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

[User]
[Doctor Who] "A Time Lord's body is a miracle. Even a dead one. There are whole empires out there who'd rip this world apart for just one cell." Does this mean that time lords don't shed old cells like humans do?

Wouldn't a lot of the dust on the TARDIS be made of dead time lord skin cells? Could a companion make money behind his back by selling his dandruff?

[Assistant] He means for live tissue samples, hair and dead skin cells don't count. For example, the Doctor's severed hand (kept alive with some tech and some of its own energy) is somewhat plot-relevant in Torchwood.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] if force sensitivity is hereditary, why would the Jedi discourage relationships that could yield more jedi?

Yeah, I know, Ki Adi Mundi had multiple wives to save his race, but that is by and far considered an outlier.

[Assistant]
The value of their rules regarding attachments was seen as more than the value of increasing more Jedi.

Outside of war theres really no need to constantly increase their numbers, too. Theyre not trying to build up a big army of Jedi.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is happening when we experience Deja Vu?

I have had many experiences where I was positive I had seen or experienced that exact moment before. I have also had very vague dreams that end up being very close to what happens in real life. What exactly is my brain doing when I experience these phenomenons?

[Assistant] It's because of the overlap in the regions of the brain that deal with memory. Instead of registering the initial event as a short-term memory, it registers as a long-term memory instead which is confusing to you because you know that it is recent event.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] What would the effects be if someone happened to drink polyjuice potions from multiple sources at once?

So two separate variations to this question;

What would happen if someone drank a Polyjuice potion with a snippet of hair from two different sources?

Or

What would happen if someone drank a polyjuice potion from one source; then drank a potion from a different source?

[Assistant]
First question: The potion wouldn't even be brewed. The results would be similar to trying to create a luck potion.

Second question: You would change from the first person you turned into and then into the second one immediately after. Probability of internal damage or vomiting.


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

[User] [Deep Space 9] If Odo can change into birds and other complex objects, why couldn't he get a humanoid face correct?

[Assistant] When he first learned to transform, he didn't have the skills to be very accurate and could only do the face that he uses most of the time. Over time, his skills improved, but that was the face everybody knew him to have, so he kept it.


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

[User]
[LoTR] Question about Moria's Destruction

I run a little tavern in one of the more rougher neighborhoods of Minas Tirith.  Not much of a place, but it was good enough for my Da and his Da before him, so I'm happy to call it mine.  Things were bad during the siege and the war, but they've been so much better since King ~~Aragorn~~ Elessar took the throne.

Late last Saturday evening, our usual crowd of drunks and brawlers were graced by an elf and a dwarf, a tough looking pair whose fine garb would look more appropriate in the palace than my little hovel.  After some mead flowed, I discovered that they were none other than the legendary Legolas and Gimli and that they had indeed ducked out of a rather boring state dinner looking for a "rougher, more interesting place" (the Elf's words, not mine)!

I was able to convince them to accept their refreshment on the house as a thanks for saving our fair city (and my not so fair neighborhood), and was even more delighted when they began telling some tales of their time during the war.  Every patron in my humble establishment was captivated by the pair's recounting of their adventures at Helm's Deep, at Morannon, and in Moria.

And this is what confuses me.  I understand that dwarves keep to themselves and that Moria was an isolated colony far away from their fellows.  As such it is not surprising that news of the goblins taking Moria and slaying Gimil's kinsman Balin might not have gotten out quickly.  But this happened *years* before the Fellowship entered the mines.  Somehow no one anywhere had heard of the disaster in Moria.  Gimli said with tears in his eyes that he had been honestly expecting to meet his kinfolk there.

How could this have been missed?  A huge colony of dwarves might decide to cut off all contact with men or elves, but with all other dwarves?  And no traveler or merchant thinks to wander by and check in on what might have happened?  For *years*?  Yet, this jibes with everything else I've heard about what happened there.  Somehow I just never gave it any thought until I heard those two talking about skeletons and spiderwebs in front of my fire.

All I can think is that I must have missed part of the story when I was running back to the kitchen to keep everyone's plate full.  Does anyone know what really happened?  Why no one, not even other dwarves, would notice Moria was conquered?

[Assistant]
Dwarves are an insular people by nature, and the way to Moria is treacherous.  It's not unheard of for Dwarves to seal themselves off from the surrounding lands, refusing contact with men and Elves.  Other dwarves would, theoretically, have been welcome, but you have to once again remember that *Dwarves are an insular people.*  They're unlikely to make the journey to Moria for the same reasons why it's not entirely unexpected for them to never *leave* Moria.

Furthermore, the Dwarven people have been steadily migrating the the Lonely Mountain for the past few decades.  Every dwarf inclined to travel would have heard of the open invitation, and made *that* their destination, rather than sullen old Moria.

For what it's worth, Gandalf drops hints that he is aware of what happened in Moria, or at least it's known to him that it's not a safe place.  This is the reason the Fellowship of the ring tried to cross over the mountains, rather than head straight down to Moria.


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

[User] [MCU] Tony Stark decides to stick to the cards in the original Iron Man, insinuating that he was on a yacht with Pepper and that Iron Man was 'just a body guard'. How does this change things in the MCU?

[Assistant]
I imagine the immediate future would look one of two ways:

A) The press and public hear the bodyguard story and make the entirely reasonable assumption that it's total BS and don't really believe it. Everyone knows Tony Stark is Iron Man, but pretends that the hero is an extension of Stark Industries and not a private individual.

B) The public buys into the lie that it's not Tony, but the illusion falls apart very quickly as Tony is simply too egotistical to keep the secret. Public surprise is high at first, but quickly subsides when everyone stops and says "Yeah, it totally makes sense and always has."

Either way, Stark's secret is out shortly after, and much of the MCU plays out largely the same way as SHIELD already knows about Tony, and Fury would still contact him about the Avengers. *Maybe* Justin Hammer and Whiplash don't focus their personal vendettas against Stark at the same time, and *maybe* Killian's extremis plans don't quite play out the same way. But Tony has too many enemies before he's Iron Man, and the secret would get out sooner rather than later.


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

[User]
[Family Guy] Do the main characters know that theyre in a show? They seem to be aware theyre on a channel called Fox, but it doesnt come up that often. What is the explanation for this?

Why is it that they sometimes talk about fox as a network and reference the fact that theyre cutting away, but the characters seem to go on with their lives normally?

They even at one point scold Chris for not understanding how to execute a good cutaway, talk about how Disney bought fox, and in one episode Meg references Bad Moms 2, a movie that exists in the real world.

Are the characters aware that theyre in a TV show? If so, why dont they make more of an effort to escape or be free from the whims of the writers?

[Assistant]
Yes. The main characters are shown to be animated actors playing themselves in the behind the scenes episodes. Theyre mostly divas.

The cutaways are also a semi-magical ability that Peter has that transports him to cutaway land


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

[User] What would have happened if the solar storm of 2012 directly hit the Earth?

[Assistant]
First, xrays and uv radiation would have hit us at light speed, ionizing the upper atmosphere.  That would have interfered with radio and gps for a short time.

Second, solar particle radiation (electrons and protons) would have smashed into the magnetosphere, which would have done an excellent job in protecting us, but a lot of satellites would have had their electronics fried (causing an estimated 30 to 70 billion dollars worth of damage).

Third, the coronal mass ejection, pretty slow, but the most dangerous.  A huge ejection of plasma and magnetic field would have hit our magnetosphere and caused a geomagnetic storm. The high currents in the magnetosphere would have induced high currents in power lines - taking out the power stations, and anything plugged in. And more satellites.

There's a 12% chance of  Carrington class event hitting the earth within the next ten years.

Interestingly, during the flare in 1859, when telegraph operators disconnected the batteries that powered the lines, they were still able to transmit messages. Just by using the aurora-induced electric currents in the wires.


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

[User] ELI5 the fiscal cliff deal reached late last night and what it means for a middle class citizen.

[Assistant] Nothing yet. The deal announced was with the Senate. There is no deal between the White House and the majority party in the House of Representatives. Who knows what kind of sausage making will be needed to get out of that chamber.


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

[User]
[General] Why does the evil army all wear face-concealing helmets? Doesn't that bring with it dozens of problems?

I mean, I get it if you need a protective motorcycle-style helmet, or you need a heads-up display - like a fighter pilot. Or you're underwater, or in space, or some other immediately hazardous environment that requires an airtight seal (like some firemen.)

But otherwise ... why? They make it difficult to see, restricting your peripheral vision (when they don't have tiny eye-slits!) They're hot and sweaty and uncomfortable.

They introduce security concerns, and make it difficult to recognize specific individuals, which interferes with communication.

And the heroes don't seem to wear them.

So: why?

[Assistant]
Dehumanization. The easiest way to create an intimidating, inhuman force, is to take away the face. It prevents cognitive association and the ability to relate with your enemy, making them more awe inspiring and an element of fear.

Villains do it because it instills a lack of humanity and desensitization in their armies. They look around, and just see a sea of endless blank expressions, their own reflected at them from visors. Not only does it instil fear in the oppressed, but it keeps the troops in line by reminding them, constantly, that they are part of something. They aren't individuals, but cogs in a machine. It helps limit their ability to sympathise with the oppressed.

