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

[User]
If the only thing that differentiates elements from one another is the number of protons in the nucleus, why isn't there a steady gradient of characteristics on the periodic table?

I know I'm oversimplifying the differences between elements, but if I understand high school physics correctly an atom of carbon, for example, could have isotopes with fewer or more neutrons, and I know that atoms trade and lose and gain electrons all the time. It follows that the only defining factor is the number of protons, correct?

If so then why does carbon's 6 protons give it the characteristics it has, yet nitrogen's 7 protons give it such drastically different characteristics? Is there something big I'm missing about why elements are the way they are?

[Assistant] The way things interact with each other is mostly by electrons and electrons come in shells where at certain numbers you get a new outside shell and the new inside ones don't matter as much. elements in a vertical row on the periodic table have the same number of electrons on the outside shell and they tend to be more similar.


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

[User]
[MCU/Marvel] Were hydra weapons used against the Russians in WW2?

Seems like the outcome of the eastern front would be radically changed if the hydra weapons seen in movies were used.

[Assistant] No, the fhrer sent those nazi inspectors to find out why Johann Shmidt hadnt been supplying the Nazi war-machine with new super-weapons.  He'd been hoarding them for his own attack on America and subsequent coup of Nazi controlled Europe.


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

[User]
CMV: The US has no business being in the middle east

Theres been a lot of controversy and talk of war after Trump assassinated Irans equivalent to the vice president. What I dont understand is why the US cant leave the middle east alone. Weve invaded iran FOUR times since WW2 and have killed roughly 300-400k civilians since 2001. Not to mention constant drone strikes which almost always kill mainly civilians (many of them being children). At this point, were only in the middle east for oil and its sick that weve spent 2 trillion on destroying other countries. CMV.

[Assistant] You're absolutely right and woefully wrong at the same time. Of course, in a perfect world the US would have made themselves and the world independent from fossil fuel... in a perfect world people do not kill over money and power. But sadl y our world is anything but perfect and the US and any large force will always have "business" interests when money and power are on the table.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do you puke when you see/smell something disgusting?

[Assistant] Things that smell disgusting to us are usually toxic if ingested or harbor microbes that could kill us. As such, our response to smelling them is both to really, really not want them near us and to induce vomiting if we have.


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

[User]
Why do we as humans cry out when in pain?

Today I sprained my ankle. It was a very painful experience and was screaming. Ive hurt myself many times before, but this was one of the first times I ever really screamed out in agony. Was curious as to why we do this?

[Assistant] Many species vocalize pain somehow. Coming from an adult, it's a warning for everyone else in the group that something nasty is going on, and they should be on the alert. Coming from a child, it's a cry for help.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why do Stormtroopers only use speeder bikes on a planet full of dangling vines and giant trees?

Seems they would have been more useful *and safe* on literally every other deployment we've seen.

[Assistant]
Because large ground-based vehicles like AT-TE or AT-AT would have difficulty in that terrain, where a speederbike would hover flawlessly over the undergrowth.

Aerial support and transportation would also be difficult due to the canopy.


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

[User]
Name for this "paradox": When common things become more rare, they stand out more, which makes them seem more common?

I'm thinking of things like crime and world conflict, not to mention infant mortality.  I've seen it stated repeatedly that the world/country (I'm from the US) is generally getting better in these regards, yet people think it's getting worse.  Could that be, at least in part, because these terrible things are more rare, and are getting toward the other end of the maxim "One death is a tragedy, a million a statistic"?  And if so, is there a name for this effect/paradox?

edit to expand on what I mean (the following is meant to express an idea or proposition, not as any kind of authoritative statement): If people become used to a thing, then by default it is no longer noteworthy, no matter how many times they hear about it, and no matter how many times they experience it.  So, the "psychological weight" they attach to it goes down; <insert bad thing here> is "just a part of life."  This minimization could be a defensive mechanism so you don't psychologically exhaust yourself with worry.  If this mechanism exists, then there is some threshold of prevalence, above which the defense is active, below which it is not.  If the prevalence of <insert bad thing here> dips *below* the threshold, then society members lose the benefit of the defense mechanism, and their reactions go *up*, despite the fact that the bad thing is getting *less prevalent*.  Similar logic could be applied to good things, I think; it's still exhausting to always be euphoric.  Another possible reason for this adjustment might be to adjust one's psychological "baseline" to best cope with reality.

Does this concept have a name, or does it even make sense?

[Assistant] Um...the Availability Heuristic may come into play here - rare things are reported more frequently in the news than common things (you read about every plane that has ever crashed, but not every instance of petty theft), and because of this, it is easier to recall examples of rare things (like planes crashing), and because they are easy to recall, you assume they happen all the time.


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

[User]
If some elements have such a short half-life, why are they still here?

I'm not understanding something about radioactive decay, for example astatine has a half-life of between 5 and 10 hours depending on the specific isotope, yet it's naturally occurring. Why isn't all the Astatine in the world decayed into nothing?

Edit: Thanks so much for all the replies, I have learnt more in 15 minutes than I have over several days of googling!

[Assistant]
An *element* doesn't have a half-life, each individual *isotope* of every element has its own half-life.

There are some radionuclides on Earth whose half-lives are much smaller than the age of the Earth, for example carbon-14.

It just means that these nuclides are being produced by some processes that happened after the birth of the solar system, and could still be ongoing.


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

[User] ELI5: How does an antivirus work?

[Assistant]
computer wise -

you have a team of people whose job it is to solely find new viruses and find out what they do and how to identify and remove them.

once this team identifies a virus and how to remove it safely this gets included in the daily updates.

now you run the scanner and it scans the files selected (whole computer, quick scan, or selected files) for any of the viruses in the database. if any are found it uses whatever method to quarantine or remove said virus.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Is Vader actually more forgiving than the Emperor?

Obviously, he's really just trying to spur his subordinates on to work faster with this comment, but is it true? We never see the Emperor killing people for screwing up on the job.

[Assistant] Vader really respected his soldiers and the 501st. He wasnt a big fan of posturing officers but he really appreciated the efforts of the more menial workers in the Empire, at least compared to the Emperor. He was also on the ground more and probably was the one carrying out the orders of the Emperor that were unforgiving, so the Emperors evilness was much more behind the scenes.


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

[User]
Is it true in the theory of infinite multiverses, that I've already owned, or will own in the future, a brand new 1973 Lamborghini Miura SV painted in my own custom color choice, and in said vehicle, I already have, or will in the future, go on a 5 hour third date with a 33 year old Raquel Welch?

Because if it is indeed true, my level of personal happiness greatly increases within the constructs of such a well-defined theory.

[Assistant] No. You can have infities that don't cover every option, most of them don't. There are infinite numbers between 1 and 2 but none of them are 3. Even the universe is finite in space and time so that a finite number of possible universes could exist there might be an infinite amount of multiverses that are exactly the same. Only if the universes are finite in space and time and no subset of the multiverse can be an infinite set of the same scenario does such a universe exist.


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

[User] ELI5: The pressure in the marianas trench is 8 tons psi. Does that mean if I used a hammer to crush life from the trench on land, it could resist forces up to 8 tons with no problem?

[Assistant] Lifeforms from the deep sea are not built to withstand that pressure. Instead, their entire bodies are filled with the same structural support: sea water, under the same pressure. This way there's no significant forces from the pressure acting upon their bodies, as it all cancels out.


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

[User]
[Arrival] does the heptapod language imply that there is no such thing as free will?

Throughout Arrival we are sprinkled with scenes that seem to imply that Dr. Banks had a child who eventually got sick and dies, only for it to be a twist that its actually her future. With Banks learning the heptapod language and thus learning a different view on time, Arrival concludes with her accepting that its her future and she is destined to have a child with Donnelly only for their relationship to end and their child passing. Does this mean that there is no free will? If youre dealt a crappy hand in life and will always have that child that will eventually lead to grief, theres no changing that future? Is there no changing the past? Can she diagnose the disease sooner, or even just decide not to have that child?

To a lesser degree, we see it with the reasoning of the heptapods visit. They came to us because in the future theyll need us. Will that always be the outcome?

[Assistant]
When you're in a forest, you can only see a little way in the path ahead or behind. You can tell by the grade of the path whether you're going up or down, and if you pay attention you can tell whether you've been climbing or descending, whether the path has been turning this way or that. You build up a little map in your mind of where you are...

And sometimes you come to a clearing in the forest, and you see a familiar mountain or overlook, and you get a better idea of where you've been and where you're going. You aren't there yet, but you have to get out of the forest, and if you stay on this path you will.

A glimpse of the future is not predestination in the classic sense of being opposite to free will, the whole "time is a flat circle" statement where everything has already/will already have happened, and we're just experiencing the events in linear sequence. It's a statement of probablities, usually as interpreted by a very limited sensorium. Banks gets glimpses of the possible future, where the path ahead would lead. She could do something different; but that would mean leaving her path - and it is very difficult for people to change. There's a lot of inertia there. She probably isn't going to go off and have a one night stand to get pregnant with someone else, or stab herself in the throat so that she never gets pregnant. So as the range of things she *won't* do narrows, the future probabilities coalesce...and that's what she saw. The what-might-yet-be's.


