ccd8cks | 1mw3mf | What's something cool you've accomplished, but never tell people about because it sounds pretentious? | I searched out a depressed and drunk friend, who was attempting to pass out, from a snowy park. He would've died, but made "the error" of sending me a couple of text messages hinting his attempts. I'm glad he did. In another case, I had a "friend" call me that a female acquaintance had taken a box full of sleeping pills. I ran to her place, rang a couple of friends to notify her boyfriend who was a close friend of mine and called an ambulance. Phew. I wish I'll have someone do something similar to do for me soon. On the other hand, no one will probably catch me in the process. | 2 |
askscience/c1h6ns7 | fnayy | Could the evolution ancestor of vertebrates have been mirrored on the top/bottom? | I doubt any animal of sufficient size could have anteroposterior symmetry (not sure if there's a real word for it). The reason is that sunlight, the way rain falls, gravity, etc. all apply an environmental pressure on which selection can act. Having the same on top and bottom (closest to the sky, and closest to the ground) would be like trying to use the same tools for two completely different tasks and expecting it to be optimal for both. A bilaterally or radially symmetrical organism has this 'top-to-bottom' variation that has seemed to tweak organisms to differentiate their tops from their bottoms to attempt to maximize fitness. Sorry, I don't know how clear I'm coming across; I just woke up. | 6 |
explainlikeimfive/eb7f59r | a3mxu2 | Why do the frets on a guitar get smaller toward the body? | The first fret is exactly 1/24th of the entire length of the string from bridge to nut. The second fret is exactly 1/24th of the entire length of the string from bridge to the 1st fret, and so on. This is because the change in pitch relative to the change in string length is non-linear, meaning the shorter the string, the smaller the change in length that is required to achieve the same change in pitch as a longer string. | 9 |
askscience/c89txsp | 17xr6n | What effect would room temperature have (if any) on the temperature that a squash ball reaches/maintains? | I'm not sure about the balance between heating from bouncing and air cooling, I just wanted to point out that there is also an interesting negative-feedback effect here that could tend to regulate the temperature of the ball. The bounciness of the ball is related to how much it is heated per bounce. The more bouncy it is the less energy there is being lost as heat. So when the temperature of the ball is low and it's not very bouncy there is a lot of heat input, then as it warms up the amount of heat input decreases. The end result is that the temperature of the ball will be regulated to some extent just like how a thermostat regulates the temperature in a room. The strength of the effect (how tightly the temperature would be regulated) depends on how quickly the ball transitions from not-bouncy to bouncy. | 2 |
AskReddit/dyau9gf | 8gd95m | What’s a moment in your life that you laughed so hard you nearly cried? | The waitress dropped my friends dinner as it was being served three times in a row. Plate 1 in his lap Plate 2 tripped on stair Plate 3 cut is short on the table and it fell on the floor I laughed so hard I was crying and could not breath. The manager threw us out when we refused to pay. It was 27 years ago and still makes all of us laugh hyterically. It is know amongst us as: "The Seafood Enchilada Incident" | 2 |
AskReddit/cozqxjl | 2xfuwg | How many different animals have you been bitten by? | Hamsters, gerbil, rats(pets), dogs, cats, a turtle, a duck. Do humans count as animals? I worked with kids with autism for a few years.I still have bite mark scars! | 3 |
Ask_Politics/do8csgr | 75pw01 | Is there a good apolitical or right leaning Youtube channel for information similar in style to Vox? | Prager U videos are the same style as Vox videos, but with a conservative bias. Most people will have a bias so it is rare to find a strictly apolitical information source. | 3 |
explainlikeimfive/dkzfbrb | 6qrgk5 | Why are ambulance services owned and used privately when police and fire are run by towns and cities etc? | EMS provider here. Ambulance services can also be owned by towns, cities and also hospitals. What's happening right now in many cities is that fire departments and ambulances are together but can be separate under the same roof. For example. looking into the New York fire department they have fire engines but also ambulances. They get paid by the same city but work in different divisions. What you're probably seeing now are these "mom and pop" private ambulance companies showing up in your town. They usually take hospital contracts and dialysis transfers, pretty much taking grandma from one place to the other. Sometimes they run emergency calls as well. Also there are private fire departments out there as well, I believe it's called rural metro fire department if my memory serves me right. Hopefully I cleared a little bit up for you. | 2 |
AskReddit/excxwrq | cs6vch | What’s the most painful sentence someone has said to you that has left a mark? | My parents told me that I'll never amount to anything and if I left the house and lived in the car they wouldn't be sad. All because I told them I couldn't pay rent for my childhood room one month before I went to college. | 2 |
AskReddit/eyma76f | cxndpp | What's the weirdest thing you ever hid in your cleavage? | Not me but my sister, Whenever she's desperate, she'd use her cleavage to hide answers for her incoming test. This works especially Well in summer, where she'd just have to pull her shirt, looks inside, simulating that she feels too hot, and that she does that to cool down. Obv a teacher wouldn't ask to see what's underneath. | 3 |
AskReddit/d52vuso | 4rozm1 | What countries will you love to visit again? | England. Visited several European countries a few years back and Brits are by far the most accommodating to Americans. Everyone I met was incredible polite (I got more "southern hospitality" than I ever did in the actual USA south), the food was excellent, and I caught an Arsenal match which was incredibly fun. Would love to actually spend a year or two living and working there in the future. | 3 |
AskReddit/c0xyd0v | d6le9 | What're some good gems you've said and gotten laughs from? | Girl at liquor store, looking at bottles: "What's 99 Grapes?" Me: "I got 99 grapes, but a bunch ain't one." Girl turns around: "That was dumb." No-one laughed, went home smiling at how lame it truly was. | 2 |
AskReddit/ebolxzf | a5qkxa | Have you ever been to a wedding where someone objected? | When my neighbours got married, they had a semi- pirate themed wedding on a tall ship anchored in the harbour. They had met in fencing class and are also some of the most eccentric people I’ve ever met. When the officiant asked the question, one of their fencing buddies stood up and yelled that the bride deserved better, and the groom was nothing but a swashbuckling good-for-nothing. So the groom challenged him to a duel, they fenced their way up the aisle and the groom threw him over the edge of the boat. They’ve been just as entertaining to live next door to ever since. | 5 |
AskReddit/ewe8kgw | cnvukw | What isn’t against the law but should be? | Smoking near entry points of buildings. Like you do you. Smoke and die I don’t care but I’d rather not inhale and smell like cigarettes Thankyou. Some places here already have like a limit as to where you smoke but most don’t. Should be across the board. | 2 |
