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ELI5: Why do penises get smaller in cold water? | 17 | Testicles will move in closer towards the body to help keep warm. The penis will shrink as there's less blood flow to it in cold conditions. Just like how an erection is achieved by drastically increasing blood flow to it. | 13 | |
[Breaking Bad] How does a Genius Chemist with a PhD end up as a high school chemistry teacher? | Shouldn't Walt at least be a university professor? Even in season 1 the people at Elliots party thought so.
Seems to me the biggest culprit of his turn to crime after cancer is the education system instead of the healthcare one. | 46 | Walt could have been a university professor. He could have done work in corporate research. But his ego wouldn't let him play well with others, he couldn't handle the politicking and politely working your way up through the system. | 81 |
When Herschel was measuring the temperature of light, why was infrared hotter than visible light? | Every time I see or hear something about the discovery of infrared light people say Herschel noticed that the control thermometer to the side of red light was the hottest. Why would the infrared light be hotter than visible light, which has more energy? | 24 | Herschel used sunlight, and the peak energy of sunlight is about 600nm (or "Orange") so naively you might expect that to be the 'hottest' color in the experiment. The issue that he had was with the fact that he used a prism to spread the light for measurement. A prism works because its index of refraction is dependent ... | 27 |
ELI5: Why does my pizza box say preheat oven, when I can just put it in for a couple minutes longer and it's the same thing? | It also says (keep pizza frozen while preheating), what difference does that make? | 24 | Pizza companies want you to keep coming back to their pizzas, so they add foolproof instructions. People have different ovens, so "cooking" while preheating is going to have random results, and they just can't tell people to do that if they have terrible ovens. | 31 |
[Marvel] Does adamantium degrade? As in, if I were to take a solid chunk of adamantium during the Jurassic Period and bury it a dozen feet underground, then dig it up today, would it look any different? | 30 | As far as looking different, the chunk of Adamantium would probably look exactly the same, with any difference in weight being so negligible that you likely wouldn't be able to tell if it was the action from the surrounding material or just what's now missing because you cleaned the dirt off.
I think a big indicator t... | 41 | |
[general superhero] are there any superheroes who didn’t have an awful tragic backstory that provoked them into fighting back? | I guess that does sound a bit lame, but has any superhero just said: ‘hey, I got the power, why not help out’? | 396 | The Hawk and The Dove just sort of transformed.
The Creeper was a reporter following a lead, he got his powers almost by accident.
Barbara Gordon was just an admirer of Batman.
The Atom, The Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman and Hawkgirl were all pretty well adjusted in their original iterations.
Steve Rogers hated bul... | 356 |
When I heat up a metal where do photons come from? | So I heat up any given metal to the point it starts giving off light, just like in a light bulb or foundry/ironworks. Where do photons come from and assuming I do so in a vacuum would such metal lose it's weight after some time? | 33 | A photon is an electromagnetic wave. You make one by "shaking" an electron (any charged particle actually, but electron is most common). When you shake an electron you cause a momentary electrical wave, which then self induces a magnetic component and that's what a photon is.
No nothing is lost from the electron when ... | 43 |
ELI5: Why does China have only one time zone and how do they function with only one time zone? | 243 | They have one time zone because the government says they have one time zone. Specifically, the Communist government made the change in 1949 after the Civil War.
It means that in the far west of China the sun doesn't reach its highest point in the sky until 3pm. In December the sun doesn't rise until after 10am and in ... | 220 | |
CMV: Pornography is an addiction | First, I claim that porn is a behavioral addiction, and because a behavioral addiction is a form of addiction, porn can be more broadly thought of as an addiction. The rest of this text deals with proving that porn is a behavioral addiction.
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Taken from Wikipedia:
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**Behavioral addiction**[\... | 31 | Porn *can be an addiction* however, you've failed to prove that porn *must be an addiction*. And that's something that you really can't prove, because the standards you're quoting have to be assessed on an individual basis. As a counterexample- drinking can be an addiction, gambling can be an addiction... but someone w... | 31 |
How would destroying the Death Star affect Imperial GDP in the short long and medium term? | 92 | In all likelihood, the fear and instability generated by the rebels would result in a sharp decrease in investment and a drop in asset prices, in much the same way 9/11 caused the same on Wall Street. Imperial GDP growth would consequently slow significantly in the short term.
In the medium term, it gets a little murk... | 110 | |
ELI5: How the United States is operating as a nation while being trillions of dollars in debt | 21 | That is like asking how do you operate as a person if you have a mortgage? You can operate if you are in debt. Banks from all over the world have lent the US money. Should we ever default the world wide economic system will be fucked beyond belief. | 26 | |
How close are we to being able to make our bodies grow hair where we want it and not grow hair where we don't, without physically transplanting or destroying hair follicles? | 338 | Rogaine works to certain degree. It was originally developed for heart conditions as it increases blood flow. They noticed that their test subjects were growing hair and found hey could make much more money there. However, if you stop using it the hair will disappear.
*Viagra was developed for ~~heart conditions~~ as... | 128 | |
[MCU] Why was Asgard so bad at defending itself? | In Thor: The Dark World the dark elves were able to send their ships into Asgard and basically have their way with the place. There was depiction of some sentry towers shooting back and those flying boats but they were so bad at protecting the city. Also one ship full of elves was able to rampage around the palace unti... | 28 | The main reason it was so easy for the elves to have their way with the place is the fact that Asgard was actively fighting a war against the loosely organized bands of insurgents and criminals called the marauders, particularly in Vanaheim. They began rebelling against Asgardian rule when the Bifrost was destroyed in ... | 43 |
[Starship Troopers 3] Why did the Federation go back to ballistic ammo after funding pulse/laser weapons? | Ballistic weapons, not ammo.
The rifles seem to be even bigger than the rifles they used at the star of the war with the bugs | 20 | The darn bugs evolved to have reflective chitin. So the lasers bounced of their exoskeletons.
