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[GLM] Why is a logit model better than a linear probability model? | I read that the logit model (regression model) doesn't have the same structural problems as a linear probability model.
To be precise a linear probability model is defined as:
π(x) = α + βxj
it uses the form of ordinary regression, the probability of success changes linearly in x and this is a GLM with binomial ran... | 15 | Just to be clear, logit models and linear models are both regression. Regression occurs any time we are measuring the mean relationship between a response variable and its explanatory variables.
The major upside of a logistic model is that your explanatory variables are unrestricted. When you graph a probability linea... | 17 |
[Star Trek] If I send a fossil through a transporter, could I still use radiocarbon or other isotope dating on it? | 46 | Yes. Although FWIW, you can only carbon date an object if you're familiar with the geology of it's planet of origin.
There's a popular misconception that the transporter dissembles its target, transmits it as data and reassembles it at the other end.
What the transporter actually does is flick each subatomic particle... | 35 | |
[Garfield][Comic Strip] Who did Nermal belong to? And under what context/circumstance would Jon randomly bring him around without explaining why? | 17 | Jon's catsitting for whoever Nermal belongs to. At one point it was his parents' cat but he's never been seen on the farm. It seems like Jon considers him Garfield's "friend' since he bring him around for birthdays. | 18 | |
[Star Trek] Could Data ever have a functional long term relationship without the use of the emotion chip? | Say with a Vulcan, or with someone with different romantic needs from the one woman with whom we see Data in a failed relationship. | 29 | Data would be able to have a relationship with almost any sentient species, just the same as Captain Kirk was able to have *ahem* relations with other sentient species. That's not to say that Data would only be reduced to only experiencing physical relations with others.
But without an emotion chip, all of his relati... | 22 |
[Warhammer 40K] Was the Emperor humanity's the best chance of survival or did his presence make humanity worse? | For starters, let us clarify a few things here. Though the Emperor is one of the most established characters in the Warhammer 40K Universe, we ironically now very little about him since as time goes on and because of the consequences of the brutality of the Never-Ending War in the Warhammer 40K universe, history docume... | 223 | Easy -- there would not be a humanity were it not for the Emperor. Isolated and fractured into individual civilizations following the Old Night, bereft of the leadership of the posthuman Primarchs and the Astartes, and lacking access to the technology of the Mechanicus, humanity would have been easy pickings for Chaos,... | 140 |
[Star Wars] Can the force be powered by positive emotions? | So, the sith gain power by tapping into their anger, fear, hatred, etc. However, the Jedi way involves not letting your emotions control you, so using the force is more of an emotionally neutral thing. But can the force be tapped into by using positive emotions like joy? And if so, would the Jedi consider this to be a ... | 23 | Maybe? Palpatine is living his best life, cackling away while shocking and dueling. The thing is that it's just easier to aim negative emotions at your opponent. Anger and hate are channeled directly onto whoever is stopping you from achieving your goal. Joy comes from something else, and if you're fighting to protect ... | 18 |
How can wolverine bend his wrists? | Seems like those claws are in the way... | 41 | When his claws are retracted they rest between his wrist and elbow, in between bones in his forearm. He does have to keep his wrists straight when he unsheathes his claws though, and they may hinder wrist movement once out but not when retracted. | 30 |
[eli5] What happens when someone with healthy hearing wears hearing aids? Is it equivalent to what happens to your eyes when you use binoculars? | 26 | It's what happens when someone with healthy hearing takes a speaker at say, 2/10 which sounds comfortable and cranks it up to 6. Painful and damaging.
Hearing aids nowadays tend to be calibrated to people's range-specific hearing loss though. So if it were properly calibrated, it would... well, just be off if they had... | 24 | |
[Star Wars/40k] If the Tyranids invaded the galaxy during the time period of a New Hope, how would the galaxy fare? | I know that the galaxy is a lot more unified in Star Wars than in 40k but I also worry about the technology level of the Empire and others. | 18 | r/whowouldwin specializes in these questions.
Things to keep in mind - FTL in star wars in more reliable than the Warp, but there are only specific possible hyperlane routes. Some planets and parts of the galaxy are utterly unaccessible to the imperium/rebels.
Though the imperials have exterminatus level weapons (wo... | 27 |
ELI5: why is it that when we put cold feet in hot water it feels like it's burning more, but when we put hot feet in cold water it's relieving? | 188 | The direction of heat transfer.
When you're putting your cold feet in hot water, the hot water is transferring its heat to your feet and trying to reach equilibrium. There's a huge difference in temperature between your feet and the water so a lot of heat is transferred, so it feels extra hot.
The opposite is true wh... | 50 | |
ELI5: How do microphones in live concerts not get a lot of feedback from all the noise? | So this might be a super simple explanation, but it really amazes and confuses me. How do microphones in live shows not get tons of feedback from the speakers, the croud sounds, the various instruments? This really baffles me | 48 | 1: use a directional microphone, and don't point it at a monitor or speaker.
2: limit the number of open mics.
3: keep the mics as far away from speakers as possible.
4: use in-ear monitors vs stage mounted monitors.
5: cut out all frequencies outside of 800kz to 2khz. | 59 |
ELI5: Why do we get sick when its' cold? Does it have to do with the temperature or some other factors? | 25 | This question always gets answered with the received wisdom that goes something like. 'It's not because of the cold, it's because we spend more time in the warm indoors with other people....' well that's not actually true, it IS because of the cold AS WELL.
When we're cold, our bodies restrict blood flow to our extre... | 20 | |
Does light actually travel at "the speed of light" in a vacuum, or do interactions with virtual particles slow the light down? | I have only a rudimentary understanding of physics, but I gather that photons traveling through matter will be delayed as a result of interactions with the particles that make up the matter, effectively slowing down the light wave. I also understand that empty space isn't really empty, but is full of virtual particles... | 222 | It isn't obvious at all that photons shouldn't acquire an effective mass from quantum corrections.