AskReddit/c50aeyc | v0sft | What are low-cost activities I could spend my time on over the next two months? | I guess it depends on how low "low-cost" is. I think a car tour of the east coast would be in order. Hit Boston hard, a lot of history there, US history you can really immerse yourself in before you leave the country. | 2 |
AskReddit/cilja10 | 29jkbw | If you could trade age for wealth, how old would you go and how much wealth would you demand? | I'd trade all of my wealth for age and then collect social security/retirement benefits, retire, and then every time I hit the near-death age I'd spend it all on being 10 years younger so I can rinse, lather, and repeat. | 2 |
AskReddit/dsct04r | 7owk5h | What is the proper protocol for passports and border crossing into the USA from Canada? | Land crossing into USA from Canada in March for a sporting event. My son and I have valid passports that expire in June. I've heard 6month prior renewal before passport expiry is required but unsure how valid that info is. Seems a bit excessive for a one night land travel cross. Can anyone with proper knowledge in this share with me the proper expected protocol? IF required.obviously I'll need to put the wheels in motion to renew now to have things in order for when we go. IF it isn't that big of a deal, I won't worry about it till the next time I plan on crossing which will be right before our documents expire. In a nutshell.I don't "think" it will be an issue with the USA border control officers.but I also don't want to disappoint my son if we are denied entry because of my ignorance. | 2 |
explainlikeimfive/dz7bmp8 | 8kfw9c | What is the deciding factor in whether or not a light wave is absorbed or reflected? | Mostly the electron configuration and whether the light energy is the right frequency to promote an electron in the receiving material. Light hits electrons, makes them more energetic, and they either do so stably, unstably, or just arent the right match. Arent the right match and they go dtright through, stably and they are absorbed and unstably they reflect. | 5 |
AskReddit/ds851mo | 7obbxt | What would make you consider doing an actual Russian roulette? | A revolver and the last piece of pizza that we both really really want. I'll be honest if we had access I would use russian roulette as a threat. You: "I want the last piece of pizza." Me: Spins chamber You: "Alright fine. geez!" | 2 |
explainlikeimfive/cmj8slx | 2o30yw | Why does it take a year to produce a 2-hour-long movie when it takes the same amount of time to produce a 12-hour-long season of a T.V. show? | TV shows use fixed sets, have dedicated cast, and don't need much post processing (special effects, CGI, etc). They are able to re-use just about everything very quickly and with little setup time. A movie, on the other hand, may need to move the whole crew around the world to get a handful of scenes shot. The actors/actresses may be on conflicting schedules. The movie may require a great deal of CG effects/sequences. | 27 |
askscience/e5ynpbb | 9fr6uy | Is there something equivalent to hurricanes but underwater? | There are ocean eddies who are much slower with average speeds of 1-3 knots and they live longer, months to years. The thermodynamics are much different but if U plot the velocity field its structure looks like a hurricane but much slower. Some examples are Gulf Stream warm and cold core rings and Loop Current eddies (that do intensify hurricanes). cheers, arthur | 24 |
AskReddit/crc5do2 | 36aafb | What is the most beautiful piece of music ever written? | I really think Beethoven 9th symphony is the best piece ever written, mostly because that's what syphilis probably sounds like in the end stages. Syphilis in it's final stage(if you don't get it cured) will cause auditory hallucinations. In the case of Beethoven, since he was deaf, his disease is starting to be credited with the inspiration for his 9th symphony since it is so different from his other work. He wrote what he "heard." | 2 |
AskReddit/de4ssxg | 5vtsld | What would make for better "Security Questions"? | Security questions are a terrible system. Either you bypass it entirely by using them as secondary passwords - which would be stupid, because you usually need these when you forgot one of your passwords - or you fill them with actual personal information, which an attacker could easily figure out if they know that a specific account belongs to a specific person (which is in many cases not that difficult to find out). | 2 |
AskReddit/c2t1ri9 | lix1y | Should prisoners who perform good deeds in prison be given a reduced sentence as reward? | well, let's define "good deeds." If someone can sustain over a long period some kind of good works, like tutoring other prisoners to get a GED, I think that should perhaps be considered when they come up for parole. But I also think that some crimes don't get a pass, no matter how well you behave in prison. | 4 |
AskReddit/c4qlw7c | txp0g | If you could chose one: Live near a nuclear reactor (power plant) or start smoking, what would you pick? | All that study proved was near some plants there is increased leukemia. The study did not prove that the nuclear plants caused this cancer. Correlation does not equate to causation. Even with the leukemia factored in, I live near a nuclear plant and work at one. It's several orders of magnitude safer than smoking | 3 |
explainlikeimfive/d0zbsak | 4ad3wh | Why is the G string on a guitar always the one to break? | It is? From what I've seen, it's the high E that's most likely to go. It may be that in your style of playing, the G string's the one you're bending the most, so it's getting the most fatigued. You might not be changing your strings often enough. It could also be that you're not putting enough wraps around the tuning peg. Wraps take some of the strain off the string. It could also be that you've bent the string when installing it, which weakens it. Or maybe it's getting bound up in a notch in the bridge saddle. It could be a defect in your guitar, a burr or something, that's cutting into the string. | 15 |
AskReddit/ej5bnky | b4a7nz | What was the worst scenario where you took a dump and realized there was no toilet paper? | Ah popped a squat on the desk, let it rip then discovered that there was no toilet paper, but there was a schocked jury and an absolutely livid judge. Needless to say I didn't win custody of my children. | 2 |
askscience/c4aapct | s11l3 | Why do some people have a "weak stomach" and some people have a "strong stomach"? | I'm not sure what you are getting at but I'll try my best to address some aspects of your question. People get nauseous due to a huge number of factors and for each individual a "weak stomach" could be due to a number of things. 1) People are sometimes prone to nausea due to sensitive mucosal lining of the intestine being less developed or damaged (I.e Gastritis,IBD, Coeliac disease). In this case the inflammatory processes irritate nerve endings which are percieved in the brain as feelings of nausea (Probably mediated by the vomiting centre in the brain stem) 2) People can have a stronger sense of smell or taste, This will lead to overexcitement of the orbitofrontal cortex and again nausea mediated by the vomiting centre (or at least discomfort) if exposed to particularly strongly flavoured foods. 3)Some people will have a larger gastric reserve and therefore will have less stretch in their stomach at lower volumes of food, this will prevent them from feeling nauseous as they will not be releasing hormones that mediate a sensation of fullness (Or gluttony as the case may be) and will therefore be less likely to be nauseous. I hope this helps, or at least gets the ball rolling! | 7 |
