Higher end/expensive clothing - should they be washed differently? Any tips or tricks to keeping them looking nice/new longer?

relic2279 · 2017-02-08T01:05:35+00:00

It can't hurt (it won't make it worse). Stuff is slightly hard to find, but I'm almost positive it will get it out with a couple minutes of rubbing. I think they sell it at home depot & lowes but I get it at Family Dollar for a couple dollars cheaper.

relic2279 · 2017-02-07T09:22:10+00:00

I just read the article and I'm not sure what he's referring too. In another other article, he (or someone paraphrasing/editing) says, "The Earth’s rotation will eventually slow down to match the orbital period of the moon, and when that happens, the planet’s gravitational pull will tug on the lunar satellite, meaning that it will slowly begin drifting towards us."

That's not what that means at all. Big planetary objects like the moon and earth (even stars for that matter) can be in a synchronous, stable orbit tidally locked with one another. They can exist that way for eternity (provided nothing disturbs them). As far as I can tell, it's only that one planetary scientist making the claim, and he only says it "might" happen. It sounds like it's his pet hypothesis. This isn't something that is the consensus of the scientific community.

relic2279 · 2017-02-07T07:41:02+00:00

I am happy to hear this. I hope it comes true.

I suggested it probably about 7 years ago. And a few times since. Don't hold your breath. :) In their defense, the turnover rate has been to high for them too "remember" older suggestions. Hell, I don't even recognize half of these new admins.

relic2279 · 2017-02-07T07:36:41+00:00

It's not like they randomly chose those original defaults; they were general interest topics that were seeing a lot of traffic anyways. Subreddits like /r/Videos or /r/Pics are going to have traffic/subscribers regardless of their status as a default. And originally, there were only 10 default subreddits.

relic2279 · 2017-02-07T07:30:48+00:00

"Effectively", except the popular list is 548 subreddits, instead of the 50 default. Much larger breadth of what reddit has to offer.

Except it's still a hand-selected list. Regardless of the size, they're still manually curating the front page (not that it's good or bad, I'm personally undecided at the moment). I say that as someone who moderates 3 of reddit's largest subreddits.

I'm actually pro default subreddits. I spend 3 months browsing reddit by /r/All and I hated the experience. Let me rephrase that, I loathed the experience. It was literally the lowest common denominator stuff. Memes and politics. That was basically it... A hand-picked default list that appeals to a wide-range of people is the best way to go. General interest stuff. You need to appeal to the widest demographic as possible while still providing that 'edge' to keep your target/desirable demographic.

Since you need something to show people who aren't logged in, don't have accounts, might not be able to log in where they're at, you need some sort of front page (fuck forcing people to register to see content -- I'm looking at you Pinterest & facebook). That's where the default subs came in. I think if reddit did a better job of forcing people who have accounts to select communities that interest them, we wouldn't even be talking about front page changes. I've literally argued the case for default subreddits for more than a half-decade so I'd like to think I'm familiar with the nuances. You know, being a default mod for 7 years and all. :P

Speaking of, I do think reddit's admins need to stop listening to the vocal minority and start listening to the people who actually help moderate your communities... I've been on reddit every single day for nearly 10 years. I've been a default moderator since way back at the beginning when there were only 10 default subs (and I remember a time before subreddits even existed). Yet, in all this time nobody from reddit's HQ has ever asked my opinion on anything. They've never asked me for suggestions or opinions, never asked me what would make it easier for me to moderate, nor have they ever asked me how to combat spam better. In fact, if I have a suggestion or opinion, it's like pulling teeth to get someone to look at it. And you can't even be sure they did. How crazy is that? After the realization that they don't care and don't value experienced, long-time member's opinions, I just stopped caring. Don't get me wrong, I do care about the communities I help out in, but I've given up virtually everything beyond that. I find that to be extremely sad.

Sorry for going off on a tangent there. I had some time to kill. Heh.

relic2279 · 2017-02-07T07:00:40+00:00

The distance between the moon and the Earth is ever so slightly increasing. What many of these blogs/articles don't mention is that after enough distance/time, both the Earth and Moon will reach an equilibrium. Once it reaches that point, the moon will stop moving away and the distance will be forever set/the same (unless, of course, some external force disturbs the orbit). I believe this will take a considerable time. So much time that the earth & moon may be destroyed by the Sun before it happens -- when our star begins to "die", it will expand. Eventually, it will grow so large that it will engulf the earth. Scientists are debating whether the earth as a planet will survive this (some scientists believe that due to the sun expanding/losing mass as it does, the earth's orbit may drift outward, escaping the sun. The earth would still be too hot to inhabit, however).

