q_id
stringlengths 5
6
| title
stringlengths 3
301
| selftext
stringlengths 0
39.2k
| document
stringclasses 1
value | subreddit
stringclasses 3
values | url
stringlengths 4
132
| answers
dict | title_urls
list | selftext_urls
list | answers_urls
list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1anf24
|
why i should not be scared shitless on commercial flights.
|
Mainly why do we trust the mechanics involved in flying so much? Security should also be a welcomed conversation.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1anf24/eli5_why_i_should_not_be_scared_shitless_on/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c8yzvpy",
"c8z083x",
"c8z0m1y",
"c8z3hns",
"c8z4i2f",
"c8z4o4e",
"c8z6hry",
"c8z7dny",
"c8z7w7v",
"c8zci1h",
"c8zcpd0",
"c8zhrh6",
"c8zkxgj"
],
"score": [
34,
20,
203,
6,
4,
11,
4,
2,
4,
2,
2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Statistically, you should be scared sh*tless in your car, not on airplanes.",
"As a fellow aerophobe I can only say that you should try finding solace in the improbability of a lethal plane crash. There are thousands of flights every day, tens of thousands of flight hours, hundreds of thousands of passengers are flown to and fro, yet plane crashes are getting rarer and rarer every year, despite the fact that the number of flights keeps increasing. \n\nAlso, were you to actually experience some sort of an accident on board a plane, you should know that, according to a [NTSB study](_URL_1_) (and here's the official [PDF of the study itself](_URL_0_)) of plane accidents, 95,7% of people involved in them, from 1983 to 2000, survived. And even if you only take the worst events, you still have a 76,6% survival rate. Things have only gotten safer since then.\n\nBasically getting in an airplane accident of any sort is like winning a lottery. Dying in one is like winning two in a row.",
"Pilot here.\n\nSome people have an irrational fear of flying. If that's you, I could describe in as much detail as I like how safe flying is, and it probably wouldn't help you. There are \"fear of flying\" courses you can attend which *can* help. They typically involve spending some time understanding some of the technical aspects of what's happening, talking to pilots and air traffic controllers, and then going on a short flight, with *incredibly* understanding flight attendants who will help explain what's happening, what all the noises mean, and so on.\n\nSince you specifically asked why you should trust the mechanics, it may be that in your case, your fear isn't totally irrational, but is based on a lack of understanding of flight and aeroplanes, in which case the following will help:\n\nFirst of all, understand that aeroplanes naturally *want* to fly. The wings are designed to keep the aircraft in the air. The tail is designed to keep the aircraft going straight. The engines aren't even needed for flying - they're just needed to get into the air, and to maintain speed and height. If all the engines stopped, however unlikely that may be, you'd be left with a big glider. One of the few examples of this was the US Airways flight which landed safely in the Hudson after both engines stopped, resulting in zero injuries. The crew did a brilliant job, but the aeroplane was designed to fly, and that's why it was able to fly to a safe splash-down.\n\nHaving said that, there are certain items which are important in aeroplanes, and yes, engines are one of them. So are flight control systems. And autopilots. All airliners have duplicates of these systems, so that if there is a problem with one, the others can carry on working. A typical airliner will have two engines, three hydraulic systems that are used for moving the control surfaces, and three autopilots. If anything does fail, there will be a backup system to take over.\n\nFinally, there's the safety culture that exists within aviation. We all make mistakes from time to time. If we make a mistake driving, we usually forget about it and move on. If the mistake results in an accident, we deny it. In aviation, the opposite is true. When mistakes occur, pilots, engineers, and everyone else in aviation is actively encouraged to report it. Reports are regularly published so that everyone else can learn from them. That means that flying gets safer and safer as we all learn from previous mistakes, and change our procedures to ensure we don't repeat them.\n\nIt's because of all these things that commercial flying is consistently the safest way, statistically, to get around.\n\nI hope that helps, but please do ask if there's anything else you want to know.\n\nEdit - wow, reddit gold! Thank you, kind redditor. There are few things I enjoy as much as flying, or talking about flying, so to get reddit gold for doing something I enjoy has made my day!",
"You only hear about the unsuccessful flights on the news, and that's not as often as you think. Think of how many successful flights happen every day. Its a very rare chance that something goes wrong.",
"Granted I was in the Navy, but the jets I worked on had EXTREMELY strict rules about maintenance. Breaking a drill bit meant putting the entire bit back together to make sure every bit is found is the norm. It's not directed for you to do by an asshole boss. It's just standard procedure. Done without even being told to do so.\n\nOne time I remember the entire US Navy downed (not allowed to fly) every single F/A-18 because one of our suppliers of O-ring's was found to have sold counterfeit parts (elsewhere, not even to the US Navy). No problems with them, but they were suspect and so a large portion of the navy stopped flying for a couple days to replace them. I'm sure there were exceptions of course, I'm sure somewhere in the world we had a mission critical flight that could not be delayed.\n\nAgain, this is a military jet, but I remember reading about 2 F/A-18's colliding in midair. One had half his left wing completely removed. He still made it home and landed on the aircraft carrier.\n\nSemi-related: This guy landed his jet and got home as well, skip too 4 min 30 sec for shot of the wing damage:\n\n_URL_0_!\n\nTL;DR the reason why flying is so much safer over driving is because of extremely strict maintenance and good back-up systems for when things do go wrong.",
"You can see the result of all the safety regulation in the aircraft industry by looking at air crash statistics (the number of people killed in air accidents each year verses the of number of people who fly each year). \n\n > In 1990, five hundred million airline passengers were transported an average distance of eight hundred miles, through more than seven million takeoffs and landings, in all kinds of weather conditions, with a loss of only thirty-nine lives ([source](_URL_0_))\n\nCompared to your chances of dying from other things that's not very many:\n\n* Cardiovascular disease: 1 in 2\n* Smoking (by/before age 35): 1 in 600\n* Car trip, coast-to-coast: 1 in 14,000\n* Bicycle accident: 1 in 88,000\n* Tornado: 1 in 450,000\n* Train, coast-to-coast: 1 in 1,000,000\n* Lightning: 1 in 1.9 million\n* Bee sting: 1 in 5.5 million\n* **U.S. commercial jet airline: 1 in 7 million**\n\nAnother way of putting it is if you board a random US flight every day then on average it would be nineteen thousand years before you were involved in a fatal crash.",
"Although I'm a frequent flier now, I used to be nervous in airplanes. One thing that definitely helps: repetition.\n\nKnowing the sounds that planes make, watching the crew respond to chimes and go through their pre-flight/takeoff/landing routines, and basically knowing what is coming next is a huge factor in reducing anxiety and nervousness.\n\nAlthough turbulence still bothers me, experience and repetition has helped there too. I once flew from Sydney to LA with 7 hours of continuously light or moderate chop, where even the crew was seated. Now whenever my flight gets bumpy, I can tell myself \"at least it isn't as bad as that time from Australia......\" etc.",
"The chance of you being injured or killed is very, very, very low. That's due to the fact that a lot of very intelligent people spend a lot of time thinking about every little thing that goes into building the plane you're on. Maybe the seats aren't as important or the stuff you're in direct contact with but the stuff that's really important gets a LOT of attention. ",
"Redundancy. I'm a former aircraft mechanic, so I speak with some experience. Take the navigation system, for instance. There are three channels, L, C, and R. Each channel has its own computer. All three talk each other and compare data - if any computer disagrees, it's ignored. Each of those computers has redundant computers *inside* it, checking its data internally before sharing it with the others.\n\nEvery flight critcal system on a commercial airplane has redundancies. Backup backup backups, in some cases.\n\nAlso, experience. We're not new at the flying game. Planes have crashed and we have learned from those crashes. Mistakes in design have be redesigned and redesigned.\n\n",
"You are quite more likely to win a typical US state lottery than die or even almost die on a plane.\n\nI know what you mean though. When you are driving, you have some form of \"control\" of what's going on. In a plane, you are helpless to do squat should a situation occur. You just have to breathe and realize the odds are immensely in your favor. Works for me.",
"I'm a little late to the party, but to to more weight on the statements of \"There are hundreds of flights every hour\" take a look at [this](_URL_0_) website.\n",
"Since it doesn't look like anyone has mentioned security yet, I want to point out that most of the security stuff you see at the airport is fairly unnecessary.\n\nAccording to the writer Bruce Schneier, the two things that have made airlines much more secure since 9/11 are reinforced cockpit doors, and encouraging passengers to fight and try to overpower a potential hijacker. And they've been very effective. When was the last time a major airline was hijacked?\n\nYou hear about bombs and such, but the fact remains that none of them have been successful. It's scary to think that they *could* have been successful, but it's also scary when I trip going down the stairs and realize I *could* have just fallen to my death. It doesn't mean I shouldn't take stairs, it just means that occasionally danger is too close for comfort.\n\nThe only foolproof way to prevent someone from doing something dangerous on a plane is to prevent people from going on planes altogether. But remember the odds - you are far more likely to be a target of that kind of violence if you live in a metropolitan area. Billions of people fly every year (according to the IATA there were 2.5 billion passengers in 2009) without ever being in danger. That's billions of people who fly without incident, for whom the biggest problem is the indignity of airport security. \n\nPut another way - I'm safer flying through the air than I am walking down the street in my city.",
"I'm comforted when taking commercial flights by thinking that people already flew to the FUCKING MOON. That's got to be a lot more complicated than JFK -- > LAX\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/safetystudies/SR0101.pdf",
"http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=94023&page=1"
],
[],
[],
[
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Kk1KBQ96_DI#"
],
[
"http://anxieties.com/flying-howsafe.php#.UUnQZVfvlH0"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://www.flightradar24.com"
],
[],
[]
] |
|
g5ncl
|
What would be the least painful way to die?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/g5ncl/what_would_be_the_least_painful_way_to_die/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c1l2y5r",
"c1l2yos",
"c1l31do",
"c1l33u0",
"c1l33up",
"c1l399w",
"c1l3gb3",
"c1l3gi4",
"c1l3j6y"
],
"score": [
3,
17,
20,
2,
4,
23,
2,
28,
3
],
"text": [
"getting caught in the blast of an atomic bomb. e. you would literally not even see it coming.",
"Helium inhalation.\n\n_URL_3_\n\n_URL_0_\n\n_URL_1_\n\nJust a reminder of what happens;\n\n* Loss of consciousness (5-10 sec)\n* involuntary convulsions (15-20 sec)\n* decortication rigidity (abnormal posturing/ movements) (20-40 sec) \n* decerebration rigidity (40-50 sec)\n* second decortication rigidity (1 min 10 sec)\n* loss of muscle tone, (1 min 30-40 sec) – this is where you vomit into lungs/ lose bowel and bladder function\n* and last isolated muscle movement (4 min 10-30 sec). \n\nBearing in mind that it takes upwards of 5 mins without oxygen before the brain activity ceases completely.\n\nand a lovable old grandmother, telling you how to use it.\n_URL_2_\n\nedit: correction",
"**Layman warning: I have never died before**\n\n...in your sleep?",
"why on earth would you want death to be painless? once you're dead, it's not like you'll remember it.",
"Anyone who dies during surgery, while fully anaesthetised, probably has the least painful death possible. \n\nI don't think I'd choose it as a way to die, though. When I die I'd like to at least know about it.",
"I once went to a talk where it was argued that the decay of the universe through bubble nucleation is the most humane way to die. The destruction would occur by a bubble wall travelling through the universe very close to the speed of light. You would likely not see it coming, it would kill you before the pain signals reached your brain, and it would leave no one behind to grieve for you. ",
"Don't do it.",
"If someone is in this thread for the wrong reasons, *please* go here instead: [_URL_0_](_URL_0_)",
"ಠ_ಠ\n\n[Suicide watch](_URL_0_) is thataway."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=ce4139ae-d635-4030-ac92-a7b7d6fab09d",
"http://www.slate.com/id/2143631/",
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okn04uhNPRA",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_bag"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://www.reddit.com/r/suicidewatch"
],
[
"http://www.reddit.com/r/suicidewatch"
]
] |
||
en9uf0
|
how cold blooded animals manage their body temperature when external environment temperature is in minus, eg -1,-2 or so?
|
I have heard that cold blooded animals have the same temperature as the environment, then how it is possible in temperature below freezing.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/en9uf0/eli5_how_cold_blooded_animals_manage_their_body/
|
{
"a_id": [
"fdwsfo2",
"fdwvimz"
],
"score": [
6,
3
],
"text": [
"Cold-blooded animals don't typically live in environments that drop below freezing. When they do, they typically go underground where it's warmer and/or hibernate for the winter.",
"The reason cold blood is bad is because it slows down your metabolism. Cold blooded animals adapt to cold situations by having periods of hibernation, where as long as the water inside them doesn't freeze, they'll survive. They tend to have burrows underground, which help reduce the change in temperature that occurs due to the daylight cycle. Many cold blooded animals also produce a chemical during colder months that acts as an anti-freeze, reducing the temperature at which their cells freeze."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
qxp6y
|
Can someone please explain to me what this is on the weather map and how it formed like this?
|
I was looking at the weather today and I noticed something I haven't seen before. It appears to be a circle with a few rings of clouds on the radar. Take a look here. _URL_1_
Edit. Here is a gif I made of it. _URL_0_ On radar it lasted almost an hour.
Edit 2. I looked at the size of the circle and found out that is was around 80 miles in diameter. Not sure if that helps at all. I'm not sure what is the range on a single weather station radar.
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/qxp6y/can_someone_please_explain_to_me_what_this_is_on/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c419u37",
"c41a8x2"
],
"score": [
11,
2
],
"text": [
"I see the radar site!\n\nWeather radar sometimes misbehaves with cloud formations too close to the system. I'd bet good money this station's radar data comes from a site in Aberdeen.",
"It looks like there's a malfunction. The way Doppler radar works is that you launch waves from the station and they bounce off of raindrop sized particles and return. To get different distances from the station, you launch at different angles. Sometimes, stations have different radars for the different angles. It's probable that one of the radars is malfunctioning and reading an abnormally high signal."
]
}
|
[] |
[
"http://imgur.com/QVmKc",
"http://i.imgur.com/CSinp.jpg"
] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
2vazcy
|
Given that an Alcubierre warp drive is physically possible, how would the crew experience time in relation to others?
|
Would time be different from their perspective because they're technically going faster than light? Or would it be the same to those inside as those, say, on Earth due to the warp "bubble" the drive creates?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2vazcy/given_that_an_alcubierre_warp_drive_is_physically/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cog74kd",
"cog79wt",
"cog9ffx",
"cog9uzc"
],
"score": [
32,
14,
41,
11
],
"text": [
"There is no time dilation! That's one of the reasons a drive like that would be so fantastic. It's space itself which is expanding and contracting faster than light, the craft and its occupants are experiencing normal time in a bubble like you said. Unfortunately it still looks like it has some ridiculous requirements and side effects. Like when you stop the drive at your destination you create a gamma ray blast that would [vaporise the system](_URL_0_)...",
"Who says the Alcubierre drive is physically possible?\n\n\n\nThe crew of a spacecraft utilizing an Alcubierre drive would experience time in a similar reference frame to those on earth,with those on earth experiencing time slightly slower due to their proximity to the earth's mass. This is because they are in no way \"Technically going faster than light\" They are simply taking what is in layman's terms, a shortcut. \n\nSpeed= Distance/Time\n\n\nTo get to ones destination faster, they can either increase their speed or decrease the distance traveled. The Alcubierre drive reduces the distance one must travel by contracting space in the direction one wishes to travel, and expanding it behind them.",
"Just to focus on the start of your question - current physics doesn't tell us that the Alcubierre Drive is possible. Current physics just doesn't explicitly *forbid* the Alcubierre Drive. These are very, very different things. \n\nThere are all sorts of things that aren't forbidden by modern physics but also can't/don't exist, and the Alcubierre Drive is probably one of them. It relies on a form of matter that we have no evidence for, and no reason to suspect it exists anywhere in the universe, and no reason to suspect it can be created.\n\nTo answer your question, there is no significant time dilation involved, although you instead have to deal with the implications of faster-than-light travel, including implied time travel and causation paradoxes. ",
"It's important to note that it is not known whether it is physically possible. From Wikipedia:\n\n > The proposed mechanism of the Alcubierre drive implies a negative energy density and therefore requires exotic matter, so if exotic matter with the correct properties does not exist then it could not be constructed.\n\nAlso, the man's own thoughts on it:\n\n > In 2012, a NASA laboratory announced that they have constructed an interferometer that they claim will detect the spatial distortions produced by the expanding and contracting spacetime of the Alcubierre metric. The work has been described in Warp Field Mechanics 101, a NASA paper by Harold Sonny White. Alcubierre has expressed skepticism about the experiment, saying \"from my understanding there is no way it can be done, probably not for centuries if at all\".\n\nAt this point it's more of a curious thought experiment or theoretical problem than something that can be developed for experimental or practical purposes. Even theoretically there are some difficulties with the idea concerning whether a theory of quantum gravity would allow for such a drive to theoretically work."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://phys.org/news/2012-03-annihilating-effects-space.html"
],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
1bz4ln
|
why vehicles aren't built more like bumper cars.
|
Why don't cars have rubber bumpers around them? Not very aesthetically pleasing, sure, but there'd be a lot less damage done to a vehicle, no? How would passenger safety be affected if people drove cars outfitted with rubber bumpers?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1bz4ln/eli5why_vehicles_arent_built_more_like_bumper_cars/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c9bgz1f",
"c9bh0py"
],
"score": [
13,
6
],
"text": [
"Cars are designed with crumple zones. Even a fairly gentle crash will crumple the car, meaning that the car doesn't stop quite as suddenly. It's still very sudden, but not quite as much, and this can make crashes much more survivable for the people in the car.\n\nBuilding cars with solid bumpers like bumper cars would result in more injuries and death in the case of accidents.\n\nConversely, building bumper cars like street cars would result in cars that would be no use after their first \"bump\".",
"Vehicle manufacturers (or vehicle safety standards) are concerned for your safety, not the cars. Rubber bumpers would indeed prevent damage when you are going 5 miles an hour, but manufacturers don't care about accidents at 5 mph -- they won't kill anyone (in the car). They won't do very much at all (and in fact, could be *more dangerous*) at high speeds, the kind of speeds that kill people. \n\nModern cars are designed to sacrifice themselves to save you. When you run headfirst into a wall, the entire front of the car crumples up, and the effect of crumpling slows down the car and gets rid of all that energy you had built up by making it crumple your car instead of you. You slow down much more gently than if the car was super rigid. Imagine if there was a rubber bumper on the front of your car big enough to handle running into a wall at 50 mph. Instead of slowing to a stop when you hit the wall, you would slow down and then bounce backwards almost as quickly. Think about what that would do to your neck.\n\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
1ckm4c
|
Is the species to species relationship seen between humans and dogs seen among other animals as well?
|
I know that other species often live very close to each other without conflict, but how many of them actually show social interaction and companionship between one another?
I don't specifically mean species to species either, I forgot to specify in the title. I'm not too keen on biological classification too much, just wondering if there were any social interactions/companionship between different animals in general.
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1ckm4c/is_the_species_to_species_relationship_seen/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c9hh2ah",
"c9hm2eb",
"c9hqk1g"
],
"score": [
2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Many species of ants are highly interactive with other species (mostly other insects). For example, some species have aphid \"farms\" - basically the aphids eat plant sap, and ants eat their poop. The ants, in order to maintain their supply of aphid poop, protect the aphids from predators. Occasionally they'll eat the aphids but most of the time they just eat their poop.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nAlthough this isn't necessarily \"social\" in the sense of the word as we think between humans and domesticated animals, ants are really interesting.",
"I think that baboons kidnap dogs and socialize them into the group as guard dogs during the night. \n\n[kind of a source...](_URL_0_)",
"Dogs and cats have been seen to get along pretty well as well, it usually depends on the cat's temperament though, but a friendly dog will quite often \"adopt\" a kitten. \n\nAnd there's also the [Goby fish](_URL_0_) that act as watchfish for burrowing shrimp in return for shelter."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrmecophily"
],
[
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2lSZPTa3ho"
],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goby#Symbiosis"
]
] |
|
1jls2o
|
white ceilings
|
Why do people usually paint their ceilings white?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1jls2o/eli5_white_ceilings/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cbfxgwb"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"It reflects light which helps the room to be brighter.\n\nThis helps the room feel bigger and less opressive."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
4cxyve
|
why are us primaries so expensive? candidates rely on heavy donations, what do they spend that money on besides air fare/accommodation?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4cxyve/eli5_why_are_us_primaries_so_expensive_candidates/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d1m8rt4",
"d1m8vv7",
"d1m8zwi",
"d1maau7"
],
"score": [
3,
2,
44,
3
],
"text": [
"Ads are extremely expensive and for better or worse, needed in a modern campaign, and that's where a majority of the money goes. Beyond that there is a logistical need to house and staff a campaign headquarters, and field offices in multiple states. Though a lot of people will volunteer, you need high-quality leadership to help you, and that costs a pretty penny. There's also a need for marketing material, insurance on everything you rent/buy and general overhead expenses. ",
"Advertising is not cheap. Organizing people to call, canvas, and promote a candidate even with volunteers is not cheap. Funding is incredibly important. All of this before you travel to each state often multiple times for public appearances, meet and greets, strategists and the campaign staff are WAY not cheap if you want good ones. ",
"Advertising... Mailers, yard signs, flyers, bill boards, and the biggest of all, TV spots. All those things, done in multiple states simultaneously, cost a huge amount of money.\n\nStaff... Not everyone working for the campaigns is doing it for free, plenty of the people working for the candidates need to feed their families. The same goes for the security hired for events.\n\nEvents... Those rallies and stuff cost a lot, and that money's got to come from the candidates. Venues, traffic control, programing, etc...\n\nWebsite... It's not a huge expense, but running a professional website that can handle heavy traffic isn't free.",
"In many other countries, the election 'season' is very limited - like just 45 days of campaigning. That is practical because the votes are usually more for a particular party that has put together a lengthy agenda and a candidate 'list' for election, and all the candidates on the list are generally expected to back the party agenda. \n\nIn the US, people are elected. And its a free-for-all. And there are no limits on time. For the presidential election, it is a year and a half of campaigning in every state in the nation with two separate sets of elections, the primary, and the general. And the US is the richest nation in the World. So there is a lot of money available. If the candidates spend $1billion collectively on the election, that works out to...$3 a person. \n\nAnd for spending, its the flip of that. You are trying to reach 330 million people (well, more like the 130 million likely voters). But that includes ads on every possible platform, buttons, stickers, campaign staff, get out the vote drives, phone lines, faxes, consultants, pizza...it all adds up. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
6erj44
|
can you keep an amputated limb?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6erj44/eli5_can_you_keep_an_amputated_limb/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dich0q5",
"dich218"
],
"score": [
2,
3
],
"text": [
"Depends on where you live but in the US you either bury the limb(by former owner's request) or they incinerate or donate it for study.",
"I am pretty sure they get incinerated and I am sure it depends on why it was amputated. If it was due to an infectious disease from bacteria I doubt they would let you keep it from fear of the disease spreading. If it was for another reason you might be able to keep it. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
4eb4i2
|
how is a game made from a totally new engine (like overwatch)?
|
What are the first steps on making a new game engine? Looks like A LOT of complicated job.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4eb4i2/eli5_how_is_a_game_made_from_a_totally_new_engine/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d1yre8h",
"d1yx022"
],
"score": [
2,
4
],
"text": [
"First, you find out what your game is going to be. \n\nYou're at the design stage. First person shooter? Fine. WW2? Fine. Good graphics or amazing graphics? Okay. Are there any Engines out there that already fit our needs? CryEngine? Unreal? No? Damn, okay.\n\nNow's the hard part. Designing a new engine from scratch isn't just hard work, it can be thought of as an investment. \nThat's why you're seeing new editions of the CryEngine -- they've got something good and they're improving on it. Same with the unreal engine-- there have been countless games made on that.",
"Likely your first step is going to be how to display something, so you would code an interface to the graphics systems (we're going broad here) that tells it you want a square on the screen. Then you want to apply a specific color. Then you may want to be able to put a specific design on it. You slowly (and painfully) build up the different things you can do.\n\nAdd the option to click on it with your mouse, resize it, transform it (move one or more corners so it isn't a perfect square anymore). Have it pass through another square, slowly change it's color. Each of these are incremental steps, and takes time and effort, but once done you have an engine.\n\nAt this point you have some basic display components. But when it comes to building a full engine there are so many different components that it is a very complicated job.\n\nThe next step is actually to figure out the rules you want to live by, and there is almost always some give and take. The decisions are usually made with a thought to processing power.\n\nDo you want to have 20,000 moderately detailed objects on screen or do you want to have 1,000 very detailed objects?\n\nDo you want to be able to interact (shoot/see/hear) objects from miles away or just the closer ones?\n\nHow realistic do you want your lighting? Should light reflect of different surfaces based on the material of that object? Do you want some items to be fully or even partially transparent?\n\nAre sounds limited in volume by distance only or does architecture and walls make a difference? Just like lighting, do you have certain materials muffle noise more or less than others?\n\nDo you want realistic physics or a more relaxed system? For example do you want objects to have terminal velocity at different rates due to air resistance/mass restrictions or just assume they all reach the same terminal velocity.\n\nDo you want weather effects? Curved surfaces? line of effect or just line of sight?\n\nEach decision adjusts both the processing power needed and the complexity of the code.\n\n\nFor many games the type of game (as mentioned by FuzzyCats) can help with these decisions. A racing game will probably need better physics modelling than a platformer. \n\nOnce these are decided, it boils down to programming, you have a series of problems and you find solutions to them."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
9d2dfs
|
I'm a basic infantry soldier stationed in the Western front in WWI. What are some things I can do to enhance my chances of survival?
|
[deleted]
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/9d2dfs/im_a_basic_infantry_soldier_stationed_in_the/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e5fnrns"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Not getting promoted would be a very good idea. Not getting promoted to a high risk arm would be even better.\n\nFor the British, 1 officer casualty would be sustained for the following proportion of men for different arms\n\n* Tank Corps - 5.5\n\n* Cavalry - 9.4\n\n* Artillery - 12.3\n\n* Engineers - 16.4\n\n* Infantry - 23.9 \n\nGetting yourself a commission in the tanks or in a cavalry unit was therefore not particularly healthy. \n\nLearning Italian would be a fairly good idea. The overall battle casualty rate for the western front was 55% compared to \n\n* 23% for the Dardenelles \n\n* 15% for Mesopotamia, \n\n* 8.5% for east Africa, \n\n* and only 4.76% for Italy. \n\nGetting yourself transferred to the Isonzo would therefore be good for your long term prospects.\n\nSource: *Statistics of the military effort of the British Empire during the Great War, 1914-1920*"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
3wu1kh
|
what can someone really do if they find your ssn and dob?
|
EDIT: Don't go on /r/WritingPrompts as much...
