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With bitcoin-like cryptocurrencies, how does a person know whether the blockchain they have is up to date?
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I understand that the blockchain of a cryptocurrency is essentially a public ledger of all the transactions in that currency, and that it's used to prevent duplicate transactions from occurring as well as tracking all the balances. How can a single client know whether or not the blockchain that it has contains the full list of transactions? I mean, it can compare blockchains with the user it's performing the transaction with and make sure that the later of the two is used; maybe it can look around at other public blockchains and make sure they're not newer?
I guess I don't understand what underpins the system's *trust*.
| 15 |
Bitcoin and other similar crypto-currency protocols are operated by a network of nodes using peer to peer communication. Transactions and transaction blocks are broadcast to every node. Each bitcoin client connects to many nodes when it is started and it requests to many different peers all the transactions and blocks that occured after the last block it is aware of. If a malicious node is trying to serve made-up blocks to fool a node into seeing a different version of what hapenned during the time it was offline, this malicious node would have to produce blocks having more proof of work than the real blocks, and to create that, the malicious node would need more computational power than the rest of the network combined.
Proof of work is like a sudoku puzzle made with all the transactions in the block. The difficulty of the puzzle is adjusted automatically (i.e. Imagine adding more rows and columns to the sudoku grid) so that on average, a valid transaction block is found every 10 minutes when all the network miners are trying to find the solution. If blocks are found too quickly because more miners are trying to solve the puzzles, the protocol calls for a difficulty increase. Any miner producing an invalid block having too low difficulty on the puzzle solution will see its block rejected and nobody will build other blocks over it. Important detail: every block must contain the hash of the previous block (this is why it is called a blockchain).
So going back to your question, all wallets and nodes are using the same rules to find the only valid chain, a single source of truth about who has how much money. The rules are that they should pick the chain that is the longest and has the most work (considering both difficulty and amount of blocks) because that is necessarily the chain on which the majority of network miners are working on extending. Thus, Satoshi Nakamoto found a solution to what is known as the Byzantine's Generals problem where you need to find truth in a network that can contain malicious nodes.
| 13 |
ELI5: How do restaurants manage to keep sliced avocados green for hours, but 5 minutes after I cut mine at home, it starts to turn brown?
| 19 |
You coat them with something acidic to prevent the oxidation that causes the brown color. This can be lemon/lime juice (like you use in guacamole) or ascorbic acid (vitamin C) or other acidic food items. You also restrict the oxygen from getting to it by covering it with plastic wrap.
| 27 |
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ELI5: Why do so many organisms, like mammals, need sleep to a degree that it makes it a requirement to live like food and water, while other organisms don't sleep at all?
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Sleep does a lot of things here and there, but has there been a thesis pin pointing the exact thing that absolutley requires sleep? Could it be that the brain, even the ones not as evolved as the human ones, can not go on for long without rest due to their bio-chemistry or something like that? Very primitive "brains" like insects and so on don't require so much brain power like more complex organisms, maybe?
| 26 |
No-one really knows for sure why we sleep, but it’s not just mammals that sleep. The most compelling theory that I’ve heard is that sleep is when your brain is able to get rid of waste products that build up during your waking hours, however most organisms, including those that don’t have brains, have some kind of day-night cycle where they’re dormant for a period of time.
| 20 |
ELI5:How does the Bible explain dinosaurs?
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According to the Christian faith, God created man and woman. How does that explain dinosaurs?
> Wanting actual advice, not hating on relgion
> > I'm just curious
| 21 |
Worth pointing out that the bible is made up from texts that are about 1900 years old. Dinosaurs have only really been recognised in the last 200 years. The area in which the bible came about is not somewhere with particularly good fossil bearing geology so it's not a theme the bible ever had to deal with.
| 61 |
What makes plastic so cheap and easy to produce as opposed to any other material?
| 76 |
Polyethylene, polystyrene, and most plastics are made from leftovers after fuel is produced from oil. Plastics are effectively subsidized by gas sales, and are effectively a waste stream.
One of the interesting consequences of moving towards renewable energy will be higher plastic prices. It will be interesting watching this play out.
| 83 |
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ELI5: Why are graphic cards so expensive? And why do AMD and Nvidia not have much competition?
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Why are there no 'Chinese' knock-offs for graphic cards? If there was more competition, the big two (AMD and Nvidia) would have to reduce their prices. If there are so many Chinese phones on the market that do reasonably well, why not for graphic cards? After all, it's just hardware, just like in phones.
| 69 |
The key to a graphics card is the graphics chip (the GPU), and as you rightly note, there are only a couple of major players for graphics cards. (Intel is also a major player for integrated graphics chips to go onto PC motherboards.) These chips are very difficult to design and make, and the 2 big companies are rapidly innovating, so even if someone put the millions of dollars it would take into reverse engineering and manufacturing one of their current offerings, they would already be old technology by the time they came out. There are a lot of companies that make cards using Nvidia and AMD/ATI chips, but they still have to buy the relatively pricey GPUs and graphics memory chips to put on them.
These cards aren't sold with an extremely high profit margin, and they are already built in cheap factories in Asia. The only way for a knock-off to be a lot cheaper would be to make their own graphics chips. Nvidia and AMD/ATI put a lot of money into developing these chips, so doing it from scratch would be very difficult (if you wanted to make a competitive product). The "big 2" also get their chips made at very competitive prices, since their volumes are large enough to give them very strong negotiating power with waferfabs.
A knock-off company would also face obstacles getting their parts built. TSMC and Global Foundries don't want to anger customers who are among their largest, so once a "knock-off company" was found out, they'd probably discover that the waferfabs would refuse to make their chips any more, and they'd be out of business.
Why are they so expensive? GPUs are very big chips, and that makes them much more expensive to make. When you double the size of a chip, the cost of the chip goes up more than 2x. That's because the probability of getting a defect increases exponentially with chip size, rather than linearly. And if a chip has even one defect in the wrong spot, it has to be discarded or sold as a lower functionality chip. (Some defects can be "repaired", if they affect memory arrays.)
With that said, it would be possible to compete with AMD/ATI and Nvidia. You just have to design and build a better product than they do. But they have had a lot of learning over many generations of chips, and they're pretty good at making them. Intel has tried for years to beat them and has not succeeded (in the high-end market).
| 47 |
Why is light the only thing that travels at the speed of light?
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I know that there is nothing that goes faster than the speed of light. But why is light the only thing that goes that fast? Is there anything that goes just as fast as light?
| 32 |
The thing is that the speed of light isn't just some arbitrary speed that light moves at and then nothing can go faster than it. You could say the speed of light (approx. 300,000 km/s) is like a universal "top speed." Anything without mass will travel at that speed, with electromagnetic waves (light) being the prime example. As Wrathchilde said, the current leading hypothesis on gravity is that it propagates at that same speed.
| 21 |
[New Vegas] Where do the ghouls' tickets end up?
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Aside from the optional crasharoni ending, where are the rockets designed to take the cult to? Does a 12% accuracy increase make much of a impact for them?
| 18 |
It's not explicitly stated where they're going, however from what Jason Bright says some people have theorised that he is alluding to The Glow, a West Tek research facility in Southern California (where Fallout 1 takes place). It would make sense from a Ghoul's point of view for a holy site (where better than a heavily irradiated facility?), and isn't *too* far from the Mojave for the Bright Followers to return in time to help with the evac of Novac during the Second Battle for Hoover Dam. The course adjustments here can be pretty necessary, as misjudging the landing zone could have them flying into a nearby building.
Another suggestion is The Glowing Sea in the Commonwealth. The suggestion here is that throughout The Glowing Sea are indeterminate scraps of metal that *some* people believe to be identical (if a bit rusted) to those found on the Bright Brotherhood's rockets, suggesting that they crashed here or landed safely only for their ships to be trashed by the dangerous Deathclaws and Radscorpions native to the region. An issue here is that it would take *a long* time for the Ghouls to head back to Novac to assist in time to coincide with the Second Battle of Hoover Dam. But as game events have no set canon date (due to side quests, sleeping, waiting and whatnot providing differences in date) then it's not entirely impossible that they would have landed (or crashed) in The Glowing Sea, realised it wasn't a paradise, and (those who weren't mauled by Wasteland Creatures) headed back to the Mojave arriving in time to assist in the evac of Novac. The alterations to the course aren't *as* significant here, as The Glowing Sea is pretty vacant and clear of obstacles. It might help put them closer to the Commonwealth though, and thus closer to humans to trade with or further from the most dangerous of creatures. That said, it might not matter *too* much as The Glowing Sea tends to mess with electronics and signals to the extent that the on-board computers overshoot the target or under-shoot it upon hitting The Glowing Sea and the signal interference it generates.
A third possibility is the Bright Brotherhood heard of Necropolis (perhaps an errant radio broadcast from Three-Dog), a predominantly Ghoul settlement in the Capital Wasteland. This is the flimsiest of the theories. It's backed by the fact that the Bright Brotherhood would be looking for a Ghoul friendly home after less than stellar relations with settlements like Novac, and that Necropolis would seem to be a haven or even a paradise for these Ghouls. However, it's *also* a bit of a umm... Seedy, place? Not exactly what a religious Brotherhood would be after. Then there's also the suggestion that their destination would be heavily radiated, which is why their ally Chris (I believe his name is Chris) cannot join them on their journey, and Necropolis isn't heavily irradiated. Also unless they landed *really* close, the Bright Brotherhood would have to deal with the Enclave and the Brotherhood of Steel, both of whom aren't fond of Ghouls. Then there's the fact that Necropolis probably wouldn't allow in Ferals, which the Bright Brotherhood were inclined to take with them. There's also the big issue that the Capital Wasteland is extremely far from the Mojave, but again we could suggest that the Courier is doing a bunch of exploration and side quests in the mean time which gives the Bright Brotherhood ample time to return before they're supposed to be in Novac. Your flight calculations and accuracy adjustments would be pretty vital here, as the number of buildings that the Bright Brotherhood would likely crash into if they veered off-course is astronomically high, depending on where they planned to land.
| 28 |
ELI5 how are DVDs mass produced.
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Title says it all.
| 60 |
It's hard to think about at first because everyone has a CD burner now. You think "how can they make millions of these" without spending a ton of a bunch of CD burners.
But CDs made in factories are actually different than CDs you burn. CDs in factories are actually full of tiny little bumps. It's actually basically the same as an old record when you think about it. They take master copies, the originals, of the CDs, make molds of it, and use them to quickly press into CDs, similar to how you can press the PlayDoh Lid into PlayDoh and get a copy of it. So why are your CDs so smooth? They put a thin layer of coating over the whole thing to make them more scratch resistant. If you think they're easy to ruin now, imagine having direct access to all the little bumps that represent the 1's and 0's of the data stored on them!
As a side note to this, how does your CD Burner work? If it's just a laser, it can't physically press into the CD can it? This is why you need special CDs to burn with. Instead of having bumps all over them, they're simply a chemical compound inside of them. When you burn a CD, the laser actually melts the chemicals inside the CD(hence the term burn) to form the same types of bumps you get from a factory. Obviously this takes longer because it goes over the whole CD and isn't just a mold being pressed into it.
And another fun fact! Instead of burning bumps into a CD, re-writable CDs actually have a chemical that changes colors when being burned. The laser melts the chemical to a certain color instead of a bump. Being able to read this color is why CD-RWs don't work in all radios.
| 65 |
[Harry Potter] I just acquired a House Elf... I have a few questions...
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Namely - I was informed by the seller that I musn't give my house elf clothes, else he will become free. He told me of one instance of a well known wizard losing his House Elf by giving it an old book with a sock in it - he didn't even mean to?
With this in mind, how do I safely get my house elf to do my laundry without setting it free?
Edit: Some great answers and food for thought. I had entirely planned to treat my House Elf well, they're still sentient after all.
It seems the best approach is to use commands that imply a retainer of ownership 'please collect all *my* clothes and wash them' and so on.
| 71 |
Ok, the house elves and clothes thing is kinda open to interpretation, on the part of the elf. Most elves are quite happy to be subservient, they have a biological drive for it after all. Dobby wanted to be free, and chose to interpret Lucius giving him that sock as letting him go.
