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

[User] ELI5: How is Obama able to show up to a random event like his nieces basketball game today?

[Assistant]
It's much easier to show up at a random event than a planned event.  If the President is known to be appearing at such and such a place at such and such a time, then people who want to kill him have lots of opportunity to prepare.

If he just suddenly goes to an event with no prior notice where he was not expected to attend, its very unlikely that anyone there is interested in or capable of killing him.  The longer he's there, the higher the risk becomes as word spreads, so the Secret Service probably has him on a short timer and they have controlled access to the facility so that anyone going in is screened first for weapons.  At some point they know they have to get him out of there and back into the protective cocoon but for a while he can be a little bit "normal".


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

[User]
CMV: Violent crimes deserve violent punishment

I should probably preface this by saying that this post was inspired by a recent personal experience. It has been pointed out to me that it's unhealthy to harbour this much rage and unease, so I'm turning to the reasonable side of reddit to help me change my view before I harm myself mentally. Oh and, English isn't my first language and I'm doing this on my phone, sorry in advance.

Basically, while I agree prison is a decent enough punishment for thieves, money lanunderers, tax evaders and similar non-violent offenders, from my newfound position I cannot understand how a few years in prison are a fair tradeoff for causing someone serious and potentially permanent damage, on purpose. Obviously for actual murder the sentences are usually way longer than for other violent acts. I don't think those are sufficient either but I can't put myself in that position so I'll talk about everything "below" murder.

1. Attempted murder is basically the same as murder. The only reason the victim is still alive is sheer dumb luck and the expertise of the medical team saving their life. For all intents and purposes, you were full on gonna murder someone, you just failed. You should be tried as if you actually murdered them.

2. You didn't only cause pain and suffering for the person you attacked. Their friends and families also suffer in a similar capacity, but with no morphine drip. And they will continue to suffer, to some extent, for the rest of their lives. Forever. If you've never been in the situation you can't imagine what it does to you. And you shouldn't. Please don't try.

3. I don't know what it's like in other countries, I can only speak for where I am. Let's say it's your first offense, and you were lucky, you failed to kill your victim. You can get 5-20 years. Since it's your first crime, you're young and you have a family, the judge might go easy on you. You'll get 7 years. With good behaviour, and assuming you're not a complete idiot, you will behave, you'll be out in 5 or less. 5 years. For ruining the lives of at least 10 people. For making them feel unsafe in their own homes. For scarring several children for life.

4. What about permanent damage to the victim? They used to have a job, provide for their family, have friends, barbecues. Will they ever be capable of any of that again? Will they need life-long care? You've changed the lives of everyone around them forever and you get sent to a corner, dressed and fed by tax money the victim's friends and family have to pay? Screw that. On top of that, and believe me this is the least of my concerns, the most the victim's family can get out of it is less than $5000, and not even from the attacker but from the broke-ass state that's probably getting that from tax funds as well. So effectively we pay it to ourselves.

5. IMO these all apply for rape, abduction and any other similar experience I can't think of either because of the language barrier or lack of experience.

For all these reasons, I believe the only way I'd feel like a "fair" punishment has been dealt is if the same was done to the attacker. You broke someone's knees? Okay bud, enjoy yours having broken. Shot someone in the stomach? Aight, this bullet has your name on it, etc. Oh and obviously they then be denied medical care. Not like they called an ambulance when they attacked their victim. They wanted to harm them, they wanted them dead, they deserve the same. And it wouldn't be fair to spend taxpayers' money on a person like that.

And yes, I've heard "eye for an eye makes the whole world blind" but I do believe a relative minority of the population commits such heinous acts. None of this is going to make the world blind, it'll just rid us of the most disgusting, lowlife, horrible people who don't deserve to see the light of day anyway.

I think that's all I had to say, but I bet you'll tell me if I missed something. Thank you for reading.

[Assistant] Oddly enough treating attempted murder as murder actually incentivizes people to try harder. See if you fail the first time and the punishment for attempted murder is lighter than successful murder, there's a motive to not try again. If it's the exact same punishment as for successful murder then trying again and hoping you succeed so that the person can't testify against you is in your best interest. Better yet if you successfully murder everyone who knew anything then you might be able to get away with it. There's no harsher punishment for murdering everyone than for attempting to kill one person, so you might as well try.


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

[User] ELI5: How do orgasms work?

[Assistant]
Your genitals have a set of special nerves. When these nerves are stimulated enough. The brain releases chemicals and orders the muscles to spasm. The whole ordeal is generally pleasant.

I think thats how it is

Edit. Thanks for the gold \^\_^


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

[User]
I believe that it's a good idea to teach three year olds about sex. CMV.

I think that as a society we are grossed out by sex, but that a good way to move forward is through making it seem normal right out of the box.

If a three year old starts the process about talking about sex with you, then you can be sure when they're grown up they'll talk about sex with you and won't make any rash decisions later in life.

To be clear, I am talking about answering the question, "How were you made?" at a 3 year old level, so for example a simple answer like "When a man and a woman want a baby and know each other well, the man puts his penis inside the woman's vagina."

So far the arguments I've heard against are: "They are 3 years old." or "They're not old enough." So what dictates that a 3 year old isn't ready to learn about sex? Doing some quick googling it seems like it might be developmentally uncommon for a three year old to learn about it, but I can see no reason why a norm can't change.

[Assistant] I think if the goal is to normalize sexuality and put children at ease, you might be doing the opposite by giving a three-year-old the details about sex.  At three, children still have a very hard time telling the difference between reality and make-believe.  That gives them fantastical ideas.  Bath time is scary because you can be sucked down the drain.  People can live inside the television.  Batman is real, even if you tell them otherwise. Too much information at that age might do more to confuse than to educate, because there is no telling how that information is going to manifest in their imaginations.


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

[User] (DC Comics) I've been propositioned for a job with both WayneTech and LexCorp. Which is the better company?

[Assistant]
We appreciate your interest in Lexcorp, and would we want you as an employee.  It is our understanding that you are also being courted by Waynetech, this is not surprising seeing as super-scientists are always in high demand, but allow us to make the case for Luthorcorp.

1- leadership. Lex Luthor himself is a super-scientist, and as such understands the stress and requirements of fellow super-scientists, and has even lead the county as president, unlike that playboy Wayne.

2- stable leadership.  Lexcorp is and always will be owned and ran by Mr. Luthor.  No matter how rosy the earning statements for Waynetech may be, leadership is threatened near constantly, take overs originate from within and without yearly. (Also it seemed as though Bruce Wayne was dead for several years, being dead is no way to run a company!)

3- saftey matters!  Gotham with all of its history and charm is a cesspool of crime and corruption, while Metropolis is nearly crime free.  Granted in both cities you have to deal with lawless masked vigilantes, but together we can help the government hold this criminals accountable for their crimes.

4- autonomy.  Wayne tends to randomly suspend, shut down, or "reassign" research. Mr. Luthor would never do that.  If you want to develop the fluffiest marshmallow? You get a lab.  You want to develop a gun that creates volcanos? You get a lab. You want to see is dolphins make a hyper efficient fuel? You get a lab.  You want to help develop defenses against a possible alien invasion that may have started via infiltration and insinuating themselves as masked heroes? You get a lab, military funding and a promotion.  Mr. Luthor knows that science is not about want looks good on a press release, but about progress.

If you have any further questions please feel free to ask!


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

[User]
[General] Does Super Strength lend itself to Super Durability?

If someone with superhuman strength jumps from a building or through a building, do they possess superhuman durability as well so as not to get injured? Or is that a different power altogether?

Does super durability mean they possess super strength too since they can't be hurt?

[Assistant] It depends, but yes there is often overlap.  For example, if you have super strength it is likely due to your muscles being denser / stronger.  If that is the case, the rest of your body is indeed more difficult to hurt.  On the flip side, if you have super durability due to whatever reason, you are able to push your body harder without worrying about hurting yourself.  The human body is capable of some pretty big feats of strength, we just limit ourselves so we don't break things.


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

[User]
Relationship in the lives of academicians

It takes time for someone who went for a PhD to get settled down with a permanent job which is pretty obvious. By that time, a person is near 30 or around 32 or more if we consider postdoc. How does uncertainty of which city/state/country(?) one may get a job relate to finding and keeping relationship a partner? This particularly happens a lot in faculty position. If one's lover or spouse has a job, how should the decision to move in other's city be taken?

There is a meme on internet that you either settle down for less or stay single. Jokes aside, once I read an social studies article where it shows that statistically male faculties more likely to have housewife (had a job but left) or wives doing a job she's too qualified to do because of moving with her husband. Female faculties may have faculty husband most likely (I forgot the percentage). Housewife observation may be relatively uncommon nowadays because of the changes compared to 30 years ago. Unfortunately I can't find the article again, so please ignore if you wish. However it is relatable.