The other problem is that the lasers just put a small hole in the bugs if it worked. But they are so tough on the inside that it didn't stop them.
Ballistics will shatter the shell which is where their muscles attach.... | 11 |
ELI5: How do induction cooking work | I watched my mom cooked food with the induction cooktop several times but please explain how does it work, thanks | 23 | Electrical friction essentially.
Create a changing magnetic field under a metal pot. The electrons in the pot see the magnetic field and try to line up in it. The field keeps moving though and the electrons can’t keep up. They get dragged a bit and give off heat.
Do this process rapidly and frequently enough and... | 50 |
ELI5 how does a computer know how long a second is? | How does a computer know exactly how long a second is? Does it know it as a rhythm? Does it know it by a certain number of computer thingys to equal one second (like unit conversion)? | 133 | There is a clock on the motherboard driven by a quartz crystal that vibrates at a fixed frequency. That is connected to a counter chip that simply tots up the number of pulses from the crystal and sends out a pulse of its own when the count reaches a certain value, the number of pulses in a second. It's just the same a... | 216 |
[Star Wars] Why are other Force traditions frowned upon or ignored? | From what i've been able to gather, there are a number of Force organizations that the Jedi cannot match in both combat prowess and ability alone. Yet they get no attention even though some of those traditions are superior due to their emphasis on how to apply and access the Force? I understand that the Jedi and Sith w... | 43 | Better results is largely subjective. Different sects have different abilities, and the results are hard to compare. Aing-Tii monks, for example, aren't known to be able to use the Force in any offensive manner, but are able to transport themselves across the Galaxy with it. The Fallanassi are able to hide themselves a... | 47 |
Why are Gravity, Electromagnetism, and the Strong force transmitted by massless particles but the weak force is transmitted through massive particles? | 48 | The force carriers of the weak force acquire their mass from the Higgs mechanism.
Let's leave gravity out for the moment; we don't have a reliable particle theory of gravity yet.
The other forces all have a common mathematical structure, implying that they are mediated by spin 1 particles with no intrinsic mass. How... | 16 | |
CMV: BLM is holding the USA hostage | Thank God Chauvin was considered guilty. Both because he is a murderer who deserves to be punished, and also because if he wasn't found guilty, you can bet dozens of people would die in the following days.
I'm talking about this as an outsider, who has never been in the USA, so pardon if I get any detail wrong. But wh... | 39 | >Now, we have the whole country in suspence again. Schools, stores... The whole country prepared to close itself in case Chauvin was found innocent. Because the schools had to protect their students. Because the stores had to protect their bread.
Just need to point out that this isn't really true. Some cities took ... | 89 |
What happened to all the anti-matter? | As per Physics...The amount of matter and antimatter produced or released after the big bang must be equal, then why is it so rare, and also how do scientists make it in the Large Haldron Collider?
Is it possible that there is a whole another anti-universe or something?Why does it release tremendous amounts of energy ... | 18 | Yes, where did all the antimatter go? It's a good question and the answer is both disappointing and interesting: We don't know. In (astro)physics, this question is referred to as the "Baryon Asymmetry Problem" because of the apparent asymmetry between baryonic matter (everyday matter composed of quarks) and antibaryoni... | 42 |
CMV: I have no ethical issue with so-called "anti-homeless spikes" | Recently, I saw a meme about protesters in London pouring concrete over so called "anti-homeless" spikes. All of the comments were commending and praising the protesters instead of calling them out on property destruction. More often than not, the goal of a business is to make money, it is not a charity. And seeing hom... | 47 | By making this a matter of pure self-interest, you're talking past rather than about the ethicality of the issue. You're correct that a company exists to make a profit and that they're not a charity. But why do you believe these statements hold any ethical weight? When you take an action that hurts people, it's not a d... | 21 |
ELI5: In Japan, why have a large number of people lost interest in sex? | 123 | They have bad working conditions, up to 16 hrs/day, especially for young people
They have extremely poor pay for young people; their working economy is ridiculously top-heavy with pay and benefits for the aging and elderly.
Polls indicate extremely high standards among young women. A majority refuse to date guys who ... | 189 | |
[Naruto/Boruto] Why Doesn't Naruto us clones to be a stay at home dad? | After Naruto becomes Hokage, why does he have trouble raising his kids and taking care of Hinata? He could keep a clone at home, help around the house and raise his kids while still being Hokage. Not only that, he would get to live both experiences. | 16 | That's basically what he did, use shadow clones to help him with family life and work when things got really busy as Hokage.
However there are drawbacks. Boruto didn't accept them anyway because he felt it was cheating or not really Naruto. Plus they have an expiration limit (like when one vanishes and drops Himawari... | 18 |
[Star Wars] How much did Jedi get paid? | Can they own their own businesses and shares?
Do we know who the richest Jedi was?
How did they get food and stuff when they were on Jedi business? Was there like a company card or something? | 41 | The average person was *ecstatic* to have Jedi using their services, and would rarely charge them. It was a mixture of hero-worship and mutual benefits; if the Jedi used their services, the service would get some recognition from the locals and would also be considered much more safe while the Jedi was there.
Jedi the... | 86 |
why are 100s (longer cigarettes), the same price as regular length cigarettes? | why are 100s (longer cigarettes), the same price as regular length cigarettes? | 269 | One factor that may be at play here (not knowing enough about cigarettes in particular to say for sure), is that the breakdown of costs is different than you've envisioned in your head.
