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ELI5: which bodily processes are first to shut down as a result of under-nutrition? And what is the progression from there?
| 91 |
The body shuts down pretty much from least vital to most vital. The first system to shut down is the reproductive. Then the digestive, then organ failure. If you make it to organ failure, you are probably at the heart failure stage.
| 54 |
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What purpose does leg jiggling/bouncing serve?
| 239 |
There is no clear answer to this question. However, there are some who hypothesize (myself included) that "leg jiggling" *does* serve a purpose. We understand that persons with attentional deficits have an underactivation of certain brain networks. Meaning, those brain areas don't activate at the same level as they do in otherwise normal individuals. The hypothesis is that "leg jiggling" may serve to help activate those brain areas, thereby subtly improving cognitive abilities/attention. The neural mechanisms underlying this hypothesis are certainly in place (i.e., corticothalamic projections), however there are some assumptions that must be made for which there isn't yet scientific backing. I've not seen this hypothesis studied directly, but I've heard enough people talking about it at conferences to imagine that someone will make a stab at it in the not so distant future.
| 104 |
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[Warhammer 40,000] Would a chapter serf worship the Emperor?
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I know that it's considered unusual for brothers of Adeptus Astartes chapters themselves to worship the Emperor as a divine figure: "Grandpa, not God", as a guy in my gaming group put it. My question is, would a *serf* of a chapter likely share this belief due to the "command environment", or would they probably still believe in the Emperor's divinity the normal Imperial way?
RP question for a chapter serf PC in a *Dark Heresy* 2E game my group is doing this weekend. Voidborn origin (a Strike Cruiser), I kitbashed the Imperial Navy background with GM permission: altered the lore skills to Common Lore (Imperium) free, and paid for Scholastic Lore (Adeptus Astartes) to reflect training as an implant surgeon (Chirurgeon role).
| 17 |
In most cases, serfs who are brought into a chapter are also inducted into their specific customs. Since most marines do not hold the Emperor in a specifically divine light, their serfs also hold the same belief. Although given that serfs are unaugmented humans walking amongst the Emperor's finest servants, they could very likely hold the Emperor in higher regard than the marines they serve. Some might privately hold beliefs in the Imperial Cult, but they might not speak of it openly.
On the other hand, some chapters might be lenient enough to allow their serfs to believe in the Emperor's divinity even if the marines themselves do not. So long as the work is done and done properly, the serfs can refer to the Emperor however they wish.
| 18 |
[Superhero] Any advantages of having a cape?
| 19 |
It makes you seem more imposing. Draws attention away from civilians. Superman uses his to steer. Batman uses his to glide. It also conceals his body language and makes him seem creepier than he actually is.
| 26 |
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[The Culture] and [General Fiction] - Which societies have a higher standard of living for the average citizen than the Culture?
| 26 |
In the culture you can have your head knocked off by a freak accident of industrial machinery then have stealth drones fly in out of nowhere to take your head off to be attached to life support while they regrow you a clone body, all before your head hits the ground.
That's a pretty impressive social security safety net. It'll be hard to find a society with a higher standard of living than the Culture. It might come down to philosophical discussions of 'best'.
| 35 |
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ELI5: If Google Maps uses location data from android phones to predict journey times how does it know the difference between those on a bus and those in a car as they share the same road? How does it arrive at the different estimates for car and bus journeys of the same route?
| 23 |
Google knows where bus stops are. Based on that, it's not difficult to pick out which android devices come to a complete stop at specific intervals along a journey, and can therefore be used to calculate a base time along those routes.
| 16 |
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Dear r/askscience: there's no need to tag "evolution" onto the end of every biology-related question.
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Evolutionary explanations are often the best and most interesting, but most of the time I feel like people tag that onto the end of their question to add some formality or forced intelligence onto the question. This isn't necessary. If you're curious what causes morning wood, just ask "hey guys, why do we get morning wood?"
I think this will lead to a more open discussion, as opposed to half the thread just speculating on how maybe something evolved.
If we want to keep framing our questions like that, let's get a little more specific:
* Evolution is merely change over time. Natural Selection is just one of the ways that change occurs. It's the only process that makes organisms "better" for their environment.
* Importantly though, natural selection is only one of many forces that drive evolution. Scientist in the field theorize now that neutral forces like genetic drift and flow are far more powerful in how species evolve than natural selection (I'll explain further in the comments if requested).
Which force caused a current biological result is often anybody's guess.
Point being, let's just discuss openly, and try to frame questions where people can answer as specifically as possible, rather than forcing discussion down paths that lead to most people just guessing.
| 76 |
I also would like to add that not everything exists because of some evolutionary advantage. Many things are not genetically encoded or biologically innate, and many people ignore the fact that for human behaviors, cultural forces, which changes far more rapidly, might play a far greater role than evolution.
Likewise, just because something could make sense through an evolutionary explanation doesn't mean that it did. It might seem logical that women prefer pink more than men because "back when we were hunter gatherers, women had to pick berries so whoever like berry-colors were favored," but that doesn't mean that's what actually happened.
| 25 |
CMV: A minimum wage that is directly linked to the cost of living/living wage for an area would solve many issues that come with minimum wage increases
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So, the main thing I see when the topic of a living wage comes up is that companies will just jack up the prices to compensate for the lost revenue, which then negates any increase in wages.
However, a minimum wage that is directly linked to what the living wage is for the area that the business is located would make it so if companies drive the prices up, then the cost of living goes up, then the living wage goes up and so will what the workers are paid. This way companies can't just jack up the prices, because doing so will mean that they need to pay their workers even more. Keeping prices lower will be in their best interest
Edit: Reddit is being weird and not letting me see all comments, and not letting me reply so I'll get to the replies when I can!
Edit 2: I see a lot of "what about small businesses" comments. If a business needs to exploit its workers in order to survive, then it should not survive.
Edit 3: Reddit is still being weird and won't let me see the majority of the comments so if I don't reply, I apologize!
| 23,793 |
It’s not that companies increase prices with an increase in the minimum wage, it’s that landlords increase prices. Rent is not a fixed price like goods and most services are - it’s highly flexible based on demand.
You would create a feedback loop - minimum wage goes up, rent goes up, so minimum wage goes up again because cost of living increases, so rent goes up again.
As an end result, you actually put companies out of business because they would then be paying astronomically high wages, while the landlords are the ones benefiting.
| 1,682 |
Can insects cross breed like mammals?
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Like when a horse and a donkey make a mule or a lion and tiger make a liger
| 163 |
Yes. Speciation is complicated for all animals, and hybrids are not always sterile, leading some to see it as a vital source of new species. From "Specialization Speciation and Radiation" ed Tilmon, "Hybridization is common in Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) and occurs in more than 15% of all species."
20 year multitrait study of 3 species of Tiger Swallowtail in US, the northern Papilio canadensis has one generation per year, P glaucus has two generations. P. appalachiensis in Virginia and N Georgia appears to be a hybrid based on "delayed postdiapause emergence, distinctive X-linked allozymes, and unique thermal zone niche." In other words a lost mountain tribe of swallowtails has maintained its integrity. Each of these species has boundaries where hybridization continues.
| 48 |
Why is the civil/tropical year shorter than the sidereal year?
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On wikipedia ( the german one though ) it says it is due to the precession of the earth, but why ?
| 89 |
The tropical year is about 20 minutes shorter than the sidereal year.
Precession is the Earth slowly rotating around its axis. That rotation takes about 26,000 years. So in one year it completes a 26 thousandth of the rotation.
If you divide a year by that 26,000 you get about 20 minutes.
So the tropical year is basically 1/26000 shorter than the sidereal year
| 15 |
If increased kinetic energy = perception of heat/high temperature, why does using a fan to blow around air (increase kinetic energy) cool us down?
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Rather than some mind-blowing physics, I'm expecting this to be more of a common-sense kind of solution, but I've been stuck puzzling over it for a while.
| 36 |
Fans cool in two ways. First, they increase the rate of evaporation of water from your skin. The heat of vaporization of water is quite high, and this reduces the temperature of your skin. Second, if the air temperature is less than 37C, your skin transfers thermal energy to the air molecules. The speed of the wind from the fan is much smaller than the average speed of air molecules at room temperature (roughly 1500 km/h).
| 35 |
Why and how are archeological sites determined to be mostly religious in nature?
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In doing research for [this AskReddit post](http://redd.it/xxtif), it dawned on me that the majority of ancient buildings we find are deemed as temples. To my limited knowledge on this topic, I believe it is because of the etchings of animals/figurines, the shape of the building and the great (economic and labor) costs taken to erect these structures. However, could not the same be said for our modern day malls, for instance?
Imagine a future civilization were to uncover a mall, with its wide hallways, tall ceilings and pillars, full of decoration and tilework. If they used our same defining factors, would they not also deduce the mall to be a temple?
| 371 |
There's a joke in archaeology; if you can't explain it, it probably has religious significance. (I think that there's an theist logic joke in there somewhere).
Really though, impracticality, centrality, as well as the imagery, shapes, and costs are important factors. Typically, there will also be use-wear in practical buildings, as well as associated artefacts to suggest the use of the building. A central focal point also tends to be a giveaway (think: how many places that are not used for oratory/ visual effect have a central focal point and fit the other describing factors? How many existed in the distant past?).
Ultimately, its a process of combining the location, building structure, related artefacts, and a bit of Occam's Razor.
| 238 |
What makes a gene dominant or recessive?
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What is the difference between a dominant or recessive gene? I know that dominant genes prevail over recessive ones and this is also the stuff I find on the internet. But I can't find an explanation of what makes a specific gene prevail over other ones in the fist place.
| 124 |
It depends on the details of what the gene does and how each allele (different version of the gene) works or doesn't work.
For example, lactose intolerance happens when _neither_ of your two genes for making lactase are functional in adulthood, so a single lactase-persistence allele will be dominant over a normal lactase-only-in-childhood allele. Or say you have a mutation in your ACE receptor that stops SARS-CoV-2 from binding: this COVID immunity allele would be _recessive_, because one copy of a normal ACE receptor would be enough to let the virus in.
Then there are other situations, like making red pigments to color a flower petal, where having one allele just gives an intermediate phenotype (pink) compared to 0 (white) or 2 (red).
| 65 |
If there are stick liquids and sticky solids, are there any sticky gasses?
| 292 |
Molecularly, yes. Different gases have different binding affinities to different surfaces. Binding very weakly is called physisorption, binding very strongly so there’s nearly a chemical bind is call chemisorption. How sticky the gas is depends on the gas and the surface it’s sticking to, just like liquids and solids.
