post_title stringlengths 5 304 | post_text stringlengths 0 37.5k | post_scores int64 15 83.1k | comment_text stringlengths 200 9.61k | comment_score int64 10 43.3k |
|---|---|---|---|---|
[Skyrim] Why is the Dragonborn allowed to be the highest ranking member of so many guilds after only joining for a few days? | 182 | Well in Skyrim nearly all these guilds are actually on their knees.
The Companions just had their leadership wiped out and were subject to a long lived curse that the Dragonborn happened to clear. Of the remaining circle members do any of them strike you as leadership material? The dude literally foreseen by their old... | 196 | |
CMV: Satan is the hero of the Bible. | I’m speaking purely in a literary sense interpreting the Bible as a narrative. I’m not religious I’m not a Christian or satanist. To me this is like discussing whether Hector or Achilles is the protagonist of the Iliad. This is not a novel idea. Paradise Lost essentially frames Satan as the protagonist but I think if ... | 29 | First, the Bible is a collection of disparate texts written by different authors in different centuries in different cultural contexts. Attempting to read it as if it is a unified whole is basically a theological viewpoint ("God-breathed scripture").
With that in mind, note that there isn't really a 'Satan' in the Ta... | 41 |
ELI5: How did the Israel, Palestine & Gaza Strip situation actually come about and develop? | Apologies if this is and should be obvious to many already. However, I follow the contemporary news cycles on this important and controversial Middle Eastern situation, but I often feel that reports on it assume that all viewers/readers already have an in depth prior knowledge of all that has come before, and how this ... | 299 | You need to go back hundreds, if not thousands of years, really. But the ELI5 version is that you have two Peoples living in a very small area that really, really don't like each other. Both think that land is their Birthright, and they're carrying over generations of hatred. There's a huge circle of violence going on,... | 127 |
Do you burn more calories as an exercise goes on? | For example say do I burn more calories on the last squat of the set versus the first squat of the set.
I'm curious because you are struggling more as the exercise goes on so it would take more energy to continue? | 64 | What you're noticing is likely not an increase calories being burned, but simply muscular fatigue.
Your muscles use a molecule called atp to provide the energy to contact fibers. Atp is synthesized in part from creatine phosphate, another molecule stored in your muscles. When you use your muscle enough to deplete you... | 25 |
[Pokemon Anime] Why don't trainers name their Pokemon? | I understand it makes sense you wouldn't name Tauros #18 or whatever, but why do so few trainers name their core team? There are bonding *and* branding potentials!
Is it also weird that Team Rocket's talking Meowth doesn't have a proper name? | 29 | We have seen some trainers name their Pokemon (Richie's Pikachu and those trainers from the Mewtwo movie), but it seems nicknames just aren't a big part of culture.
And Team Rocket's Meowth pretty much named himself, it'd probably piss him off if Jessie and James randomly started calling him Paws or something. | 36 |
If our bodies can produce more blood, what stops it producing too much? How does it know when we have enough blood? | 18 | Erythropetin (EPO) is the primary regulator for the production of red blood cells (RBCs), and it's regulated by feedback loops.
EPO is produced in response to ow tissue oxygen. A protein called HIF is expressed in all cells, but it is degraded when oxygen levels are above a certain level. When oxygen drops, however, H... | 10 | |
ELI5 Why are different musical instruments tuned to different notes? | Why is an C on a piano tuned to a D on a trumpet? | 156 | It has to do with (1) the history of these instruments and (2) their register.
Trumpets for instance used to only be able to play in a single key. There was an F Trumpet and a D trumpet, a C trumpet, etc. You had to literally switch horns to play in other keys. But to make it easier for the player to read, they would... | 51 |
[James Bond] Were all 00 agents regarded as similar in skills and expertise compared to 007 or was 007 extraordinary compared to the others? | 806 | 007 was extraordinary. Other agents were equally qualified for the position but 7 was the best and most experienced of the lot. By the end of his career 007 was head and shoulders the best agent they had but at the beginning he was equal to the others more or less. | 503 | |
CMV: People who wish to carry guns in public should have to attend a mandatory training session to learn/practice how to handle real-life situations (active shooter, being held up, etc). | In the US, people are just going to have guns. No matter what kind of bills get passed, it's just a culture that is very attached to guns. People who would use them for ill purposes will usually be able to find a way to get them. And people who wish to protect themselves from those people will arm themselves no matter ... | 6,722 | The problem with testing is that it's probably left to the states to implement, and they can make it *de facto* impossible to pass (or possibly even sit the exam), or worse, allow preferential treatment/make it prohibitively expensive to accomplish and therefore accomplish a gun ban.
For example, let's say there's a c... | 1,120 |
ELI5: Why haven't I ever see a commercial from a random person who decided to purchase air time? | It seems like somebody somewhere would have purchased air time just for fun. Are there rules against this? Do stations simply not accept them? | 47 | They are laws about what can be aired, but it is varies from country to country. It is also extremely expensive to buy any kind of air time for advertising. As well, stations don't have to allow someone to air a commercial just because you have the money. They are allowed to deny someone the service if they want. Most ... | 27 |
What did they demand of you in your first junior job or what do you expect from a junior developer you want to hire? | Hello, I want to start work, I am in the fourth year of my degree in computer engineering and I do not know what a boss or a company can expect from me.
I have very good grades, but I feel like I will never know enough for a job, hahahaha. So I want to work and add experience, I handle some programming languages like ... | 31 | As a junior dev straight out of college, the expectation is that you're smart and a quick learner. That's honestly about it. If you have some particular experience, that can be helpful to get you a little head start, but if a company is looking for fresh graduates to be some kind of expert in anything, they're woefully... | 34 |
CMV: Religion hinders development/progress in societies | In my opinion religion and culture is one of the big reasons a lot of countries in the world are behind and it is also the cause for many problems. Religion also is an excuse for many corrupt leaders in the world to not give their people freedom and to not focus on social progress.
A good example is Turkey. Turkey is ... | 48 | It's interesting you chose Turkey as your example, because the Turkish Constitution literally states that it's a secular Republic to be governed by the people of Turkey, and sovereignty can only be derived through said people, not any religion. | 24 |
Are there evidence based ways to increase empathy for others? What does the literature say on this? | Are there evidence based ways to increase empathy for others? What does the literature say on this? | 22 | You could rather easily do what most people here are going to do and ask Dr. Google.
