Datasets:

tomekkorbak

/

shp_with_features

like 0

qkjqfx

askphilosophy_train

/r/askphilosophy Open Discussion Thread | November 01, 2021 Welcome to this week's Open Discussion Thread. This thread is a place for posts/comments which are related to philosophy but wouldn't necessarily meet our posting rules. For example, these threads are great places for: * Personal opinion questions, e.g. "who is your favourite philosopher?" * "Test My Theory" discussions and argument/paper editing * Discussion not necessarily related to any particular question, e.g. about what you're currently reading * Questions about the profession This thread is **not** a completely open discussion! Any posts not relating to philosophy will be removed. Please keep comments related to philosophy, and expect low-effort comments to be removed. All of our normal commenting rules are still in place for these threads. Previous Open Discussion Threads can be found here or at the Wiki archive here.

hiy7fpa

hj9xxb6

What are people reading? I'm reading *The Sparrow* by Mary Doria Russell, at the pace I'm going I should finish it this week. On the backburner, *Functional Analysis* by Lax and *In Defense of Lost Causes* by Zizek.

I am looking for a reading partner to read together a few books by Claude Levi Strauss'. We will start with the light read "myth and meaning" and then move to read "totemism". Please message me if you are interested.

yeqpsa

legaladvice_train

My employer wants to cut my wages by half, and I want to see what actions I can take. Good morning. I'm a long-time church musician who recently moved to a bigger church with more music budget. Unfortunately, due to the mismanagement of funds, lack of financial support, and the departure of the music director, the pastor reached out to me and frankly said that they'll have to stop doing weekly rehearsals and reduce my work hours and reduce my annual salary down by half, which won't be enough for me to financially support myself. Apparently, they found someone as an intermittent music director without telling me or the other musicians whom I rehearse with. This would be utterly devastating, for multiple reasons. I already submitted my offer letter with the original salary, and I don't know what grounds that they have to decimate my salary. Furthermore, I left my old church of 7 years because of the competitive salary, and at this point, I would not be able to go back, since they already found someone. I feel pretty sick to my stomach, because they told me that they still appreciate my musicianship, and told me all sorts of saccharine bullshit about how this has nothing to do with my skills, but has the audacity to pull this. I personally don't expect that there can be anything legally done, but what are some actions I can take? In the meantime, I'm looking for other church musician jobs in the area. The other musicians whom I work and rehearse with me don't know this yet. I could go salted earth route and tell them what has happened, and maybe some of them will depart from the church. Or I don't know. Speak to the media. Thank you.

itzraon

iu09q8f

Depending on location, this may be considered constructive dismissal. They are basically firing you and would be subject to paying unemployment benefits at your originally agreed upon salary. I’m wary of doing business with churches, as I’ve had many bad experiences with them. It would take a written contract and full payment in advance before I did anything with any of them.

>what are some actions I can take Find another job, pretty much your only option.

vauh7h

askacademia_train

advice on quitting phd and job search h hey. I am aphd student at one of the ivy's in the states.i have two MA degrees, one in history and one in africana studies. I am an international student and my soon to be spouse is from the states. I want to quit my PhD and begin working around the greenville, sc area. does anyone have advice on finding jobs inside and outside of universities. For many reasons, but especially for health reasons, I need to leave this program.

ic51923

ic5eck7

There's a social media account called The Professor Is In that deals with these things; I believe another term is alt-academia. I suggest googling those!

With those two degrees you might have luck finding employment as a public historian, working for a local museum or historical site. That said, I would be wary of making a change too soon, in case it is hard to find an employer to sponsor a visa for you (something many international students I know struggle with).

z0e14f

legaladvice_train

Neighbor claiming I’m not legally allowed to have furniture assembled because the noise affects her medical condition. I just moved into a new apartment building in Oregon. I’m having some furniture assembled and will probably have to do so again 2-3 more times for short periods of 2-4 hours over the next month. My next door neighbor bangs on the wall nonstop anytime I make any kind of noise including running the vacuum or doing dishes. I work or am out of the house 7AM-7PM on weekdays so this is all occurring only on the weekends during daylight hours. She claims that the noise raises her blood pressure and “threatens her life” and also she’s Muslim (not sure how that is related but she mentioned it ten times) so I’m not allowed to make any noise and that the property management company was supposed to tell me when I moved in that I need to accommodate her. I’m a quiet person, I live alone, I almost never have guests, I work normal hours, and I don’t even own a television so with the possible exception of the furniture assembly I don’t see how she can claim I legally am not allowed to make noise in my own apartment. She said the last tenants were forced to move out because they couldn’t accommodate her medical condition. There’s nothing in my lease about noise except for the general quiet hours of 11-7 and the property company hasn’t responded to me. I’m just wondering if there’s any legal claim that I’m not allowed to occasionally make noise due to someone else’s medical condition or if I can just tell her to kick rocks.

ix5mv3e

ix5migo

So her continuous banging on the wall does not raise her bp? She has no legal legs to stand on, cont with your furniture building.

The fact that you even accommodated her time enough for her to explain any of that is beyond what you should have done at all. Earplugs

tmg3rm

askengineers_train

What engineering fields are booming right now and will see significant growth in the next 10-30 years in terms of job prospects?

i1xx64d

i1y10aj

Automation

I think electrical engineering since all gas powered vehicles and machines are going battery electric.

wpw8aw

legaladvice_train

Can my baby daddy force his self into the delivery room? I don’t feel comfortable with him being back there while I’m naked and exposed. I told him he can come in after she’s out and I’m covered up. I live in Ohio but I’ll be delivering in Kentucky. He’s threaten to get a lawyer to try and force his self in.

ikjn6ky

ikjculo

I'd like to add that you should tell your nurse if you feel like you need support after you and the baby leave. They will have access via a case worker to all of the local programs for things you may need as well as any domestic violence information. Let them know as soon as you check in. And as others have said he cannot force his way in. The medical team will have your back 100% along with hospital security and the police department. If you feel like he might be a danger PLEASE let them know for everyone's safety. There are different protocols for annoying people versus might bring a gun people

Also, do not let him have a bracelet for the baby. Then he might have more access than you want. Tell the nurses not to give him one, right off.

ec5f70

askengineers_train

How much will having a color streak in my hair affect my chances in getting internships? So earlier today, my friend gave me a gift card to a hair place to get my hair dyed because she knows I've really been wanting to get a purple streak in my hair for a while. Her gift is so sweet and so thoughtful, so I couldn't tell her that the reason I haven't done it is because I've always been worried about how it would affect my image when trying to get an internship or job in the engineering field. I'm a sophomore in college studying Aerospace Engineering. My dream job is one with NASA and I've been trying to get a summer internship with them. I'm concerned about how it would affect that. I would just really like some advice on how big of an issue this could potentially be. It wouldn't be anything super drastic, just kind of a deep purple streak across my bangs, or something similar. Thanks!

fb9hvbq

fb9tluk

Depends on the companys dress code honestly. My company's policy says everyone has to have "natural colored" hair. Some are more lenient about that though.

NASA employee here. It will have zero effect on your chances of getting an internship.

v0n5rd

asksciencefiction_train

[The Truman Show] How did they keep Truman past age 18? I know they say the network got legal custody when he was a baby, but at 18 he’d be an adult.

iaig9tl

iajq78p

My question is what did they do when he masturbates?

One of the elements of a false imprisonment charge is that the confined person must be either aware of the confinement or harmed by the confinement. Truman was neither. This explains why, once he figured it out, they had to let him go.

3eub3o

legaladvice_train

[TX] My father died without leaving behind a will. What needs to be done to make my mother the his executrix so that we can get his assets in her name? The title says it. My dad died unexpectedly and didn't leave behind a will. I'm wondering how my mom can become the executrix of his estate. (It's my understanding that this will put her in control of all of his property/assets. That is, all of the things that aren't in both of their names.)

ctiqmm5

ctikluo

Probate lawyer here. Sorry to hear about your father. Mine died last week. It's pretty lousy. First question: what are the assets and liabilities of the estate? This is important because getting your mother appointed as an estate administrator is expensive when there is no will. There are less expensive alternatives, but they are fact specific regarding the estate's assets and liabilities. Second question: Did your father have any children outside the marriage? The decent and distribution laws vary greatly depending on whether or not there are stepchildren. Third question: Are any of your father's children minors? This can also complicate matters. Here's what to do: 1. List out all of the assets that are in your father's name solely. Find out (if possible) when and how he acquired them. Texas is a community property state. If he received property as a gift, inheritance or something he had before he married, it's likely separate property. Most items acquired after the marriage are likely community property. 2. Of those assets, find out if any have beneficiary designations (such as life insurance, pay on death accounts, etc.) Usually, beneficiary designations do not require any probate action. 3. List out any debts that your father has--credit cards, taxes, mortgage, cars, etc. 4. Assemble a list of all of your father's children. If he has deceased children, list the deceased child's children. Include all contact information. If any are minors, include date of birth. 5. Organize. Have your father's death certificate handy. If he's been married more than once, get the divorce dates or other materials showing the end of the prior marriages. 6. Depending on how he died, get information on the death. Also, get a death certificate from the funeral home. If your dad died as a result of an accident or malpractice, the lawyer will need to know immediately. 7. Find out if there are any pensions or other materials. 8. Contact a probate lawyer in your county. If it's a larger county, it should have a lawyer referral service. If you are in a smaller county, check some websites such as avvo.com or lawyers.com. **Interview at least two or three lawyers and figure out which ones you like best.** This is such a personal deal. You have to find someone you work well with. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to talk more.

