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If you flip a coin an infinite amount of times, will you also at some point have an infinite streak of heads? | 40 | For any fixed n, you will (almost surely, aka with probability 1) have a string of n heads in a row sometime; if you divide up your throws in sets of n, you have probability 2^(-n) of getting all of them heads in that set - so prob. of never getting n successive heads in k*n throws is at most (1-2^(-n))^k, and as the amount of throws (and k) increases, this approaches 0.
However, "at some point have an infinite streak of heads" means that after N throws, all the remaining coin tosses result in heads; but that happens with probability 0. | 58 |
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The Mars rover found that Martian soil is composed of about 2% water. How significant is this number? What about compared to the Sahara? What else should we expect after finding this water on Mars? | At the moment, 3rd top post this month? And 20th top post this year?? I know /r/askscience isn't about upvotes and being a karma whore, but wow. I love this community and everyone's love for science. | 2,301 | So most rocks on Earth contain water in them a granite will include a few percent water (3-5 is a good range) and you don't see anyone trying to get water from a stone... So compared to Earth this is not super wet but it is a lot wetter than the moon where it's really dry.
TL/DR: This is a marginally exciting result. | 1,077 |
ELI5 If the chord progression number system is i - II - iii - iv - V - VI - VII and your first chord is C minor, how do you determine what chord II and so forth will be? Also, how do you determine which order to play them? | 406 | >ELI5 If the chord progression number system is i - II - iii - iv - V - VI - VII and your first chord is C minor, how do you determine what chord II and so forth will be?
The numbers indicate the scale degree. i is the first note of the scale, ii is the second, etc. Which means you have to know the notes of the scale. Maybe you understand that now from other responses.
>Also, how do you determine which order to play them?
You play them in the order the song requires. Or if you're writing a song yourself, you order them how you want to get a particular sound. There are many possible chord progressions. | 101 |
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[The Boys] question on the compound V (spoilers Season 1) | Hi, I just finished season 1 of The Boys and it was awesome.
I just want to make sure I understand the compound V thing:
The V compound is a secret compound used by Vought to create superheroes. They make NDA contracts with the parents so nobody knows about it, even the supers themselves.
In season 1, Homelander wants to create super terrorists. He steals some V and gives it to A-Train who will deliver it to terrorists including those who have Kimiko. By the way, A-Train will keep some of it for himself and his girlfriend and he will become addicted.
In all of that, I try to understand:
What do Homelander, Popclaw, A-Train or even Maeve know about the V compound? Is Homelander the only superhero who knows what V is really for?
I think that this secret must be very hard to keep so I don't see how other superheroes could not know about it. Besides, I don't see how Homelander and A-Train can get V discreetly without Stilwell knowing about it. | 40 | It's pretty clear their is a small black market trade in compound V.
Either someone who knew the production process set up an underground kitchen; some is stolen from Vought and resold, or, Vought itself is deliberately running a black market for reasons of it's own. | 39 |
ELI5: Why do banks close at five when most people are just getting off of work? Wouldn't it be in their better interest to stay open later? | 540 | You're assuming banks actually care about consumers. They don't.
Banks make most of their money out of businesses - the charges involved in business banking, merchant accounts, etc. are far more profitable than the tiny fees paid by most consumers.
Banks are open when their profitable customers are open - during business hours. | 351 |
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Professors: Do you like when a student comes to your office hours just to chat about your subject of interest? | I am very interested in writing and have a professor who I love chatting with about the subject. Anything really. He likes to write books and occasionally I like to get his perspective on certain subjects. I am just afraid that I am visiting him too much (I have visited him maybe 3 times over the course of the semester) and I don't want him to feel like I am wasting his time or being obsessive. | 59 | It's official office hours? For students? And there aren't students waiting to do real business? And you ask specific, relevant questions and/or raise specific, relevant points? And you don't overstay your welcome and your professor is engaged in the conversation?
Yes? Carry on. You sound like a delight. | 106 |
[The Matrix] What happens in the matrix when the people inside it think they're having children? | I seem to recall that Morpheus (or someone) mentioned that he'd seen babies being grown.
So what happens in the matrix when two avatars simulate meeting, having sex, the woman getting pregnant, visiting the doctors, getting ultrasound/scans etc, and childbirth itself.
Further to that, how do things like miscarriages, stillbirths and abortions work? Was there a real foetus being 'grown' somewhere that for whatever reason didn't grow enough to be 'born'? | 157 | sub.log 234928349 server uuty8 - INTERACTION:}} Pod 8847ty.. sex (PIV+UNPROTECTED+CONS...) Pod 4487na.. run [impregnation algorithm+STD algorithm].
sub.log 234928352 server uuty8 - MATERIAL TRANSFER:}} Pod 8847ty.. SEND spermatozoa TO Pod 4487na.. run [impregnation protocol].
sub.log 234928372 server uuty8 - AUTORUN:}} Pod 4487na.. run [SIMULATION;PREGNANCY]>synchronize incubator 3904ty.
sub.log 234928378 server uuty9 - MATERIAL TRANSFER:}} Incubator 3904ty.. -> receive zygote-8847ty|4487na.
sub.log 234928379 server uuty9 - SYSTEM:}} Incubator 3904ty.. -> run [SIMULATION;GESTATION] synchronize with Pod 4487na.
--------------
sub.log 234928458 server uuty9 - ERROR:}} Incubator 3904ty.. -> REASON: hormonal imbalance.. DUMP human generation..
sub.log 234928458 server uuty9 - SYSTEM:}} Incubator 3904ty.. CANCEL [SIMULATION;GESTATION] SEND CANCEL pregnancy in Pod 4487na.
sub.log 234928472 server uuty8 - AUTORUN:}} Pod 4487na.. run [SIMULATION;MISCARRIAGE]>CANCEL synchronize incubator 3904ty. | 220 |
ELI5: Who are the Freemasons and what do they do | 411 | The freemasons are a lot like the club you have in your treehouse. You can't be a Mason unless you meet certain standards. For your club you only allow boys in; the Freemasons only let you in if you're an upstanding member of society, and you have to believe in God or another higher power. Before you join, they'll check all of these things about you without telling you, and if they like you, they'll come to your house and invite you to join. Then you're allowed into the treehouse - they call it a Lodge - and can learn all about their society. They're very protective of their secrets!
Masons get a bad rap though. Because not many people are allowed into their club, people assume they're doing something bad. Really, Masons are just a service organization that do good things in your community. Just like Batman, though, they don't like to claim credit for what they do. The Masons have been around for so long, they even helped found the United States - that's a pretty noble deed!
EDIT: Some fact changes. | 274 |
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Why do fans sound like white noise? | 34 | The spectral signature of a fan is actually very rarely white noise (i.e. flat across all frequencies). It's usually got a skeleton of pink noise (which means there's more low frequency energy and then it rolls off as frequency goes up) and then some sort of peak or tonal aspect of it that corresponds to the blade pass frequency. That's usually somewhere between 100 and 300 Hz.
The reason it sounds like white noise to us has somewhat to do with our sensitivity to sounds. Even though there is less energy output at higher frequencies, our ear is more sensitive to them. Depending on the spectral signature of the fan, this frequency-dependent sensitivity to hearing can effectively "cancel out" with the energy rolloff of the fan's sound emission spectrum, making it sound like white noise to our ear. | 12 |
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ELI5: How do you train pigeons to send letters to another? It seemed quite common in the olden times and it seems like it could be impossible to train pigeons to do that | Edit: thank you everyone for your words of wisdom. I've learnt a lot more about pigeons now and I'll feel less inclined to look at them with disgust next time I see a group of them fighting over bread on the floor | 983 | Messenger pigeons (aka homing pigeons) only work in one direction. They always fly home.
So to send a message, you first send the pigeon (in old times a rider on a horse would take it) to the other person. When they feel the need to send you an urgent message, they attach the message to the pigeon and let it go. It flies to your house (it's home) promptly. There is usually a bell or buzzer rigged up to the door so when it arrives it alerts you. There is always food in the pigeon house for a reward.
The training process begins by releasing the pigeon near home and gradually increasing the distance. | 1,058 |
Does an MD/PhD with a neurosurgery specialization correspond to the longest possible average higher education training time? | I am not interested in going that route. My respect to the people who have the wherewithal to do so. I just got curious and was scoping through CVs of MD PhD neurosurgeons, and it generally seemed like the training tended to last between 16 - 18 years after undergrad, 8 years for the MD/PhD, 7 years for the neurosurgery residency, then another 1 - 3 years of fellowship. This has to be the longest average single academic training "program" right? Someone coming out of undergrad at 22 going this route will be near or into their 40s before they are done with formal training \*if\* they are fortunate enough to avoid major delays. I've also seen CVs of people who did a non-integrated PhD following an MD or vice versa to make things even longer. For sure, this seems like a road that is closed off for anyone who has even a moderately older start in their postgraduate schooling due to the sheer time threshold. | 112 | Many neurosurgeons also do 1-2 years of sub-specialty fellowship training after residency. Also it’s not that uncommon to take 9 years to complete the MD/PhD curriculum (the graduate school phase is typically 4 years but many need 5).
Sincerely, an eighth year MD/PhD student currently interviewing for neurosurgery residency hoping to have his first real job at age 38-40 depending on fellowship plans. | 131 |
I would kill 1 person to save 2. CMV | Assume that the only consequence of killing this one person will be that the other 2 are able to live. Essentially, destroying this one person's life is the means to save the other 2 people. Also, you are the only person who is able to perform this act. All of these three people are not expected to die any time soon and are not suicidal. You can assume they are men of means or not, I personally don't think it matters and that 1 powerful life is never more important than two squalid lives. If you want to debate about that though, go ahead.
I would kill 1 to save 2 because, although I feel it is my duty not to murder people, I feel compelled to kill in this case because it saves more people
edit: assume you don't know much about the three people, and are therefore not responsible for any indirect consequences such as causing more deaths or failing to save more people if you choose to kill the 1 man. | 16 | At a very basic level, consider that this means that the one person will kill you to save themselves. And be quite justified in doing so as *they* are killing *in self defense*.
To even begin to be logically consistent and morally correct you would have to also be willing to sacrifice yourself to save two people. If you aren't then you are just playing god. | 16 |
[Harry Potter] I have a Muggle sibling I would like to join me on a magical quest. I'd like to put a kit together for them to use and since they can't use magic directly can anyone suggest magical items I can include that they could use indirectly? | 156 | Muggles can make use of potions, as well as artifacts which don't require magical activation. This means he could use a poet key (for example) as they only require being touched while a preset condition (like a time or word) is met, but not a broomstick.
I suggest having him carry medical potions as well as incendiaries and other utility potions in an expanded bag. You could also include items from the WWW, like canary creams (eat it, fly somewhere, change back) and instant darkness powder. Definitely get him a Shield Hat. | 117 |
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[DC] Would Beast Boy die if he transformed into a bee and stung someone? | 22 | Yes, most likely. Unless he timed it carefully, stinging someone then changing into something else before trying to pull out the stinger. It's the barb on the stinger that makes it impossible for a honey bee to pull back after stinging.
There are varieties of bees that do not die after stinging. | 19 |
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[Rogue One] Why didn't Vader just use Force Pull to get the Death Star plans from the rebel troopers? | 263 | I don't think he knew which of the rebels had the plans, so his plan was to trap them in the corridor and kill them. He held the door to the starship closed and fought a dozen guys with blasters at once. He was too busy fighting and keeping them trapped. | 280 |
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CMV: We should challenge trans peoples ideas of gender identities as much as we do traditionalists. | *Disclaimer: I openly support and vote for the rights of trans people, as I believe all humans have a right to freedom and live their life they want to. But I think it is a regressive societal practice to openly support.*
When I've read previous CMV threads about trans people I see reasonings for feeling like a trans person go into two categories: identifying as another gender identity and body dysmorphia. I'll address them separately but acknowledge they can be related.
