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CMV: Dating is like finding a job, it isn't good to put all your eggs in one basket. | To start off, dating is pretty like the job interview in a relationship. you guys are conversing to see if there is a potential fit for each other. If it is successful then there is going to be an offer for a relationship; if not then either the two is going to be friends or merely walk away and say goodbye without staying in contact.
Like job hunting, one should always be vigilant. When it comes to finding a relationship, one should focus on scheduling as many dates as possible to maximize their chances of being in a relationship. It is not wise to only stick to focusing all your attention onto one person because there is a big chance it wouldn't work out. Instead by talking to as many people as possible you are spreading your eggs in multiple basket and improving your chances at beating the numbers game.
This resonates well with job hunters since doing so many interviews (Or in this case talking to many potential people) will give you more opportunities to improve and sell yourself better down the road. I remember doing like 10 interviews before getting my first job. Each interview I improve upon one another and I feel this could be applied to dating.
Another reason not to put all your eggs in one basket is to be better mentally prepared when the date doesn't workout. You have another person to look forward to meeting so you won't feel too down.
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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!* | 75 | I disagree almost entirely. Most people are not independently wealthy, and, hence, can't afford to be out of a job for an indefinite period of time; one can take one's time finding a new SO. Having a series of short flings before settling on one person (if that's the objective) is not necessarily a negative thing, as opposed to having a series of very short jobs on one's resume.
Last, but not least, an employer typically has many employees, while an employee typically has only one employer. This means that the employer has less reason to form a commitment with any given employee, while an employee typically gives all of his/her work effort to his/her single employer. Then, there's the profit motive, which gives the employer an incentive to screw over the employee the moment they decide it will make or save them a buck. In combination with the aforementioned fact that most people can't afford to be out of a job for an extended period of time, this means the employee/employer relationship is more like an abusive romantic relationship than a healthy one, and that's not what any psychologically healthy individual wants from an SO.
| 45 |
Is my waist a natural body part? If I never wore pants would I still have a muffin-top/love handles? | My waist is fairly slim (33") and hasn't grown much recently, but I have put on weight in the gut and love handle region. Is the waist a natural area that does not accumulate fat, or is it because the constriction of my waistband keeps fat from accumulating there?
Can muffin-tops be cured by not wearing pants?
**EDIT** I should have mentioned that I am a man. Men and women seem to be different in this area. | 89 | If an article of clothing is restrictive enough as to decrease lymph flow then the triacylglycerides will have a higher likelihood of being stored around that "bottleneck". This is often seen right below bra's where lymph flow has been restricted for prolonged periods of time. Since TAG's and Fatty acids are absorbed in the small intestine, people with poor lymphatic flow will commonly store fat in the buttocks, hips, thighs, waist, and stomach. Exercise, massage, and belly breathing are the greatest contributors to lymphatic flow because unlike blood it is not actively pumped. | 57 |
CMV: Weather that's too cold is better than weather that's too hot. | When the temperature is too cold, it's very easy to over correct and instead put on too much clothing. It's a balancing act. Wear enough clothing to stay warm, but not too much to inversely get too hot. When it's too hot there's not much else to do short of dousing yourself in water and taking off all your clothing. The fact that there's an upper limit of what you can do to cool down while there's no real upper limit of what you can do to heat up makes it so it's preferable for temperature to be too cold, rather than too hot. | 133 | When it is severely cold out, it becomes dangerous to be exposed to the air. People can lose limbs from frostbite.
When it is very hot, people just need to stay hydrated and wear sunscreen. It is unlikely that they might die. | 11 |
CMV: Flamboyant, over-the-top, 'flaming' gay people are more harm to achieving equality than good. | Let me start off by saying that I'm a gay guy. I'm not really viewing this from the outside in, though perhaps that perspective is what I need.
I'm nineteen years old now, coming to realization with my sexuality when I had just turned thirteen years old. I was a loner who read, wrote, and gamed in my spare time rather than hang out with friends. People instantly expected me to talk with a lisp, walk with a strut, and love shopping. People equated me to being a 'gay best friend' on merit of that. It caused me to feel like this was the only way it was socially acceptable.
I feel like endorsing this behavior, through the media, and equating it with being gay is harmful. For one, it's feeding the anti-gay fire. Covering yourself in penises, being out-of-the-norm for the sake of being out of the norm, and basically acting as freakish as possible could give otherwise on-the-fence people a bad impression. Instead of this exposure giving light to a serious issue (Recognizing that people who have an attraction to the same gender as equal, as the same as you), it just draws an association that being gay = being this annoying, immature stereotype. I've been in more than one situation where, for example, someone's watching television, a fast-talking, lispy, effeminate man comes on and is met with "Damn faggots."
I recognize that there are bigots who will hate/dislike/not accept homosexuality no matter what. But acting in this manner simplifies the issue, and allows people to assign x to y, taking a lot of gravity and maturity away from any moving forward.
On another note, if this is legitimately your personality, I don't think you should have to conform. But associating it with your sexuality on such a consistent basis (Talking like a gay guy, walking like a gay guy, dressing like a gay guy) isn't a good thing to do. This should instead be quantified as "That's just how John acts".
I feel the best way to make progress is to... act like normal, productive members of society, or rather act like yourself, instead of a freak of nature. Protest in manners that aren't disgusting to people of a weaker disposition.
TL;DR The typical gay stereotype makes gay people look like 'pets', or second-class, and destroys progress towards equality.
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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!* | 17 | You could say the same thing about almost any culture that is different from the white, Protestant, American culture.
Black people who act too black
Jews who act too Jewish
Women who act too much like men
Gays who act too gay
I think it's a beautiful, wonderful thing to be able to act how you feel is best. If you want to be a gay guy and hit every stereotype in the book, go for it or don't. Find your own culture.
| 14 |
ELI5: How do those bladeless fans work? | It's Satan as far as I can tell. | 129 | The pedestal of the fan contains a brushless electric motor that takes in air and feeds it into the circular tube. Air flows along the inside of the device until it reaches a slit inside the tube. This provides the basic airflow that creates the breeze you'd feel if you stood in front of the fan. Dyson claims that the Air Multiplier generates a breeze with 15 times more air than what the device actually takes in.
There **are** blades in the fan -- you just can't see them. The pedestal hides the blades. A motor rotates nine asymmetrically aligned blades to pull air into the device. According to Dyson, these blades can pull in up to 5.28 gallons (about 20 liters) of air per second. | 59 |
ELI5: How does frozen sperm remain viable? | How does sperm survive being frozen for an amount of time? | 25 | The main issue with freezing is ice crystals forming that puncture the cell membrane and uneven freezing leaving some parts still functional, but unable to function because other parts they need to function are already frozen.
At small enough sizes (about mouse size) we can freeze things rapidly enough that the ice crystals are really small, so they won't puncture the cell, and the frozen gradient is also really small, basically the whole things freezes and thaws at the same time.
Then, it turns out, being frozen doesn't actually affect the ability of a cell to function as long as you avoid those two issues. | 39 |
[Lovecraft] What would happen if you threw Cthulhu into the Sun? | 96 | We don't know.
This is, by design, the answer to many in-universe Lovecraft questions.
C'Thulhu's biggest anti-feat is getting hit in the face by a steam ship, deciding that was enough for one century, and going back to sleep.
But the damage C'Thulhu suffered was (relatively) minor; it destroyed his physical form, but his physical form was quickly being remade, even as the steam ship escaped.
C'Thulhu wasn't exactly defeated by that attack; the stars weren't right, which meant it wasn't time for C'Thulhu to awaken and destroy the world. He just wanted them to fuck off out of R'lyeh, which they did. It's the cosmic equivalent of waking up to chase a noisy cat out of your bedroom, and stepping on a leggo.
So if C'Thulhu fell into the sun, the result could be anything from his total annihilation, to a comfy nap, to C'Thulhu using the power of our star to leap between worlds. We just don't know. We don't even know if his consciousness would die with his physical form, or if his physical form is a manifestation of his consciousness, making him essentially immortal.
After all, in strange eons, even death may die. | 183 |
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[MCU] Through a scheme that may or may not have involved time travel, I've gotten my hands on the lost secret of the Super Soldier Serum. Who would pay the most for this information, and how can I go about selling it without scary men in black suits showing up the next day? | 19 | Those men are going to come. Face facts, anyone in a position to buy this is also in a position to fuck you over with zero consequences.
Maybe give yourself the treatment first. Tell no one and prepare to disappear. You might survive. | 30 |
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ELI5: What are the differences between Hertz in electricity, in the electromagnetic spectrum, in processors, in displays and in sound? | 15 | Nothing.
A hz is a cycle per second.
If your screen is 120hz, then it refreshes 120 times per second.
If your power is 60hz (A/C) then it cycles 60 times per second
Your cpu does ghz or 1billion cycles per second. Each cycle is a chance to do something. | 68 |
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How do scientists know how to make a flu vaccine if viruses can be different every year? | 32 | They guess. However, it's a calculated guess. They look for emerging strains elsewhere in the world that are likely to immigrate, along with domestic variations, then they consider their pathogenicity and pick from those strains to develop their stocks of vaccine. Sometimes the guesses are better than others, but they are generally close enough to be effective. | 29 |
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[Game of Thrones] How did the Lannister Army take High Garden so quickly with no siege equipment or siege weapons? | [Here is a picture of the Lannister Army approaching High Garden](https://ibb.co/B3FSpZZ)
They have no ladders, no siege towers, no battering rams, no siege weapons, and not enough time to dig sapping tunnels. Their slow march would have given the defenders plenty of time to close all the gates. Even if there were a few defenders, the whole point of a castle is to allow a small group of defenders to hold off a larger force for an extended time. So how did the Lannisters take the castle so quickly? | 17 | At this point, Westeros has a population of about 7 people. Olenna Tyrell has been alone in Highgarden for weeks moping about and making sarcastic quips to herself waiting for Jaime to show up. She kinda forgot about closing the gate. | 34 |
ELI5: Why does the "Zero-Interest-Policy" of the European Central Bank thats been ongoing for years not lead to more inflation? | Why does the "Zero-Interest-Policy" of the European Central Bank thats been ongoing for years not lead to more inflation?
And on a related matter - Are companies worldwide lending money in europe more cheaply instead of lending it at home for higher interest rates?
And as a bonus - what is Japan doing differently regarding the base interest rate?
I know its hard to break this down to ELI5 - I hope somebody can :) | 314 | How about ELI15? Inflation is about not just the quantity of money circulating but also the speed at which it circulates.
This speed, in aggregate, has gone down massively. A lot of the newly printed money is actually just sitting on deposit at the central banks - partially as a result of the post-2008 requirements to hold a lot of cash in case of another credit crisis.
The zero and negative interest rate policies are to try and speed up the velocity of money - but it's like pushing on rope once you get below zero as banks are not able to pass the negative rates on to customers.
Fundamentally, inflation is based on people's expectations and nobody expects inflation to go up, so it doesn't and there's not much more that the central banks can do. | 143 |
[Batman] Why would anyone willingly work as a henchmen for Batman’s villains? | I could see the Penguin, because I doubt the Penguin would kill anyone.