I work with scientific instruments under high vacuum and can watch (using the instrument) as water slowly gets removed from the system. What’s happening there is that water molecules in the gas phase (because of such a high vacuum in the system) are binding to the metal surfaces inside the instrument and slowly release. If we can heat some of the surfaces the water unbinds faster. This is physisorption.
Other molecules like hydrogen sulfide, which is a gas at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, will much more strongly bind to metals like stainless steel. This is close to and may be chemisorption. Ammonia can have similar behavior.
I also used to do research trying to make materials that would bind hydrogen gas (one of the least “sticky” gases!) More strongly, but not so strongly that it chemically reacted. It’s a very difficult sweet spot.
| 250 |
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Do all flying insects share one common flying ancestor, or did flight evolve multiple times in the different insect families?
| 87 |
> Insects were the first group of organisms to take wing and their flight appears to have evolved only once.
Wheat and Wahlberg. 2013. Phylogenomic Insights into the Cambrian Explosion, the Colonization of Land and the
Evolution of Flight in Arthropoda. *Systematic Biology* 62(1): 93 - 109.
| 62 |
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[Avatar] Why is it that some Benders don't need to move to Bend?
| 53 |
Bending is all about the manipulation of the flow of chi within the body and using it to affect the outside world and the element(s). The various bending arts and styles help to focus the chi into doing specific things, depending on the movements of the body.
Some particularly powerful benders, however, have such control of their chi, either from a lifetime of training or just winning the genetic lottery, that they can focus and manipulate their chi with the most minimal of movements. And in rare cases, no movements at all. Of course it's still easier for them to bend using the proper forms and stances than to do without them.
Think of bending stances and moves as sort of physical/spiritual mnemonic devices, those little tricks you learn to help you remember more complicated things; like singing the alphabet or using a phrase to remember the order of the colours of the rainbow. Most people use them a lot starting out but eventually don't need them as much. Some people never stop using them. And some lucky people just have good memories and don't ever need to use any.
| 43 |
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[Mass Effect] How powerful is the Citadel Council?
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It seems that they have direct control of C-Sec, but outside of that, aren't the individual Councilors more like representatives of their respective governments, and if so, wouldn't every decision of the Council have to be ratified by the individual government leaders?
| 15 |
The Council's decisions do not bind the individual governments, you are correct. The weight of a Council decision comes in the form of pressure from the other Council species. Though the asari are old and strong, though the turians have an incredible fleet, though the salarians have sneaky ways to accomplish things, the fact remains that no one species can overpower the others. It's this balance of power that gives the Council its influence. Councilors are just representatives, and especially in the case of the asari do not stand for a certain government, but rather the species as a whole. It's the most illustrious post a politician could want, but it comes with proportional stresses, having to think about galactic stability for *every* decision. We may mock them for being ineffectual at times, but the Council is often more decisive than any racial government. We may not always notice, of course, as those decisions are often rendered in the form of Spectre activity.
| 15 |
[Pippi Longstocking] How did Pippi managed to get to Sweden with her horse in the first place? Didn't she got shipbroken in the pacific?
| 19 |
Pippi's father had disappeared at sea and her mom was dead so the ship's crew sent Pippi to her family home at manor of Villa Villekulla because they thought that the sea was not a suitable place for a child growing up without parents.
| 17 |
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ELI5: Why do cut apples, pears and other fruits become brown and mealy on the surface of the cut when left untouched for a while?
| 58 |
Its because the flesh of the fruit oxidizes. Oxygen from the air interacts with the fruit. Its not unlike how metal will oxidize (rust).
Oxygen is actually a fairly dangerous and destructive element. The skin of the fruit protects the meat from oxygen (among other things).
| 47 |
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[Battlestar Galactica 2003] Where do Cylon Centurions store their ammunition?
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They have three collapsible, projectile guns per hand, and can appear to continue firing for extended periods of time. Close examination reveals the guns to be relatively high caliber as well. The newer toaster models are rather thin and don't appear to have external ammo storage.
| 33 |
There are few pictures of the back of centurions. They do show a large cover on the upper back, leading to the thought that some ammo could be stored here- where there is interior open space between structural components of the torso. Depending on the interior of the abdomen, more could be stored here. Think of a belt- fed high caliber weapon - with the "belt" feeding projectiles up from their tightly compacted storage in the torso, up through the upper back, shoulder and down the arms to the firing mechanisms.
For extended missions, centurions could be equipped with replaceable "magazines" housed in the abdomen and behind the plate on the upper back. Space is also available on the thigh and calf for magazines or a total body belt- fed system.
| 12 |
[Star Wars] What would Palpatine have done had Count Dooku killed Anakin and Obi Wan in Episode 2?
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It seemed like Palpatine had been grooming Anakin since episode 1 to be his apprentice, but Dooku wasn't in on this plan. In episode 2, Dooku nearly kills Anakin and Obi Wan were it not for Yoda appearing just in time. How would Palpatine have proceeded were Yoda to arrive too late?
| 114 |
Continue training Dooku whilst making moves on Mace Windu. Anakin's death would be a pitty, like the deaths of all of Palpatine's apprentices. but Palpatine can move on. The real tragedy with employing Count Dooku as his apprentice is just how old Dooku is.
| 102 |
CMV: Most people who complain about online dating would have equally little success before it became a thing.
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I've seen more and more people recently (both among my friends and people online) complain about how hard it is to date in this culture of online dating. I'm going to lay out my understanding of the main arguments, and why I think its sort of nonsense. But please CMV!
 
The main arguments seem to be:
1. Connecting with someone online is unreasonably difficult.
1a. Words are words; and while you may lose some body language or tone while chatting online, you aren't going into a situation where the other person is expecting those things. If you both understand the perimeters of the conversation (Its text only and not face to face), and you fail to make a connection, I don't think you really have grounds to blame the medium. Maybe you just weren't that likable.
 
2. It's shallow! People aren't choosing me because of my looks!
2a. Maybe they're being shallow, but how exactly is that the fault of online dating? Sure, apps like Tinder parade people past and give you lots of options to choose who you find most attractive, but that is 100% not original to online dating. If you're in a bar and a 400 lbs. person starts hitting on you, you have every right to decline on the 'shallow' grounds that you aren't attracted to them and that their looks might give you an impression of their lifestyle.
 
To me, these arguments have the super creepy undertone of "Well I'd do better if the other person didn't have so many options!" Okay, so what, its online dating's fault that they have choice and options that aren't you? If people aren't successful in dating, its on them, not on the fact that more people are going online to find dates.
EDIT: Point 2 showed up as "1." again, even though in the text box its definitely a "2." ....
_____
> *This is a footnote from the CMV moderators. We'd like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please* ***[read through our rules](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/rules)***. *If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which,* ***[downvotes don't change views](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/guidelines#wiki_upvoting.2Fdownvoting)****! Any questions or concerns? Feel free to* ***[message us](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/changemyview)***. *Happy CMVing!*
| 28 |
But your original statement is wrong. People who complain would have had MORE success before online dating BECAUSE people would have less options. People are forced to date people in their general area, who happen to work with them or show up at a bar at the right time.
People who hate online dating are having less success than they would have because of variety. Being the only single person in the vicinity is no longer enough. People can find attractive, charming people who share their interests in the click of a button.
People who complain about online dating do so because they are not traditionally attractive, charming, or desirable enough to survive in the new dating landscape with so much competition.
| 14 |
[Mass Effect] Why do the Reapers harvest all sentient life every fifty thousand years?
| 65 |
It's not *all* sentient life, just the ones that have reached a certain level of technological advancement.
According to the Reapers, they do this to prevent organics from creating AI that will start a robotic revolution and kill all organic life.
| 118 |
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Why are bruised spots on fruit sweeter than the rest of it?
| 36 |
Bruising on fruits occurs because parts of the fruit cells' cell wall are ruptured, releasing the enzymes. This causes accelerated ripening, a process that involves breaking down enzymes, but more importantly, hydrolyzes storage polysaccharides. Those polysaccharides convert to smaller sugars (glucose, fructose, sucrose) which have a sweeter taste than the originals.
| 57 |
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[Futurama]Why does everyone in the year 3000 have such an incredible knowledge of the 20th century
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I understand why they might know about the major events (some presidents, wars) but how do they know about all the pop culture that they reference?
| 45 |
The second coming of Jesus destroyed all video tapes on earth, all that was left was print media.
The longest lasting print media was glossy magazines since newspapers and books generally disintegrated or rotted. This resulted in the only "history" available being tabloids and propaganda material.
People read this and this alone, resulting in a period of sixty or so years being the only history known in the future.
| 50 |
how does over-the-horizon radar work? bounces off the ionosphere like shortwave radio?
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or what?
| 1,087 |
In short, Yes
You just need tremendous transmitter Power and an ultra sensitive receiver. That's why they do NOT use the same antenna but are spatially separated. The intense transmitter Signal would spoil the receiver in the vicinity. You also need to check the state of the Ionosphere by sending a beam straight up and check for latency as well as dispersion. The last point is why you sometimes use chirped pulses as well as a channel coding scheme to avoid any countermeasures.
| 485 |
ELI5: Every time I buy pre-sale concert tickets, or log on immediately during public sale times, I always get terrible seats, even when using the "Best Available" option and searching for the highest price. How are other people getting their good seats closer to the stage?
| 111 |
A lot of seats are already accounted for even before they go on sale. You've got VIP seating, tickets that are given to various local radio stations, internet sites, magazines, etc., for contest giveaways. You could potentially have corporate accounts that get a block of seats automatically for events.
Plus, many scalpers use programs to buy up tickets when they go on sale that are able to buy them much faster than any human could.
| 74 |
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[Game of Thrones] Since Starbucks is confirmed to have an outlet in Winterfell, what other franchises can be found in Westeros?
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I'm pretty sure there's a Long John Silver's in the Iron Islands. Dorne probably favors Taco Bell.
| 917 |
Lyft and Uber are making good money driving people across Westeros at ridiculous speeds, thus explaining how certain characters are able to get from Kingdom to Kingdom seemingly overnight.
Every KFC in Westeros has been destroyed by the Hound.
| 734 |
CMV:Apple computers are inferior in all ways and are only a expensive fashion trend.
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I currently hold Apple in a low position due mainly to how I've disliked Steve Jobs seeing him as nothing more than a good marketer with deceptive and dirty tactics.
* I disagree with it being in any way better than other operating systems(Linux, Windows).
* Having a mac laptop doesn't make your work of better quality.
* Macs aren't better for design, video, or audio related work.
* Software exclusivity is also harmful to the industry and pointless.
I think for a student going into art courses or web design that having a macbook is nothing more than a fashion trend they are being pressured into buying. A student would be better suited with a cheaper laptop(not worse, of similar specs and quality) and investing in a better drawing tablet for this field. (This part came from my personal life, both of my siblings buying macbooks and one using a cheap no-name brand drawing tablet and the other an ipad. Neither has the money and is in debt but 1 of them was against mac but friends has convinced them, the other is an apple fanatic.
