q_id
stringlengths 5
6
| title
stringlengths 3
301
| selftext
stringlengths 0
39.2k
| document
stringclasses 1
value | subreddit
stringclasses 3
values | url
stringlengths 4
132
| answers
dict | title_urls
list | selftext_urls
list | answers_urls
list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2yq2w8
|
When things fall into a black hole, why does it not built up enough kinetic energy to come back to the original position?
|
Classic physics demonstration of pendulum shows that when an object is falling, it will built up enough kinetic energy to come back to its original position. Classical orbital mechanics also confirm this as bodies in elliptical orbit always come back to the original position and velocity (in ideal cases atleast).
But, if the object falls into the Schwarzschild radius of the black hole, the escape velocity of the object will be greater than the light speed, therefore it's impossible for it to escape the black hole.
Now the question is, how is those two phenomena consistent with each other? Shouldn't the object falling into Schwarzschild radius build up enough kinetic energy to climb back up the potential energy wall? Wouldn't the fact that nothing escapes the black hole imply some sort of energy transfer out of the object? Ignoring the likely collisions with the things around the black hole, what could cause this loss of energy from the object? Where does the energy go?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2yq2w8/when_things_fall_into_a_black_hole_why_does_it/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cpceuxp",
"cpcqw6t",
"cpcr1kp"
],
"score": [
2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"There are a couple of ways to look at it. One way is that the potential well for say, a pendulum has finite depth. A black hole is has a singularity, the potential well has infinite depth so you will never cross it and go back up.",
"Orbital mechanics work differently in GR than they do in Newtonian gravity. As you noted, it is in fact possible for objects to fall into a body and not be able to escape in GR, whereas this is generally not possible in classical orbital mechanics for point particles (extended objects can of course collide). Such \"plunge orbits\" also do not have to perfectly radial; it is possible for two point particles to not be headed straight for each other and still collide in GR. \n\nMathematically, this is because the form of the effective potential in GR is different than the one you get from a pure inverse square law form of gravity. In the Schwarzschild metric, another inverse cube term pops up in the effective orbital potential, and this term is what allows the non-radial plunge orbits. Also, it means that *all* orbits precess; truly closed orbits are simply not possible, *and* you do not return to quite the same orbital distance as where you started, due to gravitational wave emission. For an orbit like the Earth's around the Sun, these effects are fairly negligible (it will take something absurd like 10^20 years before the Earth's orbit decays from gravitational wave emission), but around compact massive objects such as neutron stars and black holes, they can be very important.\n\nTo answer the questions at the end of your post, we need to look at the conservation laws. Energy is conserved locally, and so is momentum. This means that the black hole will receive a kick from absorbing a particle. Normally, black holes accrete matter either spherically (in free floating black holes, the accretion should average out to a sphere) or from a disk, so they don't end up gaining any linear momentum. The associated energy can go to a few places. It can go towards the mass of the black hole, it can be radiated away gravitationally, or, if the particle is made of normal matter, it can radiate it away as light, depending on the circumstances.",
" > Classic physics demonstration of pendulum shows that when an object is falling, it will built up enough kinetic energy to come back to its original position.\n\nActually, isn't the classic physics demonstration that it *won't* build up enough kinetic energy? That's why physics teachers holding bowling balls up to their nose, to let them swing away and back, and they don't end up with broken noses.\n\nEven if we assume that a black hole is \"just a pendulum\" for something to start at the event horizon at 0 velocity, fall in and make it back out to the opposite side of the event horizon, it would have to convert potential energy to kinetic energy and back to potential energy at perfect 100% efficiency.\n\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
9zavo6
|
what is the difference between the anti-inflammatory effects of chemicals like curcumin versus nsaids like ibuprofen?
|
Hello! I'm not sure if this seems like a silly question, but I've started looking into the benefits of an anti-inflammatory diet pertaining to health/disease prevention. There are a wide variety of studies on the use of curcumin, broccoli, et cetera but I don't think I'm understanding something. What is the difference between taking curcumin (or another anti-inflammatory supplement) and an NSAID pain-reliever/anti-inflammatory like ibuprofen?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9zavo6/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_the/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ea7ojoh",
"ea7puyb"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"I think they both lead to the same thing. You can just increase your turmeric intake in your food for the same effect that you'd have in a supplement or a pill. The pill is a specific, calculated, dose whereas you don't know the exact quantity of chemical you're getting in the food. ",
"NSAIDS can aggravate stomach ulcers and conditions other conditions in the stomach. Not recommended for prolonged use "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
mvlkm
|
When you look at a star in the sky, is it in the actual location you see, or is it really in a different position due to the time it takes light to travel to Earth?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/mvlkm/when_you_look_at_a_star_in_the_sky_is_it_in_the/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c346whj",
"c346whj"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Just think of it this way. You aren't seeing the star, you're seeing the light the star gave off. However many thousand/million years ago that light left the star is what you're seeing.\n\nAnd as long as the universe is expanding and moving as the doppler effect shows, then yeah, that star is in a different position now than when the light left it. If it's even still there.",
"Just think of it this way. You aren't seeing the star, you're seeing the light the star gave off. However many thousand/million years ago that light left the star is what you're seeing.\n\nAnd as long as the universe is expanding and moving as the doppler effect shows, then yeah, that star is in a different position now than when the light left it. If it's even still there."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
6dnedg
|
What is the maximum achievable Data transfer rate from Mars to Earth?
|
Mars being a center of attention for human colonization and search for extraterrestrial life, several probes are being planned to be sent to Mars in near future (2020). Once landed, those probes will be able to collect huge amount of interesting data and images. Between Mars (orbiter satellite) and Earth, current data transfer rate seems quite slow (3 to 128 kbps). Faster data transmission would accelerate the exploration of the red planet.
What is the maximum data transfer rate that can be achieved by 2020 using current technologies? Is it possible to boost the data transmission by at least a magnitude (Mbps)? How?
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/6dnedg/what_is_the_maximum_achievable_data_transfer_rate/
|
{
"a_id": [
"di41c8h"
],
"score": [
15
],
"text": [
"[500 To 32000 bits per second, according to the nasa website.](_URL_2_)\n\nThe variance is primarily because, the distance between mars and earth varies. In more detail, [the communications channel between earth and mars is essentially modeled by an AWGN channel (PDF, great read on the history of deep space communications).](_URL_0_) Because of this, it is actually one of the very few channels for which the [Shannon-Hartley theorem](_URL_1_) is applicable. The shannon hartley theorem states the maximum data for a linear time invariant additive white gaussian noise channel and an infinite transmission time is B log(1+SNR) where B is the bandwidth and SNR is the signal to noise ratio. Because SNR is a distance of function (see [friis transmission equation](_URL_4_)), the variation of distance between earth and mars causes a fluctuantion in the data rate.\n\n\nWhat can we do to improve the data rate? Considering that channel capacity is inescapable fundamental law, we are limited to three real options, up the power, up the bandwidth, or change the channel. The first two are self explanatory, but have some major drawbacks. For power, note the return on investment in power is pretty poor (only scales with log(Power) after all). Furthermore power is usually at a premium in interstellar items, so while this may be easy earth side, it would not be so mars side. Usually a few simple tricks are used to gain some power such as using [directional antennas](_URL_5_) which concentrate the signal power as much as possible. On the other end we can increase the bandwidth, where the only drawback is having to design antennas which capture a large range of frequencies, and having to deal with higher and higher frequencies for communications. \n\nThe other option is to change the channel. Specifically, another qualifier to the Shannon Hartley theorem is that it is only for the case when there is a single transmitter and single receiver. You can change the channel into a MIMO channel by simply adding more transmitters and more receivers. [Describing the capacity of a MIMO system is a little more complicated, and I will instead refer you to equations 5 and 7 here (PDF).](_URL_3_) In particular for equation 5, **H** is the channel state matrix, and Q is an optimization parameter used to control the power to the input. It is not hard to see that relatively cheap gains are to be had this way, and is probably the most promising way. Although to be clear, it is not a linear problem and 5 transmitters does not equal 5 times the data rate.\n\n\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://www.isiweb.ee.ethz.ch/archive/massey_pub/pdf/BI321.pdf",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannon%E2%80%93Hartley_theorem",
"https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/mission/communicationwithearth/data/",
"http://web.stanford.edu/class/archive/ee/ee359/ee359.1062/cup_mimo.pdf",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friis_transmission_equation",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directional_antenna"
]
] |
|
5npttd
|
why does the brain tend to constantly play music on its own ?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5npttd/eli5_why_does_the_brain_tend_to_constantly_play/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dcdhezo",
"dcdhkns",
"dcdi2x1",
"dcdi9oi",
"dcdihnt",
"dcdipzv",
"dcdjcc0",
"dcdjhvj",
"dcdl6ah",
"dcdmuq9",
"dcdnh03",
"dcdnkt1",
"dcdovpi",
"dcdqspn",
"dcdv2z2",
"dcdy6b5",
"dcdzr0g"
],
"score": [
10,
75,
10,
7,
105,
151,
6,
2,
4,
4,
2,
6,
3,
4,
2,
2,
6
],
"text": [
"I don't recall source but your brain will repeat songs because it's trying to figure out what comes next. Listening to the song in its entirety is said to fix this, i.e. help your brain figure out what's next. I'll find some sources if anyone's interested!",
"Hey, I have this too, if we are talking about really 24/7 here.\n\nMost answers you get are probably from people who think you talk about ear worms, I had that problem at least when I tried to explain it in real life.\n\nI've since been to a few neurologists, and they are all very interested as hearing music in your head truly 100% of the time seems to be very rare. I was offered to participate in some studies, but they all take at least 10 days an I can't really be bothered to disappear from life for over a week for basically nothing, as I was assured the condition is not dangerous (no tumour or anything). ",
"If you're talking about getting a song stuck in your head, I was always under the impression that is happens because neurons that just fired are prone to fire again because the physiology of the neuron. It's been a while since I heard this, but I believe it's an ion channel that separates when it fires, but when it happens the separation isn't as complete as a non-fired channel, which makes the neuron prone to refiring again. Theory is that tendency to refire can maybe explain why you get a song stuck in your head. ",
"Well humming, singing and other things (like stroking your hair) are self-soothing activities. People do it all the time, and don't realize that they are humming to a song in their head to keep them calm. When you are panicked - are you singing a song? No. But doing the dishes or in the shower or sitting at your desk at work, you may start to hum or sing a song in your head to calm yourself (not calm yourself from a panicked state, but just soothe yourself).",
"Just a note: if you are interested in music, the brain, the psychology and neuroscience behind their interaction, I suggest reading Oliver Sacks book Musicophilia.\n\nIt's really really interesting and will probably teach you things about the interaction of the brain and music you never even thought of.\n\nReally great book and really interesting for anyone who is into music.",
"From the experience of a musician, it's always there. It never leaves. But then again, we want it there. There's no \"Maybe if I complete the song instead of turning it off in between, it will stop.\" I guess we have to always make sure it's something we like.\n\nIt can be bad though, like when you are talking to people. They're telling about their petty, melodramatic life and you're zoning out thinking about that sick part you just heard, muttering the drum rudiment under your breath.",
"Personally I do this to avoid thinking about, well, just about anything else.\n\nAllowing a song to occupy the background of the mind limits the amount of random thoughts which can trigger anxiety and panic.\n\nPeople who are less prone to being overly anxious seem to do this less often in my experience.\n\nThe Simpsons did a pretty good example of how different types can react to being alone with their thoughts: _URL_0_",
"Think of it like a screensaver. When you brain goes into a low cognitive state, it often will occupy your thoughts with a song while in the background it is organising it's self. So while you a \"hearing\" this song in your mind, your brain is moving memories from short term to long term and other brain functions like that.",
"To be quite clear, you're just talking about yourself.\n\nPeople also report that when they think of ideas, they do so with an \"inner voice\" which talks. This is extremely common, but in primitive cultures like hunter-gatherer societies, it just doesn't happen. Instead, in these primitive cultures, words thought of it ones head are interpreted as being from ancestors or spirits, and thought is done in other ways, like with spacial objects, and not with words.\n\nI may hypothesize that in these primitive populations we might also find less instances of people having music \"playing\" in their minds, though of course it may still be common, it's just a guess. The takeaway I think is that we hear in our heads what we have already heard, and so it mirrors that.",
"Your brain is in a constant flux. And your neurons fire back and forth. In there, the paths your electrical impulse take. It transverse a memory of a song? Or that tasty burger you ate yesterday. Even that dream you forgot 10years ago? \n\nThe memories lie in a specific pattern. If you for different reasons manage to activate it. You experience it. \n\nRemember this though. Experience something from outside, is far from the memory you are left with. Its only the most parts about the experience that stood out that you will remember. Because as i said before, memories are the etching of patterns with neurons. And this etching will only be in context to how strong this experience is. \n\nAnd lastly, the strength of an experience isnt the same as feeling a strong feeling. Its more, the strength of the experience in contrast to normative expeirence of the same situation. So wheb you remember things from studying, you know you learnt something because you feel and know the information being etched. Its lile that expeirence just wanderd from the outside into your consciousness. You didnt get an orgasm like feeling. Just a strong relaxing feeling of a puzzle falling together. Intense? nope. strong? yes. ",
"I'm just a lay person in this area but my understanding was always that our sense of music is piggybacking on our capacity for language. Just like we're imagining conversations in our head(going over past conversations, preparing for future conversations), so too do we imagine music.",
"Because the brain is like an echo chamber that can be filled with silent sounds. It is not electrically/mechanically perfect, and so there are little inklings of sound even when none really exists. And then you have the individual perceiving it all, shifting minute amounts of attention to this or that within the inklings... If you're familiar with a song that's even remotely similar to how the inklings fit into your perception, it can bubble all the way up into that song's chorus or bridge.\n\n\nTLDR: you listen to so much pop music that even silence reminds you of songs you know",
"Oliver Sacks, in his books about brain injuries, mentions patients with recurrent musical loops constantly playing in their heads. Sometimes it would be music they haven't heard since childhood. One man, with a background in music, with dementia couldn't remember even how to dress himself because he would lose his train of thought. They found however that if he hummed a tune (his memory of music was unaffected) he could follow tasks even if he wasn't fully conscious of it.",
"Your brain is addicted to stimulus. When you are bored and not receiving enough stimulus, your brain creates it. You know those zen moments of emptiness that you hear about being so difficult to reach, where you have to empty your mind and become one with the universe? Turns out, that's the majority of your day. And you spend those moments of emptiness trying to fill them with popsongs so your brain can get its fix. ",
"This might be kind of a digression, but the reason a song pops into our heads could be that in a subtle mathematical way it mirrors the neurological patterns of something we are thinking about.Well-liked music of any genre, when analyzed mathematically, tends to produce a fractal pattern., and so does neurological activity. The closer to the central nervous system you measure nerve activity the more fractal it is, which might explain how a sequence of musical notes can evoke an emotion or remind us of a memory. This could be because they contain fractal patterns that are a close match, which could also explain why a thought or experience brings a tune into our heads. ",
"In cognitive psychology, they call your minds ability to play back sound and voices your phonetic loop. This space of your working cognition plays sounds that last about 5-7 seconds in length, often times repeated, so they can be processed later or better memorized. You may have noticed that if you didn't hear someone but heard them speak, you can replay what sounds you've heard in the past few seconds and then attend to them to process the sounds. It's like we have an echo chamber in our minds that keeps sounds around after they've happened. \n\nDid I lock my door just a second ago? Do I remember hearing it click?\n\nShit, girlfriend is talking but I wasn't actually listening. Hold on while I play back what's in my phonetic loop and listen this time. \n\nIt's also why songs stuck in our heads are usually only 1 verse or just the chorus. 5-7 seconds. ",
"What played in our heads before music?"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://youtu.be/oFM1SiXgr8A"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
8ctofm
|
Do cold/flu viruses mutate during a cold?
|
When you get sick with a cold virus and your immune system is in the midst of battling it, is it possible to give a mutated version of it back to someone that has already had that virus? During the battle, does the virus mutate to a different form due to the battle going on in the body until it is eradicated?
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/8ctofm/do_coldflu_viruses_mutate_during_a_cold/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dxhypx7",
"dxi54i8"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Cold(family: *picornaviridae* genus: *rhinovirus*)and flu viruses(family: *orthomyxoviridae* genera: *influenzavirus A*, *B* and *C*)are dramatically different in mutability and genome organization, so the means by which one mutates will not be the same as the other. \n\nRecombination events from being infected by two flu strains can cause encapsidation(packing into virus particles) of parts of each strain to be put into a single particle. This can increase or decrease transmission. In cases where there is an increase, the strain will proliferate and infect more people. This doesn’t equal deadlier, however. Some genes are responsible for the ability to infect the upper respiratory tract(transmission potential) and others for the lower(deadliness). The worry comes from a strain acquiring both traits, as suspected of the 1918 pandemic. \n\nIt’s also worth mentioning that were you to culture flu viruses(spherical-ish particles), their morphology would be different than if you isolated them directly from a patient(filamentous particles).\n\nIn short, no, it doesn’t mutate *because* of the battle, but by chance infection by multiple strains. \n\nI’m no doctor, but I would suspect that it’s unlikely a flu virus would change enough in a single infection to be able to get the person who got you sick, sick.\n\nDon’t really know much about the cold, specifically, but it’s a substantially simpler virus, so I’d have to guess it doesn’t mutate much. Our inability to find an adequate vaccine is more related to the shape of its capsid being difficult to fit an antigen to, and thus get the immune system to clear it.",
"Most RNA viruses, which include cold and flu, mutate at a similar, very high, rate. That basic rate doesn't particularly change whether the virus is replicating in tissue culture or in a naive or immune host. So yes, all viruses mutate during infection, and cold and flu viruses mutate enormously during that period. Basically, every single time one of these viruses replicate, they produce a cloud of variants in which every single genomic position is mutated in at least one progeny.\n\nThe question isn't really whether they mutate, but whether evolutionary pressure (whether it be positive or negative selection, or drift) leads to a different population of viruses coming out of the infection than went in. If you're looking at a normal human virus, it's already superbly adapted for infection. Every existent cold virus is the product of an unbroken chain of viruses that successfully infected a new host every 2-5 days for tens of thousands of years; how likely is it that a single variant will be better? So a simple infection probably won't select a new and more effective mutation.\n\nTake the opposite situation, a virus that infects a host for which it's very poorly adapted. Say, a bird flu virus infects a human. To make that very well adapted it would probably have to mutate at many different positions at the same time, and each additional mutation is exponentially less likely. So the progeny that come out of that infection are probably still very poorly adapted (but there's still a chance that one will be able to transmit, and that's how new influenza pandemics arise).\n\nIn the middle situation, a virus infects an immune host. How many changes does it take to escape an immune response? Sometimes just one amino acid, more often two to five-ish (for flu, anyway). Not super probable that a virus will arise, but not super unlikely either. This is the main reason that flu viruses change season to season and new vaccines are needed -- population immune pressure driving positive selection of the naturally occurring mutants so that new variants that are partially resistant to immunity arise. These variants are unlikely to arise from every infection, but give the hundreds of millions of influenza infections that happen every year, it becomes quite likely that a new variant will arise somewhere in the world, every year or two.\n\nOf course, the variants that make the new virus more resistant to the immune response might make it less well adapted to some other aspect of its life, so that's a complicating tradeoff. And of course this whole discussion is super simplified."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
ymogt
|
in artist collaborations, what's the difference between featuring, versus, and with?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ymogt/in_artist_collaborations_whats_the_difference/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c5wyijw",
"c5wykjh",
"c5x6mix"
],
"score": [
39,
26,
2
],
"text": [
"Versus: is usually a head to head battle. Real time call and response. A guitar head cutting duel or quite simply a mashup remix.\n\nFeaturing: Usually involves song composed and recorded by one artist and they call out to a friend to do a bit of sessions. If the artist good enough its a feature. Or while giving young ones a chance.\n\nWith: means collaboration. Artists may have composed a bit together. Or maybe performing together on stage.\n\nall of these can also be used great for publicity reasons.",
"\"Featuring\" means that the artist(s) recording the song asked someone to be in it. The featuree is present at the actual recording of the song.\n\n\"Versus\" means that the song is a mashup - someone took two songs and made a third one, typically by remixing.\n\n\"With\" is used in a situation where a song is a joint project where the two artists are generally not associated and neither is the \"main\" artist.",
"A feature means that a person is singing a verse on a song from a different singer. \n\nVersus means two singers are trying to beat each other by singing. \n\nCollaborating, or singing \"with\", means two singers work together to make a complete song. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
6j7hvb
|
Is there a school of historical thought that disagrees that the nuclear bombs dropped on Japan were necessary?
|
Hey I'm resubmitting this after not getting any responses:
I'm sure there are many historians who believe that the bombs being dropped was unnecessary but I was wondering if there was an active historical debate from that side or popular works expressing that view.
I don't know if how I feel is relevant here but I've always wondered how the atomic bombs being dropped can be critically justified considering the firebombing in Tokyo took more lives (and I'm assuming military infrastructure bombing could have continued for some time) and the US airforce had complete control of the Japanese mainland making a complete invasion of Japan that may have killed "millions of Americans" as the popular saying goes I think unnecessary-and there's the invasion of Manchuria by the Soviet Union that I think influenced Japanese officials to meet and discuss surrender as well.
I guess I'm wondering how people here feel about the '"mythology" around the dropping of the two bombs and the circumstances that led to them being dropped and if you know of historians /relevant historical movements who disagree that the bombs being dropped was justified,
Thanks!