Mentalization-Based Therapy (MBT) comes to mind. It was introduced to me as a way to work with people diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, but was originally developed for use with borderline-presenting patients. The idea ... | 25 |
ELI5: Why are most circuitboards green? Does it make a difference if its any other color? | 261 | The green is the colour of the solder mask, which is a layer on top of the yellowish fiberglass base and the copper traces. Green is a nice contrasting colour with the traditional white of the silkscreen, which makes text easy to read. Solder mask without many or any pigments added will look a little greenish because o... | 173 | |
CMV: The latest incident in the Cosby rape case is dangerous for all men | **EDIT**: View Changed by /u/NeilZod
>Why do you believe that a civil suit will result in criminal charges? If the statute of limitations for rape has already passed, then Cosby can't be charged with rape.
∆
I began this saying I was unaware of the specifics of the whole affair because I don't keep up with celebrit... | 29 | >That this person can then be sued for defending themselves seems to be an abuse of the law.
If Green can prove that Cosby knows she's telling the truth, and is directing his lawyers to call her a liar anyway, why *shouldn't* she be able to get compensation for that?
>If this woman is successful in her defamati... | 36 |
[Star Trek] If society is post scarcity, how are the rich rich? | 38 | First, it's not completely post scarcity. There are things that are scarce. One example is the Aldebaran whiskey that Guinan keeps behind the bar. Or Picard's saddle.
That being said, who in the federation is rich and or poor? | 62 | |
[MCU] Are the Guardians of the Galaxy superhumanly strong and durable? | EDIT: They appear to do some pretty fantastic things - powerful leaps, lifting apparently heavy objects, soaking massive impacts with no visible effects, etc.
But is this due to them being tougher than a human or is it due to technological enhancement, being on low-gravity worlds, etc.? I seriously can't tell. | 108 | Personal shield emitters and flexible body armor is standard equipment for galactic adventurers. Starlord's average quality Ravager coat alone provides substantially better protection than you might expect, and his gear under that is designed to cushion his body on impact and retain heat within the vacuum of space. J... | 90 |
ELI5: Why is it difficult to maintain focus for long periods of time but very easy to spend a whole day doing essentially nothing (video-games, watching videos etc)? | edit: if possible, could you explain the science behind it? | 75 | Because video games and movies are tuned to be as easy to “consume” by the brain as possible. There’s movement, sound, light, language so there’s always something to grab (and keep) your attention. And they all reinforce each other. Proof of how easy it is for our brains to consume movies is how easy it is for you to r... | 56 |
First faculty interview this week - what to wear, bring? | I'm interviewing for a full time position at a community college this week, and while I've adjuncted before, this is my first interview for a full time teaching job. I'm 30F, and have long dark hair. How should I present myself, and what should I wear? I'm thinking a suit, but I'm not sure if there are different for ac... | 17 | Yes, suit. Maybe a blouse with an interesting print. Something that is professional but neither flashy not starchy. And comfortable shoes.
Bring two copies of all your materials: syllabi, CV, evals, teaching statement, etc.
Carry snacks and a water container in your bag. | 15 |
I think Superman would beat Batman in a fight every time. CMV. | I know comics, and am well informed on both.
When taken straight up, Batman will always lose. Regardless of planning or gadgets or whatever, he's fighting SUPERMAN.
Red Son, DKR, and Hush (especially) are extenuating circumstances for the following reasons
Red Son was a version of Superman that instantly lost his ... | 56 | There's a joke:
>"Who would win in a fight - Batman or Superman?"
>"Well, Batman, if he had kryptonite."
>"And if he didn't have kryptonite?"
>"Superman then."
>"Wrong, still Batman. He would use the kryptonite."
>"But you said he didn't have kryptonite..."
>"Batman *always* has kryptonite."... | 156 |
[ATLA] why did the Fire nation not revolt once Zuko became Firelord? | Why did the Fire nation(citizens and generals) not revolt once Zuko became firelord? And why did the colonies not revolt and try to establish a independent state when Zuko decided to withdraw from the colonies? | 54 | There were assassination attempts and an attempted coup. There wasn't a large scale revolt in the colonies mainly because Zuko actually listened to the colonists and withdrew his support for the Harmony Restoration Movement and then gave his support to the formation of the United Republic. That action itself garnered... | 112 |
When describing an amount of space, we call it an "area" or "volume." When describing an amount of time, we call it a "duration." What would we call an amount of spacetime, and what would that imply? | 3,708 | It's just called spacetime volume, or just volume when it's clear from context. In an n-dimensional manifold, the n-dimensional volume is generally just called "volume".
It's a very important object to consider in physics. In special relativity, spacetime volume is preserved by transformations between inertial referen... | 1,666 | |
[Star Wars] Had Thrawn been given the position of Tarkin or a similarily high one, would the events between the Battle of Yavin and the Battle of Endor have played out differently? | 84 | The war would have been much shorter, that's for sure. Alderaan would not have been destroyed and instead infiltrated to gather all possible Rebel-related intelligence, particularly the location of other key senatorial collaborators, notably Mon Mothma.
Assuming the Corellian YT-1300 transport piloted by the infamous... | 84 | |
How does oral and genital herpes simplex become localized to their respective sites? Why isn't the infection more systemic like herpes zoster? What makes the mouth or genitals better sites for eruption than any other body part? | 67 | The herpes virus is perfectly-suited to remain dormant in the nerves that facilitate sensation. The most densely-packed areas of those nerves are the mouth and genitals - but a herpes virus can spread to any skin location (Shingles) and wreak havoc if you’re unlucky enough.
Nerves are the reason for the season... of ... | 35 | |
ELI5:If water boils and creates steam at 100 degrees Celsius, why is steam generated when we take hot showers? | 72 | What you see is not steam, it is water vapor.
Warm air can hold much more water than cool air. When warm air full of water touches cold air, the air cools, and cannot hold the water anymore. The water condenses and you see vapor.