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

[User]
[Overwatch] Are Humans from this Universe like us or are they comic book Humans?

Meaning are they capable of doing superhuman things under the pretense of "peak human"

[Assistant]
Not exactly. Some of them (Soldier 76 and Reaper) went through the Overwatch universe's version of the Super Soldier program ( a la Captain America). Widowmaker was an abducted human who was surgically altered to be an efficient sniper (her heart rate is slowed, etc.) Winston is a genetically altered and genius level gorilla. Tracer is a woman phased out of time, but is essentially a normal human. Zarya is a peak level human in some regards, as she is essentially an Olympic-level powerlifter.

Everyone else is either a highly trained warrior (Pharah, Genji, Hanzo), has years of experience on their side (Ana), or grew up in situations that forced the strongest and smartest to prevail ( Sombra, Junkrat, Roadhog).

Everyone else is a human augmented with tech or an Omnic.


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

[User] Are galaxies neutrally charged?

[Assistant]
Not necessarily, but the charge differential is so insignificant in proportion to galactic distances and local gravity that the electromagnetic force does not play a part in galactic trajectories.

Edit: There are many events that can cause galaxies to expulse matter, and in many of these, such as a black hole jet stream, solar wind propulsed by supernova etc. the matter ejected is ionized. Ions leaving a neutrally charged galaxy would cause a galaxy to be un-neutrally charged, so it's quite unlikely that any given galaxy is exactly neutrally charged.


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

[User] [Godzilla] Should we kill Godzilla?

[Assistant] If were assuming hes a defender of mankind the way hes portrayed in the movies, eliminating threats to our existence then no. Hes not been a threat to humans (in the later American incarnation anyway). The true Japanese version he turns on humans whenever he sees fitif youre going to take out Godzilla (IF you can and thats a big IF), you need to take out all the other ultimate monsters too. The devil you know is better than the one you dont type thing


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

[User] ELI5: do people with mental diseases know they have it?

[Assistant]
Depends on the disorder. For example, a person with OCD usually would, but a person with paranoid schizophrenia most likely wouldn't.

People with personality disorders like borderline and narcissistic personality disorders are notorious for not realizing their behavior isn't normal as well.


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

[User]
Should I switch to Linux?

Hey I just won a laptop in a coca cola prize contest (Lucky me). And I am studying programming (currently first year), so it will come in quite handy. Since I will be using it only for college work, i taught i should install Linux on it. I never used it before, so what do you think? Better learn it now than never. Also do you know some good Youtube channels where you can learn basic and advanced Linux stuff.
Also what are benefits of using Linux?

[Assistant]
Benefits of using linux: easier to be closer to the code,  it's the lingua franca of backend (servers,  the web,  etc.), it's got great security,  an open source culture and a lot of tools ready to go for developers.

Ubuntu is the most painless distribution to use, as it's focused on ease of use, has a large installed userbase and lots of help information online. For 18.04 (the most recent version) its front end is gnome. Mint and kubuntu are variants of ubuntu that use other front ends.

I really like fedora, which is a different distribution, but they're all mostly the same.

I'd suggest getting accustomed to the linux terminal and file operations in the terminal,  and get comfortable with the package manager for whatever distribution you install.  At a high level, these distributions all behave similarly to windows and macos. As you proceed though,  access to the linux terminal will slowly give you exposure to a more powerful set of tools.

If you're concerned about which to install,  dont be! Load up a couple usbs with different distributions and try them all and see what you like the best. Its all free. Just takes a little time.


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

[User]
CMV: Male and female athletes should be paid an equal percentage of their sports revenue, not necessarily the same absolute dollar amount.

Controversy in soccer, tennis, basketball, etc. highlights that most female athletes make less money than male athletes. However, theyre often paid similar percentages of the revenue they generate - the inequality is because womens sports dont bring in as much revenue.

Suppose a company made two products: one with wide appeal, say, ice cream, and one with more niche appeal, say, quinoa. The company hires salespeople to sell each product and pays everyone 30% commission. Of course the ice cream salespeople will earn more money because they sell more ice cream because more people want ice cream than quinoa. It has nothing to do with whos a better salesperson, its just based on their market share. No one would say thats unfair just because they both have the title salesperson.

So if male and female athletes in a given sport are paid the same percentage of their organizations revenue, how is that unfair?

[Assistant]
It's actually a little more complex IMHO. Women should be paid more than the dollar amount of their respective league. Lets take the WNBA. Their league is not super profitable. At all. So why does it stick around? Because it 'is' actually very profitable. It's just that WNBA teams don't see the profits and it's why the NBA keeps the league solvent and alive.

It's essentially a marketing program aimed at introducing half of society that has less interest in sports to the league. Especially as younger girls. The WNBA has been a major plank in the NBA's marketing strategy since it's inception and the investment the NBA makes pays dividends in their expansion into the female demographic earning them lots and lots of money. Women ballers really deserve a larger percentage of their own league's profit because it represents real NBA dollars and the help money from the NBA to keep it alive isn't listed as 'profit' in terms of the players but they absolutely deserve some of it.


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

[User] ELI5: why are back problems much more common in young people/at a young age nowadays?

[Assistant]
A lot more seated positions and technology requiring a forward posture, which gets exacerbated over time(slouching). The illiopsoas muscles are fairly big contributors.

If you understand that every time your muscle contracts, it will get better at that action(such as working out) and the longer it stays in that position, the more it will solidify that position as 'normal'.

The psoas is very contracted while seated and it attaches the front of your spine to the front of your legs. When you try and stand, this pulls on the low back and causes pain and discomfort in those areas. Other people might experience it as hip pain as it crosses that joint as well.


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

[User] ELI5: What are transistors and how does having more create more computing power?

[Assistant]
A transistor is a switch that can be turned on or off by electricity.

Two switches can make a logic gate, six can store a bit of data.  These are the building blocks from which computers are created.

Early switches were mechanical relays or vacuum tubes...large, slow, and took a lot of power.  The computers that used them were the size of buildings, and might have had 10-20,000 switches.  Modern processors pack nearly a billion into the size of a thumbnail.


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

[User]
Askscience, what is one the most mind-bending things associated with your field?

Something that really makes your head hurt thinking about it.

Edit: of* sorry about the typo :/

[Assistant]
The speed that metal deforms in metal cutting (milling, turning, etc) is well over 1000 times more rapid than the metal casings of even the most violent explosives. In fact, it is practically impossible to re-create these conditions with current or foreseeable technology.

Friction-stir welding; take a tool, plunge it into the seam of two metals and spin it to plastically deform them into each other; this is done at sub-melting temperatures and is ideally entirely mechanical with no melting of the metals.

Explosive welding and amour piercing ammunition: the forces involved are so high that the mechanical strength of the steels involved becomes negligible in modeling and calculations.


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

[User]
[Pokemon] Is there any league in the world that is better than the others?

Is there an NHL to the KHL, the NFL to the CFl, or the Premier league to MLS? Is Indigo better than Jhoto, is Kalos better than Unova? Is there a league that simply draws all the talented trainers to it because it is the best?

[Assistant] The Pokmon World Tournament in Unova draws in Gym Leaders and League Champions from all over the world to compete in a friendly tournament, so I'd think that which league is the 'best' would mostly be a matter of personal preference and regional pride, like choosing which sports team you root for.


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

[User] When you heat an unstable isotope, does it decrease its half-life time and does the opposite happen when you cool it?

[Assistant]
Heating and cooling doesn't really affect the nucleus, unless you get to temperatures comparable with the typical excitation energies of nuclei (on the order of MeV, corresponding to temperatures on the order of 10^(10) Kelvin).

The only exceptions are types of decay which involve the electron cloud. If you have a nucleus which can only decay by electron capture, and you heat it up such that it has no more electrons, electron capture cannot happen.


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

[User] Why can transistors be so small, but resistors capacitors and other components are comparatively large?

[Assistant]
You can make tiny resistors and capacitors too, if you accept the fact that they also have a tiny resistance or capacitance. Such things are just considerably less useful than tiny transistors. Transistors are switches, switches allow binary logic, binary logic allows computation.

However, every commonly used computer *does* have billions of tiny capacitors: that's what modern RAM is made of! Every bit of memory is made of a transistor-capacitor pair.


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

[User]
How bright is a Martian day?

By way of comparison, a clear sunny day on Earth would be around 100,000 lux. How would a day on Mars compare?

[Assistant]
**Short answer:** The most straightforward way to approach this is by looking at the radiation flux from the Sun as a function of distance.  The radiative flux reaching Earth is 1370 Watts per square meter and the Earth orbits at 1 Astronomical Unit (AU).  Mars is about 1.5 AU.  Flux is proportional to the inverse square of the radius, so right away, we can calculate that the relative brightness is about 45% or 1/1.5^2 . In absolute numbers, the flux at Mars' semi-major axis is 1370/1.5^2 , or about 610 W/m^2 .

**Long, addition to the answer:** This is a fun problem in two ways.  First, it shows how nice it is to work with arbitrary units.  Working with 1 AU makes it very easy to compare between Mars and Earth because the ratio of any distance to 1 is that distance.  If we worked it using 1 AU = 93,000,000 miles, we would get the same answer but it would be more of a pain.

