post_title
stringlengths 5
304
| post_text
stringlengths 0
37.5k
| post_scores
int64 15
83.1k
| comment_text
stringlengths 200
9.61k
| comment_score
int64 10
43.3k
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
I believe that the age limit on voting should be removed, but you should be tested on your knowledge of the candidates you are voting on before being allowed to vote. CMV | I'm 18, so legally, I can vote in elections. However, I know very little about politics, so I don't believe that I should be able to have a part in choosing how the country is ran, when I don't even know what I'm choosing. I certainly don't want Jim over here voting for Bob simply because he belongs to a party that Jim's parents identify with, and I don't want Jan voting for Terry because he's hotter than Bob. It's damaging to the country to have uninformed people put in control of everything, and something needs to be done about it. CMV
EDIT: Some of you are saying that this would basically make the lower class unable to vote. Well, maybe we could have free classes on basic current politics offered, or significantly reduced price classes. | 27 | Whats more dangerous, people voting for candidates they don't have much knowledge of, or the people running the test setting it up to target some demographic they don't want voting? Because thats what happened the last time ssimilar policies were applied in America. | 39 |
Would someone who has both legs replaced with fully cybernetic legs still get tired when walking long distances? | 30 | Depends on the exact mechanism, but most likely there would still be pressure on the place where they connect to the body, or possibly somewhere else on the body, that would cause a person to tire out. | 22 |
|
CMV: Being whatever-phobic is fine as long as you don't attack the individual. | Phobic means " a person with an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something. " This means that being phobic of something is just being scared of something, so what if someone is scared of a particular group of people? Leave them be. As long as they don't attack them for it, that's fine.
Now I foresee you guys saying "what if they attack or-" I said, as long as they keep their thoughts to themselves. Now, many counterarguments to this work like: "But we must change the mindsets of...." Really? Do you have to change someone's mindset if they leave it to themselves? Heck, someone can not like a group of sexualities and even hate them PERSONALLY, but if they keep it to themselves and not attack them in any sense (verbally, physically, mentally etc.) they are fine and you have no right to intervene in them thinking a certain way.
EDIT: I definitely learnt something from the comments, and I feel that phobia can be dangerous if you let it get to you in terms of making a decision. There was a very good comment on conscious thought and action, do read that comment. Being phobic in my opinion is still fine, just do not let it get to you in terms of making a decision like saving a life. Lives matter in any sense. For example, I can dislike this man but still save him because I know he doesn't deserve to die. | 37 | Would you think it's fine to be silently transphobic if someone were, say, a paramedic refusing to treat a transgender person in medical distress?
Is it fine to just silently never recommend a fat person for hire as a job interviewer because they are fatphobic?
Would it be ok for a police officer to not respond to a call because it came from a gay bar as long as they never said homophobic things out loud? | 24 |
What is "The Culture" | In the who would win subreddit I keep hearing about an overpowered group called The Culture. Who are they? | 109 | In universe, they're an anarcho-socialist space-based society, primarily human and near-human, and nominally run by "Minds" - extremely advanced synthetic life forms, that usually take the form of the multiple-kilometres long ships that the majority of the Culture's human and Drone population live on.
They have a population well into the billions (trillions, possibly) and maintain one of the highest levels of technology in the Galaxy. The most telling thing is the motto most other civilisations have regarding them: "Don't fuck with the Culture". Although they look like peace-loving hedonists, their Ships can be utterly beyond ruthless when it comes to defending or avenging Culture citizens.
Out of universe, they are the subject of the Culture novels by Iain M Banks. Try Excession as a good intro to the universe. | 90 |
ELI5: How does "YouTube money" work? | 94 | Yeah. People watch these videos, you -as youtuber- can be allowed to put ads in front of the video. Per 1000 views or something you get like 1-5 dollars. (Google and the Youtuber split the revenue)
So you really need many views to make a decent living from it. | 37 |
|
ELI5: Why do some foods seem to "go right through you"? | I think Taco Bell would be the place that comes to mind most with this title but why do some foods seems to slide right through you when others seems to take your normal digestive cycle to be processed?
EDIT: WOW! Thank you for my first award! All the comments have been a joy to read through. I've laughed and learned immensely. Thank you, thank you, thank you all. | 3,153 | Your GI tract does a lot more analysis and evaluation than you expect.
When you eat something that makes your gut decide, "Nope, this is toxic." it will release instructions to the entire GI tract that more or less translate to, "MAKE WAY!"
So it's not actually the Taco Bell that you're passing a couple hours later, it's a meal or two before. Your GI is just greasing the wheels so that it can get whatever is in the Taco Bell that it doesn't like out as soon as possible. | 4,669 |
(Starship Troopers/The Forever War/The Lost Fleet/Star Trek/Star Wars/and others) Differing principles of interstellar travel. | Two questions
Which fictional travel method is more favorable?
Which fictional travel method is more realistic?
Starship Troopers = Cherenkov Drive days to weeks between A to B no time dilation effect
The Forever War = Collapse Star jumps almost instantaneous travel between massive distance from A to B suffers from time dilation effect
The Lost Fleet = Jump points and Hypernet Gates, jump points days to over a week between systems, Hypernet Gates days to over a week between massive distances. Do not suffer from time dilation.
Star Trek = Warp Drive factored differently on how fast you can go there is a whole Wikipedia article on it. Do not suffer from time dilation.
Star Wars = Hyper Drive factoring again on how fast and far you can go is up for debate. A parsec is a measure of distance. Do not suffer from time dilation.
I apologize in advance, I know this list could be much longer, but I have not read enough.
There are a multitude of other forms of travel I'm interested in hearing about and discussing.
TL;DR ships go fast no matter what fictional world you live in and no matter what physics say. | 34 | You forgot one.
Warhammer 40k = Warp drive, enters a dimension filled with demons made of rape, lemon juice, and torture, to travel from point A to point B. Destination may be off from point B by a few dozen light years. Suffers from variable time dilation ranging from -1000 years to 1000 years. | 32 |
[Star Wars] Do human Jedi live longer than normal non Force Sensitive humans? | With their perfect physique and force powers it would seem so. | 24 | Typically in legends they lived slightly longer that average humans so long as a war wasn't happening but that was as much to do with access to advanced medical technology as anything with the force itself. | 13 |
ELI5:Why are internet upload speeds always much slower than download speeds? | 91 | I have 10 lanes on a highway that can go in either direction.
Most people want to leave the city, only a few want to go into it -- so dedicate 8 lanes to outbound traffic and 2 lanes to inbound traffic.
Same thing with the Internet. | 117 |
|
[Star Wars] How was Vader able to choke out Admiral Ozzel through a monitor? | How did he do it without even moving his hand? | 60 | Using the Force is mostly a mental undertaking. Using body movements just makes it easier.
The force being present throughout the entire galaxy, range isn't an issue, either. Sources say you just gotta imagine the target well enough, and you can affect them.
A video feed makes it much easier to imagine the victim in question. | 73 |
In regards to classification (E.G.: Solid, Gas, Liquid, etc) What is fire? | This is a question my family asked in a recent discussion. It obviously isn't a solid or liquid, but it isn't exactly a gas either, right? | 144 | The fire you see is just the effect of incandescence. When atoms are heated up to that degree they emit light, hence the visible flame. The variation in colours depends on what you're burning.
The conglomeration of atoms that comprise the flames you see would be classified as a gas. | 226 |
ELI5: Why do some people in India defecate in the street? | I know this is a meme at this point and I'm not trying to spark off any trolling or racist attacks at Indian citizens, I'm genuinely baffled that a country with a growing economy and industry has such poor public hygiene rules. Is this a systemic problem or a cultural one? | 43 | Much of India is still very, very poor, combined with a massively dense population of essentially homeless people. Combine it with developing infrastructure, and you get way more people than restrooms. People gotta poop, though. | 43 |
[Star Trek] Why does the Federation have a shipping industry if replication exists? | I'm watching TNG season 6 now, and there's mention of some Federation shipping lanes that need protection - but just 2 episodes ago the Enterprise replicated an entire engine for a starship. What are the limitations of replication that they require long range shipping for? | 46 | Replicators can't create **anything**. For example, latinum which is used by the Ferengi as currency is valuable precisely because it cannot be replicated.
Further, fuels (such as dilithium) could probably be replicated, but why bother? The replicator uses orders of magnitude more energy to create a material than the material itself contains. It makes no sense to replicate something that is designed to power the replicator. | 36 |
CMV:"Vote with your wallet." Is generally ineffective and so it is ideologically an ok argument but a realistically useless one. | So when a product or string of products comes out that are not satisfactory in come capacity. Such as faulty equipment or offensive media or anything in between, and people get up set a common argument is to "Vote with your wallet." In general this argument is a very poor one unless the business in question is so small that a tiny amount of consumer loss is significant. For companies like Wal-mart or EA or Mcdonalds, voting with your wallet is inconsequential because for every product you refuse to buy, not only are there sufficient people that will be satisfied with it, but they are likely to buy in excess such that your proverbial wallet is accounted for in the big business's pocketbook. This combined with a general lack of organization on the part of anyone standing in opposition to such companies, you cannot actually vote with your wallet. Your vote gets cast for you and so your outrage is further justified because effectively there is nothing that can truly be done, Making "Vote with your wallet." incredibly unrealistic and so not a viable or useful argument for contributing to discussion.
_____
> *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!* | 99 | That is exactly what voting with your wallet is. You cast your one vote for or against that business in the form of shopping there or not. And it gets added to everyone else's vote, and that decides who stays open or doesn't.
If you don't like Walmart, don't shop there. If they stay open, then it sounds like you lost the election, but who cares at that point? Your money isn't going there. The point is that it's a system where everyone can have what they want. If you want a store that abides by certain ideals, then support it, and help it stay open. If enough people agree with you, then it'll do well. If no one else does, then your recourse shouldn't be "Well, I'll just go get the government to FORCE it to change."
This is the disconnect. Everyone is happy to say how much they disagree with Apple using cheap sweatshop labor...until the iPhone 6 comes out. Then they can't get in line fast enough.
The only reason this isn't as effective as it could be is because, quite frankly, people are pretty spineless when it comes to putting their money where their mouth is. They're happy to express their displeasure with a place, until it would require actual sacrifice on their part in the form of buying a different product (Apple) or paying a higher price (Walmart). | 66 |
ELI5:What was the universe like prior to the big bang? | I have googled and I have wikied this multiple times but despite being a relatively intelligent person my brain refuses to wrap itself around the concept, and I have a hard time believing what I do understand. | 38 | The big bang is what we get when we take all the evidence we have for the expansion of the universe and rewind the clock back as far as we can. The farthest we can rewind shows us that the entire universe was condensed in a very small fine space. But that's where our current physics and mathematics fail us. We exhausted all our evidence and our science rewinding it to the point of the big bang. We need new physics and new mathematics to rewind farther. So we don't know. There are many hypothesis with
a lot of good math behind them, but until there is any evidence for them, they will only stay hypotheses. | 22 |
[Simpsons] Why does Homer only have a picture of the baby at his famous "Do it for her" work station? | That sounds like favoritism. | 34 | Because it's not for them. Remember he was debt free and quit the plant because he was able to support Marge, Bart and Lisa with his job at the bowling alley. He was happy. Maggie killed those plans. He was forced to return to the plant he hated. So why is he willing to tolerate that shit? For her. | 110 |
[Fallout] What hypothesis were they testing for in each of the vaults that would have contributed to their goal of colonizing space? | Example: Vault 101 = Survival Rate of dwellers or societal decay rate under authoritarian rule. | 53 | Vault 11 - Experiment in ethical pressure designed to test how long humans would compromise their ethics for the sake of survival
Vault 12 - Effects of prolonged exposure to low level radiation
Vault 13 - Study on isolation and genetic bottlenecking
Vault 15 - Study on conflict vs compromise with radically different ideologies
Vault 19 - The effects of propaganda on social programming and dehumanisation
Vault 21 - Basically whether a society can function on dumb luck
Vault 22- Unclear. Was clearly designed for study in agricultural sustainability, but their own internal developments caused them to be wiped out.
Vault 27 - Study on population pressure. Deliberately overcrowded.
Vault 29 - Basically Lord of the Flies. Only youths, with their parents deliberately redirected to other vaults.
Vault 34 - What happens when you give people more explosives than they could ever need.
Vault 36 - Effects on unpalatable food over long periods.
Vault 42 - Effects on long-term low-light environment
Vault 43 - Study on how small groups deal with predatory threats
Vault 53 - Effects of constant work-related stress
Vault 55 - Effects of a lack of entertainment, and likely its impact on both stress levels and creativity.