But working for the Joker and the Riddler? Both of them are dangerous and crazy.
And Mr. Freeze’s headquarters are freezing.
Some could say the money, but is it worth it? Joker kills his henchmen. | 86 | Gotham really really really sucks for the average person. And it's only worse for convicts and former convicts. A lot of the hired goons seen are simple crooks looking for a gang to run with and choosing to side with whoever pays the most. But some either are fugitives recently escaped from prison with a super villian in exchange for joining their crew or simply forced into it by having no other options. Not many employers will hire a former inmate of seagate or Arkham so honest work is hard to come by. But pull a few jobs for a costumed crazy and you can escape gotham for a more prosperous city or wait for a new job opening at Wayne industries various charities. So for every former mob leg breaker running with the riddler there's 5 or more just trying to avoid sleeping on the street and too afraid to try running since they know the boss holds grudges against anything and anyone that even remotely offends them. | 75 |
[Overwatch] Ok, who put up the basketball net in the drop ship? | This isn't your backyard, people! When were you even planning on using it? If you use it during a mission, I'll have your neck, and if you endanger people by using it in the air, Mercy will have your neck. Just use the one in the gym at base! | 123 | Gotta warm up and keep your mind busy before you go sprinting out into the hordes of omnics all trying to destroy humanity. Can't be cramping up or becoming a nervous wreck when you're trying to swing your rocket hammer into the third bastion unit in a row. | 59 |
How do white blood cells know in which direction there is a bacteria? | I have always thought that white blood cells would just go touching everything and swallow anything with antibodies attached. But there is this [video](https://twitter.com/TansuYegen/status/1584191306129059840?t=b1tFBRmW1Zs2gZk2Dr9ImQ&s=19) of a white blood cell chasing a bacteria. Obviously they don't have eyes so how do they know where is the bacteria? | 2,125 | At a very simple level, it's all concentration gradients. Kind of like a dog can sniff and follow a scent trail from a very faint signature, following the trail until it is eventually on top of the target. Immune cells like the one in the video (presumably a monocyte or macrophage) have receptors specifically designed for Pathogen-Associated-Molecular-Patterns (PAMPs). PAMPs are molecules that are found on bacteria, fungi, viruses etc that our immune cells have evolved to recognize with receptors specific to them (antibodies not needed). An example of a PAMP is endotoxin/LPS that is a part of the bacterial cell wall. So for example, the bacteria sheds LPS or other pieces of its cell wall as it floats around, and the immune cell "sniffs" it out with its receptor and starts following the trail.
It gets more complex. There are hierarchical signals for what determines which direction an immune cell will migrate. For example, if local tissue cells realize there is an active ongoing infection, they will secrete "red flag" signals to recruit nearby immune cells to the area. These signals are called chemokines. So the immune cell floating around your blood will first detect the chemokines and realize something is wrong, and will enter the area where they are coming from. From that point on, if it senses PAMPs (the bacterial molecules), it'll switch and start moving toward the bacteria. | 700 |
Rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide? | I understand that this is not the place for medical advice but is there is a difference between the two or are they equally efficacious in terms of their aseptic properties? Or is one used over the other in certain circumstances? | 51 | Hydrogen peroxide is an inferior antiseptic(an anti-microbial used on skin or mucus membranes) because tissue catalases can break it down into O2 and H2O. It can be used as a disinfectant (cleaning surfaces), however.
Alcohols are better because they are not broken down by enzymes as readily as hydrogen peroxide (your liver metabolizes alcohols but this is irrelevant when applying small amounts of alcohols to your skin or mucus membranes). Ethanol is effective, but isopropanol is both less volatile and more potent so is preferred. However, alcohols do not kill bacterial spores. In fact, fatal infections have followed attempts to sterilize medical instruments with alcohols because of the danger of spores.
To sterilize most medical instruments hospitals will use something known as an autoclave. It is essentially a giant pressure cooker, and uses steam at a pressure of around 15 lb/in^2 and a temperature of around 120 Celsius for roughly 15 minutes to kill all microbes and their spores.
To sterilize your skin for surgery surgeons will use iodine-based solutions like povidine-iodine(trade name: betadine), which are effective against even spores. Furthermore, these solutions leave a lasting iodine residue meaning the effect continues post-application.
This isn't medical advice, simply a statement of fact regarding antimicrobials. | 101 |
ELI5: why does it hurt when you get hit in the testicles? | 21 | Basically, when you're in your mother's womb, your testicles start up near your stomach. Your nerves grow into your testicles as if they are a deep internal abdominal organ....then they descend into your scrotum.
So that's why when you get kicked in the balls, it feels like you're getting punched in the stomach at the same time. Everything is all cross-wired. | 66 |
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It is often stated in studies that a change in one or two degrees can have drastic effects on the climate. How does this work when the temperature fluctuates all the time? | 21 | Many reasons, but I'll try just one example. Though remember that 1 or 2 degrees is a fluctuation in **average** temperature.
If the average temperature gets 1 degree hotter, than the highest high and the lowest low will (not exactly, but let's say so) get 1 degree hotter. At the hot end, every degree is extremely important regarding effect on health, heat stroke deaths, etc. The increase in problems is sort of exponentially worse for each degree.
The difference between a 20C/68F day and a 25C/77F day is just wearing a different shirt. No problem. The difference between a 35C/95F day and a 40C/104F day can be life and death for many people, as in the famous 2003 heat wave in Europe that killed about 10,000 people.
Really it's not quite so simple, you're more shifting a bell curve of temperatures to the hotter side, so the 35C days that used to come 3 times a year might come 10 times a year, and the 40C days that you never had before might come 3 times a year, etc. Many cities have been dealing with this already for decades due to a separate issue (urban heat island). Living in a big concrete city in summer...sucks!
This kind of thing applies to a lot of other areas. 1 or 2 degrees can make a difference. In the case of ice, if the whole world average temperature changes 2 degrees C, then there must be some regions in the Arctic where the average will go from from -1C to +1C, and ice melts when it shouldn't. (Again, that's average, really it works out to the warm melting season being a bit longer and bit hotter over a bit larger area..though "a bit" can be millions of square km. The Earth is big.)
Also affects crops, trees, animals, weather, oceans, etc. Many things. | 11 |
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[ELI5] Why Does a Human Baby Need a Full Year Before Starting to Walk? | Why does a new born human baby take a full year to start walking while other species walk instantly or after a few days?
Yesterday, I was watching One Life (2011) and it suddenly occurred to me that many of these species in this documentary walk nearly instantly.
If it's not that difficult, I think ELI20 would be great as well :) | 28 | Human babies are born a lot sooner than those of other mammals (relatively speaking). If humans would be born at a similar developmental level pregnancy would take about 18 months; a woman would basically have to squeeze out a toddler. | 24 |
[DC] What would Superman do if a time traveller showed up with proof that a kid he's going to save from an accident tomorrow grows up to kill millions? | Bonus round: how about Batman or other heroes? Are there any who would definitely not intervene and let the kid die? | 29 | He'd still save them. They're not really consequentialists, none of the main DC heroes, at least most of the time. They do things because it's the right thing to do. Letting a child to die is just abhorrent to them, no matter what he/she grows up to do.
Plus, the future's not really set on these things, for all they know, it could be that they have this knowledge and how that makes them act that makes said kid grow up to kill millions. Maybe they'd monitor the child, but potentially anyone could go on to murder millions, so it'd be weird to just focus on one kid. | 48 |
What happens to breast implants after you die? So they decompose with the body or will they last with your skeleton for thousands of years? | 53 | The materials for medical implants are chosen because they are inert and non-biodegradable. They will not decompose when the biological parts of the body do.
Future archaeologists who excavate our graveyards will find many bodies that still have pacemakers, artificial hips, titanium plates, and, yes, breast implants.
Modern saline implants have a valve, which could leak and let the fluid out, but the silicone implant capsule itself would remain. | 46 |
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ELI5: If humans have to eat a balanced diet to be fully functional, how do animals like lions eat nothing but one type of meat and stay healthy? | 169 | Part of it is that lions get lots of exercise and don't eat very often. Have you ever seen a fat lion? Well, not counting ones in zoos.
Meat has a complete set of nutrients so they're all set except for one little thing: sugar. The brain needs glucose, a kind of simple sugar, to run. Most body tissues can be powered by anything but nerve cells absolutely need sugar. Don't worry, your body can store sugar for a long time and if you are an American this probably isn't a top concern.
Carnivores have a way to convert fat to sugar called gluconeogenesis and use it all the time; they have larger and more powerful livers, and better kidneys to handle all the nasty waste products (ketones etc). Some humans are better at this conversion than others. The reason why cat pee smells so awful is because cats are true carnivores and a lot of the protein they eat comes out as ammonia. In fact, if you let a cat eat a lot of sugar its body wouldn't know what to do with it all and the cat would get very sick.
There's also no fiber in meat, which is part of why cat poop is different from human poop. | 86 |
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What is the difference between Hydrogen and Protium? | Protium is an isotope of hydrogen but the atomic structure seems to be the same as hydrogen everywhere I look ( 1 proton, 1 electron, no neutrons ). Am I just being stupid or is there no difference at all? | 16 | Naturally occuring hydrogen is a mixture of mostly ^(1)H (protium -- one electron "orbiting" one proton) plus a small amount (one part in 5,000) of ^(2)H (deuterium -- one electron "orbiting" one proton and one neutron).
The terms "protium" and "deuterium" are used when we need to distinguish these two isotopes. But they're both "hydrogen". | 49 |
Do Black Holes Consume Dark Matter? | If there is supposed to be a great deal more dark matter in the universe than matter we can actually see, should black holes be gaining mass at a greater rate than can't be accounted for with just regular matter? I guess a better question is do black holes interact with dark matter? Is there a way to know the mass of a black hole?
Sorry for a multiple question post. | 24 | If dark matter crosses the event horizon, it cannot get back out, the same as with anything else.
Remember that the way we know dark matter exists is because we see the effects of its gravitational interactions, so we know explicitly that it is subject to gravitation (which would also follow on theoretical grounds, of course -- it moves in space-time).
| 21 |
I saw a video of someone breathing in a rag of chloroform and getting instantly knocked out. I don’t think that’s real, but it made me curious. How does chloroform work? And what exactly does it do? | 14,523 | Using chloroform to knock someone out in a matter of seconds is entirely fiction.
Chloroform is basically an anesthetic--but one that is no longer used due to the fact that it can seriously damage your liver and heart. Even with perfect dosing, it would take at least 5 minutes of breathing it to knock someone unconscious.
There are two parts to explaining how it works:
1) Chloroform is a volatile liquid that is very lipid soluble. This means that it wants to evaporate into a gas very quickly (and thus you inhale it). It's also lipid-soluble, which means it likes to dissolve in fats. Ever try and add water and oil together? They don't mix. But if you try and mix different oils together, they mix quite well. Your brain's structure has a very high concentration of fats and thus chloroform likes to dissolve there better than most other places in your body.