I wonder about my professors how their life is (am afraid to ask such personal questions). It is more difficult for single academicians in a foreign country to find a partner (like me). From PhD to postdoc, you may need to change your place 2-3 times or more. I have checked my teachers's profiles and I don't know how they manage to do it if they had spouse at that time. Also, taking children is a parallel issue and a time dependent factor for female academicians if they want to. What do you think about this?

about me: I am a male grad student of STEM in his mid-20s. I have a plan to stay in academia, if not, in a research lab. I may do 1-2 postdoc (maybe?) in different places in future. I never had any partner and I am worried how it would go in future. I don't want to be a jerk asking someone to leave her job for me. I am even afraid to ask out someone I like because most likely we won't be able to stay together.

Any kind opinion and comment on my perspective will be welcome! Thanks for reading.

[Assistant]
1. Find a partner working in academia (at your grad or postdoc university)
2. Be kickass as you both begin your careers, and both apply to faculty jobs
3. Whoever lands the job at the better university, condition the appointment on also finding a faculty position for the partner
4. ????
5. Profit

Kinda tongue-in-cheek obviously, but that route seems to happen an awful lot.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do we think black holes are anything more than just super dense balls of matter?

[Assistant] When we try to understand them by using math, we end up having to plug things like infinity and zero into our equations, which breaks them and we don't get any sort of real or useful answer. Before the equations break down though, some weird things start happening like the warping of space and time. We also can't see inside them because their gravity is so strong that any light that gets too close to them gets pulled in.


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

[User] ELI5 Why do humans have different blood groups?

[Assistant] Currently there is no difinitive answer as to why. Scientists believe it is an environmental factor that led to the development of different blood groups such as disease resistance. Some blood groups are more resistant to malaria and so on... It just so happened that some of the blood groups became incompatible throughout evolution.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do LED lightbulbs use **additional** LEDs to get more lumens, rather than just use **larger** LEDs?

[Assistant]
It's probably cheaper and more reliable.  If you have standardized LEDs that are getting mass produced for really fucking cheap, it doesn't make a lot of sense to spend time and money to design a new larger LED that produces the same ammount of light as 5 smaller ones.

Also, I'd 1/5 LEDs dies, you still have 4 functioning ones.


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

[User]
ELI5: How did life on this planet go from having no consciousness to then developing consciousness?

or do you subscribe to the idea that every living thing has some degree of innate consciousness?

[Assistant] There's an idea floating around that what we call consciousness is simply a leap in cognitive power - many animals can model their environments in their minds, to various degrees.  It's how they can form expectations about other entities and the environment itself.  Consciousness, some say, is a result of that ability evolving to the point at which an organism can mentally model *itself* - it can meaningfully predict how it will feel, what it will think, etc.  If this is accurate, then consciousness is a product of evolution, and is possessed by various animals to various degrees but not necessarily by all.


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

[User]
CMV:Trying to defund the police and dismantle prisons would do more harm than good.

Update: Mind has been partially changed.

I am eager to see policies and accountability for police and policing (please research candidates and vote in your local elections coming up).

I also support reforms to the prison system. I think it does a lot of harm. I would like to see a big focus on rehabilitation. Also its obvious a lot of people get excessive time.

The problem is, many police departments are struggling with funds which IMO is why theres issues. Thats not the only reason of course. They dont have enough of the right training and are often understaffed. Example, a department is severely understaffed. Takes them hours to get to a call. That community member did not receive help and now does not believe the police are there to help them.
On top of that, they are understaffed and more likely to make poor choices out of fear.

Prisons serve a purpose. Rapist, murderers, and other violent criminals belong there.

Im seriously interested in hearing a good counter argument. So far, all Ive heard is that we dont need the police or prisons. I would be afraid to live in a society without police or prisons. I think there would be more crime and vigilantly justice, which I dont want.

[Assistant]
>The problem is, many police departments are struggling with funds which IMO is why theres issues.

>They dont have enough of the right training and are often understaffed.

How many of these departments used funds they had on hand to buy military level equipment instead of hiring\training?

The issue here is that there's a large amount of fund that these departments spent on un-needed equipment that they do not know how to properly use.  They've kinda dug their own hole IMO.

Then, look at prison.  For-Profit prisons need to be done away with.  Medical issues, such as addiction and drug use, do not belong to be treated in prisons but hospitals.  Prisons should ONLY be for violent offenders and only for rehabilitation and not revenge justice.


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

[User] ELI5: When you see a lone tree growing in a meadow, whats preventing other trees from growing nearby?

[Assistant]
Historically, farmers would clear frees to make larger more efficient fields.  But before tractors, they would leave a small number of trees behind to provide shade during breaks for themselves and their horse or ox.

It was a compromise between pure crops and having a bit of shade at break time.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are 12V, 5V and 3.3V so special in electronics?

Is it an industry standard or is there a physics based reason for using these voltages?

[Assistant]
There's nothing special about those voltages. They were simply what worked best at the time.

12 volts is a good voltage to run a DC motor at for fans and spinning hard drives.

5 volts was the original voltage that almost every integrated circuit used. As the fabrication process shrunk they started using 3.3V because a smaller wire needs less voltage. But, they quickly realized that the process of chasing the improvements of chips wasn't going to work and computer components started including voltage regulators that would take an input voltage and convert it to whatever the chip needed instead of relying on the power supply to provide the correct voltage.


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

[User]
[Pokemon] Does anyone ever express any objections to training Yamasks?

So, Yamasks are humans.

Other ghosts types you can parse as just spooky creatures or "energy beings" but Yamasks are straight up, no ambiguity human souls. They walk around looking for lost loved ones and weeping at their deaths. When you die, there is at least a solid chance you become a Yamask.

And they're caught as pokemon.

...Does anyone have any objection to this?

This is now trapping actual humans- humans who retain their memories and could tell you about their spouse and children- in pocket dimensions and only letting them out to fight magical animals until they're beaten unconscious. Even by the somewhat lax moral code of the pokeverse, this seems an excessive level of callousness.

Does anyone think this may be a problem? And if not, why not? We all know they're dead people! Why is everyone just glossing over that?

[Assistant]
Thats obviously a legend.

How do you explain that when two Cofagrigus breed, they lay an egg which hatches into a baby Yamask?

This is worse than people who believe that Magcargo is hotter than the surface of the sun, or some such bullshit.


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

[User]
a speaker that recognizes and plays that particular song on which it has been placed upon.

 So, My grandpa has a lyrical songbook that contains all his favorite songs lyrics in printed pages. I want to make a speaker that when put upon the particular song lyrics plays it. Please don't mind my bad English.

[Assistant] If you do some searching there are a number of builds that use a Raspberry Pi and RFID tags to do something like this. Downside for your application may be unwillingness to stick the RFID tags to the pages.


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

[User]
Empirically testing Foucault's ideas

I have read some excerpts of Foucault's work which seems to be a geneology of various topics. As a non-analytic philosopher his writing is definitely more "flowery" for a lack of a better word. My question is this, some of his ideas seem like speculation. I think I understand what he is saying at times but how do we know he is correct?

A quote from volume 1 of the history of sexuality for example:

>Homosexuality appears as one of the forms of sexuality when it was transposed from the practice of sodomy onto a kind of interior androgyny, a hermaphroditism of the soul. The sodomite had been a temporary aberration; the homosexual was now a species.

His writing seems to be descriptive of the past but is it fair to say that this is just one man's take? It appears that this quote is saying that before being transposed homosexuality was not a "thing" in the context of humanity. I think it would follow also that he thinks sexuality is completely socially constructed. Maybe so, maybe not. How can we know if he is just speculating or if this is truth? Can this be empirically tested?

[Assistant] Just to clarify, what he's saying is that "homosexuality" as a category of behavior and way of classifying a person didn't exist before that transposition. He's referring here strictly to the social ontology. Note that he says "transposed from the practice of sodomy", meaning that people were engaging in behaviors we would now characterize as homosexual acts before the "homosexual" construction existed. So people were doing things we would consider "gay" but there were no "gay people" prior to that transposition. They were, at that point in time, just committing acts of sodomy (which themselves were socially constructed as "sodomy").


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

[User] Is telekinesis even remotely possibly in any way shape, or form?

[Assistant]
Can you move objects with your mind?  Sure, you do it all the time, in fact you are doing it right now, since your brain is moving your eyes along the screen while you are reading this.  Similarly, your brain is responsible for moving your hands, which is responsible for all sorts of activities.  There's no reason, from a scientific standpoint, why we can't replace a hand with some device that received the electric signals from the nerve endings and do some other action.  Similarly, it could be possible to gather the outgoing signals in the brain directly and use them to perform some action.

However, brain signals are not powerful enough to do very much on their own, they need amplification.  In the human body the amplifiers are the muscles, and the energy source is ATP.  So, you wouldn't be able to move an external object with your brain alone, but you could give it signals and provided it had a motor and a fuel source of its own, it could move where you tell it.  It's almost telekinesis.  And while it may not seem so exciting to the seekers of paranormal phenomenon, it's incredibly exciting to paraplegics and other people who have lost motor ability.


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

[User]
CMV: Political Parties should be abolished

Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green Party, etc. They should all be annihilated from the face of the planet.

