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AskReddit/eq1ks6o | bwyb3y | How far away are we from being able to rent and watch a movie in your own home on the day/weekend of its theatrical release, if ever? | Not that far. There are already a couple of options but I don't know how widely available they are. It's going to become untenable to continue the theater exclusive distribution model because of leaks and Netflix so there's going to be an option at least. The business may be doing well but theaters are struggling and blockbusting is not coming back so eventually the whole business will shift. That's farther off. More than a decade, maybe. But sooner than later you're going to start seeing simultaneous releases on a larger scale. It's been happening for years but it's not caught on yet because of the studio business model. It's inevitable though. It's just a matter of time and the studios know it. That's why they're investing so much into home entertainment and developing models and projections for when it finally happens. | 2 |
AskReddit/dlluy9z | 6tmf0b | What things you shouldn't do in the USA? | The US is a vast place. Despite the global prevalence of US cultural exports, just remember that you are a Guest in the country, so do as any guest would do. Don't criticize your host, be respectful, be polite, be friendly, and spend some time reading up on the culture before you get there. Be earnest in your attempts to absorb some of the culture by trying new things and seeing the US outside of the cliched places. And above all else, be safe and have fun. | 138 |
askscience/camgya5 | 1gpbop | When a snake (such as cobra or black mamba) strikes and misses does its head hit the ground? | Most of the time when a snake misses a strike it just passes out into the air a bit past it's target and then pulls back, rather like if you were to strike your hand forward at a target in front of it and miss. But I guess if the snake is striking at something from an unusual angle its head could hit the ground. Reptiles run into things all the time (they are really rather clumsy) so it wouldn't be unusual. There's really no need for specific brain protection mechanisms more than the ordinary, because the body parts aren't moving all that fast in the overall scheme of things, and anyway they are low mass and therefore don't have all that much inertia. The impact of a fall from a tree or even of a successful strike would probably be higher than that of a missed strike. | 7 |
AskReddit/c1ofbbk | glj7k | Are bartending classes worth the money? | I've been bartending and serving in Washington, DC for the last four years. I do not know a single person who's attended bartending classes. They are a complete waste of money. The only way to get a bartending job (where you make any money) is to work your way up. Bartending classes may teach you how to make a few drinks but making drinks isn't nearly half of what makes a good bartender. | 2 |
AskReddit/calqww9 | 1gmtus | What is your secret revenge story? | I actually am now the sole admin on the facebook page of a company that decided they weren't going to pay me for the graphic design work I did. I banned them and they haven't realized it yet. I don't have a secret revenge story yet, but I'm very open to suggestions. | 2 |
AskReddit/czv3k2d | 453s53 | What's your favorite movie? | I only watch movies starring Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and I really don't think I can pick just ONE favorite movie starring Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. My favorite movie starring Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson might be Furious 7, but I am very confident that the next installment will be even better as long as the give a lot of screen time to my favorite actor, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. If anyone would like to discuss Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson with me, I am up for it. | 6 |
explainlikeimfive/db0mc3c | 5hijxo | Why do suppliers of commodities use middle men? | saving money: logistics/shipping has complexity, costs, issues, and some companies can do it far cheaper so despite the mark-up it could be much more. Middle-men can do whatever they want as long as they meet the contract-conditions they agreed to with suppliers and customers. This condition of timing, inventory, etc., is generally called a "service level agreement" or SLA | 3 |
askscience/c27jk6q | ixz5p | Why does bread becoming soggy when heated in a microwave and crispy when toasted in an oven? | As said the microwave heats by exciting the water molecules in the item being heated. In bread this destroys the structure of the bread, and instead of it being delicious and fluffy, it is dense and goopy. The structure in the bread that had many many air pockets, which makes it seem soft, are ruptured and collapse, leaving just the dough in a dense structure. The oven heats from the outside with heat instead of radiation, the structures stay intact, but become brittle as the water is driven out, simulating "crisp." | 26 |
askscience/c6u7t01 | 12dljk | Is 10 the easiest base for the human brain to comprehend? | No, there's nothing that makes it particularly easier than any other base, although naturally higher bases require more symbols to learn. Take for example the Babylonians, who used a base of 60. Which we still use somewhat today in our measurements of time. | 13 |
explainlikeimfive/c5nmryy | xmdn8 | How has acting (especially in movies) changed over the last 50 or so years? | Well, screen acting originated from theatre. Early screen acting was very much influenced by stage acting, but also limited by technical difficulties (like silent films). So actors exaggerated emotions and acted in specific ways because they were trained to do that as stage actors. Recently, though, filmmakers have become more and more interested in treating films and screen acting as an entirely different medium than theatre and stage acting. They realized that a film can be produced much differently than a play because of camera techniques, sound, editing, etc. So now there's a division between screen acting and stage acting, based on the differences between film and theatre. | 16 |
AskReddit/ekri4jb | bckvx0 | When do you think is the right time to tell you partner that you love them? | After standing in line, dancing, and dropping into a quiet little place for a drink or two. Even then you're gonna feel like it isn't the right time. Believe me, to them it'll seem like a line, that they probably heard the night before. For you it's true and i'm sure never felt as right as it does now. You can practice other ways to say it so that it means more but nothing will say I love you better than those words. | 2 |
AskReddit/drtwuy2 | 7mh2cq | What is a moment/situation in your life that came out as if it were from a movie? | I recently went back to the town my grandparents and other family lived in when I was growing up. Most of my family doesn't live there anymore, and the town itself has diminished greatly over the years- it's a small town along the Mississippi River with not much going on there anymore. It was my first time being back since my grandmother passed and I was walking through the small town square on a dreary November evening just before the sun went down. I had this movie moment flash back of being a little girl and being in that square for an Autumn festival, and the small town was full of life with families running around, and music playing, and the trees were full of color, and there was so much life, and everyone I loved was there. And I snapped back to the cold, dark, damp town I was in and realized everything goes away and changes. That was a tough day. Squeeze the ones you love, friends! | 2 |
AskReddit/dhwzkcp | 6cs3yi | How do you start learning computer languages? | Computers "talk" using 1s and 0s. You might start with just beeps and boops until you can work your way up the the 1s and 0s. Once you finally feel comfortable with 1s and 0s try to find a friendly computer community and start up some conversations. Eventually you will get the hang of it. | 4 |
AskReddit/c1i4e6d | frnks | Has anyone ever packed up and moved to New York/Chicago (or another big city)? | im from chicago and im packing up and moving to new york in the fall, when i graduate. at the earliest, i'll be there in august, at the latest, by october. i'm moving to brooklyn too. haha, if you need a roomie in the fall, hit me up! i was gonna make an askreddit post about this, but i'll just save this and read the responses you get. | 2 |
explainlikeimfive/cstqqz4 | 3cami1 | Why do economists say that the Euro was 'a bad idea' since its launch in 2002? | The difference between North and. Err, between South Europe and the rest of EU is too large. Basically Euro do not allow the southern neighbors to compete with the rest. Usually this competing would happen by devaluing the currency on hard times, and as such making the wage lower (and also making pensions cost less, inflation adjusted pay somehow never gets put into place) because the wage is paid on the nation's currency, which because of before-mentioned devaluing, well, you get the idea. | 2 |
