[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: Why is mold acceptable in some foods, such as cheese, but not in anything else?

We're able to enjoy something like blue cheese dressing, but once mold shows up on bread, it's no good. Why is that? Thanks!

[Assistant] Some molds create toxins that are harmful to the human body. The molds that cause many types of cheese (such as the blue cheese dressing you enjoy) do not create the harmful toxins. Mold on many other foods don't necessarily indicate danger just a lack of freshness (fermentation happening, change in taste, texture, etc.) and are perfectly safe to eat but if you have other food options you will likely throw it away because you probably have enough money to not eat moldy bread.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [John Wick] If the gold coins are the currency in the underworld, why are bounties in dollars?

[Assistant]
Gold coins are specifically tied to death and the passage from life to death. The coins are special in that regard, but you wouldn't buy breakfast with them.

Dollars are used for regular things like houses, food and gas.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Is Daniel Dennett's "Consciousness Explained" worth reading still, in terms of being up-to-date?

I'm listening to The Tell-Tale Brain on audiobook. I'm thinking of getting Consciousness Explained next. My concern is that it's a bit of an old book, and the supposed explanation of consciousness may be outdated. Is this the case?

I'll be getting it on audiobook as well, if you have anything to say about that.

Thanks!

[Assistant] The "pandemonium"/"multiple drafts" model he describes in the book is still the favored model for consciousness for Dennett and it remains influential in the field. Moreover, Dennett's primary aim in the book is to deflate a common sense view of consciousness in order to make the computational models in neuroscience make sense from a philosophical and first-person perspective. So, even though philosophy of mind has moved to new territories of dispute and new concerns (e.g., dynamic and embodied models of cognition), CE still has foundational significance. Besides, it's just a great book to read. Dennett has a way with words.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
CMV: Teaching our Daughters to Conceal Carry is a Responsible Decision

We've all heard the stories of female victims walking down the street alone. Stories I will not elaborate on due to their repulsiveness. I NEVER want this to happen to my daughters.

Women on average are much smaller than. Less physically strong as well. Unarmed, smaller women have a massive disadvantage when trying to defend themselves.

I'm teaching my daughters how to properly use handguns in a safe and responsible manner. I take them to the shooting range once a month to keep them sharpe. My wife and I have taught them how to minimize risk with several best practices. My daughters are very safe and disciplined.

Teaching them this form of self defense has given them an upper hand against the evils lurking in the shadows. Thank God neither of them has ever needed to use their acquired skills, but it helps me sleep at night knowing that if I'm not around, they can still protect themselves and each other.

Tell me if and why you think teaching our daughters might be an irresponsible decision.

[Assistant]
Most rapes aren't stranger rapes, and overemphasizing them may make you less aware of the real threat.  If one isn't expecting a person to be a problem, but then that person does go too far, one can easily not be in a position to use or reach the gun.

While helpful, it's also far from a guarantee, especially since the opponent will have the initiative; an ambush seriously limits the useability of a gun.  Is your safe practices training focused on the guns, or on more general situational awareness?

I don't really disagree, just wanted to raise some points/concerns.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: how does a sailors clock work?

My husband and I recently inherited a sailors clock. It goes off every hour and then it will ring at 30 minute intervals around 7am and 5am. Sometimes it will ring every two hours. I'm wondering if there is a reason behind the odd and changing rings or if our clock isn't working.

[Assistant]
This kind of clock is known as a "ship's bell", and it has a chime of eight bells at 4, 8, and 12 to mark the end of standard four hour watches. There is also a single bell for the first half hour, along with an additional bell for every following half hour.

So you go on watch and a half hour in you get one bell. An hour in you get two bells, an hour and a half into your watch you get three bells, etc. After four hours you are up to eight bells and you switch with the next person on watch.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Does any animal have a life span so short that it never sleeps?

EDIT: Thanks for all of the great info! I now have plenty to ponder and research on those long sleepless nights.

[Assistant]
Depends on your definition of sleep, but it's not really related to lifecycle. Giraffes, for instance, sleep no more than 30 minutes per day scattered in little micronaps.

To try and answer your question: no, not really. Sponges don't sleep, of course, but basically any form of life complex enough to sleep does so. Even jellyfish, corals and insects have periods of lower activity which can be defined as sleep.

EDIT: And those who keep saying "mayfly" are wrong. Mayflies actually can have pretty long lifespans, for an insect; they can remain in their larval form for years at times, and they most definitely eat and sleep during that period.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Why does selfdistructive behaviour feel so good?

What's the psychological and scientific explanation for such a behavior? For example, right now, I'm too tired to care and I'm going to curl up in front of the tv and engorge myself with junk food. Why?

[Assistant]
Because resting and eating lots of calories is good for short-term survival.
And for most of our evolutionary history, improved  short-term survival exerted more selection pressure than, say, good health after age 35.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Turok] Why was the cerebral bore developed?

Who needs something like that?

[Assistant]
It started as a remote emergency surgery platform, for cases when the patient is stuck or out of reach. Earthquake victims trapped under rubble could benefit from this, as would soldiers pinned down by enemy fire. The device detected brain waves in order to find and prioritize its patients. It would then launch a drone that could perform anything from amputations to open-heart surgery.

They never made a production model because it was too expensive. The company was bought out by a military contractor, who went the obvious route in recouping its investment. The lead researcher is quoted as saying, "Saving lives? Bo-ring!"


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[General Western Cartoons] How do cartoon characters come back from death or grievous injury?

We've seen cartoon characters die or suffer horrific injuries over and over again (Kenny, Wile E. Coyote, Tom & Jerry, etc.). Can we put apply any sort of logical reasoning as to how they are alive and unharmed again the next time? How long does it take to recover from these injuries?

[Assistant]
For the Loony Toons they are canonically Cartoons. Many shows show this, often having conflicts with their animated creator. So unless the pages get wet or they get erased, they won't perish and even then the creator can simply redraw them.

For Kenny, he's God's Chosen warrior. Thus there is many otherworldy forces invested in keeping him alive and out of heaven.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] Why do "campfire smells" (or other wood-burning smells) seem to stick to clothing/skin longer than other smells?

[Assistant] Wood is made of very large molecules that are very closely packed together.  While they are combusting, they are not all completely converted to small gaseous molecules like CO2, but rather you get "volatilization" of some larger organic molecules that can collect when they cool down - like on your clothes.  These molecules and particles are what you see in smoke, and in fact you can collect smoke by making a small distillery and that is how you get "liquid smoke".  You are literally getting smoke to stick to your clothes.  When you collect them, they are sticky and greasy, which makes them hard to wash out.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[The Cabin in the Woods] Did we survive?

Was it over for humanity when the Ancient Ones were released? Or had those in the know been too eager to appease evil to find alternative options?

[Assistant]
The deaths of so many slightly sated the Ancient Ones. They only awoke for a single day, though that was more than enough time for them to completely wreak havoc on the world. But we endured. Deep within the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, The Organization survived and plotted. They came up with idea after idea on how to reorganize so that this would never happen again. Until finally, one proposal was voted into action...

And so, Panem was formed.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Toy Story] How powerful is Buzz Lightyear, the fictional character?

[Assistant]
He is vulnerable to harm from his foes and lacks extraordinary firepower, relying largely on his wits to overcome adversity. In his licensed video game, we see him faced with an endless horde of robots, defeating them by firing his laser into a convenient crystal and diffracting the beam into them all at once.

Like many fictional heroes, his chief abilities are quick thinking and a phenomenal amount of luck.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Genies] Why do Genies trick people by misunderstanding their wishes?

[Assistant]
Genies *or jinns* are malevolent spirits, literally demons.

They trap you in sins of your own making, your lusts, greed, and gluttony.

They damn you for the same reason Satan does, *Because they dont like you*


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] When you contract an unknown disease like the new Chinese coronavirus where means of transmission and virulence is unknown, how do doctors care for you? Do you become a Bubble Boy?

[Assistant]
Based on photos I've seen it looks like for the time being they're treating it as a "contact plus" disease.  This means that you not only wear gloves and a mask, but also a plastic gown.

Usually a "bubble boy" is to protect the individual, not the healthcare workers. Healthcare workers in a situation like, lets say Ebola, wear full on bunny suits - those fully enclose white suits with a PAPR system (a pressurized filtered air system).

I looked through the CDC's information on the virus, but couldn't find if it's transmitted through droplets (such is the influenza virus) or if it's an airborne transmission (such as tuberculosis). If it's similar to other coronaviruses, such as the one causing SARS, it would be droplet precautions - so the only type of protection needed would be a mask.  If it's airborn, they type of protection would be an N-95 mask or the use of a PAPR.

In terms of treatment, at this point it is only supportive.  So you're basically treating symptoms - acetaminophen and ibuprofen for fever and body aches, possibly albuterol or other inhaled breathing treatments for respiratory symptoms such as wheezing, IV Fluids for dehydration, antibiotics for **SECONDARY** infection such as pneumonia, etc...


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: What is impedance?