explainlikeimfive/e3hv6fj | 942yd0 | How do buildings decay to such a horrible state? | Much like our bodies and pretty much all things in existence buildings need maintenance, defenses, and check ups. Because much like human bodies there are chemicals and elements that attack buildings and destroy them. Water and temperature can cause wooden elements to rot. Humans throwing rocks or general weather can break windows. And brick and concrete are susceptible to many chemical attacks if not treated, maintained, designed, and constructed properly. | 3 |
AskReddit/ed1g4o7 | abmmjr | What's a frequent act of abuse your parents committed that you thought was normal parenting for the longest time? | Beatings, I in fact thought it was a normal punishment for making a mistake untill my mom broke one of my things and I tried to beat her for it and she laught at me telling me that just them can beat me not the other way round. I did not get it at all and started beating my parents for mistakes. I of course got beatings in return but I was so full of anger it was worth it for me. | 60 |
explainlikeimfive/cdgndw1 | 1qucsg | What happens when toothpaste expires? | In toothpaste, the Sodium Laurel Sulfate, the foaming element in your toothpaste and also the main cleaning ingredient looses its potency when it expires. So really its just that the chemicals lose their effectiveness. But, even if you used toothpaste that had been expired for a year, it would still offer some small protection against sugars and acids. | 2 |
explainlikeimfive/cnmdnq2 | 2s5k2a | Is it worse to smoke 5 cigarettes throughout the day, or 5 within an hour? | Do you mean smoking 5 within an hour, and that's all you smoke for the day? And worse in what regard? For example, taking in all of those chemicals at once, if you're not used to it, could lead to nicotine poisoning, which would be bad. But smoking cigarettes slowly throughout the day may be worse for your teeth than smoking them all at once (similar to how drinking acidic beverages throughout the day is worse for your teeth than drinking one quickly). | 3 |
explainlikeimfive/ecco0mx | a8pt88 | How do steroid creams work? | A steroid is a type of chemical. There are literally hundreds of steroids. The steroid in your cream is called a corticosteroid. It has the effect of reducing inflammation, thus treating your eczema. There are other steroids called anabolic steroids that your body naturally produces as part of the muscle building process. You can take artificial anabolic steroids to enhance that process. | 2 |
AskReddit/eaypy7c | a2ipua | How do you cope with the loss of a parent at a young age (24)? | There's no universal way. Some people focus on work or hobbies, others find solace in other family members, friends, SOs. There are therapies, individual and group ones, that are designed to help cope with loss. Really, whatever works. I'd only advice against self-destructive patterns, bc although they are easy, they are also damaging far more than they fix, and the fix itself is only temporary. | 5 |
AskReddit/e1tvu2c | 8wa8h9 | In this digital age, what do you think should be done with old pictures and videos of an ex? | Barring explicit imagery in the videos or photos, one should never purposely destroy their own record of their own past. At one point we all have ppl who enter our lives and they were special to us. Just because they have come and gone does not mean you need to “delete them” but if you and a significant other can realize that it was in the past and that these ppl are no longer relevant then y destroy it. In my eyes they should be looked at as having the same worth as ur baby pics, school pics, or any pic of a time in your life. | 4 |
AskReddit/c3esbim | o6kv7 | What is the worst case scenario and realistic scenario with The Straight of Hormuz? | The realistic scenario is the one happening right now. It's just Iran pulling a North Korea to drive attention away from their own domestic problems. The worst case would involve a war which would decimate Iran, but at a terrible cost to the US 5th Fleet. I recall reading a while back in the New York Times that our navy's own war games showed half of the fleet on the bottom of the strait within the first ten minutes of battle. This is because the Iranian shore defenses and navy have the best technology available. Some they bought from Russia and some they developed themselves. Missiles like the "Sunburn" and torpedoes like the "Schvall" ("storm") are nearly impossible to defend against and are designed to cause maximum damage to ships. | 2 |
AskReddit/cejhfj8 | 1um6wj | How will world war 3 start? | There are really two answers :- The nature of war has changed and it is now less about state on state but organisations or groups against the state. This war has started and will be ongoing because there is no real way to win. You cant capture territory and you cant eliminate all the insurgents. The other scenario is that, as the world's resources dwindle, states will become more and more aggressive over maintaining their share. WW3 will likely be called the great oil wars | 2 |
AskReddit/dzakd0m | 8kueme | What fairly innocent thing did somebody do that unintentionally made you HATE them? | I was talking with someone and they were obsessed with the idea of getting their PhD just to be called doctor. They were in their 30s (so am I) and in their first year of undergrad. It made me irrationally and unfairly hate them bc it reminded me of my parents. | 32 |
AskHistorians/cp269s0 | 2xocwx | Why was the use of chariots in wars popular in antiquity but not in the middle ages? | As mentioned horses got bigger and could support a fully armored fighter. You also need to consider where most of the fighting was taking place, north Africa and the near east, as the civilizations at the time capable of fielding advanced armies where located in this part of the world. Geographically the land around those places is pretty flat, which is good for wheeled vehicles like chariots. The Persians used a pretty awesome chariot with blades sticking out the side, they would ride into a formation and cut off peoples legs at the knee. Alexander had to deal with these and I think Hannibal used them in the second Punic war. | 7 |
AskReddit/c7xi4ka | 16mlav | If you could cast a spell that caused a mild inconvenience, what would it be? | Snapping my fingers would cast "the spell of awareness" on whoever I was looking at. It would basically be the (internet) age-old: You can feel your tongue You are aware your jaw has weight You can feel your clothes on your body You are now breathing manually You are now blinking manually etc etc etc. | 6 |
explainlikeimfive/d1bchn1 | 4bpjm2 | How long does it take my skin to "reset" from sun exposure and what's going on during that time? | Sunburn is the result of the body reacting to ultraviolet light damaging your DNA. Your body has the ability to repair DNA damage, with little molecules that scan your DNA looking for errors and patching them up (not perfectly, but they find and repair almost all errors). People with fair skin in direct sunlight in the middle of the day are suffering far more DNA damage than their body can repair, and so your body reacts to this DNA damage by producing signal molecules that promote blood flow (causing redness), pain and inflammation: a sunburn. If you just go outside for a brief period of time, you get a brief pulse of damage that your body reacts to by repairing and producing all the molecules that signal a sunburn, but you get back inside before your blood flow changes enough to cause redness and before you produce enough pain molecules to feel pain. Then once you're in the shade again, your cells stop producing those signal molecules because they're no longer under attack, and the molecules that have been produced break down or dissipate into the bloodstream. But, it's important to note, you haven't necessarily RESET (i.e. fully repaired) all the DNA damage, only the body's inflammatory response to it. A similar question could be: why if I rub my skin just once every few minutes I don't go red, but if I rub the same patch of skin twenty times in a row I get a red mark there? It's just a matter of producing enough of a reaction from your skin that you can notice it. | 10 |
