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I think raising the minimum wage is a bad thing. CMV

I head Joe Biden's address today regarding the plans to increase minimum wage, and I find his arguments weak, rationally inconsistent, or outright wrong. For example, *There’s clear data that shows fair wages generate loyalty of workers to their employers, which has the benefit of increasing productivity and leading to less turn over. It’s really good for the economy as a whole because raising the minimum wage would generate an additional $19 billion in additional income for people who need it the most.* Loyalty to an employer will only happen as a result of a higher wage if *other* wages remain low. If all employers must offer the same minimum wage, this will do nothing to increase employee loyalty -- an employee could just as easily go anywhere else and earn the same amount of money. edit: It was pointed out that I did not substantiate why I disagree with raising the minimum wage, I merely objected to a single point in Biden's argument. Here are some points that concern me: One: I believe that if the government legislates a minimum wage, then it coerces employers into accepting a condition for a contract that they may not agree to otherwise. There is no corresponding force on the other side of the contract, no one is forcing people to take employment at a certain wage, and I absolutely don't think there should be such a thing. It is the same line of reasoning that brings me to the point of not wanting to force employers into something that they may not see as beneficial for them. Two: I believe increasing the minimum wage will reduce the number of available jobs, and small businesses aren't exactly thriving. Three: This one is a bit more abstract. The dollar isn't exactly a constant measure of value, nor is any other currency. In economics, we adjust for inflation, we adjust for prices of fuel, we adjust for any number of factors. If I compare the cost of a banana today to the cost of a banana 50 years ago, I can't make an immediate conclusion whether the value of the dollar has changed more, or that of the banana. In the same sense, an hour's worth of unskilled labor can be considered a similar commodity, but it is a commodity with behavior that is closer to oil than it is to bananas. If we raise the minimum wage, the price of *everything* will go up. Four: Let's say I'm wrong about number three, and say I want to earn better than minimum wage. Is it worth it for me to try to gain education or a certification of some sort if I can gain a job at $12/hr? Maybe, if minimum wage is $7.50, and maybe not if it's $10.10. It depends on the cost incurred to acquire the skill or education. But there definitely is a group of people out there at the point of this decision who will conclude that improving their skills simply isn't worth the time, effort, or investment.

You want spenders to have cash to further the economy. Man with 30 million gets another million, that money is getting invested, not moving the economy. 1000 people making living by the paycheck get an extra 1,000, that money is immediately getting pumped into the economy. Also, you want to encourage people to work, not live off government subsidies.

ELI5: How has the previous generation “ruined the housing market” for millennials?

ELI5: As a millennial, I keep hearing people blaming the baby boomers for ruining the housing market. Can someone explain how exactly they did this?

The short answer, we don’t make as much money as they did. Slightly longer answer: US household median income in 1970 was $9,780 which has a buying power of $64,700 in today’s money. The current median US wage is 61,800, about $3,000 less or effectively 5% less money available per year than they did. Next, median home sale price in 1970 was $23,600 or $155k in today’s dollars. The median sale price in Jan 2018 was $330k; double what they were paying ‘back in the day.’ So, you have to spend on average 25-50% more money to get a home with 5-10% less money. This is all due to wage stagnation relative to productivity and inflation. Or otherwise said, wages did not keep up with the cost of goods and your dollar just doesn’t go as far.

ELI5: What exactly are the moles on your body? Why do we need to go through surgery to actually remove one?

A mole (or melanocytic nevus) is an often benign local overgrowth of melanocyte cells. Melanocytes are the cells responsible for making melanin, a dark skin pigment. That's why many moles appear brown or dark - the large number of melanocyte cells make lots of melanin, which give the mole its colour. There are numerous types, some depending on which layer of the skin the cells are from. Usually you're either born with them or you get them within the first 20 years of life, then they tend to stick around. We go through surgery to remove them for two reasons; either the person with the mole wants it removed for cosmetic reasons, or a doctor suspects the mole may actually be a melanoma - a particularly nasty type of skin cancer. If there's any indication the mole is a melanoma, it's removed, usually with negative surgical margins, which means you cut out an area of skin around the cancer that contains entirely normal cells (so you can be sure you cut it all out and didnt leave any behind). The removed bit of tissue is then sent off for testing to see if it is anything to worry about or not - that's called a skin biopsy.

CMV If abortion is an option, child support should also be an option.

Title says it all. If a woman can decide whether or not to keep baby and therefore support it, a man should be able to decide as well. I’m not here to argue abortion itself, I’m morally against and will always disagree with it BUT I’m also a avid supporter of individual liberty and as such only extend my views to my life so I don’t think I’m that biased in this regard. That said I see a certain unfairness in the arguments surrounding abortion and child support. In child support the common trope is “It takes two to tango” in that whether the father wants the child or not he has an obligation that legally he cannot remove himself from. In abortion the common trope is “My body my choice” in that if the father decides well maybe he wants the kid then too bad. To a father he is watching his child be murdered. And society is more or less telling him to get over it. So help me understand, why is it moral/ethical for only one parent to have a legal obligation to a child and not the other? If the father doesn’t wasn’t a child but the mother does he has to pay. If the father wants the child but the mother doesn’t he still has to pay. (the price being his child) Can someone convince me that is a good thing? In that same vein I’m having trouble accepting why an unborn baby is a fetus or baby depending on the mothers feelings. For example killing a pregnant woman is double homocide. So if a pregnant woman is punched and forced to have a miscarriage, the logic trail suggests the case can be dropped from the get go if the mother decides it wasn’t a human. So in that realm a woman can legally determine the criteria for murder? I don’t think that a single person can determine the law and go back and forth based on their feelings, that’s the opposite of a definitive legal term. I’m not saying that’s what people agree with, I’m saying if that hypothetical scenario is possible and allowed then the child support option should be too.

Men have the same rights as women when it comes to abortion. They both have the right to terminate a pregnancy that is happening in their bodies, within the limits of the law. With current technology, all pregnancies exist in female bodies and that is why men don't get to choose to terminate their pregnancies. Men are never pregnant, so it wouldn't make sense for them to terminate a pregnancy. Saying men don't have a right to abortion is like saying women don't have a right to have their prostate removed. The right is there, they just don't have prostates to remove. What you are talking about is a financial abortion, which is unavailable in most countries. Here, men and women have the same rights too. Neither can choose to financially abort a baby because society has decided that the baby's rights are more important than the parents' financial autonomy. You may argue that financial abortions should be allowed and that is a discussion worth having. Just don't frame it as men and women having different rights because they don't. They have the same rights, but one of them lacks the body parts needed to become pregnant, thus making it impossible to actually exercise the right to terminate the pregnancy.

ELI5: If the universe is always expanding, that means that there are places that the universe hasn't reached yet. What is there before the universe gets there.

I just can't fathom what's on the other side of the universe, and would love if you guys could help!

The best metaphor for this is to imagine the universe is 2D, not 3D, so it's basically on a plane, like stars are painted on a sheet of paper. Now imagine it's not a sheet of paper but the rubber surface of a ballon. Now imagine the ballon is inflating. More and more space (the surface) is created, it is expanding, but it's not like it is expanding "over" empty space: the space itself is expanding. (This metaphor creates some misunderstanding as well, but works well for your question. Here is where it fails: it leads you to think you need some "3D" space outside/inside that 2D "universe"; you don't actually need that to explain our universe).

ELI5:Why do I hate the sound of my own voice?

Do you mean when you hear a recording of it? Most people dislike hearing recordings of their own voices, because they sound "wrong". When you hear your voice as you speak, a lot of the sound is being transmitted through the bones in your head. This leads to your voice sounding deeper when you speak. No one else hears your voice this way. When you listen to a recording, you hear yourself as others do. But it sound unnatural to you.

[SW] How can or how are a few Sith able to cause a massive shift in the Force? What exactly are they doing that causes a shift in the Force?

The exact mechanism by which they amplify the power of the dark side and upset the balance of the Force is unknown, and always has been. Theories abound, but really? The Sith had been actively corrupting the Republic leadership for decades if not centuries in preparation for war, fostering hatred and anger and suffering everywhere they went. And now we know that in addition to that, the Sith had a shrine buried deep under the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, and Palpatine was using that shrine to basically deafen the Jedi to the Will of the Force, spreading its effects and corrupting the Temple above it.

How is Kodak getting handed $765 million helpful?

To understand what's going on here, it's necessary to talk a bit about Kodak. Until the early 2000s, Kodak and Fujifilm were happily doing what they do best - manufacturing the top of the line photographic cameras. Yes digital cameras were starting to be produced by competitors like Sony, Canon, and Nikon; but all Kodak needed to do was make better and better cameras of both types in order to stay ahead. By 2010, digital cameras had become completely commoditised, and the only way to compete there became on cost. Worst still, smartphones were wiping out even the digital camera industry, making film doubly obsolete. In the meantime, Fujifilm had successfully diversified to provide imaging for healthcare and pharmaceutical purposes, and commercial document solutions, that meant it's cameras and film segment was now only 15% of total revenue. By 2012, Kodak had already filed for bankruptcy. Since then, Kodak has been struggling along bleeding cash year after year. It tried to play catch up with Fujifilm by moving into the commercial segment, but that failed. In 2018, it announced a move into Blockchain technology to create a cryptocurrency for photographers, which also failed. Now it's announced a desire to use it's film production chemical process to create pharmaceutical chemicals instead. To do this it's being extended a $750M loan (not a handout) to overhaul all its factories. These chemicals it intends to produce seem to be all generics, which is a supply chain dominated by India and China.

ELI5:Why is Whiskey so seemingly integral to the Irish identity?

I love Irish folk music and have visited Ireland twice and I don't think it's hyperbole to say that Whiskey really is a part of Ireland. What about it or the Irish makes the two so synonymous? Beyond the outside perceived stereotype (if it's not just that).

Because it was more or less invented there. Distillation was invented in the east but it was used to make perfumes, not alchohol. When the Italians got their hands on the process they discovered they could distil liquor from wine and from there the process spread via the network of monasteries throughout Europe. When it got to Ireland, they made whiskey. Trivia: Whiskey is the anglicised version of an Irish phrase, **uisce beatha** (Ishka Baha), water of life.

What causes an ice age, and is it possible for us to have another one/when could the nearest one be?

We are technically still in an ice age, called the Holocene, which started 2.6Mya. That 3 massive ice sheets (Arctic, Greenland, Antarctic) still exist, and that year round alpine glaciers still exist, is the reason why. Once they are all gone, you could say the ice age was over. We are in a warm period of that ice age called an interglacial period, which is why it isn't as cold as you think of an ice age.

ELI5: Does humans being allergic to pollen have any benefit for trees, or is it just an unfortunate accident?

Yes I'm salty because I can't breath

It's an accident. The leading theory is that allergies are the normal immune system responses to actual illness. Since we live in a much cleaner society than our ancestors, your immune system notices it is not getting used enough and assumes that the issue is that it's failing to detect diseases, rather than that the diseases aren't there. So it turns its sensitivity up to 11 and starts attacking random stuff like pollen and food.

ELI5 What is Californias worse case scenario concerning the drought?

I honestly am not sure thise is the right place for this but it fits for now. i know the articles say California has a year of water left. Obviously during this there will be fines and mandates restricting use. So what happens when we run out regardless of the fines and restrictions? Will the government step in? Will we have to abandon our houses? Does California become a Mad Max style place?