I'm currently trying to get the hang of electronics and sound production and I come acrosse "impedance issues" from time to time... For instance, "a preamplifier might load the microphone with low impedance, forcing the  microphone to work harder and so change its tone quality" or a contact mike having a low amount of bass because its impedance doesn't suit the amplifier...

Can anyone help me?

[Assistant]
Impedance is in general, the electrical resistance, but the why can vary a bit.

For what you want to know, it's two things, with microphones you need to understand that they typically put out very little power, therefore you want a high impedance pre-amplifier (one that draws very little current from the microphone). This is because with things like a microphone it may physically stop working under high load. Typically that's what a pre-amplifier is for, they have a high impedance input and low impedance output, they don't draw significant power from your microphone but can provide moderate power to drive your amp and normal equipment (so you can plug lots of equipment into your pre-amp without reducing the signal out of your microphone).

With speakers it's a bit different, amplifiers are designed with an output impedance that needs to be matched to the speakers. Basically they have a certain max voltage, and a max current, and thus to get the rated power the speaker needs to have the right impedance such that at the max voltage it draws the max current. Failure to do that means the rated power doesn't go into the speaker. With some amplifier designs it may also mean the amplifier is damaged as that missing power actually goes into the amplifier and may blow the amplifier.

Now as what impedance is, it's how we measure the resistance to current flow when an AC signal is flowing. Many things have frequency dependent resistance, so impedance is the resistance at a specific frequency. For speakers, typically the nominal impedance (the number on the sticker) is the lowest impedance over the entire audio range, but it varies. For low frequency this is important because the speaker may drop below the nominal impedance below the "audio range", and audio range may be arbitrarily defined.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] As of today, the Dow Jones is at the highest level it's ever been and GDP Per Capita is the highest it's ever been. Why is inflation adjusted household income basically unchanged since the 1960's?

[Assistant] From eyeballing those charts, GDP per capita has gone up by ~$18k since 1999 while household income has gone up by about $10k for the middle quintile. Household income has gone up by about $35k for the top quintile during the same period. There are probably some other factors involved, specifically dealing with how these numbers are calculated, but the trend is pretty clear: the pie is getting bigger, but the rich are taking a larger and larger cut of it every year.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[STAR WARS] Can someone with no connection to The Force learn to connect with it?

Let me preface this by saying I am unfamiliar with the Extended Universe, but not only interested in canon.

I'm interested to know if someone with no Force sensitivity can learn to sense and eventually utilize The Force.

[Assistant]
No, with a caveat.

Feels-good fluffy rhetoric about Force flowing through everything aside, one has to be born with a strong affinity to actually wield the Force the way jedi and other force-users do.

Without being strong in the Force, no amount of meditation and incense burning will help you bend spoons with your mind.\*

That said, in old canon artificial infusion with Force ability is not unheard of - usually it involves a powerful nexus like Valley of the Jedi, or a a person strong in the force lending their power a little. Various infused sith amulets a can also help. Unfortunately most of such means are tainted with the Dark Side of the Force and are not recommended for public use.

\*Another caveat - there ARE some obscure techniques in old canon that can be taught to people otherwise not sensitive to the Force, but people who have them don't really like teaching outsiders. Aing Ti monks are notoriously xenophobic.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Time Travel] Something very simple about time loops that I've never understood: in the case of a loop like "Johnny B Goode", or the Song of Storms, how does a loop "begin"? It seems like there's always a chicken/egg problem of the piece of knowledge not having an origin. Please explain?

[Assistant]
Marty knew Johnn B. Goode by listening to it growing up.

Marty plays this song in 1955 and Chuck Berry hears it.

Chuck Berry "writes" the song based on what he heard.

Marty grows up knowing this song, and eventually goes back in time and plays it so Chuck can hear it.

Some things don't have to have an origin, they can be their own closed loop.  Check out the story "All You ~~Monsters~~Zombies" or its film adaptation "Predestination".


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Why do our hands get sweaty when anticipating strenuous activity, and are often the first things to sweat? What kind of survival situation is benefited by slippery but slightly cooler hands?

Is this just poor adaptation? In many sports - e.g. weightlifting, climbing - and work activities people need to chalk up their hands or wear tape or gloves for grip, purely to counter this crappy response from their body. I would imagine in a fight or flight situation, evolving humans needed grip much more than they needed a marginal amount of heat dissipation from their hands.

[Assistant]
In evolution terms, sweating has been around a lot longer than hairless bodies. So although it is complex and there is no definitive answer, you can't rule out the possibility that hand sweat under stress was a way to cool off as much as possible  in anticipation of overheating from back when body sweat was not very useful due to body hair. We lost most of the hair, gained a lot of sweat glands all over the body, but still have the older stress response.

And, as others have noted  moisture generally improves grip of organic material (trees, rocks,) even though it is a hindrance to modern polished materials (metal, plastic.)


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Independence Day] What did we do with all that alien technology?

Since we repelled the alien invasion on July 4th 1996 we were left with lots of crashed alien spaceships all over the globe. How have we been using the technology we found aboard?

[Assistant]
Unfortunately, not much of it was salvageable. None of the aliens or their ships surrendered on that day, and without their mothership, they were all stranded here on Earth. With the improvised computer glitch spread throughout their systems, any time one ship communicated with another to find out what was going on, the glitch spread and re-contaminated any systems they may have fixed. The last ship to be brought down was one that took refuge over Antarctica on August 28th, 1996. Scientists at McMurdo Station managed to report the location of it back to U.S. forces via HAM radio and old telegraph wires through South and Central America. The full remaining fleet of U.S. aircraft carriers were deployed to attack the final ship, which proved to be less troublesome than one would think. Due to the chaos of that time, no one is really sure where the ship had originally been fighting at, but it appeared that the ship was badly damaged when the American forces reached it, making the final destruction quite anti-climactic.

With all major population centers destroyed around the globe, and the human race decimated several times over, less than 750 million people remained alive on Earth, most without safe drinking water, adequate supplies of food, medical care, or energy to last more than a few days after the attacks began. Those lucky enough to be around surviving major military centers formed shanty towns and began rebuilding the basics of human society from the scraps left behind by the invasion. A few remaining governments and military groups tried to research what was left of the alien technology, thinking that shields, space travel and advanced energy weapons might give them a great advantage in this new world. However, those endeavors mostly met with failure since all of the major research labs, universities, scientists and libraries were gone, and only a handful of people, scattered around the globe, could even hope to understand the basic premise of most of the alien technology. The one exception was at Area 51 (later renamed New Washington), where military resources were setup to study the alien technology for the previous 50 years. Using their decades of foreknowledge and the large amount of intact technology from the ships that fell over North and Central America, they managed to adapt several technologies for their use to a limited degree. However, with the complete collapse of global industry and trade, the raw materials, rare Earth Metals, radioactive elements, and other components needed to manufacture the resulting devices were simply unavailable in any reasonable quantities. The devices that could be made were kept, secretly, for a small, elite unit of derelict ship scavengers that traveled the globe looking for even more technology and resources to bring back to the U.S. while a second, more public group went around the world trying to restart the global economy and trade schemes in an effort to surreptitiously get the resources needed to support the manufacturing of those technologies.

Both groups met with moderate success, but with the basic problems of food, water, medicine and other basic needs being in the forefront, the development of alien tech remained a very low priority for decades after the attacks, with the only viable prototypes and manufacturing facilities able to produce more sitting below New Washington in the North American Union (Formerly Canada, the U.S., Mexico, and Central America to Panama). The East Asian Federation and the Eurasian Republic suspected the existence of these devices, but could never get solid information on any of it until commodity market manipulations by the North American Union's government in 2108 sparked the first major armed conflicts between nations since the invasion over 100 year previous. During the first few exchanges of fire, everything appeared normal, but in June of 2109 an American frigate fired its railguns across the bow of a super-tanker headed for New Singapore. When the tanker's captain called for assistance, three destroyers from the East Asian Federation responded within minutes, putting the American's at a disadvantage. Instead of withdrawing, as the Asians thought they would, the American Frigate opened fire on the lead destroyer with a modified alien tech artillery round. The live video from the other ships was being sent back to Neo-Tokyo as the battle happened, and the recordings of it were made classified immediately. The first shot was a direct hit to the bridge of the destroyer. Half the ship was instantly disintegrated by the impact and the remaining pieces fell apart and sank almost immediately. There were no survivors. The other destroyers opened fire on the American frigate, doing some minor damage before they, too were disintegrated. The captain of the super-tanker tried to run from the battle, but the Americans opened fire on it, and its cargo of crude oil, creating the worst ecological disaster since the invasion, making that day one of the most horrible in human history. All out global war was inevitable after the battle, and even with the combined resources of the rest of the world against them, the Americans managed to hold their own thanks largely to the advanced weapons they had deployed in their military. As the war went on the development of the alien technology was given high priority and the Americans managed to create a small fleet of attack craft capable of rapid long-distance deployment, sub-orbital space flight, and with a weapon payload capable of wiping out any city on the planet with nothing more than a few moments of warning. Geneva and Neo-Tokyo were destroyed in this manner, and the obvious superiority of the American forces, along with the complete destruction of the Asian and Eurasian political leadership, resulted in the peace treaty of 2121, which established the first truly global central government in human history.