askscience/c3ffy2h | o8zj4 | What does " no two electrons in the universe can have the same energy state" actually mean? | It should actually be "have the same state". Energy or not doesn't matter. The state of any quantum system is a normalized vector in a Hilbert space (well, it's typically called a ray, but they're essentially interchangeable). Like a normal 3-d vector, we can describe this vector by a list of numbers saying how much it goes in some fixed set of "basis" directions. For two states, both where a given observable has a fixed value, but different in one then the other, the two vectors will be "orthogonal", at right angles to each other. This means that values for observables can be used to pick out a standard basis for a system. Energy is often used as a factor in picking out a convenient basis. The actual rule is that any two electrons must have orthogonal vectors. (Well, actually the full rule is that the entire global "tensor product state" must be antisymmetric under exchange of any two electrons. But it gives the first as a consequence.) | 4 |
AskReddit/ehab504 | ausp7e | If you got suspended from school, why did you and was it reasonable? | Back in 8th grade I was almost expelled for supposedly my friend and I bullying this girl. We are both guys to give you some context but we would mess with each other all the time, it was a back and forth type thing and all in good fun. One day she is watching some weird video and class and we go up to her and are like "eww what are you watching". She flips out and throws the MacBook up and it hits a girl in the face and she runs out the class room, our teacher was very confused but we went on with the day. The next day my friend and I get called in the principle's office and he threatens to expel us for bullying this girl repeatedly and that she was so afraid to come into school that day because of us. Everyone else thought she didn't come in because we all thought she was scared that she broke the MacBook, which was more than likely the reason but yeah it was very stupid and the principle wouldn't even listen to what happened and was very ignorant, so yeah I would say it was not reasonable. | 2 |
explainlikeimfive/denom55 | 5y6fsi | How are animated films directed? | A film director is more in charge of the artistic "vision" of the film. Often on sets, the director won't even be looking through a camera feed, instead focusing on the script and performance - leaving things like sound and visuals up to all the others working on the film (assistant directors, cinematographers, editors, special and practical effects people etc.) but acting as a middle-man to help coordinate them towards a goal. So animation or any other medium with a "director" job title is similar - they're in charge of realising the message, themes and artistry of the performances, while there are subordinate directors who focus on the other stuff - eg. director of animation. That said, there isn't really a hard and fast rule about these things. Some film directors are also basically the director of photography, or sitting in the editing room or even acting in their own films, and some animation directors are hand-drawing keyframes alongside the animation team. | 18 |
AskReddit/ce0ol6v | 1ss5b3 | If marijuana was legalized in the U.S., what would be the most noticeable effects in the following year? | More jobs would open up, as it would take more people to harvest, grow, run the stores and pharmacies, and things like that. The economy would receive a lot more income, but I dont think it would be all that noticeable except for on a state level. As for violence, the only concern would be for the dealers who are really in need for income who move to a different illegal drug, but in my opinion most marijuana dealers who arent in that situation to begin with wouldnt move on to anything worse. As with alcohol, there would be a concern with "underage smoking", but with any activity with an age limit, kids are always going to find a way to rebel and since marijuana isnt nearly as harmful as alcohol I dont think that law enforcement will make that big of a deal of it. | 3 |
AskReddit/dy4few4 | 8flbmw | How does plain soap and water remove germs and bacteria from our hands/bodies? | Regular soap is a base (like sodium hydroxide) attached to a fat (everything from beef tallow to olive oil). When you rub soap with water, it sticks to and removes the oil off your hands (which happens to be where most of the germs are, but doesn't really kill them) and it goes down the sink. If you've ever rubbed baking soda with water on your hands and noticed your hands felt really slippery afterwards, that's because baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is a weak base reacting with the oil on your hands. You're essentially making soap when you do so. | 3 |
explainlikeimfive/cvenmua | 3mg1jr | What is a 'System Information' file that comes with my download? | It's traditional to include a .nfo file with pirated software or media. Those are actually basic text files - in windows you can shift-right click on the file, select "open with" and open it with notepad. Typically they contain some information on the group that pirated the software, ASCII art, instructions on applying a crack to the software, and sometimes a marketing summary of the software or media. It's basically a pirate's version of a README file. I don't believe there's any way for the file to harm you by opening it in notepad. | 3 |
AskReddit/cjer7os | 2cesih | Why's the future going to suck? | They are doing all kinds of research in Vacuum technology. If we develop VacTrains to their full potential, we could travel from New York to London in under an hour. It's a bright future, and it's going to suck! | 10 |
AskReddit/dldh128 | 6skpia | What expectations/stereotypes are you the most sick of? | I'm an English teacher living in South East Asia and the stereotype/expectation that gets me is the simplistic, "Oh, he's white, he must be a better English teacher than that brown person." | 3 |
AskReddit/cxrfjyo | 3vx4xk | What job just screams "I don't get paid enough for this"? | Police officers really don't get paid enough. It scares me knowing I make more than some of them. People wonder why some cops can be shady but they don't realize how little they actually make. Some if them are just above the poverty line. | 2 |
AskHistorians/cfkl67f | 1yewti | Why did the Achaemenids perform poorly against the Greeks? | To properly answer this question, we have to actually ask ourselves what failures the Achaemenids actually experienced, as well as any general difficulties. The reason for that is that when treating Darius' and Xerxes' campaigns as failures they are often not examined in depth as to exactly what failed within them, what objectives were not met. I would argue that least initially, Xerxes fulfilled a number of his initial objectives. However, I would still call both expeditions failures, and through exploring that I think we can give a basis for an answer to your question. The initial expedition began with occupations of Greek islands, along with a renewed presence in Thrace and Macedon. This was done without great difficulty. Darius also opened negotiations, given the strength of his position, but both Athens and Sparta killed his ambassadors. This then altered the original idea- initially a number of Greek cities were being punished for interference in the Ionian revolt, but after Athens and Sparta did such things their punishment was sealed. The full attack on Greece successfully attacked Naxos, pacified Delos, attacked Karystos on Euboea and made them capitulate, besieged and took Eretria on Euboea due to treachery, then landed at Marathon. There they were defeated; the disaster was not total, but it represented a halt to this expedition against the Greeks. Now, it's worth pointing out that the Persians army had done a lot of what it sought to do- subjugating Greeks and enacting vengeance on states that had aided rebels during the Ionian War. Herodotus' numbers for the expeditionary force are never given, but his given numbers of triremes (600) would presume a force of perhaps 26,000 men at most which is a fairly reasonable figure. We tend to discard other ancient estimates of 200,000 men as ridiculous. Herodotus' own estimation of Persian casualties was around 6,000 men, which would be around a quarter of the army's strength or less. Modern estimates trend towards 4,000-5,000, which is a lower proportion still. In other words, the Persians did not actually lose many men. However, it is worth pointing out that 20-26,000 men is not an enormous army for the Persians- this has the makings of a reasonably well equipped and semi-professional expeditionary force, not the full royal army. It was no doubt expected to succeed in perhaps grander fashion, but we are not dealing with the full might of Persia concentrated against Athens. Athens and Plataea together put forth around 11,000 men onto the field by themselves, and you can plainly see that this force was always unlikely to conquer the whole of Greece by itself. But this was still an embarassing setback. Perhaps Darius had indeed assumed that the expedition would achieve a much more comprehensive solution to his issue. Darius did not get the chance to try another attempt, dying within 4 years of the battle. Thus we pass to his son Xerxes' expedition. The march across the Hellespont was totally unopposed, and supplies had been laid out for the expedition well in advance. For