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[Doctor Who] Did the 4th Doctor give Davros the idea that the Daleks could suppress the universe rather than just just the planet Skaro itself? | 25 | He did yes, he told him of the entire future of the Daleks. How they would conquer and kill billions. Before the Doctor's interference Davros believed it impossible that there even was life on other planets.
I guess you can blame the Time lords overall. They sent in the one man who they knew wouldn't have the will t... | 18 | |
ELI5: how can law Enforcement track people using their phones? | Watching movies i get this question a lot
If a person throws his phone away , how does the police know who is the owner of the phone? | 16 | Phones don't just magically give you the ability to call people, it is a service that you pay for. If you toss your phone away, the phone you pay the cell company for service, then someone who finds the phone can ask the cell company who pays the bill. That will lead back to you.
Of course there are temporary prepaid ... | 17 |
ELI5: If before the universe there was nothing, then the universe was created, shouldn't there be a field of nothing at the possible edge of the universe? | 15 | A common misconception about the expansion of the universe is to imagine it's expanding in all directions in three dimensions. You envision a balloon that we're inside. The balloon is getting bigger, and you say 'there must be an actual balloon around this space'.
In reality, the universe as we know it *is* the surfac... | 27 | |
CMV: Pickles don't belong on a burger | I just don't get how people like pickles on burgers. When you bite into a burger with pickles all you taste is pickle. When there is no pickle you get an even distribution of flavors. You can taste the condiments, the beef, the bun, the lettuce, tomato and onions. When there are pickles, the flavor profile changes to 8... | 31 | IMO, you need some kind of acidity to cut through the fat of the meat and cheese and balance the flavours, be that tomatoes, pickles, and/or condiments.
OP, is it the taste of the dill you don't like?Maybe try slightly pickled red onion. Easy to make for a homemade burger at least and adds a nice zing. | 35 |
Do your cells stop dividing the second you die? If not, how long do they divide after you are dead? | 24 | Well that will vary for each cell. Most will die once they no longer have enough oxygen for aerobic respiration and thus can't power their necessary functions. If your someone like Henrietta Lacks scientists have kept your cells growing long after death. | 13 | |
ELI5: Why and how does a panic attack occur? Is it describable by words? | 16 | Basically it's your 'fight or flight' mode going into overdrive. The psychology is a bit more complicated, but essentially because of a mental condition such as a phobia or panic disorder, your brain decides that there is an immediate and very serious threat to you even though there isn't. Your brain then tells your bo... | 11 | |
[Bladerunner] - Why do replicants need to be retired? | As i understand it, they have a manufactured artificial lifespan, so whats wrong with just letting them live out their remaining 12 months?? | 31 | Remember, Roy and his cadre of escaped Nexus 6 replicants weren’t trying live a quiet life under the radar. They were living stealthily while working on a specific mission to seek out Eldon Tyrell and force him to expand their lifespans… and when he told them he couldn’t, the result was that Roy slowly shoved his thumb... | 75 |
Does a container with a perfect vacuum in it float? | 103 | It would if the container weighed less than the volume of air it has displaced. Lets assume we have a 1 meter cube of pure vacuum, this would displace just over 1kg of air, and hence, if the container itself weighed slightly less 1kg, it would float.
However, at sea level, air pressure is about 100000 pascals, or 1000... | 67 | |
[MCU] What do the Wakandan elites and general population think of Bucky during and after his stay with them? | Was he well received? Respected and reviled in equal measures? Did he develop any intimate relationships with anyone in the country while he was there? | 57 | I doubt most even knew he was there. Those that did know he was there, knew that T'Challa was rehabilitating him as part of his new vision of Wakanda that is more interested in helping the world than isolating their country.
He definitely developed some kind of friendly relationship with ~~Okoye~~ Ayo, at least enough... | 50 |
How do we hear sounds in our head that aren't being made? | For example, how can we hear a song in our heads if it isn't actually playing? | 38 | We hear using our brain, not our ears. Your memory stores sounds; like your voice, or a song you heard.
When that memory is brought back to your current state of consciousness (like a song being stuck in your head), you remember it through the part of your mind that hears. Just like you remember what a place looks like... | 16 |
[General] What would happen to a Dyson Sphere if the star attached began to die? | When I think of a Dyson Sphere I imagine a boundless sort of energy. But I also think that it would be dangerous if the star died.
So what would happen to a Dyson Sphere if a star died? Could a sufficiently powerful empire prevent a stars death and continue the Dyson sphere? | 57 | Stars take a really long time to die (predictable out to millions, billions or trillions of years in advance depending on the type of star), so in most sci-fi settings the Dyson Sphere could probably be evacuated even if they didn't have FTL technology. A good thing about stars running out of fuel (the most common way ... | 77 |
[Star Wars] Why don't AT-ATs have shields? | I know they have armor strong enough to repel vehicle-based blaster cannons, but it seems like the sieges AT-ATs were designed for would include extra-heavy artillery weapons and bombing runs that they're woefully bad at defending against. And wouldn't a shield stop yokel terrorists from cutting open the hatch with a ... | 32 | >Bombing runs they're woefully bad at defending against
In the Battle of Hoth, the Empire has nearly complete air and space superiority. That's why the ion cannon was so important- without it, the transports were space dust.
They were only destroyed with a highly unusual and improvised attack strategy that happen... | 24 |
When I recite my ABCs, am I firing neurons from my childhood? And/or am I firing the same network that dates back to my childhood? | 36 | Your brain is made up of more-or-less the same neurons as when you were a baby. And you're *probably* using similar neurons, an overlapping network, when you think now about things you learned then. But these neural networks change every time they are used for something; they grow, shift, shrink, etc. So it's certainly... | 22 | |
[Star Wars] Did Vader find any satisfaction in stuff he used to like when he was a good guy? Did he still "like" fixing stuff, flying, etc? | 81 | He kept a custom fighter, and went out of his way to lead the fighter defense at the Battle of Yavin, which would indicate he still had some desire to fly. He wouldn't otherwise have been expected to "lead from the front" during that battle, anymore than Tarkin would have been. | 95 | |
ELI5: How do we safely film deep sea animals | Not our safety, but that of what they are filming. Some of these things never see the light of day and James Cameron over here is blasting it in the face with what must feel like the light of a billion suns, how does this not damage the eyes of the animals that have them? | 196 | We don't really know, but the things we see on camera don't seem to mind. The ones who really dislike light are gonna run or hide long before the light gets close enough to be really bright. From what we understand about vision in identified species, even if camera lighting does blind or disorient them, the ill effects... | 121 |
ELI5: Does a company care about whether it's stock price is high or low? | 280 | Yes, for many reasons.