One of the most prominent places this comes into play is clothing. The reason a small shirt generally costs the same as an XL is tha... | 136 |
[Spider-Man] How come in Into The Spider-Verse, the people sucked into Miles' dimension were all coincidentally Spider-People? | 17 | It wasn’t a coincidence. They were sucked in in response to Spider-Man getting in the energy stream. If Green Goblin had been the one in the energy stream, we’d have seen a bunch of Green Goblin folks show up (presumably including the Green Gobbler). | 49 | |
Is my Physics teacher correct on this fact? | He said that because red shifting proves that stars are moving away from us, that means that our theory of evolution is disproven. Not the part of survival of the fittest, but the bit with "primordial soup". He said that, in order for "primordial soup" to exist, there would have had to been multiple big bangs. Is he ri... | 17 | No. Redshift is evidence for the universe expanding which supports the Big Bang theory. This has nothing to do with evolution and the connection he is trying to make between the beginning of life and redshift makes no sense at all. | 83 |
[Terminator] Why does Skynet fight the human resistance with anthropomorphic bipedal terminators carrying small arms, backed by low flying gun ships? | Why not just carpet bomb all human controlled areas? | 111 | Skynet nuked us, and we still survived and came back to fight against it. Using terminators and gun ships allows it to slowly comb an area and get ride of every human in every nook and cranny. This doesn't bother Skynet as even when it looses terminators and gun ships it can just recover them later and repair them or r... | 119 |
[40k/HP] I am an Inquisitor of the Ordo Malleus. I have found myself on a primitive planet, whereupon I discovered a secret society of rogue psykers. How much of a threat are they to the Imperium of Mankind? | Their sorcery appears astonishingly weak compared to the psykery I am used to, especially my own gamma-level psychic abilities, however they have somehow managed to keep hidden from the entire non-psyker population of this planet for centuries at least.
Does the planet need to be purged? If so, what would be the best ... | 16 | The Creed says to distrust the Psyker, not to kill it on sight. Were we to kill the Psyker you wouldn't be alive now, would you?
The question is if they will follow the Imperial Creed and accept their place in the Emperor's great plan. | 20 |
[Batman] Does Batman care about white collar crime? | In most of the media we see he only ever deals with typical thugs, burglars, and arms dealers. | 108 | Bats cares about people being hurt.
If your restaurant is selling chicken liver for $1,000.00 a portion and claiming it's from endangered emus, Bats will let it slide. If the place is using illegal immigrants as slave labor, you'll get a visit.
He doesn't care that Selina keeps ripping off jewels, because that's a p... | 130 |
ELI5:Why is there any controversy involving drones? | They use less fuel than normal planes and keep our pilots out of danger. Why is a bomb dropped by a drone any worse? Why is a terrorist getting killed by a bomb a problem to anyone? | 17 | The controversy over the drones is not really about the drones themselves. The controversy is that Obama used a drone to kill a US citizen. US citizens should be provided due process (a trial, the opportunity to offer a defense, etc.). This drone strike violates that principle, even in the most narrow readings of the l... | 12 |
[Star Wars] How did Imperial pilots feel about the transition from the ARC-170 to the TIE fighter series? | The ARC-170 is shielded, has a hyperdrive, and is well armed and armored. The TIE is faster and more maneuverable, but the explicit goal of its use is to overwhelm the enemy with numbers, and if it costs the lives of who knows how many pilots, then so be it.
Did the Imperial pilots have any issues with being given les... | 240 | "You need shields? you need a hyperdrive to run? Real soldiers of the empire need only their wits, only their speed. The aging Arc-170 was for an age where pilots bought their way into the service. It was corrupt and dark time before we took back our society!
The Tie-LN rewards skill, bravery and daring. Just like th... | 285 |
Are there any functions other than e^x that are their own derivatives? | 43 | You're asking for the solutions to the differential equation dy/dx = y(x). The general solution to this is A*e^x, so that function is its own derivative for any number A. (Note: including for A=0; y(x) = 0 is also its own derivative.)
There are no other solutions because there is a uniqueness theorem (the Picard–Linde... | 65 | |
Do Tachyons Exist? | 439 | There is no evidence to suggest they exist and no reason to suspect that they do, and a number of problems that would arise if they did exist. A few years ago there was some hubbub about faster than light neutrinos, which was an erroneous measurement caused by a loose cable. | 265 | |
[The Elder Scrolls] How and why the heck does someone live off a Briarheart? | "Oh yeah, I'm going to tear out one of my vital organs and replace it with this plant."
How can this work? How is this a supplement.
and why is this a supplement? | 62 | Well it's Hagraven magic. Possibly Daedric. There is a whole ceremony and everything. Eye witness accounts suggest that the Forsworn Briarhearts are much more powerful mages than normal Bretons as well.
There are people ready to become half bird for more power, losing your heart does not sound that bad a deal. | 70 |
ELI5: How come black people have predominately curly hair? | And how come some other races don't? I've never seen an Asian with curly hair for example. | 27 | For the first humans living in Africa, the curly hair offered distinct evolutionary advantages such as:
- protecting the head from UV radiation (the head being the most important part of the body and therefore needing protection the most),
- not becoming a soggy clump covering your eyes when wet, and
- allowing increa... | 23 |
ELI5: HPV is supposedly bad and needs to be cured - but I've also heard that it's not that bad and basically everyone has it. Which is it? | 180 | Both. It's very, very common infection that in some cases leads to bad health effects, including cancer. Only a small percentage of people who get HPV will develop cancer, but because so many people have it, that small percentage is still a huge number of bad health outcomes that could be avoided if everyone got vacc... | 151 | |
ELI5: What happened to time itself during the earliest stages of the big bang? | As the universe became less dense incredibly fast, what happened to time and why? I don't know how to properly explain this as I'm extremely lost when it comes to physics. But as I understand it, a second will always last a second for the person experiencing it, but from an outside perspective that isn't necessarily tr... | 136 | "So, isn't the universe older/younger depending on from where you view it? "
Since by definition you are part of the universe, you cannot 'view it' from anywhere else. The idea that you can must therefore be a fiction. Likewise, the idea that there is a detached 'point of view' also has a non-empirical basis and conta... | 33 |
[DC] What does Shazam using the wisdom of Solomon look like? What’s he done with it? | 282 | Mechanically? He gets large boosts to his intelligence, with a masterful grasp of mathematics, a near perfect memory, understanding of most Earthly languages, increased mental processing speed, historical facts that he never studied for, and leaps of intuition that would put some TV detectives to shame.