To answer your question though, no, the moon isn't going to crash into the Earth.

relic2279 · 2017-01-30T09:48:27+00:00

History Channel's "The Universe" is actually pretty decent for the layperson (adult laypeople). There's quite a bit of speculation when it comes to some of the more theoretical stuff, but when it comes to the stuff we do know (our solar system), it's pretty solid. They have one episode just about the Sun, another episode just about Venus, another about Saturn and its rings, etc etc and they're an hour long so they're pretty well packed with information. I think it's 8 or 9 seasons long too, so quite a bit of watching can be had.

I also think its on a few streaming services if you're not the kind of person who goes to the bay of pirates.

relic2279 · 2017-01-17T09:02:34+00:00

Has the Voyager 1 left our solar system? And if not, when will it do so?

As another commentor put it, it really depends on how you define our solar system. There is no consensus or hard line that defines our solar system.

Right now, Voyager 1 is 137 AU away from the Sun. But there are still objects much further than that still orbiting the sun. The Oort cloud is between 5,000 AU and a whopping 100,000 AU away from the sun. Many people believe that that the Oort cloud is part of our solar system since those objects are in orbit (loosely) around our sun. The wikipedia page on the Oort cloud says, "The outer limit of the Oort cloud defines the cosmographical boundary of the Solar System and the extent of the Sun's Hill sphere."

I think I agree with that; once you are beyond the Sun's Hill sphere (gravitational influence), you are officially "out of the solar system". In that respect, Voyager 1 has many years of travel ahead of it before it officially, actually leaves our little backyard.

relic2279 · 2017-01-17T08:50:58+00:00

At first I was more than confused, I misread the headline and thought it was referring to nuclear pulse propulsion. I knew they had gotten as far as testing a pusher plate during a hydrogen bomb test in the early 60s, and had a few working miniature models showing the concept to laypeople (likely their bosses) using small explosives/fire crackers instead of nuclear bombs, but they never got beyond that due to the signing of the Partial Test Ban Treaty (forbids detonating nuclear bombs/weapons in space). It pretty much iced the project. So when I saw this, I was befuddled because this apparently shows a working engine assembly. I thought OP was trying to pull a fast one.

Anyways, nuclear pulse propulsion has always been a fascination of mine due to the fact that it allows for interstellar travel, is scientifically sound, and perhaps most importantly; can be built with technology that already exists. No waiting for warp drive breakthroughs or other FTL technology which likely will never come. Check out the wikipedia page on the topic.

"Orion is one of very few interstellar space drives that could theoretically be constructed with available technology, as discussed in a 1968 paper, Interstellar Transport by Freeman Dyson."

relic2279 · 2017-01-14T11:42:41+00:00

I think the responses you received aren't conveying the sheer size of the sun. You could detonate every single nuclear bomb that humans have created on the sun, and the effect would be similar to lighting a match and setting on your porch while trying to effect the entire earth. It's such a insignificant thing that it's not even worth pondering. The Sun could gobble up every planet in our solar system and still have room for desert. :)

relic2279 · 2017-01-03T16:13:47+00:00

Who?

Just kidding! :P

relic2279 · 2017-01-03T07:58:37+00:00

while others like r/videos dont prefer it

Wait, what? I moderate /r/Videos and I love the 9:1 ratio. Some of the mods may not (don't know) but I think it's a fantastic way to make sure people are not just submitting their own content. I've seen a few people say that it's easy to subvert, just submit 9 quick junk things, but doing that more than once or twice is incredibly tedious and time consuming. It's more difficult than it sounds and is quite the pain in the ass. So the 9:1 ratio not only ensures people are submitting more than just their own stuff, but also when it comes time to submit their content, they're going to submit their best of the best stuff instead of just randomly shotgunning every blog article they've written.

Is it perfect? Hell no. But it's a decent solution or stop-gap to get people to moderate their self-promotion.

relic2279 · 2017-01-03T07:52:43+00:00

I think a lot of people are conflating active moderation to "good mod teams". I don't think those two necessarily are the same. I've been modding on reddit longer than most and I find the single best quality of a mod team is consistency. If you are consistent within your own rules, and consistent in enforcing them, then you are a good mod team. I know /r/Askscience and /r/AskHistorians have extremely active moderation but do they have consistent enforcement? Are the rules applied similarly across the board? Do they play favorites? Those to me, are the toxic elements that rots the inside of mod teams.

