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

[User]
[Marvel]What events are kids in the Marvel Universe taught about in History class?

Spider-man is a teenager, so assuming he is about 17, he was born in 1997. A lot has happened before then, so which events would he have learned about in school? Would they cover the time the planet was almost eaten by Galactus? What about the time Atlantis invaded, or the time New York was plagued by an inferno of demons?

What else is likely to make it onto the school curriculum?

[Assistant]
The history of Superheros is a huge and growing topic of academic and historical study. Here at NYU we have the pre-eminent scholars of all time periods.

Of course, at School at pupils will learn the basics starting with the historical heroes whose reality is either known through word and song or through timetravel and them actually just coming into the modern world and telling us about what they did. Thus children will learn about early Norse worship, including Thor and other Gods of that Pantheon, then early heros like Merlin and King Arthur and the roles they played in keeping us safe.

Moving forward in time no study of World War 1 can avoid mentioning The Freedom Brigade and by World War 2 the existence of Superheroes was widely known. Namor, the Human Torch, Captain America and others were all major players in the war individually and as the Invaders and after that there were no way to hide these heroes.

Still, the 50s saw the government try to control these heroes and kids will learn about those failed policies alongside the cold war. Aliens also become known of in this period but it's not really a big deal so most history books just give it a mention and move on.

The public acknowledgement of mutants was an issue in the 60s as the "threat" grew and mutants like Magneto became more active but these issues are often overlooked and thought of as a 'new' problem. Equal mutant rights has been going on for longer than you may think though.

Modern heroic studies will go into the rise of modern heroes including the fantastic 4, spider-man (menace or hero?), Avengers and many many others. Commonly they choose several themes like the forming of the Avengers, rise, fall and rise again of the mutant population, superhero civil war or many others that they can choose from.

Here at NYU we go beyond learning and we interact with and study the meaning and motivations behind superheros. You can get an undergraduate or masters degree in a dozen individuals, including Thor and Captain America or take one of more than 50 superhero classes as part of your degree. We even have six visiting heroes including Doctor Strange who lecture on a regular basis.

Whatever your interest or level of knowledge from high school, here at NYU we have the course for you!


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

[User]
Assuming I am on the same spot on earth. How far is my current position away from my position 365.256363 days ago?

I imagine precise calculations of planet orbits use center of mass of solar system as the coordinate origin. Let's also do that here.

What would be the major contribution of the movement? Perturbation from the moon?

I am satisfied with an order-of-magnitude answer. As a blind guess, anywhere between 10m to 1000km seems pretty reasonable to me.

(well, when I was counting down for the New Year I was thinking, "Am I close to where I was last year?")

[Assistant] Relativity says that there is no such thing as "the same place" at different times, anymore than there is "the same time" at different places.  We can choose a coordinate system that gives the answer zero, but we can choose coordinate systems that give *any* answer we want, though the "reasonable" ones with nice properties will have answers under one light-year.  But there is fundamentally no "right" way to ~~do~~ pick coordinate systems, merely more or less *convenient* ones.


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

[User] [Arrowverse] If the Lazarus pit were used to revive someone who died of cancer would they feel an irresistible bloodlust to cure cancer?

[Assistant] I'd say no, Thea didn't have any irresistible bloodlust to kill the people responsible for her death and neither did Oliver when he used a version in Crisis. Sara was special case as she was dead for over a year which messed with her soul.


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

[User]
[Spider-Man] How is it the Feds have no interest in experimenting on Spider-Man or learning about how he got his powers?

You're telling me the Department of Defense or the FBI or whoever has no interest in trying to create super spider-soldiers? Has no interest in trying to use his powers for science or medicine or genetic engineering?

[Assistant]
They would just have no means of capturing him. He's far to powerful for an organization on that level to capture.

They would require something like S.H.I.E.L.D. in order to be successful, and they would likely reject since Nick Fury has already approved of Spider-Man.

Not to mention the litany of other super powered individuals They could want to do the same thing to, such as any enemy he has. Who at the very least would already he captured and thus easier on their end to experiment on. Scorpion would be a prime example since he is literally a proven experiment. Of course the issue with creating any being on this level is losing control of them as was the case with Scorpion. The risk involved for such an organization just wouldn't be worth it.

And even then there's still parts of the government working on the Weapon Plus program. Who are essentially doing all the experimentation they can to produce another Cap; and that's how we get beings like Luke Cage, Sentry, Hulkverine, Hell even Agent Venom. And the common denominator here is that they couldn't control them.

They just lack the neccesary resources and oversight to do that kind of work. It would be in the hands of a higher level organization; and even then they wouldn't have an easy time. Besides public knowledge on Spider-Man is entirely limited, they wouldn't even know he has a source to his powers. He could just be a mutant. Which is what was believed on 1610 even though he was a part of their weapon Plus program. But then so was every super powered person so it is what it is.


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

[User]
[Lord of the Rings] If Aragorn had kept the Army of the Dead, would any force in Middle-Earth have been able to stand against it?

Seems like there'd be nothing to stop Aragorn taking over the world if he wanted to seeing as only he can block their attacks.

Edit: Thanks for the detailed answers, guys.

[Assistant] They did still retain the free will to choose to assist Aragorn due to his promise (inferred or otherwise). Would think quite the opposite would have happened at Pelennor fields if he did not release them. The parried strike by Aragorn only served to prove his lineage, not that he could not be defeated by them.


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

[User] ELI5: If you have shampoo in your eyes, why does it only hurt when they're open?

[Assistant] Because your eyelids closing pushes the shampoo toward a central location. Now instead of having the entire surface area of your eye covered in shampoo, its just a smaller portion between your eyelids. This minimizes the pain.


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

[User]
Why is desalination still so expensive?

It seems like it would be a rather simple process? I mean, we all did it in elementary school science class. :)

Would it really not make more sense economically for a water-starved place like California, as opposed to not doing anything?

[Assistant]
The boiling/condensation form of desalination uses an enormous amount of energy.  Reverse osmosis requires relatively expensive equipment as a startup cost, and is very expensive in a cost-per-person basis at the rates that we as a society use water.  In the context of a multibillion dollar navy vessel where cost is not an issue and where water efficiency rules are enforced, it is much less problematic.

In short, it really isn't that expensive, it's just that we waste huge amounts of water in ways that we clearly wouldn't if we had to pay for desalination of all the water we used.  If we drastically changed our lifestyles to conserve water the expense to keep ourselves alive would be much more reasonable.


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

[User] ELI5: How do dry-erase markers work?

[Assistant] They don't bind to hard surfaces as strongly as more permanent markers do. When they dry, they form a "flakey," layer that breaks apart very easily when you rub it and doesn't stick to the surface very well.


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

[User]
[Last Airbender] Is fire bending inherently more powerful than the other elements?

I'm watching Avatar: The Last Airbender for the first time, and I'm halfway through Book 2. For those that haven't watched the series yet, **there are spoilers below** (I don't know how to do the spoiler tag in this forum).

So Aang is beast at Air, and he's getting pretty good at water and just learning earth. However, as he believes - and his previous incarnation, Roku - that he must master all four elements in order to defeat the Fire Lord (who only knows the one element). Even the intro acknowledges this.

Also, the Fire empire has conquered most of the world.

Why does the Avatar need to know all 4 elements to beat the Fire Lord (and this is *before* the comet arrives, meaning the Fire Lord is more powerful than the Avatar while knowing only the one element)? Why is the Fire empire so powerful? Is fire simply the strongest element in existence? Why can't an expert air bender like Aang beat an expert fire bender like the Fire Lord?

Admittedly, I'm not on Book 3 yet so maybe I'm still missing pieces to the puzzle.

[Assistant] The Avatar has to master all 4 elements either way, it's in the job description.  Fire Lord Ozai is a particularly powerful bender.  While Aang is rather skilled at air bending, he is still just a little kid, and needs every advantage he can get to beat the most second most powerful fire bender in the world.


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

[User] ELI5: What are superdelegates and what does it mean that Hillary already has so many?

[Assistant] At the Democratic National Convention, a group of people called "delegates" will decide who the Democrats will run for president. About 80% of these delegates are elected by Democratic voters in primary elections and caucuses. The other 20% are not elected by voters, they are made up of prominent Democratic politicians and party officials. Most of these are backing Hilary, which puts Bernie at an automatic disadvantage. It means he doesn't have to just win more primaries than Hilary, he has to win a lot more and by a wide margin.


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

[User] ELI5: When deleting apps, games, etc, from your computer, where does that data go? How does that memory it used to take up, get erased?

[Assistant]
Your game occupies a house in your PC's disk. You tell your PC you don't want that game anymore.

The house continues to be there, it doesn't get erased or go anywhere. But as soon you install a new game, your PC will build a new house on top of the old one.


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

[User] CMV: Palestinian refugees are held to different legal standards than all other refugees, and this is blatantly unjustified and unjust.

[Assistant] All refugees are held to different standards based on where they are from and what country they are attempting to flee to. Despite the UNs efforts there is no uniform way of handling refugees, nor should there be. No nation is required to accept refugees and they are fully entitled to set whatever rules they want for refugees or other immigrants to enter their country.


