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[Marvel] Why doesn't Tony Stark (A.K.A. Iron Man) build a suit out of adamantium?
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Tony Stark, perhaps better known as Iron Man, has access to a vast wealth as head of Stark Industries. In fact, he is one of the richest men in America. As such, he should be able to obtain a vast amount of adamantium or even vibranium. Yet, despite the repeated destruction of many of his suits, he does not utilize these metals in a suit. Why is this? Wouldn't an Iron Man suit made of adamantium be virtually indestructible?
| 45 |
There are a few reasons why not.
1. Adamantium is a tricky material to work with. Once you refine it to it's liquid form you can mold it, shape it and forge it to the components that you need. After it sets it is nigh impossible to reshape.
Once Tony made a suit of adamantium there would be no way to modify it. Tony would be stuck with one suit that is invincible, but everything else about would quickly become outdated, the repulsors would have a limit of how far he could upgrade them, the boot jets, flight controls, onboard weapons would all be locked in.
2. Adamantium is incredibly expensive by weight to ~~mine~~synthesize, refine and work. Tony is a business man, he sees the costs of the material, and while there is an upside to the survivability of an adamantium suit, there is a point of diminishing returns for the materials. If he has a carbon-nanotube/iron matrix that will do fine for 98% of the time, is the exponential rise in costs to the adamantium suit worth the investment to cover he last 2%?
| 74 |
What are examples of "bland" or relatively non-regional accents/dialects in other languages? Which accents/dialects are most popular for news broadcasts, for example, in languages other than American English?
|
I remember reading this article about [General American](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_American), which is the dialect/accent most popular with national news broadcasts, and is based on how people speak in parts of the Midwest / Great Plains. I also remember a story on NPR (though I can't source it right now) that the most popular dialect/accent for Spanish-language programs in Latin America comes from Colombia.
I was curious - are there examples of dialects/accents from other large widespread languages like French or Arabic where one dialect/accent is considered dominant, as the "blandest" or "most normal", preferred for news broadcasts and other means of popular consumption?
| 38 |
The Arabic of officialdom and journalism is Modern Standard Arabic ("fus-ha"), a modernized adaptation of Classical or Qur'anic Arabic. Lawyers, newscasters, diplomats, politicians, professors, and clerics all speak in MSA on the job, but most will switch to colloquial forms with friends and family.
It's not just an accent, it's a higher "register" of Arabic that would seem kind of silly and inappropriate in a non-formal setting. Colloquial dialects of Arabic are not always mutually intelligible, though, so if an Iraqi wants to talk to an Algerian smoothly, they'll probably speak MSA.
Just about everyone in the Middle East can understand it (because people on TV use it), but not everyone can speak or write it correctly. It's a bit like how most English-speakers could read a King James Bible well enough, but if you asked them to imitate the grammar they'd probably bungle it here and there.
Loads of Western Arabic students learn MSA because it's universal, but it's like wearing a sign on your chest that says "I haven't been here very long". Arab friends will nudge you toward colloquial so you can quit sounding like a ponce.
**edit** Classical Arabic is also (of course) the language of the Qur'an and prayer, so the average Arab will be familiar with it that way as well.
| 30 |
ELI5: Why is it that after you had a cough drop, cold water feels even colder when drinking?
|
ELI5: Why is it that after you had a cough drop, cold water feels even colder when drinking?
| 17 |
It's because of the menthol in the cough drop. A protein called TRPM8 regulates the movement of ions across the membranes of cells, and reacts to temperature, sending a signal to your brain telling you that it's cold. For some reason we don't fully understand yet, it also reacts with mint and menthol, sending the same signal regardless of actual temperature.
| 12 |
[The Avengers] If the Hulk was the last Avenger left and the portal stayed open could he destroy the entire alien army by himself? Or would he run out of stamina/rage?
|
.
| 46 |
No matter how strong, fast, or angry, Hulk is one entity.
Send three of those snake behemoth things at him. By the time he's done with them, your army is through the portal and spreading in all directions. Hulk won't stop, sure, but he also can't catch up.
| 34 |
What (if any) physiological changes do men experience when their partner is pregnant?
|
As a follow up, what drives these changes? Pheromones released by the woman? Just seeing a pregnant belly? The conscious brain trying to process and prepare for the future?
| 673 |
**HEY EVERYONE!** Make sure you distinguish between research on father's-to-be vs. fathers. The findings are better understood for fathers, whereas there is far more dispute regarding changes in expecting fathers.
| 414 |
ELI5: Why do shows like Netflix's "House of Cards" release all their episodes on a single day once a year?
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It seems to me that shows released weekly or in some sort of order (like Game of Thrones) generate prolonged publicity (news articles, online discussion) between episodes, while shows like "House of Cards" are super popular for those few weeks after release but then dies down for the rest of the year.
| 61 |
Its a different market approach.
Cable (and HBO) subscribers are used to the typical "one a week" format so that is how the shows are released
Netflix users are more "binge" watchers, so they release everything at once to satisfy them.
| 93 |
If a human being were crushed down past their Schwarzschild radius, would the resulting black hole pull in enough surrounding matter to sustain itself or would it shortly evaporate in a devastating explosion?
| 28 |
a crude estimate for the remaining lifetime of a black hole is given by
t = 10^(-26) (mass in grams)^3 seconds
A 70kg BH would be gone in ~ 10^(-12) s.
The total energy released is Mc^2 ~ 6 * 10^18 Joules, about 30 Tsar Bombas if you need a reference.
| 37 |
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[Injustice] What changes if Batman kills The Joker instead of Superman, and decides to create a regime?
|
Joker uses fear gas to trick Batman into killing his pregant wife (Bats has a lot of love interests to choose from, so just choose your fave.) And nukes Gotham.
Batman decides "Fuck it." And basically goes down the path that Supes went down in the original story.
What changes? Does he make more or less progress than Supes?
| 109 |
He makes way less progress. Most of those heroes that sided with Superman did so because Superman is the ideal hero and think that if he's doing something it's probably the right thing to do. Batman does not have that kind of goodwill behind him.
Most the heroes that sided with Batman did so because they disagreed with Superman's ideology.
The vast majority of heroes would side with Superman if you switch the roles. This leaves only villains (who probably wouldn't want to stick around a losing fight) and a few heroes like maybe Wonder Woman and Damian on Batman's side.
| 107 |
[Pulp Fiction] Who was Jimmy, and why was he even marginally okay with Jules showing up at his house with a dead body?
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Jimmy seemed like a pretty whitebread, domesticated dude. So why was Jules able to show up at his house with a dead body and have him not completely flip his shit? What kind of history did he have with Jules such that, although he was married to a nurse who would absolutely divorce him if she came home and found gangsters in her house doing gangster shit, he could still be seen as a potential safe place for Jules in an emergency?
| 188 |
I think the implication is that Jimmy at some point in the past had been involved in 'gangster shit' with Jules. He may or may not been working for Mr Wallace previously.
The Wolf sort of implies that Jimmy wasn't familiar with the scene, but the Wolf doesn't know specifically who Jimmy is- only that its his house, and that hes cool as long as they're gone by 9:30.
| 144 |
If we were to magnify to an almost molecular level the edge of a circle, would we reach a point when it is completely straight?
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Not sure if the question makes a lot of sense since English is not my first language, however what I am trying to ask is: Is there such an area on a circle which is completely straight?
| 343 |
You need to decide if you are talking about a physical object or a mathematical object.
The analogy breaks down "at the molecular level". No real object can be a perfect circle. If you zoom in enough you wil get to a point where the edge is niether circular OR straight. It will just be a jagged edge.
A mathematical circle however can be veiwed at any abritrarilly small scale. You could zoom in until an electron is the size of the entire universe and the edge of the circle would get very close to a straight line.
There is a concept of a "limit" in mathematics. And YES: if you take the limit as you zoom in closer and closer to the edge of a circle, the edge approached a straight line "at the limit".
| 141 |
[The Purge]If I was a victim of sexual violence during the purge, can I seek child support from the father nine months later? Is starting a forest fire with a box of matches legal? What about emptying the contents of a chemical plant into the environment,c causing massive environmental damage?
| 286 |
Fathering a child is not a crime. You would not be able to prosecute the father for rape or sexual assault, but he is still obligated to provide support for his children, regardless of how they were conceived.
The second part of your question shows the true downside of the Purge. All corporations would just wait until the evening of March 21 to commit their environmental and financial crimes. They could probably face civil suits from the EPA or municipalities related to clean-up costs, but they would avoid any criminal prosecution for dumping nuclear waste, chemical contaminants, etc.
| 208 |
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Why was the number 299,792,458 chosen as the definiton of a metre instead of a more rounded off number like 300,000,000?
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So a metre is defined as the distance light travels in 1/299,792,458 of a second, but is there a reason why this particular number is chosen instead of a more "convenient" number?
Edit: Typo
| 6,953 |
The principle was to keep the definition consistent with previous measurements, within their uncertainty. We already had a definition for the metre, just not as precise as the current definition, and we want the new definition to be as consistent as possible, but just easier to measure precisely. Rounding to 300,000 km/s would change the definition of the metre by about 0.07%. That would just make life different for everybody: we'd have to specify if we're talking about the "old" metre or the "new" metre, because that 0.07% change is big enough to matter. It'd change the circumference of the Earth by about 30 km, for instance - a big enough difference that it's measurable, even if it's small.
Rounding down to the nearest 1 m/s means that instead of a 0.07% change, the change is ~0.0000003% at most. So, that changes the circumference of the Earth by <10 cm at most. That's small enough that it would typically be within the measurement error, and it's close enough that we can treat the metre as unchanged without causing any problems.
| 6,298 |
[The Matrix] Aren't there better batteries than human bodies? What about whales, or ants, or actual batteries?
| 56 |
To hell with all the "the script wasn't supposed to be like that" answers. That is irrelevant to how the movie turned out and it is not in the spirit of this sub.
It didn't need to be practical. The machines in the matrix were not malevolent, the humans were the ones risking the destruction of both races just to win the war. The machines created the matrix as a way to stop the war without destroying them. They created a utopia where humans could live in peace without being a harm to anybody. To machines, a virtual world is just as tangible as a real one.
The humans were used as batteries to help power the matrix, as a way to alleviate some of the egregious power costs necessary to keep the system running. This is because they were there, they didn't have a billion whales locked in nice little pods, did they?
| 101 |
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What's the academic path in your country?
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I'm always intrigued by how different it is in every country. I'll start!
