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Do we call linear equations as linear because when we plot them we get a straight line?
| 19 |
Yes. But what's annoying about this is that there's another, much more useful definition of linear in many fields of math, and the straight line equation y = ax + b is NOT linear in that sense, unless b = 0.
Instead it's called "affine" when you use that definition of "linear".
Among other things, that kind of linearity requires that y is proportional to x. Consider y = 3x + 2. If x = 1, then y = 5. If you double x (so x = 2), do you double y (so y = 10)? Answer: No. y = 3 \* 2 + 2 = 8.
| 26 |
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How is underwater fiber laid out over fault lines?
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I was reading the article about Google pairing with a company to lay new fiber from the west coast to Japan. [source](http://thenextweb.com/google/2014/08/11/google-backing-new-300-million-high-speed-internet-trans-pacific-cable-system-us-japan/).
Is the fiber laying on the sea floor? Wouldn't earthquakes and underwater lava flows damage the fiber? How is the fiber protected from erosion?
| 429 |
As far as I've seen, it's not secured to the sea floor at all. So the sea floor can move and the cable will be just fine. The big downside of that is ship anchors will catch on the cable and the ship can rip the cable apart. Happens all the time, so they usually lay more than one cable at once and they also keep it a secret as to the exact location of the cables so people can't intentionally tear the cable apart with anchors. But generally, the cables have a lot of slack in them and are made to be very flexible.
I don't hear much about earthquakes and fault lines being a problem for underwater cables.. Their biggest thread by far is ship anchors and whenever cables get damaged, they just go out and fix them. It's just part of the maintenance. Power companies have to do the same kind of things with overhead power lines damaged by storms and such.
| 99 |
ELI5: Why are weather forecasts sometimes so different from each other? Don't they all use the same data and science?
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I'm talking about information displayed on different weather websites. One will say that there's a very high chance of rain in a place at a certain hour, for multiple hours, and another will say that there will be just some light rain in the first hour, then it will be dry/sunny.
| 32 |
There are a couple of main models that almost all forecasting sites get their information from. The US model is GFS and the European model is ECMWF.
Some websites will just pass on Unmodified forecasts direct from one or other of these models.
Some websites will combine the data in some way and present a likely average.
Some websites apply local knowledge of particular regions and geography to make more precise localised predictions based on one or both of the models.
| 32 |
ELI5: How does copper in gloves, socks, or compression sleeves relieve pain?
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I keep seeing commercials with Brett Favre or other people talking about copper in socks or other sports related equipment and how it relieves pain or increases circulation. How does this work? Or, possibly a better question, why is it bogus?
| 23 |
It doesn’t do anything.
As for why it’s bogus; that would be because it doesn’t do anything.
Fools are easily parted from their money and there’s always someone willing to sell them some bullshit.
| 72 |
[Marvel/Dc] Which Super Heroes are closest with one another ?
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And not just as superheros,like outside of work,like personal lives and such...
| 17 |
* Luke Cage and Iron Fist. Buddies and business partners.
* Spider-Man has his Amazing Friends, Iceman and Human Torch.
* Daredevil and Black Widow used to date. They probably have more history than Black Widow and Hawkeye in the comics. This never comes up nowadays, but it used to be a big thing.
* Star-Lord and Nova (Rich Rider) are old war buddies.
* Jessica Drew (Spider-Woman) and Carol Danvers are good buds. Also Jessica Jones is friends with Carol... both Jessicas have some pretty odd similarities for no particular reason
\*\*\*\*\*
* Batman and Superman are best buds forever; whichever one has kids first will make the other one godfather. And they're not even religious.
* Booster Gold and Ted Kord (by extension, sort of Jaime Reyes). Consecrated with the really, truly, terrible catch phrase: "Bros before heroes"
| 30 |
ELI5: What happens to the electrons in a depleted battery?
| 26 |
After traveling through the circuit, they end up back in the battery (on the other end of the cell), but in a lower energy state (bound to a different atom or molecule). The electrons aren't "used up," but they do carry less energy when they return.
| 18 |
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ELI5: If a spaceship had a flag, would it wave as the spaceship moved through space?
| 414 |
If the ship was accelerating, it would "hang" toward the back of the ship, as if it was hanging down from a horizontal pole on Earth, with no wind. When the ship stopped accelerating, it would spring forward a bit, from released tension, but would then float freely until it reached a point where no forces were acting on it, where it would stay.
It's also possible that it might wave a bit from the impact of random particles, but that would be almost undetectable. The density of gas in a very, very dense nebula is about 1,000,000,000,000 times less than our atmosphere, and the vast majority of space is far more empty than that.
| 450 |
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I feel that the film American History X fails to deliver the message it intends, CMV
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If you haven't seen American History X, it is a 1998 American film staring Edward Norton. Norton plays Derek Vinyard, a leader of a Neo-Nazi skinhead gang in Southern California. Other key characters I will discuss are Derek's younger brother Danny. His mother Doris. His father, Dennis. Derek's neo-Nazi mentor Cameron. His and Danny's high school teacher, Dr. Sweeney
[The wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_History_X) has the plot blow by blow.
A well known caveat to this film is the director, Tony Kaye wanting to remove his name from the film after they altered the ending. If you wan what amounts to a tl/dr about this post and my view: changing the ending is what kept this film from being a total endorsement of neo-nazi beliefs.
Essentially the film purports to be about the inherent faults in Derek's and Danny's beliefs about race. Derek makes a speech about immigrants undercutting established businesses as well as Rodney King being violent and, by extension, typical of the black community. Typical neo-nazi bullshit in short. The problem with the film is that the black characters we see do a good job of fitting into Derek's stereotype. The Crips who lost to Derek and his gang at basketball don't leave quietly, they smash his truck windows in the middle of the night. That's not admirable nor just. Derek, for all his faults, beat them fair and square- even not calling fouls he could have to avoid any controversy. Then, another black character kills Danny by shooting him in a school bathroom because Danny stood up for a kid his eventual killer was bullying. Dennis Vinyard was shot by black gangmembers while he was on duty as a fireman. I fail to see how, in the film's world, we're supposed to see where Derek is wrong, as awful as that seems to say. Even Murray, the Jewish teacher and who dated Derek's mother. He came to dinner and at least Derek was engaging with him.
Tony Kaye, the director, wanted the film to end with Danny being killed and a shot of Derek shaving his head again- indicating he hadn't changed. It would have been an ending vindicating Derek's neo-naxi beliefs and not a lot of room for the audience to point to anything in his life to again, show him where his beliefs are wrong.
So, what am I missing? Show me the movie does show that Derek is properly an anti-hero instead of the actual hero (in the pure literary sense of the word- his actions are meant to be correct and noble in the story's universe and by extension, the audience's) that I view his character as.
| 28 |
> Tony Kaye, the director, wanted the film to end with Danny being killed and a shot of Derek shaving his head again- indicating he hadn't changed. It would have been an ending vindicating Derek's neo-naxi beliefs and not a lot of room for the audience to point to anything in his life to again, show him where his beliefs are wrong.
I think, instead of vindicating his beliefs, it would have made Derek a tragic hero who failed at changing his ways and fell back into habits that he knew (and the audience knows) were misguided.
I don't think the film is trying to argue that "black people are good" versus "black people are bad." It's a tale about the destructive nature of hatred. Yeah, all the black gangbangers are rotten. We also know that all the white gangbangers are rotten. Hell, the majority of the white people in this movie are rotten, with a couple exceptions, just like most of the black people in this movie are rotten, with a couple exceptions (the principal and Derek's prison buddy, both of whom you forgot to mention).
But the point *isn't* that hatred is okay as long as you're hating the right people. It's about hatred being pointless in general.
| 40 |
ELI5: what makes our voices so different?
| 31 |
Our vocal cords are like the strings on an instrument. If the same note is played on a violin versus a guitar, the strings are vibrating at the same pitch or frequency. However, because of how the vibration radiates through the different shape and materials in the instrument, the note sounds different coming out of the violin versus the guitar.
While the pitch or frequency of our vocal cords may vibrate the same, our entire head cavity acts as the instrument to shape the sound of the note. This is why people's voices are different!
| 29 |
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You've just been declared supreme potentate of Venezuela. Now how do you fix the economy?
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Implicit in your power as supreme potentate is that you can write any law you want, create any policy. You can appoint whomever you want in what ever position.
Of course you are benevolent so how do you turn Venezuela around minimizing the loss of life and and maximizing your citizens' standard of living.
| 44 |
Any economist will tell you that important in maintaining economic growth is:
Strong private property rights (having households be the primary economic decision makers is fundamental to the proper functioning of markets)
free trade (with products today requiring global value chains to manufacture, it's difficult to do anything without it. There's a reason why, in times of war, your enemy seeks to eliminate or constrain your trade networks)
maintaining competitive markets (this means both avoiding interference when unjustified, but also subsidizing, taxing, and trust busting when it's called for)
well functioning regulatory institutions (this means having an operational cadastral system so as to avoid disputes over ownership, a well supervised set of monetary institutions, a robust and efficient regulatory framework, etc)
and several other factors to consider.
If you want to ask me, personally?
1. Institute a land value tax
2. institute more direct democratic control by the populace of the government
3. provisionally remove all price controls
4. institute a carbon pricing system (either a tax or a credit approach)
5. lower taxes (explicit and implicit) across the board, using the revenues from LVT and carbon pricing to do so, but especially seek to decrease the price of capital investment.
6. enact severe constitutional reforms that significantly limit activity that can be undertaken by the state or members of the state in elected or bureaucratic positions. in fact probably just get a new constitution.
7. work to ease international tensions and reduce the human rights abuses that are causing some nations to enact sanctions against Venezuela, seek to reduce tariffs in other nations on your exports and in turn reduce what tariffs Venezuela currently has
8. turn PDVSA and other state owned firms into several competing democratic worker cooperatives
9. invest in national and international transportation and telecommunication infrastructure to decrease the cost of delivering goods and services, especially a rail network.
10. institute a strong patent and copyright system (on par with the level of protection afforded by the united states or greater), while treating patents as economic land subject to LVT
11. stabilize currency through dollarization or acquiring reserves of foreign currency (given current economic performance, most likely the former), and enacting monetary reform
12. replace current social service systems with less distortionary ones - namely UBI or GMI
13. identify areas wherein Venezuela has a comparative advantage
14. institute systems that make information necessary for good economic decision making widespread
15. greater government transparency
Venezuela is in a bad spot, and even the best of solutions are likely to fail in some regards. Nothing will be perfect, there will be trade offs, and struggles will likely continue for a while even under the best possible circumstances.
| 42 |
ELI5:How can a whitening toothpaste actually whiten our teeth if we rinse as soon as we're done brushing ?
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To me it seems like all we're doing is cleaning out teeth, but there's no way they will actually whiten ...
| 26 |
First, those toothpastes are not really very good for your teeth. They use harsh and/or abrasive materials (baking soda or peroxide) to whiten which are, again, not super healthy.
But, that means that the action of brushing your teeth is what actually does the whitening bit. If you brush your teeth *correctly*, that stuff should be rubbing on your teeth and staying on them for several minutes. That's time enough - it's supposed to be an application that works over time, not instantly.
But, again, don't use those.
| 12 |
Eli5 How does a Body's immune system eventually recognize a donor organ as a part of it instead of a foreign entity?
| 21 |
Oftentimes, it never does. The body's immune system will continuously recognise the transplanted tissue as foreign, due to the immune system not being able to identify the proteins on the cells as its own. People who have had organ transplants often have to take drugs to suppress the immune system for life, as otherwise the immune system would destroy the donated organ.
| 38 |
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If microwaves are non-ionizing, then why are they harmful to humans and radio waves aren't?
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Is it because microwaves only in large doses are harmful, and radio waves are never in large doses?
| 21 |
Microwaves aren't harmful any more than radio waves. In fact, microwaves are more of just a subcategory of radio waves.
What you really are asking is why a microwave *oven* is harmful to a human if they could somehow get inside, but radio tower a kilometer away isn't. What it comes down to is intensity. The radiation power passing through a given surface area. It's exactly the same reason why a 100 W light bulb isn't dangerous but a 100 W laser is extremely dangerous, despite both being visible light. Intense non-ionizing can cause burns, low intensity will cause insignificant amounts of heating.