Political Parties are tools of oppression and gridlock. Nothing ever gets done in congress because everyone votes along party lines, instead of what they actually believe in or what their constituents voted them in for. If there were no political parties, something, ANYTHING, would actually be done. Not only that, but we as voters would have more flexible options on what to do on certain issues. Instead of a binary, all or nothing approach towards triggering topics like abortion, gun control, immigration, and so on, we'd have comprehensive solutions that actually address the issue, instead of political catchphrases that hold no water and are dead on arrival.

Not only that, but parties often become centered one person or ideal, with anyone not toeing the party line seen as a traitor. Look at John McCain with Trump, or Kyrsten Sinema with Biden. Hell, the republican party, despite being besieged and their lives endangered just a few months ago, are trying to sweep the insurrection under the rug per orders from the top. Without this blind adherence to party, they'd be able to say what they feel and not be trapped in their cult.

The argument FOR political parties is that they help organize people and galvanize them towards action. But that organization is laid to waste with gridlock and sometimes even corrupted, with partisan gerrymandering being one of the most ridiculous things ever made (and another casualty of us having parties at all). As for galvanization, surely people would be more inclined to vote if they had more than two options? And the options weren't about red or blue, but actual character, history, and policy?

Political Parties have always frustrated me to no end, and any way you slice it, I don't see what little good they do isn't massively overshadowed by the damage to democracy they make. The sooner we rid ourselves of them, the better.

[Assistant]
>Political Parties are tools of oppression and gridlock. Nothing ever gets done in congress because everyone votes along party lines, instead of what they actually believe in or what their constituents voted them in for. If there were no political parties, something, ANYTHING, would actually be done.

That thing would be forming parties.

Because in order to pass something you need 50 votes. So, you gather the people who more or less agree in one group, and then everyone of them promises to aid one another, promises to vote for each other's laws and sets up various systems to make it all work.

Parties are an emergent feature of any kind of voting system that relies on multiple representatives coming to an agreement as long as that system goes on long enough.

> Not only that, but we as voters would have more flexible options on what to do on certain issues. Instead of a binary, all or nothing approach towards triggering topics like abortion, gun control, immigration, and so on, we'd have comprehensive solutions that actually address the issue, instead of political catchphrases that hold no water and are dead on arrival.

Why would you have any of that.
Far more likely is that you have even fewer options, because no one has any faint idea of what is politically viable, because you don't yet know what hte big power blocks are.


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

[User] What bonds my atoms to my body? Why don't they merge with this chair I'm sitting on?

[Assistant] Atoms in molecules bond because they want to achieve a lower energy state. Most of chemistry is the study of why exactly atoms bond and for molecules they way that they do. So, the really simplistic answer is that the molecules in your cells are more attracted to each other than they are to other objects. Solid objects are usually attracted or formed in a way that all the particles stick together and are rigidly kept in line.


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

[User] Why do emu have calf muscles when no other ratites or birds do?

[Assistant] Im a little confused by your question. All birds have muscles on their tibia (same as the calf in people). The large bend in the birds leg (bends backwards) is essentially the same as humans ankle/heel. Many animals have very limited or tiny muscles beyond their heel, and most movement is made up of tendons and ligaments stretched from the muscles over the tibia.


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

[User] With Hope amplifying his powers, could Quicksilver run fast enough to tap into the Speed Force?

[Assistant]
No, because the Speed Force does not exist in Earth-616. This was a problem when Wally West of New Earth visited the reality of Earth-616.

On the other hand, when the Quicksilver of Earth-616 visited New Earth's reality, he felt and began to tap into the Speed Force.


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

[User]
[IT] The silver and inhaler hurt Pennywise because they believed it would. Would a conventional weapon have the same effect if the wielder truly believed it would hurt him?

In the 1990 IT film, there's an exchange in which Richie remarks "I hope that someone remembered to bring something useful, like a machine gun." and he's quickly shot down by the other Losers in favor of an old slingshot. I've often heard that the reason why the silver and the inhaler were able to hurt IT is because they believed they would work against him. So, following that logic, suppose that Richie HAD brought a machine gun, and as that line stated he clearly believed that a machine gun would be useful against IT, he unloads on Pennywise. Would it have been effective?

[Assistant] I imagine they may still suffer from lack of belief. IT is a terrifying creature, and it's not a huge stretch of the imagination that bullets don't hurt him. Any doubt in that area, and they don't hurt him.


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

[User] Given the low probability of casting the deciding vote in an election, why do people vote?

[Assistant]
Either voters gain utility simply by going to the polls or they behave irrationally. In the former case, a citizen may feel better about himself by exercising his right to vote, walking around with an "I voted" sticker, or by avoiding peer derision from not voting.

Game theory helps us analyze ideal voting behavior. If voting utility arose only from influencing an election, an equilibrium would exist. On one hand, if everyone voted there would not be an equilibrium because at least one person would defect from this strategy: realizing that their vote did not matter, they would not vote. On the other hand, if no one voted there also would not be an equilibrium because at least one person would defect from this strategy: realizing that they alone could influence the election they would vote. The equilibrium lies in between. Each citizen would randomize their decision to vote.

For example, an equilibrium might exist where each citizen votes with a probability of 7%. A voter would wake up on election day, go to his computer, and have it randomly select a number between 1 and 100. If the number is between one and seven, he would vote. Otherwise he would skip voting.


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

[User]
[Lotr] If we have a highway road starting from the Grey Havens and ending at the very end of Mordor, how long does it take to cross Middle-Earth by car?

For example, the road would go between Isengard and Helm's deep, crossing trough the Black gate and next to Mount doom. And we jump in a family car and speeding like 120-30 kilometers/hour. How long would it take to reach from the shores to the end of Mordor?

[Assistant]
Middle Earth is roughly the size of the European continent. If you lay the Gray Havens over Ireland, the Shire would rest over the west country of England. Mordor would reside over Romania and Hungary. It's a rather large territory, so it would cover many countries. "the end of Mordor" could mean many things.

Going from a nebulous center-point of Ireland to Romania is about 2,510 kilometers. Assuming you had the ability to drive at a constant 120 km/h without stopping, turning, or refueling, you'd be able to drive from the Havens to Mordor in 21 hours (give or take).

Any small changes in your course, border laws, and other things will add time to the journey.


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

[User]
[MCU,Thor:Ragnarok] What powers has Doctor Strange developed since the last time we saw him?

We see him move others and himself rapidly through space,create portals with hair,trasmutting a cup of tea into a glass of beer (and refilling it) and even "sensing" thor and loki coming to earth.How are these powers connected to what he did in the first movie?

[Assistant] He's able to accomplish impressive things--like teleporting around the sanctum--with genuine subtlety and speed that we didn't see early on.  However, we also don't see him doing much outside the sanctum, so it's still a question if all these new tricks are a result of new spells that he could perform anywhere or if they're just him taking better advantage of what the sanctum can do.


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

[User] Say it is the middle of the night and you are flying at high altitude in an airplane above a big city like San Francisco. An earthquake hits. Would you be able to see the S-wave propagate through the city lights?

[Assistant]
S wave velocity at the surface is going to be something like 2-3 km per second depending on a whole range of stuff.

Problem is that your displacement is not necessarily going to be large. So if you were high enough to see the propagation speed you would probably be too high to actually see the displacement.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do so many mattress stores stay in business?

I feel like I see so many in such a small area.

[Assistant]
1. Everyone uses them.

2. They sell them for a lot.

3. They can keep them for a while if they don't sell.

People don't buy mattresses very often but a mattress company can sell them for over a thousand dollars each. Unsold mattresses alo keep their value very well. A mattress that no one has bought for a few years can still be sold at the same price. And eventually everyone will buy a mattress or two.


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

[User] How did Windows end up with batch as its primary console scripting language while UNIX systems ended up with bash and shell?

[Assistant]
Batch was inherited by MS-Windows from MS-DOS and has mostly been on ignored by Microsoft.  They are now pushing Powershell to act as a text shell and a scripting language.

Text shells were added on top of the UNIX core from the beginning and are still being updated.  Bash is one of many shells supported by UNIX systems.  UNIX style shells can also be added to Windows system using Cygwin and other programs.


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

[User]
Does a Faraday Cage needs to be grounded to effectively work?

My concern on this question is especially in the case of microwave oven. Does it matter for signal leak if the microwave is grounded or not?

[Assistant]
No. The cage itself works by having a conductive mesh structure that is equal to or smaller than the waveforms meant to be blocked. That allows it to absorb the energy and distribute it along the entire exterior. This effectively leaves the interior free from outside interference as the cage acts as if it is a solid single conductor with a hollow center.

Many Faraday cages are naturally grounded during construction. This is beneficial as it eliminates difference in potential between the cage and contained electronics which have their own ground.


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

[User] We know that people have the ability to have a "perfect pitch" with their hearing. Is there such phenomena with other senses? If not, what is so special about hearing?

[Assistant] There are "super tasters", about 10% of the population iirc. As well as a small set of women with an extra cone in their eyes allowing them to see more colors. Smell and touch may have some outliers as well. And many contend there are more than 5 senses.


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

[User] ELI5: if cancer is basically a clump of cells that dont want to die, why/how do things like cigarettes, asbestos, and the literal sun trigger it?

