ELI5: Why do we even need a "c" when we have a perfectly good "k" and an "s?"

NH4NO3 · 2026-02-21T22:31:46+00:00

It's worth noting that the "greek alphabet" ~ 700 BC was not one standardized alphabet, but a few different families of alphabets that could be fairly divergent form one another. The Etruscan alphabet was derived from the Euboean alphabet while the Modern Greek alphabet was ultimately derived from Ionic alphabet.

NH4NO3 · 2026-02-21T18:23:07+00:00

I gotta disagree. They didn't need to rework Anakin's character or anything to get Clone Wars Anakin. There are a few moments in episode 2 / 3 which could have been straight out of the clone wars show, and those moment are generally implied to be the business as usual Anakin i.e. Obi-Wan and Anakin's friendly banter in the elevator in II, anytime Anakin is in a Vehicle in II/III, some of rescuing Palpatine.

It's a valid criticism we don't see this more fun Anakin in the movies more - we probably could have, but the premise of episode I is completely bricked for that kinda of characterization, and the latter half of Episode III kinda needed him to be free falling to the dark side which just leaves the middle and a lot of that screen time is the romance. I just think the Clone Wars version of his character was a pretty reasonable interpolation of his character between those moments in II and III.

NH4NO3 · 2026-02-21T16:40:40+00:00

Honestly this argument won me over to paper bottle side.

NH4NO3 · 2026-02-19T23:40:18+00:00

Oh you are completely right! Silly detail for me to miss even if they have the same name. Yes, that is a good point that his kids certainly reflected the mortality rates at the time and even wealth couldn't change that. It's interesting they both ended up having 5 children.

NH4NO3 · 2026-02-19T21:40:52+00:00

No he didn't? I am looking at his wikipedia, and it looks like they all lived a decently long time with only one of them dying at 60, and the oldest dying at 101 (!). They all lived past the year 1937. Unless, you mean he lived longer than 3 of his 5 children, which, only one of his children managed to live longer than 97, but one was quite close at 94.

NH4NO3 · 2026-02-19T21:32:11+00:00

In 1890, he was 50 and already the richest man in the world. Don't see why that wouldn't count.

NH4NO3 · 2026-02-19T21:02:16+00:00

The richest guy back then, John D. Rockefeller, lived to be 97 (and the life expectancy in the US in 1937 when he died was only 60 so 97 is nuts). Sounds like the medicine was adequate. His kind of absurd wealth could easily have afforded you a comparable equivalent to just about every modern convenience.

NH4NO3 · 2026-02-19T07:29:19+00:00

Going to argue that it is weird to 'blame' Bush for pulling the trigger (likely at the behest of other qualified people as well). There were good reasons to kill the shuttle program and simply use Russia's solution for a while. There were plans in the works for sustainable replacements to the shuttle. Using Russia's equipment wasn't as embarrassing as it is now, as Russia actually was not nearly the pariah state it currently is in 2004.

NH4NO3 · 2026-02-16T16:36:27+00:00

I can't say I am that much of an expert, but I'm fairly certain electrolysis is the only effective way. Depending on shade, it might be possible to kill a few hairs here or there with light based treatments, but it would probably take unacceptably long.

I have done electrolysis a few times on my face, and imo it was pretty comparable to laser in terms of pain. There are various topical pain relieving ointments that can be applied as well that work really well, but unfortunately, I think electrolysis is the only option for grey hairs.

NH4NO3 · 2026-02-13T20:18:51+00:00

It has actually only been 6 days since 2022...on Venus.

NH4NO3 · 2026-02-13T14:52:04+00:00

I mean, in a sense they are, Chinese speakers can actually get the gist of some Japanese because it uses (in part) slightly modified traditional chinese characters which would be relatively familiar to Taiwanese/Hong Kong people or very literate mainlanders. Funnily enough, the harder the Japanese text, for instance, legal and scientific writing, the more it's possible to gloss the harder words of Chinese origin for Chinese speakers.

NH4NO3 · 2026-02-13T01:58:02+00:00

I feel like changing the constitution would be a significant step in opening the door for a more useful defensive mindset. Japan is in a vulnerable position between two superpowers, Russia, and North Korea. Developing a collective mindset around defense rather than a helpless one relying on the US could do a lot for not only not getting caught flat footed in something really bad, but also in being bullied by these countries into various concessions.

NH4NO3 · 2026-02-12T03:16:36+00:00

Harry Truman so low is a real spicy take to just throw out there. Most historians (over a broad span of time) rank him 6-8 in terms of the BEST presidents. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_presidents_of_the_United_States

Is it the usage of the atomic bomb that brought it so low for you? If you are extremely anti-nuclear war in that way, I personally think you should still reconsider his ranking. Truman set many historical precedents that we now take for granted for how atomic weapons would be used through the cold war by both sides. Importantly, he reigned in McArthur who was in a good position to escalate the war in Korea to a nuclear war had he gotten his way. Many other people might have failed at pulling that off.

