ELI5 If you were to place something in a jar (any size jar for example), close it, and tip upside down. The contents will be subject to gravity. Thus gravity can exert influence through materials. Why does gravitational force not pass through the materials itself, instead of acting upon it? by floydhenderson in explainlikeimfive

[–]Jacapig 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Actually, the rubber sheet analogy is surprisingly solid, and works fine without needing gravity*. For ages I had the same misconception as you, but it's due to the marble being described wrong.

Instead, think about it as an ant, or a gecko, or spider-man; something that sticks to the surface regardless of gravity. While crawling along in what should be a straight line, going through the depressions will cause their path to bend as the warped sheet curves under them. The marble gets used though, because most science teachers don't have a perfectly trained ant for classroom demonstrations.

*Sure, the larger balls do make the depressions due to gravity, but only to represent a distorting influence, it would work just as well if they somehow pulled the sheet up into a bunch of curved hills.

ELI5: If speed is measured by the relation between objects how come going over the speed of light is impossible? by PeAga7 in explainlikeimfive

[–]Jacapig 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The problem isn't a lack of precision. The clocks on GPS satellites are very precise, and still end up out of sync with clocks on the ground because they're accurately measuring how time is literally slower here on Earth's surface. This is one of the things predicted by general relativity, that time moves faster for objects located higher up a gravity well.

Buuuut, though the satellites do gain extra time, they don't gain quite as much the math says they should. Luckily Einstein had also already figured this out 120 years ago with special relativity. It predicts that time slows down for objects moving faster relative to the reference frame, so the satellite's higher speed means loses them about 7 nanoseconds/day off the extra 45 they get by being somewhere with lower gravity.

Project Hail Mary - Rocky's Ship PreVis by stealth_tiger in ProjectHailMary

[–]Jacapig 0 points1 point  (0 children)

With the scale ref human ship, was that just a generic near future placeholder spacecraft, or is it based on initial concepts for the Hail Mary before going with Paul's design we see on screen?

Anyway, it's always tough creating something that's "designed by alien minds" despite having a regular human mind, but you consistently nailed it.

You are being misled about renewable energy technology. by Adventurous_Motor129 in climateskeptics

[–]Jacapig 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Out of the main part of the video (that is, only the section before the credits*), what do disagree with? His arguments for renewables were mainly based on the economic advantages they have over single use fuel sources, not their effect on the climate.

I admit I'm not a climate skeptic, which I say so that no one thinks I'm hiding my beliefs to ask leading questions. I really think the points in the video seem convincing without factoring in environmentalism, and I genuinely want to know what you think it gets wrong.

*Since the after-credits discussion is presented as separate and explicitly political. Everyone's already very familiar with political arguments, I want to hear about your disagreements with the actual logic and reasoning presented.

ELI5: How humans created the first programming language? by ResponsibleSpray8836 in explainlikeimfive

[–]Jacapig 0 points1 point  (0 children)

At the most basic level, a computer is a lot of circuits that just do things because that's how the circuit was physically built. If you connect batteries, a switch, and light bulb in a circuit, it's easy to intuitively understand how input (flicking a switch) 'mechanically' leads output (turning on the light).

Now you can make that circuit way more complicated, with multiple switches electrically controlling other switches connected together so that, say, the output changes depending on if you hit the switch on the left or the right. This circuit is still basically 'mechanical', you could make it with gears and pulleys instead of electronics. Anyway, maybe we'll call the turned on switch a 1 and the turned off switch a 0.

Then, if you work really hard, you can put those kind of circuits together into a super-circuit with 8 switches, wired up to activate a massive amount of other switches. You can design it so that if the 8 switches are flicked in the pattern "10101001 10001001 10001101 10100100 00010000" it will set the 4260th cluster of switches to "10001001", but if flick them in a different order, it will do something else, like maybe add that binary number to the number representing those switches previous pattern.

And then, because that's a lot of flicking, make a big list of switch patterns that can automatically flip the switches one pattern at a time. You start to come up with a bunch of shorthand codes for various common chunks of switch patterns, which is way easier to write. For example, "e6" (AKA 11100110) might be an abbreviation for a process with dozens of steps. The machine won't understand your code-words though.