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3wu1kh/eli5_what_can_someone_really_do_if_they_find_your/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cxz2g8i",
"cxz8rtj",
"cxzafzk",
"cxzcwze",
"cxzd53g",
"cxzffs7",
"cxzgbfm",
"cxzgtqz"
],
"score": [
274,
37,
3,
21,
3,
11,
2,
5
],
"text": [
"With that (and perhaps a few other, publically accessible information, like your name) they can apply for credit cards in your name, max them out, and never pay them back, ruining your credit. They may also be able to access your bank account and other private information. It could be quite bad.",
"Using your social and DOB they can look you up at the DMV and obtain almost every piece of information they need if they play their cards right.\n\nFrom there they can use that information to do what /u/Nerdn1 and /u/Reese_Tora have commented as well as most banks have 2 logins... Your account number or your social and a verification of vehicle or address or maiden name. 2/3 shot right there.\n\nNow, if your crook is military... They can do a little bit more as its a tight knit community. Those that are buddies with people who do background checks can pull even more information.\n\nIt's amazing that we can create a virtual life story of you. You seem to like /r/WritingPrompts so I have no doubt that you know just how creative someone can be if they *need* the cash.\n\n$10 bucks I could scourge through your reddit and find pieces to the puzzle to where your city is. Hell, just write a program to filter /u/Kangadood's entire profile by keywords and just parse all the filler out. Great story making material there!",
"Are you asking what a criminal could do with your data? Or do you mean what you can personally do to stop the identity theft once they've stolen it? \nEdit: for clarity",
"Date of birth they can check out your criminal reports and where you lived and stuff. It's creepy what we can do with little information. I work in a background check company.",
"They can do a lot. Including get a job with your info and make it so you owe a whole bunch of taxes. They can choose to not have the taxes taken out. This is what most illegals do.\n\nThey can also get credit cards and all kinds of things under your name and ruin your credit. This also happens pretty damn often.\n\n",
"At the very least they can look up your address and show up at your birthday party uninvited. ",
"Well, with your name and date of birth, I could probably also figure out your mother's maiden name on Ancestry. A little more sleuthing around online (like on Facebook), and maybe I could find out which schools you attended, or the name of your pet. And maybe a whole lot more, if you have an online social media presence. \n \nThen, I could call your bank (guessing which bank you use based on where you live) and with all the information I've gathered I might be able to pass the security questions needed to change the address on your account. Statement is mailed to this new address, and I have your bank account number. Or, report that \"my\" debit or credit card was lost and have a replacement one sent. In pretty short order, I could take over your bank account and drain it. \n \nEDIT: Notice that I said \"could\" and \"might\", because a few other things need to fall into place for this kind of fraud to work out. For example, many banks have moved away from \"easily found\" security questions/answers (like date of birth), in favor of other multi-factor authentication verifications (such as also sending a text message code to your phone number on file to make any changes on your account). And most banks also send out notifications to the previous address when an address (or phone number) has been changed. Also, limits to the types of changes that can be made to an account within the same x-day window, or over the phone *at all*. Also...well, you get the idea. I've seen the bank where I work put in all sorts of extra security measures over the past few years as the online landscape changes and fraudsters get more aggressive.",
"I work in fraud department for a bank. I see fraudsters literally make away with 10s of thousands daily. I'd like to make a thread about it soon. It's bad. Honestly I don't think they ( fraudsters) get caught often. Very easy to do which is scary as hell."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
8qtpjd
|
why does depth of field become more narrow with an increase in format?
|
Ex: 35mm compared to say, 4x5 or 8x10, DOF is noticeably shorter (or more narrow) on larger formats, even with equivalent focal length lenses.
* I understand how this can be controlled with aperture, but that is not the intended question.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8qtpjd/eli5_why_does_depth_of_field_become_more_narrow/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e0lz8lj",
"e0m3fgl",
"e0m632t"
],
"score": [
5,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"The relevant factor to depth of field is the actual focal length, not the equivalent focal length.\n\nTo shoot on a larger format, you need a longer focal length to get the equivalent framing.\n(eg. 100mm lens on a FF still camera matches the field of view of a 50mm lens on a micro 4/3 camera. So in common photography usage you might call the 50mm m4/3 lens \"100mm equivalent,' comparing it to the standard of full frame).\n\nBut the way the optics work, the equation for depth-of-field uses the actual focal length measurement in mm, not the 'equivalent'.\n\nSo if you shot a head-and-shoulders portrait with both cameras from the same distance, with your 50mm FF lens on your 5D and a 100mm m4/3 lens on your GH4, both at f/2.8 and at ISO 200, your 5D's picture would have almost exactly half the depth-of-field of your GH4's picture.\n\nI say 'almost exactly' because the actual full equation that incorporates the frame size on the imaging plane very slightly attenuates the effect. For practical purposes it is half.",
"The equivalent lens aspect of your question is the catch. \n\nIf you put the same exact lens in front of two different sensors of varying sizes the depth of field doesn't change... Some might argue that the \"acceptable sharpness\" might alter your perception of what is \"in focus\". In this case the shot size would be altered by the size of the sensor... effectively cropping the image circle which zooms in on the sharpness quality of your lens and may result in \"acceptable sharpness\" changes. You can account for this on some depth of field calcs with CoC number.\n\nLets ignore CoC and acceptable focus stuff and just imagine you wish to match shot sizes of two different sized sensors from the same camera position. In this case you must use a wider lens for your smaller sensor to equal the large sensor shot size. Different focal length lenses have different depth of fields at the same distance to subject.\n\nAlternatively if you were to use the same lens on the mixed size sensors you would have to move the camera back on the smaller sensor camera to achieve the same shot size... This results in your subject being further away and if you check any depth of field chart they will certainly increase in depth of field the further away your subject is.\n\nThis is why you get shallower depth with larger formats. So with smaller sensors you either need to move back and refocus or use a wider lens... Both options add depth of field.\n\nThis all assumes the F-Stop is set the same in all my scenarios.\n\nHope this is clear enough. ",
"By equivalent focal length I meant to refer to the fact that larger formats require longer lenses. 50mm on a 35mm format = 80mm on 120 format = ?? on a 4x5 format, etc. \n\nIn other words, if these factors are \"equalized\" (each uses its own 1:1 lens, same aperture) by what means is the DOF more narrow on the larger format. I have seen some 8x10, for example where the eyes are in focus, but the nose is barely. \n\nIs this simply the result of the optics of a longer lens (even though the focal length might \"equal\" 1:1 on that particular format)\n\nDamn I hope that makes sense."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
5lpxmt
|
What did Frankenstein's monster look like before Boris Karloff (from the 1931 film) made everyone get the same image in their head?
|
Edit: I should clarify. I mean was there a stage or film performance that was disseminated enough to create some type of agreement on what the monster looked like? I know film would have been in it's infancy prior to this, but is there anything out there that people saw?
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/5lpxmt/what_did_frankensteins_monster_look_like_before/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dbxxbug"
],
"score": [
31
],
"text": [
"Fun question!\n\nThe original 1818 edition, to my knowledge, had no illustrations, nor did its 1823 reprint; I can't find a digitized version of the 1821 French translation. That leaves the first trackable depiction of Frankenstein's creature to an 1823 play. Shelley did not like the play overall, but praised T. P. Cooke's performance as the creature (or ----- as his role was printed). [She described him in the role](_URL_1_) as \"unearthly & monstrous.\"\n\nI can find two renditions from the 1823 play, [the cover of a play print](_URL_4_) and [this lithograph](_URL_5_). If either of those is accurate, we can imagine Shelley's praise had more to do with Cooke's acting than the depiction. Nevertheless, the impression created by the semi-bare chest in both, by the wild hair in Wageman's engraving, and the torn clothing on the cover illustration is of the creature as *wild man.*\n\nThe 1831 edition did receive [an illustration,](_URL_2_) and the bare-chested (....possibly more than just the chest), unkempt-haired creature maintains wild man status.\n\nIn all three of these, Herr Doktor Frankenstein himself is contrasted to the monster (and to our modern, post-Einstein/Strangelove mad scientist stereotype) in his own nice clothing and well-groomed-ness.\n\nThe monster and the contrast continues when Hollyweed gets its hands on The Modern Prometheus--and oh, it does, almost from the beginning. In [this clip](_URL_3_) from the 1910 (!) edition, you can see the contrast between the refined Frankstein and his wildman monster even more clearly. Here's [a still of the creature.](_URL_0_) \n\nThe other interesting thing about this particular rendition is that this seems to be the first, maybe only, time (in illustration, at least--who knows what the stage acting looked like) that the creature as hunched/twisted/deformed enters the visual iconography. This is interesting because, of course, after a couple of now-lost film versions (including a 1920 Italian production where *baldness* is the marker of monstrosity), Frankenstein's physically-twisted assistant will enter the legend and its extended universe. Frankenstein's creature becomes the sewn-together corpse we know and love, but by way of linking evil to disability, we get Fritz in 1931, Ygor in 1939, Daniel in 1944."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein#/media/File:Frankenstein1910.jpg",
"http://shelleysghost.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/playbill-for-presumption#Description",
"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e6/Frontispiece_to_Frankenstein_1831.jpg/372px-Frontispiece_to_Frankenstein_1831.jpg",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Frankenstein1910-clip.ogv",
"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Peake-1823-play.jpg",
"https://images.nypl.org/index.php?id=ps_cps_cd2_031&t=w"
]
] |
|
3ewifd
|
why do most video players have a notification when switching to full screen mode to allow or exit full screen mode at the top?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ewifd/eli5_why_do_most_video_players_have_a/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ctj0c6h",
"ctj0cbd",
"ctj0chu"
],
"score": [
8,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"It's to stop sneaky hacking that creates a full screen version of your desktop so that they can fiddle around with it and steal information without you knowing. It's not the video player, by the way, it's the browser (chrome for example).",
"To prevent the application from going full screen , spoofing desktop and intercepting your data.\n\nThe reason that it gives you an option to exit, is that a website can go full screen without providing an easy way to exit it, they do not have to include any controls when in full screen mode.",
"This is a browser feature and is to do with user experience and accessibility. In the event a user is unaware what has happened to their computer the video site informs them of what has happened and let's them take action if it was unintended.\n\nTl:Dr for people who don't know how to get out of full screen mode"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
5h2y3b
|
why can't we all just get along?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5h2y3b/eli5_why_cant_we_all_just_get_along/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dax15uj",
"dax2ezg"
],
"score": [
4,
2
],
"text": [
"Because people have fundamentally different values and principles based on how they were raised and what their life status is. Possibly also their genetics. Sometimes the principles are contradictory, and that creates conflict.",
"There are so many people in the world who all believe such different things and want to live such different lives that it's hard for everyone to agree on the best way to treat one another. \n\nSome people like to talk to everyone, while others want to be left alone. Some people want to do things or say things that others don't want to see or hear.\n\nPeople who grew up one way, with a strong belief in what is right may want to change the world in ways that others don't agree is right. That leads to conflict with others who don't feel the same way. Even though everyone wants what's best for themselves, we don't agree on the best way to accomplish that. \n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
hh8b5
|
What is happening at a molecular level when pH levels change?
|
I understand that lower pH levels have higher concentrations of hydrogen ions and vice versa for higher levels of pH but what is happening, lets say, when you add a basic solution to something acidic and the acidic substance becomes more basic?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/hh8b5/what_is_happening_at_a_molecular_level_when_ph/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c1vf3az"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"pH is a measurement of _hydronium_ ion (H3O^+ ) concentrations - not \"hydrogen ions\".\n\nAll acids and bases have two \"states\" - a protonated form (the acid) and a deprotonated form (base). Note that when I say \"acid\" and \"base\", it has a slightly different meaning than the common usage. For example, sulfuric acid (H2SO4) is a common \"acid\", but the deprotonated form, the sulfate ion (SO4^2- ), is a base - the conjugate base to sulfuric acid. These conjugate acids and bases act exactly like the [Bronsted-Lowry](_URL_0_) acids and bases you are familiar with.\n\nThe addition caveat here is that _in water_, the strongest acid that can exist is H3O^+ , and the strongest base that can exist is OH^- . When you add an acid that is technically \"stronger\" (with a higher acid dissociation constant, Ka), it ends up protonating water. That's why when you add HCl in water, it immediately undergoes dissociation via this reaction equation:\n\nHCl + H2O - > H3O^+ + Cl^-\n\nWhen you add a base to this aqueous acidic solution, you have neutralization - either by the base _deprotonating_ water, or deprotonating the acid directly.\n\nA strong base, NaOH for example, dissociates in water before neutralization occurs:\n\nNaOH - > Na^+ + OH^-\n\nOH^- + H3O^+ - > 2H2O\n\nThe _solution_ becomes more basic, since we're turning some hydronium ions into water. The \"acidic substance\" or \"basic substance\" does not become more basic or acidic.\n\nTechnically you can measure pH in a non-aqueous solution, but the figure is more often than not meaningless, and pKa is a more useful figure to know.\n\nEdit: Grammar. Elaborated on neutralization."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronsted_Lowry"
]
] |
|
3c92ag
|
why does gta still continue to use fake names for vehicles yet games like gran turismo, forza, and need for speed have been using manufacturers names/vehicles for years?
|
I assume it has to do with licensing and what not but why doesn't Rockstar acquire it?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3c92ag/eli5_why_does_gta_still_continue_to_use_fake/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cstcwow",
"cstcwxl"
],
"score": [
3,
14
],
"text": [
"GTA is a not made to be a reality game while Gran Turismo,Forza,_URL_0_. are reality based,therefore GTA did not seek licensing agreements.\n\nI found a link to a page that describes it in detail _URL_1_",
" > Real car companies don't want their brand associated with things like running over hookers and what not.\n\n\nThat is actually untrue.. Rockstar has stated several times that they had no problems whatsoever with car companies allowing their names to be used. They even went further on to say that several car companies actually wished that Sony/Rockstar would use their names due to the massive following of the GTA franchise and would be an easy way to establish brand recognition.\n\n\nThe real reason (according to Rockstar) is that almost the entire game is based on some form of satire and to them it was just another way to keep the game satirical and original."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"et.al",
"http://www.giantbomb.com/fictional-car-brands/3015-5156/"
],
[]
] |
|
2aiy5b
|
Saturn's Rings and Gravity - Why do the particles rotate so uniform?
|
Wouldn't Saturn's gravity have a center that the particles rotate around, causing them to orbit Saturn sporadically, thus causing the particles in the rings to look more like a thin cloud surrounding Saturn?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2aiy5b/saturns_rings_and_gravity_why_do_the_particles/
|
{
"a_id": [
"civon8g"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"The phenomenon is called accretion disc and is based on the same effect as the frequent spiral form of galaxies.Imagine several macroscopic bodies orbiting a mass. If there is a finite number of bodies, and there isnt perfect rotational symmetry, an gravitational force towards the angular pendant of the baryzentrum will be exerted. As an major part of the rings are formed by bigger rocks, this effect is way stronger than it would be if it only were dust."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
61i6p1
|
Why there are not animals with wheels?
|
If rolling on wheels is so effective for transportation and speed why no animal has evolved to develop such similar method of transportation?
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/61i6p1/why_there_are_not_animals_with_wheels/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dffjieh",
"dffjxkd",
"dffjxxt",
"dfflrlt"
],
"score": [
2,
12,
2,
7
],
"text": [
"Wheels only work on flat surfaces. Bigger wheels can ride over large variations in terrain. Just think of a person in a wheel chair. They cannot get over a curb, while able bodied people can easily handle such a terrain variation.\n\nSure wheels are good for going fast, but they need specialized travel ways to work. Nature does not provide those travel ways. Thus wheels would not be an advantage for most if not all creatures.",
"The only human civilizations that really benefitted from wheels were ones in relatively flat areas, often with roads (a major technology of trade/empire), and often with draft animals. In any place where the terrain was really difficult they either hoofed it with just loads of human power (e.g. the pre-Contact Americas), or did the \"pile everything onto an animal\" approach, despite the fact that these cultures demonstrably knew about wheels (e.g., they had wheeled toys). \n\nWe live in a society that is today almost exclusively wired up for wheeled transport so it is easy to forget that this is was not only the natural state of the world, it wasn't even the natural state of humanity outside of the last couple millennia (and a lot sooner in most cases — the automobile-centric society is about a century old, and yet in many places, like the United States, it is almost impossible to imagine cities _not_ being planned around automobiles). \n\nWhich is to just say: wheels _are_ useful _in the right circumstances_. Nature generally does not provide those circumstances (and there are much more useful, generalizable forms of locomotion available); certainly they are not dominant in most places. (And while I would not want to second-guess nature's creativity, wheels are kind of a pain in the ass, as anyone who has owned a bike in tricky terrain knows. Yes, they let you go very fast on the right kinds of surfaces, but they usually need a lot of maintenance and repair, and they can be made rather useless very easily.) There are \"wheels\" at the microbiological level, however — the [bacterial flagellum](_URL_0_) does have complete rotational motion. ",
"Because wheels cant develop naturally. It would require a part of the anatomy able to free spin thus wouldn't be able to get a blood supply or other necessary things like nerves. \n\n\nAlso evolution works to solves problems through random mutations, there hasn't yet been a (naturally occurring) situation where wheels win over legs.",
"Another animal getting half-way there is the Issus coleoptratus, which (during its nymph phase) have a gear mechanism that synchronizes the leg motion during a jump.\n\nBesides the already mentioned flagella, if we go on a much lower level, the proton pump that powers the ATP synthesis is a mindblowing mechanical device involving an electromagnetic rotational drive.\n\n[Example video](_URL_0_)"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacterial_flagellum"
],
[],
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjdPTY1wHdQ"
]
] |
|
33ue85
|
When did the calendar as the West knows it become practice? At what point did people start using the same years as we do now?
|
I should know this, but I don't. Very confusing topic for me.
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/33ue85/when_did_the_calendar_as_the_west_knows_it_become/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cqogle8"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"hi! the calendar you're referring to is called the [*Gregorian Calendar*](_URL_0_). There's lots of room for more information here regarding its adoption of this to various cultures, but you can get a good start on this topic in the FAQ\n\n* [How did the world agree on what year it is?](_URL_1_) - check out the first link to the AskHistorians Podcast episode"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/calendars#wiki_how_did_the_world_agree_on_what_year_it_is.3F"
]
] |
|
b9p6lh
|
which industrial processes can not be done with electricity as power-source?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b9p6lh/eli5_which_industrial_processes_can_not_be_done/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ek603l1"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"The industry of generating electrical power itself does not have to rely on electricity to start the generation of electricity, but it does help.\n\nThis methods vary but can be a number of means such as mechanical, chemical, or nuclear. \n\nElectricity can be used to help such as providing lights for workers working on the equipment, or powering a heater warming kit on a diesel generator in a cold environment but in and of itself is not necessary to function in a basic system."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
1cymqd
|
How common and severe were abuses committed against civilians during the American Revolutionary War?
|
Such as, but not limited to: rape, confiscation or destruction of property, indiscriminate killing ect.
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1cymqd/how_common_and_severe_were_abuses_committed/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c9l86lt"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"In the course of my research, I have found a frightening number of instances of rape, though I haven't had the opportunity to comb through court martial records to get more specific than \"they happened more often than they should have.\"\n\nThe most famous anecdote to this effect was Lord Francis Rawdon's letter from New York in 1776, in which he stated that his men were \"as riotous as satyrs\" and that American women could hardly \"step into the bushes to pick a rose without running the most imminent risk of being ravished, and they are so little accustomed to these vigorous methods that they don’t bear them with the proper resignation, and of consequence we have most entertaining courts-martial every day.\" Some historians have argued that Rawdon was trying to be humorous here, but his neglect of American women's complaints was typical of too many British officers of the day. In writing to Thomas Jefferson, one American complained that sexual violence was so common in his colony that \"there is scarce a virgin to be found in the part of the country [the British army] have passed through.\"\n\nDestruction of property was also fairly common. Some of these were out of military necessity. When the British attacked Breed's Hill, American snipers harassed them from the homes of Charlestown. Unable to weed out the partisans, the British Navy instead fired heated shot into the dwellings and businesses there, burning the town.\n\nThroughout the war, the far Northern theater was also exposed to constant destruction. The Mohawk Valley in particular was the subject of severe raids in the final years of the war, such as the Burning of the Valleys and Carleton's Raid, each of which destroyed tons upon tons of foodstuffs and destroyed production there. Similar actions occurred in the Southern back country, and earlier in the war by Dunmore's fleet throughout the Chesapeake.\n\nInterestingly enough, churches were targeted in the Southern back country as well. Walter B. Edgar in his book *Partisans and Redcoats* suggests that this may have been a war measure by the British, who viewed the churches as something more akin to town halls, than the spiritual dwelling place of God. Though I'm not always convinced by his other ideas, I find this one intriguing. Having said that, there is no evidence for the British burning anybody *inside* the churches like in the film *The Patriot.*\n\nTargeting of civilians in massacres was not widespread and even more rarely between white combatants. American militia methodically murdered over one hundred Christian Native Americans at the [Gnadenhutten Massacre](_URL_0_) in 1782. Most massacres involved a racial aspect of one degree or another, and were almost always on the outskirts of the colonies.\n\nWar is never pretty. The Revolution has been whitewashed time and again, but it, like all wars before and since, was brutal."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=499"
]
] |
|
8ebfdy
|
why does striped clothes seems to "blink" when you look at them for a moment?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8ebfdy/eli5_why_does_striped_clothes_seems_to_blink_when/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dxueakt"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"When your eyes scan something they move in small jumps called saccades, not smoothly. For something with stripes, this can get confusing, by locking onto one then jumping to the next, but that seems like the first so it's not clear that whether you've moved to a different one or not.\n "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
e9iq09
|
Did ancient people understand the concept of extinction?
|
Did people in ancient Egypt, Rome, Mesopotamia etc understand the concept that a species could become extinct? What is the earliest recorded mention of extinction?