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6j7hvb/is_there_a_school_of_historical_thought_that/
|
{
"a_id": [
"djca8rr",
"djcaqq7",
"djcb0fh"
],
"score": [
14,
8,
69
],
"text": [
"Not to discourage new answers, but there have been some excellent responses to similar questions in the past:\n\n/u/Restricteddata gave us a fascinating response to [\"Did the US have to nuke Japan?\"](_URL_2_)\n\n/u/t-o-k-u-m-e-i provides a long answer about [the \"nuke vs soviets\" debate here.](_URL_1_)\n\nProlific commenter **deleted** gives even more detail to [the \"Soviet vs nuke\" discussion]( _URL_0_)",
"I think it's worth clarifying your question somewhat. You are in fact asking three separate questions: 1) was the use of 2 nuclear bombs \"justified\"; 2) was the use of 2 nuclear bombs \"necessary\"; 3) how do historians feel about the \" 'mythology''\" around two bombs. \n\n1) isn't really a question for historians. 2) is to a very limited degree a question that can be answered historiographically; it could be, for example, that archives show that surrender talks were already under way when the bombs were dropped, rendering them superfluous, but absent such clear evidence, one departs the realm of academic history. 3) is a question for historians. \n\n As a general rule, contemporary academic historians (or at least, historians producing contemporary academic work) refrain from making judgments about either the necessity or the justifiability of historical actions, because one very quickly ends up either importing external standards of judgment or making highly-speculative conjectures about individual and national psychology, military strategy, etc. The 'history of history' has proved that such speculations generally indicate more about those making them than their subjects, and so academic historians today generally confine themselves to trying to reconstruct causal chains on the basis of archival evidence, rather than evaluate either the moral legitimacy or strategy of past historical actors. ",
"Yes, there are plenty of people who have argued this since at least 1946.* It comes down to what you define as \"necessary,\" but there are, and have been for decades, people who have argued, from various points of view, that the war with Japan would have ended soon anyway, that Japan was essentially defeated, and that a land invasion would not have been necessary to secure an adequate surrender. There are several different variations on this argument, such as the idea that the Soviet declaration of war by itself would have been a big enough \"shock\" to induce surrender. Another is that the US could have sought to lessen the \"unconditional surrender\" requirement to better meet Japanese cultural/political needs. Another is that the first bomb could have been \"demonstrated\" or used in such a way that would have made its power clear but had minimal casualties. Another is simply that only one bomb could have been used — there are many who believe that Hiroshima might have been justified and necessary, but that Nagasaki was simply excessive and unjustified, coming so close on the heels of Hiroshima. \n\nThere have been various motivations for people to make this argument. To just give an example, the US Strategic Bombing Survey in 1946 [famously concluded](_URL_1_): \n\n > _Based on a detailed investigation of all the facts, and supported by the testimony of the surviving Japanese leaders involved, it is the Survey's opinion that certainly prior to 31 December 1945, and in all probability prior to 1 November 1945, Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had not entered the war, and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated._\n\nNow, why would the USSBS conclude such a thing? In part because they resented that the work in conventional bombardment had been overshadowed by the atomic bomb. In their view, [the atomic bombings were only a small, final part of a much bigger operation](_URL_4_), one that destroyed Japan's ability and willingness to make war. \n\nAt about the same time, there was a separate line of thinking (pioneered in print by P.M.S. Blackett, a British physicist) that the bomb was unnecessary and used only to rattle the Soviets. This has been carried forward in time by \"revisionist\" (I hate the term) historians like Gar Alperovitz. I think most historians today think this is an overly simplistic way to look at the decisions that led to the bombing; the use of the bomb as a diplomatic tool was in the minds of a few statesmen (Byrnes and maybe Truman) at Potsdam, but there were so many other motivations for using it that this looks just like a \"bonus\" motivation.\n\nAnd one can argue against that, as well. I think today most historians would agree with Tsuyoshi Hasegawa's sentiment that a _combination_ of the bombing of Hiroshima and the Soviet declaration of war/invasion of Manchuria is what pushed the Japanese to their final agreement on surrender. That does not mean that you could remove one or both of those and not get the same result — that's very uncertain, a complicated counterfactual, and these two events are so entangled in time that it is hard to really imagine them being separated. But that the bombing _and_ the Soviets played some role in the Japanese deliberations seems somewhat clear, though the question of which one to apportion the greater weight to is not. (This is in his _Racing the Enemy_, esp. the conclusion on counterfactuals; he puts more emphasis on the Soviet invasion, but does not claim that the bombs played no role.) \n\nBut there are certainly others, today from a more liberal bent, who think the atomic bombs were not only not necessary, but didn't end the war. Ward Wilson, in his _Five Myths about Nuclear Weapons_, argues that the Soviet invasion, full stop, is what did it. He argues that if the atomic bombs compelled surrender they would be the first and only aerial bombardment to have done such a thing — that the trope of \"boots on the ground\" being necessary to compel surrender was a real one (Russian boots, in this case). I don't find that argument entirely persuasive (the atomic bombings were, for a lot of reasons, unusual, and so if you were going to find an exception to that rule, maybe they'd be it), but it gives you an example of the kind of argumentation used in this sort of thing. For Wilson, his goal is pretty clear: he thinks \"myths\" like this (that the atomic bombs ended the war) contributed to wrong-thinking about nuclear weapons in general, and that once you dispense with the myths, you can dispense with the weapons. \n\nSeparately, it is just worth noting that the \"other side\" has its own political motivations for making its political claims as well during all of these times; politics goes both ways, it is not one side being \"political\" and the other side being \"apolitical.\" A quick example is that the \"millions of Americans\" dead claim is surely exaggerated — even using Okinawa casualty rates, which would be a big assumption, you have a hard time getting above 100,000 dead ([I wrote a recent comment about this here](_URL_3_) and [here](_URL_0_), the latter with a citation). Inflating the invasion casualties is one method of trying to argue for the bombing's necessity, even arguing that it was \"humane.\" The actual casualties being discussed at the time were high in objective terms (tens of thousands), and surely were taken seriously at the time, but at least an order of magnitude, sometimes two, lower than these inflated postwar numbers. (And, of course, literally _nobody_ who argues that the atomic bombs shouldn't have been used has ever argued that a land invasion was the preferred alternative; it is a false choice, the \"two atomic bombs on two cities vs. a land invasion.\")\n\n\\* Indeed, criticism of the need to use the bomb in 1946 was acute enough that it spurred many of the participants in the bombing question (notably Truman, Stimson, Groves, and Conant) to actively pursue measures at \"correcting the record,\" at making sure their position was presented strongly. This was the genesis of Stimson's famous _Harper's_ article, \"[The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb](_URL_2_)\" (February 1947) which is the origin of what we today think of as the \"orthodox\" account of the bombing (e.g., there was a deliberation, it was bombing vs. invasion, Truman made the final call, and the bombs ended the war). It is a very slanted view of things, presented by people with huge stakes in the public perception. I bring it up only to indicate that the narrative one thinks of as \"default\" had to come from somewhere as well, and the context in which it emerged was not \"apolitical\" in the slightest (much the contrary). On the genesis of this article and its many elusions, the final parts of Alperovitz's _The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb_ are very good (even if many of Alperovitz's other interpretations on the bombing are quite debatable)."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/24gvwd/are_tsuyoshi_hasegawas_conclusions_about_the/ch71h0y/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/u6qqo/there_has_been_some_controversy_on_the_true/c4sthrz/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2todt6/did_the_us_have_to_nuke_japan_in_wwii/co17rtk/"
],
[],
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6it7tu/with_the_atom_bomb_ready_to_go_in_august_1945/dj9e866/",
"http://www.anesi.com/ussbs01.htm#jstetw",
"https://inf2149decisionmaking.wikispaces.com/file/view/Stimson+-+Harper+Feb+1947+-+Decision+to+Use+the+Atomic+Bomb.pdf",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6it7tu/with_the_atom_bomb_ready_to_go_in_august_1945/dja444z/",
"http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Arnold-map-Japan-firebombing.jpg"
]
] |
|
cvvn1w
|
what exactly is happening when you run games/media at 1080p on a 4k tv?
|
Does it look worse than if it were to be played on a native 1080p monitor/tv? Does it get upscaled? Does it matter at all?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cvvn1w/eli5_what_exactly_is_happening_when_you_run/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ey79v5n"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Your 4K TV is 3840 pixels wide and 2160 pixels high. The image you're feeding it is only 1920 pixels wide and 1080 pixels high. If three quarters of your screen isn't black bars, then that image is being upscaled somewhere.\n\nTypically what's happening is your output device (PC, streaming box etc) is sending a 1080p signal, and the processors inside the TV are doing all the work of converting that to a 4K image. It's rarely just a simple mathematical conversion, there's all sorts of processing that takes place to make it look good - noise reduction, image sharpening, databases of ideal conversions etc.\n\nGenerally speaking the better the TV, the better this conversion takes place. Cheap 4K TVs will probably look no better than 1080p, maybe even slightly worse in some cases depending on the content. But usually they will look better than a 1080p TV. The size of the TV and your viewing distance are also factors.\n\nIf your output device is a PC, depending on your graphics card you could instead use AMD Virtual Super Resolution (VSR) or Nvidia Dynamic Super Resolution (DSR). Both are technologies that will perform the upscaling on the PC/GPU side, but again it's going to depend on the content and the quality of the TV/monitor as to whether they are the better option."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
a8boy5
|
Why doesn't the Earth's elliptical orbit affect its temperature (Cause Seasons)?
|
I keep hearing that the Earth's tilt is responsible for seasons and that the angle of incidence of the sun's rays are the main player.
But, the tilt cause a change of distance of around 5000km whilst Earth's orbit can cause a change of 5000000km.
I don't get how this doesn't play a role in seasons change.
I know the the heat is spread along a big surface area when the angle of incidence increases, but I fail to comprehend how this has a much larger effect than 5 MILLION km change in distance.
Does this have to do with how the heat is transferred? (ie. Radiation)
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/a8boy5/why_doesnt_the_earths_elliptical_orbit_affect_its/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ec9f788",
"ec9m839",
"eca51x5"
],
"score": [
16,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"There are a few reasons:\n\nFirst, 5 million km seems like a lot, but it's not that much compared to the average orbital radius of about 150 million km.\n\nSecond, the effect of the planet's tilt isn't related to one side being further away as much as it is one side being at more of an angle with respect to the sun:\n\nDays are shorter on the hemisphere that's further from the sun, so the sun is heating that hemisphere for less time every day. Sunlight is also hitting the surface at a more oblique angle, so it is less intense. At middle latitudes, the sun is adding about twice as much energy per square meter per second in the summer than in the winter, and the sun is shining for longer.",
"The equation I think you're looking for is that heating is proportional to sin(theta) where theta is the \"angle of incidence.\" When the sun is straight overhead, theta is 90 degrees, and sin(90) = 1, so you get 100% of the energy (all other things being equal). When the sun is at 45 degrees (half-way from the zenith to the horizon) sin(45) = 0.7 so you only get 70% as much heat. And on the horizon, sin(0) = 0 and you get nothing. (You get a bit more because the sun isn't a point and the Earth isn't a perfect sphere.)\n\nThe other issue, though, is that days are shorter and nights are longer in the winter. Here in Seattle, we only have 8 hours of daylight today followed by 16 hours of night. Obviously we'll lose a lot more heat during the night than we gain during the day. On the summer solstice, though, we'll have 16 hours of daylight and just 8 hours of night, so obviously we'll gain more heat in the day than we lose at night.",
"The Earth's elliptical orbit *does* in fact affect temperature. This figure shows the amount of solar irradiation that strikes the top of the Earth's atmosphere at given latitudes throughout the year:\n\n_URL_0_\n\nThe northern and southern hemispheres are not symmetrical mirror images because of the ellipticity of the orbit. Irradiation is more intense in the southern hemisphere summer than the northern summer because that's when the Earth is closest to the sun, however it's also a shorter period for the same reason. Likewise, the southern winters receive less irradiation than northern winters and are also longer.\n\nThese are measurable effects and lead to differences in weather and climate at the surface. Their variations over time are two of the major Milankovich cycles that have historically caused Earth's climate to change.\n\nIt's just that, as other have mentioned, this effect is small compared to the variation in energy received over the year due to the angle of incident light relative to the Earth's curved surface. That effect can easily be visualized by shining a flashlight onto a surface at different angles. The same amount of incoming energy is spread out over more area as the angle decreases."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[
"https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/ContentFeature/EnergyBalance/images/annual_solar_insolation.png"
]
] |
|
e9omie
|
why do third world countries often seem to have such low costs of living?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/e9omie/eli5_why_do_third_world_countries_often_seem_to/
|
{
"a_id": [
"fak93ol",
"fakf66o"
],
"score": [
7,
2
],
"text": [
"The largest cost we have in 1st worod countries generally is labor. Things are very expensive in comparison because you have to pay workers more so production, transportation, and distribution all costs significantly more.",
"Labour costs. People on the transaction chain need to get paid and if they are all getting paid at substantive rates then the end product gets increasingly expensive at every stage. E.g take food cost as an example. The amount of money that a farmer in the US needs to make to sustain themselves is far much higher than the amount a farmer needs in my country. So if I buy a banana at 5 US cents over here, it's probably much higher over there. Like, \"It's just one banana Michael, how much can it be? 10 dollars?\" \n\nI live in a 3rd world country and what I make is comical if converted into dollars. But over here I can afford a lifestyle where all my bills are paid and a little bit of money is left over. My food budget is less than 100 dollars per month. \n\nThere's also the supply demand curve. If a seller prices their goods at higher prices than people can generally afford then that seller is not going to make much money. For things like tech based products e.g phones, TVs, electronics, the manufacturers often have cheaper, lower-quality products targeted at our markets. If it works, it works. The top-line products e.g flagship phones are still available for anyone who can afford them and often at higher prices than in the US due to taxes and stuff."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
5f3cwi
|
how do smartphones have the whole screen light up?
|
[Title]
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5f3cwi/eli5_how_do_smartphones_have_the_whole_screen/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dah6aey",
"dah93dc"
],
"score": [
4,
2
],
"text": [
"The screen is composed of multiple layers. The top layer is the glass. Below that is the pixel array that creates the colors you see on screen. Below that is what's called a diffuse layer, which is usually a piece of semi-transparent plastic with a texture kind of like frosted glass. Behind that is a light, called the backlight. The backlight shines onto the diffuse layer, which diffuses the light over its entire surface. That's what makes it look like there's just one solid light behind the screen when in fact it's usually an array of many lights.",
"Depending on what type of display you have, it uses either a backlight or individual LEDs (light emitting diodes)"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
67oekt
|
why have built-in webcam covers not surged in popularity yet?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/67oekt/eli5_why_have_builtin_webcam_covers_not_surged_in/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dgrx1gr",
"dgrx2sz",
"dgrx3j0"
],
"score": [
14,
8,
2
],
"text": [
"I think offering a built-in cover would be perceived as an acknowledgement that the product is not entirely secure in its own right.\n\nIt's like selling a house with bars on the windows. Makes you wonder what's wrong with the neighborhood. ",
" > Can anyone offer a better explanation?\n\nTape is cheaper. Also, I think you overexaggerate the paranoia. People may ring their hands about spying, but no one really believes *they're* a target. The second you tell them they need a new computer to be save they'll just spend $0.50 on a roll of electrical tape and just cover it up.",
"They probably know most people just cover it up anyway and its not that profitable thing to invest in"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
6b76wh
|
How is an SD card a limiting factor for transfer speed?
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/6b76wh/how_is_an_sd_card_a_limiting_factor_for_transfer/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dhnbgff"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"An SD card is composed broadly of flash memory (an array of transistor-pairs) and a controller. Both of those can impose limitations on transfer speed.\n\nAs for the flash memory itself, because its storing the data in transistors, the frequency of switching for a transistor depends on the construction and quality of the transistor. This is one reason why faster SD cards tend to be more expensive: transistor manufacturing technology can be more costly when making better transistors.\n\nThe controller is often a limiting factor, as well, especially for write operations. The controller is an IC (miniature processor, really) which satisfies requests from the host computer. When you're trying to read or write with an SD card, in some sense, your computer is really communicating with another computer (the controller), and how the logic in that controller is implemented can affect performance with an SD card."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
2yxeyt
|
why doesn't the world get rid of borders?
|
Obviously I understand the answer here is very complex. You can't just delete 10,000 years worth of history without creating complete and utter chaos. But I would be interested to read what people with more experience in the matter have to say on the subject. What are some big obstacles for integration for our planet? Why is a "world government" viewed like such a bad thing? If it was to become too powerful surely we could just come up with a system of checks and balanced like we did in the US?
I know it's a very complex question with a myriad of "correct answers". But give it a try if this is your field. I am interested in hearing your opinion.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2yxeyt/eli5_why_doesnt_the_world_get_rid_of_borders/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cpdu5jk",
"cpdugjl"
],
"score": [
9,
2
],
"text": [
"Sure, let's start by following my rules. Oh, you want to make rules too? Well I don't like your ideas so we will never merge.\n\nNow try integrating a country ruled by a religious dictator who's citizens believe (under penalty of death) that his dictates are authorized by God? How about a country that believes your ethnic group is subhuman and the only ethical course is to exterminate your entire culture? How about giving a country with three times your population yet commonly believes eating albino humans will cure various ailments an equal vote with you?\n\nIt just won't work, no matter how much weed you smoke.",
"Stated simply, the same rules that benefit one area could gravely handicap another. This is why the U.S. maintains state's-powers. \"What's good for Montana ain't good for Alabama.\" So we let Montana and Alabama have their own rules. The borders tell you where to apply which rules.\n\nAs to your point about a \"world government\". Just look at how well the EU does. Germany, the UK, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands are forced to financially support the other nations. While this is great for Latvia, Croatia, Greece, and Bulgaria, it's really unfair to everyone else.\n\nEvery attempt to unify under a single government was fraught with problems of cultural expectations, economic disparity, and a general thuggish looting of the productive for the benefit of the terminal-vacationers."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
2pmgb0
|
medieval nobility
|
How did the system of nobility and peasanthood arise? How did a family establish itself as 'noble?' What powers and responsibilities were granted to those of noble families?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2pmgb0/eli5_medieval_nobility/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cmy134i",
"cmy142q",
"cmy16zq"
],
"score": [
3,
2,
2
],
"text": [
" > How did the system of nobility and peasanthood arise? \n\nIt arose in many, many places and even in the same places many times again and again over history. There's no one answer other than something general like: \"The guy with the most weapons and folks to hold them said it'd be like that.\"\n\nThe isle of Great Britain alone has had more kingdoms on it than you could shake a stick at in the past 1500 years, never-mind Europe generally or the whole world.\n\n > How did a family establish itself as 'noble?'\n\nDepends on the realm in question. In some cases the nobility was just about as good as locked down - it was basically never the case that a commoner could become a landowner or holder of titles.\n\nIn some realms a noble might grant nobility to some degree or another for military accomplishments, or simply because they liked that person. \n\n > What powers and responsibilities were granted to those of noble families?\n\nAgain, varies realm to realm. A duke, count or whatever might be charged with defending the realm from the other kingdom that bordered their lands. Some were charged with meeting quotas for food harvested or for providing soldiers. \n\nSome held the power to, along with the other gentry, select the king or depose him. Some realms had - at least on paper - royal families for all time that could never be deposed or overruled.\n\nThere have been kingdoms, empires and other realms beyond counting in history, and no two exactly the same. ",
"The vast majority of the people were peasants- people who farmed to feed themselves. As for the nobles, I suspect that in many cases they would've been conquering invaders whose descendants remained a specialized noble/warrior class. In the period of instability that followed the fall of the Roman Empire, there were opportunities for barbarians to attack peasants, or for groups of warriors to get peasants to give them tribute in return for protection. Then you have a knightly or warrior caste emerging.\n\nThe Normans are an example. They were Viking invaders who raided France. Then the French king gave some of the Vikings land in return for helping to defend France against other Viking raiders. So the Viking Normans became French nobles.\n\nLater on the Normans invaded England from France and defeated the Anglo-Saxons. Then the Normans became the new nobles of England, replacing the older Anglo-Saxon nobility, while the majority of the Anglo-Saxons were still peasants.",
"Charlemagne basically invented the Feudal system as we know it.\n\nHe and his tribe were a bunch of badasses, who conquered a lot of land. He wanted to keep control of this land, so he put some of his warriors in charge of the lands. They built forts, collected regular tribute from the locals, and so forth.\n\nOver time, other places in Europe copied Charlemagne's system of oaths of fealty and family lands.\n\nMore interestingly, this system is *entirely* European. Other cultures created nobility in very different ways. In the Islamic world, for example, nobility was simply a matter of wealth - you owned a lot, and were expected to keep an army to defend what you own. I hope others can tell you more about the Nobility in India, East Asia, and Central America."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
328acm
|
Why do we refer to China as "Song", "Han", and others instead of the "Chinese Empire"?
|
This really confused me. We don't really refer to, for example, Byzantium as the "Komnenian Empire" but we refer to China as the "Tang Empire", for example.
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/328acm/why_do_we_refer_to_china_as_song_han_and_others/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cq8tsy3",
"cq8v9l5"
],
"score": [
29,
30
],
"text": [
"Actually they are referred to as dynasties--the Tang Dynasty, Song Dynasty, etc., just as one refers to Komnenian dynasty--all defined by a familial succession of rulers, e.g. the house of Zhao for the Song. \"Song Empire\" is essentially a contraction of \"the empire of the Song Dynasty.\" The Byzantine Empire on the other hand was made up of a succession of different ruling houses. ",
"This is because the naming comes from Chinese historiography, rather than the western one, and that is just how the Chinese name their political history. There is also the fact that unlike the \"Byzantine Empire\", \"British Empire\" or \"German Empire\", there's only one Chinese Empire, ruled by multiple dynasties who ruled the very same spot for more or less 3000 years in continuance, and then there's the relative longetivity of Chinese dynasties, and hence one dynasty can encompass periods up to 400 years, and each dynasty marks a very different geopolitical and cultural landscape, and such it is necessary to mark the history of the Chinese according to the dynasties, or more recently, the form of the republics.\n\nAnother fun fact, the name \"Middle Kingdom\" assigned to China is as old as the Chinese writings itself, which is more than 3000 years old, so calling China simply \"Chinese Empire\" in context of history can be extremely confusing."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
89i0ne
|
how do we synchronize our pace when walking next to someone?
|
I've noticed that more often than not, two people walking next to each other will take their steps simultaneously, syncing together within about 10 steps. Whenever I point it out to my friends and tell one of them to try stepping at a different pace, it's almost as if their brain stops working. They struggle to accomplish that. Why does all of this happen?
Also, I had no idea if this was more of a Culture or Biology question so I just picked one.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/89i0ne/eli5_how_do_we_synchronize_our_pace_when_walking/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dwr2o19"
],
"score": [
6
],
"text": [
"I'm pretty sure that's only true for people of similar height.\n\nMy girlfriend is a good 10 inches shorter than me, and so when we walk \"together\", she takes many short steps and I take longer steps."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
24zm3x
|
can animals get concussions like humans? and if so are the consequences similar?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/24zm3x/eli5_can_animals_get_concussions_like_humans_and/
|
{
"a_id": [
"chc7hxl",
"chc7v0n"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"Yes, they can and do. It can be harder to tell, and we don't usually send them for MRI/CT to confirm, so a lot of them go misdiagnosed. But animals with head trauma will become nauseous, lose consciousness, loss of balance, signs of partial blindness, etc, all the same kind of signs we'd expect in a human. \n\nRest and exercise restriction are important. Obviously its hard to prevent intense cognitive workouts in a dog or cat, but keeping them \"unstimulated\" is important.\n\nWe do also see cumulative concussion effects like tremors, seizures, cognitive dysfunction, etc in animals with a (suspected) history of repeated concussions, such as victims of animal abuse or bloodsports. ",
"Yes they can. There are many studies taking place that uses rat models to explore drugs used in the management of concussive injuries. \n\nReally, as long as it has a brain it can get a concussion, and it will disrupt motor and autonomic function just like in humans."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
hbiy7
|
Is it possible to un-polarize polarized light?
|
And if so, what applications might this have?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/hbiy7/is_it_possible_to_unpolarize_polarized_light/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c1u3e4c",
"c1u3tei"
],
"score": [
5,
8
],
"text": [
"All light is polarized, all the time. What you're thinking of is the process of shining light through a polarizer, which is noting more or less than a filter. It permits photons with a particular polarization to pass through, and scatters the rest. So what comes out the other side are photons that were always polarized according to the orientation of your filter.\n\nSo polarizing light doesn't mean *doing something* to light. It just means selecting which photons you let through. Thus, it's not meaningful to talk about \"un-polarizing\" light, because you didn't actually do anything to it in the first place.",
"In optical measurement instruments, a \"diffuser\" is sometimes inserted into the light path; think a rough piece of aluminum or some such. This has the explicit goal to get rid of the polarization in the incoming light (to be more exact: to have all possible polarizations represented equally).\n\nThis is done because e.g. optical sensor response may be highly polarization-dependent, and you want to make sure that does not affect your measurement.\n\n(Disclaimer: I' a humble software guy, but I have worked in a project where an optical remote sensing instrument was calibrated)."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
1mh7s0
|
how does orajel and other numbing gels work?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1mh7s0/eli5how_does_orajel_and_other_numbing_gels_work/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cc98kuz"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"Orajel is actually made up of a substance called Benzocaine, which interacts with open nerve endings that sense pain. Benzocaine will basically stops the nerve from sending those impulses of pain by blocking something called a Voltage Dependant Sodium Channel, something important to block because as soon as sodium enters the neuron from the nerve endings to cause depolarization and then causes an action potential.\n\nDumbed down a little bit, this basically means that Benzocaine latches onto the nerve membrane and stops those sodium channels from sending that signal of pain."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
4vd2vw
|
When I pour cream into my coffee, a small amount skates across the surface away from the point of entry. What causes this?
|
I witness this every morning when I prepare my coffee and I got to wondering if there's a mathematic/physical description for this effect. Additionally, what would effect the amount of liquid that separates from the stream to stay on the surface - temperature? Viscosity? Velocity of the pour?
Talk to me /r/askscience!
