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LAUNCH Lab 15

AskReddit/djd9jvz

6jcmx2

Why haven't they found a cure yet in the walking dead?

Some illnesses have been around for thousands of years, like Malaria, and we can't cure that even with all of the resources and (supposed) intelligence of modern humanity behind us. There are a lot of different reasons that the people on TWD couldn't make a cure, starting with resources (electricity, lab equipment, scientists, etc). Plus, zombies are -- at least in TWD -- effectively brain dead. An innoculation / vaccine is a much more realistic goal than a cure.

AskReddit/d6k5wmx

4y1eei

Did you follow your dreams and became who you aspired to be?

No. There are two main problems. 1.) I'm a constant day-dreamer.my idea of a drama life and dream job constantly changed so I didn't stick to anything and. 2.) Honestly I get lazy and stop doing something pretty soon into pursuing it. It takes a pretty special drove to truly pursue your dreams if they are lofty.

AskReddit/c0apdao

8x2wh

Why do answering machines/services keep taking longer and longer to get to the "beep"?

to get your money. if you're on a cell phone, you're using minutes while waiting for the beep. if you're on a land line, you may be paying per minute for long distance.

AskReddit/d4nywha

4pumf6

Why do people put a reason for an edit when they have just changed a spelling?

I'm guessing its for transparency. Reddit let's other people see what comments have been edited, but not how they have been edited. Also important, like everything else on the internet, it is an etiquette thing too and part of Reddit's culture.

AskHistorians/cc2kmcg

1ls3h0

When did the expression "American dream" start to be used?

If I recall right, the first known instance is relatively recent: James Truslow Adams uses the phrase in his 1931 book, The Epic of America. I quote the relevant passage: "There has also been the American Dream, that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain the fullest stature of which they are innately capable.regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." Of course, the phrase, as used today, has a life of its own, with interpretations of the "American Dream" ideal to be found in literary works (Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, for instance), cinema (The Godfather, especially Part II but also the first one), music (Bob Dylan's Desolation Row could perhaps be read in this vein) and television (The Wire for a reading of the fantastical yet fatalistic inevitability of the American Dream). But if you're looking for a direct reference to the phrase, I think it is Adams' work. edited for a few typos

AskReddit/c0f58kc

9zh3o

What is the most frightening thing you've ever experienced?

One time I was driving down a four lane road, with the light green in my direction, when two young kids darted out from in front of a semi that was stopped and waiting to turn in the left turn lane. I had to slam on my brakes, and I came to a stop only a few feet from them. They seemed oblivious to how close they'd come to getting creamed, and I was completely freaked out. I was angry that they'd taken such a stupid chance with their lives. I still shudder when I think back to how close those kids came to getting hit, and what it would have probably done to them. Maybe not the kind of frightening you're going for, but it's the first thing I think of. tl;dr haiku: Driving down the road Children ran into traffic They were almost hit

AskReddit/c98pgrx

1bp6la

Has anyone run into or met a celebrity that seemed down to earth?

I ran in to Gabe Newell and his kids over the summer. I'm still friends with both of his sons (haven't talked to good ol' Gaben in a while though). When I met him, he seemed really cool and down to earth, and we talked about DOTA 2 and TF2 for a bit.

AskReddit/e4r39ub

99xgfs

How do people in wheelchairs get around in winter?

My dad just wears gloves keep his hands warm if he's alone, if someone is with him, they usually push and he still wears gloves. Many folks in wheelchairs find a way to be independent- they aren't all invalids. My dad drives, owns and operates a business, does various bits of carpentry. And he's been in a wheelchair for 19 years. A little snow isn't going to stop him.

explainlikeimfive/cs9xjk7

3a798h

Does animals that run a lot (lions, horses for example) get stiff in their legs after running so much?

First, no animal runs "a lot" compared to what Humans are capable for. That's kind of our thing. Second, cats really don't run a lot. They're sprinters. Third, animals are built completely differently than humans, and most importantly they know how not to overdo it. Humans don't really get "stiff" unless they overdo it, start running longer distances than you're ready for, don't prep correctly, etc. Your legs might hurt after running long distances, and that'll happen to animals, too, if they overdo it.

AskReddit/cmfmuve

2npf7o

Why hasn't the world liberated North Korea?

Its simply not "worth" it. If the US and South Korea went to war to with North Korea it would be a short war, but it would cost a tremendous amount of lifes. North Korea has a huge amount of artillery pointed at Soul, witch would cause a lot of damage and death in a short amount of time. Not to mention that they are probably the only country with nukes crazy enough to use them. Plus there are diplomacy problems as well, North Korea is allied with China, and since China is the second largest economy in the world we don't want to mess that up.

explainlikeimfive/dbohf4w

5kk3or

How is it that some people are born with natural talents for things and others must learn them?

"Born with it" is usually a misconception. The general philosophy is that it takes 10,000hrs of practice with the aim to get better to master something. The key to that is making the most of your time spent "practicing". For example, professional hockey players almost exclusively are born in January/February. It's not because the hockey gods decreed it so, but has to do with little league rules. Most pro players got their hockey start in grade school where leagues are usually broken into age groups. Anyone who was 7 on Jan 1 plays in the 7yr old League. The difference between 7 and 7.8 years old is huge, so oldest kids on the team are usually the best just due to size. Now they look objectively better than their peers when going out for select teams and coaches. This access gives them better training opportunities and tougher competition to grow their skills against. It's not that they were born with it. They just were able to make better use of their time practicing. If you aren't genuinely interested in what you are studying, don't have the best teachers, or simply don't challenge yourself, you aren't making the most of your time, and extend your learning curve. Some are literally born with physical advantages, but like the hockey players this usually gives them an early advantage and early access to elite-tier training and competition. An example of this would be Michael Phelps and his freakishly long arms & legs attached to his extra-wide hands & feet. That man's body is just about perfectly evolved for lap swimming.

AskHistorians/cphowz1

2zcrci

How would long-distance roads in 19th century America compare to modern-day highways?

It would have been pretty terrible, frankly. Even in the 1920s and 1930s a long-distance journey in an automobile would have been anything but comfortable. There would have been designated roads, but before the 1920s, no standardized traffic signals. Very few service stations because there were so few automobiles to service. One reason why the Model T Ford really took off was the standardization in parts, making it much simpler to fix even in far off service stations. It would have been relatively common to see other travelers, especially after the 1910s. There start to open up National Parks, amenities aimed at tourists, and gradually - better roads. Many years earlier, like in the colonial era, for example, a traveler would have needed to exchange money every so often because there wasn't even a nationalized currency. This is all to say traveling long distances gets easier over time in the United States. Its sort of a myth that Eisenhower drew inspiration for the The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 from his experience in Germany during and after WWII. In reality, Eisenhower was well aware this country had a problem with poor roads. When he was in the service before the war, Eisenhower was part of a terribly uncomfortable convoy going from PA to CA. He needed little convincing himself we needed new roadways and it helped further stimulate the economy.

AskReddit/egozb3p

arqlnl

What is an inside joke for people in your hometown?

We had a mentally-challenged 50-year old borderline-homeless Puerto Rican guy named Javier. He decorated his bike with Barbie Dolls and cutouts of nude women. In our small town, he was kind of an urban legend, except a real person. All day long he would ride around on his bike and occasionally stop into the convenience stores to obtain more magazines for cutting out photos of women. So, references to the name "Javier" were our inside jokes.