To start, it matter how strong the source is, how much power it outputs. A microwave oven is around 1000 W, and life from exposed to that much microwave power in is going to be burnt. On the other hand, you have a harmless microwave emitter in your house called a WiFi router and even one in your pocket called a smartphone that are emitting the *exact* same microwaves as the oven. They just emit a couple hundred mW rather than a kW. Not enough to burn you.
Secondly, the intensity falls of with the square of distance. A microwave is a small confined box, the 1000W of power is passing through a very small area. A radio tower can be well over a MW, 1000x more than a microwave oven. Very roughly though, the food is 0.1m away from the source and you are probably at least 100m away from a radio tower, that means the intensity is actually 1000x stronger from the microwave than the radio tower despite the power because of the distance of exposure. 1000 W / (0.1m)^2 > 1,000,000 W /(100m)^2
| 38 |
ELI5: Why does seeing something agressive or evil in a rorsharch test indicate mental illness?
| 19 |
Rorsach tests reveal the way you see the world. Such people see aggressiveness & evil even in benign things where no evil intent or aggression actually exists.
People who see imagined aggression are often/always on the defensive, taking offense in the simplest situation or comment. Aggression is at least an action that can be observed. Seeing yourself as the victim of an endless world of aggressors never lets you rest, sleep well, or have any sense of peace. If mental illness isn't present already, it soon will be.
People who see imagined EVIL are taking a step beyond merely responding to actions & are attempting to read thoughts & intentions in others' even in places where no evil intent exists. While evil does exist in this world just as aggressive people exist, to see nefarious bogeymen in innocent & otherwise normal situations are doing themselves potentially irreparable mental harm. Again, no peace, no rest, high stress, etc.
Sadly, this can also indicate an inner battle inside their own mind between desire & control. The base desire is to lash out in aggressive behavior but thr conscious mind is struggling to act in a proper way. Similarly, the inner desire may be evil, but they are trying to hide it from others. As before, this inner turmoil can only go on so long until the mind snaps & settles on one of the 2 modes as the core integrity of a whole person. Either they accept the evil & act out on it in aggressive behavior, or they find Greater Power to purge the evil & aggression from within themselves & find the peace they seek. A split mind is irrational & a danger.
| 12 |
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[DC Comics] Can Aquaman control sea creatures that live on other planets?
| 26 |
When Aquaman was on the planet Vortuma, he was able to communicate telepathically with the indiginous intelligent aquatic life. it stands to reason he should also be able to do the same with aquatic animals from another planet in that case.
| 23 |
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I just planted seeds. What are they doing now?
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Specifically, in the first few hours in a good environment with water?
| 44 |
The answer to this is "not a great deal in the first couple of hours" though it very, very much depends on what seeds they were.
The principal triggers for germination are sufficient water availability, oxygen and the correct termparture range. With those 3 things right seeds will germinate.
Light can be a germination trigger for some seeds but you'll notice that many, many seeds can be germinated in the open on a bed of moist tissue paper. You've probably germinated cress seeds or bean sprouts in this way as a kid.
Your seeds need ready access to oxygen so this requires they aren't burried too deep nor are they burried in soil which is packed too tight and it mustn't be water logged either. With regards temperature triggers these can vary a lot (from freezing triggered germination to fire triggered germination) but the vast majority of seeds germinate best in a termperature range just above typical room temperatures (76-90 F or 24-32 C). Hence why slightly burried seeds germinate towards the start of spring.
The most important trigger is the access to water. Most seeds are very dry and in order to germinate they need to soak up a fair amount of water so that the living and enzymatic processes in the cells can "begin". Water has multiple important effects such as softening the seed coat but probably the most important initial action is that the water enters the cells and activates a range of hydrolytic enzymes. These enzymes are responsible for breaking down and accessing the stored energy in the seeds (i.e. starches and/or fats). Once this energy is available the cells can start to grow and divide.
Access to this energy and water also triggers a whole suite of gene activation and it is these genes which will coordinate the cell division and plant growth. Depending on the plant switching on these genes might be rapid on the order of a couple of hours (i.e. cress) or could take a day or more.
| 13 |
ELI5:Why do paparazzi not get the same flak as the person whom hacked the nude pictures in the fappening?
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Paparazzi who take candid photos of a celeb with a long lens while they are topless, etc seem to have no repercussions.
A hacker who steals the photos gets hunted down.
I'm not saying either of them are right. I just want to know how one seems to be ok and the other isn't.
Edit: fixed up grammar mistakes (whom/who). Suffering from a cold, so brain isn't working properly :P Thanks to those with a keen eye
| 2,484 |
Because when you are in a public space, you have no reasonable expectation of privacy. Everyone can take your photos and the photos would belong to them.
A hacker on the other hand steals something belongs to you. What's in the photos doesn't matter legaly. It's yours and taken without your consent.
Edit: Some people commented hacking is a federal crime. It's true. They don't even have to take anything. Just accessing your account is enough.
Edit2: This is just a general ELI5 answer. There could be specific laws in place for situations like taking upskirt photos, harassment, stalking etc. Also what you can do with that photos is different in some states and countries.
| 1,177 |
ELI5: Why have movie ticket prices and more so popcorn prices vastly outstripped inflation.
| 19 |
The biggest reason is that where theaters make majority of their money. The big box office numbers are not going to the theaters but the people who make the movies. Most movies make majority of their money in the first two weeks after release and take into between 40 - 55% of a ticket sale.
| 15 |
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[Buffyverse] If Gunn can be a poor kid in L.A. who does vamp and demon hunting with his own assembled gang, what makes the Council and the Slayer so special? Sure they have the funds and she has the super strength but hell Gunn trained himself and he regularly fought vamps/demons sans superpowers.
| 37 |
Gunn has a gang on his side and doesn't aim his sights higher than any two-bit sucker who wanders into his neighborhood. The Watchers tend to operate on a higher level with higher stakes (haha), while the Slayer traditionally works alone to avoid collateral damage (and this is said to be the reason so many of them die young. Buffy is the most effective and alive Slayer in a long time because she isn't isolated from her friends).
There might also be a Conan of Cimmeria thing going on. Yes, Gunn has survived this long and that means he's good at it, but don't assume that upbringing doesn't claim its fair share of casualties.
| 39 |
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What is the point of correlation studies if correlation does not equal causation?
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It seems that every time there is a study posted on reddit with something to the effect of “new study has found that children who are read to by their parents once daily show fewer signs of ADHD.” And then the top comment is always something to the effect of “well its probably more likely that parents are more willing to sit down and read to kids who have longer attention spans to do so in the first place.”
And then there are those websites that show funny correlations like how a rise in TV sales in a city also came with a rise in deaths, so we should just ban TVs to save lives.
So why are these studies important/relevant?
| 4,519 |
Correlation does not equal causation, but there still may be a causal link, even if it is not a direct one. Understanding this link may give us insight in related concepts, and often the first step in understanding this link is to identify a pattern.
So you're right, TV sales correlating with deaths alone is mostly meaningless. However, if we understand the underlying connection, for example that a growing population means more TV sales and more deaths, then suddenly we can look at other cities where we don't have population statistics but know how many TVs get sold and how many people are dying and estimate population trends. Or if the sales of TVs suddenly flatten out but the deaths don't, we know that some new factor has disturbed the correlation that may need investigating... maybe average wealth is decreasing, maybe employment is going up, and maybe new TVs have death rays in them, or it may be completely unrelated and, for example, advances in TV technology has slowed and so people aren't replacing theirs as often.
But before you can understand the pattern you have to identify it.
| 4,009 |
[Star Trek] You get your own personal holodeck and go live there. All your food is holodeck food. Does it provide the nutrition you require? What happens if you eat nothing but holofood and then leave the holodeck?
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For question one: We need to determine how real things are in the holodeck. I can think of sources both ways that things are completely real, and not real that real.
For question two: Say the eating holofood is for a year. Enough time to have a significant portion of your body created from / sustained by holofood.
| 21 |
The Holodeck also uses replicator and transporter technology. Some items that people interact with, that would need a high fidelity, are replicated and transported into place. The program/computer determine this as needed. The same goes for food. It is replicated and transported into the simulation. The food you eat is real, as you can't eat something that is made up of holograms and forcefields.
If you eat food on the holodeck and leave, you are just fine.
| 47 |
ELI5: Exactly how useful is a constantly scrolling stock ticker, like one would see on the side of a building or on the bottom of a TV news network, to a modern investor?
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Thanks to the internet and modern electronic trading platforms, any stock price is available instantly with a simple search. Is the scrolling ticker feed showing price updates that runs at the bottom of CNBC or on the side of some buildings in NYC still a useful tool in 2018?
| 64 |
its mostly anachronistic at this point. even calling it a ticker is from when it came across the wire and was typed out with a telegraph. ticker tape parades were just bunches of this paper being thrown out the windows onto parade goers. i think people mostly use them now as an historical nod to the market rather than any useful purpose. kind of like having a big clock in a train station- everyone has a clock in their pocket, but it is still there.
| 41 |
What is the role of men in feminism, white people in anti-racism and cishets in pro-LGBTQ movements? More generally, what is the place of someone who finds themselves outside a movement and privileged by what it fights?
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Where is the line between being an ally and taking over as the voice of a movement when you yourself are someone whose voice is normally heard? It makes no sense for it to say "men should take center stage in feminism because their voices are heard" since this merely reinforces the inequality which is sought to be dissolved. Still, men can't exactly be excluded from feminism in the sense that the movement must converse and dialogue with them, precisely in order for them to change. So what exactly should be the relationship between a resisting minority and their oppressors?
| 31 |
Check out Alice Jardine and Paul Smith's anthology Men in Feminism; Frank Wilderson III also talks about this issue in Afropessimism (surprisingly, he is not very optimistic about white anti-racism)
On a more practical note, these movements are very broad, and each group or even individual will have a different opinion. If you are thinking about getting involved in a movement, just contact an organizer and ask how you can help. They might say there is no way; they might ask you to take a back seat role, they might ask for financial support. There are a million ways to help; just follow the lead of the people who are affected.
| 13 |
CMV: Batman demonstrates quasi-superhuman abilities, despite his supposed status as a "peak human" with no powers.
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I should note that this post isn't meant as a criticism of the Batman mythos; although the character isn't my absolute favorite, I prefer Batman to pretty much any other DC comics hero. In most of the cannon Batman works (i.e. excluding the Frank Miller portrayal of the character in the *The Dark Knight Returns*, *The Dark Knight Strikes Again*, and the *All Star Batman and Robin* series), the character manages to maintain a brooding, dark personality without loosing his fundamental moral code (a feat that later comic book writers would fail to properly capture when writing similar anti-heroes). Although many of his abilities aren't realistic, he has clear, finite limitations and remains a mortal man on a superhero team that is (almost) exclusively populated by those possessed of god-like powers.
However, despite all of this, Batman displays a *total package* of physical capabilities that no human being should be capable of utilizing, no matter how "well-trained" they might be. In the comics, Batman has been regularly observed lifting objects in excess of 900lbs (also, he casually mentions that his maximum leg press weight is 2500 lbs in Batman Odyssey #2). In Batman #655, he bench-pressed 1000 pounds as a part of his workout routine (which is technically possible, although not for someone of his frame/build). His punches are occasionally depicted as strong enough to send opponents hurtling through brick walls, and his kicks are capable of knocking down reinforced steel doors.
His agility, speed, and reflexes are also especially suspect. He can dodge bullets (even bullets from submachine guns, sniper rifles, and gatling guns), arrows, grenades, and energy blasts/beams at almost any range. He can snatch guns from multiple shooters without giving them enough time to react or pull the trigger, and he is apparently fast enough to run the distance of a rooftop and make a 20+ foot jump to rescue an older woman from being hit by a truck.
Personally, I don't feel that Batman's quasi-superhuman abilities cheapen the story in any way, but I still think that it is grossly inaccurate for the character's fanbase to insist that he "has no powers." Batman is better than even the greatest Olympic sprinters, gymnasts, and weightlifters, and on top of all this, he has genius-level IQ/impeccable detective skills and a broad mastery of several dozen martial arts forms. It is possible for one person to be exceptionally gifted in one or even two areas, but it is extremely unlikely that someone with the speed of Usain Bolt would also have the raw strength of Paul Anderson. Different body types are adapted for exhibiting specific physical talents, and the traits that make someone good at running would probably make them terrible at deadlifting; extreme-level agility, stamina, speed, strength, fighting skills, and intelligence aren't really qualities that tend to coexist in a singular individual. In summary, Batman is simply *too good* at too many things to be considered a "powerless" hero, and some of the things he's particularly skilled at (i.e. dodging bullets) shouldn't be thought of as humanly possible in the first place.
