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

[User]
Intro to Philosophy (College) Quiz Question

Hello, I'm 41 and going to college for the first time because I find my current job unrewarding. One of my GE classes I decided is Intro to Philosophy because I find it interesting and want to learn as many different areas outside of my major as possible to expand my mind.

On our midterm, we had 23 questions with the last being an essay answer. I was looking for opinions on how my professor answered because the mean score is a C in class, with high scores being B's. He's also fairly condescending towards students and their writing, however I have 105% in my Writing class currently, so I do generally write well. I do understand that logical writing may differ, which is why I'm here, as I want to be clear when engaging in rhetoric.

The question has us pick one of two prompts. I chose the below:

 **1**. ABDUCTIVE POE (a) Please fully present/explain the abductive version of the POE. (b) Does this argument have a key or central premise? Explain. (Note: Im not asking you to evaluate the APOE.)

My Answer:

>1: APOE
>
>To build an abductive POE argument we would look at evil, which we can observe under an agreed upon convention, and say that it is not that it exists. It is that it exists in such numbers and in such enormity, so that if God did exist he is either not omnipotent as he is unable to stop such evils being all knowing and all good; Not omniscient, in that he could not be all powerful and all good, and yet know evil exists and not stop it; Or not be omnibenevolent, being all powerful and all knowing, but not (all) good enough to stop evil. There is no lack of evil within the word, either man-made or natural. Evidence to support a strong abductive argument is plentiful given our current cultural agreed upon convention of what "evil" is defined as.
>
>
>
>The central argument is, that evil is too prevalent in too much of an enormous way that God being omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent would allow such to exist according to the JCI doctrines. Therefore, the better explanation is simply that God does not exist, which fits the model of the world we view, with less mental gymnastics and religious apologetics.

My professor's reply:

> YOU WRITE: "To build an abductive POE argument we would look at evil, which we can observe under an agreed upon convention, and say that it is not that it exists. " This is confused writing. "It is not that it exists"? You need to provide context for this statement, namely, that one might suppose that the Problem of Evil (for Theism) is that there are evils. No, the problem is not that evil exists; it is that there are so many evils and they are so terrible. You do nothing to provide that necessary context. What is "It"? You need to explain the issue here. Like all abductive arguments, this one starts with a set of facts to be explained: the amount and awfulness of the evils of our world. The issue is: what best explains such a world? We consider the possible explanations (there are two via the Law of E M). We then evaluate each for quality, using standard criteria. the APOE asserts that the "the JCI God does not exist" explanation is superior to the "the JCI God exists" explanation. That's the argument. You make little of this clear. What are the facts to be explained? What are the competing explanations? PLEASE SEE IDEAL ANSWER. D 50

After our quiz, my professor posted the "ideal answers" for each of the prompts along with a grade scale. I did receive 230 out of 300 points on the quiz, which puts be at a B+ just shy of an A. However, I feel like I'm missing so much by not receiving more points. I'm usually someone who picks up material quickly and grasps complex topics with ease. For reference, here is the ideal answer.

>**1. ABDUCTIVE POE (a) Please fully present/explain the****abductive version of the POE****. (b) Does this argument have a key or central premise? Explain. (Note: Im not asking you to evaluate the APOE.)**
>
>STARTING POINT: The Abductive Problem of Evil (APOE) *starts with a set of facts to explain*, namely, the kinds and amounts of evil that seems to occur in our world. For the APOE, *the problem of evil is not that there are any evils; rather, it is that there are so many and such terrible evils*. To see the point, consider what one would encounter if one were to do a kind of inventory of evils of our world:
>
>THE SHEER AMOUNT. Our world does now and has always contained a tremendous *amount* of evil in the form of pain, injury, and death. Constant war, disease, criminality, and natural disasters have been and continue to be routine. (Consider the Black Death of the 14th Century, which killed 30 percent to 60 percent of the European population.)
>
>THE ENORMITY OF MANY EVILS. It is worth noting that some routine evils of our world are truly disturbing, such as the slow torture of small children either by disease or at the hands of evildoers or predators.
>
>SUPREME INJUSTICES. It seems clear that, in our world, a great many beings suffer and die despite their utter innocence, such as infants born with terribly diseases, and the many nonhuman animals that suffer and die (as nonmoral agents, they are innocent).
>
>APPARENT UNNECESSARY EVILS. There are many apparent isolated evils that occur the necessity of which (for an omnipotent being) is difficult or impossible to discern. We have every reason to believe, for example, that chicks in nests burn alive in isolated forest fires. What good depends on the occurrence of such suffering? That such suffering is somehow necessary seems grossly implausible.
>
>TWO HYPOTHESES: Now, obviously, the Judeo-Christian-Islamic type of God either *exists* or *He does not* (Im appealing to the *Law of Excluded Middle*, according to which, for any proposition S, either S is true or it is false and there is no further possibility). And so we must ask: which of these situations is a better fit witha better explanation ofthe world with its many and terrible evils?
>
>**Hypothesis 1: the Judeo-Christian-Islamic type of God exists**
>
>This explanation would seem to be very problematic. That is because, roughly speaking, the last world anyone would expect to exist in a JCI God-dominated world is *our* world, with its many and terrible evils. Such a being might well allow, for instance, some fears as a necessary condition for the opportunity to attain such virtues as courage, but it is difficult to see how such a being would permit such catastrophes as the Holocaust, or the endless ravages of cancer, or the factory farming industrysomething that, by itself, involves the suffering and death of *billions* of creatures every year.
>
>**Hypothesis 2: the Judeo-Christian-Islamic type of God does NOT exist**
>
>This comes in two forms:
>
>**2a: There is no God**
>
>**2b: there is a god but not a JCI type of God**
>
>If there were no God, the world that existswith its indifference to suffering or justiceis pretty much the world we might expect to exist. It is a world that follows physical laws that yield an indifferent pattern of happiness and misery.
>
>Suppose, alternatively, that there is a god, but an incompetent or malicious or foolish god (i.e., a non-JCI God). Again, the actual world is pretty much the world we might then expect, given this hypothesis. In the real world, things sometimes seem to go well; they just as often seem to go very badly, as though the man in charge doesnt quite know what he is doingor just doesnt care what happens to sentient creatures.
>
>**KEY PREMISE**: Based on the above, one might well judge that the 2nd hypothesis is by far the better explanation for our world and its evils. Hence, as far as the goodness & evil of the world are concerned, it seems likely that there is no JCI type of God.
>
>Or so suggests this kind of reasoning. (Obviously, one needs also to consider any arguments for Gods existence. Do they provide evidence of a JCI Gods existence?)

 Is my answer so far off that 50/90 seems correct? Do I generally understand this or is my writing confused as he claims?

[Assistant]
Your writing is a little confusing, but it seems like the greater deficiency is that the structure of your answer doesnt really communicate the structure of an abduction in a way that would lead the grader to think you knew what an abduction was.

In philosophy, rather than some English classes, you often need to avoid writing for effect and make your prose sparser and more precise.  Youre trying to demonstrate that you know something very specific, and that sometimes requires laying things out in a very plain, very structured way.  You can see that the ideal answer is almost hilariously hyper-organized to show that an abduction is happening.


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

[User]
Big-O-Notation Confusion

I've read multiple sources on the subject and while I get the general idea of Big-O-Notation, there are certain things about Big-O-Notation that don't make sense and which lead me to doubt my understanding of the concept.

For example, my textbook says to "Note that for small values
of n, the exponential function is smaller than all of the others. As shown, it is not until n reaches 20 that the linear function is smaller than the quadratic".

But for f(n), f(20) = 20, while for f(2^n), f(2^20) = 1048576. So what the hell? Last time I checked, 1,048,576 is greater than 20.

Something else I don't understand is if you have 100 simple statements that do the same thing, that's equivalent to having a for loop that executes one of those statements 100 times. But we say the simple statements have a complexity of O(1) while the for loop has a complexity of O(n), implying that, in general, the O(1) takes less time than the O(n). But they do the same thing, so how is that supposed to make any sense at all?

Is this because checking conditions in the loop takes time? If that's the case, why does nobody bring this up??? It's confusing as hell.

[Assistant]
I think there are a couple of different things you're confused about.

For one thing, the *exponential* function f(n)=2^n is different from (and grows much faster than) the *quadratic* function f(n)=n^(2).

Secondly, big-O is used to talk about *functions*, not numbers. A function takes some input value, and describes a quantity that varies according to that parameter. When we're talking about time complexity. we're interested in how the running time changes in terms of the *size* of the input -- using whatever definition of "size" makes the most sense for the particular problem.

If you have a for-loop that runs from i=1 to i=100, but the bound is always 100 no matter what the input looks like, then the time complexity is O(100) = O(1). On the other hand, if it takes as its input an array of length N, and the loop runs from i=1 to i=N, then the time complexity is O(N).

Finally, if you want to talk about specific values where one function becomes larger than another, you have to be specific about which function you're talking about. The functions f(n)=n^(2), f(n)=2n^(2) and f(n)=100000n^(2) are all "quadratic" -- they fall into the complexity class O(n^(2)) because their fastest-growing term is proportional to n^(2). But they would intersect any given linear function in very different places. The diagram in your book is showing *examples* of functions in different categories, with constants chosen to let you compare their shapes.

