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With the huge cost of space travel, how can is be economically feasible to mine astroids? What is so valuable on astroids? | I know we have gotten a probe onto an astroid. I know this brought up talks of astroid mining, but this confuses me. What sort of minerals are so valuable that they could actually offset the cost the the transport of those goods? | 19 | **Short answer:** One of the biggest costs of space travel is getting stuff into orbit and asteroids are already in orbit. Depending on the composition the asteroid, a single asteroid could contain a volume of valuable metals greater than what's extracted from the earth each year.
**Longer answer:** Potentially the b... | 47 |
[Passengers] Was there an ethical way out? | In case you are unfamiliar- 'Passengers' recent SF film. Setting is an advanced STL starship, on a 120 year colonization trip. Everyone aboard is in suspended animation.
One passenger is accidentally awoken 90 years early. He cannot go back into suspended animation.
After a year of complete solitude and suicid... | 24 | Jim's actions can't really be judged on an ethical - unethical scale very easily. It's like punishing a starving orphan for stealing a loaf of bread. It's most certainly wrong/illegal/unethical on it's own, but the extenuating circumstance is that the orphan would most certainly have died without that action. Desperati... | 27 |
How do spiders survive inside people's homes? | I just don't see how there is enough food inside a clean house vs. outdoors, yet so many spiders still set up shop inside attics, basements, and living spaces. How do they not only survive with such a lack of food available, but also seem to grow and thrive? | 45 | Quite simply because no house is as clean as you think it is. Spiders are carnivores, but they dont need full sized flies every day, they can live on mites, fleas, and other things that you wouldn’t normally consider viable food sources. And those things are in abundance under fridges, in tight spaces in pantrys, under... | 53 |
[Avengers Endgame] Why does running out of fuel in space matter? | Now this might be a two part question. I guess the important question is, does the fuel power the life support? If so then there is the answer, but as Tony stated, they ran out of fuel and they have been dead in the water since then. But if a space ship was traveling at max speed and the engines shut off, wouldn't it j... | 21 | Their ship is not FTL. It uses that weird jump gate hex thing grid to travel. They could fly on inertia all they want, if they can't access the jump gate they won't get anywhere any time soon. Besides, as you can see, low fuel means powerplant goes down, and when it goes down, life support goes down, and when life supp... | 61 |
CMV:I believe that Tinder, Okcupid and other online dating services have had a profoundly negative influence on American dating habits, expectations and experiences with healthy relationships | This "problem" is something I have noted for a while now, and I don't believe it is written about, or discussed enough as a real challenge facing people today.
We shop for potential mates through online dating exactly the same way we shop for clothes or electronics through Amazon.com and I think that is a problem. We ... | 689 | > We are becoming increasingly superficial; looks are the be all end all.
When you meet a total stranger in person, *all* you know about them is what they look like. Contrast this with online dating, where you at least know whether or not they want kids and/or are deeply religious. If anything, online dating allows... | 525 |
[Star Wars: Rogue One] If stormtroopers are an elite assault unit, what are they doing guarding prisoners? | Patrolling a cell block full of gangsters and insurgents and riding in prison transports seems like a waste of elite troops. Should there be non-stormtrooper auxillaries doing those details? | 33 | You don't want to feed your best troops into a grinder 24/7. Even the most hardened vet will start to lose focus with a constant high operations tempo like that. That will turn an elite unit of killers into a group corpses broken headcases. You want to rotate some assault troops here and there when you need them. When ... | 53 |
[Matrix] In the 'Matrix' universe, what measures can be taken to ensure that people living in it don't question their reality? | So, I'm beyond stoned watching the Matrix Revolutions fight scene on the busy freeway ft. Neo & co + Smithy. This freeway is like rush hour traffic packed with people just trying to get home and make dinner, when suddenly stuff starts getting blown up and dudes are fighting on top of the moving truck performing phy... | 56 | The current matrix was designed so that people had a subconscious choice to stay or leave the matrix. It doesn't particularly matter what people see or what they remember, as long as you don't get mass numbers of people rejecting the matrix.
There's also the cycle. So, when the one shows up, lots of crazy stuff start... | 47 |
I have a random integer generator between 1 and N. To what precision can I deduce N if I generate M numbers? | Basically, if I take 100 numbers in this particular case:
9 10 3 5 2 8 7 6 1 5 1 2 1 4 10 9 6 9 2 3 10 4 2 9 1 6 8 6 5 7 5 1 2 6 4 6 1 8 10 1 1 8 6 7 6 6 5 6 7 7 5 3 3 7 1 7 5 10 2 4 9 1 1 4 10 9 4 2 8 2 6 2 5 8 4 1 6 7 10 7 3 2 8 2 3 1 3 1 2 5 8 5 2 10 10 6 10 5 7 5
I know with reasonable accuracy that the numbers ar... | 16 | It depends on whether you're interested in figuring out N exactly or approximately. If as a result of your experiment your maximum is wrong, do you automatically consider it a failure or does it matter if you were 'close'
In order to get N exactly, at least one of your M values must be N, the probability of which is ... | 31 |
[John Wick] If Marcus had shot John through his window in the Continental, would he have been killed for conducting "business" on their premises? | 17 | No blood is to be spilt on or from Continental grounds, not under any circumstance. The hotel is a place people put aside their business to rest and gear up.
Also firing from a Continental safe haven is a huge no no, probably even worse. Not only do you have the lack of respect to murder someone on neutral grounds but... | 32 | |
ELI5: Where does light go? | So if you have a completely dark room, you turn on a lamp and turn it off again, where does that light go?
Does it get sucked back into the lamp or does it fizzle out into nothing? | 200 | Light moves at 186,000 miles per *second*. When you turn the lamp off, the light that it previously emitted continues to zoom away at that ridiculous speed.
Within a room, it bounces off of every surface, being partially absorbed and partially reflected on every bounce until it's either been completely absorbed or has... | 348 |
CMV: The Axis could not have beat the Allies in WW2. | In this scenario, the Allies include the US, UK, France, Soviets, Nationalist China, and other historically aligned nations, while the Axis includes Germany, Italy, Japan, Hungary, Romania and other historically aligned nations. As WW2 was a war of unconditional surrender, that is the victory condition.