How does it ma... | 250 | |
Why do human babies have so much trouble sleeping? Do babies of other species have trouble sleeping? Are humans unusual in this regard? | 31 | The smaller you are the faster your metabolism is. Ie you need food more often babies are growing an so need constant food.
Its why they feed every 3 hours on average.
A baby can't regulate its temperature by putting on an extra blanket. So even small changes in breeze and temperature can have an impact on their se... | 62 | |
Why are students warned not to study Carl Jung [psychology] | Allegedly of course. | 16 | Can you clarify what you mean by "warned not to study Carl Jung"?
If you are using Jung as if it is contemporary, evidence-based theory... then you're just misinformed about the state of the science at this time. But Jung is certainly a legitimate thing to study from a historical perspective. | 73 |
Why do I see black when I close both eyes, but when I close just one eye, that eye sees nothing? | 424 | It has nothing to do with seeing, and everything to do with perceiving. The vision center in the brain is constantly filtering out excess stimulus and filling in gaps in what it sees. One of the things it does is fuse the image from each eye: when we see using both eyes, our brain puts the information together into a... | 226 | |
Is Paul Krugman right when he says that the all-time high dollars created in the U.S. don't play a part in American inflation? | I don't see anyone of his caliber talking about it besides him (despite [Steve Hanke](https://fortune.com/2022/04/13/record-inflation-8-5-economy-fed-wrong/), but I don't know how he is seen in the economics world). I would like to see more opinions (be it in accordance or discordance) | 47 | Deficit spending as a percentage of GDP was not at an all-time high during the pandemic. It was at its highest since 1945.
Inflation has a number of causes, and there’s no single answer. Whether quantitative easing in a large open economy like the US could cause a high rate of inflation is debatable.
Some other cau... | 36 |
ELI5: What is E-Ink and how is it any different from a tablet screen? | I've heard about how Kindle has E-Ink and I was wondering what makes it so different compared to a tablet or laptop screen and if there is any true advantages | 22 | Computers usually have either CRT or LCD screen. CRT is a big box that has a layer of glowing stuff on the front, while LCD is a sheet of shutters and some sort of lightbulb at the back. The thing is, they both glow and when you look at glowing stuff too much, your eyes get tired.
E-Ink is a bit like an etch-a-sketch... | 12 |
ELI5: Why is Julian Assange still in the Ecuadorian embassy? | Why would Sweden extradite him, given the opportunity, and not the UK, having had the opportunity?
What are the Swedish laws about extradition? Do they not forbid extradition to countries where the death penalty is a possible outcome of the trial?
Has the whole situation been a complete stalemate ever since he enter... | 29 | I believe nothing has changed since he entered the Embassy.
There is still an extradition request outstanding for him, which means there is an arrest warrant for him lodged with the UK police. If he leaves the Embassy that warrant can be executed, therefore he's still inside. | 18 |
CMV: The gender-bathroom issue isn’t that hard to fix | The “bathroom issue” isn’t actually a major problem; it’s really an underlying debate about gender that makes this issue tricky. But, the point of this post is bathrooms:
- Let people use the bathroom they want. If you identify as one gender and are transitioning to that gender, it would be distressing to be forced to... | 41 | Why not just have a urinal room and a bathroom with only individual stalls and a common hand wash area?
That way, it's still fast (men peeing don't occupy stalls), and everyone has their privacy while doing their business. | 35 |
Are professors in Europe hired mostly behind the curtains? | I asked a friend who did a PhD and a postdoc in Europe why I see so few professor jobs for my field in websites like Euraxess. He told me that based on his experience, it seemed that European professors are initially informally offered a position based on personal connection, and then they post an ad for that position ... | 86 | There is no answer to this question. European countries differ vastly in hiring practices. What you describe certainly isn't true for most (or even all) of the countries with open academic systems (i.e., the ones in which a foreigner might get hired). That's places like the Netherlands, Switzerland, etc. But even some ... | 113 |
ELI5: How do farmers make sure that no fertilized/developing eggs make it to market? | I assume hens and roosters aren't put together, but especially for free range, I'm sure at some point a rooster and hen must have found a way to get frisky | 24 | Eggs can only get fertilized when there are roosters around to fertilize the eggs. No roosters, no fertilized eggs. So the way farmers make sure that no fertilized eggs get to the market is by separating them from the chickens.
Now the tricky thing here is that farmers also need fertilized eggs to grow new chickens to... | 30 |
ELI5 How come Japanese used shields against muskets but Europeans never used any direct protection ? | I have seen many illustrations of foot soldiers in Japanese art where they use shields to hide themselves and to protect from musket fire but never saw this kind of protection in European style of warfare.
Were the japanese shield effective ? | 32 | A lot of misconception here.
1. Shields are not good against arrow, let alone Musket ball. But an heavy enough shield could stop arrow, especially if you put it at a certain distance from you and not directly attached to your arm. In Europe we had things like Pavise, in Japan they used shield called Tate and built for... | 51 |
[Demolition Man] How did Taco Bell win the franchise war? | Meat? Banned.
Spicy foods? Banned.
Pretty much every menu item on Taco Bell has meat. Then to top that off Taco Bell just hands away Hot Sauce. So how did such an establishment as Taco Bell manage to win the franchise wars?
**Secondary question.**
Who lasted the longest in the franchise wars? Was it Pizza Hut? | 52 | Meat? Taco Bell had long since stopped using *real* meat in any of their products, so that was a non-issue.
Spicy Foods? Taco Bell had long since convinced a lot of people that "spicy" just meant "with an enormous amount of cumin" and nothing else, so also good to go. They spent years slowly moving their "hot sauce" p... | 87 |
ELI5: The legality of marijuana in US states. | From my understanding, it is illegal on a federal level, but on a state level, it is legal. What's stopping the federal government from sending forces to arrest people in Colorado and other states where it is legal? | 35 | The federal constitution clearly states that states cannot override federal law. States can be more restrictive, but cannot allow something the federal government says is illegal.