This is the same reason you can see your breath in the winter. | 55 | |
ELI5 how do a small ant find its way to a sweet food on top of the shelf’s and manage to call his fellow ants and invade the whole area in manner of 24hrs? | 119 | Ants leave a trail of chemical signals called pheremone wherever they go. There are a few different types of pheremone including one that tells other ants "this way to yummy food", so when an ant finds a food source, she will eat her fill and head back to the colony, leaving a chemical "road" for her sisters to follow ... | 85 | |
Hypothetical question about gravity. | Years ago when I was in high school I asked my science teacher this question. He quickly ignored the *hypothetical* portion and shooed me away with, "this is impossible child, now sit down".
I understand this is impossible, but hear me out and if anyone knows the answer, you'll have solved a 10 year old mystery to me.... | 37 | Mr. Duncan is disappointing. This is a classical mechanics problem that is assigned to every undergrad in physics, if not earlier in high school.
The ball will speed up due to the gravitational force as it goes down toward the center of the Earth. Once it crosses the center, gravity will pull it in the opposite dire... | 73 |
eli5 if horses can breed with donkeys and goats can mate with sheep why can't we make human / ape cross overs? | 79 | Horses and donkeys are very close relatives, close enough that the chromosomal mismatch isn’t catastrophic.
Humans have no sufficiently close relatives, the other hominid lineages died out or got hybridized back in a long time ago.
The great apes are our closest living relatives, but they’re not *that* close anymore.... | 232 | |
ELI5: If I mix 20 ml of 40 degree Celsius water and we 20 ml of 60 degree water, do I get 40 ml of 50 degree water? | I don't know why, but I can't help but think the answer is a little more complicated than I initially thought.
EDIT: Thanks for all the answers, smart people. Now I feel ready to finally prepare a cup of green tea correctly. Cheers! | 57 | If you're mixing two of the same substance in the same phase, then yes, it is that simple. If you're mixing different things, then it gets more complicated, and you have to take things like specific heat capacity into account. | 41 |
ELI5: What exactly does the word 'kike' explicitly mean and, as a Jew, why should I be offended? | 31 | "Kike" is short for the Yiddish word for circle. Illiterate Jewish immigrants used to sign with a circle instead of an X. Like most of the words bigots like to use for others, few actually know the meaning, they just use them to be hurtful. | 25 | |
How does Texas Instruments (TI) maintain such a monopoly over the graphing calculator market? In other words, why aren't there more competitors to undercut TI on price when so many people find TI calculators overpriced? | 89 | Are they overpriced? The TI-83 was released in 1996 and retailed for about $125, the same today for a TI-84. That same calculator should cost around $200 adjusted for inflation. Texas Instruments has kept the price the same.
Why can't competitors undercut TI? Well, they can try. But starting in the 1980s, Texas Instru... | 16 | |
ELI5: If incest is shunned due to the risk of birth defects, why isn't elderly procreation, which has the same problems? | Seems like a bit of a double standard. The only thing I can think of is that incest limits genetic variation, which is apparently problematic, but procreation of the "golden aged" (40+) demonstrates a massive rise in birth defects as well, further increasing with age, so why isn't there a similar stigma? If you told so... | 24 | Nature kind of solves that problem. Not many women popping out kids at 50+. The window from 40 -50 is an overlap, but as age and potential defect rates increase in that window, the number of candidates also decreases.
However the incest stigma is more than just a medically driven custom, it also places a social con... | 18 |
[W40k] So what constitutes a spacefaring vessel? With rouge traders in mind and a few related questions. | What kind of propulsion, equipment, and crew is needed for a ship to operate?
I don't know much about W40K outside of r/AskScienceFiction but hear mention of how IOM travels through the warp travel long distances. They're are no alternatives right, at least for the IOM? Impulse engines are for close range travel only ... | 18 | Now, getting a patrol craft that can reach orbit and maybe even move around a solar system with relatively impressive speeds for our time is easy enough. They're usually small, for the setting, between 100 and 300 meters.
When it comes to Rogue Trader vessels, they are usually ancient. Ancient with a capital A. Like m... | 34 |
[Knives Out] Can anyone explain Marta's medical condition of projectile vomiting whenever she lies? | Is there any kind of medical explanation for how Marta can get violently ill to the point where she immediately pukes whenever she lies? | 25 | Probably a psychosomatic condition, possibly associated with a traumatic experience in her past.
For instance, supposing perhaps as a child she told a little white lie about the freshness of an ingredient in a meal she cooked for her family. This meal then made everyone (including Marta) violently sick for days, perha... | 30 |
CMV: Any genuine answer to "How can the U.S. reduce mass shootings?" must also answer "How do other developed countries have so few mass shootings?" | Back in February, Michael Reagan wrote an article entitled [More Love, Not Gun Control](https://townhall.com/columnists/michaelreagan/2018/02/24/more-love-not-gun-control-n2453305) in which he argued
> The clamor for stricter gun control by the mainstream media and leading Democrats like Pelosi and Schumer is as si... | 165 | But why do we have to compare ourselves to other nations at all? Every country has it's own cultural and historical background. So just because something may work in another country doesn't mean it will work here. Look at Australia, their rate of violent crime, which would include mass shootings, was dropping before th... | 43 |
[Monkey's Paw] What would happen if I wished for relatively harmless things? | Wish #1: "I wish that *Kevin Can Wait* will be cancelled and not get renewed for season 2."
Wish #2: "I wish that the struggling Barnes & Noble across town will see a resurgence in business so that it doesn't close down."
Wish #3: "I wish that Jack-In-The-Box would add five new choices to their Munchie Meals menu... | 81 | Wish 1 - Kevin Can Wait gets cancelled because a freak accident on set kills half the cast.
Wish 2 - The Barnes and Noble gets a resurgence in business after the internet shuts down so people are forced to read books.
Wish 3 - Jack-In-The-Box adds five new choices, none of which you like. No more Curly Fries/Regular... | 85 |
Economists: Is wealth a finite resource? | I have no training in economics outside of Micro/Macro 100 level classes I took 15 years ago. But I've been pondering this for a while and I'm sure there is an answer (or two).
Here's what I'm thinking, tell me where I'm wrong:
* money is essentially a representation of work.
* There are a finite amount of people... | 17 | Well, let's start with the easy stuff.