Brazil:
3 year high-school -> 4-6 year bachelor's (engineering and psychology take 5 years and medicine takes 6) -> 2 year MPhil (you must porsue a masters in order to apply for a PhD) -> 4 year PhD
Thanks!
| 20 |
Canada:
* Undergraduate degree (3-4 years)
* Master's Degree (2 years)—optional in many situations
* PhD (5+ years)
* Optionally (but most likely) followed by a post-doc (1-3 years) before getting a tenure-track position; this is *not* a degree (it's just some time doing research and improving your CV)
| 13 |
Why do car wheels look like they're turning in reverse when they're driving forward?
| 17 |
Our eyes take in sight at a limited speed. When you look at a wheel that is turning, you don't see it at *every* position from 0 to 360 degrees. Instead, you see it's position at certain intervals of time, for example, every twentieth of a second.
But what if the wheel is rotating 20 times a second? Then, every time your eye looks, it sees the wheel in the same place as it was before, and it looks like the wheel isn't turning at all!
If the wheel turns just a little less than 20 times a second, then each time your eye sees the wheel, it will have turned, say 355 degrees around. But because your eye didn't see it at any point during those 355 degrees, it will look like the wheel turned very slowly 5 degrees the other way.
| 17 |
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[Spider-Man] I know that Spidey has his ‘no kill’ rule, but he’s been known to work with the police. Would he go out of his way to stop them from opening fire on a super villain?
| 115 |
Depends on the context, but not usually. First, most supervillains can tank bullets in some way. Second, Spidey understands that deadly force is something cops are both trained for and legally allowed to use.
| 105 |
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CMV: I believe that child beauty pageants are part of freedom of expression and it is morally wrong to ban them.
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Note: I am not "pro-pageant," and would certainly never force my child partake in them.
Complaints on reddit about the evils of child beauty pageants are not at all difficult to come by. Every "What is something that is legal but shouldn't" askreddit thread is typically headed by this sentiment.
From what I've seen, beauty pageants take on a "cutesy" vibe, not a sexual one. None of the kids seem to be in any immediate danger, and of course every law in place to protect kids still applies.
Also, prohibition on these pageants would either be lax to the point of uselessness, so stringent that they become a slippery slope and will be enforced in other areas.
In conclusion, the kids seem to be in no danger, it falls under freedom of speech, and parents supporting their daughter in pageants is no different than supporting their son playing football.
_____
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| 17 |
> From what I've seen, beauty pageants take on a "cutesy" vibe, not a sexual one.
I think many people are opposed to the sexualized pageants. Putting on makeup and revealing clothes are a sexualization of children. This is not a pageant of little kids dressed as cartoon characters or woodland creatures (not furries); they are dressed to look like adults.
Makeup alone is sexualization. Lipstick and blush exist to emulate natural responses to attract a potential sexual partner. This is why makeup is attractive. Small children generally have great skin and don't require any concealing makeup.
> Also, prohibition on these pageants would either be lax to the point of uselessness, so stringent that they become a slippery slope and will be enforced in other areas.
Can you defend this point? We set an age floor on beauty pageants, and use community standards (like with pornography) to determine if something is really a beauty pageant.
> In conclusion, the kids seem to be in no danger,
They are not in physical danger, but it may hurt mental development. We insulate children from this type of vanity for a reason.
> it falls under freedom of speech,
How in the world is this protected speech? Parents sexualizing their children to be paraded around for awards is not artistic and does not convey an idea. Not everything you do is free speech.
> and parents supporting their daughter in pageants is no different than supporting their son playing football.
Football players are not sexualized. Also, there is no financial incentive for a parent of a football playing child.
| 13 |
What causes a computer to slow down over a period of time?
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At my workplace we have some computers that are about 6 years old. These computers are only ever used for word processing and browsing the Web. They are also 're-imaged' or have their hard drives effectively wiped every year at around this time. So why is it that when they were new they were lightning fast but now, even though they're running pretty much identical software and are put to a similar level of use they are terribly slow? Is it degradation of components? Common apps like IE and Office requiring more power? or something else?
| 36 |
From a purely web viewing perspective, a lot of web sites are pushing more work to the browser. Where in the past a website would contain mostly static HTML, a lot more websites are making use of Javascript.
Javascript allows a browser to change the contents of a webpage after the browser has already rendered it. For example when you view google maps you've already loaded the page that displays the map data. But when you "grab" the map and move it in a particular direction, it automatically loads the images that need to now be shown because you've taken some areas outside of the viewing screen and added new ones. This is all done behind the scenes with Javascript and if you notice you're still at the same "page" but the contents of the page have changed.
All this Javascript rendering and loading uses more CPU cycles.
TLDR - From a web browsing perspective as computers have gotten more powerful from a web page standpoint web sites have used more features to make web sites nicer looking and more user interactive. Older computers have to work harder to run these new features.
| 28 |
[General sci fi] Things like Xenomorphs or Cell are said to be perfect, in a biological sense. What would a structurally/biologically perfect creature actually look/behave/act like, and what sort of traits would it have?
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Title. A lot of sci-fi claims to have a "perfect lifeform" in it, but what would a perfect lifeform actually look like? How would it be structured? What biological abilities would it have? How would it act and behave?
I get that "perfect" is subjective, so I'll leave the exact definition up to you, but I think ou get the general idea behind the "perfect lifeform" concept and question.
| 35 |
Perfect isn't really subjective, it's just highly variable based on the function that they need to perform. Every species alive can be said to be "perfect" for their existence in their biological niche. The Woodpecker is perfect for getting grubs out of trees in its habitat with its prey with its predators with its reproductive method with its...
However, we look a lot more for versatility. Can it survive and thrive when those things are not there. With that, the perfect creature are the Star-Children from 2001: a Space Odysee. This is a species that rejected all the imperfections of biology and moved on to pure electromagnetism. They possess near infinite ability. We saw them with a flick of their physical manifestations, the monoliths, turn Jupiter into a star just to cradle the infant life on one of its moons. They gave us something many currently attribute to a god, the power to reason, the knowledge of good and evil. They did it by just dropping one of their monoliths nearby. They are the closest thing to perfection that can still be called a creature and not a God.
| 49 |
[Sherlock] Who is the most famous fictional detective in history?
| 59 |
There are lots of them. From Britain and Europe we have Agatha Christie's Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. In the same vein we also have C. Auguste Dupin, a French detective created by the American Edgar Allan Poe.
Going on with the Americans we also have characters like Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade and The Continental Op, and Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe. These are all typical "hard-boiled" characters unlike the other three. Both Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe were portrayed on the silver screen by Humphrey Bogart in *The Maltese Falcon* and *The Big Sleep*, typifying the film noir genre.
| 47 |
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ELI5: What does it mean when someone says horror is “campy”?
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I read it a lot. I don’t get it, though. Does it mean tacky? Far fetched? What constitutes a campy horror film?
| 16 |
It's exaggerated for the camera and humor, e.g. the Adam West Batman TV series was campy, but the new ones are not, they are serious. Shaun of the Dead, Chucky and Army of Darkness are campy horror movies, it as as much goofiness in it as it does horror, but not It and The Conjuring are not campy.
| 19 |
[Star Wars] How could star systems slip through Tarkin's fingers?
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How could a star system openly rebel or even moderately help the Rebellion without the Empire finding out and sending a fleet to ravage the planet? The entire planet's population would need to keep a secret, which isn't reasonable. Is the Rebellion strong enough to hold territory against the Empire to protect key systems? The only way I can see this happening is if multiple systems simultaneously rebel so that the Imperial fleet is spread too thin but simultaneous Rebellion is unlikely.
| 16 |
The Empire's main concentration of power was in the Core Regions and Inner Rim, which is most of the territory controlled by the Republic during the Clone Wars, and was the historical center of power for the galaxy for millennia. Countries in the Mid and Outer Rim were more likely to have sided with the CIS during the Clone Wars, and Imperial influence was both weaker and more recent. The Empire spent quite a few years chasing down the last of the Droid Armies, solidifying their hold in the Core Regions, and building up the Imperial Bureaucracy.
For planets in the Outer Rim, a Rebellion had a much greater chance of succeeding. Some planets still had little to no Imperial authority (such as Tatooine) or only a small presence. Any rebellion would take much longer to respond to, and would likely not be able to deploy the same overwhelming force they could in the Core regions.
While no planets were in open rebellion at this time, they soon would be. The aftermath of the Battle of Yavin saw widespread galactic protest at the destruction of Alderaan, and the Rebel victory proved to many planets on the fence that the Rebels could pose a serious threat to the Empire.
Imperial forces were quite honestly, stretched very thin. In Legends, we know that the Empire had 25,000 Star Destroyers at it's peak, with many more smaller support ships. The galaxy had about 1000 sectors, each with dozens of star systems and hundreds of planets. That's 25 destroyers per sector, not counting the other destroyers that might be protecting key planets such as Coruscant or on deployment elsewhere, and-for the sake of argument-one destroyer per star system.
If a planet rebelled, it could be some time before the Empire could respond to the threat. In many cases, they would likely have to deploy a destroyer that was on duty eleswhere to respond to that threat, which would of course, leave another planet unguarded. If the Empire tightens their grip, planets that would otherwise not act out might be drawn to Rebellion. Instead of sending just one destroyer, they now send two, and make an example of this system. This in turn, drives more systems to rebel, and requires the Empire to exert greater and greater pressure, but also leave more and more systems unguarded. The Empire can keep putting out fires and shuffling around ships, and keep rebellion contained, but once it reaches a certain point, the Empire can't respond to every threat without weakening their grip. Eventually, the Empire has to start making choices. Do you let the developed, industrial world that is refusing to pay their taxes get away with it? Or do you go all the way out to the Outer Rim to deal with the tiny agricultural planet that is openly declaring their allegiance to the Rebellion. Logic say to deal with the former, and let that tiny system slip away. And it begins to snowball away.
| 22 |
ELI5: How is it possible that you can order something on ebay for $3 without shipping payments?
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How can they ship the item for less than 3 dollars. They dont even make 3 dollars profit so it has to be less than 3 dollars.
| 109 |
Usually it's coming from China. The Chinese government subsidizes parcels moving out of the country if its for the purpose if ecommerce, which makes international postal rates for Chinese sellers ridiculously low.
| 44 |
[Spider-Man 2/Raimiverse] How did J. Jonah Jameson takes the news, that his son’s finance left him for his photographer?
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Considering that Peter works for him.
How would it go for Parker after JJJ learns the truth?
| 20 |
This version of JJJ appears to be rough around the edges but generally principled. So he'd probably find some way to satisfy himself that nothing illegal or immoral happened (for example, there was no cheating or coercion), and then treat Parker pretty much the same as before.
Though he'd probably be miffed that he had to pay for a wedding that eventually didn't happen... even if they didn't open the caviar.
| 33 |
[Star Wars] How come Anakin/Vader lost in his duel against Obi Wan Kenobi on Mustafar?
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Anakin had a connection with the Force supposedly on a level above anybody else, allegedly fathered by the Force itself. He had fallen to the dark side, fueled by fiery rage, and the duel took place surrounded by lava, hardly the place for Jedi-like dispassionate self-control. The fight was emotional for both participants, breaking a bond of brotherhood and mentorship that Kenobi should never have fostered the way he did. Anakin had every advantage, how come Kenobi was the stronger fighter?
| 45 |
Kenobi had the high ground!