I'll assume that by "company" you actually mean the executive leadership and board members. A random employee may care indirectly (if the stock price is really low they might get laid off) but the stock price has very little direct effect on them.
The board and CXOs are typically compensated mo... | 461 | |
Why does a person die when their neck is snapped? | Is the brain unable to tell the heart to continue beating, so the brain dies of oxygen deprivation? If so, would this mean that a person who is hanged appears dead immediately but actually remains alive and alert for another minute or two?
Or am I way off? | 33 | >Is the brain unable to tell the heart to continue beating, so the brain dies of oxygen deprivation?
Nope. The heart is so cool it has its own nervous system (impulses originating in a structure called the S.A. node) that keeps it beating regardless of all else but oxygen supply to the heart. Death from a broken ... | 46 |
ELI5 - If the body's internal temperature is roughly 37 degrees Celsius, why does it feel really hot when the outside temperature is 37 degrees Celsius? | Sorry not in Fahrenheit for our American friends. What is 37 Celsius in Fahrenheit? | 106 | Our skin is a natural heatsink. The heat from our core warms up the skin which is cooled down by the surrounding air. Sweating speeds up this heat transfer process. But if the air tempature and body temperature are both 37°C, this process slows down and we are venting less heat whilst constantly producing more heat, ma... | 51 |
CMV: Ostracization of bigots is better than giving bigots a platform | So I would like to think that most sensible and reasonable people find discrimination to be abhorrent, so I'm open to having my view changed if we agree on the goal but just differ on how to get there. For me, I feel like, just like bullies, the best thing that we can do as a society is to not engage with racists / peo... | 20 | The problem with ostracizing them is that it doesn't address the problem, it just hides it. Forcing someone into the shadows won't force them to question their beliefs, it makes them feel like they are correct to feel persecuted.
We should engage with abhorrent views. Wherever they come up, they should be addressed. ... | 49 |
Why does orbital penetration reduce the energy of an orbital? | I've read that by approaching the nucleus, the electrons lose energy. So i'm guessing that the 2s orbital is lower in energy than 2p since it is more penetrating, likewise for how 1s is lower energy than 2s. I would like to think this has something to do with Coulomb's Law but I'm not too sure why or how electrons lose... | 31 | In a 1 electron system, the energy of 2s and 2p is identical. However, in a multielectron system the 2s is slightly lower in energy. The attraction between the 2p electrons and the nucleus is screened by the 1s electrons, i.e. the negative charge of the 1s electron cancels out some of the positive charge from the nucle... | 13 |
ELI5: how does private equity work? | I understand private equity is just a group of people buying a company, but oftentimes the debt to purchase the company is put on the company itself. How does this work and why is this possible?
How can you take out a loan to buy something and make that same thing pay it back?
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If private equity often ... | 130 | Lots and lots and lots of misinformation in here. The basic idea is this: private equity simply refers to firms that invest in private companies (i.e., not public). The goal of private equity funds is to purchase a company, make it more valuable, and then sell it at a later date to another buyer (like another PE firm o... | 67 |
[Fallout: New Vegas] How could the Bright Brotherhood possibly have failed to reach the moon and yet survived? | In the good ending, it is said that the ghoul cultists helped some civilians get away from the fighting during the final battle, obviously meaning that they survived their attempted voyage to the moon yet did not actually reach the moon.
From this, I personally like to surmise that they crashed but miraculously all su... | 61 | They may have had enough fuel to get into orbit, but not to escape Earth orbit and slingshot out to the moon. However, your theory that it was purely a leadership justification for an accident is more likely. | 32 |
How do we take pictures of our galaxy if we are in our galaxy? | So we have pictures of the Milky way but we are in the Milky Way?
Edit:Rip my inbox
Thanks for the replies everyone!!! | 4,041 | Assuming you mean plan view, we don't.
All images like that described as showing our galaxy are either digitally (or manually) produced images, or images of other galaxies similar to ours.
We can see the milky way in our sky, and being on the outer limb of one of the arms we see it as a broad band of stars dominating... | 3,115 |
I believe a lot of people with 'scientific understanding' rely on a dogma just as much, if not more-so than religious people. CMV | **I have responded** please see update 1&2
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Let me just define my meaning of 'scientific understanding'. The typical view of someone who uses scientific theory and experiment as a factual representation of the universe and reality. The person with dogmatic beliefe then, has a concrete belief in an objective r... | 224 | You are correct in your understanding of scientific knowledge as incomplete and approximate. The perspectives on the universe rooted in scientifc knowledge are models of understanding, NOT precise descriptions of essential truth. However, you are incorrect in thus equating it with dogma.
The scientifically-based model... | 406 |
ELI5: How does soap actually disinfect germs? | 15 | And for the germ-killing (*antibacterial*) soap...
Most germs (*bacteria*) are built like medieval cities, with the good stuff inside and walls (*cell membranes*) to protect them. These walls have gates with gatekeepers (*ion channels/porins*) to let only specific things and people (*nutrients and wastes*) pass. If ... | 11 | |
[40k] If the emperor told everyone not to worship him when he was alive then how did the whole cult of the emperor get started? | 198 | The early Horus Heresy books touch on this.
Basically, the universe is a pretty sucky place to start, and in the aftermath of the HH it got even suckier. Humans sort of needed a something to put their faith in, and it was hard to put that faith in progress and reason when things were just straight up getting worse all... | 224 | |
ELI5: Why 5G towers and remotely read electricity meters and the EMF they emit are NOT dangerous. | I don't believe they are, but I'm after a convincing argument to use with those who do, that isn't condescending and they might consider.