I do not support gender identity, and believe that having less gender identity is beneficial to society. We call out toxic masculinity and femininity as bad, and celebrate when men do feminine things or women do masculine things. In Denmark, where I live, we've recently equalized paternity leave with maternity leave. Men spending more time with their children, at home, and having more women in the workplace, is something we consider a societal goal; accomplished by placing less emphasis on gender roles and identity, and more on individualism.
So if a man says he identifies as a woman - I would question why he feels that a man cannot feel the way he does. If he identifies as a woman because he identifies more with traditional female gender roles and identities, he should accept that a man can also identify as that without being a woman. The opposite would be reinforcing traditional gender identities we are actively trying to get away from.
If we are against toxic masculinity we should also be against women who want to transition to men because of it.
For body dysmorphia, I think a lot of people wished they looked differently. People wish they were taller, better looking, had a differenent skin/hair/eye color. We openly mock people who identify as transracial or go through extensive plastic surgery, and celebrate people who learn to love themselves. Yet somehow for trans people we think it is okay. I would sideline trans peoples body dysmorphia with any other persons' body dysmorphia, and advocate for therapy rather than surgery.
I am not advocating for banning trans people from transitioning. I think of what I would do if my son told me that he identifies as a girl. It might be because he likes boys romantically, likes wearing dresses and make up. In that case I wouldn't tell him to transition, but I would tell him that boys absolutely can do those things, and that men and women aren't so different.
We challenge traditionalists on these gender identities, yet we do not challenge trans people even though they reinforce the same ideas. CMV.
​
**edit: I am no longer reading, responding or awarding more deltas in this thread, but thank you all for the active participation.**
If it's worth anything I have actively had my mind changed, based on the discussion here that trans people transition for all kinds of reasons (although clinically just for one), and whilst some of those are examples I'd consider regressive, it does not capture the full breadth of the experience. Also challenging trans people on their gender identity, while in those specific cases may be intellectually consistent, accomplishes very little, and may as much be about finding a reason to fault rather than an actual pursuit for moral consistency.
I am still of the belief that society at large should place less emphasis on gender identities, but I have changed my mind of how I think it should be done and how that responsibility should be divided | 2,992 | We challenge traditionalists on their ideas about gender roles and norms, not on their gender identities. Or are you out here shouting at cis women that they can't wear dresses, and confronting your cismale colleagues with "Well how do you KNOW that you are are a man???" No, you're not. Cis people are allowed their gender identities by everyone, conservatives and liberals alike. It's just trans people who you want to challenge their *identities*. Gender roles and norms and expectations are something else. | 892 |
CMV: Consent feely given while mildly intoxicated should still count as consent | Over the past few years a standard has been adopted on many college campuses that if a woman has alcohol in her system she cannot legally give consent for intercourse. I understand the intent is to protect women, which is a noble cause. Certainly if a woman is passed out drunk or purposefully intoxicated by someone else she cannot give consent and is not responsible for any sexual activity she might be involved in.
The problem that I have is that sex and alcohol consumption is not black-and-white. Nobody is either 100% sober or 100% blacked out. There is a grey area where we are still aware of ourselves and our actions, *and* we have lowered inhibitions, [which has been proven to be a side effect of alcohol](https://sobernation.com/why-does-alcohol-lower-your-inhibitions/). It is entirely plausible to have a situation where the guy and girl have the same BAC, are **not** blacked out, and the girl feels emboldened to make the first move. Now, you can argue the guy can make the decision to turn down her advances, but his inhibitions (and therefore his ability to make responsible decisions) are also compromised. So they hook up.
In growing circles, if the girl wakes up the next morning and suddenly wishes she hadn't slept with that guy, she has now been raped and is a victim, regardless of the fact that she consensually engaged in sexual activity with her partner. This is not only illogical but it sets bad legal precedents ([which are already being exploited](http://www.ajc.com/news/crime--law/georgia-drivers-claim-they-were-too-drunk-consent-dui-tests/fLggXYexEYGvwNyiHGTZuK/)).
Let's consider a man who becomes irritable when drunk and often gets into bar brawls. When the cops show up, what happens? Do they say, "Oh, he's too drunk to be responsible for what he's doing, carry on!" No, of course not. He is arrested and most likely charged with an offense such as public intoxication or assault and battery. He's still responsible for his actions in spite of the fact that he is drunk. Why shouldn't people who become more promiscuous when drunk be held to the same standard?
For the longest time, regretting consensual sex "the morning after" was a learning experience, not a reason to call the police. In cases that **do** **not** involve someone blacked out or unconscious, this is how it should be. A person isn't a victim simply because they do not like their own behavior when drunk. It's on them to take responsibility for their actions and either change their habits or accept how they behave.
Change my view.
EDIT: Thank you everyone for the responses! This is my first post and I could not have expected it to be this popular. Clearly people have strong opinions about this. I won't be able to get to everyone's comment because I am an adult with a job and other boring responsibilities, but I will try to get to as many as I can before the comments lock.
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> *Hello, users of CMV! This is a footnote from your moderators. We'd just like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please remember to* ***[read through our rules](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/rules)***. *If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which,* ***[downvotes don't change views](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/guidelines#wiki_upvoting.2Fdownvoting)****! If you are thinking about submitting a CMV yourself, please have a look through our* ***[popular topics wiki](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/populartopics)*** *first. Any questions or concerns? Feel free to* ***[message us](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/changemyview)***. *Happy CMVing!* | 588 | First off, this whole thing seems like a bit of a straw man. Can you cite a specific university's policy, so we don't have to choose between speculating and taking your word for it?
>He's still responsible for his actions in spite of the fact that he is drunk. Why shouldn't people who become more promiscuous when drunk be held to the same standard?
There's a difference between responsibility and consent. A person can be responsible for his or her "promiscuity" and still be incapable of giving informed consent.
If the distinction isn't clear to you, think of it this way: is it possible for you to hold a person responsible without having sex with them? | 200 |
Eli5 what exactly causes the sensation of feeling thirsty when we are dehydrated? | 50 | When you’re dehydrated, you have less water in your blood so the blood becomes more concentrated and blood volume decreases. Your kidney is used to filtering all the blood, so it can feel when you have less blood to filter, and it releases hormones that help increase your blood pressure and decrease the amount of water in your pee. A special part of your brain samples your blood and can sense both the kidney hormones and the increased blood concentration. This brain part sends signals to the area responsible for thirst, turning the thirsty feeling on. | 53 |
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ELI5: Why are the steering wheels of buses/trucks/lorries more or less angled horizontally instead of the angle seen in cars? | 21 | They aren't all like that, but the ones that are is typically because the driver is sitting further forward/higher in comparison to the steering gearbox than the driver in a car does. Fewer joints to adjust the angle of the steering wheel leads to better responsiveness and fewer parts to break. | 19 |
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What is the utility of Kant's distinction between analytic/synthetic and a priori/a posteriori knowledge before expounding upon his premises of the categories of the mind in Critique of Pure Reason? | So I am a little confused about why he begins his metaphysics with this. I get that the categories of the mind are a priori (although the usage of a priori here is still perplexing - how can categories, conceptual filters belonging to the mind, be called a priori if they themselves are not actual knowledge, only objects of knowledge?) and that maybe clarifying the definition of that would be useful, but overall a little confused. Feel free to spew to me about the work in general if it seems I am misunderstanding something; the more the merrier.
Thank you so much!!! | 52 | The best way that I've seen this explained is that the distinctions are a way in which Kant *formalizes* an already existing problem: how to account for concepts like causality? Recall especially that Kant is responding, in part, to Hume - Hume's problem is that experience alone cannot provide us with a concept of causality (all you can experience are 'constant conjunctions'). So *empiricism* cannot furnish the ground for causality. However it's also clear that *logic* alone (rationalism), can't do the trick either: no logical connection between propositions can provides us with a ground for causality either (recall Kant's dismantling of the ontological argument: existence is not a predicate: you can't 'logic' your way into existence).
So if causality cannot be accounted for either by means of 'sheer' empiricism nor 'sheer' rationalism, you need a kind of 'third way' to account for causality. For what is causality? It is an *extralogical* connection between things: a relation that is not 'merely' logical (causality can't be reduced to transitive relations between propositions), nor merely empirical. A connection stronger than 'constant conjunction', but not as strong as logical transitivity: neither *a posteriori* nor *analytically a priori*: it must belong instead to the order of the *synthetic a priori -* an 'alogical' connection. This is the sense in which these distinctions *name* existing problems in philosophy, as Kant understood them. This is why the whole of the CPR is oriented towards to question of 'how is the synthetic a priori possible?'. This is, as a were, a synonym for 'how is (knowledge of) causality possible?', among other things (to which Kant will answer: 'because transcendental subjectivity').
This is also why Kant sees himself as charting a path between both empricism and rationalism. If you keep Hume in mind while trying to understand these terms (and Leibniz to a certain extent), it helps alot. | 27 |
[DnD] So, 12th level is the highest spell level ever cast. Assuming Mystra revoked the magic limit, what would the highest possible spell level be? Could you cast 13th level spells? 15th? 20th? What would those spells be like? | 31 | If the old epic spell rules hold true, a >12 level spell would be capable of works that verge on godlike acts of creation or destruction. Making bespoke continents or killing everyone in the phone book named Ted would be very doable for someone doing magic at that level. The downside is that you really are puttering around in a realm mortals were not meant to tread, and the blowback can be severe, even when everything goes to plan; botch the job, and the consequences are catastrophic. | 34 |
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Can loud noises block other noises? | If when sound is made, it is made in the form of waves that we hear, can the waves block each other? For example: if a balloon is popped in a noisy room, is it "quieter" than if it is popped in a quiet room. (and not "quieter" in the sense that you perceive it less, I mean is the actual wave lessened)? | 66 | Yes and no. Noise can be cancelled when a similar noise consisting of the same frequency and amplitude is played 180 degrees out of phase. This is how noise cancelling headphones work. While ambient noise is likely to have some of the frequencies you are trying to cancel, the noise itself wont attenuate much of the balloon popping. On the other hand, if you are being exposed to a loud environment, your ears will become less sensitive for a short time. | 19 |
[MCU - Guardians of the Galaxy] Why wasn't Gamora interrogated by the Nova Corps? | It seems like they just left her to be killed in jail.
I would have thought they'd want to question her for information on Ronan. | 19 | They weren't really taking Ronan seriously as a threat. It wasn't until Star Lord's warning (that they chose to believe, despite him being kind of, but not 100%, a dick) and Ronan actually attacking their planet that they were actually willing to put effort into fighting him. | 10 |
Is the self an illusion? | After reading on the subject it seems that a lot of philosophers think that the self is an illusion like Daniel Dennet, Sam Harris, Patricia Churchland etc. Do most philosophers agree that the self is an illusion? The idea of not having a self is deeply disturbing to me. | 44 | It's very rare for any philosopher these days to say that X, be it the self or whatever, is an illusion and leave it at that.
