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

[User]
[Avatar: TLA/K] Where does the firebenders' fire come from?

Firebeding doesn't seem to be like the other bending arts. Airbenders can only bend the air around them, earthbenders the soil and ground beneath their feet/in the area, and waterbenders need to have water handy to bend.

Firebenders, on the other hand, conjure gouts of fire from their fists and feet. Since fire is the reaction of oxygen with flammable materials, where is their fire coming from?

[Assistant]
All bending stems from a bender focusing and releasing their chi into their natural element through mental and physical exercises. For earth, water and airbenders, this makes nearby pieces of said element move or change depending on the bender's need.

Firebenders are theorized to be most closely related to the ancient-upon-ancient energybenders of times long past. Their chi doesn't "move" fire so much as their chi fuels a reaction that can then be controlled. Like a flame thrower combining liquid fuel, an open spark and a source of pressure to launch its deadly payload far away. (Real life flamethrower, not a video game melee-range-only weapon)

In this humble scholar's opinion, a firebender acts as the fuel source, spark and pressure all at once. When they perform a move, they draw from their sea of chi in the stomach, move the energy to their hand or foot, "spark" the chi through some means (probably another burst of energy, perhaps the breath. It has been said to be the most important and fundamental part of firebending after all) and then direct a stream of ignited energy out into the world.

Fire is life, not just destruction and burning. So instead of moving an outside element, firebenders are working with their inner energy more than any other bender. It's also why a firebender with no drive or motivation has such a hard time producing a flame. With no "inner fire" to truly WANT to bend, the chi moves weakly and cannot spark.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are a lot of my childhood memories feeling like dreams as I am older looking back?

[Assistant]
They're more distant, and you're further from the context they came to exist in. It's harder to really identify with who you were after so much change in who you are. The experience of 10 year old you is very different from the experience of 20 year old you.

You aren't remembering you, you're remembering you as you were. The bigger that gap gets, the more alien the memory seems.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Non-force users

What's the "best" or "proper" approach for a non-force sensitive being to take?  Could someone like Han or Admiral Ackbar quiet their mind and listen to the force at all, or is that only for those with force potential?  Should they defer all important questions to the Jedi ubermensch and get out of the way?  Should they just ignore the force and live their lives?

[Assistant] The Force flows through all things. And it guides all of us. Even if you ignore it, the will of The Force will shape your destiny. Luck and chance are just The Force at work, and even if you aren't sensitive to it's ebbs and flows, it works through you.


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

[User] ELI5 : Why do we get irritable when hungry ?

[Assistant] It has something to do with blood-glucose levels. When you go a long time without food the blood-glucose levels sink and your brain perceives it as life threatening. Also when your blood-glucose levels are low, the body will send out hormones to try to increase glucose levels. Those hormones can also make you feel stressed.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do most people talk to pets with a higher pitched voice?

Most people that I've met talk to their pets, or animals in general, with a higher pitched voice. Why is that?

[Assistant]
Habit and social convention mainly

But pets (especially dogs) tend to respond more positively to higher pitched sounds than lower pitches. Most likely it has to do with the lower pitched sounds (like growls and deep barks) being more aggressive/negative then higher pitcher sounds (yelps, howls, playful barks) etc in the wild.

But mainly just because it's a habit people have gotten into.


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

[User] [Marvel] Danny Rand was the protector of Kun-Lun, a Hero for Hire, and the CEO of Rand Enterprises all at once. How was he able to manage that busy of a schedule?

[Assistant] You think that's bad? Wolverine was on 2 X Teams, an Avenger, did guest appearances in other people's adventures, solo adventures, and taught and ran a school. He told the Avengers his mutant power was "time management."


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

[User]
ELI5: what is the best analogy explaining vaccination to laypeople?

[edit formatting] I've been trying (for about 2 years now) to come up with a good analogy for the vaccine debate... it's really quite difficult. I'd love to hear others' thoughts.

There are a few important components, and we'll refer to the analogy of vaccination as the "action" being considered for analogy, including, above all  something that is relatable to most people.

* the action is voluntary

* the action carries a significant benefit to the individual BUT ONLY when encountering a "challenge" and NOT AT ALL if there is no "challenge"

* the action carries a small risk to the individual (unpredictable) at the time of the action

* the action carries a benefit to others BUT ONLY when after encountering a "challenge" (and one could argue also ONLY if the "others" did not take the action, although not always... this is where complex herd immunity statistics come into play)

* the benefit to "others" increases (up to a point) as more and more people take the action

* non-action carries a risk to others BUT ONLY when encountering a "challenge" (although the "others" should typically be able to protect themselves by taking the action)

* some people cannot take the protective action due to mitigating circumstances

* _____ (am I missing anything?)