AskReddit/c5qgxi8 | xxlas | Why is the Curiosity rover's computer so underpowered? | Radiation hardening a computer is challenging, and is generally much easier on lower spec machines. I do wonder why they didn't choose a design with a low spec radiation hardened machine, and a high spec non-radiation hardened machine. Then use the low spec machine for mission critical stuff, and the high spec machine for "extras" like video processing to allow autonomous navigation (which avoids the problem of intermittent, high latency communication links to earth - the rover can keep exploring by itself). Even with redundant computers, I imagine it should all fit within 1kg of payload mass, which seems reasonable on a 1 tonne rover. Power consumption also isn't too much of a problem with a 2kw RTG. As long as the low-spec computer can reset the high spec one at any time, and check it is functioning correctly, this should overall make a high performance, high reliability, and relatively cheap design. | 6 |
AskReddit/crvzhbv | 38ltg2 | What is your weird hobby that you're pretty sure almost no one else does? | I do this weird thing where I absentmindedly play with my ears. Especially when they're cold. Just like bending them, sometimes even folding the top of my ear inside the ear canal (if you can picture what I'm describing.) You asked for weird and I delivered. | 12 |
AskReddit/dccmo28 | 5nmgqw | What are some common misconceptions democrats have about conservatives and the republican party? | I'm a registered republican. Many democrats I've talked to think that, because I am republican, I support a larger military, refuse to consider gun control, want less funding for schools, don't believe in global warming, ad want tougher immigration laws. None of which are true. | 4 |
AskReddit/dgqwavx | 67jlyf | What happened the time you had a bit of culture shock within your own country? | I live in Romania with family during the summers. I was walking past the local park in my town past a group of teenagers playing soccer a few years ago. The ball got out of their range and went towards me, and I kicked the ball back, the direction a bit lopsided and sloppy. "Wow, you're amazing at soccer!" They all scream in their variations. I said thank you, not knowing any better. Years later, I'm now a soccer referee for intramurals at my college, and I still can't play well. TL;DR: Romanian youth are dicks if you don't know any of them. | 3 |
AskReddit/ejf60pe | b5qn1j | What was the worst day you ever had? | My mom called me two hours before I had to work a night shift and told me she wanted to kill herself. I drove to my work balling and said I couldn’t come in. (My work was on the way to my moms house). I composed myself on the drive and went over. I work in the mental health field so I knew what to say/do. I sat in my bedroom while my mom explained to my dad that I was taking her to the hospital and he wasn’t allowed to come. I left my dad crying and not understanding and while in the car, my mom showed me her wrists that she cut. (It wasn’t deep but she needed stitches). I made a few calls, drove to the mental health intake crisis centre, the nurse took us to the emergency to get her stitched up and got settled in the crisis centre for the night. She spent 5 weeks in the psych ward and I visited her everyday. Eventually, my mom said I couldn’t come everyday and I had to change it to every second day because I was burnt out from working full time nights and spending every minute I could at the hospital. My dad took over the days I didn’t go. It’s been 4 years and I don’t live anywhere near my mom anymore but I call her every second day and we talk for an hour. She knows she can tell me if something is wrong and I’m always making sure she knows I’m a safe place because 1)I’m her daughter and 2)I have professional experience in dealing with mental health. | 3 |
AskReddit/djxgvqk | 6ly250 | What's the scariest supernatural thing that you've seen or had happen to you? | Unsure if supernatural, or just a random assortment of odd things. Started with a weird sensation of something rushing past my ear, only I was laying in bed. Then it felt like someone grabbed my leg. It was only when I mentioned this to my partner that he said he's felt similar, like someone squeezing his leg in the night, hearing our bedroom door closing during the night. Then one day, a photo of his (very much alive) mother had been moved. I don't think I moved it because I never dust where it is because I'm lazy. Then one day our dog was randomly barking and growling at nothing in the backyard (he was standing in the middle of the yard doing this). Things have calmed down lately, no weird things happening anymore. | 2 |
AskReddit/ckrnqz5 | 2hdhug | What would happen if everyone actually voted? | IMO it would mess up the results. If everyone voted then there would be a lot of people voting who don't want to, so they would vote randomly or without making a fact-based decision. Having voting not be required makes it so that informed citizens who are actually in support of a certain candidate will be the ones voting. | 3 |
AskReddit/coa3dw8 | 2uo2fm | Would anyone like to share their experience of being caught shoplifting and what the outcome was? | I was five years old when my parents caught me stealing a pack of gum from a Safeway. They humiliated me in front of the while store and made me apologize to the general manager. It really left an impact on me and now I have shop-lifted something everyday of my life since then. | 2 |
AskReddit/cjgmqqa | 2clim4 | What is the most interesting childhood game that you and your friends made up? | My friends and I had a game we played called "Ghost" where we were ghosts, witches, vampires, etc that lived in a castle above a village in Europe and every night we would go down to drink the blood of the villagers (which was red Koolaid). When the villagers would catch us, we'd fly back up to our castle and conjure up demons (using a glass paperweight as a crystal ball and a Ouija board I had). The demons were the dogs that would attack the villagers. .Thinking back on it thats not really a very nice kids game. | 2 |
explainlikeimfive/cjs0cos | 2dqe56 | As a California resident, how does my vote for President matter, when my state's electoral votes are essentially guaranteed to go to the Democratic candidate? | It doesn't. But that sort of misses the point of the whole thing. The whole point of a voting system (whether a Democracy or a Republic) is that citizens vote. That way everyone's voice is heard and (in theory) the government reflects/understands what the people want. So its your duty as a citizen to educate yourself on the issues and candidates and make a decision about who you think best represents you. Whether it really "matters" or not is itself irrelevant. If you feel that your vote doesn't matter, that may mean you should engage in other ways. You could try to rally more people who agree with you to try and change the way the state swings, or you could reach out and contact your representatives and make sure they understand how you feel. The worst thing you could do is nothing. My opinion is this: If you do not vote you have no right to complain or even voice your opinion on politics. You have chosen not to participate, so don't pretend to later. | 7 |