1. In 1800, everyone was poor.
2. Now, in 2012, about a billion people are extremely rich, five billion are in economies that are growing, and one billion are still around 1800 levels.
Clearly, something happened. If wealth were strictly finite, then there's no way we could have... | 20 |
ELI5: Why do Jews get so much discrimination throughout human history? | Why is it that Jewish people throughout history have gotten their rights and lives violated wherever they reside in? What is it about Judaism that a lot of humans seem to resent so much? Why is it that this resentment seems to get justified by so many people?
Why do they deserve this much abuse? | 22 | Traditional Jewish laws make it impossible to assimilate very well into a different culture; lots of things are required or prohibited, in a way that makes people following the laws stand out. Modern Jews aren't generally too strict about following all that stuff, but in the past they were more so.
And because they we... | 34 |
Why is the unit "second" defined at 0 Kelvin? | According to [the official definition at page 95](http://www1.bipm.org/utils/en/pdf/si-brochure.pdf), the definition of the second is
> the duration of 9 192 631 770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium 133 atom.
I understand wh... | 15 | When a stationary atom emits a photon, the wavelength of light emitted depends on the energy an electron lost when it jumped down an energy level. However, if the atom is moving, the frequency of the optical wave will be doppler shifted either redder or bluer. Furthermore, the direction of the doppler shift (red or b... | 17 |
ELI5: If you and a sound travelled at the same speed, what would you hear? | 39 | **TL;DR**: *You won't hear it because you're perfectly riding its pressure wave, just like a perfectly timed motorboat can ride ocean swells without going up and down.*
A soundwave is a difference in pressure that moves through the air at a certain speed. You "hear" it when the difference in pressure contacts your ear... | 37 | |
Why are so many basic Physics formulas in the form of 0.5ab^2? | The title pretty much sums up my question. To be more specific however, why are so many of the basic mechanics physics formulas all in the same general form of 0.5ab2. For example, Kinetic Energy is 0.5mv2, and spring potential is 0.5kx2. In the kinematic equation x=xit+0.5at2, the 0.5at2 shows up again. In the formula... | 16 | You've more or less answered your own question. The form 0.5 c x^2 is obtained by integrating the expression y = c x. And "y = c x" expresses that one variable (y) is proportional to the other (x). Two variables being proportional to eachother is rather common, so the relation y = c x appears often and by extension th... | 38 |
Dumb question: What's the point of homogeneity of variance? | What could go wrong if the test shows the variances aren't homoscedastic?
Hope that makes sense, English is not my first language
Thank you all | 20 | For the case of ordinary least square linear regression, it can make the regression focus more on one region of the data than another.
If you are minimizing errors, the area with the largest variance will have the largest residuals to the regression line. So adjusting how the line fits that part of the graph will have... | 43 |
ELI5: If so much money is raised for Cancer research, why have there been no breakthroughs in a long time? | I always hear of fundraisers and marathons but I have yet to see any kind on cancer cure. I realize there are different types and no silver bullet, by why not at least have one curable by now? | 23 | We have a vaccine against cervical cancer. We have non-Hodgkins lymphoma treatment.
What is it you're looking for? Breakthroughs in cancer treatment ate happening. As you said, there's never going to be a panacea magic bullet. | 19 |
[Rapunzel] Is Rapunzel immortal? | At the end of the movie she said that she and mother Gothel would be together forever. It seems that her hair can keep you alive forever, but does it do the same for her? | 39 | I would assume so. Anyone touching the hair when it does the Immortal Thing reverts back to youth. This presumably includes her.
Now it's cut off, she's mortal, but until then as long as she kept doing the Immortal Hair Thing she'd be unaging at least. | 25 |
[Batman] Does Batman have a contingency plan in case Alfred betrays him? | Batman has plans for taking down the rest of the League but what happens if Alfred decides to go to the press and expose Bruce's secret identity? What if Alfred leads a CNN camera crew into the Batcave under Wayne Manor?
Would Batman try to smear Alfred's reputation? Has he even considered such a scenario or is Alfred... | 165 | Alfred *is* a contingency plan. Batman trusts him absolutely, and knows that if Alfred ever turned against him for reasons other than mind control (for which he has multiple contingencies), he'd deserve it.
Alfred is Batman's contingency against himself. As such, he tries to avoid coming up with a counter to it. Altho... | 197 |
ELI5: what is Millennials ? | 28 | We tend to refer to a whole generation of people by a name, because their fashion and internet memes / fads change from generation to generation.
Millennials are people born in the 1980's and 90's; unlike previous generations, they grew up with computers and internet and phones, and are quite active with social media.... | 13 | |
(Batman) How can there be a Batlight on the top of the Gotham police department? | Why fund it? Who funded it?
How is the local government (let alone federal government) OK with there being a light to call a vigilante to do tax pay employees jobs? | 62 | Technically, Batman gave it to them in most continuities, and when he was considered an Urban Legend, it was just there to 'frighten' criminals.
That said, on New Earth, the government being involved with it was a large concern. So the Gotham City Police Department solved the problem by having a civilian hang out in P... | 59 |
ELI5: Why does a car tire require around 30 - 35 PSI while a road bike tire can require up to 100+ PSI? | 723 | The average car weighs over a ton, not including passengers. Its main purpose is safe and enjoyable comfortable transportation. So you put a small amount of air in the tires so they'll grab the road for traction, not pop the minute you hit anything like a pebble, and cushion you when you hit a bump. The fatter, less-fi... | 271 | |
Why doesn’t regular screening improve outcomes for pancreatic cancer patients? | EDIT: source https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2740696
“No evidence that screening for pancreatic cancer or treatment of screen-detected pancreatic cancer improves disease-specific morbidity or mortality, or all-cause mortality” | 23 | What you're looking for is in the article linked:
"Approximately 1.6% of individuals in the United States will develop pancreatic cancer during their lifetime.1 With this relatively low prevalence, even an ideal screening test with 99% sensitivity and 99% specificity would yield 1000 false-positive results if applied ... | 38 |
A native English speaker has no reason to learn another language. CMV | At the risk of sounding cocky or too self-important, I believe that English is becoming, or has already been, an unofficial "global language". Close to all first world countries have [some knowledge of English](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Anglospeak-percentage-knowledge.svg), it is [the language of science](http:... | 17 | Just because most people in other countries can speak English doesn't mean that they will speak English when they don't have to, or that they will do it well.