Since normal people actually only use a small fraction of the water and most of it goes to agriculture. It is to hoped that the government would restrict the use of water for things like growing alfalfa. Alfalfa makes up 15% of the water used in California and most of it gets shipped to Japan and China. That is right currently while draught is going on the government is paying farmers to export 1/6th of the water used in California overseas. So the sane worst case scenario would be government stepping in and restricting farmers from using water for luxury or export crops like almonds and hay and possibly paying them for their losses. The humans could live of the water California has left even though a server drought. It is the farmers who are going to have serious problems and through them the taxpayers who need to keep them from going bankrupt.

Is it weird to reach out to old PI after 3 yrs?

Hi all! I’m currently a 3rd year phd student and randomly today I realized I haven’t reached out to my old undergrad PI since my first month of phd. I worked for him for 1.5yr during undergrad and he helped me a lot during my application process. I originally planned to send him a email every year or so and feel super bad I just completely forgot about it (a bit of excuse for myself I didn’t handle phd during covid too well). I do wanna reach out just to reconnect and genuinely wonder how’s he doing. But at this time after 3yrs of no contact I’m also super awkward and don’t know what to say. Don’t know if I’m thinking too much into this. Would it be weird to reach out? Not great at stuff like this so would appreciate any input!

I don't see why it would be weird; it's always nice to stay in touch with people you had a good relationship with. Ask them how they are, how they handled the pandemic, what they're working on right now; tell them about the cool stuff you're doing in your PhD. Just do it, don't overthink it.

[Goosebumps] In “The Beast From The East”, where exactly did the kids end up?

They’re walking through the normal woods, not that far from their campsite. Suddenly, the plants are weird and otherworldly, there are strange animals and there are Beasts. I’m pretty sure that the sky changes color, too. Is this really just an isolated part of the woods? If not, where did the kids end up? Is this another planet, another dimension, some sort of fairy realm? Were they deliberately brought here, or was it just a “slip through the cracks” event?

It's been ten years since I've read these books, but presumably there was a natural portal to another world. It probably wasn't intentional by some powerful being, but rather these things naturally occur sometimes; think of in Alice in Wonderland, where the portal to Wonderland just naturally occurs in the woods in the form of a rabbit hole. It's not horribly uncommon for various portals to other worlds (be they planets, realms, or dimensions) to just appear in otherwise innocuous places, and they may be temporary or they may be permanent.

How do you make objections and counter arguments in continental philosophy?

Imagine I'm reading something like Hegel. He makes an argument along the lines of "a philosophy/idea/whathave you never comes before its time" or "truth is constantly becoming". Descartes's system was necessary for Spinoza's system to come about. Kierkegaard might say something like "in subjective thinking there is a double-reflection, you thank the universal and become even more subjective" or "communication between two people should never be direct and immediate" something along these lines. Now obviously Hegel and Kierkegaard develop these ideas much further, but how do you object to these ideas without just rejecting the entire idea outright? In more analytically inclined philosophy like Frege you can clearly argue against exact arguments he makes like Russell's paradox etc. Even with modern thinkers like Leibniz, they have a system which you can challenge the internal logic, showing some things they say cannot be the case. Edit: when I'm reading these continental philosophers, I find myself nodding along and kind of agreeing with them because I feel like I'm not smart enough to object to them. It kind of eats away at my confidence as a student.

One approach is to try to render the narrative that is being presented implausible in some way. For example you might imagine a counter-example or 'edge case' scenario where applying the narrative as given would lead to repugnant or absurd consequences - consequences that you don't think the author you are engaged with would want to accept or which would problematicize other aspects of their philosophy. Of course you need to be careful because these authors aren't stupid and have put a lot of thought into what they're saying. And you also want to be charitable, meaning among other things that you should try to understand and adopt the author's definitions of their own terms. Also, don't be afraid to be wrong, because you are going to be. It's the exercise of engagement that is useful in its own right, and which deepens your understanding through experience.

ELI5: Why do certain injuries heal and leave behind darkened skin while others leave scar tissue

The darkened skin is a kind of scar tissue. How a wound heals and what kind of scar it forms (light vs. dark, raised vs. indented) depends on a couple of different things that vary during the healing process like hormone levels, wound care, and general health.

[Planetside 2] Why are we fighting planet-side, and why doesn't anyone use nukes to defeat the enemy factions?

Like, we're all infantry units and not a bunch of marines but wouldn't it be more sensible to just blow the enemy battleships out of orbit (from orbit)? Why do they have to send everyone down to the planet to slaughter each other down here, while all the ships that took us here are heaving teaparties with the enemy above? And then another thing, back in ancient earth history they used nukes to subdue their enemies into surrender, so why can't we?! They'd be far more effective than these Gauss rifles we have have to work with; just plop a nuke on some enemy bioplant and they're a goner. What's keeping those teasippers from supplying us with actually useful weapons?

The New Conglomerate dogs and the Vanu Sovereignty's tech heads have stolen critical facilities from the control of the glorious Terran Republic. With the advent of rebirthing technology all sides believe (us correctly) that they can capture and defend these facilities in tact. When our troops are cheaper to replace than the bases they assault, why would we risk destroying buildings when we could capture them intact?

How much of height is determined by genetics?

My brothers and I are all ~6'4", my mom is 5'8" and my dad 6'2", and I was wondering if it was purely genetics or if some outside factors could have had a say in the matter. For instance, when we were growing up we'd go through about 8L of milk a week and we spent the majority of our childhoods swimming. Could this have had a say in our height?

Your maximum potential is based solely on your genes. However, in order to reach that height you need adequate nutrition. Anyone eating enough calories to grow and not suffering from malnutrition will grow to their maximum height as dictated by their genes.

[Star Wars] Which is the better Sith Ruling? Rule of Two or Sith Empire?

I was wondering what made the Rule of Two more successful than say the Sith Empire? From what I've read in the Jedi Temple, the Sith Empire had powerful Sith Lords about as powerful as our own Jedi Masters. Also, wouldn't the Empire be better since it allowed the Sith to grow and also give way to lesser Sith to rise the ranks, give them a drive to become a Sith Lord? Rather than this Rule of Two that only promotes two Sith and if both were killed then the Sith would no longer exists.

The Rule of Two allowed the sith to become more powerful in the long run by eliminating much of the infighting, keeping the sith out of conflict with Jedi, and letting the masters pass on a larger portion of their knowledge to their apprentice. In theory, the master can't be attacked by more than one aspiring sith lord at a time. This means the apprentice has to surpass his teacher to kill him, making every generation more powerful than the last.

CMV: Black on black homicide is a HUGE issue.

The fact that it is commonly used by racist to downplay systematic racism does not change its severity in any way. The causes are several obviously, but you can’t say it doesn’t exist. EVEN IF white people kill white people a lot as well. Americas very segregated still, so that’s pretty much gonna happen. The point is black people disproportionately kill each other way more. So many kids are killing each other everyday over stupid shit and it seems only very small non profits are the only things trying to curtail the problem. I don’t see a nationwide effort to reduce the problem that is clearly present. Even the most intellectual of black people, or just people in general will tell you it doesn’t exist, and I don’t know why. So please let me know. Don’t remember the stats off my head but black people are around 13% of the population and are around 50% of people murdered. This is very obviously not proportionate. The cause? I can only assume. But does it exist? 1000%.

2018 US homicide rate: 4.96 per 100,000 people 1991 US homicide rate: 9.71 per 100,000 people We’ve already cut the homicide rate in half in one generation. Where does this false idea that we’ve made no progress and aren’t making progress come from? Not from the data.

cmv: as an American I believe patriotism is a bit too over the top in terms of the nation

As an American, I often feel as if we as a nation are too narcissistic and full of ourselves. Think of a stereotypical high school jock. they’re big, soften airheaded, self absorbed, and even violent. Despite this they are extremely popular, and so strong that you wouldn’t even try to take them down. America is much like this. I personally find the degree to which we praise our country and place ourselves so highly on a pedestal is a bit much, sure I guess we are a decent country, but yknow we think we’re all tough beans and that kind of makes us look like a idiot and kinda inconsiderate to the rest of the world. Americas a fine country, but it never was perfect, and the best country? I don’t even think there is a best country. All countries for the most part have multiple factors to them, in such a way that makes it extremely difficult to rank them. If you do want something close to that the freedom index is good, but yeah. That’s my stance

Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President or any other public official save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him in so far as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth — whether about the President or about anyone else — save in the rare cases where this would make known to the enemy information of military value which would otherwise be unknown to him.

[Star Wars] Yoda successfully kills Emperor Palpatine and Obi-Wan defeats (but does not kill) Darth Vader, as usual. What changes?

Title. Answers can be based on canon or Legends. Darth Vader can die on Mustafar if not rescued. In both the canon timeline and the Legends timeline, the Jedi High Council is almost entirely wiped out, the Temple under the control of the Empire, and the Jedi Order itself is an enemy of the state. Who would take control of the Empire? At this point, was it too late to do anything?

The Jedi would be persona non-grata, and the galaxy would be in chaos, but the factors leading to it state of darkness and oppression would be gone, so it would be able to eventually recover. Perhaps, after a bit a new Jedi order could emerge and rebuild.

[GoT] Are Danni's dragons able to mate?

Serious question. This lady has three of these things and I have to be honest, I am surprised she is able to control then. What if they start having their own brood?

There's no reason they can't mate, apparently dragons are gender fluid to some degree. The problem is that because dragons have been gone for so long a lot of knowledge and research on them has been lost to the ages or is subject to debate, so even if Daenerys wanted them to mate she probably wouldn't know how.

ELI5: When I have a cold, how does my body produce so much mucus that I have to blow my nose every 10 minutes?

I have a cold, and I've had to blow my nose every 5-10 minutes. Where does all this mucus/snot grossness come from??

Under normal conditions, nasal mucus is part of the system by which your body inspires air. It is actually a prevention or defense mechanism. When the air goes by, the dust and whatnot sticks to the muscus-lined sides. And then the cilia (little hair) and the mucus move it to the rear of the mouth so that can hawk it up : it's called postnasal drip. When you get a cold, your mucus goes crazy and into somekind of overdrive mode to try to shed the virus or else you got. The mucus-producing cells extracts the "stuff" mostly from your blood (which you have a vast supply) hence the feeling of "TOO MUCH SNOT". You actually produce less mucus than you may think. One experiment showed that on the peak day of a cold the average person produces about 14 grams of drippings, or roughly half an ounce.

(Eli5) what's the difference between all wheel drive, symmetrical all wheel drive (remember this from a commercial, Subaru I think) and 4 wheel drive?

First 4WD vs AWD. 4WD is generally used in Trucks and SUVs and is generally not an "all the time" thing, it is just engaged when it is necessary. What takes place is a mechanical locking of the differentials to ensure that all 4 wheels rotate "as one". what this means is all 4 wheels are rotating the same amount which aids significantly in loss of traction scenarios, but you definitely DON'T WANT during daily driving. Wheels need to be able to rotate at individual speeds especially when making turns otherwise tires will get destroyed at best, or at worst you'll end up in an accident or end up destroying the vehicle's drivetrain. AWD utilizes limited slip differentials to enable the engine to drive all 4 wheels at once, which is a happy medium for cars that often find themselves in icy situations. LSDs allow the wheels to rotate at different speeds. now what Subaru offers that others don't: symmetry. The vast majority of a manufacturers lineup is front wheel drive vehicles and then for a premium, you can add AWD functionality. What does this mean? They take their front wheel drive car and slap on a drive shaft and an extra differential and tada, AWD. Subaru only makes AWD vehicles (except for the BRZ which is RWD only) and therefore they make the vehicle with the purpose of being AWD from the beginning. Now in the average vehicle, you have a transversely mounted engine which means the power from the engine comes out towards the driver's side front wheel, That power then needs to turn 90 degrees back towards the rear of the car, 90 degrees again towards the passenger's side, then once in the center, 90 degrees again towards the rear of the car. Every time you have to change the direction of the power, you lose power and create lag. Subaru's use of a boxer engine allows them to not need to change power direction at all before heading towards the rear of the car... therefore the entire drive train and by consequence power output is completely symmetrical. What does this actually buy you? Well Subaru claims a better AWD system; at any rate it certainly buys you more of your engine's power making it to the wheels and slightly quicker.

