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1crdh3
Could airplanes save fuel by having support solar panels?
I know it would require tremendous investment, but wouldn't they be able to save on fuel if they had solar panels to store energy when possible and use fuel only when there's no other choice?
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1crdh3/could_airplanes_save_fuel_by_having_support_solar/
{ "a_id": [ "c9j8yi6", "c9j8z9x", "c9jfcgw" ], "score": [ 6, 7, 3 ], "text": [ "No. Not commercial airplanes at least.\n\n[If we're talking about a 1-man proof of concept, sure.](_URL_0_) But don't expect it to go very fast. In fact, your car can go faster than that airplane. \n\nEDIT: Car go fast! Woooo", "No. The added weight would counteract any (small) savings in fuel required. ", "I was reading a physics book where they make the case that tiny flying drones could use solar power. To your question, I'll take the position of \"it depends on the size\".\n\nIf we have sufficiently high Reynolds number, then the lift to drag ratio doesn't change much for different sizes (although the speed, and speed relative to body length may change). With that assumption, we need a known amount of thrust relative to weight. Weight scales as R^3 and surface area (any surface) scales as R^2 .\n\nThis simple thought experiment demonstrates that the ratio of power generated by a solar panel divided by power necessary to maintain flight scales as 1/R. That means that the bigger you are, the more useless your solar panels are.\n\nEDIT: I shall reveal my sources, for the greater good:\n_URL_0_" ] }
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[ [ "http://inhabitat.com/sunseeker-ii-solar-powered-plane-takes-off/" ], [], [ "http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/41735/is-flying-really-easier-on-smaller-scales" ] ]
zxj2k
why are un-cut diamonds illegal to have in some countries?
I was just wondering, you can buy uncut diamond in the deep web, but why is uncut diamond illegal?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/zxj2k/why_are_uncut_diamonds_illegal_to_have_in_some/
{ "a_id": [ "c68kfns" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text": [ "It's not illegal to have uncut diamonds, it is illegal to import conflict diamonds in most western countries however (it's very hard to get a hold of a real conflict diamond these days, especially if you buy them from a legitimate business). Those diamonds however are likely conflict diamonds that are illegal to import and without any paper to prove otherwise. " ] }
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41uu6e
how can a company like uhaul allow me to drive their trucks halfway across the country and leave them at different uhaul centers? wouldn't some centers lose more trucks than they take in and vice versa?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/41uu6e/eli5_how_can_a_company_like_uhaul_allow_me_to/
{ "a_id": [ "cz59lqf", "cz59u8v", "cz5beqr", "cz5bzni", "cz5f2s8", "cz5oqal" ], "score": [ 61, 39, 11, 25, 7, 2 ], "text": [ "Yes, it happens just like you expect. Companies like U-haul and RV rental companies, etc. have programs to mitigate this - car transport, or RV companies will buy 1-way plane tickets for drivers to move their RVs for them.", "Yes, but the interstate drives are pretty rare. Most drivers take it one town over or something and they just hire a guy to bring it back. They might not even need to because someone from another place will drive a truck to your town and then your back even again. \n\nUhaul makes a fuck ton on the long interstate drives so they don't mind.", "It costs more to move from places no one wants to go for this reason. Return cost is transferred since it is unlikely that someone will do so voluntarily.", "I worked for a camper van hire company in Australia. We would sell rental cheaper in the direction where we needed vans, or from start points where we had a surplus. We sometimes gave rentals free, or even bought customers air tickets if they didn't care about where they finished. Our last resort was putting the vans on a train or truck.\n\n\nLPT: everyone wants to be in Sydney for NYE so we didn't want any vans there at Christmas. You can probably find great rental deals from Sydney to Melbourne or Brisbane in December", "The expense required to relocate vehicles is built into the cost of the one way rental. They have people whose job is it to drive them back to where they are needed.\n\nAlso, they will sometimes offer steep discounts to people who happen to be going in the right direction.", "Can't speak on other companies, but one way (long distance) rental prices fluctuate based on supply/demand where you rent and where you're dropping off. A Uhaul from Portland, Oregon to somewhere in Minnesota could very well be cheaper than taking it to San Francisco, CA. Doing this keeps the number of corporate shuttle trips down. It's also why you may be offered a sweet deal at the time of rental if you drop off your Uhaul one town over from your destination." ] }
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1rllk6
what does it mean when a video game is in pre-alpha/alpha/beta?
How do they determine which stage they are in?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1rllk6/eli5what_does_it_mean_when_a_video_game_is_in/
{ "a_id": [ "cdogg9z", "cdogmjq" ], "score": [ 17, 6 ], "text": [ "It means that the game is not done. Imagine you are building a house. You start with the foundation that might be called pre-alpha. You ave an idea of the shape of the house but it's not realy a house yet. \n\nThen frame in the walls. Then you insulate it and put siding up. At this point it might be called an \"alpha\" house. People can look at it, but if anyone gets to close they will clearly see that it's not finished yet.\n\nAt some point, late in the construction process, you invite a whole pile of people over to the house so they can jump up and down in it and make sure it stays standing. This would be the bata stage. The house is mostly done, but not polished. You are just kind of testing it out to make sure it's structurally sound.", "[**Pre-alpha**](_URL_0_)\nThe game is in very early stage of development. They're not testing things, constructing stuff for basic functionality, they're also designing the software.\n\n[**Alpha**](_URL_2_)\nTesting the software, trying to break it, and when they have people try to hack it. At the end of the Alpha stages of development, they usually have a 'feature freeze', which is when they stop adding features to the game.\n\n[**Beta**](_URL_1_)\nThe phase in which you're familiar with, and is sometimes open (Open-beat, also on the wiki page) to users to help test. They are no longer testing the actual software, but are testing how usable it is and whatnot. " ] }
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[ [], [ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_release_life_cycle#Pre-alpha", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_release_life_cycle#Beta", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_release_life_cycle#Alpha" ] ]
3fzbgo
what is happening to the engine when i'm at high rpm's, but i haven't shifted yet?
As in, I just floored it in my automatic car, but the car hasn't shifted into 2nd gear.
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3fzbgo/eli5_what_is_happening_to_the_engine_when_im_at/
{ "a_id": [ "cttd53v", "cttgp30" ], "score": [ 3, 2 ], "text": [ "The car has a sensor on the accelerator to determine how far it's pushed down. When you 'floor' it you generally want to accelerate fast. In order to do so you require high RPM and thus high power from the engine. So the gear shift is delayed in order to achieve the higher RPM. This is due to gear ratios within the transmission. ", "Mechanic here. Basically you've got a valve inside your automatic gearbox. On one side of the valve is pressure generated by the speed of the gearbox, and on the other is your accelerator pedal. The gearbox is constantly trying to shift up a gear into a higher ratio, while the accelerator is trying to shift down a gear. When you floor it, on a simple system, you activate a switch called the kick down system, which automatically drops a gear down to ensure that you get maximum engine revs before shifting. You let off the throttle, the transmission speeds up, and the pressure on the shift valve changes enough to overcome the accelerator pedal pressure, and the transmission changes into a lower gear. \n\nModern computer gearboxes are far more sophisticated, taking into account things like engine temperature, engine speed, vehicle speed, the difference between the current and next ratio, and from there decide when the ideal time to change is. TLDR: the harder you push down on the gas, the lower ratio the gearbox wants to go. " ] }
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6bq0v5
why is marijuana detectable through urine drug tests for so long (at least 1 month for regular smokers typically) while other drugs (meth, cocaine, heroin, etc.) aren't detectable generally past 72 hours-a week at the most?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6bq0v5/eli5_why_is_marijuana_detectable_through_urine/
{ "a_id": [ "dhol63n" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "THC and many of it's derivates are fat-soluble, a characteristic that many other drugs do not have, and slows down the removal from the body. This is very similar to how some vitamins are dangerous in high amounts, while others can be taken in large quantities daily with few side effects." ] }
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3dgmpg
How is methane formed without biological activity? It seems to be very common from Jupiter to Pluto.
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/3dgmpg/how_is_methane_formed_without_biological_activity/
{ "a_id": [ "ct5224x" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "You don't need biological activity to form methane. On Earth, you don't see a lot of non-biological methane or industrial production because there's so much of it around already that there's no need to mass produce it. But the reaction of CO2 and H2 to form H20 and methane is exothermic. All you need is high temperatures and a metal catalyst to initiate the reaction. There are also geological processes that can produce methane. " ] }
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p6skm
What do we know about conditions on early earth?
I've been told that we know very little about the early environment, which makes research into abiogenesis speculative at best. What do we know for sure, and how do we know it?
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/p6skm/what_do_we_know_about_conditions_on_early_earth/
{ "a_id": [ "c3mzd7e", "c3mzluh" ], "score": [ 2, 3 ], "text": [ "Hmm... I'm not sure what you mean by \"early earth\". I can fully answer your question, but I need you to pare your question down some. \"Early earth\" is an extremely vague term that could consist of billions of years time. Do you mean when the moon was made? When plate tectonics started? When life may have begun? When the atmosphere was oxygenated? Just the events I mentioned are just under half of the Earth's entire lifespan (~2.5 BILLION years). There is plenty of evidence for all of these, if you want a more general overview go to the [precambrian](_URL_0_) page of wikipedia. For more information about an Eon, just click on the subdivisions on the page. When you pare down your question more I'd be happy to answer anything!\n\nI really don't mean to offend, it's just that its a very subdivided period of time often gets lumped together. I have a 500 page book that is just about the Archean. There is lots of evidence and cool stuff, but give me a place to start! \n\nThe reason abiogenesis is speculative, is that its very difficult to find evidence of life at early, early period (3.4 Gya certain, 3.85 Gya speculative). The problem with finding life is that it is just bacteria at this time. Bacteria are tiny! The [3.4 Gya finding](_URL_1_) provides morphological, isotopic and associative evidence towards life pretty persuasive. \n\nEdit: fastparticles found a much older speculative date.", "Yay someone asked about my research area.\n\nWe know quite a bit about early earth actually. First off we have samples all the way back to 4.4 billion years ago. These samples come in the form of tiny minerals known as Zircons (ZrSiO4). These are incredibly hard minerals that survive lots of heating so they are perfect. They also like Uranium and hate lead (when they are formed) so U-Pb dating them is very accurate. Also there are a lot of other things included in Zircons which gives even more information about the conditions at that time.\n\nNow the things we have evidence for from zircons:\n\n1) The Hadean had liquid water. The oxygen isotopes of the zircons points towards the existance of liquid water on the surface. Source: Mojzsis, Harrison, Pidgeon Nature 2001\n\n2) There was a crust. This one is kind of obvious since we have samples from that time period.\n\nNow for your abiogenesis question. The earliest date with evidence for it is 3.85 billion years ago and this work was done based on graphite in apatite by Mojzsis et al. \n\nThe main thing that the evidence we have found in Zircons dispells is the model that the early Earth was a hot and uninviting place. The time period before 4 billion years ago is called the Hadean which comes from Hades (god of the underworld in greek mythology). This implies a hellish world but in fact quite the opposite seems to be true. It appears to be fairly similar to current Earth except for the life forms (more complicated than simple bacteria anyway)." ] }
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[ [ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precambrian", "http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v4/n10/full/ngeo1238.html" ], [] ]
1p7xz4
when installing a computer program, why does the last 1% often take longer than the previous 99%?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1p7xz4/eli5_when_installing_a_computer_program_why_does/
{ "a_id": [ "cczotea", "cczousk" ], "score": [ 7, 2 ], "text": [ "Because time/progress indicators are a remarkably hard problem which has little payoff for getting right. There isn't an obvious way to get the indicator right as each step in the process contains diverse sub steps that are often not compatible with each other (writing to the file system vs checking a remote site for updates vs writing to the registry). A system might be faster than average at one task while being slower than average at another. \n\nThe 99 to 100 bit is generally the point where it hands off to the OS to do its thing for registering new programs. Depending on the program, this could take longer than the rest. \n\nThey could do this better - for instance, using an instrumented installer to gather stats on installs on 100 different machines/networks and using some averaging to get better estimates. Or using more sophisticated heuristics on the early part of the install. But people don't normally make purchasing decisions based on the installer, so this expense isn't worth it (especially since installers are generally outsourced and everyone has this problem).\n\nSource : software developer, written my share of installers", "Often there are many different types of operations that need to occur when installing a program: copying files, checking versions, downloading, making changes to the registry/config files, etc. Since the installer cannot know how long each of these operations take, but has a general idea of how many operations it needs, the progress bar is based around \"5 of 9\" steps completed. Each of these steps can take a different amount of time. It may also be grouping several similar steps into one larger group, which, again, takes a different amount of time." ] }
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1toybs
Roman Marching Camps
In many places I have seen references to Roman Marching Camps. These camps were constructed each night on the march. However, I haven't seen much about what would happen to these forts when they were abandoned. Is there any evidence that in the morning the fort would be "disabled"? or rendered less useful to others in some way upon abandonment? Is there any evidence of old camps being taken over becoming the starting point of a new town or an Inn? Thank you for any help you can provide.
AskHistorians
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1toybs/roman_marching_camps/
{ "a_id": [ "ceaz6c7" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "For the most part these camps were made of easily portable materials. The camps were just a few tents surrounded by a wooden palisade. These materials were usually packed away and taken with the unit as they marched. The Limes or border forts and outposts were more permanent, usually made out of heavy stone. One such example is the \"Cohort Fort\" or the \"Saalburg\" in Germany, which has stood since 90 CE." ] }
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5j0pbd
what factors differentiate a crime of passion from a premeditated crime?
Is it merely whether a crime was reactionary/provoked, or does the severity of the crime and the period of time involved also play a part? If so, at what point does one become the other? For example, if a woman discovers her husband cheating on her, and stabs him fifty times immediately, killing him, this would most likely be a crime of passion. If the same wife discovers her husband cheating, and stabs him only once, but a week later, would this be a crime of passion, or premeditated? What if she staba him a hundred times, a month after discovering his infidelity? Which would it be? P.S. I'm not sure if a "crime of passion" is a legal delineation, but I imagine it would be an extenuating factor during prosecution, while premeditation forms part of the definition of first degree murder.
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5j0pbd/what_factors_differentiate_a_crime_of_passion/
{ "a_id": [ "dbdhjav" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "It's a grey area. The concept doesn't exist in all jurisdictions.\n\nI believe that you have to establish that the person was so effected that they were driven to irrational behaviour that was out of character for them.\n\nIf the woman had no history of violence and stabbed the cheating husband a week later (after slowly bring driven crazy by the knowledge) and then turned herself in without making any effort to hide it, she may have a case.\n\nIf she has a history of beating her husband and/or she has spent the week planning how to hide the body or fake an alibi then that's premeditation and isn't a crime of passion.\n\nIn a similar vein, crime of passion may not exist, but you could plead mitigation by way of temporary insanity. A different way of essentially saying the same thing. \n\nEdit: The Wikipedia entry is quite decent, specifically the entry on France. Which set the modern standard for this defence in the Napoleonic code\n\n_URL_0_" ] }
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[ [ "https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_of_passion" ] ]
8pqnyl
Why didn't everyone attend higher education during American colonial times? Was it just something children of elites did?
AskHistorians
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/8pqnyl/why_didnt_everyone_attend_higher_education_during/
{ "a_id": [ "e0dxw77" ], "score": [ 11 ], "text": [ "It's best to think of higher education during the colonial era more like secondary school than college as we think of it today. One could almost think of them as akin to (but not exactly like) boarding schools for white boys from families of means. In 1810, the average age at a colony college was 15 and all of those students were boys. They were virtually all white (notable exceptions include the indigenous boys and men who attended Harvard's Indian College) and in most cases, they were expected to pursue a life in politics, behind the pulpit, or practicing law. The first reason not everyone went was because not everyone was allowed to go.\n\nThe word \"peculiar\" was often during this era to describe young women's education. White girls and women from families of means were expected to receive an education - but the frame was how their education could benefit their husband or their son. Young women didn't enroll in institutes of higher education because it was neither allowed nor necessary for their anticipated future. They were expected to become wives and mothers - not lawyers or politicians. Oberlin College, founded in 1833, would be the first American college to welcome women - white and Black. (There were some exceptions to this, most notably in Quaker communities, especially Moravian College, but they didn't award degrees until the Civil War.) \n\nAttending college as a Black person - man or woman - simply wasn't an option. Efforts to open Black colleges in the north were routinely squashed. Even non-degree conferring schools for freed Black adolescents faced hostility. Many were vandalized, including having their wells poisoned with horse or cow manure. Meanwhile, many of the colonial colleges owned enslaved people and used their labor to establish institutional wealth.^1 \n\nSo higher education was off-limits to 50% of the white population because they were female, all free Black Americans or enslaved people, and virtually all indigenous people. We can, though, look back at the white boys and young men who did go. The second reason not everyone went was because many young men didn't need what the schools offered.\n\nThe colony colleges\n\n* Harvard\n* Collegiate School (Yale)\n* College of New Jersey (Princeton)\n* King's College (Columbia)\n* University of Pennsylvania\n* College of Rhode Island (Brown)\n* Dartmouth\n* College of William & Mary\n* Queen's College (Rutgers)\n\nhad what is described as a classical curriculum - Greek and/or Latin, some math, and some sciences. it was a deeply academic education - in effect, useless in any meaningful sense. The prevailing belief was that a young man would best be prepared for his future if he had a rich, esoteric education. Parents who sent their son to one of the colonial colleges (or young men who enrolled on their own) most likely saw a future as a lawyer, politician, or clergy member. In many cases, it would be because that's the career the father had, but not always. Once enrolled, the young men wouldn't study the law or politics as one would today as a law student or political science major. Instead, young men would read, talk through, and memorize information they would then recite back to their professors to prove they learned it. This isn't to say all they learned was useless once they left - they developed analytical, communication, and logic skills. At some schools, they would learn a second language like French and practical skills like architecture. Higher education was also a place for these young men to network. They would often meet up with other like-minded men and go on to form law firms and political alliances.^2\n\nIn most cases, young men from trade or merchant families would apprentice with their father or relatives. Sometimes, families saved enough to send a younger son. In others, a young man from an improvised background could find someone to pay his tuition. Young men, though, without family means to pay for classes and books rarely went simply because their path was set and it didn't require knowing Latin or Greek. \n\n[This](_URL_0_) response goes into more detail about the college application process. \n\n______________\n1. Wilder, C. S. (2014). *Ebony and ivy: Race, slavery, and the troubled history of America's universities.* Bloomsbury Publishing USA.\n\n2. Wright, C. E. (2005). *Revolutionary generation: Harvard men and the consequences of independence*. Univ of Massachusetts Press." ] }
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[ [ "https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/7s5yyz/it_is_1800_and_i_live_in_boston_it_is_time_to/?utm_content=title&utm_medium=front&utm_source=reddit&utm_name=AskHistorians" ] ]
9kp5rt
Why were there such erratic changes in climate during the Little Ice Age, and why did it stop?
And: Is there any correlation to be made between that period and the erratic weather we are seeing today? I'm not looking for climate change denying discussions, I feel like we are in agreement there. But is there any interesting climatic correlations between the LIA and today, or are they fundamentally different? Im writing a masters thesis on history of climate (in the field of history) and while not the main subject of the thesis, i feel a need to make sure my thesis isn't made into a climate deniers argument. I also am interested as it seems like there are similarities between then and now, in that erratic weather seems to be a defining factor.
askscience
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/9kp5rt/why_were_there_such_erratic_changes_in_climate/
{ "a_id": [ "e74x1u6" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "I think it would be hard to give a solid answer. A number of things (constructive/destructive interference of orbital cycles, insolation levels, positive feedback through glaciation, adjustment of moisture pathways, etc) likely played into the LIA which determined its duration and intensity. Furthermore, climate proxies across the world are likely to disagree on the intensity, timing, and/or duration of the LIA. Smaller climate events can be strictly regional anomalies (ie, the Rockies and Europe got colder, but other parts of the planet warmed). There is a bias introduced when most climate studies are focused in certain parts of the world. Some scientists would venture that climate anomalies such as the LIA are more related to enhanced variability and regional contrasts in climate, rather than any one characteristic of temperature or moisture. For your purposes, it might be useful to research the specific climate patterns which have historically controlled moisture in your area of study. Those patterns are likely in play today, but are being affected by anthropogenic means. \n\nSorry for an unsafisfying answer. Your question is a big one— Hopefully someone can pitch in more thoughts about connections between then and now. Thus is the nature of climate science. " ] }
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20y3fe
what is the difference between positive and negative g-force?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20y3fe/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_positive_and/
{ "a_id": [ "cg7t3rh" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "Direction.\n\nNormally you feel a force of +1g, pushing you straight down.\n\nIf you were in an elevator accelerating upwards which, you might experience a force of +2g. And if the elevator was accelerating downwards very quickly, you might actually feel an upwards force of -0.5g. That's what a negative g-force is, when it feels like you are falling up. \n\nNote that elevators don't accelerate fast enough to feel those kinds of forces, but many amusement park rides do." ] }
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9dq9tx
Do images taken by Hubble Telescope have the same colors that we see?
IIRC, I read somewhere that the images taken by Hubble Telescope are just black and white. The astronomers or technicians then analyze those images and digitally assign colors to each element according to what spectrum we know it emits. Is that true? And if we are in space now, can we see the universe as colorful as we see in images? Why or why not?
askscience
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/9dq9tx/do_images_taken_by_hubble_telescope_have_the_same/
{ "a_id": [ "e5jo66u", "e5kbtsr", "e5lxl7u" ], "score": [ 44, 3, 2 ], "text": [ "The Hubble Telescope works somewhat similarly to how the human eye works.\n\nThe human eye sees colour by having three different types of light sensor. Each of these is sensitive to a different range of wavelengths of light. But combining the three sets of signals from the three different types of light sensors, you get a colour image. This is why there are three primary colours, and why a computer or a painter can generate any colour by mixing three colours.\n\nOf course, there is nothing universal about this type of colour. The number of different wavelength bands a creature can distinguish, and what these wavelength bands are, differs in different creatures, and also differs between humans - some people see *four* primary colours, while colour blind people might see two, or see three but two of them are very close.\n\nThe key point here is that *colour is arbitrary*. Colour is a particular way that a particular eye interprets a distribution of light across wavelengths. There is nothing especially \"real\" about the way that a \"normal\" human sees colour.\n\nSo with the Hubble Space Telescope, we aren't limited to trying to see colour the way that a \"normal healthy human\" sees colour. Instead of focusing on the three bands of wavelengths that people tend to think of as \"colour\", the HST uses a large number of bands that focus on the wavelengths that are particularly useful for astronomy. Many of these aren't even visible to the human eye - e.g. in the infrared. In a sense, HST has *better* colour vision than a human, because it has a lot more bands of wavelengths that it can use.\n\nSo that's great for astronomers, but what happens when you want to make a nice image to put in a press release? Well, if you like, you can *try* to approximate what the human eye can see - taking the wavelengths that correspond closest to what humans are sensitive too, and weighting them according to what humans can see. This is a bit tricky, because the human eye is variable, and doesn't see colour well in dimly lit situations etc. This is the approach that consumer digital cameras take, but it isn't perfect - often you have to edit the resulting image to make the colours fit what human eyes actually saw. Alternatively, you can take the different wavebands, and combine them in the best possible way to bring out all the interesting detail. After all, colour is an arbitrary thing that depends on the \"eye\", so you might as well invent the best \"eye\" possible for the situation. All of the colour information is real - it's real light from real gas and stars - it's just being put together to form the most informative and interesting image they can.\n\nSo: is it true? Is it real? Yes, I would say it is. It's an accurate representation of the light captured by the \"eyes\" of the Hubble Space Telescope. Is it what we would see through a telescope? Maybe, maybe not. Some of the images represent what you'd see, although a lot brighter because of the larger light sensor and long exposure time. Some of them are images with a *better eye* than what we have, a giant robot eye in space that is more sensitive to details in colour than our little earthly goop balls.", "Adding that a black and white sensor has 4x the resolution of a color sensor of the same MP due to the fact that color imagers use a Bayer matrix to approximate color. Imagine a simple sensor that is 2 pixels by 2 pixels. This 2 x 2 grid has one pixel covered by a blue filter, one covered by a red filter, and two covered by green filters. The intensity of light that strikes the sensor under each pixel is then used to represent the color for that 2 x 2 grid. Astronomical cameras are often monochrome and lie under a filter wheel that can have numerous filters that each allow a very narrow part of the spectrum through. These filters often correspond to the emission spectra of different elements. Many of the Hubble images show the light from hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur. These three images are all in black and white, but look slightly different from one another due to the location and intensity of the light emitted by the aforementioned elements. Each of these images are then mapped to a color (often not the same color as these emission spectra, but colors that increase the contrasting regions of the target), then combined to make the final image. ", "A lot of the Hubble photos you see are false colour images -- the actual image is more likely to be taken in infrared, because that might give us more useful scientific information. The false colour images are usually made to replicate what it would look like if you were seeing it with the naked eye, but sometimes they pretty it up a little as well. " ] }
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4npkr7
[Quantum Mechanics] How does the true randomness nature of quantum particles affect the macroscopic world ?
**tl;dr How does the true randomness nature of quantum particles affect the macroscopic world?** **Example :** If I toss a coin, I could predict the outcome if I knew all of the initial conditions of the tossing (force, air pressure etc) yet everything involved with this process is made of quantum particles, my hand tossing the coin, the coin itself, the air. So how does that work ? ______ *Context & Philosophy : I am reading and watching a lot of things about determinsm and free will at the moment and I thought that if I could find something truly random I would know for sure that the fate of the universe isn't "written". The only example I could find of true randomness was in quantum mechanics which I didn't like since it is known to be very very hard to grasp and understand. At that point my mindset was that the universe isn't pre-written (since there are true random things) its writing itself as time goes on, but I wasn't convinced that it affected us enough (or at all on the macro level) to make free plausible.*
askscience
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/4npkr7/quantum_mechanics_how_does_the_true_randomness/
{ "a_id": [ "d45vigk", "d46317k", "d46enkm", "d46ilgc", "d46yz4r", "d473dv8" ], "score": [ 54, 6, 3, 2, 2, 3 ], "text": [ "Not sure if this answers your question, but one example that comes to mind is nuclear decay. Quantum effects dictate when any specific radioactive isotope decays and yet the effect is powerful enough to affect the macroscopic world. For example, a single decay at the right time and place could, and probably has at some point in time, mutated the DNA of a developing organism thus triggering an entirely new line of evolution that would never have occurred if that random quantum event had never taken place. ", "This is best intuitively understood taking Feynman's path integral formulation of Quantum Mechanics. This formulation is equivalent to the typical Dirac-Von Neumann but is so powerful it can be used to study Quantum Field Theory, String Theory.... plus it is very pictorical so it gives intuition of what is going on.\n\nFeynman told us that in order to compute the probability of an event B occurring starting from some initial state A, we have to take into account all possible paths the particle could take from A to B (not matter how absurd they are) and sum together with equal weight in the following way:\n\nsum over all paths(exp(i S(path)))\n\nJust a few paths, you have to consider all of them even if they look very absurd:\n\n_URL_0_\n\nS(path) is a value we can calculate for a given path. Then we take a complex exponential of it, which esentially gives us an arrow in the complex plane. And then we have to do that for every possible path and sum all those arrows. You can see that this for example contains interference of the particle with itself along those paths because we are summing arrows for the different paths and these arrows can point in very different and even opposite directions.\n\nSo how does this predict classical mechanics? Well, it is well known that the classical path that your die or any other macroscopic object would follow is the one where S is a maximum*. But when we reach a maximum of any function the variation of the function starts to slow down, then it is 0 at the top and then starts going in the opposite direction. So when we reach the maximum we have lots of those arrows contributing constructively in the same direction.\n\nAll the other quantum paths tend to cancel themselves because the variation of S there is quick and hence the arrows spin fast but when we reach the classical path the contributions add up constructively. This is even more significant when there are many different particles.\n\nCheck this cool vid from the wikipedia showing how the calculation works for a particle going in a straight line:\n\n_URL_1_\n\nNOTE*: This is a minor simplification. It actually is where the action is made extremal, which can be a maximum, a minimum or a saddle point. This doesn't change anything of the rest of the discussion.", "My favorite example is the photelectric effect. Quantum is about probabilities but it is also about whole units of energy. The photoelectric effect is the best demonstration of why energy is quantized. The photoelectric effect is used in solar panels to convert sunlight into electricity. \n\nThe electron has a probability of tunneling through a energy barrier. By applying a voltage to a material we can change that probability to control the flow electricity like controlling the flow of water with a gate. Understanding quantum mechanics lead to the transistor which uses a voltage to control the flow of electricity. The modern world is based on using transistors to compute and quantized energy level changes to emit light with a specific frequency and energy, the laser, to transmit information.", "I'm just reading through all the examples of macroscopic effects of quantum randomness (shrodingers cat esq stuff). It's very interesting, but it brings up the question I've always wondered about it's macroscopic effects:\n\nWhat about in the human brain? Are neurones firing small enough systems to be subject to quantum indeterminism. And what (if anything) could this say about free will?\n", "Fundamental indeterminism is an issue with a surprising number of consequences, and is very related to the concept of [locality](_URL_4_). The [EPR paper](_URL_2_) showed that locality implies determinism, and [Bell's theorem](_URL_5_) shows that determinism implies nonlocality (in that local hidden variable theories can't work). These have firmly established that physics is nonlocal, and the orthodox interpretations of QM all agree that physics is likely nondeterministic, though some \"fringe theories\" like [Bohmian mechanics](_URL_1_) allow for (nonlocal) determinism with some pretty contrived methods.\n\nMost of these arguments (particularly Bell's theorem) have two major loopholes. They rely on [single-world quantum mechanics](_URL_3_) and reject the notion of [superdeterminism](_URL_0_). (Basically, they assume free will and the ability to independently choose the measurements to establish Bell's inequality. Whether this is a valid assumption is open for debate.)\n\nIn a single-world theory of physics with free will, determinism can cause some problems. Consider what would happen if you can predict how a state will collapse upon measurement and that they can collapse a state when the desired conditions will yield the result that they want. Then this becomes a viable method for superluminal communication, which causes all sorts of problems. Most notably, it breaks the notion of causality, which is fundamentally required for the concept of determinism to be valid (i.e. cause propagates effects in predicable manners).", "This is a big question, so don't expect to get a full answer in any single post here. Here are a few points I would make:\n\n* Quantum mechanics itself affects the world around is in so many tiny ways that we could never really list them all. For instance, molecules wouldn't exist if electrons didn't fall into quantized orbitals. It is completely fundamental to the world around us.\n\n* That said, the classical ( & deterministic) approximations of the world that served us pretty well before quantum mechanics was discovered do a good job of explaining many of the phenomena we experience day to day. \n\n* Much of the \"randomness\" we see in the world would be there in a deterministic, classical world as well because many physical systems are chaotic. I'll roughly define chaotic systems to be ones where any small lack of information about the initial state quickly gets amplified so that you cannot predict the outcomes. The weather is a good example.\n\n* [Quantum indeterminacy](_URL_0_) also exists. It is different from classical indeterminacy, because even when you know everything that you can know about a quantum system you can't predict the outcome. Many things are a mixture of quantum indeterminacy and chaos, but it helps to focus on systems that are purely quantum indeterminant if you want to ask how this affects the macroscopic world. Systems with nearly pure quantum indeterminacy are [useful for cryptography](_URL_1_), since they can be used to generate purely random numbers.\n\n* The meaning of quantum indeterminacy depends on your interpretation of quantum mechanics, and experiments can't tell us which interpretation is correct. It is possible that all possible outcomes of a quantum measurement happen, but each \"version\" of our minds is only aware of one outcome at a time. If this was true, then quantum mechanics could still be deterministic. This is the many worlds interpretation. However, in other interpretations the outcomes really are random, so determinism is gone from the universe.\n\n* For some people the lack of determinism is important for creating an opening for free will. I don't agree with that interpretation (this is a philosophical question, not a scientific one, so feel free to take the rest of this with a grain of salt). If you don't think free will and determinism are compatible because your mind is really being governed by the laws of physics or something, then adding a few coin tosses to the laws of physics doesn't fix the problem. I think any definition of free will that can't survive in a deterministic universe is still going to be logically inconsistent in a quantum indeterminate universe as well. With quantum mechanics there are specifically no \"hidden local variables\" that can explain the outcome of an event, so we can't have some magic source of free will that is guiding the outcomes within the framework of quantum mechanics. " ] }
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[ [], [ "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Three_paths_from_A_to_B.png", "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Path_integral_example.webm" ], [], [], [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superdeterminism", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Broglie%E2%80%93Bohm_theory", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPR_paradox", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Many-worlds_interpretation", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_locality", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell%27s_theorem" ], [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_indeterminacy", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_random_number_generator" ] ]
wanhw
What are the chances of touching the same water molecules in two different locations during two different parts of your life?