2) When in the brain, it activates something called a GABA receptor. These receptors are basically off-switches for neurons. When chloroform attaches to a GABA receptor, you can think of it as turning off a light switch. When enough light switches get turned off in the right areas of the brain--boom-- lights out. | 13,821 |
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[Harry Potter] What happened to Lily and James Potter to make them appear to be in their early 40's? They were only 21 or 22 when they died. | https://www.google.com/search?q=scenes+harry+potter+parents&client=tablet-android-att-us&prmd=ivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi8gIygqpzPAhVBOT4KHX45AmcQ_AUIBygB&biw=962&bih=601
They really needed better skin care. | 122 | I assume you're referring to the Resurrection Stone scene? The shades that come forth from the stone aren't the actual ghosts of the deceased. They are constructed based on the memories and the feelings of the one using it. So in each of the shades, Harry saw the person he wanted to see. His parents were appropriately aged to their appearance as f they had not been killed and Harry had been able to have a happy life with them, because that is what Harry had wanted. | 154 |
ELI5: Calling 911 without a sim card - how does it work? and how can they block spam calls? | 189 | a SIM card tells the tower who the call should be billed to
911 calls aren't billed. the carrier is required by law to route the call to the local emergency services.
nothing stops you from spamming 911. you are an asshole if you do it from a SIM-less phone. | 161 |
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Eli5: Why do cannabis indica and cannabis sativa have such different effects when they contain the same primary psychoactive compound? | These two substances are supposedly night and day, yet THC is the primary drug in each of them. Is the difference merely placebo and exaggeration? Or do the miniscule amounts of secondary cannabinoids actually make that much of a difference?
| 71 | Lots of lab testing indicates that 1- whatever the genetic differences between the two strains were, they're basically undetectable now, due to so much cross breeding. 2- the difference in "indica like" or "saliva like" properties come from the mix of many hundreds of active chemicals in cannabis... many of which aren't even identified yet. Certain fragrances are associated with certain psychoactive properties, so we use that as a rough rule of thumb and devide plants into two categories, sativa and indica.
Plus many of the active chemicals in cannabis depends on things like temperature (some chemicals aren't activated until the plants is burned), if the plant is dried v fresh, and even how long it's been exposed to air.
Honestly, if you went to a state where pot is legal, and sampled 50 strains, and decided them into two groups, you'd probably not get a very good match with what is supposedly indica or supposedly sativa | 38 |
ELI5: How do touch lamps work? Recently went home for the holiday and my nephew had one. One of those touch anywhere and it turns on lamp? How does that happen? | 62 | Touch lamps will send a very low current through the metal parts of the lamp. Your skin can hold an electrical charge. We say that it has capacitance. The circuitry in the lamp can detect the change in capacitance when you touch the lamp. It interprets this change in capacitance as an instruction to turn on.
You'll notice that it doesn't work if you touched the lamp with a piece of dry cloth but probably would with a wet one. | 64 |
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ELI5 if you are sitting inside a diving bell or moon pool deep in the ocean, what happens when you dip you feet in the water that is under high pressure? Would the pressure crush your feet right when you step your feet in? | 319 | No, the interior of the bell would be similarly pressurized. If it's an open bell you wouldn't be able to go super deep before the pressure crushed you, unless you had equal air pressure on the inside. | 273 |
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What are cases in the last 200 years whereby a total outsider to academic philosophy has contributed something of great value to philosophy? | 118 |
Two of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century did not begin their studies in philosophy. Edmund Husserl was a mathematician who became interested in philosophical problems related to the foundations of logic and mathematics. He went on to found phenomenology, one of the most influential philosophical movements of the 20th century.
Wittgenstein, likewise, began his studies as an engineer and also became interested in philosophy because of these issues in the foundations of mathematics and logic.
Martin Heidegger, likewise, began as a theology student before turning to philosophy.
In the early 20th century, Germany didn’t divide their faculties, meaning that all sciences were done in the philosophy department. This usually resulted in a more flexible vocational path.
Another notable example would be Lenin, who entered into the sphere of philosophy from out of his experience as a political revolutionary, yet went on not only to write some of the most important pieces of Marxist philosophy, but also to engage extensively with philosophy of science. Lenin wrote an important critique of Ernst Mach and some of the forerunners to logical positivism, a materialist critique of empiricism that heavily influences Althusser’s philosophy of science and subsequent materialist approaches. | 80 |
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Intimidation in Academic Job Interview? | I need some advice. I recently had a campus interview at a school that is going through some restructuring with a new president. I met with the new president at the end of my day-long interview. I liked all of the people at the school until I met him. We met in an ornate conference room covered in faux gold relief and Louis XIV style furniture. When we met he didn't even stand to greet me. He told me that in the past, presidents of the university didn't typically meet with job candidates, but he was going to meet with all of the job candidates from the present onward to make sure that all who would potentially be hired would be supportive of his mission. His mission, as it seemed, was to increase enrollment and establish global exchanges. Seems common enough, right? So why the intimidation? He then told me to go to his newly established "Hall of Knowledge" and read the plaques dedicated to thinkers X, Y, and Z to further understand his mission. It was all in the abstract and really a bit creepy. We ended the interview and I was just a bit unnerved from the entire exchange. I think it has something to do with the fact that the past president was forced to resign because of a faculty protest.
I don't have much experience meeting with university presidents. Is this normal? Do they all seem power hungry? I don't think I'll accept this position if they offer it to me. I feel like I'd be walking into a dictatorship. I know it sounds like I've just solved my own dilemma, but I really just need some support because this was my first campus interview for a tenure track position ever. | 20 | It's not normal, but you won't meet with that person again for years, if ever. If that's the only off-putting part of a campus visit for a job you'd otherwise accept and the rest of the terms are agreeable to you, chalk it up to personal weirdness and accept the position. | 35 |
[Marvel] Little Bit Confused About Loki | From what I understanding from reading about current events, the morality of heroes like Iron Man and Thor were inverted, turning them into villians. Loki battled Thor on the moon and became worthy of Mjolnir, granting him the strength neccessary to defeat his brother.
But then the damage caused by the Inversion spell was undone and Loki returned to his old, lying self. What does this mean exactly? Is he Kid Loki with the mind of the old Loki? Because unless there's something I'm missing, Loki's personality should not have changed and made him unworthy | 21 | An echo of Old Loki called Ikol killed Kid Loki and took over his body way before the inversion. The Loki that was in the Young Avengers and became an Agent of Asgard was Ikol pretending to be Kid Loki. He was only worthy because he was inverted too. | 14 |
CMV: I would gladly sacrifice Edric Storm, Ender Wiggins, or any other innocent children whose lives could buy the survival of the human race. | 69 | >the people making these choices believe, given the facts, that sacrificing the child will save everyone
Actually, the people making these choices believe that sacrificing the child will save everyone on their "side", while destroying their opposition. But if you're truly utilitarian, you have to take into account everyone's utility, not just your friends'. Sure, "sacrificing" Ender saved the human race, but it simultaneously exterminated (almost) every single formic. Maybe the universe would have been better off if the humans had lost. | 37 |
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ELI5: What information does the doctor get out of hitting my knee with a tiny hammer? | 19 | That the L2, L3, and L4 segments of your spinal cord are working. If your leg doesn't kick out, or doesn't kick out well (absent mobility issues), something is wrong (Westphal's sign) and can mean motor neuron lesions (the neurons that control muscular contractions), cerebellar diseases, and even thyroid problems. So that little tap actually tells the doctor a lot about what's going on in your braincase.
There are many other reflexes that are used to measure brain function such as the plantar reflex (see Babinski's sign) which is a great way to determine if a comatose ER patient suffered damage to the central nervous system. | 17 |
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Could a lightsaber cut through vibranium? | 15 | Depends how long you hold the lightsaber against it, Vibranium stores energy in between it's molecules. There must be limit to how much energy it can store though, so the question is can the light saber heat it up faster than it can cool down. It certainly can, but because it stores heat it would take much longer to actually melt it. first you would need to hold the light saber against it for a very long time, for awhile it would seem like it's not heating up at all because the heat is being absorbed, but once it reached max capacity it would theoretically heat up and melt like a normal metal. | 20 |
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[Pacific Rim] What happens to the world politically? | Humanity was unified whilst fighting off the Kaiju. After the breach has been closed, there is no immediate reason for that unification any more. We know food has been rationed and is therefore in short supply, at least near the pacific coast, presumably in all of the countries surrounding the pacific. Kaiju will also have destroyed fossil fuel production in the pacific.
Three superpowers border the pacific rim, Russia, China and the US. All are shown to have the capability to construct their own Jaegers. China has an operational Jaegerbase for sure. What will happen when any of these countries decide to secure their interests, using weapons that could defeat creatures that could hardly be stopped by conventional means? | 28 | In the immediate aftermath, things didn't change much. There was Kaiju mess to clean up and good will to spread. Nobody was 100% sure that the Kaiju weren't coming back, and it was a tense couple months.
After that, the major governments busied themselves with framing the events of the final Kaiju assault in their favor, most notably distancing themselves from the Wall of Life, claiming credit for training, equipping, supporting, or building the teams that made the final assault successful.
It wasn't until a few years later that everybody forgot what had happened. It started with initiatives to tear down the fragments of the Wall for environmental reasons. Then came the arguments about who owned the property rights for the land was built on, and all the land of the old Jaeger stations. Finally the major governments started getting prickly, claiming that one country or another owed somebody else for damages or cleanup or usage of land.
Despite the obvious natures of the Jaegers, they never served a true role in the cold war that followed. To a politician, they were all the same giant robots, everybody needed one or two, damn the cost, but they were never really viable for any combat, especially urban combat against conventional weaponry. The true arms buildups were the missiles and bombs that had been developed to fight Kaiju when Jaegers failed, the kind that threatened to take entire cities along with their Kaiju targets, the last resort kind.
We forgot about the lessons that the Kaiju taught us, about working together and trusting each other. We forgot the brief immense success we had and fixated on drawing borders and giving political and financial credit. China started calling in old debts, banking on their Jaeger base to strongarm the first world politically. With so many Jaegers, defunct or not, the US started to look less like a powerhouse and more like a tyrant, despite the fact that it had taken some of the worst damage during the war against the Kaiju and really wasn't in financial shape to make moves.
European countries including Russia, who hadn't taken much damage during the war, started to look much better, using funds that the US and other Pacific-bordering countries didn't have to fund improvements and make moves financially. The US never went bankrupt, but it lost more face than ever, ending up a country wracked with poverty, crime, riots, and disappointment, the decaying Jaegers in their ports a reminder of what was lost.
When calling in the US's debts made less money than expected, China cut off connections from the rest of the world in an attempt to "focus inward and rebuild", presumably to hide the massive damage and Kaiju waste that it never really got around to cleaning up.
Riding high off of successes in the Kaiju war and relatively little losses, Russia became the world's economic and political powerhouse. It established a number of powerful alliances in the Mediterranean, where secret arms contacts eventually led to the installation of missile bases and even Jaeger stations along the coast of the Mediterranean and Atlantic that far outpaced what NATO had there pre-Kaiju.