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/4vd2vw/when_i_pour_cream_into_my_coffee_a_small_amount/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d5xxpsb"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"Argh, this is frustrating! I saw a great talk on this phenomenon at a scientific conference a couple of years ago, but I can't remember the name of the author and a literature search is coming up empty, so I can't cite my sources as required by /r/askscience. I'm going to give the story as I remember it, and hopefully someone else can chime in with a citation and more details.\n\nDroplets bounce off water surfaces all the time -- another example is raindrops on a lake -- and the usual explanation given is just \"surface tension\". But that's only part of the story, because the **temperature difference between drop and surface** matters. Try your experiment with cold coffee: you won't see skating droplets. It only happens when the drops are colder than the liquid they're falling into.\n\nThe speaker I heard at this conference did a bunch of experiments and computer models to show that the temperature difference creates an air flow beneath the droplet that pushes the drop upward, kind of like a hovercraft! The effect is similar to, but not the same as, the [Leidenfrost effect](_URL_0_)."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leidenfrost_effect"
]
] |
|
26nu32
|
birds in the northern hemisphere migrate south for the winter. are there birds from the southern hemisphere that migrate north for the summer? what species are they?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/26nu32/eli5_birds_in_the_northern_hemisphere_migrate/
|
{
"a_id": [
"chss2pq"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Many species of migratory birds breed in Alaska. That's why that proposal to drill for oil in that wildlife refuge was such a big deal.\n\nEdit: The Whimbrel is a good example. It breeds in Alaska and winters as far south as Africa and South America. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
6csavd
|
why does it seem like there are 'cycles' of terrorism?
|
Since the Paris bombings back in November 2015 it seems like there's been a dramatic uptick in western terrorism recently. However, it seems like there were also significant terrorism concerns in the 1990's until about 9/11 when after that it seemed to lull a bit. What global/economic conditions create conditions that make terrorism more frequent, as we've seen in the past few years with bombings, shootings and trucks driving into people?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6csavd/eli5_why_does_it_seem_like_there_are_cycles_of/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dhxh6bn"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Your question is really about perception. Terrorism, to a large extent, has become less about gigantic coordinated attacks like 9/11 and the Madrid train bombings, and generally gotten simpler and simpler until it is an individual or a handful of guys with guns shooting everyone in a confined space. That is not to minimize the horror of those situations when they happen, but it shows that it is moving from a model where you have trained and coordinated cells to small groups improvising whatever violence they can."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
1yv2ir
|
why are people attracted to furries?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1yv2ir/why_are_people_attracted_to_furries/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cfo1bwc"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"People are funny. different strokes for different folks. It's theoretically possible to be attracted to literally anything. Some people just happen to be attracted to furries. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
19f4t7
|
Black Hole Escape Velocity and the "Graviton"
|
If the escape velocity of a black hole is greater than the speed of light, would that mean that the force behind gravity is moving faster than the speed of light? If not, what allows gravity to "win?"
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/19f4t7/black_hole_escape_velocity_and_the_graviton/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c8nghpn"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"The escape velocity angle on why black holes are inescapable is slightly misleading. The Earth's escape velocity is about 11km/s but an object can escape from Earth at any speed if it has some mechanism for generating thrust during its journey.\n\nBlack holes are inescapable because gravity curves spacetime. Inside the event horizon of a black hole, spacetime is so curved that *any* path through spacetime heads towards the singularity. Even if you cross the event horizon, turn 180 degrees, and accelerate, you'll still find that you're heading towards the singularity. What you think of as a straight path has been warped by the black hole's extreme gravity."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
3omv11
|
will they ever go after the actual person(s) who wrote and built the code for volkswagen to cheat the emissions testing?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3omv11/eli5_will_they_ever_go_after_the_actual_persons/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cvymxox",
"cvyudew"
],
"score": [
8,
2
],
"text": [
"When a company does something wrong, you sue the company, not the CEO, or the manager, or the engineer. This is what's called corporate personhood. So no, they won't go after the person who wrote the code. ",
"While you're at it, give me the name of the guys who designed the touch pad on the piece of shit Lenovo laptop my work gave me. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
4eo5jl
|
When did humans start falling in love?
|
According to [this article](_URL_0_), monogamy came with STIs. If that's the case, when did love come along? Did it exist before we became monogamous? Or was it a result *of* monogamy?
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/4eo5jl/when_did_humans_start_falling_in_love/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d26wmdg"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"It's an interesting question, but I believe the vagueness of it is why it didn't get answered. First you have to define what love is, then you have to define what monogamy is. I'll put my own answer at the bottom if you don't want to read everything in between.\n\nIs love a deep rooted emotion of the soul, a set of chemical changes in the body and brain that induce an individual to take a mate, or a choice of commitment to another person? In the third case, does that dedication require exclusivity? Under any of these definitions, is it possible to love, and be loved by, more than one person at once?\n\nWhat about monogamy? Where does serial monogamy (i.e. the mating systems currently practiced in most Western countries) fit in? Is it the most common definition of having only a single sexual partner at once, or can the concept of monogamy only exist within the institution of marriage? Can a person that has had more than one sexual partner in their lives be called monogamous? Can a person who has been divorced be called monogamous within their next marriage? \n\nWhat about people who have sexual relations outside of wedlock? What about those who only have one sexual partner at a time but tend to frequently fall into and out of non-marriage relationships? Any STI-preventing properties of monogamy are substantially weakened when a strict monogamy of one sexual partner for life is not observed, and I don't think I have to explain how extremely rare that is, from unmarried teenagers sneaking off to have a roll in the bushes to young \"on again, off again\" couples to divorcees to unfaithful spouses frequenting brothels or \"visiting\" the shopkeeper in the village center.\n\nFurther muddying the waters, there are non-Western (Western being influenced by modern Western European culture; this did not functionally exist prior to the Colonial period) cultural marriage systems going back thousands of years that don't fit neatly into one category. Some were polygamous, or in other words, \"poly monogamous,\" either through one male and multiple females (polygyny) or one female and multiple males (polyandry). All of these arrangements still exist today, just not as commonly. In this system, a single member of one sex is paired with multiple members of the other, but all of the relationships exist as discrete pairs without any sexual relationships happening outside of each pair, and the members of the multiplied sex have no relations with one another. So in a polygynous relationship, which is the most common arrangement, the females are strictly monogamous while the male is not strictly monogamous but is tightly constrained to sexual relationships within the same small pool of partners as one pair at a time.\n\nThis has already gotten extremely complicated and we haven't yet included same-sex relationships, multi-lateral marriage, or polyamory, all of which have existed in varying forms with varying rarity and varying cultural acceptance going clear back to the invention of writing, and probably well before that.\n\nSo to answer the question at all, one has to impose definitions of love, monogamy, and marriage that vary wildly depending on the cultural background in which one was raised. Further, applying modern sexual definitions to historical arrangements is both effectively impossible and one of the highest orders of folly in anyone studying the past. \n\nSo to take it all back to the beginning: did love exist before monogamy? If it's a deep-seated emotion, then it almost certainly existed at the dawn of our species. If it's the chemical change in the brain telling someone to take a mate, then it not only existed before monogamy, it's very likely to have existed clear back to the point that our genus branched off of the evolutionary path of the other great apes, and then a couple million years before that. Depending on how loose you are with the definition, back to the origin of sexually reproducing life, although I would stop at the great apes since anything less closely related to us than that probably wouldn't experience it anywhere near the same way. If it's a commitment to another person, then we can be certain it existed at least as long as institutionalized marriage if one takes marriage as concrete proof of such a commitment. The oldest evidence of institutionalized marriage is about 4500 years old, but it probably existed a long time before that, and the actual dedication to other people is very likely to be older still.\n\nUltra TL;DR: Probably at the origin of *homo sapiens*, yes, no."
]
}
|
[] |
[
"http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/sexually-transmitted-infection-made-monogamy-a-norm-1.3532512"
] |
[
[]
] |
|
eex3zu
|
how do trees start out as flimsy sprouts but then change into hard wood?
|
[deleted]
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/eex3zu/eli5_how_do_trees_start_out_as_flimsy_sprouts_but/
|
{
"a_id": [
"fbx3xrn"
],
"score": [
8
],
"text": [
"You have heard the saying that if you cut down a tree, you can count the rings to see how old it is. \n\nEvery year the tree builds another layer onto itself, creating a new ring, thus getting taller, thicker and more sturdy as time goes on."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
brjqyn
|
how do tuning forks stay in tune, and can they ever go out of tune?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/brjqyn/eli5_how_do_tuning_forks_stay_in_tune_and_can/
|
{
"a_id": [
"eoefp2r",
"eoefvr1",
"eoelq4w"
],
"score": [
3,
5,
3
],
"text": [
"When struck the metal reverberates in such a way to produce the correct frequency, the correct tune.\n\nAs for if they can go out of tune? Probably not likely that one youd use would. It would require the metal to become deformed or chipped in some way so that it doesnt rattle the same way.",
"Tuning forks are meant to be struck on a certain type of material which is like a hard rubber in the form of a small block or mallet. If you strike it on something else you risk deforming it and changing its pitch. \n\nthat’s what I was told in choir.",
"Technically, their \"tune\" changes all the time because their temperature (and thus their size) changes. Granted, its a very small change and not really perceptible by the human ear but it is measurable with sensitive enough equipment.\n\nUnless you keep your tuning fork in an absolutely climate controlled environment that was exactly the same as when they were tuned the first time."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
oybql
|
What was the role of the U.K. within the Cold War?
|
Any references to texts on this subject would also be appreciated.
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/oybql/what_was_the_role_of_the_uk_within_the_cold_war/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c3l1t7b",
"c3l3efd",
"c3l5nw4",
"c3ldor8"
],
"score": [
2,
8,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"In general terms they were a major anti-submarine warfare component of NATO, also some combat units in West Germany and a few nuclear weapons (unguided air dropped and submarine launched missiles).",
"In the very funny and insightful British show \"Yes, Minister\" Jim Hacker, MP, says \"We don't really have a foreign policy. More of an American missile base.\"",
"Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier. \n\nBut seriously there were like 60.000 British troops in Western Europe. The fleet would have patrolled the Atlantic and kept soviet subs from disturbing American and Canadian fleet and troop movements. A big army reserve. RAF can cover the sea, western Europe and Norway.",
"What everyone else has said, yep. Britain would have been the key to the Atlantic, pretty much. As long as the [G-I-UK Gap](_URL_0_) was held, Soviet submarines wouldn't have been able to break out into the Atlantic, meaning NATO shipping was safe. Most of NATO's anti-submarine capability (including attack subs, sonar analysts, naval patrol aircraft, destroyers, etc.) was based in the UK, especially Scotland. I don't know how you feel about Tom Clancy, or fiction in general, but [Red Storm Rising](_URL_1_) is actually a pretty good read, that features the strategic importance of the G-I-UK Gap prominently.\n\nAside from the naval importance, the British had pretty decent air forces as well, that likely would have played a not insignificant role over land."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIUK_gap",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Storm_Rising"
]
] |
|
5p2aha
|
how did cantonese and mandarin end up with the same characters, but completely different spoken languages?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5p2aha/eli5_how_did_cantonese_and_mandarin_end_up_with/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dcnwdev",
"dcnxbmd"
],
"score": [
2,
10
],
"text": [
"The characters / letters in mandarin work very differently from how English words do. In mandarin the characters have a meaning like \"big\" but it doesn't mean \"big\" this is great since the Chinese empire can then have someone taking notes from one person, send them to another way elsewhere and they will say the words differently but it'll mean the same since they don't directly write down words. [Here](_URL_0_) is a great video about it.",
"Short answer: The Beijing Mandarin way of writing was forced on all of China. There's actually a form of written Cantonese that's basically incomprehensible to a Mandarin speaker.\n\nLong answer:\n\nA long time ago, there was a single Chinese language, now called Classical Chinese. Think of it like Latin.\n\nWritten languages tend to diverge more slowly than spoken languages.\n\nLatin spawned French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian. These languages use largely the same alphabets, and speakers of one language can often stumble through written texts in the other languages: Lait, Leche, Laite, Latte, Lapte are the respective words for \"milk,\" for instance.\n\nHowever, a speaker of French will have a much harder time understanding spoken Spanish.\n\nWith regards to Chinese, the same thing happened. Classical Chinese changed in both written and verbal forms, but the verbal forms changed more. Linguists identify around 10 major varieties of Chinese, with hundreds of mutually unintelligible dialects. \n\n(By the way, Mandarin is the largest variety, while Cantonese is a dialect of the fourth largest variety. Cantonese is familiar to Americans because they speak it in and around Hong Kong, where many early Chinese immigrants were from).\n\nThe written varieties changed, but because they (as a whole) changed less than the spoken language, it was achievable to force a single written language on the entire population. This happened within the last century or so: The Beijing Mandarin way of writing was forced on all of China. Beijing Mandarin is the basis of Standard Chinese, which is the official and common language of the PRC. But among fellow Shanghai residents, they will still speak Shanghainese, a dialect of the third largest Chinese variety.\n\nSince the characters are not based on sounds like our language, it's entirely possible for speakers of different varieties to speak the same character multiple ways.\n\nFor instance, 好 roughly sounds like \"how\" in Mandarin, \"ho\" in Cantonese, etc.; It's also used in Japanese as a kanji character, and is pronounced \"ko\".\n\nOf course, this character gives no clue to its pronunciation. But if you're curious, it's constructed from a combination of 女 and 子, roughly pronounced in Mandarin as \"nü\" and \"dzih,\" which respectively mean \"woman\" and \"child.\" But in one character? It means \"good.\""
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://youtu.be/GiVs05yq9-o"
],
[]
] |
||
1s8d6y
|
does the brain use more energy while dreaming due to the fact that it's synthesizing sensations, characters, locations etc.?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1s8d6y/eli5_does_the_brain_use_more_energy_while/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cduxgkj"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"No. Even though it might work on the things you mention, it stops worrying about all motor control, doesn't have to worry about sensory input to the same degree, doesn't need to process nearly as much information, it's very quiet up there."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
1d13a4
|
what happened to the simpsons? why do people talk about it going downhill? what changed?
|
I, myself, haven't seen a Simpsons episode in years and pretty much watched only the first few series which i enjoyed as a kid. However i constantly read now about how it started sucking. Did they sell out? Run out of jokes? Did the good writers leave?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1d13a4/eli5what_happened_to_the_simpsons_why_do_people/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c9lv39v",
"c9lv6e2",
"c9lvchr",
"c9lvivq",
"c9lvjko",
"c9lws42",
"c9m08l9",
"c9m24tt"
],
"score": [
2,
10,
11,
14,
5,
8,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"The show didn't change much. People changed.",
"[The Simpsons Is Still Funny - Pt. 1](_URL_0_) \n\n[The Simpsons Is Still Funny, Part 2](_URL_1_)\n\nThose videos do a fairly good job of explaining it, basically people grew up and the pop culture changed, taking away much of what the Simpsons had been about. ",
"When you have a show that runs for this long, it's pretty much impossible to keep it relevant *and* keep the fans happy. The original show was extremely 90s, totally a product of that time. The sense of humor was totally 90s, as were the pop culture references, and even the look of the characters. It's been 13 years since that kind of thing was really relevant. \n\nSo the show got really popular for what it was, and as changes were made to it over time, it changed, well, what it was. People who started watching in the early days were really upset with the 6th season because it didn't have quite as much heart as the 3rd season. Or they were upset because by the time they'd reached the 10th season, it was more comedy-driven rather than story-driven. By the time it reached the 17th, 18th seasons - forget it.\n\nAlso, the writing staff changed, the ins and outs of it changed. It looks totally different from how it did 20 years ago, and all of these changes add up to a pretty different show, even if the characters and the setting are the same. Some of it's objective, and some of it is subjective, but basically, it's not what it used to be, even if you still like it.\n\ntl;dr The Simsons has been around so long that it's effectively become its own (crappy) sequel.",
"This is my opinion, not sure if it is shared with others. Simpsons used to have good plots. Even without the jokes, the plot made it interesting. The jokes, they were often witty and always fresh. Celebrities made appearances once in a while and it enhanced the experience. \nAfter season 12 or so, the writers just got tired it seemed. The jokes have all been done. Now the writers were relying mostly on slapstick. They were also changing the personalities and histories of time-tested characters we've gotten to know to fit each episode. Then the episodes began to revolve around celebrities. It seemed they were round-peg-into-square-holing-celebrity roles with just terrible terrible voice acting.\n\nI don't believe people have changed, because to this day I watch Simpsons episodes every night before I sleep. I still find seasons 3-12 hilarious, but don't find much appeal in subsequent seasons. Try it for yourself, piratebay season 6 or so and compare it to season 18. You'll see.",
"The show has been going on for so long the fans that grew up watching it have matured to the point where they may not find the same things funny as when they were younger. So it could be that group that is saying the show is going downhill because they have grown to like other things.",
"*The Simpson's* was a parody of the perfect family shows like *The Cosby Show* that were popular in the 1980s. But it outlived them all and opened the door to dysfunctional family shows as a genre, so it sort of outlived what it was making fun of.\n\nIn addition, people forget they were 23 years younger when the show came out...much of the appeal might have been watching it in the dorm TV room with all of your friends, as opposed to catching it on the DVR when you get time away from work and kids.",
"I think the show became far more immature later on. Also way too many celebrities. Also modern pop culture references are just annoying (eg. Apple, facebook etc) for lots of people. I think nowadays people are more cynical. And its much harder to be fresh and unique. For me though it was over reliance on celebrities, one-time characters and the comedy becoming more targeted for younger audiences ",
"Writing and content aside, I think the change to clean-cut computerized animation took a lot of the soul away from the show, and perhaps even detracted from the show's overall humor. I dunno. Something about the hand-drawn cells just give off a sillier attitude."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/5140-The-Simpsons-Is-Still-Funny-Pt-1",
"http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/5166-The-Simpsons-Is-Still-Funny-Part-2"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
2slcjw
|
how do opiates like heroin work?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2slcjw/eli5_how_do_opiates_like_heroin_work/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cnqkcqp"
],
"score": [
7
],
"text": [
"in the central nervous system (brain and spinal chord) as well as the enteric system (intestinal) there are receptors that bind to normal chemicals (endogenous substances called enkaphalins, which are involved in pain pathways and emotion) in the body. Opioids bind to subtype of these receptors (mu receptors) and induce a conformational change in that receptor, which activates the receptor to send signals to other parts of the cell. the two things that it does, in respect to neurons, is decrease calcium entry into the cell and increase potassium exit from the cell. This brings the cell farther away from threshold (hyperpolarized) meaning that cell is less likely to be able to communicate with the next neuron. (i.e. it elevates the pain threshold by activating the descending-inhibitory pain pathway in the spinothalamic tract and deactivating the ascending pain pathway). Also, these receptors are in a part of the brain called the limbic system, which when activated blunt emotional responses. Other effects include decreased respiration by receptors in the respiratory center of the brain, nausea by receptors in a part of the brain called the area of postrema, couch suppression, and decreased gastrointestinal activity by activation of receptors in the enteric system. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
8vnxw7
|
why are some children so resistant to eating?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8vnxw7/eli5_why_are_some_children_so_resistant_to_eating/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e1oxxhk"
],
"score": [
7
],
"text": [
"There are a LOT of potential answers to this, and I expect that others will have better explanations. However:\n\n\\- A major and important point of child development is learning to say \"no\" -- essentially, learning that you have control over your own body and are that you are capable of setting boundaries. Because eating is such an important part of most human communities, saying \"no\" to food is one of the universal ways that a 2- or 3-year-old begins to assert their own individual identity.\n\n\\- There's also (IIRC) some research showing that children have more sensitive taste receptors, and thus are more likely to push food away."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
3nmdgp
|
If you had a 343 meter long pole, and pushed one end, would it take one second for the other side to move?
|
EDIT: Wow... Never thought I would get a post upvoted anywhere near this much, thanks to all of you for the responses, definitely is an interesting thing for me to read about.
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/3nmdgp/if_you_had_a_343_meter_long_pole_and_pushed_one/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cvpc2sc",
"cvpc7xp",
"cvpm3qg",
"cvpn37b",
"cvpp74e",
"cvpq423",
"cvpr08n",
"cvprq9h",
"cvpuanv",
"cvpvkeb",
"cvpw8bu",
"cvpwhkv",
"cvq0u7z",
"cvq11v5"
],
"score": [
6,
1789,
56,
195,
121,
3,
58,
2,
22,
3,
3,
2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"No, as the speed of sound in a pole is not the same as in air. But yes, pushes do propagate at the speed of sound. In steel this would be 5300 m/s.",
"No, it will actually be a much shorter time, but the exact time depends on the speed of sound through the material of the pole.\n\nFor example, a pole made of steel would have to be about 6100 meters long for it to take one second for the other end to move. This is because of how quickly a wave can propagate through a medium.\n\nA wave can (generally) move faster through a solid than through either a gas or liquid.\n\n[Here is a handy table that includes some common materials and their respective ~~speed of sound's~~ speeds of sound.](_URL_0_) \n\n*edit: \nWe call it \"the speed of sound\" because that is how most people conceptualize what is going on, but in actuality sound is just a wave that is propagating through the air.\n\nWe don't have to be able to perceive a sound for a wave to actually be present. A more accurate way of thinking about the speed of sound would be how quickly a wave travels through a medium at a given temperature and pressure.",
"Given this kind of, I guess, 'physics delay', would you have to account for this kind of force transference when building super-massive objects (aircraft carrier, giant plane, etc.)?\nFor example, a Star Destroyer from Star Wars is meant to be 1.6km long, right?\nWhich means you would have to account for a physics delay when engineering something that massive, otherwise the second you'd try to move it, it'd shatter apart under its own force?",
"Ok, I feel stupid. I was an art major.\n\nAre you guys saying when I push a steel rod from one end, the opposit end does not move at the same exact time? there is a delay? How can that be? What is the term I should google to learn about this?\n\nEDIT: thank you everybody for the awesome answers. I'm looking at the world in a new way right now! It's like a free acid trip. \n\n So here's a follow up question... \n\nWould it be true to say when I push on the hull of a cruise ship, I'm denting it? \n(Temporarily and very shallowly of course.).",
"The push would propagate from one end to the other at the speed of sound (speed of sound in the material).\nIf you consider the pole to be a wooden pole (say beech wood)and the axis of the pole is along the grains in the wood , then we have\n > YOUNG'S MODULUS OF BEECH WOOD ALONG THE GRAINS : 14 * 10^9 Nm^-2\n\n > DENSITY OF BEECH WOOD: 680 Kgm^-3\n\n > Therefore speed of sound: 4537ms^-1\n\n > Time before other end of the pole moves: 75.6ms\n\n\n\n\n",
"So related to all these questions - if you made a very long seesaw out of a perfectly rigid material that couldn't bend whatsoever, and it was, say 2000 meters long, and then you applied downward force to the \"up-end\", how long would it take for that force to allow it to move downward? Twice the amount of time it takes for the waves to propagate through the material? ",
"No. 343m/s is only the speed of sound in air at atmospheric pressure. In metals and other harder objects, the speed of sound (i.e. the transverse vibrations of molecules) increases. It's different for all materials but steel is about 5400 m/s give or take",
"There are a lot of comments about the speed of sound in the material, but it's important to note that the speed of sound is not the fastest rate at which an impulse could be conveyed to the opposite end of the pole. The speed of sound is derived assuming that all of the atoms in the material are in approximately quadratic potential wells (the force on an atom if you displace it by some amount is linearly proportional to the distance you've moved it). But if you push too hard, this breaks down, and you can start sending shock waves down the material. These shock waves travel, potentially, much faster than the speed of sound in the material. So if you hit one end sufficiently hard, then the impulse could arrive at the other end much sooner than the expected (wait time = length / speed of sound).",
"My question is: does the energy of the matter wave not decrease through released heat as it moves down the length of the pole? Is there a length of pole long enough to where pushing one side has no effect at the opposite end? Does the pole heat up? Does the pole get more dense at some point?",
"This actually leads to a fascinating thought experiment. \n\nIf you have a very long 'pole', then when you apply force to one end that energy is transmitted to the other end. The speed is relative to how 'rigid' or 'hard' the material is, and so the harder it is, the faster the energy transmits. \n\nIf you have an infinitely rigid 'pole', then in theory, the energy would be transmitted instantly, but it can't be, because information can't be transmitted faster than the speed of light. So no matter how 'hard' or 'rigid' the pole is, there will always be a delay between force being applied to one end and that force being felt at the other end. ",
"Not sure if this is against the rules but this video @5:00 has an interesting discussion on this. Vsauce has been reasonably accurate with this and it seems to agree with the comments here, so I though I would link something presented \"nicely\".\n\n_URL_0_",
"No, it will actually be a much shorter time, but the exact time depends on the speed of sound through the material of the pole.\nFor example, a pole made of steel would have to be about 6100 meters long for it to take one second for the other end to move. This is because of how quickly a wave can propagate through a medium.\nA wave can (generally) move faster through a solid than through either a gas or liquid.\n",
"Ok.... I'm so lost. I think I'm imagining this completely different than how some of you are explaining it.\n\nI'm imagining a huge metal rod suspended horizontally all along its length (to prevent bowing)\n\nThen there is a hydraulic piston type thing at one of the ends; this pushes on the pole (with a force parallel to the rod. (The piston is strong enough to displace the entire rod from its starting location)\n\nWhy would there be any kind of delay if it's a gentle push? Gentle as in, making direct contact prior to the push. As opposed to striking it with a sudden force.\n\nNow, if it was a sudden impact, like someone hitting it with a bat, I'd imagine a ripple of force moving along the pole. Then I can see how the whole sound wave propagation comes into play.\n\nAny videos I can watch explaining this?\n\n",
"I don't understand why it doesn't take instantly for the other side to move. \n \nHow does sound affect the actual position of the other side of the pole? \n \nCould it be that the pole is a collection of cells and therefore seen as a vibration that over a long distance takes time to move the other pole?"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/sound-speed-solids-d_713.html"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://youtu.be/Do1lm9IevYE"
],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
1path0
|
In the pre-modern era, did armies really stop fighting in the winter?
|
Or did it only happen in particularly bad winters/particularly northern locations? For example, would an army in Egypt really have stopped fighting because it was December?