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/e9iq09/did_ancient_people_understand_the_concept_of/
|
{
"a_id": [
"faj8iau"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"This isn't exactly answering your question because the focus is not on ancient peoples, but in [this answer I spent some time charting the development of an awareness of the concept of extinction](_URL_0_) in the Western scientific tradition. Hope that helps!"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6ouk3t/how_much_of_a_surprise_was_it_to_contemporary/dklillf/"
]
] |
|
405yic
|
why do ordinary cars not have those useful, black "heating stripes" in their windshields?
|
They melt frost so quickly from the back window, they don't really obstruct vision either, I don't see a reason why car manufacturers don't include them in the front.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/405yic/eli5_why_do_ordinary_cars_not_have_those_useful/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cyrpefk",
"cys0gyv"
],
"score": [
11,
3
],
"text": [
"Because ford own the patent of having this in the windscreen. You will see them on their high end cars. Even carried along into jaguar when they used to own that",
"Windshield installer here, mostly this comes down to price, some windshields are heated, most common ones are Toyotas. But the heating elements are at the bottom of the glass under the wiper blades, they can't run the lines like in the back window up front because it would obstruct the driver's vision.\n\n\nOn some exotics like lotuses, there are millions of tiny microscopic lines in the front Windshield that heat it up but can't be seen unless you look closely. I think high end land rovers have them too.\n\n\nPS that lotus Windshield is almost 10 thousand dollars installed."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
flwa96
|
why can't you see pixels on a phone screen as easily as you can on a monitor?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/flwa96/eli5_why_cant_you_see_pixels_on_a_phone_screen_as/
|
{
"a_id": [
"fl0ulqv",
"fl0uuz1",
"fl166mj"
],
"score": [
21,
6,
2
],
"text": [
"Say you have a phone that is 1080p and a monitor that is also 1080p. You have the same number of pixels, but they are closer together on the smaller screen of the phone.",
"The size of the display and the resolution.\n\nA phone screen is typically 1080p or higher now, same with most monitors. \n\nMobile display density is a lot higher, while monitors are typically not as high.\n\nIf a display is 1080p, its 1920x1080, equating to just over 2 million pixels.\n\nIf you stuff all of them onto a phone, it’s going to be a lot sharper.\n\nImagine taking a chunk of play doh. \n\nMake it roughly the same size of your phone screen, and it’s going to be a lot dense and thicker.\n\nMake it the same size of your monitor display, it’s going to be thinner.",
"Put simply: they are smaller\n\nMonitors are made to be seen at a distance greater than you typically use the a phone screen at, large things far away look like smaller thing closer to you"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
wv4xm
|
Has a tyrant in the likes of Hitler or Saddam
Hussein ever had a change of heart in their later
years to become a benevolent ruler?
|
We seem to have a lot of stories from centuries where tyrant rulers were either persecuted or were overthrown. But has there ever been a case of tyrant ruler who turned benevolent in later years?
(I can think of the Indian king Asoka, but I don't think he was a tyrant ruler. Just that he stopped warring after converting to Buddhism).
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/wv4xm/has_a_tyrant_in_the_likes_of_hitler_or_saddam/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c5gq9ba",
"c5grlwi",
"c5grsy3",
"c5gtoea",
"c5guz4l",
"c5gvrvm",
"c5gy5lj"
],
"score": [
29,
14,
10,
13,
11,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"Not really as important as the ones you mentioned but there is, of course, General Butt Naked, of Liberia. He was a genocidal cannibalistic warlord during the Country's civil war who had since devoted his life to the church and being a good person. Look it up.",
"Octavian/Augustus comes to mind. He was part of the tribunate that ruled through fear, intimidation and proscriptions, and later became a ruler trying to restore moral order (at least that's what he tried to present himself as). He still had an iron-tight grip on power, never mind what he did for culture, architecture, living conditions, and political reforms.",
"I think terms like tyrant/benevolent are highly subjective, and sounds more like black/white Hollywood storytelling than actual history. Any ruler have had supporters and enemies, and the supporters thought him benevolent, the enemies tyrannical. Not to say that all rulers are equal, just that \"benevolent\" is far to vague without qualification.\n\nBut we have rulers like [Charles V](_URL_0_) of the holy roman empire, which voluntary gave up power retired to a monastery. Is it something like this you are looking for?",
"Genghis Kahn might qualify. Once he finished his horrifically brutal conquests (and had enough [impregnating](_URL_0_) and [genocide](_URL_1_)), he set up a fairly just legal code, encouraged artisans, and strongly promoted religious tolerance throughout his empire. ",
"Not a tyrant, but I think that [George Wallace](_URL_0_) of Alabama is an interesting example. He made a name for himself as a strict segregationist, but eventually saw the folly of his ways and publicly renounced his old views.",
"I'm no expert, but maybe [Josip Broz Tito?](_URL_0_).. He ended up splitting with the USSR and accepting money from the Marshall Plan, he was also an important member in the Non-Alignment Movement... But, all debatable, really.",
"I'm no historian by any means. But I do enjoy reading about it. I came across this guy one day. Ashoka from India. _URL_0_"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_V,_Holy_Roman_Emperor"
],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descent_from_Genghis_Khan",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_under_the_Mongol_Empire"
],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Wallace"
],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josip_Broz_Tito"
],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka"
]
] |
|
gib43
|
When a new species is found, how do you distinguish the male from the female?
|
Ok first of all I'm sorry if this is a stupid question (I was "browsing /r/trees" when I thought this up). But if you discover a totally different species how are you able to distinguish the male from the female? If the answer is DNA, then how did they do it before DNA was found? Was it arbitrary?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/gib43/when_a_new_species_is_found_how_do_you/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c1nr2jn",
"c1nrbhu"
],
"score": [
17,
4
],
"text": [
"\"And here is the male seahorse.\"\n\n\"... it looks like it's having a baby.\"\n\n\"Um.. the male seahorse has the baby.\"",
"in practice, it is much harder to tell if an organism belongs to a new species than whether it is male or female. That is because we have many external and internal traits we can use to determine sex (including primary sex traits such as eggs, sperm, genitals as well as secondary sex traits such as body size, shape, color, behaviors etc.). \n\nWith determining new species however, we only have constructs like do individuals breed, do they have a unique mate recognition system, do they come into contact with each other, do they belong to a discreet population. These rely on long term trends and the decisions and physiology of individuals interacting and often arbitrary lines in the sand that we draw (because one tiger mating successfully with one lion does not make them the same species). "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
aiwqvy
|
Why is U–Pb dating so effective in measuring the age of the Earth? Wouldn't there be decaying uranium floating around the early Solar System, or even *before* the formation of the Sun during the nebula stage?
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/aiwqvy/why_is_upb_dating_so_effective_in_measuring_the/
|
{
"a_id": [
"eerbdvg"
],
"score": [
12
],
"text": [
"Yes, there would. Then it all gets melted into a homogenous mess during planetary accretion. With the uranium locked in place, and the Pb unable to escape, we can measure their ratios to tell how long they've been locked in place.\n\nRadiogenic dating tells you when the substance was last melted, not anything else."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
fg86e9
|
what is the, if there exists any, the science behind the human fascination with serial killers and crime shows?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fg86e9/eli5_what_is_the_if_there_exists_any_the_science/
|
{
"a_id": [
"fk36914",
"fk37052",
"fk3dbpy"
],
"score": [
7,
5,
6
],
"text": [
"Humans want to see consequences to actions that they understand are deviant and are curious to the the thinking behind their \"logical\" thinking (i.e., planning, motivation, efficacy, etc.)",
"In the true/oft-neglected-but-intended format of this sub:\n\nDid you ever steal a cookie from the cookie jar? How tasty did it taste? Tastier than an unstolen or maybe even earned cookie? Yes?\n\nThen imagine instead that you were able to steal every cookie in the jar and that they all tasted good, but then less and less good as you move on, eating every single cookie you can get your sweet little five year old hands on/in/around. \n\nSuddenly that last cookie doesn't taste as good and then the only thing tastier than the first cookie might be the baker-type-person who baked the first cookie. Then before too long you're out there eating bakers.\n\nIn terms of serial killer docs, the viewer (you) loves cookies. You can almost imagine killing for a cookie in the most unfortunate of times. But here is a man killing for cookies left and right, which is gluttonous and gross but you can almost relate. So you do relate, watching these shows every night, with an ever-dwindling tray/bag of Chips Ahoy: saying \"yuck\" and \"yum\" at the same time.",
"Humans are information addicts. We thrive because of our big brains and innate curiosity.\n\nCrime shows tick multiple boxes for why they get a rise out of us. On one level, we're fascinated by learning about dangers. Because learning about someone else's death or the killers and predators that stalk us, might provide us with information that will help us prevent our own death.\n\nAlong the same line, surviving danger gives us a rush. It's the hormones that make us alert and jittery to help us deal with danger. After the danger passes, those hormones don't immediately disappear. So we feel giddy, giggly, energised.\n\nThat's why we like horror and scary stories. We get that \"I survived the danger\" rush without the actual danger.\n\nYour physiological reactions don't really differentiate between factual and fictional danger. That's why things like movies, books, tv, theatre etc. can move us."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
3hxpx6
|
Do animals other than human experience infertility the way humans do?
|
I'm assuming all species of the animal kingdom may have members that have trouble conceiving young/eggs for similar various reasons that plague human couples trying to start families. If so are they aware of it? Do they experience a sense of loss or despair like humans? Or does the animal brain simply desire to mate and offspring aren't considered until birth occurs.
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/3hxpx6/do_animals_other_than_human_experience/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cubq6vp",
"cubyipo"
],
"score": [
3,
7
],
"text": [
"I'm not sure about behavioural, but genetically speaking if they have problems reproducing then their genes are less likely to be passed down generation to generation, while those that can easily reproduce thrive and populate the gene pool. \n\nHumans have a large number of treatments available to them, that keeps those, as well as many other \"undesirable\" genes in the pool. That and no major predators gives us plenty of time to pass on our lineage \n\nSo unless the trait that harms their ability to reproduce aids in there survivability, it's less likely to be passed generation to generation and should be seen less in animals than humans",
"Biologically, yes, animals can experience infertility. This is usually caused by genetic mutations, and since animals don't often have access to fertility treatments, the mutations are rarely passed down.\n\nSome types of infertility are well documented, such as the case of **freemartins**. If a cow gives birth to mixed-sex twins, you'll see a very high percentage of cases (90%?) where the female heifer is born sterile. Sterility occurs due to chromosomal chimerism (XX/XY typing). The tl,dr on that one is the male twin's hormones corrupt the female twin's chromosomes in utero. (ref: _URL_0_)\n\nAs for the rest of your question, I'm neither equipped nor prepared to debate the extent of animal consciousness and how they view the existential dilemma presented through being the end of their genetic line. (Apologies; I haven't had breakfast.)"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemartin"
]
] |
|
5r81p1
|
AskScience AMA Series: I am a scientist currently working in a US congressional office. Ask Me Almost Anything!
|
I hold a doctorate in biological sciences and am currently working in an office in the United States Congress. I primarily do work outside of the sciences, applying scientific thinking and problem-solving techniques to non-scientific policies. I wish I could be more specific about my background and current role, but I need to remain anonymous, and further information could identify me. I am happy to answer any question that I can, but out of anonymity concerns, please understand that I cannot speak more to my specific scientific expertise.
Note: This AMA has been verified with the moderators. Our guest will be available to answer questions starting around 8 PM ET (1 AM UT).
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/5r81p1/askscience_ama_series_i_am_a_scientist_currently/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dd54i0b",
"dd55pj3",
"dd55pzt",
"dd56r3e",
"dd56vx6",
"dd56x5o",
"dd56xl0",
"dd56yjy",
"dd56zt8",
"dd571ul",
"dd5723j",
"dd579g1",
"dd57izb",
"dd57qk8",
"dd583kb",
"dd5879q",
"dd58mfs",
"dd58o61",
"dd58udp",
"dd595uh",
"dd599by",
"dd59dq6",
"dd59ibm",
"dd59jm4",
"dd59vum",
"dd5a2af",
"dd5a5qj",
"dd5af03",
"dd5av0x",
"dd5avym",
"dd5azc4",
"dd5azuy",
"dd5b6j2",
"dd5bfn1",
"dd5bi7j",
"dd5bnm1",
"dd5ca79",
"dd5cc0c",
"dd5cfhl",
"dd5cfje",
"dd5cvxd",
"dd5d0v5",
"dd5d48a",
"dd5dstk",
"dd5ef5a",
"dd5egc2",
"dd5feft",
"dd5fveh",
"dd5fww1",
"dd5g2z5",
"dd5h658",
"dd5hkri",
"dd5hmom",
"dd5hnq5",
"dd5huvq",
"dd5izay",
"dd5jk15",
"dd5jx9w",
"dd5k0t6",
"dd5keig",
"dd5kxqy",
"dd5l1jm",
"dd5ly1w",
"dd5mka0",
"dd5motq",
"dd5nvzx",
"dd5ohtg",
"dd5oidw",
"dd5oiub",
"dd5qc8f",
"dd5rrbz",
"dd5ui0s",
"dd5w5on",
"dd5ypf1",
"dd64ohk",
"dd64oq6",
"dd64sjq",
"dd6b2tz",
"dd6bc3j",
"dd6l4hm"
],
"score": [
36,
300,
127,
261,
140,
22,
33,
21,
118,
63,
61,
7,
79,
6,
9,
5,
10,
19,
51,
6,
3,
41,
5,
28,
2,
96,
2,
5,
2,
5,
4,
19,
2,
6,
2,
3,
2,
4,
2,
4,
3,
4,
8,
3,
4,
5,
3,
3,
3,
5,
4,
3,
23,
9,
3,
3,
3,
3,
3,
3,
4,
2,
6,
3,
6,
3,
3,
3,
3,
4,
2,
2,
3,
2,
2,
3,
2,
9,
4,
2
],
"text": [
"Would someone coming from a collaborative and team oriented lab setting be shocked or pleasantly surprised by the work environment in Congress/congressional office? What is the 'lab culture' like over there?",
"As someone from outside the US (but I imagine it applies to many US citizens too!), where does being a \"scientist working in a congressional office\" place you within the government? Are you a government employee providing advice for the entirety of congress, or are you working more specifically for one group - or maybe even just advising a single member of congress?\n\n(I appreciate it may be hard to answer with great detail given your position of anonymity!)",
"I like to think that my biology students learn to apply their skills in all fields of inquiry, but I'd love to hear your perspective on what type of non-scientific policies require scientific thinking?",
"How can I start looking for a job like yours? I have a PhD in physics and given my own personal situation as well as the current political climate, your job sounds like exactly what I want to be doing.",
"What's the attitude for science like on the inside? There's certainly a lot of anti-science comments coming from the right...is this more posturing or are we seeing sincere beliefs displayed?",
"What motivated you to find a career in the government? What steps did you have to take to do so?",
"I'm a PhD'd scientist, and use to work at a national lab and had some influence on policy. Now, I am in private industry almost exclusively working government contracts, but have no influence on policy. \n\nAre there opportunities for companies like mine to get involved with congress and help shape policy?",
"Do you think we are indeed going to see big cuts to the Department of Energy, The EPA, and NIH? The current administration seems full steam ahead on gutting them...do you think congress will go along?",
"What can someone from a different country (Canada, UK, Mexico) do to support science in the US? As a Canadian I feel like our policy is closely related to American policy and as a result many of us feel hamstrung by the new administration and fear a resurgence of non-science attitudes on our soil as well. ",
"Fellow scientist, here. Assuming \"congressional scientist\" means that you are Federal and \"need to remain anonymous\" means that you're in the US... How are you guys feeling right now? How are federal scientists resisting the current regime, and how can non-federal scientists help?",
"I wholeheartedly believe that the country needs to be run by scientists and engineers. What advice would you give a young engineer who would like to get involved in politics one day?",
"What's the difference between biological sciences and biology?",
"Not looking at the big issues like climate change, but what have been some more obscure bills that you may (or may not) have worked on that did not get passed because of a lack of scientific understanding by legislators or their offices? Have their been any that surprisingly passed? (Bill No. would be appreciated.) Thank you for your civil service! ",
"What sort of techniques do you apply to policy? Are they similar between science and non-science policy? What do you think is most helpful or most important? ",
"I'm also a Biology Ph.D and want to get more involved. A couple questions:\n\n-Were you worried at all about making the transition to government work, i.e. \"What happens if this goes sideways\"? \n\n-How long were you in science before moving towards politics? \n\n-How did you transition, and is there room for more of us? \n\nThanks for doing this!",
"Do you find an abundance of opposition or are the politicians typically willing to work with you? Do they like when you agree with them then mock you when you don't? ",
"What does the general outline of your day look like?",
"Is there any scientific backing behind the environmental decisions taking place? I feel like they can't be pulling these beliefs out of thin air.\n\nAlso: How is it that most hunters and outdoorsmen identify as Republican, yet don't seem to provide much care to the conservation of natural resources and protected lands.",
"It seems like a decent portion of 'merica has a distaste or distrust for anything and everything science. How do you propose we fight, for lack of a better word, for the validity of scientific endeavor when education of \"facts\" seem to some a threatening of their \"truth.\" How do you win a culture war against serial deniers where education itself almost is seen as the enemy in their eyes?",
"What is the true effort being put forth in congress right now for climate change and the plans to fight against it?",
"Is it true that when you store excess fat onto your body the cells which contains the fat never go away? So when you gain weight by fat and then loose the fat, you still have the fatcells in your body. So when you eat more again, you will get fat quicker than before you ever got fat because the cells only need to get filled? \nI don't know if this sounds dumb but this is what multiple people had told me. I'm in high school (maybe want to study biology :))",
"Are u gonna get in trouble for this because of the science blackout? ",
"Well congrats on your position! Can't of been easy to get there. So what was the biggest struggle getting to your position? How did you overcome it?",
"Are some members of Congress as truly ignorant of scientific matters as they appear, or is just grandstanding? ",
"How many people in high political positions do you meet that have little to no clue what the scientific method is? How many times has someone put down your findings because of not understanding the process? Then what do you do about it then to get your point across? ",
"How do you talk to Congressmen who don't believe in science? Has anyone (lobbyists, special interests, etc) approached you because you are a scientist by training? I heard many researchers are funded by special interests to publish biased studies, not sure if it's effecting scientists working directly in the public sector",
"What are the impacts of GMOs and our environment? Cancer? Honeybees?",
"Are you scared by the current developments within the US government? I sure as hell would be.",
"So when you say almost anything, what types of information are you supposed to keep classified?",
"How long have you been involved with government? Would you describe the current climate (metaphorical) as a crisis?\n\nWhat are the old timers saying about all this? ",
"In your opinion, is most of the anti-science rhetoric in politics driven by actual ignorance, or by willful ignorance?",
"What is your opinion on legalizing cannabis and psychedelics? it is a fact that these drugs have way too many positive effects to be ignored and kept illegal. Also, your opinion on the whole War on drugs operation. What does the future hold with these substances?",
"Why don't people in politics believe in science?",
"Given that the current political climate is not favourable to scientists and academics do you expect there will be a loss of America's top scientists (brain drain) to other countries? If so, what are the long term outlooks for scientific innovation in the country?",
"What would you say your workload is compared to other governmental jobs or just jobs in general? If you could choose to be another kind of scientist, what would it be?\n\nAnd what credentials might I need to obtain your job in the future? ",
"What fo you think is the best job if you want to go down the biological path ",
"I'm an undergraduate biology major, and I'm not sure what I want to do with my life after school. Would you suggest following your path? Pros/cons?",
"Why can't most, if not all, problems be solved logically?... Giving that a lot of scientists, engineers, etc... are available, why does the world (behavious mostly seen third world countries but not unique to them, also happens in the US) keep taking stupid decisions not based on facts?...\n\nWhat part would (or do) you take in solving this issue? worldwide?...",
"How often are you consulted? Are you consulted more by some legislators than you are others?",
"At which point do you download all your files and leave them in the secure drop at the NYT?",
"One of the problems that I've seen with research papers is the need to be the first to publish in order to get grants and all that. Is there any way that there could be, or maybe there already is, funding to verify other's work in order to verify it?",
"Does anybody in congress actually listen to anything that you say or do you just get brushed off because they \"don't believe in it\" or find it too inconvenient to actually care about the science in anything?",
"What sort of hours and work life balance do you have? I'm a PhD physicist planning to work in policy as well. ",
"Can you answer broadly whether you work for a specific elected official, or for one of the various offices that answers to the Congress as a whole?\n\nIf one were to try to transition into this kind of public service as a mid-career move, is it better to go through an individual elected official or something akin to the CBO? If elected official, your own representative (Senator), or just canvassing broadly?",
"How do you get this job and do you need a PhD? (Science student heavily invested in politics atm)",
"Do you see yourself staying in government, or do you think you will return to the biological sciences in some form at any point?",
"I'm currently a biology professor, however I am considering moving into politics in some form or fashion. Without getting too specific, how does someone like yourself make this sort of career jump?",
"I am currently a PhD student in engineering. I have designs to transition into a political career later in life but this recent election has made it feel imperative that I get involved sooner rather than later. \n\nThe worry I have is that if I move too far away from engineering that I won't be able to go back to working in highly technical areas. Do you have any suggestions for me to be able to maintain my technical \"chops\" while also being able to forge a political path? ",
"Hi!! I'm a freshman in college studying to become a chemical engineer. I've had a job in the Senate as a Page and would absolutely love to go back to Washington DC. Do you happen to know of any internship or job opportunities? Or jobs I could look out for after I'm done with school? Your job sounds amazing! I would be great to have a specific job to work toward.",
"A recent Science Friday episode described an orientation process for scientists in Washington where they learn that in Washington all facts are negotiable and that \"perceptions are facts\". Could you describe your experience with this phenomenon, and do you have any insight into why this is true? It this just the nature of making policy that you think you can change truth by force of will? Is it that few there have scientific training or a scientific mindset? Something else?",
"Thank you for doing this AMA. As a scientist who works for local government, the current political climate has been shocking, and my heart goes out to all of the people who have done such great work, and now may face losing their jobs.\n\nWhat advice would you give to scientists working at the local level to make scientific progress resilient in the face of political change? One idea would be to open-source as much non-administrative data as possible, so that if a program is cut, the work could continue in the private sector. Any advice you could give to help our colleagues in Washington?",
"I'm an engineer considering running for office (House of Representatives). Do you think this is a good idea for scientists and engineers in general, or are we better off working as staffers behind the scenes?",
"Can you explain the blackout on scientists and their research? I've heard plenty about it, but I'm unclear on all the specifics, and it would be great to get some perspective from somebody who's directly impacted by it.\n\nThank you very much for being here.",
"Do you feel that the American public has a good understanding on how scientific issues are debated in congress, and if not how would you increase visibility? \n\nAs a secondary question, do you think it's going to be as bad for science in this administration as it seems like it's going to be?",
"How do you feel about the incoming Education secretary's desire to abolish public school and teach fake science and history to our nation's students?",
"Hey, thanks for doing this. What can be done about to educate politicians on actual science? Is there anything the average person can do to fight corporations funding fake science? ",
"What aren't you allowed to tell us?",
"How does the current rise of idiocy in Washington affect your future?",
"About how often do you cringe at the logic and decision making of Congress as a whole?\n\nNot joking here. I'm really curious how it feels to observe Congress from the inside with a scientific perspective.",
"Do you often see push-back from congressional bodies who wish to see a certain outcome from scientific research?",
"Someone posted something on Facebook about how STEM people should start running for office. I asked the person who posted it if I could, instead, run into a wood chipper. I am PhD+15. I am not faculty, but have a support academic post. Going into government would be worse than industry. It would fundamentally destroy my will to live. \n\n...How do you live? When was the last time you were cited? What was the last paper you read? Which was the last conference you attended? \n\n...What was the last experiment you performed? What were the results? \n\nEdit. I am a US Citizen, but due to the lack of jobs in STEM in the US, I have been living/working abroad for nearly 5 years and haven't been back to the US in > 2.\n",
"Do you have contingency plans in place in case your scientific profession becomes a danger to your safety under fascism?",
"How terrified are you of Trump?",
"Have you witnessed, or are you aware of, any paid lobbyists attempting to legitimize practices which are knowingly harmful to the environment? ",
"How will the new government impact your work?",
"Seeing as you went old school with the AMAA instead of an AMA, I'm going to go with an old school question: Would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck?",
"One of the senators from my state said that the EPA has placed \"unreasonable\" burdens on businesses. Is that true? What evidence would there be for that? I'm thinking that he was referring to regulations regarding climate change and terrestrial ozone control, but in the email from his office it was not specific.",
"How do you feel about the legality of patenting life?\n\nI always found this a fascinating, if not bumbling intersection between government and science.",
"How do you suggest the public become more scientifically literate? Do you have any bipartisan solutions to achieving this? Also what area of science do you see as having a field-changing boom in the near future. ",
"How often do you find yourself exasperated by an elected official's lack of basic scientific knowledge? What do you do or think in those situations?",
"We need a scientist as president not political lawyers",
"Is Trump going to gut the NIH? ",
"Can you tell us if aliens do exist and the government is hiding it from us?",
"How well educated do you feel people on the hill are about science? Obviously they disagree on some major points, some of which have near unanimous scientific consensus (climate change for one). Do you feel that the congressmen who claim climate change is false are unqualified for office and, if you know any personally, do they actually hold such beliefs or keep them for political reasons?",
"Can you verify to us that Steve Bannon is in fact a human being?",
"Are you scared? ",
"What are you not allowed to tell us under the current administration",
"I am not signing off, but just want to make sure I thank the moderators for doing this and for all that they do to promote science",
"Just want to say thank you for your service and for illuminating the darkness in politics with scientific method critical thinking.",
"Has the Trump administration asked you to scientifically prove Mexicans and Muslim's are lesser humans than white people yet?"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
30amca
|
I've heard E. coli referred to as a human symbiont. Are there any other GI beasties that are known to be essential to human survival?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/30amca/ive_heard_e_coli_referred_to_as_a_human_symbiont/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cpr9co6"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Mammals could be accurately described as a walking home for bacteria - some of them could exist perfectly well in the external environment, but you have no chance of surviving without them inside of you.\n\n[Your gut houses microorganisms which regulate a large number of your bodily functions in some way](_URL_1_):\n\n > Major functions of the gut microflora include metabolic activities that result in salvage of energy and absorbable nutrients, important trophic effects on intestinal epithelia and on immune structure and function, and protection of the colonised host against invasion by alien microbes.\n\nThe community of organisms on which we rely is so large and diverse that we have not fully characterized it. The gut flora performs so many complex functions it has been characterized as [a virtual organ](_URL_0_). \n\n[Microbes inside of the human organism outnumber somatic cells by a factor of 10](_URL_2_). E. coli is just one of these organisms, to say that we could not live without that one in particular is a slight mischaracterization of how the community of microbiota functions - there would be issues, but so long as you have a sufficiently diverse community you could likely survive without any single member. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://embor.embopress.org/content/7/7/688.abstract",
"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673603124890",
"http://mpkb.org/home/pathogenesis/microbiota"
]
] |
||
15xjfw
|
difference between wma and mp3
|
I here a lot on music subreddits everyone downloading WMA's instead of MP3's. Whats the difference? Where does everyone manage to find all their music again in this format? Is it really a big difference?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/15xjfw/eli5_difference_between_wma_and_mp3/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c7qqt57",
"c7qsrrs",
"c7qvmcl"
],
"score": [
4,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Never heard of people being into wma files... but I'll answer anyways.\n\n > Whats the difference? \n\nwma and mp3 were competing formats in the 90s and early 2000s. Mp3 was the standard, and wma (made by Microsoft) was being pushed as a better format. MS claimed wma was superior to mp3 and produced CD quality audio at as low as 64 kbit/s (bitrate). Mp3 format \"cd quality\" was at the time 128, so being able to cut the harddrive space needed in half was huge, storage was expensive. But basically this was BS, wma format did not produce cd quality audio at that low bitrate and it never caught on.\n\n > Is it really a big difference?\n\nMostly No. Let me explain. \n\nWhile wma doesn't produce cd quality at low bitrates, it does better than mp3 when below 128. At 128 or above there is no reason not to use mp3 as mp3 can be made superior. As storage space is now cheap and available, we no longer care about lower quality music to save space.\n\n128 or above use mp3, below use wma. But for music you should not be under 192 anyways, so wma is worthless.\n\nThere is a WMA lossless format as well, but it is inferior to other alternatives as well.\n\nIf you're wondering, many tests have show the optimal music rate is 192 VBR mp3 encoded with LAME (aka alt preset standard). Anything more is almost always indistinguishable, less is sub-par quality.\n\nAs for format usability, everything plays mp3, most stuff also plays wma, but why the hell do you even take a chance with wma when you can just make a better mp3 file?\n",
"There is nothing wrong with wma, there's nothing really special about it either. It's just microsoft's in house format.\n\nThe iTunes store sells aac files which is the successor to mp3, and is supposed to be better but.... \n\nI used them for a while and then went back to mp3 for 2 reasons, compatability and metadata support. Almost everything under the sun plays mp3's, no worries about that (unlike wma). \n",
"mp3 is a way to store music efficiently, by throwing out frequencies you will not hear anyway (because they are either out of range, or obscured by other sounds). and it's licensed by Fraunhofer Institute. \n\nMicrosoft had to pay for having mp3 support in windows, and that is why it's not put into most major linux installations by default. similarily for other software developers that have software dealing with mp3 files.\n\nWMA is a similar technology, and i would assume Microsoft wanted to have their own audio codec, so that they could skip on mp3 licensing, or lock people down to using Windows and their products (and also include some kind of DRM in their audio files).\n\n_URL_1_\n\n_URL_0_"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Media_DRM",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3#Licensing_and_patent_issues"
]
] |
|
1sebet
|
Which alternative medicines/therapies are most backed up by science?