So... the best example I can think of is seatbelts (although it's not perfect).

* you choose to wear a seatbelt (although it is typically required by law)

* it may save your life (significant benefit) BUT ONLY if you're in an accident, otherwise it's not helpful (and can be a little annoying/discomforting  like a needle stick)

* tiny risk of seat belt injuries is possible but small [and the risk is only applicable in the case of a "challenge" like an accident, whereas a vaccination has the risk in the "action" not the "challenge"]

* in a serious car accident "challenge" there is a real risk of people bouncing around the car and injuring other passengers as a projectile if they didn't take the action (even though wearing a seatbelt doesn't protect you from others' bodies bouncing around).
* there is a limited benefit to "others" no matter how many people wear their seatbelt
* not wearing your seatbelt does not cause you any significant risk if you are not in an accident
* basically everyone can wear some type of seatbelt

Obviously it's not a perfect 1:1 match-up. I'd be really curious to hear if anyone has suggestions. THANKS!

[Assistant]
Think of your immune system as a bunch of soldiers in a fort.  If enemy soldiers get past the patrols and attack the fort, your soldiers might fight them off (you get well) or they might not (you get very ill and possibly die).  Going to the hospital to be treated for the infection (calling in reinforcements) can often help, but sometimes cannot.

How did the enemy soldiers get past your soldiers' patrols?  Their uniforms are unfamiliar, your soldiers have standing orders to attack only enemies they recognize.  If they attacked soldiers they should not, they might be killing soldiers that are on your side (this would be an autoimmune disorder).

A vaccine, then, is an intelligence dispatch to your immune system.  'Be on the lookout for these new enemy soldiers.  You'll recognize them as they are wearing the following uniforms...kill them on sight.'

And now, your immune system won't wait until the fort is attacked, the soldiers will attack the enemy soldiers immediately.

Continuing the analogy: some immunizations last a lifetime (such as for Polio) because the enemy soldiers never change their uniforms.  Other enemy soldiers, such as Influenza (the "Flu") swap parts of their uniforms around constantly, so your immune system fort needs intelligence dispatches every year.

Edit: expanding the analogy to address your question about risk.

So, there is a very small risk associated with being vaccinated.  Once in a while, someone's immune system fort will receive an intelligence dispatch and the soldiers will panic and attack friendly soldiers.  But as the experts will tell you, the risk is very small, and the risk of enemy soldiers overwhelming the fort is much greater.


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

[User]
[Predator] What does Predator eat and drink while on earth? Can he drink water?

I know he ate frozen beef in the second film, but thats not his preference i assume.  and is water a natural drink for him?

[Assistant] They can drink water fairly easily. Each hunter brings some small provisions with them but usually forages for local food. Anything with meat they usually will eat apparently being obligate carnivores. One IIRC had a small supplement they added to water while with humans but never explained what it's purpose was. If we include information from the latest film they're adapted to eating anything their prey could consume.


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

[User] If inflation is the comparison of this year's price vs last year's price doesn't that mean that next year inflation will be much lower? Because we're comparing prices before the war in Ukraine and Supply Chain issues and next year we're comparing prices that already have this priced in?

[Assistant]
For some prices like commodities where pricing is very flexible and moves around a lot, we could definitely see that. In reality, pricing is often very rigid for the vast majority of items. Once prices go up, they often stay up.

The single most important determinant of inflation is actually wages, which informs not just production cost but also income available to spend. Wages are also legendarily sticky. We are all very used to oil prices going up and down even day by day; but if our salaries were to go up and down even year by year we would lose our minds. There is a genuine cultural aversion to reducing somebody's salary even if they've done something wrong. It is generally easier to fire somebody than it is to reduce their salary.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why is masturbation viewed as something you shouldn't do?

Why is masturbation viewed as something bad, that you should hold yourself as much as possible from doing, isn't it a healthy habit?
Howcome such a normal activity become a thing that gets shamed upon?

[Assistant] Primitive cultures knew that sex made babies, and that semen was ejaculated into the woman during sex. However they had no idea about sperm; semen was seen either as pure "life force", or to actually be composed of tiny infants. Both of these formed fears about there being a limited supply available to a person, such that "spilling your seed upon the ground" was like pouring your limited reserve of life down the gutter. Consequently they formed taboos about masturbation because they didn't know better.


