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

[User] ELI5: What would happen if we could zoom in with a microscope infinitely? Would we keep seeing more detail or is there a 'cut off' where we can't see any more detail?

[Assistant]
Let's say you want to look at a Hydrogen atom in the DNA of an animal with your theoretical microscope. At normal zooms, everything looks normal, and as you zoom in on the cell you see more detail of smaller things. You keep zooming and eventually you see the chromosones all coiled up. It's probably around this point that things start to look fuzzy.

As other people have mentioned, seeing smaller things means using smaller wavelengths, and using smaller wavelengths means using more energy. To see smaller and smaller things, you need to put more and more energy into a smaller and smaller space. That doesn't bode well for the strands of DNA you're about to look at! As you keep zooming, you keep throwing photons (or electrons) at the DNA to be able to see it, and as you get closer in, the energy you're adding is enough to break the bonds, breaking the DNA molecule up.

No bother, you're really interesting in that Hydrogen atom! As you get closer, you start to see bumps where the different atoms are, and they may even be moving around each other. These bumps are the electron clouds of the atoms. The electrons exist in the space around the nucleus of the atom, and the amount of space depends on two things: the force between them, and the mass of the electron. If the force between them is large, the space the electrons exist in is smaller. If the electrons had a larger mass, the space the electrons exists in would be smaller. (There are experiments with atoms that contain muons, which are heavier than electrons, and those atoms have smaller muon clouds than electron clouds.)

After a while you get bored of seeing these bumps and clouds, because that's not what you expect. You want to see where the electron is, and what it's made of. You crank up the zoom again and pump some more energy in. That cloud shrinks in size and then disappears from view. The electron hasn't exploded, you've given it enough energy to escape the atom and it's gone. It's a bit like trying to squeeze an oily rubber ball. Squeeze it hard enough and it shoots off in some random direction and is gone forever. Even if you could zoom in on the electron, you'd see no substructure to it. But let's pursue the electron a bit more. Let's say you catch it in an electromagnetic field and can zoom in as much as you want. What would you see? As you zoom in more and more, you pump in more energy. You start to see electrons, positrons, and photons coming out of the region of space where the electron is. What's happening is that the energy you're adding is creating more particles. But still, the electron itself is just a very tiny cloud, so tiny that it looks like a particle. Don't be fooled though, the electron cloud is only small because the forces acting on it (the electromagnetic field) are stronger than the forces acting on it when it was in the atom. The more you zoom in, the more particles you create, and the more variety, but ultimately, you see nothing new in terms of substructure of the electron. How disappointing.

You're not done though. You notice that the Hydrogen atom is still there, and another electron has wandered in to fill the gap left by the previous electron. You zoom in on the Hydrogen atom, this time looking at the proton. The proton cloud is smaller than the electron cloud because the forces holding it together are much stronger. In fact, they are called the "strong force". The proton, like the electron, exists in a small cloud. You crank up the zoom and notice that the proton is wobbling and pulsating slightly. As you zoom in more, this becomes more pronounced. It turns out that the proton does have some substructure! As you crank up the zoom, you notice you can see the cloud actually looks like three sub clouds, all overlapping each other.

You notice that your microscope has a "chargeometer" for measuring electric charge. This is because at these zooms, you are literally firing photons (light particles) at the target and seeing where they bounce off. These light particles interact with electric charge, so the more charge the microscope looks at, the more light particles get reflected back. You point your microscope at the electron cloud to calibrate it and it comes back with a charge reading of -3. Now you point it at the proton again, zoomed out a bit, and it comes back with a charge reading of +3. Interesting... the electron and proton have equal and opposite charge readings. That must be something to do with how atoms form and they are electrically neutral. You zoom in again and try to focus on the sub clouds in the proton. They keep moving about, but you can just about point the chargeometer at them, and you get readings of +2, +2, and -1. It seems that the proton has three smaller particles inside, each with their own cloud, and with different charges. These are in fact the quarks that make up the proton, and you can see them dancing around.

You press on and zoom in even more. As you do so, the dancing of the clouds slows down, and you start to see faint traces of other clouds between them. (The slowing down is because of special relativity and quantum mechanics. Everyone sees the same things happening, but from different perspectives. From the point of view of someone in the "centre of mass" frame of references, the proton and photon move towards each other with equal and opposite momentum. As you crank up the zoom, the photon carries more energy, so in this "centre of mass" frame, the proton has to move faster to match it. The faster the proton moves, the slower time passes for it. You see the outcome of this, not as time slowing down, but as interactions between the photon and proton becoming less frequent.) Essentially, as you crank up the zoom further, you start to "freeze out" the quarks, and their clouds become more distinct.

Around this level of zoom, you also start to notice the other particles around the quarks, known as "gluons". Gluons hold the nucleus together, and they are, as the name suggests "sticky". They don't have electric charge, so you can't see them directly. Instead you see other particles bouncing off them, first the quarks, and then new particles you are creating. This is just like with the electron cloud. You pump in more energy, and you get more particles. You crank up the zoom to see what happens. The proton starts to wobble and the quarks shift apart, It looks like you're about to split the proton apart! But no, a new particle, this time a "pion" shoots out the side, and the proton goes back to how it was before. No matter how much try to zoom in, and give the proton more energy, you will never split it up. You will never separate out a quark or a gluon. Instead you will just create more and more particles. In fact this is how the LHC works. The LHC smashes protons into each other at super high speeds. The quarks and gluons get "frozen out", and as they fly past each other, a tiny fraction interact and make new particles. Of those new particles, an even tinier fraction are the Higgs boson.

You decide to keep zooming. You create more and more particles, until eventually you have a sea of quarks, antiquarks and gluons. This is known as a quark gluon plasma, and it acts like a strange fluid. It's hard to see "inside" it, because the quarks and gluons absorb nearly all the light they produce. You press on further, and see a handful of new particles (W and Z bosons, Higgs bosons, occasionally a neutron or even a Helium nucleus).

Edit: Wow, thanks for all the awards and lovely comments! :D

Edit 2: Clarified the size of the electron cloud and proton cloud vs the size of the electron and proton.


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

[User] Does Faster Than Light Travel (or even near FTL) equal suicide?

[Assistant] no, it means survival.  so long as we are trapped on a single world any alien terrorist could 9-11 our planet with their spaceships.  But with FTL drives we can spread until the heat death of the universe.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does our tongue rest at the top of our mouths and not the bottom?

[Assistant]
It doesn't for everyone, but if it does for you, then this means you have good oral posture! Your body likely continues to maintain this posture because it has so many good benefits, while resting with your tongue down can cause a lot of problems.

The tongue is a very special muscle because it doesn't have skeletal support (you don't have a tongue bone)- it also has the ability to move in many different ways thanks to it having four internal muscles that run in different directions- this means that your tongue is able to move and rest in a lot of different ways. Just as standing with good posture has benefits, so too does maintaining good oral posture. If you stand with your head slumped, you'll notice that your neck, back, and shoulders hurt a lot! Similarly, if you have bad oral posture you might find that it causes pain/ misalignment in the jaw, shoulders, and neck. This is because the base of your tongue doesn't just float around in your mouth- it is connected to a bone called the hyoid, just under your jaw in your neck, which is connected to your Adam's apple/ wind pipe/ vocal chords in turn by different muscles- your Adam's apple bobbing when you swallow actually helps close off your windpipe to protect your airway! Your facial and neck structures also play into your mouth posture a lot because the mouth is so important for breathing and feeding- two of our most essential functions. In fact, if you rest with your tongue down, you're likely to have a visibly 'weak' chin (which can be improved with improved posturing if it is from tongue placement <'mewing'>- sometimes though, people really do just have small jaws).
Some of the benefits of good oral posture include: preventing dental crowding/ tooth grinding or clenching and therein decay, preventing pain in your jaw joint (TMJ), helping you breathe through your nose instead of your mouth (better for filtering air and also warming it up, which is good for your respiratory system), and maintaining the roof of your mouth (your palate) which is important for swallowing (by closing off the nose)/ helping with chewing and for speech. Your tongue should also be at the top like this when you swallow so resting with your tongue down may make your swallowing less effective unless you have other medical conditions that would make tongue down swallowing safer (like if it takes a longer time to close your windpipe).  Finally, bad tongue positioning may be associated with having more middle ear infections because a little tube runs from the back of your mouth to the space behind your eardrum- this helps your ears 'pop' after airplane rides.


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

[User] [Worm]What's Earth Aleph like, knowing there's a portal to a world where superheroes exist and all we do is exchange movies every now and then?

[Assistant] First of all, Earth Aleph isn't quite ours. They do have some capes, but much fewer than Earth Bet and they don't have endbringers. There's a Word of God quote from Wildbow somewhere where he says that the governments of both worlds are actually quite distrustful of each other, and both are on the lookout for any kind of cross dimensional invasion. This mistrust is pretty much the reason why entertainment media is the only thing that is traded through the portal. The timelines of the two Earths had already diverged quite a bit by the time Professor Haywire opened the portal, so it's doubtful there's any real information to be gained.


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

[User]
[Marvel] So is the bifrost just a teleaporter? How fast is the bifrost? How does it work?