The next 500 years were rough as humanity expanded and developed all new technologies thanks to what they had learned from the aliens. Interstellar space flight was made possible just in time for the resources of Earth to give out, leading to the mass exodus from the planet. The previously unseen reaping technology in the alien craft came in handy at this point, as a suitable location with many worlds was found, but many required terraforming. A new government among the associated planets arose, calling itself The Alliance, but the frontiersman spirit of many colonists caused a split among humanity, leading to the first interplanetary war humanity had ever experienced. The dissenters and frontiersmen were nowhere near as well equipped or trained as The Alliance forces, but managed to hold out for much longer than anyone gave them credit for at the start of the hostilities. The Alliance prevailed in the end, but the spirit of the Browncoats was never fully broken....


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: Germany just made all universities free, how do other countries do this?

[Assistant]
Economist here. There is no such thing as free. They are just making college payments compulsory for everyone regardless of whether they use it or not.

The system used by the US was fine until universities realized the government would subsidize them raising tuition to ridiculous rates by lending to students.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] why does selective breeding speed up the evolutionary process so quickly in species like pugs but standard evolution takes hundreds of thousands if not millions of years to cause some major change?

[Assistant] Because selective breeding can very strongly select for traits without consideration for survival fitness. In normal evolution, most random mutations will only be slightly (think 50.1% more likely to survive) advantageous, so it takes a long time for those things to be clearly better and warp the whole population to express them. However, selective breeding can make sure that a certain trait is 100% likely to be expressed in the future generation and undesirable traits are 0% likely to be expressed.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] Eli5: What causes the famous San Francisco fog?

[Assistant]
Two things.

One, the combination of moist air blowing in off the Pacific over a layer of very cold water off the coast creates fog in the first place. This happens over cold coastlines all over the place.

The second bit is what makes SF special. San Francisco Bay is the only large opening from the Central Valley to the Pacific, and the Central Valley gets hot in summer. That causes lots of rising air in the valley, which tends to pull air in from surrounding areas. But because of the mountains on the rest of the coast, the only way that air can arrive is by being "sucked through" the Golden Gate at the entrance to San Francisco Bay. That pulls that cold, humid, often foggy air in from the Pacific in the form of one of the world's strongest and most reliable sea breezes.

That same sea breeze is also responsible for SF's incredibly mild climate - even in the summer, it's not uncommon for high temperatures in the SF area to be in the 60s and 70s.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: How do lasers cut through objects?

[Assistant] Light is a form of energy, like thermal energy etc. Laser light can be a very concentrated (focused) form of energy. Energy is conserved (it cannot be created or destroyed) so when high energy laser hits an object, that energy must be transformed to another form of energy, usually thermal. This raises the temperature of the object and, if the laser is strong and focused enough, it will melt or boil or burn at the point of contact. Move the laser and it will resemble a cut.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [BTTF 3] Why did Doc waste his time building the model of what they were going to do when it was just pushing the car with a train? Is Marty "special"?

[Assistant]
It often helps to go over the details with actual models in order to foresee potential problems that aren't readily apparent when it's just in your mind.

Some law enforcement and special ops teams use models of buildings when they're planning a mission for this reason.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Star Trek] What if the Federation designed a pure warship?

Basically a *USS Defiant*, but on the scale of a Galaxy-class cruiser. No luxurious living quarters or crew amenities, just overpowered engines and weapons on an overbuilt starship chassis. I'm talking the fastest, shootiest, tankiest vessel this side of the Alpha Quadrant.

What exactly would it be capable of? What nasty surprises would bloodlusted Starfleet engineers build into it? How would it compare to the ships of other factions, and how would those factions react? Any era is fine, but I'm hoping for answers from the late 24th century.

[Assistant]
Sovereigns already have like 10 torpedo launchers and generally top-of-the-line weapons and defenses. So how do you build the "War Sovereign?" Upgrade to bigger versions of the Warp 9.975 engines from the Intrepid-class. That's a substantial increase in cruising speed. Then add the improvements made in the Prometheus-class: better armor and shields, EMH holoemitters throughout the ship, high levels of automation, and a fully practical version of multi-vector attack mode. This further cuts down on the amount of crew needed.

Replace the holodeck with several compact holosuites air-gapped from the ship's systems. They are very valuable for training, but independent power supplies are needed, because absolutely no cross-connection with any other Starfleet systems can ever again be allowed.

Upgrade the navigational deflector and power systems to easily fire the mega-pulse attempted against the Borg in Best of Both Worlds. Equip with the phasing cloak, which allows moving through solid objects. Carry Genesis-effect torpedoes for ecologically safe planet busting.

Finally, install a new bay just aft of the bridge: main security. Under combat conditions, main security is responsible for continuous monitoring to fight espionage threats. Here the staff and their computer systems constantly monitor the status of ship and crew, ensuring that the War Sovereign's captain will never be forced to have this exchange: "Computer, where is Lieutenant Smith?" "Lieutenant Smith is not on the ship."

Oh, and there's still a bar.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Spiderman] Did Norman Osborn always have the Green Goblin personality, or was it brought on by the serum (or however he became the Goblin)?

In a similar vein to the personality of the Hulk always existing in Bruce Banner's mind (due to psychological trauma as a child), did Norman always have a fragment of GG in his head, or did the Goblin develop after Norman became empowered?

[Assistant]
He was always a bit of a bastard who was cruel to animals in his childhood, neglectful and harsh as a parent, and a mean, grasping business partner, all a product of a bad upbringing.

But he probably wouldn't be a giggling homicidal maniac without the Goblin's influence.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Are there any philosophers who argue that ethics is a waste of time?

Are there any philosophers that argue that it's a waste of time to worry about being moral? I'm not asking books that say killing people or being immoral is okay but that for the average person having to live as a moral person who has to decide if every action is moral or not is just a waste of time and not worth doing. Just living is better than worrying if your actions are moral.

[Assistant]
Well there is Jonathan Dancy's Ethics without principles (2004). Dancy argues that we don't need moral principles in order to make moral judgments. Dancy isn't arguing that  one shouldn't make moral judgments, just that universal (and others)  principles are unhelpful and unnecessary.

Perhaps you could also say Ethical intuitionism
 comes close to your position.  Proponents of this position, such as W.D Ross (The Right and the Good 1930) think that we often, (but not always, See Ross's lecture series Foundations of ethics)  don't need to worry or think about what to do. Most of the time we can immediately see what we should do.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5:  +R vs -R, when it comes to CDs and DVDs.

I will give you karma.

[Assistant]
DVD-R was created by the DVD Forum, the official group behind the DVD standard, in 1997. The hyphen is just a hyphen, not a minus sign, similarly to CD-R.

In 2002, a group of companies led by Sony decided they could do a better job, and so made DVD+R. The main difference is that DVD+R is better at avoiding and correcting errors, both during reading and burning.

Nowadays most DVD players/burners can handle both, so it doesn't really matter. But if you have to give a disc to someone with an old DVD player, -R will have a better chance of working.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Marvel] Does J. Jonah Jameson spread anti-mutant ideology?

We all know Jamesons views on Spiderman, but does he hate mutants just as much as he hates the web head? If so when has this happened in comics?

[Assistant] No, Jonah is actually a big supporter of mutants. He doesnt hate Spider-Man because he has powers, he hates him because hes not accountable to anyone due to his secret identity. Jonah overall is against racism of any kind, be it because of skin color, nationality, or mutations.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Marvel Comics] What are the limitations of Super Soldier Serum?

Does it make everyone into a 6'2" Captain America lookalike? What about people who are already really tall, but skinny? Does it make them more muscular only or does it shrink them down too? How about giants with height-related health problems? Does it cure dwarfism as well? How about things like alzheimers? Or mental health?

If a dude had a missing leg, would it grow back when he took SSS? Or would he just be a really buff dude with one leg?

[Assistant]
It makes them what they are on the inside.

Cap Am was driven and willing to push himself to the limits to help people, he became taller and stronger.

Red Skull was an evil person looking to harm people in the most cruel ways imaginable, he became stronger, but suffered horribly to obtain that strength because of his internal desire to do harm.

Bruce Banner was working on recreating the serum and had a split personality, the serum affected the one that was active at the time of the accident, the angry and unthinking hulk became an embodiment of pure force and rage.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: how do electrical splices conduct the full current of the wire when only the surfaces of each wire are in contact?

Thinking of standard (US) solid wire (Romex). A typical splice using wire nuts just needs the sides of the two cylindrical wires to be touching, which is an incredibly small contact area. If the rest of the wire needs a certain cross sectional area to conduct the required current, how does that same amount of current transfer through that small contact area at the splice?

[Assistant]
>If the rest of the wire needs a certain cross sectional area to conduct the required current

It needs that cross sectional area to support that current over long distances without heating up, and to support the occasional fault current.