The decriminalization of marijuana by the states is illegal. The federal government has marched their forces in to arrest and shut down ope... | 26 |
How much energy does the human race use in a day? How much does the Earth absorb from the Sun in a day? | Are we using more or less energy than the Sun provides? And by how much? | 247 | About 1.21* 10^17 watts is absorbed by the earth from the sun. There are 86400 seconds in a day which corresponds to 1.04* 10^22 Joules a day. In 2008 we used 144,000 terrawatt hours which corresponds to 5.2* 10^20 Joules. So Earth receives 20 times more energy in a day than we use in a Year, so we use about .014% of ... | 126 |
[Mass Effect] How do you picture the role of humans in galactic politics changing after the events of ME3? | 16 | Humans played a major role in uniting the galaxy to victory, so that could put them in high regard among the other species. That and now the Citadel is in orbit above the Earth could mean it becomes a new hub for galactic politics. | 11 | |
CMV: Finances/fame shouldn’t be able to enhance your favor in terms of the justice you’re served for said crime in America | For the most part, I feel as a country, we have a decent justice system overall. There are a bunch of flaws within the justice system, but there’s flaws in every system so that’s not my concern. My view kicks in with money. Money or fame shouldn’t be able to determine the justice you’re served or result in you sufferin... | 28 | Suppose you want to bring in an expert witness. Who pays for that person's time? The State? Suppose you want to bring in a dozen expert witness? Who then? What's the cut off? How much money is the citizenry willing and/or able to fund the defense of every plaintiff?
Would you prefer the State fails to bring peop... | 12 |
I believe that even if there is an explanation on some level for why the universe exists, eventually it would still have to lead back to some first thing that 'just was' for no reason and without any cause. I see no way around this. CMV. | Say you have a cause for time and space existing. Well then what caused that thing? Say we find the cause for that thing. What caused that cause? Unless you have an infinite regression of causes, I don't understand how there couldn't inevitably be a first cause that has no prior causes, and thus just exists with no exp... | 67 | The idea of 'cause and effect' doesn't necessarily apply outside our universe.
Causality only exists when there's a time dimension. In order to say that something caused something else, there needs to be a before and after state. These must be distinguishable in time. However, time is a property of our universe; it di... | 17 |
[Back to the Future] What were Sioux warriors doing in California? | Or for that matter, what was a Plains Cavalry unit doing there? In 1885 hostilities had ceased between the Sioux and the U.S. They would resume again in a few years, but Marty would be long gone by then.
In any case, they were on the wrong side of the Rockies. The indigenous people of California weren't horsemen an... | 50 | This is a common misunderstanding. The group Marty encountered were actually performers from Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, engaged in a full dress rehearsal. They were understandably disconcerted by the appearance of a DeLorean right in front of them, and their following actions stemmed mostly from confusion and panic... | 54 |
[Halo] When did Humans stop being Forerunners and why? | Up until the events of Halo 4 it is understood that Humanity was the Forerunner race. Every piece of dialogue in the game as well as the Terminals hints at Humans being directly tied to all Forerunner tech as well as being recognized by the station monitors. Halo 4 Attempts to retcon this understanding into there actua... | 57 | This is not the case at all.
Perhaps it was originally meant to be that humans were forerunners very early in development of Halo 3. 343 certainly makes you think so. But Halo 3 also kills this theory the second it's introduced.
The terminals in Halo 3 clearly recount the Librarian discovering the human species beyon... | 59 |
[Marvels] Would Hydra have helped Steve and the Avengers, if they knew what was at stake with the 1/2 of all life being snapped? | So obviously Hydra are the bad guys… but when it comes to survival of species, would hydra have offered its resources to battle Thanos’ armies if an emissary reached out for help (if there wasn’t already someone deeply imbedded)?
I mean; I get Hydra’s about world domination and stuff, but don’t they stand to gain by ... | 399 | Depends.
I could see them taking the gamble that erasing half the population would mean that they would have a better chance of taking over everything that was left. Or they might decide that it was time to help out.
Also, if they had one AI like Zola, they probably had others. Even if the entire leadership was sna... | 315 |
[Portal] FW: Why are there canned beans in the crawlspaces between the testing chambers? | 18 | Thank you for sending your question through Aperture Science patented Automated Query Answer System.
As you are no doubt aware, Aperture Science is extremely prepared for any kind of disaster (unlike our competitors: Black Mesa). Part of these preparations includes a big stock of all kind of canned food, including de... | 41 | |
[General fantasy] I'm a mage and was wondering if teleprocessing a lich's phylactery into a star would work. | I mean, thats where they are reborn right? and they won't have any souls to feed them. should be an easy kill.. I .. need to git rid of this thing before he gets better and I don't have any other means to get rid of it. | 15 | Yea, if you have the power to do that kind of teleportation, and the power to get around any wards and protections the litch has on his phylactery, that would work.
I'd hardly call it an 'easy' kill though. | 17 |
[Harry Potter] Could you cast the Imperius curse on someone and force them to take their own life, making it look like suicide, and get away with it? | I guess the more general question is: what are the signs (if any) that a particular curse has been cast on a person after it has worn off? Are there magical traces left which are detectable? | 48 | Conditional yes.
The Imperius curse is an utter bastard to resist. Actions that run particularly contrary to the nature of the creature are a bit easier to resist - and nothing is more inherent to a creature's nature than the urge to keep on breathing. Unless you're a Thestral, anyway, and then your most basic urge is... | 42 |
How is it that we need oxygen to live but that free oxygen is also toxic to cells? | We breathe oxygen because our cells need it to live, yet exposure to free oxygen will also kill those cells? How are the lung cells/alveoli "immune" to oxygen exposure? | 19 | Free oxygen is actually oxygen radicals. The oxygen ions mentioned by others wouldn't really be much of a problem. They would react with the plentiful hydrogen ions in your body and become water. Oxygen radicals are free radicals and are pretty terrible for you. Your body has anti-oxidants that react with free radicals... | 11 |
ELI5: Why the north was fighting against slavery in the civil war, yet the 13th amendment was barely passed by this same government? | 17 | The north didn't go to war to end slavery. They went to war in order to preserve the union—to bring the southern states back under the USA.