My arguments ... | 66 | Let's get a little bit of alternate history here. Let's say hypothetically that Winston Churchill was not elected prime minister, and that someone a little more malleable was elected and sued for Peace with Germany rather than war. This totally could have happened. Were this to have happened, the Germans would not have... | 20 |
Why do professors allow group peer evals to influence a student's grade if they can't see it? | It makes no sense to have a peer evaluation at the end of term where a student can't see the feedback given to them by their classmates. It also makes no sense to give evaluations at the end of term when the student can't change their behavior or learn from their mistakes. Why aren't evals given at midterm, and then a ... | 35 | The answer is because a professor has no way of knowing (aside from these evals) how much of a group project was done by each member. Assuming the groups are larger than 2, the professor gets multiple reviews for each student and the professor then makes the judgement of whether to knock off a portion of the group's ov... | 62 |
[ELI5] Why are men's shirt buttons on the right and women's on the left? | 28 | Not at all.
But women did not (typically) dress themselves. Or at least noble ladies didn't. They had servants for that. So the buttons being on the other side makes it easier for the servants to work.
Men would dress themselves. So their buttons would be on the right. | 40 | |
CMV: The idea that "Any Job is better than no job" is false | Last year I was laid off from my first "real" job at a Fortune 500 company with an outstanding (for my age) salary. I was unemployed for 9 months after that. I'm an IT professional with no degree (I'm not rich, I can't afford college. I couldn't afford college even if it was free, I got bills to pay)
During that perio... | 156 | gaps in your employment history aren’t a good look especially if you’re seeing paid work that isn’t what you want as ‘a waste of time’
i understand how walmart has no relevance to your profession but i am sure there are many entry level jobs that are. even if they aren’t what you want, you’re getting paid, you’re doi... | 75 |
What is the difference between a polymer composite and polymer blend?? | 30 | In brief, a polymer blend is multiple types of polymeric materials literally blended together with heat and screws. They aren't always single thermodynamic phases afterwards, but they usually are. A polymer composite is usually a non-polymeric material mixed with or embedded into a polymeric material. A good example ... | 10 | |
Why does China artificially inflate its currency and what exactly does inflation do to and for an economy, in a local, national, and global perspective? | [ANSWERED] | 209 | The goal isn't really inflation, rather, the Chinese government attempts to keep the value of the yuan low relative to the US dollar. Let's do a thought experiment: suppose it costs you 100 yuan to make your widget. If a yuan is worth 50 cents you can sell your widget in America for anything more than $50 and profit. I... | 58 |
What did Adam Smith mean when he said: "As soon as the land of any country has all become private property, the landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed, and demand a rent even for its natural produce" (Chapter VI, p. 60)? | What did Adam Smith mean when he said: "As soon as the land of any country has all become private property, the landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed, and demand a rent even for its natural produce" (Chapter VI, p. 60)?
I am very new to economics and have seen this quote brought up frequen... | 60 | It means people want money for what they’ve got if you want it, and that property owners are in a great position because they have an inexhaustible resource.
If someone wants your labour they pay for it, you don’t receive the fruits of your labour, they do and you get paid. If someone wants the fruits of your labour t... | 33 |
[Frostpunk] Why don't they just build things underground? | 39 | That would almost certainly be the long term plan if the frost doesnt lift. Once the mines have been dug out enough, there will be plenty of empty space available for people to curl up into. But, during the time of the game everyone is still assuming this will be a temporary winter, so they may as well make their set... | 41 | |
ELI5: Why doesn't the wetness of your eyeballs freeze in such negative degree temperatures? | I was greeted with -12 this morning. My nostril hairs stuck together, lost my breath, and a tear running down my cheek just stopped in place. | 57 | They're largely encapsulated in your nice, warm head, and receive a pretty continuous supply of blood from your core, which provides them heat. As well, your tears, being salty, are somewhat more resistant to freezing. | 103 |
[Star Wars] Darth Vader survives the Battle of Endor with Luke. What are the options for Vader's future? | What would the former Sith do with his time? | 45 | Probably help his son bring down the remnants of the Empire. As the former second in command of the Empire Vader might even be able to command the remaining Imperials to surrender to the Rebel Alliance. After that, Vader probably shows Luke all the surviving Jedi lore and artifacts to help him rebuild the Order. Of cou... | 68 |
[Harry Potter] Can I get a transfer? | So my parents have sent me to magical school which is cool but I don't want to do anything magical. I want to be a scientist. What do I do? | 24 | If you want to do anything magical, then you should at least make some wizard friends and get a passing familiarity with the system so you can get magic items and hire wizards when magic is useful. Then figure out what you really want to do and start learning that.
If you want to be a scientist, transfer to another ma... | 24 |
Is the blood moving in a pulsing manner (i.e. move - stop-move, in sync with the heart), or is it constantly flowing? | 44 | Yes and yes.
The amount of fluctuation in blood pressure (and therefore also the amount of fluctuation in the rate at which blood is flowing) diminishes steadily as you go from the heart (where fluctuation is greatest) and towards peripheral tissues (where fluctuation is smallest). By the time blood returns to the hea... | 22 | |
ELI5: How is it possible that UK police don't carry guns? | I live in Canada and I would absolutely feel it necessary to have a gun as a police officer. Are there less guns on the street in the UK? | 45 | Because of the United Kingdom's strict restrictions on firearms, and the relative lack of their popularity even when they were less restricted, most criminals don't carry firearms. It's not a common worry for UK police officers, so ordinary beat cops don't need a weapon to match. Bladed weapons are a serious concern, t... | 38 |
[40K] What happens to the souls of the deceased? | I know that those who give themselves/are devoured by Chaos have an eternity as the playthings of daemons ahead of them, but what of those who die with faith in the Emperor? What is is store for them?
Also, what happened to those who died believing in the Imperial Truth, or ancient humans who lived long before the ... | 25 | Their souls fade and disperse into the background noise of the immaterium. Then, when something new is born, whatever soul-stuff is in the area seeps back in, reincarnation-style.