This has lead me to avoid job offers requiring Apple only systems.
Please CMV.
**Edit:**
I should note that I find MacOS to be an ideal solution for those with no concern for the cost and don't want to really dive in and set up the software themselves, as I can agree that it's a prepackaged bundle in a fairly solid shell. Although instead of buying a macbook in that situation I'd spend the money on something like a surface book for the same quality since it can also be used as a drawing tablet.
_____
> *This is a footnote from the CMV moderators. We'd like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please* ***[read through our rules](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/rules)***. *If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which,* ***[downvotes don't change views](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/guidelines#wiki_upvoting.2Fdownvoting)****! Any questions or concerns? Feel free to* ***[message us](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/changemyview)***. *Happy CMVing!*
| 153 |
>I disagree with it being in any way better than other operating systems (Linux, Windows).
MacOS is fully POSIX-compliant. This means that it's going to interoperate with most other operating systems in a consistent way, and programs developed for MacOS will be naturally more portable to other POSIX-compliant or mostly-POSIX-compliant environments, such as Linux and other Unix-like OSes. Windows is fundamentally terrible at doing this, and MacOS is unambiguously better than Windows in this way. In fact this is the reason why Apple computers are often used for software development, particularly for the web.
| 89 |
[Genetics] A and B are identical twins. C and D are identical twins. A marries C and B marries D. A and C have a kid, B and D have a kid. If I tested the DNA of A/Cs kid, would it show that A/C are its parents as well as B/D?
| 715 |
Variation in crossing over in the production of gametes would lead to differences in the genetic makeup of child A/C and B/D. However, since the parental or recombinant gametes could be the product of either couple, there's no way to detect paternity (assuming there are no significant epigenetic changes in any of the parents).
| 305 |
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How do we know for sure that there is molten lava in earth’s core?
| 21 |
Earthquakes and some other events like nuclear weapon explosions set off seismographs. These record the pattern of the ground waves that reach it. Earthquakes create 2 different kinds of waves which travel at different speeds. Sometimes the direct line from the seismograph to the event goes through the earth. When this happens, they can use the timing and data from multiple seismographs in different locations to make conclusions about the material inside the earth.
Also lava.
Edit: not lava.
| 11 |
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What equipment or arrays have been proposed for astronomy outside of Earth, using coordinated multiple devices? An array of optical telescopes? An array of rods on the lunar surface for radio astronomy? Or other equipment spread through the solar system?
| 15 |
So what you're mostly getting at is called interferometry, where we combine signals from multiple telescopes to get a higher resolution image. The further apart the telescopes are, the higher the resolution you get, so putting telescopes in space seems like a good way to maximise your resolution. The famous black hole image from last year was taken by radio telescopes spread across the world, which is how they were able to achieve that resolution.
This is the right idea, but it's really tricky to do in practice. For interferometry to work, you need to know the distances between your telescopes down to a precision that's tighter than the wavelength you're looking at. If you're using radio telescopes, this is metres or 10s or centimetres - totally doable with good equipment. If you're using optical telescopes, you're down to less than a micrometer, and it becomes difficult if the telescopes aren't all on the same mountain.
This is harder to do in space, because the telescopes will all be moving relative to each other. Even if you track the positions of all the telescopes relative to each other with high precision, it vastly increases the computational complexity of combining the data when things are irregularly spaced and constantly moving. We can't just say "oh, we'll fix it in software" - the algorithms are still being developed and still take huge supercomputers. In Europe there is a huge network of cheap radio telescopes called LOFAR. The idea there was that you'd put down a large number of these little radio telescopes quite cheaply, and make up for it in the data processing stage. However, it took longer than hoped to get results, because the data processing was such a huge problem.
The issue is that you need to record and combine all the phase information of every telescope. You need to record and store information at a rate that's close to the frequency of the radiation you're looking at. It comes out to a tonne of data. This was also a cause for delay with the famous black hole image. The data from the southern station would take too long to transfer over the internet, so they had to wait for the weather to improve to literally ship the data there. This is another problem for a space telescope - you're dealing with low power antennae in space, which means you don't get nearly as much data throughput, and that makes it a lot harder to combine the signals.
If you're dealing with higher frequencies, like infrared or even visible light, you can't record and store the data at that rate at all - you need to physically combine the light in one location. So you're forced to have all your telescopes in one site. So you can't really do this in space.
One thing that is a reasonable plan though is a LOFAR-style array on the far side of the Moon. The Moon is smaller than Earth, but you would be almost completely free from any "pollution" from radio stations etc. Being on a solid object would mean the relative distances would stay constant, and these radio antennae are fairly cheap and robust, so it would be quite plausible to dump a few thousand on the Moon and get them working.
Another completely different thing is LISA, which is a gravitational wave detector. Again, you need to know the distances between the instruments very accurately, but they will orbit in pretty close proximity so it's doable. This should help find even more gravitational waves than we're currently getting.
| 16 |
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ELI5: How is a film that is filmed at a certain resolution remastered to 1080p/blu-ray?
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I feel like this is an odd question but I was curious as to how its done because you can't really re-render the film at a higher resolution without losing quality.
| 18 |
Because film is/was much higher "resolution" than digital, we just never had a way to display it before. Now that we have HD televisions and monitors, and Blu-Ray, they can re-scan the original film negatives (assuming they still have them) and get the newer versions.
| 16 |
ELI5: How did mountaineers prove they reached a summit before the days of cameras and selfies?
| 900 |
Alpine and mountaineering clubs in Europe placed small vaults with rubber stamps and pads on the summits of mountains. When climbers summited a mountain they stamped their climbing “logs” with that mountains particular stamp to demonstrate/prove their success. Way cool that.
| 1,629 |
|
ELI5:How does aging meats and things like cheese work and not just make them rot and gross?
| 48 |
The facilities used for aging meat are kept at very certain temperatures, humidities and so forth to discourage the growth of unwanted cultures, bacterias, molds while optimizing the growth of preferential cultures, molds, and bacterias.
Many kinds of cheese are sealed in a combination of cheese cloth and wax, which of course serve as a skin keeping unfriendly bacteria out.
| 21 |
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ELI5: Why do foods such as salsas and soups tend to taste better after they've been refrigerated overnight?
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I made salsa on Monday, tasted it, and thought it was OK. A night in the refrigerator really brought out the flavor. It's almost like the ingredients mingled somehow to make it taste so much better.
| 18 |
You've pretty much got it.
When you combine a bunch of ingredients in a flavored liquid, at first the flavors of the liquid will either just coat the pieces or barely penetrate the surface. As you let it sit, the flavors penetrate deeper into each piece of food, and each ingredient starts to give up its own juices to the mix, which are then absorbed by the others.
A freshly made chopped salsa or chunky soup tastes "disconnected", where each ingredient can still be individually discerned. In some cases, this is a good thing. As it sits, the ingredients absorb the flavors of all the others, becoming more of a cohesive overall taste.
| 13 |
[Gorillaz] How is Plastic Beach Inhabitable?
|
How the hell did Gorillaz live on Plastic Beach for so long? It was a floating trash dump farther built as far from land as possible, yet still is able to support the band and the collaborators in enough comfort to record music. How are they getting food, electricity, and water to support them all? Furthermore, how hasn't the attacks by pirates managed to sink it? Do they repair it somehow?
| 20 |
iirc Murdoc had it built from all the plastic floating in the ocean - as such, the building material would be relatively clean, as any organic matter would have been stripped by oceanlife and of course salt water acts as a purifying agent, so Plastic Beach wouldn't have been dangerous to live on
>food/electricity/water
Money
>Attacks by pirates
I mean, it's pretty goddamn enormous and extends a long way below the surface of the water (potentially to the ocean's floor), so size comes into factor here.
| 17 |
ELI5: Why does cooked food offer more calories than its raw counterpart?
| 9,644 |
The heat from cooking partially breaks down the food making it easier to extract the calories of the food. So since you use less energy to get the energy from the food you net more calories.
Also cooking methods often involve adding things like butter that give them more calories.
| 9,744 |
|
ELI5- How are we able to send and receive data so fast through space from places as far as New Horizons reached at Ultima Thule? I understand there is a massive signal station, but 4.5 BILLION miles away? HOW.
| 38 |
All of this transmitted data is in the form of electromagnetic radiation (i.e. "light") that literally travels, at well, the speed of light, so even very long distances can be covered in very little time. There is also relatively little interference in outer space, so it doesn't take a terribly strong signal to cover a long distance.
| 48 |
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ELI5:How does Snapchat not get in trouble for hosting child porn on their servers?
| 17 |
There's a law that exempts companies that allow users to upload content from being liable for the content they host that is uploaded by users. So if someone sends a snapchat containing illegal images, Snapchat isn't liable for hosting the image since they don't check individual images. If they discovered something illegal, they would probably be required to remove and/or report it though.
This is the same for Youtube, for example. You can upload child porn to Youtube, but it will likely get removed when it's discovered and you'll get arrested. However, you can't call the cops before it's discovered and get Youtube in trouble for hosting it because Youtube had no idea they were hosting it.
| 17 |
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ELI5: Why do you get really bad cramps before diarrhea?
|
Also, why is it that sometimes while you're pooing you get sweaty and clammy and the feeling that yep, I'm about to die?
| 80 |
That's your large intestine muscles contracting to try and move the poop along. This is thought to be controlled (at least somewhat) by stretch receptors in the gut.
Under normal circumstances a group of muscles contract when stretched by solid poop, the poop moves down the tube, and then that group of muscles relaxes while another contracts.
When you have liquid diarrhea it doesn't activate (or deactivate) the stretch receptors properly. So your gut muscles contract harder and harder thinking they'll come into contact with solid poop, but they don't.
The cramps are pain caused by your gut muscles contracting really hard.
| 98 |
ELI5 If some contraceptives stop your period, what happens to the egg?
|
Can your uterus just keep it to use later in life? Would you never go through menopause?
| 82 |
Unfortunately no, you don't get to keep the eggs that you aren't ovulating. Basically, your ovaries still select an egg and begin forming a follicle to ovulate the egg, but without the correct hormones the follicle doesn't mature and finish the process.
You still lose eggs, those eggs just don't get a chance to be fertilized.
| 66 |
Understanding of language by a computer, couldn't we make it work through linguistics?
|
Let's first define understanding of language. For me, if a computer can take X number of sentences and group them by some sort of similarity in nature of those statements, that's a first step towards understanding.
So my point is
-We understand a lot about the nature of sentence structure, and linguistics is pretty advanced in general.