However, it is found in quantum field theory that the mass of the photon is protected from any quantum correction by gauge invariance. This is a nontrivial result. | 49 |
CMV: Relying on (contemporary) cynicism and irony as a self-defense mechanism is cowardly. | I am completely aware of the fact that irony and cynicism in healthy doses can prove very useful for furthering the development of society, our own selves, etc. However, I am talking about excessive cynicism and irony used in regards to (mostly mainstream) interests.
Basing your whole personality on ironic remarks and... | 38 | Of course it *can be* cowardice. But so can "going along with" modern culture. Whether it's cowardice depends entirely on whether it is motivated by fear.
Someone who despises modern culture, and wishes to fight it at every turn using cynicism and irony isn't cowardly, but rather extremely brave for taking on an enti... | 17 |
eli5: simple explanation on how a bunch of natural materials that decay make up plastic; a material that virtually lasts forever | 18 | Plastic molecules are big long molecules made by chaining a bunch of smaller molecules together. Those smaller molecules have some sort of reactive part attached - some part of the molecule that's more susceptible to having a chemical reaction happen to it than any other part of the molecule. You make a plastic molecul... | 19 | |
[General] What is a major glaring weakness to an otherwise OP super hero or villain that people don't consider using? | 20 | Batman is extremely vulnerable to blitz attacks by powerful villains. His contingency plans are usually dependent on having some time to implement them, time that he usually has because the people who could take him out immediately tend to go for the Justice League powerhouses instead. | 38 | |
[MCU/Multiverse of Madness] Can this object provide for a solution for this enemy? | Can the Book of Vishanti provide a solution for Kang the Conqueror/He Who Remains? Or is the book only giving solutions for strictly mystical enemies? | 20 | It provided a solution to Thanos in the alternate universe, so it's not just for magical baddies. It would probably work on Kang too.
Fun fact, you get one tiny glimpse of one page of it in the movie. On it you can see the star shape that America's portals form. She was the solution to Wanda all along. | 26 |
ELI5: If drone strikes are cheap and don't put our soldiers at risk, why are they so opposed? | 461 | Drone strikes against enemy soldiers are not opposed. It's no different than a piloted plane taking them out. Drone strikes to take out one person while also killing his three wives, 24 children, and and 17 other people are frowned upon. | 707 | |
ELI5: Why do we get that "lump" in our throat when we experience deep emotion? | 130 | That ‘lump’ is actually not a lump at all but a counter-reaction to the body’s automatic nervous system. When humans are exposed to stressful situations – ie, situations that would cause them to cry or get angry – the body, due to the genetic evolutionary ‘fight or flight’ nature of humans, automatically increases bloo... | 100 | |
[Star Wars] Were the Clone Wars Palpatine's back up plan? | It took some long chases and mighty fine detective work for Obi find out Kamino existed. Even then, the records were wiped to further obfuscate the location of the system.
Had the Jedi not found out about the clones or decided it wasn't in their code to take them and use them, Dooku and company would have destroyed t... | 152 | I fully expect Palpatine had purged Kamino from the Jedi records specifically to bring attention to it when someone came looking. Jango taking out Zam with a dart, rather than, say a sniper rifle, also smacks of set-up.
That said, no plan is perfect. Palpatine likely had "Sifo-Diyas" (who was actually Dooku in disgu... | 75 |
CMV: The quality of entertainment has dropped | Over the course of the 21st century we've seen a rapid shift in how we consume media with everything being right at our fingertips with minimal barriers and long unskippable ad breaks. This has lead to a huge uptick in content that is solely made to give you a quick rush of dopamine from a clickbait thumbnail to over e... | 17 | As opposed to the past, where comedians made 'haha work bad amiright adults' jokes? Where 'let's laugh at the minorities' was a common theme?
There were shitty entertainment in the past, it just was either not recorded or not remembered because it was shitty. | 17 |
ELI5:What happens to a photon once it falls on our retina of or eye?Is it consumed or changed into something once it has stimulated the optic nerve? | 55 | The photon is absorbed by the chemicals in the eye. The energy that the photon imparts causes the chemical to split. This split creates a bit of electrical energy that is sent down the optic nerve and interpreted by the brain as an image. | 45 | |
Is the ISS really at orbital height if it needs routine re-boosting? | 18 | It is in low earth orbit. Partial atmosphere actually extends rather far up. Being in orbit means that you have a high enough horizontal velocity such that you "miss the earth" so to speak, when falling, so you circle the planet. This is true in Low Earth Orbit as well, but the partial atmosphere causes what's known as... | 28 | |
ELI5: Why are there so many Chinese buffets and restaurants in the US with nearly identical menus and decors that don't appear to be franchises? (Super China Buffet, China 1, Super China, etc) | Seriously, there are like 10 of these in my small-ish town. What gives? How can they all be so similar? Even down to the pictures on the menu boards! | 595 | There is not a huge market for chinese restaurant decorations so there are limited manufacturers of decorations and menu photos. Everyone buys from the same supplier and they all end up looking the same.
Similar to the blue greek Anthora cups that are served everywhere in NYC or how every frat party uses red solo cups... | 220 |
Why has the stock market historically grown by about 10%, while nominal GDP has historically grown by about 6%? I have looked this up, and I haven't found a satisfactory answer. | 102 | I expect you're adding in dividends to get your 10% total return, is that right?
This comes simply from the fact that you're adding them in. On average, over a long-period of time the profit share of GDP is stable. So, business profits make up a fairly fixed proportion of total gross incomes.
That means you have two ... | 48 | |
[The lord of the rings] Did the ring affect everybody the same way? | As we know it, Bilbo vanished when wearing the ring, and Frodo too. But I cannot recall Isildur. In the movie he became invisible, but in the book?