It also has the advantage of anonymity. When you feel anonymous, you find it easier to do horrible things.


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

[User]
CMV: "Good-paying" factory jobs won't come back to the United States.

I am becoming endlessly frustrated with rhetoric from politicians that promises the return of "good paying" manufacturing jobs if they are elected president. These proposals typically lay out some variation of these three steps:

1. Cut regulations
2. Cut income taxes, especially on the rich
3. Cut corporate taxes

Supposedly these three steps will incentivize business owners to invest into the state or the country, which will benefit the rest of the population by creating jobs. I find it incredibly mind-boggling that there are blue-collar workers who believe this theory wholeheartedly even as their purchasing power declines by the minute.

Income inequality appears to have really kicked off during the Reagan administration, and it was given a huge boost after the passage of NAFTA and similar trade deals. Union busting sealed the deal by allowing corporations to stiff workers, but eventually those companies, too, moved their manufacturing overseas.

I guess this is where I stand: I can't begin to wrap my head around why people think that a flat tax is an acceptable proposal, and that any progressive tax proposals are "punishing" the rich. Obviously the wealthy are only trying to maximize their profits, but their business practices have meant the loss of millions of factory jobs. The wealthiest people in America are making more money than ever before, and, in my opinion, they deserve to pay more in taxes to make up for the fact that former workers no longer have that money to spend on necessities. Instead of investing that money back into the community through charities or higher taxes, the richest people seem to hide their money abroad or invest it into hedge funds or mutual funds.

That brings me to another point: how is wealth created? By making investments. But it is impossible to buy stocks and bonds when you have no disposable income.

At this point, I am convinced that social mobility is a myth. I believe that the housing discrimination of the past has led to racial disparities today, and that the sub-prime crisis disproportionately affected black people. Black people tend to be more likely to live in lower-income areas, and this becomes a vicious cycle because school districts are funded by property taxes. Owning a home is one guaranteed investment. You can take out loans against your house, you can fix your house and sell it for more than what it was worth, etc. But if you could not buy a home in the first place, and your children cannot buy a home because they can't find a good-paying job, your family is most likely doomed to repeat that cycle unless some outside force steps in.

I'm kind of rambling though. I suppose my point is is that those three steps I listed above will only hurt the lower and middle classes more, and will not end up bringing more jobs to the US. I think we could slash the corporate taxes entirely and we still would not even be able to compete with the profit margins available by manufacturing products in other countries. In addition, slashing income taxes for the upper brackets will devastate the rest of the population. For example, look at Illinois or Louisiana. I think that similar flat taxes for the country would trigger a massive recession, especially because our small monthly growth numbers are being held back not because of consumer spending, but because of government spending. I think that every politician who believes in neoliberal economics knows that US manufacturing cannot compete with manufacturing abroad, and only wants to implement those policies as a favor to the people who fund their campaigns.

I don't think factory jobs will be coming back to the United States. CMV.

[Assistant]
Specialized manufacturing or all types of manufacturing?

We still make things in this country. We just don't make everything.

Specialized manufacturing will still be a US thing. Making  and pinning shirts probably won't.


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

[User]
CMV: Single ply industrial toilet paper is useless and more wasteful than two ply normal toilet paper.

I have Crohn's and I've used my fair share of public and office/professional setting bathrooms. They almost invariably have the infamous thin single ply atom thick toilet paper for use. You know the type, shreds if you think of blowing in its direction. I'm male, and hirsute. I have to use wayyyyyy more toilet paper per BM if its that after thought of tree pulp leftovers tp than any other brand of mainstream tp. I have to then wrestle it to fold it and pray it doesn't break apart when it's doing its job. It takes more time to manager, does poorly at its job, and I use more than 2x as much of it as I would two ply making it wasteful and useless. CMV.

[Assistant]
Two factors to consider here: one, our friends with vaginas wipe after peeing as well and in that case single-ply works just fine. Two, if you're like me, you're still going to double up if it is two-ply at least for the first few wipes.

If you want a solution, what single-ply needs to do is actually be less absorbent and less smooth. By absorbing a lot of water it becomes weaker because it is so absorbent, and by being as smooth as it is it doesn't pick up much of the actual solid material that we are trying to get rid of. By making a version of single-ply that has just slightly more hydrophobic fibers and an essentially fuzzier surface, everyone would benefit. There is some noticeable degree of variation in single-ply in the wild for both of these two categories, and I've certainly noticed that the less absorbent and fuzzier surface single-ply works far better.
Just making it two-ply doesn't actually solve this problem, and while you personally certainly might use far more physical material with single-ply than with two-ply, that's not the general case. For most of us, that's only true in the unlucky case of diarrhea.


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

[User]
ELI5: Is there a technical (non-monetary) explanation for why a game console like the PS5 wouldn't be backwards compatible with all PS4 games?

Every year a new console launches, only supporting a handful of games from the previous generation.

I always assumed this was for monetary exploitation, and to not demolish the sales of the previous console on the pre-owned market.

But I'm also interested in knowing if there's an actual technical limitation behind this decision.

[Assistant]
Unlike PC games, console games can be really tightly integrated and optimized with the console hardware because the game authors know \*exactly\* what hardware they're going to run on. This is part of why a console can pull off more intensive games than a computer with equivalently powerful hardware.

But...this means that the game is written assuming all that hardware is available. The whole point of a new console is to give the developers new, more powerful, more capable hardware to write their games on. To make a PS4 game run on a PS5 you have to include an extra "layer" in the PS5 to translate for the PS4 game. The PS4 game doesn't know it's on a PS5 and it expects PS4 hardware; the PS5 needs to handle those requests and make the fact that it's a PS5 invisible to the PS4 game. This means, at bare minimum, a bunch of extra software to write & test. If there was a format change or specific hardware functionality that isn't used at all on the PS5, you might also have to install the extra hardware (and related software to run it) just to support the PS4 game.

That's all doable but you have to do it as an explicit and intentional effort to run backwards compatible games, it can't just happen by accident.


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

[User]
[Alien] What's the minimum/maximum size a potential host has to be for a facehugger to impregnate them?

How small or big would a creature have to be for a facehugger to longer be able to latch onto and impregnate it?

[Assistant]
The minimum size is dictated by how much mass the embryo can take from the host without killing it prematurely.  Tissues such as fat, some muscle mass, even parenchymal tissue from certain solid organs like the liver could be a source of biomass for the growing chestburster.  The loss of some of these tissues might prove detrimental in the long term, but of course the host dies from the chestburster's birth before it becomes an issue.  Spike, the dog on Fiorina 161, was probably pushing the lower limits on host size.

There might not be an upper limit, although facehuggers seem to prefer depositing their embryos in the thoracic cavity.  In a very large animal - say, an elephant - the facehugger might not be able to physically reach that cavity through the mouth.  In that case, it might use its acid to create a new fenestra into the thoracic cavity, as one did to penetrate Kane's helmet on LV-426; it take advantage of a different orifice that gives access to the peritoneal cavity rather than the thoracic cavity; or it might look for a different host entirely.

If a facehugger is able to burn its way into a suitable body cavity, there may be no upper limit to the size of the host.  Since xenomorphs take on the characteristics of their hosts, this raises some interesting possibilities.  The prospect of a xenomorph raised in, say, a cloned Tyrannosaurus would have enormous value to our Bio-Weapons Division.


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

[User] [Calvin and Hobbes] What do you think the Noodle Incident was?

[Assistant] I can only assume it was something big enough for it to be remembered but not enough that his parents, possibly, dont know about it. Some strips hint at what it could be ie the one with Hobbes asking about sirens at the school, and there are some that might be said incident such as the strip where Calvin uses his lunch to pretend his stomach ripped open.


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

[User]
The fact that our sun and moon are so close in size as viewed from our planet that we get to see eclipses amazes me. How rare is this in the universe, is there any 'reason' for it, and does this fact affect earth?

By 'reason' I mean something along the lines of "the earth is only massive enough to attract an object of some size, like that of the moon". I know this is incorrect, since it would depend on the mass of the moon, not the size.
And as for affects on the earth, are there any other than the obvious (that we get to see eclipses)? I would assume that something interesting would happen with the tides during a solar eclipse, but I'm not totally sure.

[Assistant]
It is purely a coincidence in time. The moon has been and continues to drift away from Earth, it was once considerably closer to Earth (Larger apparent size) and it will one day be considerably farther away(smaller apparent size).

Tides are slightly higher when the moon is on the same side as the sun or opposite side as the sun.. just slightly though. This is because the moon is the primary tidal body to Earth.


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

[User]
[God of War] Do Gods choose the aspects of the natural world that they have dominion over are the titles something they are born with ?

Did Zeus and other Gods become the gods of sky, war, etc. because of their natural abilities or were they roles that were taken as they matured? A second question is what is the source of power for the various pantheons?

[Assistant] From what we have seen so far, it is a title. Ares was GOW till his death then the title was vacant and was given to Kratos. The power is something they have or acquire via learning magic or magical items. Hermes had magic boots, Poseidon seem to have used magic to use lightning and water magic.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] What's the benefit of some ships having more that two nacelles, and why aren't all ships like built like that?