This isn't the case, for example, of what Dennett or Churchland say about the self. Rather, their views are that some of our folk psychological understanding of the self might simply be false under a more neuroscientific image of the self, or something like that. It's a better idea to read their work to understand first the view of the self that they believe is problematic, the reasons give for why it's so, and how we should conceive of the self in its place. | 40 |
Is zero probability equal to Impossibility? | If you have an infinite set of equally possible choices, then the probability of choosing one of these purely randomly is zero, doesn't this also make a purely random choice impossible? Keep in mind, I'm talking about an abstract experiment here, no human or device can truly comprehend an infinite set of probabilities and have a purely random choice. [I understand that one can choose a number from an infinite set, but that's not the point, since your mind only has a finite set in mind, so you actually choose from a finite set] | 58 | Let me reformulate your question. For the sake of concreteness, let us imagine that we want to choose a real number between 0 and 1 at random (uniformly). The *paradox* you are getting at is that the probability for picking any particular number, like say 7/15, is equal to zero, so how can it be that we have a 50% chance of picking a number smaller than 1/2, or any number at all?
This paradox is a bit like Zeno's paradoxes. To resolve it, you have to shift perspective. The key question is: what does it *mean* to pick a real number at random?
The answer is that being allowed to pick between infinitely many possibilities is an *approximation*. It does not actually occur in nature, but it is very useful to model certain natural phenomena in this way. But keep in mind that it's only a *model* of nature, not a representation of what nature *"actually is"*. (The latter is beyond the scope of this comment, and humanity in general.)
Mathematically, random choice between infinitely many things can be described by a formalism called *measure theory*. The essence of measure theory is this: in the beginning, you are only allowed to ask about probabilities of a number falling into an *interval*. For instance, you can ask what the chance is that your random real number is between 0.3019 and 0.3024, which means that it is *approximately equal* to 0.302. You are not allowed to ask for the probability whether the number is *precisely equal* to 0.302, only whether it is within a certain error bound. Clearly, there is no paradox here.
The next step in the formalism of measure theory is to extend the questions that you may ask. You now may ask for the probability of hitting a specific number. You pay a small price for that, namely this probability will be zero, which may seem somewhat paradoxical. But this is just a formal thing that makes calculations more convenient. The originally allowed questions are still the only ones of "practical" importance. Being able to ask more question is just a tool to make the mathematics a little nicer. (And one has to prove that allowing more question does not lead to inconsistencies.)
In this way, the paradox is resolved: the original question has no practical meaning, it is only a formal trick.
| 29 |
If I wanted to refrigerate 1 litre of water to 5 degrees celsius, would it be faster to place 500ml into 2 bottles (in the same fridge) as opposed to 1 litre in 1 bottle? | 68 | The heat transfer rate is determining how fast you transfer the heat from the liquid inside the bottle to the colder outside and thus cool the liquid inside. The heat transfer rate is proportional to the surface area of the interface between the cold and warm volumes.
Two smaller bottles (or two half filled 1L bottles) have a larger surface area than one 1L bottle, so the water split between two bottles would be chilled faster. | 73 |
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Are sentient beings inherently bad for the planet they're on? | Something that's been heavily messing with my brain today is, are sentient beings inherently bad for a planet. Is having desires outside of basic instinct inherently destructive. The fact that things such as towns and city's simply exist seems inherently destructive to the planet (large areas where nature has been almost completely destroyed for human settlement).
As a species do we have a responsibility to live with the world in its natural state? Should we be tearing down our houses and live in tents in the forest? Should we be completely eliminating things like electricity and cars from our lives as they involve altering the world around us arguably more than anyone should? Or do we continue forward with a focus on harm reduction under the mindset of "sentient beings kinda rule the show"? | 18 | Why is it good that a planet be in its 'natural state'? Specifically seemingly its 'natural state' at a particularly arbitrary point in time. Perhaps we will be so destructive to the planet that we will destroy all life on the planet, thus returning the planet to something like the 'natural state' it was 4 billion years ago. There's nothing magical and perfect about earth being dominated by trees, trees emerged a few hundred million years ago, and overturned that which was before.
I don't think anything can really be good or bad for a planet, but it's a strange kind of pessimistic or negative anthropocentrism to assume that what is 'good' for the planet is however the world happened to be 20,000 years ago. | 25 |
CMV: It shouldn't be mandatory to tip waiters. | Here's my reasoning:
Tipping waiters, although not mandatory, is highly frowned upon if not done, especially in the US. In Europe and others continents, tipping is seen as optional and NOT an expectation, due to them having a solid hourly rate. In America, if waiters don't make enough money off tips to match their hourly salary, they are compensated for it to ensure that they are making atleast minimum wage (or their agreed hourly pay IIRC). Because of these rules, why should I, as a customer, have to pay 20% of the total cost of a meal ON TOP of the amount for the meal? It almost feels more like a social obligation than anything else, which is infuriating, since I can rarely afford to go out to eat often anyways.
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> *This is a footnote from the CMV moderators. We'd like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please* ***[read through our rules](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/rules)***. *If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which,* ***[downvotes don't change views](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/guidelines#wiki_upvoting.2Fdownvoting)****! Any questions or concerns? Feel free to* ***[message us](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/changemyview)***. *Happy CMVing!* | 36 | Would you be happy if everything was just 20% more expensive and the waiters were properly paid for their time? It seems that we both agree that waiters should just be paid a fair wage, but what's the difference to the customer to having the tip included in the meal price to begin with or the tip being 'mandatory'? Either way it's the same cost to you.
>Because of these rules, why should I, as a customer, have to pay 20% of the total cost of a meal ON TOP of the amount for the meal?
It seems from your perspective it's actually a benefit to you, the customer. If you get horrible service you get the option to pay the waiter less instead of being forced to pay a higher price for the food + service as one. In the US system, tipping isn't an extra cost on the food. It's the fair cost of food which is why it's basically mandatory.
Also, it isn't actually mandatory. When you get absolute shit service, waters not being refilled etc, give them 0%. | 16 |
ELI5: Why was plasma television technology discontinued? | I ask because it seemed premature to me. OLED has great promise in the next 5 years, but it's still not there yet and certainly not there in terms of value/price ratio. I've been told by a videophile that the best TV on the market is now discontinued, the Panasonic VT60. So what we're left with is mediocre offerings at the low to mid range (LCDs), and great offerings at only the very high end. | 183 | LCD technology is generally cheaper, easier to make, and provides benefits in a lot of places that plasma doesn't, especially as you continue to go up in resolution. LCDs are also brighter, which can be a plus here and there. | 38 |
ELI5: why is it that when an alcoholic stops drinking alcohol they become sick even though alcohol is incredibly bad for us, what is happening in our body that makes us sick for not having it? | 305 | Basically when you get used to a toxic substance being around, your body produces more of the chemicals needed to process it than it's normal for you to have. This is why people develop a tolerance. Some substances, such as alcohol, also alter the way systems in the body work, such as your digestion and nervous system. So when you stop having alcohol, your body is already not working right and it's flooded with chemicals that aren't normally supposed to be there, so it makes you sick. There's more to it than that, but basically it comes down to that. The body strives to be in balance, and after a certain amount of regulation, it becomes necessary for the alcohol to be there in order for things to stay balanced. Like when you have a really fat kid on the see-saw; if he suddenly jumps off all the kids on the other side are going to come crashing down. That's what happens inside your body, the alcohol is the fat kid and all your body systems pile up to be able to balance it out, but they're pulling so hard the opposite direction that if the fat kid disappears, your body falls down in a heap. | 298 |
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[Stargate] Where do the Ancients get the materials for all there constructions? | Lets brake it down a little:
While they were technologically semi-advance (incapable of true FTL):
Unknown number of Seed Ships (probably in the thousands) hundreds of meters long, made out of durable dense materials so probably saying million of tons heavy wouldn't be a big overstatement. All of which at least equipped with a certain number of Stargate to begin with.
Destiny, 2 to 3 times bigger then the Seed Ships.
Unknown number of stone-metal constructions on planets serving as bases and cities.
Once they got more advance:
Unknown numbers of City Ships (comparable or bigger then Destiny) they were build while still in Milky Way (maybe not thousand but at least near the hundreds again).
A Stargate system spanning along a whole galaxy
And again updated City's build out of stone-metal around the galaxy and again an unknown number of outposts.
So my questions becomes the Ancient where very very active in there days, building settlements, building and sending ships out there yet we don't have any evidence of them doing any mining or Stargate personal mentioning finding planets with Stargate's which are mined for all they are worth.
Even if they somehow utilise whole planets the infrastructure needed for something like that must be huge and can't simply disappear. Furthermore Earth was there supposed base and adopted home yet there is no sign of any harvest done on it ether. | 15 | ZPMs aren't generators. They are literally creating energy from nothing (well, technically from accelerated entropy of a artificial pocket universe). We have also seen Ancient technology capable of compiling mater from energy.
Simply solution.. once they developed ZPM tech, which seems to have been before their arrival on earth, their need for resource extraction ceases. | 21 |
CMV: There is no such thing as subreddit ban evasion. A subreddit is a topic of conversation, not a person. | All the hoopla about the FPH subreddit bans has resulted in quite a bit of conversation, but there seems to be little acknowledgement of the huge number of FPH *related* subreddits that have been, and continue to be banned despite not actually having broken any rules themselves. The admins seem to be acting as though these related subreddits are a form of ban evasion, and most people seem to agree. Meanwhile, the claim continues to be that they are only banning rule breakers, not censoring ideas.
What disturbs me about this is that **there is no such thing as subreddit ban evasion.**
A subreddit is not a person, it is a topic of conversation. If, after a particular subreddit is banned for breaking the rules, people go on to set up new subreddits with the same topic of conversation... shouldn't that subreddit have the same opportunity to follow the rules as any other? If those mods can do a better job, shouldn't they get the chance?
On the other hand, if simply setting up a new subreddit for the same topic is treated as ban evasion, and immediately banned as well, then isn't that exactly equivalent to *banning the topic?* If the admins are banning all subreddits for a particular topic of conversation, a particular idea, and for no other reason then being for that topic, being that idea... then isn't that objectively the banning of the idea?
I am very disturbed at the thought that all those folks crying censorship might actually be right this time, and even more so at the thought that the admins might actually be lying to us. I don't want this to be the case, but I cannot see a reasonable alternative explanation. :(
Please, change my view.
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**EDIT:**
Just to be clear, I'm not necessarily saying they *shouldn't* have banned those subreddits (or that they *should* have either), I'm just saying that what they are doing is in fact entirely materially equivalent to banning the idea, which they claim not to be doing.
As for the question of evidence for the fact that they are in fact banning subreddits simply because of their topic, I'll use one unique example that proves it particularly well:
Consider the fact that [they accidentally banned /r/whalewatchers for a short time](https://np.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/39g65l/reddit_bans_rwhalewatching_thinking_its_a_clone/), a two year old subreddit that's *actually about whale watching*, simply because trolls posted some FPH related content (which the mods would have obviously removed anyway).
If they were only banning rule breakers, how could /r/whalewatchers, a two year old subreddit that couldn't possibly have had evidence of rule breaking associated with it, have earned a banning *even if they did mistakenly think it was dedicated to hating fat people?*
I can find no reasonable explanation as to how that mistake could *even have been possible* if they were only banning rule breakers and not banning ideas.
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> *Hello, users of CMV! This is a footnote from your moderators. We'd just like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please remember to* ***[read through our rules](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/rules)***. *If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which,* ***[downvotes don't change views](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/guidelines#wiki_upvoting.2Fdownvoting)****! If you are thinking about submitting a CMV yourself, please have a look through our* ***[popular topics wiki](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/populartopics)*** *first. Any questions or concerns? Feel free to* ***[message us](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/changemyview)***. *Happy CMVing!* | 21 | So, what's the point of banning a sub if they can just add a 2 to their name and continue on as before? That's not a ban - that's a URL change. You seem to think that fatpeoplehate2 is an entirely different sub than fatpeoplehate, when they are clearly the same sub, only with a different name? | 11 |
ELI5: From where did the first bitcoin get its value? | 21 | >I understand money's value is associated with something materialistic like gold or, in the case of the US, given a value based on the strength of the economy.