I think consistency is lacking across the board myself, perhaps especially with the admins and how they deal with subreddits/mods. They need to create policies and rules, lay them out clearly, then enforce them consistently. Consistency solves so many problems and acts as a shield when tough calls need to be made.

relic2279 · 2016-12-23T14:43:21+00:00

This is like the 3rd cops behaving badly video I have seen on the front page

You can expedite the process by reporting rule breaking posts to us directly by sending us a modmail, which we will see more quickly. :)

relic2279 · 2016-12-23T14:38:10+00:00

do the r/videos mods even know the definition of politics?

I wasn't the mod who removed it, but it was removed for violating rule 1 in our sidebar; though not necessarily being in violation of Merriam's definition of "Political". As such, see our subreddit's definition/explanation of the rule in the wiki (which is clearly different from Merriam's definition). The flair/tag is for our own internal use so I/we can quickly see why another mod removed a particular submission.

relic2279 · 2016-12-22T14:19:50+00:00

You can get knock-off Zzzquil at dollar stores/trees for a buck (18-30 pills, gel capsules & tablets). It contains the same amount (50mg diphenhydramine) as Zzzquil but doesn't cost $10.

relic2279 · 2016-12-19T13:14:02+00:00

So will we the human species out survive planet Earth?

If we can establish permanent colonies off of earth, I would say yes. Otherwise, we're doomed (Those aren't my words, but the word's of Dr. Stephen Hawking. I agree with him)

If we're able to travel far distances through space to find other planets to try and live on will it be the people with money and power that would go?

That's a big if... But I think something like that would take a lot of money, more than any individual or even large company. Something like that would have to be a works project of an entire nation, probably more than one nation. Since governments are footing the bill, I think the first people sent to go colonize somewhere else (whether it's Mars or some exoplanet) would be the best person for the job. Someone who is fit, mentally and physically healthy, trained, highly intelligent, etc....

Where did we go wrong as a evolving species to focus on money, material things, fighting wars with each other?

I wouldn't say we went wrong anywhere. I think that if a true "post scarcity" society or utopia can exist (I imagine the economics of star trek here, where people work not for money, but for the betterment of others or themselves), then you have to go through whatever phase we're in now. It's but a stepping stone to the next step in our evolution as a species or culture.

In the long run it would seem if everyone didn't have to work just to survive for this one life you get we could focus all of our time and energy on things that really matter

Indeed. Even though it's fiction, I like to imagine Star Trek's society where Earth is peaceful (for the most part) because they live in a post-scarcity society.

Do you think we will ever get away from the materialistic world we're living in now?

I'm forever the optimist, and I think we will. Eventually. Probably not soon though.

What has to change for us as the human species to help each other preserve all life for the long haul?

Heh, I wish I knew... The cop out (or cheesy) answer is our differences. Whether it's our skin color, race, nationality, or religion (or lack thereof), there are too many people with hate in their hearts on this planet. Once that hate vanishes, we can move forward as a species.

relic2279 · 2016-12-19T12:57:48+00:00

Making me think I should have chose a different life path cause I'm fascinated by all this

Well don't regret anything. I took a bunch of Astrophysics and Cosmology related courses when I was in college but then came the somber realization that even if you were some sort of astrophysics prodigy, the chances of landing your dream job are basically non-existent. There's aren't that many jobs in the field (that's an understatement), and there is just too much competition. We're talking thousands of applications for a single job posting (you're not just competing with Americans, but the entire world). It's quite rough out there right now.

But don't let that keep you from pursing something that interests you. I didn't. Despite the change in major, I still keep up with my passion/hobby/obsession. I'm always reading the latest publications, news and drooling over the latest astrophotography photos being released by the world's space agencies. :)

What do u think it'll take to find out what actually goes on inside black holes?

I like to keep an open mind. I think that's one of the biggest problems in this area of science; people have their own pet theories or projects and then when something comes along and challenges those views, they reaction negatively and aggressively. One such example that's easy to see (extremely apparent to those not in the field) is in areas of research like String theory where you essentially have 2 teams; those who are pro-String Theory and those who aren't (people working on, or teaching classic quantum field theory (and derivatives, LQG [loop quantum gravity], etc). They have their own agendas and reasons for being so dismissive of each other. For those working with classic field theory or even LQG, they feel threatened when grant money goes to the String Theorists instead of them, and vice versa. It potentially threatens their livelihood (recall what I said about not many jobs?). For example, Peter Woit wrote a book called "Not even wrong" which is a scathing bashing of string theory. But what many may not know is Woit's specialty is QFT. He teaches it, writes/sells books about it, even had one come out in September. String theory literally threatens his job. That's like a guy from Ford writing a negative book about Dodge. There's an inherent bias to their words that many people don't know about because they don't expect science to be so politicized.