If you want to learn more about a foreign culture, or go to live in that country, or even just visit, speaking the language will get you much further than rely... | 20 |
When I move at speed through the air, it's cold. When an object reenters the atmosphere, it burns up. Why? | Also: Is there a speed/temperature 'sweet spot' where the air friction causes an object to be heated to room temperature? | 979 | There are (at least) 3 different competing mechanisms going on here.
The first is recycling the air that is conducting with your skin. This is why you feel colder when there is wind or when you move. When the air is cooler than your skin and could be kept completely still what would happen is heat is conducted from yo... | 858 |
The USA should drop the charges against Edward Snowden. CMV | The American government has charged Snowden with 3 charges: Theft of government property, and 2 charges under the 1917 Espionage Act.
While he did in fact break the law, I believe that the prosecution should drop the charges for a few main reasons:
1. Snowden was clearly acting in the public interest. Such was demons... | 20 | Since when does the public opinion matter in terms of justice? That would be a terrible society to live in. If he broke the law (which he did) and potentially endangered people (which he did), he should be punished. He made the leaks knowing he was breaking the law. That comes with consequences. He will have to face th... | 17 |
My employer has offered to pay for me to take a course to develop software skills. I’m leaning towards learning C++. Any advice as to which I should take? | I hope that the title isn’t too vague or the question isn’t too overasked (I promised I searched the sub history before posting). I’m in my first potential career job so I’ve never really had an opportunity like this. We primarily use C++, and my programming knowledge and education in general has been very informal (mo... | 26 | What's the end game? What is your employer looking to gain? Does he want web app? firmware for hardware? websites? data analysis?
The answers to these questions should give you an idea of which languages you should consider. | 12 |
ELI5: why can you eat duck rare but not chicken? | 29 | As mentioned by the other responders, there is nothing inherent in ducks or chickens that preclude you from eating either rare. The issue is directly tied to the conditions in which chickens in the US are raised, slaughtered and packed, which result in a level of salmonella risk is astronomically higher than in ducks. | 56 | |
Do bigger/brighter stars have bigger Goldilocks zones and therefore more space for more planets within the zone? eg Antares is 65000 x brighter than Sun, could it hold over 65k planets? | If a star is much bigger, could many more planets theoretically fall into its goldilocks zone? How many planets could fit into Suns goldilocks zone anyway? | 62 | Yes, but larger stars burn out more quickly, so life would not have the long time scales to develop like they have had on Earth. On the other side, smaller stars have very close and small Goldilocks zones, but last much longer and are much more stable. | 14 |
[General] How would your favourite characters, regardless of universe , react to finding out their entire life was a work of fiction? | 39 | Superman would probably be a bit shocked at first, but he'd smile and just accept it. Even if it's technically a relief nothing "real" is at stake, helping people, fictional or not is his duty and he's happy to keep it up. Plus, he's got to set a good example for the reader, that's why they keep reading, right? | 40 | |
CMV: Droning is the best way at the moment to engage in warfare while minimizing civilian deaths. | War sucks. The reality of war is that a lot of people will die. Soldiers, and innocent civilians. Even children can't even escape. Unfortunately it does not seem like something that we will get rid of anytime soon.
In accepting that the USA does and will continue to engage in warfare and conflicts with other nations, ... | 15 | Actually drone warfare increases civillian deaths, not decreases them, and it does this two fold, warfare is sent underground so that attacks become more car bombing etc, and just plainly more civilians get attacked unwarrantedly. Boots on the ground allows interactions with the populace and actually decreases the of c... | 27 |
ELI5: "Race is a Social Construct" | I've been doing some reading and I just don't grasp the 'ideas' behind that phrase. If someone could explain it a bit, it'd be great.
Thanks. | 46 | Really good answers in here.another way you can think of it is skin color biologically is no different from hair color. That is, it's irrelevant to who a person is in terms of intelligence or personality.
| 51 |
[Star Wars] What are all of the Clone Trooper battalions and their respective colors? | 25 | The legendary 501st lead by Skywalker with their distinct blue prints. Of which Torrent Company was some of the most active and heroic groups in the war.
The mobile armed unit 104th was lead by Plo Koon with black markings.
The fierce 212th Attack Batallion lead by Kenobi was known for their orange marks.
The 327th... | 17 | |
[Dragon Ball] What does Bulma see in Vegeta? | When Vegeta first showed up, he was a mass-murdering space mercenary that treated her and everyone else like shit. He never apologized for it, and over the years he seems to have settled into one single mood of "grumpy asshole" with varying degrees. I'm not even sure the guy has ever legitimately smiled, and it's prett... | 19 | While not explicitly shown, his arc in the Buu saga heavily implies that he sacrifices training time to help Bulma take care of the kids while she runs Capsule Corp. This was further shown in the Universe Survival Saga, where he would rather be with his pregnant wife and new kid than train. When Bulla is born, he is sh... | 34 |
[Marvel/DC] What impact would the Norse Pantheon of Gods from the Marvel Universe have if they existed in the same form in the DC universe? | 28 | They did exist in the exact same form in the DC universe, but were wiped out.
Kirby brought them with him when he left Marvel then promptly killed them off. Thats why the New Gods are called "new". You can actually see things likes Thor's helmet in the rubble. The New Gods made contact with the DC universe in 1971,... | 20 | |
[The Blacklist] I am a criminal who requires the services of Raymond Reddington. How do I contact him? | 18 | You don't. If you are some what notable he would already know what kind of help your looking for and if you had something he needed or wanted leverage over would just show up. He would say he's there to help you and possibly would, but actually he is just helping himself. | 11 | |
ELI5 How do painkillers kill the pain without specifically being linked to a body part? | 272 | Painkillers are a broad term. There are different classifications.
Steroids can act as painkillers by slowing and reversing inflammation, which reduces pressure in the affected area, and thereby pain.
NSAIDs work in a different way to do the same thing
Opioids work in the brain by changing the pathways which proce... | 173 | |
[Star Wars] Who are those red guards Palpatine? How competent are they? | Those red hooded guards always interested. They seemed very intimidating and I don't remember if they had any role in the films aside from just being there at his side.
