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[40k] Is Chaos corruption alone enough to bring Chaos Space Marine creation up to replacement levels? | Or are Chaos Space Marine numbers being slowly depleted as the original traitor legions die or turn to Chaos Spawn? | 16 | The numbers of the original traitors are being slowly whittled down - although not as quickly as you might expect, since some of them get resurrected due to Warp fuckery.
However, they're also always recruiting. They still have gene-seed, and armies of cultists who would cheerfully volunteer to have it implanted into ... | 30 |
My professors never taught be the basics of writing for academic journals. What book should I read in order to teach myself how to write articles for journals? | I did a BS in Economics and an MBA from Bangladesh. I was extremely interested in research and I still am. But my supervisor and professors were dismissive of my interests considering me overconfident and "someone who thinks they are great researchers or can be" (someone too full of themselves). In any case, they were ... | 15 | You seem to come from a very 'taught' background rather than a research one. Did you have research oriented dissertations or thesis? If so, publishing that could be your first target.
I would suggest start by reading the articles in your field and target journals. It is English and you can learn a lot from just readin... | 15 |
CMV: Property taxes are the most unethical tax there is. | I understand the concept of owning land and paying a fee to the state for occupying such a limited resource but the part I do not agree upon is having your home included in the assessment. If you want to turn that walk-in closet into a bathroom you have to pay a perpetual fee for bettering your home. That's really al... | 204 | I agree that a land\-value tax is the conceptually cleanest, and arguably least distorting kind of tax, but there are a few solid reasons why including structure\-values in the calculation improves on a land\-value tax on some metrics:
1. Usage of public goods\- an empty plot of soil is far less likely to use undergr... | 38 |
ELI5: How is something that’s shaped as strangely as the anus able to be air-tight? | 15 | Pucker your lips like you're trying to make an exaggerated kissy face. Notice that it's still air tight. Your butthole and your lips are pretty identical in terms of shape and construction, cept they're on opposite ends of a really long pipe.
Bonus fact: kissing someone is basically just making a really long pipe with... | 43 | |
CMV: Modern Art Schools are Ugly and Dehumanizing | A common theme with a great majority of pre-modern artistic classics is that they showcase talent and dedication to the craft, often via the glorification of human beauty, intelligence and exceptionalism, amoung other innately admirable qualities. Greco-Roman statues glorified the perfection of the human physique, rena... | 117 | Why do you believe art should capture technical skill? Thanks to computers and cameras creating "perfect" depictions of reality can be done by anybody. Should art have stopped with the invention of the camera? | 60 |
[LotR] Why do wizards take the form of men, rather than dwarves or elves? | In many ways, Gandalf seems closer to elves than to men. | 108 | Because it was in Men that hope for defeating Sauron lied. All other beings were bound to Arda and its fate; only Men had the ability to forge their own destiny. Since the Istari were sent to aid (indirectly) in the battle against Sauron, they needed to assume a form that would best interact with Men. | 123 |
ELI5: what does this saying mean? I can't get my head around it: "it pays to kill with kindness when you're your own worst enemy" | 45 | Who would most people love to kill? Their worst enemy. If you were your own worst enemy and you choose to kill with kindness, you would be extremely kind to yourself. Therefore it "would pay." Essentially it implies being extremely kind to yourself. | 40 | |
Are planetary rings always over the planet's equator? | I understand that the position relates to the cloud\disk from which planets and their rings typically form, but are there other mechanisms of ring formation that could result in their being at different latitudes or at different angles? | 1,353 | Large spinning bodies form an equatorial bulge. There's more mass around the equator, so given enough time any body in orbit will settle into an orbit about the equator. A ring formed at a tilt from this would be unstable and would migrate towards the bulge. Uranus for example has an extreme tilt, and its ring syste... | 995 |
If I consumed excess salt in my diet, could I counteract this by drinking an extra glass or two of water? | Is there any method to counteract eating excess salt? | 16 | The only bad thing about eating too much salt is that it raises your blood pressure by helping your body retain water. If you drink more water with your salt, you'll actually increase your blood pressure more. So actually the way to "counteract" too much salt is to take a diuretic so you'll urinate more and get rid of ... | 13 |
Does closing schools for several months in the summer have any educational or learning-process benefits? | If not, why do we do that? | 15 | It is actually counterproductive, from an educational and learning-process perspective.
Across nations, the best correlation with student test scores is the number of school days per year. In South Korea, they have 220, and their students perform the best. In the USA, we have about 180, and our students fall in the m... | 11 |
ELI5- Why is it that can some countries can have nuclear weapons while others can't, and who gets to decide? | 20 | Pretty much everyone got together and agreed to A. Stop building nukes B. Get rid of the nukes they have (this has been progressing slowly) C. Share nuclear technology for energy purposes.
The big countries benefit from number 1- no new nukes, so the balance of power swings more towards them. Less powerful countries ... | 22 | |
ELI5: Why are there so many gun models using the same calibre? Doesn't the bullet determine most of the lethality and range, while the gun is just the vehicle that fires it? | 10,180 | The cartridge itself is the main factor in terminal ballistics, but barrel length is also important - a longer barrel gives the bullet more distance to accelerate, to a certain degree.