I'm sorry for your loss. Your mom needs to open a probate of any assets that don't have a right of survivorship or beneficiary designation. This can be done at your county's probate court (if it has one), or the county court or district court, depending on where you live. There will be a proceeding to determine heirship. The court needs to know who is supposed to get your dad's things. Who will get his things will depend on whether the property is community or separate, how many kids your dad had, whether all of those kids are also your mom's kids, and other factors. It's possible your mom will receive everything under the intestate laws, but if she doesn't she will need to hire a probate attorney. That's because if she isn't the only heir she will be representing another person's interest to the court and only attorneys can legally do that. It might be advisable to hire one anyway as an attorney will be able to help guide her through the process.

8ih4lq

changemyview_train

CMV: Certain breeds of dogs, such as pugs, are so inbred that breeding them is animal cruelty Pugs in particular suffer from numerous abnormalities and ailments that lower their quality of life dramatically. Pugs even have a distinctive raspy breathing sound because they cannot breathe properly a lot of the time, which is no life for any animal. If they suffer from chronic pains and illnesses, why should breeds of dogs be continuously bred, which also makes the problem worse because future generations get progressively more screwed up. "Because I want a pug" is not a valid reason to continue their suffering, just as how it is cruel to keep certain animals in captivity since the conditions mean they struggle, or how puppy mills are cruel and completely disregard animal welfare.

dys1tk5

dyrtxqo

Do you know how conservationists try to fix inbred animals which people don't want to see disappear? I'll give you a hint, it's not by refusing to breed them at all. Snark aside, breeding comes in all shapes and sizes, and many (not all) of the features which we consider as 'pug features' or 'German shepherd features' are not the same ones which lead to genetic conditions. Your stated opinion would be that breeding, say, German shepherds so they were still aesthetically pleasing and yet still functioning animals, would still be classed as animal cruelty. This would also require the "continuous breeding" of the breeds, which you seem to abhor, and yet it would *fix* many of the root causes of this dislike by increasing quality of life for the animals. Lazy breeding strategies, and a lack of understanding of genetics among breeders, has led to the current state of affairs. But, as mentioned here, why should that mean that we cannot solve the issues in general? You *can* solve these issues while still producing cute (allegedly) pugs; to think otherwise is shortsighted and unimaginative.

The dogs most removed from their genetic lineages are not pugs, but English mastiffs and other molossers. Pugs are actually more genetically divergent than a lot of other dog breeds out there, not least of which are the Irish Wolfhounds, along with several other large dog breeds. Pugs are simply annoying dogs, and it's okay not to like them. But it's not animal cruelty to breed one kind of dog but not another.

szg4sz

asksciencefiction_train

[Star Wars] How did supporters of the separatist during the Clone Wars justify the assassination attempt on Senator Padme Amidala and the inclusion of the Trade Federation as a member when they were responsible for the unprovoked invasion of Naboo

hy3w2zd

hy3nbqs

Not going to get into real world politics, because im pretty sure that's against the rules. But I think it should be pretty clear that *everyone* is capable of looking right past a lot of bad behavior by people they are aligned with depending on the overall situation. The CIS had varying political motivations and explanations for why they wanted to break free from the republic. Whether or not these were good reasons, they were probably strong enough to dismiss 1 assassination attempt as being a rogue actor and vote with somewhat unsavory allies.

They were being manipulated by a Sith Lord. His power of influence was great. He convinced an entire galaxy that Jedi were a myth in a span of 15 years.

u7z0oe

changemyview_train

CMV: 'Someone that identifies themselves as a woman' should not be a widely used definition of the word 'woman'. I keep seeing people defining a 'woman' as 'someone that identifies themselves as a woman'. I am guessing people that use this definition use it to include transgender women and I understand why they would use it. Saying that a woman is someone who identifies themselves as a woman is in fact correct, but it is an incomplete definition of the word. It answers to 'who is a woman?' and not 'what is a woman?'. It also doesn't make sense as a definition and is inherently flawed, because how does someone identify as a woman if a woman is someone you identify as. This turns every woman into only a five letter word.

i5hsobu

i5i3ft2

Regarding "should not be used widely", like... is it being "used widely"? I think the vast majority of people, including trans women and people who know and interact with trans people happily go about their business every day without really having to think very much about "the definition of woman". If someone is a trans woman, they wake up in the morning and go about their day largely the same as any cis woman. If I see a trans woman at work or on the bus, I might not even *know* that they're trans. But if I do, I don't treat them any different from how I treat a cis woman. So like, it's fine? I'm not losing any sleep over definitions. This "widely used definition" only comes up when people start making a big deal out of it. Like, if your response to my previous paragraph is pressing me on what it means to "treat someone like a woman", I won't have a great answer! I'm sure I don't always succeed, but I try to treat everyone the same. So in some sense, I just don't *care* what the definition is. I try to just treat people the way they want to be treated, and if Republican senators want to grill supreme court nominees about the "definition of woman", who gives a shit? Kind of just seems like a stupid waste of time on their part. It might be that as time goes by, "woman" doesn't mean as much as it used to, which is why this self referential identity definition is catching on. It might not be a terribly useful definition, but why do we need a better one? What problem are we really trying to solve here?

That’s the thing with personal identity, it is defined by what the person says. What defines a “Robert” from a “George?” Or what defines a “Red Sox fan” and a “not Red Sox fan.” We can probably come up with a list of traits or characteristics but we might never agree on where to “draw the line” so to speak. Same with cultural identities. How do you define a German? Is it someone that lives there? Do they have to speak the language? What if they have German heritage but don’t live in z Germany? What if they live there but have no German heritage? Can someone start as a German and then later identify as an American? Again, we can come up with some traits but where to draw the line is always up for debate, so generally we defer to the individual themselves. One thing I think is often missed in this debate is that anyone that identifies as a woman probably has some reasons to do so. If you asked them I’m sure they could give you the list of traits or characteristics that they feel justifies their gender identity, even if they happen to be different from your opinion. This is why the “define woman for me” gotcha question is either ignorant or bad faith, because it doesn’t take into account that there are dozens or hundreds of characteristics that could be used to define a woman and any one individual may be relying on any combination of those to identify as one. Pretty much any strict definition you try to enforce will inevitably leave out even uncontroversial individuals. I think this is also why the TERFs are misguided… because they are also attempting to enforce a strict definition of woman.

uh4nmk

askbaking_train

Cakes to go with cream cheese icing I’m making a cake for my aunt and uncle’s vow renewal but they’re not really sure what flavor they want. The only thing they know is they do not want any lemon and my aunt wants a cream cheese frosting. Trying to come up with some ideas other than carrot and red velvet, any suggestions?

i73pbnk

i750bpi

Hummingbird cake, strawberry cake, even vanilla (white/yellow) all go good with cream cheese icing.

My personal go to recipe with cream cheese icing is this chocolate Guinness cake. For me, this recipe is the one that gets the most gushing comments from the most people. https://www.stylist.co.uk/life/recipes/chocolate-guinness-cake/36465

ppiqw7

askbaking_train

Weird flavors that actually aren't bad? Stumbled across pickle flavored cupcakes from delish.com. The taste wasn't actually that bad partnered with the bourbon buttercream, but the smell of the kitchen was nauseating. Other than this, what are some examples of weird/unusual flavors that work?

hd4c93u

hd464zp

Peanut butter curry cookies Lemon and coffee Miso caramel is one of my favorite things to make. Cheeses can be really interesting. I’ve had a creme brûlée with apricot and Camembert, a Parmesan cheesecake, and different cheese gelatos.

I made a cake with persimmons, coconut, and five spice. Usually five spice is savory to me, but this was soooo good

tq8rbf

askacademia_train

What is your 'favorite' academic jargon? From my grad advisor years back: 'Not to be pedantic' then followed by something that is either common knowledge or incredibly obscure. Field specific jargon that even most people that have been researching the topic for decades don't even know.

i2gby0t

i2fqf6f

In my field, anthro / sts: “can you unpack X or Y further...” / “we also have to complicate X or Y” / “how is this entangled with [loosely related other thing”

