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

[User]
[Zootopia] Why do members of prey species have uncharacteristic forward-facing eyes?

In some instances, like with rabbits, this seems to be a species-wide feature. Other times, species are inconsistent. Bellwether has forward facing eyes while her sheep cohorts have wide-set eyes (and wide pupils). There are also plenty of prey species that appear to universally keep their wide-set eyes. What would pressure certain prey species, or select members of prey species, to evolve closely set eyes while still having the same herbivore diet and carnivore threats as their ancestors? The predator/prey truce seems too recent for that to be the reason for the change.

[Assistant]
I think there's a heavy implication that we're not talking about "truce" as much as we're talking about a (taxonomic) Class-wide symbiosis. All of Mammalia has co-evolved to be intelligent. It's not that wolves and deer one day decided to set aside their differences and stop fighting, it's that wolves evolved into anthro wolves and deer evolved into anthro deer, and THOSE groups set aside their differences, because they were now all intelligent creatures able to co-exist.

There's clearly some heavy convergent evolution going on (genetic engineering is more plausible but that's neither here nor there), turning regular lower mammals into bipedal, sapient people with similar bodyplans and facial structures. So having eyes in the front of their head is no more arbitrary a similarity than the extremely large number of convergent traits that these species all, for some reason, share.

The most obvious explanations are:

1. At some point, an extremely successful and nigh-infinitely-large niche opened up that created massive selection across the entire class of mammalia towards humanoid characteristics, forward facing eyes included

2. All mammals were deliberately engineered into similar bodyplans by a progenitor species that wanted to create a massive variety of bipeds with human characteristics (humans probably did it in some monstrous trans-human furry genetic ascension before their society crumbled leaving only their horrifying manimals to inherit the earth). See Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Chase.

3. Horizontal Gene Transfer: Somehow the genetic material for humanoid traits spread throughout Animalia, *naturally.* A wildly adaptable retrovirus carrying human genetic material (or at least biped genetic material) spread across all of Animalia. After, of course, causing horrifying mutations across all of nature that killed most individuals who were infected, the survivors who integrated the DNA successfully and were not sterile ended up forming new lineages of animal-human hybrids which persist to this day.


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

[User]
[D&D5e] I'm a druid wildshaped into a dog. I just ate a bunch of raw meat and some garbage. If I turn back into a human right now am I going to be alright?

Is it like going into the pool? Should I wait? What if I'm a human, I eat a bunch of garlic, onions, and chocolate covered raisins, and then wildshape into a dog? Am I going to be alright?

[Assistant]
As a dog, you don't have to worry about the clothing you were wearing. It's maaaaagic!

That said, as a druid, you should be eating like the animals you're shapeshifting into anyway. What are you doing eating garlic onions and raisins if you're a dogshifter?


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

[User] ELI5: Why can't scientists artificially impregnate near-extinct species to help ensure the survival of the species?

[Assistant]
They are doing this as an attempt to save them. But there are issues.

Artificial impregnation does not always work. With some species like Rhinos it fails far more than it works.

Some species have bad/dangerous pregnancies when in captivity.

Some species abandon the young if they were from artificial insemination, or do so just in general and the young do not survive.

And you still have the problems of small gene pools causing genetic disorders.


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

[User]
How quickly does personal data sell between internet platforms?

Specifically, I had never looked up Athletic Greens in my life until this morning at 7am when I entered it into the search bar on my Pixel. Now at 9am, Facebook (which I access in Chrome, not through the app) is giving me ads for Athletic Greens.
So is it the second I search for something on Google that they're selling or otherwise distributing my data or is there some delay, like a process it goes through (to make sure I'm not a bot, etc.) before data is distributed?

I'm asking this from a place of zero experience but I'm becoming increasingly curious about the way personal data is collected, assembled, and distributed across internet platforms.

[Assistant]
There's no single rule to how companies do things.

That said, most ad networks have a real time auction at their core. When you click on a link to a webpage that participates in such (which is most of them), the publisher takes what information they have about you, which definitely includes the referrer header from a search engine, and they publish it to multiple ad providers. The ad providers take the given information, match it against their own datasets, and then return a bid along with the url to the ad content to show if their  bid wins. The best bid wins and that's the ad that is returned to you as part of the web page. This all happens within around 200ms. There's a lot more details and complexity, but that's the basic picture.


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

[User] If Omnipotence is defined as "Being able to do all things, including the logically impossible" doesn't that solve the problem of evil by completely circumventing the contradiction?

[Assistant]
Don't you think that making something exempt from logic makes it impossible to logically analyze? Not to mention, it doesn't really make sense to say that logic doesn't apply to something. At the end of the day, a god can't make a boulder so big that he can't lift it. Each individual action would undermine the power to do the other. Aquinas (iirc) tried to solve this by saying that such a boulder is an impossible object, and therefore they can't exist, but if a god had this level of omnipotence, then he would be able to create impossible objects. But if we grant that a god can create such an impossible object, then such a being defies not only all out our intuitions, but any ability to understand it whatsoever. If you want to be able to say *anything at all* about a god, including whether or not they are omnipotent, then they have to be bound by the laws of logic.

This sort of move of defining omnipotence this way only infinitely multiplies the problems. Much less solve the problem of evil. That's why many theologians have come to terms with the flaws of omnipotence and shifted their language to "maximal power."


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

[User]
[POTC] What does Captain Jack Sparrow have against eunuchs?

So, plenty of times Jack has alluded to eunuchs as something he holds a great amount of disdain towards. But why?

[Assistant] The genitals are one of the few things that Captain Jack truly holds sacred in this world, the constant he can always turn to and his reason for living, in many ways.  The thought of people without such a raison d'tre makes him incredibly uncomfortable.... and morbidly curious.


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

[User] If a copy of Earth existed a distance similar to Kepler-20e/f, would we be able to detect the life on it?

[Assistant]
At this point we can barely resolve these planets.  Most exoplanet discovery is made by observing periodic variances in a stars brightness (as the planet orbits).  We can then make predictions as to the orbit and size of the planet.

Direct observations, at this point, have been sub-pixel to pixel sized - and are only of the very largest and nearest exoplanets.

Right now, the largest mirrors are around 8 to 9 meters.  In 5 years things like TMT (Thirty Meter Telescope) will be deployed and will have a much larger resolving power.

Once we can resolve to more than one pixel - spectrographic data can return information about the exoplanets atmosphere.  Once we can get useful atmospheric data we can look for indications of life and civilization (based on chemical signatures in the spectrum).


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

[User] ELI5: Would a bear that's raised domestically, including sleeping indoors, still go through hibernation?

[Assistant] If the domestically raised bear was a polar bear or a grizzly bear it would likely go through a "hibernation" style phase in the winter as a cub and then as an adult kill and eat you and your family. Other bears, like the black bear, or panda bear would likely make a better choice.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do some airplanes leave a visible contrail and others dont?

[Assistant] It does not depend so much on the airplane as the humidity, pressure and temperature of the air in flies in. Contrails is an atmospheric effect that is caused by the increased humidity from the engine exhaust raising the humidity in the air high enough to form clouds. There is a few other effects such as sot creating nucleation points for the ice crystals and turbulence creating low pressure spots for crystals to form but these are of minor significance. Contrails will be formed whenever an airplane moves through air that is close to forming clouds already. The humidity from the exhaust is just the final straw that makes the clouds form behind the airplane. If you see two airplanes in the same sky where one forms a contrail and the other do not then it is likely because they are passing through different layers of the sky with different conditions.


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

[User] ELI5: Where does "Do, Ray, Me, Fa, So, La, Ti, Da" Come from when you hear singers practice scales?

[Assistant]
The use of a seven-note diatonic musical scale is ancient, though originally it was played in descending order.

In the eleventh century, the music theoristGuido of Arezzodeveloped a six-note ascending scale that went as follows:ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, and named theAretinian syllablesafter him. A seventh note, "si" was added shortly after.The names were taken from the first verse of the LatinhymnUt queant laxis, where the syllables fall on their correspondingscale degree.
Ut" was changed in the 1600s in Italy to the open syllableDo,at the suggestion of the musicologueGiovanni Battista Doni, and Si (from the initials for "Sancte Iohannes") was added to complete the diatonic scale. In Anglophonecountries, "si" was changed to "ti" bySarah Gloverin the nineteenth century so that every syllable mightbegin with a different letter."Ti" is used intonic sol-faand in the song "Do-Re-Mi".

Source: Wikipedia.
Thanks OP for asking the question, I've learnt something new today as well!


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why don't ships seem to have any kind of anti-theft mechanisms? Locking system, ignition keys, access codes, etc.?

It seems like anyone can get into any ship and just fly it out of there. Shouldn't they have a key or something?

[Assistant]
Most ships do have an access code panel on them.

Notice how in Mos Eisley Jabba and his gang were hanging around outside the Falcon, waiting for Solo instead of ambushing him on it? Or even just taking it as payment?

They couldn't get on board.


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

[User] ELI5: Where does the term "cop" come from when referring to a police officer?