So why does gold have value? Why does the economy have value?
In the end, "value" is an abstract notion that was invented by humans, and essentially means "people want this thing, and will give you other things to get it." Money has value not because it's backed by anything, but because people *believe* it has value.
So the first bitcoin had value because someone somewhere wanted it, and was willing to trade something else for it. | 12 |
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CMV: Leaving people disconnected from the rest of the world is tragic, not beautiful | This is in response to a post that hit my front page today. Throughout the comments, people talk about how cool it is that these people behave in basically the same way as their Neolithic ancestors, and how they “chose” this life and it is beautiful in its own way.
What I think these redditors are neglecting is the fact that is not an informed choice. These islanders aren’t choosing some idyllic isolated life over the hustle and bustle of modern existence. They are choosing what they know over a scary unknown.
Meanwhile these islanders suffer all the lovely problems of the Stone Age, like enormous maternal mortality rates, children making it to adulthood less often than not, easily treatable problems likes appendicitis being death sentences. If the islanders actually understood their decision, would they make it as they do currently?
Edit: changes to my view so far:
The status quo remains because it’s very hard, if even possible, to change it. Problems like how to morally introduce modern society without tearing down what is already there and causing harm are difficult to solve and would require incredibly gradual solutions, no instant “hey guys here’s a smart phone” revelations.
However, I’ve not been convinced by the “good old days” arguments or the idea that if presented fairly modernization would be turned down by most of the tribesmen. Feel free to debate that with me further. | 24 | > If the islanders actually understood their decision, would they make it as they do currently?
This can NEVER be a truly informed decision. How can any amount of information bridge the gap between the Stone Age and quantum computing in order to allow someone to make a truly informed decision about whether or not to join the modern world? | 32 |
What are the key differences between boa constrictors, pythons, and anacondas? | 36 | Pythons live in Africa and Asia and are some of the longest snakes in the world.
Boa Constrictors are slightly smaller than Pythons and live in parts of North, Central, and South America.
Anacondas are in the Boa Constrictor family and live in South America. They are often treated as a separate group because of a genetic trait where they don't want none unless you got buns hon.
Sources: Wikipedia, Sir Mix-a-lot | 44 |
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ELI5: Why are moldy food bad for us? Molds on foods like yogurt/cheese is fine, but on bread and suddenly we’re sick. | 207 | Different kinds of mold are bad for us. Like bacteria, there’s many species; some are harmful, some are harmless or even nutritious. The ones used to make moldy cheeses are carefully selected cultures that don’t harm us. The ones on your old bread or fruit that get you sick generally will digest into chemicals that make you sick. So unless you’re able to determine the species, or it’s meant to be there, don’t eat the mold. | 179 |
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Why are rainy clouds grey and not white? Is the greyness a measure for the amount of rain it contains? | 19 | Clouds appear white since sunlight passes through them. Well, to be more accurate, sunlight is scattered when it passes through the water droplets that make up clouds, and so your eyes detect the sunlight passing through the cloud which is what gives clouds their white appearance.
However, clouds can appear grey due to bigger water droplets (so yes, a clouds 'greyness' can actually be used as a sort of visual measurement of the water content of a cloud). This is because sunlight undergoes more scattering through bigger water droplets, and so more sunlight is being scattered to the sides of the cloud and in various other directions. This results in your eyes picking up less light (since a lot of the light is going in directions other than towards your eyes) and so the clouds appear darker/greyer. | 16 |
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ELI5: Where does the debt a person had go when he/she dies? | When a person dies, where does their debt go? Is it transferred or does the bank just forgive the debt? If the debt just goes away, why doesn't everyone just spend as much as they want, as it will be gone when they die? | 25 | Debt is not transferred to heirs.
However, if the loan was "secured" like a mortgage tied to some property, then the creditor can take the property and keep it or sell it (depending on the loan agreement) in place of getting their debt paid.
If the loan was unsecured, then when the executor of the will takes all the property in the deceased estate and liquidates it (sells for money to then distribute) the creditors get paid out before the beneficiaries. If the estate has property that is worth $10,000 but the deceased owes $15,000 then the debtors get the $10,000 split between them and the beneficiaries inherit nothing. | 14 |
Why does South Africa do so much genetic sequencing of COVID viruses in comparison to other countries? | 43 | When the AIDS epidemic struck Africa, several countries (South Africa being one of them) took that opportunity to put a substantial amount of funding into research and prevention, causing them to eventually (now) actually be a prominent force in the field of epidemiology. | 130 |
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CMV: deed restrictions should be outlawed. | Deed restrictions are when the owner of a property sells it to someone else and prohibits what the new buyer can do with the property.
It is why you see so many old gas stations used as liquor stores or car repair stations. The seller of the previous gas station doesn't want competition, so they restrict what the new buyer can do on the property.
These deed restrictions create challenges for the communities where they exist. They restrict competition and they often result in undesirable land uses for community. Instead of a gas station having better marketing or better products, they prohibit their competition in a certain area. Because zoning laws dictate/limit so much of land use in the united states, Deed restrictions can essentially blockade any new businesses from coming into town.
Deed restrictions should be unenforceable and made illegal. | 28 | i think that's overbroad. For example, it's pretty awesome that you can take a forest you own and say "this can never be developed, it must be preserved for ever" (conservation easement). It's pretty great that i can pass property to a historical society and be assured they won't sell it for a strip mall.
I think the question is whether different zones should disallow certain kinds of deed restrictions. For example, if you want the benefit of commercial use i think it's reasonable that you give up the right to apply said restrictions. | 55 |
[Dark Souls] Are there any places where people live normal lives? | Where are the towns and villages that have normal people just trying to make a living? | 384 | In Dark Souls 1 and 2 it's implied that away from Lodran or Drangleic there are kingdoms where poeple live normal lives as humans, dealing with cursed people as best they can. But the kingdoms we play through are the epicenters of the undead curse, places where almost every being is undead, with few exceptions. Normal society does not exist.
Meanwhile in Dark Souls 3 the world is basically done for and you are more likely to run into a kingdom run by the undead (like Londor) than into a single living human. | 388 |
[Toy Story] What did Buzz think was happening when Andy plays with him and he loses all control of his actions? |
While Buzz is still under the "real Buzz Lightyear" delusion he is actively played with. At one point he refers to "your chief, Andy" and we see him get put down, dust himself off, and walk away after a play session at one point. How does he integrate that into his existence as a real space ranger? | 56 | I wonder if he somehow turns into toy mode while being played with, and doesn't' remember anything about it. Like how toys have that demo mode at the store?
That said, Andy likely plays with him as if buzz were a space ranger. So he believes that the fantasies Andy makes up are the real thing - he just thinks flying feels like being moved around in the air by a hand. | 44 |
[Harry Potter] How come Fenrir Greyback's werewolf form looks much more horrific than Professor Lupin's? | In Prisoner Of Azkaban Professor Lupin's werewolf form is hairless except for the top of his head I believe and he looks like a typical werewolf besides the hairlessness but Fenrir Greyback who always almost looks like a werewolf even in human form has I think official artwork depicting his werewolf form and it is downright horrific, he looks vile and just awful.
So how come Lupin looks mostly like a regular werewolf and Greyback looks like some demon?? | 19 | Certain health and medical conditions are psychosomantic, meaning a person's state of mind can have an effect on their health. Remus mostly rejects his affliction and treats it as a curse that needs to be controlled, while Fenrir revels in being a werewolf and is so depraved that he has turned to cannibalism (which itself is known to cause insanity). | 36 |
ELI5: How can Hooters hire strictly female servers without getting into some kind of legal trouble concerning discrimination? | I know this might be sort of an odd question, but if a male applied for a waiting position at Hooters (or a similar restaurant), what legally allows the restaurant to deny them the waiting position due to their gender? | 46 | There's a provision in the law which says
>Notwithstanding any other provision... it shall not be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to hire and employ employees... on the basis of his religion, sex, or national origin in those certain instances where religion, sex, or national origin is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of that particular business or enterprise
(1964 Civil Rights Act, Title VII, Sec. 703(e)(1))
This means that you're free to use sex discrimination, if your business model *requires* people of a certain sex. The business model of Hooters is "boobs selling you chicken wings"; people without boobs can't do that. | 71 |
ELI5 why it isn't harder to move under water at high pressure than at low pressure? | Was sat thinking about diver watches, and how deep they could go. Then, thought that if a person was actually diving at 12,800 ft / 3,900 meters with a Rolex Seadweller, it must be hard moving through water under so much pressure - that naturally, it would be denser at those depths. I found a [thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/37oxkp/why_doesnt_water_under_pressure_get_any_harder_to/) on r/Physics asking about the same thing, but I just can't wrap my head around why if you weren't crushed under the pressure, why wouldn't it be harder to move? | 34 | Water isn't as easy to compress as air and the resistance you meet when you try to move depends on density, not pressure itself. Because pressure is applied in all directions, it doesn't normally interfere with your movement, and high-pressure water still has almost the same density as low-pressure water, so the resistance is the same. | 40 |
Sartre and Marxism | I’ve heard people say that Sartre was a Marxist and I’ve heard others say that his philosophical ideas were non-Marxist and that he was merely sympathetic towards Marxism.
Could someone explain what his relationship to Marxism was exactly and what the contradictions are? | 63 | Sartre believed that Marxism and existentialism were fundamentally compatible, with his later essay *Search for a Method* and *Critique of Dialectical Reason* written to that end. Sartre viewed himself as a Marxist and was a vocal defender of the Soviet Union, even after news of Stalin's state violence. Orthodox Marxists, though, would probably repudiate his existentialist Marxism. | 52 |
When did people first start associating functions to y and x graphs? Why? | 19 | Mid 17th century. René Descartes published his *La Géométrie* in 1637, proposing the union of algebra and geometry, and a 1649 Latin translation expanded and clarified this to the two-axis system we know. We still call it *Cartesian* coordinates after Descartes. | 25 |
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[Pokemon] Why do the different city's gyms come at different levels of difficulty? | Aside from the fact that the gyms become increasingly more difficult due to your character needing to level up their pokemon, how can the gyms within a region have such a large difference in difficulty? | 58 | Well, the gyms are there with the intention of trainers progressing through them. So it's natural that there would be a difference in difficulty, so trainers can challenge gyms as they and their Pokemon grow. At least according to some sources (Pokemon Origins) the gym leaders each have a variety of Pokemon of different levels and pick the ones they use based on how many badges the challenger has. So, for example, Brock uses his level 12 Geodude and level 12 Onix when his challenger has no badges yet. | 85 |
[Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind] What exactly polluted the Earth, and where did the massive insects come from? | The insects couldn't have evolved from present day bugs in a mere 1000 years. Even supposing that the human apocalypse happened hundreds of years after modern day, it would take tens of millions of years to see something like the Ohm evolve. Perhaps the technology that created the Giant Warriors was a genetically enhanced spore that precipitated expedited evolution? | 25 | A lot of this is directly answered in the manga, which has a much more expansive story than the film:
- The God-Warriors are nuclear-powered, or at least emit hard radiation around themselves when they are awake and functioning. Said radiation proves fatal to at least one important character and sickens a couple others.
- Additionally, in the film the God-Warrior just kinda roars and crawls around. In the manga, they are self-aware and can function semi-autonomously - not to mention they can fly (and, again, spread radiation when they do).
- Even with the far greater damage they are obviously capable of, there are a couple of other references to the Earth being polluted before the apocalypse - probably talking about industrial waste and pollution generated by humans.