From the movies it seems to be a quick zap and your there. Does heimdall just think of a place and your there?

[Assistant]
Per the first Thor movie it creates a wormhole, an Einstein-rosen bridge. When Thor transports Jane to Asgard and when Sif arrives on earth in Agents of Shield you can spot the actual wormhole that the beam travels through if you look carefully. It's not really a teleporter because that would (traditionally) imply travellers are disassembled and then reassembled at their location.  Seems more like a super fast space lift or a cannon. It shoots a beam through the fabric of space that travellers can then pass through (and even get knocked out of).

It seems to be nigh-instantaneous, only taking a few seconds for each trip. Since it opens wormholes "speed" might not be all that important.

Heimdall just thinking is essentially how it works in the comics (well, he has to dip his hand in it), but the MCU version seems more technical so there's probably some sort of mechanism there. It seems primarily focused on the 9 realms, but according to Thor: Ragnarok it seems, at least theoretically, capable of reaching anywhere.

And according to the Thor. the Dark World prequel comic it was originally powered (or at least constructed) by the "allfather's power", however you want to interpret that. After it was broken in Thor 1 it was repaired by the Tesseract.


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

[User]
CMV: People care more about how something is said than what is said.

Someone who conveys an idea with enough confidence and conviction will most likely be believed by most people regardless of the accuracy of, and evidence to back up, the idea. In contrast, the opposite is also true. In a similar light most people judge a person's character by their presentation rather than their actions and beliefs. An example is when someone unqualified for a position gets hired because they are charismatic. Another example is when someone of either sex claims they care more about personal character than appearance yet fall for those who disrespect them but look good doing it. Another example is when a politician uses an important cause as the backbone for their campaign yet takes no real action to fix the problem.

[Assistant]
Won't you need to qualify your CMV of people with "uninformed" / "unsavvy" people.

If a person presents a poorly done research paper in a scientific convention, the expert audience will quickly punch holes into it. If an emotional but ultimately false appeal before an experienced judge will carry little weigh compared to it being presented to a lay person not familiar with the law or charlatans.

In short, the audience matters and a blanket statement like your CMV doesn't really work when the audience is a knowledgeable and expert one.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do people experience the urge to smoke cigarettes after they have consumed alcohol, yet don't experience these urges when they are sober?

[Assistant]
Disinhibition is a well-known side effect if alcohol. This side effect is what makes nice people get into fights and for faithful people to cheat on their partner when drinking. Alcohol increases the likelihood for people to do things that they have a general threshold for avoiding.

Someone who never had smoked would likely never want to smoke without knowing what it was or being offered. But they'd possibly want to do something that they generally avoided but now were disinhibited from the alcohol. Similarly, someone who generally avoided smoking, but enjoyed doing so, would be more likely to want to smoke when drinking because it causes disinhibition and makes people do stupid shit for all of history.


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

[User] [Jumanji] Was Alan's turn skipped? If Sarah didn't run off would she be able to play or would she need to add more players until one of them would roll 5 or 8?

[Assistant] Sarah could have continued playing the game until a 5 or 8 was rolled. Alan while in the Jungle was effectively out of the game and his turns perpetually skipped, so she wouldn't have needed to add other players.


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

[User]
[Halo] Who from modern times do you think would make excellent candidates for the Spartan II program?

Personally I feel like a trained from six, indoctrinated JJ Watt would make an incredible Spartan. 6'6" and 290 lbs without augmentation while being stronger, faster, and more athletic than most of the world would put him right up the alley of the S2 program. Who else do you guys think could make the cut?

[Assistant]
The problem with the S-II program is not that people would be athletic in the future, but that their genes don't destroy them after augmentation. If JJ Watt goes through the program and ends up with an immovable skeleton post-augmentation, a fat lotta good 6 foot 6 inches is gonna do him.

Now, the ODSTs, on the other hand......


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

[User]
[Marvel/Star Wars] Can Peter Parker pilot a pod racer?

In The Phantom Menace, Anakin says that he is the only human that can pilot a pod racer, and it is implied that his connection to the force allows him to react to things before they happen.

Could Peter Parker's spider sense allow him the same advantages?

[Assistant]
Yea, Spidy can do it.

Anakin says he's the only human that can do it, but he's a kid, with a kid's understanding of the sport.  It's more the case that he's the only human who does do it.  Luke and his friends run Beggar's canyon in airspeeders, which isn't that different, given that the canyon is part of the Boonta Classic track.  There are also reports later on of humans competing on other planets in the outer rim.

Realistically, it would seem that anybody with sufficient piloting skill, good reflexes, and a knowledge of the track could do it.  Spidey could learn piloting and the track, and he definitely has the reflexes for it even before spidey sense kicks in.


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

[User] Eli5: why are mice the preferred "testing" subjects in scientific experiments?

[Assistant]
They are the right combination of breeding quickly, maturing quickly, being easy to care for, being easy to handle, and being close enough to humans to get meaningful results.

We might get slightly more analogous results testing with gorillas, but a 400 pound animal that takes 15 years to mature, has one offspring a year, and that can rip you head off isn't worth it.


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

[User]
If something bleaches, where does the colour go?

When something gets bleached, where does the colour go?
For example plastic toys or printed posters that lose their colour when exposed to the sun, as well as chemical bleached things such as hair or fabrics.

[Assistant]
In brief, colour in things like toys, printed objects, hair, etc. comes from molecules that have particular bonding patterns that result in their absorbing certain wavelengths of light. We perceive this as colour.

When those objects are "bleached", those molecules get destroyed (or at least rearranged) so that the bonding patterns responsible for the colour are no longer present.


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

[User] Why is there more matter than antimatter?

[Assistant]
We don't know.

This question, often referred to as the "baryon asymmetry problem", is one of the major open questions in elementary physics.

It's natural to assume that matter and antimatter would've been created in equal quantities in the big bang, but the fact that there seems to be a very large imbalance implies that some physical laws apply differently to matter than they do to antimatter. For now, it's an open problem and no complete answer to the baryon asymmetry  problem has been found.

So the solution to this problem is left as an exercise to the reader.


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

[User] There are statements floating around online that states "white supremacists should not be allowed a voice" or to present their side on TV. How would the ancient philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, etc react to this? Do they have any similar situations in their times and how were they viewed?

[Assistant] There are a lot of ancient philosophers. It would be a monumental task to write up answers for all of them. One place to start would perhaps be Plato's *Republic*, which has a classic argument in favor of censoring harmful views.


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

[User] ELI5:Exactly what does a conductor do in an orchestra? Why is he so important?

[Assistant]
If you look at crowds when they have to clap at the same time, it's never really in synch, there is always some people clapping too early and some clapping late.

If the singer/entertainer takes the time to clap, the claps get a lot more synched, that's because everyone pays attention to one person's predictable gestures and time their clap with it.

The conductor swings his stick in a way that every musician can time the notes in  a predictable way.

He also tells  some musician when a side of the band isn't loud enough or one instrument doesn't sound right.


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

[User]
ELI5: How did absolute monarchs like Louis XIV keep their power and not be assassinated?

Louis XIV believed he was the state and reigned for more than 70 years. He had rituals where over 100 servants would help him wake up in the mornings and sleep at night. How were absolute monarchs able to keep their power and not be assassinated? If just a few of these servants had a grudge against him, then he would be overthrown. Were the people all brainwashed to believe he was the Sun King and actually wanted him as an absolute ruler or were they too scared to do anything about it?

[Assistant]
His biggest strength was that for all his ridiculous pomp, the country *worked*. Yes, there's always the risk of one random guy getting pissed off and murdering you, but ultimately, that's true of literally anyone ever.

And remember, while he's the poster child for "absolute monarch", that doesn't necessarily mean he was a tyrant full time. As long as he kept from pissing anyone off too too much, and kept a close eye on the people who could be threats, he's in the clear.

Further, you do need to keep in mind that assassination isn't always a super viable tactic. So we kill Louis 14. What happens? Someone else just takes his place and the world keeps on spinning. Unless the system itself is on shakey ground, assassination doesn't usually wind up accomplishing anything, so why risk it?

Edit: And of course, people believed in the idea of monarchy. There were a lot of people who likely believed that the king did actually have divine right to rule. Even if you didn't buy into that idea in and of itself, it would still feel very natural to be ruled by a king, given that pretty much all of Europe was governed that way.


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

[User]
[The Hateful Eight] What the FUCK did Jody Domingre do to be worth $50,000

fifty grand in 1871 would be like a million in today's money. As far as I can tell nobody else in the eighteenth century except John Wilkes Booth (who is referenced in the movie as the sort of the high end of what a bounty can be) had that high of a bounty.

So why was ody worth that much?

[Assistant]
Like most very high bounties today for outlaws she was running a criminal organization.

She wasnt the trigger man she was organizing them to rob banks, rape murder kill etc. Her gang was most likely very successful and ruthless.

Or she killed the wrong person and someone with money and influence put up a ridiculous bounty on her to make their lives as difficult as possible.

Its hard to commit crime when any town you enter immediately turns on you for a lifetimes worth of money.


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

[User]
ELI5 How do animals get castrated with little to no reaction?