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| 411 |
The baseline human in DC comics is generally more durable, quicker, and stronger than real humans. Batman punches people through walls and yes, that's unrealistic, but those people are often non-powered themselves and they survive being punched through a wall with no permanent injuries, which is also unrealistic. Unaugmented secret agents and soldiers on both sides in the DC universe show similar abilities to jump too high, hit too hard, and move too fast, and even the civilians seem to be remarkably fit when threatened. In a universe where taking martial arts class on the weekends allows ~130lb women to throw >200lb attackers across the room the abilities Batman demonstrates just don't cut it as super powers.
| 464 |
Is the phrase, a star that shines twice as bright but half as long a true statement?
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What controls the brightness of a star?
| 78 |
It turns out to be *almost* true!
For stars in the main sequence, the bigger you are, the brighter you are. The brightness all comes from nuclear reactions, and how the reaction rate for nuclear fusion goes up really strongly as you increase the temperature and pressure. A more massive star has a much hotter and high-pressure core, so it burns a lot brighter.
This is actually part of why hydrogen bombs are so destructive. A hydrogen bomb is actually a double nuclear bomb. It contains a fission bomb and a fusion bomb. The fission bomb is used to reach the temperatures required for nuclear fusion, but it also helps to keep the fusion explosion contained briefly, and this little extra moment of high-pressure reactions ends up adding a huge amount to the energy output of the bomb.
It's a strong enough effect that even though a more massive star has more "fuel" to burn up, it's burning up its fuel at a much faster rate, and ends up using up its fuel source much more quickly, so it runs out of fuel and goes into its final stages of life much earlier.
So more massive stars are brighter, and don't live as long. But does it work out exactly that a star that's twice as bright lives half as long? It turns out this is not quite the case, though it's not far off. Going through the maths, a star that's twice as bright might live about 60% as long.
What happens here is that a star that's twice as bright is using its fuel at about twice the speed. But to be twice as bright, it also needs to be more massive to produce more energy. This means that it lives longer than half as long, because it has some extra fuel to burn. However, the brightness depends very steeply on the mass, so it only needs to be a little bit more massive to produce that much brightness. So it comes out that a star that's twice as bright will burn for only a little bit more than half as long.
| 80 |
Do we know what early homo sapiens and neanderthals did with people who broke bones? What would happen if a person broke their leg? Would they die? Would someone kill them? Would they be abandoned?
| 47 |
I watched a documentary once on an excavation of a Neanderthal cave, and one of the skeletons was of an older individual with a crippled arm. It wasn't totally useless, he'd still have been able to carry things. But he wouldn't have been much of a hunter.
It was an old injury, probably one he'd had for decades, but he survived and the scientists studying it attributed it to the group supporting him.
| 46 |
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With nothing but hydrogen and oxygen, how come water isn't flammable?
|
It sounds like the ingredients of a bomb!
| 19 |
For the same reason CO2 isn't, and the same reason an anvil on the ground can't fall on your head. Water is what you get when hydrogen is burnt. It's already ashes. You can't burn ashes.
Scientifically: Water is at a very low energy state. For a chemical reaction to release energy, it has to move from a high energy to a low energy state. Many explosive compounds have lots of nitrogens hanging off at unhappy angles. Nitrogen likes to form a sturdy triple bond with itself, so when its hanging off a chemical its like stretching a rubber band- a lot of energy is stored. When the nitrogen is liberated, it snaps together with another nitrogen atom and all the energy gets turned into velocity and jiggling, aka pressure and heat.
| 60 |
Why does heat cause visible waves through the air?
| 146 |
Warm air is less dense than cold air. And different temperature masses of air have different indices (the plural of index) of refraction--they bend light by different amounts. So the air above a hot object is less dense, is rising because it is more buoyant, and bends light differently. Naturally, light that must pass through that air to reach your eye will be distorted.
| 58 |
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ELI5:Many sharks and other large fish have been kept in captivity for long periods of time but why has this not succeeded with Great White Sharks?
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*thanks for all the responses! I believe I can wrap my brain around it better now.
| 7,738 |
Coming from an aquarist who works with sharks- Great White Sharks are what are called ram ventilators. This means they constantly have to keep swimming to keep water passing over their gills. Sharks have what is called a glide pattern- they have a burst of swimming, then having a gliding portion. When kept in human care, sharks need many things, including a certain shaped tank to allow for this glide pattern. If they do not have enough space or the habitat is the wrong shape, they cannot fully use their glide pattern to the greatest efficiency. If they have to cut their glide short, they use more calories swimming, and this imbalance makes them very hard to keep. Great whites have a huge special need for their glide pattern, so they are very hard to keep in human care. No one has ever kept an adult great white, but Monterey bay aquarium will collect and hold juvenile great white sharks for a few months before releasing them back. They never keep them longer than 6 months and there are a lot of rules about when they can have them.
| 8,409 |
ELI5: Why don't soda crackers absorb mineral oil and why should I care?
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My mom hosted a skin care and make up party last weekend. I came by after the party and saw a couple of Saltines (soda crackers) floating in liquid. I asked her about them and she said it was demonstration that the product rep had done.
Apparently, if you put a Saltine in a bowl of water it become soggy very quickly. If you put a saltine in baby oil (mineral oil) even after a few hours (she claimed forever) the Saltine does not get soggy. I thought that was pretty interesting and I was wondering why that it.
But it also brings up the second part of the question. The point of the demo was that this company didn't use mineral oil in their products. Because if it doesn't make a Saltine craker soggy, it's not good for you skin? I wasn't there to ask the rep why that made mineral oil bad but I was wondering if someone could fill me in on that. Thanks.
| 43 |
first of all, that demonstration sounds like its designed to deceive people into somehow thinking that what a cracker absorbs or does not absorb has any bearing on how healthy it is for human skin. Second, oils are non-polar molecules, water is a polar molecule, and food is organic (life loves water) The cracker absorbs water because of chemistry, nothing else. The cracker absorbs water because organic material and water have a lot of chemicals that play nice together, organic material does not contain a lot of non-polar molecules and reacts with oils to a much lesser extent.
| 36 |
The disproportionate success of Asians proves that racism is not what is keeping Hispanics and African-Americans back. CMV.
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I work in finance and meet some very successful and well-paid people in many fields. They are mostly white and Asian. The success of Asians in America, whether Asian-American or Asian immigrant, is a statistical fact. This suggests that the reason for persistent poverty in other minority cultures is not a result of white racism against minorities.
On top of working in finance, I live in a ghetto part of NYC (this is not unusual--gentrification and high population density mean multi-million dollar condos are across the street from the projects). I see a distorted value system amongst my neighbors: expensive sneakers, a lot of hanging out, talk about drugs. Little talk about SATs or getting A's. Again, this does not seem a direct result of white racism or oppression, and the more I am exposed to this ghetto culture the less sympathy I have towards both the poor and minorities claiming they are being held back by oppression.
So, yeah. CMV?
| 53 |
The stereotypes of asians and those of blacks and hispanics are very different in the US.
Black people are stereotyped as lazy, athletic and stupid. As rappers, sports stars and gangsters.
Hispanics are stereotyped as unreliable, dishonest and cheap. As fast-food workers and illegal immigrants.
Asians are stereotyped as hardworking, nerdy and weak. As doctors, scientists and mathematicians.
The fact that asians achieve success doesn't show that racism isn't having an impact. The impact on asians is going to be very different from the impact on blacks and hispanics, due to the very different form of racism involved.
| 37 |
[General] If someone with lycanthropy was in a coma, would they still turn into a werewolf at full moon?
| 62 |
It's typically an involuntary reaction, so yes.
An exception might include those situations when the person transforms only when they happen to notice that the moon has come out from behind some clouds. Those situations seem to require not only direct moonlight but also, possibly, the person actually seeing the moon.
| 46 |
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ELI5: Why does the wind whistle and howl when it's cold, but not when it's warm?
| 498 |
Two part answer:
1. The wind does whistle and howl when it's warm also. Go to a sailing club on a windy enough day, warm or cold, and you'll hear the whistling and howling in the masts and wire rigging.
2. Cold air is more dense (heavy), so you get the whistling effect at a lower speed. You might not hear the whistle until it's blowing 30 MPH if it's warm, while you may get it at only 20 MPH when it's cold. Those aren't exact speeds, but reasonable examples.
As a sailor, the same temperature effect also applies. A 20 MPH wind in the summertime is much easier to handle than a 20 MPH wind in the wintertime. The same wind speed is hitting the sails, but the lower temperature literally makes the wind "heavy" and more powerful. There are more gas molecules per square inch per second.
| 164 |
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[Superman] Can Superman get cavities while on Earth?
| 26 |
Probably not. 1) if bullets don't hurt him, sugar and bacteria probably won't. 2) bacteria that cause tooth decay might not recognize Kryptonian anatomy. 3) Superman eats an extremely healthy diet (I'd imagine).
| 26 |
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CMV: I think the Palestine government should accept defeat.
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They are fighting a bigger enemy and they will lose. Their civilians are dropping left and right. They should allow Israel to demilitarize them and start focusing on building infrastructure and educating their children. They should build a proper government with elections and laws. Get loans from the world bank and start becoming a proper country. This CMV is specifically for Gaza strip government (Hamas) and not west bank.
_____
> *Hello, users of CMV! This is a footnote from your moderators. We'd just like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please remember to* ***[read through our rules](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/rules)***. *If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which,* ***[downvotes don't change views](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/guidelines#wiki_upvoting.2Fdownvoting)****! If you are thinking about submitting a CMV yourself, please have a look through our* ***[popular topics wiki](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/populartopics)*** *first. Any questions or concerns? Feel free to* ***[message us](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/changemyview)***. *Happy CMVing!*
| 29 |
The Palestinian government *did* accept defeat. They realized that continued military conflict against Israel wasn't accomplishing anything, so they stopped supporting it. But the Palestinian people were still angry. So they voted in droves for Hamas, which then took over the Gaza Strip and continued to fight.
If Hamas accepts defeat and stops fighting, what makes you think the same thing won't happen again?
| 25 |
[SuperPowers] How do people with Matter Manipulation are not considered op and don't just win every fight ?
| 79 |
Take Wanda Maximoff as an example. She's incredibly powerful and in a straight 1v1 she's pretty much unbeatable. She would have killed Thanos in Endgame with no effort if he hadn't ordered his ship to open fire, and in Civil War, when she was holding up that falling building, Rhodey broke her concentration with a sonic blast.
So people with those kinds of powers are indeed very powerful but a lot of times they're glass cannons. Catch them by surprise and it doesn't take a whole lot to incapacitate them. You can also break their concentration and it'll temporarily stop whatever they're doing.
| 97 |
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CMV: A life with religion is more meaningful and fulfilling than one without.
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I'm an atheist. Lately, I've been thinking about what it means to be human, and live life. I've come to the conclusion that a life without the idea of a higher power, and a greater meaning, is ultimately emptier, and less fulfilling in a sense.
Without the idea of a god, or some sort of higher power, we are just coincidences of the development of the universe. Although we can give ourselves the illusion of meaning by developing relationships and keeping ourselves busy, we are no more than atoms and molecules that are the result of pure coincidence.
There's more to the thought than that, but perhaps someone can shed a little more light on the matter. CMV.
Edit: I'm really thrilled with all of the responses I've gotten. This entire concept is extremely hard for me to wrap my head around, to be honest.
I need more time to think about it, but I think I may have been convinced that one can (and even with god, has to) create their own meaning behind life. However, I think I'm unconvinced that a life without god can be more fulfilling. It's actually pretty hard to understand even my own thoughts about the matter...
_____
> *Hello, users of CMV! This is a footnote from your moderators. We'd just like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please remember to* ***[read through our rules](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/rules)***. *If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than just downvote it. Speaking of which,* ***[downvotes don't change views](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/guidelines#wiki_upvoting.2Fdownvoting)****! If you are thinking about submitting a CMV yourself, please have a look through our* ***[popular topics wiki](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/populartopics)*** *first. Any questions or concerns? Feel free to* ***[message us](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/changemyview)***. *Happy CMVing!*
| 18 |
Have you considered what it would be like if you were God? With no yet higher creator above Him, one would presume that His life is empty and unfulfilling.