Also. Samwise Gamgee was brave, never wanted to hide. Always heading for the good and to save Frodo. If I remember correctly, when Sam wears the ring and goes to Cirith Un... | 23 | Not Tom Bombadil
As base it hides as a ring of invisibility, concealing it's greater powers.
As it corrupts someone or is brought closer to Mordor/Sauron more effects appear. (Like Gollum's mutations, Bilbo's extended vigor, or Sam understanding orc speech) | 18 |
[Injustice: Gods Among Us] Why didn't Superman kill Harley Quinn? | When Superman went to rescue Lois, he found both Harley and the Joker performing the surgery that would implant the bomb in Lois' body. They were both directly responsible for the death of Superman's family and Metropolis, so why does she get a pass? | 138 | Well, a small part is that when she's not under the Joker's influence, Harley isn't really all that bad (as indeed the next few years show). Everyone knows that Joker is the leader there and she was going along with him.
Mostly though he just didn't know here she was. Batman had Joker in interrogation - Supes flew the... | 109 |
What is the faculty environment like at non-R1 institutions? Seeking career advice... | Over the past few months I've increasingly recognized that my chances of getting a tenure track position at a R1 institution are practically zero. I'm hoping that I can stay in academia if possible (background later in the post), so I wanted to get a feel for what the faculty environments are like at non-R1 institution... | 15 | Im just going to be very straight about this. Reputation matters.
Very few Universities provide a positive and fulfilling work environment, and the division isn't R1 vs non-R1. R1 is about mission, not quality. There are a number of R1s that are absolute nightmare work environments.
Many R1s are R1 in name only, c... | 13 |
[Harry Potter] What level of functionality would someone kissed by a dementor have? | 17 | Full on, soul eating kiss? "The lights are on, but no one's home." Biologically speaking everything is there, but the actual person is gone. The soul is a known property in the Potterverse, and dementors are capable of harming it directly. When they perform the kiss, the actual immortal essence of the targeted individu... | 14 | |
CMV: It makes no sense for a store to have "greeters" in an area where small-talk with strangers is not part of the culture. | I'm from a heavily urban part of the U.S. where strangers generally don't acknowledge each other in passing. In spite of this, many local grocery stores and fast food restaurants (places that are designed for efficiency, not atmosphere) make sure that every customer is confronted with an enthusiastic "HI! Welcome to __... | 44 | In retail and grocery stores, store greeters are quasi security guards, not outright security guards, but they are a company presence in front of the main entrance/exit. Their presence in and of itself could deter theft. If the greeter prevents stealing 1 Blu Ray or CD (do they still sell those?) per hour, they are m... | 37 |
[Marvel] If Venom and other symbiotes need hosts to survive, how did they live on their home planet? | Did they have different host species on their planet too? Or their planet has some kind of different atmosphere that makes them more solid? | 65 | They need hosts to survive in many environments. The symbiote homeworld Klyntar is not one of them, because Klyntar is most made of symbiotes. You would have to go miles deep to find actual dirt ground. They created the planet out of their biomass at the command of their god Knull, then reformed it from his throneworld... | 70 |
ELI5: What happens when i empty my trash on my computer? Are those files gone forever? | 66 | Erasing a file is like putting White-Out over someone's name and picture in a yearbook. You can't see them anymore, but they're technically still there. If someone was so inclined and skilled enough at removing the White-Out, they could find that person again. | 37 | |
CMV: Certain ethnic minorities are making Britain a worse place than if they weren't here [UK] | I've been a Reddit user for over 6 years and have a fairly high-profile account so I've set this one up, as I'm aware of how controversial my views are. I'd like to keep this to a civil debate, these are thoughts I'm reluctant to voice in public so I'd really like answers, refutations and honest but fair non-hysterical... | 21 | > Another question is why do Chinese/Thai/Japanese people not cause as much anger and resentment? They seem more respectful of the British way, and don't aim to change it, merely participate in it.
I think it's likely just a difference in demographics. The immigrants from African and Muslim countries tend to be n... | 18 |
[Discworld] How can a normal person take advantage of Discworld's Theory of Narrative Causality to bring maximum benefit to their life? | What tropes, genre staples, conventions and cliches can an average Ankh-Morporkian take advantage of to improve their lot in life, the most? | 37 | The problem with attempting to use narrative causality to improve your life is that your particular narrative has an alarming tendency to turn into the one about That Bugger Who Was Too Clever By Half And Got What Was Coming To Him. | 90 |
[Transformers] when multiple robots form one robot (like Devestator), do all of the individual personalities mesh into a collective, or is one personality dominate? | As default leader of the Constructicons, does Scrapper’s personality shine through or does the Combiner come with a new AI when the collective programming of all is merged?
If it’s the collective, what happens if a part of Devastator is destroyed during battle? Let’s say Devestator loses his right arm, Scavenger, doe... | 434 | All of the individual personalities mesh into a collective that decide the actions of the combined form. This generally results in a unique emergent personality with significant flaws.
Devastator is dull-witted, despite the engineering genius of the Constructicons, and can only really do what they all agree on.
Super... | 221 |
ELI5: Differences among Broiling, Roasting, and Baking | I just call all of those "sticking it into an oven" | 77 | I just learned about broiling recently, but let's talk about baking first.
When you bake, you cook the food by surrounding it with hot air. Because the hot air is all around the food, the food cooks from all the sides. If you use a toaster oven, you'll notice that the heating elements are not really on when you bake. ... | 43 |
ELI5: If I do (for example) 10 squats 5 times over the space of the day, is that just as good as going 50 squats once a day? Why or why not? | 11,333 | Your body is very clever. When it notices that a muscle has been damaged by intensive usage, it doesn't just repair it, but also makes it a little bit stronger so it doesn't get damaged again in the future. The idea of working out is to "damage" your muscles a little bit, so your body is going to work on it.