[Assistant] In the 19th century, the verb "cop" was used regularly to refer to the arrest of criminals by police officers. Eventually, the police officers were called "coppers," and, later, that was shortened to "cops." Other suggestions for the origins of the term "cop" have little support. For example, "cop" is not an abbreviation for "constable on patrol." It is also not a reference to large copper badges worn by some police officers of the late 19th century........(Cut copy and paste it from reference.com)


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

[User]
[X-men] Is it possible for two or more mutants to have identical powers?

I just realized I'd never heard of two mutants having identical powers. I know powers are sometimes similar (e.g., both have elemental manipulation but with different substances), but can mutants have exactly the same powers? What if mutants are identical twins?

[Assistant] Yes. Depending on the writer, Scott and Alex Summers (Cyclops and Havoc) had the same powers, but Scott's were disrupted into eyebeams only after a head injury. They are both immune to each others' blasts, though. Similarly, Wolverine and his kids, X-23 and Dakken all have healing factors,  claws, and enhanced senses.


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

[User]
[Doom] Is there a heaven? How correct is religion? For that matter, are there aliens? Do they have their own hell?

We know that hell exists nowadays, because we've been there

But how did ancient peoples find out about it?

Was there an ancient equivalent to DoomGuy?

How much of cosmology did religion get right?

What's the situation on aliens?

[Assistant]
It's likely that in the past demons were able to cross over individually, but the lack of portal technology from the UAC or other corporations left them unable to pull off a sustained invasion.

From the Doom 4 continuity, Doomguy is also the ancient Doom Slayer, a powerful being from the realm of Argent D'Nur that resisted invasions from Hell until it was betrayed and absorbed into the realm proper. It mentions how Doom Slayer was blessed by the Seraphs (a type of angel), implying that Heaven exists, yet it also mentions that he was too impure to return to it (likely because of all his killings and the fact that he enjoyed them, no matter how justified they were)


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

[User]
ELI5: How does shaking up a soda increase the pressure inside the bottle?

Obviously its science, but I cant see how it happens because the carbonation is already in the container with the soda. Even if it separates, the volume should be the same... Right?

[Assistant]
It's because the carbonation actually has two different states, a gas and an acid.

When you take carbon dioxide gas and put it under pressure next to a liquid like water or soda or cider or beer, that CO2 actually reacts with the water to form a fairly unstable acid called "carbonic acid".

It's unstable enough that as soon as the pressure goes away, the carbonic acid molecules start breaking back down into water and carbon dioxide molecules. Open a carbonated beverage container and over a little while the breakdown transforms all of the carbonic acid back to carbon dioxide, the carbon dioxide bubbles off, and the container of liquid goes flat.

And a shock makes the instability a lot worse. If you increase the instability by pouring a just-opened beverage from on high, the shock causes the carbonic acid to rapidly break down, which is why pouring soda too fast causes a huge foam-up. Ditto when you tap a glass of beer with another glass of beer.

And if you shake the bottle or can of soda without opening it, you're breaking a whole bunch of carbonic acid into carbon dioxide - a gas - and it really increases the pressure in the can because all that CO2 can't leave. But wait a while, and the pressure will force the CO2 to form back into carbonic acid... and the pressure will reduce so it won't blow up when you open it.


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

[User] What is the worst disease, poison, sting or bite a human being can suffer?

[Assistant]
Blue ringed octopus poison is some nasty fucking shit. It's a neurotoxic agent around 10,000 times more powerful than cyanide, and usually causes complete paralysis within minutes of being stung. While thats nasty in its own right, the worst thing is that you're pretty much suffocating in your own body because you can't breathe due to the paralysis while conscious and fully aware of whats happening. A lot of deaths actually occur because first aiders don't administrate proper care as they mistake victims to be dead. There's no anti venom.

Edit: Also, *Chironex fleckeri* (Box jelly). Death is usually caused by shock due to the intense pain as opposed to the actual poison. God there's a lot of cool stuff in the oceans.


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

[User] ELI5, if the oldest movable printing press exists in Korea, so does the oldest books from the printing press... why are the Germans credited with inventing it?

[Assistant] There were limited uses of it in China and Korea, but the Germans are the ones who really made mass production viable, kicking off the age of the mass-printed book. One big help is that they only needed the letters of the alphabet, so they could just make molds for only that many letters to make a huge amount of type for printing.


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

[User]
ELI5: What exactly is happening during the "Loading" screen on games, programs, machines, etc?

Pretty much the title, and why do some take longer way longer than others?

[Assistant]
Your computer has lots of storage space (like kitchen cabinets), but much less working space (like kitchen counters). You can't just keep all your groceries out on the counter or else you'll run out of room, so you need to put it all away into the cabinets. You can store everything when it's put away, but then you need to take it out and put it on the counter when it's time to use it.

Your computer doesn't have enough "counter space" to have the entire game ready to go all at once, so it leaves a bunch of it in the cabinets until it's needed. The "loading" is what happens when the computer needs to put some parts back in the cabinet, and bring new parts down to the countertop so they're ready to be used.


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

[User] ELI5:Why do Americans pronounce the letter "Z", "zee", while most other places pronounce it "zed"?

[Assistant]
Blatant copy-paste from Wikipedia:

> In most dialects of English, the letter's name is 'zed' /zd/, reflecting its derivation from the Greek *zeta*, but in American English, its name is 'zee' /zi/, deriving from a late 17th century English dialectal form.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why did the Jedi stop, and later start again, wearing their robes during the Clone Wars?

For instance, in the series the Jedi never wear their cloaks, or only rarely do, and have on body armor. In the film Revenge of the Sith, however, they don't wear the armor and even wear their cloaks on missions. What happened?

[Assistant] A Jedi's main fighting strength comes from there ever so slight precognition, and their ability to react to it. Maybe they wanted the extra protection of body armour only to realise near the end of the war that the armour was slowing them down too much, and so switched back to their looser robes for protection from the elements, while taking them off, allowing more movement, for combat.


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

[User] How does the gas pump know when to stop pumping the gas? Does it use certain sensors or just stop at a certain amount of gallons?

[Assistant] Next time you get gas look closer at the nozzle, you'll notice it has two holes. One where the gas comes out and one were air is allowed to flow back in. When the gas fills your tank eventually it covers this hole, and a pressure valve releases closing the valve to the pump inside the handle. It's quite a neat design.


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

[User]
ElI5: why we use propane for grills, methane for stoves, and heating oil for houses?

I get not wasting refining products, but since they have different levels of energy isn't it kind of dumb if you have a better fuel?

[Assistant]
Only some houses use heating oil these days -- usually older ones that were put in before natural gas was run directly to homes. When heating oil was common, natural gas wasn't.

Natural gas for stoves and heating makes sense -- it's efficient and it burns cleanly -- and it's piped into people's houses.

Propane for grills also makes sense, since you can contain a large amount of propane in a small tank and it's portable.  There are plenty of NG grills out there, but they're usually only for people who've invested in permanently installing their grills.


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

[User]
How do European Universities compare to each other? I already know that rankings don't mean much in Europe; however, based on your experience, would any of you attempt to make a country-based ranking or so?

Im from South America, and after doing a lot of research, Ive figured out that University rankings dont mean much in Europe and now I understand why. However, with time, Ive become really curious about what are the differences between the education systems among EU countries; therefore, Id like to know if from your experience (maybe youve done an international exchange in 2 or 3 different countries, or maybe your brother/sister studied in a foreign country and now you have an opinion about that countrys educational system, etc) any of you would state that there are "better and worse educational systems" among EU countries, and If so, which ones and why.

For example, I already know that the UK is seen as the European country with the best education, but Ive also read that studying in France is really challenging, but the French just dont care about rankings (at all) and they could easily compete with the British. Is that true? And what about Italy, then? And the Netherlands? And the Netherlands Vs. Belgium? And I always thought that the Universities of Vienna and Helsinski were at the top of the world, but theyve remained below the top 100, according to rankings. Have their educational level really decreased? And what about Luxemburg? And German Universities vs. UK universities? Which systems could be the most challenging (more difficult tests/more coursework throughout the academic year)? Which systems could have the best teaching methods? Which systems could have the lowest acceptance rate for posgraduate studies?

Having said this, I know in advance that is almost impossible (and unfair) to compare between countries and its Universities, but Id really like to know peoples opinions about their perceptions in regard to this topic. Thanks!

[Assistant] The French absolutely don't care about rankings. They also don't market themselves much, if at all. If you graduate from a French university, be prepared that nobody outside of France will have heard of it, and if they haven't heard of it, they may assume it's not a good university.


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

[User]
[Dark Souls] Why don't the NPCs in these settings band together?

Over the game we meet many of them but they are mostly always scattered , going about their quests on their own and more often than not meeting ghastly ends .

Also summons aren't the actual npc but some sort of astral projections if I am not wrong ?

[Assistant]
The phantoms you meet are from the timeline when that person was on their adventure.  All the timelines are twisted and folded on top of each other.  So the people you meet are long dead but also still alive and questing.  It's why you can find them, learns spells and then loot their corpse yet go back to town and trade with them.

There are tons of groups working together tho.  They are the covenants.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are TV Sitcoms always 30 minutes long and Dramas generally 60?

Has their ever been a 60 minute comedy? This was kind of a random shower thought I had this morning, but seemed like a question worth asking.

[Assistant]
Dramas need more time to show a problem, explain how the problem is being solved, and then the outcome of the situation.  To get enough details in there 48 minutes (for an hour show) is a good amount of time.