[Star Wars] Why did Anakin cut Mace Windu's arm off, why not just block his sabre when he was trying to kill the senate?

The ideal in any swordfight is for your first blow to be the fight's last. Blocking your opponent's sword means he can try to hit you back. Cutting your opponent's sword hand off settles things fairly conclusively. Drastic? Maybe. But Master Windu had a reputation of being the deadliest warrior in the Jedi order; if there's any risk of being stuck in a fight with him, you should look for a way out. And Anakin is fully aware that prosthetic hands are available if you need one.

[GoT] I'm a rich shop owner in Kings Landing. Stannis Baratheon is said to be marching towards the capital, and everything is going crazy in the city, do I have a chance to move out of the capital?

Since Robert Baratheon died things have started to go downhill in Kings Landing. Some days ago the mob attacked King Joffrey and his guards. The mob started a fire and burned down this goldsmith's house because he had a full larder, thank god they didn't burn my house down because I'm considerably well off, I have enough food to last me for weeks and enough gold too. I could hire a ship to take me and my family somewhere else, move all my belongings and gtfo of here. The question is whether it's worth the risk? Which cities could I even go to that are considered safe? Is it even safe to travel these days?

Probably go to Braavos using a smuggler if needed. The Iron Bank has its home in Braavos and banks tend to rely on stability so it's a good indicator that its stable, also the Iron Bank has a lot of sway across the world due to debts its owed. As a successful business man it's safe to assume you have savings in Braavos because of the Iron Bank and the city itself is known for its religious tolerence and openness to diversity so making your home there will be fairly easy. It would be wise for you to also leave a trusted employee or relative in KL while your away to continue your business, if it does get destroyed in a seige or battle so be it, but if it doesn't then, depending on your shop, you might be ready to rake in the money in the aftermath. Even if the war with stannis is decided without the annihilation of KL there is such instability in Westeros it might just be time to leave for good anyway.

ELI5: If Climate change is happening, where does the water go?

Okay, so we know Climate Change is happening, I believe that, i know that. The polar ice caps are melting. This should mean *rising* sea levels. But we know that Climate change is also causing drought. While I'm not sure how we have both drought and rising sea levels, if we're in a "closed" atmosphere, does that mean the water is just in the wrong place? Or is it leaving our atmosphere? I'm afraid I'm going to sound like a denier, I'm not, I just really don't know.

Yes, water in the wrong place, basically. Sea level rise is partly from ice on land melting, and partly from the water expanding a little as it heats. But sea ice is floating so melting it doesn't directly raise sea level, although it can unleash glaciers it was previously holding back. Droughts and floods are mainly down to shifts in weather patterns. Even if the same amount of rain falls worldwide, if it stops falling where it used to and starts falling where it didn't there are problems because all the farmers are where the rain used to be.

ELI5: Could someone live off a diet of pills containing the nutrients we need to live? Or does food have something "more" that we need to survive?

If we were sure we had all the nutrients (and enough calories to use for energy) then we could live off that. It would be too much to be compressed into pills probably, but some companies do sell powders and shakes that you're supposed to be able to live off of (for example soylent.com). The real question is whether food is providing some nutrients that we haven't discovered yet, that might be missing from this artificial diet.

ELI5: What is actually happening when a computer/smartphone is booting? Why isn't it usuable immediately upon turning it on?

When you interact with a computer, you're interacting with software that lives in "memory". However, for the vast majority of computing devices, memory can only retain the software while it receives power. There are other storage areas on computing devices that can retain software and data even while powered off. On most computers, that's a combination of BIOS (a special computer chip that contains the basic simple operating instructions) and the hard drive. On a smartphone, it's a special kind of memory that's considered "non-volatile" because it doesn't get erased when the power goes away. These storage places are much slower than normal memory. When a computer boots up, it copies or "loads" the software that it will use from whatever slower storage it uses into its fast storage, memory, so it can operate at the speed you expect.

A team from the WHO is currently in China looking for the origins of SARS-CoV-2. How do you look for the source of a virus?

Take a close look at all the slight variations in way the RNA mutates over time (note: usually they make artificial DNA from the RNA because it's more stable). If two different cases share almost all the same mutations then they're probably closely related. when you look at the small differences between four or five you can begin track backwards which was the oldest in the banching tree of similarities and differences - and which are "cousins" and which have closer "parent/child" relationships.

Is it possible for a deaf person to have tinnitus? If so, how does it work?

Yes. The ringing is actually coming from your brain and not your ear. When hair cells in the inner ear get damaged, the brain creates an annoying "eeee" sound becausd it's missing that proper connection. There have been people who had severe tinnitus and got their auditory nerve, from their hearing organ to their brain, cut hoping it’ll make the ringing go away. And they still had tinnitus, if not worse.

[Star Wars] Why did Yoda and Obi Wan have to split up to defeat Palpatine and Vader?

Wouldn't it have made more sense for both Yoda *and* Kenobi to gang up on both Sith lords? Obi Wan had to cross the galaxy to take on Vader. There was no rush to kill Vader. He was off starting his dark path, but nothing he did was time sensitive. If Yoda had had a bit of help he could have taken down the emperor and stopped the whole mess from going any further.

Yoda knew that Obi-Wan had no chance against Sidious. Even if both of them attacked Sidious together, Obi-Wan would likely die. Among the Jedi still alive, Yoda was the only one who had any hope of standing against Sidious in battle and living to tell the tale, and Yoda knew it. However, while Obi-Wan would not be much help against Sidious, he would be uniquely suited to tracking down and taking out Anakin.

CMV: Internet IS representative of the real world and it has done more than people usually give credit for

I don't know how many times I have heard this both offline and online "Internet is not real life. Meet people in real life". My teachers, parents, friends, politicians, people from Quora, people from Reddit, etc have often said that internet is different from real life, that politicians use internet for propaganda and that offline life is different.. They always pretend that internet is something 'different'...a 'thing'. It ISN'T. Internet is just connected computers. It is a network. And guess who is behind these computers? Yes, YOU. You, a guy from this world, a real person, not a bot, not a person from Mars. And the internet mainly consist of these very people. I come from a small city in India and I have witnessed both people offline and online, Indian and foreigners. I spend most of my time not interacting people, but watching them interact. And what did I learn from it? They aren't any different. The same people who used to sit on street shops, cracking sexist and racist jokes are now on the internet, doing the same thing. The same guys who used to bully and insult others all day long are now in CSGO and other game servers. The same guys who used to engage in debates, used to see the world in terms of 'left and right' and used to write articles bitching the right/left wingers are now on the internet doing the same thing. The same pedophiles who used to hunt for little kids on the streets and kidnap them is now just using a different platform for doing the same. The same men and women who used to trap young women and men and marry them for their money or have a flick with them is now using the internet for doing so. People talk about how many people are addicted to games and social media and that it is harming studies. These people are the same people who had been addicted to gossiping and playing outdoor games and bunking school/college when there was no internet. These are the same people who fell to peer pressure and became addicted to alcohol or smoking before the internet. If the internet has done anything, it has made people see the world more broadly. Before the internet, people were naive, living in their own cultural bubbles, thinking that their city/state/nation is the entire world. Now, with the internet, people are connecting, meeting many people, finding similar people from all over the world. My old relatives think Americans are a bunch of sexually immoral and hedonistic lunatics who have nothing to do except eat and sex. I, exposed to the internet, know that this is not necessarily the case...that there are parts of America, like Alabama, which is nothing but just like third-world countries. I bet many Americans think India consists mainly of people shitting on streets and living poor lives. But the internet has made us interact and we have come to learn so much about others. Imagine a gay guy in India or Pakistan or some other such countries. If he open his mouth, he will be socially shunned (in India its legal but still socially unacceptable). But internet is a hope for him. With that he can explore his sexuality, meet gay guys from all over the world and feel accepted in this 'virtual world' of the internet. TL;DR - Internet is not a 'bad' thing anymore than meeting friends is. Rather without the internet, people were extremely biased and naive.

# Internet IS NOT YET representative of the real world As weird as it sounds, internet is still in its infancy, and had not penetrated society fully. MOST people on the planet never use the internet, or rarely so. Either because they are too old, or too young, or too poor, or live in a country where internet is hard to connect to. Most importantly however, the vast majority of moves and shakers of this world (politicians, leaders, generals, CEO's bank directors etc) rarely ever use the internet and do not participate in its culture. Hence why there is a dissonance between what people write on the internet, what they argue passionately about, and what their politicians end up doing anyway. Internet is the tool of the powerless, and will remain so until the curent 30 year olds grow up to become 50 year olds, and join the cohort of people who actually matter in shaping politics, culture, economy and society.

ELI5 how do they make keyboards for languages like traditional chinese, which has over 3000 individual characters? ive seen mandarin typewriters, and theyre pretty cool, but how do laptop keyboards work?

Other than pinyin, which romanized the pronunciation of the character. There is also the wubi system which codifies the sequence of strokes of the writing of the character. To put it into English sense, the letters a-z are typically treated as atomic elements. You describe 'a' as just 'a'. Nothing less. The wubi system would break apart the writing of the 'a' into: ccw circle, then right-down sweep. 'b' would be: vertical stroke, cw circle. 'c' would be: ccw semicircle. 'd': ccw circle, vertical stroke. 'e': horiz, ccw semicircle Etc etc. Now you can see there's alot of common elements. ccw semicircle, verticals, horizontals. There going to be also left diagonals, right diagonals, hook left, hook right. Each of these can be a key on a keyboard and you can type out the sequence of how to write a letter. once you have each letter's strokes codified, you can then bucketize them by how many strokes it takes to write that letter. 1 stroke letters, 2 stroke letters, 3 stroke letters, 4 stoke letters. now you have a system

[Star Wars] How was a 14 year old Amidala elected Queen of Naboo? What did her political campaign look like? What campaign promises did she make, and why did the people of Naboo think that she was capable of accomplishing them?

The people of Naboo have the cultural notion that children are "pure" and unbiased, and therefore can make good decisions if presented all the information. That is why their Kings and Queens (which are just the terms for their head of state and is an elected position with strict term limits) are chosen from their young. Now that does not mean they are not without guidence. The children who are able to run for election have almost all universally have been trained from a young age in diplomatic schooling programs that teach them what is required of a politician, the minutiae of political dealings, diplomatic practices, and other vital information and training for a political life. They also have a council of seasoned and experienced councilors and cabinet members who have spent years in the civil service, some who have may even have served as King or Queen in their youth. They are able to provide the needed experience and advice to the head of state an can guide them in the decision making policies.

Eli5: Why is it easier to darken white paint than it is to lighten dark paint?

I remember in elementary school that I was mixing paints and to make grey, and I found that a small quantity of black darkens white super easily whereas even a 50-50 split of black and white leaves an almost black color. Is black paint more potent? Is there some kind of complicated color theory?

Paint color works by removing light, adding just a small amount of black pigment can darken white pigment a lot because it goes from absorbing \~0 light to more . But to lighten dark pigment you can only dilute the pigment.

What data should I be looking at to know if my state's minimum wage increase is working?