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

[User]
ELI5: How can a natural spring be capped without causing overflow somewhere downstream?

I ask this because we live near a park that boasts a natural spring.  There is a section/seating area where you can sit and watch water pour out of this rock continuously.  It is supposedly safe to drink, play in, etc.  However, every now and again, this spring will have a large metal cap on it, and the water will not be flowing.  I'm wondering how this is possible without causing a sinkhole or flooding somewhere back in the flow of water?  I hope this makes sense, thanks in advance for any explanations!

[Assistant] A spring is not like a river or creek. Water isn't going from one place to another. It's more like a swimming pool with a small hole in it. A spring is feed by the water table. Think of a massive lake underground mixed with all the rocks, sand a gravel down there. Their are parts of the water table that can find them selves above ground. So there, water will leak onto the surface. Putting a cap on it plugs this leak. That water table is so large that there is no noticeable effect.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do we sleep better in a cold room but still under warm covers?

Why both warm *and* cold?

[Assistant]
Your metabolism slows down during the night, your body naturally cools down a bit. A cooler room will enable you to sleep better as your body is closer to the temperature of the room, thus you're more comfortable.

Under the sheets you get an insulating air pocket that's very close to your current body temperature which helps you not lose any more heat than your body wants.

I think you're mistaking how the body determines temperature which is why this seems confusing.

You tell the temperature based on the rate of heat loss or gain from the surroundings. The larger the difference, the faster the rate so the "hotter" or "colder" it feels.

The sheets help lower this rate so you reach homeostasis with the surroundings, and you want a cool room so that you can reach homeostasis with what your body "wants" during the night.


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

[User]
How are fireworks made to explode in complicated shapes?

I've seen firework shows where the explosions create really complicated patterns in the sky like words or flowers. I'm wondering how it's possible to control something as chaotic as a explosion to create such beautiful patterns?

[Assistant]
It's (in principle) similar to the way shaped charges are made.

If you put something to slow down or stop the expansion of the explosive gases (usually high-density plastic or clay or something that will disintegrate in the explosion and not kill people when it falls back to earth) above and below the explosive charge, then that flattens the explosion in the vertical direction, which "shapes" the blast wave to be circular and horizontal, and so you can get a disc shaped sparkly thingymabob (clearly, that's the technical lingo) instead of a sphere of sparklies.

If you want a 5-petal flower, you add to the disc explosive you just made. Just put 5 strips of the shaping material on the sides that slows down the detonation wave in that direction. The parts that aren't shielded travel quickly, so the sparkly burning parts traveling at that velocity become the tip of the flower petals, and the part that gets slowed down doesn't go out as far, and that becomes the inside of the flower petal.


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

[User] How heavy is fire? If something catches on fire is it heavier or lighter?

[Assistant] Fire isn't a substance or some kind of matter, it's a reaction. (technically the exothermic chemical process of combustion),  It has no weight or mass of it's own. Whatever is on fire has it's own weight, but fire, flames, combustion of any kind, does not.


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

[User]
ELI5: How come a restaurant dishwashing machine can cycle in 3 minutes, while at home mine takes several hours?

Like literally 3 hours and the dishes aren't even that dry..

[Assistant] Home dishwashers are made to stretch the wash cycle out to save money, using less water in short bursts, stuff like that. If your dishwasher is a newer model, it should have several options. One of those should be a quick wash, which you would use if you need the dishes washed in a hurry, more like a restaurant's. Only use that one if you're in a hurry, though. It's better to use the regular one to save energy and money.


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

[User]
ELI5:How did society withstand the sun prior to sunscreen?

I'm thinking of all societies prior to the invention of sunscreen as well as those lost at sea on a lifeboat. How?

[Assistant]
For thousands of years, people in sunny regions had dark skin, while people in non-sunny regions sometimes had light skin, due to evolution.

Only in recent centuries, with modern transportation, have millions of people been moving huge distances. So the problem of "I have the wrong skin color for this climate" is fairly new.


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

[User] [The Office] Has Michael committed A. The most violations of company policy B. The most criminal acts of anyone at Dunder Mifflin? How was he never fired over any of this?

[Assistant]
It's mentioned a few times on show that he's a damn good salesman and (at least in terms of profit) manager, and paper isn't a productive enough industry they can throw such people away.

So the higher ups turn a blind eye to his....eccentricities.

Also, as crimes committed by upper-middle class businessmen go, he's relatively safe. He's not embezzling and isn't an active predator, and frankly this gives him quite a moral high ground among high-ranking businessmen. If we start looking into his activities, who knows what we might turn up in everyone else's closets?


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do computer screens make ripples when I put my finger on them?

I have always been intrigued by the water-like ripples created by touching computer screens. Why does it happen?

[Assistant]
LCDs, use liquid crystals, which were first discovered in 1888. These crystals are actually liquid chemicals that align perfectly when subjected to electrical fields; when they're properly aligned, they allow light to pass through them. LCDs use this property by using electrical currents to align the crystals and allow varying levels of light to pass through and create the desired images and colors.

To be more technical, the liquid crystals are sandwiched between two pieces of polarized glass ("substrate"). The fluorescent light source, also known as the backlight, emanates light that passes through the first substrate. The electrical currents then cause the crystals to align, allow varying levels of light to pass through to the second substrate. The end result is what you see onscreen.

LCDs can use either active-matrix or passive-matrix structure. Most LCD monitors, along with LCD TVs, use active-matrix.

Any discussion regarding LCD monitors won't be complete without the word "pixel". A pixel is a single point in a graphic image, and stands for "picture element". Each pixel on an LCD monitor comprises of three cells -- one for the color red, one for green, and the last one for blue. Electric currents are used to straighten the liquid crystals within each cell so that light is not bent at this level. An active matrix thin-film transistor is used to activate each cell.


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

[User]
[Forrest Gump] What was his net worth?

Obviously he had done a lot but the big thing was when Lt. Dan invest in apple after already having the shrimping company.  The famous line

Forrest Gump:
Lieutenant Dan got me invested in some kind of fruit company. So then I got a call from him, saying we don't have to worry about money no more. And I said, that's good! One less thing.

Edit: Apparently Forbes estimated it at a little over 5 billion.

[Assistant] Without knowing how they invested, it's difficult to say. Depending the initial amount, it could have been anywhere from several million to several billion. Given the tone of the letter, I'd guess it's at least in the hundred millions, but there's really no way to know for certain.


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

[User] ELI5: What is physically happening within our bodies that makes performing cardiovascular exercise easier and easier every time we do it consistently?

[Assistant]
A number of things.

One, as you perform cardiovascular endurance exercise, your heart starts pumping more blood per beat. This is called "increased stroke volume" and it's what eventually leads to a lowered blood pressure and lower heart rate whole resting. More blood = more oxygen per stroke.

Two, your muscles get better at utilizing the oxygen  they're given. They can either become more permeable to oxygen (taking more up per second) or you can actually grow more mitochondria (meaning more O2 used per given unit of time) or both.

Three, cardiovascular endurance exercise is inherently fatiguing. As you perform more and more of it over a longer period of time, your body gets better at flushing out the metabolic waste materials that cause acute fatigue.

There are a few more reasons, but those are the basics.

Real ELI5: as you train, your heart pumps more oxygen, your muscles ~~use~~ need less oxygen, and you don't get as tired as easily.

**Edit:** Wording change to be more clear.


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

[User]
[Incredibles]Could anyone explain exactly how Mr Incredible helped that old lady with her insurance claim?

I get that he helped her but not exactly how he did it.

[Assistant]
He told her who to show her policy to to actually get her claim approved, and told her the form to file with their legal department to avoid Insuricare's ability to legally deny it.

It's like his boss says; His clients are 'experts! Exploiting every loophole, dodging every obstacle! *They're penetrating the bureaucracy!'*


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

[User]
Why do some things taste horrible after brushing teeth?

Just tried some orange after I brushed teeth... ew!

[Assistant] It's a detergent called sodium laurel sulfate, and it is used in toothpaste make the foam you get when you scrub with toothpaste.  The foam helps pick up the debris you scrape away from your tooth surfaces and carry it away.  It also happens to block the sweet and salty receptors in your mouth from working, so all you can still taste is sour and bitter.  Orange juice will taste very sour and bitter after brushing, for example.


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

[User] ELI5: How can whispering still sound like that person's voice even though they're not using their vocal cords?

[Assistant]
The dimensions of your whole vocal tract are unique to you, not just your vocal cords. Your voice's sound is a result of your vocal cords, larynx, throat dimensions, mouth dimensions, sinus (and other head resonator-space) dimensions.

So when you're not using your unique vocal cords to whisper, you're still using your unique larynx, throat, mouth, sinuses etc. so a lot of the characteristics of your voice are preserved.

Also as others said, your speech patterns themselves (aka the way you talk - inflection patterns, speed/rhythm, vocabulary, etc) is also still there when you're whispering, helping it sound "like you".


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

[User] ELI5: What is up with american TV shedules? Why is there huge mid season gaps and in some cases just random breaks of 1-4 weeks that can occur at any given point?

[Assistant]
The purpose of television is not to entertain...it is to sell ads.  The TV schedule is a big chess game where you try to place the right show in the right time slot to make as much money as possible.