Or they fall into the holy cosmic bonfire of the Astronomican and are annihilated.
Or they're eaten by chaos gods. | 33 |
[General] Do superheros retire? | We know Bruce Wayne stopped being Batman, but are there any mutant-type superheros who just decided not to do it anymore? There's plenty of mutants who have powers that aren't superheros, but are there any superheros who just got tired of saving the world day after day?
Does it generally go like The Incredibles, where... | 27 | IIRC for a while superman retired. He went home to Kansas and was a farmer. When shit hit the fan and the new, young, edgy superheroes couldn't handle it, Supes showed up with forty years worth of working out in the sun, soaking up the yellow rays, and was even more OP than normal.
EDIT: In Justice League Unlimited, ... | 39 |
ELI5: Why do magnets lose their magnetivity over time? | 68 | There are afew ways a permanent magnet will lose its magnetism.
The most common one is heat. If you raise a magnet above its "Curie temperature" then its atoms will lose the order that they need to have their magnetic fields aligned. Once the alignment is randomized, virtually every atom has another opposing it ... | 58 | |
ELI5: How did Super Mario Bros on the NES look blocky, have no detail, and lack a bunch of features; yet Super Mario Bros 3, also on the NES, with the same hardware, have a fully fledged world map, Siginificantly higher quality sprites, and more content? While on the same cartridge? | 1,121 | Memory hardware inside of cartridges advanced precipitously in the five years between the release of Super Mario Bros. & Super Mario Bros. 3. The limitations on the quality of graphics were almost entirely based on the amount of available storage in the carts. | 758 | |
ELI5: Why do people still urinate even if they are dehydrated? | 16 | The cells in your body create small amounts of waste that get dumped into your blood stream. Your kidneys filter that out and that creates your pee. That process continues during mild dehydration.
Dehydration has stages. Signs that things are getting really serious include stopping sweating then stopping peeing. If yo... | 32 | |
As a whole, is the Earth gaining or losing heat energy? | When taking into account all sources of heat (solar radiation, radioactive decay, burning of fossil fuels, etc) and all heat loss from radiation into space, is the entire planet (including surface and interior) gaining or losing heat energy?
Edit (quick sub-question): When heat is radiated into space, what is the phys... | 76 | We are overall losing heat. There are a few sources of Earth's internal energy (We'll ignore the processes at the surface here, since compared to the heat of the core, they mean next to nothing):
-Accretion: This is the heat that built up while the planet was forming. It's a result of the collisions of progressively l... | 10 |
I believe the Republican Party will die within the next 100 years and will be replaced by the Libertarian Party. CMV | It has recently become fairly clear that the Republican Party is clearly disconnected with the younger generation. Millennials are increasingly more skeptical of religion and very supportive of gay rights and action on climate change. They also view the Republican Party as out of touch with reality and old fashioned.... | 53 | It's far more probable that the Republican party will survive, but will shift towards a more libertarian stance - if libertarianism is what will get them votes. Political parties are notoriously hard to ruin, especially in a two-party system. No matter how much people gripe about them being out of touch, they still hav... | 29 |
ELI5: How do they balance weight on planes with an odd number of seats in each row? | For example, how do they balance weight on planes with rows of 3? Seems like one side would be much heavier. | 51 | It is not that much heavier as the isle would be close to the center of the aircraft. And they can balance the aircraft using the location of the cargo and by pumping fuel between the wing tanks. And lastly they just put a bit of trim on their flight controls so that one wing produce a bit more lift then the other wing... | 46 |
I have a question about the moon. When did all those craters happen, and why isn't it happening now? | The moon is full of craters, where are all the meteors? | 32 | A lot formed during the Late Heavy bombardment, shortly after the moons formation. There have been a fairly constant stream since then. The reason you don't see the same cratering rate on Earth is that we have an atmosphere and active tectonics which recycle our crust, and erode the surface. | 66 |
[Star Wars] How often did Clones perform executions? | I just rewatched the Umbara arc of TCW, and looking at Fives and Jessie’s near execution, it looked like the Clones had it down to a process. This is Star Wars, where lethal injection technology is sure to exist, but they put them in front of a firing squad like it was rehearsed. Does Kamino have a lesson guide on how ... | 22 | Odds are good that, along with other assorted drill and formation work, the cloners did include protocols on executions in the training for the Clones. The Republic wasn't exactly huge on executions, but this is a Republic on it's way to becoming the Empire, and having a large standing army trained and ready to gun dow... | 25 |
What COULD kill the Hulk? | Everything I read indicates he is nigh invulnerable. What would be able to kill him? | 62 | It's not entirely clear that anything could kill the Hulk due to his massive regeneration abilities however there are other options- Leaving him drifting in the vacuum of space with nothing to push against would likely render him harmless, as would throwing him into a strong gravity well (such as a star or a black hole... | 50 |
Eli5: Why do we automatically make the ‘sour face’ when eating sour food? | 41 | That's a good question - "sour" is how we describe the taste of acid. Generally the acids we eat come from two sources - 1) fruits like lemons, oranges, mangos, etc., 2) acids produced in fermentation like in kombucha, vinegar, some beers, and fermented dairy products.
The sour face is an involuntary reaction which m... | 56 | |
[Harry Potter] So did Harry, Ron and Hermione ever attend school in Year 7? They were so busy with their little road trip that year, they only showed at the school for that last bang. Did they graduate? Did they need to make up lost classes the following year? | 34 | There was no way they could've finished the year back then due to the fact that the Battle of Hogwarts took place on the 2nd of May, meaning they missed two-and-a-half terms of classes. But it would've have really mattered in the end.