That aside, there's also plenty of other factors in a gun. Ergonomics, rate of fire, price, the action and lock type, materials, safet... | 7,356 | |
ELI5: Why livestreams (Twitch, Youtube, etc) have such a clear and smooth quality while video calls (Skype, etc) are so laggy and low quality? | I watch a Youtube channel called Funhaus and they often stream using their webcam and the quality is perfect (also used for recording). They also play games with other Youtube channels and they use Skype to chat with them before and after matches, but the quality is incredibly bad. Why? | 20 | Because you aren't watching them "live". There's a delay corresponding to the amount of time it takes to send the data to the streaming services, then to you. Once the streaming service has the data, they can stream it to you unhindered. The delay allows for perfect playback. Because a long delay wouldn't be acceptable... | 44 |
ELI5: Why is it that we need to basically 'fast' for 24 hours before going into surgery? | I have always wondered how having very little food in your stomach affects a surgery. I'm sure this concept is irrelevant in emergency surgery situations, so what are the implications? | 43 | Anesthesia can make you very nauseated, and they don't want you vomiting while you're unconscious. Also, your organs "wake up" at different rates, and it's important that your digestive tract be able to engage in effective peristalsis to move food down the canal. Otherwise, you'd have lumps of decomposing food in you... | 27 |
ELI5: Why do some Americans treat the their constitution as a borderline religious text? | 24 | The United States has, since it's founding, taught it's schoolchildren the nation's history as a series of *narrative stories*. Discussions about the American revolution don't discuss the implications of post-war reconstruction on regional stability until the college level. As children, they learn about the Ride of Pau... | 56 | |
[40k] Do Dark Mechanicus hereteks think the Machine God has a place in the Chaos Pantheon? How do they reconcile his worship with being so "invisible" compared to the other gods? | 24 | Hereteks do not believe in the machine god. They see through the religion of mars as a quality assurance scheme turned into religious ritual. This means they will try to improve, customize and even innovate on the pre-existing designs and technology.
Dark Mechanicus take it even further and experiment with daemons and... | 26 | |
[SCP/Harry Potter] If we assume the Foundation secretly knows about wizards and takes a hands-off approach to their world, what potential "Plan-B" backup plans might they have ready just in case? | 32 | Wizards aren't really an X threat and they police themselves. Not really the foundations business, though were they to exist in the same universe they would likely get hired to boost the security of several facilities. | 35 | |
ELI5: Why does cheese shredded from a block taste better than pre shredded cheese from the same brand? | If you buy a block of cheese and shred it at home, the shredded cheese always tastes better than pre shredded cheese from a bag. Why? | 39 | Because pre shedded cheese has a starchy coating to stop it all sticking together. Self shredded cheese doesn’t have this. It’s also why certain recipes, mac’n’cheese especially, call for freshly shredded and not pre bought. | 63 |
ELI5 what mutually exclusive means? | 16 | Mutually exclusive is the condition where two things can not both be possible because of the other. Imagine flipping a coin. The coin landing heads and the coin landing tails would be mutually exclusive because it's impossible for both outcomes to happen. The coin must land on one side or the other. | 35 | |
Advice for dealing with toxic fellow graduate student(s) | *Thanks in advance for any advice. I've been blessed with un-dramatic, secure, and emotionally mature friends (which is great), but it's left me unsure how to handle all of this. At this point, I mostly just want to be rid of the drama. Also, if anyone has any suggestions on making friends in grad school (particularly ... | 119 | Everyone will learn quickly, if they do not already know, about A's bad behavior. Avoid A and be friends with the others. If B asks tell B in a way that doesn't drag B into the mess any further.
At this point you need to just move on from this mess and get your focus back on important things.
Join a campus group, con... | 116 |
[Alien Franchise] Why would you keep trying to domesticate Xeno's after you have the Ripley "clone"? | I know it was the dream of the Wayland Corp. to somehow domesticate the Xenomorphs into a perfect bio weapon, but after cloning Ripley in Alien: Resurrection, didn't they have something better; a human with enhanced hand/eye coordination, seemingly improved speed and strength, increased aggression responses, and bonus ... | 37 | A human will never be perfect. But they already have the perfect killing organism. A Xenomorph is superior to Ripley-8; it is faster, stronger, and is a more efficient killing machine if used properly.
They needed to extract the Queen from Ripley; the enhancements were pure coincidences. Ripley may have been more blo... | 16 |
ELI5: What is the "basic income" movement? | 33 | It's a movement to create something a bit like Social Security, but for everyone.
Modern society produces a shit-ton of excess resources. In many ways, we could get by without literally everybody working -- unemployment rates, and people on welfare, seem to argue for this.
The idea is that you have much higher taxe... | 38 | |
[Lord of the Rings] Could they recreate the Army of the Dead by having people voluntarily break oaths? | 35 | No.
1. It wasn't the fact that they broke their oath that turned them into undead monstrosities. Isildur's curse did that.
2. Humanity just doesn't have the power to do that anymore by the time LOTR's story starts. The world's magic is fading, Humanity's power is fading, Everything in Arda is slowly progressing towa... | 73 | |
ELI5: Do bounty hunters actually have any real authority about a regular civilian ? | They seem to be overstepping their rights
edit: if anyone was wondering, this [gem](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEh3Q9ARMKE) from r/cringe is what sparked my interest | 173 | State laws vary greatly, some don't allow bounty hunters to make any arrests at all, but quite often yes, they do have even more authority than the police. The reason is that the bail jumper *gave* them that authority when they signed the bail agreement. They are essentially signing away their rights and agreeing to ... | 149 |
CMV: As a black person, I don't see the merit behind minorities lambasting oppressors of a different ethnicity before holding members of their own community accountable | This isn't an attack on POC. I do not believe any community is a monolith and I know that true progress doesn't happen overnight. I try to call out people that have an overreliance on victimhood or that use buzzwords without really expressing an apt description. I get demonized and insulted regularly for this. I'm hopi... | 1,608 | So black people have to fix 100% of the problems in their community before they can address the problems of racism and oppression from the outside?
Seems like an unreachable objective that would permanently delay progress. | 376 |
[DOOM - any and all continuities] If a way could be found to prevent possession, or if the forces of Hell were unable to possess people for whatever reason, would they stand a chance against Earth's forces? | Assume that a portal opens up and humanity has to close it (or invade and occupy Hell, I guess). The forces of Hell want to invade and occupy Earth.
It seems like their big advantages are:
Teleportation (but they don't seem to abuse it as much as you'd think it would make sense to).