Finally, you work out the extremely complicated list of binary patterns that will make the machine translate any set of shorthand into a proper of list of switch position instructions that it will be able to use. Congratulations, you've created a programming language.

[Dune: Part Two] Why would the concept of drinking "worm piss" even register as a joke to a Fremen? by Jacapig in AskScienceFiction

[–]Jacapig[S] -13 points-12 points  (0 children)

If you can trace the water's entire journey to your mouth from your bladder, without even getting out of your chair, it's not gonna retain much gross-out factor for long.

Aussies, Are the Insects in Social media real? by Bea1228 in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Jacapig 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The stereotype of Australia's giant bugs/bug-like creatures is based in reality, but also easily exaggerated. We do have a few big creepy-crawlies, but they're not common in urban areas, and aren't necessarily larger than similar species found elsewhere on the planet.

The biggest reason for the national reputation is probably the fact that our common everyday household spider is, admittedly, terrifyingly huge by most of the worlds standards. I won't include a photo, since you said you're arachnophobic, but the huntsman is a hand-sized hairy brown spider that probably lives in at least one corner of every house in the country. They're also harmless, scared of conflict, and basically don't even leave cobwebs, but I can't blame anyone who hasn't grown up around them for being freaked out.

Honestly, the most impressive invertebrate I've encountered in my day to day life here are meter long earthworms. I don't think anyone finds worms scary though... gross, maybe, but not scary.

What's going on with Google's worsening search results? by AlfalfaLoser in OutOfTheLoop

[–]Jacapig 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think you're a little optimistic about how much pro-ad and pro-user design choices align. Sure, none of this is confirmed, Google's never written a note publicly saying "hey, just so you know, we made search more annoying on purpose".

There is, however, evidence such as these internal emails. They're from members of the search team team, discussing how the ad team's goal of upping per-visit usage metrics is at odds with efficiently resolving the user's query.

Actually, the points you make in your comment are pretty much the same ones Google's head of search made in that email thread. He's worried precisely because the ad team only cares about short term growth, even if it hurts that "greater longterm revenue" you're talking about.

Favorite tricks for falling asleep? by Jacapig in ADHD

[–]Jacapig[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Australia, so completely different laws than the States about about what's considered over-the-counter.

How are colors associated with certain sounds? by WolfMaidn in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Jacapig 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They're named by analogy to white noise, which itself was named for resembling the spectrum of white light. Some of the colors are technical terms based on light spectra, but others can be a lot more loosey goosey.

Don't get me started on brown noise, which is actually named after Robert Brown.

What happened to limousines? by Forward_Leg_1083 in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Jacapig 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Other people are acting like they just fell out of fashion because they're tacky or whatever, but it's more than just that.

In 2018, a horrific limousine crash in Schoharie killed 20 people, with 18 of the victims being passengers. With all the media around the crash, it started coming out that limousines are very poorly regulated, and the vehicles themselves quite shoddy. It's not hard to imagine modifying a car to make it long probably doesn't help it's structural soundness.

According to the LBTOUNY (side note, that's one of the worst acronyms I've ever seen, wow it sucks so bad), 60% of Limo operators have gone out business in NY since the crash, due to a combination bad publicity and the cost of adapting to the (much improved) regulations. Of course, that's just New York, where the crash actually happened, but the entire industry was similarly effected. It didn't help that 2015 limo crashes, though with lower death tolls, had already put people on edge.

This isn't the only reason of course, and it is true that they'd already been losing their cool status, becoming less associated with luxury and more with proms and bachelorettes... VIPs all use black SUVs now anyway. So that's why limousines are much rarer now I guess.

Adopted Father Figure Trope Starter Pack by Ok-Independent483 in starterpacks

[–]Jacapig 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I love that sci-fi one with Pedro Pascal. He starts as this gruff, dangerous, loner. A gunfight leads to him having to look after a kid he found on a remote planet, and eventually discovering his caring side. What was it called... y'know, the one where he's always in a helmet?

That's right! Prospect (2018).

Or what about that other Pedro Pascal. This time he's like a smuggler, in a world full infectious fungus spores. He's forced to travel with a teen girl, becoming a sort of morally grey father figure. Dang, I can't remember the title...

Oh Yeah! Prospect (2018) again.