I saw a youtube video of a bull getting his balls twisted off with a tool used for castration (it was basically a hand drill) and he didn't even flinch or make any noise. Not to mention he just walked it off and there was little to no bleeding. Would a man bleed out if he had this done to him and how are animals so resistant to testicular pain.

[Assistant] Animals react to pain differently than humans do; you cant anthropomorphize them and expect them to wail and moan like a human would. There is a lot of research suggesting that animals who undergo castration and other painful techniques react differently to certain types of procedures later in life, indicating that they do feel profound pain. It just looks different to humans because they evince pain differently.


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

[User] ELI5: In Windows, why can't you use certain symbols when you create a folder name?

[Assistant]
Some characters are reserved so complete path names (e.g. c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe) can be parsed into their drive letter and path components.  Colons are reserved because they are used to denote drive letters and alternate data streams.  Backslashes and slashes are reserved because they denote the end of a folder name. Double quotation marks (") are reserved because they are used in some contexts to enclose filenames that contain spaces.

All other reserved symbols (? < > * | and others) are reserved for historical reasons.


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

[User] ELI5: How can ozone layer repair itself?

[Assistant] The sun's rays split O*_2_* molecules into free Oxygen Atoms, these Atoms bind to other O*_2_* atoms to form O*_3_*. It's constantly doing this and the ozone molecules are also constantly breaking down. Just in the past we released a bunch of stuff that caused it to break down faster. Now that we've banned a lot of those chemicals, they aren't being released, so the Ozone layer isn't breaking down as fast as it used to.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What happened on Coruscant between the founding of the Empire and Andor?

Wonder how long it took the Empire to reconstruct the upper levels and change the architecture of the buildings.

When did the process start and what actually happened during it? And what happened with the inhabitants during that time?

[Assistant]
The empire did very little to change the planet and the city. Most of their changes were establishing large military centers permanently where the GAR had had temporary installations. And a lot of iconography and propaganda slapped on. The largest change that had taken place was turning the Jedi temple into a palace for the emperor and a headquarters for the inquisition. Everything else we've seen that's different is just because we're seeing parts of the planet the Jedi rarely visited in the prequels and clone wars.

For the people of coruscant most only noticed the local police forces changing their uniforms and a larger military presence. And those on the lower levels didn't notice much of a change at all beyond certain goods being more restricted and harder to get from the surface levels..


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

[User]
How would an anarchic society, which is based on cooperation between individuals and a lack of hierarchy, deal with the 'bad' people?

There will always be individuals that have a psychological need to do harm to others in various ways. They can be labelled as 'bad' by the society as a whole just from an ethical standpoint (since legality is not a valid reason in this context).

How can an anarchic society get rid of said individuals if there are no rules (or no one to enforce them, since just the existence of enforcers would generate a new hierarchy)?

[Assistant] Anarchists have formed successful military organizations, and they could likely form successful public safety organizations as well. These would have to be carefully run under transparent, democratic procedures, as one could readily imagine the potential for corruption.


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

[User]
[WH40k] What does the recruiting process for the space marine chapters entail?

What qualities do they look for? Who does the recruiting? Do the various chapters look for different things?

[Assistant]
It varies by the chapter but in general they're all looking for strong young men who already represent the very best their people have to offer. A lot of chapters make their home on worlds where life is not easy. Environmental hardship, frequent warfare, it doesn't matter as long as there's a natural selection going on to make the natives hard and strong.

Most chapters have a periodic recruitment run every decade or every few decades. Some chapters have the locals organise contests where their fittest men compete in a variety of events under the watchful eyes of space marines. Other chapters simply look for men who have been successful in battle or who have other achievements of physical excellence.

As long as the candidates meet the physical requirements, the marines care little about their personalities. Psycho conditioning takes care of that.

For example the blood angels recruit on Baal, an irradiated wasteland of a planet. The Space Hulk game describes the various members of the terminator squad and they're quite diverse. One man used to be a psychotic gang member while another was a wasteland nomad. One of them is an artist while yet another is so dull witted that the rest of the squad jokes he's a servitor promoted by mistake.

In the end, the main quality candidates need is the physical peak condition to survive the surgeries, gene therapy, psychoconditioning and training that brings them from initiate to neophyte to fully fledged marine. Even the exemplary men selected by the marines usually don't survive.


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

[User]
[Die Hard/Oceans 11] Couldve Danny Oceans crew pulled off the Nakatomi Plaza heist in a non-violent way?

Something Ive always wondered about these these two series is of the Oceans crew could pull off the heists in the Die Hard movies in a typical non violent manner. Oceans crew normally give back generously to the people they involve in their heists, whereas most Die Hard villains just kill innocent people all the time.

Could the Oceans crew pull off the same heist, but not hurt anyone? Or is violence the only way to get that vault open?

[Assistant]
Absolutely. They would socially engineer the entire thing and infiltrate Nakatomi at all levels.

They could discover Takagi's password through subterfuge or simply placing a camera above his desk. The tech guys would brute force opens the other locks.

For the magnetic seal, they'd make mock videos of a terrorist takeover. Cops would show up and set up a perimeter. Then Danny and maybe Rusty or Linus would pose as FBI agents. They'd take over the operation from the LAPD and order the power grid down.

When the SWAT team finally bursts in, they'd find the Nakatomi Christmas party in full swing and Holly and Takagi would be confused, saying there were never any terrorists.  Dwayne T. Robinson would be left scratching his head at what happened.

The funny thing is that McClane would probably be an antagonist in this. He'd know Danny from his time working RICO in NY. He's jealous of him flirting with his wife and when he sees him at the party, he'd know something was up. He'd spend his time sleuthing, trying to figure out what Ocean is up to, and then get caught flat-footed when the other cops show up.


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

[User] (Avatar series) what are the environmental and geological consequences of the eventually planetary population boom? As Earth Kingdom industrializes, will a growing population of earth benders lead to climate change or possible global geological disturbances?

[Assistant] Given the world's tendencies towards war, a planetary population boom is far from inevitable.  That said, the planet is smaller than Earth, and also, the land masses are a bit more concentrated, such that approximately half the planet is one giant ocean.  Assuming the Lion Turtle was indeed the last one, they'll eventually need to find ways to build on the water and survive.  Humans settling in the spirit world is also likely.  After that?  Space exploration.  Bending really allows for mitigating geological problems, and global warming probably isn't a concern since most of their energy comes from lightning benders, not coal or oil.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do car tires squeal when you turn corners in parking garages even at very low speeds?

[Assistant]
The floors are sealed with a material that is very grippy, much more so than concrete or asphalt. Your tires dont roll perfect when turning, the edges slip, on most roads theres a bit of give, pebbles or sand/dust, and these materials allow the edges of the tire to slide. On the floor seal the rubber slips and vibrates at a frequency that causes the sound you hear.

Rub a balloon and its squeaky, rub a balloon with a handful of sand and its not squeaky. Same thing.


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

[User]
How does Saturn's moon Titan have oil? Was there life?

So they discovered oil on Titan. My question is how was the oil formed there? On earth it was formed because of plant and animal matter decaying? What process is at work for Titan?

[Assistant]
Titan has hydrocarbons which are found in petroleum but they have a different origin in that they are abiogenesis - that is created without life. Instead Titan formed with a large complement of methane which us sensitive to UV light from the Sun. Over millions of years, methane molecules have one or more hydrogen atoms cleaved off by a UV photon to create a highly reactive methyl radical which on occasion will react with another methyl to form ethane, ethane can lose a hydrogen to become an ethyl radical which can then react to form heavier hydrocarbons. The heaviest molecules form a thick smog which eventually condenses on the surface.

The same process is responsible for the red or brown colours of the outer icy moons in the solar system as well as the very dark colour of comets.

It has been proposed that some oil on Earth is of abiogenic origin and comes from the Mantle, but the evidence for it is lacking.


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

[User]
[Marvel/X-Men] How can I, a regular human, see my family in Krakoa?

I married a mutant and as a result, all of our children have the x-gene.

My wife has kept her mutant status and abilities a secret due to social stigma and for the safety of the kids.

A couple weeks ago, I let it slip at work that my wife and kids are mutants and a week later, our home was burned down. My wife decided to flee to Krakoa with the kids while I fix things up on our end.

I just now got our stuff fixed up (wills, bank accounts, etc), but I just found out I cant join my family in Krakoa. How can I see them again?

[Assistant]
So, um, this is awkward. See, humans can move to Krakoa if their mutant relatives approve. Northstar's got his regular human husband living there for instance. So there's two options.

First, that the various paperwork needed to get you permission to be a permanent resident on Krakoa with your wife and kids might not have gone through yet, and that soon she'll come back and be able to take you to a portal to your new home.

The second is that she's found some hot new mutant guy on Krakoa, forgotten all about you, and the kids now love their new superpowered mutant step-father, and are totally okay with leaving you behind.

I'll be hoping it's the first, and that the various leaders of Krakoa approve your permanent resident status, but well, a lot of mutants are ridiculously good looking...


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

[User]
[DC] Are there limits to what the Lazarus pits can bring you back from?

Just as an example: let's say your heart or head is missing....am I going to stay a corpse of is a nice dunk going to bring me back?