Possession- they don't even need... | 54 | Demons are incredibly durable even the weakest specimens requires sustained small arms fire to kill. Larger demons require no less than anti armor weaponry to down, don't require food or sleep, and can cut through heavy armor.
Your overestimating the effectiveness of an average soldier, in combat it takes several thou... | 27 |
ELI5: Ebola Information Post. | Many people are asking about Ebola, and rightfully so.
This post has been made and stickied with the purpose of you asking your ebola-related questions here, and having them answered.
Please feel free to also browse /r/Science [Ebola AMA](http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/2hy3r9/science_ama_series_ask_your_que... | 203 | Everybody is saying "don't worry, don't touch another persons bodily fluids, feces, vomit etc if they are infected and you'll be O.K.".
What worries me is mutation (because that's what viruses do). This thing goes airborne as it did in Reston, Virginia 20 years ago (fortunately only for primates) we are all pretty mu... | 45 |
Are pacemakers able to adjust their "heart rate" based on the exertion of the person they belong to? Do they support a feedback system with the body? | I was thinking about this today, since someone's heart rate fluctuates even as they just stand up, do pacemakers have a way of dealing with such fluctuation? And if they can, to what extent can they support changes in heart rate? Could a pacemaker patient go for a run, or participate in extreme sport, for example? | 1,483 | Pacemakers generally regulate pacing at a lower boundary; this lower boundary is usually set by a cardiologist.
Pacemakers do not, however, regulate every heart beat. Aside from other contraindications there is no reason a pacemaker patient cannot run, exercise, or live a normal, healthy life. Their heart rate will in... | 983 |
If we ever wanted to start populating another planet, what the fewest number of men and women you could send so there wouldn't be any incest among the offspring? | If we ever wanted to start populating another planet, what the fewest number of men and women you could send so there wouldn't be any incest among the offspring? | 21 | Probably a few thousand, maybe less. If your familiar with human genetics you'll realize once the population reaches a certain generation, everything's incest and inbreeding. In fact, genetic diversity in humans is pretty low compared to other animals.
The more important question would be how many individuals woul... | 16 |
ELI5: How are chords made from a scale? | 17 | There are four major types of chords: major, minor, augmented, and diminished.
**Major**
Major chords are the basic chords that make up any song you listen to. Every other chord is just a major chord with a little bit difference. That being said, the major chords are the simplest of all the chords. A major chord, or ... | 20 | |
ELI5: How do you explain the difference between sympathizing with someone and empathizing with someone? | 18 | Sympathy is the act of understanding someone else's emotions. Empathy is feeling those emotions yourself.
For example, if a friend's parent recently passed away you might feel sympathy if you understand that they are sad. But, if you also had a parent pass away you can remember the same feelings you had at that time. ... | 26 | |
Is there a single language I could learn that would allow me to write code for iOS, Linux, and possibly even micro controllers such as the Arduino? | I am currently a mechanical engineer with a little bit of basic electronics knowledge, and have spent many years running various flavors of Linux and writing small bash scripts to automate various tasks. So I'm not exactly starting from 0 when it comes to learning programming...but still only at maybe a 1 out of 100, l... | 20 | C or C++ is going to be essentially you're only option. Microcontrollers don't usually have support for other languages.
Unfortunately the Apple ecosystem is particularly locked down, to write apps for their products you *have* to use an Apple computer and an Apple programming language (e.g. Swift) is strongly recomme... | 35 |
I'm predicting 60 events to happen over 30 days, randomly distributed. How many days with zero events can happen in a row before I'm statistically unlikely to meet my target? Is this something the Poisson distribution applies to and how can I calculate it? | 365 | yes, the poisson distribution can be used, but it requires that you know the probability of the event happening. are you saying that the probability is 60 events every 30 days or are those just some numbers you're making a bet about or something? | 98 | |
if we have godness of fit tests, why even use qqplot? | hi, I hope its not too stupid of question
but we learned about godness of fit test, and we can use it to check if a sample comes from normal distribution
so isnt it much better than using qqplot to check if data is from normal distribution?
since qqplot is pretty much more of "guessing" game if we think the line and... | 20 | Testing for normality is useless. Large enough data and you will always reject normality because nothing is perfectly normally distributed, and smaller datasets you will fail to detect that they aren't normal because the tests lack power. | 25 |
[Star Trek] Why are there so few artificial lifeforms and AIs running around? | As far as I know, the only forms of artificial life are the androids designed by Noonien Soong, the "machine race" from the V-ger incident, and the occasional self-aware holodeck program.
What is it about the Star Trek universe that gives rise to so few AIs/artificial lifeforms compared to other scifi universes? | 16 | There are several factors.
One is that functioning, stable, artificial lifeforms are very difficult to produce. Dr. Soong's android Data is the only known fully autonomous artificial being that isn't either dangerous to biological life (like his brother Lore), or prone to catastrophic malfunction (like his daughter La... | 17 |
ELI5: How would modernizing infrastructure help us? | I'm curious to hear from somebody who knows this kind of stuff
Im guessing it makes us safer, gives 'right now' jobs for awhile. It would save energy (the electrical grid waste something like half of all electricity produced, that's a lot of waste). | 27 | you pretty much answered it yourself. the national infrastructure is composed of lots of different parts though. road networks, fibre optic internet, train tracks, etc etc. a better infrastructure makes for a more efficient country, with less waste. and improving things can create shortterm jobs, while maintenance of t... | 12 |
[Luke Cage] Shouldn't the guns break when Luke Cage try to bend them even with his strength? | 30 | The parts would probably break away from each other, but the metal itself would bend instead of breaking. Materials go through two types of deformation before breaking: elastic (like a spring being slightly stretched) where they return to the original shape, plastic (like stretching a spring waaaay out) where they will... | 38 | |
ELI5: How is it that just a few millimetres of insulation in space suits is enough to protect astronauts from the extreme heat/cold of outer space? | 15,474 | Vacuums are really terrible at conduction, so you dont need a crazy thick layer of insulation. When we insulate something on earth its either in air or in a liquid, both of which transfer heat (conduct) a lot better. Basically the cold air or water "steals" your body heat a lot more than a vacuum would | 8,446 | |
Did we learn anything new from this recent Venus Transit? | or did we simply observe it in ways we havent before due to scientific and technological advancements?
| 102 | The hubble space telescope has been used to observe the transit (by observing it's reflection off the moon). This is being used to confirm that our models of how extrasolar planets dim the light from their sun are correct.