All of the flag ships have only had to nacelle but there are a few ships with three or more and some with only one. why the variance?

[Assistant]
You only need 1 set of warp field coils to make a warp field and move FTL.  So 1 nacelle would work.  However, for maneuvers you need 2 nacelles so that you can vary the field strength to turn the ship.

From the TNG:TM

>Second, a pair of nacelles is employed to create two balanced, interacting fields for vehicle maneuvers. In 2269, experimental work with single nacelles and more than two nacelles yielded quick confirmation that two was the optimum number for power generation and vehicle control. Spacecraft maneuvers are performed by introducing controlled timing differences in each set of warp coils, thereby modifying the total warp field geometry and resultant ship heading. Yaw motions (XZ plane) are most easily controlled in this manner.

We do see some ships with 4 nacelles.  The Constellation class had a 4 nacelle configuration.  That class was a very long range exploration vessel and the extra nacelles were most likely for redundancy.  Other examples such as the Prometheus class had multiple nacelles because it could separate into multiple independent vessels.

Apparently there are some additional odd number configurations in alternate timelines.  One being a creation of Q so it is hard to say if that was a "real" possibility.  In another we don't really have enough information to know what is going on.

(Also, just a small thing, most ships we see on screen are not flagships.  Of the Enterprise's only the Enterprise-D is called the Flagship of the Federation. In a more traditional sense of a flagship commanding a fleet, we see the Defiant in that role a few times.   The vast majority of ships are dual nacelle (even non-federation designs))


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

[User]
Why aren't there ear plugs with a higher NRR rating
than 33?

I'm a drummer and I've used ear plugs since the day I started playing. I still experience ringing in my ears after concerts or rehearsals once in a while. If 85 dB is the point where permanent hearing loss can occur, why isn't there anything on the market with a higher NRR rating? It seems that there are plenty of situations where people are exposed to levels higher than 118 dB.

[Assistant]
Sound does not necessarily need to pass through the ear canal.

Some of the sound waves will hit your outer ear, your skull, and the other tissues of your head, causing them to vibrate. That sound energy will be transmitted to your inner ear by vibration of those solid parts. So even if you could block 100% of sound waves from entering the ear canal, that will only block some fraction of the total incoming noise.


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

[User]
[1984 book] If Eurasia and Eastasia do exist, what differences might their approach to totalitarianism exhibit?

(Topic of discussion permitted under Rule 7: "Discussions relating to the political systems of fictional worlds that resemble real-world political systems may be allowed provided they are strictly within the context of that setting and its characters.")

An example of how Neo-Bolshevism and Obliteration of the Self might differ; in Stalinist Russia, secret police and Party members were trained individuals, and much of the country's industry was operated by slave labour in the gulags; however, in Mao Zedong's China, citizens were encouraged to report friends and relatives to the Party through public "Denunciation Boxes", and industrial projects were chiefly undertaken through the use of mass mobilisation.

[Assistant]
Our allies, the Eastasians, descend from a genius political philosophy called Marxist-Leninism, and are built around a core vanguard party seizing total control of society, and utilizing the resources of the state for the good of the proletariat.  An inner party of upper level decision makers plan out what resources will be needed in what areas, and send instructions via the outer party to produce and distribute those resources, creating a perfect society much like the one we live in.

In contrast, the doubleplusungood Eurasians have a political system that descends from a primitive and despicable political philosophy called Marxist-Leninism, where a group of self-interested oligarchs forming something called a Vanguard party have seized control of society's resources, and abuse the people for their own enrichment.  It is for the purpose of freeing the proles from their eternal toil that we war against the Eurasians, and will one day liberate them from the hellscape they find themselves forced to live in.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] why wasn't Hagrid allowed a wand or the use of magic?

I know he was expelled for opening the chamber of secrets but should he be  exonerated once Tom Riddle was proven evil and the true heir? also why was he a suspect since he wasn't a pure blooded wizard?

[Assistant]
The first time around, nobody was leaving clues written in blood, declaring the Heir of Slytherin to be the enemy of all the non-Purebloods.

And he *is* allowed to use magic, now. He's just barely capable, and his wand was still broken.


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

[User]
ELI5: Where does that extra small storage in internal and external hard drives go?

1TB shows 940GB (my laptop)

128GB shows 100GB (my phone)

64GB shows 58/59GB (my USB Pen drive)

Where does that extra storage go? What takes that storage? Some hidden hidden files that are used to run that storage properly? If that's the case then why is there so much difference in that unaccessible storage from 5-50GB and more if you go beyond 1TB?

[Assistant]
So, this is a bit of marketing mislabelling that technically is true but unintuitive.

There are two ways to measure storage. One is in powers of ten (like other SI units). A megabyte is 1000 kilobytes. A gigabyte is 1000 megabytes, and so on.

However there is a different storage base that is more sensible for computers: as powers of 2.

In this system a mebibyte is 1024 kebibytes. A gib is 1024 mib, and so on.

Marketing material uses the former is it appears larger. Windows uses the latter as it makes more sense. This makes it appear as the device is smaller than adverised. It isn't. Sure, some of it is index tables and reserved file system data, but a lot of it simply is that 1TB ~= 940gib or so.


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

[User]
[Attack on Titan] If humans can't safely leave the walls without being eaten by titans then how were the walls first built?

Massive thick walls taller, thicker, and longer than any seen in human history IRL would probably take decades if not centuries to erect; it's not like some overnight public works project.

[Assistant]
The answer is super spoilery.

>!Way back in the day, titans could be controlled by a special individual; this power was passed via bloodline (i.e. the royal family). They created a bunch of colossal titans and used their bodies as the core of the wall. The walls aren't primarily to protect against the "feral" titans; they're a safeguard against other human nations, who understandably want to exterminate people who posses the power to control, create, and/or transform into titans.!<


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

[User]
ELI5: In countries like the UK, or NE USA, when people live in remote, relatively isolated villages (say population <500), what jobs do they do exactly? I mean, there are only so many jobs that the local farm or the village grocery store need.

?

[Assistant] Most of them are farmers.  The 'local farm' isn't really a thing, but small farms are still common.  A few people in the coffee shop, a few in the grocery, and some municipal administrators.  Probably a bar.


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

[User] [General] If I find a Genie, how do I test if it's a good Genie or an evil trickster Genie? Are there any wishes that are foolproof against evil genies?

[Assistant]
Master Shake and Homer j Simpson both figured that wishing for food was a perfect solution since a single bite will determine if the wish is being perverted.

In both instances it saved their life but only temporarily since either gluttony or some magical compunction made them irresitable to the bidding of their preferred sandwich.


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

[User]
[Marvel/DC] Can Spiderman dodge The Flash?

Could Spiderman dodge a hit from the Flash? I'm guessing not since Flash has way more Speedforce feats than Spidey has dodge feats, but I've also heard that Spidersense is a form of precognition?

[Assistant]
Imagine you're a psychic, and you want to embarrass someone by making them miss a punching bag. So you predict where they're going to punch the next day, and move the punching bag a foot to the left. Will they miss the bag?

That's basically what you're suggesting. Spider-Man, might be able to predict that Flash is going to arrive, but once Flash gets there Spider-Man is, for all intents and purposes, a statue. Flash will just punch Spider-Man where he is, not where he would have been.


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

[User] Are seagulls able to drink salt water to stay hydrated? Do they have an internal system to filter salt water?

[Assistant] Seagulls and other marine birds have a mechanism called extrarenalosmoregulation. IN other words its a more efficient way of removing salt from the seawater they drink. It is then excreted from salt glands above their eyes.


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

[User] ELI5: What happens between muscles getting bigger, and muscles that don't bulk but get very strong and dense? What's the difference?

[Assistant] That's not exactly how it works. But strength is affected by several factors; one of which is muscle mass. So a bigger muscle sill be a stronger muscle. However, you also get stronger through neurological adaptation, which basically means your nervous system learns how to utilize more muscle fibers, and exactly how to move in order to apply the most force. That dense, hard look isn't so much a result of training methods as much as body composition. When you get really lean, your muscles will look more solid, whereas if uou have more bodyfat, you'll look softer.


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

[User]
CMV: Autotune is "ruining" new hip-hop/rap.

I understand that behind a successful sound is alot more than just decent vocals.
 I just can't seem to value an artist who has to have a program hit notes for them in order to catch the audiences ear. I guess that goes against instrument distortion, witch I adore, but i compare it to having a guitar that plays a chord perfectly.. even if your fingers are close enough to the true position.
As someone who appreciates a unique vocal presence, why does this genre seem to overlook this aspect recently? (They all sound the same)

[Assistant]
Its not autotune that is ruining hip hop, its peoples poor taste in music that is putting so many generic artist in the spotlight. Lack of creativity has them repeating the same verse over a catchy beat throughout the entire song. IMO its the producers and engineers that deserve all the credit. Im sure they are being more then generously compensated though enven though they arent the ones in the spotlight.

That being said, maybe we are the ones with the poor taste in music since the music has become so popular. Each generation has always said that the new music is ruining their genre when its just the new genrations taste in music changing. In the end its hard to change someones opinion on something like art or music since it is so subjective.