Eventually, the world settled into a new place, albeit a slightly more dysfunctional one than before. Unfortunately, the ill will between countries, rampant corruption and hushed up failures to finish cleaning up the waste from the Kaiju war, and military buildup that was more for show and intimidation than fighting any true enemy meant we were unprepared.
Unprepared for when they came back. | 58 |
I just don't get NoSQL databases | Perhaps it's just because of my years of working with relational databases, but for the life of me I can't figure out how a non-relational database works. I've read a number of tutorials and whatnot, and I understand that they are supposed to be faster and more suited for certain use-cases, but I can't really see how.
The Amazon Dynamo DB tutorial, for example, is a movie database. If I wanted to store a cast list for a movie, I see no other way than an array of strings for each cast member. But then if I wanted all the movies an actor was in, I'd have to either do what I suspect is some very slow iteration through all the movies' actors, or store that information in the actor table. But now my data is doubled up and I can't see how that wouldn't create problems.
You might point out that I've tried to use a non-relational database to store a relation, but I can't imagine a database where some sort of relation isn't necessary. Take Amazon, for example. There's a million relationships they must be tracking--purchase to user, review to purchase, item to manufacturer, whatever.
Any insight would be appreciated! | 45 | document based databases are really much faster at looking up individual records than relational databases. so, the primary use cases are things like caches (you're just storing blobs of data by a hash) and if your db ever gets large enough to where you're having trouble scaling your server(s) up (these no-sql dbs tend to be much better at scaling horizontally because they're not designed to store relations between multiple types of data).
the second case is what kind of triggered the craze. facebook switched to using a document based no-sql database to load friends data, if i remember correctly. the data is relational, but they traded duplication of data for lookup speed. they really just needed a key subset of user data in order to populate your friends list, but using a traditional relational database, joining on their 2 billion row user table wasn't very practical. so, they basically store a document for your profile or whatever with the relevant user data duplicated in it. they can shard that data however they want into multiple db instances and just route your request to the correct one and essentially get instant lookups of the data they need to display your profile to you.
however, most dbs will never get to the point where you need to do this type of thing. tons of people switched to using something like mongo because they thought it was the thing to do and ended up biting themselves in the ass because they were still trying to use it like a relational database. they would've probably saved themselves a lot of trouble if they just spun up a postgresql instance or whatever that would easily handle the load and amount of data they had.
edit: there are also things like Hadoop (big table databases) which are designed to just accept as many writes of data as possible. rebuilding indexes and such can be problematic to performance if you're trying to write billions of rows of data per minute. querying these tend to be a bit slower though, so most of the time you'll just write operations to aggregate data sufficiently enough to where you can shove it into a more standard relational database to actually work with the data. | 34 |
ELI5: What exactly did Goldman Sachs do that they are suddenly getting blamed for the Greece debacle? | In the last few weeks, the number of commenters claiming that Greece would be alright if it wasn't for those rats at Goldman Sachs have been astoundings. What, leaving aside hyperbole and conspiracy, did they have to do with Greece getting $300 billion plus in debt? I know there must be *some* basis to these comments. | 25 | Goldman Sachs helped Greece hide how bad their financial problems were to make them look like a safer investment than they actually were by hiding debt. They used some very complex financial transactions to obscure what the debt really was, which allowed Greece to go to the Eurozone and say that they were in compliance with EU rules about debt and could come onboard as part of the Euro currency zone. Because they were part of the Euro currency zone, the EU central bank loaned them money to even higher levels which they then couldn't afford to pay back when the economy imploded in 2008. | 16 |
[WH40k] What is arguably the most advanced/powerful example of dark age technology? | 41 | I believe the Speranza, a DAoT ship, was capable of pulling enemy targets back in time, thinking for itself (while being smart enough to "lay low" about it), and had a number of other fun/crazy tricks up its metaphorical sleeves | 44 |
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ELI5: Does the universe expand at equal speeds in all directions? Would we even be able to tell? | 24 | Yes. And we can tell because we've looked and everywhere we look, we see the same things.
If there is one thing we know for sure about the universe is that on a grand scale, it is incredibly uniform (exactly the same in all directions). | 21 |
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Are all values within a margin of error equally likely, or does likelihood trail off? e.g. If survey says 40% support (+/- 3%), is the real value just as likely to be 37% as 39%? (Within confidence level, o/c) | As per title, would 37% be just as likely to be the "real value" as 39%? Or is the real value less and less likely to be X the further X is from 40%?
I understand there's a confidence level (e.g. 95% confidence) separate from the confidence *interval* (margin of error), but I'm just focusing on the confidence interval for the purposes of this question. | 33 | Depends on the source of error. Most natural phenomena have smooth bell-curve distributions that can be approximated by a normal distribution, under which the center of the confidence interval is more likely than a same-size range near the edge.
But you have to know the process. A confidence interval alone doesn't tell you whether you have a typical distribution or a weird one. | 43 |
[General Highlander] Why didn't the immortals grow with the times and just shoot each other? | I realize the "honorable combat" argument but in all honesty that doesnt make sense as there have been multiple uses of trickery to get the quickening. In my eyes it would be the same thing as shooting an immortal in the leg and then chopping off their head when they fall. Boom more power for you and it only cost you a slug instead of a lengthy sword fight. | 40 | And when someone just blows *your* head off from a mile away?
The commitment to the rules isn't just for honors sake. Keeping with sword fights are in the immortals best interest: it means you always have a fighting chance and know when fights are coming.
If there are muderous gunmen coming for you, any chance of any immortal living any kind of normal life goes away, as simply stepping outside can easily kill you before you have a chance to do anything. You'd all have to live in bunkers forever.
Best to shut down anyone who tries advancing, for everyone's benefit. Even yours. | 47 |
Do computers make calculation errors? | If computers can make billions of calculations per second, is there an expected calculation error rate they make? If so, is there some sort of correction process?
If the calculations are really just tiny jolts of electricity going through logic gates, is there ever chance for an error?
If I give excel 100,000 cells to perform a calculation on, is it possible for one of the calculations to be incorrect mathematically?
Thank you. | 28 | The more pressing issue of incorrect calculation is that it is difficult to represent quantities like `1/3` with bits and so there are precision issues that programmers need to be constantly aware of. In finance, this is particularly problematic, so reliable software works in the smallest possible denomination of a currency. For example, you see $4.25, but the computer is working with this amount as 425 cents behind the scenes.
So the answer to the title question "Do computers make calculation errors?" is "yes, all the time" but not for any of the reasons you proposed.
Hope this helps. | 23 |
ELI5: Why does ice in a freezer get smaller over time? | I saved some snowballs from the first snowfall in our new house in Virginia. Over time, the snowballs have gotten smaller and smaller. Where is the water going? | 21 | It is evaporating, or, to give it its right name, sublimating. Just like liquid water evaporates into the air, ice does too. Either the water vapor in the freezer escapes when you open the door, or it ends up creating frost on the inside of the freezer. | 25 |
Why is it important to "prove" mathematical conjectures/hypotheses? | For example, the Rieman hypothesis. What is the benefit to proving it over simply assuming it is true/false and seeing what the consequences of that are?
After all, mathematics rests upon any number of axioms and posulates that are accepted as true, and new branches of math can arise from flipping that around (e.g. discarding the parallel postulate).
Obviously, there may be novel math involved in solving these theorems, so this question is about the value inherent in the solution existing, independent of the how it was discovered. | 45 | Based on our assumptions, how will we know if it is true if we don't have a proof? We can't just add a new axiom that says the Riemann Hypothesis is true or false, because the axioms we have now already determine if it is true or false. A collection of axioms must be consistent with each other, that is, we are not able to prove true=false using them. If the Riemann Hypothesis is false and we assume that it's true, then we get true=false. A proof is the only way to know if it is true.
That being said, it has a $1,000,000 reward because we expect it's proof to give us new math. Though, it is a common assumption in Number Theory to prove things under the assumption that it's true, if it is false then thousands of results will be affected. | 44 |
[BoJack Horseman]Aside from his appearance, what horse-like traits does BoJack exhibit? | Wanda can see in the dark and fly. Princess Carolyn has a scratching post and catlike agility.
BoJack, however, seems more man than a horse. He's not a talented runner, for instance. He claims to weigh 1200 pounds and have a high alcohol tolerance as a result, but he's still able to sit on ordinary barstools.
Bonus Question: What human-like traits does Todd exhibit? | 22 | BoJack is fairly strong. He beat Mr. Peanutbutter in an arm wrestling match and somehow stole the Hollywood "D" while blackout drunk, got it either through or around his house, and got it in the pool.
He's also abused his body for a few decades and is tremendously weak-willed. The few times he tries to do something physically demanding on-screen he gives up immediately, but presumably would have horselike strength and stamina if he got in shape and made a real effort.
He might also have an enormous dong, but that's never mentioned either way. | 29 |
[meta] No questions about real life. | If you see questions about real life don't engage them just report them. | 66 | Can you more clearly define the term? Is "how would we react to Thor showing up in New York" an example? If so, could we re-word it to say, "how would our universe react to Thor crossing the dimension barrier and showing up in New York"? | 31 |
[Sci-fi] Why does shooting a door panel open or disable a door? | Does where you shoot it determine whether the door opens or is locked? | 74 | According to the latest IPTSS code:
> all secondary bulkhead doors must default to "open" in the event of circutry failure, while all primary bulkhead doors must default to "closed." All exceptions must be noted in local and submitted documentation, and temporary* waivers cannot exceed 1 per 500 m^3 habitable volume. | 92 |
Sorry in advance if my question is somewhat ignorant: What did Foucault mean when he said that "Psychiatry is another way to exert political power over a social class"? (link in description) | [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpVQ3l5P0A4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpVQ3l5P0A4) min 3:54 | 58 | He's basically just saying that psychiatry has power over those who it treats. If you're someone who needs psychiatry, then you have to submit to the power of psychiatry – diagnoses (say, ADHD), treatment regimes (say, pills or a hospital stay), which social group you belong to (psychiatry patient) and so on.
His wider point is that power is not a simple structure of someone deciding what someone else should do or not, but a complex and intertwined network of structures that involve both the entity excerting the power (say, psychiatric institutions, theories and doctors) and the entity submitting to the power (the patient). Consequently, philosophical critiques that expose such power structures can be the foundation for freedom as you become aware of where power is situated and how it works. | 61 |
[Star Wars] How much of Han Solo's fame and reputation as a smuggler came from being a skilled/lucky pilot with a fast ship vs being The Human Who Flies With a Wookie? | I never really considered this before watching the Book of Boba Fett and being introduced to Black Krrsantan, but Wookies are genuinely *terrifying*. Having a Wookie as co-pilot/engineer has to have affected how others in that sort of life perceived Han, right? | 83 | Han Solo's "fame and reputation" is mostly all in his own head.
He's only known among other smugglers, thieves and pirates because they all know each other, and work for the same criminal syndicates. Outside of that group, no one knows who he is.