That being said, who ARE they? Are the human or droids? If human, how do you get to that position? I'm assuming it is a great honor to be so close to... | 31 | They're the Royal Guards. They're well ahead of Stormtroopers in terms of effectiveness and loyalty, but quite a ways behind Vader. Royal Guards are expected to give their life for the Emperor and any failure in that regard is met with a swift end, often by Vader. They're not Force Sensitive, but have an intimidatin... | 46 |
HackerRank: Thoughts? Any other similar platforms? | I recently started doing some exercises on HackerRank but am struggling with python3 even though I like to believe that I am fairly comfortable with it (Since I have done several projects and Kaggle competitions with it). Is it just me then? I have a data science background and not a cs background but am trying to be b... | 21 | HR isn't going to teach you to be a better software engineer. It's going to teach you to be a better problem solver. The language you're using shouldn't matter that much as long as you are comfortable with it.
Maybe for your next problem you should write out a paragraph about how someone could get the solution with a ... | 15 |
[Star Wars] Was Anakin ever truly a hero or just a selfish asshole that happened to be on Team Good because they found him first? | On the one hand, people, specifically Leia and Padme talk about the good they sense in him, on the other hand he's shown to be arrogant as hell, resentful of his peers, and incredibly self-centered. To the point that even in The Clone Wars where he's portrayed more softly he still has the audacity to caution Ahsoka aga... | 1,179 | I don't think it's that simple.
Anakin was the son of a single mother who never knew a father (or had a father figure) and was chattel - he was a slave without rights and whose future was bereft of dignity or hope. One day a magical supermonk tells him he's special, and he's thrown into this galactic conflict he knows... | 2,136 |
ELI5:Why can my computer make beeping noises, but I still need speakers to listen to sounds from it? | 50 | Your motherboard has a dedicated speaker that is utilized to give beep codes. Different patterns mean different errors.
Edit: A single beep at boot generally means it passed its POST (power-on self test) and there are no hardware problems related to the board or directly connected components. | 47 | |
CMV: Camping in video games is OK | I think that camping in (shooter) games is perfectly OK. For some reason it’s considered to be an unholy sin to lay in wait for another player. I think it’s absurd for a few reasons;
1) gameplay balances almost everything out. There are trade offs for most elements of games. If you pick a long range weapon you’re not ... | 63 | This strikes me as a similar argument that you sometimes get with pick-up sports, and it all centers on how competitive everyone is treating the game.
There is a very much informal code of conduct regarding behavior/etiquette in any game you play. If you play a pick-up basketball game and are boxing people out, throw... | 16 |
With such a small window of observation, how do we know how stars evolve and age? | We've been here for such a small amount of time. How can we possibly know how things work having been exposed to such a tiny fraction of the process? | 21 | We've been exposed to quite a lot of the process because we can see so very many stars at various points along their life-cycle. Consider a five-year-old child attending a reunion of their very large family. This child will see many people of all ages, ranging from the newest crop of infants to the grandparents that pr... | 12 |
[Harry Potter] Why is Imperio an unforgivable curse but Memory Charms are standard practice? | It seems like altering memories is almost if not just as bad as controlling someone. You could do all sorts of things to a person by convincing them they'd already agreed to it. | 266 | The unforgivable curses are unforgivable not simply because of what they do, but also what is required in order to do them.
From OoTP:
“Never used an Unforgivable Curse before, have you, boy?” she yelled. She had abandoned her baby voice now. “You need to mean them, Potter! You need to really want to cause pain — to ... | 282 |
Are humans the only species that can get a tan? | 19 | Veterinarian here. Dogs will routinely get a tan or darkened skin from sunbathing. In general, the more sun exposure the skin gets, the more melanin is produced, causing darker skin. For many dogs with white skin or thin coats, their skin does get darker with prolonged sun exposure. | 27 | |
[Warhammer 40K] Whats the Best way to Stop the Tyranids? | The Tyranids continuously Evolve and Adapt to there enemies and overwhelm them. The 40K lore Sugests that the Tyrineds are so OP that they Wiped out all Galaxies near the Milkyway and have surrounded it. This is because there are 3 Differant Hive Fleets Kracken, Bohemith, and Laviathin attacking our Galexy from 3 diffe... | 32 | Construct a series of terraformed, ring-shaped superweapons to cleanse the galaxy of all life. This will starve the Tyranids.
Make sure to "seed" various planets with alien species such as humans and Eldar, that they may thrive once again, now that the Tyranid threat is extinguished. | 101 |
Today I saw the equation "PV=nRT". Why do the variables all match exactly? Why don't we have to multiply R by 1.25? Or P by 0.5? | It boggles my mind that everything is so.... perfect. Did n and R only come about because of this equation, and so were given arbitrary values that caught on? | 15 | The gas-constant, R, was chosen in such a way that this equation would hold.
In discovering a equation like this, people will first discover relations between various observables. For example "keeping other factors fixed, pressure is proportional to tempature" or "pressure is inversely proportional to volume". This gi... | 80 |
How similar are Morphine, Methadone and Heroin? | 1,148 | From a chemical standpoint, morphine and heroin are quite similar. In fact, heroin is simply diacetylmorphine, a morphine molecule with two acetyl groups attached. This has the effect of making it more lipid-soluble, which makes it cross the blood-brain barrier more easily.
Methadone, however, is synthetic (whereas ... | 577 | |
ELI5: How are corn kernels separated from cobs inside a combine harvester? | I've been searching everywhere, I found nothing, all i find is combines harvesting other grains(not corn) | 28 | All the combine harvesters work on the same basic principle. The entire plant is sucked into the machine and violently thrown around some kind of roll drum causing the plant to break down into small pieces and the dry kernels to separate from the cob. The entire mixture goes through a series of air blowers and wire mes... | 21 |
ELI5: How it went from the Greeks being a huge power, conquering large parts of the world to then being a 'barbarian people' and the rise of the Roman empire? | I may have worded it wrong. But I'm curious how the ancient Greeks, which as far as I know were a huge civilisation, conquering lots of land (Alexander) to then being essentially a slave nation to the Romans? How did the Greeks fall and the Romans become so large?