But seriously, Kenobi shouldn't be underestimated as a Jedi or as a warrior. Are there stronger Force users? Of course. Yoda, Windu, and Palpatine are all more powerful, but Kenobi is still up very high on the "all time greats" list.
Furthermore, Anakin was only starting to realize his Dark Side powers. He had been a Sith for a few *hours* when he battled Kenobi, whereas Kenobi had been a Jedi Master for *years*. So you have a guy at the top of his power fighting someone who *would become* the strongest Force user in the galaxy, but had not yet reached that level.
| 80 |
ELI5: Why do so many racing video games look almost photo realistic when games from other genres don't as much?
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Games like Forza, Driveclub, and Project CARS look almost indistinguishable from real life, where so many other games aren't as close. Even some amazing looking games like The Witcher 3, The Last of Us, and Ryse have plenty of things that make it obvious that they are video games.
| 18 |
Machines are easier to render than people or real animals. Nothing is linear about people or animals. There are no straight lines. On top that the pieces of a living thing change as they move. Raise your knee to your chest and observe how that changes the shape of your thigh.
| 29 |
Why are professional philosophers dismissive of Slavoj Žižek?—Is there documentation of the former's views on the latter?
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Zizek is fun to listen to (lots of videos on YouTube), but at this point I am looking for information that is able to situate his writings within (or possibly against) broader contemporary philosophy. For example, I already know Noam Chomsky is no intellectual ally of Zizek, whereas someone like Cornell West is comparatively much more supportive. However, these are just the attitudes of well-known public intellectual philosophers, out of a large and diverse field. My curiosity is around the more general question: how do the major practicing schools of philosophy view Zizek's thinking (or lack thereof)? If some (e.g.) analytic philosophers are dismissive of Zizek, what rationale do they provide? If there's an article documenting this space of views, that would be helpful.
(*Clarifications*. Please note that my question is a literature research question (boring!! [*Metaclarification*: no, this is not a homework thing, I graduated years ago]), namely if anyone might suggest any journalistic articles documenting the existing criticism of Zizek, or academic papers/articles constructing critical arguments about Zizek. They would have to be of philosophical salience and yet useful for a non-professional like myself. I can tolerate some difficulty but would prefer a text that is not overly abstruse. Also, I am emphatically not looking to debate the merits of Zizek in this thread, because that's probably been done elsewhere. My comments above should not be construed as asking to do that.)
| 33 |
> If some (e.g.) analytic philosophers are dismissive of Zizek, what rationale do they provide?
Generally, no one is going to take the time to write an article on something they find unworthy of their consideration. If a philosopher writes a paper, they are already considering the work or person worthy of their time and consideration.
Philosophers, including academic analytic philosophers, have a finite amount of time in a day and deadlines. Even if they find Zizek's work interesting, it may not be relevant to their work and thus why they do not write on his work.
| 19 |
[Popeye the sailor man] can anyone Gain godly super strength from the spinach or is it just Popeye?
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I never thought about it before but is he the only one who gets godly strength from the spinach or could anyone get strong from it? And if so why hasn't every person In the world bought that spinach by now? Why is Popeye the only one eating that stuff????
| 450 |
It doesn't grant him godly strength. It unlocks it.
He originally gained his super strength by rubbing the head of the Whiffle Hen, which can grant powers. Usually luck, but how luck manifests is what a person needs, and Popeye generally needed strength and durability. Because this was granted so often, it sort of morphed into him needing to eat spinach to get his powers, which is a lot more convenient than having to rub a chicken's head all the time.
| 335 |
CMV: building a wall will won't stop the influx of immigrants into the United States
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You still frequently see Trump supporters chanting the "Build The Wall '' slogan and probably still believe that Mexico is going to pay for it. Hint: They won't.
A physical wall has long been obsolete. People have been finding ways around, under and over walls for centuries. It's a useless waste of tax pay dollars as a way to prevent people from crossing the border. What is really is a symbol of hate towards people from Central America telling them that they aren't welcome to come here. There's a lot of fear among Trump supporters that they will become a racial minority because of the influx of immigrants. They don't speak for all of us. If people need a refuge and help finding work I think the USA is a good position and should help. We could use the workers to help our economic growth. It's a win/win on both sides.
I am open to changing my mind. Please tell me how a phsyical wall will help and why we should be so concerned about it.
| 17 |
No one is saying it will completely stop them... just slow them down enough so that our law enforcement can handle the rest.
Physical walls have never been obsolete. If you truly believe that, then why do prisons still have walls? Why did the USSR put a wall dividing Berlin? That wall worked really well. Israel has effectively walled off their entire country, and that wall has significantly cut the number of terrorist attacks in their country.
| 19 |
ELI5: Why does pee foam when it hits the ground outside.
| 41 |
Foamy urine can be caused by rapid urination. At times, when you delay going to the washroom, large amounts of urine gets collected in the bladder. Also, proteinuria or presence of significant amounts of protein in the urine, is one of the most common cause of foamy urine.
| 13 |
|
ELI5: is there a unit of Neuro signal to the brain, similar to "gigabit" and "megabit" and rate per second?
| 25 |
Not really, no. Some very long neurons (like one from the base of the spine to the foot) propagate signals very quickly on the order of 100+ meters per second. But as far as storage capacity, researchers use digital-world units (like petabytes)... which are basically guesstimates.
| 16 |
|
[Westworld] (Spoilers) What now?
|
So the hosts are alive, have killed many people, and are likely going to take over the facility and kill more.
So what happens now?
Is there an emergency shutdown?
Is the military called in?
Do they just EMP the area?
Can humanity survive the war with the hosts?
| 21 |
Fair question. It's a cliffhanger, and it is *highly* unclear how they'll take it from there.
>Can humanity survive the war with the hosts?
The hosts are a handful (thousands, tops) of individuals with limited mastery of modern technology. They are not much more dangerous than a domestic terror group. Humanity can easily put up tens of millions of troops supported by combined-arms warfare.
| 20 |
ELI5:What is stopping me from buying hundreds of Zimbabwe $100,000,000,000,000 bills and just sitting on them until the economy recovers?
| 1,685 |
If at any point the economy actually recovers without the government collapsing the money will be revalued at significantly below face value.
What this means is that the government will come out and say "One new Zimbabwe Dollar is worth 1,000,000 old Zimbabwe Dollars" and there will be a deadline to turn in old currency for new currency, after which the old stuff will no longer be legal tender.
| 1,504 |
|
[MCU/Black Panther] How are the traitors regarded in Wakandan society?
|
The traitors who sided with Killmonger and W'Kabi over T'Challa lost at the end (obviously).
However, now what? Are they social pariahs? Do they have to lie and say, "No, I *totally* sided with the king when he returned, you must have me confused with someone else!"?
Are they distrusted ("They betrayed this country once, they'll do it again!"), or are they forgiven?
| 16 |
I would expect some amount of lenience because at the time they thought Killmonger was the rightful king and that they were acting in Wakanda's best interests, however misguided they were. Remember even the Dora Milaje followed Killmonger's orders at first, until they realized T'Challa was still alive and the challenge for the throne was technically still ongoing.
| 40 |
Can the ISS orbit the earth in such a way that is always day? (Or night?)
|
If it so chooses?
For the people onboard that is.
Edit: Thank you guys for such wonderful responses. Summarizing the things I learned today for anyone else who might have a similar question:
1. Constant day is possible - constant night, not so much. More like constant eclipse - but not really night. (Have I got this right?
2. L1, L2, L3, L4, L5 points - and they're pretty darn far away from Earth!
3. SSO or Heliosynchronous orbit + the Terminator line (I had heard this before, memory rejogged)
4. The fact that ISS could, in theory, do a lot of stuff. But practically speaking, won't make sense.
5. Fuel is a big (but not the only) factor in determining point 4.
6. Orbit stability is a thing! (Seem fairly obvious in hind sight...)
7. It's not a bad idea to get familiar with Keplerian terms if one is interested in Space
| 442 |
Yes this would be an orbit with an inclination of slightly over 90 degrees. This is called a sun synchronous orbit. Not only is it a polar orbit in which the sun doesn't set during one orbital period. But due to the equatorial bulge of the earth the orbit also processes around just quick enough for the axis of rotation to always point at the sun.
Why did they not launch the iss into this orbit?
An orbit like this requires more fuel to reach than the 51.6° orbit that the iss is in now. This orbit was chosen because it passes roughly overhead of it's launch sites, of which baikunur is most north.
| 276 |
ELI5: Video games: What are "particle effects" and "ray tracing"?
|
I work in the games industry and am embarrassed to ask my co-workers as I feel this is something I should "just know". Please help!
| 82 |
Ray tracing is working out how light bounces of objects before arriving at the viewer.
This allows you to have more realistic looking environments as irl were not just lit by direct light but what the light bounces off
| 70 |
[Power Rangers] I think my teen is in a gang
|
A few weeks back, monsters attacked the city, and ever since then, crime has been on the rise. Recently, I've noticed my teenaged son walking around with a mysterious wristlet I don't remember buying for him, wearing only a single color, and disappearing at all hours.
Should I be worried? Is he in a gang? Should I ask the Power Rangers to talk to him?
| 74 |
Definitely. The Power Rangers will definitely give him a good talking to.
&#x200B;
Just be aware, they probably won't ALL be there. One of them is definitely going to be away, probably off fighting monsters by themselves.
&#x200B;
Try to give your kid as much privacy as possible, you can trust the Power Rangers.
| 56 |
ELI5: Why American films/tv shows look so different to others...
|
I can't quite put my finger on it but there is something in the cinematography that is different to the likes of say, a lower budget Australian film...
| 135 |
It's partially a technical issue, America has always had a different TV system to most of the rest of the world. Traditionally it was 525 lines and 30 frames a second, whereas almost everywhere else was 625/25. Therefore American programmes have always looked a bit odd here in the UK and there's presumably the same issue the other way too.
The difference is less now that so much is shot in HD, the line standards are the same everywhere (1080 or 720) but there is still a frame rate difference even with progressive formats, however most equipment can handle both without prior conversion
| 61 |
ELI5 - Why do rooms full of people suddenly seem to get quiet at the same time?
|
I'm sitting in a courthouse, waiting for election results to be announced. There's probably about 40 people in a medium-sized lobby, and everyone just simultaneously stopped talking for a couple of seconds. There was no stimulus to get people to stop talking. Why does this happen?
| 17 |
It's either a random coincidence that the natural pause in everyone's conversation happened at the same time, or it's a natural part of social behavior.