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1path0/in_the_premodern_era_did_armies_really_stop/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cd0i1zq",
"cd1erfr"
],
"score": [
14,
2
],
"text": [
"Generally, war did stop in the winter mainly due to the problems involving health and logistics. \n\nDuring the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, troops were sent to barracks or quartered in villages to rest and train as marching would have been difficult due to the problems with weather.[^\\[1\\]](_URL_0_ \"'Swords Around A Throne' by John R. Elting (1997)\") Troop movement would be restricted by cold weather (in terms of moving across ground and also physical limitations from stiff limbs) and health would fall apart during aggressive movement, and that couldn't be properly checked without modern medicine.\n\nHowever, that doesn't mean that battles couldn't take place during the winter. The battles of Eylau and Hohenlinden took place during the dead of winter, each seeing success for French armies. The disastrous retreat of 1812 is a rare even when an army moved in the winter without the convenience of their logistical system.\n\nWith all of this, the time of the year does not restrict an army but rather the weather. The armies in Spain fought year round, such as the Battle of Corunna, which was a British victory except for the loss of Sir John Moore. \n\nBefore the Revolution, wars tended to be focused during the 'campaign season' as a result of logistical and pre-modern army builds.[^\\[2\\]](_URL_1_ \"'The Art of War in the Western World\" by Archer Jones (2001)",
"The short answer to your question is yes, even in hot areas, although there were notable exceptions. During his conquest of the Persian Empire, the winter after Gaugamela when Darius was still alive and on the run, but Alexander was already consolidating his considerable gains he engaged in a winter campaign against nomadic tribes in the north. They were taken completely off guard by the timing and he found most of them in the caves they were wintering in, and they generally surrendered and swore allegiance to him quite meekly, having expected him to show up at the usual time (next summer) if at all. This was an exception though, not the rule. There are some good reasons for this.\n\n Ancient armies were very different from modern armies. First off almost all the fighters were part timers called up in time of need, not full time professionals. Also, they tended to travel as a sort of gaggle, with no reconnaissance or supply train, except maybe a few wagons and a screen of horsemen around the very center of the army, riding within shouting difference (that same army of Alexander's actually passed within a couple of miles of Darius on the road and had to turn back towards him at Gaugamela). The really relevant part here is the combination of part time soldiery and lack of supplies.\n\n The summer fighting season was dictated by the growing season. We all know that soldiers, even great knights or their equivalent in the gentry/aristocracy of the ancient world had to plant each spring and harvest each fall, and had a long gap between where they were available for campaign. In colder climes winter was a bad campaign time, because exposure to the cold sapped strength and health, and the feet of many horses and men going through snow quickly churns dirt roads into mud pits. Why would winter be bad in hot climates, where the roads are dry, and the weather milder than brutal summer heat then?\n\n This is fairly simple, even hot countries are still tied to the growing season. These ancient armies had no supply train, and their supplies were the small amounts they could cart in a few wagons or march on the hoof. Armies burn through food at an incredible pace, so ancient armies were completely dependent on forage. Foraging is easy in the summer, animals are fat, and farms and orchards have readily available food. The fall harvest gathers the food, and the farms stop producing in the winter even in warmer zones, though. This means the food has been gathered and stored, usually in protected areas in walled cities. Farmers keep only enough to get their family through the winter, and sell the rest to cities, or pay it to city rulers as taxes. They kill off most of their livestock as well, because putting up enough fodder for even a few animals is very labor intensive (a single pig cow or sheep eats an enormous amount of hay over a 3-4 month span). \n\n Bringing this also back to the lack of recon of ancient armies. These armies had a large amount of men, followers, and animals, but they were compressed into a small area. The cavalry screened the infantry archers missiles and baggage, but from very close by, no modern cavalry screens careening through miles and miles of territory. An ancient army had a footprint only a couple of miles wide. They looted every farm in their path, but in winter, after harvest, farms had little food livestock and fodder. It just wouldn't be enough to keep an army on the road for an extended campaign, and any army short of the mongols who carried 20 animals for every man could bring enough food with them to march without forage for extended periods. All of the gathered foodstuffs and salted meat are behind walls for the winter, and even successful sieges are long tedious affairs. \n\n Once you understand the basics of supply it's obvious that even in warmer climates an army on the march is slaved to the rhythms of annual harvests. Winter is a hard place to feed yourself everywhere once the cities lock their gates."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/swords-around-a-throne-john-r-elting/1100624204?ean=9780306807572",
"http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-War-Western-World/dp/0252069668/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382855872&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Art+of+War+in+the+Western+World"
],
[]
] |
|
dyz1dd
|
how do targeted ads from things you've searched on a computer get to your phone? how does the tracking process work?
|
For example yesterday I found myself in a website I'd never been to that sells furniture. I also visited some other furniture sites. Today on my phone all the ads on my apps are for furniture I viewed it the site I'd never heard of before yesterday. How does that work?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dyz1dd/eli5_how_do_targeted_ads_from_things_youve/
|
{
"a_id": [
"f84a7b4",
"f84amnr"
],
"score": [
7,
4
],
"text": [
"Is your email attached to both devices? Do you have similar accounts between the two? That's how they do it. It's just spamming the devices attached to your accounts.",
"Have you ever logged in to the same account of any site on both devices? That in conjunction with cookies that advertisement networks like AdSense use result in that they know both are used by you.\n\nIf it is an android device you almost certainly have a google account you are logged in with. If log in to google on your computer like to Gmail it is quite clear that the one used the browser and phone is the same individual. If you use chrome on both signed in on your account there is a clear connection."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
3isx32
|
How do we convert potential and kinetic energy into electricity?
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/3isx32/how_do_we_convert_potential_and_kinetic_energy/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cujmdo1"
],
"score": [
7
],
"text": [
"You can spin a magnet (kinetic energy) in a coil of electrically conductive wire and generate an electric current (electricity) through the coil of wire."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
dic37k
|
what is the importance of 7nm processors?
|
I’m usually really on top of things like this (I’m really into new tech and consumer electronics), but I must have gotten lost somewhere. I see a lot of companies like Apple and Microsoft as well as Youtubers like Linus Tech Tips talk about the importance of the introduction of 7nm (or below) processors, but I have no idea why they’re important and what they add to the future of technology. Does it just result in smaller processors? Better performance? Thanks!
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dic37k/eli5_what_is_the_importance_of_7nm_processors/
|
{
"a_id": [
"f3uornz",
"f3uro6l",
"f3xjol3"
],
"score": [
5,
7,
2
],
"text": [
"yes. smaller processors. better performance.\n\nimagine drawing a schematic with a bingo marker. your lines will big and fat and you won't be able to make many wires. now use a sharpie. better lines but still pretty fat. now use a fine tip marker. you're able to make more finer lines than ever before. each of those lines will carry electricity. and you can make the components smaller and less distance and resistance for electricity to travel.",
"it's self explanatory. fit more transistors on a wafer and you can make more chips per wafer (each one becomes cheaper) or you can put more transistors on each chip and thus increase processing power while passively reducing heat production and energy consumption (by means of ykno, smaller transistors that require less power).\n\n\n\nThe term 7nm is a myth, though. It refers to nothing on the transistor itself. 7nm AMD is not the same as 7nm Intel which is not the same as 7nm qualcomm. It's just a corporate simplification to sell shit.",
"Think of a chip as a bunch of wires and gates. The smaller the wires and gates, the less power needed to make the same system work, and the smaller the system can be. This has a couple of perks. \n\nPower does two things - it generates heat, and if the system gets too hot then it stops working. Power also costs money and resources, so smaller chips that use less power are cheaper to run. The speed of light's also finite (though really fast), so smaller chips can run faster (by letting one instruction go through the chip before the next one gets sent). So smaller chips use less power, and/or they can run faster.\n\nAnother side of this is that while the technology being used to make these smaller chips is really difficult to develop and really expensive, once it's done correctly you can put more chips on the same size wafer. This means that it's cheaper to make them, all else being equal. Sometimes it's so much harder to make them that a lot of chips don't work (low yields), which increases the price, but once kinks get worked out there's typically a cost savings.\n\nIf they want to make chips with more wires and gates, which can do more stuff than the old chips, they can do it without taking up more space than the old ones, so they can make more powerful chips in that way as well.\n\nOne issue is how to manage heat - it's easier to get rid of heat from a big chip than from a small chip, so if a small chip is pushed to use more power (and get more performance), then it can be tricky to keep it cool. Another is that once the wires and gates get so small, sometimes they don't work properly - the power starts to jump across wires and gates and it messes up. That's hard to work around."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
2b0c92
|
why am i so hungry since i've stopped smoking weed?
|
I smoked almost daily for about 6 years. On most days I wouldn't eat unless I had smoked earlier. Usually I would only get hungry once or twice every two days. If I tried to eat when I wasn't hungry it felt like I was trying to swallow a mouthful of saltine crackers. Now I haven't been smoking for over 2 weeks and I'm eating so much I feel like I might have tapeworms. Any explanation?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2b0c92/eli5_why_am_i_so_hungry_since_ive_stopped_smoking/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cj0j7jz",
"cj0j8hp"
],
"score": [
5,
3
],
"text": [
"Did you smoke the weed with tobacco?\nIf so, maybe these are the withdrawal symptoms of the nicotine.\nPlease visit a doctor if you have serious concerns.",
"Maybe weed was your pass time and now eating is"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
20tous
|
what's happening with the atoms on a mirror when i step in front of it?
|
I know atoms aren't created, but I have a hard time understanding what's going on at an atomic level when things change in front of a mirror.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20tous/eli5_whats_happening_with_the_atoms_on_a_mirror/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cg6lth6",
"cg6ltus",
"cg6lu8h",
"cg76j7z"
],
"score": [
10,
2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Nothing is happening to the mirror itself. A mirror just bounces photons (light) off of it. If you throw a tennis ball at a wall and it bounces off the wall, the wall hasn't changed at all because the ball bounced off of it.",
"Nothing terribly special is going on at the atomic level; it's simply the normal reflection of light. The molecules in the surface of the mirror are just arranged in such a way that light bounces back without being scattered.",
"Nothing. All surfaces reflect light. The type of light they reflect, how much, and where it goes varies based on chemical composition.\n\nA mirror reflects most light -- the carpet doesnt.",
"Maybe just to be a little explicit about the series of events: The light bulb above your head in your bathroom gives off a spread of white light in all directions, some of that light hits your skin and luscious hair which has some reflectivity, some of THAT reflected light hits the mirror and reflects \"specularly\" and some of that, beleaguered, light finally reaches your eye where your human body has a whole system in place to turn that information into \"sight\"."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
2dhrn2
|
Are there instances of musicians or music playing an instrumental role in the success of a military battle?
|
All of the sudden I remembered a story - whether it's from actual history or a book I read a while ago, I don't remember - where one army ambushed another with music from their homeland, greatly inhibiting their will to fight. Or something along those lines. It might have been in Asia and in a mountain pass. Anywho, what do y'all know about this topic?
Also, not sorry about my usage of "instrumental."
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2dhrn2/are_there_instances_of_musicians_or_music_playing/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cjpn8kt"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"You're thinking of the Battle of Gaixia, the end of the Chu-Han civil(?) war. The Han forces surrounded the Chu, and played Chu music to remind the weary soldiers of their families. The Chinese idiom 四面楚歌 (literally, \"Chu music on all sides\") is now used to indicate being stuck in a terrible situation. \n \nOur source for this is Records of the Grand Historian (史記) by Sima Qian (司馬遷). It is the \"official\" history of China up until that point, so to speak. How reliable a single source can be is of course, up for debate. I am unfamiliar with the historian's opinions of this work, but it has been treated as reliable by centuries of Chinese scholars."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
4g4wc3
|
How much would various medieval items/buildings cost to make/procure in todays money? I.E building a castle, A suit of armor, a sword, chainmail and the padded fabric armors
|
As above do we know how much kingdoms had in comparison to todays money? I.E a knights "Wages" or general wealth right down to a peasant.
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4g4wc3/how_much_would_various_medieval_itemsbuildings/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d2eujpl"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"A few pieces from *The Knight and the Blast Furnace*.\n\nA 9th century Frankish warrior would pay 12 Solidi (an ox was worth about 2 solidi) for his mail armour and another 12 for the rest of his arms (helmet, shield, sword and spear).\n\nAn early 14th century Flemish knight would pay 10-20 pounds (60-120 days wages for a craftsman) for mail armour, depending on length.\n\n15th century plate armour seemed to start at about £5 (about 100 days wages) in England, with better sets costing more (one being priced at £8 6/8d for a 'professional soldier). These are imported from Italy.\n\nPrices varied wildly based on quality. A common soldier's armour in 16th century Spain was only about 5 Florins, but royalty wore armour costing forty times that. At this time an average wage was apparently about 5 florins a month and an ox cost around 15 florins.\n\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
1wkbuw
|
Is there a limit to the amplitude of sound waves?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1wkbuw/is_there_a_limit_to_the_amplitude_of_sound_waves/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cf2sf67",
"cf2udbp",
"cf2xs4p",
"cf362oz"
],
"score": [
38,
512,
5,
2
],
"text": [
"Yes. Sound is a pressure wave, and at high enough pressure a given material with change phase. Gases change to plasma, liquid or solid, for example, depending on the temperature, pressure, and amplitude. For a solid, at high enough pressures it will eventually form neutron-degenerate matter, or even a black hole. Cases like the above will stretch the meaning of \"sound wave,\" in that they can result in highly non-linear behavior that may prevent stable propagation above a certain amplitude. ",
"The determining factor of the \"amplitude\" of a sound wave on Earth is atmospheric pressure. Sound is a longitudinal wave- that is the wave moves along the direction of propagation, like a slinky (an ocean wave is a transverse wave, where the wave motion is perpendicular to the direction of travel). Thus, really a sound wave is low and high pressure patterns. \n\nTherefore, the loudest a sound wave can be on Earth (here talking about being on land) is when the pressure difference goes from a vacuum to 2 atmospheres (to remain averaged out at 1 atmosphere). This means that standing outside, the loudest sound you could hear is [~194 dB](_URL_0_). \n\n**Edit:** In response to a lot of (valid) responses below: yes, there can be shock waves in which have a greater atmospheric pressure difference than 2 atmospheres. I do not classify shock waves as sound waves, but they do produce a sound- which sounds like a single \"crack\" in the air. If this question is not limited to sinusoidal waves (undistorted sound), then the answer is sound much louder than the answer described here. ",
"Another important effect that no one has mentioned yet is dissipation of sound energy into heat, an effect that increases in importance as the amplitude of the sound increases. Sometimes this is called nonlinear dissipation. Because of nonlinear dissipation, there is a limit to how loud sounds can be underwater and still propagate, because if you were to generate a louder sound, the dissipation of sound energy into heat would quickly diminish the sound energy propagating.",
"Sound waves are derived as isentropic fluctuations in pressure. A shock wave from an object going Mach 1 is the weakest pressure fluctuation that is not isentropic across the wavefront. The loudest sound then, is theoretically a limit approaching the tip of a near supersonic object."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_pressure#Examples_of_sound_pressure_and_sound_pressure_levels"
],
[],
[]
] |
||
396zdf
|
Was there notable opposition to allowing James VI to ascend to the English throne
|
Obviously he was the legal heir, but as King of Scotland, there must have been many English who were less than happy! The two countries had gone to war several times over the past centuries, and that even included a border clash during James' reign, as well as a few more in living memory. From what I can find, the passing of the crown to James was orderly and peaceful though. Was there really no serious opposition to this? Or was it just limited to a war of words?
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/396zdf/was_there_notable_opposition_to_allowing_james_vi/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cs0wrht",
"cs19bi1"
],
"score": [
2,
78
],
"text": [
"The main opposition came from English Catholics. The influential exiled Jesuit Robert Persons' popular _Conference about the Next Succession to the Crowne_ (1595) argued in favour of a Catholic successor to Elizabeth. \n\nA few months after James' accession to the English throne, there were two Catholic plots against him.\n\nThe Bye Plot: in June/July 1603 a country squire, Sir Griffin Markham, and a Catholic priest, William Watson, planned to kidnap James in order to force the government to relax anti-Catholic penal laws and the sacking of anti-Catholic ministers James had retained from Elizabeth's government. It collapsed due to internal wrangling and Markham and Watson were executed.\n\nThe Main Plot: Lord Cobham had requested from the Count of Aremberg 600,000 Spanish crowns to finance James' overthrow and his replacement with Arabella Stuart. Sir Walter Ralegh was found guilty of involvement but was not executed and Cobham also was reprieved. Cobham's brother, Henry Brooke, who had disclosed the Main Plot during his trial for his part in the Bye Plot, was executed.\n\nIn southern England there were ordinary people who were convicted for speaking out against James' accession as they believed that a foreigner had no right to be King of England.\n\nHowever the most famous opposition to James came, of course, from the Gunpowder Plotters. These were (again) English Catholics unhappy at a Protestant succession and who desired to restore Catholicism in England by blowing up King and Parliament assembled in 1605. The plotters would then kidnap James' 9 year old daughter Elizabeth and presumably install her as a Catholic Elizabeth II.\n\nSource: _Oxford Dictionary of National Biography_.",
"Right. Allow me to first contextualize the situation relating to the two countries' 'go[ing] to war several times over the past centuries' just to start. You're probably aware of the English kings' claim to feudal overlordship of Scotland which resulted in the Wars of Scottish Independence against Edward I, Edward II, and Edward III. When James IV invaded England in 1513, this was in response, first, to Henry VIII's renewed claim of English overlordship and in response to his obligations vis-à-vis the Auld Alliance since Henry VIII was at that time, at war with France. When the Scots and the English clashed again in 1543-1551, this was due to the 'Rough Wooing' instigated by Henry VIII in his attempt to force a union of the two kingdoms by marrying his son, Edward, to the infant Mary, Queen of Scots.\n\nIt was the English, then, who had, since the thirteenth century at least, a very strong desire for the unification of the entire island of Britain. Whenever the Scots and the English clashed, it was ultimately motivated by the Scottish desire for English recognition of their independence and the equal status of their king to the king of England.\n\nThus, the English couldn't really justify opposition to James's ascension; that is, it allowed them to accomplish that unification that had been such a longstanding political desire and, the political and diplomatic headaches of neighborly hostilities. You mention border clashes during James VI/I's reign and I'm assuming you're referring to the border reivers. One shouldn't look at these as having clear nationalistic motivations as the reivers were just sort of border brigands of both nationalities that raided families on both sides of the border regardless of their victims' nationalities. That is, Scottish reivers were just as likely to raid Scottish villages and towns and English reivers were just as likely to do the same to English villages and towns.\n\nBut onto the actual mechanics of James's English succession. As you know, James VI/I was Elizabeth I's closest royal male relative. His grandmother had been Elizabeth's aunt; in fact, Margaret Tudor was James's great-grandmother twice over - both his mother, Mary, Queen of Scots, and his father, Henry, Lord Darnley, were grandchildren of Margaret Tudor. Mary was the daughter of Margaret's son James by her first husband, James IV, and Henry was the son of Margaret Douglas, who was Margaret Tudor's daughter by her second husband, Archibald Douglas, the sixth earl of Angus. If we want to discuss the legitimacy of James's English descent further, we can talk about the fact that he was also descended from Joan Beaufort who was the great-granddaughter of Edward III of England. In this way, he had a strong blood claim to the throne of England but you are right to suggest that there might have been some legal opposition to the inheritance of the throne by a foreign prince.\n\nSince 1351, there was a statute on the books in England that forbade a foreigner (a monarch not born in England) from inheriting the English crown. Moreover, the succession statute of 1541 failed to name any heir after Elizabeth I and her children (if any). Technically, under the terms of Henry VIII's will, the English crown should have passed to Edward Seymour, viscount Beauchamp, though there were those that argued that the true heir was Lady Anne Stanley whose great-grandmother had been Mary Tudor, the sister of Henry VIII who married, first, the king of France, and then Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk. Moreover, a statute of 1585 stated that if any claimants to the throne of England plotted against the life of Queen Elizabeth, all of their legal rights to that inheritance were forfeited. When Mary, Queen of Scots, was found guilty of involvement with the Catholic assassination plots against Elizabeth I, it followed that her son, James, should have been excluded from inheritance as well. Finally, James VI/I had a cousin - Lady Arbella Stuart - who was another descendant of Margaret Tudor, though Arbella was English-born and therefore exempt from the 1351 statute. There was also the Infanta Isabella of Spain, daughter of Philip II. In 1588, Philip proclaimed that his daughter's descent from Edward III made her the rightful *Catholic* queen of England.\n\nJames's great advantage, then, was the fact that he was a Protestant king with a great deal of experience ruling who had also managed to gain control over both the Scottish Kirk and his often unruly Scottish nobles.\n\nGiven that Scotland was one of the poorest nations in early modern Europe, James VI was always short of cash, which in that age of renaissance princes, was important for the dispensing of patronage to favorites and the furthering of one's magnificence by building palaces and other such projects. In 1586, though, a treaty was signed between Scotland and England and as the result of this treaty, Elizabeth I agreed to pay James an annual subsidy. James received £4000 sterling as his first payment but Elizabeth was wily and had avoided committing herself to any fixed annual sum. Though James received regular payments from England until shortly before the queen's death, it was clear that Elizabeth expected him to 'earn' them and she modified the amount that she paid to him according to how pleased she was with his behavior. Thus, in 1594, James received another £4000 when Elizabeth heard that Huntly and the Catholic earls had received gold from the Spanish to subsidize their rebellion but no payment was made at all in 1587 when Mary, Queen of Scots was found guilty of treason and subsequently executed.\n\nThe English called this payment a 'gratuity' or a 'pension' while the Scots called it an 'annuity', claiming that James VI was entited to an income from his grandmother's estates in England (that grandmother being the mother of his father, Margaret Douglas, Lady Lennox).\n\nBetween 1586 and 1602, James VI received a total of £58,500 sterling from the English treasury and much of it was spent paying off debts in England, buying English goods, paying for a royal guard, financing military action against the Catholic earls in Scotland, and providing gifts for royal favorites. The English subsidy contributed to the unequal relationship between James VI and Elizabeth I. So long as he hoped to succeed the English queen, he had to maintain good relations between the two kingdoms.\n\nIn 1596, James's efforts culminated in the Treaty of Berwick yet it was made clear that he was still expected to 'earn' his subsidy. The money that James received from the English, though, allowed him to support a royal court in Scotland filled with nobles and courtiers who were supportive of his claim to the English throne."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
2pgtd8
|
how do you create a new dog breed in the lapse of a human lifespan?
|
Evolution took millions years to create a wolf, but mankind was able to create doberman in a few years. How is it possible?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2pgtd8/eli5_how_do_you_create_a_new_dog_breed_in_the/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cmwiicl",
"cmwin8q"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"First of all, humans didn't create a doberman out of thin air. The doberman was bred from several existing breeds of dogs:\n\n > The breed is believed to have been created from several different breeds of dogs that had the characteristics that Dobermann was looking for, including the German Pinscher, the Beauceron, the Rottweiler, the Thuringian Sylvan Dog, the Greyhound, the Great Dane, the Weimaraner, the German Shorthaired Pointer, the Manchester Terrier, the Old German Shepherd Dog, the Thuringian Shepherd Dog.\n\nSecondly, dog breeding is a guided process, unlike evolution which is far more random.",
"Biologically, breed and race are more or less the same. You may be confusing your thoughts with species, and therefore be thinking that humanity is one monolith homo sapiens versus the many breeds of dogs. Once this is grasped, you will see that actually us humans have been \"crossbreeding\" quite successfully with each other over time and within one lifespan (for instance, the distinct examples of Latino and Phillipino, though these are also coloured by cultural meanings) and with globalisation and increased contacts among people, well we may be able to \"cross\" a new race somehow... But I would just like to caution at this point that \"race\" has no biological meaning, and with humans, we are far more similar with each other per race, than different than each other as breeds.\n\nMore interestingly, and what I think may appeal to you, is the thought that our species might have been able to mate with other homo genus types in the past - think Neanderthals and Hobbits. That may have given us a great deal more variation in our temperament akin to the breeds of dogs. Unfortunately, we probably killed all our nice cousins in the past to renderb that an impossibility, though I recall a recent article suggesting that modern Europeans and Asians' DNA indiciate evidence of Neanderthal-Human crossings in the long past, so well, maybe some of us have already done that."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
9640we
|
how is it possible for people with anxiety to express physical symptoms like shaking or imagining chest pain that isn't there?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9640we/eli5_how_is_it_possible_for_people_with_anxiety/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e3xml1z",
"e3xmy42"
],
"score": [
5,
22
],
"text": [
"Muscle contractions and just genereal panic, especially if you aren't used to them. \n\nI have mild anxiety for the most part but the one time I had a full on panic attack, I was sure I was having a heart attack and was dying which of course only made it worse. ",
"First off... the physical symptoms are really there. THe cause of those symptoms might be neurological or hormonal, but that doesn't make the experience of them any different than if someone got stabbed in the chest and the body reacted the same way.\n\nSo that hints as to the how... we experience those feelings with our brains, and all the brain bits are interconnected. So if you trigger the bit that says your muscles around your heart are contracting uncomfortably, it really doesn't matter to the person experiencing the pain what triggered the feeling in the first place.\n\nAlso, the same methods are used to decrease the pain for people having an anxiety attack that are used for a person having a heart attack or a stabbing. Calm down, use steady slow breathing, and remove stress from the area."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
5kvnwk
|
why are amino acids in living things "left-handed" in their chirality?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5kvnwk/eli5_why_are_amino_acids_in_living_things/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dbr0ujj"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"We honestly don't know, it's one of the open questions in the field of biology. One possibility is that a supernovae sometime in our planet's past produced radiation with a certain rotation to it, which selectively destroyed right handed amino acids before life even got started here. Since there would have only been left handed ones to work with, that's what proteins are built out of. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
7kzsry
|
How many employees did Pablo Escobar have?
|
When we get to see famous drug lords and other high profiled criminals in movies/series. They were often surrouneded by multiple guards. Was it like that? Guards patrolling roof tops with AK-47's, or was this just Hollywood-style?