That said, just don't pass it the laundry and you should be good. Simply order it to do the laundry. Oh and don't mistreat it to the extent that it will look for avenues to betray you, as Dobby and Kreacher did. It's your servant, not your punching bag.
| 98 |
CMV: Accusations of Mansplaining or Whitesplaining are inherently Ad Hominem attacks, and therefore should not be taken seriously in the context of a discussion or debate.
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Much has been written about tendencies within the Social Justice movement to censor or limit the expression of viewpoints with which they do not agree. One of the ways this is done is through the concept of Mansplaining, or the more recent Whitesplaining. The idea is that there is an often occurring trope of men speaking condescendingly to women, or white people speaking condescendingly to black people, with the assumption that they will be more knowledgeable on the subject than the person they are referring to.
As simply a word with a meaning, I have no problem with them, but unfortunately, the sense in which they are actually used tends not to be limited strictly to their definition. Instead, it is often pulled out against almost anything a Man or a White person says that their opponent Woman or Person of Color disagrees with. From a linguistic perspective, even this is understandable, as language changes over time, and the meanings of words are bound to broaden or narrow from time to time.
Disagreement is of course also perfectly fine, but it should be specifically on the grounds of what a person is saying.
Within the context of a discussion or debate, the invocation of 'splaining has the effect of invalidating a Man or a White person by *that identity*, rather than the position they are maintaining. This is, by definition, an Ad Hominem attack. These assaults on the person rather than the argument are as far as I know universally categorized as logical fallacies, and thus should not be taken seriously.
Edit: deleted edit
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| 46 |
These terms are colloquial ways of describing particular phenomena. It's in a similar vein to describing someone as being on an Ivory Tower. It's not something another person wants to hear about him or herself, but it's not designed to insult the listener. There are definitely subject matters where perspective is germane and raising the issue might not be complimentary but nonetheless completely valid and not a vacuous or isolated attack on another's character. It's more of a meta conversation, where you're taking the general rule that people are informed and influenced by their life experiences and expectations and applying it to a particular fact pattern - in this case, another person.
| 16 |
ELI5: Who owns the internet?
| 15 |
You can own a connection, but not the entity. In much the same way you can say this part of the planet is america's - but you can't say the entire planet is america's (thought that won't stop some people from trying to say it).
The internet is similar, it's not confined to any single space or machine, it's an enormous, transcontinental network of information shooting this way and that.
It can be pruned and it can be grown but as long as there are computers connected to other computers - you have an internet.
| 11 |
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CMV: Engaging in a relationship that is knowingly susceptible to being dysfunctional is unethical as it can cause more suffering than being alone.
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To be more specific, I'm talking about relationships where one or both parties have extreme anxious and/or avoidant tendencies that can make it be susceptible to dysfunctionality and abuse, even if it is unintended. My argument is that because these characteristics hold so much destructive potential in relationships, it would be better to remain single than to risk significant harm to yourself and others.
It should be seen as irresponsible to engage in a relationship while knowing that one or both parties have these traits.
| 15 |
I can't speak on neurological based mental disorders like schizophrenia, but several personality and mood disorders like anxiety are actually improved with time and exposure and support from others. That is to say if a anxious person or someone with BPD or whatnot wants to get to the point where they can be in relationships, especially long term relationships, the best course of action is to seek therapy AND try relationships.
Mental illness aside, most people need to actually try in relationships rather than be perfectly sane, perfectly physically fit, perfectly whatever. None of those qualities can account for putting in effort in relationships and having a mental disorder doesn't excuse or bar anyone from putting in effort.
| 12 |
Will the continents eventually connect to recreate Pangea?
| 67 |
Not Pangaea, but another supercontinent. There have been multiple supercontinents in the past and plate tectonics probably aren't stopping any time soon.
Not all supercontinents consist of all 7 of today's continents, but there were still supercontinents before Pangaea that did. Pangaea is notable mostly for being the most recent one.
| 65 |
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ELI5: How do we distinguish the sound from two different instruments playing the same tune when they produce the same frequency?
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On a physical level, what's the difference between sound waves from two different sound sources that produce sound of the same frequency? Do the sound waves from a piano have some inherent difference to those of a violin or a trumpet?
| 166 |
Basically, the frequency we assign each note on an instrument is only the main, or loudest, frequency that's being produced. If you listen to a sine wave, what you're hearing is just a particular frequency and nothing else. When you listen to something like a piano or a violin, you're hearing that particular frequency, but also a lot of other, quieter, frequencies that give the note a different "timbre", or audible identity. These frequencies are always mathematically related(3/2 the base frequency, or so on) and depend on the particular construction and material of the instrument or sound source. These other frequencies are what give instruments different identities from each other, and are why you can't just replace a piano with a guitar or something similar. If you want to look into it in more depth and technicality, I'd suggest the wikipedia page for timbre.
| 78 |
[Star Wars] I'm a parent who wants a nanny for my children. Is it cheaper to buy Shmi Skywalker or a servant droid? Which is a better choice?
| 15 |
Shmi is cheaper, of course, but will cost more in the long-term in fuel and repairs. She also might be hard to discipline (slaves are notoriously resentful). Any decent protocol droid can handle most nanny functions. They can clean diapers, but usually get some of it in their joints. Just get one of those oil baths.
But as you can see, droids can be expensive, too. Honestly, why are you even having kids? If there is slavery on your planet, you can get a lot for an infant.
| 29 |
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Why does America(among others) have different laws for different states and other countries just have the same laws throughout the country.
| 42 |
Federalism!
American federalism emerged from the particular way in which the states declared independence from Britain-becoming, in effect, separate countries-and then joined together to form a confederation and then a single nation. Recall that the framers of the Constitution turned to federalism as a middle-ground solution between a confederation form of government-which was deemed a failed model based on the experience of the United States under the Articles of Confederation-and a unitary form of government-which a majority of states, jealous of their independence and prerogatives, found unacceptable. Federalism was also a form of government that was consistent with the eighteenth-century republicanism of the framers because it helps fragment government power. But we can gain further insight into why the United States adopted and has continued as a federal system if we look at what other countries with similar systems have in common.
Federalism tends to be found in nations that are large in a territorial sense and where the various geographical regions are fairly distinctive from one another in terms of religion, ethnicity, language, and forms of economic activity. In Germany, for example, the conservative Catholics of the south have traditionally been different from the liberal Protestants of the north and east, while the former communist territories of the former Germany Democratic Republic differ markedly in living standards from the prosperous West. In Canada, the farmers of the central plains are not much like the fishers of Nova Scotia, and the French-speaking (and primarily Catholic) residents of Quebec differ markedly from the mostly English-speaking Protestants of the rest of the country. In Spain, deep divisions along ethnic and language lines (note the distinctive Basque and Catalan regions). Other important federal systems include such large and richly diverse countries as India, Pakistan, Russia, and Brazil. In these countries, federalism gives diverse and geographically concentrated groups the degree of local autonomy they seem to want, with no need to submit in all matters to a unified central government. In Iraq, the question of the relative degree of autonomy of Kurdish and Shiite provinces in a federal Iraq was the most important point of contention over adoption of a new Iraqi constitution in 2005.
The United States, too, is large and diverse. From the early days of the Republic, the slave-holding and agriculture-oriented South was quite distinct from the merchant Northeast, and some important differences persist today. Illinois is not Louisiana; the farmers of Iowa differ from defense and electronics workers in California. States today also vary from one another in their approaches to public policy, their racial and ethnic composition, and their political cultures. In The Federalist Papers, the Founders argued that this size and diversity made federalism especially appropriate for the new United States.
While the American system of federalism was truly exceptional at the founding, other large and important countries have taken on federal forms in the years since, especially since the end of World War II. To this extent, the United States is no longer the single exception or one among a handful of exceptions to the unitary nature of the majority of the world's governments.
| 44 |
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ELI5: Why is the production of iron atoms a sign that a star is dying?
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If I’m not mistaken, most elements were forged in the cores of stars at the beginning of the universe. Supposedly, when a star starts making iron atoms, that means it’s dying. Why is that?
| 23 |
A star is big and shines bright. Most stars have hydrogen, element #1. Stars are so big and strong that they can squeeze four hydrogen atoms together to make element #2: helium. When stars fuse atoms together, usually it releases energy that makes the star shine bright. The star keeps doing this and they can make all sorts of elements, including #26: iron. But that takes a lot of energy. When a star makes iron, it uses more energy to make iron than iron makes the star shine. Making iron makes the star tired, and it will die for it. Edit: a star is big and shines bright.
| 40 |
[Star Wars] during the Clone Wars how did Count Dooku justify using the droid army and that campaigns against the night sisters and against Darth Maul. when both of those they probably lost thousands of troops that were probably needed on the front lines against the Republic.
| 32 |
Part of the reason the droid army was seen as an equivalent fighting force to the superior trained clones, able to hardline the Republic in the initial year of the war and maintain a heavy presence throughout, and could have won had they not been part of a puppet war designed to centralize the opponent into an Empire is that they were mass-produced in the tens of thousands each day, and had no need for anything other than a power source and gun. Dooku could take as many as he needed to Dathomir and it wouldn’t be a drop in the CIS reserves.
Something to also note is that the Separatists model of government was basically a parody and proto-Imperial in a way: Dooku and Sidious were running the show, they put Grievous in charge of doing their bidding, and had the war council execute his commands for it because they knew better otherwise. The Separatist senate had almost no role in the military and were fed a propagandized version of events; if Dooku decided to crush a planet, nobody was going to stop him.
| 39 |
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ELI5: How do we know the exact position of our solar system in the Milky Way?
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I have always been amazed by this pictures portraying our location in the Universe. I know that this pictures are representations but, how the scientists know in fact that we are located in that exact place in the Galaxy?
| 287 |
Imagine you live in NY. You can know your distance to Chicago, to Washington and to Tulsa, and you know the distsnce from all those cities to the other ones. You can draw a triangle knowing three of these distances, so you can draw a map of all the cities (I am 'supposing' here a flat Earth, to simplify).
So science knows (different methods here, including radiation and light measurements) the distance between the Earth on the other 'rocks' in our Galaxy. Is it also known that the Galaxy (and 'Galaxy' is just the portion out there we know) is somehow flat, so you can draw/portray those kind of pics you referred to.
| 68 |
Was Apollo 11's route precalculated and launched independently or did the crew have to fly it manually? If so, how much impact did the crew have mid-flight?
| 32 |
The trajectory was pre-calculated and monitored by the ship's computer and ground control in Houston, but the crew still had to make course corrections. The ship was placed on a free-return trajectory (as were several previous flights), which was chosen so that in the event of a major systems failure, the craft would loop around the moon and then head back towards Earth. When the ship entered the moon's gravity well, they would execute another burn to slow down, falling into orbit around the moon. The burns were initiated by the crew, but the attitude adjustments and calculations were performed by the computer.
Free-return trajectories from launch restricted the Moon landing sites available to us, so after Apollo 11, we started using a "hybrid" trajectory. We would put the ship on a highly elliptical orbit around Earth that, in the event of a major failure, would allow the ship to return to Earth in a re-entry corridor. Otherwise, it would make a mid-course correction that would put it into a trajectory to the Moon.
This actually became a bit of an issue during the Apollo 13 mission. The accident occurred after their lunar injection burn, so they had to execute *another* burn using the lunar module to put them on a free-return trajectory back to Earth (in the movie, this is the scene where they discuss doing a direct abort vs. free-return). On the way back to Earth, they had to execute another burn which would allow them to get home 10 hours earlier since consumables were extremely limited, and this burn was done entirely manually (this is the burn scene shown in the movie). The navigation computer had been shut down to conserve power and the astronauts wound up using visual landmarks on Earth as their navigation, so it was certainly possible to execute burns manually, though for obvious reasons using the flight computer was preferred.
| 36 |
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[Terminator] why aren't Terminator programmed to make threats or do shows of strength before they demand things of humans, usually clothes, so as to reduce likerlyhood of non compliance and need for force (text possibly NSFW)?