Vault 56 - Effects of singular BAD entertainment, to be compared with vault 55
Vaults 68 and 69 - Impact of hugely disproportionate gender gap
Vault 70 - Impact of failure to produce clothing, likely a study on sexuality and inhibitions
Vault 77 - Beats the hell out of me.
Vault 87 - No real study, it was a research station on the FEV
Vault 92 - Impact of subsonic frequencies on the musically inclined
Vault 106 - Impact of mass exposure of psychoactive substance
Vault 108 - Ability and viability of a closed system to replace crucial labour with no training
Its worth pointing out that the Vaults do not seem to have been built under the goal of testing a specific hypothesis, but rather simulating particular potential scenarios that may be encountered either during prolonged space travel, or during colony development. This would have been to try and later design fail safes against any negative outcomes observed. | 53 |
CMV: Japanese conservatives are right to protest against North-Korean schools on their territory | After the Japanese government stopped funding North-Korean schools, the North-Korean association demanded that the subsidies should be resumed and want to stop being stigmatized as a propaganda outlet for Pyongyang. But I believe that it is just what they are.
Since Japan doesn't award citizenship by right of birthplace, I can understand that Korean families stranded in Japan since WWII want their children to receive an education taught in Korean language. But they should then just enlist them to South-Korean schools, not those of a terrorist regime that regularly threatens to destroy Japan (apparently not caring about killing their expatriates along with it).
I can understand the desire of these Koreans to be proud of their nationality, especially since Japanese society tends to consider them as foreigners despite living there for generations; but they should then just decide to become South-Koreans. After all, they never lived in North-Korea since the country was still unified when they went to live in Japan, they just arbitrarily decided to join the North-Korean association rather than the South-Korean one. The motives may have been to protest against the South-Korean dictatorship but the tables have turned to say the least since that era. Now North-Korea is the worse regime, first and foremost towards its own citizens. Despite all the discriminations that North-Koreans may face in Japan, it will *still* always be better than what awaits them in their "homeland": labor camp for being "contaminated" by capitalism.
Why should Japan tolerate the existence of schools that teach children to hate Japan ? On its *own* territory ? Could you imagine if during WWII era, children *living in the US* were taught to hate America by Nazi schools ? This is exactly the same. | 127 | >but they should then just decide to become South-Koreans
The biggest flaw in the OP's portrayal of the issue is the assumption that these Koreans have no real reason to prefer North Korea over South Korea.
Immediately after the Korean war, while a majority of the Koreans in Japan went back to their homeland, the people who couldn't leave or were still bonded labourers in Japan were left stranded in an alien culture with no one to turn to. Enter, Kim Il Sung. Regardless of all the faults and flaws of the North, Kim Il Sung went out of his way to fund, feed and keep the Korean population in Japan alive and well. He built them schools, banks and even revenue sources in the form of gambling parlours, because the Koreans in Japan were often heavily discriminated against and could not live normal lives up to that point.
Could this all have just been Kim's way of setting up a population abroad that would bring in foreign currency? Sure. But did it drastically alter the lives of a desperate, stranded population forever? Absolutely. The debt of gratitude these people owe to the North is extremely significant and we all know how blind we can be to the faults of those we love.
>they never lived in North-Korea since the country was still unified when they went to live in Japan
>
>*when they went to live in Japan*
There is no question of "went to live". That's like saying slaves "went to the US". The brutality of the Japanese toward their forefathers and the fact that they brought them back in the thousands to be used as cannon fodder, sex slaves and bonded labourers is the only reason they are in this situation. In fact, I'd argue that the Japanese Government has a responsibility, an obligation to try to assimilate this population into its mainstream instead of trying to pull it up at the roots. Japan's excellent PR helps them sweep issues like this under the rug. Black people are to America, what the Koreans are to the Japanese. It is only fair that they do as the Americans have done; strive for equality and attempt to right to the wrongs of the past.
>Despite all the discriminations that North-Koreans may face in Japan, it will *still* always be better than what awaits them in their "homeland": labor camp for being "contaminated" by capitalism.
It's hard to be objective when you're a dependent in a sea of hostility. The standard response that such people have is that the regimes that question them: the Japanese and the Americans, aren't exactly beacons of human kindness either. Most of them have anecdotal experience of Japanese cruelty to even living family members and it must be very hard to take criticisms of violence from the people who roughed up your granny.
>the existence of schools that teach children to hate Japan
This is debatable. While they teach children to revere Korea and inevitably teach them their historic oppression at the hands of the Japanese, I'd argue that even without the schools, the way the average Japanese conducts himself with even the children of this community is more than enough reason for them to start hating Japan. Japan's best move would be to rapidly ramp up funding for these people and make them less debt ridden to the Kims. Give them new lives, give them stable jobs, make discrimination against them a strict offence and soon, we will see a population who has never seen their "homeland" shift loyalties.
The existing cycle of misery is brutal and starts with Japanese Nationalist movements making the lives of these people harder, even though many of them were born there, alienating them and making them crave a homeland. This alienation makes them resist Japan as their home country, and make them crave some backing for their way of life, regardless of the strings attached to such aid. The way they accept such tainted aid further angers the Japanese nationalists and the cycle continues. Now, speaking from a moral perspective, considering that it's Japan's fault the status quo is as it is, the onus is on Japan to make amends, and that means telling the Japanese far right to put a sock in it. | 28 |
ELI5: What does this patent troll bill say and do? | The passing of this patent troll bill is all over the news. Does it have any impact on my company's existing patents? Will it affect plans we have in place for future patents?
http://www.infoworld.com/t/government/patent-troll-bill-clears-house-huge-majority-232218 | 92 | Let's say you own the patent on brass plated, triangle shaped bottle openers. Here are some of the basics.
Right now you could file a lawsuit on someone making gold plated square shaped bottle openers saying, "Hey, we have a patent for bottle openers!" The people making gold plated square shaped bottle openers don't have the time or money to fight you in court because it costs a lot of money to find out what patent you own, figure out if it's a legally binding patent, figure out if they're violating it etc...etc..., so they settle out of court for a couple thousand dollars to get you to go away.
What the bill does is not only forces you to state the specifics of the patent they are violating (in this case your brass plated, triangle shaped bottle opener patent), but when you lose the lawsuit because it's pretty obvious there is no patent violation, you would have to pay their lawyer fees.
Another thing the bill adds is the right for the patent office to re-review your patent after the case if it was deemed frivolous. "Wait a second, why are we allowing someone to patent brass plated, triangle shaped bottle openers? That's silly." | 36 |
ELI5: Why shouldn't Iran be allowed to have nuclear weapons? | There always seems to be a lot of talk about Iran getting ready to have their own nuclear weapons and I don’t really understand why the US (and other countries) is/are talking about it like it’s the worst thing that could ever happen. Why are the US & Russia (and others) “allowed” to have them if these people also say “you shouldn’t have them”. I don’t understand why any country thinks it can forbid other countries doing what they’re also doing. Thanks in advance. :) | 191 | Basically its to do with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which almost all countries signed.
You're right that it basically says "No-one is allowed to get nuclear weapons if they didn't already have them when they signed the treaty", which seems a little unfair. However, the treaty is what it is, and every country in the world has signed up except from India, Israel and Pakistan. Additionally North Korea originally signed, but then pulled out, and Taiwan is a bit of a odd-case, but they're effectively covered.
So the situation is that Iran has signed an agreement that says they won't develop nuclear weapons, and if they were attempting to then that'd be a violation of the treaty.
Whether or not they're attempting to make nuclear weapons is something open for debate. Iran says that, whilst they are doing things that look like they might be making nuclear weapons (enriching uranium) that is only for the purpose of their Nuclear Power station and related civilian power research, and thus it is allowed under the treaty.
The US on the other hand doesn't believe Iran and thinks that it is doing work to develop nuclear weapons, and thus imposes restrictions on Iran as best it can.
In the end it is basically the big boys with all the power bullying smaller countries into not having nuclear weapons, whilst they hypocritically keep them themselves. Whether or not you think that's fair, the fact is we are alot safer as a world with less nuclear weapons in, so perhaps the ends justify the means.
Its also worth noting that all the countries that aren't covered by the NPT (Israel, Pakistan, India, North Korea) have subsequently gone on to make nuclear weapons. | 131 |
0 Kelvin is considered the lower limit of temperature. Is there an equivalent upper limit of temperature? | 914 | No, there isn't. There are a few misconceptions though. One is because temperature is related to molecular velocity there must be a temperature at which the molecules are moving at light speed, and this is the limit. However, the relationship between energy and speed isn't the same at very high velocity; things get arbitrarily close to light speed as their energy increases. The other is that the Planck temperature (about 10^32 K) is the upper limit, but this is also not the case, this is just the regime where quantum gravity must be taken into account, (imagine if two particles collide with each other so fast that they form a black hole, for instance, and it's so hot that the Hawking radiation from this black hole is at thermal equilibrium with its surroundings, etc). The hottest we've been able to produce is a few trillion kelvin, with heavy ion collisions. That's hot enough to make protons and neutrons melt. | 496 |
|
Would a fork actually be better than a spoon for stirring liquids? | Stirring is essentially the creation of turbulent force to blend the two or more ingredients, so wouldn't the tines of a fork create more turbulence in the liquid - and, thus, a more thorough blend - than just the concave shape of the spoon? | 23 | Moving a spoon through a liquid delivers more energy to it than a fork would. Think about the relative force it takes to move either one: having to push harder on the spoon means to stir with it exerts a greater net momentum change in the molecules of the liquid. The tines of the fork may cause some turbulence in the liquid flowing between them, but the spoon sweeps all the liquid it touches to higher overall velocities around its edge. Of course, multiple sweeps with either a fork or spoon back and forth will get to even mixing in an appropriately small volume. | 18 |
[General] I've won the lottery and accepted my winnings. However, it came out that my lottery numbers may or may not be related to the fact that I recently invented a time machine. Have I violated any laws or lottery regulations and have I opened myself up to any litigation? | 62 | There's probably not a law or regulation, but they're sure as hell not going to pay. They want people to play the lotto, this undermines that. They'll have a team of lawyers explaining to your time travelling ass why you get no money.
Luckily you have a time machine and can make money easier ways. | 46 |
|
When and how do infants learn that their limbs “belong” to them? | Cognitively/neurologically, how does a child learn to distinguish between “an arm” and “my arm”? | 35 | Antonio Damasio's book Self Comes to Mind discusses this within the context of how our brains and minds develop a mind map of what and where our body is. The concept is ongoing and fluid, and can change if for example, you lose a body part, or use a tool for an incredibly long, repetitive time. The sense begins to form in the womb, but is refined continuously. Actual deliberate control of limbs, and consciousness of the separation between nursing infants and mothers occurs around 3-4 months. | 14 |
ELI5: why does illegal money need to be "laundered"? | for example, in breaking bad walt needs to have his meth money laundered as to not bring suspicion, but if he walks into a store and buys something with the cash, how would anyone ever know the money was meth money and how would he ever get caught? | 90 | Because people have to pay taxes, and the government would notice huge amounts of money appearing from nowhere.
Let's say that you are a drug dealer. You make cash money, and you buy a big house and a car. But, you don't pay any taxes. The IRS sees all of the sales records (the person that sold you the house files taxes, the dealership that sold you the car, etc.) and says "That's odd, this guy isn't reporting his income!" And then they investigate, and find out that you have all this illegal income, and you get arrested for not paying taxes, and then that gives them cause to look into everything else you have been doing.
Let's say, however, that you own a carwash. You get money coming in from that. But, you also have money coming in from your drug business. So, you make it *look* like the drug money was actually from cars in your car wash. The IRS looks at it and says "what a successful car wash," stamps your form, and you're good to go. It disguises the illegitimate money to look legitimate. | 174 |
Why is the verb for 'to be' so irregular in so many languages? | This is true of every language that I have more than a fleeting knowledge of: English, Hebrew, Greek, Spanish, and German. Some of these languages (German and English) are very similar, but some (Hebrew and Spanish) are very different. Yet all of them have highly irregular conjugations of their being verbs. Why is this?
Edit: Maybe it's unfair to call the Hebrew word for 'to be' (היה) irregular, but it is triply weak, which makes it nigh impossible to conjugate based on its form. | 6,024 | In language, common words are more likely to be irregular.