[Assistant] Lazarus pits have brought back whole corpses, dismembered corpses, decomposed corpses, even cremated corpses...but they've never yet brought back someone that has been eaten and digested. Which is why Wayne Industries should invest in a pig farm.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is there still controversy over vaccines?

The idea that "vaccines cause autism" was created by a fraud, and now dis-barred doctor. There are no studies supporting it. How is this still a thing?

[Assistant] Because of confirmation bias. The internet is large enough, and people are good enough at self-selecting information that confirms their own bias, that it's relatively simple to just remain in a self-affirming corner (read: circlejerk and/or hugbox) where everyone who disagrees with you is an idiot.


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

[User]
Eli5 Why do they pay you to donate plasma but not blood.

I always hear about people donating plasma to get some extra cash and it made me wonder, what makes plasma more valuable than whole blood. Or is there some other reason that companies are willing to pay for one and not the other?

[Assistant]
While both are valuable, and paying for blood is actually legal in the US if it's labeled, paying for blood is considered riskier and less ethical, and thus not done. Plasma can be processed more aggressively to get rid of blood-borne infections like HIV and hep C, so it barely matters where it came from. Whole blood/red cells can't be treated as roughly, so it's much more important to ensure that there's no virus in the blood to begin with.

Evidence suggests that volunteer donations are less likely to be contaminated than paid donations. While there's a lot of testing to prevent contaminated blood from entering the supply, the people in charge don't like taking any extra risks (no test is perfect when we're talking about millions and millions of donations.)


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

[User]
[The Walking Dead] How are the walkers strong enough to rip people apart?

How are the walkers (who are literally decaying) have the strength to rip people/horses and what not apart?

[Assistant] People are much stronger than you realize. Our muscles are unconsciously limited so we don't hurt ourselves, but that's how with adrenaline rushes people can lift cars off kids and shit. Walkers don't have the unconscious self preservation instinct so they are stronger.


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

[User]
ELI5 Why was I taught to always rationalize a denominator?

I was taught to write sin(45) as sqrt2 / 2. Why can't I write 1/sqrt2? It's easier to put into equations the second way.

[Assistant]
It's fine to write it the other way, if you're doing something purely symbolical it's a question of aesthetics.

However, one reason is that if you approximate sqrt 2 numerically, it's far easier to divide a decimal (non-integer) number by an integer than to divide an integer by a decimal number. This is the case in for example computers, it's much quicker to divide by an integer.


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

[User]
[Animorphs] Could the Andalites just tell all the humans what's going on?

Could an Andalite ship fly near the Earth and broadcast a message across TV signals or something, telling humanity about the war and the Yeerks slowly taking them over?

I realize not everyone would believe them, and there would be tons of debate over whether humans could trust these random blue aliens, but just putting the information out there would at least sew doubt. Enough people would believe them to start a real investigation, which might lead to significant resistance. The Yeerk operations on Earth might at least become more difficult if the humans were given some kind of clue of their existence and what they're up to.

[Assistant] The problem is, it'd just turn it from a cold war into a hot one.  Earth would become a bloody, burning battlefield.  There'd be intense mistrust of each other by every human, it'd be very difficult to organize any sort of defense when everybody else could be affected.  Not to mention that we'd be caught between two warring space superpowers.  All the F-16s and aircraft carriers we have couldn't take down one of their starships.


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

[User]
[Star Wars: Last Jedi] Why is Rey a jedi at heart acccording to Snoke?

In episode 6 of star wars, Palpatine wanted Luke to strike him down with rage as that was the way of the dark side and would cause Luke to fall to it. He even goaded him similar to Snoke by telling him, that his  friends were all going to die and the rebels would be destroyed.

In episode 8, Snoke shows Rey the resistance getting blown up, one pod at a time by his destroyers and goads her into attacking him. Rey goes into a rage, and uses her force powers to grab a lightsaber then lunges at him. Snoke counters her by force pushing her then taunts that from that action she truly has the heart of a Jedi.  Yet, according to episode 6, this is the exact opposite of a Jedi action as this was an act of vengeance/hatred which was more aligned to Sith way of fighting (hence why form 7 was used often by Siths).

[Assistant] Snoke is not a Jedi, and does not think particularly highly of Jedi.  He's attempting to make the point that the peace and nobility of the Jedi is a front, and that when pushed they lash out with violence.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Why didn't Harry just check to see if Sirius was safe before venturing into the Ministry of Magic?

I understand that the attack on Mr Weasley turned out to be real so it would have caused Harry to believe Sirius' capture was real too, but surely Harry could have just given Grimmauld Place a call?  It takes a lot less time, Grimmauld Place is safe and even Snape was able to eventually contact Sirius.

[Assistant] The whole book/movie was about how Harry wasn't in his normal state of mind, and that Voldemort was starting to have an effect on him mentally. Harry was coming off the tri wizard tournament where he saw his friend murdered and the mad man that murdered his family among so many others get resurrected. Immediately after that most of the wizarding world began to turn on Harry and Dumbledore, which also deeply effected him. Then he gets attacked by dementors and almost gets expelled for defending himself. Not long after that he comes to learn that the people he cares about are being instructed to keep a safe distance because of Harry's connection to Voldemort. Dumbledore, someone who has always been there for Harry during his time at Hogwarts, has also completely shut him out, which really hurt. Then there's him and his friends being tortured by umbridge. All this adds up to Harry not being rational. He's angry, he feels abandoned, he feels like the world, save for some close friends and Sirius, has turned away from him. They called him the boy who lived, the one that stopped Voldemort, and now they called him mad, a liar, etc. When he gets the vision of Sirius, he's not thinking about calling him, he's thinking he's about to lose the only family he has left, and he needs to save him.


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

[User] If the US was able to put men on the moon in the '60s with less computing power than a modern cell phone, why is it that modern countries such as China or even North Korea can't pull it off?

[Assistant]
For one thing there's no good reason to do it, so you have to be willing to spend hundreds of billions of dollars just for the fun of it.

For another, there's a lot more to it than just shooting a rocket at the Moon. You have to develop space suits, docking mechanisms and procedures, landing spacecraft, re-entry methods, rockets that can launch at least 50 tons to translunar injection, etc.

Finally, China is working on completing a manned Moon mission by 2025, so these days they _do_ have the cash to do it just for the fun of it.


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

[User]
[Futurama] Why Bender can't get a Backup Unit installed ?

In a lesser extent, was it really impossible to upgrade his son to allow to bend without erase his memory ? At worst if they had to replace the component with his personnality, they still could copy it in a better one. (Since robots use 24 hours backup they don't have a problem with continuity of consciouness)

And why humans don't use a Backup Unit implant / Cortical Stack themselves ? they could become immortals (Without living in the Near-Death Star's simulation) or at least avoid premature death.

[Assistant]
What you're suggesting is the Futurama robot version of "Download more RAM."

Its just ridiculous. Now what you want to be spending your time on is some kind of atomic supermen with octagonal shaped bodies that suck blood....

To be a bit more specific, the very act of changing how a robot works by adding something integral that wasn't there when it was created (or born even, depending on how you look at it) changes the very fundemental base that makes that robot who they are.

You saw what happened when MoMCorp brought that new floaty robot out and all the old models had to go for "upgrades". There are two things you can do to a robot without changing their personality. Cosmetic upgrades (Extendo arms, X-ray vision, neon crotch) or a kind of electro therapy minor reprograming.

Anything more than that pretty much gives it a new personality, so Bender would cease being Bender. He'd have the same body, but he'd be a different bot altogether.


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

[User] Why do monotremes (Platupi and echidnas) lay eggs?

[Assistant]
Monotremes are share a common ancestor with all other mammals that was warm blooded and hairy, but this common ancestor was still similar to reptiles in that in laid eggs.

Marsupials and placental mammals (such as ourselves) share a more recent common ancestor that did not lay eggs.

So essentially monotremes evolved down a path that continued to lay eggs whereas all other mammals went down a path where we gave birth to live young.


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40000/ Mass Effect] How would the Mass Effect governments react or interactions with the Tau Empire?

Assume no other Warhammer force exists and the tau were magically placed in the mass effect universe.

[Assistant] By ME standards Tau are the oppressive evil empire worse then Batarian Hegemony because they don't infight, are good at brainwashing people they conquer and are innovative and quickly spreading on par with Humans if not better.


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

[User]
I dont think I want to get my PhD anymore, but I dont know what else to do.

Im (22F) a first year PhD student in physics, and I kind of absolutely hate it. I know at least some of the problem is my mental health, adjusting to having moved across the country, and a bunch of non-school external stressors that I have been dealing with Im in therapy and I take meds.

But I wake up and dread my classes. I dread my research. I feel like a disappointment to my advisor who is so nice and puts so much faith in me. Im skipping class and sleeping and Im still so exhausted. I dont think this is what I want to do, and academica was never something I planned on doing after my doctorate anyway. I think I just want it so everyone knows Im smart. And its always been my plan.

But I dont know what to do from here. I kind of want to teach. My mom was a teacher and she hated it, but I think I would enjoy teaching math, and it seems like thats at least somewhat in demand.

I dont know what to do. Any advice from teachers, grad students, physicists, or anyone would be useful. Thank you.