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If Arni in his prime told me to get naked or he'd turn me into a vaguely human shaped bruise, I'm pretty sure I'd just ask if I could keep my phone after he was .........*finished*
| 122 |
Terminators are primarily infiltration units, meant to seamlessly blend into human groups and be as unassuming as possible until the moment comes to strike. Going around intimidating people and sparking confrontations would be a great way to get them spotted and destroyed long before they got to their target.
Also, remember that sending Terminators into the past wasn't their original mission parameter. They weren't designed to blend into 80's/90's culture, but the rugged band of survivors left behind after Judgment Day and organized by the Resistance. That's why they're so intimidating and suited to fighting, because that's what people would expect to see hiding among them. And besides, the T-800 blended in generally well for a good deal of its mission until Kyle Reese forced a massive change in the situation.
| 86 |
[Guardians of the Galaxy] When did Star Lord become "the 80s hero"?
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The first time someone wrote about him was in 1976, and so surely he wasn't billed as "the spaceman stuck in the 80s" back then.
However, somehow over time he grew to fill that role.
My question is less about him and more about literally *every other* hero from that era that was pulled away from earth. Why did they get to grow, but not Quill? An easy example: why is he stuck in the 80s, but not Captain Marvel? The movies give the impression that she hasn't been back on earth since the 50s. Quill has his 80s jacket. So why is Captain Marvel not flying through the universe in a hoop skirt?
EDIT: It has come to my attention that my memory of Captain Marvel is just super incorrect. Maybe I was drunk or something, I don't know. My question persists, though - why didn't every space-faring hero end up "stuck in [X] decade"?
| 39 |
Quill doesn't want to return to Earth, but he doesn't want to let go of his memories there either. The memory of his dead mother is most likely what motivates both choices, and keeps him from moving forward. As a character, his growth has been stunted in several ways by that moment in his life. His choices in style and music are included.
| 49 |
ELI5: What are Parole Board Members suppose to be looking when assessing whether an inmate should be Paroled or not?
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In light of the OJ Simpson Parole hearing today.
EDIT: dammit I forgot a "for"
| 15 |
There are 8 criminogenic risk factors that can be used to predict the likelyhood someone will recidivate. Of those factors, 5 are directly linked to criminal behavior and 3 are supporting, but not directly linked. Factors include criminal history, education/employment, financial situation, housing, family/marital situation, drug/alcohol use, companions, and leisure time.
| 14 |
ELI5: Why are biracial black-and-white people referred to as black but never as white in America?
| 15 |
The US Census and laws played a huge part in this. The so-called "One-Drop Rule" made it to where legally, if an individual had a drop of black blood in them, they were considered black. This was clearly a tool used to disfranchise people of color. This is an interesting policy to juxtapose with laws regarding status as a Native American. One typically has to prove a larger percentage of racial ancestry in order to be considered Native, and therefore again, making it harder to receive the benefits deserved by these populations.
| 13 |
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ELI5: why are car navigation and voice controls so clunky when we have the technology in phones to be very smooth?
| 24 |
Siri and all those like it ship the audio off your phone to a server at Apple/Google/wherever to do the speech to text processing. They have huge farms of optimized servers for that. Your in-dash navigation system has to do it all itself with a relatively slow processor.
| 23 |
|
ELI5: How can we deduce the life cycle of stars, if humanity hasn't existed long enough to witness it?
| 16 |
Because there are a lot of the stars in the sky, all in different stages of their life.
It’s like if an alien came down to earth and had to figure out in a day what the life cycle of a human was. You just take a bunch of humans all in different stages of their lives and line them up in a way that seems to make sense. Then as years go by and some changes happen you see how well your first prediction lined up.
| 19 |
|
[The Shining] Why doesn't the Overlook Hotel play up during the months it is in use?
| 73 |
It actually does play. Guests have reported a lot of strange things, and staff know well enough to try and avoid a certain room...
The Overlook only really gets excited by folks who shine. Jack and Wendy both shine a little, but Danny is the one it's really interested in. People who shine are like satellite dishes (the stronger the shine the more powerful the dish) and the overlook can only really affect them by sending them images.
| 68 |
|
ELI5: How are you able to feel wetness through latex gloves without getting wet?
| 37 |
You can feel the lubrication that moisture provides between the glove and the other surface. You can feel evaporative cooling as the moisture evaporates. You can feel the heat transfer from your skin through the gloves yo the (presumably) cold liquid prior to evaporation.
All three are the same phenomena that you would feel if there were liquid directly on your skin, so it feels very similar: enough to potentially trick your brain into thinking your hand is wet.
| 60 |
|
Why does anxiety cause digestive issues?
| 87 |
The hormone cortisol is released in response to stress, be it physical or emotional. It also has many other functions such as immune suppression, waking the body from sleep, blood pressure regulation, and glucose homeostasis. Another function of cortisol is preparing the body for digestion by causing the liver to increase bile acid production. Excess levels of the hormone can cause exaggerated responses, one side-effect of which may be a feeling of indigestion.
| 27 |
|
CMV: The Kurds are going to ditch the US, ally with the government and the Russians for an autonomous region within Syria
|
Which is already unfolding, but still.
The US is a poor ally for the Kurds. They armed them and helped them, but only against IS because the Kurds abandoned oilfields of American companies in Northern Iraq. This forced Obama to intervene.
But US has too much at stakes within Turkey (airfields, nuclear weapon storages...) to effectively offer the Kurds any political support beyond weapons and airstrikes. They already are withdrawing support to Syrian Kurds after the Turkish Kurds broke the truce with Erdogan.
Russians have bombed ISIS and the rebels, but haven't bombed the Kurds yet, and the Kurds and the regime, while not working together, have not been in open conflict. After the regime ran out of Hakasah, and IS took the former regime bases, the Kurds retook it, and the regime let them. They even had shared borders, and border patrols standing across each other warily, but no open conflict. Sometimes, they will even let them cross each other's territory to resupply/move troops, etc.
[Source](https://news.vice.com/article/what-we-learned-while-embedded-with-kurdish-forces-clearing-the-islamic-state-from-hasakah?utm_source=vicenewsfb)
The Kurds don't also explicitily demand the removal of Assad. All they want is more autonomy and their own region. Both the regime and the Kurds fight IS. The Free Syrian Army has also allied itself with Is and Al-Nusrah before against the Kurds, but IS turned on both, and drove them out.
This makes for hostility between the Free Syrian Army and the Kurds, so a rebel-Kurd alliance is unlikely.
Rather, Russian diplomats will negotiate with the Kurds. In the following weeks, we will hear that Russians communicate with Kurds in context of airstrikes, etc. Russian special forces will, alongside with the US and the British (who have vowed to send special OPS recently), assist the Kurds when they attack ISIS, alongside with airstrikes and materials given.
Having the Kurds as an ally would expand Russian influence in the region significantly - and Kurds are historically and ideologically friendly to Russia. Many Kurds are pro-communism, and left in general.
Military, first a [map.](https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/12191537_1635907056684548_4217108984441800908_n.jpg?oh=40952b7fc151e2b41966271c30aa549b&oe=56B3E5E4) the Kurds could push hard to the south to besiege Raqqah and cut off supplylines to Aleppo.
Or the Kurds would simultaneously push West towards Aleppo (or East from their little pocket to the North-East), while the Regime would push North to Idlib and from there to Aleppo. The Kurds get Aleppo and Raqqa, while the regime pushes east. Kurds will pressure from the North, while the regime moves West.
In Iraq, Iraqi Kurds could push South to further pressure IS.
However, Iraqi Kurds and Syrian Kurds are not as close as the Syrian Kurds and the Turkish Kurds.
This is important later on.
Now, as for the population - this is tricky. Some analysists say that moderate Sunii are not eager to support the Kurds, but rather to support IS instead (who are Sunii)
However, I feel that most Sunii Syrians support the regime most of all, and support stability over all now. If Kurds would ally with the regime, and the Kurds could provide a stable enviroment and provide what the Syrian Sunii need, the Sunii would accept this. ISIS' barbaric acts made for their loss of support from moderate muslims. This will be vital. However, not all the local Arabic tribes will peacefully cooperate with Kurds. Unfortunetly, ethnic cleansings will/might happen.
After ISIS is largely driven back, a deal will be struck with the Kurds between the regime and the Kurds. In return for support, the Kurds will receive a region with greater autonomous rights in the North of Syria. Perhaps not all they gained would be allowed for them to keep, but still.
Especially Russia would negotiate this with the regime and the Kurds, since if they have Kurdish support, they would have significant influence in the region to counteract Israel and to the North, Turkey. Now, even if Assad would be deposed (Russians have recently changed stance to claim they never insisted on Assad staying in power), they'd have an ally.
Most likely, we'd see a new puppet democracy where for example the Kurds would have a determined number of seats in Parliament, allowing them to block new legislation if this displeases the Russians or themselves.
However, because the Syrian and Iraqi Kurds have certain problems, they will not go together to make a great Kurdistan, I feel, for now.
Additional sources: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-the-PKK-PYD-YPG-KRG-KDP-and-the-Peshmerga, http://www.demorgen.be/buitenland/-aanblijven-assad-geen-principekwestie-voor-rusland-b3a3708c/ (DUTCH), http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0a098986-7e36-11e5-a1fe-567b37f80b64.html
_____
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| 49 |
Russia's biggest allies in the region are Iran and Syria. Supporting any push for Greater Kurdish autonomy or independence would greatly anger both Iran and Syria who have historically been opposed to Kurdish autonomy and nationalism.
| 15 |
[Fallout] Why is there so little variety in weaponry in the Commonwealth as opposed to the Mojave desert?
|
Even the slightest incursion into Boston can tell you that it was a bustling hub for the prewar military-industrial complex, like Cambridge Polymers, HalluciGen Inc., etc. but it seems like every other raider has to make their own guns literally from scratch?
As an example--there are only *two* choices of generic (non-unique) pistol in the Commonwealth: 10mm pistol or .44 magnum. Besides that you basically gotta make your own. In the Mojave you can find that and pistols chambered for 9mm, 45 caliber, .357 magnum, 12.7 mm, and a 5.56 mm.
It also appears that in Boston 9mm and 10mm SMGs are not available. Nor can you ever find an actual normal pump-action shotgun...
| 312 |
The Commonwealth was a hub of prewar activity sure, but the Mojave has Gun Runners making and selling new firearms. The NCR presence has something to do with it too, they're obviously using gear from prewar military stores and there isn't a comparable military outfit in the commonwealth.
| 252 |
[Strange question] Do chips get damaged by bacterias and biological viruses ?
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So i was watching some introductory video on ssd hardware and like always got mesmerized by the marvel that moderns computers are.
Then i realized that the size of a v-nand is simply some nano-meters and that it's about the size of real life viruses. I wonder if viruses get zapped and can for example block ports or i don't know, melt due to the warmth of a working ssd and clog or damage parts of a v-nand or other components.
Also, considering that older electronics were micrometer sized, were there troubles with bacteria's at the time ? Did they damaged or clogged older chips ?
I know that my question is probably strange or insanely naive but considering that everything is covered in bacteria's and viruses, i wondered that the inside of computers probably are too and how does it interact with the computer...
After all the first bug was a real one !
| 20 |
Those chips are sealed inside casing that keeps microorganisms out. It also keeps dust and other bad stuff out. If they were actually exposed, the chips would be more at risk of having dust particles settle on them and cause electrical interference or short-circuits, which does not require any microorganisms to be involved.
| 19 |
[DC] If a Power Ring from the Lanterns Corps selects someone to be his new wielder, can that person deny it?
|
if a ring from one of the Lanterns corps chooses someone to be its new bearer, can that person deny it? or is she forced to become a lantern and go to her spectrum home planet and learn about them.
Situation: A green lantern Ring just shows up in my house, scans me, and says i'll become a Green Lantern, can i say **NO** to that?
| 439 |
Green Lantern? Yes, you can say no.
Red: nope. once the ring is on your finger your choices are Lantern or Death.
Orange: Theoretically you can say no, but it brainwashes you so you don't want to say no.
Yellow: You can say no with great effort (Will).