Harry and Ron never returned to Hogwarts, since their experience as the ones fightin... | 69 | |
If two radioactive atoms were entangled, would they decay at the exact same time? | 172 | Two particles may be 'entangled' - with respect to _some property_. That means that that particular property (e.g. which spin state the particle is in) is correlated between the two particles. You cannot say that 'particles' themselves are entangled, it's really their states. In quantum mechanics, you can completely de... | 82 | |
ELI5: How are new data points created in a video such that a video filmed in 30 fps can be viewed at 60 fps? | How does interpolation work? | 25 | Interpolation is a process where a display unit (TV/Monitor) takes two frames and puts them together (similar to an "average") to generate an extra frame in the middle. By inserting an extra frame between each one that was recorded, you effectively double the frames per second and can bring 30 to 60. | 14 |
ELI5: Voyager 1 was launched in 1977 and is almost 12,000,000,000 miles away from Earth, yet we still receive data transmissions from it. HOW? | 1,084 | The probe has a nuclear power pile and a radio transmitter. We have radio telescope dishes that are sensitive enough to receive radio information from the distant parts of the universe, so even a 12-billion mile distant radio signal is enough to be received by such dishes. | 400 | |
ELI5: What actually is that slimey vaginal discharge that women get? | I get it everyday and when i asked this to women around me, they just say it's normal wihout explaining what it actually is and what causes it. | 124 | Mucus. Vagina is covered by mucous membrane like mouth, the inside of nostrils etc. Mucous membranes are covered by a layer of mucus that enables their function (keeps the right ph balance, right micro biome, and because it has no layer of dead epidermis it protects it from drying out). In vaginas it also serves to flu... | 272 |
What are the moles on our skin for? | 764 | Moles are just benign tumors of melanocytes. They don't serve a purpose so much as they are harmless growths of skin pigment containing cells. Luckily, moles are typically self limiting but sometimes they are not, and that's how you end up with melanoma. | 837 | |
ELI5: What are different shapes of pasta good for? | Flat, ridged, fluted, shapes...I've heard they are good for holding onto different kinds of sauces but can't find a good source. Any chefs or other food pros that can let us know the secrets? | 37 | Different pastas suit different dishes and purposes. There are literally hundreds of different types of pasta but they can be organized into different groups, such as shells/cups, round, flat, long, soup pasta, stuffed, and special shapes. Really, it's a matter of personal taste and creativity, but some are better suit... | 46 |
Why is elevating your heart rate through exercise good for your heart but elevating you heart rate with caffeine bad for it? | 1,695 | Elevating your heart rate through exercise causes your vascular system to dilate, allowing for greater bloodflow. When the veins are wide open, the heart does not need to work as hard to pump more blood. However, caffeine is a vascular constrictor, causing your heart to work harder to pump the same amount of blood. C... | 1,743 | |
ELI5: Why would a butterfly be attracted to a human? I recently watched a video (link below) where a Monarch Butterfly (named Penelope) hung out with this guy for about a week. I would like to understand why a butterfly would do this. | https://youtu.be/327WTVWI0Qw | 404 | Butterflies tend to eat nectar or other sources of salty or sweet liquids. Humans are covered in salty-sweet sweat, sebum, and other skin secretions which are tasty to insects and other animals. Additionally, some humans use soap, body wash, shampoo, or perfumes which may smell floral, further attracting insects.
Fu... | 289 |
(WH40k) Why aren't exceptionally tough guardsmen made astartes? | I read about guardsmen like stone tooth harker and can't help but think they'd be unstoppable as astartes. It can't be that they're too old as hive city gang members are regularly made astartes.
http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/%27Stonetooth%27_Harker | 32 | While there are many reasons, such as there being very strict limits on the number of space marines on duty, there are several major reasons.
Most (If not all) chapters generally recruit the strongest young men from death worlds specifically chosen by the chapter, guaranteeing strength and power.
The second reason i... | 27 |
CMV: Staying up-to-date on 'the news' is pointless and a waste of time. There are far better ways to improve your understanding of the world. | What we class as 'news', even serious news, is mostly just entertainment. But we are obsessed with it because we have an in-built craving for gossip and new information, which is actually just a relic of our ancient history, when knowing the latest 'news' (such as the location of the latest foodsource was) was vital in... | 1,181 | Your statement is analogous to "voting is a waste of time."
Yes, it is true that if *some* people stop voting/stop staying up to date on the news, then that's not a huge problem, because other people are voting/staying up to date on the news (and your friends will tell you if something really important is happening, ... | 545 |
[Harry Potter] How does one create a new spell? | We often read about how famous witches in history created spells, which everybody now uses, and we also know that Snape created two spells himself. Now, I don't understand how this is supposed to work: How exactly can you make someone not say a word while twiddling their wooden stick but do actual magic with this? | 22 | First, lets look into potion creation. What various parts of the potion tend to do is known. What they will do when mixed (note that how you mix also plays a part) can be derived with some degree of accuracy, but may take multiple recipes to get the exact potion you want.
Spells work similarly, except the "ingre... | 11 |
Is there something deeply morally wrong with the state of the world today? | I've been reading a lot on the economics of global capitalism lately, but usually economists and political scientists aren't talking about the ethical consequences of the system, mostly just about the economic problems.
The economic system of global trade, etc., seems to me to have pretty big moral consequences, swea... | 51 | There has been plenty written about this. Pogge's *World Poverty and Human Rights*, Unger's *Living High and Letting Die*, Singer's "Famine, Affluence, and Morality," Risse's *On Global Justice*, and a million other things we could mention. | 24 |
ELI5: How does raising minimum wage to $15 an hour benefit anyone? | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/26/seatac-15-minimum-wage-passes_n_4339492.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009
Airport workers in SeaTac Washington just won the vote for $15 minimum wage. My understanding of basic economics is this.
Pay workers $15 an hour and that money has to come from somewhere. So the companies ... | 38 | Because if you make the current minimum wage you live under the federal poverty line for a family of 2.
The idea is that the minimum wage should adjust with the dollar to match inflation.
For example lets say minimum wage is $1 an hour. And $1 buys you a loaf of bread.
A few years go by and the dollar gets weaker,... | 36 |
ELI5:Why isn't the remote finder feature common on TVs? | When you turn on the TV manually, a sound comes from the remote until you press a button. Why isn't this feature on all smart tvs? | 57 | Most TVs use IR (infrared), which require line of sight to the TV - (the remote sends a series of invisible 'blinks', like morse code).