If you've ever watched a comedy film you'll realize that the first half is almost always funnier than the second half.  This is because the end of shows need to resolves the problem created in the first half.  Creating problems is funnier than solving them.  Sitcoms are 30 minutes because anything longer means the characters need to solve a larger problem which means more unfunny time.  This is why there are so many very short comedy clips (like Chapelle's Show, SNL, etc).  Less time = more jokes without needing to resolve any problems on the show.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why aren't woman downhill skiers as fast as men?

Why aren't woman downhill skiers as fast or faster than men? I would think they'd go faster because they are smaller but the men more than double their speeds going downhill. Is there more to going downhill than just sliding down it really fast? Does it require a lot of strength? I don't know a lot about downhill skiing either (obviously)

Thanks!

[Assistant] If you watch at the beginning of a run, you'll see that the skier always skates a bit out of the gate. A few really aggressive pushes against the snow to get up to speed. That speed will be faster if the racer is stronger, which is typically true of men as compared to women. A huge amount of time can be cut off a run simply by having a quick start. Furthermore when you are going 30-40 mph around a turn it takes a lot of strength to push back against the centripetal force, so a racer can maintain a higher speed if they are stronger. Being heavier helps men maintain higher speeds as well. When you watch the racers make turns you will see that in order to take the tightest line around a turn, a racer will often run into the gates. If the racer is heavier they will have more momentum and therefore hitting these gates will slow them down less.


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

[User]
ELI5: " Why can't we just plug 10 chargers into an electric car and charge it 10x faster?

ELI5:   Why can't we put 10 different batteries into an elecric car and charge them individually so that the charging could be 10 times faster? Could be any electrical device, such as smartphones, etc.

Edit: I feel like a few people didn't get the point. I know there are special "superchargers" that charge faster (while ruining the battery a bit). Think of it this way: charging one electric car takes as much time as charging 10 electric cars. So why can't we put 10 separate batteries in a car and charge them with 10 separate chargers?

[Assistant]
For a car charger the limitation for home use the limitation is not the car but the power that a outlet can deliver or the electrical connection to the house. The car or the battery in the car is not the limiting factor.

A Tesla supercharges station have 480 DC charger that can deliver 250kW  That is 250000/480=520A.

In the US where there are 220V to the house you would need 1136A fot the same power. A outlet for a electrical oven that would be what is relative common and use a lot of power max out at 60A or 1/19 of what is need for a Tesla supercharges

I Europe where 3 phase to homes at 400V is not uncommon you would ned 250000/400/3=208 Amp per phase.  For a very large home in a cold environment that is heated by electricity you might have 3 phase and 35A fuse

So for residential charger it is not the car or the charger that you might need  that is the liming factor but the connection to the power grid.

Because 3 phase and higher voltage is common in Europe Teslas sold here have charging electrons that support the plugged in direct  to the car.

A Tesla model X with the largest battery have 100 kWh  and it take 100/250=0.4 hours = 24 minutes to charge them full if it is 100% efficient. At this point it is the cooling system of the batteries that is the liming factor.

So charging speed is in most case limited by the power grid and not the car and you need expensive electrical system and chargers before it is the car that is the liming factor.


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

[User] ELI5: What keeps oceans and seas from spreading viruses and many other contagious illnesses?

[Assistant]
Nothing really. If you have an open wound in ocean water, you'd better clean it out very well to avoid bacterial infections.

But since humans and primates don't normally live in the ocean, there's not a lot of ocean born diseases and viruses adapted to infect us. Plenty of nastiness going around for sea life though.


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

[User]
ELI5: What are the downsides to a 401k?

I've been reading posts about it and everything sounds all good and dandy. You put money in, companies match and put in an equal or more amount. More money! So.. I don't understand why my dad and a lot of my Asian friends' parents think that it's a rip off and don't put their money into their 401k. What are the downsides aside from having a smaller paycheck?

[Assistant]
The money is essentially locked there until you retire unless you want to pay severe tax penalties to withdraw it early.

It may also not be the best tax situation if you're not currently making a lot of money or pay a lot in interest since it would be taxed at a very low rate today, but much higher in the future.

The funds in the plan may or may not be top performers, that varies by plan and allocation.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does a mental illness such as anxiety mimic physical symptoms that could've be due to a physical health issue?

For example, I don't understand how your brain can make you feel chest pain, exhaustion, achy, short of breath, heart palpitations, etc, that could be symptoms of actual physical health issues.

[Assistant]
Anxiety can release adrenaline. Adrenaline can increase heart beat which can cause palpations.

A panic attack causes hyperventilation. This makes a person exhale too much carbon dioxide (which is why they tell you to slow your breathing). Too little C02 in the blood stream (hypocapnia) can cause muscles to tense up. Fingers constrict and cant unbend. Chest muscles tense up too and can cause pain.


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

[User]
[General Fantasy] How, physically, do dragons hoard gold?

You always see dragons sitting on huge piles of gold coins and gems and things.  But compared to your standard dragon, these things are _tiny_.  And dragon hands don't seem that dexterous usually.  How does the dragon actually get them all into a pile?  How does it pick them up and move them?

[Assistant]
In the old days, they would fly around collecting individual coins in their hands, and taking them back to their cave.  Particularly industrious ones would lift up entire carts or boxes full of gold.

Later, they discovered that they could simply threaten humans with burnination, and in exchange for *not* destroying all of the human homes and eating all of the human maidens, the humans would bring gold to the dragons.  This worked out well.

*Still later*, one dragon was surprised when, instead of gold, the humans started trading around little bits of paper.  All of the gold started being stored in buildings and never moving!  "You there, human!"  He said to one of them, "Why are the humans just giving you gold in exchange for bits of paper?"

The Banker explained gold-backed currency to the Dragon, and the dragon was delighted.  He promptly ate the banker, stole his gold, and flew off to his cave.  Later dragons learned from this example, started their own banks, and issued their currency.

This is where the US dollar acquired the nickname, "Greenback" - after the green scales of the Dragon who runs the Federal Reserve.


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

[User] ELI5: What is P value and why is 0.05 so important?

[Assistant]
When doing studies that have some probability factor involved in it (say randomly sampling people), there is a chance that you may conclude a fact about something simply because of random chance in your study. Say for example it can happen that you flip a coin 4 times and every time it lands on heads. And then you conclude that all coin flips must land on heads as a result of that, which is wrong. This happened because of purely random chance.

A p value denotes the probability of your experiment happening the way it did the way it did. A p value of 0.05 means there is a 5% chance that the results you got support your conclusion not because there is a bias for some reason towards such results (say a coin is heaver on one side than another) but because of just dumb luck.

0.05 is just known as the gold standard for concluding that something is "statistically significant," that is probably didn't happen because of dumb luck. But smaller p values are better, and should be possible to reach if there is a true correlation although this generally means doing a more expensive study.


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

[User]
[Terminator] Why doesnt Skynet just poison the atmosphere if they wanted to eradicate the human race?

Its much more efficient than skirmishes with humans.

[Assistant]
Ooh ooh! Mass effect quote time!
>Legion: Technology is not a straight line. There are many paths to the same end. Accepting another's path blinds you to alternatives. Nazara  Sovereign  said this itself. "Your civilization is based upon the technology of the mass relays. Our technology. By using it, your society develops along the paths we desire."

In several variations of the timeline, Skynet developed in part because of the technology of the Terminator that were sent back. Because it has existing knowledge of these machines, it develops accordingly. Skynet uses Terminators because, so far as it is concerned, it's *supposed* to.

Alternate answer: The goal of Skynet isn't to exterminate humans. It's goal is to fulfill it's original programming and safeguard the world. It just happens to do that by killing humans. Poisoning the atmosphere would be detrimental to the rest of the world as well.


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

[User]
[DC Comics] What does 10th Metal actually do?

Batman had a few suits worth in Dark Nights Metal, and it was really unclear on what it actually did.

[Assistant] It's the stuff that the multiverse is made of. What it does is anything that the multiverse is capable of doing. Think of it kinda like stem cells in that it has infinite potential to be shaped into whatever is required of it.


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

[User]
EIL5: Why are people saying WWIII is going to start if the US attacks Syria?

I've heard numerous people saying that if the US attack Syria, that WWIII is going to start. Why is that?

[Assistant]
Currently, Iran has stated that if America invades Syria, they'll attack Israel.

Israel, as many people are aware, doesn't take shit lying down.

As a result, you could expect that situation to get pretty intense, pretty damn fast. That said, it has been mentioned that the Arab League has been pretty clear that they don't support regimes killing their own citizens, so chances are a sparring match between Israel and Iran over a Syria intervention will not lead to regional war.

That said, the area is not known to be particularly logical diplomatically, so people are preparing for the worst.


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

[User] ELI5: How does a mechanical watch know how many days there are in a month? And what about February?

[Assistant] A basic mechanical watch with just a day of month counter will generally assume that there are 31 days in a month and will have to be manually reset on the first day of a month following one that is shorter.


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

[User]
[Marvel/DC] Are there any heroes or villains who are only concerned with testing the limits of the powers?