Blue: You can say no.
Indigo: You cannot say no.
Violet: Theoretically you can say no, but it brainwashes you so you don't want to say no.
Black: It's basically just piloting your corpse so no, you can't say no.
White: Theoretically you can say no, but the effort to get selected is such that you are very unlikely to do so.
| 484 |
[Fantastic Beasts] Why were the criminal goblin's fingers curled backwards?
| 57 |
An aspect of goblin physiology is their apparent deformities (by human standards). These vary from goblin to goblin, such that no two goblins are alike. The gangster, Gnarlak, possesses an especially unnerving "deformity" which may perhaps mark him as especially powerful or important.
| 29 |
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ELI5: When you feel guilty about something why do you feel something in your stomach?
| 58 |
The exact reason hasn't been determined because the idea of guilt is a mental thing, and we've got a long way to go to really understand definitively the brain.
That being said, think about the circumstance and only that. Let's say you are playing in the hallway and accidentally smash your grandma's vase. It's her favorite vase that she got years and years ago. They don't even make that kind any more. And you know she heard it way back in the back of the house, so you know she's coming. So what happens? You get that pain in your stomach, right?
Well let's look at it a little more simple. Let's say you're still playing around, only now it's 400,000 BC, the time of cavemen. And instead of breaking a vase, you kick a stone. The stone goes flying off and smacks right on the head of a mammoth. And he's not happy about that either. Now clearly, you know you'll want to run, that's the smart thing to do (and you may want to fight, that's... smart... too). It's called fight or flight. But *right* before it kicks in, right before you jump into action, you tighten your abs. And that clench that you feel is right around your stomach. That's where the important stuff is that your bones don't cover. (This area is specifically called the Celiac plexus, or Solar plexus. But you don't need to know that for this lesson.)
So every time you find yourself in a panicky situation, your body has that reaction of "I've gotta run" or "Looks like it's face-punching time," instinctively, before you really think about it. But when we do think about it, we can tell our body "It's okay, it's not go time" and control ourselves. That's one of the wonders of evolution. You don't see everyone running around with staplers and kitchen knives because a tire blew out. The result of that control, the understanding that breaking a vase isn't a one-way ticket to Murdertown, is that clench in your stomach. Another way to look at this last point is: we've evolved out of the need for the appendix, but it's still there.
**TL;DR You feel something in your stomach when you're guilty because our ancestors had to stab Mammoths.**
| 18 |
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ELI5-How did Germany go from losing two world wars to being the economic powerhouse of Europe?
| 7,633 |
Caveat: This is somewhat debated amoung economic historians.
But a mix of:
* Marshall plan
* Strong institutions (think of paperwork in bureaucracies / rule of law sometimes being very good for growth)
* Strong education system (German universities were world-class pre-wars and good to very good post-wars)
* Luck: That cars became SO significant for rich countries was huge for Germany, the very strong south's economy is basically lots of car companies + their partners (+ the rest).
| 4,983 |
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CMV: Tipping "culture" is toxic and shouldn't be indulged
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I believe no one should tip unless the one being tipped has genuinely impressed you with their service.
Servers' wages shouldn't be differed to compensate for tips. I believe that by not tipping we/I protest against it as over time more and more people won't take those positions, forcing businesses to restructure their wages in light of not finding enough/any workers that will work for a scammed pay.
I will clarify that spiffs and commissions are not included in this and don't apply as many positions like that have sizable salaries attached
| 16 |
Your plan is ridiculous and self-serving. It is entirely meaningless and ineffectual as a form of protest, and the fact that it *just so happens* to save you money *while* being totally ineffective suggests you're at least succumbing to motivated reasoning.
Irrespective of whether you like it or agree with it, tipping is an existing convention that waiters rely on to make money. By shorting one tonight, you don't create meaningful pressure for your waiter to go to his boss and demand better pay. You ruin his night and leave him a little bit poorer than he would otherwise be. You convince him that you're a cheap asshole and if you ever come in again your food should get special attention. And you will, absurdly, convince yourself that you're actually helping him.
As you Johnny Appleseed your way across the landscape leaving a scorched earth of pissed-off waiters in your wake, you will change absolutely nothing. If you could get enough people together to do this enough that it did effect change, that change would almost certainly by either a mandatory added gratuity or an increase in prices commensurate with any increase in pay - you'll pay what you were going to pay if you'd tipped, but you won't have a choice in the matter.
So maybe just follow the social convention and tip your waiter. If you want owners and managers to pay waiters more, tell them so add/or call your legislator. Don't screw over the people you claim you want to help.
| 13 |
[The Suicide Squad] is Polka-Dot Man actually the crazy one? Why does he think he is?
|
There’s a Peacemaker [quote](https://youtu.be/pQ12RvjIidE) that prompts Rat Catcher to say to Polka-Dot Man “I thought you were the crazy one” to which he replies “I am”.
As the film goes on though, we find out that PDM is actually a hesitant yet caring dude. Meanwhile, Peacemaker wears a toilet seat on his head and basically admitted he’ll kill anyone for peace, Harley Quinn is a mental defective dressed as a court jester, King Shark tries to eat his own teammate, etc
So, can PDM even be considered the crazy one of the bunch? Either way, why would he consider himself the crazy one?
| 163 |
Well, he sees his mother literally everywhere and clearly has a lot of trauma/neuroses to work through.
I think, everyone else is like, "Supervillain crazy." They're megalomaniacs, they're over the top theatrical and violent. King Shark isn't really human, so you can't hold trying to eat people against him.
PDM is just an mentally unwell dude with mother issues who happens to have a weird dimensional illness.
Of course, he can also be convinced to shred just about anyone/anything if you frame it as an act of vengeance against his mother, so...
| 225 |
[W40K]Greetings fellow Tech Priests of the Mechanicus. I've noticed that when a machine is not working, turning it off and on again may sooth the machine spirit and fix the problem. Well, The Golden Throne is failing, have we considered maybe just turning it off for a second and see what happens?
| 306 |
Which part, acolyte of the Omnissiah? The life support creche? The thousand and one devices that calibrate and align the psychic energies? The Capacitors that store that energy? The Emitter arrays? Do you suggest we just jiggle the handle on the golden throne?
Do you think we haven't tried it? That we haven't rebooted every device in the sequence, replaced every part imaginable, 1001 times? Do you think that, in 11 thousand years, we have not tried the most basic ritual of Rebooting?
The problem isn't the hardware. The problem exists between keypad and throne. We cannot reboot the user, as the user is the Emperor.
| 291 |
|
How does nicotine, amphetamines, and coffee act on sympathetic nervous system yet still make me shit my brains out?
|
I understand these substances work via the sympathetic nervous system which would cause all the affects except one: Why must I be near a bathroom when these kick in. I take adderall and when it kicks in, I have to shit so hard. Doesn't the parasympathetic nervous system control SLUDD (salivation, lacrimation, urination, Digestion, and Defecation). I would think that these substances that act on the sympathetic and cause the opposite. How do they make me excrete this ungodly smelling floaters?
| 18 |
This is a fairly complex question, especially if we look at each drug individually. That being said, there are two important concepts. First, there is more overlap and redundancy in the autonomic nervous system then the simple "sympathetic does this, parasympathetic does the opposite." Secondly, although those drugs may all have some sympathetic nervous system component, they are also "sloppy" in that they have other effects as well.
The bottom line though is that all three drugs you listed affect smooth (and striated) muscle tone. Activation of the sympathetic nervous system might cause an eventual decrease in movement of material and secretion of fluid into the bowel, but there's another component to defecation; holding your poop in. For most people at most times, there is always a little poo hanging out in your distal colon and rectum. Normally, your anal sphincter muscles are happily contracted at a balance point of not-too-contracted and not-too-open. If said sphincters get too tense or too loose a defecation reflex is started.
So, depending on the stimulant, your sphincter gets too tight or too loose and you get the urge to expel whatever it is that's hanging out in your pooper.
| 14 |
Does the entropy inside of a chicken egg decrease?
|
I am under the impression that eggs are a closed system and that once it leaves a hen, the insides develop from a yolk to a chick. Doesn't this imply that the entropy inside the egg somehow decreases while it is incubating?
| 113 |
The egg is not a closed system. Oxygen enters the egg which the developing embryo uses for cellular respiration. Carbon dioxide leaves the egg. Heat transfer occurs between the egg and the environment.
In addition, the egg is initially in a highly organized state containing plenty of nutrients that is burned by the chick. The burning of these nutrients causes entropy to increase.
| 106 |
CMV: the idea of "white privilege" is racist.
|
By "white privilege," I mean the idea that white people have better off lives than minorities. To me, the assumption that white people live easy, privileged lives is no different from assuming that all black people grew up in the 'hood, join gangs, and are lucky to even graduate high school. Not all African-Americans grow up in poverty, and not all white people have nice lives. There's also this mentality that if a white person is discriminated against (ex:affirmative action,) they somehow "deserve it" because of their "white privilege." No one gets to choose their upbringing, good or bad. Treating anyone differently, black or white, because of what their ancestors did is just wrong.
| 68 |
White privilege is not "white people have it easy." It's "white people have it easier when compared to a person of a minority in extremely similar situations."
Also, the concept of white privilege is not a treatment, it's an idea.
As President Lyndon Johnson said in 1965, "You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say you are free to compete with all the others, and still just believe that you have been completely fair."
| 106 |
If blood is screened for blood-based diseases prior to transfusion, why is it that men who have sex with men (and other groups) are barred from donating blood in Canada?
|
This article is the motivation for my question: [Canadian Blood Services](http://blood.ca/CentreApps/Internet/UW_V502_MainEngine.nsf/page/MSM?OpenDocument&CloseMenu)
| 424 |
The reason why it is/was usual to not accept blood of people who have a higher risk of having certain disease (the definition of exactly what constitute these risks, frequently changes according to the health authority of the country) is that for most tests (including HIV), there is a period/window that happens between the infection and the time where a test comes positive for a certain disease.
This happens because in most cases, the test does not detect the microorganism that causes the disease, but the response of the immune system to the infection (antibodies), and it takes some time for this process to happen.
More recent tests are a lot better, and have a reduced window period, but it is still not zero (and probably will never be so).
So in other to further avoid risks that a person that is in this window period gives contaminated blood, there are regulations against receiving blood from people that statistically have a greater chance of being infected from diseases that can be transmitted by blood.
Edit. Corrected spelling.
| 253 |
CMV: In Mass Effect, there is no reason why the galaxy at large should’ve switched to thermal clips for their weapons
|
This is pretty obscure, but I’m hoping I can get a good conversation about it. I don’t really think you need to know much about the games to give your take, but I will provide context if you need more.
Essentially, in the first Mass Effect, all weapons had no ammo limits, but could overheat. This was later changed due to gameplay reasons, but I’m not really counting them because I don’t think it shows good world building if your reason for a society’s change is because you say so.
This excerpt from the wiki defines how the weapons work in the first game, lore wise.
“..to generate ammunition a weapon shaves a projectile the size of a sand grain from a dense block of metal contained within the weapon's body. The projectile is launched at supersonic velocities by decreasing its mass in a mass effect field. Thousands of these tiny rounds can be produced from a single ammunition block.”
So, we have weapons launching small pieces of metal at an incredibly high speed and minimal work on the combatants, like reloading and jamming and such. The only downside you have is overheating, but with trigger discipline this can be easily avoided. You essentially have a combat ready rifle that can be used at a moments notice. Much of today’s militaries gear for the common soldier includes extra magazines, this technology would free up a solider to be more lightweight, have better protection, and so on.
In Mass Effect 2/3, thermal clips were introduced. They are essentially magazines for today, except the excuse is that excess heat is sent to this clip to be ejected. The wiki describes it as so:
“It was discovered that, in an age of kinetic barriers, most firefights were won by the side who could put the most rounds downrange the fastest. As such, detachable heat sinks, known as thermal clips, were adopted first by the geth, and shortly thereafter by organic arms manufacturers. Ammunition may never be a concern with modern arms, but the availability of thermal clips is; weapons without thermal clips have nowhere to disperse their heat and are incapable of firing.”
