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[Harry Potter/FBaWtFT] What makes a creature "magical"? | There are many entries in the *Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them* that seem like variations of known animals.
What makes a flobberworm, for example, any more "fantastic" than real world animals like [crinoids](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0kO6QNrdLA) or [nudibranchs](http://www.seaslugforum.net/images/m19205d.jpg)? | Generally magical creatures have some significant magical property or other that would radically alter Muggle knowledge of science in a way that might cause them to discover the existence of magic. Flobberworms exude an amount of thick mucus that is much greater than the amount of food they take in should allow for. | 25 | 21 |
ELI5: why the US debt limit exists if we keep raising it every year | They could pass a law to automatically have certain raises and such in the debt limit, tied to some measurement etc. Many economists think this would be a pretty reasonable method, perhaps not optimal overall, but a very reasonable and good one.
However, this is political unreasonable. Budget and debt bills are highly sensitive political issues, and no one is willing to give such enormous political capital away for free.
tl;dr: Its just politics | 24 | 20 |
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If you exercise when it's hot outside, you certainly feel more tired, but do you actually burn more calories? | The feeling of fatigue is more likely related to volume status and dehydration. However, you will burn more calories exercising in the heat because your overall cardiac output will be higher to prevent your body from overheating. Blood flow to the extremities is one major way to diffuse heat from the core. This is why pouring cold water or placing ice over superficial arteries (wrist, axilla, neck) can help you cool more rapidly. It's also why people can get flush when exercising, the body tries to vasodilate under the skin to shunt more blood to dump heat. Cold-weather exercise doesn't add a significant caloric expenditure because you generate excess heat with muscular activity anyway. | 11 | 15 |
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How do we know that far away galaxies aren't made from antimatter? | Scientists say that at the time of the big bang, in theory, equal amount of matter and antimatter should've been created, but now we have the universe of only matter. But how do we know that exactly? If antimatter has the same properties and behaviors similarly, how do we know that some Galaxy far away isn't made out of antimatter? | When matter and antimatter interact it produces gamma rays, very high energy radiation. If there were individual antimatter galaxies we would see a halo of gamma rays coming from them as dust from outside collides with them. If the universe were divided into a matter and antimatter at a larger scale we would see similar halos are larger structures. | 35 | 17 |
I believe that everyone is racist. CMV | I believe we all at least unwittingly make judgements based racial stereotypes. I believe this is caused by some inherent biological process that exists to improve our chances of survival.
| I think your perspective may be valid if you subscribe to a black or white interpretation of the concept of racism. If you look at "not racist" as the total absence of judgements based on race, then everyone except for babies are racist. If you judge it as the relative absence of racial judgements, then not everyone is racist.
To give an example, the concept of "cleanliness" is not defined as the total absence of filth, it is the relative absence of filth. When you say that your teeth are clean, that doesn't mean that they are totally absent of all debris, plaque, and bacteria, it just means that they are absent of excessive debris, plaque, and bacteria. So when you say that someone isn't racist, it doesn't necessarily mean that they don't make any judgements based on race, just as having clean teeth doesn't mean that there's no plaque on your teeth; it only means that they don't make excessive and irrational judgements about others based on race. | 20 | 16 |
If humans need connection to other humans to survive and thrive; why do so many humans hate being around other humans? | People need other people, but often, the particular people available aren't capable of meeting specific needs.
So we end up needing people, but not *those* people, and many eventually give up trying to find their people. | 73 | 92 |
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Visiting Scientist making up data (looking for advice) | Throwaway account because some people at my school know my other one.
I'm a PhD student in chemistry in my 3rd year at a large public flagship university in the USA, collecting data for later processing for a paper to be published (much) later. Some wild stuff has happened, and I'm looking for some advice on what you think I should do about this. Long story for all the context with a TL/DR at the end. Thanks!
Yesterday while checking over the instruments I noticed a loose bit of tubing, and after double checking the manual for the instrument I was sure that without this tube connected, the instrument would not be collecting any data. It would still run like normal, but no sample would be collected. I promptly reconnected this tube and asked my (other PhD student) coworkers about it. They all told me that they had also seen the loose tube and that one of our lab's visiting scientists had set it up and left the tube off, telling them not to mess with the instrument.
Now, this particular instrument has been running for the past month. That tube has not been connected the entire time, meaning this instrument has not collected any samples for the past month when there should have been 1-2 per day. This could be an honest mistake by the visiting scientist, but we (the grad students) are not feeling very generous towards them because they have a history of being very rude to us and asking us to do things they just don't want to do.
Today, the visiting scientist sent me a figure comparing our data to the data of a nearby environmental sensor, showing that we have good agreement between our measurements. These data have been entirely falsified and I have the evidence. Now that the instrument is properly connected, the data look quite different, and I have eyewitness and some photographic evidence that the tube was never connected, so no sample could have possibly been collected. The data were recorded in a notebook and spreadsheet and look like a random distribution, which is to be expected as it is really a variety of blanks. After asking the visiting scientist for the data to go with the figure, I can see their numbers are, for the most part, totally different from what is in the spreadsheet.
This visiting scientist has also hassled one of the other grad students about "doing \[their\] data processing wrong" and then when asked to show how to do it correctly, picked and chose random cells in the spreadsheet to get the values they wanted instead of filling down the rows and using the correct (though blank) measurements.
This is obviously a major breach of academic honesty, but there are a few important details that make me uncertain of what to do:
* Visiting scientist has their PhD and has published quite a few papers (others with falsified data perhaps?).
* Visiting scientist is not from my home institution or my home country and I don't know anything about the system over there.
* My PI is extremely nonconfrontational, and I'm afraid they might choose to ignore the problem instead of addressing it since Visiting Scientist will only be with us for another two months or so.
* We are in the early stages of this study, nowhere near publishing. This figure was not presented in a manuscript or at a conference or any kind of formal presentation, so I'm not sure how "academic honesty" kicks in yet
Thankfully, this data is not a big part of the study, so it's no real loss if we don't include it and scrap that part of the project. That being said, making up data is completely unacceptable. My fellow grad students have already been warned to not take a co-authorship of any paper that Visiting scientist decides to publish later.
If you were in my shoes, what would you do? Have you ever encountered something like this before? What kind of punishment does this conduct incur? I'm going to tell my PI, of course.
TL/DR:
Visiting scientist is flagrantly making up data, but I'm afraid my PI will just choose to ignore the problem instead of getting involved. | Even if your PI is non-confrontational, they need to know about this. ASAP.
What she or he does with that information may not all be handled "publicly", but you don't want your PI to unknowingly put their name on false data (which blows back on the lab as a whole if discovered), to encourage you to include or reference the visiting scientist's data, or to pursue research directions within the group based on false data. | 215 | 197 |
ELI5 the term of “Ontology” and “epistemology”? As well as, the difference and it’s applications. | In philosophy, ontology is the study of existence, or being. What does it mean to say a thing is, or that it exists? For example, if you catch a fish and eat it, at what point does it stop being a fish? What is it about that thing that makes it a fish, and if you take those things away when does it stop being that fish?
Epistemology is the study of knowledge. What do we mean when we say we know something? How can you be sure? What is the difference between opinions, beliefs, and knowledge? Are there things the human mind cannot grasp? How do you know? | 49 | 20 |
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ELI5: What is the difference between a major and a minor heart attack, and how is a heart attack classified? | Heart attacks are usually classified via EKG.
If there are certain changes from a usual, healthy EKG (ST-elevations in this case) it is classified as a STEMI, which in most cases is the major heart attack in comparison to the NSTEMI, which shows no changes in the EKG but only changes in heart enzymes in a patients bloodwork.
Also, major heart attacks lead to malign arrhythmia more often which can result in loss of consciousness and sudden death, while minor heart attacks more often than not cause severe pain for the patient, but won't lead to loss of consciousness.
Source: i'm a cath lab nurse. | 13 | 26 |
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CMV: If a magic system has rigid rules, it's not magic, it's alternate science. | I say this as a big fan of stories that use such magic systems, like Sanderson's books, but they simply are not "magic". Magic has, by it's very nature, aspects that aren't completely explainable or predictable. If a magic system works by a set of rules as stiff and unbending as our own laws of physics, then why would it be considered magic? Some stories even recognize this; alchemy, from Fullmetal Alchemist, is as "magical" as any Sanderson system, but it is ultimately a rigid science with a specific set of rules, and they are clear to define it as such in the show.
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> *Hello, users of CMV! This is a footnote from your moderators. We'd just like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please remember to* ***[read through our rules](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/rules)***. *If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which,* ***[downvotes don't change views](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/guidelines#wiki_upvoting.2Fdownvoting)****! If you are thinking about submitting a CMV yourself, please have a look through our* ***[popular topics wiki](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/populartopics)*** *first. Any questions or concerns? Feel free to* ***[message us](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/changemyview)***. *Happy CMVing!* | You should probably study systems which have historically been called magical before making this judgement. Generally they all operate on certain suppositions which are no less rigid than the suppositions of physics, they just weren't empirically validated. If it happened that the world worked according to those suppositions, it would still be magic.
Magic is more distinguished by the kinds of laws it obeys rather than that they are laws. Generally they are predicated on meaning and intention rather than the interaction of particles. | 28 | 26 |
ELIT: Why Germany is such a strong world power | It seems throughout the 20th century and in the modern day, Germany, despite massive repercussions from WWI and WWII, manages to bounce back and become a staggeringly powerful force in both military and economy.
What are the reasons for this in the WWI era, the WWII era, and today? | Germany is an industrious, educated nation with an excellent social infrastructure and minimal internal strife. They excel in manufacturing and management. In short, per the cliche, they're efficient. | 395 | 341 |
ELI5: What good is there in consuming vitamins in quantities many times more than in the RDA and does your body process the sudden excess in a productive way? | The RDA or Recommended Daily Allowance for Vitamins and Minerals. It is the average daily dietary intake level sufficient to meet the nutrient requirements of nearly all (97-98%) of healthy individuals in a group.
Unless you have a severe deficiency of any type of vitamin or mineral such as Vitamin D, You should not exceed 100% of the RDA. Most Supplements are surprisingly bad about only being 100%. They can be any numerous amounts past that.
I know someone with a really strong vitamin D deficiency that takes 10x the RDA of Vitamin D dosage to try and get their body back up to regulation.
The UL, or Adequate Upper Intake Level is the maximum amount of minerals, nutrients, or vitamins that your body should take in.
To answer the question directly, there is no benefit unless you have a deficiency. And they can be harmful to your body in plenty of ways. Even taking Aspirin frequently can be extremely harmful on your liver. Vitamin Toxicity, which is taking more than you should, Can have a lot of negative side effects. For Example, Vitamin A Toxicity can have side effects of: Red Blood Cell breakage, Bone pains, Growth retardation, chronic headaches, and the list goes on.
TL;DR Taking more than the RDA is not harmful in some situations, Taking more than the UL(Upper Intake Level) is harmful.
Source: Culinary Nutrition Major | 13 | 67 |
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ELI5: Why do submarines have to surface at all? Can't they just operate underwater for the entire length of the mission, especially if they are nuclear-powered? | I have heard that diesel engines cannot remain submerged for a long time, so they have to surface very frequently. But what is it they actually do by surfacing?
Also, I understand that nuclear submarines can stay underwater for a long time, but even they do surface once in a while. My question is - why? Why do they have to do that? Can't they remain submerged during the entire mission?
| A diesel engine needs a source of oxygen, to burn with the diesel to power the engine. They can't store enough oxygen for long term running. Indeed, most diesel subs only use the diesel engines when at the surface or at periscope depth, pulling air down to run the engine to power the craft and to charge batteries, and when submerged they run solely on battery power.
But nuclear subs can stay submerged for as long as they can keep the crew fed (and sane). They can generate water by desalination, oxygen by electrolysis of water, and the CO₂ is removed by scrubbers that are regenerated using heat - all driven by the power output of the reactor. | 8,085 | 7,000 |
[Highlander] Must there be only one? | Let us say Ramirez beat the Kurgan, or Castlegar did so. Would they off Conner, or would Conner off them? Is the prize worth centuries of friendship and loyalty? | When it comes us Immortals you must remember that we are beings whose experience and perspective scale across multiple centuries. While these lifetimes show many of us the wisdom of alliances and the insight of having companions with the same "gift", we still suffer from human nature and with new immortals constantly arising there will ALWAYS be another who lusts for the ultimate power. With enough skill and guile, this individual will never cease hounding the rest of us, winnowing us down until there is but one left to stand against them. Even the protection granted by holy ground cannot forever stave off a sufficiently determined hunter. This is the crux of our mantra "There can be only one"; the curse of the Immortal is to know that he will eventually see all his companions perish and he will be all that stands between the rest of humanity and total destruction.
Unless, of course, **you** are the Immortal seeking to do the destroying... | 21 | 22 |
Is it possible to have a charged particle in a solution or suspension(other than dissolved ions)? | I know many atoms form ions when dissolved in water for example. But what I am wondering is whether a larger particle can hold a static charge when in a liquid, in the way a dust particle can be statically charged in air? Could particles in water be charged and attracted by an electric field, other than those that are naturally ionised when in solution? I suspect that the charge would quickly be dispersed into the fluid but I am not sure. Are there non conducting fluids perhaps? | Well, you can take proteins for example, which are composed of the 20 amino acids, which include some that are charged. This gives the protein a property termed isoelectric point, which is the pH at which the protein will be neutral. At pH above or below this isolectric point the protein will be charged in solution and be influenced by electric fields.
| 10 | 117 |
ELI5: Why are dominantly slashing weapons curved? Why do some curve backwards, which some curve forwards? | Few curve forwards and those ones are usually more for special purposes. Medieval polearms with backward hooks such as bills were intended to allow you to grab onto riders and de-horse calvary, or pull shields away from their bearers, for example.
