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ELI5: How come I fall asleep so easily in a car or on the bus (where there are bright lights, noises, etc.), but I find it difficult to sleep at night in my bed? | 31 | I think it has to do with the constant subtle rocking motion created by the movement of the vehicle. It beckons you back to a simpler time of night lights and binkies where sleep is about all you really do other than eat and shit | 15 | |
[Half-life ] why was the combine trying to prevent citizens from leaving doomed city 17? | The combine knew the citadel was going to blow, any citizens that stayed would be killed and probably turned into a zombie that would cause the combine issues later. I can't see any reason for them to dedicate valuable troops to stopping them. | 20 | The Combine is a multi-universe empire with vast quantities of disposable assets. At the same time, they KNEW that someone inside the Citadel was responsible for sabotage and its destruction.
Their troops were expendable, containing the threat and the individual who destroyed the Citadel was of far greater priority t... | 32 |
What type of energy is released during matter/antimatter interactions? | Would it just be light and heat? What particles would be created in this process? | 217 | Matter/antimatter collisions can produce all sorts of particles, but the likelihood depends on which quantum numbers need to be conserved and what sort of momentums the particles bring to the table during annihilation. The simplest annihilation event, say for an electron/positron pair would be two gamma photons. | 45 |
[Star Wars] What was Snoke doing during the galactic civil war? Did Palpatine not sense his presence as a powerful darkside force-user? | 119 | We simply don't know enough about Snoke to actually give an answer other than he was around during the Civil War. It could be that he wasn't a powerful force user at the time, potential perhaps but not necessarily strong. | 175 | |
ELI5: How is there no center of the universe? | I've spent the last 10 minutes googling the center of the universe. The consensus is that there isn't a center of the universe, and everyone is raving about this 'balloon' example, where galaxies are like dots on a balloon.. however a balloon has a center so I don't see how this answers the question.
If the universe is... | 62 | The balloon explanation is an analogy. It asks to you imagine the universe as the ***surface*** (and this is key) of a balloon. As the balloon expands, all points on its surface move away from one another. Furthermore, the *surface* of the balloon has no centre. The fact that the 3D balloon has a centre is not relevant... | 57 |
[Attack on Titan] How frequent does the Survey Corps conduct expeditions beyond the Wall? | I’m currently rewatching some of the AoT OVAs and when Erwin gave the order for the 48th Expedition beyond the Wall to commence, I just realized;
**In the entire show as a whole, exactly how frequent are Survey Corps expeditions beyond the Walls to garner only (as of Season 1 of AoT) only 57 expeditions?**
I mean, *... | 15 | That's a survey every 1.8 years. That's pretty reasonable for all it entails.
That 2 year period between the expeditions gives them time to train new recruits, smooth out plans for once they're outside the wall, and time to get all the supplies they need.
This seems like a fairly decent turn around for the tech lev... | 20 |
ELI5: If cat's and dog's hearing is so much more sensitive than human hearing, why are they not bothered by things such as traffic noise or TV noise? | I was thinking about this the other day when I was watching TV the other night and my dog was happily dozing next to me even though the TV was a bit too loud for me. | 52 | Cats and dogs can hear a wider range of sound frequencies. That does not necessarily mean that they will experience noice to be any louder then what we experience it to be. Also, dogs tend to not give a f*ck. | 53 |
ELI5: Why isn’t Braille just raised letters? Wouldn’t it make more sense if it was? | 73 | Not for reading it quickly. It's designed so that each letter is distinctive by touch - Braille readers don't have to feel each letter individually, they can just run their fingers over a row and read it all at once.
Another thing is, for someone who's born blind, they might never have learned what "normal" letters lo... | 107 | |
What is dialectics? | Ive had trouble pinpointing a definition for Dialectics, from what I grasp (which could be totally off base) is that it deals with how things change and half an effect om each other. But im still unsure of what it is.
Is it a mode of thinking? Is it an analytical method? Is it a form of logic? Is it a form of argument... | 65 | The word "dialectic" comes from the Ancient Greek *dialektikos*. Originally, a dialectic was a conversation between two people. In Plato's dialogues, one person (usually Socrates) would question another person. The answerer would try to provide a definition of some concept (eg, justice, piety, knowledge, moderation, et... | 17 |
At what point can a mass of cells be considered a living being? | Some time ago I was talking to my brother about abortion, and one thing he said is: at what point can we consider a mass of cells a human and living being? Is there an exact point at an exact time where some cells become a living thing? How can we decide whether or not abortion is moral? Is a living being _living_ if i... | 100 | Single cell organisms are a thing. A better question might be: When are these cells considered protected life?
When does consciousness actually occur is another great question. What is consciousness, exactly? Is it a will? Or a lens? Or a complex illusion that looks like one of the aforementioned? Does a sphex have co... | 122 |
Hypercharismatic people | Has there been any research/writing done on "hypercharismatic" people? The likes of Adolf Hitler and Charles Manson who seemingly had a special kind of charismatic ability to possess and manipulate people, to lead a personality cult even in their personal lives and hence without propaganda tools -- is this a very rare ... | 81 | You can't really go wrong starting with Max Weber's *On Charisma and Institution Building* for a sociological perspective on the phenomenon, especially his observation that the 'charisma' of an individual derives from the symbolic needs of a society (or social (sub)grouping thereof), especially when it is threatened. F... | 35 |
ELI5: The Watergate Scandal to a Non-American. | 33 | President of the United States found out that people working for his re-election, including highly placed members of the White House Staff, were involved in a break-in of the opposition political HQ. After learning about this break-in, the President authorized an attempt to cover it up.
Wider issues: President abuse... | 29 | |
Are all ants in a colony genetically same? | Since all the ants in a colony come from eggs laid by the queen ant, are all of the ants genetically similar? Also who fertilises the queen ant? | 34 | Similar, but not the same. Precisely how similar depends on a whole bunch of details.