So God must somehow give Himself meaning, and the usual story is that He did this by creating the universe. If creativity is sufficient to have meaning and fulfillment in life, then you could do it for yourself. Creativity, learning, understanding, and solving problems can't be any less meaningful than the meaning God supposedly made when doing the same thing on a different scale.
| 27 |
[ELI5] When and how did the days of the week sync up globally?
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I think people have had weeks with assigned days for thousands of years, but with travel taking as long as it does I'm sure there have been many times in history where different cultures were 'on different days' at the same time.
I wonder when did it come to be that Monday is the same day in China as it is in Chad? Was it forced upon the conquered in, say, Roman times? Or was it one of those more modern standatizations?
| 15 |
What you're talking about is basically the slow standardization of the planet on the Gregorian calendar. That was an upgrade of the Julian calendar, which was a Roman thing.
There's lots of obvious value in everyone being synchronized, particularly as long-distance travel became easier. There's nothing magic about the Gregorian calendar, but it had a head start in the Western world thanks to the Roman empire, so it became the basis for most of Europe, then followed all the European powers on their colonization binge. At that point it had covered most of the planet so when we all converged on one that was an obvious candidate.
It didn't happen all at once, it's still not done. There are lots of places that still maintain multiple calendars.
| 22 |
ELI5: Why dont orcas (killer whales) see humans as food and attack swimmers/paddleboarders/ kayaks etc? Humans are the same size as most of their prey but them seem to mostly ignore us?
| 132 |
From what i understand about killer whales is that individual pods tend to have specific diets and hunting tactics passed down through the generations. Since humans are not consistently in killer whales hunting areas they wouldnt have developed a "taste" for humans or the tactics to hunt them. Thats obviously not to say they couldnt, they just have no reason to.
| 90 |
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ELI5: How come minors have to pay taxes in the US? Since they can't vote, shouldn't they be tax exempt regardless of their income?
| 3,361 |
If minors were exempted from paying taxes, this would create a huge loophole in the tax code. Parents would put all of their securities in their children's names, so that they never had to pay taxes on the interest and dividends. Note that to a small extent, people actually do do this, but the tax code addresses it and has removed some of the tax advantages. Regardless of this loophole, people who are prohibited from voting still have to pay taxes--"no taxation without representation" is more of an ideological or cultural belief and is irrelevant for legal purposes.
| 2,950 |
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ELI5: How do the federal banks of a country determine whether to increase or decrease interest rates? Like whats the relationship between interest rates and a country's economy?
| 27 |
Low interest rates make loans easier and stimulate investment.
High interest rates make loans more difficult and discourage investment.
Central banks use interest rates as a tool to try to increase economic growth or decrease it. Usually what they do is they watch the economy and they lower interest rates when unemployment is the most serious concern. When inflation is the largest concern, they will raise interest rates to try to keep prices in check. They try to make all changes slowly and they try to telegraph every move so that nobody is surprised or shocked.
| 23 |
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Which thinker speaks about the fact that humans have to decipher themselves instead of merely know themselves?
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Psychoanalysis has taught us that we have deeper levels of character that unconsciously motivate us to act. We have repressed traumas that shape the way we behave. We have instincts that spark without the knowledge, will or consent of the self. We need to go on self-exploration in order to understand the way that our feelings, behaviour and thoughts systems work. The knowledge is not just there in our mind, accessible for us to touch.
It seems that we cannot access the knowledge of ourselves with certainty. We are guessing and second guessing the sources of our feelings and motivations, and constantly building a self-knowledge hub with probable explanations of our behaviours and feelings, a hub that helps us to understand why we feel the way we feel.
Which thinker speaks about that? In the sense that the self (as in the cogito) is detached not just from the Cartesian body, but also from its instincts, unconscious parts and any type of motivation or behaviour which are not clearly chosen and understandable by the cogito itself, where this whole mental structure is alien to us as the outer world itself?
| 104 |
I think Nietzsche was one of, if not the first to recognize this in opposition to the Catesian view. He says it explicitly in the "Genealogy of Morals" in which he says "we are unknown to ourselves, we knowers" as the first line of the book.
| 30 |
[Harry Potter (Books)] Why does Harry et al believe that the Elder Wand's power will be broken?
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A good chunk of *Deathly Hallows* is spent establishing the fact that the Elder Wand's loyalty doesn't require the death of the previous owner, but rather only that the previous owner is beaten (presumably through magical means, though there's indications that non-magical means works too). We see this in action when the Wand changes allegiance from Draco to Harry after Harry disarms Draco at Malfoy Manor.
At the end of the book Harry announces that he does not want the Elder Wand. He uses it to repair his original Holly Wand, then has this to say to Dumbledore's portrait:
>"I'm putting the Elder Wand back where it came from. It can stay there. If I die a natural death like Ignotus, its power will be broken, won't it? The previous master will never have been defeated. That'll be the end of it."
Why would Harry think this, and why wouldn't anyone else — human or portrait — speak up?
Harry would have been 17 years old during the Battle of Hogwarts so by normal estimations he's probably got another 60-70 years of life ahead of him. Virtually since birth he's been fighting enemies, magical and muggle alike, and he hasn't always won those battles. He's also firmly dedicated to being an Auror and knows what the threats and mortality rate is there. But he also knows that he only needs to be defeated *once*, and not even fatally, for the Elder Wand to change its allegiance. Does Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Dumbledore all so firmly believe that over the next 60-70 years not a single opponent of Harry's will manage to disarm him even once?
The best argument that I've heard for this is, "Well, whoever disarms Harry won't know that the Elder Wand's allegiance will have changed to him, so that person would never benefit from the Elder Wand anyway." Which IMO is crap.
First, the question isn't whether or not someone takes possession of the wand. The question is whether or not the wand's power would be broken by Harry's natural death. As far as I can tell, it won't. Harry could be disarmed next week, then the person who disarmed him could in turn be disarmed a month later, and so forth and so on. Even if there were 100 disarmings, the wand's power is still there waiting for the new owner to take possession. Its power is NOT broken, even if Harry dies a natural death somewhere in there.
Second, more importantly, the odds of someone NOT knowing about Harry's possession of the Elder Wand is nearly nil. During the final battle with Voldemort the Great Hall was filled with people, all of whom heard Harry's explanation as to how the Elder Wand's allegiance was Harry's, and all of whom saw Harry take physical possession of the wand afterwards. We're talking *hundreds* of people here, and *none* of them are going to say a single word to anyone about Harry and the Elder Wand? Impossible. It'll be the biggest magical news story ever, and people who want the wand will be coming after Harry in spades. Sure, many of them will be intimidated by Harry's perceived power, but some won't. And inevitably over the years the story will be told and more people will be made aware of it, and more people will try to defeat Harry. Is Harry going to defeat them *all* for the rest of his life?
And third, another argument I've heard is that Harry won't be carry around the Elder Wand so even if he's defeated the person won't know where the wand is. That assumes everyone in the Potterverse has the IQ of baking soda. The wizarding world has always known the tight connection between Harry and Dumbledore. Following the Battle of Hogwarts, the wizarding world will also *know* that Dumbledore had it, will *know* that Voldemort was using it, will *know* that Harry had the wand in his hand once Voldemort was killed, and will almost certainly *know* that Harry never left Hogwarts with the Elder Wand. I guess the typical wizard reaction would be something like, "Hmmm, Harry took the wand from Voldemort, who had in turn taken the wand from Dumbledore's grave. Harry never took the wand out of Hogwarts. Dumbledore is buried in Hogwarts. Harry really loved Dumbledore and vice-versa. Well, I guess it's impossible to figure out what Harry did with the Elder Wand!"
So, there it is: Why does Harry and the rest of them believe that the Elder Wand's power will be broken if Harry dies a natural death?
| 57 |
The Elder Wand is to wizards what Excalibur is to muggles. If you're hearing secondhand that You Know Who had the special super wand, you're probably not going to believe it.
Add to that the fact that the wand isn't in Harry's possession. It'll get really confusing really fast who the true master of it is.
Harry goes on to be an auror. If he's disarmed by a criminal type who gets away in like his first week, then that guy is caught by a different auror sometime down the road...Well, by the time Harry is old enough to die of old age, the nature of who the wand's master is all be nearly impossible to figure out without breaking open Dumbledore's tomb.
| 34 |
[Mario] Why would Bowser leave an axe right there in the bridge where he is standing? And why isn't Princess Peach in a cage?
| 23 |
The fire marshal required a fire ax in case of needed to chop through a door in the event of a fire breaking out. (Very likely considering the amount of lava and fire breathing Koopas in the castle.) Mario just takes advantage of Bowser’s rigid adherence to firecodes and OSHA safety
| 33 |
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ELI5: Why can't fingers disformed from rheumatoid arthritis be "popped" back into place like a dislocated finger?
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Here's a picture of an arthritic finger: http://www.glucosamine-arthritis.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/RAHands.jpg
Here's a picture of a dislocated finger: http://www.gunsnet.net/photopost/data/500/finger.jpg
To me, a person with no medical experience, I am not quite understanding why you aren't able to just "crack" it back into place, as both x-rays look really similar to me.
Thanks in advance for the responses!
| 312 |
Arthritis is due to joint inflammation, which destroys the cartilage in between your bones and it ends up becoming replaced with fibrous scar tissue. When your finger is dislocated, the cartilage is still there, so you can pop it back into place. Connective tissue is very inelastic, and so it ends up causing joint deformities.
The reason why the X-rays look similar, is because neither cartilage nor connective tissue show up on X-rays. All you can see is the position of the bones, but you can't really see what's between the bones.
| 161 |
When you break a bone, which part hurts?
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Is it the actual bone that hurts? Or is the bone poking into nerves? Or something else?
| 49 |
The periosteum (very thin layer that sits on top of the bone) is rich in nerve fibers that sense pain. When you fracture a bone, it's these fibers that get activated and give you the sensation of pain.
| 27 |
[Dragonball Z] What is the difference between any beam-type energy attack?
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Besides aesthetics, what is the difference between attacks like Kamehameha, Galick Gun, Final Flash, Masenko, generic 1-handed beam attack, or really any other beam attack ever. From the looks of it, the power of these attacks depend entirely on the user's power, and aside from that there is no other noticeable differences between them. If Vegeta were to learn the Kamehameha how would he use this in a fight any differently than his Galick Gun or Final Flash?
| 27 |
Ki attacks often represent the talents and goals of their creators, as they found a way to bend the energy so that it suited their talents best.
Your basic ki attack is nothing more than concentrating enough to turn your energy into an actual physical effect that can be thrown or channeled (a small beam). Any channeled beam has the benefit of being able to continuously pump energy into it, to overcome anything the wave hits. At low power levels, its a significant task to do this, which makes the rapid energy assaults of Nappa and such impressive (at that point). Once you learn to control a significant amount of ki, transforming some into a sphere of energy to blast becomes a trivial effort.
The Kamehameha, Master Roshi's ultimate technique, shows his favor towards both patience and hiding his true power, by starting with a fairly low energy signature that rapidly grows as you concentrate on the opening sphere (what forms between the user's hands) before you create a wave out of it. As demonstrated by the exploits of Goku, Gohan, et al later on, the user's power acts as a direct multiplier of how fast energy can be gathered into it. It also allows the user to hold back when necessary, showing the restraint necessary to use your power for good - or not hold back, such as when Cell attempted to destroy the earth with a Kamehameha wave.
Techniques such as the Galick Gun and Final Flash open with a strong burst of power that requires minimal concentration time, Vegeta's specialty. The channeling lets him continue to add power as described above, making the move incredibly potent.
Masenko seems to be a special case. Piccolo invented it, most likely as a way to challenge the Kamehameha in power without the focus time required. However, it seems to lack the raw potency of its competitor, something Piccolo obviously learned as he would develop the Special Beam Cannon, which required more concentration time then any other beam attack in Dragonball, but gave it power and speed to make up for it.
Gohan used the Masenko after his training with Piccolo, most likely because its near instant prep time would be valuable to an inexperienced fighter (and Piccolo probably considered this when teaching Gohan techniques). He rarely used it later, as he gained more fighting experience as well as mastered the Kamehameha, an overall superior technique.