Technically that's not something new, but it does give us greater confidence that our models ar... | 76 |
[MCU] What was Loki's long-term plan when he was disguised as Odin? | Would he ever have revealed himself? Or would he live out the ruse throughout the centuries? | 325 | [](/twilyshrug)He's the God of Mischief, not Intricate Schemes.
He didn't have a long term plan and this was his undoing. He's always been an opportunistic little weasel who takes whatever comes his way and runs with it.
He let frost giants into Asgard to ruin Thor's big day, and when the consequences of this exceede... | 457 |
Reduce inflation by reducing money supply? | I’m probably being a moron but if inflation is caused by money becoming less valuable, can’t the government just reduce the amount of money in circulation to make its value increase?
What if the government sold a ton of assets to the banks. The banks would pay with cash. The government would then hold onto that ca... | 40 | No it's literally that simple and that's pretty much what governments do.
Or rather, they control inflation by controlling the "speed" of money creation.
Think of it like that, if you're driving a car, you don't always slam on the brakes to reduce speed, letting go of the throttle, or simply pressing the throttle dow... | 47 |
[ROBOCOP] Does Robocop have a power source? | How does Robocop have a power source? I get the baby paste helps maintain his organic parts but how is the rest powered?
And If his brain grows old will he die? Go senile? | 56 | it does have a battery system of some kind since they refer to his "recharging" state a few times. How often he needs to recharge is unknown since we see him hide out in an abandoned warehouse for a while and repair his damaged parts after his first run in with ED-209 he must be able to run several days without issue. | 41 |
What makes Immanuel Kant such a good philosopher? What did he express or mention that made him so prominent and outstanding? | He is my favorite philosopher just because people say he is one of the top 3 best, and I even have a book about him.
I am just a beginner, and a novice, and I don't really understand what makes him so great? | 30 | Why is he your favorite philosopher if you don't know why he's great?
Kant is important in philosophy mainly for what he calls his "Copernican Revolution"--his idea that the mind doesn't merely record the external world, but that it actively shapes it. | 41 |
[the boys] do heroes actually fight the villains or is it an act? | so in the comics, its established that nearly all the heroes are pretty much just celebrities with powers and typically only stop a few small crimes to look good in the papers. but there have been quite a few times where a hero has been shown fighting a super villian( like when A train was fighting that guy at the fair... | 27 | It's all fake. The heroes and the villians. The villians are paid in secret and usually only attack fake events like a bank that's been closed for renovations or whatnot. The A train fight that resulted in the death of civilians was because A train tried to be flashy with his takedown of the villian instead of the scri... | 45 |
[40k/StarWars] What would the Galactic Empire and the Imperium of Man would think of eachother? | What do you think the Galactic Empire and the Imperium of Man would think of eachother? How would they react? | 24 | Pre-Heresy, the Emperor of Man would crush Palpatine and forcefully bring the Empire back into the fold. Post Heresy, the Imperium would destroy every single planet in the Galactic empire for harbouring Xenos and unsanctioned psykers | 32 |
Can flammable liquids/gases just "combust" in high temperature environments or do they require a spark or some sort of ignition/catalyst? | We touched on the combustion of organic molecules in my org chem class and I was just curious if a flammable substance is placed in a controlled environment and the temperature increases, will it eventually just ignite?
What would happen to initiate this on the molecular level (like is there a mechanism)? | 23 | A diesel engine operates by this principle. A fuel-air mixture is compressed until its temperature and pressure become great enough for it to ignite. What happens on a molecular level is that in order for any reaction to proceed, there is a certain energy barrier that must be overcome, and once the temperature is high ... | 11 |
CMV: High schools should have a career path option for those who aren't planning to go to college | The high school system in the US serves mainly as college prep. It's unrealistic and honestly just ridiculous to expect all high schoolers to go on to to higher education. It does not properly serve students who will be going directly into the workforce. I believe this plays a role in how many students drop out and une... | 154 | Contrary to popular teenage belief, the vast majority of high schoolers have no clue what they want to do with their lives or at least have an unrealistic idea of how the pathway to their dreams will go.
Giving the students preparatory information for college is essentially preparing them for the tougher scenario (edu... | 47 |
ELI5:What is live ball v. dead ball baseball? | I've just gotten into baseball recently and I notice that there is often a distinction between the live ball and the dead ball era of baseball. Can somebody please explain this distinction as well as why it results in higher scoring games during live ball baseball? | 15 | In the early 20th Century, baseball was played in larger ball parks, and used balls that were softer, due to the way they were made and from overuse...a single ball might be used over multiple games. Worn balls also gave the pitchers an advantage, as scuff marks and wear damage allowed them to put more action on the b... | 14 |
[Warhammer 40k] How do you become a High Lord of Terra? | 39 | Be rich. Be influential. Be good at your job. Be old.
Basically, in order to become one of the 13 High Lords, you have to rise extremely high in the ranks of various branches of the Imperium. That requires competence, influence, and most of all... living a very long time. | 47 | |
Why are the polar icecaps mostly freshwater? Is freezing saltwater a possible or practical way of desalination? | 37 | Polar ice caps are a combination of frozen sea water as well as snow that falls from the sky. When water freezes, due to the structure of ice, it leaves behind impurities such as salt, resulting in pure water (ice). Also when water evaporates it leaves behind impurities such as salt, therefor snow falls as pure water t... | 12 | |
[WH40k] Are there Khornate/Nurglite/Tzeentichian Eldar? | 20 | The others here are actually incorrect, though it's not something that is widely published. There ARE Chaos Eldar, and the God they favour depends on the individual. When they die, it's up to their patron to fight for their soul, but the whole point of serving Chaos is to try not to die.