- The Ohmu and the Sea of Corruption are explicitly bioengineered by survivors of the Seven Days of Fire, who then uploaded their minds into a bio-computer to await the time when the Sea would cleanse the pollution and return the Earth to a pristine, livable state. The Ohmu's enraged mass-rampages are actually a sort of deliberate programming - an attempt to extend the sea into areas it previously hadn't reached so the cleansing can be completed worldwide.
- Interestingly, the Doroks first attempt to 'breed' an Ohmu in a tank before they resort to just capturing one and dragging it around. | 17 |
CMV: Naming your child after yourself is silly and narcissistic | In this day and age, I think naming your kid junior, etc. is unfair to the child and a narcissistic act of the parent who does so
1. I think its a huge honor to name someone's child after someone important to them, living or dead, and to bestow that honor on oneself is ridiculous. Even in the case of John III or Paul IV, etc. There is a factor of obligation that makes the honor carry less meaning
2. Ones name is such a crucial part of someone's identity, and having someone share their name with a parent, in my view , detracts from that. I wouldn't want to be referred to by family members as "Little David" well into adulthood. It takes away from the childs individuality and may cause confusion amongst people who know both parent and child.
We have our surnames to tie us to our ancestors , I don't see the point in naming your child after yourself . anyway cmv | 84 | You're assuming that naming a child Jr, III, IV, etc, only takes away their identity or the possibility of having their own identity. The naming tradition could just as easily though become a central or peripheral part of that child's identity. There is a certain amount of exclusivity associated with such a naming convention which could be viewed as an expression of uniqueness. Over time, the exclusivity would only increase thus a more unique name is passed on (V+ for example). | 39 |
Why can we effectively fight off bacteria but it seems like modern medicine can't help at all against viruses. Why are we still helpless against viruses? | 77 | Viruses and bacteria are inherently different things. Bacteria are simple prokaryotic organisms and with that come with a variety of ways you can destroy them (based on their cell wall type, etc.). Viruses are a little bit more tricky because they aren't "alive" in the traditional sense. They are a bundle of DNA/RNA in a protein capsid that utilize a host to propagate themselves. Depending on the type of virus, it can either be lytic and explode the cell with newly formed viruses (it utilizes the mechanisms that a cell would normally replicate itself while inherently destroying the cell) or be lysogenic and incorporate itself into the host genome for generations until it is ready to become lytic.
With this in mind, you can't simply destroy a virus in the same way you can bacteria because they are very different in composition. A lot of things that would destroy a virus would also destroy the proper functioning of a cell, so you'd have to find other mechanisms to fight it off (such as using an inactivated virus to teach your immune cells to recognize it and fight it off i.e. a vaccine). | 33 |
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ELI5: Why, before healthful practice, was it so common for a woman to die during childbirth? Do other species have this problem? | 58 | To some extent, yes every species has trouble with childbirth. Some species always die after childbirth.
However, Humans are pretty bad at child birth. Standing upright and having big heads puts extra strain on the whole process. If those traits didn't provide a lot of benefit, we would have some issues from an evolutionary standpoint. | 48 |
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Do single celled organisms experience inflammation? | 6,336 | Inflammation occurs when pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1beta, TNF-alpha) are activated in a cell. These cytokines exit the cell and activate an immune response whereby innate immune cells (neutrophils, macrophages) congregate around the area to combat whatever caused the inflammatory response. Due to the multi celled nature of inflammation, a single cell cannot experience inflammation.
Single celled organisms have their own unique ways to deal with infection though. For example, some bacteria can cut out viral DNA from their genome (this is where we got CRISPR from!). | 4,263 |
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ELI5: What is insomnia and why can't our brains shut off when we're excessively tired | Why can't our brains shut off and sleep when we're overly tired and trying to fall asleep? | 60 | Insomnia can be caused by many things, but one of the most common causes of insomnia is a non-functioning ability to produce the chemical that makes us begin to fall asleep.
Our brain (neurotypically) naturally makes all of the chemicals we need on a given day to function. One of them, melatonin, is produced in low light conditions when the body is laying down or comfortable, and it triggers the sleepiness that lulls us to sleep. For whatever reason (and there are many), some people's brains don't make enough of this chemical naturally to fall asleep easily.
Some causes of malfunctioning melatonin production include PTSD, rewiring what your brain expects "low lighting" conditions to look like by watching bright screens in the dark, as a symptom of other disorders like anxiety and depression, as a symptom of taking medications, from not getting enough exercise, and so on. | 42 |
[Star Wars ANH] During the attack on the Death Star, why didn't the Empire deploy, like, a lot more TIE fighters? | It seemed like they were pretty conservative in the number of fighters they launched to combat the attacking rebel fighters. Why not launch 2,000 TIE fighters, to swiftly overwhelm and destroy the rebels? | 21 | At that moment, Tarkin was the embodiment of arrogance. He did not think the Rebels stood a chance, and paid almost no attention to the pitiful attack from a handful of fighter craft. In his eyes, the Death Star was invincible, and moments away from destroying the primary Rebel base. Remember, he shot down the idea of evacuation when the Rebel plans had been analyzed, and his engineers recognized the weakness they were gunning for.
So the TIE response was literally just following the bare minimum of military protocol, and possibly not even ordered from him, but a lower officer responding so said protocol.
If any other (competent) commander had been in charge of the Death Star, it's likely the fighter response would have been much heavier. But perhaps it was the will of the Force that Tarkin was so overconfident. | 44 |
ELI5: Why can't we just base the weight of a kilogram by saying that it is the weight of 1L of water instead of using the International Prototype Kilogram? | 18 | 1L of water at what temperature and pressure? A liter is a unit of volume, and a liter of steam is going to have a lot less mass than a liter of water at the bottom of the Mariana trench. Most human life exists in a similar band of temperature and pressure, so 1L of water weighs about a kilogram, but it lacks the precision of a set prototype kilogram. | 36 |
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[The Elder Scrolls] If I build a high enough ladder and climb it, will I enter an Oblivion plane? | 341 | Sorta.
The distance between Nirn and Oblivion is practically indescribable.
It's more than just 'space'.
You could conceivably reach the edges of Oblivion, but then you'd be in a great empty void with nothing nearby.
You'd find yourself in a place where the normal rules of 'existing' don't matter.
You might forget to breath or eat until you die. You might not even die and just persist in a state of ignorant confusion.
Without sufficient protection, you would slowly forget that you're even anywhere at all. | 256 |
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My prof said "The liberal value system favours freedom over morality, the egalitarian value system favours morality over freedom. The conflict between these two value systems is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, social conflicts of our time", can you expand on this? | It's a translation. Favours can be translated as "ranks" as well, not sure which fits best. | 246 | Yes, and no.
The liberal value system favours the political conditions that reproduce individual liberty over any other principles, whereas egalitarian systems favour the political conditions that reproduce equality. The professor seems to be operating with two (debatable) hidden premises: the way that liberals describe freedom is broadly correct, and that the principle of equality is ostensibly an ethical principle before it is political. Presumably the professor is a liberal instructing on liberal political theory, because we might say that the struggle between these two poles of liberty and equality, between the protection of individual rights (\*ahem\* private property \*ahem\*) and equality is the conflict at the heart of liberal thought.
Alternatively, this is a lazy provocation based on false narratives of the Cold War. | 192 |
If the rainbow that is formed in a prism looks straight, why does it appear curved when it appears in the sky? | 19 | So the deal is basically that *each* little droplet of water is a prism *and* a mirror. Light passes into the droplet, and separates into different colours because the droplet acts like a prism. The light then (partially) bounces off the inner wall on the far side of the droplet, and comes back out at a specific angle from where it came into the droplet in the first place.
Each time the light hits the inner or outer wall of a droplet, part of it reflects off, and part of it goes straight through. The reason why going in, bouncing once, and going out again is what creates rainbows is because the optics work out that the bounces & refraction mostly cancel out, and you end up with all the droplets shining the same coloured light in the same direction. For light that passes straight through, refracting at each surface, you just see a mix of different colours from different droplets, so instead of a rainbow, it's just grey.
It works out that if the angle between your eyes, the droplet, and the Sun is 42°, then the light from the Sun that hits the droplet, refract at the surface, bounces on the other side, and refracts out again, will just happen to hit your eye. This angle is slightly different depending on the wavelength, so different colours come from droplets at different angles. The result is that any droplets that happen be in the correct angle will form part of the rainbow. The rainbow is actually a ring, with a radius of 42°, exactly opposite the Sun, because that's all the droplets where you can draw a Sun->droplet->eye triangle with a 42° angle in the middle. However, unless you're very high up, you don't see the bottom half of the ring, because there's usually not many droplets between you and the ground, and you see just the arc instead. | 26 |
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ELI5: Why does non-sentient life try to survive? | It has honestly never made sense to me why a plant or cell incapable of thought or emotion would care about whether it lives or dies. It's confusing, but it just seems strange that plants and cells without will or emotion aren't indifferent to death. | 62 | Imagine you are standing on a storm drain grate holding a variety of objects of various sizes and shapes. You drop them all on this grate and some of them will fall through while others will not. You gather all of those that didn't fall through up and drop them again, repeating this process many times.
When you are done what do the objects you have left all have in common? Obviously it is that they are very unlikely to fall through that storm drain grate! This is the basic idea at work with all life.
Organisms live and reproduce because that is what got them to be around today. If they didn't reproduce they would be like the stuff that fell through the grate, they wouldn't exist anymore. Living is a prerequisite to reproducing, corpses don't make babies, so living creatures around today tend towards staying alive long enough to reproduce.
They don't **want** to stay alive exactly, they stay alive because of what they are, because of their fundamental structure. If you can't get air you struggle to breathe not because you make a reasoned, logical thought process from the necessity of breathing to maintaining biological functions to your intended life goals. You struggle to breathe because of an evolved biochemical pathway linking the buildup of carbon dioxide in your blood to a reflexive urge to breathe. Creatures that didn't have that strong reflex tended to asphyxiate and became less common as time went by, so all we have left are those that do have the reflex.
So to answer your question plants don't need emotions or goals to do things that maintain their lives, just like objects don't need to desire features that keep them from falling down that storm drain grate. It is just what they are because they have been sorted for those features. | 302 |
Why is it that as we move to higher altitudes (mountains) temperature drops, whereas we move closer to the sun ? | 19 | Because the main thing that is responsible for the ambient temperature is the air, and higher air pressure correlates with higher temperature. The air pressure is less at the top of a mountain, and therefore temperatures are on average lower there.
The effect from the difference in distance to the sun is absolutely negligible. The distance to the sun is 150 million km, so if you're 3 km up a mountain, you are 1-over-50 million closer to the sun compared to ground level.
Edit: Fixed brain glitch as pointed out by u/Birdsunderground. | 45 |
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ELI5: How can my mobile phone still perform an emergency call even when there is no coverage available? | 1,195 | Because phone operators allow mobiles from other networks to make emergency calls on their network.