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/wanhw/what_are_the_chances_of_touching_the_same_water/
{ "a_id": [ "c5bqs00" ], "score": [ 6 ], "text": [ "Very high.\n\nA common high school chemistry/physics problem is to compute the odds that one of the molecules you inhale next would have been part of Caesar's dying breath. Depending on your assumptions, it usually works to 90-95%.\n\nWhen you consider that water is much denser, and that you are compare all the water you have come into contact over your life, the odds jump to virtual certainty." ] }
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59vv55
what causes clouds to form or congregate around mountains?
I was at the Rock of Gibraltar today, and there was a large amount of clouds on only one side of the mountain for the entire day. Other than this mass of clouds, the sky was mostly clear. Any insight into what would cause this?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/59vv55/eli5_what_causes_clouds_to_form_or_congregate/
{ "a_id": [ "d9bq2lj" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text": [ "Wind pushes air into the side of the mountain. Where can it go? Some air goes around but some is forced upward. The air going up reduces in pressure with the altitude, expands, and cools. This reduces the amount of water vapor it can hold and often results in it condensing to form clouds." ] }
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2rat61
We all know of people defecting from the Soviet Union to America, but did any Americans defect to the Soviet Union?
AskHistorians
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2rat61/we_all_know_of_people_defecting_from_the_soviet/
{ "a_id": [ "cne54iu", "cne8r8l", "cne90z2", "cne9e9p", "cneg234", "cneg7y2" ], "score": [ 8, 8, 4, 34, 4, 2 ], "text": [ "Hi! Not to discourage other answers, but [here](_URL_0_) is another thread on the topic.", "In one instance, a high-ranking official for the CIA who was very much in the loop with all of the United States' actions within the Soviet Union, Aldrich Ames, sold top secret documents in exchange for millions of dollars for almost ten years. Ames' treasonous selling of documents to the USSR led to many spies being compromised and subsequently executed, among them was Major General Dmitri Polyakov, the highest ranking informant for the USA within the Soviet Union. ", "hi! check out this post, which has links to a few more\n\n* [If someone was a communist in the US during the Cold War, how would they defect to the Soviet Union?](_URL_0_)", "Read \"The Forsaken\" by Tim Tzouliadis. It's about a group of American workers who moved to Stalin's USSR during the depression with the hope of finding a workers' paradise. Incredibly sad and tragic what happened to them.\n\nAlso, Kim Philby was one of the most famous defectors - he was British not American, but it's a great story. Head of Soviet counterintelligence for MI6 for many years at the height of the Cold War. Read \"A Spy Among Friends.\"", "The movie Reds covered some of this in the very early years of the revolution by covering several well known people like John Reed and Emma Goldman. The movie is well worth watching alone just for the interviews of real people who experienced it interspersed throughout the film.\n\n_URL_1_\n\nNPR also covered these defections to a small extent in this article.\nMost notably (beyond Oswald) were the NSA's Martin and Mitchell's defection in 1960.\n\n\"Their years at the NSA were uneventful. Martin gained enough recognition that he was twice awarded scholarships for study towards a master's degree.[6] Mitchell and Martin became disturbed by what they learned of American incursions into foreign airspace and realized that Congress was unaware of those NSA-sponsored flights. In February 1959, in violation of NSA rules, they tried to report what they knew to a Congressman who had expressed frustration with the information he was receiving from the NSA, Ohio Democrat Wayne Hays.[7][8][9][a] In December 1959, the pair visited Cuba without notifying their superiors as required by NSA procedures.[10]\"\n\n\n\n_URL_0_\n\nThey were quickly labelled as homosexuals as a way to completely undermine their real reasons for defecting and outing the NSA's actions, and are little remembered beyond a few brief mentions here and there.", "I can't say whether she defected, but the wife of Alexander Afingenov was American. The focus of Jochen Hellbeck's *Revolution On My mind* was after all not about defectors, but about diarists in the Soviet Union, and even then Afinogenov scarcely mentioned his wife in his diaries. It is unclear whether she officially defected and what her life was like, but she lived with Alexander for some years, even during the time he was under intense scrutiny by the writers association for official plays and literature (the specific name escapes me). More intriguing, Alexander was close to Stalin himself, and often received advice and critique on his newest plays and writings. Perhaps, that Alexander more or less comfortably corresponded with Stalin, can say something about how trusted his wife was by the NKVD and other accusatory groups.\n\nSource: *Revolution On My Mind*, Jochen Hellbeck" ] }
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[ [ "http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1c6sf6/how_common_was_it_for_an_american_to_defect_to/" ], [], [ "http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1kswsw/if_someone_was_a_communist_in_the_us_during_the/" ], [], [ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_and_Mitchell_defection", "http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/07/24/205121529/for-american-defectors-to-russia-an-unhappy-history" ], [] ]
4eftka
If Ancient Carthage was raised to the ground by the Romans, how accurate is our historical insight of the people/culture/way of life when all we have to go off are biased Roman accounts?
AskHistorians
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4eftka/if_ancient_carthage_was_raised_to_the_ground_by/
{ "a_id": [ "d1ztz93" ], "score": [ 5 ], "text": [ "Razed. \n\nAnyway, Carthage isn't that difficult to learn about. Carthage was settled by Phoenicians, who lived in the general vicinity of modern Lebanon. They had smaller settlements in modern neighboring countries, but they generally lived on the Lebanese coast -- cities like Sidon, Tyre, and Byblos. They are, respectively, the third, sixth, and eighth largest cities of modern Lebanon. \n\nThese Phoenicians were traders. They eventually visited a rather large part of the Mediterranean. Basically, if it was a settlement on the Mediterranean coast of Africa, Phoenician traders visited it regularly. Some of these traders stayed to set up permanent missions. Some of these missions evolved into colonies and some of these colonies involved into cities. Carthage (Qart Hadast) was one of these colonial efforts. It wasn't the only such city to evolve on the African coast, but Carthage was the most famous. Eventually, the Phoenician center of power moved to Carthage as Phoenicia itself came under foreign occupation (not terribly unlike how Portugal's power temporarily shifted to Brazil). Carthage then carried on doing much the same as Phoenicia has. And Carthage would go on to found various cities. One such city, founded on the Iberian coastline, was called Qart Hadast. Because *of course* the Carthaginians decided they needed two cities named Carthage in their empire (and since Qart Hadast just means \"New City,\" the name is especially unhelpful). The Romans would rename this second city Carthago Nova. It, unlike its namesake, would survive Rome's ire. Carthago Nova became Cartagena.\n\nBecause the Phoenicians and Carthaginians were so integrated into the Mediterranean trade, and because they settled so many different locations, the razing of Carthage was never going to erase all signs of Carthaginian culture. What this all means is that despite the fact that Rome destroyed the city and then almost immediately built a new city there, there were simply too many traces and records of Phoenician and Carthaginian civilization for the destruction of one city, no matter how grand, to completely erase. Also, Rome's decision to build on top of Carthage's ruins probably did more to erase Carthage's physical legacy than the actual destruction did. Ruins can survive time but they are much less able to survive human construction. \n\nAnd, of course, the Romans didn't destroy their own records of Carthage. We wouldn't know about their almost pathological obsession with Carthage's destruction if they had. To the Romans, Carthage's conquest and destruction was an abject lesson to the rest of the world -- to erase all evidence of the city's existence and who the Carthaginians were would be to undermine the Roman efforts. \n\nThink of it like this: if you're going to make an example of something or someone, you want people to see what you've done. Otherwise it's not a very good example. " ] }
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2angmn
how do you advance ranks in the military?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2angmn/eli5_how_do_you_advance_ranks_in_the_military/
{ "a_id": [ "ciwwh9f" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text": [ "Air Force Reserve Officer here. You're asking a pretty broad question. I'm not sure how it works for enlisted or other branches, but officers in the AF Reserves: O1 to O3 are \"time in service\" meaning they're automatic. To transition from company grade to field grade officer, you need to go to Squadron Officer School. After that, you wait for a slot to open up O3 to O4. Haven't looked into going higher than that yet but I'm pretty sure you have to go back to Air War College to make it from O4 to O5. After O5 I heard it's pretty much who you know." ] }
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14t6fr
Are there any European families that still exist today that can trace their origins to the aristocracy/patrician families of the Roman Empire?
I'm generally curious about how the transition of elite social classes occurred after the fall of the Roman Empire. Was there a lot of social restructuring or did the people in power generally remain in power? EDIT: Some related questions I had were: Were the elite of the Roman society able to preserve their privileged status by marrying with the ruling classes of the Germanic tribes, or were they largely supplanted by new aristocracies? Were these Roman families were able to survive specifically as an aristocracy, as opposed to blending into the general population, after the fall of the Roman empire and possibly all the way up until now? Also, thanks for all the replies!
AskHistorians
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/14t6fr/are_there_any_european_families_that_still_exist/
{ "a_id": [ "c7g7qgl", "c7g87xq", "c7g91br", "c7g9hos", "c7gb51z", "c7gcavp", "c7gdlb3", "c7ge8s5", "c7gfo5k", "c7gij51" ], "score": [ 273, 22, 36, 162, 106, 10, 45, 6, 11, 2 ], "text": [ "They can't document it (and it seems a common enough root to derive a name from) but the Massimo family at least makes the claim. \n\n_URL_0_\n\n > When asked by Napoleon (with whom he was negotiating the Treaty of Tolentino) whether the family descended from Fabius Maximus, the then Prince Massimo famously replied \"I do not know that it is true, but it has been a tradition in the family for some thirteen or fourteen hundred years.\"", "Statistics is a funny thing. It has been shown that everyone in the world is descended from Nefertiti and Confucius, and everyone of European ancestry is descended from Muhammad and Charlemagne.\n\nSo every European is probably descended from the patricians.\n\n_URL_0_", "This is the relevant wikipedia article.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nShort answer, no. \n\nEDIT: I would also like to add that this article itself, is suspect, especially in the \"other postulated routes\" section as I remember a time when someone was claiming that a lineage descent through Armenian royalty was most plausible. It seems possible this article may be edited by people who want to promote dubious claims without lack of sourcing. ", "An important fact to consider is that due do declining birthrates, executions, adoptions and other factors a lot of the aristocratic/consular families (or at least their names) die out even in the classical period.\n\n An excellent example being Nero - Since G. Julius Caesar had no sons/brothers, and adopted his grand-nephew G. Octavius to continue his name he had no true heirs, then Augustus adopts Tiberius the son of his wife Livia merging the Claudii Nerones with the Julii Caesares, now two traditional families are relying on one descent. With the death of almost everyone in the family during the reigns of Tiberius and Gaius only Claudius is left of the two families who was only distantly related to the Caesars and was actually more closely related to Marcus Antonius. He then adopts his wife's son L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, the future Nero. And so, when Nero dies three great houses of Rome die out in the male line(and in reality two of them were only alive in name).\n\nDon't know about post-fall, but even during the republic and empire it wasn't always the same families in power. (Though tracking families is complicated by Roman naming practices - on which feel free to ask for more info).\n\nApologies for wall of text.\n\nEdit: changed patrician to aristocratic/consular since patrician/plebeian not that relevant in late republic etc.", "The last family I’m aware of who could trace their ancestry to Republican-era Rome was the royal dynasty of the Bosporan Kingdom in southern Russia, who were descended from Marcus Antonius, Mithridates the Great of Pontus, Darius I of Persia, Cotys VIII of Thrace, and several generals of Alexander the Great. They were conquered by the Goths in the mid-fourth century and disappeared. (*Edit:* I just remembered the Anicii. They go back to at least the 4th century BC, and members of what was apparently the same family were active in Byzantine politics as late as the 6th century AD.)\n\nIf you’re looking for what happened to the elite social classes around the fall of the western Roman Empire, though, you should read the letters of Sidonius Apollinaris. He was a bishop from a very prestigious family in late Roman Gaul (his father-in-law was the emperor Avitus), and he corresponded extensively with other Gallic aristocrats. In his early letters, the empire is still relatively strong, and he boasts of dining with emperors and serving a year in Italy as Prefect of Rome. By the end of his life, the empire is gone, and he and his aristocratic friends are serving as advisors to various barbarian kings.\n\nIt’s clear from Sidonius’ writings that much of the Roman aristocracy was able to successfully transition to the post-Roman world. However, none of the specific families of his era can be traced forward or backward for more than a few centuries.\n\nEdit—some relevant tidbits from the life of Sidonius Apollinaris:\n\n* His father-in-law Avitus became emperor in part because he had previously served as an imperial envoy to the Visigoths settled in southern Gaul. The Goths took a liking to him, and when the previous emperor died, they successfully lobbied to make Avitus his replacement.\n\n* While Sidonius was serving as Prefect of Rome, his friend Arvandus, the Prefect of Gaul, was caught inviting the Goths and Burgundians to take over several Roman provinces, with the presumed support of the Gallic aristocracy.\n\n* Sidonius seems to have been fairly close to the Visigothic king Theodoric II, and wrote a glowing account of the king’s personality and daily routines to his brother-in-law Agricola.\n\n* He jokes to his friend Syagrius, who had become an advisor and judge at the Burgundian court, that Syagrius had learned the Burgundian tongue so well that the barbarians were afraid to commit a barbarism in their own language when he was around.\n\n* His own choice to become a bishop was typical of many Gallic aristocrats in the post-Roman period. Most of the barbarian leaders belonged to the Arian church, so the local Roman aristocracy was able to keep control of the Catholic church and use it to maintain their influence.\n\n* And incidentally, one of his letters is to the British king Riothamus, whom some historians suspect of being the historical foundation of King Arthur. (Sidonius asks Riothamus to hear the case of an acquaintance of his who thinks his slaves have been escaping to join the Britons.)", "Forgot to mention this: while it isn't *Romans* per se, a lot of Muslims claim descent from the prophet Muhammad. It's called seyyed status to be a patrilineal descendant of the prophet, and there's a certain prestige associated. (My mother is a seyyed. I'm not, because it only counts through the father - after all, if we counted it both ways then everybody would be one.)", "Ah, descent from the patrician class. This raises a whole slew of issues that are always fun to tackle. First, a bit about how the aristocracy works today.\n\nThe nobility has traditionally been divided into two castes: high nobility and low nobility. In Britain, you can see this with the \"Lords,\" properly called peers. Peers derive their privileged status from the House of Lords which, until 1999, was their hereditary right. They were therefore the \"peers of the King\" and would act in council to advise him although this began to lapse around the time of the Glorious Revolution and continued down into the modern era.\n\nBaronets and knights, aka \"Sir John Smith,\" are part of the low nobility or gentry. They are technically not considered aristocrats (except in Scotland), but this is more of a formality than a reality. Some baronets hold titles that are far, far older than a large number of peerages and continue to have influence in society today.\n\nFinally, there's the untitled gentry. These men and women hold no titles but often descend from titled families or, rarely, they hold no title at all for a variety of reasons that are impractical to get into here. Examples of this are the Dashwoods and Chomondeleys -- there are only a handful of peers and baronets from these families, but they have many cousins who sometimes hold more weight than they themselves do.\n\nAll of these classes intermarry, go to school together, and are friends with each other. They are therefore the entire \"patrician\" class of the United Kingdom.\n\nNow, to answer your original question: descent from a patrician family. Practically speaking, it's impossible to establish descent from what is called \"time immemorial\" by the College of Arms. Generally speaking, any family related to the nobility by 1200AD is considered to have ancient descent and then the buck stops there. However, certain families did *claim* an ancient descent from the classical era. The Bourbons, for example, claimed direct descent from Hercules and the Princes Massimo claim descent from a roman senator.\n\nSo, then, why is it so hard to pin down even a nominal descent from time immemorial? 1200AD isn't an arbitrary date. It's also the time where descent and the taxonomy of \"who is a noble vs. who is part of the elite\" came into play and certain rules were established for passing on the status. For example, most titles in Northern Europe can only be passed to the \"heirs male of the body,\" i.e. the closest living legitimate male descendent of the progenitor. In some European countries, adoption sufficed while others allowed for women to inherit. Confusingly, arms could be passed on by adoption but not titles, making the whole thing a very ethereal concept.\n\nIn the Roman era, your status could basically descend within reasonable choice. Adoptions were common and bloodline was a relative concept. Patricians were also sometimes at a disadvantage in comparison to plebians and were known to cast off their status for political gain. This makes any descent to the time of the Republic difficult to ascertain. However, I'd gamble that you could make a decent case that some of the Roman bloodlines live on in the royal families of Europe through intermarriage with the Byzantine Empire. It'd be difficult to really trace a path, but the best opportunity probably lies with the Habsburgs and the Bourbons, both of whom claimed at various times to be their heirs of the Roman Empire. However, issues of adoption and unwritten secrets make the whole matter virtually impossible to ascertain as a fact. Could certain families be collateral descendants (via marriage, adoption or descent) of the Roman patricians? Absolutely. Can we say, without a doubt, who they are? Very unlikely. The scholarship, records and proofs required would be impossible to verify, along with the fact that DNA resets itself after the sixth generation.\n\nAny other questions, feel free to ask. I hope this provided a good rationale as to *why* it's so difficult versus a blatant \"no.\"", "Would it be more productive to look at this from the Eastern Roman side of the equation? I believe individuals like [Constantin Karadja](_URL_0_) can trace their descent to Byzantine nobility; I'm just not sure to what extent we can trace the Byzantine aristocracy back to the Classical Roman aristocracy.", "The Romanian [princely family Cantacuzino](_URL_1_) claims to be descendants of [Emperor Ioannes VI](_URL_0_) of the Eastern Roman Empire. Prince Stefan Cantacuzino fled to Sweden 1944 and died 1988. His family still resides in Sweden, as far as I can find.\n\nIn many cases it is hard to prove relationship through the dark ages - early medieveal nobility loved to claim Roman descenancy to give their claim of nobility an air of being legitmate.", "I love this idea, and i wish i could contribute more to it. A small, and pretty boring point I'm sure, but I think that it's important to remember that our notion of a Roman patriarchy, or aristocracy, was more fluid than historical sources will preserve. We have an idea of a stable upper class which is unrealistic. The population statistics of the \"privileged\" suggest that the change within the senatorial and equestrian classes was pretty consistent. Further, families accentuated their links to past generations for legitimacy. On the other hand, it might be argued that these families had this opportunity that others didn't.\n\nLook to Hopwood's *Death and Renewal* for an interesting, but kinda tenuous arguement of these ideas and more " ] }
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[ [ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massimo_family" ], [ "http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/05/the-royal-we/302497/" ], [ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descent_from_antiquity" ], [], [], [], [], [ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantin_Karadja" ], [ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_VI_Kantakouzenos", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantacuzino_family" ], [] ]
18e85g
When we look at developing galaxies that are millions of light years away, can scientists assume the current appearance?
For instance, let's assume the Hubble captures a picture of a galaxy 1 million light years away (I'm not sure if this is even possible, but let's assume so). As I understand it, we are technically looking in the past, because the light has a delay due to the distance. This in mind, how different would the actual galaxy look compared to what we see? Is there any way scientists can theorize it?
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/18e85g/when_we_look_at_developing_galaxies_that_are/
{ "a_id": [ "c8e1cp6" ], "score": [ 9 ], "text": [ "Well something a million light years away would look just about the same now as it does in the picture, because a million years is a really short time astronomically. \n\nIf it was something many billions of light years away, then it would be nigh impossible to predict what a given galaxy would look like today, because what it would look like today would depend on, for example, how many and what kinds of merger events in underwent since it emitted the light we're seeing. However, we can say that an average far away galaxy would look today the same as an average galaxy in our local universe.\n\nSo how different did galaxies look in the past compared to today? Well there's lots of differences, but I'm not really an expert so I can't summarize them all. As an example, the famous [Madau plot](_URL_0_) shows that star formation was most active in the universe when it was about one third its current size." ] }
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[ [ "http://www.mpe.mpg.de/resources/pgn/data/pic/MadauPlotBHAggregation3.jpg" ] ]
542zaj
When did the use of a "Bra" become a social standard?
AskHistorians
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/542zaj/when_did_the_use_of_a_bra_become_a_social_standard/
{ "a_id": [ "d7yruhq" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text": [ "Not quite the same question, but I think you'll find this pretty relevant:\n\n_URL_0_" ] }
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[ [ "https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3ll1ya/what_was_life_like_before_bras/" ] ]
36mh98
How much does the resting/basal metabolic rate vary between individuals with similar body composition and weight?
It is not uncommon to hear people make claims about different metabolisms in different people, but are different metabolic rates truly possible? Can people with the **same** amount of body fat, lean muscle mass, *and* weight really have resting/basal metabolic rates that differ by any significant amount (i.e. > =30 kcal/day)? If there is a difference, compared to the "more efficient" metabolism, what is the "less efficient" one doing with the extra calories? Is it unproductively converting it into waste heat? Or is it doing some kind of meaningful work?
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/36mh98/how_much_does_the_restingbasal_metabolic_rate/
{ "a_id": [ "crfiqfi", "crfjjqu" ], "score": [ 3, 73 ], "text": [ "There are probably too many variables at play to really answer your exact question. For one thing, are we going to assume these two people are eating the same foods? Additionally, are they the same age? At an extreme - you could have an identical composition of lean mass, bone and fat, where a very old person is eating certain foods and a very young person eating something else. \nBut that's just the beginning. These two people might have wildly different gut bacteria compositions. Consider a person who doesn't make lipase - has very aggressive gut bacteria, and tries to subsist off of almonds and celery. \nDo these two people get identical amounts of sleep and water intake? \nDo they live in the same temperature conditions? Does one of them sit more, and restrict blood flow to any extremities? These are really just a few of the things that influence efficiency even before you get to things like ATP production.\nI think the heart of your question is to hold as many of these variables constant as possible, which is a very hypothetical concept and IMHO really it's worthless as a practical question. \nTwo individuals with a difference in the \"basal rate\" of > =30kCal a day would only be a calorie or two per hour - hell, an individual person can have that much variability from one day to the next. Consider the concept of ketosis, if you feed triglycerides into the citric acid cycle, you're going to be less efficient. A person could even be adapted to this state and be producing a lot of glucagon in their pancreas and making a lot of ketones. Even better, ketones are valuable calories that are lost in urine. ", "In short, yes. I can't find the study right now, but basically it took a group of people and had them sit around in an airtight room all day, then measure how CO2 they gave off. From this they calculated the individuals BMR. I believe the two biggest factors that influenced were sex and age (unsurprisingly). The third most important factor was actually surprising: fidgeting. They found that people who fidget (which I believe they termed random spontaneous activity) could burn as much as 20% more calories than and age/sex matched control. So shake a leg at your desk. It makes a difference.\n\nEdit: sorry it's been a few years since I read the study. I just remembered that lean body mass was the single most important factor (duh) followed by age and sex, then fidgeting. Keep in mind they were just sitting around all day, obviously exercise is better that fidgeting. Also, if you are interested in this and other evidence-based nutrition info, check out Lyle McDonald. Good stuff, I've followed his advice before with good results." ] }
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2mp5lk
why do cars take forever to heat up, when my space heater is instant? why don't we use "regular" heaters in cars?
It's such a pain in everyones ass to wait 15 minutes for their freezing car to warm up, why not work on a solution?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2mp5lk/eli5_why_do_cars_take_forever_to_heat_up_when_my/
{ "a_id": [ "cm6a7yk", "cm6a9qo", "cm6ae3d" ], "score": [ 2, 6, 2 ], "text": [ "Your conventional space heater uses an electric heating element, that uses a lot of electric current, more than what the alternator on a car can efficiently put out. Sure you can have a high demand electric heater in the car but your fuel efficiency is going to pay the price", "Your car's heater uses waste heat from the engine's cooling system. The benefit is that that heat is \"free\" (it's a byproduct of combustion). The downside is that it takes a while, since your engine block is a big hunk of metal. An electric space heater consumes a lot of watts--it would be difficult and costly to achieve the same thing in your car that now can be achieved for essentially nothing (other than the electric fan, which isn't a big deal).", "Like others have said the heaters in cars rely solely on the heat of the coolant hence a cold engine block must be warmed then the coolant gets warm. Some cars do have electric heat and a/c they tend to be the higher end models with stop start technology because when the car stops then the heat would drop etc but even then it requires a large battery to maintain" ] }
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akzqzd
Every form of Christianity has retranslated the bible to better suit their beliefs and language. There are no surviving original manuscripts. How accurate are modern translations to the original text and what nuances in language have been omitted, and what text has been added?
The New King James Bible is the ~~standard~~ (most commonly used) bible for ~~English speaking people~~ (Americans), but it has gone through multiple translations mostly to suit new beliefs ~~and~~ (or) use of language. Christians today can't wholly agree on which bible is doctrine as there are several translations in use. It can be difficult to translate word for word from one modern language to another due to changes in grammar and meaning, and shifts in nuance for individual words. I assume it can be even more difficult to translate foreign languages of the past due to the same problems compounded by the loss of first hand speakers for clarity. How accurate are modern bibles like the New King James Version to the original aramaic? What is known to be lost in translation that is often misinterpreted today? Are there any passages that are thought or known to be deleted from or added to today's translations? **Edit: altered two phrases to appease disgruntled commentors.** Also, to settle the translation, interpretation debate. Translation: definition 1.1 according to the Oxford Dictionary. "A written or spoken rendering of the meaning of a word or text in another language." Translation assumes interpretation. They are synonymous in this question. "Ich bin ein Berliner" translates to both "I am a citizen of Berlin" and "I am a Jelly Donut". Accurate translation requires accurate interpretation. **I've seen studies and surveys that claim anywhere from 31-55% of Christians read the New King James Version. In all cases the NKJV is the most commonly read, therefore my inaccurate "standard" claim. I can find no studies done that have a global investigation of English speakers. Bible scholars prefer the New Revised Standard Version. Perhaps someone will include that disconnect in their answer.**
AskHistorians
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/akzqzd/every_form_of_christianity_has_retranslated_the/
{ "a_id": [ "ef9aws9", "efal2jv" ], "score": [ 18, 33 ], "text": [ "Just to let you know, you might try cross-posting this to /r/AcademicBiblical to get the perspective of Bible scholars.", " > How accurate are modern bibles like the New King James Version to the original aramaic?\n\nOne nitpick--a relatively small portion of the bible is in Aramaic. The Hebrew bible is almost all Hebrew, and the New Testament is entirely Greek (with a few Aramaic words and phrases thrown in).\n\nThis question is not quite answerable as-is, for a couple different reasons:\n\n > Are there any passages that are thought or known to be deleted from or added to today's translations?\n\nThere are different textual sources one could use to write a bible translation. It's possible to pick one and declare everything not in your preferred manuscript source as \"missing\", but that's not really accurate. For instance, the Ancient Greek versions of the bible have significant additions to the Book of Esther. Jewish translations never include this, and Christian ones only sometimes do, often relegating it to an appendix in the back. Is it \"missing\" from those? No, they just decided to use a source text that omits it. This isn't a crazy decision, since it's likely that the additions to Esther were written later than the basic text as it exists in both Greek and Hebrew versions.\n\nThere are Christian bible translations that translate the Septuagint (an ancient Greek version of the bible) instead of the Masoretic Text (the conventional Hebrew text). It's not necessarily wrong to pick one over the other, it's simply a choice of what the \"authoritative\" bible text is you're working with. Very often bible translators will mainly translate one source text, but footnote possible alternate readings from other bible source material.\n\nThis problem isn't unique to bible translation, either. Shakespeare's *King Lear* exists in several versions with significant differences. The \"conventional\" text you'd find in a regular edition is a mish-mosh of two versions. Was the editor wrong to not include both? Are lines present in one of the source texts but absent in the other, and absent from the \"normal\" modern edition, \"missing\"? Or, if they were included, are they \"extraneous additions\"? Further, King Lear was historically often performed as a comedy, with a completely different ending than Shakespeare wrote it. And there are King-Lear-based plays, like *Der Yiddisher Kenig Lear\" which are supposed to be translations, but are actually substantial reworkings. If I wanted to publish a play \"King Lear, as Jewish immigrants in the 1920s would've experienced it\", would I be wrong to use the 1892 Yiddish version, rather than either one of Shakespeare's originals?\n\nTo bring this back to the bible, nJPS (a common Jewish translation) almost exclusively uses the Masoretic Text (the \"standard\" Hebrew text), occasionally footnoting when a variant reading or Dead Sea Scroll manuscript or a Septuagint reading makes more sense. They didn't delete all parts of the bible not included in the Masoretic text, they just wanted to translate the standard Hebrew text. Theology definitely influenced their decision, but it's not necessarily a wrong one.\n\nIt's not like modern translations are simply editing things out or adding things in. They're picking between biblical manuscripts which have more or less material. \n\n > How accurate are modern bibles like the New King James Version to the original aramaic? What is known to be lost in translation that is often misinterpreted today?\n\nIn terms of actual wording, the vast majority of difference between bible versions will simply be word choice. Words often don't have neat 1:1 mapping across languages. There are also words that have unclear meaning. The normal Biblical Hebrew conjunctive, which technically is \"and\", often seems to be a broadly used conjunctive, where we might use \"so\" or \"then\" or nothing at all. How slavishly we translate it as \"and\" or fill in a conjunctive that works better is a translator's choice, but really a right or wrong decision. Translating it as \"and\" might be more technically close, but produces an English text which is weird and repetitive in a way the Hebrew isn't. Then there are words with unclear or obscure meaning, which is again often a translator's choice.\n\nBut what I think you're getting at is theologically motivated word choice. This definitely happens. There's the \"virgin\" of Isaiah 7:14, where Christian translators pick the wording of the Greek text instead of the Hebrew for theologically motivated reasons (namely, that in the Christian bible that's the reading they seem to use). Some translations do this more than others, and /r/academicbiblical has already given you some specific recs. But very often the theologically motivated word choice is simply picking one of several possible translations that makes the most sense for theological reasons, not making things up whole-cloth.\n\nAnd needless to say there's no way to assess what reading of a particular passage is \"the most accurate\". For most translation choices there's simply no way to know." ] }
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1b3ldj
what is the "quantum" in quantum physics, quantum computers and so on?