You only have so many episodes, so you have to spend them wisely.  Some weeks historically have fewer viewers than others.  Sometimes non-regular events, like sports change the game.  And sometimes they use an older, established show's time slot to try to break in a new show.  And sometimes an actor is in rehab.

It's a big chess game, and a lot of time why the players make the moves they do won't be readily apparent.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are DJs like Avicii and Calvin Harris listed as the primary performer in a song title when they don't sing?

Example 1: The Song "I Need Your Love" is listed as "by Calvin Harris feat. Ellie Goulding, when she's singing the entire time.

Example 2: Titanium by David Guetta feat. Sia

Example 3: Clarity by Zedd feat. Foxes

The way it's listed, it's as if the DJs are singing and the lead singers are only singing the bridge or something. Why are these DJs considered different than just a regular music producer or songwriter and paid so much more?

[Assistant]
It because they write all the music and lyrics.  Then they essentially hire a talented singer for the vocals.  A traditional songwriter may only write the lyrics or just the music.  Maybe they come up with the basic layout of the song and then sell it to an artist who works on the song, along producers and studio musicians, to flesh out the song, essentially acting as co-writers.  Calvin Harris hiring Elle Goulding is pretty much the same as hiring a studio guitar player to play a solo over your song.

Why do they get paid so much?  It because they market themselves so well.  They could just be like a song writer and sell their songs without ever getting on stage, but they discovered they make way more money by retaining creative control.  By making a superior product, they control their own fate.  You want a Calvin Harris hit song?  You can't just buy the rights and call it your own.  You have to ask him to be featured on the song and give him full credit.  It's a pretty ingenious system on the part of the DJs.  They don't have to write full albums with the same band.  They just release a series of singles with all different types of artist, keep their sound fresh and allowing them to pump out a large number of songs.  By featuring top billings singers, like Elle Goulding, they are also riding their popularity to promote the song.  All this adds up to them receiving royalties and residuals on a bunch of hit songs.


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

[User]
[Speed]How did the bomb work?

Aside from the threats of remote detonation from the bomber, was the bomb solely connected to the speedometer? Couldn't they have broken the sight glass and removed the needle?

[Assistant]
The speedometer is connected to the wheel, and reads the speed off that (by way of science). Even if you removed the needle, it would still read the speed because you're only removed the user-facing side of it.

It would be like trying to stop a hacker by disconnecting the computer monitor.


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

[User]
In 2014 I earned $47k and paid over 20% of that income in taxes. I'm overtaxed, CMV.

AGI: 46,671

Fed. Tax: $5,098

State Tax: $1,920

Property Tax (home + car): 3,287

Sales tax (approximation based on Mint data): 1,000

Total tax: 11,305

Total tax is 24% of my AGI.

I feel this amount of tax is oppressive, especially considering how tight my budget is. I understand the need for taxes, but I feel that too much of the burden is falling on people who barely make enough money to keep themselves out of debt. I'm tired of pinching pennies and watching thousands of my dollars dumped into a government that seems to turn a blind eye to billionaires creating legal ways to avoid paying taxes. I don't want to get too political here though, I'd like somebody to convince me that a person with my income should be expected to pay over 20% of that income to the government(s).

[Assistant]
24% tax is incredibly low for the modern world. The amount you get from the government for that is enormous.

47k is more then the median in the US, and to be only paying 24% tax on that is very good. If you are struggling on that amount of money you are either living in NY or you are simply living a lifestyle you cannot afford.

I am making the assumption you live in the US.

The issue is not really that you are overtaxed, the issue is that you are probably under payed for the work you do and the super rich people and corporations are incredibly under taxed.


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

[User] Eli5: What does it mean that a situation is a prisoners dilema?

[Assistant]
The classic prisoner's dilemma is that two suspected criminals are being questioned separately (so they can't communicate with one another). If they both stay silent, they'll serve 1 year in prison. If they both turn on each other, they'll both serve 5 years in prison. If one turns but the other stays silent, the one that turns will get off free, but the other will serve 8 years.

In this example, the best thing to do for both criminals together would be cooperate, because it provides the fewest total years served (only 2). However, to an individual criminal, turning on the other is always better. If he stays silent, you get off completely, and if he was planning on turning on you, you only get 5 years instead of 8. This results in two perfectly rational criminals turning on one another and getting the maximum 10 years of total prison time.

So a true prisoners dilemma requires two or more people to make a decision where, collectively they'd be best to choose A, but individually they'd be best to choose B every time or almost every time. A common example shows up in post-apocalyptic stories where groups would be best served working together, but each group tries to grab a little more of their share each time, leading to infighting and eventually killings and territoriality.

Does that help? Feel free to ask any questions.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why are there so many transgender people in Thailand?

And Brazil too?
EDIT: Thanks for all the answers. So, it's mainly a culture thing where they are more accepted therefore being more open about it.

[Assistant] It may sound odd to Western ears but in Thailand many people believe in a third gender, called Kathoey, or Lady Boys. For whatever reason, Thailand has been greatly accepting of this identity(there's really no consensus as to why). A lot of Lady Boys have found great success doing entertainment shows and the like. So, a lot of people who are transgendered go there because they are more accepting of them.


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

[User]
Eli5: When theres an economic bubble Ive heard goods described as overvalued; how do economists determine if something is overvalued?

After all, isnt pretty much everything just worth whatever people are willing to pay for it?

[Assistant]
Overvalued means the value comes from "artificial" demand. People buying Not because they want the product, but because they speculate the price will increase further to sell for a profit.

If something is a bubble or not If often hard to see before it bursts. Some things hype because there really is a chance that the value of the good will have that price without speculative buyers. (This is especially true for innovative stocks, like startups with a technology that might go through the roof). A bubble is defined as something that is priced in a way that it can't keep that price up without new speculative buyers.


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

[User] ELI5: x64 means 64-bit but x86 means 32-bit?

[Assistant]
Back in the 70s Intel released a CPU called the 8086. They followed that up with the 80186, then the 286, 386 and 486. Each one used an instruction set built on the previous one, which meant for the most part software written for one would work on newer ones.

This family of CPUs and the instruction set the used became known as x86.

Eventually they made the jump to 64 bit (it was actually AMD which first did this) which became known as x86-64. Then people just shortened that to x64.


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

[User]
[Marvel/Dr. House] Would Dr. Strange and Dr. House get along?

Let's say that pre-accident Strange got to work in the same hospital as Dr. House, would they get along? Would they develop a rivalry or cooperate due to their similar personalities and flaws?

Would their combined abilities get them an invite to work on enhanced humans or special projects in the Marvel Universe?

[Assistant]
Probably not. House is a massive prick, not many people get on with him; even his best (and only) friend is pretty pissed with him much of the time.

Double that and you have a shit storm, not a bromance.


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

[User]
Is energy actually momentum in the time dimension instead in one of the three space dimensions?

The formula for work done on an object is dW = F dx. And F=dp/dt. And work done is energy E measured in joules. So this gives dE dt=dp dx. Doesnt relativity tell us that space and time are similar,( except for a conversionfactor c and a minussign in the invariant spacetime interval). So energy is simply momentum in the time direction.

[Assistant]
Actually kind of yes. In relativity, there's a quantity called 4-momentum, which is a 4D vector consisting of energy and the three components of momentum. Energy is the time-like component.

P^ = (E/*c*, p^(x), p^(y), p^(z))

There's also four-position:

x^ = (*c*t, x, y, z),

four-velocity:

u^ = (*c*, v^(x), v^(y), v^(z)) where  = 1/sqrt(1-(v/c)^(2)) and v^x = dx/dt etc.

and others

Four-vectors obey Lorentz transforms by construction. If you "square" them by multiplying them by themselves and the Minkowski metric matrix (ignoring GR here)

|A^()|^2 = (A^(0))^2  (A^(1))^2  (A^(2))^2  (A^(3))^2

you get a Lorentz-invariant quantity: something that's the same in all reference frames.

The (square root of) this quantity for 4-momentum is called invariant mass:

E^2  p^(2)*c*^(2) = m^(2)*c*^(4)


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

[User] ELI5: Why does sleeping with a thinner blanket on you with a thicker one on top feel so much warmer than the inverse, i.e. a thick blanket with a thinner one on top?

[Assistant]
Blankets make you feel warm by trapping air close to your body. Your body is continuously generating heat as it accesses the energy in your food, so you are continuously warming up the air that comes into contact with you.

If you have a thin blanket right against you, it is likely better able to fit against your body than a thicker blanket would be. The small volumes of air that are trapped near you warm up quickly. When you have a thicker blanket against you, it is probably not as form-fitting, so you would be having to heat up larger amounts of air.


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

[User] [Phineas and Ferb] Are Doctor Doofenshmirtz's parents abusive?

[Assistant] Almost certainly: he was, during his early childhood, forced to stand outside in the harsh Drusselsteinian weather day and night for some traumatizing amount of time and was ultimately abandoned by his parents to be raised by wild animals.


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

[User]
ELI5:why most movies' runtime is around 110-120 min? Is that just a custom we're used to or is there any pragmatic reason behind that?

Like, because our concentration only can last for around that time? Or because it's thought fitting ticket's price?