I'm wondering if there are any beings that are only concerned with finding out how strong they truly are. They're not looking for power or wealth or eternal life or revenge, nor are they defending realities or sticking up for the little guy. Just fighting for the sake of fighting, and are powerful enough to kick some ass too.

[Assistant] Lady Shiva from DC is partially like that.  She is an assassin and mercenary but that is just her job like a 9-5 would be for us.  Her main passion is going around the world and beating the best martial artists.  And she is really good at it, there are only about 3 people in the DC universe who can compete with her in martial arts skill, and generally she is a bit above Batman himself.


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

[User] [DC] Who hates their heroic counterpart more, Eobard Thawne or Lex Luthor?

[Assistant]
Thawne.

Lex will grit his teeth and work with Superman if the alternative is death or the destruction of the world or whatever.

Thawne would flip the Flash off as he rode the world backwards into hell.


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

[User]
[DC/Marvel] If Joker commits crimes against Doom's country and Doom sentences him to death. Will Batman accept it?

By committing a crime I mean anything ranging from mass murder to calling Reed better than Doom.

[Assistant] He doesn't regularly break people who are going to be executed out. If Doom is trying to capture the Joker in Gotham, he'd probably try to protect him. But if the Joker is in Latveria, then even if it is for something stupid like calling Reed better than Doom, Batman would be no more compelled to save him than anyone else that's unjustly executed.


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

[User]
Correct me if I'm wrong on Wittgenstein (I'm wrong)

What exactly does he mean by "language games"? Is it the claim that in inquiry, all participants need to have the same or similar experiences in traditions as well as fundamental beliefs (ie God exists for religious discourse, or reason can tell us about the universe in science) and as a result it makes no sense to base criticisms in science to attack religion because you'd be using language structures that make sense in science but make no sense in religion?

[Assistant]
Wittgenstein uses the concept of a game to explain the idea of family resemblance. A set of things have a family resemblance if there are certain features which connect them, but no set of necessary and sufficient conditions shared by all. The people a a family reunion will not share any single feature which they all have, and no one else does. However, some will have the same nose, some will have the same eyes, some will have some of the same mannerisms the same, and so forth. These common links will ultimately connect all the members of the family.

A language game is some part of a language (where a whole language can be considered a limiting case), considered in association with the things which are done with it. Wittgenstein's point is that we do different things with language, and how we should go about trying to understand a certain statement depends upon what we would normally be doing with this statement. The upshot is Wittgenstein wants to reject the project of offering a logical analysis for all language.

On "Lectures on Religious Belief" says that an atheist can deny what the religious person says, but cannot really contradict it. Wittgenstein seems to think this means the statements as uttered by the religious person function differently that the statements as uttered by the non-religious person.

That leans a bit in the direction of what you're saying.


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

[User] [MCU]Is Pym's Ant-Man technology superior to Tony's Iron Man suits?

[Assistant]
Absolutely. Iron Man's suits themselves are nothing completely earth shattering. While they are no doubt beyond top of the line, the technology that Mr. Stark introduces a few years ago were all based off of known tech. The repulsors used for flight were based off Stark Industries' Jericho missile. The avionics and HUD are based off of the prototype SI XF-39 Fighter, and the shoulder mounted missiles use advanced facial recognition and micro controller technology. The armor is the same alloys used in the SI upgrades to the M1 Abrams in 2007 and the proprietary high temperature material used in the Stark Aerospace Gomorrah orbital bombardment vehicle.

The true advancement was the miniaturized arc reactor used to power those systems. With power no longer an issue, the Iron Man platform could integrate these various weapons systems together, to create a durable, easily configurable, agile and heavy hitting weapons system which could respond to a variety of threats. But almost every part of Iron Man already existed independently on a separate platform.

Pym Particles can shrink every one of those platforms and stick them in your pocket.

The Ant-Man suit was designed using the best of 1980s technology. It was pretty no frills. But Ant Man could pack a similar punch as an Iron Man system. It can infiltrate. Shrink inside of an Iron Man suit and tear apart the circuitry. Even-god forbid-go to the quantum level.

Iron Man is pushing our understanding of electronics, propulsion and energy production to the edge of the envelope and maybe a bit more. Pym Tech is beyond our current understanding of physics, beyond anything we've ever dealt with.


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

[User]
[The Thing 1982] The Thing has been captured by the government and successfully contained in a prison cell it can't escape from. The Government attempts communication. Does the Thing communicate?

Does/would it even want to, outside of the human aspect where it has assimilated humans using them as autopilots for their knowledge of the world, would the thing even have the capability of communicating. Explaining their purpose, where they came from, etc.

In the movie (1982) The Thing had several opportunities to communicate especially during the Bennings scene before it was lit on fire in the snow it seemed only capable of making that inhuman howl.  But it only seemed interested in assimilation, hiding, or escape.

What do you guys think? Would the Thing communicate to escape, or would it deny it was a Thing to the very end?

[Assistant] In the script for the TV mini-series the government does capture a Thing and they try to communicate with it. It goes through a bunch of imitations begging for them to let it go before it drops the act entirely and screeches that it wants them to die and it to live.


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

[User]
[The Invention of Lying] Why were the denizens of the movie universe not only unable to lie or spot a lie, but unable to reason that a person with intentionally wrong information (lying) could just be sincerely mistaken? How could this society function?

In the movie, nobody is able to lie. They all just state things they mean as bluntly as possible. Then the main character has some kind of brain evolution, and is suddenly able to lie. Not only that, even when he tells people he's lying or says ridiculous things that can't be true, they don't know he's lying.

Why does it never occur to these people that he's being sincere, but is just wrong? There's this pretty shady scene where he begins to persuade a woman that unless they have sex, the world will come to an end. She takes him seriously but doesn't go through with it. An intelligent person can see that's ridiculous. Why can't she believe that he's at least mistaken?

What does it say about the movie universe that this is the way they confront people with information contradictory to their own? Have they never encountered a situation where they've had different information in their head than someone else, and seen they were wrong? There seems to be two options to me: 1) Everyone is stupid and will believe everything everyone else says, even if they're wrong, or 2) Everyone is literally incapable of knowing or speaking incorrect information, and they all actually have limited omniscience (everything they believe is correct). But it can't be number two, because of the main character's lies, at least after he learns to lie. But how can a society work where everyone will believe everything everybody says?

Here's a piece of data from the movie: A guy is talking to the main character before he learns to lie, and recounting how another character said behind main character's back that he is "an obese homosexual". The character he was talking about corrects him and says she said he's a "fat (derogatory f-word for homosexual)". So it looks like people can see wrong information spoken by another, and correct them with information they believe to be correct.

What is this madness?!?

[Assistant] 2 is closer to the truth.  Note the crazy man we see with a sign on the street.  His signs don't say anything like "the end is nigh" they say "why are we wearing pants?"  Now clearly, they have at least *some* ability to sugar coat things, such as the obeme homosexual vs fat faggot scenario.  We likewise in the pepsi commercial see someone take a sip and say "it's a bit too sweet" with a look of disgust on his face.


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

[User] ELI5: Why can't I brush my teeth repeatedly until they're white?

[Assistant] Because teeth are not white naturally. You need chemicals to whiten or bleach them to make them that colour. Also you are only brushing the enamel, its the dentine that determines the colour of teeth and this is usually yellowish.


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

[User] ELI5: With so much information released by anonymous hacks, what do people do with that information, Why is it detrimental?

[Assistant]
Most people do nothing with it but laugh.

Sometimes journalists will  probe the information and see if any of it is useful in legal battles or in PR Battles.

Hackers will also use that information to see if they can get more from them - for example, run password reuse attacks on other sites to see if they can gain access to other accounts.


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

[User] Is balding accelerated by external factors like stress, or is it just genetic?

[Assistant]
Androgenic alopecia (male pattern hair loss) is genetic. There are other forms of hair loss, such as telogen effluvium, that are caused by stress, poor diet, etc.

There is also auto immune related hair loss like Alopecia totalis where someone loses all their hair, including the sides (which doesn't happen with most hair loss patterns).


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

[User]
Why are people from East Asia so likely to be lactose intolerant?

It seems that people from East Asian countries are massively lactose intolerant when compared to West Asians, Africans, Europeans, and so forth.  I was wondering if it's because they consume less dairy into adulthood, or if there is a genetic factor involved.

[Assistant]
You have that backwards.

All mammals, including primates, are "likely" to be lactose intolerant in adulthood.

People in some human groups, such as Europeans, Africans, and Indians (India, not America - Native Americans are effectively 100% lactose intolerant), are likely to retain the ability to digest lactose in adulthood.


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

[User]
[Doctor Who] Are Tardis warships built with a dimensional controller (i.e. bigger on the inside)?

Are Tardis Dreadnoughts "smaller on the outside" and , if so, does that affect their weapon performance? It seems like it would be difficult if 15 guns were firing out of the space of one.

Follow up: Are any Tardis's (Tardi?) built at one to one scale? I know that they are meant to blend in, but they must have built at least a couple.

[Assistant]
You don't need a dreadnought with guns to mow down enemy ships when you have time travel and ergo the capacity to prevent the enemy homeworld from ever discovering fire.