The limited contact area of the wire nut does make it a bit hotter than the rest of the wire, but the rest of the wire also serves as a heatsink for the warmer connection keeping everything at a reasonable temperature

You can transfer crazy amounts of current through relatively small contact areas as long as the distance traveled is short and there's heatsinking.  A tiny 22 gauge wire can carry about 40 amps without going poof, it'll be hot but present and this is actually handy if you want to make something like a 20A fuse that should trip around 40A.  Any bond between 14 gauge wires is going to have wayyy more surface area than a 22 gauge wire and will only force the current to go a fraction of a millimeter before getting to the thicker part of the wire where it can flow with less resistance again.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: How are planets made (because my 6 year old wants to know and I can't find any explanation that isn't too complex)

He also asked "how can we see the Milky Way Galaxy if we're in it"...which although I explained it, seemed rather astute to me.

[Assistant]
When a lot of stuff floats around it tends to group up... as those groups form they get more and more attracted to eachother.

The more stuff there is the more gets attracted (gravety). Eventually there is so much stuff that the middle gets very hot! Everything there turns into this super dense ball. it keeps pulling more and more stuff in. This forms a melted layer where there isnt enough stuff on the out side to squish it solid.

Now you have this giant melty ball that has attracted all the stuff around it into it. After a long time it cools down. this becomes the ground. with the melty bit under neith that and the solid core in the middle.

Hope this helps. To go any further then this requires some evolutionary biology stuff.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
I'f I filll my ear canals with Helium, Will I be able to hear frequencies below 20Hz?  or will nothing change?

In my vocal cords it causes the lower Hz sounds to become higher Hz due to some sciency stuff if I'm not mistaken.  Would this sciency stuff translate to sounds on the input in a similar manner to sounds on the output?

NOTE: I'f = If.  I don't know what is wrong with me, maybe that will be my next question.

[Assistant]
Good question, but sadly the answer is no, the property of a sound wave that that you "hear" is the *frequency*, and while having Helium in your ears will change the wave's *speed* and *wavelength*, it does so in a way to leave the frequency unchanged.

Actually thankfully it works this way. The speed of sound through air (no need for helium or other gases) can vary by a few percent depending on temperature/pressure/humidity etc... imagine if for example on hot summer days all the music you tried to listen to on your speakers was shifted by a half step or something... THAT would be annoying.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: The concept of the "Technological Singularity" and how seriously we should take it?

[Assistant]
The basic concept is that technology is growing at an exponentially fast rate: that is, the amount of technology growth every, say, two years, is *twice* as much as the growth that came during the two years before that.

At some point, our creations will match us in intelligence, and then become *more* intelligent than us. At this point, a "singularity" occurs: it is a point after which nobody knows what the future will bring, technologically. Those that are more intelligent than us will be able to construct beings more intelligent than themselves, and so on until there are creatures of godlike intelligence.

The unaided human brain will be incapable of keeping up: lifetimes of technological advances will happen in the course of days, or even hours. In order to survive, most of humanity will essentially merge with machinery, and the line between man and machine will vanish nearly completely.

How seriously should we take it? Very. Should we be skeptical of the optimistic dates people like Kurzweil like to throw around? Very.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
When a huge piece of ice calves off a glacier/ice sheet into the sea, once the initial wave settles is the sea level rise around the world instant or does it take a long period of time to take effect?

I hope this lengthy question makes sense. Essentially, I have always wondered whether sea levels around the world rise simultaneously when something large enters the ocean (e.g. an iceberg forms in Greenland and sea levels in the Pacific rise immediately once the initial wave caused by the falling ice settles), or whether it takes a period of days or even weeks for the effects of the sea level rise to be felt thousands of miles away.

Im aware this may sound like a dumb question but I have been unable to find any clear answers to this and I am genuinely curious.

Edit: I should clarify, when I say instant, I dont mean it literally. Im more meaning it as being a very rapid sea level rise rather than gradual/slow.

[Assistant] The speed of propagation will be at most the speed of sound in water. That is sort of the speed limit for the propagation of bulk mechanical vibration through a medium. In theory this will take a day or two (at most) to go around the world. The only thing is that there is already so much bulk movement of water (tides etc) and even the biggest calving event is miniscule relative to the amount of water in all of the oceans that it is not likely to be measurable.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: If a Prion can misfold other proteins, why cant you make an enzyme or another prion that undoes the fold?

I remember hearing that prions like mad cow disease are misfolded proteins that manipulate other proteins they come into contact with. If thats the case why cant you use another prion to unfold it and restore it to normal?

[Assistant]
Because we don't know how.

Protein folding is fiendishly complex, something we need a supercomputer to understand the basics.  We are only scratching the surface when it comes to predicting how a protein will behave based on its folding.  It might be possible to create a custom protein that unfolds a prion, but that is far beyond our current technological capabilities.  You might as well as "why can't we make a drug that kills only cancer cells?"


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Star Trek] How hard its it to join Starfleet?

My son's dream is to become a Starfleet captain one day and I am not sure if I should encourage him or persuade him to pursue another career. How hard is it to get into the Starfleet Academy compared to say getting into medical school on earth. Then how hard is it to climb up the ranks. I want to support him I just would like to know if it is realistic.

[Assistant]
To become an officer, it's tough.

Unless you and your son are Federation citizens in good standing, Starfleet won't even look at your son's application until he submits a letter of recommendation from an active, or discharged with honors, Starfleet Captain (or other command level officer). Following that, he'll have to take the Preliminary Starfleet Academy Entrance Exam, which if he passes that test, he'll move on to the Starfleet Academy Entrance Exam. The true entrance exam is actually a series of different, very difficult tests (including the infamous "psych exam") that are only given once a year for any specific Federation system, and, on top of that, it's a competitive exam, meaning only one of the examinees can pass, and be able to attend Starfleet Academy.

If your son even makes it to Starfleet Academy, he'll be faced with one of the most grueling training and preparation programs in the known universe. He'll be submitted to some of the most stressful and taxing tests ever devised, often structured so that there is no way to succeed; these tests are as much about how the testee handles themselves as they are about succeeding. The washout rate is roughly 60%, and the fatality rate just shy of 5%.

Compared to the Academy, most Starfleet postings are relatively tame. How fast he'd "rise through the ranks" depends on his specialization; if he's a science or medical officer, it'd be much easier to be promoted, but he'll suffer a ceiling of Lieutenant Commander unless he receives command training, though if he's an Operations or Tactical officer, he could eventually become captain of his own starship, after many, many years of service.

Unless you're a resident of the Pakled system, it is unlikely that your son would be able to become a Starfleet officer through traditional means (statistically, it's unlikely for *anyone* to become a Starfleet Officer through traditional means). However, Starfleet does participate in a great deal of officer exchange programs, which may be a better way for him to get into Starfleet. The problem with this is that you'd have to be a citizen of a non-Federation world.

What he could also try is to become an NCO, through the Starfleet Technical Services Academy on Mars. This is a much easier way to enter Starfleet, although, to become an Officer, your son would have to perform his duties well above and beyond what is expected of him, and receive a commendation from his commanding officer to be promoted. However, going this way makes it extremely unlikely he'd ever reach the rank of Captain.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[terminator] how could Skynet build a bunch of robots if it was originally a computer system for defense purposes?

Skynet controlled the U.S. nuclear arsenal, not factories.

[Assistant] Someone has automated factories. Skynet hacks into existing non-military factories and repurposes them. Once Skynet has access to any automated fabrication it is the pebbles that lead to an avalanche.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] When speaking about Marx's definition exploitation, how would he (or post-marxist) address the fact that employers are taking the risk for their business, therefore their extra gain is legitimate?

[Assistant]
Marx points out in *Capital Vol. 1* that this risk asymmetry is mostly an illusion. The worker is also risking, and in fact generally risks more on a personal level. The worker gives the capitalist credit constantly due to having to give their labor first before being paid. Risk is relative. A person steals from a shop and goes to jail and pay a fine abive value. A capitalist steals wages and merely has to pay it back if they are caught years after the fact, they don't have to pay further damages due to damaging the life possibilities of those they steal from, and they don't go to jail over it.

The person with a 10 million dollar factory is not in fact at full risk of that amount *even* without insurance. If they fail to deliver, they can go bankrupt as a corporation, not as a person, etc.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Star Trek] Data sits down and creates malware that will be assimilated by the Borg and then spread throughout their entire collective. If this "memetic virus" worked properly, could he reprogram them with a new purpose like: "stop assimilating and instead fuck bitches, get money"?

[Assistant]
I hate that people keep thinking this is an option. The Borg are about 700 years older than the Federation. They've conquered thousands of planets in that time. Isn't it essentially guaranteed that at some point, someobe would have tried malware on them? Or, more to the point, wouldn't this have been tried *thousands* of times?

Obviously, it won't ever work.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: Does laying in bed resting before you sleep actually do anything to rejuvinate your body for the upcoming day?

[Assistant]
Sleep is mostly important to renew the brain neurotransmitters and do some housekeeping around the brain. When you think about it, sleep is mostly about shutting down your consciousness. We are only starting to understand what really happens in the brain during sleep.

Conclusion: laying in bed is rejuvenating your body without doing much for your brain.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Could Earth have become tidally locked around the Sun, like the Moon is around Earth?