[Assistant]
A standard film length does not exist. There is no maximum length for a feature film, but there are multiple definitions regarding minimum length. The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures and the British Film Institute both define a "feature film" as having a run time in excess of 40 minutes. The French Centre National de la Cinmatographie uses the definition of 35 mm film longer than 1,600 meters (58 minutes and 29 seconds).

Since the late 20th Century, many film editors in the United States and United Kingdom have referred to Alfred Hitchcock's advice on movie length:

"The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder."

Hence a common run time of 80 - 120 minutes.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Does the Wizarding world have any kind of contingency plan in the case of Muggles breaking out into nuclear war?

It seems that the Wizarding world generally tries very hard to distance itself from the non-magic folk, leaving them to their own devices. I know the Minister of Magic had direct contact with the Muggle Prime Minister, and id assume all other Wizard governing bodies had something similar for their own local Muggle leader.

But if one day the U.S. decides that "those Chinese sons-a-bitches are going down" and we let lose our arsenal. And within an hour youve got 1000 ICBMs flying to every major populatuon centre around the globe and the whole planet is going to be plunged into a nuclear winter. What would the Wizarding world even do in this situation?

[Assistant]
The wizard Minster for Magic and the Muggle Prime Minister in England are aware of each other, so if there was the threat of a nuclear launch occuring, the wizarding government would be aware of it.

Somewhere like Diagon Alley, which is in the middle of a major Muggle city and military target, would probably need to be evacuated, Most wizarding communities are remote, so it's possible they would just need to put up a protection charm around their settlement, assuming said charms are capable of keeping out radiation.


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

[User]
CMV: The president isn't nearly responsible for as many things that are blamed on them and Americans need to place more blame for issues on Congress and the House of Representatives.

The president is obviously a huge part of our government and has an almost unmatched amount of influence in the world but everytime someone talks about an unfair or wrong policy or law it's always blamed on the current presidency when Congress is the one who puts law into effect int the first place. If we blamed the house and Senate as much as we did the president maybe people would care who was on the ballot for their state and actually get the policies they want to see implemented. Obviously this is not counting presidential decrees or other direct actions by the president himself.

Edit: Congress = Senate + House. I mixed it up.

[Assistant]
The role and authority of the president has dramatically changed over time. Originally the role of the president was definitely eclipsed by Congress. But that has dramatically changed.

>Congress is the one who puts law into effect int the first place.

Congress has the authority to draft and pass laws. They can put it out there. But after that it's out of their hands. (barring amendments) How that ends up looking in practice is subject to the authority of the president and the many, many people that answer to the president.

A great example is the Authorization for the Use of Military Force. The AUMF. Passed in the wake of 9/11, Congress passed the AUMF to authorize the president to respond to the attack.

>"That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons in order to prevent any future act of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations, or persons."

This was ostensibly intended to address the organization and people responsible for 9/11. It was intentionally somewhat vague by necessity. The structure of the organization (s) responsible isnt necessarily as static and clear cut as a traditional nation state or most enemies the US has fought in the past.

Since then those 60 words have been interpreted in such a way to authorize the president to attack pretty much anyone anywhere at any time. It has since authorized military action in at least 19 different countries. Pretty much everything the military has done since 2001.

Nowhere in there does it authorize the establishment of a secret offshore prison to detain anyone indefinitely without due process. But if you have the authority to kill, then you must have the authority to take prisoners.

The president also has an active role in the legislative process. They do not actually write the legislation. And they don't vote on it. But if the president so chooses, they can increase the bar for passage of legislation from a simple majority to a supermajority. The veto in practice is equivalent to the votes of 1/6 of the house of reps. That gives the president a LOT of control over what ends up getting passed. Then after it gets passed they decide how it actually works in practice.


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

[User]
[ELI5] Why do furniture stores decorate things such as end-tables with thick books?

Every time I walk into a furniture store, many pieces of furniture are accompanied by lamps / vases that also have price tags. Yet sometimes there is just a thick book on the piece of furniture; a book that doesn't have a price tag. Why?

[Assistant] It's the same reason people will clean or out new furniture in a home before selling itit's all about staging. It's a mental game, really. If you can make it easier for someone to imagine what a piece will look like in their home, then they *will* imagine what it will look like in their home. If they do that, they might like what they see in their head. If they like what they see in their head, they're more likely to buy the piece.


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

[User]
How is USD strengthening against Euro when inflation in US is higher than in Eurozone?

I can't wrap my head around this really. Inflation in US is 9.1% and in Eurozone, it's 8.6%. At the same time, USD has gained 20% against Euro. How does that work?

[Assistant]
There are multiple reasons.

The USD is considered as a safe heaven and currently the recession concerns encourage people to move their money to safe heavens.

The second reason is the monetary policies inplemented by central banks. There are 3 main monetary policies which are used currently: interest rate decisions, forward guidance, quantitative easing/tightening.

The FED increased it's interest rates to 1.75% and is expected to increase it by 100 bps in the next meeting. Meanwhile the ECB have not changed their interest rates and it's currently on 0%. These decisions have a stronger affect on short term interest rates.

The FED's forward guidance is much more hawkish. They expect several rate hikes this year. At the same time the ECB acts dovish and only expects smaller rate hikes like the 25 bps in july. And the forex markets are pricing in future rates so it's understandable that they are acting accordingly.

The FED also started it's quantitative tightening program meanwhile the ECB just continued quantitative easing. This has mainly an effect on long term interest rates due to the bond purchases/sell-offs. A shrinking balance sheet can also reduce the money supply which would fourther appreciate the USD.


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

[User]
CMV: The relationship between humans and dogs is too fucked up for us to call them our best friends

It is my belief that humans have grossly mistreated dogs in modernish (maybe the past 200-300 years) times. Maybe way back in the day when they would hunt for and protect us the relationship between us was healthy, but nowadays its always felt pretty weird to me.

First of all, the existence of dog breeds is a major betrayal on our part to the canine genus. How could we take these beautiful animals that had been by our sides for at least ~14,000 years and selectively distort their features for our own amusement? In addition, how could we distort their features to their own demise? We've utterly destroyed the Pug; their eyes fall out, they can't breath, and the existence of Pug Dog Encephalitis (a brain infection) is fucked beyond belief. How could we do this to an entire species, then have the gall to call them our best friends?

Next, dogs love us. A lot. And we bred them that way. Even today, I would not be surprised if only the most "loyal" and "loving" of dogs are selectively bred. Maybe we don't do it overtly, but if I had to guess, dog breeders probably are more keen to breed dogs with more loving natures, cus those pups will sell a whole lot better than ones that may be more anxious around humans.

What we've essentially done to dogs is this: I'll make you look the way I want you to look, even if it kills you. Then I'll make you love me.

Because of this, we do not deserve to call dogs our best friends, as we have grossly betrayed and mistreated this entire species.

[Assistant]
> Next, dogs love us. A lot. And we bred them that way.

Some scholars believe that dogs started it.

From Wikipedia:

> While humans may have intentionally domesticated wolves into dogs, an alternate hypothesis is that wolves effectively domesticated themselves by establishing a mutually beneficial relationship with prehistoric humans. They scavenged on the remains of the prey animals left by the prehistoric people at the human settlements or the kill sites. Those wolves that were less anxious and aggressive thrived, continued to follow the prehistoric humans, and colonized the human-dominated environments, generation after generation. Gradually, the first primitive dogs emerged from this group.

In other words, dogs took the initiative to love us because it was in their best interest to love us.


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

[User] ELI5: How does a computer learn?

[Assistant]
An analogy is finding your way to the bottom of a valley while blind.

The computer takes a guess as to how to use its inputs to spit out an output, then it gets told how wrong it is. The way you combine the inputs is the position on the ground you are; and if you start from a guess, that means you randomly pick a point on the map.

The wrongness is the height of the ground: less wrong means lower in a valley. Somewhere in the valley, there is the lowest point where you are as correct you can be. How do you get there as a computer if you can't see the whole scenery?

You need to take a step, and feel if you got higher or lower: that is if you were more wrong or less wrong. Taking this stepwise approach, a computer can walk in the direction that leads to lower ground until it gets the lowest point.

At this point, it has come upon the best way to combine its inputs to give an answer that is as correct as it can get.

This is how the computer learns.


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

[User] Because of the curvature of the Earth, are nearby skyscrapers closer together at the base than they are at the top?

[Assistant]
Yes.

If the two 100-floor buildings are one NYC block apart, which is 0.05 mile or 1/500000 of Earth's circumference, their 100th floors, which are .2 mile higher than their first floors, are going to be 2 * .2 mi * pi / 500000 further apart than their first floors, which comes out to .16 inches or 4 mm.


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

[User]
[LOTR] Human birth rate

Could men reproduce quickly enough to have enough soldiers to defend against Sauron or could he have won through a war of attrition?

[Assistant] The main reason they needed to destroy the One Ring (rather than, say, keeping it in Rivendell indefinitely) was because Sauron was pretty much guaranteed to win a purely military victory eventually. Sauron controlled most of Middle-earth, and had huge numbers of human followers in addition to orcs. There were likely more humans fighting *for* Sauron at Minas Tirith in RotK than against him.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Was Obi Wan going all out on Vader on the Death Star?