The best name for a term I've seen yet is 'The Oracle Inequality' in machine learning. It's the property that means a model collapses to choosing the (most) correct inputs when faced with too many variables. (i.e it chooses p* when p>n)

v61j9e

changemyview_train

CMV: All religions are cults There is really no distinction between the definition of religion and cult. With my interactions with friends who are religious, the similarities are almost none. I have a friend who is religious who has vastly changed my opinion on religion due to their experiences. I am personally an atheist and do not believe in any sort of higher power or organized religions. Some experiences that my friend has endured is going to a “religious weekend camp” where she had a praying session for 3 hours in silence and people were sobbing hysterically by the end. Another experience is that (her family lives in Korea and she lives in Canada) her grandmother offered tickets for them for free to Korea to visit. However, the catch was that her mother (my friend’s mother) had to write the entirety of the bible to get the tickets, which she did. You could say that I don’t experience much diversity in experiencing religion, however, I believe that anyone who believes in god are a bit mental. I mean if christianity was not widely believed in, who would believe that a mine came back to life and walked on water? It would be written off as another silly cult. Please try and change my opinion! :)

ibcxnfh

ibcushm

Part of the problem is that there a discrepancy between what most people mean when they use the word 'cult' and what the 'official definition' is. I'd recommend reading the top bit of the Wikipedia article. Essentially, 'cult' has become a pejorative term that refers to something more specific than it's dictionary definition, and is almost always negative (and not even always religious). On the other hand, a cult used to refer to, yes, basically just any smaller religious organization (essentially interchangeable with 'sect'), but it's *not* used for that any more due to the derogatory connotations that "cult" carries in modern English. Instead you should look at some factors that define organization that nearly everyone agree are cults. A simple one would be the tendency to cut off members from outside influence and especially ex-members. I think it would be reasonable to draw a line between religion and cult based on that; if you are the target of *organized* (by the church leaders) harassments for leaving or attempting to leave, and/or remaining members (including the victims own family) are forced to shun the ex-member, it's a "cult". Broadly speaking, the above isn't true for modern Christianity or Judaism; there are certain sub-groups (Jehovah's Witnesses) who participate in it, and they (rightfully IMO) get labeled as a cult, and I'm sure you could find local chapters in certain areas that might, but if you leave most Christian churches your pastors aren't going to force your family to disown you. I think you can probably think of other things people look at and say "cult" that don't fit major religions very well. In short, though, the meaning of "cult" is in flux such that it's *colloquial* definition is unfitting for most 'big' religions, even if we ignore their size; Christianity as a 'small' religion (assuming it magically remained otherwise unchanged) wouldn't fit that definition.

I'm Christian and that sounds nuts. Religions and churches are not the same thing either. An individual church can become very controlling and cult like without the religion itself being so. I don't belong to any specific church. The ones we frequent don't place any demands on us. You should not judge thousands based on the actions of one.

raa66x

askengineers_train

Are there Mechanical Engineering Jobs that don't use CAD design (like Solidworks or AutoCAD)? So I have recently taken a course in college called Engineering Graphics where we learned to use Solidoworks and AutoCAD. The teacher was absolutely terrible for the class and my experience here has made me want to avoid ever having to use AutoCAD or Solidworks again, if a career using them is going to be anything like I experienced in school. The teacher was awful at explaining how things worked and gave us very demanding assignments that sometimes we couldn't finish correctly. The tests were what were the worst. We were only given 50 minutes to design these ridiculously hard parts in AutoCAD and Solidworks and I never finished them on time. ​ I spent hours outside of class practicing the concepts and using the software but the class was still a ginormous nightmare. I did better in my math and problem solving classes and enjoyed them more than this class where we were learning a "technical" skill that is apparently "commonplace" in the engineering field. Sorry if this is coming off as ranting, I just need to get this off of my chest after my experience in here. I don't ever plan to touch Solidworks or AutoCAD again, but I would just like to know from fellow mechanical engineers, does your job require this software or anything related and do you know of any ME jobs that don't?

hnh5wx5

hnh3ydo

Recent(ish) Mechanical Engineering grad. I use zero CAD software at my work as a Systems Engineer.

Don't let a shit teacher put you off. CAD is like any tool. Once you learn to use it it's an asset. Until then it's a clumsy liability. If you need to use it then you can learn it on the job. You might even learn to like it.

tknbqc

asksciencefiction_train

[Star Wars] Why was Luke able to bring Anakin back to the light when Ahsoka couldn’t? We all know the story. After finding out Vader was his father and resisting the dark side, Luke Skywalker managed to bring Anakin back into the light. Son redeems father. Galaxy is saved. Here’s my question: why was Luke able to sway Vader when Ahsoka, his former apprentice, couldn’t? In Twilight of the Apprentice the two face off. Ahsoka tells him she won’t leave him again. Vader is silent for a moment, perhaps torn by what she’s saying, but ultimately doubles down on the dark. So what gives? Luke is obviously Vader’s son… but Ahsoka was like a little sister to him. Luke had more time to try to convert Vader. If Palpatine had zapped Ahsoka, would Vader have been swayed and acted as he did with Luke? Or did it have to be Luke, specifically, that saved him? If so, why?

i1rikd8

i1ryhnp

Ahsoka was, in a sense, a symbol of his failures as Anakin. The very things that in his mind led to Padme's death, that led to the series of mistakes that burned his bridges with the Jedi and left him with nothing except being the Emperor's minion. His relationship with Luke was a blank slate. Something he didn't resent as a symbol of all the ways Anakin Skywalker wasn't good enough. Luke gave Vader hope for the first time in almost 20 years. And then on Bespin Luke rejected that hope. But only a few months later he appeared in Vader's life again and offered that hope anew... not hope for Vader, hope for *Anakin*. Yes, Ahsoka offered that before. But now, for the only time in his life, Vader was ready to hear it, because now for the first time since Padme died, Vader knew he *could* be more than he was on the worst day of his life.

Ahsoka, as a Padawan who left the Jedi, is a symbol of Anakin's failures. Luke even existing, on the other hand, is a positive reminder of his successes; the exact sort of thing to break the loop of fear and torment that Palpatine had stuck Anakin into.

xvmhn6

askphilosophy_train

what is the marxist response to rawls' theory of justice? hi all, back again with more rawls stuff. more straightforward this time though. basically, title. there are some things which i can see marxists would obviously object to, i.e rawls' assumption that rational peoples behind the veil of ignorance are led automatically towards western liberal conceptions of freedom / liberty as a baseline, alongside his implicit acceptance of capitalism in some form. but what might a marxist think would happen behind the veil of ignorance instead of this? or would they throw out the thought experiment entirely, saying it isn't relevant when resolving injustices? and are there any marxists (or really anyone left of rawls) who have tried to adapt rawls' theory to fit more leftist ideals? any (relatively concise) resources on this dialogue would be much appreciated. p.s i'm not the most well versed in marxist theory (unsurprisingly) so bear with me if i make a dumb assumption.

ir2yfaf

ir2ipzu

I will note that Rawls himself (rightly, I think) realized that the two principles of Justice as Fairness are incompatible with capitalism, at least insofar as capitalism involves allowing the market to determine the private ownership of the means of production. He is explicit about this in his last book *Justice as Fairness*. He suggests that there are two kinds of political-economic systems compatible with the principles: 1) democratic socialism, and 2) what he calls “property-owning democracy”, which he takes to be non-capitalist. I’m with Edmundson (who is mentioned in another comment) and others who think Rawls is wrong that property-owning democracy would be stable. I think democratic socialism is the only real option out of the two (though I doubt Edmundson is right that Rawls *knew* this). Edmundson is a good recommendation for a leftist Rawlsian. David Schweikart also argued for this kind of view. Rodney Peffer’s book *Marxism, Morality, and Social Justice* appeals to Rawls, giving a kind of synthetic, Marxian-Rawlsian account of justice to bolster Marxism. It’s long, and is a deep dive, but it might be the best example I know of for arguments that Marxism and Rawlsian justice are compatible. GA Cohen is a great example of someone who is working, broadly speaking, in the same tradition as Rawls, but arguing for a position that he takes to be a socialist alternative. Cohen is excellent. And Charles Mills was mentioned in another comment. This is also a great recommendation: everyone should read Mills. Though the relationship between Mills’ views and Rawls views are a bit more subtle to figure out in some ways. Mills is an important (and strident) critic of Rawls, and of the kind of political philosophy that followed Rawls. But at the same time, Mills’ Black Radical Liberalism is very much in the same tradition as Rawls, but is also influenced by various strands of Marxism. One of Mills interlocutors is Tommie Shelby, who (like many of the folks mentioned above) is an analytic marxist, but who at various points defends Rawls from some of Mills criticisms. I highly recommend reading the exchange between Mills and Shelby concerning ideal theory.

Marxists would likely draw on Marx’s broader critique of justice to respond to Rawls. For Marx himself, see his *Critique of Hegel’s Doctrine of the State* and “On the Jewish Question”. For secondary literature, see Allen Buchanan’s *Marx and Justice* and chapter 6 of Will Kymlicka’s *Liberalism, Community and Culture*.

6z4afe

asksciencefiction_train

[The Truman show] On the show, how was Truman Burbank's masturbation handled during his teenage years?

dmt7f34

dmsyfda

Who says he ever masturbated at all? The producers managed to instill him with a crippling fear of the ocean, remember. I'm sure they also constantly bombarded him with anti-masturbation propaganda.

Showed on screen with no censorship or intervention.

k102y

askengineers_train

Advice for a Brand-New High School Engineering Teacher Today at 4pm I accepted a job as a High School Engineering teacher. I'd like to know some important things to know about engineering on a high school level that will really benefit my students. I am supposed to be teaching "Foundational Engineering" and "Energy and Environmental Engineering." Eek! Background info on me: My first 3 years I taught middle school. I majored in physics but have forgotten a good deal of it, and the "applied" parts have always been a bit difficult for me. I have never really done an engineering project before (I know people who have done mouse trap cars, etc. but have never really done one by myself). They determined I was "qualified" for the job because I took ONE engineering math class (diff eq and linear algebra. It was a way to combine two classes into one. I remember not liking it very much...). I feel extremely unprepared! I realize that they will... HOPEFULLY... give me some sort of curriculum at some point (school starts in a week). What I'm looking for is what real engineers wish they had learned in high school so I can pass that on to the students and focus on what will be useful to them.

c2gq8dh

c2gqjel

I have an idea for a project, since they want to focus on environmental. In freshman year we spent a week at each of the engineering disciplines at my university. For environmental, we broke into groups and each group designed a sedimentation basin. Each group got a piece of foam insulation, and a roll of duct tape. then we saw who's was most efficient at filtering out sand from water. All in all it was really fun.