The south, however, did secede because of slavery. For a present day analogy, think of all those people who insist that Obama wasn't born in the USA, or that he is a "secret Mus... | 19 | |
I just read that we share 90% of our genes with the fruit fly. How is this possible considering the vast difference? | 101 | I guess the question should be "what did you expect?" We and fruit flies share a common ancestor, so it would actually be shocking if our genes were totally different. We don't actually share *any* genes in common with them. Rather, 90% of the genes in a fruit fly are *related* to the genes in a human. This makes s... | 277 | |
[Star Wars] If there have been numerous Sith empires, then why does Palpatine say he is forming the first Galactic Empire when he is giving his speech after killing Windu? | 64 | As /u/ShakeTheLutece pointed out, it's possible the previous Sith empires didn't encompass enough systems to be considered "galactic." However, even if they did, do you really think Palpatine's going to bring that up to the Senate?
"The Republic will be reorganized into the first galactic empire! Actually, the fourth... | 83 | |
Can wind farms affect global wind patterns? | As wind would lose some of its force as it turn wind turbines, can a lot of turbines affect wind patterns by reducing wind considerably?
Edit: English | 24 | Realistically, no. The amount of energy in the Earth's wind patterns is vastly greater than what we can possibly extract via wind turbines. More importantly, wind energy is continuously replenished by the sun.
If we covered the whole surface of the Earth with wind turbines, yes, it would change wind patterns, but at t... | 12 |
What are some philosophical themes that stand out in Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov? | I have just started reading The Brothers Karamazov and thought I would ask what philosophical themes stand out the most in the book, just so I know what to expect! | 65 | Theodicy and free will, specially in the chapter of " The Grand Inquisitor"
Existentialism is a major theme in Dostoyevsky's works, and this book is no exception, Elder Zosima proposes several existential ideals such as responsibility for ones sins. | 21 |
[Star Wars/Trek] If the Borg assimilated a Force weilder would they gain access to Force powers? | 52 | Probably not. Remember midichlorians do not cause the force, they just feed off it. Also the use of the force requires training and concentration something a simple drone wouldn't be able to do. Not to mention that like Vader The Borgs inherent Force potential would be severely limited by all of their technological "en... | 48 | |
[DBZ] Are Earth's martial arts techniques exceptionally powerful relative to the rest of the universe? | Sure, Goku has Saiyan genetics that give him a massive advantage, but he and other Earth-trained fighters seem to exceed the expectations of fighters from other worlds. Goku travels around a lot and picks up techniques from everywhere, but guys like Krillin, Tien, and yes even Yamcha tend to punch above their expected ... | 51 | Tien, Yamcha, Chiaotzu and Piccolo trained with King Kai after Vegeta and Nappa tore them a new one. Having a Kai train you tends to give you a huge edge as this type of training simply isn't available in the mortal world. The ability to return from the dead via the Dragonballs is also unique to Earth (and Namek), so b... | 44 |
[Star Wars] Kylo Ren and Snoke are clearly Sith force users. Is there an explanation why neither are "Darth Something" | Darth Plagueis
Darth Sidious
Darth Maul
Darth Tyrannus
Darth Vader
Kylo Ren and Snoke
What's going on | 29 | They are wielders of The Dark Side of the Force, yes. But this does not make them Sith.
The Sith are one specific Cult of the Force, with a very narrow and dogmatic philosophy. But they are not the only such Cult, and certainly not the only one who employs the Dark Side.
It would be like saying to a Muslim, since you... | 117 |
[Spider-man] What is the extent of Sandman's powers? (Specifics in comments) | For example, how fine is his control over himself? His brain is made of sand: could he alter his own neural pathways to increase his intelligence?
If he got sand into someone else's mind via the nose, could he use it to control them?
Does it have to be sand? Sand is just a collection of random bits of stone and an... | 28 | > His brain is made of sand: could he alter his own neural pathways to increase his intelligence?
No. All his powers' energy is concerned with the shaping of his sand form. At that point there is no brain, no individual organs, and no neurons to alter anyways- it's all sand.
>If he got sand into someone else's... | 29 |
ELI5: Why is the caramel soft in ice cream bars, but if I were to stick a Snicker's bar in the freezer, the caramel would come out rock hard? | 107 | One is carmel sauce and the other is carmel candy. When making it, it’s highly dependent on temperature and the amount of fat. Plenty of recipes online if you want to try making it at home. You need a candy thermometer though. | 97 | |
[Alchemy/Rap] Is it possible to turn a hoe into a housewife? | So, my boy Trey is set on marrying this girl but to be frank, she's a hoe. I'm a pretty high ranked alchemist and figured I could give it a go, but all rumors say you can't make a hoe into a housewife. Is there any truth to these rumors or nah? | 390 | Probably not.
As we all know, the average human body is comprised of Water (35 L), Carbon (20 kg), Ammonia (4 L), Lime (1.5 kg), Phosphorous (800 g), Salt (250 g), Saltpeter (100 g), Sulfur (80 g), Fluorine (7.5 g), Iron (5 g), Silicon (3 g) and fifteen traces of other elements. Your hypothetical housewife would be c... | 259 |
Splenda and other artificial sweeteners are "hundreds" or "thousands" of times sweeter. How do they measure this? They taste the same to me. | Artificial sweeteners like Splenda are said to be hundreds or thousands of times sweeter than real sugar. How do they measure this? And why is it that a teaspoon of splenda in one of those little packets tastes exactly as sweet as a teaspoon of sugar? Shouldn't my mind be absolutely blown by how sweet it is? | 38 | Because it's also diluted thousands of times so that in the packet it's about a 1:1 analog of sugar.