[Assistant] Youre figuring this out in first year?  Good for you, quit.  Quit right away.  The sunk cost fallacy (which is less of a fallacy because you do only get your PhD at the end so you kinda get stuck gutting out out) gets worse with every passing year.  Run now.


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

[User]
[My Hero Academia] Will One For All eventually get so powerful that nobody can use it?

As it is now, Deku can use a bit of it, but if he uses too much he breaks his bones and otherwise hurts himself. But One For All grows stronger every time it's passed on, so will it eventually reach a point where so many users have contributed to it that nobody will be able to safely use it?

[Assistant]
Maybe.

Deku seems to have gotten supremely unlucky in how the quirk manifested in him, but his quirk changes several times early in his career as he accesses more of its power. Previous holders didn't have this problem, and All Might was quirkless, so the quirk probably isn't too strong for mortal hands (yet). The problem seems to not be the One For All, but how Deku manifested it. His successor probably won't have as many problems as he did.

Still, just to be safe, it would be a good idea to only give it to quirkless people, or make sure the next holder has a durability or defensive quirk.


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

[User]
ELI5: Are cats' ear movements a reflex that corresponds to incoming sound, or a conscious movement?

I was watching my room mates cat flick it's ears in my direction whenever I called its name. Is that a reflex or a conscious muscle movement? Is it possible to know the answer to this question?

[Assistant]
It can be either, just like you can move your leg both as a reflex and under conscious muscle movement.

They will point their ears to focus their attention on something, or their ears will orient to an unexpected sound.  The latter can be done with "lower level" brain structures, so likely doesn't involve conscious muscle movement (that doesn't mean the cat isn't aware of the movement, just that they didn't "think to point their ears that way").


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

[User] ELI5: how does a monitoring software know the clock speed, data transfert etc. of components at any given time (CPU/GPU/disk/...)?

[Assistant]
Sometimes, the monitor will show what the component itself is reporting. The component knows it is using a certain amount of power, or is performing operations at a certain rate. The driver allows for the monitor to request and interpret this data.

The monitor may also request data from the motherboard, which can control voltage or report bandwidth.

Other times, the monitor will measure this with the help of the operating system, as it is doing its own monitoring.

Some utilities may measure by testing the component, such as timing how long it takes to do a certain task. This is different from merely asking for a report, and takes more effort.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do antibiotics work?

How exactly do antibiotics work?

[Assistant] Pretend your cells and the cells of everything living are made from Lego. Bacteria have some of the same pieces of Lego in their cells as humans do, but also have some Lego pieces that are very specific to bacteria and are not found in humans. Most antibiotics work to target those Lego pieces that exist in bacteria, but do not exist in human cells. This way they can selectively target bacteria and hopefully human cells will not be affected.


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

[User]
I have been reading Kierkegaard's Either Or and this part is particularly difficult for me to understand. Please explain this part to me.

Someone please explain this part to me from Either/Or by Kierkegaard

"Since sensuality in general is what is negated, it first comes into view, is first posited, through the act that excludes it by positing the opposite, positive principle. As a principle, power, a system in itself, sensuality was first posited with Christianity, and to that extent Christianity has introduced sensuality to the world."

[Assistant] Kierkegaard is saying that Christianity, by defining itself in opposition to sensual desires and pleasures, has actually brought attention to and introduced the concept of sensuality to the world. Prior to Christianity, sensuality may not have been considered a distinct principle or system in and of itself. However, by defining itself in opposition to sensual desires and pleasures, Christianity has effectively posited sensuality as a principle or system worthy of opposition, and thus introduced it to the world. The negation of something is deeply related to the acknowledgement of that thing.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Everyone knows about order 66, but were there any other orders? What did they do?

If order 66 was the only one programmed, then why was it called 66?

[Assistant]
I assumed the other orders were fairly generic things- "the senate's under attack, return to the capital", "Battle is lost, focus on defense and escape", "aim for non-lethal capture of targets", so forth so forth. Standard stuff you might want your army to do

Order 66 was hidden by being stuck in a batch of long, boring military orders which most people just assumed the clones had memorized and they didn't need to. They knew the orders for their department, and no-one connected the dots enough to realise that no-one knew what order 66 was.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] If they can build a space station capable of destroying a planet, why can't they make armor strong enough to withstand a laser blast.

I mean, come on.

[Assistant]
Good armor is expensive. Clones and recruits are numerous.

This is the same reason why, though X-Wings are heavily armored, Tie fighters have almost no armor. Escort missions, blockades, tax enforcement - a constant show of great numbers is more important than actual combat readiness.

Statistically, the chances of any given Imperial soldier seeing actual combat is incredibly slim.


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

[User] [Cartoons] How do Roger Rabbit and Bugs Bunny feel about each other?

[Assistant]
They had a brutal rivalry with Roger always coming up short of bugs. Always living in his shadow you know?

It came to a head one day in the late 80's when Roger was at his peak. Bugs was still acting like hot shit even though his popularity was at a low point and Roger was just fed up. He had been the king since 88 and Bugs was clearly old news. At union party Roger called Bugs out and boy oh boy did that backfire.

This was around 95, bugs wasnt obscure but definitely wasn't riding any kind of high point. Roger name drops him a few times and Bugs, like the true OG he is, says that he could make a better movie without giving a shit.

So he gets some pull in the studio and Space Jam becomes a thing. He gets Jordan on board and the movie is a smash hit, popular with families and hipsters who watch it ironically. What should have been a shameless plug for Jordan and all around piece of crap turns out to be a cult hit.

Roger once again becomes second fiddle to the titan that is Bugs Bunny. Bugs sleeps with Jessica as a final jab at Roger.

The king reigns.


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

[User]
How are memories stored at a cellular level?

Moreover, are short term memories stored by a different physiological mechanism than long term memories? Or is all memory and learning achieved by the same fundamental cellular changes to neurons?

[Assistant] Lots of people think that it's CamKII/NMDAR. It sits in between neurons that are connected. As they fire together, the complex strengthens the association between the two neurons. The process involves successive incidents of calcium binding. This is called a "molecular coincidence detector." As the neurons fire together more frequently, they become wired together. Neat!


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

[User]
[DC/Batman] What is Gotham City's signature food?

Every major city in the US is known for a signature food, or cuisine-- in some cases, multiple foods and cuisines. Philadelphia has its cheesesteak, Minneapolis has the Juicy Lucy, Chicago has the deep dish pizza, Italian roast beef sandwich, and its signature hot dog; Los Angeles has Mexican and Korean, New York City has pizza, Chinese food, Italian food, and Jewish delis; Miami has Cuban food; and so on. What is Gotham City known for? Does it have a signature dish, or ethnic cuisine it is known for?

[Assistant]
Since Gotham is supposed to be in New Jersey, probably some variant of Pork Roll.

Probably hard to have a famous signature dish in Gotham, makes you a prime target for Super villain capers.

Because come on there's no way the Joker wouldn't screw over a Gotham institution forever just because that wouldn't name a signature sandwich after him.


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

[User]
Why does pi appear so much in physics?

Coulombs law, Uncertainty principle, Einsteins field equations- Why do these include pi? They don't seem to be related to circles in any obvious way.

[Assistant]
Usually either because something displays spherical symmetry, or is periodic. There are also mathematical techniques that pick up factors of pi: anything that involves a fourier transform or integrating a Gaussian.

Coulomb's law is because of spherical symmetry: the electric field is unchanging over the 4pi steradian surface. In the uncertainty principal it arises from your choice of h instead of hbar, the difference being that one describes a full cycle and one describes a radian of a cycle. There are 2pi radians in a cycle.


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

[User] What is happening when you burn NH4Cr2O7 With HgSCN that causes it to make those scary burnt horns that come out?

[Assistant] The ammonium dichromate just acts as an oxidizing agent here. The reaction produces some solids irrelevant to the spectacle (chromium(III) oxide and mercury(II) sulfide), but, more importantly, it violently produces nitrogen gas. The rapid volume expansion associated with producing the N2 is what causes the solids to swell up (it kind of "carries" the solid stuff up as it expands) and make the "horns".


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

[User]
Evolution of defensive poisons

How can a defensive poison (such as that of a poisonous frog)  evolve if the selective pressure depends on its predator knowing it's poisonous? That is there no advantage to the individual to being poisonous if you die anyway.

 Is that why poisonous animals are colourful,  because only the distinctive ones are remembered by the poisoned predator as being poisonous? (that is only animals that evolve a poison and a distinctive colour simultaneously can pass on a benefit to their kin?

[Assistant]
The selective pressure doesn't depend on the predator knowing it's poisonous.  The poison kills the predator, regardless of whether it knows what it ate was good for it or bad for it - however, those predators that don't eat the poisonous prey will live, while those that don't will die.  Eventually, you select for the predators that avoid the poisonous animal - if it happens to have a distinct colouring, that's ok.

The distinctive colouring would, by expectation, be secondary, as the predators have stopped eating the animal that isn't camouflaged so well any more.  Otherwise, if the fancy colour evolved before the toxin, the brightly coloured prey would be easier to see, and thus would have been depleted faster, favouring those that are better camoflaged.