While in engineering, there were occasion extra curricular competitions. One was called the Spaghetti Bridge (build a bridge from dry spaghetti and acrylic glue). Another was the Egg Drop. Make some of these My university had a legendary physics professor that everyone loved. He was very entertaining. I never attended it but it has a website Flying Circus of Physics (and a book). You might find some fun projects and ideas there.

mfq3dp

askculinary_train

Weekly discussion: No stupid questions here! Hi everybody! Have a question but don't quite want to make a new thread for it? Not sure if it quite fits our standards? Ask it here. Remember though: rule one remains fully in effect: politeness is not optional! And remember too, food safety questions are subject to special rules: we can talk about best practices, but not 'is \[this thing\] safe to eat.

gsp9e91

gspjd4x

I accidentally bought way too many scallions! Any ideas what to do with them? Getting sick of using them as a garnish on everything...

How do I take my cooking to the next level? Is it just learning more cuisine and how to handle more ingredients? It sounds so simple but I cannot think of anything else. Feel free to look at my profile to provide feedback. Thank you.

lpklzv

asksciencefiction_train

[Batman] Aside from the numerous traffic laws Batman breaks such as driving too fast, in the middle of the road and against red lights, how road legal is the batmobile?

goczths

goc68og

With the exception of Adam West's Batmobile, I don't think any of the other Batmobiles have license plates and I doubt Batman would bother with registering it at the Gotham DMV, so that's strike 1. As others have mentioned, the Batmobile is closer to an armored fighting vehicle than a car. The thing has a jet engine, machine guns and missiles,a self-destruct feature plus a lot of Wayne Enterprises or Batman-designed proprietary technology.

Not in any way whatsoever, but since it can scale walls and drive along rooftops, Batman is much like Doc Brown in that he does not need roads. The more recent versions of the 'mobile aren't even commercial vehicles, they're explicitly unique vehicles designed for urban warfare

zrf5x

askculinary_train

Hard-boiled eggs - how not to get a black ring around the yolk? Does anyone have any definitive tips for not getting a black ring around the yolk on hard-boiled eggs? Usual google tips like cold water plunge & cracking the eggshell immediately after cooking have been tried :(

c6724ej

c672jyv

Happens from over cooking. At home I place my eggs into a pot with my water then turn to high. usually about 12 minutes after it it's the boil I dump the water and fill with cool.

Yeah, you're overcooking for certain. Here's what I do: Add eggs to a pot, and add water to cover by at least one inch. Bring to boil, then remove from heat and cover. Let sit for 12-15 minutes, then dump the water, refill the pot with cold water, and peel. Works great, consistently.

tet86m

asksciencefiction_train

Harry Potter] Hi, I'm about to start Hogwarts. All the wand-cores are from animals, and I'm a vegan. What are my alternatives for performing magic without using animal-derived materials? With many thanks to [this thread by /u/Lorix_In_Oz for inspiring the question.

i0rwrdm

i0tbyvt

Probably something from a mandrake plant. They’re sentient, but plants, so who can say?

I mean you’re not going to get anywhere in potion making, and are probably going to have great difficulties with the ethics of transfiguration and the harvesting of sentient plants ala Mandrakes and others in Herbology. So that leaves Charms and a few other more obscure subjects to perform with your underpowered wand made from the hair of a merperson.

b2m59m

askanthropology_train

Symbols of wealth/indulgence that are no longer recognized as such in the West? Hi all, I'm looking for help with researching food/clothing/other items that were at one point considered status symbols in the West but are no longer, such as formerly exotic imported foodstuffs that are now available in every grocery store. I'm not looking for anything particularly specific (though if anyone knows some examples offhand I'd love to hear them), more just wondering how I could go about searching for that information myself.

eitx83b

eiu9mzp

Mashed potatoes (really, mashed and creamed anything) was once a status symbol because it was so labor intensive to make. Source: Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat

Carpet. Carpet was once more expensive than wood floors, and the extra effort to keep it clean meant you could afford a housekeeper. Then, with the advent of cheaper synthetic materials, your aunt Nancy carpeted over all her nice wood floors to look rich, which is why you're pulling them back up to expose the original wood now that you've inherited her house.

pxbmiw

askengineers_train

Is it normal to always be on call as a process engineer? A process engineer job I am considering in the microfab industry would require me to be on-call at all times. The normal duties of the job would be roughly 10 hours a day (like 8-6), five days a week, with another estimated 3-5 hours a week of on-call duties at night and on weekends. Only one or two calls a year would require going into the plant, and there are overnight engineering technicians who are supposed to be able to help troubleshoot. The majority of the on-call responsibilities are communicating with line workers over the phone if they're having an issue, giving specific guidance on an order if it's not clear, or taking a look at unusual data using a company laptop. Supposedly, they encourage workers to call early (before 10 pm) if they think they will have a problem, but apparently, it's not uncommon to get a call in the middle of the night (like every other week). It sounds like they're understanding if you miss a call, but don't make it a habit, kind of thing. Not all calls are urgent, so you can sometimes wait a few hours before analyzing data, for example. Is it normal to always be on-call? I've seen other plants rotate being on-call, but being on-call all the time seems unusual. Is that normal?

heoh51l

heocb8a

Was a process engineer and techs text me all the time. Not sure if that is "on call" as you might think. Weekends, night time, holidays, I get the calls and texts. But not so on "come in to work or we'll die".

It is normal for *someone* to be on-call 24/7? Yes. Normal for an *individual*? Absolutely not. A competent company does on-call *rotations*, where you’re on-call for example one week every six weeks. 24/7 on-call for individuals suggests both management incompetence and an abusive attitude towards employees. What if you’re in the hospital or out in the woods? Either (a) - they will be missing critical support, or (b) - they don’t really need you 24/7 and trample on your personal life because they’re just assholes.

r1ykhp

askphysics_train

As physicist, how do deal with people believing in stuff like "quantum medecine" or "stone energy" ? I am a physicist (PhD student), it happens sometimes that I meet someone who is asking question about quantum stuff and energy. Usually, the questions are basics, and i manage to explain them the concepts in simple words and people are fine and often open-minded. They are often happy that I answered their questions. But recently I ran up onto another kind of people, who believes that stones have "resonance energy" which can heal you. I started to explain kindly that the concept of energy is not what he thinks it is and then he told me that it was a quantum effect and noone can understand. I replied that I studied quantum mechanics and that it is not what he thinks it is. Then he started to be insulting and telling me that my diplomas are fake... I gave up at that moment. Any physicist here who already experienced this situation ?

hm1oet2

hm1mjvv

Explain how things work. If they are interested, good. If they decide to keep believing whatever nonsense they believe in, bringing up conspiracies or insulting you, just drop the ball. It's useless effort. One thing that frustrates me is that I know people who are willing to listen to me about physics stuff, but when it comes to things like "we live in a simulation" or the beginning of the universe, it ALWAYS ends up with them saying things like "how do you know that?" or "we believed totally different things a century ago". This is frustrating because it's not a matter of knowledge, but a matter of how physicists tend to understand things, how to formulate hypothesis, how to go by with the scientific method and reasoning, and it's harder to explain in a convincing way.

Ignore it completely, unless someone specifically asks me about it. If they do, I just tell them that it's nonsense, and don't engage in debates about it.

pkbi6w

askbaking_train

What to do with 15 lbs of pre-wrapped caramel? Long story short, I have 15 lbs of wrapped soft caramels in my freezer right now. Most are sea salt flavored, a few are plain. I do also have a few lbs of non wrapped frozen hunks of caramel. It’s too much. I need to use it but don’t know how. Suggestions welcome! Longer story- my kind neighbor works at a caramel factory and takes home seconds. She shares them with us, and I want to make something good but the sheer quantity is a lot to tackle. I’ve made millionaire shortbread, ice cream topper, and banoffee pie but that hardly put a dent in the sheer quantity.

hc2xrob

hc2e237

Wrapping around pretzel rods and dipping in chocolate or almond is getting pretty popular. Add some festive sprinkles and BOOM, you have an easy, fun to make cute little treat!