That said, not ALL Wookiees are terrifying necessarily. They CAN be, and those who are warriors and bounty hunters and ALSO work for these syndicates can be terrifying indeed... but most Wookiees are peace loving species who value family, friendship, and caring for others. | 117 |
There's a glass of water on a perfectly flat and horizontal surface. Is the top of the surface of the water perfectly flat too? If not, what is the maxium height difference of its particles at the top? | It seems flat and all, but since water is made of molecules with a non-zero size, there must be some difference, right? | 16 | If the water is below the level of top of the glass, there is a meniscus where the water slightly creeps up the sides of the glass and makes the top look concave.
The water can also be slightly higher than the top of the glass due to surface tension, and the surface would be convex.
If the water is at the exact top, then temperature and air pressure can make the center of the surface of the water bow out or end depending on the sum of all factors. | 12 |
ELI5:Why is it called Beheading and not Deheading? | 172 | Words like "decriminalize" are Latinate constructions; Latin through and through. The words "head" and also "behead" are old English; the "be" prefix denoted taking away. Another example is "bereft".
edit: technically the "ize" in "decriminalize" is Greek. | 97 |
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Very newb question about Descartes | I'm taking a beginning philosophy class. We just read the First Meditation. Just before Descartes brings up the evil demon, he brings up the possibility of a deceptive God, only to dismiss it on the grounds that God is good. But this seems like a crap argument, as it assumes something about God (and in this Meditation, Descartes is trying to get rid of all assumptions). Questions:
* Is it a crap argument?
* If so, is there any evidence that Descartes knew it was a crap argument, and is sort of signalling his doubt about God (His existence or nature), which Descartes felt he could not state explicitly, because of the risk of running afoul of the Church?
Thanks! | 23 | He doesn't do that, at least not in the first meditation...he dismisses the position that God would be no deceiver and says he will Assume there is an evil deceptive demon, and the meditation ends there. | 14 |
ELI5: Military naming conventions, especially M-designations. | There are multiple weapons and vehicles called M1 but there are also designations in the M12XXs. There are a half dozen or more aircraft that have been called F4. I can't make heads or tails of this [list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._military_vehicles_by_model_number). What is the logic behind the designations? | 199 | Ok. M seems to be model. Examples are m-4 and m-1911 a 1. Usually for weapons. F is fighter. Like f-16 and f-111. A is attack so air to ground. A-10 and a-5. C is transport so c-130 or c-5. It does have its logic in there. | 51 |
How do we get Vitamin D from sunlight? | I never really understood why, like do we have some special organelle in our cells that convert sunlight to vitamin D or is it something entirely different? | 3,592 | It’s a photochemical reaction.
There’s a chemical in your skin called 7-DHC that’s photochemically reactive to light between the wavelengths of 290 and 320 nm. These wavelengths are part of the sun’s spectrum and what is often referred to as UVB radiation. When 7-DHC reacts with UVB light, the product is dholecalciferol, also known as Vitamin D3, which is then carried to the liver. | 3,829 |
[Agents of SHIELD] In S1E12, Fitz & Simmons claim candidates need at least one PhD to enter SHIELD's Academy of Science and Tech. Is it just me, or is that absolutely ridiculous? | I just don't understand the value a SHIELD science academy would provide to doctorate-calibre people.
Most PhDs are pioneers at their narrow, obscure scientific fields - what (or more importantly, HOW?!) the hell can you possibly teach them anything they don't already know at their field?
Or, if the academy is merely to give a well-rounded scientific education - WHY? These guys are rare talent with niche specializations. To have them do anything else seems like a waste of their talents that otherwise is extraordinarily difficult to find.
Plus, from what I understand, it takes an average of 8 years to earn a PhD. That's like a decade of their lives slaving away for their professors with poverty pay. Where's the incentive for a PhD to put their professional lives on hold for another 4 years to be at the bottom of the academic rung again? How on earth are they attracting enough PhDs to make an Academy viable?? | 252 | > Where's the incentive for a PhD to put their professional lives on hold for another 4 years to be at the bottom of the academic rung again?
The chance to work with top secret metahumans and alien tech. If you want riches and fame, SHIELD isn't for you. If you want the intellectual pursuit and a chance to make a difference, then maybe you'll fit in. | 295 |
ELI5: Why does the touchscreen works with the negative pole of a battery? | 15 | The actual answer is that phone screens sense changes in capacitance. The positive terminal of a battery goes right to the inside of the battery - which isn't a lot of material and has low capacitance.
The negative terminal, however, is actually bigger than you think - the entire case of the battery often functions as a negative terminal. So when you grab the battery, you are touching the negative terminal. Basically the negative terminal completes the circuit between your hand and the phone screen, so it works. | 10 |
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ELI5:If Haiku are Japanese, why are they 7:5:7 syllables in English? | I understand it's kind of a weird question, and may not make sense at all, but it's really bugging me. I dont understand. When we translate a Haiku into English, do we change words until it's 7:5:7? Is that not a rule in actual Japanese Haiku? | 130 | It's just a way to adapt their poetry form into our language.
It should also be noted that the original Japanese form is NOT 5/7/5 syllables. It is 5/7/5 moras. A mora is a unit of length defined as the vowel and anything following it. A long vowel counts as two morae. English speakers often find it strange, because our language ignores morae. Here's an example to demonstrate:
edo no ame
nan goku nonda
hototogisu
~Issa
"How many gallons
of Edo's rain did you drink?
cuckoo"
Notice how the second line has only five syllables? It still fits the meter because "nan" has two morae (a and n), and "nonda" has three (o, n, and a). Japanese poetry doesn't care about syllables, it cares about moras. Oftentimes moras line up with syllables, because CVC syllables are somewhat uncommon in Japanese, but it's a crucial distinction. | 98 |
Eli5: Why did the production of Grease cast such old actors to play teenagers? | John Travolta was 24 years old when the movie was filmed, Olivia Newton-John was 30. Why would they cast obviously old actors/actresses to play roles that were aged 18-19? | 20 | This is the case with virtually all big-budget films and television productions. Simply put it's easier to work with older actors. They are better/more experienced at their job, they have more freedom to work when and where they need to, are more able to understand the management and business side of the production, and they are less likely to have the emotional/physical issues that real teenagers deal with.
Also, no one really cares. Superheros don't really exist either, but we pretend for the sake of the film. We know that these aren't really teenagers, but they are ACTING like teenagers and that's good enough. And to be honest they probably portray being a teenager better than a teenager does, most of the time. | 30 |
ELI5: How did computer hackers do their hacking back in the 60s and 70s? | I realized that I know next to nothing about computers from back then, so I was wondering, for example, how a hacker from back then would hack into a business' computer? Like would they have to be on site, or could they do it remotely? Also, how easy was it to hack those old IBMs from that era? | 78 | The vast majority of hacking in the pre-internet days relied on physical access to the system... as that was the only way to access it... or by manipulating someone with physical access to it to do something to it (knowingly or unwittingly)
Even today, physical access to the system is often how a lot of hacks take place, there's just no substitute for ease of actually having physical access.
Even many newer big name hacks, such as at least one of the Sony hacks and stuff like Stuxnet both were done with physical access. | 50 |
ELI5: Is it possible to take down all DNS servers? What would happen to the Internet? | You might be aware of today's massive DDOS attack on Dyn DNS. Several websites are no longer accessible at the moment.
Aren't websites domains supposed to be referenced by several of those servers?
Is it somehow possible to take down all the DNS servers accross the world? Either with remote (DDOS, ...) or local (shutdown, ...) attacks.
If so, or hypothetically, what would happen? Possible to rebuild everything, ...? | 16 | To take down the DNS you'd probably want to focus on disrupting the DNS root servers. These servers basically keep track of Top Level Domain name servers which keep track of .com/.org/.biz/.mil/.gov/.edu/ etc TLDs. There have been many such attacks with varying degrees of success but so far no one has taken the entire DNS down for any meaningful amount of time. A fellow by the name of Dan Kaminsky uncovered a (if exploited) fatal security exploit in 2008 but luckily for everyone he chose to notify the authorities instead of use the exploit for malicious purposes. For his efforts he was given one of the 14 "keys" to the DNS system. In the event of a failure 7 of the 14 keyholders must meet at a secret pre-determined place in order to reboot the DNS.
The technique Dan Kaminsky discovered exploited a flaw in the way DNS servers decide which servers they can trust and which ones they can't. Basically he found he could trick a DNS server into believing that he was also a "trustable" DNS server and that domain name lookup tables he provided were therefore also legit. Of course if you can feed incorrect information to DNS server which it will blindly accept you can destroy its lookup tables in what is known as cache poisoning. If those tables become corrupted the server becomes effectively useless at providing correct information and its tables will need to be rebuilt.
Other methods such as DDoS are much more crude and work by simply overwhelming the system with bogus requests so that it doesn't have time to respond to legitimate requests, effectively grinding everything to a halt. These kinds of attacks are usually limited to smaller parts of the DNS because they simply don;t have the "firepower' to be able to knock out the whole thing. Additionally, the DNS is designed in such a way that the attack would have to completely saturate the system for more that 24 hours before it could actually start to mess things up. Usually in that amount of time you can either deploy some counter measures or find other ways to filter out the malicious traffic.
Recently efforts have been made to make the DNS much more distributed and therefore much harder to completely take offline. There have been many security enhancements but there will almost definitely always been some means of exploiting other existing vulnerabilities if you have the time and resources to do so. It's a very very very robust and secure system but like any computer system, it is not 100% bulletproof. | 12 |
Constant PhD rejections. | Hey all. I hope you're all doing well. I didnt really know who to turn to so I thought I'd share my experience in the last few months since September. I'm in the UK and I've achieved a first in my undergrad(biomed) and got a merit in my MSc(cancer). I've applied for about 8 PhD positions but I haven't even gotten through the first screening process even once. Because of current circumstances I havent been able to get feedback. I feel really lost and confused and I dont know who to turn to or what to do next, the PhDs out there currently aren't in my field and I just spend my time checking my emails hoping for something that isn't there. How many tries did it take for you guys? Should I be doing something else? I didnt really know how to word this or put this but I hope there's some people out there in my position. A few of my friends got into PhD positions in the first month and its really crushing. | 127 | Get someone you know who is familiar with PhD recruitment to look over your materials. If you've been through 8 applications, with that academic record, without getting a single interview it suggests there *may be* something problematic in your application documents.
Some obvious ones to check for:
1. Make sure your CV is short concise, and allows your application to get through the first filter. The purpose of the CV is simply to tick off checkbox items like has a degree, has some relevant experience, etc. No one is expecting a graduate to have an exciting CV, but make sure it is at least simple and clear. Don't add fluff items on there which are not relevant. This is not a random job on a recruitment site. Maybe highlight a few key specialist or transferrable skills or responsibilities that relate to previous activities, but don't go mad. There is little reason for most PhD application CVs to run over 1 page.