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

[User]
(Star Wars vs. 40k) Is there any chance that the Empire could defeat the Imperium in an all out war?

It seems to me that the 40K universe doesn't ever lose, so is there a chance for the Galactic Empire to defeat only the Imperium? i feel like it would be a great fight regardless of the victor.

[Assistant]
The Imperium's Space Marines would completely devastate the Empire's Stormtroopers. Stormtroopers are clones of Jango Fett, and that's about all they have going for them. Space Marines are something else entirely. Here's a list of the genetic implants that a Space Marine is given in order to become a Space Marine. I've taken it right off the Wikipedia page:

1	Secondary heart -	This simplest and most self-sufficient of implants allows a Space Marine to survive his other heart being damaged or destroyed, and to survive in low oxygen environments. Not just a back-up, the secondary heart can boost the blood-flow around the Space Marine's body.

2	Ossmodula - 	A small, complex, tubular organ, the ossmodula secretes hormones that both affect the ossification of the skeleton and encourages the forming bone growths to absorb ceramic-based chemicals that are laced into the Space Marine's diet. This drastically alters the way a Space Marine's bones grow and develop. Two years after this implant is first put in the subject's long bones will have increased in size and strength (along with most other bones), and the rib cage will have been fused into a solid mass of bulletproof, interlocking plates.

3	Biscopea - 	This small, circular organ is inserted into the chest cavity and releases hormones that vastly increase muscle growth throughout the Space Marine's body. It also serves to form the hormonal basis for many of the later implants.

4	Haemastamen - 	Implanted into the main circulatory system, this tiny implant not only increases the haemoglobin content of the subjects blood, making it more efficient at carrying oxygen around the body and making the subject's blood a bright red, it also serves to monitor and control the actions of the phase 2 and phase 3 implants.

5	Larraman's organ - 	A liver-shaped organ about the size of a golf-ball, this implant is placed within the chest cavity and connected to the circulatory system. It generates and controls 'Larraman cells' which are released into the blood stream if the recipient is wounded. They attach themselves to leucocytes in the blood and are carried to the site of the wound, where upon contact with air they form a near instant patch of scar tissue, sealing any wounds the Space Marine may suffer.

6	Catalepsean node - 	Implanted into the back of the brain, this pea-sized organ influences the circadian rhythms of sleep and the body's response to sleep deprivation. If deprived of sleep, the catalepsean node cuts in. The node allows a Space Marine to sleep and remain awake at the same time by switching off areas of his brain sequentially. This process cannot replace sleep entirely, but increases the Space Marine's survivability by allowing perception of the environment while resting. This means that a Space Marine needs no more than 4 hours of sleep a day, and can potentially go for 2 weeks without any sleep at all.

7	Preomnor - 	This is essentially a pre-stomach that can neutralise otherwise poisonous or indigestible foods. No actual digestion takes place in the preomnor, as it acts as a decontamination chamber placed before the natural stomach in the body's system and can be isolated from the rest of the digestive tract in order to contain particularly troublesome intake.

8	Omophagea - 	This implant allows a Space Marine to 'learn by eating'. It is situated in the spinal cord but is actually part of the brain. Four nerve bundles are implanted connecting the spine and the stomach wall. Able to 'read' or absorb genetic material consumed by the Space Marine, the omophagea transmits the gained information to the Space Marine's brain as a set of memories or experiences. It is the presence of this organ which has led to the various flesh-eating and blood-drinking rituals for which the Astartes are famous, as well as giving names to chapters such as the Blood Drinkers or Flesh Tearers, both Chapters born from the Blood Angels. Over time, mutations in this implant have given some Chapters an unnatural craving for blood or flesh.

9	Multi-lung - 	This additional lung activates when a Space Marine needs to breathe in low-oxygen or poisoned atmospheres, and even water. The natural lungs are closed off by a sphincter muscle associated with the multi-lung and the implanted organ takes over breathing operations. It has highly efficient toxin dispersal systems.

10	Occulobe - 	This implant sits at the base of the brain, and provides hormonal and genetic stimuli which enable a Space Marine's eyes to respond to optic-therapy. This in turn allows the Apothecaries to make adjustments to the growth patterns of the eye and the light-receptive retinal cells - the result being that Space Marines have far superior vision to normal humans, and can see in low-light conditions almost as well as in daylight.

11	Lyman's ear - 	Not only does this implant make a Space Marine immune from dizziness or motion sickness but also allows Space Marines to consciously filter out and enhance certain sounds. The Lyman's Ear completely replaces a Space Marine's original ear. It is externally indistinguishable from a normal human ear.