Eldar Souls are exceedingly v... | 24 | |
Does crime in all countries come mostly from the economic underclass? | 52 | I hope it's OK to ask a follow-up question:
If we do think that crime is mostly from lower castes, could this be because wealthier individuals are better able to conceal their criminal activities, or to avoid punishment through better legal defense capability?
Said another way, if rich people *did* commit as much cri... | 15 | |
ELI5- Why are there unsolved mathematical equations? Who wrote them and how do they know if they are solvable or not? | 101 | So...you should note that mathematical problems and mathematical equations aren't inherently the same thing.
An equation is basically just two sets of algebraic quantities that have an equal/greater than/less than sign between them. Some of these equations are inherently not solvable because they have self-contradicto... | 113 | |
Why do GPS clocks gain 38 rather than 60 microseconds per day over clocks on the surface of the Earth? | I was under the impression that satellites could be essentially modelled as inertial reference frames in that they are in free fall and thus have no net forces, thus making time run faster for them by a factor of sqrt(1 - 2GM/r*c^2 ) as compared to an object on the surface of the Earth. This gives me 60 microseconds p... | 130 | As you know, there are two effects, which go in opposite directions.
Because of the orbital motion, there is a Lorentz time dilation effect that causes time to pass more slowly GPS satellite than on Earth.
Because the gravitational field is stronger at the surface of the Earth than at the location of the satellite, t... | 64 |
ELI5: Why do some really popular reddit posts suddenly lose thousands of upvotes? | 17 | There's an algorithm in place to equalize stupidly high karma scores; i imagine the intent is to prevent hugely popular posts from dominating the front page for more than a few hours. gotta keep the content cycling. | 15 | |
[DC] How can anyone with anything remotely resembling human limitations challenge the Flash in any way? | He can move faster than the speed of light and his reaction speed is less than an attosecond.
Captain Boomerang is a normal human with normal human limitations throwing gimmicky boomerangs. How does Flash not have him disarmed and tied up before CB even realizes that he entered the room? | 89 | Because the flash doesn't use his full power all of the time. He go easy on normal humans because he doesn't want to harm seriously or kill them.
He recognise that most of his enemies are mentally ill peoples who need help more that being punched in the face and trown in jail.
And its worth noting that a lot of the... | 98 |
ELI5: It seems like the whole world is against George Lucas' remade and remastered version of the Original Star Wars trilogy. What exactly did he do to change the story that makes fans hate it so much? Why all the vitriol? | 242 | As Pandromeda mentioned, Han Solo fired first. Also, he added in a bunch of CG aliens that didn't fit, put back in a deleted scene with Jabba the Hutt that wasn't necessary, added cheesy special effects to the Death Star explosion, added in a fucking song and dance number to Return of the Jedi, replaced the original en... | 192 | |
Eli5: why is it so hard to get an accurate weight when using one leg on a scale? Shouldn't all your weight be going straight to that 1 foot? | 38 | Scales don't measure weight, they measure force. When something isn't moving (and therefore isn't exerting any forces other than gravity), you can use a scale to measure its weight. The same holds if you stand still on a scale with both feet, because you can get your center of gravity into a stable position and then st... | 45 | |
[Warhammer 40k] How do psykers work? | So anyone with strong souls or emotions whatever(specifically unlike the Tau) contributes to the Warp, which, as I understand it, is basically a sewer for psychic energy. Would that be right?
So do psykers tap into the Warp and channel it, or do they create the Warp energy they use themselves? What would happen to the... | 16 | All living things (even the Tau) have a sort of 2-way connection with the Warp, referred to by Imperial Scholars as an Animus. This 'tether' links the physical body with the Warp, and develops over time along with the biological and chemical responses of the individual, reflecting their identity, personality and emotio... | 17 |
ELI5: What is Chemotherapy, and what happens during it? | 24 | it's chemical treatment to combat (usually) cancer growth. most are in liquid form and are administered intravenously (through a drip in your arm). a single treatment of chemo may involve receiving several different chemicals in one session, commonly over quite a while (an hour or more). usually you sit on the ward ... | 15 | |
[TheCulture] Culture humans use genetically modified bacteria to control their biology, why is that better than achieving the same thing via nano tech? | 17 | GM bacteria *are* nanotech, they're just 3D electromechanical, water-based, chemical difference engines... that self repair and reproduce.
Literally, they're nanotech that's carbon based, not silicon based.
Earth Humans have a very intimite (and still poorly understood) relationship with their microbiome. Everythin... | 39 | |
I believe that lowering the US drinking age to 18 is a terrible idea. CMV. | Personally, I feel that there are many good reasons for maintaining the US drinking age of 21. It is completely normal for a society to set age limits on certain activities that minors are not considered responsible enough to engage in (why else do we have a driving age and an age of consent?); the age of 21 for drinki... | 16 | One reason is simply because people are adults well before they're 21. You can be trusted to take out a loan, live alone, and fight in a war before you're allowed to drink. It makes the drinking age seem like pointless bureaucracy compared to those.