|
This question was asked 3 years ago, but perhaps since then, there has been more research. What therapies are "probably helpful", "harmless", and "harmful"? While there may be many things under the banner of alternative medicine, some that I have heard of include: Chiropractic, Acupuncture, Massage Therapy, Sacral - Cranial therapy, aromatherapy, yoga, Naturopathy, Reiki, fire cupping, Shiatsu, Chakra Balancing, etc.
Edit: Thanks everyone. By way of summary,
Seems that some question the phrase "alternative" so perhaps "non-traditional" would work better.
Some therapies have been around for far longer than Western medicine and since being "discovered" have now been examined using scientific studies and where applicable incorporated into Western practice (e.g. Active ingredients extracted out of herbs and packaged into controlled doses in pills)
Other therapies have not had proper studies done so we have no proof they work beyond a placebo effect.
Commenters note that massage and chiropractic are probably helpful along with the above mentioned herbal medicine that evolves into becoming traditional medicine.
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1sebet/which_alternative_medicinestherapies_are_most/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cdws98a",
"cdwueq1",
"cdwute7",
"cdwxv2s",
"cdwzsys",
"cdwzvsj"
],
"score": [
120,
44,
14,
3,
2,
4
],
"text": [
"If it is backed up by evidence, then it's is medicine, not alternative medicine. Asking for \"alternative medicine\" backed up by evidence is self contradictory. \n\nLook into ethnopharmacology, it's a field which takes folk remedies finds the actual basis for them working and then develops drugs based on that. ",
"If by alternative you mean unusual or somewhat anti-modern, maggot therapy is still one of the most effective methods for removing necrotic (dead) tissue.\n\nA 2008 study by British Medical Journal compared maggots to standard hydrogels to treat leg ulcers, and while the maggots were actually more successful at debridement (removing dead tissue) they also resulted in more reported pain from patients. But afaik it's still used in modern medicine, gross yet effective.\n\n[Wiki article](_URL_0_)",
"I'm not sure if one would consider fecal microbiota transplants to be an 'alternative' therapy in that it has been used in veterinary medicine for decades, but there is demonstrable utility in the management of clostridia.\n\n[Study 1](_URL_0_)\n\n[Study 2](_URL_3_)\n\n[Review](_URL_1_) citing 92% disease resolution\n\n[Glib mention by the Mayo that it may work on Parkinson's.](_URL_2_)\n\nFMT has been proposed for a number of disorders: multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's, diabetes, obesity, ulcerative colitis, ALS... pretty much everything shy of congenital lobar emphysema, and that's probably just because pulmonologists get squicked out by poop.",
"While not necessarily *therapy*, in the Middle East myrrh is still used as a 'cure all' and fortunately the benefits have been [documented.](_URL_0_) Now I am not sure how trustworthy Medical News Today is so if you want a more direct source I will be happy to find it.",
"\"by definition(..) alternative medicines (...) have either not been proved to work or been proved not to work. do you know what they call alternative medicines that have been proved to work? medicine\"~tim minchin\n\ni understand what commenters below are saying, that most people don't think of alternative medicine as medicine which has not been shown to have any medicinal effect but instead think of them as \"folk remedies\" or \"herbal medicine\" so in keeping with this vein i will apply some that i have come by in my time:\n\n* chewing willow bark can relieve a headache...the active ingredient here is also the active ingredient in asprin\n* chewing barks high in tanins such as oak and then applying it to a bee sting can alleviate pain as the tanic acid works as an astringent pushing out the poison. course adding in mouth bacteria may have it's own complications. boiling oak bark works too, but if you are gonna go through the trouble just apply an astringent.\n* applying honey to a wound can help keep out infection and kill bacteria already at the site as well as promote new tissue formation.\n* alloe is really good on burns...duh...\n* chomping down on cloves can help a toothace, clove oil is a natural topical anesthesia, doesn't work if the toothace is REALLY bad...learned that one the hard way. only works up to a point, about the point that oragel also doesn't work.\n \nmost medicines of course are derived from plants, so those plants can be used or prepared in similar ways to get similar effects, but it's usually best to leave it to the professionals...it's really easy to overdose if you are preparing them yourself. the ones i mention above don't really have that issue unless you take it too far (like preparing a tincture of willow bark and drinking a whole bunch of it) and even then they are outperformed by cheap easily available medicine.",
"[Leeches](_URL_0_) are very effective as an anti-coagulant. They can be used for things like sewing fingers back on to help with blood flow to the attached digit.\n\nNinja edit for spelling"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggot_therapy"
],
[
"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3491681/",
"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22002980",
"http://www.mayoclinic.org/medicalprofs/fecal-transplants-ddue1012.html",
"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3365524/"
],
[
"http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/267107.php"
],
[],
[
"https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=cg6lUrLdN_PKsQS6hoJQ&url=http://sciencenetlinks.com/science-news/science-updates/modern-leeching/&cd=4&ved=0CDkQFjAD&usg=AFQjCNHr9hJwkWpveFM7AIAwjuBsX8wrlQ"
]
] |
|
64npbb
|
why do frisbees fly better spinning than not?
|
I'm not really sure and I'm curious to find out, btw this is my first time here, so sorry if I did anything wrong
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/64npbb/eli5_why_do_frisbees_fly_better_spinning_than_not/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dg3ljeq",
"dg3lk28"
],
"score": [
2,
4
],
"text": [
"the spin keeps the orientation of the disk, otherwise it would flop around which would be bad. so the spin is nescessary for the gyro effect to keep them stable in that aerofoil airplane wing angle.",
"The spin stabilizes its direction (prevent it from flipping over) due to *angular momentum,* which means that spinning things are harder to throw off course than non-spinning things. \n\nBy staying at the right angle, it can fly better. Unlike a helicopter, the spin itself doesn't cause the Frisbee to fly."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
m9ip1
|
the process of getting a book published
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/m9ip1/eli5_the_process_of_getting_a_book_published/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c2z6jek",
"c2z9bfn",
"c2z6jek",
"c2z9bfn"
],
"score": [
13,
2,
13,
2
],
"text": [
"First, the author writes some or all of a book. The author submits the work to various publishing companies looking for one that likes it and will buy it.\n\nIf a publisher likes the book, they will make an offer to the author to buy the book and pay royalties on sales of the book. Once an agreement is reached, the author must finish writing and editing the book if it's not done yet. Then, an editor who usually works for the publisher will also read through the book and suggest corrections and changes.\n\nOnce the book is completely edited and finished, the publishing company will begin preparing the book to be printed and sold. This includes typesetting (arranging words, pictures, page numbers etc. on the pages), deciding on a catchy title, hiring someone to design a cover, writing the summary that goes on the back, and getting the book reviewed by critics so they can have quotes about what a great book it is.\n\nAt some point, the publisher starts contacting bookstores to let them know about the new book and ask how many copies the bookstore will buy. If the book has been marketed and hyped up, or is by a famous author, bookstores might buy a LOT of copies, assuming that they'll be able to sell them all. It's possible this way for a book to be a \"best seller\" in the newspaper the same day it comes out, because that's based on how many copies the bookstore buys, not the customers.\n\nFinally, the books are printed and shipped to the bookstores. Sometimes this is handled by a separate printing and distribution company or multiple such companies. Now it's up to readers to notice the book and purchase it!",
"You also have to be very fortunate to get even an audience to get your book read. A friend of mine just got a book published, and it took him a long time and more than a few friends in the business internationally to get it published. He also is only getting a flat fee, his book could sell a billion copies and he's only going to get that fee, though now he would have some credibility as to his ability to write a book that can sell and get a better deal next time around.",
"First, the author writes some or all of a book. The author submits the work to various publishing companies looking for one that likes it and will buy it.\n\nIf a publisher likes the book, they will make an offer to the author to buy the book and pay royalties on sales of the book. Once an agreement is reached, the author must finish writing and editing the book if it's not done yet. Then, an editor who usually works for the publisher will also read through the book and suggest corrections and changes.\n\nOnce the book is completely edited and finished, the publishing company will begin preparing the book to be printed and sold. This includes typesetting (arranging words, pictures, page numbers etc. on the pages), deciding on a catchy title, hiring someone to design a cover, writing the summary that goes on the back, and getting the book reviewed by critics so they can have quotes about what a great book it is.\n\nAt some point, the publisher starts contacting bookstores to let them know about the new book and ask how many copies the bookstore will buy. If the book has been marketed and hyped up, or is by a famous author, bookstores might buy a LOT of copies, assuming that they'll be able to sell them all. It's possible this way for a book to be a \"best seller\" in the newspaper the same day it comes out, because that's based on how many copies the bookstore buys, not the customers.\n\nFinally, the books are printed and shipped to the bookstores. Sometimes this is handled by a separate printing and distribution company or multiple such companies. Now it's up to readers to notice the book and purchase it!",
"You also have to be very fortunate to get even an audience to get your book read. A friend of mine just got a book published, and it took him a long time and more than a few friends in the business internationally to get it published. He also is only getting a flat fee, his book could sell a billion copies and he's only going to get that fee, though now he would have some credibility as to his ability to write a book that can sell and get a better deal next time around."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
42ply1
|
Do different body parts perceive heat differently?
|
I'm sorry if this is a dumb question but today while eating soup the bowl was very hot when touching it with my hand but i spilled some on the outside of the bowl and I licked it with my tongue and it didn't seem as hot. Is there a reason such as nerves? Thanks!
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/42ply1/do_different_body_parts_perceive_heat_differently/
|
{
"a_id": [
"czc6oxk"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Yes, the human body has different densities of nerve endings at different locations. Fingertips are intended for manipulating things, so they are more sensitive than say, your knee. This is also why a paper cut hurts like none other, but a similar size cut somewhere else is barely noticeable."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
3u4x0o
|
Can you numerically analyze non-linear differential equations?
|
The answer I have gotten from my professor is that if you want to numerically analyze a non-linear differential equation, you mostly can't. I can understand why some won't have answers in terms of elementary functions, or even at all, but surely there must be a method to evaluate those you can?
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/3u4x0o/can_you_numerically_analyze_nonlinear/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cxckfel",
"cxcrizp"
],
"score": [
6,
2
],
"text": [
"I am a bit confused by your question, particular this part:\n\n > if you want to numerically analyze a non-linear differential equation, you mostly can't.\n\nActually, the non-linearity of the equation makes analysis so generally difficult, that numerical methods are often the only way to solve the equations. There are plenty of canonical non-linear PDEs that show up in many fields of math and physics.\n\n* hyperbolic conservation laws\n* convection-diffusion equations (e.g., compressible Navier-Stokes)\n* eikonal equation, minimal surface equation, etc.\n\nThere is a whole plethora of texts and resources that describe various numerical methods to solve these equations. A particular method is often chosen specifically to the equation. The classification of the PDE (elliptic, parabolic, hyperbolic) is often a key factor in determining good algorithms. For instance, a hyperbolic conservation law will likely exhibit shocks and sharp changes in the solution value. So a numerical method that is able to approximate derivatives in the presence of sharp changes is required (e.g., WENO-type methods). \n\nHow the equation arises is also important in determining a numerical method. For example, the eikonal equation and minimal surface equation can be derived from a variational principle, and so a numerical method may take advantage of that by attempting to find the minimizer directly. A numerical method for a conservation law may attempt to exploit a global conservation to force the numerical solution to satisfy the conservation exactly.\n\nRelevant numerical methods are rather general though, as you will often find such methods divided roughly into several categories (e.g., finite difference, finite element, finite volume, and spectral). The theory and analysis of these methods is rich and not limited to narrow sets of equations. So for someone to say that \"you mostly can't\" numerically analyze a non-linear differential equation is rather bizarre. Unless you just misunderstood your professor.\n",
"Yep, in fact the majority of the numerical methods you see in computational science are non-linear differential equations of some kind that are dependent on a huge number of variables.\n\nFor instance molecular dynamics is a perfect example. We use numerical time integration methods (fancy way to say we use a modified Taylor series) to solve the differential equation.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nThis is a video of one of these simulations. In this case, the differential equation is newton's 2nd law (F = ma). Our forces are dependent on atomic positions which means you have a differential equation that is dependent on 3N coordinates. The forces have the function forms 1/r^12 , 1/r^6 , 1/r, exp(r), etc. depending on the model. This would be virtually impossible to solve by hand, but using numerical methods and modern computers we can still get important information. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQhjAtCKghE"
]
] |
|
2jo603
|
why does it seem democrats support higher taxes, but republicans support lower taxes?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2jo603/eli5why_does_it_seem_democrats_support_higher/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cldih8g",
"cldl7yb"
],
"score": [
7,
3
],
"text": [
"That's a fundamental difference between fiscal left (Democrats) and right (Republicans, Libertarians). Left = bigger government, more regulation, more services, more taxes required. Right = lower taxes, lower regulation, requiring smaller government and fewer services.",
"There are two classes of thought behind this.\n\n* Raise taxes higher on the \"rich\" to pay for social and infrastructure (Socialist/Democrat)\n* Lower taxes rates, which will allow people to spend more. More money spent in theory generate more total tax. (Conservative/Republican)\n\nIn practicality, it is more complex than the far left and the far right realize. Probably somewhere in between."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
bf91se
|
How did the moon landing spacesuits survive the ridiculous temperatures?
|
I’m not a conspiracy theorist I just need to know
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/bf91se/how_did_the_moon_landing_spacesuits_survive_the/
|
{
"a_id": [
"eleh4li"
],
"score": [
6
],
"text": [
"The short answer is that astronauts survive the cold with layers upon layers of insulation and survive the heat by reflecting most of the light that they come into contact with. That's why spacesuits are bulky and also white."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
6esf2m
|
why universal theme park has marvel rides if disney owns marvel
|
Doesn't that just seem weird? Aren't they in direct competition with each other? Why would Disney allow Universal to continue making money off their own property?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6esf2m/eli5_why_universal_theme_park_has_marvel_rides_if/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dicowlw",
"dicp1ad",
"dicrt87"
],
"score": [
3,
10,
5
],
"text": [
"Do they? I've never been there so I don't know. But if they do have them then it's likely the same reason Fox has X Men and Sony has Spider-man. Licensing. ",
"Because those rides and characters were purchased by Universal before Disney made deals with Marvel. Disney did not get the rights to those things when they got Marvel. ",
"Back in the 1990s, long before Marvel was acquired by Disney, they signed an impressively tight contract with Universal for the rights to the characters in use within theme park attractions. The contract limits the use of the characters on the east coast of the country to Universal Orlando with even tighter restrictions within a 60-mile radius of the Orlando parks. The contract does have a few stipulations, like ensuring upkeep of the rides, but overall is definitely more favorable to Universal than Marvel. \n\nSince that initial contract, Disney has bought Marvel, pumped millions of dollars into it and made it one of the most popular brands in modern film history. With billions of dollars in sales annually Marvel has proven to be a cash cow for Disney. The company, long known for its theme parks tie-ins, has already announced a ride in Hong Kong along with a small exhibit at Disneyland in California. While Marvel is slowly but surely being rolled out into the Disney parks globally back here in Florida, that airtight contract from the 1990s still blocks them from building anything at their most popular resort complex. \n\n_URL_0_\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[
"https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2015/05/22/making-sense-of-disney-and-universals-messy-joint-custody-of-marvel"
]
] |
|
536nnx
|
Is it true that women couldn't buy property in the US prior to 1974?
|
[This](_URL_0_) comment claims that women were not allowed to buy property until 1974. This is pretty surprising to me. Is this true, and if it is, why did it only happen so long after enfranchisement?
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/536nnx/is_it_true_that_women_couldnt_buy_property_in_the/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d7qlw68"
],
"score": [
24
],
"text": [
"Goodness gracious no. And the Equal Credit Opportunity Act referenced in that post, while it does indeed prevent discrimination on the basis of marital status, is about the extension of credit (loans), not possession of property.\n\nThat said, the inclusion of marital status in the act (Title VII of the Consumer Credit Protection Act) was part of the final death of *coverture* in the US.\n\nAmerica was a British colony and thus derives its law code in large part from English common law, including the doctrine of coverture. Under coverture, married women were not actually legal persons--they were essentially treated like legal minors under their husbands' authority. All property was joint property (including any wages earned) and husbands had final say; women could not sue in court, make contracts, or buy and hold their own property. \n\nNote that in America as in England, this applied to *married* women, or feme couvert (\"covered\" women). Widows and single adult women were classified as feme sole, full legal persons who could independently buy, own, and sell property, make contracts, and represent themselves in court.\n\nThe practical realities, enforcement, and effects of coverture are a contentious question in scholarship whether you're talking about the fifteenth century or the nineteenth. However, from the mid-ish 19th century to the 1970s we see a gradual ebbing away at coverture on a *legislative* level--on a state by state basis. (You'll notice that these two periods correspond to periods of flourishing women's rights activity. Not a coincidence.)\n\nIn the 1970s, some degree of coverture laws continued to apply in U.S. states like Louisiana, although very few of them. A series of Supreme Court decisions extended equal protection laws to marital status, which feminist legal scholars have considered to mark the final death of coverture. (I think this is why the AskReddit user's source picked out the 1974 law as significant, although not the significance that the post claims). Louisiana's \"head and master\" law, which legally placed the husband in control of the marriage and marital assets, was finally abolished by the Supreme Court in 1981 in Kirchberg v. Feenstra."
]
}
|
[] |
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/534u1n/slug/d7qd0gr"
] |
[
[]
] |
|
1sxmzc
|
What was the Native population levels in the United States before a cocktail of diseases killed 90% of the population? Was there evidence of cities, trading routes and wars?
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1sxmzc/what_was_the_native_population_levels_in_the/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ce2ac44",
"ce2b7qb"
],
"score": [
14,
3
],
"text": [
"There were millions of American Indians in the US, though experts disagree on the exact number. \n\nThere is an abundance of evidence of cities, trade routes, and warfare both archaeologically and historically. American Indian studies is a very rich area of study. \n\nIf you have more specific questions, I will try to answer for you, though my knowledge is relatively limited to the eastern US. ",
"As far as warfare goes, there was plenty of it. Some examples off the top of my head (apologies in advance for mainly citing Wikipedia):\n\nThe [Dorset](_URL_0_) people were effectively wiped out by the Thule, the culture that modern Inuit are descended from. \n\nThe [Iroquois](_URL_2_) people had a very hostile relationship with the Algonquin over territory, though the coming of Europeans, the structure of the fur trade, and the Seven Years War helped intensify things. \n\nAboriginal bands of the Pacific Northwest were also known for being particularly war-like, and the [Haida, Nuu-chah-nulth, Tlingit, Coast Tsimshian](_URL_3_) were known for taking slaves from conquered villages. Allegedly, one group of Alaskan Tlingit erected [a totem pole bearing the image of Abraham Lincoln](_URL_1_) supposedly as a symbol of the emancipation of all slaves in the US in an effort to discourage a rival band from taking them captive, though this story is hotly debated among Tlingit historians. Some say the pole was made to commemorate the first meeting with Europeans, and that an army photo of Lincoln was used as a model. Another version says the pole was made to thrown insults at, or to commemorate a debt left unpaid (slaves were property and the Tlingit chiefs viewed the freeing of their slaves as an offence to their laws and concepts of ownership).\n\nEdit: added counter theories re: Lincoln pole\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorset_culture",
"http://www.adn.com/adn/features/indian_country/05a6.html",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquis#Expansion",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_among_the_indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas#Indigenous_enslavement_of_indigenous_peoples"
]
] |
||
3mq8ph
|
what is briny water, in relation to the mars discovery?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3mq8ph/eli5what_is_briny_water_in_relation_to_the_mars/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cvh4q5y"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"Briny is an adjective meaning highly salty. On Mars, pure water would immediately evaporate due to the really low air pressure. However, salty water is less prone to boiling away or freezing than pure water. Extremely salty water is the only water that can exist as a liquid on Mars' surface."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
677wl2
|
If friction causes particles to heat up, why do we use fans to blow air against ourselves to cool down, and how does that work?