2. Coverletter. Keep it specific and to the point. You should address - in order - any requirements of the project and how you fit them. More specifically for a PhD what you want to do is highlight why *you specifically* are a great fit for *this specific* project. What directly relevant experience or interest do you have? Why are you a shoe-in for it? Also, don't include one of those vague gushy intro paragraphs that UCAS tutors train you to include. You are not Indiana Jones adventuring through life, this is not the Temple of Doom, you are not saving the world.
3. Contact the PI. Make sure you make contact before the application submission with the people listed on the advert. Ask them if there are any specific skills or experience they are looking for? even if there aren't by starting that communication process you can tap into any help or guidance they might want to offer.
4. Don't try and flatter the PI into accepting. We don't need to know what you think of our work - we want to know what you are capable of, and that you are someone who could hit the ground running and deliver a project. We want to know that you have thought through the process of doing a PhD. We don't want to hear that you've dreamt of this since you were a child - we want to know that you here right now have thought through the reality, and are keen to work on this specific project. | 99 |
ELI5: Why do warmer countries/closer to the equator tend to be poorer than colder countries? | Sure there are exceptions like Singapore and Mongolia, but why do most colder countries seem to be richer than warmer countries? | 549 | For most of history, there wasn't that much difference between most region of the world. Great civilizations rose and felt, bringing stability and wealth to different region throughout history. China was often one of the richest region of the world, the Middle East was a power house between the Ancient World and Islamic Golden Age, and Africa was known for several rich Kings, etc.
America was usually behind in term of wealth. Why it was the case is a bit complicated. Being separated by an Ocean limit the spread of trade and knowledge (trade between Europe, Middle-East, Asia and North/East Africa was important), but there is also a theory about the lack of tameable work animal in America, which limited greatly the work capability of American tribes. Animal work in the field mean some people could do other things than food production, which lead to more trader, artisan, craftsmen, etc.
It's really only because of the industrial revolution that Europe was able to get in front of the rest of the world in term of technology and wealth. According to Maddison (a British economic Historian), in 1600, China and India had 51.4% of the world GDP (PPP), but at that point in time only had 47.5% of the population, meaning they were not only big, but richer than the world average. In 1600, India had 22.7% of the World GDP (PPP), by 1820 it was 16.1%, by 1870 it was 12.2%. India wasn't getting poorer, their economic growth was 22.7% in the 16th century, and 21% in the 18th century. The difference was that the economic growth of Europe was just too big to keep up. Similar story with the rest of the world.
So the question really is why the Industrial Revolution happened in England instead of somewhere else and why remained concentrated in Europe. That's again a really difficult questions to answer. The is a lot of factor that made the industrial revolution happen in England, the agricultural revolution of the 17th-19th century, a large and easy access to coal, the political climate, etc.
Once this started, Europe had the technology and wealth to spread its power across the world through colonization. Places where European settled the most (America, Australia, New Zealand, etc) become rich, the places that were not settle by European but instead become exploitable colonies didn't received the technology and knew how needed to kick start an Industrial Revolution until several centuries later. At that point, their delay in economic growth was just too big leaving Europe and places they settled in ahead. | 1,341 |
If you were to be in a tank of water on a rocket/space ship leaving the planet, how much of the g forces would you feel at lift off? | 283 | Why is everyone saying you'd sink? People generally float in water at 1 G, because the water is more dense than a person, overall. When the rocket accelerates, that water is going to want to slosh down, same as you get pulled down.
At more than 1 G, the buoyancy force will increase by the same fraction as your weight, so you'd still float. If there's not air bubble at the top of the tank, you'd be pushed against the 'top' of the tank even harder.
As for blood still draining down, kinda. Again it's all about relative density. In a tank of water the water would be pressurised by the weight of the water 'above' as the rocket accelerates. This means if you were floating upright, the water around your feet would be squeezing much harder than the water at your chest or head. Fresh water is slightly less dense than blood so the blood would still push down slightly harder than the water, but compared to being surrounded by air, the difference would be pretty negligible. | 120 |
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ELI5: What actually happens when a young mans voice 'breaks' during puberty? | 106 | Girls' voices break, too.
During puberty, your whole body grows at a rapid pace. That includes your larynx. It thickens and elongates. But when it's at a "transitional" size, it doesn't vibrate as steadily as it did when you were smaller. You grow into it.
And when you get old, the larynx loses some flexibility, which is why old people have creaky voices. | 41 |
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If you can't drive drunk, Why is being public intoxication a charge? | Example: Drunk at a bar but can't get a ride home, so you walk home but a cop arrests you for public intoxication. | 84 | For many states, to get charged with public intoxication, prosecutors are required to prove that you seem so out of control that you don't appear to be able to take care of yourself, or that you present a threat to the safety of others. | 77 |
[Quantum Leap] In his own 'present' timeline (1999 and beyond), what is the public's level of knowledge regarding Dr. Sam Beckett's leaps? Are Sam's adventures studied? | Al mentions several times that the Quantum Leap project is affiliated with the government, but I can't recall if any specific mention is made about how much the public is aware of what Sam is doing vis a vis the leaps.
Are Sam's adventures classified? Does the general public know that some guy is bouncing through time, setting right what once went wrong? If so, what kind of research is being done (I'll bet the paper written on Sam's leap into a chimpanzee was a scorcher!)? | 32 | In one episode a US Senator shows up as part of a plotline about a Senate hearing to defund the project, so presumably the existence of the project is public. Al actually testifies that Sam is "putting things right" and that God is in charge of the leaps now.
The Senator is sceptical that Sam has actually developed Time Travel, but Sam changes something in the past, which ends up changing the identity of the senator mid-sentence from someone who was going to defund the project to someone (that Sam helped) who supports the project. Al is the only person in the room who sees that the timeline has been changed.
Beyond that, the "evil leaper" project presumably uses the same technology developed by Dr. Beckett, so research papers and technical details would need to exist and be available outside the project. | 22 |
How long does it take you to read a Philosophy paper that is, say, thirty pages long and what advice do you have to reduce the time? | Hello! I am an Undergraduate Philosophy major and recently, I've noticed that it takes me very, very long to get through Philosophy papers. I was reading Rawls's *A Theory of Justice* and I realized that I was taking almost an hour just to get though something like 10-12 pages (of [this](http://www.univpgri-palembang.ac.id/perpus-fkip/Perpustakaan/American%20Phylosophy/John%20Rawls%20-%20A%20Theory%20of%20Justice~%20Revised%20Edition.pdf) kind of text). I had to keep going back and rereading sentences I had already read to understand it, just because of how dense it was. If you were to hand me a novel, like *A Game of Thrones*, I would be flying through the pages. This is starting to affect me more and more, because it takes forever to finish the reading assignments for my classes.
**Could you give me any advice to reduce the time it takes to read papers?** | 37 | An hour for 10-12 pages is not a bad reading rate. You should not assume that reading slowly is a bad sign; almost always it's reading quickly that's worrisome. You're doing exactly the right thing; keep it up! | 34 |
Do injuries take significant amounts of calories? | Does the body use up significant amount of calories when healing wounds? | 39 | Yes but it is situational. The injury severity will determine the amount of calories needed for repair. One example is that a second or third degree burn will require substantially more calories for all the metabolic activities required to repair the damaged tissue. Something of this nature can actually cause weight loss in patients who have been hospitalized due to a burn covering a significant amount of the body. To counter this, extra food or supplements will be given to those patients. Something minor like a paper cut will require some caloric energy but nothing major. | 16 |
[Friday the 13th] Frightened, lucky teenager here. I need some advice pronto before this guy gets back up... | So... this asshat with a hockey mask just showed up and brutally murdered all of my friends and even some people that I didn't like too much.
I got lucky and he happened to fall into one of my traps - an oversized woodchipper in a pit underneath a tarp that had some dirt and brush sprinkled over it. Yes, I turned that shit on and cranked his zombie-ass through it again and again, each time ensuring that the majority of his evil corpse got dumped in these handy 5 gallon buckets someone left lying around.
Anyways, I am concerned that this unrecognizable, reddish glop of clothing, hockey-mask, and meat might somehow reconstitute and kill me too.
So here's my question: **What the hell am I supposed to do now?** Presently the guy's remains are distributed across 18 buckets. I've been running random buckets through the woodchipper every hour or so due to the possibility of him coming back T-1000 style, but am concerned that this won't work forever. On top of that, I'm going to run out of gasoline for the woodchipper in another 2-3 hours.
Thanks in advance. | 45 | Bury the buckets at least 20 meters apart, cover them with rocks, go home, buy a plan ticket, leave New Jersey, and possibly move to Canada, which I've heard is killer free for the most part. Just stay out of Wendigo territory. | 38 |
ELI5: what qualifies Bono to speak to the U.S. congress about terrorism? | Seems like someone got a donation in order to ensure that he has access or something? Why Bono and not world military leaders? | 40 | All the people who are replying "nothing" or similar should look into the bombings that happened all over Ireland, his political themes, the IRA openly threatening to kidnap him, death threats, IRA supporters attacking the vehicle the band members were in, etc.
He's lived it, as a political activist. And while that doesn't mean he knows as much as someone who has devoted their life work to studying it, it's still something. | 28 |
[Star Wars] [Serious] What if Anakin was gay? | Anakin Skywalker is gay in the Star Wars series and has no sexual interest in Padme. How would that change the Star Wars series? | 36 | He would probably have latched on to obi wan as his love interest instead of Palme (young anakin clearly idolised Jedi).
Problem is Obi could never have loved him back, so Palpatine could probably still have corrupted him by playing on that unrequited love, and turning it in to resentment and ultimately hate. | 102 |
[Pokemon Anime] Since James' Magikarp evolved so easily was it really a bad deal? | Sure, he didn't buy it to battle with it but had he(and the rest of Team Rocket) had just been friendly with it and earned its love they could have soon had a powerful Pokemon.
Imagine if Ash had bought it. | 32 | No. This is the secret of the Magikarp salesman. At first it seems like a good deal, then you see the fish and you think it was a bad deal, then you learn about Gyarados and find out it was a good deal.
In the games too. Many people initially think of it as an awful deal, but standard advice now is that if you don’t start with Squirtle that it’s a genuine good strategic decision to buy the Magikarp.
If James had that Gyarados, he’d be in a better position. Pikachu still destroys the 4x weak Gyarados, but it’s a good Pokémon. | 29 |
What would happen if blood flowed smoothly? | What if there was a constant stream instead of consecutive pumping?
Would it be more efficient?
| 24 | I don't think it would have any adverse effects. There was an article in popular science about a mechanical heart that was a turbine, instead of a pumping system. The patient didn't have a pulse because the blood flowed smoothly through his veins | 17 |
If I were to leave my fully charged laptop turned off and unplugged for five years, could I still start it up on battery only? | Average run-of-the-mill HP laptop, fully charged. I unplug it, turn it off, leave it at room temperature, and then I wait five years. Will I still be able to turn it on using battery power, or is the battery somehow discharged? | 255 | Most likely not. All batteries suffer from a phenomenon called "self discharge", which is the slow reduction of capacity when a battery is not in use. Rechargeable batteries have higher self discharge rates than non-rechargeable batteries.