And because it is politicized, it ends up spilling over into online communities & forums like reddit when the fans or followers of those respected astrophysicists get into arguments with each other online. That's what I don't like and why I always try to keep an open mind. I may not care for a particular theory or viewpoint but I won't dismiss it. To answer your question; I just don't know what goes on inside a black hole. I like the string theory's explanation because it is elegant, neat and tidy however, nature is rarely elegant, neat and tidy so who knows...

relic2279 · 2016-12-19T01:42:48+00:00

"Space" is a pretty broad subject, if you want to get more specific, I am happy to oblige. As a moderator of here and TodayILearned for over a half decade, I have more "facts" stored up in my head than I care to admit. More than I want...

Hmm, a weird fact that most people here likely don't know is that there is a mathematical explanation for a black hole that doesn't invoke a singularity/infinity or any paradoxes. It's called a "Fuzzball". However, it's roots are in String Theory. As such, there is no proof of this glorified hypothesis but it's interesting to consider nonetheless.

Basically, when a star with enough mass dies, it will collapse into a neutron star. This is a star made up of neutron degenerate matter. It's incredibly small, roughly the size of Manhattan island. But is incredibly dense, a teaspoon of this matter would weigh as much as (or more) than Mount Everest.

When a star of slightly more mass dies, gravity compresses the matter even further, into a black hole. A region of spacetime that is infinitely small and infinitely dense. Gravity so strong even light cannot escape. Though, some astrophysicists think there's a phase of star slightly in between, called a quark star. They believe that that neutrons break down into their smaller components which would be quarks. So it would be a star made completely out of quarks. Quarks are what we believe to be the fundamental component of our universe (the smallest things in the universe).

Except string theory says there's something smaller. Inside of quarks they believe there are little bits of vibrating energy called strings. These vibrate at different rates, which give rise to different particles. Like notes in music, an A flat makes a certain noise while a B sharp makes a different noise. Strings vibrate and the way they vibrate give rise to electrons, up quark, strange quark, etc.... Like notes from a musical instrument.

Anyways, if true, then it might be possible for a star to be made out of these strings. But the gravity would be so great, that light could not escape. It would act and behave exactly as a classical black hole. Except no singularity or infinite density. So none of those troublesome paradoxes. That's our biggest problems in physics right now, unifying quantum physics with general relativity so as to explain what goes on inside a black hole. Right now, we don't know. We can't even predict mathematically because our physics break down. The maths spit out infinities at us which is another way of saying "Beep, you are wrong".

relic2279 · 2016-12-17T11:39:29+00:00

It's true Russia did send a lander back in 81 but there have been numerous probes sent since. See here for a list. As for your question, planetary change like that takes a long time. So even if (somehow) things had started reversing on Venus, we're talking tens of thousands of years before Venus could be Earth-like (in temp and atmospheric pressure).

relic2279 · 2016-12-14T13:54:25+00:00

What's happened to the knowledgeable people who used to answer on /r/space?

I used to be fairly active here in these weekly question threads but I took a bit of a semi-break for several months. With winter now here, you'll be seeing a lot more of me. :) Which is a good thing because:

I see misleading replies like "there is no gravity in space", "there is no such thing as temperature in space"

Report blatantly misleading answers like that. Use the report button and we mods will get them removed from view. Though some we purposefully don't remove, because when someone corrects that person, it can educate/help other people. However, the biggest offenders (as well as troll or low-effort comments) will get nuked.

relic2279 · 2016-12-05T05:26:08+00:00

Message the mods so we can remove misleading/sensationalized articles like these. These get downvoted so they never make the front page, so for us mods to see them, we have to browse by "New" and not all of us do that, or have the time (sometimes we're just popping by to make sure the place ain't on fire before going to work or whatever)...

relic2279 · 2016-11-22T12:22:02+00:00

Those maps give you a general idea, but they're not scientific or super accurate. There's a lot of localized variables that come into play (Altitude, etc).

relic2279 · 2016-11-11T02:03:27+00:00

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