What's the difference between normal and quantum?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1b3ldj/eli5_what_is_the_quantum_in_quantum_physics/
{ "a_id": [ "c939g4p", "c939tz3", "c93hkaj", "c93mox0" ], "score": [ 34, 9, 2, 2 ], "text": [ "Go and grab a magnifying lens and look at your monitor, can you see the little squares composing it? That's a pixel. It's a quantum of image.\n\nIf you look at a picture on your screen, the image will be created putting these little pixel-tiles one close the the other. It seems smooth, but if you look close enough and see the tiles you will realize it is discrete.\n\nWe are not inside of a computer ( probably ), however if you take a magnyifing lens big enough you can see something similar to your pixel tiles composing everything.\n\nThere are people that spend their lives looking for these very small subatomic particles and before they could actually be seen there were guys that made calculations to understand how a world composed by small \"quantums\" would behave.\n\nSmall things behavave in a funny and fascinating way when you reach what is called the Planck scale.\n\nEdit: typo", "You can obviously look up the definition of quantum or quanta on google (discrete amount of any other physical quantity, such as momentum or electric charge), so I guess that's not all of your question.\n\nQuantum in those settings you mention refers to Quantum Mechanics. It's a set of mathematical laws (can be boiled down to 5 or so) that governs how we think the universe works. In a sense the language of the universe. Quantum Computers is using those laws/rules to do calculations. \n\nQuantum mechanics got its name from the fact that a lot of things that seemed smooth, or continuous, turned out to be made up of small discrete units. The most famous is probably the realization that light comes in discrete packages (photons). That was a huge surprise because we thought we had proven light was a smooth wave.", "Pretty sure its an outgrowth of the discovery that energy changes on the atomic level by discrete, indivisible amounts. I think the term 'quantum of energy' was used to describe this and the name stuck.", "You know normal physics right? In classic physics everything is linear. If you punch a tree with more force your hand will hurt more. Or (a bit more scientifically) you can put in any amount of energy and you will get a specific outcome. It was common sense that this Principe applied for everywhere.\n\nExcept for it didn't. This is were quantum physics comes into play. You can use light to move electrons in an atom (different story), but what they (e.g. Einstein, which he got his Nobel Prize for) found out is, that there are specific energies you have to put in to make this move happen. You need these EXACT amounts of energy, nothing more or less. And this 'being an exact amount' is what you call quantized. \n\nThat is why you call quantum physics quantum physics. It deals with the field in physics where things are quantized. \n\n\nNow why they want to make quantum computers. Photons have some funny abilities. You know Schrödinger's cat? Stuff like that. For example you can have two Photons which are entangled. It has something to do with data transfer. Entangled photons exchange information soooo fast. (Scientists might have found out, that they to that with 10c, which is thought to be impossible.) This is (of course) a part of quantum physics. That is why it is in the name." ] }
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h7ohn
Question about LCDs
Alright, well I was reading about Liquid Crystal Displays and read that when a twisted nematic is charged it turns to a solid, not allowing light to pass through. Since the backlight of an LCD is always on, does that mean the liquid crystals are always being charged when an LCD moniter is turned off, as to not allow the light to pass through? (Hence why the screen is black?) Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question, but I just couldn't find the answer anywhere. Thanks in advance.
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/h7ohn/question_about_lcds/
{ "a_id": [ "c1t7q87", "c1t7qff" ], "score": [ 2, 2 ], "text": [ "Most modern LCDs are backlit, they have an LED or compact fluorescent light source behind the LCD panel which provides illumination. Without this the LCD would be very dark and difficult to see. When the monitor is off the backlight is off.", "The backlight of your LCD is not on when you've turned off the LCD monitor. Note that this is different than when you have an entirely black screen - you can test this yourself by using a blank screensaver. Compare that screen with your screen off, and you should notice the difference between the two: the screen \"on\", but showing black is still brighter than the screen \"off\".\n\nHere is a [video](_URL_0_) that explains the workings of an LCD monitor." ] }
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[ [], [ "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiejNAUwcQ8" ] ]
5g5yaj
Can anyone help identify this? I've had it for a few years. (German certificate of some sort 1935)
I picked this up as a freebie when buying a few medals a few years ago and I have no idea what it is or what it says. Here's the link: _URL_0_
AskHistorians
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/5g5yaj/can_anyone_help_identify_this_ive_had_it_for_a/
{ "a_id": [ "dapt4dv", "dapuv18" ], "score": [ 3, 3 ], "text": [ "You can try r/translator for this.", "First of all, the font is in blackletter, which became outdated in German-speaking countries in the 1st half of the 20th century. Strangely, it alternates between a proper “s” and the “s” that looks like an “f” which makes that font infamously hard to read. \n\nAnyway, the form reads:\n\nBundesministerium für Landesverteidigung\n(?) 74518 / (???) von 1935.\n\n**Ausweis**\nHerrn Franz(?) Paluels(???) \nin Misburg/Haunover(?) wurde die \nösterreichsche Kriegserinnerungsmedaille mit den Schwertern\nverliehen\n\nWien, am 8. April 1935.\n\nIm Namen der österreichischen Bundesregierung\nFür den Bundesminister für Landesverteidigung\nLehner Gey(???) (Signature)\n\nTranslation:\n\nFederal Ministry of Defence\n(?) 74518 / (???) in 1935\n\n**Identification Card**\n\nMr Franz Paluels (?)\n\nIn Misburg / Haunover was awarded the Austrian War \n\nCommemoration Medal with Swords. \n\nVienna, April 8th 1935\n\nIn the name of the Austrian Federal Government\n\nFor the Federal Minister of Defence\n\n??? (Signature)\n\nEnd of Translation\n\nSo what does this mean? It seems like is a relatively ordinary Austrian medal for service in WW I that does not mention any special actions or distinguishments and seems a bit run-of-the-mill. Then again, at least he received a version \"with swords\" (not real swords, probably just extra symbols), which indicates that the recipient saw active combat. The Wikipedia-article has a nice image, if you want to look at it htps://_URL_0_ (Sorry, the () breaks the Hyperlink) \n\nI am sorry I cannot provide further information." ] }
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[ "http://imgur.com/nMzJVDR" ]
[ [], [ "en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Commemorative_Medal_(Austria)" ] ]
ewrmap
why is icelandic considered a separate language and not old norwegian?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ewrmap/eli5_why_is_icelandic_considered_a_separate/
{ "a_id": [ "fg3xlhz", "fg40jp2" ], "score": [ 9, 3 ], "text": [ "Because the spelling, phonology and grammar have changed quite significantly, even if an icelandic speaker can with a small amount of effort understand old norse. \n\n\nAlso, because it is a language spoken by icelanders in iceland. As the mainland languages started diverging the need to signifiy the uniqueness of Icelandic became more evident.", "Same reason Norwegian is considered a separate language for Old Norse (not Old Norwegian). Both evolved over time and are now different from their parent. Due to isolation and a smaller, more homogenous population, Icelandic (and Faroese) has changed less than other Norse languages, but it has still changed." ] }
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cvofqx
why are car navigation and voice controls so clunky when we have the technology in phones to be very smooth?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cvofqx/eli5_why_are_car_navigation_and_voice_controls_so/
{ "a_id": [ "ey5dk8j", "ey5e1cx", "ey5qefl" ], "score": [ 23, 2, 5 ], "text": [ " Siri and all those like it ship the audio off your phone to a server at Apple/Google/wherever to do the speech to text processing. They have huge farms of optimized servers for that. Your in-dash navigation system has to do it all itself with a relatively slow processor.", "The primary difference between the tech in your phone and in your car is connectivity.\n\nYour phone is *always* connected to the internet (as long as you have a signal) and uses that connection to improve the processing of voice commands and navigation instructions. (With some navigation apps, like Google Maps and Waze, you can see this in real-time when they tell you there is a slowdown ahead and suggest alternate routes.) The same is true of voice recognition - your phone uses dictionaries on the internet and AI software to interpret what you say into a coherent statement.\n\nYour car is relying on a *static* map and dictionary. Map info does not get updated unless you buy an update and install it on the car's harddrive. Voice recognition relies on a dictionary on the car's harddrive instead of the (more robust) dictionary *and AI* that can be employed by your phone via the internet.", "There's a few reasons. The main one is that auto manufactures have been extremely reluctant to allow another company to take \"possession\" of the vehicles infotainment system. \n\nCar companies are good at making cars. They are less good at making voice control systems. They could outsource this processing to someone like google but the car companies don't want to lose that level of control and access to the data. So they have been extremely resistant to doing this.\n\nNext issue is development timelines. Most cars take 5(ish) years to develop before they actually go on sale. At some point in this process the infotainment system becomes \"locked in\" for production. Then the actual model of car is sold, basically unchanged, for another 5(ish) years. Sometimes development is a lot longer, sometimes the sales period is a lot longer. But it's not unreasonable to think that the infotainment system in a \"new\" car might have been designed 5-10 years ago, that's a LONG time when it comes to something like a voice assistant. Go research what Google and Apple were doing in 2009 (hint, nether google assistant or Siri existed then).\n\nThere's 2 more factors. The first is known as the data advantage. Google, Amazon and Apple have gotten as good as they have at voice control because they have been collecting voice control based data for a long time. The more voices that these services can hear the better they can become at learning what people are trying to say. Car companies sell a lot of cars but it's not nearly as many as smart phones are selling, I know many people who don't have their own car but I don't know anyone without a smartphone (or who shares a smartphone). Most 16 year olds have their own smartphone but most don't have their own car. So there's the fact that the car companies have WAY less data available to them to collect, combined with the fact that most cars are not sending this data back home. And this leads us to the next point.\n\nMost smary voice systems today don't actually do the \"smart\" thing on the device itself. A google home is just a recorder with an internet connection, not a speak renegotiation processor. It records you, sends that snip of a recording to google's BIG server farms where google processes it and returns a result, the speaker then plays the result. It all happens very fast and is dependent on an \"always on\" internet connection. \n\nMost cars don't have an internet connection like that. So a car is doing all of the speach processing using the computer in the car. A computer that is already somewhat old and outdated, built by a company that builds cars and not computers and it's more of a general use computer not one specifically designed for speech to text processing. So it's just disadvantage on top of disadvantage.\n\nAll of these are why things like Android auto and Apple CarPlay exist. These services allow your smart device to control the head unit of the car. It basically becomes just a dumb display. But even with that innovation auto makers were still very resistant to allow it. They don't want to give up control of the central screen in the middle of the car. But because they really suck at this stuff they are slowly having to let go. It's now possible (but only just barely possible) to buy a car that has it's primary infotainment system built around Android, but it's not widely available and I think it's only 1 or two models that are mostly in the design stage." ] }
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argnfa
what number do banks use to calculate interest?
Is it the total amount you had in your acct that month? like if I withdrew $100 one day then deposited it back into my acct the next and repeated that cycle would i get more in interest or would just leaving the money in the bank give me more interest?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/argnfa/eli5_what_number_do_banks_use_to_calculate/
{ "a_id": [ "egn2yyn", "egn3g0p" ], "score": [ 3, 4 ], "text": [ "Average daily balance for the month * interest rate.", "You get interest based on how much is in your account at the end of each day.\n\nIf you have $0 in the account at the end of each day, you get zero.\n\nIf you have $500 every day (say you left it alone the whole month), you get $500 * interest rate.\n\nIf you moved money in and out, and you averaged $300 per day, they pay you $300 * interest rate. It's the daily average balance." ] }
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1nkp4t
How can our bowels selectively pass either gaseous or solid/liquid contents?
How do muscle contractions selectively act on gasses as opposed to more substantial contents? Is this similar to how one can burp without expelling gastric juices? I apologize for the shitty question, but not for the pun.
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1nkp4t/how_can_our_bowels_selectively_pass_either/
{ "a_id": [ "ccjkcny" ], "score": [ 7 ], "text": [ "To move fecal matter you use persistaltic muscle contractions in your intestines, for gas these movements are either minimized or not present-releasing gas compared to a solid is much easier. The body has many sphincters, which is something that just constricts an opening. For a sphincter to pass gas it doesn't need to open as wide for a solid or liquid. You can imagine that when you burp the gas already wants to move to a space with more equal pressure so your body doesn't need to force it much, just give it a place to go. The majority of these muscles aren't under your conscious control (some are, most aren't)." ] }
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6mkyxu
how can usps not insure all their packages? if the package is lost-in-transit, they've taken money from you for a service that they didn't provide, and then don't refund you the value of the product or even the value of the service?!
Like, if they lose your parcel, they don't even give you the shipping fee back... Isn't that illegal?!
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6mkyxu/eli5_how_can_usps_not_insure_all_their_packages/
{ "a_id": [ "dk2d53w" ], "score": [ 7 ], "text": [ "No it's not illegal. It's incumbent upon you to insure it if it has any value. Once it's insured, it can't be lost, because extra steps are taken to make sure it doesn't get lost. Plus, you get a tracking # so it can be tracked and located. If it's insured, the carrier knows that he is personally responsible for that item until it's delivered (known as an accountable item, just like certified and registered items). Source: was a casual carrier during summer in college" ] }
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30oozn
could you expose newborns to math to make them learn naturally like language?
Explained
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/30oozn/eli5_could_you_expose_newborns_to_math_to_make/
{ "a_id": [ "cpucux2", "cpucvnb" ], "score": [ 7, 2 ], "text": [ "We do that! Most babies start learning to count at the same age as they start learning to speak.\n\nCould we teach algebra and trigonometry at that age? No. Maths, far more than languages, is a progression of different techniques. In the very early years, where babies learn without even trying, they will be able to learn to count, and to add simple numbers. But there are many, many more things to learn between there and trigonometry, and they really need to be learnt over a course of many years.", "It's hard because you don't use math as much as you use language. Besides, you need language to teach math properly so it has to come later. The first years of life are great to get abstract knowledge but I think math is too much to learn so fast and easy." ] }
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1vzn7j
How true is this comment? Was Hitler in any way "progressive"?
Link: _URL_0_ This user claims that Hitler was, somehow, "progressive", and that progressivism "taken to the extreme" apparently leads to fascism. They also appear to be not differentiating between "utopianism" and "progressivism"- it appears to be a common misunderstanding at least among the right in the U.S. that progressivism is in some way utopian. I was wondering what the other problems with their comment may be.
AskHistorians
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1vzn7j/how_true_is_this_comment_was_hitler_in_any_way/
{ "a_id": [ "cexcsfe", "cey3xff" ], "score": [ 5, 2 ], "text": [ "I am not trying to stifle further discussion, but a [search for \"hitler socialism\"](_URL_0_) returns many discussions about the ideological orientation of National Socialism in Germany.", "One thing I can think of, he was a firm believer in meritocracy. He believed that any true German should be able to attain any post based on their ability. While this probably seems self evident now, early in the last century classism was still very powerful. \n\nSource is the two part Ian Kershaw biography of Hitler. \n\nThat, in my mind, is progressive. I'm not sure how the author of that post squares the desire to rid Europe of Jews with the idea of progressiveness. \n\n\n\n" ] }
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[ "http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1vyg6l/historians_of_reddit_what_commonly_accepted/cex9367?context=3" ]
[ [ "http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/search?q=hitler+socialism&restrict_sr=on" ], [] ]
3569ve
Is there any connection between Gothic Architecture and Goths (Visigoths or Ostrogoths)?
AskHistorians
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3569ve/is_there_any_connection_between_gothic/
{ "a_id": [ "cr1jajp", "cr2b139" ], "score": [ 98, 2 ], "text": [ "Yes, but the connection is more linguistic than practical. 'Gothic' as a term originated as a pejorative description of a supposedly barbarous artistic style. 'Gothic' is one of the words art historians attach to a certain style in order to better classify and compartmentalise. \n\nThe Gothic style itself was a product of the medieval period, hundreds of years after the time of the Visigoths and Ostrogoths. It was not directly created or continued by the Gothic tribes, but rather developed from 'Romanesque' architecture, a style favoured particularly by the Normans which combined Ancient Roman and Byzantine forms with local traditions.\n\nDuring the Renaissance, architectural interest in the buildings of Antiquity flourished. The styles that replaced this classical style were therefore naturally seen as corruptive and poor, when compared to the glories of the Roman style. Giorgio Vasari (d. 1574), named by some as the first 'art historian', used 'barbarous German style' to describe the artistic style now known as Gothic. He claimed that the various architectural features of Ancient Rome had been destroyed and mutilated by the Gothic tribes and replaced with a new style, which he called 'the Gothic'.\n\nTherefore, the labelling of 'Gothic Architecture' has far more to do with perceptions of the Goths as destroyers of classical achievement, than it does with the Goths themselves actually developing it. John Evelyn, the 17th century English diarist, noted in his *Account of Architects and Architecture* that the best buildings are designed in accordance with Greek and Roman precedence. Westminster Abbey, amongst other English buildings, do not conform to these classical rules, and are written off as 'Gothick barbarism'.\n\nJust as Renaissance thinkers found it necessary to portray medieval intellectual culture as one of ignorance and superstition, architectural writers found it necessary to criticise medieval architecture as barbarous and crude. From this supposed decline, the revival of classical styles could be seen as a good and moral thing to do. In order to criticise medieval architecture, it was linked to the tribes that sacked Rome- the worst architectural crime imaginable!\n\nFrom a 19th century correspondent:\n > Authorities such as Christopher Wren lent their aid in deprecating the old medieval style, which they termed Gothic, as synonymous with everything that was barbarous and rude.", "hi! you may also be interested in these posts\n\n* [Did the therm 'gothic architecture' come from italian clergymen lookng to ridicule northern european ecclesiastic architecture by comparing it to the barbarian tribe, who sacked Rome?](_URL_2_)\n\n* [Goths and The Goths](_URL_0_)\n\n* [How did the Gothic tribes of Europe come to be associated with the \"Goth\" subculture of today?](_URL_1_)" ] }
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[ [], [ "https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/256tzy/goths_and_the_goths/", "https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/yoort/how_did_the_gothic_tribes_of_europe_come_to_be/", "https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2qpg5q/did_the_therm_gothic_architecture_come_from/" ] ]
2qx2z2
How do electronic devices limit how much power they get from a wall socket?
I don't get how a lamp for example limits the current that it receives? Why don't they get overloaded? Is there a big resistor in every device?
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2qx2z2/how_do_electronic_devices_limit_how_much_power/
{ "a_id": [ "cnb8376" ], "score": [ 6 ], "text": [ "They limit it by the resistance. The grid guarantees you two things \n-a certain frequecy (50Hz or 60Hz usually) \n-a certain voltage (110, 220, 230, 380, 400V are the usual voltages) \nthe current it gets is then limited by its resistance" ] }
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3zpz59
How did the Romans go about demolishing buildings as well as other large man-made structures- particularly as they razed cities?
For instance, when Carthage was converted into a large parking lot (!), how did the Romans get rid of the buildings there in a safe yet timely manner? I am interested in the Roman's demolition methods because, as conquerors, I figured they would often be left with the task of demolishing buildings that they did not construct- and that might not of always been easy.
AskHistorians
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3zpz59/how_did_the_romans_go_about_demolishing_buildings/
{ "a_id": [ "cyo7nc2", "cyojcw0" ], "score": [ 106, 11 ], "text": [ "A couple of things: if you think that Scipio Africanus \"salted the earth\" of Carthage, he didn't. It's been a persistent myth from the 19th century, but Polybius and other ancient sources make no mention of it whatsoever. It may be based on the destruction of Shechem in the Book of Judges. \n\nBut, regarding the demolitions of structures/cities:\nThey did it by hand. Several thousand, or tens of thousands, of fit men can accomplish far more demolition (perhaps de-construction would be a better word) in a few days than you might think. This was a military force that routinely built a fort to stay in every night while on the move. They had shovels, pickaxes, hammers, and men used to heavy labor. The structures they were demolishing, after all, were built by hand as well. \n\nIn any case, there would not have been a need to rush, particularly. \n\nThe destruction of Carthage would of course have been helped along greatly by the fact that the city burned extensively during the battle. \n\nSources: Complete Roman Army, Polybius I guess (how do you source a negative?), The Bible, Carthage Must Be Destroyed\n\nAdditional non-academic source: I watched six guys pull down a small house by hand and stack it in a couple of dumpsters in a single day when I was a kid. ", "What is the strategic value in razing a city? Seems like the empire in full swing was all about expansions and, once all the inhabitants are dead or enslaved, I figure it's a waste of a good city. Why destroy all the infrastructure if you're going to establish a colony or keep the old establishment from coming back?" ] }
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cp2a98
Why did the Mongols decide to attack the Hakata Bay area during their attempted invasions of Japan in 1274 and 1281?
Just now I watched [this video](_URL_0_) about the attempted Mongol invasions of Japan. I guess that Japan with its foresty mouintains would be difficult to invade for the Mongols who would probably favor open plains. So finding a good spot to land would be especially difficult for them. But why did the Mongols attack the Hakata Bay area with its fortifications twice? To me it seems to be a particularly bad spot. More so in 1281, after the Japanese enhanced their fortifications and conveniently(?) guarded the area with an army.
AskHistorians
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/cp2a98/why_did_the_mongols_decide_to_attack_the_hakata/
{ "a_id": [ "ewn65f4" ], "score": [ 4 ], "text": [ "Though it would be definitely better to wait for responses either from the Mongol History or Japanese Medieval Historians, I just complement some brief historical background around two Mongol invasion attempts as well as some facts on the Japanese-Chinese(-Korean) sea trade across the East China Sea in the 13th century that I assume relatively less known out of East Asia. \n\nPut it briefly, contrary to OP's supposition, the majority of Japanese scholars tend to point out the general overestimation of the Mongols as a sea power at that phase (ca. 1280), and regard the NW Kyushu around Hakata Bay as an only realistic destination of the fleet. Their reasonings are as following: \n\n* As you can see [the linked map](_URL_1_) (though I don't recommend NG's not so academic linked article for this topic so much), the main force of the Mongol invasion fleet departed not directly from China, but from now Masan in SE Korea in both attempts. In addition to the Mongols, the Koreans constitute considerable part of the invasion army especially for the first invasion (1274). \n* The first invasion attempt of the Mongols to Japan in 1274 was in fact almost the first large-scale naval operation in the Mongol history, and the Mongols themselves definitely lacked enough knowledge of the sea route across the East Asia. So, the fleet had to rely on the Korean sailors those who were originally sailor of the merchant ships between Korea and Northern Kyushu like Hakata or Dazaifu for the navigation. In spite of their navigation guide for this shortest route between Korean Peninsula and Northern Kyushu, the first invasion did not work so well. If the fleet tried to attack other than famous port region like Hakata Bay, the result would have been more disastrous one. \n* As for the second invasion, some ex-Sung fleet under the leadership of Chinese General Fan Wenhu also participated in the invasion army, but they had to depart far from Southern China and neither the Chinese did not know much about Japan except for the famous trade route to Northern Kyushu like Hakata Bay. It was also a long voyage from Southern China to Japan without any stopping at ports, so neither of the invasion fleet did not have much choice of landing place. \n\nReferences: \n\n* Masashi HANEDA & Takesi KOJIMA (eds.). *Asian History from a Maritime Point of View (Umi kara mita Rekishi: in original Japanese title).* Tokyo: Tokyo UP, 2013; [English Trans. Masashi HANEDA & Mihoko OKA (eds.). *A Maritime History of East Asia.* Kyoto: Kyoto UP, 2019.](_URL_0_) \n* Wataru ENOMOTO. 'Historical Development of Japanese-Sung and Japanese-Yuan Trades (in Japanese)'. In: Noriyuki TAKAHASHI & Fumihiko GOMI. *Lectures on Medieval History (Chuseishi Kougi)*, pp. 49-64. Tokyo: Chikuma Shobo, 2019." ] }
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[ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FxBjEbEPX0" ]
[ [ "https://www.kyoto-up.or.jp/books/9784814002146.html", "https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/11/141104-kamikaze-kublai-khan-winds-typhoon-japan-invasion/#/85238.jpg" ] ]
6f1dsh
how and why does a word like 'bi-monthly' exist as it does? it simultaneously means twice a month and once every two months, which is an incredibly important distinction.
Surely no one could ever actually use it in any capacity given the conflict. It couldn't have originated as it exists now, could it? **Edit:** Because some comments are insisting there's only one definition for it _URL_0_ 1. occurring every two months 2. occurring twice a month
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6f1dsh/eli5_how_and_why_does_a_word_like_bimonthly_exist/
{ "a_id": [ "dienskg", "dienss8", "dienu97", "dieo3gy", "dieo3hc", "dieubw5", "dievzy0", "difdyxn" ], "score": [ 3, 6, 99, 18, 6, 3, 2, 2 ], "text": [ "Isn't it semi- for things that happens twice every X, and bi- for things that happen every other X?", "Semimonthly means twice a month. Bi-monthly means every two months. People are idiots and use the wrong one. Not the words' faults...", "Bi- as a prefix usually means every two (as in bicentennial=200 years), but using it as \"twice per\" seems to have crept into usage as a malapropism. The more correct and less confusing way of saying \"twice a month\" is \"semimonthly\". The error might arise because \"bi-\" can also be used to denote \"a pair of\" like bipedal=having two legs and bimonthly by analogy meaning \"a pair per month\". That's just speculation though.\n\nThe same issue is also found in biennial incorrectly used as \"twice a year\" but semiannual is the right way to say this. Car dealers seem to get this right often in their semiannual sales. Good on them.", "originally the prefix \"bi-\" meant every other and \"semi-\" was used to mean half (so twice in the given period) in the same way that \"semicircle\" means a half circle. somehow many people started using \"bi-\" when they really meant \"semi-\", probably because for something that happens twice in one month they were incorrectly associating \"bi-\" with the two occurrences instead of the time period that follows it. now both usages of \"bi-\" have become common enough that they are both accepted as being correct, which also has the effect of making the word fairly useless in most contexts.", "Language is an emergent order, so there are no people in charge to make sure things always make sense. So, if you were to use bimonthly, you'd want to make sure the context explained the meaning you intended. For example, if the word were used in a legal contract without clarification, I'd expect problems down the road. \n\nsemimonthly should be used if you mean twice a month, to avoid confusion\n", "Bi- means two\n\nSemi- means half\n\nBi-monthly means \"two month\" \nSemi-monthly means \"half month\"\n\nUsing Bi-monthly to mean \"twice a month\" **is incorrect**\n\nJust like using Literally to mean Figuratively **is incorrect**", "There seems to be a lot of guess work going on in these comments. I, unfortunately, am going to add another guess, but hopefully my preface will help you view all the other comments with some healthy scepticism.\n\nIn English English the prefix 'Bi' almost always means '2 in 1'. You will find that the terms bimonthly, biannually, and biweekly are not ambiguous terms in British English.\n\nIn American English the prefix usually means '2 of'.\n\nMY guess would be that the mixing of these two systems has caused the confusion.", "You're mixing bi-monthly with semi-monthly. The former means every two months. The latter means twice a month. " ] }
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[ "https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bimonthly" ]
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1j4qtt
what is the difference between a dj and someone who plays music from their computer at a venue?
What does a DJ do that can't be done and recorded on a computer to be replayed? I don't see why they get so much credit, unless they make the beats themselves? Thanks
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1j4qtt/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_a_dj_and/
{ "a_id": [ "cbb2ra4", "cbb2ya2", "cbb7g7u", "cbb94js" ], "score": [ 3, 2, 2, 2 ], "text": [ "A DJ generally mixes the songs together so that they sound like one continuous song. It's a much harder job.", "There could be a great difference or none at all. The two aren't mutually exclusive. Plenty of skilled DJs mix live using laptops.", "This is something EDM critics bring up all the time. There are some amazing talented DJ's like Hardwell for example, who will mix music live in front of thousands of people, and because it's live, can adjust his set list (although I'm sure in his mind he knows what he'll play) to how the crowd is reacting. On the other hand there is Steve Aoki, now I love him, however he spends so much time in front of the decks and with the crowd, obviously you can tell what's up. But, he gets the crowd going like no one else. To sum up my long answer, it's all about interacting with the crowd and getting everyone to jump, clap, and just go crazy, a pre-recorded set can't really do that. And as far as producing their own beats goes. You can be a great DJ and not the best producer, and vice versa.", "DJ's are buff with gold chains and skanky girlfriends and guys who bring computers are effeminate music nerds." ] }
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6t06ww
why won't a stack of office paper burn like a hardwood log does in the fire pit?