AskReddit/dvgyy9r

83dbfy

What things do we take for granted right now that 100 years from now people will look back on and wish they could experience?

Being able to look out our windows and see the world in a somewhat natural state, and not just see an industrialized world of endlessly sprawling cities and skylines. Not enough people today can appreciate the amazing beauty that is our star-filled night sky, and I imagine that in a hundred years there will be many fewer, if any. Appreciate the world we live in now, for it won't always be this way.

explainlikeimfive/cpdn6os

2ywrpj

Why does alcohol make us lose memory?

Alcohol inhibits the function of the 'bridge' between our short term memory and long term memory. The short term memory only keeps new information for a very brief amount of time and passes it on to a filter that decides wich bits to keep and wich bits to toss. If you're drunk enough that part of your brain just tosses everything. So the memories aren't commited to long term memory but forgotten instead.

AskHistorians/c4smovu

u616a

What is the strangest thing people found valuable in your area of study?

This question was made for my area of study! During the 1600s the Dutch Republic became, for a period time, the richest place in the world. They weren't the only ones either: the same economic factors that were benefiting the Dutch republic affected most of Northwest Europe. With all this money going around there was an immense demand for luxury goods, and during the 1630s one of the most coveted luxury goods was the tulip. Tulips have a much more intense colour than other flowers that were available at the time, and could easily be bred into thousands of different varieties of colour and patterns. The high demand for tulips in the Netherlands and abroad caused its price to sky-rocket. However, this economic boom was unlike ones before it due to the availability of sophisticated markets (such as banks and stock-exchanges) and financial instruments (such as futures contracts). This resulted in the world's first ever modern economic bubble the so called "Tulip mania". At the height of tulip mania, the price of a single tulip bulb of a coveted variety could be as much as ten times the annual income of a skilled craftsmen (and remember, the Dutch were the richest people in the world at the time, so a craftsman made a good income). Eventually, the price was so high, tulip sellers could no longer find buyers for their bulbs. As a result prices dropped, which caused panic selling which left many people sitting only tulips now only worth a tenth of what they had been worth before.

AskReddit/d1ot15q

4d8nvn

What advice did your first boss give you that has stuck with you to this day?

My first boss was a really salty old guy we will call Larry. I had just graduated high school and was basically the only girl in a big aluminum weld shop full of men. They made me do everything. I cleaned the offices, inspected the stock that came in, ran inventory, answered the phone. It was crazy, but I felt appreciated. I worked 60+ hours a week and it felt like the place would implode without me. Larry was full of wisdom and comical one-liners. He became kind of a mentor to me or like a crazy uncle. We would have lunch together every day and he would tell me stories about his career, crazy experiences he'd had, and how he managed up and got his bosses to listen to him. About six months in, my mom was killed while on vacation in Costa Rica (it was an accident) and I was crushed. I had to care for my younger siblings, manage the house, and try to keep food in the table for all of us. Unfortunately, after a while, Larry took advantage of the situation and pressured me into sleeping with him to keep my job. I hated myself for it but I needed the job and didn't have many other options. It was really gross and totally ruined the image that I had of him. It was terrible for my self confidence. After about a month of the harassment, I came into work one day and learned that Larry had had a stroke the night before while golfing and had died. Everyone was in shock. Only I knew about his dark side. Everyone else thought he was a saint. A big part of me hated him and was honestly glad that he was dead, but another part of me appreciated all of the great preparation he had given me for making it in a tough industry. A lot of what he taught me still serves me well today. I guess when I think back on it now, I've forgiven him for being a selfish and opportunistic jerk, but I'll never forgive him for giving me herpes.

explainlikeimfive/ei389kn

aytxak

Does leaving my light switch on with a dead bulb in one socket and a smart bulb in the other use electricity all day even if the smart bulb is off?

In order for a smart bulb to be "smart" it must always remain connected to whatever network it uses. A quick Google search says that the Phillip's hue draws 0.4 watts in the off state. This is a very minimal amount and would hardly be noticable on your power bill. (0.4 Wh x 24 x 30 = 0.288 kWh per month then multiply by your company's kWh rate)

AskReddit/c8jehnr

18zk05

What is your favorite ending to any book/video game/TV show?

"The Men Who Stare at Goats" had the best movie ending ever, hands down. Ewan McGregor (Young Obi-Wan) has spent the whole movie being told about Jedi warriors (not Star Wars), has a tiny monologue, and then he runs/phases through a wall.

askscience/djmj3yr

6kakx2

When you lay awkwardly on an extremity (such as your arm or leg), what cause the sharp "needles poking you" feeling?

The pressure constricts the nerves which eventually causes them to stop working correctly. This is called transient parasthesia. The pins and needles effect is basically the result of the nerve firing erratically while "waking up" and moving toward normal functioning again.

explainlikeimfive/ctx4hlg

3gcy9z

When countries like Russia, China, and America 'buy gold' to bolster their economies, where do they buy it from?

They buy from each other. In NYC the federal Reserve has a massive vault with many compartments. Each labeled with a different countries name so they buy from each other and shift the gold.bars from vault to vault. Source: took a tour of the reserve and saw the vault even held some of England's gold.

AskReddit/c64zi2o

ziw3o

Can animals commit suicide?

My aunt had a dog that loved running away to my grandmothers house across town for leftovers. He did this all the time, always got loose, and always ran around without getting hurt. He would even get our dog to go with him sometimes. Our dog always came back smelling of skunk and my aunts dog never got sprayed. He was very smart. In his old age he developed a very large tumor on his belly (got to the size of a basketball). My aunt refused to pay/couldn't afford the surgery to remove it. One day after eating his leftovers at my grandmothers, he walked out into traffic and was hit and killed by a truck. I fully believe he committed suicide. I miss him very much. RIP Buddy.

AskReddit/c40lhnr

quphd

What is the number one condiment that you can't live without on your hot dog?

Hurm. If I sort out my favorite styles: Chicago dog Sauerkraut ( onions with mustard ) Cincinnati coney Corn relish ( onions with mustard ) Mustard and onions seem to be the only constants. I guess it's a fight to the death between onions and mustard, and I love them both like my own children and can't choose. I've never had a Perro Caliente Colombiano, which looks spectacular and doesn't appear to have onions. Perhaps I can break the tie after finding Columbian street cart inexplicably lost in the mid-west.

AskReddit/dxxmin1

8es1qb

What are your thoughts on brake checking Tailgaters or distracted drivers?

First, if you brake check a distracted driver, you have a real good chance of getting run into. Despite who is determined to be at fault, you still have to get your car fixed and significant damage, even if repaired correctly, lowers the value of your car. Not to mention the inconvenience; repair times can be brutally long in a good shop. Second, some states apportion negligence between drivers. You may be found partially at fault for turning an already dangerous situation into an accident. Third, you may make the other person really unhappy. Google what happens sometimes when you make another driver unhappy or induce rage. Fourth, suppose he has a dash cam. If it is clearly a case of you brake checking and the accident results, you may be found totally at fault. Conclusion: It's a really bad idea. Do something else to get the person off your bumper -- for instance, turn down a side road for a minute, take an off ramp and come back on, move to a different lane -- there is rarely a situation where there is not some alternative.