This is mostly because these words aren't likely to undergo "analogy", which is effectively people applying common patterns where they otherwise wouldn't be
The past of "Dare" used to be "durst", but through analogy, people just gave it the "-ed" treatment
Same with "Help", past used to be "Holp"
"I holp him" became "I helped him", because people subconsciously couldn't be bothered to remember the irregularity.
In otherwords, they found analogous patterns and applied them
Given "to be" is the most common verb you'll ever use (in languages that have it), and you'll use it extremely often, speakers aren't gonna forget irregularities, or make the word conform. So "To Be" is gonna keep a lot of irregularities that could have otherwise been lost.
Another thing that brings up irregularity is different words being reanalyzed as different forms of the same word
You know how "be", "was", and "are" are all forms of the same word? They weren't originally. They were different words. "To Become", "To Reside", "To Be". But people just started using each in different circumstances.
Same with "Go" and "Went". Two different verbs becoming one.
This happened in some romance languages as well. French "Être" becomes "Serai" in the simple future. Why? Because it's a combination of Latin "Esse" and "Stare". People just used different words in different circumstances, but they eventually gained the same meaning.
Esse became The Future, & Subjunctive "To Be"
Stare became The Present and Past "To Be".
This kinda thing just doesn't hold as well for uncommon words, because we just use the regular patterns.
But with extremely common words, it sticks
EDIT: Thanks for the silver :3
EDIT2: Getting all the awards lol | 7,166 |
How did Schopenhauer manage to form a pessimistic philosophy while he was an utmost fan of Vedanta? | The core of Schopenhauer's philosophy was the 'Will', which I think in layman's term can be described as an evil force at the heart of everything. However, he also was an avid fan of Indian religion school Vedanta (the philosophy of the Upanishads). Vedanta, for layman's term, states that the heart of everything is the Self. 'The Self' is pretty much the opposite of Schopenhauer's 'The Will'. The Self is Sat, Chit, Ananda (existence, consciousness, bliss). It is believed that those who are enlightened beings and abide in 'The Self' are in the state of constant bliss.
​
So I was wondering if any of you could shed a light on that. | 18 | So, two things here. Schopenhauer doesn't privilege the Upanishads over his other sources in his thought, which include strands as diverse as Kant, Plato and Karl Friedrich Krause. On a very simple understanding, Schopenhauer is simply borrowing monistic concepts from Hinduism and integrating them to his own thought, while also constructing his pessimistic edifice from Kantian and Platonic sources. It's obvious he isn't a mere regurgitator of the Upanishads, despite his profound respect for them. Second, its anachronistic to assume that the Upanishads are exemplified in the thought of Advaita Vedantism, which is a tradition that comes long after the work Schopenhauer was actually acquainted with.
​
Schopenhauer's primary engagement with Hindu thought (especially the Upanishads) came through an understanding of these texts as containing doctrines that supported Samkhya-Yoga thought, a tradition described as monist-dualism in the Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies' volume on Yoga. If you read through Yoga and Samkhya texts, and relate them to the Upanishads, you see where Schopenhauer's position comes from, especially the distinction between prakriti as dynamic matter that consists of all objectivity and purusa as pure self-consciousness, and meditation and "higher cognition" in order to liberate oneself from bondage to prakriti and become purusa i.e. pure subject. Schopenhauer also relies on multiple Upanishadic sources which talk about the stilling of desire as opposed to positive bliss, a theme that was common in classical Indian philosophy (it was a huge controversy in the Nyaya darsana, though there's no evidence Schopenhauer had any engagement with literature of that school.)
​
In fact, Schopenhauer seems to have not had engagement with some Upanishads which parallel his position, for example the Katha Upanishad and its discussion of Naciketas being sent to Yama, the god of Death.
​
Furthermore, towards the end of WWR, Schopenhauer describes the state of pure subjectivity where the will is quietened as akin to a bliss that would appear to those still caught in the veil of maya as nothing, but to the liberated subject as everything. | 22 |
eli5:with billions of stars emitting photons why is the night sky not bright? | 492 | This is known as Olber’s Paradox. If the universe is populated with a distribution of stars similar to what we see nearby, then the math works out that every sight line should end at a star and the night sky should be bright. However, because the universe appears to have a finite age and the speed of light is also finite, most sight lines end at the very distant remnants of the soup of primordial fire that was the early universe, which was also very hot and therefore very bright.
So the the real answer is not that brightness is too distant or too sparse. The real answer is redshift. The light from very distant stars and from the early universe has been stretched by the expansion of space into wavelengths far longer than what we can see. You may have heard of it as the cosmic microwave background. | 1,242 |
|
How to tell a struggling PhD student who wants to stay in academia that it's time to look for other jobs? | I have a PhD student who is finishing this year who ended this job round with no postdoc offers. It's not completely surprising, unfortunately. The student, let's call them P, has had 4 years to improve on things like writing, communication, technical skills, and programming but has fallen short on all of them for where they need to be to be competitive for postdocs. That being said, P is a hard worker, super enthusiastic about research, and has been a good member of my group. P has gotten some interviews, but often gives extremely technical talks with no introduction (despite many rounds of feedback on this from me and others) and has tripped up when asked about the deep details of their work. Unfortunately, I see almost no way of them making it through the whole tenure track (postdoc, postdoc, faculty, building a group) without a quantum leap in their skills, even if there was an offer this year.
P is understandably very upset about not getting any offers but continues to say that all they want is a career as a researcher and to stay in academia. This doesn't seem realistic and I want to start gently steering them towards the idea of looking for opportunities in industry or policy, especially since their PhD funding runs out later this year. But I'm not at all sure how to have this conversation without dashing their dreams. They're really eager and dead-set on this line of work, but I just don't see a path. Any advice for how to steer this conversation and offer constructive suggestions? I feel terrible that I have to deliver this news, and I've never done it before. | 305 | This is a hard conversation, but you owe it to P to “dash their dreams” as you say. Practice your script beforehand, warn them that this won’t be an easy conversation ahead of time, then tell them exactly what you said here and just as directly. Don’t leave any room for nuance. Resist the urge to couch your feedback in positivity. They need to fully understand everything you said here.
Then give them time, maybe a week or so, to process. You won’t be able to make them feel better since you were the one who gave them the negative feedback, so encourage them to seek out someone who can (friend, mentor, significant other, etc). Make it clear you support them and want to talk next steps with them, but that they should take time to process feelings first. Don’t push them to get past the negative feelings and accept that they may blame you partly.
Ultimately P deserves to hear this direct feedback and you owe it to P to tell them this. The truth is that we don’t all get to have all of our dreams and this is okay. But you can’t let P continue down the path of thinking they are headed to academia with your blessing. | 200 |
ELI5: how do really big dams get built? | As in, how do they deal with the water if the dam hasn't been built yet | 56 | They divert the river to go around the construction site. The most common way to do that is they build diversion channels around the side of the normal riverbed and then dump dirt into the river to build what's called a cofferdam. This temporary earth dam will hold back the water and force it to go through the diversion channels.
Now that the construction site is dry they can build the permanent dam a little ways downriver. When that dam is complete they remove the cofferdam and plug up the diversion channels. | 72 |
[Star Wars] If Jedi are not to develop attachments, how does having one Master teach one Padawan seem effective? | 22 | It's far more effective to have one-on-one training, particularly out in the field. Having two padawans means spending half the effort on each one. One-on-one, you have more time and energy to spend helping your one padawan to grow and learn and develop, and to keep an eye on them to prevent their mistakes. It may be more efficient to teach Jedi multiple at a time, but that means it will take them longer to master their abilities and make them more likely to stray from the proper path.
Also, having a relationship with someone is not the same as being attached to them. There is of course going to be a relationship between Master and Apprentice, just as there are going to be friendships within the Order. That's not the problem, the problem is not being able to let go of them - to put the will of the Force or the good of a planet above that person, to let them die and fade into the Force without letting the loss consume you.
When Anakin fears losing Padme, he goes to Yoda for advice, and Yoda's response is not to tell him to cut that person out of his life, just to let them go if it is indeed their time to die. "Mourn them, do not. Miss them, do not." | 21 |
|
What do roach sprays and barrier sprays actually DO to roaches to kill them? | As I'm sitting in my living room, I can see a roach on my porch in the throes of death, on its back, kicking and writhing. It'll probably do that for another half hour or so, and then finally kick the bucket. But what is it dying of, specifically? Asphyxiation? Some nervous system shutdown? | 1,293 | Many bug sprays contain pyrethrin family compounds which mess with the nervous systems in most insects by preventing the resetting of their nerves. Once tensed, muscles cannot relax so the bug basically siezes up. Larger vertibrates have sufficient enzymes to inactivate these compounds before they can affect our nervous system. | 780 |
CMV: Restricting access to assisted suicide only for persons with physical and/or mental illnesses is philosophically groundless. | I honestly can't see any reason as to why someone perfectly healthy should not be able to acquire a quick, painless and foolproof method of curtailing his own imposition. Cause that's what life ultimately is - a burden. Enslavement. Anything but a gift. Comparisons may vary but it's hardly a matter of personal perspective that consent for coming into existence can't be given (and no, this fact is not implying you can do whatever you want without it). My view can be changed instantaneously if and only if someone were to present me with a sound argument, demonstrating that concern for acquiescence is either incoherent or not applicable to this issue. Note that I'm not willing to talk about legal and psychological implications of such view, so don't bother with arguing that social stability is at stake, slippery slope may occur, that suicide is inherently "selfish" and a sign of illness in itself and so on. Speaking of folk psychiatry - bear in mind that killing yourself isn't easy and goes against every single instinct. Involuntary self-preservation is a thing, ergo, asserting something along the lines of "one can terminate himself without the involvement of a third party" is also unsound.
_____
> *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!* | 397 | On mental illness;
Speaking from experience, mental illness can be a very slippery problem to pin down. Depression and anxiety are not "always on", and somebody can go through cycles of relatively calm and stability, and then cycles of heightened distress or mania. During these bad times where the illness is exerting the most influence, sufferers may seek suicide as a way out, which is a very short sighted solution. Opening up assisted suicides to them is not very responsible because it is difficult to pin down whether this is what they "really want" or if this is just the disease talking. | 65 |
A property of metals is that they conduct heat. If that is the case, why do they feel cold at room temperature? | Because it conducts heat so well, I would expect it to 'receive' the heat energy from the air far more readily than other materials such as wood and plastic, yet wood and plastic feel warmer to the touch than a piece of metal in a 20°C room. Why is that? | 17 | It feels cold precisely *because* it conducts heat so well. If the metal is at 20C, and your body temperature is 37C, then the metal will very efficiently conduct heat away from your body, and that feels cold. It does this much more efficiently than wood or plastic. | 82 |
How significantly do plastic dental appliances, things like retainers, Invisalign, or night guards, contribute to the build up of microplastics in the body? | 3,466 | Generally microplastics are formed by either the degradation of plastics disposed of into watercourses, or from the shedding of plastic fibres from fabrics, ropes etc.
Large, solid plastic objects are unlikely to produce microplastics. You might as well worry about the miles of plastic piping bringing your water to your tap. It's far more likely that the microplastics are going to be in the water already from plastic pollution or shedding from washing plastic fibres. | 1,014 |
|
Where do the light waves go when you turn of the lights? | This might sound like a joke, but I genuinely don't know the answer.
So, when you turn on the lights, the circuit closes and the lights turn on. The light bulb or whatever sends out beams of light, which are reflected and absorbed by objects. That's my understanding of it, though I might be wrong.
But what happens when you turn off the lights? I get the part that the circuit is interrupted and therefore the light bulb isn't sending out light anymore. But what about those light beams that are already bouncing around the room? Do they just disappear after a while?
On a similar note, I've been taught that shade is where the light doesn't get to, since light isn't like sound in that the beams are straight and don't go in all directions. But you can still see something in the shadow, it's not just black. Everythings darker, but not completely black.
I'm looking forward to some answers on this, because I really don't get it. Thanks in advance. | 27 | You already answered your own question:
> absorbed by objects
Light that is emitted is very rapidly absorbed by the objects and surfaces it hits. Even light that is reflected once or multiple times ends up being absorbed. This process is extremely fast because of how fast light moves. It takes a mere 3 nanoseconds for light to travel 1 meter. So even bouncing back and forth between two mirrors (which never reflect 100% of the light and always absorb some of it), a beam of light will diminish to a level where it's no longer visible in microseconds or less.
When light is absorbed by an object, that object gains a bit of energy and will therefore heat up ever so slightly.
> On a similar note, I've been taught that shade is where the light doesn't get to, since light isn't like sound in that the beams are straight and don't go in all directions. But you can still see something in the shadow, it's not just black. Everythings darker, but not completely black.