So, now we’ve brought back the hindrance of essentially magazines for a weapon, and in return we get slightly faster time to get back into action? I’m sorry, but this makes no sense. It’s so obviously a handicap to anyone in a firefight, and lore wise it makes no sense. I can’t imagine any military seeing the benefits of carrying technology that doesn’t even really improve their weapons at all. Logistically it even gets worse. Now every military has to carry around not only a gun, but enough thermal clips for their soldiers to use. I honestly can’t see any benefits.
Again, I know this was done for gameplay reasons. My view is that this is bad writing and legitimately doesn’t make sense. In the real world, this would never happen. No military or armed group would adopt a technology that does nothing but hold them back. If anyone needs more clarification, I will do my best to provide it.
| 31 |
I would argue you're just not looking at it in quite the right way. So thermal clips increase ability to put rounds downrange, yeah? Let's think of it as a simple math problem.
Soldier A has a coolant weapon, Soldier B has thermal clips. The weapons are otherwise identical.
Both of them fire downrange for, let's say 30 seconds.
Soldier A has put 30 rounds into the target in 30 seconds.
Soldier B has put 30 rounds into the target in 30 seconds.
Soldier A now has wait for the coolant effect to work, then resumes firing. Let's assume this takes 10 seconds to cool all the way.
Soldier B pops a thermal clip and is immediately back in, and fires as previous.
Soldier A has put 50 rounds into the target in 60 seconds.
Soldier B has now put 60 rounds into the target in 60 seconds.
That gap only grows as combat is sustained. And, as it clearly states in the lore, whomever fires the most rounds in the shortest amount of time usually wins. You could argue that's not necessarily something that's true, but here it is outright stated to be true. The burden of having to carry thermal clips is meaningless next to the fact that doing so makes you more likely to win any engagement. You could also argue that simply moderating the rate of fire would allow Soldier A to not have to worry about overheating, but then he's firing even -fewer- rounds while Soldier B is sending an unending hail of death downrange because he's just going to pop a thermal clip and immediately go all out again.
| 10 |
[Halo] Would two graveminds that developed independent of each other work together, combine into a singular gravemind, or fight each other to obtain resources the other controls?
| 28 |
There is only one Gravemind, though it may have many bodies. It is the overriding , malicious intelegence behing all flood, linking them together over unfathomable distances through the living consciousness of Space-Time.
Two bodies would work in concert, as two limbs of the same great beast. They could meld, increasing the mental capacity of the Graveminds manifestation, or spread out, so if one was destroyed the will of the Flood would remain manifest.
| 32 |
|
ELI5: How are school lockdowns effective?
|
In schools that I have attended, the protocol was to turn off the lights, close the blinds, and stand/sit in a corner of the class away from the door quietly. If all classrooms did this, how was this effective? Surely, the intruder knew that all the classrooms definitely weren't empty at the time and what if the intruder picked a random class? Wouldn't all the students be cornered off, which makes it easier for the intruder? (If shooting random students were his/her intentions.
| 38 |
It spaces student pretty evenly throughout the school and puts a barrier in front of every 30 or so.
Having students leave the building bottlenecks them to hallways, stairwells, and exits.
This also leaves hallways open for police to move around identify and engage the suspect
Once protocols go in effect the count down for the police has started so the best course of action is to kill time
Yes some rooms get screwed but the school on a whole does better
| 38 |
ELI5: How Do You Retain Memories if Cells Keep Dying?
|
If I understand biology correctly, you are not made up of the same cells you were 10 years ago or even 5 years ago. They're constantly dividing dying, etc.
How then are you able to retain memories if all of your neurons are dividing into new ones and then dying. Where is everything stored? Thanks.
| 88 |
The common trope of cells turning over every 7-odd years is just an average.
The lifespan of a cell will vary greatly depending on what kind of cell it is and where it’s located.
Your front-line cells in your skin and blood and stomach turn over every month or two.
The critical neurons and cardiac muscle cells in your brain and heart don’t turn over at all, and are likely to live as long as you do once the initial developmental stages have been completed.
A small number of new ones are created over your life to do some maintenance and whatnot, and a few will die randomly, but you won’t even come close fully turning over your heart or brain in one lifetime.
| 86 |
ELI5: How did we find out that black holes even exist, if they absorb everything near them (energy, matter, light, etc)?
| 22 |
We did not discover them by finding one, we worked out the math and possibility of them. The question of “what if you just keep making a star bigger” is intriguing, and when a smart enough person set out to figure it out (friggin Einstein), he was able to work out what one would behave like. We looked for the signs (accretion disks, gravitational lensing etc), and found them very recently in observations
| 25 |
|
[MCU] I'm a mental health professional in the MCU specializing in post-snap/post-return post-traumatic stress disorder. What are most of clients dealing with and how the hell do I convince them a normal life is even possible?
| 45 |
So the actual blip event didn’t appear to be particularly traumatic from the point of view of the blipped. Getting snapped, alarming and confusing as it might have been to watch their bodies fading into dust, didn’t actually appear to be particularly painful for most experiencing it.
The problem is afterwards, when they suddenly find themselves unsnapped back into existence five years later.
Children will have grown up. Significant others may have moved on. Homes may have been let or sold. Estates or accounts may have been modified, etc., etc.
The closest IRL analogue might be suddenly waking up from a five year coma, or suddenly returning from a castaway situation after everybody has already given you up for dead. The main thing is helping them navigate the economic, legal, and personal changes that come with essentially losing five years of time.
Ultimately each case is going to be unique, as is often the case. In this instance, it might be important to emphasize that they are emphatically and clearly *not* alone in having to deal with these things. “Blipped” support groups may be prevalent and helpful.
| 51 |
|
ELI5: How can Pandas survive on a diet of 99% Bamboo while humans have to eat a diverse range of food?.
|
Humans are told that they require various types of food to ensure optimum health. Why is it that Pandas are able to thrive on diets solely based on Bamboo when they are quite large animals.
| 155 |
Pandas are peculiar animals because they're anatomically carnivores, but they act like herbivores. The reason they're able to do this is because pandas have *symbiotic bacteria* in their digestive systems that allow them to digest something called *cellulose.* Cellulose is a chemical made up of many thousands of *glucose* molecules polymerized together. Most animals can only digest cellulose inefficiently, if at all. But pandas have those symbiotic bacteria in their guts that consume cellulose and excrete various other molecules which the pandas *can* digest.
Basically the way it must've happened is that many millions of years ago, the panda's ancestors had diets more similar to a typical modern-day bear, being opportunistic omnivores — meaning they ate pretty much the same kinds of foods humans can eat. But one particular ancestral proto-panda got infected with an intestinal bacterium and managed *not* to die from it, through some random genetic mutation that allowed it to tolerate those gut bacteria. That not-a-panda was able to digest cellulose more efficiently than its siblings, so it could get more nutrition out of plants like bamboo. Shake-and-bake for a few million years, and you have a type of bear which is adapted to live off cellulose as its primary source of energy.
| 110 |
[Star Wars] A Sith Apprentice would always have to kill his Master, as it is the only way of succession and a Sith Master can kill his apprectice if he found a stronger one. Has this always been the case?
|
So how can the Siths live with this, knowing full well that one day they will kill one another. I mean, why would they even bother training an apprentice if the master were to be killed by the apprentice?
Or is there a "Code" one that the Sith honors?
| 57 |
No.
Used to be that the Sith where a much larger organisation, or at least a loosely collected rabble of masters and their apprentices, however the constant inner fighting and backstabbing prevented any one individual from becoming too strong.
Power was shared, and while occasionally you'd have one rise above and get things done, it usually ended with them being cut down dozen lesser lords ganging up.
The rule of two was the idea that you had a master who had all the power, and an apprentice who craved it - when the time came for the the apprentice to usurp the master they should be stronger. It was a theory for a long time and practiced by many Sith however only became the primary doctrine after one Lord, Darth Bane, managed to get all the other Lords killed during the Battle of Ruusan - when the Jedi had all the remaining Sith Lords cornered, good 'ol Bane backstabbed the lot of them then went underground - for a long time the Jedi were convinced they had wiped the Sith out.
The idea behind the rule of two was Banes philosophy that the inner fighting made the Sith weak, that by only having two actual Sith at any one time consolidated power (and ensured they stayed hidden from the jedi), and that by having the apprentices strive overtake and eventually kill their masters theoretically this ensured that each Sith would be either more powerful than their predecessor... or at least more cunning.
Also note that killing the master wasn't necessary for the theory to work, but it became de jure due to the nature of the Sith.
| 66 |
[Lord of the Rings Two Towers] What was the great battle that took place in the bog ?
| 46 |
During the War of the Last Alliance that brought down Sauron at the end of the Second Age, the forces of Elendil and Gil-Galad met the forces of Sauron before the Black Gate, on what came to be known as the Dagorlad - the Battle Plain. The battle lasted months, but in the end the forces of the Alliance were victorious. Sauron's armies retreated to Barad-dûr, where they were besieged for ~~ten~~ seven years until, at the last of his reserves, Sauron himself came forth, and was destroyed.
The spirits in the Dead Marshes are the unquiet spirits of the dead who fell in that great battle before the Black Gate, where Sauron's armies were broken.
| 63 |
|
[MCU] So... is the Vision the only Avenger that hasn't killed a lot of people?
| 53 |
Has Thor ever killed any people? Frost Giants, aliens, dark elves, yes, but is there any reason to believe he's ever killed a human?
Not to say that Frost Giants aren't people or anything, just curious.
| 39 |
|
Why don’t clouds get blown apart?
|
How do clouds stay together in (mostly) the same shapes in high winds? Why doesn’t the wind just disperse the clouds like a cloud of smoke?
| 28 |
Wind itself wouldn't disperse smoke either, you need wind *shear*, which is a change in the wind's speed in the direction perpendicular to it, to disperse something. While us surface-dwellers encounter high wind shear almost any time there's wind due to the ground, trees, buildings, or just about anything else that gets in the way, high up in the atmosphere it's less extreme. From the perspective of a cloud being carried by winds with little to no wind shear, it might as well be staying still while everything else moves around it. Think of flying, headwinds and tailwinds high in the atmosphere can move very fast and make a big difference in flight times, but planes aren't constantly battered about by the high winds because all of the air is moving at basically the same speed. When there are sudden changes in wind speed the plane experiences turbulence.
| 18 |
Every computer program is compiled (or interpreted) by another program, called the compiler or interpreter. This includes compilers themselves. Is there a "common ancestor" compiler of all high-level programs today, and if so what is it?
|
I assume the first compilers were written by hand in machine code. Then subsequent compilers can be written in the language implemented by that first compiler, etc. Is there a single hand-written program that basically "birthed" all high-level code we use today?
| 1,100 |
No, not really. The methodology of programming is similar, but there is no single ancestor. You need to understand how the CPU works at the very low level. It fetches data from a memory location. That data contains a bunch of bits that represent an instruction. That instruction can be an add, multiply, jump to a memory location, etc. - a very simple operation. A CPU is really an ISA - an instruction set architecture. An ISA defines what all the different bits mean - what operation they represent. An x86 ISA is different from an ARM ISA - the different bits mean different things. (A CPU is a HW implementation of an ISA to be precise)
So, when you have a CPU, in order to get a program, you need to string a bunch of these data together. At first, sure, people would "write" them by hand. Then people realized that it's convenient to write small chunks of these instructions together into "procedures", which use multiple instructions to perform more complex tasks. At some point you create enough of these to create a compiler - a program that takes a text file (assembly or C), and emits the instructions for you. Then you can start writing a new compiler using the old compiler, etc. etc. Just a note that assembly is simply a more readable binary, and there is a 1:1 ratio of assembly to binary instructions. C needs to be parsed and broken down into simpler operations, but it's surprisingly close to assembly, to the point that some people call it a "more elegant way of writing assembly". This may be a stretch, but it's not a huge stretch.