Considering how he utterly sond Maul, it seems like he couldve given Vader way more trouble if he wanted.

[Assistant]
No. Obi-wan knew he couldn't best Vader and that even if he tried Luke would have tried to help him. He was just dragging it out as long as he could to keep Vader focused on him instead of his children nearby. Once he knew Luke and Leia were close to the Falcon he let go of his defenses and joined the force.

So yes Obi-wan was guarding himself at full power but he wasn't trying to kill Vader since he knew he couldn't beat him. Only by putting everything he had into defense could he stall Vader long enough for Luke and Leia to escape.


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

[User]
[Rick and Morty] So, what exactly was Evil Marty's original plan?

Basically, the last episode has shown that everything has perfectly worked in Evil Morty's favor, concluding in him basically erecting a dictatorship on the Citadel via political maneuvering and many murders. The thing is, only one of these events (the influx of Rick-less Morties creating a refugee and eventually societal crisis) is a direct consequence of his actions (kidnapping them and killing their Ricks), everything else, the stratification of society for the lower-class Ricks and the destruction of the Council of Ricks and Galactic Government, were caused by outside factors. Because of this, I imagine he just managed to take advantage of the situation. Because of this, what exactly was he planning to do back in Season 1?

[Assistant] The class tension likely existed on the citadel before season one, so Evil Morty probably just intended to take advantage of that. He likely had a plan to take out the council, it's just that our Rick beat him to it.


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

[User]
CMV: Everyone (yes, EVERYONE) deserves to be treated with respect.

Yes, that includes the telemarketer that interrupted your dinner. Yes, that includes the waiter that screwed up your order. Yes, that even includes the mass murderer.

I have the hardest time thinking this when it comes to the most heinous of criminals, the sexual abusers / assaulters, and when I say they ought to be treated with respect, I do NOT mean we don't punish them or that we don't do everything in our power to stop them from doing this. But notice how we don't torture these criminals and even have laws against that. We still give them a trial, a chance to prove their innocence, and we still keep them alive in at least neutral circumstances. We don't subject them to brutal labor or any brutal treatment of any kind.

The big thing here is...where do you draw the line? The one that, once crossed, allows you to be a total dick to someone else? I guarantee that it's entirely arbitrary and is directly correlated to your level of patience. There are plenty of people out there who understand that when the waiter screws up your order, he might be swamped, might be utterly exhausted from being a single parent, or might just be human just like you and therefore imperfect. So just because you are someone who fails to really weigh these things in your head, why does that give you the right to be a dick? I almost always hear excuses for rude behavior like "oh I just had a really long day" or "oh well I've had trouble with other people at this place and I'm just sick of it". Those are YOUR problems, not the problems of whoever you took out your displeasure on. Why should it be my problem that you lack patience, especially if I'm someone who has exercised a great deal of it over my life, even when I really didn't want to?

I really don't see why we can't treat everyone else with respect. I don't see why you could look at a person's stance on a single political issue and declare him to be an idiot, encompassing his entire intellect, or even delusional (my personal favorite. Delusion is a medical condition and it's extremely rare in its actual form, but there sure seem to be a lot of doctors out there who can diagnose it successfully?).

Long story short, you don't know the life story of the people you may choose not to respect, and I bet if you sat down and listened to them (and I mean REALLY listened to them), you would regret ever not giving them the respect they deserve, just as we all deserve it.

CMV.

[Assistant]
There's two way people use respect.

The respect you give for a fellow human.

The respect you give for an authority figure like an elder, police officer, or parent.

If it's treating people with basic decency of humans, I'd be inclined to agree.

If respect is in regards to their position, I'd be inclined to disagree.

Respect of an authority figure is dependent on their wisdom in that position. If they show themselves incompetent or ill equipped for their position, they don't deserve the respect the position might otherwise receive.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do video games save the position of many objects?

In a game like Fallout 4 or Skyrim, you can rearrange furniture, create stacks of objects, or set off a bomb that scatters debris everywhere. When you save and reload, everything is in the exact spot you left it. How does the game manage to save and keep track of everything's location in such a large landscape?

[Assistant]
The game saves the coordinates and orientation of each item in a relatively small area (like a city in skyrim) and does this for all areas. Interiors like houses are separate areas.

 The state of the items are only loaded when you are in that area, it doesn't load the whole world at once.

If you haven't visited an area before, the state won't be saved as nothing has changed.

It's worth noting the game saves the areas as you leave them in temporary saves that get written out to your game save when you actually perform a save.


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

[User] ELI5: How did humanity survive millennia of smoking and drinking during pregnancy if they are bad for fetuses?

[Assistant]
Smoking may not be as old as you think. It was around, but it wasn't something everybody did. Certain cultures incorporated smoking into their rituals. The idea that smoking was something people would just *do* for the hell of it didn't become popular in Europe until after the Americas were 'discovered'.

> If drinking and smoking was considered safe for millennia

Safety, in the sense you are using it, is another relatively recent idea.

150 years ago people didn't know about *germs*. They had ideas about what was or was not *healthy* - usually wrong ideas, like bloodletting and miasma theory and 'humours', but they were at least thinking about it - but aside from things like "it's not safe to eat poisonous mushrooms", they weren't thinking of things in terms of safety.

We only figured out what genes do in the late 1800s. And less than a hundred years ago, miscarriages and stillbirths were often the *norm*... they still are, in some places. We've only known about *sperm* for 400 years or so, and until we had good microscopes we thought each one contained a tiny human that, once 'planted' in a woman, would grow to baby size. We didn't have an understanding of how the mother's health or genes affected the fetus until the last century or so.

There were just too many dots not yet connected between those things and the idea that what a pregnant woman ate or was otherwise exposed to could possibly harm the fetus. It wasn't something people thought about, because they didn't have a framework or context to think about it.


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

[User] [DC] How is it that Lex Luther is still able to maintain a successful corporate and political career after repeatedly showing his true colours as a super villain? The guy's fought battles in broad daylight against the Justice League, why do people still trust him?

[Assistant]
The US government has fought battles against the Justice League before.  They're a dangerous group of super-powerful, mostly un-checked vigilantes who in some continuities hang out in a more cylindrical version toned-down miniature Death Star *pointed at us*.

Generally Luthor maintains plausible deniability.  When he doesn't, it is possible to frame the JL as the bad guys, or at least dangerous risks.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Why does Peter Pettigrew still serve Voldemort in Goblet of Fire?

I get why Pettigrew initially decided to help Voldemort, and then served under him once Vodemort was back - because he is an immense coward.

But after Voldemort kills the Potters and gets defeated by the little baby Harry, couldn't Peter just ditch Voldemort?  I know, Sirius Black knew that it was Peter so he faked his death and blamed Sirius - but couldn't he have framed Sirius without faking his death?

And even more than that, wouldn't the real cowardly option have been to NOT help Voldemort get back?  Pettigrew doesn't seem like he's a fanatical supporter of Voldemort's message, he only supports him because he's scared of what'll happen to him if he doesn't, but surely that would incentivize him to prevent Voldemort's return?

[Assistant]
Sirius wanted Peter dead. Or at least that's what Peter believed when Sirius cornered him. And Peter knew he could never take Sirius in a fight. So he had to get Sirius locked up and fake his death to make sure Sirius wouldn't come after him. When Sirius escaped Azkaban, Pettigrew knew Sirius was going to continue trying to track him down. And after the events of PoA, he knew Sirius (and Lupin) wanted him dead. So he needed protection.

That said, we know that Voldemort was using snakes and rats as hosts while in incorporeal ghost form, so it's possible that Voldemort just coincidentally happened to run across and use Pettigrew as a host before realizing he hadn't latched onto a normal rat, and Pettigrew decided to stay with Voldemort for that protection.


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

[User]
Why does a faster moving boat create smaller waves?

With two boats of the same size and hull shape, why does it seem as though if one were moving faster it would create smaller waves compared to a slower moving one?

[Assistant]
Hydroplaning. Generally, the faster a boat goes, the less of its hull actually touches the water. Different hull shapes and designs will produce different results based on the use of the boat. Less contact with the surface of the water will produce less wave action.

Also, keep in mind that this only really applies to smaller boats. You cant really get a cruise ship or an aircraft carrier moving fast enough for the effect to happen. The physics of ship and hull design can get really complicated.


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

[User]
CMV: DdLg and related Age-Play fetishes are a gateway to pedophilia and shouldnt be normalized

CMV: DdLg is role playing a pedophile and the child they want to have sex with.

Something thats always struck me in my opinion about the ddlg and role play community is it seems like its All the fun of f**king children without the consequences. I feel like accepting this is the same as accepting Lolicon or even straight up peodphilia into the norm. If we are to remove the growing epidemic of pedophiles in this country I think taking links like this out of the norm is the first step.
For those of you who know someone with this fetish or a related fetish how can it be known that they arent a closet pedophile. Children on social media are being shown this dangerous behavior like its normal.
What do you guys think? Is this condonable behavior or gateway pedophilia?
I believe those people should seek help.
(Sorry if I accidentally double posted Im still getting used to reddit)

[Assistant]
Are all the other "kinky" plays which is basically acting out rape scenes or other forms of violence a gateway to rape too in your opinion?