If an ant colony has only one queen, the workers are all sisters. During her youth, before the queen founded the nest, she mated with one or more males. (The ant mating season is when you see winged ants flying around; those are male... | 34 |
ELI5: Since the ISS is moving so fast, does NASA need to account for doppler shift in the radio signal? How do they account for this considering the ISS uses FM? | 18 | NASA (and all communications with fast moving satellites) use Dynamic Doppler Compensation, where the frequency of the broadcasts are adjusted progressively through the broadcast to ensure that the receiver maintains a solid signal on the correct frequency. | 11 | |
Are we prepared to handle a direct hit from a CME? | Are there procedures in place for when the Earth is hit by a coronal mass ejection? What are they? What would be the short term effects? Long term? This is coming from a guy who just learned what a CME is an hour ago. | 31 | A CME occurs when an explosion on the Sun sends a ball of plasma (and magnetic field) off the surface of the Sun in some direction. If the CME is aimed at Earth it could cause problems when it collides with the Earth's magnetic field, sending showers of high-energy particles through the Earth's atmosphere.
The effect ... | 17 |
How can the universe have a shape? This is mind-boggling to me... | I cannot understand the concept of [the universe having a shape](http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_shape.html)
If something has a shape than that something "borders" something else. Please read the link above (it's from NASA's official website). It considers three possibilities:
1) The universe is spherical
2) Th... | 63 | Actually, the terminology is somewhat confusing, but they are not talking about the shape of space but its global curvature. The universe could have a global curvature that is like that of a flat sheet of paper, i.e. zero, but it doesn't have to be a flat sheet of paper.
Also, the universe could actually have a shape ... | 28 |
Could the force count as a type of magic? | 18 | Depending on how you classify magic, then yes. Most of the aspects that we would normally associate with magic are there. Individuals pulling power seemingly out of thin air, techniques which require access to hidden knowledge and arcane writings (i.e. Sith holocrons,) and obfuscation to the point of where force users ... | 12 | |
ELI5 If cold is the absence of heat, how does our bodies perceive cold? | 24 | Our body feels cold as the rate at which you lose heat.
That's why materials with high thermal conductivity (like metal) will feel colder than stuff like wood, even if they're at the same temperature. | 63 | |
ELI5: How did we figure out how cold absolute zero is? | From what I understand, it can’t be reached - so how do we know exactly how cold it is?
EDIT: people seem to be misunderstanding, I am NOT asking how cold it is. A quick google search reveals it is about -273.15 C, what I am asking is how we know this for a fact, given it is not reachable. | 23 | Plot the volume of a gas (constant mass) against it's temperature. As you decrease the temperature the volume will start approaching zero. The temperature where you would expect an ideal gas to have zero volume is very close to -273C.
​
And of course, the more complicated the gas, the more it will deviat... | 21 |
CMV: I don't think the universe has to have a beginning or an end | It's hard to understand the concept of infinity since all that we know has had a beginning and likely will have an end. I understand the pursuit to know what started it all, but why does there have to be a beginning to everything. What if everything always has existed? I guess I'm conflicted. I know that scientific evi... | 46 | > why does there have to be a beginning to everything
The Big Bang is the problem. We've got this thing that happened billions of years ago with no explanation to what caused it. All we know is that the universe was some point mass and suddenly decided it wanted to be bigger.
So this begs the question, what wa... | 16 |
ELI5: Why do muscles stiffen and lose flexibility? And why does stretching sometimes feel good and sometimes hurt? | 56 | Lots and lots of reasons. But ELI5. Muscles get stiff because they get used to being short and all the fibres get tighter and closer together. It can also be because of literal knots in the muscle. Imagine you cut a piece of string in half, to make it whole you have to tie a knot in it. The string is shorter but i... | 33 | |
[Disney: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs] Who spread the rumors of Snow White's demise and burial? | Near the end of the movie, the storybook framing device says that Prince Charming heard rumors of the beautiful princess in a glass coffin in the forest. He searches, and this is how he finds and wakes Snow White.
But...the Wicked Queen was dead, the animals don't talk, the Huntsman only knew that she had fled to th... | 16 | People who were for whatever reason walking through the forest- travelers, woodcutters, hunters, etc- who stumbled onto it.
Indeed, that's why it was rumors. The people who knew enough to give detailed information weren't talking, so everything was coming from "Hey, steve said he saw a dead lady in a glass coffin in t... | 16 |
ELI5: Why does wrapping a plastic bag around your credit card help it scan? | Sometimes when my credit card begins to go bad the cashier will wrap a plastic bag around it and magically it will begin scanning properly. Why does this help? | 19 | Well its not magic, all it does is create an air space between the magnetic strip and the reader. There's an air gap (actually just inert plastic) coated over the magnetic strip in credit cards. With extended use that plastic coating wears away and the strip gets closer to the card reader. Im not 100% on the reason tha... | 12 |
Is O(1) really constant? Or just theoretically? | Take a database operation where you are looking something up by an index. The lookup is O(1). But doesn't the computer technically have to scan for that index key...which would, practically, take a variable amount of time? What if the entire index grows? Doesn't that make that variable time to find the key longer o... | 23 | An example of a real O(1) operation with no assumptions. Given an an integer N, is N even?
You only need to check 1 bit.
This however does assume that our model of computation is a random access model.
Lots of O(1) operations rely on assuming constant time math operations on arbitrary numbers which is clearly fal... | 39 |
Was Nietzsche A Liberal On Criminal Justice? | I mean, take passages like this:
>66.
PUNISHABLE, BUT NEVER PUNISHED.—Our crime against criminals lies in the fact that we treat them like rascals.
>70.
EXECUTION.—How is it that every execution offends us more than does a murder ? It is the coldness of the judges, the painful preparations, the conviction that... | 22 | There's not much to account for, really. This seems to follow from Nietzsche's general skepticism about moral responsibility and free will. Nietzsche argues that it is impossible to be responsible for yourself in any ultimate way, so it seems natural that he would object to the ways in which the justice system preten... | 16 |
Would rubbing 2 ice cubes together in a sub-zero temperature environment cause enough friction to melt the ice cubes? | I realize that the ice cubes would be less likely to melt the colder the environment became, so as a setting: rubbing the ice cubes together with your hands in -5°C (but other scenarios and all that are welcome!). A question that came to mind since winter and icy conditions have set in (at least where I am...) :(.