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

[User]
[Marvel] What's the pettiest crime the punisher would kill you for?

Jay walking? Littering? Smoking a joint and playing vidya? What's the smallest crime i can commit and would have to worry about getting mowed down in a spray of bullets?

[Assistant]
Generally speaking the Punisher focuses on crimes that are universally seen as part of criminal enterprise.

So murder, drug trafficking, rampant corruption, sex trafficking, child abuse, arson, blackmail, and so on would be his focus. He's probably against spousal abuse as well.

He's not in the business of enforcing the law, he's in the business of killing criminals. If you have motive to commit harm to others, you're part of the problem and he's the cure.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does grass survive the winter with months of snow cover, but it can't survive a cooler placed on it for a week in the summer?

Every spring, my grass comes in full and thick.  I live in the north where a month of snow cover is common.

But after throwing a party, the grass will die if I leave a cooler on it for a week.

[Assistant] Grass goes into a dormant state as the weather changes, similar to how trees shed their leaves and go dormant. With the lowered state of metabolism, among other augmented processes, these plants can survive a winter. Imagine a car operating with 2 of its 4 cylinders disabled. It will still run, although at a low performance, and will consume FAR less gas. When the grass is back in full on summer mode it needs a consistent supply of energy and nutrients to stay alive. Nutrients and water it can retrieve from the ground, but the light from the sun needed for photosynthesis (making plant food) has been blocked by your cooler. At this point your grass, which is running with all 4 cylinders, has no gas. The grass will die.


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

[User]
ELI5: Slam poetry

I know literally nothing about it other than it sounds like normal poetry with randomly enunciated syllables.

[Assistant]
As poetry, it's basically just free verse -- rhythm and sound are emphasized, totally unlike normal prose, but there is no strict meter or rhyme scheme. Topically, it deals with social issues and difficult personal problems -- a personal experience of social injustice or lack of respect for certain roles, or gender and racial issues all make common themes.

What really makes slam poetry what it is, though, is that it's focused on the live spoken performance, not the written form. It came from what were (and are) called 'poetry slams,' live events where writers/performers give energetic, impassioned recitations of their work, and the delivery is as important as the writing, or more so, at the competitive judged slams. Looking up Robert Frost or even Billy Collins will get you links to their poems, written. Look up slam poetry, you'll find video links. A successful slammer not only writes well, but practices the delivery endlessly, as opposed to normal poets, who give readings, but the written form is the primary basis of their work -- meant to be read, where slam poetry is meant to be witnessed live.


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

[User] ELI5 the differences between .com, .net, .org, and all the other website endings.

[Assistant]
I was always informed it was based on the focus of the website.

A **com**pany would have a .com

An **org**anization would have a .org

A database or **net**work might have a .net

The **gov**ernment has a .gov

Meanwhile, the endings in .uk (England), .ca (Canada), .us (USA), .jp (Japan) are short for **country** code and the geographical reference of the site's "location".


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

[User] Why do most liquids have a freezing point instead of just gradually getting more viscose?

[Assistant]
this is because the transition from liquid to solid is accompanied by a structural change from amorphous to crystalline. There are some conditions under which materials which will "freeze" in an amorphous "glassy" state, referred to as vitrification, but this usually happens much more quickly than regular freezing, or requires diluting the liquid with 'antifreeze' agents which disrupt crystal formation.

The difference in the amount of vibration energy that the substance's molecules have in its free-flowing liquid state, vs its regular, confined, crystalline state is called the heat (enthalpy) of fusion (fusion = freezing). This heat is what causes the freezing point plateau in which the phase changes from liquid to solid, as the temperature stays the same.

Source: BS in chemical engineering.


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

[User]
ELI5: how can electrons just be ok on their own and fly around?

Where do these spare electrons come from? Do they come from atoms? If yes, how are the atoms able to just lose their electrons and it be ok? I mean like in the Maltese Cross experiment you're essentially "shooting electrons" but I just don't get where they come from. Thanks in advance :)

[Assistant]
In certain substances, particularly metals, some of the electrons become community property, freely shared between atoms.  These atoms are free to flow through the metal and are the reason metals tend to be good at conducting electricity.

These electrons can be stripped away from the metal to perform the experiments you describe.  The metal will have a slight positive charge and tend to grab electrons from the environment.  The electrons will eventually join atoms to form negative ions, and those ions will be eager to give up their electrons.  Over time, extra electrons will be lost and missing ones gain, and the overall system will reach equilibrium.


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

[User] Eli5 As far as A batteries go (AA,AAA,etc.) Why is it the more 'As' the smaller the battery? And is there just an A battery? I've never been able to find one.

[Assistant]
Originally, there were A, B, C, and D batteries, with A being the smallest and D being the largest. Later, smaller sizes became available. Since there arent any letters before A, they had to use AA, AAA, and (the rarer) AAAA designations.

Eventually, the A and B sizes fell out of favor, since the smaller AA and AAA batteries were more than adequate.


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

[User] ELI5: where is the transition between computer hardware and computer software?

[Assistant]
People so far seem to be defining hardware and software without actually talking about the boundary, so let's work our way there from software.

You are probably familiar with the idea of code, written in some abstract but readable format. The code could be as simple as:

print ("Hello");

For the purposes of this explanation, it doesn't matter what language this is. This line tells the computer to make the word Hello appear somewhere, likely on a console. In order to get there, the code must be compiled into machine-readable bytecode. This is a set of instructions, still in software, that lower parts of the machine can interpret but would be much harder for us to read. This could be interpreted as something like this:

Store value 72 at 0x00012385A4

Store value 101 at 0x00012385A5

Display value at 0x00012385A5

Display value at 0x00012385A4

In reality, each command like "store value at" or "display value at" has its own associated number which makes bytecode much much harder to read, but this list of instructions is easy for the deepest levels of the computer to read.

Any number can be represented in binary as 0's and 1's, which can in turn be represented as high voltages and low voltages. This is where the software/hardware line gets crossed. These instructions and values and memory addresses are sent to the processor, which is a hardware device that turns high and low voltages in certain configurations representing commands and values and addresses into other configurations representing commands, values, and addresses, and sends these signals along to memory or wherever else.


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

[User]
CMV: The United States is doomed to be politically dysfunctional because of our diversity; we have such a wide range of viewpoints that is we will never commit to any significant changes on a national scale.

Homogeneous countries like Japan have been able to completely remove guns from their country and their culture, and as a result they have a single-digit number of firearm homicides per year. Australia had a similar programs to massively reduce guns in their country, and their firearm homicide rate has declined by 50% in the last couple of decades. If anyone suggested that in the United States, they would be crucified by the NRA. We can't even agree on a ban on assault weapons, let alone things like rifles, handguns, and shotguns. Meanwhile we have just had our 18th mass shooting in the last 8 years, yet our national policy on guns hasn't changed significantly.

This is just an example, but it drives home the point that the United States has such a wide range of viewpoints and political opinions that we cannot seem to move the country much in any given direction. Our immigration system remains dysfunctional because we can't agree on any significant action to change the system. Abortion is incredibly difficult in many states despite it being legal because anti-abortion people restrict access to abortion in every legal way they can. Our government has a massive deficit because the Democrats won't agree to spending cuts and the Republicans won't agree to tax increases. Whenever the country tries to enact a specific policy, people on the other side of the issue dig in their heels and scream at the top of their lungs. In the current age of political polarization, the problem will only get worse as the country becomes more diverse and less homogenous.

This leaves me incredibly pessimistic about the ability of the national government to effect significant change. I don't know if ceding more control to the states will improve things at all. Basically, I feel that most of our problems will go unfixed because we will not commit to a strong solution on either side of the political aisle. When the Democrats take power, the Republicans prevent them from enacting most of their desired policies, and vice versa. As a result we are doomed to attempt halfhearted middle-of-the-road solutions that try to make everybody happy but usually leave nobody happy. Think early hybrids: they were inefficient as gasoline cars because they had to carry around a heavy battery, and they were inefficient as electric cars because they had to carry a heavy fuel tank and engine.

So that's why I think the U.S. political system is going to be inefficient and dysfunctional for the foreseeable future. Please let me know whether you think any part of this has any merit, and which parts you disagree with if you disagree.

[Assistant]
Okay, a few things here.

Australia has a far higher percentage of foreign-born citizens than the United States. As of 2010, Australia had 26.3% immigrants while as of 2013, the US had 13% immigrants. So by your argument Australia should be less likely to pass the legislation you want, rather than more.

What the US has that Australia doesn't is the gun lobby. The NRA is an organized body with five million members in the US who behave as a voting block - that's five million votes you can gain or lose depending on your legislation. They're also very well-funded by the firearms industry, and they exist in a political system that lobbying bodies thrive in. When congress runs for election every two years, they are always looking for donations.

So I'd argue all of this is a combination of the very pro-gun culture of the US (which baffles me as a Canadian), and a political system that is a perfect environment for a lobbying group to succeed.


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

[User]
Why do we think less logically when we're afraid?

An example; I know nobody is in my basement with the soul intent of murdering me, but every time I go down there, I'm afraid there is.

[Assistant] Rational thought occurs in the neocortex, while self-preservation instincts such as fear are handled by the primitive brain. Your fight-or-flight response, therefore, can't directly avail itself of your best reasoning skills.