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

[User]
[X-Men, Marvel] So Wolverine's been all over the place since the mid/late 1800's and had had lost his memory of alot of it, so would he know how many lil bastards he actually has out there? or how many mutants maybe some he's even met and lived/fought with could actually be of his lineage ?

Like how many students at Xavier's could actually be a descendant or great/grandchild of his that he doesn't even know about ?

[Assistant]
There was an arc where Wolverine unknowingly fought and killed a group of his children recruited by his son Daken as a part of a revenge plot.

As many women hes had sex with theres no way Wolverine would know how many children hes had in over 120 years and they wouldnt all be mutants like him. Not all mutant offspring have powers like their parents.


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

[User] ELI5: How do CGI artists know what's behind the objects they remove in live action movies?

[Assistant]
Copying parts of the background if it is visible at any point during the shot (most common, also mostly automated process at this point)

or

Using a reference shot. Basically they film the scene several times with some elements simply not there, for SFX background references

or

If all else fails, rotoscoping. Painting shit out frame by frame.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Can non-Force users construct their own lightsabers? Has this ever happened?

From what I've read in other questions on this sub, there tends to be a lot of ritual involved in how Jedi and Sith create their lightsabers, but there doesn't appear to be any big secret to the technology of it. The blade is made essentially the same way as blaster "bullets", and the crystals can be found in lots of different places, or synthesized. Is there anything that would stop a dedicated "muggle" from building their own lightsaber and learning how to use it (even if they couldn't become as skilled as a Force user)?

[Assistant]
Most of a lightsaber is commonly available, off the shelf components, and obviously anybody can lay hands on those and assemble them into a lightsaber-like configuration.  There's no tricks there.
The kyber crystal is the issue.  Proper functioning of the lightsaber requires the crystal to be attuned and mounted via the Force.  Mundane mounting techniques apparently do not work.


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

[User]
Things you wished you knew while still studying

I am a recent graduate and I've been asked to give a small talk to current students regarding my experiences, how I've landed a job in one of the big 4 etc. I'm really grateful I can give back, as I remember talks like these were very motivational during my time at uni.

I thought it would be awesome to include a section "Things I wished I knew while still at University", and it would be awesome to get input from the community here.

Things I have so far (and will expand upon) include:

* Im not smarter than you - My grades were average, but I found that my confidence and perseverance helped excel more than my peers during interviews and work.
* You dont owe your internship/workplace loyalty - It took me far too long to realize that I don't owe my first workplace loyalty (although I was pressured to stay). Leaving was the best decision I made, as I was underpaid and undervalued.
* Imposter syndrome is a heartless beast.
* Start applying for industry jobs early - They fill up quick!
* Dont be scared of mistakes - As long as you learn from them.
* Testing is fun and important ;)

Any contributions and input are appreciated. I will add as many as possible to my talk.

[Assistant]
computer science != software engineering/development != systems administration

this might be less applicable today with the advent of separate programs/degrees for all of these things. these didn't really exist back before i dropped out of college and so people interested in any of these fields would all be studying computer science.

the stuff you learn while studying compsci is usually applicable but doesn't scratch the surface of what you'll eventually need to know. chances are you're going to start your first job and not really know how to do anything.

try and learn on your own time about the stuff relevant to your career goals.

if you want to actually get into compsci academia, you're probably fine with just your classes. but, you probably want to start looking at grad schools and the type of research each one is doing to make sure it aligns with what you want to study (you'll get more support from your mentors if they're already familiar with your interests).

if you want to program for a living, you should probably start learning about source control management, design patterns, common tech stacks, and web development in general. you don't have to master any of these things, but at least being aware of them will greatly help you out when going into interviews and such.

if you want to get into systems admin, dick around with hardware. use linux. write scripts that automate simple computer tasks you do on a daily basis. learn about security groups, networking, disk imaging/cloning, and so on.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] If Anakin was a pretty angry Jedi would he have been better off and less likely to fall to the dark side if he used the Vapaad style instead?

Since Vapaad is a saber style that focus's on using the negative emotions and dark side force to channel your power in combat would Anakin have been better suited to the style to help him gain some control over his anger or would he have tilted a lot sooner then when he did?

[Assistant]
If anything it would push him more to the dark.

Windu has quite a bit of self control and dicipline, something that brat Anakin never learned. Only a handful of people can properly use Vapaad and not lose themselves.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do some US electrical plugs have a "ground" and many do not?

I don't know much about how plugs or electricity works, obviously, but I was taught that one side is the "positive", one side is the "negative", and the bottom (seemingly quite optional) is the "ground". It's odd to me that so few plugs use the "ground", so it made me curious why it exists, and why it's optional. Are there any safety benefits to having a "ground", or safety concerns with not having one? Thank you!

[Assistant]
Positive and negative doesn't really apply here, because they switch back and forth 60 times per second. You have hot and neutral. Hot is connected to one of the phases, neutral is the same potential as ground, but only connected to ground in the main breaker box. stuff that uses a lot of power will often have two hot wires with 240v between them, and the neutral wire is halfway in between.  If you have an appliance with a metal case, you connect the ground wire to the case, so that in the event of a failure somewhere, the outside of the device shorts that back to ground and trips the breaker, instead of sitting there at mains voltage waiting for someone to touch it.

Two prong plugs are used for double insulated appliances, usually items with plastic shells that won't conduct electricity if there's a failure, but it can also apply to metal items so long as a single fault won't cause an electrocution hazard.


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

[User] [Star Wars Canon] What are legitimate reasons the Separatists were rightfully mad at the Republic for?

[Assistant] I think it was mostly due to an unequal treatment/services provided around the galaxy (inner rim gets more focus, mid rim/outer rim gets little to none), lack of protection, corruption, general lack of competency. The crisis on Naboo in TPM was engineered by palpatine to demonstrate just this - the republic saw a planet being held hostage and they sat around doing virtually nothing until Queen Amidala spoke and the Jedi intervened. It was the republics job to provide for its member planets and it was woefully slow to aid the planet in any meaningful way.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Does Hogwarts have an orientation program for Muggle-born students and their families?

It seems unreasonable to expect these families, who have no knowledge or understanding of the wizarding world, to be able to navigate the process of finding school supplies, using the owl post system, etc. And what about the kids? Is it just presumed that an 11 year old can handle being thrown into an utterly alien environment alone for months at a time without massive psychological problems? How are the various rules of the wizarding world, such as the Statute of Magical Secrecy, communicated to these families?

[Assistant]
It's likely that a representative from the Ministry (or potentially a Hogwarts faculty member like Hagrid) would meet with the student and their parent chaperone to get the lowdown on all things Wizarding World, and then get assistance with getting to Diagon Alley and purchasing the necessary equipment for their enrollment at Hogwarts. The representative would assess the finances of the student and their parents, and either take them to Gringotts to exchange Muggle currency to Wizard currency, *or* they would add the student to the "Wizarding Assistance for New Denizens" (WAND for short) initiative.

This would either work out with the Ministry/Hogwarts staff guide purchasing the basic equipment for the student on some sort of loan basis (I would assume having the witch or wizard paying it back when they are employed, or cleared if the witch/wizard gets top grades in their OWLs) *or* more likely, that the guide informs each shop keeper that the child is a WAND applicant, and thus will require a free (and likely second hand) version of each product required for learning at Hogwarts.

After getting the student and their supplies to Platform 9, the guide (if a Hogwarts faculty member) will briefly explain the owl post system and how to reply to the student through means of owl, as well as an emergency Muggle phone number to call if the need arises (with the call being directed to a Ministry representative who can go on to directly contact the student and or Hogwarts). If the guide is from the *Ministry*, then it's likely they (and the parent) bid farewell to the student, and take the parent somewhere (preferably a wizarding location) to discuss important information. Communication, education, Hogsmeade trips and the Triwizard Tournament, all and more are explained. The parent will be made aware of what needs to be done from their end, as well as assistance they will receive as Muggles *and* how they can be further involved in their child's time at Hogwarts (watching them compete in Quidditch, picking them up after the term ends, and alternatives to Muggle tech communications for example).


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

[User]
ELI5: How do non optical finger print biometrics such as on the Galaxy S7 differ from optical based ones?

Yes I've searched and seen the post about smart phone fingerprints being "faster" than traditional, but how is it actually imaging the print?

[Assistant]
Optical scanners work by taking a picture of your finger then processing that image for things like edge detection. This takes time but the hardware is relatively cheap.

The capacitive scanners some devices use is essentially a row of tiny touch screens. They can detect the raised ridges on your skin by touch. This data can be processed in many different ways but for the most part it's simpler - the ridges on your finger are either touching or not touching a part of the sensor. It's sort of like a black and white image - no color data, and the edges are far easier to detect. This has the potential to be faster but the hardware is more expensive.


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

[User]
[Pokemon]If a trainer has a legendary pokemon, why are no eyebrows raised over how they got it?

In the anime a trainer has a darkrai and a latios at his disposal and brings them to a league, why wouldn't anyone ask how he got what are essentially deity pokemon?

[Assistant]
In the anime, most of the legendary pokemon aren't unique, just exceptionally rare. We see evidence of multiple Lugia, multiple Articuno, even (inexplicably) multiple Mewtwo.