For the ones that curve backward and away from the point of impact, it's so you can cut better and reduces the chances that your weapon will get stuck. When the edge of your swinging weapon is straight and you connect, it's harder to slice the weapon out and do further damage than if it's a curved edge like a cutlass. Weapons like the longsword were largely "hit, then pull backward from the direction you just swung to hit again". With the cutlass or katana, you "hit and continue slicing to pull your weapon free" to do more damage, cut tendons and increase bleeding, you don't just pull it back. | 64 | 75 |
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CMV: Athletic/muscular women should be considered the same way as muscular men. | I was surprised to see how many people disagreed with this, but com'on the "perfect" woman's body for ads and shit is always a thin leaf, sometimes borderline anorexic. A girl with a 6-pack should be respected as much as a men with one. Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about a full-on Schwarzenegger, something I don't really like on anybody, but some biceps don't transform the "sweet little pink angel" in a bloodthirsty orc barbarian. Even more, I think that showing these kind of models to young girls only to end up with them having as much punch force as a shrimp as teens/adults and only eating half a tomato for a meal REALLY have an impact on sexism by depicting them a lot weaker than they could be.
And it's the same the other way around, yes, a man has the right to not get jacked if he doesn't like to, as long as he's not destroying his body with bad nutrition and no exercise, he shouldn't be judged for not being the Hulk.
I was going to post this in r/popularopinion, but I was shocked to see that most of my relatives weren't ok with this, and that they thought that all girls must stay delicate and fragile to look pretty, so I ended up posting it here cuz I felt like I was the only one thinking it, so maybe wrong ?
I'm open to every suggestion and debate on this, feel free to try and change my mind as long as it stays polite ! | Beauty norms are often exaggerations of biological gender differences. For example, women have less hair then men, so shaving to artificially make themselves even more hairless is regarded as sexy; men are buffer than women, so spending hours in the gym sculpting muscles that would never exist "in the wild," so to speak, is regarded as sexy. Given that being muscular is an inherently male trait to begin with you're gonna have a hard time selling it as something that adds sex appeal to females. | 32 | 26 |
How many live plants would I need to have in my house for there to be an appreciable improvement in air quality versus outside? | Kind of a random question but I can't stop thinking about it | It's speculated that, in an airtight room, you'd need around 300-500 decent sized plants. Each leaf gives around 5ml o2/hr, the safe level for a human is about 50 liters per hour. Seeing as you're not in airtight room, I'd say anything from 30-50 would be an improvement.
Some things to consider, though, it wouldn't be quality, as much as quantity. Plants don't do a great job at filtering impurities in the air.
Hope it helps. | 102 | 530 |
Does a steel bar resist bending until a certain amount of force is applied, or does all force bend it, however slightly? | Imagine a thick steel bar 2 meters long, suspended at its ends, and that you hang a dress shirt on a hanger in the middle. Mathematically, even such a slight mass/force would yield some bend in the bar. But just like a force needs to overcome static friction before it can move an object across the floor, is there a certain amount of force that is required to start bending the bar? Assume here that we can measure even the slightest bend in the bar, and that it's perfectly straight to begin with. | Yes. All solids undergo small elastic deformations due to even small applied forces. The ratio of applied force to displacement (normalized by the area and length) is called the elastic modulus, or simply modulus. The elastic modulus for steel is around 200 GPa. Interestingly, this extends to even tiny displacements that we don't normally see - this is how sound propagates in solids.
What you are likely used to is observing permanent, or plastic deformation. This only occurs when we exceed a certain inherent stress - the yield stress. The yield stress of many common steels can be quite high, around 1 GPa. It therefore takes a lot of force to deform a piece of steel by a large amount, with the force scaling with the area of the piece. So it seems like the steel is unmoving, just because we cannot bend it as much as we are used to.
In this specific scenario, you would need to take the geometry into consideration by calculating the bending moment of the beam (wikipedia "Bending"). | 61 | 63 |
ELI5: Why is standardized testing so expensive? | I live in a state where all high school juniors take the ACT.
Some of my students will be taking it tomorrow. Considering tests such as ACT / SAT / SAT II / AP are usually proctored by teachers and are offered at schools (though grad and professional schools seem to offered at testing centers) and that many tests are multiple choice, why are standardized tests so expensive? I know there's research and development and grading costs for essays / written portions, but at $50ish per test ($90ish for AP) these tests seem pricey for what they are.
| 1. make the test.
2. advertise and promote the test.
3. proctor the test
4. grade test, mail test, respond to request for copies,scores, etc.
5. defend against lawsuits from crazy parents.
Given that it can cost 15-20 for 1 hour yoga class, you have to imagine that 4-8 hours in a proctored classroom is going to at least cost more than that. Now add the others! | 68 | 163 |
ELI5: Why do trees’ leaves move towards the red end of the spectrum Why not the violet end? | Obviously this answer will have something to do with the original colour, green, which is interestingly in the middle of the light spectrum. | Chlorophyll is the green pigment that you see in leaves and it comes in two varieties: chlorophyll alpha and chlorophyll beta. Chlorophyll alpha absorbs more red light whereas chlorophyll beta absorbs more of the blue light (and a bit of red), but they both reflect green light giving you the green color of the leaf. However, during the fall when trees no longer produce chlorophyll, you see carotenoids, which are another group of pigments that absorb blue and purple light, but reflect green to red light. Depending on the the type of tree and its leaves, it'll leave you colors between and including: green, yellow, and red that you see so often during the fall. | 41 | 33 |
CMV: A time-traveling Bob Ross would not have been able to get Hitler into art school. | In 1907 Hitler applied to the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, and was rejected.
It has been proposed that instead of sending an assassin to go back in time and kill Hitler, we could instead send Bob Ross to teach Hitler how to paint well. This would get him into the Academy, change the course of his life for the better, and prevent WW2 from occurring. [(Source 1)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/5uilpw/wp_the_year_is_1910_adolf_hitler_a_struggling/?st=joa547w1&sh=47ee60a2) [(Source 2)](https://www.reddit.com/r/wholesomememes/comments/9ul0wk/wholesome_movie_that_id_go_see/?st=joa5gm10&sh=26c86e00)
My view is that this plan would fail, and for a number of reasons:
* Hitler probably did not speak English [(Source 3)](https://www.quora.com/Did-Adolf-Hitler-speak-any-other-language-besides-German)
* Bob Ross probably did not speak German (Source Needed)
* Hitler "was told his drawings showed a lack of talent for artistic painting, notably a lack of appreciation of the human form" [(Source 4)](http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/art.htm)
* Bob Ross is not known for painting people, and could probably not help him with that. [(Source 5)](https://www.twoinchbrush.com/all-paintings)
* "The examining board did not just want a landscape artist." [(Source 6)](https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/world-war-two/political-leaders-of-world-war-two/adolf-hitler/)
* Bob Ross is specifically a landscape artist [(Source 7)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Ross)
* Hitler didn't even graduate high school [(Source 4)](http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/art.htm)
* Probably due to the fact that he was essentially unteachable. He "could not stand to be corrected, a personality trait he had shown in high school and as a younger boy as well." [(Source 4)](http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/art.htm)
TL;DR I think that Bob Ross was exactly the wrong type of painter to try and get Hitler into art school, and that Hitler wouldn't have listened to him even if they spoke the same language, and that even if Hitler got into art school, he would have flunked out anyways.
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> *This is a footnote from the CMV moderators. We'd like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please* ***[read through our rules](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/rules)***. *If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which,* ***[downvotes don't change views](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/guidelines#wiki_upvoting.2Fdownvoting)****! Any questions or concerns? Feel free to* ***[message us](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/changemyview)***. *Happy CMVing!* | 1. Art is a universal language, they can communicate via the brush.
2. Are you saying Hitler was *truly unteachable*? If he was teachable, then why would Bob Ross - one of the best teachers - not be able to do it? | 16 | 39 |
Why can't the Fed just do a 250 basis point hike in one go for the year and we can just move on with our lives | From @_SidVerma on Twitter. And could you please also help me understand why a few people replied that it’s because the fed has painted itself into a corner where if we keep giving the patient medicine to mask the pain, it will die, and if we don’t, it will die?
And why do people think such a rate hike automatically crash the market?
Thank you. | When you increase interest rates, you also increase the cost of borrowing. People & businesses that take out loans, will have to pay more. This also leads to a slowdown of the economy. Any such measures need to be taken gradually. | 87 | 110 |
ELI5: How do translators deal with unavoidable puns? | This is one of the things that makes translation challenging and exciting. Not only do you need to know two languages, but you need to be a wordsmith with your target language. When encountering puns, we first have to determine if the humor is essential to the meaning of the passage. If not, we can just gloss over the pun and convey the overall meaning of that section in straight-forward language.
​
If the humor is essential, than we have a couple of strategies. Is there a similar pun in the target language? If there isn't, then can we switch out some of the words to create a pun in the target language while still maintaining the feel of the original? Failing that, can we just replace it with a completely different pun that can still be humorous in this situation?
​
Sometimes, though, the language pair you are working in can make puns easy to translate or neigh impossible. With so many cultural similarities and shared vocabulary, working between, say, French and English would be much easier. Working between Japanese and English, on the other hand, presents serious challenges, as the languages and cultures are drastically different. Ultimately, though, all languages are complex, organic creatures. There is no fail-safe strategy to translating puns, and it is something you really just need to approach creatively on a case-by-case basis.
​
Edit: Added a sentence for clarification. | 179 | 157 |
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[Harry Potter] Is Hagrid secretly a magical prodigy? | He never made it past 3rd year, and yet he was capable of human transfiguration, nonverbal magic, the *Incendio* spell, and the *Aguamenti* charm, all of which are NEWT level*. If he hadn’t been expelled, could he have become a Dumbledore-level wizard?
\*Edit: All with a *broken wand.* | Most skills you learn in your teens are easier to pick up if you approach them later in life. Just try to learn algebra in your thirties-- it just makes a lot more sense.
Hagrid is in his (sixties?) He's had decades to learn and pick up skills "along the way," even if it wasn't a part of his formal education.
But Dumbledore is like a superstar scientist with patents, publications and awards compared to someone who picks up GED level biology courses in middle age. He was normally talented, and had a lot of life to learn in. | 97 | 75 |
CMV: Ninja can stream with who he wants and he isn't being sexist | Ninja's decision not to stream with women is perfectly justified.
Before I start I want to say I'm not a Ninja fan boy, I just have a point of view I want to share.
Ninja has explained the reason behind not wanting to stream with female streamers being that it has the potential to cause trouble between him and his wife. His decision is based more on the gaming and streaming community as opposed to being against female gamers or streamers. He simply wants to avoid being in a position where people can use clips and take things he says and does out of context, in order to cause trouble for him, which would obviously be a lot easier for people to do, if he streamed with women because of the trouble that could cause between him and his partner.
Another point I want to make is towards the people that are making Ninja out to be sexist. I don't want to call them feminists as I think these people give true feminists a bad name. I don't believe Ninja is being sexist by being cautious and I think the people calling him out over it do not truly understand how toxic the gaming and streaming communities can be. People will constantly look for a way to ruin somebody, especially someone as popular as Ninja. This, in my opinion, should not be a topic about sexism or feminism, he simply wants to limit the amount of controversy or potential controversy that could happen through streaming with women. | Adults in the year 2018 have to work with people of the opposite sex. It is not a reasonable or "cautious" thing to avoid working with women for any reason. It's particularly sad to see this attitude from Ninja, given that he is the most successful person in his male-dominated profession, and a more clear-eyed person could really do some good with that kind of position by normalizing women who play games professionally. | 20 | 19 |
ELI5: How do antidepressants wind up having the exact opposite of their intention, causing increased risk of suicide ? | Some people think that antidepressants may work to restore motivation and drive before eventually reaching their full efficacy of restoring overall mood. So for the period that you are feeling more motivated, but still experiencing negative affect, you are more inclined to act upon those negative feelings.
That's a theory anyway. There is so much we don't know about how antidepressants work anyway. We know surprisingly little about what causes depression in the first place, so it's really difficult to work on a treatment.
Hope that helps. | 1,729 | 1,846 |
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ELI5: Why does the USA subsidize the production of corn? | Update: Holy hell, I appreciate all he feedback from everyone. Ive tried to read about his subject a few time but I seem to have a hard time retaining information from all the different sources. Thank you all very much. | 1) In the 19th century, we found out through long and bitter experience that leaving farmers to the free market was a bad idea--the wild fluctuations of farm prices made it very hard for them to do business. And we liked family farms and thought their existence was important to our national well-being, independent of the food they produced. Down-home virtues and all that.
2) In the 1930s (the New Deal), the government stepped in to more or less run the market. It smoothed out the swings in prices and made it much easier for farmers to get by.
3) In the early 1970s, a bunch of factors combined to create shortages of some foods. Plus, inflation was making food in general more expensive.
4) The government changed its policies from smoothing out market swings to subsidizing maximum production.
5) These new policies favored BIG farmers, not the regular old family farms. "Get big or get out," said Earl Butz, Secretary of Agriculture. The family farm started dying and is now essentially dead.
6) Big farmers, like any other big organization, are bureaucratic, slow, and stupid. They weren't about to select the best crop for every acre. They could only plant one thing everywhere and call it a day.
7) That one thing was often corn, which is better suited to big, dumb agriculture than other crops (except soybeans, which are also suitable).
8) Because we had so much corn, we wound up finding new uses for it--corn syrup, cow feed that makes cows sick but who cares, ethanol, and whatever else. These uses were often subsidized because when a big corporation has a problem (in this case, corn they needed to sell) it becomes the government's problem.
9) So to review, the old-style farm supports had become subsidies for big agribusiness, and big agribusiness is too useless to do anything but the simplest thing--plant corn everywhere. (It also sterilizes the soil with herbicides and pesticides, then fertilizes it so the corn will grow. This is not a good idea in any larger sense, but it does simplify things). | 193 | 211 |
[General superheroes] I have high-level teleportation powers. How can I stop this crashing plane? | Hi. The Displacer here, calling from JFK Airport, where the air traffic controllers have called me in to help with an awkward problem.
There's a Boeing 747 out somewhere over the Atlantic, with 540 passengers and crew aboard. It's travelling at a speed of Mach 0.8, but all its controls are dead - the crew can't make it change course or height, and it's going to continue in a straight line until it runs out of fuel and crashes, somewhere over the continental United States.