I work for a power company and get a lot people complaining that they don't want one of those remotely-read (via cell network) electricity meters so close to their kids' bedroom be... | 39 | There's two types of electromagnetic radiation (EMF): Ionizing and non-ionizing.
Ionizing waves have high energy and a short wavelength. Since their wavelength is so short, they can interact with matter on the molecular level. A photon, a packet of light energy, will sometimes collide with an electron and knock it of... | 49 |
How much healthier is fresh food vs frozen food vs canned food? | Also, what is the actual difference? Are there fewer vitamins? If so, where do they go, or how do they get destroyed? | 80 | It's possible for frozen food to be healthier than fresh food. These days, it is often frozen within hours of harvesting, whereas "fresh" vegetables will spend anywhere from hours to days simply refrigerated in stores.
Canned food which has been heat treated contains less essential amino acids, and often has had salt... | 61 |
I always see representations of the solar system with the planets existing on the same plane. If that is the case, what is "above" and "below" our solar system? | Sorry if my terminology is rough, but I have always thought of space as infinite, yet I only really see flat diagrams representing the solar system and in some cases, the galaxy. But with the infinite nature of space, if there is so much stretched out before us, would there also be as much above and below us? | 1,922 | In the solar system, all of the planets are on the same plane, but there are lots of smaller objects which have orbits which are at angles to the plane of the planets.
As for the galaxy, it is also roughly flat, and has a diameter about 100 times larger than it's thickness. Within the galaxy, the stars have planetary ... | 861 |
When we talk about "technology", why do we talk about high techs like computers & gadgets, artificial intelligence, bioengineering. But not plumbing, scissors, baskets? | Technology can be defined as "the collection of techniques, skills, methods, and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives."
We speak of hammers, saws, pickaxes only when we discuss them in the context of *primitive* or non-modern period. But when we speak of it in to... | 63 | This seems like a loaded question. What do you want to know about hammers, saws, and pickaxes from a social scientific perspective?
The definition of technology that you provide is nice and general and pretty consistent with the way it is used across a broad variety of kinds of research. For example, historians, anth... | 17 |
[SCP] [Jojo's Bizarre Adventure] What would the SCP Foundation do about all the Stand users running around? | If of course they existed in the same universe. | 15 | The Stand Arrow becomes SCP-#### and stand users become SCP-####-001, 002, 003, etc.
Having a stand user on staff would be a double-edged sword. On one hand, the tendency of stand users to run into and fight each other would be instrumental in the mission to hunt them down. On the other hand, it might be detrimental t... | 20 |
What does it really mean when they say that COVID-19 is "airborne"? How is it any different from other viral infections like the flu? | Recently, I've seen a few posts and articles pop up saying that the virus is airborne and that it lingers for a while. But isn't it known that in droplet infections, the minute droplets linger around for a bit before settling down? Haven't we already been treating it as such? | 25 | Airborne means that the individual viral particles can survive in the air without the need to be suspended in tiny water droplets.
The flu is not airborne and that means the flu needs to be transmitted in liquid droplets ie from a sneeze or a cough.
The implications for it being airborne mean that it has a higher cha... | 40 |
ELI5: Why does New England have cold an snowy winters even though they are on the same latitude as southern Europe? | 134 | Latitude is only one part of the formula that determines local climate. One very important factor is the Gulf Stream: a flow of warm water that goes north from Florida before crossing the Atlantic around Newfoundland and then follows the European coastline. The warm water helps make the climate of Europe mild, but beca... | 99 | |
Can you explain how forces such as the strong nuclear force to gravity is mediated through particles? | E.g. gluons mediating the strong force between quarks. Gravitons (I know they have not been detected yet) etc.
EDIT: 'ARE mediated through particles' :( | 338 | Forces are not literally mediated through particles. Forces can be approximately described as being mediated by "virtual particles" in the approximation framework known as perturbation theory. For example, electrons interact via the electromagnetic field, and ripples in the electromagnetic field are called photons. So ... | 71 |
ELI5 How do "Lock Ons" work in military jets. | 1,339 | "Locking on" is a very general term; there are a bunch of different ways you can track a target (which is the goal of all of them).
Simplest is passive tracking: identifying and following the target by looking for it against the background, for example looking out for a cyclist on the road. They don't have any lights ... | 1,622 | |
How did heavy metals arrive on Earth during planetary formation? | I understand that most heavy metals are created during supernovae and ejected during the explosion, but I'm not quite understanding as to how so much of anything metallic - especially elements higher in the periodic table - came to be part of the primordial dust cloud - a cloud composed of still so *very much* hydrogen... | 17 | Our Sun is second (possibly third) generation, meaning that it was formed from the remains (stellar nebula) of previous supernovae. Earth and the other planets are little bits of the origin stellar disk the Sun formed from, and that's how we got a lot of our heavy elements. Presumably some came in the form of later bom... | 18 |
ELI5: Why do childhood years seem to last longer than adulthood years | I'm almost 24 and feel like the last 3 years of my life didn't happen. Recently, I can picture myself turn 40 all of a sudden. The last 3 years of my life felt like 3 months compared to 3 of my childhood years. | 155 | As a kid, you do more fun things, and thus remember more fun. As an adult, you're mostly just trying to get by, you go on autopilot, and suddenly five years have gone by, you're almost 40 and one of the Ghostbusters is dead | 113 |
ELI5: Due to the extra chromosome, do people with Down Syndrome only accept blood from other people with Down Syndrome? | 115 | No. Red blood cells don't have chromosomes anyway.
The real problems with blood transfusion has nothing to do with DNA, but usually involves blood types. To give an ELI5 view, blood types refer to ways of classifying blood characteristics. For example, the one most people focus on is the ABO system, which refers to an... | 70 | |
I believe it's unfair that CEO's make millions while the lowest paid workers barely make enough to get by. I believe it's unfair to make that much money while your men make minimum wage. | Like the title says, I believe presidents (of companies), CEO, and other high ranking members of management in companies make wayy too much money while the bottom of the rung employees make minum wage. Some say that is the way capitalism works. I think it's unfair. Personally, If I was the CEO of a multi billion dollar... | 146 | That's not how money works. Money is not an absolute, it's an arbitrary and changing unit of worth.