The implications for life on Earth are fascinating if this were to happen.

[Assistant] It's not a past thing, it's a future thing. Over long enough time, this is the preferred configuration. The amount of time this would take for the Earth would be much longer than the expected lifetime of the sun. The time for Earth to get locked to the moon is faster, but still over billions and billions of years.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Star Wars] How much and how fast has starship technology improved since the dawn of the Old Republic?

I mean, in 25,000 BBY we see people flying starships, and all the way up to the New Republic era the starships seem to be exactly the same as far as capability.

So if I were flying around in the New Republic era in a reconstructed ship based on a design dating back 250 centuries, would anyone think twice about it?

[Assistant] It's advanced pretty far all things considered. Original hyperdrives were powered either by the force or used gravity in some way. Most of the galaxy was mapped and discovered relatively recently in galactic history. There's been hundreds if not thousands of wars that have retarded or even reversed galactic progress as warlords and sith and calamities befell the galaxy throughout it's history. In legends it was only really after the new sith wars 1000 years ago that the galaxy saw any lasting peace long enough to map hyperlanes and find newer and faster technology that wasn't wiped out. In canon it's a little more vague but implied to be in the last 200 years or so. But to put it in context the old republic used wind and sail and steam powered ships to the high republics nuclear powered ships. To us the time difference between technology leaps is a snails pace but to them its a steady increase despite nearly everything being reset every generation or two by a war.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Mario] Just how big is the Mushroom Kingdom's territory? I'm really wondering how Boswer can manage to set up all these complex tower outposts everywhere without anyone noticing, because they must obviously take weeks to make.

(Sorry for the long title, I should have put part of that in the description.)

[Assistant]
Without the Princess (commander in chief) to guide the Amanita Army, the Air Fungus Force, and the Mushroom Marines, protection of the Mushroom Kingdom is effectively nonexistent.

Bowser was able to quickly overtake the castles that had formerly been under control of the various "kings" of the Mushroom Kingdom. It's quite similar to Westeros, where there are several kingdoms and wardens of those kingdoms, overseen by an all-powerful king, or emperor.

Anyway, the Mushroom King is not an effective leader, as his own natural production of psilocybin tends to muddle his thinking and perception a bit.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5:What is going on in your brain when your have a headache/migraine?

Why does you're head feel like its pulsating?
Why do you become sensitive to lights, noises, even smells?

[Assistant]
While the brain itself doesn't have pain receptors, many of the tissues surrounding it do such as the skull, blood vessels, eyes, sinus cavity, muscles, etc. When you have a headache, it is generally some sort of pressure on those areas that do have pain receptors.

You feel the pulsating feeling because of your heart pumping blood to the area with pressure. With each heartbeat, the blood flowing to the area adds to the pressure, periodically causing you to feel the headache.

The sensitivity to different stimuli can occur because each of those senses activates a region in the brain. When a brain region is active, it requires more blood flow (this can be imaged using functional brain scans). If the headache is caused by pressure near those sensory areas on the brain, then additional stimulus to those senses will increase blood flow and thus, increase the pressure to those areas.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: Why salt kills slugs.

Because I'm curious. I wouldn't mind a ELIC answer, either.

[Assistant]
You know how eating salt on it's own makes you thirsty?
Well when you put salt on the slug it gets so thirsty it dies because it gets too dry on the inside to live.

Getting dry on the inside is called dehydration and we drink water, juice and other drinks so the same thing doen't happen to us.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
CMV - Screws are superior to nails in every way.

I'm hardly a carpenter, but every single time I have to build or assemble something, I find myself disappointed with nails. They don't hold as well, and although they are less expensive, I typically have to use twice as many to complete the same task. I'm so concerned about this that when I do build something, I have no faith in anything that uses nails. The only downsides I find to screws are the price and possibility of splitting the wood. As for price, being able to use fewer screws offsets that, and pre-drilling holes for screws resolves the issue of wood splitting.

Now, much of this may be my inexperience in the building trades, but nothing I have made with nails has held up, while everything I've made with screws has been ridiculously solid and outlasted my use for it.

Screws are superior to nails. CMV.

Edit - My view has been partially changed. Good arguments are abundant in this thread, but these seem to be the best ones.

Shear strength - I truly had no idea nails had better shear strength. I can see specific applications where the nail would in fact be better.

Easier to use - This is a valid point. Putting hammer to nail is often easier than drilling, especially if one only has a manual screwdriver. That would suck.

Crates - It would be insane to screw crates together.

Moulding - I hadn't considered this because I use construction adhesive on all my moulding. I know that's uncommon, but even seeing the slight imperfections from finish nails irks me. No, I don't have OCD. I'm just weird and particular.

Time - Yes, nails are faster, especially with a nail gun. This is quite a valid point, but if I'm paying someone to build something and screws would be stronger structurally, then they had better not use nails to save time.

So, currently I'm revising my statement. Nails have their purpose, but most of the time, screws are superior.

Oh, and one more thing I like about screws. I'm a night owl. Most of my building occurs in my work shop between 8pm and 2am. Screws are much much quieter. However, that's just a little personal quirk, so I won't use it to support my argument.

Please keep it coming! I have already learned a great deal from you all, and though screws are still my preference, I can see the benefit of nails in some applications. I'm probably going to bed soon, but I will check back in tomorrow. :)

Edit 2 - Now that I've gotten some sleep and am conscious again, I've handed out deltas. My apologies for the delay, as I was half asleep during my last read through of the thread and my brain was already taking a nap.

Thank you all for the great feedback and information today. I really appreciate it, and I hope some other carpentry novices like myself learned a thing or two as well. :)

[Assistant]
Advantages of nails:

*  Significantly cheaper (as you mentioned)

*  Any type of hammer will work with any type of nail

*  Nails cannot be stripped

*  It is faster to nail than screw

*  1 step process; no drilling required

*   Electricity is not needed

*  You can correct the angle of a nail when driving; which you can't do with a screw

*  They provide a more finished look than screws, due to the lack of drill bit slot and/or rounded head.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Does our body store every antibody to every infection/disease we've ever had?

If so, where are they stored and how is it "coded"?

[Assistant]
The answer is a yes/no.

First, not all disease is infectious, nor produces an adaptive immune response; while some disease results from an adaptive immune response.  Furthermore not all adaptive response results in antibody body production as the predominant response.

Assuming we have an immune response we can have one that is predominated by cell mediated immunity, cd-8 t-cells, macrophages, NK cells and the like; or a response dominated by plasma cell proliferation and antibody production.

In the process of either of these responses memory cells, either T or B are produced.  There are other processes as well in which genes coding for antibody undergo mutation and refinement so as they are more specific, or show a higher affinity to an antigenic molecule on the infectious agent.

The "code" as you call it, is the rearranged DNA that codes for antibody that that cell and it's progeny will produce.  It survives past infection in the form of memory cells, which have a variable persistence, and in some cases persist for a few months to years, to a decade or longer.  Factors affecting which cells will persist for differing time periods are not well understood.  This is demonstrated in current vaccination practices, some vaccines will impart an immunity that lasts a few years, whereas others produce an immunity lasting decades.  Similarly some immunizations will produce a b-cell response only and others a t-cell, those with a t-cell response produce a stronger immunity

so long answer short, there is a memory; but it often "forgotten."


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: What actually happens when you drink alcohol?

I know the effects of alcohol (only too well) but what changes in the brain and body and how?

[Assistant]
Great question! Ethyl alcohol (Ethanol) is chemically considered a neurotoxic psychoactive drug. The way that it works is upon first consumption the ethanol enters the bloodstream through consumption, mostly through drinking which is then absorbed by your stomach lining. Surprisingly, most of it is actually absorbed by your large intestine.

Once in your blood stream the ethanol enters your brain, and this is where the effects come from. The ethanol weakens the connections between brain cells, not "killing brain cells" like is most commonly referred to. Normally lets say your brain cells are connected by power lines, well now imagine pouring a beer on those power lines.

By severing these connections, different parts of your brain have trouble talking to each other. Have a pain? Well your pain receptor doesn't get the message as clearly. Feeling horny? Well the part of your brain that filters your decisions doesn't register that you're taking home a troll. Now the rest of your body is also getting affected as well. Ever feel dizzy while drunk? Well the movement processing part of your brain doesn't interact well with the rest of your body. You could be sitting but your brain might think you're moving. Now how does this leave your body and why do you feel so hangover?

The alcohol, getting pumped through your veins starts being collected in your liver and from their pumped back into your digestive system and is ultimately peed or pooped out (yes pooped! That's why shits after drinking are so watery!) Well your brain has started considering the alcohol as food, and when it leaves your brain gets "hungry" for more. Notice how when you get so hungry, you're stomach hurt? Well your brain is hungry so you're brain hurts.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Pirates of the Caribbean] Could the captain of the Flying Dutchman just wear boots filled with water to walk on land?

In the third movie Davy Jones is seen standing in a bucket of water on land. Could the captain just make boots to keep water in and walk around?

Unless that was his one time on land in 10 years, but I don't see the reason for a bucket in that case.