As you know, I can teleport hundreds of miles, and transport hundreds of people or large objects (easily including a 747) with me, with great precision. All I need is a grid reference, and I can land there exactly. However, what I can't do is change the velocity or orientation of anything I teleport - so if I teleport the plane or its passengers anywhere, they'll still be heading westwards at 600 miles per hour.
Is there anything I can do to save the people on this plane? | I assume line of sight is also suitable for navigation.
Get another plane, match speed. Teleport passengers between the planes. You might need to teleport the commandeered plane to catch up, but that should be possible.
You lose the plane, and may need to shoot it down to force it to crash somewhere safe, but that's for the USAF to deal with. | 130 | 148 |
ELI5: Why do prices end with a 9? For example, .49 or .99 | Marketing psychology. The brain tends to register $1.99 as being much less than $2.00 so more people will end up making purchases if the price point creates the illusion that the product is cheaper than it really is. | 36 | 16 |
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CMV: Gameplay is generally more important than story in a game | I think generally, good gameplay should always take priority over a good story.
I don't think narrative and story are unimportant to a video game, far from it. But I will always prefer a game with good mechanic but bad story over virce versa.
What defines good gameplay is subjective I will admit. Interactivity is the most important part of a video game because it's what seperates them from all other mediums like movies and books. So a game should allow as much player interactivity as it can without compromising the experience as a wholem
There are many ways of achieving interactivity. Games like the Elder Scrolls series and Breath Of the Wild offer interactivey through player freedom through almost limitless exploitation of large worlds. at their own pace.
Minecraft offers interactivey by giving players the ability to mend the world to their liking and build any structures.
Games like Mario series and Crash Bandicoot give players the ability to overcome obstacles with their own skills.
And lastly, RPGs like Fallout and Baldurs Gates allow players to shape their own characters and how they interact with the world.
There are games however that neglect and/or under prioritise player interactivey and gameplay in favour of telling a good story or narrative. Telltale Games like The Walking Dead season 1 told a good story but there's hardly any gameplay and the choices that you get to make have little impact and consequences. I think the game was a good experience in my opinion but it didn't utilise what separates a game from a movie or a book so I honestly can't say it's a good game despite the good story and it would be better off as a TV series or a graphic novel imo.
Another series which has this problem are the Uncharted games. They do offer a lot more interactivey and gameplayn than Telltale games but it's still under prioritied in my opinion. What I mean is that the narrative and presentation are prioritised more than delivering good engaging gameplay. For the most part, they don't test the player's skills and except maybe on the highest. It's mostly basic shooting galleries and occasional small puzzles. There's two parts to the Uncharted games, there's the story and presentation and there's the gameplay. The former is given a lot more priority. I don't think they coexist but the gameplay in these games don't enhance those those aspects much.
I think ideally gameplay should be used to enhance stories in video games rather than being two separated aspects that don't mesh well. I can't think of any examples off the top of my head atn
My post is is a mess, I'll try clarify things in the comments.
Edit. I should differentiate between a good game and a good experience. You can have a good experience with games like the Walking Dead and other story exclusive games. | Why is gameplay more important? You don’t really go into that, you just say you prefer it.
Lots of people prefer the opposite and may like games that are closer to an interactive graphic novel. Not everyone plays games for the same reason and not everygame is trying for the same target audience. | 23 | 45 |
ELI5: Why is it so important for humans to have a balanced nutrition but not for animals? | Most animals have a fairly simple diet, carnivores eat only meat their whole life, cows eat exclusively grass etc. So why are human bodies so picky and need a balance of protein, fat, carbs etc from different sources to perform well? | Carnivore and herbivore are very general. Cows, deer, etc. will eat meat and bone to get nutrients rare in a plant based diet. There are deer that will seek out and kill baby birds because their heads are rich in phosphorus. Only "obligate" carnivores eat/need only meat. Most can and will munch on some plants.
These animals SEEK OUT balanced diets because their main food sources don't provide full nutrients. There are reasons captive animals live longer, and one is being well fed a balanced diet.
Humans are animals, always keep that in mind | 6,388 | 7,130 |
ELI5: How does tilt photography trick our minds into thinking the subject of the photo is a miniature? | When you lean in and look at a miniature or model, you're eyes are focused on what's right in front of them, and things in your peripheral vision are blurrier - Usually, in a photo everything is clear no matter what part you are focused on- but in tilt-shift photography the focal point is clear and draws your eye to it and the surrounding areas are blurry, recreating that 'miniature' look. | 111 | 174 |
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[Mandalorian] How do “chaincodes” work and what do they do? Who makes the chaincode for each bounty? | Chaincodes are most likely a form of identification. Similar to a block chain on crypto currency they identify the people involved to some degree so bounties can be tracked and payments rendered appropriately. Also may be some form of unique identifier similar to a social security number assigned to people through a communication network. Allows a bounty hunter to specifically target the exact person they're after due to likely DNA tracking tied to the chaincode number. How it can be used to track someone from orbit and fit in a tiny device is beyond me however. | 30 | 35 |
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[GOT] What does the phrase "chaos is a ladder" mean? | The metaphor is about climbing higher in terms of power and influence.
I.e., when things are politically chaotic, a savvy person can use the unclear allegiances and fluid situation to better himself, much more rapidly than would be possible in a stable environment.
| 59 | 35 |
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Is Academia really as bad as it can be made out to be? |
Is there any benefit to going into academia? I stumbled across this sub a few weeks ago and had been browsing popular posts and comments that all appear to highlight the negative aspects and stresses associated with an academic career.
For context, I’m an Australian that completed my undergraduate at the end of last year and have been working clinically in my sport and exercise role for almost 12 months but have been very keen on getting into academia via masters by research or mPhil with either a subsequent or upgrading masters to PhD (either in public health, cancer research in relation to exercise or more specific. (Honours is not a financially viable route fo me).
I have tried to start transitioning into the space with some other projects and research assistant work on the side but reading through some of these experiences have really given me some cause for concern about my desired career choice. | At its best, academia can be a wonderful career, tenured professors at research universities have an enviable level of autonomy in deciding the kind of research they wish to pursue. However, such jobs are increasingly rare, and unless you happen to be in a field with a rich source of non-academic alternatives, there is often a very high risk to pinning all your hopes on securing one of these increasingly rare positions. | 136 | 143 |
ELI5: Why do most big trucks adamantly say "NOT FOR HIRE" (box trucks, U-haul, big rigs etc). Who are these lawless people in the streets attempting to rent trucks at whim? | DOT regulations have very different requirements for a private vehicle and a for hire vehicle when you get to medium duty and heavy duty vehicles. They are required to display either the commercial DOT licence number, or a large not for hire sign. | 16 | 24 |
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Other than rationalism and empiricism, are there any other ways of gaining knowledge? | Rationalism and empiricism aren't really ways of gaining knowledge, they're traditions of philosophical work - or historical hypotheses about what historians suppose constitute such traditions.
If you're interested in the issue of sources of knowledge, the place to begin would be with an introductory survey of epistemology--e.g., Audi's *Epistemology*.
A simplified schema here would be to suggest we distinguish between intuitive and inferential sources of knowledge. Intuition in this sense refers to an act of being directly given information about the world, as may occur through the traditional senses (i.e. vision, touch, etc.) and may occur through other sources (e.g., an intuition of aesthetic or moral value). Inference in this sense refers to a mental act by which we move in thought from one piece of knowledge to a different piece of knowledge, as in deduction (i.e., when the former entails the latter) and inductive or nondeductive inference (i.e., when the former lends plausibility to the latter), and perhaps other cognitive acts like these (e.g., abductive inferences, where the latter thought is taken to be the best theory of the former). | 52 | 57 |
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CMV:I do not think affirmative action is wrong | The statement "affirmative action is wrong" is very subjective. This can be twisted in many ways. For the purpose of intellectual honesty, we should argue whether affirmative action helps minorities more than it hurts those in the majority. We should also examine whether or not injury to the majority is such that affirmative action is unjust, regardless of its positive affect on minorities.
I would argue that though there are examples of affirmative action being injurious to the very organization employing it, there are far greater examples of affirmative action helping society overall. This may be indicative of the application of affirmative action in different settings, but the overall intent of affirmative action, as well as the primary benefits are not "wrong" by any measure I can think of.
Opponents make a misguided attempt to show that affirmative action is wrong based on emotional appeals, and irrelevant statements about one group that has benefited from affirmative action (blacks). They further implies those in the majority "suffer" from affirmative action. Opponents also imply that affirmative action is some kind of punishment against whites for having enslaved blacks. All these statements are based on a misguided interpretation of how affirmative action works, and who it benefits.
According to the National Council on State Legislatures, President John F. Kennedy first coined the term in an Executive Order urging that contractors use "affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin." This led to the establishment of the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), and EEO policies in the workplace. Lyndon Johnson later issued his own Executive Order requiring contractors to raise their number of minority workers. Colleges and Universities later executed similar policies in recruiting in order to boost their number of minority students. (1)
The argument that simple policies somehow hurt whites as a whole is a very frivolous argument. For centuries, whites have held a monopoly on legislation, law enforcement, education, politics, finance, and land ownership. During the "New Deal," according to the book "When Affirmative Action was White," 65% of African Americans were denied benefits. During and after WWII, while black military members had trouble receiving even the benefits they earned like the GI Bill, recent immigrants from Eastern Europe experienced a revolutionary transformation in their citizenship status. (2)
In a country where the wealth gap is growing between whites and minorities, affirmative action is not only beneficial to all, but necessary. In 2005, whites had a median household net worth of $134,992. Hispanics had a median household net worth of $18,359, and black had a median household net worth of $12,124. Just 4 years later, white's median household net worth had fallen to $113,149. For Hispanics, it fell to $6,325, and for blacks it fell to $5,677. A third of Hispanic and black households in 2009 had a zero or negative net worth in 2009, while only 15% of blacks fit that profile. (3)
It is important to note, also, that the biggest beneficiaries of affirmative action are not black, rather white women. White women, like blacks, once couldn't vote, and once were considered property. Thanks to affirmative action, the number of women (mostly white women) has grown in the following areas (and more):
" The percentage of women architects increased from 3% to nearly 19% of the total;
" The percentage of women doctors more than doubled from 10% to 22% of all doctors;
" The percentage of women lawyers grew from 4% to 23% of the national total;
" The percentage of female engineers went from less than 1% to nearly 9%;
" The percentage of female chemists grew from 10% to 30% of all chemists; and
" The percentage of female college faculty went from 28% to 42% of all faculty. (4)
It would seem to me that affirmative action is not "wrong," rather beneficial to those it is intended to aid, and largely harmless to those who perceive it as "wrong."
(1) http://www.ncsl.org
(2) When Affirmative Action Was White by Ira Katznelson
(3) http://www.pewsocialtrends.org
(4) http://www.timwise.org
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> *Hello, users of CMV! This is a footnote from your moderators. We'd just like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please remember to* ***[read through our rules](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/rules)***. *If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which,* ***[downvotes don't change views](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/guidelines#wiki_upvoting.2Fdownvoting)****! If you are thinking about submitting a CMV yourself, please have a look through our* ***[popular topics wiki](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/populartopics)*** *first. Any questions or concerns? Feel free to* ***[message us](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/changemyview)***. *Happy CMVing!* | I believe that affirmative action policies, for women as well as racial minorities, address an extremely important issue but do so at the wrong point in time. In terms of both college admissions and job hiring, there is clear evidence that white males have a statistical advantage. But why? Yes, it is because they enjoy a history of privilege. But that is not why they are admitted/hired, at least not in most instances in our modern society. They are admitted/hired because this privilege has made them more productive and competitive. They are, put in the most blunt and realistic terms possible, simply better candidates. They've received better education and been told they're whole life that they are valuable, smart, and capable of success, all of which have helped to sculpt them into extremely qualified and productive individuals. And that's a tricky problem, one that is hard to address in politically incorrect terms. The way most liberals deal with the issue is to pretend that there is no difference between whites and blacks by the time they reach college age, and that's simply not true.
Affirmative action does not allow us to properly deal with the reality that blacks and whites are statistically at very different stages by the time they reach college, and it acts to reward those blacks who have "almost" made it to a similar level as their white peers by giving them an extra push, the idea being that the presence of educated blacks will help the black community. Clearly this is not working--black schools are doing worse than they ever have been even after decades of affirmative action. The solution to these racial issues is making investments in primary and secondary education in black communities which would therefore eliminate the need for affirmative action policies by ensuring that whites and blacks are in fact equally qualified during their application processes. | 20 | 18 |
Why are philosophy undergrads obliged to read primary texts (Plato, Descartes, etc.) whereas math and science undergrads aren't (Euclid, Newton)? | I think it's a combination of:
1) Philosophical arguments are often long and take a long time to set up. You can clip a quote of Plato out and paste it in a new text, but it's not going to carry the weight of context it has earned. Math can often be distilled into a small bit to convey the information you need it to.
2) Math has inarguably made a lot of progress, and later mathematicians have evolved math in such a way that we no longer need the older texts to make people understand the context. In fact, a YouTube video showing linear algebra concepts will outdo any textbook. Philosophy, instead, has grown but does not make "progress" in the sense math does. There are few philosophers that everyone can agree to discarding. One professor of mine once said "Once we answer the question, it ceases to be philosophy - it becomes another field, like science or math".
3) Math is typically taught as a product-oriented subject. Can you DO the math you were taught how to do? In that sense, it's a tool for teaching people how to perform a process. So long students learn the process, it doesn't matter where they get it from. Philosophy is not seeking to produce anything. | 33 | 38 |
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ELI5: Why can't we read text unless we look directly at it? | For text that is more than about a meter away from our eyes, we can't really read it without focusing on it. If you look just a tiny bit above the text, it just looks like a bunch of jumbled letters. Why? | The eye senses light using 2 types of cells, rods and cones. Rods are highly sensitive to light, but can't see color and deactivate when there's enough light for cones to work. Cones aren't as sensitive, but can see color and work in bright light. There's an area in the center of your eye called the fovea, where you have the highest concentration of cones for easily seeing details in well-lit areas. Through the rest of the eye, you have fewer cones, so you can't see the details of the letters that you need to read. | 13 | 52 |
ELI5: What is a central clearing bank and how does it work? And please explain like I am literally 5 years old. I understand nothing about finance. | A transfer of funds from an account at bank A to an account at bank B requires a coordinated transfer between different accounts.