That way when you are used to putting one packet of sugar in your coffee, you use one packet of Splenda. Otherwise your mind would be blown. Plus, it's hard to put only a couple of grains of Splenda in your coffee. | 24 |
[Star Wars] How would things have changed if Ahsoka never left the Order and was present in Coruscant during the events of Episode 3? | 20 | Had she been on Coruscant and still with the Order, she would have been the best chance for Anakin to come to his senses. But as Anakin proved on Mortis when he believes in something he will turn on his friends. It is quite possible that Ahsoka would either die at the temple or join her master.
Both of those outcomes ... | 31 | |
If the sun is constantly emitting energy, does that mean it is also constantly losing mass? If so, why is it said that the sun will eventually grow in size? | 28 | Yes, at the rate of roughly one lunar mass every million years, not including the particles spewed off as solar wind. Overall this is insignificant compared to the total mass of the sun. The sun is expected to increase in volume, decreasing the overall density, which isn't really related to the loss of mass. | 31 | |
ELI5:How did the Reagan administration contribute to the "war on drugs"? | I'm on a forum that shall remain unnamed (it's not bad, I just don't think the average redditor is familiar with it), and they're discussing the passing of Nancy Reagan. The forum is predominantly black, and while some are being respectful, many are saying they don't care because the Reagans put drugs into the black co... | 25 | According to Gary Webb's book *Dark Alliance*, the CIA supported the trafficking of cocaine into the United States to finance the rebellion against the Sandinista government of Nicaragua. The Kerry Committee report found that the State Department had paid over $806,000 to known drug traffickers that went to the Contras... | 32 |
ELI5: Why can small businesses have the same name but I can't call my dildo shop Walmart? | 31 | Two small business have very small chance of interacting with each other and most likely offer different services that would clearly differentiate them in the publics eye.
Walmart is a multinational corporation whose name carries a certain expectation in the public eye. When someone goes to a store called "Walmart" t... | 12 | |
[Fallout] Why is the sole survivor from vault 111 able to survive the wasteland but if residents from vault 112 were to be let out their bodies wouldn't be able to cope with the outside world ? | 19 | The preservation systems in the two vaults were entirely different. Vault 111 was an experiment in total cryogenic suspension, essentially freezing the subject in time as well as ice. Vault 112 kept its subjects alive but cognizant. They could not be frozen because their brains needed to remain in working condition. Th... | 31 | |
Biochemically, why does the methyl group of meth cause it to be so much potent than other amphetamines? | 142 | Methyls make molecules more nonpolar. Not more polar. Nonpolar molecules are less soluble in water.
The methyl group on methamphetamine lets it bind better to the receptor amphetamines binds to. Think of it as the methyl making the molecule a better shaped key for the lock (the receptor) relative to other amphetamines... | 31 | |
What is the truth behind the threat of "skipping off the atmosphere?" | In space movies, when the brave astronauts are about to re-enter, you often hear someone very solemnly pronounce, "If the angle of re-entry is too shallow, the capsule will skip off the atmosphere." Back on Earth, the astronauts' families cringe in fear, with the implication that this terrible thing must never happen.
... | 56 | What skipping off the atmsophere really means is having a trajectory that takes you through the upper atmosphere, which is curved like the Earth, at a speed and angle that atmospheric drag isn't enough to terminate your orbit.
It is a very real threat.
But can also be a tool. You can use a shallow entry to make sev... | 123 |
Magnets mess up electronics. But how precisely? | I know that in the case of magnetic storage (disk drives, RAM) the magnetic field of the magnet messes up the data stored.
But how do magnets otherwise destroy most electronical devices? | 144 | It's actually fairly difficult for anything other than a remarkably strong magnet to mess up electronics - you can screw with data on magnetically stored medium (RAM, by the way, is electrically stored, and shouldn't be affected by your garden-variety magnetic field). If the magnetic field is sufficiently strong, and e... | 68 |
[DBZ] Who does the Kai's lawn? | But really though.
their grass is always perfect. I'm talking always Bermuda grass or better. I could believe maybe North King Kai cutting his own but the others, who does this? why is it literally always perfect? Never too long but not golf course short? Who's going around cutting this? | 16 | What makes you think anyone even has to do it? King Kai and probably Bubbles as well, live forever, or pretty darn close to forever. It's not outside of the realm of possibility that his super small, yet super dense planet, has grass that never gets longer than that. The same way human hair tends to stop growing at a c... | 24 |
ELI5: Why does the wind usually seem so much more calm at night time? | 19 | Wind is caused by horizontal differences in air pressure. One way for pressure to fluctuate is when air heats up and rises. During the day, the sun will heat up certain surfaces faster than others. When the surface heats up, the air above it rises, causing a low pressure area. Air from a higher pressure area then t... | 21 | |
ELI5 why does milk taste so good after eating something with syrup or peanut butter? | Edit: My first post to make it to the front page is the stupidest question I've ever thought of while high and binge-eating Eggo Waffles. | 1,452 | **Likes disolve likes. Polar substances like water disolve polar substances like sugar. Non-polars like oil, fat, and gasoline dissolve non-polars. We've all seen this, oil doesn't mix with water. Chocolate and peanut butter have fat which don't disolve well or at all in water, but do in milk because milk has fat.** | 1,465 |
If allergies can come from repeated exposures, why are we not allergic to everything? | Correct any assumptions I may have made, but I have read about how allergies can come from repeated exposures to something. For example, I've read the story about how cockroach researchers eventually become allergic to them, and in turn have an allergy to instant coffee.
How come we aren't allergic to things we expe... | 256 | Allergies are due to your immune system misidentifying one protein as a similar protein. So repeat exposure increases the risk of this part happening. Once this happens, your body creates antibodies that will flag those proteins for histamine attack the next time they’re seen.
Usually our immune systems are good at ... | 155 |
ELI5: why hasn't the price of helium skyrocketed with its depletion? | 223 | Because no one is really worried about it running out.
There is plenty of helium extracted from the earth each year, a byproduct of natural gas wells. However, it isn't usually profitable to capture it, so producers just let it and other gases escape into the air.