that initial 480 BC campaign season therefore, Xerxes was probably able to field anywhere between 150,000-200,000 men, and this is a flying-the-flag royal army. Whether we believe Herodotus that the King of Macedon warned the defending Greeks of them being overrun or not, Thessaly was abandoned by the Greeks defending against Persia and thus Thessaly submitted. Many cities, in fact, submitted to the Persians rather than fight them. However, Thermopylae caused the Persians a delay of several days- given how slow a march is with an army of that size, this was certainly not a desirable outcome for them. The Greeks, as it happens, could not afford to sacrifice an army of c.5,000 hoplites even in this cause; even after the pass bypassing the Greeks had been discovered, Thermopylae was actually fortified at both ends and could conceivably have held out a long time delaying Xerxes even further. But the Greeks would have certainly been lost there one way or another. So the Greek strategy of taking the Persians head on was extremely risky and had to be very carefully judged. The Persians, in this campaign, were also fighting Greek fleets- the Athenians and Corinthians both now had large navies, and by the standards of the day the Greek fleet actually put to sea was quite sizeable. Whilst Thermopylae was ongoing, the Greek fleet eventually fought the Persians at Artemisium, and whilst they gained no clear victory Herodotus does assert that they inflicted pretty much equal casualties on the Persian fleet. Nonetheless, the Persian occupation of Greek continued- Boeotia submitted, and those cities that did not were destroyed. Attica was next- Athens was razed to the ground, and now only Sparta of the two ambassador-killing cities remained standing. But it's not long afterwards that the battle of Salamis occured at sea, and the Persians lost. Again, this is not a total disaster- this is not the loss of the entire fleet. However, this did represent a significant loss of sea power and a much lesser ability to protect the pontoon bridge that had enabled the crossing into Europe. It's also at this point that Xerxes and his army has to return. Now, the victory at Salamis is often cited as why, and I'm sure it certainly contributed. But even with the supplies being set out in advance, the Persian royal army could not remain in Greece indefinitely. The king most certainly couldn't- Greece was a frontier, not a capital, and even though the Empire could be governed in his absence he was still its epicentre. In addition, the army that Xerxes brought probably included a large number of additional levies who would need to be returned to the Empire. Not that they'd couch it in such terms, but the removal of so many from the Empire would have had a really massive impact on its economy, not to mention the continued expense of feeding, clothing, and partially arming the army. But even after this, most of Greece was pacified and/or submitted. Mardonius, remaining with a smaller occupation force, might well have been reasonably confident. The task was nearly complete. But he did not have the naval supremacy to allow a landing beyond the Isthmus wall that had been build to protect the Peloponnese, and the Greek allies were still mostly intact (by the skin of their teeth). His army was then defeated at Plataea by the largest force of hoplites yet assembled by a Greek army, some 40,000 hoplites of various origins, and the remaining Persian fleet was defeated at Mycale. The expeditionary force was removed, and Xerxes was (fairly justifiably) not seemingly in a mood to spend such effort on another ruinously expensive expedition to what was to him the frontier. My main issue here has been to establish that actually on both occasions the Persians came close to achieving their objectives in the scope of the resources available on both occasions. However, you have to remember that to the Persians the Greek world was the frontier. It was thousands of miles away from Persia or any of the Persian capitals. It was also nowhere near as rich, developed, or strategically important as most of the Empire's active possessions. This was not Egypt where multiple expeditions could be raised to recapture it when it revolted. It is pretty much exactly the equivalent of the Romans constantly attacking the deeps of Germania- whilst expeditions occurred, they were certainly not constant. In addition, the Greeks facing Xerxes' expedition in particular made some wise choices- they preserved the core alliance rather than breaking up, they persevered despite in some cases exile from their own cities, their methods of warfare were still mostly unfamiliar to the Persians and well suited to their own home turf, they realised that naval power was deeply important to the conflict. They also avoided catastrophic defeats, along with open-battle confrontations with the full Royal army- their pitched battle at Plataea was against Mardonius' satrapal army, against which they could presume more reasonable parity. I do not really think the Achaemenids performed poorly. I would however say that their resources were stretched purely attempting to operate in Greece- none of the carefully constructed administrative and logistical network of the Empire existed there, Greece was really not very rich in that era by comparison to the Empire or fertile for that matter, and the primary intention of the expeditions were to pacify a troubled frontier of the Achaemenid Empire. Their impetus for acting in Greece was the Greek interference in the Ionian revolt, and internal affair- you are not going to leave powers attempting to affect your own state's internal workings unmolested. Greece was never going to be the equivalent of Media, Babylonia, and Lydia- settled regions with much to offer the Empire, and importantly MUCH closer to the Empire's capitals. I don't think that Greece was ever, in this period, a match for Persia. If they had really considered it worth their time, the Persians could have just simply sent invasion after invasion. It's important to remember that only one Persian expedition came over the sea, and it almost succeeded. I don't think the successful resistance of a Greek coalition (it was never the Greeks as many capitulated or sided with them, and indeed Herodotus says that the Persian army at Plataea had Greek allies) was inevitable. But I also don't think the Persians were ever prepared to send army after army for a frontier land of rocky shores, poor soil, mountainous terrain, and very little riches. The primary purpose had always been to a) pacify Greece and b) to enact punitive measures on the specific states that had been assisting the Ionian rebels in their revolt. | 13 |
AskReddit/dt94x0e | 7t1kio | What is a dark piece of Reddit history no one talks about? | All dark parts of Reddit people talk about usually. Some are more common than others, like the Boston marathon bombing as compared to that computer guy who had cp. People don't really talk about quarantined subs, which are subs that you need a verified email to view. | 1,983 |
AskReddit/dtp7mqm | 7v3j6q | What’s the most you would pay for a meal with your s/o? | The most we've paid was £75 per person (a bit over $100), including wine. That was the first and only time I have ever dined in a five star restaurant. I would pay that again, and more, in a heartbeat, for a meal of the same quality as I had there. | 4 |
askscience/c52ygfv | vb92l | Would a laser sword cut a diamond sword or vice versa? | Well, they DO use lasers for cutting diamonds, but that doesn't mean that every laser can cut a diamond. So the short answer would be: depends on the laser. If it was designed for cutting a diamond i suppose it would destroy the diamond sword, but if it weren't then the diamond sword would refract the laser beams and be unharmed. | 4 |
AskReddit/c6mqo4z | 11ic09 | Should prisoners sentenced to life in prison be given the option of the death penalty? | This thread is very concerning. Lots of redditors apparently have a major hard on for violence and torture. Lots of people who think that prisoners are subhuman. I'm sure these are the same people who criticize the government when something like gitmo happens. | 81 |
AskReddit/d2lhlqn | 4gx4to | If you could only eat at one Fast Food Chain for the rest of your life, which would it be and why? | bojangles, it's the only fast food I eat now. solid pieces of chicken, good flavor, good biscuits, the only fries I like, and plenty of sweet tea | 2 |
AskReddit/cwyf1j6 | 3slwyd | If you moved from a very small rural town to a big city, what was the transition like? | I grew up rural and tried cities for permanent residence, but about five years of constant city life is all I ever managed. I found good work in a rural area and now have the choice of where to live. I just recently came to the city planning to stay a few months and the noise and commotion is amazing, but not in a good way. The depths of my friendships tends to be deeper in my chosen rural area. | 2 |
explainlikeimfive/cu67ir0 | 3hcnvi | Why is drug testing legal? | You do have the right to refuse a drug test. But you do not have the right to have a job. A job is a negotiation between you and the employer. They want something, and you want something. What you want is money, and some benefits. What they want is work, and sometimes a drug test. As with any negotiation, if either of you don't like the terms, you don't have to accept them, and can just walk away. | 11 |