AskReddit/dm7214r | 6wcxpm | What was the worst case of parents pushing their dreams onto their kiddies you have seen? | Any / every parent in those child beauty pageants, and a lot of parents involved in youth sports. While never proven, I am almost 100% positive that my cousin intentionally broke his wrist so he didn't have to play football and deal with the un-ending pressure from his Mother and Father. Poor kid just wanted to be a teenager. | 2 |
explainlikeimfive/dby3glh | 5lslxe | How is it that we put salt in ice cream machines to make the ice colder, but we also put salt on our sidewalks and streets to melt the ice? | Because you're not making the ice colder in the ice cream machine. In both cases your goal is to make liquid water colder, but the reasons for wanting colder liquid water are different. In the case of the ice cream maker, there's always at least a thin layer of liquid between the cream container and the solid ice, so colder liquid water means more heat transfers out of the ice cream and into the liquid water (so the ice cream freezes fast enough to freeze the air bubbles into the mix which is why ice cream has such great texture). In the case of the sidewalks, colder liquid water means more ice melts and flows off the sidewalk and melting continues at lower temperatures, reducing the slipping hazard. | 767 |
AskReddit/cftpl0m | 1zhk4z | How to stop depression from getting worse? | I had a discussion about this today. The most important thing is to talk about it, keeping one's feelings inside is only going to make the depression worse, as one only feels lonelier. Remember that there are people that care about you, and the only way to make sure they notice that you're struggling is to talk about it. Express your troubles to someone you trust, either a close friend, parent, coach, favorite teacher, etc., someone who can listen and eventually tell someone who can help or who can help by themselves. Keeping your mental health up is helpful as well. Remember, you're not alone, if you ask, there are people who want to help. Don't let depression define you. | 5 |
AskReddit/dswuepr | 7rh1hn | How are you feeling today? | Thanks for asking, right now I’m feeling alone, I know I’m not. My partner is outside drinking with our flat mate, she doesn’t care how I’m feeling or that I’m sitting in a dark room crying. | 2 |
AskReddit/dmr7zoq | 6yys62 | What is something ridiculous you believed as a child? | When I was a little, my dad told me that if I chewed gum, my teeth would become crooked. (In reality, he just didn't want to deal with the prospect of having to clean gum out of the carpet, my hair, etc.) I believed this until I was in high school when a friend offered me a piece of gum, and I declined on account of my teeth. This was met with an "are you kidding me?" stare, and I then came to the realization I had been played by a very clever father. | 8 |
AskReddit/diofc8f | 6g96ff | What is the best way to ask out a girl who has rarely/never talked to you? | You don't just ask someone flat out if you've never talked to them. I guess that could work in some cases, but for the most part you need to build up conversations with them and become friendly. Otherwise it might elicit a not-so-pleasant response from them and you might become labeled as a creep. | 8 |
AskReddit/ehaws80 | auvl0s | What are some underrated character arcs for women in fiction? | Shirase Kobuchizawa, though she's a teenager so not exactly a grown woman. In A Place Further Than the Universe, Shirase starts off as a social recluse and over time grows into an almost entirely different person. Her character arc was nothing short of heartbreaking as well as bittersweetly heartwarming. | 2 |
AskHistorians/crbnkos | 367nwn | How do historians determine the difference between "real" history and very well done propaganda? | It's also worth noting that sometimes the propaganda tells a story just by being propaganda in the first place. For instance, by his own history, the Maya ruler Bird Jaguar IV of Yaxchilan was the rightful heir to his father's throne. But if you look at prior records, you see that Bird Jaguar IV's mother doesn't appear in any texts before his reign, and that there's several years between his father's death and his own accession. One may also note the huge number of historical events Bird Jaguar recorded compared to his predecessors. There was a reason he needed to promote this idea of his legitimacy, and it certainly wasn't because it was uncontested. | 6 |
explainlikeimfive/cggbspp | 21tand | In America, Why is obscenity not protected under the first amendment? | For the same reason why Holocaust denial is not protected in many European counties with their own constitutional right to freedom of speech, or why crying fire in a crowded theatre is not protected, or why the right to life is not protected from capital punishment. None of the enumerated rights can be absolutely protected, because in certain extents, they end up infringing on each other. If speech can cause bodily harm, mental trauma, mob panic, financial harm, or acts of crime, that speech is not necessarily protected, it's depending on whether the right to being protected from said harm outweights the right to say that perticular thing. That's why the more frivolous and self-serving an offensive content is, it is more likely to be deemed obscenity, while a work with visible political or artistic commentary in it is more protected. | 6 |
AskReddit/ckhvx66 | 2gd05u | What is the worst film you have ever seen but couldn't stop watching, and why? | Abduction (with Taylor Lautner and Lily Collins). The acting and story was just predictable, formulaic and terrible! The only reason I carried on watching it was because I was at a sleepover with a friend and she seemed to be enjoying it. | 3 |
AskReddit/df5on7c | 60e4pj | What was the worst year of your life and how did you get over it? | 2016, my dad ended up in the hospital with a random virus that was killing his platelets. My nephew 1 month old at the time ended up in the hospital. My dog died. My bike wheel popped on my way to work one day 15 minutes into a 1 hour cycle. I got a girlfriend that broke my heart after three months. Got the tube in my bike wheel fixed after a 45 minute walk and it popped again on the way home. Needed to walk back and buy a new tire as well. But I passed my course somehow and then Carrie Fisher died. But I'm still alive and making money now. My dad and nephew are still alive. And well life could be worst, could be better too, but could be worst. So I'll just keep trucking along hoping something/someone good comes into my life. | 2 |
askscience/dtc9t94 | 7tb730 | Is it just a coincidence that the earth's magnetic north pole is (somewhat) located where earth rotates around its axis? | Just as a side note: The magnetic north pole is actually located at the geographic south pole. But the magnetic fields tend to switch around every once in a while so in a few thousand years the magnetic north pole will probably be at the geographic north pole again. | 2 |