That's why the Time War was so devastating: the Lords and Daleks were racing backwards in history along the timelines of probably billions of strategic targets and carelessly rewriting history in hopes of making it serve their own side. Meta-Eventually, whole galaxies were never formed, or else twisted into becoming cosmic horrors beyond our reckoning.

You can't fight a Time Lord with full equipment and no conscience.  If you show signs that you might want to, you'll never have been born to entertain the thought.


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

[User]
Do planets always form around stars?

Do planets ever form in space independent of a central star?   Ie a small enough mass of dust that instead of a star forming at the center and one or more planets forming in orbit around it, just one planet forms and is an unassociated planet just floating around in space?

[Assistant] There are planets called rogue planets - though wikipedia lists 8 other names that convey the same idea - that orbit the cluster/black hole at the center of its galaxy instead of any parent star. They are formed independently of a star system and never join one or are ejected from their home system and lost. We have observed such planets in the darkness. Our galaxy alone is hypothesized to have billions.


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

[User]
[Endgame] [Spoilers] So I was in high school when the Snap happened...

So apparently I and half of the population died? And it's been 5 years? Crazy stuff.

So I'll get to the point. My girlfriend and all our best mates all got snapped too. We're trying to have a massive "We're alive again" party. But here's the thing. When we died we were all 16. But it's been 5 years. According to my driver's license, I am now 21 years old. But we didn't really "age". Are we legally able to buy alcohol?

[Assistant] Oh, dude, they're reissuing licenses for everyone, it'll have a new spot on it with "Vanished" with a Y or an N.  So now you've got two problems; you're still not able to buy alcohol, and the lines at the DMV are gonna be insane.


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

[User]
[Doom] Is occupying Hell after repelling the invasion a good idea?

Should we occupy Hell after we defeat the demons? Something like how the allies did to Germany after World War II. This way, Hell can't regain strength and invade again.

[Assistant] Occupy?  Probably not a good idea.  Remember, Hell wasn't defeated by "us", it was the Doom Slayer who went over there and punched Hell in the face until the realm, as a whole, decided it didn't like him very much.  In contrast, pretty much every human ever sent to Hell has died an agonizing death at the hands (and claws and jaws and guns) of the demons.  The Doom Slayer didn't manage to kill *all* the demons in Hell, which means any attempt to send an occupational force will likely end in failure.  As for the Doom Slayer himself, he's currently in places unknown, and even if we did know where he is, he's unlikely to agree with any plan to occupy or exploit Hell.  When it comes to Hell, he seeks only to punch it in the face.


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

[User]
[X-Men DOFP Spoilers] Azezal's power and the Sentinels

If Trask had captured and killed Emma Frost and Azezal to allow their powers to be used by the Sentinels, why couldn't the Sentinels teleport?

[Assistant]
it's possible that an error in teleportation was deemed too dangerous even for the sentinel program, Azezal had an intuitive understanding of his power, nightcrawler was considerably less certain and greatly feared materializing inside a wall.

 Early trials of sentinel teleportation could easily have resulted in a twenty foot robot sharing the same space as a wall, tree, person, or most likely the ground. The resulting explosion could well have resembled a nuclear explosion and likely destroyed the research facility with all records and personnel.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do records by incredibly popular bands like The Beatles consistently top 'most rare/valuable' vintage LP lists? Shouldn't the market be over-saturated because so many people bought them when they were new?

[Assistant]
The ones that top the list aren't necessarily the album as a whole, but *certain pressings* of that album.
Over time, popular albums go through many different pressings at the record plant as they sell out. Sometimes, errors get through or certain pressings are made in a much more limited quantity. These are the ones that are valuable.

For example, the album 'Yesterday and Today' by the Beatles can be found on ebay for fractions of a dollar.
But if you have an original copy of the first pressing, which contained a later deleted and banned cover art, you have an album worth many thousands and thousands of dollars.
Another example is the first self-titled Queens of the Stone Age album. Over the years, it has been pressed many times. You can find copies for $20 easily. But if you have the first pressing, which was very limited quantity, you have something worth many hundreds of dollars.

Source: I've bought and sold records for the last 20 years.


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

[User]
CMV: Being able to freeze time is the best superpower you could wish for

I am convinced being able to freeze time is the best superpower you could have. I could fulfill all my dreams (both good and evil) with this power.

Its important to mention that Im talking about how a superpower would be useful while living a normal life.  That means Im not trying to be part of some Avengers group or fighting intergalactic demons. Let me give you some examples to explain.

Get into a fight? Freeze time and escape or calmly find a way to defeat your opponent.
Want to be rich? Freeze time and take whatever you want.
Starting to rain? Freeze time and find a dry spot.
Running late for a meeting? Freeze time and get there on time.
Have to answer a tough question? Take all the time you need to think about an answer.
Want to live life to the max? Freeze time every now and then to experience everything the world has to offer without having to rush things.

Now, Ive thought about immortality as a superpower. But the thought of being immortal seemed depressing to me because youll lose your loved ones over time. But by freezing time you can still grow old together, but on your time!

I could even use this superpower to fulfill some evil and naughty desires this superpower is better than invisibility ;).

The only limit I found with this super power is if you want to use it for helping people in unexpected disasters. Because you cant act before it happens. It only works on easy stuff you are able to see in front of you. For instance, a child that is going to get hit by a bus or something.

Im curious if you can think of any other cons to this power. But Im 99% sure this is the best choice.

[Assistant] While time is stopped you are still moving, your heart is still beating and you cells are still dividing, therefore you are still aging while time is stopped. If you make liberal use of the freeze time ability then you will age much faster than your loved ones.


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

[User] If there was a planet orbiting at the exact same speed as the Earth, in the same orbital path, but on the other side of the sun from the Earth, would we know about it by now? How would we figure that out?

[Assistant] We'd know about because a. Earth's orbit isn't perfectly circular so there'd be phases of the orbit where the sun isn't blocking it and b. its gravity would disrupt the space probes we send to Venus and Mars, but those probes haven't been disrupted. If such a planet exists it would have to be small enough to be a Russel's Teapot.


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

[User]
[Masters of the Universe] I am Adam, Prince of Eternia, and... why am I supposed not to tell anyone I'm He-Man, exactly?

The Sorceress said something about bad guys harming my family if they knew, but why would any of that matter? Bad guys already want to harm my family, because my parents are the king and the queen!

[Assistant]
You know how you are the defender of the Secrets of Castle Grayskull? With fabulous Secret Powers that were revealed to you? The operative word is SECRETS. There is a powerful magic in keeping secrets, of not revealing everything to the world.

The second you tell everyone you're He-Man, there's a good chance that part of the magic that makes you into He-Man disappears.


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

[User] [Titanfall] How does my titan manage to repair damage to herself when I bring her a fusion battery? Does she have some sort of self-repair system I don't know about? Or is she just transferring power to structural integrity, like the Enterprise?

[Assistant] Most likely, there is a self healing system composed of nanobots that can self replicate and perform basic repair functions. The new fusion battery gives this system the power it needs to fully repair your Titan.


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

[User]
[Futurama] How many humans live off of earth?

Are there many human colonies, or is humanity mainly an Earth-Moon-Mars civilization?

[Assistant]
I think there are many, enough that entire planets are "themed" for certain groups. There's the Amish homeworld, for a start.

And two gangster planets and a cowboy world were mentioned to be destroyed by love radiation - they were presumably human before then. And the way said, "two gangster planets", not "both", and "a cowboy world", not "the", implies they were the only ones out there. If such specific worlds existed, surely they wouldn't be the only ones.

So there are probably hundreds of human dominated planets around the universe.


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

[User] Are there any human populations without any Neanderthal DNA? Are there measurable differences from that absence?

[Assistant]
Native African tribes. Neanderthals lived in Europe and Western Asia, and only encountered humans after we migrated out of Africa. From there, we interbred with Neanderthals, and moved across the globe, first to East Asia, then the Pacific Islands and Australia, and finally North and South America. Since no human groups (that we know of) went back to Africa, most Southern African tribes and their descendants have next to no Neanderthal DNA.

However, there isn't much of a measurable difference in our DNA because of this. Most Europeans and Asians only have about 2% Neanderthal DNA in their genome.
Although, some studies have found that a higher concentration of Neanderthal DNA can possibly lead to a minor increase in risk for genetic diseases, like Crohn's Disease and lupus. Also, because Neanderthals and humans are nearly separate species (genetically), those with higher concentrations of Neanderthal DNA can have a higher risk of issues with their X chromosomes, which leads to a lower rate of fertility. But again, these changes have been part of us for tens of thousands of years, and are as much a part of us as any other human ancestor.

Daven Presgraves has even postulated that breeding with Neanderthals made it easier for our species to adapt to northern climates, since Neanderthals carried traits for lighter skin, hair, and eyes, as well as being shorter and heavier-set than us.


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

[User]
[General] Is there any group or society that is both high-tech and high-magic?

Not like "Sufficiently Advanced" races or something like the asgardians where their magic is used almost scientifically, but a society where they have Dyson spheres fueling their true AI starfleet and also Ley lines powering their fairy gate system maintained by bound summons.

[Assistant] Warhammer 40k, arguably, if you consider Warp energy to be magic. Perfectly ordinary science-based technologies living alongside eldrich and esoteric Warp based stuff with all the trappings you would normally associate with magic settings.