[Assistant]
Cancer cells result from mutations that disable the things that keep cell growth in check. Those mutations come from incorrect repairs to cell DNA, and those errors happen more frequently the more repairs take place.

Therefore things that cause damage that requires repairs increase the chances of developing cancer, stuff like cigarettes, asbestos, and sun exposure.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do airplane black boxes have to be kept in water after they are removed from the sea?

Following the latest Lion air plane crash, I saw a video of the black box being retrieved. Upon taking it out of the water it was immediately thrown and kept in a bin of water.

[Assistant]
Black boxes have to be kept in water basically to avoid corrosion.

Lets say the plane crashed into the sea, and the black box was drowned in salty sea water for some time. When retrieved, it will be thrown immediately into normal water to avoid corrosion so the people will have more of a chance of recovering the data.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How intelligent is Jabba the Hutt?

More like genius or average or perhaps below average?

[Assistant]
Extremely intelligent. He was around 500 years old and the head of a major Hutt clan with a criminal network that crossed the known galaxy.

He was a big enough player in the underworld that he could legitimately threaten to put a price on Han's head so high that he "could never go near a civilized system again". The bounty hunter who came after Han at Ord Mantell attempting to make good on that threat spooked him enough to decide to leave the Rebellion and try to compensate Jabba for the spice that he dumped, despite having previously thumbed his nose at Jabba over it back in Episode IV.

Moreover, in the Clone Wars movie, it's established that Jabba has control over the Hutt Empire's territorial space lanes (or at least has enough influence to grant access to them). This was the reason that both the Republic and the Separatists competed to rescue his son Rotta when he was kidnapped (by Dooku, under Sidious's orders), because Jabba promised to grant free military movement through those lanes to whomever brought him home.

All in all, Jabba was extremely intelligent. He had to be, in order to run a criminal empire that size. His death was the result of arrogance, not stupidity.


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

[User]
ELI5: How come the US just have two political Parties?

In Europe, they have like 100s of them.

[Assistant]
So let's say there are 10 people who want to get elected.  It's a winner take all election, whoever gets the most votes is going to win and gets to make all the decisions.

Well, when you go through the votes, its' going to be clear some of those 10 people are more favored than others.  Bob is not very favored, they estimate only about 5% of people are likely to vote for Bob.

If Bob just stays by himself and loses, he ges nothing.  Bob mainly wants to make it a rule that everyone gets to eat pizza on friday.  He has other stuff he'd like, but that's the important one.

So Bob, knowing he can't win and wanting to make sure everyone gets pizza on friday goes to Tom.  Tom is a front runner in the race and doesn't particularly care what people eat for dinner on Friday.  Bob tells Tom if he promises to make the pizza on fridays rule, he'll drop out of the race and tell all the people who would have voted for him to vote for Tom instead.

Now, this is great for Tom, remember he doesn't care who eats what on Fridays, but those votes will help him get elected, so why not?  He agrees, and now Tom and Bob are in a political party.

Bob isn't the only one to figure this out.  Pretty soon everyone has asked for something from the two most likely to win, because there is no reason for them to continue running on their own when they know they won't win.  It makes more sense to ally yourself with a more powerful candidate more likely to win in order to gain some influence even if you don't agree with all their ideas, instead of running on your own, losing, and getting nothing.

That's how the American system works.

Now the European systems are all different in different countries but basically instead of a winner take all, it's weighed to how popular you are.

Instead of electing one leader, everyone votes to decide how much say each leader gets.  So Tom wins the election with 40% of the votes. The doesn't seem like much, but remember there are 10 people splitting up the votes, so the average would be only 10%.

Now, Bob brings up the pizza on Fridays rule for a vote, and gets 5% of the vote.  Now he can make deals with Tom and others to make sure his rule passes, but he doesn't need to join Tom.  He can stay his own party and influence votes on many different issues, not just pizza on friday.  His 5% of the vote might be the difference in a contested issue, so he can make deals to exchange his support for support on the stuff he wants.  In this case it makes sense for him to stay seperate instead of joining Tom.

By not being winner take all and leaving some consolidation for Bob, he's more likely to stick it out alone.


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

[User]
ELI5: How the Nazi party got total control of the government of Germany so quickly after Hitler's election

I know how Hitler was able to convince the people to elect him, but how did he get total control so fast?

[Assistant]
Shortly after Hitler came to power in 1933, the German government building, the Reichstag, was burned down.  An investigation showed that a known communist had set the fire.  Hitler used this act to convince the government and President Hindenburg that there was communist plot taking place.  So, to fight a possible communist revolution, the Enabling Act was passed.  The Enabling Act was the German version of the War Measures act; it allowed Hitler to pass laws without consulting the rest of the government and also circumvent the constitution.

After the Enabling Laws were passed, Hitler started to wipe out the other political parties.  He started to pass laws that made his dictatorship legal.  Many of his political opponents were arrested, which gave the NSDAP (Nazis) the majority in the government and subsequent elections.  Hitler's paramilitary group, the SA, continued to harass all of his opponents.  Hitler eventually banned all political parties in July of 1933.  In 1934, Hitler executed his remaining enemies in the Night of the Long Knives.  Finally, President Hindenburg died in 1934, and Hitler combined the positions of President and Chancellor to make himself the Fuhrer.

TL/DR: Hitler used the burning of the Reichstag to give himself emergency powers.  He used the emergency powers to make himself a dictator and remove all opposition.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Did Luke ever bother to visit to his kinfolk on Naboo?

First post here and I'm doing so from my mobile, so sorry if the formatting is bad.

[Assistant]
He didn't know about them. In Legends he didn't learn about his mother until he was in his 60s, in canon he didn't learn until well after the events of the OT, but we don't really know any details or if he ever visited the planet.

Leia visited Naboo twice during the GCW, but didn't have the connection made until some time later.

Edit: Since someone apparently asked about acronyms:

OT - original trilogy, in other words Episodes 4-6.

GCW - the Galactic Civil War, or the war fought in Episodes 4-6.

Leia visited Naboo once sometime shortly after the Battle of Yavin (the climax of Episode 4) (as depicted in the *Princess Leia* miniseries from Marvel, 2016), and again after the end of Return of the Jedi in another mini from Marvel entitled *Shattered Empire*.


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

[User]
Do galaxies orbit around some greater center of mass?

I know that galaxies move relative to each other but I'm wandering whether or not they have steady orbits or just move under the effects of each others' gravity fields without a regular pattern or whatever.

[Assistant] The scales on which galaxies move are so incredibly large that the time it would take for such an orbit is similar to or even longer than the age of the Universe. Moreover, these orbits are still changing regularly because of frequent galaxy collisions and interactions. So to sum it up, there hasn't been nearly enough time for galaxies to settle down into nice, regular orbits around each other.


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

[User]
What type of healthcare system is supported by economists?

Vouchers, single payer, public option, etc? Can someone show me some surveys?

[Assistant]
This topic falls under "health economics" which is a branch of economics that deals with health care systems etc.

It depends on what your values are. On the most basic level its a question of whether you are utilitarian or egalitarian. Do you wish to maximize health outcomes of population y with resources x (max sum of outcomes) or do you wish to maximize  the health outcome of those worst off (max min).

So basically, you have to start with what makes a system better than an another system?


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

[User]
[SW:TCW] Inconsistent Jedi powers

Greetings all! I am a padawan at the Jedi Temple and am preparing a research paper on the Clone Wars, and I noticed something strange while reviewing the archive footage. There are several situations where Jedi have an item of great importance they must protect or retrieve, are encountered by an enemy that seems their match in combat, or encounter a seemingly impossible choice. What I can't help but wonder is why they seem so reluctant to apply basic force abilities that would easily resolve most of these situations.

Master Kenobi seems especially guilty of this. He engages in lightsaber duels with both General Grevious and Tor Vizsla, both of whom he could have disarmed easily with telekinesis, as neither are force sensitive. He even uses telekinesis to throw Tor Vizsla, but doesn't even attempt to disarm him. Likewise, during the holochron heist he could have easily pulled the holochron from Cad Banes hand and prevented a difficult chase.

There are countless other examples of great and powerful Jedi like Obi Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Plo Koon, Kit Fisto, Luminara Unduli, and Mace Windu failing to resolve issues that could easily be resolved with even my burgeoning command of the Force. After all, delicate tasks like switching off a lightsaber or press a button would be very difficult to focus on during combat, but grasping an object is no more difficult than throwing an opponent, especially against a non force sensitive opponent.

Why Did so many Jedi neglect the very powers that led them to positions of such exalted leadership and trust, instead relying only on their lightsabers? (And don't even get me started on how many non force sensitives are able to keep up with Jedi reflexes in melee combat)

[Assistant]
Vizsla was promised a fair fight, no Force shenanigans.

Grievous is a cyborg with enhanced strength and clawed feet that can crumple starship hulls. Telekinesis probably isn't the best bet against him.

The rest, you have to remember that the dark side is blinding the Jedi during the war. They're operating at less than peak proficiency - Mace even says as much before the war starts, that they should tell the Senate their ability to use the Force is diminished.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What would happen if I mooned Emperor Palpatine as he's walking down Coruscant?