I w... | 82 | Ice cubes melt because they absorb enough energy to break the inter molecular forces that make them solid. Cold environments make water freeze because heat flows from higher energy areas (warmer, the water) to lower energy areas (colder, the environment) in an attempt to become equal (2nd law of thermodynamics). Rubb... | 12 |
Just how specific should my research interests be by the time I apply to grad school? | I've been working in labs with the goal of going to grad school since my freshmen year and since then I have also worked on several independent research projects in psychology. I am applying to social psych programs in the fall and I am just a little concerned that my interests are a little too broad. I have narrowed d... | 17 | It's good to have a fairly specific idea of what you'd like to do, and even to be able to propose studies you might consider working on, but it's not necessary and in fact it can hurt you in the long run to be too inflexible about that. The reason is that your research will not be solely dictated by your own interests,... | 12 |
[Harry Potter] Why is there no Scottish students in Hogwarts when the school is located in Scotland? | I was looking up the locations of the various magical schools in Harry Potter and I realized that Hogwarts is apparently in Scotland, not England like I had thought. I was thinking about it and realized that I couldn't remember a single student with an Scottish accent in the movies, so I looked it up and found out tha... | 640 | There are Scottish students but the series never made a point of pointing them out unless they had a major focus. For example, Oliver Wood is Scottish and is either a Half- or Pureblood, Cho Chang is Scottish as well...
The McGonagall family are also strongly Scottish, they hail from Caithness. The Quintin family are ... | 394 |
What's up with the Normal/Gaussian Distibution? What properties does it have that make it special? Does does one arrive at its probability density function? | 83 | The fundamental reason the normal distribution is so important lies in the *central limit theorem*. Suppose we have many random variables X*_1_*, X*_2_*, ..., X*_n_* that are independent and all drawn from the same distribution. For instance, we could be measuring the heights of a certain population and X*_j_* is the h... | 44 | |
ELI5: why do human teeth grow so differently and badly? Why are braces almost mandatory for so many? | 20 | They're not really mandatory or even almost mandatory. Braces are primarily a cosmetic preference that the U.S. engages in *far* more than just about any other country. Most people could easily live just fine with crooked teeth. Barring severe cases of malocclusion or impacted teeth, crookedness only really makes floss... | 30 | |
CMV: I am an American, and I support Russia's annexation of Crimea. | Hi all,
Disclaimer: I am an American, politically active, work in and around politics, center to left-wing, and not a paid Russian shill or any other absurdity. I actually find it quite sad that I have to put this disclaimer here.
I just know this is going to be massively controversial, but it seemed relatively topic... | 22 | >Russia, for its part, acted as a legitimate peacekeeper in ensuring Crimea was not forcibly reunited with Ukraine by the military, and then accepted Crimea's request for annexation.
Russia cannot act act true peacekeapers. True peacekeepers are neutral third parties whose presence is to insure that elections are h... | 26 |
[Star trek II: The Wrath of Khan] how does the Mutara Nebula disrupt the view screens on both the Reliant and the Enterprise? | The Mutara Nebulas effects the shields and sensors of both the Enterprise and Reliant. But why is the view screen disrupted? Isn't it just getting a live feed from an external camera on the ships hull? Why would a simple visual feed be disrupted? | 19 | They're not just external cameras, they can zoom well beyond anything visual from a camera.
The nebula contains high levels of static discharge and is comprised largely of ionized gases. It's basically interfering with the what can be detected - the sensors are receiving an overflow of electronic data, and can't proc... | 12 |
[Avatar: The Last Airbender] How does each nation identify the Avatar? | We know that Air Nomads use the toys of old Avatars, and from Rise of Kyoshi we know that the Earth Kingdom uses a geomancy technique where they narrow the earth kingdom down by a half each time.
What are your best guesses for the Water Tribe and Fire Nation techniques? | 716 | In the Rise of Kyoshi it explains the Fire Nation method, sort of. All children are tested for bending ability near birth. To avoid firebender children from surprising their parents and burning houses down. Some how they are able to detect the Avatar amongst them. The Fire Sages then notify the Avatar on their 16th Bir... | 470 |
If gravity propagates at the speed of light, how does this work on a galactic scale? Since the distances are so vast between galaxies wouldn't the "gravity lag" be quite noticeable? | 19 | You wouldn't be able to tell *because* they travel at the same speed. If something happened in another galaxy to cause a change in its gravitational effect on us, the light and gravity from the event would get here at the same time, so you wouldn't know about it either way until both sets of information got here. | 10 | |
ELI5: If you have a small leak from a container full of sand (could be a few tons even) you can shut it by spraying a bit of water on the hole,how does this work? why is the huge mass of sand doesn't push out the wet sand on the hole? | 48 | So first thing to mention is that sand isn't a liquid, it's a particulate solid. If it were water in that container, and you tried to plug it with sand, then it would absolutely be forced out. That's because water is far more fluid than sand.
Sand will naturally compress down to form what almost resembles a solid, eve... | 35 | |
CMV: We should have a land value tax which would replace as much of other forms of taxation as possible | Today, most developed countries derive a majority of their revenue from the income tax (and payroll tax) which is a tax on labor. There's also sales tax and VAT which tax consumption, capital gains tax which taxes interest (gains from capital), and the wealth and estate taxes which tax idle wealth.
I tend to be a c... | 38 | There's a homeowner tax, and its derived from the area and location your property is located in.
But there's a huge flaw if the tax is derived from the land value.
If you buy a property, invest in it, and the property value rises significantly. You may end up having to sell it because you cant afford to pay that much.... | 13 |
ELI5: Why does the bullet go where the sight of the gun is even tho the barrel is lower than the sight? | I don’t understand how on a rifle or any gun the sight of the gun is often above the barrel yet the bullet goes where the sight is.
Does the bullet always go where the sight is or is there always going to be some inaccuracy? | 24 | You set the sights up so they “zero” at a certain distance.