The second part that's somewhat interesting but a little deeper is that this question is made tractable by our knowledge of the composition of interplanetary space, the atmosphere of Mars and even human evolution!  Brightness is not strictly equal to radiative flux, but is instead a measure of light that is visible to humans.  If Mars had a thick atmosphere, the atmosphere of the planet might get the same radiative flux but not the surface, but we know that Mars has a very thin atmosphere so we can essentially ignore any absorption in the visible spectrum.  We also know that the space between planets is largely empty of anything that might absorb visible light, so it can also be ignored.  On Jupiter, the radiative flux will change drastically as you descend through the clouds, and even though there's no traditional rocky surface, it's pretty darn dim at the spot where you can stand.  So Mars is a convenient place to ask that question about.

If you follow that logic you may ask, perhaps Earth, with its thick atmosphere, absorbs some light and so is dimmer than it would be at 1 AU if it had no clouds or gas and maybe Mars is relatively brighter?  But humans see visible light specifically because it is what gets through our atmosphere.  It might be scattered and distorted, but evolution picked this frequency because there's plenty of that wavelength of light kicking around, which means we can -- as a rough approximation -- assume that brightness is about the same as radiative flux when we compare Mars and Earth.  So biological evolution is at the heart of figuring out how bright it is on Mars!  Pretty cool.


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

[User]
If experts can tell me I shouldn't leave my phone connected to the charger after it's charged, and my phone can detect and tell me when it's charged, why can't the phone just go ahead and turn off the charging when it's charged?

I'm just not sure why it's down to me to unplug it.  Can't it just flip a relay when it gets to 100 percent, or 80 percent, or what's considered healthy for the battery?

[Assistant]
To start off, phones dont know exactly what percentage they are at. The battery percent the phone displays is an estimate based on the current voltage level of the battery and how much energy it has consumed. It is fairly accurate but its nowhere near the 1% precision that phones will display.

Now, that being said lets get on to the question. Phones do have charging circuitry that shuts off power at full charge. The advice that you should always take it off the charger isnt really that useful these days for that reason. However, there is some negligible excess wear that occurs as a result of the charging circuitry allowing a small discharge and then recharging. Typically the phone will be allowed to discharge a couple of percent (while showing 100%) before being recharged. You are also relying on that circuitry not to fail, which is probably why its still recommended to remove it. If that circuit fails the battery could in theory overcharge and be damaged or cause a fire.


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

[User]
How do companies determine the ROI on advertising on Hulu, TV commercials, twitch.tv, youtube, etc?

Like, if there's a papa johns commercial, how does papa johns know how effective their advertisement was?

[Assistant]
Big companies with big advertising budgets often have a number of Key Performance Indicators that they try to reach. Not every advertising dollar must bring in two dollars of sales in return. Exposure and brand recognition can be important to a company, for the long time health of the brand. As such, the relative cheapness of broad online marketing (usually paid for in CPM, cost per thousand views) makes it a good fit.

No ROI may be calculated, instead the marketing team will track how much exposure their ad received (and perhaps supplemental stats like how many facebook likes or how many twitter shares the advertisement received) to determine if it was effective or not.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is the word "cunt" used and accepted significantly more in the UK, Ireland, and Australia than it is in the USA?

[Assistant]
It is still a vulgar word in the UK, Oz and Ireland but much less taboo because it is used more frequently and in a wider variety of situations.

Yes you can still start a bar fight by aggressively calling a guy a cunt but I've heard rugby lads say "he's a good cunt", affectionately, about a mate.


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

[User] Why do microorganisms only begin breaking down our tissues after death? What stops them from doing so whilst we are still alive?

[Assistant] Well, when we are alive our immune system kills all the microrganisms, so that there are no microrganisms in our tissues to try to break them down. If our immune system fails to do this, and say, a bunch of ameba start eating your brain, then you typically become dead very quickly and then your immune system stops working all together. Your active immune cells need lots of energy to kill all those microrganisms, and when your blood stops pumping etc. your immune system quickly stops working.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does reflected light look like it's shimmering from far away?

[Assistant]
Short answer: Air.

Long answer:
Light passes through several layers of air. When the layers are at different temperatures, it bends and twists light passing through it. On hot days close to the ground, it twists and bends enough to make far away objects shimmer.


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

[User]
Why does running on an inclined treadmill feel like running up a hill (needs more energy) even though you're not gaining elevation (potential energy)?

If you run up a hill, you have to work harder and that work (energy) is transferred into potential energy because at the end you are higher in elevation then when you began.

Running on an inclined treadmill feels like running up hill, and seems to require the same increase in energy but without the extra potential energy at the end.

Where does that extra energy go?

[Assistant] You still gain potential energy by stepping forward on an inclined treadmill, but you lose the energy as soon as the treadmill pulls you back down again. The extra potential energy is transfered to the treadmill belt, where it becomes kinetic energy (and consequently, the treadmill motor has to provide slightly less work to drive the belt).


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

[User] ELI5: How does bail work? Can you use your own money?

[Assistant]
Of course you can.

Bail is collateral. You give the government the money, and they say "we'll hold onto this till the trial. If you show up, then we give it back. If you don't, then we keep it."

You can use your own money, but many people can't afford that so they have to get a loan.


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

[User]
Feeling anxious and overwhelmed by determinism

The main thing about determinism that I find saddening is the fact that every time I do something it is because of my biological makeup, prior experiences etc. etc. and that essentially my life will play out in a way in which my actions would have occurred regardless of anything. Even if just in theory my future could be predicted i find it very unsettling. The idea of determinism has now been looping in my head for around 10 days and during this period I have found little joy in things I do. For example, when I play Rocket League, something that I usually find a lot of joy in, I merely see the game as an exercise for whatever is 'me' to respond to. In these 10 days the concept of determinism has been in my head for practically every waking moment. I have tried rationalising the idea that even if determinism was proven that our subjective experience of life would be no different to an indeterministic one, but so far nothing has helped qualm my obsession and resulting anxiety. If anyone could provide any help it would be greatly appreciated.

[Assistant] What has actually changed though? Even if you are a deterministic creature, you have had the sensation of fulfillment in the past, and there are people aware of determinism that are perfectly fine, thus you can be aware of it and still live a fine life.


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

[User]
CMV: Rapidly recharging health bars make first person shooters less enjoyable.

To clarify: I am talking specifically about campaigns.  Health that restores quickly makes sense in multiplayer, as it allows each engagement to be somewhat fresh.

For this reason, I mostly emulate N64 shooters and don't play most modern shooters with any frequency or consistency.  As such, I am certain that my perspective is limited, and would like to see why at this point essentially all shooters have rapidly recharging (RR) health as opposed to Long-Term (LT) health.

I am currently watching a friend play Halo 4, and he is reasonably frustrated by his inability to beat a specific part of the campaign.  His checkpoint is about 3 minutes from when he usually dies, and he ends up redoing the same part constantly.  Eventually he succeeds at that segment with minimal feeling of accomplishment, making it to a checkpoint where the process is repeated.  Then he ends up spending another 10-25 minutes on that 3 minute segment, reliving the same fights and hearing the same speech pods.  This seems unfun to me.

In contrast, playing a game with LT health means that the segments are around 12 minutes long.  I remember spending a long time over several days trying to beat Perfect Dark's level "Carrington Institute: Defense."  It was neither boring nor frustrating, because with each attempt I played about 12 minutes of unique gameplay and something different happened or I learned something with essentially every attempt until I reached success.  Success eventually came with an exceptionally good run that lasted the lenght of the level, nailing all the parts that needed to be nailed in one go rather than piecemail, one at a time until I got to a checkpoint.  This success carried a large feeling of accomplishment with it, as a difficult challenge was met where I was staring down complex objectives and enemies with shields and high-powered weapons and was able to take about 2 solid hits before I died.  By the time I was able to win, I had a very streamlined process that was precise and required high levels of skill.  I felt like the Perfect Agent the game told me I was.  This level of quality is unachievable with a RR health system, where hits are frequently taken and shrugged off in seconds.

While Halo at least has in-universe Clarke's Third Law-esque justification, in games like Call of Duty there is the added huge drawback of crushing any sense of immersion in the game.  I find it impossible to suspend disbelief through getting shot until I reach the very near to death stage and then being completely fine a second or two later.  In contrast, the original Deus Ex had a beautiful system where arms and legs could be made useless by enough bullets until the player was able to heal or regenerate them.  Obviously games will always require suspension of disbelief to achieve immersion, but in some settings RR health completely destroys all hope of a quality immersive experience.

For primarily the reasons of length of game segment that is repeated, a more complete task leading to a greater feeling of accomplishment, and a more immersive experience, I believe that single-player first person shooters are most enjoyable without RR health.  The fact that finding cover undoes all damage previously taken seems to hurt continuity and just feels lame.  Since most games have gone to RR health means the majority of people likely disagree with me.  So, CMV.

[Assistant] Reading through, your view doesn't seem tied to regenerating health, but rather to the difference between a slow advance with many mistakes tolerated, and a quick advance where few mistakes are tolerated. This issue rather seems to be about a larger scale of game design and the toolset the game gives you.