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/7kzsry/how_many_employees_did_pablo_escobar_have/
|
{
"a_id": [
"drjb190"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"It's really difficult to pin a number on how many \"employees\" were under Escobar's control due to the nature of the Mendellin (Escobar's organization) and Cali cartels. Although these cartels are what are generally described as \"vertical organizations,\" meaning that the manufacture, and distribution of drugs were all under the control of the cartels themselves, much of the violence within Colombia were contracted out, often to young men in the shantytowns of Colombian cities known as sicarios. \n\nBefore Escobar and the major cartels began to be a huge player in Colombian politics, the country had been in a long period of political violence and instability known as la Violencia (if you have read One Hundred Years of Solitude, the political wars in the novel refer to this period). The generally accepted beginning of la Violencia in 1948, when the Liberal leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitan was assassinated amidst the in-power Conservative Party's fear that they might lose the presidency in the next election due to the economic issues that were occurring under their time in power.\n\nAfter the 1948 assassination, violence in Colombia increased dramatically, and the Liberal Party employed the help of local guerrilla groups and rogue \"bandits,\" often based in the major cities, to help them fight the Conservative military. Although the Liberal Party had used guerrilla groups previously during their rise to power in the 1930s, the guerrilla groups during la Violencia were larger, more structured, and more violent. In 1948 alone, Colombia saw 43,557 deaths. \n\nNot only did the two major political groups engage in extreme violence against one another, but local politicians often hired peasants and poor city-dwellers to carry out violent deeds against political opponents and individuals that they had grudges against. Furthermore, many peasants rose against their hacienda owners, and hacienda owners often incited violence amongst their peasants in order to divert any violence that could end their own economic stature. With the combination of both national and local political violence, Colombia was in shambles, and the death toll from 1948-1953 reached approximately 144,370 bodies.\n\nIn 1953, Army Commander Gustavo Rojas Pinilla lead a military coup against the current conservative president and granted amnesty to the Liberal guerrilla fighters; however, not all of the fighters accepted this amnesty and some fighting between the government and radicalized guerrilla and bandit groups continued into the mid-1950s. By 1957 the majority of political violence had disappeared under the establishment of the bipartisan National Front group, which would alternate between Conservative and Liberal control as an attempt to quell partisan violence and cut off political and economic resources to any guerrilla groups still associated with the Liberal Party. Not all guerrilla groups were eradicated, however, and many communist groups joined together to form the fuerzas armadas revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) in the 1960s.\n\nSo, by the rise of the cartels in the mid-1970s, Colombian violence was often associated with rogue guerrilla and bandit groups that were loosely-affiliated with the major party that they were working for. Thus, it made sense for the cartels to often outsource their violence to individuals that were not officially part of the cartel, and the use of sicarios became especially prominent after 1984, when Pablo Escobar hired two young motorcyclists from the slums of Mendellin to assassinate the Colombian Secretary of Justice, Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, who, at the time, was working with the United States government to extradite Escobar. It is after the assassination of Lara Bonilla that much of the random and chaotic violence associated with the Cartels occurred, as the sicarios offered their services to anyone who could pay their price, whether that be narcotraficantes looking to eliminate a political enemy or a hurt lover looking to eliminate their cheating partner.\n\nSicarios definitely weren't the only individuals involved in cartel violence, as there were many individuals that actually had proper affiliations with the organizations, but a lot of the violence in Colombia during the 1980s can be traced back to these hitmen. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
26anxj
|
Do artificial sweeteners stimulate the brain's reward pathways like sugar does?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/26anxj/do_artificial_sweeteners_stimulate_the_brains/
|
{
"a_id": [
"chqlmyy"
],
"score": [
6
],
"text": [
"Yes and no.\n\nIf you feed an animal saccharine, or sham-feed sucrose (they eat it, but it doesn't make it to the stomach), you'll get a response in the dopamine \"reward pathway.\" Saccharine-water is tasty to animals, and they prefer it to water.\n\nHowever, when it comes to behavior, things get more complicated. Researchers have come up with ways of dissociating taste and the nutritional content of food, such as letting an animal drink a solution with saccharine, then infusing sugar directly into the stomach (or not). In all cases I know of, the nutrition of sugar trumps sweet taste. That is, animals will choose a plain-tasting substance that is associated with infused sugar in the stomach over a sweet-tasting substance with no nutritional content. The exact mechanisms by which this works is an active area of research (including my own).\n\n[This is a paper on the topic that should be accessible directly from the author](_URL_0_). The first two paragraphs are a good review of the subject and provide further reference."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://home.uchicago.edu/jabeeler/Beeler_EJN_taste.pdf"
]
] |
||
5ptusw
|
how can someone find me on reddit without my username?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5ptusw/eli5_how_can_someone_find_me_on_reddit_without_my/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dctsx4y"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Clarification. Given your verb tense, are we to understand that you've been ID'd in some way? That this happened?"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
1r1skg
|
when i breath in is it the air that enters my lung that expands it or is the air entering because i have expanded my lungs by some muscle activity.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1r1skg/eli5_when_i_breath_in_is_it_the_air_that_enters/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cdipe44"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Muscles pull down to expand your lungs, creating a vacuum and pulling air in. When those muscles relax, the lungs collapse back to normal atmospheric pressure and all the bonus air leaves."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
6svtog
|
if uranium is radioactive for millions of years, why do nuclear reactors go through spent rods so quickly?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6svtog/eli5_if_uranium_is_radioactive_for_millions_of/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dlfwtab",
"dlfx0d6",
"dlfymj1",
"dlg8hpy",
"dlg8w9g",
"dlgabpp"
],
"score": [
18,
40,
6,
2,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"Being radioactive is not the same as undergoing fission.\n\nThe fact that it is radioactive means that, over time, it will release some form of radiation and decay to a lower energy state ~~(a neutron in Uranium 235's case)~~. The design of the reactors will slow down any neutrons to a speed where it is likely to be absorbed into the U-235 core which will make it unstable and cause it to undergo fission and be broken up into lighter elements like Iodine and Xenon while releasing more neutrons to continue the chain reaction.\n\nSo, over the life of the fuel, the Uranium is turning into other elements through fission, so the reactors need to be refueled occasionally.\n\nEDIT: Removed the neutron decay part, I forgot that it Alpha decays as /u/osgjps mentioned and the neutron is received from elsewhere in the environment or from fission.",
"think of it like burning wood vs burning cordite(gunpowder). One is a raw material which releases its chemical energy slowly, the other is a well refined, chemically similar product (carbon) which burns very quickly.\n\nUranium decaying naturally releases its energy very slowly. Refined into nuclear fuel it releases its energy much faster (though still in a controllable way, unlike in a nuclear weapon)\n\nWhilst theoretically possible, there is a very low chance of finding naturally-occuring uranium which wouldn't need refinement. Similar to the unlikelihood of finding naturally occurring cordite.\n\nTL:DR, We make the Uranium get \"burnt\" much faster than would happen naturally.",
"As mentioned, fission is a much faster process than radioactive decay.\n\nBut in addition, the nuclear reactors in the world today are almost all based on U-235 and are pressurized water reactors. There are types of reactors that use other fissile isotopes (thorium is the one Reddit seems to love) that are more efficient than U-235.\n\nThe main problem with U-235 reactors is the percentage of U-235 in a fuel rod is low, if it were too high then it'd be more like a bomb.\n\nWhen U-235 splits, you get 2 lower numbered elements that are very radioactive, but aren't fissile. So over time the fuel rods get full of this highly radioactive \"waste\" and no longer produce the energy that we want. That's why they have to be removed.\n\nThere is a process that can take these spent fuel rods and remove the waste and you then have new fuel rods that still have U-235. But it's banned because this process is also how you get plutonium for nuclear weapons.",
"The uranium undergoes fission faster than it would in nature since it is induced by the free neutrons in the reactor. As the fission happens, the daughter products (the sub-atoms that break off from the atom undergoing fission) include what are called \"poisons\". They are generally poisonous to humans but in this sense they suck up neutrons in the reactor without undergoing fission themselves and adding new neutrons back to the party.\n\nWhen a reactor is loaded up with uranium at the beginning of its fuel cycle, it is very carefully calibrated to be \"critical\" when the control rods are removed and when water is in the reactor. This sounds bad but it just means that the rate of fission is steady. If the reactor is \"sub-critical\" in means the rate of fission is declining. \"Supercritical\" means the rate of neutrons is rising. You want it to be as steady as possible since that keeps the system stable and since nuclear reactors can take up to 72 hours to reach a steady state. \n\nWhen a reactor is first refueled, the fuel has fewer neutron poisons in it and more of the atoms that will undego fission. At the start of the cycle (most) reactors have the control rods in a bit. As the neutron poisons build up, keeping the reactor critical becomes harder and they remove the rod a bit to keep it operating in a steady state. This can go on for about 18 months before it is economically necessary to change out the fuel rods.\n\nThis is not an easy task. Most reactors have to be disassembled. And we're talking about enormous heavy structures needing to be moved. Fun fact: ships in the US submarine fleet have fuel that is much more enriched (higher proportion of the \"good\" uranium atoms) and to be refueled about four times a century. To do so they cut the submarine in half and then weld it back together.",
"The radiation isn't what makes a reactor work. \n\nA reactor works by splitting atoms. Radiation is a gradual breakdown process that is completely different. \n\nYou really need to consider the fact that nuclear fuel is extremely energy dense, and when we load a reactor with fuel it lowers over a millions homes for up to 2 years with 1/3rd of its fuel. \n\n_URL_0_\n\nThe decay time has nothing to do with fission. They are different processes. ",
"Radioactive decay takes place over a long time, whereas Induced fission is what takes place in a reactor. It's a forced process. Similar to how composting in a bin is faster than just throwing something out into wild.\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://xkcd.com/1162/"
],
[]
] |
||
375zpq
|
the charlie charlie challenge.
|
I know what it is but try to explain what is happening exactly. Also a rational explanation for this would be cool too
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/375zpq/eli5_the_charlie_charlie_challenge/
|
{
"a_id": [
"crk2s27",
"crk2sx5",
"crkiy39",
"crkqwab"
],
"score": [
12,
11,
22,
10
],
"text": [
"The best explanation I have found is [here](_URL_0_).\n > You’ve probably heard of using a Ouija board to contact spirits, but I bet you haven’t heard of using pencils to have your questions answered by supernatural beings! The Pencil Game, also called “Charlie, Charlie,” is a traditional Mexican ritual wherein players (usually children) are said to contact the spirit of a child named Charlie.\n\n > To play The Pencil Game, you will need six pencils and a partner. Facing each other, each person must hold three pencils and arrange them as three sides of a box, with the open end facing the other person. It is best to use unsharpened pencils, or to hold the tips so that the eraser ends are pointed toward your partner. The ends of your pencils will need to touch your partner’s to form a complete rectangle.\n\n > To begin the game, both players must chant: “Charlie, Charlie, can we play?” If the pencils move inward or up, the answer is yes. If they move outward or down, the answer is no. If one side goes one way and the other side goes a different way, it means maybe or the question can’t be answered at this time. You can then ask the spirit of Charlie yes or no questions, and he will respond by moving the pencils. Charlie is kind of like the spirit world version of a Magic 8 ball. To end the game, both players must chant: “Charlie, Charlie, can we stop?” After the pencils move, both players drop all of the pencils on the floor to break contact with Charlie.",
"Try doing it in a huge room from a far distance from the paper. That's the only thing I suggest trying so far.",
"_URL_0_\n\nHere's an explanation for the Ouija board. I imagine that this is very similar. If you're playing the six pencil game then you're actually moving the pencils yourself.\n\nAs for the version with two pencils in a cross shape, it's just simply someone blowing on it - again not on purpose. Try it yourself, get two pencils on top of each other and see how little effort it takes to blow on one to make it spin. Now imagine 5 or 6 people sitting around scared shitless, holding their breath in anticipation, then one breathes out and bam! Everyone loses their shit. \n\nEdit: Spellngs not so gud",
"If you get it to balance correctly it is *extremely* easy for it to move. The slightest draft will get it to move. That's pretty much it lol "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://pencils.com/pencil-game-charlie-charlie/"
],
[],
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMlj9f4ZOl4"
],
[]
] |
|
46chla
|
What was the favored weapons of Native Americans around the time that the English in the Jamestown colony arrived.
|
And a bit more than just 'bows,' if I may ask?
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/46chla/what_was_the_favored_weapons_of_native_americans/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d04djsc"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"This answer is specifically for the Powhatan in Virginia, rather than Native Americans as a whole:\n\nTo start with the bows, they were made of locust or witch hazel and were nearly as tall as the archer himself. Contemporary illustrations usually, but not always, depict them with a slight recurve, such as in this illustration of [Eiakintomino](_URL_2_), an early Powhatan diplomat to England in 1608. You might notice that the bow appears to have some sort of backing, but colonial records don't mention what that might have been or if that was just an artistic flourish. The arrows, on average, were about 45 inches long, fletched with turkey feathers, and made of wood or reeds. They were tipped with a variety of materials, from simply sharpening the tip of the shaft, to bone, to turkey spurs, to beaks, to stone, depending on what was on hand and what the arrow was intended for. Stone points were generally small and triangular. The hunter kept a tool made from antler hanging on his wrist guard, which he could use to re-sharpen the arrowhead or add a few final touches to a new one while on the move. Powhatan bows were accurate at 40 yards, and while they were considerably less accurate at longer ranges, if they happened to hit you, they were still lethal at 120 yards, assuming you weren’t wearing plate armor. They would penetrate the small wooden shields the English were using at the time, but not the thick bark shields that the Powhatan themselves carried.\n\nMelee weapons include the monacock / monohacan, the tomahawk, and something akin to the ball-headed club. The English often referred to the monacock as “swords,” and there were a few different varieties. The common feature is that they’re flatten batons or clubs with at least one edge sharpened. In [this illustration](_URL_8_) by Robert Beverley, you can see a single-edged monacock labeled as “3.” Some monacocks had stone blades set into them, a bit like the more famous [macuahuitls](_URL_6_) of Mesoamerica. Tomahawks were generally socketed ground stone axes like [this one](_URL_3_). Sometimes the English would use the word tomahawk (which comes from the Powhatan originally) to refer to antler pick-axes as well. Some tomahawks were described as being very long and sharpened at both ends, so their blades might have been more similar to [these earlier Mississippian “spuds”](_URL_7_), through without the flair at the end which is rather specific to that style. Regardless of what style the Powhatan tomahawk actually was, the stone used to make it would have come largely by trade from the west, since the Tsenacommacah (the Virginia Tidewater region) didn’t have ready access to suitable stone. Since they were mostly made from non-local material anyway, they were quickly replaced with iron axes imported from the English. Not much is known about the ball-headed clubs in the area, if they were even in the area at all. There’s a hammer-like weapon mentioned in colonial records that seems suggestive of ball-headed clubs, but they were more common to the north than in the south, with Powhatans straddling the zone in between. They could be [simple in design](_URL_4_) or [more elaborate](_URL_0_) (both examples are modern reproductions, for the record). What sort of ball-headed club the Powhatans might have used is unknown.\n\nFor more information, you’ll probably be interested in Helen Rountree’s [The Powhatan Indians of Virginia: Their Traditional Culture](_URL_1_) and David Jones’ [Native North American Armor, Shields, and Fortifications](_URL_5_)"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://cdn.iofferphoto.com/img3/item/172/529/005/native-american-17th-century-ball-head-war-club-2bdd.jpg",
"https://books.google.com/books?id=klsGAMsg77IC&pg=PA124",
"http://faculty.vassar.edu/robertso/Poca/Eiakintomino1.jpeg",
"http://www.forensicfashion.com/files/1622PowhatanChiefTomahawkVirginiaHistoricalSociety.JPG",
"http://media.liveauctiongroup.net/i/9778/10587522_1.jpg?v=8CDF7FA609D1560",
"https://books.google.com/books?id=Pq0KhfzS4g4C",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macuahuitl",
"http://lithiccastinglab.com/images/spuds5colorfulchertlarge.jpg",
"http://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/beverley/plate-book3-16-1.jpg"
]
] |
|
a4foje
|
why are most holidays in the fall and winter seasons compared to the spring and summer seasons?
|
Doesn’t it make more sense for the distribution of holidays be balanced throughout the year instead having them be clustered in only two seasons?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a4foje/eli5_why_are_most_holidays_in_the_fall_and_winter/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ebdzxsb",
"ebe0pv2",
"ebe26pj"
],
"score": [
14,
5,
3
],
"text": [
"Both of those seasons have a different reason. All of our modern major holidays line up with the old pagan holidays. A few were just thrown in later (looking at you, family day) But most of the established ones have been around for millennia. Autumn has many holidays because of the harvest. Communities wanted to celebrate all of their hard work growing food and such during the year so they threw a big party.\n\nWinter holidays are more of a pick-me-up. Back when people would routinely freeze to death in the middle of winter it was common to get pretty depressed so people would throw a big party to make it easier to get through the winter.",
"in spring, summer and early half of fall, the common people had a lot to do. farming is a 3 season job. Winter, you got nothing to do but stay warm and not die. so more festivals and parties happen because people had more free time. ",
"Major holidays in the US are Easter (Spring), 4th of July (Summer), Halloween (Fall), Thanksgiving (Fall), Christmas (Winter), New Years (Winter). That is fairly evenly spaced. \n\nMinor holidays such as Memorial Day (Spring), St. Patrick's Day (Spring), Cinco De Mayo (Spring), Labor Day (Summer), Veteran's Day (Fall), etc. So they are also fairly well spread once you plot out the dozens of smaller holidays that exist. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
2kh3xw
|
why are headaches the symptoms of so many illnesses?
|
Suddenly thought of this as I lay in my bed with a headache.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2kh3xw/eli5_why_are_headaches_the_symptoms_of_so_many/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cll9c4d"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"Your brain has very specific needs regarding oxygen and sugar in the blood as well as blood pressure, etc. It is more vulnerable when things begin to go wrong than muscles, bones, etc in the rest of the body are.\nNot only is it vulnerable, the brain is important, so we feel pain when things start to go wrong sooner in our head than we do elsewhere.\n\nThis is a big contributing factor to why headaches are so common. The actual causes of a headache are in many cases the same causes that lead to other symptoms. Many sicknesses will cause soreness and muscle cramps. Things like dehydration that cause headaches but aren't traditional \"illnesses\" will ALSO causes soreness and muscle cramps. So there isn't one single thing happening to your body with all illnesses that causes headaches. The head is just the first thing to be affected when pretty much anything goes wrong. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
mkcwe
|
Has there ever been scientifically observed heightened sensory activity in people who are blind/deaf etc.?
|
I was prompted by the blind kitten playing with the ball video to realize that I have always just seemed to nod my head in agreement when hearing that sentiment that blind people have heightened hearing and things of this nature. Has there ever been any example of brain activity observed in people with these circumstances, which an average person wouldn't exhibit?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/mkcwe/has_there_ever_been_scientifically_observed/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c31munw",
"c31munw"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"[Random example of said observation](_URL_0_)",
"[Random example of said observation](_URL_0_)"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://www.cogneurolab.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/Van%20Boven%202000.pdf"
],
[
"http://www.cogneurolab.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/Van%20Boven%202000.pdf"
]
] |
|
2o7nob
|
how does the internal architecture of a cpu effect the speed it can process things?
|
How does a CPUs internals effect how fast it can process code or the commands given it? And the like nm size of it?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2o7nob/eli5_how_does_the_internal_architecture_of_a_cpu/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cmkhwab"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"I'll start with the nm size. At a very basic level, your CPU is built of billions of little switches, grouped together to perform logical functions (AND, OR, NOR etc.). The way these switches are built are basically two pools of electrons, separated by a non-conducting bridge. On top of that bridge is a gate, which is basically a plate of silicon. When they apply a poisitive voltage to that plate, the electrons are dragged into the bridge, and form a channel between the two pools, as they are attracted to the positive voltage, and can't leave the non-conducting bridge. When this channel reaches the other pool, a channel is formed between them, and current can flow, effectively turning the switch on. The nm size references the distance between the two pools, or the length of the bridge. Having a smaller length means two things, a smaller voltage is needed, as less electrons are needed to establish this channel, meaning less power; and more importantly, there is less distance for the channel to cover, meaning that it can appear and disappear quicker, meaning faster ons and offs. \n\nNow depending on how these switches are laid out within the CPU, it determines how your CPU can handle instructions. Basically, the shorter the wire that there is between different logic elements, the faster the signal can travel, because wires are non-ideal have resistance and capacitance, parameters that slow the progress of current through them. If the switches are smaller, and can therefore be placed closer together, there is less wire needed, and the current can travel faster. VLSI designers analyse which operations are used the most, and prioritise the time of those, placing them closer together so they take less time."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
1rzc2a
|
why at a sports game (football, baseball, basketball, etc.) is the away team affected by noise more than the home team?
|
Why does noise play a factor? Would the effect change if the rolls were changed?
Ex: Team A(home team) vs Team B(away team)
Team A has the noise advantage because it's the home team therefore; Team B wont play as well.
So if the rolls were switched
Team B is now the home team and Team A is now the away team.
So now does Team B have the sound advantage because they are the home team?
TL;DR: I'm Stoned.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1rzc2a/eli5_why_at_a_sports_game_football_baseball/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cdsedrt",
"cdseegd",
"cdsf2o7"
],
"score": [
3,
2,
3
],
"text": [
"The fans (ideally) will only be loud when it's advantageous for their team. For instance, in football it's generally considered that the offense needs to communicate a lot more through audibles and the like, so fans will be loud when the opposing team is on offense, quiet when their team is.",
"noise disrupts concentration. imagine taking a free throw and the 50,000 people are screaming their heads off because your team is in their town. now imagine taking that free throw in still silence because the crowd, who is on your side, wants you to focus.\n\nthis applies to various scenarios in different sports.",
"Teams may have difficulty communicating if it is very loud, it can be a moral boost to the team whos fans are cheering and it can be quite intimidating, distracting, and put the pressure on the opposing team. \n\nFor instance last nights Seahawks-Saints, Drew Brees had special ear pieces made for each member of his team so they could better hear each others plays. Noise was such a factor in this instance that they went and spent money to get outside help. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
49xz3m
|
How many dresses did a medieval woman have?
|
How many kirtles, how many gowns? How many chemises? In any station, in any century, in any (European) country. How did a peasant's wardrobe compare to that of a wealthy trader's wife, or a knight's wife, or that of a princess?