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

[User] ELI5: what happens to insects after getting off our cars finding themselves kilometers far from their nest?

[Assistant]
Other than bees and wasps, the vast majority of insects don't have a 'home' so it literally makes no difference for them, since they have no home to go back to.

Those insects had been randomly flying around at point A, and will continue to randomly fly around at point B.

What might make a difference is if the weather conditions were very different, especially when it comes to wind and cold.


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

[User]
[Starship Troopers/Halo] Could John Rico be selected to enter the SPARTAN program?

It is something asking to myself after re-watcing the movies and OVAs of both franchise, and I was wondering what kind of SPARTAN (From ORION to the Latest SPARTAN-IV) John Rico would have been? It's my first question on this sub. so it's fairly short and straight to the point as much as possible.

[Assistant]
He would never have been considered for the SPARTAN II or III programs. He would have been considered viable for ORION and IV.

ORION and IV were all about picking up outstanding adult volunteers. John Rico was an exceptional soldier a bit into his career and was capable enough to become colonel by his late 30's. He would have been a great pick.


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

[User]
[General Fantasy] How many calories must a giant consume on a daily basis?

And what do they eat?

[Assistant]
Let's say they're x times taller than a human. Their weight would go up by a factor of x^(3). It would take them x times as long to fall a proportional distance, and since walking is a controlled fall each step would take x times as long, but it would take them x times further so they'd actually move x times faster. Since they move x^3 times the force across x times the distance, they end up using x^3.5 times as much energy.

So, for example, if a six foot man eats 2000 calories a day, then a 24 foot man would eat 4^3.5 = 128 times as much, or 256,000 calories per day.

Different giants eat different things. Snozzcumbers are one option.

That said, all this is based on the assumption that they're built and they move like regular humans but a little slower. Given the square-cube law and the caloric requirements, this isn't likely.


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

[User] [Terminator/The Mask] what would happen if a T-800 put on the mask?

[Assistant] The Terminator would be wearing an ancient yet inexplicably intact ceremonial mask, possibly Scandanavian in origin. While Resistance soldiers would question it, it would grant the robot no extraordinary powers.


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

[User]
Soccer Rules should be changed so the clock would stop every time the game stops and the game should end on 90 min exactly. CMV

I find it strange that the referee counts all the stoppage time together and then make an estimate on have much time is wasted during the game.
It seems very unexact, and very much up to the referees mood.

Stopping the time will also remove the frustrating time-wasting, where a goalkick or defensive freekick can take 6-7 minuttes because the team in control of the ball is ahead with 1 goal and there is not much time left.
Is there a reason, I haven't thought of, for having the present set of rules?

[Assistant]
It's simple. It makes the game takes less time. It stops arguing over when the clock should be started or stopped, something that is annoying in several North American sports. It's nowhere near the referee's largest impact on the game, so it's not a big deal. It subsumes the ambiguity of when a play ends and restarts after an injury or while the ball is controlled by the keeper. It makes the last minutes more unpredictable and so more tense.

Also when you say that it takes 6 or 7 minutes to take a free kick, you are exagerrating by about an order of magnitude.


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

[User] ELI5: When doing 30 minutes of cardio at a continuous pace, why does the heart rate significantly increase, and then start going back down before exercise is completed?

[Assistant]
Your heart goes "oh fuck!" and starts pumping blood faster and faster. Then it realises it didn't need to be as high as it was, and it starts to slow down or level out.

Think of it like hitting the accelerator from zero to cruising speed.


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

[User] [Firefly] What was precisely the reason Mal, Zoe and thr other rebels lost the war against the Alliance?

[Assistant] Logistics. The browncoats were fighting for independence of peripheral planets and moons. Those places produced raw materials, with most of the value added manufacturing occuring in the Core. While initially the browncoats were able to raid supply depots and armories for weapons, they had accute shortages of fuel and ammo as the fighting dragged on. They were unable to engage in pitched battles and from an early stage were fighting rear-guard actions to preserve territory. In many ways they had no chance of success, with the fight against the Alliance merely being the dying gasp of a unified political entity that hoped to stand in opposistion to the flow of wealth from the edeges to the core of the system.


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

[User] [Marvel] Why does Mr.Fantastic and Doom's children have the same name ?

[Assistant]
Valeria von Doom, who used the code name Marvel Girl, was from an alternate universe where Reed Richards and Dr Doom switched bodies and never unswitched. So while she believed herself to be the daughter of Doom, she was really the daughter of Reed Richards as Doctor Doom.

Valeria Richards, is the second child of Reed and Sue. They were complications with the birth, and only Doctor Doom was around at the time to make sure the baby was born safely. He did so in exchange for the right to name the child after his lost love Valeria.

There were some implications that the alternate universe that Valeria von Doom was from was actually some sort of weird cosmic manipulation by Franklin Richards, and that Valeria Richards is some sort of reincarnation of Valeria von Doom, who was also then a reincarnation of a child Sue had that miscarried years prior.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do animals "bite" at the sky when they have rabies ?

[Assistant] it causes the muscles of the throat to spasm uncontrollably, especially if the animal tries to swallow, eat, or drink. the spasms are very painful, and it often looks like "biting". The animal cannot eat or drink without triggering the spasms, or even swallow their own saliva, so they drool and foam at the mouth.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] Why didn't the 30th century Federation do anything about the events referred to in the Star Trek reboot?

My question was to wordy too ask properly in the title so here goes: The series Star Trek: Enterprise introduced the Temporal Cold War. One of the main agents involved in the war was the Federation of the 30th century which had access to time travel and monitoring technology and which actively took steps to make sure that the timeline remained as recorded in history.

I haven't watched the series entirely but it seems to me that a body with such technology and interests would seriously want to prevent the massively time altering events in J.J Abrams Star Trek reboot series.

[Assistant]
It's outside of their jurisdiction.

The wormhole that opened up due to the supernova collapsing in on itself wasn't just a portal in time.  It actually opened up a portal to the past in a very similar alternate dimension.  (Note that we've known about other alternate dimensions for quite a while now, so this new one isn't really a surprise.)

We know this for two reasons:

* There are certain minor inconsistencies between our universe and this other one that existed even before the Narada's appearance.  For instance, Federation ships are much larger.
* Spock himself had no protection from changes to the timeline.  If Vulcan was destroyed in his own timeline, his past would have been altered, which would have altered his memories as well.  This didn't happen.

Now, as for why the 30th century Federation from *that* dimension didn't intervene, there are a few possibilities:

* Perhaps the Narada and the destruction of Vulcan were already an integral part of their timeline.
* Perhaps they lost the temporal cold war and are no longer able to alter the past.
* Perhaps the destruction of Vulcan altered time in an unpredictable way that puts them in a better position than they were originally in.


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

[User]
How does the area of a black hole's event horizon change with respect to its mass increase?

I understand that the mass of a black hole increases by the same amount of the in-falling mass.  Is the (spherical?) surface of the event horizon simply related to the BH's mass as it is to its "volume?"  In other words, if the BH were a physical object made of some non-compressible material, say water, for every extra drop that joined the BH its volume, and therefore surface, would increase by a given amount.  Double the mass/volume and the surface would increase by (I think) 2/3.

Is that the same in an actual BH?

Is the event horizon always spherical?  Even in rotating BHs?

[Assistant]
The area of the event horizon scales with the square of the mass of the black hole.

In fact, this is how the Schwarzschild radius is defined to begin with. If the area of the horizon is A (which is well-defined and observer-independent), then the "radius" is defined to be the number R such that A = 4\*pi\*R^(2). It is then a basic result that R ~ M, where M is the mass of the black hole.

The volume of a black hole is not well-defined.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Was there any sort of benefit from lightsabers with curved handles?

Dooku and Asajj Ventress used lightsabers with curved handles. Was there any sort of benefit from that design?

[Assistant] Curved is a specific type of dueling saber that allows for easier rotation, Dookus style is meant to be a more refined combat style with disarms and flourishes. Asajj uses them because Dooku taught her.


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

[User] Assuming the theory is true that a Mars-sized body collided with Earth causing the ejection of matter that would latter form the moon. How did the ejected matter circularize its orbit? Wouldn't the matter have fallen down to Earth?

[Assistant] There would have been a lot of interaction between all of the material that was ejected. There was plenty of opportunity for *some* of that material to exchange momentum in a manner that would stabilize the orbit.


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

[User] ELI5: What's the difference between Diet Coke and Coke Zero?

[Assistant]
Back when diet sodas were introduced, they were kind of terrible. So bad, in fact, the Coke didn't want to tarnish the brand of their regular soda...instead they created a new brand, marketed mostly towards women, called Tab. That was their marketing plan, and they stuck with it for nearly 20 years.

Upstart Pepsi took a different approach. Their soda's consistency and flavor lent itself to artificial sweeteners a little better, so they were able to formulate a diet version that was slightly less terrible. The marketed it under the Pepsi brand, and it slowly grew to dominate the diet market.

By the early 1980s, Coke had had enough and decided it was time for their own Coke branded diet soda. But the same factors that made Diet Pepsi successful worked against them...try as they might, they just couldn't make the Coke recipe work with the sweeteners of the day. They stopped trying, and invented a completely new recipe (one many say was more like Pepsi), and marketed that as Diet Coke. It was wildly successful, and very quickly started to take market share away from Diet Pepsi.