This need... | 9,145 | |
If stars use up their hydrogen before exploding and then a new system forms (like ours) where does the hydrogen in that system come from? | 27 | Stars don't use up *all* their hydrogen, just the hydrogen in the core. There's plenty of hydrogen elsewhere in the star which doesn't get fused into helium. When a star sloughs off its outer layers at the end of its life, the discarded hydrogen can form (part of?) a new star and be used for fusion. | 19 | |
Why are cloud bases flat but cloud tops fluffy? | In a typical cloud you see in the sky or drawn, the cloud base is flat and the top is fluffy. [Drawing example](https://www.pngwing.com/en/free-png-yjrsv) and [photo example](https://epod.usra.edu/blog/2004/06/cumulus-mediocris-clouds.html).
I know this pattern seems to be developing in cumulus clouds of some vertical... | 18 | As you go higher in the atmosphere, the air gets colder. The base of the cloud represents the lowest point where the air gets cold enough for water vapor to condense into droplets, which happens at roughly the same height in a given region. The top of the cloud is just wherever the humid air has managed to rise to, whi... | 22 |
Why is it that Europeans have many colours of hair, when everywhere else, (Africa, Australia, Americas, Asia) have only black? | Clearly I am talking the genetic ancestry of these places. I realize there can be a blonde in any of these places and that genetic mixing is far more common now. However, in evolution terms, these non-European places span huge ranges of latitude, climates, and environmental conditions. | 391 | Here's a simplified version.
There was one mutation thousands of years ago, among the ancestors of present-day Europeans, that caused lighter colored hair. As the years went by, sub-mutations of this one ancient mutation diversified that into several different shades. All these sub mutations are dependent on the first... | 264 |
[MCU] Did pregnant women snapped away by Thanos were counted as two persons? | 40 | There is no definitive answer. There is nothing in the source material that even discusses pregnant women. However, we could guess about what Thanos would have thought.
I think Thanos would have been 'pro-life' in the sense that he saw a pregnant woman as two people, because his ideology was all about population and ... | 53 | |
I feel no moral responsibility to be vegetarian or vegan. CMV. | I understand that others choose to be vegetarian or vegan for moral reasons. In many cases, the animals being raised are mistreated horribly. In many cases, they are subjected to awful living conditions and exposed to chemicals that we still do not fully know the effects of (or, worse, we do).
I respect people who ch... | 44 | Consider a broader argument, not about cruelty, but about waste. It takes about ten times the resources to produce meat than it does to make grain or vegetables. It's often asked why it is anybody in the world is going hungry when we here in the US grow enough food to presumably feed everybody on Earth. Trouble is, ... | 22 |
[Star Trek] What does it mean that "Shields are at 22%" when the opponent is already blowing actual holes in the Enterprise? Aren't shields doing nothing at that point? | As seen in multiple TNG episodes, movies, etc.
EDIT: I appreciate the responses so far, but I don't think anyone's adequately addressed the scenario where the ship is ACTUALLY BEING SHOT UP. Even if the shields are deflecting a certain percentage of the weapons' energy in some way, it's all for naught if the hull is b... | 65 | Federation shields diffuse the energy from attacks. As they get more and more attacks, their ability to diffuse the energy falls. In your example, they are only able to eliminate 22% of the energy that's hitting them leaving 78% of the energy remaining to "blow actual holes" in the ship. | 58 |
ELI5: How will finding new particles at CERN effect my everyday life in the future? | 107 | That's the thing with fundamental research. Nobody knows. If you were born 100 years ago, you'd be asking why are we wasting time on this quantum mechanic nonsense. That turned out to enable the existence of a computer.
Once we understand how the world works, we might be able to create ways to influence it, and design... | 101 | |
ELI5: how do anti-lock brakes work in a car? and how are they safer than normal brakes | 16 | Without ABS, the brakes apply steady force. If the stopping force exceeds the rolling force, then the wheel & tire lock up. Then the vehicle either stops or starts skidding.
When the tires are skidding, you lose most of your ability to steer the vehicle and are thus more likely to crash.
ABS basically turns the... | 17 | |
[Jojo's Bizarre Adventure] Has it ever been commented on in-universe that Stands tend to have music-based names? | 15 | It's possible that most, if not all, the characters haven't made the connection. Music is a vast field, with so many bands that nobody has heard of all of them. How many Jojo fans have listened to all of the bands and got the references without having to look up the bands, albums, and song names?
To make matters more ... | 15 | |
CMV: "Radical Islam" is a harmful and inaccurate phrase. | Much of the worlds current political struggles are attributed to the catch-all term of "Radical Islam." I believe this term to be wildly over simplistic and it ignores the political and nationalism issues that play a larger role in the hostility that some have with the West. Attributing the actions of these groups to t... | 26 | What makes you think that religion is not a large part of the motivation? Let's look back to al-Qaeda in the 90's, trying to blow up the World Trade Center. What had America done to the Middle East by that point? They'd helped Afghanistan fend of an invasion, and they'd gone to war to defend Kuwait from Iraq. That ... | 29 |
[Pacific Rim] Why did people think that the Kaiju were just stupid animals? | Newt says that "we thought they were dumb animals" or something to that effect, just mindless, violent beasts that blundered their way through the breach.
Why? Didn't people find it strange that these dumb animals were all deliberately attacking cities instead of just wandering around and bumping into a city occasiona... | 101 | Because they *were* dumb. At first.
After the initial attack on San Francisco, the USGS was able to backtrack Tresspasser's path to its origin at the Breach using seismic records. Turns out it had been wandering around for weeks in a kind of drunkard's walk pattern until it reach the US West Coast.
Hundun, Kaiceph... | 121 |
ELI5: Why can we listen to songs over and over again, but only watch an episode or movie once and move on to the next one? | 55 | Because, movies are telling stories, and if you know how it's ends you'll less interested in the story, (similar with jokes). With music you don't wait for the end to find out "who's the murderer". You enjoy composition, melody, rhythm etc. So if you hear it again it's still there.