Other beams vary in size and shape because of their purpose. Freeza's "Finger beams", which seem to pierce even the most talented warriors (until Goku shows up), seem to be a more focused version of the Special Beam Cannon, with their incredibly fast travel speed and piercing power.
| 22 |
[Jurassic Park] If Velociraptors were as smart as Jurassic Park portrays them, how effectively would they adapt if 100 were loose in modern day NYC?
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Wow this really took off , I never expected much interest but now it appears we have the plot for Jurassic Park 5: the extinction of New York city.
Also, who wouldn't want to read u/cyvaris short story? we'll be waiting for it!
Edit: Scratch that.
it's now Jurassic Park 5: The Velociraptor of Wall street
UPDATE: /u/cyvaris delivered, he started working on the awesome story and will continue to do so in the next couple of days as he mentions in his [comment](http://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/2w6bnh/jurassic_park_if_velociraptors_were_as_smart_as/coos70b) he also added the dropbox link to the [file](https://www.dropbox.com/s/wd903hhtni3ou0y/A%20Big%20Turkey%20in%20the%20Big%20Apple.docx?dl=0)
2ND UPDATE: The story has a title: A big turkey in the big apple. /u/cyvaris is really writing his ass off, he's up to 8k and still going hard, here's the link to the [file](https://www.dropbox.com/s/wd903hhtni3ou0y/A%20Big%20Turkey%20in%20the%20Big%20Apple.docx?dl=0)
Also, would anyone like to make some sort of cover art? it would be awesome to have that to go along with the story. just post it in the comments for all to see, thanks everyone!!!
**3rd UPDATE:** updated link to the file on dropbox, /u/cyvaris has been writing a lot these past few days, check out the story [here](https://www.dropbox.com/s/m5u57o8fd7jh03y/A%20Big%20Turkey%20in%20the%20Big%20Apple.docx?dl=0)
| 186 |
Well many of them would be captured or killed while they learned to hide and avoid man, but I'd imagine they'd wind up living in the sewers. They'd quickly learn to navigate them masterfully and any animal control folk (or any human for that matter) entering these catacombs could be quickly turned into lunch. If they were really smart, they'd learn to leave the humans on the surface alone, and survive off of rats and other plentiful sewer fauna. They could exit and enter through storm drains (Turtle Van style) and hunt and eat other small mammals, like raccoons and house pets. If they didn't learn to avoid killing humans, though, the military would wind up taking them all out. Even though they'd be hard to hunt in the sewers, the military could gas them all, or evacuate the area and simply bomb them. Some might survive, but unless they hid completely it wouldn't be for long. They were only such a threat in the park because there were not enough humans able to fight. If they were a consistent threat to humans, they'd be wiped out no matter how smart they were.
| 157 |
CMV: A difference of opinion between two people when there is a significant knowledge gap on the subject shouldn't be called a disagreement.
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To me, the term doesn't seem apt. On two fronts. In one sense it presumes that the opposing viewpoints are inherently equal. In another sense, it undermines the speciality of intimate knowledge with a subject.
For Example.
I have many friends who follow and study Novels. I wouldn't presume to denigrate their views on it by making prejudicial or outside judgements. If both of my friends have a similar level of knowledge on the subject but have different viewpoints on novels then it would be fair to call that a disagreement. If I was reading on a very casual basis but if one of my friends knew everything about many authors, has a reasonably varied taste and knew about specific trends and the consensus in academic writings about the subject down to specific minute details then I wouldn't presume to argue with his knowledge as I would certainly make statements that would appear to be grossly ignorant to his knowledge and sensibilities.
I would support his knowledge on the subject matter to learn more about that topic. If I didn't see things the way he did I wouldn't presume to say I disagree with him. I would take his word for it, but with a grain of salt due to the certainty of human error. If it is a fact that he has read, taken the time to critique and understand his subject and it's implications and I haven't then why should his opinion be equal to my opinion?
Does that make the views of a professor of Political Science at Harvard about The Middle East equal to that of an insurance salesman who only hears about that subject during five-minute bulletins on the radio? Does it really come down to one persons word vs another?
_____
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| 703 |
This is ultimately just a very fancy way of expressing the Fallacy of Appeal to Authority.
The fact that one person knows more about something is actually completely irrelevant to their argument. If a 1st year math student finds an actual contradiction in a proof their professor presents, the professor's greater knowledge is completely irrelevant.
Experience and knowledge can affect the *credibility* of an argument, and *relevant* authority can weigh in on who you should believe if you don't have valid reasons to believe otherwise, but it really doesn't mean that smarter or more experienced people are always right.
A disagreement is always a disagreement, and deserves to be evaluated on its *merits* not on who is disagreeing with whom.
| 235 |
If printing money is bad shouldn't leaving it deep in a multibillionaire's bank account where it will never be used be just as good as unprinting it?
|
Could making the rich richer reduce inflation?
| 41 |
Kinda sorta if you squint a lot.
In reality, your money is still an asset to the bank they can use. The money is never really "out of the system" entirely unless you take actual bank notes and stash them away.
Also, it's just kind of nonsensical policy. You hand people money on the pinky promise they won't use it while also making them richer but "not really" because they can't use it? What's the point of such an exercise?
| 46 |
CMV: If your child injures my child due to reckless behavior that went uncorrected because you, the parent or guardian, were sitting far away and not paying attention, you are responsible for any damage done, especially any serious injuries.
|
I've got a 2 year old daughter and we've been to all sorts of parks. I also have a 6 month old, so sometimes I can't be directly next to her on the equipment, but I'm always near. I've seen many many unattended children and the bigger the child the easier to accidentally or purposefully move smaller children. We haven't had any serious injuries or falls, our worst fall was caused by herself anyway, but if a child whose gaurdian wasn't paying attention caused her to fall and break her arm or something, I feel that the adult would be wholly responsible. Children don't have fully formed brains or impulse control, that's why they need us there to tell them safety rules. If on the other hand the other gaurdian was actively there and trying to curb dangerous behaviour and an accident occured, I wouldn't blame anyone.
| 32 |
This can just be extended back at you. If you were near your child, you should be able to stop anything before it blows up or at least mitigate any damage.
If you couldn't stop it, than there is no reason to believe if the instigator's parent would have either.
If you are always able to stop it, then clearly injury would only happen when there are 2 absent parents.
There is of course the question of *when* a child stops needing a parent guardian. Should one not give a 10 year old some room, as they need to develop independence? Should the parent still be liable?
| 15 |
ELI5: How ancient sailors could navigate to a specific port?
|
How sailor going from Venice to Athens in the ancient time knew to navigate EXCTALY to the port location?
I can understand general direction by stars or even a compass but to navigate to a very specific location is other problem as I see it.
I did some foot navigation and to get to a specific point of very different then a general direction and you can't use just general direction. If you miss your journey even in 0.5 degree you will get in totally other coast and not to the port you aimed for.
It will be even a bigger problem on the ocean travels. The Portuguese ships going to South America. How the know to land exactly at the port of Mexico or other places.
| 167 |
Venice to Athens is pretty easy since they would've had the shore in view all the time. They had maps and many landmarks to figure out their position.
For ocean travels, you only need to be accurate enough to hit the correct continent and then continue along the shore to your destination.
| 239 |
Why is the speed of gravity limited to the speed of light?
|
I've been taught 4 things:
1. The speed of light is the maximum speed that anything can travel through space
2. Unlike light, gravity is not a force carried by particles traveling *through* space, it's caused by the distortion of spacetime itself
3. The expansion of the universe can happen faster than the speed of light, because the maximum speed limit only applies to things moving through space, not space itself distorting
4. Gravity/gravity waves travel at the speed of light
Number 4 doesn't seem to follow from the first three, can someone explain why gravity can't propagate faster than the speed of light? For example, I've heard it said that the earth doesn't orbit the Sun's current location, it orbits where the sun was 8 minutes ago. Why couldn't the curvature of spacetime be "updated" faster? Why can spacetime expand faster than light, but not bend faster than light?
| 40 |
> Unlike light, gravity is not a force carried by particles traveling through space, it's caused by the distortion of spacetime itself
These things don't exclude each other.
> The expansion of the universe can happen faster than the speed of light
It doesn't make sense to call it a speed. The expansion is "speed per distance". The distance between things with a large distance can increase faster than the speed of light. The distance between things nearby (where absolute speed values would be a more useful concept) does not.
> Gravity/gravity waves travel at the speed of light
Gravitational waves. Gravity waves are things like waves on the surface of an ocean.
> Number 4 doesn't seem to follow from the first three, can someone explain why gravity can't propagate faster than the speed of light?
For the same reason as (1), the speed of light is the limit on every actual speed of propagation of anything.
> For example, I've heard it said that the earth doesn't orbit the Sun's current location, it orbits where the sun was 8 minutes ago.
That is not really true. The gravitational influence comes from the Sun as it was 8 minutes ago, but if you care about this then you also have to take into account the effect of its motion. General relativity tells you we are attracted to the position the Sun would have now if it wouldn't have accelerated within the last 8 minutes.
| 30 |
ELI5: Why do some substances melt instantly from solid to liquid (like water/ice) and other substances gradually transition (like magma, or metals)?
|
How come there is no transition state in between something like ice and water like how there is between stone and lava. Is there actually some sort of viscous, in-between, water/ice that I just don’t know about?
| 47 |
Magma is a mix of minerals with different melting points so when rock is heated, the minerals with the lowest melting points melt first and separate from those with higher melting points. This is what happens in the Upper Mantle when the basalt magma that creates the ocean floor separates from the higher temperature minerals in there Mantle itself. The liquid magma is less dense and pushes up towards the surface.
The same process happens in reverse when magma cools. The minerals with the highest melting point crystallise first leaving low temperature minerals in the magma. As it happens, the low melting point minerals tend to create stickier magma than high temperature minerals; so a body of magma under a volcano that has partially crystallised tends to create more explosive eruptions. Which is why some volcanoes are considered more dangerous if they have not erupted in a long time.
| 25 |
ELI5: how do they know there are no matching finger prints?
| 476 |
They arent completely unique, mathematically speaking. Testing for prints is based on probability.
The odds of someone having the same fingerprints as you that lives in the same area as you is incredibly, *incredibly* small.
Fingerprint matching is used to reduce the likelihood of the prints belonging to someone other than the suspect.
It works similarly to testing blood at a crime scene. It isn't to prove with 100% certainty that it's the suspect's blood. It's used to rule out the 99% of every other possible suspect.
| 270 |
|
After a few generations of living on Mars, would humans look different?
| 61 |
I don't think there's any way to answer these questions without being purely speculative, but any changes to the population would just be due to the different environment's effects on their bodies, and it wouldn't matter how many generations. Environmental conditions do not directly cause a species to evolve, and unless the environment of a Martian colony caused a change in reproductive behavior, there wouldn't necessarily be any difference between the people of the 1st generation and the 10th.
For example, the reduced force of gravity on the surface of mars *might* make people grow taller, and the reduced sunlight due to the increased distance from the sun *might* cause changes in skin tone and perhaps even hair colour as well as vitamin D deficiency. The sterile environment *could* result in deficient immune systems. This is admittedly speculation, we can't do these kinds of experiments on humans, but suggesting that the different environment would eventually produce a new species of human is a misunderstanding of evolution.
| 25 |
|
[Animorphs] How do you develop computers BEFORE you develop books?
|
This is one thing that I don't understand about Andalites. How on earth can they have made a computer before they invented simple books? How can they view a book as less advanced than a computer?
| 50 |
It comes up reasonably often in the books that Ax is actually kind of stupid in comparison to most Andalites. The things he says, particularly about history, should be taken with a grain of salt. That said, here is a plausible explanation: Trees, while not exactly sacred, are treated with a great deal more respect on the Andalite home world. Likewise, thought-speech is really good at conveying information and Andalites have good memories. It's entirely plausible that ancient Andalites revered trees enough to skip from parchment (from animal hide) scrolls to computers skipping over paper books, and not developing them until after spaceflight gave them access to non special trees.
| 74 |
[harry potter] why did snape never tell dumbledore where voldemort was hiding?
|
when snape became a spy, why did he never tell dumbledore where voldemort's hideout was? I guarantee that if he had told, Harry would not have been an orphan.
| 32 |
Just because you know where a hideout is, doesn't mean you can take it out.