[Assistant]
Let's be a little more accurate about what was happening there.  He wasn't 'on land' in a general sense.  He was on a tiny little sand spit in the middle of the ocean for the purposes of meeting Pirate Lords as part of a chain of events that would eventually lead to Calypso's freedom.
The buckets of seawater aren't a glib little method of cheating the curse.  They are instead part of a very special set of circumstances that allow the rules of the curse to be bent just a little bit.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: I was born with blue eyes, when I was young my eyes would change colors from Blue to green. Now my eyes are more a greenish hazel. What caused this?

Like what causes eye color it change a lot, and then eventually just pick a color and stay like that? Does it have to do with my parents gene pool fighting for supremacy?

[Assistant]
Let me explain how eye color work first: Human body does not produce blue or green pigment, it can only produce brown pigment. People with brown eyes have a lot of pigment in their iris. People with blue eyes have very few. Blue eyes appear blue because lights refract in the iris in the same manner as the sky or the ocean. Air and sea water are both clear, but because only blue lights are passed through so the sky and the ocean appear blue to us. Green eyes have a very thin layer of pigment on top of the iris, it's so thin that it's yellow instead of brown. Yellow combined with blue will make green.

Notice how the sky or the ocean change color under certain weather conditions or lights? Blue eyes sometimes change color the same way. When you get older more pigments may appear, like many blond children end up with much darker hair as adults, eyes can get more pigments as well.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: How does the brain decide what is funny and what is not?

For some people, everything is hilarious, even things that morally or ethically shouldn't be. For others, their humor is lighter.

Is it their experiences that dictate what is funny and what is not? Are the people who enjoy darker humor different in any way than those who do not?

ALSO: What exactly is laughter, anyway?

[Assistant]
Humor is literally a shift in the frame of reference.  You expect one thing, you get another.  (Alternately, you don't know what to expect, and what you get is still unexpected.)

Consider the knock-knock joke:

When you say "who's there?' the expectation is the name of the knocker.  Instead you get something else.

When you attempt to clarify, you are expecting an answer that will clear your confusion.  Instead, you get an answer that was unexpected, but in retrospect makes (some) sense.

You laugh.

People speculate that humor evolves from encountering the unexpected, and then signalling to others that the unexpected is not dangerous.  If Oggh heard a noise in the bush and sent Blerg to investigate, if Blerg saw that it was a tiny squirrel had scared Oggh, he would be relieved, and signal to Oggh that he had been frightened by a squirrel.  They were expecting/fearing a tiger and got a squirrel instead.  Hilarious, no?


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: Why such a high age limit to rent a car compared to other age limits? (Smoking, drinking, etc.)

[Assistant]
Age limits for smoking and drinking are set by government. They get tax money for your vices so they let you start as early as they can justify politically.

Rental car age limits are corporate policy based on the statistical likelihood that you will total their car and send their fleet insurance through the roof.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [The TIme Machine] How did a Victorian Era inventor manage to create a functional Time Machine in his time period when the best present day scientists around the world using cutting edge technology on a gigantic scale can barely scratch the surface of temporal physics at only a subatomic level?

[Assistant] intuitive yet genius level understanding of the science plus got really lucky in his experiments. There's probably more of this type of person than history records. When you get so far ahead of everyone else that no one understands your notes, nobody bothers to record them and they get lost to history.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Regarding dark matter, if what we believe about it is true, shouldn't there be dark matter black holes all over the universe?

This thought was sparked my another question in this sub. If it is true that dark matter is so common, and it only interacts via gravity, there would be no other forces involved that would result in star formation, so shouldn't it just collect into dense areas and form black holes bypassing all of the star formation and supernovae that are nomally required for black hole formation?

[Assistant]
For things to condense to the densities required to form black holes, you need a way for the particles to lose energy and slow down, stick together and clump. With normal matter, electromagnetism gets the job done by allowing collisions and radiating energy into space, this method is unavailable to dark matter.

If you have two particles of dark matter separated by some distance, they'll simply attract, fall into each other and then pass right by without losing energy^1 , they'll fly apart and eventually be pulled back toward each other and just oscillate (or orbit) forever. With a lot of dark matter, this results in a diffuse cloud, it's not even a disk shape because collisions allow the disk shape to form.

^1 There is radiative loss in the form of gravitational waves, but this would be so small as to not matter.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Difference between covariance and correlation, variance and standard deviation

Might  be a fundamentally basic question but I am confused since I could not find one place where I could find the difference between covariance, correlation, variance and standard deviation.

An example to understand their purpose would be of great help.

Thanks a ton!!!

[Assistant]
Covariance: Measures how strongly two variables tend to move in the same direction, depends on the scale of the data so it's hard to interpret but it often has mathematical uses in derivations and stuff.

Correlation: Standardized version of covariance so it's between -1 and 1, which makes it much more interpretable.

Variance: Covariance of a variable with itself, so it just measures how much variation there is within one variable.

Standard deviation: Square root of the variance, again aids interpretability because the SD has the same units as the variable that it is the SD of while variance is in squared units.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Star Wars] Does Palpatine have an avatar?

In Rebels there's a scene I'm watching on youtube where Ezra meets the Emperor, and it's via hologram but Palpatine looks more like the affable, almost fatherly, not horribly monster faced version of Palpatine that would frequent Senate meetings, and of course in Empire Strikes Back when Vader calls the Emperor he doesn't look anything at all like how he does in person, arguably even more monster faced than he was in real life. So does Palpatine have a zoom avatar or something when he uses hologram communication?

[Assistant] Yeah he does, he switches between the 2 during that sequence too. During the clone war he would do the opposite, he looked normal but would transmit with his sith robe look so that they don't know who he is. With ezra he wanted to appeal to his humanity.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: How come hemorrhoids don't get infected more when they bleed, given their surroundings?

Is there something magical about butt-crack sweat or something?  Could we find some amazing anti-infection product from our oil glands back there?

[Assistant]
Because that's a mucous membrane. Your body has a separate immune response to mucous membranes than it does to other places. It places extreme priority into stopping and adapting to infections in these areas, because of how vital they are.

Its the same reason you dont get an infection every time you floss too hard.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Power Rangers] So, does the police/army not exist in this universe where monsters attack people?

I know in some series like RPM and Space/Galaxy the Rangers are the police, but what about the others?

[Assistant]
The police will be woefully inadequate in the face of a rampaging monster the size of a skyscraper. At best, they could get civilians out of harm's way ... fortunately, the monsters always seem to attack the abandoned warehouse district.

The military certainly exists, but their response time is just too slow. Even in the best case scenario, where you have a pair of fighter jets already in the air patrolling, it will take several minutes for them to arrive and engage.

The Power Rangers are simply much, much faster to respond.

And even if the military was fast enough to arrive before the battle was over, they would probably be unable to handle the threat without also leveling the city. Monsters are building busters, and it would take a massive amount of ordinance to fell them. The Power Sword, on the other hand, can cut them down in a few blows, and causes no collateral damage.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Star Wars] How monetarily valuable would a Lightsaber be in the Star Wars universe?

By rarity and tech alone a single lightsaber should hold significant monetary value.

Significant cultural value

Significant Religious value

Significant technological value

Significant collectors value

It's a very useful tool and weapon

at the height of the Jedi there were on the order of 10k jedi.  You could assume many dual wielded etc so at it's maximum there would probably be 20k lightsabers in existence at their height if you consider stored or artifact sabers.

20K of an item as significant as a Jedi's lightsaber is an extremely small number if you consider the breadth of the SW universe.  You would assume many collectors, bad guys, good guys, warriors etc would do whatever it took to get their hands on one.

On top of this lightsabers were personalized to the individual so if you had the lightsaber of a notable Jedi it would increase value significantly to a collector.

A single non-notable functional lightsaber in-universe I would estimate at being in the many millions of credits in value.

Anyone have any better thoughts than mine?

[Assistant] Possession of a lightsaber under the empire is probably a crime, or at least puts one under suspicion and garners a visit from certain agents of the empire and some sort of permanent surveillance.  For the general public this would significantly lower the potential value. For a small subset of underground collectors it would boost the price, but also make it dangerous to pursue. The Empire would not be above conducting sting operations to catch potential buyers and ensure they are not potential Force users who can't build their own for some reason.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Star Wars] If the Sith emphasize the power in passion, why do they only use anger?

Surely Sith would revel in all emotions, not just wrath. Euphoria, Misery, Pain, Pleasure, Wrath, Jealousy, Hope, and Love. All of these should be means for the Sith to derive power, so why is it always Anger?

[Assistant]
Anakin was using hope up until Mustafar, and jealousy when Obi-Wan walked out of her shuttle.

Palpatine was laughing his ass off against the Jedi, against Yoda, and against Maul/Opress. Definitely pleasure there.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[DC Universe]Why is it whenever the heroes are turned villains, especially Superman, Batman is seemingly the only character whos still a hero?

This might come off as a bit of a rant, but its something Ive noticed in terms of alternate universes and stories.

Essentially, whenever the story calls for Superman and the rest of the Justice League to be evil and give up their morals, why is Batman the only major hero thats still a hero?