There are some movies where visuals a... | 32 | |
Why do we blush when we're embarrassed? | From an evolutionary biological standpoint, why does blood rush into our faces when we're embarrassed? | 148 | The most common theory is that blushing allows others to observe that you are embarrassed. Embarrassment is a mechanism to enforce social rules, and blushing indicates to others that the rule has been enforced and no further action is necessary. | 186 |
ELI5: What is the chirping noise that computers make. | I always just assumed that its coming from hdd, optical drive or fan. But recently I got a new ultrabook that has none of them and I can still hear that chirping, sounds like diskette drive but higher pitched. However I cannot hear that sound on a phone or tablet, only on computers. | 53 | It's most likely "Coil whine"
There are small coils in your computer that are used to "smooth out" the current (and capacitors that do the same for the voltage) - electricity isn't perfectly regular, it has little bumps and waves that can damage your components inside the computer: the coils help make it "smoother" so... | 41 |
[WH40K] Could the Tyranids invade Commorragh? Would it be worthwhile for them to do so? | Is it possible for the Tyranids to traverse the Webway? If so, are there any notable instances of this occurring?
Also, if the 'Nids can traverse that labyrinthine dimension, could they end up in the sprawling, dark city-state which the Dark Eldar call home? I know that the 'Nids are all about obtaining biomass, usua... | 20 | Yes, it's possible. They could totally file in and eat everyone and everything in there. Thing is, there's so much more 'low hanging fruit' (easily accessible, poorly defended) planets full of tasty life that they probably wouldn't bother. It's harder to access, harder to access in force due to the narrower webway port... | 26 |
[Batman] Has the Joker ever broke character? | The "Clown Prince of Crime" always seems to carry himself either with an uncaring mad aloofness or with the idea that he's just going to head to prison for a bit and then escape... but with all the crossovers and other anti-heroes and stuff that has happened in the Batman comics/games/etc, I can't help but wonder... ha... | 145 | Frank Castle AKA The Punisher.
Apparently, during a 90’s crossover, The Joker came face-to-face with Castle. What he didn’t realize was that this was decidedly *not* Batman, and Castle was *not* afraid to simply put a bullet in Joker’s brain. Batman had to save Joker, and Joker, for once in his life, took the situatio... | 162 |
While sleeping, if nothing from the outside world triggers our wake-up, what most commonly triggers it? | For instance, does something just sort of trigger in our brain and tell us it's time to wake up? Thanks | 20 | First, it should be noted that sleep is not a continuous block. Even without any environmental stimuli, spontaneous awakenings are common during the night. For a healthy adult, it is typical to wake briefly about 20 times per night, with increasing frequency towards the end of the night. You don't remember most of thes... | 11 |
CMV: even if its racist or transphobic to only date a specific race or gender, it doesn't matter because relationship is something that you should be allowed to discriminate at however you wish | pretty much the title. i feel like amongst all this "is it t-phobic to not date trans people?" we are forgetting something fundamental, that when it comes to choosing dating or sexual partners we SHOULD be allowed to discriminate as we wish, and any society that shames it people for exercising that right is regressive.... | 266 | You are perfectly free to set whatever parameters you wish on who you are willing to date or not for whatever reasons please you the most.
Everyone else is perfectly free to react to your choices and their motivations as they see fit.
What exactly is the problem here? | 68 |
How do insects heal? I think we've all accidentally pulled a leg off a grasshopper at one point. | Also curious about arachnids, especially spiders, since they're effectively hydraulic. | 76 | Many insects have a life cycle of egg > larva > pupa > adult. Basically, once it hits the pupa stage, there isn't much that can be done to heal any damage. The cuticle (or exoskeleton) cannot be repaired as molting only happens during the egg/larval stages, so any damage to that lasts the rest of the insect'... | 31 |
[Fallout] Were cancer rates through the roof in pre-war America? | Fallout takes place in an alternate history where nuclear power was adopted as the predominant technology and power source, for about 150 years. Robots, transportation, computing, energy. All nuclear powered. Consequently, a huge amount of technology must be emitting radioactive particles, no matter how safe it was en... | 54 | Actually fossil fuels were the predominant energy source in the fallout universe, it was only due to its scarcity by the time of the Resource Wars that nuclear power became more common.
That being said, radiation shielding was very advanced by the time of the Great War. Power armor offers a radiation resistance bonus... | 60 |
[Marvel Comics] Rogue gets a symbiote. What happens? | 36 | There's precedent for Rogue consuming an alien's power and identity (Captain Marvel, a What-If story with Thor). So, even if the original symbiote dies, Rogue would effectively become one. Result would likely be similar to Carnage, a united being with enhanced strength, reflexes, and webbing. "Rouge" might finally b... | 43 | |
Why are strawberry seeds so nicely devided over the strawberry? | 30 | The fruity fleshy bit of a strawberry is jummy and sweet. The seeds are not. If you were a bird and had the opportunity to eat either the jummy and sweet bit or the seeds, you'd only eat the jummy and sweet. By spreading evenly arcoss the strawberry you make sure that as many seeds spread as possible. Thus creating an ... | 12 | |
Why are drugs out of our system after five half lives? | Why not 4 or 6? | 15 | They aren't.
After 5 half-lives, an uncomplicated drug will be down to 1/32 of its original concentration. (Because 1/2 * 1/2 * 1/2 * 1/2 * 1/2 = 1/32.)
1/32 is generally considered to be a negligible amount of a medication, because most medications cease to be effective well before their concentration drops by 32-fo... | 31 |
If there is Electromagnetic radiation (light) and Gravitational radiation (gravity waves), is there Strong 'radiation' and Weak 'radiation?' | Gravity and Electromagnetism have a type of 'radiation' associated with them, but is this true for Weak Interaction and Strong Interaction being the other 2 of the 4 Fundamental forces? | 24 | Yes, but gluons ("strong radiation") are subject to QCD confinement at low energies, and W/Z bosons ("weak radiation") have very large masses, so unlike photons, they can't be produced "for free".