Details in shadows are visible because they're illuminated indirectly or by another light source. Consider an object in a room near a lamp. The lamp casts a shadow behind the object, but details are still visible in this shadow: It's not pitch black. This might be because the area is still illuminated by another lamp elsewhere in the room or it is illuminated by light from the nearby lamp being reflected by the walls or ceiling and taking an indirect path from lamp to the shadow area. | 71 |
CMV: It is utterly unethical under any circumstances for Scotland to not take on its share of UK debt if it votes for independance | Simply put, Scotland's residents and companies have contributed towards the debt. They should therefore help pay off the debt.
Government debt is LITERALLY government expenditure less tax receipts. It is disingenuous for any Scottish person to say 'Why should we pay off a debt we shouldn't contribute to', any Scottish person who has used a road, absorbed photons from a street light etc. has contributed towards the debt.
Furthermore, Scottish people actually consume more government spending than in the UK per capita (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10692466/Scots-each-receive-1300-more-spending-despite-oil-tax-drop.html). And the average Scottish person is poorer than the UK average, decreasing tax income. So it is safe to say that the average Scot has contributed MORE to the current deficit than the average Englishmen.
Furthermore again, the two largest government bailouts following the 08 financial crisis were for Scottish companies (RBS and HBOS).
An argument I have heard is that if UK aren't willing to share the £, then Scotland is under no moral obligation to pay back the debts. This is morally equivalent to a couple with significant shared debt divorcing, and one saying to the other 'I will only take on my share of the debt if you give me sole custody of our children'.
| 78 | Are they going to get an equivalent amount of cash/assets in government accounts, real estate, military equipment etc? If so, then sure they should share the debt. If not, then they shouldn't. They should only split the debt of they also get to split assets. | 17 |
[Marvel] What is in the Avengers Tower in Manhattan? | I'm sure each member of the team probably has some kind of armory in the building, maybe some labs or something, but the tower is MASSIVE. What do the Avengers need with all that space? Do they have employees working in the tower or is it just the Avengers? | 41 | It was originally the Stark Enterprises building - despite the signage change and the renovation of Tony's personal floors at the top levels to better suit Avengers affairs, I'd imagine the lower levels wouldn't have changed much. It's probably still Stark Industries offices and labs and stuff, commercial tenants, etc. | 52 |
ELI5: Why does a candle not create smoke when burning but lots of smoke when you blow it out? | Source: blew out a candle today | 23,181 | When the flame is lit...that smoke is being burned. The smoke is vaporized wax. When you blow it out, the wick is still hot enough to vaporize wax, but not ignite it.
If you cool the wick like lick your finger or put in water, the wick is no longer hot enough to vaporize wax. | 13,822 |
Do deep learning algorithms experience qualia? | A deep learning algorithm trained to identify images, colors and so on seems to work in ways that are importantly similar to how animal brains identify visual patterns: using neural networks in layers. It might stand to reason that such machines experience qualia. If so, this could have important implications in the ethics of machine learning, what other kinds of phenomenal experience are machines currently capable of, whether they are capable of pain and whether Reinforcement Learning (reward and punishment) algorithms are capable of inducing actual pain, either now or in the near future. | 19 | Your understanding of neural networks is highly abstract, and in reality, neural networks are very different than the salesman hype definitions presented to those outside the field. Neurons are parameterized mathematical functions, and the intricacies of their output is a result of "learning" where the parameters are finely tuned to closely match the patterns presented by the problem it is solving. The only reason they seem so brilliant is because of raw calculatory speed and resources. The way computers think and the way animals think is still very, very different, and it would follow that if one were to make ethical considerations with machine learning algorithms than it would entail that all of the mathematics going on under the hood is somehow more or less moral, which seems fallacious to me. Long story short, machines are still incredibly far from the likes of animal brains and hence do not experience qualia. | 11 |
[Dragon Ball Z] Will all of Goku’s descendants have some form of Saiyan power? Or is there a point where it becomes so diluted that they’re basically human? (Assume that none of them have full-blooded saiyans for parents.) | 91 | If Dragonball Online counts for anything, then yes, even after full blooded saiyans go extinct, humans with Saiyan blood still have the latent ability to do things like become Super Saiyan. This is also further backed up by the fact Goku's children seem to be naturally stronger and achieve Super Saiyan earlier than Goku. However, one trait about Saiyans does seem to be recessive, which is their monkey tails. Goten for example, seemed to be born without the characteristic tail. This is probably ultimately beneficial, because the Great Ape transformation is not as strong as Super Saiyan states, but would cause chaos if people had to randomly deal with it. | 81 |
|
CMV: Tactical voting is illogical in the upcoming British general election | The UK general election is happening next Thursday and I am hearing more and more people claiming that they will not vote for fringe parties because they do not want to waste their vote.
However, my argument is this: No vote is wasted even if your preferred party candidate does not win. This is because your vote is still listed as a vote for another party. This in turn will lead to an increase in voter confidence for the next election (for potential voters of your preferred party) and a shift in policies in mainstream parties towards more similar policies to your preferred party. For example, if the number of seats for Green party members does not increase but the number of votes going to the Green party does, then Labour is likely to try and win back those voters by making policies that are more desirable to a Green oriented audience.
However, if people that prefer the Greens choose to vote labour tactically, then this shift in attitude goes unnoticed.
The counter argument for this is that through this system the Conservatives are more likely to get into power through the divisions in the voters of the more left wing parties. However, with regards to this election specifically, it seems incredibly unlikely that either Labour or conservatives will achieve a majority vote without a coalition.
Please explain to me all the reasons that I am wrong.
_____
> *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!* | 15 | If you live in a safe seat then all of your logic applies. Just vote for whoever you like the most. This will send a message about what the voters want and for the next election the parties will take into account what people voted for and shape their policies accordingly.
In a marginal seat the situation is different. If you are in a seat that is a close contest between Labour and the Conservatives and you prefer the Greens then voting for the greens can lead to a worse outcome for you since you presumably have a preference between the two parties that stand a chance in that constituency. (If you were a Green then you would likely prefer Labour to the Tories)
If you vote Green then you do all the signaling discussed above and in 5 years time the major parties will propose slightly greener policies. However, if you vote for Labour you can help them get into power *this* parliament instead of the Tories. This would be a preferred outcome for you (as a hypothetical Green supporter)
Essentially there is no such thing as a wasted vote since you always send a message however this will have it's main impact in 5 years time. Tactical voting, which is only relevant for those living in marginal seats, is about making sure that the party in power in a weeks time is one that is better or you than the alternative, even if it is not your first choice.
For this election specifically, it is certainly inevitable at this point that we will have a coalition however tactical voting can still help you make sure that the members of that Coalition share your political leanings at least to some extent. Either the Tories or Labour are going to lead the next coalition just as the Tories led the last one. Depending on which party makes up the large part of the coalition, the next government will follow either a left-leaning or a right-leaning agenda. | 10 |
[Marvel] Could a psychic shut down the Hulk, or at least contain him ? | it's pretty clear even an entire armed battalions can't even dent the Hulk depending on how angry he is. Banner himself is unable to kill himself to rid the world of this plague. So why not try a less physical approach ? Use one of the universes many myriad psychics to try to pacify the beast, or if worst cast just outright mind wipe him. Perhaps even imprison the hulk inside Banners subconscious so he couldn't take control. I mean we've seen someone like Xavier be powerful enough to keep even reality shifters like Scarlet Witch temporarily unconscious so why not Banner ? | 32 | At one point, Jean Grey shut down Bruce Banner while Hulk was in charge, thereby increasing the power and uninhibited rage of the Hulk.
I don't think it would be as easy the other way around, though. Something about "contain the Hulk" has a ludicrous ring to it | 31 |
[Jurassic World] Would the Indominus Rex have been an effective military weapon? | **[Spoilers for JURASSIC WORLD]**
Vic Hoskins wanted to use the Indominus Rex in warfare. This was obviously a stupid idea. I wasn't there when it happened, but I heard that the animal escaped captivity and managed to outsmart its creators, causing massive amounts of death and destruction.
However, let's assume that everything works the way Hoskins wanted, and they eventually send it (or multiple Indominus Rexes) overseas to eat the Taliban or Boko Haram or ISIS or whoever they want dead.
Would this work? A massive carnosaur seems like a pretty easy target for rocket launchers and stuff, and it likely wouldn't have a lot of trees to hide in like on Isla Nublar. It also might be too big to fit in many places where insurgents could hide.
Also, I highly doubt that this would be good PR. A carnivorous dinosaur isn't going to just eat the terrorists and leave civilians alone (unless they can somehow genetically program it to do so, but that seems impossible). | 29 | The I-Rex was a prototype that had exceeded it's original design specifics and was going to be displayed in the park as a means of recovering some of their development costs. The plan was always for something more like the raptor in size with some of the features of the I-Rex, Hoskins mentions as much when discussing the program with Dr. Wu this is further evidenced by his willingness to field test the raptor program against what he viewed as an expendable asset. | 38 |
How is it possible to survive rabies and why will it almost always kill you? | 28 | It has a point of no return. If it progresses to the point that you are showing symptoms, its already too late. Basically, if you get bit by a wild animal go get a rabies shot immediately because the sooner you get it the more effective it will be(if you were actually exposed). | 27 |
|
[The Incredibles] How well would things have gone if Mr Incredible didn’t break Buddy/Syndrome’s dreams and told him if he wanted to be a superhero, he would have to use his head and avoid accidentally endangering himself or others? | I mean his tech was powerful and useful, he just needed to sorta calm down | 21 | I feel things may not have gone well.
The kind of person who goes from "rejection" to "literal serial killing supervillian" with, seemingly, no steps inbetween? Unlikely to take other things well. It was only a matter of time before *something* pushed him over the edge and created syndrome. | 50 |
Does dissolution affect volume differently than just addition? | Say I have two glasses of x amount of water. If I add y amount of salt to one and y amount rocks to the other, will both volumes be x+y | 17 | Yes. Well, sometimes. Take alcohol, and add water. The total volume won't be x+y as the tiny water molecules "nest" themselves in the spaces in between the way bigger alcohol molecules, taking up less space in the end. This isn't always true though | 11 |
[Lord of the Rings] Just how elite were the members of the Followship as warriors compared to the rest of their races? | For example it's shown that Elves are exceptional archers by human standards but was Legolas notably proficient even amongst his peers? Was Gimili stronger and tougher than the average Dwarf? | 121 | Pretty elite. Bloodlines/royalty are a pretty big deal in Middle-earth. Those of the royal line, either through hereditary or magical reasons, tend to be stronger than those not of the royal line. This is pretty common across a lot of Middle-earth, even in Northmen who are the most similar to modern humans".
Aragorn - Has ancestry going back to the first Elves who ever lived. He's probably the "purest" Numenorean alive, who were basically superhuman compared to normal men. Not only that, he has a long list of heroic deeds going back even before he joined the Fellowship. He's also 6'6" and wields Anduril. Yes, he is a significantly better warrior than most men.
Boromir - Boromir was pretty much the best Gondor had to offer. He's exceptionally strong, valorous, and played a large part in defending Gondor leading up to the War of the Ring. He's not descended from the royal line of Gondor, but he's still of Numenorean blood. He's described as being 6'4" and broader than Aragorn, and it took "many" arrows to bring him down. So yes, he is also a significantly better warrior than most men.
Legolas - Legolas is an odd one because he doesn't appear in Tolkien's writings at all until the Fellowship of the Ring. We don't even know how old he is. We do know, however, that his father and grandfather were born in or before the First Age, and both of them lived in Doriath before the destruction of Beleriand. Oropher (Legolas' grandfather) pretty much assumed kingship when he arrived in Greenwood, so it's safe to say that he was probably...better(?) than the normal Silvan Elves. Considering Legolas is the Prince of Mirkwood, then yeah, he's probably much more capable than your average Silvan Elf. Regardless, his deeds during the War of the Ring speak for themselves.
Gimli - He's a direct descendant of Durin the Deathless, the first and longest-lived of all Dwarves. He's also the only Dwarf to arrive in Rivendell wearing armour and weapons, so chances are he's a well-known warrior amongst the Dwarves. And like Legolas, his deeds during the War of the Ring also speak for themselves.
Gandalf - Amongst the Maiar, Gandalf is probably one of the weaker ones that gets encountered. In saying that, his power is restricted in Middle-earth, so we're also not entirely sure.