I made salted caramel blondies with nuts and chips.

wvd2d

askscience_train

Are there any examples of two completely safe to ingest compounds that, when mixed together, create a deadly poison? Likewise, are there two poisons that, when mixed together, make a perfectly safe compound for consumption? These can be simple chemicals or compounds. I'm going to assume that there will be a few compounds with fluorine or chlorine that can be safe to ingest or inhale when paired with a specific chemical. Isn't there a gas that makes your voice much deeper that uses Fluorine?

c5gvl4j

c5gue58

Methanol. You can drink it safely (does the same as ethanol), but the enzyme that degrades it (alcohol dehydrogenase) turns it into lovely toxins such as formaldehyde. Another toxin Hydrogen Peroxide. Constantly made by your cells, but broken down into water and oxygen.

hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide - bombadier beetle

jgsd2w

askbaking_train

Are there any major drawbacks to using silicon bakeware? I love baking and am looking to expand my bakeware collection. However, I’m on autism spectrum and very sensitive to loud noises. The sound of metal pans clanging drives me crazy and sometimes I don’t bake just to avoid the noise. I was thinking a good solution would be to get silicon stuff but I’m curious if that will negatively effect my baking. What’s the difference between metal and silicon bakeware?

g9tm3hj

g9sh4y3

I'm a professional pastry chef with Asperger's, and I'm addicted to silicone molds. I use them for pretty much everything, unless for some reason I really want a lot of heat on the outside of something (like some breads), then I use traditional metal. I've never had a problem getting them clean. Run it through the dishwasher and it should be fine. Side note... Do not grease or spray silicone. It's unnecessary, hard to clean off, and can slowly degrade the material.

Maybe a silicon mat on a pan?

f5ne7f

askbaking_train

Is it worth it to work as a baker anyway? I wanted to be one for years and is still in school deciding what im gonna study for, i somewhat changed my mind when i found out about their salary, is it worth it to just not care and take what i’ll get? Here in sweden they make around 2700 dollars in an average

fhzyrq1

fi110sj

I make shit money, but I’m the happiest I’ve ever been! I took a 30% pay cut and a major career change to get here. It’s hard but it’s worth it for me.

If you like to loaf around all day, being a baker is the job for you.

4sodia

asksciencefiction_train

[Meta] Attention whoever keeps reporting all pokemon-related questions: Fuck off, they're not against the rules. That is all.

d5aujo2

d5b8ycc

Can't you have them banned for abusing the report button? It's happened to me before.

Someone tried to report this saying that Pokemon isn't science fiction. Sounds like people need to actually read the rules.

45yh1i

asksciencefiction_train

[Harry Potter] We know that wizards intervene to protect muggles from great evils (like Voldemort and the Death Eaters), so why didn't they intervene to stop the Holocaust?

d011x7c

d011g02

Grindelwald wanted to create an army of Inferi. That is why Dumbledore eventually stepped in to help

Same reason nobody's stopping North Korea.

7xttz1

askculinary_train

lemon garlic cream sauce (for pasta) I want to make a pasta w/ cherry tomatoes, spinach, garlic, parmesan, and a lemon garlic cream sauce. I'm just sort of winging the recipe, I have half and half, lemon, garlic, pepper, salt etc. I'm worried about the dairy curdling when I put in the lemon juice, what is the best way to keep this from happening?

dub5xgb

dub5bfu

Melt some butter in a pan. Toss in the garlic. Saute for a minute. Add some chicken broth, and your half & half. Simmer to reduce. Add parmesan, spinach, tomatoes. Stir, simmer. At the end, add lemon juice and zest. Season to taste with salt & pepper. Toss with the pasta, adding some of the pasta water if needed. Add more parm. Voila.

If you’re making cream sauce use 35% Half and half never yields as good results. Stick with the zest if you’re for some reason set on using 10%

cu6m1u

legaladvice_train

The Social Security Admin. sent me a bill for $10k saying my father over paid in child support I live in the United States. I am 21 years old, and i got a letter saying that from the time i was 10-13 years old my dad overpaid in child support and that I am being held responsible for it, they are demanding $10,000 and are threatening to go into my bank account and taking the money from me. My first question is *WHAT THE FUCK* My second question is how is it legal to hold a 10-13 year old responsible for this like wtf is going on.

ext9l97

exrrr48

Reading the link provided about SSI overpayments, I think what happened is, your mum was receiving more child support from you dad than she declared, so you received SSI benefits that you technically weren’t entitled to. The link also explains that yes, the minor can be held responsible, which I think is whack!

Not a lawyer, but before you do anything, make sure the letter is legit. Get it checked out by a lawyer. Do not send anything to anyone until you know for a fact it is real.

2x6mur

changemyview_train

CMV: It is unethical for the American media to publicize stories about those merely accused, not convicted of crimes. My personal view is that it is unethical to publicize the arrest and charges brought against suspected criminals. I understand that media corporations profit from viewership and people freely choose to ignore the immorality of these publications because they are interesting and shocking, however I think that any news source worth respecting would moderate coverage to a mere mention (at most) of allegations. A less venerable company would create entire news stories out of stories as minimal as charges being brought against an individual. The immorality herein (to me) lies in the seemingly lost presumption of "innocent until proven guilty", as many people confuse arrest and charging phases of the executive system with the conviction phase of the judicial system. This causes the accused to be treated like assumed criminals, defaming them and their loved ones before receiving a fair trial.

coxkpxv

coxdfl3

So if a politician is accused of a crime, the media should not report on it?

I think the only way you can argue this is to say that once the information is available, within the context of *journalistic ethics* (which I am not an expert on, so anyone feel free to jump in on that), you are free to report on publicly available information. I think it certainly could be attributed to some implicit bias of the media source to report on any specific issues, it isn't *necessarily* unethical to do so. By my own ethical standards I agree that it can be wrong and very damaging to do what you are describing though.

hyu0mc

askacademia_train

Should I publish an article with my married name before I get married? I'm planning on getting married some time in the next few years but I will be attempting to publish my first academic article later on this year. Is there any issue with submitting my article with my current last name as my middle name and my future last name as my last name?

fzfzd3b

fzfjf8i

There is no real reason to change your name and is truly one of the last sexist, patriarchal conventions that even educated, professional women accept as “normal.” There are entire countries and cultures that do not do this and we should probably think about becoming more like them in that way. It erases a woman’s identity, puts the entire burden on the woman to change every credit card, DL, social security card, passport, email, etc (not to mention professional licenses, certifications, etc). Disrupts the ability to gain professional ground if your work is under different names, etc. And what if the husband is a jerk? What if he’s the reason the marriage ends because of cheating, abuse, whatever? Then the woman is either stuck with a name of someone that hurt her or has to go through all that paperwork and months of changing everything back. It’s pretty ludicrous. You can still buy a home together, have bank accounts together, file joint taxes and have different last names. No one even bats an eye. It doesn’t make you “less married.” And the “but what about having the same last name as your kids” argument is essentially invalid, given the very high number of moms today who are divorced and remarry, taking their new husband’s name and thus have different last name from the kids they had with the previous husband? Do yourself a gigantic favor and do not change it.

My undergrad advisor used to publish under her family name, then she got married and now publish under Familyname - Husbandname

pj5unr

askacademia_train

What's the difference between calling someone "Dr. Name" vs "Professor Name" This might be a stupid question, but I'm that meme of the guy being like "I don't know what xyz thing is and at this point I'm afraid to ask." I did my MA at an R1 public university, where all the faculty I encountered had doctorates. We called them by their first names after we had been invited to do so, but the polite, formal thing was to refer to faculty as "Dr. Name." Now, I'm doing my PhD at a different R1 public university, where all the faculty I have encountered have doctorates. Again, we call them by their first names on invitation, but the formal thing to do is to call them "Professor Name." Is this just a department culture thing? Or is there a functional difference?

hbuii3o

hbuefgv

In my experience in the US, this is often a cultural aspect of the university. Most I have been to used Dr. Name but one I taught at used Professor Name. In the US, professor is both a job title and a profession. Anyone who teaches at a university is a professor, but only some professors are Assistant Professors, Associate Professors, or Professor (people call it full Professor, but the title is technically Professor). You see the same thing with instructor. If you teach a college class, you are an instructor, but some places also have a job title Instructor. So I am Dr. Manova, Professor of neuroscience, who is the instructor for psychopharmacology. But to directly answer your question, it is a culture thing and there is no real functional difference. At the one school I was at that used professor, they told me it was because when the college was first founded, not all faculty had a doctorate, so they used professor so everyone would have the same title. That tradition stuck. Rarely, because faculty without a doctorate can be called Prof Name, but not Dr. Name, some see Dr. has a "higher title". However, I had a literature professor back in my undergrad school that preferred Professor even though most went by Dr. Her reasoning was that Doctor meant you got a degree, but Professor meant you got a job. I've always liked this line.

No functional difference in the US. "Doctor" is for people with doctorates, while in my cases "Professor" can mean any instructor-- even though it's *also* a formal rank. But we don't address anyone as "Assistant Professor X" or "Associate Professor Y" do we? We tell our students that "Professor" is the polite way to address any faculty member you don't know or who hasn't already told you to use their first name. Assuming "Doctor" can lead to uncomfortable moments of the person explaining that they don't have a Ph.D., or have an MBA or MFA, etc.

imbj5i

askbaking_train

I am visiting my Folks and just found a little jar of McCormick allspice from 1975. What are your horror stories?

g404lfs

g3yn248

I just cleaned out my grandparents spice cabinet too! There were many things that were so old the date had been worn off. lots of things in glass containers with rusty metal lids, from before plastic was used for everything I suppose. I'm convinced certain things like ground cloves don't go bad though, they smell the same after decades! BTW this thread reminds me of that news article about the grandma that accidentally killed her grandchilden by preparing them 20 yr old hot chocolate... so tragic and it could have been so easily avoided if people would throw away their expired food and only buy what they'll really use!