AskHistorians/e2wda29 | 919c0p | Why did warships carry such large amounts of gold in the past? | There are a few things to parse out here. The first and possibly most relevant to your question is that there's really not much evidence that the Russian ship Dmitrii Donskoi, which is the "$100 billion ship," actually has any gold in it (or much gold). It was part of the Russian fleet that sortied from the Baltic against Japan in the Russo-Japanese war, and was damaged at the Battle of Tsushima and in subsequent actions. There's no particularly logical reason why it would have 14 percent of all the earth's gold bullion on it -- if the Russians wanted to send that to Vladivostok or some other Far East post, it would likely have traveled by rail. Anyhow, to the related question -- Yes, warships did carry gold and precious cargo in the past. You're correct to think that the Spanish galleons transported gold and silver from the New World to other places -- silver particularly to China and Japan via Manila, and both silver and gold to Seville in Spain. Now, as to "why" they would transport precious metals upon a galleon, the reason is that people are willing to kill for precious metals, and pirates and privateering ships would try to capture Spanish ships. The Spanish authorities laid down regulations for transporting gold and silver back to the Old World after French privateers sacked Havana in the 1560s. Outgoing fleets would sail from Seville to trade on the Spanish Main, and rendezvous in Havana with ships from Veracruz carrying Asian goods before sailing back home. On the western side of the Mexican peninsula, trade between Manila and Acapulco took gold and silver to the Philippines and returned luxury goods the other way. Transporting trade goods on a large, well-armed warship traveling in concert with other warships actually makes a lot of sense, especially in waters infested with pirates. Although the great convoy trade eventually died out by the 1790s, the Spanish still used frigates or other fast, well-armed ships to transport bullion. (The action of 5 October, 1804, which is fictionalized in the book Master and Commander, Post Captain, was a successful effort by the British to intercept treasure being carried by Spanish frigates.) There's also the more mundane/prosaic answer that warships do also have to have cash on board, to purchase goods and supplies in foreign ports without an agent, for petty cash onboard, and for crew wages depending on the time period and how this works. Salvaging the ships' safes was a major part of the Pearl Harbor wreck recovery process. | 14 |
AskReddit/dnged07 | 727n9z | How does one achieve total confidence? | Via utter ignorance or insanity. There's nothing in life that's so certain you should approach it without a second thought. Doing so inevitably leads to disaster. Yes, a large degree of confidence is essential towards being successful. A total degree of confidence is no better an approach than having none at all. | 3 |
AskReddit/ehrqpe7 | ax859j | What are some your greatest concerns raising kids today? | The creeps in the world, or drugs becoming an issue for them bc of how much easier and likely a kid will do serious drugs now. Maybe it’s bc I have family with drug addiction and that’s why it concerns me more. | 3 |
AskReddit/d84x0g0 | 54tvmy | If Beethoven suddenly appeared in your living room, what 5 songs would you play for him to show him how music has changed since his time? | I would play him some Beethoven. I think he would be most amazed by the fact that we have recorded music, and that musicians and composers - in fact any person, rich or poor - can listen and respond to music from around the world and from any notated sheet music in history. That's the main change in music since his time. Everything else that I might play is my personal taste, which he might not appreciate. | 3 |
AskHistorians/c8721j0 | 17myy0 | If Shakespeare invented so many words, how did his audiences understand his plays? | There are two major things to consider: Firstly - Shakespeare was credited with being a great, popular writer within his own lifetime and his works are preserved. Dictionary compilers like to use him for a source of his period because he's so prolific and there's so much material. Very few other writers of the period have anything like that level of surviving output. Secondly - Shakespeare wrote in all registers, he was the son of a lower-middle class man in the deepest Midlands who rose to the inner-circle of the Royal Courts. He could write dialogue to be put in to the mouths of princes and peasants. He was familiar with the colloquialisms of his day and with the references used by people with the best university education, because his social world was amazingly wide for the time, like Chaucher he is in a unique position to write about society because he has experienced social mobility on a level unthinkable to most. So when he is cited as the first written source of a word - that just means it's the earliest instance of it being written down that a dictionary compiler has come across. Writing in the every-day speech of ordinary folk wasn't a common thing for 'literary' people to do and so Shakespeare provided a way for the language of the street to be recorded for posterity in a way that most of his contemporaries weren't doing. You should also note that Shakespeare's work is not the product of one man, although the predominate authorship is well established (anti-stratfordians should be publicly flogged - if you want to read more about why it's a crank position based on prejudice I suggest Bill Bryson's biography of Shakespeare) some of his works were collaborations and the texts of a play could be altered several times after initial performances with actor's suggestions being taken in to account. NB a lot of the words are just self-explanatory compounds, which is a continuation of the anglo-saxon tradition of 'kenning' for example. If you never heard 'eyeball' before which is a credited Shakespeare coinage, you could guess what it means. He 'verbs' nouns a lot. A good example is when he writes 'destruction shall dog them at the heels' the word 'dog' pre-existed, but here he's using it with a fresh meaning. | 26 |
AskReddit/dx2osu2 | 8az9sg | What is the TLDR of your childhood? | TLDR; grew up as first generation Indian in america. Terrible childhood because of generational gap. Had to learn things the hard way because parents were of no moral or ethical use. | 2 |
AskReddit/cflobtl | 1ylvds | How does someone know what color something is when they colorize a black and white photo? | Most things are pretty obvious (Grass, sky, roads), but the majority of things are guessed at. The artist will know what time period the photo is from, and they'll use the colors of the time. | 6 |
AskReddit/czd1wct | 42tua8 | What is something very small that someone else has done for you that they didn't think much of, but meant the world to you? | When I was in college, I used to volunteer with high school and middle school kids. My friends used to tease me about it and call me a pedophile, as college friends do, and in my own inexperience, and because the best way to get people to stop teasing you is to accept it and play along, I made some pedophile jokes on the internet, which were seen by the people running the volunteer organization. Long story short, they were pretty sure I wasn't any kind of threat, but still asked me not to volunteer anymore. One of the kids I worked with and had made a positive impact on decided that was unacceptable, and went up to the people in charge and chewed them out. She was fourteen at the time. I wasn't there, but I can only imagine the scene. Probably the last thing you want when under pedophile suspicion is an underage girl coming to your defense, but it was a rough time in my life for this and other reasons, and this little girl defended me with more passion than anybody has before or since, and it meant the world. | 3 |
askscience/ca0nj3z | 1eiohp | Why do I need to use a cover while I sleep, in conditions where I would be perfectly comfortable awake? | Any draft or bodily movement will result in a mixture between the warm air caused by your body's radiation and the ambient air. Over the course of the night, this can make your body feel like it's in a really slow but steady breeze, requiring a higher heat flow rate to compensate. Wearing a cover will contain your body's heat output, requiring less heat generation, less energy loss, less feeling of cold and exhaustion, which is good when you're recuperating and conserving energy. If you were awake, it would take more extreme cold and wind (or heat) to throw you out of equilibrium, as you are more alert and ready to adapt to a changing environment. | 17 |
AskReddit/e0w8to0 | 8s3gl5 | What minimum amount of found money would you take steps to return to its rightful owner? | It's a combination of monetary value, and difficulty of the task. For example if I found $50 in a store / parking lot, then I'd likely return it to the customer service desk. As opposed if it was sitting on the side of the road with no reasonable clues, then it's mine. | 4 |