So while you may not have coverage, because you're a Vodafone customer, there still might be T Mobile coverage available, which you can use only for emergency calls. | 1,068 |
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[Dragonball Z] The Spirit Bomb was able to easily overwhelm the power of Freeza's planet killing attack, but it didn't destroy the planet. | Are planets naturally good? Could it kill a planet if it was somehow an evil planet? (Eg, Phaaze from Metroid Prime) Or does it simply explode more focused than it seems, using a huge amount of its power against the intended target? | 18 | Attacks in dragonball doesnt have collateral damage related to how strong they are. Characters can seemingly make it so that stronger attacks doesnt do that much collateral damage. Thats how goku in ssb doesnt blow up the earth when fighting | 15 |
Is there a reason a greenscreen has to be green? Can other colours be used? | 31 | Any color can be used, however bright green is often used because it's a color that doesn't appear commonly in clothes or in the human body, making it easier to separate out the background and things in front of it. If you try to, for example, use white you rule out white clothing which is common, because the software wouldn't be able to distinguish between the clothes and background, or the whites of your eyes for example. It's a color that usually contrasts well with things you want to film, but other than that it isn't special. | 52 |
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ELI5: How are the raw images sent back from space probes processed in such a way to give a vibrant and colourful image? | Let's use Saturn as an example. [This is a raw image from Cassini](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR7fWONJDSdJ0Wjjt-YmSB0DMW2J-y220vEFlbm-iSTU4ko7htM), and [this is a processed image](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQHxPXJjxzxA-dzVH56zmW7Vn0pE_oy4A_a5YvG4zIyG-AbtH0T).
Additionally, if I was to jump in a space ship and fly out to Saturn, would it look like the second image? | 22 | Cameras aboard spacecraft like Cassini take photos using filters that isolate different wavelengths on the electromagnetic spectrum. Some, like red, green, and blue, capture light the human eye can see. Others, like ultraviolet and infrared, capture light it can't. All the images arrive to Earth as black-and-white frames, and then are assigned colors digitally and compiled into a composite. Sometimes the composite is a false-color image, where colors may be assigned to show infrared or ultraviolet that we normally can't see with our eyes. Others may be composites of visible light plus infrared and/or ultraviolet. The second image you linked happens to be a true-color composite, although it may be edited to make the colors pop a bit more. If you hitched a ride on Cassini, that image is more-or-less what you'd see with your own eyes. With a decent backyard telescope you can see Saturn with the same colors, albeit a lot smaller and in not nearly as much detail. | 22 |
ELI5: How does the A1C test measure your blood glucose levels over the last 3 months instead of what it is at the time blood was drawn? | 16 | Red blood cells in your body live for about three months. That's where the three month span of the test comes from. As you live, glucose binds to this red blood cells, the more glucose in your blood the more red blood cells it binds to. They test the percentage of red blood cells that have glucose bound to them, and this reflects a three month average of blood glucose. | 17 |
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Why did philosophy never become as dominant as religion and science? | I understand that the lines between these three are often blurred, but even so, it's hard to miss that philosophy isn't as mainstream as religion and science. 84% of the human population identifies with a religion. But if you ask a random person whether they identify as a utilitarian or deontologist, you'll probably get a confused look or a vague, middling answer. Each year, governments invest billions of dollars in scientific research: much of it theoretical and with little application. How much funding does philosophical research get?
I see philosophy as having the same goal as religion and science: to find the truth, and to use it to explain the world. But it hasn't been popularized the same way. Why? | 26 | But philosophy in one sense is an institutional and academic discipline, and in the other sense it is just everyday thinking about the same subject-matters that the academic philosophy is also interested in.
> But if you ask a random person whether they identify as a utilitarian or deontologist.
If you ask a random person whether the consequences of an action or the intentions behind the action are more important in determining whether it's moral or not, then they will have answers. You can simplify it much much more. While "84% of the human population identifies with a religion", only a small portion of them are knowledgeable about actual theological discussions. The same goes for science as well. You can ask a person whether he think evolution is true or not, and you will get an answer. But you won't likely to get an answer if you ask him whether sociobiology can help evolutionary biology.
Also "finding the truth" is rather an unpopular opinion in metaphilosophy these days, understood as the Platonic ideal of philosophy.
As for fundings, thought experiments don't cost nearly as much as hadron colliders. | 48 |
[WH40K] I'm an eldar that's been banished from my craftworld for... reasons. What are my options for not getting eaten for eternity by Slaanesh? | So I was hanging out on Craftworld Ulthwe and we were having a bit of a feast when someone suggested we pass the time by having a funny little "Roast." Eldrad graciously offered to be the roastee, but I must have said something that *really* pissed him off during my set and he banished me from Craftworld Ulthwe and "Every other ****ing Craftworld [I] can find. For good."
Really not looking forward to my afterlife now since I probably won't get to hide out in the Infinity Circuits. What are my other options to avoid She-Who-Thirsts? | 29 | Step 1 – Seek Harlequins
Step 2 – Seek out the Laughing God
Step 3 – Ask them about saving your soul from She Who Thirsts
Step 4 – ???
Step 5 – Profit… err don’t get eaten.
The plus side is at least you and Cegorach should share a sense of humor. | 34 |
ELI5: Why do they call it Legend Of Zelda and not Legend Of Link? | 15 | Because you are Link, and his name is whatever you put for him. His name doesn't matter, and for all the games history knows his name changes from game to game. The one constant is Zelda because after the first Zelda was cursed to sleep forever the king decreed, "So that this tragedy would never be forgotten, he ordered every female child born into the royal household should be given the name Zelda.". Skyward Sword changes this a bit, but you still have all the female children being named after the first one. So since the royal bloodline seems to be the keeper of the Triforce of wisdom, and it presents itself only in the women, you get the Legend of Zelda's. | 14 |
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[Hulk] The gamma accident allows Banner to change back and forth into Banner/Hulk -- an act of conscious will -- while retaining 100% of Banner's each person's capabilities (intellect, strength, healing, etc). How does this affect his place in the Marvel universe? | Hulk never goes on a rampage, never becomes the out-of-control monster that so many people see him as. There are never any spontaneous battles with the Army; the military still wants him but now it's more political, in the same way that the military wants the Iron Man armor.
How does Banner live his life? Does he embrace his Hulk side, or does he still try to get rid of it? How does this affect his relationship with Betty? How does the world see him? | 69 | So just to be clear, Hulk is never hunted. He never commits an act the military is trying to stop.
So just to clarify as the Hulk, the Hulk is as smart as Bruce Banner?
So like genius level intelligence with unstoppable strength. Hulk still retains the madder he gets the stronger he gets, but now that Hulk is intelligent what's to be angry about.
The Hulk becomes less strong and solves crime by deductive reasoning. | 65 |
how accurate is that thing you used to do as a kid where you count the seconds in between a lightning strike and thunder to see how many miles away the storm is? | 24 | If you do the trick where you take the time in second and divide by 5 to get the distance in miles, that amounts to approximating the speed of sound by 0.2 miles / second = 322 m/s. The real speed of sound is ~ 340 m/s, so the error of the approximation is around 5%.
I've heard it as 1 km every 3 seconds. This means 333 m/s which slightly better with a 2% error.
Anyways humans aren't exactly great timekeepers, so it doesn't matter much. | 32 |
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[Matilda] How did the Trunchbull avoid being sued for the various injuries she inflicted upon the students? | It's established that for a lot of the things the Trunchbull does that the parents don't believe their children, but several of her actions cause injuries, so it's hard to believe that no one would pay any attention after a while. | 18 | Ronald Dahl based Trunchbull off his childhood. It seems outlandish now sure but way back when it wasn't that unheard for corporal punishment to be a thing. Historians have found evidence of spanking and hitting being used in schools in the 80's. Heck corporal punishment is still legal in half of the US.
Also if you notice Trunchbull is actually fairly careful about her punishments. Her only punishment that leaves injuries is the Chokey and that only leaves small cuts. | 29 |
ELI5: How did people know what the world looked like before satellites? | How did people back i the day know the shape of countries and oceans look like without a clear view from space? How did they make accurate globes and maps back then? | 18 | They made land measurements, i.e. they determined distances and angles between various landmarks through a process called triangulation. This involves looking from two different points with a known distance between them (baseline) at some distant third point (or landmark). The difference in view angles allows one to calculate the distance to the third point. Now the calculated distance can be used as a baseline for a new triangulation, and so on. People also could make measurements of coordinates for different locations through careful observation and measurement of positions of the Sun and stars. Covering an entire country in triangles paired and adjusted to coordinate measurements will provide one with a map of a country. | 27 |
CMV: Revolving doors in busy areas are a waste of time and inconvenient | There is a revolving door right outside the exit to the very busy subway station i use, it connects to a very large complex filled with all different types of offices and retails stores. Traffic in the morning is very large, and the 3 revolving doors takes in 1 person at a time X3, which creates backlog.
I feel the idea of spreading the traffic does not work in this scenario and people would get to their destination more optimally with a regular door. (taking into account space/speed)
I am not referring to revolving doors that are located in fancy hotels. I understand that they are aesthetically pleasing, reduce wind entering an establishment and save heating energy. I feel these dont apply to this context as wind is unavoidable in a tunnel and heat isnt lost unless the door reaches outside.
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> *Hello, users of CMV! This is a footnote from your moderators. We'd just like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please remember to* ***[read through our rules](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/rules)***. *If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which,* ***[downvotes don't change views](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/guidelines#wiki_upvoting.2Fdownvoting)****! If you are thinking about submitting a CMV yourself, please have a look through our* ***[popular topics wiki](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/populartopics)*** *first. Any questions or concerns? Feel free to* ***[message us](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/changemyview)***. *Happy CMVing!* | 16 | The revolving doors may be installed in this tunnel to avoid the chimney effect and constant wind that would otherwise be generated.
If anything, you should be complaining that the revolving doors are too small. Revolving doors can easily be made large enough to accommodate a large number of people.
Additionally, are these doors only to exit the station? Or do they allow entrance as well? If they're only for exist purposes, the doors are absolutely necessary as they're serving to only allow traffic in one direction. | 15 |
[SW:TESB] Why didn't Vader kill Admiral Piett for seeing Vader in a moment of weakness when his helmet and face plate was removed? | 25 | Vader tends to only punish incompetence or those who question him.
Piett probably embarrassed him but he's not so psychopathic to kill a loyal officer who wasn't really at fault.
Plus, it doesn't take a genius to realize Vader must be all kinds of messed up under the suit when he's breathing like that.
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ELI5: How would a bank make money if I deposited 1 billion dollars into my savings, considering the interest would be millions? | 28 | They take like 80% (or whatever % the Fed caps them at) of your $1,000,000,000 and loan it out to a bunch of people at an interest rate much higher than what they are giving you. They then sell those loans in big bundles to other banks and use that money to make more loans and so on and so on... | 39 |
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[Warcraft] If the scourge are an even bigger threat without a lich king. Then what was the point in killing him? | 45 | The scourge would be like a raging wildfire without a lich king guiding them, but with them they are strategically more powerful when directed well.
While the forces of good and not-so-evil would be hard pressed on more fronts across the world if the scourge ran wild, they would still manage to hold the threat back, albeit at a constantly stressful pace. The Lich King is considered a more deadly threat on the whole due to him/her/it being able to direct the forces against strategic points in the opposing forces' defenses, dealing quicker, more crippling blows that are harder to come back from than widespread, lesser waves of attacks.
While it is doubtful that Bolivar or even Tirion can subdue the Lich King's presence and influence indefinitely, they were and are both definitely better alternatives to Arthas controlling the scourge. While the former's restraint may not last forever, they are less potential threats than Arthas himself due to the latter's inherent great prowess and driving cause. As well, with the frozen throne secured, keeping the Lich King in check is made much easier (relatively speaking). | 25 |
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[Harry Potter/Wizarding World] If Voldemort ever won the Battle of Hogwarts and took complete control over the Ministry of Magic, how would the other magical countries/governments react to this? | 18 | Voldemort had already taken control over the Ministry of Magic at the start of Deathly Hallows, and there was no reaction from the the international community at all.