Thanks :)
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/49xz3m/how_many_dresses_did_a_medieval_woman_have/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d0w4z28",
"d0w7jtu",
"d0wan53"
],
"score": [
6,
27,
19
],
"text": [
"I think it would really help to be more specific with this question, \"any medieval\" time period and any (presumably European) country and 4 occupations is simply an obscenely broad spectrum to attempt to answer. Perhaps consider a specific time period such as the High Middle Ages and at least a specific region of Europe if not a country/Kingdom. ",
"I'm sorry, but I don't believe this question is answerable. We simply don't have enough extensive wardrobe records left from queens and princesses of this era, let alone peasants, to be able to determine averages for various levels of society. (Edited for clarity.)\n\nWhat we can say is that people would have had much less clothing than they do today. Pre-industrially, cloth production was a more laborious process, which was reflected in the price, and most of the fabric ordinary people wore was made relatively locally. Sewing was, of course, done by hand, and little was sold ready-made. Clothing represented something of an investment, as it cost a proportionally larger amount of one's income compared to today.\n\nIf you want to know about styles of dress or materials available in a particular area, you can probably get a more specific answer.",
"I can't really answer your question directly because it's actually a bit too broad to answer well (\"medieval\" is a term that spans close to 1000 years, by some estimates, and countless countries/kingdoms/states where vast differences existed in climate and access to raw goods, etc). That said, I can recommend the following resources for a very detailed analysis of the \"how many of X articles of clothing\" question for a specific portion dealing with 16th century England.\n\n* *Rich Apparel* by Maria Hayward. Deals with a broader swath of classes than most clothing history books do, but is mainly focused on the middle and upper classes.\n\n* Researcher Drea Leed published a pretty [extensive database of inventories and receipts](_URL_4_) on her website that allow you to search for instances of specific garments. [The Probate database](_URL_3_) is particularly interesting because it deals with the wills of those of more modest means, though again, we're not talking peasants. For instance, in the [probate inventory of Alice Bates](_URL_1_), there's [three entries for gowns](_URL_2_) and [one entry for a smock](_URL_0_), which is a reasonable amount of clothing to assume a woman of modest means might own. \n\nThe question of non-elite women, particularly the so-called peasant class, and what their wardrobes consisted of is extremely hard to answer, because unless they left enough possessions behind to warrant a will, very little in the way of clothing is remarked upon otherwise. \n\nYou do run across references every now and then to descriptions such as \"Mistress Margaret Smythe, who had iij gowns left to her by her sister lately departed\" or \"the miller's wife bequeathed her eldest daughter her best gown, and her best smocke to her daughter-in-law\" (those aren't actual references, fyi, just examples). So, it's reasonable to assume that if a woman had some little means, she probably had at least two gowns -- one for her best wear (for going to church, or other special occasions), and one for her everyday wear. \n\nBut beyond that, it's just difficult to know for sure how many of what garment was the average. As more wills, inventories, and trade receipts are coming online, it's becoming easier to get a pretty good idea of how many gowns a middle class woman might own, or how many pairs of shoes the cordwainer would make in a week, but it's by no means a question that can be answered easily."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[
"http://elizabethancostume.net/cyte/search/node/smock%20synonym%3A1%20books%3A249",
"http://elizabethancostume.net/cyte/node/249",
"http://elizabethancostume.net/cyte/search/node/gown%20books:249%20synonym:1%20resultformat:1",
"http://www.elizabethancostume.net/cyte/node/312",
"http://www.elizabethancostume.net/cyte/"
]
] |
|
7usu1j
|
How effective is the rabies vaccine? Does it confer long-term immunity?
|
Due to conflicting information, I was hoping someone could tell me how effective the rabies vaccine is, and its ability to produce long-term immunity in the recipient.
If a recipient seroconverts, is post-exposure prophylaxis still required?
Thank you
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/7usu1j/how_effective_is_the_rabies_vaccine_does_it/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dtocox3",
"dtourkp"
],
"score": [
3,
3
],
"text": [
"Not all vaccines are protective, some just slow the progression or reduce the signs to reduce transmission or to reduce morbidity/mortality. \n\nRabies is sort of like that. The vaccine does result in serum antibody; however do to the lethality of rabies and studies on the vaccine in animals it’s generally not considered 100% protective, so you still need post-exposure prophylaxis. \n\nHowever, if you’re vaccinated your PEP protocol is less involved. PEP for those not vaccinated is currently Human Rabies Immunoglobin and Vaccination after exposure, then vaccines on day 3, 7, and 14 after that. If you’re vaccinated you get a vaccine after exposure and 3 days later.\n\nI’m currently vaccinated, and you’re supposed to get titers checked every two years. Anecdotally I know other people who have their titers checked and levels remain high for years, so it probably generally lasts awhile. ",
"It does confer long-term immunity but based on the \"strength\" of your immune system, but your immunity may wane over time. That said, my rabies vaccination was 10 years ago and my latest titer was still sufficient. \n\nPost exposure vaccination is still required whether you have the vaccine or not as the vaccine is not 100% effective at preventing rabies, the vaccine just makes the post-exposure experience easier to recover from. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
5szjc8
|
What did pirates and imperial naval armies do for sun block? Surely skin cancer was rife?
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/5szjc8/what_did_pirates_and_imperial_naval_armies_do_for/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ddj8uus"
],
"score": [
13
],
"text": [
"This has been asked a couple of times before, but the short answer is that most sailors would have worn clothes that covered nearly all their body, even in tropical latitudes, including broad-brimmed hats. Their feet and hands would have been bare, and certainly their faces would have tanned fairly deeply, but for the most part their working clothes kept them covered and served as sunblock. For cases of sunburn, slush or grease could be made into an ointment that would provide at least a bit of relief. \nHere's a previous thread on the issue of sunblock: \n\n_URL_3_\n\nand one with a nice answer from u/kentonj about cancer specifically: \n\n_URL_5_\n\n**EDIT:** I'm actually going to drop in here a response to a follow up from that top thread, about what sailors wore: \n\n > Depends a bit on what your average pop culture perception is, but if you mean generally the image of pirates in billowy sleeves and striped pants, that has at least some basis in reality. /u/davidaop may be able to speak more specifically to pirate dress, but the major inaccuracies in say *Pirates of the Caribbean* tend to be the boots. Sailors worked barefoot, and when on land had a tendency toward cute little pumps with bows or buckles, not boots. \n\n > Check this out for more on sailor clothes and how the sailor suit developed: _URL_2_\n\n > [This is an image](_URL_4_) of the wounding of Horatio Nelson during Trafalgar -- it's not the most accurate depiction of the battle (the boats would be towing overboard, nasty tendency to turn into splinters if hit) but you can see a wide variety of dress among the ordinary sailors, as well as officers in blue coats and Marines in red. [This is a sailor from the 1820s](_URL_0_), so obviously later than the GAOP, but wearing shore-going rig including those cute little pumps, as is [this petty officer](_URL_1_)."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://imageweb-cdn.magnoliasoft.net/nmm/supersize/pw3734.jpg",
"http://imageweb-cdn.magnoliasoft.net/nmm/supersize/pw4195.jpg",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2pdr6j/how_did_the_sailor_suit_develop/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/36dyap/how_did_sailors_in_the_golden_age_of_piracy_deal/",
"http://www.keithmercer.com/uploads/1/7/6/7/17679083/1196085_orig.jpg?665",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2ag51b/did_sailors_back_in_the_day_say_mid1700s_have/ciut7uw/"
]
] |
||
1csd8d
|
What is the cumulative difference in time between Earth and either voyager spacecraft?
|
Both craft have been under different amounts of gravity than what is present on earth. If we compared atomic clocks between earth and either voyager craft, how much would time differ between them?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1csd8d/what_is_the_cumulative_difference_in_time_between/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c9jk0rs"
],
"score": [
8
],
"text": [
"[This](_URL_0_) is a related past discussion.\n\n[This](_URL_1_) has some math to give a general idea of how much time dilation the Voyager probes will have experienced.\n\nVoyager I's been travelling for about 35.5 years at about 57,500 km/h, which gives a time dilation ratio of about 0.9999999985778. So that 35.5 years has been 35.4999999495119 for Voyager, which I think comes out to a difference of about 1.6 seconds."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/gxhpw/do_the_voyager_spacecraft_experience_time/",
"http://www.emc2-explained.info/Time-Dilation-at-Low-Speeds/index.htm#.UXO9lrX_l8E"
]
] |
|
fh8kqc
|
The American Civil War is Usually Thought of as Kin vs Kin, Brother vs Brother, Why Don't We Hear This Aspect of other Civil Wars?
|
I can understand a lot of wars back before the formation of nation-states/feudalism having a lot of kin vs kin and the reason why it isn't really covered. These cadet branches kinda hated each other.
Later, after feudalism, we see the start of nation-states and I can imagine officers during the Austro-Prussian Wars/Wars of German Unification knowing each other. I can also see the Russian Revolution also have families split up. We don't hear this aspect of other Civil Wars, while it's played up during the American Civil War.
We all read how sad and how much the generals were when they realised they were fighting old friends. I assume that other Civil Wars must have their stories like this.
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/fh8kqc/the_american_civil_war_is_usually_thought_of_as/
|
{
"a_id": [
"fk9wx22"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
" > We don't hear this aspect of other Civil Wars\n\nWe do hear about this for other civil wars. A brief superficial basic-facts-only coverage might well not include it, but a more detailed treatment often will. For example, one can read about this in the English Civil War, and in the Thirty Years War. Notably, in the Thirty Years War, some families deliberately supported both sides, partly to make sure that they supported the winning side, partly to protect the loss of family lands to the Emperor (for supporting the other side), partly for ideological reasons, and partly for money or rank.\n\nMoving to the 20th century, the Spanish Civil War and the Finnish Civil War were noted for brother vs brother (and one of the Finnish names used for the civil war is \"veljessota\", \"brother's war\"). Brother vs brother has appeared in popular culture for some civil wars, such as the Greek Civil War (the movie *Deep Soul* (2009) (Ψυχή Βαθιά)) and the almost-civil-war Korean War (*Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War* (2004)), both of which feature brothers on both sides of the war."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
8gl0u7
|
Machiavelli. Anybody enjoy talking about "the Prince" and its author? I'm eager to hear from someone who loves the political figure or hates how he's been inaccurately represented.
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/8gl0u7/machiavelli_anybody_enjoy_talking_about_the/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dyclogn",
"dyk6w3m"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Sorry, your question was removed for being out of scope here. From our rules: \n\n > Submissions to /r/AskHistorians must be either:\n\n > * A **question** about the human past\n\n > * A **meta post** about the state of the subreddit. Anyone may start a meta post, but please [check with the moderators](_URL_0_) if you aren't sure you're using the label correctly. Short questions (e.g. clarification of moderation policy) that don't require discussion are better sent to the mods directly.\n\n > * An **AMA** (\"Ask Me Anything\") with a historical expert or panel of experts. These should be arranged with the moderators beforehand – please [message us](_URL_0_) if you're interested.\n\n > The moderators also post weekly [feature posts](_URL_1_) on a variety of themes. \n\n\nThanks!",
"Hi there -- I saw in [your recent post](_URL_0_) that there was some confusion over why this question was removed. Specifically:\n\n > Even when I posted a question wanting to know about Machiavelli,(no crazy theories included) it was removed because it somehow didn't fit into the guideline of \"you must post about a real human in the past\". Are they saying he wasn't real?\n\nNo, that's not at all why your post was removed. The issue is that in this post, there isn't actually a question in it. AskHistorians is not a subreddit for *discussion* but one for questions and answers about history -- so if you had simply asked \"is 'keep your friends close an enemies closer' a real question from Machiavelli? Is it in line with his political philosophy?\" that would have been fine. \n\nIf you're confused about whether a question fits here or not, or by a removal reason, you can always reply in the thread or send the mod-team a mod-mail to get some clarification. Hope this helps. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FAskHistorians",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/features"
],
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/8hg8ei/can_i_ask_in_hopes_not_to_offend_about_major/?st=JGV4QQOW&sh=4542b545"
]
] |
||
qjdl6
|
How authoritarian Central Asian regimes have managed to maintain power since the 1990s
|
Basically, how dictators in countries such as Uzbekistan, Kazahkstan, and (until more recently) Kyrgyzstan, have managed to stay in power since the collapse of the USSR.
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/qjdl6/how_authoritarian_central_asian_regimes_have/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c3y4coo",
"c3y99rl"
],
"score": [
2,
4
],
"text": [
"I don't see anyone really commenting, so I'm just going to throw out an opinion here (informed opinion, but still - an opinion).\n\nNobody gives a shit.\n\nCountries that have minimal natural resources, that are not actively at war, that are poor and in a corner of the world that nobody in the English-speaking world cares about... these places just get forgotten. Central Asia is Russia and China's playground, and they are content with the status-quo here.",
"The Central Asian countries are pretty much the epitome of what I like to think of as \"modern dictators.\" Formerly, dictators relied on ideology to stay in power--either communism or anti-communism, for example. The Central Asian dictators rely on extensive networks of patronage and corruption. These networks (which extend to the lowest reaches of society, which is why the public sector of such countries is so bloated) are in turn funded by both the massive resource wealth in the region--Kazakhstan has extensive fuel deposits, as well as enormous mineral wealth, for example--and the \"aid\" given by foreign countries. This aid is freely given because the Central Asian countries occupy an extremely strategic location, and is of great interest to Russia, China, and the US. Their rule is also tinged with nationalism, of course\n\nYour instincts are good on this. Obama has initiated a much ballyhooed \"pivot\" in his foreign policy towards Asia. This will necessarily involve much deeper interaction with the Central Asian states."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
3id7pw
|
How are all of the fossil fuels condensed into certain large areas around the world and not small pools everywhere?
|
It's like all of the organisms died in one spot. Not sure if I got my question across well enough.
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/3id7pw/how_are_all_of_the_fossil_fuels_condensed_into/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cufissr"
],
"score": [
9
],
"text": [
"Simplistically speaking, it's because organisms did die in one spot (or a few spots, rather).\n\nTo be more precise - there are tiny pools of oil all over. What we extract is the economically viable ones - the places where there's a relatively large volume in a relatively easy-to-extract situation. Why is it not uniform around the globe? Because life forms haven't been distributed uniformly around the globe. Consider the amount of organic matter in, say, the Amazon Rainforest vs. the Arizona desert. If the two convert to oil at an equal rate, the Amazon is going to turn into a really big oil deposit, whereas Arizona is going to be a nearly useless oil deposit.\n\nThere are also details about how the geological circumstances of an area influenced oil creation - some circumstances are very conducive to conversion of organic matter to oil, some circumstances aren't."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
1gdtcf
|
Why does peanut butter turn whitish under water?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1gdtcf/why_does_peanut_butter_turn_whitish_under_water/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cajdlnc"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"The oil in the peanut butter is hydrophobic, and thus thin layers of water and oxygen form on the surface where the water gets repelled. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
7x9euz
|
Is it seen as acceptable for historians to describe historical relationships between men and boys as homosexual or gay?
|
I notice a number of historians describing Greek or Roman relationships as homosexuality. Hadrian for example often seems to be described as simply gay. I can't help thinking that these same historians would frown on describing relationships with boys as a facet of homosexuality. Is there another term in use? I know pederasty was used before. Is this more accurate or still used?
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/7x9euz/is_it_seen_as_acceptable_for_historians_to/
|
{
"a_id": [
"du6i9la"
],
"score": [
19
],
"text": [
"There's a lot of contention about whether it's even acceptable to describe historical relationships between adult men (or, I guess, same-aged boys) as gay or homosexual. or whether those terms are anachronistic/ahistorical/imprecise. This isn't something you're likely to get one answer on. For me, I balk at authors identifying men who had sexual relationships with boys as \"homosexuals\" -- those relationships are homosexual in the adjectival sense that they're between individuals of the same sex, but there's almost always a better term that doesn't conjure associations with 19th and 20th century homosexual identity or modern gay identity, or conflate sexual relations between adults with sexual relations between men and children. The terminology of pederasty is still used, especially in a Classical context, but my personal preference is for either historical identifying terms (whether that's \"pederasty\", \"sodomy\" with a qualifier making clear *which* kind of sodomy the author means, since the term encompasses a lot at different times and in different places, or something else) or descriptive language that echoes the way such relationships were described by contemporary authors. \n\nHadrian is an unusual case -- there are a number of same-gender relationships (real and fictional) from antiquity that don't necessarily bear a resemblance to modern gay identities/relationships but that were historically considered part of the history and heritage of same-gender love and relationships. In light of that, I'd say Hadrian and *especially* Antinous have a place in \"gay history\", but as a 21st century gay scholar I would criticize any serious academic author who put a heavy stress on describing both men in a historical context as \"gay men\" or \"homosexuals\". "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
2m3m9t
|
how can lego and other animated movies that i see all over netflix use spiderman and other characters in their films with the avengers characters when it's a "rights" issue for live action films?
|
If I'm not mistaken, Sony owns the rights to Spiderman/X-Men properties while Disney owns the other Avengers characters...which is why we won't see them together on the big screen.
So what makes it ok for these animated, particularly Lego, films to do what many of us want to see in the live action blockbusters?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2m3m9t/eli5_how_can_lego_and_other_animated_movies_that/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cm0mozg",
"cm0n2o5",
"cm0pnah"
],
"score": [
6,
23,
5
],
"text": [
"Because Marvel didn't sell the animation rights to Sony. I am sure they would have, if Sony was willing to pay for it. But Sony just wanted to make live action Spiderman movies. Same for Fox and X-Men.\n\n",
"Because it's not a matter of ownership, it's a matter of licensing. Disney/Marvel \"owns\" the rights, and they license them out to various entities that allow them to do various things. Licensing out the rights doesn't give the other person absolute right to do anything they want, nor does it prevent other people from also getting rights to do stuff.\n\nThough they are referencing characters from the Marvel universe, the LEGO Characters are very much novel creations as are those in the Super Squad Universe and other animated series. Lego worked out a deal with Marvel to create the LEGO versions of the characters and no doubt part of that agreement was to be allowed to create games and animation based on them as well.",
"Each medium has a separate set of rights, as agreed upon in the contracts. In this case, Marvel sold live action movie rights. They did not sell animation rights, book rights, action figure rights, ownership rights, comic rights, etc... Otherwise, Sony would be printing the Spider-Man comics also.\n\nThe contract would look like a much wordier and lengthier legal jargon version of:\n\"In exchange for one hundred billion dollars, Sony can make live-action Spider-Man movies. If Sony ever goes 10 years without making a Spider-Man movie, they lose these rights.\"\n\nTo make matters more interesting, sometimes they sell PIECES of characters... For example, Smallville ran into issues because they had the rights to \"Clark Kent\" but not to Superman. So as Clark Kent aged and became public knowledge, you had \"The Red-Blue Blur\" in the Metropolis media, not \"Superman.\"\n\nYou will also see supporting cast get broken up sometimes... Like a main character will be in a show, but not the sidekick or love interest or villain. \n\nLastly, back to Marvel, another current issue they are dealing with: They sold the X-Men and all things \"mutant\" to Fox, but specifically held on to all members of the Avengers before a certain date in the contract. So who owns the movie rights for Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch? They are both mutants, but also both on the Avengers roster... So the answer: They both do. In the X-Movies, they can appear as mutants... In the Avengers movies, they can appear as not-mutants. So we are actually going to have different versions of the SAME characters in the movie world. Totally different versions of Quicksilver, for example, with totally different back stories.\n\nRights can be very interesting.\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
2qwwg7
|
How are "itch" and "pain" perceived differently?
|
It dawned on me after a furious bout of itching / scratching that something must be either wired across the same nerves or overlapping in similar centers of the brain. Normally, scratching a bit of skin until it bled would be immediately painful, but when a severe itch strikes, it's possible to scratch away, receiving nothing but immediate pleasure sensations.
Why does this happen?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2qwwg7/how_are_itch_and_pain_perceived_differently/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cnaowll"
],
"score": [
9
],
"text": [
"Both pain and itch sensation use the same pathway and are processed in the same center(primary somatosensory cortex). The scratch response and withdrawal response are also processed by the same pre-motor and supplementary cortices.The differences between pain and itch processing do not result from activation of distinct brain centers, but occur due to a different activation pattern of basically identical centers.\n\nFor example, itch processing may be characterized by weaker activation of primary and secondary somatosensory cortices but relatively stronger activation of ipsilateral motor areas and anterior cingulate compared with pain sensation.\n\nThis article gives a basic idea about the differences:\n_URL_0_"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1451220/"
]
] |
|
fsnyit
|
how do you determine the terminal velocity of oddly shaped objects?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fsnyit/eli5_how_do_you_determine_the_terminal_velocity/
|
{
"a_id": [
"fm2hoej",
"fm2i6od"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"It is very difficult to compute, requiring a supercomputer or more commonly simply using a wind tunnel to directly measure. Turbulence of air or other fluids are not simple to figure out.",
"You drop 'em. Or you put them in an apparatus that simulates dropping them, such as a wind tunnel. If you want to find the terminal velocity of any real world object with accuracy, that's how you do it."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
7y9byv
|
What enabled the British to defeat the Marathas so easily during the second Anglo Maratha war, despite being heavily outnumbered in almost every battle??
|
Many of these battles are extremely scarce on details on the battles themselves which is frustrating
One example is Assaye in 1804 where the British being outnumbered 3:1 and the Indians having FAR more artillery pieces on hand to bombard the British, were able to rout he Marathas from the field.
Another is Argaon where the British were once again heavily outnumbered but somehow claimed victory
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/7y9byv/what_enabled_the_british_to_defeat_the_marathas/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dufbrov"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"When you strip back the raw numbers and start looking at quality of the troops on both sides in conflicts between company forces and Indian armies they are roughly similar. At Assaye the Marathas had 10,000 infantry trained in the European style of warfare. The company had 9000. The rest of the Maratha army was made up 10-20 thousand of irregular infantry, largely armed with melee weapons with no command and control. The cavalry was 30-40 thousand strong but again no training or organisation.\n\nIn this period morale was the key factor in victory. Napoleon said \"In war, three-quarters turns on personal character and relations; the balance of manpower and materials counts only for the remaining quarter.\" The company army had developed a reputation for winning and paying their troops regularly. Company armies were confident of victory, well trained, well supplied and regularly paid. Maratha armies were the opposite. Fundamentally when company infantry attacked the Maratha line, the Marathas would break. Company lead regiments would take heavy losses in the approach but when in musket range the whole line collapse. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
5xgx1a
|
Which period of time were people most promiscuous?
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/5xgx1a/which_period_of_time_were_people_most_promiscuous/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dehysk8"
],
"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_)."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"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"
]
] |
||
jng9g
|
If I fell from a plane and reached terminal velocity over a large body of water, is there any position and/or angle at which I should try to hit water so as to increase my chances for survival?
|
Answers not time sensitive.