explainlikeimfive/eszvhgc | c9mgtp | What are all the down sides of the proposed USA census questions asking about citizenship? | The census requires a count of all persons living in the United States. Doesn't matter whether those persons are citizens, permanent residents, or non-citizens. The best way to get an accurate count is to be as inclusive as possible and try to get as many people as possible to respond. Asking about citizenship is well understood to increase the likelihood of non-citizens failing to respond to the census at all (and will likely impact the response rate of citizen households that may have familial or other ties to resident non-citizens). Even the census bureau has claimed the presence of a citizenship question will likely result in a significant undercount. Moreover, because of the way non-citizens tend to be located in traditionally democratic-leaning States, the undercount will impact traditionally blue States more severely than traditionally red States. Because each State's share of Representatives in the House of Representatives is based on the census, this uneven undercount is likely to be far more detrimental to the political power of traditionally blue states than traditionally red States. That's why the GOP strategist who passed away (whose name escapes me) was pushing to include the question. | 2 |
AskReddit/dsk4b43 | 7pu8v9 | What is a good thing to be addicted to? | Any addiction is dangerous. Even ones as vague as “being the best person” will probably result in dangerous levels of exhaustion. There are lots of good things to be passionate about: love, financial stability, good work ethics, health, etc, but addiction itself isn’t a good thing. | 5 |
askscience/c2zdeyl | m9xpc | How does the body know to form a callus? | Callus is formed from repetitive irritation. When damage is dealt to the skin several different things can occur: If you burn yourself-the immune system will respond to clean up dead cell and begin repair which is why you get a blister full of pus(dead cells, macrophages, neutrophils etc). When repeated irritation occurs the tissue will try to adapt to this constant irritation. Your skin has a tough keratin layer which is now thickened due to the adaptation and thus you have a callus. Such reactions (repeated damaged whether caused by frictional irritation or other forms such as sun) on the skin is mostly normal but can result in various disease states such as Actinic Keratosis or Seborrheic Keratosis. | 3 |
explainlikeimfive/clrbsp6 | 2l492v | How do engineers calculate the maximum weight a bridge can support? | The structural strengths of all common building materials are well-studied and well-known. The actual practice is more complex than this, but the basic idea is you say "This pillar is 1000 square inches of steel in cross-section, a square inch of steel can support a ton, so this pillar can support 1000 tons". Then you divide by 5 or so to provide a safety margin, to protect against errors or people misusing the bridge. | 3 |
explainlikeimfive/ekq24pr | bcexn0 | What is the purpose behind very lengthy prison sentences of 150 years, 200 years and more when the average human lifespan is 70 years? | In some states your are eligible for early release after serving X% of your sentence, or they'll count each day as 2 days, or even up to 3, if your good (early release due to good behavior) So if you get sentenced to 1000 years, you will never be able to hit the point where you might get released. | 3 |
AskReddit/cttyxqa | 3g1hot | What issue, political, social, whatever, do you truly not care about? | I really don't care about the gun issue. I see both sides' arguments fully but honestly, and partly because they've both gone to insane extremes, I can't support either side. On one side, there's the NRA buying up Congressmen to support their guns-everywhere agenda and spread fear of the left, and on the other side, there's Northern urban/suburban liberal elitists who think victims of violence should be able to sue the manufacturer of the tool used to hurt them, and seem to care more about disarming the populace than demilitarizing the police. Frankly, I feel like the gun issue is simply an easy way for the establishment to divide us by having the right saying guns help and the left saying guns hurt when they're both wrong. This is a cultural problem that won't be made more or less of a problem with more or fewer guns. | 14 |
AskReddit/ejfq662 | b5stb8 | What is an app you think everybody needs on their phones? | Unit Converter: An app that allows you to quickly and easily covert international units. It includes the basics as well as stuff like fuel, currency, force, speed, time, pressure, power, etc. ICE - In case of emergency: An app that displays a pull-down notification on your phone's lock screen, giving people emergency/family numbers to call, and also giving medics important information about you if you're unable to talk. VidCompact: Recorded videos on your phone usually have a massive file size, preventing them from being sent via MI's such as Discord. VidCompact compresses the video size (and px if wanted) to make vids easier and quicker to send to others or upload to social media. VPNHub: A free VPN service created by Pornhub. Easy to use and trustworthy. Cancer Risk Calculator: A very new application, but extremely well designed, in-depth and easy to use. It can give the user an indication on what their risk of developing cancer is. Definitely worth checking out. SoundHound: An app that listens to music and gives you the song and artist name, lyrics, album name, the song itself, a video of the song, and other info. I prefer SoundHound over Shazam. Edit: Truecaller: See who's behind that unknown number you're constantly getting calls from, and also whether the number has been reported as spam before and by how many people. | 2 |
AskReddit/e5yaey5 | 9fplbs | What's a deep dark secret that a friend has entrusted you with? | That he didn't mean to kill her and he thought they were just playing and.oh wait I see your trickery here. No sir-y, I will NOT play into your twisted reverse psychology and reveal my friend's deep dark secret. No-o-o-o way | 2 |
AskReddit/cgra7ea | 22xar5 | What did your parents do to get you to eat your vegetables? | Knowing how to cook them. You're not going to get kids to eat vegetables by steaming them and throwing them on a plate. Sir-fry them on a wok with soy sauce, fish sauce, a bit of garlic. Broccoli for example, I love it to this day. | 2 |
AskReddit/de18xva | 5vdphj | What show had you hooked right off the pilot episode? | LOST. Reddit wasn't around back then but the internet hype around LOST and the pilot(which is ironically called pilot because it's about a plane crash) was unprecedented. LOST was the first and the king of the whole internet boards coming together to create theories for a show. Man the mystery of LOST is unparalleled, obviously the ending wasn't the best but it was a great ride in the mid 2000's. | 19 |
AskHistorians/c74uxyw | 13kx4n | How did different cultures measure time? | I'm not really sure about all other cultures, but our time system originates from the Sumerian time system based around intervals of 60. It has a little to do with the culture's position on earths hemisphere. The Mayans created a different calendar and time system than the Chinese, for example, because they were looking at a different night sky. | 2 |
explainlikeimfive/dtf2x7a | 7ttov0 | How do YouTube mix music channels make money? | Label force YouTube to add ads on videos with copyrighted content. Then, the user have the choice to keep the ads (all revenue go for the copyright, so you don't get any money) or to remove the video. | 4 |
AskReddit/d2006a1 | 4egz2s | What hacks do you use to get past writer's block? | Blogger here. The thing is, I do not fight writers block too much. I think it is your brains way of telling you to play a little. With that said, I: play video games walk my dog check the garden and plead my lemon to please bear some friggin fruits! take a nap All of those help in refreshing the mind. The brain (at least mine) works weirdly. It generates ideas when I am doing something unrelated to writing. | 2 |