The reason big-O notation is useful is because it allows us to *not worry* about the exact constant values, because we know that *eventually* the faster-growing function will outgrow slower-growing ones. The mathematical definition of big-O is basically just a rigorous way of defining what "eventually" means.


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

[User]
I believe completing a degree in a STEM major requires more work than completing a degree in a non-STEM major. CMV.

I strongly believe that STEM majors are more difficult in both subject matter and the sheer amount of work one has to do than non-STEM majors. The only evidence I really have is anecdotal; that is, I take classes in STEM and non-STEM subjects, and the non-STEM classes are definitely much easier not only in how much effort I have to put in, but also the amount of hours I have to put in to get the same grade.

Those who do not believe STEM majors are more difficult than non-STEM majors: why do you believe what you believe?

[Assistant] This may have to do something with the fact that STEM knowledge is much more objective. If you're taking an exam in physics, you can't write the opposite of Newton's laws and then argue that it's correct. In some non-STEM fields you can pretty much do that and get a good grade if your reasoning is good enough. This makes it seem like you don't have to know anything, you just need to be able to build a decent argument. That's not really correct, because you have to know *a lot* to properly challenge something.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do computers need to "restart" after an update?

Windows updates, graphics card driver updates, why do these updates often suggest or in some cases, even require a restart?

[Assistant]
For the same reason its hard to change your tires or do an oil change when you're driving your car.   The files that need to be updated are in use by the operating system and for lots of <very good computer software engineer> reasons you cant just stop individual programs or threads, especially in the core guts (the kernel) and replace the individually, you kindof have to replace and launch them all together. Or, if say its a filesystem driver and you stop the running one to replace it, how do you swap in the new one? You no longer have a running filesystem driver and the new one is on a filesystem you can no longer read.

The restart prompts a reboot, the first part of which is a low level "do all the maintenance tasks/upgrade/replace files that we can't touch when the rest of the OS is running" state.

This really only applies to updates to your operating system. For games and applications its just developers covering their ass because you know everything is in a known good starting condition just after a reboot (it eliminates other potential variables in case you run into problems).


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

[User]
[X-Men DOFP] Why was Xaviar wistfully talking about Mystique like she was his sister when she tried to kill him in the first movie?

And when the fuck did he come back to life??? This movie is really confusing after watching the first 3 X-Men movies.

[Assistant]
The X-Men: First Class film revealed that Mystique and Xavier had known each other since childhood, and that Xavier let a young Mystique move in with him, they grew up together and have a really close connection. Presumably they had some sort of falling out, yet Xavier is a very sentimental sort.

The final scene in the credits of X3 implied that Xavier managed to survive by transplanting his mind into another body. So presumably he is either projecting a mental illusion of how he used to look, or is in a clone body?


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

[User] [blade runner] whats up with space travel in this universe? Is it just the solar system or does it go further?

[Assistant] It goes further. The exact details are unspecified, but planets outside the solar system are referenced. For instance, the planet Calantha is mentioned in both the animated short Black Out 2022 and the film Blade Runner 2049 as a colony site and major battlefield.


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

[User]
[Lion King] Why are all the animals cool with having a king who literally eats the lower class?

Why haven't the water buffaloes and elephants and tall horses stampeded the royal family for crimes against their people?  Why are the citizenry content to let their king kill them whenever he gets a little peckish?

[Assistant]
The Circle of Life appears to be the main religion / belief system in The Pride Lands, and it functions like any other religion that has been co-opted by the ruling class: it convinces the lower classes that they are exactly where they belong, and that their suffering and self-sacrifice is somehow righteous.

I suspect that Scar's coup will change this in the long run: the animals will realise that the guy who eats them with a friendly smile is just as bad as the guy who eats them with hysterical laughter, and will rise up against their lion oppressors.


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

[User]
ELI5: Differences in cookie sheets

I baked the same cookies (trader joes break and bake) on two different cookie sheets with two different liners (dark nonstick with silpat vs light air gap with parchment paper). They turned out completely different. Can you explain the difference in cooking with the two type of sheets?

[Assistant]
It is a matter of the heat distribution around the dough.

Imagine (or even try) putting a raw cookie in a skillet on the stove. Obviously the bottom will burn and the top will be raw. However, with a very low heat and a cover on the skillet you will get different results (the cover will help spread the heat, but you will also lose moisture at a slower rate).

Same idea happens in the oven depending on the cooking surface and placement in the oven and the relative heat distribution within the oven itself. A well insulated cookie sheet placed on the top rack will over bake the top of the dough and under bake the bottom. An uninstalled sheet placed on the bottom rack may burn the bottom of the dough before the top is finished.

You have to adjust/experiment to find perfection for your dough and equipment.


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

[User] ELI5: I know how a rainbow is formed...But what determines the size of the arch or 'circumference' of it?

[Assistant] The main rainbow appears 42 degrees away from the point opposite the sun, i.e., 138 degrees away from the sun.  (The angle is determined by the way light from the sun is reflected and refracted inside water drops.)  The nearer the sun is to the horizon, the higher the arch will appear.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are most of the fastest sprinters and best marathon runners of all time black?

There has only ever been 1 white male to run under 10 seconds in the Olympics 100m and he was the first of purely European descent. Is it something about the skin colour geners that affect the potential of an athlete?

[Assistant] Not the color of the skin, but the genetics and culture.  The pigmints in your skin don't give you super powers, but there are some muscle traits that are passed down genetically, a form of natural selection.  Some of the african cultures are more closely linked to hunting tribes rather than a culture that focuses on agriculture - like European civilizations.  This caused a need for people who could run fast for longer, and people who could do this would provide for their family better, and thus they could have more offspring.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why did NASA keep us waiting before they revealed what they found on Mars?

It's not like they're a company coming out with a new product and they want to build up hype. They're a part of the government that works for the people. Why would they intentionally withhold information from the public for a period of time?

[Assistant]
It takes time to vet the information a few more times.

Then there is how do you share the info. Sure the could have just put a one page document out on the web, but they wanted to do everything to give the best context possible, so they gave news agencies time to coordinate for it, get the group of guys out there to discuss it.

NASA is also an agency fighting for funding, making sure everyone knows what is happening and putting them in the spotlight is a nice bonus to show they are still doing work.

And about your govt agency comment. NASA does not exist for the convenience of the public. Is the Motor Vehicle Agency open when it is best for you? No, they are open and working the hours which make it most economical for them to do the job assigned.


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

[User] How did the great plains remain essentially treeless for thousands of years being surrounded by Forests and high winds?

[Assistant]
What it comes down to is the temperature and rainfall. Around 50 million years ago, before the western mountains had formed, there was suitable rainfall and a warm enough climate for trees to survive. However, as things cooled and the mountains formed, the forests struggled to survive and grass, which is much heartier, survived. To this day, grass has been a much better survivor of the cold and dry climate of the prairies, while trees mainly stick to the banks of rivers or lakes where they are getting sufficient moisture.

Recently, there has been forest invading grasslands due to the warming temperatures, which is further evidence that moisture and temperature are the cause of the grassland prairies.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is the United Airlines CEO testifying before the US Congress?

I'm curious what the US government has to do with the dragging incident.

[Assistant] Airlines are subject to all sorts of regulations and policies enacted by laws Congress creates, enforced through the FAA, etc. When incidents like this occur, then Congress wants to investigate what happened and why, and see if they need to clarify existing rules & regulations or add new ones to prevent similar incidents.


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

[User] ELI5: Why can't my phone make normal phone calls when out of reception, but can make 'emergency calls'?

[Assistant]
Each phone company has to install phone towers around the country to get reception to their customers. When you make a call or send a text, your phone is sending/receiving data from the nearest tower on your network, which will usually be less than 10-20 miles away. The tower then sends to the signal along its way.

When you have no reception, it is because your phone cannot reach your tower. However, there may be other towers from other networks that you can connect to.

Essentially there is an agreement in place between networks that they will share resources for emergency calls. So if you cannot access your tower, your phone will automatically connect to the nearest tower, regardless of whether or not you are on that towers network.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do they make white gold? Can it be melted down and reused like yellow gold?

I've been wearing a white gold chain for a few years without taking it off, it's a part of me. I got to thinking about the differences between yellow and white gold, and if per ounce they are worth the same.

[Assistant]
Gold jewelry is (almost) always an alloy of gold and some other metals.  Gold is too soft to use in its pure form for jewelry (it will scratch or deform too easily).

White gold merely uses other metals in its alloy which give it a white color instead of yellow (often nickel but other metals may be used).

White gold is measured in karats which means a white gold ring of 14 karats has the same amount of gold in it as a yellow gold ring of 14 karats.  This will make them about equal in price all other things being equal.


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

[User]
[W40k] The legalities of owning Astartes equipment...

I'm an wealthy businessman and collector and I'd like to have some Space Marine equipment in my artifact room. Maybe a bolter, maybe a full suit of power armor. I'm perfectly OK with non-functional/deactivated equipment, I just want it to be in good condition. Is this legal for an Imperial citizen to own such things?

[Assistant] Getting any is going to be extremely difficult since gear is either salvaged, repaired, or enshrined as a relic. Most likely though no one is going to have a problem with it if you're polite about acquiring it. Legal would be up to local planetary laws and whatever chapter the gear originally belonged too.


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

[User] Is it possible to see the American flag on the moon via telescope?