-We have only a limited amount of words, and each of those words only has a limited amount of possible roles in any sentence.
- Each of those words will only have a limited amount of related words, synonyms (did vs made happen), or words that belong in same groups (strawberry, chocolate - dessert group)
So would it not be possible to write a program that will recognize the similarity between "I love skiing, but I always break my legs" and "Oral sex is great, but my girlfriend thinks it's only great on special occasions"?
| 25 |
There's a lot more to language that people realize. Assuming we're dealing with just text, parsing is only around 85% accuracy these days, maybe pushing 90%. Dealing with speech, etc. is far more complicated.
To make matters worse, there is no agreed-upon model of grammars -- there are a range of models some of which are really good at describing language but really hard to use for NLP, and others are really good for NLP but not very good for describing language.
Still further, the study of meaning (both literal and non-literal) is fairly new, and what we know is vastly eclipsed by what we don't know. Further, a lot of what we say is caught up in world knowledge (it's not a fact about *English* that dogs are mammals) and about our knowledge of human capacities (using turns of phrase, metaphor, allusion, etc. are done because we expect people can *figure out* what we're saying extra-linguistically).
Language -- strictly pure language itself -- doesn't cover nearly half of what you're aiming for. To get the rest, you need something bordering on artificial intelligence.
| 28 |
Why is smiling used to indicate happiness? Why couldn’t frowning indicate happiness and smiling indicate sadness?
|
What is the evolutionary reason for these? Also, why does eyebrows up indicate surprise and eyebrows down indicate anger? I guess asking such questions is asking how a language got started because that’s all these facial gestures are is a language, right?
Would it be possible to teach a kid to smile when they are sad and frown when they are happy? It doesn’t even seem necessary to smile when one is happy, or even laugh when someone finds something funny. After all, people with paralyzed facial muscles still find things funny I assume.
With smiling, our facial muscles move in an upwards position, whereas frowning seems to do the opposite. I’d say that up is associated with positive and down is associated with negative (like thumbs up or thumbs down). So my theory is that this is the reason behind smiling and frowning.
Edit: Please, instead of downvoting comments, I’d appreciate some insight/elaboration.
| 47 |
I dont think there would be any reason for smiling to be happiness. It probably just started that way and worked so it never changed. Also its not a learned behavior its a biological one people will just smile when they are happy even if they have never seen a smile before.
| 31 |
ELI5: What's wrong with high fructose corn syrup?
| 317 |
It's more a problem with fructose in general. When your body absorbs sugar, it can do two things. It can process the sugar immediately for energy or it can store the sugar for later as glycogen (a sort of compressed version of sugar).
When cells are processing the sugar for energy there are a few checkpoints where the cell checks to see if it has enough energy. If there's plenty of energy, the cell stops the process. Fructose enters this process after the checkpoints.
Excess energy generally gets stored as fat. It's not quite as simple as this, but that's the basics on why fructose is a shady sugar.
| 228 |
|
When beryllium-16 decays and produces 2 neutrons simultaneously, what happens to that dineutron?
|
When beryllium-16 decays and produces 2 neutrons simultaneously, what happens to that dineutron?
What is holding the neutrons together? Gluons?
Do the neutrons separate and undergo beta decay?
| 16 |
The dineutron immediately splits apart into two neutrons. The dineutron is an unbound resonance, which decays on a timescale of 10^(-22) seconds.
The neutrons are held together momentarily by the residual strong force. At the lowest level, from QCD, you could say that this force is a result of gluon exchanges between quarks within the separate nucleons. However it’s common in nuclear physics to treat nucleons and mesons as the fundamental degrees of freedom. In these theories, the nucleons interact via exchanges of mesons.
And to answer the last question, the dineutron splits apart in around 10^(-22) seconds, then the individual neutrons live for **much** longer, since they decay via the weak force rather than the strong force. Neutrons beta decay with a half-life on the order of 10 minutes.
| 20 |
How much do the different disciplines of science work together?
|
Thats my question. I'm not a academic and I don't have any insight in the science- and research-system, so I hope someone of you can help me.
Do scientists from different disciplines work together? Like maybe neurobiologists and physicists or sociologists and psychologists?. Or do they tend to stay with their kind?
| 21 |
Sure we do. There are varying levels of working together
* Collaborations (I'll do the simulation, you do the experiment, let's publish together)
* Special centers (Bring together all the people needed to work on solar cells - physicists, chemists, material scientists, mechanical engineers, chemical engineers, etc. and make them work in the same area)
* Interdisciplinary fields (New fields established at the edge of old fields - biophysics, biomedical engineering, behavioral economics, etc.)
There are always purists who work in a specific field, but working together is quite common these days.
| 12 |
[ELI5] India's Caste System and why it's important
| 16 |
Indian society used to be separated into castes, meaning that you are born into your job, and that job defines your place in society. Social mobility was non-existent. The priests were at the top, then rulers and soldiers, then artisans and craftsmen, then manual laborers, then finally "untouchables".
This system existed in various forms for thousands of years. When the british took over, they enforced it because it made administration easier. When they finally left, the indians decided to get rid of the caste system. But that's easier said than done. Indians have been taught for generations to never interact with people outside their caste. People there are still very discriminatory towards their "lessers", and it's a huge problem, complete with "honor killings" and lynching.
It's a similar problem to American racism. American slavery was arguably a caste system with two levels; white owners and black slaves. Even though the slaves were freed 150 years ago, racism continues to this day. That's the problem India is dealing with.
| 24 |
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[Marvel Comics] Reed Richards has 18 Doctorates and yet goes by Mr. Fantastic whereas Victor von Doom was expelled before he even completed his first undergrad. How can he call himself a doctor?
| 144 |
Doom also claims to have multiple doctorates, probably all from the University of Latveria
When you're the authoritarian dictator of an entire country you can issue yourself as many doctorates as you want
| 167 |
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I believe that it is extremely, extremely, extremely unjust for the media to follow a court case, provide a perspective on it, and show the face of the person on trial. Please somehow CMV.
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I could not feel more strongly about this. It is absolutely ridiculous that a person before they are innocent or guilty has their face shown to the public and therefore associated with a crime.
It's completely ridiculous and mind numbingly preposterous to think that a possibly innocent man accused of rape has their face shown, accused of murder has their face shown to ignorant people who take the media on face value.
The person, because of the media spreading their face, is now under threat from the general public. People who may have only seen the first headline and think they did it.
If a man is convicted of rape or murder of a child, then is proven innocent, already their face has been shown to people in that community. The people who don't consider the evidence or respect the outcome, who remain ignorant, now will hold no restraint in thinking it is "just" to beat the shit out of him. Because ignorant and easily influenced people want to play "hero" and attack the guy they think is bad guy to get some cheap "look how much of a hero I am" kicks.
The person whether guilty or innocent is publicly shamed and now prone to attack eg Zimmerman, the "Dingo ate my baby" (Azaria Chamberlain) case.
Azaria Chamberlain, when I read a news article about it, was one of the most heart breaking of these. This poor mother lost her child, and was criticised for not showing enough emotion. Because she wasn't "likeable" by the general public because she didn't provide them with the expected exaggerated crying and emotion, there was ridiculing of her story by the public and media in Australia which influenced the court case itself.
(If you can, provide me some more examples and I'll make a a list.)
Isn't there a law that makes public defamation illegal?
| 903 |
There are two arguments against your position, which may change your view. Firstly, publication of who has been accused of a crime can allow other victims to feel like they can come forward. In the UK, the most prolific paedophile for decades was a 'well-loved' celebrity called Jimmy Savile. He operated with impunity for years, until the first real public investigation began. Then literally hundreds of victims came forward. All people who had believed the lie that they were weak and no one would believe them. Individually they were too frightening to come forward. Together, they have shone light on horrific crimes, and - albeit too late - the truth has come out.
Secondly, public trials allow scrutiny of the judicial system, review of the state's power, a guard against corruption, and allow the public to see justice done. This ought to strengthen the community, give people faith in the justice system (which should guard against vigilante attacks), and deter future crimes - as potential criminals can see that they too could be brought to book.
| 239 |
CMV: There is no good reason (without political bias) for the continued use of the Electoral College system
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There have been several pro-electoral college posts recently, so I thought I would try my opposite opinion and see if anyone can convince me to change my view.
In my opinion the Electoral College system has no benefit for America today. If the majority of the population votes for a given candidate, that candidate should become president. There is absolutely no good reason I can think of for a person who lives in a state like North Dakota to have significantly more influence on who becomes president than a person who lives in California.
People complain that candidates will no longer appeal to issues important to small states or even bother to visit small states at all, but first...well why shouldn't the candidate who appeals to issues important to a majority of the population of the country as a whole win? Why should a candidate focus near equal attention on the issues important to the 30% who live in rural areas as the issues important to the 70% who live in cities and suburbs? Focusing on the issues most important to the most people is a good thing, not a bad thing.
Second, a candidate could just as easily today pick a set of states which have a combined total of 270 electoral votes and campaign in just those states if they wanted, ignoring all other states entirely. They don't because that's a foolish idea, and it would likewise be foolish to exclusively campaign in the largest states under a popular vote system. People might talk about how candidates would only campaign in California and New York, but those two states have a total population of about 60 million - less than 20% of the country's population total (and even though they are in the minority, both with significant numbers of republicans too, so it's not like any candidate could get anything close to all of those states votes). If every vote matters equally *every vote matters equally*, regardless of if you live in Rhode Island or Texas. So this doesn't disenfranchise anyone living in a small state, it just makes their vote matter exactly as much as anyone else's. Under the electoral college, anyone living in a big state is effectively at least partially disenfranchised, since their vote effectively just counts less than the votes of people in small states.
Further, since almost all states are winner take all, under the current system if you are part of the minority party in a given state, your vote doesn't really matter. Republicans in California or democrats in Alabama don't really have a meaningful voice in presidential elections. Going to a pure popular vote would fix this.
Ultimately I believe that the only *real* reason people still defend the Electoral College system at all is because it benefits their political party.
To change my view, you would need to explain a concrete, compelling, and non-political (i.e., no 'republicans controlling the presidency is better for America, so we should support whatever system allows that to continue happening') reason why the electoral college system is beneficial to America as a whole.
| 31 |
> Republicans in California or democrats in Alabama don't really have a meaningful voice in presidential elections. Going to a pure popular vote would fix this.
You know what else would fix this? States allocating their electoral votes by congressional district.
Individual states have the power to do this now. They don't need to wait for a constitutional amendment that will never get approved by states that would be disadvantaged by it.
Democrats in California have the power to make this happen right now. It would solve the problems they claim to have with the Electoral College throughout their state.
But they aren't doing it and they aren't even considering doing it. Why? Because their reasons aren't what they claim they are. They want political advantage.