There were a few mentions of fleeing abroad, so it's likely that some places were at least accepting refugees, but doing little else. Most likely they would be either unwilling or unable to intervene against Voldemort. | 18 |
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[Predator franchise] Do Yautjas pity the weak, or disgusted by them? | They refuse to hunt those who are unarmed or can't fight due to their code of honor, but is this a form of respect for the weak, or is actually an insult? | 121 | It's because the weak won't do anything for them. Killing an unarmed creature doesn't give them any glory, which is gained from hunting and killing strong foes. It's a waste of resources for themselves and the universe, which is strongly frowned upon. | 134 |
ELI5:Why is it that when i get 8-9 hours of sleep i wake up tired but when i get 3-4 hours i wake up energized? | 125 | When we sleep our brain goes through a cycle of activity. This cycle will vary between 80 - 120 minutes and may repeat 4 or 5 times during the night. The "deepest" part of this cycle is called REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. This is the state usually associated with dreaming. We will enter REM sleep various times throughout the night, each time lasting longer than the last.
If you wake up during REM sleep, you may feel more groggy than if you woke up in an earlier stage of the sleep cycle. If you don't have a regular sleeping schedule then your body may not regulate these cycles and you might wake up in the middle of one and feel "worse". Where if you wake up after 3-4 hours of sleep you may be waking up during a more natural part of the cycle.
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I believe forcing high schoolers to read the "great works" of literature is a waste (and only turns them off from reading in general) because they lack the life experience to appreciate them. CMV. | Hey CMVers. I think the "great works" of literature are meant for adults. Stories require the reader to feel empathy with the characters--for the reader to identify with what they are going through, and recall their own experiences of love, loss, pain, confusion, family strife, death, etc., alongside the characters in order to get drawn into the story. If you do not identify with and experience feelings alongside the characters, your experience of the novel will be shallow.
I think this lack of connection is why so many high school students don't care for their assigned readings and 90% will just default to Sparknotes--and many will never read for pleasure because of the negative association with being force-fed boring material. It made me resentful and thought "You can't force me to care" while Sparknoting most of my literature assignments.
Even though I was otherwise a good student in high school, I would get really frustrated at reading the huge novels that grappled with adult themes that I, personally, had never experienced and couldn't get into. As a teenager, I lacked the will and the perspective to identify with the characters and their struggles. Examples:
* **Grapes of Wrath:** as a suburban 15 year old, I never understood the feeling of being down on your luck, starting over with a new life, the burden of taking care of a family, the challenges of finding work in a bad economy. It was just really long and I didn't particularly care what happened. This was one of my least favorite books ever.
* **Ivanhoe:** This was a summer reading assignment. I read the first few boooring pages, said "lol nope" and Sparknoted it.
* **Catcher in the Rye:** Psyche! I actually loved this book in American Lit class. You know why? Because it was a story *about a teenager*, dealing with *problems that teenagers actually understand*: struggling to find your identity, fitting in with your peers, relationships with parents and siblings, adolescent sexuality, etc.
Now that I'm older, I watch TV dramas and get really into them because I can identify with the characters' struggles. In Orange Is the New Black (spoilers) when Jason Biggs essentially breaks up with Piper, I really felt a shared pain with his character, because I have had to break up with people myself. Life experience. Makes me care about a character.
**TL,DR:** Literature requires readers to bring their own life experiences to identify with and care about the characters. Most "great works" require life experience that is alien to that of a typical 15 year old.
**Edit:** Glad this inspired a lot of discussion, I enjoyed reading the feedback. I'll award some deltas on the posts that made me think of things in a different way. Also, I assure you my username is a mere coincidence. ಠ_ಠ | 1,595 | I think the way the books are taught is often the problem, more than the material covered. Drain every last ounce of enjoyment from the reading trying to squeeze every drop of what the author might have mean by the car being pale blue instead of just blue. Dammit, Gatsby. | 594 |
[Mario Bros] When Mario is doing other stuff (go carting, tennis, everyday) is he big Mario or little Mario? | 642 | In Kart, Mario and others use Super Mushrooms and don't grow a stage larger. This implies that they're already in their full size, like what happens when you grab a second Super Mushroom while already "Super" in other games: you either bank it or waste it, but you don't grow extra Super.
I think as "Super Mario" he is often Super by default; a Super Mushroom will return Mario to his regular (Super) size, not make him larger than normal. Little Mario seems to be his injured or distressed state.
Little Mario is half the height of Peach, while Super Mario is contemporary in size. In his sports and kart showings, he's not waist-high to Peach as Little Mario is shown during SMB1. He's not knee-high to Bowser. And while Bowser has some variance in size (I believe due to how much power he's possessing or utilizing), it's clear that this is normal sized "Super Mario" alongside Bowser.
Also, while Little, his dimensions are far more minimized than we see in these games.
The New Super Mario series shows a good modern example of how Mushrooms affect his size. If he was Little Mario, this would seem to be suggesting that Sports/Kart Mario are currently small and would become even larger when touching a Super Mushroom, but that would be from the effects of a Mega Mushroom instead, which we also see used (and follows the same Mushroom rules I've explained above) in the Kart games. | 381 |
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[Marvel] What is the difference between a being like dormammu and a being like surtur? Also who has more power? | 58 | Surtur is a flame elemental and a god from Muspelheim, he and his ilk are Muspelheim's equivalents of the Asgardians.
Dormammu is a being of pure magic from another dimension.
In terms of actual power, Dormammu is the stronger by far, though Surtur is no slouch, being on the same tier as Odin is.
Dormammu, on the other hand, goes toe-to-toe with beings like Eternity and Galactus. And that's when he's weakened - outside of his own domain, his powers are lessened. If Dormammu were to come to Earth directly, he's weak enough there that the Sorcerer Supreme could pose a significant challenge to him; in his own dimension he's essentially only beatable through trickery. | 67 |
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ELI5: why does a phone’s battery keep working if plugged in just before dying, but takes a few minutes to turn back on if plugged in after dying? | 24 | Because once the phone dies, it needs to boot back up.
That boot up process is a bit more sensitive, a crash/the phone shutting down again during a boot up could possibly corrupt the files needed to run the boot. If that happens, you’re just dead in the water.
So, smartphones will refuse to turn back on right away, allowing the battery to get enough charge that it definitely won’t die while booting up even if you unplug it again. | 56 |
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Explain how 0.999 recurring = 1 (LI5.) | This was explained in class when I was younger. Never got my head around it.
Edit: Well and truly explained. Thanks. | 16 | All the numbers can be ordered on a very, very big line, like on a gigantic ruler. Now, if two numbers are different, that just means that there is some space on this ruler between them. That space is full of numbers, too. So, for example, 2 is a different number than 4, because (for example) 3 is between them. In fact, you can find more numbers than you could write a piece of paper between *any* two different numbers. Try it!
Now, 0.99999... = 1 is just another way of saying that there are no other numbers between them. It makes sense once you try to come up with such a number yourself: Obviously it would have to start with 0.99999 as well but then be a little bit higher. But there is no such number that's still smaller than 1. | 28 |
ELI5: What is hypnosis? | 28 | Hypnosis is a state of consciousness where an individual loses much of their peripheral awareness and experiences extreme focus and attention, and has enhanced responsiveness to suggestion.
Hypnosis is *not* something that can be done to you. It is an ability of the subject. A person with minimal training can hypnotize someone *that is capable of voluntarily being hypnotized*, but hypnotization does not work if the subject does not follow the directions, relax, focus, and set themselves up for being hypnotized. Also some people simply can't be hypnotized.
The waving watch back and forth and making people do stuff is fake. However, hypnotists do have success making people quit smoking and the like. | 11 |
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Intense sound can deafen, intense light can blind. Can intense smell damage your olfactory system? | And I don't mean the nature of what you're smelling, i.e. Smelling chemical x will damage olfactory. I mean is it possible for something to smell so strongly that it damages your sense of smell? | 377 | Let's get this clear. Damage to your retina due to intense light is a result of the light having sufficient intensity to damage your rod and cone cells. Damage to your ears due to intense sound is a result of the sound's intensity damaging your hair cells. This isn't the same for olfaction, since a large amount of any one smell can't necessarily cause damage to the sensory cells. Certain noxious chemicals which can be inhaled, such as acids, can damage and kill the olfactory cells, but a strong smell alone is not enough to kill those cells. | 268 |
2 weeks before taking C++ intro summer class, learn c++ or c? | College student here, I am taking C++ intro summer class, and have 2 weeks before that, so I want to watch some tutorials on youtube so I could do well in my class, so should I watch C++ or C?
I've always heard it is better to learn C so you get the logic and basics, but in this short amount of time is it better to just learn C++ if I want to do well in my class? | 18 | If 2 weeks is all you have then just go over c++. C (even though it share a similar name) is VERY different from c++ and in two weeks before your class it is better to go over the relevant section beforehand in college. | 20 |
ELI5 why in movies they tell the soldiers not to fire until they get closer | Wouldn't I want to start taking them out as soon as I can? | 28 | Letting the enemy get closer is advantageous in several ways:
A. It allows more accuracy in a ordinance-expended-to-kill ratio, being that accurate shots are easier to make at closer distances, especially in times before rifled barrels were in wide use.
B. It gives the enemy less time to seek shelter and dig in, avoiding a drawn out stand-off.
C. In relation to B, it provides a much more lethal element of surprise, and doesn't allow the enemy to form defensive formations, leaving them in unorganized disarray and easier to pick off and break their line. | 65 |
CMV: There are only two genders | Yeah, I know that it's a meme at this point with the whole Change My Mind thing. But, I still never understood how there are more than two genders. With the exception of a few rare genetic disorders, people are born with either XX or XY chromosomes, which determines their gender. I know that there are people who truly feel that they are some third/non binary gender, but that doesn't change the science. Why is different than someone who truly believes they are a duck? I think the science is more important than what people feel. But, I'd like to hear reasons why gender is fluid and can be non-binary. Change my view
Edit: I don't think I will change my mind, and I'll probably stop responding to this thread now. I am going to address some common arguments here.
"You are confused between sex and gender. Sex is based off of chromosomes, gender is simply how someone identifies themself within the rules society places."
Gender and sex are synonyms. Modern gender theory says otherwise, but that's exactly what I am arguing against. How someone feels is not the determining factor in their sex, it is their chromosomes.
"People can identify with 'non binary' or something else because they do not believe they fit neatly into either man or woman."
People can say they are whatever they want. This doesn't mean other people should or should be required to adhere to this. Other people determine your identity. Hitler thought he was a reasonable person. We do not call Hitler a reasonable person, because we determine his identity, not him.
"You can't exclude intersex because they are different and/or rare."
I am not excluding them because they are different or rare. I think that we can all agree that people with XXX or XXY are exceptions to the general population, and do not fall neatly under male or female.
"You are going against science and academics by not accepting modeen gender theory."
There are qualified people who believe that there are only two genders, like Dr. Jordon Peterson. I understand that most of you are not fans of his, but he is an example. Besides, even though I acknowledge I am not the most qualified person to talk about this, a layman can still have an opinion that goes against a consensus. Like how people used to use Darwanism to "prove" that blacks were inferior to whites. They called that science.
Also, I know that I have offended people who are trans or identify as nonbinary. I do not express my view to be offensive, and I'm sorry to those who may be offended. But, science should not be based on what people feel. It should based on fact, even if facts may be offensive.
Still, thanks to everyone who tried to change my view.
| 72 | Try this:
Gender isn't sex. Gender is a *set of stories we tell ourselves* about our identities as persons. This set of stories does *include* stories about our bodies -- but it's not *limited to* stories about those bodies.
I'll prove that claim --
What gender is Optimus Prime?