Minimum wage is a floor meant to insure no one makes less than it, but it is an arbitrary number. Prices of goods and services are then set relative to wages. If everyone suddenly makes double, the cost of everything wi... | 75 |
[Star Wars] Why did the Emperor offer no resistance when Vader threw him into the reactor? | When Vader picks him up, it's like the Emperor almost immediately gives up. Was there some force-work at play, here? Was he being electrified by his own lightning? | 25 | Force lightning is a very powerful dark side technique. It requires a great deal of emotion to power the attack. This is also the moment when the Emperor had just seen his apprentice defeated, and his plans for Luke fail.
Basically, he was literally out of his mind with rage when Vader picked him up. Being betraye... | 51 |
Many people seem to believe that society is changing faster today than it did in the past. Is this a cognitive bias, is the world perhaps changing in different ways and we have forgotten the significance of past changes, or is there some truth in this statement? | 77 | One thing nobody seems to have mentioned yet is population growth. There are *seven times* as many people alive today as there were 200 years ago. Overall, the standard of living for most people has improved over the last two centuries, so a proportionately-larger number of those people are literate and educated (to so... | 16 | |
ELI5: How exactly does counting cards work and how does it level the playing field against a casino or improve one's chance of winning? | 76 | Counting Cards is all about keeping track of probability.
Let's say you're playing blackjack. And the first five cards that are dealt are relatively low (let's say less than seven).
If you keep track of this, you know that the probability of drawing a high card is larger than normal because several low cards have alr... | 28 | |
What is the difference between scotch, whiskey, bourbon, and rye? | 57 | They are all "whiskey" (despite differences in spelling) in that they are spirits made from grain. Generally, the names refer to where they are made, scotch being made in Scotland and Bourbon being made in Kentucky. "Rye" means that rye (a type of grain) is used. Rye can be made anywhere, but tends to be more common i... | 26 | |
[Daredevil] Why is Daredevil unable to see ninjas from the Hand when he can see what kind of tools are inside of a medkit from across the room which are all inanimate objects? | 232 | Sound absorbent materials.
Daredevil "sees" via a form of echo location. Sound bounced off the medkit in a way that made it identifiable.
The Hand's clothing, however, absorbs more sound than it reflects. Not unlike how stealth aircraft work. At best it confuses his "sight". At worst they're invisible to him. When h... | 180 | |
ELI5: What cause that "heart throb"/"tighten up lung" feeling when you are extremely sad/ heart broken? | First hand experience on Monday and still going through it from an out of the blue break up.
Edit: thanks guys for not only sharing answers but also stories and advices. Sadly the thread is locked so I cant reply to some of you.
"To day is gonna be a great day and you know why!!!? Cause EVERYDAY is a GREAT day!!"-... | 3,214 | Effectively your body thinks that you are in fight or flight mode because it doesn't have a great mechanism to deal with heartbreak. Your autonomic nervous system takes over for your body (essentially autopilot) and tells the rest of your body "HOLY SHIT SOMETHING BAD IS HAPPENING WE NEED TO BE WORKING DOUBLE TIME TO R... | 2,560 |
When you wake up by yourself after a period of time (be that 7 hours or 12), is that the amount of sleep your body required? | 59 | The simple answer to your question is: no, not necessarily. A lot of it depends on the timing.
In terms of the biological factors involved, sleep timing can be largely understood in terms of two processes:
1) Your circadian rhythm, which times your 24 h rhythm of sleepiness, hunger, hormone release, etc.
2) Your sle... | 34 | |
How do scientists know how much dark matter a galaxy has or doesn't have? | 16 | You take a galaxy and measure the rotation speeds of the stars. When you plot them on a graph of orbital speed Vs their radial distance, you'll see that it doesn't add up. There should be more mass present to account for all that speed. Then you figure out how much mass should be there for the stars to be going that fa... | 15 | |
[Dresden Files] Lots of wizards died in the war with the Red Court. Like lots. Why didn't we see wizards doing amazing things with their death curses? | It seems like good opportunity to do something great, but no one seems to do it. One of the Denarian carriers, Cassius, pulled out that "Die alone" death curse so it doesn't need to be just pure destruction. Donald Morgan was a formiddable wizard. Why didn't he do something amazing in his last minutes? | 30 | Death curses are not the effect of a wizard dying, contrary to popular belief. It is the final spell expended by a dying wizard, fueled by all his remaining life force and magic. So, for a death curse to have any effect, the wizard must have time to formulate his curse and choose his target. If death was instantaneous,... | 13 |
ELI5 Why do TV shows have different directors for each episode? | 325 | The first reason is purely practicality. TV production is much more fast paced than film production, and there are almost always multiple episodes in different stages of their production being made. Therefore it is much more efficient and usually better for the end product to have different creative forces (writers, di... | 278 | |
Why can plastic only be recycled a few times while glass can be recycled indefinitely? | Specifically: why do the plastic molecules become shorter with each melting down/recycling (thus degrading the material) while glass molecules don't and can therefore be recycled an indefinite number of times without degrading? | 372 | Plastic is a blanket term of polymers. For example, the single-use water bottles are PET (Polyethylene terephthalate), note the poly- prefix meaning that the bottle is built out of huge molecules that consist of lots of ethylene monomers chained together.
These materials are prone to degradation, which is essentially ... | 327 |
Voyager 2 has reveled that the interstellar medium near the heliopause has a temperature of around 30,000-50,000K (29,000-49,000C). How and why doesn't Voyager just melt with such tempatures? | Is the vacuum of space the same temp or is it just the infrequent and tiny particles that are this temp? I thought space was rather cold when away from a star. | 177 | Most of the gas in space really is quite hot. Most of the volume of the "interstellar medium" - the gas distributed within a galaxy - is an ionised plasma at around 10,000 K. In intergalactic space, the gas is a hot blob of plasma that has largely been ejected from galaxies through supernova explosions, so it's at ~1,0... | 173 |
ELI5: What is special about ARM computer processing? | I keep hearing about the new Macs with ARM processors, as opposed to x86. I don’t understand what either of those mean. | 19 | Processor architecture means the way the processor carries out instructions. x86 is designed to be able to do a bunch of specific complex instructions and ARM is designed to do a limited group of very simple instructions.