Voldemort's base was likely guarded with all sorts of horrific protection spells and enchantments which would seriously wound/kill/torture any who tried to enter it. And this is assuming that Voldemort didn't also use the fidelius charm or something similar to prevent his cronies from betraying his location.
Furthermore, Dumbledore and Voldemort are on equal standing more or less. As such, if Dumbledore was to fight Voldemort in the place most favourable to Voldemort, then Dumbledore would be lucky to leave alive.
| 51 |
ELI5: Why are fundamental Christians, who are otherwise so opposed to other religions/beliefs, generally so pro-Israel?
|
They do know that Jews aren't Christian, right?
| 23 |
One of the prophecies mentioned in the bible is the coming of the messiah. The basic concept of a messiah is someone who will come along and make the world perfect, ending things like war, poverty, hunger, etc. Christians believe that this messiah will occur as the return of Jesus, although Jews do not believe that Jesus counts as the messiah. Regardless, if this prophecy is correct, then the coming of the messiah would be a really good thing, so Christians want it to occur as soon as possible. One of the biblical descriptions of the coming of the messiah is that the Jews will be returned to their holy land. Therefore, a fundamentalist Christian would reason that in order for the messiah to come back, the Jews must live in modern-day Israel.
| 28 |
[Star Wars] Why is a pod worth less than Anakin?
|
How is a pod that can go like a billion miles an hour be worth less than a slave on a planet full of slaves? Got this idea from prequel memes btw
| 106 |
Anakin has his entire life ahead of him.(He's supposed to be 9 in Phantom Menace) He's a gifted mechanic, and he's worked in Watto's shop his entire life. The Pod *might* be worth more on an auction block, but Anakin is worth a lot to Watto.
| 158 |
ELI5: Why do the air from air conditioners smell different when you turn it to fan mode?
| 38 |
Humidity.
Ever wonder why farts stink so bad in the shower? Humidity.
Air conditioners take humidity out of the air, so you can't smell the scents in the air as well. When you switch to fan mode, no humidity is lost, so you can smell all of those scents.
| 19 |
|
Why can insects survive so long after receiving wounds that would instantly kill a human or other animal?
| 26 |
You're talking about cases when an insect loses its head and such, aren't you?
Their nervous system isn't like ours, to begin with.
The human nervous system consists of two main parts, the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS). The CNS contains the brain and spinal cord. The PNS consists mainly of nerves, which are long fibers that connect the CNS to every other part of the body.
That said, our nervous system is very concentrated in one place. Any damage to it can be pretty much fatal or develop some bloody sequels, to say the least.
That doesn't quite happen to insects. Their nervous system is simple, but much more sectioned. That means it doesn't lose too much when a limb or any other part goes off.
The basic insect nervous system bauplan consists of a series of body segments, each equipped with a pair of connected
ganglia, with a paired nerve cord connecting adjacent ganglia in each segment. The ganglia are bulbous structures
consisting of neuron cell-bodies and supporting or glial cells and acts as a local processor or computer. The ganglia are
interconnected by neurons, constituing a 'computer network'.
That can be cool and all (or creepy), but remember that, even if it survives the loss of it's head, per example, it still needs energy and water. Those are those are satiated from feeding; but if the insect doesn't have it's feeding apparatus anymore, it will eventually die by hunger and complete dehydration.
| 27 |
|
I think that porn should be regulated a lot more because it is destructive to families and relationships. CMV
|
I think a lot more people are addicted to porn than will care to admit. I think this because I see a lot of threads around the internet where people are trying to stop using porn for the longest time possible, and most do not last more than a couple weeks. I think that porn has a negative effect on your sexual life, since it teaches you unrealistic expectations for sex with your partner.
| 17 |
There are a lot of things that can wreck a relationship, but ultimately it's not the government's job to be your relationship counsellor. Pornography is a form of speech, and free speech is protected by the first amendment. You'd need to show a much greater harm than "it teaches you unrealistic expectations for sex with your partner" to justify abridging the first amendment.
Also, regulation of porn would be virtually impossible. The government already regulates it (can't sell to children under 18) but the internet makes a mockery of that. So unless the US government starts limiting the internet to the extent that North Korea does, you won't be able to limit porn.
Finally, porn may actually help relationships because a guy can just put on a porno and jack off if he's feeling horny and his significant other isn't around/in the mood. Better that than he goes out and cheats.
| 22 |
[DC] Bruce Wayne is an identical twin, both surviving witnessing the death of their parents. How does growing up with an identical sibling who shared the same experience and trauma impact the timeline?
| 488 |
The way the DC universe operates?
Bruce still has all the baggage and trauma from that night, and in any ordinary circumstance having a sibling at all might help them work through the trauma together. But his twin, Bryce? He reacts entirely differently. Bryce wants to help, but Bruce is entirely withdrawn, responding to nothing but his rage. Bryce does everything he can to cheer up his brother to no avail, pulling out all the stops. Harmless pranks. Funny faces. Jokes.
One otherwise ordinary day, after years of trying to reach out to Bruce - and in turn, calling out for his own help and support - Bryce starts laughing.
He doesn’t stop.
| 430 |
|
[Doctor Who] What is it with the Doctor's obsession with humanity?
|
Why does the Doctor's adventures/travels revolve around humans and Earth so much? What makes humankind so special?
| 55 |
The Doctor waxes poetic about humanity quite a bit, so he definitely personally considers them at least one of the most interesting species and actively wants to be around them. Two things also stand out about them:
1. Humans have more capacity for compassion, creativity, bravery, etc. than almost any other alien race shown, all qualities The Doctor frequently praises them for and often refers to as distinctly human. Even the 'good' aliens tend to be very one-note or severely lacking in some capacity.
2. Humans are the ultimate survivors. At the end of the universe, the populace will be almost entirely humans and mutant offspring. The Doctor will always be able to live among humans and seek their companionship at all but the most distant points in time.
| 62 |
Is there a limit to how small a nuclear explosion can be?
|
After doing some research, I found out that the "Tzar" bomb is the most powerful thermonuclear weapon with a yield of 50 megatons of TNT. Anything within 20-30 km from the epicenter of where the bomb is dropped will be destroyed. Would it be possible to make a nuclear weapon that would only explode to become the size of a football field or smaller?
| 23 |
Hi, nuclear engineer here. In answer to your question, no there is no limit to how small a nuclear weapon can be.
It is true that you need a critical mass to START a reaction, but nothing dictates how long that reaction must go on. Remove the tampers that hold the thing together so it blows apart faster (and cuts off the reaction sooner), change the geometry of the critical mass so that it falls out of a critical configuration sooner, etc etc etc.
A downside, of course, to reducing the yield is that reliability might decrease as well, and at the very extreme, your bomb might become very unpredictable. Maybe at the football field buster size, your bomb might suffer from the problem that maybe it destroys half a football field, maybe it destroys two. But there are few limits to reducing the average yield of the bomb.
| 20 |
Eli5: There are several non filtered tobacco smoking options such as cigars, pipies, etc. Why do cigarettes have filters when they don't actually "filter" anything?
| 30 |
Filters do filter out a part of the smoke compounds. A lot of bad compounds pass through though. So smoking with a filter is still bad. The main reason for the filter is that smoking with a filter feels milder on the throat. Moreover, it is less messy, as they prevent pieces of tobacco from entering the mouth. Yuck.
| 57 |
|
If God exists; why does he allow horrible things to happen to good people?
|
I’ve recently become interested in theodicy and I can’t find one argument for God that makes sense. I believe in life after death but I don’t know if I believe in God. I’m looking at horrible things happening in Ukraine and don’t understand why he allows these things to happen if he exists. Does anybody know of a more recent theodicy that is reputable?
| 21 |
Part of why the range of arguments in this field can, at times, feel so narrow is because the philosophy of religion still almost exclusively looks at a very particular conception of a particular god (the Abrahamic one). This is a single monotheistic god possessing omnipotence, omniscience, benevolence and other characteristics that bear upon issues of theodicy. But the Abrahamic religions only make up 57% of the world's population, and the god is rather unusual in its features when compared to most of the rest of the gods out there. As some examples:
Shendao, Shindo and Shinto (somewhere up to 12% of the Earth's population) believe in *shen/shin/kami* that are not omnipotent, and (usually) not omniscient. The *shen* do not have the power to stop what is happening in Ukraine, they only have the power to inspire humanity to find solutions.
Hinduism (15%) is a complex set of different traditions, but typically devas are none of those qualities of omnipotent, omniscient or benevolent, and typically they are mortal and subject to the same laws of the universe as we are. So the issue of theodicy does not normally arise at all. Devas in Buddhism (another 6%) are similar.
Daoism (a few %) conceptualizes 'good' and 'evil' in a different way, insofar that a harmonious and peaceful universe necessarily must contain both some of the things we call 'good' and 'evil'.
etc etc
| 16 |
[DC] So, Superman is apparently super duper smart. Is that because of the sun, or are Kryptonians just naturally smart?
|
So, I've heard that Superman has superhuman intelligence as well as super strength and speed. I've heard someone call that dumb that he'd have super intelligence because he lives by a yellow sun, but since he's an alien, I'd just assume that he's smart because he's a Kryptonian. Like, Kryptonians just have a powerful mind regardless of what sun they're under, or does the yellow sun make him smarter, like how it makes him stronger, faster, and makes him fly?
| 27 |
A little bit of both. He has sun crystals in his Fortress that can act as artificial intelligence tutors. His dad was a world-renowned scientist, so the intelligence could be genetic. The yellow sun boosts his perception and his mental capacity, allowing him to read, react, and think faster.
| 36 |
ELI5: If the Boiling point of Water is 100 degrees Why does a Kettle boil at 60 degrees?
|
**I did Google This don't worry, I just could not find an Answer**
I cant for the Life of me work this out. and my Facebook friends are all like;
"How do you know it's boiling at 60c"
Well Our Kettle has Settings from 60-100 Degrees Celsius (Australian)
The water is all bubbling like It's boiling at 60c then Shuts off.
At 100c It's steaming.
So does the Boiling Point of Water Means Steam is Produced?
Why does the kettle bubble the water at 60c?
Can someone Please Explain this Like I'm Five :)
**EDIT: Okay Thank you everyone for your Feedback As i can tell so far I'm Australian Not German So thank you for that.
***EDIT: AS i have gathered from your Knowledge and that of Google (now i know what to Google) That Bubbling is From the Element's Temperature Boiling the water that is touching it and Causing it to rise to the Top giving it the Appearance of Boiling. In which that bit of Water has, But the Overall Content of the Kettle is not Actually Boiling until the Total amount has Reached 100c.
This has Been Absolutely Fascinating. *YAY FOR EDUCATION*
| 18 |
Are you talking about an electric kettle? Water boils at 100°C at standard pressure, *no exceptions*! However, the water temperature in the kettle is not even. Around the heating elements, the water rapidly reaches 100°C, even if the water in the rest of the kettle is cooler.
| 27 |
[Marvel] Would a thread of Adamantium have the exact same effectiveness at holding up, say, a one tonne block as an Adamantium cable does?
|
I only ask this because Adamantium is pretty much indestructible barring reality warping and other higher powers.
Edit: I think I wasn't clear enough: The block is being hung from a crane by the thread/cable.
| 32 |
Follow up questions:
Can adamantium break? If not, how can a thread be weaker than a pillar?
Can adamantium bend, but still return to its original state (like a spring)
Can adamantium deform (be dented like play dough)?
How thin can adamantium be?
| 23 |
CMV: Most political podcasts are heavily biased and no more reliable than any other form of media
|
Many people on all sides of the political spectrum are realizing that the mainstream media is not a reliable news source. However, I see people following various podcasts instead (TYT, youtube podcasters, candace owens etc).
These podcasts are just as biased (if not more) than any other form of media, encourage tribal group think, and are toxic by nature. They tend to offer very little diversity of opinion and have a clear agenda behind them.
For these reasons, I believe that people are better off choosing not to subscribe to political podcasts. To me, it seems like the equivalent of refusing to read a newspaper and instead asking your next door neighbor for the news.
| 32 |
The fact that the media are biased means you should consume more, not less. Yes, most political podcasts have a viewpoint; it's hard to imagine one that didn't. People who inform themselves enough to run a podcast must be highly motivated, and it's hard to be motivated about politics if you don't care about politics.