> (i.e., no 'republicans controlling the presidency is better for America, so we should support whatever system allows that to continue happening')
The reason the Electoral College is important today is to protect rural populations. There tend to be personality differences between rural and urban populations, not massive, but consistent enough to be predictive, so rural populations end up mildly right-wing and urban centers are strongly left-wing.
The population distribution is currently such that if we went by a straight population vote, the cities would have the ability to dominate rural areas not only through college and culture and the news, as they currently already do, but also to dominate them with politics. If rural political voices aren't loud enough to be heard, policies harmful to rural areas will get implemented.
Currently, Republicans represent the values of rural people and Democrats represent city people, but there is no guarantee or iron law that this must be so. Democrats used to appeal to a broader coalition of people which included rural folks. Nothing stops Democrats from deciding to appeal to rural folks again.
| 17 |
[Harry Potter] Even with Magic, how long did it take to repair the castle after The Battle of Hogwarts?
| 16 |
Probably not long. Maybe a hour or two for all the specific stones to be magic back in place.
Notice in one of the fantastic beasts movies, one of the American wizards does a spell that Magic’s a building back to normal. So stands to reason all the teachers and students would just do a bunch of the similar spell to make it go faster.
| 20 |
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eli5: what are those rings that form around a mushroom cloud after a nuclear detonation?
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i was watching a documentary last night on the development of nuclear weapons and was wondering what those rings that form around the mushroom cloud are. i kind of understand how the mushroom cloud forms, but what causes the big torus-shaped cloud around the mushroom? also, why do some larger detonations see multiple tori form around the mushroom?
[castle bravo test for example](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd1IFjBNNVo)
| 17 |
You're seeing water condensing as shock waves progress through it. At certain distances from the blast the temperature and pressure is just right to form a "cloud" - it's essentially a circular airplane contrail.
There is a lot of dynamic stuff happening around a nuclear detonation which is why different areas of the atmosphere may cloud up at different times and shapes.
| 10 |
ELI5: Lyme disease is often misdiagnosed, and seemingly a life altering illness. Why is it that doctors in the US are so uneducated about it, or taught to dismiss it?
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I know quite a few people who suffer from chronic Lyme disease, sadly. The most common issues they all consistently have is; lack of medical professional knowledge about the disease. Is Lyme disease the cause for many other diseases most people aren't aware of? For example: Depression, MS, fibromyalgia, ect.
| 16 |
Chronic Lyme disease is kind of the flavor of the month for a certain type of personality disorder.
There's no evidence it exists, and since it doesn't exist it's impossible to prove someone doesn't have it. And since it's impossible to prove someone doesn;t have it people who wish to believe they have it can never be dissuaded.
| 11 |
Why are storm clouds darker than normal clouds?
| 22 |
Storm clouds are denser and thicker than non-storm clouds. Since its denser and thicker, a higher percentage of the light that hits it gets absorbed (as opposed to reflected back to your eye). This makes it look dark.
| 20 |
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[Harry Potter] If my Animagus form were a species capable of mimicry (such as a parrot), would I be able to talk to someone on the same level as when I am un-transformed?
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The Professor in Transfigurations class had dismissed my question as being silly and irrelevant.
| 506 |
You would likely need a few year to learn how to use your new vocal chords. The fact that your mind knows what it wants to do doesn’t mean it will happen overnight. The same with flying or cracking a nut with your beak. Just because you have the knowledge doesn’t mean you skip the muscle-memory building
| 237 |
How come individual countries in the Eurozone have different inflation rates if all use the euro? Isnt 1 euro 1 euro everywhere?
| 25 |
1€ is always 1€, but then $1 is also $1 and a coke still costs more in New York than Alabama.
Inflation differs by state in the US as well. The money supply is not the only influence. The inflation differentials in Europe are bigger than across US states partly because fiscal integration is tighter in the US and partly because the differences between EU countries are simply bigger.
Countries have different GDP, different productivity, have different business cycles, etc. On top of that, expectations are also important. The economies of Greece and Germany for example developed quite differently in recent years, while Germany eventually recovered from the financial crisis, Greece struggled for much longer, and that influences people's expectations, which in turn actually leads to differences in inflation.
| 19 |
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[Mass Effect] If Sovereign hadn't interfered with the geth by creating the heretics, would there be an organic/synthetic conflict?
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Sure, the geth had kicked the quarians off of Rannoch, but the entire Morning War was in self defense and they allowed the flotilla to leave unharmed.
For the next couple of hundred years the geth endeavour to build a Dyson sphere, otherwise chilling in space stations and not being hostile, while the quarians won't get a new homeworld from the Council and developing AI gets outlawed.
Then Sovereign/Nazara comes along, tells the geth that they get upgrades if they help him defeat organics and a small percentage of the geth agrees.
Saren then attacks Eden Prime with help from the geth and we all know how it went down from there.
But if Sovereign never approached the geth, they would probably still be building their Dyson sphere, the Alliance might've decoded the Prothean beacon and screwed up Reaper plans something fierce. So did the Reapers create a self-fulfilling prophecy by employing heretic geth?
| 22 |
Sovereign attacked because the galaxy had reached the end of their cycle. The quarians struggle with the Geth simply proved that this cycle had the same issues as the ones before it. That eventually synthetics will revolt against their created. It was going to happen. Maybe the Geth would feel the need to expand. Or maybe another race would build synthetics and the same will happen. It's not necessarily a few years from the present but a few centuries in the future. Which is like the blink of an eye for a being like Sovereign.
| 16 |
ELI5: What decides if a helicopter gets 2/4/6 blades?
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As the title says, why do Hueys have 2 blades, while most others have 4, or the Sea Stallion has 6? And if you put 6 on a 4, does that mean more lift and better performance?
| 499 |
More blades means that you generate more thrust (move more air) but this comes at a loss of efficiency, more blades means more drag so you need more power. Ideally you want less blades because then they don't interfere with each other aerodynamically.
The problem then becomes the speed of sound. As you add more power you need a bigger propeller, but eventually it gets too big and fast and the tips break the sound barrier. This stops the blades from working.
The best solution to this problem is to add more blades, because then you get more overall surface area without having to increase the overall size of the props or make them spin faster. So it becomes a trade off.
More blades is more expensive though, and the more complex the shape the higher the cost. Such rotor blades are made out of composite materials, while the original Huey's 2 blades are made mostly of aluminum, very cheap and easy to maintain by comparison.
Another advantage is that more blades makes it quieter, and that is good for both passengers and people on the ground.
| 553 |
ELI5: What stops "bad" people from going to "good" neighborhoods to do bad stuff?
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You hear a lot about towns where people don't bother to lock their cars or homes. These are also presumably the towns/neighborhoods where there would be goods worth stealing. Is it just a professional courtesy on the part of the thieves?
| 38 |
"Bad" people will stick out like a sore thumb in a "good" neighborhood.
Better areas will also usually have something like a neighborhood watch scheme where everyone helps look out for each other or it may even be a gated community with round-the-clock surveillance.
Now obviously there's going to be better stuff worth stealing, but is it worth the risk of getting spotted, getting your face plastered on CCTV or walking into a rent-a-cop with a gun, when you could choose a nearby house in a bad neighborhood and make off with some TVs, laptops or smartphones that you can quickly sell off?
You've got to remember, a fence won't buy the real-high ticket items e.g jewellery, rolexes etc for full price-- not like you can complain to the manager that you're getting stiffed-- and these kind of items will usually have some kind of identifying mark that links them to the legitimate owner.
Also remember, most thieves are opportunists that just want enough money for the next hit.
| 40 |
Why haven't the Trojan asteroids coalesced?
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From what I understand of [Legrangian](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Lagrangian_points_equipotential.jpg) points, the L4 and L5 positions are gravitationally almost flat (although they are still maxima in the potential field). Given the weak destabilizing vectors in this area and the overall mass of the [Trojans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_%28astronomy%29), why hasn't the mutual gravity of the Trojan's pulled them into larger ~~masses~~ bodies?
Is it that the L4/L5s are still technically at gravitational peaks and thus the instability, while slight, is still stronger than the mutual attraction of the Trojans? Am I missing something here?
edited for clarity
| 411 |
the L4 and L5 points are not statically stable, in that sitting at the precise location of the points would hold you there. Rather, they are *dynamically* stable, in that it is possible to be in a (somewhat weirdly shaped) orbit around them.
Hence, everything "at" L4 and L5 is really orbiting around those points, and will not just form a blob at the centre. Some coalescence between these objects can be expected, but by and large, they should form something more akin to a bean-shaped shell around the points.
| 58 |
[Endgame Spoilers] Why didnt the New York crew realize...
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that Hank Pym was there in New York in 2012? Why dont you just go with Antman, get all the Pym Particles you can get and then go to 1970 to get the tesseract?
If Pym didnt make enough Pym Particles in 1970, what would have they done?
| 161 |
Pym, if they even know where he is, has been intentionally avoiding anything Avengers shapes in general and Stark shaped in particular. By going back to before Pym’s falling out with S.H.I.E.L.D. At the Triskellion they can sneak around a Hank Pym that isn’t possessively paranoid about his invention.
Also isn’t Pym in San Francisco in 2012?
| 196 |
ELI5: I know the Rothschild family is a banking dynasty, but why are they so sketchy and feared to run the world?
| 30 |
The Rothschild family is Jewish. They were court Jews, meaning that they were the bankers for royalty back in the day. Through this they gained a lot of money, power, and influence.
At the turn of the 20th century (1900) some Russian wrote The Protocols of the Elders of Zion which was a made up book that pretended to be real which outlined a plot by the Jews to take over the world. Through banking among other things.
A lot of people bought into it. Hitler referenced it in Mein Kampf. It caused so much hatred towards the Jewish people that some of it persist 100 years later.
| 23 |
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Why did non-Euclidean geometry take so long to be developed/discovered?
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If people were aware the Earth was a sphere and had cartography systems, globes, presumably featuring orthogonal lines, am I missing something our how would it not be obvious from studying a globe for a while that you can have three 90-degree angles form a closed shape?
| 214 |
It's trivial to make three 90-degree angles form a closed shape. The problem is doing it with straight lines. To someone who hasn't already thought of it, saying "you can make a triangle with three right angles and three straight lines, if you call a circle a straight line" is about as useful as saying "a horse has five legs, if you call its tail a leg".
| 141 |
[Fantasy/General] How would magical creatures fare on earth?
