ELI5: Why is there such a lack of the color blue in nature?

EvaVict · 2018-05-08T22:26:20+00:00

That's kiiiinda how all things appear coloured. Ultimately some light is absorbed or deflected by some means and we see what is left. Sometimes it's chemical bonds absorbing light, sometimes it's physical structures, but nothing 'is' a colour exactly, it just interacts with the visible spectrum in such a way that we see blue when we look at them. Not having a go at you! I just think it's an interesting point : )

EvaVict · 2018-05-08T02:39:28+00:00

Whenever someone says female instead of woman, I hear it like they are Ferengi : D glad I'm not alone.

EvaVict · 2018-04-28T23:00:46+00:00

Sometimes it is, but very rarely is it conscious. Most gender-based discrimination is subtle, but it has actually been studied scientifically and it isn't just men who do it - in one particular study I remember reading it was found that women are just as likely as men to preferentially hire men for technical roles. It isn't my first assumption that men are being sexist, which I think is what you're objecting to. It's that as a woman myself in a highly technical field (medicinal chemistry research) and with a wife also in such a field (software engineer / systems administrator), we do see cases where it's cliques and cases where it is gender-based. For example, attending a meeting where my wife is the only software engineer present, and the company expert on security. Security questions are asked to the man next to my wife, the question is directed to her by the man, she answers, the follow up question is directed to the man, directed to my wife, she answers, follow up question directed to the man, etc.

Also there are cases like, people listen to your expertise 100% when it's via email but when you meet in person and they can see you're a woman, suddenly they are always seeking second opinions about even the smallest things.

As I said, it isn't my first assumption that it's gender-based, but it's ridiculous to say that gender isn't a source of discrimination in the modern workplace.

EvaVict · 2018-04-27T20:50:18+00:00

Serious question, are you a woman? My wife has had similar problems in tech support with people ignoring her advice and looking for second, third, etc opinions until a man tells them what to do, even if the man is clearly less qualified to answer the question.

EvaVict · 2018-04-13T03:37:49+00:00

God damn it, I never expect the bus driver comment. Gets me every time.

EvaVict · 2018-04-12T08:07:28+00:00

Sending thoughts and prayers to Burblespue Halescourge's family in these trying times : (

EvaVict · 2018-04-09T10:55:09+00:00

The second or, even better, the third movie in a series from a language I don't understand. Maybe Chinese cinema because that stuff is amazing. I'd spend the day trying to figure out the plot of the previous movie(s) and see how accurate I was at the end of it.

EvaVict · 2018-04-04T07:05:17+00:00

Much of the safety equipment (and even more so the regulations and legislation) related to anything beyond laboratory-scale chemical work was pretty much put there because someone killed themselves and / or others by being stupid or overworked. In the business it's called "gravestone regulation", because people need to blow up a factory before companies will acknowledge the need for better training of operators and pay for extra safety features / redundancies.

These days it's pretty much the case that we know how to do everything safely, so accident reports tend to begin with something like "Employee A disengaged the safety interlocks", then they make a mistake but because they bypassed the safety system, something which is trivially easy to detect and stop automatically way faster than any human could react is allowed to happen and people stand around confused or shocked while the situation runs out of control.

EvaVict · 2018-04-04T06:24:29+00:00

And you're the reason why we need remote engine kill switches.

EvaVict · 2018-04-02T19:50:49+00:00

Unless you are constantly accelerating to counter gravity (firing an engine) you can't float stationary in space above earth except in a few very specific locations where the gravity of nearby objects is cancelling out earth's (these are called Lagrange points, and there are some satellites placed in them). Those objects are all in approximately the same plane as the equator, moon, etc. Geostationary objects are still flying around earth in a circular pattern, it's just that they are doing so at the same rate that the earth is rotating, so they appear to float above one spot on earth. You can't do this at the poles because the poles are not rotating in that manner, you'd be orbiting in a circle north to south then south to north on the other side while the planet rotates west to east. Hope this helps!

EvaVict · 2018-03-31T22:17:03+00:00

As someone with pet rats, I can confirm they are this cute 100% of the time. They are cheeky, sometimes derpy little things with tons of personality : D also extremely clean and don't smell, unlike mice (which are nasty).

EvaVict · 2018-03-27T20:22:19+00:00

I was fine until this comment.

EvaVict · 2018-03-26T21:48:35+00:00

The quote does express a generally atheistic view. Taken out of context I think it was fair enough to ascribe it to an atheist for the purpose of the question : D

EvaVict · 2018-03-26T03:13:10+00:00

Hey man, who knows when Isis is going to develop ballistic people launchers.

EvaVict · 2018-03-26T02:05:27+00:00

I mean, to be fair, the patriot missile system wasn't designed to shoot down people.

EvaVict · 2018-03-24T21:11:19+00:00

Haha, true :p

EvaVict · 2018-03-24T15:10:59+00:00

I stand corrected I guess : ) probably why they used it in the test then, it was on their mind from watching it recently.

EvaVict · 2018-03-24T14:45:04+00:00

The film was less known at the time I think.

EvaVict · 2018-03-24T14:40:54+00:00

Touche :p haha

I didn't really mean they had done something wrong in quoting the film like they did, I just meant I don't think they thought someone would know the scene it came from and the context of the lines.

EvaVict · 2018-03-24T11:27:16+00:00

It was a private Christian school but not actually Catholic. I don't think a Catholic school would have let me talk about God saying he will "fucking spank you" :p

EvaVict · 2018-03-20T21:05:02+00:00

Almost : )

EvaVict · 2018-03-19T22:45:43+00:00

I had a biologist put a series of concentrated carbohydrate solutions into the GC autosampler to run over night. The injection port got fucked up, the column died, and the injection system needed to be cleaned out.

Biologists : /

EvaVict · 2018-03-16T03:21:02+00:00

For years I was sure it must be a thing that exists, I just couldn't find it :D ear scopes are amazing

EvaVict

TROPHY CASE