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/677wl2/if_friction_causes_particles_to_heat_up_why_do_we/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dgohhqq",
"dgohp5l",
"dgop1lg",
"dgosvoq",
"dgpv8bq"
],
"score": [
56,
5,
21,
4,
2
],
"text": [
"When you sweat in still air you form a layer of saturated vapor above the skin, which eventually reaches a vapor-liquid equilibrium, meaning you can not evaporate more sweat because the air around you can no longer absorb any more vapor. The fan blows this layer away replacing it with air that more sweat can evaporate into. The heat needed for the evaporation (turning liquid into a gas requires energy, which is provided by your body) then cools the body. \n\nOf course friction takes place, but the amount of energy exchanged via friction is neglegible against this mechanism.",
"When liquid evaporates the liquid that remains is lowered in temperature. To first order, a fan is just bringing air from a colder area into contact with your warm body, beyond that it is facilitating the evaporation of your sweat which leaves the remaining sweat cool. This is why if you splash water on your hand and then go under a fan it feels really nice and cool... until the water evaporates. ",
"Room temperature is about 20 degrees C. \nBody temperature is about 37 degrees C.\n\nYour body heats up the air around it. When there's no wind, this means there's a layer of warm air around you. When you turn on a fan (or go outside on a windy day), this layer of warm air is constantly blown off and your skin feels the \"true\" air temperature, at 20 degrees.\n\nIf you heat up the room so it's the same as body temperature, blown air won't feel cool anymore.",
"I have a background in mesoscale and microscale meteorology, and the answer to this question is usually oversimplified before it gets to the interesting parts, maybe I can get you there.\n\nThere are three ways to transfer heat energy: Conduction, Convection, and Radiation. Maybe four if you include advection. But ignore advection for now.\n\nConduction occurs most effectively in solids. If you hold a coin in your hand for a few minutes, you will transfer your heat energy directly to the coin, because the atoms in your hand are colliding with the atoms in the coin and transferring their kinetic energy until both temperatures are equal.\n\nConvection occurs in gasses and liquids. Hot air rises and cold air sinks. It's why bubbles rise in a pot of boiling water. In both cases, the warmer gas/liquid/fluid is replaced by a cooler gas/liquid/fluid.\n\nRadiation is technically a form of light (electromagnetic radiation), rather than transferring or moving kinetic energy around. Everything is always radiating something and it doesn't require a medium like conduction or convection. It's how the sun keeps us warm through a vacuum from millions of miles away.\n\nSo, if you want to cool down you might sit in front of a fan. As others have stated, it enhances convection, as it affects the convection your body is naturally creating. Of the three methods of cooling down, because we live in a fluid (our atmosphere), convection is the easiest to control. Although, it's a little bit of an oversimplification since we're only talking about sensible heat.\n\nBut, there are two kinds of heat: sensible and latent. And, this is where it gets a little complicated....\n\nSo, you also sweat all the time, even if you're not necessarily dripping with it. Not sure how much you remember science class, but it takes a certain amount of energy applied to the water to heat it to a certain temperature, and then another amount of energy to get it to change phases and evaporate. That's how sweating cools us down, through the loss of latent heat via the phase change.\n\nBut, water won't just evaporate equally everywhere, it's dependent on other factors, such as relative humidity. When the RH is close to 100%, the water won't really evaporate, since the atmosphere is already holding as much as it can at a given temperature.\n\nNow, going back to the fan example... when you're sitting around and put on a fan it help cool you off, you're really doing *two* things... enhancing convection (replacing warm air around your body with relatively cooler air), but you're also removing a thin layer of moist, humid air and replacing it with (relatively) drier air that helps enhance your ability to sweat efficiently.\n\nWhere it gets interesting is when you start to consider eddy diffusion and other fluid dynamics of a system that involves you and your environment. Boundary Layer Climates (by T.R. Oke, to my recollection) has a great introductory chapter on how piglets affect their microclimate, if you want to read up more about it.\n\nEDIT 1: The T.R. Oke chapter is \"Climates of Animals\"",
"Friction from the fan does raise air temperature, but it's a fraction of a degree, you can't even measure it.\n\nThe fan is cooling you in two ways:\n\n1. It accelerates the evaporation of sweat from your skin. Liquids such as sweat absorb heat when they evaporate. That's why we sweat when we overheat. A fan just makes this process go faster.\n\n2. The surrounding air current coming in from the fan could absorb some heat from your body and carry it away from you.\n\nProcess #1 works even when air is hotter than you, it doesn't matter. Process #2 is only active when air is cooler than your body."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
3orcyl
|
if a girl's body is "ready" to give birth once they start getting their period, why is it considered dangerous for people to do so at a young age?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3orcyl/eli5_if_a_girls_body_is_ready_to_give_birth_once/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cvzqi5j",
"cvzqj58",
"cvzqjgq",
"cvzqnb3",
"cvzrgrf",
"cvzuyv9"
],
"score": [
12,
2,
3,
2,
9,
2
],
"text": [
"It's 'ready' in that it is biologically possible. Pregnancy/Birth can be dangerous or even deadly even for an adult woman. Being young can increase the risk of a variety of complications for both the child and parent. ",
"Just because you're physically able to do something doesn't mean its not dangerous. It is considered dangerous because the risks are much greater than a pregnancy in a physically mature woman.",
"It is only \"ready\" to do so in the pure basest of forms. She can become pregnant. However, that early in puberty girl's bodies are far from fully developed. The biggest issue is that their hips still need to grow wider.\n\nPregnancy at a young age therefore comes with high risks of complications, and even death for the mother.",
"A woman's eggs are technically ready to be fertilized once she starts menstruating (and therefore a pregnancy can potentially occur), but that doesn't mean her body is fully ready to support a pregnancy at that point. Parts of the body will still not be fully developed for years to come and during that time there is a high risk of birth defects and other pregnancy-related health issues.",
"Keep in mind too, women in developed countries are fertile younger than we used to be.\n\nThe age of menarche (a girl's very first menstrual cycle) has declined by a couple years since we start having data on that sort of thing. It's now around 12 and a half in the US. It used to be more like 14/15.\n\nIt's still not entirely safe for a 14/15-year-old girl to be getting pregnant, but it's a lot safer than a 12-year-old doing so.",
"Sex itself is not dangerous after puberty, physically. But it can have severe psychological impact if you aren't ready. Just think about how having sex affects you and who you're with even as an adult.. then think about applying that to the mind of a very young teenager. That rarely goes well. \n\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
8fuynp
|
why do formula 1 drivers keep their tires warm during a safety car?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8fuynp/eli5_why_do_formula_1_drivers_keep_their_tires/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dy6obgl"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"So the car can grip the road better. The tyres are constructed to work more effectively at a higher temperature. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
7p71pv
|
Accurate fiction set in Ancient Greece/Rome/Egypt?
|
I love historical fiction, but primarily read Tudor works. I'm looking to branch out into other areas of history that I enjoy.
Can anyone here recommend good historical fiction on the above or just authors in general and I can check out their work myself? Thank you!
I did google, but it's like needle in a haystack, so many indie authors writing "historically", but forgetting the history haha
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/7p71pv/accurate_fiction_set_in_ancient_greeceromeegypt/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dsfbgmt"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"We have a [FAQ on the historical accuracy of certain TV series, movies and videogames](_URL_1_) including [HBO's \"Rome\"](_URL_0_) which featured a portrayal of my area of study (Ptolemaic Egypt) in what I can only describe as a garbage fire but otherwise did less of a bad job portraying the Roman Republic than most other things."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/historically_accurate#wiki_..._is_hbo.27s_.27rome.27.3F",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/historically_accurate"
]
] |
|
3tn898
|
microeconomics.
|
Can someone explain it to a literal five year old?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3tn898/eli5microeconomics/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cx7lsnx"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"Say you have 20 people who like ice cream by a varying amount. Person #1 is willing to pay $1 for a cone, person #2 is willing to pay $2 a cone because he likes it a bit more, person #3 is willing to pay $3 a cone because he likes it even more, all the way up to person #10 is willing to pay $10 a cone because he loves ice cream.\nThis is your demand curve. If ice cream is $10, only one person will buy it. If ice cream is $9, two people will buy it. If ice cream is $8, 3 people will buy it, etc.\n\nNow we need suppliers. Supplier #1 can make ice cream really cheap and will sell it for $1. Supplier #2 can only sell ice cream for $2 and stay in business. Etc. all the way up to supplier #10 who won't sell ice cream for less than $10. This is our supply curve. If ice cream is selling for $1, then only one person is willing to make it. If it's selling for $2, then only 2 people. If it's selling for $10, then all 10 will sell it. This is our supply curve.\n\nNow we have to see where supply meets demand (which is $5). If the price is $6, then 6 people will be willing to make it, but only 4 will be willing to pay for it. If the price is $4, then 4 people will be willing to make it, but 6 people will be wiling to buy it. So the magic price is $5 where 5 people are willing to make it and 5 people are willing to buy it. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
882zih
|
why is texas so conservative compared to some other southern states?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/882zih/eli5_why_is_texas_so_conservative_compared_to/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dwhfqn6",
"dwhgmnz"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Texas isn't that red any more, largely due to the demographic shift. For national level elections like president and senators, the state is only weakly right-leaning.\n\nMost of the county and state level reps are Republicans because the demographic shift is concentrated in a few cities, leaving the other counties dominated by older, whiter, more conservative voters.\n\nThis is a problem the Democratic party faces in almost every state, not just Texas.",
"The multiple large cities is the primary cause. The progressive population concentrates in the major cities (at lest some of them) and the rest of the State which is rural or smaller towns and cities is conservative. \n\nAnd we are not actually hard right. We are moderately right. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
50l09k
|
When exactly did we start giving names to places?
|
A Paleolithic tribe would usually just call that River over there "the river". But do we know when humans began giving places and geographical features names, like Tigris or Euphrates of Nile?
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/50l09k/when_exactly_did_we_start_giving_names_to_places/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d751r3y"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"We have no way of knowing what any paleolithic tribe called anything, but all the evidence we have of the very earliest languages we can access (which are late neolithic, at best) suggests that place names were already common. In fact, some of the most common likely survivors of pre-Indo-European languages in Europe are from place names. For instance, in Greece, place names with the ending -unthos (like Olynthos) are often argued to be remnants of pre-PIE substrates.\n\nSee [here](_URL_0_) for a good discussion."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://minoablog.blogspot.com/2010/08/pre-greek-place-names-of-aegean.html"
]
] |
|
38k0o8
|
why people get happy when there is water on another planet, isn't it possible that aliens could live without water?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/38k0o8/eli5_why_people_get_happy_when_there_is_water_on/
|
{
"a_id": [
"crvluva",
"crvmip2"
],
"score": [
6,
10
],
"text": [
"Life **as we know it** is much much more likely in the presence of water. Could life exist that is nothing like what we know? Sure it could ... but we wouldn't know what to look for, and might not even recognize it as life if we found it. So we use life as we know it as a criteria for what to look for which increases the likelihood of actually finding it. Otherwise we'd just be fumbling around in the dark with no search criteria and no clue if we'd found anything. ",
"We can divide up all possible life into two categories: life that needs water, and life that does not need water.\n\nWe know the first group exists, because we, and all other life on earth, are part of that group. The existence of the second group is pure speculation. So while no one denies the possibility of the second group, it makes a whole lot of sense to focus on looking for the type that we know CAN exist."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
pywbv
|
Could being a homosexual in anyway be a humans defense mechanism against overpopulation?
|
I'm just wondering if there could be any connection between the two. Is homosexuality common in nearly extinct species? If not, could it be possible that homosexuality is a genetic trait that only kicks on when we realize that as a species, we don't need to produce anymore for the time being?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/pywbv/could_being_a_homosexual_in_anyway_be_a_humans/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c3tczqx",
"c3td252"
],
"score": [
2,
3
],
"text": [
"No, anything that negatively affects reproductive fitness cannot be selected for. \n\nThe most popular hypothesis currently to explain the incidence of homosexuality in humans is the gay uncle/gay aunt hypothesis. By helping to raise their sibling's children, their sibling's children's survival and reproduction is greater, and thus the gay phenotype is an indirect cause of an increase in reproductive fitness - thus the genes responsible continue to propagate. \n\nAlso, historically, many gay men and women were forced to have children anyway. Thus, some people hypothesize that the modern gay rights movement might lead to the extinction of homosexuality in humans eventually - as homosexuals who would have previously bred centuries ago now no longer breed.\n\nBut for an allele to remain present in a population it has to either be neutral or increase fitness. Except weird situations where deleterious alleles can get fixed in a population if it's only homozygous deadly and the population size is small enough that random sampling (drift) overcomes selection.",
"No, if for no other reason than that overcrowding has not been a strong enough issue for such a trait to have evolved and spread worldwide across largely segregated populations.\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
athffn
|
if earth and every planet is falling towards our sun, and our solar system is falling towards our galactic center, where is our entire galaxy falling towards, and if it isn’t falling, what force is holding it up?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/athffn/eli5_if_earth_and_every_planet_is_falling_towards/
|
{
"a_id": [
"eh1019s",
"eh11uxm",
"eh121l7"
],
"score": [
2,
10,
2
],
"text": [
"There is no force holding anything celestial up. It is merely floating in a vacuum, space. Gravity is the force binding everything together, which is ultimately responsible for the current shape of the galaxy",
"The OP is correct in using falling as relative between the two objects. The earth “falls” towards the sun, just is going too fast and so always misses. The Milky Way, as far as I understand, is falling towards andromeda galaxy, eventually to “collide” and become a big super galaxy. Any one galaxy is always attracted to a bigger one nearby, these form clusters, and clusters of galaxies are attracted towards each other, too. It gets pretty meta.",
"The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are falling towards each other due to crash in a few hundred million years. \n\nThey are also falling towards the shared centre of gravity of the Laniakea supercluster. \n\nThe entire observable universe seems to be moving in the same direction, but it can't be falling towards anything as gravity from beyond the edge of the observable universe can't have reached here yet. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
3szbn4
|
why are people so politically charged?
|
What is the psychology behind people going on political rants, specifically on the internet? Why do they feel such a connection to one side of the political spectrum?
How does yelling at someone who feels differently about you convince them to believe what you believe?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3szbn4/eli5_why_are_people_so_politically_charged/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cx1qozv",
"cx1qroq",
"cx1reui",
"cx1snzv",
"cx1xm4s",
"cx1yqs0",
"cx20suv"
],
"score": [
3,
16,
12,
4,
2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"To me, having some political stances is better than no stance. \nWe need to stop voting based on who has a chance to win and start voting based who isn't lying.\n\nMinisters like Harper, Carson, Clinton and other flat out lying and trying to cover their lies need to be gone before being head of their party.",
"Mostly because our lives are directly impacted by who our government officials are. In America we vote to have Laws passed, therefore everyone who votes whether they are for Or against this law they are all entitled their opinion. Some political views such as abortion are extremely heated, and both sides do have valid arguments that's why there hasn't been a final law written on this subject. Hope that helped a little I'm sure there will be better answers but that's my best shot at the moment.\n\nEdit: Also to hit the point on racial issues. Sometimes when people openly say racist things some people have the urge to give them their own opinion as well. If you are going to post something offensive and it happen to be taken racially. I feel like most people try to give that person a point of view that will perhaps make them not feel so hateful. The wrong way to handle this is to just let that person get you angry and fall in their trap.",
"Tribalism. It's about belonging to a group. Most people adopt whatever opinions their \"team\" supports, and perceive any attack on those opinions as attacks on their peer group. Humans are social animals and we came to dominate this planet due to our ability to form tight social bonds, but sometimes it goes bad. ",
"People want their ideas to survive, and survival for ideas means you spread and defend them. If someone is loud about theirs, and you're not loud about yours, yours are less likely to survive. That causes debates.",
"Because its easy to counter one to one than to debate on exigency of any action or omission by any side of political spectrum\n\nI guess we have limited our arguments to 'with us or against us' rather than on the roads we travel ( or path or methods).\n\nIdentifying why, what ,how ,when, is difficult than by who, for whom",
"Because it's something they have so little control on, they need to feel like they are doing what they can to exert more control over it. If someone has a lot of money and a law is passed that causes them to lose a lot of it, they will likely feel a lot of animosity towards the people that supported the law because they are on some level responsible. By trying to aggresively change the minds and discredit the debates of people that go against them, they hope to influence the outcome of government more in their favor, even if in reality the effect is quite minimal in many cases.",
"It involves spreading the word. We get this from our association with religion where we are told to go out and acquire more believers. The definition of \"evangelize\" is to convert or seek to convert (someone) to Christianity. Being a predominately Christian nation we took this to the max. by applying it to politics because those involved sought to create a utopia that reflects their values. And to a certain extent it is imbedded in the formation of our nation which in itself could be looked at as a utopia. Thus, as the nation evolved and aged it adapted to changes in society that no longer reflect such a narrow view of society. The word \"conservative\" means holding to traditional attitudes and values and cautious about change or innovation, typically in relation to politics or religion. Its not a Republican or Democratic thing. Both can be conservative. Yet the utopian seekers laid claim to the name Conservative."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
eb9ou0
|
why does it hurt more to drink cold water after having menthol of some kind? can it actually hurt the throat?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/eb9ou0/eli5_why_does_it_hurt_more_to_drink_cold_water/
|
{
"a_id": [
"fb3cdgz"
],
"score": [
11
],
"text": [
"Menthol actually activates the same receptors in your mouth and throat that sense cold, and it sticks to these receptors for a while. So everything cold that you drink or eat afterwards seems even colder. When things are very cold the cold sensation becomes painful. So a drink that is normally pleasantly cold may feel uncomfortably cold if you've just had some menthol before drinking it."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
2qmoqd
|
Why does water become vapor at room temperature and 1 atm when the phase diagram for water does not allow for it?
|
I recently took a job in aerospace (woo!) but I graduated with a minor in geology. I never studied atmosphere and weather in school, but now I need to learn everything about weather in two weeks.
Ive only studied crystal phase diagrams and in the [crystal diagram phase for water](_URL_0_) there is no allowance for vapour at 1 atm and room temperature. How then can we have water evaporating into vapour at room temperature.
Im hoping someone here can help put me on the right track. Ive been trying to understand the chemistry here but the paradigm used for learning atmospheric sciences is completely different than the paradigm used for learning about rocks...
edit: wording
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2qmoqd/why_does_water_become_vapor_at_room_temperature/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cn87mxd"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Under normal ambient conditions, liquid water exists in a thermodynamic equilibrium with its vapour state; some molecules will escape the surface into the atmosphere. The pressure of the vapour over the liquid at equilibrium is called the (vapour pressure)[_URL_0_], and scales (non-linearly) with the temperature. The temperature at which the liquid's vapour pressure equals the ambient pressure is the liquid's boiling point."
]
}
|
[] |
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_diagram#Crystal_phase_diagrams"
] |
[
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vapor_pressure"
]
] |
|
ag5ryd
|
headphone specs often include impedance and sensitivity. what do they mean, and how much does it affect my listening experience?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ag5ryd/eli5_headphone_specs_often_include_impedance_and/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ee3tb2x"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"Sensitivity tells you how much sound they'll develop for a given amount of power from the source. If you're plugging into a mains powered amp that has plenty of power, poor sensitivity won't affect your listening experience. You can just turn the volume up. But if you're plugging into a miniaturized battery powered device, sensitive headphones will let you keep the volume down to preserve battery life, and still have plenty of volume.\n\nImpedance has to do with how much current they draw from the amp. Or, in other terms, how much power they draw from the amp for a given volume setting. High impedance headphones will draw less power - and be proportionately less loud - than their low impedance counterparts. Given equal sensitivities, you can turn low impedance phones up louder before the volume control tops out."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
wrkz2
|
diff between having an engine at the front or the back?
|
Effect on force/speed and also on steering/navigating.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/wrkz2/eli5diff_between_having_an_engine_at_the_front_or/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c5fvkdc",
"c5fvrlj"
],
"score": [
2,
5
],
"text": [
"It doesn't make much of a difference, apart from weight distribution (the engine is one of the heaviest part of a car).\n\nIt's important not to confuse having the engine in the front or back of the car, with having front wheel drive or rear wheel drive. This has a huge impact on steering and sliding (over ice, for example).\n\nObviously, if you have rear wheel drive AND the engine in the back, you will have more weight on the wheels and less chance of your propulsion wheels slipping.",
"While there is more to it than just engine position, such as drive train, weight distribution, power to weight ration, etc I will try to make it super easy to understand\n\nPicture yourself pushing a cart through a supermarket. When you are pushing it from behind, you get great amount of force on the back wheels, but often if you push to hard, you can lift the front wheels up, causes you to not be able to turn.. This would be an example of an RR setup, or Rear engine, Real wheel drive configuration. This would be found in something like a VW Bug \n\nNow imaging that same cart, being pulled from the front, most of the weight is on the front wheels. This provides greater traction, but also has issues. Such as: if you lose traction on the front wheels, you lose power.. This is an FF setup. or Front engine, Front wheel drive. Such as a Honda Civic.\n\nA bike, for example would be an example of Mid engine, Rear wheel drive. Where the engine, you, is in the center, Your power is pushing through the rear wheel. you have good traction up front for navigation and good traction in rear for power. Cars like the Porsche 911 or MR2 are examples of an MR configuration. While they have a great weight an power distribution, they still deal with slippage. If you lose traction in the front, you cannot navigate as well, if you lose traction in the rear, you lose power.\n\nA FR or front engine rear wheel drive setup like that in a Mustang or AE86 have the engine in the front, with the rear wheels propelling the car. This allows for good traction in the front, while pushing the car. To prevent traction from leaving the back of the car, you will often see race cars with wings or spoilers in the rear to help push the back wheels down. \n\nLastly there are 4wd and Awd. These typically ten to have a front engine design, but can also use any variation from above. These setups allow power to all wheels at all time (4WD) or alternate between the wheels, providing power where there is more traction (AWD). An example of a 4wd would be that of a Ford F150, where an AWD would be an Impreza or Lancer Evo (or GTR ).While this provides the best traction and powering through turns, it puts more stress on the engine to turn all 4 wheels and more weight on the car with the added equipment. \n\nSpeed is usually determined more by horsepower and weight ration rather than engine position. A 300hp car that is RWD will usually have the same speed as a 300hp AWD car. The difference is off the start. A RWD or FWD car will usually burn out, or spin their wheels before they gain traction, while a AWD car will usually gain traction right away and shoot off the line. The RWD or FWD car, however, could weigh less than the AWD car and actually be much faster. Power to Weight is really what determines speed. More weight = better traction but less speed. Less weight = Better speed but less traction.\n\nI know this is wordy, but I hope it helps! "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
2fvx4t
|
why children will sometimes intentionally aggravate their parents to the point where they lose their temper.
|
This is not a glimpse into my personal hell. My kid is generally good. But there are times when she intentionally goads me or her mom into losing it. I know she's doing it so can generally mange it but I'm left at times wondering 'why are you doing this?'
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2fvx4t/eli5why_children_will_sometimes_intentionally/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ckd91n8",
"ckd94gc"
],
"score": [
2,
3
],
"text": [
"Children (and people in general) keep trying to find the boundaries of what is acceptable behavior.\n\nIf no boundaries are presented, the child will keep pushing until he or she reaches a boundary. In this case, when the parent loses it.\n\nThe trick seems to be to set firm, reasonable, boundaries at a point which doesn't involve anybody losing their temper.",
"Three reasons in combination: young kids can become frustrated at their lack of control, they haven't developed the ability to analyze the longer-term impact of their actions, and they are still learning how to use and handle emotions rather than have those emotions use and handle them. \n\nSo younger ones can get really wound up until they essentially have a meltdown - a temper tantrum - where they lose control of their emotions entirely.\n \nWhen they get older, rebellious kids can shut down when they perceive an injustice or an unfair situation, taking this frustration out on their parents either as the authority figure that's imposing the unfairness, or as the closest person that the kid can lash out at to expend some of their emotional energy. Sometimes it's outright belligerence, sometimes it's more subtle and manifests as goading or pestering as in your case. \n\nThe kid feels they \"win\" if they manage to make someone else unhappy, even if they \"lose\" in the longer term."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
1zk326
|
Why does diabetes cause the build up of ketone bodies?
|
If diabetes is the lack of insulin production or insulin resistance, then surely blood glucose levels are elevated. So what need is there for the body to form ketone bodies (as I understand it, ketone bodies are formed in the process of fatty acid metabolism where there are low glucose levels in the blood). There's probably a simple answer, but I'd appreciate your help on this.