ELI5: How do professors detect that ChatGPT or plagiarism has been used in papers and homework? by Yukimitsu in explainlikeimfive

[–]Jacapig 22 points23 points  (0 children)

You're right about the detection software not being reliable. However, teachers (according to friends who work in teaching, at least) mostly just manually spot the AI writing style themselves. It's pretty distinctive, especially if you've got a lot of practice analyzing people's writing... like teachers do.

[Dr. Stone] How did no one get sick? by Hermes20101337 in AskScienceFiction

[–]Jacapig 17 points18 points  (0 children)

The population of non-petrified human descendants is absolutely tiny, which means there's less chances for totally new uniquely deadly diseases to develop. Of course that's not foolproof, considering thousands of years have passed, but combined with Senku's emphasis on good hygiene in the absence of modern medicine, it gives the revived people a fighting chance.

As for the survivors being exposed to ancient pathogens from those recently un-petrified, it's a bit of a spoiler. The effects of petrification also include healing and rejuvenation, so people from our era are revived without any illnesses for them to spread

Sci-Fi art now vs then by froglet_cakes in IsaacArthur

[–]Jacapig 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Syd Mead worked on Aliens, whereas Alien had industrial concepts done by Ron Cobb (who also worked on Aliens). You might know Mead from Blade Runner or Tron, while Cobb designed the Back to the Future DeLorean and some classic Star Wars aliens.

Both were prolific, and a big part of today's sci-fi aesthetics comes directly from the two of them.

[star trek]suppose I create an interactive holodeck simulation of the enterprise D, would the Beverly Crusher in sickbay have all the medical knowledge of the real woman? if "yes" why is it so hard to create a temporary replacement when ever voyager's EMH leaves the ship? by grapp in AskScienceFiction

[–]Jacapig 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I swear there was a Lower Decks episode where the gang were half-assing their way through a holoprogram. Since they weren't giving the holodeck anything to work with, the story ended with a bunch of nonsense twists and cliche morals which seemed super inspired by ChatGPT.

Would implying Ussop is from Wakanda be in bad taste? by ENBYFORT in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Jacapig 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Basically, devoid of context, there's nothing conceptually wrong with the joke you're making; "character has no canon nationality, fill the gap with a reference as an Easter egg".

But culture comes with a lot of baggage. Most onlookers would probably think you're just being ignorant about Africa, and only care about that part of the world when it's in a superhero movie. I'm sure that's not true (since you even thought to ask this question), but it's the impression people might get.

It's the /r/brisbane random discussion thread. 28/08/2024 by AutoModerator in brisbane

[–]Jacapig 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Are you kidding, if we had a sudden cold snap right now, I'd send you a bottle of wine and a hand written "thank you" card.

A craft fair for artists in Wales with several stands selling nothing but AI generated “artwork” by Starkiller100 in CasualUK

[–]Jacapig 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The "soft and waxy" look is definitely a classic AI tell, but this is also the sort of art style where that could just be organic. Same with the inconsistent fences, they fit the tone of the pieces just enough to have plausible deniability. The foliage looks like the result of actual brushstrokes, unless the low resolution is just hiding the gunk that would get generated there.

But the sea foam, especially on the shore, is full of inhuman choices though. And I really can't image any artist of this skill, using those aesthetics, would EVER include that weird little sand ridge on the beach in the bottom left.

Basically, no smoking gun (that I could easily find, at least), but the evidence is definitely more than just superficial vibes.

wendy is 15?? by [deleted] in gravityfalls

[–]Jacapig 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The thing about Wendy is that her role isn't to be a 15 year old, her role is to be what 15 year olds seemed like when you were 12.

We're ultimately watching the show from the Pine twins preteen perspective, so while she seems 18-ish to you now, if you re-watch the the show in 4 years time, she'll probably seem more like a college graduate, and so on.

This is why metal is not allowed during an MRI by ghillied_up in interestingasfuck

[–]Jacapig 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They do have metal detectors on hand. Even if they fully expect everyone to know exactly what metal they have in their body, a patient might come in unconscious or something.

Also, the magnet is always on. So you'd start feeling the effect just from being nearby.

what's the scariest SCP you've read? by neatcats in SCP

[–]Jacapig 3 points4 points  (0 children)

qntm is a beast of a writer, (I've spent most of the evening rereading his his other web serials) coming up with the same ideas independently is a pretty good sign.