It's in a front of a massive crowd. Let's say:

1) I'm a drunken idiot.

2) I'm.a rebel sympathizer

3) I'm both.

How does he react and how fucked am I?

For option one let's say I draw a frowny face on my butt.

[Assistant] Doesn't matter which option. They all end the same. Immediate and swift punishment by the royal guard or stormtrooper escorts. You'll be executed on the spot with your pants around your ankles and everyone around you spitting on your corpse. Palps himself may not even see you before his escorts kill you for daring to insult him.


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

[User]
[Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark] How did the pit of snakes survive when they were sealed off for 100s to 1000s of years?

This Dr. Jones person tells some tall tales - aliens, surviving an atomic bomb, among others. When he found the Ark of the Covenant (yeah right), he said he feel into this big area (some kind of sealed off temple or pyramid) that had thousands of snakes. I dont think I really believe anything this crazy guy says, but at least I can argue this one with science.

Even if there was kind of water source down there, how would thousands of snakes survive for 100s to 1000s of years in a sealed off place? I imagine the snakes would eat each other, but without any other animals to prey on, wouldnt they die off pretty quick? I imagine snake babies would be ideal food for other snakes who would be presumably constantly starving.

[Assistant] It's highly unlikely the snakes were sealed into the temple.  More likely they traveled in through an air vent or crack into the ruins to mate.  The nest was just a large pile of breeding snakes that followed a female into the ruin and either couldn't escape afterwards or were mid rut when Indiana found them.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do air conditioners produce cold air?

I sound dumb when I ask this, but how do they produce cold air? I understand how they produce heat as that seems fairly obvious, but I'm clueless on them producing cold air. Thanks!

[Assistant]
The fluid used in an AC unit turns into a liquid when under high pressure and back into a gas when under low pressure.  the exchange from liquid to gas absorbs energy (think you need to heat water to get it to boil) and transforming from a gas to a liquid releases energy (think freezing water into ice, you're removing heat from the water by placing it in a cold area that absorbs the heat).

So an AC unit has an evaporator coil inside the ductwork in your home.  this is a low pressure area where the fluid is able to turn from liquid to gas.  It pulls the heat out of the air in your ducts to get energy to transform from liquid to gas.  This cools the air in the ducts, which gets pushed to the rooms in your house.  The gas then travels to a compressor which puts the gas under a high pressure which will cause it to transform back into a liquid.  This releases the heat to the surrounding air.  This is done outside so the heat is just dumped into the surrounding air.  The big boxy units on the outside of the home do this.  The liquid then goes back into the evaporator coil where it evaporates again, pulling heat out of the air inside, etc.  The same thing is done in window units as well..

So an AC unit doesn't make cold air, it just moves the heat from inside to outside.  Your refrigerator works in the same way as well.  There are also heat pumps, which are AC units running backwards, moving heat from outside to the inside of your home to heat it on cold days.


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

[User]
[Austin Powers] What happened to Austin-from-ten-minutes-ago?

To thwart Dr. Evil's "Alan Parsons Project" on the moon, Austin uses the time machine to go back 10 minutes and lend a hand to his prior self. Austin accomplishes the mission and takes Felicity to 1999.

I've seen the video log of both Austins in Felicity's bed, so at that point both International Men of Mystery were in the 90s.

So what happened to the other Austin? Any theories?

[Assistant]
He and Austin-from-right-now switch off. One month, one of them will be doing super spy stuff and the other will be partying it up and running their modelling agency.

They switch off on a monthly basis.


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

[User]
ELI5:How do we not run out of Oxygen in closed rooms?

Are there any small ventilation holes to let oxygen in buildings and cars? Do architects need to take this into account?

[Assistant]
Generally, nothing is going to be airtight unless *it's specifically designed to be*.  Making stuff airtight is very difficult, and very expensive.  It requires special materials and precision.

There are lots of places for air to get in, such as a window frame, underneath a door, vents (even if the furnace isn't running).

If you were in a room sealed well enough to prevent much air from entering, an average size room has *a lot* of oxygen.  It would take many days, even weeks, to use it all up and asphyxiate.  Chances are you will have left by then.


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

[User] [Transformers] What would happen if a naturally big Transformer, like Optimus, scanned a small vehicle, like a motorcycle? Would they shrink in size?

[Assistant] Yes, they would - cybertron had so-called "mass-shifting" technology among other things that facilitates this size changing. In recent times this is most prominently seen in Prime with Arcee transforming into her rather huge normal form out of a small motorcycle for example. In classic versions if memory serves me, Soundwave infamously transformed into a cassete player.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] Where does all that antimatter come from?

Currently, the only way to collect any quantity of antimatter is to artificially produce it. That would not make it a viable fuel source as you would never get a net energy gain. So, how how do they get antimatter to use as a fuel source?

[Assistant]
Antimatter is a net energy loss to the Federation. However, Antimatter is needed for interstellar travel, so the loss is acceptable.  Think of antimatter more as an energy transportation mechanism, rather than a fuel that is mined.

Where does does antimatter come from?  Antimatter is made artificially at Starfleet fueling facilities where solar-fusion reactors power quantum charge reversal devices to turn Deuterium into Anti-Deuterium.  There is an energy loss of about 24% in the process.  (shipboard antimatter generation is worse at a 90% loss, but a generator is included on some classes for emergency situations).

The Federation and other civilizations can get away with this because fusion, and solar augmented fusion at that, is so cheap.  Antimatter is only really needed for ship operations, planets and starbases can survive very well on fusion power.


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

[User]
[Marvel][Thunderbolts (2014) #21] Did Wade Wilson ever get his Notary Public license revoked for notarizing a contract (with Mephisto) that he was involved in?

I'm not sure how, if in any way, would Hell and Mephisto fall under legally enforcable contract jurisdiction but I'm sure that was a breach of legal procedure. Deadpool was involved in the contract between the Thunderbolts and Mephisto.

[Assistant]
If you read the contract it actually references deadpool not as a person but as livestock. Therefore it's perfectly legal for him to noterize it.

Also deadpool was never actually licensed as a notery.


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

[User]
Why do I, as a young person, need more sleep than older people?

E.g. my dad(50) sleeps 6 hours or less every night and is alway fit while I need 7,5+ hours to get/feel fully recovered.

[Assistant]
Well teenagers seem to sleep a lot because your cellular metabolism hits a peak during puberty, men will go through impressive growth spurts of a few inches to over a foot in a year, women develop breast tissue and your sexual organs go through many changes as well as the chemical compositions of your brain and entire body.

Takes a lot out of you.

Once you get older this metabolism drops sharply and you have a lot less to process, and for many adulthood also means rote processes like commuting, going to work, relaxing a few hours, and sleep which is a hell of a lot less interesting compared to the physical output and mental input of a teenager/young adult.


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

[User]
Why don't we use microwaves for heating the water in our household water heaters?

Would it use more energy than a standard electric water heater?  How would a large scale microwave work?

[Assistant]
It's rather unnecessary and more costly.

Microwaves are not a better or faster way to heat water compared to conduction. The reason they cook food faster than an oven is because the radiation causes dielectric heating in the food, rather than heating a metal element which then through some air gap heats the food. Compare a microwave oven to an electric kettle, where the heating element is in contact with the water, or an induction stove top, where the stove heats the pot directly in contact with the water, and you are looking at near comparable heating times for these conduction heating devices. The faster one is the one that has a higher power rating, the method is rather irrelevant. Where as if you stuck the water in an oven and turned it on, it would take significantly longer (and waste a bunch of energy on heating air). Not that speed even matters that much, tank heaters are more common than tankless so it doesn't matter how fast it is it's just going to sit there and insulation is the real consideration. There really isn't any advantage to microwaving a tank full of water compared to sticking a heating element inside, which is basically 100% efficient. So if you are going electric, there is no point. In fact, the magnetron and resonant cavity tank design are only going to cost more and be more complicated. As well, the magnetron is going to make heat and that heat probably isn't going into the water and some of the microwaves are going to escape losing some efficiency but also making electrical interference.

On the other hand you have natural gas, which is the most common source for water heaters when available. The answer here is just a matter of economics, natural gas is a lot cheaper than electricity, though that is location dependent. In most places you get at least two times the energy per dollar with natural gas, so any small efficiency differences really don't matter. So if you have natural gas, you are going to go with it. If you have electricity, you are going to use the simpler and cheaper heating element method.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does exercise help with so many health problems?

So many health issues like heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease... It seems to be the same case in that exercise should help keep those at bay.

But why?

Doesn't exercise increase your heart rate? And isn't an elevated heart rate generally a not good thing outside of exercising?

[Assistant]
The heart is a muscle, the stronger it is, the less pumps it needs to create a good blood flow.
People who do cardio will usually have a lower heart rate during normal activities due to this strength.


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

[User]
[Superman/DC Comics] Is there a reason Superman can't like, get The Atom to enlarge Kandor?

Superman just keeps an entire shrunken city in his alien house until he can figure out a way to enlarge it.......... Why can't he just ask Ray Palmer to do it? He can shrink and, obviously grow.

Has this actually been addressed in canon anywhere?