Built a fire in a fire pit the other day. Puta a few hundred pages of office copier paper in the bottom along with the twigs and bigger branches. Also put a few logs in. The wood burnt normally but I had to keep stoking the paper pile to get it burnt. Is it just that a stack of paper doesn't have oxygen in it compared with a hard wood log?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6t06ww/eli5_why_wont_a_stack_of_office_paper_burn_like_a/
{ "a_id": [ "dlgvud7", "dlh1ogt", "dlh2sy2" ], "score": [ 53, 26, 8 ], "text": [ "Basically, carbon ash is a really good insulator and oxygen barrier. The outside of the paper stack will burn, but the core can't get any oxygen underneath the ash, and is fairly well thermally insulated until you poke it with a stick. ", "Not enough air. Even hardwood is relatively porous, as the sap burns out, which delivers oxygen to the rest of it. Stacked paper doesn't let any air in between the layers, so only the very outside can burn. \n\nEver tried to burn a book?(Don't hate me, it was \"Strong Women Stay Slim\", it deserved it)\nSame thing. By being so dense, it protects itself.", "Paper also has a lot of additives. Pure wood burns in two ways - the C6H12O6 recombines to form steam - even if no oxygen is present - and CO2 which requires oxygen. Even if there's no oxygen, it can keep smouldering.\n\nThe additives in paper (chalk, among other things) doesn't burn, but just turns to ash, which chokes the fire.\n\nYou need powerful ventilation, that blows the ash away as it's formed." ] }
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1jg9qm
Is it possible to make a magnetic alloy from nonferrous metals or semiconductors?
My (vague) understanding is that what makes a material magnetic has something to do with how stable electrons are in their orbits and how resistant those orbits are to change. I know that magnetic disk drives read using semiconductor chips that change their electrical resistance in the presence of a magnetic field. Is a non-ferrous, non-electrical magnet plausible?
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1jg9qm/is_it_possible_to_make_a_magnetic_alloy_from/
{ "a_id": [ "cbek3g1", "cbekjvp", "cber1zs" ], "score": [ 2, 3, 4 ], "text": [ "How are you defining nonferrous here? Not iron? Then yes, definitely. Hard disk drives use a cobalt chromium alloy. Both cobalt and nickel are frequently used to make ferromagnets.", "Doping some semiconductors with impurities has been shown in recent years to sometimes create ferromagnetic effects. I know you said no semiconductors, but this doesn't depend on an electromagnetic effect to work, so I think this might be what you had in mind.\n\nHere's [one example](_URL_0_) that I found quickly. By doping zinc oxide with elemental zinc, aluminum, or platinum they were able to create materials with room-temperature ferromagnetism from non-ferromagnetic materials.\n\nFrom my cursory look through the literature, there's no simple textbook answer for how this comes about. The best explanation I found for this is that the spin required for ferromagnetism arises from a \"donor impurity band\" in the semiconductor, which in the case of n-type doped ZnO might involve trapped electrons in the lattice's oxygen vacancies.", "Of the pure elements, **iron** (ferrum) is the best-known magnetic metal, of course. It's so prototypical that 'ferromagnetism', the best-known kind of magnetism, is named after it\n\n*Ferrous metals* also are sometimes considered to include **nickel** and **cobalt** in addition to iron. All of them are highly ferromagnetic and also have similar chemical and metallurgical properties. However, they are not iron and there are many alloys that use Ni and Co which are magnetic.\n\nThere are also other metals that are ferromagnetic but not similar to iron. Some of the lanthanides (rare earth) have this property, notably [**gadolinium**](_URL_3_), [**dysprosium**](_URL_2_), and [**holmium**](_URL_4_) (though the latter two are not ferromagnetic at room temperature). Rare-earth magnets are the strongest permanent magnets, but these are alloys that contain iron, nickel, or cobalt too (in order to make them magnetic at room temperature). \n\nWhen it comes to alloys, there are indeed ferromagnetic materials that do not contain any ferrous element. [**Chromium oxide**](_URL_1_) is ferromagnetic but has no ferrous metal in it - if you are old enough you may remember that magnetic cassette tapes used this substance. [**Gallium manganese arsenide**](_URL_0_) (Ga,Mn)As is both a semiconductor and ferromagnetic. " ] }
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[ [], [ "http://apl.aip.org/resource/1/applab/v93/i4/p042514_s1?view=fulltext&bypassSSO=1" ], [ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallium_manganese_arsenide", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromium\\(IV\\)_oxide", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysprosium", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadolinium", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmium" ] ]
aqe149
why do blue led holiday lights appear purple in reflections?
My blue LED holiday lights are indeed blue, except when their light is reflected on my white wall. The wall appears purple. I captured this with a white piece of paper. Am I going crazy? _URL_0_
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aqe149/eli5_why_do_blue_led_holiday_lights_appear_purple/
{ "a_id": [ "egfbqru", "egfbuik" ], "score": [ 4, 2 ], "text": [ "Lots of paints and papers include fluorescent compounds. These are made to absorb UV light and output visible light to make the surface look brighter, but many of them are also activated by blue light. These fluorescent compounds are absorbing some of the blue and producing red and green light.", "LEDs can emit multiple wavelengths of light which combine to form the colour you see coming from the diode with the naked eye. I would assume that the pigment of the paint or the degree of reflectiveness of the surface causes some wavelengths of the light emitted to be absorbed, and the rest reflected back into your eye, making it appear to be a different hue." ] }
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[ "https://imgur.com/a/zr6aF1F" ]
[ [], [] ]
60f6xj
what is the bad feeling you get but cannot figure out what you did that makes you uneasy?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/60f6xj/eli5_what_is_the_bad_feeling_you_get_but_cannot/
{ "a_id": [ "df65cqm", "df67pob", "df69rao", "df6amob", "df6b9z5", "df6uc68", "df7hlyg" ], "score": [ 56, 35, 29, 8, 6, 3, 2 ], "text": [ "When i was young i went to the beach with my parents every so often. But this one time i was swimming out a bit too far. Before i knew it the current was taking me and my beach ball to open sea. In my struggle to get back i had to ditch the ball and my mother and a bunch of strangers had to pull me out of the water. To this day i still dream about that fucking beach ball and i have no clue why. The experience was not scary but the scene of that beach ball drifting away makes me feel sooo guilty that i remember it decades later. In short: dont ever lose your beach ball because it will haunt you", "The word to describe this is Malaise. It is a general feeling of discomfort, illness, or uneasiness whose exact cause is difficult to identify.", "Isn't it just...anxiety ? ", "It's by no means the only answer, but that feeling can be caused by infrasound (sound of a frequency below that which can be detected as sound by humans) [wikipedia](_URL_0_)", "One example of uneasiness I know of can be caused by getting good news about something after you got bad news about it just moments ago. Even though everything is actually okay, you still feel uneasy because the hormones from both instances are still running around your system and conflicting with each other.", "If its just a feeling emotionally its anxiety, your body can just have random anxiety particularly if you been under stress at work or school. It can even happen if you eat too much sugar, caffiene, or the beginning of slight indegistion. If its more of a physical feeling something could be wrong or it could be anxiety again. ", "I am a big fan of Sherlock Holmes. According to him, that \"feeling\" (good or bad) or that \"hunch\" is based on intuition rather than fact. And, intuition is explained as data processed too fast for the conscious mind to comprehend.\n\nI personally prefer this theory than the ones about anxiety. " ] }
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[ [], [], [], [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrasound#Infrasonic_17_Hz_tone_experiment" ], [], [], [] ]
g50kx
Is there tolerance differentiation between alcohol types?
I'm a casual drinker, and my nightcap of choice is usually rum, 80 proof, usually a shot or two every now and then. Since this is a usual occurrence, I don't experience drunkenness or even the usual effects of alcohol, I'm merely relaxed and at ease, and in my mind I feel as if I have built a tolerance for rum. However, the other night I was approached with vodka at a get-together, standard 80 proof vodka (identical in ABV to the rum I usually drink, in equal amounts). This drink struck me much harder than my normal drink, and altered my mind far more than my usual rum drink. Is there an explanation for this? Can one develop a tolerance to a specific type of drink, regardless of the ABV, and have stronger effects from a different but similar ABV beverage...? If so, why? How?
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/g50kx/is_there_tolerance_differentiation_between/
{ "a_id": [ "c1ky91r", "c1l2blk" ], "score": [ 10, 2 ], "text": [ "I am pretty sure that all \"alcohol\" contains the same molecules that make you feel \"drunk\". The molecule is C2H5OH (ethanol) and all drinking alcohol contains this.\n\nNow, during fermentation and distillation, some small quantities of other alcohols are produced, but generally everything is done to minimise these as they are not metabolized well by us and can cause some nasty side-effects.\n\nHowever, there are a LOT of factors as to how drunk you feel. How much you ate that day (The less you eat, the quicker the booze ends up in your bloodstream), how active you are that day and how you act after the drink. If you say sip, then sit down, watch some TV or the like, your bloodstream will be fairly calm, but if you are out and about, moving around, laughing, joking and the like, chances are that your blood pressure is a fair bit higher - which means that more of the booze will end up in your brain in a shorter time - which could again lead you to feeling more boozed up than normal.\n\nFurther than that, I guess a subconcious thing might lead your brain to WANT to get more drunk - risky behaviour with different drink and all that etc - but I doubt it.", "In addition to what Fluffeh said, there is such a thing as situational specificity of tolerance. See, your body tries to counteract the effect of alcohol in your system by producing chemicals to remove it quickly. Due to classical conditioning, your body can start to produce these chemicals even before the alcohol hits your blood, for example, as soon as you taste your rum. These chemicals the body produce in anticipation of the alcohol lead you to get less drunk. \n\nHowever, if you swap your traditional routine for a new one, like switching to vodka instead of rum, the body doesn't realize it's about to get a dose of alcohol. It doesn't produce these chemicals that would make you feel less drunk, so by comparison, you feel more drunk. \n\nThis effect is often noted in heroin addicts, who will shoot up for days or months in a specific location. They develop a tolerance to not only the drug but the location. Tragedy strikes when they attempt to use their normal dose in a different setting, because the body is not prepared for that dose and the patient is quickly overwhelmed.\n\nI believe alcohol tolerance builds slower than opiate tolerance though. So unless you have been drinking rum for many years, it is probably not the case." ] }
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a1gvy8
Who are some scientists that were traditionally considered to be outsiders by the scientific community?
AskHistorians
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/a1gvy8/who_are_some_scientists_that_were_traditionally/
{ "a_id": [ "eapn420" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "Sorry, we don't allow [\"example seeking\" questions](_URL_1_). It's not that your question was bad; it's that these kinds of questions tend to produce threads that are collections of disjointed, partial, inadequate responses. If you have a question about a specific historical event, period, or person, feel free to rewrite your question and submit it again. If you don't want to rewrite it, you might try submitting it to /r/history, /r/askhistory, or /r/tellmeafact. \n\nFor further explanation of the rule, feel free to consult [this META thread](_URL_0_)." ] }
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[ [ "https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3nub87/rules_change_throughout_history_rule_is_replaced/", "https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/rules#wiki_no_.22example_seeking.22_questions" ] ]
c3qb09
Can there be a lower limit to how much energy a given computational task (like encoding a video) can consume?
askscience
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/c3qb09/can_there_be_a_lower_limit_to_how_much_energy_a/
{ "a_id": [ "eruzd48" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text": [ "Yes, this is known as [Landauer's principle](_URL_0_)\n\nQuoting wiki: \"[Launder's principle] holds that any logically irreversible manipulation of information, such as the erasure of a bit or the merging of two computation paths, must be accompanied by a corresponding entropy increase in non-information-bearing degrees of freedom of the information-processing apparatus or its environment\".[1][Source] (_URL_1_).\n\nThis gives the physical limits, but asking if some specific task has a lower limit is much more complicated. There might not be a known way or even a way to proof that some algorithm - like specific video encoding - has the least energy consumption.\n\nConsidering the actual limit, it is very theoretical. Any modern or historical solution is way bigger than the limit." ] }
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[ [ "https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landauer%27s_principle", "http://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall06/cos576/papers/bennett03.pdf" ] ]
5jf2uc
can someone explain how drug control rooms help drug addicts?
I had seen a post about drug control rooms in Europe recently about drug control rooms(?) with my husband and I wanted to see about starting one here in the u.s because I want to help addicts like my dad. I know that he probably won't stop, but I want him to be safe while he uses and I don't want him to be alone and risk oding. I love my pops...I just want to help him live a longer life if possible...help?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5jf2uc/eli5can_someone_explain_how_drug_control_rooms/
{ "a_id": [ "dbfmhgv", "dbfmmu2", "dbfp31i" ], "score": [ 6, 3, 2 ], "text": [ "How do they help addicts?\n\nThey provide a safe environment, usually with clean needles, in which to use. There's medical attention nearby in case of OD. Most importantly, it's an environment where users can be exposed to *help,* where they can ask for help, where they won't be arrested or judged. ", "I don't know about starting one here in the US, but they help addicts in Europe by providing a safe environment and teach people how to properly and safely use drugs. Here is a [link](_URL_0_).", "It is basically a safe, no questions asked environment where people can use illegal drugs. It doesn't help with their addiction, but it makes it less likely they will die of an overdose.\n\nYou probably can't set up your own drug control room. They typically have to be state sponsored, otherwise you might be an accomplice to a crime or face civil lawsuits if anything goes wrong.\n\nAlso, it probably isn't a good idea. One key feature of drug control rooms is dispassion. The people who run them don't know the people who use them, and that is vital to setting boundaries. Doing that for someone you know not only enablement, but an invitation from them to take advantage of you." ] }
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[ [], [ "http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/topics/pods/drug-consumption-rooms" ], [] ]
54uqms
if the image of a planet that is "x" million light years aways is also "x" million years old, how can we determine whether or not that planet contains life at the present?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/54uqms/eli5_if_the_image_of_a_planet_that_is_x_million/
{ "a_id": [ "d854k4z", "d854km1", "d854lf3", "d85575n", "d856fg5", "d858y70", "d859vxq", "d85dc0h", "d85i4e0" ], "score": [ 43, 2, 6, 8, 2, 3, 3, 2, 17 ], "text": [ "You can't as a matter of principle because information can't be communicated faster than the speed of light. The only thing you might be able to do is determine whether life existed at the time the light you're seeing left the planet.\n\nEdit: stupid typo", "we can't. the observation is X million years old. even if we found hard evidence of an alien life civilization around a star, that civilization could be long dead already", "No, and at a million ly we wouldn't be able to detect any features that would tell us whether life had ever existed on that planet. Given the sheer scale of the universe and how many stars with planets exist, it's entirely possible that we're one of many intelligent species, but that by the time any of us could send a signal to any other, we'd be long gone. \n\nKeep in mind that all of recorded human history doesn't even amount to 10,000 years. ", "The current known physics suggests that there's nothing faster than speed of light. Meaning, you (or any other particle with a mass) cannot travel more than 3.00×10^8 m per second.\n\n\n\nMeaning, if there exist a planet which is 300000000m away from earth, it will take around 1 second to reach their light to us. Now, if at this speed, if light travels constantly for a year, it would travel 9.461x10^15 meters. Which is also known as a 'Light Year(LY)' in astronomy. So, ultimately 1 LY = 9.461x10^15 meters. Do not confuse here LY with time unit although the term 'year' exists there. LY is the unit of distance. \n\n\nNow, imagine, if there's a planet, say Planet-A is 5 LY away automatically means that the light will take almost 5 Years to reach to us from its origin i.e. Planet-A. Had it been 100LY away from us, and it would take 100Y to reach us.\n\nInteresting thing is, the light we see (observe) is, in fact, 5 Years old of Planet-A. The real time light from Planet-A will again take 5Y to reach to us. Thus, whatever we're observing from that light, is the PAST of that planet. Yes, by the same logic, you could reason that you're actually observing an older face of your girlfriend when you see her even in person. The light (photon) took some fraction of time to reach you, thus being a past (for you). \n\nLet us say, if some other Planet-B is x Million LY away, the light from there will take x Million years to reach us. Please, not that it DOES NOT mean that that Planet-B is x million years old, as we don't know that whether that light we're observing is from the birth time of that planet or not. (This might answers your question 1).\n\nNo, we can't really determine whether or not that planet contains life at present or not, because the very reason that if that planet is let us say 10 LY away, to observe the actual-present light, it will take 10 years to reach us and only after that, we can observe/deduct the life existence there. Thus, WE cannot really determine whether or not that planet contains life at the present (unless the planet is drastically near to our earth).\n\n\nI hope this answers your question.\n", "when the image of a planet x is million light years away, what it means is that we are seeing it as it is million light years before. \n\nwe couldn't determine anything that have that large amount of time gap. too many probability between this time gap. it is like predicting if human species would grow 4 more pair of arm based on current ecosystem and environment.\n\nwhat we can do is that we can observe more to understand if during that million light years ago, did that planet is able to host life according to our human living requirement.", "Mostly we are looking at systems that are only a few light years away. For instance the recent announcement about a goldilocks zone rocky planet around Proxima Centauri (the closest star to us) is about 4.1 light years away. Now, its not exactly where it appears to be, we are looking at where it was 4.1 years ago, it has since moved, we have since moved, but 4 years isn't too bad. If we can detect high levels of oxygen on the planet, there is no known natural process to make gaseous oxygen appear in the atmosphere, so... we would assume there is life. But if no oxygen, there could still be a different form of life we don't know about. \n\nSo if it had life 4 years ago, we would assume it still to have life now. ", "If we're talking about such huge distances, the concept of \"present\" or \"simultaneous\" becomes... [Well, relative.](_URL_0_)", "Well, we can't conclusively decide if a planet/body has life now in the general sense, anything could have happened in those years. Heck, for all we know there is life in the image but we don't recognise it.\n\nHowever, we can make some pretty sound assumptions. If the planet appears to be orbiting very close to the sun (like Mercury) or very far from the sun (like Pluto) we can reasonably assume there is no liquid water/ammonia/other that can support life as we know it. \n\nIf the planet is tidelocked then chances are the temperature differential has killed anything that ever lived. \n\nIf it doesn't have an atmosphere to protect from space debris and radiation. \n\nSize and therefore gravity. Too high doesn't allow the delicate structures needed for life to form, too low and any life form that moved in any way would fly off. \n\nSo, taking a more local example - it is a pretty safe bet that non of the asteroids in the asteroid belt has life and never will. The moon most probably never had life and never will. ", "So this is a little late, but nobody addressed a very important point missing in your question. We currently cannot identify planets that are millions of years away. The most distant planet discovered is a little under 28,000 light years away, and the nearest (exo)planet is a little over 4 light years away. \n\nSo if we were able to determine any planet that we have discovered thus far contains life, it is highly likely that is currently still capable of supporting some form of life, even if it has evolved another 20,000 years. \n\nBut as for your original question, we cannot be certain, even at 4 light years, that the planet currently contains life, only that it did 4 years ago. Just like you cannot be certain that the sun hasn't already blown up, just that it didn't blow up 8 minutes ago.\n\n" ] }
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[ [], [], [], [], [], [], [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativity_of_simultaneity" ], [], [] ]
4lz0jb
What are the powerful "classics" of history?
To put this in context, I wouldn't consider myself a history buff at all, although I know basic dates and events. However, for the last two weeks, I've been reading Gibbon's *Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire*, and having gone through almost a third of it, I must honestly say that I'm blown away. Not necessarily because I feel I understand a lot about the Roman Empire by reading it - I'm sure that by now, modern historians must have superseded Gibbon's views, having access to more sources and so on. But I'm impressed by its literary beauty, the magnitude of its epic scope, and Gibbon's astonishing erudition and vivid communication of his values and view of history, no matter how different they may be to a modern reader. In short, I feel that I've developed as a general scholar, intellectual, and person by reading it. It's such a good work that I've become motivated to learn more about Roman history, although I was never particularly interested in it in the first place. I wonder if there are any other classic history books by which professional historians recommend as a "must-read". Not necessarily because "X is the best book for knowing the history of Y" but more of like the above reason: "X is a book that should be read even if you're not particularly interested in period Y, because it's just an amazing work." I understand that reading such works will not necessarily make me a good historian - because I am not, for example, reading Gibbon in a proper context such that I can critically analyze him and so on. But if there are any other works like Gibbon's I think it's worth it to read, just as a literary and intellectual experience. I've scoured the past threads in this subreddit, but most of them are focused on the "what are the best books for learning about Y" perspective - which is fine, but not quite what I'm looking for. That being said, I've noticed a comment in the Master Booklist about Barzun's *From Dawn to Decadence*: > From Dawn to Decadence: 1500 to the Present: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life by Jacques Barzun: A magisterial work of cultural history, an end-of-life summa penned by one of the most civilized men ever to exist. It's both scholarly and accessible, narrated in gorgeous prose, and deserves a place on your bookshelf next to Thucydides, Tacitus, Gucciardini, Gibbon, Macaulay, and Burckhardt. Based on this passing comment, I've noted down these works as representative of the "classics" I'm looking for: 1. *History of the Peloponnesian War*, Thucydides 2. *Histories*, Tacitus 3. *The History of Italy*, Gucciardini 4. *The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire*, Gibbon 5. *The History of England*, Macaulay 6. *The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy*, Burckhardt 7. *From Dawn to Decadence*, Barzun I wonder if anyone can add to this list or correct it? What, in your view, are the great masterpieces of historical writing, similar to how Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and Bach's Mass in B minor are masterpieces of Western classical music? For example, I probably wouldn't count popularized outlines like HG Well's or Asimov's. But are works like Toynbee's *A Study of History* and Durant's *The Story of Civilization* regarded as classics of historical writing? Or perhaps, like Gibbon, there are works which focus on a particular period but are masterpieces anyway.
AskHistorians
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4lz0jb/what_are_the_powerful_classics_of_history/
{ "a_id": [ "d3rikxd", "d3rl0w2" ], "score": [ 2, 2 ], "text": [ "For antiquity, I'd suggest adding Caesar's *Commentarii de Bello Gallico* and Herodotus' *Histories.*\n\nThucydides is famed for his attempt at methodological thoroughness, attempts at even-handedness, use of eyewitnesses and chronological detail. But frankly, as language goes, you won't find the kind of inspiration there you did in Gibbon. It can be a bit... cumbersome.\n\nHerodotus is much more readable, much more entertaining. What you'll find instead of pedantic plodding is a breathtaking curiosity and (sometimes meandering) variety of subjects, combined with a good mind and more critical thinking than he is sometimes credited with.\n\nYou can't trust everything Herodotus tells you, and the farther the story gets from Greece the more dubious the reliability gets, but that doesn't lessen it as a work of literature. \n\nIndeed, in your place I might consider skipping Thucydides altogether. \n\nCaesar, of course, has been required reading for centuries because of the clarity and power of his simple prose. It's short, but very worthwhile, not only for the history it depicts, but for the lesson in propaganda is provides. When reading, you should never forget that the work was intended to be read by Caesar's contemporaries in Rome, as these events were happening. This makes it an absolutely fascinating document, because it doesn't just describe things that happened, but illustrates what the Romans thought important. \n\nI could go on and on, (Xenophon! Polybios!) but you probably want to get beyond the first few centuries A.D. in your reading at some point.\n\nExcept... have you read the Iliad & Odyssey? They're not history, but most of the ancients thought of them as such, and they're really the foundation of classical culture. You might even compare their status in that world to the one held by the bible in ours. (Not, I stress, as a holy book, but as a fount of shared stories and point of reference.) And besides, they're some of the greatest stories ever told. So if you haven't, perhaps those should be your starting point. ", "I would recommend anything by Peter Brown, who writes about the same topics as Gibbon (and is still alive, though recently retired). Brown's prose, like Gibbon's, is a joy to read; it's a struggle to skim his books, because the words draw you in. And as a bonus, the books are excellent scholarship.\n\nFor the middle ages, I would highly recommend Marc Bloch. He was killed while fighting in the French resistance during WWII, but left us some of the most wonderful prose (even in translation, if you don't read French), and founded an approach to history (the Annales school) that continues to provoke a lot of thoughtful work. Like Gobbon, his work continues to be influential even though the field has moved past many of his specific conclusions." ] }
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5nh9ax
why do large, established companies like coca-cola outsource their branding to boutique firms?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5nh9ax/eli5_why_do_large_established_companies_like/
{ "a_id": [ "dcbhkds", "dcbwauh" ], "score": [ 7, 2 ], "text": [ "Advertising is something that is generally outsourced to companies who specialize in it. It is very specialized, they are the experts at it, and they are the ones who do it. Sometimes they will keep some of the analytics in house, but generally at a minimum the creative and such is outsourced to the \"experts\" (but they may outsource parts (or all) of the analytics too!)\n\nIts very uncommon for large or even smaller companies to have their in-house advertising department, or at least one that could hold their own against a company who's business is advertising.\n\nBut one last thing -- remember \"advertising\" is not the same as \"marketing\". And companies generally keep marketing completely inhouse", "I would like to add to u/PragmaticStatistic2's points by saying a lot of companies want a \"fresh take\" on a direction and so their in house staff is not Going to get paid to engage in experimentation because there's a lot more regular work to do. The boutique is asked to come up with a concept (often guided genntly by another agency or corporate) and then present their concepts. They come up with 3 or more ideas in a rough form and if the hiring agents like it, they move forward. Sometimes the boutiques hired are there simply for \"ideas\" and only make some style frames to hand off to another studio to work with in production. There is a LOT of pressure to come up with new ideas constantly. So if you're a young designer, know the field by absorbing as much design as you can so you know what's been done and are more likely to come up with something \"outside the box.\"" ] }
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925krc
why laptop screens or monitors almost always have clouding or light bleed on the edges while smartphones screen don't
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/925krc/eli5_why_laptop_screens_or_monitors_almost_always/
{ "a_id": [ "e337yz6" ], "score": [ 6 ], "text": [ "Most computer screens take advantage of LCD technology, which have a backlight and liquid crystals. The backlight is the lightsource, and the liquid crystals make up the pixels. Each pixel is basically a mini electric circuit, and depending on the voltage you can change the amount of light that can pass through. If you add color filters, you get color LCDs. The edges of the screen will show the white backlight.\n\nEarly phones used LCDs, but the problems with LCDs is that they are lackluster. They don't show black color very accurately, for example, due to the backlight. The backlight is always on, so the blackest black an LCD can show would be close to, but not exactly pure black, which noticeable by the human eye. Today, most flagship phones use AMOLED, which is mostly made by Samsung. AMOLED does not use a backlight. Instead, each pixel emits true light, so a black pixel will be no light. Since there is no black light, your smartphone will not have a white border. AMOLED technology suffers from burn-in, and if exposed to direct heat, the screen will be damage irreparably (LCD screens can recover from heat). However, AMOLED can depict rich, intimate environments much better than LCD screens can, so the trade off is worth it." ] }
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15136o
What was the pinnacle of Native North American boating technology - is there any history of larger, long-distance watercrafts used for cargo or transportation, or even naval warfare?
Generally we imagine Native American tribes of North America (which, yes, covers hundreds of tribes and thousands of years of history) as generally navigating by water using small 1-2 person canoes or kayaks made from wood/bark/bone/leather/etc. What I'm wondering is, do we know of any tribes that made larger boats that would be capable of transporting people or cargo? Was there ever any sail technology employed, or long-distance travel (along ocean coasts or major, Great Lake-sized lakes?) Also, on a tangentially related question, is there any history of a Native American tribe engaging in what we'd call naval warfare?