Humans are social animals, so we pay attention to those around us. In a courthouse, there are moments when everyone is waiting to go quiet for courtroom protocol. If one person gives a subtle signal to be quiet (perhaps something as simple as someone cutting off mid sentence), everyone will follow. Once everyone realized it was a false alarm, the conversations resumed.
| 19 |
[Star Wars] How does Tatooine support its megafauna?
|
For a desert planet, these seem to be many large herbivores on Tatooine, and at least two large predators. Rontos and banthas must require a large amount of plant matter to survive. Each banthas could probably eat as much as an Earth Elephant everyday, rontos probably more than a modern giraffe. Womp rats are said to meet or even exceed two meters in size. Krayt dragons probably feed on banthas, or even tribal Tuskens or nomadic Jawas. Shit probably fell into the Sarlaac on a semi-regular basis, and they were slowly digested, prolonging the nutritional value of prey...but what supports the base of the food chain?
| 46 |
They evolved on a desert planet with scarce resources is the simplest answer. They are biologically adapted to those conditions. Assuming a bantha would eat as much as an elephant is assuming an awful lot. The creatures could be cold blooded as they would never be short of sunlight and as a result have slow metabolism. Gators can grow to be enormous by eating a single large meal every few months and spending the rest of their time mostly sedentary.
| 54 |
Why does so much philosophy seem so unscientific?
|
For example, Spinoza and Berkeley's Metaphysics and Epistemology just seem like people making claims and following those claims logically, but without any evidence. The ideas of substance and of God and modes just seem like an arbitrary way of organizing things without any proof.
| 117 |
Spinoza fucking loved contemporary sciences and heavily advocated for people to study them. The issue is that you're ignoring their historical place. The sciences were totally bound up with the rest of philosophical investigation, which included things like God. Things like "substance" were just ways of discussing things that exist, and even today there are people who defend the Aristotelian metaphysics from which all this language comes from. The modern "scientific" point of view that you're taking from granted was actually something that slowly developed from the work of these very philosophers. There is no way that we have Kant without Descartes and Spinoza.
There's nothing unscientific about it. You're just looking at the people who built the world that you live in from the point of view of already living in it instead of building it.
| 353 |
ELI5:If we regenerate new skin cells, why/how does our skin wrinkle?
| 78 |
ELI5: As you age your skin becomes deficient of natural molecules that help your skin look young (collagen, which makes your skin more firm, glycosaminoglycans which provide water to your skin, and elastin which causes your skin to snap back into place). The combination (or rather lack of) of these compounds cause your skin to fold and dry out, also known as, wrinkling.
Bonus Note: Skin cells that aren't wrinkled and skin cells that are look identical under a microscope.
| 28 |
|
CMV: Going to the movies is a crappy date idea.
|
I just don't see the appeal of going to the movies for a date. You're not supposed to talk during the movie and it would be rude to others if you did. If you or your date gets bored of the movie its rude to the other person to ask to do something else so you're stuck there. You're not even looking at your date. The classic "yawn into hug" maneuver doesn't seem realistic either because the armrest will be digging into your sides. All in all, the movies seem like a fairly restrictive and unenjoyable dating experience. CMV
_____
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| 35 |
Movie dates are great for younger or less experienced daters who might not have the courage or self confidence necessary to make it through an hour long dinner and 2-3 hour long (insert other social date activity here) without embarrassing themselves or dying from the pressure. It also facilitates an environment where someone can make that first move towards physical contact such as hand holding or arm-around-the-shoulder with less pressure, since it will feel like the spotlight is on the movie rather than on them.
Also movies are great for couples that have been together for a long time, who already have the opportunity to talk to each other regularly but don't get to leave the house often, and want to go share an experience that can provide further conversation fodder until their next date. There's nothing quite like seeing a movie like "Her" with your SO of several years or more and excitedly talking about how it affected your perspective on love and relationships.
| 70 |
ELI5: How is "mains" electricity a circuit?
|
I grew up on a farm in rural Australia and we had a single wire via power poles from property to property. In science class it was demonstrated that for electricity to 'flow' it has to be a circuit starting at the source, going to thing to be powered and then back to the source.
The mains electricity on the farm came from a single wire so how would it have been "part of" the power grid circuit? Did that wire just eventually loop back to the substation?
| 29 |
So what you have had is what is called a swer line (single wire earth return)
The generated electricity is pushed down the path of the wire and once used through your device the loop is formed by electricity passing through the earth back to its point of generation /substation
| 35 |
[Castlevania] Simon here. Can I wait until daylight to storm Dracula's castle? It seems like that would make my job a lot easier.
| 73 |
It won't bare much difference. It's a creature of chaos, same as any other demon inside the castle.
You could be going in at around midday and it'd still be pitch black inside. You could be around the castle about a mile away at midday and it'd be pitch black outside.
| 59 |
|
ELI5 . How can the potassium in bananas not kill us as it’s one of most reactive elements in the periodic table?
| 39 |
Pure Potassium being reactive means that it wants to violently bond with some other element. That's what makes it dangerous, but the potassium in bananas is in a molecule meaning that it's already reacted with something. That's what makes it safe.
This is the same reason that the chlorine in tablet salt doesn't kill you.
Fun fact, the Potassium in bananas also makes them slightly radioactive but you should keep eating them anyway. You get 10 times more radiation from sitting in front of an old school monitor than you do from a banana. It's perfectly safe.
Because bananas are measurably radioactive physicists often joke about a BED - Banana Equivilent Dose. IE how many bananas would you have to eat to get as much radiation as a chest X-ray? 10,000
| 88 |
|
ELI5: When you open someone's eyes while they're sleeping, why don't they see you and immediately wake up?
|
I used to do this to my dad while he was sleeping on the sofa when I was a little kid. His eyes would just kind of blankly look at me with this weird, cloudy, empty look. Why didn't he wake up?
I was a creepy kid...
| 2,525 |
The eye doesn't do the seeing. The eye is just the thing that takes in light, bounces it off the optic nerve, and sends that message to the brain. The brain is what does the seeing. It takes in the electrical impulse and translates that into what you understand as a visual image. Unless it is asleep. Then it isn't taking in impulses, it is sleeping. No impulse, no image.
| 2,784 |
ELI5: Why do people from the US never consider voting for a party other than the Democrats or Republicans?
|
I hear comments from people that lead me to believe that their choice of party essentially boils down to picking the lesser of two evils and I cannot understand why they wouldn't simply support a party who actually represents their views.
I understand that those parties are very large and powerful but that doesn't mean they're the only options. I also understand the perspective that there's no point in voting for a third party because "they'd never get in anyway because everyone else votes for the big ones" but doesn't this miss the point entirely? If enough people disagree with the big parties and vote for another one then the other one can win.
It seems as though people have a fundamental misunderstanding about how democracy works.
| 15 |
Do you know how single member district plurality voting systems work? It's the voting system used for national elections in the United States. People vote for a single person in each voting district, and votes are tallied at the district level, with the person with more votes than any other winning the election in each district. There is a principle called Duverger's law, that says that voting systems like this tend to result in 2 party systems on their own, regardless of intentions.
Smaller parties tend to fuse together or die because they only receive any recognition or power if they receive a plurality of votes. Getting 15% of the vote is useless, so banding together even though you might disagree on some things makes sense. A party that gets 3% of the votes will not have their voices heard at all if they poll 3% in every district.
Having multiple moderate candidates and one or two radical candidates tends to work against the moderates and for the radicals because it is easier for the radical candidates to find a base of voters. Moderate candidates simply distract the voters.
Third parties really only have a chance at success if the voting system changes somewhat (proportional representation being a popular option) or if they have the ability to take the place of an older party, as has happened a few times in US history.
| 15 |
If we can replicate the natural process for making diamonds, why can't we make petroleum?
| 64 |
If you’re asking about man made fuels and oil, we can. It’s very expensive though. That’s why synthetic oil for your car is more pricey. Synthetic gasoline is so cost prohibitive right now that oil prices would have to be around $150-$200 a barrel for that it to be worth producing. Mother Nature did us a huge favor in creating petroleum in the earth.
| 81 |
|
ELI5:How do things grow on you mentally? Why can you start to like something over time that you initially hated or disliked?
|
For example: I got a half finished cross-stitch kit from my MIL that was produced in 1982. I HATED the colors as of last Sunday - all dusty roses, grey-blues and browns. As I worked on it yesterday I realized I now think the colors are nice and look good together. What happened??
| 134 |
It could be that you're avoiding cognitive dissonance - if you're going to work on it, it doesn't make sense not to like it.
It could also have to do with an inherent human dislike or mistrust of new things if they don't fit any existing categories or "schema" that we have. It's like a kind of "stranger danger" reaction. But as the new thing becomes familiar, we can better assess whether we like it or not.
| 32 |
Eli5: Why is tomato-sauce so good at coloring plastic red in your dishwasher, unlike raspberries or strawberries for example?
|
We like tomato sauce, but one must be careful with what to put into the dishwasher, to not have plastic bowls, storage boxes or other things dyed red...Why is tomato sauce this potent in coloring plastic. It's like it's in the fabric of the plastic itself after it comes out of the dishwasher...why not the same effect with strawberries or raspberries? And is there a way to prevent this?
Edit: Wow, this got some momentum...I see a lot of people like tomato sauces. Thanks for the awards as well!
| 14,042 |
The colour in tomatoes that makes them red, and it is very concentrated in tomato sauce, is lycopene.
Lycopene loves plastic, it sticks to it and doesn’t want to let go. Similar to the yellow pigment in Tumeric (that spice in curry that turns everything a funny yellow colour). When a pigment sticks to a surface that well, it’s essentially dyed that colour. Because the pigment has bonded with the surface. You can’t just “wash it off”.
That red molecule isn’t in raspberries or strawberries. It’s different pigments that cause that and it’s not as adherent (sticky) to plastics.
Prevention - most simply, use glass or ceramics instead of plastic. It’s better anyway, will go in the oven, will go in the microwave, easy to clean, no roughness on the surface that germs can get stuck in, don’t get scratched by knives, generally amazing stuff.
If you absolutely cannot live without plastic in your kitchen, you can try putting a thin layer of oil on the plastic, to keep the pigment from contacting the container.
You can try to do some research on the molecule lycopene, and work out if there is an easy way to get it to release the plastic. See if washing it in vinegar gets it to let go, or whatever.
| 6,902 |
ELI5: why can't I put my medicine (pill) in my drink and drink it when it's dissolved?
|
offspring asked, I answered some bullshit reason. his father said I was wrong, which caused the offspring to argue it as well. it is ww3. please help.
| 36 |
Some pills are designed to be absorbed slowly or in parts in your stomach or even your intestines and they have a 'cover' around them so that happens.