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

[User] ELI5: How does our brain decide that we like/dislike something?

[Assistant]
A study conducted in Israel in 2014 suggests that people's preferences essentially boil down to conditioning, in a process very similar to that used by Ivan Pavlov to train his dog. In his now-classic experiment, Pavlov rang a bell every time he fed the dog. After a while, the dog began to salivate any time it heard the sound of the bell, anticipating being fed.

Prof. Yadin Dudai and Dr. Avi Mendelsohn conducted a study on 40 Israeli people. The subjects were shown a Japanese character for a very brief period of time, and they could choose whether to press the space bar or not. Half of these characters earned the participant a shekel (roughly equivalent to a quarter in US dollars) if they pressed the space bar, and the other half deducted one shekel from their winnings. If they did not press the space bar, nothing happened. On each subsequent play of the game, participants earned more money, despite intermediate tests showing they were not consciously aware of which characters were the "money makers."

Three days later, the participants were invited back to the lab and shown the "money making" characters, the "money losing" characters, as well as some new "neutral" characters, and asked which ones they preferred. The participants showed a strong bias towards preferring the characters which had earned them shekels during the game.


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

[User]
I've been reading a lot of non-western philosophers, mostly Confucians, who disagree with the idea of "rights." Are there any contemporary western arguments against human rights?

For example, Fan Ruiping inserts the idea of virtue in place of rights (this is an oversimplification), which sort of holds up more from a traditionalist Confucian perspective, however I'm most sure many western philosophers would be open to reading Confucian philosophers. Are there any current movements in philosophy trying to rethink the idea of rights from a western perspective.

[Assistant] Alasdair MacIntyre has argued against some ideas of rights. It's part of his overall thesis that the Enlightenment failed to offer a workable ground for ethics. You might be interested in *After Virtue*.


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

[User]
CMV: A government which doesn't automatically register its voters, is a government which doesnt want real representation and or is purposefully restricting voting.

I'm speaking from experience in the US.

So I had a discussion with friends a while back and I couldn't think of any real, logical, and ethical reason for a government to not want to automatically register people to vote. Voter fraud doesn't happen on a dangerous level so worrying about that is negligible. We have the right to vote, which I feel is partially impeded by saying "hey you have to do X to certify paperwork to vote" (note I am OK with voter ID requirements within reason to verify identity). And finally, in order to best represent their constituents, you would want all eligible people to vote if you were truly in favor of a representative democracy which is what everyone claims.

Maybe something out there I don't know about. CMV!

[Assistant]
The key issue is that the US doesn't register it's voters at all; the **States** do. People move from state to state, and the state in which they are born isn't necessarily the state in which they come of age and start voting in.

The reason we do this is because **everything you vote on is through the state**. Your congressman? Represents your district of the state. Your senator? Represents the state. Your vote for president? Used to reflect the electoral college vote of your state.

But the reality of this is that we need to establish residency in a given state, which is what all the paperwork is for. The general requirement is always;

1) Proof of citizenship.

2) Proof of identification.

3) Proof of residence.

Other than the issues involving the fact that IDs cost money, all of those are pretty trivial to obtain.

But functionally, the only way to make this process *remotely* possible is to require people to register themselves to vote in a given state. It's just not feasible to have the feds/states track down all of the unregistered voters and try to get them to register.

Edit: Also, protip to people registering now. **REGISTER ABSENTEE/EARLY VOTER IF AT ALL POSSIBLE**. Something like 35 of the 50 states (and every state west of the Mississippi except Missouri) allow either absentee or early voting without an excuse. Register for it when you register to vote, and the state will mail you your preregistration forms before each election (basically a postcard stating your intent to vote, and re-verifying your address), and then mail you your ballot. The total cost of this service is a stamp.

Quite literally, if you live in a state with no-excuse absentee ballot, you have no excuse not to vote.


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

[User]
ELI5: How can both nuclear fusion and nuclear fission create energy? Shouldn't one of this action create and another consume energy according to thermodynamics laws?

In a hypothetical isolated system, you could have nuclear fusion reactor and nuclear fission reactor both generating energy. Fusion reactor combining small atoms creating larger ones and fission reactor breaking these large atoms back to smaller atoms, both actions creating energy.

I know that this would be perpetuum mobile, thus it is not possible. I just struggle to understand why.

Edit: Thank you all for explanations! Finally, it makes sense to me.

[Assistant]
Both fission and fusion can produce energy, *but* only in certain elements.

Fusion of elements lighter than iron is a net energy positive process, but fusion of elements from iron on up is a net energy *negative* process (hence why very large stars stars catastrophically implode once they start fusing iron in their cores).

In comparison, fission is only net energy positive for elements heavier than iron.


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

[User]
[Kung fu panda] What did Tigress mean when said that Oogway "saw darkness in Tai lung's heart"?

Tai lung was a promising student, had presumably no hatred and was shown in the flashback to be acting respectful. What did Oogway see exactly and why did that lead to him rejecting him?

[Assistant]
A sadistic streak. Maybe a bit too much excitement at violence. A lingering grin when inflicting pain. An excitement at increasing personal power.

Stuff you don't want in a guy you entrust with "limitless power".


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

[User] ELI5: Why Walmart is bad.

[Assistant]
Like You're Five:  Let's say that you live in a neighborhood with a lot of big lawns that need mowing.  Most people will pay a neighborhood kid to mow their lawn, say $10.  A new family moves in, and they have a couple of kids.  The new family's older brother goes around and promises to mow lawns for $5, and everybody signs up.  Instead of mowing the lawn himself, he makes his little brother do it for $3.  The little brother doesn't do a very good job, but enough people like the savings that they keep using them.  Eventually, the older brother hires more kids at $3 an hour to keep up with demand.

So, what happens?  Most of the kids who were doing a good job for $10 are out of business. The little kids are hardly making any money, so they doesn't get as many comics, snacks or toys as the other kids, even though the same amount of work is getting done.  The neighborhood looks kind of shabby, because everyone is going with the cheap service instead of the nice one.

Is this a problem?  Well, it kind of depends on who you are:  Are you one of the people who own a house and want the cheaper, "good enough" lawn mow?  Are you one of the kids who thought they were worth $10 and now have to find a new job?  Are you one of the kids who are mowing lawns for $3?  Everybody has a different perspective.


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

[User]
ELI5: why doesn't glue dry up in the bottle?

I've never understood why it doesn't dry up once you open the bottle...

[Assistant] This is similar to "Why doesn't water evaporate in the bottle?". The glue dries when the moisture in it evaporates into the air. Outside the bottle, there's a lot of air and not a lot of glue, so the moisture from the glue is evaporated easily. In the bottle, there is little to no air, so the moisture doesn't have anywhere to go but to stick in the glue. (The little air inside will reach its maximum moisture content before the glue dries)


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

[User]
Why are some veins squiggly?

For example in the eye you can sometimes see very squiggly veins, but also in other places on the body.

Would it not make more sense if all our veins were straight, meaning theyre shorter and less work would be needed to pump the blood across the body? Or is there a reason for the squiggles?

[Assistant] If all of our veins were just straight lines every time you out stretch your arm or turn your head or walk you'd be potentially stretching and ripping your interior vascular system - you need some slack in the body.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do sites recommend verifying your download with SHA-256 - what does it do, and what could go wrong if I don't do it?

Often when I download files online, usually installers of sorts, the website recommends me to "verify data integrity with SHA-256" after I downloaded the file. What does that even mean, and what is it supposed to prevent?

[Assistant]
SHA-256 is what's called a hashing function. The neat things about hashing functions:

* You can take an input of any size but the output (called a hash) is always a string of the same size.
* The same input will always produce the same output; but...
* Even very slightly different inputs will produce wildly different outputs; and,
* There's no practical way to predict what the output will be from the input (without actually running it through the function).

So you can take an entire file (even something like a zip file) and run it through the hashing function, producing a string of characters that represents that file. If someone makes even a small change to that file (say, changing the URL of a payment service or injecting a small virus) then the hash will be completely different.

So you put a file up for download and you publish the hash of the file. Someone else downloads that file, but they want to make sure no one has messed with it. They want to make sure it's *exactly* the file you meant to make available. If they run the file they have through the same hashing function you used and get exactly the same hash value, then they know they have a clean file; if the hash is different then something about the file was changed from what you published and that change is probably bad.


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

[User]
[General, Gaming] How would you Quantify 1HP? What would a 10HP injury be?

Also, How much HP does the average person have?
Does it depend on weight, height, gender?

How would you class illnesses? What would the 'statistical' effects of some diseases be?

What would a 5, 10, 20, 50HP injury be? On the flip-side, how much statistical damage would a broken arm be? or a punch in the face?

How long does it take for my be to regenerate 1HP?

[Assistant]
It's relative to the total scale. A 10hp injury for someone with 1000hp is going to be bruise. For someone with 10,000 hp, it's barely a love-tap. For someone with 50hp it's going to be a serious laceration.

HP is an abstract representation of general physical wellness. Its going to cover everything from serious injuries, to fatigue stress, to temporary shock. And these sorts of injuries are present across the board, regardless of size or durability. Because of this, trying to apply any sort of standardised representation of the types of injuries X points represent is going to be impossible.