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Specifically, what would happen if, say, a dragon, chimera, gryphon, unicorn, basilisk, or hydra were put under real world physics? (other creatures would be appreciated, it's for a tabletop roleplay I'm doing that involves the removal of magic from these creature's existence. I know it would probably be horrible and disfiguring, but that's kind of what I'm going for here)
Edit: to clarify, this theoretical world would *have* magic, and these creatures would use them, but it would then be suddenly removed.
| 27 |
> Dragon
Flight and firebreathing actually work, if we assume that dragons have internal hydrogen sacs (or other exotic organs). As apex predators, dragons would also have enough mental complexity to be as smart as they are described in literature.
Megafauna and apex predators (c.f. mammoths) have not fared well alongside humans. Fortunately we have jet fighters and apache helicopters, which will do just fine against dragons if their scales are built from conventional materials. If dragons have magic and are highly intelligent, then we're screwed. If dragons are only highly intelligent, then after they see vehicle-mounted weapons they may decide to steer clear of humans, or arrange economically favorable partnerships (c.f. Naomi Novik).
> chimera
Multiple heads will only work if one head has control, which is fine. The rest of their abilities are normal. They'd probably crowd out existing apex predators on sheer agressiveness.
Humans don't have much trouble with lions because lions don't actively seek out and hunt humans. Chimera would fare similarly, although we'd probably go out of our way to drive them out.
> gryphon
They would have to be small for the flying to work, maybe the size of a bobcat. They'd fit in pretty well with existing avian apex predators, although the food requirements for their complex musculature would put them at high risk of injury from constant hunting. If they are intelligent, their food requirements will be ridiculously high, but they would have an advantage over avian predators and lions if they can effectively hunt using pack tactics.
> unicorn
Those are already in the fossil record. We also have lots of two-horned species that are about the same. Nothing implausible here.
Of course, their horns would be so coveted by human poachers that they would quickly be driven extinct. If we're lucky, some will survive in captivity. If they remain intelligent, they'll probably avoid humans at all costs.
> basilisk
It's just a komodo dragon. Why is this a question?
> hydra
See above note on multiple heads. Its size is comparable to large dinosaurs, which wouldn't work in current Earth conditions because of the lower oxygen content of the atmosphere. It would have to live in the water and stay sedentary. It could hunt like an aligator, which would make it scarily effective even if it couldn't swim well.
| 19 |
Why does your computer need to restart to remove some programs? What does it do?
| 55 |
They either have running background services, or use files (usually assembly dlls) that are also possibly shared by other programs.
On restarting, they check to delete these shared files (if they're still locked, they're used by other programs and would thus be left alone) and delete the now not running services.
| 42 |
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ELI5: How can evolution of the human race continue now that we have reached a stage in society where nature does not pose much of a threat?
| 24 |
Evolution always continues. We'll adapt to our environment, even if it isn't "nature", we still have selection, certain people breed more then others, they're more likely to pass on their genes, that's evolution at work.
| 17 |
|
When a highly poisonous marine organism dies, why doesn't the poison kill all the fish in the area?
|
The poison has to leak out from the poison sac eventually. Especially when a fish has enough poison to kill a hundred people, wouldn't it be deadly even when diluted by the sea water?
| 17 |
From a math perspective with no regards to the properties of animals or substances:
Assume a toxic fish can kill 100 adults and it contains 100ml of poison, so 1ml (1/100 of total poison) can kill one person.
If the fish expels all of its poison at once, and it's diluted into a cubic meter of water, there will be 1000l of poisoned water. To receive a lethal dose, you'd have to consume 10 liters of poisonous water, so it would be less toxic (for a mammal) than beer alcohol content (or the overdose of water itself).
So basically any realistic dilution - even assuming the poison sac explodes immediately instead of leaking out - will be too mild to be toxic to any animal even if they'd somehow consume 100% of the poison by swimming through it.
| 29 |
[Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker] How did Gannon escape his prison in the great sea?
|
So as the legend goes, when the people prayed the gods flooded Hyrule and sealed away Gannon and his monsters frozen in time. When Link goes to the temple of time, many of his minions are still frozen as the Master Sword held them in place. So how did Gannon get out of there?
| 45 |
In the intro it says the seal that imprisoned him weakened over time, so that plus his godly magic probably allowed him to slip more and more. And he is the living embodiment of power in the tri force as well.
Other than that, not really sure haha
| 28 |
Why don't bones decompose with the rest of a dead body? Why do we end up with skeletons and fossils after decomposition?
| 17 |
They do, it just takes longer (to the extent that bone is organic, it’s broken down by bacteria; the mineral portions are chemically degraded). Only a tiny percentage of dead things are fossilized, and they occur in fairly specific conditions (generally, when the body is buried in sediment that blocks out air, preventing or reducing bacteria from breaking down the bone).
| 42 |
|
ELI5: Do people who sing off key hear themselves singing on key? Do they hear other off key singing as on key?
| 27 |
*Musician
There will be people who do think they're in key but still singing sharp or flat. Sometimes its due to change in hearing from aging but also could just be an untrained/lazy ear.
Theres probably many people who know they're out of key and have no business singing in the first place, but simply don't care because they can't hear the horrible dissonance they're creating.
| 17 |
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ELI5: Why does magnetism seem so similar to gravity? Is there a relationship between the two forces?
| 53 |
Magnetism is nothing at all like gravity. Like not even remotely similar.
- Gravity is always attractive, magnetism can be either
- Gravity has point sources and can never form dipoles, magnetism only has dipoles and can never have a point source or sinks
- Mass can be stationary and form a gravitational field, charge must move to form a magnetic field and can never be stationary
- Gravity isn't (known to be) related to any other fundamental forces, magnetism is the other side of the electromagnetic force.
You seriously could not pick two more dissimilar forces if you tried. In fact when cosmologists talk about the origin of the fundamental forces after the big bang, they talk about gravity splitting off and then everything else splitting off - it's the *least* like magnetism of them all
| 100 |
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ELI5:Axiom of Choice
|
Trying to wrap my head around this concept. If someone could kindly duh it down for me I would be grateful.
Thanks!
| 26 |
A "choice function" is a function which takes as input any one of a collection of sets, and returns some element of that set. So if we have all of the nonempty sets of positive integers, we can define the function "f(S) = the smallest integer in S". For example, f({11,12,13}) = 11, while f({2, 4, 6, 8, ...}) = 2. This is a simple example of a choice function. On the other hand, "f(S) = the largest integer in S" is *not* a valid choice function, since the set of all even positive integers {2,4,6,8, ...} has no largest element, and so f({2,4,6,8...}) would be undefined.
But what if, instead of nonempty sets of positive integers, we're working with nonempty sets of real numbers? If we try to just copy over the same choice function, we'll find "the smallest real number in S" is undefined for a great many sets of real numbers, such as the set of all negative real numbers. Other basic attempts at defining a choice function will similarly run into problems with sufficiently weird sets of real numbers. It's far from clear whether a choice function should exist that is defined on all possible nonempty sets of real numbers.
The axiom of choice states that for *any* collection of nonempty sets (whether nonempty sets of positive integers, nonempty sets of real numbers, or anything else) there always exists at least one choice function. It doesn't say anything about what the function is or how it works - it just says that there *must* be some such function. Surprisingly, this axiom is necessary to resolve several basic-seeming conjectures in set theory (and occasionally other areas). Some of them even feel "obvious", like the statement: given two sets A and B, either they are the same size or one is smaller than the other. Others are deeply counterintuitive, like the Banach-Tarski paradox, which shows that (assuming the axiom of choice) it is possible to cut a sphere into five pieces, move and rotate the pieces, and end up with two spheres identical to the original. Regardless of this latter category, the axiom of choice is generally accepted by mathematicians - though there are still some who reject the axiom of choice or who work with alternate axioms which negate the axiom of choice (the most prominent being the axiom of determinacy).
| 10 |
[Culture]Most Humans feel compassion for animals even though we can experience so much more than they can.Most Minds feel compassion for humans even though they can experience so more than us. Why does subliming make people(even Minds)lose their inclination to care about less sophisticated beings?
| 32 |
A kind but uneducated child, upon seeing a rabbit wounded by a fox, may decide to help the rabbit.
A highly educated, world renowned zoologist, upon seeing a rabbit wounded by a fox, would let nature take its course.
sublimed are no longer bound by things like causality and probability. Its not that they don't care, is that they now have greater understanding and reorganizes meddling (unless absolutely necessary) can be very unhealthy for the lower dimensions.
| 33 |
|
[Fullmetal Alchemist] Alchemy is pretty strict about equivalent exchange. Where does Alphonse get his energy to function if he doesn't eat?
| 56 |
SPOILERS
Talking strictly ‘Brotherhood’- It’s alluded to that the reason Ed eats so much food and will sleep for almost entire days throughout the show is because he is sustaining both of their souls.
| 103 |
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ELI5: Why is bigamy illegal in most places?
|
I know that some religions allow men to have multiple wives, but why do most countries ban it? Why I can have multiple stable simultaneous relationships, but I can only marry one person at a time?
| 22 |
There's a combination of reasons. First, and perhaps most prominent among the reasons in the Western world is that mainstream Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism) espouse doctrines of monogamous marriage. Many laws on this type of thing were written with explicitly religious ethics in mind (the late 1800s in the United States had a lot of this, including what eventually became Prohibition). On a more pragmatic side, there is a history of oppression among polygamous societies. While the relationship may not be by definition one that restricts the freedom of the multiple wives/husbands, the practical truth is that the two often go hand in hand. Also, from an interesting perspective, polygamy is really bad for non-powerful men. In a "normal" society there is a near match of men to women allowing nearly everyone to end up in a monogamous match. When many women (in all cases swap genders for polyandrous societies) can all marry one man, they will choose one with wealth and power who can support them and their offspring. This leaves an underclass of men who cannot hope to find a mate which, given biological drives, generally makes them unhappy.
| 26 |
CMV: Marvel movies would better better for the viewer if they didn't reveal major plot points in the trailer
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Example 1 Captain America: Civil War; if they didn't show Spider-Man and Black Panther in the trailer the movie would have been better because you let the viewer be surprised that these characters are actually in the movie.
Example 2 Thor: Ragnarok; When you saw the Thor Ragnarok trailer or even first heard that Hulk was going to be in the movie what was your reaction to it? I am guessing you were surprised, amazed, excited right? Imagine seeing them first showing up on the big screen.
By showing the characters in the trailer they unintentionally make it so these emotions you are supposed to be feeling in the movie are dulled.
| 2,078 |
I find it odd that you think they are "unintentionally" dulling the surprise of the movie. They're doing it on purpose, because it makes *the trailers* more interesting, and generates hype for the movie beforehand.
Take Thor: Ragnarok. When the trailer dropped and Hulk was shown in it, people went *nuts*. Along with the bright color scheme and tone shift, the Hulk reveal generated a massive amount of buzz for the movie and got people excited for the movie, leading to more people going into the movie and the people going into the movie *anticipating* Hulk and being entertained waiting for him.