AskReddit/eeyv0dk

ajtqsd

What are some simple things that could greatly increase someone's quality of life?

As a dane living in Denmark, often listed as the happiest country in the world, I can give you the daniest of words I know: "Forventningsafstemning." This means the process of looking at things beforehand and then adjust your expectations of what is to come. Danes are very good at this. If you don't expect too much, you might not be disappointed. You might even be happy for what you've got.

AskReddit/d82xbyn

54lb9a

Have you ever dated a crazy person, what were they like?

I dated a bi-polar girl for two years. Super super loving when she wanted to be, but there were days and even weeks where all you could do was walk on eggshells. There was a month where she wouldn't let me go to the bathroom alone because she was concerned I was texting other girls. We ended it after she hit me with a pan and tried to stab me with the knife I got her for Christmas (she was a chef). I haven't heard from her in two years now. I never thought she was "crazy" the way other people did. She just needed to get help. I hope she did.

AskReddit/cv8ksyg

3lqgdt

What type of person do you secretly hate?

That person who portrays a perfect life on social media, but in reality is far from the truth. Same type of person buys an expensive nice looking car they can't afford to appear successful

AskReddit/dcwdfz1

5q56lh

Why is Trump going to build a wall if there is already a large fence?

He's never actually been to "the border". For four hours he went to a neighboring police station but never actually set foot on the ground or saw the border itself. He probably has no idea what's there right now, but the idea of people voting for him because he'll build a huge wall keeps him going.

AskReddit/dg7ro8d

65661i

Why did the police officers think it would be OK to drag Dr. Dao off the plane?

It was their job. Dr. Dao had been asked to leave the plane due to overbooking. Happens all the time. The airline always puts you on another flight or reimburses you for the inconvenience. Dr. Dao refused, even when security had been called. When you defy security, things typically get physical.

explainlikeimfive/ctz1ihm

3gkyld

Why does any flight take longer than 12 hours?

It's impossible to just stand still, as everything, even the air in the atmosphere moves with the same speed as the rotation of the earth.So the rotation does not actually make any difference to the length of the flight as we will always be in the same reference frame. The only thing that determines how long a flight is is therefore the speed of the plane and the flightpath it chooses.

AskReddit/c9rohon

1dmakf

What was you most embarrassing day of school?

I had done a little experimenting with my high school boyfriend at the time and he proceeded to tell everyone. They then spent about a week making obscene gestures at me to let me know that they "knew what I did". What an asshat. Edit: I forgot one! This was college, though. Anyway it was presentation day in my career counseling class and I'm sitting there nervously waiting for my turn to roll around. I was sitting sort of sideways in the desk and managed to make my leg fall asleep. Well, it was my turn and I stood up to go to the podium and I just fall face first into it onto the floor. There was thing awkward silence with audibly stifled laughter for what seemed an eternity. Ugh. I went to go sulk and walk it off in the bathroom for a bit and came back later and presented my project.

AskReddit/cv2cv01

3l1mft

What is your opinion of Catholics as an Atheist?

I was raised Lutheran but my grandparents were catholic. My problem is that they're the most "hardcore" sect, in that they have no tolerance for other beliefs. Tell a Catholic you're atheist and see what happens. They're also incredibly entitled. this is all in addition to the horrible indoctrination they do to children that affects their concept of reality and fiction (which is scientifically proven).

AskReddit/cc2ftn9

1lt10y

If you could save one day of your life in your memory to relive whenever you wanted, what would it be and why?

The day I saw my great grandmother in the hospital. My only memory of her is her laying on a hospital bed before she died. Unfortunately, the memory is slowly fading away, and I can't even remember what she looked like anymore.

AskReddit/edykfsv

afh4ul

What's your worst customer story?

I was a housekeeper for a couple of years and the worst guest I’ve ever dealt with demanded I stay until 6:30pm (it was 2pm already) to clean his room after he had spent all day with Do Not Disturb on his door. My boss was not lawful and stopped paying his staff after a certain time, for that day he stopped paying me at 1:30pm. I was not waiting 4 and a half hours unpaid to clean one room

explainlikeimfive/di9q4gh

6eeutc

If you're searching for a used car of a certain type and you keep seeing the same year and model everywhere, does that mean that model year sucked?

Not necessarily. There may have been a particularly good financing deal available that year, or it was just a very popular model. For older cars, finding a good number still in circulation can actually be good news. That suggests that the car didn't have any major mechanical problems that killed them all off.

AskReddit/d2pv3x0

4hi99w

What is the weirdest/creepiest thing you've ever heard from a sleep-talker?

Back in university we were at a conference. A group of us all shared a hotel room, being poor students, we were just being practical. Anyhow, in the pitch black, our Venezuelan friend started speaking fluent spanish, like someone left on a spanish news channel. So fast, so loud. It wasn't creepy, it was weird, in an absolutely hilarious way.

AskReddit/d6e98cu

4xc8io

In a perfect zombie apocalypse, how did the outbreak start, and what are the zombies like?

Doesn't really matter how and what the zombies are like. It's all about location. If the outbreak started in a third world country, like the middle of Africa somewhere, then it would have a chance to spread and infect a lot of people really quickly. The outbreak would before known to the world eventually, but there'd be no way of containing it or really when knowing how far it has spread at that point. Since containment and quarantine isn't an option someone is going to suggest bombing or even nuking whatever country it is. If their government has survived to this point, they'll protest this action. If they haven't survived then other people will protest because there may still be survivors that just can't communicate outwards. And even with all of that you don't know if you'll kill them all. So different countries will take different stances on the subject and tensions will grow. Meanwhile the outbreak will keep spreading. Eventually it'll do one of three things. Start a nuclear war because of the tension. Infect every country and you end up with an apocalypse. End globalisation as every country that's not infected closes their boarders and kills on sight, just so no infected can reach them.

AskReddit/elf4neq

bfnrp8

What's your weirdest dream?

There was a twin volcano eruption me and my dad were there I saw a villain from the TV show I watched in a wood rowboat rowing towards the volcanoes who apparently was my uncle? Anyways I was suddenly on my couch jumping from sharks I saw some dragons from HTTYD swimming and then one of them landed buy a Lego character and then you have to do gymnastics swing over an endless pit in a castle to get away from two volcanoes and then it’s me and two friends who I actually don’t know at all with two drones saying I’m gonna find him referring to my dad who fell and said endless pit and then one of the drones that was blue and yellow went into the pit. I’m 14 and I had that dream when I was 5. Weirdest dream I’ve ever had.

AskReddit/djptb5z

6kytd6

What was your sketchiest experience at a motel/hotel?

There was a sketchy Super 8 motel in Oregon right off the highway that I stayed in. It was kinda run down, but in the middle of the night I heard odd noises that I can only describe as an alien whispering. Then I realized it was my sister talking in her sleep. Still a super sketchy Super 8 tho.

explainlikeimfive/cnz4wzp

2thm3o

Why do polar bears live at the Northern Pole and Penguins at the Southern?