Similarly, regeneration is difficult to account for, because it's going to depend on the same thing. A 1000hp entity is going to be able so shake off 1hp of damage in a few minutes, tops (most likely in seconds) but for a 10hp entity it could amount to a wound that would take several weeks to fully heal.

Generally speaking though, most systems have entities falling unconscious at 0hp, not dying outright. This indicates that the majority of damage sustained in not inherently life threatening, so even if you take a 50hp hit, it's unlikely to be anything like amputating a limb.


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

[User]
By using fossil fuels, aren't we continuing the planet's cycle by releasing the energy trapped in them back into the atmosphere, or were they serving some other functions by being buried down there?

I mean, all fossil fuels are formed from the remains of organisms that consumed energy in the first place, right?

That energy then got "trapped" in the form of fuel.

Isn't that energy "lost" to the planet until we burn the fuel, or does it facilitate some important geological processes by remaining in that state?

[Assistant]
All elements including carbon circulate through Earths various reservoirs and complete their geochemical cycle at a certain rate.

So, normally in the case of carbon, there is always some material leaving hydrocarbon reservoirs and moving into the atmosphere, the biosphere or some other reservoir at any given time through Earths history. The key notion here is that those are geological rates which are virtually meaningless on the span of a human lifetime.

What we are doing now is resetting that cycle by progressively releasing in a geological instant as much of the carbon presently stored in hydrocarbons as possible. The effects will be profound, and affect the Earths carbon cycle for tens of millions of years. The end game result will be an atmospheric hothouse, possibly similar to the Cretaceous, followed by progressive trapping of carbon in oceanic sediments and removal of that carbon of effective circulation for tens/hundreds of millions of years - so probably some major glaciation event.

TLDR: first we'll cook, and then we'll freeze.


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

[User]
[Matrix] Was Neo always the one? I'm basically asking was he a reincarnation of every cycle of the Matrix or was it a different person each cycle?

I know we see the screens in the Architects room but that may have been just an interpretation to help him understand.

[Assistant]
The video seems to imply that it is always him, but maybe it isn't "always" him, the architect just showed him the ones that were.

That being said you do have to consider the "nested matrices" theory in which the matrix is actually inside a larger simulation that includes zion and the ruined earth, a simulation the humans run to keep the robots from rebelling because they are allowed to continually win the war in a fantasy.


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

[User]
Photons have momentum. Photons are electromagnetic radiation. Does this mean the Universe has pressure?

Hey guys

Lets say I'm out in a random part of the Universe where I cannot see any stars or planets or anything. Everyone always mentions the "vacuum of space" which caused me to think the pressure in space is 0Pa, but as light has momentum wouldn't there be a constant pressure throughout space caused by Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation?

And if I'm right, how high can this go? I'd imagine it's pretty constant throughout, is it like 1Pa but then if you're near the sun, the sun's photons take it up to 10Pa? Or would CMB Radiation give a higher pressure?

[Assistant]
Yes, the cosmic microwave background exerts a uniform pressure on everything. But it's *incredibly* small. Far smaller than the pressure exerted by individual hydrogen atoms in intergalactic space.

Want numbers? This is all from memory, so trust none of it, but pressure goes by energy density over three, and the energy density of a photon gas is *k*^4 over **^3 *c*^3, times **^2 /15, times *T*^4. Using three degrees absolute as an envelope approximation of the temperature of the vacuum, that gives a pressure of about two hundred-trillionths of a joule per cubic meter.

So yeah. Not much.


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

[User]
ELI5: Statute of limitations - why?

Was just reading a news arrival about a Japanese murderer who has been on run for 45 years and their statute of limitations for murder (15 years) had been abolished in 2010....

My question is why is the statute of limitations a thing in some countries? If someone is caught and evidence proves it was them they should be able to get convicted 1 year or 70 years later?

[Assistant] The statute of limitations is in place because as people age, memories become less accurate and more prone to influence. Being able to find witnesses for an alibi Also becomes less realistic. Imagine having tok explain where you were on 5/4/1987. Also, physical evidence deteriorates and being able to refute evidence using forensic tests becomes less realistic or accurate. There are a few other factors, but the main point of a statute of limitations is to ensure that a defendant has a realistic opportunity to defend themselves effectively against the charges being filed.


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

[User]
[Star Wars]why was Sidious so bent on training Anakin if he knew he would eventually kill him?

Sidious stated on two occasions that Anakin would surpass him. Why was so determined to train him if he in doing do would eventually result in his death.

[Assistant]
Feeding his ego, to make him become to his apprentice.

Besides, this is Sith. They got their egos, too.
 Everyone  knows that the apprentice have killed their master every time in the past.
Everyone "knows" they will be the one to break the norm.


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

[User] They say that to test String Theory, we need to build a particle accelerator as large as out galaxy. Is it a technical limitation or a fundamental one?

[Assistant] It's a little of both. With how we currently probe high energy regimes, there is a fundamental limit to the energies we can obtain from collisions, related to accelerator designs (including size). But it is, pedantically, a technological limitation, because the science doesn't say "the only way to test string theory is to use your current understanding of accelerator physics to build a very large accelerator," rather it says "if you want to avoid building a very large accelerator, you need a breakthrough in how you probe very high energy regimes."


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40k] How is a Sister of Battle crested?

We see in space marine chapters that various recruiting methods are exercised to weed out the potential candidates from the unworthy. Then, when those initiates are selected, they undergo intense and radical surgeries to be transformed into essentially Demi-God's.

Now I'm aware the Adeptus Sororitas do not retain the same abilities as their male counterparts but I can't believe for a moment that you would simply hand one of these pious women a bolter and power armour and wish them the best of luck. So how exactly does a (for example) female hive ganger go from barely scrapping by in the slums nearly starved, beaten and unclean to a glorious example of The Emperors wrath delivering bolter rounds to heretics faces?

*edit: title spelling, created not crested.

[Assistant] The Adepta Sororitas aren't "crested", nor created ala the Astartes. The Orders mostly recruit from the Schola Progenium, academies run by the Ecclesiarchy for war orphans or children of the various offices of the Imperium. The Schola Progenium educate their wards in the arts of war and faith, preparing them for the war against those who would threaten the Imperium of Mankind.


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

[User]
ELI5: How come when you get in trouble, you feel a pain in your throat or stomach?

Random memory I had of when I was younger and my dad caught me in a lie. He already knew the truth and when he told me he knew I was lying, I felt a sudden pain in my throat and my gut, why?

[Assistant]
Our body only has one stress response regardless if the stress is from a large animal chasing us, heartbreak, worrying about the future, or being caught in a lie. This response is also known as the fight or flight response.

The response redirects blood from less essential functions (example digestion) to our muscles and brain and tenses your muscles. These functions are preparing the body to physically fight or flee. The tightening in your throat is from both increased blood flow and the tensing of the muscles there.

The feeling in your stomach is from lowered blood to your digestive system, making it feel like it's a lump or weight.

Fight and flight were good options for our hunter/gatherer ancestors to address stress but does not work well for our modern world. Fighting your way out of problems tends to get you in jail while running away doesn't make the problem go away. Since it's only been a few tens of thousand of years since our hunter/gather days (a tiny bit of time in terms of evolution), we're still stuck with the same bodily responses as our ancestors.


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

[User] ELI5: How a vinyl record works.

[Assistant]
A vinyl record has grooves in it, representing the audio track.  As the record spins, a needle runs over these grooves and picks up the vibration.  The needle's output is then run to an amplifier, where it is then magnified and sent to the speakers, where you hear it as sound.

The changes in the grooves allow for variations in sound.


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

[User] ELI5: How were birds (pigeons, ravens, etc.) trained to deliver messages back in the day?

[Assistant] They were trained to see a place as home, by raising them there. Then they were carted off to a different place in cages. From there, they'd tie a message to the bird and let them loose. The bird goes home, message reaches wherever bird's home is. The bird then needs to get carted off again before it can be used again.


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

[User]
Recommended book on Existentialism.

I have just completed Mary Warnock's book on Existentialism. While it is thought-provoking and appears to be fairly rigorous, I am looking for more in-depth treatments of the subject as whole. Can you recommend some books with overview of existentialism and current assessment of the movement?

[Assistant]
Here are a few good ones:

*Existentialism* by John Macquarrie is a good book - very in-depth and the author also translated Heidegger

*At The Existentialist Caf* by **Sarah Bakewell** - a more informal look at existentialism, but it explores the *scene* surrounding it and the lives of the existentialists

*Man's Search For Meaning* by **Viktor Frankl**

*Existentialism Is A Humanism* by **Jean-Paul Sartre** - pretty much the cornerstone of existential thinking and it's a very easy read

*Existentialism From Dostoevsky To Sartre* by **Walter Kaufmann**


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

[User]
eli5: When making movies how do they find really obscure songs which fit a scene?

Are there people out there who just know lots of songs and get asked to share their wisdom? Do they just look at a particular genre and keep looking till they find the right one?
An example from Breaking Bad is Freestyle by Taalbi Brothers. Who is responsible for this and how do they do it?