AskReddit/e2zfa9b | 91nrzi | What is your favourite book and why would you recommend it? | Raven’s Gate, by Anthony Horowitz. I read this in my teens, and I recommend it because it had such a great storyline, paints a world that you can easily imagine, good cast of characters, and a perfect balance between mystery and thriller, While not being a book worm BY ANY MEANS, I’ll gladly read this book over and over again. 5/7 recommend it | 3 |
AskReddit/dl8d2g1 | 6rvk91 | What sounds great in theory but doesn't actually work? | Charging en masse against a fortified line of infantry with semi-automatic and automatic firearms, supported by high calibre artillery guns, across a muddy field strewn with lines of barbed wire. I mean, it's great in theory, until you realize that if you do happen to throw enough bodies against the killbots for them to trip their kill limit and take their lines, you'll have to hold it against the counter-attack artillery barrage and infantry charge. Then you'll have to stay there, away from your supply lines as they painfully, slowly, find some way to get a horse drawn carriage through a pitted and scarred muddy field without dying themselves in the process. Then again, maybe it was because they didn't send enough men the first five hundred times. Maybe if we send even more men, they'll be able to hold it this time. | 100 |
AskReddit/c0m4el2 | bcru5 | What's one word you really like? | sesquipedalian Obligatory definition (from M-W) Pronunciation: \ˌses-kwə-pə-ˈdāl-yən\ Function: adjective Etymology: Latin sesquipedalis, literally, a foot and a half long, from sesqui- + ped-, pes foot — more at foot Date: 1656 1 : having many syllables : long <sesquipedalian terms> 2 : given to or characterized by the use of long words <a sesquipedalian television commentator> | 3 |
AskReddit/c87tfa1 | 17q44z | Do you believe we have free will? | It depends on the definition of free will. Our 'decisions' are basically our body reacting to it's environment. We gather information and often that information leads to a certain decision that might only be changed by a different set of information. That information adds to itself cumulatively based on both new and old information so I'm not sure if I would really even be me at all without my surroundings throughout my life. Regarding the other question, the past is also a very uncertain thing as those memories that you mentioned are never really in the past but only exist in our present minds. Past, present and future all exist according to what I know about our universe but then again all I know about it is only in the present. | 2 |
explainlikeimfive/caxwwoc | 1htp6r | Why do .GIFs load so much more slowly than video files, despite being smaller in size (& complexity? | GIF is a a simple image format which should be used to make short repeating loop of low complexity images or icons. Video format differs from GIFs as they are designed to play something that looks moving to you with the transmission of as little data as possible. GIFs are notoriously bad at relaying video images, and were never designed to do so, but people like the easy hosting and low production cost associated with making a GIF, so it's stuck around. To put it simply, a GIF is loading detail in every picture in a series to create the media you are seeing and video only gives you the bare minimum to look like a moving image. | 4 |
AskReddit/d3t4kvw | 4m7g4s | What were some of the harsh realities you learned after high school? | I kind of wanna say all of them. I don't know that there's a whole lot of anything real that takes place in high school. Even the stuff you learn is presented in a way to make it seem abstract and outside the realm of what is really happening. I think life in general became real after high school. Up to that point, I was kind of watching life from the other side of a two-way mirror. | 2 |
AskReddit/dzkm1dm | 8m4001 | What’s the most embarrassing thing to happen to you in high school? | I’ll start. When I was a freshman in high school, they held a pep rally to start off the year. This was my first week of high school. They picked someone from each grade to come to the gym floor - and I was the lucky freshman to get picked. As they put the blindfold on my eyes, it looked like they were putting blindfolds on the three other participants as well. I was handed a banana, and told the competition was who could eat the banana the fastest. I stood in the middle of the gym floor, in front of the entire school, shoving an banana in my mouth as fast as possible. When the game was over, they pulled off my blindfold, and the entire school was laughing at me. Ends up, no one else got blindfolded, no one else had a banana, I was the only participant. I stood in the middle of the gym floor, alone, in front of the entire school, forcing a banana down my throat, so that they could all laugh at me. They banned the game for future years. | 5 |
AskReddit/cmtqet8 | 2p69no | Have you ever thought about cheating on your significant other? | Thought about it seriously for a short while. Never did it. Not sure if it was just because I never got the chance. Turns out I was unhappy (not because of her) and depressed. We're not together any more and it was like 5 years ago but, I still feel guilty for ever thinking it. I really loved her. | 3 |
explainlikeimfive/cy2nur6 | 3x9btv | How exactly does Google get it's real time traffic data? | Its a distributed system. Google tracks location data when you have google maps open and passively when you have maps closed. It paints a point grid of moving data based on speed and location, overlays it onto maps and makes predictions based on the route. Combine this with a few months of data and it gets pretty accurate. | 2 |
explainlikeimfive/cegjf3o | 1uc2qm | Why is the Mona Lisa considered to be such a masterpiece? | Along with special techniques with composition, The Mona Lisa gets a lot of its attention from its historical background, or more specficially, the lack thereof. Most paintings at that time took several months at most to complete. The Mona Lisa took 10 years. Why did Leonardo da Vinci take so long? It is said that da Vinci was working on it once, and he saw something in the painting that scared him and made him hide it for 10 years. If the story is true, what did he see? At that time, paintings had elaborate reasoning behind them. So why did da Vinci paint Mona Lisa in the first place? And why is she smiling so smugly? Continuing on that line of questioning, what is up with her background? Why does she have extremely faint, if any, eyebrows? And who is the woman painted, anyway? | 23 |
AskReddit/cjpty5s | 2dil4g | When you feel alone/lonely how do you solve it? | Me personally? I try to be happy and comfortable with who I am. I know I'm an introvert. People don't get my humor, so my jokes tend to go over people's heads. That leads to me being that "weird" guy. Having said all of this, I've found that going to the movies (or whatever) by myself is fun. Don't have money to spend? Go on YouTube and just look at funny videos, find movies to stream. Whatever you like. My answer (I guess) is that there isn't really a way to "solve" being lonely, not for me. It's finding out what makes you happy, and what doesn't. And then applying (or separating) those to your life accordingly. I've found that sometimes good friends can be found through online gaming too. It all depends on your situation. | 2 |
askscience/c8brpyq | 185ei4 | How would perception change if humans had more than two eyes? | I'm assuming you're wondering about depth perception. In that case three eyes wouldn't give you much more information that two. Two eyes already allow you to reconstruct the depth of the scene, and knowing the depth of the scene would then allow you to predict fairly accurately what the third would see. In that sense the information from the third eye would be mostly redundant. The third eye could help in specific scenarios where the information from two eyes was ambiguous (for example a scene with no "texture" in the vertical direction) but those sorts of situations rarely occur in day-to-day life. | 6 |
explainlikeimfive/dc1ddaz | 5m7it9 | What causes body aches when fighting a fever? | When you have the flu, your immune system diverts the white blood cells to fight off the flu virus, thus leaving your muscles and joints feeling sore and achy. . This causes inflammation in muscles and joints, resulting in pain in a similar way to mild arthritis or rheumatism. Copied from Google. Either way I hope you get feeling better soon and this gives you a little insight into what is happening inside your body. | 3 |
AskReddit/c33jk8g | msf3n | What is the equivalent of "Uh" or "Um" in other languages? | > Where did these silence-avoiding sounds originate from They are the most natural and easiest to make sounds for a speaker of a given language. If you think about it, a lot of English words have the "uh" sound in them, many of which should not be pronounced that way ("the" and "a" are the ones that come to mind, and the reason the pronunciation has been relaxed so much is that they are used very often). | 3 |
AskReddit/cn4vxuj | 2qclau | How deep would you have to hide under sand in order to stay cool in a desert? | I lived on the outskirts of Death Valley on the Nevada side as a kid. Although I never dug around in a sand dune, I did dig around in the dry cracked earth. As I recall it started getting cool around a foot and a half down. I would say it wouldn't take more than a few feet to hit cool sand if you were in a dune. | 2 |