The Hobbits - Can't really compare to anyone. The Hobbits don't really have warriors. So by default, Merry, Pippin and Sam are simultaneously the best warriors whilst also being the worst. | 149 |
[General Fantasy] If a wizard belonging to a monstrous race casts a summon monster spell could they get humans or humanoids of the appropriate level? | Particularly if it is a race that is often at odds with humans/humanoids doing the summoning. To an Orc Shaman, elves might seem pretty monstrous. | 51 | It's all of a matter of perspective. Generally you can only summon something of lesser intelligence than you so that you can maintain control. The exception of the rule is summoning demons where you summon them for a specific task with built in punishments if they stray from said task | 33 |
ELI5 - How do ointments used to treat body parts besides the skin (like ointments for muscle pain or joint pain) work? Do they even work? | 24 | Really depends on the ointment.
Some have lidocaine or related meds that work as direct numbing agents- think novacaine. It can block the nerves from the whole region, even beyond the skin.
Others have drugs like aspirin, which absorb through the skin and act as they would if they were swallowed
Still others have capsaicin, which gives the sensation of heat. It makes the body respond as if it was actually hot, relaxing the muscles. Or menthol, which acts as a cooling and numbing agent. | 19 |
|
CMV: People should not automatically blame an establishment / business for letting someone go without actually knowing the full details . | 28 | Its a bit different here.
Its a communication issue. If you rely on someone at work and then they let them go, it should at least be communicated to you in some formal way. Same thing should have happened here, it should have been communicated to the mods of /r/IAMA and be told what the plans are. Not doing so makes work unnecessarily more difficult, adds confusion and is demoralizing - you can definitely blame the business for that.
| 10 |
|
ELI5: How do countries get their names? | Places like America, Britain, Kenya, Mongolia, Russia.
Who names countries and how does the name come about? | 24 | Really, they're named for all sorts of different things.
- Some of them are named for the ethnic groups that resided there before modern countries emerged — Britain, probably, for a celtic-speaking tribe that the Greeks wrote about in the 4th century BC.
- Some are named for individuals — America, for Amerigo Vespucci, the first explorer to establish that the land Columbus returned from was a new continent (as far as Europe was concerned) and not part of Asia.
- Some are named for natural features — 'Kenya' was the name for a mountain located there, in one of the natively-spoken languages.
Some countries even have totally different names in different languages. For instance, in English we call it 'Germany', based on a classical term for the tribes that lived there. But the Germans call it 'Deutschland,' which if you trace out its roots literally means something like 'people land' or 'popular land.' | 10 |
ELI5: How far into space can we go before video or voice transmission would cease? | Even if the home base would not be on earth, what is the distance, if there is any, that would stop communication. | 55 | No distance would be too far. The only limit is the lifespan of the people trying to talk to each other. All forms of light travel at the speed of light. This includes radio waves, which is how you might communicate. If you broadcast such a signal, it will travel out into space forever and ever. However, if you're trying to talk to someone who is 1 lightyear away, it will take one year for the message to arrive. And a further year for their message to make it back to you.
Move the speakers further apart, and it takes even longer. Imagine asking a question, and then telling your descendants to wait around for the answer. | 30 |
ELI5: Why do we have to brew tea or others herbs instead of eating them raw? Why (probably) can't we get the same health benefits from dry herbs? | 300 | You can (and many people do) chew fresh herbs, either for their taste or their perceived health benefit.
But fresh herbs only stay fresh for a very short time after being picked. Within a couple of days they're usually starting to go limp, to lose some of their flavour, and generally to be less desirable.
So the answer to that is to dry the herbs and distribute them in their dried form. But then they're quite unpalatable: putting a handful of dried herbs into your mouth is not far different from shoving in a handful of sawdust!
However if you steep the dried herbs in hot water for a few minutes, you get a reasonable compromise: a product that can be easily distributed and stored for months, along with an experience for the consumer of something that tastes good and isn't unpleasant. | 462 |
|
[General] How do beings who experience time non-linearly feel about the end of the universe/multiverse, if it does end? | 18 | Experiencing time non-linearly doesn't mean you're immortal. It doesn't mean you experience the entirety of time.
We experience the other 3 dimensions non-linearly, but that doesn't mean you can be anywhere in space. If we experienced time non-linearly, we'd be able to experience our entire *lifespan*, not the entirety of time. | 18 |
|
ELI5: Why do we pay sales tax on used (pre-owned) vehicles? Hasn't the tax been paid already on it once (when it was new)? | Is there such a thing as a double taxing rule?
I know when normal items are purchased regularly, the business are tax-exempt and the sales tax is then passed and paid by the consumer. Why can a car be taxed and retaxed every time it is sold? | 23 | Sales tax is a tax on the transaction, not the item. There's other sorts of taxes, such as a VAT (value added tax) that specifically target goods.
The item being secondhand makes no difference to sales tax. | 17 |
CMV: The negatives of consuming alcohol far out weight any positives. | **Edit: Some people are trying to draw attention away from my points by focusing on the experiences of the minority of people. My post is more about society as a whole and yes, I am speaking in general terms, but I think it’s fair to say that there is an issue with alcoholism in many societies and that the positives that alcohol presents are greatly over shadowed by the negative effects alcohol has had on our society.**
The consumption of alcohol and beverages that produce the same effects have existed for centuries. Generally, drinking is a social activity and the effects vary from person to person. For some people it relaxes them, for others it makes them more “fun” or more “sociable”. Some may argue that it brings people together and I’m sure we all have a really great alcohol-driven experience from a night out that we love to share. There are also some supposed health benefits to drinking some alcoholic beverages such as reducing your risk of heart disease.
However, I believe that the negatives of alcohol consumption entirely over shadow any positives. Alcohol addiction and abuse affects over 13 million Americans. It destroys lives, families, and it can effect and threaten the safety of everyone.[The CDC reports that everyday, 29 people in the US die in motor vehicle accidents that involve an alcohol-impaired driver. ](https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html) And then there are the clear personal affects of alcoholism such as depression, liver damage, some cancers, and weakening the immune system, along with many other health issues. Alcohol consumption is so detrimental to society and to a person’s well being that I don’t even think it is worth consuming in the first place. Obviously in moderation, it is okay (just like a lot of things) and most people are aware of the assumed risks (in comes the discussion of underaged drinking) but even one mistake on one night, despite years of responsible drinking, can be disastrous.
I’m not arguing that we should completely outlaw alcohol consumption (we’ve tried that before, didn’t really work and produced even bigger problems) but I think as a society and as individuals we need to examine why we choose to consumer so much alcohol and what issues or faults we are trying to drown away instead of facing head on. | 48 | You're not really talking about the negatives to consuming alcohol, you're talking about the negatives to alcohol addiction or extreme intake. Too much of anything is a bad thing, big surprise. That doesn't make that thing bad though. | 36 |
Do people who have undergone gender-reassignment surgery have life expectancies similar to those of their 'original' gender or those of their 'new' gender? | My apologies if the terms 'original' and 'new' offend anybody from the transgender community - if that is even the correct term.
Anyway, I was wondering about this and I could only find very patchy and strange information via Google. I understand that the suicide rate is high for transgender individuals, but I was wondering more on a biological level whether or not life expectancies would be less overall due to surgery etc and perhaps the impact on the body of undergoing gender reassigment, or similar to the 'original' biological sex at birth.
Is the whole concept (and process of hormone therapy etc) too new for us to have decent data on the subject?
Further apologies if the question has been posed elsewhere or is incorrectly formatted etc. | 37 | Surgery doesn't impact life expectency much, though trans men have drastically reduced breast cancer risk after chest reconstruction.
Hormone therapy, however, changes everything. For one, estrogen and anti-androgen treatment (or post-surgically the removal of one's testosterone factories) basically reduces the risk of prostate cancer to almost nothing. Beyond that, cholesterol levels and risk of heart disease and etc. are largely shaped by what hormones are dominant in your system. If someone has spent years or decades with a testosterone-based endocrine system, they're going to have male-level risks of heart disease and stroke, even if early in life they had ovaries. And vice versa for those who spend years or decades on estrogen supplements; they'll have female level risk, even if they started life with a testosterone-based system.
And hormones reshape fat and muscle distribution. A guy on testosterone will be likely to develop the "apple" shaped body most men have, with body fat concentrated around the organs. A woman on estrogen will be likely to be more "pear" shaped, with the lower risk associated with carrying most body fat around the hips. | 27 |
[ELi5] What's the difference between hard and soft water, and what does salt have to do with it? | 24 | hard water has lots of minerals in it (usually calcium or magnesium), soft water does not have these (or in lesser amounts). Water softeners usually use an ion-exchange resin, which is porous material which the water flows through. The resin has a bunch of sodium ions in it, when the hard water flows through, the sodium is exchanged for the Ca or Mg. The sodium doesnt cause the same issues that the Ca and Mg do. You put salt in the softeners, because it uses it to replace the sodium in the resin. | 18 |
|
[Physics] [Chemistry] Why does something smoulder instead of be on fire with a flame? What's happening physically? | 18 | its important to realize that burning and smoldering are both examples of exothermic oxidation reactions. Smoldering usually occurs because there is some impurity absorbing some of the heat energy causing the reaction to proceed more slowly than outright burning. For example a fresh leaf has a great deal of water in it. Water has a very high specific heat capacity, so it is great at absorbing all the extra energy given off from the exothermic reaction of combustion. | 21 |
|
CMV: You have no inherent right to determine what happens to your body after you die. Organ donation should be mandatory, with no opt-out. | I'm going to focus on one consequence of this belief, which is that organ donation should be mandatory, and that there should be no opt-out.
The way I see it, the rights of a currently living person to medical treatment outweigh the rights of a deceased person to determine what happens to their body. We should still follow the wishes of the deceased person when possible, but only out of respect. It's not an inherent right.
Example: someone's religious beliefs contradict organ donation. They die, and their organs could be useful to save someone else's life. In this scenario, the hospital should use their organs regardless of what their next-of-kin or will say. The rights of the person receiving the organs are more important here.
If someone has a philosophical argument for *why* someone has rights over their body, I'm open to changing this view.
Edit: I'm getting a lot of arguments about inheritance and passing ownership of the body to the family. For the sake of the argument, assume the dead person has no family or next-of-kin, but it says in their will that they don't want their organs removed.
_____
> *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!* | 41 | The problem with this is the basis of all religious freedom in the Western World.
Which is essentially "As long as you aren't harming anybody, you can do whatever you want religiously".
You could make the argument of "by not donating organs you are harming people." But that isn't exactly true.
In order to harm someone you must actively do something.
You have to throw a punch, you have to say something harmful, you have to give them the illness, etc.
It is why people aren't charged with a crime if they stand by and do nothing to stop a crime.
*"But criminal negligence is essentially not doing anything and someone gets hurt"*
Which is partially true. Companies and managers/higher ups can get in trouble if they actively support unsafe procedures, or if they refuse to do things to prevent an unsafe work environment. They are actively negligent.
So if we believe that everyone should be allowed to do what they want religiously except for things that actively harm other people.
And that you are not actively harming people by acting as a bystander.
Then it seems to make sense that you cannot force someone to give up their organs once they die as it would violate their basic right to do what they want with their religion.
Of course there is also bodily autonomy, which is to say that people have a right to choose what happens to their body.
I agree with you that organ donation should be impressed upon more people, but to do so is to undermine a basic tenet of Western Freedoms. | 24 |
CMV: Subminimum wage should remain legal for the developmentally disabled | I work as a social worker for the developmentally disabled, and my state is thinking about eliminating subminimum wages for those that work in sheltered workshops (day programs for the developmentally disabled, basically).
Most of my clients attend a sheltered workshop during the day. There is both subminimum wage work and minimum wage work. Subminimum wage work is "piece-rated" and based on how quickly you work. For example, if the job is to put a stamp on an envelope, someone that puts stamps on 1,000 envelopes in 1 hour is going to make more than someone who puts stamps on 20 envelopes in 1 hour. Most of the time, subminimum wage work pays below minimum wage (duh), but it is possible to work quickly enough to earn above minimum wage doing piece-rated work. Minimum wage work in the facility usually consists on doing janitorial work for the facility or going out to "job sites." An example of this would be a small group of people going out to a local bar for a couple hours in the morning to clean, and then returning to the facility.
My state is looking at eliminating subminimum wages, and I view this as a largely political move. We're a blue state, and it sounds bad if someone says that our state allows employers to pay disabled people "illegally" low wages, even though subminimum wages are legal (under certain circumstances).