Furthermore, W/Z bosons are unstable with a mean lifetime of only a small fraction of a second. So even if you produce th... | 49 |
ELI5: Cannabis is just a plant, however there are hundreds of different strains. What is the difference and why are they all different? | 42 | Think of cannabis like apples. There are red apples and green apples and even yellow apples. Each Apple tastes a little different, some are sweet some are more sour, but they are all still apples. Cannabis is the same way. | 42 | |
How do frogs avoid getting poisoned when they eat poisonous insects? | 32 | Let's flip it around.
How the hell can you eat chocolate and NOT die?? To dogs, eating enough of it can kill them straight out.
"In large enough amounts, chocolate and cocoa products can kill your dog. The toxic component of chocolate is theobromine. Humans easily metabolize theobromine, but dogs process it much mor... | 27 | |
Difference between determinism and superdeterminism? | I’ve been reading up a bit on these topics lately as I’m going through Sean Carroll’s new book “Something Deeply Hidden” which talks primarily about the Many Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.
I’m wondering what difference is there (if any) between determinism and super determinism.
Carroll seems to think ... | 29 | In determinism, what we observe is determined by a cause whereas in super determinism what we observe is just determined (without a cause), such that no counterfactuals are possible. For example: If you roll a dice, the result is caused by the way you throw the dice. Here you can ask, what the result would have been if... | 14 |
ELI5: Why do we turn pale/green when we're sick? | 47 | because your body diverts blood away from the skin on your face and towards the areas where the infection is in order to mount an immune response against the virus or bacteria. You never actually turn "green", that's just an expression for looking unwell. Pallor (turning pale) is caused by a decrease in blood flow to c... | 46 | |
CMV: The "Nonviolent revolutions are not twice as likely to succeed as violent ones" study is unfairly skewed to favour nonviolent revolutions. | This claim, which was pretty popular in 2018 and 2019 (see [here](https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world) for a BBC article on it, as one example), is one that I believe is based on an incredibly misleading study. I took a look at the datasets (and you can too, [here]... | 21 | I’m not in a place to go deep on the dataset, but one comment on your second point—the threat of military force against the regime is actually a desired outcome of “nonviolent” revolution.
Keep in mind here that we’re looking at nonviolent resistance as a tactic here, not a moral principle. So the point isn’t to be ... | 11 |
[Halo] How many plasma grenades would I need to destabilize or structurally compromise a Halo installation? | Asking for a friend of a friend.
Bonus round: how many fragmentation grenades for the same task?
Lightning round: how many Scorpion tank shells? | 21 | The correct answer is four. Four well placed grenades for the four fusion reactors onboard the Pillar of Autumn.
If we're going without the Autumn, adding all frags, plasma grenades, and Scorpion tank shells in existence, you probably couldn't destabalize the ring. The Forerunners built these puppies to last! | 42 |
How do mammals that dive deep into the ocean such as seals and whales not get decompression sickness? | A human dives to a depth of 1500 ft and has to spend hours resurfacing so the nitrogen in their blood does not bubble. Does a sperm whale have to take the same amount of time ascending from depth or do they have physiological mechanisms to mitigate that? | 33 | Decompression is only necessary if you breathe compressed air while beneath the water. It also depends on depth and time under.
Because seals and whales don't breath compressed air, they don't need to decompress. | 29 |
ELI5: How does US currency keep its value if not with gold? | 32 | we all pretend it does and it does, we all tacitly agree and our government enforces this, if we all decide tomorrow that it's not good for tender and it's worthless, it is.
it's the exact same thing with gold if you think about it
there's nothing intrinsic that makes gold worth what we say it is, if we all wake up t... | 59 | |
CMV: When using the English language, we should refer to "Mumbai" as "Bombay" for the same reasons that we refer to "Deutschland" as "Germany." | A few years ago, the Indian government decided that certain cities bearing colonial names should henceforth be referred to by their precolonial names --- e.g. Mumbai instead of Bombay, Kolkata instead of Calcutta, Chennai instead of Madras, etc. The reason for the change was that some nationalistic parties gained polit... | 523 | >This change somehow **caught on** not only within India, but all over the world.
There you go. This is *fait accompli*, a thing already done.
The word "germany" caught on so we use it.
At this point, "Mumbai" caught on - so we use. Why expend effort hanging it again? | 397 |
ELI5: What does the vote to defund planned parenthood mean and how is it related to the govt. shutdown? | I've tried to look around, but most of the news sources I've found are hopelessly vague in their explanation (something I sometimes wonder if intentional)
I understand it was voted to defund planned parenthood for 1 year. What does this mean for planned parenthood to be defunded? And hoow does this vote relate to the ... | 160 | So, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would remove government funding to Planned Parenthood. That bill would then need to go to the senior half of Congress, the Senate, and pass there. Then it would go to President Obama, who has the power to veto it and will almost certainly do so.
Several Republican c... | 95 |
ELI5: How do we know what the universe looks like today when all the light we see is from millions or billions of years ago? | Shouldn't the universe we see be like a fun house mirror with everything distorted? in fact, shouldn't it be worse than that? Wouldn't it be like looking at a fun house mirror, but in addition to everything being in the wrong place, your head might be your current age and your feet look like they did when you were a ba... | 1,791 | The picture we have of the universe is a picture of the past universe. The reality is that what the universe is like **now** is irrelevant, because we won't experience that in any menaingful way until the future when the light reaches us.
We can of course make predictions about where these galaxies/stars are **today*... | 1,390 |
[DCEU] Didnt Clark Kent die the same day Superman died? How did he come back to life? | People saw him his a damn coffin. | 23 | In the original Death of Superman story, Clark was listed as one of the hundreds of people missing after the battle.