When Alice sends $100 to Bob, bank A must somehow transfer the money to bank B, adjust Alice's balance and tell bank B that there is money which needs to go to Bob's account.
One way of doing that is for Bank B to have an account at bank A. Bank A just transfers the money from Alice's account to Bank B's account and then messages bank B to tell them there is money incoming for Bob.
This works fine if there are 2 banks. If there are 100 banks, then each bank needs 99 accounts with the other banks. Things start getting complicated. Worse, what if bank C gets into financial trouble and runs out of money - every bank with an account at bank C might lose money.
The other way is to use a central clearing bank. There is one central bank which acts as middleman. Every other bank has an account with the central bank.
When Alice sends $100 to Bob, bankA messages the central bank. The central bank transfers $100 from Bank A's account into bank B's account, and forwards the message to bank B telling them that the money is for Bob.
This makes it much simpler, each bank only needs one account with the central bank. Also the central bank guarantees each transaction. It doesn't do anything which can get it into financial trouble so it won't lose the banks' money. This makes risk management easier for the other banks. | 273 | 125 |
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ELI5: How solar cells transform the sun's energy to electrical energy | **Short Answer**
Shine light on the right type of semiconductor and electrons get knocked loose, resulting in useable electricity.
**More Detailed Answer**
1. Build a molecular antenna that can absorb solar radiation and use it to promote electron density into an excited state.
2. Attach the antenna to a *d*-metal, such as ruthenium, that is sensitive to excitation in its antenna and that can readily promote an electron to a higher energy state (pi->pi*) where it is more easily extracted.
3. Have a semiconductor nearby that can extract the promoted electron from the metal center, creating usable electricity.
Generally, systems use what are referred to as "dyes" as the antenna. These are extended conjugated systems where electrons can move readily across extended pi conjugation. They usually incorporate an aromatic ring as the absorber. The Ru^2+ / Ru^3+ system is a popular metal center. The conduction band of titanium dioxide is used as the method of extracting the final electron. An separate reaction regenerates the Ru^2+ from Ru^3+ and the system is ready again.
Lots of modifications and optimizations can be made, especially with the details of the antenna, to increase efficiency and decrease cycle time. | 14 | 47 |
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How do muscles get stronger ? | There's obviously the whole hypertrophy system which i'm well aware about but i'm guessing there's more than that otherwise bodybuilders would be the best powerlifters.
I guess my question would be what make muscles stronger, excluding muscles getting bigger ? | As you exercise, your nervous system becomes more efficient to activate the relevant muscle fibers to perform your action, like a plant growing in the direction where sunlight is most often found to maximize energy production. On top of this, your body adapts by producing more muscle fibers and mitochondria(Chemical energy producers) within the relevant muscles so that they are more equipped to perform actions of similar intensity. This is why bodybuilders and powerlifters progressively increase their weight over time.
But your muscles and nervous system aren't the only systems which adapt to strength training. Your bones become more reinforced and resistant to diseases such as osteoporosis and synovial fluid lubricates your joints to keep internal friction down. Your heart also becomes more efficient with each pump and its endurance(Especially in the case of aerobic sports such as running and swimming), along with the rest of your respiratory and circulatory system(By increasing red blood cell count and the amount of capillaries in muscle tissue.) | 19 | 23 |
[General Science Fiction] How do territorial borders work in space, given there are 3 axes of movement. Also, how do barricades in space work? | They could define them as based on three-dimensional volumes, or they could just have stars or planets each belong to specific governments. Also, it's extremely rare but not impossible for them to have territories within planets, such as one government only owning a single continent.
Barricades depend on the setting. Usually they don't exist. They could use mines that watch for ships and shoot down anything coming anywhere near them. Also, sometimes FTL travel is based around choke points that can be barricaded easily. | 30 | 33 |
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AskScience AMA Series: We're from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and from Washington Maritime Blue and DNV GL. Our organizations are working together to bring the safe use of hydrogen to these ports for a cleaner energy future. Ask away, we're here to answer your questions. AUA! | Hi Reddit, Happy National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day! We;re Jamie Holladay, David Hume, and Lindsay Steele from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Jennifer States from Washington Maritime Blue and DNV GL. Did you know the use of hydrogen to power equipment and ships at our nation's ports can greatly reduce energy consumption and harmful emissions? Did you know that the transportation sector contributes 29 percent of harmful emissions to the atmosphere-more than the electricity, industrial, commercial and residential, and agricultural sectors?
The nation's ports consume more than 4 percent of the 28 percent of energy consumption attributed to the transportation sector. More than 2 million marine vessels worldwide transport greater than 90 percent of the world's goods. On land, countless pieces of equipment, such as cranes and yard tractors, support port operations.
Those vessels and equipment consume 300 million tonnes of diesel fuel per year, produce 3 percent of global carbon dioxide emission, and generate the largest source of sulfur dioxide emissions.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and collaborators are looking at how we can help the nation's ports reduce energy consumption and harmful emissions by using hydrogen as a zero-emission fuel.
We've conducted a [study](https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2019/10/f68/fcto-h2-at-ports-workshop-2019-viii3-steele.pdf) with several U.S. ports to assess replacing diesel with hydrogen fuel cells in port operations. We've done this through collection of information about equipment inventory; annual and daily use, power, and fuel consumption; data from port administrators and tenants; and satellite imagery to verify port equipment profiles. We crunched the data and found that hydrogen demand for the U.S. maritime industry could exceed a half million tonnes per year.
We are also seeking to apply our abundant hydrogen expertise to provide a multi-use renewable hydrogen system to the Port of Seattle-which will provide the city's utility provider with an alternative clean resource.
Our research is typically supported by the Department of Energy's [Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office](https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-and-fuel-cell-technologies-office).
We'd love to talk with you about our experiences and plans to connect our nation's ports to a hydrogen future. We will be back at noon PDT (3 ET, 19 UT) to answer your questions. AUA!
Username: /u/PNNL | 1.What are the major challenges in using a hydrogen fuel cell in a private EV?!
2. And why isn't electrolytic cell of water with some amount of H2SO4 in it used in Vehicles?! It literally releases Oxygen in the atmosphere and consumes water(the saltier the better). | 63 | 2,392 |
CMV: Consulting seems stupid considering most firms are full of recent college grads who effectively know nothing about business | This will probably be an easy CMV as I am open minded and really just have this opinion because I don't know much about it. I have a few friends who are recent grads and have only had a few years of experience outside of school. They now work for consulting firms and my first thought was "what the hell are they qualified to consult?" I obviously don't say this out loud but honestly how are they adding value when they don't even know business all that well yet. On the contrary if someone has extensive entrepreneurial experience or a decade within an industry then I can see massive value in consulting. it just confuses me that kids are hired to consult businesses. Change my view, what am I missing here? am I completely misunderstanding what consultants do?
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> *This is a footnote from the CMV moderators. We'd like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please* ***[read through our rules](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/rules)***. *If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which,* ***[downvotes don't change views](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/guidelines#wiki_upvoting.2Fdownvoting)****! Any questions or concerns? Feel free to* ***[message us](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/changemyview)***. *Happy CMVing!* | Consulting firms are just like any other business, experienced employees mentor inexperienced ones and delegate tasks to them. It's cheaper to hire a fresh college graduate than someone who has been in the workforce for twenty years, so if a company can find a way to make it work it's in their advantage. | 10 | 17 |
ELI5: Why do kids love bright colors so much, but as they get older, bright colors seem less important? | While growing, humans use attention to collect useful information. In early childhood attention is mostly focused on easily perceivable differences between events and things like contrast, brightness, loudness, primary tastes etc When you grow older you already collected that information and unless some part of your focus got permanently attracted to some of it, like getting hobby of collecting colorful things, your attention moves onto other, more complex and nuanced differences like differences in art style, subtle tastes, refined music styles etc.
Why is it working this way? Because brain builds more complex concepts using more simple ones increasing neural network complexity for their representation. | 91 | 97 |
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CMV: If one of my co-workers resigns and/or is fired, and I am forced either formally or informally to do parts of their job, I should receive additional pay in proportion to what they were paid for those duties. |
If your place of employment loses an employee and requires you to pick up the slack in their place, they should give you more money. They should have the money available after all because they aren’t paying that person. Why is it fair to make you do something essentially for free that they were paying someone to do before?
To be clear this arrangement doesn’t have to be a formal order to officially do the job of the former employee. If your daily responsibilities grow simply by nature of that person being out, then you have a pretty good case for additional pay as well. If there are two cooks in the kitchen and now there is only one it is obvious that the remaining one is doing at least some of the work of the other person especially if the output has not slipped.
In the case of cost-cutting layoffs, all bets are off because obviously, the point of letting the other person go was to save money. The person doing extra work still has a legit gripe, but a different one than in the case of a vacancy because the money is not assumed to be available in that situation.
If you are a manager or a person in a flexible role whose job is to pick up slack then this doesn’t apply. But many people are forced to go above and beyond their job descriptions and do tasks that companies have literally already budgeted and allocated money for. That money should be attached to the individual responsibilities in the case of a vacancy, not the person. | I can think of a few things:
1. Salaries vs Hourly makes this had to quantify. Salaried work in the US usually has very flexible role definitions and you can be asked to do things outside of your typical duties.
2. How would new hires work? If you're making $50k/yr and working your ass off and they hire someone to help and now the work is spread to two people are you OK with suddenly making $25k? After all you were doing the work all yourself, and now you only have to do half the work.
3. This could have implications on revealing the ex-worker's pay to you. What if you make $50k/yr and he makes $100k/yr, and they fire him and you take half his duties increasing your salary +$50k/yr. You would now know his salary. | 30 | 129 |
ELI5: What is 'fitness'? As in, why is working out easier the more you work out? | Let's assume you have two twins. One gets regular exercise and hits the gym every day. The other is a couch potato. Let's also assume that the fitter twin eats more calories and does only cardio, so they more or less have similar weight and muscle mass. Still, the one who gets regular exercise is able to run for longer, will break less of a sweat and have a lower heart rate.
What are the physiological differences when someone is 'fit' versus 'out of shape'? | When we do cardio, blood is more directed towards the muscles you are working out (and away from places that aren’t doing a whole lot at that time).
The blood flow is increased. The volume of blood is also increased when it is returning to the heart.
Over time, the left ventricle enlarges to adapt to the larger blood flow. Now this ventricle can hold more blood and eject more blood per beat (even when resting). This decreases the heart rate over time.
There is also evidence that exercise stimulates the production of new blood vessels. This creates more efficient circulation.
Also, there is evidence that at the same time that cardio increases the number of blood vessels, resistance training increases the size of those blood vessels. This allows for fewer blockages and more efficient blood flow.
The new blood flow (with fresh oxygenated blood) helps keep your other body parts healthy (like your organs). | 92 | 108 |
Is "footnote-mining" okay? | History grad student here. I have been wondering for a while what people make of ["footnote mining."](https://onelastsketch.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/footnote-mining-and-interdisciplinary-research/)
By that I mean: When I do my reading of the secondary literature before starting to write an article/book chapter, I often try to look up and locate the sources in the footnotes/endnotes. This often is a good way to find relevant secondary literature and primary sources. Now, when I later end up citing secondary literature and (more importantly) primary sources first found in another historian's work, it is my understanding that I do not have to acknowledge where I found the source, but can simply cite the original source (for example the primary source that I first learned about in another historian's work but then located myself) and do not have to add something like "also see/also cited in....".
Am I correct that this is generally seen as acceptable? A quick search on google seems to suggest so:
[https://onelastsketch.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/footnote-mining-and-interdisciplinary-research/](https://onelastsketch.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/footnote-mining-and-interdisciplinary-research/)
[http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/\~myl/languagelog/archives/004608.html](http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004608.html)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAcademia/comments/dz4cnx/do\_i\_need\_to\_acknowledge\_it\_if\_a\_primary\_source\_i/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAcademia/comments/dz4cnx/do_i_need_to_acknowledge_it_if_a_primary_source_i/)
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However, I am wondering where one would draw the line? Using a few primary sources that another historian working on a similar topic has used as well is surely fine and probably unavoidable. But what if it is more than that?
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Thanks! | Like the others said: yes, "footnote mining" as a way to find references is fine.
I might be stating the obvious here, but what is NOT fine, however, is to just add such references to your paper. You should only cite references that you yourself have read, i.e., don't believe other people's claims about a reference, check them by yourself. Otherwise you need to attribute the claims to the publication where you found the footnote. In other words, there IS a difference between "As discussed by Biden et al., Trump et al. make a number of claims about the voting system of the US" and "Trump et al. make a number of claims about the US voting system." , and you can use sentences like the 2nd one only if you've read (and understood...) the Trump et al. paper. | 182 | 113 |
Geology (and some astronomy) question: Why do we find elements and compounds in veins and generally clumped together in the earth? | Most heavier elements are formed in supernova explosions and float through space as dust until they are coalesced into planets. Does dust of the same element just generally form together and stays close together and so eventually it ends up either clumped up in a single deposit? Or do elements of the same variety have a method of attracting each other in space? Or does the earth have a method of refining these materials where plate tectonics and such make materials of similar masses clump up?
Essentially I am asking how do heavy elements go from dust in space surrounded by tons of different types of dust to a lump of platinum or uranium in the ground? | There are mechanisms that essentially sort them. You see this process on a normal time scale with something like Italian dressing. :)
The primary mechanisms are density, and melting points.
You have a big pool of mixed elements and compounds just swirling around. In general the denser liquids will settle to the bottom unless disturbed and stirred up. So if you get a pool somewhere that isn't disturbed much, you'll get layers of different liquids.
As time goes on it cools. The elements with lowest melting point "freeze" and turn solid, and drift to the bottom as well (solid they are even denser than when liquid). This forms a layer on the bottom of the deposit, a sheet or "vein" if seen from the side.
As the pool cools further, the next element freezes out, forming it's layer and so on.
The slower the pool of compounds cools, the more time for the different materials to settle out, and more distinct the seperation and layering. If the area cools quickly you'll get grains rather than layers. The faster it cools, the smaller the grains.