The TV doesn't have a way to send a blink out, and even if it could, the remote is probably lodged inside a couch saying "screw you hippy i'm taking a nap, come and find me, suckah"... | 36 |
CMV: The SpaceX launch is neat, but the headlines are totally overblown | When I see headlines declaring "A New Age In Space Exploration Has Begun", it's hard not to laugh. Nothing new has been achieved here other than that a private company has now done what several space agencies from multiple countries have already done.
I think people need a reality check when we talk about going to Ma... | 24 | Aerospace Engineer here. The greatest hurdle humanity has to landing a man on mars is not technical, but financial. Landing on mars would not be that much more difficult than landing on the moon, which we were able to do back in the 60's. We have been sending probes and landers to Mars for decades. Living on Mars would... | 13 |
ELI5: Almost every radio station across North America can be live streamed via the web. Why isn't this the case for tv channels? | 288 | Radio uses less bandwidth. Streaming cost are lower.
Most tv stations get money from cable and satellite companies. They dont want to jepordize that money by using live streaming.
OTA companies have already partnered with hulu and other companies. | 51 | |
ELI5: Why do products in the USA say "made with real milk" or similar? What else would they use? | I got this question from a friend from Germany and as an American I...actually don't know, and googling is only showing milk advertisements, or ehy milk is a lie not why it says "Real Milk."
Edit: thank you for all the answers, the topic is covered!
Also, I saw many answers that are not talking as though you are spea... | 258 | In the 1980's there was a trend for cheaper products to contain "cheese" that had no actual milk in it - it was basically a blend of hydrogenated vegetable oil that *sort of* mimicked the appearance and taste of cheese. This became especially prevalent in cheap delivery and store bought pizzas.
People began to assume... | 416 |
CMV: Baby Boomers (as a collective - not entirely or individually) are the problem with progress | I have had this conversation about the effectiveness of generations for a while now. I've talked about it with different demographics of age and race and ultimately I come back to the same conclusion. The baby boomer generation has generated the bulk majority of major issues that we currently face and when they have re... | 58 | Define what a baby boomer is. Born between the years X and Y?
How are they different from any other previous generation? Or are all previous generations were a "problem with progress"?
Exactly how should a generation act/have a track record so they are not a "problem with progress"? | 11 |
Eli5: When a logo, image or anything is etched on a surface via a laser, why is it always there a final pass that runs throughout the image? | 22 | If you try to draw with a ballpoint pen~~cil~~, when you fill up an area you will first scribble in one direction which fills 95% of it, then scribble in an other direction to fill the remaining 5%.
Laser engraving try to fill up surfaces with a line. The problem is a surface is 2d while a line is 1d-ish. There is som... | 28 | |
How much does personality/geniality/general likability count in interviews? | Is it like a normal job interview where that's kind of a big deal once you reach the interview stage (I had a mentor who said it absolutely was because they didn't want to have to work with someone for 10+ years who wasn't easy to get along with), or are faculty generally keeping it in mind but more focused on someone'... | 80 | I’d rather hire someone with a less impressive resume (but still qualified) over someone who’s monotonously boring, or rude, or self-aggrandizing 9 times out of 10.
Edit to add: if you’re thinking “why not hire the most qualified candidate?”, what a lot of people misunderstand here is ability to get along with colleag... | 193 |
ELI5: How do we know that plastic takes 450 years to break down in the environment if we haven't lived so long to test it? | 34 | Extrapolation. We look at a piece of plastic at X time intervals and take measurements, then apply that information to what we know about how things decay (Surface area vs volume, etc). The combination of the two gives us an approximation. It might not be 450 years, it might be 200 or 900. The point is more about the t... | 60 | |
ELI5: if an overweight person has liposuction from one area but is big everywhere else, would that area remain smaller or would the fat redistribute? | 1,317 | Liposuction is the removal of fat cells, so they would in theory remain skinny in that spot because there are no fat cells to gain fat (fat cells expand like a balloon with fat). If they did not maintain a healthy lifestyle and continued to gain weight their body may add new fat cells there. But no, the fat would no... | 635 | |
What are your go-to coding principles that aren't SOLID, DRY, or YAGNI? | More and more I feel like my ability to code well depends on an almost intuitive knowledge of guiding principles such as those mentioned in the title. These are the things that let me say "this is bad, let's do it this way" when reviewing code, and I find that they're mostly heuristic based.
I pose the question to... | 32 |
* Don’t repeat yourself. (DRY)
* Keep it simple sillyhead. (KISS)
* Test-driven-development (TDD)
* Do one thing well. (DOTW)
* You aren’t going to need it. (YAGNI)
* Big design up front. (BDUF)
* Single responsibility principle, Open-closed principle, Liskov’s iubstitution principle, Interface iegregation, Dependency... | 39 |
How do 2nd and 3rd generation stars exist? | How does a 2nd or 3rd generation star exist? When a star dies, I was under the assumption that it supernovas into a black hole or neutron star, or becomes a red giant that later turns into a dwarf. How does a star reasemble itself into a 2nd or 3rd generation star? Is there that much unused fuel from one star that it c... | 32 | There are large clouds of dust floating around from past supernova (or something else), and primordial hydrogen and helium that has never been in a star. Eventually all of this will coalesce into a new star if there is enough of it in close proximity.
Don't think of it as re-assembling. Supernova's blast the material ... | 15 |
[Star Wars Legends] What was the greatest starfighter of the galactic civil war? What topped it? | Was it really the X-wing? Or is the question to dependent on context to have a definite answer? | 31 | This question is entirely dependent on context.
The X-Wing is by far the most notable of the Alliance Starfighter Command and is probably the best all round Starfighter but while the X-Wing performs well at both bomber and fighter roles, it excels at neither. The A-Wing, with its incredible speed and traversable laser... | 41 |
[Legend of Zelda] i am this timeline/universe's hero but i am homeless beggar with no way to get in contact with royalty and no knowledge of what i am what happens to the world and me? | 17 | You rise up. Many heroes didn't know what they were and had little to no resources, only being called or hearing a calling got adventure. Hylia looks over us and she brought you here for a reason. You'll naturally be drawn to justice and that will bring you on the path to greatness. | 30 | |
CMV:Capitalism is better than any other economic system | I have been on reddit for like a year and everywhere i go , people are shouting Capitalism sucks , i also know most of you dont support communism or socialism but some of these people need to get their damn facts straight
Reddit is become increasingly hardcore left with subs like Latestagecapitalism going around ,and ... | 50 | You say capitalism is good, complain that people are against it, and your only real example is just capitalism? Bernie talking about wealth taxes is capitalism. What's your issue?