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1zk326/why_does_diabetes_cause_the_build_up_of_ketone/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cfug60x"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Diabetes is either caused by a decreased amount of insulin (Type I) or that cells have a decreased sensitivity for insulin (Type II). The reason glucose levels are so high in diabetes is because insulin is needed for cells to uptake glucose and use it as energy. When your bodies cells are deprived of energy because glucose cannot be utilized for energy, fatty acids are utilized by the liver to form ketones, which then a lot of the body uses for energy in place of glucose."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
16oyhd
|
do historians mean something different then normal people when they use the word "racism"?
|
recently I got into an argument with a guy who insisted that when all academics (including historians) use the word racism they are talking about a "pre-existing power differential..." (between races) "...being abused", as opposed to how normal people use it to mean "The belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race".
is he trolling me?
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/16oyhd/do_historians_mean_something_different_then/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c7y1qfk",
"c7y1y2m"
],
"score": [
7,
2
],
"text": [
"I'm not a historian, so I'm not really familiar with what their literature would say, but coming from an anthropological background I'd say that neither really fits. \"Racism\" certainly has elements of power and power differentials (I'd say that is a big part, yes), but really racism is about saying that a certain \"race\" is somehow inferior or less worthy than another one. That necessarily implies that each \"race\" must have specific characteristics unique to it (as in, people believe that they do, not that there actually are any), but it also involves the power differentials. So it's sort of both, if that makes any sense.\n\nNow, I put \"race\" in scare quotes because [anthropologists don't believe that race is actually a real thing](_URL_0_). *Racism* very much exists, but *race* itself is entirely a social construct.",
"Most people use the word \"racism\" interchangeably with \"prejudice.\" Few academic fields who work with and on \"race\" and \"racism\" would conflate the two. The classic definition of \"race plus power\" prevails in one form or another.\n\nSaying \"race doesn't exist\" is a bit of an overstate of where social scientists are. \"Race\" can be a social construct and still exist. To say it is \"false\" (as a biological entity) is not the same to say it does not exist (as a socially-constructed entity)."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://www.aaanet.org/stmts/racepp.htm"
],
[]
] |
|
255fjj
|
are there any other countries similar to north korea in terms of seclusion and secrecy?
|
North Korea seems to be unique in the way it operates with so much propaganda and brainwashing. Plus the death camps and famine that are occuring. Are there any countries similar in any way to North Korea? I have to believe that propaganda is happening elsewhere but are there other places where they kidnap their own citizens and throw them in modern day concentration camps for speaking out against the government?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/255fjj/eli5_are_there_any_other_countries_similar_to/
|
{
"a_id": [
"chdvabj",
"chdvr7e",
"chdvtti",
"chdwuwz"
],
"score": [
9,
4,
2,
3
],
"text": [
"Turkmenistan is pretty bad, especially under their old leader Niyazov. He did really crazy stuff like renaming the months after his family members, writing a book and forcing everyone to memorize it (as well as forcing all mosques in the country to place it next to the Koran), totally cutting off pensions to the elderly for no reason (Turkmenistan should be super rich because of oil and gas, but he kept the money for himself and his crazy projects) , closing down all the libraries, basically banning the Internet and the list goes on and on. And he created a repressive spy state which did such wonderful things as boil people alive. Things have gotten better since he died in 2006 but it's still hardly a model democracy....",
"In the words of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry, North Korea has \"no parallel in the contemporary world\".",
"I believe propaganda exists in pretty much every country. This in itself isn't a huge problem though.\n\n > other places where they kidnap their own citizens and throw them in modern day concentration camps for speaking out against the government?\n\nOh yes. Perhaps not concentration camps, but there are plenty of countries where you can get an unfair trial, imprisoned or killed for speaking out agaisnt the government.\n\nSyria [\"Syria's authorities were among the worse violators of human rights last year, jailing lawyers, torturing opponents and using violence to repress ethnic Kurds, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.\"](_URL_0_)\n\nBahrain [\"Serious abuses included denying defendants the right to counsel and to present a defense, and failure to investigate credible allegations of torture and ill-treatment during interrogation. \"](_URL_2_)\n\nIran [\"At least 40 journalists and bloggers were in Iran’s prisons at time of writing\"](_URL_1_)\n\nMany other too, but I'm only familiar with the middle east. Libya and Egypt were similar until the uprising in 2011.\n\n",
"*Best Korea\nFTFY"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[
"http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/24/us-syria-rights-idUSTRE70N5S620110124",
"http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2014/country-chapters/iran?page=2",
"http://www.hrw.org/reports/2012/02/28/no-justice-bahrain-0"
],
[]
] |
|
7u08by
|
To what extent was the Bundeswehr a successor to the wehrmacht? What changes were made to the culture, structure and organization?
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/7u08by/to_what_extent_was_the_bundeswehr_a_successor_to/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dth4fhm"
],
"score": [
75
],
"text": [
"The Bundeswehr to this day is very much somewhere between haunted and inspired by its predecessor, the German Wehrmacht of 1935-1945.\n\n---\n\nContext block ahead, just skip if you're decently knowledgable about German history between 1945-1955.\n\nTo give a bit of context to the reader, the Bundeswehr was created in 1955 as the army of West Germany. Germany at that point had been divided into two separate states for six years, with the West German FRG (Federal Republic of Germany, Grmn.: *\"Bundesrepublik Deutschland\"*, BRD) and the East German GDR (German Democratic Republic, Grmn.: *\"Deutsche Demokratische Republik\"*, DDR) both being set up as demilitarized countries in 1949. The BRD (I will use the German abbreviations from here on) was created on the grounds of the American, British and French occupation zones and became a western-style democracy with capitalistic economic programs, whereas the DDR was created on the Soviet occupation zone to the west of the rivers Oder and Neiße, became an authoritarian one-party state with a planned economic system under a so-called \"real socialist\" system.\n\nNow, in 1955, the Cold War was still in full swing ever since events like the Berlin Airlift, the Greek Civil War and the Korean War put the former Anti-Hitler-Coalition firmly into two camps: The Soviets and their eastern European puppets on one side, everybody else on the other. Both sides were armed with atom bombs, the U.S. since 1945, the USSR since 1949 and most recently the UK in 1952. The two sides really needed more manpower for the case of conflict, and policy also got in the way on the democratic side. Continuing German occupation without German assistance was unpopular, and Konrad Adenauer, West German chancellor since 1949, had proven himself to be a valuable ally and partner, especially to France, even though the true birth of Franco-German friendship would not come around until the Suez Crisis of 1956 would create a rift between France on one side and the U.S. and the UK on the other.\n\n---\n\nSo the West Germans were called up to create an armed service. I could also provide parallel information about the East German Nationale Volksarmee in a follow-up if asked, but your question was specifically about the Bundeswehr. The Bundeswehr was created into being on November 12th, 1955, ten years, six months and four days after the Wehrmacht's surrender on May 8th, 1945.\n\nEven the name itself is already a Wehrmacht artifact in multiple ways. You will notice that the term \"Wehr\" appears in both. It means *defense* or *protection*. The \"Wehrmacht\" is literally the *protective force*, whereas the \"Bundeswehr\" is the *federal protection*. The third name one has to mention is the \"Reichswehr\", the *imperial protection* or *realm protection*, the army of the Weimar Republic until its renaming by Hitler in 1935.\n\nSo one might argue that Bundeswehr is named after its proud grandpa the Reichswehr, correct? Nothing to do with its disgraced dad, the Wehrmacht? Well, no. Because the man who was leading among those who suggested the name \"Bundeswehr\" was one Hasso von Manteuffel, commander of the 5th Panzer Army as well as the Panzer Division \"Greater Germany\". So that's just a straight-up Wehrmacht man. He also was convicted of war crimes, but in his case it was because of executing deserters, so that's at least less awful than what some of his buddies were doing.\n\nThe Bundeswehr was in the early days looking desperately for role models from the war. Who would be discarded? Who was too nazi? Hitler, obviously. The Bundeswehr was instrumental in creating a myth of Hitler's military incompetence pushed by the former Wehrmacht commanders to make themselves innocent of military or logistical failure. Next up, the Bundeswehr was also rather quick in discarding the SS, with generals like Paul Hausser and of course SS political leaders like Heinrich Himmler never getting the chance to fall out of favor because no one had favor with them to begin with.\n\nBut heroic figures were needed, and heroic figures were found. The first one was of course Erwin Rommel. He had committed suicide under nazi threats in 1944 following the failed assassination attempt against Hitler by the group of Stauffenberg and Canaris. Rommel was a compromise candidate, as he appealed both to the anti-nazis as he was killed by the nazis and to the pro-nazis as he never actually provably participated in the plot.\n\nBut Rommel alone wasn't enough. The Bundeswehr chose to elevate one man specifically who I as a historian am fascinated by: Erich von Manstein. Manstein, the genius behind the \"sickle cut\" against France in 1940, had survived the war and had written a book about it, \"Verlorene Siege\", *Lost Victories*. That book was released in 1955, shortly before the Bundeswehr's founding, and it became a sensation. I have read the book in the German original several times now, and each time I am impressed with just how impressed Manstein apparantly was by himself. If Hitler wasn't to blame, then he found a way to blame people like Von Bock, Von Reichenau and especially a man who was apparantly his nemesis in the force, Franz Halder. From what I've read about the book from others, Manstein actively lies about his involvement especially on the Eastern Front, criticizing Operation Citadel as a Führer mistakes even though he was one Citadel's leading planners, something he conveniently fails to mention.\n\nWell, back from my short detour into this book (which I by the way still recommend to the interested reader, even though I have heard the English translation cuts down on Manstein's tangents and personal stories, which were among the most fascinating and insightful parts of the book in the German original for me). The *Mansteinkult*, the cult of Manstein, was born. The Bundeswehr had its hero, a clean, honorable general just like Rommel, but one who actually was still alive at the time.\n\nSo that much regarding the change of culture that you asked for in your question.\n\nNext you ask about structure. Well, military logistics are not my main concern when reading history so I am open to be expanded on by other interested historians, but that much I can tell you: The Bundeswehr was far smaller than the Wehrmacht, but even a small army needs officers. When in 1955 the Bundeswehr was founded and the first volunteers (conscription would start on January 1st, 1957) entered their barracks and began basic training, no time had been taken to train new young officers as that in itself would already have been a military act - and also, people needed for officer status are typically older, at least in their 30s, and of intellectual backgrounds. Well, in 1955 30-year-olds would have been born in 1925 and would surely have been drafted into World War 2 because they would have been 18 in 1943. So that's not great.\n\nSo what I am getting is that obviously, to even preserve any structure in the first place, the Bundeswehr would need to re-enlist Wehrmacht officers. Wehrmacht Officers and Sergeants were thus given priority when forming the first cadres of the Bundeswehr, because that allowed the BRD to both gain military expertise from veteran fighters and avoid the politically sensitive topic of re-enlisting generals. Even though re-enlist generals they also did. Adolf Heusinger, the first Bundeswehr inspector-general (highest-ranking soldier) had served in four separate German armies from 1915 onwards until being called back up to lead the Bundeswehr in 1957. He actually ended up presiding over the NATO Military Committee, the highest military office of the alliance. Isn't that fascinating? A nazi general who also served in the Kaiser's army ending up presiding over the alliance of freedom. Truly, a curious story. Another Wehrmacht general who was among the first Bundeswehr generals was Hans Speidel, Erwin Rommel's chief-of-staff in Army Group B - although his elevation was also a clear political move, as he was one of the few who participated in the Stauffenberg conspiracy and survived the war. Speidel was chosen to please the anti-nazis who did not want to see to great \"old Wehrmacht\" influence in the new army.\n\nThat said, your question of structure and organization could also refer to things like ranks. And actually, there are a few differences. The Bundeswehr never had an OF-10 (five star general) rank, with its OF-9 rank being called simply \"General\", whereas the Wehrmacht had \"Generalfeldmarschall\" at OF-10, \"Generaloberst\" at OF-9, with \"General\" being OF-8, which in the Bundeswehr is the \"Generalleutnant\" (Lieutenant General), which in the Wehrmacht was OF-7. The Wehrmacht had \"Generalmajor\" (Major General) at OF-6, whereas the Bundeswehr had that at OF-7. Finally, the Bundeswehr fills the gap at OF-6 with the new rank \"Brigadegeneral\" (Brigadier General), which didn't exist at all in the Wehrmacht. From there one, it looks kind of simlar, with OF-5 through OF-3 all being the same, at \"Oberst\" (Colonel), \"Oberstleutnant\" (Lieutenant Colonel) and \"Major\". At OF-2, the Bundeswehr has bureaucratic complications between \"Stabshauptmann\" and \"Hauptmann\", both the same rank for various careers; a distinction that did not exist in the Wehrmacht. From there you have a few more distinctions in the soldier ranks, with \"Oberstabsfeldwebel\" (OR-9) and \"Oberstabsgefreiter\" (OR-4) not existing in the Wehrmacht, but in general, it can be said that the Bundeswehr took the Wehrmacht's ranking system, which in turn was based on Weimar Republican, German Imperial and Prussian systems. The Bundeswehr had however to make several changes to fit the NATO standard. Of course, note that the comparative rankings I used in this segment (OF-X and OR-X) are NATO terminology that would be anachronistic to the Wehrmacht directly, but nonetheless useful for comparison.\n\nI am running out of characters here, but I'd be glad to answer any follow-up questions."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
17ynnk
|
Why wasn't there more than one "Library of Alexandria"
|
You would think the prestige that comes with being such a center of knowledge and learning would have caused copycat systems all over the mediterranean. Was there any particular reason why the idea of copying works en masse never caught on elsewhere?
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/17ynnk/why_wasnt_there_more_than_one_library_of/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c8a0nt4"
],
"score": [
8
],
"text": [
"There were plenty of libraries around the ancient Mediterranean. One of the most famous other Hellenophone ones was [the Athenaion at Pergamon.](_URL_0_) (In fact legend has it that the use of parchment was popularised at Pergamon when export of ~~parchment~~ papyrus from Egypt was restricted: hence the name, from Greek *pergamena*.)\n\nBut there were plenty of other Hellenophone libraries too: the Macedonian library at Pella, various libraries in Athens, and so on. It's just that there had to be one that was the richest and biggest of them all; and that happened to be the Alexandrian one. For further examples, see if you can get access to the *New Pauly* (hardcopy, or online via library subscription) and look up \"library\"."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_aCl2wb4vz5A/TJUNmK67E0I/AAAAAAAAALY/qlNU9JNF9x8/s1600/Pages+from+07-04-08+Pergamum+Library+Presentation-3.jpg"
]
] |
|
5roio9
|
Is our galaxy on a stable axis?
|
Watching [this video](_URL_0_), I started to wonder, if a rotating object in zero-G is on an unstable axis, the object will rotate on a different intermediate axis to try and correct the instability.
Does the Milky Way Galaxy also rotate like this? Does a lack of rotation suggest a stable axis?
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/5roio9/is_our_galaxy_on_a_stable_axis/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dd8x1j3"
],
"score": [
13
],
"text": [
"although I can't give a definite answer on whether it would have an unstable axis or not, the so-called tennis racket theorem demonstrated in the above video only applies to rigid objects, while the Milky Way is fluid and rotating inconsistently. As a result, I don't think that it applies to our galaxy."
]
}
|
[] |
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n-HMSCDYtM"
] |
[
[]
] |
|
a5e99y
|
Did ancient Rome have a rodent problem?
|
Rome is plagued by mice even now, was this an issue in the days of the republic / empire? How did people of the past deal with rodents?
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/a5e99y/did_ancient_rome_have_a_rodent_problem/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ebm617z"
],
"score": [
6
],
"text": [
"Great question, and it's a matter of historical, archaeological, and epidemiological importance. Until recently, the prevailing view was that rats were introduced after the Roman Empire, but that view is changing.\n\n > Until recently, there were no Roman rats. As disease, ecological change, and their economic implications push their way to the top of the historian's agenda, ancient rodents have triggered controversy and new research, some of it in the pages of this journal. Rats are crucial to epidemics of bubonic plague, a disease that has been linked to the massive demographic changes that ushered medieval Europe into the modern age. Some historians implicate rodent-borne plague in the end of the ancient world. Today archaeology and zoology draw a picture of rats and their history that differs from even a decade ago. Tiny bones and DNA are yielding glimpses of the rat's migration from southeast Asia into the Roman empire and medieval Europe. The diffusion of the rat across Europe looks increasingly like an integral part of the Roman conquest. Its movements illuminate patterns of eco- nomic organization, communications, and urbanism, and carry significant implications for the history of disease and the ecology. The history of rats is tightly interwoven with the economic rise and fall of the ancient world, as well as the expansion of the medieval economy. \n > \n > {snip} \n > \n > Aside from isolated, and therefore controversial, archaeological evidence for rats in the Roman world \\[emerged\\] only during the last two decades. It comes in different gnawing marks on bones; owl or other predator remains preserved in situ. Why it was so scarce before simple: Archaeologists were not looking for it, bones easily escape the troweler's naked eye. Only laborious procedures can detect them. \n > \n > [Rats, Communications, and Plague: Toward an Ecological History](_URL_0_)\n\nSo now folks are looking for rat bones, and they're finding them.\n\nThere are some obvious mechanisms for the migration of rats from Asia to the Mediterranean. Roman Egypt traded to the East, and enormous grain fleets traveled from Egypt to Italy, nothing like a boatful of grain to make a nice home for a traveling rat.\n\nHow did Romans deal with pests? We don't have a sense of the rat burden at the time of the Republic or the Caesars, and the Romans used a latin word *mus --* which doesn't tell us whether they're talking about a rat or a mouse. The Romans had household pets: dogs a great favorite, cats not so common as in Egypt, and even snakes. 20 centuries later, a cat, and some breeds of dog, are efficient remedies for a rodent problem. But the most frequently mentioned Roman household rodent killer is the weasel (*mustela*); these are often mentioned for killing *mus,* whether these might be rats or mice we don't know.\n\nSources:\n\n[Greek and Roman Household Pets](_URL_4_)\n\n[The Grain Trade under the Roman Empire](_URL_1_)\n\n[The Domestic Cat as a Factor in Urban Ecology](_URL_2_)\n\n[The Origin of Latin Mustela](_URL_3_)\n\n & #x200B;"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3656705",
"https://www.jstor.org/stable/4238709?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=roman&searchText=grain&searchText=fleets&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Droman%2Bgrain%2Bfleets",
"https://www.jstor.org/stable/1447",
"https://www.jstor.org/stable/40267091",
"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3293779"
]
] |
|
4qz2ed
|
at fast food drive thru places where they have multiple lanes for ordering, how do they know which car is which when they get to pay/collect food?
|
[deleted]
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4qz2ed/eli5_at_fast_food_drive_thru_places_where_they/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d4x06ea"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Generally, the order in which the orders are placed will be the same as the order the cars pull up to the window. As soon as your order is complete, you'll be pulling forward, and therefore next in line. If two finish at the same time, there is a camera that can identify which car pulled forward first."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
3l97gi
|
Sabotage in America during WWII?
|
Are there recorded instances of sabotage in the United States mainland during WWII from either the Germans or Japanese? If so, are there demographics to backup the saboteurs and their nationality and/or heritage?
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3l97gi/sabotage_in_america_during_wwii/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cv4b4rp"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"The major attempt was Operation Pastorious. When the continuously and possibly intentionally inept German Abwehr Intelligence Agency sent 8 Saboteurs aboard 2 U-Boats to the US to bomb rail lines, dams, and power plants in June 1942.\n\nIt was a failure, the leader of the ring went to the FBI, along with a member who had spent time in a Concentration Camp and had no love of the Nazis. All 8 were rounded up, the 2 leaks got Life in Prison, the other 6 the electric char after a military tribunal. \n\nAll the men were German nationals, but had spent time in the US and were fluent in English, 2 also held US Citizenship. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
7y7jpk
|
Would Koko, the sign-language speaking gorilla, have been able to translate what a different, non-signing gorilla was saying?
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/7y7jpk/would_koko_the_signlanguage_speaking_gorilla_have/
|
{
"a_id": [
"duet85k",
"duhs2kb",
"duke67c"
],
"score": [
35,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"Define 'saying'. Koko may be able to sign that another gorilla is angry, but gorilla interpersonal communication consists mainly of body language, and getting a *gorilla* to interpret that for a *human* is probably a hundred times more difficult than to just ask a human to interpret it.",
"Just as a reference, remember that 2 year old humans have better language skills than any other great ape. So asking a 1.5 year old who knows a few words what a 10 month old is \"saying\" is kind of a difficult thing to do.",
"There's a lot of controversy in the psychology community about whether Koko can actually communicate at all. \n\nBecause she is rewarded for the signs, there's a strong argument to be made that it's a combination of Skinnerian reinforcement (she just learned to do what's expected to get a reward) and humans generously interpreting what she's saying. \n\n[Here](_URL_0_)'s a good article about the criticism. \n\nRelevant quotes:\n\n > Psychologist Susan Goldin-Meadow points out that studies with Kanzi show that only 4 percent of his signs are commentary, meaning the other 96 percent are all functional signs, asking for food or toys.\n\n.\n\n > Critics also allege that the abilities of apes like Koko and Kanzi are overstated by their loving caregivers. Readers with pets may recognize this temptation; we can’t help but attribute intelligence to creatures we know so well. (Or to attribute complex emotions, such as grief over the death of a beloved comic and actor.)\n\n.\n\n > In his lecture, Sapolsky alleges that Patterson spontaneously corrects Koko’s signs: 'She would ask, ‘Koko, what do you call this thing?’ and [Koko] would come up with a completely wrong sign, and Patterson would say, ‘Oh, stop kidding around!’ And then Patterson would show her the next one, and Koko would get it wrong, and Patterson would say, ‘Oh, you funny gorilla.’\"\n\nHere's a transcript of an actual \"conversation\" with Koko live on a webcam. \n > Question: What are the names of your kittens? (and dogs?)\n\n > LiveKOKO: foot\n\n > Patterson: Foot isn't the name of your kitty \n\n > Question: Koko, what's the name of your cat? \n\n > LiveKOKO: no \n\n > Patterson: She just gave some vocalizations there... some soft puffing\n\n > [chat host]: I heard that soft puffing! \n\n > Patterson: Now shaking her head no.\n\n > Question: Do you like to chat with other people?\n\n > Koko: fine nipple\n\n > Patterson: Nipple rhymes with people, she doesn’t sign people per se, she was trying to do a ‘sounds like…’\n\nYou can clearly see here the handlers trying to find meaning in random words that Koko is making. It's almost like a cold reading that psychics do. We tend to remember the amazing accurate answers and forget about all of the wrong ones. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[
"http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/08/koko_kanzi_and_ape_language_research_criticism_of_working_conditions_and.html"
]
] |
||
8dj0nl
|
how do people raise money by walking across a country/cycling around the world/ climbing mount something / go q month without eating chocolate for charity
|
[deleted]
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8dj0nl/eli5_how_do_people_raise_money_by_walking_across/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dxninq0",
"dxnlltw"
],
"score": [
3,
3
],
"text": [
"They use it as a publicity stunt to get people to donate to their cause. It’s rarely very effective compared to say, just working your actual job and donating the money yourself. ",
"It's basically the same thing as asking all your friends for money, except the idea is that you're saying \"if I ride my bike across America, then will you donate a pledged amount to this charity?\" \n\nThe idea is that you're doing something hard or complicated, and in return/as a \"reward\" of sorts, your friends give to charity. In real life you could just give to charity, or ask your friends to, and not ride your bike across America at all. The bike riding is in no way integral to the process, it's just an excuse to ask."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
7nlgkw
|
Why is Mandarin so different from other Chinese languages?
|
I tried asking r/asklinguistics, but it's pretty much a dead sub so here goes.
Why is the lexicon and grammar of modern Mandarin Chinese so markedly different from that of old Chinese, while apparently so much is preserved in, for example, Cantonese and Hokkien?
Korean and Japanese also seems to have preserved archaic Chinese vocabulary pretty well, though of course bearing no resemblance to old Chinese in grammar as they are from different language families altogether.
Taken altogether, it seems that Mandarin Chinese is a glaring abnormality in the evolution of sinitic(-influenced) languages in East Asia, in that it has experienced such accelerated changes.
Does the preservation of archaic Chinese in these languages have anything to do with the fact that they are not 'really' Sinitic languages? Cantonese and Hokkien are somewhat Austroasiatic, while Japanese and Korean have their own language families. I don't know anything about Vietnamese, but I would bet that it has retained more qualities of archaic Chinese than modern Mandarin.