In fact, the 4th gen cover legends and Arceus are the only ones we explicitly know to be completely unique.


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

[User]
[Minecraft] Where do Wither Skeletons get stone to make stone swords when they live in the Nether?

Lol i'm sure there's no answer but it's worth asking y'know?

[Assistant] Theres stone everywhere in the Nether, its just so hot that its been melted down into the lava you see. Now, you of course cant use water to turn that lava back into cobblestone yourself in the Nether, but that doesnt mean creatures native to the Nether dont have some tricks up their sleeves. Hitting you with the sword infects you with the wither, which is evidence that theres some connection between whatever magic keeps them going and gives them purpose and their weapons. So the most likely explanation is that they use their wither magic to harden the lava back into stone for their weapons, then they continue to channel that magic through the weapon until theyre destroyed causing the sword to revert back into a regular old stone one.


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

[User]
CMV: There is nothing wrong with the IRS targeting Tea Party members

This is something I've heard people try to hold against the Obama administration. It's also something the IRS themselves tried to blame on low level employees, rather than just owning up to it as a sanctioned policy.

While the thought of "weaponizing the IRS" is scary, I don't feel like its fair to describe targeting the tea party in that way. We're talking about a group of people banded together for the most part around their desire to not pay taxes.  When allocating limited resources, they seem like a great place to look for people who are evading taxes.  I don't think they should be unnecessarily burdened by said investigations, but I don't think there is anything wrong with investigating people who are so vocally trying to avoid paying taxes to see if they are in fact already not paying taxes.

EDIT:

handed out plenty of deltas already, my view has been sufficiently changed.

[Assistant]
Do you think that it would be acceptable for the cops to start pulling over and targeting anyone who had a #BlackLivesMatter sticker on their car?  After all, that's a group of people who've banded together to protest the police, right?  So wouldn't it make sense that they'd be breaking at least SOME law?  Might as well check, right?

The government exists to serve ALL people, not just the people that agree with the party in power.

If you agree that this is okay, then it would make sense for the Trump administration to purposely target anyone who's being particularly vocal on Facebook about their displeasure with the election results, because those people are going to be the most likely to not pay taxes in protest.


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

[User] Eli5: Why does the ISS require thrusting to maintain orbit, while the moon has been orbiting the earth for a long time without any problems.

[Assistant] Atmospheric drag.  The ISS is high, but there's still enough atmospheric drag to slowly lower its orbit.  Without the regular boost, the orbit would drop lower into the atmosphere and drag would keep increasing to the point the orbit gave out.


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

[User] Is it possible that when my microwave is turned on, the wifi signal becomes weaker?

[Assistant]
If you have a wifi network on the 2.4 GHz band, then yes.

Microwave ovens also work on 2.4 GHz, so they could interfere with wifi. Microwave ovens are shielded to prevent the radiation from leaking out, but if the shielding is in somehow deteriorated, there may be some leakage. A typical microwave oven that's active can emit 10,000 times more microwave radiation than a wifi router, so even a small amount of leakage can interfere with signals.


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

[User]
CIA, NSA, FBI, Homeland, DoD What are all these different security establishments trying to accomplish?

Please explain their purposes? I am frustrated with all this recent news, the USA has so many agency's and establishments for security? Yet, it seems as if there is NO security at all. How do they benefit from this much security, why not fewer more effective solutions?

[Assistant]
CIA: The Central Intelligence Agency is basically the spy agency.  CIA agents (spies) gather intelligence and perform operations in foreign countries.  They protect American interests abroad by using sneaky tactics, such as assassination and infiltration.

NSA: The National Security Agency also monitors foreign activity, but they focus on the communications.  So, if North Korea is sending radio signals to their bases to launch an attack, it's the NSA that would pick that up.  The NSA also strengthens the security of American communication.

FBI: The Federal Bureau of Investigation is a national police force, similar to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Canada.  They investigate and enforce federal crimes.  They do not deal with the activity of foreign countries, unless those foreign countries start committing crimes on US soil.

Homeland Security: This department was created after 9/11.  Basically they deal with foreign and domestic threats at the civilian level.  Homeland Security absorbed other establishments such as Customs and Immigration.  These are the guys that check your passports at the airport and search cargo ships when they arrive in port, and patrol the American-Mexican border.

DoD:  The Department of Defense is basically the US military: the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and the Marines.  They defend American sovereignty by using guns and bombs in open and direct conflict.


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

[User]
cmv: "Save the planet" is a futile sentiment

I believe in climate change and I definitely believe that human beings are single handedly destroying the natural resources of the planet we live in. I also support the movement towards sustainable living for human sustenance.

What I cannot get on board is the theory that we are destroying the planet and that we have to save it. If there is anything history abd science have taught us, it is the fact that Earth has outlived every single species it has fostered for more than 4.5 billion years. Earth doesn't need saving. If we refuse to change our ways, oxygen would be depleted and human beings would become extinct but Earth would still survive for the next species.
That's just the way nature works. All we are doing is hoping to save humankind. Or am I completely wrong?

[Assistant]
I think everyone who uses the expression "save the planet" probably/really means "save the planet as we currently know it rather than having it alter to a point that human civilization collapses due to rising sea levels, droughts, severe weather patterns and other aspects of climate change"... but that's not a very snappy slogan.

Hence why they say "save the planet" instead.


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

[User]
ELI5: What makes hypoallergenic dogs/cats hypoallergenic?

I saw someone say that it's because these animals have hair, not fur. What's the difference?

[Assistant]
The part that makes people allergic to cats is actually a protein (FEL D1) found in their saliva. When a cat licks herself, she deposits the protein on her skin, and when it dries off, the flakes become airborne and trigger symptoms of allergy in people. So, it's not the fur that's the issue, it's the dead skin.

In short, there's no cat that's 100% hypoallergenic, they can only produce less of the protein FEL D1 than regular cats. Some cats tend to be preferred because of trial and error, and even then, some of the most likely to not cause allergies still do because maintenance is required (like bathing or brushing) to make those pets optimal.


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

[User] ELI5:How did ancient Romans do complicated math using Roman numerals?

[Assistant] The normal method of calculation in ancient Rome, as in Greece, was by moving counters on a smooth table. Originally pebbles (calculi) were used.  Marked lines indicated units, fives, tens etc. as in theRoman numeralsystem. This system of 'counter casting' continued into the late Roman empire and in medieval Europe, and persisted in limited use into the nineteenth century.


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

[User]
ELI5: Instead of using salt to melt ice and snow off of road surfaces, couldn't you just hook up power to the rebar in the road and heat the concrete to a few degrees above freezing?

It seems like a pretty good alternative to using salt, the pieces of the puzzle are already there but are there any drawbacks?

[Assistant] Other than extremely high energy consumption and cost of having all that set up. Probably animals would like to sleep on the warm road because it would be warmer than anything else. Animals love free heat.


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

[User]
[Marvel] How do Cyclops glasses stay on his head? Why does the red crystal stop the beam?

I was getting a drink with some fellow mutants and the talked turned to Cyclops and his laser eyes. I was saying it must be terrible to have to wear red glasses all the time to have your laser eyes nuetralized.

Then one of my fellows slurred," ...snot lasers. Its kinectic...like a punch, from some sort of..... punch dimension."

That doesnt make sense, how do his glasses his glasses stay on then? Also why does red crystal affect kinetic energy?

[Assistant]
The glasses are made of a ruby quartz and are the only known natural substance (there's not many things you can ask the guy to wear over his eyes before he thinks you're taking the piss, we got lucky) which can block the blasts as they resonate at the same frequency as Cyclops own psionic field.

On another note snot lasers sound great as a mutant power!


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

[User]
[Ex Machina] What happens to Caleb?

Presumably there's a bathroom in Nathan's room so he won't die of dehydration. Maybe there's a fridge or bar with some snacks in that room, but food will quickly become an issue.  He's got the weights and weight bars to use as tools to break out.

At some point someone's going to notice that Caleb is overdue or that there hasn't been any communication from Bluebook's CEO in his remote hideaway and a welfare check will be launched.

So does Caleb survive?

[Assistant] He manages to noticeably crack the glass by smacking it once, no way he'll stay stuck in that room once he finishes panicking. After he gets out of there it shouldn't be that much harder to get access to the food. No reason he shouldn't be able to last until the next restocking helicopter arrives.


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

[User]
ELI5: Fat32 vs. NTSF

Like I'm *five* please.

[Assistant]
A file system consists of two parts: a map of where all the files are, and then the actual contents of the files. FAT32 and NTFS are two different ways of storing the map data.

NTFS's map structure has a bunch of benefits over the one used in FAT32. For one thing, FAT32 only uses 32 bits (binary digits) to store the file size which means it can't represent files larger than 4GB (which is 32 1s in a row in binary- the maximum number you can represent). NTFS uses 64-bits to describe the file size so it can have a maximum file size of about 16 Exabytes (about 16 million terabytes). There's a similar limitation on the maximum hard drive size- FAT32 can only support 2TB drives, NTFS can support up to 256TB right now and that can be extended in the future.