My home state of Illinois is increasing their minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next several years. This is something I generally support, based on studies that I've seen, but all the media coverage I've seen thus far has just been interviewing random restaurant owners who say "It's so bad, we're so broke, etc." without any actual data. I'm genuinely curious to see how this has effected the state's economy, so could anyone tell me what data I should be looking at to judge this and how I can desegregate things from just the general economic effects of the pandemic?

Getting data is a small step in seeing if it's working (assuming you have a clear definition of working). This is an important question that very smart people have tried to answer for decades. There has been a fair amount of research done on minimum wages' effects and presumably meta-studies as well. I'd start with a lit review.

[Treasure Island] Why didn’t Billy Bones want to get the treasure?

It’s my favourite book and I’ve read it probably 30 times, but I can’t understand why he wouldn’t want to get the treasure with Flints old crew. Did he plan to get it himself? That wouldn’t make sense.

I think he and Silver had some kind of personal beef going on, and the old crew were loyal to Silver. For whatever reason, keeping Silver and his friends from having the treasure was more important to Billy than getting it for himself. He'd rather die poor than enrich his enemy. So why not scrape together a new crew and go in secret? Well, Silver ran a pub on the docks, which means he had his ear to the ground. Going by Pew's part in the story, he was actively looking for Billy. If Billy started putting together a crew, especially on a limited budget, there was a risk that word would make its way back to Silver, and then Billy would be doomed.

ELI5: Russian last names: Uncle Ruslan's last name is Tsarni, but bomber's last name is Tsarnaev?

Do Russian surnames change? Upon marriage or region or...?

It's not a Russian name. It's a Chechen one with a Russian suffix appended to the end. This was commonly done for all sorts of non-Russian nationalities in the Russian Imperial days, and they've persisted. Some people prefer to use the non Russified version.

ELI5: why are Americans so apathetic in demanding/enforcing the "free market" they supposedly value so highly? See - Anti-Tesla legislation, AT&T, Comcast, etc communication monopolies, lack of transparency in healthcare pricing, ad infinitum.

Invoking the free market is a rhetorical bludgeon, much like the terms 'socialism' or 'terrorist', designed to draw an emotional response and not an actual thing that people understand or even truly desire in most cases. I would be willing to wager that only maybe one in fifty Americans who bring up Adam Smith have actually read anything by the man.

[Lord of the Rings] What's life like in the Undying Lands?

Is it pretty much normal life or is there anything particularly special about it?

Well, you can meet gods and stuff. That's neat. No wars, either. Or any strife, really. Not for a long time. If you're mortal, you won't last there very long, but you'll be at peace while you are.

[Star Trek / Norse Mythology] Thor throws his hammer at the Enterprise

So Thor throws Mjolnir at the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E). The Enterprise has enough time to get to warp and flee. Does Mjolnir hit the Enterprise? According to legend, Mjolnir can never miss and can never be thrown so far as to by irretrievable. Would Mjolnir catch up to the Enterprise? Surely hundreds of light-years away would count as too far to retrieve? EDIT: Norse Mythology, not Marvel

Mjolnir is powered by magic, specifically an extension of Odin Allfather's power, the Odin Force. Odin is generally regarded as one of the more powerful entities in the Marvel universe, capable of reshaping reality and the laws of physics at will, or even simply ignoring them. Take, for example, the magic that prevents Mjolnir from being lifted by any but the worthy. This isn't a case of Mjolnir being exceptionally heavy; otherwise all you would need is enough raw strength, and there are plenty enough superstrong characters who cannot lift Mjolnir. It is instead a test of moral worth. The Hulk is many orders of magnitude *stronger* than Captain America, but Captain America is generally speaking more likely to be able to lift Mjolnir at any given moment. When it comes to speed, it is likely that the "can never miss" property of Mjolnir is similar. It can *never* miss. Therefor, if it is thrown at a target, it *will* hit it, regardless of if that target is receding at superluminal speed. The occupants of the Enterprise would likely see it coming at them, and eventually accelerating beyond their ability to flee until it impacted them. Another question is how Mjolnir would respond to targets that do not move via traditional means. Would Mjolnir follow Nightcrawler through his parallel sulfur dimension, or would it change directions to wherever his teleport landed him? Also, suppose Mjolnir were thrown at the TARDIS as it dematerialized. Would Mjolnir then leap through time and space to hit the TARDIS wherever it went? An interesting conundrum.

[Harry Potter] How effective would a gun be against wizards?

Is the protego spell strong enough to block bullets or not?

We never see it but considering what other shit protego has stopped it could certainly stop bullets. But that doesn't matter because a gun would take out a wizard much faster then almost any wizard could cast a spell to either defend or attack.

How is it possible that satellites last far longer than planned?

For example, the Meteosat-7 satellite was launched around 20 years ago and is still working fine without the need for maintenance. The satellite was supposed to stay in geostationary orbit for only 6 years.

Usually when engineers say something will last for X years, it means that the thing has 95% (for example) chance of still working after X years. It doesn't mean that as soon as the X years have passed the satellite will stop working. This is something people often don't understand when they are talking about planned obsolescence. For satellites there are a couple of limitations on the lifespan on top of stuff just breaking up. First is the propulsion. In geostationary orbit you need a bit of propellant to correct for perturbations caused by the moon and the sun gravitational pull as well light pressure. When the propellant runs out the satellites are placed into a graveyard orbit so that they are out of the way of other satellites. Sometime thrusters perform better than expected, or the rocket is extra precise in its launch so you end up having spare propellant and you can extend the mission. Another thing that happens as satellites age is the degradation of solar panels and batteries. The solar panels lose efficiency when they are struck by radiation and cosmic rays. Lastly sometime the mission duration is tied to the money needed to operate a satellite. To extend a mission you need money to pay the people in charge of the mission. The ground equipment can be very expensive too.

CMV: Some Video Games Should be Revered as Much as Classical Art Displayed at Museums.

We're talkin' about a painting of a lady who can't decide whether she is smiling or not holding a place at a distinguished museum that people travel to witness its tiny fragile frame and yet there are entire worlds with storylines hashed out for several characters, physics engines, incredible details in some cases, and all of it can be interacted with by the audience on varying levels of immersion. Not to mention that pretty soon VR has the potential to upend some of the limitations that current levels of immersion present.

Museums exist to protect _singular_ artifacts and allow people to experience them. A video game (or anything digital, really) doesn't require protection because it can be perfectly duplicated an infinite number of times. You can't do that with a Picasso. Moreover, what would the benefit be? You can't experience a video game in a museum setting - you have to play it to get the impact. Its the same reason that we don't have the original film reels of _Citizen Kane_ on display in a museum - you have to watch the movie to appreciate its importance.

CMV: The best foreign policy to deal with terrorist would be to do literally absolutely nothing

Many people thought like you during WWII. They thought that we would be better off doing nothing. By us doing nothing, tens of millions died at the hands of the Nazis. For you to assume that these terrorist organizations are small in nature and can't flourish to pose serious threats is naive. The reason we haven't seen more damage by these terrorist organizations in the past half century, is because we have intervened. You think if we do nothing to ISIS that they are just going to disappear? We did that for 3 years and they became the strongest force in the region. Doing nothing does not make the problem go away, it makes the problem grow.

ELI5: Are we the only species to get headaches if so why?

No, many species are physiologically similar to people. The same imbalances that cause headaches in humans cause them in other species. Brain tumors give bears headaches. Rats can get hangover headaches. Cats have been disfigured by selective breeding and have sinus headaches.

[The Purge] How does the Purge affect other countries?

Assuming it only happens in the US, how does the rest of the world prepare? I assume both Mexico and Canada would have already walled key border crossings. The only safe way would be for full army and police mobilization, a curfew and a general state of readiness. What happens with border towns? Do they get evacuated or filled to the brim with soldiers and tanks? Regarding the rest of the world, do they hunker down for whatever crazy comes out of the US or do they take the chance to do some serious spionage? I mean, Putin would probably be angling to profit from the chaos any way he could. Edit 1: Canadians, how do you think your country would weather the Purge? I think it would be nothing short of a full wartime mobilization for at least 48 hours. Everyone, including children, are issued chip bracelets to identify them as citizens. Anyone not carrying one on Purge day is liable to be shot on sight. Schools and all businesses are closed, all civilian traffic is forbidden to keep the roads free for the Army and emergency services. All planes are grounded as well.

I would assume that most countries deal with a ton of visa requests in the weeks and months leading up to the purge. Right after the purge they probably have a ton of request for information about emigration requirements.

ELI5: Why does some thunder crack through the sky doing a csshhhkrr sound and other ones produce a deep bass-boosted BOOOM?

Yes, we've had a thunderstorm recently and I love them, but can't get my head round this.

It largely depends on how close you are to it. The closer you are, the better the sound. It should resemble a loud crackle. But as you move away from the thunder, the sound wave starts to disperse and the sound gets less clear. So you ear a *boom* type of sound. Picture the sound wave as a bunch of people pushing each other in evry direction. After a while there's less of a reason to push people so the *fuzz* in that crowed gets less obvious, less clear.

[Spider-Man + MCU] Spider-Man can stick to surfaces with his feet and hands. Does he ever use this while fighting hand to hand? Make bad guys' fists stick to his palm?

also in Homecoming, why would he stick his backpack near street level? wouldn't he put it in a "spidery" spot just like momma spiders leave eggs? up high somewhere, outta sight in a nook? and why wouldn't aunt may know he snuck in the window the night Ned discovered him? its not a huge apartment. u cant really come or go without someone knowing.

AFAIK, Spider-Man himself hasn't used the sticking power in an offensive way as you are describing. But his dark and edgy clone, Kaine regularly did. He'd intentionally use the adhesive power of his hand to brand enemies by ripping a layer of skin off their face. The handprint scar left behind was referred to as the 'Mark of Kaine'.

[Percy Jackson] Do demigods from Greece not have dyslexia?

So in the PJO universe, demigods tend to be dyslexic because their brains are hardwired for ancient Greek. I've looked up differences in the scripts of ancient and modern Greek, and apparently while there are differences in accents and stuff, the letters are mostly the same. So, does it mean that if you grew up in Greece, and have Greek as your first language, you would not be considered dyslexic?

Yes. I’m fact, those for whom Greek is their first language would probably be even more proficient in it than they should be if they were normal kids. They would probably have increased language skills compared to their peers.

3 completely identical human beings stop eating fats, carbohydrates and proteins respectively. In what order to they die, if at all, and what happens?

Let's just say hypothetically that the human beings are cloned so that conditions are exactly the same. They are a a completely average 30 year old male. So, just to elaborate, subject A stops eating fats, subject B stops eating carbohydrates and subject C stops eating proteins. What would happen in each case? Edit: sorry about the title typo - should read *In what order do they die*

they die in this order, from first to last: C -> A -> B. you need proteins because there are amino-acids that you can only get from proteins from food. you need fats because there are 2 fatty acids that you must have but can not synthesize. your body can exclusively use fats and proteins for energy, and there aren't any carbohydrates that you critically need that you can't make yourself. those are the reasons for the order. in fact, i don't think subject B would die at all from a nutritional deficiency.

ELI5 - How can the concepts of mean reversion and independent events coexist?

I flip a coin 4 times and they all landed on heads. I'm about to flip a coin for the 5th time. Independent event theory would suggest that my probability of getting heads or tails is still 50 50 for this flip. However, according to mean reversion, the average number of heads should tend towards 0.5 and hence isn't the probability of tails higher?