[Assistant]
Kandor was shrunk by Brainiac using a method that was apparently incompatible with Ray Palmers white dwarf star matter technology. Presumably, any attempt to enlarge Kandor using it, would have proven fatal to the Kandorians.
Also even if it wasn't incompatible, Atom may not be able to do it: Just because he can shrink/grow himself and like a car doesn't mean he has the power to do an entire city, that's several orders of magnitude harder.
Also depending on the continuity, Atom's power has a time limit.  After growing them, if he didn't shrink them back in an hour they'd explode.


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

[User]
[Culture] Why isn't everyone superintelligent?

Why do different intelligence levels exist in the Culture, if the technology is there to upgrade everyone?

[Assistant]
Obsessing over becoming more powerful is considered childish in the Culture. Why not be content as yourself? And there are concerns over whether intelligence-enhanced humans are "really" the same person afterwards; after all, by definition, you'd be completely changing the substrate and processing architecture of your mind.

And you'd be giving up your entire social circle and place in life, of course.

It does occasionally happen, though - it's considered an Unusual Life Choice, and it's perfectly valid, just ... eccentric.

Like much of Culture philosophy, this is heavily influenced by their constructed language - Marian - which was deliberately designed to guide thought patterns away from violent, primitive societies.

EDIT: It's worth noting that the main benefits of being a Mind are multitasking and speed, not "true" intelligence. Normal humans *can* grasp complex multi-dimensional concepts, given time and training - they just usually don't. And it's not unheard of for a baseline to outwit a Mind.


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

[User]
What would happen if you broke the sound barrier underwater?

Not only the phenomena, but what would happen to living organisms as well?

[Assistant] Cavitation becomes an issue at those speeds, so breaking the sound barrier underwater isn't something we've accomplished. In theory, you'd see a sonic boom, but more realistically, we'd see cavitation(like we do with certain species of mantis shrimp).


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

[User] When we drain oil from wells. Does it make a empty pocket?

[Assistant]
The oil doesn't exist underground in caverns that would otherwise be empty if it wasn't for the oil. Instead of thinking of large empty pockets, think of a wet sponge, where the sponge is rock and it's "wet" with oil.

But also remember that the oil and gas held underground is under great pressure. It is this pressure that allows the oil to be extracted, but when the pressure is relieved by removing the oil these smaller pockets don't necessarily remain empty, as they're often filled water seeping in from the surrounding rock. And even when they are not filled back in with water from surrounding rock, oil extraction often leaves about 13% porosity, which is about the same as modern concrete.

And it's not just water that can remain in the well: when an oil well is considered spent, and no more oil can be extracted (using traditional techniques), there may remain as much as 90% of the original deposit left in the ground. Because of the large amount of oil that can be left in an otherwise "spent" well, there are techniques for getting out more of the oil, which involves pumping fluids (mostly water) into the well, increasing the pressure and allowing more oil to be extracted. But this obviously displaces oil with water, and so the "wet sponge" never really dries out.

So while oil extraction often leaves a well less dense than it was to begin with, it's not a whole lot less dense...it's still mostly rock all the way down!


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

[User]
[Hellsing] So why would stabbing yourself with Helena's nail turn you into a plant monster?

I get why it would turn you into a monster considering how blasphemous it would be, but why a plant monster specifically? Like, was Jesus part plant?

[Assistant]
It was made of thorns.

 Helena's Nail is one of the nails that pierced Christs body, from the "Don't fuck with this" Armory, where they also keep the Ark of the Covenant, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the actual body of Christ.

I got all that right, right?


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

[User] [Venture Bros/General] What is the difference between science and "super science?"

[Assistant] Science is when you spend years of your life researching a single subject until you manage to make a slight advancement in your field. Super science is when you take a toaster and turn it into a sentient robot.


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

[User] About the matter and antimatter imbalance. Is it possible that anti matter galaxies exist beyond the observable universe?

[Assistant]
Yes.

This is one of the proposed explanations for the observed absence of antimatter, or the 'matter-antimatter asymmetry problem.'

How would we observe that this is the case? Well, two ways. First, if there are large region of the universe filled with antimatter then they would be pretty much indistinguishable from the parts of the universe filled with matter. We'd expect antiprotons and antielectrons to form the same kinds of atoms we see, so we'd probably expect gravity to pull them together to make some kind of antimatter stars, which clump together in antimatter galaxies.

But if this is the case, then that means there will be boundaries between matter dominated regions and antimatter dominated regions. And we all know what happens when matter and antimatter meet...

These boundaries would be very hot to annihilation of particles in the intergalactic medium, which would probably create a sort of hot layer separating the matter and antimatter regions, a bit like how water droplets don't actually touch a hot pan because of the vapor layer that forms underneath them.

These may have structural consequences for the distribution of galaxies, and they would be resolved by an excess of high energy photons. We haven't seen it yet, but we're still looking for it. At this point it seems unlikely that they might exist, but failing to detect something for a long time isn't the same as ruling out its existence entirely.

Alternatively, experiments on earth may provide some insight. If antimatter interacts with gravity differently than matter, then we might not expect structurally similar stars and galaxies. It might, statistically speaking, lead to different large scale structure in parts of the universe that are antimatter dominated. To the best of our knowledge antimatter should 'fall' (ie interact with gravity) exactly the same as matter, but because antimatter is so tricky to produce and manipulate in experiments we don't fully know yet. Any observation of antimatter interacting with gravity differently than matter would not pass go, would not collect $200, but would go straight to Nobel Prize.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is the "Censor Bleep" tone so consistent across most media?

[Assistant]
Traditionally audio equipment is tested by using a reference tone.  This is just a generated sound wave, usually with a frequency of 1000 Hz, because that seems like a good enough number as any.  Sometimes they'll also play a 100Hz and a 10,000Hz tone to test subwoofers and tweeters, but it's basically an easy way to make sure the volume is adjusted appropriately and all the crossovers are setup right.

Since engineers were already testing with a 1kHz tone, they just kept using it when they had to play something over profanity since it was easy to use it again.

There's no big technical or legal reason to use THAT sound, it was just easy to do and got the job done.


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

[User]
Is there any liquid that will not form a meniscus?

Water forms a concave meniscus, while mercury forms a convex meniscus. Is there any liquid which will be perfectly flat in a cylindrical container (like a buret or graduated cylinder) at easily obtainable conditions (somewhere around STP)?

Edit: Thanks for all the insightful responses, and thanks for sending this to the front page!!!

[Assistant]
The meniscus of a fluid in a test tube is the result of the capillary force at the gas, liquid, solid interface (or liquid, liquid, solid).  So long as the two fluids are not the same substance they will have differing properties (even if slight) and there will always be a meniscus.

A very non-viscous liquid (i.e. almost no surface tension) would be your best bet.


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

[User]
ELI5: How did animals that fought alongside humans (horses, elephants...) not panic when seeing all those members of their species dying, while getting poked with spears and shot with arrows?

I always wondered. Because you would assume that horses just try to get the person off of it and run away. And how did something like the war elephant not just trample anyone to death? They are such smart animals and I'm sure they felt something by the sight of that. If I was a foot soldier I wouldn't feel so great if there was some giant, armored, living tank berzerking around... Even if they supposedly are on "my side".

[Assistant]
They're intensely conditioned. Horses, for examples, are easily frightened animals. To condition them to a battlefield you'd (probably) do something like start them out easily. Make the loud noises they're expected to hear next to them so they get used to them. Place some dummies on the ground in the style of corpses and have it walk around them so they get used to that. And so on.

But animals still frequently panicked. Elephants in particular were (in)famous for how frequently they'd panic and turn around to trample their own army. Remember reading that part of the job of an elephant rider was to be prepared to execute it with something like a nail and hammer to the head in case it panicked. Don't know how true that was, but it sounds very plausible.


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

[User] [40k] How big is the Imperial Navy?

[Assistant]
There are no concrete numbers. We know how it's organized, and the aproximate size of various fleet-missions, but we have no idea how many fleets exist, or how many ships are in reserve at any given time.

The Imperial Fleets are divided into Sigmentum Commands, one for each of the Imperiums 5 Sigmentums. These overall commands are then subdivided by Sector commands, under which the command of the entire Sector Fleet is assigned. The Sector Fleet is then further divided into individual task forces, ranging from patrol and escort, to seek and destroy. The size of a fleet depends on further conditions, such as the danger of the area, the value of cargo, expected threats etc.

Typical escorts in most areas consist of between a single Destroyer, to as many as a dozen. On rare occasions, a Crusier may be assigned to the escort as well.

Patrolls typically consist of half a dozen Destroyers and a Crusier, though can range as high as several cruisers, a battleship and more thana dozen Destroyers in dangerous areas of space.

Colony flotillas typically consist of a cruiser and up to 6 Destroyers, along with several personelle transports.

Major battlefleets can consist of more than a score of Cruisers, several battleships and dozens of destroyers.

Some pivotal battles in the Imprriums history have seen massive fleets, numbering thousands of ships. And they've only really counted the fleets in the emediate vacinity. Armageddon, for instance, hasn't even had an entire Sector committed (yet, the front is constantly expanding) and it's committed more thana thousand vessels.

