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1yzl36
|
i know this has been asked before, but i still can't wrap my head around it. minimum wage.
|
[This](_URL_0_) article states that if minimum wage had kept up with inflation, it should be roughly $20 an hour.
[This](_URL_1_) says a minimum wage hike would destroy jobs.
So, my question is this. If minimum wage had kept up with inflation, would small business owners even have a business in the first place? Or would they have adjusted accordingly? And what happens if the fed/state government all of the sudden decide to jack up the minimum wage to reflect actual cost of living?
I'm just confused, because it seems like every other day there is a pro and con argument about why it is good or bad.
Edit: The google link said inflation for HP, and it's been a while since I read it. Ignore my question on that one. So lets go with productivity like I should have said instead of rushing. [Article](_URL_2_)
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1yzl36/eli5_i_know_this_has_been_asked_before_but_i/
|
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" > had kept up with inflation\n\nNo... The study says that minimum wage would be $20/h if it had kept up with an increase in *GDP*, not inflation.\n\nMinimum wage is based on the market value of unskilled, easily replaceable labour. GDP increases because of improvements in technology, automation and management, while the value of manual labour is basically the same as it was in the sixties. If anything, improvements in automation should decrease demand for unskilled labour, shifting the market price even lower.\n\nMoreover I'd advise you to take everything written on huffington post with a sizeable grain of salt, since it's one of the more biased websites on the internet - eg. look up neutral sources/commentary before you come to conclusions about what you read there.",
"It's a complex issue and hard to study by it's nature, so nobody really knows if increasing the minimum wage is beneficial or not. Here's a ELI5 explanaition of both sides:\n\n**Against**\n\nRaising the minimum wage raises makes the profit margin for businesses with lots of minimum wage employees smaller since it raises their costs. So they can either choose to hire fewer people (which would hurt their ability to run their business) or eat the loss and hope it doesn't drive them out of business.\n\nA minimum wage increase kills jobs in two ways. Firstly, but discouraging hiring by making it cost more. Secondly, by increasing the cost of doing business, which will cause businesses to close down, which means the people who worked there are now without a job.\n\n**For**\n\nThe purpose of the minimum wage isn't meant to increase jobs, it's meant to provide a wage that people can live off of. I've been to a factory in China where they had dorms on site for the workers to live in. A minimum wage prevents that type of situation.\n\nIn addition, a minimum wage hike only effects some businesses. I work at a bank with over 3000 employees, and I would be surprised if a single one makes minumum wage. \n\nThat brings us to the argument that minimum wage actually increases jobs. My bank is more profitable when more people have more money, because those people will put more money in their accounts and get more loans. \n\nThis is the case for just about every business, and the core of a lot of liberal economic policies. Poor people are much more likely to spend any money you give them than rich people are, so when you give poor people money it goes right back to businesses. McDonalds may have to pay their employees more, but they also get more money from customers because suddenly people have more money.",
"Economics is sometimes called the \"dismal science,\" and it kind of fits because it's modeling such a complicated mixture of things that beyond the most simplistic transactions it's extremely difficult to get anything really right. This doesn't stop people from trying but there can be many, many competing models and it may be that none of them are right.\n\nBasically, for an employer to take on an employee, the employee must cause them to get enough additional \"utility\" to offset their wages. I say utility and not income because take a corporate janitor: they don't directly increase the revenue of the company, but having a clean office makes other workers happier, more productive, and less likely to quit.\n\nIf you increase the minimum wage, this increases the minimum utility a person must provide in order to earn their wages and thus be employable.\n\nLet's take the example of a fast-food worker. Say you sell hamburgers for a dollar, and they cost you fifty cents to make which means for each burger you get $0.50 profit (the source of these numbers is thin air, by the way, it's just an illustrative example), and minimum wage is the current US minimum wage of $7.25/hour. This means that the worker must sell at least 15 burgers per hour more than you would without them in order to be worth their wage.\n\nNow say minimum wage goes to $15/hour, like some people are asking for. To keep things simple, we'll say you don't have an increase in costs (but you probably would because of rising wages along your supply chain). If you keep the price of a burger the same, the employee must now sell at least thirty burgers per hour more than you would without them in order to be worth their wage. Can you be sure that would happen? Do you have the customer base to do so?\n\nOr, you could increase your price to $1.50 so they only have to sell 15 burgers per hour to be worth it. But many customers may be unwilling to pay the extra price because $1.50 is more than a burger is worth to them. So is the loss in sales worth paying that employee?\n\nMaybe you can take a loss in profits. How much are you willing to lose? You have to pay yourself, most businesses will want to reinvest so they can expand, and let's face it, almost everybody wants to make as much money as they can.\n\nOr... you can find a way to get rid of the employee without taking much of a loss in sales. Maybe you can get one of those fancy touchscreen ordering computers to replace all your cashiers, and have your customers input the orders themselves. Maybe it's too expensive when you only have to pay your cashiers $7.25 an hour but when it goes up to $15/hour it becomes the cheaper option.\n\nAgain this is a simplistic model. There is generally disagreement on which will be the options taken, by how much, etc., which is why you get people arguing about if a minimum wage increase is a good thing, how many people will lose their jobs..."
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[] |
[
"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/13/minimum-wage-productivity_n_2680639.html",
"http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2013/04/17/the-record-is-clear-minimum-wage-hikes-destroy-jobs/",
"http://www.epi.org/publication/lagging-minimum-wage-reason-americans-wages/"
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1exukz
|
up arrow notation like in graham's number.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1exukz/eli5_up_arrow_notation_like_in_grahams_number/
|
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"It's a way of describing very big numbers using repeated exponentiation.\n\na↑b is the same as writing a^b. 4↑3 = 4^3 = 64.\n\nNow it gets complicated. a↑↑b is the same as writing a↑(a↑(...a↑)) so that you have b amounts of a's, which as the same as writing a^a^a^... so that you have b amount of a's in that stack. So 4↑↑3 becomes 4↑4↑4 or 4^4^4 or 4^256. That number is equal to 13407807929942597099574024998205846127479365820592393377723561443721764030073546976801874298166903427690031858186486050853753882811946569946433649006084096. You can see how this is useful for large numbers already. That number 155 digits long.\n\nThis pattern repeats as you add more arrows. a↑↑↑b is the same as writing a↑↑(a↑↑(...a↑↑)) so you have b amount of a's. So 4↑↑↑3 becomes 4↑↑(4↑↑(4↑↑))). This means you have 4^4^4^4... so that you have 4↑↑3 (or 4^26 or that giant number above) 4s in that stack.\n\n**Edit for a simpler way of looking at it** \n\nIn the same way multiplication is repeated addition (4×3 is the same as 4+4+4) & exponentiation is repeated multiplication (4^3 is the same as 4×4×4), up arrow notation is repeated exponentiation (4↑↑3 is the same as 4^4^4 ).",
"So you and your two friends are eating goldfish crackers like [these](_URL_0_). You decide that you should each get 10 crackers.\n\n10 crackers for 3 people:\n\n > 10 + 10 + 10 = 30\n\nThere's got be a quicker way to do that though. If you have 10 added 3 times, that's the same as saying there are three tens. So let's write it as:\n\n > (3)*(10) = 30\n\nMuch nicer. But really, when you think about it, 10 goldfish crackers really isn't that many. (those things are addicting!) At the risk of your friends not being your friends anymore, you must increase the number of goldfish.\n\nLet's say you take a vote and decide each person should get ten times (or ten 10s added together). But just to be safe (you like having friends) you make it ten times *that*:\n\n > (10) * (10) * (10) = 1000\n\nNot very pretty. Let's write it as:\n\n > (10)^3 = 1000\n\nOr maybe we'll use the up arrow:\n\n > 10 ↑ 3 = 1000\n\nNow 1000 goldfish may seem sufficient but without friends you might do something silly like discuss Knuth's arrow notation on the internet. If three times ten is just repeated addition, and ten raised to the third is just repeated multiplication, maybe you should try repeated exponentiation!\n\n > (10^10^10)\n\nThat seems like a solid number of goldfish to keep your friends. But the math isn't pretty anymore. Let's use the arrows:\n\n > 10 ↑↑ 3 = 10 ↑ 10 ↑ 10 = 10 ↑ (10 billion) = A LOT of goldfish\n\n > That's a one with zeros after it for about 10^10 digits!\n\nSince your already wiping out Pepperidge Farm's entire supply, might as well up the demand even further. Goldfish *are* delicious....\n\n > Can we do 10 ↑↑↑ 3? Of course we can. I happen to like goldfish.\n\n > 10 ↑↑↑ 3 = 10 ↑↑ 10 ↑↑ 10 = 10 ↑↑ (10 ↑ 10 ↑ 10) = ...\n\n > yikes. 10 raised to the 10th power... 10^10^10 times.\n\nI don't think you have enough friends to eat that many goldfish crackers....\n\n\nEdit for formatting.",
"When you multiply two numbers (m x n), you're really just adding m to itself n times. For example:\n\n* 4 x 3 = 4 + 4 + 4 = 12.\n\nThe Knuth up-arrow notation was developed to make very large numbers easy to deal with. To get to Graham's number (3 ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑3), let's first look at what an exponent is. m^n is (just like multiplication) m times it self n times. \n\n* 3^3 = 3 x 3 x 3 = 27.\n\nThis is what the m ↑n represents:\n\n* 5^3 = 5 ↑3 = 125\n\nSo now, there is a symbol that represents doing the 'lesser order' operation a number of times. Let's go one step further. Just as m ↑n is m^n, m ↑ ↑n taking m to the power of it self n times. This is known as tetration. Put simpler:\n\n* 2 ↑ ↑3 = 2^(2^2) = 2^4 = 16 = 2 ↑2 ↑2\n\n* 3 ↑ ↑3 = 3^(3^3) = 3^27 = 7625597484987 = 3 ↑3 ↑3\n\nNow is when this gets a bit more tricky. So we know that each arrow represents a iteration of the previous arrow operation. The next step in the arrow notation is m ↑ ↑ ↑n. This is m tetrated to itself n times. \n\n\n* 3 ↑ ↑ ↑3 = 3 ↑ ↑3 ↑ ↑3 = 3 ↑ ↑ (762559748498) = 3^3^3^3... 762559748498 times= a very big number we'll call VBN.\n\n\n\nGraham's number is defined as 3↑↑↑↑3*. This one is even more tricky than the last to explain without getting bogged down in notation. I'll do my best though:\n\n* 3↑↑↑↑3 = 3↑↑↑3↑↑↑3 = 3↑↑↑VBN = 3↑↑3↑↑3 ... VBN times. \n\nIn this example, what we'd do is calculate 3↑↑3 = n, then do 3↑↑n = m, then 3↑↑m = k until we've done that VBN times. \n\nSorry if this doesn't actually explain what Graham's number is, but you hopefully now appreciate just how big it is!\n\n*EDIT: This is incorrect, see Quaytsar's comment below for the definition.\n"
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7p9j30
|
How did the British manage to mindbogglingly administer all the 500+ Princely States in India? What laws applied in these territories?
|
I have read that there were more than 500+ princely states during the independance of India and Pakistan.
I have the following questions:
1) How did the British manage **SO MANY** different entities without fainting? It must have caused the top person in charge, like the Prime Minister extreme mental anguish trying to micro-manage or even simply manage all these. Even thinking of it even if played like Civilization games is making me faint.
2) What laws (civil, criminal, otherwise) applied to these Princely States?
3) Why didn't the Princely States and their Princes, protest or fight for their sovereignty and instead joined India? Why didn't the British or the international community rush to help them?
4) Why did the Princely States exist in the first place? Why weren't they absorbed by the previous Mughals, the French, Portuguese or the British?
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/7p9j30/how_did_the_british_manage_to_mindbogglingly/
|
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"I will try to answer each of your question.\n\n#Question 1\n\n* Most princely 'states' were states only in name. A city or a few clusture of villages was often what constituted a 'princely state' in many cases. So the 500 number is not actually as daunting as it seems\n\n* The British had a system called 'subsidary alliance system'. Under this system, A ruler handed over his foreign policy over to British and gave his consent to the permanent deployement of British troops inside his kingdom. In return, the princely state wont be annexed and the ruler would recieve a regular pension to maintain his lifestyle\n\n* Most rulers of these so called princely states were sheiveled up shadow of their past ancestors. They did not have the military might to even stop a cattle robbery, much less challenge british power\n\n* The Britiish had also enacted a policy under which rulers who did not have their own kids could not appoint adopted kids as heir. If a ruler did not have his own flesh and blood to inherit his kingdom, then the british would swoop in on his death and appoint a puppet \n\n[To be continued]"
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53945t
|
Do black holes accelerate matter to light speed?
|
Does matter ever become gravitationally accelerated to c?
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/53945t/do_black_holes_accelerate_matter_to_light_speed/
|
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"No. Massive objects always move slower than light. Also, talking about relative speed on objects that aren't in the same place doesn't generally make sense in general relativity. Usually it's not too bad, but black holes are kind of extreme. But you can still distinguish slower than light, light speed, and faster than light, and massive objects always move slower than light."
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3am0f5
|
why are car colors so dull?
|
Very rarely do you see bright reds and blues on cars. Why is it that cars are mainly fifty shades of gray?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3am0f5/eli5_why_are_car_colors_so_dull/
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"Neutral colors are going to appeal to the widest audience. Bright colors can be found but they're the exception to the rule - most people tend to gravitate toward something more subdued. ",
"I see a fair amount of brightly coloured cars. Sure, the majority are probably shades of grey/black but in my experience I see a wide variety of colours",
"Grey is a very easy color to keep looking clean. Extremely bright and/or extremely dark colors show dirt, salt, etc a lot more than medium tone colors. Additionally, not everyone wants a car that stands out. There is a perception that bright colored cars like red/yellow are more expensive to insure and are meant for people who want to look sporty or race.",
"/u/stumblepretty has a good answer. On top of that consider this: bright or more active colors have a limited range of other colors that they will work with and it is very easy to find conflicting colors. This creates a high probability that you will cross paths with a vehicle that will be painfully contrasting to you. Some of this relies on color theory and some on psychology.",
"Cost and convenience, mostly.\n\nIt kicked off with the Ford Model T. It was only available in black. It was an un-offensive and low-cost color. Kept production simple. And it made the repair of the cars easy, no hard to get parts as all of them were black. However, black cars are probably the hardest to keep looking good. Every bit of dirt and every tiny scratch shows. \n\nNext came white. Super cheap paint. Looks professional. Mostly done for the manufacturer's sake as white paint is a pain to take care of. It did hide scratches well though. In Japan, white is still very popular as some believe white cars to be lucky and safe. Otherwise, white is usually a premium option and comes as a fancy pearlescent color. \n\nToday, silver is king. This time, it's mostly to appeal to the consumer. Again, it's an inexpensive paint. Has a neutral, blend-into-the-crowd color that still looks fancy and high quality. Easy to maintain, doesn't really show scratches or dirt. Accentuates and adds depth to today's body styles, making the body look more dramatic then they are. ",
"Fashion changes. People find different things to be beautiful or desirable in different times, car colors included. You might come up with different practical reasons why subdued colors are better, but in the end I don't think it matters. Bright colored cars will probably come back to fashion sooner or later. ",
"Even Audi, BMW, and Mercedes offer bright reds and blues on all their 4 door saloon cars. It's just that grey is more popular with buyers. Audi even offers a sky/baby blue and also a cosmic blue with matte finish. Mercedes has had a 'designo' range of factory colours since 1996",
"Because people are equally dull and boring. Look at motorbikes; rarely anything other than super-silly paint jobs. Because bikers aren't as dull ;)\n\n[Kwak](_URL_5_)\n\n[Suzuki](_URL_1_)\n\n[Yam](_URL_3_)\n\n[Honda](_URL_0_)\n\n[KTM](_URL_2_)\n\n[Ducati](_URL_4_)",
"It took months to find a used car for my wife. We had the make and model picked out, but it couldn't be black, white, or grey/silver. We'd have taken red, blue, orange, yellow, etc. Finally found an orange one. Looks great next to my bright blue car. "
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6dzdsc
|
How did painters react to the invention of photography? Did they oppose it or did they embrace it as an emerging art?
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6dzdsc/how_did_painters_react_to_the_invention_of/
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"Follow-up question: Did the increasing quality and affordability of photography in the late 1800s help popularize Impressionism, since it purposefully didn't attempt to realistically recreate landscapes?",
"I was wondering, surely realistic portrait painting was negatively affected? [This] (_URL_0_) suggests that there was indeed a decline, which is ongoing. Obviously, plenty of portraits are still being painted that are not intended to be realistic or recognizable. ",
"(1/2)\n\nAs you can probably tell from the jumble of responses and counter-responses that your question has thus far attracted, the relationship between painting and photography is a complex and interesting one. It's a relationship that isn't really reducible to a strict binary of opposition and embracing, but rather a series of relationships that depends on country/culture, era, and the tastes and talents of individual practitioners. I'm going to write my own answer to the question which I hope will be relatively comprehensive, rather than responding to individual other answers, some of which are on the right track and others of which I disagree with in whole or in part. I’ll do my best to pepper my response with appropriate images, though even with RES reddit is not the ideal platform for creating image-heavy text posts.\n\nFirst, as others have noted, art historians do not tend to see the \"invention\" of photography as happening at a single discrete moment in time, but rather as being a process. It's often thought that the daguerreotype, the technique unveiled to the world by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Dauguerre in 1839, was the first photographic process as we understand it. There are at least two ways in which 1839 as a hard \"start date\" for photography as we understand it today is imperfect, however. The first is that the daguerrotype is not a process of mechanical reproduction like other photographic processes. For example, with gelatin silver photography (and similar metal-based processes), which is one of the most familiar black-and-white processes, the image is first captured on a glass or film negative before being printed onto photo-sensitive paper. The negative stays intact, and can be used more-or-less forever to create images which are *exact replicas* of the negative. The daguerrotype, at least as it was first formulated by Daguerre, creates a reproduction of the light that enters the aperture of the camera, but it prints directly onto the photo-sensitive substrate (usually a copper or other metal plate), creating a singular image. So though the daguerrotype can be said to have pioneered the transfer of an image onto a photosensitive surface, it would take additional advances before one of the key features of photography, its *seriality*, would become a part of the question.\n\nThe second reason that the daguerrotype should be more appropriately seen as part of a continuum rather than a single generative moment has to do with how Daguerre got the idea for the daguerrotype to begin with. Put simply, he didn't just come up with the idea for a photographic camera out of whole cloth. There was a long history of the use of a variety of pre-photographic devices, often by artists as an aid to mimesis. The most important of these are called the [*camera lucida*](_URL_0_) and the [*camera obscura*](_URL_2_). The latter involves a large space, usually a room, in which a single hole has been punched. The light from an external scene will enter the hole, creating an inverted image of whatever is going on outside the room. This phenomenon has been recorded for thousands of years, and likely was used as a drawing aid at least as far back as ancient Greece. The camera lucida operates on similar principles, though with the addition of lens(es) and/or prism(s) to project the image onto a piece of paper or other support, allowing for ease of tracing or copying. The camera lucida has long been used as an artist’s aid. In fact, you will sometimes find books or articles published in a “gotcha” tone accusing this or that artist (like Vermeer, for example) of using a camera lucida as an aid to their drawing. Such accusations would, in my opinion, have puzzled such artists, who saw the camera as a perfectly appropriate tool for the creation of their art. Anyway, Daguerre was trying to figure out how to record the image from his camera obscura directly onto a surface for a couple of decades before he finally figured it out. \n\nOK, so that’s some background on the invention of photography. So what relationship does it have with painting? Well, first of all, as I already pointed out (as have others in this thread), various optical devices were frequently used by painters going back hundreds or even thousands of years. Daguerre himself was a painter, as were many of the other earliest photographic practitioners. Regardless of whether we see 1839 as a moment of pure genesis or merely an important inflection point in an ongoing process, it is undeniably true that as the nineteenth century wore on, and especially at the beginning of the twentieth century, photography became more and more sophisticated, and more and more commonplace. At the same time, Western art was undergoing a process of increasing abstraction, with a transition from the emphasis on close mimesis found in Romantic and Realist art giving way to completely nonfigurative art by ca. 1910. Surely, then, doesn’t it make sense to argue that photography plays a, if not *the* key role in this process of transition from illusionism to abstraction?\n\nWell, maybe. But correlation, as we are so fond of hearing, does not imply causation. Let’s explore what some artists and art historians have said and done about it. I saw a commenter somewhere in the thread asking about the relationship of Impressionism to photography. From the vantage point of history, we (rightly) see Impressionism as the first step in the development of artistic modernism, and the subsequent development of abstraction. However, for Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, and other artists whom we associated with Impressionism, the movement and its processes were actually a response to what they saw as the increasing artificiality and stultified nature of painting in Second Empire France. Painting at the time was governed by the *Salons*, the official art exhibitions governed by the *Academie des Beaux-Arts*. The type of art favored by the Salons was, generally speaking, a combination of the Neoclassicism of figures like [Jacques-Louis David](_URL_5_) and the exoticized Romanticism of people like [Jean-Leon Gerome](_URL_1_). Perhaps the exemplary figure in Salon painting around the time of the invention of photography (and still influential by the time of Impressionism was [Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres](_URL_6_), whose voluptuous female nudes defined beauty for French art connouisseurs at the time. Impressionism, by contrast, sought something different, fresher, more immediate. Though when we think of Impressionism now, we might think of beautiful land- and seascapes by artists like Monet, at its core Impressionism was actually an urban movement. In contrast with the carefully-planned canvases of the Salon painters, Impressionists sought to move out into the city, capturing fleeting and contingent views of everyday life in the metropolis. The contemporaneous invention of tubed paint allowed them to carry their easels out into the world, capturing the momentary, fleeting qualities of urban life. \n\nContrast this with early photography, which rather famously took a long time to capture its images early on. Daguerre is widely believed to have created the [first street photograph](_URL_4_)– notice how empty it looks. All of the foot and vehicular traffic was too fleeting to be captured by the photosensitive materials available to him, save for a single shoe-shiner that was captured at the lower left of the image. Contrast that with this famous Monet painting of the Gare-Saint-Lazare train station[, which captures all the wonderful](_URL_7_) movement of light and steam in an exact instant. \n\nDoes that mean that photography had *no* impact on Impressionism? Well, maybe let’s not go that far. Other art historians have pointed out how Impressionist paintings eschew the careful compositions of their Salon counterparts, with figures, buildings, and other parts of the image casually [cut off](_URL_3_). This gives the paintings a quality which we now might liken to a snapshot, capturing merely what is in front of the observer at a given time, whether it’s compositionally convenient or not. Many art historians believe that this quality was influenced by photography, which has a more limited means of influencing the composition of the final image than a painting. A photographer can move her apparatus around to create a better or more pleasing shot, but she can’t simply omit compositionally inconvenient details (eventually techniques for editing objects out of photos were developed, of course, in its formative years this wasn’t yet possible) the way that a painter can. So when an Impressionist creates an image that has some sort of awkwardly cut off or otherwise odd compositional detail, he or she very well may be responding to the immediacy of the photographic process.\n",
"I'll just add to u/pipkin42's terrific comments that it took some time for photography to start to be experimented with as an artistic medium, and even longer for society at large to consider it an artistic medium in its own right. For a long time photography was seen merely as a technology. In most cases it was used to record and document. There are some very early and early photographs that are still lifes, like Niepce's 1827 heliograph [\"Still Life\"](_URL_1_), but these were more a way to test the technology on an easy-to-capture subject than artistic works akin to still life paintings. Portraiture, including self-portraits, mainly start with the daguerreotype, but most photographers are again merely looking to record someone's appearance and therefore not trying to create an emotion or play with composition or lighting in an artistic manner. Some of these works, like Robert Cornelius' 1839 [\"Self-Portrait\"](_URL_0_), are visually interesting to contemporary viewers due to the limits of the technology and aging process of the plates, but it's not really what the photographers were aiming for.\n\nEven as the technology continued to develop at a very fast pace - the daguerreotype, invented around 1837, became wildly popular in the 1840s and 1850s for portraiture but was all but replaced in 1860 by cartes de visites (which used the albumen print method), which themselves were overtaken in popularity by cabinet cards (typically but not always albumen prints) after 1870 - and more and more people took up photography as a profession or a hobby, it remained largely seen as a technology, although some people were starting to discuss whether it should be seen as an artistic medium. In 1853, the first meeting of The Photographic Society of London (now the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain), whose membership included both professionals and hobbyists, included a lecture entitled \"Upon Photography in an Artistic View,\" in which the lecturer \"denied photography's position as an independent art, and urged photographers who were taking studies to be used by painters to put the image slightly out of focus\" so the image would better lend itself to being translated into painting. (from *The History of Photography* by Beaumont Newell, 1982 edition) Photography began to be exhibited at World's Fairs and other exhibitions, but they were largely categorized as technology rather than art. At the first World's Fair in London in 1851 (also known as The Great Exhibition), most photographic works, which included daguerreotypes and calotypes, were classified under “Machinery, Class\n10 (x) – Philosophical, Musical, Horological, and Surgical Instruments\" in the official catalogue, and although a few were under \"Fine Arts, Class 30 (xxx) – Sculpture, Models and Plastic Art, Mosaics,\nEnamels, etc.,\" all photographic works were judged under Machinery Class 10. Several won prizes, including Mathew Brady's work, most of which would be best classified today as documentary photography, and Martin Lawrence's [\"Past, Present, and Future\"](_URL_3_).\n\nJulia Margaret Cameron is the earliest photographer I know of that truly treats photography as an art form. Cameron experimented with dramatic lighting, and took advantage of the blurriness that was difficult to avoid in early photography to create a soft focus, to create dynamic, emotional portraits of her friends and family ([\"John Herschel with Cap\"](_URL_4_) (1867)) and literary and biblical scenes and figures ([\"A Study (After Perugino / The Annunciation)\"](_URL_5_) (1865)) that evoke the works of her friends the Pre-Raphaelites. The uniqueness of her work was well received by some - the [Met Museum](_URL_2_) says \"[w]ithin eighteen months [of first picking up a camera] she had sold eighty prints to the Victoria and Albert Museum\" - but scorned by others: again from the Met Museum, a 1865 review of her work in the *Photographic Journal* said \"Slovenly manipulation may serve to cover want of precision in intention, but such a lack and such a mode of masking it are unworthy of commendation,\"\n which to me has striking parallels to criticism of the Impressionists. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/magazine/record.asp?id=9820"
],
[
"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Camera_Lucida_in_use_drawing_small_figurine.jpg",
"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Jean-L%C3%A9on_G%C3%A9r%C3%B4me%2C_Hasaneyn_Camii_%C3%96n%C3%BCnde_%C4%B0syankar_Beylerin_Ba%C5%9Flar%C4%B1.jpg",
"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/001_a01_camera_obscura_abrazolas.jpg",
"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Edgar_Degas_-_In_a_Caf%C3%A9_-_Google_Art_Project_2.jpg",
"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Boulevard_du_Temple_by_Daguerre.jpg",
"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Jacques-Louis_David%2C_Le_Serment_des_Horaces.jpg",
"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/France-003335_-_Grande_Odalisque_%2816051027150%29.jpg",
"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/La_Gare_Saint-Lazare.jpg"
],
[
"https://photographyinamerica.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/cornelius.jpeg?w=777&h=1022",
"http://www.photo-museum.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/catalogue-Niepce-table-servie.jpg",
"http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/camr/hd_camr.htm",
"http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/201531/martin-m-lawrence-ja-whipple-past-present-and-future-american-1854/",
"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Sir_John_Herschel_with_Cap%2C_by_Julia_Margaret_Cameron.jpg",
"http://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ph/web-large/DP158039.jpg"
]
] |
||
3wlky8
|
why are asians discriminated against in college admissions, and how extensively are they put to a disadvantage? also, why are people okay with putting asians at a disadvantage, but not african-americans or hispanics?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3wlky8/eli5_why_are_asians_discriminated_against_in/
|
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"text": [
"there are statistics that show that Asians generally test higher, so if there was no checks you'd have extremely high percentage of Asian students compared to other nationalities. They're not put too much at a \"disadvantage\", its mostly just to even out demographics. \n\nAfrican Americans and Hispanics are statistically going to be on a lower socio-economic scale so they'd have less help with school, so they generally test lower on average. Again, if there were no checks you'd see very little representation of these races in higher education. \n\nKeep in mind, this is just the argument for affirmative action, not my opinion on the issue. ",
"from what I understand Asians are not a \"protected\" class or minority in the higher educational system. Asians don't count toward a school's diversity ranking or help a school reach its diversity quota for \"protected\" minority races or groups. Admitting an Asian is the same as admitting a white person. I think the same goes for Indians (India not Native Americans). I don't know if the discrimination is based on the number of Asian student applying for admission from abroad as well as those applying from the U.S. it could be because admissions breaks things up by race an Asian would be competing for a certain number of spots with thousands of applicants while an African American is competing for the same number of spots with a smaller pool of applicants. Suppose there are 1000 non-protected applicants (Asian/white/Indian) for 100 open spots. there are 25 spots reserved for protected classes (African-American/Latino) for which there are 100 applicants. (I'm making up the numbers for easy math). for a non-protected applicant to be admitted they would need to be in the top 10% while for a protected applicant to be admitted they would only have to be in the top 25%. if any protected class applicant was in the top 10% of the non-protected class applicants they would be given one of the non-protected spots and the requirement for the protected 25 spots would drop. this is how it was explained to me. It could be wrong. I don't work in education or admissions. ",
"Asians make up around 6% of the US population but account for 20 - 40% of college students in America. As a result Asians are vastly over represented in Universities and thus don't need protection like other minorities which tend to be under represented. Many people look at how well Asians are doing in getting into universities and figure since they are over represented it is merely \"correcting\" the situation to cap how many get in. \n\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
5vp2dc
|
how does something like the james webb space telescope cost $8 billion?
|
It's really hard to comprehend this amount of money and how it would be spent. Has any similar project released easy to understand details about how the money is spent?
Even saying something like "$50 million to build the mirrors" doesn't help me understand. That's less than 0.7% of the total, but I still think "wow, why does it cost so much?"
I'm not suggesting that it's too much money, it's just very difficult to comprehend where it is all going.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5vp2dc/eli5_how_does_something_like_the_james_webb_space/
|
{
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"Who made it? A huge team of NASA engineers working for years and years to develop technology never seen before. These are real smart dudes who don't work for chump change. ",
"It will be lifted to a very high orbit. Resupplying the ISS cost about ten thousand dollars a pound. It will need stabilizing so may well include a generous amount of rocket fuel. There is a good estimate of what the final weight will be. \n\nEveryone at NASA is paid a good wage. It is a government agency. So the budget swells. \n\nA similar telescope could be constructed some other way for a much lower price. Part of the price is extensive testing. It will be in an inaccessible orbit. The Hubble was useless until it was repaired which was only possible in low Earth orbit.",
"Most of the money is for the development of completely new and unique components. When you push way beyond what has ever been done before, there are no factories making the components you need -- you must have each one custom designed by excellent engineers, and (for space mission) manufactured flawlessly since repairs are not realistic."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
3vmvdm
|
How long is a nuclear ground zero uninhabitable?
|
If a nuclear bomb at current power levels (20 megaton or more I think) were to ground-detonate, how long would it take before the ground zero of the explosion's nuclear fallout/radioactivity decreased enough for humans to re-inhabit the area without any significant health risks?
As a follow up, would a ground nuclear detonation result in more or less time required to maintain an exclusion zone (such as the one around Chernobyl which is still around after many years)?