Mean reversion doesn't require the probability of tails on any individual flip to become higher. Instead, it's the number of flips that causes the average to tend towards 0.5. Suppose you've flipped your 4 heads. Rather than thinking about the next flip, think about the next 100 flips. You'd expect to get something very close to 50 heads and 50 tails, which makes your initial 4 extra heads much less significant. The overall average will be something close to 54/104, or about 52%.

CMV: Trying to understand yourself through your ancestry is meaningless

Some people take a DNA test, find that they have some high percentage of an ethnicity that they know nothing about or maybe didn't even know existed, then suddenly they identify with its culture. I think that it's meaningless and just another type of horoscopes. My main point is that culture is lived and experienced, not inherited. If you find a high percentage of Italian ancestry in your DNA but have never been to Italy then you have absolutely nothing to do with the Italian culture. Your DNA test revealed absolutely nothing about who you are as a person. In this sense, giving someone the citizenship of a country just because some of his ancestors belonged to it is meaningless and arbitrary. Italy does this. I think that if your grandparent's father was Italian then that doesn't make you entitled to the Italian citizenship in any way. I'm assuming that the citizenship means more than just a document. But it seems like most countries think the same, since many will require you to know their language and maybe do a history test before being eligible for it. I'm also not saying that understanding yourself is the only reason people take DNA tests or research their genealogy, but I think that it's the main reason (especially when it comes to DNA tests).

For some people, it helps give them a sense of belonging, especially for people who don’t know their ancestral roots, it can help give them a direction for a culture to explore and adopt. Sure, it’s not the end all be all, but can give people some direction.

ELI5: What is it about electricity that kills you?

It can kill you in two ways. The first way is burning you. In general, current generates heat. If there is enough current going through your body, your body will literally heat up and you will burn to death. The second way - if there isn't enough current to burn you - is the electricity just interfering with your body signals. You brain uses electricity to tell your muscles what to do. Your nerves are basically just biological wires in your body; if you apply a current to muscle it will contract. Specifically, the electricity can interfere with your heartbeat and trigger erratic spasms of your heart. This is called fibrillation, and can often be corrected with a defibrillator. If there isn't a defibrillator nearby, well, you're probably gonna die.

How do oil paints dry?

Acrylic based paints dry by water evaporating, and oil paints dry by "oxidation." What is being oxidized, why does it cause the paint to become less wet, and why does it take so long?

Oil paint is a colloid; the pigment is suspended in a liquid-in this case, a hydrocarbon oil dissolved in a solvent that makes the paint more fluid and easier to move around and manipulate. After application, the solvent evaporates, leaving the pigment and oil. The oil gradually oxidises and hardens. As this involves absorbing oxygen (oxidising) rather than evaporating water, it can only happen at a certain rate, independent of environmental factors like temperature. (Other factors can be manipulated to increase the speed of oxidation, usually by mixing other chemicals like Liquin, a commercial product) Oxygen is also absorbed only through the top layer of the paint, meaning that it has to oxidise before lower layers can do so. This increases the time taken as well.

ELI5: Why are the 'Made In China' stickers and imprints necessary?

They can't be for crediting someone, because you can't give credit to a whole country. So why are they there?

U.S. law requires the country of origin of a product to be clearly displayed on the product, or on the product's container if it is enclosed. a lot of people also like to have this information available, especially in the US, because due to this law, countries build up a certain reputation for certain products.

CMV: Store bought costumes should never win costume contests

By nature a contest should be about who does something the best. In theory if you have enough money you can go out and buy any costume and look exactly like your favorite character. You are not "doing" anything in that case other than spending the most money though. Sure, my store bought Darth Vader costume might look exactly like in the movies because I was willing to buy replica stuff, while someone else's home made costume may not look as professional or "authentic" - but theirs shows the effort or creativity they put into making it. By this I don't mean you necessarily have to sew your clothes or build your own props, but you should at least piece your costume together yourself from random clothes and props to be eligible to win a costume contest and you shouldn't be eligible if you just pull a completed set "out of the box." For example one person may go out and buy a complete Superman costume, and it looks exactly like what Christopher Reeve wore in the movies and say "I have perfect replica Superman costume." Another person may wear a torn Superman t-shirt some beat up blue pants and fake blood everywhere and say, "I'm Superman after fighting Doomsday." His t-shirt and blue pants do not look as "authentic" as the other guy's movie replica costume, but he has clearly shown more creativity and effort in his costume thus if those were the only two entrants he should win a costume contest. I will add I don't have anything against store bought costumes. Some people don't have the time or the interest to make their own but still want to dress up, which is perfectly fine. I just don't think they should be eligible to win a costume contest since they didn't do anything other than spend money. What would change my view: -Convincing me that someone can have put more effort and/or creativity into their store bought costume than a self made one. What will not change my view: - Arguing that a lot of competitions are won by spending money. The fact that the Yankees win a lot of baseball games by spending more money than most teams has nothing to do with our friendly costume contest. The Yankees still have to play baseball. In our contest you still have to show creativity and effort neither of which is shown by buying someone else's work. - Arguing that a costume contest is about who looks the best without regard to creativity and effort. That's why I included Darth Vader as my first example. You absolutely can buy a movie replica Vader costume, and since you don't see any of his features at all no matter who you are you'd look exactly like he did in the movie down to every last detail. If it's about who "looks the best" this costume wins every time, but that isn't very much fun and our costume contest is about fun. _____ > *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!*

> Convincing me that someone can have put more effort and/or creativity into their store bought costume than a self made one. A lot of costume contests end up with poor participation. Say you have a work contest and only 3 people actually participate: * Bob wears a white t-shirt on which he has written the word "ceiling" with a black sharpie across the front. He's a ceiling fan, he says. * Larry cuts two holes in an old white sheet and drapes it over his head to become a ghost; Charlie Brown style * Jane scoured the internet for 3 nights and visited every party, costume on Halloween store in a 90 mile radius to find the perfect Wonder Woman costume. To make it even more perfect, she bought two separate costumes and used the best parts from each because one was good in most respects, but had a lousy plastic shield. Jane has a store bought costume while Bob and Larry made their own costumes. Jane clearly put much more effort inter her store bought costume than Bob and Larry put into their homemade costumes. Jan should be declare the winner of the work costume contest and enjoy every last dime of that McDonald's gift card!

Are we smarter than the first humans, or is it just collective knowledge?

When I asked this is class, it started a debate that led nowhere. Would like to see what fellow redditors have to say on this subject.

If you could raise a baby that was born 200,000 years ago with modern technology and methods, would they less capable that a modern baby? Would a 50,000 year old baby have the abilities of a modern human?

[Harry Potter] Did Western wizards participate in colonialism, or did they regard their fellow wizards in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australia as equals?

they probably had more of a 'the muggles discovered new land, eh, let's go check it out and get a gauge on the potentially undiscovered magical properties before they stumble across it' sort of attitude (at least those that weren't just posing as muggle explorers) and ended up staying there

[DC] Who and how good are Lex Luthor's PR people? He seems to shift from known Supervillain, to Super Hero to President with ease. So what kind of Godlike PR does he have?

History has shown that politicians who pander to certain segments of society can largely ignore their own criminality and moral shortcomings so long as they utter the right platitudes to pacify their base.

[General Superheroes] What are some good examples of seemingly low-level superpowers that can be extremely useful if taken to their full potential?

Useful? Many of them have physics bending powers that could be amazingly useful powers for legitimate noncriminal uses. Take a fairly unsuccessful villain like Pyro, who can control flames. Imagine his use to a major metropolitan fire department. Can he control anything else? The rate of chemical reactions, or nuclear ones? Imagine his use to industry! Its just a matter of thinking of all the use these amazing skills can have!

ELI5, and then ELI20, both sides of the Amanda Knox trial.

Edit: Thank you all for the explanations so far, they are very helpful! Can someone now please explain why it seems like the majority of Americans are happy she's released because the majority think she's innocent while the majority of Italians are upset and chanting 'shame' because the majority believes she's guilty? Is it just how our court system differs, is it the media, what causes this?

To make it short: Knox was living with Meredith. Both are from upper middle class families from US and UK respectively. Knox is naive and generally only book smart and not street smart. She has her 1st bf while in Italy on a study abroad program. One night she comes back home and finds blood in the house and toilet which isn't flushed. Seems weird enough. Runs back to her bf's house and they call the other Italian roommates. A bunch of low level cops (who are used to investigate petty crimes) show up and are generally incompetent as fuck. Crime scene is already contaminated. After breaking into the room, they find Meredith stabbed. The killer was extremely inexperienced (didn't even bother to cover up, left feet marks, tried to wipe blood with towels and just decided to leave it halfway through). The other roommates fly away to UK or lawyer up pretty quickly. Knox being fucking stupid decides to stay around until Meredith's parents come. Her family sort of agrees because at this point she's just so innocent that no one would think of her as a killer. Bring in a crazy prosecutor who fanatic over satanic rituals, an easy foreign target will easily be blamed. She ends up signing a confession because again, she's just so fucking stupid and doesn't really think of herself as a suspect. She also barely understands Italian so the whole case isn't exactly on her side. The prosecutor makes a weird story about how she killed her flatmate because of a weird satanic ritual and also accuses her bf of covering up. At this point the Italian media doesn't help either because, a foreigner killing for sexy satanic ritual would make any editor orgasm. All this time, DNA evidence points to a common burglar who's conviction would be much easier (he was actually in jail after a separate trial on the same fucking case). The dude must have broken in. Got extra comfortable and takes a shit in the process. Meredith walk in mid-shit and the dude doesn't flush as a result. Tries to leave but realises Meredith has already seen him and will straight up identify him. Kills her.

[XMEN] How exactly does "good luck" work as a super power?

What exactly is considered good luck in the context of the situation? If someone has a gun to your head does the gun jam or do you survive the shot?

Luck like domino's power is very difficult to explain. It's similar to spidey sense and temporal manipulations. On a subconscious level the mutation constantly views various alternate timelines and possibilities every moment of every day. Whenever it finds a variation of reality that is beneficial to the mutant in question it merges the mutant into that timeline or brings part of it into the current one. This can also change things seemingly at random as the mutant is unaware of the changes taking place and is unable to control them or how far out the possible changes take place. A gust of wind could be pulled in to shift a plastic bag causing a chain of events that takes a week to manifest itself or simply a defect in a guns loading mechanism can be brought in creating a more immediate effect.

[Star Wars] If the Clone Wars series is considered real primary cannon, then where is Asoka (Anakin's padawon) during AOTC and ROTS?

She left the order after losing trust in it after she was falsely accused during a terrorist attack. She went off the grid and didn't resurface until well after Order 66 and began to organize rebel groups.

ELI5: How do they shoot space movies to look like zero gravity?

I'm talking older movies, too, like 2001 a Space Odyssey when superior editing technology was still a ways off.

In the case of 2001 it was actually really clever: They suspended the actors on wires just like a lot of movies used to do, but they built the set sideways and put the camera on the ground pointing upwards. This accomplished two things: First, the actor's body hid the wires so you didn't have to try to remove them in post. Second, the actor's movements drifting horizontally (which, from the camera's perspective, appeared to be vertical) looked WAY more natural than having a stagehand jerk the wires up and down.

[Star Wars] Why was Jango Fett chosen to clone? Wouldn't there be much better soldiers fighting for the Galactic republic army?