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/jng9g/if_i_fell_from_a_plane_and_reached_terminal/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c2dk9ev",
"c2dkifq",
"c2dklve",
"c2dkr0h",
"c2dkrc4",
"c2dkrq9",
"c2dks2g",
"c2dksdr",
"c2dkshk",
"c2dku1j",
"c2dl39k",
"c2dl3zb",
"c2dl6pe",
"c2dlbeu",
"c2dlc2o",
"c2dljuk",
"c2dlk9m",
"c2dm254",
"c2dmbgz",
"c2dmnsl",
"c2dmtxs",
"c2dn6qo",
"c2dnulr",
"c2dopyq",
"c2dk9ev",
"c2dkifq",
"c2dklve",
"c2dkr0h",
"c2dkrc4",
"c2dkrq9",
"c2dks2g",
"c2dksdr",
"c2dkshk",
"c2dku1j",
"c2dl39k",
"c2dl3zb",
"c2dl6pe",
"c2dlbeu",
"c2dlc2o",
"c2dljuk",
"c2dlk9m",
"c2dm254",
"c2dmbgz",
"c2dmnsl",
"c2dmtxs",
"c2dn6qo",
"c2dnulr",
"c2dopyq"
],
"score": [
39,
184,
82,
3,
15,
2,
4,
6,
82,
192,
156,
3,
3,
3,
11,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
3,
11,
2,
3,
39,
184,
82,
3,
15,
2,
4,
6,
82,
192,
156,
3,
3,
3,
11,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
3,
11,
2,
3
],
"text": [
"As I recall, they did something like this on Mythbusters. The conclusion was that you're toast no matter what.",
"The only position I can think of that may help you is being snugly attached to a functioning and deployed parachute. ",
"Layman here, but I'll throw this out here.\n\nHere's the thing: Terminal velocity of normal sky diving is about 120mph roughly. If you go feet first, it's about 210mph.\n\nLet's say you're in a car, and going 120, and hit a brick wall 100+yards thick. It's not likely you're going to survive, the car will crumple like a tin can.\n\nNow lets say you're not in car, still traveling at 100mph. Water basically acts as a solid when hit hard enough (and you will be hitting it hard enough). You will splatter when you hit that wall.\n\nHitting water maybe won't cause you to splatter, but everything in you're body will shatter and be anhilated. You won't be recognizable in the least bit, and will probably die instantaneously.\n\nLet's not forget the amount of g forces that would be acting on your body when you hit, and as you slowed down.\n\nNow if you were falling from around 50 ft or so, go feet first. You're legs might break, but you're organs will survive, and you could probably stay afloat with just your arms until you're rescued.\n\nEDIT: [Source](_URL_0_) for speed.\n\nAlso, now that I think about it...maybe after a 50ft fall you're legs won't break...but for any height someone would normally fall from into water, go feet first.",
"To complicate / append the OP's question: what if you can position something to hit first and break the water's surface tension:\n\nA) Would that do enough to make the impact less like a solid?\n\nB) Would it need an item above some mass and/or velocity, or just anything that hits first to disrupt the tension?\n\nC) Assuming this could even theoretically work, about how well would you have to time it before the surface tension re-established itself into it's famed \"like concrete at high speeds\" state?",
"I think the idea is to spread your body out as you're falling so that air resistance slows you down as much you can get it to. \n\nThen, as late as you dare, shape your body vertically straight, use one hand to close your nostrils with your elbow tight against your body, your other arm should be straight against the side of your body. It maybe a good idea to make a fist as you don't want to risk the water forcing your fingers outwards and breaking them. Your legs should be straight, tightly together with toes pointed down. You're supposed to be as sharp and pointy as possible.\n\nA second after your head is below the water, spread arms and legs out again to increase resistance so you don't go deeper and deeper into the water. Block out the pain and start kicking as hard as you can. Remember to take a huge deep breath and try to stay calm before hitting the water (easier said than done obviously) because you don't want your heart pumping wildly and using all the oxygen in your lungs before you have time to come back up from the water. You need that oxygen for the muscle in your legs when you start kicking.\n\nAlso, use your clothes to create drag when falling but take off all your clothes but your boxers before you make your body vertically straight.\n\nSource: I just worked it out as I was typing. I've never been skydiving.",
"I read a nice little info graphic a while back about surfing the debris of a plane that's been torn apart mid flight. I don't know how accurate it was, but it was interesting to read none the less. It basically informed you how to survive a plane wreck.\n\nIf anyone can find it for me, I would appreciate it :)",
"I think the best way is to land feet first, but not straight up and down like a pencil. You should be leaning back slightly so your feet hit first and crumple, then you kinda roll backwards with your butt hitting next, then your back, then your head. You also want to relax all your muscles just before impact so there's less stress on your bones.\n\nEdit: Actually, [according to this](_URL_0_) you *should* do the pencil.",
"I actually know a pretty good answer to this. I found it on Wikipedia when I was reading about suicides on the Golden Gate Bridge.\n\n_URL_0_\n\n > The fatality rate of jumping is roughly 98%. As of 2006, only 26 people are known to have survived the jump. Those who do survive strike the water feet-first and at a slight angle, although individuals may still sustain broken bones or internal injuries. ",
"Similar questions has been asked many times before...\n\n_URL_3_\n\n_URL_4_\n\n_URL_2_\n\n_URL_0_\n\n_URL_1_\n\nThe reason this is such a common question eludes me.",
"Follow up question, based on an absurd idea I had recently - what if you jumped out on top of a [massive wedge](_URL_0_)?\n\nAssuming no wind, rigid construction, perfectly perpendicular landing, etc., how long would this sea spike have to be break the surface tension of the water and convey me safely into the abyss?\n\nOr better yet, assume the sea spike is positively buoyant. I want to jump out of a plane with my sea spike, but I don't want to get wet. As the sea spike enters the water, I want to gently decelerate until stopping with my feet approximately 10 feet above water. ",
"This is probably the worst set of response I've ever seen in askscience.\n\nYes you probably could survive:\n\n > In 1963, U.S. Marine pilot Cliff Judkins's chute didn't open after he bailed out of his crippled fighter. He fell 15,000 feet into the Pacific, suffered numerous broken bones and a collapsed lung, but lived.\n\nfrom _URL_0_\n\nEDIT: yay the responses all got better",
"I seem to recall from one of those survival books, the best way is feet first and to protect your balls with you hands (if you have them).",
"A better question will be what is the minimal amount of material to create enough drag to lower your terminal velocity to a survivable speed. ",
"[Nicholas Alkemade fell from 18,000 feet and survived in WW2](_URL_0_), so hope that you're close enough to land that you can fall on a snow covered pine tree. ",
" > ********[***YSK How to survive a long fall without a parachute.***](_URL_0_)********\n\nGeneral info on surviving freefalls, water-specific info towards the bottom (funny, because anything water-related should be kept away from your bottom).",
"Have as much surface area as possible on the downfall, then feet first!!!",
"Your survival rate is much higher (historically) hitting solid ground rather than water. The surface tension is likely to kill you instantly.\n\nYour best bet, I imagine, is to fall on to a freshly grated, moist, farm field. In that case I've heard that it is best to relax your body and enter a posture like you are about to sit down into a chair right before impact. The logic here is that you sacrifice your legs as a shock-absorber to protect you spine, internal organs and head.\n\nDISCLAIMER: I am drunk and by no means an expert outside of the field of software and computing.",
"Terminal velocity impact will be fatal, so I'd go for the head down arms back arrow position. You could go for the foot first arrow but you'll still be dead. You could try and slow your descent by splaying your body to the wind and at the last moment change to the foot down arrow. But if you survive life's gonna suck after. ",
"You might enjoy reading [How to Fall 35,000 Feet—And Survive](_URL_0_). The answer is to avoid the water.",
"Point your toes and make like a needle.",
"I'm actually fairly interested in the math behind this. I have some experience behind the mathematics of Newtonian mechanics, but don't know much about the math of fluids. I looked up viscosity and found that Dynamic Viscosity is measured as pascal seconds which is kg/(m*s) and Kinematic Viscosity is measured as m^2/s. Which would be used in this circumstance. I'd venture to guess it would be Kinematic viscosity since Dynamic Viscosity seems to have something to do with a fluid between to rigid plates. I'd also imagine that the other factors relevant would be the change in surface area/second of the person falling at the moment they break the surface tension of the water and the force of viscosity starts to apply. Also, while an a very detailed answer would be appreciated, I'm also kind of interested in just being pointed in the right direction and being able to figure it using Socratic method. Thanks in advance for any responses.",
"If you're interested in research and actual data, the [FAA](_URL_0_) has released a report detailing cases where people have survived long falls into water. ",
"I read somewhere that you should try and position yourself in a slightly extended fetal position (arms protecting head) and legs extended but slightly bent.\n\nYou should also clench your asscheeks and probably hold your nose closed to avoid water surging...places\n\nbrb looking for source",
"I just leave this here.\n_URL_0_",
"As I recall, they did something like this on Mythbusters. The conclusion was that you're toast no matter what.",
"The only position I can think of that may help you is being snugly attached to a functioning and deployed parachute. ",
"Layman here, but I'll throw this out here.\n\nHere's the thing: Terminal velocity of normal sky diving is about 120mph roughly. If you go feet first, it's about 210mph.\n\nLet's say you're in a car, and going 120, and hit a brick wall 100+yards thick. It's not likely you're going to survive, the car will crumple like a tin can.\n\nNow lets say you're not in car, still traveling at 100mph. Water basically acts as a solid when hit hard enough (and you will be hitting it hard enough). You will splatter when you hit that wall.\n\nHitting water maybe won't cause you to splatter, but everything in you're body will shatter and be anhilated. You won't be recognizable in the least bit, and will probably die instantaneously.\n\nLet's not forget the amount of g forces that would be acting on your body when you hit, and as you slowed down.\n\nNow if you were falling from around 50 ft or so, go feet first. You're legs might break, but you're organs will survive, and you could probably stay afloat with just your arms until you're rescued.\n\nEDIT: [Source](_URL_0_) for speed.\n\nAlso, now that I think about it...maybe after a 50ft fall you're legs won't break...but for any height someone would normally fall from into water, go feet first.",
"To complicate / append the OP's question: what if you can position something to hit first and break the water's surface tension:\n\nA) Would that do enough to make the impact less like a solid?\n\nB) Would it need an item above some mass and/or velocity, or just anything that hits first to disrupt the tension?\n\nC) Assuming this could even theoretically work, about how well would you have to time it before the surface tension re-established itself into it's famed \"like concrete at high speeds\" state?",
"I think the idea is to spread your body out as you're falling so that air resistance slows you down as much you can get it to. \n\nThen, as late as you dare, shape your body vertically straight, use one hand to close your nostrils with your elbow tight against your body, your other arm should be straight against the side of your body. It maybe a good idea to make a fist as you don't want to risk the water forcing your fingers outwards and breaking them. Your legs should be straight, tightly together with toes pointed down. You're supposed to be as sharp and pointy as possible.\n\nA second after your head is below the water, spread arms and legs out again to increase resistance so you don't go deeper and deeper into the water. Block out the pain and start kicking as hard as you can. Remember to take a huge deep breath and try to stay calm before hitting the water (easier said than done obviously) because you don't want your heart pumping wildly and using all the oxygen in your lungs before you have time to come back up from the water. You need that oxygen for the muscle in your legs when you start kicking.\n\nAlso, use your clothes to create drag when falling but take off all your clothes but your boxers before you make your body vertically straight.\n\nSource: I just worked it out as I was typing. I've never been skydiving.",
"I read a nice little info graphic a while back about surfing the debris of a plane that's been torn apart mid flight. I don't know how accurate it was, but it was interesting to read none the less. It basically informed you how to survive a plane wreck.\n\nIf anyone can find it for me, I would appreciate it :)",
"I think the best way is to land feet first, but not straight up and down like a pencil. You should be leaning back slightly so your feet hit first and crumple, then you kinda roll backwards with your butt hitting next, then your back, then your head. You also want to relax all your muscles just before impact so there's less stress on your bones.\n\nEdit: Actually, [according to this](_URL_0_) you *should* do the pencil.",
"I actually know a pretty good answer to this. I found it on Wikipedia when I was reading about suicides on the Golden Gate Bridge.\n\n_URL_0_\n\n > The fatality rate of jumping is roughly 98%. As of 2006, only 26 people are known to have survived the jump. Those who do survive strike the water feet-first and at a slight angle, although individuals may still sustain broken bones or internal injuries. ",
"Similar questions has been asked many times before...\n\n_URL_3_\n\n_URL_4_\n\n_URL_2_\n\n_URL_0_\n\n_URL_1_\n\nThe reason this is such a common question eludes me.",
"Follow up question, based on an absurd idea I had recently - what if you jumped out on top of a [massive wedge](_URL_0_)?\n\nAssuming no wind, rigid construction, perfectly perpendicular landing, etc., how long would this sea spike have to be break the surface tension of the water and convey me safely into the abyss?\n\nOr better yet, assume the sea spike is positively buoyant. I want to jump out of a plane with my sea spike, but I don't want to get wet. As the sea spike enters the water, I want to gently decelerate until stopping with my feet approximately 10 feet above water. ",
"This is probably the worst set of response I've ever seen in askscience.\n\nYes you probably could survive:\n\n > In 1963, U.S. Marine pilot Cliff Judkins's chute didn't open after he bailed out of his crippled fighter. He fell 15,000 feet into the Pacific, suffered numerous broken bones and a collapsed lung, but lived.\n\nfrom _URL_0_\n\nEDIT: yay the responses all got better",
"I seem to recall from one of those survival books, the best way is feet first and to protect your balls with you hands (if you have them).",
"A better question will be what is the minimal amount of material to create enough drag to lower your terminal velocity to a survivable speed. ",
"[Nicholas Alkemade fell from 18,000 feet and survived in WW2](_URL_0_), so hope that you're close enough to land that you can fall on a snow covered pine tree. ",
" > ********[***YSK How to survive a long fall without a parachute.***](_URL_0_)********\n\nGeneral info on surviving freefalls, water-specific info towards the bottom (funny, because anything water-related should be kept away from your bottom).",
"Have as much surface area as possible on the downfall, then feet first!!!",
"Your survival rate is much higher (historically) hitting solid ground rather than water. The surface tension is likely to kill you instantly.\n\nYour best bet, I imagine, is to fall on to a freshly grated, moist, farm field. In that case I've heard that it is best to relax your body and enter a posture like you are about to sit down into a chair right before impact. The logic here is that you sacrifice your legs as a shock-absorber to protect you spine, internal organs and head.\n\nDISCLAIMER: I am drunk and by no means an expert outside of the field of software and computing.",
"Terminal velocity impact will be fatal, so I'd go for the head down arms back arrow position. You could go for the foot first arrow but you'll still be dead. You could try and slow your descent by splaying your body to the wind and at the last moment change to the foot down arrow. But if you survive life's gonna suck after. ",
"You might enjoy reading [How to Fall 35,000 Feet—And Survive](_URL_0_). The answer is to avoid the water.",
"Point your toes and make like a needle.",
"I'm actually fairly interested in the math behind this. I have some experience behind the mathematics of Newtonian mechanics, but don't know much about the math of fluids. I looked up viscosity and found that Dynamic Viscosity is measured as pascal seconds which is kg/(m*s) and Kinematic Viscosity is measured as m^2/s. Which would be used in this circumstance. I'd venture to guess it would be Kinematic viscosity since Dynamic Viscosity seems to have something to do with a fluid between to rigid plates. I'd also imagine that the other factors relevant would be the change in surface area/second of the person falling at the moment they break the surface tension of the water and the force of viscosity starts to apply. Also, while an a very detailed answer would be appreciated, I'm also kind of interested in just being pointed in the right direction and being able to figure it using Socratic method. Thanks in advance for any responses.",
"If you're interested in research and actual data, the [FAA](_URL_0_) has released a report detailing cases where people have survived long falls into water. ",
"I read somewhere that you should try and position yourself in a slightly extended fetal position (arms protecting head) and legs extended but slightly bent.\n\nYou should also clench your asscheeks and probably hold your nose closed to avoid water surging...places\n\nbrb looking for source",
"I just leave this here.\n_URL_0_"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[
"http://hypertextbook.com/facts/JianHuang.shtml"
],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/aviation/safety/4344036"
],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_gate_bridge#Suicides"
],
[
"http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/hopv0/if_i_wanted_to_survive_skydiving_without_a/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/ijeav/if_you_jumped_out_of_a_plane_at_12000_feet_with/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/h7ktx/how_high_of_a_fall_can_a_human_survive_if_they/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/gxyuy/falling_from_a_high_altitude_into_water/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/jeakr/if_falling_from_a_great_height_what_is_the_most/"
],
[
"http://imgur.com/Rfpwz"
],
[
"http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2587/could-you-jump-off-a-bridge-or-a-tall-building-and-survive-the-fall"
],
[],
[],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Alkemade"
],
[
"http://www.reddit.com/tb/hhsdl"
],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/aviation/safety/4344036"
],
[],
[],
[
"http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=AD0620021&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf"
],
[],
[
"http://www.wikihow.com/Survive-a-Long-Fall"
],
[],
[],
[
"http://hypertextbook.com/facts/JianHuang.shtml"
],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/aviation/safety/4344036"
],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_gate_bridge#Suicides"
],
[
"http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/hopv0/if_i_wanted_to_survive_skydiving_without_a/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/ijeav/if_you_jumped_out_of_a_plane_at_12000_feet_with/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/h7ktx/how_high_of_a_fall_can_a_human_survive_if_they/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/gxyuy/falling_from_a_high_altitude_into_water/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/jeakr/if_falling_from_a_great_height_what_is_the_most/"
],
[
"http://imgur.com/Rfpwz"
],
[
"http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2587/could-you-jump-off-a-bridge-or-a-tall-building-and-survive-the-fall"
],
[],
[],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Alkemade"
],
[
"http://www.reddit.com/tb/hhsdl"
],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/aviation/safety/4344036"
],
[],
[],
[
"http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=AD0620021&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf"
],
[],
[
"http://www.wikihow.com/Survive-a-Long-Fall"
]
] |
|
56lwcc
|
what is that distinct smell that happens when using a vacuum cleaner?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/56lwcc/eli5_what_is_that_distinct_smell_that_happens/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d8ke4r3",
"d8kq5e0",
"d8kqj2f"
],
"score": [
132,
5,
2
],
"text": [
"It's ozone (O*_3_*)\n\nElectric motors use wire brushes/threads to keep electricity flowing through the moving motor and the stationary frame. They generate sparks, which can disrupt oxygen molecules (O*_2_*) and cause them to gain an extra oxygen atom.\n\nOzone is poisonous but also unstable so unless you have 100 vacuum cleaners running at once in a small room, you won't have to worry about it building up and becoming dangerous.",
"Or it could be burning hair that you smell. as the beater bar picks up hair it gets tangled up begins to melt.",
"It can also be mold and ancient dust trapped in the works. I like to disassemble the vacuum every once in a while and clean it thoroughly.\n\nHint, There is nothing wrong with putting plastic parts through the dishwasher."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
2lmxc1
|
Does cauterization of open surface wounds reduce or increase the risk of infection in the long run?
|
While discussing the implications of a lowly militia losing a limb in combat during medieval times, the practice of cauterizing an amputation wound came up with the case for the disinfecting effect of the heat-inducing being made, and I thought to attain additional verification. (Thread in question can be found [here](_URL_1_)) I read up a little on the subject and found [this](_URL_0_) study, the results of which suggesting that said operation actually increases the risk of infection, as more tissue is destroyed, and likewise the burning exposes a larger surface area of tissue that is not protected by living epidermis. Thus, cauterization of major open wounds ought only to be used upon trauma cases involving the risk of acute, life-threatening blood loss. What I'm looking for an answer to is whether the initial benefits of the heat killing of microorganisms is offset by the increased long-term risk of infection and what is being practiced in the surgical field - in particular, what would be recommended in a hypothetical case where such trauma occurred during a prolonged expedition, with medical evacuation demanding several days of travel. Please weigh in on the subject if you can.
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2lmxc1/does_cauterization_of_open_surface_wounds_reduce/
|
{
"a_id": [
"clwov48"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
" > What I'm looking for an answer to is whether the initial benefits of the heat killing of microorganisms is offset by the increased long-term risk of infection\n\nIn terms of infection, deeply burned skin is nearly as vulnerable to infection as an open wound, and the \"benefit\" of heat sterilizing the area is so short term as to be meaningless. \n\nWhen cauterizing the skin you would kill bacteria on that specific area, but there are still plenty of germs all over the surrounding intact skin. Careful cleaning of the wound and surroundings are necessary to prevent recontamination. And if you were going to cleanse it with water and disinfectant anyway, you don't get any more benefit from having burned the bacteria with heat. \n\nBut if you're in some situation where the wound was contaminated and you couldn't clean it any other way, cauterizing could be better than leaving it alone. \n\n > what would be recommended in a hypothetical case where such trauma occurred during a prolonged expedition, with medical evacuation demanding several days of travel\n\nThat depends on the details of the situation and on available resources. In general, the first priority is to save the patient's life in the short term, and do it with as little additional harm as possible \n\nAre we still talking about medieval times? Cauterization might be the only available way to stop the bleeding and preserve the patient's life in the short term. He doesn't have a great chance of surviving for the long term, because antibiotics and good sanitation haven't been invented yet, but if you let him bleed to death on the battlefield he has no chance at all. "
]
}
|
[] |
[
"http://www.americanjournalofsurgery.com/article/S0002-96109800020-8/abstract",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2llp0o/lets_say_i_am_a_peasant_in_medieval_times_called/"
] |
[
[]
] |
|
1r2xu4
|
How do we figure out the rotational period of distant stars?
|
I was reading some information on Aldebaran and it said that its rotation took 643 day. How the heck did we figure that out?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1r2xu4/how_do_we_figure_out_the_rotational_period_of/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cdj6zlq"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"For stars whose axis of rotation is not pointing toward us, we can measure the light (spectra) of the left and right sides of the stars. Since one side is moving away from us, and the other is moving toward us, there is a shift in the spectra (similar to the doppler shift that causes a car coming toward us to sound different than when it goes away from us).\n\nBy observing this difference, astronomers can calculate the rotational speed."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
2i9nn2
|
how does somebody develop paranoid schizophrenia?
|
I had a family member that suffered from it. Completely curious.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2i9nn2/eli5_how_does_somebody_develop_paranoid/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cl04ft6",
"cl04jpy",
"cl06g5i"
],
"score": [
5,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"Although it isn't really understood, as is the case with a lot of mental health conditions, there is a lot fo evidence that it is largly genetic. \n\nHowever a genetic predisposition to the condition isn't a gaurentee that a person will develop it, and there is suggestion that it generally presents when combined with environmental factors. It most often presents during pubity.",
"Chemical imbalance of dopamine/serotonin (caused by drugs/genetics/severe emotional damage) leads to the person's brain not properly reacting to stimuli. ",
"It may also be triggered by a stressful or traumatic event. This is commonly referred to as the stress vulnerability model theory.\n\nMy aunt has Schizophrenia that developed in her early 20's. There was a rumor going around that she had been raped around the time she was showing symptoms. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
1otxjd
|
When we are cold, why does vasoconstriction occur and what part of the brain initiates it? (curiosity, not homework :P)
|
So which part of the brain initiates it and is that like a sympathetic nervous response?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1otxjd/when_we_are_cold_why_does_vasoconstriction_occur/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ccvlkgs"
],
"score": [
8
],
"text": [
"Vasoconstriction is the narrowing of the blood vessles. This minimises the amount of heat radiated out of the body and thus is a function of homeostasis in maintain optimum core body temperature. It's initated by the hypothalamus in the brain."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
uz7g2
|
why do i need a video card?
|
Why do I need a video card instead of just using another processor? and what type of operations are video cards better at then regular processors?
Edit: I suppose i should clarify, I want to know why a gpu is better at handling graphics then a cpu, as regular processors can also do graphics (just not as well).
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/uz7g2/eli5_why_do_i_need_a_video_card/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c4zvkzs",
"c4zwdb9",
"c4zwzl2",
"c4zz23x"
],
"score": [
4,
2,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"Most calculations on a computer are handled by what CPU, the Central Processing Unit. This handles most things for most users without difficulty, and primarily operates on the concept of have a few very powerful cores. Most processors now are dual-core or quad-core.\n\nThere's an optional component you can get for your computer called a GPU, a Graphics Processing Unit. A GPU is a different kind of component that plugs into a generic plug in your motherboard called a PCI slot. You can use a PCI slot for a special audio card, for a WiFi receptor, or a number of different things. GPUs are for users who want improved performance on visual calculations on their computer- if you're a video gamer it's very very important. It's also important if you do things like video-editing, 3D production, or even some advanced photo editing. GPUs these days are based around a LARGER number of low-powered cores, each of which is assigned small problems. GPUs are actually quite interesting these days too because they're practically mini-computers within your larger computer- a GPU will have it's own RAM and cooling components in addition to it's processors.",
"A separate video card or something like it built in to the computer gets information from rest of the computer and based on that it tells the screen what to show. A separate video card is dedicated to just doing video, can do it better, and support fancier graphics.",
"A processor has a couple of very complex cores. Think of them as as superefficient geniuses with 160+ IQ. They're very good at picking a very complex problem and working on it.\n\nA graphics card is more like a group of thousands of regular workers. Not the best at tackling a single complex problem, but they're excellent at solving problems that consist of a lot of smaller problems.\n\nNow you probably know that the video you see is a collection of millions of pixels. Processing a pixel is a relatively simple problem, but it needs to be done hundreds of times per second for each pixel. Think of it as writing the answer to a simple math question and handing it to someone.\n\nClearly, a graphics card is better suited for this. A CPU can handle it, but it's very inefficient.\n\nGraphics cards are also better suited for things like physics simulations, because they require calculating the behaviour of lots of particles. Basically any problem that consists of many 'parallel' problems that must be solved together can be done more efficiently on a GPU than a CPU.",
"I'm gonna chuck this into the mix for anyone interested why we have the two.\n\n_URL_0_"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://superuser.com/questions/308771/why-are-we-still-using-cpus-instead-of-gpus"
]
] |
|
1vcptv
|
how men became the dominating sex in almost every society?
|
All through human history, we have always seen that women have been heavily dominated by men.