[Assistant]
No, at least not a telescope on Earth or in Earth orbit. Hubble needs objects to be about the size of a football field to be discerned.

Even the previously proposed 100 meter aperture OWL telescope would not have been able to see the flag, though it might have been able to resolve the landers and rovers.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that in reality shows like "Lizard Lick Towing" or "Cops" the infuriated people never go after the camera men?

[Assistant] First, some reality shows are actually staged. Second, some are showing people who agreed to have the camera present. Among the remainder, remember that the footage shown is hand-selected by the producers -- and footage of people attacking their own crew is not what they want to show.


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

[User] [Robocop] I want to move my family out of Detroit. Things are just getting too unsafe to raise my kids. Is the rest of the country going through the same problems? Where would be a good place to move to get away from it all?

[Assistant]
Is the rest of the world pretty bad? Yes.

Is it as bad as Detroit? Not quite.

The environment is still fucked, the ozone layer is gone and corporations are still ruining wild with far too much power.

Detroit, however, still has it worse. The local government is barely holding on with a severely understaffed police force, leaving parts of the city unprotected and incredibly dangerous no-mans land.

On top of that, the same corporations running around are taking advantage of Detroit's current state and treating it as their own personal playground for human experimentations and other immoral activities.

Short answer: The world is pretty shitty but you could do worse.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does travelling tire you out?

I was a passenger in an almost 4 hour car tourney the other day, and by the end of it I was exhausted. Yet I can easily sit at a desk or in a chair for 4 hours at home doing the same things (listening to music, scrolling tiktok, social media, flash cards) and not feel nearly as exhausted. Why?

[Assistant]
When you sit in a moving vehicle, you don't realize it, but you're constantly using your body muscles to keep yourself sitting straight up.

The car turns to the left, your body uses muscles to stay upright so that you don't lean to the right.

Like, if there was a ball on the floor of your bus, and the bus turned left, the ball would roll to the right.  Right?

Well YOU don't want to roll all around the inside of the vehicle, so you unconsciously use all kinds of muscles just to keep sitting in that spot without falling over.

At the end of a long drive ... all that energy you spent on those muscles really adds up, and you're tired!


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

[User] What happens in the brain in the moments following the transition between trying to fall asleep and actually sleeping?

[Assistant]
Sleep physiology is pretty complex. Sleep itself is divided into 2 types (NREM and REM) and 4 different stages. NREM, or non-REM is divided into stage 1, stage 2, and stage 3 (formerly 3 and 4). While REM, or rapid eye movement is its own stage with different physiology. When awake, a person has a characteristic brain wave pattern as recorded on EEG. This type of wave is called alpha wave activity. As we lie down to go to sleep we go into stage 1 of sleep, the brain wave activity changes to beta waves. Stage 2 of sleep is reached when the EEG recording detects k-complexes and/or sleep spindles. Stage 3 of sleep is the deepest sleep, characterized by delta waves. Normal physiologic secretion of growth hormone occurs during stage 3 sleep, which is why sleep is actually really important for growth (mom was right!). Following stage 3, a person can enter into a period of REM sleep. REM sleep is probably the strangest phase of sleep, and is the most studied. We know that dreaming occurs during REM, as well as near-complete paralysis of the body. Most sleep-related breathing disorders and behavior disorders occur during REM. Each REM-cycle, from stage 1/2 to 3 to REM, takes about 90 minutes to complete. The duration of REM increases with each REM cycle throughout the night. The best stage to be woken from is stage 1 or 2, while being woken from stage 3 or REM can leave you groggy for up to 30-45 minutes.

To answer your question a bit more precisely, when awake and alpha waves are present, the brain activity signals an active cortext, and the EEG is unsynchronized and rapid. Beta waves indicate a lowered level of alertness, and the waves are slower and synchronized. Theta waves indicate activity in the hippocampus, meaning likely memory formation or storage. Delta waves indicate that neurons are not engaged in processing information and across the brain are firing together, giving large, synchronized waves in the EEG tracing.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do birds that swim in cold water not get frost bite on their feet?

I just drove past a half frozen pond with ducks swimming in it. I understand that feathers provide insulation, but how do birds that swim in cold water not get frost bite on their feet while paddling?

[Assistant]
Birds are warm-blooded animals like humans. Their exposed parts are heated with a constant flow of warm blood from the rest of the body.

Also, the water in a half-frozen pond is at 0 C which is not cold enough to cause frostbite.


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

[User]
[DC Universe] About Parademons...

So, one of their significant abilities seems to be infection of others to become Parademons. Any important heroes who has been turned into a Parademon in the past?

[Assistant] In most continuities they are made from the corpses of those who fight against Apokolips, although they are capable of converting living people into Parademons through slightly more effort. The exact process for this varies between continuities, but usually there's some sort of machine which converts the subject. Most Parademons are also augmented with additional technology. They can fly, use various Apokoliptan weapons, and breathe fire. In the New 52 they nearly converted Superman into a Parademon in their first encounter, but Batman managed to save him. IIRC there's one continuity where Parademons were created by fusing Motherboxes with people/bodies, essentially making each Parademon as strong as Cyborg.


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

[User]
Solar power is becoming more efficient and cost effective over time. Are there any fundamental physical limits as to how efficient it will get?

A related question to do with the economics of solar vs fossil fuels.

If the cost of solar power approached the cost of oil, I assume oil producers would lower their prices to compete. But there are fixed extraction costs. At what point would the cost of extracting oil no longer be economically viable?

In other words, at what solar energy price would it make no sense to recover oil at all? How far away from that are we in terms of years?

[Assistant]
The limit is 33.7% for a solar cell with just one type of photovoltaic. Adding multiple layers will increase the limit towards 86% as more and more layers are added.

This limit is called the Shockley-Queisser limit.

Edit: This limit only applies if a p-n junction is used. Limits for solar energy processing are different.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it easier to count down with numbers than it is to say the alphabet backwards?

Woah, thanks for all the great responses! I really appreciate all of the detailed comments, thanks guys!

[Assistant]
Numbers repeat after 10 digits while the letters typically don't (except in things like excel or hexadecimal).  You're likely good at counting down with numbers because you've practiced it from a young age.

I had a teacher whose sister played a mean joke on her when she was really little.  She taught her the alphabet backwards.  Even now as she approaches retirement, she can still rattle off the alphabet amazingly quickly that way.  She even challenged students to race her while going the other direction.  Oddly enough, she has to slow down to do it the other way.  In the end, it's mostly about practice.


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

[User]
ELI5 Why is snow white?

Water is transparent. Ice is a bit transparent. When you grind ice it gives very small white ice. Snow is very white why is that?

[Assistant]
Millions and millions of reflections and refractions breaking up the light.

Stand in front of a glass window and although you mostly can see through it there will be a fainter reflected image of you. That's just one air to glass transition for the light. Smash up the glass into cubes like a broken windscreen and you get multiple reflections as the light bounces around. Grind it up and the number of reflecting surface multiplies hugely. Snow, fog, foam, salt and many other things look white from that effect even though the material is transparent in bulk.


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

[User] [Song of Ice and Fire] The Iron Islands have no economy to speak of, spend the years raiding and stealing from other kingdoms, and can apparently only raise about 20k soldiers. Why are they tolerated, and why haven't they been wiped out long ago?

[Assistant] First you have to get to the island. They'll sink a lot of your boats along the way. Then, you have to land on the island. They'll sink even more of your boats and kill your soldiers as they wade ashore. Then, you have to breach the walls. They'll kill even more of your soldiers as you approach and climb. If you managed to land siege equipment, you might get inside the walls. Then, you have to kill 20,000 pissed off fighters who were raised believing fighting is the highest calling in life. And their wives and children, who also have lived their whole life in an armed fort. It's a hell of an undertaking and is likely to cost you hundreds of thousands of soldiers. While you're wasting your resources to stamp out an annoyance, the entire North marches south and conquers King's Landing. Congratulations, you played yourself.


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

[User]
[Aliens] How intelligent is the xenomorph?

In the movies they seem to be relatively intelligent creatures, the Queen especially. But what about your typical xenomorph? How exactly intelligent are they?

[Assistant]
In one sense, your average drone is as intelligent as the queen, because it is an extension of the queen.  She directs it and controls it.
Drones on their own, isolated from queens, show significant cunning and instinct, but not much intelligence.  They can hide and hunt rather well, but that's about it.  They're not going to do your math homework or write you a sonnet.  Figuring how to open a door seems to be about the height of a lone drone's capability.


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

[User] [Lord Of The Rings] How did the one ring corrupt Smeagle/Gollum?

[Assistant]
The same way it corrupts everyone else.

The One Ring can identify a person's innermost desire and trick them into acting on it. This is what happened to Boromir, who believed the One Ring would help him defend Gondor. It would, initially, but because the One Ring is an inherently evil object, Boromir would ultimately become completely corrupted by it and would likely become a wraith or enslaved by Sauron.

A similar thing happened to Sam in Mordor during the brief period he was carrying the One Ring. It showed him that he could use it to defeat Sauron and turn Mordor into a giant garden, knowing that Sam was a gardener. Fortunately, Sam had his good old Hobbit sense to see that as nonsense.

Smeagol likely had strong desires of his own, which is why he murdered Deagol. The fact that he was corrupted so quickly points towards the likelihood that Smeagol was a bit of a shit person before he got his hands on the One Ring. Unfortunately for the One Ring, Smeagol turned out to be an awful bearer for it, providing it no easy way of getting back to Sauron. That's why it "escapes" the moment Bilbo rocks up in the caves.