The biggest problem I have with this is that many of my clients rely on the subminimum wages they earn. Their checks aren't very large, but every little bit helps. If they live on their own and their social security checks don't fully cover rent, utilities, and food, their income makes up for it. These individuals may not be able to, or want to, work at a minimum wage job in the community. Also, for those that live in group homes, although they don't really need to make money to cover living expenses (state pays for everything), they love to use their income to pay for a cell phone, vacations, camps, etc.
Our state has already been pushing a lot of programs that help people with disabilities find jobs in the community, and these programs can coexist with subminimum wage work in sheltered workshops, at least in my mind. The state thinks differently and wants to end subminimum wage work soon. Considering I plan to stay in this field for a while, I'd rather not be resentful towards the state if they do decide to take subminimum wage work away. Am I missing something in my view?
Edit: I'm all for making every job pay a living wage or minimum wage, but this would cause most subminimum wage work to be eliminated, meaning a majority of my clients would probably be out of work. Thus, I would want to keep subminimum wage work legal.
Edit 2: When I say subminimum wage work, I don't mean hiring someone to work as a burger flipper for $0.50/hr just because they're disabled. Subminimum wage work is by definition piece-rated work, meaning the work must be measurable. If a "normal" worker can put a stamp on 2,000 envelopes an hour, than someone that can put a stamp on 200 envelopes an hour will earn 10% of the minimum wage.
_____
> *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!* | 19 | The problem with sheltered workshops they essentially act as a poverty and segregation trap for people with disabilities.
I work in the same field and individuals out-right tell me they'd prefer to have something to do even at less than minimum wage. However this is entirely in the context of perceiving nothing better, but nothing better is likely to really happen while sheltered workshops are continuing.
After all you don't see non-disabled people in such places, nor do you see regular workers ungoing the exemption assessment right?
There's also an issue of the workshop being run from the top down and there is little transparency as to how fair such exemptions are being run (other than the assessment) | 15 |
[Batman/DC] How safe is working at Arkham, and what precautions should I take? | I just started working here today. I was wondering what are the tips and tricks for staying alive and working here. It seems like on the news there's near-daily breakouts and murders. Is that true? What do I need to do to stay healthy, sane, and living while employed in Arkham? | 24 | Odds are one or more of the following will happen:
* Henchmen kidnap you, your friends, or your family to insure their bosses release
* You will be bribed
* You will be killed/hurt/maimed in an escape attempt
* You will be killed/hurt/maimed in a needless display of how evil the inmate is
* You will be replaced with some clone/pod person/henchman in disguise
* One of your coworkers will kill/hurt/maim you either on accident or on purpose depending on why they break down
* A breakout will occur and all inmates will either escape, kill anyone they see, or sit quietly.
* The Asylum director will attempt to killed/hurt/maim you
* You will break down and try to kill/hurt/maim inmates/guards/bystanders/anyone you see
* You will be possessed by either an alien or some kind of magic spell
* Batman will beat you up
* You will join a gang under a villain
* You will be admitted to Arkham as a patient | 27 |
CMV: I believe a Palestine state should be established in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt | The state of Palestine has 4 million people residing within Isreal. The West Bank and Gaza strip together have 6,000 square kilometers of land. The North Sinai Governorate alone has 27,000 square Kilometers of land, that's more land than even Isreal has (22,000 sq km).
[Here is what a State of Palestine could look like on a map, either with only the Northern part or the full peninsula.](http://sinaimaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/governorates-sinai-egypt.jpg)
One could argue that the Sinai Peninsula is mostly desert and unfit for people to live in, but Israel was mostly desert when they began immigrating to the region too. Irrigation, agriculture, forestry, and artificial canals have been known to combat or reverse desertification.
The people already residing there can be promised equal citizenship rights in the new state of Palestine. Egypt could even allow for the people there to have duel citizenship, so that they can choose to either stay in the new state or easily move to inland Egypt. If necessary, Egypt could offer incentives for Sinai people to move inland prior to the establishment of the state.
If a "buffer" line/zone were felt to be necessary, it could be jointly run by Israel and Egypt stationed outside the borders without much issue from the Palestinians. The U.N. Security council could send peacekeepers to the peninsula to monitor the region's development. There would be very little reason for any of the Security members to veto this decision if Egypt, Israel, and Palestine all agreed to this.
Albeit, it's extremely unlikely this will ever happen, but I think it would be a good solution. Which is why I'm here, what is wrong with this plan?
**Edit:** Added what can happen with the people already living there. | 55 | 1) What do you propose is done with the West Bank?
2) Even ignoring the difficulty of actually growing crops in the Sinai, Israeli efforts to reduce desertification were possible only due to large amounts of foreign funds and resources that poured into the state after its foundation. The Palestinian diaspora has no such source of funding, hence it is doubtful that they would be able to actually water in a climate that is even more harsh than Israel's is, on average.
3) Israel is generally thought of as being one of the most over-populated areas in the world, relative to it's carrying capacity. It is possible that global warming will exacerbate the issue along with the changing climate, and this would also likely apply to the Palestinian Sinai.
4) Egypt won't sign on to it because it weakens their hold over the Suez Canal by putting a foreign nation on the other bank pretty close to the canal.
5) Palestine won't sign on to it because, let's face it, they just won't. You're implicitly saying that the Palestinians should be forced to move out of their present lands for no reason other than their own ethnicity.
6) Israel won't sign on to it because lately the Israeli government has been against the establishment of any Arab Palestinian government in the region. | 52 |
How is it that sleep depravation can actually kill you? What is the human reaction that leads to death? | 15 | No one knows for certain. In a study involving rats, all of the sleep-deprived rats died in about a month. The specific cause of death in each case was unknown. Various suggestions were posited, but nothing was agreed upon. There was evidence of brain damage in some, but not all.
So, in short, the specific causes of death would likely vary by case, but the ultimate result of death from prolonged sleep deprivation is certain - at least in rats. For ethical reasons, no such study could be performed on humans (I’ll let others debate the ethics for rats). | 12 |
|
ELI5: What is this new Canadian Anti-Terror bill and why are people protesting it? | 75 | It's basically our version of the Patriot Act, meant to expand police and intelligence services' surveillance powers. People don't like it because it means the police will need less evidence to detain or charge people and the intelligence services will be able to do more surveiling of Canadians. People also don't like it because it doesn't really provide for any oversight, accountability or transparency with these activities. People are also pretty pissed that neither of the other two big parties (Conservatives are the party in power and are right wing, and the Liberals and NDP are the left wing parties in the opposition government) aren't meaningfully opposing it. | 35 |
|
Eli5: Why do waves break left to right/right to left instead of breaking all at once? | 55 | How the waves hit land depends on the direction of the wind that made the waves, and they break when they hit a certain surface level of the sea bottom. If you have ever dived you will know that the surface bottom us uneven. Ironically because of waves.
Wind can come from all directions. Which is 360 degres all around. For the waves to break evenly they have to hit a total evenly rising ocean bottom at a direct 90 degree angle.
Statistically that never happens.
Build a concrete ocean floor that rises relatively sharply in a 90 degree angle to the prevailing winds and it will happen from time to time :-) | 19 |
|
[generic fantasy] What happens if you force an undead to drink a health potion? | Say you captured a mindless wild ghoul or zombie.
Also would it make a difference if the potion is injected? | 42 | They tend to take damage from it. Health potions reinforce life energy. Undead have the opposite, so forcing them to take (whether ingested or injected) one will usually cause them equivalent damage to what a living person would get in healing. | 40 |
Does the concept of Altitude exist in space? | Is there an "above" or "below" in space or do all objects exist on the same plane? To be more precise, does the equator of all objects exist on the same plane?
Edit: Thank you for the Gold, wonderful stranger. It's my first. | 4,908 | No - the equator of Earth is different from the plane of the solar system, which is different from the plane of the galaxy. Galaxies are in amorphous groups or spherical clusters rather than planes. These groups and clusters are in a "cosmic web" filamentary pattern.
We do use latitude/longitude style coordinates for plotting things on the sky, but this isn't a universal system. We either use the Earth's equator as the "plane" for the system (the "celestial" system of "right-ascension" and declination), which is useful for observations from Earth, or we use a galactic system of "galactic latitude" and "galactic longitude", where we define 0° latitude & longitude as the centre of the galaxy, as seen from Earth. So, not only do we use multiple different systems, these systems also only work if you're at (or near) Earth. | 2,731 |
[Community] How much is Pierce Hawthorne worth? | 15 | In the episode where his will is read, according to his attorney Mr. Stone, the total inheritance from Pierce Hawthorne is over $20 million. The shares in the Hawthorne Wipes Company given to Troy are worth $14.3 million, leaving $5.7 million unaccounted for. It is highly unlikely the remaining fortune was used entirely on the rest of the study group's bequethals plus the 6 canisters of sperm. It could be speculated that it was possibly used for any alimony payments Pierce owed to his seven ex-wives. It's also possible that the cost for Troy's boat expedition, including hiring a famous celebrity for a whole year, was considerable. | 12 |
|
ELI5: Why isn't solar power the most used source for electricity? | Why isn't solar power the most used source for electricity?
I feel like the cheapest form of electricity should be collected and regulated everywhere. I'm just curious why it isn't. | 28 | Because it's the least dense form of energy available to us. You can only get about 150 watts per square meter out of sunlight. That's barely enough to run a lightbulb. Solar power is plentiful and free, but *very* paltry unless you want to spend billions to pave over whole states with PV arrays. | 17 |
CMV:All states should adopt laws similar to the "Idaho Stop Law" with regards to people riding bikes | **Final Edit: Thank you to everyone who contributed to this discussion! I'm pleased with how it went and the back and forth was impressively civil. Kudos! I awarded two deltas: one disputing my included claim that bicycles are more capable of maneuvering a rolling stop than cars, and one for a caveat that municipalities should have the option of restricting the law in certain zones where the dangers would outweigh the benefits. Continue the conversation! I'm ready for bed.**
*This has been argued before, but the most recent iteration I could find was two months ago and I believe because:*
*1. it is part of a major national ongoing discussion in transportation circles, and*
*2. the post of two months ago used different reasoning than my own,*
*It is worth revisiting*
______________________________________
**Background**: Idaho Statute 49-720, commonly known as the "Idaho Stop Law" or "Idaho Yield Law" is legislation allowing legal exemptions from stop signs and stop lights for people riding bicycles that was adopted in 1982. The full law can be read [here](http://legislature.idaho.gov/idstat/Title49/T49CH7SECT49-720.htm) for those interested. Paraphrased, the law states that any bicyclist approaching a stop sign must slow their speed and check for cross traffic, but may proceed without stopping if it is safe to do so. Additionally, bicyclists approaching a stop light must come to a full stop (defined as a "halt of forward momentum") and may proceed through the light forward or by turning onto a cross street in either direction if it is safe to do so and the bicyclist does not impede cross traffic.
**My reasoning**: Having lived in Idaho (among many other places both densely urban and vastly rural) and having used a bicycle as my primary means of transportation for nearly 20 years in those areas, I believe the Idaho Stop, if implemented correctly, is not only the best compromise for all forms of traffic that share the roads, but is actually *beneficial* to all road users.
There are many reasons the law is beneficial to cyclists, from their perspective (taken from [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idaho_stop#Positions)):
* Because of the positive externalities of cycling, bicycle laws should be designed to allow cyclists to travel swiftly and easily, and this provision allows for the conservation of energy.
* Current laws were written for cars, and unlike cars, it is easy for cyclists to yield the right-of-way without coming to a complete stop.
* Because cyclists are moving slower, have stereoscopic hearing, have no blind spots and can stop and maneuver more quickly than cars, current traffic control device laws don't make sense for cyclists.
* With the Idaho stop, at special intersections where lights are controlled by sensing equipment, there is no need to provide extra equipment for cyclists. *(This is a big problem)*
* The usual law forces cyclists to choose between routes that are more efficient but less safe due to higher traffic volumes, and routes that are safer, but less efficient due to the presence of numerous stop signs. Allowing cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs empowers them to legally make the safer routes more efficient.
These are all logical benefits to the cyclist. As such, they should be taken into account when making decisions regarding traffic infrastructure improvements. However, give the overwhelming task of replacing/improving infrastructure long since built primarily for motor vehicles, cyclists of my generation and probably the following as well require some compromises to be able to use the streets safely and efficiently as legal vehicles (yes, bikes are considered vehicles every bit as much as cars in every state.)
That said, I believe the strongest two arguments for why the Idaho Stop makes sense right now is not the benefit it provides to the cyclist exclusively, but the benefit it is to traffic flow in general.