By disolving them in a glass and drinking them, you are messing up the rate and the place of absortion and can have different effects than the planned ones.
| 29 |
ELI5:How can a company sell what they say are $50 coins for $9.95 + $5 shipping?
| 78 |
There are no $50 coins in legal currency. What you are buying are "commemorative decorative currency" which isn't actually legal tender and is made by a company that is named like some official mint but actually isn't. In short it is a borderline scam for foolish people.
| 108 |
|
Publishing as an unemployed/independent/between-jobs scientist
|
Hi all, title says it all - I'm between jobs and have been keeping myself busy by brushing up on my data science skills and analyzing data that is freely accessible. I found an interesting pattern that I believe is scientifically relevant and should be published, but as I am unaffiliated with any university/company at the moment I have no idea how to go about this. Can I just submit a paper as is without listing affiliation? Has anyone done anything like this?
| 30 |
The comments on this thread are strange.
OP there is no reason at all why you cant submit your work to a journal/conference, you dont need to have any university affiliation or email address.
If youve never dont academic research before then its possible that you will struggle to write up your findings in the "correct" academic style, but your paper isnt going to be automatically rejected just because you dont have a PhD or affiliation.
| 34 |
ELI5 the difference between 32 and 64 bit.
| 18 |
It's how big of math the computer can "do in its head" without having to "write things down" into RAM.
You know how to multiply 3 × 3 in your head. Maybe you can even multiply 101 × 101. But you probably can't multiply 456789 × 789456 without writing something down, just because it's too much to hold in your head at once. What do you write down? You might write down partial results, like the answers to 9 × 789456, 80 × 789456, 700 × 789456, and so forth; then at the end you'd sum those all up to get the whole answer to 456789 × 789456.
When a computer does math "in its head", it's doing the math on the CPU without using RAM. When it needs to write down partial results, it writes them into RAM. Writing to RAM is a lot slower — sometimes hundreds of times slower — than doing math on the CPU.
A 32-bit computer can do math with answers as big as 4,294,967,295 without having to write anything down in RAM. A 64-bit computer can do math with answers as big as 18,446,744,073,709,551,615. That's a much bigger number! In fact, it's twice as many digits. Where did those numbers come from? A 32-bit computer can work with numbers as big as 2^32 – 1, and a 64-bit computer can work with numbers as big as 2^64 – 1.
| 46 |
|
ELI5 Why didn't things like polio and smallpox mutate as much or as dangerously?
| 27 |
Different types of viruses mutates at different rates. Viruses like Rhinovirus and Coronavirus is known to mutate very fast which helps them avoid the immune system. But the changes means they only last for a short while, maybe just two years, before being out-competed by a new variant of themselves. However viruses such as polio and smallpox have a much more protected way of reproducing which does not cause as much mutations and we can therefore find largely unchanged viruses a hundred years later.
| 34 |
|
ELI5: Why does the battery in my phone that I've had for 2 years not hold a charge as well as it did when I first got it?
| 21 |
Batteries degrade over time. The interior parts of the battery are subject to fairly intense chemical reactions...you drive it one way when you charge, and the other way when you use the device. The chemicals and parts in the battery are not perfect, and eventually impurities cause a tiny failure. This begins to increase over time...slowly at first, but eventually it becomes significant.
| 22 |
|
If this was 1636, would The Fed step in to buy tulips?
|
Does “Price stability” still apply? Some jobs were probably lost too yeah?
| 126 |
The purpose of central banks isn't to maintain asset or commodity prices, it's to ensure that the economy in general, and currency in particular, is in a state that we want it to be in. For example, when the fed buys bonds, the purpose isn't to make bonds more expensive, it's to lower interest rates to stimulate inflation.
| 60 |
ELI5: Why do cats feel the need to sit or nestle into things like boxes, bags or small enclosed spaces?
|
I've always wondered why they feel the NEED to sit in or under things. Halp?
| 19 |
For much the same reason a child will use blankets to cover themselves up even if the temperature doesn't call for it, it grants a feeling of safety and concealment. Cats are also stalking and ambush predators so any place they can hide is probably instinctivly a 'good' place.
| 16 |
[Star Trek] Why do Starfleet crews not exhibit surprise or disbelief when extremely unlikely events occur?
|
Things like that would trouble most people.
Examples:
* Iconian virus that infects computer systems of ships that weren't invented for thousands of years after the virus was made?
* Anything involving Q
* Pitcher plant being able to telepathically manipulate human minds which it has never encountered before.
* Odo being changed to a solid
* The planet of Miri is an exact replica of Earth
| 18 |
1. All of Starfleet's members are professionals, many have been traveling the galaxy for years. So there's an "seen some shit" factor.
2. Q is, well... Q. Stuff like that is to be expected around him.
3. Space is big. Like, really big. Why should anything you can or cannot imagine *not* exist somewhere?
| 27 |
[Harry Potter] What kind of jobs are perfect for graduated Hufflepuffs?
| 16 |
Hufflepuffs are hard workers and they're everyone's best friend, so anything interpersonal would be awesome - education, media, diplomacy, medicine come to mind.
While Slytherins and Gryffindors may be the more natural or ambitious leaders who are more likely to ascend to high-level posts, Hufflepuffs would probably make awesome politicians or bureaucratic managers in the Ministry, because they'd be ideal for getting different groups of people to work together without issue.
Since Hufflepuffs also are defined by inclusiveness and fairness, the law might also be a draw for them, both study and enforcement. At least one prominent Auror - Tonks - was a Hufflepuff, which might be because she wanted to fight against the discrimination that the Death Eaters stood for.
| 17 |
|
How does super massive black holes like Sagittarius A* come to form? Does every galaxy have such a black hole at its center? Why don’t they pull each other in instead of rushing away from each other?
| 40 |
> Why don’t they pull each other in instead of rushing away from each other?
Our supermassive black hole has less than 0.01% of the mass of the Milky Way. It's very important in the center but negligible for the overall gravitational attraction between galaxies.
| 34 |
|
[Marvel] How is New York able to rebuild so quickly after the constant super villain attacks?
|
New York is constantly getting wrecked by super villains, giant monsters, invading aliens, etc. And yet, after the story arch is over, they're able to quickly rebuild and get the city back to normal.
How is this possible? The city is a battle ground. Why isn't it in rubble after so many attacks? How is it that when I pick up an issue of Spider-Man, I don't see the after effects the alien invasion that the Avengers fought last week?
| 38 |
This is covered in the Netflix run of Daredevil. New York was flooded with federal disaster relief funds, federal loans, and donations from private parties after the Chtauri invasion. Stark Enterprises also helped rebuild things. Apparently having a supervillain wreck your town evokes a lot of charitable sympathy from people.
| 50 |
What makes things sticky?
|
I'm guessing it's an electromagnetic interaction, but what's going on? What's different between paper and tape?
| 41 |
It's not a simple question, but really it comes down to intermolecular forces: van der Waals, dipole, hydrogen bonding, etc. It depends a lot on the molecules involved, both composition, position of end groups, size, sterics, etc.
E.g. polymers sort of layer on each other like a pile of spaghetti. There is a lot of polymer-polymer contact and depending on the interaction between chains, size of the chain, solvent compatibility, etc, they will have different attractive forces. Proteins are typically amphiphilic and as a result, they segregate the hydrophobic portions of the molecules. These hydrophobic effects align proteins in certain ways and help dictate their attraction.
| 11 |
CMV: Management and upper management should focus on educating entry-level employees in to more advanced business practices to encourage critical thinking and improve productivity.
|
I always thought that entry-level employees should be encouraged to learn more about internal company processes to increase agency and bridge the gap between leadership and subordinates in the workplace.
The lack of business-oriented education on entry level employees is in my point of view a barrier to entry to management positions, which is a valued endeavor for any company attempting to grow.
More employees = more managers required
In a traditional sense, the best way to educate yourself in the process of leadership positions is to study and obtain a degree, but there should be other ways to obtain that knowledge and apply it in a more practical manner, not to mention the cost of getting an education.
In too many places I see people stuck in the same job position for years, even decades. Sure not everyone wants to be in a management position, but everyone should have the opportunity to be empowered to move up and not perceive themselves as another disposable worker drone in a given attrition rate.
The standards for management appear high but if it is in the best interests of a company to gain more leadership positions, then the standards required of the employees seeking to pursue a higher level do not seem to be clearly communicated to employees. They are only communicated to them what is expected of them as *employees* and not individuals with agency and knowledge empowered to improve the company in the future.
There should at least be a *layered* approach to the education of entry-level employees, slowly and systematically walking them through the process of understanding the *why* of business decisions and the many different functions management operates that will at least prepare them for a future role should they wish to pursue it.
| 55 |
Any reasonably competent manager will do exactly as you are suggesting they should — but most employees have no desire to improve in these ways that are actually beneficial, so it will largely appear to any outside viewer that “management doesn’t put in the effort.”
The employees that do want to move up and put in the effort are very, very often recognized and trained accordingly.
| 14 |
[Warhammer 40K] Do orks really even hate their enemies?
|
Their only source of pleasure is to do battle. Would that not mean that they are the least hateful race in the galaxy?
While we are on it, what is their emotional spectrum like beyond WAAAAGGGG?
| 21 |
Essentially, no.
Orks can certainly be cruel, and they are capable of hating things (peace, boredom, a rival Ork/tribe), but due to the way they love a good fight it's hard for them to hate any race that gives that to them.
| 28 |
ELI5: What can Obama do before he leaves the presidency?
|
I mean, what can he do (within his power) before leaving and have that decision to stick even with incoming President, Senate, House or Supreme Court?
What are his extend of powers?
| 77 |
Nothing beyond his current Article 2 authorities. And that's the point. Imagine 4 or 8 years from now... would you want the outgoing president to have unlimited, autocratic power? Peaceful transitions of power are essential to our nation. Those unhappy with the result of the election get another chance to vote for a president in 4 years. And, get another crack at shaping Congress in 2 years. Maybe it's going to be a wild ride. Or, maybe nothing of consequence will happen. Who knows.
Edit: Other posters mention Executive Order. They do have the force of law, but only after they are codified in the Code of Federal Regulations. That takes a lot longer than 60 days.
| 66 |
ELI5: What exactly does Narcan do in the body to stop an overdose?
| 79 |
In the simplest terms: think of Narcan and an opioid as magnets vying for the same space on a magnetic surface. During its potency Narcan has a stronger pull to the receptors than the opiate and pushes it out of the way so that the Narcan can sit in that “magnetic spot”. However it only lasts for a little while which is why someone can “get high” again after Narcan is administered and why medical treatment is still needed in emergency timing.
| 116 |
|
[Lord of the Rings] In say, Rivendell, what kinds of food/drink do the elves eat? Do they believe in hunting and eating meat?
| 42 |
From the Hobbit, when they meet the "Elvish looking folk": "The smell of the roast meats was so enchanting that, without waiting to consult one another, every one of them got up and scrambled forwards into the ring with the one idea of begging for some food."