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

[User]
CMV: Hot Dogs ARE a Type of Sandwich

Hot dogs are definitely a type of sandwich. According to the Webster dictionary a sandwich is two slices of bread or a **split roll** with a filling in between. A hot dog has a split roll with a filling. This makes it a sandwich. Some might say that the filling is wrong for a hot dog to be a sandwich, it's filling is a cylinder rather than flat slices of meat. If this is the reason for why a hot dog cannot be a sandwich then why is a meatball sandwich a sandwich? meat ball sandwiches have spheres. what about tuna & egg salad sandwiches? they have a paste or spread rather than slices of meat. Another argument might be the way you hold a hot dog. Hot dogs are not held in a horizontal orientation, with the bread on top and bottom of the sandwich, but a vertical one so as to avoid the contents spilling out. I feel that this is a bad way to define a sandwich because I have had many a sub sandwich that I had to hold in the vertical orientation to avoid spillage of the contents. If the orientation of the food item determined it's sandwich status then many food items that would be considered a sandwich would become non-sandwiches based solely on the amount or sloppiness of contents you put inside of the sandwich. For example if you make a sloppy joe or pulled pork sandwich in a split bun then it makes sense to hold it in a vertical orientation with the bread on the sides of the filing rather than on the top and bottom of the sandwich.

[Assistant]
Dictionaries are descriptors, not prescriptors. That means they attempt to explain the way we use language, but they dont set the rules. Society does.

If the dictionary definition includes a hot dog, the dictionary is wrong.


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

[User]
Does caffeine actually increase the production of dopamine, or does it just enhance the dopamine already in your system?

I was casually drinking my coffee and wondering what this is actually doing to my brain and why I feel so great when I drink it. Sure enough, it's partially because of dopamine. Here's why I am confused, though. Does the brain start producing more dopamine, or does it just take longer for it to be reabsorbed, or both? A lot of articles I read mention how it lets the dopamine "do it's thing more freely", but I'm not sure if that means ramp up production, or just act differently than before.

[Assistant]
Caffeine doesnt interact with dopamine production directly, thats just your brain telling you that it enjoys the coffee. Caffeine works by blocking certain receptors in your brain that tell your body to become tired.

When your cells need energy, they break down ATP molecules, which release energy and a few byproducts, including Adenosine. Over time Adenosine builds up and binds to its specific receptor telling the body to become tired. It gets cleared away, but this is usually slower than its created. As it accumulates you feel more and more tired, but when you sleep the enzyme that clears it out can catch up. Caffeine binds to the same receptor as Adenosine, but it doesnt activate it, so you dont feel sleepy. It also makes it easier for the enzyme to clear out the Adenosine.

So, caffeine doesnt perk you up, it just makes you feel less tired.


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

[User] ELI5: why do most pictures of deformed babies happen to be from Southern Asia? Is there something specific to that region that causes it versus other 3rd world areas?

[Assistant]
A large amount of people in sub-optimal conditions such as dirty water, little food, various diseases, etc is what many people believe.

But it's undeniable that Korea, Vietnam and Laos are all heavily affected by Agent Orange, Pink and Purple.

Thr Agents are herbicidal growth regulators used by American military forces in various campaigns to kill the foliage and prevent snipers from having cover to sit and wait in.

The problem with the Agents, particularly Agent Orange, is that it contains dioxins which bind with hormone receptors. When that occurs in pregnant women whose fetuses are still developing, it can simply stop certain developments from happening. This causes things like low bone density, malformed bones, lack of eyes or limbs, underdeveloped brains.

It's not just Southeast Asia that suffers from it many births in the USA have been affected by the chemicals because soldiers that were caught in the sprays have the poison in their bodies and passed it to their spouses via semen and caused defective births.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Why was the Death Star II bigger? Was it supposed to be more powerful? Is one shotting any planet not powerful enough?

[Assistant]
It was partially about a more versatile design, but having a bigger death star did solve some practical issues, too. The first one had a single reactor who powered everything else in addition to the superlaser. The Second Death Star had three reactors, one purely for powering the Superlaser.

This meant that while the First Death Star required 24 hours to recharge after cracking a planet, the Second one can destroy several planets a day! Now that's efficiency!
On a more serious note, the Second Death Star had much more precise targeting systems to let it target more mobile targets than a planet, like capital ships.  The dedicated reactor meant it could fire less-powerful blasts at capital ships with mere minutes between the shots.


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

[User] How do we know how far away distant objects in space are?

[Assistant]
There are several ways in which we can achieve this and it is never a simple task. For closer objects such as those in our galaxy we use parallax. Parallax uses trigonometry to measure distances, if you have two points of known distance, then you can measure the third by drawing an imaginary triangle. For example the Sun is often used to make this measurement, as the earth moves around the sun, there should be a displacement due to a change in perspective, by measuring this displacement and using some trigonometry we can measure the distance of the third object.
I don't know how to link, but Google parallax.

Measurements of further objects are more difficult. Parallax using the sun and the earth is not useful because the displacement is not noticeable at greater distances. For objects outside of our galaxy, we usually use several points to reference to estimate their distance. One of the most common ways are through the use of standard candles. Standard candles are bodies of known distances. Cepheid stars are a class of stars used as standard candles (perhaps the most useful type). Their brightness varies over time such that they pulsate. The period of their pulsation is directly correlated to their size. So by observing the period of pulsation of a Cepheid star, we know how big it is. If we know how big it is, we know how bright it should look. If we know how bright it should look, and we compare it to how brightly it looks to us, we can estimate their distance (further things are dimmer). Once we have a known distance, we can then use it as a point of reference for measuring other things.


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

[User] If energy is quantized can't we say that mass is also quantized? And if mass is quantized doesn't that mean that there is some particle which can not be devided in anything smaller?

[Assistant] Energy isn't quantized in the same way that charge or spin is, in general. If that were the case, there would be inertial reference frames that aren't valid, because they would give objects kinetic energy in between quanta, which violates Lorentz symmetry.


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

[User] ELI5:What does a company mean by stock options?

[Assistant] They are giving you the option (i.e. choice) to buy stock at a set price at a later date typically after they IPO or are purchased. So, let's say your option price is $20 and you have 100 shares. The stock IPO's at $50. You would have to buy your shares for $2000 and then sell them for $5000 to get your money out. Or, if someone were buying the company they would offer you a price for your options and the same thing would happen.


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

[User] [Bryan Singer's X2: X-Men United] How did that prison guard survive having a large amount of iron injected into his bloodstream?

[Assistant] Some foreign substance in your blood likely wouldn't kill you immediately, and the guard needed only to live long enough to get to work the next morning. Although, in the long term a bunch of metal in your system would probably cause lasting health problems. But it would take time.


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

[User]
CMV: Jurors should be given flow charts to help them arrive at verdicts which are correct according to the law

Watching footage of a trial recently, I was struck by how badly information about the law was conveyed to the jurors.  Both the prosecution and defense made statements about the applicable laws which were at best confusing, and at worst just wrong.  There was disagreement regarding what instructions should be given to the jury, and the eventual instructions were long, verbose, and interrelated.

I understand that laws have to be written very precisely, which often causes them to be verbose.  However, there is no reason why the instructions need to be presented to the jury solely in the form of a screed of text.

Laws could be presented to the jury as a flow chart, which would allow them to focus on getting each detail of the charge correct rather than concerning themselves with the "big picture" or how various parts of the law interact with each other. All of the same semantics would be there, just connected with visual diagrams rather than grammatical clauses.

The flow charts wouldn't be just created as needed.  There are already offical handbooks of jury instruction "patterns" which judges use as a template.  An official set of flowcharts would need to be created in a similar vein.

Frankly, we could go further than this, and actually make flow charts the primary codification of the law.  This might help prevent legislators from making laws which have meanings different to what was intended.  It might also aid non-layers in their understanding of the law.

Why do I want my view changed:

* It's not a view I hold strongly, but it niggles at me to think that there's a better way and we're not using it.  If my view changes I can be more happy with the status quo.

Arguments that won't sway me:

* Too expensive or difficult.  I believe consistent justice is worth great expense and effort.
* The judge also reads the instructions to the jury. This suffers from many of the same problems as written text, and maybe some other problems as well.

I might be swayed by:

* Proof that some laws cannot be converted into flow charts AND that this is not some sort of degenerate case which would be better addressed by changing the law itself.

[Assistant] Juries should already be informed of the law and their job is to make judgements according to that law. Why do you think that it specifically needs to be flowcharts? Those aren't great for complicated things, such as laws.


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

[User] ELI5: The first law of thermodynamics states that energy can neither be created nor destoryed, only transferred. How come the second law of thermodynamics, infinitesimally increasing entropy, doesn't contradict the first law?

[Assistant]
Because entropy is not the destruction of energy, rather a measure of the destruction of USEFUL energy, Exergy. The energy still exists somehow, but is no longer present/available in any meaningful way. By the second law, entropy may me generated, but never destroyed.

Edit: so in short, energy isnt destroyed but rather lost from US. Entropy is essentially chaos induced by thermal processes, and can never be reversed.