There's also some other things that users won't notice as much happening behind the scenes. The structure NTFS uses is less prone to getting messed up than FAT32's structure. And NTFS supports some really awesome features that are cool for developers but don't matter to much to you, which enables things like Windows 8's OneDrive integration (as far as every program on your computer is concerned, the files look like they're on the hard drive but they aren't actually downloaded until you open them the first time).


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

[User] [AVATAR] If all the Airbenders were killed during Sozins genocide why was the Avatar expected to be an air bender still, 100 years later? Shouldnt the Fire Nation have started searching the Water Tribes for the next Avatar assuming they had killed Rokus successor?

[Assistant]
They were.

They were attacking waterbenders to the point that the Southern Tribe had lost all but one of them and the Northern Tribe had to completely isolate themselves.

Zuko was sent off on a wild goose chase to find an airbender avatar so as to make him go away, but the Fire Nation's main energy was going after waterbenders.


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

[User]
ELI5: Hypotheticaly, if you made a hole straight through the earth and someone jumped through. What would happen to gravity?

Would the person free fall and then at the exact middle stop, essentially being stuck in the middle; would there be equal amounts of gravity working in all directions?

[Assistant]
Assuming a perfectly spherical ~~cow~~ Earth with completely uniform density and an airless tunnel etc, etc....

>would there be equal amounts of gravity working in all directions?

Yes. Which is the same as saying they're weightless (at this point).

> then at the exact middle stop

No - they've already built up a ton of speed falling. As they rushed past the center, they'd gradually *de*celerate until they stopped at the surface of the other side and started the whole process over again.


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

[User]
[Lord of the Rings] Do orcs age?

Considering they are corrupted elves, are they immortal?

[Assistant]
they do age, they are not immortal and will die of old age.

them being corrupted elves is a theory that tolkien abandoned. he never decided on what the orcs origin was, the last theory he was thinking on was that they were corrupted humans. he didnt like the idea that morgoth could corrupt the elves so much that they lost their immortality, which is a very big part of the elven soul. infact, he had several origin stories for the orcs which he never decided upon. his first was that they were corrupted elves. later he went between that they were either creations of morgoth (soulless creations, like the trolls, since morgoth cant create souls) or spawn of some maia, like the giant spiders are, or that they were corrupted humans, which would be the simplest solution, except morgoth made the orcs before the humans ever arrived.

so, a tldr is that we dont know where the orcs come from, but we know they age.


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

[User]
[Groundhog Day] How far could Phil get from Punxsutawney before he resets to the next day?

I'm sure at some point Phil decided to try to travel. We don't know what kind of funds he had access to, but how far could he realistically get? Could he somehow get to and on a plane and make it to Hong Kong for a meal?

[Assistant]
The roads were closed due to the blizzard, can't get out by car.  Same goes for air travel.  The local municipal airport would only be home to a few light personal aircraft, none of which could safely fly in blizzard conditions.
His best bet is to get the biggest truck around and try to go around the closed roads, but still he's probably not making it farther than Pittsburgh.


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

[User] Considering that all organisms on earth seem to have a common ancestor is it safe to say that abiogenisis only occurred once? And if that is so, why hasn't it happened more than once?

[Assistant]
Considering how quickly life emerged after the Earth became stable, it's unlikely it has happened only once. However, we really only have one data point, and there is still a lot more to do before we can say anything with high confidence.

The reason we don't see multiple sets of life *probably* isn't because of lack of abiogenisis - but rather, whenever new life does emerge, it finds itself in a world with competition that has had billions of years to evolve. It wouldn't stand a chance.

Again though - the best answer anyone can give you on this is just speculative.


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

[User] [Dragon Ball Z] So I get that Popo is the strongest life form. What is he? What's his story?

[Assistant]
Taken from kanzenshuu.com, which derives its material from official guides and from an in-depth research of the source material:

"One method by which the gods of the afterlife govern the Living World is by dispatching personnel to each planet. This is in order to oversee and protect a planets sentient life-forms. But beyond this, the main goal is to stimulate an immature sentient species growth, guiding it towards the greatest happiness. However, these personnel dispatched to each planet often do not become that planets god, but instead serve as a sort of attendant for the god. Instead, an appropriate person from among the planets sentient life-forms is selected to serve as god. The principle seems to be that a species fate should be entrusted to the species itself, and so the dispatched personnel are only permitted to act in a purely subsidiary role. In fact, Mister Popo and Karin were dispatched from the afterlife to Earth and devote themselves to supporting whoever is selected as god.
  Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 7: Dragon Ball Large Encyclopedia (p. 37)"


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

[User]
Considering its solid core, why is Saturn referred to as a gas giant rather than a rocky planet with immensely thick atmosphere? Can you "fly through" a gas giant?

Than you for your time and answers.

[Assistant]
Our gas giants are referred to as gas planets because the vast majority of their mass is composed of materials found as gas on Earth.

In reality all four have large non-gaseous regions in the center.

Jupiter and Saturn are large enough that the pressure increases steadily until the hydrogen enters a supercritical state and behaves more like a molten metal than a gas.

Uranus and Neptune are smaller and colder and likely have pressurized water-ammonia "seas" deep beneath the clouds.

So no, you could not fly through them.

In our solar system there's a clear difference between rocky planets and gas planets since there's a huge mass jump from Earth to Uranus.  We've never observed a planet in the 5-10 Earth mass range to see how it behaves.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does the Fed adjust the funds rate, and what does it typically mean/signal for the economy?

[Assistant]
The Fed Funds Rate is the primary -- and easiest -- "tuning knob" which the Fed can use to try to influence the economy.

Raising it means that they are worried more about inflation than they are unemployment and economic growth.

Lowering it means they are worried more about unemployment and economic growth than they are inflation.

Normally these adjustment are small and highly telegraphed (they don't like investors to ever be surprised!).  They become newsworthy when they think that they are worried about inflation so much that they might actually trigger a minor recession with their rate hike... or if they end up lowering the rate super low to near zero.  Once the rate gets to zero the Fed is "out of bullets" and extraordinary measures might be needed the next time around.


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

[User] [Fallout] Why are we protecting all of our computers, from the humblest personal terminal to the executive branch comp with the launch codes on it, with what appears to be a very-easily beaten game of mastermind.

[Assistant] That is the RobCo maintenance password recovery interface. It requires you to be able to bootstrap the terminal with another computer. At the time someone walking around with a computer is as it is now, practically unheard of. Back then the only people that did it were technical professionals at RobCo and people who lived in underground vaults, now it is just people that have managed to get a Pipboy and figure out how to use it.


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

[User] [Princess Bride] How did Humperdink get his goons and their horses to the top of the Cliffs of Despair?

[Assistant]
The rope climb is not the only way to the top of the cliffs.  It is merely the most direct, fastest if you are fit enough, and most likely to prevent their follower from following (which didn't work in Vesini's case).

Humperdink and his posse rode up the back way, on winding mountain trails, and it likely took them hours versus the minutes that it took to climb the rope.


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

[User] [Marvel] What benefits and/or drawbacks would Wolverine encounter if his skeleton were coated in Uru instead of Adamantium?

[Assistant]
Uru may not be quite as strong as adamantium, but it holds enchantments like no other. An uru-infused Logan is, if anything, even more formidable when paired with a sorcerer like Dr. Strange or Scarlet Witch.

Additionally, uru may be significantly less toxic and/or less prone to leaching into the bloodstream than adamantium as well as possibly non-ferrous. This could significantly improve his healing factor and/or prevent Magneto from ripping it out of him in the late 90s.


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

[User]
Why is it wrong to value strangers as much as you value your loved ones?

Every stranger you see has a life that could be richer than yours or anyone you know. They may be more righteous. There are millions of starving children, why do they come after your own?

[Assistant] Utilitarians would argue that it doesnt matter. But for me its because we have an intuitive feeling of obligations based on proximity. Yourself, your loved ones, your friends are all people that you have moral obligations for. You cant just stop feeding your dog because youre giving the money to a charity that saves childrens lives, even if that would be a moral action purely based on utility. Why this is the case is harder to argue because it rests on the assumption that obligations actually matter. If you dont have this presupposition then it is very hard to convince you as it hits the bottom of what assumptions should be taken as intuitive truths when dealing with morality.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does the last bit of ice in a cup refuse to come out without me having to bang the cup?

[Assistant]
The same thing that gives water its surface tension gives it the ability to stick to other surfaces. Each water molecule is basically a tiny, weak permanent magnet. This allows it to stick to other water molecules pretty well, but it also allows it to stick to other substances since most other substances have a tiny bit of charge, as well. However, this magnetic/sticky force is very weak (this is why some bugs can walk on the surface of water, but you can easily push your finger through the surface.

So knowing all this, the reason you have to bang on the cup is because the ice is always melting (assuming you're in a room temperature environment), so the ice has a layer of water all around it and on the bottom of the cup. That surrounding water's sticky force is only strong enough to hold the smallest pieces of ice. A second piece of ice sitting on top of the bottom layer of ice doesn't have the advantage of being surrounded so thoroughly by water, so it easily falls out.

tl;dr: only a thin layer of water can stick to the bottom of the cup. If a piece of ice is small/light enough, the bottom layer of water sticks to both the cup and that piece of ice, holding it in place.