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

[User] ELI5: How come spent nuclear fuel is constantly being cooled for about 2 decades? Why can't we just use the spent fuel to boil water to spin turbines?

[Assistant]
Spent nuclear fuel just doesn't produce enough heat to make it useful for producing steam. The amount of power you'd get out of it that way simply would never pay for the cost of building and running the system.

It can be recycled however. Spent fuel still contains a lot of useful radioisotopes and there are types of reactors designed to recycle the spent fuel back into usable nuclear fuel. The problem is, that on top of the normal political concerns with nuclear reactors, recycling can produce plutonium, which is used in nuclear weapons. Because it is very difficult to tell the difference between a fuel recycling plant and a weapon-making plant from outside, many countries have decided to not recycle to avoid political and diplomatic troubles.


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

[User]
The Myth Of Sisyphus

What does Camus mean by "What, then, is that incalculable feeling that deprives the mind of the sleep necessary to life? A world that can be explained even with bad reasons is a familiar world. But, on the other hand, in a universe suddenly divested of illusions and lights, man feels an alien, a stranger. His exile is without remedy since he is deprived of the memory of a lost home or the hope of a promised land. This divorce between man and his life, the actor and his setting, is properly the feeling of absurdity.
"

[Assistant] The actual human circumstance is one of total alienation from an unexplainable universe.  This is what keeps people up at night, not merely an understandable but hostile universe - you could at least figure out how to cope with that.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are Black American families on average living in poverty more so than other American Ethnicities?

[Assistant]
It hasn't been that many years since discrimination against black people was legal in most of the nation. Those sorts of laws have a large impact. You had many black people who didn't get equal educations to white people, who weren't getting hired for well paying jobs, who didn't have hopes for the future because of racist laws and racist policies in workplaces. That has an impact. If you didn't get a good job, you raise your children in poverty. And it is difficult for people to escape the cycle of "born poor, live in a bad neighborhood, get married to another poor person, and have poor kids."

It will take generations for real change to happen in this regard.


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

[User]
[Marvel] I just read something about Peter Parker making a serum to get rid of his powers. Couldn't he just stop using them?

What's stopping him from not using his powers?

[Assistant] While he can choose not to climb walls, his other powers are basically involuntary. He has to be careful not to squash things with his super strength. His senses are highly tuned and constantly giving him far more input than he needs to run an ordinary life. So taking a break from all that might not be a bad idea.


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

[User] [Vampires] Can vampires use the face unlock feature of modern smartphones like latest iPhones?

[Assistant]
Back in the day, it was believed that mirrors reflected your soul, and since vampires have no souls, they have no reflections.

In modern times, Tik Tok Stars also have no souls and their smartphones work fine, so vampires are okay to use them too.


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

[User]
[Big Rigs] What allows the Big Rig to accelerate to 12.3 undecillion mph and pass through solid objects with ease?

Seriously, what arcane technology is this?

[Assistant]
The engine is partially based on B.S. Johnson's mail sorter.

See, when you find a reality-breaking device the only possible course of action is to cram it into a truck and see what happens. The reverse gear isn't an euclidean disc, but a Johnsonian one with a pi of three. The moment you switch gears the local physics bail out, go for a lunch and return once you promise to be reasonable again.


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

[User] ELI5: How do we know that atoms exist?

[Assistant]
Let's say you have an apple. You (carefully) cut that apple in half. Now cut one of those halves in half. ANd take one of those and cut it in half. Keep doing that and you'll eventually get to a piece you just can't cut anymore. That's the starting point. Imagine we *could* cut it more, is there a point where we cut it so small that it stops being an apple?
Yes, we know that because we've taken those really tiny bits of apples and thrown them at each other really fast. After they hit, there were tons of pieces everywhere, but it turns out, none of them were apples.

**non-ELI5 explaination**
We know they exist because we've tested the hypothesis. We can take a particle accelerator and smash atoms of, say, helium together. The result is a lot of particles floating around, protons, neutrons, but no helium. It's just gone, we've broken it apart. Everything that made it up and all the energy is still there, but it has ceased being helium meaning that there is a limit; at a certain point the apple piece just stops being an apple.
Edit: Grammar.


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

[User]
CMV: Trump didn't beat or tie Hillary in the 2nd debate. She annihilated him.

I think Trump bombed the first debate, but blew the second far worse, especially considering the stakes. I felt Trump tied or even beat Clinton in the first third of the 1st presidential debate (on the economy), but decisively lost the last 2/3ds. I gave Clinton around a B- for the first debate, and Trump a D-. (For reference, I gave Tim Kaine a C- in the VP Debate, and Mike Pence a B/B+). For the second debate though, I'm giving Clinton a solid A and Trump a solid F.

I honestly think most of the CNN pundits saying he did well are being highly delusional. Or maybe they think that because the expectations for him were so low and he was graded on a curve. Yes, he didn't completely fall apart but that doesn't mean he did well. He really did nothing to help his candidacy, and is still losing. Clinton also effectively needled Trump for elite Republicans abandonment of his campaign in the wake of the tape.

I think this is where Trump's whole-in-the-ground expectations come into play. I would say Clinton won, by a tighter margin. She remained cool and composed, was measured and articulate like Pence, while Trump was very rambling, and often avoided questions and got way off script. The moderators held his feet to the fire to make him answer questions directly, and he make himself look boorish and unprofessional by arguing with Cooper so much, and interrupting Clinton, which she handled with tact.

Trump was worse than McCain in 2008 with regards to his body language with wandering around the stage, and seeming to hover behind Clinton is not a good look for him. He interrupted, was nasty, and complained incessantly about his speaking time.

I think he came off as a jumbled, angry, nervous mess consistently, although his worst performance was in the first 40 minutes over the sexual assault allegations. Trump accused the other nominee's spouse of rape, threatened to jail his opponent if he wins the election, and espoused conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory, which the moderators partly called him out for, and which he'll be eviscerated for by fact-checkers in the coming days. And yet, some in the media are calling it draw because he literally didn't light himself on fire.

I thought Clinton explained away the "public vs private" position well with by placing it into context (the Lincoln movie), and killed that issue dead in its tracks. Trump came off as unhinged and awkward. Clinton displayed effective political ju-jitsu by pivoting from the WikiLeaks dump to the its source, Russian government hackers who back Trump's candidacy, and relevantly hitting Trump on his pro-Kremlin rhetoric.

On taxes, he was a mess accusing Clinton over and over with not closing carried-interest, which she dispatched his comment relatively quickly and listing her detailed tax policy. She clarified Trump's plan would increase middle-class taxes, and she wouldn't raise taxes at all on households making $250,000 a year or less. She professionally apologized and took responsibility for the e-mails, while Trump didn't apologize for anything, making him look petty and immature. She articulately defended her 30-year old record and hashed out exactly what she's accomplished (CHIP, healthcare for 9/11 first responders, nuclear disarmament with Russia as SoS, etc.), and then laid out her specific plans for the future.

Almost every time Trump was cut off, it was in the middle of a drunken-uncle-on-Facebook-esque alt-right rant that was unrelated to the question. At least when Clinton got cut off, it was because she was getting into the weeds of her policies.

For Trump, I think it was more or less the same stream of consciousness he had last time. Maybe a little tighter but not by much. Clinton's a far better speaker. The visual optics favored her and she looked Presidential and calm, and didn't interrupt him. She didn't control the tone and tenor of the debate, but I think it's best she was restrained instead of attacking Trump more directly. He dug himself in a ditch and got called out by the moderators. She didn't engage in most of the attacks against her, which meant they were in the middle of a long, rambling rant of Trump's and quickly forgotten.

He was just nervous and angry and awkward, trafficking in hot-air answers. He wasn't as big of a disaster as people thought, and maybe that's why they're praising him. She's done a lot of town halls so her strong performance was to be expected and she actually looked the audience members in the eye and answered their questions directly.

She looked relaxed, smiled a lot,and laughed a lot (mostly at Trump's awkward attacks). She spoke intelligently and with details. He just looked psychotic, especially when he kept weirdly and randomly name-dropping Bernie Sanders. There's a part of me that is actually amazed at the lack of respect for Clinton's ability to debate, because even her "canned" answers knocked Trump out of it before ten minutes had passed.

Last night Donald Trump said:

- He hasn't paid federal taxes in 20 years
- As president, he will personally pick a judge to prosecute and put Clinton in jail
- Called Clinton a rape enabler, and Bill Clinton a rapist
- Doubled down on the "locker room talk" excuse
- Stated he had never done anything like he said on the sexual assault tape. Was condescending and aggressive about the tape, and proceeded to talk over Clinton and made no case for himself
- Went on rant after rant never answering the question that was asked
- Got completely lost time after time
- Continued to display plenty of hyperbole and alt-right anti-Clintonianism, and was very cold to the Muslim woman who asked about Islamophobia
- Did nothing to reassure women, people of color, or Muslims
- Sided with Russia and Iran on Syria and explicitly threw his VP pick, Mike Pence, under the bus on the topic
- Admitted he doesn't really talk with his VP pick that much
- Admitted he didn't know anything about Russia
- Had no idea about the legislative process and system of checks and balances (like wrt the carried interest tax loophole)
- Displayed his sheer lock of policy knowledge and foreign affairs, especially wrt the Syrian conflict
- Clinton had specific policy plans while Trump ranted about how horrible Clinton was and offering no real plans on his own
- Pointed like a petulant child saying Clinton's a disgrace and called her "the devil," saying she "has hate in her heart"
- Had no self-awareness
- accused the moderators of conspiring against him (thats three to one)

Trump had tons of embarrassing gaffes as well, such as "perhaps there was no hacking at all," "I don't know anything about Russia, etc. When asked about Aleppo, Trump talked for two minutes about random shits, and Raddatz had to call him out and repeat the question.