>that is how a new system will be born , it is based on capitalism
This is literally what socialism is (at least in a vaguely Marxist s... | 13 |
[MCU] Quick question: Why didn’t strange see Thanos coming much sooner? | Thanos’s actions were pretty significant and peering very far into the future would have made his plans very obvious. Did something happen that changed all the timelines? Could strange not see past the snap, since he was destined to be dusted? Maybe strange decided not to peer into the future, until it became necessary... | 18 | I don't think Strange ever looked into the future before Infinity War. Mainly because there's really no reason for him to do so but also because he needs the Time Stone to do it and he would never use the Time Stone unless it was absolutely necessary. | 32 |
ELI5: If the United States can dispose of dictators like Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden publicly and not through assassination. What's stopping them from doing the same to people like Kim-Jong Un? | 16 | China. They're not as close as they once were, but China and North Korea are allies. Any country allied with a nuclear power is not one you mess with unless you want to risk global nuclear war.
On top of that, North Korea has had basically their entire arsenal pointed at South Korea, one of our allies, for decades. It... | 19 | |
When does a market become ‘monopolistically competitive ’ vs an oligopoly? | I guess I’m theory and practice- like in theory economic profits would be eaten in the long run for the former, but that’s not something we can directly observe right? | 58 | Other comments here are confusing game theoretic oligopoly models with the general meaning of an oligopoly market structure. Oligopoly predates concepts of game theory by about 60 years.
The only difference is whether there is free entry or not. Oligopoly has barriers to entry, so firms can earn long run profits. Mo... | 30 |
[Star Trek] if I had no knowledge of holodeck programming and wanted to create my own, what would the process be? | 27 | Unless you need something particularly complex or obscurely specific you can simply request what you want in plain speech and the computer will attempt to render it for you. Describe the setting, the characters, and the activity or plot. No programming skill necessary, the only limits are your ability to articulate wha... | 18 | |
ELI5: How do we know that most of an atom is empty space? And since that is so, why can’t we just walk through solid objects? | 16 | Think of it like a net. A net is mostly empty space it we can’t walk through it. There are bonds on energy holding all the atoms together. It takes some amount of energy to break those bonds like it does to break the net. | 64 | |
CMV: I think it's totally fine that other companies want to start their own streaming service and think that it encourages competition and prevents monopolies. | In light of the recent Disney announcement that they want to launch their own streaming service, I am very surprised that redditors seem to be upset by it. I love Netflix, but if Disney wants to offer their own streaming service to host their content, then that should encourage Netflix to develop it's own originals tha... | 53 | The ideal situation for consumers is to have a low cost one stop shop for all entertainment content. If there are multiple streaming services, the incentive is to have one amazing piece of content that gets people to subscribe, and a ton of low quality filler. If there are three good tv shows each year and you have to ... | 31 |
[General Fantasy] Is diamond armor actually any good? | So, we killed a diamond elemental. Our mage is telling us he can shape the diamond into plate armor for us and it will be better than our steel armor. I'm worried about how much it will weigh. Our tank is worried about it shattering. Should we let him do it? | 17 | Armor made of extremely expensive items tends to be magical--and the more expensive the item, the more magical it is (in direct proportion) and vice versa.
Magic armor tends to be form-fitting (e.g. it shifts to fit the wearer) which is why you can stumble across it in a treasure horde inside a dungeon and it works ... | 22 |
ELI5: The political tension between Iran's President Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei | Inspired by [this article on CNN's website](http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/14/world/meast/iran-ahmadinejad-questioned/index.html). From what I gather, Khamenei wants to implement more strict Muslim law in Iran? But he also once supported Ahmadinejad, correct? What happened to create political tension and what implications ... | 40 | The US overplays Ahmadinejad's power.
Ahmadinejad is the 14th most powerful man in Iran.
He is behind the ayatollah and his 12 mullahs. These guys(mullahs) are like Iran's supreme court-but with more power. They have veto power over all laws, interpret the constitution, and decide who is allowed to run for president... | 11 |
Does food that has been cooked have less calories than it did before it was cooked? | Would it matter what type of food like boiling pasta or a pizza?
I overcooked a frozen pizza and was curious if it had less calories than before I cooked it. | 20 | Actually cooking increases the number of calories you can *extract* from foods. For example plants have cellulose lining their cells (which is not easily digestible), unless you physically break those bonds, the nutrients and energy containing molecules inside are inaccessible (cows have four stomachs for this reason).... | 27 |
CMV: My reduced participation in capitalism and reduced purchasing from unethical corporations won't have any longterm benefits | I currently have been trying to reduce putting my money towards businesses like Amazon with known, unethical practices. I understand that morality and ethics are subjective measures, but I personally deem businesses with evidence of worker exploitation, poor wages, poor working conditions, illegal business practices, a... | 75 | Ezra klein has a good take on this (although he was talking about veganism), which is that you shouldn’t view yourself as an individual actor, but rather a node in a graph for social change.
Yes, by yourself, your actions won’t change much, but you influence the people around you, and they influence the people around... | 54 |
Explain to me like I'm five the severity of having the stock market drop 500 points. | Title says it all. | 373 | You have a lemonade stand.
People originally came to you and bought lemonade at $1 a cup. Then someone had the brilliant idea that they would buy future cups from you, like coupons, because they think you are going to get more popular and raise your price. This catches on and eventually you are selling future cups f... | 180 |
Why can't mobile design offer swappable RAM modules like PC counterparts? | 50 | Swappable RAM, or any user-servicable component, requires more space than a non-swappable equivalent. In the case of RAM, the individual chips need to be assembled onto a module, the motherboard needs to have some kind of mechanism to seat the module in and there has to be space around the socket so that all users, inc... | 38 | |
Why do people get sick from eating contaminated food? Wouldn't the bacteria/virus be broken up by stomach acid? | 32 | The capacity of microbes to survive the acidic environment of the stomach is largely dependent upon a few variables:
\-The microbial load: The number of organisms accompanying the food bolus. The more organisms there are, the greater the likelihood that at least a few will successfully pass through the stomach and... | 42 | |
ELI5: Why does stretching feel so much better right before you go to sleep and right after you wake up? | I've noticed even simply raising my arms above my head, which isn't usually stretching, feels good.