Few if any would find this suspicious. Clark is a reporter after all and he no doubt has gone into dangerous situations with no guarantee for his safety. | 43 |
[Superman] Can Superman see when he is shooting lasers from his eyes?. | I mean I assume he he has to in order to aim, it doesn't seem to make sense otherwise. Yet no other superpower seems to work like that, you can't perform a normal task under similar circumstances. If I am flying I can't walk at the same time, if I am shooting energy blasts from my hands I cannot drink a cup of coffee a... | 140 | He could look, and aim before he shoots.
His hearing would be a big aid if he can't see, and if he needs to, he could turn it on and off imperceptibly quick to see in between firings, looking like a continuous stream. | 97 |
ELI5: What is the science behind an “acquired taste”? Is it as simple as your tastebuds getting used to that specific taste? | 20 | Nope, it's all about your brain learning to perceive it differently.
Have you ever been eating something, and then somebody compared the food to something really nasty, and then it started to taste less appetizing? Or noticed how your favorite food doesn't taste that good if you're completely full?
Our taste buds s... | 21 | |
Can someone explain corporate personhood? | If there's one thing people on reedit get butthurt about, it's corporate personhood. I was wondering if someone could explain it- what it is, why it exists, what it allows, what it *doesn't* allow. I'd be willing to bet that the common idea of corporate personhood isn't very much like what it actually is. | 19 | "Person" is a legal term of art. To lawyers and lawmakers, it doesn't mean what most people mean when they say "person."
"Personhood" is simply a collection of rights, like the right to own property, the right to bring a lawsuit, and the right to enter into a contract. We want corporations to be able to enter into b... | 14 |
ELI5 what is pre-workout and how does it work? | 59 | Preworkouts are combinations of chemicals intended to do a few things (depending on what's in them).
1. Make you feel more energetic. Thinks like caffeine or ephedrine are usually used for this.
2. Ensure you get the most out of your workout. Things like creatine and beta-alanine.
3. Ensure your body has the things i... | 90 | |
[Harry Potter] I'm a British muggle, and my child has begun displaying signs of magic. Is it mandatory that she attend Hogwarts, or can she just keep going to her muggle school with all of her friends? | 37 | No. There is no requirement that she learn magic, and if she does she doesn't have to at Hogwarts. You can get private tutors, though that's not cheap. But it's worth it if you ask me. Have you heard about what's been happening at Hogwarts? | 42 | |
ELI5: How come we perceive sunlight as essentially being invisible until we split it down into seperate wavelengths? | We don't see light until it's reflected off something and depending on what the thing is, it absorbs some wavelengths and not others and that's how we perceive colours. But why? How come we just don't see all light all the time (when exposed to it)? | 15 | We see sunlight when it hits our eyes. You can definitely see direct sunlight, ie when it doesn't reflect off of something - when you look directly at the sun.
We don't see random rays of light all the time because most of them don't reach our eyes. | 17 |
Understanding algorithms and data structures, but not being able to implement them? | Just a bit of background information: I'm currently in high school, and I'm taking a course about algorithms on Coursera. I do have previous programming experience.
I'm able to understand the concept behind algorithms and why and how they work, how efficient they are etc...
However, when I try to implement or code t... | 25 | Step 0: practice a lot
Step 1: if a problem seems unsolvable, just try to understand the solution then try to write the same solution.
Step 2: come to the question few days later, try to do the problem now, if not succeed then again look at the solution.
Step 3: Step 0 | 15 |
If you were to hypothetically manage to turn all the lights out in a major city (ex. New York City) how long would it take to see the stars? Or would it be instantaneous? | And what would cause the delay, if there was one? | 588 | It's practically instantaneous.
You may get a little delay from clouds reflecting the light for a fraction of a second longer than if there was no clouds or atmospheric conditions which reflect light back.
Then you'd have to wait for your eyes to adapt to the darker conditions. This is the part which you'd notice wit... | 438 |
ELI5: What actually happens inside the throat when you have a sore throat? | 15 | A virus is hijacking cells in your throat to make more viruses.
You immune system is going around killing all the cells that have been hijacked.
Because a lot cells got hijacked, your immune system is doing a decent amount of damage.
This damage hurts.
A lot of the other symptoms are the immune system improving... | 12 | |
[Dc Comics] Why build the Watchtower? Why not just use the fortress of solitude? | It would have been more cost effective, less timely, and to the best of my knowledge more secure right? | 23 | Why would we use the gym to play basketball, why can't we use your apartment?
Same argument. Superman's fortress of solitude is *his* spot, for him to be alone and be Kal-El instead of Superman or Clark Kent.
If they need a Earthbound spot to meet, there's always the Hall of Justice. | 43 |
CMV: I believe children can be told about sex from the get go. | I don't think there is anything wrong with children knowing what sex is at any age, even if they are too young to fully grasp it. Obviously I'm not saying that children should be exposed to sexual situations, I'm just saying that they can know: what sex is; that their parents have sex; that gay sex exists; and that sex... | 616 | Do you mean that they should be told a plain but broad version when asked or that you should make a point of telling them as early as they can understand it?
The former makes sense to me, in order to, as you say, prevent it from becoming weird or shameful, but the latter doesn't, because there's no reason to have a ch... | 147 |
[Star Wars] Have their been any attempts to altruistically free the victims of sarlaacs, or kill the sarlaacs to put them out of their misery? | Not that many in the Star Wars universe would be aware of sarlaacs or how their stomachs work, but there would likely be at least some societies such as those near the Ancient Abyss on Felucia. Did anyone ever try to stop the centuries-long suffering of people who were eaten by sarlaacs? And would you be in favor of do... | 105 | I don't think there's actually any need or benefit to attempting that. As the most recent installments show, Jabba via 3PO was being somewhat more dramatic than he was biologically accurate. Most victims are quite dead quite quickly.