Edit: sorry if Im unclear. A good analogy would be a a battery. Exergy is the charge in it, which can be used to power a remote or dildo or something. When you use the charge in the battery, you might feel it warm up. The heat escaping the battery comes from it but is not useful anymore, thanks to entropy.


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

[User]
Why is HCl prevalent in so many drugs?

I have seen variations of HCl in many drugs, ranging from allergy pills to bipolar depression medication. It seems that HCl is supplementary to the main compound (for example cetirizine), but what role does it play and why does it work with many different compounds?

[Assistant]
HCl, Hydrochloride, is just a form in which a certain substance is given. Hydrochlorides are water-soluble and usually offer a better bioavailablity, that's why most drugs are provided as a HCl.

Every organic base (e.g. amines) can be converted to a hydrochloride by a reaction with hydrochloric acid IIRC.


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

[User]
Eli5 Why can similar temperatures inside feel colder than outside?

Wars have been fought over the temperature of the thermostat, often varying by few degrees. But I noticed that often if inside temps are below 70 they tend to be cold for many people, yet temps around 50-70 outside are often comfortable for most. Maybe even lower if you live in a typically cold area.

Why do inside temps feel colder than outside?

[Assistant] Indoors, you're mostly only getting convective heat (heat from the air goes to your skin).  Outdoors, you're also getting radiant heat from the sun and to a lesser degree, the ground (infrared radiation transferring heat from things you're not touching).  This results in more heat getting transferred into your body, regardless of the air temperature.


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

[User]
Is it possible to create a molecule containing a noble gas ?

For example, would it be possible to take away an electron from a Helium atom and then force it to link with a Hydrogen atom ?

[Assistant] It's possible, but difficult. They're usually hard to make and many can only exist in extremes of temperature and/or pressure. HeH+, or helium hydride, is formed by a positively charged hydrogen ion (a single proton) reacting with a helium atom. It's the strongest acid known to exist. It's theorized to exist naturally in interstellar space but has yet to be detected. The larger noble gases are *somewhat* easier to create compounds with. Xenon has several possible compounds.


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

[User]
[ELI5]: When governments print more new money, who gets it first (and gets to spend it before inflation kicks in)?

To make it more clear. This is not regarding government printing money to replace decaying bills. I'm curious about how new money is introduced in the economy (someone must be getting it for free, right?)

[Assistant]
This is a very complicated question, so I'll have to go through from the beginning.

First, I'll explain how the money supply can increase without the government's intervention.

Let's say you go to the bank and deposit $100. The bank then lends $80 to your friend Bob because he's taking out a mortgage on *Assassin's Creed* or something. Now you have your $100 in the bank, and Bob has his $80 in hand, even though he owes it to the bank. The bank only actually has $20, but Bob owes them $80. Bob goes and buys *Assassin's Creed* from Carly for $80. Now Carly has $80 and no debt, and you have $100 and no debt. So effectively, there is more money around (even though it all gets cancelled out if all the debts were paid back).

This is often a good thing in reality, especially in the business world. If you're a business owner and you take out a loan to start your business, if you make enough money to pay it back, you may not actually want to. You may want to continue to spend the money to improve your business. While you have that loan in the background, you are making money with your business faster than you would be without it, so you actually want to maintain the debt because you make more money that way.

Next, I'll explain bonds.

A bond is a fixed-term loan *to* someone by someone else. In our case, we care about government bonds, which are loans from the government. We will assume they always get paid out---the government always has enough money to pay for them. For instance, you might buy a $100 bond from the government that will pay you 2% each year. You pay the government $100, and the government will send you $2 a year for ten years, and then at the end of the ten years, it gives you back your $100.

Bonds can be traded, and they're usually traded based on their interest rate. If you sold your $100 bond to someone for $200, then they are getting a 1% interest rate on the bond. So when you trade bonds, you care about the interest rate on the bond. You might say "I'll sell $100 worth of bond at 4%". Note that you want to be selling a bond at a lower interest rate and buying at a higher one.*

Now, the central bank is the organization that "prints" money. They don't actually print money to change the supply, they just change numbers and their policies. Because things are mostly digital anyways, you can just think of them as having a limitless supply of money, but they can only use this for a few things, like buying bonds. Since they have limitless money, they also gain nothing from getting money---if you give them $100, it doesn't matter to them, since they already have infinite money.

The central bank's role is to use their infinite amount of money to control how much money supply is available. There are a number of ways that they can do this, but the most important (arguably) one is called *open market operations*, where the central bank participates on the bond market.

How it works is that the central bank decides that there is too much money or too little money, and they buy or sell bonds to move the bond price, which affects how investments get made.

An example is the best way to show this.

Suppose that the bond rate is 2%---people are buying and selling government bonds at 2%. The central bank decides there is too much money lying around, so they want to decrease the money supply. They set a new target rate, say 3%. Then they announce to the world that they'll sell government bonds at 3%. Suddenly, nobody can sell a bond for anything less than 3% because the central bank is providing a better deal. So the bond rate on the market goes to 3%.

Now, if you're a banker, and you have a bunch of cash lying around, you want to invest it. Never leave cash lying around. So you want to invest, and you look for people to loan money to. You see some guy looking to get a loan of 2.5%. You are considering making the loan, when suddenly the central bank moves the target rate to 3%. Now you can get a better deal from the bond market, since bonds have zero risk.** You're guaranteed to get paid your 3% if you buy a bond, but you might not see the money again if you make the 2.5% loan to this guy. There's no reason for you to make that loan, so you buy bonds instead.

This means more people want bonds, and there needs to be a place for those bonds to come from. That's the central bank again. People buy bonds from the central bank, instead of lending it out to the world or investing in stocks. The bonds don't get spent like money does, and the central government doesn't have anything to do with the money (remember, it has infinite money so it doesn't actually care that you just paid it millions of dollars). So the money supply goes down as money leaves the economy.

If the central bank wants to increase the money supply, they do the opposite. They announce that they'll buy bonds at 1%, and suddenly the banks are more inclined to lend money out because it's probably better for them than buying bonds. In fact, they'll sell their bonds to get more money that they can use to buy things. They'll sell them to the central bank, and then use the money they get to lend out to people and to invest, and bam! money goes back into the system.

There are other tricks that the central banks can use, but they generally all hinge on the idea of controlling how much money the banks keep and how much they lend out or invest, rather than actually just printing money and giving it away.

-* Yes, this doesn't quite make sense. There's some papering over the actual principal amount of the bond, but this is fundamentally how it works.
-** If the bonds aren't actually at zero risk, then you have problems like what's happening in Greece right now. If the government can't pay back its debts, it's a game of hot potato where there's billions of dollars worth of potatoes and everybody loses.


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

[User]
When a star runs out of hydrogen, it begins using helium as fuel. Is this shift a gradual process or does it happen suddenly?

Does the star begin to use helium gradually, as the hydrogen is depleted? Or does the process of fusing helium into carbon not start until the last hydrogen atom has been spent? Or do I misunderstand completely?

[Assistant]
It's a relatively sudden shift.

When hydrogen in the core runs out, the radiative pressure that's keeping the star puffed up disappears, and it starts collapsing under it's own gravity.

This creates tremendous heat and pressure in the core, allowing the fusion of helium.


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

[User] [Watchmen/LoTR] Doctor Manhattan finds the One Ring. Does it have an effect on him?

[Assistant]
He hears it whispering to him.

He hears it whispering to all that have worn it throughout the ages.

In an instant, he comes to understand the object, its construction, its history, its power... and he decides to unravel it. He pulls the ring apart on a molecular level, breaking apart the bindings of made of Saurons cruelty, malice and will to dominate as easily as the metal.

The power does not leave the ring with a bang, but rather a whimper, slipping away into the void... and Saurons spirit follows, broken and never to reform.

Almost as an afterthought, Dr Manhattan reforms the ring as little more than a piece of jewelry.

In the end, its only effect on him was a desire to dismantle it.

A curiosity, nothing more.


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

[User] ELI5: What does putting chalk on the rnd of a cue stick actually do? Does it help in any way?

[Assistant] It's supposed to increase the friction so that the stick doesn't slip when you strike the ball. It's not that important if you're just hitting the ball in the center, as most casual players do. But if you're doing something fancy where you strike the ball off-center to put a spin on it, then making sure there's enough friction to initiate that spin can be important.


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

[User] ELI5: If an exoplanet like Kepler 442b, the most likely to be habitable exoplanet, has a mass 2.34x that of earth, would the gravity of the planet be 2.34x that of earth as well? Also, how would this affect humans if they were to travel there?

[Assistant]
Depends on the size of the planet. Gravity increases proportionately with mass but inversely proportionately with the square of the distance.

Consider the Moon. The mass is 0.0123x Earth, but its (equatorial) radius is 0.2725x Earth. Combining these gives us:

(0.0123/0.2725^(2)) = 0.1656... which is around 1/6th the gravity of Earth, which is what we observe.

So, if Kepler 442b was simply 2.34 the mass of Earth but also the same size then, yes, it would be 2.34x the gravity of Earth. But it's radius is 1.34x Earth which gives us:

(2.34/1.34^(2)) = 1.3032... so it is about 30% more gravity than Earth.