The physical attributes and descent, his achievements and the fact that the Republic Army has always been a bit of a joke. Plus they didn't have to kill him afterward, allowing them to use him for other things. The candidate selection was not handled by Sifo Dyas, in fact. After the project was commissioned, Sifo-Dyas was secretly killed and Darth Tyranus took charge of the project. He was commissioned by his master to do two things in this time period: One, find someone who was an effective genetic template for an army that would eventually be gutting Jedi and playing in their intestines and two: Kill a particular rogue Jedi (who was not fallen). Tyranus decided to do both at once and put an enormous credit reward on the head of the rogue Jedi. A public bounty, but a number of mercenaries and hunters got special invitations - among them, Fett. He tracked and defeated the Jedi (Not even killing him, just bringing him in alive). One million credits richer, Tyranus offered him the job of being Clone Daddy to the Grand Army of the Republic. Jango Fett was vetted anyway, but let's stack up his physical attributes: He's a member of the Mandalorians, an ancient warrior culture/race with a reputation for balls-out insanity. He's human, fit, with no major genetic problems. He's just (edit: Embarassed a Jedi), even taking him in alive. Perfect for a thousand thousand thousand clones. Not only that, he's familiar with the training methods of his people, so he can 'consult for the Kaminoans when it comes to training methods.

Solar panels directly convert sunlight into electricity. Are there technologies to do so with heat more efficiently than steam turbines?

I find it interesting that turning turbines has been the predominant way to convert energy into electricity for the majority of the history of electricity

There are thermoelectric devices that can convert a heat differential directly to electricity (Peltier device - (edit, the Seebeck Effect generates electricity, the Peltier Effect is the reverse. Same device though)) or motion (Sterling engine), but these are actually not as efficient as steam, at least at scale. If you wanted to charge your phone off a cup of hot coffee, sure, use a Peltier device. But it probably isn't going to be powering neighborhoods.

[Star Wars] If Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan managed to capture Maul, how much information would the Jedi be able to learn?

Not much. At least, not much more than they would have already known from history and could have guessed from Maul's presence alone. Even though the Jedi were already aware of the Rule of Two, they were also of the belief that the Sith had gone extinct long ago. So Maul's presence as an actual Sith apprentice would be very troubling, but perhaps not the worst thing they've ever encountered. Because while Maul is imprisoned, they'd assume that the Sith's strength had been cut in half. On the other hand, while Maul was indeed a full-fledged Sith, he still only knew what Palpatine wanted him to know. Maul was more of a blunt object, a weapon to be used at critical times when Darth Sidious needed something taken care of. So he didn't need to know any intricate plans or long-term goals other than destroying the Jedi. Which is something the Jedi have known about the Sith for a longer time period than the Republic has even existed. It was Dooku who got many of the juicy details, and would have been a far more valuable catch a few years later. Hence all the efforts expended to try and capture him, though none succeeded. There's also the fact that Maul would have resisted interrogation, and used his own skill with the force to block attempts to forcibly read his mind. So trying to extract information out of him would have been a long, frustrating, and complicated endeavor. Not impossible, because we know Maul has his limits, but it wouldn't have been worth the effort in the long run.

[Harry Potter] what is the process of creating a spell?

At least for wand users: It pairs a release of magic shaped by the magic users will with a specific focus word. This word then allows the user to use the shaped magic more easily in the future as the shaping of the magic becomes more of an unconscious action. It also seems to imprint this word upon the collective magical fabric of the universe and allows easier use for others (this is high conjecture but seems backed up by evidence). For example: Snape invented Sectumsempra. He shaped his magic into a sword-like instrument and gave it an appropriate Latin-sounding name. This allows his brain to handle the shaping of the spell in the future without as much chance of backfiring as it. It also speeds up the spell-casting. Harry then reads about this spell and knows it is used for enemies. His brain, already schooled in quasi-Latin due to his use of spells and studying magical history, then connects the dots and shapes Harry's magic into a cutting edge to hurt Malfoy. However, it was perhaps not as effective as it could have been as Harry truly did not understand what the spell was and only grasped the edges of the spells use. This is echoed with the Unforgivable Curses. They are very simple to learn. Most wizards and witches know the spell incantations. But it requires a real intent behind the spell to use it to it's full effectiveness. Avada Kedavra without real murderous intent would just inflict general harm based upon the magical power of the wielder. Crucio would inflict temporary and moderate pain instead of excruciating and unending pain. And so on. TL;DR: It's kind of like writing a program, giving that program an executable shortcut, then freely sharing that executable shortcut with others, who, being schooled in the same style of programming, recognize the shortcut and the general shape of the program and execute it well enough for government work.

Why do I feel like Deleuze's "rhizome" is stating a very obvious observation?

Maybe I'm just not understanding everything, but I can't help but feel that Deleuze's ideas are pretty simple, but dressed up in a forest of dense, arcane language. He objects to the dominant conception across the history of Western philosophy ("arborescence"), symbolized as a central tree trunk, sprouting leaves and twigs. This conception of knowledge is hierarchical, dualistic, ordered in a predictable pattern. In contrast to this, Deleuze talks of the idea of the "rhizome"-- a conception of multiplicity, decentralization, interconnection. Basically, in everyday language, Deleuze is saying the world is more complex than traditional, Western binary or hierarchical modes of representation. But what is so profound about this idea? Stripped of all the jargon, he's just saying "shit is complex. Meaning is diverse, interlinked, overlapping, fluid." It just feels like Deleuze is using some very dense language to describe something that actually isn't that insightful.

The "rhizome" seems obvious to you because you don't seem to get what exactly Deleuze is talking about. The rhizome isn't a "conception of knowledge," it's a way in which things can be organized. Note how the first examples given of rhizomes in the introduction to *A Thousand Plateaus* are all material things: books, tubers, rat burrows, etc. Deleuze isn't just saying that shit is complex, he's arguing that traditional ways of thinking see arborescence as the only way of organizing things when in reality, there're also entirely different, decentralized, and multiplicitous ways of organizing things which can already be seen in the world around us. This may seem a little more obvious to us now since things like the internet are (arguably) rhizomatic, but imagining a completely interconnected organization of things without any beginning or central foundation was far more radical in the 70-80s when Deleuze was writing. Even so, the applications of the rhizome to war, biology, history, economics, etc. that D & G undertake in *A Thousand Plateaus* are still anything but common sense. Hope this helps!

Well, r/pics got my curiosity up, what is this stuff on my fence?

a picture of my fence here: http://i.imgur.com/OO2Fb.jpg A little background info to prevent confusion: * I live in Minnesota, not near any large bodies of water * This picture was taken an a sunny 75 degree day * I'm assuming that it is a metal fence with some kind of rubber/plastic coating(do not know for sure) * and the fence is probably well over 10 years old So r/askscience, what causes this to happen? And what makes them go in such designs? I'd really love to know. EDIT: Another side note, on some parts you can peel it off, and it sort o reminds me of something like dried wood glue or something. Could it possibly be some sort of resin from when they put the coating on or glued the coating onto the fence? **EDIT:** **Answering some frequently asked questions** * No, it isn't from the pine needles. Well, it may be in that certain section, but also occurs on parts of the fence that aren't even near any plants I'll upload pictures of different parts of the fence that aren't near any plants at all when i get the chance * No, the fence is not anywhere near an: open pit mine, large body of water, stone working company, cement company, plaster casting, metal blasting, salt storage, busy road, farm etc I live in a normal suburban neighbourhood. * We don't have a sprinkler system, basically the only time the fence gets wet is from the rain * Also just thought I'd say that the residue type stuff has been there for a long time, it hasn't just recently occured Additional questions that others have asked: > An additional question- Why is the pattern so intricate and regular? I notice that it's only on one side of the fence, and there seems to be wide variation in the pattern.

They're evaporites... obviously some mineral on the fence dissolved in water and then precipitated out. Air temperature change would account for the rings as different temp water has different precipitation points. The rings are a dead give-away.

ELI5: Why does the sun make me sneeze?

It’s called a photic sneeze reflex, or Autosomal dominant Compelling Helio-Ophthalmic Outburst - ACHOO syndrome for short. It is estimated that 17-35% of the population have it. But no one knows why it happens. The best guess at the moment is that it’s because the nerve cells that carry information from the eye and those that carry information from the nose run so close together. As the nerves from the eye are stimulated by bright light, usually to constrict the pupil, electrical signals ‘spillover’ and activate the nerves coming from the nose. This causes the brain to confuse a bright light with a nose irritation, and… ACHOO! In fact, the area of the brain responsible for processing visual information is overstimulated in photic sneezers compared with non-sneezers, which may underlie the spillover effect.

If we were to build a radio transmitter capable of transmitting at the frequency of visible light, what, if anything, would we see coming off the antenna?

And if it would emit light, would it be of any use as a light source? And if it is possible to build, how long do you think until we'll be able to? Edit: I think my use of the word radio is leading to some confusion. By radio transmitter, I mean the type of transmitter, not what part of the electromagnetic spectrum it operates in. For example, if I were to walk into a radio station and retune the transmitter up the frequencies of visible light, what would we see coming off said radio station's main antenna? From what little wondering around on the internet I've done on this subject, the highest frequency transmitters we've built reach up into the single digit THz range.

We already have lots of radio transmitters that emit visible light. Your computer screen is one, a light bulb is another...They're emitting electromagnetic waves in the frequency of visible light (along with some others). We simply do not use this light for communication in most cases, because other wavelengths are more useful over long distances, etc.

CMV: Sometimes people discussing their mental health issues is attention seeking behavior.

I see a lot of "debunking the myths of mental illness posts" on my facebook and a common one is that people are absolutely not talking about their suicidal thoughts, self-harm behavior, anxiety, etc. for attention. I believe this is a false statement. I honestly believe that certain people (not all) do engage in attention seeking behavior to get validation/sympathy/whatever. My anecdotal evidence for this: I, as a teenage girl, engaged in self-harm behavior, had suicidal thoughts, and suffered from depression. The last thing I would ever want to do is talk about this with anyone at all. That is a problem in itself, a person should feel comfortable at least talking to a therapist, close relative or friend in a safe environment. So I am on the opposite end of this spectrum. My friend, as a teenage girl engaged in the same behavior (never knowing I had the same mental health issues), but was incredibly open about it in what I felt was often inappropriate situations. Examples: 1. Repeatedly telling your entire 7th grade class that you are suicidal. 2. Telling people you just met that you are suicidal/have depression/self-harm 3. Going into detail about your therapy sessions, mental health problems, etc with a group of people you are not particularly close with and are visibly uncomfortable with what she is telling them. It got to a point where it felt like being suicidal, depressed and self-destructive was basically her only personality trait. I'm not a doctor and its not my place to say someone's behavior is attention-seeking. I made this mistake accusing the above friend "just wanting attention". But, being on the complete other end of the spectrum for the ability to share emotions, I can't really fathom another explanation. CMV: How is that not attention seeking behavior? Bonus points if you can bring up histrionic/borderline/narcissistic personality disorders in the discussion. ​ Edit1: For clarification, I fully understand that what I have identified as attention-seeking behavior is typically a cry for help and that people who do this usually do have genuine mental health disorders that should not be disregarded. What I want to understand is why attention-seeking behavior has been struck from the dialogue about mental health. There are personality disorders that have the trait of excessive attention seeking so why should I not identify behaviors as being such when dealing with a mentally ill person (not outright say it to their face or use it in a way to invalidate their feelings). Are there any psychologist who refute the idea of excessive attention seeking behavior altogether in the mentioned disorders? I'm genuinely looking to understand the rationale of attention-seeking deniers. Edit2: Admitting that some behaviors are attention seeking, but we don't want to talk about that too loudly because people may use that to invalidate someones mental health issues doesn't change my view, it actually validates it, which is the opposite of what I'm hoping to get here. I think I'm missing something important, and all those advocates and mental health experts can't be wrong, lay the evidence on me! Edit3: Logging off for the night, I'll check back tomorrow. I still stand by my second edit. And I will reiterate that I am not qualified to determine when a behavior is attention-seeking and that people should not use the term attention-seeking to invalidate someone. What I really want to know is whether or not attention-seeking behavior is a genuine concern in the mental health profession and if it is known whether or not people use mental health issues to gain attention. Is it really a myth like those facebook posts tell me it is? Not looking to be called out for not being a doctor, please try not to take this post personally. Edit4: I was hoping to be redirected to some academic literature that refutes that term as it is related to certain personality disorders, but the comments came up short. What changed my view: 'attention-seeking' behavior isn't the right term. The term that describes the above behavior is "oversharing". Its a great term, because it describes the experience accurately without assuming a motive. Its the demand for attention from myself that I found harmful and her interactions with others made me feel inadequate. And it was a straw-man argument anyway. Sorry to anyone who felt personally attacked by this post.