This is why veins tend to be underground, as the layers of rock help insulate and slow the cooling process, allowing the density sorting to occur. | 39 | 44 |
ELI5: Why is visa free traveling such an important topic for countries when they are negotiating with each other ? | Applying for a visa requires filling out paperwork before traveling, which needs to be processed by a bureaucrat and approved. This takes time.
For business travel, this is extremely inconvenient. International business deals and meetings can't be easily rescheduled, might be cancelled on a moment's notice, and can't be convened in an emergency.
The automatic visa for passport holders makes it much easier to conduct international business and trade. | 99 | 180 |
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ELI5: How is a degree from a place like Harvard or Yale any different from a degree in the same subject from somewhere else? | Also, is it any different in the UK with universities like Oxford and Cambridge compared to lower ranked uni's? | For starters, many of these places have good reputations because they have cutting edge research and the best academics who are at the forefront of their respective fields. It should be noted that this doesn't always translate to the best *teaching*, but that might well be beside the point.
Some economic theories of the value of education are that it is a signalling mechanism - that by getting a degree you can prove your competency/commitment to a potential employer (as opposed to actually making you a more valuable employee). With that in mind, a degree from a prestigious university indicates that you achieved their stringent entry requirements and put in the required work.
EDIT: people pointing out the importance of making good connections - definitely should not be underestimated. But the fact is that this is both a cause and an effect of the University's prestigious status. They feed into each other. | 169 | 199 |
ELI5: why are countries like Panama, Cyprus ideal for laundering money? | To understand how countries facilitate international money laundering you have to understand a peculiarity about how EU countries treat their citizens in regards to foreign investigations. Which is to say, EU countries will not investigate their citizens at the request of foreign countries, nor will they extradite their citizens.
For a long time this meant that if you were a French citizen you could cross the border into Germany and commit as many crimes as you wanted. As long as you made it back to France without being caught by the German police, you were essentially immune to prosecution for everything that you did because France would neither investigate nor extradite you since you were a French citizen. This system obviously didn't work when the EU was formed.
EU countries didn't abandon their blanket refusal to investigate or extradite their citizens when the EU was formed. Instead, they just decided to treat requests for investigation and extradition from other EU nations to be "domestic" requests. So nowadays France will extradite you to Germany, regardless of whether you're a citizen of France, because Germany is in the EU and so France considers Germany to be part of France for the purposes of extradition requests.
But lets say that you're a French citizen who commits a crime in Egypt. Egypt is not a member of the EU, so France considers it to be "foreign" and will not extradite you since you have French citizenship.
How does this relate to Cyprus? Cyprus is a member of the EU but it considers other EU states to be "foreign" for the purposes of responding to requests for investigation or extradition. That is to say, if Germany asks a Cypriot bank to investigate money laundering involving a Cypriot citizen, the Cypriot bank will tell Germany to get an order from a Cypriot court. The Cypriot court will refuse to grant that order, because it considers Germany to be a "foreign" nation and the investigation concerns a Cypriot citizen.
Both legally and philosophically the EU has had a difficult time reconciling why EU countries are allowed to refuse to investigate or extradite their citizens on behalf of some countries but not others. Because of the contradictory nature of the EU's position on this, they haven't been able to pass anything binding on Cypriot banks. They have tried to apply pressure by threatening to reduce EU funding, but every time they do so Cyprus just agrees to "do better in the future" and then does nothing.
And the EU has even less of a basis to try to ask a non-EU country like Panama to comply with EU money laundering regulations, at least as to Panamanian citizens.
So if this only affects Cypriot/Panamanian citizens then why is it a big deal? Both Cyprus and Panama sell citizenship. Its not unusual for a country to have a visa program that allows for someone to invest a certain amount of money in the country and to then gain permanent residency there. But that requires you to *invest* the money into some productive business, not just stick it in a bank. And the path from permanent residency to citizenship typically takes quite a long time and requires that there isn't any suspicion that you're an international criminal.
That isn't the case in Cyprus or Panama. You become a citizen of either of those countries as soon as you stick enough money in one of their banks and they don't care who you are, what you do, or where the money came from. So if you're an international criminal who wants to launder money through one of those countries then you just stick it in one of their banks and, viola, that money is now clean as far as the EU is concerned.
This leaves the US as really the only country that can enforce money laundering rules on international banks - which the US goes to great lengths to do. But the US only really goes after banks that are interfacing with the US banking system or providing services to a US citizen.
Cypriot and Panamanian banks only interface with the EU banking system. This means that the money can really only be used in the EU, and even then only for very limited purposes. But if you're a European drug lord or a Russian oligarch that's probably fine for whatever you want to do with it.
Cypriot and Panamanian banks are also very careful not to allow US citizens or anyone who even has US residency to bank with them. Again, if you're a European drug lord or Russian oligarch this doesn't impact you at all.
Because of this, money laundering through those countries is a distinctly EU problem, and its one that it can't really resolve because of how most of the EU's member states have decided to deal with their own citizens vis a vie requests on behalf of "foreign" law enforcement. | 109 | 112 |
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ELI5: What made Einstein so regarded as a genius? | Please don't tackle me here, I'm not trying to be provocative. I'm actually really dumb in this area. I know Einstein is regarded as a genius of course, and I know he came up with the theory of relativity. But I'm horrible at science and I wanted to know why in simpler terms, Einstein is considered much smarter than all other scientists of his time? Did he solve a long lasting problem, or did he come up with something that no one else even saw?
Was it one of those right place at right time things, where Einstein wasn't necessarily "smarter" per se, but he was looking for the right thing while other equally bright scientists were not? Or was Einstein really on another level from all human beings?
I hope this question makes sense, it's started to sound like it doesn't. But overall, I'd just like to know what makes Einstein a genius, and if it's the theory of relativity alone, why did this do it? | In 1905, Einstein was the modern-day equivalent to a doctoral-candidate student working at the Swiss Patent Office to pay the bills while he worked on finishing the papers he needed to get his final degree. (This is to put a bit more perspective on the whole "he was a patent clerk" line. It's true, but perhaps a bit misleading. He was the equivalent to a modern-day patent examiner, so the job was much more technical than simply filing paperwork.)
That year, he had four papers published in the scientific literature:
1) The first paper took an idea Planck had introduced in 1900 to make the black-body equation, namely that light energy came in discrete chunks, and applied it to a totally different phenomena, namely the photoelectric effect. While Planck regarded his result as a weird mathematical hack, Einstein expanded on it, showed it explained the photoelectric effect, and linked the two. In the process, he effectively created quantum mechanics.
2) In his second paper, Einstein showed that the then-controversial microscopic "kinetic theory of fluids" (aka, atomic theory) should produce macroscopic effects identical to that of the already observed phenomenon of "Brownian motion". His result effectively proved the physical existence of atoms, bringing a decades-long debate to a close.
3) In his third paper he reconciled the Maxwellian laws of electromagnetism with the laws of mechanics. In it, he showed that a slight modification of the laws of mechanics, nearly undetectable by scientists of the day, would account for the seemingly constant speed of light implied by Maxwell's equations, plus the inability of experiments to detect a directional difference in the speed of light. This is the "Theory of (Special) Relativity" he is well-known for.
4) In his fourth paper, he expands on the implications of Relativity, and shows that mass and energy are equivalent (aka "E=mc^2").
All four papers are revolutionary, in the sense that they drastically changed the direction of science in their field by introducing new ideas or new ties between previously disparate things. And he wrote them as a doctoral student, working alone, raising a family, with a full-time job, all in one year.
He followed it up by realizing that his "Theory of Relativity" broke gravity, and spending the next 11 years fixing it (creating the "General Theory of Relativity") which in a revolutionary sense changed our entire view of the shape of the universe.
Einstein's "Annus Mirabilis" (Miracle Year), plus General Relativity, are all "really big things", and firmly cemented Einstein's reputation among scientists as a really big genius.
I don't know how this got parlayed to popular fame and adulation. Perhaps it's because of the publicity of the Eddington mission to test General Relativity.
| 348 | 286 |
How do we know things like what the inside of the earth is made up of, or what a planet like Neptune is made up of, if we haven't been able to get there and find out for sure? | Well, in the case of Earth, we have a lot of sources of info:
We have extensive exposure of upper mantle in ophiolitic complexes; so there's that.
Then there are several exotic magmatic intrusions such as lamprophyres and kimberlites which are derived from deep structural levels. These at times carry chunks and crystals of the stuff they cross on the way up (xenoliths and xenocrysts).
For the parts we have no samples from (lower mantle and core), we have geophysical data: the magnetic field, density, wave transmission properties through seismic data. | 14 | 66 |
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ELI5: why is hot good for some inflammations, but for others it's better cold? | For example, if I have an inflammation in my arm resulting from bumping into something, or someone kicked my balls, I would use an ice pack. But if a woman is on her period (since the uterus swells), or I have a swollen throat, it's better for the woman to use a heat pack, or for me to drink something warm or hot. Why is that? Aren't inflammations basically areas of the body with enlarged blood vessels or filled with liquid? What's the difference between inflammations that require hot or cold? | Heat opens blood vessels, bringing more oxygen and nutrients to an area. Cold shrinks blood vessels, it is used to reduce swelling and inflammation of an acute injury. For situations where muscle spasm is part of the problem like a back sprain or uterine cramps, heat relaxes muscles, helping to reduce the pain. | 143 | 97 |
ELI5 Why does our hair turn grey as we get older? | Hair gets it's color from a pigment produced in the hair follicle. When the cells that produce that pigment stop working, hair grows as grey. The older you get, the more likely those cells are to stop working. | 14 | 35 |
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ELI5: Gross topic, but curious. How does eating “bad” or greasy food result in immediate diarrhea when it takes up to 24 hours for the food to actually digest? | Think of your GI tract like a race track, and the food you eat like race cars. The finish line is a bowel movement. The fastest race cars are the ones your body has marked as waste or unwanted. So something your body doesn't like is going to win the race. | 34 | 30 |
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CMV: The more equal we want our society to become, the less freedom that society will have. | There is a catch-22 between equality and freedom.
The more equal we want to become the less freedom we shall possess.
Take for example the law that says a women is not permitted to wear a niqab in France. The reason behind this law is to create a more harmonious society in France, and concealing the face with a niqab does not allow for this.
Many people would see this and say that this is a restriction on freedom of religion. Others would say that this is a necessary restriction that is needed in order for society to progress to live in the first world.
Both, freedom of religion and equality are first world principles but they contradict each other.
We know that certain religious freedoms need to be oppressed because they do not align with societal norms. Like stoning people or allowing for 10 year old's to wed as some examples. More then seeing these as restriction we look at them as part of societal evolution. The evolution towards first world life.
That evolution has now reached the point where wearing a niqab in France is no longer considered a religious freedom worth protecting. The idea of creating a harmonious society being more important to upheld.
The problem is, is that the more we try to move towards a harmonious society the more "freedoms" or differences among society will be restricted.
The most extreme cases of societies that have enacted this would be communism/socialism in the U.S.S.R or Fascism/ Nazism in Germany. They believed that we are only truly equal if they are all the same.
It seems like the evolutionary scale at attaining equality eventually leads us to a totalitarian system that restricts freedoms. Unless we believe that society can evolve to perceive and treat everyone equally without the need for totalitarian rule (I don't think this is possible nor likely).
So what do we do? Do we protect freedoms or do we protect the desire for equality?
For that I do not have an answer.
But I do believe that the more we try to be equal the less freedoms we will have. Change My View.
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> *Hello, users of CMV! This is a footnote from your moderators. We'd just like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please remember to* ***[read through our rules](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/rules)***. *If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which,* ***[downvotes don't change views](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/guidelines#wiki_upvoting.2Fdownvoting)****! If you are thinking about submitting a CMV yourself, please have a look through our* ***[popular topics wiki](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/populartopics)*** *first. Any questions or concerns? Feel free to* ***[message us](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/changemyview)***. *Happy CMVing!* | If you define equality as equality of outcome (like you're doing in this post), then of course it will lead to oppression. If you define equality as equality of opportunities, freedom grows instead of contracting.
Ex: Universal suffrage. While it removed the "freedom" to oppress others, it granted the far greater freedom of political involvement. | 311 | 501 |
CMV:I don't understand the need for hate crime laws | Let me start by saying that I am liberal and in a protected class, so I don't feel unsympathetic to victims of hate crimes. What I don't understand (and after discussing it with a friend now realize that I have never really understood) is why a similar crime against a protected group should be punished in a different way. Maybe it is because I don't believe in the preventive nature of increased punishment, but to me it is sufficient that the crime is punished, and if the horrific nature of the crime merits increased punishment it should merit that punishment across the board, regardless of who the victim is.
e: Thank you to everyone for the discourse in this thread, I'm replying as quickly as possible to people but you've all been great and given me a lot to think about! | Some crimes have an increased severity when viewed in the context of hate toward a certain group. For example, if you set a fire in someone's yard, you can be charged with destruction of property (assuming it doesn't burn the house down or something).
If you instead light a cross in a black person's yard and stand across the street wearing KKK garb, then one could easily argue that you've actually done more than simply set a small fire. Something that isn't tangible. You've intimidated a family into fearing for their lives. And that's only true because of the context in which you committed a crime which was otherwise just setting a little fire to some wood. | 35 | 15 |
CMV: Racism has nothing to do with power or privilege | IMO, claiming that racism only applies to people who have power and privilege for the purpose of debate, judgement, or policy, makes very little sense. To define it as such would completely eliminate some things that are quite racist. For example (depending on the specifics of the definition beyond just p+p), the ethnic violence during the Rwandan revolution (not the genocide) couldn't be called racist on the basis that the Tutsi minority had power and privilege. To claim that the killings were not racist would be completely disrespectful. To change my view, I ask that you prove that this definition is firstly, beneficial for discussion and secondly, the problem with the simpler "discrimination on the basis of race" that requires changing it in the first place.
To separate my view from some related posts, I'm not arguing that systemic or systematic racism does not exist. I'm also not arguing that no one(edited for clarification) has more power or privilege than others on the basis of race. Im solely arguing that power and privilege have no impact on determining if a statement is racist. | >"discrimination on the basis of race"
If this is *all* "racism" is, what's the ideology that makes it an "-ism"?