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/3vmvdm/how_long_is_a_nuclear_ground_zero_uninhabitable/
|
{
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"cxplgjr"
],
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"text": [
"Standard thermonuclear weapons have a fallout that will typically degrade to habitable levels within 6-18 months. \n\nA ground detonation would produce a more severely affected local area of irradiation whereas an air burst would ultimately cover such a broad area that it would be diffused and relatively harmless. \n\nAfter an atomic explosion the fallout is entirely airborne particulate and is more easily blown away or swiftly incorporated into the water cycle and dispersed compared to a nuclear meltdown.\n\nOf great concern, should one ever be built or detonated, is a Cobalt Bomb. This is a kind of \"salted\" nuclear weapon where a large amount of cobalt is added to the device and the reaction turns it into the highly radioactive cobalt-60. This would produce levels of radiation that are overall less than a standard weapon but render an area completely uninhabitable for up to 5-10 years. \n\nA Cobalt bomb could produce the kind of post apocalyptic wasteland we've come to expect from popular culture."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
4e7lzr
|
How did people do their taxes before computers were invented?
|
[deleted]
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4e7lzr/how_did_people_do_their_taxes_before_computers/
|
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"text": [
"No scholarly links or background here but a first hand account of someone that was around in the bad old days of tax before computerized submission. \n\nYou got a form, you filled it in. There were instruction booklets of various degrees of helpfulness & help lines you could call. If paperwork wasn't your thing, well this is the reason H & R Block was created. \n\n",
"I'm in my 50s and always did my own returns on paper until 2012. Now that it's too awkward to obtain paper forms and I sometimes have trouble navigating the government web sites for PDFs, I get my taxes done professionally.\n\nA packet containing all the forms and instructions I was likely to need arrived in the mail in January or February based on my previous year's return. I read the instructions. If I needed any forms not included in my packet, I went to any public library. The libraries had racks of quite a variety of forms and instructions. They also had copies of a big book called Package X, which contained *all* the forms and their instructions. I xeroxed the pages I figured I would need.\n\nThe government also provided free guide booklets, as opposed to line-by-line instruction booklets, for complicated situations. These were listed on the back (or inside cover?) of the 1040 instruction booklet. I called an 800 number to have a couple guide booklets sent to me every few years. Or I could usually find those guide booklets at the library and read them there and xerox the crucial pages.\n\nBookstores also had a section of for-sale tax guide books from a few publishers. Some years I'd buy a book, but I can't remember the publisher. Maybe Kiplinger?\n\nDisclosure: I took a full year of courses from H & R Block in the early 1980s and worked there a few years. Block had their own paper forms that said H & R Block on them. So, besides my own, I've prepared over 1000 returns (including a few fiduciary and corporate) on paper. Being able to work a 10-key adding machine by touch is crucial. As for checking for math errors, go through the papers and finished forms backwards, subtracting where you would normally add and adding where you would normally subtract. You should end up with 0. IIRC, you are off by 9 if you accidentally transposed a couple digits in your math. If you are off by any other value, you really messed up, maybe copying a number wrong in the first place. Fix the numbers, fix the math. Then the returns were packed in a suitcase and taken to Block's local checking office, where they were checked for logical errors and fishiness.\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
40awj7
|
if evolution promotes survival, why do living things die naturally
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/40awj7/eli5_if_evolution_promotes_survival_why_do_living/
|
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"Evolution promotes survival of the species, not of individual organisms. \n\nIf anything, a species being immortal would be an evolutionary disadvantage as you are guaranteed to run into overpopulation and the subsequent exhaustion of resources.",
"Evolution promotes an individual's survival long enough to reproduce: once you've popped a few sprogs out and raised them to adulthood, you are surplus to requirements.",
"Evolution doesn't exactly promote survival. It promotes having more surviving decendants. Essentially evolution is best summarised as \"the genes of the organisms that have the most surviving ofspring become more common in the next generation than those that have fewer surviving ofspring.\"\n\nIf building a body that lasts comes at the expense of having fewer surviving ofspring then evolution will favor a body that doesn't last."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
2pfdxq
|
how does my dog have a habitual schedule daily but doesn't understand time? everyday he knows when his dinner should be made by messing with his bowl or making noises around 5 o'clock. but can't tell the difference between 3 days or 3 hours?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2pfdxq/eli5_how_does_my_dog_have_a_habitual_schedule/
|
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"text": [
"How do you know that he can't tell the difference between 3 days or 3 hours?",
"Just as animals in the wild having sleeping, eating, and mating schedules, so does your dog. He knows about the time he supposed to be fed. Or maybe he just tells you when he is hungry. My dog will whine if I forget to feed him in the mornings, which is rare, but he still knows he wants to be fed. He has a concept of time, just not as sophisticated as we revolve our lives around time. ",
"Like humans, pets have internal rhythms. If you eat at the same time every day, you can, in essence, \"train\" your body to be hungry at that same time. Dogs are usually on a pretty strict schedule - wake up, eat, poop, play, pee, play, pee, play, eat, poop, play, pee, sleep. \n\nWe guide them through their days and they learn the patterns. Their bodies grow adjusted to rhythmic feeding schedules, and so they become aware of their hunger around the time they are to be fed.\n\nJust because they can't read a clock doesn't mean they can't sense the passage of time."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
1k2w30
|
differnt blood types and their impact.
|
Do certain blood types affect our overall well-being?
Or perhaps it means we're more likely to be affected by some medications ?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1k2w30/eli5differnt_blood_types_and_their_impact/
|
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"text": [
"Human blood falls into the catgories of A, B, AB, and O depending on the presence of certain markers on the red blood cells known as antigens. These antigens allow the body to recognize and distinguish its own cells form foreign red blood cells as part of our immune system. This occurs as each antibody is grouped with an opposite antibody contained in the plasma of the blood (ie blood type A would have B antibodies, B with A antibodies, AB with neither antibody, and O with both antibodies). They work in a lock and key fashion in which if an antibody is able to lock with an equal antigen, then an immune response is triggered (as it implies the presence of foreign red blood cells). This has major implications as to who can safely transfer blood to each other with A being able to recieve blood from A and O, B from B and O, O from O, and AB from A and B. Now getting to your questions, i myself dont know specifically if blood type has an impact on health, though i can see a lot of articles pop up on google. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
20k1d6
|
What was the extent of the Scots-Irish influence on the Blues?
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/20k1d6/what_was_the_extent_of_the_scotsirish_influence/
|
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"text": [
"I'm not certain that this is what you're looking for, but if you're referring to the type of blues that originated in the Mississippi River area (Delta, Chicago, etc.), they were at least minimally influenced by what's called \"old time\" music. Old time music is more or less what people today think of when they hear \"bluegrass\", even though old time is sometimes slower and more reflective of \"tough\" times. African-Americans in the South, post-1865 at least, combined their natural African instruments and styles/dances with those of the white, European-descended old time players (guitars, fiddles, and banjos...which probably originated in Africa) and began to create what we know today as \"blues\" music. True blues music flourished in places where African-Americans were struggling the most. Starting in the rural Mississippi River delta area of Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and extreme southwest Tennessee, and eventually slowly migrating to Northern cities with African-Americans, most notably Chicago."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
4bzur0
|
What prevents a chimera's immune system from rejecting organs that developed from the other cell?
|
What prevents a chimera's immune system from rejecting organs that developed from the other cell? Is it simply that any chimeras that are _too_ genetically distinct don't form viable embryos, or does the immune system acclimate?
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/4bzur0/what_prevents_a_chimeras_immune_system_from/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d1eddfb"
],
"score": [
2
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"text": [
"I'll refer you to [an earlier comment](_URL_0_) on this same topic, because I think the explanation is smashing.\n\nI'd also like to emphasize looking further into the role of regulatory T-cells if this kind of research is of interest to you, because they're still a mysterious power in the human immune system.\n\nFor the sake of transparency, [here's](_URL_1_) the entire discussion."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/17qcw4/why_doesnt_the_immune_system_of_a_chimera_animal/c87x13s",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/17qcw4/"
]
] |
|
akcmb6
|
What causes the opposite effects of size < -- > speed in gel-electrophoresis and size exclusion chromatography?
|
So i tried answering this with a google search but i didn't really find an answer that compares the two methods in regards to the aspect i'm confused by:
So as far as i understand it, both separation methods use a porous gel to separate molecules by their size.
The explanation for the SEC that i found is, that larger molecules cannot fit into as many pores so they barely interact with the gel and pass through it faster through the paths that they can fit through. (So basically there are less “useless detours“ that lead in a direction lateral to the traveling direction/ spread out the molecules and increase its interaction with the gel)
The explanation for the gel electrophoresis says, that the larger molecules will have problems traversing through the pores because they won't fit through most of them so it takes them considerably longer to find random paths through the gel. (So there are also fewer “good“ paths that allow large molecules to pass through the gel in the intended travelling direction)
Both explanations sounded intuitive until i read them at the same time.
Why does the effect that slows down larger molecules during electrophoresis not also affect them during SEC and vice-versa (why don't they pass faster during gel electrophoresis).
I think my problem/misunderstanding is kinda linked to understanding the key difference between what they refer to as “interparticle volume“ and the “pores“ in the SEC. In the end it sounds to me like you have a gel/solid with tiny “tunnels“ inside of them through which the molecules can traverse. Why does it matter if these tunnels are
A) part of the small gel-beads/porous particles themselves
or
B)Between individual beads/porous particles
Also i'm a little bit confused by how some explanations use the word “interaction“. Because some of them use it as chemical/electrical interaction and say that “the analyte must not interact with the stationary phase“ in the SEC so there is a separation solely by size yet sometimes “interaction“ was used in a way that to me sounded more like its ability to diffuse and spread out into the pores.
Thanks in advance for any input that might help understand these processes a little more and have a nice day.
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/akcmb6/what_causes_the_opposite_effects_of_sizespeed_in/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ef3vmwo"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"Watch these quick animations - should clear things up...\n\n(Pulsed-field) Gel electrophoresis (PFGE): \n[_URL_0_](_URL_0_)\n\n & #x200B;\n\nSize exclusion chromatography (SEC): \n[_URL_1_](_URL_1_)\n\n & #x200B;\n\nIn gel electrophoresis you're forcing all the molecules to go through the same (continuous) matrix (gel) by applying an electric current - think of the matrix as a bunch of different sized pores or holes, tunnels - smaller molecules can enter these pores and holes faster than bigger molecules that maybe need to find a bigger hole to progress in distance, finding bigger holes takes time, so bigger molecules move slower. \n\n\nIn size exclusion differs in that you don't have a continuous matrix, in reality, you have lots of little beads that have pores of different size themselves; but between the beads there is much bigger space (than the size of the pores of the beads) for liquid and particles to flow - in SEC you're typically not applying a current but you're using liquid flow. If you're a big particle you will not be able to enter the small pores of the beads and you fall through the cracks/space between the beads, so you're migrating faster than smaller molecules that can enter the pores (by diffusion) - so big particles come out first of the column of beads.\n\n & #x200B;\n\n\"Interaction\" - bascially what's meant by this is the following - because you're resolving over time, anything (interaction) that affects the speed at which your particles migrate will change their apparent (observable) molecular weight - even though they might not be as small/big as their retention time would indicate. This is because for example hydrophobic patches on a macromolecule (e.g. protein) can stick to the beads (i.e. NOT enter the beads, but just cling to them for a little bit in time). Hence these particular sticky proteins elute later as others, and will, therefore, appear smaller than their real molecular weight.\n\n \nHope this all makes sense. Animations help here a lot, so maybe browse around YouTube a bit :)\n\n & #x200B;\n\n & #x200B;"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EqwWACfYXI",
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV5VB5kO3tQ"
]
] |
|
8v0ggh
|
How much of "the final solution" did German citizens and soldiers know about?
|
It is obvious much of his rhetoric was rooted in blaming the jews for everything. But how many Nazi party supporters and soldiers knew he was attempting to literally murder every man, woman, and child?
I have ao many questions I wanna pack in and go on tangents but I'll stick to this one. We think of Nazi as unanimously just some evil empire where everyone wanted to kill jews, gays, etc and they were all inhumane monsters that loved the sadism they could get from torturing others. But I find it hard to believe the bulk of the army who were prolly verrrrrrrry young men who were drafted and fighting because they were told to or simply cause loved their country, not wishing or even knowing about the horrors going on under Hitler's command. Let alone getting some twisted boner from throwing people out windows or killing people all willy nilly and shit like you learn about in class and movies. Most of them were just soldiers fighting a war they didnt wanna be in, right?
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/8v0ggh/how_much_of_the_final_solution_did_german/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e1jqqoc"
],
"score": [
28
],
"text": [
"**Part 1**\n\n > Most of them were just soldiers fighting a war they didnt wanna be in, right?\n\nNot really. It's a fair assertion to say that virtually all Wehrmacht soldiers were aware of the atrocities that were committed, participated on some level in these atrocities and viewed most of it as legitimate. \n\nI have previously wrote answers to similar questions [here](_URL_1_), [here](_URL_2_), and [here](_URL_3_) and it is not really possible to gauge the number of how many members of the Wehrmacht were directly involved in war crimes, not at least because the difficulty of establishing what \"directly\" means in this context: E.g. was a group of soldiers guarding an Einsatzgruppen mass shooting directly involved or not?\n\nThe question of how many knew of war crimes and what they knew of them is easier to answer, especially in light of the newer research by Felix Römer as well as Sönke Neitzel and Harald Welzer. They worked extensively with Allied protocols of conversations between German POWs recorded in Allied camps when they didn't think anybody was listening. Their research uncovered that knowledge of war crimes was ubiquitous among members of the Wehrmacht. Every soldier knew of atrocities that had been committed against Jews and other civilians because they had either been present, had participated or had been told about them by their comrades. During their time as POWs, they quite freely discussed these crimes. To exemplify this, Römer cites among others the following exchange between the Viennese Artillerie-Gefreitem Franz Ctorecka and the Panzer-Gefreiten Willi Eckenbach in August 1944 in Fort Hunt (translation my own):\n\n > C: And then Lublin. There is a crematoria, a death camp. Sepp Dietrich is involved there. He was somehow caught up in this in Lublin.\n > \n > E: Near Berlin, they burned the corpses in one of these thingies [\"einem Dings], the people were forced into this hall. This hall was wired with high-voltage power-lines and in the moment they switched on these lines, the people in the hall turned to ashes. But while still alive! The guy who was in charge of the burning told 'em: \"Don't be afraid, I will fire you up!\" He always made such quips. And then they found out that the guy who was in charge of burning the people also stole their gold teeth. Also other stuff like rings, jewellery etc.\n\n[Römer, p. 435f.]\n\nWhat this passage shows is that these Wehrmacht soldiers, who after all were both on the lower side of the ladder, being only Gefreite (lance corporals) were uncannily well informed even if the story about using electricity for executions wasn't true. But knowing not only of the Majdanek death camp near Lublin but also knowing about Sepp Dietirch's involvement proves them to be very well informed.\n\nOr take this exchange between two Wehrmacht soldiers, Obergefreiter Karl Huber and Pioniersoldat Walter Gumlich, in Fort Hunt:\n\n > H: One day, one guy just came and stole this Russian's cow and so the Russian defended himself. And then we had to hang fifty or a hundred men and women and let them hang there for three or four days. Or they had to dig a trench, line themselves up at the edge and were shot so they fell backwards into it. Fifty to a hundred people and more. That were the so-called \"retributions\". But that didn't help anything. Or when we set the village son fire [...] Partisans were naturally dangerous, we had to defend ourselves against them but this was something different [...]\n > \n > G: Ach, that were war operations. They [the people who did the above] are not really criminals.\n > \n > H: Exterminating whole families, shooting their kids etc., literally killing whole families? We are guilty if the military without any right or any order steals the last bread of some farmer.\n > \n > G: Oh, come on.\n > \n > H: Ach, don't defend them.\n\nThese and so many more conversations of this kind between Wehrmacht soldiers show that virtually every soldiers had either heard or seen these crimes if he had not participated in them himself. And given how numerous the crimes of the Nazis and the Wehrmacht were in the Soviet Union and elsewhere, this is hardly surprising. You already mentioned it in your expanded text above and I go into this in the linked answers but it is imperative to realize that the war against the Soviet Union was planned, conceptualized and fought as a war of annihilation, being in itself basically a huge war crime. Nobody is this fact more obvious than in the OKW's Kriegsgerichtsbarkeit Erlass, which actually forbid Wehrmacht soldiers from being persecuted for war crimes in the Soviet Union. That this was seen as necessary, tells you not just how deeply the Wehrmacht was involved but just what kind of war they planned to fight: One where combat operations and war crimes bled into each other seamlessly.\n\nThe background of this is touched upon in my linked answers as well as by Dr. Waitman Beorn in the linked AMA [here](_URL_0_).\n\nNow when it comes to the question of rationalization, the protocols reviewed by Römer et. al. are also rather enlightening. As you might have noticed in the converstaion between Huber and Gumlich above, these crimes were sometimes regarded as controversial. Römer in his analysis proposes based on the protocols that Wehrmacht soldiers did indeed distinguish between what they viewed as legitimate and illegitimate violence.\n\nTake this exchange Römer cites between soldier Friedrich Held and Obergefreiter Walter Langfeld about the topic of anti-Partisan warfare:\n\n > H: Against Partisans, it is different. There, you look front and get shot in the back and then you turn around and get shot from the side. There simply is no Front.\n > \n > L: Yes, that's terrible. [...] But we did give them hell [\"Wir haben sie ganz schön zur Sau gemacht\"],\n > \n > H: Yeah, but we didn't get any. At most, we got their collaborators, the real Partisans, they shot themselves before they were captures. The collaborators, those we interrogated.\n > \n > L: But they too didn't get away alive.\n > \n > H: Naturally. And when they captured one of ours, they killed him too.\n > \n > L: You can't expect anything different. It's the usual [Wurscht ist Wurscht]\n > \n > H: But they were no soldiers but civilians.\n > \n > L: They fought for their homeland.\n > \n > H: But they were so deceitful...\n\n[Römer, p. 424]\n\nRömer uses this exchange to illustrate that even where there was a limited understanding for the Partisans and those who helped them (fighting for their homeland), as irregulars, they neither got nor deserved mercy. The Partisans were constructed by the Wehrmacht as dangerous, deceitful, and likely to shot them in the back. Violence against them and against civilians in general were justified and rationalized with this. Within this frame of reference, a lot of the most extreme violence committed by the Wehrmacht in occupied Europe was justified and for the soldiers, this view seemed natural and justified. They used it to justify and describe the most extreme atrocities and discussed them not as problems but rather with satisfaction. Fritz Kotenbeutel, a 24-year-old Wehrmacht soldier of an anti-Partisan unit speaks with great satisfaction of the good job they did burning down villages and executing every male they came across [Römer, p. 428].\n\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/5qhz7o/ama_the_german_armys_role_in_the_holocaust/dczdhhm/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3xc03h/just_how_much_of_the_wehrmacht_was_dirty/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4r8pzp/how_often_did_the_regular_german_army_werhmacht/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4skjkq/is_the_depiction_of_nazi_or_german_soldiers_in/"
]
] |
|
21spmo
|
What motivated the kamikaze?
|
My focus is not Asian history but I'm taking a course about wars in Asia. I've always heard that the kamikaze pilots were glad to give up their lives for Japan and the emperor. However, I've recently read that when the attacks began, even the Japanese commanders thought that defeat was inevitable. Why did these young men sacrifice themselves? What motivated them?
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/21spmo/what_motivated_the_kamikaze/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cgg5idy"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"By 1944 when kamikaze planes began to be used the Japanese defence ring had fallen apart and the Japanese began to understand that the only way out of the war was to inflict as many casualties upon the Americans as possible, in vain hope that the American public would grow war weary and force their government to sue for peace. This was the motivation shins the Kamikaze. \n\nNow to understand why a pilot would be willing to sacrifice themselves on a suicide mission, you have to understand Japanese warrior culture. The Japanese samurai code of Bushido was considered important and every military personal would have known it. The code stresses loyalty unto death, it also stressed that to die in battle, in service to the emperor was the greatest honour a young man could bring to his family. To preform a successful kamikaze attack would bring great honour to your family, which was extremely important in Japanese society. To refuse to die in service of the emperor would have brought great shame and dishonour onto your house. Japan was a highly militarized society, so military acts were also looked upon with great respect and admiration. \n\nThat's what motivated the kamikaze, the idea that there death would serve the emperor and bring great honour to their family. \n\nSource:\n\nJapan's imperial army it's rise and fall by Edward drea \n\nA history of japan by L.M Cullen"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
ceo4fe
|
During WW2, were prisoners sent to war or did they continue their sentence?
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/ceo4fe/during_ww2_were_prisoners_sent_to_war_or_did_they/
|
{
"a_id": [
"eu4ta3z"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Not to discourage further responses, but I answered a question some time ago [here](_URL_0_) that I'll repost below."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/86op8w/were_criminals_allowed_to_be_part_of_the_us_army/"
]
] |
||
k3v2l
|
Research questions regarding historic US census data
|
I'm trying to put together a socio-economic sketch of a small MI county in the 1960s and Tennessee in the 1930s but I'm having difficulty locating useful data on the census site. Does anyone know of any tools that can search historic census data for ethnic, economic, and/or social information?
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/k3v2l/research_questions_regarding_historic_us_census/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c2hazvw",
"c2hazvw"
],
"score": [
4,
4
],
"text": [
"Here's tip - call them. \n\nOn three separate occasions, I have had to call the Census Bureau for information and on each occasion they have been incredibly helpful. I can say the same thing about the DOE. \n\nIt almost makes you feel good about the government.",
"Here's tip - call them. \n\nOn three separate occasions, I have had to call the Census Bureau for information and on each occasion they have been incredibly helpful. I can say the same thing about the DOE. \n\nIt almost makes you feel good about the government."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
15r7ou
|
How close is the Earth right now in its orbit as it was exactly one year ago? (In relation to the Sun)
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/15r7ou/how_close_is_the_earth_right_now_in_its_orbit_as/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c7p2vxp",
"c7p98kb"
],
"score": [
7,
3
],
"text": [
"(Assuming that by \"year,\" you mean at midnight on 12/31 last year).\n\nWell, the period that it takes Earth to orbit the sun is about 365.2564 days; since this was a leap year, this is a difference of about .7436 days. So we've gone .7436/365.2564 = .002036 extra orbits around the sun.\n\nNow the distance to the sun is 149.6 million kilometers, so the length traveled during an orbit (fudging it a bit, since we really follow an ellipse) is 940.0 million kilometers.\n\nMultiplying, the total difference is 1.913 million kilometers. In a normal year (not a leap year), it's about 1/3 of this, for about 640,000 km.",
"The others here are missing a critical point, that of [apsidal precession](_URL_0_) and [variation of its eccentricity](_URL_1_). The Earth's orbit is never exactly the same year to year."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apsidal_precession",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_eccentricity#Examples"
]
] |
||
3h7g0h
|
What are some good books regarding the transfer of Hong Kong?
|
As title, but with a focus on the negotiations and the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984.
Also welcome: What's the general Historiographical thought around this event?
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3h7g0h/what_are_some_good_books_regarding_the_transfer/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cu55bn7"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Not a historian, but I did some historical economic analysis of Hong Kong under the British. I found these to be some useful sources. Not all of them cover modern history, but they're all comprehensive. \n\n* A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF HONG KONG, GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS STEVE TSANG (HONG KONG UNIVERSITY PRESS) ISBN 9622093922 \n\n ((This is probably your best bet))\n\n* [Treaty of Nanjing 1842 - British Takeover](_URL_1_)\n\n\n* [A Concise History of Hong Kong](_URL_0_)\n\n* Edge of Empires: Chinese Elites and British Colonials in Hong Kong:John Carroll\n\n* Hong Kong's History: State and Society Under Colonial Rule: Tak-Wing Ngo\n\nGood luck\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://books.google.com/books?id=fQofAAAAQBAJ&dq=economic+history+of+british+hong+kong",
"http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/china/nanjing.pdf"
]
] |
|
6ew0w1
|
How do birds know to make nests? Is it purely instinctual or is it taught?
|
I was watching a gull collect moss for its nest earlier today and began to wonder how they know how to construct their nest. I have seen many birds building their nests but I haven't seen any birds teaching their young. This behaviour seems to be from instinct, but surely this is too complex to be just an instinct.
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/6ew0w1/how_do_birds_know_to_make_nests_is_it_purely/
|
{
"a_id": [
"didwua6"
],
"score": [
15
],
"text": [
"It's both instinctive and learned, as with many complex behaviors. There's a review paper here, which is open-access and worth the read:\n\n > It is possible that a bird comes into the world with a template that provides the basic information as to what a nest should be like and how it should be constructed, but uses feedback during the construction process to improve building performance. This might explain what appears to be practice nest building by the village weaver. \n\n---[Nest building by birds](_URL_3_)\n\nOther evidence for some learning:\n\n > Given the diversity in nest building, it is perhaps surprising, then, that we know so little about how birds build nests. ... Historically, nest building was assumed to be independent of experience with nest material and nests. ... birds hand-reared in the absence of nest material and later exposed to nest material as adults, constructed nests resembling those built by experienced builders. ... One hundred and forty years on from Darwin and Wallace, there has been a surge in work on nest building in both free-living and captive birds, which is providing increasing experimental evidence for learning on selection of nest material.\n\n--[From neurons to nests: nest-building behaviour as a model in behavioural and comparative neuroscience](_URL_0_)\n\n\n > It is becoming apparent that birds learn from their own experiences of nest building. What is not clear is whether birds can learn from watching conspecifics build. ... Thus, first-time nest builders use social information and copy the nest material choices when demonstrators are familiar but not when they are strangers. The relationships between individuals therefore influence how nest-building expertise is socially transmitted in zebra finches.\n\n--[Social learning in nest-building birds: a role for familiarity](_URL_2_)\n\n > It is generally assumed that birds’ choice of structurally suitable materials for nest building is genetically predetermined. ... Our results represent two important advances: (i) birds choose nest material based on the structural properties of the material; (ii) nest material preference is not entirely genetically predetermined as both the type and amount of experience influences birds’ choices.\n\n-[Physical cognition: birds learn the structural efficacy of nest material](_URL_1_) "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4986315/",
"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4043081/",
"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4822453/",
"http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822\\(08\\)00066-3"
]
] |
|
569298
|
On average, how religious were the American founders, compared to average Americans?
|
I don't know how "founding fathers" usually gets defined... members of the Continental Congress? Signers of the Declaration of Independence? I also realize that religiosity is a complicated beast, too--behavioral religiosity? Acceptance of values? Personal belief?--but I'm hoping someone somewhere has taken the plunge, operationally defined these things, and tried to inform this question.
I guess my overall question is: was the USA founded by people who were more religious than, less religious than, or about as religious as other Americans at the time?
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/569298/on_average_how_religious_were_the_american/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d8ie834"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"They were clearly courting liberal positions for their era. They were far more educated the the average American so had ethical outlooks beyond religious books.\n\nThe concept of 'Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness' simply flew in the face of the religious establisment. Persuing happiness was proposed by Englishman Locke as an ideal and was opposed by Protestant and Catholic ideologies, ie you persue the happiness of God.\n\nTheir 'religious tollerence' is very much liberal, as in Europe Catholics or Protestants were persecuted and discriminated against depending on who ruled their respective countries. \n\nNow many of them were probably religious men, they probably were believers as such. But they would as a group see beyond the religious dogma of their own religion. \n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
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9oraac
|
how are we able to make decisions if everything follows the laws of physics
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9oraac/eli5_how_are_we_able_to_make_decisions_if/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e7w3eri"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"The idea of free will is sort of up for debate in my mind. If our thoughts, and therefore our decisions, are nothing but complex chemical signals in the brain, then they were predetermined by the thoughts that came before them, and before those, and the chemistry that happened in the womb to form the brain and the first thoughts, and all the physics and chemistry that happened before that all leading up to the current moment. Everything, including the birth and death of every star, planet, creature, and thought, was predetermined by the directions each subatomic particle flew in at the moment of the conception of the universe. Quantum uncertainty may play a role in free will, but nobody really knows right now."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
9wvjib
|
why would there be a primary within the same party of the incumbent president seeking a 2nd term?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9wvjib/eli5_why_would_there_be_a_primary_within_the_same/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e9nlzsy"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Cause maybe the party doesn't want the incumbent again or believes someone else has a better shot of winning."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
e1c9gb
|
Looking for some advice pertaining to teaching the Armenian Genocide.
|
I tutor a Turkish girl and I was hoping to get some advice/resources that would help me with a recent question on her history homework.
The question asked “Why were hundreds of thousands of Armenians killed or driven from their homes by the Turks?”
She replied “Because Russia deceived Armenians with the dream of Armenia. The Armenians who have Ottoman citizenship changed the rank and united with Russia, attacked the Ottoman Empire. They thought that Russia will help for this dream. But they didn’t. That’s why many people died from Turks, Armenians, Russians.”
I understand that Turkey sees the Genocide differently, and it can be a sensitive topic. I am not an expert on the matter by any means, and I was hoping someone could give me some context to her answer (as it differs significantly from the textbooks).
Also, we are not in Turkey. Thanks for any advice.
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/e1c9gb/looking_for_some_advice_pertaining_to_teaching/
|
{
"a_id": [
"f8ozul9"
],
"score": [
11
],
"text": [
"As far as resources go, although it is a work in progress, a revamping of the WWI section of the booklist has been in the works recently, and the following are suggestions made by /u/yodatsracist and I which will at some point in the future be included, so this is a sneak peak.\n\n*The Armenian Genocide: Evidence From the German Foreign Office Archives, 1915-1916* edited by Wolfgang Gust is an absolute must. It isn't the most *accessible* book, but it is the one I would point to to perhaps meet what you are looking for, as it is heavily based on primary sources which came from the German observers in the country, who were, obviously, allied to the Ottomans at the time, and can hardly be taken to have been antagonists.\n\n*The Armenian Genocide: Cultural and Ethical Legacies* edited by Richard G. Hovannisian is a collection of writings by various authors, numbering over a dozen essays. I realize that anyone with an Armenian last name might not meet what you are looking for, but while Hovannisian is the editor, the contents reflect a wide array of contributors on many topics relating to the genocide.\n\n*The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History* by Raymond Kévorkian. Again, I know this has the same \"last name\" issue, but it does a decent job living up to the title and being a thorough and compelling work that does an excellent job laying out the topic.\n\n*\"They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else\": A History of the Armenian Genocide* by Ronald Grigor Suny is a bit more basic, but great book for someone looking for a less hefty read, so probably more accessible a read than Kévorkian.\n\n*America and the Armenian Genocide of 1915* by Jay Winter takes a more international look at the issue, as the Americans were neutral at the time and in the country. Academic in nature though, so might not be super accessible again.\n\n*Denial of Violence: Ottoman Past, Turkish Present and Collective Violence against the Armenians, 1789-2009* by Müge Fatma Göçek. He is an historical sociologist covers early evidence of the Genocide (and other violence against Armenians, hence 1789) in Turkish sources, mainly memoirs, and also traces the history of the denial of that violence.\n\n*The Making of Modern Turkey: Nation and State in Eastern Anatolia, 1913-1950* by Uğur Ümit Üngör. His his section on the Armenian Genocide doesn't break a ton of new ground, but he places it in the context of larger “social engineering” (that’s a key era for him and many of his Dutch contemporary Genocide studies) in the region. It’s about how what is and was an ethnically mixed region was brought definitively into and under control the Turkish nation-state."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
2014uo
|
How did people deal with mold on food before refrigerators in different time periods??
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2014uo/how_did_people_deal_with_mold_on_food_before/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cfyvck4"
],
"score": [
7
],
"text": [
"First of all, while the refrigerator certainly did help, people used other means to cool food and keep food stored for long times. Ice coolers, where you would keep a block of ice in sawdust and have it replaced as it slowly thawed created cool spaces for the storage of food in Nordic countries' cities for a long time.\n\nAn [earthen cellar](_URL_0_) would often hold a temperature of slightly above modern refrigerator temperature in both summer and winter. It was also dark, which prevented various root crops from spurting.\n\nMy grandfather kept his home-grown potatoes in his earthen cellar well into the 1990s since it offered a large dark, dry and cool storage space.\n\nMold and rot grows from \"free\" water food. You can either bind the water with sugar or salt, or dry the food to create less \"free\" water and prevent the food from spoiling. Salting meat and fish was extremely common and is recorded from the earliest times we have any records in Sweden.\n\nBaking dry Swedish cripsbread allowed people to store bread for a long time. Drying peas and beans allowed them to be stored for a long time.\n\nNorwegian dried cod was an important trade goods, not only because it offered a safe source of protein that could be transported and stored and returned to a decent state by boiling, but also because it was allowed during lent in medieval catholic Europe.\n\nOnce sugar became more commonplace in the latter half of the 1800s, preserving berries and fruit by making preservatives such as jam or lemonade with lots of sugar became common.\n\nControlled fermentation was also a way to preserve foods - foods that ferment become sour and bacteria causing mold and rot do not like a low pH. Cheese, sourmilk and sourcream became ways to preserve milk and cream (as did salted butter) and fermenting grain to beer or grape juice to wine allowed one to store such goods for a long, long time.\n\nGoods extremely high in fat are also resistant to mold and rot. Pressing rapeseed or olives to oil allowed one to store that as well.\n\nFlour is dry, and can be stored for a long time, so people would bake bread a few times a week as needed.\n\nPeasoup, a traditional Swedish dish is made from onions (could be stored in the earth cellar), dried yellow peas (could be stored for a long time) and salted pork (could also last a long time).\n\nTL;DR Salt, sugar, fermentation, drying, earth cellars."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://veckanshus.stjernvall.se/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/jordkallare1.jpg"
]
] |
||
1avv6e
|
What was the transition like from the Hapsburgs to the Bourbons in Spain?
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1avv6e/what_was_the_transition_like_from_the_hapsburgs/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c91ac6m"
],
"score": [
9
],
"text": [
"In what sense? The actual transition between ruling dynasties was bloody and very messy: the War of Spanish Succession was fought between the major powers of Europe over whether a Bourbon - and, more importantly, Louis XIV's grandson - should be allowed to ascend to the Spanish throne. But are you talking about that war, or institutional and societal changes as a result of the transition?"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
1ntjsf
|
Is Neil Armstrong's first foot print still on the Moon or have forces and events removed it?
|
I have written a blog post about this for my site below which gives my uneducated understanding, but would love to hear fellow Redditors views.