AskReddit/cqfri8y | 32xqxq | What is the creepiest 4 word sentence you could hear before drifting off to sleep? | I dated a girl who would sometimes talk in her sleep. One night as I was drifting off I heard her giggle. She turned to me and said "the ambulances are coming," giggled again, then was silent. I didn't sleep the rest of the night. | 5 |
AskReddit/dclcpsq | 5oqv07 | What dark history do you know about your family? | Not really dark, but kinda uncomfortable to think about. My family originated in North Carolina, and were well-known slave owners in their time. There is no African-American blood in my family, but there was a well-known African-American singer a few decades ago. One that shares my last name. My ancestors owned his ancestors. I also have a family tree that connects to George Bush's if you go back ~14 generations. | 30 |
AskReddit/es55zaj | c5zmt8 | What is a flaw you have that you just appreciate and don’t want to change it? | i have a really big birthmark on my neck. although i got bullied because of it i don’t wanna change it as its kind of like a trademark and my family told me that because of it, i can be easily identified in a crowded place | 3 |
AskReddit/ehexjg3 | avgps5 | What’s a fake historical quote that you really wish was real? | Abe Lincoln was said to have said: “Two of my favorite things are sitting on my front porch smoking a pipe of sweet hemp, and playing my Hohner harmonica Most people believe this quote is not real. I don't know either way, but it would be cool if it was. | 3 |
AskReddit/d2kqnlp | 4gu71q | What you hate about society? | Willful ignorance. People constantly forget that they aren't infallible, and will go to the ends of the earth to find more straws to grasp at when it comes to never changing anything about what they believe, because they are so afraid of being wrong. Which brings me to the other half of the problem, which is that everyone thinking they're infallible is why people are so afraid of admitting mistakes in the first place. If there was one thing I could do that I thought would result in a utopian society, it would be to take away any and all privacy from people. If we no longer had it, every single person on the planet would finally see how much more like themselves everyone else really is, and nobody would have any reason to hate anyone else | 7 |
AskReddit/e8winhp | 9tifz0 | As politics of the day are devoid of utopias/clear destinations and as politicians are just trying to get re-elected and keep us up were we currently are, what is your favourite utopia? | Maybe not totally devoid. Strive for continuous economical growth on a finite planet is utopia too. One can say battling climate change leads to some utopia aswell since it requires huge change to happen. I am all for resource based economy where we deal with what we actually have and work from that. Not consuming more than we have. Not having consuming as a driving force in the first place. Also technocracy interests me. Automation to produce our basic needs, leaving people to actually live the only life we are given. | 2 |
explainlikeimfive/d6hd589 | 4xpiv8 | What year model did the "B.C" era people use? | the BC/AD system didn't exist for centuries after the BC/AD year 1. it was made up by a monk in 525 AD or so. and the spread of that calendar system didn't go universal everywhere. people lived "in the year X of our king/emperor/caliph's reign" and to give some idea of timeline. that's like designating a new calendar system today in 2016 that establishes the "1st year" as when Columbus landed in the new world. Then ask the question, "what did people count years in the thousands of years before Columbus?" | 6 |
AskReddit/ehiu7d8 | avz0no | What store did a customer mistakenly thought you worked for and what happened? | This is so ridiculous I can’t even believe it happened. I was at Target, wearing black leggings, Doc Martens, a thin black long sleeve shirt with a hood (that you could see my bra through), a leatherman on my belt, and at the time I had a black mohawk (it was slicked back but the sides of my head were shaved). And this customer walks up to me in the towel section and asks me whether or not there were any more of a particular item in stock. Being savvy, I told him to look online, at that particular store to see if it was available for pickup that day. He then asked if I would go into the back and check, at which point I told him I didn’t work there. Somehow this shocked him. I said “I’m not wearing Khakis OR a red shirt”. He said that he assumed I was a manager or something but thanked me for my help and went on his way. This used to happen to me a lot in stores. I think it’s because I do t carry a purse, but that was the craziest “I don’t actually work here” experience I’ve had. | 2 |
explainlikeimfive/ctguzsq | 3eofop | If the moons gravitational pull causes tides, why doesn't it affect other things on earth? | It does, however the effect isn't large enough to notice in most cases. Specifically, you, and most things around you aren't large enough. What causes tidal forces isn't gravitational pull so much as differences in gravitational pull. The distance between your head and your feet is so small, the moon pulls at them equally, and you don't notice. However, one point in the oceans can be 10,000 km closer to the moon than another. That is about 3% of the distance from the earth to the moon, which means it is experiencing about 6% more gravitational pull. This unequal force warps the ocean, and that is what is responsible for tides. | 2 |
AskReddit/ej3ql17 | b429ts | Why do girls hit guys playfully? | It's like a test to see if you're okay with them touching you. Playfully hitting is quick so if you're not into it, they can just back off but if you are neutral or into it, they'll just take tat as a sign to keep touching more and longer so it's not the best strategy but it's a social thing that they've been taught is okay and "cute" or whatever. I used to be one of those. It's truly terrible lol mostly they're just nervous I think | 2 |
AskReddit/chibrj4 | 25ld2w | What was the most inappropriate thing you have ever witnessed a teacher do or say to a student? | Junior year of high school I asked the AP english teacher if I could take AP english the following year to which she replied, "well since you haven't taken any english classes with me thus far, you probably aren't at a high enough academic level to pass the class so I can't allow you into my AP english class." My english teacher at the time was slightly offended when I told him this and gave me a practice AP english test to take to see where I stood "academically". I scored nearly perfect and then left the test along with a note on the AP english teacher's desk that read, "I understand your reservation of accepting me into your class. After taking this years AP test, I no longer feel that your class would have any beneficial outcome do myself. -spartangrad007" I think it's unprofessional, inappropriate and detrimental for teachers to discourage students from learning. | 4 |
askscience/cancjev | 1gsfjg | Does temperature affect smell? | Smell is caused by volatile molecules escaping from the food into the air. Think of it like evaporation: The higher the temperature the higher the rate of evaporation and thus the higher the concentration in the air. This is why a food smell can fill a house when you cook. Turning on the room AC will decrease the volatile compounds from being released from your pizza, at least a little bit, but cooling the pizza itself will have a much bigger effect. The temperature of the pizza is the critical factor, not the temperature of the room. | 8 |
explainlikeimfive/cyzmq6k | 414y5k | Why are Romans depicted with British accents in movies? | There's a couple reasons for this, and historical accuracy ain't one of them. This is Hollywood, not History Channe. oh wait, they're just as bad now. Okay, let's leave it at "This is Hollywood". First, the only empire that's really kind of well known to western culture is the British one. It's where they largely came from, and it's recent. So there's no real frame of reference for other big empires. So audiences kind of expect British accents to be associated with empires that are populated with the anglo-saxon type actors that play Romans. Second, it's a lot easier to find quality actors that either can do a decent british accent or can emulate one. Third, and no offense to Italians, but their accent doesn't inspire the majesty and nobility of an empire's chief general or a caesar or a society-leading matriarch. "It's-a mee Mario" isn't "To arms, my soldiers! We shall defeat the Gauls TODAY!" To the West, a British accent connotes upper-society and military power better than an Italian one. And finally, I would have to guess that present-day Italian accents quite likely sound very very different from Roman empire "accents", so if you're going for realism by casting Italian-sounding actors, you're not getting close. (Any linguistic scholars out there that can confirm?) | 5 |
AskReddit/dhlgzha | 6bcg9p | What sounds annoy you? | Any sounds at night that would otherwise not bother me, causing me to stay awake paranoid therefore annoying me, mainly my neighbours gate constantly swinging open and shut even though they have the ability to lock it. | 2 |