Serious question, my grandmother is not a good cook, plenty of spices in the cabinet she has bought but never actually used over the years because she doesn't want to learn. Do dry spices ever go bad? Most of it is powder and not whole.

ym797n

askvet_train

I am told that my female dog can get cancer if they don't get pregnant, is it true? .

iv3usez

iv3y61n

They can get double cancer if they do get pregnant. /s

My family’s female dog got cancer and died anyway. Having a pregnancy does not preclude anyone/anything from getting cancer.

5u0mve

askengineers_train

How important is documentation in engineering? I'm a high school student taking a Design Technology class and 60% of my grade is documentation. Does this accurately reflect the importance of documentation in engineering fields? It feels like a useless process that wastes time I could use actually building my project.

ddqr5xc

ddqmji3

Lol. It is absolutely paramount. It is the foundation of what we do. In my field if something goes wrong and the chips are down, proper documentation can be the difference between losing your license and a massive lawsuit and skating by scot-free. On a less extreme side, proper documentation saves an incredible amount of time (and therefore $$$) when you get a question in construction or even years later you get a question and need to defend one of the hundreds of decisions you made 3 years ago. Nobody has a memory that good.

The design and review process are critical. Here is an article giving just an overview: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_review_(U.S._government) Lay out a flow of your design process and activities in an outline or diagram form - it helps guide you in the big picture when you necessarily get bogged down in design details. It helps show time and interaction relationships (better identify and order those long lead time parts, and be sure your machine shop, software programmer, circuit board fabricator, etc are there when you need them). Entire focus is given by some project individuals to customer/product requirements, testing and certification activities, design review activity, project "deliverables" (design reviews and much other project documentation (requirements, specification, test, user DOCUMENTATION are often parts of a "deliverables" package) and of course just the project scheduling activities. Take a simple project like making a microprocessor controlled clock or timer or similar for a mechanical, civil, chemical, medical, etc. engineering project. Break the project into phases and activities - there will be a lot, and because there are a lot, over time things can get confused, hurried, forgotten, messed up. Laying out a simple project like this starts on the engineer's proverbial back of the envelope (because napkins are too hard to write on). A few weekends later you might have a ten page outline of such a simple project worthy of sharing with a teacher or manager as a first draft. The Project Management Professional is a specialized position with significant multi project, multi market, multi disciplined experience. Oh, yeah ... your engineering notebook is important too - a topic of it's own ...

zd6n8o

askengineers_train

Why is Saudi Arabia's 'The Line' a line? Is there any actual engineering or logistics reason that this megastructure is planned to be so long rather than a broader, shorter design, or even circular? It seems like it would be a logistical nightmare for construction and transportation. Also I can only assume there will be very minimal natural light at the ground floor in the centre of the two walls. Have they mentioned any solutions for this?

iz0cgt0

iz09qqa

Seems like the worst possible geometry from a military defense and supply line (data, power, utilities, people and goods ttasnport) perspective.

There are so many practical and logistical nightmares about this ridiculous vanity project

69i03e

legaladvice_train

Neighbor cut down 6 of my trees and is stacking dirt oon my land without permission [NC] I own a vacant lot. It's about an acre. The house next door was bought by some flipping house company. I found out yesterday that they cut down several of my trees, stacked up an 8 foot pile of dirt, dumped trash and debris, and in general made it a mess by driving backhoes and other equipment over it. Property is worth $25k or so. I was preparing to sell it but now I feel like I can't. Don't have too much money to put into suing them. What can I do? I'm contemplating confronting them tomorrow?

dh77d5j

dh7bbqv

flippers! ಠ_ಠ

When you confront them, let them know your plans, and make it plain that you have them by the balls. Then, suggest that they simply buy the lot off of you for your original asking price. Problem solved.

ap1l6d

askculinary_train

Is a rice cooker really worth it? For some reason, I’m really bad at making rice. It always ends up too soggy or too dry. Is a rice cooker a genuinely worthwhile investment? I see you can get them for 20-40 dollars online which seems super reasonable

eg59nmo

eg5exq1

Yes! I’ve had a rice cooker ever since I could scrape together 20 bucks and it’s lasted through 6 moves and many years. I particularly like the ones with steamer baskets, the one I have doesn’t have a hinged lid so I’ve gotten two more baskets the same diameter at thrift shops. It’s just a timed boiler by weight, not complicated at all, and I’ve made rice, potatoes, fish, steamed buns; anything cooked in water or steamed has worked like a dream in that thing. I will say that if you like fancier rice like brown rice or basmati or something, rinsing + soaking your rice will help it not burn, and some rices need a little bit more water to get to the correct consistancy. But overall, a very nice tool for my kitchen. I have grand plans for an instant pot, someday. But this lil guy has made me many a hot, effortless meal.

Yes I’m Vietnamese and everyone in my family has one. It just makes life so much easier. I too suck at cooking rice in a pot

5sspcs

askphysics_train

My physics teacher was explaining that as objects increase in speed, the mass also increases. I asked the question he couldn't answer, perhaps this group can. My physics teacher was explaining that as objects increase in speed, the mass also increases. I asked the question he couldn't answer, perhaps this group can. If matter increases in mass as it accelerates - does the matter gain more atoms or do the individual atoms just become more massive? Exactly what is increased? If - for example - a single water molecule (H2O) is accelerated to 99% the speed of light - are there now more hydrogen and oxygen atoms - or are the hydrogen and oxygen atoms just larger or more massive? If the individual atoms are more massive - could a hydrogen atom traveling at 99% the speed of light have more mass than a Uranium atom at rest?

ddhhtaa

ddhi2vz

Not a relativist, but here's my 2 cents on the matter. As objects speed up, it isn't their "mass" that increases, but actually their energy. Now, energy and mass are directly coupled through the energy-momentum 4 vector. So it isn't really the mass of the particle, but the apparent "mass" that increases as a result of massive increases in kinetic energy. A hydrogen atom isn't gaining nucleons as it accelerates. It is just a "massive" (aka "high energy") version of the same electron and proton. Others should feel free to correct me if I'm oversimplifying anything.

The amount of matter doesn't increase; there's a concept called "relativistic mass" which has been used to describe relativistic effects -- it's the total energy divided by c^2 (or, the gamma factor multiplied by the rest mass m). The total energy increases along with the gamma factor at higher speeds, but the rest mass does not increase. I'm surprised your physics teacher was not able to answer whether or not the matter gains more atoms.

em8abl

askacademia_train

What is the worst way in which you screwed up in an interview? As the title says. Curious to hear about the different interview experiences encountered. How as a candidate, have you screwed up in an interview? Or as an interviewer, what are the worst things you've encountered during an interview?

fdn7tp9

fdnahtm

These weren't academic job interviews, but I messed up a few. About a year and a half ago I had an interview for a night shift machine operator position. They asked me what I thought made a good leader. I kinda blanked out with what to say, and the best thing I thought of at the time, for some stupid reason, is "a good leader is not a dick". Which is true. That single usage of the word dick cost me the interview (my language otherwise was fine), and I likely could have had the job otherwise. Not my greatest idea ever (and I admit it was a bit unprofessional), but I still find it stupid that that was enough to ruin an interview for a crappy manual labor job in a factory that doesn't deal with customers or anything. Ended up with a different job a few weeks later in a warehouse that paid way more and wasn't on night shift. About a year ago, I had an interview for a manufacturing engineering internship. I was still working that job in the warehouse and going to school, so I showed up on 2 hours of sleep. And then I was like "I prefer design". I do prefer design and have little interest in manufacturing, but it was pretty stupid to do that in literally the only internship interview I got. All I had to do was beat 3 other people in the interview, and I failed that.

Not really terrible, but the one I remember was with a department whose website was not working. I had no easy way to do my research or get good info about them. First interview question: "Why specifically do you want to work in our department?" I knew the interview was over at that moment. This was their last interview of the day, they seemed angry, and were just giving me a pity interview anyway, so meh. Also, interview questions from where I work now. I didn't answer these well: * (after describing my research) "Isn't this all just a bunch of bullshit?" * "So, do you work out?" * "What is your plan B? Have you thought about the military?"

1dha0r

askculinary_train

What's the most difficult dish you know how to make? (Reposted at the mods request) If it takes multiple days and cooking methods and is easy to mess up, I want to hear about it here.

c9qbghv

c9qcdcr

I had a truffled risotto in Rome at a place called Luigi's. I've tried to make a replica a few times, and it's turned out, but its scary when using such expensive ingredients!