The barrel will be angled very slightly up compared to the sights. Imagine you draw a line straight down the sights and another straight down the barrel - they’ll intersect at some distance away. You set up the sights so the bullet lands on the bullseye at a ... | 61 |
ELI5:Is there a limit on how many different metals can be mixed into an alloy, and what would the results of alloying many different metals together be? | 53 | Well there’s a hard limit on the periodic table - there’s only so many different metallic elements.
More practically, you’ll want some chemical/structural synergy between the elements you’re alloying to produce a final product that has superior properties than the components.
This means you’re looking specifically fo... | 87 | |
[Star Wars] R2D2: Why doesn't he fly from ANH onward (would have been useful in RotJ instead of falling head-first into the sand), and why doesn't he remember Yoda in ESB? | 22 | The blaster shot from Vader's TIE fighter fried most of his relevant memories and third party software. The post battle of Yavin R2 was basically the old droid's personality grafted onto a new brain. | 28 | |
Can our brain know what time it is while we're asleep? | Is our biological clock aware of the solar clock? | 62 | Yes! Each cell has a set of specific genes which are transcribed and/or translated rhythmically. For most people, each cycle takes about ~24.3 hours. This coincides with day length and is known as your body's circadian period. As it's slightly longer than 24 hours your body needs to keep re-adjusting to changing day le... | 10 |
ELI5: how does a blender, with fixed blades, perform different types of mixing by just varying the blade speed? | The only difference between frappe, mix, etc is just how fast the blades spin? Is there any other physics going on here? | 21 | As well as the speed of the blades, the machine can also pulse - a quick burst of high speed, followed by a pause to allow the mix to rest and to settle. This requires a small computer to run it, but micros are cheap these days - much cheaper than the triac required to change the motor speed.
More expensive blenders h... | 24 |
CMV: Jar Jar Binks is a good character for the Star Wars series and the hate he get from the fandom is unfair. | Jar Jar blinks is one of my favorite characters from the star wars series as a whole. He is a clumsy Gungan from Naboo who has spent his entire life living at the bottom a a lake. A lot of the explanations I have seen revolve around the fact the he is incompetent, silly, and just gets in the way of the main characters.... | 40 | Assuming this isn't just a bad attempt at an April Fools' joke:
You're conflating diegetic (i.e., "in-story") details with the writing of the character itself. It doesn't matter that he becomes a senator (which you admit is not a very believable turn), nor does it matter that he is a good person. He is a badly writt... | 53 |
ELI5: Why do people who have college loans seem shocked by or unable to pay their loan amounts? | I understand that the cost of a college education these days is egregious, the textbook racket should be brought under control, and that sometimes people's circumstances in life change. That notwithstanding, it seems like students who have their loans coming due are asking in various forums how they can pay for it, get... | 41 | Because people have been told their entire life "Go get your degree and you'll be guaranteed a good job" or "If you don't get a degree, you'll never get a good job." Many students are exiting from university to find, even with their degree, they can't find a job. Many accept jobs paying minimum wage and part time, jobs... | 46 |
ELI5: If the northern white rhinoceros is on the verge of extinction (~5 still alive), why isn't in vitro fertilization used to facilitate breeding? Could the southern white rhinocerous be used as a host? Are the two subspecies compatible enough for this plan to work? | 22 | Because the population is so low that inbreeding would be a problem almost instantly, secondly large mammals normally don't breed more than a few times in their lives. The ability for the species to recover is pretty much lost at this point. | 13 | |
[Star wars] What would have happened if Darth Maul had died in the original encounter in the dessert? | 51 | The largest change would be Qui-Gon staying around around to train Anakin.
A more relaxed morally grey Jedi may have been able to temper Anakin's frustration with the Jedi Council. Hearing less " you must trust in the councils wisdom!" and more "well, that's just like their opinion man" may have kept him off the deep ... | 102 | |
[Star Trek] How is Starfleet able to regulate dress/grooming for officers without being discriminatory? | Starfleet generally can be perceived to have fairly open minded and receptive standards, culturally sensitive to differences. However I’m not sure how they can enforce any standards at all. Starfleet dress/grooming standards in my opinion would have to be soft guidelines rather than hard rules in the interest of mainta... | 86 | - Grooming requirements: barring cultural/religious exemption, all hair (facial or otherwise) must be neatly groomed and caref for.
- Uniform requirements: Specific uniform requirements are dictated by your ship or station's command; refer to your command regulations for specific uniform requirements. Uniforms are to ... | 99 |
Honest thought when analyzing fed funds rate cycles: Why doesn’t the Fed just become an algorithm and they fuck off?? | 17 | This isn't as flippant as you think. Central banks have been debating discretionary vs rules-based monetary policy since the 70s. There are many problems with rules based policy such as credibility and stabilisation bias, but most Central Banks today can be located somewhere on the spectrum of how rules-based their pol... | 14 | |
Why don't I get an infection when I shit so hard that I bleed? Serious question. | 57 | Your body has natural protection against bacteria called White Blood Cells, these help protect your body from harmful buildup of bacteria in the body. The veins and arteries in your rectum are small, not like the large ones in your gut or in your legs/arms. This means it is not an open freeway so much as a dirt road th... | 53 | |
How do deer survive the winter in New England? | 38 | When it's really cold they will herd up in areas with thick undergrowth, especially evergreens with low branches which shelter as a tent might. They also move to areas with better foraging opportunities or less snow. | 11 | |
ELI5: Why do we still use X-Rays when ultrasound machines exist? | My wife is pregnant, so I've been seeing a lot of ultrasounds lately. These things are amazing; I know what my daughter looks like before she's born. I also know what her kidneys look like, which is weird.
X-rays are relatively safe in small doses, but why bother with even a small risk if we can use an ultrasound mach... | 68 | Yes. X-rays provide higher resolution than ultrasound can. And X-rays are better at imaging things like bones, which ultrasound has trouble penetrating.