Why is this?
Thanks! | 87 | Before you go to sleep: Depending on the stretch, you can release gases and muscle waste. Mostly, it's a way of relaxing your muscles. Instead of them being tight, you give them a good stretch so they can be more flexible and keep you from cramping and being sore when you sleep.
Waking up: After having your body relat... | 32 |
ELI5: If and object heats up due to a lot of movement in the atoms, can you theoretically shake a liquid inside a container so fast it heats up? | 739 | Yep. It’s just that shaking at human speeds transfers so little heat to the atoms that you’ll get exhausted or bored before making any real heat.
Instead of water you should put heavy cream, sugar, and a bit of vanilla extract in there. The end result will be much better. | 1,367 | |
ELI5: What makes Snopes the authority on whether claims are true or false? | I see Snopes referenced a lot when it comes to the validity of claims on the internet and it never seems to be questioned. How are they confirming these claims and why is their word taken so seriously? | 107 | They reveal their research process, cite their sources, constantly update their articles when they find new information and most importantly they are not afraid to correct any errors they've made. Basically they practice what good researchers are suppose to do. | 172 |
What causes people to "stick" to the high-voltage third rail of a railway line? | I've seen it said in many places, including rail operators websites, that if you tread on a third rail you might "stick" to it, meaning the power may have to be turned off before you can be rescued. Is this true and if it is, what causes it? | 20 | You lose control of your muscles due to the high currents, causing intense spasming, you're no longer capable of letting go should you have any grip on it, and you're unable to move if you fall on it. | 23 |
[Star Wars] How come there was a mechanical suit ready for a Vader after he had fallen into lava? | I read the wiki page on Vader's suit and it included all sorts of strange things like Sith alchemy to make it work. They also replaced his heart and a lot of his spine. It seems very complex. Surely they didn't think of all of this when he was rushed in by the Emperor? | 15 | One aspect of the Sith that is often overlooked is their scientific minds. The Sith were some of the greatest researchers in the Galaxy, simply because they combined sheer ambition with a curiosity that would never be impeded by morals.
Both Plagueis and Sidious were obsessed with immortality, and researched for any p... | 34 |
I am suddenly getting kicked out of my research group. Help? | I'm a PhD student in experimental materials physics who had just passed the PHD candidate qualification exam. I have been working in my current lab for a year and have been working hard - logging high experimental hours, doing lab cleanup and maintainence, attending conferences. I was working on the project assigned to... | 36 | This may be a physics-y kind of behavior, I've seen it in a physics prof before. Talk to your thesis committee! That's what they are there for. Maybe discuss it with your grad program office too. The sooner you start talking to people about this, the better off you'll be later regardless of how it works out. | 18 |
[LOTR] What caused to Saruman lose hope in the fight against Sauron enough to join him? | Even after Saruman's defection, defeating Sauron was obviously a real possibility (after all they did win), before his defection it must of been even less obvious who would win. Even without taking into account the role of the actual people on the ground and involved directly in the conflict - the combined forces of m... | 33 | Divine intervention in Middle-earth tended to be limited and indirect after the 1st Age: the Valar worked only through emissaries (most notably the Wizards themselves), and the number of times Eru interfered in a blatantly obvious way can be counted on one hand.
And besides, Saruman was not truly on Sauron's side: he ... | 37 |
[Megamind] So an infant alien crash lands into a prison, and is just...kept there and treated like an inmate? | He’s not even classified as a person under the law and the government would definitely go and investigate his anatomy. | 158 | Megamind seems remarkably well adjusted, all things considered.
I would hazard a guess that the inmates knew the peril he was in. They came to really care about the the kid and went to great lengths to keep him safe and secret. | 83 |
ELI5: Why do batteries always go the opposite way round to each other? | 17 | Generally batteries are hooked up in series — that is, power flows from the positive end of one battery to the negative end of the other battery, then out to through the device and back into the negative end of the first battery. (Actually, it's the reverse of that, but that's irrelevant to our discussion).
Given the ... | 21 | |
Is having fun a waste of time? | Like I like Overwatch, it's my favourite game. I don't like school that much, but is playing overwatch a waste of time? Should I be off getting educated?
edit: just to clarify, i do in fact do schoolwork and im doing well. I just like OW and sometimes i feel bad that maybe i play too much.
second edit: ty for the an... | 32 | Integrity means making choices that are consistent with your true self. It means leading an authentic life (Heidegger), it means becoming (Binswanger), and should ultimately lead to self-actualization (Maslow, Nietzsche). When one does not have the courage to make these decisions and move forward, one is just treading ... | 31 |
[Deadpool] Does Deadpool fight crime in the US, or does all his adventures take place in Canada, since he is Canadian? (more questions in this post) | And more importantly, does he have a US citizenship or visa of some kind?. If so how did he manage to get that, has it ever been shown or spoken about before? Did he get it like everyone else that applies for it, or was there some other way he could have gotten it being such a force to be reckoned with. Is there an exc... | 106 | He interacts with other super heroes. That is pretty conclusive he lives in the us. Also he does not really fight crime. As a Merc he mostly commits crimes. There is no evidence he is legally in the country, or any country he travels to, which is not that rare an occurrence from what i have read. He has travelled disg... | 92 |
[The Shining] Is Jack's ghost being treated well by the Overlook? | So, we all know how the Shining ends, what with Jack in the picture in that party in the 1920s.
Is Jack just sort of living an eternal party for the rest of his life?
It seems sort of almost like Heaven for a guy like Jack. Free booze, good music, etcetera.
Does the Overlook reward him for his service, or is it tor... | 17 | Hell isn't a place of eternal torment, it's just separation from god.
The Overlook is a mental prison that keeps the occupants from passing on to their eternal reward. They look around and see things that they should like - parties and drinking - so they *believe* that everything is okay.