However, the primary reason might be that binge drinking tends to r... | 35 |
ELI5- why do screens/lights flicker in videos taken by phone or even yt vids, but not in movies and professional productions? | 677 | Professionals use synchronized cameras, or simply replace the screen displays in post-production with CGI. Professional cameras have lots of adjustments, like longer exposure times, that can give cinematographers more options to capture displays. | 735 | |
"Dumb Starbucks" is not parody and should not be protected by fair use laws. CMV. | If you haven't seen it, a coffee shop opened up in LA called [Dumb Starbucks](http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/dumb-starbucks-los-angeles-tied-comedy-duo-22453399). It was exactly the same as Starbucks, except it has 'dumb' written in front of everything. Turns out (shockingly), it was an attempt to mock S... | 33 | >Since Dumb Starbucks was actually offering coffee (Free or otherwise), they were using Starbucks' logos and branding to directly compete with Starbucks
You are allowed to use someone's logo and branding to directly compete with them. The Kirkland Calcium pill can say "Compare to Caltrate". What you are not allow... | 27 |
How do scientists stop the environment from causing wave function collapse when doing QM experiments? | My assumption has always been that things like the double slit experiment must be performed in a vacuum to prevent the air from interfering with the electrons being fired. However, is it possible to completely prevent ALL particles from contaminating the environment? For example photons emitted from the equipment, stra... | 79 | >However, is it possible to completely prevent ALL particles from contaminating the environment? For example photons emitted from the equipment, stray cosmic rays, etc?
No, you can never eliminate all the noise factors, but you can reduce them to the point where you still can observe the phenomena in which you are ... | 18 |
ELI5: If we perceive sound because of vibrations, why aren't bugs/insects deterred by loud vehicles, construction sites, and other noises that are loud for humans? | 297 | They don't have ears that resemble ours with a sensitive membrane, tiny hairs, and impossibly small bones that resonate.
Their membranes are cruder. Or they hear with an organ on their antenna, etc.
Loud noises don't damage them the way they do us. | 287 | |
[Fallout 3] How come wastelanders can survive multiple bullet wounds to the head? | And not just survive, but are still able to fight without flinching after taking more than one point-blank shot to the face. | 16 | Pre-war ammunition has mostly suffered from decay and the stuff manufactured more recently uses easy-to-make but low powered propellants. This means that bullet velocities are much lower than the original gun manufacturers expected and so they are not reliably able to penetrate the human skull with the small rounds the... | 29 |
ELI5: Why does consuming water hydrate your skin, but putting water frequently on your skin dry it out? | 145 | The thing that keeps your skin "moist" and supple is actually the naturally occuring oils that your skin produces.
If you bathe too much or use harsh soaps or maybe alcohol cleansers, these remove the oils from your skin. Whatever water is in your skin then evaporates = dry skin.
Thats what moisturizing cremes do. Th... | 93 | |
Why is AM radio fuzzier than FM radio? | 45 | AM is amplitude modulation, that means the carrier wave from the transmitter varies in proportion to the audio, so a quiet signal has very little carrier. Generally interference causes RF pulses of energy, if the interference is on a similar frequency to the broadcast carrier wave, your receiver can't tell them apart, ... | 32 | |
Why does adding or removing an electron from an atom completely alter its fundamental properties? | I understand why alkali metals are highly reactive, I understand why Noble gases just chill and I have a basic understanding of why some elements are radioactive or have magnetic properties but let me take Gold (please!):
It's a solid, very dense but the most malleable of the metals, has a melting point of 1064 degree... | 22 | >Now if we remove an electron, it becomes platinum
no, it does not. it becomes Au^+1 (gold atom with a charge on it). if you removed a *proton* it would become platinum. and even then, it would be an isotope of platinum, you would have to remove another neutron and electron to get a normal platinum atom. | 30 |
Why do entry level jobs demand 3-4 years of experience ? | About to graduate next year with a CS Degree and almost all entry level jobs on every possible platform i could find (like linkedin , angellist , indeed etc) demand 3-4 years of experience while paying the shittiest of salaries they possibly could . Any advice on where to look for a mern stack developer job that doesn'... | 59 | As a general rule of thumb, subtract 2 years from requested experience. 3-4 years might actually be looking for some one with *some* professional experience, but if they say they want 1-2 years of experience, they'll probably take a fresh grad.
The situation arrises in a number of ways, but mostly it boils down to an... | 43 |
Why didn't the big bang turn into a black hole instead of an explosion? | Me and my dad were talking about when all the matter was in one place why didn't it become a black hole instead of the big bang? So we couldn't find an anwser so I thought why don't we ask Reddit?
Oh and btw what is the density of the matter in a black hole and is that the highest density possible?
Hope you understand... | 26 | First, you need to understand what exactly is the big bang.
The big bang is not a "big explosion of matter", as you might picture. Think about larger scales, bigger than galaxies or clusters of galaxies or everything you can picture. Matter is more or less homogeneous and you can treat it like a fluid (like a lake, fo... | 14 |
[Community] Who *was* the Ass Crack Bandit? | 43 | Don't you mean who *is* the Ass Crack Bandit?
Allegedly it was Alex "Starburns" Osbourne, however he later recanted his confession. Also he's not a Dave fan so, you know, he doesn't fit the profile. Who knows who the ACB really is? | 31 | |
ELI5: Why electrons do not interact/get affected with strong force? | 40 | The four elementary forces can each only interact with particles that have particular properties. The gravitational force works on objects that have mass (it should work on individual particles with mass but we mostly see it on big objects because the force isn't that strong). The electomagnetic force works on anything... | 16 | |
CMV: Twitter's Hypothetical Fact-Checking Program is a Terrible Idea | There have been a few various Reddit posts and news articles, and I fully admit that this entire thing, at the moment, is really a non-story; Twitter had created design mockups (likely not even functional yet) as to how they'd designate posts that provide what they designate as "harmfully misleading" information. Twitt... | 61 | " ... Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. ..." - Winston Churchill
The salient question isn't whether a fact-checking program like that has drawbacks. The question is whether it's better or worse than the ... | 10 |
ELI5: Why is fighting more acceptable in hockey than in other sports? | 978 | Because hockey has a lot of "incidental" contact, there is a lot that can go on that isn't illegal, and can't be made illegal, but still needs to be discouraged.
As such, self policing is certainly a part of the sport, this involves fighting.