Both types of imaging are valuable. There are other imaging tools (MRI etc.) that can do other things that X-ray and ultrasound can't. Doctors try to use the... | 53 |
[The Santa Clause] Why didn't Santa give Laura and Neil the specific gifts that they wanted when they were little? | Laura wanted a Mystery Date game, and Neil wanted an Oscar Meyer Weenie Whistle. Laura said that she at least got many other gifts, so it's safe to say she was nice, but they didn't get what they wanted the most. So...why not? | 15 | Maybe that Santa wasn’t as great. In The Santa Clause 2, the Elf Bernard says that Scott is the best Santa they’ve ever had and productivity and satisfaction had never been higher.
It stands to reason that not all Santas were good at the job and seeing how there are so many ways to lose the Santa gig (fall off a roof... | 15 |
[LOTR] What would the Valar do if someone brought the One Ring to Valinor? | Elrond says "And they who dwell beyond the Sea would not receive it" at the Council of Elrond. Would the Valar prevent the boat from docking, violently if necessary? Will one of the Valar drop it off back in Middle Earth? | 31 | It would never make to to Valinor in the first place, the way there would be barred to anyone attempting the voyage.
>For Ilúvatar cast back the Great Seas west of Middle-earth, and the Empty Lands east of it, and new lands and new seas were made; and the world was diminished, for Valinor and Eressëa were taken fro... | 37 |
ELI5 why people in older pictures/movies (black and white) look "different" than modern day people? | As in: Why can't picture what they would look like in real life, whereas if if you showed me a 5 year old picture made black and white in photoshop I could definitely do that. I don't know if anyone else can relate or if this makes sense, but I hope so! | 17 | **15 year old version:**
Oldschool photos are in that style as it maximises the technology they had at the time. Technology advanced, the style of posed photography changed, and we got really good at capturing more detail and greater light intensity. Digital cameras do not resemble old-school film cameras in the slight... | 15 |
[Star Wars:TPM] What is the cannon reason for the Trade Federation blockade of Naboo? |
Why is the trade federation blockading the Naboo planet?
2.What is the Trade Federation gaining for helping the Sith Lords blockade Naboo?
3.Why dose the Trade Federation have such a large army?
| 54 | Space taxes on space trade routes. The Trade Federation handled the movement of goods all across the Republic so those taxes would cut into their bottom line. The Trade Federation has a large army to protect their ships and planetary interests. | 47 |
Is the "observable universe" limited by our current telescopic technology, or can we see that far and there's nothing behind it? | 27 | When we look farther away, we're looking farther back in time. If we look far enough, we're looking at a time when the universe was much hotter and denser. Beyond a certain point, the universe was so hot and dense that it was full of ionized plasma, and light couldn't propagate. The plasma cooled and formed hyrogen abo... | 36 | |
CMV: Edward Rooney was not in the wrong and should not be viewed as the antagonist in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". | For those who are unaware/too young to know who I'm talking about, *Ferris Bueller's Day Off* follows high school senior Ferris Bueller, who decides to skip school and spend the day in downtown Chicago. Accompanied by his girlfriend Sloane and his best friend Cameron, he creatively avoids his school's Dean of Students ... | 19 | School is not prison, and students are not prisoners. One small portion of the job of a Dean of Students is indeed to promote attendance. But if a Dean is to act in the students' interests rather than as their jailer, he must promote attendance by making school desirable rather than by punishing students for choosing... | 33 |
ELI5: Where does wind come from? | 18 | pressure differences caused by temperature differences.
the best eli5 answer would be to just open your freezer about 4 inches and put your hand over the gap. You will feel the cold air come out of the freezer pretty quickly because the difference in room temperature and the freezer temperature cause the air to 'even... | 21 | |
ELI5: Could someone tell me why inflation happens? I've been told inflation happens when oil prices go up. Oil has gone down recently, no? Why don't the prices of goods go down if oil goes down? | 103 | Inflation is related to the amount of currency in circulation. The more money that is in circulation, the less value an individual unit (1 dollar, etc) of that money has. The effect is that prices go up. What once cost you $10 might now cost you $12 because the value of your money has gone down.
It has absolutely noth... | 57 | |
ELI5: why do soap operas all have the same ‘look’ to them? | You can tell something is a soap opera by just looking at a scene. What causes this? | 23 | The nature of their rapid and cheap production forces them to have a very homogenous style.
The game of soap operas is to produce as much content as possible as what you are really doing is making the bare minimum that justifies the ad-breaks (hence being called soap operas, because their early radio-play form were do... | 55 |
ELI5: If Blood Plasma is 95% water, why is it so precious? | I donate blood plasma bi-monthly. and one of the things that has bugged me is the high water content. around 19/20's of it is just plain water.
It seems like it that would leave a relatively minor part of it to synthesize.. so why is blood plasma so precious that encouraging people to sign up for having needles stuck... | 226 | The minority component of plasma that is so precious is the variety of proteins in it. Proteins are very long, complex molecules that your body makes to take care of all sorts of things, including carrying different types of nutrients, mediating cell reproduction, and making other molecules your body needs. Proteins ... | 172 |
[Looney Tunes] What happened to Lola Bunny that changed her personality so drastically before the events of the 2011 "The Looney Tunes Show" TV show? | 27 | Much like the Muppets, the Looney Tunes are a company of actors whose main roles are usually more-or-less based on themselves. Lola was playing a different character in Space Jam than she was in TLTS. | 24 | |
ELI5: What power does the UK have over its overseas territories that are being used as tax havens (British Virgin Islands, Bermuda)? | 225 | Ordinarily, the overseas territories are self-governing and the UK government is only responsible for their defence and international relations. However, the UK does have sovereignty over the overseas territories and could overrule the local government or remove it entirely and impose direct rule. They did this in the... | 65 | |
Could the "big bang" have been a result of the universe being ejected from a black hole? | Sorry if that's a common theory/explanation. I just thought of it and, rather than Google it, I figured I'd ask on here because the discussion it provokes inevitably leads to me learning something I probably wouldn't elsewhere.