AskHistorians
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/15136o/what_was_the_pinnacle_of_native_north_american/
{ "a_id": [ "c7icakb", "c7ifkj3", "c7ik40v", "c7iooq3" ], "score": [ 23, 7, 6, 5 ], "text": [ "Birch and spruce root canoes from the Great Lakes held some serious cargo. I've previously heard they could carry 1800 pounds but [William Ashworth](_URL_4_) writes they could be 40 feet long and carry several tons of cargo.\n\nDugout canoes made from single trunks were popular in the southeast. A cache of [101 precontact dugout canoes and remnants](_URL_1_) was discovered in Florida in 2000. Some were 31 feet long and were sea-worthy. Botanist William Bartram wrote in the 18th century that up to 30 men could travel in a dugout canoe. Bartram observed Seminoles making canoes out of cypress logs and wrote that they traveled from Florida to the Bahamas and Cuba ([Bartram 60](_URL_2_)).\n\nNorthern Plains tribes used bull boats, with buffalo hides stretched over round willow frames. Several peoples could ride in them or single paddlers could use them to transport goods.\n\nUmiaks are sea-worthy. In the Artic, kayaks are excellent for maneuvering but the umiaks, or women's boats, are good for transporting groups. It's thought that the waves of Inuit and pre-Inuit people who settled Greenland from Canada most likely traveled in umiaks.\n\nFor naval warfare, look to the Tlingit, especially in their [early 19th century wars with the Russians](_URL_0_). They have [exquisite carved wooden war canoes](_URL_3_).", "The natives of the Pacific Northwest made some fantastic canoes. The war canoes of the Puget Sound and British Columbia natives would reach around [60 feet in length](_URL_0_)\n\n[interesting read on PNW canoes](_URL_1_)\n", "[The Haida](_URL_1_) were in many ways the vikings of the Pacific Northwest who used their boating and warfare technologies to conduct raids down the coast on the Salish, Tlingit and other coastal peoples.[ Haida boats](_URL_0_) were dugouts that could hold as many as 60 paddlers carved from a single cedar tree. They definitely engaged in naval warfare and had specialy developed special stone rings that they would use in naval combat, throwing them through enemy canoes and then retrieving them with ropes. \n\nTo give you an idea of the distances travelled, Haida territory is around Haida Gwaii (formerly called the Queen Charlotte Islands) to the areas around Vancouver and Seattle, roughly a thousand kilometres. ", "Christopher Columbus encountered a large canoe off the coast of Hondorus during his fourth voyage. It was rigged with a small sail, and was engaged in a well established nautical trading route around the Yucatan Peninsula during what is known as the Post-Classic Mayan period. That term was coined by early Maya archaeologists, and is based on the smaller size of their cermonial architecture. Yet, they also noticed the Maya built a string of lighthouses along the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula and had a large salt processing industry on the north coast. The Maya used large canoes to distribute this salt, but the biggest of them was about the size pf a small Medeterainen galley. \n \nA more impressive vessel was encountered by the Pizzaro brothers on their first voyage to Tumbez, Peru. This was a balsa log raft that had a low freeboard but a large flat deck that could hold an impressive amount of cargo. It also had an A-frame mast and a bow mounting for the front of their triangular sail, mounted fore to aft, like the lanteen sail used by the Spanish caravels. The ancient Peruvians also used steering boards, to maneuver their ship. Wood is rare on the North Coast of Peru, so these steering boards were intricately carved and considered to be so important, they were often planted at the head of a person when they died and were buried. These boards were pretty substanial too. the biggest examples are nearly seven meters long, but most were two or three meters in size." ] }
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[ [ "http://books.google.com/books?id=yFa4anGH6U0C&lpg=PR37&ots=wGcU-VY02i&dq=Tlingit%20canoe%20warfare&pg=PR37#v=onepage&q&f=false", "http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703296604576005593351847536.html", "http://books.google.com/books?id=r2fDumMrIpQC&lpg=PA60&dq=extending%20their%20navigations%20to%20the%20Bahama%20Islands%20and%20even%20to%20Cuba.%22&pg=PA60#v=onepage&q&f=false", "https://www.google.com/search?q=Tlingit+war+canoe&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=nd&tbo=d&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=nO7PULPtEaO-yQHV5IG4Bg&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAA&biw=1055&bih=800", "http://books.google.com/books?id=qWKjS_yB-GoC&lpg=PA94&dq=great%20lakes%20canoes%20spruce%20root&pg=PA94#v=onepage&q&f=false" ], [ "http://donsmaps.com/images27/haidawarcanoe3.jpg", "http://donsmaps.com/canoesnwc.html" ], [ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Northwest_canoes", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haida_people" ], [] ]
3mgmic
ferrofluid is really cool, but what exactly are the possible applications?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3mgmic/eli5_ferrofluid_is_really_cool_but_what_exactly/
{ "a_id": [ "cvetjoh", "cvevxof", "cvey6ag", "cvf1wyb", "cvfhme6" ], "score": [ 4, 3, 2, 2, 2 ], "text": [ "To talk about applications we need to first talk about what a ferrofluid actually is.\n\nFerrofluids are just liquids with magnetic particles spread evenly in them, that together become magnetized when you place a magnet near them.\n\nGenerally this means that you can use a magnet to move or otherwise influence the liquid in which the magnetic particles are placed.\n\nThe original purpose was to be able to move liquid fuel around in an environment of weightlessness(by a guy at NASA in '63), but it can be used to create a liquid seal to prevent dust or other contaminants getting into machinery(it's used in hard drives), and there seems to be a good chance that this sort of functionality could be used for things like oil clean-up, by adding non-toxic magnetic material to spills instead of needing to use chemicals that are usually as bad as or worse for the environment than the oil itself.", "Very expensive suspensions for high performance vehicles. _URL_0_", "Totally unrelated and possibly impossible, but in the popular game series Mass Effect there exists a robot created sniper rifle called the Javelin that fires a stream of ferrofluid at a fraction of the speed of light, which kills EEEVERYTHING. \n\n_URL_0_\n\n", "Bose speakers use ferrofluid. It stiffens or relaxes the speaker cones in response to the frequency of the audio signal. Some frequencies are better reproduced by a stiffer cone, some with a more relaxed cone. The fluid allows one cone to excel at reproducing a wider range of frequencies because the fluid can adjust based on the signal bring reproduced. ", "What are Other Ferrofluid Applications?\n\nCooling in loudspeakers for better sound.\nOne of the first economical applications for ferrofluid was in voice coils for loudspeakers. It increases the quality of the sound as well as the lifetime of the device with a very tiny amount of ferrofluid by efficiently cooling the system through a process called thermomagnetic convection. In this system, the voice coil produces heat as well as a magnetic field. The process is the result of the fact that magnetic materials in general tend to lower their magnetic susceptibility (how strongly they are attracted to a magnetic field) as they get hotter. This causes the colder regions of the ferrofluid to be more attracted to the voice coil than the hotter regions of the ferrofluid directly near it. This movement of the colder fluid towards the coil displaces the warmer fluid away from it. The whole process then repeats itself in a cyclical manner.\n\nLiquid O-rings for making computer chips.\nReally, liquid o-rings can be used for more than just making computer chips. People love regurgitating that they are used in computer hard drives. The truth is the first serious application of ferrofluid was for vacuum rotary seals in the semiconductor industry (but the same principles apply). When computer chips are made, they are processed in the form of a 'wafer' that sits in a process chamber that must be under vacuum. It is very useful to be able to rotate the wafer in the chamber while it is being processed. The only way to rotate the wafer in a stationary chamber and still keep the system under vacuum without creating friction and introducing particles is with ferrofluid. The ferrofluid acts both as a seal and a lubricant. A magnetic field is used to keep the liquid in place around the drive shaft as a permanent seal for the system. \n\nMagnetic hyperthermia for better chemotherapy.\nMagnetic particles can be made to vibrate under the control of a magnetic field. These vibrations give way to heat. In this way, they can be injected into tumor cells to weaken them.\n\nTargeted drug delivery for cancer treatment.\nMagnetic nanoparticles can be surface modified to carry drugs as well as chemicals that act like sensors. These 'sensors' are designed to have an affinity for unhealthy cells. Then the magnetic nanoparticles are injected into the bloodstream and a magnetic field is used to guide them area in need of treatment. When the chemical sensor interacts with the unhealthy cells, it releases the drugs to kill the unhealthy cells. This is a bit like using a rifle as opposed to a shotgun when compared to traditional chemotherapy, which kills all cells indiscriminately regardless if they are healthy or not.\n\nShape shifting mirrors.\nThere is research into using the shape shifting properties of ferrofluid to make tunable mirrors capable of filtering different wavelengths of light. This could be useful for applications with tunable mirrors so that filters don't have to be replaced.\n\nSpace craft propulsion.\nIt has been re-iterated on the internet many times that NASA invented ferrofuid in 1963 in an attempt to use it as rocket fuel that could be manipulated in zero gravity by a magnetic field. However, they threw this idea out the window. However, in a somewhat ironic twist, ferrofluid is now being researched once again for space propulsion but in a much different way. Researchers interested in creating tiny satellites (about 10 cm) are aware that ion propulsion is would be effective. This is the use of a stream of ionizing gas to create thrust. This stream requires a very small needle like point. When ferrofluid is made out of an ionic liquid (special liquid salt material) it can be made to self assemble it's spikes into the required needle like points. These points then emit a stream ions that could possibly one day act as thrusters for satellites. \n\nKeeping you curious.\nMost people don't realize it, but curiosity is a very important human emotion. It's the curious mind that figures out how things work and how to improve those things. All innovation stems from curiosity. Therefore, things that make you curious are very practical. No great achievement would be made or even pursued if it wasn't for a deep desire to better understand. Our curiosity is a good thing and we should embrace it.\n\n[Source](_URL_0_)" ] }
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[ [], [ "http://www.gizmag.com/electromagnetic-automobile-suspension-demonstrated/18331/" ], [ "http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/masseffect/images/7/7b/ME3_Javelin_Sniper_Rifle.png/revision/latest?cb=20120317192031" ], [], [ "http://ferrofluid.today/pages/what-is-ferrofluid" ] ]
88nbit
I heard that some of the first radios used crystals to 'receive' radio waves. How does this work, and are newer radios operating along the same principle?
Does each radio need a crystal in order to function, or do newer radios function in a different manner? thanks
askscience
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/88nbit/i_heard_that_some_of_the_first_radios_used/
{ "a_id": [ "dwlw0lb" ], "score": [ 15 ], "text": [ "The “crystal” used in early radios is not the same device as a modern quartz crystal used for frequency generation. The old crystals basically served as rectifiers (diodes) and were pretty effective at demodulating AM signals, converting them straight from RF to audio. \n\nModern radios use more complex circuitry, although many AM receivers still use simple rectifiers not much more complex than the old crystals. " ] }
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1jchpp
why are glasses 'bad' for my eyes, and contacts 'good'?
or are they?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1jchpp/eli5_why_are_glasses_bad_for_my_eyes_and_contacts/
{ "a_id": [ "cbda26r", "cbda29s", "cbddo5w", "cbdl11f" ], "score": [ 3, 6, 2, 2 ], "text": [ " > Why are glasses 'bad' for my eyes, and contacts 'good'?\n\nThey're not.\n\nIn fact, if you want to be objective about it, the opposite is true. Contacts cause a slightly higher risk of infection, since they directly touch your eyes. Of course, with proper cleaning and hygiene, that risk is negligible.", "No.\n\nUsually, if anything, contacts are more likely to be \"bad\" for your eyes, in that they can lead to infections / eye drying out with poor habits/use. \n\nWith proper use, neither is better/worse.", "I have no sources for this but I remember reading once about how contacts were better because you're still able to use your peripheral vision as opposed to glasses. Apparently the less you used your peripherals, the worse your eyesight got. The thing I read was about Beijing or something saying how since they were so crowded all the time they never used their peripheral vision and thus had decreased eyesight. Who knows, that might all be bullshit though.", "I work in an eye doctors office, I used to be an optician, and now I'm office manager.\n\nGlasses only bend light, that's it. The only way they change your eyes is if you are used to squinting or using your eye muscles to change the shape of your lens (basically flexing the lens in your eye) and then you wear glasses, your brain will tell those eye muscles to relax, and you will no longer use eye muscles to change the shape of your lens when you are not wearing your glasses.\n\nIn my experience this is 90% of the reason people say their eyes get worse when they start wearing glasses.\n\nContacts are great, you gotta be sure to clean them every day, and to not wear them longer than the company says they are \"good for\". The silica will naturally deteriorate, and wearing a 2-week contact for a month could have the contact rip, and then you could have multiple small pieces of silicone on or behind your eye. This is mostly what leads to infection. \n\nAnyone with questions can ask. I'll be happy to answer anything I can." ] }
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52q58m
why do people have a hard time pronouncing sounds from a new language, even though their vocal chords are capable of making that sound?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/52q58m/eli5_why_do_people_have_a_hard_time_pronouncing/
{ "a_id": [ "d7mbziu", "d7mc5js", "d7mhypp", "d7mio7r", "d7mjenx" ], "score": [ 12, 3, 3, 4, 5 ], "text": [ "Producing a sound primarily has to do with muscle control and memory with the various surfaces of your mouth, not so much your vocal chords. You have problems pronouncing sounds in a new language because your mouth is not used to moving in that manner and you have to train it how to make those shapes correctly. Very little changes if anything changes in the way your vocal chords are operating. ", "Practice, or lack thereof. Essentially, you have been speaking the same way for your entire life. By the time you're an adult, the way your body makes your native speech sounds is pretty much hard-wired, you don't even have to think about it. You just think of the word you want to say, and your body simply makes those sounds. \n\nBut a new language with \"new\" sounds is not automatic. Your brain is not used to thinking about the physical act of speaking. It wants to \"cheat\" and use the physical movements it already has ingrained. So until you train your body and brain on the new sound until it also becomes instinctive, you will have trouble with it. ", "Most languages actually have a very specific set of vocal movements, even if we don't notice or realize it in the first place.\n\nThere are plenty of phrases in French which utilize vocal movements that the English language would never use.\n\nBonus fact: these vocal movements are actually what allow us to make direct distinctions of someone's nativity due to what we know as \"accents\".", "Like u/cdb03b and u/Snatch_Pastry said, it has to do with practice and muscle memory. You make sounds out of your mouth without thinking because you've been doing it forever. When I was in Thailand learning Thai, the [\"ng\" consonant](_URL_0_) was very difficult to pronounce because we don't really have that sound in English.\n\nMy parents speak Gujarati and Americans find the \"bh\" consonant really hard to pronounce. A lot of Gujarati names start with \"bh\" and Americans often butcher them (not their fault).\n\n", "In addition, our brains actually get rid of synapses (connections) as early as 1 year old if we don't use them. By 12 years old, our neurons are specified for the languages we have heard. This translates into difficulty hearing slight differences in sounds from a foreign language and producing those sounds. In summary, the vocal chords are the same but the language centers of the brain are not. \n" ] }
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[ [], [], [], [ "http://pronuncian.com/pronounce-ng-sound/" ], [] ]
1oxz07
Can messages be broadcasted through "visible light" similarly to radio waves?
I was doing some physics homework, and this popped into my mind.
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1oxz07/can_messages_be_broadcasted_through_visible_light/
{ "a_id": [ "ccwr76e", "ccwrvrj", "ccwwxat" ], "score": [ 15, 39, 7 ], "text": [ "Of course they can! For example, fiber optic cables transmit data with light not far out of the visible spectrum. However, this isn't very practical for long distance, open air communication. Imagine for a second how bright my flashlight would need to be for me to send you Morse code that you could read 100 miles away inside your house in the middle of the day.", "This exact message is being broadcast through visible light to your eyes.", "Depending on how you define 'similarly'. You can certainly use a visible light emitter, modulate the output and transmit the information to a visible light detector. That's how human beings see. You can do pretty much everything you can do with radio -- amplitude modulation, frequency modulation, polarization modulation, phase modulation, pulse width encoding, as well as taking advantage of very low diffraction of visible light to do spatial encodings (like barcodes)\n\nHowever, we do not currently have the technology, to transmit signals on a 550THz visible band, for example, the exact same way the Wi-Fi adapter in your computer transmits on the 2.4Ghz microwave band, i.e. modulating a signal onto alternating electric current of your target carrier frequency and then converting it into an alternating electromagnetic field using a conductor (antenna). This is not my field, so I don't know what the exact limiting factor would be -- but if I had to guess I would say: **everything**. Antennas, transmission lines, oscillators, rectifiers, amplifiers, detectors, etc. -- all parts of such a transmitter would be nearly impossible to create since almost any piece of traditional electronics is a very effective low-pass filter when dealing with frequencies such as 550THz\n\n\n\n" ] }
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9w8czd
how does blitzkrieg attack work? what makes it special and recognizable to this day?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9w8czd/eli5_how_does_blitzkrieg_attack_work_what_makes/
{ "a_id": [ "e9im1a7", "e9imwgu", "e9io1ok", "e9iwgkm", "e9j6zrq" ], "score": [ 10, 4, 3, 2, 3 ], "text": [ "It literally means \"lightning war\". Basically, the Germans threw a ton of forces in one direction extremely fast when the enemy wasn't expecting it and didn't have time to respond.\n\nThis type of war strategy is effective if done right because it lets your forces secure key positions/territory that they need, overwhelm the enemy forces (which can have a strong psychological effect on them), and divide up the enemy forces so they can't coordinate a strong resistance. ", "Previously tanks and other mechanized forces were used as support for slower moving infantry to try to push a front and take enemy territory. The blitzkrieg changed that by having the tanks and planes punch through and destroy vital supply and communication centers behind enemy lines. The enemy would then either have to rapidly withdraw or risk being cut off from resupply or even encircled. The infantry would them come in and take vital areas and prisoners. ", "Before blitzkrieg, you planned attack by using on foot infantry to attack borders and taking areas of land.\n\nWith blitzkrieg, the planes flew over the border defense troops and attacked the strategic target behind, and tanks and armored transports followed into the target faster than the defense foot infantry can mobilize. Borders and front lines were ignored in favor of cities and supply points.", "The essential characteristic of a 'blitzkrieg' is to penetrate the enemies' lines and encircle them.\n\n*Why* you do this is because a modern army requires extensive logistics to function. If you can penetrate to the rear and disrupts their supply chain, whatever combat troops are encircled very quickly cease to be effective.\n\nThe reason it became pre-eminent in World War II (but not earlier) was that the combination of armor and airpower were able to move quickly enough that they could break an enemy's lines and exploit the gap before that enemy could usefully react. This was not the case in World War I, where the lack of ability to rapidly transport troops through such a gap meant your own troops would get cut off.\n\nIt's also arguably not the case in the modern day. While it's hard to say because there hasn't been a war between major powers since World War II, the doctrine for such a war tends to veer more towards 'deep strike' tactics that depend on developing air supremacy and paralyzing enemy forces rather than using tank envelopment.", "Instead of spreading out their tanks, Artillery, mechanized infantry and tactical bombers like was traditionally done to support slow moving foot infantry. The Germans took their panzers and groups then into battalions, regiments and divisions, they also concentrated their mechanized infantry with their tanks, put their Artillery in armoured tank chassis and have 1 in 4 vehicles a radio. Instead of moving a broad front forward they concentrated their attack power into a spread head and hit one point using coordination and sheer volume of power to breach a hole in the front line and than spread out into the enemy rear area where the were unopppsed and captured command and control nodes, supply dumps, bridges, airfields, vital crossroads and more famously would link up hundreds of miles behind the front line encircling massive amounts of troops and cutting them off from resupply, reinforcement and escape. It became the basis for modern day operational maneuver warfare which all modern armies with an offensive doctrine and capability use.\n\nLook up the battle of sedan and the battle of France 1940" ] }
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vcjk1
State of the art in cancer research?
I'm planning on a career in bioinformatics, and I'm leaning towards specializing in oncology, but I don't know where I would even begin. What can you guys tell me about the molecular basis for cancer, beyond what my core bio textbook tells me? What is the state of the art in research? Any promising leads, hopefully within the reach of bioinformatics? Edit: Btw, I cross-posted this from /r/biology to hopefully get more responses. I hope that's ok.
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/vcjk1/state_of_the_art_in_cancer_research/
{ "a_id": [ "c53aa0x" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "Have you read [The Hallmarks of Cancer](_URL_1_) (pdf) and the 2011 [update](_URL_0_)? These are basically must-read papers for understanding the molecular basis of cancer. For other people that want to learn more, but don't want to read a dense review article, the [wikipedia page](_URL_2_) for the paper gives a good overview of the main ideas." ] }
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[ [ "http://www.cell.com/abstract/S0092-8674(11\\)00127-9", "http://www.weizmann.ac.il/home/fedomany/Bioinfo05/lecture6_Hanahan.pdf", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hallmarks_of_Cancer" ] ]
ap4kfb
Do germs have a circadian rhythm?
For example say the cold virus? If you get sick with cold in a timezone 12 hours away, do the cold symptoms follow local time? What happens when you return home?
askscience
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/ap4kfb/do_germs_have_a_circadian_rhythm/
{ "a_id": [ "eg7h426", "eg7psfk" ], "score": [ 3, 2 ], "text": [ "Germs are simple bacteria and viruses which don’t have a nervous system. without a nervous system you can’t have a circadian rhythm. \n\nbacteria and viruses don’t sleep or rest. they just kind of exist and move around taking in nutrients to divide. viruses definitely don’t rest or sleep because they aren’t even alive.", "However there is a ton of research on the seasonality of viruses (influenza, varicella). Especially recently when concerning the gut microbiome\n\n_URL_3_\n\n\n_URL_2_\n\n_URL_0_\n\n_URL_1_\n\n" ] }
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[ [], [ "https://journals.lww.com/pidj/Fulltext/2007/11001/Respiratory_Syncytial_Virus_Seasonality_in.7.aspx", "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1473309904011776", "https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C33&q=virus+seasonality&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p%3D-zybWEnZGAsJ", "https://europepmc.org/abstract/med/218446" ] ]
33cvtc
why doesn't the military allow steroid use? wouldn't they make them better soldiers physically?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/33cvtc/eli5_why_doesnt_the_military_allow_steroid_use/
{ "a_id": [ "cqjnd7h", "cqjnf0f", "cqjngao", "cqjpbr3" ], "score": [ 21, 4, 8, 4 ], "text": [ "You don't want a bunch of hormone filled, angry, jealous, pimple faced soldiers carrying guns and manning drones...", "It wouldn't. It would increase the already astronomical rates of depression and suicide, and cause all kinds of organ problems that will take them out of medical authorization to serve. Don't mess with drugs your doctor doesn't prescribe - very bad things can happen.", "Prolonged steroid use has a lot of negative side effects. Slightly stronger soldiers aren't worth the vastly increased medical issues. ", "Being a soldier isn't about being strong and fast - it's about being precise and disciplined.\n\nVirtually any young person is reasonably good health can meet the physical challenges of soldiering. It's the mental ones that distinguish exceptional soldiers - and steroids don't help with that at all." ] }
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r7nnp
Will someone please explain the origins of avian species.
Sitting in my seat looking out the window of an airliner I got to thinking, "what are the origins of the avian species?" From what I understand about life is that they derive from organic compounds which are soluble in water. Which explains why early earth had an enormous variety of aquatic life. That life found itself making its way towards land creating amphibians and from amphibians came land creatures, reptiles, and mammals alike. My question is that what happened down the evolutionary line that created a species that had the capability of creating its own lift to fight the forces of gravity. Where would conditions like this on earth be suitable for that kind of adaptation? Water is there and it is obviously more dense and I suppose contains more, "substance." Land is just there, it's solid which makes sense for animals to move on to. But air...
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/r7nnp/will_someone_please_explain_the_origins_of_avian/
{ "a_id": [ "c43kbx7", "c43khsq" ], "score": [ 3, 2 ], "text": [ "Wings have evolved exactly four times in the history of life. First was insects. Second was pterosaurs, which are now extinct. Third time was birds. And the fourth time was bats.\n\nWings all seem to have evolved from species that spent a lot of time jumping through the air. They could be used to control direction or slow descent at first, but then they evolved into flappable wings.", "Birds evolved out of a family of small two legged dinosaurs called theropods. Theropod physiology shares many characteristics with avian physiology including a backwards pointing pelvis, hollow bones, and the wishbone. Theropods evolved to be able to whip their arms forward in a motion similar to the way a bird flaps its wings, and even evolved feathers before birds. As the feathers grew larger, whether for warmth or to attract mates, they began to provide incrementally larger amounts of lift so that the dinosaurs could likely glide and eventually fly. Archaeopteryx is the earliest fossil that most scientists consider to be a bird, and even then, some of the species between Archaeopteryx and modern birds retained what some would think of as were reptilian features, such as toothed beaks. " ] }
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14yz09
Is hydraulic fracturing and shale gas really harmful to the environment? How would it compare to other energy sources including all steps from extraction to consumption?
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/14yz09/is_hydraulic_fracturing_and_shale_gas_really/
{ "a_id": [ "c7hxu6e", "c7hxv30" ], "score": [ 2, 3 ], "text": [ "The actual fracking process occurs more than a km deep. There is no way the fracking fluids could enter the environment. If that were the case then the oil or gas from those reservoirs would have already entered the environment themselves. The problems occured when the fracking fluids were improperly handled or dumped or the casing leaked, causing the fluids to enter the groundwater (~10 m deep). So properly handled, it's perfectly safe. \n\nIt's actually mostly beneficial since it lessened the dependence on foreign oil, most of which is produced is less politically stable countries.", "It depends on a lot of factors. Fracing itself isn't dangerous, but if placed near a valuable groundwater source it is. Even then it depends very highly on the nature of the natural gas itself.\n\nIts best to think of the problem from an environmental engineer's perspective - source, pathway, receptor. These three elements make up the foundation of contaminant transfer and environmental susceptibility. In the case with fracing, the source is the natural gas itself (full of lovely chemicals, especially those related to the BTEX combo... benzene, toluene, ethylene, xyrene... and many other potential carcinogens), the short term receptor is groundwater and the long term receptor is users of that ground water. Before fracing there is no pathway for transfer. The act of fracing, in some cases, opens the gas formation to connect with the water formation. This allows the gas to bubble through the water and release some of its nastier chemicals to the water supply.\n\nBefore you start thinking that, \"yes, fracing is harmful to the environment,\" we have to address the transfer triangle described above. If any components of that triangle are removed, either consciously or not, contaminant transfer is inconsequential. In this case, we can never remove the source - natural gas is pretty much everywhere in north america - but the constituents of transfer and receptor greatly vary. Ex 1/ If you have a fractured gas well whose zone doesn't protrude into a ground water table, there is no short term receptor. Ex 2/ If you have a fractured gas well whose zone protrudes into a ground water source, but its too deep for same consumption, then there is no long term receptor. \n\nHydraulic fracturing is used ubiquitously in the oil and gas industry, but these problems aren't everywhere. I used to be a gas operator in eastern Alberta, and to the best of my knowledge, it has never been addressed as a problem. I imagine that this was because our target horizon was 500 m plus below surface, and most water wells for drinking water don't extend past 10 m. Canadian drinking water standard also require that water wells for human consumption (even in rural areas) are spot checked for quality standards. Wells around industrial sites are required to be tested on a more frequent basis.\n\nSomething to think about - almost all natural gas zones are naturally fractured and full of water. Why isn't this a problem before they are drilled...\n\nTLDR: It depends on the depth of the natural gas horizon, and the depth of potential receptor aquifers. If the two are close together, there is a potential for environmental impact due to fracing." ] }
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8kncea
why is camilla the duchess of cornwall, but charles the prince of wales? why is he a prince, not a duke?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8kncea/eli5_why_is_camilla_the_duchess_of_cornwall_but/
{ "a_id": [ "dz900b2", "dz904j7", "dz90idy", "dz99hll", "dz9av4m", "dz9cjxx" ], "score": [ 31, 7, 21, 3, 4, 5 ], "text": [ "He is also a Duke. But Prince is a higher title than a Duke so it takes precedence and is the primary title he goes by when using a shortened title. \n\nHis full title is : His Royal Highness Prince Charles Philip Arthur George, Prince of Wales, KG, KT, GCB, OM, AK, QSO, CC, PC, ADC, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland.", "His is both a prince and a duke and many other titles.\n\nWhen his mother become the Queen he become Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland\n\nFrom the 14th century the title Prince of Wales is title to the heir apparent for the crown. He was created Prince of Wales in 1958 ( got the title)\n\nThe better question is why Camilla don't use the Princess of Wales title? Because as his wife she it the Princess of Wales.\n\nThe explanation is that it is today associated with hist first wife Diana. Hist separation and divorce with her in combination that he had a own extramarital affair with Camilla beginning in 1986 when he and Diana was still married. It would look bad if she used the title. They also had a civil rather than a church wedding for similar reasons.\n\nSo she choose to use the title Duchess of Cornwall", "British peerage and titles has a long and complicated history, further complicated but the current monarch's ability to change those ancient rule and traditions as they see fit. \n\nThe title held by the heir apparent in the UK is the Prince of Wales, Charles is next in line for the throne, so he gets this title. Traditionally the bride of the Prince of Wales also gets the title Princess of Wales, and once she is married, can be referred to has \"Her Royal Highness\" or as an HRH.\n\nWhen Charles and Dianna divorced, Dianna by agreeing to the divorce, gave up the title Princess of Wales and her status as an HRH. She was no longer a member of the Royal Family. In olden days, 1\\) Members of the royal family didn't divorce, so there aren't 1000 year old rules about what to do, and 2\\) If the wife of the Prince of Wales died and he remarried, the new wife becomes the Princes of Wales.\n\nSo logic would dictate that Camilla, Charle's new wife take the female counterpart to his title as heir apparnet. But, again the rule are not clear for divorce, and the monarch, in this case Charle's mother Elizabeth, can change these rules because honestly they're just silly 1000 year old traditions that don't mean anything anymore. \n\nElizabth II knew that Dianna, especially after her death was popular, and Charles and Camilla were not, that haveing Camilla take what the people saw as Dianna's rightful title \\(The Princess of Wales\\) would be insulting. The job of the monarch these days, well in all days, is to keep the people happy. So as a condition for royal consent to the marrgie of Charles and Camilla \\(oh yeat btw the monarch still gets to approve/deny royal marriages at will\\), Elizabeth II decreed that while married, Camilla would not be the Princess of Wales, and would not be granted the Title of HRH. She was allowed to take the peerage of Dutchess, so as not to insult Charles too much, as Duke/Dutchess titles are reserved for family of the reigning monarch. \n\ntl;dr \\- Nobody except Charles likes Camilla, so the queen said that if they married, she \\[Camilla\\] couldn't take the title once held by the still popular Dianna and make the royal family look bad. ", "To be a prince or princess, you basically have to be of the royal blood i.e. one of your parents was born as a royal \\- unless the monarch gives a special exception.\n\nPrince Phillip wasn't of \\*British\\* royal blood \\(his is Greek and Danish\\) but Her Majesty made him a Prince apparently because he was upset his son outranked him.\n\nCharles, Anne, Andrew and Edward are of the royal blood. Their respective spouses aren't \\(Andrew is divorced\\), so no prince or princess titles, but Charles and Andrew got Dukedoms, Anne is Princess Royal and Edward is the Earl of Wessex.\n\nWilliam and Harry \\(Henry formally\\) are Princes, as William's three children. \n\nAnne's two children via her first marriage don't. Maybe because she was a woman?\n\nAndrew's two daughters are princesses.\n\nEdward's children \\*could\\* have been HRH, but they decided when he married to give them the styles of the child of an Earl, so they're Lady Louise Windsor and James, Lord Severn.", "Charles is both Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall. Prince of Wales is the more senior title, so he primarily uses that as his main title.\n\nAs his wife, Camilla is both Princess of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall. However, Charles' first wife, Princess Diana, was very popular amongst the public, and (at the time) Charles and Camilla were not. Since Diana was known as the Princess of Wales, Camilla uses one of her other titles as a mark of respect (and also to avoid controversy).", "He is also a duke. People are not restricted to one title. Charles holds a number of titles, including two duchies. Camilla *is* the princess of Wales, but does not use that title, largely because it was used by, and strongly associated with, Princess Diana." ] }
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8he3u0
Why was the Communist Manifesto published specifically in the "English, French, German, Italian, Flemish and Danish languages"?
I was always struck by the specificity of this little list of languages at the beginning of the Communist Manifesto. My assumption was always that these were the languages in which Marx and Engels expected to find an audience, but was there anything more to it than that? Were any of their choices seen as interesting or controversial to contemporaries?