But a long time ago people realized that there's no limit to what complex things we'll want to ad... | 27 |
CMV: There is no fair and practical way to pay reparations for past crimes like slavery or what happened to the Native Americans. | **Edit: I also meant to say that I don't mean this as a way to look down on people who might call for reparations. I think 98% of the time people call for it it's well intentioned, and their heart is in the right place. It just doesn't seem viable as an actual policy.**
The way I see it it would be more or less impos... | 53 | You could just avoid the problem by not paying individuals. Communities exist. Build schools in underserved communities. Give grants to historically black colleges. Build communities centers in Harlem and other historically black communities. Improve living conditions on native American reservations.
There is no need... | 25 |
[general modern era fantasy] how are magic users trained by the military and integrated with the rest of the armed forces? | 20 | Intelligence and medical fields mostly. Modern weapons are easier to use and don't require decades of training or any sort of innate ability. Battlefield scrying, precognition, infiltration, and defenses against those are much cheaper and easier with magic than tech, no need to launch multiple trillion dollar satellite... | 18 | |
ELI5: How can some severe long-term alcoholics/smokers/drug addicts maintain full and healthy organ function? | How is it possible for people to be alcoholics/smokers/drug addicts for decades, but develop no liver / heart / lung / jaundice problems and live to a ripe old age? Why do some bodies cave in, and others seemingly remain indestructible?
Edit: To clarify, I don't mean no visible problems, I mean having a full medical a... | 2,844 | when you take toxins into your body, you increase the *chances* of developing a disease related to those toxins. we say things like, "smoking causes lung cancer," and that's not exactly wrong, but it's not a 1-to-1 relation, either. just as some people who never smoke or work in dangerous environments will develop lu... | 1,548 |
CMV: Neither Republicans or Democrats are bad people. Both of them hold valid views and opinions and neither are stupid or evil in any way. | I don’t know if this sort of post is welcome here, especially since it involves politics. However, I made a few comments on r/politics today and I received 80 downvotes in total — the most I’ve ever gotten on Reddit. I wanted to know whether or not I’m in the wrong and let out my thoughts. Also, feel free to look at my... | 60 | So, the view you want changed is that neither side is evil and/or stupid?
How could one change such a view? What evidence of evil/stupidity would you find convincing enough that you could apply it to 45% of the population in either direction? | 48 |
I'm writing code slower than 2 years ago | Hello r/AskProgramming.
I'm writing code for more than 7 years now and started doing that professionally 3 years ago. I have experience with mostly Java, JS, C#, PHP. Within these languages I have a common problem. I'm writing code slower than before.
What I'm doing different is I'm trying to create functions that c... | 41 | Writing clean code is hard work. Naturally, this will take longer than writing non clean code. Of course, clean code is good.
There is a point of being over compulsive about it. The pragmatic programmer talks about this. You need to know when it’s “good enough” and move on. There is a balance.
In the long run, it wi... | 42 |
[Fantastic 4] What does the Human Torch smell like? | What does he smell like when he's flamed on? Is it possible for fire to burn without emitting a smell? Does he smell like a burning person? Is that distracting to any of the other members of the F4? | 23 | Well, technically he isn't on fire. What Johnny Storm does is pyrokinesis of self-generated plasma, which is more similar to lightning than actual flame. As a result, it would probably not smell of anything in particular, though the air around him may smell like ozone if the plasma destabilized the O2 in the air around... | 19 |
ELI5: If we can use the rectum for effectively absorbing suppositories, how come we don't get blood poisoning from all the bacteria and waste minerals in our faeces? | It doesn't make sense to me. | 2,155 | Our digestive tract has a pretty strong barrier (lots of IgA antibodies that act like a web to trap) that prevents bacteria from crossing into the blood. Bacteria (or viruses) have to pass either between or through epithelial cells in order to enter the blood. There are numerous immune cells present to prevent this fro... | 1,289 |
In his critique of Libertarian Liberalism, Clouscard said "everything is permitted but nothing is possible", can someone explain what he meant by this? | 55 | While a completely free market is, in the abstract, the "freest" and least constraining economy, it ultimately ends in less wealth for most people, and thereby fewer actual options and less actual freedom to act | 98 | |
ELI5: How do fossil fuels actually exist without being disturbed, are new amounts always slowly being made? | also when someone finds a fossil, how was it not disturbed for so long | 55 | Well who would disturb them? Fossil fuels and fossils are more often than not pretty deep in the ground where nobody but humans and our technology can get at them.
If you're referring to geological events disturbing them, they certainly do. There are deep sea fossils on the tops of mountains because they were disturbe... | 24 |
ELI5: Why is orange juice much cheaper than oranges? | The cost of a bottle of orange juice is much lower than the cost of the oranges needed for me to squeeze out a similar bottle of juice. This is true even for those 100% never-from-concentrate juice. Do the juice manufacturers use the pulp and rind for something else? | 25 | Aside from the fact that juice manufacturers can buy in maybe bulk, thereby getting discounts, and aside from the fact that through futures (contracts that guarantee specified supply of oranges at a set price, irrespective of supply and demand spikes), oranges that you buy at the site are not the same as oranges for ju... | 22 |
[Star Trek] Where are all the gays? | All the worlds problems and interpersonal shit have been solved for centuries, so why are there no gay characters on Star Trek? They should make up like one tenth of every Star Fleet crew statistically, right? I mean there was that one episode where Riker fell in love with that androgynous alien but I dont think that c... | 93 | Fully integrated into society and considered thoroughly unremarkable.
Lieutenant Hawk, the helmsman of the Enterprise-E during its first year of service, was married to another man, to name one instance. | 188 |
ELI5: What do they actually do to a virus to inactivate it? I've been trying to Google this in all different ways and all I get is "the virus is dead or weakened" but what have they actually done? Removed its DNA? Physically destroyed the capsid? Thanks | 79 | A killed virus is not pathogenic because (as you might have guessed) it’s dead - the goal is to get the immune system to recognize pieces of the “body”.