Lithium ion batteries that are used in laptops and many other mobile devices, have a self discharge rate of about 2-3% per month. The rate depends on the temperature, with higher temperatures resulting in a higher self discharge rate. | 205 |
Eli5: Why are nuclear power plants smoke stacks shaped so differently from others? | If it’s just for steam why make it different? | 15 | They are shaped differently because they are being used for different things. A smokestack is used just to exhaust gasses up high enough to be away from people on the ground. The nuclear plant doesn't have smokestacks though, they have *cooling towers*. The aim there is to draw in air at the bottom and make it carry heat out the top.
Hot water is sprayed into the tower and allowed to fall through the cool air, becoming more cool water when it lands at the bottom. Only a small amount escapes as the steamy mist out the top. This is the whole aim of the cooling towers, to make cool water which can then be used to cool the water that actually flows into the reactor. | 66 |
ELI5: What does the thalamo-cortical complex do? | 28 | A glance at the Wikipedia article suggests to me that you might have better luck finding someone qualified to answer this in like, /r/askscience or something along those lines.
Also, obvious homework is obvious. | 12 |
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How does e.g. MS Word copy and paste formatted text, but you can still paste the plain text in other programs? | For example, in MS Word I can copy some text, then paste somewhere else in the document and choose "keep formatting" and it will remember the formatting the text had when I copied it. So I assume there is some metadata in there somewhere that tells Word how to format the text.
However, if I paste that same text into a different, unrelated program it comes out as just the plain text without any metadata or anything. How is this achieved? | 26 | Windows and OS X have a way of storing multiple types of data on the clipboard.
If you copy formatted text in MS Word, it stores the plain text version and the formatted version. MS Word is smart enough to know to pick the formatted one when you paste.
If you copy plain text, nothing is stored in the formatted section, so you can only paste plain text.
If you copy an image, it's stored in the image data section and nothing is stored in the plain text section / formatted text section, so you can only paste that image. | 31 |
Could there exist a planet made completely out of water? | 247 | *Liquid* water? No.
To keep water a liquid requires a few constraints:
1. The pressure has to be high enough to keep it from all evaporating. This generally requires an atmosphere to keep pressures at least above 1 kPa (1/100th sea level pressure), though a fair bit higher to maintain a reasonable range of temperatures where water remains a liquid. We could imagine our proposed water planet evaporates enough water vapor off the surface of the ocean to maintain a water vapor atmosphere to prevent this.
2. The pressure has to be low enough to keep it all from freezing. This requires that, at depth in the ocean, the pressure climbs no higher than about 2 GPa (20,000x sea level pressure), or else we start forming exotic crystal structures of ice, even at high temperatures.
3. We need the right temperature, but let's assume we can play with the planet's position to maintain the right distance from its star.
Suddenly we find ourselves playing a very careful balancing game here: if our planet is too large, then the lower layers will have a pressure that's too high and start freezing. On the other hand, if our planet is too small then there won't be enough gravity to hold on to the water vapor atmosphere, and the whole thing will just evaporate out into space.
So let's start crafting this planet...we want to start by defining the escape velocity, which we'll do by first considering the average velocity of a water molecule at room temperature:
v = sqrt(2kT / m)
v = sqrt[2 * 1.38x10^-23 * 293 / (18 * 1.66x10^(-27))]
v = 520 m/s
That's pretty fast - about 1000 mph - so let's make sure our planet has a high enough escape velocity to prevent a molecule moving that quickly from escaping our planet. In truth, we want an escape velocity quite a bit higher than that since 520 m/s is only the *average* molecular velocity - other molecules could be moving quite a bit quicker. Let's say 8x that so our planet will at least stick around for a while. (By comparison, Earth's escape velocity is about 8x hydrogen's mean velocity, and while we do leak hydrogen into space, we can hold onto it on million year time scales.) The equation for escape velocity is:
v = sqrt(2GM / r)
We know we want v = 8 * 520 = 4160 m/s, and since our planet is liquid water which is pretty incompressible, the density = 1000 kg/m^(3), defining the relationship between mass and radius as just:
M = 1000 * 4/3 Pi r^3
r = (3M / 4000Pi)^1/3
We plug that back into our escape velocity to find:
4160 m/s = sqrt(2 GM / r)
= sqrt[2 GM / (3M/4000Pi)^(1/3)]
= sqrt[2(4000/3 Pi)^1/3 G M^(2/3)]
M = (4160 / sqrt[2(4000/3 Pi)^1/3 G])^3
M = 7.22 x 10^23 kg
...and plugging back into our radius equation...
r = (3 * 7.22 x 10^23 / 4000Pi)^1/3
r = 5560 km
That's big, but not too ridiculous...a bit smaller than Earth in terms of radius, but about 8x lighter in terms of mass, which makes sense when you consider this planet is much less dense.
So what's the central pressure of this planet? Well, to first order we can use the following equation (though a more thorough treatment would use an integral):
P = G * M * density / r
P = 6.67 x 10^-11 * 7.22 x 10^23 * 1000 / 5.56 x 10^6
P = 8.66 GPa
...or about 80,000x sea level pressure, which is already well above the freezing point of water at extreme pressures. In other words, this thing has to have an ice core.
**TL;DR**: In order to have a liquid water planet large enough that it doesn't evaporate away into space in less than a million years, the core must have a pressure high enough to become ice. | 353 |
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[John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt]Whenever John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt goes out, why do all the people shout "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt"? | 93 | They don't shout "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt". They shout "*There goes* John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt". And they shout it because John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt is the fuckin' man that deserves to be recognized. | 148 |
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[General] How does an immortal being deal with the hell of a post heat death universe? | Like, just a human that can feel pain and suffer, but cannot die, how would they deal with an eternity in a cold dead universe? | 47 | The thing about the heat death of the universe is that it's not **just** cold. It's not just dead. It has a completely even distribution of both matter and energy; it has achieved total entropy. The expansion of space would have ripped the immortal entity apart at the cellular -- and then molecular -- level long before that point. | 54 |
CMV: The way Facebook, Google and other tech megacorporations control speech on their platform limits free/effective speech in the world today | Let me start by saying that I am totally aware that private companies are legally allowed to choose what is and isn't allowed on their platform.
The internet has undoubtedly changed how we communicate with each other, connecting us in ways we never thought possible.
However, as the wild west days of the internet fade behind us, we have entered a world where speech is increasingly being controlled by megacorporations like Facebook, Twitter, Google and others who now have become major channels for the expression and discover of our ideas today.
These companies effectively control vast amounts of the flow of information in the world, and as the climate continues to polarize, we are now facing serious problems with our situation. These private companies have already begun using their platforms to determine which voices are worth listening too, and deplatforming or soft-censoring voices they don't like.
Here are my main problems with this situation:
* The private aspect means that a small group of individuals can decide based on their own personal biases or preferences what voices are heard, distorting the flow of speech to their own benefit, or others detriment
* Further, political biases at these companies tend to lean left, resulting in voices that oppose or disagree with such ideologies being, at best, potentially underrepresented in the public conversation•
* At worst, disliked ideas can be branded as "hate speech" or similarly nebulous terms, and banned on platforms without evidence or warning, all on the whim of of a mouseclick. Sometimes this happens in tandem at multiple companies, forcing someone off multiple platforms at once
* The monopolistic nature of these companies also means that competing platforms can essentially be muscled out by the big guys
* Cooperation with world governments without civilian oversight means that government censorship is also an increasing threat without proper tools to deal with it
The end result is that free/effective speech is at severe risk of being censored by private companies at the behest of everyone but the people it actually matters for.
•Left wing ideologies are also at risk here, because if these tech giants can censor peoe they don't like, they can censor people they like, too. | 31 | A small group of people have always controlled information and decided what the populace could or could not know. This was true of television, radio, print, and even town criers. These platforms have effectively made dissemination of information at scale as much of a mertiocracy as the world has had. How do you contextualize your argument historically when dissemination of information has never been a right for more than the privileged few? | 19 |
ELI5: How did humans get to harness and use electricity? | I had always heard about Benjamin Franklin and his kite and key, so what happened between that and when Edison was able to turn on a lightbulb? | 27 | Some dudes were fucking around with magnets and found out that if you spin a magnet really fast around a conductive metal, a bunch of electrons jump out, and if you pump a bunch of electrons into a magnet, the magnet will spin.
You mix that together and you can make things move with this spinning magnet, conductive metal combo. | 30 |
CMV: Minors should not be able to marry under any circumstances. | Many countries have provisions in their marriage laws that allow minors to marry with parental consent (or subject to certain conditions). Allowing 16/17-year-olds (sometimes younger) to marry is completely illogical to me. There are two main cases of marriage involving minors:
Marriage between a minor and an adult: allowing marriages like this clearly leads to child brides and exploitative situations. This obviously should not be permitted. This is already illegal in some countries.
Marriage between two minors: while this is generally not exploitative, it is still a terrible choice. If someone is barely old enough to drive, why should they be able to enter into something as serious as marriage? Marriage should take a lot more thought and consideration than a 16-year-old is capable of. As well, what's the harm in waiting a few years? A couple that young has hardly had any time to find out how compatible they are with each other in the aspects of life they will share after marriage.
I'll award a delta to anyone who can prove any benefits associated with the existence of these laws that are significant enough to outweigh the harms they bring.
Edit: I've awarded two deltas for the terminal illness point. Further change in view will have to attack my point that the laws allowing minors to marry should not exist. | 369 | > Marriage between two minors: while this is generally not exploitative, it is still a terrible choice. If someone is barely old enough to drive, why should they be able to enter into something as serious as marriage? Marriage should take a lot more thought and consideration than a 16-year-old is capable of. As well, what's the harm in waiting a few years?
I think there should be at least one exception: the current minor is close to becoming of age, but is expected to have only a few months left to live (e.g. due to a very serious illness), and their dying wish is to marry the love of their life.
In many countries, the law permits a court to make a compassionate/humanitarian exception in such cases, to fulfill such a person's deathbed wish to marry the person they love. | 52 |
How Should I Approach Heidegger as a Therapist? | There is an approach to psychotherapy that follows in the footsteps of 20th century 'existential' or 'ontological' phenomenology, borrowing mostly from Heidegger and Sartre. One of my professors sent me some articles as an introduction to the matter and I want to start reading Heidegger. But since my interest is more clinical than philosophical (but I think the two are closely intertwined anyway), how should my approach reflect this? My goal is to read his *Being and Time*, but not as close as a philosopher maybe would; I'm trying to understand his fundamental concepts to help me formulate my own therapeutic orientation. It looks like there are two translations (Macquirre-Robinson and Straumbaugh). There also seems to be a few read-along guides (notably by King and Llewelyn). Is there a preference for any of this? Is a guide required for my goals? How long should I expect to spend on this book, estimating 4-5 hours a week on this alongside my actual studies for classes?