Put on top of this Mechanicus Fleets, Astartes fleets, Rogue Trader fleets and PDF fleets, which are not under the umbrella of the Sigmentum command... It's impossible to know.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do spacecraft and satellite components need to be assembled in a sterile environment?

[Assistant]
Most satellite components are not. Spacecraft that are likely to land on other planets are clean ed thoroughly to minimize the transfer of life to other bodies.

In space with no atmospheric even oils from your skin can boil and condense to ruin lenses and other electronics equipment. Foreign object debris are one of the largest killers of satellites and to minimize this satellites are often assembled in clean rooms.


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

[User] [Snow White and the Seven Dwarves] Why do the dwarves keep the key to the diamond storage area on a hook right next to the door?

[Assistant] They live out in the middle of the woods and in a time where magic is real and people are afraid of going into the woods. The key is more to keep animals and the occasional passerby out, not a serious thief.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] So... Harry's an idiot re: the Elder Wand, right?

I mean, he puts the thing back in Dumbledore's grave, and says "if I die a natural death, its power will end." And everyone agrees with him. This despite the fact that he just beat Voldemort by *disarming* (not killing) the Wand's prior master, who *didn't have the wand at any point*. Draco never even touched it, for cripe's sake, and neither did Harry until after Voldy was dead. And then he announced how the Elder Wand worked to the entire room. AND THEN his biographer put it down and disseminated the information to the entire Wizarding world. **AND THEN** he goes on to become an auror, where he'll be in constant danger of a stray "expelliarmus" working on him, as it did on Dumbledore (a wizard far more gifted than Harry in raw magical terms). First random sixteen-year-old would-be Death Eater to pull off that feat continues the Elder Wand's power.

So, I mean... how did he overlook the actual mechanics of a thing he clearly understood? I didn't miss something?

[Assistant] I like to imagine that the Hogwarts survivors went on to play a game where the all had a free-for-all expelliarmus fight. In the end, nobody knows who has defeated who or who really is the wands master. All that is known is that a Hogwarts student must be the master. This leads to later traditions of sneak expelliarmus attacks followed by running away while shouting "I've got your hallow! I've got your hallow!"


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

[User]
[Fallout] Death of Democracy and its implications for culture

In the Fallout series, the culture of the United States of America right before the Great War seems to have either returned to the 1950s (aesthetically) or been stuck there. I've seen several reasons for this; one is the much later development of the transistor restricting technological and with it, cultural development. Another is the rising influence of China--people were scared of it, and another Red Scare occurred.

I have another reason, though. Democracy died in the USA in this timeline sometime in the 1960s-a bit later? With the development of the commonwealth system? Could the government have enforced a 50s-esque culture as a means of societal control or to rile the populace against a common enemy, in this case, China? (Similar to how Russia post-2004 in OTL uses revanchism and Soviet nostalgia?). Maybe the reason why culture has returned to the 1950s in Fallout was due to the government?

[Assistant]
Although the military-industrial complex had a lot of sway in the government, the United States of America, even with the commonwealth system, was still a democracy, at least right up until quite close to the end. Way after the point of divergence. It still had a house and senate with elected congressmen, still had an elected president, etc, etc. We know that some of the same presidents would get elected, for that matter, in presumably similar time frames - Nixon and Reagan both, for example.

I think the biggest cause of the cultural stagnation was the incredible levels of xenophobia and paranoia that the Fallout universe seemed to have. Everything *different* was suspect.


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

[User]
ELI5: What exactly are instincts and how do they work?

I mean, I know what they do. But what are they? Inherited memories? Where is the knowledge stored and how? Do we even know?

[Assistant]
It's basically any innate behaviour an organism has and it can be both innate (you're born with it) or learned.

For example human babies have a number of very clear instincts they're born with. The rooting reflex causes a baby to go rooting around for their mother's nipple and start suckling. If you gently stroke the side of a baby's mouth, they'll try move towards your finger tip and suckle it.

Human babies are born with a number of other instincts, like immediately holding their breath if you dip them in water or spreading their limbs and grasping if you tip them backwards.

Humans also have learned instincts. For example both societal and family dynamics generally make sure that you instinctively aren't inclined to pursue incestuous relationships. You don't have to be explicitly told. A lot of the cultural habits and traditions of a community will become part of your behaviour over time.

The strongest instincts are the innate one that evolution enforces, ie the stuff animals automatically do because the ones that didn't died without passing on their genes. But on the whole instincts are both learned and innate.


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

[User] Why can't two particles with mass exist in the same place at the same time if all particles exist as probability distributions of their position?

[Assistant] They can, if they have an integer spin (they are bosons). Helium-4 is an example of this, if you cool it enough all the atoms condense together and you get a superfluid. This isn't so much as the atoms all being in one spot, but rather that all the indistinguishable atoms are spread out over an area. Particles with half-integer spin (fermions) have a zero probability of being found in the same state.


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

[User] ELI5; The difference between 4WD and AWD?

[Assistant]
1 diff = 2WD, either FWD or RWD depending on axle driven.

2 diff, one on each axle = 4WD, a selectable transfer case in the middle

3 diff, 3rd diff being the center diff splitting power fore and aft = AWD.

It's really as simple as that. A cars powered wheels must be allowed to rotate independantly of each other in order to navigate turns without binding or skipping; therefore a diff is used to allow this. For the same reason, if both axles are powered, each axle must be allowed to rotate independantly. A permanently engaged center diff allowes this, thus creating AWD.

A selectable transfer case does not, each wheel on each axle will, if the diffs are unlocked, be able to rotate independantly of the other wheel on the axle, but the two axles together will have the same average speed, which doesn't provide enough independance for use on high-grip surfaces like asphalt. However, forcing both axles to rotate at the same speed means that even if one axle has a total loss of traction, as long as the other one has traction, the vehicle will move forward.
This is why 4WD is superior to AWD off-road, but inferior on-road.

Superior to that however, is 4WD with locked diffs front a rear, in such a case, all wheels are forced to rotate at the same speed regardless of differences in traction, so even if 3 wheels are slipping, the 4th, if it has traction, will still get power and still push the vehicle forward; making this setup unbeatable off-road; and unusable on road.

So, you might have realized by now that AWD is actually pretty limited in its most simple form, if all diff's are open and any wheel lacks traction, the vehicle will tend to simply spin that one slipping wheel. For this reason, most, if not all, AWD systems are paired with either limited slip diff's, which can be mechanical or electronically controlled, or traction control systems that apply the brakes to individual wheels and limit throttle input in order to ensure as best as possible that wheels with traction receive enough power to drive the vehicle forward and help maintain control. In serious off-road conditions they still can not match true 4WD with lockers, however.


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

[User] ELI5: how did people live in cold-weather climates before modern day heating/clothing?

[Assistant] They wore furs and kept fires burning. Fires were the main key to surviving and it was common practice for the hearth of a home to never fully go out, but rather reuse embers in the morning. Clothing was thick and used fur and sheepskin, the rich used MORE fur and could also wear spun wool.


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

[User]
ELIT:  Why Germany is such a strong world power

It seems throughout the 20th century and in the modern day, Germany, despite massive repercussions from WWI and WWII, manages to bounce back and become a staggeringly powerful force in both military and economy.

What are the reasons for this in the WWI era, the WWII era, and today?

[Assistant] Germany is an industrious, educated nation with an excellent social infrastructure and minimal internal strife.  They excel in manufacturing and management.  In short, per the cliche, they're efficient.


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

[User] ELI5: If a calorie is a unit of energy, how are there 0 calorie energy drinks?

[Assistant]
Because a calorie is a unit of heat measurement.   If you were to consume 100 calories worth of food, your body will have 100 calories of energy it can break down and convert from heat energy into other energy to use.

Energy drinks contain stimulants (like caffeine), or other things that help with cognitive functions (like b vitamins) helping you feel more alert, awake and therefor make you feel more capable of expending  your energy.  You don't actually posses any more energy than the 100 calories you ingested earlier, however.

**-So here's the eli5 part-**
Think of your body like a train powered by coal. Calories are the coal being shoveled in.  The train doesn't necessarily go any faster when you have more coal to burn.  But it *can* go faster and longer.

Energy drink's are like if the conductor received orders to go faster because they are behind schedule or if you replaced the conductor with a new one that either tends to go faster, or knows how to operate the train more efficiently to get speed out of it.  It might *seem* the train has more energy, but in reality they still have the same amount of coal on board.


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

[User]
ELI5: If the magnetosphere redirects harmful solar wind towards the poles, why isn't it harmful near the poles?

Everyone knows the magnetosphere protects us from solar wind, and without it we would even lose the atmosphere.
And as far as I understand the phenomenon is even worse off than it would be without a magnetosphere, since it's so concentrated that it makes the air glow, producing the auroras.

So... why *isn't* it hazardous to stand under the auroras?

[Assistant] The majority of the radiation is contained in the upper atmosphere and doesnt reach the ground making it relatively safe to be there. The extra radiation is a concern for any pilots and aircrews who regularly fly over the poles though.