These statements will be the real legacy of the debate. They can all be translated into sound bites and quick clips that will be on the morning shows and attack ads. Fact-checkers at NYT, CBS, PolitiFact, NPR, WaPo, etc., have already decimated Trump on the substance, and his incongruities, blatantly false statements, and ridiculous assertions will dominate the news cycle. Its hard to find anything Trump said that wasnt either a lie or highly misleading. Moreover, early polling shows that voters feel Clinton had her decisive victory against Trump. The news cycle is already being very positive for Clinton due to the substance of her attacks on Trumps policy holding weight.

This election is over. We need to get used to saying "Madam President." According to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released today, Hillary Clinton has opened up a 14-percentage-point lead against Donald Trump nationally. In a four-way race involving third-party candidates, Clinton leads Trump by 11 percentage points. True, this poll was conducted after Trump's sexual assault tape and before last night's debate. By not completely imploding, Trump may have stanched the bleeding somewhat. But with early polls indicating that voters felt Clinton solidly won the second debate, Trump's extremely unlikely to gain much ground.

The question now isn't whether Clinton will win, it's whether she can preserve or even expand her commanding lead. As of now, Democrats are set to win both the presidency and U.S. Senate, but Republicans are very, very likely to retain control of the House. But remember, a double-digit win in the presidential popular vote is approximately what Clinton needs for her coattails to be strong enough to flip control of the House to Democrats.

The worst contrasts where when Clinton answered the Muslim girl vs Trump (her "stronger together" message, saying she wants to create an America where everyone feels like they belong), and the question about who is a better role model for youth. Trump came off as a dangerous demagogue while Clinton came off as very presidential, professional, and inclusive. Trump's strategy was literally. deflect, insult, interrupt, negative barb, sensationalize, and sniff loudly.

To me Clinton remained calm. Trump went all over. To me she seemed more presidential, prepared, knowledgeable, positive, and uplifting. While Trump was negative and evasive.

Trump looked completely out of his depth in places to the point where the moderators had to jump in and force him to answer a question specifically or tell him he was just wrong (announcing battle plans as psychological warfare and/or as a warning to civilians to get out). He said some absurd things (Captain Khan would be alive). He lied about saying he opposed the Iraq War and was called out on it. He was all over the place in most of the questions (Alicia Machado to Benghazi in seven seconds; the Supreme Court question ended with him challenging Hillary to donate $30 million to hersel!!?). I think he brought Paula Jones et al assuming that Hillary would take the bait like he did with Machado and didn't really have a plan B for them.

One thing I've noticed about Clinton is she will rarely directly go after Trump, even when given the opportunity. She makes it about his temperament, judgment, or policies. She is so even and calm I think it plays well against someone like Trump. I think she made a strategic effort to focus on the issues. Trying to correct all of Trump's lies would have taken too much time. I applaud her for remaining above the fray. She looked at the audience often and engaged with them while Trump was just sniffling away. Clinton had far better answers on unifying the country.

Clinton did give great policy statements, too. I really liked her response to the question on energy policy. She acknowledged the security benefits of energy independence, while promoting renewable, clean energy sources and addressing climate change. Clinton displayed a mastery of policy, facts, and logic. I liked her answer on using national gas to transition to renewable energy, and how she'll help coal country adapt. Trump's response on energy was awful substance-wise.

Whatever her flaws, I think Clinton has shown an impressive command of policy in the debates. Every single time Trump litigated the fact that Clinton has been in Washington for 30 years and somehow all our problems aren't gone, he displayed his awful, fundamental misunderstanding of how the federal government works. U.S. Senators don't have autocratic power. And we've been in divided government for the past 30+ years.

I think Trump came off as a petulant, tantrum-throwing child while Clinton came across as professional and even likable (something she's often failed to do. Like, I thought she was nervous and robotic in the first debate, whereas she was pretty calm and confident last night).

[Assistant]
Trump did well for what was happening over the weekend;

* He still has his VP on his side.

* He has the Republican National Committee still supporting him.

* No new Republicans denouncing him. (Ryan already denounced him before the debate)

If he didn't perform, he wouldn't have had any of this. They were really close to dropping him and saving their own jobs.

> She looked relaxed, smiled a lot,and laughed a lot

Clinton smile comes off as smug and trying too hard.


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

[User] Why do small blackholes emit more Hawking radiation than large ones?

[Assistant]
First, let's consider what temperature *is*. Ultimately temperature is the number that two materials have in common after they've been in contact for a long time. We find that it is the change in energy divided by the change in entropy (dE/dS); if you bump a system a little and give it a tiny bit more entropy, its energy will change by the temperature of the system. (more or less).

Well, we see that the energy of a black hole is its mass. But what is its entropy?

Well the whole idea of Hawking radiation comes around with this idea that the entropy (in an information theory sense) of a black hole is proportional to the *surface area* of the black hole. (specifically if you measured the surface area in square planck-lengths).

So when you change the entropy a tiny bit, you're increasing the surface area. Surface area goes like r^(2), right? And the Schwarzschild radius is directly proportional to the mass of the black hole. E is proportional to M; so entropy is proportional to surface area is proportional to r^2 is proportional to E^(2). S=kE^2 , ie.

Edited( see comments below)
1/T = dS/dE = 2kE. -> T is inversely proportional to E, mass, or radius.

Ie, as the mass of a black hole grows, it gets *colder*. As a black hole loses mass, it gets hotter.

What do hot things do? They glow. They emit radiation. So as the black hole shrinks, it heats up, it emits more radiation, shrinking more, heating up more, and eventually just evaporates in a puff of particles produced in the radiation.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do American colleges and universities spend millions of dollars on non-revenue generating athletic teams?

[Assistant]
They DO generate revenue.  Just not directly. It is advertising for schools.

Schools with great athletic teams have high numbers of applicants regardless of the tuition charged.  Great athletic teams also result in generous alumni donations.  Every time you watch "your" team play, it renews your sense of loyalty to your school making you more likely to send a donation when that letter or phone call comes.


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

[User] ELI5: How do QR codes work, and why can my phone recognize one before I get the entire thing in view of the camera?

[Assistant]
QR codes work in quite a complicated way, but the short answer is that they're designed to continue working even if damaged. You can cover something like 1/3 of the code and it'll still read, which is how the QR codes with logos and things in the centre still work - they aren't cleveley generated, they're just slapping the image in there and trusting to maths that it'll still work.

That's why the phone can read it before seeing the whole thing - it's using the redundancy built into the code.


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

[User]
[Warcraft] What's with these cow-people and elevators?

So there's these cow-people, right? Tauren. I hear they're way big into plains and grassy fields and being nomads and things, which okay, playing into your own stereotypes a little there but okay. But what I don't get is why a plains-dwelling species insists on cobbling together these rickety wooden elevators everywhere they go?

Thunder Bluff is only one example. I remember there being an elevator down what used to be a big old canyon before the whole Deathwing debacle. Several, actually! And now I only just made it to the Broken Isles and what's the first thing I come across? A tauren town full of elevators! It's barely even much of a town, but you can be damn sure they built several elevators into the damn thing.

I get why the dwarves and gnomes are into that stuff, they live inside mountains and are real handy with engineering. But these down-to-earth plains-running hippy cow dudes? I don't remember them having a time-honored tradition of engineering acumen!

[Assistant]
The alternative to elevators are ladders, and if you think that climbing sixty metres of those to reach your workplace is a good idea, you obviously don't weigh three hundred kilograms and walk on hooves.

And it's not like they're high-tech or anything. They are basically huge enchanted totems which go up and down, rather than a marvel of modern science.

Also, if you think that taurens are hippies, you are sorely mistaken. I've seen more than a few gore small kodos to ribbons with those horns of theirs.


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

[User]
[The Mummy 1999] What exactly made the Hom-Dai curse so terrible?

It's said to be the worst of the ancient curses, but all we're shown is the sole recipient of said curse kicking ass, taking names, and throwing plagues around like candy.  Considering Imhotep killed a pharaoh (considered a god in human form by the Egyptians), there's no way he got off that easy.

[Assistant]
It's literally a fate worse than death.

To begin with the mummification part is particularly traumatic. Imagine being kept alive and able to feel the pain that comes from having your  brains and organs removed with a metal hook as part of the mummification process.

Then you're covered by thousands of flesh-eating scarab beetles that proceed to eat you alive from the inside out, and slowly regenerating only to be eaten alive again, in a cycle that will make you experience excruciating pain for all eternity.

The curse also makes it so that the soul will never rest or move on to the other side either. You can't do anything to escape the pain , depression and sheer lonliness while being confined to a coffin or buriel chamber for all eternity in a weird state between being alive and being dead. You'll also never see or interact with people again so you're on your own for all eternity experiencing the worse emotional, mental and physical pain imaginable.