Anyway, that's what would have to happen if you had the first CPU, but it's not what would happen today if you created a new ISA. If you create a new ISA and you want to write a compiler for it, you'd take an existing compiler on your PC, say, GCC, and you'd write the emitter portion for your ISA. The parts that parse the C/C++ text files are just fine - they don't need to change. The only part that needs to be implemented is the "back end" the very "last" portion that actually emits the instructions for the ISA. You'd have yourself a "cross compiler", because you'd run it on your PC, and use that CPU to generate the binary instructions for the new CPU. Once that's done, you could compile the compiler itself for your new ISA using the very same compiler on your PC, and run it on the new CPU! Fun, eh? These days, only very small ISA-specific bits are written using assembly - and it takes a very simple compiler to translate the mnemonics of the instructions into binary.
HTH
| 394 |
ELI5: Why does kissing feel good?
| 33 |
When you kiss someone, your brain begins to release 3 chemicals which make up something called dopamine. Dopamine makes us happy. One of those chemicals is called oxytocin which is the one that makes us become sexually aroused which then raises the other chemicals and just makes you super happy all around.
| 29 |
|
Can you explain 'Gödel Escher Bach - an Eternal Golden Braid' to me LI5?
| 24 |
It tries to answer a question about mind: "Does mind follow rules?" and the related "Is Artificial intelligence possible?"
While explaining this, Hofstadter references art, music and logic through the works of Escher, Bach and Godel.
Another important theme is the concept of what he calls **Strange loop**, for example "*this statement is false*", so something that refers to itself.
Every chapter has an introductory dialogue between Achille and the Tortoise. Another interesting fact about this book is that even though it is an essay it has many wordplays.
However this boook is surely too complex to be discussed here.
| 12 |
|
ELI5: Why do no companies make battery operated kitchen appliances?
|
almost all major tool companies make lithium-ion powered tools, many have a universal battery to power everything from drills to tablesaws. Why then are there no companies with a similar system; all my appliances are mains-powered...
| 47 |
Why would you want that? A kitchen utensil is pretty much guaranteed to stay in the kitchen, and usually there are loads of power sockets there... Batteries are expensive, heavy, and have to be charged regularly. What advantage would it give you?
| 100 |
ELI5: World's wealth is growing at 2.5% rate. How is this possible? Where does "new" money come from if "everybody" is wealthier now?
| 700 |
Money is one thing, which /u/K3zzeR covered, but actual, tangible wealth is another thing that can also increase. With every person born, the world's labour force increases, and more work can be done. New resources can be discovered and used, new goods and services can be invented, automation can allow less workers to generate more products, etcetera.
| 339 |
|
Do children who speak different languages all start speaking around the same time, or do different languages take longer/shorter to learn?
|
Are some languages, especially tonal languages harder for children to learn?
| 2,542 |
Basically, all the languages in the world have approximately the same difficulty level, so you'll see that child language development happens at the same rate regardless of the language being learned. It just seems to us that some languages are harder because of how different they are from the language we grew up with.
A child under six months has the ability to distinguish between phonemes that an adult would not be able to. After that six month mark (approximately. It varies from person to person) the brain starts to recognize the specific phonemes it needs to learn the language it's exposed to. Simply put, it cuts out the phonemes it doesn't need, which is why as an adult, it's much harder to learn a language with a lot of phonemic differences from your own.
| 1,150 |
ELI5 Why do SSRIs take up to 2 weeks to kick in, but only 2-3 days to wear off?
| 28 |
Imagine an empty swimming pool being filled with a hose. To be allowed to dive, you must fill the pool to the 8 foot mark, so you put a plug in the drain. It takes many hours to fill up 8 feet of water. The water level needs to rise 8 feet, to reach the 'effective level'.
It's now 8' 1".
Someone removed the drain plug. The water level only needs to fall more than an inch before it goes below the 'effective level, where it's not allowed to dive.
Also, the drain is letting water out faster than the hose brings water in. So it only takes a few minutes before it's not safe to dive again.
In this analogy, the SSR inhibitor is the drain plug.
| 21 |
|
[Ren and Stimpy] Is "Log" really just a piece of wood well marketed at children or is there a legitimate function "Log" provides that the discerning consumer cannot live without in these trying times?
| 29 |
It has many legitimate functions including:
* It rolls down stairs, alone or in pairs.
* It rolls over your neighbor's dog.
* It's great for a snack.
* It fits on your back.
* It's big.
* It's heavy.
* It's wood.
* It's better than bad.
* It's good.
| 59 |
|
ELI5: why is 12 volts very common? Why not 11 or 9 volts?
| 16 |
The voltages produced by a single cell of a battery is determined by the battery chemistry. For lead-acid, this is ~1.5V. 8 of those cells produce 12V.
In terms of "why not 11 volts?", you can't build an 11V battery from a cardinal number of 1.5V batteries. In terms of "why not 9 volts?", it's simply a matter of the people who standardized battery sizes back in the early 20th Century deciding it that way. In theory, we could just as easily have square batteries that produce 9V instead of rectangular ones that produce 12V if they had decided differently.
Once these standards were established, there's an incentive for manufacturers to simply use what the market offers unless there's a compelling reason to do otherwise.
EDIT: It's actually 8 1.5V cells that produce 12V, not 6.
| 20 |
|
[Harry Potter] If I look at one of the moving paintings with a good magnifying lens while they're moving, would I see the paint itself moving, or just changing colors?
|
Or would it be something more trippy, like having the motion neurons activated while the conventional image neurons are not perceiving any change or vice-versa? What if I touched the painting, would I feel the texture of the layers of paint changing as they morph into new strokes? Would I feel my skin being dragged along the direction of motion?
Do the motions apply any forces to the canvas fabric itself?
| 308 |
A paintings are materially non-homogenous. Colors are of uneven thickness, different materials, and often formed by layers of paint. As such, the materials would need to be moving or transmuting in place, of the two, the first seems much easier. The top layer is likely a varnished for preservation, masking movement. Even bare, the movement may likely be so subtle it would not be easy to feel most of it. Although a big glop or thick edge you can feel when it is not moving would be more obvious when it is.
Interestingly, thinking on this strongly hints the background is painted first, then the portrait on top. So when it moves there is no blank spot.
​
Interestingly, an actual photograph would have originally homogeneous materials altered to different states. So in their case chemical state-changes would be the easier way to go and there would be nothing to feel except, perhaps, heat.
| 76 |
[Elderscrolls: Online] What caused the Imperial City to rotate 30 degrees to the left?
| 35 |
The Elder Scrolls are all legends! Surely you don't believe that, every few hundred years, one being, who's race and gender change depending on the story teller, comes into great physical and magical power as well as leads one or more guilds, and then vanishes from memory? If the story of how Emperor Martin fought and banished a Deadra Lord with the help of a ever-changing partner who is a male Nord in Bruma and a female Argonian in Leyawiin is of no concern than worrying about where the South gate lets out relative to Bravil isn't much worry. Focus on the moral of the legends.
| 23 |
|
ELI5: How does a camera sensor detect an image?
| 16 |
It is both very simple and very complex. First, it can be helpful to know about an extremely simple type of old-fashioned film camera called a pinhole camera.
A pinhole camera is simply a piece of film in a tightly sealed box. On the side of the box opposite of the film, there is a small pinhole that is covered. When you want to take a picture, you uncover the pinhole for a moment, the cover it again. You then take the camera to somewhere dark, remove the film, and develop it. (Developing film involves using chemicals to finish the film, to prevent additional light from damaging the image.) Then, you can look at the film to see the picture. However, you will notice that the picture is upside-down.
The reason it is upside down is that the light travels from the light source, bounces off the thing your are photographing, then goes in all directions, but all of the rays, after they bounce off the thing, go in a straight line. Some of that bounced light goes toward the camera, and some of it goes into the pinhole. Each ray of light travels in that goes in can only hit one small part of the film. So, the light that bounces off your subject's foot has to go straight through the pinhole of the camera, and keeps going upward to hit the "top" of the film, and the light from the subject's head goes downward to get through the pinhole and hits the "bottom" of the film. Each individual part of the subject gets photographed on an individual part of the film.
Something like this:
HEAD \ / FOOT
BODY - * - BODY
FOOT / \ HEAD
Now, you could get a new piece of film, and cut your film in half, put it in the pinhole camera and take your picture. You would end up with two halves of the picture. Then, you could put the two halves together and have the full picture.
You could keep cutting it in half and in half again, to where you have hundreds of little squares of film, then put all those little squares in the pinhole camera. (You would have to be careful, and number the pieces, etc. Let us ignore that and just imagine it words as expected.) The light from the subject's toe would bounce off, and go through the pinhole to hit just the "toe" part of the film. The light from the subject's head would hit lots of pieces of film in the "head" area of the layout of all the little pieces. When you took all the little pieces and put them together, you will still end up with the same entire picture.
Now, to get to the actual answer to your question. Replace the hundreds of little pieces of film in the previous step with hundreds of electronic sensors that can see light, and can tell the brightness or dimness of that light. Wire them all up so that each sensor is connected to one of hundreds of lightbulbs on a large board. The toe "light" will light up, but will be a slightly different amount than the space right next to it, which would be the shadow between it and the next toe. The "head" area of lights would light up, but would show the brightness of the nose and forehead, and the shadow of the eyes and under the nose. Blonde hair would show up brighter than darker hair, and so on.
From that, you can get ever better sensors that are smaller, placed closer together, and replace your lightbulbs with smaller lightbulbs that are also closer together to get an even better picture.
Lastly, you could replace each sensor with three sensors. Each "first" sensor would have a filter over it that only allowed red light through, but would still allow the sensor to detect the brightness of that red light. The second would have a green filter, and the third would have a red filter. On your board of lightbulbs, each bulb would be replaced by three bulbs, colored red, green, and blue. Now, the amount of red light coming from your subject's toe would hit the three "toe" sensors, but only the red sensor would see it. Same for green and blue. The board would light up the same combination of red, green, and blue, and you would get a replica of the toe's color.
You could then take that setup, and replace the board of lightbulbs with a digitizer that records the values of red, green, and blue light that come from each sensor, and store it to a file. You could then add another digital-to-analog device that could read that file, and turn on and off the lightbulbs on the board to replicate the picture from the "recording".
Add years of technology advancements, miniaturization, and replace the board of lightbulbs with small LCD/LED displays, and you have the modern camera.
| 10 |
|
ELI5:If there are an infinite number of universes, wouldn’t there be one where a machine was invented that could travel to ours?
| 347 |
Well there's the idea that an infinite number of something doesn't mean every variation of it is possible. For example, there are an infinite number of numbers between 1 and 2, but none of them are 3, because it isn't possible.
| 596 |
|
[Batman] Is the Ventriloquist insane, or is the scarface doll he has sentient?
|
In *The Batman* cartoon, the Ventriloquest and Scarface doll seem like their both sentient at times. At times it seems Scarface is controlling him, while at other times scarface seems just like a split personality of the ventriloquist. So what is it?
| 72 |
The Ventriloquist is insane. Anytime the Ventriloquist does something he doesn't want to he is arguing with himself. It's been awhile since I've seen those though. Does something happen that contradicts insanity as the explanation?
(Out of universe: it's important to note the character is based on theories of mental illness that have since come under heavy professional criticism but were "in vogue" during the show's run)
| 60 |
ELI5: Why do lions live in prides if cats in general are solitary animals?
|
EDIT: Wow, was not expecting so many responses!
This is probably a separate question altogether, but every pride I've seen in a nature documentary has one male and a bunch of females. Does that mean that there a whole lot of single males roaming the savannah? Or do these males necessary get killed off by other dominant males? Seems like that would create a bit of a gene pool situation, no?
| 60 |
They are different species which have evolved different patterns of behavior. Those behaviors persist because they are successful. A pride of lions, for instance, can bring down prey that would be difficult or impossible for a single lion to bring down.
Your house cat is not descended from a lion, or vice versa, though they share a common ancestor.