> If we are to remove the growing epidemic of pedophiles in this country

Is there such an epidemic or indication that it is on the rise at all?


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

[User]
If fevers are the immune system's response to viral/bacterial infection, why do with try to reduce them? Is there a benefit to letting a fever run its course vs medicinal treatment?

It's my understanding that a fever is an autoimmune response to the common cold, flu, etc. By raising the body's internal temperature, it makes it considerably more difficult for the infection to reproduce, and allows the immune system to fight off the disease more efficiently.

With this in mind, why would a doctor prescribe a medicine that reduces your fever? Is this just to make you feel less terrible, or does this actually help fight the infection? It seems (based on my limited understanding) that it would cure you more quickly to just suffer through the fever for a couple days.

[Assistant]
Yep. It alleviates the symptoms when you reduce the fever. Also, in some cases, the fever can go out of control and get way too high, which causes your own proteins to start unraveling.

There are plenty of physicians who would agree that sometimes its best to just not take anything and let the cold run its course. Some will say that it does shorten the downtime In the case of viral infections because it allows a stronger immune response (so long as the fever is controlled and doesnt get too high). Of course, the fever is unnecessary when antibiotics are available in microbial infections, so might as well relieve symptoms and fight the bugs.

The concept is similar to inflammation. There we have another biological response that physicians work hard to suppress in order to relieve pain and facilitate healing because medicine has developed better or alternative ways of healing.

But obviously, fevers and inflammation kept us alive for hundreds of thousands of years- for the most part- and are interesting to talk about.


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

[User]
Why executable programs can't be reverse engineered to reveal their source codes?

It seems to me that compiling a source code and generating an executable is a deterministic process. Therefore, it may be ways to obtain the source reversing the process. Is there some kind of encryption involved?

[Assistant] In theory what you describe is possible, to a degree.  Part of the problem is that going backwards, you could make lots of different high-level programs that result in the same executable.  You would never be able to get back to the original code though. Information like variable names and sometimes function names are simply been lost in the translation and optimization process.


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

[User] [Batman] If the Pennyworth family has served the American Wayne family for generations, why does Alfred have a British accent?

[Assistant] Alfred was born and raised in Britain, the main Pennyworth family lives there. And its not like he was a butler his whole life, before he was the Wayne's butler he was a MI-6 agent. His father was the Wayne's butler before him and actually tried to warn him not to come over but was murdered by the Court of Owls before he could send the letter.


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

[User] [JoJos Bizarre Adventure] how can Jotaro's Star Platinum be able to bring him stuff in jail if it is a Close Range Stand?

[Assistant] I always thought stands can extend infinitely, but their range marks the area where the user has most control.  Like Star platinum may be able to pick some small item up a kilometer away but it can only make considerable physical harm to something within 3 meters.


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

[User]
How do university grades work in the US? Does GPA apply to university?

I have noticed that quite a substantial portion of university students in the US seemingly manage to graduate with a GPA of 4.0, which, in my understanding, translates to them having achieved the highest possible grade in all of their courses.

Where I am from, achieving a seemingly equivalent feat (highest possible grade in all courses, including thesis, doctoral viva, ...) translates to the President attending your graduation and personally congratulating you. Only about 0.04% of all students manage to achieve this.

So, my question is how does this make sense? Does this have something to do with the distinction of "college" and "university" in the US? Is this just a case of Grade inflation being much worse in the US than in Europe? Is it possible to "fix" your GPA if you have not achieved the highest possible grade in some exam?

[Assistant] From what I've seen (European applying to US unis, studied in NL and DK), it's much easier to get an A for US courses than in many other countries, so yes: grade inflation. An 4.0 in US courses only maps to a ~8/10 in Dutch courses, if that.


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

[User]
[The Culture] How do most Minds view their organic charges?

I was doing some read lately on our favourite robot overlords, and it never fails to astound me just how astoundingly fast they are! That is, how quickly they perceive and process everything with all that 'thinking in hyperspace' stuff. Anyway, that got me thinking a bit, and I was wondering how they tend to think about such slow, stupid, and frail squishies as those that they're obligated to protect. I mean the care for and interaction with us humans (and non-humans) takes up such a small, fractional part of their processing power that I wonder how much they're really invested in us. Are we just some light, on-the-side obligation they take care of while playing around in IFS? Or do they actually care about us, as slow and limited as we are?

[Assistant] They actually care about their organic companions. The ones who didn't Sublimed immediately upon being born. What we see are the ones who care enough about what happens in the good ol' 3D space to stay and take care of it.


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

[User] ELI5: If there are billions of stars in the space and very few obstacles, why the sky is not full of light?

[Assistant]
For many of the stars, their light has not reached Earth yet.

Also, light intensity decreases with distance, which make many of the visible stars very faint; on a moonless night without light pollution the sky is very densely packed with points of light.


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

[User]
I don't think that the Zimmerman case should be anyone's business but that of the Zimmerman and Martin families, the jury, and the legal professionals in the courtroom, and the media should be ashamed of themselves for sensationalizing it. CMV.

Sorry for the long title... but that's pretty much it. I started tuning this shit out after Jonbenet Ramsey, quite frankly. Why the fuck does anyone care? I fail to see how *any* aspect of this case impacts anyone's lives... unless *maybe* you're a gun rights advocate living in Florida.

I think the reason this pisses me off the most is the fact that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (Boston Bomber), Nidal Hasan (Fort Hood Shooter), and **Bradley fucking Manning** are all on trial right now, and this is a gross waste of media resources.

Since this has been shoved down our throats: I think that Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman are both guilty of some wrongdoing, and I trust our justice system made the right decision. Nobody will ever know for sure what really went down, but I would rather a guilty man go free than an innocent man go to prison.

...But I digress: The above paragraph is somewhat irrelevant to the point I'm driving at: Regardless of what you think about who's guilty or innocent of whatever crime, I don't think that this story is worth our time and attention, and I wish people would shut the fuck up about it and start talking about something *actually* important, like the fact that the NSA is watching our every move, or that big banks in the US and UK are screwing us all, or the fact that the Koch brothers think that the existence of our federal minimum wage is the cause of all our economic woes.

I will gladly answer any further questions. Change my view.

Edit: Grammar

Edit: Can we stay on topic? This is turning into a little bit of a circlejerk. If you don't have a rebuttal to this post, don't comment please and thank you.

Edit: Okay, I get that the media hypes a case because they want to make money... but why the hell does this case matter to people? That's the real question.

[Assistant]
The thing that bothers me about the public aftermath of this trial, like every other highly-publicized trial, is all the people who, having only heard about the case through the media, are so certain that the jury gave the wrong verdict, despite:

1. having seen virtually none of the evidence and heard virtually none of the arguments presented by the prosecution and the defense, except what the media deemed the most important to report
2. the small matter of the fact that the jury's verdict is *by definition* correct: the jury *is the method* used to determine the accused's guilt or innocence in a trial by jury

Is it really so hard to believe that the state failed to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt, or, on the other hand, that the defense was able to raise reasonable doubt?


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

[User]
[Doctor Who] Near the End of Time, why did Humans never build a Void Ship to escape the end of the universe?

I've always wondered this. The humans existed as a rough grouping of species for far longer than the Timelords or Daleks. It stands to reason that at some point they would have a technology at least rivaling either group. In the end of the second season of the revival series, the Doctor says that a void ship could go through the end of one universe and into the next. Also, with human creativity it's possible they could build even larger void ships.

Once you hit time-travel, it appears as though your advancement scales up exponentially (you can effectively create realms outside of time basically). The humans discovered this after only a few ten-thousands years, imagine what millions, billions, trillions would do for their advancement. Have to wonder why they didn't manage to escape? Was that group of humans in 'Utopia' just the equivalent of future-Amish?

[Assistant]
Humans never hit a point of ritualisation and stability like the Timelords, and lacked the dominating militarism that maintained the technology of the Daleks. They existed as more of a fluid social, cultural and technological collection of loose societies over billions of years. Just like Evolution isn't always towards. bigger and better, neither was human technological or social development.

Humanities creativity worked against us here, because we never settled for 'Good Enough' or 'It Works'. We constantly tried new things, even to our detriment, which caused numerous regressions over the ages. Unfortunately, one such regression was underway when the ultimate end came.

At some point in human history, we may have indeed had Void Ships. At one point (or several points) rivaled or even surpassed the Timelords and the Daleks. But by the time The End rolled around, those days were long gone, replaced with another path... One that ultimately proved less useful.


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

[User]
[Biology] What is it about the peanut that makes them so cheap to grow and sell?

I know this is also an economics question, but peanuts seem to have a historical "cheapness" about them, and I wonder if there are biological reasons as to how well they grow in various climates, yield, or soil nutrient uptake that's behind it.

[Assistant]
Many crops take nitrogen out of soil till the soil can't grow anything anymore. Peanuts are one of the plants that puts more nitrogen into soil that it takes out. So growing peanuts every few years is a good way to keep your soil healthy without using a bunch of really expensive fertilizer.