[Assistant]
There are sound designers whos job is to comb through archives to find stuff that fits the movie. Not only for songs but things like sound effects too.

Its a full time job for these people so Im sure they have techniques to help narrow down the search, but at the end of the day it could just simply be spending hours and hours a week finding music that fits what youre looking for.

And this doesnt even mention that some movies will hire artists to make music specifically for that film. Ranging from small time bands to full orchestra composers.


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

[User]
ELI5 how does a water softener not make water salty?

I just can not wrap my head around why water softeners don't make the water taste salty. I have tried looking this up on my own and just can not get to a point of understanding. The water goes through a salt bed and it some how removes calcium and other ions. But the water does not taste salty. This is blowing my mind and honestly bothering me. Can someone please explain this to me.

[Assistant]
> The water goes through a salt bed

Not quite. The water goes through a bed of resin beads, usually made of polystyrene. These resin beads have a negative charge due to having a sodium ion attached to them. Minerals like calcium and magnesium which have a positive charge are attracted to the resin. The minerals stick to the resin beads and release the sodium ion, and the water with less dissolved minerals flows into the house.

Yes, this does mean that released sodium ions are replacing the minerals in the water, but the amount is so low you won't be able to taste or notice the slightly salty water.

Of course those resin beads won't be able to collect an endless amount of minerals, and that is where the salt the system consumes comes in. This salt is used to make a very concentrated brine which is flushed through the resin beads. All the sodium ions in the brine are more positively charged than the beads so the attached minerals break free and dissolve into the brine. At the same time the sodium ions within the beads are replenished by ions from the brine. As the brine is washed away it removes the collected minerals and leaves behind beads with more sodium ions ready to collect minerals from the water.


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

[User]
[StarWars] How did such a large and slow species like the Hutts become as powerful they are and remain in power for hundreds of years?

The Hutts are cited to be in power for hundreds of year running most of the organized crime around the galaxy.

How did the first Hutts get so much money or power being at such physical disadvantage .

They move very slow and have such limited range of motion. idk what jobs they could of performed to gain so much money or things they could have offered to gain so much power.

I though maybe they were extremely smart and planned the crimes or operations but I found nothing to really suggestion the Hutts have superior intelligence over other species.

[Assistant]
Hutts aren't the fastest, but Jabba is basically an example of an obese, semi-retired, even *more* sedentary Hutt. Other relatively more athletic Hutts can move a fair bit faster.

On top of that, Hutts are crazy strong, tough enough to take blaster bolts, and can eat most humanoid creatures in a single gulp. Facing off against a group of Hutts in melee combat would be terrifying.

Hutts have managed to build an entire society based around cartels, the servitude of other sentient species, and criminal activity. They're freaking smart. They will outwit and browbeat any species they have any sort of advantage or leverage over, and make said species bury themselves further into a hole they're completely subservient to the Hutts.

Long lifespan ( in the realm of hundreds of years ) which has already been mentioned also really helps.


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

[User]
[FMA] Why isn't everything made out of diamond?

Carbon is common as hell and the crystal structure for diamond is super simple, so shouldn't making diamonds be one of the simplest things for an alchemist to do?

[Assistant]
Diamonds are tough, but also notoriously brittle. A large structure made of diamond would have no "give"; too strong of a wind or wrong load balancing, and it would shatter horrifically. It's too rigid for those sorts of uses.

And as you say, any alchemist could do it. So it's not like it'd be that helpful as an alchemical defensive item, either. Strange metallurgic alloys show a great deal more promise in that realm.

The last possibility would be for money, but that likely falls very close to the "no transmuting gold" law that exists specifically to keep alchemists from breaking the country's economy.


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

[User] ELI5: How is it the island of Java can support it's 140+ million people in area the size of North Carolina?

[Assistant]
by depending on trade for food and other resources, and coping up with less personal space. there's still some farms and forests, but yeah its hard to get away from other people.

the total north carolina population is about 10 million? heck, Jakarta (the largest city in Java) alone has 20 million people...
source: i live there.


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

[User]
Does the descent velocity of an object change as it goes deeper under water?

Say If I was on a boat floating over the Marianas Trench and I dropped an incompressible solid steel ball over the side.  Assume there would be no contact with objects that would affect the rate of descent.  Once it achieved its terminal velocity, would the rate of descent remain constant, would it decrease or would it increase as it went deeper?

I am of the understanding that water does not compress.  Going by that understanding I presume that a cc of water at 15,000 feet deep would ideally contain the exact same amount of H2O molecules as a cc of H2O at the surface.  So the physical resistance of the water versus the object dropped into that water should remain at a constant throughout the entire descent.

I wonder though what effect water pressure would play on that descending object.  As my pin ball descends down to its abyssal destination, would the water pressure above it force it down faster?  Would the increased water pressure below it slow its descent down?  Or would those 2 forces combine to cancel each other out leading to a constant rate of descent?

[Assistant] Water is indeed compressible, and whether your device is more or less compressible than water is very important when you're going deep. A steel ball would be less compressible, so as water becomes more dense, it would experience more buoyancy. The increased water density would also increase drag (but not by much). The result is that the ball would slow down by a very small amount as you descend. Pressure acts equally from every direction (on something small enough), and has no direct effect.


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

[User]
Would blowing a meteor up as it enters atmosphere lessen the damage to Earth?

Or just turn it from a cannonball into grapeshot?

[Assistant]
In principle, it will help. Of course it's all going to depend on the details - how fast it is, how big it is, how dense it is, how big the chunks are etc. So whether it's a significant difference or a small difference will depend on the situation.

Basically, the drag force on a bunch of small objects is (usually) bigger than the drag force on one big object of the same total mass. Drag force is proportional to the cross-sectional area of the object. If the chunks are roughly spherical, then the cross-sectional area is proportional to the *square* of the radius of each chunk. So if each chunk is half the size of the original meteor, it has 1/4 of the cross-sectional area. But the *mass* of each chunk is proportional to the *cube* of the radius.

So, if you halve the size of a sphere, you get 1/4 of the drag-force acting on 1/8th of the mass. From F=ma, that means that each chunk has 2x the deceleration from drag.

Now, you aren't actually going to blow up a spherical meteor into perfect spheres. But you should expect things to roughly scale like that - the smaller the chunks, the more drag force you get, and the faster the chunks will slow down.

(Note that if you sliced up the meteor in some contrived way, the effect can be smaller - if you chop it into long thin cylinders, you still have a small cross-sectional area per mass. But this is not what you expect to happen if you blow something up.)


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

[User]
[Pokemon] What happens if a Poke Ball gets destroyed?

If it got burnt of crushed or something, does the Pokemon just get let out, or would it die?

[Assistant]
Pokeballs have a safety feature that if the outer casing starts to become damaged, it releases the Pokemon and shuts down to prevent it from being either hurt or trapped.

However, this can cause a whole new set of problems.  Have you ever heard of the phrase "Telefragged"?


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

[User] What are "pins and needles"?

[Assistant]
The "pins and needles" feeling is called "paresthesia" and is most commonly caused by awkward positioning of your body which puts pressure on a nerve and/or cuts off the blood supply to a certain area of your body. This leads to a "falling asleep" sensation in that body part which is very similar to that of anesthesia - the nerves stop sending messages to the brain. When you change your position and restore blood back to the area, it gradually awakens and you get the "pins and needles" sensation which is brought about by those nerves "awakening" and resuming sending their messages to the brain.

Paresthesia can also be brought about by certain medical conditions and pinched nerves.


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

[User]
[Avatar The last Airbender] What Mental Illness did the charavter Azula most likely suffer from? What symptoms were notable throughout the show.

As the question states above, I'm arguing that she doesn't have psychopathy (which is a term that isn't used anymore). I've heard theories on her suffering from ASPD, but despite that she seems to be very emotional, just lacking empathy and guilt from others. At one point in the show she shows remorse or at least a form of longing for her mothers love, so clearly she does feel things, just not normally. I believe she has ASPD, but more on the BPD side. She was very manipulative and lacked any care for others, but was overall emotionally troubled.

Overall, anyone who is an expert on this or understands about mental illnesses can bring in arguments.

[Assistant]
Schizophrenia.

Early warning signs include:

Paranoia (She dismisses the Dai li, the royal firebenders, and a servant girl who didn't de-pit a cherry)

Deterioration of personal hygiene (She cuts her hair haphazardly, before being confronted by her hallucination of her mother)

Hostility (I don't feel the need to support this one)

Inappropriate laughter or crying (During the final agni kai Azula's madness is most manifest, and she laughs through the entire thing)

Schizophrenia tends to manifest between early teens to late twenties. It is accompanied by delusions of grandeur and persecution. Azula cracked under the strain her father put her through, and her latent mental instability was brought to the forefront.


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

[User]
If someone found a way to "beat the market" would it break the market?

Imagine hypothetically some kid in his mom's basement finds a stock chart pattern that he can predict with 98% accuracy, regardless of the stock or market conditions. He tests it over and over. He starts making money. He tells some friends, who also start making money. The success rate of this trading tactic is so high, that it spreads until some colleges perform studies on it. It gets published in a few journals. It becomes more and more popular. Retail investors are using this tactic to great success and eventually institutional investors start using it.