Proper traditional Vietnamese Pho. Most recipes calls for about 5 spices in the spice satchet, my family recipe has 12 (have to go find them in the Chinese medicine shops). Knuckle bones, leg bones, oxtail. Cook the broth for 6 hrs, freeze overnight then melt slowly over a sieve for crystal clear result. Reduce to half. The result is superior to the restaurant version without using a lot of MSG and pho dry mix. Not because MSG is bad, but because it's not necessary. Fat is the key here. Keep at least half of the fat instead of skimming it all. **EDIT**: My spice blend is posted below. For recipe/techniques, check out Andrea Nguyen's version and her article on techniques. There's also another recipe by Luke Nguyen. Those are the most accurate versions so far in print and on the web, and very close to my family's. As far as Vietnamese cookbook authors go, I'd say Andrea Nguyen, Luke Nguyen, and Corrine Trang are the closest to authentic. Charles Phan's book is very good, but not as authentic. Normally, all you need to do is strain the broth through a sieve with coffee filter (works better than cheese cloth), but I went a bit further and use Heston Blumenthal's method of clarifying stock by freezing and let it defrost over cheesecloth. This will give you a super clear stock. Since spices yield essential oils through the cooking process, which are lighter than water, they'll float to the top and unfortunately will get skimmed away together with the fat, I suggest putting the spices in at the second step when you reduce the stock. Don't skim away all the fat, keep at least half -- it's packed with flavor, and it's what makes your pho taste as good, if not better than restaurant version. For the bowl, you want sliced onion, sliced green onion and cilantro. For meat, the Southern version has thinly sliced raw beek, fatty brisket, flank, tendons, tripes, and also beef meatballs; the Northern ~~poor~~ purist version has only sliced raw beef. For garnish, you'll need Thai basil, sawtooth herb, bean sprout, lime, chili pepper. How's that for being complicated?

t5lnyz

legaladvice_train

Motorcycle fell off a tow truck, I and 4 others hit, insurance says they're are not liable as driver was off duty while driving company tow truck. Are they're any known exceptions to fight this claim or am I SOL...

hz65geu

hz5n61a

Insurance underwriter here, who writes tow trucks. Depending on the state, they probably need state filings (with the DMV) that would protect you for their liability regardless of whether the actual policy had an exclusion if they were "off duty." Your insurance carrier should help you navigate the issue. Additionally, even if the insurance company says they are not liable, the tow company still could be. You would have to sue them. (Theoretically, this is what your insurance should do)

Not a lawyer. Do you have insurance that would cover this? If so, put them to work, this is what you pay them for. If not, if they refuse to compensate, consult an attorney. The attorney can send a letter stating your intention to sue and if you're lucky the responsible party will actually negotiate a settlement. If not, you'll likely be sueing the driver, the tow company, and the insurance company, or some combination as deemed appropriate by your attorney, and have the situation sorted in court.

w3j090

asksciencefiction_train

[MCU] Could a pre-serum Steve Rogers ever wield Mjolnr? And if so, since we know from Endgame it gave him “The Power of Thor”, would he have physically transformed into his Captain America body ?

igwpqpr

igyag18

When Jane wielded mjolnir she became taller, more buff, and more blonde. I think pre-serum Steve could have picked up the hammer, and if he had, a similar transformation would happen to him. So he would end up with his Captain America body but with longer blond hair. And the mental image of that is hilarious to me so now I'm wishing that they do something like that in an episode of Loki or What If.

Steve would have been able to wield it regardless. He had the heart of a fighter from the beginning. People who think he was too weak are missing the point. It's a running theme across all of the MCU - if you're nothing without the power, you don't deserve it. Preserum Steve would have thrown himself at Thanos the same way postserum Steve did. Besides all that, all humans are unbelievably weak compared to Thor. It doesn't make sense that the hammer would be like '1/34th of an average Asgardian is as low as I go, no matter how cool they are!'.

qqevsj

askculinary_train

Do BBQ restaurants have someone watch the food while it smokes overnight? How does that work? Do people constantly monitor brisket for like 12 hours or do they let the smokers go overnight and come back mid-cook?

hk16oaj

hk25zyo

Most places have commercial smokers that automatically rotate at all times so there is no need to always have someone there. The place I work usually has no one watching the smokers from about 11pm to 5am.

For offset smokers and open flame, yeah. Someone needs to maintain the fire and make sure the place doesn't burn down, too. Franklin, for example, had an ember escape during high wind conditions during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, which caused a fire big enough for them to have to close for about 3 months, and took a few more months to come back up to full capacity.

4dhust

asksocialscience_train

Who are some prominent social scientists who serve in the U.S. government? Are they usually in visible positions, or do they tend to stay in the back ground as advisers? I've researched this a little bit, but I would like to know your opinion!

d1s5pay

d1s0uxl

Almost certainly it's Janet Yellen.

Condoleezza Rice has a PhD in political science.

1noqvu

explainlikeimfive_train

Explain like I'm five years old: How did women deal with their period in the Middles Ages? It seems like they would have to use different techniques before the modern day super absorbent pads and tampons.

cckls3f

cckmx7f

Menstrual Huts

This would probably be a good question to ask over at /r/askhistorians. Just be mindful of the rules, they're very strict.

kxwhvp

changemyview_train

CMV: The Shape of Water is a mediocre film Background: The Shape of Water is a 2017 film that won the 90th Oscars for Best Picture. However, I argue that it is a mediocre film at best and underserving of the award. I will present a few reasons for my assertion, before comparing it with winners for Best Picture in other years. \[PLOT **SPOILER ALERT** FOR **THE SHAPE OF WATER (2017)**: DO NOT PROCEED IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED\] 1. The plot is exceptionally linear: creature was caught; creature was needlessly abused by head of research facility; cleaner of said facility developed compassion-turn-romance for creature; cleaner helped creature escape; creature killed off the head of research facility as he pursued them. In fact, I believe many who watched the film saw the plot coming a mile away. I am not insinuating that a good film must have a convoluted plot like that of Inception (2010) or Tenet (2020), but a simple plot, uncompensated by other aspects, leads to a poor film that does not linger in the audience's mind after it ends. This brings me to the next point: 2. There are no character curves: the characters are as they are. None of the antagonist nor protagonists displayed any personal growth or change in character. The protagonists remain good, while the antagonist who was revealed to lack empathy at the start of the film remained evil to the end. While a good character curve can negate the need for a complicated plot (e.g. The King's Speech (2010)), this film has thus far lacked either, further compounding onto the issue of the first point. 3. Many elements of the film, particularly those that are sex-related, are unnecessary. For example, the film depicts the way the protagonist masturbates daily to show that she leads a routine life. But this serves no purpose to any of her subsequent decisions: just because a person leads a routine life does not mean she is incapable of compassion or courage - these association are tenuous at best. I also cannot see the purpose for many other aspects of the film, such as her neighbour being a closet gay and getting rejected by the pie seller, or the sex-scene with the creature (that was explicitly described to her friend, and which caused a flood). These seem to exist because the director felt like they should, and the sex-scene in particular borders on fan-service in my opinion. 4. No embedded subtitle was provided for the large amount of Russian conversations. Okay, maybe I am nick picking on this, but if you're going to have such a large amount of conversation that is not in the film's native language, then the least you could do is to provide subtitle. One saving grace is that the plot is rather simple such that even without it, one will be understand the film just fine. \[PLOT **SPOILER ALERT** FOR **GREEN BOOK (2018) AND PARASITE (2019)**: DO NOT PROCEED IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED\] Now let's look at the next 2 succeeding winners of the Best Picture: Green Book (2018) and Parasite (2019). I'll try to keep it short. Green Book has a simple plot as well, but it is compensated by the clear character curves that occur with the artfully depicted friendship development (Tony Lip gains respect for Dr Shirley despite starting off as a racist while Dr Shirley gains respect for Tony Lip despite seeing him as an uneducated man). In Parasite, a plot twist exists (the previous housekeeper turns out to be a 'parasite' as well), which led to a character death; this important tragedy leaves the audience wondering about the possible alternatives to the film had the characters handle things differently, amongst many other issue touched by the film (eg. socioeconomic divide). Thus, the film lingers on the mind even after it ends. These are stark contrasts to The Shape of Water. CMV.

gjdu9nl

gjctimj

Regarding your point 3, I thought the masturbation scene in the beginning was really useful for one big reason: First, it helps shed the "demure, silent, naive" stereotype of a young deaf woman. Once I saw that scene I saw here as a more relatable character in terms of her sexuality and stuff. Second, it establishes that she isn't completely inexperienced with sex. If it hadn't been done, a sexual relationship between her and the water man would have been questionable. The fact that she has some experience prevents an awkward virgin idea of their experiences.

*In Parasite, a plot twist exists (the previous housekeeper turns out to be a 'parasite' as well), which led to a character death; this important tragedy leaves the audience wondering about the possible alternatives to the film had the characters handle things differently, amongst many other issue touched by the film (eg. socioeconomic divide).* I would say it was clear the previous people were running a grift on the family pretty quickly, much sooner than it was made obvious, if only because if they were so easily grifted by the protagonists that they were 'ripe' for it, but also because at a very fundamental level the previous house staff (so the OG grifters) were basically the exact same as the 'new' grifters. Just like the continuing disparity between rich and poor in Korea, something that doesn't seem to show any sign of stopping such that it seems to create its own gravity - a similar gravity exists for this perma under-class. I only say that because some plot 'twists' aren't all that twisty if we are using that as something we use to judge the quality of a movie. I have seen both movies \[Parasite and The Shape of Water\] and I wouldn't call one better than the other since they are both excellent. *The Shape of Water* is a different kind of movie than *Parasite*. It reminded me a lot of *The Grand Budapest Hotel* in all the important ways. It isn't that any of the 'twists' were anything new, the biggest twist was the fish had healing powers and, inexplicably, the power to let people grow gills. It was simply that it was all so well executed while touching on some levels of morality and that is important for a good movie. I will take one umbrage with your opinion, the character of Elisa goes through a dramatic evolution. From shy/mute to risk taker and impassioned lover, from not really fitting into the world (like fish-man) to finding precisely her place in the world.

yn00te

askacademia_train

Why do academics seem to loath their profession? This isn't a hard and fast rule but I've observed there seems to be an above average dislike for ones profession among academics. Most times (I'd say 95%) I ask a question about future career planning to be an academic, the top comment is "Get a job that isn't being an academic - we all hate it here so you probably will as well". I didn't enjoy my time as a software engineer but I didn't go around r/CScareers telling everyone to not aspire to it so what gives? Can anyone explain this?

iv7kvat

iv6xn8w

I would argue with the premise of this question. Academics LOVE their profession. What we hate is the fact that institutions take advantage of that fact and put borderline abusive policies and expectations into place knowing we will keep working in shitty conditions because of how much we love our work.