In fact, Diet Coke was a bit too successful. A few years later, facing stiff competition from Pepsi in their regular cola line, Coke abandoned their nearly century-old recipe, creating a regular version of Diet Coke, which tested better than the old Coke or Pepsi. When they didn't anticipate was the extreme nostalgia for the original Coke, and "New Coke" went down as one of the biggest marketing blunders in history. Coke eventually was forced to reintroduce the original as Coca-Cola Classic, the public never acquired a taste for New Coke, and it was eventually phased out.

Finally, in 2005, with new sweeteners available to them, Coke took another swing at a diet version of the original formula, and came up with Coke Zero. Claiming it was "indistinguishable" from regular Coke, it has largely been marketed towards men, and has gained a significant share of the diet soda market.

To recap:

* Diet Coke = Diet New Coke before New Coke existed
* Coke Zero = Diet Old Coke

Hope that clears things up.


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

[User]
ELi5: All the different types of music file such as mp3,mp4, alac, flac. Etc....

differences/benefits/disadvantages/ why i should care?

[Assistant]
You have a giant teddy bear. It works great when you need it, but it takes up a lot of space, so you realize you can cram it into your drawer when you aren't using it. WAV is like having your teddy out in the open all the time. FLAC is like stuffing your teddy in a drawer when you aren't using it.

Maybe you want to fit your teddy bear into a smaller space, though. The only way that's possible is to cut pieces out of your teddy, sew up the holes, and throw away the scraps. This is like MP3. It fits into an even smaller space than shoving and squeezing can make, but you've also lost parts of teddy forever. Depending on how much you remove, you may notice very little difference or a huge difference in teddy compared to what he once was.


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

[User]
[DC/Marvel] If magic is something that can be learned, why do non-magical characters never attempt to learn some magic?

Someone like Batman could sure use some magic, if not for fighting then at least for utility. Someone like Superman is aware of their weakness to magic but he doesn't choose to try and address it.

I understand the Doylist answer (too boring if everyone uses magic) but is there a canon explanation?

[Assistant]
I think the Doylist answer is key here, but for an in-universe reason, its likely because magic is HARD. Most casters in Marvel and DC either are immensely skilled or come from a genetic background that aids them in learning.

For the most part, we don't get to see the washouts, the hundred acolytes who, try as they might, can't cast a simple ward spell without blowing up their arm. Magic tends to be a "dot your i's and cross your t's" kind of deal and not everyone has the will or patience to be absolutely engaged in the process.

There is also a second issue in that magic isn't free, ever. There is always a cost associated with using magic, and few are capable of accepting the risks involved. This also bridges into the third reason, in that once you get into the magic world, YOU DON'T LEAVE. You become a nice fancy target to all the other magical creatures that tend to leave the normal reality alone. By entering their world, you are saying that you are willing to play the game on a different level, one that usually is far more dangerous and intense than most on the prime plane have to deal with.

Sure, Kal-El has tangled with gods and demons every now and then, but most don't tend to concern themselves with him. Now look at Constantine, who deals with apocalyptic monstrosities on a weekly basis; many who would scoff at such silly means of combat as "punching really hard"

In essence, magic is a dangerous game to play, and unless you're willing to accept the risks and rewards associated with bending reality, its best left to the experts.


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

[User]
[DC] Unlike Batman, Superman operates within the laws of the US government, and his actions are officially sanctioned by the government. Does Superman have an official role in the national government?

Sub-question to that, Is Superman, simply for being Superman, somewhere in the line of succession for the office of President?

[Assistant] Superman's not a natural born citizen of the United States of America (or of Earth, for that matter) so he would be ineligible to ascend to the office of POTUS, even if he had an official role within it.


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

[User]
If the Earth's core is slowly cooling, does that mean that the convection in the molten layer driving tectonic shift is beginning to slow?

If so, does this mean that continental drift is getting slower over time?

[Assistant] Yes, eventually it will. First of all, earth doesn't lose heat very fast because rock is a terrible heat conductor. Secondly, heat is still being generated from radioactive decay. However this is not an infinite source of heat and eventually earth will cool, slowly halting tectonics.


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

[User]
[Man of Steel] Why did General Zod want to terraform Earth into Krypton?

On Earth Kryptonians are literally gods, all he needed was to restart the Kryptonian race on Earth not terraform it. So here is my question did I miss anything that informed his decision?

[Assistant]
Zod says something to effect of his entire reason for existing being to protect and defend Krypton. He failed at that the first time, so turning Earth into a new Krypton, as close to the original as possible, was the next best thing he could manage. A chance to bring it back nearly as it was but free of the flaw (weak leadership) that led to the destruction of the original.

There's also the practical side of it being incredibly dangerous to have an entire planet full of people with the power of Superman. The Kryptonian equivalent of a drunken fistfight would level a city. Imagine if someone tried to attempt a coup exactly like Zod did originally. The destruction would be horrific and probably ruin the planet beyond their ability to fix.

And, whether Zod realises or admits it to himself or not, he also probably wants to make it easier for himself to maintain control. When the entire population are just regular Kryptonians, himself included, then the ones with the weapons and soldiers are the ones with power, and he has all the guns and a loyal army. When everyone can benchpress a mountain or throw a battleship, that gap in power narrows considerably. Sure, he and his soldiers might be able to eventually defeat or contain any unrest that might arise but that would take a lot of time and energy and cause significant collateral damage, circling back to the previous point.


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

[User] [General Fantasy] Could a full suit of plate armor from around 1450 with some modifications be enough to protect a vampire from the harmful effects of the sun? Would such a suit actually be usable in combat?

[Assistant]
Depends on the strain of vampirism. Some can get by with just a parasol. Some suffer from even indirect sunlight, or become comatose during the day. It seems completely unrelated to the severity of their reaction to direct sunlight, so it's more of a supernatural thing. Or maybe it's a psychological thing?

Anyways, short answer is "depends, but most vampires don't try it because even if it works it's too risky and sunlight is scary."


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

[User]
CMV: John McEnroe isn't sexist when saying Serena isn't one of the best tennis players of all time.

A couple months ago in an NPR interview John McEnroe caught major heat from the MSM for what was said about Serena. Here is the interview transcripts.

"Garcia-Navarro: We're talking about male players but there is of course wonderful female players. Let's talk about Serena Williams. You say she is the best female player in the world in the book.

McEnroe: Best female player ever  no question.

Garcia-Navarro: Some wouldn't qualify it, some would say she's the best player in the world. Why qualify it?

McEnroe: Oh! Uh, she's not, you mean, the best player in the world, period?

Garcia-Navarro: Yeah, the best tennis player in the world. You know, why say female player?

McEnroe: Well because if she was in, if she played the men's circuit she'd be like 700 in the world."

Is what he said wrong? Obviously we are talking skill wise and not about success of the careers.

[Assistant]
This depends on how you want to define "best".

The one that McEnroe is using is "who will beat who in a match". In this way McEnroe is entirely correct.

However another way to define best would be who has the greatest technical aptitude. This becomes a bit more subjective but there is some quantification to it. Usually by people within the sport/field assessing it and the dominance of the person against those with the same bracket as them.

Take boxing for example. Many might say someone from the featherweight division is actually the better boxer but still acknowledge that they'd be destroyed by the worse boxer whose a heavy weight.

Who wins is usually a combination between physical condition and skill. When talking about whose the "best" some people are referring solely to skill while others like McEnroe are are taking both into consideration.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does the uterus know when exactly to start contractions to birth a human baby?

Thought this when I wondered how premature births happen and why the body does that.

[Assistant] The baby puts pressure on the cervix. Through a biochemical pathway your brain releases oxytocin. Oxytocin causes the walls of the uterus to contract. The contraction pushes the baby against the dilating cervix, and the pathway repeats.


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

[User]
[General] Why do high tier civilization eventually regress?

So something I've always wondered is why do some stories for example in Man of Steel and many others where highly advance civilization with the ability to do things like bend space, terraform or even harvest stars for energy.

Why would they all of sudden decide to regress into an era where things are stagnant where research and science while have evolved aren't taking risk like they were before their days. It just doesn't seem plausible because the rational thing to do is to keep progressing and advance their technology but in many cases there's always an era where things go south and they start to abandon those ideals.

[Assistant]
Advancement is to achieve a period of time where work is no longer necessary, and the civilisation can pursue their true dreams (be it expansion, leasure, culture, etc).

Take the Eldar of 40K, they began to basically explore every sin to find the greatest pleasure imaginable. They forgot to keep pushing themselves and then their arrogance caused a huge problem they couldn't fix.

The Asgard of SG1, wanted to play peacekeepers and forgot to check the dangers of cloning.

Any more examples readers can push forward?


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

[User]
[MCU] (Thor Ragnarok and earlier spoilers) The world tree and the rest of the universe?

So In Thor The Dark World, we see that the 9 realms are converging and allow travel between the 9 without need to use the bifrost or any other means. At first I thought that maybe they were in different dimensions or something and that is what made them separate from the rest of the universe (the Guardians of the Galaxy type stuff). But when Thor calls his hammer back to himself in TDW the hammer flies up into space when he goes through one of the convergences, so it suggests that there is some straight line between the 9 worlds.