Once the price hits a certain point, producers will ... | 151 | |
ELI5: Can someone explain how units of measurements were decided upon, and why the math is perfect? | Is it just a coincidence that a cube measuring 1cm x 1cm x 1cm holds 1mL of water and has a mass of 1 gram?
Were all three units of measurement based on water? | 20 | It's not a coincidence, they were defined that way.
The meter was originally defined at 1/10,000,000 the distance between the equator and the north pole.
A liter is a unit of volume, defined as 1000 cm^(3), so 1mL = 1cm^(3) (one cubic centimeter). It is derived directly from the meter, and has nothing to do with wate... | 24 |
[Stellaris] Our civilization is doomed. How can we leave a message for the future? | Our people, the Akar, began at the bottom of the seas of our homeworld thousands of years ago. We raced towards the future, elevated past factionalism, and took to the stars.
In the process of finding new worlds, we found a paradise beyond scientific understanding in a world called Divinity.
It was a "Holy World" of a... | 17 | Begin mass producing faster than light capable probes with as much data on your race and culture as is possible and start shooting them off in every direction imaginable. Many will be destroyed. Many more will drift for centuries, millennia, to be occasionally found and translated. Someone, somewhere, will remember you... | 15 |
ELI5 why your voice sounds different to you when you speak and when you hear it on a recording? | 38 | because when you're hearing a recording of yourself, you're not also experiencing it through the dense matter of your skull.
also, a recording does not have perfect fidelity. but mostly the first thing. | 34 | |
[Warhammer FB] Has anyone ever turned away from Chaos after embracing them? | 22 | Yes, in the Beastslayer novel of the Gotrek and Felix saga, the brother of duke of Praag is a Tzeentch cultist that is plotting to kill his brother and make the city fall to Chaos. Even though he sincerely loves his brother.
The plan fails because he has a change of heart at the very last moment, and protect his bro... | 26 | |
ELI5: Why is claustrophobia such a common fear, given that our ancestors were cave dwellers? Wouldn't we have adapted to tight and dark spaces? | 24 | Although prehistoric humans are often called "cavemen" its likely that the vast majority of early humans did not live in caves. Caves are where we find most prehistoric human artifacts, but that's because caves preserve things that would be destroyed, lost, or buried outside.
It's far more likely that most humans live... | 30 | |
ELI5:Why do most mentally disabled people share a lot of the same traits? | ( head tilted to the side, arm tucked to the chest, etc.) | 35 | They don't.
People with similar disabilities share similar traits. You notice the ones with these traits because you associate them with mental disabilities.
Many people that are intellectually delayed are relatively "normal" in appearance. They simply are less able to develop adaptive behaviors that help with societ... | 19 |
[Harry Potter]If Sirius hadn't been sent to Azkaban would Harry have been safe with him? | Harry was sent to the Dursley's because his Aunt Petunia was his only living blood relative. Granted Sirius is only his Godfather, but with the protection surrounding 12 Grimmauld Place, would Voldemort have found Harry? Could Harry have safely lived with him? | 17 | The fidelius could probably have protected Harry at Grimmauld Place, but it had just failed Harry's parents so Dumbledore would conceivably have been reluctant to choose it as a main line of defense again. The blood magic made possible by Lily's sacrifice was too powerful to ignore; Albus would be more likely to make S... | 16 |
Is there a scientific basis for handwriting analysis? | I was pointed to [this article](http://animalnewyork.com/2015/handwriting-expert-analyzed-signatures-embarrassing-letter-gop-senators-sent-iran/) today analyzing the signatures of some US senators. Reading through the analysis is strikes me as a bunch of [just-so stories](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-so_story). Ob... | 412 | Graphology has been pretty much debunked as pseudoscience.
It's easy to test—give some graphologists some biographies of people and some handwriting samples, and ask them to match them up. None of them score better than chance. | 207 |
Can a atom be made of just a neutron and an electron? | Can a atom be made of just a neutron and an electron? What is this called? | 170 | There would be no electromagnetic force between the neutron and electron, so no, not possible. The closest you can get to that is one neutron, one electron, AND one proton. That would be deuterium which is an isotope of hydrogen. | 173 |
If a magnetic field requires a moving electric charge, how does a permanent magnet work? | And even if a permanent magnet has some sort of current flowing in it, how does the current stay moving without the input of energy? | 132 | First of all, a magnetic field doesn't necessarily require a movement of charge. All it needs is a change in electric flux with time.
Second of all in an atom, the electrons are "spinning" around the nucleus, usually in random directions. Every single one of them is like a tiny bar magnet (the more technical term is d... | 72 |
Why am I always tired throughout the day, but energetic at night while surfing reddit until 3AM? Shouldn't I just keep getting more and more tired until I fall asleep? | 184 | Your circadian rhythm is controlled by melatonin levels. Elevated melatonin causes drowsiness and melatonin should decrease to undetectable levels during the day.
Melatonin production is suppressed by shining blue light around 460 to 480 nm onto the retina.
So perhaps you are not receiving enough blue light inten... | 51 | |
CMV: Capitalism is leading to the degradation of culture. | 19 | How do you define degradation? What is lower vs. higher "quality" culture?
Capitalism in conjunction with the online marketplace has created a resurgence of handmade craft. Things like food-trucks and micro-breweries are redefining the way Americans look at food, beer, wine. The availability of cheap, high quality pr... | 20 | |
[Terminator franchise] How sentient are the Terminators? | Both the T-800 and T-1000 have overriding programming that they don't or can't deviate from - kill their target. However, they have a lot of leeway within the programming and often seem to make spur of the moment decisions. They let some civilians live and kill others. They use subterfuge sometimes and brute power ... | 67 | A constant theme within the Terminator Universe is the prospect of machines developing to the point they begin exhibiting more and more human traits, specifically emotions. The "Uncle Bob" expressed humor, concern, and empathy (all of which was made possible after the switch over of his chip from Read-only to Read-... | 46 |
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