Being generous with Jabba's description, it's a one then the other thing, not a con... | 102 |
CMV: A man should have time to opt out of parenting. | Since women have the opportunity to continue or terminate a pregnancy without the father's consent, the father should be given a period of time before the pregnancy ends or within a certain number of months of finding out about an existing child before meeting said child. This cost can be similar to the fee of an abort... | 16 | There is no 100% fair answer. As /u/BertioMcPhoo points out, the obligation to pay child support doesn't stem from any claim of the mother, but from a claim of the child. Hence until the child is of age, nobody can waive that claim for it. The child has the same claim towards the mother. The right to abort stems from t... | 67 |
How can radiation cause burns? | I wouldn't guess it transfers much heat so why does it cause skin "burns"? | 114 | Others have responded in complex terms, but here is a very simple one.
Radiation kills cells by destroying their DNA. The body reacts as best it can. The results look like a burn because it's the same response. Just in this case the cells aren't physically destroyed by excess direct heating. | 140 |
Can you mix vaccines in blood and let misquotes eat it, then they will transfer the vaccinated blood? | 192 | Typically mosquitoes breakdown the blood, and excrete whatever they cannot use. So no. Part of the reason why a mosquito would not give you AIDS. Also, there's no 'flowback' of blood from the mosquito's needle, nor would there be a significant amount of the vaccine left on the outside of the needle. | 105 | |
(Mass Effect) What effect on Earths economy did converting to the Galaxy wide currency have? | as earth has multiple currency's at one time each worth different amounts to the other what happened when earth converted to the "Credit"? | 42 | We didn't convert. Supplemental materials explain that "credits" are a currency standard that dollars/yen/space rocks are converted to by omnitool as a conveinence for interstellar business. Exchange rates are managed/regulated by a department of the Council on Citadel with branches throughout the galaxy. | 47 |
[Batman/Demolition Man] How would Batman feel about the cryo-penitentiary subliminal rehabilitation program? | Would he put any of his rogues in stasis? | 22 | Well Batman's son has been imprisoning villains without trial and then using magic to alter their personalities and he is on a collision course with his father for when he finds out about it. So no he would likely not support a prison that, more or less, brainwashes criminals as that's ethically terrible.
How is it b... | 12 |
Why do we enjoy killing people in video games or think it's "cool" when we see people die in movies? | 19 | Play fighting is a natural thing. Watch puppies for a while and sooner or later they'll start biting at eachother. The winner is usually the one that wraps his mouth around the other's neck first or at least the one that commands a submissive gesture from the other.
Often this includes a chase as well.
It's not a coi... | 17 | |
[MCU] Abomination (possible spoilers for some movies) | I know Tim Roth is not cast in any of the avengers movies, Do you think the abomination will appear in a non speaking capacity? He's a powerful resource and it'd seem like a weird waste in an all out war. | 29 | They considered it when the Avengers were being out together but considered him too unstable and thus kept him in Cryo Sleep, recruiting Banner instead who is more useful as a scientists and is far less willing to use his powers.
Abomination is a danger to everyone around him, he fights for himself and will kill peopl... | 36 |
[Star Wars] How could Ziro the Hutt speak Basic and the other Hutts could not? | 20 | Hutts absolutely can speak Basic, there's no physical reason they can't. They just view it as an inferior language to Huttese so they generally refuse to, plus it can help to intimidate and mess with people in business dealings. A proper Hutt will take every damn chance they can get to have the upper hand. | 34 | |
Why do things get darker when they get wet? | 493 | Cloth actually becomes more transparent when it gets wet, which is why it looks darker (because there is usually no light source on the other side of the cloth).
Next time you get a piece of cloth wet, hold it up to a light and you will see that more light is able to pass through. | 271 | |
[Kingsman] Does someone get promoted to "Arthur" in the event of his death or retirement? Is there any supervisor agents below him? | Also, what would a female agent be named? | 18 | All the Arthurian names are positions. If the holder is no longer around, someone else gets it.
The exact rank structure isn't terribly clear, but Merlin seems to be some kind of supervisor.
Female agents use the same names that male ones do. | 33 |
[DC/Marvel] What are some unique powers that heroes or villains have that no other being have? | 188 | B'Wana Beast famously has the ability to merge any two animals together, to create a chimerical being with characteristics of both
(Technically one other guy had this power but he was BB's direct successor) | 142 | |
ELI5 how is one currency more powerful than another? If you exchange $100 to 102 francs don’t you still have $100 but in francs? | 61 | Imagine you bought $100 of bananas. Sure... at that point, you own $100 worth of bananas.
Now imagine that just after you do that, the banana countries announce that they are going to war, that banana tax is going up, or that there's been a bad drought in the country.
Now you still have bananas but they could be wor... | 81 | |
Does orbital velocity remain constant over time? | ie. are the planets orbiting at the same speed they were millions of years ago? Cannot find an answer I can understand on professor Google | 21 | Depends how strict you are on the term *constant*. If the orbit is in any way elliptical, like not circular, then it's velocity will vary, maximising speed on its closest approach.
If you mean say, at the same point in its orbit does it's speed vary over millions of years? probably not, depends on external factors lik... | 21 |
I believe that experimenting with Strong AI is unethical. CMV | Fairly recently, Google bought a company called DeepMind which specializes in AI and machine learning. While this isn't quite the same as 'Strong AI', it got me thinking about the subject. The whole field of machine learning is fascinating to me, and so are the mechanics of the human mind. I don't know how far attempt... | 38 | I don't think it makes sense to apply current human laws and morals to something as new and unfamiliar to us as AI. What you talk about isn't going to develop overnight. Getting there is going to be a very long, very slow process, and along the way how we perceive this AI is going to evolve as well. Maybe by that time ... | 17 |
ELI5: why do words start to look unfamiliar or misspelled when you look at them for a long period of time? | 19 | It is called *semantic satiation*.
If you look at a word long enough, you stop seeing the word, and start seeing letters, which have nothing to do with the word. The is nothing about the letters c, a, and t that connects them to a cat, so they start losing that meaning.
If you look longer, you stop seeing letters, a... | 22 |
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