In Thor Ragnarok, Hala mentions that Odin stopped his conquering at 9 worlds while she desired to keep going until they ruled the whole universe. Which further suggests that these 9 worlds are in our universe. So my question is, what causes the convergence between the 9 worlds? The only thing that I can think that relates the 9 is the bifrost. So does the Bifrost cause the convergence?
If Hala succeeded, and more planets were conquered would those be connected in the next convergence?

Edit: Similar question, are the 9 worlds key points in the universe? Thor says that Midgard (Earth) is central to the world tree which is why the convergence is the strongest there. And the Dark Elves seem to think that they can get the fastest coverage of darkening the universe by using the convergence. So is the earth some central point of the universe? Is that why Dormamu was so interested in using our planet to enter our dimension?

[Assistant]
1. The Convergence predates Odin conquering the Nine Worlds, as it was shown during King Bor's attack on the Dark Elves over five thousand years ago.

2. The Convergence may be a side effect of some cosmic phenomena connecting the Nine Worlds. For this reason, the Bifrost was able to piggyback on this phenomena, which means that it cannot be used to travel to any other world.

3. Odin probably stopped after conquering the Nine Worlds because taking other worlds that are outside the Bifrost network would take too much effort, considering how Asgard doesn't appear to have significant space navy capabilities.


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

[User]
[Saw] What was the purpose in leaving the key in the tub with Adam?

Immediately, it went down the drain, and we see at the end that it was meant for his shackle. If it really would have unlocked him, why did they leave him the key? If he hadn't sent it down the drain, he could have been released, and the entirety of the game is wasted?

Additionally, why did Amanda kill Adam instead of just leaving him?

This is the only part of the entire series that never made sense to me.

[Assistant]
Key: Most likely it was part of the game; either that the key was there all along - but only his key? - or that his own actions would leave him stuck - he was meant to lose it.

Killing Adam: She couldn't stand imagining him slowly dying in there by starvation, so she made the process faster.


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

[User]
ELI5: How come police posing as prostitutes isn't entrapment? And why can the undercover officers not be charged with prostitution?

It seems to me like they are creating an illegal situation. I see it on COPS all the time.

In order for the "John" to commit a crime, he first has to agree to pay for sex. The sex has to be offered in the first place, so how come the undercover officer cannot be charged with prostitution?

[Assistant]
It isn't entrapment because the undercover cop isn't forcing any of the johns to pay for sex.  The logic is, if the john did not solicit sex from the cop, he would have done so with another girl.

As to why the cop doesn't get charged, undercover police officers are given certain immunity from the law in order to do their jobs.  As long as they stay withing reasonable limits, they won't get charged.


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

[User] [Dbz] How did doctor gero managed to make android with more strenght than anything in the universe at the time?

[Assistant]
He discovered a power source that's similar enough to natural Ki to be used like it but different enough not to be detected by Ki sensitive individuals. This power source has the added benefit of not running out (Androids/Cyborgs never run out of energy). This gave the androids a higher power level that their phisical bodies would allow.
That's what Cell needed from 17 and 18, their artificial power sources complemented Cell's natural Ki reserves and power level.


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

[User]
[DC] Why does Superman (and other Kryptonians) instantly lose their powers, within the Phantom Zone?

Kryptonians act as a "battery" (to put it simply) for solar energy, which is why Superman doesn't instantly becomes powerless when it becomes nighttime. In some incarnations, when coming into contact with red solar radiation, Kryptonians gradually lose their yellow solar energy deposits. Then, why does the Phantom Zone have the instantaneous effect of stripping Kryptonians of their powers?

Is it some sort of native energy that seeps them of their solar energy deposits? Would something like Doomsday become powerless in the Phantom Zone, since it was technically Kryptonian, in some incarnations?

[Assistant] Apparently all biological processes are halted. Inmates of the Phantom Zone don't age, don't need to eat, drink, or sleep, and any afflictions are suspended. Presumably this affects the Kryptonians' and Daxamites' ability to process sunlight into superpowers.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do(Non social) hamsters immediately launch themselves at other hamsters aggressively on sight, but are okay with human hands coming near them?

[Assistant] Imagine you live in a place where you have to fight to survive. You have to scare/maim/kill other people to get food. That's the hamster vs hamster. Now if a giant 300x your size comes along and starts reaching for you, you're gonna freeze up and hope it hasn't seen you because you don't have a snowball's chance in hell of doing anything to it. That's hamster vs human.


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

[User] ELI5: If I drink half of a Five Hour Energy, will I have half the energy for five hours or the "full" amount of energy for 2.5 hours?

[Assistant]
There are multiple active ingredients in the stuff. Each of them has a curve that initially goes up relatively quickly and then fades slowly as your body processes it.

If you take half, the strength of those curves cut, but they are not squashed in the time dimension.

That said, it takes a lot longer than 5 hours for it to be 100% out of your system. The "effectiveness" ends when the strength falls below a certain threshold. With a lower dose, that would happen sooner.

So, it would be weaker at its peak _and_ not last as long.


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

[User]
How does host selection work for different species of parasitic wasps?

There are thousands of species of parasitic wasps, and they have a diverse range of hosts for which they lay their eggs in, such as caterpillars, spiders, aphids, etc. However, could, for instance, a tarantula hawk wasp be able to lay eggs in a caterpillar, and just prefers targeting spiders, or can it only lay eggs in spiders? Same question applies for other types of parasitic wasps.

[Assistant]
Hi!

Parasitoids tend to be very specific to their hosts (even if they attack different species within a family) as they need to overcome the defense mechanisms that the host has to defend themselves from the parasitoid.

Some caterpillars create melatonin bubbles around wasps eggs, others have white globules that attack the unknown element inside their bodies, and some wasps use different mechanisms such as venom, paralyzers or even polydnaviruses that hits the hosts immune system and lowers the capacity of the host to attack the wasp egg.

Evolutionarily speaking knowing what are the defense mechanisms of each host is very costly, and they tend to specialize to be as effective as they can, after all, their lives depends on it.

Because of this its not very common for a parasitoid to attack a great range of hosts, for that we have predators which are VERY generalists


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

[User]
[Batman] How public are the identities of all of Gotham city super criminals?

I'm writing a short fanfic idea, but for this idea to work I had to ask myself: are Gotham supervillains identities public knowledge? Can a teenager using the internet discover who they are with just a check on the In-universe wikipedia article?

Of course, I know Joker nor Bane have an actual identity (the first one forgotten in time, the latter never obtained). but does the public know who Edward Nygma or Jonnathan Crane are?

[Assistant]
Yeah, they're public knowledge- they are caught, unmasked and tried under their true names.

There are a few exceptions, but those who have been arrested have their real names known, at least to a "on their wikipedia page" level.


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

[User] [Fantasy] Why are most societies stuck in the middle ages?

[Assistant] Because all the bright minds go to study magic, not technology. A "futuristic" world with magic is one in which magic has been studied and refined, it's laws codified. There seems to be little point in advancing natural philosophy when *unnatural* philosophy can do all the same things, but faster, better, and much cheaper.


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

[User]
What happens if you freeze one water molecule?

I know that water molecules arrange themselves into a hexagonal pattern when they freeze, but is there any change within a single molecule?

[Assistant]
States of matter, gas liquid and solid, are by definition a model for how atoms and molecules interact with each other at an atomic level to give rise to macroscopic properties.

Hence, it would be impossible to 'freeze' one molecule. The molecule would vibrate less vigorously with decreasing temperature, but no other significant change would occur.


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

[User] ELI5 what is the student debt bubble and what will happen when it falls apart?

[Assistant]
The cost of college is rising much faster than wages, so people are taking on debt to pay for the rising cost. It is becoming common to have over 100k in debt when completing a 4 year degree. Due to this many groups are getting involved to get a piece of the debt pie, which is driving up prices.

The fallout will be similar to the housing bubble bursting. Many institutions will be forced to close as they have no money and lots of people will have their lives ruined.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why can I drink water and eat salty food but not drink saltwater?

Always thought about this but never gotten any answer.

[Assistant]
You can drink salt water, it just has a LOT more salt than you think.  A liter of seawater has around 35g of salt.  That's about 5 or 6 teaspoons of salt.

Seawater is about 3 times as salty as the human body, so if you drank a cup of seawater, you'd want to drink 2 more cups of freshwater to balance everything.


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

[User] ELI5:Why would vast methane plumes escaping from Arctic seafloor be bad for us?

[Assistant] Methane is an extremely potent greenhouse gas, many many times more potent than gases like CO2 (though the life of methane in our atmosphere is much shorter than other, less potent gases). Scientists are concerned that this could become a trend, something we certainly would not want to happen.


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

[User] Is a railgun chamber sealed up tight like a traditional firearm? If it is, does negative atmospheric pressure develop behind the projectile as it moves down the barrel? If it does, does it represent a problem or velocity limitation that has to be dealt with somehow? If so, how?

[Assistant] Railgun barrels are often sealed and pumped to vacuum in order to get rid of the shock wave that would normally be caused by the projectile moving at supersonic (in air) velocity.  The end barrier is just strong enough to withstand the vacuum, and is destroyed by the emerging projectile.