I understand if the story revolves around the heroes already being villains, like the Crime Syndicate, but the versions that always bothered me were Injustice and the Justice Lords from JL Unlimited (to some extent).

Both follow the same idea that a villain ends up killing someone closely associated with Superman, thus he kills the villain and decides enough is enough and takes over the planet, with pretty much the entire league siding with him. What gets me is that up until that point, every hero followed the same history and morals as the regular versions, just with a slightly deviation that made everyone suddenly drop it and become dictators.

So what made Batman the sole exception?

And I am aware there are also stories where Batman turns evils, like the Batman Who Laughs, and are equally questionable considering he pretty killed every superhero, but the Injustice scenario is one thats been bothering me for sometime since Id imagine Batman would be the one to drop heroic morals over most other heroes.

[Assistant] As the events of *Dark Nights: Metal* demonstrate, generally if Batman becomes evil... there tends to very quickly not be anyone left to oppose him. Or to support him. Solo fallen Batmen have a tendency to wipe out their entire world.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Pokemon] Why do Alakazam put up with Pokemon trainers?

They have massive IQ's. They're said to smarter than supercomputers. I don't understand why such an intelligent being would subject itself to be used to fight countless battles.

[Assistant] Pokedex entries are often gross exaggerations and are likely to be written by 10 year old "research assistants". We don't actually have pokemon running around that are hotter that the surface of the sun, for example.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] CMV: Google Fiber is pointless because its being developed so very slowly that the industry will change before fruition.

[Assistant]
That's exactly what they want.

Google doesn't want to provide your internet.  They want to make all the other ISPs provide faster service and they're doing so by making them look bad (not like that takes a lot of work).  They want consumers to know what they could have, forcing ISPs to improve to meet customer expectations.

Look at Google's purchase and sale of Motorola.  They owned Motorola just long enough to release several very good and regularly updated phones for a third of the price of Samsung or Apple phones.  They threw the prepay phone market on their head.  No longer is it viable to release piece of shit Android 2.3 phones and charge $200 when everyone knows you can get a way better phone from Motorola for less money.  The Nexus line is done for the same reason.  It forces a market that Google relies on to be competitive.

Google came in and disrupted these clearly non-competitive markets and then left.  They want everyone to have newer versions of Android on their phones, but they don't want to build phones.  They want everyone to have faster internet, but they don't want to be an ISP.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: Why do those yellow things form in the corner of your eyes when you sleep?

[Assistant]
That's called rheum. Your eyes discharge a thin liquid, which normally you continually flush away during the day. This can combine with other gunk, like dead cells, dust, and so on, and helps keep your eye clean by flushing them out.

At night, you don't do much 'flushing' since you aren't blinking, and so the gunk can collect and dry.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
In the Star Fox universe, pilots amputate their legs and replace them with cybernetics so that the blood doesn't rush out of their head when pulling intense g forces. Would this actually make that big of a difference?

My dad was an air force pilot and I do recall him showing my a g-suit that had inflatable bladders near the thighs that would squeeze the legs to keep blood from collecting down in the lower extremities during g-manuevers so I guess this is somewhat grounded in logic. But would amputating the leg completely make any bigger of a difference?

[Assistant]
Douglas Bader was a pilot in WWII, and suffered an accident before the war that resulted in both his legs being amputated. There is anecdotal evidence that he could pull more G's in combat because the blood had nowhere to go.

I await confirmation of this from an expert.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: Why do I have to negotiate a price when Im buying a new car as opposed to all new cars just having a bar-code and everyone paying the same price? Why cant I negotiate the price of a shirt Im buying at walmart?

[Assistant]
You can negotiate a shirt at Walmart. Nothing is stopping you, there is no difference. Price tags and ads for cars are the same as they are for a shirt, they are merely an invitation for an offer. Except with a car you usually offer lower until you agreed in a contract, and with a shirt you usually just match their invited offer and make a contract by just paying what the tag said.

Except in reality, we know cashiers don't have that authority and everyone else behind will be pissed off.

Society in general developed a cultural code that we don't bargain for small and plentiful items. It's not worth the time or hassle. What you can and can't bargain for isn't written in stone or law though. You could go to Walmart and probably work out some sort of deal on a TV if you tried.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] What makes hippo milk pink?

[Assistant]
Hippopotamuses have adapted to utilize two unique acid secretions in their skin. The first is called "hipposudoric acid" and the second is called "norhipposudoric acid". Since these are strong acids, they deter the growth of bacteria on the skin. In addition, hipposudoric acid is colored bright red while norhipposudoric acid is colored bright orange. The combination of these two acids provides hippopotamuses with a sunscreen effect because these colors absorb dangerous, cell-destroying ultraviolet light.

Hippopotamus milk is most likely pink due to the combination of these acidic secretions with off-white milk (red + white = pink).


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] Why does the climate change so dramatically when it goes up by 1 degree Fahrenheit?

[Assistant] Dont think about it as a change in temperature. Think about it as a change in energy. In order to increase temperature of a substance, in this case air, 1 degree, you need a certain amount of energy. That energy is typically listed as energy per gram, and is known as specific heat. 1 degree doesnt seem like much until you reallise that it requires that energy multiplied by all the mass of the air over the area in question. Its a lot of area (volume, technically) and therefore a lot of energy. A drastic change in energy means a drastic change in climate, even though the 1 degree temperature doesnt feel like much, the energy of the system affects everything: humidity, air pressure, ionization that leads to thunderstorms, cloud levels, precipitation, everything.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
How do split-brain patients manage coordinated motor tasks?

I've read about how people, after a complete corpus callosotomy, can continue performing tasks requiring coordinated action from their right and left sides, e.g. running. Yet, if the brain hemispheres can not communicate directly, then in such cases, how does the coordination, or even the initiation of a gross action occur? Could it be like this:

Let's say there is a stimulus to run, e.g. a dinosaur comes chasing and both hemisphere fire, yet whichever side gets going first, the other side starts complementing it with a response that will keep the body balanced and running. E.g. If one side speeds up, the other either agrees and speeds up accordingly, or maybe it quarrels. But both sides know that it is in their interest to escape the velociraptor.

Essentially, I'd guess that the hemispheres' coordination is via the feedback that they receive from the already effectuated actions of their other half. Maybe this occurs on a subconscious level for both sides? Anyways, if true, I can't understand how it doesn't lead to massive problems, e.g. you see your Ex and one side want's to interact and the other wants to walk off. On the other hand, does the operation enable legitimate multitasking?

Finally, as a extra, is there any resolution for the debate on whether split brains constitute to 2 incomplete minds in 1 body? It seems reasonable to say, no? Sorry for the long post.

[Assistant] Severing the corpus callosum would not totally destroy your proprioception since that is at least somewhat handled by your cerebellum, so at first and certainly over time you would understand where your limbs are at all times.  Just because the largest tract in the brain is severed it doesn't mean you just have two separate brains now, the vermis of the cerebellum is still there, maybe information would even eventually learn to cross over lower in the brain stem.  The brain is amazingly elastic sometimes!


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: Why is our fear of embarrassment often greater than our fear of genuine danger?

[Assistant]
the brain's interpretation of unpleasant feelings is similar to that of physical pain.  Also, we are more afraid of known pain than unknown pain.  Since social embarrassment happens more frequently than physical trauma, we know it and dread it more than something that may have never happened.

This response helped keep us in line socially and was advantageous to our evolution.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5:How do many companies produce the same graphics card?

On NCIX I see the GTX 650 ti card from ASUS, Zotac, EVGA... How are so many companies able to make the same card? Is it still a Nvidia product? Are there copyright issues? Are they the same cards?

[Assistant]
Nvidia and AMD produce chip "reference designs" which they license to other companies - such as ASUS, Zotac, Gigabyte, etc.

Those companies then package those basic "reference designs" however they like. Some may add a bit of extra memory, or they may overclock the chip for extra performance and package their card with water cooling rather than conventional fans, or it may be exactly as described in the reference design.

This is the same business model that ARM use for their mobile chips. They license chip designs which companies like Apple, Qualcomm, Samsung and Broadcom then use in their systems (e.g. the CPUs in iPhones, and iPads are usually made by Samsung or TMSC for Apple, using a design Apple license from ARM).


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] What's the difference between Disorder and Syndrome?

[Assistant]
A condition is a state if being (which is nether inherently good or bad).
A disorder is a condition in which a process (or processes) is going wrong (ie. dis-ordered).
A syndrome is a group of symptoms which consistently occur together, or a condition characterised by a set of associated symptoms.
The term syndrome is usually used for a constellation of symptoms with no known underlying cause, but there aresome exceptions, for example Down's syndrome. The terms disorder and syndrome are generally used interchangeably in general parlance.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Why is the James Webb Space Telescope being placed at the L2 Lagrange point? Why isn't it being placed at L4 or L5?

From Wikipedia:

>"The telescope must be kept very cold in order to observe in the infrared without interference, so it will be deployed in space near the SunEarth L2 Lagrange point..."

This implies that the telescope's placement has to do with temperature management for the optical assemblies onboard (which need to be kept below a certain temperature since they're more sensitive in the infrared range).