So the wood elves definitely ate meat.
| 39 |
|
How much voltage deviation is acceptable?
|
Like if you have an USB Stick, which needs 5V, but your System only provides 4.8V. Why does it still work?
Similarly, when is a battery 'empty' or 'loaded'? If you try to measure battery voltage, you get a result, but how do you find out, if the voltage is sufficient to operate the system?
| 15 |
Well, you can never get a voltage to be *exactly* 5V, because there will always be some noise and measurement error. So as a matter of good engineering practice, we try to design circuits so that their behavior is stable even if the supply voltage varies slightly. Of course, this has to be balanced against all of the other design requirements.
For example, digital electronics use transistors, which (to drastically oversimplify) switch on or off at a particular gate threshold voltage. But that's not an instantaneous on/off process; if you take a transistor that's just barely on, and decrease the voltage a bit, it will still conduct but not quite as effectively. Eventually you reach the point where the device doesn't function properly or at all, because some internal component is too far out of its expected state.
As another example, anything with capacitance (either capacitors that were explicitly added to the design, or the internal capacitance of other components) will charge/discharge more slowly when the applied voltage is lower. Some components (e.g. microprocessors) can operate at lower voltages if the clock speed is reduced.
The allowable voltage range of a particular component is one of many parameters listed in its datasheet; that's how the designer knows that they're using it correctly. As a general rule of thumb, most designs can tolerate at least a 5% variation in supply voltage, and some can handle a lot more.
| 15 |
Do thin people have more sensation on their skin because their nerves aren't as spread out?
| 651 |
To a certain extent yes, the nerve endings can be closer together and have more response but it's largely overruled by other things I.e personal threshold for pain, the circumstances of whatever stimulus, medications... Its a factor yes, but not one of particular influence.
Edit: Closer together, not closer to the surface
| 103 |
|
ELI5:Why do we never have any mist in the eyes during a sudden temperature change?
|
Excuse me for my english, this is not my first language.
| 15 |
Are you asking why eyes don't fog up like glasses do when you go from cold to warm and humid?
That's because our eyes are already warmed by our body so they aren't really at condensing temperatures, also there are wet so any condensation that formed would just become part of the film of water that covers our eyes anyway.
| 12 |
[SW] You're a middling Jedi knight who just landed on Coruscant after a two-year service in the front lines of the Clone Wars.
|
After spending some time in the capital, you begin to sense some strange things. The Chancellor in particular gives an unsettling feeling, like something's not quite right with him, in a way that could suggest a Force interference of some sort. Not only that, but that Anakin guy he hangs out with looks a little too... intense for a Jedi. You don't know anything for certain yet, but you feel you need to investigate further or at least alert someone. How do you act?
| 118 |
This likely means you're exceptionally powerful in the Force, because Palpatine's dark side Force shroud was enough to hinder even the likes of Yoda and Mace Windu, without anyone the wiser. Similarly, most people didn't sense Anakin's gradual transition to darkness, not even Obi-Wan Kenobi (though Kenobi's blindness would probably be attributed to his inappropriately brotherly feelings towards Anakin).
However, if you're so perceptive with the Force but are still only considered a "middling" Jedi Knight (and not even a Master) then that likely means you are lazy and/or inexperienced, which likely means you're not very good at hiding your own Force presence, which likely means *Palpatine is now aware that there's a very powerful Force user on the planet*. A Force user who can resist his dark side shroud. A Force user who could possibly throw a wrench in his plans. A Force user who must, therefore, be eliminated as soon as possible.
So, basically, to answer your question, you're about to have an unfortunate accident.
| 176 |
ELI5: How does the meat industry worsen climate change?
|
I know I sound like an utter idiot to most of you guys right about now, but I have no idea what the correlation is between meat and climate change. I read people on here typing "Don't eat meat" when talking about how to slow climate change, and It confuses me. When I googled it, I honestly got the impression that "Meat = climate change" was just a given fact that people are expected to know, no explanation needed.
So, once you're done laughing at my ignorance, I would much appreciate an easy to understand explanation that shows how the meat industry accelerates climate change.
Edit: I think this might be Biology-related, but I assigned the Other tag because I'm not sure.
| 24 |
A cattle farm produces as much waste as a small city. Meat production is highly inefficient; they have to grow grain to feed to the cattle, and the animals produce waste and gaseous emissions. It takes 3 times as much crops to feed the animals we eat than if we just ate the plants we grow. Animal farms use a third of the world's fresh water and 30% of all the land on Earth, which generally means people have cleared out forests which leads to higher levels of carbon dioxide, which leads to global warming etc.
| 20 |
CMV: Military fitness standards shouldn't account for gender or age.
|
here are the fitness standards in question, which I found on wikipedia
http://i.imgur.com/zKxXBDd.png
the reason for the modified standards is the strength and endurance difference associated with gender and age. that doesn't make sense to me because in practice a certain task will not magically be easier for someone of a different bracket. if I were a soldier in a combat position, I'd rather have a partner who can do a minimum of 40 push ups, not one who can do at minimum 17, especially considering that push ups already scale in difficulty with body weight.
an argument that I am expecting is that the military has a lot of non combat positions which require less physical ability. in this case, a reasonable thing to do is have a different set of standards associated with these positions and these again have no reason to be modulated by age or gender.
**edit** a lot of answers are moving the goalposts. bringing up that there are different positions which involve less physical work is not relevant.
**edit** I also don't think that putting a standard on overall health is the same as putting a standard on performance at physical tasks. both are important, but this post is about performance standards (number of reps, minutes per miles).
| 513 |
If you raise the fitness standard for everyone to be as fit as an 18 year old, then you are drastically cutting the pool of potential recruits.
You also ignore the potential non-physical benefits that come with age, like experience and leadership.
| 122 |
[ASOIAF] What are the Westerosi laws and customs regarding homosexuality?
|
It doesn't seem to be forbidden exactly, because everyone seems to know that Renly and Loras are gay yet Stannis never used that to argue against Renly becoming king.
On the other hand, people are hesitant to talk about how Whoresbane Umber got his nickname, because the whore in question was a man. This suggests it is still considered shameful.
Is there any other information out there?
| 44 |
Consistent with a lot of historical Western culture, from Alexander the Great to (maybe) James Buchanan: it's considered a perversion, but people tend to look the other way if the homosexual in question is a person of power.
| 62 |
ELI5: Why are TV car commercials so formulaic?
|
A list of features, some feel good background narrative, some prices at the end. Almost as formulaic as drug commercials, presumably without the same regulatory restrictions.
| 50 |
Many car commercials are actually only local broadcast. Local dealers run commercials using stock car footage supplied by the manufacturer's marketing dept and plug in the VO and titles... they have no budget for anything more complex.
National campaigns are less formulaic. The Lincoln commercials with Mconaghey are weird as fuck. Kia used to have man-size hamsters driving their cars.
| 18 |
CMV: The Democratic Party Establishment Does Not Respect Poor or Young People
|
For starters, let's define the Democratic Party "Establishment" as:
1) Current and recent prominent party leaders (Clinton's, Obama, Pelosi, Schumer, etc.)
2) Major Democratic donors and think tanks like 3rd Way.
3) Media institutions whose coverage is rarely, if ever, critical of special interest influence in Democratic politics. This is basically all corporate media and PBS.
4) Lobbyists
The case here is that polling crosstabs related to the Democratic primary reveal a distinct preference among poor and young voters for anti-establishment candidate Bernie Sanders. Other anti-establishment candidates like Yang and Gabbard also draw their support from the same voter pools.
The Democratic establishment leadership tries to represent itself as being supportive of the needs of poor and young voters, but supports more establishment candidates like Buttigieg and Biden.
In effect, the establishment entities are telling poor and young people that they don't really know what's good for them. The message is "we hear your pain, but we don't respect your judgement" when it comes to which candidate will best serve your needs.
The unspoken message is that the establishment can't articulate their support for special interests in a politically acceptable way and don't respect the intelligence of poor and young voters to see through it. .
These are two different kinds of disrespect.
Change my view.
Edit: It's been real debating with you guys, I'll continue to wind down existing threads but not take any new ones.
I think the establishment preference for establishment candidates is pretty clear
Biden = Buttigieg >> Warren >>>> Sanders
I will concede that opinions of electability and accomplishment in office provide a valid counter argument to my original view as stated. I don't agree with those opinion, but we don't have a crystal ball to prove anyone right or wrong.
| 34 |
" reveal a distinct preference among poor and young voters for anti-..."
preference does not mean all of them. that means there are poor people who prefer Buttigieg and Biden.
the establishment can have their own preferences.
there are democrats who are not poor. they matter just as much as those that are poor. it is not disrespectful for the establishment to support non-poor democrats preferences.
disagreeing on which political candidate is best for certain topics (alleviating poverty) does not mean you dont respect the people you disagree with.
| 15 |
Eli5: I once heard that the relative size of spiders is related to the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere, is this true, and why?
| 353 |
Yes, generally speaking. Spiders (arachnids) and insects don't have lungs like you and I. The way spiders and insects breathe are slightly different, but in both cases they are limited by how much oxygen in the air is available.
For insects, they get oxygen through tiny holes in their bodies that are connected to a network of tubes. The tubes let the oxygen get into the rest of the bug, oxygen passes through the walls of the tubes, so the farther you get down the tube, the more oxygen has been taken out. More oxygen in the air lets it get further into the bug, meaning that the bug can be bigger and still get enough oxygen. Reduce the oxygen, and it can't reach as far into the bug, so the bug must be smaller to make sure that oxygen can get everywhere.
Spiders have what's called a "book lung" which has little flat sheets that look like the pages of a book, and each little sheet has blood (hemolymph) that circulates through it to carry oxygen away. This eliminates the network of tubes that insects have, but there's no muscles to expand and compress the lung to push air in and out like you or me. It still relies on air passively flowing through a few tiny holes in the abdomen that lead to book lung. Similar to the insects, the oxygen levels decrease from where it enters to the end of the "pages" in the lung. Increase the amount of oxygen, and the book lung could have longer pages and support a bigger spider; decrease the amount of oxygen, and longer pages can't get enough oxygen so the spider needs to be smaller.
Most insects' and most spiders' sizes are not limited only by oxygen, but also by their body shape. The way they breathe sets something of an upper limit to their size based on available oxygen, but all of them are below that limit.
| 344 |
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ELI5: Are rolling blackouts absolutely necessary, or are they a way for the electric companies to save money during trying times? Why are some residences affected but others aren't?
| 55 |
Rolling blackouts become necessary when there is far more demand than supply of electric power.
In developed countries with stable and reliable grids they are rare, but in places where the infrastructure is not really fit for purpose you may end up in situations where there is more demand for electricity than you can supply with the power plants you have.
Normally you have vast interconnected power grids where these things can be even out across many different countries and also have power plants that stand by and can be brought online to make up for the shortfall.