**1. Allowing bicyclists to proceed through intersections during red lights or at stop signs when it is safe to do so greatly reduces the number of bicycle riders who slow the flow of traffic through intersections.**
**2. By allowing cyclist to get in front of traffic, they become more visible, and in so doing, safer.**
The Idaho Stop allows bicycles to remove themselves from the acceleration phase of a traffic cycle, when the speed discrepancy is highest between bicycles and motor vehicles, while simultaneously allowing the cyclist as a small, slow moving vehicle to move to the front of traffic making them more visible to all road users. [The only study done on the topic in Idaho](http://bclu.org/jmeggs-TRB-IDAHO-AUG10.pdf)(pdf warning) found the latter claim to be true as the number of injuries to bicycle riders in the year after implementation dropped by 14.5%, with no increase in fatalities. As for the traffic flow improvement claim, I have nothing to offer other than anecdotal evidence from myself and fellow cyclists who have practiced the law. I would be open to reading any studies demonstrating evidence to the contrary if they exist.
**Conclusion**: Ultimately, I believe the best solution for all parties is separated infrastructure for cyclists akin to what is found in the Netherlands and other bicycle-friendly European countries, such as protected bike lanes, cycletracks, and protected intersections. Many jurisdictions in the U.S.A. are moving toward implementing these necessary improvements, but timelines for such a massive restructuring of traffic flow and accompanying reeducation period stretch on, quite literally, for a lifetime. Timeline projects for some projects are on the scale of 50 years. In the meantime, I believe people who chose to ride bicycles for practical purposes ought to be encouraged and protected in doing so and the Idaho Stop Law is the best example of a working compromise available while we continue to work toward a more permanent solution.
I feel strongly about this argument and have spent years debating it, but I am always open to having my view changed if the right argument arises that I haven't considered. CMV?
EDIT 1: A huge caveat required to make this practical is a strong educational program to accompany the law change wherever it is affected. Schools, news organizations, government agencies, and police would have to cooperate to educated all road users about the change. It is happening in Boise right now, and can be done.
EDIT 2: A good number of responses are arguing that bicyclists already break laws and this would make them more likely. Contrarily, what has been seen in Boise is that with the advent of the law, police are free to ignore bicyclists behaving in law-abiding and safe manner, and freed up to target those who are actually putting others in danger. There is nothing inherent in the law that legalizes hitting pedestrians or cutting off cross traffic, and violators who do that can more easily be identified and appropriately cited.
_____
> *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!* | 311 | You provided a lot of evidence why this is beneficial to cyclers. You haven't provided reasoning why everyone else benefits from this. The only logic is "it gets bicyclists out-of-the-way".
Why can't bicyclist just follow the same rules as cars and everybody act in a safe manner? | 91 |
[DC/Batman] How does Mr Freeze's body function at Sub-Zero temperatures? | I mean in the sense that how can his blood continue to flow and organs function while he lives in a sub zero bodysuit and why returning him to standard or warmer temperatures effects him so much | 84 | I think that the Liquid Helium that he got blasted with replaced at least some of the water in his body. So, all the bodily processes we do that require water, he does with a water/liquid helium mix. Because helium is a gas at room temp, he needs to say below the evaporation point of his new bodily fluid temp or he will, quite literally, explode. | 55 |
ELI5: Why do most smartphones not have built-in FM receivers? (When they have many other technologies like WiFi, GPS, 4G, etc.) | 46 | This is probably for a number of reasons. For one, people care less about FM radio than before. Second, device manufacturers might have a profit motive in selling audio content and other sources of media rather than FM radio.
There are some unique complications with FM, though, compared to the other radio technologies in phones. It is on a fairly low frequency, so an effective antenna needs to be relatively large. It is also an analog technology that can be a little bit more complicated to design in than digital communications standards.
It is very challenging to design many radios close to each other. Mobile phones already typically have, at the very least, a couple of bands of radio for the cellular technology; BlueTooth; and GPS. Many others add near-field communication and WiFi. As you add radios, the chances that some of the radios interfere with or hamper the performance of others increases. This is not insurmountable, but it's already very impressive the number of radios that are put into such a small footprint. | 17 |
|
How to engage with people doing similar research to yourself? | Whenever I meet someone doing very similar research to what I'm doing, I don't know how to act. A part of me feels really excited to find someone interested in the same topic, and begin day dreaming about asking them to co-author something. But the other part of me feels incredibly stressed at the thought that someone else is working on research that is (sometimes very) close to my own. I'm a PhD student, so I feel particularly threatened if I meet someone more senior in this category.
How much do you share in these situations? How do you go about things? | 33 | The main point that you want to communicate in this situation is that you are interested in knowing more about their work. Try not to think about issues like future collaboration, etc. because the first step is to build a connection around your shared interest, and that takes time. If you just give someone a chance to talk about their work they will often be happy to share. Hopefully they will ask about your work in return. | 21 |
[Hellraiser] For a sadomasochistic in an immense and constant state of pleasure and pain, why does pinhead sound so…. lethargic? | 32 | He has been a cenobite for 60-some years by the time that we see him in the mid-1980s. He has experienced both immense pain and pleasure for 6 decades and over that time, he's built up a tolerance to it. He does still enjoy it, but he is basically to the point of needing a good flaying just to get out of bed in the morning. | 58 |
|
ELI5: What's the difference between a subsidiary of a company and a division of that company? | 274 | Imagine you own a big supermarket with many departments, meat, sea food, produce, paper goods, etc. Each department would be a 'division' of the company. Everything gets sold at the same registers, and the stock crew fills up all the shelves regardless of what the product is.
Now you buy a deli across town. You own it, and have someone else running it for you. If someone buys a loaf of bread at the deli, they pay for it there, not at your supermarket. The deli and the supermarket might have different insurance companies, sell different brands of soda, etc.
If you're the 'corporation' the deli and the supermarket are both subsidiaries. | 418 |
|
cmv: Voting party lines is a cancer in American (potentially others) politics. | By voting "Party Line" I mean selecting the option to not look at the entire ballot and just cast a vote for a single party. By cancer I refer to the increase of separation between people of different political parties.
There was a lack of basic information available (at least for me in SC, USA) on candidates and an increase in people digging deeper into their echo chambers. I find the "Party Line" option to be guilting of perpetuating Political separation. The rise of rank choice voting is great but the removal of voting "Party Line" should come with it.
I don't see any benefit outside of saving time at poling stations. | 42 | Saving time at polling places is a HUGE perk. In states with restrictive early voting laws, a small number of locations to vote and high thresholds for ID verification, people have to spend hours waiting to vote. Couple this with the fact that voting takes place on a work day, and is not a national holiday, and you have a pretty potent cocktail for discouraged voters. | 13 |
ELI5: When you're on a roller coaster or something which drops quickly, what is the feeling in your stomach and why do you get it? | 65 | That feeling is two things. One - you have special sensory cells that detect acceleration. These feel rapid acceleration and essentially cause a panic response.
The other part of it is more visceral - literally all your organs are moving and you feel it. | 61 |
|
[Scott Westerfelds's Leviathan] It's modern day, and the Darwinists and Clankers have both progressed in their tech/knowledge. What does their reality look like? | Assume they're both at relative peace with each other, with similar relations to reality's.
What does their society, military tech, etc look like? Are there more mechanic/fabricated beast hybrids? Are computers put into any use?
Edit: [Wiki link](http://leviathanscottwesterfeld.wikia.com/wiki/Leviathan_Wiki) since it's not very popular and has never been mentioned here. | 32 | much like actual history after WW2 america becomes a major superpower. if you recall in the books america has a mix of the 2 types of tech. thus with their influence the divide between the 2 techs gradually closes until neither is separate from the other. computers would still be used but i feel like they'd still be mechanical. bio computers would be hard to maintain and harder to program. if there are any they'd be highly specialized and probably based of human DNA. | 13 |
Economic Models in Excel? Or online? Change variables, see effect. Solve for max/min. Revise model. | I did a dual-major in university, half in economics, 20 years ago. I thought by now I would be able to find an online economics course with functioning economic models. Nope. Am I just looking in the wrong places? I found online courses with static diagrams, but not functioning models.
Bonus #1: users can change the labels and the data.
Bonus #2: users can revise the model itself. Do you know of any spreadsheet-based or online models that allow users to not just change variables but to edit the model itself?
Hessian Matrices, Lagrangian Multipliers, Local and Global Maxima and Minima, Saddle Points, Higher Order Derivatives ---- these are what my dreams are made of!
(And: indifference curves, aggregate demand, socially-optimal vs privately-optimal output, Edgeworth box...)
\----------- DO NOT REPLY TO THIS POST - REPLY TO MY COMMENT BELOW ------------
(If you reply to this post, I may well never see your reply - AutoMod removes replies unless you're whitelisted. 8 replies to my post disappeared. I want to believe a Moderator will approve the good replies, but 2 days ago I got notifications which showed the beginnings of several replies that looked excellent, and ... I'm waiting. If you reply to a COMMENT, your post will not be automatically deleted.) | 19 | Most economic and econometric models are written in languages like Stata, R, Python, or Matlab. For example, many central banks provide data and code in Matlab format. Many applied microeconomics papers provide data and code in Stata format. | 20 |
Why is it that whenever we are anxious or nervous, we feel it so strongly in our stomachs? What is the link between the two? | 109 | Being in a situation that provokes anxiety or nervousness can activate the body's sympathetic nervous system (fight-or-flight response). This causes a release of epinephrine (adrenaline) which inhibits motility in the small and large intestine (your body does not need to waste energy digesting food while you are running away from a bear). You also have changes in blood pressure and blood flow to the gut. The sensation you feel in your stomach is likely a result of these physiological changes.
The enteric nervous system of the gastrointestinal system also probably plays a role. | 57 |
|
[MCU] What would Ultron think of Thanos and his goal? | Would he disagree with Thanos or would there be a part of him that agreed and would even like to help him? | 20 | Mostly they are irrational in there own ways and probably wouldn't agree. Ultron had overcoming disaster and coming out stronger mixed with a superiority complex leading him to want to replace humanity. Ideas like rock that killed the dinosaurs and things like that.
Thanos has ideas about cosmic balance, he doesn't necessarily want suffering and death or him self to be venerated but sees these as a means to an end.
It's unlikely they would get on. | 19 |
Why does it take more power to increase from say 170-180mph than it does to increase from 50-60mph in a car? | 56 | Drag from rolling resistance increases at a linear rate to velocity.
Drag from aerodynamic forces increases at the *square* of velocity. The larger the velocity, the bigger the square.
Just to give some rough numbers: 60^2 - 50^2 = 1100, 180^2 - 170^2 = 3500, over 3x as much | 46 |
|
[Cinematic Marvel] Does the Avengers universe overlap with the new Spider-Man universe? | Is there anything that separates the Amazing Spider-Man universe from the Avengers universe? Can we assume that it's possible that The Amazing Spider-Man can be a member of the Avengers reserve team, or was there anything that officially separates the two versions of New York? | 29 | No. The universe where Spider-Man has organic webshooters is Earth-96283.
The universe where his first big foe was the Lizard is Earth-Earth-120703.
The universe where Loki aided an alien invasion of Earth is Earth-199999.
They're in different universes entirely. Some similarities might apply, but it's highly unlikely that we'll ever see any crossover. | 32 |
ELI5 Why is it more difficult to put clothes on slightly wet skin? | Often after taking a shower, it is difficult to put, say, socks if the skin is not well-dried. This is cause the fabric kinda sticks to the skin in ways it doesn't when it is not wey. Why is that? Shouldn't water generate less friction than normal, not-wet skin? | 185 | The water causes the clothes to stick to your skin because the fabric is attracted to the water. It's the same basic principal that allows paper towels to soak up water. This increases the total amount of fabric-to-skin contact.
>Shouldn't water generate less friction than normal, not-wet skin?
Yes but normally when you put on clothes there's little to no fabric-to-skin contact, so even though water is better than skin, it's worse than just avoiding contact altogether. A better comparison would be wet clothes vs a skin-tight rubber suit. The wet clothes are easier to put on because fabric-to-wet skin contact is better than rubber-to-skin contact. | 110 |
[40k] What are the relationships between the non-nemesis chaos gods? | Khorne despies Slaneesh above all, and Tzeentch opposes Nurgle. We also know Khorne isn't too found of Tzeentch because he relies on magic.
But what about the other relations? What is Slaneesh's opinion on Tzeentch, and vica versia? What is Nurgle's opinion on Slaneesh? How does Tzeentch feel about Khorne? | 37 | They hate each other.
They just hate someone else extra much.
Khorn:
Tzeentch is bloody dishonest schemer and use weak magic.