Hockey is a very *frustrating* sport, it always has been, it is for most ev... | 615 | |
CMV: I do not agree with Playboy's decision to stop publishing fully nude photos | I do not make this argument in the interest of titillation or sexual arousal. There's plenty of that stuff to be found online for free. Playboy has to me always been an upscale "nudey mag." Their photos are well-shot, almost artful in their approach. According to Playboy's statement, a move to a more PG-13 Maxim or FHM... | 240 | > Playboy has to me always been an upscale "nudey mag." Their photos are well-shot, almost artful in their approach.
There is very little demand for that with what can be now be found on the internet. In 1970, there was significant demand for those types of photos. | 155 |
What happens at a chemical level when a bottle of liquor is allowed to "rest"? | I'm curious about this and don't really see it addressed elsewhere. It's become common to allow a bottle of liquor (whisky, cognac, etc) to "rest" after opening. In fact, I just read this in a vodka review: "It is Beluga’s philosophy to have this vodka rest after each step of the production," explains Borisov. After ... | 4,098 | With a lot of spirits, their individual character comes from the infusion of other flavors based on what vessel they're resting in. Bourbon, for example, uses oak barrels that are charred on the inside. As they rest in large barns that are not temperature controlled, the natural thermal expansion and contraction causes... | 2,974 |
Eli5: Why is Urban warfare feared as the most difficult form of warfare for a military to conduct? | 1,749 | There are way more places to hide people, traps, and weapons. You have to search every room in every building on every street. Plus, there's the constant danger of civilians being caught in crossfire or combatants disguising themselves as civilians. Much harder than facing another uniformed group on natural terrain. | 3,249 | |
ELI5: Why does it seem like all Caribbean islands (Jamaica, Bahamas, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, etc.) seem to be third world countries, with terrible economies and infrastructure? | This is not meant to offend anyone from these countries, its just the impression I get being American.
Someone I know just got back from a service trip to Jamaica to teach first aid and CPR to villagers and describes a place where everyone is poor, and there are no jobs and no place to go.
Are there any particular r... | 134 | Historical and geographical reasons.
Most of those islands were colonized by Spain in the 16th and 17th century and used to produce sugar and tropical fruit crops. The colonial government had little interest in improving infrastructure, education, or standard of living and many of the residents were slaves.
When the... | 116 |
[DC] I just killed the world famous reporter Lois lane by accident. How screwed am I? | Me and my friends were joyriding in metropolis and idk all the details cause everything happened so fast, but we hit some lady by accident. We checked if she was alive but nothing. She was wearing a daily plant badge and we saw it was that famous lady that interviews superman all the time. We left the body and me and m... | 33 | I think everyone is overlooking a very important factor.
Yes, Superman is a Good Person™ and probably won't chuck the moon at you or anything.
But you know who's Superman's best friend, and *really* sensitive about loved ones getting killed?
The Bat.
I hope you've got good health insurance, because your v... | 48 |
ELI5: How come my 4y old remembers last years christmas very well. And remembers everything we did last summer. And I don’t remember anything from my first 4 years? Can’t be the years cause a 60y old remembers his high school pretty well. | 18 | Because those are practically the only memories they have.
The last year or so have been filled with 'firsts' the only experiences they have had. So of course they would be worth remembering.
By the time you are older, you will have experienced those 3-4year old memories dozens, if not hundreds of times, and most of ... | 26 | |
ELI5: What is Sharia Law and why is their so much controversy with it? | 22 | Sharia means 'legislation' in Arabic and is basically the "law of Islam", when a society has the Quran and the teachings of the prophet Muhammad as their law, you could say the country has 'sharia law'. So basically, it's islamic theocracy. So a judge in a country with sharia law would be someone who is an expert in is... | 13 | |
[Star Wars] Since the Kaminoans and the Trade Federation were both able to create large armies that the Republic and the Jedi were unaware of for over a decade, did the empire ever do anything to prevent this from happening again in the future? | Or is the galaxy just so large that it's nearly impossible anyway? If you think about it, the kaminoans/Trade Federation could have conquered the galaxy, had the sith not been involved. | 82 | In Legends, both the Kaminoans and members of the Trade Federation built new armies after the Clone Wars, and both were swiftly dismantled by the new Galactic Empire.
In canon, The Empire's biggest weapon in preventing uprising was fear of reprisal. The built really big spaceships with really big guns and mercilessl... | 61 |
When overweight people lose a lot of weight due to illness, is it kind of "helpful", "healthy" or "beneficial?" once they overcome the illness? | 107 | You'd get all the benefits of dieting to lose weight however you'd miss out on the benefits of exercise, in fact your cardiovascular health would be worse due to the lack of exercise when ill, which would also cause loss of muscle mass | 26 | |
ELI5: When we say we've "mapped the human genome", what exactly does this mean? | 193 | DNA is a lot like a cookbook that your body uses to brew proteins. Proteins are themselves made from amino acids that are glued together. These proteins can have a lot of functions, some act as lego that your body uses to build structures, others function as tiny machines that your body uses to move energy and other pr... | 164 | |
[General Fantasy] Why don't wizards shave? | 35 | In general, they get too focused and distracted by their studies to take time to shave. The basic hygiene spells that they use to get around having to waste time on bathing don't trim beards. So... after a while, most male wizards end up bearded. Now, it's become a bit of a meme, and wizards compete over beard length w... | 54 | |
Omega-3s are essential but they're not that widely available.How is that humans survived and thrive even w/o it? | They're found mainly in fish and algae which are widely available in coastal regions but many people live inland where this isn't available.