In fact, nearly all dictionaries have a primary definition similar to this:
>a belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
The only "prejudice" that makes the cut is related to that ideology:
>also : behavior or attitudes that reflect and foster this belief : racial discrimination or prejudice
Another definition that appears in many dictionaries is similar to this:
>the systemic oppression of a racial group to the social, economic, and political advantage of another
So... why is your definition better than that used by nearly all dictionaries?
Answer: it isn't.
Definitions aren't based on some kind of declaration from on high, logic, or etymology, they're based on *usage* by most people.
And most people think there's more to "racism" that simple "discrimination on the basis of race". It at least must reflect a racist *ideology* of *racial superiority*.
Otherwise you get nonsense like measuring average heights of the races being "racist".
There are several different ways it's more than that, but if that's what you mean, just be more specific and use "racial discrimination" or "racial prejudice" and people will be more likely to know what you're talking about. | 11 | 37 |
If I am standing on a beach at sea level, how far can I see into the horizon? | Assume it's a clear day with perfect visibility and you're looking out to sea?
Edit: I'm so bad at phrasing.
I was trying to ask how far away could you see the clouds | If you assume the Earth is a perfect sphere, the distance you can see is about sqrt(2Rh), where R is the radius of the Earth, h is the height of your eyes above the surface, and sqrt is the square root function.
The radius of the Earth is about 6,371,000m. If you're 1.8m tall, then you get a distance of 4,800 metres, or about 3 miles. | 33 | 19 |
[MCU] Are the Guardians of the Galaxy superhumanly strong and durable? | EDIT: They appear to do some pretty fantastic things - powerful leaps, lifting apparently heavy objects, soaking massive impacts with no visible effects, etc.
But is this due to them being tougher than a human or is it due to technological enhancement, being on low-gravity worlds, etc.? I seriously can't tell. | Personal shield emitters and flexible body armor is standard equipment for galactic adventurers. Starlord's average quality Ravager coat alone provides substantially better protection than you might expect, and his gear under that is designed to cushion his body on impact and retain heat within the vacuum of space. Just because it looks like he's wearing nothing more protective than a leather coat doesn't mean he's actually going out there in one. Don't underestimate Gamorra or Rocket's numerous cybernetic implants and what those can do to improve their strength and hardiness either. | 90 | 108 |
When statisticians say "distribution", do they mean a frequency distribution, a probability distribution, or a plain old list of values? | I find the usage of this term very confusing. It looks like they do most often mean a frequency distribution, but almost none of the material I read or watch makes that clear at *any* point. | Typically probability distribution, but the context should make it clear. Note you can easily convert a frequency distribution to a probability distribution by dividing all of the frequencies by the sum. | 43 | 25 |
[Lovecraft] Are non-human/sentient creatures affected by the psychologically damaging effects of viewing cosmic entities? For example, if a cockroach or a rodent was shown Cthulu, would it be driven insane? | Most animals have a very narrow focus on the perception of their surroundings. They aren't particularly curious beyond whether something is an obstacle to overcome, a predator to avoid, prey/food to consume, a potential mate, a rival, or a safe place to hide.
A person wants to *understand* what he/she is seeing, so becomes keenly aware that something is very very wrong with these eldritch entities.
Assuming the animal could even perceive Cthulhu (like a cockroach isn't aware of much beyond a few feet away) he would trigger one of the other visceral responses before it got to the 'ineffable horror' stage. It would probably be fear of a predator. Then the animal would simply flee like it does for any other dangerous creature it encounters. | 37 | 33 |
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ELI5: The difference between socialism and communism. | There are two possible answers to your question:
1) What are the differences between Communism and Socialism *conceptually* and
2) What are the differences between Communism and Socialism *in practice*
1: /u/Nothos927 is essentially right as far as this line of questioning goes; Socialism is an economic system in which the means of production are owned co-operatively - this may include state ownership. Communism is a subset of socialism in which the means of production are owned by the people directly, rather than the state, in an attempt to establish economic equality among people. Socialism is simply a broad term which encompasses communism.
2: In practice, we are almost never using these terms correctly. There has been no large scale successful communist state, be definition, just as /u/Nothos927 said. The countries we so often call communist would in fact be better described as fascist socialist states, because although the state controls the means of production, that power is not shared with the people. Instead, the state exercises totalitarian control over industry, thereby becoming considerably more powerful, and directly conflicting with the core ideology of communism. The countries we call socialist in Europe are really closer to social democracies, which are like socialist/capitalist hybrid economies; they have social programs financed by the government, but the means of production is not held exclusively by the government. In short, when we're talking about communists, we're really talking about fascistic socialism, and when we're talking about socialists we're really talking about socialist/capitalist democracy.
Edited for clarity/I forgot to put articles places =) | 88 | 106 |
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[Skyrim] Why are the Forsworn such good bowyers and such bad fletchers? | Me and my mates got in a scrap with some of them and ended up with a bow and some of their arrows. Both look like they were made in the Forsworn's style.
The bow is a masterpiece, it's made out of the same basic stuff as any bow, no fancy elfin metals or the like, but it surpasses anything the jarl's guards carry.
The arrows are pathetic. They don't fly straight, they have no penetration. Even the cheapest arrows on the market are better.
What is going on here? | Bows are useful for more than just killing Nords, and are often symbols of ones skill and a hunter. Some are even heirloom items passed down through families. Care is, thus, made in constructing them.
Arrows, on the other hand, are disposable ammunition often manufactured on the fly and rarely expected to last more than a single shot. More often than not, they are slapped together out of scrap. They don't need to be fired straight most of the time because they are intended to be fired close up, within a few feet, and for the most part they don't need to penetrate anything thicker than Deer-hide. | 18 | 22 |
ELI5 Are milk substitutes just several plant juices that happen to be white/made to look that way or is there a reason to call them milk? | The concept is to have the salt, fat, and protein levels match the target (cow's milk). Most almond milks are very close, perhaps a little low on protein, so they work the same in some cooking operations. It's not just a drink alternative. | 25 | 22 |
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How we know that how kreb cycle actually happens in the cell? | How do scientists study microscopic biochemical mechanism at cellular level like Na/K Pump, glycolysis, kreb cycle etc. In cycles products keep changing/converting so how do they keep a track of all of them? Considering they are so so minute and so so less in amount in comparison to average lab samples and experimentation. | One powerful technique is isotopic labeling - a compound that is known to be part of a process is labeled with either a stable isotope or a radioactive one, then the label is tracked through the various transformations. For instance 13C or 14C labeled pyruvate could be fed into the citric acid cycle, producing labeled citrate and subsequent constituents over time. Varying the position of the label can show which parts of molecules are being transferred through the cycle.
In the mid-20th century radioactive labeling was particularly useful because the compounds could be detected through simple techniques like thin layer chromatography, whereas we can observe stable isotope labels in a much more fine grained fashion now using LC-MS/MS. | 54 | 92 |
[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 maintaining it’s open minded non-discriminatory approach to dress and grooming.
1. We know that at the very least Starfleet has allowances for facial hair (Worf, La Forge, Riker, Sisko etc all had beards at various points). The previous examples were mostly due to personal choice but we also know that Starfleet makes allowances for facial hair based on cultural practices or religious traditions. With so many technicalities it seems like it would be simpler to simply allow facial hair of any length for any anyone simply due to personal choice.
2. Physical restrictions to hair length or grooming seem to be in place but once again these are also given allowances to cultural or religious practices. It would also have to have bodily allowances for alien species that must physically maintain long hair or horns etc for physical health. Further still it would be difficult to have one set of rules for every distinct species because there are also species interbreeding that could combine any number of factors involving physical requirements, religious beliefs, or cultural traditions.
3. For dress regulations most Starfleet officers generally seem to wear the uniform in the same way with rare exception. Those exceptions being an available skirt option regardless of gender (as seen on an officer during Picards’ command) and cultural regalia (Worf). We also see that Counselor Troi briefly wears a unique variation of a Starfleet uniform briefly. This is all assuming the officer in question has a body type completely compatible with the humanoid silhouette of the uniform. If an officer had shoulder spikes or a head in an unusual location, additional arms or legs etc. So many exceptions would have to be made it would make the standard uniform more of a suggestion if anything
Curious to hear other opinions or thoughts | - 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 be be adjusted to fit nonstandard or unusual bodyplans, should they be required. Non-regulation accessories are prohibited outside of items that are of cultural or religious significance. Uniforms are not required if it inhibits one's health or duties (such as acting as a councilor).
- A ship's Captain has final say on grooming requirements, non-regulation accessories, or when a uniform must be worn (outside of health reasons).
It's entirely possible to enforce standards, even after accounting for issues that might pop up in trying to apply them. | 99 | 86 |
ELI5: Why isn't tax included in the price prior to check out? | A) Allows them to advertise lower prices
B) Allows them to advertise the same prices for all stores - in the US, sales tax can vary across city, county & state borders
C) Allows them to mark the price once - sales tax rates change, by small amounts, fairly often | 28 | 30 |
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What judgment should I make when I encounter claims that have neither supporting evidence nor counterevidence? | Suppose someone claims that a unicorn exists, and there is no evidence for or against the existence of a unicorn, what should a rational thinker do in such scenario?
Should one suspend judgment? Or should one reason that the claim is more likely to be false since it is a better explanation in terms of simplicity? | A lot of the time, there is more evidence than you might think. For instance, unicorns are not small animals. If they existed, it is highly likely that zoologists would have found and documented their existence. The fact that this has not happened is evidence against the existence of unicorns. It's not an airtight proof obviously, but it is evidence. Other forms of evidence can come from our knowledge of how organisms evolve and whether a particular evolutionary outcome is likely.
If there really isn't evidence either way, you should withhold judgement as someone else pointed out above. But you often have more evidence than you think. | 60 | 46 |
Can You Do Research In More Than One Topic During Grad School? | I am interested in two different fields: genetic engineering and tissue engineering. At the moment, I'm in my fourth year as an undergraduate engineering student, and I found two professors who do those things, respectively. However, I don't think I have time to work in both their labs. I would like to ideally focus on both of these subjects and integrate them into something I can study when I proceed to grad school, but I can only choose one of the two for now. If I were to stick with the professor who focuses on genetic engineering research, is it possible to do research in tissue engineering later on without any hindrances? Or will I be forced to stick to one of these fields and never really get to diversify? | Rather than frame this problem as genetic vs tissue engineering, frame it as Prof A vs Prof B.
Think about the messy factors that have nothing to do with engineering. Your relationship with your professor and lab mates can amplify or nullify your efforts. The amount of funding a lab gets can be a huge deal and at the very least establishes a lab's prestige. What about lab alumni? Do any of them run a biotech company you'd like to work for?
*If all else fails, go with your gut. Being smart enough to worry about this question is a larger safety net than most people get!* | 12 | 17 |
[Babylon5/MassEffect] What if: The Systems Alliance had access to Shadow Tech? | In the year 2150, the Systems Alliance uncovers buried in the surface of Mars a Shadow Vessel from the B5 franchise. With this discovery of a highly advanced species how will the SA adapt these new technologies? How will the rest of the series play out with the discovery of Shadow technology? How will the other races view the SA? Will they be able to survive the Reapers? | This depends on a few things:
- Is the Shadow technology well understood and can be made functional, given the lack of telepaths in the Mass Effect universe?
- Assuming it can be activated, will the Shadow Battlecrab either go berserk (as it did in *Messages from Earth*) or summon another Battlecrab to finish freeing it and depart SA space?
- Assuming it can be activated and does not flee or go berserk, can the Systems Alliance can replicate the technology involved in it in time for First Contact and/or the Reapers?
If it can be made functional, but goes berserk or escapes, nothing the Systems alliance has can functionally stop it.
If it stays in place and the Systems alliance can replicate its, however, the Systems Alliance is now developing tech based on a ship whose weapon that is capable of exceeding a Reaper's primary armament by *over two thousand times* and phasing in and out of hyperspace at will. The Systems Alliance promptly becomes untouchable in a direct confrontation, easily overrunning the entire Turian Hierarchy when the First Contact War happens (if it even does) and earning the total fear and perhaps even reverence of other Citadel races.
Needless to say, if the Reapers do turn up - even if Sovereign's original plan succeeds - they're in for a *very* bad time. | 14 | 24 |
ELI5: What's actually happening in my brain when I'm confused? | Most thinking we do is based on maps of reality we build up in our heads that prepare our mind and body for expected events (e.g. Pavlov's dog). Confusion is when something happens to us that causes our minds to seriously reconsider whether the map it was using is valid, and, if not, which map is.
The problem is, your current map was based on the best available information and now seems wrong - so your brain must toss through ALL the information it can to extrapolate the proper map to apply. This is overwhelming enough, but worse, it still has an investment in the map it was using so it becomes very difficult to be decisive because the brain is caught between two competing models of reality. | 677 | 1,019 |
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ELI5: what does "mastering" do to audio? | Keeping it relatively simple for ELI5, mastering audio is basically the process of preparing a mixed song or album for duplication and distribution.
You can break mastering up into 2 broad sections.
Aural and Technical.
Aural would be the manipulation and processing of a song/songs to get the best possible listening quality on as many different devices as possible. People can listen to a song on anything from a clock radio, cheap earphones, home hifi, car stereo, on their tv etc... All of which react completely differently and a given song will sound different on every system. There are techniques such as EQ and compression that can be applied to a song that can help it to translate as well as possible between different systems. A lot of bass would sound great on a good hifi or in a recording studio but would not sound good at all on a clock radio or cheap earphones. So mastering engineers use many techniques to "smooth out" the song dynamically (called compression), and also techniques to balance the song sonically (EQ).
Limiting is also applied which is a technique which basically makes a song louder. The louder the better with modern music it seems, but there are draw backs and this is an ongoing argument in the mastering industry. Limiting a song too much can cause it to distort, or can lose clarity in drum strikes etc. There's a happy middle ground here but these days most songs are over compressed and limited.