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/7nlgkw/why_is_mandarin_so_different_from_other_chinese/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ds38985",
"ds3m0jw"
],
"score": [
2,
13
],
"text": [
"/r/asklinguistics may be a dead sub, but /r/linguistics is very much alive. If you don't get a satisfactory answer here, try asking in their [stickied Q & A thread](_URL_0_)",
"Let's start by addressing what exactly are the features that are being preserved. The most common trope, which goes something like \"*X is older than Mandarin so read the poetry in that\"*, comes about from the preservation of two main features.\n\nThe first is the entering tone (入聲), specifically with a preserved final stop consonant at the end (-p, -t, -k in Cantonese and Hakka, also -l in Korean, also -ʔ in Wu, etc). There are a few problems with the premise, though. The first is that people almost exclusively look at Modern Standard Mandarin to compare to anything else, and MSM is by far the least conservative variety on almost all counts (the exception being NW Mandarin which in many cases has a 3-tone system, not a 4-tone system, or SE Mandarin which has famously lost retroflex distinctions on sibilants). But that's like looking at Shanghainese and saying it's representative of all of Wu, which does a great injustice to the massive variety found in Wu by looking at what is probably the least conservative and most reduced variety.\n\nThe reason that's a problem is because Mandarin actually *does* preserve these things in certain areas. There are places like Jiangsu where both the entering-tone is preserved as well as the segmental coda that marks it. The reason looking at Standard Mandarin isn't helpful is because it was intentionally designed to be inclusive of everyone and in that effort became, in a way, inclusive to none. In the early 20th century, the Ministry of Education (MOE) sought to establish a single standard for Mandarin speakers. They basically took the previous standard (which was not at all standard) of Qing court Mandarin (hence the name 官話) which was itself an amalgam of various other dialects of Mandarin as people came from all over the area. The MOE went a step further and intentionally added features that would better represent minority speakers in China. One of these features was the entering tone, which by then wasn't a thing anymore in the court speech. The problem was that no one spoke this new standard natively, so it was being taught very inconsistently from place to place. Most teachers taught the entering tone as it was in their own personal dialect.\n\nThe shift to Beijing that Mandarin learners hear about all the time now happened in the 1930s, but it wasn't actually a shift to Beijing dialect. Modern Standard Mandarin isn't really based on Beijing dialect like you might have heard. Instead, it was based on the way educated Beijing elites spoke Mandarin, which, surprise, was influenced by that invented standard. This is one reason why Modern Standard Mandarin today differs so greatly from other Mandarins. In the case of tones, it makes perfect sense that MSM lacks the entering tone category and the final stop that goes with it because MSM is based on a history where there was no clear way of handling this, and people just went with what they wanted, and then had to adapt to a common ground later.\n\nSo that's the first feature, the stop consonant thing.\n\nThe other is the preservation of traditional tone system, but a post-Middle Chinese version of it. This then includes potential preservation of the voicing distinction on onset non-sonorant consonants (b vs p vs pʰ for example). However this second bit, the voicing distinction, is usually ignored by most people who don't speak Wu (your post included) because Wu is actually the *most* conservative here and actually as a whole the only language within Sinitic that does retain it. Some Xiang dialects around Changsha do as well, but they're outliers in an otherwise innovative system.\n\nSome quick history: Back in the day Middle Chinese had 4 tones. These were called level, rising, departing and entering. Entering I've already touched on above. From these four tones, we then had a split into 8 tones based on whether the first letter was voiced or not. Almost immediately, in all dialects, this then merged down into a 7 tone system. The exceptions to this are places around Suzhou which still have 8 and, in some cases, have 12 or more, but this is because another split based on aspiration happened.\n\nWe can basically take this 8 tone system as our starting point for everything coming from Middle Chinese today. This is then one of the ways people say Cantonese is more conservative. There's a long long argument that's still going on about how many tones Cantonese has, be it 6, 9 or 11. The reason that's a discussion at all is because it's a difference of analysis and what counts as a toneme versus a variant of another tone. As a maybe more accessible example, Mandarin has 4 tones but maybe some learners interpret the neutral tone as a fifth. It's not, and we can show that, but you could analyse it as a fifth.\n\nSo Cantonese has 6, but then maybe some splits happened and it has more. Hakka has 7 in the variety I learned, 5 in others. Wu has a bunch of variety, but 5 in the least (Shanghai) and 12 or 15 in the most (Wujiang etc). Mandarin has between 5 and 3, and that I discussed above.\n\nThe problem is that Korean retained basically 0 of these tone categories, since they had their own tone system they were dealing with at that time, and Cantonese and Hoklo have been just as innovative as Mandarin, just in different ways, so we really can't say Mandarin is the only one that's changed. It's just that Mandarin has changed in a much more easily visible way, and only if we are really looking at the standard dialect which has changed more than the rest.\n\nThere's a well-observed trend in language contact that also leads to why many people mistakenly think languages simplify over time. They don't simplify over time, but some features can, and contact is a big way this gets triggered. It's the reason Shanghai has so many fewer tonemes than Suzhou, Songjiang, Wujiang etc. It has fewer than Suzhou and Ningbo, the two most significant varieties that went into making Shanghainese what it is today. \n\n > Korean and Japanese also seems to have preserved archaic Chinese vocabulary pretty well, though of course bearing no resemblance to old Chinese in grammar as they are from different language families altogether.\n\nMany varieties have. The third person pronoun in Wu varieties is identical to what you find in Classical Chinese. Many of the pronoun distinctions between subject and object are also retained in modern varieties. The tone distinction between a verb and a noun (王 as wàng vs wáng) is also preserved, and in Mandarin, but in literary contexts. Japanese isn't really super helpful here, since what it's preserving is simply a snapshot of a particular point in time, but then drastically modernised through the phonological changes Japanese has gone through. In other words, Japanese _hasn't_ actually preserved these older pronunciations, but rather just has some reflex of them, the same as any Sinitic or Sinoxenic variety.\n\n > Does the preservation of archaic Chinese in these languages have anything to do with the fact that they are not 'really' Sinitic languages? Cantonese and Hokkien are somewhat Austroasiatic, \n\nNo. 100% no. Cantonese isn't Austroasiatic. It's Sinitic. And one of the main things being preserved is coda consonants on entering-tone words, which are also preserved in a number of Mandarin dialects which also preserve entering-tone. \n\n > Taken altogether, it seems that Mandarin Chinese is a glaring abnormality in the evolution of sinitic(-influenced) languages in East Asia, in that it has experienced such accelerated changes.\n\nIn fact, taken altogether, Mandarin is not only not an abnormality, but is actually entirely in line with the changes happening throughout the Sinosphere. It's only when we _don't_ take it altogether that it seems to stand out so glaringly.\n\nI'm on a train right now and about to lose phone battery for my wifi hotspot so I'm going to submit this answer not but I can come back and clarify or add sources if needed later."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/linguistics/comments/7nf23h/this_weeks_qa_thread_please_read_before_asking_or/"
],
[]
] |
|
qxx3a
|
How do ferrite cores work?
|
I work in a design firm that does catalogs for a company that makes ferrite cores. I have to make a cover for a catalog and the customer has pretty much requested that we do whatever we want. I wanted to do something special but I honestly don't even know what these things are for, how they would be put into practice, or how they work which is really affecting my ability to think of something creative. So askscience, what the heck are ferrite cores and how do they work?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/qxx3a/how_do_ferrite_cores_work/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c41c5ft",
"c41gjz9"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Ferrite cores are used to make [inductors](_URL_0_).",
"It's simple, really -- many kinds of electronic circuits have reactive devices, example capacitors and inductors. Reactance is the imaginary component of a complex number that defines impedance (a mixture of resistance and reactance).\n\nAn impedance value might look like this: x+yj, where x = the resistive term, y the reactive term and j = the complex operator (j^2 = -1).\n\nIn an alternating-current circuit, the voltage on a capacitor represents the time integral of applied current, and the current in an inductor represents the time integral of applied voltage. Various combinations of resistance, capacitance, and inductance can be used to create tuned circuits to select a specific frequency, as in a radio or TV receiver.\n\nNow for the punch line: ferrite cores are used to greatly increase the reactance of a coil of wire, sometimes by hundreds of times compared to the same coil size in air or a vacuum. The ferrite does this by accepting and storing a magnetic field created by the current flowing through the wire.\n\nBecause capacitors and inductors have opposite kinds of reactance (their imaginary terms have opposite signs), one might surmise that an inductor and capacitor connected in series would have a specific frequency where they would present nearly a short-circuit to the applied frequency. As it happens, this is true -- [here's a picture](_URL_0_) of a series RLC circuit with a low resistance and therefore a very narrow bandpass.\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inductor"
],
[
"http://i.imgur.com/AoVuq.png"
]
] |
|
a1fh7f
|
Did medieval people celebrate their birthdays? Did they know them?
|
And was it different between different classes?
I am thinking of Europeans, but honestly I'd be happy to hear about people from any part of the world.
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/a1fh7f/did_medieval_people_celebrate_their_birthdays_did/
|
{
"a_id": [
"eaqp0bn"
],
"score": [
21
],
"text": [
"Not to discourage further discussion, but [here’s](_URL_0_) a bit by u/fancyfreecb on the European/Christian practise of “namedays”, then a seperate bit by u/DangerCosmo on pagan and Greek/Roman practises. The first covers the medieval period of part of your question at least \n\nThanks for asking the question, interesting stuff"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4hyoub/were_birthdays_celebrated_as_widely_in_the_past/?st=JP32CZ99&sh=206845b0"
]
] |
|
icy6m
|
How big would the Earth be if its atoms were as compact as possible?
|
I'm trying to understand how large an atom is - and how much of it is comprised of "dead space" (I apologize, I don't know the scientific term).
I know this isn't physically possible, but let's say Earth was comprised of just protons and neutrons packed as densely as you could pack them; how large would the planet Earth be, roughly?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/icy6m/how_big_would_the_earth_be_if_its_atoms_were_as/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c22qo9d",
"c22qohi",
"c22qopy",
"c22qqfz",
"c22quz5"
],
"score": [
5,
15,
23,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"If the mass of the earth were compressed into a sphere of radius ~1 cm it would be black hole. So just bigger than that I suppose is how tightly you could pack it before that happened.",
"They are as compact as possible considering all of the physics involved. Atoms are about 10^-10 m in size or so. And the meaning of \"empty space\" doesn't really exist within an atom. It's all... probability of electrons existing in a space or not. But it's not exactly empty..... but let's go crazy. Let's eliminate the idea of atoms and let's just convert the whole mass of the earth into neutrons, for instance. [That's about 3.6\\*10^51 neutrons](_URL_0_). Then let's say that the size of these neutrons don't change from free neutrons (they would, but let's pretend they don't). Neutrons have a size of about 10^-15 m. The radius of the whole would be about proportional to the cube root of the number of neutrons, so about 10^17 \\*10^-15 = **100m in radius**.",
"[Wolfram Alpha to the rescue](_URL_0_)\n\nA black hole with the mass of the earth would have an event horizon radius of 8.87 mm.",
"A good thing to consider here is a neutron star: a star made of solid neutrons... essentially one giant nucleus, with no \"dead space\" that characterizes the atoms that make up the world we live in here on Earth.\n\nA neutron star that is about 1.5 times the mass of the sun would have the size of about 10 km radius. If you scale this down to Earth mass: (3*10^6 solar masses), you get 12.5m in radius.\n\nSo to answer your question directly, if there was no dead space at all, an object with the mass of the Earth would have a radius of 10-15 meters. (Range included to account for limited accuracy of facts looked up on the internets.)",
"i've read that to get an idea of the state of the universe before the big bang imagine all the matter in the visible universe and condense it into nearly a single point. i donno how accurate that is but i bet it's something like that for just the earth alone. of course, like the rest say, if that were to happen with actual physics in play you'd have a black hole."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=mass%20of%20the%20earth%2Fmass%20of%20a%20neutron&t=crmtb01"
],
[
"http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Schwarzschild+radius&f1=earth&x=10&y=6&f=EventHorizonRadius.M_earth&a=*FVarOpt.1-_**-.***EventHorizonRadius.Q--.**EventHorizonRadius.J---.*--"
],
[],
[]
] |
|
14jesn
|
Is synthesizing petroleum, or a compound with similar properties, theoretically viable? Is it being researched, and if it is, what is the current status?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/14jesn/is_synthesizing_petroleum_or_a_compound_with/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c7dq7c5"
],
"score": [
6
],
"text": [
"Yes. There's no problem synthesizing the hydrocarbons that make up gasoline. \n\nDoing so in a manner that's cheaper than pumping out of the ground and refining it? No, we've not figured out how to do that yet.\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
f4lhbb
|
how is it animals, specially predators, have such strong muscles?
|
[deleted]
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f4lhbb/eli5_how_is_it_animals_specially_predators_have/
|
{
"a_id": [
"fhrjc5h",
"fhrjr8u",
"fhrom0q",
"fhs3wdd",
"fhu6fwq"
],
"score": [
5,
13,
4,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"Besides natural selection, an interesting thing about evolution is that the more an organism depends on a certain organ the more that organ develops in order to meet the needs. Predators like lions and cheetahs have strong muscles and bite forces because they depend on the muscles so much. \nA great way to understand this is to observe how working out affects us. Say you started to lift 1.5kg dumbbells everyday. It would be hard at first, your arms will feel like jelly after the workout, but after a week or two it gets easier. Why? Because your muscles have developed more to meet the demand. The result you've got stronger muscles now. Same goes with the jaws, when you're a child you're asked to eat all sorts of things that are good for you, because when you chew different textures of food, hard and soft, your jaws develop more stronger. \nAnimals exhibit such strength from millennia of evolution. Their lifestyle hasn't changed as much as human's have, they still hunt in the wild, and to do that they need strong muscles.",
"Imagine how good your muscles would need to be if you had to walk for miles all day every day to possibly get food. And you had to chase your food down instead of getting it out of the refrigerator.",
"their lifestyle involves constant exercise to survive and the weak ones die of starvation \n\nthink about when people lived as hunter-gatherers a long time ago. Their day-to-day routine would have made them on par with today's olympic level athletes because their daily routine involved constant exercise.",
"Thinking back a fair way now, as it was explained to me at the time... in evolution there has to be a choice between gross musculature ie apes and bears and lions etc that are really strong and have lots of twitchy muscle fibres... and humans that can make very fine and controlled movements, requiring a very different type of muscle fibres.\n\nBasically apes can smash stuff like the Hulk, but Banner can use tools to create a Gammer Radiation Emitter.\n\nSo over time, as humans learnt how to create weapons, evolution took as down the \"fine motor skills\" path rather than the \"tear the head right off of an elk\" path.",
"Evolution. Humans basically evolved to fill the niche of endurance hunting. We persue prey so relentlessly that it effectively dies of exhaustion. Such an approach requires muscles tuned for endurance not strength. In addition it favours those who are more intelligent."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
qh8h4
|
what this company actually do? _url_0_
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/qh8h4/eli5_what_this_company_actually_do_httpwwwndscom/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c3xlacj",
"c3xldqa"
],
"score": [
2,
5
],
"text": [
"They sell software that makes delivering paid TV channels to customers safer.",
"They are primarily a technology provider for cable/satellite TV services.\n\nSo let's say you're starting up a new cable TV service. You've got the programming deals in place, you've strung up all the cables around town, and you've contracted with hardware suppliers like Cisco and Motorola to provide the servers and set-top-boxes that will run on your network.\n\nYou still need the software that will run on those boxes. Software like the electronic program guide, security software that makes sure customers can only view the channels they have paid for, software to manage channel number allocations, software to report which channels the customer is watching (for ratings purposes), etc. That's what you go to a company like NDS for.\n\nTheir biggest business is in the security software that prevents you from watching channels you haven't paid for. That platform, called VideoGuard, is used on a number of cable and satellite TV platforms around the world, including Cablevision (NY, NJ, CT), DirecTV (North and South America), Sky TV (British Isles, Germany, Italy, New Zealand), Star TV (pretty much all of Asia) and a bunch of others.\n\nIf you are on one of those services, chances are your cable box requires a smart card to view channels. NDS makes that smart card."
]
}
|
[
"http://www.nds.com/"
] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
5jvaqo
|
why is isis so hard to find and defeat?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5jvaqo/eli5_why_is_isis_so_hard_to_find_and_defeat/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dbj9o86",
"dbjagk6",
"dbjg9cu"
],
"score": [
10,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"You can launch as many air strikes as you want, eventually you're going to need a ground army to go in and flush them out. The ground forces that have been battling ISIS for the last four years are a combination of other revel groups, Kurdish militias, and the Iraqi and Syrian Armies. The Syrian Army is the only one in that group that even resembles a legitimate fighting force with armored units, artillery, and well trained officers. Even then they've been weakened by years of fighting, and they weren't a first rate military to begin with. ISIS has never had to deal with a first world Army like the US, Russia, China, the UK etc.",
"Because unless your willing to kill countless innocents \"which let's be honest would do nothing but give Isis more power.\" They can just stay hidden until they do something. They're not a nation or a people, they're members of a somewhat loosely organized group with a common goal.",
"Because they have no trouble intermixing themselves with the local population (and you don't want to kill women and kids in the process of obliterating ISIS, do you?), because they are just one of the many rebel groups in Syria, because the in-theatre actors are either other rebel groups or poorly-equipped, understaffed, worn-out militaries of Syrian and Iraqi governments, and because the density of fighting is very low: it's two huge countries with a relatively low amount of people chasing each other.\n\nThe two out-of-theater actors are also of little help. The US-led 65-country coalition wants to avoid a ground deployment (the Persian Gulf members of it are already too bombing the Yemeni rebels), and have very poor intelligence capability, so their airstrikes generally return with their ordnance unexpended - or they just \"accidentally\" bomb Syrian government troops instead. Besides, the Saudis and Qataris have pretty much built ISIS, being fellow Wahhabis, so they aren't exactly a huge help. And Russia has been too busy butchering Al-Nusra (Al-Qaida in the Levant) militants in Easter Aleppo to pay much attention to ISIS."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
f52eu2
|
How do birds keep themselves clean ?
|
Watching Our Planet on netflix , it struck me that the flamingos are remarkably clean, seeing as they generally only have access to salt water in these far flung places and are always surrounded by mud, I would not have expected that.
Would an ornithologist care to explain ? :)
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/f52eu2/how_do_birds_keep_themselves_clean/
|
{
"a_id": [
"fhzw114"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"When you spend time birdwatching, you realise most of them spend an huge amount of time cleaning themselves or each other. \n\n\nThey pick parasite with their beak, organise their feathers with beak and saliva, and some of them (mostly water birds) have some kind of wax to cover themselves with (it comes from a gland at the tail usually) \nThey also use water and scratch themselves with the claws, dog like!\n\nDepending on species, they will change their entire feather set about every year or couple years (in rotations, one at a time) \n\n\nThat being said, not all birds are clean, and many have parasites on their skin."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
9ph5cq
|
why does a passing vehicle's sound go from a high to a low note
|
For example it always goes "Weeeee oooooohhhh" why does it not sound like "Oooooooh weeee"
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9ph5cq/eli5_why_does_a_passing_vehicles_sound_go_from_a/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e81qpng",
"e81qt8d",
"e81r0ou",
"e81u4v6",
"e827f9u"
],
"score": [
4,
63,
5,
2,
3
],
"text": [
"It's a doppler effect. Sound is higher when the wavelengths are shorter, so when the car is coming towards you it pushes the air towards you and gets a boost and it is shorter. \n\nIt's lower pitched when the wavelengths are all stretched out, and when it's moving away they stretch out because it's running away from you ",
"Doppler effect. \n\nThe sound waves pile up in front of the car. Because the waves are so close together, the frequency is higher. Thus, as the car approaches, the pitch is higher.\n\nThe sound waves are spread joy behind the car. Because the waves are further apart, the frequency is lower. Thus, as the car leaves, the pitch is lower.\n\nImagine dragging something across the surface of water. The water in front is higher than the water in the back. Sound waves do the same thing.\n\n_URL_0_",
"For simplicity's sake, let's say we're standing two feet from a straight road with that car on it.\n\nThe car always goes \"Weeeee oooooohhhh\" because the car's velocity toward you always goes from positive to negative. If he repeats in reverse, his velocity towards you still goes from positive to negative.\n\nWithout actually changing the sound at the source - that's cheating - the car would have to drive away from you, into a wormhole, and end up behind you to go \"Oooooooh (wormhole) weeee\". Or drive from you around a whole race track or something to end up on the other side.\n\nSlightly related fun fact: we imagine the Doppler effect is the strongest when the car is near us, but it's actually the strongest when the car is far away. We just don't notice it because the *change* in the Doppler effect is the least at a distance, so the sound seems to stay the same; this *change* is what is striking about cars passing us, as that is where the *change* is maximized.",
"Think of the sound waves as the waves created by a boat moving through the water. The bow waves are more compressed than the waves at the aft section of the boat. The forward motion keeps the waves at the front 'compressed' but the waves at the aft section are free to have a greater wavelength (no force driving the compression). It's a bit simplified, but for the purpose of providing a visual with the other explanations, it will suffice.",
"As others have stated, this is a result of the doppler effect. \n\nThe reason for this is that sound has a speed that it will *always* travel at through a given medium. So if you take a sound emission, say a siren on an ambulance, and look at it as is sits still you could draw circles radiating outward from the point of origin. It would look like a bullseye. Now, when you introduce motion to the siren, you do not change the speed at which the sound can move in the air. This results in the ambulance chasing after the sound that it already emitted, as well as running away from the sound in the direct that it is coming from. So you end up taking that bullseye with uniform sound and skewing it. T[he center ring moves in the direction of motion and all the other rings follow suit.](_URL_0_) Since sound is just a series of pressure waves moving through the air as some frequency, the fact that they are building up in the front makes the pressure waves come in higher frequency. More pressure waves per second means a higher pitch. The converse happens in the rear. You end up decreasing the frequency of the pressure waves which lowers the pitch.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nBonus fact: This is why sonic booms happen. See how those rings are bunching up in the above link? As you increase your speed, this effect is following suit. If you get to the speed that sound travels at in air (mach 1) you will be producing sound and the sound in front of you will have nowhere to go. Instead of it being a wave that continuously moves forward you just make one, bigger and bigger wave at the front of you. Once you exceed the speed of sound all of the sound you emit will be behind you. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"https://youtu.be/h4OnBYrbCjY"
],
[],
[],
[
"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ip3kd6sErW4/maxresdefault.jpg"
]
] |
|
164oe9
|
What is the most efficient/powerful movement the human body can perform?
|
In an attempt to be brief: I'm working with a group that makes human-powered devices for post harvest processing. Threshers, winnowers, grinders, etc.
Some of them are small enough to be powered by a simple hand crank, some are quite large and require one or even two people using foot (bicycle) power.
**And so the question is this: What is the movement that would best be suited for such an application?** Is the most powerful/sustainable human movement bicycling? Rowing seems like it would involve many more big muscles to me. Perhaps some odd motion I'm not thinking of?
Any links to any studies on this would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks.
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/164oe9/what_is_the_most_efficientpowerful_movement_the/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c7spoqt",
"c7srrj5",
"c7st23u"
],
"score": [
55,
5,
6
],
"text": [
"Cycling is generally the best way to harness sustained power from a person. An average value for sustained power this way is 125 W (1/6 hp), but obviously there is a large variation in people's power capacity.\n\n[Here](_URL_0_) is a page with a couple useful graphs that show how much power you can actually harness cycling. A professional cyclist can produce about .8 hp, but a recreational cyclist can only make about 1/3 hp sustained for a couple hours.\n\nFor very short duration events, weightlifters produce much more power (~3 hp), but only for a few seconds. In this case squats are generally the exercise with the highest force for this short burst.\n",
"I did some experiments in school on power output of a person rowing vs. cycling. I found the same as you: cycling produces more power (on a usable time table) than rowing. I didn't test out an elliptical motion though. Maybe that would have higher output? Just a stab.",
"If you're speaking about power output in a single repetition, then there's a clear answer. Compound movements combining thoracic extension with gluteal/hamstring extension as in a deadlift or a clean are the strongest unassisted human movements.\n\nIf you're talking of *sustained* power though, cycling is a good method but it uses the inefficient quadriceps muscles instead of the powerful \"posterior chain\" (back, glutes, hamstrings, calves) that athletes train. Cycling's power output suffers from a lack of leverage and is only advantaged by the duration it can be sustained."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://users.frii.com/katana/biketext.html"
],
[],
[]
] |
|
6b9h8x
|
In Pancreatic Islet Transplants, what is stopping the transplanted islets from being destroyed again?
|
I was reading[ an article about transplanting the Islets of Langerhans](_URL_0_), this question popped in my head and I couldn't find an answer myself.