But on some level they kn... | 33 |
ELI5: How would Greek exit from eurozone lead to euro collapse, what exactly would happen after Greek exit, step-by-step? | EDIT: It has been pointed out below that there are several "unknowns" which make the question unanswerable. Perhaps the more generals questions of "How does a banking system collapse?" and "How does a currency collapse, what is the step-by-step process?" are more answerable.
I can only assume these are complex proces... | 30 | Greece exits the Eurozone, unilateral declares that existing debt will be paid back in drachma at some rate (a semi-default). They begin to devalue their currency. They have some rough years because people are wary of taking their worthless pieces of paper in exchange for actual goods and services. Eventually however, ... | 10 |
[Pixar's Toy Story] Do toy replicas of real people have the thoughts and memories of that actual person? Does my Ruth Bader Ginsburg action figure think she's the real Ginsburg, somehow shrunk down and trapped in a child's bedroom? | 62 | Well when Buzz was opened by Andy, he initially thought that he was the REAL Buzz Lightyear. So in that sense yes, your Ruth Bader Ginsburg action figure would initially think she actually IS Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
However, toys soon figure out that they are just that, toys, and start acting like that. In the case of an... | 41 | |
[Looney Tunes] Why is Michigan Frog unwilling to sing for people other than the person who finds him? | Does the frog have anxiety?
Is singing something the frog views as special and intimate that he only does for that man in thanks for finding and taking care of him?
Is the frog malicious and want to ruin the man?
https://youtu.be/YkfU1JqmkHM | 64 | He's a curse, a being that punishes people for trying to use his talents for greedy and selfish means.
He is there for your amusement, not for you cash in on him. That's why he essentially ruins the dudes life. | 63 |
[Star Wars] How much was the Imperial Military weakened after the destruction of the first Death Star? How was the Empire's grip on the galaxy affected? | Just curious as I don't think they really covered it in the movies, and I haven't read any of the books on this era. | 26 | It really wasn't *that* weakened. They lost some high end leaders, but no one that was irreplaceable.
Their grip on the galaxy, on the other hand, definitely started to fracture. With the Rebels showing that they were able to destroy the Empire's new battlestation, more and more planets begin to show sympathy towards ... | 24 |
CMV: The Star Wars prequels were good movies but got negative reviews because of purists and elitists fans | The prequels were good movies. They had better fight scenes, better use of CGI and had pretty interesting story. But the reason many people hate on it and it got negative reviews is because of purists who feel that the prequel do not fit into their view of what Star Wars is. Since they grew up with the original trilogy... | 53 | So your standards for what makes a good movie are:
* good fight scenes
* good use of CGI
* pretty interesting story
Leaving aside the fact that the prequels aren't what most people would call interesting... What about writing? Dialogue? Acting? Practical effects? Continuity with the established universe? Character ar... | 83 |
[Full metal alchemist brotherhood] Hoeinheim made this huge deal out of ed/al not transmutimg their actual mom and apparently it was something else, who pr what exactly did ed/al and Izumi transmute??? did they just create another life ? | 54 | you can make a body with common elements. That's what the boys did.
The problem ends up being when you try to bring it to life. Life isn't just base matter. It's energy. that energy has to come from somewhere. In order to get the animating force, the energy, the "soul", you have to open the gate. The boys didn't rea... | 41 | |
ELI5: How can we "train" our bodies/tastebuds to handle spicy foods? Is it just getting used to the heat or are there actual chemical changes? | 169 | You can train your body. More importantly your brain. Your body creates chemicals to battle the pain. It is why heat heads get a high from trying really hot foods.
Endorphins and other brain goos in the brain are discharged more effectively if you eat spicy food more often.
If you have problems with spicy food... | 99 | |
Does anyone have a way to explain voltage, other than the water pressure analogy? (probably going to go beyond ELI5 rating.. Or do you know an appropriate subreddit?) massive thanks!!! | 59 | Someone throws a grenade into a crowded room.
Voltage = desire to get out.
Amperage = actual flow of people through the door.
Resistor = door. Increase the size of the door means to lower the resistance.
Grenade = positive charge. (DC)
People = Electrons.
Outside = resting area (lower potential) | 98 | |
ELI5: If I break my finger or cut it or smash it, it can heal, but if I cut it off it won't grow back. Why? All of those tissues can grow back individually, so why can't they grow back together? | 25,823 | Long story short, your body doesn't know how to read the 'blueprint' of your finger anymore and can't grow a new one. Your genes hold the blueprints, but they require the help of some molecules known as morphogens to actually shape your body. This happens during embrionic development. Morphogens either cause or prevent... | 30,248 | |
CMV: The Education System needs to be revamped! | I'll start off by saying that I have always been interested in the trades, and for years I have wanted to start my career as a mechanic. As a senior in my high school, I can confirm that there are many things that should change about the education system in my country (Canada)
Throughout my schooling over the past num... | 16 | If high school *prepares* every student for college, they'll have the opportunity to go to college. They don't necessarily need to choose that option, but at least it is available. If high school prepares ever student to be an auto mechanic, then an auto mechanic is the most they'll ever be. Not that there's anythin... | 11 |
ELI5: different regions of American Barbecue? | Can anyone explain how Texas BBQ is different from KC or Carolina BBQ? And any other major regions I’m missing? | 19 | Carolina BBQ is pork and (to a far lesser extent) chicken. It comes in a variety of styles, but perhaps the most famous is Eastern Carolina, which has a thin, vinegar-based pepper sauce that can act either as a mop (applied while cooking) or finishing sauce (applied as a condiment). Western Carolina, or Lexington, ha... | 16 |
eli5: Why do we need rockets that go straight up to get into space instead of using a ship that could just gradually increase altitude like an airplane? | I understand that structurally, it can't just be an airplane. I've just never understood why a rocket is needed. | 29 | Rockets do not go straight up all the way into space. They go straight until the air resistance is greatly reduced then angle over. This helps to reduce fuel consumption.
Fuel consumption is basically the answer. To "escape" Earth's gravity you have to go *very fast* and doing that down where there is high air resista... | 68 |
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