_URL_0_
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1ntjsf/is_neil_armstrongs_first_foot_print_still_on_the/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cclwc0h",
"cclwl99",
"ccm2l3e"
],
"score": [
25,
78,
6
],
"text": [
"A quick google search showed me a Straight Dope forum discussing the matter. (_URL_0_) It also had a bunch of links in the discussion pointing to other pages.\n\nSeems like it's possible that the first footprint was damaged by the engine from the ascent stage, though since it was raised a fair bit off the surface and there's no air to swirl around, it might be okay. So if it survived that, about a century's worth of dust accumulation would obliterate it, as could a micrometeorite impact on or near it, and moonquakes (from impact or tidal stresses) might cause it to settle.\n\nBut for now, there's a fair chance that it's still there, and will be for another 50+ years. Short of going up there and looking at it directly, it's impossible to say with 100 percent certainty.",
" > The biggest question for me that I do not have the answer is how careful were the astronauts when leaving and re-entering the Eagle lunar lander to make sure that Neil Armstrong's first footprint was not damaged.\n\nThey weren't careful at all. The first footprint was likely obliterated within minutes of it being made, possibly seconds. Between Aldrin and Armstrong, they likely trampled it to the point of not being visible at all.\n\nThe tracks from the first (and subsequent) Lunar EVA are still visible, however. See, e.g., the [fascinating pictures from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter](_URL_0_).",
"His -first- footprints was obliterated by his next step onto it or by the next astronaut coming out--he did come down a ladder. There was no other place to step. I think what Kebabo means is \"are the footprints from the first moon landing still there?\""
]
}
|
[] |
[
"http://www.magnifiscience.com/blogs/news/9434519-is-neil-armstrongs-footprint-still-on-the-moon"
] |
[
[
"http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=127681"
],
[
"http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Apollo11-LRO-March2012.jpg"
],
[]
] |
|
3vcta7
|
who invented the thumbs up compliment? and how long has it been around?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3vcta7/eli5who_invented_the_thumbs_up_compliment_and_how/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cxmdqi0"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"One popular explanation is that during the height of the Roman empire, Gladiators would turn to the guests of honor on whether or whether not to kill their opponents or beasts.\n\n The thumbs-up, or thumbs-down would symbolize the weapon coming down, or staying above the defeated combatant's head.\n\nAlso, it also comes from the fact that during the Dark ages, personal seals were marked down using the thumb, so a thumb itself would represent agreement and trust.\n\nIt was probably popularized during the second World War where there are reports of both American and Chinese fighter pilots using it as \"okay, ready to go\" or as sign of respect respectively. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
2eld50
|
If the fluoride in toothpaste helps teeth by contact, how does the fluoride in water help if it only briefly comes in contact?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2eld50/if_the_fluoride_in_toothpaste_helps_teeth_by/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ck0n3sv",
"ck0q54v"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"The fluoride in water is incorporated into the developing teeth of children and makes the enamel stronger and more resistant to decay. The fluoride in toothpaste works on contact to help remineralize weak areas.",
"It gets absorbed in your GI tract, mostly the stomach and intestines. From there, it is in your bloodstream, and some of it will make its way to your bones and teeth. The fluoride ions will be present in your saliva due to distribution by the blood. Once in your saliva, it acts topically like topical fluoride treatments. However, since you're probably drinking water throughout the day, you will have some level of fluoride in your saliva all throughout the day. Instead of a once and done kind of thing with topical treatments, you have a continuous low level treatment with systemic fluoride. What doesn't make it to the teeth and bones will get filtered out by your kidneys."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
3uiv7o
|
why do credit cards give airline miles?
|
As opposed to some other benefit? Airline miles seems like an oddly specific item to benefit; are they trying to promote international travel for some reason or?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3uiv7o/eli5_why_do_credit_cards_give_airline_miles/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cxf7hhu",
"cxf7k80",
"cxf7vos"
],
"score": [
2,
2,
9
],
"text": [
"You don't have to use AirMiles or whatever reward points on just air travel. You can often use them for car rentals, hotel stays, electronics you name it. Or if you have AirMiles but want some other reward points, sites like _URL_0_ let you exchange them.\n\nThey're encouraging you to SPEND more because they make money off of 1) transaction fees that are paid for by the vendor (ka-ching!) and 2) your credit card interest. The more you spend, the more transactions and more interest they get from you. \n\n_Hrmm, I only need this small thing. But if I get this slightly larger more expensive thing I get 100 bonus AirBucks! Woo!_",
"For medium and upper class consumers, the largest market for consumer credit cards, airline fares are not only often some of the larger purchases they make in a given year, but also they're quite regular (e.g., Christmas holidays, weddings in spring, and summer vacations). Airline miles are thus a large incentive to own and use that card more frequently. ",
"The biggest credit card spenders are business travelers with expense accounts. That expensive business class ticket? They buy it. $15 hotel wifi? No problem. Expensive meal at a restaurant? Bring it on. They spend all that money on their credit card, and the company reimburses them for it. Plus they get to keep any airline points. \n\nCredit card companies and airlines have realized this. They realized that if business people are going to be taking expensive fares and often, they want to hook them on their airline and card. The best credit cards and airline perks go to these spenders because once they get status on one particular airline or card, they're hooked. They might even take more expensive flights (and charge the client/business) in order to get points on their airline/card.\n\nThis business traveler is the target market for both credit card companies and airlines (and hotels to a lesser extent.) That's why they tend to link them together."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"points.com"
],
[],
[]
] |
|
c1dxi2
|
how do doorbells work?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/c1dxi2/eli5_how_do_doorbells_work/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ercjuyg"
],
"score": [
7
],
"text": [
"So traditional wired doorbells are normally simply a complete wired circuit involving:\n- a bell\n- a transformer to lower the voltage so that if the button gets compromised people won’t get a high voltage shock by pressing the button\n- a button outside\n- and wiring connecting it all\n\nWhen you press the button outside it completes the circuit by allowing electricity to pass through and ring the bell."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
9chju4
|
Monday Methods: History Pedagogy (The Theory and Practice of Teaching and Learning)
|
I should preface our conversation about pedagogy by divulging that I am an academic in the US teaching in-person classes at the university level. Any omissions on my part are opportunities for discussion.
**Historians in the Classroom**
Historians are both ahead of and behind the pedagogical times. A standard introductory level history course is taught by the “sage on the stage,” performing an extended verbal essay each 50-minute class period. The pedagogical literature has for many years encouraged us to instead act as a “guide by the side,” a model prevalent in upper-level discussion-based or seminar courses.
*Active learning* is one of the core best-practices in pedagogy. At its essence, active learning is based on the principle that students learn by constructing their own understanding of material by building on their prior knowledge. Active learning includes an enormous range of strategies, including class discussions, debates, games, and brainstorming. Activities that work relatively easily in larger classes include Think-Pair-Share, note comparison, clickers, video reflections, and one-minute reflections.
As detail oriented as we historians are, it can be difficult for us to move away from a *coverage model* of teaching. However, if we give up the sage on the stage method of teaching in favor of discussions, activities, and/or projects, it means giving up the control and pace that allows for a coverage model of teaching. The pedagogical literature supports slowing down to cover less material more deeply. More pedagogically-oriented lectures, including elements such as active learning, handouts, and assessment of student learning, is better received by students. (See, for example, Saroyan and Snell, 1997.)
**Tech in the Classroom**
Although we here on AskHistorians are clearly not allergic to the twenty-first century, many of our colleagues are reluctant to incorporate technology in the classroom. What are the pros and cons of tech in the classroom?
Needless to say, technology is frequently distracting. But aside from the temptations of reddit, students taking notes on laptops perform worse on higher-level or conceptual questions. Research by Mueller and Oppenheimer (2014) suggests that laptops allow students to take verbatim notes, which leads to less processing during lecture material.
On the other hand, we must allow technology in the classroom if for no other reason than to provide accommodations to students with disabilities. Many advocates of technology in the classroom insist that the nature of class time and assessments must be changed to make effective use of the wide array of tools and information available to students today. Laptops will not be distracting if students are actively engaging in research, synthesis, or presentation. *Digital humanities* has become a sexy methodology in the discipline, and some advanced-degree-granting institutions have even begun to offer classes or certificates in digital teaching and/or research methodologies. However, the implementation of DH in the classroom varies widely.
The bottom line is that you should have a tech policy and explain your rationale to your students. This *transparency* will help students buy into your policy and demonstrate the thought you put into your teaching.
**Who we Teach**
History departments have faced [declining enrollments](_URL_5_) in the last few years. (Although surprisingly, [this trend did not directly coincide with the 2007-8 economic crisis](_URL_0_).) [The recent high in the number of history BAs conferred was in 2012](_URL_3_).
In the US, our students reflect our changing national demographics. The number of history BA degrees awarded to women and traditionally underrepresented minority groups [have been rising](_URL_3_). Although women are overrepresented in humanities disciplines, they made up just 40.3% of history BAs awarded in 2015. Many universities are improving their support-systems for first-generation or otherwise at-risk students by implementing new programming, such as advising, first-year college-skills courses, or mentoring.
**What we Teach**
Concurrent with the growth of a diverse student population, many departments and faculty have pressed for a more diverse curriculum. While academic hiring for history faculty has shrunk significantly since the academic crash of 2007-08, the steepest long-term declines have been in European history. The number of positions in world, Latin American, African, Asian, and Middle Eastern history has [risen over the long-term](_URL_1_) (though [hiring in those fields is still inconsistent in the current market](_URL_4_)). The readjustment of faculty specializations has accompanied efforts to decolonialize the curriculum. Departments have been replacing “Western Civilization” with courses in global history. Increasing calls are also being made to diversify the US history survey course chronologically, geographically, and culturally. Here’s a “fun” game for anyone teaching or learning the US history survey: What is the start date of your course? What political values stand behind that starting point? How does the narrative of the course change with other start dates?
Another aspect of teaching that’s at the crossroads of economic pressure, technology, and our increasingly diverse student bodies is the textbook itself. The rising cost of textbooks has been an issue of outrage for several years. A movement for Open Educational Resources has advocated for freely accessibly and openly licensed media for learning purposes. Some excellent resources are being developed for history, including [The American Yawp](_URL_2_), a textbook written by college-level instructors, which in my estimation far surpasses standard textbooks on the market with its range of up-to-date scholarship. Personally, I find myself teaching outside my primary fields this year, and I have been most struck by the lack of resources for educators teaching outside the traditional major survey-courses. Historians, do you have recommendations for teaching resources in your field?
**Recommended Reading**
A few books in the scholarship of teaching and learning that I recommend for historians are:
James M. Lang, Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning Jossey-Bass 2016
Lang’s book has quickly become a classic in this field. It contains ideas and strategies for working active learning into your teaching without majorly overhauling your classes. The style, lack of jargon, and practical content also make it a good starting place if you’re unfamiliar with the pedagogy literature.
Therese Huston, Teaching What You Don’t Know (multiple eds.)
This one’s for the many grad students here in AskHistorians. What do you do when you, a medievalist, is asked to teach US women’s history? What if you get that prized TT position after having promised in your job letter that of course you could teach the survey course that begins several centuries before your period of expertise? This book is for you! Huston provides practical strategies for getting through a course outside your field. I particularly appreciate the care she takes to consider the intersections of age, race, and background in establishing authority in the classroom.
Barbara E. Walvoord, *Effective Grading:* *A Tool for Learning and Assessment in College* (multiple eds.)
Grading is frequently one of our least favorite tasks as instructors. How can we save our own time, improve our student ratings, and preempt complaints about fairness? Walvoord’s book describes best practices for a variety of kinds of assignments. One of her specialties is in teaching writing, which makes this book a great choice for history instructors.
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/9chju4/monday_methods_history_pedagogy_the_theory_and/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e5bfnlk",
"e5dre6b"
],
"score": [
11,
3
],
"text": [
"Great work!\n\nI particularly appreciate the section on the obsession with \"coverage.\" Too many times have I seen educators at both HS and collegiate level get obsessed with teaching it all (as if possible).\n\nI always suggest the method of creating your class topics last in developing your course structure. Start with your class goals (3-5). An example might be the following: Students will be able to recognize interactions between humans and their environment and how they shape history. Although broad, it guides the goals of each lecture/lesson. I also suggest marking down some \" subthemes\" you want to cover. Something like, commodification, changing distance, animal extinction/destruction, etc.\n\nNext you can write down topics in your course period/location/field which can drawn out important aspects of the goal. For example, the following might be a few topics for the previous goal if used in a US History II course: transcontinental railroad, buffalo, railroads and cattle/meatpacking, conservation of Progressive era, influenza, dust bowl, suburbanization, car culture, interstate highway system, and many more. Next you limit yourself or combine some of these. \n\nAfter you have topics selected, make an essential question for the topic. Something that is specific to the topic, but stated in a way that could be applied to other topics, too. For the topic \"conservation,\" you could ask, \"What were the historical actors goals for the use of 'nature' and who was to benefit from that use?\" Note, question is one related to historiographical discussions and might even have a particular work in mind. (Looking at you *Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency*)\n\nNow you are in a position such that one of your class topics is progressive era conservation and you have a guiding question that, hopefully, is one students might be intrinsically interested in. You can now make a lesson based on that question. Use images, primary source documents, discussion, etc to leave behind lecture. ",
"As a current Master's student whose undergraduate experience is still fresh in his mind, I can definitely attest that, at the student-level, there is a perception that the emphasis on \"coverage\" is obsolete in the face of unprecedented access to information on the internet. However, many students have difficulty imagining an alternative model; I have many friends and colleagues outside of history that still believe that graduate level courses still deal with \"coverage\", albeit with greater depth. "
]
}
|
[] |
[
"https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/october-2012/clios-charm-holding-fast",
"https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/september-2011/decline-of-the-west-or-the-rise-of-the-rest",
"http://www.americanyawp.com",
"https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/september-2017/decline-in-history-majors-continues-departments-respond",
"https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/november-2017/another-tough-year-for-the-academic-job-market-in-history",
"https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/february-2018/enrollment-declines-continue-aha-survey-again-shows-fewer-undergraduates-in-history-courses"
] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
4d4xie
|
are there any disorders that involve an altered perception of the rate of time?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4d4xie/eli5_are_there_any_disorders_that_involve_an/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d1nsfv8"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"[This might interest you.](_URL_0_)\n\nI know at the least some disorders cause you to \"lose\" time in the sense that you blacked out and can't remember what you did.\n\nI'm just adding useless text to my comment here because for some reason this sub thinks you cannot give a concise and meaningful answer. Must have long winded mods or something. I also think this might be better suited to /r/askscience."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_perception#Kappa_effect"
]
] |
||
16vv10
|
how does a full cycle charge extend a lithium-ion batteries life?
|
Supposedly one should do a full cycle charge about once a month. What is going on inside the battery that makes this necessary?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/16vv10/eli5_how_does_a_full_cycle_charge_extend_a/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c801gif"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"It's not required for the battery at all. \n\nYou know how the battery meter on your phone or whatever says 100% right when you take it off? And 57% sometime later? It needs to be calibrated to accurately determine from the battery (usually via a voltage measurement) what the state of charge is. \n\nDoing a full cycle occasionally helps your device do this calibration. \n\nNote, with a Li battery, you DON'T need to do this very often (certainly no more than monthly). Fully discharging the battery can actually damage it, unlike older NiMH or NiCd batteries. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
2uoifg
|
Which interactions can explain that EtOH (Alcohol) has a way lower freezing point than H2O?
|
Just wondering. I can explain for the higher boiling point because of the inter-molecular H bonds but I don't understand how it works for the freezing point.
Sorry if I do some mistakes with my english.
Thanks in advance for the answers.
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2uoifg/which_interactions_can_explain_that_etoh_alcohol/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cob9u1o"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"The same exact processes apply. The way you should look at it when compared to the boiling point is seeing the freezing point as a melting point instead. \n\nJust like water has a higher boiling point than ethanol, it also has a higher melting point. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
sgohl
|
What's going to happen to the polar bears as the ice caps shrink? Evolution or extinction?
|
I watched a show recently describing how as the sea ice melts earlier, polar bears are going to be threatened because they won't have enough time to hunt enough seals to build up their fat stores for the summer months.
This made me wonder, as the earth warms further what will happen to polar bears? Will they simply go extinct or will a variant of existing polar bears remain (perhaps those who are more efficient at converting seal food into fat or those that can swim further/hunt better without the ice).
Has there been any research done into this?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/sgohl/whats_going_to_happen_to_the_polar_bears_as_the/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c4dwfyn"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Well extinction is a distinct possibility as a loss of sea ice results in very large evolutionary hurdles. On the other hand with less ice and snow, selection pressures favour darker bears, and as they can interbreed with grizzlies its possible they might just converge back into a single species."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
o7jgh
|
what is a scripting language?
|
What is a scripting language and how do scripting languages differ from other programming languages like Java?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/o7jgh/eli5_what_is_a_scripting_language/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c3f0fl6",
"c3f0rau",
"c3ff7w7"
],
"score": [
6,
5,
2
],
"text": [
"A scripting language is a type of programming language, it's normally not compiled before being run and normally is created or modified by end-users. It also normally is used to interact with other applications, as opposed to creating an application itself.",
"Sorry, your question's phrased as coming directly from a textbook or a homework assignment.",
"There are 2 types of languages: compiled and interpreted.\n\nInterpreted (or scripting) languages require the \"script\" be run through an external application called the \"interpreter\" which takes your script and does the work the script tells it to do.\n\nCompiled languages are run through a compiler which translates the code into a native assembly that the processor can directly understand.\n\nJava is, sort of, both. Its compiled into an arbitrary bytecode that the java virtual machine interprets."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
16sbc6
|
If some tectonic plates are subducting under one another, is it possible for a whole landmass to be forced underneath when it reaches the boundary?
|
What would happen, whole countries disappear and such or are there no plates where countries are in danger? Obviously this would take thousands or millions of years, but is it as inevitable as the sun going supernova one day?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/16sbc6/if_some_tectonic_plates_are_subducting_under_one/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c7yz1w6",
"c7z4sgh"
],
"score": [
5,
3
],
"text": [
"Subduction zones feature oceanic plates (usually old and cold oceanic plates) sinking into the mantle. I say \"sinking\" because that is literally what is going on. Oceanic plates are high density, especially when they are old and cold, and when they enter subduction zones they sink very slowly through the solid mantle. Continental plates are difficult to subduct because they are low density. They float on the mantle. When a bit of continental material enters a subduction zone it is often scraped off and accreted to the overriding plate instead of going down the trench.",
"Also, the sun will not go supernova; it does not possess sufficient mass."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
pnerw
|
What sort of building materials might we fnd and utelize on mars?
|
Every time I see an artist depiction of a human outpost on mars it's a white inflated dome or steel box of some sort. My understanding is that material is profoundly expensive to get to mars. So, what sorts of materials might we find there to work with? Would a martian-mud building be air tight and weather storms? Maybe with a spray sealant? Is anyone considering this as a viable option (private sector or government)?
______
please pardon spelling/grammar. typing from my phone.
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/pnerw/what_sort_of_building_materials_might_we_fnd_and/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c3qr5ic"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"The first intended use of *in situ* resources will be using water on Mars for human consumption and breathable air, along with separating the hydrogen and oxygen for fuel. For habitation we will start with units sent from Earth and use local materials for radiation shielding (as shells surrounding the prefab units for example). A lot of experimentation will have to be done \"on the ground\" before we would trust direct life support functions to native materials.\n\nThere's a NASA-chaired [In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Capability Roadmap Progress Review](_URL_0_) (6MB PDF) from 2005 that gives a good general overview of the subject."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar_resources/documents/13_0IntegratedISRUPresenta.pdf"
]
] |
|
19t2qo
|
Looking for European history books written by non-Westerners. What's a good place to start?
|
A few months ago, I read Ivan Morris' *The World of the Shining Prince*, and I've read a few other European historians' accounts of foreign cultures. However, I've never read how European history appears to a Japanese historian, for instance. Any European history I've read has been through the eyes of European or American authors. It would be interesting to see the outside perspective of someone who didn't grow up immersed in Western traditions.
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/19t2qo/looking_for_european_history_books_written_by/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c8r9fqo",
"c8rawcz"
],
"score": [
5,
5
],
"text": [
"This isn't exactly what you are looking for, but your question reminded me of the [Chinese fascination with Jews](_URL_0_). It is very interesting to see how an entirely foreign culture view a culture that is more familiar to us. It also makes you wonder how accurate and fair Western historians actually are when they turn their gaze away from their own cultures. I suspect that much like the Chinese towards the Jews, we tend to either fetishize or simplify foreign history when viewed through our Western eyes. ",
"Ahmad Ibn Fadlan wrote some works on the Vikings and Rus. Not sure where you could find them though. They are interesting since they describe the Vikings and Rus ( as a people ) from an Arab's point of view."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://www.foreignpolicydigest.org/explaining-china%E2%80%99s-fascination-with-jews/"
],
[]
] |
|
1bx7on
|
What makes certain stainless steels non-magnetic?
|
For example, 304 stainless steel is non-magnetic (or at least mildly magnetic). What is occurring on a molecular or grain boundary level that causes alloying elements to have this effect?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1bx7on/what_makes_certain_stainless_steels_nonmagnetic/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c9ax6kc",
"c9ayawl",
"c9bb27o"
],
"score": [
2,
3,
7
],
"text": [
"Actually certain stainless varieties are magnetic. With iron and actually certain stainless steels all the iron atoms are lined up together in the same direction adding to the overall magnetism of the steel. When you start adding other materials to the alloy (of course steel is an alloy) the atoms end up not being aligned and can even cancel each other out. In 300 series stainless steel nickel being present seems to be the issue because 400 series stainless steel has chromium but not nickel but is still magnetic. This is because chromium atoms still have the ability to appropriately align. Hopefully somebody more knowledgable can elaborate. ",
"Looks like it has to do with crystalline structure. Ferritic and Martensitic are magnetic, while Austentic (200 and 300 series, approx 70% of the SS market) are non- magnetic.\n\n[source](_URL_0_)\n\n\n",
"My metallurgy teacher would murder me for this answer, but here's the basics.\n\nRegular steels at normal temperatures exist in the crystalline state martensite. When heated above a temperature (*which is defined by the alloying elements in the steel*), the crystal structure breaks down, and the steel's structure becomes austenite. This temperature is usually very high, but much lower than melting point for the steel. \n\nThe non-magnetic steels you describe are in the austinitic structure, but large amounts of other elements (chromium and nickel, for the most part) allow this structure to exist at all temperatures below melting point.\n\nThe normal steels, at room temperature, have the iron molecules arranged in an alpha-phase, which is like a cube with an extra particle in the centre. This structure is typical to most steels, and is magnetic.\n\nAbove the critical temperature, the steel shifts to gamma-phase, which is like a cube with a plus-sign inside it ([kind of](_URL_0_), alpha on left and gamma on right). This structure is much more resistant to alighment of magnetic moment.\n\n(if anyone who has a better understanding wants to hit me up, please do so.)"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stainless_steel#Properties"
],
[
"http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/IronAlfa%26IronGamma.svg/220px-IronAlfa%26IronGamma.svg.png"
]
] |
|
6rzu13
|
Can a Neutron star and a black hole be in the same star system?
|
I was always interested in astronomy, and ever since I heard of neutron stars they were interesting for me.
And I always thought oft he coexistence of black holes and neutron stars.
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/6rzu13/can_a_neutron_star_and_a_black_hole_be_in_the/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dl8ywdb",
"dl9h2gx"
],
"score": [
14,
3
],
"text": [
"It is possible, but none have been detected.",
"Although they haven't been directly detected, they almost surely exist in nature. For Advanced LIGO, the expected detection rates of BH-BH, BH-NS, and BH-BH are all of similar magnitude. Here is one simulation of what a BH-NS collision might look like: _URL_0_"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g807FFZYqM"
]
] |
|
f5sqvd
|
how are cancer and tumors related? does one cause another?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f5sqvd/eli5_how_are_cancer_and_tumors_related_does_one/
|
{
"a_id": [
"fi0i2pd",
"fi0jzx2",
"fi0k7xm",
"fi0phyn"
],
"score": [
4,
6,
18,
2
],
"text": [
"Cancers are a type of aggressive tumor. While tumors themselves are overgrowths of cells , they are not always dangerous. Tumors are just byproducts of uninstructed cells. Cancers are dangerous subcategories of tumors causing the mass make of harmful cells the body doesn’t view as a threat due to it essentially being made by your own body.",
"A tumor is an abnormal growth of tissue. It can be benign or it can be malignant. A malignant tumor is cancer. It grows very fast, it creates its own blood supply, it can spread throughout the body, and it can invade and destroy other tissue. A benign tumor is not cancer. It grows more slowly, it doesn’t make its own blood supply, it won’t invade other tissue, and it won’t spread to other parts of the body.",
"Tumors are cells that are ignoring only some of the rules the body sets for them. Cancer cells have gone completely renegade.\n\nSpecifically, the body sets clear rules for which cells are allowed to divide (and thus grow their tissue) and when. That's how you grow and maintain your organs and other bodily tissues. If cells were allowed to divide whenever they wanted to, you'd end up with strange bulbous growths that would leech blood and nutrients while making a mess of things and getting in everyone's way. Sound familiar? Yes, that's a tumor.\n\nTumors aren't necessarily that harmful as long as they aren't messing things up too much. If they are small, self-contained, and in a place where they can't do much harm, you can live with a tumor for a very long time without serious complaints. If they are larger or if they are interfering with vital functions, a tumor may become a problem in and of itself and have to be removed for that reason.\n\nA more important issue, though, is that cells who've already broken some of the body's rules may start breaking others. Specifically: the very important rule that, with some exceptions (e.g. blood), cells need to stay in their designated place within the body. When cells break this rule as well, we call them *malignant* or *cancerous.* These cells are now traveling throughout the body and settling in different places, where they start dividing again and growing new tumors. This is very bad. As I said, you can live with a contained tumor quite happily if it isn't interfering with anything important. But if tumors start to grow everywhere, that's a different ball game. Some of these tumors are bound to be in dangerous places, and even if they aren't, their numbers alone can start to pose a problem.\n\nMoreover, once you're at this stage, it becomes much harder to remove the bad cells. A single, large-ish tumor can be easily detected, surgically removed, irradiated, or otherwise targeted specifically. But once you have many small tumors growing all over the place, you're fighting a guerrilla war. The enemy is now spread over many places, and hard to track. We're getting better and better at fighting these sorts of wars, and we can subdue cancers for longer and longer, to the point where more and more people are dying *with* cancer, not *of* it. But it all depends on how far the cancer has spread, as well as the type of cancer and how aggressive it is. In any case, the earlier you detect it, the better, and often a *benign* (i.e. not (yet) cancerous) tumor will be removed for that reason.",
"Cancer: Cells that are growing in an unchecked manner. Normal Cells reproduce in a certain way at a certain rate, cancer cells don't have these instructions and as a result grow unconstrained.\n\nTumors are an abnormal growth of tissues somewhere on the body. Basically, the instructions on how the cells are supposed to grow has been ignored.\n\nA tumor can be a result of a cancer. A cell growing rapidly and without check could form a mass (tumor) - that would be a malignant tumor. However, it could be non-cancerous cells making up the tumor (benign). \n\nCancer can also effect cells that can't form solid masses like a tumor - so if you have Lymphoma or lukemia, you wouldn't see tumors, since the cancer is in your blood."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
2gzjyd
|
why does metal shrink & water expand when they turn from a liquid to a solid?
|
I work in a foundry were we pour Carbon & Stainless steel into large molds, to form a casting. On that casting are what we call "risers". They hold extra metal for the casting to draw from as it shrinks. Water on the other hand, expands when turning into a solid (everyone knows that so i figured a explenation isn't neccesary) So can anyone tell me why they're so different, even with the similar change?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2gzjyd/eli5_why_does_metal_shrink_water_expand_when_they/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cknxfs9",
"ckny0wk"
],
"score": [
2,
7
],
"text": [
"Water is special. No other liquid does that when you freeze it, I dont think. Its due to hydrogen bonds and the shape of the molecule.",
"Water molecules stick together through hydrogen bonding. In a liquid state, there is enough kinetic energy (heat) in the molecules to prevent stable hydrogen bonds from forming, so they form and break as molecules flow over each other. As water loses heat (remember, kinetic energy) they are able to move closer together because they bump into each other less, and at 4 degrees C water is most dense - and a liquid - because there's still too much kinetic energy for them to form stable hydrogen bonds, but not enough for molecules to force each other apart. Heating or cooling beyond this point causes water to expand. \n\nWhen enough heat is removed, water can begin forming stable hydrogen bonds. This forces molecules to form sort of rings with a lot of empty space in between them. Compare the structure of [ice](_URL_1_) to [liquid water](_URL_0_).\n\nMost other things, however, don't have so much space in their solid structure. As they lose heat, they move less, and thus bump into each other less and become more dense as they are able to move closer together, and becoming more dense = contracting."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://www.elmhurst.edu/~chm/vchembook/images/122liqwater.JPEG",
"https://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/Graphics-Geol/ROCKMIN/ATOM-STRUCT/IceItop.gif"
]
] |
|
6ry6hz
|
how do micronutrients work? are they a good solution to malnutrition in poor countries?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6ry6hz/eli5_how_do_micronutrients_work_are_they_a_good/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dl8lt3g",
"dl8sknt"
],
"score": [
2,
3
],
"text": [
"Micronutrients are things you only need small amounts of lime vitamins and minerals. What malnourished people need are macronutrients like fats and carbs.",
"Micronutrients refer to the nutritional value of a food, e.g. vitamins and minerals \n\nMacro nutrients refer to the nutritional content of food, e.g. Protein, carbohydrate and fat\n\nMicronutrients would help if the said person was deficient in vitamins due to a diet that isn't varied, however if the said person if deficient in food all together then micronutrients wouldn't do much to help as they would be deficient in macronutrients and therefore calories which are all essential to normal function of the body."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
8585jk
|
Is it possible for a dark object to be moved by a bright enough flash of light?
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/8585jk/is_it_possible_for_a_dark_object_to_be_moved_by_a/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dvvyq89"
],
"score": [
11
],
"text": [
"Yes, light has momentum. When light hits an object and is absorbed or reflected, under conservation of momentum the object has to gain some small amount of momentum.\n\nsee also: \n\n- _URL_1_\n- _URL_0_\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_Starshot",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_sail"
]
] |
||
bdfxng
|
Is there an object that floats on moving water but sinks otherwhise?
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/bdfxng/is_there_an_object_that_floats_on_moving_water/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ekxyzuw"
],
"score": [
13
],
"text": [
"Sure, if you count floating as staying at some constant level in the water. The floating wouldn't be caused by only buoyancy, it has to be some combination of buoyancy and lift. \n\nYou can generate lift in water with hydrofoils."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
19ja2w
|
- what exactly is the current relationship between the us and cuba, and why does it appear that the relations haven't changed much despite the end of the cold war?
|
To me it appears that the US is holding a grudge to a fleeting remnant of the 1960s, but is this actually true? If so, why?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/19ja2w/eli5_what_exactly_is_the_current_relationship/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c8opq4l"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"When Castro came to power, may Cubans fled to Florida, and harbored a deep seated hatred for Castro, one they handed down to their children and grandchildren. So now there is this huge community of rabid anti-Castro voters living in the biggest swing state in the US. \n\nDuring the Cold War, this served US interests well, but now it complicates matters. Even though there are a a lot of Americans who feel the US should normalize relations with Cuba, it is not something many people are passionate about. On the other hand, the anti-Catro community would raise holy hell, to the point any political party that suggest it would risk losing the Florida vote. At the end of the day, there is very little to be gained politically, and a lot to lose, by softening the relationship with Cuba."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
18tzhb
|
If you're stuck in a fire, is it a good idea or a bad one to douse yourself with water?
|
Say you don't have a fire blanket or anything else protective, would dousing yourself in water be a good solution for surviving (or at least surviving longer) in a fire? I'm thinking the water would help prevent you from being burned by being an extra layer of protection and help cool you through the evaporative cooling effect. Then again, it could conduct the heat better and, for lack of a better expression, help cook you faster. Thoughts?
Edit: Thanks choochy for the reminder that the smoke is more likely to kill you. Let's just say you're wearing a gas mask so it's not the main concern...
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/18tzhb/if_youre_stuck_in_a_fire_is_it_a_good_idea_or_a/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c8hypnf",
"c8i59e0"
],
"score": [
38,
90
],
"text": [
"Yes. Water has a stupendous ability to absorb heat. While you're at it, soak a rag in water to breathe through. As choochy pointed out, the smoke is more deadly.",
"I'm not a scientist - so I'm not sure if I'll be welcoming the downvote brigades - however, I am a certified Fire Fighter and Fire Safety Officer, so I can chip in with a bit of 'actually been inside a burning house' experience.\n\nFirstly, from a structural standpoint - the steam that comes from throwing water on a fire can cook you just as fast as the fire itself. It's hot, it's blustery, and it's absolutely terrible. So you're instructed to keep your hose on a [straight stream](_URL_1_) to discourage the steam from falling down on you, and cooking you alive in your suit.\n\nHowever, if it starts to heat up in there, we're instructed to lay on our backs, and shoot a [fog pattern](_URL_3_) directly up to act as a barrier between us and the fire. \n\n\nBut, if you find yourself in a burning house - stay low (Heat/smoke rises) and make for an exit by any means necessary. You can also wet a cloth to hold over your face to protect a bit from the smoke.\n\nHowever if it's just you and the fire in the room, with no method of escape - you're not going to last very long at all. Even under proper protection, it gets hot enough to melt plastic in your wallet. \n\nNow - the wildfire standpoint is more interesting. \n\nA common technique is to [run to the nearest river](_URL_2_) and wait out the fire as it burns over you, while you dose yourself down continuously.\n\nWildland fire apparatus - as you'd find in hotter places like Australia - have something called a [Halo Burnover Protection System](_URL_0_) which basically cascades water over the truck in the event of a burnover - which is when the wind blows the fire over the truck, and the fire 'burns over' the apparatus. \n\nA more crazy technique to avoid being burnt to death in a wildland setting - and something that usually only works with a fast moving or prairie fire - is a method called an 'escape fire'. \n\nBasically you burn a 20-foot-wide patch to the ground in advance of the fire. You then hunker down in the middle so when it burns over you, there's nothing near you that will ignite.\n\nThere's a lot of many and varied techniques to avoid wildfires - but they generally remain the same. When fit hits the shan, find water, stay low, stay wet, and hope for the best.\n\nThere's a really awesome documentary on the Black Saturday Bush fires in Australia called 'Inside the Firestorm', if you want to hear actual survivals stories and see how terrifying brushfires really are.\n\n**TL;DR - Lots of fire survival techniques/information**"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A9NTgEJoss",
"http://static2.bigstockphoto.com/thumbs/2/5/8/large2/852836.jpg",
"http://www.canada.com/7795444.bin",
"http://lh5.ggpht.com/_WYjBARlQnps/TLy0Nb3zdDI/AAAAAAAAA64/vkR6Nf6esHc/FogPattern_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800"
]
] |
|
152vhb
|
when i call someone, why is the first ring always louder than subsequent rings?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/152vhb/eli5_when_i_call_someone_why_is_the_first_ring/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c7ix0g5"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"This is probably due to sensory adaptation. When you experience something that triggers one of your senses multiple times in a row, the experience is less and less each time. This is also why you get used to smells."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
2wv2re
|
Are there Babylonian or Sumerian myths that could have inspired the myth of Moses, like how there are for Noah's Ark?
|
Question was inspired after I saw [Did Moses exist and was there an exodus of people from Egypt corresponding to the story?](_URL_0_). Maybe it was adapted from earlier myths. Are there any similar?