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

[User]
Why do formulas in computer science always have tons of logs in them?

I feel like every time I see a formula describing something in computer science it has something like logloglog(x/y) or something like that in it. Why are logarithms so prevalent in these equations?

[Assistant] There are two big sources of logarithms in CS. The first is binary representation: The (base-2) logarithm of N is the number of bits you need to encode N in binary. The second in binary trees: The depth of a (balanced) binary tree is the logarithm of the number of elements. Those two concepts are pretty ubiquitous across the subject.


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

[User]
ELI5: What role does the monarchy of the United Kingdom play in the politics of their nation?

And why did Phillip Montbatten not become King alongside his wife Elizabeth when she ascended to the monarchy.

[Assistant]
The monarch herself, not a huge amount. It is considered very improper for the Queen to get involved in politics. Though she technically holds great power, convention and tradition demand that she not use it.

That said, The Queen regularly meets the Prime Minister for discussions, but this happens behind closed doors, and we don't know what these conversations are like. The Queen also, under specific circumstances, gives speeches in parliament, but these are prepared by the government.

As for your second question, that's merely a matter of traditional terminology. A monarch's spouse is known as a consort. A king's wife is a queen consort. A queen's husband is a prince consort.

The reason for this convention is mainly a hangover from old-fashioned sexism. It's not considered proper that the spouse of the king or queen of England should outrank them. And as, in our patriarchal past, kings outranked queens, it would therefore have seemed strange if the holder of the throne and first child of the previous monarch had been called 'queen', while her husband, who has perhaps no royal blood, was called 'king'.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does AMC benefit by splitting the last season of Breaking Bad into two halves?

With almost an entire year separating the two halves of the season, it seems like a lot of the hype of the show will die down. What am I missing here, why is this a good idea?

[Assistant]
Because then they can compete in the 2012 and 2013 Emmys. It's that simple. If they had all 16 episodes this year they wouldn't get that chance.

tl;dr: The television industrys version of karma-whoring.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do the tips of my fingers become sore after I clip my nails too short?

[Assistant] What usually causes irritation from clipping nails too short is that the skin right at the transition point where our nails attach to the finger doesn't build up the same protective layer of dead skin as the rest of the fingertip.  So when the nail is clipped too short, the edge of the nail starts biting into this thin strip of raw skin which causes irritation.  As the nail gets longer, it stops poking that strip of skin and the irritation goes away.


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

[User]
CMV: I consider pronouns and gendered general term unimportant.

In my country there was a recent court case where a lady unsuccessfully complained that a bank was referring to her as (male and general) "customer" and not the "customeress"
EDIT. "Customeress" is not an English term. "Kunde" and "Kundin" for customers in German are used like Actor and Actress in English.

Her point was that male general terms like "actor" diminish women. My counterargument to that is that I don't hear the same complaint from that or any other lady when there is a terrorism alert on the news, soldiers are killing, rapists are being talked about or people are looking for a culprit, those terms are generally male as well.

I am not even sure if this is in the same vain, or if I am convinced for the same reasons but the pronoun debate that seems to be evolving around ever freshly created new gender types is superficial and maybe even superfluous. I don't mind being a meanie and not using the desired term but am i really making a net negative impact by doing so?

[Assistant] Just to provide more information: It happened in Germany and in German nearly every job is gendered. The bank is called "Sparkasse" and the customer wanted to be addressed as "Kundin" (female version of customer) and not "Kunde" (male version).


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

[User]
I believe it is a private business owners right to refuse service to any person for any reason or no reason. CMV

I read a post earlier that Arizona has proposed a law that would allow shopowners to legally refuse service to customers who are gay. I know to some degree private business owners can turn down whoever they please, however they would still have to abide by the Federal Civil Rights Act which states:

All people the right to "full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin."

It is my belief that as owner, proprietor, and taxpayer of a company, I should be able to chose not only who I serve but also hire. In no way am I saying I condone practices that use discrimination as a method of business. What I am saying is that the owner should have the right to turn down an entire populous of potential customers or employees should he/she choose.

[Assistant] Then the business owner should forfeit their right to publicly funded projects such as the road system and police or fire departments. The same people that they refuse to hire or serve have no choice but to have their tax dollars used to support this discriminatory business.


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

[User] [Westworld] What's the state of robotics outside the park?

[Assistant] Much less sophisticated then in the park, at least as far as AI is concerned.  This is why they are trying to get the code and data out behind Ford's back, he is jealously protective of that data.  Physically the robots are also probably not as humanlike as guests seem amazed by the look and feel of the hosts as well as their behaviours.


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

[User]
[Futurama] Is Bender's cigar smoke second-hand?

It's not filtered through lungs, since he doesn't have lungs, so, is it just smoke?

[Assistant]
I had to do a double take on this question - very clever.

Sadly, the definition of second hand smoke is smoke inhaled involuntarily from tobacco being smoked by others.  So its still regular second hand smoke since other people are involuntarily breathing it in.


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

[User]
(Star Wars) Why use recon X-wings?

What is the point of a recon X-wing when an A-wing refitted with an advanced sensors package in place of it's jamming equipment, or working with, would be much more effective? An A-wing has the same top speed  as a TIE interceptor, it's jamming gear allows it to remain hidden during a flyby, and it's ability to rotate it's guns 360^o would help discourage pursuit.

[Assistant] They're the Rebellion. By definition, they don't have a lot of resources, and have to take what they can get. Who's to say that the Alliance actually commissioned those ships rather than stealing them? Plus bigger ships can have more powerful deflectors.


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

[User] When you drink water, how is it distributed around the body?

[Assistant]
Once water is absorbed through the GI tract, it enters the bloodstream as plasma volume and is carried throughout the body.  There is no specific distribution (eg the body does not route water specifically to an organ), but the flow is just determined by the circulatory dynamics.  From there, water follows a general distribution guided by the **60-40-20 rule**.  Typically your body's water weight is 60% of your mass.  From there, 2/3 (or 40% total body mass) is intracellular water.  Of the remaining 1/3 (or 20% total mass) that is extracellular, about 3/4 (15% of total) is contained in the interstitium around your cells while the last 1/4 (5%) is contained in the vascular system.

When you take in fluid, **where it goes within those compartments depends very heavily on the osmotic characteristics of the fluid**.  This comes into play a lot with intravenous fluid administration in terms of deciding the right choice of fluid to give. Giving isotonic water with dextrose results in a even distribution of 2/3 going to the intracellular space and 1/3 staying in the extracellular space, as the dextrose is metabolized and the water is evenly distributed by volume space.  However, giving normal saline (0.9% NaCl) results in most of it staying in the extracellular space because the salt creates an osmotic pressure keeping the fluid from entering the cells.  In patients who have pathologies resulting in increased loss of vascular fluid through extravasation (eg bad edema from heart failure) we'll sometimes give an albumin solution as that is thought to favor keeping fluid within the vascular compartment.


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

[User] [Space Engineers] My ship weighs 65 million kilograms, how much damage would it do to a planet in real life if I were to crash into an Earth like planet?

[Assistant]
Kinetic Energy calculations are E_k = 0.5 * mv^(2), with the units of J, kg and m/s respectively.

We need to figure out what the velocity of your ship would be crashing in. The fastest speed ever recorded by a plane is 7,200 km per hour, so let's use that speed and assume you ship isn't going to be destroyed by the atmosphere. 7,200 kph is the same as 2000 meters per second.

So plugging in, we have E_k = 0.5 * 65,000,000 kg * 2000^2 m/s = 1.3 * 10^14 J. That's nowhere close to the impact that wiped out the dinosaurs (4.2 * 10^23 J), but asteroids also hit the earth at 16 to 32 kilometers per second. If we assume the average of 24 kilometers per second (24,000 m/s) the energy would be 1.87 * 10^16 J, which is still not nearly as much energy.

If we want to match the energy of the mass-extinction asteroid we all know and love, we would have to travel at 1.14 * 10^8 meters per second (the speed of light being around 3 * 10^8 m/s).

Going back to the 1.87 * 10^16 J number, that's about the energy released during an earthquake close-but-over 7.6 on the richter scale.


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

[User]
[the purge] would Canada and Mexico close borders

Would Canada and Mexico close their borders with the USA, prior to the purge or would they let the Americans seek refuge? Also what would happen to the non-Americans during the purge such as truck drivers?

[Assistant]
There would be little reason to close the borders.

Anyone who wants to "purge" can only do it on US soil, so they're not going to leave the USA... and anyone not of that mindset, is welcome in other countries.   The purge is a legal right of any US citizen, so they wouldn't count as refugees.  Instead they would simply be seen as tourists and help feed the Canadian or Mexican economy,  win-win.

Non-Americans (such as truck drivers) during the purge would (or SHOULD) know better than to be in the country during that period.


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

[User]
Why is my reflection in the mirror backwards, but not upside-down?

I have wondered this since I was a child. I am now a full-grown middle-aged man and still don't have an answer. Please help!

[Assistant]
It's not flipped left-to-right, although we usually think of it that way (for the reason below) - it's flipped back to front. Your nose is where the back of your head should be, if you were just copied and translated to the same position as your reflection.