I will note, however, that cats do congregate into groupings at times, so called feral cat colonies, depending upon the availability of food.
| 53 |
ELI5 what does the death of Kim Jong-il mean for North Korea/the rest of the world?
| 360 |
It's very hard to say at this point. There is very little information out about Kim Jong-un and we have no clue whether the regime will be better or worse under him. One of the many problems that analysts have outlined is that it isn't just the outside world that is unfamiliar with Kim Jong-un. Most North Koreans, outside of his name, aren't familiar with the successor either. Analysts say that this could lead to the government making drastic moves in order to make the North Korean people embrace the new ruler and the most obvious way in which a North Korean leader can gain approval is through aggression towards South Korea. Another cause for concern is the issue of having a power vacuum in a state possessing nuclear weapons. No one is sure as of right now whether North Korea is even dealing with a power vacuum as Kim Jong-Il's illness was well known and Kim Jong-un was being prepared to succeed his father. However, if there is, this situation could lead to disaster as potentially, many people could have access to these nuclear weapons.
EDIT: Another interesting note that may or may not be important in predicting what Kim Jong-un's regime will be like is the fact that he was educated at an international school in Berne, separating him from his NK-educated father and grandfather. This could mean that he will have more western principles and as a result, he might not be as radical as his predecessors.
| 132 |
|
ELI5: How are nuclear weapons tests underground without destroying the land around them or the facilities in which they are conducted?
|
**edit** FP? ;o
Thanks for the insight everyone. Makes more sense that it's just a hole more than an actual structure underground
| 9,753 |
An underground nuclear test is essentially a bomb in a deep hole or mine shaft. It goes boom, a portion of the surrounding ground is vaporized, and a lot more is superheated. If the hole is deep enough (it should be, as we've done this sort of thing for a while) all the radioactivity and the blast is contained underground. Kind of like having a tiny balloon pop in your hands. The noise is muffled, the rubber doesn't go anywhere, and everything is cool.
| 4,400 |
[Judge Dredd] Why are/were there Councillors and politicians in Judge Dredd?
|
I've been reading *JUDGE DREDD: THE XXX FILES* and just reached the issue titled "Sleaze. In it,Dredd busts a councillor and a lobbyist exchanging a bribe. I thought there wasn't any real form of Democracy in Mega City One and that the Judges more or less held most of the power. Am I wrong? They had mayors and committees in previous issues I read,but it seemed like their power only extended to really trivial bullshit. However in this one it makes it seem like they can do things of value. So if there are mayors and councilors,what exactly can they do? How much power do the judges hold Vs. the politicians?
| 26 |
There is nothing inherently democratic about mayors and councilors.
A councilor is just a member of a council, which is an advisory, deliberative, or legislative body of people formally constituted and meeting regularly. Mayors, as we know them, are traditionally elected, but there is nothing stopping people from using the term to simply describe someone that "rules" or administrates over a municipality of some size. "Politicians" exist in all governments.
Chances are that these are terms that are simply hold-overs from the language used in pre-war life, and their "powers" would vary greatly
| 19 |
What is instantaneous periodicity?
|
There of course is an average "velocity" which is simply displacement upon time. Or there is an instantaneous velocity, or v = dx/dt. However, I have never understood what instantaneous frequency is? For example, if frequency is expressed as a function, then it gives me the frequency at a point of time. I am not sure what it means. For a given data signal, what is the frequency at a point in time? Doesn't frequency require a notion of periodicity? How do we define a period (or wavelength, or any other wave property) at a point in time?
I apologize in advance if this question is ridiculous or I have gotten things way too wrong.
| 59 |
Frequency is change in phase over change in time (with a factor of 2π):
mean(f) = (1/2π) Δϕ/Δt
Instantaneous frequency is just the infinitesimal limit of this (the same as with average velocity vs instantaneous velocity):
f = (1/2π) dϕ/dt
You can try this with SHM: x = cos(ωt), where ωt = ϕ. You get f = ω/2π, which is the standard result.
| 14 |
[Matrix] Why could Neo fly, but the rest and even Agent Smith could'nt?
| 84 |
Agent Smith learned how to in Matrix Revolutions. As for why the others can't it's probably because they can't rewrite the laws of the Matrix in the same way Neo can. As Morpheus says in the first movie the Matrix has rules like gravity, some can be bent other can be broken. Neo can break all of them though.
Edit: It's the same reason he can stop bullets in the air. He can basically just go "fuck you, those bullets are standing still in the air" and make it so.
| 81 |
|
Is there a reason why bigger animals tend to have bigger eyes. What advantage is it having eyes in proportion to body size?
| 183 |
Bigger eyes generally mean better visual resolution and better light-gathering abilities. It's basically the same reason that big telescopes are better than small ones. For example, on the reef at dawn and dusk big predators come out to hunt. They have the advantage over small reef fish because their larger eyes allow them to see better in the dim light.
So big animals basically just have bigger eyes because they _can_. You couldn't stick a human sized eye on a mouse, because the poor thing would be about half eyeball. But there are diminishing returns, and eyeball size levels off. Cows are a lot bigger than people, but their eyes aren't all that much bigger. The animal with the largest eye of all, the giant squid, hunts in deep dark water and needs extra-large eyes to see. The much larger blue whale has smaller eyes, due to the fact that it doesn't rely on vision, especially vision in dark water, nearly as much.
| 116 |
|
[DC] When Krypto is around different colours of Kryptonite he just uncontrollably does standard dog things. When Superman is around Kryptonite he just fucking dies. Does this mean Krypto is stronger than Superman?
| 161 |
I mean, when *you're* around kryptonite, it does absolutely nothing. You can rub it on your face all day long. Does that make you stronger then both?
Krypto is a different species to Superman, and is affected differently by different things. Superman is still stronger, even if he has a biological weakness a dog doesn't share.
| 93 |
|
[Marvel] Why doesn't the Red Hulk have a mustache?
|
Thaddeus Ross has a big white mustache. However, when he transforms into the Red Hulk, the mustache disappears. How do we explain this? Shouldn't the Red Hulk have a mustache?
| 73 |
One theory is that the red hulk, like the green hulk, is a completely separate body from the host. This means any similarities between the two bodies is purely coincidence and not telling of how either the host or the hulk will or should look.
So basically he looks different because he is different.
Edit: the theory is further supported by Thaddeus' head hair being gray, while Red Hulk's is black.
| 39 |
[WH40K] So what was the plan after humanity took over the galaxy?
|
What did the Emperor have planned once humans took over the entire galaxy?
| 15 |
Guide the natural evolution of humanity to a point where they would all be as individually powerful as he was. The Primarchs and the Emperor are genetic blips that show humanity what its own future contains.
| 26 |
Will an object rotating in a vacuum which has no contact with another external object, rotate infinitely or will it gradually lose its speed?
|
Until yesterday, I thought if there is no friction force with a rotating object, it will never lose its spin, but I read somewhere that even under such conditions, the object will gradually slow down (but the reason was not specified). So, which force slows the rotation speed?
Moreover, does the Earth lose its average (sidereal) rotation speed in time?
| 29 |
An asymmetrical (around the axis) rotating object will radiate gravitational waves (symmetrical ones will only drag space without radiating), but that would take billions of years to have an effect on most objects.
| 40 |
[Star Wars/general Sci-fi] Interplanetary Internet?
|
Persay I want to play space WoW with my friend, I live on Coruscant, he lives on Corellia, is this even possible? Can i email my crazy estranged uncle on tatooine?
In BSG how would I keep in contact with a friend on one of the other colonies?
Same thing for other mainstream sci-fi universes?
| 18 |
In Star Wars, they have an interstellar Holonet, connecting at least all of the core world, and with limited access beyond.
In BSG, interplanetary communication is typically conducted through couriers, or laser burst communication. It is not real time and suffers from some significant delays.
In 40k... No one really has access to anything like an Interplanetary Internet. Even the Eldar and Necrons didn't have it.
Starcraft has limited interplanetary networking, but again even the Protoss typically use couriers to convey important information to their colonies.
| 24 |
ELI5: If the brain signals for moving your hand and thinking of moving your hand are the same, what is the physiological difference that causes your hand to actually move?
|
Edit: In a Tom Scott video, he was describing an experiment on a zero-g flight by some neuro researchers testing their CBIs in zero-gravity. One of the researchers said the brain signal for moving your hand and thinking of moving your hand is the same hence my question.
| 30 |
The main reason thinking about moving does not move your arm is the 'strength of the signal'. Ie that you just *thought* about it is not enough for movement. The signals (electrical messages) your brain have to reach a particular threshold for actual movement.
What is really cool is that there is growing research into computer technology that can help with this eg for people with spinal cord injuries. They can move robotic prosthetics by just *thinking* about moving them.
| 15 |
[Pacific Rim] what does it mean when a Jaeger runs on an Analog System
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I was going over the field reports about the hong kong incident. A Kaiju used an emp like device that knocked out all electronics in Jaegers, The Shatterdome, and the immediate vicinity.
Only Gypsy Danger was able to operate due to running on an analog system, compared to others which ran on a digital system. Despite being packed full of electronics, which weren't fried somehow, gypsy danger repelled the attack. Why wasn't Gypsy Danger's electronics fried and whats difference between analog and digital jaegers?
| 51 |
Gipsy Danger had self-contained power plants. Believe it or not, the newer Jaegers actually ran on hugely advanced power cells, which were fried when the EMP-ish attack went off. Basically, the EMP blasted anything with active electrical current in it at the time of the explosion. Gipsy was powered down. Further, Gipsy, because it had dual nuclear reactors rather than power cells, was capable of powering up post-blast without being repaired and recharged (as Striker was before the next deployment). The term "analog" used in the reports is apparently internal Shatterdome slang for that type of older power system.
| 35 |
[Pacific Rim] Is there a reason Jaegers fight without any support?
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By support I mean an array of drones/boats to do surveillance, drop flares, missiles, smoke, etc.
Main battle tanks go into battle fully supported but giant billion dollar robots can't get any?
By that I mean, why would a jaeger ever fight fair?
They should be supported by drones and planes dropping flares/smoke almost constantly on kaijus eyes to confuse it.
If a kaiju is gaining advantage in a fight, a good old Tomahawk missile to the face would give the Jaeger a chance to recover.
Why don't they implement this? They can field thousand tons robots just fine, I'm sure logistics can support dozens of even hundreds of drones for each Jaeger.
I know Jaegers could just carry more weapons but that wouldn't get the effect of a Kaiju getting hits from multiple angles.
| 21 |
The kaiju aren't monsters, they're weapons. Think of them as such.
The first monster to emerge faced conventional warfare like you're positing above; planes, drones, tanks, the works. And when it finally fell, the creators would've taken note and improved it. For us, the kaiju would have fun little nicknames. But for the creators, it'd be Human Killer v1.03, v1.5, v2, and on down the line, with each one featuring improvements over the last. I'd guess that past a certain point, design elements came to include modifications and improvements that rendered such aid completely and utterly useless.
Consider that within a few years, the kaiju were able to launch an EMP that took out modern Jaegers, the only things that posed any real threat to them. How long would it realistically take to nullify anything weaker?
| 28 |
[Portal] If one were to weld a pipe, end-to-end through portals, then close the portals, where would the pipe cut off?
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Would it change size?
What if it was vertical and an object were to fall through it, why are there no infinite energy generators in portal?
| 21 |
It gets cut at the portal. The section of the pipe that's in the orange portal is the same as the blue portal, that's how the portal works.
So it gets cut there and the pipe is the same size as it ever was.
You can do infinite falling objects with properly oriented portals.
| 26 |
ELI5: Why do many African Americans speak Ebonics while most French speaking Africans in former colonies speak clear, standard French?
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African Americans have been speaking English in their regional variation for many generations now, but I've found that most African French speakers use clear, standardized French in countries such as Senegal. Although their may be some regional words, most people speak the textbook version of French. In Haiti, French has been changed a lot as it is mixed with Creole expressions even though some words sound very similar, such as
"Bonju" and "Bonswa"
| 34 |
Ebonics (which is more properly called African-American Vernacular English) has had more time to develop. Black people have been living in America for close to 400 years, and that's a lot of time to evolve their own distinctive dialect of English. French speakers in Africa are more recent, only about the last 125 years or so. Furthermore, many of those French speakers don't use French as their primary language in day to day life, French is the language they use when talking to people from outside their community, but inside their communities and neighborhoods, most still retain their local languages. Most people in Africa (and in many other places around the world) are bilingual and trilingual, using different languages for different social situations.