Excessive attention seeking can also be a sign that someone is unwell. This is why when you receive training to manage mental illness you learn that all concerns are valid. The patient report may not be face valid, but it is almost always indicative of some type of problem worthy of sympathy and help. Someone excessively seeking attention related to anxiety/depression/suicidality etc is not well. That is not healthy behavior and that person can still benefit from understanding and help.

CMV: Our Democracy is Broken

The only way to understand someone's politics is to acknowledge who they are and what they want. I will do my best to lay that out before I espouse my political ideals. I also apologize for any Americentrism in advance, but I think the problems in contemporary American society overlap with most similar Government structures in the western world. So I guess I apologize for western-centrism or Eurocentrism more than anything. My childhood was a relatively isolated one, and my political prospects were free from the taint of my parents. I spent much of my youth reading of the greats in our history books. Augustus Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, and George Washington. Acknowledging the impact they had on the world and conversely, the impact their world had on them. Of these men, one is the founder of an independent nation, another a conqueror with political reforms ahead of his time, and one a great administrator. Individual traits that make great men in history Great. As my schooling continued and the whole "Good Republic, Evil Empire" trope got ingrained in my brain, it was the founders of our nation that I looked to as my Heroes and men I would model my life after. But the faults of the system they helped design are too apparent and significant for me to see as acceptable tradeoffs, dangers the founders themselves had warned of in advance. Issues they have faced themselves in their lifetime. The majority of ideological and social conflict is petty. It is driven by emotion, prejudice, and impulse rather than logic and reason. Political capital is allocated to reelection rather than governing. We produce more rabble-rousers and demagogues with selfish motives than statesman with honorable intentions. It has become evident that this nation has let democracy run amuck just as the founders had forewarned. The meaning of all this is simple to me; the uneducated masses have no business participating in the political process. It is evident in our state judiciary; it is evident in our state legislatures; it is evident in the caliber of today's prominent political figures. Shadow Banking. Ghost Government. Ghost Voting. All of it disgraces the name of liberty. That isn't to say I do respect the institutions many Democratic proponents have formed. I still have a significant respect for the early days of democracy and the people that preserved and strengthened it. Pericles, Abraham Lincoln, and Alexander Hamilton. Statesman unafraid of wearing their beliefs on their sleeves. Men with passion, ambition, and vision. Orators and writers. But... Gone are the days of eloquent debates in elegant rooms. We live in a society where if you can't express your opinion in 128 characters it's irrelevant. Thomas Jefferson once said: "An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people." Our citizenry is neither educated or informed. And a system that by nature seeks to provide freedom is endangering it. These are the reasons why I believe our democracy is broken, and our political system and social condition is in need of abolition or a rehaul. Or...I'm over reacting/Wrong/Both ------------------------------------------------------------------- Edit: It seems to me there are a great deal of people that believe I'm advocating for a dictatorship, I am not. A dictatorship is rule by one. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and even if it doesn't, one person cannot possibly have the best judgement in all areas of Governing. A system of checks and balances is important, and even now in the US there exists checks on the people. I have much less qualms about the structure of the inner workings of the Federal Government, and much more about the inner workings of the states. Also, the idea of who gets to vote. I believe all men who prove themselves in one way or another should have the right to vote. A Geniocracy is closer to my political ideals, the main problem with such a system is defining what intelligence is. I am not a rigid thinker, your place in society shouldn't be designated by an iq test. Everyone has a place in which they function best, and whatever that place is should be what issues they have a say in. If someone is skillful in more than one place, they can have a say in all of them. To an extent, there is some of this inside our Government as it stands now. The head of the department of agriculture, I take it, is somewhat well versed in agriculture. The system I propose just takes this to a greater level. But politics, as it is now, has become entertainment, this is something I despise. But more than these principles, are the systemic failures of our current Government. I threw some words around but I didn't elaborate. For that, I take fault. "Shadow Banking. Ghost Government. Ghost Voting." Shadow Banking is essentially unregulated financial activities. The intention of our financial system is to act as the respiratory system of our economy, with the air and blood flow being capital. Instead, however, our financial system acts parasitically. They have drifted away from their function and place in society and think themselves a primary industry of their own. The proportion of our financial sector to the rest of our economy is unsustainable, this is a major problem that hasn't been solved because of money and politics and insufficient political power placed in the hands of the Federal Government. Ghost Voting: By this, I don't mean dead people voting in elections. That's not a problem and it has been debunked. I'm talking about politicians voting in on important issues for eachother. That shouldn't warrant an explanation. Ghost Government: By this I'm talking about special districts, excessive red tape, and essentially all the problems that accompany a large Government with insufficient oversight over its own inner workings. This is the problem I know the least about due to its vastness, but considering the numerous experts that way in, it's probably the biggest problem. I also dislike the amount of power the states have in comparison to the Federal Government, and I will go into detail about this in a bit.

200 years ago widespread electoral fraud ruled politics - gangs were hired to round up voters by force, many voted numerous times in the same vote and the poor were paid for their votes. Back then the average working man had little interest in politics - not the ideas the parties represented or even the expectation that anything would change. There were great politicians but many more greedy and nepotistic ones too, fraud of public finances was common where sweetheart contracting deal made to friends of politicians. Now things are different when most of these old fraudulent practices have been stopped, where the populace is still seen as simply voters but now they are not so easily controlled. Now a politician must walk a tight rope of public opinion making more people happy then pissing off. They are constantly scrutinized by a 24 hour news machine that will look for any way to make a story out of their mistakes. Freedom of Information act allows the media to scrutinize finances and possible nepotism. People now are hungry for change and seek it through politics. To me your view is simply created through rose tinted goggles, you view the success of people in the past through the history books. In their time their "approval" rating was nowhere near as high. How many people did Napoleon kill in wars, how many people back then hated Lincoln for starting Americas bloodiest war and setting free the blacks. Now that the poor have a say and an interest in politics the Politicians must listen to them and be held accountable, one mistake could ruin their career. Politics was never perfect, never can be, but its the best system we humans have ever created for governance.

[DC/Marvel] If an old person were to suddenly gain the power of Regeneration, would their body become young again?

Would it also heal any mental illness?

There's different kinds of regeneration in fiction. In some cases, the body simply has a base state that it tries to return itself to, which might allow someone to remain a certain age, but there's also regeneration that's simply extremely accelerated healing. So, maybe, depending on the canon/source of regeneration.

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.

Using work without permission

My former advisor published a paper I wrote without requesting permission or making me an author. I am in the credits. I had submitted the paper and gotten it accepted but was unable to do the experiments requested to finalize it and set it aside. The text is about 70% similar to the version I submitted, and I have correspondence showing I was the corresponding author and that I was expected to do the writing, as well as a version history. I don't expect or want to get any compensation out of pursuing this but I want to take this as far as I can. This is not the first time he has done something like this and I feel like I have some responsibility to students who are currently in or may enter his lab, as this is not an acceptable way to treat them and I don't mind spending some money to do it. It was suggested I hire an attorney to write a letter, are there attorneys who specialize in this sort of law? Anything else I should pursue beyond letter writing? Thank you

1. Was this published into the same journal that your version was accepted into? 2. Was it part of the same submission, or did you need to withdraw/fail to meet a re-submission deadline? 3. Was this an undergraduate advisor? Masters? PhD? Employer? I would suggest that if you want to pursue this, you involve your institution's ombuds office rather than a privately retained lawyer.

Regarding a moon colony; does sound at 1bar behave differently in 1g or 0.16g?

Not really, in practical sense. Gravitational effects of sound are so weak, scientists are still verifying their findings. If we assume the pressure and composition of air are the same at the "floor" level of a lunar base, the noticeable effects will have to do with: - weaker convection - smaller vertical density differential

CMV: America is a great country when compared to the world as a whole.

People who say America isn't great because it falls short of an ideal perfect benevolent country are not being logical because there is no other country that hasn't fallen short in some way as well. Moreover, it is unreasonable to expect 250 years of fallible leaders to always make decisions that will look good in retrospect. This isn't to excuse the institutions of slavery or ethnic cleansing of Native Americans, but merely to say that the United States can be thought of as a great nation as compared to the globe, for the human rights and economic freedom it has. Even modern Europe has laws that most Americans consider unfair, such as Italy's allowance of a prosecutor to appeal a not guilty verdict and re-try a defendant. (I am not entertaining any arguments that this law is good and just, I am only pointing out a strong sense of fairness in American judicial proceedings). Edit: I am saying USA is great when compared to Japan. Not greater than Japan, I consider Japan great also. But they hold their own in freedom and human rights. _____ > *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!*

People who would say "America isn't great" typically don't do so based on its failure to be a utopia, but because America has actual problems that affect its citizens in a tremendously negative way. It does not matter whether other countries are worse in some fashion, the same way it doesn't matter that "there are starving children in Africa" if you're given an unpalatable meal and don't feel like eating it. For many people, living in America means feeling powerless, feeling continually stressed about whether basic necessities will be affordable, feeling that they will be discriminated against or done violence because of some aspect of themselves that they can't changed, and feeling hopeless some or all of these things will significantly improve for the better. Why should people who feel that way be told "no, your feelings aren't valid, America is great" when it has not been great for them?

ELI5: Why is it that a person can't take a large amount of over the counter pain relievers, like Tylenol or Ibuprofen, to get the same effects as stronger pain killers like Vicodin or Hydrocodone?

Different method of action. Opioids like hydrocodone and Oxy work by binding to neuroreceptors(neuro means brain) which send a depressive signal, which basically means that the signal numbs your central nervous system. I don't remember the exact MoA of the others so to just put it simply, ibuprofen and aspirin work by reducing inflamation in your body, and Tylenol works by simply cutting off the pain signal on its way to your brain

[Portal] How much (if anything) did Black Mesa steal from Aperture?

From what I know Black Mesa is highly sophisticated, while Aperture seems to be slightly more **un**predictable mad science. Now that doesn't mean that Mesa is better than Aperture. Odds are that Aperture does have better results, at higher costs. But Black Mesa *is* more organized. In short: did Black Mesa ever steal from Aperture?

They simultaneously raced to develop the same technology, quantum tunneling, and developed it in two different ways. That's pretty much the extent of it that we know of. EDIT: Aperture's actually the one who canonically stole things, including the Gravity Gun, wall-based medkit things, and HEV Suit chargers from Black Mesa, as seen in "Lab Rat."

ELI5:Why do Large Planes Require Horizontal and Vertical Separation to Avoid Vortices, But Military Planes Fly Closely Together With No Issue?

Military pilots are securely attached to the plane and willing to tolerate much more extreme maneuvers than commercial passengers. To reduce the "fear of flying" and avoid spilling drinks, commercial aircraft desire a much more stable ride.