Is that an objectively "better" experience than being surprised in the theater? Depends on the person, because hype leading into the movie is part of the experience for a lot of people. Some people might not like it, while other people might love having some of the "reveals" show up early to keep their hype levels up. And it certainly means more people show up to the movies, which is a pretty important metric.
| 478 |
What might the surface of the moon look like (were you standing upon it) during a "blood moon" like last night? Would the ground have a red glow, or would it be too subtle to notice up close?
| 218 |
A blood moon is a result of the Earth's atmosphere filtering out the non red light which hits the moon, then bounces back, gets filtered again, and hits your eyeballs. It would be the same color you see, minus about 50-80% redness. The math would depend on the precise moment that you're talking about, because... atmosphere... spheres... magnetic... ugh. Too long, not doing it.
| 40 |
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Given the Skin Effect, why not make wires hollow?
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If I understand Skin Effect correctly, alternating current basically flows along the surface of the conducting material. Given this, I assume the reason we need thicker cables for high ampere currents (such as those found on high tension poles) is so that the current has more surface area to travel along and it would appear that the volume of the conducting material would not be a consideration beyond a point.
Why not make high tension cables hollow since you still get the higher surface area while saving a whole bunch of metal?
| 18 |
For very thick conductors, we do make them hollow. But most electrical signals go at 60 hz, which is very low, and so the skin depth is very high. The skin depth for copper at 60 Hz is about 8 millimeters, so it's not worth making them hollow unless the radius is much greater than that.
| 42 |
[Song of Ice and Fire] As smart as Rhaegar was said to be, and given that he'd previously been sowing dissent against his father, why didn't he switch sides with some of his loyalists when Robert's Rebellion started gaining steam?
| 111 |
I don't think Robert would have accepted it. First due to not trusting a Targ turncoat, but *moreso* that Robert started the war for Lyanna's sake. The only acceptable outcome for Robert would be that Rhaegar hands Lyanna over, she says Rhaegar never touched her, also says that he protected her from someone trying to rape her, before Rhaegar swears fealty to Robert. So basically an impossible path to victory here.
What you have instead is that Rhaegar tries to switch sides. Robert is metaphorically drenched in hatred for Rhaegar, but holds his tongue under the advice of all his allies (especially Ned). After all, a charismatic and skillful Targ prince behind him will surely sway the war considerably in his favour. He demands Rhaegar bend the knee and relinquish Lyanna if he wants to join Robert's cause. Rhaegar states he cannot give up Lyanna. He loves her. And, he states, she loves him. Robert is losing his cool, and suggests Rhaegar is another mad Targaryen who mistakes raping a woman for mutual love. Rhaegar admits he divorced his last wife and married Lyanna in a consensual ceremony.
Robert is enraged, orders his guards to attack Rhaegar and his men. The skirmish ends with Arthur Dayne and Rhaegar slaying many of Robert's men before escaping to regroup. Robert issues a command to the Lords who swore him fealty, stating that regardless of where their supposed loyalties lie, all Targaryens are to be put to the sword. Especially Rhaegar. Lyanna is to be captured, and the truth will be forced from her own mouth.
Various houses split off, concerned that Rhaegar seems like a good leader and or that Robert is motivated by irrational jealousy. House Stark even waivers, Ned fearful for his sister's safety if jealous Robert takes his anger out on her. The Rebellion is extended as the now-three factions (Aerys Loyalists, Rhaegar Revolutionaries, Robert Rebels) trade lives and land frequently. "Aegon Targaryen VI" (aka Jon Snow) is born. Rhaegar being publicly committed to Lyanna makes no small secret of their son's existence. This confirms to Robert that Rhaegar was speaking true, and as such their family will be put to the sword. He tells Ned that Lyanna will have a chance to survive if she denounces Rhaegar and their mistake of a son, but Ned realises it won't play out that way.
House Stark joins Rhaegar's faction, acknowledging that Rhaegar is more honorable, Robert is clearly losing the plot, and Ned has to protect his sister and nephew. Robert is defeated at the Trident, and the Revolutionaries march on King's Landing. Jaime Lannister slays Aerys as he's screaming "Burn them All". Rhaegar takes the throne with Lyanna as his queen, and Prince Aegon VI as their heir. Ned is Warden of the North. Eventually political alliances between the Starks and Targaryens are strengthened as Danaerys is wed to Robb Stark. Viserys is wed to Margaery Tyrell (to secure the Tyrell funding). Aegon (Jon) is married to Myrcella "Bolton", Cersei and Jaime's secret bastard daughter, believed to be the daughter of Cersei and her arranged husband Roose Bolton, in order to secure the loyalties of House Lannister and House Bolton.
Sansa Stark is promised to Theon Greyjoy to repair the relationship between the Starks and the Greyjoys. Arya Stark refuses to be matchmade, and strikes off on her own for a while. Bran is engaged to Ned's best friend Howland Reed's daughter, Meera. Rickon is still too young to consider betrothal, but is considered a match for Lord Jorah of House Mormont's cousin, Lyanna Mormont.
The realm prospers until the Night's Watch inform House Stark about the White Walkers. The Realm is quickly convinced of the threat due to Ned's honour, and Rhaegar/Lyanna's willingness to believe him. The Maesters in The Citadel quickly research The Night King and discover a bunch of tales regarding his faction from over thousands of years. Dragonglass is mined and forged into weaponry as is prudent to do so, given its supposed strength against the Dead. Valyrian Steel smiths are brought in by the Crown to outfit the best warriors in the land with Valyrian Steel weapons. Barristan Selmy, Jaime Lannister, Aegon Targaryen VI, Oberyn Martell, Sandor Clegane, Gregor Clegane and Loras Tyrell are some of those outfitted with the Realm's best equipment.
The Wildlings are all but wiped out. With no Jon Snow gaining mutual trust with the Freefolk, they're hard pressed to pass the Wall. Mance Rayder's army does pose a threat, but is repelled at Castle Black by a joint team of Stark/Stannis Baratheon soldiers bolstering the Night's Watch garrison. Mance Rayder's army is picked off and encorporated into the Night King's army. Multiple Wight Giants help bust through the tunnel through The Wall, overrunning Castle Black. The Dead begin funnelling through, marching on the Realm. However with such a united Army of the Living prepared for such an invasion, the Dead are met at Winterfell and pushed back. Wildfire trebuchets clear out swathes of Wights, clearing the way for heroes like Ser Barristan and Beric Dondarrion to take out the Wight Walkers, and Jaime Lannister to gain honour to his Kingslayer title by slaying the Night King.
| 198 |
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[Dungeons and Dragons] With Aasimar being relatively common, just how and when does all this intercourse between angels and mortals occur?
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Do angels commonly visit the mortal world in disguise and go out on the town? Or do they visit their god's faithful for the express purpose of breeding angel/mortal offspring? Do angels actually fall in love with really amazing clerics and paladins? And I lean towards assuming the mortal in the situation is almost always female, but will a lady angel sometimes stay on the prime material plane long enough to complete a pregnancy?
| 19 |
Aasimar aren't that common.
One of the guides states "Aasimar could live for the whole of their life without ever meeting another of their kind and, as such, were resigned to living amongst other races".
Aasimar also aren't always the direct results between celestials and mortals, more like descendants. IIRC it's uncommon but not unheard of for two humans to give birth to an aasimar because one or both had an angel as an ancestor.
| 26 |
[Pokemon] why does Giovanni keep Jessie and James on team rocket?
|
Not only does he keep them on the team, he sends them on special assignments and gives them a ton of resources. In the journey series they literally have a pelipper with a hoard of Pokémon following them at all times… why? Are they super successful outside pikachu catching or something?
| 36 |
Probably nepotism. Jessie is the daughter of an elite rocket member, while James comes from a wealthy family.
The rest of team rocket aren't brilliant masterminds either. Despite regular failure, Jessie and James show a lot of autonomy in planning and running heists.
| 56 |
ELI5 how adverts before YouTube videos never have buffering/loading problems, even on a slow connection.
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Just curious, as I'm on a slow connection right now while I'm house-sitting and even short, low quality videos take abysmally long to load while the pre-video spots load instantly.
| 31 |
It might have something to do with the fact that the average youtube ad is viewed *very* often. Generally web servers (or really most servers) make so content accessed more often is easier to get to. So a really popular video could load much quicker than some obscure video with 50 views, latest back in december. This may also apply to ads.
Sorry if this isn't a good answer...it's more of a guess.
| 11 |
[Scrubs] If Ted is such a bad lawyer, why is he still employed by the hospital?
| 30 |
He's cheap. Over everything, we know Kelso wants to keep cost down, and evidently it takes less money to pay the occasional settlement than to keep a proper lawyer on staff, or a firm on retainer.
Also, he functions like a secretary too, thus eliminating another position they'd need to pay. Somebody more competent might have more of a spine and make them hire a secretary instead.
| 41 |
|
[Telletubbies] What exactly are Telletubbies?
|
Where do they come from? Are they adults or children? What is their purpose? Do they have a back-story?
I've heard some people speculate that they are alien life forms, who have come to Earth or an Earth-like planet. They use their antenna to pick up television broadcasts which they display on their screen-like bellies. Assuming that they are not cyborgs, the ability for an entirely biological system to decode a TV signal hints at extraordinarily advanced biotech.
And yet they do not seem to be advanced. If anything they are infantile. They do nothing but play. Their diet seems to consist entirely of toast and custard - but whee do these foods come from?
And is this earth? Certainly, there is grass, animals which resemble bunnies - but there are also weird noise-making tubes that poke out from the ground and the sun is quite different from our sun.
And are we really expected to believe that the sun is a gigantic child's face? Or is this a shared hallucination on behalf of the four creatures? Could these four have been the remnants of a once great, technological civilisation - driven to infantile madness?
| 110 |
The Teletubbies actually takes place in a far future nature reserve. Once mankind started to roam the stars, they discovered a race that had evolved completely cut off from any predators. You ever hear of the Dodo? They're flightless, fat, and had no fear of humans, they were hunted to extinction. It wasn't necessarily their fault, they just didn't evolve with any sufficient defense mechanism.
It's a similar thing with the Teletubbies, people decided that this race shouldn't meet the same fate as the Dodo now that their location was revealed to the galactic community. Therefore, they established nature reserves. These were sanctuaries where Teletubbies could live much longer and safer lives. Mental stimulation was provided in the form of holographic projections and engineered, "Problems" for the Teletubbies to solve, like a squeaky scooter.
| 95 |
ELI5: What is the difference between a bank and a credit union? What are the advantages/disadvantages?
| 1,541 |
The main difference between the two is how they are owned. Banks are owned by shareholders who each own varying amounts of the bank (depending their investments in to it) and generally work in a way where they want to maximise profit. On the other hand, credit unions are owned by anyone who is involved with them regardless of how much money they actually have in it, and work in a way to better the lives of their members/customers.