On an album the mastering engineer would ensure that the transition between each song is as the artist wants. So they will do fade in or fade outs as appropriate. They would also ensure that an album has an overall "tone" or "sonic signature", which basically means that the songs sound consistent in both volume and tone. If one song was bass heavy and was followed by a song that was lacking in bass the listeners attention might be drawn to that, and we want to avoid that.
Technical side to mastering would include>
* Embedding ISRC codes which stands for International Standard Recording Code. These codes are embedded on a CD and simplify the collection of royalties.
* Track order on an album.
* Gap times between each track. How much of a gap a listener hears before the next song.
* Creating hidden tracks.
* Creating a disk image that complies with international CD standards (Red Book).
* In recent years mastering engineers often supply tracks for online releases only and may be required to encode the song in the various versions that are required. MP3, m4a, flac etc...
Another big aspect to mastering is the listening environment. Mastering engineers use extremely expensive speakers called reference monitors. Although these speakers can be loud and can have massive bass response, they are more useful because they somewhat mimic home hifi speakers (but are much much higher quality), these speakers are clinical and are comparable to using a magnifying glass. Unlike recording studio speakers which no average person has in their living room. A mastering studio would sound very very nice and would be a lovely environment to sit and listen to an album. A mastering engineer would be an expert and know exactly how a song should react/sound in their studio and know how to manipulate it to get it to translate well onto car radios/headphones/home stereo etc...
Finally a mastering engineer is often a fresh pair of ears who only hears a song or album at the very last step. Everyone else involved to this point may have been listening to the songs for months and may not notice little errors. A fresh perspective can often discover the strangest mistakes and errors that need to be fixed. A mastering engineer could often send a mixed song back to the mix engineer if something needs to be addressed.
It is a very important job and a role that many claim they can do but few do it well.
| 77 | 109 |
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ELI5 Do different languages light up different neurons for the same concept ? Do clusters of neurons correspond to a certain thought? | The brain more or less has a dedicated section(s) used for processing language, regardless of where the language comes from or what order the person learned them. It’s not like, for example, Thai uses one part of the brain and French uses another.
That being said, language is a lot like art. It’s not always the same from person to person, culture to culture, setting to setting. Your brain is a highly capable factory and though there is a main terminal responsible for language it might need to ask for assistance from other parts when trying to determine meaning and pragmatics. | 156 | 278 |
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ELI5: i was told that wider tires don't equate to more area of contact with the road. Then why are all high performance tires wider than everyday tires? | Wider does, in general, mean more contact with the road. However, there are a lot of considerations that go into the design of a tire and its traction and handling qualities.
Bluntly, your "contact patch" is your traction. That's the surface area of your tire that is in contact with the road at any given moment. The width, inflation, rubber compound, tread pattern, and flexibility of the tire control the size and effectiveness of your contact patch. The setup of your vehicle's suspension is also a big factor in traction and handling.
A performance or racing car on smooth, dry pavement should generally have a wide tire, a "slick" (no tread), and a rubber compound that is perfectly suited for the temperature and handling required by the course or road being used.
A tire that is too wide might give exceptional traction in a straight line (i.e. drag racing), but is a poor choice for a road course.
A wide tire is also a poor choice for standing water, snow, or ice. A narrower tire in this case puts more weight per tire area on the ground, helping the tire to push through the water, snow, or ice and make contact with the ground. This is what tread patterns are for, also. Those grooves channel water and other debris away from the tire and increase the weight per area.
I grew up in an area that received a lot of winter weather. A Corvette, even with snow tires, is practically uncontrollable on snowy or icy roads due to the light weight of the car and the large contact patches of the tires. When foul weather is involved, a wider tire equals less contact with the road. | 52 | 68 |
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How to write a diversity statement as a cis, hetero, white male? | I’m putting in the work to read from others online. I’m looking for any perspectives you’re willing to share. Thanks | Doesn’t have to be about your own experience but rather how you value diversity and will foster it. Do you have experience in diverse teams? Will your research impact diverse populations? Any outreach you’ve done or plan to do? What are your values in terms of diversity? | 164 | 91 |
AskScience Panel of Scientists III | **Calling all scientists!**
The previous thread expired! If you are already on the panel - no worries - you'll stay! This thread is for **new** panelist recruitment!
**Please make a top-level comment on this thread to join our panel of scientists. **
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You may want to join the panel if you:
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You're still reading? Excellent! Here's what you do:
* Make a top-level comment to this post.
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We're not going to do background checks - we're just asking for Reddit's best behavior here. The information you provide will be used to compile a list of our panel members and what subject areas they'll be "responsible" for.
The reason I'm asking for top-level comments is that I'll get a little orange envelope from each of you, which will help me keep track of the whole thing. These official threads are also here for book-keeping: the other moderators and I can check what your claimed credentials are, and can take action if it becomes clear you're bullshitting us.
**Bonus points!** Here's a good chance to discover people that share your interests! And if you're interested in something, you probably have questions about it, so you can get started with that in /r/AskScience.
/r/AskScience isn't just for lay people with a passing interest to ask questions they can find answers to in Wikipedia - it's also a hub for discussing open questions in science. (No pseudo-science, though: don't argue stuff most scientists consider bunk!)
I'm expecting panel members and the community as a whole to discuss difficult topics amongst themselves in a way that makes sense to them, as well as performing the general tasks of informing the masses, promoting public understanding of scientific topics, and raising awareness of misinformation.
[Go here to the new thread, which is not expired!](http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/jwibi/askscience_panel_of_scientists_iv/) | General field: Biology
Specific fields: Genetics, Gene Regulation, Cell Biology, Evolutionary Biology
(Former) Research interests: Bacterial gene regulation, Molecular evolution
BSc Biochemistry, PhD in the field of prokaryotic genetics, 14 years post-doc experience; 8 years in research, 6 years as a science writer | 90 | 107 |
CMV:Some people claim to fight against racism while simultaneously holding racist views. | There is a guy called NycResistance that I have looked up to for a long time. He has documented police officers harassing people in Harlem. When the stop and frisk campaign went into full effect, he was there documenting the obvious racial profiling. He claimed to want to fight racism. He really inspired me. But in the comment section of his latest video you can see him calling white people "Devils", "wicked heartless Europeans", and "Demonic Creatures". **Fighting against and exposing racist police officers is not an excuse to be racist toward them or people who share their race.** I wish I could say that he was the only one that was making these racist remarks in the comments... but there were many more people doing the same. [Here](http://youtu.be/spyoQzUpA5Q) is a video I did on this particular instance.
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> *Hello, users of CMV! This is a footnote from your moderators. We'd just like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please remember to* ***[read through our rules](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/rules)***. *If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which,* ***[downvotes don't change views](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/guidelines#wiki_upvoting.2Fdownvoting)****! If you are thinking about submitting a CMV yourself, please have a look through our* ***[popular topics wiki](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/wiki/populartopics)*** *first. Any questions or concerns? Feel free to* ***[message us](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/changemyview)***. *Happy CMVing!* | What view do you want changed?
Yes, some people do things.
There's probably very few actions that we could definitively say 'No human in the history of ever has done that thing'
We're not going to change a view that is 'sometimes some people do a thing' | 31 | 28 |
ELI5: Why is chicken soup good for you when you're sick? | When you're sick, even though you feel awful, it's important that you get plenty of fluids and plenty of your body's normal nutritional needs - calories, protein, vitamins, sodium, etc. And if you're congested (like you would be with lots of common illnesses, say a cold or a flu), then you're not going to have much of a sense of taste or smell, so food won't be all that appetizing to you.
Soup, since it's mostly hot liquid, produces steam to help open up your passageways and allow you to smell and taste your food. And chicken soup specifically has everything your body needs - plenty of sodium, fat, and protein from the chicken broth and meat itself, and then usually vitamins from the carrots, celery, and whatever else is in there. So in one bowl you have an appetite enhancer, fluids, and all of the major food requirements that your body needs. | 52 | 16 |
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Explain Germán Idealism to me, please | What the deal with these “______ completes the system of german idealism?? What is it that’s suppossed to complete it? Why is it not complete? | German idealism is the movement of German philosophy which roughly begins with Kant's *Critique of Pure Reason* in 1781, and culminates in the later works of Hegel and Schelling. Kant's work was revolutionary for how it claimed that, while the world does exist objectively and outside of us, the *subject* (or mind) plays a central role in determining how the world is intelligible. The 'structure' of the world, Kant argued, correlates with the structure of our mind.
The triad of classic post-Kantian idealists -- Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel -- all tried to deal with the implications of Kant's system, in very different ways. A central issue for post-Kantians concerned what might be called Kant's *dualism*. In positing that our experience of the world is fundamentally shaped by the structure of our subjectivity, Kant thus left room for a 'thing in itself' -- an aspect or side of the world that lies *beyond* our subjectivity and is thus unknowable. For the post-Kantian thinkers, this was unsatisfactory: how is it acceptable to leave a whole aspect of the world completely unknown? In some sense, the major works of German Idealism attempt to overcome this problem. | 71 | 53 |
[General Sci-Fi] Which singular (normal-sized) alien would cause the most problems for earth? | Whether it's an alien like The Thing, a xenomorph or a 40K Ork, it doesn't matter. I suppose even Sith or Thanos (without the gems) would count in this question. But there's only one of them and it's teleported to the middle of a major city. It's only goal is, naturally, to destroy earth.
Which alien would cause the world to go to hell the fastest? | Anything that is a bioweapon, or could be considered as such, including due to alien microorganisms. So, The Thing, Xenomorphs, Orks, Tyrannids and any alien diseases. Orks are probably the worst, as they cannot be gotten rid of. | 28 | 16 |
Is the conception of god innate in humans? If you could link me to any works on this topic, I would be highly grateful. | I was recently going through Chomsky's work on Generative Linguistics... which is influenced by rationalism. Can this view of rationalism be extended to religion? | Two early modern figures that are good to look at for this are Descartes and Locke.
Descartes argues in his 'meditations on first philosophy' that, since everything has a cause, and nothing can come from something less than itself (a ball cannot travel further than the ability of the thrower) we cannot generate our perception of God (something perfect cannot come from something inperfect). We also do not perceive him through our senses, so the only way that we know God is through an innate sense (this is his 'trademark argument', meditation 3).
Descsrtes is especially interesting concerning rationalism extending to religion.
In contrast to him, Locke argued that all our knowledge comes from experience, thus we are a tabula rasa - a blank slate. He argues this in his work 'an essay concerning human understanding' where he notably points out empirical examples of societies that have developed without the idea of God, thus it cannot be considered innate.
Hope this helps! | 55 | 108 |
[Action Movies General] How effective is a vet at treating human wounds? | We've all seen this in multiple action movies before. Our beloved one\-liner badass action hero got into a fire fight with 50 well\-dressed henchmen of some billionaire villain, and killing them all. But not before sustaining some injury like a gunshot wound or multiple cuts from a knife. So obviously our hero ain't gonna go to the hospital or the authorities because he's badass that way, he decided to limp his way to a vet instead, scaring the shit out of the vet and warning him/her not to call the authorities, then asking the vet to remove the bullets and treat the wounds asap before he's off to another gunfight the next day. Are vets capable of doing that? Are they trained to treat human patients? | They are not trained to treat human patients, but they are trained a lot more generally than a surgeon is. When you work on anything from a hamster to a dog to a horse and everything inbetween, they are more than capable of treating one in a pinch. Might not be as good work as a specialized surgeon, but a human is just another animal on the list of what the vet have treated that day. | 38 | 20 |
ELI5: How are we able to tell if something is edible without eating it? | Simple answer is that you can't... so here's how to find out if something IS edible...
1. Find a plant that is plentiful (you don't want to try this testing for something you're unlikely to find to eat).
2. Don't eat or drink anything but purified water for 8 hours.
3. Separate the plant into root, stem, and leaf (R/S/L) (sometimes only 1 is poisonous).
4. Inspect each part for any kind of worms, parasites, or insects. If found discontinue with that sample and find another. Some plants are only poisonous during certain seasons (acorns after the fall are rotten).
5. Rub R/S/L on the inside of your elbow or wrist make sure it's crushed so you get the sap on your skin.
6. If you find that there is no immediate skin reaction for 8 hours you're safe to continue.
7. Cook the plant (boil in some water or grill over coals) as some plants are only poisonous when raw or under-cooked (check out raw beans for an example).
8. THIS IS ABOUT WHERE IT GETS DANGEROUS! Hold a small cooked portion against your lips for 3 minutes. DO NOT PUT IN MOUTH. If you experience any reaction: burning, tingling, etc. IMMEDIATELY discontinue with that portion of the plant.
9. Place a small piece in your mouth. DO NOT CHEW FOR 15 MINUTES. If any reaction, discontinue.
10. Chew the piece and then hold in your mouth for 15 minutes. If any reaction, discontinue.
11. Swallow the small portion and wait 8 hours. Do not eat or drink anything but purified water during these 8 hours. If you feel sick immediately induce vomiting and if activated charcoal is available drink a glass of water mixed with the charcoal.
12. After these 8 hours have passed eat a 1/4 cup of the vegetable prepared the same way. Wait another 8 hours. Again, do not eat or drink anything else and if you feel sick induce vomiting and use activated charcoal as described in #11.
13. Rinse and repeat, you can simplify this if you do have food you know is digestible by using your 8 hours of sleep in the testing cycle. Also you can always test another plant immediately on your other arm or behind your knees if you got negative results from the touch test. However, if you get a negative result during any of the ingestion tests wait until all symptoms have disappeared before starting a new test, including a touch test.
14. Here is a list of common things to look for on a plant that COMMONLY mean it's at least mildly poisonous:
White berries.
Milky sap.
An almond scent.
Seeds, beans or bulbs inside pods.
Thorns, spines or hairs.
A bitter taste.
Grain heads with pink or black spurs.
Groups of three leaves.
| 54 | 54 |
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ELI5: Answer an ELI5 FAQ - Why do judges give very long or multiple life sentences? | Help ELI5 explain these common questions so that we can redirect future posters here.
* Especially given the current events regarding [James Holmes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Eagan_Holmes) who just received 12 life sentences + another 3318 years, [Why do criminals sometimes get more than one life sentence?](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/search?q=sentence&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all) | Most crimes carry with them a minimum or maximum sentence to guide the judge/jury after the defendant is found guilty.