Do trees create less oxygen in the winter after their leaves fall off?

Generally, yes. Photosynthesis, of which oxygen is a byproduct, happens in the chloroplasts. The vast majority of the chloroplasts are in the leaves, so a deciduous trees ability to produce oxygen is drastically reduced after shedding its leaves.

[Super heroes] In universe, can they sue for merch? or collect royalties?

Spider-man has rent to pay, and some company makes merch off his image. How is that not a potential law suit?

So, you're peter parker. Prove you're Spiderman. There are three options here. One: show up in a Spiderman costume and demand royalties. This doesn't prove anything. Anyone can put on a Spiderman outfit. Two: show up as Spiderman, throw some webs around, climb on walls, etc. This proves you're Spiderman, probably, but it also isn't very helpful, because they can't give money to "some dude in a Spiderman costume" Three: show up as peter parker and do some web swinging. This does prove you're Spiderman, but it also proves you're peter parker, and maybe you don't trust a random merch company's secretary with keeping that secret. Indeed, you've now given them obvious blackmail ammo if they don't want to pay you royalties. All three are unideal. If you have a public identity, sure, you're probably copyrighted. But otherwise, you're shit out of luck.

[Star Trek] Why is Klingon opera so often maligned by non-Klingons even though it is very similar to human opera?

Do people who dislike Klingon opera generally dislike human opera? Did human and Klingon opera styles develop independently or did they influence each other?

Klingon Opera revolves around a very small number of similar plot-lines and tropes, and is heavily focused on combat. Klingon singing is.... disharmonious to most non-klingon listeners, and the harsh tongue doesn't lead itself to some of the more intricate or delicate movements possible in the "opera" equivalents from other cultures. The fact that a Klingon Opera performance may feature staged battles between actors, unstaged battles between the actors, and out-and-out brawls with the audience.... well... this fact leaves many more "civilized" races unwilling to give the art form the time it would take to develop appreciation. Unnoficially, Canadian Humans are known to LOVE Klingon opera. One Ensign Bukowski, of the USS Ottawa, commented that Klingon opera is "Like a musical got in a fight with a hockey game."

What do modern day Iranians think of Alexander the Great?

From a TIL thread yesterday >I have a Zoroastrian friend who told me that in her culture, "Alexander" is a name roughly on par with "Hitler" in the west, because of what Alexander did to Persia, where the Zoroastrians are from. http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/2d0yjx/til_when_alexander_the_great_was_a_child_his/cjl0pgc Does that hatred of Alexander extend to Iranians who aren't Zoroastrian? How is Alexander seen in the general Arab world?

You should know that Iranians are not Arabs (something that they seem to be particularly sensitive about) and have wildly differing histories and cultures. The "Arab world" wasn't really a thing during Alexander's time, it would be 900 years before the nomadic tribes of the Peninsula were united by Muhammad.

ELI5 what is happening when you get random muscle twitches?

For example, the muscle running up the outside of my left hand has been twitching causing my left finger to move. What's going on in my body (chemically, etc) that causes this to happen?

The motor neurons that mediate movement aren't perfect, nor are any neurons. In order for a muscle to contract, the motor neuron that is attached to it must fire numerous action potentials (an electrochemical signal). If a motor neuron "misfires" only once or twice, the result is a twitch instead of a full contraction. It's totally normal. Edit: this is usually normal. It's not inconceivable for an illness of some sort to manifest as muscle twitches, but it is vastly more common to be a simple errant firing of a motor neuron.

CMV: Those who redefine selfishness to include altruism are not doing anything useful

There have been many, many threads about how everyone is selfish because any action you feel like doing is something you want to do, and people are altruistic because they want to be altruistic. This is not one of those threads. This is a thread about how the above is silly. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/selfish >concerned excessively or exclusively with oneself : seeking or concentrating on one's own advantage, pleasure, or well-being without regard for others This is what selfishness means. It is the common understanding of the word. If you feel good about altruism, it is still altruism and not selfish. Redefining a word for a debate is silly and not useful- in the same way, if I said "Triangle cut sandwiches are better than rectangle cut sandwiches" and I actually meant "All sandwiches include triangles, and so all sandwiches are triangle cut sandwiches" it would be useless and incomprehensible. So, I say those who redefine selfishness to include altruism are being silly and not making a useful debate. Redefining a word doesn't change a debate on the nature of things outside of words. Anyway, CMV. Telling me that jumping on a grenade is selfish because you want to save your companions will not CMV, because in the dictionary selfishness doesn't mean that.

It's useful for people who want to justify selfishness by painting all actions as inherently selfish. If other people are making you look bad through altruism then if you can make them have the same impulses and reasons as you then that is very psychologically comforting. It can also be useful to portray people who want radical changes that make selfishness and greed harder as hypocrites who are actually just after power and money for themselves. It may not be useful for better understandings of the topic or better debates but it does have it's ideological uses.

ELI5: If the Big Bang happened +/- 13.5B years ago, and if matter - and thus the universe - has been expanding outward ever since, shouldn’t there be a massive void in the center of the universe?

This is a common misconception. There is no center of the universe, the Big Bang happened everywhere at once. The point is that *everywhere was very close together.* The entire universe was basically in the same place; not that all matter was in the same location, all **locations** were close together. So the universe expanding is all locations becoming more distant, not mass itself traveling through space. The mass might as well be stationary.

[Marvel][XMen] What really is Apocalypse's thing?

I'm not a real Marvel Fan, I haven't read the comics. So what I can see from the X-Men: Apocalypse Movie, he can amplify a mutant's existing powers and he can steal powers via the Pyramid device (which he acquired regeneration). Things he has that other has is telekinesis, matter manipulation, Professor X like powers and super strength. Aside from the last items, the two first ones seem to be the only things that are unique to him. Am I correct?

In the comics, Apocalypse's main power is high-level shapeshifting/control over his own body, which grants him near-immortality, superhuman strength, invulnerability, etc. He enhances these powers with vast amounts of Celestial technology (the ancient space-gods glimpsed briefly in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies), which gives him basically any other power he might need, and the ability to enhance other mutants. It also upgrades his natural near-immortality into effective actual immortality, although he does need to spend prolonged periods in hibernation in order to get the full effects - although unlike in the movie, he's been awake at numerous points in history between ancient Egypt and the modern age, recruiting servants during the Roman era and the US Civil War, and having a vicious feud with Dracula in the late 19th century. He likes to claim to be the First Mutant, but this is hyperbole; there's at least one mutant (Selene) who is older than him, and given the odds of the first two mutants being effectively immortal, the chances are there were numerous others who lived and died long before Egypt was a thing.

[Rick And Morty] There are a lot of Ricks and Morty's, and there aren't a lot of Ricks and Morty's..? How many of them are really there?

Sorry for the title gore, but let me explain. In Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind, it's established that there are a lot of Ricks and Morty's from different dimensions. Not gonna delve too much into details, in case I might spoil someone. But at the same time, Rick had (relative) trouble finding an alternate universe to jump ship to when everything went nuts. Well, granted that there are a lot of conditions to fulfill (the Rick and Morty of that dimension **edit thanks /u/indigo_voodoo_child ** needed to solve the genetic crisis and had to die at that time), but he still had a little trouble. And in Rixty Minutes, Summer kept flicking through dimensions, and almost found none with her in there. And without Summer, there's no Morty. So... How many Ricks and Morty's are there? Why are there many (or few) of them? And how are there enough Ricks and Morty's for a Council of Ricks?

He wasn't just looking for a Rick and Morty pair to replace, he was looking for a Rick and Morty pair that fixed the gene modding problem AND died immediately afterward. Either or these happening on their own is very unlikely, both of them happening one offer the other is almost impossible.

Eli5: how do modern cutting tools with an automatic stop know when a finger is about to get cut?

I would assume that the additional resistance of a finger is fairly negligible compared to the density of hardwood or metal

It is based on the capacitance of the finger. The technology is quite similar to modern touch screen technology which is only able to detect fingers but not gloves. Wood is usually too dry for the sensors to trigger and the metal is too small for it to trigger. This is of course something the designers have to take into consideration. Possibly the hardest thing you can put in them is soaking wet wood for example if you are sawing raw lumber out in the rain but they have apparently been able to set the sensors to handle this as well. However as the SawStop patent is about to expire and competing products have already been shown to the market as being much cheaper to trigger there might be some advantage to triggering on metal as well protecting the blade.

CMV: Boston Strong is the most hilariously arrogant movement

The US Government, constantly bombs and terrorizes villages in Yeman, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan with drones, so much that now many children in those countries hate sunny days (better for drone strikes). The US would bomb a spot two times killing first responders that go to help victims (imagine a father getting killed as they try to help their son). People in Pakistan now wait 30 minutes before going in to help in fear of a second strike. They'd literally bomb a funeral for people they killed in a drone strike. And yet Boston has one bomb go off and suddenly the city of Boston is "strong" to come together against these terrorists. Boston literally had a small taste of what terror other countries feel (US uses much bigger bombs, used more frequently) and they become the biggest wimps I've ever seen. #BostonStrong is a joke. It literally ignores the actions of their government just to take a chance to say how victimized they are from one bomb. _____ > *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!*

Boston is just a city inhabited by humans. Some of those humans were profoundly impacted by a bomb made by another human. Probably, none of the humans in Boston will ever bomb another city or group of people. The politics and warfare of countries don't enter into it. Boston, as a group of humans, doesn't wage war against the Middle East. Never confuse a nation for its citizens.

Math people, explain Monte Carlo integration like I'm 5.

If you could also explain importance sampling that would be awesome.

You have a rectangular back yard that is 10 by 15 feet. There is a pond in the middle of irregular shape. You want to know the area of the pond. You start throwing small stones toward the yard randomly, and record the frequency of stone landing on water versus dry land. The portion of stones landing on water multiplied by the entire area of the backyard is the answer to the original question. For example, if you threw 100 stones and 43 lands on water then your estimation would be 10 times 15 times 0.43. This is essentially the essence of Monte Carlo: evaluating and averaging randomly drawn samples.

If you wrapped a human in a theoretical blanket that was able to insulate 100% of heat produced by the person, would that person’s body temperature eventually reach equilibrium, or would their metabolism cause them to keep getting hotter and hotter until they perish?

Metabolic activity continuously produces heat as a byproduct. Without a method of dissipating that heat, a person would quickly overheat and die. Normal responses to hyperthermia include vasodilation and sweating as methods to facilitate heat transfer out of the body, but if the surrounding environment is already ‘too hot’ to allow dissipation the heat is trapped in the body and core temperature rises.

[Halo] Why can't the Halos target the Flood directly?

If the Forerunners from the Halo series could create the Halo array to destroy all sentient life in the galaxy to starve the flood, why couldn't they use the halos to target the flood directly and not any other life forms?

Killing pretty much all life in a Galaxy in and of itself was a major undertaking. Tuning the process to effect just the flood may not have been possible while under direct invasion from the Flood. Further more the flood infect their "food" to make more flood. Even if they could kill the parasites, they may not have been able to kill the infected "food." The flood are an Extra-Galactic threat. The Forerunner decisions to wipe out all life, including the bulk of their civilization, was one not just one last FU to the gravemind, but as of saving other Galaxies from the fate of our own.

ELI5: When someone is choked until unconscious, what separates them from waking up (like in UFC fights) and dying?

A choke cuts off the blood supply to the brain causing unconsciousness. You would have to maintain the choke for a much longer period to starve the brain of oxygen to kill a person. Just think of how long strangulation takes to kill a person.