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2wv2re/are_there_babylonian_or_sumerian_myths_that_could/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cp1r2tj"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Sargon of Akkad was supposedly found in a basket in a Mesopotamian river. (Roux, *Ancient Iraq*)"
]
}
|
[] |
[
"http://redd.it/2wswt4"
] |
[
[]
] |
|
4rcsqn
|
When did relations between Native Americans and white settler/travelers turn from friendly trade to violent outbursts?
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4rcsqn/when_did_relations_between_native_americans_and/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d5065ms"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Hello there. Unfortunately we have had to remove your question as it looks like it may be a homework question. A couple of things to keep in mind about this: [Our rules](_URL_0_) DO permit people to ask for help with their homework, so long as they are seeking clarification or resources, rather than the answer itself. Also: Sometimes flairs can be reluctant to answer a question that looks like homework, because they don't want to be involved in plagiarism (and sadly, yes, there are those who plagiarize reddit comments). \n\nBut, that all said, many of our users do enjoy helping out with suggestions for resources and further reading. Can you tell us what you've researched so far, what resources you've consulted, and what you've learned? If that doesn't work, you can also consider asking the helpful people at /r/HomeworkHelp. If you edit your post to be in compliance with our requirements for homework related questions, which are explored in more detail in this [META Thread](_URL_1_), we would be happy to restore it.\n\nAdditionally, we would highly suggest that you check out our six part series on '[Finding and Understanding Sources](_URL_2_)', which might prove to be useful in your research."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/rules#wiki_homework",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/35pkem/askhistorians_homework_question_policy_rehash/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/theory#wiki_monday_methods.3A_finding_and_understanding_sources"
]
] |
||
8i9u97
|
Help/suggestions on what books to read pertaining to ancient Syrian history.
|
Hello, I realize this may be a weird question because it’s not asking about a topic in particular but I hope it’s allowed. I’m looking to learn more about the ancient history of what is now modern Syria, as in all that’s within its current borders and I know/understand very well that kingdoms and empires stretched over the land of several modern countries today. Could someone suggest some books I could read about the ancient near east and that area in particular? Many thanks in advance.
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/8i9u97/helpsuggestions_on_what_books_to_read_pertaining/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dyqb0e3"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Caveat: I am most familiar with the history of Syria prior to the Achaemenid period, and my reading recommendations reflect that. \n\n# **HISTORICAL OVERVIEWS**\n\n*Ancient Syria: A Three Thousand Year History* by Trevor Bryce is a good first introduction. Bryce relies too heavily on textual sources at the expense of archaeological data, but it's the most readable narrative history of ancient Syria I've read so far.\n\n*Syria 3000 to 300 B.C.: A Handbook of Political History* by Horst Klengel is the most detailed overview of the political history of ancient Syria, though it's badly in need of an updated edition. \n\n# **ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY** \n\n*Ebla to Damascus: Art and Archaeology of Ancient Syria* is a pretty decent introduction to art from ancient Syria. It's best used in conjunction with the more detailed *The Archaeology of Syria* by Akkermans and Schwartz. \n\nAlso see the series of beautifully photographed catalogues produced by the Metropolitan Museum:\n\n* [*Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus*](_URL_0_)\n\n* [*Beyond Babylon: Art, Trade, and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium B.C.*](_URL_1_)\n\n* *Assyria to Iberia at the Dawn of the Classical Age*\n\n# **BRONZE AGE** \n\nWilhelm's *The Hurrians* remains the best monograph on the Hurrians, though it cannot be emphasized enough that our knowledge of Hurrian history and language have advanced considerably since its publication in 1989; Neu's 1996 publication of the Hittite-Hurrian bilingual and the excavations at Urkesh since 1984 have been particularly important developments. \n\n*Mari and Karana: Two Old Babylonian Cities* is an extremely readable introduction to two of the most important sites in Syria (as a heads up, many scholars now identify Tell al-Rimah as Qattara, not Karana). Sasson's *From the Mari Archives* contains a fascinating collection of the most interesting letters from Mari. \n\nUgarit, the most important site in Syria in the Late Bronze Age, has an extensive bibliography. Yon's *The City of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra* and *Ugarit: Ras Shamra* by Adrian Curtis are the best places to start. Itamar Singer's detailed political history of Ugarit is available in *Handbook of Ugaritic Studies* as well as *The Calm Before the Storm: Selected Writings of Itamar Singer on the End of the Late Bronze Age in Anatolia and the Levant*. \n\nFor the contemporary site of Emar, see Chavalas' edited volume *Emar: The History, Religion, and Culture of a Syrian Town in the Late Bronze Age*. \n\n# **IRON AGE** \n\nLipinski's *The Aramaeans: Their Ancient History, Culture, Religion*, Niehr's *The Aramaeans in Ancient Syria*, and Younger's *A Political History of the Arameans* are the best overviews of the Aramaeans, but they're probably more detailed and expensive than you're looking for. \n\nFor the Neo-Hittite kingdoms, there's Melchert's edited volume *The Luwians*, now heavily out of date in places, and Trevor Bryce's *The World of Neo-Hittite Kingdoms*. \n\nI also recommend the video lecture [The Syro-Anatolian City States: A Neglected Iron Age Culture](_URL_2_), courtesy of the Oriental Institute in Chicago. \n\n# **OTHER RESOURCES**\n\nThe standard ANE resources contain a lot of good information about ancient Syria. \n\n* *Civilizations of the Ancient Near East* (4 volumes) edited by Jack Sasson\n\n* *The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant* edited by Killebrew and Steiner\n\n* *A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East* (2 volumes) edited by Daniel Potts \n\n* *The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy* by Mario Liverani\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/Art_of_the_First_Cities_The_Third_Millennium_BC_from_the_Mediterranean_to_the_Indus",
"https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/beyond_babylon_art_trade_and_diplomacy_in_the_second_millenium_bc",
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IvYKZ0Jr7g"
]
] |
|
1oh470
|
why are certain eye colors almost none existent? (like purple)
|
I'm just curious who out there can tell me why some eye colors are rare or almost none existent. I understand that in many countries certain colors are rare (like blue eyes in China.) but how come nobody (except rare occasions) has purple or red iris'?
Thanks in advanced to the community.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1oh470/eli5_why_are_certain_eye_colors_almost_none/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ccrvtip",
"ccrwnq4"
],
"score": [
10,
2
],
"text": [
"Only time I have seen \"red\" is with albinos. You see red because of the complete absence of pigment which allows for a good reflection of their retina in the correct lighting conditions. This lack of pigment also means that they tend to be very sensitive to light (a lot of albinos are nearly blind).\n\nEye color is mainly a function of the pigment melanin. If your eyes have a lot of it, they're brown. If they don't, they're blue. (Some details of this explanation are in dispute, but don't worry about that now.) Green eyes result from yellowish flecks of fatty pigment against a dark background. Some men think a green-eyed woman is exotic. The truth is she's got fat eyes.\n\n\nI have never seen purple eyes. Animals maybe? Then I assume it's the same idea but different colours (different pigment).",
"Elizabeth Taylor and others are reported to have purple [eyes] (_URL_0_)\n\nIs it real? Contacts? A trick of the light? Photoshop?\n\nWho knows, anymore?"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=webhp&tbm=isch&q=natural+purple+eyes&revid=1704346694&sa=X&ei=ZbRcUrasEITAkQfa-4GgDA&ved=0CDkQ1QIoAA&dpr=2&biw=-1&bih=-1"
]
] |
|
5t007x
|
Why were the religions in the British Isles so divided?
|
In this picture, the British Isles are shown to have 3 major religions. Why is Scotland Calvinist, and whereas Ireland remains Catholic and Britain is Anglican? I know that this map is just a rough approximation, but help would stil be appreciated! _URL_0_
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/5t007x/why_were_the_religions_in_the_british_isles_so/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ddj7ztb"
],
"score": [
9
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"text": [
"Firstly, Scotland is in Britain. On the map, England is marked as Anglican (and Wales isn't marked at all, but then, from a legal standpoint Henry VIII had made Wales part of \"The Realm of England\")\n\nSecondly... why shouldn't they be different? They were different countries, with different histories. Scotland and England(/Wales) were ancient foes, having fought many wars (within living memory) and the Queen of England in 1600 (Elizabeth I) had actually imprisoned and eventually executed the Scottish King's own mother (and former Queen of Scotland).\n\nMore to the point, they'd had quite a different transition from Catholicism to Protestantism. Scotland was slowly influenced by various continental protestants, and the number of Protestants grew. A fiery preacher called John Knox popularised the Calvinist form of Protestantism. Several Protestant Lairds (lords), who called themselves the \"Lords of the Congregation\" became quite powerful, and got the Scottish parliament to adopt Protestantism. When a weak Queen Mary returned from France (her husband, the King of France, having died), Protestant Lords forced various concessions from her and eventually made her abdicate in favour of her young son, who was then raised as a Protestant.\n(A note: while that map describes Scotland as Calvinist, the Church is actually called the Presbyterian Church, not the Calvinist Church. But their theology is broadly Calvinist.)\n\nThe English Church became Protestant in quite a different way. Henry VIII was fed up with Papal control for various reasons (most famously because he wanted a divorce and the Pope wouldn't grant it to him), and \"reformers\" (ie people interested in Protestant ideas) gained influence with him by suggesting he declare himself head of the English Church, not the Pope. This was eventually done, allowing Henry to get his divorce, as well as dissolve the monasteries and get their money.\nSo, unlike Protestantism in Scotland, which was essentially just the normal spread of Protestantism in its Calvinist form, Anglicanism was a top-down reform of the English Church to take it out of the Pope's control. Exactly how similar the Church of England should be to Catholicism, Calvinism or Lutheranism is something that was very contraversial in England, and was a strong influence in 17th century politics. In fact, even today there are \"Anglo-Catholic\" churches (aka \"High\" Churches) and \"evangelical\" churches, Calvinists and Arminians, conservative Christians and liberal Christians, all within the Church of England. It's probably one of the most theologically diverse Church denominations, to the extent that it's sometimes not even classified as a Protestant church at all.\n\nBut wait, one might ask, what of Ireland? In 1600, England and Scotland were two entirely seperate realms (this would change 3 years later), but Elizabeth I of England was also Elizabeth I of Ireland.\nBut that's not something that the Irish approved of; the Irish chiefs had only accepted Henry VIII as King of Ireland because he invaded* and forced them to. In fact, in response to English attempts to reform the Irish Church to be more Protestant, settle English protestants in the Pale (an area under English law in eastern Ireland; it's the origin of the phrase that something is \"beyond the Pale\"), and general anger at paying taxes to a foreign ruler, there was a large rebellion in northern Ireland called the 9-Year War. This led with the Irish chieftains of that region losing, and their land being settled by Protestants (the origin of today's Protestant/Catholic rivalry in Northern Ireland).\nTo the Irish, Protestantism wasn't a new radicalism discussed by the educated middle-classes, opposed to the corrupt establishment Church, as it seemed to many Englishmen and Scots; to the Irish, Protestantism was the corrupt church of their evil English oppressors. Thus, Catholicism became a mark of true Irish patriots fighting against the heretical English oppressor. And thus, while Protestantism was common amongst the Anglo-Irish nobility, it made little inroads amongst regular Irish people.\n\n*The Kings of England had styled themselves \"Lords of Ireland\" for centuries, since the Norman invasion of Ireland had forced the Irish Kings to acknowledge English overlordship, but in the century prior to Henry VIII's invasion they'd had little real, practical power over Ireland. "
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1la8sy
|
Happy 2nd Birthday, AskHistorians!
|
This sub is now two years old. For me, that’s surprising—it seems so much older in some ways, and yet so young in others. We’ve gone from being a small start-up to arguably being the most active history discussion board on the entire internet. We’ve hosted AMAs from a range of professional scholars, including the Smithsonian itself. [We’ve been voted as the best large community on Reddit, as well as the best mod team.]( _URL_0_) We’ve expanded from a one-man mod team, to two, to three, all the way to the 23 we have now.
While the rest of this post is from the mod team as a whole, I, as the founder, feel that I should ask you all to give some thanks to everyone that is either a moderator currently, or that has moderated for us in the past, because Lord knows that this subreddit wasn’t all done by me. Let’s hear it for:
* /u/eternalkerri
* /u/NMW
* /u/agentdcf
* /u/Bernardito
* /u/heyheymse
* /u/Daeres
* /u/estherke
* /u/Algernon_Asimov
* /u/AnOldHope
* /u/whitesock
* /u/brigantus
* /u/TasfromTAS
* /u/lngwstksgk
* /u/Aerandir
* /u/400-Rabbits
* /u/LordKettering
* /u/rusoved
* /u/Reedstilt
* /u/caffarelli
* /u/texpeare
* /u/yodatsracist
* /u/bitparity
* /u/rosemary85
* /u/CrossyNZ
Though I certainly haven’t agreed with all of them in our moderator debates, I feel that the subreddit is better off for having been moderated by every one of them.
Having a subreddit full of moderators wouldn’t do any good without a slate of both flaired and un-flaired users giving constant and comprehensive answers to our 300+ questions per day. This is a big thanks from the mod team to anyone that has ever made a contribution to the sub—whether it was a single comment or you’re a big-time contributor. You’re the ones that make this subreddit what it is—all we do is the janitorial work (when we aren’t contributing too, that is).
So, what are the festivities? It’s our second birthday, anyway. Well, we decided it’s a good time to be retrospective. We encourage everyone to dig deep in their histories and pull out these types of posts:
* The post that brought you to askhistorians
* Your first question to askhistorians (even if it would be against the rules nowadays)
* Your favorite post of all time, whether it’s one of your own or somebody else’s
* Your favorite askhistorians moment
* Any other askhistorians content you feel might be fun to look back on
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1la8sy/happy_2nd_birthday_askhistorians/
|
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" > Your favorite askhistorians moment\n\nFour words: April. Fools. Rule. Changes.\n\nThat was fantastic.",
"Congrats to the moderators for making such a bustling community with all their hard work!\n\n > Your first question to askhistorians \n\n[Was there a Leningrad Fat Cat Fancy Society used to trick the Soviet bureaucracy?](_URL_1_)\n\n > Your favorite post of all time, whether it’s one of your own or somebody else’s\n\nPersonally, I really enjoyed giving [this answer](_URL_0_) on Cuba.",
"I’ve only been around this subreddit about 6 months, which is only 25% of its existence, but it’s still hard for me to pick a favorite moment! I’ve enjoyed answering a lot of questions, I’ve enjoyed reading other people’s insightful, intelligent thoughts even more, but what I’ve liked most are the behind-the-scenes moments and getting to know a few of the many smart, kind, and thoroughly interesting people that happen to hang out here. [If you take a breeze through our profile pages](_URL_3_) you’ll quickly see our flaired users are “wicked smaht.” I’m always touched and surprised by the really cool people who choose to be here and lend their expertise with little reward to themselves other than collecting little orange arrows. \n\nBut enough navel gazing. Here’s a laundry list of personal highlights: \n\n- the time a high school student asked for help looking for a picture of an obscure chemist, I suggested they contact the archives of the university the guy graduated from, and they ACTUALLY DID IT and proudly showed me a scan of the guy’s senior picture like a week later. I got a high schooler to use the archives! Made my week. (Unfortunately due to it being older than 3 months I can’t find it.)\n- everyone who’s ever participated in the [Tuesday Trivias](_URL_2_)! I work really hard trying to come up with fun and unique themes that are applicable to lots of fields. I know a lot of people who study really interesting things often have little to no chance to post, so I’m always looking for themes that will draw out the wallflowers. Suggestions and feedback, as always, are very welcome! \n- doing a subject AMA! Every question I did not expect ([“did they ever eat the testicles?”](_URL_4_) being a personal WTF-favorite) or could not answer helped me find out the holes in my own knowledge and direct my continuing research, which was a value I did not anticipate. I recommend the experience to anyone who would like to test their mettle with the ultimate open-book quiz on their subject. I was exhausted afterwards though! \n- My favorite simple question with a surprisingly in-depth answer: [What is Henry IV wearing on his head?](_URL_0_) \n\nAnd behind-the-scenes:\n\n- finding out that 3 of the mods (including me) all went through a “Titanic history phase” during late childhood, how weird is that? \n- finding out that both me and /u/heyheymse grew up in the Harry Potter fandom\n- the time /u/estherke casually read and summarized a German document for me (she knows I think a total of 7 languages!)\n- the time I helped /u/AnOldHope try to track down a screenplay that was a contemporary criticism of *Birth of a Nation* \n- every single PM I’ve gotten about the castrati (more than I ever expected when I got my flair!) \n- and all the library and archives career advice I’ve doled out via PMs! \n\nI am pretty sure my first post was [this](_URL_1_), talking to /u/Daeres about eunuchs. The more things change… \n\nHere’s to several more fabulous years of the community’s existence! ",
"Even though I've been on this sub for 1 year+, I don't know much about what it was like in that very first six months to a year. \n\nI was wondering if I could ask for a little... history of /r/askhistorians?\n\nIn your opinion, what do you think set this subreddit apart in the early days from say /r/history? What were the momentous decisions or events that propelled it to its current user base? What were its most drama filled moments?\n\nI figure given that you are a verified primary source here (not to mention founder and dear leader), I figure we could suspend our anecdotal rules for just this thread? :D",
"I think we need a hearty \"huzzah!\" for our Founder and overlord, /u/Artrw also for bring together the motley crew of scallywags we call \"moderators\" and making the good ship AskHistorians a great place to be and procrastinate.",
"This place has been, dare I say it, life-changing? I was a starting my dissertation when this place got going, and graduate school felt like an intellectual morass. This place, the people here, the community that we've created, has really opened my eyes. It's been amazing to have such sustained interactions with the public on such a high level. It's been inspiring, frankly. A lot of work, sure, and I've probably put in as many hours here as I have on any one of my other \"jobs\" (teaching, writing, researching, other stuff), but it's been some of the most rewarding work I've ever done. Plus, you get internet points for it.\n\nSo, thanks to everyone for making the community what it is. Thanks to /u/Artrw for getting the great idea to start this, to /u/eternalkerri for being the first mod and the moderator to whom we owe an enormous debt. She was the one, more than anyone else, who pushed for a strict, take-no-bullshit moderating approach. Without her guidance in the first year, this place could have become very different. And thanks to /u/NMW for taking the moderation and scholarship to another level. He's been perhaps *the* driving intellectual force behind /r/askhistorians in a way no one else has. \n\nAlso, I've met fellow historians for drinks twice, both times an absolute blast. \n\nEdit: And one last thing, I have to give a shout-out to /u/Daeres, who, perhaps more than anyone else, has been most singularly responsible for the growth of the sub. His consistently incredible body of work has been linked to /r/DepthHub and /r/bestof (probably) more than anyone else. And everytime one of his incredible essays made it on there, we got more users. He's been the fundamental engine of growth for this sub.",
"Please no posts regarding events in the past 20 years.",
"Well, my first posts in this subreddit are interesting, considering what then followed after a year and some. These are all at least a year old, so I'm not sure of the order, but I think it was [first](_URL_3_), [second](_URL_1_), [third](_URL_2_). I also think there was one other earlier one as well that the search isn't finding, because I remember being referred from /r/history to /r/askhistory, then here after a couple months of no answers, but it was apparently about inflammatory breast cancer in Victorian England and I never did cross-post it.\n\nSome favourite moments are probably getting a surprise answer to a question [five months](_URL_0_) after I posted it, a very long post on bread during the Industrial Revolution (I think by agentdcf) that I can't find, a post from celebreth about North Korea that sparked a good discussion IRL...probably too many to list.\n\nI also have to say that one of my favourite parts of this subreddit has always been the community feel of the [META] posts. Even before I was an active participant in the community, I enjoyed seeing people's personalities come out a bit in the comments, the historical in-jokes that aren't funny elsewhere, etc. And I've definitely enjoyed the relatively new user profiles.\n\nMy apologies as well for a rather scatter-brained post--things today haven't been conducive to logical thought.",
"When I joined up there were maybe 7500 subscribers and no mods. I wasn't sure what to make of it but decided to give it a chance. \n\nI thought of it as an experiment in public outreach, something the history community as a whole could be a great deal better at. That alone made it worthwhile. In time it has grown strong and I am very pleased to be an active part of it.\n\nI think we can safely say that we are reaching people. I know the monthly viewership exceeds most museums by a massive margin. And we are doing it on the community's terms. Instead of throwing out a documentary and hoping everyone likes it we are addressing the questions people actually want to ask. \n\nThis is my favorite Reddit sub because in many ways it is so much more than that. ",
"I discovered /r/AskHistorians less than three months after it was founded! Gosh, has it really been that long? I've actually managed to [track down my first post](_URL_0_): it seems, from my posting history, that I was posting mainly in /r/askscience at the time -- an awful lot of history questions used to get posed there rather than here or in /r/AskHistory. But things have certainly tightened up. In [my first extended discussion](_URL_2_) I ended up getting very stroppy with the OP in a way that I'd certainly regard as unacceptable now.\n\nThe April Fools Day prank was a classic of course, but actually the moments I've found funniest have been the ones involving /u/ohmyvolcano (rapidly deleted of course, and now sadly departed, but still popping up occasionally under another name in /r/badhistory).\n\nThe post I most enjoyed writing actually turns out not to have been posted to /r/AskHistorians after all -- horror of horrors! -- it was a post to ELI5 where I discovered in the course of researching the topic that the phrase *deus ex machina* wasn't coined until 1624, by the Italian rhetorician Paolo Beni. But now I've posted it to /r/AskHistorians too, so that's all right then. Maybe it'd qualify for /r/mildlyinteresting too, or /r/mildlyinterestinghistory if it existed.\n\nAs for the thread that I've most enjoyed from a historical point of view, I think it'd have to be the terrific [historical linguistics panel back in April.](_URL_1_)",
"Goodness, two years? As something of an old timer, I suppose I am supposed to talk about the good old days, but honestly the sub is right now the best it ever has been, and somehow continues to only get better. As the community continues to get bigger, it attracts more users and more experts--not to be nostalgic (for, like, six months ago) but it seems so recent that /u/Reedstilt and /u/caffarelli joined, just to name two, and I can't imagine the sub without them. In some way this sub has grown to be, to my mind, the best source of accessible history to be found anywhere. History is so ill treated in popular culture, in politics, art, and entertainment, that a space like this, where people can ask questions from modern sub-Saharan Africa to Chinese intellectual systems to ancient central Asia to bread in the industrial revolution, is indescribably valuable.\n\nI feel I should say that while our mods deserve all praise for their reasoned vigilance, and nothing is possible without experts--and I don't use the term lightly--from a frankly bewildering variety of fields, it is quite stunning the extent to which the userbase as a collective has shown a remarkable ability to separate the wheat from the chaff. To everyone who critically examines posts before they give upvotes or downvotes rather than choosing based on blind prejudice, you is what really makes this place special.\n\nAnyway.\n\n > The post that brought you to askhistorians\n\nLuck, actually. I just randomly typed it into the search bar--if there is an /r/askscience, why not an /r/askhistorians?\n\n > Your first question to askhistorians (even if it would be against the rules nowadays)\n\n[This one](_URL_0_) according to my history. Cerinthus gives a *very* interesting answer.\n\n > Your favorite post of all time, whether it’s one of your own or somebody else’s\n\nI can't give an answer for other people, because how can I choose? For my own answers, one of the most fun times I have had answering a question is [with whether a Han aristocrat could get olive oil](_URL_1_), because the question puts the particular related issues in a really interesting light. My response was not particularly in depth or interesting, but it was fun to write.\n\n > Your favorite askhistorians moment\n\nI think [blindingpain](_URL_2_)'s AMA will stick with me. There are many other potential examples, but that one lingers.\n\n\n > Any other askhistorians content you feel might be fun to look back on\n\nWhoever came up with Friday Free-For-All is brilliant. It is always fun to let our hair down, and it is nice to let everyone know we aren't just a bunch of stuffy fuddy duddies.",
"I went back and tried to find my first post, but that was too much. I could, however, find: \n\n * the post that brought me here from /r/bestof or whatever, AsiaExpert's (RIP) [epic post about NINJAS](_URL_4_). Since this was the first post I saw, it definitely set the tone for how I write posts: loquaciously and with the main points in bold for easy reading. Looking back on it, it really was the model for what I consider my \"serious\" posts.\n\n * The first question I asked: [Why did the first post-independence Latin American states (Gran Colombia, the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, and the Federal Republic of Central America) all break up in the 1830's? Why didn't Mexico?](_URL_3_) (nine months later and we still don't have enough experts on independent Latin America).\n\n * My own [application for flair](_URL_1_). /u/Daeres's review: \"I'll say one thing; I've never had a flair request that was quite so eloquent or lengthy!\" These are like all my good answers from the first two or three months. Maybe not my earliest answer, but certainly most of my early answers. It's funny looking back and realizing how my answers might be different now, or if I would have even answered those same questions now.\n\n * The first post that I ever /r/bestof'ed: [eternalkerri's explanation of what happened to the dead bodies after D-Day, with pictures. Lots of pictures.](_URL_2_)\n\n * My first post to ever get gold/get bestof'ed: [Why did Europe become less religious over time and the US didn't?](_URL_0_). I still think this is one of my best answers, but I would have written it totally differently today.\n\n * The Soviet threads have been continual highlights, like \"[During the Cold War, did the Soviets have their own James Bond character in the media?](_URL_6_) and the memorable [Soviet Internet thread](_URL_5_) where the best answer came from a \"an interested stoned guy Googling\" (I wish my students were so good at stoned Googling).\n\nI've had a great time here so far, made some good friends, and learned a *lot*. It's hard to say what my favorite post was, but I can there's a set of posters whose long answers I always look forward to: /u/daeres, /u/flubb, /u/whoosier, /u/agentdcf, /u/tiako, /u/talleyrand, and more and more and more (so basically the people who write about religion or nationalism the most often). The Sunday Day of Reflection posts are often a highlight of my week *because I get to learn some more stuff*. A great nine months I've had here, I look forward to many more.\n\n*seriously though, go read /u/AsiaExpert's post on ninjas... it's awesome*.\n\n",
"You guys are only two years old? Congrats on bring my favorite subreddit and getting it right so quickly! I always assumed you've been around forever because of the quality and how passionate/dedicated you all are. ",
"Congrads to all your hard work, and best wishes for continued success. Thank you all **so** much!\n\nI was wondering, for those mods that are comfortable with it, if they could explain where their username came from, why they chose it, and, if they could do it all over again, would they choose a different one?\n\nOr failing that, make your best guess (be nice, kids!). I'll go first.\n\nI have this *horrible* notion that /u/400-Rabbits has four hundred children and is a bit boastful over this prestigious feat (aww: *poor* rabbits, though). To amend for this Leporidic Birkenau, he secretly leaves a carrot on top of the monument to the Unknown Rabbit in Arlington, incognito, every Easter.",
"So... I've been drinking beer and looking at old threads. Let's just start the /r/askhistorians archive right here. We can do a proper [Meta] post about it later, when the mods think about how they want it to be. For now, I'll just start posting links.\n\n[Original panel thread](_URL_0_), August 29, 2011. WOW, memories! Some greats in there, some of whom are fixtures and others I haven't seen in ages: /u/snackburros, /u/cosmic_charlie, /u/brigantus, /u/wedgeomatic, /u/Borimi, /u/Algernon_Asimov, /u/alltorndown (my IRL drinking buddy, where you been mate?), /u/eternalkerri. \n\n[Panel II](_URL_1_), February 26, 2012. Some notes: kerri's original tag was \"20th century war.\" At this point, it became \"Piracy\" (yarr!). We also got some panelists who went on to become real powerhouses: /u/rosemary85, /u/daeres, /u/CrossyNZ (who had a sweet post on the *Rainbow Warrior* last week, btw), /u/TRB1783, /u/Talleyrayand, /u/musschrott (an old timer who needs to come back and spend more time with us), future mod /u/texpeare, /u/Flubb, our rock under the sea /u/Vampire_Seraphin, and one of the driving intellectual forces of this sub /u/NMW. Also my original gangster pal /u/Tiako, the first person I ever RES-tagged (\"brilliant\"). Also /u/plusroyaliste, a total badass in an area that I love. Okay, this is getting ridiculous. There are too many good posters to name, and I'm just leaving out great contributors at this point. This, I think, is when the sub really started to hit its stride and the expert base began to really grow. We were actually developing areas of real strength at this point, like modern Europe and the Classical world. \n\n[Panel III](_URL_4_), June 4, 2012. (The Los Angeles Kings were in the midst of an epic Stanley Cup run, you all might recall. It wasn't long after this that I saw Kopitar hoist the Cup on top of a fire truck in DTLA. Good times.) At this point, we had a more developed moderating team (I guess it was Art, kerri, NMW, and me at this point), and we were requiring prospective panelists to actually apply by giving evidence of their expertise, in the form of their three best posts. Here we have /u/khosikulu, our African historian par excellence; also /u/400-rabbits, /u/iSurvivedRoughneck, /u/Prufrock451, prolific contributor /u/Irishfafnir, /u/Kerastasi, the best-dressed man on here /u/LordKettering, and a ton of other great contributors. \n\n[Panel IV](_URL_3_) and [Panel V](_URL_2_)\n\nI'll be up all night if I keep browsing these. More to come tomorrow! Or, someone can just reply to this post with a list of the old meta threads or the \"best of AskHistorians\" threads.\n\nAlso, /u/yodatsracist didn't show up until the fourth panel! I could have sworn he was around a LOT longer than that.\n\nAnother poster I have shamefully neglected in my reminiscing in /u/HallenbeckJoe, a great contributor from the very start although he didn't take any flair until quite recently.",
"I remember way back when you advertised this puny little subreddit on /r/history and there were only one or two questions asked a day if you were lucky. I can remember back when you hadn't figured how to moderate it yet -- back when we had bigots and stupid answers that we couldn't properly deal, and every other day the question \"Historical Jesus?\" was asked. People who complain about the moderating team have probably not seen what this subreddit would look like without them - a party of Jesus and Hitler and bad questions.\n\n It's something new for me to see love a subreddit and two years on still have it be one of my most visited parts of the site. I love you guys, keep making this one of the best places on reddit!",
"The terrible two's are upon us; if /r/AskHistorians is anything like my little sister was, it's going to be a rough year.",
"Happy anniversary, everyone!\n\n > The post that brought you to askhistorians\n\nI honestly can't remember. Probably something over at /r/worldbuilding sent me over here.\n\n > Your first question to askhistorians (even if it would be against the rules nowadays)\n\n[Were the Poverty Point earthworks originally a full circle?](_URL_3_) Never did get an answer. I might have to do something about that...\n\n[My first answer](_URL_2_) was to the question \"How did the myth of the \"Mound Builders\" as non-Native Americans persist for so long?\" and mainly covered the non-racist components to the myth (since someone else had already gotten to the racism aspect itself).\n\n > Your favorite post of all time, whether it’s one of your own or somebody else’s\n\nI'm having a hard time picking, so I'm going to cheat and go with [this one](_URL_0_). There's a lot of posts from people in the North American and Middle and South American History categories that I love--close enough to my own area for me to really appreciate but just far enough removed that I'm quite often learning something new too.\n\n > Your favorite askhistorians moment\n\nBecause I'm a hopeless narcissus sometimes, [the first time I was mentioned in the Day of Reflection](_URL_4_) sticks out in my mind--even if brigantus mis-linked. I think he meant to link to [this post](_URL_1_) based on the topic and timing, though much to my dismay now I see at least two errors! \"1603\" should be \"1607\" because I was referring to the founding of Jamestown and the start of successful British colonization; ~500CE is when the Hopewell tradition had more or less ceased, since I was talking about when they started to decline, I should have said ~400CE.",
"It has been two years? Time flies... I remember joining AskHistorians when it had roughly 3,000 readers, months before eternalkerri became the 2nd mod. Back then, I checked for new posts in AskHistorians a few times a day and was often disappointed that there were none. But the subreddit grew quickly: at some point, I wasn't able to follow every new question any more. It seems quite silly looking back, but I thought I might be missing out on some great posts. Nowadays, I often just look at the hot/top questions and upvote a few interesting new ones. I use the *Day of Reflection* on Sundays to find all the gems I missed the preceding week.\n\nAskHistorians really reinvigorated my love for history, which had taken a few hits as I had to study periods/places/themes I wasn't too interested in as part of my history degree. It widened my horizon as I read about things I wouldn't normally engage too much with in my free time: Ancient history (hey, Bactria is really interesting!), environmental history (bread has a *meaning*?), and so on. Thanks to AskHistorians, my interest in history is much broader and my understanding of history/historiography much deeper than it was before. I realize time and again how much I have been profiting in my studies by reading through this subreddit. I think I have also finally found a historical field that I'm really passionate about, thanks to a user here who pointed me in the right direction. \n\nBut there is a downside to all that extra motivation AskHistorians gave me to study history more in-depth: I don't get to contribute here as much as I used to and want to. You'll mostly find me in the weekly feature posts or correcting some outrageous answers these days. Or wading through /r/AskHistorians/new , looking for questions worthy of upvotes (please join me, if you care about the quality of this subreddit!). I still spend at least an hour or two a day here and I hope that I'll find more time for AskHistorians in the future. \n\nSo thank you, everyone who ever answered, asked or upvoted a question here. A special thanks to the mods, the flaired users and other 'regulars' here. You know who you are, no need for a list and special acknowledgements.\n\nNow to the questionnaire:\n\n > The post that brought you to askhistorians\n\nI think it was mentioned casually in /r/askscience. I had subscribed to /r/AskHistory before, but it was soon obvious which one would become the askscience equivalent for history.\n\n > Your first question to askhistorians (even if it would be against the rules nowadays)\n\nMy first (and one of my very few) historical questions was [\"What was the average number of holidays per year during the Middle Ages? / What did a peasant do during the winter?\"](_URL_1_). I got excellent responses, as expected.\n\n > Your favorite post of all time, whether it’s one of your own or somebody else’s\n\n*Tiako* asking [\"What drives the interest in certain periods of history?\"](_URL_0_), got amazing answers from *Daeres* and *agentdcf*. It's still my favorite post here and I've read it multiple times now. It might be time for a repost of this questions\n\n > Your favorite askhistorians moment\n\nThe expansion of the mod team after a certain AMA. AskHistorians 'professionalization' was already under way, but it was sped up significantly. Soon after, tighter moderation, the first weekly feature posts and AMAs made AskHistorians the great place it is today.",
"Hold up... this thread is about an event less than twenty years old.",