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

[User]
Considering the fact that Iron exists in blood, does the blood flow get affected around powerful magnets?

Like MRI scanners, etc? Posing the question differently what is the minimum magnetic intensity required to change the direction of an RBC in a hypothetical situation?

[Assistant]
Iron in blood is not ferromagnetic.

hemoglobin has magnetic properties that change based on its oxygen bound/unbound state. That is the principle behind observing activation areas in the brain using MRI.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How can a Jedi padawan have a different lightsaber dueling style than his master?

Since the master trains him and all.

[Assistant]
Generally, the master's role is more akin to that of a moral adviser, nanny, or thought-police, training the padawan in how to be a better slave to the Order's whims. Training in lightsaber forms is done in a more formal setting in daily communal practices both with other masters and with holocrons.

That is, the master trains the padawan in how to be a Jedi in mind and spirit. Teaching more mundane things like how to tie your robe or lightsaber forms is generally not specific to one master.


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

[User]
[WH40K/Star Wars] What is more powerful, the force, or the shadow over the warp?

If the universes intertwined, could we assume that Tyranids have midichlorians?

[Assistant]
I might not grasp the full scope of the shadow over the warp, as most in the imperium have yet to fully study the tyranids, correct me if i'm wrong.

The shadow is an aura that occurs due to the psychic presence of the tyranid fleet in a given area. It represents the massive psychic presence of the hive and the mental energies necessary to control millions of tyranids. It is so powerful that it nullifies most other psychic signals with in the fleets vicinity. Since most planets in the Imperium use psyker to communicate between planet and navigate the void, the shadow effectively cuts off planets from calling for help or warning others. It even gives the eldar fareseers trouble and makes most psychic users useless. Sometimes it even causes global nightmares in a planet's population spreading dread and panic amongst the populace well before they realize a tyranid fleet is near.

I do not believe the shadow can be used actively, but is the result of the presence of the tyranid fleet mental energies. While the tyranids do have some psychic units, they are not channeling the shadow, but rather their energies probably contribute to the shadow itself.

The Force exists in most if not all things, but can be harnessed actively by those who are attuned to it. When properly channeled a skilled user can produce great feats, but most pale in magnitude to any properly trained psyker / librarian in the imperiums ranks.

The shadow is much more passive, the force plays a much more active role. Both are powerful in their own respect, but different enough where they might be hard to compare. As the force doesn't function like most pskers in the imperium, they might be able unscathed by the shadows aura.

That being said, the tyranids would probably have no problem dealing with force users. The strongest jedi would probably be considered fairly weak by imperial standards. There would be no jedi mind tricks that could work, most who make psychic contact with the tyranids die or go insane.


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

[User] [Avatar: The Last Airbender] Had Katara healed Zuko's scar before Aang and Iroh interrupted them, would Zuko still have sided with Azula(in the moment)? How differently do you think the war wouldve played out?

[Assistant] I think it would have still ended up with Zuko siding with Azula. His desire to be accepted again by his father would still be as strong, but  maybe he would try to protect Katara a little more from Azula in their fight.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do some games make you press X (or whatever button) to start a game when I just started it? Why wont the game take me to the main menu automatically?

[Assistant]
This prevents a static image from remaining on the TV. If you don't press "start" or "x" the game will usually present a trailer or gameplay footage. While this may not be as important on new TVs, older TV and Arcade games could have a static image burned into the screen if it remained for too long.

I assume it's mostly outdated at this point but it continues on as tradition.


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

[User]
[Dragon Ball] What does Chi-Chi see in Goku?

She consistently tries to change pretty much all the character traits he has, they don't share any interests or viewpoints, and most of her lines to him are just her complaining about things about him that she doesn't like.

On top of that, Goku doesn't seem like husband material in the slightest. The only reason he even married Chi-Chi in the first place was because she basically guilted him into doing so. People say he's a crappy dad, but it runs deeper than that, since he seems completely uninterested in ANYTHING family-related. According to his own statements in Trunks' Future, he's never so much as kissed Chi-Chi even once, and I can't remember him ever even telling her that he loves her (in fact, I think you could make a pretty convincing argument that Goku is completely ace).

So why does Chi-Chi stay in a really one-sided "relationship" where everything is bad and nothing is good? Why not just take Gohan and Goten and go off somewhere else and let Goku have some peace?

[Assistant] When Chi-Chi and Goku were very young, Goku had a habit of nonchalantly patting people on their crotch to determine their sex, especially women and girls. He did this to Chi-Chi at one point and after she got over the initial shock, that's when Chi-Chi decided that they would be married some day. She has remained committed to that decision out of stubbornness.


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

[User] Why does taking a shower, whether hot or cold, seem to energize you?

[Assistant]
you can condition yourself to feel that way after a shower.  i always shower before bed and taking a shower relaxes me and usually makes me feel sleepy.

you may be experiencing observational bias, or you may have conditioned yourself to feel energized after taking a shower.


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

[User]
[DC] Can aquaman drown?

I know this sounds silly but bear with me.

Fish technically can drown, but not in the same way we do. They breathe by having water move across their gills, but if the gills are damaged or water cannot move across them then the fish will suffocate.

Would Aquaman face a similar problem, or would his Atlantean biology save him?

[Assistant] Fish breathe water by filtering oxygen out of the water that passes through their gills. In theory you could take all of the oxygen out of the water and he would suffocate just as any human would when there's no oxygen in the air.


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

[User] ELI5: How does tempered glass work? How does it stop the actual screen from cracking?

[Assistant]
The idea of tempered glass is that they make it so that the surface of the glass is squeezed hard - it is under compression. To balance this, the inside of the glass is being pulled apart, or 'under tension'

This means that it takes a lot of force to break the surface of the glass, because that would involve pulling it apart, but you can't pull it apart, because it is being pushed together.

They do this generally in one of two ways - either they cool the glass down quickly, so the outside sets before the inside cools and contracts; or they use chemistry to stuff big atoms into the glass. These big atoms take up more space, pushing on their neighbours, squashing them and making that compression.


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

[User]
ELI5 : Heaven. My 7 yr old asked, Im stumped.

Necessary background : Im atheist, personally I have found religion to be utter bullshit, but that is something I found for myself. I would like to not color her opinion, and allow her to make her own informed decision. I left the answer at 'We can discuss it later' which my inner Nietzsche got a lol out of.

So what do you think, lay it out for her and tell her there is no god? (Shed have to accept this on faith then....) Or do I tell her there probably isnt a heaven (Crush Santa Clause solution... seems cold, esp. for a 7 yr old to hear). I dont want to lie to her, thats what churches do and I dont appreciate that. But on the other hand, shes very close to a great grandpa who is about to die (he may make it to Jan but I doubt it), so these questions are important and formative to her. I guess (and I see this after writing this) that my goals are for her to have a strong open mind, and a peaceful inner nature... so how would you proceed?

[Assistant]
Is she already familiar with the idea that people sometimes have conflicting opinions?

I'd probably say something along the lines of "some people believe [Christianity stuff], and some people believe [other religion stuff - reincarnation, probably], and some people believe that there's nothing like that and what we see in the world is all that there is", and then either talk about why people have those different beliefs (comfort, being raised in  religion, evidence) or ask her what she thinks.


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

[User]
Eli5. US dollar value goes up: great for American worker. US dollar value goes up- bad for US businesses. How are the two true and not mutually exclusive.

Difficulty level: rocket surgery

Source: I don't know shit.

[Assistant]
When the US dollar goes up, buying things not made in the US becomes cheaper for people in the US. For the average consumer, buying fruits grown in Chile, clothes made in Bangladesh, and toys made in China, this is a pretty good deal.

When the US dollar goes up, businesses that sell stuff made in the US to people outside the US either need to raise prices or get less US dollars worth of value for their stuff. Doing either one will hurt their profits.

The downsides to US businesses only become especially bad for the US consumer if the dollar swings so much that the business has to start laying off its US workers because they can't earn enough money to pay them any more. Currency swings usually aren't *that* wide- it will eat into company's profits, but it won't threaten to make them go out of business. It does make offshoring cheaper, but companies that wanted to move to China for cheap labor have largely already done so.


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

[User]
[Pokemon] Why do legendary pokemon tolerate human trainers?

I understand that a strong-willed trainer can convince a strong pokemon not to turn on him, but with godlike legendary pokemon it's just ridiculous. Does the master ball have some kind of mindslave tech built into it?

[Assistant] Why wouldnt they? Ignoring the non-godlike legendaries (Lugia etc) a legendary is immortal. A god of whatever force it rules over. A normal human trainers lifespan is nothing but a drop in their endless ocean. So why not spend a drop kick'n it with some random kid trainer that had the balls to try and catch you?


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

[User] Do old crt television sets have a native resolution?

[Assistant]
Hi - I've done a whole lot of electronics back in the day when CRTs were a thing, including work with actual CRT tubes and control circuits.

Monochrome CRTs don't really have a native resolution.

Most mono CRTs have a focus control grid that, basically, focuses the beam of electrons on the phosphorus. By tweaking the potential on that grid you can get the bright spot to diminish to a minimum size. That's basically the thickness of one line of image (kind of like a horizontal line of pixels, but not quite the same). Divide the height of the screen by the thickness of the line and you get the vertical resolution.