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/6b9h8x/in_pancreatic_islet_transplants_what_is_stopping/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dhky785"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"After the procedure the patient is given immunosuppressive drugs to stop the immune system from doing exactly that. It's worth noting in that study they switched immunosuppressive drugs because the first one was causing the patient to lose her hair, and they noted functional decline in insulin secretion.\n\nIt seems like she was on immunosuppresive drugs for the whole 12 months they followed her (based on my reading) and I think it's fair to assume if she stopped taking those drugs all together there would be an immune response to destroy the 'foreign' cells like you said."
]
}
|
[] |
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/6azvsx/in_a_clinical_first_researchers_demonstrate_that/"
] |
[
[]
] |
|
9odel3
|
what would a bank gain from putting my money in a savings account vs. a checking account with them?
|
[deleted]
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9odel3/eli5_what_would_a_bank_gain_from_putting_my_money/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e7t68j0",
"e7t6iap",
"e7t7tdp"
],
"score": [
3,
10,
2
],
"text": [
"Savings account generally imply you are going to leave it in there for extended periods, giving them more capital to loan and gain additional funds from. ",
"You're limited by how many transactions you can make with a savings account, whereas most people are constantly adding and removing money from checking.\n\nBanks need a certain amount of what's called liquidity - cash on hand, available to lend or pay out. Having lots of stable savings accounts allows the bank to maintain a constant level of liquidity, which makes their business a lot safer.",
"Here in South Africa, savings accounts have higher transactional fees but pay out higher interest.\n\nSo swiping your savings linked card or using the atm costs more money than on a current /cheque account. But you gain more interest on a positive balance. \n\nNow the bank wants to make money and if you only open a savings they lose by paying higher interest, but win because you use the card day to day and pay fees.\n\nIf you take out a current for day to day use the bank scores on paying lower interest.\n\nIf you take out a savings and a current the bank scores by having you pay 2 account fees.\n\nSo basically you get choice to feel empowered, but the bank takes your fees anyway. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
2pwva9
|
what actually happens to your body when you get kocked out? how does it happen?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2pwva9/eli5_what_actually_happens_to_your_body_when_you/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cn0rgt0"
],
"score": [
7
],
"text": [
"If you get hit really hard in the head it causes your head to accelerate, and your brain along with it. Your head then hits the inside of your skull and can bounce around (not like a tennis ball obviously, it's pretty firmly attached, but enough to cause problems). The trauma to the brain causes lots of neurotransmitters to fire at once, and your brain gets overloaded and temporarily shuts down conscious information processing to make sure vital systems can keep going and to conserve energy to repair the damage later."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
b97jr2
|
Did Free Market Capitalism cause the great depression?
|
In my history class right now we are learning about Herbert Hoover and booming 20's. The book is saying that free market capitalism caused the great depression and mentions things like Easy credit, Overproduction, stock market crash. I was just wondering if it would be accurate to say that free market capitalism caused the Great Depression and if not then what were that main factors that did cause the great depression. Sorry if this wasn't written very well. Any video links or articles would be nice too. Thank you
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/b97jr2/did_free_market_capitalism_cause_the_great/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ek2tso4",
"ek3xurt"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"You may be interested [in this earlier comment](_URL_0_) by u/Integralds on the economics profession's view of the Friedman-Schwartz hypothesis, that the US's Federal Reserve unintentionally and unknowingly caused the Great Depression by cutting the money supply.\n\n\nI'll add to that that I would be inclined to be suspicious of any text book that makes a sweeping statement about a very loosely-defined thing like \"free-market capitalism\" causing a Depression. Some people use capitalism to mean free-markets in the sense of Adam Smith or Milton Friedman and some people use capitalism to include things like large corporations lobbying for government subsidies and regulations and other interventions. Like most things in history, capitalism is complex. ",
"I'd just add to the discussion by saying that while the Federal Reserve's gold sterilization decision contributed to a dramatic credit crunch, it's important to clarify that economy was nonetheless due for a contraction: easy credit, speculative investing, and overproduction all existed and contributed to an inevitable recession. The Fed's decision regarding sterilization merely made a bad situation worse. I've written about the topic [in this past answer](_URL_0_) aggregating two other older answers of mine, which you might be interested in. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2ghqdd/im_reading_milton_friedmans_capitalism_and/ckjmkat?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share"
],
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/8hhqi2/what_caused_the_great_depression_from_an_economic/dyk1gfw/"
]
] |
|
381q0c
|
How come so many contemporary English words about spycraft are French words? (espionage, sabotage, reconnaissance, coup, rogue, etc...)
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/381q0c/how_come_so_many_contemporary_english_words_about/
|
{
"a_id": [
"crrqkq5",
"crrzotm"
],
"score": [
383,
310
],
"text": [
"For a few hundred years, the English court all spoke French. Because of this, the English language absorbed thousands of French terms through this period. So, words that would have been the concern of those in power are often going to be French. For example, a Cow is an animal, Beef is food. The nobility used the French word.\n\nThe average peasant would have no need for a term regarding spycraft, so you'd find the gentry using French terms. \n\nI see a great irony in the fact that the French are very concerned with keeping their language pure. There is literally a [French Academy](_URL_1_) responsible for introducing new words into the French language, so they aren't tainted in reverse by cultural influences of other nations. \n\nIf you really want to get into this, I can recommend: \n- [The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language](_URL_0_) \n- [The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way](_URL_2_) \n\nAlso, an endorsement for [The History of English Podcast](_URL_3_). The episodes can get quite dry, but I rather enjoy the detail it goes into.",
"The existence of these words in English is not just because of the Norman invasion and the influence of a French nobility in England for a time. There has been a long history of exchange from French to English due to their histories of trade, conflict and cultural exchange. It might be that there is a trend of military words being passed into English, as /u/bolaft mentions. But it could also be that there are just lots of French words in English, so they will be present in many areas. It even turns out that one of these words, which sounds French, may not actually be French at all.\n\nIn fact each of these words appear in English at different times. Here's a list of their first recorded uses:\n\n* Rogue - [1561](_URL_11_)\n\n* Coup - [1572](_URL_5_) In the general sense of overturning or upsetting. [Online Etymology Dictionary gives c. 1400](_URL_6_)\n\n* Coup d'état - [1646](_URL_5_%20d%27%C3%A9tat)\n\n* Espionage - [1793](_URL_1_)\n\n* Reconnaissance - [1810](_URL_9_)\n\n* Sabotage - [1907](_URL_0_)\n\nThere are a few interesting things here. First, none of these words date as far back as the Norman invasion. And as I mentioned before, some of them entered English centuries apart. I don't have access to the Oxford English Dictionary, which could help shed a lot of light on the context in which these word appear, so I'll make a few informed guesses as to how they entered English. \n\nIn the case of *coup* we can see how haphazard the exchange of words can be. *Coup*, with it's general sense of overturning, already existed in English, from Old French, through Middle English. But *coup d'etat* in it's specific political sense didn't appear for another ~75 years. When it does appear it isn't a reference to the existing English word, but [a new borrowing from French](_URL_2_). It appears at the end of the First English Civil War, specifically 1646, which is not so coincidentally the year that Charles I surrenders and is eventually turned over to the parliamentarians, which effectively completes the *coup d'etat* that the civil war began.\n\nAt the other end of the timeframe, *sabotage* seems not to have been initially connected with spycraft, but rather with labour action. The online etymology dictionary give this interesting [quote](_URL_0_):\n\n > It is a device which, we are told, has been **adopted by certain French workpeople as a substitute for striking**. The workman, in other words, purposes to remain on and to do his work badly, so as to annoy his employer's customers and cause loss to his employer. [\"The Liberty Review,\" January 1907](emphasis mine)\n\nLabour action was a growing concern at the time. This [list of strikes](_URL_10_) shows 21 strikes in the first half of the 19th century, 60 in the second half, and then another 58 from 1900-1920. There seems to be a dramatic spike in labour actions just around the time that sabotage entered the lexicon to describe a kind of creative (French) alternative to strikes.\n\nTo go back in time again, *espionage* and *reconnaissance* show up fairly close together, but they have very different histories. *Espionage*, [according to the online etymology dictionary](_URL_8_), probably entered French from Old Italian via an ultimately Germanic root, so in a way it has come full circle. *Reconnaissance* on the other hand [comes plainly from Old French](_URL_3_). So what brings them into English around the same time? I suspect it has to do with the major upheavals affecting Great Britain at the time: the French Revolution/French Revolutionary Wars, and that great French antagonist, Napoleon. 1793, the year *espionage* enters English just happens to be year 1 of the French Revolutionary Calendar, and the year that France declares war on Great Britain and the Netherlands. *Reconnaissance* appears in 1810 at the height of Napoleon's empire. It seems quite fitting that these military words about gathering information would themselves have been taken from the nation that the British needed to know so much about at the time.\n\nFinally, not all French sounding words are actually French. There is actually [no evidence](_URL_4_) that *rogue*, the earliest word on the list, has any link to French.\n\nSo in the end, many of the words entered English through concerns at the time, especially when those concerns involve the French. This small smattering of words, that seem to be topically joined, actually enter English at a range of times and with different lineages. Sometimes they are directly from French. Sometimes it might be a word that we borrowed from French that the French had borrowed from someone else. And sometimes it just might sound French.\n\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://amzn.com/1611450071",
"http://www.academie-francaise.fr/",
"http://amzn.com/0380715430",
"http://historyofenglishpodcast.com/"
],
[
"http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=sabotage",
"http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/espionage",
"http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=coup+d'etat",
"http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=reconnaissance",
"http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=rogue",
"http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coup",
"http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=coup&allowed_in_frame=0",
"http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coup%20d%27%C3%A9tat",
"http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=espionage",
"http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reconnaissance",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_strikes#1850.E2.80.931899",
"http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rogue"
]
] |
||
1sbvy2
|
what happens to all the single-use throwaway accounts on reddit?
|
Do they ever get recycled?
How many of the registered users of Reddit are throwaways?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1sbvy2/eli5_what_happens_to_all_the_singleuse_throwaway/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cdvyp6p"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"They don't get recycled--there would be no point and it's not worth the risk since it could be a security issue if someone used their real information to register for a throwaway. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
278koq
|
what does a president do all day?
|
Do they just stamp papers all day with an official POTUS stamp or do they attend meetings with other leaders or what? Do they get days off? Are they allowed to go anywhere without security? Questions like that.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/278koq/eli5_what_does_a_president_do_all_day/
|
{
"a_id": [
"chyevya",
"chygyea",
"chyi27j",
"chyicjk",
"chyjg1e",
"chymwql",
"chyp3ad"
],
"score": [
2,
27,
21,
4,
2,
7,
29
],
"text": [
"Dude, have you not seen the West Wing? He has loads of clever and inspirational and witty conversations and then falls short when it comes to actioning anything worthwhile.",
"The White House posts his schedule every day\n\n_URL_0_",
"Meetings. His entire job is nothing but meetings. Meetings all day, every day.",
"If sometimes we get tired of so many meetings, I can not imagine presidents. ",
"What if it's the president of Burkina Faso? What does he do?",
"So maybe I'm just drunk, but where does the President get to bone his wife? How far away are the Secret Service (and other important people) during sexy times? Just my drunken ramblings.\n\nEDIT: Do sexytimes show up on the schedule?",
"Talk to congress (like a boss)\n \nApprove VETOs (like a boss) \n\nLead the country (like a boss) \n\nRemember birthdays (like a boss) \n\nDirect senators (like a boss) \n\nMy own bathroom (like a boss) \n\nMacro-manage (like a boss) \n\nPromote Democracy (like a boss)"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
fran3t
|
From Normandy to Kiev, Sicily to Ireland; Germanic settlers/Nobility assimilated to local customs & languages; Why was Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain different?
|
Is it as simple as there just being more settlers in Angland that they didn't need to settle with Britons?
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/fran3t/from_normandy_to_kiev_sicily_to_ireland_germanic/
|
{
"a_id": [
"fm38x15"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"PART 1\n\nThere's a lot of debate about the exact nature of the Anglo-Saxon takeover of what is now England, so I'll present some of that and then give my take on it in the hope that it helps to answer your question.\n\nThe classic version of events that most English schoolchildren have learned is the expulsion theory, namely that war bands of Angles, Saxons, and Jutes took over the southern part of Britain, wiping out the natives wholesale and inviting their relatives and friends across the sea to settle in their place. This theory is derived primarily from the writings of people such as Gildas and Bede. However, it has fallen out of fashion nowadays, largely due to the implausibility of such a successful, organized attack, and the fact that archaeological evidence does not suggest such a complete massacre.\n\nAnother theory that seems to be gaining some ground is the warrior elite model. In this version of events, a small number of Anglo-Saxon warriors settle in Britain rather than a large-scale migration. The majority of the native Romano-Britons survive, but are forced to assimilate to the culture of the politically dominant but numerically insignificant Anglo-Saxons. This theory is, in my opinion, problematic, for reasons I will get to in a moment.\n\nDNA tests have been done to shed further light on the issue, but they have varied wildly in their results. One study postulated that something like ninety percent of the DNA of the English comes from the invaders from northern Germany; another claimed that the Anglo-Saxons had less of a demographic impact than the Danish Vikings. One potential complicating factor is that a lot of the DNA in Northern Europe is quite similar, regardless of language. Genetic science is advancing, and might be able to give a clearer picture in the future, but as of right now it still leaves us in the dark.\n\nBut to get back to the main topic, you actually lay out a massive problem with the elite migration theory in your question. Such groups may influence the cultures of the areas they rule over, but rarely manage to affect a complete cultural transformation in the way an elite band of Anglo-Saxons would have to have done. Much more often they end up being assimilated themselves. One notable exception to this is the Romans managing to spread Latin across their empire. However, the Roman Empire was very unique at the time--it was an extremely powerful, centralized, well-ordered society with massive infrastructure. The Germanic tribes that lived on its periphery were none of those things. And, indeed, we see that upon conquering formerly Roman territories, groups such as the Lombards and the Visigoths, to name just a few, all wound up speaking Vulgar Latin and being assimilated to the populations they ruled over. Even the Franks, who were dominant enough to give their name to the region they ruled over, ended up taking on its Gallo-Romance culture and language.\n\nLanguages can tell stories that written history leaves behind. Even if something like the spread of Latin does occur, there tends to be a substrate influence from the conquered people left upon the new language spoken there. For example, it is widely agreed upon that substrate features of Gaulish exist in French, including several common words as well as grammatical features. Now, there is a school of linguists that subscribe to \"the Celtic hypothesis,\" which is to say that there is a Brythonic Celtic substrate in the English language, but their ideas have not gained wide acceptance. It doesn't help that the majority of the things they claim to be features of such a substrate don't really start showing up until a thousand years after the Anglo-Saxons began migrating, a time gap which is, frankly, rather ludicrous. Much more logical explanations (in my opinion, at least) exist for most of these features that don't involve Celtic languages at all. There's also the fact that English has remarkably few loan words from Brythonic, and those that do exist are for the most part fairly obscure. And the fact that most \"domestic words\" in English do originate with the Anglo-Saxons suggests that whole families migrated, not just a few men."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
btxiij
|
is the fastest sperm to reach and fertilise the egg necessarily the fittest or healthiest? if not, what usually determines its success?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/btxiij/eli5_is_the_fastest_sperm_to_reach_and_fertilise/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ep427it",
"ep42i4s",
"ep48rza",
"ep4adag"
],
"score": [
4,
11,
9,
7
],
"text": [
"Luck, a hehehehehell lot of luck. The first ones to reach the egg usually die penetrating it.",
"Mostly luck. It's not necessary fittest or healthiest of all, because most sperm cells aren't lucky by definition of luck. A group of sperm cells will move together and many of them should die out just to make path to their target easier for other cells. \n\nBut to fertilize the egg, they should be healthy enough and to complete some \"checks\". That is like a basic check that their DNA is not damaged badly, under the point when cells become unable to do it's job, but not enough to ensure that DNA don't have any mutation - they almost certainly will have some minor mutations.",
"As others have said, it's luck.\n\nCarrying an extra X chromosomes, female sperm are slightly heavier and thus a little bit slower. However they live slightly longer. Becoming a girl or a boy depends slightly on the timing of ejaculation vs ovulation.\n\nIf she already ovulated, boy is slightly more likely, if she will ovulate in 2 days, girl is slightly more likely.\n\nBut it's mostly luck, the sperm right behind you might have had another gender than you. Consider that if you ever feel like arguing abortion rights, women sexuality, why women should earn less or other nonsense like that. Less than a second difference and that could have been you.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nEDIT: Due to genetic defects, 60% of conceptions will spontaneously abort. Even the winner could be so flawed that they don't make it past the first few cell divisions. Luck is more important than anything.",
"Actually, the first sperm cells to reach the egg don't fertilize it. Usually it's one of the last sperm cells that do. The membrane of the egg cell is quite strong and the first wave of sperm cells weaken it so the last ones have a chance to penetrate it."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
awwxua
|
the different kinds of bbq across the united states. how do they differ?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/awwxua/eli5_the_different_kinds_of_bbq_across_the_united/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ehpqkzf"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"It's all about the meat and the sauce. There are dozens of varieties, but the four major ones are:\n\nCarolina Style: Pork, basted with either vinegar-based sauce (North) or Mustard-based sauce (South)\n\nKansas City: Pork or beef, dry rubbed, sauce (tomato-based) served on the side\n\nMemphis: Pulled pork sandwiches and ribs.\n\nTexas: All about the beef, usually brisket. Sauce is very much optional."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
4z1utt
|
why were computers not considered commonplace in households until windows 95?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4z1utt/eli5_why_were_computers_not_considered/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d6s5f51",
"d6s74qd",
"d6s75ad"
],
"score": [
14,
7,
2
],
"text": [
"It happened to be good timing with the internet becoming more well known. You had a GUI based OS, you didn't need to know DOS. Also, that was when computers started really coming down in price.\n\nWhile I had Windows 3.1 at home, I was using my unix shell account at school to get on the internet starting in 1993 since I didn't have a modem yet. At least by 95, you had Netscape 1.1 which was a big deal because you could start using JPGs for images (before that it was 64-color gifs, not the animated type, and bitmap files which were huge to download). Having an image with more color and 10% of the size of gifs were a big deal when you were on a 14.4 modem.",
"Cost.\n\nWindows 95 was present, but not the reason. The marketplace had two niches before 1995, the \"toy\" computer from Commodore or Tandy and the \"experimental gismo of the future\" like a Mac/Lisa. Businesses were still using big computers that cost > $100K, so the futuristic $5K computers were too expensive for anybody without a big technology interest (cars were also $5K in this era). The < $500 toy segment was only for kids with deep pocket parents. No niche was going to make big sales.\n\nIn the mid 1990s the PC clone market brought $1K computers that really did something useful. That's a price-point where you can get a lot more sales, and those clones used Win95.",
"You're implying there's a connection to the release of Windows 95 and the increase in home computer ownership where there may not be one.\n\nDid you know households with computers in them comprised 15% of the US population going into the 90's? I would say they were already pretty common. This number doubled to at least 30% according to [this data](_URL_0_) by the end of the 90's. So I think the correlation you draw does not imply causation, rather, computer usage in the home increased above a perceptible threshold (20%?) where they start to be noticeable. \n\nAll of this talk of perception is highly highly relative to where you live. In parts of the world, everyone in university in the late 80's and early 90's had a Mac! I would say the Mac was more influential to bringing the computer into the home than any Microsoft software ever was. The Mac was simple, one button, etc. I'm not a shill, so I'll leave it at that. The rise of Windows as the dominant operating system on most computers in the world is a different story however. I recommend watching any of the numerous documentaries about this out there."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[
"http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/1999/apr/wk1/art01.htm"
]
] |
||
flrj1
|
When you apply light pressure to your eye for an extended period of time (ex. sleeping on your face), why is your vision blurred for several minutes afterwards?
|
My best uneducated conclusion is that my eye temporarily changes shape, is that right?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/flrj1/when_you_apply_light_pressure_to_your_eye_for_an/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c1gv7xq",
"c1gw725"
],
"score": [
4,
4
],
"text": [
"Your eye primarily focuses using either the cornea or the lens. Your cornea (which is a specialization continuous with the fibrous outer part of your eye called the sclera) does most of the refraction that brings light into focus, but it's not really adjustable so your lens does the rest of the 'fine' focusing.\n\nI can't think of a reason why pressing your eye would temporarily cause your iris sphinctor/dilator muscles to stop functioning, so I'm guessing you're right and it's not due to problems with the lens, but the shape of your eye. \n\nWhen not just a temporary condition, this is actually a major cause of near- and far-sightedness! An elongated eye means that the image passing through your lens gets brought into focus before the retina (myopia/near-sightedness) and in the case of a compressed eye shape the image gets brought into focus after the retina (hyperopia/far-sightedness). ",
"I was told in university biology class that this is because the nerves in the back of the eye / retina 'see' the pressure that you exert. \n\nThe reason it persists afterwards is because the ocular nerves are specialised for sensing light, not pressure. Pressure energy is way over the threshold for these nerves and they need to return back to normal.\n\nI wish i could remember more but i'm at work and cannot research properly."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
199xe8
|
Between the years 1812 to 1914, how would the U.S army have fared against a stereotypical European army?
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/199xe8/between_the_years_1812_to_1914_how_would_the_us/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c8m4iz7"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"This is essentially a question of speculation and there is truly no way a historian could answer this. However, there have been users who have written comparisons between the US Army and European armies during the late 19th century. You can find them [here](_URL_0_) and [here](_URL_1_)."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/15sx12/how_did_the_unionconfederate_army_compare_to_the/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/17tovc/how_would_us_troops_in_the_civil_war_era_have/"
]
] |
||
2tc52g
|
How did whale intermediates have an evolutionary advantage?
|
There is overwhelming evidence that whales evolved from land animals. I took [this](_URL_0_) to be a valuable source. It tells of intermediates living in Bays and estuaries. But how and why did whales go in to the open ocean? Would they not have had a disadvantage to fish who had already had millions of years of evolution? And why did the Ocean dinosaurs, which also had a lot of whale like species, die out in the ocean? Is this something that can also happen to whales?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2tc52g/how_did_whale_intermediates_have_an_evolutionary/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cny0qli",
"cny2i7l",
"cny6gbh"
],
"score": [
6,
3,
3
],
"text": [
"Fish are cold-blooded.\n\nThere are some minor exceptions; large predatory fish such as tuna are often slightly warm-blooded, but not as warm as a mammal. This is also why there are no pocket-sized whales; being big and well-insulated helps maintain body heat.\n\nBreathing air while swimming seems somewhat awkward, but there's not actually that much oxygen dissolved in water for fish to extract. Not a problem for mammals though. Lungs are efficient for providing oxygen to that super-fast metabolism.\n\nYou don't need to be fully aquatic to get strong advantages either; look at hippos and seals.",
"Clarifying point: the reptiles that lived in the ocean weren't dinosaurs. As far as I know, the plesiosaurs, mosasaurs, and ichthyosaurs all went extinct around the same time as the dinosaurs (K-T extinction), but the reasons for why they weren't among the taxa that survived are unclear.",
" > But how and why did whales go in to the open ocean? \n\nGradually, starting in bays and estuaries like modern day manatees and before that likely being only partially aquatic as today's hippos are.\n\n > Would they not have had a disadvantage to fish who had already had millions of years of evolution? \n\nIn essence yes they would IF they were trying to compete in the same ecological niche. The early protowhales would likely have entered an environment which had no top predator (of their form) or they were able to displace the current top predator; either outcompeting it if they occupied the same ecological niche or turning it into their food due to a size advantage.\n\nAlso moving out in to the ocean from bays and estuaries would have been probably been a gradually process, a slow switch of foraging behaviour in to deeper and deeper water which came with more and more evolutionary adaptations.\n\n > And why did the Ocean dinosaurs, which also had a lot of whale like species, die out in the ocean?\n\nI don't know enough about ocean reptiles to comment\n\n > Is this something that can also happen to whales? \n\nCertainly. Most species that have ever existed have gone extinct, so we should expect that to happens to whales. Whether it will happen in a \"catastrophic\" geologically short time period is unknown though."
]
}
|
[] |
[
"http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/evograms_03"
] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
wycpm
|
I had knee surgery last year, why is it every time its about to rain, my knee aches so bad?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/wycpm/i_had_knee_surgery_last_year_why_is_it_every_time/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c5hiz5h"
],
"score": [
9
],
"text": [
"Your doctor should have explained to you one of the results of surgery is the joint joint sheath is broken (the medical term is, I believe synovial sheath). \n\nAs pressure goes down, the pressure in your joint changes. This causes ache or soreness. I experience the same thing due to an injury in my hand. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.