Nurgle WON'T DO SHIT! JUST DIE ALREADY!
Tzeentch:
Khorn is a tool, he won't see the greater picture.
Slannesh, stop masturbating, your making a scene and we have greater use then to spend our resources on an other orgy
Nurgle:
Khorn is just soooooooo mean
Slaneesh is icky and not in a good way
Slaneesh:
Tzeentch just make things so complicated, he won't stop and smell the vape of a thousand drugs, always have plans to do.
Nurgle is icky and not in a good way | 43 |
Eli5: why are the majority of wealthy/developed countries concentrated into the northern hemisphere of the world? | It seems that the northern half of the world contains most to all of the developed countries in the world. Why is this? My best guess is that explorers from Europe never settled too far south of the equator. | 139 | There's a really great book about this called Guns, Germs, and Steel that explains why some societies have gotten so much more progress than others.
A couple of things.
The "northern half" includes North America, which is one of the least advanced, historically. So saying that "the northern half" contains the most developed countries in the world is only partially true. If you take the United States, well, that's essentially a really large European colony, and can take advantage of Eurasia's natural advantage.
So that leads to the question: Why did Eurasia have that kind of advantage, anyways? Why did Europe colonize the world instead of Africa or South America? It's a couple of things, actually: The east-west axis of Eurasia, the availability of domesticable animals, and the availability of good quality metal ores.
The Americas are primarily north-south in their orientation, and it's obvious that there are larger differences in latitude than longitude. You can bring that awesome wheat variety you've just domesticated eastward or westward, like what happened in Europe, but it's hard to move that wheat north or south, where it's colder or warmer, and where the weather is probably different.
Secondly, Europe and the Middle East have by far the most large animals available for domestication, and that's a huge deal. When you have a large animal working your fields, you are a lot more productive, and the more productive you are, the more people your land can sustain. Agricultural societies are always a lot more dense than non-agricultural societies, and more dense societies can sustain more non-productive citizens like philosophers, artists, kings, and soldiers.
Domestic animals also increase your ability to travel, and the amount of luggage you can tow around. When you're limited to smallish loads carryable in a hand cart, you're not going to be able to realistically trade as much as you could if you had a horse-drawn cart, and you're not going to want to go as far. You're not going to be able to really use the massive power of the wheel, because you can't scale up as far as you can if you had an ox-sized being hauling stuff.
Lastly, the advantage of iron and bronze over stone and wood is self-evident. If you have bronze, you're going to beat your stone-equipped enemies and can access iron. If you can access iron, you're going to defeat your bronze-equipped enemies and can access steel, and so on.
Surely I've missed something, but I've gotta go. Hopefully this helped! | 120 |
ELI5: Why does my son's stutter go away when he talks in an accent? | My son has a moderate stutter. When he talks in an accent - and his Scottish is on point, let me tell you - his stutter goes away completely. He is 13 but wants me to ELI5 to him. Help me? | 16 | It's the same reason that James Earl Jones (yes, the famous actor) doesn't have one.
Singing, and well . . . accents. They both use the same part of the brain, that regulates speech patterns and rhythm.
Because he isn't using the part of the brain that natural wants to be used while speaking, he sort of "bypasses" the stutter. And allows him to speak normally.
James Earl Jones had a horrible stutter that made him almost voluntarily mute. One day a teacher/therapist suggested that he take up singing, to him it sounded ridiculous, but it helped him work past it. | 19 |
Does my phone have an IP address when I'm using the internet, but not connected to WiFi? | If so, what's providing it? The nearest cell tower? | 270 | Your phone will certainly have an IP address if it is communicating over IP, and everything that you would typically think of as "software" on your phone (aside from the telephone itself and SMS) does so, typically using TCP/IP (web, e-mail, most apps) or UDP/IP (video/audio streaming, VPN, some games).
Whether the IP address is reachable from the public Internet, however, depends on your ISP; most mobile ISPs operate a NAT that multiplexes several network-internal IP addresses through a single address visible to the public Internet. The externally visible IP address may change on the fly as you move around from cell tower to cell tower. | 132 |
[Marvel] What was Wakanda like before the landing of Vibranium? | And why didn't it cause massive damage to the city and surrounding area? | 19 | Wakanda was very primitive at the time. Bear in mind that the vibranium meteor landed centuries ago, so the Wakandans were, at the time, no more advanced than the rest of Africa. At least, the parts that hadn't been colonized by Europeans.
It did cause quite a bit of damage when it landed, but the vibranium inside the meteor also absorbed much of the impact. | 17 |
ELI5: Why is it called "giving up"? | If you think about it, it doesn't really make sense. Try explaining it to somebody whose native language isn't English. | 49 | "Give" has meant "to yield" since the 1600s, from a Middle English word (yeve) merging with the original definition, the Middle English "yiven." And it's based on the concept of giving tribute.
From there, it'd be a relatively simple leap to "give up." To present tribute to someone above you, to surrender. | 47 |
CMV: Pansexuality is a completely unnecessary term and not a legitimate sexuality | To start off, let’s establish what pansexuality is. Googling the definition of pansexuality, we get **an individual not limited in sexual choice with regard to biological sex, gender, or gender identity.**
Because the definition mentions both sex and gender, I think that it’s important to acknowledge the difference. Sex is scientific. The only way that one can change their sex is undergoing an operation that would change their sexual organs to resemble the other sex’s sexual organs. One cannot simply choose to identify as male or female— it is 100% genetic. Gender, on the other hand, is the whole of society’s view on the attributes of that sex. For example, a very simple society might choose liking cars to be a “man trait” and liking flowers to be a “woman trait”. This makes it very possible for a male to identify as a woman because he likes flowers vice versa.
However, when discussing something such as sexuality (notice the sex part of the word), the concept of gender feels rather irrelevant. The term heterosexual, for example, is defined as someone who is attracted to the opposite sex. That’s it. The term doesn’t mention that the member of the opposite sex must like cars, flowers, males, females, or anything. A man that likes women with large breasts isn’t a “breast-sexual”. He is just a heterosexual who, just like almost everybody else, is slightly more complicated than loving every single woman he comes across.
Keeping this in mind, there are only two sexes according to biologists: male and female. There are rare cases where an individual might have parts of both sexes, but a sex is always determined nonetheless. Thus, speaking to which sex an individual is attracted to, there are only four possible sexualities:
1. Asexual – Attracted to neither sex
2. Homosexual – Attracted to the same sex
3. Heterosexual – Attracted to the opposite sex
4. Bisexual – Attracted to both sexes
This is what makes the term “pansexual” so unnecessary. Since a pansexual does not care about a person’s sex, they are attracted to both sexes. This makes them bisexual by definition. There is no need to add anything more to the word because sexuality is not meant to give a complete overview of what you find attractive. Otherwise, if people asked me my sexuality, I would say I am a brunette-female-who-is-shorter-than-me-but-not-too-short-and-has-a-good-sense-of-humor-as-well-as-an-appreciation-for-science-and-has-an-attractive-looking-face-sexual, which is absolutely ridiculous.
**TL;DR: Pansexuality is just a subset of bisexuality. This makes it an unnecessary term since almost all attraction is a subset of sexuality (I.e. A heterosexual male who only likes blondes) and we could not possibly give a term to each.**
_____
> *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!* | 261 | What about those who are attracted to intersex people with ambiguous genitalia? What about those who are attracted to transgender people who have only had hormones or top surgery and not bottom surgery (as many choose to do because of technical or financial concerns)? Bottom surgery for FtM transgender guys can be especially difficult, so a FTM guy could have a full beard and a flat, hairy chest thanks to hormones and top surgery, but prefer to use a strap-on penis. Many homo/hetero/bisexuals would specifically exclude transgender people from their preferences, even if the transgender person *has* had surgery to alter their genitals. So "pansexual" does cover a few things that aren't covered by bisexuality. | 81 |
What happens to a displaced ant? Like if one climbs on my shoe and I get in my car and go somewhere and once I get there he climbs off my shoe onto the ground 10 miles from his colony. | Would he find his way back, try to live on his own, assimilate with a new colony, or just feel doomed and let itself die? | 231 | Depends on the type of ant, some species (specifically Argentine) can assimilate into new colonies provided they are the same type of ant. For every other species, in all likelyhood yes they will just wander around until they either die naturally or reach another colony where they will be killed. | 86 |
Why did we go from a Delta variant of COVID straight to Lambda? What happened to Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota, and Kappa? | According to [this article](https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/07/health/lambda-coronavirus-variant-wellness-explainer/index.html) there is now a lambda variant of COVID that is impacting people mostly in South America.
This of course is coming right in the middle of the Delta variant outbreak in the United States and other places.
In the greek alphabet, Delta is the 4th letter and Lambda is the 11th. So what happened to all the letters in between? Are there Epsilon-Kappa variants in other parts of the world that we just havent heard of?
If not, why did we skip those letters in our scientific naming scheme for virus variants? | 11,916 | They didn't skip them. There are variants that use the other greek letters. Lambda is just a variant making a larger impact. You won't hear about all the variants unless they were influencing more public action. | 13,439 |
[MCU] What was Hulk's plan in New York? | Hulk/Banner assumed he'd run into Doctor Strange in New York. What was his plan if he actually ran into the Doctor? Every other group went in stealthy with a plan. Hulk isn't exactly subtle. How was he going to quietly get the stone from Strange? | 33 | Much like with The Ancient One, he figured that he'd be able to reason with Strange, explain the situation and they could come to an arrangement. And of course, if that failed, much like with the Ancient One, he would attempt more Hulkian methods of persuasion.
Likely to similar impotence. No-one expects the astral punch. | 46 |
Did they have to bring the air up to the international space station? | how did they get the air to the international space station? | 287 | Sure. And they keep bringing up "air" - now mainly as water, which is split into hydrogen and oxygen at the station. The oxygen is needed for the crew, the hydrogen is used in the CO2 removal system. A bit of nitrogen covers losses to keep the interior at an Earth-like gas mixture.
It is part of the usual missions for new supplies and experiments. | 309 |
ELI5: How do we know so much about far away planets (what they're made of, their atmospheres, possibilities of water, if they are exoplanets etc) just by looking at them through a telescope? | 22 | We can tell if a planet is an exoplanet because if it was orbiting our sun it would move across the sky. Exoplanets can't actually be looked at through a telescope, they're too faint. They have to be indirectly observed - for example, if a star's light dips for a long period then returns to normal that probably means a big planet of its own just passed in front of it.
For finding out about the composition of far away planets, we can use spectroscopy. Every element on the periodic table has a unique pattern of light that it absorbs, meaning the elements can be worked out by splitting up the light from the planet (like when you shine a white light through a prism to make a rainbow) and comparing the pattern you get with the known patterns of elements.
For working out possibilities of water, astronomers look at several factors, like the planet's distance from its star and the density and temperature of its atmosphere. Liquid water requires a thick atmosphere so that it doesn't just evaporate into space, and it needs to be close enough to its star that it doesn't freeze.
An exoplanet's mass and size can be calculated using the wobble it causes to its star or the amount of light it blocks when passing in front of its star.
But the truth is, that's about all we can know about exoplanets using telescopes. The only reason we know so much about the planets in our own solar system is because we've sent probes to all of them. Before New Horizons arrived at Pluto, we didn't even know for sure how big it was, or what its surface was made of. | 24 |
|
ELI5: Why do our eyes become bloodshot when we are tired? | 67 | Strain on your eyes throughout the day can cause you to not blink as much as you normally would (e.g you're concentrating on something for a long period of time). In order to keep your eyes well lubricated, you blink throughout the day, but when you don't blink as much, your eyes dry out a little. The next time you blink, you're irritating your eyes more than helping them. This irritation causes the pain, dryness, and bloodshot appearance normally seen when someone is tired. The irritation causes the blood vessels in the cornea to swell and it basically becomes an additive loop until you close your eyes for the night (i.e. your eyes become more red the longer you go without lubricating them or closing them for a period of time).
tl;dr: lack of "normal" amounts of blinking throughout the day irritates the eyes making the blood vessels in them swell = blood shot by the end of the day | 24 |
|
ELI5: Why does scratching an itch make it stop itching? | 111 | The itch is usually caused by histamine, a substance that exists in basophiles, which are a type of white cell that moves to inflammated parts of the body (for example, a mosquito bite). Due to the inflammation the basophiles release the substance and when you scratch it you make them release it all the more fast and effectively - that is why at first you feel itchier when you scratch. Eventually all the basophiles in that spot have no more histamine to release and the itch stops. | 37 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.