It's less about hating the job and more that it's an industry that doesn't treat it's workers well. As a software engineer, you may not love your job but you do have reasonable compensation, job security, benefits. If you're in a decent sized city, you can probably settle down without moving cross country every few years. There are fairly clear job expectations and division of labor. As an academic, you're expect to do multiple distinct jobs (manager, teacher, researcher) for low pay with no job security and the expectation of frequent moves until you're ~15 years into your career (between 5 years of grad school, however long of a post doc, & 5 years pre tenure).

n2uto8

askengineers_train

Would you rather do a 2 month internship in an international big company with no salary or a local company with a decent salary ? That’s pretty much it and I’m in that situation rn.

gwms855

gwmodah

Unpaid engineering internships aren't a thing. Anyone who tells you otherwise is full of shit.

My food, mortgage, and fuel and such isn't free. Neither is my time

ler1xl

askbaking_train

I used salted butter on my Italian buttercream I need help. I accidently used a salted butter on my Italian buttercream. What tips on how can I fix it, can I add some powdered sugar on the buttercream? Coz it a bit salty Thank you guys. I appreciate your help

gmhbsuy

gmhpfn8

You could try a little bit of lemon juice, that might take it down. What kind of buttercream is it?

You know, most commercial products are so heavily salted compared to home bakes that I doubt it's enough to make a difference to most people. If you're frosting a cake with it that should be sweet enough to balance out the flavors anyway.

bynhbl

changemyview_train

CMV: There are very few problems with the transgender movement, and most of the people who criticise it only do it to be nasty. I will list my issues with the transgender movement first, and then those who criticise it second. -Transgender Issues- -Things such as hormone therapy are not to be taken lightly. Those who identify as transgender should go through tests and have a fairly long time period, say about 6-12 months in between diagnosis and treatment just to make sure it isn’t just a phase or something they’ll regret. The transgender movement should be accepted, but not largely encouraged as young people are easily swayed and they may believe something about themselves that they will change their mind about later, leading to potentially regrettable life choices. -Children should be taught about trans people and learn to accept them as anyone else would be, but it should not be pushed upon them by crazy parents and they should wait to come of age (maybe eighteen) before they make the choice for themselves. Those are pretty much my only issues with the transgender movement, and these criticisms I believe are perfectly normal and fine to have. Now onto my issues for those who criticise the movement. -Refusal to use pronouns: Okay, I’ll admit the whole xhe/xhem/xher pronouns and stuff like that are daft, but should it be too much of an issue to address someone how they ask to be addressed? If you were speaking to some guy called John Smith and he asked you to call him “John” instead of “Mr Smith” you’d call him by his first name, right? So why should it be any different for transgender people? If someone was called Harry and now they want to be called Lucy why don’t you just call them it? It would be the kind thing to do, instead of just being contrarian and disrespectful. It really makes no difference to your life, it barely affects you in the slightest except for having a bit of awkwardness when you first start using the pronouns. -Labelling transgenders as “mentally ill”: I’ll be honest, I haven’t done much research into this area, and that’s one of the main reasons why I made this post, however I’ll state my current point on this matter. Calling transgenders mentally ill is just a rude thing to do. It’s got pretty negative connotations, and I’d imagine there would be a better word to describe body dysmorphia with. People who make this statement tend to do so very smugly and matter-of-factly and it’s really obvious from the way they say it that they don’t really care about transgender people at all, they just like having a group they’re allowed to insult and demean. It’s mostly a superiority thing, people label others as mentally ill (transgenders are traditionally left) and they validate their own opinions and feel better about themselves. Instead of doing this why don’t the people who say these things look at it from an understanding angle and try and help transgenders to be able to achieve happiness without drastically changing their lives? I know the answer, it’s because they just don’t care about them and they enjoy mocking them and offending them for no reason other than cheap laughs and a moment of moral superiority. That’s my opinion on the matter, and I realise it’s probably pretty skewed and biased in favour of transgender people, so I’d like to hear some proper arguments against the movement instead of just the usual vitriol you see in YouTube and Facebook.

eqjrz68

eqjuvfw

People don't do it to be nasty; they do it because they're threatened by the idea that gender isn't set in stone. It causes literal existential angst: people feel like their sense of truth and meaning breaks down if a category they see as so basic gets undercut. (Also lots of men are super-threatened by the idea they might be attracted to a person with a penis)

I'm a transgender man and do consider it a mental illness. It's definitely not normal for me to feel that I'm a man while I biologically am and always will be a female, it definitely affects my life quality and general mental well-being in the most horrifying ways. I think a lot of people attach a negative stigma to the word "mental illness" and want to distance gender dysphoria from it. Other than that, I agree with your view.

qzeji4

askculinary_train

Annual Thanksgiving Discussion It's almost Thanksgiving and that means we're gearing up to help you with all your Thanksgiving issues and questions. Need a Turkey brine? Want to know someone else favorite pumpkin pie recipe (hint it's a boozy chiffon pie and it's amazing)? Got questions about what can be made ahead of time? Not an American and you're just curious about this crazy food fueled holiday? This is the thread for you. While, this is still an "ask anything" thread that standard etiquette and food safety rules apply.

hlvompt

hlo1y72

Has anyone tried the dry buttermilk powder rub for turkey? I saw the Food52 recipe, but not many comments.

I'm supposed to bring a sweet potato casserole for 18 people, and it needs to be made in advance. What is your best suggestion? I've had so many good versions over the years and want to bring a good one.

ptv798

legaladvice_train

My sister has harassed our family since the passing of our mother, insisting that she is owed the portion of our living father's pension that was being paid to my mother while she was alive. My mother passed away 15 years ago. It was traumatic for my whole family, but especially for my sister who has suffered from untreated (she is treatment adverse) mental and emotional illness. One of the symptoms of my sister's illness is an obsession with money, often believing she is owed it from people in her life (boyfriend, aunts and uncles, my father). My mother and father divorced about 6 years before my mother passed away and my father retired 2 or 3 years after that. In the divorce agreement, my mother got some meaningful portion of my father's pension. The story goes that my mother tried to put a clause in the divorce contract stating that if anything were to happen to her, that benefit would pass along to her children. My father and his lawyer challenged this and the clause was removed. So, my mother was receiving a portion of my father's pension payments until she passed. After she passed, my father received the entirety of his pension payments. My sisters and I did not receive anything. My sister has verbally and emotionally abused my father and our entire immediate and extended family about this. She has tried to build alliances against my father, played others off each other, been extremely manipulative, demanded agreement that she is right, and demanded mediation (despite no legal challenge to mediate). It has been terrible, especially for her, as she has wasted years being angry and enraged that she has not received what she is "owed." Her obsession with this has come at the cost of her health, education, career, and life as well as the health and happiness of our family. At this point she is estranged from most everyone in the family, and those she is not estranged from seem to either absorb her diatribes and verbal assaults as an act of love and familial duty, or pay her the ransom of the moment (rent, medical bill, new computer, etc.) Today, she is not only demanding the portion of my father's pension moving forward, but also back payments for the last 15 years since my mothers death. These demands come of family members, but never once through the courts. It doesn't make any sense to me that children of divorce and subsequent death of a parent would receive a portion of their living parent's pension. Am I off base here? Does she have a case to be made? If that divorce contract clause would have stayed, would it have even been legitimate? I would appreciate any advice you can offer. Thank you!

he0drrw

hdzg2zn

Do what my grandmother did, if anyone contest the will after fathers said death, they get $1. My aunt did this with my mother and siblings, and she got a $1. Still trying to contest it, but nope.

What jurisdiction are you in? What type of pension does your Dad receive, government or private company pension?

vec7n1

askphysics_train

Confession: I'm an engineer I am a qualified engineer with BSc degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from a very respectable institution who works in the industry, and surprisingly in all of my life had never seen a single episode of The Big Bang Theory until this year. Throughout the entire series Sheldon Cooper, a theoretical physicist, constantly ridicules Howard Wolowitz for being an engineer, claiming him to be of lesser intelligence because of his profession and the fact that he only has a masters. How do the real life physicists of this subreddit feel about this?

icqiune

icpjowg

Engineers and physicists are natural enemies. Like chemist and physicists. Or mathematicians and physicists. Or programmers and physicists. Or physicists and other physicists. Damn physicists! They ruined physics!

That's a TV drama, not reality. I'm an engineer too and had the opportunity to meet a few physicist. Well, there are some physicists who really think they're the smarty-pants and do look down on engineers. But that's a very-very small subset. Most physicists are humble, at least outwardly.