AskHistorians
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/8he3u0/why_was_the_communist_manifesto_published/
{ "a_id": [ "dyjd3ef" ], "score": [ 18 ], "text": [ "_URL_1_ has copies of the [Prefaces](_URL_2_) to various editions of the Communist Manifesto, written by Marx and Engels, that give some history around the languages in which it was published.\n\nThe original version was commissioned by the Communist League (formed in 1847) and published in German in London in February 1848. A French version was then published just before the June Revolution in in Paris in 1848. An English version was translated by a Miss Helen MacFarlane (a Scottish Chartist and professional revolutionary who seems to be a fascinating yet much under-researched figure) for the publication *The Red Republican* in 1850. A Danish translation also seems to have been published in this period, although Marx and Engels do not give an exact date. Spanish and Italian translations appear to have been prepared, but not published. A Swedish version was published at the end of 1848, but under a different title.\n\nA Polish translation was released as well, but the prefaces make it unclear when the earliest version was released - Marx and Engels' 1872 German preface say \"A Polish version appeared in London shortly after it was first published in Germany,\" but I can't tell if they mean that a Polish version was first printed in Germany and then Poland, or that the first Polish translation came out soon after the first German edition.\n\nThe prefaces note that a Russian edition was prepared by Marx's future nemesis, the anarchist Prince Mikhail Bakunin \"in the sixties\". Engels' preface to the 1893 Italian edition gives a history of revolution in Italy in the 1840s, but mentions no previous Italian translations being published. I can't find any mention of Flemish/Dutch in the prefaces. Philippe Bourniet in his *The Dutch and German Communist Left (1900–68)* mentions that the Communist League had cells in the Netherlands and produced copies of the Manifesto soon after its first publication, but he also notes that the movement was largely driven by German-speaking workers, so it is not clear which language they were printing the edition in. The Dutch translations that I am coming across seem to be by Herman Gorter, who was a socialist intellectual at the turn of the 19th century, but again it's not clear if this is the *first* Dutch translation or not.\n\nSo why these languages? They seem to be specifically directed at populations that were most affected by the 1848 revolutions, which occurred across the German Confederation, northern Italy, France and Poland. The Danish version, if I were to hazard a guess, probably had something to do with Schleswig-Holstein (two duchies in the German confederation in personal union with the Danish crown and with substantial Danish populations) being caught up in the 1848 revolutions and the First Schleswig War.\n\nThe Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm discusses the translation line in his [preface](_URL_0_) to a 2012 edition of the Manifesto:\n\n > \"By good luck it hit the streets only a week or two before the outbreak of the revolutions of 1848, which spread like a forest fire from Paris across the continent of Europe. Although its horizon was firmly international – the first edition hopefully, but wrongly, announced the impending publication of the Manifesto in English, French, Italian, Flemish and Danish – its initial impact was exclusively German. Small though the Communist League was, it played a not insignificant part in the German Revolution, not least through the newspaper Neue Rheinische Zeitung (1848–49), which Karl Marx edited. The first edition of the Manifesto was reprinted three times in a few months, serialized in the Deutsche Londoner Zeitung, corrected and reset in thirty pages in April or May 1848, but dropped out of sight with the failure of the 1848 revolutions. By the time Marx settled down to his lifelong exile in England in 1849, the Manifesto had become sufficiently scarce for him to think it worth reprinting Section III (‘Socialistische und kommunis- tische Literatur’) in the last issue of his London magazine Neue Rheinische Zeitung, politisch-ökonomische Revue (November 1850), which had hardly any readers.\"\n\nBasically, the languages mentioned in the Manifesto were mostly a \"stay tuned, coming soon to a language near you\" line that didn't exactly pan out in reality, at least not for years or decades. The main emphasis in 1848 was on the German edition and the intended audience was revolution-minded communities that would have spoken German. By the time the 1848 revolutions had died down, Marx had other projects to work on, and the Manifesto became something of an overlooked pamphlet that was forgotten until Marx's other work and the establishment of the International Workingmen's Association led to a revived interest and to new publications and translations being printed from the 1870s onwards. " ] }
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[ [ "https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/1137-eric-hobsbawm-s-introduction-to-the-2012-edition-of-marx-amp-engels-the-communist-manifesto", "Marxists.org", "https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/preface.htm" ] ]
4kqvf7
if cellphones are replacing landlines, why aren't there versions of white pages for cellphones? how are landlines any different?
Doesn't seem like privacy is an issue since the white pages direct you to home addresses and phone numbers. Is this any different?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4kqvf7/eli5_if_cellphones_are_replacing_landlines_why/
{ "a_id": [ "d3h1kor", "d3h29a9", "d3h8evt", "d3hbbs7", "d3hepj3" ], "score": [ 8, 9, 2, 2, 2 ], "text": [ "Iirc, the White Pages (or Yellow Pages and Thomsons as they are in the UK) are funded by the businesses that advertise in them.\n\nNobody advertises in phone books any more because there are so many other free and cheap ways to advertise your business, especially with the internet and Google.\n\nIf there are no businesses advertising, there's no income, so no money with which to pay somebody to compile the phone numbers and no cash to buy the paper, ink and distribution.", "Problem Is there are multiple cell phone companies, so if each had their own book it would be incomplete and inconvenient to have to look through 5 books to find a person. Land lines used to be one company in an area generally. It was a weird deal because they were a company, but a utility and basically a monopoly. Even after it was deregulated it still stayed much the same.\n\nAnd even if someone does somehow arrange to get one combined cell list, it's still going to be very incomplete because people could choose to be unlisted and a large percentage would. I know I would.", "Bad enough people calling the house, it would fucking suck to be called on my cell phone by randoms", "I'm don't know, but I'm sure Google is working on something like that, especially after they expand Project Fi. Also the phone calling app Truecaller works something like a directory. Although they are still growing as well. ", "None of these answers are correct. Land lines run through telephone cables. Telephone cables are a public utility and are part of the public record. They are a city directory. A city has a record of all its addresses, the people who live there, and the phone number registered to that address. Companies access this public information and publish it.\n\nCell phones do not work this way. They work through cell phone towers, owned and operated by private companies. Your cell phone number is not registered by a town clerk on a public record. If Verizon wanted, they could publish a list that only included Verizon customers, but that would be neither practical, useful, or profitable." ] }
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3clt5z
reddit - why do americans use the dutch flag to make clear their store is open (or that they have used cars etc.)?
Dear Redditors, I have a "burning" question that no one could answer while traveling through North America for 3 months. While traveling i often saw a dutch flag with the words "Open" or "Used Cars" or whatever on it, so why do they use a Dutch Flag? or is there just no reason for it. Example (Picture i took): _URL_0_ Thanks for your answer(s) ;-).
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3clt5z/eli5_reddit_why_do_americans_use_the_dutch_flag/
{ "a_id": [ "cswqhay", "cswqoph" ], "score": [ 2, 8 ], "text": [ "It's not seen as a Dutch flag - just red, white & blue stripes. They want to put up a flag & RWB seem like good colors, so they get something simple. ", "You might be interested in [this recent thread from /r/vexillology](_URL_0_). Nobody seems to know a definitive reason why. The most common belief is that it doesn't have anything to do with the Netherlands, and is just a way to put red-white-blue and a message on a flag." ] }
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[ "http://i.imgur.com/zcxueL0.jpg" ]
[ [], [ "https://www.reddit.com/r/vexillology/comments/332n2r/flag_of_open_businesses/" ] ]
t1pi9
Short sightedness and a mirror
When I look into a mirror 2 meters away, I cannot focus on my face. If I was looking at writing 2 meters away, its fine. Is the distance doubled by the reflection of the mirror? Simple questions but just wondered about refraction of light.
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/t1pi9/short_sightedness_and_a_mirror/
{ "a_id": [ "c4is9hq" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "Yes, as far as the focus of your eye is concerned, it's as if you were looking at a face 4m away." ] }
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fbzj0h
how is it that some mirrors make me look slightly fat and some otbers make me look slightly thin?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fbzj0h/eli5_how_is_it_that_some_mirrors_make_me_look/
{ "a_id": [ "fj7kgzr" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "Lighting can play a big role in how good you feel you look, but mostly I think you're referring to mirrors that are slightly curved. A very slight curve inward can may you look leaner and even a bit taller, proportionally. Slightly curved outward and the mirror can make you look a little fatter." ] }
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jmly2
What happens if I don't finish my strip of antibiotics? Also what does timing matter?
So, doctors always go to extreme lengths telling me to a) finish the strip of pills, even if the disease has already gone, as if somehow it will know I didn't take all the pills and come take vengeance on me; and b) I should take the pills at the exact same time everyday. Do these things actually matter and why?
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/jmly2/what_happens_if_i_dont_finish_my_strip_of/
{ "a_id": [ "c2dcg0a", "c2dcgj0", "c2dciqp", "c2dco6g", "c2dd87y", "c2ddb1s", "c2dddok", "c2ddemr", "c2ddk6l", "c2ddleu", "c2ded0i", "c2dezd9", "c2df0s1", "c2dgsr6", "c2difld", "c2dj2f4", "c2dcg0a", "c2dcgj0", "c2dciqp", "c2dco6g", "c2dd87y", "c2ddb1s", "c2dddok", "c2ddemr", "c2ddk6l", "c2ddleu", "c2ded0i", "c2dezd9", "c2df0s1", "c2dgsr6", "c2difld", "c2dj2f4" ], "score": [ 16, 1586, 49, 14, 6, 8, 4, 3, 3, 2, 5, 2, 3, 2, 2, 2, 16, 1586, 49, 14, 6, 8, 4, 3, 3, 2, 5, 2, 3, 2, 2, 2 ], "text": [ "Even if you feel better, the disease isn't necessarily gone. If it isn't gone it can come back and may well be resistant to the antibiotic you'd given it before requiring you to take a stronger antibiotic with potentially worse side effects and risking the spread of a resistant strain.\n\nTaking it at the same time every day evens out the amount of drug in your body through time and makes it more likely that you won't forget a dose.", "These things matter A LOT. It's extremly serious. Please, please, *please* do not ignore your doctor's advice on this matter. Doing so will be a problem not only for you, but for all of us. **Please**.\n\nThe huge problem with antibiotics is that bacteria can develop [resistance](_URL_0_) to them. A lot of antibiotic-resistant strains are popping out. If antibiotics stop working, we have no other defence against bacterial infections.\n\nNow, when you take antibiotics, you are putting a tremendous selective pressure on the bacterial population. Randomly, a few bacteria of the billions you have will be slightly more resistant to the antibiotic than others. This means they are more likely to survive your antibiotic doses, and in turn they could evolve in more and more resistant strains, until the antibiotic has no effect on them anymore.\n\nThe trick is poisoning these bacteria with the antibiotic *faster* and *stronger* than their efficiency of evolving resistance and replicating. That is, if a bacteria narrowly escapes death by antibiotic, and you give it a break so it has time to replicate, you end up having a growing infection with a quite resistant strain of bacteria. If you instead take your pill at the right time, you give it another chemical punch that will hopefully kill it before it managed to replicate significantly. \n\nThat's why it is important. Taking antibiotics you're killing most of bacteria, but you are also selecting the few ones that are able to somehow thrive, and you can't risk that. If you relax the therapy when you feel better, or skip a pill, you give survivors the time to take their vengeance on you, quite literally.\n\nAnd then, you could infect someone else with your *already resistant* bacteria, and this is a problem for us all.", "Yes, they matter.\n\n > it will know I didn't take all the pills and come take vengeance on me;\n\nIt will take vengeance on you or a loved one with a weakened immune system. It usually takes only 2-3 days of antibiotics to provide a great deal of relief. But we require treatments of a longer duration to ensure that all the exposed bugs are killed off by the immune system. If you don't take these precautions, resistant bugs emerge. Resistant bugs send people back to the hospital, make hospital stays longer, and kill people.\n\n > I should take the pills at the exact same time everyday.\n\nFor most chemicals you put in your body, the concentration varies over time, dependent on the rate of absorption and the rate of clearance by metabolism, excretion, or both. So when you take a drug on a schedule, the drugs concentration in the body fluctuates regularly, with peaks and troughs. \n\nFor most antibiotics, the concentration in the trough is what determines efficacy, with a higher concentration being better. With some antibiotics (eg gentamicin), we are more worried about side effects than efficacy at the standard dose. With those drugs, we dose them once a day to get a low trough which reduces the risk of adverse outcomes.", "Not a scientist, but wanted to add to smarmyknowitall's observations on the (b) question (about the timing of the next pill): \n\nFor a large animal like us with slow reproductive cycle and long life span it may appear counter-intuitive, but those eight or twelve hours since the last pill in your antibiotics regimen translate into at least a dozen of generations - and each generation, unchecked, will mean a doubling of the population. \n\nStart with a measly 100,000 bacteria (there will customarily be MANY more than that), and give them their equivalent of the time which for us passed since the Declaration of Independence (i.e., give them until tomorrow morning, basically), and you are dealing with over a 100 billion. \n\nAs others have pointed out, after the first couple of days, when the weaklings among the bacteria have already been weeded out by the antibiotics, your \"pocket of resistance fighters\" will have already been selected for stamina (not, incidentally, by \"getting used to\" or \"learning how to tolerate\" the poison - which is a common Lamarckian misconception -, but simply by popping up randomly throughout the population, just as they would hundreds of years ago in bacteria in the wild, before the antibiotics to which they were resistant were even invented). You want to smoke them out, mercilessly. Spare no one. \n\n", "By not following the directions the organism you are trying to kill may not die and can evolve to be drug resistant to that antibiotic. If this happens and what you have is contagious you can see how this could be a FUCKING GIGANTIC HUMUNGUS FUCKING BAD BAD FUCKING THING TO HAPPEN!!", "Also worth pointing out is that it's just as bad (if not worse) to take antibiotics unnecessarily.\n\nAntibiotics will not cure your cold or your flu yet it's amazing just how many adults go into a GP and *demand* antibiotics, sometimes before the Doctor has even examined them (even more amazing is how many Doctors simply cave and give them the stuff), simply because they have a cold.\n\nTaking these things unnecessarily gives any bacteria currently in you a great work out. You put a selection pressure on them to become resistant and you really don't want that to happen.", "They do matter - please do take the words of the more expert responses to your question to heart.\n\nRead [this](_URL_1_) or [this](_URL_0_) to get a sense of some serious problems involving antibiotic resistance.", "Just so I don't create a separate thread, I have a question concerning this. Wouldn't it actually be better to skip taking antibiotics all together so long as what you have isn't life threatening? Why not try to build up immunity naturally?", "Okay, I have a similar question.\n\nWhy can't I stop taking the pills after I start to feel better? Isn't my immune system able to kill bacteria? I always assumed we took antibiotics to boost the immune system and help fight bacteria, but after I start to feel better, my immune system can take care of the rest.\n\nI'm not talking about serious infections, just minor stuff like a sinus infection.", "I had a mild case of amoebic dysentery while in India many years ago and was given antibiotics to stop it (caught early, no harm done).\nI didn't finish the course however, and months later had developed a cyst on my liver the size of a grapefruit. This required 2 weeks in hospital, minor surgery, and more antibiotics. Fun times but in future I'll finish the course of antibiotics as per the doctors instructions.", "Does drinking alcohol really prevent antibiotics from doing their job?", "Simply, if you dont finish your antiboitics, the bacteria strain will develop antibodies to the illness and attack its next host with an ability to fight the same antibiotic. Don't wanna do that to your fellow human.", "You are creating a super bacteria...stop it!", "This is how MRSA was invented, by people not taking their full prescriptions. Eventually, germs become resistant to antibiotics and we have super gnarly bugs that are a bitch to get rid of.", "I am not a doctor or a biologist. I am someone who stopped taking some antibiotics because I felt better.\n\nFuck everything about that. The infection came back and ravaged my body for a few months, and I had to switch antibiotics and even then, like I said, months of sickness before I began to recover. D:\n\nSeriously. When the doctor says take all the pills, take all the pills.", "timing is mainly because you body absorbs and eliminates the antibiotic at certain rates. And you can either have. too much antibiotics (toxic), too little (just generating resistance) , or an effective dose. This effective dose depends on the fact that you take it at the intervals you are given. creating a balance between what you absorb and what your body eliminates.", "Even if you feel better, the disease isn't necessarily gone. If it isn't gone it can come back and may well be resistant to the antibiotic you'd given it before requiring you to take a stronger antibiotic with potentially worse side effects and risking the spread of a resistant strain.\n\nTaking it at the same time every day evens out the amount of drug in your body through time and makes it more likely that you won't forget a dose.", "These things matter A LOT. It's extremly serious. Please, please, *please* do not ignore your doctor's advice on this matter. Doing so will be a problem not only for you, but for all of us. **Please**.\n\nThe huge problem with antibiotics is that bacteria can develop [resistance](_URL_0_) to them. A lot of antibiotic-resistant strains are popping out. If antibiotics stop working, we have no other defence against bacterial infections.\n\nNow, when you take antibiotics, you are putting a tremendous selective pressure on the bacterial population. Randomly, a few bacteria of the billions you have will be slightly more resistant to the antibiotic than others. This means they are more likely to survive your antibiotic doses, and in turn they could evolve in more and more resistant strains, until the antibiotic has no effect on them anymore.\n\nThe trick is poisoning these bacteria with the antibiotic *faster* and *stronger* than their efficiency of evolving resistance and replicating. That is, if a bacteria narrowly escapes death by antibiotic, and you give it a break so it has time to replicate, you end up having a growing infection with a quite resistant strain of bacteria. If you instead take your pill at the right time, you give it another chemical punch that will hopefully kill it before it managed to replicate significantly. \n\nThat's why it is important. Taking antibiotics you're killing most of bacteria, but you are also selecting the few ones that are able to somehow thrive, and you can't risk that. If you relax the therapy when you feel better, or skip a pill, you give survivors the time to take their vengeance on you, quite literally.\n\nAnd then, you could infect someone else with your *already resistant* bacteria, and this is a problem for us all.", "Yes, they matter.\n\n > it will know I didn't take all the pills and come take vengeance on me;\n\nIt will take vengeance on you or a loved one with a weakened immune system. It usually takes only 2-3 days of antibiotics to provide a great deal of relief. But we require treatments of a longer duration to ensure that all the exposed bugs are killed off by the immune system. If you don't take these precautions, resistant bugs emerge. Resistant bugs send people back to the hospital, make hospital stays longer, and kill people.\n\n > I should take the pills at the exact same time everyday.\n\nFor most chemicals you put in your body, the concentration varies over time, dependent on the rate of absorption and the rate of clearance by metabolism, excretion, or both. So when you take a drug on a schedule, the drugs concentration in the body fluctuates regularly, with peaks and troughs. \n\nFor most antibiotics, the concentration in the trough is what determines efficacy, with a higher concentration being better. With some antibiotics (eg gentamicin), we are more worried about side effects than efficacy at the standard dose. With those drugs, we dose them once a day to get a low trough which reduces the risk of adverse outcomes.", "Not a scientist, but wanted to add to smarmyknowitall's observations on the (b) question (about the timing of the next pill): \n\nFor a large animal like us with slow reproductive cycle and long life span it may appear counter-intuitive, but those eight or twelve hours since the last pill in your antibiotics regimen translate into at least a dozen of generations - and each generation, unchecked, will mean a doubling of the population. \n\nStart with a measly 100,000 bacteria (there will customarily be MANY more than that), and give them their equivalent of the time which for us passed since the Declaration of Independence (i.e., give them until tomorrow morning, basically), and you are dealing with over a 100 billion. \n\nAs others have pointed out, after the first couple of days, when the weaklings among the bacteria have already been weeded out by the antibiotics, your \"pocket of resistance fighters\" will have already been selected for stamina (not, incidentally, by \"getting used to\" or \"learning how to tolerate\" the poison - which is a common Lamarckian misconception -, but simply by popping up randomly throughout the population, just as they would hundreds of years ago in bacteria in the wild, before the antibiotics to which they were resistant were even invented). You want to smoke them out, mercilessly. Spare no one. \n\n", "By not following the directions the organism you are trying to kill may not die and can evolve to be drug resistant to that antibiotic. If this happens and what you have is contagious you can see how this could be a FUCKING GIGANTIC HUMUNGUS FUCKING BAD BAD FUCKING THING TO HAPPEN!!", "Also worth pointing out is that it's just as bad (if not worse) to take antibiotics unnecessarily.\n\nAntibiotics will not cure your cold or your flu yet it's amazing just how many adults go into a GP and *demand* antibiotics, sometimes before the Doctor has even examined them (even more amazing is how many Doctors simply cave and give them the stuff), simply because they have a cold.\n\nTaking these things unnecessarily gives any bacteria currently in you a great work out. You put a selection pressure on them to become resistant and you really don't want that to happen.", "They do matter - please do take the words of the more expert responses to your question to heart.\n\nRead [this](_URL_1_) or [this](_URL_0_) to get a sense of some serious problems involving antibiotic resistance.", "Just so I don't create a separate thread, I have a question concerning this. Wouldn't it actually be better to skip taking antibiotics all together so long as what you have isn't life threatening? Why not try to build up immunity naturally?", "Okay, I have a similar question.\n\nWhy can't I stop taking the pills after I start to feel better? Isn't my immune system able to kill bacteria? I always assumed we took antibiotics to boost the immune system and help fight bacteria, but after I start to feel better, my immune system can take care of the rest.\n\nI'm not talking about serious infections, just minor stuff like a sinus infection.", "I had a mild case of amoebic dysentery while in India many years ago and was given antibiotics to stop it (caught early, no harm done).\nI didn't finish the course however, and months later had developed a cyst on my liver the size of a grapefruit. This required 2 weeks in hospital, minor surgery, and more antibiotics. Fun times but in future I'll finish the course of antibiotics as per the doctors instructions.", "Does drinking alcohol really prevent antibiotics from doing their job?", "Simply, if you dont finish your antiboitics, the bacteria strain will develop antibodies to the illness and attack its next host with an ability to fight the same antibiotic. Don't wanna do that to your fellow human.", "You are creating a super bacteria...stop it!", "This is how MRSA was invented, by people not taking their full prescriptions. Eventually, germs become resistant to antibiotics and we have super gnarly bugs that are a bitch to get rid of.", "I am not a doctor or a biologist. I am someone who stopped taking some antibiotics because I felt better.\n\nFuck everything about that. The infection came back and ravaged my body for a few months, and I had to switch antibiotics and even then, like I said, months of sickness before I began to recover. D:\n\nSeriously. When the doctor says take all the pills, take all the pills.", "timing is mainly because you body absorbs and eliminates the antibiotic at certain rates. And you can either have. too much antibiotics (toxic), too little (just generating resistance) , or an effective dose. This effective dose depends on the fact that you take it at the intervals you are given. creating a balance between what you absorb and what your body eliminates." ] }
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[ [], [ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibiotic_resistance" ], [], [], [], [], [ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methicillin-resistant_Staphylococcus_aureus", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-drug-resistant_tuberculosis" ], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibiotic_resistance" ], [], [], [], [], [ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methicillin-resistant_Staphylococcus_aureus", "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-drug-resistant_tuberculosis" ], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [] ]
5qbtz2
Why did the US in the Pacific Theater during World War 2 choose certain islands to invade while ignoring others?
There were many Japanese occupied islands in the pacific, namely in the Bismark sea, as well as bigger areas of land, such as Indonesia, that the United States chose not to invade during World War 2 in their war against Japan. Meanwhile, other islands such as Peleliu were chosen to be invaded. What was the reason for this military doctrine? Were there specific objectives that were laid out before hand, or was it more improvisation and what seemed necessary at the time?
AskHistorians
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/5qbtz2/why_did_the_us_in_the_pacific_theater_during/
{ "a_id": [ "dcy5sz4" ], "score": [ 30 ], "text": [ "When explaining their strategy both during the war and after, a number of US Army planners quoted the famous American baseball player Willie Keeler. When asked how he hit home runs, Keeler said that he \"hit them where they ain't.\" (in short, hit the ball where there was no opposing fielder) The leapfrogging strategy as it evolved over the course of 192-43 was predicated on the logic that America's growing material superiority would allow the US advance to bypass Japanese strongpoints while invading less-defended areas. These easier targets could then be transformed via Seabees and other construction units into a first-class base that would isolate the Japanese strongpoints and let them wither on the vine. \n\nThe most salient examples of this strategy in action was the isolation of the Japanese bases of Rabaul and Truk. American and Commonwealth forces were able to advance on underdefended islands in the Solomon and Caroline Islands like Bougainville, Cape Gloucester, Pavuvu, or Ulithi with relatively light losses and then use airpower and seapower to reduce the larger Japanese garrison to strategic insignificance. Both Rabaul and Truk had excellent advantages as forward bases in the Pacific, this was the reason why the Japanese seized and developed them, but American material superiority vis-a-vis Japan's overstretched forces was such that it could outstrip the Japanese. Taking these Japanese strongholds would have been costly as they had a large garrison and defenses, but also pointless when the Americans could develop a base that provided the same strategic benefits without having to pay too high of a price in taking it. Japan simply did not have enough men and material to defend every possible island of value, and Allied planners recognized this.\n\nThe leapfrogging strategy was as much a byproduct of ingenuity and preexisting strategy as it was an adaptation of circumstances. Although the material disparity between the Americans and Japanese was quite great and grew as the war dragged on, the Pacific was low on the totem pole in the larger American effort. Moreover, there was stiff competition between the Army and the Navy between the resources that did end up in the Pacific theater. The vast size of the Pacific theater also meant that various theater commands also competed for men and material. High levels of casualties and costly victories could risk having either one of the service gain priority or having a theater being shoved lower down the pipeline for reinforcements. Areas that were too large to be taken simply were bypassed or ignored for planning future operations. The British, American, and Commonwealth forces in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater illustrated the adjustments needed when caught in a theater peripheral to the collective war effort. Although Churchill placed a priority on reconquering areas lost to the Japanese in 1942, this was a sentiment not shared by the US Navy, and barely by MacArthur. Thus CBI planning had to shift away from ambitious operations such as Culverin, the planned amphibious invasion of Sumatra, in favor of more practical operations like the invasion of Burma, which culminated in the amphibious assault on Rangoon, Operation Dracula in May 1945.\n\nPreexisting war plans did help matters out when Allied planners had to come up with solutions to do more with less. The interwar Rainbow Plans, especially War Plan Orange, had already conducted extensive planning for a hypothetical war with Japan and so American planners had a preexisting corpus of potential bases inside the Pacific. It was the Orange planners in the 1920s and 30s that first spotted the utility of Ulithi as a fleet anchorage. \n\nThe leapfrogging strategy though was under increasing strain by the last year of the war. As Allied forces entered into the inner ring of Japanese conquests and the Empire itself, they found that the relatively underdefended targets were much rarer to come by than earlier in the war. Shifting political and strategic priorities also undermined \"hit them where they ain't.\" The Philippines *could* have been bypassed, but MacArthur had placed such stock in their liberation that an American invasion was deemed necessary because of his promise to return. Initially, Allied planners expected to invade the southern island of Mindanao, but intelligence about the underdefended Leyte forced a last minute shifting of the invasion. This though meant that Peleliu invasion was unnecessary as Leyte would be the new staging area, but it went ahead anyway. Japanese resistance severely bled the 1st Marine Division for little gain. Likewise, Iwo Jima was arguably a mistaken invasion given that the planned Okinawan invasion would have provided much the same advantages and the rationale for seizing Iwo had faded. Fighter escorts from Iwo for B-29 missions were no longer as urgent given the shift of American bombing to night atatcks and the overall collapse of the Japanese Home Islands' air defense network had rendered much of Iwo Jima's value to Japan quite limited. Credit also has to be given to the Japanese who adapted a more flexible form of defense that made the most of the IJA soldiers' limited capabilities. The defenses of both Iwo Jima and Peleliu eschewed Banzai charges in favor of more prepared positions and tunnel networks.\n\nAlthough the development and trajectory of Allied strategy on the ground was nowhere near as pat and coherent as Keeler's dictum on home runs, it did work brilliantly for the period 1943-44. Strongholds like Rabaul soon became deathtraps for their garrisons as they were cut off from resupply of food and medicine. To push the baseball metaphor further, Japanese bases like Truk and Rabaul soon became equivalent of minor league training grounds in the latter half of the war. New Allied pilots would often bomb these bases as part of their operational training, allowing them to practice on live targets with little risk of Japanese opposition since most of their planes were destroyed or out of fuel and AA ammunition was rationed. But the strategy had somewhat run its course by 1945 and Allied planners had to face much tougher choices as to what parts of the remaining Japanese empire to invade and which to leave alone to waste away.\n" ] }
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343omy
how do we genetically modify cells and viruses?
I saw a video about how they are using old viruses and "modifying" them to attack cancer cells? How do we alter and modify them? What is the process like?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/343omy/eli5_how_do_we_genetically_modify_cells_and/
{ "a_id": [ "cqqyqjv" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "First a piece of DNA is created, or often taken from somewhere else, that does some desired thing. This could be making a specific protien, or hormone like insulin that we want or need. For anti-cancer viruses, depending on the method being attempted, it could be DNA to mark cancer cells for the body to identify and attack itself or ways to kill the cancerous cells directly.\n\nThen [one of these](_URL_0_) is used to inject the virus with the DNA. Cells only read DNA to the extent that they are told what to do, they don't pay attention to what they are doing (this is where cancer comes from anyway). So the virus is introduced into the host and scientists see if it acts like they want it to." ] }
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[ [ "http://i.imgur.com/xYhP37O.gifv" ] ]
9qkpxc
how do the silica bead packets remove moisture from the stuff around them?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9qkpxc/eli5_how_do_the_silica_bead_packets_remove/
{ "a_id": [ "e89zrld", "e8a2nsl" ], "score": [ 2, 6 ], "text": [ "The beads adsorb surrounding moisture. Adsorb with a D. Very similar to absorb, but rather than absorbing into say a sponge the moisture clings to the surface of the beads which causes them to explode due to the pressure.", "Silica, also known as silicon dioxide is what we refer to as a “desiccant” which means it has the ability to “pull” or adsorb water. It does this because the thin layers of water molecules are attracted to the high surface area of the beads. It has thousands of holes of pores that can adsorb 40 percent of its weight. It’s essentially porous sand. \n\nOnce saturated with water, or moisture it can be restored back to being lean, or dry by applying tons of heat to it, essentially causing the moisture to vapor off. \n\nThat’s the best explanation I can give. Basically, because the silica is very porous, the surface area is high and significant amounts of water can be attracted and adsorbed" ] }
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3wl1di
why does pastry go all soggy in the microwave, but all crispy in the oven?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3wl1di/eli5_why_does_pastry_go_all_soggy_in_the/
{ "a_id": [ "cxwzl57", "cxwzqtk" ], "score": [ 4, 7 ], "text": [ "Think of it like a desert heat (dry and crispy) versus a New Orleans heat (Hot and sticky). \n\nA microwave is like cooking your food in New Orleans whereas cooking your food in an oven is like cooking your food in Palm Desert....\n\nMake sense? ", "Microwave keeps moisture, just vibrates it to create heat. Oven heats the moisture so much it evaporates." ] }
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6g22vm
what's going on with the comey testimony?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6g22vm/eli5_whats_going_on_with_the_comey_testimony/
{ "a_id": [ "dimtoid" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "Trump tried to get Comey (who was head of the FBI at the time) to drop the investigation into his staff's involvement in Russia influencing our election.\n\n > The President then returned to the topic of Mike Flynn, saying, ... \"I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.\"\n\n > On the morning of March 30, the President called me at the FBI. He described the Russian investigation as \"a cloud\" that was impairing his ability to act on behalf of the country ... [and] asked what we could do to \"lift the cloud.\"\n\nA short time later, Trump fired Comey, and said that he had \"the Russia thing\" (as he calls it) on his mind when he made the decision to fire him.\n\nEDIT: SOURCE: Today's LA Times." ] }
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40gd2l
Does passing light though a prism in space or water or ice change the separation of colors?