What's more, most are pretty open about their stance.
So the way to get a balanced picture is not to unsubscribe from all of them, it's to subscribe to several. Pick a diverse range of opinions, including some you disagree with. You need to hear what other people think, in order to pick your own stance on the issues.
| 27 |
[Alien Universe] How many species has humanity found in the universe?
|
Was the discovery of the xenomorph/space jockey our first contact? How many species are there in the Galaxy?
| 19 |
Arcturians are apparently a humanoid and sentient species, and apparently they were our first contact according to some extended universe stuff. The marines refer to a "bug hunt" as well, so presumably we've encountered several non-sentient aliens as well.
No telling how many other races though. Just that Space Jockeys and Xenos aren't the first.
| 28 |
ELI5: How does my body know if I'm 'being watched'
| 370 |
It doesn't.
There have been lots of studies on this, and - in all of them - the results show that people actually *don't* know they're being watched at all. They only get it right about 50% of the time: exactly what random chance predicts.
The "feeling" you get, though, can partially be explained in an evolutionary sense. We humans only have eyes on the *front* of our head, which means we always have a 'weak spot' behind us. It makes sense for us to be nervous about that area, since predators could be lurking there. Even if it turns out to be a false-alarm, it's still an evolutionary advantage to double-check, so it would be considered beneficial.
Interestingly, the act of 'checking behind you', often *makes* people look at you (because they've detected an odd head/body movement). When you make eye-contact, you then interpret this as meaning "Aha! You *were* watching me!" and it becomes a form of confirmation bias.
| 801 |
|
[Star Wars] Why did Luke use a green lightsaber rather than a blue one?
|
From what I understand, a blue lightsaber means that you view the force as a tool to accomplish tasks—that you prefer to use the force on a physical level. A green lightsaber, however, means that you view the force itself as an end goal—that you use it on the spiritual level, and wish to study it purely for the sake of knowledge.
Luke seems more like a blue wielder than green. He’s always been pushy and anxious to use the force to do things, rather than just to study the force. Qui-Gon and Yoda are definitely green wielders, because they are very spiritual with their studies, but Luke only ever learns what he needs to know in order to succeed; he never had much of a thirst for knowledge.
So why did he choose green and not blue?
| 89 |
Luke didn't know any of that stuff, he was just building a new lightsaber. The meanings to colors were lost with the Old Republic. Whatever crystal he found to use was apparently green. He didn't have any higher meaning to it.
He might have chosen green because of traumatic reactions to blue. He did have quite a time at Cloud City with a blue lightsaber, he found out his father was alive but evil and had his hand cut off.
| 121 |
Moving to another language (from Python/Javascript)
|
Hi guys,
I am fullstack Engineer (self-taught). I have been working for more than 14 years in the industry but almost always using Python or Javascript.
I would like to get a job in another language Golang, Java, Clojure or Rust. Lately with Python is really easy to find new jobs but I am kind of tired of doing the same.
Do you think company could value my experience with Python/Javascript and hire me to migrate to one of this other languages?
If you think so, which one you think I should focus more.
I am asking not based on what is going to be easy to learn. I am asking more what Recruiters and Managers could value my experience in Python/Javascript .
| 31 |
I’m baffled by the responses that suggest that kind of transition is unlikely. Languages aren’t difficult - problem solving is. And after 14 years you’ve done a lot of that. More difficult is moving domains - from a front end engineer to a distributed systems engineer for example. But even that’s not unheard of.
You need to be prepared to work to pickup new tech and if you know what kind of stack you want to move into it would do you good to build some things on the side so you can talk about that space with fluency. But “I’m a X programmer” where X is a stack and not a domain is for consultants and specialists.
Edit: Also worth noting I’ve been a hiring manager and wouldn’t blink at signing an experienced engineer with 14 years of experience in unrelated languages.
| 12 |
[WH 40K] What are some of the best theories behind the two missing Primarchs?
|
Bonus, and the other(s) not accounted for?
| 46 |
Some Imperial scholars theorise that one of the Primarchs fell like a twin-tailed comet unto a world hosting a relatively undeveloped barbarian society alongside a sizeable native Ork infestation, a not-insignificant Eldar presence, Chaos taint, some elements of abhuman ratmen and "beast" men, and some kind of bio-organic Necron presence. According to what data we've gleaned, the Primarch was raised by a tribe of barbarians before rising to its chiefdom and further uniting an entire region of tribes. He drove out the regional Ork warboss and Chaos raiders. He left for parts unknown sometime into his reign, and we have yet to rediscover his presence, or whether he was a Primarch at all.
| 85 |
CMV: Repeat customers should be the ones getting discounts, not first time customers.
|
I know it varies in different industries. However, I see it more often where first time customers are getting discounts rather than the loyals. I say, if you have spent a decent amount of money somewhere you should be the one getting a discount, rather than the person who may just be deal shopping and you're risking an opportunity to make more money.
Not only the money making aspect for shop owner, but what about customer service? Shouldn't the loyal customers get the praise? We're coming back and giving you MORE money. Can you kiss the ground I walk on please ?
| 286 |
Those first time customer discounts are often loss leaders. They are a net loss in hopes that the customer will go on to become a profitable one. It is about increasing business, not "rewarding people." Not only that, but there *are* plenty of companies with loyalty programs.
| 147 |
[Star Wars] Could someone with a very low midi-chlorian count become a powerful Jedi Master through training?
|
Yoda teaches Luke about the force, and it feel like a lot of it has to do with believing and understanding how the force works and less to do with how many midi-chlorians can be found in his blood...
Let’s say I have my blood tested and I barely register being force sensitive, but at the same time; from the beginning I fully accepted and devoted myself to the Jedi/Sith teachings. I believe that I can lift an X-Wing because I am one with the force...
At what point does my midi-chlorian level determine how far I can go with the force?
| 52 |
Most of us believe that the midi-chlorian count is correlation not causation. That the stronger you are in the force, the more midi-chlorians are drawn to you. So while some people are better than others at using the force, and traditionally the Jedi have focused on those people with in-born skills rather than trying to teach people without force sensitivity, it is theoretically possible to train anyone. Just... it'd be incredibly difficult.
| 67 |
ELI5: How is the lethality of a substance determined in an ethical way?
|
I recently saw a documentary and learned that the most venomous snake on earth (the Inland Taipan) can kill over 100 grown humans with its venom.
How is that figure determined? I know that it is not likely that some scientist tried to try and kill as many people as possible. So how is it done? How do we tell if something is lethal? And how do we tell how many people it can kill?
What about a completely foreign substance? The effects of which on humans is relatively undocumented?
| 1,039 |
> How is that figure determined?
Apply carefully measured doses to a series of rats until half of your sample dies. Consult prior research where lethality in rats was compared to more analogous animals such as pigs. From this you determine the LD50, the lethal dose for half of a given population. Then it is just a matter of comparing how much venom the animal typically injects vs the LD50 amount.
| 903 |
CMV: Stablecoins are not a new innovation. They are just banks. Unregulated and unsecured banks.
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If I have 10 dollars in a bank account, I do not in fact own 10 dollars. I own 10 IOUs from my bank. I can redeem these IOUs for cash at my local bank, or I can use them for payment directly in a bank transfer and let someone else redeem them.
If the bank goes under, I can rest assured that my deposits are insured by the government up to 250k. I can rest assured that my bank has to comply with extensive legislation (maybe not enough though) and audits.
---
If I have 10 dollars in a stablecoin, I do not in fact own 10 dollars. I own 10 IOUs from the stablecoin issuer. I can *probably* redeem these IOUs for cash through the process set up by the issuer, though they can make it diffcult and slow. I cannot use them in regular bank transfers, though I can use them to pay on blockchains.
If the stablecoin issuer goes under, my deposits are not insured and will be lost. Stablecoin issuers do not undergo proper audits, nor do they comply with banking regulations because they do not consider themselves banks.
---
This is a short comparison of stablecoins to banks, but it gets the point across. The mechanics behind stablecoins are **identical** to the mechanics behind a bank. Crypto enthusiasts and techbros love to tout stablecoins as this new invention, but they aren't a new concept at all. Every single bank is its own stablecoin, just not a blockchain one.
The only innovation here is making a blockchain bank while pretending it isn't a bank to avoid legislation.
| 578 |
I think that by current internet business definition this is innovation. A lot of current internet innovative and "disruptive" business models are essentially ways to do old things while avoiding regulation.
Uber is essentially just taxi-cabs without the regulation. Taxi firms have apps, where they struggle to compete is in the fact that Uber is good at avoiding being regulated as they are in many countries.
Similarly much of the business on AirBNB is little more than a letting service that avoids being regulated as a letting service.
This is what internet entrepreneurs often mean by innovative. So in that sense they are just a reinvention of Wildcat banking while also being innovative.
| 179 |
ELI5: What's the situation in Libya today after Gaddafi lost his power?
| 43 |
There are 2 self-proclaimed governments, one in Tripoli (historical capital of Libya, west) and the other in Benghazi (center of the uprising, east). Plus more or less autonomous militias. Plus djihadists. Plus ISIS in Sirte.
It's a complete civil war. But actually Libya can still exports its oil at low price (because each side really need money to wage war), so no one cares.
| 17 |
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ELI5: How do bouncy balls bounce so high?
| 15 |
Let us imagine the perfect bouncy ball. A feature of it will be that if you drop it at any height, it will bounce up to about the height your dropped it. It will not bounce any higher than the initial drop unless you put in extra energy somewhere as energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be transformed into different types.
Now imagine you take a hackey sack and drop it from the same height. It doesn't bounce up at all.
Now imagine a steel ball and doing the same thing. It bounces up, but not very high.
What is the differences between all these cases? Well, it is energy transfer. When you drop a bouncy ball, it gains kinetic energy during the fall, and when it hits the ground and reverses direction, very little of the kinetic energy is lost. On the other hand with the steel ball, we know that since it is not reaching the same drop height that some of the energy is going somewhere. It usually converts into heat, but there could be something else at play.
Bouncy balls bounce so high because the material they are composed of doesn't easily convert kinetic energy into other types upon bouncing. Other materials don't bounce so high or not at all because they convert a lot of kinetic energy into other types of energy.
| 11 |
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ELI5: How does Google Earth 3D view work?
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Since Google Maps is photographed with satellites, I'd expect the image to be completely flat. So how do some areas have these precisely modeled buildings and trees? And how are the buildings textured from every side? I thought that satellites could only capture photos from a bird's eye view and not like this: http://imgur.com/2XD9OQx
| 97 |
Google maps is now done by airplanes flying a grid pattern over the area. They have 6 camara pointing at different angles to capture sides of buildings.
Source: I've done work on a contracted Cessna 182 doing aerial photography for Google
Edit: this is only done in urban areas like in the photo you linked.
| 38 |
ELI5: Medicare in the United States
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I quickly read the Wikipedia of medicare and it said that it is for senior citizens in the Wikipedia but what I've heard sometimes is that it is the United State's version of universal Health Care. I guess I'm just confused, could somebody clarify for me?
Thanks
| 50 |
Medicare = government-provided medical aid for seniors
Medicaid = government-provided medical aid for the poor
The former is for all people that are 65 or over, the latter is only for those that qualify. Some have considered expanding medicaid to the point where it eventually becomes universal health care, but it's not anywhere near as robust/helpful as true universal health care seen in countries like Canada.
| 24 |
Eli5. How its possible for the light to travel constantly with out stop slowing down from the most old galaxies?
| 78 |
Light is special because it has no mass and always travels at, well, the speed of light. This is one of its fundamental properties due to the laws of physics. You can’t really compare light to say, a spaceship, because it’s just not the same thing.
But almost anything can move long distances in space without slowing down. By default, things continue moving at the same speed they’re already moving unless something acts to slow them. On Earth, everything needs to fight air resistance or water resistance or friction with the ground to keep moving. But in space there’s nothing to bump into (at least it’s very rare to hit something) so if you do nothing, you keep moving.
| 67 |
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ELI5 Why do batteries work again after heating them up?
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Sometimes if a remote or some other small electronic stops working because the battery is dead, I take the battery out and heat it up by putting it in my arm pit. The warmth heats up the battery and give it a little more juice allowing me to use it again for a minute. I also remember doing this with old mobile phones in the early 00s and it would let you turn on a dead phone and use it for a few minutes.