Bonus: if anyone knows any papers out there reconciling Heidegger to psychotherapy or psychoanalysis, that would be awesome. | 80 | Frankly, its going to be a rough read (and maybe not super fruitful) unless you have a clinical-specific read-along guide. If your choice could be between Being and Time, or lots of material on the specific clinical applications/discussions of Heidegger, I'd pick the latter. It's very easy to get lost in the weeds, even with a good translation, and while there is an overlap with some psychotherapy, it can be *really* hard to see where it is for *long* stretches in the text. | 47 |
[The Prestige] Why didn't Angier simply use the machine once? | And create a perfect double of himself to perform his trick? It would change nothing and they could switch off. I understand that he freaked out and shot his clone the first time, but why murder EVERY ONE? It solves the issue he had with Root (the actor) and logistically (And morally) is much simpler. | 82 | When he uses the machine, he doesn't know which one "he" will be. Maybe he'll be the one to drown, or maybe he's the one up on the balcony finishing the show.
From his perspective he always survives because the other one is never around to challenge this perceived truth. The one that survives is always the "real" Angier. They both have equal right to claim to be the legitimate Angier. They are literally identical beings.
He knows that if a clone survives, that it *will* claim to be the original and take over his life. It has every right to think that. Neither would be able to know for sure which is the original and deserves sole ownership of the identity. He solves the teleportation dilemma by simply always killing one of himself.
It's fucked up to think about. But the teleportation paradox is a really interesting problem. | 95 |
What is the difference between Pathology, Pathogenicity and Pathogenesis of a virus? | 15 | **Pathology** relates to the disease (specificially, the effects on the host) caused by the virus.
**Pathogenicity** describes the potential of a virus to cause disease.
**Pathogenesis** is the process by which the virus causes disease. | 15 |
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ELI5:What is the psychology behind motivation?. | 40 | Motivation generally is about fulfilling one's needs. Maslow described these needs in terms of a Hierarchy of Needs that once you have satisfied the most basic need you are only motivated by the next until that is satisfied.
Roughly those needs in order of basic first are
* Physiological needs: Warmth, Food, Water, Oxygen.
* Safety: Free from risks of injury, bad health, abuse.
* Social: Love and Belonging. Association with others.
* Esteem: The sense of being respected by others.
* Self-actualisation: Reaching ones self defined potential.
So for example if the alternative is starving to death we are willing to put up and be motivated in pretty shitty jobs. Once food and safety are taken care of we may be motivated at work by team spirit and friendships. If we find love and belonging outside of work we may only be motivated at work if the job we are doing builds prestige or we find interesting intrinsically. In fact beyond a certain point salary is only motivating as a symbol of prestige if that is how you measure your esteem.
Loads more writing on this, as you can imagine a lot of Business Managers spend a lot of time looking for the magic formula. | 11 |
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[Jessica Jones] Why does kilgrave bother playing people at poker? He could just have them give him the money. He's had his powers almost his entire life, making dudes go all in then fold can't be that exciting. | 268 | People remember what they did while under his control. If he simply tells someone to hand over all his money, he will be compelled to do it, but know he has some kind of magic power. If you lose it playing poker, you would remember playing poorly but not suspect something supernatural happened. | 334 |
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[Alvin and the Chipmunks] How were the chipmunks not taken by the government when people figured out they talk? | This is seriously the stupidest question I’ve ever asked anyone ever but I’m genuinely curious if there is a canonical answer. | 214 | Talking chipmunks are rare, but not unknown by the government. No reason for the government to take them since they have previously been studied.
The ability for chipmunks to talk is not well known by the public, however, until the popularity of the trio. | 238 |
How does one live with an absurdist philosophy? | Upon reading the essays of individuals such as absurdist Albert Camus, I have been interested in how one would exactly live in an absurdist perception of life.
In Camus' "The Myth of Sisyphus" he has written how Sisyphus would go down from the heights in order to return to his rock, yet becomes superior to his fate. But how does one achieve the same status as Sisyphus?
Do we become outcasts to society in the same way Samuel Beckett's "Estragon" and "Vladimir" and almost act in every erratic way like them?
Or do we become sort of disconnected and take an non-chalant approach to the grim realities of life like Daniil Kharm's "Tumbling Women?"
(This if my first time posting here so sorry if this is a weird question, or doesn't make sense) | 64 | It risks sounding a bit like a /r/wowthanksimcured post, but Camus said we should try to internalise the image that Sisyphus is happy.
It's interesting to compare this with the phrase "Amor fati", which Nietzsche used to illustrate the idea that we should think more pragmatically about existence and learn to love it for whatever it is. | 48 |
ELI5: What does the concept of entropy mean? | 159 | You can set off a stick of dynamite. But you can't put it back together again. The amount of disorder in the universe always increases.
Well, technically you could take all of the gasses etc produced in the explosion, refine them, process them, and after a lot of work end up with a stick of dynamite again. But by introducing a lot of order to that random swirl of gasses, you will introduce even more disorder in the rest of the universe - e.g. you're burning stuff to generate electricity to power the machines, you likely have used pure chemicals as part of your reactions and now you have a load of mixed chemical waste, etc. The amount of disorder in the universe always increases.
The "disorder" in this example is technically called "entropy". | 238 |
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[General] Why don’t villains help in world ending situation? Don’t they care? | 217 | Because most villains know that the heroes are going to save the day in the end with or without their help. Knowing that, the best thing for the aspiring villain to do during such world ending events is to maximize their advantage while they know their heroic rivals are preoccupied with bigger fish than themselves. | 178 |
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M-Theory, 11-dimensions, how can we have more than 4? | i think i understand up to the 5th but its hard to contemplate | 32 | Imagine a cube, now flatten it. Flatten it so flat that the height of the cube is smaller than an atom. The cube still has height... but you can't see it! We can still see the width and the depth though, 2 full dimensions, 1 collapsed. Our universe is that cube, but with 8 collapsed dimensions, 3 whole ones.
Technically, the only things that can really take advantage of these crushed dimensions must be super tiny (strings and the such).
You can't actually picture a 4th+ spacial dimension because you evolved to perceive three! | 22 |
[Dark Souls] Ariandel is a painted world. Inside there is a girl about to start making another painted world within it. If that kind of recursion can happen, is it at all possible that everyone in Lordran/Lothric is also inside a painted world, Inception-style? | 69 | If there's one thing you need to know about the world of Dark Souls, it's that everything is symbolic, even the concept of symbolism. That's why when a giant gives you a bow that he used to use, it's suddenly small enough for you to use. He didn't give you the physical bow, but instead the *concept* of the bow.
The painted worlds that we see aren't so much pocket dimensions, but instead they are the concept of a whole other world, with the concept of a door in the form of a painting. So even if a new painted world is being created within an existing painted world, that isn't necessarily recursion. It's just creating a door to a newly conceived plane of existence. By that same process of thought, the painting being created in Ariandel could theoretically have been a new door to Lordran. Though not the same Lordran we all know. Another Lordran, almost indistinguishable from our own, but conceptually different.
Remember, Solaire was the Chosen Undead in his world. And each of the phantoms you saw were the Chosen Undead in theirs. The lines between them were blurry, though, and could be breached with a soapstone.
Long story longer? The flow of time is convoluted in Lordran. | 80 |
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[DC] is Batman good for Gotham? | Is batman good for Gotham overall? Did crime drop when batman came to the scene, did more super villains appear just to challenge batman? So is batman good for Gotham? | 40 | Batman is a positive for the city. While super villains do seem to be drawn to him they're hardly only there because of him. Many of the villains predate Batman or even care little about him other than him foiling their plans. Batman's biggest contribution is reformations made at the GCPD. He busted many of the entrenched mafia groups and helped root out corruption in the police leading to more effective honest police work. So while yes the likes of Joker and the newer smaller mobs like two face and the penguin are a problem they're not outweighing the good Batman does. His struggles against the court of owls, the league of shadows, and non arch super villains is work only he could accomplish and hardly his fault for their actions.
And that's completely leaving out Bruce Wayne's contributions to the city that he only does as he feels Batman can't fix every problem his way. | 64 |
What happens within a Pokeball? | This is a question I'd like to pose to r/asksciencefiction.
Knowing basic physics, what happens within a Pokeball? Where does a Pokemon go? If it truly resides in a Pokeball and the Pokemon's mass is held within one....why doesn't the mass of the Pokeball itself increase (ie. a kid captures a 900lb Snorlax, why doesn't the Pokeball weigh 900+ pounds?)?
Or heck, how can a Pokemon itself survive within the confines of one? | 30 | *I would imagine, given the fact that captured Pokemon can be stored on a computer, that the Pokemon is transformed into energy, the energy converted to data, therefore making a Pokeball, in effect, a 'flash drive for organic lifeforms'.* | 45 |
[Transformers] Have the Transformers ever tried talking to each other about their problems? | Have the Autobots and Decepticons tried debating each other? Or do they just fight each other?
Follow up question: are all Transformers warriors or are some poets, chefs, politicians, actors, etc.? | 49 | Yes they have! For a long time they tried to settle things by way of votes and debates in their Senate. The problem was the ruling class at the time was very entrenched and were NOT interested in hearing any dissent.
One of the biggest social issues was the belief that your alt-mode determined your function. So tanks, drills, other large equipment fellas ended up working the mines. One of these was Megatron, who was not interested in being a miner, he was far more interested in being a poet. Unfortunately after he was arrested in a bar fight he was savagely beaten by a dirty cop as a way of trying to keep him in line. Ut didn't work and led directly towards Megatron using violence to make his point.
As to your follow-up question, yes. Magatron was a poet, Slog was an artist. Jazz was VERY into music. Mirage, Blurr, and Drag Strip were pro athletes. There were a lot of Cycbertronians before the war who had other proffesions. After the war started a lot more of them started to be built just as soldiers. | 94 |
How do TV test screens 'test'? What are they used for? | What do they do? What are they meant to test?
[Example](http://imgur.com/dhnLO)
| 38 | I love test patterns!
This specific one is a Philips Circle, heaps of others exist, and all serve various combinations of purposes. They were basically a set of reference cards, so various checks could be performed all along the signal chain.
Analog TV was a tricky, tricky beast- How red do you show your red? How do you know you aren't showing green, when you should be showing blue? Where is the center of the picture?
Some features in the Philips Circle:
* Colour bars, to show the various intensity levels of full red, green, and blue (and combinations thereof).
* The grid, to allow you to center your image (This wasn't as automatic as it is now, back in the day- and in some applications still isn't.)
* Interference bars, the vertical lines that get closer together, allow you to see the 'definition' of your signal.
* White areas, for brightness and colour adjustment.
* 'Blacker' than 'black' areas. See the box near the top of the circle, and the one just under the center? These are actually darker than 'black'.
That last one is kind of hard to explain- If you pointed a camera at a black room, no light at all, the completely dark image is not transmitted as a '0' in the brightness channel, but a baseline reference above that. The 'blacker' areas are there to provide a reference for the 0 level, to adjust the brightness up to the baseline reference. Ever played a video game for the first time after installing and it has a picture that appears and disappears when you change your brightness settings? Its just like that. | 50 |
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