I feel like this theory would also explain the universe eventually collapsing back in on it... | 25 | The big bang's cause, if such a description can ever be deduced, is unknown. While the idea "the universe came from a black hole's formation" sounds poetic, as it stands, it is just vague speculation.
>the universe eventually collapsing back in on itself and going through cycles
Unfortunately the universe has ... | 12 |
ELI5:Why do some people vomit when they see a corpse and/or witness a homicide? | Is it simply because it's gross? Sorry in advance if this is a stupid question. | 163 | We essentially vomit at the sight of gory or bloody death as a defense mechanism. In the face of corpses or death, we are often at risk ourselves, and therefore vomit to remove possible biohazards from our system that may have been spread by the dead, as blood and gore are often good at transmitting biohazards. It also... | 83 |
ELI5 Why do factories require such high chimneys? | 730 | Factory chimneys are tall so that the pollution they generate can rise higher in the atmosphere and, more importantly, various volatile compounds can have adequate space to break down.
If the chimney was shorter, the exhaust from the factory would spread faster over a smaller area around the factory itself and "smoke... | 730 | |
[Star Wars] Do all non-sentient animals have the ability to use the Force? | We’ve seen plenty of sentient species using the Force, but are there any animals capable of using it too? Is it just specific species or can any type of animal use it, like a Bantha? | 29 | Animals which can use the Force:
Loth-wolves
Purrgil
Convorees have a connection to the Force, but no reports of them actually using it.
Ysalamiri are canon, their force-use is still only Legend, has yet to be shown
Vornskr in Legends | 29 |
I don't think "slut shaming" is a big deal or is worth putting much effort into stopping. CMV | I think people should be able to sleep with who ever they want as long as both partners are of age and consent to said sexual activity. However, if you choose to participate in these activity you need to be an adult about it and accept whatever consequence comes with it.
Continuing in that vein, the recent movement ab... | 42 | Using your logic it seems like "slut shaming" could be substituted for anything that people get bullied for.
Why do you believe that harassing other common bully targets (homosexuals, transgender, obese, etc.) is unacceptable while harassing people with a larger than average number of sexual partners is OK?
Couldn'... | 43 |
CMV: Rappers Shouldn’t Be Obsessed With Diamonds Considering Where Most Diamonds Come From | First, I’d like to say I am a huge rap fan so I’m not coming at this idea as an outsider. I like flashy chains and designer clothes as well and I don’t think that materialism is the issue here, just the fact that most diamonds are mined by enslaved Africans.
However, I think it’s interesting how rappers seem to be ob... | 3,055 | You're assuming a lot here. One, not everyone truly knows or understands the diamond industry or its atrocities. And two, African doesn't equal African American. In fact, there's a history of contention between the two groups as they don't necessarily see themselves as the same thing. Sure, they may look similar to n... | 1,139 |
ELI5: Why does audio feedback always sound like a high squealing noice? | As far as I know audio feedback is when the input of your microphone gets amplified and caught up again by the mic, causing a loop of amplifying the input. How come that whatever this imput is, it always almost immediately becomes a high squeeling noice and not just an amplified voice or something? | 62 | There are 2 things happening here. In a feedback loop, the microphone is picking up some of the amplified sound (because it "hears" it from the speaker) and sends it back around. This is why it gets very loud, very fast. The high-pitched squeal happens for a different reason. If the microphone and the speaker are... | 20 |
[Sleeping Beauty] If Maleficent HAD been invited to the christening, would she have just attended as a proper guest and not caused any trouble? | 46 | Generally, being unpredictable is kinda a main feature of the fey. Usually, not associating with them at all is the safest course of action - if that's not possible, then treating them with the utmost politeness while still being permanently on your guard is the next best option.
If Maleficent had been invited, she pr... | 66 | |
Is there a connection between the age of newborns mother and the life expectancy of the baby? | For example will a baby born to a mother who is 20 have a longer life expectancy of a baby born to a mother who is 50 or vice versa? | 34 | I looked into this about 3 years ago, and could find no scientific study on the topic in humans. In some species of birds, there is an inverse u shaped longevity curve, where offspring of young mothers die early due to inexperience and offspring of very old mothers die early due to a physically less capable provider. | 19 |
[Avengers Infinity Wars]Did Dr. Strange know this all along? | Throughout the film, there were multiple events that could have prevented the snap like: like Star Lord not losing his mind, Thor going for the head, Wanda destroying the mind stone before Thanos gets the Time stone; yet Doctor Strange didn't prevent any of it. What if Doctor Strange thought Thanos's plan made sense af... | 42 | Strange had no way of telling Thor to go for the head. He also had no way of telling Wanda to destroy the Mind Stone faster. If he had delayed Thanos getting the Time Stone Thanos would have probably killed Iron Man. Then Thanos can just go to Earth and reverse the Mind Stone’s destruction.
Not to mention Strange had ... | 33 |
[DC] Why is Martian Manhunter called like that? Did he hunted humans at some point? | 173 | Manhunter was his occupation and title in martian society. There's no direct translation to human languages, so Manhunter is the closest we got. But he was basically a mix of police officer, detective, judge and soldier. The manhunters would travel around the planet capturing criminals, solving crimes, judging disputes... | 266 | |
ELI5: Why is it that most of the time when an organ hurts, the pain isn’t where the organ is located? | For instance a lot of people say they have pains in their shoulder and it turns out to be a liver issue, or sometimes kidney pains are closer to the bladder. | 19 | This is called "referential pain" and it's a result of the way our nervous system is wired throughout our bodies. We don't always have direct pain receptors on all of our organs and the electrical pathways that our nervous system utilizes are quite complex. If you've ever done any electrical work on a car or house, you... | 14 |
[LOTR] How does the plumbing work in an underground Dwarven Kingdom? | Following on from thinkaboutfun's relatively sensible question regarding smells:
Regards the renouned underground caverns in which Dwarves live, it seems that they'd be skilled at creating vehtinilation, but not everything can be carried away on the wind.
Where does Dwarven excrement go?