I have no idea how this works and don’t remember where I learnt how to do this.
| 37 |
You’re not necessarily recharging the batteries. But heat makes batteries more efficient/effective. Batteries have a chemical solution inside them that stores electrons. When the temperature of the battery is low, the chemical processes inside the battery is slower meaning the movement of those electrons is also slower. When you warm up a battery, you’re able to speed all of that up. When you put the batteries back in the device, that manifests as a minute or two of extra charge. But you haven’t actually added any more electrons (or at least not enough to be meaningful) to the battery, the electrons just move more efficiently & electricity is just electrons in motion.
Edit: rewrote the last phrase to make it make sense. Sorry for the autocorrect confusion.
| 48 |
CMV: I believe that the captain South Korean ferry that sunk did nothing morally wrong.
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I do not feel that the Captain did anything wrong morally. He has no moral duty to sacrifice himself for the people on the ship. There is a post on the front page now about a women who stayed on the ship and saved people while the captain got off. That is without a doubt admirable and I'm sure there were many people like her, and they should be given all the praise in the world. However, the Captain shouldn't be insulted etc for simply saving his own life.
In regards to the legal side of a captains duties, I do not know if it includes staying on the ship and being the last man off. If this is the case, then this rule is wrong.
CMV
| 57 |
As a merchant mariner who recently got his captains license, you're wrong.
What a captains license, aside from all the legal ramifications, really represents is that you are an experienced mariner; you know what you're doing. He made mistakes that put a lot of innocent lives in danger, and it's his responsibility to deal with that. He presumably is the most experienced and qualified person on the boat to manage the rescue efforts, to manage the damage control, and to keep things moving in a safe and productive way; that's his job.
It's similar to the medical world. A surgeon can't just walk out because the patient suddenly starts bleeding out and he's freaked out... he has to do his job and try his best to save the patient.
The captain holds the same moral and legal responsibilities. He failed to do his duty, both before, during, and after the event and is entirely responsible for those failures.
| 167 |
Is it true that there are as many numbers between zero and one as there are between zero and infinity? A math teacher made this claim and I'm wondering how it could be proven.
| 18 |
You do this by showing there is a one-to-one mapping between these two sets.
First, we pair every number x between 0 and 1 with 1/x. These 1/x will be between 1 and infinity. So this shows there as many numbers between 0 and 1 as between 1 and infinity.
To get the pairing needed to show what the math teacher said, we instead pair every number x between 0 and 1 with (1/x)-1. So each number between 0 and 1 is paired with a unique number between 0 and infinity, and vice-versa. Thus, there are as many numbers between 0 and 1 as between 0 and infinity.
| 26 |
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ELI5: The process and significance of "making partner" in a law firm
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How does one become a partner? What changes? What are the advantages/disadvantages, if there are any?
| 235 |
It takes anywhere from 2 to 10 years to make partner at an average law firm (sometimes longer). In order to be considered for a partner position (while working as an associate), you usually need to work very hard and contribute a lot to your firm's business. It helps if you can pull a lot of all-nighters, find new clients through connections, publish articles in law journals to gain prestige for your firm, or show great talent in a particular field of law that your firm works in.
In some firms, once you've gained enough experience, you're given a big, important client or assignment. If you succeed, you are promoted to partnership. A partner usually owns a share in the company, which means that they automatically make money every year by receiving a portion of the company's profits. There is also less pressure on a partner to work hard, because they've already "made it". So as a partner, you can take it easy unless you're really into your work or want to make even more money. An associate at a big law firm makes around $100,000 per year. A partner at the same law firm will make anywhere from $300,00 to over a million. In small firms that only have a couple of partners, your last name will also be added to the firm's name. So if your name is Johnson and you work at Anderson and Smith, your firm may be renamed to Anderson, Smith and Johnson once you make partner.
| 209 |
ELI5: What does it mean to argue in bad faith?
| 16 |
It means that you're not arguing to come to a mutual understanding. In a true debate/argument, both sides must be willing to acknowledge if the other side has good points and be open to changing their minds. If you tell someone you want a "debate" but you really just want to antagonize them or preach to them, you are lying when you say you want to "argue".
Bad faith generally is an intent to deceive.
| 21 |
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[Spongebob] How is the Flying Dutchman so powerful?
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I know the powers of ghosts varies from franchise to franchise, but one thing that has always made me wonder is how is the Flying Dutchman so powerful, like he is nigh-omnipotent (He can grant his own wishes), how is he so powerful when he is just the ghost of a deceased person? Also when Spongebob and Patrick became ghosts they had none of those powers, which raises further questions.
| 47 |
The Flying Dutchman is more than a ghost.
He might've been a man before his death, but now he collects the souls of the bikini bottomers, even officially since nobody questioned him showing up at the hospital to take Krabs soul.
So while he enjoys scaring the underwater residents and haunting the seas, his more like their version of the grim reaper and that job comes with a lot of extra powers.
| 43 |
How do mosquitoes find water to reproduce?
|
I live near the Mediterranean, in a region where it doesn't rain 4 months a year, and we still get plenty of mosquitoes every summer. There is practically zero fresh water in the area, still or running. This leads me to think that mosquitoes aren't just flying around looking for water to lay their eggs through sheer luck. They must have a way of detecting those places where water is present.
| 2,369 |
Mosquitoes like many insects have incredibly sensitive sense organs in the form of antennae. These are able to detect a whole range of molecules including water. It's similar to us being able to smell but way way more sensitive.
Many mosquito species (such as aedes aegypti) will lay eggs in containers just above the water line, so when it rains these eggs get wet and hatch. Other species will lay eggs in mud and only after a number of rewettings will they hatch. This is why you get a massive increase in the population very quickly.
| 1,865 |
If I'm playing my music at a volume of 8/10, would that use up my battery faster than if I played the music at 3/10?
|
Does playing something louder use more battery life?
| 436 |
It depends largely on the impedance of the headphones. Most headphones designed for portable listening are going to be less than 25 ohms. Headphones with larger drive coils tend to have higher impedance, and will take more power.
But for things like earbuds, the difference between 3/10 and 8/10 will be negligible. The phone is using more power keeping the CPU active while decoding the music than the headphones will ever use.
| 170 |
ELI5: Why is it that when people read orders from others such as "you're now breathing in manual mode", they become aware of breathing and find it laborious?
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I just read several comments telling people that they're now aware of their breathing, or that they've now got an itch somewhere on their body that they just *have to* scratch, or manually blink, and others below are cursing the guy out for making them feel uncomfortable.
Why do people become "aware" of these facts, why does it make them uncomfortable, and why can't they just ignore such comment?
Or am I weird for not being affected by such suggestions?
| 21 |
All of the functions you describe are semi-autonomous. Normally, your body just kind of takes care of blinking and breathing by itself, like it does with your heart and digestive system.
The ability to actively control blinking and breathing has its obvious advantages, but the mere ability to consciously control them means that we tend to take "manual control" whenever we specifically think about the action.
Itching is a bit different, that's mostly a psychological trick.
| 14 |
ELI5: What's the purpose of the cartilaginous tab over the ear hole?
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Most people's ears have a cartilaginous tab that fits right over the ear hole (to block it), if you presse with the finger. Safe to say that's the purpose it serves?
| 62 |
Update: ok, after learning from a video that the floppy part of the ear is called the "pinna" it made me want to dig around to find what the name of that "tab" is, and turns out it's called the "tragus". Now armed with a googleable name, the search was on, and it appears that the tragus does aid in collecting sounds from behind (and interestingly in bats it's even more evolved to function even better in that way).
Still, for me it will always be an earhole sealer, when needed:)
| 19 |
[Futurama] What does Bender do with all the cash and swag he steals?
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Bender loves stealing and taking things. Plus he's got a minimum wage job as a ship's cook. We've seen him steal millions in cigars, jewels, swords, cash, various swag etc. So what does he do with it all?
Is he paying down a pay day loan from when he was younger? Child support? Legal fees? Save it for a rainy day? Hoard it like a dragon?
| 103 |
On a day to day basis when he has small scores he spends it on booze, cigars and prostitutes.
When he has a big score and has a lot of money, he spends it on really fancy and expensive booze, cigars and prostitutes.
Anything left goes to ass shining sessions and occasional purchases of robot pornography.
It's also worth noting that he likes stealing almost more than he likes having stuff, so he is fairly careless with what he does with stuff once it's stolen. A lot probably just gets lost, thrown away or pawned for way less than it is worth.
| 129 |
CMV: Big tech (Google, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, etc.) should be collectively owned and democratically controlled by all its human users
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Monopoly is natural and inevitable for data giants. If your 'product' is simply the flow of information, the only feasible business model is to be pretty much the only player in a given market. Humans must recognize that data giants are creatures fundamentally different from, and superior to, brick and mortar corporations of the previous century, and even sovereign states. New rules must be established for them.
Data is the new oil: whoever controls the flow of information can or will eventually control everything. The problem is not that Twitter deplatformed Trump. A democratic process to establish rules for when someone can be 'censored' would have likely ended in the same result. The problem is that those rules were not made democratically and are not enforced in a transparent and accountable process. Instead the rules are made and enforced by a few data oligarchs with zero accountability to the people who create all the value they feed off, and who are most prominently affected by their decisions.
More and more 'real' jobs will become obsolete and be performed instead by AI, which will probably be owned by tech giants. This directly removes economic power from humans, and concentrates it in the hands of the few major shareholders and directors of these companies (Amazon's destruction of the entire retail value chain in the US is a good example). This immense value should instead flow to the human participants of these systems, as some form of data dividend or UBI, to offset the loss of income caused by automation.
No given nation state can or should constrain tech giants. The machinery of traditional democracy is too slow and inefficient. Additionally, the impacts that these companies have are transnational by their very nature. The democracy that should control them has not yet been born but, I believe, will be based online, rather than geographically determined jurisdictions.
I don't believe that the options available in terms of antitrust regulation can effectively deal with data monopolies. Antitrust law is based on a number of presumptions that simply don't apply to giant tech (such as the presumption that monopoly will always lead to a failure in quality and a rise in prices). Breaking them up will take us a few steps back in terms of information flow, but will not change the fact that monopoly is completely logical and even necessary for a data-driven platform to function properly. Whatsapp only works because pretty much everyone uses it. It should be owned by everyone.
Humans generate the data that enrich these companies and give them overwhelming power to shape and exploit our perceptions and our very lives and futures. Thus, humans should also control them and benefit from the value they 'create'.
| 15 |
This is an inefficient, pointless plan.
Nobody wants to vote for who's in charge of their local server hub. 90% of users will just never vote (look at the ratio or lurkers here now). Low voter turn out is a great way to get high dissatisfaction.
The attention of the voters is a fundamental limit to democracy. Tech companies are so complicated and fast changing their is no way to run them this way. Even people in the industry get overwhelmed.
Governments don't have revolutionary changes every 3-5 years. It's fairly stable. If you understood how it worked in 1990, you understand it now. The same is not true for tech.
The people would get fed up and demand a return to the old system.
| 14 |
ELI5: If symptoms of being sick (mucous, sore throat, fatigue) are immune system responses, what does the cold virus actually do?
| 4,046 |
While your immune system is fighting them, pretty much nothing. However, if they were allowed to keep reproducing without a fight, then they would just keep killing off cells at faster and faster rates, eventually preventing vital functions from working and killing you.
| 3,263 |
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Inflation a lie?
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I have noticed that a concerning growing amount of people believe that the current state of inflation is a fallacy, since companies are 'making record-high profits,' implying that companies are increasing prices out of pure greed. This is further exacerbated by politicians (who I won't name) spreading those beliefs. Why do you think people are so prone to believe all this crap? I just want to know what you guys think.
| 59 |
Inflation is a sustained increase in the general price level.
That's it. Does the price level go up? Then you have inflation.
Doesn't matter if that happens because producer prices go up thanks to supply shortages or because someone's wish from a genie is for prices to go up, inflation is very much real completely independent of the cause.
Obviously corporate greed is not the whole story, companies always want to earn as much as they can, they don't just *decide* to be more greedy, something *enables* them to charge higher prices. That doesn't mean companies don't earn higher profits and that this is part of the reason for higher inflation.
| 123 |
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