An attenuated vaccine is grown in cells that are different from human cells - monkey kidney cells, for example. Viruses adapt extremely quickly and when they’re gro... | 49 | |
[MCU] Would a full blast from the power stone destroy Caps shield? | Thanos has only the power stone, but it's his goal to destroy the shield. Can it be done?
He can use it any way he wants, and has unlimited time and chances to do it.
If not, how many more stones would it take for him to do it? (Probably excluding the reality stone, assuming he just use it to change it's molecular s... | 23 | Yes. No question.
Vibranium is one of the strongest metals known, yes. But just because nothing on EARTH has managed to damage it doesn’t mean that nothing ELSEWHERE can. It’s reasonable to assume that even vibranium’s ability to absorb kinetic energy has to stop somewhere, based on yet undetermined factors (mass o... | 47 |
ELI5 how private prisons generate revenue. | 349 | The state has a budget for the prisons that is X. The state wants to save money so it takes bids on taking over the operation of said prisons. Whomever has the lowest bid usually gets the contract. The state saves whatever X - winning bid equals.
The company then looks at the books and shaves off whatever they can. Ex... | 481 | |
[Narnia] What are the Deep Magic the Queen was citing and who wrote them? | Aslan famously roars at the Ice Queen "Do not cite the Deep Magic to me, Witch! I was there when it was written."
So who wrote them? Was there a negotiation process? Since some Deep Magic favours the Witch and can even bind Aslan. Is there a full list? Why are there in place to begin with? | 36 | The Emperor-beyond-the-Sea wrote the deep magic. There was no negotiation, as He rules everything, not just Narnia, but every world. The magic doesn't favor anyone, it simply is. His motives for putting it into place are inscrutable, unknowable for people like us. Which is kind of the point. The shattering of the stone... | 43 |
[Pokemon] Why do Unown Pokemon based on the English alphabet if the Pokemon universe seems to use a different alphabet | Like in sword and shield all the text is a made up alphabet. Shouldn't the unown be those letters?
Edit: Why ARE** | 22 | Unnervingly enough, the actual pokedex entries specify they're based on an *ancient, long extinct alphabet.*
In the pokeverse, the English (well, Latin, but whatever) alphabet is long dead and almost completely forgotten except for a few tablets and the Unown. The implications of this for what exactly the pokemon wor... | 46 |
How does the body generate heat? | Whenever you get an infection, the body turns up the temperature, which we call a fever right? So how exactly does it generate this excess heat | 163 | Many chemical reactions in your body are exothermic (produce heat as a byproduct). When you have a fever, it’s not necessarily because you’re creating more heat (though many inflammatory processes are exothermic). Your fever is actually achieved because your body’s thermostat (the hypothalamus) is set to a higher tempe... | 205 |
If you had a national UBI policy how do you prevent landlords, energy companies, insurance etc from raising costs to capture some of that Income? | I keep hearing about Universal Basic Income, and how universally give folks a set amount would help.deal with inequality etc. But wouldnt landlords, energy companies and others that have non discretionary costs simply up their prices /rates to capture some of that money, negating the inequality purpose of UBI? | 57 | While landlords especially could raise their rates to capture some of the UBI income, the landlords whom don't raise their rates would have an advantage against those who did, and could more easily find tenents. Those who do raise their rates will need to compete with landlords who have better properties, but chose not... | 22 |
ELI5: Does mixing ingredients separately actually affect how the end product turns out? If so, how? | I was baking Christmas cookies and I realized that it always has you mix ingredients separately, and then blend them all together. Why is this? If you're just mixing them all together in the end anyway then what difference does it make? | 25 | It's because the order and method you mix things can have a huge effect on the outcome. For example, let's take the most common mixing method, the creaming method:
First you cream together the butter and sugar, because the sugar punches microscopic holes in the butter that aid in leavening. Any additional ingredients... | 30 |
Before nuclear fission/fusion was discovered, what did people think powered the sun? | 29 | One of the leading theories was gravitational collapse. Which, as it turns out, is how stars get hot before they begin fusion reactions. Calculations showed that gravitational contraction could heat the Sun for millions of years. And until it was discovered that the Earth was billions of years old, this wasn't a proble... | 51 | |
ELI5: If hydraulics are used because liquids aren't compressible why do they use pneumatic brakes in large vehicles like buses and lorries? | 26 | There are two primary reasons. One applies more to trucks, the other to passenger buses.
1) - Trucks - most trucks have multiple, interchangeable components (cabs and trailers). Each component has it's own braking system. These systems all have to be interconnected so they can be controlled from one location (the brak... | 17 | |
ELI5: Why do so many drugs/medicines have the potential to cause liver damage? Is the liver just a weak organ that can't handle much? | 17 | Liver filters your blood. So everything you take passes through it.
Most drugs are toxic in high concentrations. They become poison. So when they hit the filter, they hurt it because it sucks up the poison.
It's not weak. It's one of the few parts of us capable of regeneration. | 34 | |
ELI5: What is the evolutionary benefit to a species, such as the Praying Mantis, to have the female kill the male after copulation? | 26 | By eating the male, the female gains a lot of nutrients, which will enable her to have healthier and stronger offspring. In this way, there is a higher chance that the genes of both the male and the female are carried on. | 30 | |
[WH40K] Is the belief in the Emperor doing more harm or good for the Imperium? | 22 | Definitely good, at least in the state the Imperium is in. It provides tangible protection against Chaos, and through fervent faith and mass hallucinations, has turned the tide in more than one battle. | 29 | |
[DC] "Batman only cares about human life; he has no problem killing aliens." | I have been reading this statement over on [Who Would Win.](https://www.reddit.com/r/whowouldwin) Is this true? And I'm not talking about programmed biological machines like xenomorph or parademons, or some kind of supernatural force of evil; I'm talking about aliens with free will, along the lines of Klingons.