AskReddit/de0s57r | 5vbrxs | What was the biggest coincidence you ever witnessed? | May not be the biggest but I always remember this one. My cousin and I went to a bar and the bartender was a cute girl, so my cousin decides to flirt with her. After a while he asked her name, it was pretty obvious she wasn't into him at all and said she didn't want to tell him. He kept asking and finally she said "My name isn't cool anyways, it's an old ladies name, probably your grandmas name." After a while she finally admitted her name was "Emma" Our grandmothers name is indeed, Emma. I still have nightmares about the frightful incident to this day. | 5 |
AskReddit/disibg6 | 6grocw | What movies have individually awesome scenes, but sucks as a whole? | BIG DC FAN! But Batman V Superman is the first movie that comes to mind. Amazing scenes on their own, beautifully shot, but poor story telling and too much crammed in just made it fall flat for me. | 2 |
AskReddit/dw6af0j | 86mx49 | If life were a video game, what would some of the cheat codes be? | oh man, imagine if life had Crusader Kings 2 cheat codes. Some of the awesome ones would be. "Cash 99999999" "remove_trait depression" "remove_trait wounded" "add_trait gregarious" "add_trait genius" "add_trait Midas_Touched" and a few others. but would that mean others can use cheat codes against you? Because that wouldn't be fun at all. | 2 |
AskReddit/eo4ev8s | bqhflu | What is the scariest thing that has happened to you in/near the woods? | I used to walk my dog down near the river, along the same path everyday, which had a section going through the woods. One day he just passed that section up and walked towards the sidewalk instead. I went along with it, because it was the same amount of time, either way. I happened to glance down the path as we passed it, and saw two figures dart into the woods. I passed people all the time on that path, even after dark like that night, and I never got chilled like that before. Even the really WEIRD stuff didn’t really bother me. Something about those guys was different, and I think my dog knew it. He was a good dog. He used to knock me down and stand on me when he heard gunshots and stuff like that. He saved me a lot, but I couldn’t save him. He died of a brain tumour when he was three. I’ll probably never have another dog, tbh. He was it. | 1,155 |
explainlikeimfive/dfut2al | 63ke2o | Why is 16:9 the most common aspect ratio? | When they were developing the HDTV standards, they wanted something wider than the 4:3 of the older standard. 16:9 was chosen because it was a reasonable compromise that would allow most films (which came in a wide variety of aspect ratios) to fit on the screen without too much letterboxing (the black bars on top). Once the resolutions for HDTV became standardized, PC displays started using them as well because there was a huge supply of inexpensive LCD displays being made in those resolutions and running at 16:10 wasn't worth the additional cost. | 5 |
AskReddit/e62fry5 | 9g9jmo | What can a guy do to improve his chances of getting a girlfriend? | Improve your own life. Find things you enjoy. Make yourself happy. Once you are happy, it's much more likely someone else will want to get involved with your happiness. Or just take up horse riding there's like a billion girls to every guy in that world | 10 |
explainlikeimfive/cld0bdp | 2jmayb | How does a radio station determine the popularity of their shows? | There are "consumer research companies" specializing in studying this issue for radio stations and other media companies. These consumer research companies, such as Nielson, do large surveys to determine what people are listening to, watching, and reading. They've benefitted enormously from the refining of "scientific" polling and have used it to make a successful business. After the surveys, consumer research companies sell the information back to the media companies (radio, TV stations) who can then better determine where to spend their advertising dollars and which radio hosts, for example, are doing well with particular demographics. | 10 |
AskReddit/dynf0dm | 8hy93c | What is he fastest you have quit a job, and why? | 4 hours. I got a job at a restaurant, greeting people and seating them. No training, other than "here is the seating chart". 3 hours into my shift, I was called to the back to wash dishes. I did as asked, and when I finished up, I took a minute to look at the schedule, which had just been posted. As a college student, I had indicated on my application that I could not work certain times/days. Pretty common in a college town, right? Right? I had been scheduled to work during all of my classes. I asked for a schedule change, politely, I thought. My manager said, "You can't do that, you work when we tell you!" I told him I had filled out an availability sheet, which he had signed. He said it didn't matter, then started berating my performance (on the first day with no training). He threatened to fire me if I didn't want to work that schedule. I saved him the trouble and quit on the spot. | 3 |
explainlikeimfive/dbjnx0h | 5jwmht | Why does the concept of "filial piety" does not exist in Western culture? | Throughout most of history, your kids were your retirement plan. The state (if one existed at all) wouldn't take care of you. Your life didn't give you the opportunity to provide for yourself into old age. So if you wanted to live past the point where you were still capable of providing for yourself, it came down to your kids. And culturally that means teaching kids to respect their elders instead of seeing them as burdens. Attach importance to the opinions of elders. Create a culture where it's normal to take your parents into your home when they grow old and so on. In modern western society people are pretty independent throughout their adult lives. That independency changes culture a lot. We marry late, we marry for leisurely reasons like love instead of necessity, we divorce easily when the fun goes out of a marriage. We continue that independence into retirement, we don't need our kids to take us in. And in return our kids don't want to compromise their independence by taking in their parents. Even when we become completely incapable of taking care of ourselves, we're more likely to be placed in some kind of care facility than taken in by our families. Familial piety used to be just as big in the West as anywhere else. And just like everywhere else, it was largely out of necessity as demonstrated by how fast such social constructs disappear when no longer essential for our survival. | 6 |
AskReddit/c4yhi7o | utvs2 | What should me and my friends do on the last day of summer? | The last day of summer is traditionally Labor Day and astronomically September 20-22. Your last day together with your friends is coming up in a few days. Learn how to express yourself before you drop out of your Freshman year. | 2 |
AskReddit/ex9omoj | crurww | What is the absolute worst movie you've ever seen? | Alien Covenant and Prometheus, Prometheus was the first movie I considered turning off mid-watching and I went to the cinema for Covenant because some of my friends thought it would be fun.still can't believe why I let myself get persuaded. Both movies are the absolute perversion imo and Covenant had so many problems storywise. | 3 |
AskReddit/dof6fot | 76mmt1 | Why does the feeling of having to pee intensify the closer you get to a bathroom? | I think it's because as you get closer you relax a little and don't hold back as hard, knowing you're no longer in it for the long haul. Also, simply more time has elapsed and you're holding more fluid back. | 4 |
explainlikeimfive/daov7fv | 5g1o4o | Do taste buds taste all types, or is there a "sour" taste bud? | They are all the same but they got different receptors INSIDE the cells to register different tastes. Also all flavors apart from sweet, sour, bitter, salty, umami, and fatty are not realy tasted but smelt. | 2 |
AskHistorians/cu8x1ta | 3hkd9z | When exactly conquest and genocide of Native Americans ended? | The recorded Native American population was at its lowest (around a quarter of a million, not including 25,000 or more Alaska peoples) in 1890-1920, though comparison by age with 1930 suggests that at least the 1920 return significantly understated numbers, despite the ravages of the deadly post-WW1 influenza pandemic: it's likely that the true low occurred in 1900 (Census) or 1890 (returns of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs). The "closing of the frontier" - the establishment of US settlement from coast to coast - is conventionally dated to 1890, which is also the year of the notorious Wounded Knee massacre, the last such episode on its scale. The last great battles occurred in the 1870s, but local armed conflicts would persist on a smaller scale into the 1920s. So there's really no precise date. But 1890 is perhaps the strongest contender for the ending of the classic phase of conquest and depopulation. Native Americans might counter that subjugation and disproportionate loss of life continued far later. | 3 |