Is there just a massive c... | 30 | Have you ever noticed that, whenever dwarves "delve too deep", the creatures that emerge from the black caverns beneath the world are always in a seriously grumpy mood?
Yeah, this is pretty much why. | 48 |
ELI5: How does touching the glass of a headlight bulb make it burn out faster? | 662 | You leave oils behind on the surface of the bulb, which causes the surface of the bulb to heat unevenly as those oils/contaminants are heated up.
Certain bulb types, like halogens, output enormous amounts of heat while they're operating. At these high temperatures, that uneven heating can compromise the structure of ... | 644 | |
eli5: Why would someone be unaware they’re on top of a large mountain when at the summit of Olympus Mons? | “Similarly, an observer near the summit would be unaware of standing on a very high mountain, as the slope of the volcano would extend far beyond the horizon” | 20 | Because the slope of Olympus mons is so shallow it wouldn't look like you're standing on a mountain. You can only see you're on a mountain or hill by seeing how high you are above the valleys. On Olympus mons you literally can't see any Valleys, so there's nothing you can gauge your height by | 49 |
The fovea is so small compared to the size of the visual field, so why does the world not appear to be of terribly low fidelity? | By fidelity I mean blurred and generally degraded. | 80 | To add to what /u/monory said, you don't *experience* the world in low resolution because of generally speaking if you are actually paying attention to an object or landscape - in other words actively trying to process, understand and commit it to memory - you will point your fovea at it.
Additionally, ALL of your se... | 22 |
[Classic Doctor Who] was the TARDIS ever depicted as actually flying the way it sometimes is in modern Doctor Who? | I'm well-versed in the modern episodes, but have only seen a handful of the classics. In the current series the TARDIS is always described as disappearing one place and appearing somewhere else instantaneously, but we randomly have images of it actually flying in spacing or flying through the time vortex. Was it ever... | 76 | A few factors in play.
Timeframe perspective - When the TARDIS appears to vanish or appear from nowhere it's actually the TARDIS translating to/from the Time vortex. The view you see is locked to your (the camera's) timeframe, which the TARDIS is entering or leaving.
Being 'part of events' - When we see the TARDIS '... | 31 |
[Wheel of Time] What did Elayne Trakand see during her Accepted test? | All she says about it is "I could not be that awful, Egwene. I just couldn't!" Any guesses as to what Elayne saw during her [Accepted test](https://library.tarvalon.net/index.php?title=Accepted_Test)? | 39 | The three tests loosely follow the pattern of past, present and future.
The first test would show Elayne's commitment to the White Tower measured against her history. Gawyn and Morgase would be in danger, perhaps with Caemlyn under siege from the False Dragon Logain. Elayne must leave them to their unknown fate to pro... | 26 |
ELI5: What makes a tire rotation necessary? Do they switch sides when rotated? | 23 | front and rear tires wear differently because different loads are placed on them. front wheel drive cars wear the front tires quicker. rear wheel drive cars wear the rear tires quicker.
left and right tires wear differently because you turn right alot more aggressively than you turn left. and if you're driving ... | 20 | |
ELI5: Where does my bellybutton go? | ELI5:I know that it was my source of nourishment in the womb but now that I’ve been out of there for a few decades, where does it go? Is it still connected to something inside my abdomen or have the muscles )and I use that word loosely) separated it from my “insides”? | 317 | Medical student here
Your belly button is the artifact left behind of your umbilical cord. Once you are birthed, they snip the cord a few inches off the base. After a few days it drys up and falls off because no nutrients are being received.
The inside part of the cord is connected to the bladder, the gut, and the m... | 334 |
Is it ethical for me to abandon vegetarianism? | Recently, a study came out suggesting microdeficiencies of things like omega-3 (found exclusively in fish) and Vitamin B12 (found in red meat) are tied to mental health issues, specifically depression. The chance of a false positive was calculated at less than .1%, so it would seem these things are definitely tied.
... | 24 | You might want to ask your doctor, mental health professional or even a dietitian before you worry about ethical issues; there are alternate sources for most vitamins so you may be able to get away with a diet adjustment if that's the cause of your depression.
Something else to consider: can you use supplements to make... | 34 |
[General] What exactly does "Selling Your Soul" to a particular deity entale? | so I sold me soul to a deity. What does this mean? Do I have to do everything they say? Do I go to their domain when I die? Bonus question: what can one usually get in return from selling their soul? | 69 | For good, firm detail on the contractual ins & outs of the negotiation process, read Christopher Marlowe's play *Doctor Faustus* or, if you've got the intellectual stamina for it, Goethe's novel *Faust*.
Preferably while listening to the incredible krautrock band Faust. | 31 |
[The Simpsons] How much does Homer make? | He supports a 3 kid family as the sole earner, has a huge house in a nice neighborhood, two cars, 2 pets, drinks all he wants, eats what ever he wants including enough hot dogs to put two+ kids through college, etc, etc | 566 | He self-describes as being "Upper lower middle class" meaning on the upper end of lower middle class.
According to Homer's paycheck in *Much Apu About Nothing*, Homer makes $479.60 before taxes each week. Discounting bonuses, and assuming he's paid every week, he makes $24,939.20 annually. However, that's in 1996 dol... | 760 |
ELI5: How does Toxic Shock Syndrome happen and why does it occur so quickly? | 15 | To put it simply, some bacteria can produce toxins that result in toxic shock syndrome. Normally, you have these immune cells that take in a pathogen, break it down and present its pieces on the surface. Then another immune cell type called a T cell can come by and recognize the present antigen thereby getting activate... | 13 | |
[Blade Runner] Spoiler | I was born in 1981, and as long as I can remember Blade Runner was my dads movie, he loved it. As a kid , I just knew it was sci-fi and futuristic , but I had no clue how deep the movie was.