Bears swim, but primarily prefer land- they basically 'came up' from relatively close places like Russia or Canada. Penguins rook on land but have a really impressive swimming range. And they'd kind of have to, given how far away even the closest (and, sfaik, all bear free) land to Antarctica is. The niche penguins would have at the North Pole is filled by the Puffin. I have heard of early researchers trying to transplant Emperor penguins to the North Pole, but it's not a very happy story. (The transplanters didn't take into account exactly how many penguins it takes to make up the 'mass huddle' that penguins do against extreme cold. And ISTR at least one wandered up to the home of someone who didn't know what a penguin was and killed it in a panic). Given how dangerous polar bears can be (thus hard to transport) and how screwed the fauna of Antarctica would be if they took off, I couldn't see anyone trying a transplant.

AskHistorians/d2ymfdu

4iint8

Did the Germans and Italians ever share Jet Technology during WWII?

Yes, they did in fact share at least the theoretical bits of Jet technology. That said, it's interesting that Italy never actually made a jet powered fighter as opposed to Germany who actually went on to test a few other engines before arriving to the BMW 003 or the Junkers 004. Probably the most important part is that the Caproni Campini N.1 was more of a hybrid plane that didn't utilize a turbojet design like the BMW or Jumo designs. Instead the Campini utilized a rather interesting hybrid engine that used a conventional piston engine to drive the supercharger. What I will offer is that making jet powered fighters or planes outside of the realm of prototypes was the tricky if not outright difficult part. Like the Germans and Italians, the British, not too much later after the Italian prototype completed a jet engine in the form of the Whittle and a plane in the form of the Gloster E28. For the Italians, the difficulty of plane development remained a constant for aircraft as wartime resources made both precious metals and fuel rather scarce. Unlike Germany who had a much larger industrial base and (I would argue, until the later points of the war.) a much more avant garde aircraft design committee compared to both the Axis and Allies, Italy was constrained by its inability to manufacture large amounts of engines and airframes. In short, I would say that the cooperation of Jet technology probably did exist, but considering how there are no records Italian forays into jet powered military fighters for mass production, I would wager that Italy had no resources to really develop or advance jet fighters. Kay, Anthony L. (2007). Turbojet History and Development 1930-1960

askscience/c4l325u

tawm9

What's that feeling you get when you're stretching or yawning--a sort of thrill that quickly spreads through the body?

When you stretch it is basically dilating your blood vessels, which is why athletes stretch before exercise, to ensure maximum blood flow to increase O2 exchange efficiency. E.g. if you sat down for a long time, standing up allows more blood to flow in those areas which have been deprived of sufficient O2, so your muscles don't feel as fatigued as they have a surfeit source of energy provided by the blood flow. And yawning induces stretching of muscles and therefore to the same effect.

AskReddit/c0i2hxg

akn2l

Which Musician do you wish would "sell out" for the ultimate benefit of improving the deplorable state of pop music?

the people who are writing for pop music are some of the most trained and most creative writers money can buy. you're not listening to soul, but you're listening to very well written music. it's easier to appreciate it.

AskReddit/e9t6ng9

9xlf6m

What's the worst present you've received?

My mom is from Thailand and doesn't really get the whole Christmas thing. last year she got me sore throat medicine. I didn't have a sore throat. Thanks for the gold kind stranger! I also forgot this story, she once got me around 50 tiny vacation mouth washes for my birthday. Somone told her kids these days drink them to get drunk and it was my 21st. they've actually come in handy and I use them from time to time.

AskReddit/eala4ei

a0xsd4

What is the worst Christmas present you've ever received?

It's the thought that counts, and I'm grateful for every gift I have received. That being said I received plastic clothes hangers one time from my aunt. Maybe I even needed them, but still. I was like 8 at the time.

AskReddit/cl2oxdj

2ijidl

Who's your inspiration and why?

My personal inspiration is my Mother.My whole life she has been my rock, my guidance, my teacher. She has always given me freedom but reinforced boundaries. She let me discover my identity by making my own mistakes and taking my own paths. My mum is the one person who I want to be like. She's incredibly intelligent, caring, and has the patience of a saint.

AskReddit/ejykacr

b8lxwf

What’s your “My life is over” moment that actually ended up to not be a big deal?

I tried to end my own life but was found by my brother, i thought for sure that was it. He was gonna tell my parents i’d be sent to some home for the rest of my life. Turns out I wasn’t gonna be sent to a home but found out i had a minor case of depression and ADHD.

explainlikeimfive/c4xj14h

upyfe

Why is the Northeast and West Coast U.S. generally more liberal than the Midwest and South?

There are a lot of things that go into this (all the way up to how your brain is wired - liberals and conservatives literally have different brains) but biggest single determinant of whether someone is a liberal or a conservative is whether they live in a rural or urban environment. Urban areas are overwhelmingly liberal, while rural areas are at least equally conservative. Now when you look at a map of the U.S. you'll see that the coasts are far more densely populated than inland areas, and the Northeast is considerably more urbanized than the South. That's really all it takes to explain it, though it's certainly possible to elaborate on some things. In particular the reason why growing urbanization in the South in recent decades hasn't made Southern states more Blue. In fact it has, but not as much as one might expect. A lot of the urban growth has come from Blacks and Hispanics, which is precisely why Conservative Republicans are getting pretty desperate to keep them from voting. There's a lot of racial background that keeps Southern whites from trending more heavily toward liberalism even if they do live in less rural areas. Also, from the beginning, southern states tended to be dominated by rich planters, and their political systems (considerably more so than in the North) were deliberately designed to maintain the power of small rural constituencies and keep the states from being dominated by the more populous cities. Thus liberals literally matter less in the South and are less politically visible.

AskReddit/dd5043c

5r74ph

What was the dirtiest trick ever pulled in the history of war?

Dirtiest trick that was conceived but not used was British scientists formulating a plan of dropping anthrax laced linseed cakes into cattle fields as a bio-nuke of sorts once it worked up the food chain. After initial experiments destroyed pretty much all life on the island they used, they decided that possibly killing off everything in continental Europe probably wasn't a good idea.

AskReddit/epsdxow

bvt4kg

Where should people find jobs out of highschool?

Any job is a good start. Just keep trying to work your way up. If a job limits your ability to move up, find another job, and use it as leverage to move up, or follow through with the job switch. Bosses shouldn’t be trying to hold you back. Just make sure you follow through with a good work ethic.

AskReddit/dvyhbmk

85mhyx

Who is your favorite actor, living or dead, and why?

Bruce Campbell. A self-made man who takes his fame humbly, but also known to be a good person to his fans. Also happens to be the star of my favorite series, Evil Dead.

AskHistorians/dhigier

6ay4hj

What led to the Fatima sightings of 1917 being so prominent within the Catholic Church?

Further, how much did Portugal's Estado Novo propaganda machine contribute to the Church's recognition and how true are the remarks that Fatima's acceptance by the Church and the Portuguese authorities are mostly derived from the Church and Portugal's stance towards communism and the fact that Fatima's message is clearly and literally anti-communist and critical of the USSR?

AskReddit/c4qk4an

txiwn

What myths about health/body are people the most stubborn about holding on too, despite the lack of any evidence to support them?