Thank you | 113 | They are passed from mother to offspring during gestation, at the expense of the mothers stores of those fats. Prior to seafood consumption, they were available by eating the most concentrated land-based sources of those EFA's, namely the brains of other mammals, especially ruminants(although the EFA's are present in ... | 28 |
[Marvel] Taskmaster has a photoreflexive memory that allows him to copy any technique by seeing it only once, and learn other certain skills with mere exposure. If he received tutoring by, say, Doctor Strange, would he be able to master magic extremely fast and become a phenomenal Sorcerer? | 67 | He'd master the physical side very quickly but there's a mental side that's much more important. When you make a shield for example, you aren't just gesturing with your arms. You're also feeling the energy flow through you and imagining it form different shapes. There's also a lot of book learning involved -- you have ... | 61 | |
CMV: I don't think there's much society can do to help incels. They have to help themselves and many seem very unwilling to | I was reading a thread about a recent NYT 'The Daily' podcast ([https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/09/podcasts/the-daily/suicide-investigation.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/09/podcasts/the-daily/suicide-investigation.html) for those interested) which touched on incels. In the comments at least one person brought u... | 72 | Legalizing sexwork, not shaming virgins, and giving young men just as much aid and opportunities that young women get would likely go a long way
There are plenty of men who look fine, are in decent shape, have zero issue with small talk, and are miserable, depressed, single, and alone anyway. They feel they gave it th... | 71 |
[Elden Ring]Is player deaths in Elden Ring canon like other from software games and if yes then what is the reason for our respawn abilities. | Most from software games consider every death as canon and have an explanation about how we come back. Is this true for Elden Ring as well and if so how does that work in this world. | 61 | Here's the fun thing: in Elden ring, *nobody* dies permanently. The concept of permanent death was almost completely destroyed when the Elden Ring was shattered. Even the characters that otherwise stay dead for the duration of the game (bosses, mostly) would come back eventually given enough time.
The one exception t... | 79 |
ELI5: How does the brain store words in multiple languages | I'm bilingual and currently working on my third language, so I've been curious as to how the mind associates things in multiple languages. | 15 | This one's quite interesting since we don't really know how the brain stores words in one language in the first place, but our current best guess is that they are stored in a mental lexicon which is like a spider web connecting different words of same categories, be it word type, semantics, same prefixes, suffixes etc.... | 16 |
ELI5: Why does eating something hot (like a ghost pepper) make humans actually produce heat? | Why does eating something very spicy make humans actually give off heat?
Example: When I eat something like ghost pepper based hot sauce, I radiate heat off the top of my head. | 16 | You're not radiating heat. Not in the way you think.
Capsaicin is causing an inflammatory reaction in your body, starting with your mouth. Blood is rushing to that area. *That* heats up the area, not the peppers. But your overall body temperature didn't really change. You're just perceiving your normal temperature in ... | 27 |
ELI5: Ion Thrusters | Edit: I found a fairly good explanation by [NASA](http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/fs21grc.html) if anyone is interested. | 151 | An ion thruster works by shooting very small particles out the back of a spacecraft in order to make it move forward in space.
Let's try it at home! For this first part, you're going to need roller skates and a bowling ball. Stand on a flat surface with your skates on, take the bowling ball, and throw it as hard as ... | 147 |
I believe it is disgusting that courtroom proceedings can be televised CMV | In the wake of the George Zimmerman trial and the "Reality TV"-esque coverage it got I find it disgusting that it was able to shown live on TV. I have no problem with the older methods where reporters could go in and take notes and whatnot, but I think live viewing by anyone is bad for several reasons.
"Non Newsy" in... | 16 | Well, under the 6th amendment everyone has a right to a public trial. This ensures that nothing unlawful goes down in the courtroom and they have a fair trial. Also, if someone didn't like the fact that their trial was being publicized, they could request closure, if "first, there is a substantial probability that the ... | 10 |
ELI5: the 'Gotta go fast' video of the guy on the bike passing everyone out | how is the guy in this video passing everyone else out even though they are peddling?
http://i.imgur.com/3eizJGT.gifv | 55 | They are going down a hill (if it was flat or uphill, this would not have worked). By planking on his seat he was able to dramatically reduce his wind resistance - he made himself more aerodynamic. As crazy as it sounds, not having your legs be a big windbreak can sometimes be just as beneficial to your speed as pedal... | 33 |
Can Someone Explain This Please? (Slight NSFW) | Saw an image similar to this on the front page of r/wtf and would like to know what's going on exactly.
http://imgur.com/byhef7m
In detail or without :)
Cheers | 89 | The puppets are 3D depictions of what is sometimes called the homunculus of the sensory and motor cortex of the brain.
The motor cortex of the brain is located about halfway along the upper part of the human brain and is the starting point for the execution of all voluntary movement. If you decided to get up from a ... | 112 |
ELI5: Why don't our teeth heal themselves like every other bone in our body? | 318 | Teeth don't have cells. Healing takes place when cells divide to replace cells that were lost. Your teeth were grown inside your body and then pushed out. Our DNA is only programmed to do this with 2 sets.
Source: /u/panzerkampfwagen | 174 | |
I believe Schools do not have the purpose to raise kids. CMV. | This CMV was inspired by a recent discussion threat you can find [here](http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1wx6wh/whats_something_you_think_they_should_start/).
I think the main purpose of schools is to provide education in the following senses:
1. Teach critical thinking and critical reading.
2. teach kids ... | 16 | Parents should teach their children critical thinking as well. And language/expression. And basic logic. And how the world works.
What's special about those that isn't special about, for example, home economics?
Frankly, that latter is probably going to be *more* useful to the child than most other things taught in... | 11 |
[General Superheroes] Quipping and poking fun seem to be incredibly effective against supervillains. Why don't more superheroes do it? | Spider-Man is a well-known example; he uses quips and alternative ways to mess with his opponent, which proves to be highly effective. Why don't other superheroes, e.g. like Superman and Captain America, use this strategy? | 15 | It's actually more difficult than you think to be a smart arse in the heat of the moment. Parker does it as a coping mechanism because of the stress of it and it just so happens to be his forte.
Captain America doesn't want to be known as the guy who tried to drop a burn and ended up stammering about the dudes gloves. | 48 |
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