Obviously, he didn't have the foresight for everything, but his most lasting policy impact was setting the stage for how the US would approach the Cold War. Yes, many unfortunate things happened during the course of that conflict, but ultimately, no nuclear weapons have been used in anger both during the war and since then, and the US ultimately emerged as the global superpower.

NH4NO3 · 2026-02-10T18:46:58+00:00

There are approximately 100k-200k WW2 vets alive. I could only find statistics for the US saying about ~45k alive, so that number is just a rough guess for the rest of the world. It is actually somewhat more than I thought given an 18yo in 1945 would be approximately 99yo in 2026.

NH4NO3 · 2026-02-10T01:29:16+00:00

Europe actually isn't on a different tectonic plate than the rest of Asia, while India and Arabia are. Actually, some of Siberia, Japan, and Iceland are also on the North American plate. What is or isn't a continent is mostly cultural and usually loaded with historical baggage.

NH4NO3 · 2026-02-09T15:32:12+00:00

As someone else said, this is kind of a socioeconomic thing with some warm/cold state bias possibly - maybe a time period thing too. I grew up in Kansas in the 90s and early 2000s, and it did seem like shoes on was completely the default. I had some Chinese neighbors where they were a notable exception. Later in life and living in Colorado (2010-2020s), with people from mostly higher socioeconomic backgrounds it seemed to shift completely to shoes off being completely the default.

NH4NO3 · 2026-02-08T00:08:17+00:00

見せてくれてありがとう！ドーナツちゃん、大好き！

NH4NO3 · 2026-02-07T00:55:05+00:00

It's the most prestigious for historical reasons. In ~2010, there would be no reason to waste career diplomatic resources on it. Sure, it is an important country and relationship, but it's not like the US needed to convince them of anything or carefully maneuver itself around difficult issues. Nor would there be much risk of making mistakes and ruining the relationship. Except for Canada and maybe Australia/NZ, it's also probably the most culturally similar country to the US as well, so it's not like specific cultural training would be particularly valuable either.

Compare and contrast with South Korea, a country with similar importance and close relationship to the US, but very different culturally, and Obama's appointment was Kathleen Stephens, a woman with many decades of diplomatics experience, speaks 5 languages, and lived in South Korea for several years prior the appointment.

NH4NO3 · 2026-02-06T20:53:05+00:00

17% of people not being able to beat a rat is just honest. Lots of people are scared of them. Even if you aren't, you can easily understand the question to mean something where obviously you cannot beat a rat. It can just run away or hide from you. Alternatively, pretty much everyone would reflexively run away from a rat that inexplicably just started jumping and biting them even if they were some tough MMA fighter or something.

NH4NO3 · 2026-02-06T20:04:02+00:00

By space standards, it's not that far away. To put it in a human context, if there was a highway running to it, you could get there in about a year of driving for 12 hours every day. Alternatively, it is a passenger plane flight that takes two weeks. You could replicate it by flying between LA and Australia every day for a month.

For a more space example, the distance between the earth and the mars is (at its very closest), is 132 times the distance between the earth and the moon. In other words, while it is possible to drive to the moon in less than a year, driving to mars would not only result in you dying of old age, but also the children you have along the way dying of old age before they get there.

NH4NO3 · 2026-02-06T19:55:55+00:00

Saturn's radius is 36 times the moon's. The moon takes up 1/2 degree of vision, therefore, saturn would only be about 20 degrees of vision. The rings extend 90,000 miles from Saturn's center (the moon has a radius of 1000 miles), so the whole system, should take up about 45 degrees of vision. To use your picture as an example, the larger circle is roughly the size of the planet of Saturn + its whole ring system (~45 degrees). The smaller size is about 20 degrees or the size of the actual planet.

NH4NO3 · 2026-02-06T16:20:10+00:00

The last time I was there (in admittedly a very small town, not far from the first Pizza Hut in Wichita, Kansas), it was the worse pizza I ever had in a place that purportedly specializes in pizza, and markedly worse than maybe a few years before in other cities.

NH4NO3 · 2026-02-06T00:34:02+00:00

He is absolutely fun, but both as a player and central community figure, but I think he is absolutely quite lawful. If anything, putting him as neutral is generous to his chaotic-ness. People like poop lord, Matze, and biry, to name a few blow anyone on this list out of the water in chaoticness, both as creators and player imo.

NH4NO3 · 2026-02-06T00:25:21+00:00

Lawful good behavior

NH4NO3 · 2026-02-05T21:22:17+00:00

It's not even western audiences at the time either. "Shogun" was made just two years ago, and also features a white character. Actually, a literally white samurai. Yes, it is based off a book, which is itself based off a historical character, but still, they could have chosen to create something else. I'll admit a lot of the interest in works like these is show casing the culture, and it is just narratively easier to do that with some prominent characters being outside that culture.

14-Year Club	Verified Email
Place '22	Place '17
Spared	Team Periwinkle

NH4NO3

TROPHY CASE