Some p... | 59 | Not instantly, she's not a monster and this isn't war, but probably. You have to realize that when Bruce kills xenos and robots it's usually either during war, like the parademons in Earth 2, or huge "do or die" mob scene invasions. When push comes to shove, he'll do it, but it's not his first choice. | 39 |
How is the right amino acid brought to ribosomes? | So what I know is that the mRNA is brought to the ribosome with a code for an amino acid. I also know that the tRNA with a matching codon and correct amino acid are brought to the ribosome for assembly. But how is the right amino known? Does the ribosome read the mRNA and call for a tRNA or do the tRNA keep trying to f... | 59 | > But how is the right amino known?
Put simply, it doesn't 'know'. All the amino acids are attached to tRNAs and they all diffuse around until they meet a ribosome that requires that particular one, as determined by the codon of the mRNA. It can't "call for it" it just waits for it. | 13 |
Answers to the omnipotence paradox | What are some good arguments refuting the omnipotence paradox?
EDIT: The paradox suggests a problem on the divine attribute of omnipotence. Can god create a task even he can't perform? The most famous example is the stone paradox. What if god created a stone so heavy that even he can't lift?
| 19 | You either understand "omnipotence" to just being able to do everything that's logically possible, or you say God can do things that are logically impossible. You will very rarely find someone who will entertain that God can do the logically impossible, and typically that will involve just us being wrong about what rea... | 33 |
[Sonic Adventure 1 and 2] Why are city streets and otherwise public areas and architecture built with strange elements that are impractical for normal people? | Like why are there loopty loops on a highway or lack of safety measures in an indoor amusement park that normal people can't traverse? Why is the government approving these measures? I swear Twinkle Park must have dozens of safety violations. | 17 | In Sonic Adventure 2 we see an actual finished highway (Tails' chasing after the president), and while it's got a few similarities to racing tracks it doesn't have any loops in it.
What's clear is that Speed Highway and Radical Highway are in the process of being built and/or repaired.
This can only mean that, in thi... | 18 |
ELI5: Why do we always look at our hands when we feel something is psychologically/cognitively wrong? | 183 | Probably because they are the easiest, most movable, spatially aware part of our body that we can look at to see if something is abnormal. Short of doing some physical activity to gauge control and perception, hands are very telling of coordination loss. | 83 | |
Why don't we get heat stroke when we take a long hot shower or bath? | 146 | You can get heat stroke. There's a reason that most hot tubs and saunas recommend not being in them for more than 15 or so minutes at a time.
That said, you'll expel some heat via your breath just as other mammals do via panting. In a shower your body will continue to sweat. Some of that water will still evaporate, as... | 72 | |
CMV: If legalization of prostitution increases human trafficking, we should not legalize it. | I am not against prostitution in general. If regulated with the likes of marijuana, I feel it can be a great contributor to the economy as well as provide protections for workers and give them opportunities to unionize, have legal methods for pay disputes, etc.
What would make me be against legalization would be if t... | 29 | Why do you think it *would?*
With legalization comes recourse for sex workers. When prostitution is illegal, sex workers can be abused by their "employers" and unable to report it to the police because they'll be arrested as well. Is prostitution is legal, a person who has been trafficked or otherwise taken advantage ... | 11 |
[Marvel] Why didn't the X-Men try harder to save the kid with deadly powers instead of sending Logan to kill him? He didn't want to hurt anyone and they have helped other mutants to learn to control powers potentially as deadly to others in the past. | [This is the incident I am referring to here](http://imgur.com/gallery/I71V6)
I can understand their fear at the world finding out a mutant has caused so many deaths, but in this case the kid had no control and clearly didn't want to hurt anyone.
It's not like they haven't helped other mutants learn to control their ... | 54 | This story took place in the Ultimate Universe continuity where the characters have rougher moral edges generally.
However, this specific event wasn't an X-Men mission, but an off the record favor Nick Fury asked Logan to do for him.
Later, when Fury threatens to assimilate Xavier's school into SHIELD, Wolverine reve... | 47 |
ELI5: How do producers of movies like Jackass and Borat acquire consent of the people they film? | 103 | They use a consent form. Basically they sign the right to use their name/image/voice in the film.
They generally do this by telling them what they are signing. But sometimes they say anything (such as this is a school project) to get a signature and go on their merry way. That's when lawsuits generally happen. | 56 | |
Do photons (and other C travelers) experience an acceleration to C or is the velocity instantaneous? | Or does it not even make sense to define an acceleration to such things? If so, why? For examples sake, say I have an interaction that results in an emitted photon, at what point is it traveling at C? And where does this energy to travel such speeds come from, simply from the system as it goes to ground state which in ... | 352 | There is no acceleration, because photons always travel at c. This is just an intrinsic property of massless particles in general.
> And where does this energy to travel such speeds come from, simply from the system as it goes to ground state which in turn is the energy to fuel the emissions? How can that be enoug... | 130 |
ELI5: How do beekeeper's hives stay populated while we harvest a good portion of their larvae's food? Do they really produce that much excess honey? | 16 | basically, yes. normally hives literally expand to breaking point. then large part of the population splits off, which is called a swarm, and go find a new home. we're artificially delaying that process by taking the honey, and we artificially add sugarwater, which they turn into honey, at times of shortage. | 13 | |
ELI5: We all know plastics aren't biodegradable and that's bad, so why can't we just use chemical science to break them down ourselves? | 201 | We can, but the problem is you end up with a soup of toxic chemicals that cant be economically reused. It all comes down to money - it is cheaper to burn or bury the plastics than to resuse them - it may also be greener to bury them as at least the CO2 is locked up for a longer time. | 264 | |
ELI5: why does any number times 0 equal 0? Who came up with this and how do you logically explain it? How does nothingness erase something ness? | Hi everyone. I hate mathematics, but have always been curious why multiplying something by zero, negates the number entirely? I think of math starting out of basic necessity for trading of goods back in the day, and then clearly evolving from there. Someone at some point, had to define that 2 x 6 equals 12. So why woul... | 8,330 | You put a box of 6 eggs in your shopping cart. 1 box x 6 eggs = 6 eggs. You put another box of 6 eggs in the cart. 2 boxes x 6 eggs is 12 eggs. You remember that you have eggs at home and put both boxes back in the refrigerator case. There are 0 boxes of 6 eggs in your cart. 0 boxes x 6 eggs is 0 eggs. You’d probably b... | 20,362 |
[Game of Thrones] How does Cersei's claim to the throne work, succession wise? | I get that she basically just took it by force after Tommen's suicide, but what's the legal justification? Officially it should go to the Baratheon heir, right? And since the Iron Throne is patrilineal, if we assume Lannister ownership shouldn't the heir then be Tyrion? But he's a kinslayer by this point, so then it's ... | 31 | She really has no legal claim, holding it entirely by force.