Is there like a brief ELI5 time line you could give? | 104 | Alexander was Macedonean and not Greek. In fact Greece as a nation didn't exist until Alexander's death and the rise of the so called Hellenic period. Before that the people we call ancient Greeks consistet of multiple citystates like the polis of Athens or Corinthia. Ancient Greece was a very sophisticated place, but ... | 26 |
CMV: This is the best time to end the drug war. | With the increasingly antagonistic relationship between law enforcement and the people it's time to decriminalize drug use. As the Portuguese experiment has [shown]( https://transformdrugs.org/drug-decriminalisation-in-portugal-setting-the-record-straight/) decriminalization has significantly reduced prison population ... | 59 | The drug war should never have started and has done irreparable harm to communities all across our country.
Any time before now would have been better up to and including yesterday.
Why do you believe any time before now would have been worse? | 15 |
CMV: The editors who write headlines need to take more responsibility for the state of media and disinformation | 1. Most people interact with far more headlines/thumbnails for news articles than they do actual articles--the headline and thumbnail is what you see of an article on twitter, facebook, reddit, slack, discord, etc.
2. Headlines do not always lead to the same conclusion that the article does. Just look at a significan... | 356 | It's like saying that the people who manage grocery stores need to take a stand on food insecurity. Yeah, it is true that those people have the most direct control over what misinformation is spread and who has access to food. But all the systemic incentives here force them to do what they do currently. | 19 |
ELI5: Why people need to be raised and schooled to live well as a person, but my cat, who's not around other cats, knows how to live well like a cat? | Hard to explain. Pets have their instincts that help them survive, why do humans need help in order to live a good life? | 88 | One of the trade offs we made in our evolution for more powerful brains that take up a quarter of our blood supply was that it takes us longer to come online. Our brain starts as a plastic bin of parts that grow together and adapt to our culture as well as the tasks we demand of it to live in a society. As our society ... | 48 |
Is there any significance behind how long it takes your body to get sore after a workout? | I know that for me, I can workout at 8am and begin feeling sore that night, and wake up the next day in full blown soreness. Some people experience DOMS where they don't get sore for 2 days. Any reasoning for this? Does it relate to how fast the body repairs damaged muscle fibers? | 533 | Doms is likely cause by microtears created during eccentric movements (studies found that concentric movements alone do not cause doms). Therefore it seems likely that a (or the) major cause of differentent amounts of doms are caused by how much someone emphasizes eccentric portions of lifts. This may also explain why ... | 73 |
ELI5: Garret Ross of the Chicago Blackhawks vs Mayor Chip Johnson. What makes these two cases different? | Here are the two stories.
http://brobible.com/life/article/mississippi-mayor-gets-railroaded-by-girlfriend/
http://www.tmz.com/2016/03/22/chicago-blackhawks-prospect-charged-revenge-porn-case/
Chip Johnson has his nude photo leaked by the female he sent it to. She is not being prosecuted for her actions and HE is b... | 88 | While there may be some double standards going on, they are very different legal situations.
If you send something to someone, particularly when it is unsolicited, they can do whatever they like with it.
If you take pictures together, there is an implicit understanding there are private. A number of laws recently re... | 11 |
[The Incredibles] How does violet levitate while inside her forcefield? | Is this a third power or does her forcefield have some kind of gravitational pull that would allow her to do this?
Because wouldn’t she just go tumbling around in the forcefield while dash was running if her only powers were force-field manipulation and invisibility? | 19 | I think that having she the power to move the forcefields, she can also move her body in relation to them.
So either
1. her body acts as a sort of anti-magnet, being able to be at a certain distance to it when inside, as she’s able to move them from a distance, or
2. she is able to maintain herself suspended in the... | 18 |
ELI5: Why, after decades of charitable work, do so many people in countries like Africa still not have access to clean water? | I don't quite know how else I could word the question. Charities have been donating clean water, building wells and raising awareness in these areas for decades. So why is the number of people without access to clean water still so high? Why has no progress been made?
EDIT: Countries in Africa* | 24 | First of all, Africa is a continent, not a country. It is frigging enormous. Progress in one area doesn't mean there is progress in all areas. Similarly just because some areas are still struggling, doesn't mean others haven't improved.
Many countries / areas in Africa still deal with ongoing problems such as corrupt ... | 46 |
ELI5:The rule of thirds, when it comes to photography. | Having a difficult time grasping the technique. Any help? | 63 | Very simple.
Mentally draw a tic-tac-toe grid over your viewfinder. Place interesting objects or subjects at the places where the lines intersect. If the 'interesting thing' is a line itself, like a river, cloud formation, mountain range, etc, align the object with one of the lines.
Some cameras will project the grid... | 27 |
CMV: Incels are honestly one of the most pathetic and sad groups of people | **Okay, I honestly want this view changed because it is incredibly elitist and frankly, I am not the type of person to have such high elitist opinions.***
But this is my opinion of incels, because I feel that they often just blame women and society for them being single. Whenever they get told they should better thems... | 115 | Well, incels view of life is distorted and shows a big mental health epidemic.. You are right in saying that they want to be angry and not solve their problems because their problems gives them an identity to latch on to (being an incel) and makes them feel like they are not alone , so solving that would destroy their ... | 75 |
ELI5: Can cancer naturally cure on it's own without the person ever knowing they had it? | 30 | Cancer is caused by a mutation in cell replication. Our cells go through checkpoints to make sure everything is replicating right. If something is wrong, the process is usually shut down. If it makes it past this point without being shut down, the immune cells typically will destroy the mutated cells before they can sp... | 27 | |
ELIF: How a tachyon can travel faster than light. | In fact, explain like I'm four. | 16 | They can't. Tachyons are pure sci-fi nonsense.