Textbook section on refraction: "A change in direction of a beam of electromagnetic radiation at a boundary between two materials having different refractive indices. It is refraction at the interface between *glass and air* that causes a prism to bend light and for a lens to focus it." Replace the two boundaries with whatever you like, will it change the results?
askscience
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/40gd2l/does_passing_light_though_a_prism_in_space_or/
{ "a_id": [ "cytz8ai", "cyu30wy", "cyu3s9q" ], "score": [ 82, 4, 5 ], "text": [ "Yes. First off, the angle of refraction changes based on the ratio of the [refractive indices](_URL_3_) of the two materials, obeying [Snell's law](_URL_4_).\n\nSecondly, the amount of [dispersion](_URL_1_) - how much the angle of refraction depends on the wavelength - is dependent on the material. For instance, in photographic lenses, where [chromatic aberration](_URL_0_) is undesirable, special elements made of [low-dispersion glass](_URL_2_) are often used.", "From reading the responses here I'm getting that it will, in fact, change the separation of colors, but I'm not seeing anyone address the specific material pair OP mentioned. Namely, glass and *nothing* (space). \n\nIf a prism were mounted outside the ISS, say, and hit with natural sunlight - what happens?", "This might be more of an astronomy question, but are there interstellar phenomena that act as prisms, separating the colors of starlight passing through them like raindrops separate the colors of sunlight to form a rainbow?" ] }
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[ [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromatic_aberration", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispersion_%28optics%29", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-dispersion_glass", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refractive_index", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snell's_law" ], [], [] ]
1knliz
why i automatically get sleepy whenever i travel on a plane, bus or train, even if i've had a good nights sleep.
You know that feeling, you get onto some method of transport and almost as soon as you start moving, your eyes start to droop and you're falling asleep. Why!?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1knliz/eli5_why_i_automatically_get_sleepy_whenever_i/
{ "a_id": [ "cbqrdij" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "the white noise, the gentle rocking of the train/bus, the relatively comfortable seats, the monotony and lack of stimulation of it all makes you want to fall asleep. airplanes are different as the seats are cramped and you can't fall asleep as easily." ] }
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1sbqph
why and how does china get away with such blatant copying of patented and protected items when it is a member of world trade organisation?
Is China judged by a different standard than others? I mean recently US Military was forced to pay 50 million USD for using software in an unauthorized way. I haven't seen any such measures being taken against China. Also China uses its prison population as cheap labor for its construction work around the world. How do they get away with this? isn't this a form of slave labour?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1sbqph/eli5_why_and_how_does_china_get_away_with_such/
{ "a_id": [ "cdvyaur", "cdvydja", "cdw0231", "cdw0pyt", "cdw0tin", "cdw2sku", "cdw33q5", "cdw3f0v", "cdw3uu8", "cdw3zrz", "cdw48yx", "cdw4alf", "cdw56v3", "cdw5lm5", "cdw5sum", "cdw6ehz", "cdw6xh3", "cdw7mlh", "cdw7rb0", "cdw7ry7", "cdw820f", "cdw8hkg", "cdw94v4", "cdwb26t", "cdwbd6b", "cdwbw3u", "cdwc143", "cdwcqbj", "cdwcw4b", "cdwdebn", "cdwdlcl", "cdwdtl5", "cdwef1b", "cdwenmd", "cdwerkh", "cdwewtb", "cdwf72q", "cdwflgx" ], "score": [ 13, 316, 17, 8, 4, 82, 2, 14, 4, 48, 3, 2, 37, 4, 5, 2, 5, 3, 2, 3, 10, 2, 3, 5, 13, 18, 2, 9, 3, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2, 2 ], "text": [ "Because calling them on it would require picking a fight with China, which no one wants to do.", " > I haven't seen any such measures being taken against China.\n\nThe WTO does have meetings about this regularly, but the WTO is mostly toothless, and trade agreements are usually bilateral. \n\nThe US files complaints, the Chinese do actually have decent IP laws on the books but they're weakly enforced (or not enforced at all).\n\nThe EU does the same dance as the US, complains, gets rulings in their favour etc. \n\n > Is China judged by a different standard than others?\n\nWell the WTO bins countries based how developed they are. So yes, the standards for china are lower than for say, the netherlands. \n\n\nBut the result of those first two points is that there are 'customs' (duties/tariffs etc.) in effect on chinese goods coming into the US and EU and canada. You can do whatever you want in your own country but you aren't supposed to be able to sell that stuff elsewhere.\n\nBack in 2009 the US won a WTO ruling about chinese counterfeiting for example. \n\n\n > Also China uses its prison population as cheap labor for its construction work around the world.\n\nChina doesn't send prisoners to work around the world but yes, they have labour camps. The US does the same thing with their prisoners. That is legal.\n\n\nChina has a lot of friends and a lot of muscle though, all you can really do is try and increase the price of chinese goods to reduce their exports, but they have enough money and enough trade influence and enough friends they will find someone else to buy it, or threaten you with retaliatory action. Just like the US.\n\n\n > I mean recently US Military was forced to pay 50 million USD for using software in an unauthorized way.\n\nYou mean the US military was caught using software it hadn't paid for licenses of. That's somewhat separate from the china thing - what you do in your own country is to some degree your own business. The US military was pirating software from companies that could take them to court in the US. WTO 'courts' have a lot less teeth than national ones. \n\n > isn't this a form of slave labour?\n\nNot technically. But sure, penal labour is regularly used for governments and state owned corporations. This is not unique to china. ", "American uses its prison population as cheap labor as well. =) ", "well it's not so much that they are allowed to get away with it, but the vast amount of products exported from China make it nearly impossible to police everything.\n\nWhen you do get caught however its taken very seriously. I worked at an electronics import and distribution company a couple of years ago and very frequently our shipments would get stopped arriving in America for some sort of Infringement. One time we were importing a huge shipment of LCD tv's and because the batteries that came with the remote control had half black, half brown colouring to them, the entire container was sent back. Apparently our chinese factory was \"knocking off\" duracell, even though the name duracell was not on any batteries and the top colour was brown as opposed to their standard gold. It might not seem like much but that incident cost us nearly $50,000 in freight costs, fines, and labour to have all the batteries replaced.\n\nIf the products stay in China no problem, but the second they are exported they stand a real chance of being caught and in that case no one gets away with it. They will not let the goods enter the country and there is a good chance of getting fined.\n\nIMO the amount they pay in fines is minimal to the amount of counterfeit items they actually get into other countries. So its more of a \"let's see how much we can get away with\" type situation.\n\ntldr: there are financial consequences to violating copyrighted and patented products but the vast amount of exports leaving china, makes it nearly impossible to catch the majority of violators ", "Think about it this way. American corporations under pay Chinese people to make everything for us. It's silly, they make it but someone else in another country gets all of the benefits and they are left with nothing but chump change and lots of pollution. what's the difference in a product if it is made by the same person on or off of the clock. If I got paid $1 a day to produce a bunch of hand bags that sell for hundreds. I would be tempted to make some on my own....", "Probably the same way the USA can be part of the UN but ignore the UN when they really want to bomb the fuck out of some country", "No one's going to call their bluff.", "China is the recent offender , United States use to be a big offender of international copyright laws which they refused to sign the treaty, only in more modern times, with Hollywood's success has United States been the cry baby. there is a long colored history of Copyright law and well beyond the scope of this comment, recent changes in Copyright law have negated progress in adherence . Disney had congress to change the life of a copyright since Mickey Mouse was due to expire in the not too distant future. with the messing around with the laws, lots of countries have regarded them as null and void for the most part. they all agree to the lifetime of a copyright and then we change the rules for our benefit, is that the way we should be doing business. Our integrity is crap with China and there is no incentive to honor our agreements.\nEDIT: as a side note, the Netherlands have no copyright infringement prosecution, they charge each customer a few pennies extra for media , which is put in a fund to pay media producers. They avoid the silliness by paying up front. you are suggesting one world order stuff here , where one entity is responsible for policing the world. That one entity will be the mightiest ( the ones with the most soldiers ) and that isn't the U.S. ", "Because that's not a Honda, that's a \"Hongda\".", "Short ELI5 answer: Because everybody wants to stay 'friends' with them - they are a trade superpower.", "Another thing to consider is the fact that policing the import of possible 'rip-offs' may not go that far because in a sense, we as Americans demand them. Not only do we demand them, but the domestic retailers and distributors still make a lot of money off of them, which is good for our economy. \n\nHowever, being someone who creates Intellectual Property, I would be pissed off if I knew China was copying my work and trying to sell it in America. Some companies are taking a different approach to this however. For example, one of the gun parts manufacturers we have here in the US contracts out a Chinese company to make the 'knock-offs' for at least they still get some royalties on their design and they were able to choose a manufacturer that wouldn't completely botch their product.\n\nI think what needs to be done about this is that people selling 'knock-offs' need to be more honest about what they are selling. Certain things on Amazon for example are hard to determine if they are legit or rip-offs.", "[by saying this...](_URL_0_)\n\nnobody wants to take them up on it.", "I used to be of similar thought until I did import/export from them regularly.\n\nFirst off, if a USA company moves production to china....what happens to the factory and the know-how when not doing production for the ____ USA company they changed their factory to accommodate?\n\n1. They sit on their ass producing nothing until another similar order comes in.\n\n2. Use the same tuned machines and know how to make local variants for sale or something \"similar\" since retrofitting all those machines takes time and money. \n\n\nIronically, many USA companies will sell the rights/license to the factory to produce local variants....for example, Korean motorcycle companies were the local distributor/production facility for their Japanese counterparts. Honda, Suzuki, etc. eventually sold them the rights to produce older versions of their bikes. Plenty of Eastern European car companies make new \"old\" model versions of Western car companies legally. You scream \"Copycat!\" but the originators figure it's more money since they won't produce it any more or enter the local markets....\n\nSometimes the reverse is true.....Americans buy a crappy version slapped with a brand name on them and the Chinese OEM models are superior with a much wider selection; I've ran across this a few times. Kenmmore is an exception as they improve the quality of the rebranded items(So I heard). The Nexus 5 is a lesser, cheaper version of LG's flagship phone.\n\n================\n\nAs for straight up **fakes**, there are 5 types:\n\n1. Factory has access to the mold of a famous western product but crams it with cheap local parts inside: You get a electric razor with plastic norelco body but different inside parts.....YMMV on this big time.\n\n2. Fake luxuries goods that look like garbage(fake LV bags) unless made by hand by a skilled artist/shop. I can just ask a skilled leather maker to make an LV purse to exact specifications but it won't be cheap...cheaper than a new real LV purse though.\n\n3. The real deal: Factory is producing extras of an order and selling the extras under-table for lower prices. Quality should be the same and have original packaging with same name or a \"local\" brand name. I buy these all the time....your more likely to find boutique brands be victim of this than.... not Nike or Apple. Price is FAIR not dirt cheap so you don't get $140 shoes for $20; more like $60-90 possibly with brand name removed. \n\n4. Reverse of number 1.....someone buys the same OEM parts or superior parts but crams them into a different mold with separate brand name. Sometimes Q & A and product testing might take a hit....For example, you can just buy all the OEM parts of a high end MAC desktop for cheaper and install the MAC OS on top. Case would be different but it's a real Apple MAC through and through.\n\n5. Rebranded old stock......old electronics that aren't sold typically get exported to 3rd world countries. Someone might buy them and rebrand them for legal reasons....\n\n\nOne somewhat funny observation I used to hear was that Japanese car companies setup Chinese factories that are well-designed, clean, decent paying, and safe to export worldwide. They show that factory to the press to prove they aren't a sweatshop. Next door is the dingy, low paying, dirty, questionable safety standards factory pumping out the same Japanese cars for \"domestic sale\".", "who is going to punish them?", "Seriously, what's in it for China to follow US IP laws? It only serves to raise prices and reduce productivity. The usefulness of skirting capitalism and having a government award monopolies to the originator of an idea is questionable in the best of situations. For a country that is a net importer (of IP) there is nothing in it for them to enforce another countries monopolies. ", "Talked about this a bit while I was studying law at Beida (Peking U) in Beijing this past summer. \nAfter WWII, while western countries had been developing IP law for sometime, China was in shambles and pretty much an agricultural society. During this period, Chinese law was in a constant state of flux and at times, virtually non-existent - i.e. there wasn't even a criminal code, judges were farmers from the community, etc.. Property law was pretty black and white with the state owning everything. As such, property law was given very little attention. With the emergence of china on the international scene as an economic power, and shifting from agriculture to manufacturing, textiles, technology, China's property law began to change. The NPC and scholars recognized that in order to benefit china's economy and draw in foreign investors they had to begin protecting foreign property interests in China. As a result, China amended their property laws to begin giving some individual propriety rights to both their own citizens as well as foreign investors. However, while China was an agricultural society, education was virtually non-existent. As a result, China has a large portion of their citizenship uneducated with education only really gaining some traction in the last twenty years. The idea of copyright or IP protections are completely foreign to these citizens. As a result, while China does have IP laws, it is difficult to enforce by virtue of the sheer overwhelming size of their population. ", "I learned about this in Management class. Chinese police DO crack down on patented good sales. There are just way too many people doing it, and most of these knock-off retailers are either too small for police to care (think street vendor), or too large for police to be able to tackle (Think Mafia).", "I imagine it's because China's knockoffs tend to only be sold to its own poorer Chinese populace. \n\nIf China made money off American consumers using stolen American IP, that would be a way different story and more people would go ballistic in that case.\n\nOf course, US companies would also financially suffer if they try to expand into China's consumer market, since they can't compete with their own already stolen IP. ", "Because we believe in copyright philosophy, putting it bluntly. It allows a superpower (or the U.S. military as you mentioned) to become the Al-Capones of this kind of utopian prohibition at their own whim, and without any practical threat of being stopped. There is a reason why drug cartels would lobby to keep the war on drugs going if they could: untaxed, unregulated rewards. In China's case, it is exporting pirated goods abroad to reap in foreign currencies. If we were to get rid of copyright laws, we could kill the Chinese government's piracy monopoly in a very profound way as this exporting would drop dramatically. There are many deluded fools in the U.S. who think that fighting piracy at home will make the least bit of difference in the face of China's 80% global piracy share and easily corruptible U.S. armed forces (not dissimilar to the way cops can succumb to drug corruption), but abolishing copyright is really the only sensible answer, because it means China doesn't benefit from everyone else following the rules and the U.S. would have to pay up (using assurance contracts instead).\n\nKim Dotcom, for example, is unlikely to be a copyright abolitionist. He is actually likely to be PRO copyright for the Al-Capone reasons I've stated. He was armed with a shotgun during the raid for goodness sake. And the same goes for every casual BitTorrenter out there. They are all bound to hate the idea of something like Kickstarter because of its ability to empower the artist to demand payment or else nothing gets made whatsoever - since with copyright, profit is expected only on *trust* without guarantee. You can rest assured the Chinese government will be very willing to block crowdfunding websites using its great firewall for the very reason that it wants to preserve its piracy monopoly and not have it destabalised.\n\nCopyright is a utopia: innately unenforceable, and wreaks of the Luddite mentality. And the Chinese government is benefiting from our stupidity. Copyright is not out to prevent piracy, it is the CAUSE of piracy. This must be understood. Adding artificial scarcity to an intangible form of property is only as good as you can enforce it, which we obviously cannot. And as a result, thieves can take advantage of the artificial scarcity we give them and profit from it.\n\nIf you want to swing the balance of power towards creators, back the crowdfunding revolution. It's gaining ground every day. Don't buy into this Spotify/Netflix nonsense. They too depend on copyright and are just as doomed.", "The reason China gets away with such crimes is because there isn't much the WTO can do about it. So much of the worlds economy relies on China and the only way to stop the Chinese from continuing these types of behaviors would be a world-wide trade policy punishing China. Something that simply would cause more damage to the World's economy than doing nothing.\n\nThese actions do not go unnoticed of course, the U.S. files multiple complaints against the Chinese, but for many of the reasons stated above and that there are not many laws set in China to prevent these companies, they usually go unchecked.", "In regards to IP law for software and media.....it's a lost cause in Asia unless it's broadcast or cinema.\n\nPiracy is so ingrained that you'd have an easier time finding bootlegs than the real deal. Much of the blame lies with Hollywood and the USA software industry not adjusting to \"local\" pricing, lack of asian language options, and BS region controls. Aside from Japan, Asian games tend to rely on charging for in-game items, ads, and sometimes subscriptions; $1 a few times a week is much easier to financially swallow than $50 upfront....You can nail hardcore gamers for $100+ monthly but western producers seem fixated on $50 one shot payments.\n\nHollywood can push the bootleggers out of business by selling for the same price....not charging $40 for a blu-ray in a country where $10 a day is a good wage....most stores don't even bother having large movie and movie sections unless they're bootleg.\n\nAs for stealing and reverse engineering.......it's just much, much easier to hire ex-engineers from a competitor. Always pay your engineers/I.T./Developers well.....outsource those jobs and don't be surprised when your foreign competitors offer them a sweet Thailand Vacation and corner office. \n\n\nUSA also uses prison labor.....infact it's an incentive for good behavior and seen as a way to reintroduce them into society! I wish we had more prison labor...might actually give them all job skills to use outside of prison. I doubt China sends prisoners abroad for labor....Plenty of willing Chinese and Indians who aren't convicts are first in line to work abroad. ", "Because it is sometimes less costly (to you) to just let them produce your stuff for their local market. You can sue 10 factories that clone your product and some possibly infringe on your brand/trademark as well, but by the time all the 10 court rulings came out forcing them to cease the infringing operations, there will be another 10 factories that are already pumping out your product clones to meet the market demand. As long as there's a demand for your product, there will be someone somewhere who makes them to fulfill the market demand. You stop that someone; there will be someone else. It's money. If you have so much money to waste, you could sue endlessly and they will at most try to change the cosmetics of the clones, and subsequently, the court may let them loose [Daewoo Matiz vs Chery QQ, Honda CRV vs Laibao SRV].\n\nIf you use Alibaba to source items from China, you will see that there are just TOO MANY factories that make product clones. Many times they even list the product clones with the OEM brand, but when you place an order, \"THK\" brand becomes \"Lingshui\" on the invoice.", "Where to start? Its a very complex issue.\n\nFirst: its not really China that gets away with stealing copyrighted material. In order to join the WTO, the central government had to adapt a patent system up to european and american standarts. It is possible to patent something in China and there is are many instances of that happening in the past. A taiwanese patent troll keeping ipads out of mainland China for many years is good example (_URL_0_).\n\nHowever, there are a lot of chinese companies getting away with it.\nFirst, you should distinguish between patents and IP (intellectual property). Patents are only one kind of IP.\n\nAs I said before, it is possible to gain a patent in China and enforce it. However, one of the reasons why chinese companies steal stuff is that a lot of international companies fail to take the necessary measures. If you want to do business in China you should get an expert. Somebody from China, somebody you can trust. Believe it or not, a lot of international companies don't do so. That's why chinese companies get away with stealing: those international companies don't properly protect their patents, but just trust their partners in China. So when their IP gets stolen, they won't have chinese law on their side. A good example is an english speaking business man signing a contract in english and chinese. If you do this, and the chinese version is different to the english version you're fucked, as the chinese government will only accept the chinese version. And instead of saying that your precious IP stays with you, it might say the opposite. Good trick, right?(_URL_1_).\n\nFor other IP it might vary, but in general there is a problem of enforcement in China. Like those street vendors selling dvds and books in every city and on the internet. That's something you have to fight on the local level, so naturally there is some places where it works better, and some places where it doesn't work at all.\n\nIf you want to know more, I'd recommend this article:\n_URL_2_\nits pretty much ELI5, starting from zero and with a lot of interesting cases. I wasted hours on that blog...", "It all follows the same rule: If you are powerful enough, nobody can force you to do something you don't like to do. \nThat's why the US is getting away with grave human rights abuses and war crimes.", "They get away with it in the same way the US gets away with blatantly ignoring UN directives, because they can", "1. Imagine this is six hundred years ago. We have property. It's land and cows and textiles. I tell you - you know what? We should transfer that type of right to ideas. Do you know how fucking stupid that sounds? Intellectual property is a relatively new idea, all told. And the US ignored it for a lot of its early history - copies of European books, stealing British machinery.\n\n2. Patents are territorial. That means they are only granted for the countries they apply for. You know how minimum wage is different in different places? It's like that. \n\n3. We have some international agreements on how we can get patent rights abroad. Paris Convention, Patent Cooperation Treaty. There's no such think as an international patent, the same way there's no such thing as an international drinking age. Please, tell me more about how you want to enforce our laws in other countries. \n\n4. A lot of patents are bad anyway. You give patents out for the things that are new, useful, and not obvious. Sometimes the PTO is in a rush and hands it out when they don't deserve it. That's why we have lawyers duke it out. \n\n5. You sounds like you come from a place of hostility, rather than actually wanting an answer. It would probably help you learn more if you started from \"Why do X?\" than \"I hate China.\" Seriously. Taking a neutral approach means that you can absorb more information rather than looking for information to confirm your own biases. Assuming that you want to learn, of course. If not, you can probably keep doing what you're doing. \n\nTL,DR: National sovereignty. For five-year-old? My house, my rules.", "Just a slight tangent: China has a first to file system and it is incredibly complicated. Trademarks for shoes will not work for toys, or games, or shirts. Of course being written in Mandarin and with different cultural idiosyncrasies make it considerably difficult for westerners to grapple agains trademark/copyright infringement.\n\nHere's one of the more famous Ferrari cases:\n_URL_1_\n\nSource: _URL_0_ Not my own, but I'm a frequent reader.", "I lived in China two years and had the pleasure of visiting plenty of these manufacturing shops in Guangzhou that blatantly rip off trademark / patented products. You just need to be good friends with the right people and they're more than happy to take you on a tour of it all.\n\nI'd say the best way to describe it is a mutual \"Let's get rich together\" kind of shared thinking in the local communities of Chinese.\n\nThe police generally don't care to enforce it until the ripping off / copyright / trademark violations gets so bad that the Chinese government gets involved and orders the police to go fix the problem (since the police are paid to do so). The police get their memo and they'll \"accidentally\" forward that memo on to all the infringing manuf. plants a few days before the police go investigate... The police go on the daily News along with a little rampage shutting down all the infringing manuf. plants for a few weeks and confiscating fake products (mostly just garbage/left over materials on the floor of the factories that the workers were too lazy to clean up). They come and clean all the garbage off the floors of the factory, load it into police trucks as \"evidence\" and leave. Leaving no garbage behind but leaving all the manuf. equipment in the factory without so much as a fingerprint.. It's practically a janitorial service. \n\n Immediately after that the police write up their reports about how successful they were at accomplishing their jobs, how many tons of goods were ceased and destroyed (yes, they are really destroyed with evidence to prove it for foreign governments / foreign companies / chinese government / local media / foreign media / etc).\n\nImmediately after that, deals between the manuf. plants and the police are made under the table (blatant bribery) and those shops that were shut down are now back up and running again at full production within a week or two and the police just turn their backs to it. So the police got paid by the government to shut down the shops and then they get paid again by the factories to open up again. If you run one of these factories and you don't pay the police after you get \"shut down\" there's a good chance that factory might get a follow up visit and have more goods confiscated but the goods end up \"disappearing\" after they're loaded onto the police vehicles. You will get endless follow up visits with disappearing goods until you pay the police off properly.\n\nI know a lot of people in the USA will jump up and down talking about how terrible it is and how bad the corruption and bribery is in China.. That was my reaction as an American before I came to China.. But they really have no concept of how poor some of these Chinese people are.. I'm not only talking about the factory workers, but I'm also talking about those police officers that also often come from the very deep depths of poverty. \n\nA lot of police officers in China make far less than the guy flipping burgers at your local McDonalds.. Just keep that in mind.\n\nAt the very core of all of it.. If you look deep down at it.. You will see local communities doing what they can to make sure they can come home with a decent paycheck so they can feed their babies / family. If that means ripping off trademarks / resorting to bribery, etc. then they just go ahead and do it.\n\nSo I see a lot of people talking about WTO and all these organizations but they're completely missing what's really happening here and how these local communities are doing everything they can to bring themselves out of poverty. But the worse part is that people are missing out on seeing how well it is working at bringing Chinese out of poverty.. The average wage for Chinese factory workers has been skyrocketing and continues to do so.\n\nMy girlfriend in China can't even get high school drop-outs to work for her for less than the equivalent of $300/month. 10 years ago, you would have had thousands of people applying for a job with that kind of pay.\n", "All I can think of is the [Top Gear episode about fake cars](_URL_0_)", "China does do things about counterfeiting but because the problem is so big, not much of a dent has been put into it.\n\n\nAs far as the prison population... I find it a good thing that they make prisoners work when in the USA it costs $30-50k a year to take care of a prisoner.\n\nOn the other hand, when the US gives development aid, they hire locals and contribute to the economy but China just brings in their own people for free. Both are not bad strategies and I see the value in both. ", "For the same reasons the U.S. get away with subsidizing a lot of its industries against WTO rules, the reason is who will make the U.S. to stop doing it? The most apt explanation would be \"because fuck you\".", "Because China has the will (out of necessity) to do what it takes to prosper, while the rest of the world is spineless by comparison and spoiled or content with their status. If everything at Wal - Mart went up a buck per item because we put the squeeze on China there would be riots. Meanwhile everyone else has the advantage. If China doesn't create X many jobs a quarter they risk real revolution.", "For the same reason the US can drone people everyday : there is no one to stop them.", " > Also China uses its prison population as cheap labor for its construction work around the world.\n\ned\n\nAt one point so did the US. Currently it uses cheap prison labor for factory work. ", "1. Knockoffs are cheaper, obviously. The local populace doesn't have the cash to drop on an imported brand product at the price paid in the West. That's a huge chunk of the average person's wages -- annually [46769 RMB](_URL_0_) or roughly USD 7700, and even people are saying that's skewed upward by the more affluent coastal cities.\n\n2. The government knows this and doesn't care to enforce it. Seriously, go on the streets and see the guy selling a case full of dollar DVDs or knockoff sneakers (IVIKE, etc.) 10 steps away from a cop. And China isn't the only place that does this. A lot of poorer countries like Bolivia are like this, because paying full price is a luxury the people can't afford. We hear more about China because the market is bigger, they have a larger population of rich people, the government is well off, and the economic growth rate has been something like 7% for over a decade. The US isn't going to bully Bolivia into paying what they don't have, and is trying to get something out of a trade agreement because China will buy US goods (and bonds, etc.).\n", " > Also China uses its prison population as cheap labor\n\nso the the USA", "Ah, this reminds me of China's love for ripping off BMW...\n\n_URL_0_\n\nIf I remember correctly, BMW tried to take the Chinese manufacturer to court in their country and the court essentially ruled in their favor saying \"eh, looks nothing like a Beamer.\"", "Penal labor does create conflict of interest issues, and I know it differs by prison and country, but to hell if I'm paying taxes so criminals can eat and sleep. If you told me I could eat, not pay rent, not have a job, have access to education I'd think you were bullshitting me and yet that's what criminals receive at the cost of some freedom." ] }
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[ [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30GD25un0XQ" ], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [ "http://www.chinalawblog.com/2012/04/the-apple-proview-china-trademark-litigation-its-gonna-settle-bet-on-it.html", "http://www.chinalawblog.com/2009/07/china_oem_agreements_we_like_o.html", "http://www.chinalawblog.com/2011/06/protecting_your_intellectual_property_in_china_part_i.html" ], [], [], [], [ "chinalawblog.com", "http://chinabusinesslaw.blogspot.com/2007/07/ferrari-is-famous-but-is-horse-too.html" ], [], [ "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0bNf-jcVU0" ], [], [], [], [], [], [ "http://www.tradingeconomics.com/china/wages" ], [], [ "http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/bmw-makes-fake-x1-zinoro-e1-ev/#/3" ], [] ]
3lbr2u
How accurate is this "information" that I keep seeing about viking women on Facebook and what was the reality?
The quote makes 4 claims about viking life as a woman. First "When a viking mistreats his lady, she may cut off his junk and hang it in her home." I believe this is totally false and can find nothing which supports it. Second "Women were in charge of the household's money because they were believed to be magic and have the ability to see into the future." This sounds plausible but once again I can find no sources. Third "If a woman divorced her husband, he would be shamed for being divorced." This one was easy to look up and I did find that women could divorce their men by denouncing them twice once at the threshold to the shared home and once at the bed after gathering witnesses. However I did not find any evidence that they were disgraced as they kept their positions and such. Fourth "Men weren't even allowed to touch a woman's hand if she had not agreed to it or he would be punished by law." This seems to be junk as well and once again I can find nothing that backs this up. What is the real truth behind these "facts" and how far off base are they?
AskHistorians
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3lbr2u/how_accurate_is_this_information_that_i_keep/
{ "a_id": [ "cv55tgj", "cv5e7i7", "cv5oay2" ], "score": [ 11, 19, 11 ], "text": [ "What precisely is the source of these claims?", "I'm taking a Icelandic sagas class which focuses on Icelandic culture and law. (Nordic studies minor)\n\nAt least in Iceland a woman needed 3 witnesses to divorce her husband, while a man could divorce his wife with a single witness any time anywhere. As far as honor, that would lie more in how things are resolved in the matter. Something unflattering may come out in the process, or he may react poorly and reflect as such upon him.\n\nI don't know about the magic women bit, they do have the association with using Sedir magic. In Iceland however men usually left their properties under the control of their wives during Thing meetings. (Which leads to hilarious shenanigans in Njal's saga)\n\nSorry, this answer is out of order. While Norse women had many freedoms such an action wouldn't have happened. She may try to divorce him, her family may try to protect her honor, but I've read nothing if the sort anywhere (other than a story about a family worshipping a mummified horse penis)\n\nIts not that they couldn't touch a woman's hand, but violence against women was frowned upon deeply.\n\nI hope this helps.", "1) Under the Grágas law, (I don’t have a copy of Gulaþingslög with me, thus you get Icelandic, and not Norwegian law), a woman was allowed to divorce her husband at any time, and for any mistreatment, whether it was physical, emotional, or sexual. The major conflicts in Njáls saga are actually based on divorces due to all three things. Well, one divorce because of sexual incompatibility (dude had his junk cursed to become so large that he couldn’t have sex with his wife - other women, sure, wife? no), and one instance where the wife says “I’m not gonna help you defend yourself because you slapped me and generally ignored me,” but still. Nowhere is castration or emasculation mentioned.\n\n2) Women are depicted as being in charge of the household’s money because the men in the sagas are typically off a-viking or trading, and as such couldn’t bring all of their worldly wealth with them. Njáls saga and Egils saga do pretty good jobs of showing how men managed money when they were at home, while Eyrbyggja saga shows a woman doing it - that woman being Auðr djúpúðga, or Aud the Deep-minded.\n\n3) Men who were divorced weren’t, as a rule, publicly shamed for their divorces, but the fact that they did get divorced - if the woman instigated it - could be used against them when their enemies insulted them.\n\n4) That’s not the case at all. Men and woman could touch one another, could liaise with one another, could sleep with one another if they so chose. The whole ‘don’t touch my daughter’ thing was based on the dowry system that was practised - it didn’t matter to Bjorn if Asgerð was in loved with Ingvar, because Anlaf’s farm was worth 500 marks more and merging the two would make Bjorn a shit-load of money. Of course, if Anlaf was a fool and slept with Asgerð, well, Bjorn could just say he raped her and have him put to death. BECAUSE THAT IS HOW IT WORKED." ] }
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2g6ge0
why do people continue to live in california if scientists are fairly certain the big one will hit (with major consequences)?