Optimus Prime does not have sex. He has no chromosomes and no sexual anatomy. But he does have *gender*. We identify him with a set of cultural narratives that have to do with physical power, strong leadership, fatherly guidance, a deep booming voice, etc. We exempt him from the "penis" stories because those are not important to who he *is*.
There are more than two genders because there are more than two *sets of stories* about our identities as people. Other cultures already have such sets, like the Native American Two-Spirit people, and the Bugis people of Indonesia with five genders. And now in Western culture we have people constructing new sets of stories for new genders. How successful these new constructs will be in the long run remains to be seen -- they could fade and be forgotten if they don't take hold in our culture. But they do *exist*. | 97 |
[Insomniac's Spider-Man] Could Spider-Man sue Jameson for slander? | In Insomniac's Spider-Man (PS4/PS5), Jameson owns a podcast/radio show called "Just the Facts." He usually discredits Spider-Man frequently and will oftentimes say some extremely outlandish things about him.
For example, he suggests that Spider-Man is in cahoots with his supervillains, such as The Rhino, and has them enact crimes to swoop in and save the day. Jameson seems to think that Spider-Man is a glory-seeker.
Jameson says other things too, like when he talks about Spider-Man having no loved ones. How does Jameson know that? Does he know the man beneath the mask? Granted, Jameson will occasionally say an insightful comment, like how Spider-Man's presence attracts supervillains. I think that's a valid case. Outside of that, though, Jameson is usually slandering Spidey left and right, and even casually admits to being jealous of Peter's abilities.
I got to thinking, could Spider-Man actually sue Jameson for slander? We know that Peter has a secret identity, so it'd be problematic, but Spider-Man can still be considered a legal entity under a court of law.
Thoughts? | 51 | Theoretically, yes. Practically, no.
The main issue is that, under US law, you have to prove the claims are knowingly false for a slander case- true claims cannot be slander, nor can claims made in good faith. Obviously, this poses a problem for Spiderman, because even were he to be allowed to sue as Spiderman, to prove libellous intent he would have to reveal his secret identity, or at least a significant amount of identifying information.
In other commonwealth countries where the accused slanderer has to prove their claim was true or good faith, maybe, but under US law it's simply not worth it- when he has to prove it was slander, any evidence he could put forward would be too risky for the satisfaction it would cause. | 63 |
ELI5: (As an American) Why is freedom of speech protected from the government, but not corporations? | Question asked in light of Tumblr's new policies on NSFW-related blogs. | 25 | The Freedom of Speech does not grant you the right to say whatever you want, whenever you want, it merely prevents the GOVERNMENT from restricting your right to free speech. When it comes to private institutions, they are free to set their own rules regarding things like speech, because you always have the option to not use them.
You are still allowed to keep your right to free speech, Tumblr is simply denying your ability to use THEIR website to do so. | 27 |
CMV: The best piece of fried chicken is the leg. | Eating my entirely underwhelming leftover KFC today, I came across a revelation. The chicken wasn't as good not because it was microwaved hastily to free up fridge space, nor was it because KFC is a sub-par chicken eatery. No, my chicken was not as good as it could have been because it wasn't a leg piece.
Realistically, the leg piece is the best piece of chicken. It's the easiest to maneuver, has only one bone that does not get in the way, and has the best chicken to skin ratio. The wing is just pathetic, and the breast has a lot of meat but the way the bones are arranged means a lot of effort is put into eating around the bones, and often, a good amount of meat is wasted because of how cumbersome it is to get those last bits.
If I had a choice in chicken, I'd pick leg every single time. Prove me wrong, CMV.
_____
> *Hello, users of CMV! This is a footnote from your moderators. We'd just like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please remember to* ***[read through our rules](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/rules)***. *If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which,* ***[downvotes don't change views](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/guidelines#wiki_upvoting.2Fdownvoting)****! If you are thinking about submitting a CMV yourself, please have a look through our* ***[popular topics wiki](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/populartopics)*** *first. Any questions or concerns? Feel free to* ***[message us](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/changemyview)***. *Happy CMVing!* | 347 | Assuming by the leg piece you mean the drumstick, the thigh is better. Similar skin-to-meat ratio, just as juicy, but it's actually a substantial portion unlike the leg, which you really only get one or two good bites out of. It's also *much* more versatile for cooking, since you can get or prepare a boneless version, or chop it up. | 233 |
ELI5: why is france a permanent member of the UN security council, but not germany? | seeing that germany is bigger in every aspect.
except maybe unofficial influence in former colonies. And WWII. | 15 | The UN was created at the end of the Second World War, partly to try to ensure that a global conflict never occurred again. At that time not only was Germany being punished for 10 years of Nazism, but the German economy was in ruins, the country and its capital city were partitioned and permanently occupied, and few could forsee that within a couple of decades that West Germany would become one of the world's strongest economies.
On the other hand, Britain was still head of the largest empire the world had ever seen, and its resolve in keeping a western front open, along with the military might of the USA and USSR, had all proved absolutely decisive in winning the war. So these three countries were natural choices as permanent members.
Japan was also being punished in the same way that Germany was, and that's the main reason for China's inclusion. China was officially allied with the USA and UK during the war, and Chiang Kai-Shek was seen at Allied summits almost as frequently as Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt. Again, at the time few people foresaw a Communist revolution in China and nobody could predict that by the 21st century it would also be on the way to becoming one of the world's largest economies.
Although France had been partly conquered by Germany during the war, it was still one of the world's Great Powers in 1945, commanding an empire only a little smaller than Britain's.
TL;DR - the Security Council's permanent members were created based upon the five most powerful Allied countries in the world at the time. | 12 |
If fish accumulate mercury in the more toxic, methylmercury form, is it toxic to them? | Mercury is toxic to humans. Is it toxic to fish? If so, are fish affected at all by all the mercury they absorbed in their body? | 224 | It is toxic to everything as far as I’m aware. The major danger of the bio accumulation idea is that the higher up in the food chain an organism is the more it will accumulate those toxins and die. So for example a plankton might have only a few molecules of mercury in it, but then zooplankton eats 20 of those so it has 20x the mercury in it. Then a fish eats 20 of those and so it has 400x the mercury in a plankton. And so if a human eats fish five times a week that human is potentially eating lots of mercury, and that mercury isn’t ever excreted by the body. | 220 |
[US][PhD][Stat]What to expect in academic job? | Thanks for answering. I was asking this because I would be finishing my PhD soon and I am contemplating future career paths. I want to go in an academic position (My PhD is in theoretical Statistics) but there are some causes for concern and confusion.
I like
a. Thinking thoroughly about a problem.
b. Reading related literature.
c. Discussing the problem with knowledgeable people.
d. Finding interesting research problem and their effects in society.
e. Serving some administrative roles.
f. Collaboration with people from different disciplines
I am neutral towards
a. Teaching. I have extensive instructor experience. I don’t particularly like teaching. I don’t hate it.
b. Mentoring. I like collaborating more. My mentoring experience is arguably limited.
c. Making money. More doesn’t hurt, but I am not dying for it.
d. Not doing research. I want to do research, but most people don’t do research and make good money. I am perfectly content with a traditional job.
I hate
a. Publication pressure. Good research takes time and effort. I don’t work well under pressure.
b. Grant demands. It is not as bad in statistics, but I want to be researcher for working on interesting problems. Grant writing shouldn’t be my main focus.
c. Unpaid labour. If I am not paid in summer, I am not working for the uni in summer. No meetings, no administrative roles, not a single thing. My students can go do internships, I don’t care.
d. Research trends. I am against towards jumping for any hot buzzword. Pivoting research fields to something else takes years. Research is not fast fashion
e. Deceit. Selling something for what it is not to garner interest/citation/research funds has become all too common in recent years. I understand why people do it, but I don’t like it.
TL;DR.
I want to do research, preferably “myself” (not primarily via mentoring). If an academic job does not grant that, and expects me to teach/mentor/write grants/fill administrative duties, with time for research being something I am fighting for constantly, I don’t want it.
Considering all of this, what do you recommend for me? Should I go to academics? Is it not for me? | 44 | You've done a PhD. You've been around academics, including your supervisor(s). Has a single one had a job that reflects your wants and misses your hates? Your own experience should tell you this is wildly unrealistic, and that the academic career path is not for you. | 52 |
ELI5: Why did it take so long until radioactivity was discovered | In my country, uraninite was mined alongside silver at least since the 15 century, useless at the time. It is kind of strange to me that nobody noticed anything "weird" about it for such a long time (or did they?)
Is the concentration too small in this form to have effect? Even if they piled it up in junk heaps along with everything that wasn't silver? Or were the people working with it already too ill to notice anything extra going on (mining was not a particularly safe or healthy occupation for a very long time)? Or did they actually know something is weird about it? After all, what did tip off Marie Curie that there's something odd about this mineral? | 38 | So the thing about radiation, outside of the most extremely high concentrations it isn't going do much of anything immediately where you can really easily see cause and effect. Those super high concentrations don't exist naturally, they have to be refined into that.
Even in modern times after something like the chernobyl disaster only 31 people directly died from it, the rest of the effects are long term increases in things like cancer rates which we can really only figure out because of statistics and having a huge sample size. | 54 |
[Dota 2] How are heroes able to wield varying equipment despite anatomical restriction? | Boots are nice, but Slardar has no feet for example. Or someone's holding three single hand weapons but only has two hands. | 16 | Ah, but no one in DotA actually wields any of the items they acquire during a battle. The various shopkeepers all offer magic talismans, some minor and some major. Whatever a hero comes into the possession of magically augments their abilities as long as it remains on their person. In a satchel is sufficient. Slardar is at no disadvantage, because no one else actually wears their boots of speed either.
This is also why gunmen and archers benefit from buying swords and daggers. Experienced heroes can even take advantage of the properties if these enchanted knickknack and combine some of them into more powerful relics. | 17 |
[Inception] I am going to a ball room dance event tomorrow night but I have absolutely no experience. Can I use my Inception machine to learn years worth of dancing, overnight? | I am planning to live in the dream world for a while and practice with my partner.
Will I retain the dancing prowess and muscle memory when i wake up? | 54 | Muscle memory won't be with you since your own physical body wasn't actually doing the activities. You'll remember the cues and steps well, but the body is going to have trouble keeping up. It's similar to a student that just learned to drive. All the correct algorithms are there, but the body isn't use to actually performing. | 19 |
ELI5: Why would you deny the Holocaust? | With all the evidence we obtain from primary sources and other record, what reasoning could someone have to say that this tragedy never occurred? Thanks for any responses :D | 20 | No one with a brain denies that Germany rounded up Jews and other and put them into concentration camps, the part that is denied is that there were gas chambers used to systematically kill people. Usually they say that Zyklon B was used for delousing (killing lice). Lice were a big problem in concentration camps because they spread typhus (you've probably seen pictures of those really skinny camp inmates, that's from typhus). They point out that the gas chambers found in concentration camps would be very inefficient at killing groups of people (the rooms are long, they only have one door, bodies have to be taken upstairs to be cremated, etc). Some claim that it would not have been logistically possible to kill so many people in such a short amount of time.
Holocaust deniers believe that the number of deaths in the Holocaust is much smaller than what people say, and that they were caused by typhus, hunger and other health problems in the camps. By the end of the war Germany was very low on supplies, so the conditions in the camp deteriorated.
Sometimes they like to point to the fact that many European countries have laws against Holocaust denial. They say that if it were really so self-evident that the Holocaust happened as described then it wouldn't be necessary to arrest people for questioning it.
Usually the motive for fabricating the Holocaust has to do with the creation of Israel. The Holocaust created sympathy for the Jews, and made antisemitism very unpopular. | 24 |
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