If you start with the theory of relativity, there are some basic equations that describe how things move around. What those equations are aren't important right now, but suffice to say that they exist. What they say, in a nutshell, is that nothing can ever move faster tha... | 21 |
Is there an evolutionary reason why scabs start to itch really bad before they fall off naturally? Is it advantageous to pick them off? | > | 46 | Histamine causes the itching, but it's also what triggers the body's inflammation response to send blood and other useful things to repair the wound and fight infection. The itching is a side effect, not a suggestion to scratch the scab off. You should try not to because of the risk of reopening the wound and infection... | 29 |
Do dead insects “go bad” for other insects that eat them such as spiders? | 7,002 | Yes, this could happen in theory. The reason that spoiled food makes us humans sick is because of the growth of harmful microorganisms and the subsequent release of toxins from those microbes. Many of the microorganisms that would grow on our human food would also grow on the soft tissue in insect bodies. However, due ... | 4,478 | |
Why will it take around 18 months to develop a vaccine for coronavirus? What is it that has to be figured out? | The extent of my understanding of vaccines is basic- you get injected with a dead version of the disease or virus the vaccine is for, along with a bunch of other ingredients, and then it allows your body to learn how to fight it effectively.
If that is the case, how come it isn't as simple as injecting the dead versio... | 20 | Your understanding is rather oversimplified. The reason we know the vaccines we use are safe and effective is that we test them very carefully to ensure that they are both (1) safe and (2) effective for most people, over time, and that there are no unintended side effects or interactions with other diseases, conditions... | 40 |
ELI5: Supernovae, Neutron stars, and black holes. | What causes each one to happen, How are each possible, and different from each other? It seems like they all occur due to gravity, but how doesn't a neutron star form a black hole? | 133 | * **Supernova**: when a massive star blows up, initiated by the sudden (takes less than a second) collapse of it's core. The collapse of the core is initiated when the pressure from nuclear fusion can no longer hold up against the immense gravity pushing in. There are generally two types, Ia and II.
* **Neutron Star*... | 31 |
ELI5: Why is the fence Hungary is building along it's southern border considered as controversial and newsworthy as it is? | Judging from the newsstories about this I'm getting the idea that the fence is considered very controversial. I get that it's generally not a nice thing to do, but surely a lot of nations around the world have some sort fence or barrier to stop immigrants. Spain is doing the same with it's enclaves in Northern Africa. ... | 67 | Hungary is a member of the European Union, which is based on a set of principles - it's very dedicated to a set of ideals, similar to a great extent to American ideals, but with one (for this situation) notable exception - freedom of movement.
The Schengen Agreement, part of EU law, stipulates that member countries (n... | 29 |
ELI5: How do radio stations or local cable channels come up with names like WBZ, WGBH, or KTZ? | I never understood how they got their names | 75 | The identifiers are assigned by the FCC when you are granted your license to broadcast. You can request any 3 letter call sign that is available, but if it is taken you get what you get.
The K vs W distinction tells whether you are west (K) or east (W) of the Mississippi river (though their are a few exceptions. The... | 84 |
What do tiny spiders eat? | I’ve got a tiny spider, not more than 1-2cm across, living in the frame of my shower door. My wife hates cobwebs, so removes its newly spun web every few days, but the little fella always spins another. I can never see anything on the web, and I doubt it could hold a fly, even if one flew into it. But Incy is still the... | 290 | The short answer is tiny bugs.
As for why that spider is still there and surviving despite you never seeing bug carcasses it is because it is drinking the water left behind. Incy can survive a long time on just water. | 210 |
[Fantasy in general] Can necromancer raise both ghost and corpse, effectively getting two minions from one body? | How necromancy works can obviously differ from one universe to another. I am especially curious about Warhammer, Warcraft or DnD altough any imput is welcome.
It is possible for a skilled necromancer to reanimate dead body in a form of a zombie, a skeleton or something similar consisting of a corporeal body. And then ... | 46 | This very much depends on the world, because magic is different. Sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes no.
Some kinds of zombie-raising is simply hijacking the corpse and using it as a meat-puppet. This kind of raising is relatively rare because it requires a lot more energy on the part of the caster (since they have... | 37 |
CMV: New Orleans cant be saved and will have to be abandoned | Normally when I see news headlines saying some city will be underwater by 2050 or 2100 due to climate change or rising sea levels I take it with a grain of salt. U.S cities at risk of sea-level rise such as Charleston and New York can build sea walls and pumps to keep themselves dry but this is not the case in New Orle... | 1,730 | If you've ever visited somewhere like coastal Florida and talked to people who have evacuated and rebuilt time and time again after hurricanes brought floods and destroyed their homes, you realize how attached people are to impractical build sites. It's likely this will be the case with New Orleans. | 1,281 |
[Marvel] Adamantium vs. Vibranium | Which is the better metal? | 18 | Adamantium is the strongest material out there. Can't be scratched, can't be broken, etc. Makes some pretty good swords.
Vibranium can. However, vibranium absorbs pretty much all physical force, which makes for good armor.
So it depends on how you use it. | 12 |
[40K] Are there any Space Marine chapters that specialize in ranged combat? | Most Space Marine units/traditions lean toward either close combat, with the heroes and leaders having swords or other melee weapons, or fast attack, with the signature units having bikes, jump packs or some other fast vehicle. Or occasionally in fluff some kind of intel or unconventional warfare specialty.
I know a b... | 110 | The Imperial Fists are siege masters, adept at fortifying and destroying said fortifications. They make extensive use of heavy ordinance, such as Whirlwind battle tanks and Vindicators, and typically rely heavily on their Devistator squads.
The Salamanders are heavily focused on mid ranged combat, making extensive us... | 96 |
How reliable is a handwriting match test? | I was watching the Zodiac movie and, although I'm not sure how truthful the movie is, I'd say it's extremely likely that Arthur Leigh Allen was the Zodiac killer.
However, throughout the movie they could not pin it on him since the handwriting didn't match. It also mentions that he's ambidextrous, but handwriting sam... | 46 | Reliability of handwriting match tests can vary greatly. It depends on :
- the length and quality of the questioned document : is it a 4 pages long will or 3 words scribbled on a napkin ?
- the quality of the comparison material : did you collect reference material from the natural writing of the "suspect" or did y... | 17 |
ELI5: How do dogs communicate with each other? | 24 | Body language mostly, like many animals on this planet.
Some of the stuff is obvious and we all recognize: bearing teeth and ears back is aggression, wagging tails and "bowing" (head down, butt up) is happy or playful, while exposing the belly is a sign of submission, and a tail between the legs is a sign of fear.
Th... | 30 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.