If everyone was now trading the same things every day, doing the same activity, what would happen to the market as a whole, and to the economy at large?

[Assistant] The market is a literal market place; there are buyers and sellers. In your hypothetical scenario, who would buy or sell on the opposite side of those winning trades, if everyone knew the system? Would you buy a stock that you knew was going to go down in value? Would you sell a stock if you knew it would go up?


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do many recipes say to boil things uncovered?

Covering the pot traps the heat and allows you to boil or summer with less power. So why do recipes so frequently call to boil with the lid off?

(example: pasta)

[Assistant]
In the case of pasta specifically, the starch in the pasta tends to cause the water to boil over quite easily, which makes a big mess - so by keeping the lid off, you make it easier to see if the pot is close to boiling over.

A lot of dishes need the lid off because you're simmering them to get water out - anything that talks about "reducing," or "simmer until thick" is removing excess water by letting it evaporate. So if you had the lid on, you'd constantly be capturing the excess water.


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

[User]
When a corporation makes a profit, where does that money go?

My understanding of "profit" is what income is left over after all expenses are accounted for including all operational costs, legal/service fees, and paying every single employee, so who gets the profit?

Also, if corporations are legally people, why don't people post profits as well?

[Assistant]
Some profits may go into the bank (or investments), to be used later.

Some profits may go into expanding the business over the next fiscal period (thus going to pay for future expenses).

Some profits may go into repurchasing shares.

Some profits may go directly to shareholders as dividends.


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

[User] ELI5: How do snakes actually move. Like what's the mechanics? They seem to just glide around?

[Assistant]
Think of it like doing the moonwalk. Yes, that foot is in contact with the ground, but it's sliding while all the person's weight is on the other one.

Snakes are doing the same thing, more or less, pushing from one part of their body while the other scrapes along. Except instead of one foot and then the other, the parts of their bodies they push from is continuously changing as they wriggle forward.

Sick dance moves, bro.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does it take hours to install big programs and games but seconds to uninstall it?

[Assistant] When you are installing a game, you are writing the files to your hard drive. It has to remember where to access those files. The uninstallation is just forgetting those locations on your drive, not actually erasing them.


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

[User]
When making a clone of an organism, is it possible that different genes get expressed?

Or are they always 100% identical?

[Assistant] For the standard nucleus transplantation method, all the genes should be expressed the same, but the conditions of gestation and early life can mean that there are differences, so the organism is unlikely to be completely identical even with identical genes. There's also slight variation used with the donor egg, which contributes the mitochondria for the new organism, and any random mutations that may arise either by complete chance or due to differences in the environment.


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

[User] ELI5: What is 'octane' in fuel and how does it make your vehicle preform better or worse?

[Assistant]
It's important to recognise the difference between the chemicals called "octane" and what the "octane rating" of a fuel is.

Octanes are chemicals which contain carbon and hydrogen in the ratio 8 carbon to 18  hydrogen. These are widely found in refined petroleum products. There are many different octanes, with slightly different properties. When it comes to determining "octane rating" of a fuel is, a specific octane called "2,4,4 trimethylpentane" is used.

The octane rating of a fuel is a measure of how easily a fuel ignites in a gasoline engine. In a gasoline engine, you need the fuel to be difficult to ignite. When an gasoline engine works, air and gasoline are sucked in, then the mixture is compressed, after it is fully compressed it is ignited, and the heat and pressure from the burn makes the engine go.

Because the process of compressing the air/fuel mixture creates a lot of heat, it is important that gasoline does not ignite during this process. The mixture must only ignite when a very hot electrical spark is generated - at the same time, when the spark goes, the fuel must ignite gently, and not just explode - because the force of the explosion can damage the engine.

Octane rating measures how resistant the fuel is to pre-ignition (self-igniting during compression) and detonation (exploding when hit with a spark). An "octane rating" of 100, means that the fuel has the same resistance to ignition as pure "2,2,4 trimethylpentane". An "octane rating" of 0 means that the fuel has the same properties as pure "n-heptane". An "octane rating" of 90, means that the fuel burns similarly to a 90:10 mixture of 2,2,4 TMP and n-heptane. It is possible to have ratings higher than 100, for fuels that are even more difficult to ignite than the reference "octane".

There are lots of additives which were used to improve "octane rating" - most called "organometallic" compounds. The most notorious was tetraethyl lead (usually just called lead) which is a very strong fuel ignition stabiliser. This was banned because of toxicity. Many oil companies replaced it with a different organometallic called methylcyclopendienyl manganese tricabonyl (MMT) - but this is now mostly banned, because it damages catalytic converters. These days high octane fuel is made by adding lots of "aromatic" hydrocarbons produced from advanced refining methods, and/or adding ethanol.

Gasoline engines are designed to take fuel of a specific octane rating. The amount and speed with which an engine compresses a fuel-air mixture is fixed in the design, and nothing can change that. This means that if you have an engine which uses very strong compression (e.g. a highly tuned sports car engine), and put low octane fuel into it, the fuel may "detonate" during compression - causing the engine to "knock" or "ping/pink". The knocking noise is the sound of the fuel exploding - as the engine is not designed to take that pressure, it will suffer severe damage.

There is also the issue of detonation when the spark hits. If the spark comes soon after compression, the fuel is very hot and more likely to detonate - but igniting early gives the best burn time, and therefore best engine power and best fuel consumption. Igniting late allows the compressed fuel to cool down, but wastes burn time and produces less power. Older cars would be manually tuned to a specific "ignition timing" by a garage - so you could tune a car to work better on higher octane rating fuel by adjusting the timing.

Modern cars use electronic ignition and timing control. The car has a microphone bolted to the engine which listens for the sound of the burn. The engine computer analyses that signal and uses it to adjust the ignition timing. If it hears detonation starting to occur, then it delays the timing - if everything seems to be going OK, then it'll try advancing the timing. The computer tends to be programmed with limits based upon typical fuel ratings in the country the car was sold in. So, if you put 110 octane race fuel into a corolla, the computer won't super tune the ignition timing, it'll move it up to where the manufacturer expects premium fuel to be, but go no further.

If you put low octane fuel in, the computer will try to delay the ignition timing - but that can only do so much - and if the problem is that the fuel is igniting during compression, there is nothing the computer can do, except put on the check engine light and hope that you stop before you blow the engine.


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

[User] eli5 why do people say that using the power-on button to turn off the pc is bad? (And the button on the back too) what harm does it do?

[Assistant]
On modern OS-es you can program what the power button does, if you set it to send a shutdown command it is the same like pressing start > shutdown. (i think windows is set to do that out of the box)

People say its bad because it was bad to do it on really old PCs (It would shutdown immediately and could lead to file corruption)


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

[User]
ELI5: How does the electricity in our body get there?

Im referring to the electricity that is involved with the heart beating and brain signals. How does it get into us to begin with when we are a fetus, and how does it keep being produced?

[Assistant]
Think of electricity as the flow of charge between a high-energy area and a low-energy area. This is very similar to holding a ball up in the air and letting go: while you're holding the ball, the potential energy is high (it has the potential to fall some distance) relative to when it's on the ground (the potential for it to fall is zero) - the act of falling is the "electricity".

So our bodies create electricity by using "electrolytes", the major players of which are Sodium (Na) and Potassium (K). If we take a single nerve cell and look at how it sends an electric signal down its length, we'll see that the inside of the nerve has a lot of K and the outside of the nerve has a lot of Na. The amount of these is different, and there's a LOT more Na than there is K. Both of these are positively charged, but because there's a LOT more positive charge outside the cell... those ions really want to get in.

So that's our potential. Lots of Na outside, less K inside, the ions want to move in to make everything nice and even. Channels open for the Na to rush inside and K to rush out, and now, because they're moving, electricity is formed. Our bodies are able to use this electricity for a bunch of things, mainly cells sending signals to other cells. When the signal is done, those channels close up and pumps (Na-K ATPase) push Na back out of the cell and K into it to reset. This requires chemical energy, rather than electrical, which comes from breaking down sugar.


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

[User]
How do you turn off the academic portion of your brain and just be a normal person? Im always on and its not helping my relationships.

Or is this just an occupational hazard?

[Assistant] Set clear boundaries between work and the rest of your life. Easier said than done, but a great way to do this is to find hobbies or activities that have absolutely nothing to do with your research. Your work will consume you if you let it, so you need to try to add other things into your life to balance it out.


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

[User]
[Dr Who] Is Dr Who immune to the Grandfather Paradox?

?

[Assistant]
No, but Time Lord technology exists that can manage self-negating paradoxes to certain degrees, depending on resources at hand.

The Master managed to maintain a massive grandfather paradox by cannibalising a TARDIS and letting a far-future version of the human race exterminate its ancestors, but it only worked for as long as the paradox machine was operational.


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

[User] Why isn't diamond electrically conductive while graphite is electrically conductive?

[Assistant] Both are made of carbon. In diamond each carbon atom is bonded to four other carbon atoms, whereas in graphite each carbon is bonded to three other carbon atoms, which is why their properties are so different. In graphite there is one delocalised (free) electron for each atom that can move throughout and carry electrical charge. There are no delocalised electrons in diamond.