I just recently saw an old interview where Ridley Scott says , " yes Deckard is a Replicant"
How many others did not know th... | 19 |
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[WH40K] How common are regular troops using personal energy shields, power armor, power weapons, mechanical exoskeletons, and genetic modifications after the Imperial army was reformed into the Imperial guard? | It seems that during the great crusade and Horus heresy, there were many regiments using equipment far superior to what we commonly see guardsmen using now, like energy shields that can stop bolter rounds or exoskeletons that allow troops to carry heavy crew served weapons like assault rifles. Do these kind of regiment... | 29 | Most of the rare, high value equipment was rolled into the Storm Stroopers.
The Heresy wreaked havoc with the Imperiums production, and caused the Adeptus Mechanicus to become even more insular and protective of knowlege than it was before. This in turn caused high-tech equipment to become exceptionally rare.
This w... | 18 |
[DnD] Why do they have cemeteries in cities, when they inevitably attract necromancers? And why isn't cremation more popular to prevent this? | 111 | Here are a few reasons - communication, closeness, faith and resurrections and security of the grave.
First, not all necromancers are grave robbers seeking to raise up the undead. Necromancers can be an asset to a community. When someone dies, a necromancer gives family a last chance to say goodbye or say things the... | 89 | |
CMV: Helen of Troy should be referred to as Helen of Sparta | This is a pretty straight-forward one. Helen was born of the Spartan queen Tyndareus and the Zeus Swan. She is seduced by Paris of Troy and take to Troy. But that doesn't make her "of Troy." She is still "of Sparta."
The standard naming convention is to say where people are "from," not where they move. Leonardo da Vin... | 18 | Isabella of Portugal has that name because there were several famous women with that name but only one from Portugal. Leonardo da Vinci has that name because he's the only famous Leonardo from Vinci.
Helen of Troy is only famous because of Troy. She's a key part of the story of the fall of Troy. The fact that she's fr... | 16 |
Do the more extreme phases of matter like Bose-Einstein Condensate and Quark-Gluon Plasma still exist in nature? | Or are they only attainable under laboratory conditions currently? Or are there other, more exotic phases of matter that I'm unaware of that fit the bill? | 30 | Neutron and white dwarf stars are made of degenerate matter that could be described as a Fermi-Dirac rather than a Bose-Einstein condensate (although not the same as a fermionic condensate). Neutron star interiors are believed to be superfluid, which is a form of Bose-Einstein condensation. Also inside neutron stars it... | 13 |
[Star Trek] Why was Earth of all places chosen as the capitol of the federation? | 20 | Because humanity was no one'e enemy, is the short answer.
The long answer is that, when humanity began exploring the stars, the other founding members of the Federation (the Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites) had longstanding rivalries, occasionally breaking out into shooting wars. Humanity was allied with the Vulcan... | 49 | |
(Marvel) Who can She Hulk have sex with? | Strictly speaking, She Hulk roughly has the same strength as the Hulk in non enraged form. Who in the Marvel Universe would have the strength, or endurance to take her? | 42 | I mean technically she could have sex with anyone she wants to. How would you stop from taking what she wants...?
It shouldnt be that hard for a regular dude to have sex with her, its not like she is going to be fighting you. Weve seen her open doors just fine without ripping them off their hinges. As long as she isnt... | 73 |
[Asimov] Some questions about the 3 laws. | In "Lost Little Robot," one of the Susan Calvin stories, there's a situation where the 1st law has to be truncated to allow robots who work closely with humans in high-radiation environments to do let the humans do their jobs while taking an acceptable risk. We learn that the 1st law kept kicking in and that robots kep... | 18 | There are several factors in play here:
1. First and foremost is actual versus potential harm. The robots were protecting the humans from actual (albeit low levels) of harm. Gamma radiation physically and actively destroys your cells as you are exposed to it and the robots knew this. Compare this to risky behavior tha... | 18 |
eli5 What is the difference between a proverb, aphorism, epigram, and adage? | Math major here haha. Are they not the same thing? | 257 | A proverb is typically a memorable, commonplace piece of advice: "Never wake a sleeping bear."
An aphorism is more an observation: "A bear in spring is always hungry."
An epigram is made to be clever or funny: "Always respect mother nature. Especially when she weighs 400 pounds and is guarding her baby."
An adage is... | 760 |
[Dr. Who] What is the difference between a Time Lord and a time agent like Jack Harkness? I'm currently on season 4 episode 7, please keep things spoiler-free! | If it is explained more in-depth in later episodes just say so. | 15 | Time Lords are essentially Gallifreyans mutated by the Time Vortex. They are the ruling elite of Gallifrey. They police time based on their own authority.
Time Agents are government agents from the 49th-52nd century that police time. They're not immortal, they don't regenerate, they're just guys with time-travel wrist... | 30 |
ELI5: Why is the record on voyager plated in gold? | 33 | To add, the record is copper, plated in gold, and then plated in U-238. The reason to make it all metal is that vinyl couldn't possibly survive the harsh environment of space without quickly decaying, and the uranium, with a half-life of 4.468 *BILLION years*, is there so optimistically, a civilization who discovers th... | 31 | |
ELI5: why do people say today's education system is suited well for girls over boys? | Iv heard multiple times (no particular sources just general talk from online articles and in person) that today's educational system favors girls. What is the basis for this and is there truth behind it? I know that in my highschool there were more girls than guys on honor roll, and when I went to college there was a h... | 16 | Girls generally mature faster neurologically (the female brain is more or less developed by 19-21 while the male brain may be as late as late 20's), girls are generally also more compliant and follow orders better (whether that's due to biology or social conditioning or some of both is up for debate). Generally boys m... | 21 |
Why does strong coffee make me uncomfortably tired sometimes? | 66 | You are dehydrated. If you were properly hydrated caffeine would not make you sleepy. The more water you've drank before cup of coffee the better your body handles the restricted blood flow from shrunken blood vessels.
I'll be searching for references. This is the answer I've seen from a similar post. | 12 | |
ELI5: How are hills made? For example, how are there hills in central Texas if there is no seismic activity? | 28 | There is a fault line that runs along I35 between Dallas and San Antonio. If you stop at Wonder World you can tour the fault line and they do a good job showing the different topography on each side of the fault. So the answer is that the hills were formed due to seismic activity that formed the hills and Balcones Faul... | 12 |
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