Is it because people don't believe that it's such a high probability? Or is it because of denial? Or is it because they don't think it will do much damage?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2g6ge0/eli5_why_do_people_continue_to_live_in_california/
{ "a_id": [ "ckg3bwf", "ckg3jgh", "ckg3n77", "ckg468l", "ckg49ki", "ckg4d6h" ], "score": [ 2, 3, 3, 5, 2, 2 ], "text": [ "Not sure what \"hit\" you're talking about. But California is associated with fame, wealth, and luxurious lifestyles. If you want in the entertainment business, it's the best place to start. With that being said, everywhere is dangerous to live in some way. East coast is hurricanes. Most western states would be almost completely obliterates if Yellowstone were to erupt. The Midwest has tornados. \rBasically, it isn't much dangerous than anywhere else. ", "Floods, hurricanes and tornadoes have caused far more damage (human and financial) to the south/east US than earthquakes ever have to California.\n\nSource: _URL_0_", "Californian here.\n\nThere is no place on earth that is immune from natural disaster.\n\nIf I was going to live somewhere that might get an earthquake, I'd rather be in California than anywhere else in the world. The building codes are very strict and designed to protect structures from extremely severe earthquakes.\n\nThe last two big earthquakes killed fewer than 100 people each. The estimates for a really bad earthquake are that maybe up to 2,000 people might die. This is in a state with a population of 38 million, and to put it in perspective, 2,800 Californians die in traffic fatalities *every year*.\n\nSo no, out of all of the things I could be scared of, an earthquake is not one of them. Probably someday it will hit. Some unlucky people will die. Many more of us will have damaged homes and property, but the vast majority won't be personally affected. We'll survive and we'll rebuild, and life will go on.\n", "Because we can prepare for earthquakes. Take a look at Japan, a country that is used to having a lot of earthquakes. Their buildings are designed to be able to withstand the force of a quake, and its actually [quite effective](_URL_1_). Same with California. They prepare for and take appropriate measures. One example of preparedness is the [Great California Shakeout](_URL_0_), which is a state-wide earthquake drill. Schools, police, fire fighters, paramedics, hospitals, companies, and regular people all participate in this drill. Everyone in California is taught what to do in an earthquake, and people and authorites are prepared and trained to handle it when it happens. \n\nWith that all being said, the other reason is that there is just too much opportunity in the state to throw it all away. California's GDP is the largest of any US state, and if it were a country it's GDP would be among the 10 ten of the world. There is simply too much money to be made in the state for eveyone to up and move away. \n\nAnd finally the truth is that even though earthquakes are scary, no body really lives in fear of them. Big earthquakes are infrequent enough that they really aren't a factor in everyday life. It really isn't a factor that people consider when choosing to live there. Life is fine, and everything goes on as normal. Hope this answers the question.", "California is home, plus as others have mentioned there is no place free of life threatening natural disasters. Pick your poison and plan accordingly. ", "California is home.\n\nIt's the same reason people live near Yellowstone, are still in New Orleans, or live in Tornado Alley." ] }
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[ [], [ "https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_natural_disasters_in_the_United_States" ], [], [ "http://www.shakeout.org/california/", "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX64UJpbsJI" ], [], [] ]
3ovwj1
how come some faces are blurred out and some can be shown in a reality show?
Do all the people on the show have to give consent to have their faces shown on TV? I'm asking because it just seems so awkward for shows like Border Security or COPS where those people are caught doing something wrong, and the tv crew going up and asking if it's okay to have their face shown
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ovwj1/eli5_how_come_some_faces_are_blurred_out_and_some/
{ "a_id": [ "cw0wbty" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "Most people who have not been blurred out are specifically asked for their permission with a little money to grease their fingers. Reality shows cannot display someone's image without their consent.\n\nThe blurry ones are the guys who didn't consent." ] }
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3eqg2f
why can't airlines save time when flying from america to europe by flying over the north pole?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3eqg2f/eli5_why_cant_airlines_save_time_when_flying_from/
{ "a_id": [ "cthf9et", "cthfaxq" ], "score": [ 2, 3 ], "text": [ "They can and do.\n\n[These are called the Polar Routes and there are numerous flights.](_URL_0_)\n\nOnly specially certified and equipped airplanes can fly these routes, and only when temperatures are such that the fuel won't freeze (-40, -50 depending).\n\nAnother problem with the polar routes is the ionosphere (whatever sphere) is thinner - passengers on these flights get more cosmic and solar radiation. Which varies with atmospheric conditions so if today's radiation report says, we take the long way around.", "They fly the most efficient route possible, while still maintaining compliance with ETOPS regulations. Often the route is as close to possible to the [great circle](_URL_1_)\n\nETOPS specifies the distance a plane can be from the nearest airport, incase of an in-flight mechanical or medical emergency. \n\nOfficially, ETOPS stands for Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards. Pilots often say it stands for Engines Turn Or Passengers Swim. \n\nFor more information about this, please see _URL_0_\n\nAlso this is most efficient route from LHR to SFO\n_URL_2_" ] }
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[ [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_route" ], [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETOPS", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_circle", "http://www.greatcirclemapper.net/en/great-circle-mapper.html?route=EGLL-KSFO%2C&aircraft=&speed=" ] ]
3thbx0
why is there no consensus whatsoever among health experts whether coffee is good for you or not?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3thbx0/eli5_why_is_there_no_consensus_whatsoever_among/
{ "a_id": [ "cx672qd" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text": [ "You can't just say something is good or bad for your health. If you drink 12 liters of water, you will most likely die. Does that mean water is bad for you? Of course not.\n\nCoffee contains huge amounts of different compounds, many of those have an effect on our body. One compound may have multiple effects - consider, for instance, how many effects caffeine has.\n\nJust to name a few, it affects your nerves, metabolism, and blood pressure. Caffeine may be used to treat low blood pressure. Then it's good. However, some people have high blood pressure, so increasing it even more by drinking coffee is not good. Also, it's impossible to find two persons that would react to a substance identically.\n\nSo, again, you cannot simply state that something is good or bad. There are just too many aspects.\n\nSource: Am taking courses on pharmacology and chemistry.\n" ] }
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3tnyz7
Do other the other forces curve spacetime?
if not, why is gravity unique in this respect, do we even know?
askscience
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/3tnyz7/do_other_the_other_forces_curve_spacetime/
{ "a_id": [ "cx8822h", "cx9ei4r" ], "score": [ 17, 2 ], "text": [ "Not in the same way that gravity does, because gravity **is** the curvature of spacetime. However, other forces contribute energy density to a system, which in turn increase the strength of its gravitational field (or the bending of spacetime, if you will). For example, a charged capacitor or a nuclear isomer will gravitate more than the uncharged/stable counterparts.", "I remember a very simple way to see why there are difficulties when you want to describe for example electromagnetism in terms of space-time curvature (just assuming classical physics). I will try to sketch it. It's been years since my GR course, so if someone can make it more accurate, that would be most welcome...\n\nGeneral relativity (or at least the mathematical formulation in terms of space-time) is based upon the idea that all matter behaves in the same way in the gravitational field. Space-time determines how matter moves (and matter determines how space-time curves), all matter is bound to the structure of space and time. The problem with for example electromagnetism is that charges can have *different signs*. The combination of repulsion between charges of the same sign and attraction between charges of different sign is something that you cannot encrypt in a space-time geometry: it would imply that space-time curves differently depending on the charge of the *test particle* that is put in the field. " ] }
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3d7pox
Do animals get tight muscles and knots like humans do? Do they hold stress in their muscles like humans?
askscience
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/3d7pox/do_animals_get_tight_muscles_and_knots_like/
{ "a_id": [ "ct2lw1s" ], "score": [ 6 ], "text": [ "Yes animals can get tight and knotted the same way people can! This occurs most commonly in competition animals, very active animals, or animals that have physical conditions that lead to stiffness. As a pre-vet student I saw this most commonly in the backs of older riding horses. This is why there are veterinary chiropractors, acupuncturists, and massage therapists." ] }
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zp3th
when i have a full bladder during the night, i sometimes dream that i pee. what keeps me body from actually wetting the sheets?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/zp3th/eli5_when_i_have_a_full_bladder_during_the_night/
{ "a_id": [ "c66iezh", "c66iu0v", "c66ixjy", "c66j0lu", "c66jcnl", "c66jh13", "c66k5yf", "c66k65v", "c66kbzu", "c66kco1", "c66kix4", "c66kl18", "c66kl93", "c66kta4", "c66kzjy", "c66obq2", "c66oes0", "c670a84" ], "score": [ 105, 54, 41, 15, 239, 5, 2, 17, 3, 7, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 2, 2 ], "text": [ "Im not sure why this happens but is the opposite way round for me, once I dreamt I was having a pee and I did one! ", "Sorry, but I read \"me body\" and had to re-read the title as the Lucky Charms leprechaun.", "I'm still not sure why it happens, but ever since trying to do a search for the answer, all of my Google-sponsored ads have been about diapers. \n\n/First World Problems", "Practice. \nI mean, I used to actually wet the bed when I had dreams of going pee. And it was awesome until I woke up. \nNowadays, I have some subconscious part of me that, when I pee in a dream, makes sure that I don't actually do so in real life. It's something that I'm vaguely aware of, which means some part of my head knows that I'm dreaming, and to not actually pee. ", "Both nocturnal penile tumescence (morning wood) and REM atonia (a purposeful block from activating normal muscles while dreaming so that you don't sleepwalk or kick your dog or eat your pillow) prevent you from peeing the bed.", "When you enter REM sleep (aka the time when you dream) your brain shuts down everything that is not needed.\nIt suts down your, arms, legs and bladder etc.\n\nSo if you are dreaming of running naked through a field of daisys while pe is going everywhere.\nYou will not start running around your room peeing.\n\nHowever if the part of your brain that controls these things is damaged or didn't form properly.\nThen you may sleep walk.\n\nTl;DR when you sleep your brain turns unneeded things off, like walking and peeing.", "I asked myself the same question and the answer was simply....nothing. ", "Whenever I'm sleeping and have to piss really bad, my dreams always prevent me from letting er rip. I'll usually find a toilet in my dream, but the bowl will be 5 feet high or something. My biggest fear is that some day I'll dream of a normal toilet and wake up pissing on my wife. ", "This happens to me too. Fairly sure it's your brain's way of letting you know you really have to go. I have on only one occasion (out of many times) actually peed just a tiny bit and then woken up and gone \"FUCK!\" and bolted to the toilet. Most of the time I just dream about peeing oceans of water though and eventually wake up and go \"OH. So THAT'S what that was about\". ", "Well, I DID pee when I dreamt I went at a urinal. Afterward when I took a pee IRL I always got paranoid that I wad dreaming and really pissing in my pants.", "On topic story, but not answer: After a really good night of college drinking, I had a dream I was peeing in a urinal, when I woke up I was kneeling on my bed pissing. \n\n", "When I dream a dream like that I'll wet my bed. Actually the two last time I wet my bed I had a dream like that.", "I don't often have to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, but when I do, my waking up to go do so is ALWAYS prefaced with a dream about me going pee. Haven't peed the bed SO far", "gumption and moxy?", "ITT: Dozens of redditors get tagged as 'Bedwetter\" on RES.", "You *do* piss the bed, your mom changes your sheets before you wake up.", "I have dreams where I need to piss really fucking bad, but in my dream I can't piss. I go looking for a different toilet, but they're all out in the open and it's embarrassing trying to piss in my dream with people watching. ", "wait a second. If I ever DO make it to peeing in my sleep I always wet myself. Fortunately this hasn't happened in years. " ] }
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9ypo7c
Could a Jewish person avoid the holocaust if he converted to another religion?
So today during the Literature lesson our teacher was telling us about Ivan Bunin and she mentioned that during the nazi occupation of France in WW2 Bunin was hiding a Jewish musician, they went to the church and converted the musician to Christianity, when the German soldiers came to search Bunins house they found the Jewish musician and wanted to take him but Bunin and his wife showed the soldiers a certificate that showed the Jew became Christian. Was this possible because I'm pretty sure Adolf Hitler hated Jews as a people not the religion of Judaism. I'm sorry for any grammar and spelling mistakes i'm on mobile and English isn't my mother tongue. Also sorry if I got some terminology and facts wrong.
AskHistorians
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/9ypo7c/could_a_jewish_person_avoid_the_holocaust_if_he/
{ "a_id": [ "ea39j96" ], "score": [ 14 ], "text": [ "No, absolutely not.\n\nHitler retained less control over the SA and Gestapo [than one might think](_URL_0_), so that one case you mentioned is likely a. untrue b. mischaracterized c. an anomaly.\n\nNazi understandings of Judaism were really hard to characterize, especially when it gone down to the issue of who was \"Jewish enough,\" in terms of blood or appearance. Essentially, they settled on, \"[if you seem Jewish, you're too Jewish](_URL_2_).\"\n\nAlso, this gets a little metaphysical, but bear with me, the Nazis couldn't decide if Jewishness was a culture, a religion, or a race, so they decided it was both all and neither. [Here](_URL_1_) you see a respected Nazi author/Military strategist refuting Judaism as a surmountable state, whether by appearance, religion, heritage, or behavior. A lot of Hitler's endgame involved the idea that certain races were suited for certain climates, and certain subraces were the best of those races. For example, German was the best European race, so Germany would rule over Europe; Japan was the best Asian race and so Japan would rule Asia. There was still an idea of a racial hierarchy, but there was also the importance of a nation or a land as a basis for someone's identity. \n\nThe speech above is particularly relevant because he specifically states that a \"baptized Jew\" is still a Jew. Jewishness is in the blood.\n\nJews, on the other hand, had no land, so in a sense, they had no race. Jewishness was *truly* considered a blood contamination, a defect. Jews were not the race \"Jewish\", they were considered mongrels, a sort of bastard race created from Asian, Arabic, African, and European blood--essentially, what happens when you mix all the sodas together from the soda fountain--gross, useless, bad for you, and will end up going down the drain." ] }
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[ [ "https://www.jstor.org/stable/1430152#metadata_info_tab_contents", "https://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/responses.htm", "http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/holoprelude/mischlinge.html" ] ]
1h7sse
When exactly did New York replace London as the capital of international finance?
Or am I mistaken in describing either city as a "capital of international finance"?
AskHistorians
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1h7sse/when_exactly_did_new_york_replace_london_as_the/
{ "a_id": [ "carssny", "carx9av" ], "score": [ 8, 3 ], "text": [ "Hmmm. This is pretty far outside my area of specialty and I can only comment briefly from what I've seen in newspapers and *The Economist,* but I was under the impression that NYC may not actually have usurped that title. London has a few advantages -- some of them recent, some of them permanent -- that makes it difficult for New York to be *the* capital of international finance, rather than *a* capital of international finance. \n\n**Recent:** Various Congressional acts over the past few decades have imposed a regulatory burden on Wall Street that often makes London a more appealing option. I don't know whether this is actually true or if it's merely perception; I see a lot of commenters argue it persuasively both ways. It is one of the reasons that the U.K. was among the most unenthusiastic voices in talks over a common European currency before the 1992 Maastricht treaty, because going to the euro for them would mean losing the ability to set monetary policy for themselves, and that would necessarily have exercised a huge impact on their financial services industry. Even now, the EU is having some very nasty fights over greater EU regulation of \"The City,\" so the Brits aren't free from that issue despite staying off the euro.\n\n**Permanent:** London has a pretty big locational advantage on NYC if for no other reason than time zones. Within the average British workday, there are many hundreds of millions more people who are up, about, and doing their business than there are during an NYC day. Someone trading on the New York stock exchange from Europe, Asia, or Africa will usually need a dedicated unit working at odd hours to do just that, or a North American office, both of which cost money. London's proximity to the Eurasian continent certainly doesn't hurt either.\n\nThis is not to denigrate NYC, which, barring some truly giant and probably catastrophic change, will always be a heavyweight-class financial power, and it does in fact exceed London by some measures of financial importance. It's just that most of the commentary I see tends to give the edge to London and Hong Kong. But I freely acknowledge this is not my area of expertise and I could very well be reading the wrong people.\n\nMost commenters are also generally agreed that there will be more of a pivot to Asia over the next century (although they disagree strenuously on the degree of this pivot), which will increase the importance of both Singapore and Hong Kong. Shanghai, Tokyo, and Seoul are much tougher calls for various reasons. But one of the truisms of history is that humanity has very little gift for prediction, so take this all with a grain of salt.", "As /u/Cenodoxus points out, I'm not sure that a decisive transition from London to New York has actually taken place. Nevertheless, there are moments in history when the New York stock exchange has noticeably increased its influence within the world of international finance.\n\nOne of these periods began with the construction of the [transatlantic telegraph cable](_URL_0_) in 1866. This allowed time-sensitive information (like updates from the stock market) to travel quickly between America and Europe. Within a few years, daily reports from the New York stock exchange were gathered by news agencies like Reuters and installed as a staple feature of the British press. Over the next few decades, these reports began to occupy an increasing number of column inches. This reflects the fact that a considerable number of Victorian speculators had begun to invest in the American market in the period following the Civil War. By the 1870s and 1880s a panic on the New York stock exchange would cause nervous crowds to gather outside of its counterpart in London. So, whilst I wouldn't argue that New York *replaced* London in this period, we can certainly track its emergence as a major financial center that had the power to influence markets around the world on a day-by-day basis." ] }
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[ [], [ "http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1eb3x4/how_difficult_was_it_to_lay_the_transatlantic/c9ylyto" ] ]
xkqw8
[meta] hey everyone!
**edit: link flair implemented!** Hi guys! I'm the newest mod in ELI5. I know I posted a self post earlier about this sub turning into an all-answers sort of sub (rather than five-year-old explanations)-- **but based on the way the community reacted, I've since figured that it makes more sense to just keep the answers coming.** I intend to be very conservative in my moderation, and will only remove offensive or other very rule-infringing posts. Just so you guys know, I'm not out to fuck up this awesome subreddit. **** So, now that that's out of the way, I was just wondering about aesthetics. I did the CSS over at /r/shittypoetry. I was wondering if you guys would be interested in a CSS overhaul here. It wouldn't be as crazy as at shittypoetry-- just a nice change from what we always see on other reddits (with maybe a few minor functionality improvements). I'm totally open to suggestions! Thanks! anonymous123421
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/xkqw8/meta_hey_everyone/
{ "a_id": [ "c5n77fi", "c5n77gy", "c5n787z", "c5n7ces" ], "score": [ 11, 2, 2, 2 ], "text": [ "In my opinion, subreddit styling distracts from the content. I like all of my subs to have a uniform look and feel. The default styling does a great job of emphasizing the content, which is what reddit is about.", "A play-doh themed CSS would be cute, but I'm not sure how the entire sub would react.\n\nMy big recommendation would be to make the \"Five year old's guide to the galaxy,\" more prominent and, if you have the time, more robust. There are plenty of great responses that could be added to it, and would go a long way from us having to answer the same question multiple times.\n\nOh, and flair, we need flair!", "Hi, anonymous123421! Thanks for all the hard work you do. I think you have the right idea for this subreddit. :)\n\nWith regards to CSS, an overhaul would be great! I think it'd be fun to have a grade school theme (chalkboard, alphabet, etc.)!", "A few things that are less visual and more about function (let me know what you think, and feel free to add to the list):\n\n* more prominently placed Guide to the Galaxy (but not annoyingly placed)\n\n* ~~mod-appointed flair for genuine experts, a la askscience (I would not qualify, as I just rely on knowledge or use wikipedia to decipher answers)~~\n\n* link flair for specific types of questions (this could get annoying-- it would be very subtle)\n\n* RESOLVED and UNRESOLVED link flair" ] }
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5funmv
why do guns have recoil?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5funmv/eli5_why_do_guns_have_recoil/
{ "a_id": [ "dan6teu", "dan6vxy", "dan6wsz", "dan7875" ], "score": [ 6, 5, 2, 3 ], "text": [ "Conservation of momentum / force / acceleration. For the bullet to be pushed forward, the gun must be pushed backward. The bullet is a small mass with a high acceleration, while the gun is a large mass with a smaller acceleration. ", "Newton's 3rd Law, Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. So when the bullet is propelled out of the gun with a certain amount of force, that same force is exerted by the bullet onto the gun.", "Newtonian physics. For every action there's an equal but opposite reaction. The forces propelling the projectile down the barrel are also pushing back against you. ", "To produce a forward force, an equal and opposite opposing force must also exist.\n\nThe explosion that propels the bullet pushes in all directions. It throws out expanding gas in all directions, shoving against everything in its path.\n\nBecause there is an entry for the bullet in the form of the chamber, some of the force is directed outward and pushes the bullet forward and out of the gun.\n\nThe rest of that force, called recoil, pushes against the gun itself away from the speeding bullet and propels the gun back into your hand and toward you with the same force it used to propel the bullet forward." ] }
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5ch7oa
How do they determine the mass of a blackhole?
askscience
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/5ch7oa/how_do_they_determine_the_mass_of_a_blackhole/
{ "a_id": [ "d9wgt8l" ], "score": [ 7 ], "text": [ "Depends on the context.\n\nIf you see something orbiting the black hole, you can determine its mass, as the orbit is determined by the gravitational influence of the black hole. [Here](_URL_0_) is an actual video of stars moving around the black hole at the center of our galaxy, and [here](_URL_1_) is a page with a little more information.\n\nFor the LIGO binary black hole mergers, the masses of the original black holes are determined by comparing the gravitational wave signal received to the waveforms calculated for a variety of different binary black hole mergers; by finding the template waveform that matches the observed waveform, they can determine values for the masses of the original black holes.\n" ] }
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[ [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_gggKHvfGw", "http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/black_holes/encyc_mod3_q14.html" ] ]
3nnzgb
Could dropping a bullet set it off?
I work in aviation operations and one of my duties is wildlife control. We have a shotgun with bird shot bullets that we use for such purpose. My question is that if I were to drop a bullet what are the chances that it could go off? Assuming a meter height and a flat smooth surface and no debris that could by chance hit the percussion cap.
askscience
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/3nnzgb/could_dropping_a_bullet_set_it_off/
{ "a_id": [ "cvpvlp1", "cvqj9fb" ], "score": [ 2, 2 ], "text": [ "/u/gabe0421 is right. Yes a bullet could potentially be set off if it falls just in the right angle from the right height etc. \n\nThis however is extremely unlikely to happen. The primer (the part that ignites the gunpowder in the ammunition) needs to be hit by enough force and is rather small. Most ammunition of rifles and pistols use a type of ammunition called [Centerfire Ammunition](_URL_0_). \nThe primer is located inside the casing and only covers a small outer are where it can be hit. \n\nSo letting a bullet fall on the ground will probably never set it off. ", "It's possible, though it would have to hit perfectly. Even if it did go off, without the pressure being contained by a barrel the bullet will not go far. In fact, the casing will launch off much faster since it is so much lighter. What little momentum both pieces do obtain will dissipate quickly, as they will be tumbling through the air without rifling from the barrel to stabilize their flight.\n\nNot that I would recommend trying this, but I've thrown bullets into a campfire before and they go off with a loud pop and nothing much happens." ] }
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[ [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centerfire_ammunition#Centerfire_primers" ], [] ]
5pxt3u
why can't the keystone pipeline go around standing rock?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5pxt3u/eli5_why_cant_the_keystone_pipeline_go_around/
{ "a_id": [ "dcunugs" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "Well, first off, it's DAPL that goes near Standing Rock, not Keystone XL. DAPL goes just north of the reservation right now, but if there is a leak, the water in the reservation would be affected, which the protesters want to prevent. At this point, they are going on with construction, so it will be tough to convince them to obtain permits and move it again." ] }
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4hup51
[Physics] Could a human swim in a column of water only supported by atmospheric pressure?
Here are the conditions: Pipe: * Length: 10 m. * Diameter: 3 m. * Oriented vertically. * Top end closed off. * Bottom end open. * Pressure at the top of the column inside the pipe is zero. * Pressure at the bottom of the column is equal to the atmospheric pressure. As far as I understand, the atmospheric pressure would be able to support a 10 m column of water according to basic hydrostatics. Now, could you enter this pipe from below and swim inside? It seems plausible on paper, but really fucks with my imagination. Tried to search google and reddit for the answer, but it is not an easy question to phrase for a norwegian.
askscience
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/4hup51/physics_could_a_human_swim_in_a_column_of_water/
{ "a_id": [ "d2sq2pk", "d2sqevm" ], "score": [ 14, 23 ], "text": [ "What you are describing is similar to a giant version of the [glass & beermat](_URL_0_) trick.\nAnd yes a human could swim around inside it.\n\nHowever, you are asking about leaving the bottom end open, and like the glass it won't work. But it obviously does work with a straw if you seal the end with your finger.\n\nThe reason is that the air/water interface is unstable, and as soon as any movement starts, the instability will feed back on itself until the water falls out. It works with a straw because the surface tension of the water is strong enough to damp out any instabilities and act as a built in beermat.", "Sure. Swimming in the column at a particular height would physically feel similar to swimming in a body of water at the corresponding atmosphere height. \n\nFor example, the correspondence to Lake Titicaca at about 3,800m (atmospheric pressure about 63 kPa according to standard atmosphere) would be about 3.8m up the column, which is also about 63 kPa (note: this is a coincidence, not a general law -- the pressure at 10,000m altitude is 26 kPa, which would correspond to about 7.4m up the column).\n\nAs you got closer to the top of the column it would become increasingly difficult to hold your breath and you would experience symptoms of low pressure exposure, potentially including decompression sickness.\n\n[Here is an example of someone doing similar to let their fish swim above the surface of the pond. Although the height is nowhere near 10m you can see that the fish are indeed able to swim up into the column.](_URL_0_)" ] }
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[ [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65T4ReLkjCg" ], [ "http://www.nettally.com/palmk/FishHiRise.html" ] ]
6816tn
What happens when wind travels faster than the speed of sound?
Would we observe a sonic boom?
askscience
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/6816tn/what_happens_when_wind_travels_faster_than_the/
{ "a_id": [ "dgvs21o" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "In isolation, not much. Wind traveling faster than the speed of sound in isolation is still just wind. But, if that supersonic wind hits a stationary object, it will create a sonic boom and knock that object forcefully. A jet flying faster than the speed of sound through stationary air is identical to wind blowing faster than the speed of sound past a stationary jet. In both cases, the same sonic boom is created. In fact, this equivalence is the operating principle behind wind tunnels. Wind going faster than the speed of sound and hitting stationary trees, houses, and rocks would create sonic booms. Note that if there really were large, sustained, weather-caused winds that were going faster than the speed of sound relative to the ground, you would have a lot more to worry about than the sound of the sonic booms." ] }
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9h7g5y
body in space without a suit
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9h7g5y/eli5_body_in_space_without_a_suit/
{ "a_id": [ "e69olu4", "e69pab9", "e69pkx4", "e69qinq", "e69r6c3" ], "score": [ 3, 15, 3, 5, 5 ], "text": [ "Vsauce did a good video on this very topic. I believe the time alive is under a minute. He goes on to explain how your blood/saliva would start to boil, then you exhale/expend all gasses and air from your body at once. I'm going to find the link and send it to you here, it's a good watch. \n\nEdit: here ya go... \n\n_URL_0_", " > How long time would you survive in space without of a space suit?\n\nA few minutes, barring unfortunate circumstances (well, *more* unfortunate anyway) like being near a star or something.\n\n > What would kill you and why?\n\nOxygen deprivation. In the absence of an atmosphere, your lungs would actually speed this process up, as the oxygen in your blood would move across them to the lower pressure (inside your lungs, and then into space), effectively removing oxygen from you already present. You'd lose consciousness in a matter of seconds, and your brain will begin to die in ~4 minutes without oxygen.\n\nYou won't explode. The difference is 1 atmosphere (a vacuum versus what we usually experience on the surface), not several like might happen in a high pressure incident. However, in the absence of pressure, your tissues will begin to swell, as fluids migrate into them. This can result in what is called flaccid paralysis.\n\nYour blood won't boil. While it's true liquids tend to boil when exposed to a vacuum, your blood *isn't exposed to a vacuum,* but is contained within your circulatory system. This is strong enough to keep it pressurized. However, as your tissues continue to swell, you might eventually experience circulatory collapse. This would be slower, though, than suffocation itself.\n\nWater on your exposed surfaces might boil, like off your eyes, sweat on your skin, moisture in your airways. This wouldn't be *hot* mind you, it will result in *cooling* those regions, and possibly even some faint ice (that will ultimately sublimate into vapor).\n\nYou won't freeze to death for a while. A vacuum doesn't draw heat out of material very fast, in fact it's an insulator. The only way heat can leave you is as radiation from your surfaces. A cold river, on the other hand, would suck it out of you much faster.\n\n\n\n\n", "Your body is actually pretty resilient and would hold together pretty well even in the vacuum of space. The most immediate concern is the lack of oxygen. Any air in your lungs would expand, either being exhaled or resulting in rupturing the lungs. And with no source of oxygen, you would asphyxiate. If you somehow didn't asphyxiate, another fatal concern would be the formation of air bubbles in your blood vessels leading to air embolisms that would cut off blood circulation.", "In vacuum you could remain conscious for 5-10 seconds and the you could be saved if get back to pressure within 90 seconds. You suffocate because you have no more oxygen.\n\nWhat would happen is that the air in your mouth and lungs would be at pressure but the outside its not so it would try to escape. You sound open your mouth to let is escape that way if you did not your chest cavity would likely rupture. So the air escape from your lungs and the all oxygen that is in your blod start to escape into the empty lungs and then into space.\n\nThe reason that you can stay conscious for only a few seconds compared to if you hold your breath is that then you can use the oxygen in your lungs.\n\nIn 1971 Soyuz 11 had a valve problem and the three cosmonauts was exposed to vacuum. It landed automatically and the dead cosmonauts had dark patches on the face and trail of blood from the nose and ears.\n\nIt has also happen one time on earth in a low pressure chamber in 1966. But because the could pressurize it get a rescuer in from a intermittent pressure chamber in 30s and return to normal pressure in 60s he survived without and permanent damages, Yo can see the accident on video at _URL_0_ and hear him tell that he felt the water boil on his tongue before he fell unconscious.\n\n\nSo the problem to bee in space without a spacesuit is that you the low pressure and you would die because of lack of oxygen. Radiation or anything else would not be relevant.", "Everyone is saying Oxygen deprivation. What if you had a pressurized helmet but your body was exposed?" ] }
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[ [ "https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lD08CuUi_Ek" ], [], [], [ "https://youtu.be/KO8L9tKR4CY?t=90" ], [] ]