I do understand the strength factor of it, but were there other factors that contributed to this?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1vcptv/how_men_became_the_dominating_sex_in_almost_every/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ceqxzmt",
"cernk6w"
],
"score": [
4,
4
],
"text": [
"Throughout our history men have been in control because it was the men who were stronger. The strong control the weaker, whether that's weaker men or women in general. Throughout history women spent much of their time pregnant. Being pregnant came with the need to be looked after. ",
"Because females selectively bred them for that trait.\n\nThe foundations of society were laid long before we were actually human. Most animals whole lives revolve around the mating cycle. We're not really that different, our displays are just more elaborate. Our base instincts still drive us, so consider it in those terms.\n\nGenerally speaking, males want all the mates, females only want the best ones. There is more pressure on a male to be something exceptional - he must represent himself as a worthwhile investment because mating can (duh) result in pregnancy. \n\nSo if I am peacock for example, I might roll up on some ladies flashing a display of boldly colored feathers. This does not say \"Look how pretty I am\". This says \"I am the king of not giving a single fuck. Predators? Let them come if they're looking to get their shit ruined.\"\n\nIf I am a peahen, my cloaca is instantly all fluttery at the idea of my potential super fit offspring.\n\nOther animals have different standards - if I am a predator, I am looking to hook up with someone strong, fast and preferably with a big flashy set of teeth. If I am a prey animal, speed and perception get my motor running.\n\nPrimates, being the clever beasts that they are, figured out that they could impress the ladies by giving them things - even if they are not physically the biggest and baddest around. Now the new hotness in the mating game is find the best way to get all the things. If you are really awesome at acquiring, you are likely to be really awesome at mating. If you are a giant hulking badass, who is also very clever about getting things, you are probably drowning in vagina. If you are a hulking badass, clever about getting things and also maybe a little lacking in empathy you are probably attracting mates, beating up competitors and stealing their resources and mates, and maybe just for good measure taking the rest of the females whether they actually want to mate with you or not and HOLY SHIT THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY.\n\n\nTL;DR - Being an aggressive, dominant animal is more likely to yield food and territory. Bitches love food and territory. \n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
3opbkc
|
why do android phones wipe their battery statistics when restarted at > 90% battery?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3opbkc/eli5_why_do_android_phones_wipe_their_battery/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cvziy7m"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Restarting a phone clears the memory and closes all apps that were open. When the phone restarts, it re-calculates the battery percentage based on the current usage. Not sure if that answers your question."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
1ict3e
|
can somebody explain computer specs to me, and what to look for when purchasing a new machine?
|
A breakdown of the individual parts, its functions, and what is high performing on the current market would be nice. I am looking to purchase a computer, and was always impressed by people who could tell the functionality of a computer simply by looking through its specifications.
No excessive use of computer terminology if possible please:)
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ict3e/eli5_can_somebody_explain_computer_specs_to_me/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cb374qj",
"cb37hpf",
"cb380ea"
],
"score": [
5,
3,
5
],
"text": [
" > and was always impressed by people who could tell the functionality of a computer simply by looking through its specifications.\n\nI don't really know how else you'd determine how good a computer is without touching it.\n\nAnd in response to your question, what do you plan on doing with it? If you just check email and watch youtube/netflix, then you really don't need a high-end computer, but if you're gaming, video editing and other stuff like that you'll need a good computer.",
"/r/buildapc\n\n\nWould love to hear form you.",
"I'm going to assume that you're planning on building a PC. You can buy pre-built if you want, but be aware that if you do, you're spending 30-50% of your money on a shiny \"Alienware\" or \"HP\" label or whatever, not on parts. Build it yourself, it's not hard, and there's a billion guides on how to do it.\n\n**CPU:** CPU's are far too complicated to understand how they perform just from a stat sheet unless you're an expert. Go to a [benchmarking site](_URL_1_), find whatever processor is highest on the \"high-end\" CPU chart that you can afford, and go with that. Don't skimp on your CPU, because the other parts of your computer are replaceable. I'd recommend spending at least a fifth of your budget on a CPU. If it's more than $200 and it's on that list, it's more than fine for modern games.\n\n**Motherboard:** The motherboard connects all your parts together. What's important is that it fits your CPU and that it's reliable. Your CPU's specs will have a \"socket\" listed, like \"Socket LGA 1150.\" Make sure the motherboard is the right socket. For reliability, read reviews.\n\n**RAM:** More GB is more better. It has to be the right type to fit your motherboard and processor. For example, \"DDR3 1600\" is a type of RAM. Technically, a higher number is better, so DDR3 1866 is faster than DDR3 1600, but it's not that big of a difference. You definitely don't need more than 8 GB of RAM, so I'd just get one 8 GB stick or two 4 GB sticks and be done with it. It's really cheap and easy to replace/upgrade if you feel like you need more later.\n\n**Video card:** Like the CPU, the video card is extremely important and extremely complicated. They're replaceable, but if you're doing gaming, very important. Plan to spend a good amount here, too. Like the CPU, look at a [benchmarking site](_URL_0_) and choose a price you can deal with. If a video card is more than $150-200 and high on that list, again, good enough for modern games, though you may not be able to max the settings.\n\n**Hard drive:** It's just a hard drive. Make sure it's 7200 RPM, has SATA 6 Gb/s, (don't worry what they mean, just make sure it has it) and has enough storage space. Most people are okay with 500 GB of space, but it's not too expensive to go up to 1-2 TB.\n\n**Power supply**: It supplies power to your computer, surprisingly. It needs to have enough watts. 850W is more than enough unless you go absolutely crazy. It's hard to tell exactly, but you probably only need 650W, if you only have one video card, hard drive, etc.\n\n**DVD drive:** They're cheap, don't forget to get one because you need it to install Windows. They need to be able to read a DVD.\n\n**Case:** Make sure it fits your motherboard. There will be something in your motherboard specs like \"ATX full\" or \"ATX mini\" or whatever. That's the form factor. Don't buy a case that has the wrong form factor, because your stuff won't fit. If you have space, get a \"full tower\" sized case, because it's really annoying when stuff is all cramped while you're building your PC, and the airflow is better. You will also need fans, so check what size the fan \"ports\" are. Lots of cases come with a PSU and/or fans included, which is convenient."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[
"http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/",
"http://www.cpubenchmark.net/"
]
] |
|
imjhx
|
Panelists: Which books have you found most interesting as a layman (non-expert?)
|
In general, what interesting books/movies or museums have piqued your interest as a layman, learning outside your field of expertise?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/imjhx/panelists_which_books_have_you_found_most/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c24xyig",
"c24zt1t",
"c2503zd"
],
"score": [
2,
3,
3
],
"text": [
"I know I only mentioned books in the title, but I am also interested in documentaries or museums. Since Sir David Attenborough retired, I haven't seen any stirring documentaries. The most interesting museum I have seen so far is the Smithsonian exhibit on evolution.",
"Oh, there are tons of books. Here are a few of my favorites:\n\nFrozen Earth by Douglas MacDougall\n\nAt the Water's Edge by Carl Zimmer\n\nSix Degrees by Mark Lynas\n\nEternal Frontier by Tim Flannery\n\nThe Map that Changed the World by Simon Winchester\n\nPretty much any of Stephen Jay Gould's books are great to check out.\n\nAlso, if you're looking for something a tad challenging/dense, Origin of Species is actually accessible. Its dense, but well-written and no jargon to speak of. Plus, I always think its great that a non-expert can read and grasp the material in one of the most important books written in any scientific field.\n\nFor documentaries, check out Brian Cox's series on the Solar System.",
"The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett\n\n\nThe Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee\n\n\nThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot\n\n\nAlthough I do have some training in biology, it wasn't necessary to read either of these three, which are narrative style books on some aspect of biology/medicine. These are the books I'd recommend to someone who was interested in reading more books in science, but wasn't near expert at all.\n\n\nDocumentary-wise, the PBS specials for Nature are pretty good, especially The Botany of Desire, Murder of Crows, The Seedy Side of Plants, and Kings of Camoflage (about cuttlefish). And you can watch most of them online."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
1tj4ys
|
why do so many reporters use bad puns?
|
In written articles and news reports (especially on the radio) it seems that reporters really like to use puns. Why?
Cue the bad puns in this thread...
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1tj4ys/eli5_why_do_so_many_reporters_use_bad_puns/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ce8hvz2",
"ce8i5kd",
"ce8j4cu",
"ce8my1a"
],
"score": [
6,
5,
3,
5
],
"text": [
"I just spent 10 minutes looking out my window trying to think of the perfect pun. I feel like I failed. ",
"Humor is a good thing to use to engage your audience, but it can be risky. A joke might only make sense to a certain group of people or might even offend others. Puns are usually a safe way to inject humor without running the risk of complete meltdown. If a pun doesn't make you laugh, it still probably hasn't attacked your religion or ethnicity\n\nI attended a training session for educational programming and the experts there cited puns as the safest form of joke because they play on verbal cues instead of cultural ones.",
"From my own experience, it is usually the editors that title the articles and/or work puns into the body of work. I worked at a small publication and the reporters were solely responsible for the content. The editors, lead by the editor in chief, were responsible for putting the whole publication together. This includes reviewing/rewriting individual articles, finalizing titles, determining headlines, and deciding which articles make it to the front page. As an editor, I used good (read \"funny\") puns in article titles to grab the readers attention. As for puns within the article, one or two work great to keep the reader entertained. Puns also made for friendly competition between editors/writers to keep us entertained. Though many of the puns that we came up with could not be used because of our offbeat sense of humor. It would be really fun to work for The Onion.",
"Perhaps they are pressed for time?"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
3vzlh8
|
How did the ancient Mediterranean build their huge ships without drydocks?
|
Wikipedia makes it seem like drydocks are a relatively recent invention. If so, how did the Romans, Greeks, Phoenicians, etc. build and launch such large ships? Any other sources on ancient shipbuilding in the Mediterranean would be appreciated.
|
AskHistorians
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3vzlh8/how_did_the_ancient_mediterranean_build_their/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cxs6tdi",
"cxtfrer"
],
"score": [
8,
3
],
"text": [
"You'll want to take a look at Casson's *Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World* and *Ships and Seafaring in Ancient Times*, if you're looking for material. In point of fact the Romans very much had drydocks, in which larger ships might be built. But the vast majority of ships were built on land and then lowered into the water by ramps and slipways. Ships were not necessarily even built near the water, but sometimes just near whatever the source of their timber was--the New Pauly says that the Nemi ships were probably built way up in Misenum and were transported overland to the lake. Ships in the ancient world were not necessarily that large--at least warships weren't, although merchant ships could be pretty gigantic ",
"Warships of the Classical period were built for speed and manoeuvreability. It was well understood that ships became waterlogged if they were in the water too long, which made them slower. It was therefore established practice to haul warships into drydocks to dry out whenever they were not in use, and to reduce the duration of naval campaigns if at all possible. Both Athens and Carthage had extensive military drydock complexes in which hulls were built and stored. Remains of these can be seen underneath modern buildings in Piraeus (Athens)."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
8cn5k2
|
Is it possible to create a molecule containing a noble gas ?
|
For example, would it be possible to take away an electron from a Helium atom and then force it to link with a Hydrogen atom ?
|
askscience
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/8cn5k2/is_it_possible_to_create_a_molecule_containing_a/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dxg7wzc",
"dxg7zvj",
"dxh9b0e"
],
"score": [
4,
31,
3
],
"text": [
"Yes, Nobel gases can bond to other atoms, some examples are listed here. Note that most listed are with heavier nobel gasses _URL_0_\n\nIm not sure about helium, though the article does mention an HeH^+ cation reported in 1925. ",
"It's possible, but difficult. They're usually hard to make and many can only exist in extremes of temperature and/or pressure. HeH+, or helium hydride, is formed by a positively charged hydrogen ion (a single proton) reacting with a helium atom. It's the strongest acid known to exist. It's theorized to exist naturally in interstellar space but has yet to be detected. The larger noble gases are *somewhat* easier to create compounds with. Xenon has several possible compounds.",
"I apologize for using a Wikipedia citation but yes Xenon Hexafluoride is a known noble gas molecule:\n\n_URL_0_\n\nIf recollection serves that is why we call them 'noble' gases now instead of inert gases.\n(edit grammar)\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_gas_compound"
],
[],
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenon_hexafluoride"
]
] |
|
21k0t6
|
what's going on in turkey and why are websites like youtube and twitter being banned?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/21k0t6/eli5_whats_going_on_in_turkey_and_why_are/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cgdrw4t"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Just as we have seen in countless countries, the government is corrupt . People are exposing the corruption on social media outlets. so they are being blocked to avoid that and so people can't see it. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
32mz1c
|
how do people who release leaks on to torrent websites originally obtain them ex. game of thrones
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/32mz1c/eli5_how_do_people_who_release_leaks_on_to/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cqcphn6",
"cqcps7w"
],
"score": [
4,
24
],
"text": [
"Usually reviewers receive advance copys of something to review.",
"There's three reasons why TV shows or any other media is leaked:\n\n- The production crew is huge usually hundreds of people. Someone such as an intern could easily steal a tape from an editor or someone in a similar position and then go home and upload it to the internet.\n\n- The company producing the show also sends out review copies for early reviews. One of these people who receive a review copy could upload it themselves.\n\n- Sometimes companies purposely \"leak\" an episode of their show to get public interest going or free advertising. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
8142o3
|
how are pills tested to determine their side effects?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8142o3/eli5_how_are_pills_tested_to_determine_their_side/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dv0b7ns",
"dv0bfoe"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Human testing, animal testing etc. They discovered that a specific heart medication actually helped with ED. That became viagra",
"Clinical Trials.\n\nDuring one phase of the clinical trial, you need to give your drug/medicine to random people who are not ill. Then measure any effects that might occur, compared to a placebo trial with no drugs/medicines in the pill.\n\nIf there is an increase in fevers or weird rashes or worse in the first group over the second group you must state that your drug/medicine has side effects."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
8da3vu
|
- viruses and cancer
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8da3vu/eli5_viruses_and_cancer/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dxlh13j",
"dxlhgir",
"dxljo1q"
],
"score": [
5,
2,
4
],
"text": [
"Yes, it can. In fact, the Human Papilloma Virus is one of the leading causes of Cervical Cancer in women.\n\nViruses that lead to cancer are classed together as DNA or RNA Oncoviruses.",
"Yes. Cancer is a term for a large number of diseases with rapid cell growth. Some can be caused by viral activity, among other factors.",
"Cancer virologist in training here. There are a handful of viruses that cause cancer in humans and many more in other mammals. However, we think that in most cases it's actually not due to the virus incorporating into the genome or changing the DNA of our cells. As our cells grow and divide they have to pass through various checkpoints to continue through the cell cycle. There are proteins in the cell, such as p53 and Rb, that are kind of in charge of regulating this to make sure that the cell meets certain requirements to proceed, which limits growth. Cancer happens when these checkpoints are disrupted, so that the cells keep growing and dividing even when they shouldn't be allowed to pass the checkpoints. Cancer causing viruses (oncoviruses) usually make some sort of protein or RNA that interferes with the checkpoint regulators somehow, but usually the virus itself can't cause cancer without some mutation also randomly happening in one of these cell cycle pathways. This is important because a lot of the cancer viruses are found in most people but only rarely cause cancer. For example, I work on EBV, which causes mono but can also cause Burkitt's lymphoma, NPC (a head and neck cancer), and gastric cancer (stomach). 90% of us have a latent EBV infection, but most people won't get cancer."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
6iimhd
|
how much credit (or blame) can be assigned to film directors for the overall quality of a film?
|
How much influence does the director have over pacing, story, beats, dialogue, etc.? Also film mechanics such as lighting, production design, blocking, etc. Aren't there designated professionals to handle each of those tasks? Does it depend on the director and how hands-on he/she prefers to direct?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6iimhd/eli5_how_much_credit_or_blame_can_be_assigned_to/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dj6rkyj",
"dj6rmij"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"The director on any movie is limited by the creative control given to him/her. Generally, the directors who have limited experience, but have big budgets, have very little control over the general direction of the movie. The control is taken away by producers and executive producers. On the other side, indie films and low budget movies gives directors almost universal control. The investment risk low so if the director screws up, it wasn't a big loss. \n\nFor the other part of your question, some directors, with a high level of control over the movie, select the entire production staff working on the movie. And vice versa, directors with little control work with what they got. Some production companies have their own production staff on retainer and the producers only change the director of the movie. \n\nThe matter becomes more complicated when multiple producers all want to provide input on a movie. They all have money invested and none want the movie to fail. \n\nThere is also the challenge of 2nd unit directors and 3rd unit directors. For movies with multiple locations, it is cheaper for a production company to hire a local production team rather than flying and shipping the first production team all over the place. In this instance, only the actors are flown to the location. It also speeds up production because the language barrier issue becomes minimized with local production teams.\n\nFinally, some movies are rushed through production because studios are always targeting specific release dates which don't always agree with the schedules of the directors.\n\nAll in all, the director cannot be tied completely to the success or failure of the movie. There are many other people which may have had creative control over the direction of a given movie. \n\nFun fact: Edward Norton chose not to continue to play the Hulk because he wouldn't have creative control over the direction of the character through the timeline of the Marvel universe.\n\nFun Fact: Josh Trank, director of the new Fantastic Four, claims the movie was terrible because the movie production studio had too much influence on the development of the movie. ",
"Well, the director gets most blame. \n\nDirector's jail is when a movie bombs so thoroughly that the director can't get hired on another movie of equal size. \n\nThe grips, for instance, are below the line workers, which means they aren't the artists. The director has to communicate to the others what he want. When a corporation fails, you don't blame middle management. If Facebook faols tomorrow, Mark Zuckerberg would be blamed.\n\nYou should look at the case of Josh Trank and the making of Fantastic Four. He fought with Fox and the producers and also damaged the home that he was renting. He didn't even want Kate Mara there. There was a lot of poor communication there. The movie was terrible. If the movie was good, he would be making FF4 2. The actors are still doing great."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
27nb9q
|
[Biology] What is the real difference between something like a lobster and a bug?
|
Also crabs and shrimp, besides their size?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/27nb9q/biology_what_is_the_real_difference_between/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ci2nxxu",
"ci2qzmq"
],
"score": [
4,
2
],
"text": [
"Lobsters, crabs, shrimp, insects, and \"bugs\" are all members of the phylum _arthropoda_. Phyla are a very broad classification of creatures below only Kingdoms in the scientific classification scheme.\n\nCrabs, shrimp and lobsters are all crustaceans, which is a subphylum of arthropoda. Insects such as beetles and houseflies are members of the class _insecta_. Spiders and scorpions are in the class _arachnida_. Arthropods are an almost unimaginably diverse group of creatures with a bewildering variety.\n\nSo while all these creatures share many traits and an evolutionary history that justify their grouping in this phylum, they all have many differences that have accumulated over billions of years of evolutionary history.",
"Actually they aren't exactly TOO different than you think.\n\nCrustaceans are paraphyletic to the insects. Meaning that there is still some lineage sorting going on in the branches before we can isolate the crustacea from the hexapoda. In fact, we used to consider all the crustacean groups (the pancrustans) as monophyletic, meaning they all shared one common ancestor. Now we don't. \n\nCurrently we think the paraphyly occurs through the Xenocaridians, crustaceans that are [these guys](_URL_0_) and are apparently sisters with the hexapods (our insects).\n\nSo the real difference? Not completely different yet until we figure out what's separating the groups.\n\nLobsters crabs and shrimps occupy different sections of the crustacean diagram. All belong to the order \"Malacostraca\". Except, they occupy different sub and infra-orders. Lobsters, crayfish, regular crabs, spider crabs, hermit crabs, and many small shrimps take the suborder \"Pleocyemata\" which are named for the habits of putting eggs on their pleopods (swimeretts). Lobsters and crayfish belong to the infraorder Astacidea because of their disproportionately large chelae (the claws), regular crabs belong to infraorder Brachyura because of their extremely small and tucked under abdomen, spider crabs and hermit crabs belong to Anomura because they have a very weird shaped tail (their name means \"differently-tailed), and many of the small shrimps belong to many different other suborders. A lot of the shrimps we eat, however, belong to the suborder \"Dendrobranchiata\" which are individuals that have the traditional morphological body plan that we associate shrimp with.\n\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://arthropoda.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/remipede.jpg"
]
] |
|
20qb0d
|
Communism/Socialism, etc
|
AskHistorians
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/20qb0d/communismsocialism_etc/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cg5to8a"
],
"score": [
39
],
"text": [
" > Communism is just one form of socialism.\n\nWell, that much is true.\n\n > The Nazis were socialists and so were the Russians they fought against.\n\nThis tends to be a talking point that gets rehashed over and over again. I would summarize it as follows, once you get over the fact that they were the \"National Socialist\" party, there is really no coherent argument that the Nazis were socialist. It's roughly akin to making the argument that the Democratic Party in the United States is advocating for direct democracy because they have the word \"Democratic\" in their name. In short - the names of political parties are historically contingent. (As tom_ryan answered, the People's Republic of China is a good example if you want to use a country name instead of a party name)\n\nIf you must get dragged into an actual argument about ideology, it's trivially easy to see that that Nazi party was fascist, and not socialist. There was no discourse about worker control of industry. It was hyper nationalistic where as socialist discourse is traditionally international. Don't confuse fascist populist/nationalist rhetoric for socialist rhetoric about class, they are very distinct. \n\nSometimes people have trouble with it because they try to place it on a spectrum between capitalism and socialism. It doesn't really neatly fit on a line between the two. For example, there was certainly room for state intervention, but at the same time fascism's ideal for the economy was undoubtedly corporate. This blended with their nationalist rhetoric, essentially saying that class distinctions weren't as important as national ones, precisely the opposite of socialist rhetoric on the same point.\n\nThere really isn't anything socialist about fascism, and to equate the two has generally in my experience been a cheap attempt to try to justify capitalism by associating alternate paths with two 20th century dictatorships, if I am being perfectly honest. One can look at totalitarian states if one wants. But the ideologies, rhetoric and indeed actual on the ground implementation of policy was simply drastically different between the Nazis and Soviet Union."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
7oevts
|
why does alcohol (isopropyl) evaporate so much faster than other liquids than say water?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7oevts/eli5_why_does_alcohol_isopropyl_evaporate_so_much/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ds8z66a"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Well thats a very relative question. It is a liquid at room temperature, which puts its boiling temperature above that of any gases. Water has a higher one, wood/metal has a higher one still.\n\nThe boiling point is determined by the intramolecular forces in the liquid state. They are weaker than water. Also importantly they can lower the boiling point of a mixture when added to water (which it always is) so its just about how well the molecules stick together (cause they always want to escape)."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
meg4k
|
Why did the pages of my book wrinkle as they dried after I dropped it in the toilet?
|
askscience
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/meg4k/why_did_the_pages_of_my_book_wrinkle_as_they/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c3097ok",
"c3097ok"
],
"score": [
31,
31
],
"text": [
"You know how napkins/toilet paper/tissues tend to completely disintegrate when you let them soak in water for a while? That's what's happening, but on a smaller scale.\n\nThe presence of water in paper disrupts the intermolecular forces that hold individual cellulose molecules together. So instead of staying in place, the cellulose molecules can start to move around. As the paper dries out, the intermolecular forces come into play again, but now all the cellulose molecules are in a different position from before. This leads to the wrinkly or wavy look of water-damaged paper.\n\nIn the future, you can minimize the waviness by compressing the book (or just the affected pages) with a heavy object until you're sure that it's completely dry. This will minimize how much the cellulose fibers move around.",
"You know how napkins/toilet paper/tissues tend to completely disintegrate when you let them soak in water for a while? That's what's happening, but on a smaller scale.\n\nThe presence of water in paper disrupts the intermolecular forces that hold individual cellulose molecules together. So instead of staying in place, the cellulose molecules can start to move around. As the paper dries out, the intermolecular forces come into play again, but now all the cellulose molecules are in a different position from before. This leads to the wrinkly or wavy look of water-damaged paper.\n\nIn the future, you can minimize the waviness by compressing the book (or just the affected pages) with a heavy object until you're sure that it's completely dry. This will minimize how much the cellulose fibers move around."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.