AskReddit/ehmh1bx | awh9bc | What’s your favorite clean joke from when you were a kid? | An alien came down to Earth one day. He didn’t know any English, so he went to some places to learn the English language. He walked past and opera house and heard “me me me me”. He walked past a restaurant and heard “forks and knives, forks and knives.” He walked in a TV shop and he heard a Glade commercial that said “plug it in, plug it in.” Walking out of the store, there was a murder. The police asked the alien who did the murder and he said “me me me me”. The police asked what he did it with. The alien said “forks and knives, forks and knives”. The police then said “We’re going to have to put you in the electric chair.” The alien replied with “plug it in, plug it in.” It’s not the best but it was my favorite when I was a kid. | 2 |
explainlikeimfive/dixnzxi | 6heklm | How does a router decide what inbound packets should be routed to which machine? | By port number. When the router rewrites the source IP address, it also assigns a random port number (and remembers it). When the packets come back, they're addressed to the the port the router assigned so the router can then look up which device on its network it used that port for. | 20 |
AskReddit/dg96mt5 | 659tez | How did you deliberately ruin someone's life? | A friend of mine raped an underaged girl when we were in college. I didn't think it was the first time he had done it. She wasn't going to say anything, so I called the cops anonymously later that night. She talked to them, he was arrested, I don't know what happened after that because we lost touch. Hopefully his life was ruined. | 61 |
AskReddit/cm9pvbr | 2n2g7w | What do "shoes hanging from a power line" mean where you live? | I live in a pretty small, insular community, but shoes hanging in front of a house is generally understood to signify that area is a strictly Party All the Time Zone | 4 |
AskReddit/e60iq8e | 9g0hk4 | Why does gravity happen, and why does the amount of mass determine how strong the pull is? | All matter has mass, and mass is the source of gravity. We haven't figured out why things have mass yet, which is one of the real fundamental parts of how all of the rest of physics works. There's a good Wikipedia article on the origin of mass, but I can't be arsed to link it on mobile. | 2 |
AskReddit/ejxer4w | b8e2uh | Why do we say "pairs" of underwear? | It comes from 19th century women's underwear that were a pair of leg pieces joined at the waist and drawn with a tie of sorts. All the people saying two legs are right but for the wrong reason apparently. | 10 |
AskReddit/elz9tkz | bib2mx | What's one thing you absolutely refuse to spend your money on ? | Manicures and pedicures. I will shamelessly go to Drybar every week, but can’t stand spending money on my nails when I do a better job myself. Also, seeing people with grown out fake nails because they haven’t ‘had time to get them done’ grosses me out! | 2 |
AskReddit/cb2tacx | 1iawdy | What are you embarrassed to be passionate about? | My jeep. Seriously, there's nothing I love more than taking it out and getting it all muddy and dirty and running over rocks, exploring the area, working on it, just general off roading stuff. My SO and his dad make fun of me because I get so angry about the new 4 door wranglers. I hate those things. I'm embarrassed because I'm a tiny girl and I can't even lift a tire but I can put a lift kit on a jeep. | 2 |
AskReddit/dmta1an | 6z8hij | What would you do to pass the time during a hurricane with no power? | After Katrina we had 6 months of no power. In the day time we just went outside whatever we could find. Explore the neighborhoods we once knew, now they are unrecognizable. At night time we played cards under the light of candles. Weed helps to | 51 |
explainlikeimfive/cfoq6dn | 1yxtax | Why do pizza places charge a delivery fee and not give any of it to drivers? | The note is there to instruct you that the fee is not a tip, and you should still tip your driver. The delivery fee is to make a couple extra bucks on each delivery for profit and to account for the real cost of doing business that delivering a pizza takes. | 2 |
AskReddit/cpwkvc0 | 30x2ss | Why in the United States do they require a doctors visit for non abused prescription medicines like ointments and cremes? | Things like antibiotic ointments, like you'd be using on your daughter, would be used too often and without need. This would lead to an increase in the amount of antibiotic resistant bacteria, and that's already a huge issue, even with doctors controlling access to such medications. | 3 |
AskHistorians/dnu9vfz | 73z5om | Was there a belief in "global conspiracies" theories in the middle ages or before modern age of technology? | Absolutely. There are examples of these sorts of conspiracy theories and moral panics that go back to well before the invention of printing. Four well-studied for-instances would be the infamous "blood libel" - the idea that Jews sacrifice Christian children as part of a perverted religious ritual (which first crops up in England in the mid-twelfth century); the witchcraft panics and trials that were endemic throughout much of early modern Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries; belief in the existence of a group of "secret rulers of the world" that began circulating in pamphlets about Rosicrucianism in Germany and the Netherlands in the early 17th century; and fears relating to the power of the Freemasons, which created a significant moral panic in North America in the early decades of the 19th century. I'm sure others can chip in with other examples as well. I'll focus for now on belief in the power of the Rosicrucian movement, since this seems closest to what you are interested in. This belief got its start in 1614, when a small group of German adepts published an esoteric manifesto in pamphlet form in the German town of Kassel. Such works were not unheard of at this time; there was a long tradition of semi-secret societies forming to study and disseminate supposed esoteric knowledge; the famous Voynich manuscript, and the treatises produced by contemporary alchemists, are examples of similar sorts of attempts to create, preserve and circulate "hidden knowledge". But the contents of the Rosicrucian pamphlets were excitingly remarkable even by these standards. The first, 1614, publication purported to be the manifesto of a powerful secret society called the Order of the Rosy Cross. It was a potent call for a second Reformation - a reformation, this time, of the sciences – which promised, in return, the dawning of a new golden age, and hinted at the existence of a group of adepts and initiates calling themselves the Brethren of the Rosy Cross. According to the pamphlet, the order had been established in the 15th century by a man named "C.R.C." (one of the later pamphlets identified him as Christian Rosenkreuz, a powerfully symbolic name), who had spent many years travelling in the Middle East, which even then was renowned as the sort of place where esoteric, powerful and little known fragments of wisdom could be gathered by the right people. The pamphlet stated that, on his return to Germany, Rosenkreuz had created a brotherhood of like-minded men to ensure this hard-won knowledge could be put to good use. There were supposedly eight Brethren of the Rosy Cross, and they had undertaken to travel ceaselessly from place to place, spreading their secret knowledge to those ready (and sufficiently advanced, intellectually) to receive it, and living incognito. Each brother was a powerful mystic in his own right, and each was tasked with recruiting a worthy replacement for himself as he grew old. Herein lies one of