"* I wasn't brought to askhistorians via a post, I ended up here via somebody suggesting the subreddit and I'm unsure as to where...It might have been an offhand mention in /r/bestof, /r/history, or somewhere totally different. Either way I very quickly decided 'yes please'. Due to my post history being as big as it is, I actually can't find the date that I first started browsing the subreddit, but it was certainly very close to the start of 2012 at least.\n\n* My first question was utterly cringeworthy in how it was worded and how specific it was. It was a question essentially about trying to work out ancient infrastructure via examining geography. But as for how it was actually phrased, here you go: _URL_1_\n\n* My favourite post of all time... That's a toughie. I have been browsing askhistorians regularly a while now, and there's rarely a day when I don't either browse for my own sake or browse for the purpose of moderating. I have seen so many good answers on this subreddit, so many dedicated replies, and unbelievable depth of knowledge. This is like being in a sweetshop, picking is hard! I think that to be very selfish it was /u/rosemary85 who gets this from me, for a post indicating to me that Mycenaean was not in fact the ancestor of all the later ancient Greek dialects. This seemingly basic fact was actually something I had not encountered at all by that point, nor do I think many other people who have heard vague explanations of the Mycenaeans will have either. It was an extremely important fact for me to note prior to exploring the Aegean Bronze Age and the Aegean Bronze Age Collapse further.\n\n* I am going to cheat here and use this as an opportunity to spout. Every single time somebody with knowledge, cunning and patience decides to share their insights here I am deeply grateful, and my favourite moments are every single time that happens as I never *ever* take any of those answers for granted. If we're dealing with most *amusing* moment in our history, it probably has to be the April Fool's joke. Oh my worrrrrrd.\n\n* I've been part of three separate AMAs on my time here. The first was my own, which was not all that long after my birthday and only a few days before becoming a moderator here in September. I really loved answering the questions and the feeling of terror when you reloaded and sudden there was a little number 12 next to an orange envelope. Plus the mods of the time allowed me a ridiculously broad range of topics for the AMA. The second was the panel on Egypt, which I organised. Arranging that is one of the things I'm most proud of as a moderator on here. For anyone who never saw it, here it is _URL_0_ and I would also like to give a warm shoutout to the seven compadres who took part in that Panel with me. You're all brilliant, and I have you all tagged in RES as 'AMA Companion' with as close to Tyrian purple as I can manage. Those compadres are /u/Leocadia , /u/ankhx100 , /u/lucaslavia , /u/Nebkheperure , /u/the3manhimself , /u/riskbreaker2987 and /u/Ambarenya . The third AMA was another panel, the Massive Archaeology panel. Which was truly enormous, having 12 respondents in total! I was truly flattered to be invited onto that panel, and whilst I answered probably the least questions in total it was still a really great AMA and I really enjoyed being part of it.",
"It almost feels like another lifetime. I was fortunate enough to find my way here through one of eternalkerri's post on /r/History. The idea intrigued and excited me, and I immediately found myself at home with the few members and few questions that were around at that time. It's both strange and amazing how quickly this community grew and how it seemed to have transformed itself several times, each time becoming more sophisticated and intelligent. \n\nWhat I love about /r/AskHistorians is that it gave me the possibility for an outlet. I have no such possibilities in my private life outside of academia and here I found like minded people who wanted to tell or be told about history. What I also enjoy about this place is that it is a *safe* place for history. The amount of abuse which exist in other subreddits where history might appear is non-existent here and after a detour to r/TIL last week where I found myself being insulted over and over again for disagreeing, I think I'll rather spend more time here than anywhere else.",
"I'm a bit hazy on how and why I found /r/AskHistorians (I was reading for my oral exams at the time, so cut me some slack!), but I know that I joined Reddit _because of_ /r/AskHistorians.\n\nMy initial posts were in threads that have since been deleted. The one thread that really got me to realize this sub's potential for historical education and outreach was when we were asked to fact check [a poorly-sourced and argued _URL_3_ article](_URL_2_). I actually had that \"Holy crap, I'm useful!\" moment, and I learned things about Columbian contact and Latin America that I didn't before. \n\nThat's been one of the best things about /r/AskHistorians for me: learning to articulate complicated historical research to make it palpable for a more general audience. Some of the stuff professional historians do is highfalutin and kind of boring; turning around and trying to explain it - especially in a classroom - can be _very_ difficult, and most history departments are notorious for not preparing grad students to do this. I love when I come here and learn something new, but I love even more when someone is able to break down and explain an historical issue in a way that never occurred to me. I've borrowed a lot of ideas from other users on here about subjects on which I know much less than my own area of study. \n\nAnd maybe they already hear it quite a bit, but infinite kudos to our moderation team for fostering this kind of environment. Some of my favorite moments were [two](_URL_1_) [instances](_URL_0_) where moderators shut-down, thoroughly and quickly, a series of disingenuous racist questions from throwaway accounts. They demonstrated not just a swift hand in moderation, but also an extensive knowledge of history and its misuse on the Internet. Active moderation is part of what made this sub what it is.\n",
"I had lurked here a long time before feeling confident enough to comment regularly, though in my first actual post I attempted to answer a question I knew absolutely nothing about (survival of classical literature in Byzantium, if I remember correctly). \n\nHappy birthday AskHistorians! There are so many intelligent and knowledgeable (and patient) contributors here, and it is a real joy to participate in or simply observe their discussions. And, of course, we must all do our best to combat bad history (not the subreddit, but bad history in general)! :D",
"I just wanted to say that you guys have done an amazing job this last year. The other day I was searching for something I knew had been asked before and the difference in post quality between today and a year ago is astounding.",
"Well, goodness me. I wasn't told we were going to get all serious and teary-eyed with this thread. \n\nI've been looking for an opportunity to resurrect a hilarious yet still very much genuine little thread for a long while, and damnit, all your Oscar-speechifying isn't going to stop me. So without further ado, here it is:\n\n[**Ancient Egypt: What were rarely depicted creatures the sheets with eyes and feet.**](_URL_1_)\n\nOP added:\n\n > I can make a drawing if I'm not being clear.\n\n[And they did!](_URL_0_)\n\nSadly, this excellent question remained unanswered and it has been tormenting me for the past year. Please, for the love of God, someone knowledegable solve this mystery!",
"I would like to thank everyone for being part of this community. \n\nFrom those asking such interesting questions, I salute you. Curiosity and an admission of ignorance doesn't get much in the way of credit in the mainstream US culture. Breaking that trend is a credit to you.\n\nTo the people who post answers, flaired or unflaired, thank you for sharing your expertise with almost no real compensation. Your selflessness is commendable.\n\nTo the moderators, your constant attention and vigorous application of rules that keep this subreddit my favorite is outstanding. I am in your debt collectively and individually.\n\nAnd to everyone who has ever read anything I have written on my short time here, I thank you as well. My academic career collapsed due to the intrusion of Real Life. I had buried my love of history, only letting it peek aboveground to read a popular WWII history now and then. \n\nThis subreddit changed that.\n\nI have been able to exercise my knowledge and skills, meager as they may be, to answer some people's questions about history. I cannot express the deep satisfaction I get from doing so. I have read more history in the past few months than I had in years.\n\nI feel like a historian again.\n\nThank you.",
"So....\n\n**In the beginning.**\n\nMany, many moons ago, I was just your average Redditor. I wandered from sub to sub, absorbing and disseminating information, jokes, and other various sundries. I fought, I squabbled, and I tried to debate with the obstinate and the obtuse. I kept seeing absolute terrible history and historical interpretation being thrown around and and it seemed all I could do was lower try to roll that boulder up the hill again and again.\n\nI eventually decided after a few visits to other subs, \"Hey! Why isn't there like an 'Ask Historians', subreddit? I mean, people love Ask Science, and let's face it, some Redditors could really use some history lessons that didn't involve Howard Zinn or Noam Chomsky.\" I had filled out the entire thing to create the sub and it said, \"A sub with this name already exists.\"\n\nI was like, \"Cracker say what?\" Fine. I'll make \"AskHistory\" Damnit! Taken! So, I went to check out this \"Askhistorians,\" and see what was up with it. The sub was tiny, like maybe a thousand users at this time. There was maybe one new question a day, maybe two. A pack of devoted users tried to answer whenever they could. People were already referencing articles and websites all over the net. People were debating like civilized human beings, and people who got nasty were being shunned...most of the time.\n\n**Life as a Pleb**\n\nI quickly dove in, answering when I could, refraining when I couldn't. I called out more than one bad attitude, Artrw was a VERY hands off mod in these days.\n\nMy first topic post was one that started building the ethos of the sub (referenced elsewhere in the comments here). I began to chit chat with Art behind the scenes about how we needed to have a bit more moderation, set some rules, start archiving and collecting posts, and maybe start flairing some users as experts all along the lines of AskScience who was a HUGE influence on us.\n\n**A New Proconsul Arrives**\n\nWhen we finally hit about five thousand users, Artrw appointed me the second mod. I quickly established that I was going to tolerate no crap about Ancient Aliens and conspiracy-as-fact garbage, fighting, egotism (more on that in a bit), and formalizing the flair process and explaining how it would all work. \n\nThings were simpler then. We let the upvote/downvote dynamic work, which in a small sub, works great. No one got banned, no posts got deleted, people just got stern lectures about behavior and expectations and the amazing this is....*people loved it*. There was buy in right away from people, so while Artrw and I codified the cultural expectations of the sub, it was the users who enforced and enhanced it. The users loved it...except for a few.\n\n**The First Battles for the Sub: The War of WARFTW, Your Own Historical Jesus, and the First Flair and Bannings.**\n\nWhen I mentioned egos earlier, we did have a few problems right off the bat. Some users seemed to love to toss around insults and belittle users for not having degrees and trying to answer questions, or wave their degrees (as much as you can prove you have a degree) on the internet. One user in particular, WARFTW was the main culprit. If you challenged his assertions, he would throw book after book at you (but no citations), he would scream about working on his Doctorate, and just overall be an asshole.\n\nI had squabbled with WARFTW in the past in a few other subs. Eventually, it had to be addressed. Artrw and I, as well as our newest Mod, agentdcf, all huddled together and began a debate. Art insisted the votes could speak, I countered that WAR was abusing his flaired status to negative effect on the sub and should be banned, and agentdcf said to revoke his flair. Art and I agreed to settle on flair revocation. We revoked his flair publicly, and a \"YOU ALL SUCK!\" post followed, then WARFTW was never heard from again. \n\n\nBut the first flair revoking belonged to a user forgotten to time (and a deleted account). It all started when the debate of Historical Jesus came up. A topic of some great and spirited debate, until [this fateful post](_URL_1_). What started pleasantly as a simple discussion of Oral History, post event documentation, and the validity of religious works as primary sources quickly devolved in a \"FUCK YOU\" match. The user kept being abusive and insulting even as the moderators kept fighting to keep control. At this time, we still had not banned anyone or even revoked flair. I don't believe we had even started removing posts.\n\nThis was when it was still Artrw and I, and we debated back and forth for a while. We eventually decided to revoke his flair. This of course resulted in our first, \"MYYYYYYYY FREEEEEDOMS!\" post and some silly accusations of shillery...as always.\n\nThis user was never banned, but chose to leave.\n\n**The Sloan Affair**\n\nA few months go by and our user base was approaching about 20,000 users. We were being cited and referred to by other subs, our first \"bestof's\" had already begun. And things began to change...\n\nWith more users, post quality had begun to slip. There was no enforcement of joke posts really, no serious vetting of flair, no major enforcement of rules. Artrw, agentdcf, and myself were all rather inexperienced mods. Since Artrw was the lead mod, we took our queues from him, and his beliefs at the time was in the power up the upvote and a free speech atmosphere. I won't lie, I was not a fan. I kept insisting on enforcing more rules, deleting posts and comments, and being more strict, while Artrw continued to believe in the power of the people. Agentdcf took a middle ground approach.\n\nDid I mention I hate Libertarianism? Just an aside, but it's important to note.\n\nWell, at the time, there was a sub called \"Game of Trolls\". A collection of people who really loved the LULZ of screwing with subs and making people mad. They saw our rising popularity and our naive attitude to moderating, and well...the struck.\n\nWe received a mod mail from a person claiming to be a writer named Bill Sloan. Well, we all chitchatted about it behind the scenes and were quite excited. Sloan wanted to do an AMA. AWESOME FOR US! Our first celebrity guest! We had finally made it. Of course, we asked for some proof and a blurry photograph of a bald man with a goatee was shared. I took the lead and compared it to the photo on Sloan's site. \n\nBill Sloan is a dead ringer for Bill Cranston as Heisenburg from Breaking Bad, did you know that? \n\nI even remarked on that to \"Bill Sloan.\" We had a chuckle but I felt it was fine. No reason to suspect malfeasance. Artrw and Agentdcf both blessed off on it, and I continued to take the lead on setting up the AMA. We scheduled a date and time, and away we went.\n\nWhat a cluster fuck. I had been so star struck that I didn't ask for a photo with a verifying name and Reddit reference as proof. Almost immediately the questions came in. Good questions. However, the answers were iffy. Then they became...kind of racist...then kind of homophobic...then just bat shit crazy. By the end, \"Bill Sloan\" and his conveniently placed buddies were just throwing up crazy bullshit and straight quoting Breaking Bad. The users got riotous. I got panicked. I deleted posts left and right, tried to reason with people, tried to maintain order. [All was not well.](_URL_0_)\n\nEventually once GoT tipped their hands, and we killed the posting. I was screaming mad. Unfortunately Art and Agent were both unavailable so I bore the brunt of the ire and ridicule. I lashed out at the angry users, said shit I shouldn't have. It was ugly. \n\nWe had to apologize over and over and over for it. Calls for my head rang from the crowd, but fortunately Artrw and Agentdcf stood by me. \n\nEven to this day someone brings up the Sloan Affair to me to try to get under my skin. Like 18 months ago means anything in internet time...\n\n**A New Dawn**\n\nAfter the Sloan Affair, the three mods huddled and talked and argued. We reached out to the community for feedback.\n\nEventually we decided that new rules would be put in place. Bad posts would be removed, jokes and memes would be eliminated, trolls would be banned, and a three strike rule would take place for banning (this would change in time). Agentdcf announced he would be stepping down as mod to focus on his graduate work, and a new mod would have to be found. A team of new mods were brought on starting with our current crop, NMW being our first. \n\nIt also helped establish our policy of picking mods. Only regular users, flaired preferred, all from various time zones, and expertise with a vested interest in maintaining the quality of our sub would be chosen. Behind the scenes it was decided that no \"Power Redditors\" would ever mod this sub, and has been a rule ever since.\n\nFrom the ashes of the Sloan Affair, a stronger, healthier, and better sub emerged. The foundations of the sub you know today.",
"My favorite post was my AMA, which successfully turned into a clearinghouse for Alaska history questions. I'm still surprised so many people asked questions. I mean, it beat the recent Ohio Historical Society one for interest.",
"I remember my first question to askhistorians like it was yesterday, which is now only a little under 2 years ago. I was studying the Prague Spring (which pretty vaguely put were protests against Communist rule) while I studied abroad in England. I had come from a background of 19th century American South history though, and Communists confuse me. \n\nSo [here's](_URL_0_) the question I asked. The subreddit was so small then, I don't think there were many experts in that field around, but everybody did their best to help me, which actually helped quite well. I made it through the class, and am back in the 1800s where I belong. But those people who stuck around and gave me the best advice they could got to me, so I stuck around myself. I didn't (and still don't) say too much, as these days I study the inner workings of museums more than I do history research, but I've loved seeing this place grow. \n\nI had so much fun on the Museums and Archives AMA panel. I got added at the last minute, which was entirely unexpected and exciting. People asked amazing questions, and it was a good time.\n\nMy most memorable askhistorians moment in all honesty was probably the Fallingwater AMA. I'm not sure how many knew this, but I helped set it up, and it was due to some poor planning on my part as to why it didn't go as well as it could have. But I learned a lot from that experience, and I just learned a few days ago that my conference proposal on Museums and Reddit was accepted at a large regional museum conference. When there, the AMA series of Askhistorians will be my main talking point. \n\nFrom a tiny community to one of the most impressive history communities on the internet. You guys have nothing but the deepest respect from me. Keep it up. ",
"Well then, I guess I'll talk because everyone has been here for a super long time and I really haven't.\n\nI've been reading this sub for roughly six months. History has been a central aspect of my life since I was very young. I was obsessed with Greek & Egyptian mythology, and from there slowly progressed to Greek and Egyptian history. I think my first pseudo-history book was read in 3rd grade, a 600 or so page narrative about Alexander the Great, followed by a book on the Peloponnesian War. (More followed afterwards, of course.)\n\nAnyway, back to the sub. I can't remember what it is that brought me here initially, but there were very few subs at the time (compared to now). It was fairly soon after I joined reddit, so maybe a year or so?? Regardless, I was brought back by a bestof post, and found that the subreddit had grown. I prematurely lamented the fall of yet another great sub, but found that it had maintained its high quality!\n\nI posted a couple of answers, but mostly I just read, since I'm not formally trained in history, though I've done in-depth study on Siberia's indigenous people as a pet hobby of mine. I've only posted one question (which was unanswered), I more prefer to find out new things that I had no idea were even general concepts by reading others' questions.\n\nMy favorite post of all time is definitely this one by the awesome /u/bufus: _URL_0_\n\nDespite being a Slavophile through and through, I had never wondered about Soviet films. If anyone *hasn't* read that answer, you really should.",
"Congrats and a sincere thank you for all your support for us at r/irishhistory.\n\nI thought you guys had been around since year dot and it is truly amazing what you have put together in such a short time. \n\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[
"http://www.reddit.com/r/truebestof2012/comments/16adcs/here_are_your_winners/"
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[],
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"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1e84gu/why_did_cuba_go_with_the_soviet_union_when_they/c9xr5hv",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/168qo9/was_there_a_leningrad_fat_cat_fancy_society_used/"
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"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1fqjgy/what_is_henry_iv_wearing_on_his_head/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/187swb/saturday_sources_feb_09_2013/c8cd012",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/search?q=title%3A%22Tuesday+Trivia%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/profiles",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1finf8/ama_eunuchs_and_castrati/caan9oa"
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[],
[],
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[],
[
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/148hz2/does_anyone_here_read_secretary_hand_how_long_did/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/u93k4/how_do_i_get_a_handle_on_a_time_period_and_all/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/yxkh8/im_an_inhouse_translator_who_may_soon_be_out_of/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/w5o9p/yesterday_there_was_a_thread_about_how_people_in/"
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"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/mo8si/did_the_roman_empire_at_any_point_have_knowledge/c32i6q7?context=1",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1czst3/wednesday_ama_historical_linguistics_panel/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/n9ecl/i_asked_this_in_raskscience_but_got_no_reply/"
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"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/nxsye/the_uniqueness_of_jewish_monotheism/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1b5986/i_am_a_man_of_wealth_in_han_china_would_i_be_able/c93scqe",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1dxxob/wednesday_ama_chechnya/"
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"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/19isi7/why_did_europe_become_less_religious_over_time/c8of6ij",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/13kurw/the_panel_of_historians_iv/c7vc4eo",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/14re3t/who_cleaned_up_the_bodies_on_dday/c7ftoqb",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/13z3z5/why_did_the_first_postindependence_latin_american/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/12lwoi/the_respective_roles_of_ninja_and_shinobi/c6w7qx4",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1apczm/what_was_the_internet_like_in_the_soviet_union/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/188xka/during_the_cold_war_did_the_soviets_have_their/"
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"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/jxh0x/the_panel_of_historians_i/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/q7apm/the_panel_of_historians_ii/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1d0rkd/the_panel_of_historians_v/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/13kurw/the_panel_of_historians_iv/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/ujgw3/the_panel_of_historians_iii/"
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"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1ee1h9/wednesday_ama_mesoamerica/c9zofy2",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1c6fsw/why_is_cahokia_and_the_mound_builders_generally/c9dlljg",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/18xily/how_did_the_myth_of_the_mound_builders_as/c8izg47",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/19ejl4/were_the_poverty_point_earthworks_originally_a/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1cborb/day_of_reflection_apr_8th14th/c9ey43v"
],
[
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/t5sd0/what_drives_the_interest_in_certain_periods_of/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/wr76f/what_was_the_average_number_of_holidays_per_year/"
],
[],
[
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/17khy9/wednesday_ama_massive_egypt_panel/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/rt38z/recreating_ancient_infrastructure/"
],
[],
[
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1ckq7e/the_institutional_targeting_of_blacks_by_lynch/c9hk9lv",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/17h9jl/this_explaination_of_africas_relative_lack_of/c85iqp4",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/tocco/how_accurate_is_this_article/",
"Cracked.com"
],
[],
[],
[
"http://i.imgur.com/hMZUz.png",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/z7sk8/ancient_egypt_what_were_rarely_depicted_creatures/"
],
[],
[
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDAmPIq29ro",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/sbbzd/how_do_historians_deal_with_religious_historical/"
],
[],
[
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/mkmhe/how_large_an_involvement_did_the_soviet_union/"
],
[
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/188xka/during_the_cold_war_did_the_soviets_have_their/c8cz0xk"
],
[]
] |
|
4si67y
|
Why does something made of iron smell?
|
When you smell something, receptors in your nose are detecting particles in either gas or solid powder form, right?
Does this mean that something made of iron that smells, is continuously "vaporizing" into thin air?
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/4si67y/why_does_something_made_of_iron_smell/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d59zdu4"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"Iron is constantly oxidizing with oxygen it comes into contact with. It is vaporizing, but very slowly. It's why rust happens, and why rust is much less dense than iron; some of it has turned to gas. \n\nAlmost the same thing happens with pennies, only with oils. You know that copper-y smell that pennies have? That's the copper and other metals in it reacting with oils in your skin. Pick a penny up with a tissue or cloth, and there's no noticeable smell. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
5jdxbg
|
what safety measures are on gas tanks to prevent them exploding when a car is on fire?
|
Over the past 6 months, I have seen two cars go up in flames. Both times, the tires exploded, and the whole car was engulfed in flames, but the gas tank never exploded.
What do car manufacturers do to prevent the tank from exploding?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5jdxbg/eli5_what_safety_measures_are_on_gas_tanks_to/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dbfckvj",
"dbfco26",
"dbfeyqh"
],
"score": [
2,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"They don't need to do anything. You need a certain proportions of gasoline to air mixture for an explosion and in spite of what you see in movies and video games, that composition is frequently not present in the gas tank.",
"Usually seal them so oxygen cannot get to the gas and contribute. \n\nOn a science note, gasoline vapor is explosive and flammable, not so much liquid gasoline. So as long as the gas is condensed into a liquid and kept contained, it's quite safe. Which is also why you should never take the nozzle out of the tank if there is a fire while filling. The lack of oxygen will smother the fire while \"heroically \" removing the nozzle will cause a significantly worse fire. And total loss of the car, if not the station and other vehicles. ",
"\"Let's start with why cars don't usually explode. To have an explosion, you've got to produce a lot of hot gas in a confined space so that the gas can then go rocketing outwards. Your best bet for that to happen is in the car's gas tank, since you've got gasoline in an enclosed space, but it's hard to make that happen. For one, gasoline by itself isn't explosive. We explode it in car engines, but to make that happen the engine vaporizes the gasoline, turning it into gas, and mixes that with air before introducing the spark of flame to create the explosion. If you light a cup of liquid gasoline, it'll burn merrily but it won't explode.\"^^1 --Physicist Dr. Stephen Granande\n\n2016. _URL_0_. Accessed December 20 2016. [Link to article](_URL_1_)"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[
"Jalopnik.Com",
"http://jalopnik.com/why-cars-explode-into-fireballs-and-why-they-usually-do-560552028"
]
] |
|
4iv5uy
|
When did the language of French become the majority language of France?
|
I recently came across a [blog](_URL_0_) which claims by 1880, only about 20% percent of people in France spoke French. How true is this? Are there any reliable statistics about this?
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4iv5uy/when_did_the_language_of_french_become_the/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d32d15c",
"d32dqfs"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"I cant speak on the validity of the 20% comment , however, french became the language of France during the French Revoloution. Before French borders became much more realized during the end of the 18th century, France was composed of french, flemish, german, italian, among other languages. By 1795, the national convention instituted state funded schools, part of the doctrine was that all schools be taught only in french. By the time Napoleon came to power, french was seen as a national language in an increasingly nationalistic country. ",
"Hi, you may be interested in a couple of related posts\n\n* [I heard somewhere that what we consider French is essentially Parisian and even up until the late 19th century most people in France spoke a different language at home. Is this true?](_URL_0_) - a long discussion thread that includes comments on several dialects. The post is still open (not archived) if you want to join the conversation\n\n* [Did southern France mainly speak Occitain languages in the past?](_URL_1_) - a closer look at the Occitan dialects of southern France by /u/idjet "
]
}
|
[] |
[
"https://robertlindsay.wordpress.com/2011/08/27/in-1880-in-france/"
] |
[
[],
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3w40zt/i_heard_somewhere_that_what_we_consider_french_is/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2dpcnh/did_southern_france_mainly_speak_occitain/"
]
] |
|
3lseb1
|
why does white bread crisp quicker compared to brown bread when toasted?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3lseb1/eli5_why_does_white_bread_crisp_quicker_compared/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cv8vhhx"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"It's made mostly from white bleached flour and is generally lighter in both appearance (so the toasted bits show up better) and density than most brown breads. \n\nThe latter are generally coarser and heavier, and have more of the doesn't-burn-so-easily parts of the wheat grain in them like the grain's skin, particularly \"whole grain\" types of bread or most artisan types that can often be much denser. So it takes longer for them to heat up, reach the burning point of the material that's in them, and lose enough water content on their outside surface to show the charring."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
4kdakc
|
my bird starts chirping when he hears other birds of completely different species. why?
|
My bird is a lovebird, and I live in Canada. If he hears robins, he'll start freaking out and chirping. Is it like he can here them, but its a different language? Or is it just triggering some response from him?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4kdakc/eli5_my_bird_starts_chirping_when_he_hears_other/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d3e40wz"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Birds can only have offspring with their own species, so recognizing your own species is done through the specific songs.\n\nBirds are also quite territorial, not just for nest building but also for general food and water resources in the area, so singing is a great way for advertising that this is your area.\n\nSo they're not really talking as much as they're basically saying \"hey, I'm a Robin, this is my tree, any single robin ladies in the area?\". And then other birds sing their own songs to say they're also here, basically responding \"hey, this is my house and I'm not a robin, please leave!\""
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
7cgmfp
|
Why did camels never catch on as transport animals in the American West, as they did in almost every other desert/plains on earth?
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/7cgmfp/why_did_camels_never_catch_on_as_transport/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dpq2her"
],
"score": [
223
],
"text": [
"Interestingly, both camelids and equines are native to North America - after having colonised Eurasia, both vanished from North America, most probably having been hunted to extinction after humans colonised the continent, roughly 8-10 000 years ago.\n\nHORSES:\n\nHorses returned in 1494, with the second expedition of Columbus (to Hispaniola at that time). Later explorers and colonists also took horses. In a very literal sense, they returned home, and lost or escaped animals quickly established a large population of feral horses. This time though they were appreciated by the natives as more than meat, and they quickly became an important part of indigenous culture. \n\nThe homecoming of the horses was so successful, in fact, that the US government started exterminating them in an organized manner, since with the decline of large predators, they quickly became pests. It's still a recurring [problem](_URL_2_) actually.\n\nCAMELS:\n\nAs for camels, they were also brought to North America, though much later, only when arid lands in the west became a major logistics issue. There have been [attempts](_URL_0_) by the US army to use camels in pack trains, and about 75 animals were imported. The experiment was ultimately a failure for a variety of reasons: The Civil War started and the \"experimental camels\" were seized by confederate forces, and also the camels were reportedly treated very poorly by drivers who were opposed to using them. After the Civil War, the expanding railroad network delivered the last blow to the camel project. The animals have been sold to various places, from slaughterhouses to zoos. Not all the animals have been accounted for though, and some have clearly wandered off, but probably far too few to start a population. There are rumours of sightings, though :) .\n\n\nEDIT: To give you a short answer, I think above information indicates that horses and mules dominated the field mostly because they were there first, had a huge population advantage, they were accepted by people of predominantly european heritage, and because the people who built business on them were wary of any kind of competition and replacement.\n\n\nSources: \n\nStephen Budiansky - The Nature of Horses\n\n_URL_1_"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/whatever-happened-wild-camels-american-west-180956176/",
"Smithsonian.com",
"http://www.denverpost.com/2017/07/19/wild-horse-destruction-vote-passes/"
]
] |
||
8n8pi6
|
how come some vendors require my debit card pin but others do not?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8n8pi6/eli5_how_come_some_vendors_require_my_debit_card/
|
{
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"dzu9x0o"
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"text": [
"Your debit card has Visa (or another credit card company) backing it. Each transaction can be run as debit (processed by your bank directly, requires your PIN) or credit (processed through Visa, does not require your PIN).\n\nProcessing as credit through Visa is to your advantage as the consumer. The consumer protections are much greater. If there is fraud or a dispute, you have a lot more power to get it fixed quickly.\n\nVendors don't want you to choose this option, because when you do they have to pay Visa a transaction fee. This is why some shady Point of Sale systems will force debit even if you try to pick credit. You could complain to Visa about these places and they would probably be forced to fix it, but ain't nobody got time fo' dat.\n\nWhen you use debit, the money is literally pulled out of your account immediately without that intermediate \"credit stage\". This is a big deal, for example if you use it to check in at a hotel then the full amount of the hotel's holding amount will immediately be pulled out of your checking account. Versus the credit card approach where it is just a \"pre-authorization\" transaction that doesn't actually hit your account until they complete the posting.",
"You can spend up to £29.99 with contactless payment but will need to enter your pin for transactions of anything more.\n\nOr.. have i completely misunderstood.",
" Source: almost 10 years of card-specific processing.\n\nYour card issuer (the bank) has a preference on how they verify their cardholder, whether it's via PIN, signature, or not at all. This is primarily what drives the PIN request, but certain transactions require it regardless, such as ATMs. That's the simple answer.\n\nFor more color: Prior to the advent of chip cards, transactions made with your PIN posted at the same time as they authorized due to the additional verification token, whereas transactions without it always had a lag between authorization and posting. However, chip cards muddy the waters. Sometimes, PIN transactions will travel along the signature networks, and vice versa; it depends a lot on issuer vs. Merchant network affiliation and a whole bunch of other industry nonsense.\n\nI could go on and on, but the long and short of it is that the PIN request is driven by your financial institution's preferences. That's it!",
"Similarly, how come when I use my credit card sometime I have to sign and other times I don't? I've had to sign and not sign at the same store before. ",
"McDonalds is the only place where it's like SWIPE BAM. You're good.\n\nOther places are dial up, you pass a clip board (such as checking out of the airport or something) sign it, wait for the other copy to print out. I can go on and on "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
2bvdmp
|
why do stores display fruit and vegetables outside where people could steal them?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2bvdmp/eli5why_do_stores_display_fruit_and_vegetables/
|
{
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"text": [
"Because people like to touch and feel their apples before buying them. That way you can check for freshness and bad spots. \n\nThe amount of food someone can steal is pretty small and that implies that they are able to steal this stuff with no one noticing in a brightly lit and well trafficked area.\n\nSo the stores take a risk and display their fruits and veggies because the value they get from people being more likely to buy outweighs the risk of stealing.",
"My guess would be that before refrigeration, super markets would want to advertise their fresh, brightly colored produce out front to grab the attention of passerby's, and the tradition has carried on.",
"Other than street urchins and tykes, who is stealing apples from a store front? ",
"Because the traffic brought in exceeds losses",
"Because the vast majority of people are basically honest, or at least honest enough not to steal a few dollars worth of produce displayed in front of a store."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
79c1k8
|
How do we know what is in the center of the Earth?
|
According to Google, the deepest anyone has ever gone is about ~7 miles below Earth's surface (James Cameron, Challenger Deep submarine)... Earth is 7917 miles in diameter... so the FARTHEST down we have observed, ever, is like 0.194% of the RADIUS of Earth, right? So the other 99+% is not observable by any current means. How do we know what is beneath us, especially at the center? I know we have a magnetosphere that protects us from harmful particles, so that is a clue. What else leads us to "know" anything about the center and mantle? Seems like it would have to be speculation/theory
Edit- math was off on the radius percentage... I think that's right now? 0.194?