The reason that writing, for example, looks flipped left-to-right in a mirror, is that you have turn it 180° - or yourself - before you can see the reflection. If you hold up something translucent with writing on it, so that it's facing you, you will be able to read the reflection normally (through the back of the material).

Things on your left in the real world are still on your left in the mirror - but if there was a big sign behind you, for example, then because you've turned 180° away from it, then you've reoriented your left so that it no longer corresponds to the start of the sign (which is now on your right).


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

[User]
ELI5: The meaning behind the popular philosophical phrase, "I think, therefore I am."

I know what it's trying to say, but I don't quite understand it. Wikipedia articles are also not cutting it on this one.

[Assistant]
You are thinking. If you did not exist in some manner or fashion, you could not think.

Therefore, regardless of the truth or falseness of your sensory input, the action of thinking necessarily proves that *you* specifically, *exist* as a thinking being.


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

[User]
ELI5: How can animals like bears get wet and not freeze to death in the winter but if a human wearing fur clothes gets wet, they freeze easily?

Not sure I phrased that as good as I could have.

[Assistant]
* Hairs retain dramatically less water than an insulated jacket

* Said hairs often are covered with oils that further repel water

So, while a bear may get wet, the fur's not going to get completely water-logged like a coat would.


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

[User]
[40k] What was the first contact between humans and xenos? How well did it go?

Non-canon/speculations welcome.

[Assistant]
Their first interstellar contact was the Orkz, mentioned in several books. Low numbers of them are common on many worlds.

The old ones were involved in modifying humans to make them better weapons, and so some humans likely met some of those. It went like they were teleported up to a spaceship, forcibly genetically modified, and sent back down.


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

[User]
[MCU] Are any of the external planets like Xandar, Asgard, etc. in our galaxy?

One thing I've always wondered is how far away from the local cluster is this highly advanced space-faring society? I know that distance doesn't matter in Asgard's case with how Jane Foster describes the Bifrost as a technology that folds space so it could technically be anywhere. But, Carol came to Earth while traveling through her own Empire's territory.

So, I guess what I'm asking is have Marvel Studios specifically released a  map of their known galaxy?

[Assistant]
James Gunn briefly mentioned on Twitter in 2016 that the Nine Realms are all in the Milky Way, while Guardians of the Galaxy 1 and 2 take place in Andromeda.

I don't recall that C-53 (Earth) was mentioned was being in Kree territory, only that they historically visited and experimented on humans. It's under the domain of Asgard, after all.


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

[User]
[The Avengers] Where was the national guard or the army?

When i search about the alien attack on New York i only get clips of the Avengers, did the national guard or the army do nothing?

[Assistant]
World Security Council: There's an alien invasion and the Avengers and NYPD are struggling to defeat it.

Fury: The Chitauri aren't impervious to firearms and other conventional weapons, we should send in the military to back up the Avengers.

World Security Council: nah just send in a nuke lmao

(*I know Malick/Hydra wanted to use the nuke to kill the Avengers*)


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

[User] ELI5: Why does the math they teach in school keep changing and getting harder?

[Assistant]
One could argue that 3+5=8 hasn't changed in, forever.

The pressure is to teach **more math** in the same amount of time.  That means that more intensive techniques need to be used, and students must **work harder**.  It's not the math that's different, it's how much math you need that's changed since your parents were in school.


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

[User]
[Pokemon] What is the deal with these fishermen who wander around with a single Magikarp and expect to win any battles?

I mean what the hell, they can't do any damage, and are a general suck-fest. What is even the point?!?

[Assistant] It's just a dude out fishing. He wants to get in on the fun of Pokemon battles, but really only likes to use fish Pokemon. Magikarp happens to be one of the easiest Pokemon to catch. It all adds up to a guy who isn't afraid to give out his pocket change to local Youngsters in exchange for having a little fun outdoors between fishing sessions.


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

[User]
CMV: Mario Kart is the best political system.

Mario kart is essentially a meritocracy where generally skill ensures you rise to the top of the pack. How it stops the skillful players from gathering a monopoly on power is through rainbow cubes. Each rainbow cube gives the person a random opportunity to further their progress, however the worst of you are doing, the greater chance of a very powerful opportunity that will even the playing field. Even going so far as to give you a blue shell which will specifically target the top spot.

This is fair because as soon as you use these advantages to advance to the top, then those same mechanics will be used against you! Thus ensuring a constant churn of players through the top spot where no single individual can hold the position indefinitely.

Even innate disadvantages like starting at the back of the pack of the start line means you will have greater opportunity to advance.

However this doesn't completely even the playing field as players will still need to improve their skill and course familiarity in order to consistently get to the top spot.

[Assistant]
I like your premise. For clarification, would you endorse the kind of rainbow cube life perks that are targeted at competitors, and only work by making life harder for others? It seems to me that in the context of Mario Cart, only a few of the item are pure benefits - only helping the player and not harming others. Most of the items only work by screwing over those around you.

So, bigger picture, isnt that a fundamental part of the game? Wouldnt we be better off with a system that didnt force participants to compete with one another in order to win at life?


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

[User] ELI5: Unlike every other European language, why doesn't English have any diacritics (, , , etc) in the alphabet?

[Assistant]
First, what you're talking about isn't just diacritics, but also additonal letters. Danish, for example, doesn't have any diacritics either, but it does have a few extra letters (,  and ) -- but they are fully-fledged standalone letters, not diacritics added to a "normal" letter.

So your question should be broadened a bit, to "why doesn't English have any diacritics or letters that other languages don't have".

And the answer is, it does. Many/most European languages don't really use W, for example, and some typically omit it from the alphabet entirely.

So yes, english does have symbols that other languages don't use. Just like other languages have symbols that aren't used in English.


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

[User]
ELI5: Are mobs/ the mafia still a thing?

Italian, Russian, Irish, ect.

[Assistant]
In the eastern coast of the United States the Mafia is still around and active, but definitely weaker then in the 1960s.

Italy is a corrupt rats nest, mob is the curse of their culture and leg breaking is ubiquitous. They operate all over Western Europe though, they rule the drug trade there.

Russian mob is quite the beast, they are all over the grey wastes of that empire. They are very much present even in countries nearing Russia, they are also a problem in South Korea.

Yakuza are scary motherfuckers, if in Japan, avoid them.

You could easily see drug cartels as the Mexican mob.


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

[User] [SCP][Harry Potter] Both the Ministry of Magic and The SCP Foundation are organisations that want to keep anomalies secret along with their existence. If they both existed in the same universe, what actions would be taken if one organisation discovered the other?

[Assistant]
In this scenario, the SCP foundation would probably discover the Wizarding World first, as they are actively on the lookout for any paranormal phenomenon.

That said... they'd probably secretly contact the Ministry of Magic and encourage and help them enforce the International Statute of Secrecy even more. After all, the Wizards already want to be left alone and separated from the Muggles, and there are a lot of them, so the most Pragmatic solution would be to just leave them to their own device while secretly monitoring them.

At first, due to the SCP policy and the Ministry arrogance, I'd assume there would be some struggles, but the Foundation is VASTLY more powerful than the Ministry, and could easily demonstrate this point if forced to. After a while, the Ministry would probably accept the Foundation subtle presence and continue as if it didn't exist.


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

[User]
Why haven't we been able to analyze samples of different foods to find out exactly what the ingredients are and the percent of each ingredient in the food? You know, to unlock the mysteries of Coca-Cola, Big Mac sauce, etc.

Or does this technology already exist? If so, how can these "top secret" recipes still remain secret?

[Assistant]
We can do this. We can tell you exactly what chemicals are in any particular food. The problem is, if you're attempting to replicate a "secret recipe" is that most of these chemicals will be complicated organic molecules, so we can't exactly reconstruct from scratch by adding chemicals to a vat because it'd be prohibitively time consuming and expensive.

Knowing what's in something doesn't tell us the method of creation.


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

[User] ELI5: If sweating is such a vital function; why is antiperspirant not considered harmful?

[Assistant]
Antiperspirant doesn't prevent you from *all* sweating. If it did, you would almost certainly overheat and become very sick.

It prevents *some* sweating, specifically in areas that typically are used less for cooling off and more for odor production (eg armpits).


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

[User] ELI5: What causes the muscles in your neck to hurt for hours when you "sleep wrong"?

[Assistant]
When deep in sleep, your head can fall into a position that puts unnecessary stress upon your neck muscles. After a bit, your neck can get agitated. Your sleeping brain might do you a solid and command your body to reposition itself so that your neck gets a little relief. Alternatively, your brain may just ignore the agitation, exacerbating the strain.

Basically long exposure to slight strain builds up overnight if you remain in a less than ideal position.


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

[User]
[The Dark Knight] What if Harvey Dent never stepped up and allowed Bruce to reveal himself as Batman? How does the rest of the film playout?

My first thought is that the Jokers attack on the transport is still in play, but with an unarmed Bruce in the truck instead.

[Assistant]
Bruce is never unarmed, because Bruce is always Batman.

In-universe, Bruce Wayne admitting to be Batman is as unlikely a possibility as Harvey Dent, if not moreso since Bruce's public image is clearly less involved politically. Nobody would actually believe it, not even the Joker, which would have given Bruce an easy jump on his target once the Joker came for him.