the secrets of the spread of these rumours; there were plenty of men in Europe who flattered themselves that they were worthy of belonging to such an exclusive group, and who longed to make contact with the mysterious Brethren. Of course, because they supposedly operated incognito, one never knew when one might be standing in the presence of one of their number, which added an additional layer of excitement to the whole story. Christian Rosenkreuz himself, the pamphlet continued, had lived to be 106 and, when he died, in 1484, the members of his order had gathered to lay him to rest in a secret underground vault located somewhere within the borders of the Holy Roman Empire. The vault was then sealed for a period of 120 years – which, of course, meant it had been opened once again in the first years of the 17th century. This supposedly explained how news of the order and its purpose had found its way into print in 1614. The opening of Rosenkreuz's tomb was to herald the dawning of a new golden age of intellectual exploration and freedom - a very popular idea that we continue to find regularly in millenarian and conspiracy-based cults - and it was to act as a signal for the Brethren of the Rosy Cross to step out of the shadows and reveal themselves. So, just as there is in churches whose doctrines stress the imminence of the Second Coming of Christ, there was also an urgency and anticipation in the stories of the Rosicrucians that excited many of those who read the pamphlets that told their story. Two further pamphlets emerged from the same source over the next two years, both anonymous and each making fresh revelations; one, The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreuz (1616), made explicit links between the Rosy Cross and the alchemists. Few people seemed to have doubted, at this time, that they were the work of a genuine group of adepts; a number of prominent thinkers, including the French philosopher Descartes, devoted considerable efforts to searching for the Order. But the Rosicrucians also posed a potential threat. Several northern European states, including the United Provinces of the Netherlands, began to fear this new group were agents of an heretical religious movement. Rumours that Rosicrucians had crossed the border into the Netherlands reached several Calvinist ministers in 1624. The threat - real or imagined - could not be tolerated, and in January 1624 the Court of Holland, which was the senior judicial body for the whole province, was ordered to investigate the movement. The result was something of a witch hunt. Rumours suggested that Dutch members of the order had their headquarters in the town of Haarlem, where they assembled by night in a house in the prosperous Zijlstraat. Armed with this information, the Dutch authorities launched a four-year investigation that resulted in the arrest of a celebrated, and already fairly notorious, painter named Torrentius, who was well known for his habit of engaging in outrageous theological debate in taverns, and who had (probably jokingly) publicly claimed to possess magical powers. Torrentius was interrogated, tortured, and charged with membership of the Rosicrucian order, then finally tried in 1628 on 31 charges of heresy in a special sort of court proceeding known as "extra-ordinaris", which essentially forbade him from mounting a defence. Various outlandish evidence was produced, which included tales from witnesses who said the painter was in the habit of sacrificing black cockerels in his studio, and that he had claimed his paintings were the products of sorcery - the animal sacrifices having freed demonic forces that animated Torrentius's paintbrushes and allowed his works to paint themselves. None of this had anything to do with the sorts of claims made in the Rosicrucian pamphlets, but they are good examples of the way in which conspiracies and panics tend to gather pace and incorporate other outlandish elements as they go. The upshot of the trial was that Torrentius was imprisoned for a term of 20 years. Luckily for him, Charles I of England was an admirer of his painting, and intervened to have him released on the promise that he would go to live at Charles's court. He spent the years 1630-1642 in England, and appears to have learned little from his brush with the law, since, according to Horace Walpole, he "gave more scandal than satisfaction" to his royal patron. Although the original Rosicrucian panic died down around 1630, belief in the existence of the group persisted. Even in the last century, it was common to see small ads in fringe publications placed by a group calling itself AMORC (Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis) and claiming access to the Rosicrucians' secret knowledge. The authors of the three original pamphlets remain a mystery, as do their motives and real aims. Sources Jocelyn Godwin et al, Rosicrucian Trilogy (2016- new scholarly translations of the original pamphlets) Christopher McIntosh, The Rosy Cross Unveiled (1987) Govert Snoek, De Rosenkruizers in Nederland (Utrecht PhD thesis, 1997) | 72 |
AskReddit/cq0oolk | 31dxnf | Who are the bad guys that you actually root for? | The crew of Serenity. Yes, they are the bad guys, folks. They steal for a living, and the Alliance is no worse than any real developed government on Earth (democracy with some fuckery happening in the shadows) while the browncoat worlds all seem grim, poor, and brutally exploitive. But Serenity's crew are still good guys despite being the bad guys. | 46 |
AskReddit/eqzrwbf | c01xjc | What movie do you think everyone should watch? | Logan, it has some of the darkest themes I’ve ever seen in a movie, as well as all the action you could ever hope for. It’s easy to keep along with the story and and has some great moments throughout the film. I wouldn’t recommend it to people who don’t like watching intense gory violence though. | 2 |
AskReddit/c4c4duz | s98w3 | What is the worst excuse your boss has given you for firing you? | I allegedly stole cash. I didn't work anywhere near the cash. I was once fired for not showing up to work after a shift change no one told me about. I also know someone who was fired for cutting bread wrong. The food service industry is for retards. Consider your termination a blessing in disguise. | 2 |
AskReddit/c2u81fh | lo0m8 | What's the longest you've stayed up? | The longest I've ever stayed up is 56 hours. I was working on some projects for school (can't remember now) and this was either mid-term or exam season. What I do remember is how I felt right before I went to bed. I was sitting in my computer chair and without realizing it, I was leaning back and forth randomly. It took me a long time to figure that out. Also, whenever I blinked my eyes, it would seem that the world reloaded. Best way to describe it. Not a cool story bro. | 2 |
AskReddit/c2zwx6t | mcy4p | Does the wisdom of crowds produce good ideas? | I'm not sure about idea generation itself but deciding if an idea is good or not yes it does. In fact the back bone of western societies (i.e. democracy and markets) by their nature rely on the wisdom of crowds. In spite of all the problems that do exist with these systems they are far better than the alternatives. | 5 |
AskReddit/en7teo3 | bno1zf | Why nowadays huge corporations prefer to spread propaganda rather than sell their products? | More and more young people are getting involved in politics and social issues. We’re naive, for example, if we think Gillette made their commercial because they actually care about men grilling or watching two kids fight. They did it to gain publicity so more people would buy their products. | 2 |
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