explainlikeimfive/cv7ne6e | 3ln11h | Why are human eyes usually blue, brown or green as opposed to any other colors? | The stroma (top layer of the iris) is what determines eye color. For those with no melanin (pigment that makes eyes or skin a warm brown), the only color comes from the Tyndall effect of light scattering in the iris. This creates a blue color, like water with glacial flour or dirty smoke. When the stroma has a little melanin, it looks green because this blue combines with the the orangey brownish melanin. When it has a lot of melanin, the brown color takes over completely. | 256 |
AskReddit/ekk3aa8 | bbnkjw | Which movie sequel do you wish was made? | The Real RockNRolla. I enjoy most of Guy Ritchie's movies. But RockNRolla ended with, not a tease, but a clear phrase saying that there was going to be a sequel. It's been a decade. Where's my sequel, Guy? | 2 |
AskReddit/cwwdvgk | 3sdp18 | How do you subdue suicidal thoughts? | A lot of good ways have been stated, so I'm gonna name one I used as a teen. Cuz sometimes you don't feel like you deserve help. And if you think that way (like I did), then in your mind, suicide seems better. I've always used self harm and suicide thoughts and such as self punishment. And as a teen, in order to not commit suicide I pretty much convinced myself that living through the misery was a better punishment that I deserved to suffer. Not that that's healthy in the least, but that's what I did. Thinking about my siblings finding my body and being traumatized for life also helps. They don't deserve that, so how could I do that to them? And there's the paranoia of, "what really happens to your soul after you die?" It's a huge, scary unknown that just barely saved me from carbon monoxide poisoning myself. It was the closest I ever came to actually attempting suicide. Also, waiting is huge. I've always procrastinated on commiting the actual act of suicide when I'm in the moment cuz I try to wait for myself to be brave enough to do it. But instead, the urge ends up fading, and I can begin to think in a safer manner at that point. Those are my ways, personally (other than immediately seeking help, and other such things that most people will say. And even after the feeling's passed, I'd seek help. Because it shouldn't be there in the first place, and it's not worth risking letting it go unchecked, cuz then there's nothing stopping it from resurfacing. Going to the hospital may seem like a huge step, and you'll think things like, "but I'll miss work/school," or, "how'll I pay for it?" But your life is FAR more valuable than these problems. You can figure them out later. First, you need to get help so there'll be a later). | 2 |
AskReddit/e240xx2 | 8xlv93 | Is there a reason why we can’t we use volcanoes for waste disposal? | You dont mess around with the pickels of this world. Do not feed or squeeze them. No jokes aside, we cant just throw trash in volcanos, they are not everywhere so it would cost way too much money/fuel to bring it that far. Its not save to throw waste/chemicals in an active volcano that could possibly errupt and explode. Not every volcano has the ideal big round lake of molten stone in the center. No roads down there and if we would make them if the truck gets close enough to throw the trash in, the driver is already dead and the truck disabled from the heat. And the most important thing is we produce just too much waste per year, only america produce up to 300mil tons every year. | 2 |
AskReddit/c3pvwtf | pj7za | What is the worst thing you have ever accused someone of, and you later found out they were innocent? | I accused my step son of stealing 5 dollars from me. I had a 5 sitting on my night stand that came up missing, he suddenly had 5 dollars for the ice cream truck. Turns out he did chores for the neighbor and earned it. I gave him another 5 dollars. | 2 |
AskReddit/cg77gem | 20vsf8 | What are things you've done as a child that developed into a habit? | As a little kid, my parents taught me to accept gifts from others without a question. I've been doing that for years now and collecting toys and clothing I dont even like (or lost interest in). To make it worse my parents , mostly my mom, gets mad if I don't show emotion or speak up about the thing. | 3 |
AskReddit/dn1cxrp | 7095vo | For those that use coconut oil as a personal lubricant, has your SO commented on a change in odor or skin texture? | When I am in my bulking stages for body building, I consume roughly a 1/2 cup of coconut oil per day. This is probably way above average consumption for most people, so I feel like I have some authority on the subject. And I will say, coconut oil is way overhyped. I don't notice any difference in skin/hair or whatever else it is supposed to be good for. It's great for getting a ton of calories and fat into your diet, but outside that, it probably doesn't do much. It does make for great lube tho. Just don't use it with condoms. | 5 |
AskReddit/eghao7q | aqnu1w | What movie were you never allowed to watch as a kid? | Most of them. I can't remember specifics but I can tell you my mother was auditing my iTunes purchases until I was 18. I can remember specific TV shows, though. I always use the example I wasn't allowed to watch Powerpuff Girls but for some reason Courage the Cowardly Dog was fine. | 2 |
AskReddit/csztmzf | 3cxdqb | Why does rent keep rising, yet minimum wage stays the same? | Minimum wage is often determined by law. Laws are passed by elected bodies of legislators and signed by an executive figure, usually a governor or President. Rent is determined arbitrarily, but can be influenced by property value, crime in neighboring areas, overhead costs, and/or the need to deter undesirable renters. You agree to pay rent based on signing a lease, which is a contract. If there is a raise in rent, you are informed of it and must agree to it or look elsewhere. In all seriousness, you probably don't have much of a choice when it comes to rent.but they pretend you do so the law sides with them. If you want the minimum wage to increase, support politicians who also want it to go up. If you want rent-control to expand, support politicians who also want that. Most of the economic gains we've made since coming back from the Great Recession have gone to the very wealthy. IMHO, we need unions and a higher minimum wage to fix this problem. Income inequality, blah blah blah, vote for Sanders. | 2 |
AskReddit/ct0mrvl | 3d0eft | What book(s) would you love to see made into a TV series? | 1984 by George Orwell. It's really the only book I've willingly read. I know they've made movies, but they weren't all that great. I'd love to see an entire series on this book. | 3 |
AskReddit/d9i8z3v | 5apf78 | What's your biggest dating regret? | My biggest regret is going into a shell and not talking to enough people in college. A lot of people I know met their SO during college. And when I was in college I just went to class, didn't talk to nobody, went home, played video games, did HW, then sleep. Then rinse and repeat. Very minimal effort to talk or communicate. Then when I returned a few weeks ago to college I realized that was pretty dumb. Especially with all the groups that were in college. So yeah, I blew off four years of social interaction with other hot attractive adults to play video games. It sucks. | 2 |
explainlikeimfive/e9x8vpf | 9y1fu9 | Why do cities/highway lights waver from a distance? | The density of the air you are viewing the light through is not constant, but varies over time. This density variation causes the wavering or flickering we lercieve from distant lights: city lights, street lights, even stars. | 5 |
AskReddit/ejtws3q | b7shg8 | What song(s) hits you straight in the feels? | Devin Townsend released a new album the other day called "Empath" and some of the songs have brought me to tears. The lyrics really make you face a lot of things that hit close to home. Never had an album make me uncomfortable because I felt like it was written about/for me, before. DT is a genius and just gets it. | 2 |
AskReddit/e2y5rlu | 91glas | What happened to your crush from middle school? | We were each others' first loves. We "dated" but were both horribly awkward and shy, so all that really meant was holding hands a few times when no one was looking. He lived a few streets down from me and we used to go over each others' houses sometimes, and our parents got along pretty well. I think if I had stayed in that area, we probably would be married now, but I moved away before ninth grade and he dated someone else for a bit. We tried to "rekindle" things senior year of high school, but I just wasn't able to do long distance and asked to break it off. Then we lost contact. Heard from a mutual friend recently that he still lives at home, gained weight, and basically still has the same interests now, almost 15 years later, that he did in middle school. I think about reaching out sometimes, but now I live on the other side of the world and realistically can never really meet him again. I hope he's doing okay. | 2 |
AskReddit/e96slah | 9usft0 | Why don't people enjoy the cold? | For a lot of people it’s easier to enjoy the cold if you can quickly get warm when you’ve had enough. Being stuck in the cold isn’t nice at all if you aren’t dressed for it. For me though there is nothing nicer than when it’s really sunny on a cold winter morning. Also when it’s snowing heavily. I’m only bothered when it really windy AND cold/raining. | 3 |
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