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/79c1k8/how_do_we_know_what_is_in_the_center_of_the_earth/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dp13su9",
"dp1hqlt"
],
"score": [
11,
4
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"text": [
"One way is from looking at p and s waves that travel through the earth when there is an earthquake. Direct observations of things come from looking at light, which is just a wave. So looking at waves that travel through the earth can then be used to probe deeper than our eyes could see. This can give you things like the boundaries (roughly) of where the \"stuff\" that makes up the Earth changes from one material or state of matter to the next. These waves are basically how we know the radius of the inner and outer core.\n\n & nbsp;\n\nThis information can be combined to observations of the Earths orbit to get ideas about the density. Combine this with what the p and s waves tell us about the internal structure and what we know about the properties of various materials and we get some ideas on the composition of the inside of the earth.\n\n & nbsp;\n\nBut there is more! From the observations of the magnetic field we can probe deep into the earth based on what we know about magnetic fields. This gives us information on the fluid motions as well as the timescales of the different regimes within the mantle and inner/outer core. \n\n & nbsp;\n\nThere are a LOT more other things one can do beyond these things.",
"7 miles is 0.1% of 7900 miles, and 0.2% of the radius. The deepest boreholes are slightly deeper than that. But that's not the point. Earthquake waves and the magnetic field have been mentioned already, and they stay the primary methods to study it, together with simulations. Today we are also able to measure the neutrinos emitted by radioactive elements in the core, and the way neutrinos from outside are influenced by the Earth can be studied as well."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
2nhm78
|
why do i need planning permission to build on land i already own?
|
If i already own the land, why can't i go ahead and build anything i want on it? How can it possibly be legal or even morally correct for the council to have the power to decide they don't like what i've built, evict me form my own land and destroy whatever i have built.. with no compensation?
Is this just a UK thing?
Edit: just to clarify, i'm talking about a hypothetical situation, i don't own any land.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2nhm78/eli5_why_do_i_need_planning_permission_to_build/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cmdnqh9"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"So you've got this nice piece of land and you've spent your life saving building yourself the house of your dreams on it, then a company buys the piece of land next door to yours and builds an abattoir on it. This makes your property stink off rotten meat all the time and be constantly swarming with flies, making it practically impossible to live in and causing it's resale value to be utterly worthless. \n\nThis is why planning permission is required, so that when permission to build the abattoir is applied for you will be notified and have the opportunity to raise an objection, and possibly stop it from being built."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
951j9e
|
how do humans taste things like smoke and metallic flavors if there are only five tastes (salty,sweet, sour, bitter, umami)?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/951j9e/eli5_how_do_humans_taste_things_like_smoke_and/
|
{
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"While the tongue only detects 5 ‘tastes’, smell is also a compnent, and it is this that creates ‘flavour’. Without any sense of smell an apple and onion would taste VERY similar. Food is ‘smelt’ through olfactory glands in the nose, via the internal nasal cavity.\n\nEDIT: Corrected location of glands per several commenters below. Thanks guys.",
"The taste of food is a combination of the balances of the 5 flavors, and the scent of the food. A large percentage of what we taste is actually dictated by what we smell. This is why food has almost no taste when you have a cold. ",
"Consider this: how can humans see thousands of colors if their have only red, green, and blue cones in their eyes?\n",
"I’m a little apprehensive seeing as how nobody has asked this question: what the actual fuck is “umami flavour”? As a follow up I’d like to add that I’m not actually mentally disabled. I’m just an uncultured Canadian pleb. Plez hep meh. ",
"Umami? What food tastes like that?",
"It's not just those 5! There has been some good research over the last decade that suggests \"fat\" is the 6th flavor that mammals (including humans) can taste.\n\n > After a short overview of the gustatory pathway, this review brings together the key findings consistent with the existence of a sixth taste modality devoted to the perception of lipids.\n\n[Taste of Fat: A Sixth Taste Modality?](_URL_0_)",
"I could be wrong but I believe the \"five tastes\" theory is outdated and oversimplified , much like the five senses. ",
"Metal doesn't actually have a smell or taste. What we perceive as a metallic smell/taste (from coins, keys, etc) is actually caused by volatile oils on our body undergoing rapid oxidisation (e.g. rust is one form of oxidisation) upon contact with metal.",
"The same way that your monitor can use a massive array of red, green, and blue LEDs to create a full spectrum of colored and grey scale images. ",
"Taste isn't what you may think. Imagine a drinking glass you own. If you freeze water in it, the cup will kinda hold on to the ice cube if you turn it upside down because it's such a perfect fit. But if put that ice cube in a different cup, even slightly different, and it won't stay in upside down at all. The cups are your taste receptors and the ice are 'tastes'. \n\nYou tongue is covered in cups. When the cups have ice in them they send a signal. Similar cups, when also full, will add to the signal adding up together and making it stronger. This is half of the story. The rest of taste is in your brain, which decides what the signal means. Is it an emergency? Is it a very weak signal? Different brains might give a different answer to the same signal.\n\nLet's just call the 'ice cubes' 'shapes' now because that's what is important, the shape.\n\nI put tastes in quotes earlier because this allows us to taste a sensation. For example when we burn our tongue, what is really happening is we triggered special sensors on our tongues whose whole job is, \"When you detect heat, throw out a bunch of shapes that fit in the 'my tongue is on fire' cups!!!\". It, for whatever reason, is the same shape as capsaicin, which is what we taste when we have food that is hot, as in spicy hot. Because of this, plants have evolved to produce all sorts of wonderful capsaicin containing compounds that make our food so delicious.\n\nSo when you taste something, it means it is the right shape to trigger our cups to signal, or it is stimulating our tongue to release a shape that does trigger the cups.\n\nThe smoke I imagine is a shape thing and the metal I imagine is something strange a property of metal has that messes with the way the signal system works.",
"Someone might have talked about this already, but metal doesn't actually have a smell or a taste. The metallic 'smell' is from the oil on your skin reacting with the metal. If you smelled metal that hadn't been handled, it wouldn't smell like anything. Similarly with taste, your saliva reacts with the metal. I'm no expert so I can't go super in depth, hope that kinda helps though",
"There are not only five tastes.\n\nIt's a useful model for teaching schoolkids, but it's not an accurate one.\n\nThere are, in total, around thirty tastes.\n\nI'll go over them.\n\nSweetness is detected by G protein coupled receptors, which respond to sugars, aldehydes, alcohols and ketones.\n\nSourness is quite simple, it is activated by hydrogen ions (it basically responds to low pH) and detects acidity.\n\nSaltiness is activated by small singly charged cations, Li+, Na+ and K+. The larger Ca2+ and Mg2+ cations have a much weaker response. Other cations, like ammonium, do not elicit this response.\n\nBitterness is the most complex of tastes, using a G coupled receptor (to gustducin) like with sweetness, to form over 25 different taste receptors. Some types of bitterness, such as beer or wine, are pleasant. Other types are unpleasant, like dandelion milk. These have as much a claim to be basic tastes by themselves as any other receptor does. We even have a very tightly coupled receptor which responds to a molecule nobody's yet discovered, a completely unknown taste which was likely down to an unpleasant plant we encountered somewhere in our past. \n\nUmami is another G coupled receptor, which is tightly coupled to detect the glutamate ion, the anion of the amino acid glutamic acid, a very versatile amino acid used as the building block of proteins. Most people describe it as \"savoury\" or \"meaty\", but it is properly called \"umami\". Nucelodites like guanylic acid and inosinic acid can also complement glutamate. Ribonucleotides are also often used to trigger the umami taste.\n\nThat's five basic tastes, and researchers at Purdue University believe they have found a sixth, that of rancid oils, which likely has its own receptors and therefore is a basic taste. Oils are usually triglycerides, which contribute to mouthfeel, but have no taste. Once the triglyceride begins to break into fatty acids (e.g. via bacterial fermentation), it imbues a taste which is pleasant in low concentrations, but as concentration increases becomes unpleasant and finally inedible. Fatty acids are a good nutrient, however their presence indicates food which is likely spoiled as they are not found in isolation in the human diet to any large degree.\n\nThe somatosensory system is also involved in taste, adding coolness (e.g. mint, menthol), pungency (chilli peppers, black peppers), numbness (sichuan pepper), astringency (tannins in tea, rhubarb, chestnuts), metallicness (blood) and we're still discovering new tastes such as calcium and fattiness, which are present in mice and may be present in humans.\n\nSo, in the ELI5 summary, of \"basic tastes\", there are as many as six, and then the 25-strong bitterness complex, as well as those added by the somatosensory system, as well as temperature."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00002.2015"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
8nk7oi
|
how do bagged cereal companies not get sued?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8nk7oi/eli5_how_do_bagged_cereal_companies_not_get_sued/
|
{
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],
"text": [
"A patent only lasts about 20 years in most cases. So it is perfectly fine to make the exact same product. Thus, it is only the trademark laws that you have to get around. If you can argue that a person wouldn’t confuse your Big Fatty’s sugared broccoli squares with Nestle’s sugared broccoli squares, then you are all good.",
"It's the formula that is protected, and in practice the original company would have to prove some kind of contact between an agent of the knockoff brand and the original company to sue successfully. The bagged cereal company would just claim they reproduced it independently. \n\nTL;DR - You can't trademark a taste."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
342ntz
|
Why didn't Scotland rise against British reign as Ireland did in the modern history?
|
Why Scotland doesn't have its "IRA"? Or does it? I read only about very passive Scottish National Liberation Army.
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/342ntz/why_didnt_scotland_rise_against_british_reign_as/
|
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"Because Ireland was effectively ruled as a colony, politically separate from England but completely subordinate to it. The native Irish were treated pretty horrifically - in fact, Theodore Allen in his book *The Invention of the White Race* makes a strong analogy between English racism towards the native Irish and the attitude of white colonists to Native Americans and African slaves in North America. The religious dimension added by the Reformation only made that worse and transformed it into a Protestant-Catholic conflict.\n\nScotland was never remotely on the same level. Unlike Ireland or Wales (and some would add Cornwall, and even Northern England), it was clearly a partner within Britain, rather than a part subjugated and forcibly controlled by England, like the others. Scotland might clearly have been the *lesser* partner, but it was a partner nonetheless. While after the Jacobite Rebellions, there was a pretty significant suppression of Scottish Gaelic identity to bring it more into line with England, it was never on the same level as Ireland.\n\nAnd of course, there was no Great Scottish Potato Famine.",
"Scotland's relationship with England was *very* different from Ireland's relationship with England and later the United Kingdom.\n\nThe first thing that it is worth noting is the difference between \"English\" and \"British.\" Scotland is a part of the island of Great Britain, just as England is. So to a certain extent, Scotland throwing off \"British reign\" wouldn't make much sense.\n\nThe origins of the political entity that is the United Kingdom provide evidence as to why Scotland and Ireland's history are so different. The \"United\" part of \"the United Kingdom\" refers to the *union* between the Kingdoms of England and Scotland that took place in 1707 with the signing of the [Acts of Union.](_URL_1_) Rather than England conquering Scotland, the two countries voluntarily signed a treaty that made them into a single kingdom.\n\nThe reason why the Acts of Union was possible is that the Kingdoms of England and Scotland had already been ruled by the same dynasty - the [Stuarts](_URL_2_) - since 1603 (with [an interruption](_URL_0_), of course). The Stuarts were a Scottish dynasty, with King James VI of Scotland being selected to become King James I of England following the death of Queen Elizabeth I. In practice, the Stuarts ruled out of England, which, with its vastly greater population, would be de facto the more important of the two countries, but this was clearly not the case of England subjugating the Scottish.\n\nThe Irish (and the Welsh), on the other hand, were subjugated through continuous warfare (as well as a hefty amount of politics). [Cromwell's conquest of Ireland](_URL_3_) (Ireland had been effectively brought under English control by the Tudors, but they rebelled in 1641) was notoriously brutal.\n\nThis is not to say that the English never tried to suppress Scottish identity (even by force), but the difference in scale between what the Scottish and Irish experienced is significant.",
"Both of the answers on this thread have missed out the crucial part played by religion in the relationship between England, Scotland and Ireland. The ill treatment of the native Irish by the English (and indeed the Scottish - but more on that later) was down to the fact - not that they were Irish - but that they were Irish *Catholics*. By the end of the 16th century Scotland had embraced Presbytarianism and England had stumbled, almost accidentally, into Anglicanism. These two streams of protestantism were a far cry from one another ideologically, but shared in common a deep distrust of the Church of Rome. In some ways Catholicism was the red scare of its time. The two major European powers at the time, France and Spain, were Catholic, and so the *religious* struggle against Catholicism was also seen by British Protestants in terms of a national struggle against foreign influence and domination. \n\nObviously this didn't leave Ireland, with it's mainly Catholic population, in a good place. English settlement of Ireland was mainly a concerted and ill-fated effort to supplant the native Catholic population with Protestants. Religious fear and paranoia drove the conflict between the groups to extremes of brutality. The Scots played their part too. Most of the Protestant settlers who came to Ulster in the 17th century were Presbytarian Scots, and that particular effort was conducted by James I of England, who was also of course James VI of Scotland. ",
"I'm late to this thread (curse time zones!) but I'll try to add a bit from an early modernist's perspective to support and supplement the answers already given by /u/JFVarlet, /u/lngwstksgk, /u/anotherMrLizard, /u/Second_Mate, and /u/eighthgear.\n\nThere has already been plenty of mention made of the Union of the Crowns (1603) and of the political Act of Union (1707) to describe a sense of relative equality between Scotland and England that didn't exist between Scotland, England, and Ireland so I won't go into that here, rather, I'm going to discuss cultural factors in play as well some political issues that have yet to be mentioned.\n\nBefore James VI/I inherited the throne of England, Scotland was an autonomous nation with an established and widely-acknowledged monarchy, and Scotland as a nation had managed to withstand previous English attempts at conquest and forceful union. The Scottish Wars of Independence (1296-1328 and 1332-1357) are well known thanks to the wildly inaccurate film, *Braveheart* but what is not as well known is Henry VIII's campaigns against Scotland in his attempt to forcefully wed Mary, Queen of Scots to his son, the future Edward VI. It was because of this Tudor policy that Mary was sent to France to be married to the French dauphin instead...because Scotland refused to be cowed into a forced union with England. Union was inevitable, however, dynastically speaking, due to the failure of the senior Tudor line. When Elizabeth I refused to marry and bear children, this left James VI/I her closest living relative from the direct Tudor line. James was the great-grandson twice over of Margaret Tudor, Henry VIII's sister. Margaret had married, first, James IV of Scotland and with him had borne James V of Scotland who was the father of Mary, Queen of Scots. But, Margaret remarried after Flodden and with her second husband, Archibald Douglas, earl of Douglas, she had a daughter, Margaret. Margaret married Matthew Stewart and together, they were the parents of Henry, Lord Darnley who became Mary, Queen of Scots' second husband and was the father of James VI/I.\n\nThus, genealogy lesson aside, when James VI/I united Scotland and England under the mantle of his personal rule, the union was effected not by conquest but by inheritance which is a significant fact to keep in mind. Ireland, by contrast, was never even viewed as a *potential* equal. It was conquered, first, by the Normans in the thirteenth century, and again by the Tudors in the sixteenth. Because Ireland lacked an established central monarchy or any political or diplomatic influence, it was perceived as a lacking basic civility and therefore ripe for a more legitimate form of rule...from England. And in fact, England was allowed to do this because there was no European outcry against the conquest. While Scotland had issued the Declaration of Arbroath when threatened by English conquest, calling upon the Pope to legitimize their status as an independent Christian nation, no such political and diplomatic maneuvering was attempted by the Irish against initial rule from England. In effect, Scotland demanded recognition of its status as an equal nation to England and received it, whereas Ireland did not.\n\nStepping away from the politics, though, we also have to take into account whatever cultural elements were in play before, during, and after the union of these three states. As well-known as the Highlands of Scotland are, and as important a role as they played during the Jacobite Risings, Scottish Gaeldom was only a very small minority of the early modern Scottish state. After the fall of the Lordship of the Isles in 1493, Lowland hegemony over Scotland was well established and Lowland Scots were culturally more similar to the English than they were to either Scottish Highlanders or Irish Gaels. Given that political influence in Scotland was predominantly exercised by Lowlanders, even before the retaliatory legislation enacted following the '45, and that the few Highland magnates (the earl of Argyll comes to mind) who did enjoy a certain amount of power and influence were assiduously 'Lowland' in their cultural outlook (although the Campbells spoke Gaelic and preserved some artistic elements of Gaelic culture around them, their policies were generally very pro-government with the brief exception of the Marian Civil Wars), it is unsurprising that union with Britain went off as easily as it did. Basically, it's important to understand that when it comes to the union of Scotland and England, it wasn't the English coming in and violently forcing the Scots to cooperate, it was the Scottish leaders and politicians who sold their own country out. \n\nBefore the Act of Union, the Parliament of Scotland retained full legislative jurisdiction over Scotland and after the Act of Union and the dissolution of the Scottish parliament, a certain number of representative peers and MPs were sent down to Whitehall to advocate for Scottish policy. In Ireland, although an Irish parliament existed, it was confined to voting on taxation alone with all other legislative policy being decided in Whitehall and then enacted by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.\n\nAnd then, of course, we have the issue of religion as has also already been pointed out. Despite the overwhelming majority of the Irish population being Catholic, thanks to the Penal Laws, Catholics were barred from holding political or military office which meant that Ireland was effectively run by the Protestant Anglo-Irish ascendancy who were more or less simply taking orders from Whitehall. The reason that Scots could rise to the rank of general or admiral or government minister was because, with the exception of a few Catholic pockets in the Highlands, the Scottish population were Presbyterian, which, thanks to the language of the Act of Union, exempted them from laws against Catholics and dissenters since the Church of Scotland was granted equality with and independence from the meddling and oversight of the Church of England.\n\nSo, it basically boils down to the issue of choice. Scotland was given the option of union and chose it. Ireland was conquered and then strong-armed into actual political union by a government terrified of a joint French-Irish invasion of Britain during the Napoleonic Wars. And, if the recent Scottish Referendum is any indication, Scots even today are still choosing union over independence from England."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_England",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acts_of_Union_1707",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Stuart",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cromwellian_conquest_of_Ireland"
],
[],
[]
] |
|
y1psl
|
Whose portrait is depicted in this image from the USSR in 1920?
|
This picture was posted on /r/HistoryPorn:
_URL_0_
It depicts two Russian peasants receiving electricity to their home under the Soviet electrification program.
Most commenters think that the peasants have a picture of Trotsky on their wall. That makes sense as Trotsky was a celebrity in 1920 and it's definitely not Lenin. The problem is the photo looks nothing like Trotsky! Can anyone make a positive identification of the portrait?
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/y1psl/whose_portrait_is_depicted_in_this_image_from_the/
|
{
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"c5rix6r"
],
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11
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"text": [
"I've been wondering about this too. I think it might be [Mikhail Frunze](_URL_1_), who was a Red Army Commander during the Civil War.\n\nEdit: Yes, it is Frunze. [Here's the same photo](_URL_0_) with a biography of him on Spartacus."
]
}
|
[] |
[
"http://i.imgur.com/wUJWD.jpg"
] |
[
[
"http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSfrunze.htm",
"http://russiapedia.rt.com/prominent-russians/politics-and-society/mikhail-frunze/"
]
] |
|
bnpxj7
|
Education in ancient Egypt
|
What was education like in ancient Egypt? Was it available to the public, or was it just for the upper classes? Where there any pharaoh's in particular, who tried to establish or improve on education?
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/bnpxj7/education_in_ancient_egypt/
|
{
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"en91b36"
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"text": [
"The ancient Egyptians used two writing systems, hieroglyphics for religious literature and hieratic for everything else (administration, governmental edicts, mathematics, etc.). We know that schools attached to important temples and government departments definitely existed, and were presumably staffed by priests and scribes. Boys of elite families would be sent to school to learn hieratic along with other subjects such as arithmetic. Those who trained as scribes or priests would additionally be taught hieroglyphics. I cannot comment on your third question unfortunately. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable on the subject will chime in.\n\nSource: Warren R. Dawson, *Education in Ancient Egypt*, Science Progress in the Twentieth Century (1919-1933), Vol. 20, No. 77 (JULY 1925), pp. 109-119"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
1vcrjk
|
how do astronauts shave?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1vcrjk/eli5_how_do_astronauts_shave/
|
{
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"text": [
"Who other than Chris Hadfield to answer the question:\n\n_URL_0_"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94-puZit3DA"
]
] |
||
2ay0lj
|
why do bands keep pretending to end a rock show, but always comeback for an encore to play like 2-3 of their best songs?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ay0lj/eli5why_do_bands_keep_pretending_to_end_a_rock/
|
{
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"text": [
"it's building hype.\n\nand in many cases they: (one of this options)\n\n1. love the crowd, so they want to give them more\n\n2. pretend to love the crowd, so they want to make them happy.",
"I sometimes work the camera crew on stage at nearby venues and one popular country band finished their set recently in front of 30,000. The audience wanted an encore and the lead singer uttered to his lead guitarist, \"No way. This aint the South\".\n\nFuck that guy.",
"I was just at an Arctic Monkeys concert and it seems to me that playing some of their best song in an \"encore\" has a few benefits.\n\n1. The delay between songs when they're off stage builds hype\n\n2. The crowd is likely to want an encore after a concert. If they played all their songs that they planned they would have to improvise an encore and it would eat into their time. If they plan an encore they can save some good songs, please the crowd and still stay within the expected time for the concert\n\n3. Makes the band seem like they're generous by giving more time than you paid for, even though it's all planned.\n\nAt least thats what I took from my experience. Also Arctic Monkeys played \"One for the road\" last, which may have just been because its a suitable song."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
j5n06
|
to me, why can't *japan* just print money
|
I understand how printing money can be bad because it leads to inflation. What I don't understand is why, if it's so easy to cause an inflation, doesn't Japan, or any other economy with deflation problems, just print money until the deflation curve is leveled out?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/j5n06/eli5_to_me_why_cant_japan_just_print_money/
|
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"While printing money causes inflation, the contrary is not necessarily true. Japan did, in fact, mess around with the currency value (via printing money and changing interest rates), but it seemed not to have the desired effect. \nThere are several economists that argue that Japan's deflation it's not a monetary problem, but a structural one. Bad corporate decisions and demographics. They argue that Japan's workforce is severely diminishing because its population is old (and old people tend to save more money and not buying things) and doesn't create new humans!, hence, lowering productivity, and that corporations should diversify their products to increase demand. \nEDIT: to clarify why there's deflation. People stop buying, the products price lower, companies lay off workers, which in turn decreases even more the demand for goods, and so on. \n____________________________________________________________________ \nTrying to dumb it down a notch (got a legitimate complaint from a 5yo). \nSo, kid, you're saying that you know that printing money makes things more expensive. That's cool. So, japan has a problem because the prices of things are going down, and they are getting cheaper because people don't buy them. Why is this a problem? Because if companies sell their products cheaper they don't have enough money to keep all their workers and so they fire some. If there are more people without a job, there are even more people that buy less things, and the prices continue to going down. \nWhy not print more money? Well, they did. But can't do it anymore and it had no result. People just don't buy. \nThere are some experts that say that the problem is that Japan has very old people living there, and they don't spend as much as young people and don't work anymore. They also say that if companies start to make more and different things maybe people would start buying again.",
"On that note, can someone ELI5 why deflation is a bad thing for a country?",
"Most of our money supply is book money (M2, M3) based on central bank money (M1). If a central bank \"prints money\", the actual monetary supply expands by a multiple of what the central bank prints.\n\nNow money isn't just given away. Our money is based on debt, so in order to enter circulation, it has to be *borrowed* by someone. E.g. if you take out a loan at a bank, money is created (that's a whole other subject...).\n\nAnyway, when an economy is already so saturated with debt, that nobody wants to take out loans anymore and the banks don't want to *give* loans either, because they don't know if they'll ever get the money back, you can lower interest rates to zero and print as much central bank money (M1) as you want (as was done in Japan), the overall money supply (M1+M2+M3) barely changes.",
"Okay, so, here's what you need to understand: when the government prints money, they are *tricking* everyone into spending more money. People aren't *truly* richer, because there isn't more stuff. There's just more worthless pieces of paper.\n\nThe second thing you need to understand is that when the government prints money, the main people they are trying to trick isn't *people* like your mommy and daddy. They're trying to trick companies. Here's how it works: the government prints money and give it to your mommy and daddy. They spend some of it, but they also put some of it in their bank accounts. All the other mommies and daddies put some of the money in their bank accounts too. So after the government prints money and gives it to people, the bank ends up with a whole lot of money.\n\nNow, let's say that you're thinking of opening your own lemonade stand, but you can't afford $100 for a nice big neon sign, which would attract more business. One thing you might decide to do is go to the bank and ask them to borrow $100, and then you promise to pay them back later, plus a little extra for their trouble. That extra is called *interest*. \n\nBefore the government printed all the money and gave it to your mommy and daddy, the bank might have said, \"well, we don't have very much in our accounts right now, so we'll have to charge you an extra $30 interest\". And you might have decided that $30 was too much, and decided not to buy the sign. But *after* the government prints the money and gives it to your mommy and daddy who then put it in the bank, the bank might say \"well we just got a whole bunch of extra money in our accounts last week, so we'll only need to charge you an extra $5 interest\". And that, you might think, is a great deal, so you take it and buy the sign.\n\nMost businesses buy all their signs by borrowing money from the bank, and the less interest the bank charges, the more signs that businesses will buy [stepping outside of 5 years old here. Signs are a metaphor for all investment spending: building houses and buildings, factories, machinery, expensive computer systems, etc]. And since the government can control how much interest the bank charges by printing money, they can get businesses to buy more signs by printing money. If more people can afford more signs, then they'll start more lemonade stands and other kinds of businesses, and more people will be able to get jobs at those new lemonade stands.\n\n*But*, say you do some research in your neighbourhood and you find out that people aren't feeling very good about how rich they are, and they don't want to spend extra money on things like lemonade. Whenever the government prints money and gives it to them, they decide to put more of it in the bank instead of using it to buy lemonade. Maybe a lot of them don't have jobs too. You realize that your lemonade stand probably isn't going to be very successful, and so you decide not to borrow the $100, even though the bank only wants to charge you $5. In fact, you wouldn't even want to buy the sign if the bank was only going to charge you $0. You decide it's better just not to open a lemonade stand at all, no matter how little the bank will charge you to borrow money.\n\nIn that situation, the government is [trapped](_URL_0_). If the government lowers the interest that the bank charges by printing more money, then businesses might want to buy more stuff. But if businesses are so worried that they won't even borrow money for zero interest, then the government can't do anything by printing more money. In that situation, printing more money is kind of like spinning the tires on a car when it's stuck in a ditch. It just digs the car in deeper. \n\nAnd that's the kind of situation that Japan is in.\n\n",
"While printing money causes inflation, the contrary is not necessarily true. Japan did, in fact, mess around with the currency value (via printing money and changing interest rates), but it seemed not to have the desired effect. \nThere are several economists that argue that Japan's deflation it's not a monetary problem, but a structural one. Bad corporate decisions and demographics. They argue that Japan's workforce is severely diminishing because its population is old (and old people tend to save more money and not buying things) and doesn't create new humans!, hence, lowering productivity, and that corporations should diversify their products to increase demand. \nEDIT: to clarify why there's deflation. People stop buying, the products price lower, companies lay off workers, which in turn decreases even more the demand for goods, and so on. \n____________________________________________________________________ \nTrying to dumb it down a notch (got a legitimate complaint from a 5yo). \nSo, kid, you're saying that you know that printing money makes things more expensive. That's cool. So, japan has a problem because the prices of things are going down, and they are getting cheaper because people don't buy them. Why is this a problem? Because if companies sell their products cheaper they don't have enough money to keep all their workers and so they fire some. If there are more people without a job, there are even more people that buy less things, and the prices continue to going down. \nWhy not print more money? Well, they did. But can't do it anymore and it had no result. People just don't buy. \nThere are some experts that say that the problem is that Japan has very old people living there, and they don't spend as much as young people and don't work anymore. They also say that if companies start to make more and different things maybe people would start buying again.",
"On that note, can someone ELI5 why deflation is a bad thing for a country?",
"Most of our money supply is book money (M2, M3) based on central bank money (M1). If a central bank \"prints money\", the actual monetary supply expands by a multiple of what the central bank prints.\n\nNow money isn't just given away. Our money is based on debt, so in order to enter circulation, it has to be *borrowed* by someone. E.g. if you take out a loan at a bank, money is created (that's a whole other subject...).\n\nAnyway, when an economy is already so saturated with debt, that nobody wants to take out loans anymore and the banks don't want to *give* loans either, because they don't know if they'll ever get the money back, you can lower interest rates to zero and print as much central bank money (M1) as you want (as was done in Japan), the overall money supply (M1+M2+M3) barely changes.",
"Okay, so, here's what you need to understand: when the government prints money, they are *tricking* everyone into spending more money. People aren't *truly* richer, because there isn't more stuff. There's just more worthless pieces of paper.\n\nThe second thing you need to understand is that when the government prints money, the main people they are trying to trick isn't *people* like your mommy and daddy. They're trying to trick companies. Here's how it works: the government prints money and give it to your mommy and daddy. They spend some of it, but they also put some of it in their bank accounts. All the other mommies and daddies put some of the money in their bank accounts too. So after the government prints money and gives it to people, the bank ends up with a whole lot of money.\n\nNow, let's say that you're thinking of opening your own lemonade stand, but you can't afford $100 for a nice big neon sign, which would attract more business. One thing you might decide to do is go to the bank and ask them to borrow $100, and then you promise to pay them back later, plus a little extra for their trouble. That extra is called *interest*. \n\nBefore the government printed all the money and gave it to your mommy and daddy, the bank might have said, \"well, we don't have very much in our accounts right now, so we'll have to charge you an extra $30 interest\". And you might have decided that $30 was too much, and decided not to buy the sign. But *after* the government prints the money and gives it to your mommy and daddy who then put it in the bank, the bank might say \"well we just got a whole bunch of extra money in our accounts last week, so we'll only need to charge you an extra $5 interest\". And that, you might think, is a great deal, so you take it and buy the sign.\n\nMost businesses buy all their signs by borrowing money from the bank, and the less interest the bank charges, the more signs that businesses will buy [stepping outside of 5 years old here. Signs are a metaphor for all investment spending: building houses and buildings, factories, machinery, expensive computer systems, etc]. And since the government can control how much interest the bank charges by printing money, they can get businesses to buy more signs by printing money. If more people can afford more signs, then they'll start more lemonade stands and other kinds of businesses, and more people will be able to get jobs at those new lemonade stands.\n\n*But*, say you do some research in your neighbourhood and you find out that people aren't feeling very good about how rich they are, and they don't want to spend extra money on things like lemonade. Whenever the government prints money and gives it to them, they decide to put more of it in the bank instead of using it to buy lemonade. Maybe a lot of them don't have jobs too. You realize that your lemonade stand probably isn't going to be very successful, and so you decide not to borrow the $100, even though the bank only wants to charge you $5. In fact, you wouldn't even want to buy the sign if the bank was only going to charge you $0. You decide it's better just not to open a lemonade stand at all, no matter how little the bank will charge you to borrow money.\n\nIn that situation, the government is [trapped](_URL_0_). If the government lowers the interest that the bank charges by printing more money, then businesses might want to buy more stuff. But if businesses are so worried that they won't even borrow money for zero interest, then the government can't do anything by printing more money. In that situation, printing more money is kind of like spinning the tires on a car when it's stuck in a ditch. It just digs the car in deeper. \n\nAnd that's the kind of situation that Japan is in.\n\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquidity_trap"
],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquidity_trap"
]
] |
|
wso9u
|
Tattoo with skin cells gene spliced to glow?
|
I know we've spliced genes that cause luminescence into entire monkeys and cats. But is it possible to splice similar genes into a skin culture and tattoo(or other method to place the cells back in the appropriate environment). I can see several possible issues, primarily immune rejection, and cell mobility. By cell mobility I mean the spliced cells moving around or reproducing to the point of the entire person glowing.