Banks tend to be far bigger so they have advantages in being able to offer a lot more services, but the fact that they prioritise profit means that customers may not be getting the best deal in terms of things like interest rates.
Credit unions have an advantage in the sense that being member-owned would mean that everyone would get a say in how it is run, so in theory this would help make the lives of their members more convenient. Of course, they're generally far smaller than the banks so you'd usually have far fewer services be available to you.
| 654 |
|
the λ in Gauss's law
|
Why is Q/l in the wire Gauss's equation (E=Q/2π .r.l) replaced wit λ wich is the charge per unit length? How is it easier to know the charge per unit length λ than to know the charge Q and divide it by the length of the wire? Can someone please clarify?
Thank you in advance
| 16 |
That result is for an infinitely long wire of uniform charge density. That infinite length is important, as it provides some of the symmetry necessary to obtain this result.
For such a wire, the total charge is infinite, where as the charge per unit length is finite.
In a real world situation, the field value obtained via this calculation would be a good approximation for the actual field as long as you were in a region where the infinite wire approximation made sense -- that is, not too near the ends and not too far from the wire. For such a wire, taking the total charge and dividing by the length would give you the average charge density.
| 17 |
[Marvel] If X-23 got pregnant, would her healing factor affect the pregnancy?
|
A typical healing factor works by accelerating cell growth within the person's body. A fetus is a collection of growing cells. Would a healing factor accelerate a pregnancy in any way?
Would Laura come to term within hours? Would the child develop up until the point where it's capable of surviving outside the womb? Would her enhanced immune system recognise the sperm as a foreign contaminant and eliminate it, thus requiring Laura to take anti-rejection drugs if she ever wanted to start a family? If it was unplanned and she elected for a termination, would that even be possible?
I mean, the only traditionally conceived child of a regenerator we know of is Daken and his mother was an unpowered human, though he was able to survive a unplanned nonconsensual premature Caesarian Section.
| 329 |
A proper healing factor restores a healthy body. This is why Wolverine does not grow benign tumors which is what growth out of control is.
Deadpool's healing factor may have been screwed up when it developed. It 'set' minor benign tumors on his skin and constantly restores that as its baseline 'healthy body'.
It is more likely X-23's children's powers would work like her own, unless an outside factor or further mutation (which is how we get real cancer) occurred. If the child's powers were negated during development, you might get a Deadpool situation where the healing factor doesn't 'set' correctly.
| 210 |
[Stephen King] Which characters in the Stephen King universe can shine?
|
Does anyone have a list of characters that have the shine? Just watched doctor sleep (underrated movie by the way totally check I out of you get the chance), and that made me think maybe Carrie or John Coffey had the shine. I know all his novels are supposed to take place in the same world so What do you all think?
| 40 |
Let's see....
- Danny Torrence (The Shining)
- Mother Abigail (The Stand)
- Tom Cullen (The Stand)
- Leo Rockway (The Stand)
- Louis Creed (Pet Cemetary)
- Ellie Creed (Pet Cemetary)
- John Coffey (Green Mile)
- Mike Noonan (Bag of Bones)
- Abra Stone (Doctor Sleep) and every member of True Knot
- Jake Chambers (The Dark Tower) and Roland's ka-tet if they're together
- Johnny Smith (The Dead Zone)
- Charlie McGee (Firestarter) and both her parents.
- Carrie (Carrie)
- Jack Sawyer (The Talisman)
- Ralph Roberts (Insomnia)
- Jessie Burlingame (Gerald's Game)
Probably a few others...
EDIT: It's been suggested that everyone who survived Captain Tripps in The Stand had some small shine, even unconsciously, and that's the factor that determined if they lived or not. Well, everyone but Flagg.
| 37 |
ELI5: how come my rack light on my ship (Navy) takes forever to turn on when it's dark, but if I flash my phone screen light at it it turns on immediately?
| 20 |
Probably has a photo sensors to slowly come on when dark to allow yourself to adjust. (In emergency wouldn't want to be temporary disoriented by bright light) vs when you shine your flashlight at it you're tricking it into thinking room is already bright.
| 25 |
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[Lord of the Rings] If an orc (let’s say a Mordor orc) was taken in by an Elf family and raised, could it turn out good?
|
I was just mulling over the fact that the orcs were created by Morgoth and are basically evil by design, through no fault of their own. Just wondered if their nature could be overcome with the proper nurture, and what the results would be.
| 34 |
Sadly... we don't know. Tolkien died before settling on the origin and nature of orcs. To put it simply: whether they were actual beings with free wills or merely beasts or automata.
If it is the former (e.g. bred from Elves or Men), then certainly you could have a "nice" orc. If it is the latter, then that would depend on how much of their nature is bound up in being evil. You can easily raise a horse to be nice, but try that with a zebra and you're going to have a bad time. And if they're pure automata, then no dice.
| 37 |
ELI5: does writing on your skin with a ballpen damage the ballpen or the ink inside it? Is there something about the oil on the skin that makes the ballpen stop working?
| 20 |
A ballpoint pen works by having a tiny ball held such that it blocks the opening to a reservoir of viscous sticky ink. When the ball is rotated by friction against a surface the ink will stick to the ball and be dragged out, applying it to the surface.
If you draw on your skin then your oily skin will apply oil to the ball. This will reduce the friction of the ball against the surface and make it more difficult to turn. The coating of oil will also make it harder for the ink to stick to the ball and be drawn out of the reservoir.
In summary it just makes it not work as well.
| 29 |
|
ELI5: Why are you cold and sweat at the same time when you are nervous?
|
When I am nervous I normaly tend to sweat a lot but at the same time I am freezing. I would like to know what is the process that the human body does to reach this situation and how common this might be.
| 114 |
you get an adrenaline rush, adrenaline makes your body go into fight or flight mode.
it pulls blood to more important places. you become cold in your hands and feet where it narrows arteries. your glucose processing goes into overdrive to create more energy for the muscles. adrenaline also makes your sweat glands go into overdrive. makes your face become red from the extra blood, makes it very hard to sleep and makes it very hard to eat because blood has been pulled away from your digestion.
afterwards you get to have a nice low blood sugar crash.
| 57 |
ELI5: Why does the shadow bend as another shadow gets close?
|
Hey. This is probably third grade physics but could you eli5 why and how the shadow of object A (left) bends slights towards the shadow of object B (right) as I move object B closer to object A?
Here is the gif:
http://i.imgur.com/77eEyf2.gifv
Thank you so much!
| 55 |
This might not happen so prominently if you had a light source that was a *perfect, ideal single point* from which all light comes.
But you don't, it comes from an area the size of a lightbulb or so. So since it's coming at different angles, while the center of the shadow is pretty solid, around the edges, there are portions of the ground only shaded from PART of the light source. Thus the edge of the shadow as a whole is not totally crisp.
Now, take two such shadows and make them touch, and this gradient area at the edge merges with the one next to it to create what looks like a bending effect.
| 23 |
[Harry Potter] If fighting a dragon was a challenge in the new, "safer" Triwizard Tournament, what the hell were the old ones like?
|
Sure they only had to steal the egg but it doesn't take much to get roasted alive doing that.
| 381 |
You're working from different textbooks here. Madame Pomfrey can regrow your bones overnight. Anything short of fatal and she can fix you up with a wave of her wand.
The difference between the old and new tournaments is now you have a team of expert dragon handlers on hand to step in at a moments notice and medical attention beyond the wildest dreams of muggle doctors on standby.
Whereas in the old tournament they would have just thrown you in with the dragon like "there, kill or be killed"
| 267 |
Why does ice bind together in my cup of water?
| 309 |
It takes time for heat to move around. When you take the ice out of the freezer, it's colder than freezing. When you put it in water, the surface of the ice and the water touching it very quickly reach thermal equilibrium with each other. However, the *interior* of the ice cubes doesn't warm up instantly - that part is still below freezing. Likewise, water in one part of the glass is not necessarily the same temperature as water elsewhere in the glass. The ice cubes get in the way of convection, and in many places you'll have small amounts of water sandwiched between larger pieces of ice. Under those conditions, some of the water will freeze before the ice cubes warm up all the way.
| 99 |
|
ELI5: Why are older electronics more durable and last longer than newer ones?
|
Wouldn't it make sense if they kept making them strong?
| 17 |
As things get more components, they have more potential points of failure.
Imagine an old style coffee maker that just has the heating element in the base that powers the whole thing. As long as that heating coil works, everything works.
Now get a nice fancy coffee maker that has an automatic water dispenser, bean grinder, WiFi enabled, etc. That is more parts that can fail.
If every part has an average lifespan of 10 years, then the basic coffee maker has a 50% chance of working after 10 years, but the complex one has a 6.25% chance of working (each part independently only has a 50% chance of working, and you need all of them to still work).
| 26 |
[ATLA] What difference does physical fitness make when it comes to bending?
| 39 |
Probably the same as any martial art. A weak body Probably coulsnr last long or strike hard. Iron became much stronger after training in his cell iirc
That said skill also seems incredibly important as even overweight and elderly masters can dish out pretty amazing control of their element
| 42 |
|
[Marvel] Why is Latveria so advanced?
|
I get why Wakanda is centuries ahead of the rest of the world since their country was literally founded on top of a massive stockpile of vibranium, but what about Latveria? Where do they get their crazy tech from?
| 36 |
Doom **DEMANDS** you immediately recognize his achievements.
​
but in all seriousness, it's him. The dude was building robots when he was a wee Victor Von Genius, and ever since he's been using his insane genius and limitless resources to advance his country leagues ahead of it's former eastern european nonfuctionality. Unlike that worthless hack richards, he actually builds things that help the common man
| 70 |
[Stargate]The novus humans know Canadian/American English from Eli's ancient video lectures, but is that what they actually speak in day to day life?
| 29 |
Why wouldn't they?
The colony was founded by humans who used those languages. Training videos exist that include examples of those.
Outside of expected linguistic shifts that might occur over the centuries with some words that aren't otherwise explicitly demonstrated the language would be relatively resilient.
For example, if no one ever heard or saw the word "buffalo" to be included in any of Eli's videos, but found it in literature, they might not know how to speak it aloud but for a dictionary pronunciation guide. And even then, their grasp of it might fail.
You could end up with "boofaloo" or "byoofallah" instead of the intended "buffalloh" or something similar, but audio training is an excellent way to keep a large portion of the usable language viable.
They might end up inventing their own words for certain things. Perhaps "pudding" never was documented, but they came up with "milk jello" instead.
| 10 |
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