Won't stationkeeping at L2 require a lot of fuel over time, since it's an unstable equilibrium point? Wouldn't it require basically no fuel to effect proper stationkeeping at the L4 or L5 points? It doesn't seem like we'd have any easy opportunities to refuel the telescope's propulsion system when it's 1.5 million kilometers away.

[Assistant]
It's an infrared telescope, which means it's very sensitive to heat. If JWST heats up, it produces too much of its own infrared radiation, which adds noise to the signal.

L2 is the point where a satellite in orbit is "behind" the Earth as viewed from the Sun. JWST won't actually be in Earth's shadow as it will be in a "halo orbit", orbiting *around* the L2 point - this is more stable than trying to sit right on the L2. This means that the Earth and the Sun are in the same direction from JWST, and it can aim its sunshield in that direct to block both major sources of heat and light. Even though the Sun is brighter and hotter, the Earth is still quite bright and hot, and it's good to cut both out if you can.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Transformers] Why did Megatron ever tolerate Starscream's constant shenanigans?

[Assistant]
Starscream was Megatron's acknowledged heir. He was also, self-evidently, the worst possible leader for the Decepticons.

That means that anyone who wanted to launch an effective coup against Megatron would have to either kill or suborn Starscream first. And Starscream has two useful qualities: cockroach-like survival skills, and an arrogance so massive that he would never consent to be someone else's puppet.

This adds up to Starscream being a useful buffer, and a coal mine canary. The Decepticons are, by nature, treacherous and power-hungry, but Megatron knows that he'll be able to see any attempt on his life coming by simply watching Starscream.

And he also knows that Starscream, for all his cunning, ruthlessness, and durability, is far too incompetent to actually overthrow Megatron.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
CMV: The topic of decolonization is an excercise in futility. You can no more decolonize a culture than you can unrape a victim of sexual assault. Once a culture is changed, it forecer carries some heritage of the event.

I've been hearing more and more on the topic of decolonization over the years. Every time I just can't help but feel it's a fantasy dream of people who don't understand how history works and cultures develop. I cannot think of a single instance where an oppressed culture undid the damage done to it by an oppressor, any more than I can find a victim of rape who has forgotten about the crime.

I much more see the usefulness in the Brazilian ideology of "anthropofagio", or cannibalism. The only way forward is to adapt to what's happened to you and make the context you're in more fruitful, using the technology, music, and culture of the oppressor to develop your own ideas and practices into a new chapter of your people's history. Trying to "go back to the way things were" is impossible. Your accents have changed, your foods have things not native to you, you have new words and new clothes. You can't erase this. You can't purify. You can only take your own practices and identities and ascribe to the mediums around you who you have become, not who you were, as a people.

[Assistant] Arguably what you've described is a form of decolonization. A lot of modern post colonialist thought is rooted in the foucaultian idea of knowledge-power: the task of the post colonialist is to deconstruct narratives rooted in colonialism and to reposition knowledge within indigenous traditions. So an example would be questions of what modernism is, since historically modernizing has meant becoming more western, are there other, non-western models of modernization?


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Minions] Is there any way to kill minions?

From what we can see, the same minions have existed since the start of animal life, and possibly as long as life at all (they don't seem to evolve. The same cells turn directly into macroscopic life) So not only do they not age, they don't seem to have lost anyone to violence, accident or other things over all that time.

Through the movies we see them exploding, being hit by vehicles, being *launched into space* and still being fine. They don't ever die or suffer serious injury as far as I know.

So- is there *anything* that can kill these little bastards? Or are they going to be here Bannanaing until the heat death of the universe?

[Assistant]
They're anthropomorphic personifications of ignorant subservience. Their corporeal form is but a manifestation of their essence and destroying the manifestation is nothing more than silencing an already uttered word and hoping the mouth won't speak again.
They are of all time and all form, eternally misguided and lost, bereft of will.
Like shadows in Hades, clouds in Columbia or hotdogs in a truckstop.

Edit: Thank you both for the awards. Never before have i recieved one and now two. The gifts of Gru truly grace us all.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: Why does it seem like you can run faster in hotel hallways?

Ive always had the sensation that I was faster when I would run through a hotel. I still have the same feeling even when I do it now.

[Assistant]
Because the hallway is long and narrow, it gives the effect that you are going fast because the things that are going past are really close to you. Because you cannot see a horizon beyond the wall, it appears that you are going fast.

Think of when you are driving and telephone polls are going by, they are close in comparison to things on the horizon. Despite the telephone poles going by fast the slow progression of the horizon makes you feel like you are not going fast.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] If you put a candle next to a mirror, does the light in the room get twice as bright?

[Assistant] Most of the answers so far seem to be thinking of a candle in an open space or replacing some of that open space with a mirror. But if you have a room the walls of the room will absorb some light, and scatter some light back into the room. If you replace some portion of a wall with a mirror, then you can expect more light to be scattered back into the room than before, though exactly how much is probably a complicated answer with "twice" being some sort of idealized limit.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5 How do businesses explain/account for paying employees under the table in their bookkeeping?

My limited exposure to accounting has shown that theres a line item for every expense/revenue generated. Ive always wondered how are businesses that capitalize on hiring undocumented immigrants and paying them cash operate in a way thats not an obvious red flag when they (presumably) pay their business taxes?

[Assistant]
You own a bar. You buy 10 kegs of beer.
You sell the beer at a big markup, people pay your bartenders in cash. You declare you sold 9 kegs worth of beer and 1 was leftover and expired and had to be thrown out. Turns out, you actually did sell that last keg of beer, it's just that the cash profit off it was paid under the table.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[MoS] The effects on Superman's reveal to world religions

What kind of effect would there be on the major religions of the world (Sikhism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity (Judaism, Catholics, Generic Christians...).  I don't think it would affect Buddhism much, but I'm not sure about the others...

[Assistant] You'd probably have a lot of fringe groups within those religions declaring Superman the new Messiah or those religions' equivalent.  A few of them would have to do some serious redefining of Man's place in the universe according to their own faiths.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: what happens to the dowloaded parts of a file when the download was interrupted? where does it go?

say i'm downloading a 4mb mp3 file. the downloader says i've already downloaded 3mb of it. then i lost the internet connection and the download was interrupted. where does that 3mb go?

edit: thank you guys! i really appreciate the explanations you gave.

[Assistant] They go into some kind of temporary file. For example, Chrome uses a file called "name of file.crdownload" in the Downloads directory. Others hide the file in some other directory. Most of the time, if the download is interrupted or aborted, the file is deleted.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: If I eat a difficult to digest food such as steak, then follow it with an easy to digest food like pineapple, which will be digested first and will I poo it all out at the same time?

[Assistant]
Gastroenterologist here:

**Short answer**: Most of the Pineapple will be digested first. You will poo it all out at the same time.

**Long answer**: Because steak is predominantly protein and fat - it is more fully digested compared to pineapple, which is predominately fiber, water, sugar (fiber not being digested).

A pineapple meal will actually move faster along the digestive tract - since water and sugar are rapidly absorbed and the fiber content helps to move the pineapple meal quickly along.

A steak meal moves more slowly along the digestive tract because it takes time to breakdown the fat and protein. Once broken down, the absorption of protein and fat are more complicated than simple sugar and water.

**tl;dr**: If you eat a pineapple immediately after eating a steak the two meals will be mixed together. The mixed meal will move slower than if you had only eaten a pineapple, and it will move faster than if you only ate a steak.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: Why do clouds rain droplets and not a couple inch thick layer of water?

[Assistant] The clouds that the rain comes from are water vapor. Once it condenses into heavy enough droplets, they fall. ... This does not all happen at the same time so rain does not fall from everywhere in a cloud at the same time.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5:Why do cheap cars have to be ugly?

Is there a marketing reason or just a code which car designers follow? Somebody please explain!

[Assistant]
cheap cars tend to be shaped more "boxy."  the presses that stamp out car body parts more easily stamp simple shapes(less bends and angles.)  A curvy, sleek design requires a more complicated die(the part of the press that actually makes the shape), which costs more upfront.  Metal also doesn't like hard angles when being stamped. It may deform or crack altogether.  This increases reject parts, making the cost of a quality part more expensive to compensate.

TLDR:  Simple shapes are cheaper to make.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] Eli5: What happens in sleep that 'cures' puffy eyes and eyebags, and are we able to replicate this while avoiding sleeping?

[Assistant] Skin under our eyes are particularly very thin and become lax very easily.. this makes them more transparent to whatever happens under the skin, for example if the blood supply increase it soon starts to look darker than the skin around, also minimal changes in fluid retention under the skin makes the undereyes look saggy. The exact connection between saggy eyes and lack of sleep has not been identified... However, it can be explained that when the eyes overwork and not get the rest that it needs, just as the eyes look reddened because of the increasing blood supply, the skin under the eyes also darken and creates an illusion of making it look kinda saggy... However oversleep can cause saggy eyes because the horizontal position of the body makes the extracellular fluid to accumulate around the face, making the face puffy and under-eyes particularly saggy.