Horizontal resolution is a bit tricky. Basically, it boils down to how quickly you can modulate the beam as it moves left-to-right on the phosphorus. Modulate it very quickly and you get great horizontal resolution. In practice, the control circuits have a top frequency that they can pass through, so they won't allow you infinite crispness in the horizontal direction. Regardless, the size of the electron spot on the phosphorus is again a main limiting factor.

In general, for most real-life monochrome CRT displays, horizontal resolution is at best equal to vertical resolution, and it depends on how well you can focus the electron beam, but it's not really a "native" resolution. There's a soft upper bound to it (you can't infinitely increase resolution), and that's it. Short answer: no, they don't have a "native" resolution.

---

Color CRTs are different. Classic color CRTs have a mask in front of the phosphorus, with holes in it. Beneath each hole there's a triad of RGB phosphorus dots on the actual screen. In this sense, their resolution is fixed in both directions (horizontal and vertical), and they have "pixels" almost like a modern color screen.

So you could say classic color CRTs have a "native" resolution like an LCD, plasma, LED, OLED, etc.

Trinitron color CRTs replace the mask with a series of vertical wires, and the phosphorus dots are replaced with vertical RGB bands. Behind each gap between two vertical wires there's a vertical RGB band.

So therefore, for a Trinitron color CRT the horizontal resolution is fixed ("native"), just like a classic color CRT, whereas their vertical resolution depends on the focus setting, just like monochrome CRTs.


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

[User]
Why does cancer appear so many years later?

The toxic dust from 9/11 caused hundreds/thousands of cancer cases every year.
If the cancer cases happened a year or two after the initial exposure Id understand. But why are they so latent/dormant for so many years? Is it because the dust was just sitting in their lungs doing damage over years?

[Assistant]
Here is a simplistic general explanation:

Our bodies immune system and other mechanisms  is responsible for clearing any abnormal cells, that includes cells that turn cancerous, you could have cancerous cells form I. Your body everyday but as long as the immune system clears then you are good.

Carcinogenic stuff, work by causing mutations in the cells that replicate as part of the normal life cycle of each cell, the more carcinogenic compounds you have, the more mutations or mistakes happen in the replication process. These mistakes result in abnormal cells the immune system recognize them and kill them.

But the immune system also have mechanisms that temper its zeal, if it gets exposed to a substance long enough, it starts to ignore it sometimes, or react in a less aggressive manner. This is an important feature of the immune system, because without it, you will just develop stronger and stronger reactions to everything you get exposed to. People with autoimmune problems have reactions that are not being controlled properly.

When some one has been exposed to carcinogenic stuff long enough, as well as general aging process. overtime the cells will develop more mutations, eventually creating a cell line with just enough mutation to become cancerous but without anything that triggers the immune system properly, and also, the immune system gets to see these kinda mutations frequently enough it starts to treat them like self antigens and starts ignoring them. This makes for the correct circumstances for a cancer to start actually growing without being checked by the body, and the person now have an actual cancer.


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

[User]
ELI5: What does Putin "get" out of destabilizing Ukraine?

I can't believe that he honestly expects a unification of some or even any of the former soviet bloc countries so what end does it serve by supporting and aiding anti-Western rebels?

[Assistant] It prevents an organized and capable ally of EU interests (or worse, one-day NATO member) from sitting at his border; it sows discord among his foes (via disputes over sanctions, providing arms to Ukraine, etc); and it provides a warning to other former Soviet States (Georgia, Kazakhstan, and others) about what their future looks like if they try to distance themselves from Russia diplomatically/economically/militarily.


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

[User] [Star Wars] By the time of Episode 4, has Anakin come to terms with the fact that he's an enforcer for a brutal fascist empire, or is he actually dumb enough to believe he's still "defending the security of the empire"?

[Assistant]
I think he just hates himself and everything around him to the point that he can't see things any other way. He does terrible things, and they fuel the dark side rage, which in turn pushes him to do more terrible things. The dark side like an addiction. And what better way to feed his power than through the violence and oppression of the Empire.

Oh also Palpatine has a leash on him, and any actual threat or betrayal will result in Vader's death. He was a born a slave and under Palpatine he was a slave again, but in a different way. He only really starts to plot against Palpatine after learning of his son's existence.


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

[User]
ELI5:why does it cost more to make your own trail mix ?

If you buy a bag of trail mix, it may cost you about $7-$10 without any expensive items (e.g macadamia nuts). If I tired to make the same serving, but buying the ingredients separately (e.g. 1 bag of peanuts, 1 bag of m & ms, 1 bag of dried fruit) ends up being 3X the price , even if I buy in bulk to make multiple servings. Why doesn't it work like buying a sandwich? Buying a sandwich cost about 5 bucks, but you can buy bread, lettuce, mayo, etc. and the cost comes out to about $1 -$3 bucks. Same thing with hamburgers, hot dogs, pretty much any meal or snack except trail mix. Why doesn't this apply to trail mix?

[Assistant]
I would assume that it's because the companies will buy the ingredients in bulk, whereas you buy smaller quantities. It normally costs far less per amount (say, 20g of macadamia nuts) if you buy a huge bag (and then split it into smaller portions) than if you buy a small bag. Therefore, the costs of making the trail mix are less so they can sell it to you for less.

Same concept as when you buy a single pack of crisps or a multipack. The multipack will cost less per pack of crisps than your individual single pack would cost you.


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

[User]
Do spiders have concept of memory / facial recognition?

bit of a story

Last week I noticed a spider on the side of the house. I didn't kill it because they the small ones that kill little insects. Then one day i took out the step ladder which was apparently connected to the webs and accidentally destroyed parts of the web, i say sorry and go on to do my task. I came back the next day to return the ladder and see that it has rebuilt its house, but everytime i go there now i get slinged with webs. Never got slinged before i destroyed its house.

[Assistant]
Likely they remember that they made a web and it was partly dismantled so the next one is built differently to try to avoid a similar result.

That assumes that it's the same spider.

I am pretty sure that the spider is not out to get you.

Don't take any chances though.


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

[User]
Current Master's Program and PI may not be a good fit. What should I do?

Bit of a long one, but I could seriously need some advice from knowledgeable people outside my obviously biased friend group.

Back in the spring of this year, I decided that I wanted to enter a Master's program in Biomedical Engineering to build my skills before doing a PhD. My undergraduate career included a great deal of research but lacked formal experience in synthetic biology and cell therapies which is what I would like to do next, so I thought this would be a good way to prepare myself. I found a professor in Texas at a public university who has experience with the skills I felt I needed (lots of computer modeling, synthetic biology, genome editing, miRNA techniques), and I reached out to him about joining his lab. He told me that I would be a good fit for his lab and that I should apply to the program. He also said that he had all the cells and equipment I would need to pursue my interests and that he was also interested in what I wanted to do my thesis on.

Fast forward a bit, I have been accepted to the program. I am not scheduled to begin classes until the Spring of 2019, but I have already accepted the offer to attend the university. The professor I want to work with (who seems to be the only professor doing systems *and* synthetic biology at the university) has started being more unreliable. He has told me that he wants to meet at least once a month until I actually begin classes (which I was excited about). I have to send several emails to get a single reply usually over a week after my initial email, and he doesn't follow up after meetings/conversations with papers or contact information for people of relevance like he said he would. A few days ago he left the lab early (the guard informed me that he had gone home for the day) despite us having a meeting scheduled to discuss courses I should take, research topics, his recent publications, how methods used in those recent publications could be relevant to my research, potential for collaborations, the list could go on. Needless to say, this was going to be a very important meeting. He then changed his RSVP on Outlook and declined the invitation for the meeting an hour and a half *after* it was supposed to start with no explanation. I took off time from my internship for the meeting, waited for over 30 minutes, and even tried calling the lab phone. I emailed him that night, but still haven't received a reply.

I'm not short on options. My GRE score was high enough to have a shot at most places I've looked, I have a high GPA from undergrad (BS in biochemistry with minors in math and biology), and some pretty extensive research (for an undergrad) and extracurricular activities, plus my current internship at a biotech company. I am rooted in this city for now because I have a house here, so I'm not looking to leave (yet), but there are other schools and a highly ranked Medical Center within driving distance. I have also heard that my company is looking to hire the current interns (including me) after our internship, and it is a real possibility that I would be able to transition into R&D. Then I could go do my PhD somewhere more on the cutting edge for cell therapies, synthetic biology, and/or systems biology.

Okay, so that's the background (Hoping I'm meeting this subreddit's rules on sufficient information). So, now on to what I need to do. Since I was only really interested in going to the school because of the research of that one professor, I wouldn't mind leaving and applying elsewhere. The main questions are "Can I?" and "Should I?"

If I contact the university and try to back out after having accepted my offer for enrollment, will that put a mark of some kind on me for other institutions to see?

Should I back out and apply elsewhere, or am I overreacting? I would hate to work with someone this unreliable, and if he's too busy to handle email correspondence and monthly meetings then how on earth would he handle having another person in his lab?

Edit: removed general location names. Not trying to harm any reputations here.

[Assistant] Your instincts are spot on. You dont want to work with this professor. (Ps you should remove your location in this post, thats pretty identifying.) It sounds like you know what you want to do enough that you could apply straight to PhD programs.


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

[User] [Bioshock] Before everything went to shit how did the average person arrived to Rapture? Did they all have to take the same lighthouse?