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

[User]
ELI5: what does the Pope actually do?

Edit: I was not specific enough in my title, I guess I am wondering about what he does on a day to day basis.

[Assistant]
The Pope is the absolute monarch of Vatican City. Within city, his word is law, and he can override everyone else within the Vatican City. Outside the city, he is the final word for the Catholic Church's official doctrine. He can speak *Ex cathedra,* (from the chair), which means he IS speaking for God, and everything he says while doing so IS God's word.

Unofficially, the Pope is the face of the Church and (for lack of a better term) markets it to the world at large.


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

[User]
ELI5: In computers, why do some files, even if they are the same size, take longer to be moved or deleted than others?

I noticed this when I deleted a 2 GB video file on my laptop today, which took less than 5 seconds. But when I  deleted a separate folder that was smaller than 2 GB, it took way longer to get deleted.

[Assistant]
This has to do with the way computer usually handle such things as deleting or moving files.

Normally when you delete a file, the computer does not actually delete the data itself. Instead it goes to a sort of index where it has a tabel that says where each part of a file is located on the storage device.

You can think of it as going to the table of contents in a book and striking out the entry for a chapter and what page it is one. If you flip though the book you will still find the chapter, but if you only look at the table of contents it is gone.

From that metaphor you can also see why striking out a single chapter that goes fro a hundred pages is faster than striking out 100 chapters that are only a page long each.

Something similar happens if you rename or move a file around in the same drive. The file itself stays put you only mess with the entry in the table that says where what is.

You can move a file that is hundred of gigabytes from one folder to another in almost no time, but moving a hundred tiny files takes a bit of more time.


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

[User] [Truman Show] What happened after Truman's escape?

[Assistant]
He came out into the world as the most famous person alive. Everywhere he went he was swarmed with paparazzi and fans all wanting to meet him. He couldn't go anywhere without someone recognizing his face. He went from a mild mannered business man to the most famous person in the world by doing nothing but live his life.

The girl who was waiting for him they tried to make it work but she couldn't take the life of fame. She was receiving hate mail and certain news outlets would often paint her in a bad light to for their ratings. They eventually went their separate ways.

Truman started to have nervous breakdowns about his new life. The pressure of being famous and having millions of fans was too much for him to handle. With the money he made from advertising he eventually bought a bunch of land in the country side and lives alone where no one can come bother him. Till this day he is still unsure if he made the correct choice of leaving in the first place. Although his fame died down a bit after the network that held him before announced the arrival of a new child the world will get to see grow up. Truman 2.0

Im just guessing it went like this.


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

[User]
CMV: Shrek and Shrek 2 are the greatest animated films ever made

Now I love lots of animated films. I think the Incredibles, Monsters Inc, Toy Story, Cars etc are all brilliant. But IMO nothing tops Shrek. Shrek has it all:

- An ensemble cast

- Hilarious characters: Donkey, Prince Charming, Puss in Boots, Lord Farquad, Fairy Godmother... I could go on

- There are jokes for all ages. You can watch it as a kid and find things to enjoy. You can come back as an adult and find new things to enjoy

- A brilliant soundtrack

- A great message about how you shouldnt judge a book by its cover, and how love is about so much more than looks

- A great plot

- Great villains. Harking back to a point I previously made, but Prince Charming and Lord Farquad really make me laugh my ass off

- Pokes at Fairy Tale movies/stories in an amusing way

- Full of funny pop culture references. E.g. the Versarchery shop

Interested to see what people have to say in response and if anyone can CMV!

[Assistant]
Many of the Pixar movies are listed in the top of the animation charts on Rotten Tomatoes.

>A brilliant soundtrack

The issue with Shrek is that they use songs released around the time of the movie, which can make it feel dated 20 years later. Gary Newman's music is custom-written for the film.

>An ensemble cast

Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, with comedy mainstays (Jim Varney, Don Rickles).

>There are jokes for all ages. You can watch it as a kid and find things to enjoy. You can come back as an adult and find new things to enjoy

Some jokes are like that, but the story itself can apply to all ages.

>A great message about how you shouldnt judge a book by its cover, and how love is about so much more than looks

The moral of Toy Story 1 is to be yourself (Buzz), first impressions aren't everything (Buzz v. Woody), and to learn to accept change (Woody, about Andy). Toy Story 3 teaches you to share the joy with others.

>Great villains

Buzz (before his heel-face turn), Sid, the collector, Huggy Bear.

>Pokes at Fairy Tale movies/stories in an amusing way

That's Shrek's whole shtick. If you removed the fairytale jokes, what's left?


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

[User] ELI5:Why aren't cops trained to shoot the leg or a non fatal area? These seem to always go for kill shots.

[Assistant] Shooting is hard. Even a well trained marksman still won't be able to hit a moving leg most of the time. If you're shooting someone, you better be prepared to kill them because while most bullets aren't fatal even if they aren't in the leg, it's basically impossible to choose whether your shot will kill or not. And if you're planning on shooting someone, you'll have the best chance of hitting if you shoot towards the bigger target- their chest.


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

[User]
Which way does the gravity pull at the exact center of a large object?

Hypothetically, if the exact center of the earth or the sun was cool enough to not burn us alive and we travel there.  We dig ourselves a little room with the exact center of the room being the exact center of the earth.  My question is, which direction would gravity pull us?  Would we be pulled towards the nearest wall comparable to the centrifugal force of the spinning carnival ride?  Would we float around in the room since the gravity from all the mass of the earth is pulling us in every direction instead of down?

[Assistant] You would feel no force at all at the very centre. Indeed, if you were to hollow out a spherical cavity centred at the origin, you would feel no gravitational force anywhere in the cavity, due to the spherical symmetry and the nature of the force law.


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

[User]
Can a single, massive-scale epidemic such as bubonic plague or smallpox have a positive effect on the 'gene pool' for humanity as a whole?

I'm posing this question under the asusmption that those at an initial advantage to survive, for example, a bout of plague were at such an advantage because of a 'generally strong immune system'. Is this a moderately accurate assumption, or would one's chances of surviving the plague be more attributable to a genetic advantage unrelated to one's ability to fight off infection in general. (If the latter, then I would assume the answer to my initial query is 'no', other than the benefit of resistance to the plague itself).

edit - doh, title typo.

[Assistant]
>Can a single, massive-scale epidemic such as bubonic plague or smallpox have a positive effect on the 'gene pool' for humanity as a whole?

There's no positive or negative; value judgments are not for genes, genomes, or natural history. But they do exert their effects. Multiple genetic traits are found in the population as a result of infectious diseases: Sickle cell anemia and thalassemia from malaria (definitely), CF from infectious diarrhea (probably), CCR5 deficiency from plague (probably).


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

[User]
ELI5: Why can't bad guys, rogue nations, hackers commandeer Voyager 2, et al?

I haven't found a comprehensive look at what sorts of layers of security go into safeguarding these vessels. I read an article of some antennas being used to communicate with Voyager 2 while her usual terrestrial antenna is repaired. Ok, but what's to stop anyone else from communicating in the interim? Or ever? Is it locked frequencies? Very specific API requiring perfect names, function calls, encryption keys? What exactly do space-level security and encryption mean?  How does this age?

Thanks!!

[Assistant]
To communicate with Voyager, we have to use very big radios.  These radios are run by the NASA Deep Space Network.

They are in Australia, Spain, and the USA, because then, at least one is on the side of the Earth that can see the part of the sky you're talking to.

The telescopes they have to use are HUGE.  The Madrid station has several that are 34 meters across, and the main one is a big bowl 70 meters across!  That's as big as a jumbo jet!

Nobody else can communicate with Voyager because radios that large are very expensive, and they're the only way we can.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it hard to photograph striped fabrics?

When you take a photo of a striped fabric that isn't an extreme close-up the image tends to produce a blurred wavy effect instead of showing the stripes as they are - why is that?

[Assistant]
It's called "moir" (pronounced mwarray) and it's to do with the way your digital camera sensor takes in and processes an image signal.

Take a piece of paper with black parallel lines close together on it and make a copy on transparent film. Placing the transparent one on top, move their orientation away from being squared up and you will see the same effect. The bottom piece of paper is the pattern in your fabric. The top transparent piece is your cameras sensor. Both are geometric, and when one is oriented even slightly off square you will see your brain (or your cameras "brain") perceive patterns from the interaction of the shapes.

This was used to great effect in the "op art" movement. Good place to start exploring visual tricks.


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

[User] ELI5: After seeing a sudden, bright object, why are we still able to see an outline or imprint of it a couple seconds after closing our eyes? Even after blinking a couple of times?

[Assistant] Its called an after image, the way the light receptor cells work in your eye is that when they interact with light they emit a chemical which triggers surrounding Neurons and the signal is sent to your brain, but there is a delay in the amount of time before that receptor can be activated because it must first reabsorb the emitted chemical.  In the case of looking at a bright light, your receptor cells are releasing a lot of that chemical and as a result take longer to reabsorb, in the time between being reabsorbed the chemicals are constantly activating the surrounding Neurons which results in a persistent image being perceived.