The simple fact that she’s the person sitting on the throne gives her a veneer of legitimacy, but that’s all.
Oddly, the people of King’s Landing - who have in the past risen up in violent riots, and threw shit at her in the streets - seem to be okay with t... | 82 |
ELI5: When countries like Russia, China, and America 'buy gold' to bolster their economies, where do they buy it from? | It's like there is some vast gold store that only major countries can shop at or something. Russia just bought like 800 tonnes. Did they order it from a gold warehouse? Did they contact their local Gold seller and have it delivered? | 122 | They buy from each other. In NYC the federal Reserve has a massive vault with many compartments. Each labeled with a different countries name so they buy from each other and shift the gold.bars from vault to vault. Source: took a tour of the reserve and saw the vault even held some of England's gold. | 46 |
I believe a global government or New World Order would be a great thing. CMV. | Ignoring the conspiracy connotations and totalitarian aspects associated with a "NWO."
A global government, working for the benefit of everyone, not just their own nation. Not necessarily dissolving local and state governments, as they can handle trivial (comparatively) issues, but all major decisions being brought to ... | 21 | What about varying resources, geography, demographics etc? How can any singular government be sure about what is best for everyone on the planet when we're so varied? What if every nation decided it would be ok to take away the oil in Kuwait without permission based on a vote? Little Kuwait wouldn't stand a chance in ... | 13 |
Is Malthus's hypothesis of the global carrying capacity legitimate? | In my opinion, I believe that the human race reacts to limiting factors much like viruses breed in protection against vaccines; the human race's pursuit of constant adaptation will eventually lead to extremely effective solutions to these limiting factors. However, I also believe that this process will indefinitely rep... | 56 | Malthusian hypothesis was legitimate in his lifetime. Pre-industrial populations behave just like Malthus predicted. He was essentially correct in his observation. However, technological developments already happening in his lifetime changed things dramatically.
Current predictions for population growth don't ex... | 29 |
Wage increase is suppose to increase cost of living. Is the opposite true; does an increase in cost of living also increase wages? | 15 | You can't reason from a price change.
It depends on what caused the increase in the cost living.
If it's caused by an increase in aggregate demand, then yes wages will rise.
But if its caused by a decrease in aggregate supply then wages will decrease.
The same goes for the premise of your statement btw. It depends ... | 25 | |
[Daredevil TV Show] Why did Matt Murdock get heightened senses from the car accident while most blind people apparently do not? Also, why did they take so long to manifest? | I doubt every blind man in the MCU has the ability to hear heartbeats and stuff like that. Was it the chemicals that did it or is he just unique?
And his senses didn't really go into overdrive until he was in the orphanage. Why is that? | 61 | It was the Chemicals.
He was used to all the sounds and sights of home, they couldn't overwhelm him because he felt safe there. The Orphanage was not home, it was a constant stressful reminder that his father died. | 81 |
ELI5 what would happen if there only existed one currency in the world. | 306 | It most likely will never happen. Look to the Euro-zone to see what happens on a smaller scale. By having the Euro, individual countries lose control of their money. Spain can't print Euros because everyone else will get angry at them. Countries that are run poorly (such as Greece) drag down the countries that do w... | 103 | |
CMV:Political Correctness/Tolerance in Europe is destructive for society. Political Correctness/Tolerance is possibly worse than elitism(May not be the right word). | Alright, so there are two main views I currently have.
The first is that the current levels of Political Correctness/Tolerance most countries have, especially in Europe, is detrimental to society, seen as how ISIS is actively allowed to recruit in the streets and how the government of certain countries are afraid to ... | 97 | >This would mean a hard crackdown on ideals such as the ISIS, Communism, Anarchy groups and the like as they are threats to society's overall morality and peace of mind.
That is exactly the reason every authoritarian regime ever has used to justify imprisoning or killing political dissenters and others who were/are... | 86 |
[NARUTO] when a ninja summons something, does it get removes physically from where it is? or does the ninja summons a copy of it? | I've been watching naruto shippuden lately and I wonder that? specially with animals rather than weapons, IE. the toads supposedly live all in a mountain, when naruto summons a toad, that toad disappears from wherever it is or is it a copy of that toad? I mean, many summons are sentient and seems to have their own lif... | 25 | They physically move locations. The fact that its a pain in the ass is why they form contracts. The scroll represents a pact between the ninja and the creature's clan. The clan agrees to be summoned and come to the ninja's aid in return for whatever. For instance Orochimaru mentions to Manda that he will give him a cer... | 19 |
CMV:, Cable television is now obsolete and providers will solely be internet providers soon. | Content producers and consumers no longer need third party cable. You can go directly to their service online and watch their content. There's no need for cable any longer. I wouldn't be surprised if all streaming service providers just forced ads regardless of subscription so big companies can abandon cable tv too. Re... | 41 | As of May 2021:
> In total, the country's top pay TV providers now account for 78.7 million subscribers in the US, with the top seven cable companies having 43.1 million. Other traditional pay TV services have about 28.9 million subscribers, while vMVPD providers like Hulu + Live TV have about 6.7 million.
I don't... | 16 |
ELI5: Internet piracy is illegal while brick-and-mortar stores selling used music/movies are legal. Why is this? | I did a search for "piracy" and "piracy used stores" and found similar discussions but nothing addressing this specifically, so I apologize if I still managed to miss something.
Every logical argument I've heard against piracy is that it hurts content creators by depriving them of sales. Doesn't a used music/movies st... | 15 | > Doesn't a used music/movies store do the same thing?
No. The content creator already profited from the original sale. The fact that they don't profit from each subsequent sale is irrelevant.
Contrast with piracy where there is no original sale and the content creator gets zero profit. | 14 |
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