[Assistant] Bioshock 2's arg "there is something in the sea" revealed that people disappeared off beaches presumably by submarine. Of course this is only those Ryan sought out for his new city. Much of the construction crews/future working class was recruited for a special hush hush job and shipped out without realising they wouldn't be allowed back.


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

[User] ELI5: Noise cancelling headphones: how can sounds waves disable other sound waves? Is it possible that before the external sound wave travels the space between my headphones external microphone and my ear, my device has enough time to produce a sound wave that perfectly cancels it out?

[Assistant] Sound is pressure waves. And when one sound wave creates low pressure and another creates high pressure they end up canceling each other out in that perticular spot where they cross. The noise cancelling headphones just make sure that the spot where these waves cancel is right at the entrence of your ear canal. They are able to do this because the microphones are much farther away from your ear then the speakers and electricity travels almost instantanious while the speed of sound is much slower. The headphones may still employ techniques to predict the noises before they happen by analyzing the frequency and the rhythm of the various noises it picks up.


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

[User]
If skin cells are one of the fastest replicating cells, how come moles, and birth marks dont disappear over time?

Same goes for warts and scars.

[Assistant] Moles are still skin cells. So imagine you have an area of skin, and some part of it is mole cells and some is regular cells. Both parts are sluffing (losing skin cells) at similar rates, and then replacing those cells at similar rates. So the shape and structure of moles might change overtime, but on average they dont change much because they are in sync with the growth/loss of the cells around them.


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

[User]
[Cloverfield] When Marlena was bitten by the smaller monster, what happened to her?

In the scene, Marlena was bitten by another creature that looked like louse or mite from Clover, and she ended up exploding later on.  What exactly happened to her that led to such a violent reaction from the bite?

[Assistant]
There is a unique chemical compound in the saliva of the human-sized parasites (HSP). The compound causes the signs and symptoms you see at first: dizziness, hemorrhaging from the eyes and nose, and vomiting blood. Eventually, the reaction with the body becomes severe--specifically in the chest cavity--causing an explosion in the central cavity of the victim.

Not much else is known at the moment; the exact mechanics behind the bites is still being researched.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do we get accustomed to things like glasses, rings, wrist watches etc on our body. Why do we not feel weird after some time as we do when we first wear them?

I've always felt that the glasses, jewelery etc are a part of my body. Its only when I touch them or see them that I feel there is something on my body which can be detached.

[Assistant]
The human mind is conditioned to react to change because that skill is an important thing for basic survival. That tree sitting there, completely still, is not a threat. But the wild boar charging you from underneath it is. That rabbit that just moved could be a food source. And that spider crawling on your shoulder that you feel rather than see is possibly a threat too.

So these 'changes' in sensation are things your brain reacts to, and it filters out older stuff that get in the way of your ability to pay attention to those changes because you can only pay attention to so many things.

A bracelet, a ring, a watch, even a dental filling feels weird at first. It's a change and it's out of place. But eventually your brain turns it off because other things are potentially more threatening or interesting for it to pay attention to.


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

[User] [General Fiction] Why are werewolves or like creatures always fighting with their claws like cats instead of biting and going for the throat like actual wolves/canines?

[Assistant]
There are all types of werewolves; some are actual wolves [Hemlock Grove] and others are human/wolf chimeras [the classic Hollywood Wolf Man.]

The chimeras fight with their hands because that's how they would fight as humans.


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

[User]
[The Expanse] Why are laser weapons not prevalent?

In the year 2018 laser weapons are getting increasingly powerful, to the point where they're already actively deployed on some naval ships and capable of shooting down missiles and destroying small craft. After several centuries of development that'd presumably make them far more powerful, why are they not common place on all military vessels?

[Assistant] Laser weapons are somewhat effective over the knife fight ranges on earth, but in space are fucked over by diffraction and ablative armour. A semi stationary laser platform with a massive mirror could remain effective over longer distances and could destroy unarmoured bits like weapons and comms antennae. Installing them on ships however would be a waste of mass and heat when missiles beat them in every metric except ammunition mass and cost per shot, and kinetics cover those two.


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

[User]
If cosmic microwave background radiation is traveling to us from a little after the Big Bang, at the speed of light, then how did we get here first?

Presumably the photons of the CMBR are moving faster than the matter we're made of. So shouldn't those photons have passed this point long before we got here?

[Assistant] The big bang wasn't an explosion in space at a point, away from which we're now flying. It was the expansion of *all* of space. For several hundred, thousand years after the initial singularity, the universe was too hot and dense for light to travel. Any time it was produced, it would immediately be absorbed by something nearby. But around 370,000 years after the initial singularity, the expansion caused the universe to cool sufficiently that neutral atoms were able to form. When that happened, light was emitted from *everywhere* in *all directions*. The light we're seeing as the CMB today comes from points that were so far away at that time that their light has taken 13+ billion years to reach us. Light from closer points passed us earlier, and light from more distant points will reach us eventually (except for some *really* distant points from which light may never reach us).


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

[User]
I believe that giving gay marriage an alternate title would solve a few issues on the matter. CMV

1. I am 100% for gay marriage, and I personally do not care if it is called marriage.

2. However, I do believe that by allowing gays to get "married" we are effectively changing the definition of a word which was held sacred for centuries and I think it is analogous to changing the word "bible" to include any religious text.

3. Therefore, I believe that changing the term for gay couples back to "civil unions" or anything else with ALL the same benefits as a marriage would solve many issues regarding protecting the sanctity of the word marriage and also would make it clear that you were gay (reduce awkwardness, etc.)

EDIT: remember, personally or morally I do not think that gays should have to change their title for marriage but I DO believe it would solve many issues that are holding back gays from gaining widespread acceptance and would do more good than harm.

[Assistant]
I agree that this is a practical solution that will provide gay couples with the desire outcome they wish.

However,

I argue that gay couples are entitle to the term marriage as a straight couple.  You argue that it is a term people hold sacred.  Gay couples also hold the term sacred.  and Under our constitution, why would they not be entitled to use the term marriage?

Shouldn't the better solution be to remove marriage fro everyone, and that everyone has to use "civil unions".  Both straight and gay couples are civil unions.  You can get your marriage licenses from churches.


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

[User]
[40K] Does Imperium know history before Age of Strife, like world wars etc. and if not, how did calendar survive?

^ Is Imperial calendar even same as ours by the way? Is "40k" really 40k?

[Assistant]
The Imperial Calender is actually pretty complex; it would have to be to take into account all the different time zones and planets it encompasses, as well as any timey-wimey shenanigans involving the Warp. All time is still kept in "AD" like our calendar and is based on the date as taken from Earth, so time is still familiar, but it uses a system of "checks" to determine the relative accuracy of the date.

For example, a given date might be 01121015 M.41, meaning it's November the 21st, the year 015 of the 41st Millennium. The 0 at the beginning means this date was taken on Earth, and thus is perfectly accurate. A 1 would mean it was taken within the Sol System and is thus still reasonably accurate, and the numbers rise from there. 2 is direct psychic contact with Sol, 3 is indirect contact with a 2, and so on and so forth of degrees of separation from Earth timekeeping.

The Adeptus Administratum use an alternate calender which seperates years into 1000 part equal parts, rather than using months and days. It's mostly just for record keeping, most citizens of the Imperium use the more traditional one.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why can raw white mushrooms sit out for days, but have a room temp safe life of 3 hours once fried?

What's the difference?

You've got raw white mushrooms and you can keep them out of the fridge for days and they'll be fine.

But fry them in some oil (which doesn't need refrigeration) and suddenly the recommendation is 2-3 hours room temp before you run the risk of bacteria and food poisoning.

Please explain, thanks!

[Assistant] If you watch a mushroom as you gently fry it, you'll see the point that it starts to produce moisture inside the cup.  That's caused by the cell walls breaking down, until then it's fairly robust and bacteria can't get in.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why isn't there a flat tax rate?

I can't understand why everyone is not taxed on the same percentage of their income and worth. Wouldn't it be a lot more fair if everyone was taxed at an equal percentage?

[Assistant]
The idea is that there is a minimum amount you need to spend to live (cheapest food possible, small home / flat, for the US a car etc.). We'll call this the cost of living. Everything they make above that can be used to buy nice things like better food, a bigger home, a big TV etc.

Say there is a city where the cost of living is $10,000 per year and there are 3 people: one earning $15,000 per year, one earning $35,000 per year and one earning $150,000 per year.

If there was a flat rate of 20% tax then they would take home $12,000, $28,000 and $120,000 after tax.

When you take off the cost of living then the poorest person has just $2,000 per year extra to spend, the middle earner has $18,000 left and the richest still has $110,000.

Now with a tax rate of 0% up to $10k, 15% up to $50k then 30% above that, the take home of everyone would be $14,250, $31,250 and $114,000

This means that the poorest person has twice as much ($4,250) they can spend, the middle earner has a bit more ($21,250) and the richest has slightly less but still earns a lot.

Basically poor people hardly pay any tax anyway because they earn very little, but by cutting that small amount further it greatly increases their standard of living, where for someone who already earns a lot slightly higher tax rate wouldn't make any difference to their standard of living.

Also something to remember is even if a person doesn't pay income tax there are lots of other taxes they pay (sales tax etc.) that means a large portion of their money still goes towards taxes.