When I was little kids always said, oh blood is blue inside your body, but turns red when it comes in contact with oxygen. Not true. It's actually a very dark red. Well people might say, why are veins blue? They appear blue because light is defused by skin.

explainlikeimfive/cidva6s

28rynd

What is my body doing when drop off a roller coaster to give me that "feeling" in my stomach?

On Earth, gravity pulls us towards the ground. However, the force you notice isn’t the downward pull of gravity, but the upward force of the ground beneath you. The ground pushes up on your feet, pushing up on your bones and organs. The sinking feeling in your stomach when on a rollercoaster or driving over a hill is caused by a change in force experienced by your organs. When in freefall, every part of you is accelerating at the same rate, which gives you a similar feeling to weightlessness. There is no upwards force from the ground to cause your organs to be compressed, so they are floating inside of you, even though you are falling. Our bodies aren’t used to this change in force on our organs, which causes messages to be sent in the brain that something is amiss

AskReddit/em7l7l5

bjeymt

What do you hate about yourself the most?

I hate how I suck at socializing with people outside my very small circle. Even when people are being nice to me I don't know how to react. I wanna show them that I appreciate the nice gesture, but I can't seem to find the words to say plus how and when to say it, so I end up just mumbling a very meek 'thanks' 'okay' 'yes' then spend a lot of time thinking about what just happened and regretting because I sound so ungrateful/rude. Gods. I hate my self for being such an introvert.

explainlikeimfive/d1htjxq

4cg458

How does headache exactly hurts your head if your brain cannot feel pain?

There are literally hundreds of of types of headaches, so each one can be representative of something different. Sinus pressure, vascular issues, tumor increasing intracranial pressure, muscular tension, trauma etc. The brain could be the issue but it's usually transmitting from somewhere else.

explainlikeimfive/d1sniqy

4dno09

Why are the new games coming out unable to be cracked?

Companies pay a license to use what's called DRM-- Digital Rights Management in their software. It's effectively encryption to piracy-- people copying their data and then sharing or selling it to others. Software that causes the game not to function if it detects it has been copied-- think of the old CD key system-- if you didn't enter the key you couldn't play the game. Computer scientists and programmers however, tend to be very, very smart people on average and look at this encryption as an interesting puzzle, if not a challenge. Once the puzzle is solved, the DRM is cracked and the game can be pirated. In most cases, companies only have a finite budget and the DRM they pay for tends to be mediocre at best-- as such it is cracked quickly, often in days if not hours. Such is the case that many games released with DRM are cracked before they are even released, or within hours of their release. The current top of the line DRM is Denuvo-- it has not been cracked yet, however the license fees to use this in their software is very, very expensive-- as such only AAA titles guaranteed to sell many copies would be capable of affording the fee-- in most cases the company will simply opt for a cheaper option and take the losses from piracy, as DRM license fees can get extremely expensive. As such, when the DRM doesn't work and is cracked quickly, the only people to lose out are the actual legitimate customers that buy the software-- ever remember buying a DVD lately? You don't steal a car etc? Eventually, Denuvo will be cracked and the arms race will begin once again. Exciting times, huh?

AskHistorians/c58fg2s

vx8b2

What made Napoleon such a great general?

Move to the rear: Block the enemy supply route, which gives the opposing commander only two choices: Fight and win, or retreat around Napoleon's army and back into contact with supply. Blocking supply and communication forced Napoleon's opponents to fight on his terms, or flee on his terms. Central position: When facing two armies, delay the first army with a much smaller force as long as possible, while you destroy the other army. Once one army is destroyed, destroy the other. Edit: The first was revolutionary, because most armies of the day relied on long supply trains to keep armies equipped and fed. This required roads and ports, both of which can be easily blocked by an army. Napoleon avoided becoming prey to the same tactic by essentially living off the land. His soldiers would take food from local areas, or buy it from nearby allies. The second wasn't necessarily revolutionary, it was something that had been used many times before. The Romans in particular made good use of it. The reason why it worked so well for Napoleon is that he had the key component you need to have that strategy work: speed. His armies moved much faster and responded much more quickly to developments than the other continental armies. This allowed him to defeat separate portions of a larger force in detail.

AskReddit/cnxv2wi

2tcvgb

What truly original thought have you come up with ?

I thought of a series of youtube videos where I get Stone Cold Steve Austin to shoot shot for shot remakes of scenes from movies, only replacing one character. The first one will be SCSA replacing Jenna Elfman in Can't Hardly Wait, in the scene where she is telling Ethan Embry about her teenage crush on Scott Baio.

AskReddit/c0owv1m

bwh6h

Is it weird to drink beer in the shower?

Only if you get water in the beer. Then you are not drinking beer in the shower - you are drinking Coors in the shower. And drinking Coors, in the shower or anywhere else, my friend, is completely inappropriate and unacceptable.

AskHistorians/d049cv1

46ddzn

Who discovered the Americas?

The correct answer is "an unknown Paleoindian more than 16,000 years ago." If our choice is limited to Columbus versus the Norse, though, the Norse win. They reached Greenland (which is part North America) in the late 10th Century. In 1000 CE, Leif Erikson led an expedition to mainland North America after hearing about land being sighted to the west by sailors who had been blown off course (the earlier sailors, led by Bjarni Herjólfsson, didn't land there though). The Norse had some off and on again contact with mainland North America and more temperate islands to the south (notably Newfoundland, where a Norse archaeological site - L'Anse aux Meadows - has been discovered dating to this period. Ultimately, they didn't put down any permanent roots and headed back to Greenland. The Norse themselves may have been beaten to the Americas by the Polynesians. Throughout a large portion of Polynesia, sweet potatoes have been a common crop for hundreds of years. But sweet potatoes are native to South America, and the words people in Polynesia use for the plant are essentially the same as those used in the Andes (allowing for some linguistic shift as the word passes from one community to another) - it's kumara in Rapanui, the language of Easter Island, and kumar in Quechua. There's also evidence for pre-Columbian genetic admixture between people of Easter Island and people in South America. Unlike the situation with the Norse, we don't know exactly when (though based on the spread of sweet potatoes, it couldn't be after Norse contact with North America, but may be contemporaneous) or where Polynesian contact would have occurred, or really which direction it went in (maybe it's actually people from South America heading into the Pacific, rather than the other way around).

AskReddit/c1vtemd

hj1a8

If you could get a stats report of your life after you die, what statistics would you want to know?

The number of pictures or videos in which I unknowingly appear. Think about security cameras, or other tourists picture on which I appear . etc Even better than getting only the statistics, I would love to be able to take a look at those, with the time and location meta-data written underneath!

AskReddit/c2usaka

lqi5s

Why is fast food so much cheaper in the US than in Canada?

US Wendy's gets their food from the US, where the meat is processed. In order to get that same processed product to Canada, they must ship it. This fluctuates the price of the product. For some companies, building proprietary factories in different countries can also cause in influx in prices.

AskReddit/c61zn33

z6z2z

What is your dream job?

I have my dream job right now. I set my own hours so I work only when I want to. I get to drink on the job. I like to be naked, and I get to be naked all the time. It's not hard work. I'm a stripper.

explainlikeimfive/c7i1d3d

1503pz

Why don't we build pyramids anymore?