In some cases such as isolated power grids on islands, places with poorly maintained infrastructure and developing countries you may find yourself in a situation where there simply is not more power to be had.
If the operators in this case the operators have a choice. If they do nothing, physics happen, the frequency of the electricity on the grid goes down and either breaks a lot of stuff or causes things to automatically shut down to prevent being broken. This would mean no electricity for anyone for a long time.
The other choice is to cut of some customers until the remaining demand matches what you can supply. Critical infrastructure like hospitals etc and things necessary to keep the grid itself running are not going to be cut of.
You could either pick a neighborhood to have no power for a day or you can pick 24 neighborhoods to have no power for an hour each one after the other to lessen the misery by spreading it around.
That is a rolling blackout. The are that gets blacked out rolls around and affects most people for a short time.
It is not good but better then the alternative.
However many people in many places especially ones where corruption is rampant will pointed out that poor neighborhoods seems to be more likely to be hit by that supposedly equal spread of the blackout.
There are also odd cases like the whole Enron thing in California in the US a while back where fraudsters deliberately caused a problem with supply by shutting down plants that were perfectly fine and thus caused the need for blackouts to make money. They had manged to exploit the electricity was paid for make money from shortages they cause themselves.
Regulations and oversight prevent that sort of thing in most places though.
| 121 |
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ELI5: Why are we not literally shitting the bed often?
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Since being married I've learned that we all fart in our sleep. My wife does it, but she claims I do it a lot.
At the same time, I'm sure we've all trusted a fart we shouldn't have in our lives. So how is it our unconscious self has better control over our bodies than our conscious self?
At first I thought the answer was simply pressure. Enough pressure builds up and just forces it's way out, while our waking self usually tries to force it. But I'm sure there's times #2 has plenty of pressure to force it's way out also.
| 33 |
Essentially you kind of do. When you fart, tiny bits will fly out. However, it's easier for gas to accelerate quickly out of the opening in the sphincter than large solids that are easily seen. If you blow on a paper wad or something, you'll see how much air you have to blow to propel a solid forward. It really doesn't take much gas leaving the bowel to relieve the pressure.
If you have enough pure solid in your Colon to force it's way out without gas, you're likely going to wake up, unless you are drunk/drugged, which is why those folks do occasionally shit themself.
| 39 |
ELI5: When you lose sleep you feel your body being heavy. What happens inside your body when you don't sleep enough ?
| 25 |
We really don't know much about sleep. Scientists really don't understand the mechanisms by which it works, why it's important, or even its real purpose - which is crazy considering how important it is to our health.
We know some of the side effects of lacking sleep - your brain cells have a hard time communicating with each other, and your hormone secretion gets out of whack - this is largely what causes the effects you listed in your question.
As for WHY those things happen, we really just don't know. It's really pretty crazy how poorly sleep is understood.
| 15 |
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ELI5: Why do we need to stretch our muscles? In the wild we wouldn’t have time to stretch before running from danger so shouldn’t our bodies be ready to move optimally whenever needed?
| 36 |
We don't and static stretching is highly discouraged.
What we do need to do is "warm up" the muscles. This entails some minor activity to increase blood flow to the area. This helps protect the muscles when in use.
If you stretch a "cold" muscle you're more likely to cause tears and further injury.
| 46 |
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[WH40K] What if every Chaos God became "good"
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Just like instead of being the pure face of sin they became the pure face of love and joy?
| 99 |
The Chaos gods are a corrupting influence. Sure there are would be cultists who go in with deranged murderfucking as their goal from the get go but often the Chaos gods attract the unwary, the bereft, the shorn.
So what if instead of primordial annihilators they were benevolent? Instead of corrupting the weak and impure they absolved them, redeemed them?
In this mirror universe the mindless and violent find themselves put on a path towards righteousness, with Khorne repairing broken men into stoic warriors who wield their weapons in the service of the weak and downtrodden.
Slaanesh would purify mindless hedonists into agents of love, spreading tranquility and grace throughout the galaxy.
Nurgle would take the cynical and stagnant and turn them into heralds of hope, fighting against entropy and bringing healing and salvation to the galaxy.
Tzeentch would take the plotters, conspirators, manipulators and turn them into torchbearers; bringing truth and order to a galaxy long denied both.
| 145 |
ELI5: how do outside temperature readings in cars not be impacted by windchill, engine heat, or being baked by the sun?
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I know it’s not linked to a satellite or radio reading as it reads the temperature from the garage and it changes fast once the car is outside.
| 19 |
First, wind actually makes a thermometer more accurate. Windchill is something warm people feel because they want to be warm, and the wind makes the skin closer to air temperature, so we say wind chill because it makes our skin colder. But really wind makes things get closer to air temperature, and get to that temperature faster. For a thermometer, that means wind makes it approach the correct reading quicker, and it also means that nearby heat sources put less error into the thermometer.
With that in mind, car manufacturers put the thermometer in the most windy spot of the car they can find. So yes, the sun bakes it and the engine heats it up, but as soon as you move the wind blows on it, and it quickly changes to the right number.
| 36 |
ELI5. How can car dealerships be selling 2016 models already when it's only May of 2015?
| 16 |
The "model year" of a car is mostly a marketing thing, and not an actual description of when the car was made. A "20XX model" car is generally used to mean "the model that will be on sale for the majority of the year 20XX." In the US, there is only one regulation surrounding which year number they can use:
>In the United States, for regulation purposes, government authorities allow cars of a given model year to be sold starting on January 2 of the previous calendar year. For example, this means that a 2017 model year vehicle can legally go on sale on January 2, 2016.
So you can't sell a "2017 model" car in 2015.
| 11 |
|
If dark matter generates a gravitational field, and dark matter can 'clump' like ordinary matter, can dark matter collapse under its own weight like regular matter to make a dark-black hole?
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Sorry if the question is poorly formed. I was just recalling something about dark matter; something about a 6:1 relationship to regular matter, and was wondering whether dark matter amasses like regular matter does; capable of making 'dark-planets', 'dark-stars' or even 'dark-black holes', if such a thing is even intelligible by the lights of modern physics.
| 20 |
> dark matter can 'clump' like ordinary matter
No, it cannot.
Regular matter - there's gravitational attraction, and then there's friction (collisions) between particles. Gravity pulls everything together, and then friction slows particles down (relative speed decreases) so that they can "clump" together. This is how you get planets, asteroids, etc.
Dark matter - truth be told, we don't know much about it, but it does not appear to experience friction as far as we can tell, either with itself or with regular matter. For that reason, it will probably never make "clumps". Particles of dark matter (if they exist as such) will be drawn together by gravity, but then they will just zoom right past each other.
I did some numeric simulations for particle collectives under mutual attraction, years ago. Without friction, it's just a big swarm that keeps roiling over and over. Kind of fun to watch, but it doesn't really do anything.
With dark matter, you may get such swarms arbitrarily big, maybe as big as a galaxy. This is because the only significant interaction that DM seems capable of is gravity; there might be exceptions, but those are probably exceedingly rare (some experiments are being worked on to hunt for such rare occurrences).
If DM falls into an existing black hole, it's likely that the BH won't treat it any different from regular matter. It gets swallowed up, and its mass is added to the BH. But this is a bit speculative, since we haven't seen DM from up close.
TLDR: It doesn't clump.
| 13 |
[40k] I have just woken up on a hive world transported from my comfy life here in our time to the 40th millennia. i am not in the underhive but somewhere in the middle. How long do i have left to live ?
| 24 |
It depends. If you survive past the first few hours you'll probably live a few decades.
You'll be undocumented, have a peculiar accent, and not know the first thing about how to survive in the hive world, but many of the lower classes in Hive worlds suffer from similar handicaps and they get along just fine. You will likely be swept up like any other indigent, run through the bureaucracy until it realizes you have no idea where you are, and have no skills relevant to the 40k hive world. Hive bureaucracy isn't trigger happy about heresy the way the Inquisition is, so even if you accidentally say something out of place, it'll be chalked up to stupidity instead of malice.
You will eventually be assigned to a work factory where you will perform some kind of manual labor 12-15 hours per day in exchange for enough food to live and a cot to sleep on. This life will continue until you die of exhaustion or disease.
The high level of pollution in the Hive will cut your lifespan to a fraction of what it would be here on earth, but they do keep things clean enough to ensure the workforce is able to survive and produce long enough to bring up another generation.
| 47 |
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[DC] Why doesn’t Powergirl wear the House of El “S” symbol anywhere on her?
| 27 |
At one point she mentioned that she wanted to create her own symbol to put on her costume, but could never come up with anything, so she just left the hole there.
She fully admits she knows people think she's being lewd but she can't think of anything. The hole is both literal and a symbolism of the emptiness she feels inside.
| 53 |
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CMV: Astrology is fake
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Astrology and horoscopes makes no sense. It is statistically innacurate to describe people’s traits based on their birth date and time. Theres no valid science behind it. It makes absolutely no sense to read daily horoscopes in newspapers. There is no rational way to explain how 1/12 of the population will inexplicably “meet the woman of your dreams” the same day. It is just smoke and mirrors. The people who write that nonsense basically overshoot and try to layout multiple guesses for gullible people to believe. Most the time it doesn’t hit anything and when it does most people are like “OMG! How did he knew!?” and right away completely ignore that 99% of the time it is wrong.
I also hate it when people ask my sign and when I tell them usually (specially women) put this face like “oh I figured!” And they frame me into a stupid stereotype.
I think people take it for granted that astrology is a fact, and never stop to think about it.
I won’t tell you my sun sign. Want to guess?
Edit: I may sound a bit upset, but it is not my intention.
Edit #2: some people have suggested to say “false” instead of “fake”. I do agree false may be more appropiate/precise in the sense of holding truth. Does not change much the intention of the idea.
| 32 |
This is like fortune telling, ofc its fake, but its fun... No reason to get upset.
However, assigning traits to birth months can have some merit.
Think of it this way, when kids enter a social construct, lets say school, each class will have all the kids that were born in the same calendar year.
So a kid born in January, will be in the same class as a kid born in December. They will be almost a year apart! Thats huge for 5-6 year olds.
So that kid who was born in January, will probably be more developed physically than the December kid.
But they will be taught the same material so seeing as they cant compete physically, December kids will focus more on studies.
You can come up with many more theories regarding the time of year a person was born and how it effects his school life and therefore development as a person.
| 15 |
CMV: Sex is about having fun and pleasure.
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This is the only view I've ever been exposed to since I learned about sex through porn. Im interested in hearing arguments for the "sex is about romance and intimacy" side. I honestly want to think like that, I don't want sex to just be meaningless in my mind.