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

[User]
CMV: Communism can never work, will never work, and has never worked.

The Communism I am arguing against is a socioeconomic order structured upon the common ownership of the means of production and the absence of social classes, money and the state

I believe Communism will never work for several reasons.

1) No incentive to try hard. If everyone is getting "paid" the same in food or rations, then why ever put any effort into something? You know nothing good is going to come out of it, besides possibly being able to move up into a different role, however the whole idea of Communism is that their are no different roles.

2) Nothing good can come out of Communism. If their are no classes, then everyone will be doing almost the same thing, whether it be something agrarian, or more industrial. If that is all citizens are doing, then who is going to invent items and improve the quality of life for the citizens of that country? Pretty much every single good invention or product that has been made has come out of the private sector. If the government is busy rationing food and other items out, then they can't be making new products.

3) No freedom for the citizens of a communist society. If you are a citizen of a communist society, you have very little freedoms. Say you have a brilliant idea and want to greatly improve the quality of life in your country, you can't make a company and start selling that item, as private businesses are forbidden. Say you want to work harder to get more food or money, you aren't able to as everything is distributed equally. Now say you would like to spend your "money" on something else, you can't because the government decides what to give you. You have no say in a Communist society.

4) Communism gives the government too much power. Communism gives the government all of the power, and enables them to freely abuse the power as they control everything. If everything is owned by the state, then they can take everything away from the citizens of that country and they can't do anything to stop it.

5) Every single Communist state before has failed. If every single Communist country has failed in the past, then how could it possible be a good idea? When a Communist government comes into power, what I mentioned in my fourth reason will happen. The government will abuse the power as no one can stop them.

This is why I believe Communism is a horrible idea, and why it will never work. Change my view!

Edit 1: I didn't realize this post would blow up, I figured I would get maybe 1 or 2 comments, so bear with me as I try and answer all of them:)

[Assistant]
>the absence of social classes, money and the state

> Communism gives the government too much power.

Err... Communism gives too much power to the non-existent state?

Methinks you got your straw men mixed up there a little bit.

That said... you have to realize that Marx envisioned Communism as something which Capitalism would have to evolve into when productivity became so high that there was very low need for labor, and therefore capitalists would be able to drive wages down so far people couldn't live on them. And that socialism would be necessary as a bridge between Capitalism and Communism because people would die, and as a consequence revolt.

I.e. a post-labor-scarcity world.

With that understanding, can you see why it doesn't matter if people are not incentivized to work? Communism only works in a mostly post-scarcity world, one in which automation has replaced most workers and those left were fighting over the scraps Capitalists and the few remaining high-skill workers were willing to give them?

Sound familiar? And is it clear now why previous attempts were "not Communism"?


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

[User] If light cannot escape a black hole, does that mean it moves faster than the speed of light when it is being sucked in?

[Assistant] No, light always travels at the speed of light. What happens with a black hole is an "all roads lead to Rome" situation where once past the event horizon, all directions lead further into the black hole, spacetime curves to ensure this.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter]What is Slytherin house like after the second wizarding war?

Is it still the house that all evil people get thrown into, or does it become a normal house like the 3 others?

[Assistant] Slytherin has never been the evil house. The reason slytherin happens to produce a proportionately greater amount of dark wizards is because dark wizards tend to have high ambitions  Slytherin values ambition and cunning so most wizards who could potentially become dark wizards end up in slytherin. It's always been that way and always will be that way as long as the sorting hate determined your house by your qualities.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is fighting in hockey accepted but frowned upon in the NBA and NFL?

[Assistant]
Mainly because of history. Fighting has been in hockey since it's inception. By the time people started questioning the practice, it had become so ingrained in the sport that people were opposed to removing it.

For other sports like the NBA and the NFL, it was never allowed. So the decision to keep it banned is an easy one.


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

[User]
Do species with a shorter lifespan evolve faster than those with a longer lifespan?

I got to thinking about insects and the other species with really short life spans and noticed that they almost always have more complex eye systems, nervous systems, and more limbs.

Is this just coincidence did having more focus on development of the brain functions for complex thought, etc, lead species into another direction? or does having a shorter life span have an effect on evolution?

[Assistant]
The answer to your main question is that yes, shorter generation times (lifespan itself doesn't really matter) allow faster evolution, more or less by definition since evolution is a change in allele frequencies from one generation to the next.

But the underlying premise is mistaken:

> insects and the other species with really short life spans and noticed that they almost always have more complex eye systems, nervous systems, and more limbs

* Insects' generation times vary just like those of other organisms, and there are plenty of non-insects with shorter generations than plenty of insects
* The animal kingdom is full of complex eyes, insect or not
* Insects aren't really toward the high end of nervous-system complexity
* What does number of limbs have to do with anything?
* The things with the fastest generation times, single-celled organisms or viruses, evolve very quickly but also tend to have the simplest anatomies

It sounds like you're imagining insects as somehow "more evolved" than longer-lived animals. Do you suppose lions and tigers are on their way to developing an extra pair of legs if you just wait for them to reach the same number of generations? Will mice get there before elephants?

The "design space" of eyes or brains or body plans is vast, and different lineages have gone down different routes that lead to different places. After billions of years of evolution, we can generally assume anything is pretty stably adapted to the environment it's been living in all this time, and the rate of adaptation only becomes important when the environment itself is changing.


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

[User]
[Fiction]Could a bullet from a authentic 1875 Colt Single Action Army Revolver pierce a giant scorpion the size of a lion?

Well the title says it all. I have a writing problem where I don't like breaking physics in my story's and I have a MC who is looking at having to fight it. Is it a lost cause or is he gonna have to leg it? For frame of refernces the carapace is likely 1ish inches thick.

[Assistant]
When it comes to breaking physics, the existence of a scorpion that size is a major issue.

One of the long-standing reasons suggested for arthropods not reaching that kind of size is that an exoskeleton scaled up similarly to the size itself would be too heavy for the creature to move. This has been dismissed more recently, since there is no reason that the exoskeleton would be relatively as thick. There are still other issues though, relating to mechanical effectiveness of the leg structure, and lung efficiency (ruling out insects, which rely on oxygen diffusion, but with more doubt about the simple lungs that scorpions have).

So, the upshot is that either the scorpion would be too heavy to move, or else it would have a relatively thin chitin exoskeleton, which would present little difficulty to a revolver like this.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is the "One-China" policy so important, to the US, to China?

I can't seem to wrap my head around why this is such a big issue.  From everything I have read it seems to be a policy around political posturing with no real benefit to anyone.

[Assistant]
The Communist Party considers Taiwan part of China.
The Communist Party also considers several places namely Xinjiang Province, Inner Mongolia, Tibet and Hong Kong as part of China and actually runs those places.
The people in those places don't like the government in Beijing very much, they are all quite different from the Mainland Chinese people, but they still pay taxes and follow the laws.
If China just lets Taiwan go, all of those places would start getting ideas . They might all try to break away.

If that much territory revolts and breaks away, some provinces might think that maybe the whole Communist Party is weak, so they might consider looking elsewhere for leadership. Conveniently there is the previous government of China still living in Taiwan.

So basically, Taiwan being recognized and leaving would likely spell the beginning of the end of Communist China, something they will absolutely go to war over.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] When Harry first gets his invisibility cloak Ron comments "Wow, these are pretty rare!", but then we are told that they not just "pretty rare", the cloak of invisibility is an unique item and (allegedly) one of the top 3 most powerful objects in the Wizard world, so...

1) Is there any other of it's kind?

2) Is Ron faking any knowledge of the cloak?

3) If he is not, how does he know about and why is he lying to Harry about what it is?

[Assistant]
Cloaks of invisibility are rare. *The* Cloak of Invisibility is unique. (Most cloaks fade, the Cloak doesn't)

For perhaps a mundane equivalent, if you find a fancy golden cup, that's pretty rare. If you find the actual Holy Grail, that's a unique historical find.


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

[User]
Would karl marx be a communist if he lived today?

I read recently that Karl Popper meant that Marxism, as formulated by Marx himself, was a scientific theory (by his own standard of falsification). However, the later versions of communism, according to Popper, could not be called scientific because there could be no possible empirical data that could falsify the theories.

Would Marx agree with Popper on this? I realize it might not be fruitful to compare Popper's view of science with Marx', but I am curious if there is any thoughts or litterature on the subject. Especially since Marx felt, I believe, that it was important to be scientific.

Thank you.

[Assistant]
Marx did, quite literally, claim he wasn't a Marxist in his lifetime. And he did so to oppose more determinist readings of his work.

That being said, it definitely seems like he'd still be a communist, insofar as being a communist means believing in communism as the more just mode of production in relation to capitalism.


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

[User] Are there any stable elements that don't really have any practical uses?

[Assistant] Dysprosium (66) isn't used for much, but it still has a few very specific applications. Sometimes its used to absorb neutrons in Nuclear reactors. Theodore Gray, who made the visual elements books sums it up pretty well- "Look up dysprosium, and you have to go to the fourth page of results before finding anything that isn't a periodic table website's entry for dysprosium, usually an obligatory 'It's an element, so we have to have a page about it' sort of page."