It's not unusual for someone in a high profile case to have broken several different laws or the same law several times. When their case finally goes to trial, the defendant is put on trial for all of their crimes, and they will be found guilty or innocent of each crime individually. Likewise, the defendant will get a sentence for each crime that they are found guilty of.
So lets imagine a particularly gruesome series of events that lands our defendant on trial. This takes place in Anytown, USA.
Mr. White gets in an argument with his neighbor, and at one point threatens to shoot his neighbor. Later that night, Mr. White breaks into his neighbor's home, kills the husband, rapes and then kills the wife, and then for good measure steals a bunch of jewelry. Later that night, the house burns to the ground, but Mr. White actually had nothing to do with it.
Now Mr. White gets caught and charged with the following:
Assault (1 - 2 years)
B & E (1- 5 years)
Rape (5 - 10 years)
2x Murder (25 - Life)
Theft (1 - 5 years)
Arson (5 - 10 years)
Mr. White is found guilty on all charges except for the arson, for which he was found not guilty. The Judge and Jury decide to give him the maximum penalty for all charges for his heinous crimes. He gets 2 life sentences plus 21 years. Obviously there no way he can serve all of these, but the is a practical benefit to this practice of the legal system.
If any one of these charges are successfully appealed and overturned, then their punishment can just be subtracted from the total punishment, leaving the other convictions in place.
The alternative would be trying to decide what fraction of his punishment gets removed in relation to his total set of crimes and the amount of time served, assuming that a life sentence was the maximum possible punishment. It would be very difficult in practice to decide how much of his remaining time should be removed if say the rape conviction were overturned. | 104 | 106 |
ELI5: How is Ebola able to spread the way it has during the current outbreak? | I am seeing reports that multiple medical professionals have begun to contract the disease. How is this happening if it is so hard to transmit and what is preventing this from spreading further, if anything? | Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person; every droplet of a sneeze has the potential to infect, and so do other fluids as well. It also stays virulent after death, so touching the dead body during funeral rites also has the potential to infect. There is a pretty high chance you will be infected if you do come into contact with the fluids of a sick person, but if you don't then there is very little chance of catching the disease. Even with all of this; most of the problems with spreading during this epidemic have been because of extremely poor facility conditions and the medical practitioners often having little or no access to water or proper hygiene equipment. A large portion of the people getting infected are themselves health workers attempting to take care of the sick in appalling conditions, which could be solved with better equipment and education about how the disease spreads. | 44 | 90 |
How is fresh water created on remote islands surrounded by the salty ocean water? In other words how did ancient societies get enough drinking water in Oceania? Do the islands just have to be big enough? | I was just watching a video about the Mahjapahit(?) and they mentioned how a certain island was important for its drinking water. What does that mean? What process occurs to let some islands have fresh water? | Freshwater isn’t so much created as collected on islands.
The term you are looking for is “freshwater lens”.
Essentially, if conditions are right, rainwater can collect in the soil of an island and float on top of the more dense seawater far below in the soil.
If this is a sustainable system, then everything is good. People can drill down and tap into the freshwater, plants can grow and rainwater will periodically replenish the lens.
If the sea starts to intrude (violently or repeatedly) into the lens, then mixing occurs and problems start. The freshwater becomes brackish (or completely mixes with the sea) and everything depending on freshwater is in trouble. | 105 | 87 |
Why are bubbles always spherical when blown? | Whenever bubbles are blown, they appear to always be in a spherical shape of different sizes. Why not cubes or other shapes? | There are primarily two forces to consider: pressure and surface tension. There is an outward force due to the difference in pressure between the inside and outside of the bubble, and there is an inward force due to surface tension.
The force due to the pressure gradient is trying to increase the volume but the force of surface tension is trying to decrease the surface area. These forces reach equilibrium at the shape which minimizes the surface area for a given volume: the sphere. | 31 | 26 |
CMV: There is no excuse for consistent lateness | We all know that person who is always late every time. I think there is no excuse for being late to everything all the time.
If you're really that busy every day- start getting ready earlier. Drop some of your non-essential obligations over time. If you get stuck in traffic that much, leave earlier or maybe even later (if the route is clear at the end of the window it may take less time to get to your destination and you may, paradoxically, arrive on time because you've traveled faster.) or take a different route.
I have a very busy life and I am late to things maybe 2- 4 times a year. Being occasionally late is unavoidable. We're talking about people who are late day after day- event after event.
Edit: Not replying to any more medical comments. I already awarded a conditional delta on that.
Edit: I'm mostly giving up on this one. People are just tossing around the same tired points and don't seem to understand my responses including the fact I gave a delta to people with disabilities (so long as they do their best to not be late and aren't using it as an excuse to be lazy and inconsiderate). Also, I feel like I explained my points about employment as thoroughly as I could and there is nowhere left for me to go with that line of thinking, | Cultural differences might explain the chronic lateness of some people. Social psychologists conjecture that cultures vary on the dimension of the perception of time.
North American and European cultures tend to be monochronic: personal planners are a sacred tool, lateness is considered rude, schedules have to be respected. Time is seen in a linear way, and time lost is lost forever.
On the other side, African, South America, and Asia tend to be more polychronic: schedules are flexible. Time is seen in a circular way, and time lost can be recovered later.
These cultural differences are among the most irritable things a sojourner can experience: try to imagine a city where bus schedules are merely a global indicator of when the bus will arrive. Try to organize a business meeting when your international partners have a two-hour margin to their arrival time.
When socialized in more polychronic cultures, individuals tend to view lateness as a relative thing and may have only a vague comprehension of the concept of lateness.
Inside monochronic cultures, it is true that consistent lateness is hard to accept, since people are generally aware that being on time is very important in the eye of others.
However, some people may be excused to be late on a daily basis, since they can be socialized in a way that they do not fully understand how being late is rude. | 244 | 604 |
I believe a lot of people with 'scientific understanding' rely on a dogma just as much, if not more-so than religious people. CMV | **I have responded** please see update 1&2
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Let me just define my meaning of 'scientific understanding'. The typical view of someone who uses scientific theory and experiment as a factual representation of the universe and reality. The person with dogmatic beliefe then, has a concrete belief in an objective reliance of scientific theorem. Let me also warn you that this is a very pedantic post.
Looking at the following thought process:
I subjectively observe a table.
I have a distorted 'picture' of that table in my mind
Meaning, the picture I have of the table then..
has less information than the 'real' table
So I then say that reality exists and I observe it with subjectivity
However, if I am always confided to the distorted/subjective reality
I can then say that to me, 'outside reality' doesn't exist
As I have no tangible link to it
And the only reality I can verify exists,
...is the local reality of my own experience
I believe you cannot objectify reality without assumptions. And the closest we can get to objectify reality is it's structure not the content. Therefore, all information and knowledge are objective derivatives of subjective (and distorted) data/input.
These peoples 'Scientific understanding' then, relies on the *faith* of a subtle yet hugely significant unfalseifiable set of assumptions. Such as claiming an objective reality is real outside our own mind. This faith is dogmatic as proof (in my opinion) doesn't exist. Therefore...
*I believe a lot of people with 'scientific understanding' rely on a dogma just as much, if not more-so than religious people. CMV*
Just for clarification, it's my belief that people *can* have scientific understanding without dogma. These people I would describe as people who are aware of the assumptions they and others may adhere to. And that they have an abstract metaphysical understanding of where their understanding sits with the current scientific theorem. (*e.g. someone who accepts a new observation on the sun, yet realises the sun may be a projected input into their mind feeding into their experience not unlike the movie 'The Matrix' - so the sun might not be 'real'*).
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TLDR & ELi5: ~~Those who followed 'scientific understanding' over 'religious understanding' during the times when we believed the earth was ~~flat what the sun revolved around - held on to a belief the earth was flat just like some people also held on to the belief of religion.~~ A proper scientific understanding, is open to conflicting 'truths' and is aware of the assumptions of the current meta-scientific-theorem.
Edit: Note, it is not the 'science' that provides the dogma, it is the way some people interpret it/use it in their thinking/cognitive dissonance.
___
***Update:***
Firstly I was overwhelmed at the comments; in how I could have portrayed my view better as some people misinterpreted me, in how many great comments came about and in how there was a genuinely good discussion.
Secondly, I must admit, I did use religion inappropriately here. I knew this type of title would get a lot of attention. Luckily it paid off, and people were able to get my meaning. My main point was that I find that science relies on a set of assumptions which a lot of people aren't aware of - or fully understanding of. [My thread here](http://www.reddit.com/r/neurophilosophy/comments/1erbfj/cognitive_relativity/) goes into more detail on the view. But my view comes with a frustration of being poorly presented and the struggle can be seen today and in the linked thread. But there's a great deal of comments here that I can sieve through and either a) change my view b) better portray my view. So for that many thanks, I regret I have tested peoples patience enough, but I cannot commit to any comments changing my view yet. Please understand it will take some time to read through, today or another day - I will try to award a delta where appropriate.
Opposing points:
> My use of the word 'dogmatic/dogma' wasn't completely appropriate.
* I wanted to illustrate that some people 'believe' in science with faith. Specifically, that reality is exclusively objective or rational. This is complimented usually by their inability to properly identify their subjective bias and the assumptions they and science make.
> My use of the phrase 'scientific understanding' was slightly confusing.
* There are people who have a scientific understanding which I would (as per my view) categorize as proper scientific understanding like [here](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/1hxgyq/i_believe_a_lot_of_people_with_scientific/cayzhj5) by user /u/rmill3r. As well as the type mentioned in the above bullet point.
> Scientific 'belief' is 'better' than the religious 'belief'
* This was not an intended talking point - I just used it as a comparison that would catch the eye of science-minded people. Therefore I will not address which is 'better' because a) I can't fully represent a religious person as I am not b) the terms for 'better' are subjective and differ. However I do have somewhat of an opinion on this and I think for evolution and survival, it is necessary to favor a scientific belief over a religious for the physical sake of survival only.
Before I revisit the thread with the intention of dishing out any deltas that may be warranted, let me leave with some links for people interested in this topic that may be new to it.
Existentialism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism
Ontology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontology
Systems Theory: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_theory
And most importantly Cognitive Dissonance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance
Also be sure to look into the awesome comments I know I will read some more than once and I may message people to discuss their views further and share the love for this kind of discussion.
**Update 2: Please note a lot of people are confusing *'practising'* science with *'believing'* in science.** Also I have responded [here](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/1hxgyq/i_believe_a_lot_of_people_with_scientific/cazlk5p?context=3).
| You are correct in your understanding of scientific knowledge as incomplete and approximate. The perspectives on the universe rooted in scientifc knowledge are models of understanding, NOT precise descriptions of essential truth. However, you are incorrect in thus equating it with dogma.
The scientifically-based models are rigorously tested and fit observed evidence to this point. More importantly, those models are not only up for review and change, but the *entire goal of scientific research* is to make changes to that model, usually by filling in details.
Dogma is, by definition, laid down by authority. It has no connection with observed evidence. Dogma also by definition is incontrovertible, beyond debate.
To say that treating scientific knowledge as fact is a form of dogmatic thinking is unsound reasoning, treating a degree of inaccuracy implicit in an incomplete or subjectively observed scientific model of the universe as equivalent to the absolute lack of evidence or rigor characteristic of religious dogma. | 406 | 224 |
[Archer] Why does ISIS seem to do law enforcement jobs instead of just intelligence. | For example.
They investigate and search a rigid airship after a bomb threat was made.
They investigate and sometimes try solving murders (Such as Antarctica)
And they often provide security at events that were threatened or when a criminal is suspected to strike.
ISIS often seems to do things that the local police, FBI or any other law enforcement agency should be doing instead of an intelligence agency | They are a private contracting company that performs intelligence missions on behalf of their employers (usually the government, at least in early seasons.). Kind of like black water in the real world, but even more specialized. They’re hired when the government doesn’t want to risk it’s own assets in a mission, either because the chance of failure is too high, or they want some level of plausible deniability about their involvement. | 252 | 348 |
ELI5: What is intersectionality and why is it a buzzword among activists? | Intersectionality means that we have numerous and diverse aspects of our identity, not merely one.
For example, you have a race but that is not the only thing which defines you. You have a gender too, a faith perhaps, a nationality, an age, a career, and many different aspects of your character. Intersectionality means that none of us are merely “one sort of thing”.
Intersectionality is being promoted today not only by “activists” but by Human Resources professionals in an attempt to combat the single-minded nature of “Identity Politics” which compels us to view ourselves and others as stereotypes who have only one thing defining them. | 56 | 21 |
|
ELI5: What physically ARE radio waves and what keeps different frequencies from interfering with one another? | Radio waves are light. You can see many different colors of light, right? That's because light comes in a lot of different categories called *frequencies* which correspond to their colors.
Now, there's a lot of light out there you can't see with your eyes! BUT, a radio receiver can still "see" this light. Just like you can see that a red flower is red even if it's really bright outside, radio receivers can see the color (frequency) of the light they're receiving even with some background noise!
If you were looking exclusively for a pattern of blue text, you would be able to see it even on a page full of pink text, right? Radio waves are the same thing. | 67 | 77 |
|
ELI5: The anti-vaccine crowd and their arguments | Advances in the field of psychology over the past few years have meant that a lot more is understood about autism spectrum disorders, and the guidelines classifying what is classified as autism have been broadened.
This means that a lot of kids that just a few years ago wouldn't have been considered as autistic are now being diagnosed.
The anti-vaccine crowd saw the resulting increase in reported incidences of autism and ignorantly decided that it must have been caused by a correlating increase in rates of vaccination.
They support their arguments with "research" done by people like Andrew Wakefield, who used to be a doctor but was barred from practising after it was found out that the "research" he did was basically just bullshit he was paid to make up. | 325 | 336 |
|
Has a solution been discovered for the curvature of space-time due to the hydrogen atom? | If not, could one do so if the exact locations and momenta of the electron and proton were known using current theory? | Sure, you could create a stress-energy tensor for the hydrogen atom, plug it in to the Einstein field equations, and see what you get, but the question is "are the Einstein field equations still valid on the quantum scale?" We don't really know how gravity works on really small length scales. | 13 | 17 |
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