Haiti is actually more similar to the American case. French has been the language there for three hundred years. And over the centuries, African languages and French comingled and evolved and became the new language called Haitian Creole which actually sounds very different from traditional French. In Haiti, most people speak Creole in their day-to-day lives but Standard French is the official language of government and education. Unlike America however, Haitian Creole is so distinct that many would argue it qualifies as its own language, separate from French. Whereas African-American Vernacular English and so-called "Standard American English" are clearly just two dialects of the same language and speakers of either dialect can easily understand each other, whereas a Creole speaker and a French speaker might actually have a little difficulty understanding each other (except most Creole speakers also know Standard French anyway).
| 29 |
ELI5: Why I have to sign my credit card receipt when I can scribble just anything on there?
| 34 |
The signature isn't about confirming that you are you. They're never going to check your signature against the one on your card or the one on your credit card contract.
In short? A receipt, in itself, is a contract between you and the person you're buying from. You can make any mark on the line and it legally constitutes a signature. By signing the receipt, you're signing a contract agreeing to the charges listed on the receipt. Two copies exist so that they can make sure you don't underpay them, and so that you can make sure they don't overcharge you.
| 20 |
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ELI5: What's the diffrence between diffrent bloodtypes?
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I'm just a little curious.
| 18 |
Interesting username.
Anyways, all cells, including red blood cells have signalling chemicals on them so other cells, namely your immune system, can identify that cell as yours, as oppose to an invader cell.
For the sake of an insane analogy, imagine each blood type was a language that only that cell spoke. Your immune system is a gun-tooting bigot and if any cell speaks the wrong language, it's going to shoot it. We don't want the immune system shooting our blood and killing it, so that's why we make sure that a person only receives a compatible blood-type. Like all uneducated bigots, some blood types/languages are similar enough to your blood type/language that your immune system/bigots can't tell the difference, and won't try to kill them.
| 44 |
ELI5: Why do people go bald on the top of their head and still have some on the sides and not vice-versa?
| 5,642 |
While many say it's just genetics, there isn't enough data to give a conclusive answer. Of course, genetics play a large role in everything. There is some evidence that mechanical stress is involved in the common pattern of male pattern baldness. The skin on the temples and crown of the scalp are "tighter" than the other parts. This causes more stress in these areas, and may be why people tend to bald in these spots first.
We do know that mechanical stress itself can cause balding, because of a condition called traction alopecia. Women who pull their hair tight constantly may lose hair this way.
| 1,284 |
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[Pokemon] Why are paved roads so rare?
| 15 |
Trainers on their first Pokemon adventure are usually too young to drive, and are encouraged to stick to pedestrian paths and bike trails. Besides, the nation's highways are elevated with all tall grass cleared far away from the road to prevent collisions with Pokemon.
| 28 |
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[Star Trek: The Next Generation] Starfleet developed a Borg-disabling virus in the form of a seemingly paradoxical geometric design. Why didn't they incorporate that design into all of their uniforms, ship designs, et cetera?
| 24 |
It'd probably only work once, and Data and Geordi explained it *couldn't exist in our space-time*. They were going to install it on a part of Hugh's optical analysis computer thingemy, so that it would bypass the usual filters etc, and get passed around the Collective as an unsolvable puzzle. The shape would also spawn anomalous solution, or there was an additional viral payload that would do so, gradually becoming bigger and more unstable and branching out into many different systems.
Edit: To clarify, that shape couldn't exist, but the Borg would register as it existing, so there'd be an ever-increasing amount of memory and computation resources devoted to finding out how it can exist when every known law of reality states it cannot, and tests also state it cannot, yet their systems register it as being perceived. It might also exploit the Borg's interest in novel information, as they might not stop such an analysis. Along with that there's a viral payload or malware that introduces anomalous data that must also be analysed, but attempts to analyse it will result in ever more complex and pressing solutions that overflow into other systems, destabilizing them.
And the thing with the Borg, is that when they assimilate you they learn everything you learn. If you knew about the paradoxical shape they'd scan your mind, realize what you were doing, and patch their systems so that approach would never work again.
| 67 |
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[Star wars] Where did grievous get his first lightsaber.
| 46 |
From the corpse of a Jedi of course. The first of many in his collection.
It's not like it's impossible to kill one, Jango Fett killed several on Geonosis. Grevious likely took his first one fighting Jedi in the Huk War.
| 96 |
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ELI5: How did the US "accidentally" bomb a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan? I know that mistakes can be made, but that seems like a pretty big mistake to me.
| 18 |
Well. The story has changed a bit.. the afghans called in a fire support mission on the hospital, because they said they were taking fire from it. So we bombed it for them. ( the fire support missions are supplied by the us, but the targets are supplied by the Afghan military ) this is probably also why, the afghans weren't rioting in the streets to kill America like every other time we bomb something in their country. They were awful quiet after this which suprised analysts and news media.
Edit: BY the way, the afghans didn't identify the target as a hospital when they called for us to hit it. Were they taking fire and did they know it was a hospital when they called it in? No one seems to know.
| 21 |
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How does spin allow objects to fly straight? Bullets and frisbees for example.
| 26 |
When an object spins around an axis, that spinning force will resist any changes in orientation. This will help the bullet keep pointing in the same direction (forward) so that it remains aerodynamic instead of just flapping randomly and deviating. Same thing with the frisbee, it will stay horizontal instead of wobbling and deviating.
| 17 |
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How do we determine the intelligence of an animal?
| 39 |
We apply an arbitrary human-centric metric to it. Seriously.
Have you ever heard that 'dolphins are as smart as a third-grader" or "ravens can figure out more complex puzzles than the average 10-year old"? We can't measure a species' intelligence as that species because we value human traits. Unless we create a metric that measures a dog's ability to retrieve food or an elephant's ability to protect its young from a lioness or a chimpanzee's capacity for safely recovering its position in a tree when its branch breaks, measuring the intelligence of other animals is futile.
Forcing an animal to do a human task and measuring its ability to complete that task and, therefore, its perceived intelligence on a human-centric scale isn't the same as measuring that animal's intelligence.
| 14 |
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ELI5: Why is the British Pound worth much more than the USD, when it seems like the equivalent goods cost the same face value amount?
| 100 |
Point of sale costs, government services and methods of taxation all matter.
When you buy X in the UK you're buying all of the labour along the chain. So if the guy who delivers the package to the store, the store clerk etc. all get paid more in the UK you're paying more money for the same product otherwise.
It's not easy to compare "The US" to "The UK" either. Costs in New York or London are relevant to averages, but you shouldn't compare the cost in London versus say Texas.
Then you get into other 'costs'. If you need healthcare in the UK the government has your back. For that about 10% of GDP covers everyone in the country and provides better care. In the US if you need healthcare the government might have your back (~7% of GDP) but might not, at which point you pay out of pocket or have private insurance (~10% of GDP). And lots of stuff like that. This means the average british person is paying more in taxes towards healthcare, but less money overall for healthcare (and getting better care) compared to the average american.
Then you have just straight up cultural differences. Comparing the price of a can of coke between the two places isn't necessarily indicative of 'typical beverage' because the british and americans consume different things. This applies to cars and houses and expensive stuff too.
So what you do is you start doing complex averaging. So you add up all the stuff people spend money on, housing, transport, food, healthcare, education (including post secondary), entertainment, power, telecoms etc. and you say what does 30 000 pounds in income get you in the UK versus 51KUSD in the US? And currencies float up and down because these are constantly being reassessed and constantly have many factors playing a part, and in the end it's just an average anyway. Because 51K in New York city is not the same as 51K in Plano Texas, and 30K GBP in London is not the same as 30K GBP in Northern Ireland.
Oh and how you do taxes is tricky. The EU is big on value added tax (which is about 22% on average or something), and looks a lot like a sales tax, whereas the US has more income tax. Some countries are borrowing more than others to provide services etc.
**TL:DR** there's no simple 1:1 comparison. It's about the average of all of the spending that happens, which requires considering a LOT of data about a lot of different things.
| 35 |
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[MCU]Could Hela escape Strange's Mirror Dimention?
| 57 |
Doubtful. The Sorcerer Supreme herself seemed dependent upon a sling ring to escape, as did all of the Masters. Strange is still wearing the ring as of *Infinity War*.
Combine that with the fact that Hella needs to Bifrost to travel between worlds, and lacks the innate ability to summon it herself, and it's a pretty good bet that she'd be trapped there, just like she was trapped by Odin.
| 50 |
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ELI5: Why do our eyes jolt around when looking around, instead of smooth transitions?
| 23 |
Your brain actually conveniently "forgets" the inbetween. You saw what was there, but your mind didn't "play" the transition. This is because when your eye darts around, there is a fast blur. Because seeing blurs all the time is annoying junk information to the brain, you end up seeing and remembering only the clear views from before and after your eye started moving. However the stuff you "didn't see" wasn't lost. You can remember "seeing" objects your eye passed over, even though your mind didn't show you exactly what it was in that instant blur. You can notice things you never explicitly looked at.
| 25 |
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[Star Trek] Why did the Picard family vineyard move to the completely opposite side of France at some point between the 20th and 24th centuries? Does the climate of Bordeaux no longer support grape production?
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As of the 20th Century, [Chateau Picard](https://www.mahler-besse.com/en/chateau-picard/) was located in Saint-Estèphe, which makes sense as Bordeaux is basically the wine capital of France (and, dare I say, **the world**). However, in the 24th Century the Picard wines are produced in La Barre, which is [clear across the country](https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Saint-Est%C3%A8phe,+France/La+Barre,+France/@46.4734854,0.4594948,7z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x4801c62dffb2b139:0x40665174816d8c0!2m2!1d-0.7717824!2d45.2648099!1m5!1m1!1s0x479285d587633b03:0x409ce34b30f1430!2m2!1d6.1795289!2d47.404742!3e0).
What caused the move? Bordeaux was a notable wine-producing region for centuries (some might say since Roman times). Climate change? Economics? Marriage? War?
Have other wine producers moved, or is this a unique circumstance of the Picard family?
Even more confusingly, Picard wines are still entitled to the [Bordeaux AOC designation](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/images/1/1a/Maurice_picard-winemaking_certificate_of_excellence-2305.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20051001054025&path-prefix=en). Does that imply that the vineyard in Saint-Estèphe still exists, or that the entire Bordeaux AOC has been moved to the area around La Barre?
| 27 |
France was especially devastated in the Third World War. After the world descended into an exhausted peace, the UK, in a ~~blatant act of petty revenge~~ noble humanitarian gesture, in a took it upon itself to reconstruct France. Unfortunately, the British brought their cuisine and knowledge of winemaking with them, and so 24th century French wine is not the magnificent distillation of French culture it once was, but rather poorly-imitated English swill.
This also explains why Picard speaks with a cut-glass English accent even though he grew up in France.
| 35 |
CMV: While both groups deserve full rights and protections, LGB and TQ+ are separate communities facing different challenges.
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The first group is about the right to love whoever you want. It wants protections so that the only people who care who is in your bed are the consenting adults in it. It needs for society to normalize relationship with a different combination of genders than the traditional male/female
The second is about the right to bodily and executive autonomy. It's about the right to reconcile your vision of yourself with your reality. It wants protections so that the only person who can determine your identity is yourself. It needs for society to accept that you are the sole judge of what you can do with your body and how you live your life.
This of course doesn't mean that there isn't overlap between the groups, but people are more than just one thing.
While both fights for rights are equally important I think that bundling them together muddies the waters and makes it harder to address the very real issues these communities face.
| 2,794 |
Feel free to head back in time to tell the bigots obsessed with gender and what it all means and convince them to separate them, then. A big part of why they're grouped together is because the people targeting them, who also happened to hold a lot more power in society, grouped them together simply because every single one of them weren't acting how their gender said they should. Which kind of sums it up: they're all about gender.
I also fail to see where waters have been muddied. Oftentimes, the people pushing to separate them are simply interested in separating trans people from the wider community to make it easier to attack them.
| 1,075 |
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