Because they aren't very efficient. Lets say we use modern construction techniques and fill a pyramid with 'rooms' people would wanna live in. (I make this assumption because making a tomb that big for just one person anymore is silly on the face of it) So now we have a 'use' for a pyramid. Lets say you are in a big city and you want to build an apartment complex or a house or something. So you buy up a city block, knock down the old square apartment building that had a foot print of 500m by 500m. Now you are gonna build your pyramid apartment in that spot. you decide you want the slope of the sides to be 45 degrees, which means the height of your building is at most 250m tall, which is fine. Now you realize that the volume of your pyramid (which represents the amount of space people can use) is 20,833,333.33 m^3. Which sounds like a lot untill it is compared to an equivalent 500x500x250 cube appartment which gets three times as much space with 62,500,000 m^3. But wait it gets better. If you have a 6 foot tall person in a room with a 45 degree slope to one of the walls, there will be six feet of 'floor space' away from the wall in which they cannot stand without crouching. Given that the average room in an apartment is something like 12x12 that is approximately half of every room in every apartment which a slightly above averaged height person cannot access. Doing some very bad math this implies that of the 20,833,333.33 m^3 of total 'apartment space' in your building only a further fraction of that would be usable. You can solve this problem by making the walls 'steeper' but even then that increases the instability of your building, and kinda ruins the whole 'pyramid' vibe in the first place. So there you have it, rectangular faced buildings are more efficient both in absolute amount of space, and amount of usable space, and lets face it, if you aren't making your building out of giant rocks (which further limits the amount of space) It probably isn't going to make it hangout of that much longer 'long term' anyway. (fun fact) the tallest building in the world is 829.8 m. If this were a pyramid with a 45 degree slope to its sides it would cover approximately 2.75 square kilometers with its base. This represents over 3% of the total area of manhattan. Which if it were located in it would displace over 50k people.

AskReddit/eekxy0x

ai46gm

What did you lose, only to find again after much time?

My grandfather gave me a cute necklace for my third birthday it’s a gold plated bear with my birth stone on the belly and three balloons with diamonds in them. I always lost it and would find it months or years later. Thankfully I found it for the last time and now I’m not a stupid child anymore have it in a safe spot. I did loose a diamond out of one of the balloons but that’s not bad for having it for 21 years

explainlikeimfive/ck968ku

2fgjnz

Why do products like honey or salt have expiration date even though they never go bad?

It's a legal safeguard for companies. Even though it'd most likely taste fine past an expiration date, it's to prevent lawsuits. "You advertised your honey as "fresh"! Well I opened it up 10 years later and it wasn't!" People will sue over ridiculous things.

AskReddit/dfl52ov

62b0wa

Why do you like listening to your preferred genre of music?

I absolutely love pirate metal, Alestorm in particular. I just love it so mich because of how different it is from other stuff I hear. The concept of a pirate themed metal band is also a reason. When I was a kid, I remember loving pirates, and I suppose listening just gives me some nostalgia as well.

explainlikeimfive/dv4d09j

81p83c

Why do cars with start/stop start itself again when staying to long in one spot?

It starts again because it needs the engine again. Or. Well. Not the engine. But the electricity the engine produces with the generator that is connected to it. And possibly some of the excess heat it naturally creates with the combustion. There is a lot of stuff in the car that constantly consumes electricity. the entertainment system the exterior lights your phone charger the climate control fan motor seat heating The problem is, bluntly put, that if the engine is off for too long, the battery will be so drained that the starter motor won’t be able to restart the engine. And that is kind of dumb. Makes the whole thing useless. So. To assure that the car is able to maintain a reasonable climate inside the car and that it actually is able to restart, it will restart after a while by itself. Because it has to. The time it can stay off differs with temperature. Distance you have driven. How much energy you use in the car. Stuff that directly affect the battery charging status.

AskReddit/dafy9f5

5extpz

What experience/interaction influenced your life most in life?

going to college showed me how immature people could still be. we're in our 20s, you really gonna make fun of my clothing? I'm poor. So, that influenced me to choose friends wisely.

AskReddit/ekk00cl

bbnm5v

What’s the story of that one coworker everyone dislikes?

There’s multiple but I’ll tell you the most memorable. I’ll call the coworker no one like K, my friend will be P. P as interacting with customers while K asked her to help with something in the back, since the customer was paying P said as soon as the transaction goes through she’ll head right back. After the customer left K said “you ever deny my request again I’ll make sure you get fired on the spot.” Later than night P was steaming a shirt in the back and K burned P’s hand. K said “there’s no cameras back here. No one will believe you.” Multiple people complained to management but she’s still there.

AskReddit/c4h7e19

sv1ea

If most theaters are using digital projectors with digital film prints these days, how are the theaters keeping those digital copies off the internet?

The movies actually get shipped in on hard drives, and in order for the projectors to be able to play them, a license has to be loaded onto the projector. The licenses usually last a couple of weeks, and once the timer runs out a new one is installed. I used to be a shift manager for a movie theatre, and it was annoying loading those movies onto the projector. It usually took several hours to do so.

AskReddit/cmbfjul

2n8ovp

What is something people do, that they think is unique, but really everyone does it?

"I'm only friends with guys because girls create too much drama." "I'm not like other people of my generation." People think they're being unique but in reality these phrases are so common that I just cringe when I hear them.

AskReddit/cddcmif

1qj874

Have you ever had a lucid dream or out of body experience, or possibly sleep paralysis?

Yes, all 3. Lucid dreaming occurs for me quite regularly, most often during the early hours of the morning when I've just woken up but fallen off again before my alarm goes off. The other two I've only had each on a single occassion. My out of body experience I liken to what people describe as astral projection. I don't personally know what to call it other than an OBE. It was very similar to a lucid dream except that it had very real physical limitations eg. interacting with things felt difficult. It felt very odd, almost nervous and shaky to maintain that state once I was aware of it, but it seemed to stabilise after a few moments of relaxing. My "sleep paralysis" was also related in part to a lucid dream. I was dreaming of my old dog that had passed away and "felt" it leap up onto the bed and lay on my chest. I woke up and could feel a pressure on my chest and my arms were incredibly difficult to move. I have no way of proving this all of course, but that goes without saying. I might be wrong about what is what, but thats what I generally attribute those events to.

AskReddit/cj8h05p

2bs13e

What is something that makes you feel like a kid again?

Long ago my family and I used to go to Laredo, TX (we live in Mexico), just to shop but mostly window shopping, sometimes we just stopped by ToysRus just so my brothers and I could have a look around, maybe play the super Nintendo demos, we ate at Taco Palenque, went to Walmart, the mall, there was a talking tree there, Sams club, HEB, sometimes went downtown just to browse. Whether we bought something or not dint really matter, all my parents got us was clothes but it was cool enough, I remember my Mario Bros undies, my ninja turtles undies, Zelda and Batman cereal. It all stopped at about age 14 or sooner (I'm 31) So recently my GF and I got our visas and went shopping to, well, Laredo. Talk about feeling like a kid, flashbacks all over, it was a powerful feeling, hyphened by the fact that I was sharing it with my GF. I tried to go to the same places, It worked, felt like a kid again, felt like a 10 year old, felt like all was right in the world, no worries, school, candy and Sunday morning cartoons were the only thing in my mind. It comforts me that I know I always have that place, whenever We feel like the world is hitting too hard, we make a little 300 km trip to our little wonderland.