I think of sex as something done for pure pleasure and fun, I see absolutely zero intimacy involved, it's just about being penetrated or penetrating someone. I am still a virgin. I think that my view of sex is very simplistic and I would like if it had more meaning to it.
| 15 |
Well, to have sex you have to expose yourself to somebody else. All the flaws you may cover up normally, ever bit of you that may not "measure up" to perfection gets shown. That alone seems pretty intimate to me. It is important you can trust the other person (not NECESSARY for a long term relationship if that is not your thing, but as this moment and knowing they will know your body from now on).
If you want to make the other side happy, and them to enjoy sex (sex for pleasure) you further will most likely have to do a lot more than just have penetrative sex. For many women that is honestly not the big part that will get them especially off. And what works for one person to fulfill them may not work for another person. So, you will need to have an intimate understanding of your partner's body and their desires. You and your partner will, most likely, not get sex to work perfectly the first time. You will fumble around, be awkward, maybe hurt each other. So, it is important you can be open with each other, laugh about your own foibles, and communicate. So, again, far more than being penetrated or penetrating somebody.
Also, pleasure and fun is also not the antithesis of romance and intimacy. They can both work together. For many people romance and intimacy have to be there first for pleasure and fun to work. For others pleasure and fun work easily without much else. And others again don't get much fun from sex but still like the intimacy you get from being super close to somebody they care about.
| 14 |
What is the theoretical limit to lossless data compression?
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Binary (digital) information is represented as 1s and 0s. Obviously with only two potential states, you can't store the information of an entire photograph.
Assuming unlimited processing power, what's the smallest possible compression ratio for any type of lossless compression?
| 16 |
Lossless compression makes use of known patterns in the data to reduce the number of symbols required to describe the data. All lossless compression schemes either *do nothing* or *expand* most of their possible inputs. It's easy to see why: with *n* symbols, each of which can take any of *b* values, you can represent any of *b^n* possible patterns. If you shrink the input to some number *m*, with *m*<*n*, then you can only represent *b^m* possible patterns, leaving *b^n - b^m* patterns unrepresented in the smaller space. If the scheme is lossless, then it has to represent those patterns somehow, and the only way to do it is to use additional symbols (i.e. to expand the input).
The trick in designing a compression scheme is to notice that some patterns are more likely to occur than others. The likeliest ones get the shortest representation and the unlikely ones can get long representations, because they don't turn up very often.
That line of thought leads to *Huffman coding*, which is a scheme that dynamically identifies the most common symbol sequences in a stream, and represents them with short compressed representations, while uncommon ones get longer representations. The term "Huffman coding" is colloquially used to describe anything that carries out that kind of optimization -- for example, many coding environments abbreviate common commands.
There's a whole body of mathematical theory (information and coding theory) that has developed around questions like yours, and it centers on the amount of "entropy" in a block of data. This information-theoretic entropy is closely related to thermodynamic entropy -- it formalizes the concept of ignorance: a system about which you have (or can glean) a lot of knowledge has low or no entropy, while a system about which you have little knowledge has high entropy.
In the very unlikely event that you know *exactly* what you want to represent in advance, then you can perform lossless compression at staggeringly high ratios. For example, if you know that you're about to receive an MP4 video stream of either the Star Wars initial trilogy or the first season of Star Trek, you can compress all 10^13 or so bits of the stream into a single bit (1 for Star Wars, 0 for Star Trek). But if even one bit of either video stream is different than you expect, you will need to add more bits to represent that change.
In less absurd cases you can compress to the entropy limit of the stream. English text coded as ASCII has about 1 bit of entropy per character, so you can compress about 8:1 in most cases. ASCII anime have considerably less entropy and can be compressed losslessly much more than that. Uniform-probability random bitstreams have 8 bits of entropy per byte and you can't actually compress them losslessly at all (on average).
**Edit:** the information-theoretic entropy *is* the message being carried by the data -- it's the good part. This is backwards for people who are used to thermodynamics, but it makes sense. The part of the coded symbol stream that is *predictable* carries no new information, since (after all) you could predict it. The "message" is the new knowledge you glean by examining the symbol stream, that you couldn't predict in advance -- i.e. the entropy. The point of lossless compression, then, is to pile as much entropy onto as few symbols as possible, so that it's very hard to predict the next symbol of a message stream while receiving the message.
| 22 |
Is the Sun Radioactive?
| 103 |
The fusion in the sun produces a lot of radioactivity: positrons, gamma rays, neutrinos. The neutrinos leave quickly but the positrons and photons interact quickly with the surroundings in the solar interior. Because of its heat the sun emits a lot of thermal radiation, some of which is in the x-ray/gamma-ray end of the spectrum. It also shoots out a lot of protons and electrons as solar wind.
| 63 |
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How would the water cycle be affected if we were to switch to hydrogen as a fuel for the majority of cars?
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Would there be a net change in the amount of water on the planet? What would be the ramifications long term (100 years, or more into the future)?
| 2,004 |
It depends on the source of the hydrogen. If hydrogen is obtained through electrolysis of water then the net change would be zero. However electrolysis of water is a relatively expensive way of obtaining hydrogen.
Currently the most common way of obtaining hydrogen is through refining natural gas (natural gas reforming) or biomass gasification. Both process requires water in their chemical process However neither is carbon neutral and the refining process produces CO and CO2 so neither process really abates the accumulation of greenhouse gases.
The hope is that renewable energy can be made cheap enough that electrolysis of water can be done economically to displace fossil or biomass sources of hydrogen. There are possibilities of genetic engineering bacteria’s that produces hydrogen as a byproduct through some kind of biological process which would be carbon neutral but this is still an area of active research.
All of that is the preface and context needed to answer your question. The amount of changes to the water cycle depends on how the hydrogen is primarily going to be sourced in the future. Both natural gas reforming and biomass gasification are water intensive chemical processes and may have impact on the local water source near where the refineries are located. On a planetary scale the consumption of natural gas derived hydrogen means an effective mass transfer of hydrogen in the form of hydrocarbons to the form of water. The amount of hydrocarbons on the earth is pretty insignificant compared to the amount of water on the planet so the net change in water through these process would be negligible (my assumption as I’m an engineer and not a geologist; please correct me if I’m wrong here).
If hydrogen is sourced from electrolysis using renewable energy then the local impact on the water cycle will again be dependent on where the water sources are drawn from. On a planetary scale there will be no net change in the amount of water on the planet. The water to hydrogen+water back to water cycle is essentially a means to store and transport the energy used for electrolysis.
| 1,049 |
Fellowship says "annual salary of X, including fringe and indirect" -- what is fringe and indirect?
|
What the title says.
I was awarded a postdoc fellowship that says the above. What does it mean by fringe and indirect?
I'm new to the world of fellowships.
Edit: Ok, I found that in a different place they mention it as:
>cover an annual postdoc salary of $XYZ, plus fringe and indirect costs (capped at 35%)
So I guess that means that the $XYZ is entirely the salary paycheck I'll get (before taxes)?
Edit: Thanks everyone, I'm seeing that they seem to say two different things at two places on their website. I'll just email and ask.
| 70 |
Fringe is insurance and other non-salary benefits that you receive. Indirects are charges the university adds to grants to cover its costs of administering grants and supporting research. The agency is saying that it will cover your salary plus up to 35% for these other things. Fringe and indirects are typically much higher than that, so the institution will have to eat some of the costs. That is something you will have to get pre-approved through your sponsored projects office at proposal submission time.
| 48 |
How can one explain the wrongness of sensory deprivation as a form of punishment?
|
I recently came across a thread in /r/relationship_advice where a teenager who uses a hearing aid was complaining that his mother takes away his hearing aid as punishment. All the commenters were quick to call it abuse, but gave little justification beyond "would you take away a blind man's service dog?".
From an applied ethics point of view, what is wrong here?
My ideas:
* The mother is committing epistemic violence by depriving her son of a sense (and thus knowledge acquisition).
* Hearing aid seizure is a disproportionate punishment to the son's wrongdoing (he claims it was due to bad grades). Thus, his mother is abusing her power as punisher.
* The mother is unfairly punishing her son in a way that an able-bodied person could not be punished. This is unfair treatment based on disability and thus constitutes ableism.
* Just punishment must be consistent in that the same wrongdoing must be punished the same way, no matter the perpetrator. Since the mother would have to punish an able-bodied person differently, the punishment is inconsistent and thus unjust.
| 100 |
Punishment for punishment's sake is cruel and pointless. It mostly just creates depression and fear. The kid won't take anything from this experience other than resentment for that parent for abusing them.
It's also teaching the kid that it's acceptable to deprive others of their possessions if they do something you don't like. So next time another kid calls this kid a nasty name, he's probably going to be much more likely steal that kid's stuff to "teach him a lesson", as this is how the kid has been taught to deal with problems.
| 53 |
Why are so many people in America wary of the UN??
|
It seems lately that a lot of people in America have called the UN a threat to sovereignty. Why this sudden uptick in paranoia?
| 87 |
As you've seen in the other responses, lots of people in America believe completely untrue things about the UN. They think that the UN is some kind of world government, or that we've put our laws into its hands, or that it's in charge of world security. It'd be perfectly reasonable to be scared of the UN, if it *actually* had all these powers.
| 48 |
ELI5: Why does an extreme lack of sleep seem to temporarily change an individuals mannerisms and personality?
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For example, if I go a very extended length of time without sleeping and I'm at a point where I don't feel tired at all, I've noticed I tend to get a bit "goofy" with how I act. I've also noticed that I have less of a filter and will verbally respond to things much differently than I would otherwise.
&nbsp;
Very interested to hear your explanations, as I'm currently at this point right now.
| 7,482 |
Mood and sleep are linked. When you are overly tired, you lose some abilities to regulate your emotions, so you feel more emotional extremes than usual.
At the same time, sleep deprivation causes the same kind of impairment as alcohol intoxication. So you subjective understanding of what you are experiencing isn't necessarily as accurate as if you were not sleep deprived (or drunk).
| 2,517 |
[Iron Giant] What is the world like after the movie ends?
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A talking 100 ft. tall metal robot from space got blown up by a nuclear missile. News had to travel fast.
What is the world view on this? How does it affect national and economic relations?
| 120 |
Obviously, the military had time to examine and analyze that piece they found. Using rudimentary techniques, they eventually extrapolate the rough designs of the machine and begin construction. In this universe, it's more than likely the transistor isn't invented. Computers remain large and bulky. Nuclear energy is utilized and compartmentalized and the two techs are brought together to realize a weapon of enormous value.
Liberty Prime. Democracy is non-negotiable.
| 183 |
ELI5: Why is the US college tuition so high?
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And where is the money going? Are all colleges private?
| 69 |
Price discrimination. Those who can afford to pay, do so. Those who can't are given various amounts of financial aid to lower the price to a more reasonable amount.
At least it works like that ideally. In actuality many people have to take out loans, although by going to state schools you can limit those loans to well under $50k. But making all college free would just help the rich more than anyone else, since they pay by far the most college tuition.
| 22 |
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