This is cool but it also leads to a lot of farms growing peanuts not really because they want to grow peanuts or because a market exists for peanuts but because they need to fix their soil every few years. And like if everyone was growing too many blueberries or something the market would eventually get people to grow less blueberries, but since a big reason people are growing peanuts is just to fix their garbage soil people keep growing them more than anyone really wants them and people are happy to grow them and only get a tiny amount of money back because it's still better to get a small amount of money than spend a lot of money on chemical fertilizer. So if the price of peanuts crashes people don't really stop growing them.


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

[User] [Fallout] It's been a decade since project purity started making drinkable water available in the Wasteland, and the vegetation from Oasis started spreading. What does the Capital Wasteland look like now?

[Assistant]
A decade is not that long in terms of vegetation spreading any significant distance. The Oasis may have doubled in vegetation (assuming nothing untoward happens)

Drinkable water likely actually attracted a lot violent people to the area. Conflicting raiders and warlords probably pop up to try and take the water source every now and then. And the resulting conflicts likely destroy a lot of the progress gains on the vegetation.

If it happens to attract packs of ghouls who manage to overun the area then the water supply will become contaminated.

But really, unless the is good water flowing in creeks, streams, rivers, or lakes there is not going to be much more than that. Not enough good water in the open will prevent any natural aquifiers from filling underground, no healthy rain to grow any reasonable amount of crops with, no real irrigation systems.

In short the Oasis will basically remain an Oasis until it is destroyed by warbands trying to control the water supply. And there's not going to be much change to the wasteland overall. Not in such a short amount of time.


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

[User]
ELI5: If production of Nazi memorabilia, like uniforms and swastikas, is banned in Germany, where do the props in films like "Downfall" come from?

I know there's probably an abundance of props etc in Hollywood, but films about Nazi Germany made in Germany, how do they bypass this barrier?

[Assistant] The law that prohibits the display of swastikas ect. says: " Subsection shall not be applicable if the means of propaganda or the act serves to further civil enlightenment, to avert unconstitutional aims, to promote art or science, research or teaching, reporting about current historical events or similar purposes. []"


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

[User]
ELI5: why do some countries drive on the left and some on the right

Why isn't there a universal driving  system?

[Assistant]
35% of the worlds's population drives on the left, mainly the UK and her more recent former colonies.
The reason was so that a person could either show their right hand was empty or draw a weapon with their right hand and prepare to defend themselves.

65% of the world's population drives on the right.
The stated reason was teamsters who hauled freight by horse in France and America. They didn't have seats to save on weight, they would sit on the left rear horse, so they could whip any horse with their right hand. So they preferred people pass them on the left so they could make sure their wheels were clear.


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

[User] ELI5: How does the United States Federal Government prevent a President from assuming total control and creating a dictatorship - like the actual people, laws or processes, etc that stop a rouge President from becoming a thing?

[Assistant]
Mostly the fact that people would not recognize his authority.

If the president ordered airstrikes or army occupation of a US city without cause, the military leadership would inform the president that is an illegal order and ignore it and likely inform congress of the president's attempt to murder US citizens so that congress could impreach him.

Legally, the President does not have the authority to make law, so he can't unilaterally change laws. Again, if he tries to enforce invalid law, congress can impeach him.

Worst comes to worst, the States or People can rebel against the president's authority using police, national guard, and privately owned weapons.


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

[User]
ELI5: "Appropriate" margin

So on all these "business" shows like Shark Tank or The Profit they are always talking about margin and the appropriate amount of margin that a product should be making. Like "Clothes should be a 50% margin" or "food should be a 60% margin". Where do these people pull their numbers from? It makes sense to try and maximize margin, but why the standard for different product?

[Assistant]
Comparables (other businesses in the same sector), mostly. It's more an indication of what you *could* make than what you *will* make.

Some businesses by their nature sell their goods for only slightly more than it costs them to offer them - like grocery, with average margins of 2-3%. Grocery stores make up for it by selling 200$ worth of goods to 500 people every day, and hordes of people won't shop at your store if your prices are 20% higher than everyone else's.

Other business have higher margins, often because they offer something luxury or rare or unique. Clothing, for example, can demand 60$ margins because if someone sees a dress they *have to have* they can't easily find it elsewhere - even on the internet it's hard to search for a specific *shape and color* of a unique piece of clothing.

Sometimes the margin is demanded by the nature of the business - a luxery food market like Whole Foods can charge yuppies a lot more for their food but it's also going to have to pay more for range-fed organic all natural unseasoned no-preservative blueberries, and it's going to end up throwing a lot more of it out because it goes bad. So they have to charge more, but they sell a lot less.

So they pull the numbers from other businesses that sell roughly the same thing.


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

[User] [Star Wars] How do lightsaber users fare against weapons with a very high rate of fire like a machine gun or a rotary cannon? Is there a limit to how quickly they can deflect projectiles?

[Assistant] Well, we see how they fare against blasters with high rate of fire and many shooters in the prequel trilogy.  The answer is reasonably well, but there's a limit.  As for machine guns, like actual slug throwers and not plasma based blasters?  Lightsabers don't work against them.


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

[User]
[Dune] Would WW1 tactics work well against the Sardaukar from the Dune universe?

Here's what I'm thinking of:

* Extensive use of artillery. Explosive shells if the enemy doesn't have shields, incendiaries/white phosphorus if they do.

* Bombing runs. Chemical warfare. The slow blade penetrates the shield, but so does mustard gas.

* Dogfights. Even a biplane should be able to run circles around ornithopters that move *by flapping their frigging wings.*

* Trench warfare. Pin the enemy down with the good old Maxim machinegun, then call the artillery down on them. If they have shields, shoot them with a lasgun, then weather the explosion in the safety of the trench.

* Cavalry. Good for hit-and-run tactics against infantry that only has close-combat weapons.

Thoughts?

[Assistant]
Honestly, WWI ***army sizes*** would probably work against the Saudaukar more than WWI weaponry. The Great Houses, including Corrino, had exceptionally small fighting forces.

Artillery, bombing... would have no impact on a shielded fighter. They're likely to run out of breathable air if they have to stay shielded because they're under withering enfilades from vastly larger opposing forces that just keep reinforcing, or are too big to handle in hand-to-hand.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does a barometer actually measure air pressure?

I've known it does for years but I never exactly knew how.

[Assistant]
Inside a barometer is a sealed can, containing air. This makes it a bit like a metal balloon in that air is trapped, and can neither flow in or out of the can.

If the air pressure outside of the can changes, it'll squash the can slightly. If the air pressure drops, the can will expand. It's these changes in shape that drive the needle on a barometer.


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

[User] I've always been told that coal takes millions of years to form. At what point does something like peat go from being called peat to coal, is there an inbetween?

[Assistant]
Lignite, is a soft brown combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It is considered the lowest rank of coal

Since peat turns into lignite over geological period of time, there is no specific date at which one would point to say it's done...the cutoff between peat and lignite is not sharp
.


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

[User]
ELI5:  How do solid state drives work?

I read up on wikipedia and from what I understood there:  It's magic.

[Assistant]
SSDs use multiple "flash" memory chips to store data instead of a rotating disc with a magnetic coating like hard disc drives. These are the same kind of chips that are used in a USB thumb drive.

The SSD also contains a controller chip to connect to the bus (like eSATA) going to/from the PC.  A disc drive organizes the data into tracks (circles) and sectors (shaped like pie slices) on the disc, but an SSD doesn't really have those things. So the controller chip translates between what the PC's operating system may expect, thinking it is talking to a hard disc drive, into the memory organization that is actually there in the SSD.  The controller chip also does some other functions to help maximize reliability and throughput on the SSD.

The big advantage of an SSD is speed. Writes are a bit slower than reads, but both are much faster than on a hard disc. On a hard disc, the read/write head may have to wait 10's or even 100's of milliseconds for the data track/sector it wants, since the head has to move in and out and wait for the proper sector to spin around to it. Since SSDs use integrated circuits, their access times are on the order of 1000 times faster.

An SSD should also be more resistant to mechanical shocks, since there is nothing moving inside at all. Of course, they aren't indestructible.

One thing to know about SSDs that isn't obvious: They slow down as they fill up. Data can be written to an empty SSD faster than one that is nearly full, because the controller chip has to do a lot of "housekeeping" when the memory is getting full. So when you get one, it may seem much faster at first. This is normal.


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

[User] What is happening when a chip goes stale?

[Assistant] Mostly it is just atmospheric humidity entering the food, making it lose it's crunch. The water activity in a crisp chip is very low, so left exposed to the environment, it will come in contact with water in the air and lose it at a much lower, not even comparable rate. Theoretically this would happen until equilibrium is reached. The starches will then soften when exposed to water, making the chip more chewy. The opposite effect is seen in very turgid fruits and vegetables. Because their water activity is so high, they slowly lose water to the atmosphere. The equilibrium is in the opposite direction, although in this case, the water is actually helping the plant cells to stay "crisp" because of the water pressure against the cell walls. As water slowly escapes, they lose pressure and become limp. To test this out, you can leave a cucumber in a very humid, sealed container with some wet paper towels and compare it to a cucumber left on the counter for two days to see the difference. Also, you can try to re-crisp your chips and crackers by throwing them in the oven for a few minutes.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How does Luke get so powerful so quickly?