AskReddit/dzli71a

8m7sf3

How far back (years or generations) can you trace your family history?

Mom's side to the 1500's. Family all over europe, but mostly england and france. Dad's side is a little tricky since there's a lot of Cherokee on his side. I could trace it back as far as the early 1800's though

AskReddit/c3s5agk

pto8e

What's the coolest/most boss thing one of your parents has done?

I don't know if its the coolest things, but. I have a picture of my mom flashing a peace sign while at a Led Zeppelin concert, and both of my parents have partied with Alice Cooper. I come from a hippie and a metalhead.

AskReddit/cn7v885

2qnxwm

What question are you tired of people asking you?

Why can't you work faster, longer hours, and smarter? I swear ever since my company used the downed economy as an excuse to cut some of my coworkers yet still demand the same amount of output, I am tired of hearing this.

AskReddit/ehvymmc

axt8e1

What are some villains who's motives made complete sense?

Fictional villains? I think Magneto from the X-men has some understandable motives. Real life villainy often depends on which side wins and gets to write history. Often, not always.

explainlikeimfive/cwfs0xw

3qjtv0

What exactly happens to a person's ears when they are temporarily deafened from, for example, a nearby explosion?

Your tympanic membrane may rupture which will permanently decrease your hearing (as I understand it), but you can still hear with a ruptured membrane (think kids who get tubes put in their ears because they get chronic ear infections). In the few seconds after an explosion your brain was sending a signal of a loud sound to the brain and your brain has a built in reflex called the "attenuation" reflex. It takes about 40 to 80 milliseconds to activate but the idea is that two muscles in the ear lock down the sound conducting bones to decrease the amplitude of vibration they would experience to avoid damaging the ear. Obviously there are noise thresholds they can't handle but the relaxation of this reflex is necessary for your ears to readjust to normal noise levels. There may be something else going on as well, but I prefer not to speculate on that.

AskReddit/en6qxdu

bnkuqo

Where do you think we go after we diet?

There is no "dessert," "midnight snacks," "second breakfast," or any other kind of after diet. The weight will always come back. The only rational way to diet is to make lifestyle changes and maintain the loss. It took me years to come out to my family as a dieter. I was kicked out of my dinner club. It's not something everyone can realistically do. But asking questions is the first step.

AskReddit/ed88lu5

aci3fd

What injury or health condition significantly changed your life?

I broke 5 vertebrae in a fall when I was four years old. I wasn't paralyzed, but the bone deformities altered my physical development significantly. I lived with the crippling, deteriorating kyphosis until I was in my 40's then finally had the 12-level spinal fusion to fix it. At that point I was completely disabled by the injury and the curve bent my thoracic area so severely that my heart rotated 90* to find room and my lungs were being crushed. Every single rib was dislocated. That surgery was like being hit by a truck. I already had a strong family history of autoimmune disease and mild symptoms by that time and the trauma pushed me over the edge into full-blown, aggressive Scleroderma. I find out this month if it's going to kill me or not. I really hope not because I'm finally enjoying my life right now for the first time ever. I have so many things I still want to do. I must admit, my back feels better. lol!

AskHistorians/c9cwl0a

1c4cy4

Why wasnt Frantz Fanon executed on the spot for trying to enact a revolution?

Also a follow up question, Is there any times where Fanon's views were taken and used other than the Algerian revolution? I know Rage Against the Machine preaches for Fanon in at least one of their songs, Year of the Boomerang(the title is actually a quote coined by Fanon.) Were there any other writings or instances in American culture where Fanon and the Algerian revolution was referenced?

AskReddit/ektr1sa

bcvbfv

What temperature do dogs like bath water?

Some dogs can get painful muscle spasms in their tails from cold water. It mostly effects 'working-class' dogs like retrievers & spaniels. As long as the water's not too hot or too cold, it should be fine.

AskReddit/cmyupt2

2ppns9

What's the drunkest you've ever been, and what did you end up doing?

I've never really been that drunk. I've never even had a hangover. I think the worst thing I've done while drinking was hit on somebody's girlfriend right in front of her boyfriend at a party, or cursing at an opposing fan at a college football game right in front of a security guard. EDIT: Yes, her boyfriend, not his boyfriend.

AskReddit/dnn8pd0

7333y7

What do extremely wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about?

Services like personal shoppers. My formerly wealthy SIL used to have a personal shopper at Nordstroms that would buy clothing for her. The private shopper knew everything about her and would often deliver them to her at work. There were even some lines of clothing that never made it to the rack that were not available to the mall shoppers.

AskReddit/deu35vg

5yzdll

What is the best vocal performance you've ever heard?

I wish I had a video of this, but I don't. This takes a little bit of backstory though, so I apologize for the length. My first semester at small liberal arts college, one of the students took their own life. He was a fairly well known student on campus and the search for him went on for two days before they found his body in the woods. It was a surreal moment, as it happened only 3 days into the semester, and everything was quiet and solemn. There was a memorial service in our chapel, and we all packed into it to pay our respects, even those of us who had not known him; we were a tight little community, and the emotions ride through us all, so even though we were naive little first years, we did our part in supporting those around us. The memorial service was more of a remembrance. There were eight people on stage, all of them who had a connection to him, and they talked a bit about it. They had different stories, talking about his vibrancy and his laugh and the positive impact he had on the world. He was a character of the highest regard. Then his sister came up. She didn't say much. She told us it was his birthday, he would be turning 21 today. And then she sang happy birthday to him. It was the most hauntingly beautiful thing I've ever heard. No one was speaking in that church. There were 1000 of us there and all of us were silent, letting the emotions of the week exhilarate out of us as she sang happy birthday. It rang out over the church. She wasn't the best singer but none of us cared because she was singing from the heart and it was raw and it was powerful and it was one of the most surreal things I've ever been a part of. When she finished, she sat down, and it left us there, morbidly aware of our own mortality. Ever since then, I haven't really been able to sing happy birthday with the full confidence that you usually do. It's been assigned new meaning to me, and I want to find a way to keep that integrity. TL;DR: Someone sang happy birthday, and it was beautiful.

AskReddit/dd4d949

5r4fdp

What movie, video, or television episode sucked the life out of you?

Ima go ahead and say Beasts of No Nation. That movie changed what I imagined war to be like. The way the soldiers trudged on just because the commandant told them to, the way Agu changes and matures throughout the movie, the things that the commandant would do to some of the soldiers, (SPOILER: He raped them), it all just sucks the life out of you.

AskReddit/epfikfk

bup0cw

What movie left you completely blown away after watching it?

The Game. So many red herrings and mindfucks til the end and Michael Douglas bein a boss. Only saw this year and I hadn’t seen anything good in so long the blow might have blown out of proportion, but i was loving it.

AskReddit/er3zwhj

c0e5t2

What is your coolest travel experience?