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/wso9u/tattoo_with_skin_cells_gene_spliced_to_glow/
|
{
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"text": [
"What you're describing is all technically possible. We are able to [transfect human cells to express GFP](_URL_0_), a commonly used marker that fluoresces green under UV light. We are also able to culture skin cells *in vitro* for the purpose of [future engraftment](_URL_1_). \n\nThe biggest issues are not what you said, because immune rejection can be overcome by autologous grafting (though there may still be issues with the GFP protein itself), and there are no mechanisms for transplanted epidermal cells to spread elsewhere. Instead, difficulties may arise from safety/efficacy concerns over successfully transfecting epidermal cells to express GFP without altering other key cellular processes. I also don't see much drive for researchers to work on this, because of the limited applicability. There's a lot of work using fluorescent markers in other animals to learn more about embryologic processes and other concepts that require cell tracking/identification, but I haven't heard of much in that field with humans (also because those experiments would be pretty difficult to get IRB approval)."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15625129",
"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15453195"
]
] |
|
90ozyu
|
the limit of tornado wind speed and why tornadoes might never become ef6
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/90ozyu/eli5_the_limit_of_tornado_wind_speed_and_why/
|
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"Tornado and hurricane scales run from \"Ehh\"(EF0/Tropical storm) to \"OH SHIT!\"(EF5/Cat 5), in both cases we give the upper category an open upper bound. EF5 tornadoes have wind speeds > 200 MPH, even if you find a 300 MPH tornado, it would still be greater than 200 MPH and fall into the EF5 bucket \n\nAn EF5 tornado will demolish pretty much everything it comes across and throw train cars like toys. Even if the wind speed increases, the damage is pretty complete already\n\nThere's also the concern of thinning the scale out too much. There are lots of EF0-EF3 tornadoes but significantly fewer EF4 and even fewer EF5s. If you added more granularity then you might see an EF6 once every few years and an EF7 once a decade but those won't be useful classifications. A few, nice large buckets makes categorization much easier for those categorizing and those understanding what it means\n\nIf you hear there's an EF5 tornado coming you should think \"OH SHIT\" rather than \"Well, at least its not an EF6 ¯\\\\\\_(ツ)_/¯\"",
"_URL_0_\n\nthings fall off at EF5, where they classify anything at or above 200 MPH winds as EF5.\n\nand then\n\n_URL_1_\n\nthe article cites measured ground gusts (in australia, during a cyclone) as high as ~250 mph. New Hampshire is cited - on top of the Mt Washington Observatory, at ~230 mph.\n\nIt also cites calculated fastest wind speeds during a tornado in Oklahoma at 282-322 mph. But the only reason they had to calculate it was because the wind speeds would destroy the instruments.\n\n;;\n\nI think the main reason why they don't bother to classify them differently above 200 mph winds is because they are already *so destructive* at that level. The effective destruction is only so much.\n\nThink of it like a scenario where your house gets flooded and submerged. Does it really matter if it's 20 feet under water, or 200 feet? Not really - the whole thing is still ruined/damaged."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"https://weather.com/storms/tornado/news/enhanced-fujita-scale-20130206",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_speed"
]
] |
||
xd2pz
|
What kind of fish is this? Caught in the Gulf of Mexico off of the Florida coast.
|
_URL_0_
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/xd2pz/what_kind_of_fish_is_this_caught_in_the_gulf_of/
|
{
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"text": [
"Looks like a Frogfish/Anglerfish of the genus *Antennarius*."
]
}
|
[] |
[
"http://imgur.com/a/fwc5A"
] |
[
[]
] |
|
exv9f7
|
a small-case 4-letter password has 456,976 possible combinations. why is there a need for even stronger passwords?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/exv9f7/eli5_a_smallcase_4letter_password_has_456976/
|
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"I’m sure there is more to it than this but 500,000 possible combinations seems like a lot for a human to figure out, but with today’s technology a program designed to try all different combinations (sometimes referred to as “brute force”) would crack a 4-letter password in no time at all.",
" > \tThat's a lot.\n\nFor you maybe. Typing that many passwords in manually would take a long time.\n\nBut not for a computer. It might be able to try hundreds per second, quickly breaking the password. It could even be much worse if some people are foolish enough to pick only real words of 4 letters in length.",
"Its important to remember that people don't pick passwords uniformly randomly - people normally pick words, and there are a little over 5000 4 letter english words, with some (like \"open\") far more likely to be picked as a password. Combine that with some basic tech that allows you to target more efficently (if I get 10 attempts per account then over a significant number of accounts I will probably score a hit) and you have a vunerability.",
"Imagine the database got hacked and leaked. Now, any company that takes security as anything less than a joke would've hashed the passwords, so you'd have to try all possible passwords to find one whose hash matches that of some account. A modern laptop processor can perform several BILLION operations per second (accounting for parallelism). So... that won't take very long. And also, now the hacker knows a password you might be using in other places, too.\nThis isn't uncommon, happens about once a month with some large company getting breached.\n\nAlternatively, let's say the website was NOT hacked. How long would it take a clickfarm with a few hundred workers randomly guessing passwords for random accounts to find one that works? On average, that's, let's say, 60 tries per hour, per employee. So 8x60x100=48000 tries per day for your clickfarm. You'll have breached into some accounts in no time.\n\nNot to mention, in some cases (e. g. Wi-Fi) your password can be used to encrypt communication. So let's say I listen to your wifi, and get the key establishment handshake. So now if I just knew your password, I'd be able to decrypt the packets. Soooo... I capture one packet, and start trying passwords until the resulting key decrypts the packet successfully. That won't take very long, either.",
"Human nature is to use sequences of numbers or dates for passwords, so there would be fewer combinations commonly used. With dates for example the first 2 digits might be months 01-12 and last 2 might be days 01-31.",
"It is not as simple as you think.\n\nYes they could implement brute force protection but there is an additional factor at play here.\n\n**Any service worth its salt will not store your password.**\n\nPassword authentication systems use something known as a cryptographic hash to not store your password. A hash is a piece of data a couple dozen bytes long that is produced by a hashing algorithm. A hashing algorithm takes in any data and spits out this hash. Cryptographic hashing algorithms are designed to not be reversible, that is given a hash, it should not be possible to figure out some kind of data that hashes to it.\n\nIt’s like a fingerprint (in fact hashes are commonly referred to as fingerprints). Given a random fingerprint, you wouldn’t know what person it belongs to. But if you know the person with the fingerprint, you can confirm it is theirs.\n\nSo how does logging in look like from the services point of view? You send the service your username and password, the service hashes your password, looks in its database for the entry under your username and checks that the hash there matches the hash of the password you provided. If so, it knows you put in the right password and you are let in.\n\nWhy not store the password? Protecting the business from itself.\n\nDatabase leaks are unfortunately fairly common. Computers are complicated, there will always be some bug or something that may let hackers into a master database. Check out _URL_0_ for some examples of these breaches in the news section.\n\nSo the hackers will get a list of usernames and password hashes. \n\nThey cannot use this to directly login to the account. They need to know the password, they only have the hash.\n\nNow this hash is a piece of data not a login prompt communicating with a server. The only limit on brute force speed at this point is how fast your computer is. \n\nAssuming some decent amount of complexity in your password, it will take decades to brute force it. We can try all combinations of 4 character passwords in less than a second if we have the hash. The longer and more complex the password is, the longer it takes to crack a hash.\n\nComplex password requirements are insurance against this, not against brute force logins. \n\nAdditionally this scheme means that any service that sends you the password you set during any password recovery means that the service is not using proper security practices.",
"You only think about a direct web-based bruteforce cracking attempt.\n\nWhat if you get access to the password hash files? You download them, run a bruteforce cracker, and have the password in less than one second.\n\nNow think about the same happening, but every password takes several months to years.",
"While ~457,000 sounds like just an absolutely unfathomably large number to a human, that's actually child's play when it comes to computers. [Kasperky Labs](_URL_2_) estimates that an average computer that's not even particularly specialized to password cracking can attempt roughly 7100 passwords every second. That means it could figure out a 4-letter single-case password in at most 65 seconds. I'm sure you can see why that's not very desirable.\n\nEven just stepping up to a six-character password where lower case, upper case, and numbers (but no symbols) are allowed slows down an average computer's brute force attack to 3.5 days. This can be sped up by using known tables of common passwords that people use over and over again, or even just using a dictionary attack since most people use a password that's a word or some variant thereof (e.g. they might use \"acc1d3nt\" instead of \"accident,\" but a good dictionary attack can account for these variants too).\n\nAnd that's all to say nothing of the fact that people who make their living by cracking people's passwords are going to have specialized hardware that can crack passwords even faster. In 2012, [ArsTechnica](_URL_0_) wrote an article about a then-new supercomputer that could guess up to 350 *billion* passwords every second (meaning the 6-character password from before could be cracked in a fraction of a second). And you can surely imagine that even more powerful hardware exists now, 8 years on.\n\n > Most websites also have a brute-force protection that disables password guessing after about 10 attempts.\n\nThis is true, but again people who make their living cracking passwords have ways of circumventing this. Explaining the exact specifics would probably make this explanation not ELI-5 anymore, but the basic gist is that they don't actually crack your password by going to the website and entering each potential password one at a time. Else, as you mentioned, they'd get locked out and that would make the process take a long long time.\n\nRather, what they usually do is they get their hands on a master password list directly from the source. This can sometimes come from a leaker who works for a particular company, but most often it comes from hackers breaking into to the company's database and getting the master list file that way. Now thankfully, any company worth their salt encrypts said password list, but that turns out not to really be a problem for hackers.\n\nMost of the time hackers know what encryption algorithm a particular website uses to secure their passwords (e.g. the ArsTechnica article mentions that LinkedIn uses the SHA-1 algorithm. Obviously, this may no longer be the case today, but it was true as of 2012). Given this information, they can use their brute force password generator and run each one through the encryption algorithm until they find one that outputs the same string as one of the passwords in the list - they then know that user's password.\n\nIn addition to all of that, sometimes companies utterly fail at security and don't follow the industry best practices for securely storing passwords. In late 2013, a password list containing over 153 million Adobe Creative Cloud passwords was leaked. Subsequently, hackers discovered that Adobe did a very bad job securing this file. They used an encryption algorithm that is easily reversible and stored users' hints in the same file as their password. Properly secured password files also use a process known as salting, whereby if two (or more) users have the same passwords, they end up being stored as completely different encrypted strings... but Adobe didn't make use of this, so if the list showed, say, five instances of the same string, hackers just got a 5-for-1 deal on that password.\n\nAs a final note, on rare occasions hackers will actually try logging in through the website and brute forcing it that way, if there's an exploit that circumvents the lock out routines. It's believed that such a vulnerability played a role in allowing the leaks of celebrities' nudes from their iCloud accounts back in 2014. [The Next Web](_URL_1_) writes:\n\n > The vulnerability allegedly discovered in the Find My iPhone service appears to have let attackers use this method to guess passwords repeatedly without any sort of lockout or alert to the target.",
"The problem is that hackers can steal the hashes and brute force them locally instead of just typing a password into the normal interface. It’s the interface that prevent people from making multiple attempts. But if you get the password database you don’t have to go through the interface. You get unlimited tries. \n\nAnd as complex as 4 random characters are, it’s no match for even a normal desktop computer. Even if you use symbols too.",
"A single 1080ti graphics card can do about 50000 megahashes per second. So a 4 character lowercase alpha password would be cracked in no time. With the Advent of the cloud computing, even an 8 character lowercase alpha password is nothing. That's why its important to add as much entropy to your password as possible by using upper and lower case, numbers and special characters.",
" > a password of 4 letters would have 264 possible combinations\n\nBut the company/website doesn't trust its users to pick a *random* collection of 4 letters. \nThey want even their worst customers to be at least a little bit secure. \n\n\n\n > disables password guessing after about 10 attempts from a given IP\n\nIf the company is hacked and the password information leaked, then while this wont directly reveal passwords (or it shouldn't, the company shouldn't know your password), people can guess passwords as many times as they like against the password information, and the nature of this information will let them know if they were correct. \n\nTherefore, if there are more possible combinations, then this protects your passwords from people brute forcing a hacked list quickly/easily.",
"Your average desktop computer could crack that with a simple brute force very quickly. Computers are very fast. Login limits obviously prevent brute forcing of websites, but should your hashed password ever leaked as often happens (i suggest signing up to [_URL_0_](_URL_0_)) then it could be brute forced in minutes.",
"For 500,000 four-letter combinations, it doesn't take very long for a computer to go through all of them.\n\nSometimes a hacker is able to steal the secret encoded version of your password AND gather enough info to understand what the formula is to make secret encoded versions of passwords for that website.\n\nSo then the hacker just needs to plug all 500,000 combinations into the formula (again, this happens surprisingly fast when automated), and only one result will match with what the website had stored.\n\nAs someone else pointed out, there are lists of the most common passwords. People almost always make their passwords variations on, well, words. English language words, with just slight tweaks.\n\nA four letter password is way more likely to be \"love\" or \"haha\" than \"qksv\"... Just guessing variants of \"love\" or \"haha\" (and other popular choices) will get the correct answer most of the time.\n\nIf the hacker is targeting not just one person, but as many people in a million as they can crack, the chances go way up that they can crack 90% or more of the passwords.",
"The main problem here is a dictionary based attack not brute forcing. Attackers will use a “dictionary” or a set list of commonly used phrases or numbers (like the current year 2020 or easy phrase abcd, 1234..) and you have to remember you will most likely not be the only one personally attacked. These dictionaries are then sprayed to all accounts across the network and 10 shots at guessing every hour for all account has a high chance of working. \n\nUsing special characters will help prevent dictionary attacks/password spraying. Brute forcing is a largely a last ditch effort.",
"Many answers already have the correct explanation for this question. The short version is that trying passwords in webpage is slow, and would take a long time. This is not how it's done.\n\nInstead, hackers can obtain the list of hashed passwords for a website. A hash is a method of converting a password into another string of characters that is practically impossible to reverse. The only way to discover a working password is to run it through the hashing algorithm and see if it matches the string of characters in the stolen file.\n\nThis off-line method can happen very quickly for passwords under 12 or so characters, or for words in the dictionary, or for words with common replacements like p@ssw0rd for example.\n\n[Xkcd](_URL_1_) has a relevant comic, as usual. Edward Snowden explains it well in this [video](_URL_0_).",
"Wanted to add that they (experts in the field) have also found that the \"standard\" of 8 chrs with 1 upper, 1 number and a unique symbol isnt actually any safer and might be less secure then just a wacky/unique 4 or 5 letter password.",
"There are two types of account attackers (aka hackers)\n\nPeople who know you/have access to your information and those that do not.\n\nThe top comment by /u/RedditName6 and /u/Duckerton3 explain why 4 characters is not enough for the first type of attacker- people who know you. Chances are your 4 character passwords have some significance to you.\n\nLets discuss those that do not know you. Individuals attacking your data with no information about you either have to be INCREDIBLY lucky, or they have to put some creativity behind their attack.\n\nThe go to way to attack is to first get access to the database that tracks the passwords to user accounts. Now these databases are typically VERY difficult to get ahold of and often they are encrypted with some sort of key - but that is outside this explanation. Lets assume an attacker gets all the necessary information. So in essence they have cloned the website or service you are utilizing and have it as a digital copy that they can do what they want with.\n\nSo how do they attack the database? Well first they extract the user names, and then they simply start trying every combination of every letter. How would you start? Well we know humans are terrible at remembering long series of characters unless their is a pattern. We also know that socially 4-pins are common and due to limitations in earlier technology 8-16 character passwords were maximum length. So instead of starting with 100 character passwords, lets just hit it with all 36^4 (counting letters, lets exclude special characters, approximately 1.7million combinations) 4-character passwords. Since it is on a digital system we can put this on a really fast computer and essentially run that routine in minutes.\n\nNow the attacker won't have any account with > 4 characters, but this will likely get a large chunk of the passwords and accounts. (Maybe 20%?) with the minimal effort. They may at that time determine they got enough value to then sell the information or use the information. Or they may decide to start on 5-character passwords. 5-character passwords though will have 36^5 or approximately 60 million combinations. That single letter addition makes the password 1) potential skipped to minimize effort and 2) increase the time and difficulty it requires to detect the password is detected by a factor of 60 if the routine is run against 5 character password. In this example, 6 characters would put it into the realm of 2BILLION combinations, and you can see how just adding letters/numbers will help increase security.\n\nA bit more then ELI5; typically these databases also have safeguards in place. Safeguards such as increasing feedback for successful/failed log-in after x-failed attempts and lockdown/full rejection after y-attempts. In this case though the attacker has a digital copy... So they just take a picture of the database, erase the database that is now locking them out, and then restart the routine on the copied database where it left off at. This adds substantial time to the routine, but is just a hurdle - not a road block.\n\nKeep in mind, the attacker would run this on a local copy if possible. There is no delay to communicating with a server. Further the server protections of delaying the feedback can be removed or sped up so each password can be checked at an incredibly fast speed.\n\nAnd finally, the real reason you want to have a long password. Chances are you have the same password or similar password to all your accounts. So, no big deal if your Club Penguin account gets hacked right? Except if your username and password are similar and that attacker gets access to something more important - like your bank's database or your university database - then you may have allowed the open door into those databases. A long password (even on Club Penguin) increases security everywhere if you utilize shared/similar passwords.",
"Because nobody's brute forcing the login page. They're obtaining a copy of the user database and running a few rainbow tables over that then trying some dictionary attacks.\n\nYour 4 character password would be done instantly.",
"Other have answered pretty thoroughly but I'll try to do a more ELI5 answer:\n\nComputers run really fast. Like, REALLY fast. Computers can guess half a million passwords in just a few minutes. Making a password longer makes it take a lot longer to guess. The more different kinds of letters, or numbers you use, the longer it takes to guess. What you want to do is make a password take a really long time for a computer to guess.\n\nPeople are also really bad at creating passwords that a computer can't guess easily. So people who want to guess your password can take things they know about how people make passwords to help their computer guess better. That's why it's important to make long passwords that aren't easily guessed by a computer.",
"Because computers are fast. Insanely, godawfully fast. You thought they were fast back in the 1980s, but now they're about a million times faster. No, I didn't say 'million' just because it's an arbitrary large number. They're *literally* a million times faster now.\n\nMy PC is from 2014. Its CPU (AMD FX-6300) runs at 3.5GHz across six cores. In the time it takes a typical monitor to refresh *just one frame,* each core can process up to 58 million machine code instructions. If you wrote down one letter for each machine code instruction one core can process in one second, and it took you one second to write down a letter, you'd have to be writing letters since World War 1 ended in order to catch up by now. The PC sits about a meter away from my face while I'm using it; I literally can't watch the CPU run in real time, because even if I could see its inner workings operating at this distance, each core would have processed about 11 additional machine code instructions in the time it takes light to get from the CPU to my eyes.\n\nHow does this apply to password cracking? Well, just now I tried hashing 4-character strings, using my own homebrew hashing algorithm, in Javascript, running in Firefox 72. (If you don't know what 'hashing' is, just understand that it's something a hacker would want to do to text in order to guess a password.) For 1 million strings, the script took about 1.3 seconds to finish hashing them all. For your 456976 strings, it took 0.77 seconds. That's single-core performance in Javascript. A real hacker would at the very least have a multithreaded C program running on all cores, gaining probably more than ten times faster performance than what I was getting; so a reasonable estimate for the time taken to guess a 4-character password on the CPU would be something like 77 milliseconds, enough time for a typical monitor to display about five frames. Very likely the hacker could take advantage of his GPU to run hash checks even faster. And very likely the hashing algorithm for the passwords is faster than the one I designed for myself.\n\nThe math just doesn't work out. The 4-character password is *not even close* to long enough to resist bruteforcing attacks on a modern computer.\n\nWhat if you made the password longer? Well, if we assume that the 4-character case takes 77 milliseconds, here's how it breaks down for passwords of increasing length (all with just 26 alphabet letters):\n\n5 letters: 2.5 seconds\n\n6 letters: 1 minute 18 seconds\n\n7 letters: 39 minutes\n\n8 letters: 19 hours\n\n9 letters: 24 days\n\n10 letters: 1.9 years\n\n11 letters: 54 years\n\n12 letters: 1530 years\n\nBecause of the way the combinatoric arithmetic works (you're multiplying the variety of passwords by 26 with each additional character), a longer password takes *far* longer to crack. So you are definitely much more secure with, say, a random 12-letter password than with a random 4-letter password.",
"ELI5:\n\nComputers are fast. 26\\^4 is a small number to a computer. 26\\^10 is a much larger number. 62\\^10 is even larger (62 is upper/lower/numbers mixed).\n\nAlso, any passwords are cracked offline, where the entire password file is taken, and the attempts to break it are not against the 10-limit.\n\nless-ELI5:\n\nIf everyone salted and hashed passwords perfectly, and nobody ever re-used a password, 4-letter would be fine. \n\nYour 4-letter password would survive any attempt to hack it against the 10-try limit.\n\nWhen the site is hacked, they will tell everyone, and everyone immediately changes their password.\n\n In the real world, password reuse and places that still store passwords as encrypted (so a \"crack\" doesn't just get them into Ashley Madison, but gets the password and the email, so that they can have a proven working password and email combination to use against every bank, website, and service with an online login. One attempt each, no worries about a 10-time lockout) then we'd be fine. \n\nBut in the real world, every password you use will be found out, eventually, and it will be used against all your other accounts. So to keep security, never reuse a password (I break that rule - forum sites, like Reddit all have a shared password, so one less to remember, and who cares if I lose this account?), and make it random, not Pap3r123 or some other combination that would be in a dictionary attack. \n\nAnd you have to change your password when someone gets the password file, even if perfect, the 4-char password will be broken quickly.",
"You're math is actually a bit off. If you include case and numbers the number of possible combinations is 14,776,336. \n\nHere's why that's a problem. You see that GHz number on your computer? That's an estimate of how many operations it can perform, per second. So my laptop with a 2.8GHz CPU can more or less execute 2,800,000,000 operations per second. On a single core, I have 8.\n\nSo your quaint 4 letter password is dead in less than one second. Adding more characters increases complexity pretty fast. Using only numbers and characters here's how fast the number of combinations increase by adding just 1 digit:\n\n1 62\n\n2 3,844\n\n3 238,328\n\n4 14,776,336\n\n5 916,132,832\n\n6 56,800,235,584\n\n7 3,521,614,606,208\n\n8 218,340,105,584,896\n\nAs you might have noticed adding additional characters went increased the combinations more than tenfold. Adding characters makes it more complicated to guess a password quickly.\n\nYour next question gets to an interesting point, why not rate limit password attempts? Well most websites do, but that's not the problem. What is?\n\nMost people use common passwords across many websites. So if one website is compromised along with its password database, more than 90% of those user/password combinations will work on elsewhere. So if say Ashley Madison or Adobe get hacked then they use that information on Amazon or Chase. In fact I'm betting you're reddit password is the same as your banking and other passwords.\n\nMost websites hide your password in such a way that it isn't easily or is impossible to recover, so they have to guess passwords one by one (as an aside, if you do business with someone that can give you your password instead of resetting it, don't do business with them, good security should make that impossible). A more complicated password means this is gonna take longer. There are tricks they can use to get around this but better passwords make this harder. So basically the idea is that they're going to assume the password file will be stolen (which is what you generally do), so they'll make it as hard to use as possible.\n\nNow the overkill part. Well it turns out we made a mistake with password policies. It turns out we've made passwords hard for people to remember and easy for computers to guess [Relevent XKCD](_URL_0_). So better sites have moved away from the random collection of characters thing. If you change your password at BestBuy, for example, they'll let you put in whatever you want. My password is a whole sentence. It turns out that this sort of approach, with common phrases is much harder for computers to guess and much easier for us to remember.",
"Alan Turing and a lot of others encountered this problem during WW2 against the Germans. The Germans would use a device called the Enigma that should've been impossible to crack due to the close to infinite possible combinations. \n\nAlan Turing made essentially a computer design to crack the German codes faster, more efficient, and no error. \n\nThe second point would be of the human factor. People tend to have a habit of subconsciously even when told to use random letters/numbers, choosing preferred letters/numbers thus forming a pattern. Another great example of this would be, Hitler made sure that the Enigma will not re-use the same combination when encrypting messages, so the people at Bletchley Park knew not to try the same combination and it sped up their computer significantly. \n\nOther factors include the limitation of languages. English for example must have a vowel shortly after a consonant, since there are only 5 vowels, you can see how a pattern can be easily formed, try playing hangman. Which is why most sites ask for numbers or special symbols, capital or what not, so as to stop these patterns. \n\nIn all honesty though, instead of hacking for your info, it would be more efficient to hack the corporations thus attaining everyone's passwords and other info instead of just one person. So it's highly recommended not to use the same password for all your sites, if a hacker got ur info from one site then all ur sites are compromised.",
"I read a few years ago that the guy who first recommended complex passwords 10-20 years ago in some government security report...apologized. He thinks it's stupid now too.\n\nAnd it is. As long as you have brute-force protection that you mentioned in place. That didn't used to be common either.\n\nWith brute-force protection in place, \"8 is enough\". But the problem with 8 is that people will use words. Knowing this, you drastically cut down the number of possibilites. So, we have to force people to use upper/lower, numbers, symbols, etc.\n\nIt's because people are stupid. ELI5.",
"Edward Snowden said small phrases are the hardest to crack that also have numbers, caps and symbols. His example was legendary: \"MargaretThatcheris110%sexy\"",
"Its not so much the length but that people use easy to guess passwords.\nRelevant XKCD.\n_URL_0_",
"My question is, if a password requires a number, does that not make it easier to crack, since its now guaranteed to have a number in it and thus theres less possible combinations?",
"Have anyone done any mathematics: is it better protection to use 8 or 10 characters with upper/lower case and special characters, or just lower case letters but super long password? The latter is definitely much easier to remember, for me.",
"Also: why do computers are allowed to try thousands of passwords a second? Why is it not mandatory a few seconds delay after a password try? (in websites, for example)",
"What bothers me most is that I cannot choose the level of difficulty of my password.\n\nThere are tons of webs I couldn't care less if I were to have my account stolen. Why I can't have some weak easy password. No, must be 8 letters long, have numbers, symbols, unicorn blood, a fulfilled paladin oath, the real ending of song of ice and fire and it is too similar to your last password.",
"Half a million combinations may sound like alot to you, but for a computer that's nothing. Take a look at [_URL_0_](_URL_0_) to give you an idea. \n\nExamples: \n\n*password: iplaygames*\n\n**It would take a computer about 59 MINUTES to crack your password**\n\n & #x200B;\n\n*password: IPlayGames*\n\n**It would take a computer about 1 MONTH to crack your password**\n\n & #x200B;\n\n*password: I\\_Pl4yG4me$*\n\n**It would take a computer about 4 HUNDRED YEARS to crack your password**\n\n & #x200B;\n\n*password: I\\_Pl4yG4Me$4FuN*\n\n**It would take a computer about 16 BILLION YEARS to crack your password**",
"A server should limit requests anyway, but a database can leak, then when you have the password (and the salt, hoping that there is one; look up hash and salt if you haven't heard of it) and then I don't have to ask the website if the password is correct.\n\nYou'd assume whoever can see the database is probably in deep enough to update it too and/or maybe other abilities, but not necessarily.",
"From Steve Gibson’s Haystack Passwords site: _URL_1_\n_URL_0_",
"Seems the question has been answered already, but for some context on how small 450k is, the rather small company my father works for has a password cracking machine that can make a few hundred million attempts per second",
"Hi, back-end developer here. You don't try to connect like a normal user, to guess a password: you already have the database that leaked, and (normally), the password are hashed. Hackers do a loop of characters then hash it to compare to the one in the database.\n\nI did an program to see how much time it takes to get a hashed password, and tested it on doing a loop of 4 uppercase letters doing all the alphabet, in PHP.\n\n**Result : 2.882 seconds**\n\nNow, add lowercase letters in your 4-letter password and you get 7,311,616 possibilities.\n\n**Result : 49.883 seconds**\n\nAnd if you add special characters, my localhost is having a hard time!\n\nAnd keep in mind I only use the cheap PC from my work. People who hack use PC for gamers.\n\nSo, minimum, use 8 characters. Because people who hack aren't just people like me and you, but organized band of people.\n\nIf it takes too much time guessing a password, they go on the next one."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://haveibeenpwned.com"
],
[],
[
"https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/12/25-gpu-cluster-cracks-every-standard-windows-password-in-6-hours/",
"https://thenextweb.com/apple/2014/09/01/this-could-be-the-apple-icloud-flaw-that-led-to-celebrity-photos-being-leaked/",
"https://www.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/brute-force-attack"
],
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://haveibeenpwned.com/"
],
[],
[],
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzGzB-yYKcc",
"https://xkcd.com/936/"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://xkcd.com/936/"
],
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://www.xkcd.com/936/"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://howsecureismypassword.net/"
],
[],
[
"https://i.imgur.com/ljKRwLp.jpg",
"https://www.grc.com/haystack.htm"
],
[],
[]
] |
||
3n30ed
|
Why is it that you can cut/penetrate things so easily with pointy objects? Why is it that a greatly increased pressure from a needle or knife causes abrasion?
|
I get that P = F/A, so needles and knives with small areas will have a larger pressure for a small amount of force, but why does that pressure cause penetration? What makes pressure the important factor and not force?
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/3n30ed/why_is_it_that_you_can_cutpenetrate_things_so/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cvkqjan",
"cvkqwrd"
],
"score": [
4,
4
],
"text": [
"Think of a person laying on a bed of nails. The person's force is fixed, lets say 250lb. However, obviously laying on an entire bed of nails is safe, and laying on a single nail is not. \n\nThis comes down to the strength of the molecular bonds of the persons skin. If you apply enough force between two molecules (or cells, or to a crystal lattice, etc), then you'll overcome their bonding force and they will separate. Its like driving an axe into a block of wood. It will split them apart.\n\nWhen the force is spread out, like a bed of nails, none of the individual nails have enough force to break the persons skin... same with a blunt knife.",
"Imagine an elephant standing on a flat platform, which is held by a thousand people. That's a weight of 7 tons, but each person will only be holding 7kg, which is rather easy. However, if there is a hole in the platform and the elephant falls on those few people that were on that spot, they will be blasted by the tremendous weight.\n\nThe sharp knife is a similar concept: when you press on a material you're causing it to compress, molecules come closer to each other and repulsive forces resist the pressure. But if you're concentrating the force on a small area then it's a smaller number of molecules resisting it: you'll force them to displace and let the knife in.\n\nBasically this is the same reason why a thick column can withstand your weight, but a thin stick can't.\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
n91an
|
why the hippies were so horrible to soldiers returning from vietnam
|
i was just watching a documentary, and i couldn't believe how openly aggressive the hippies were to soldiers. i know most were drafted, so why would this be such a widespread problem?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/n91an/eli5_why_the_hippies_were_so_horrible_to_soldiers/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c378i8x",
"c378vrr",
"c3798u3",
"c378i8x",
"c378vrr",
"c3798u3"
],
"score": [
5,
15,
2,
5,
15,
2
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"text": [
"reddit being what it is, I can expect this answer to be heavily downvoted...\n\n----\n\nThe answer is \"Self-righteous indignation\" -- something which the Right is just as good at as the Left, BTW.\n\nThe soldiers were \"clearly\" all willing and eager to do what they did, and all sociopathic baby-killers. \n\nIt makes a self-righteous person feel better about themselves when they can label someone as having \"a lesser moral compass\" and also allows them to believe their unleashed rage is \"totally excusable\".\n\nThis still happens today, hippies or not. The left and right do it to each other all the time. And even if a moderate/centrist pops up, they get raged against, too, by both sides, for being \"not enough like us / too much like them\".\n\n----\n\ntl;dr: people like to believe they are better than others",
"Viet Nam was the first televised war. Korea, WWII, and even some from The Great War may have had newsreels at the movies, but for the first time you could see Soldiers engaging in an unpopular war. \n\nShowing the war on the 6 o'clock news also meant that the draftees knew exactly what they were getting into. With WWII, a lot of people who went to war thought it was nothing but glory and medals. That was what the newsreels showed. \n\nWith Viet Nam, it was a lot of young men dying horribly and being forced to kill people they couldn't even see. \n\nAt the time, the young people, the Hippies had learned that they had a choice, and they had a voice. A lot of the Hippies believed that the government of a country several thousand miles away made no difference to the young people here in the US. They thought that because they stood up to \"The Man\" here in the US and decided they weren't going to go to a war they didn't believe in, no one should. \n\nRelate this to Dancing with the Stars, or the Green Bay Packers. How could anybody see that we are not right. These are the best choices. \n\nSince the Hippies stood up to The Man and refused to show up to the draft board, how could any thinking person. Those that did enlist or were drafted must support the war. If they supported the war, the Hippies felt, they must support everything that is done in the war. \n\nI know I have oversimplified a lot of stuff, but that is the basic 5YO version. ",
"Many people think that their fervently held beliefs about morality somehow make it impossible for them to act hatefully. Left-wing activists are no more immune to this than are right-wing activists.",
"reddit being what it is, I can expect this answer to be heavily downvoted...\n\n----\n\nThe answer is \"Self-righteous indignation\" -- something which the Right is just as good at as the Left, BTW.\n\nThe soldiers were \"clearly\" all willing and eager to do what they did, and all sociopathic baby-killers. \n\nIt makes a self-righteous person feel better about themselves when they can label someone as having \"a lesser moral compass\" and also allows them to believe their unleashed rage is \"totally excusable\".\n\nThis still happens today, hippies or not. The left and right do it to each other all the time. And even if a moderate/centrist pops up, they get raged against, too, by both sides, for being \"not enough like us / too much like them\".\n\n----\n\ntl;dr: people like to believe they are better than others",
"Viet Nam was the first televised war. Korea, WWII, and even some from The Great War may have had newsreels at the movies, but for the first time you could see Soldiers engaging in an unpopular war. \n\nShowing the war on the 6 o'clock news also meant that the draftees knew exactly what they were getting into. With WWII, a lot of people who went to war thought it was nothing but glory and medals. That was what the newsreels showed. \n\nWith Viet Nam, it was a lot of young men dying horribly and being forced to kill people they couldn't even see. \n\nAt the time, the young people, the Hippies had learned that they had a choice, and they had a voice. A lot of the Hippies believed that the government of a country several thousand miles away made no difference to the young people here in the US. They thought that because they stood up to \"The Man\" here in the US and decided they weren't going to go to a war they didn't believe in, no one should. \n\nRelate this to Dancing with the Stars, or the Green Bay Packers. How could anybody see that we are not right. These are the best choices. \n\nSince the Hippies stood up to The Man and refused to show up to the draft board, how could any thinking person. Those that did enlist or were drafted must support the war. If they supported the war, the Hippies felt, they must support everything that is done in the war. \n\nI know I have oversimplified a lot of stuff, but that is the basic 5YO version. ",
"Many people think that their fervently held beliefs about morality somehow make it impossible for them to act hatefully. Left-wing activists are no more immune to this than are right-wing activists."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
8h2wzq
|
What where the major advantages/disadvantages of the Roman testudo formation?