Jedi need years even decades of training and Luke trained with Yoda and Obi-Wan for like 2 weeks before he was able to somewhat fight evenly with Darth Vader and challenge the Emperor. How is this possible?

[Assistant]
We don't actually know how long he trained with Yoda. He already had most of the basics down before then, it was just refinement.

On top of that, Yoda basically gave him the crash course. The Jedi before him were taught a variety of subjects alongside the Force, but Yoda focused solely on using the Force and the basics of Jedi philosophy.

It helps that Luke had his father's natural potential, too.

All that being said... Luke wasn't that strong yet when he fought Vader on Bespin. Not to mention, Vader wasn't even trying to fight him until Luke hit his shoulder.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are wires generally preferred over ACH when transferring larger amounts of money?

Title.

Noticed transfers of over $30k+ generally are done over wires and ACH isn't accepted, why so?

[Assistant]
ACH (actually EFTS specifically as wire can be done through an Automated Clearing House too) requires just routing and account number, and in a legal sense is recognized as similar to a personal check.

Wire transfers require two numbers from the bank that aren't easily-accessed public knowledge that you can find on anyone's checkbook, and only a sender can authorize money moving unlike EFTS where the receiver can also make money move like with automatic bill payment. In this sense it's treated more like a cashier's check.

If they use FedWire, that money can be moved in the same business day (or even instantly) also, which is pretty handy. Not sure if FedACH is set up the same way, but FedWire is served by a datacenter with on-site backup, with another "hot" backup a few hundred miles away with *its* own backup of the backup, and a third "warm" backup facility. Even though the process is very quick. This provides a lot of integrity and failsafe to those big amounts of money.


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

[User] ELI5: why do hallucinogens (i.e. mushrooms) make it seem like inanimate objects are moving/breathing?

[Assistant] The hallucinations happen because the drug mimics a chemical messenger in the brain called serotonin.While serotonin is usually described as a "happiness" chemical - it also plays a number of other roles. The brain has at least 14 different receptors for serotonin, all of which play a different part in regulating functions such as our mood and how we interpret what our senses tell us. When a drug binds to the serotonin receptor instead of *actual* serotonin, the brain misinterprets it as another serotonin signal in combination with the signals it is receiving from other receptors, causing hallucinations.


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

[User] ELI5: Can someone explain this Dangerfield joke? I told my dentist my teeth were all getting yellow. He told me to wear a brown tie.

[Assistant] In most Rodney Dangerfield jokes, people in his life constantly disrespect him and won't do anything to help him. In this case, the dentist is refusing to provide any helpful advice. Instead, Rodney should wear a brown tie so his teeth look white by comparison.


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

[User] [Marvel/DC] I'm a new superhero who only captures and brings in Anti-Heroes. Specifically those who murder criminals. How will the main superhero community in these two universes react?

[Assistant]
I would honestly worry more about other anti-heroes figuring out what you're doing and teaming up against you.

I can't really see any heroes having a major problem with it besides the fact that you only capture anti-heroes rather than villians. You might have disapproval from the main community and they'll probably send Superman or Captain America to come try to talk you into capturing actaul criminals.

So just capture some criminals along with bringing in the anti-heroes and you should be good.


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

[User] ELI5: What is the point of countries having nukes if they can cause so much damage, will likely never be launched, and can just be shot down?

[Assistant]
They can't just be shot down.

Many of them are MIRVs, which means that their warheads are actually a bunch of smaller, independently targeted warheads crammed into one shell. A MIRV can have as many as 24 warheads, all capable of decimating a city, and it may also release chaff that can confuse anti-warhead targeting systems. If you can launch just 20 of these, the target would need potentially up to 480 ASATs to stop them, and most countries with nuclear weapons have many more than that. Not many countries even have 480 ASATs to be begin with, much less the thousands needed to stop every single warhead.

Short-range missiles have a good chance of getting past defense systems, especially if shot very close to the target. The Cuban Missile Crisis happened partly because it would give the USSR the ability to launch missiles that could strike within 20 minutes, which is barely enough time to get into action stations and *start* priming missile defense systems.

The idea is the same as having any kind of weapon. You have it in case you need it, because it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.


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

[User]
Is anesthesia medication universal for animals and humans?

There was a video of a Macaw waking up from anesthesia and Im curious if the medication is universal. Do humans an animals use the same anesthetic medications? Are they derived from the same compounds?

EDIT: Thank you everyone. This is very interesting to read through.  Its amazing how far weve come.

[Assistant]
Yes and no. There is certainly some crossover between medications including opioids, ketamine, etcetera. However there are animal sedatives (for example acepromazine) that are not used in human medicine. So induction drugs and pain management can vary.
However, the inhalant anesthesia that is used after induction is the same. Essentially everyone uses isoflurane via an endotracheal tube. The process of waking up for every animal is largely the same due to this, plus or minus some extra induction side effects.


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

[User] ELI5: What actually happens when I get a shiver down my spine?

[Assistant]
It's called the pilomotor reflex and like its name it is a reflex. It is mostly stimulated by being a fearful little bitch but can also be caused by a flood of any emotion.

A good example is when you scare the shit out of a cat, all the fur on it goes big to frighten the predator into thinking it's buff when it doesn't even lift. That's what you're doing but you don't have fur unless you're greek so it's useless.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does ice melt slower in a glass of water than it does in a glass of soft drink (soda)?

[Assistant]
Salt.

Salt causes ice and snow to melt, and many places use it on roads. Despite its obvious sweetness, soda contains salt.

Ice melts faster in liquids with salt.

So, ice would melt faster in a glass of water from the ocean, as opposed to a glass of water from a lake, as opposed to filtered tap water, even if the temperature of each glass of water was exactly the same.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do people with large sums of money buy things with large price tags? (e.g buying a 50 million dollar boat)

Do they keep that money in a normal checking account like a normal person would? Can they use the same account that buys something for 50 million to buy groceries?

[Assistant] The money is sent to the seller using a wire transfer. This is all handled by banks. They don't generally keep money like that in an account, no. It's tied up in assets they can liquidate, or they finance.


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

[User] [A Series of Unfortunate Events] How does Lemony Snicket have so much information on the events of the orphans' lives, down to their conversations and when Mr. Poe coughs mid-sentence?

[Assistant]
He is a very, very dedicated researcher, a term which here means "someone who meticulously collected notes and first-hand accounts from many of the people involved in the lives of the Baudelaire orphans".

However, rather than compiling a report on the orphans using only cold hard facts he was able to determine, he used his research as the basis for the construction of a narrative, a word which here means "a story that is presented as coherent and cohesive and in great detail despite the author's obvious inability to know certain intimate details of the story."


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

[User]
[Norse Mythology] In the early days of the world, the first Norse god was frozen in a block of ice. After being licked by a giant magic cow, the ice melted and the first Norse god emerged into the world. How did that god end up in a block of ice?

I've never seen an explanation for this.  Where did he come from?  Why was he frozen in ice?

[Assistant]
It's not literally ice.  Ginnungagap is the primordial void.  Cold things come out of Niflheim, towards the north.  Hot things come from Muspellheim, towards the south.  The situation in the middle is very much *like* a glacier's edge.  Ice cracks and heaves, there's a lot of water, and potentially there's new life.  Recall that Ymir, the first and greatest giant, had his blood made into the sea.  The sea is made of water.  Ymir's blood was water, and yet, it powered the giant.  So it was more than water, and so was the rest of this place: more than ice, more than rime, more than sparks and hot winds and simple cows.

Buri came from the ice, but so did Audambla (sp) the cow.  The ice was more than ice: it was primordial fluid, and in it was the capacity to create every sort of life we see today.  When the cow sprang forth, it licked the ice, and the ice was shaped into a god.  The god was the ice, the ice became the god.  Buri was made from it, just like the cow was, just like Ymir was.  He never "ended up" in a block of ice.  He started off as one.


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

[User]
Would adding a turbo charger to a wankel rotary engine eliminate most of the problems associated with them?

I was reading up on these engines and many of the cons for them seem to be sealing, efficiency and emissions. The article I read stated that the emissions are a problem due to the un-burned  hydrocarbons expelled in the exhaust, now if a turbo charger was added and this hydrocarbon rich exhaust was mixed with air and fed into the engine intake wouldn't this not only improve efficency but also significantly reduce emissions?
If anyone knows of an instance where this has been implemented or can shed some light on this, it would be much appreciated, Thanks!

[Assistant]
That is not how a turbocharger works. Exhaust gasses are not re-introduced into the intake system. The flow of the exhaust turns an impeller that compresses the fresh air in the intake system.

Mazda did, in fact, ship several turbocharged Rx-7 models.  The rotor seal failures were fixed in the 13B engines design in the early 1980s. Fuel efficiencies improved with computerized engine management, improved ignition systems, and finally the side-draft intake and exhaust ports introduced in the Rx-8. The hydrocarbon particulates in the exhaust are not typically unburnt fuel -- they come from the motor oil injected into the rotor chambers to lubricate the rotor seals. Further research into ceramics or micro materials may overcome the rotor seal lubrication issue.