My dad was in the Army, which people took to mean that we moved a lot. However, he was a recruiter, so we were fortunate to have stayed in one spot pretty much our whole lives growing up. 13 years ago, which was about 2 years before he retired, he was made to pick a new MOS. Long story short, he goes through AIT and is stationed in Ft. Lewis, Washington. We’re from Pennsylvania, which isn’t exactly next door. So the six of us (mom, dad, brother, sister, myself, plus our dog) squeeze into the ol’ minivan and head for the west coast. It took us a little over a week of steady driving to get there. The van was cramped, we were all sore from sitting All The Time, the van smelled like old fast food. We were traveling in December, between two storms; one ahead of us, one following us). I would do it all over again in a heartbeat (and we had no choice, seeing as we moved back about 14 months later). I hadn’t realized how big and diverse the United States were until we drove the length of it. How it changed from mountains to hills to plateaus then back to mountains. I saw farms and “Jesus Saves” signs, tourist trap billboards for The Corn Museum. we saw a windmill farm (that I can’t remember if it was on our way to or from the west, but it doesn’t make much of a difference). I really don’t know how cool it was or exciting or whatever, but that is an experience I wouldn’t trade for anything.

AskReddit/eklzzd5

bbwlm5

Why do you/dont you believe in love at first sight?

For me, love at first sight doesn't exist because I'm more attracted to personality/intelligence than I am physical looks. I believe that people who are beautiful on the outside can quickly begin to look ugly if their behavior is rotten, and just the opposite, people who are not so physically attractive can begin to appear as the most beautiful people in the world if their personality is kind. When it comes to "first sight", I think we actually feel infatuation more than love. Real love takes practice and effort. it's something you do, and not necessarily always something you feel.

askscience/c3s7q6d

ptrs1

How did Newton derive the Law of Universal Gravitation?

Observations demonstrated that the planets in our solar system orbited the Sun in ellipses. Newton discovered through his investigation (IE invention) of Calculus that a body undergoing acceleration proportional to the inverse square of their distance would travel in an ellipse. He then made a mental leap and realized that observable natural laws we see on Earth also are obeyed in the heavens, and thus concluded that the process that causes an apple to fall to the ground is the same force that keeps the Moon in orbit around the Earth and the planets in orbit around the Sun. He then reasoned that every particle in the universe acts on every other particle with this force, meaning that the force between two objects must be related to each of their masses. It was this series of mental leaps that led to his deduction of the law of gravitation. There was very little theoretical derivation involved; it was mainly an assertion which turned out to be demonstrably accurate. The gravitational constant G was not known for nearly a century afterwards when it was finally empirically measured. No known first principle derivation can produce G, so it remains an empirical observation.

AskReddit/einvl56

b1rr8x

What scene from a movie do you hate, because of what it does to you emotionally?

The scene in A Star Is Born where the husband commits to killing himself. It’s not graphic or explicit you just know. Overall I thought that movie was ok, great soundtrack but not the best movie ever. For me though having lost my dad to suicide that representation of committing to ending your life just caught me off guard and hit me right in the feels

AskReddit/enj2oj6

boost3

What screams "I'm out of ideas"?

I had to do a business project in university. This girl in my class (who happened to be one of my best friends' ex, but she thought we were still friends) was very excited about her project and she was telling me all about it. Her idea was to sell hair bands with beads on them. The kind you can buy at the dollar store. It occurred to me that she probably didn't know what to do, and then I switched from laughing about the stupidity to laughing about how out of ideas she must have been.

explainlikeimfive/dyi2e32

8h8vmh

How is it that we can tell the difference between watching a recording of a completely still scene, and looking at an actual still image?

If you take multiple pictures of the same scene they will be slightly different. There is away noise in a image senor the captured images will not be the same. So a video will not be a stream of identical images but almost identical images. It is also likely that the video compression algorithms result in that the noise result in a bit different compression for a larger area. So the result is that the videos changes a bit over time but the still image is identical all the time

AskHistorians/d2dc64h

4fzc5j

Were slaves treated differently during Roman times compared to the way the US treated their slaves?

"Better" would depend highly on the social standing of the slave, how they were acquired, and what their jobs were. It also depended on the time frame. During the imperial period especially, slaves slowly accrued more and more rights. For a farmhand or mining slave in the late republic it would be hard for a slave to tell a significant difference between their lot and that of a black slave in Alabama 1855. Their masters could treat them any way they wanted, including physical punishment, or even killing. And they had no legal recourse against it, or any rights in particular. This kind of physical labor was the dominant form of slavery in the late republic especially as the large latifundias developed. However for a slave that had useful skills life could be very different. A literate Greek man who had been enslaved as a prisoner of war wasn't likely to end up working in a field. He was likely to end up as a clerk or a tutor to his master's sons. He might be granted the privilege of earning money and eventually buying his own freedom. Or after a period of service he may be straight up granted his freedom. Such a man could have a decently comfortable life as a slave, and a hope for freedom and prosperity afterwards. He might not have any more actual rights than a field slave, but in practice cultural norms did grant him more theoretical protections. Once freed a former slave had limited rights, they couldn't hold public office for example. But there was a degree of social advancement possible and the status of a freed slave only lasted a single generation, the son of a freed slave could hold office, if otherwise qualified. This was no doubt, at least in part, due to the fact that slavery wasn't racially based. Slaves could be former Romans, Latins, Italians, Greeks, Africans, Celts. etc. There was no immediate way to distinguish between slave or free based solely on ethnic features. Up until now I've focused largely on men. Women slaves were dealing with a lot of the same issues, with the added concern of also being used sexually. In fact a lot of women slaves were used as prostitutes and the brothels were full of slaves. Even an otherwise well treated house servant was at her master's pleasure. But those who were well placed, could also hope to earn their freedom, and eventual respectability for their descendants. So I guess the TLDR for all of this is, it depends on the individual slave. At the worst a Roman slave could be absolutely as mistreated as the worst off antebellum slave. At the best, a Roman slave could be and often were much "better" treated than in the South.

explainlikeimfive/c28lk1y

j2fm1

Can someone explain how hedge funds work?

You have stocks. You can buy and sell stocks (or variations of that, including puts/options/etc). That's what 99% of people have access to, but sometimes, cunning people figure out ways to make a lot more money, and that's what hedge funds are. Hedge funds are usually invite-only. People put them together and invest in all sorts of things.example: someone creates a house flipping business and flips 1 house a year. A hedge fund says "wait, if we give you a million bucks, think you can do 3 houses a year? In exchange, i want you to give me $10,000 per house" the guy goes "yeah! and if you give me two million, I can do 6 houses a year." So the hedge fund manager invites more people in, and gets $10 mil invested, and so the guy starts flipping 30 houses a year

AskReddit/dnhsfyr

72e1tw

What's most annoying about Reddit?

Reddits voting system actively discourages discussion and actively rewards hiveminding. It's annoying that people don't understand that you shouldn't downvote someone because you disagree with them. You should downvote them if they aren't adding to the discussion or are breaking a rule.

AskReddit/c0kh11q

b1dnb

What would happen if Pinocchio declared "My nose will now grow"?

It depends on whether he thinks his nose will grow - it grows if he lies, not if he's wrong. If he doesn't know, I suppose that's a lie, and it grows. So what happens next varies with hidden state, and two events that look exactly the same externally could have different outcomes.

AskReddit/dvu31zu

851oq2

What are some ways we have changed the course of evolution and the meaning of "survival of the fittest"?

"Survival of the fittest" no longer applies to Nature scenarios. We've changed the game as humans and the fittest to survive in the modern world do not contain the same characteristics as the fittest to survive in nature.