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/8h2wzq/what_where_the_major_advantagesdisadvantages_of/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dygsiii"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"While you're waiting, check out these threads for information on the turtle formation:\n\n[Roman testudo in medieval times](_URL_1_) by /u/novashadow1324\n\n[Military historians, can you explain why infantry forming square (or other similar defensive formations such as the Roman \"turtle\") were effective at protecting infantry against cavalry charges before advent of the machine gun?](_URL_0_) by /u/alt247"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/68pt2s/military_historians_can_you_explain_why_infantry/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/5n06cj/roman_testudo_in_medieval_times/"
]
] |
||
4ggptj
|
What weapons were used in the Franco-Prussian War?
|
I have been researching some about the types of guns used in the Franco-Prussian War, but have only found information on the rifles used and none on the pistols or artillery pieces. Does anyone know what specific models of Pistols, Revolvers, Mortars, or Artillery Pieces were used during the conflict?
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4ggptj/what_weapons_were_used_in_the_francoprussian_war/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d2hkbo1",
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],
"score": [
5,
8
],
"text": [
" > Does anyone know what specific models of Pistols, Revolvers, Mortars, or Artillery Pieces were used during the conflict?\n\nI don't know of revolver designs, but the French utilized rifled muzzle-loading artillery pieces, of the La Hitte system. The Germans in turn utilized breech-loading artillery pieces, notably the Krupp C/64 77mm (4 pounder) piece and the larger c/67 6 pounder piece. The French had some Reffye and Montigny Mitrailleuses, which were rapid firing volley guns rather than machine guns as they are often described. If you're looking for good books on the subject of the war, Geoffrey Wawro's history of the war, and Dennis Showalter's history of the Wars of Unification are solid.",
"Both French and German infantrymen were armed with a breech-loading, bolt action rifle utilizing a paper black powder cartridge. The German and French variants (Dreyse \"needle gun\" and Chassepot model 1866, respectively), were a marked improvement on the muzzle loading rifle-muskets they replaced, and the Franco-Prussian war was the first major conflict in which they were fielded by both sides. The Chassepot was generally considered the superior weapon, but the advantage conferred to the French strategically was negligible. I admit I don't know a great deal about the sidearms of the conflict, although I would conjecture that cavalry troopers were most likely issued some sort of standard revolver. The French had retired the Lefaucheux m1858, a pinfire revolver, five years before the war broke out, and it was never officially issued to the army, although marines, as part of the navy (which did make use of the weapon) may have carried them. In contemporary photographs and illustrations, infantry officers are almost never carrying pistols, suggesting that they weren't issued sidearms at all, while most cavalry and artillery officers have one. Perhaps officers brought a wide variety of pistols as part of their personal effects. I just don't know enough (or have enough time) to give you a definitive answer. \n\nArtillery demonstrated a greater disparity in arms and organization. In 1870 the French were transitioning from the La Hitte artillery system (consisting mostly of rifled muzzle-loading cannon, and designed to retrofit old pieces to fire explosive shells), which had been in place since 1858, to a newer system built around the guns designed by Reffye. Officially, the standard field gun of the French army was the \"Canon de campagne de 7 de Reffye modéle 1870,\" an 85mm breechloading rifled cannon. At the outbreak of hostilities, however, many French units hadn't been issued the new pieces, and had to make do with the old La Hitte models. In practice this meant that the balance of French formations were supported by mostly muzzle-loading, rifled brass 12 pounders. These would have mostly been retrofitted \"canon de 12\" pieces. The French also deployed the Reyffe \"Mitrailleuse,\" a forerunner of the machine gun, with their artillery batteries. Their intended purpose was to supplement anti-infantry firepower beyond rifle range and, as Reyffe himself said, \"compensate the insufficiency of grapeshot\" at ranges beyond 1000 yards. The weapon was deployed in accordance with French operational doctrine, which stressed the use of massed rifle fire from prepared positions, and encouraged French officers to rely on their superior infantry firepower by generally assuming the defensive, and using entrenchments or cavalry maneuvers to resist or neutralize enemy artillery fire. \n\nPrussian doctrine, on the other hand, was designed for the offensive, and their artillery arm reflected as much. The German armies' main field gun, the Krupp C64, was a steel, breech-loading 8cm cannon. It had an effective range of about 3.4km, which greatly outdistanced the majority of French tubes (the old retrofitted 12-pounders, for example, could only manage about 1800 yards). German siege artillery, including the famous 1000-pounder Krupp siege guns used to shell Paris into submission. Krupp, by the way, refers to the Krupp family ironworks, then located in Essen, that produced a huge portion of Prussia's military hardware. Krupp anti-balloon guns were also the first purpose-built antiaircraft weapons. \n\nMortars, as they're employed in modern warfare (i.e. man-portable, deployed in infantry formations) didn't really exist in 1870. Massive siege mortars, on the other hand, were prevalent in both armies. \n\nEdit: Forgot my sources!\n\n\"The Franco-Prussian War: The German Conquest of France in 1870-1871.\" Wawro 2003\n\n\"Tactics in the Franco-Prussian War From Opening Shots to the Battle of Sedan\" Johnson\n\nI used wikipedia for dates concerning the French artillery systems (since I didn't want to comb through Wawro looking for them) and for the stuff about the Lefaucheux revolver. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
2u61g7
|
What do non-Islamic historical accounts say about Mohammed?
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2u61g7/what_do_nonislamic_historical_accounts_say_about/
|
{
"a_id": [
"co5kqv8",
"co5lh6y"
],
"score": [
51,
238
],
"text": [
"If *In the Shadow of the Sword* by Tom Holland is to believed, contemporary accounts of Mohammed are very rare indeed. Most accounts talk about a prominent leader in the area contested between the Roman Empire and Persia (that is the Near East and not Arabia proper). ",
"I quoted pretty much all the contemporary mentions of Muhammad [here](_URL_2_), let me know if you have any questions! \n\nEdit: Sounds like there are a lot of follow-up questions to this, so I might as well link my answers explaining the [success of the Arab Conquests](_URL_3_), [early Christian responses to Islam](_URL_0_) and [how the Arabs conquered Egypt/North Africa](_URL_1_) :)"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2obtga/its_the_7th_or_8th_century_and_im_christian_how/cmn3xaa",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2plril/how_were_the_peoples_of_north_africa_at_the/cmxxkwd",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2rs7nn/outside_of_the_quran_what_writings_existed_on_the/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2d95r2/how_were_the_muslim_armies_able_to_take_out_the/"
]
] |
||
2h94kf
|
Will a single gold atom have color? 10? At what point do we notice the color?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2h94kf/will_a_single_gold_atom_have_color_10_at_what/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ckqndd9",
"ckqpm8l"
],
"score": [
4,
2
],
"text": [
"Color as we experience it in everyday life is mostly caused by the way many atoms are bonded together. For instance, carbon atoms bonded into a graphite pattern are gray while carbon atoms bonded into a diamond lattice are clear. Single atoms don't have color in the traditional, everyday, sense. But a single atom still gives off a characteristic set of colors when excited (its line spectrum). This is the action at work behind the colors given off by gas discharge lamps such as Neon signs. In a gas, the atoms are so spread out that they are effectively free and independent. Therefore, an atom does have a color in a gas-discharge sense. So, we \"notice\" the color even with a single atom, but it is just a different effect at work. ",
"You can actually look at solutions of gold nanoparticles of different sizes and see that as they get bigger, the colour changes. There's a moderate-quality example [here](_URL_0_). As the particles get bigger, the colour approaches that of bulk gold."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colloidal_gold#mediaviewer/File:Gold255.jpg"
]
] |
||
25llmj
|
why my computer lags when only 50% of the cpu is being used
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/25llmj/eli5_why_my_computer_lags_when_only_50_of_the_cpu/
|
{
"a_id": [
"chidxlv",
"chie3x7"
],
"score": [
2,
4
],
"text": [
"Is your computer as a whole lagging, or just one application? \n\nIf it's a single application, it may only have one or two threads running. 50% of a dual-core CPU is one core maxed out. Certain programs can launch more threads to do work in parallel, but others can't (or *could*, but aren't designed to).\n\nIf it's the whole machine, you may have a bottleneck in memory or your hard drive.",
"You've got a bottle-neck! It doesn't matter what system you run, just about every single one of them have multiple things going on all at the same time. Most of them are pretty vital, such as checking to see if you have pressed a key on the keyboard to minor ones that check to see if Adobe Acrobat is the latest version or not. Each of these gets it's own little sliver of time. The ones that are entirely based on memory and CPU, such as updating the little clock on the corner are really quick. Others, such as fetching the next section of the game you are playing or grabbing the next few megs of music off of the CD in your computer are relying on spinning media. Just like the name implies, spinning media is anything that relies on a motor to spin one or more disks and moving sensors (heads) to gather the information needed. These are very slow. Even the advanced hardware used in powerful servers are very slow compared to memory. \n\nSo anyway, that process gets it's little sliver of processing time and says \"fetch me a shrubbery from the hard drive!\" And the good little knights (another process) go off to find it. Now there is no hope that those knights can find it during that sliver of time, much less return it, so the process loses that turn while the knights go galloping off. The next sliver comes around and the knights aren't back yet. They found it, but haven't finished pulling it up. So the process loses that sliver too. Several slivers later the process sees the knights waiting for it pay attention to them. Then it can start working on the shrubbery they brought back. But every single one of those slivers between the order to fetch and getting the data back was a waste for that process. \n\nLet's pretend it used 100 slivers for this work. The real numbers would be significantly higher, but 100 slivers is easier to imagine. The command to go get the shrub is 1 sliver, or 1%. Then starting to work on the shrubbery is another 1 sliver, or 1%. The 98 slivers while it sat there twiddling it's thumbs is 98% wasted. Now there are dozens of processes going on at once. So that -98% really pulls the average down. If even a quarter of the running processes get -98% then you system will show a utilization average of about 50% when it reality it is working hard, just waiting on slow media. \n\nSSD's are a huge improvement but they still aren't nearly as fast as memory. And having your music 100% digital is also a huge step in the right direction, but your computer still has to pull if off of the spinning hard disk to let you listen to it. Even the fastest computers in the world right now have something slowing them down. The only way to get 100% utilization, 100% of the time would be to have a computer that is nothing but the fastest memory, CPU and GPU. Then you would become the bottleneck and that's the way it should be. \nEdit: Followed some formatting advice."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
2010ly
|
if a straight razor, single blade, is the closest shave we can get, then why do companies keep adding blades?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2010ly/eli5_if_a_straight_razor_single_blade_is_the/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cfysiqr",
"cfysjdh",
"cfysqco"
],
"score": [
2,
3,
5
],
"text": [
"to justify charging you $20 for a 3 pack of replacement razors. ",
"marketing gimmick. truthfully you can use a cheap plastic handle razor for a long time if you dry it off after each use. clark howard from the radio did it for like a year.",
"A multi-blade razor basically compensates for an improper or imperfect shaving technique. The cartridge attempts to force you to use the proper angle for the blades, and the multiple blades take advantage of the pulling effect of the preceding blades to cut the hair even closer to the skin.\n\nIn reality, about 3 blades maximizes this pulling effect, but even a particularly sloppy technique might benefit from 4 or 5 blades. I love my 5-bladed razor cartridges. They last forever and give me a super-close shave even when I am half asleep and using a particularly sloppy technique. I never get razor burn and never use after-shave, even though I have ultra-sensitive skin. There is never any feel of scraping or pulling.\n\nAlthough it will destroy the lubricated strips on the cartridge very quickly, I swish my blades in grain alcohol (95% pure or better), then dry them thoroughly after each use. One five-blade cartridge lasts for 100 - 125 shaves before it no longer shaves like new. I know a couple of guys who store their blades in a non-corrosive oil and say that the blades last even longer. I'm not sure if that's true, as I haven't tested it."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
32qrt5
|
If it was so easy to defend, why did the allies 'have to' attack Omaha Beach on D-Day?
|
I read in Stephen E Ambrose's book on D-Day that both Rommel and Eisenhower knew that Omaha Beach was a perfect beach to defend. Narrow beach at high tide, swamp area, then bluffs which had many foxholes and defensive positions dug perfectly into them. Ambrose states that 'No tactician could have devised a better defensive position.' He goes on to say that if they did not invade at Omaha then 'the gap between Utah and the British beaches would be too great'. What does this actually mean though? I find it to be a vague response. There were already gaps between each of the invasion beaches. Why exactly was this stretch so critical, and why were so many lives risked?
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/32qrt5/if_it_was_so_easy_to_defend_why_did_the_allies/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cqdst9v"
],
"score": [
11
],
"text": [
"All of the beaches had fairly small gaps in between them, but the Omaha landings would serve to link the American landings further north at Utah, with the Anglo-Canadian landings at Juno and Gold, and thus to the other British landing at Sword. If they had NOT landed at Omaha, the gap between Gold, Sword and Juno Beach, and Utah would have been too great. Rather than linking the beaches in the following days and presenting an extended, united front, the Allies could have been met and bottled up in their beaches, at separate locations. The possibility of the Germans delaying or preventing the American and Anglo-Canadians forces from linking up would have been great, and the losses and the length of the campaign would have GREATLY increased."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
116ip4
|
Body Temperature and why we can stay alive 90 degrees below our body temperature but will die 90 degrees above.
|
I know that the human body temp is like 98 degrees and humans can survive in temperatures much much lower than that but humans cannot survive in temperatures much hotter than that. Why is that? why is it that our body can withstand extreme colds but not extreme heat? We do have a cooling system in sweat do we not?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/116ip4/body_temperature_and_why_we_can_stay_alive_90/
|
{
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"c6jrkpw",
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2
],
"text": [
"It is much easier to keep heat in with insulation than it is to get rid of excess heat with sweating or other means.",
"Heat denatures proteins, making them useless. Cold and heat will both lead to cell death but heat is substantially more damaging than cold."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
4t722q
|
realistically, what would have to happen before games (especially vr) can match the photo-realism of film cgi?
|
Specifically.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4t722q/eli5_realistically_what_would_have_to_happen/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d5f2e5j",
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"score": [
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2
],
"text": [
"Think of it this way. \n\nThe deadline for rendering 120 minutes of movie is around 2 years. \n\nThe deadline for rendering 120 minutes of video game is 120 minutes + 33ms. \n\nEven counting the fact that movies need to be developed, then rendered, that still leaves about 1 year of rendering available for movies. \n\nNo matter how good rendering gets, film cgi will be better than vg cgi. The best we can do is to make film cgi so good that the diminishing return effect kicks in and top-notch cgi v real-time cgi, while vastly different in quality, only look slightly worse in real time generation. \n\nAnd look at the most recent games v the first short that Pixar made in 1985 (30 years difference). A decent cpu can render something about 3x more detailed than that short in real time, while in that time period they were actually rushing the production to meet yearly trade show deadlines for shorts because of the time it took for them to render.",
"Film CGI uses a lot of processing power to render, they can take time, they can use a large cluster of computers working for days or weeks or more to render all the light and textures of single scene. Your game has to render scenes as you play them, has to adapt as objects move in light sources in real time with you, and it has to be able to do that on a single mid-range computer. And as for VR you need to do it twice, once for each eye.\n\nFurther, games have to make it so that the animations, the way the different character models move and interact with other objects is very procedural. The physics engine is the most important thing, and say a character is wearing a cape or cloak, it has to be able to in general figure out the forces on the cape as the arm moves, as they lean down, as they run into the wind. Which is all very hard work. If you're making a film, a strong physics system can help you a lot, if you have a large number of blades of grass or hairs, you want something to help you coordinate it. But the physics doesn't need to stand alone, each animation and each frame of the movie is designed and manipulated and massaged. The artists at work can make those look prefect they don't need to worry about all possibilities, just the ones in the actual film. \n\n\nSo then what do we need to have photorealistic CGI in video games, especially VR? Insane amounts of processing power available at home and highly sophisticated and intelligent engines. Computers are always getting more powerful exponentially, but it will take quite a few cycles of doubling to reach the power of a major rendering farm in your home computer. Smarter and more sophisticated engines, well I don't know, making something look good to a human eye is essentially an artificial intelligence question, I don't think you're really going to get there from a pure low level physics simulation aspect, the calculations scale very rapidly. Work in AI seems to be coming along well, I can imagine a neural network based enhancement to physics engines being made. Implementation in a 60 dollar game that runs on your home computer, who could say?"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
31yfds
|
In the densest parts of galaxies, how close can stars get to one another?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/31yfds/in_the_densest_parts_of_galaxies_how_close_can/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cq6cdwc"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Although a pretty rare event, they can [collide](_URL_0_), or in other words, they can get arbitrarily close. \n\nThe densest regions are the galactic nuclei as well as the cores of globular clusters, in which you can have thousands of stars per cubic parsec. The core of M 32, a satellite galaxy of the Andromeda galaxy has about 5000 stars per cubic parsec, which equals one star every 2,5 lightdays or every 66 billion kilometers."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_collision"
]
] |
||
375qvn
|
What are some good books about the Ethiopian Revolution, the Ethiopian Civil War, and/or the rule of the Derg and Mengistu in general?
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/375qvn/what_are_some_good_books_about_the_ethiopian/
|
{
"a_id": [
"crk36g1"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Robert D. Kaplan's \"Surrender Or Starve\" is not in-depth and the scope is wider than Ethiopia, but is a good start, and Kaplan is always engaging."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
2wqmds
|
Did segregation laws in the U.S. South "technically" apply to both blacks and whites?
|
What I mean by this, is that was it illegal for a white person to use facilities designated for blacks? I doubt that such laws would ever have been enforced, but would it have been technically a crime (on the books) for a white person to drink from the "colored" water fountain?
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2wqmds/did_segregation_laws_in_the_us_south_technically/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cotcelc",
"cotdoms",
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"cotdp1q",
"cotebxb",
"cotiy7r"
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203,
29,
19,
10,
11
],
"text": [
"Follow up: would there be any reason to prefer black versions of things (I.e. drinking fountains, etc...?)",
"Some discriminatory laws were written in a way that, at least theoretically, applied to both blacks and whites.\n\nVirginia’s anti-miscegenation law forbidding interracial marriage banned marriage between “a white person and a colored person.” Mildred and Richard Loving challenged the law, arguing that it violated the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the 14th Amendment. The case eventually made it’s way to the United States Supreme Court. In [Loving v. Virginia] (_URL_1_), Virginia argued the statute was constitutional because it applied equally to both races because it barred both whites and “colored persons” from interracial marriage.\n\n > the State argues that the meaning of the Equal Protection Clause, as illuminated by the statements of the Framers, is only that state penal laws containing an interracial element as part of the definition of the offense must apply equally to whites and Negroes in the sense that members of each race are punished to the same degree. Thus, the State contends that, because its miscegenation statutes punish equally both the white and the Negro participants in an interracial marriage, these statutes, despite their reliance on racial classifications, do not constitute an invidious discrimination based upon race.\n\nThe Court wasn't buying what Virginia was selling because, despite the alleged color-blindness of the law, it only barred marriage involving a white person. There was no bar against intermarriage between other races.\n\n > There is patently no legitimate overriding purpose independent of invidious racial discrimination which justifies this classification. The fact that Virginia prohibits only interracial marriages involving white persons demonstrates that the racial classifications must stand on their own justification, as measures designed to maintain White Supremacy. We have consistently denied the constitutionality of measures which restrict the rights of citizens on account of race. \n\nAlthough the way Virginia wrote the law may seem to be an obvious attempt to get around the 14th Amendment, it had at least one case supporting its position. A 19th century Supreme Court case had accepted Virginia’s “equal application” argument, although for a law about adultery rather than marriage. But the Supreme Court had previously rejected the reasoning of that case and reiterated that it was no longer a valid theory. \n\n > The State finds support for its \"equal application\" theory in the decision of the Court in Pace v. Alabama, 106 U.S. 583 (1883). In that case, the Court upheld a conviction under an Alabama statute forbidding adultery or fornication between a white person and a Negro which imposed a greater penalty than that of a statute proscribing similar conduct by members of the same race. The Court reasoned that the statute could not be said to discriminate against Negroes because the punishment for each participant in the offense was the same. However, as recently as the 1964 Term, in rejecting the reasoning of that case, we stated \"Pace represents a limited view of the Equal Protection Clause which has not withstood analysis in the subsequent decisions of this Court.\"\n\nEven though the “equal application” theory was shot down, both *Pace v. Alabama* and *Loving v. Virginia* show that at least some discriminatory laws were written in such a way that the states could use the “gee, we’re not discriminating against blacks because the law also punishes whites” argument.\n\nHaving rejected the “equal application” argument, the Supreme Court went on to hold that anti-miscegenation laws violate both the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the 14th Amendment.\n\n > Marriage is one of the \"basic civil rights of man,\" fundamental to our very existence and survival … To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State's citizens of liberty without due process of law. The Fourteenth Amendment requires that the freedom of choice to marry not be restricted by invidious racial discriminations. Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual, and cannot be infringed by the State.\n\nAside from the constitutional issues, the story of the Lovings, their relationship, marriage and court case is a beautiful and heartbreaking story. They are largely forgotten Civil Rights heroes but every June 12 (the anniversary of the decision in *Loving v. Virginia*) people celebrate [Loving Day](_URL_0_).",
" Plessy V. Ferguson was the court case that ruled segregation to be constitutional, probably a case you've heard of if you grew up in the US. A man who was 7/8 white, 1/8 black was removed from the white only section of a passenger train and arrested due to a Louisiana law saying that races must be separated in train cars. He appealed his case and it made it to the Supreme Court. They ruled that it was constitutional for states to make segregation laws. In the Majority Opinion of the case Judge Brown says:\n\n > Laws permitting, and even requiring, their **separation** in places where they are liable to be brought into contact do not necessarily imply the inferiority of either race to the other, and have been generally, if not universally, recognized as within the competency of the state legislatures in the exercise of their police power.\n\nWhenever segregation is mentioned the emphasis is on separation of the two races. There might be more relevant quotes in the ruling or a different case that answers the question more specifically but, in theory this means that whites couldn't drink at the same water fountain as blacks. I don't know if the law was enforced on whites, but I doubt whites were really interested in breaking that law.\n[Here](_URL_0_) is the text of the ruling if anyone's intersted.",
"There was a great documentary called \"The Durrs of Montgomery\" ( _URL_0_) that discussed how Bull Connors was about to arrest an integrated meeting for worker's rights in Birmingham unless they segregated. The separated into two sides of the auditorium seating. Eleanor Roosevelt, who was opposed to segregation, sat on the black side. Bull Connors threatened her with arrest. She moved to sit right on the dividing line painted down the aisle. Connors backed down, but technically she was breaking the law. ",
"Wasn't Rosa Parks sitting in the black section of the bus and asked to move farther back so a white person could sit there? Couldn't this indicate that whites were allowed and actually expected to sit in the black section, presumably as long as blacks sat farther back? Or would this indicate that the definition of the black section was dynamic and could change at the whim of white people?",
"I know of at least one instance where a jazz hall was blacks only; whites were not allowed inside but instead had to listen from the street. Good Hope Hall in Lafayette, La:\n\n > In the roaring twenties and the depression of the thirties, Good Hope Hall became one of the truly great jazz halls of America as all of the great jazz artists from across the country played there regularly. Included in this list of impressive figures in the early days of jazz were Louie Armstrong and Fats Pinchon. It also was the center for orchestras and bands from all over Louisiana, as well as out-of-state touring bands of great repute. Tradition has it that whenever a dance was scheduled for Good Hope Hall that evening, the trumpeter of the jazz band to play there would climb to the upper gallery of the structure, blow his horn for several minutes and thereby announce to the entire community in the downtown area some blocks away that things would be lively that evening at Good Hope Hall. When those evenings came around, the African-American community in the Mouton Addition entered their meeting hall, Good Hope Hall, and enjoyed the jazz music in raucous dance and merriment while many members of the Caucasian community gathered outside in the streets to listen to the superb strands of jazz music filtering out from within. Perhaps in all America, this was the only corner in the 1920's and 1930's where African-Americans were the only ones permitted inside while the white community was left out in the street. ^[\\[1\\]](_URL_0_)\n\n\nOther References: [1](_URL_1_) [2](_URL_1_)"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://www.lovingday.org/",
"http://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/388/1"
],
[
"http://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/163/537"
],
[
"http://www.aptv.org/docs/detail.asp?DocID=4"
],
[],
[
"http://www.lafayettepublicpolicy.com/history_of_freetown2.html",
"https://books.google.com/books?id=SglBl28glmsC&pg=PA32&lpg=PA32&dq=freetown+GOOD+HOPE+HALL&source=bl&ots=XGlN-pK46l&sig=UsqpobsJmKSyj0l87iLyeF4c3ko&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RAvqVKGcC4ivyQTcr4KIDg&ved=0CDgQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=freetown%20GOOD%20HOPE%20HALL&f=false"
]
] |
|
bo6edn
|
Does the deep ocean water pressure make water flow more difficult?
|
Is it more difficult for water currents to flow when there is a lot of pressure, such as the water near the ocean floor? Can a fish that swims quickly in shallow water swim at the same speed in deep water, with the same amount of force, if it were somehow able to survive the pressure? Or are deep fish stronger swimmers?
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/bo6edn/does_the_deep_ocean_water_pressure_make_water/
|
{
"a_id": [
"engsho9"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Short answer: no.\n\nLonger answer: currents are driven by pressure *gradients*, amongst other things such as gravity. On short time and space scales, water tends to flow horizontally from regions of high pressure towards regions of low pressure. In the deep ocean high pressures can be caused either by changes in the sea surface height (there is more water over one region than another), or by changes in the overlying stratification (there is more denser water in one region than another).\n\nFish that live in the deep ocean are equilibriated with the high pressures, which means that the pressure inside their bodies is the same as that outside. They don't \"feel\" the high pressure as we would if we descended from the surface (where we are equilibriated with atmospheric pressure) to depth. \n\nYou may be wondering why water doesn't flow \"upwards\" from the deep, high pressure ocean bottom to the relatively lower pressure surface. In the vertical direction water is largely in hydrostatic balance, meaning that the vertical pressure gradients are balanced by gravity, so there is no net force on the water (and hence no accelerations and no currents).\n\nFun fact - over large scales in the ocean water doesn't flow from high to low pressures anymore, instead it tends to follow isobars (lines of constant pressure) due to the fact that the earth is rotating."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
2bpqm8
|
car motor oils.
|
So what's the difference between motor oils? 5w-30, 5w-15, 10w-40, and all the rest.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2bpqm8/eli5_car_motor_oils/
|
{
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"cj7od1r",
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"text": [
"Different oil weights have different thicknesses which may or may not affect how fast they move through small holes, called orifices. A thick oil through a small hole will increase oil pressure and cause possible damage to an engine. ",
"_URL_0_\n\nThe first number is a measure of how viscous or thick the oil is at low temperatures. The second number is how thick it is at high temperatures. Since the oil is supposed to lubricate the engine, you don't want it to be very thick, unless your engine can handle it.\n\nThe bottom line is that you should use whatever type of motor oil is specified in the owner's manual. A generic brand is fine, so long as the designation matches.",
"If you run a finger through water and then run your finger through honey, do you feel the difference in how thick the two different liquids are? That thickness is called viscosity, and it applies to all liquids. When you're using an oil, it's important to match its viscosity (when dealing with oil, this is also referred to as \"weight\") to how you're using it. Too thick and it won't get into all of the small nooks and crannies, but too thin and it'll get out too quickly and won't provide enough lubrication. \n\nWith motor oils, it's important to remember that many cars will start cold and then run at a different temperature, and the viscosity of a liquid will change as the temperature changes. So it's 70 degrees outside and you start your car, the motor oil will be very thick compared to after your car has been running for 15 minutes and the engine is around 200 degrees. But since it is important that the car be lubricated when it's cold as well as when it's hot, it's important to know how those oils will behave when heated.\n\nThe numbers you see represent the cold and hot weights (viscosity) of the oil. The thicker an oil is, the higher a number, so you need a number that is small for when the engine is cold and a number that is large for when the engine is hot. This is why when you change your oil in the spring they'll put in 10w-40, but when you change it again in the fall you get 5w-30 - the shift in temperature around you calls for thicker oil in the summer so it doesn't thin out too much with the extra heat, and thinner oil in the winter so it can quickly lubricate your engine when you start your car. Your manufacturer has done a lot of testing with the engine to determine which oil weight is ideal for it and will list this information in your manual."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engine_oil#Multi-grade"
],
[]
] |
|
a8y75f
|
What were the thoughts about static build up and shock to people in the past, and was it seen as a sort of witchcraft if everyone has done it at least a dozen times?
|
Its easy to zap stuff with a touch if youve rubbed hair/fabric/etc together for a second or two, and it's not an uncommon occurance for people to 'zap' people or stuff they touch because of it. When it was seen or felt, was it thought to be a mystery, a godly thing, a thing only witches and such could do, or what? What was the term for it? No doubt it changed between cultures and ideologies, so how was it seen from what you can tell?
Not really sure where else to post this question, if you have a better r/ i can post this question at please let me know. Thanks in advance!
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/a8y75f/what_were_the_thoughts_about_static_build_up_and/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ecezhvv"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"There is an excellent older answer to this question by u/hillsonghoods [here](_URL_0_). Just because people in the past didn't have our scientific understanding of the phenomenon, doesn't mean that they didn't have a secular theory of what supposedly caused it. The precursor to modern science isn't witchcraft and superstition, it's just earlier forms of observing and understanding the world."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/7rvynq/what_did_people_think_about_static_electricity/"
]
] |
|
4nczr8
|
how did big army get fed in the past like durring big conquest like crusade
|
How can you manage to feed an entire army and horses long enough to win a war and comeback without much transportation like we have today
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4nczr8/eli5how_did_big_army_get_fed_in_the_past_like/
|
{
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"text": [
"Basically, raiding the countryside.\n\nRemember the whole \"quartering soldiers\" bit from the 3rd amendment? The British were commandeering people's homes and property for their soldiers because that's how they found places to stay when deployed in the colonies.\n\nIn medieval times it was considerably worse. Armies would simply raid the land and take what they needed.",
"A few ways. \n\nRequisitioning. For an army on their own territory, they will have legal authority to demand supplies, food, shelter, etc. from any nearby residents. This can be extremely difficult for the peasants and some even starve to death. If they refuse bad things can happen.\n\nPillaging. Invading armies basically do the same thing as requisitioning... but without legal authority. They come in with their weapons and steal everything. Often they also rape and kill everyone, burn down the structures, etc. If the town leader is *real lucky* perhaps he can just give them everything they have and be left alone.\n\nForaging. Armies have to travel great distances and may not be near towns, or nearby towns don't have enough to feed the whole army. The army will send out teams to collect fruit and hunt animals, and then they cook it at camp.\n\nAll in all, peasant life sucked ass.",
"Many of the troops foraged in whatever land they were in and/or forced the local civilian population to feed them. It often caused friction with the local populace when an army stayed in an area for an extended amount of time.",
"You only really have a few options when it come to feeding your army:\n\n* looting the countryside. This only works in enemy territory, and is the basis of the \"scorched earth\" defense ie: you burn everything before the enemy gets there so they can't eat.\n* bring your own. This is how things work today, for the most part, and happened in the past as well. Your train carried supplies, people, cooks, etc.\n\nThere are two old sayings when it comes to warfare:\n\n* an army marches on its stomach\n* amateurs think about tactics, but professionals think about logistics. \n\nAs the OP intuits, if you supply your army with weapons, food, water, and other supplies it's hard to win a war. One reason the US armed forces is effective is that its logistics is unbelievably good. Say what you want about the effectiveness of the DoD, but when it comes to moving stuff around the world they can do it like no other.\n\nHere's some light reading on Roman logistics from the Republican days through to the Empire:\n\n_URL_0_\n\n\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://books.google.com/books?id=LfRiXN5hhCUC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false"
]
] |
|
2xfs74
|
if republicans control both houses of congress, why was it so hard to get a homeland security bill passed?
|
The only thing I can think of is that they had to work within the threat of Presidential veto, but I feel like the Republicans would be more than happy to pass a bill they know would be vetoed to force Obama to take the blame. It seems instead, though, that there was legitimate difficulty just getting a bill to the President's desk.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2xfs74/eli5_if_republicans_control_both_houses_of/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cozrfqb"
],
"score": [
23
],
"text": [
"The Republican Party is not united. The establishment faction and the Tea Party faction disagreed over the bill. The establishment faction wanted to pass it. The Tea Party wanted to use the bill as leverage against Obama in order to force him to take back his executive orders on immigration."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
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