12	Sus-an membrane - 	Initially implanted above the brain, this membrane eventually merges with the recipient's entire brain. Ineffective without follow-up chemical therapy and training, but with sufficient training a Space Marine can use this implant to enter a state of suspended animation, consciously or as an automatic reaction to extreme trauma, keeping the Space Marine alive for years, even if he has suffered otherwise mortal wounds. Only the appropriate chemical therapy or auto-suggestion can revive a Space Marine from this state. The longest recorded period spent in suspended animation was undertaken by Brother Silas Err of the Dark Angels, who was revived after 567 years.

13	Melanchromic organ - 	This implant controls the amount of melanin in a Space Marine's skin. Exposure to high levels of sunlight will result in the Space Marine's skin darkening to compensate. It also protects the Space Marine from other forms of radiation.

14	Oolitic kidney - 	In conjunction with the secondary heart this implant allows a Space Marine to filter his blood very quickly, rendering him immune to most poisons. This action comes at a price, however, as this emergency detoxification usually renders the Space Marine unconscious while his blood is circulated at high speed. The organ's everyday function is to monitor the entire circulatory system and allow other organs to function effectively.

15	Neuroglottis	 - This enhances a Space Marine's sense of taste to such a high degree that he can identify many common chemicals by taste alone. A Space Marine can even track down his target by taste.

16	Mucranoid - 	This implant allows a Space Marine to sweat a substance that coats the skin and offers resistance to extreme heat and cold and can even provide some protection for the marine in a vacuum. This can only be activated by outside treatment, and is common when Space Marines are expected to be fighting in vacuum.

17	Betcher's gland - 	Consists of two identical glands, implanted either into the lower lip, alongside the salivary glands or into the hard palette. The gland works in a similar way to the poison gland of venomous reptiles by synthesizing and storing deadly poison, which the Space Marines themselves are immune to due to the gland's presence. This allows a Space Marine to spit a blinding contact poison. The poison is also corrosive and can even burn away strong metals given sufficient time.

18	Progenoids - 	There are two of these glands, one situated in the neck and the other within the chest cavity. These glands are vitally important and represent the future of the Chapter, as the only way new gene-seed can be produced is by reproducing it within the bodies of the Space Marines themselves. This is the implant's only purpose. The glands absorb genetic material from the other implanted organs. When they have matured each gland will have developed a single gene-seed corresponding to each of the zygotes which have been implanted into the Space Marine. These take time (5 years in the first case, 10 in the latter) to mature into gene-seed. The gene-seed can then be extracted and used to create more Space Marines.

19	Black carapace - 	The most distinctive implant, it resembles a film of black plastic that is implanted directly beneath the skin of the Space Marine's torso in sheets. It hardens on the outside and sends invasive neural bundles into the Space Marine's body. After the organ has matured the recipient is then fitted with neural sensors and interface points cut into the carapace's surface. This allows a Space Marine to interface directly with his Power Armour.

Due to implant 8, the Omophagea, if the Space Marines kill one Stormtrooper and eat him they'll know everything about every Stormtrooper because they're all clones of the same guy.

Due to implant 16, the Mucranoid, if you manage to blow up an Imperium ship the Space Marines can still push themselves through the vacuum of space, land on the hull of one of the Empire's ships, and then implant 17, Betcher's gland, allows them to spit on the hull and corrode it. Also, when you think you've actually killed a Space Marine it could be that they're in suspended animation due to implant 12, the Sus-an membrane.

The Imperium has this one in the bag.

**TL;DR** - Space Marines would eat one Stormtrooper and understand how they all operate. Space Marines can float through space and spit on Star Destroyers to open their hulls.

[Edit: Formatting]


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

[User]
Why is it so difficult to reconcile quantum mechanics with general relativity?

What exactly is quantum mechanics and what about it opposes general relativity? I read that it has to do with gravity, but I couldn't find an easy-to-understand explanation.

[Assistant]
You haven't found an easy-to-understand explanation because there isn't one.  General relativity and quantum mechanics are themselves quite elaborate theories, and trying to understand why they can't simply be merged is a complicated, technical issue.

What can be said is that given a classical force law, there is a standard procedure for making it quantum.  That procedure works for electromagnetism, for the weak nuclear force, and the for the strong nuclear force.  However, the precise mathematical form that general relativity provides for gravitational interactions turns out not to be amenable to standard quantization.  (The technical statement is that  quantizing gravity leads to a theory that is not renormalizable.)


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

[User] ELI5: How does a spinning drum of concrete keep it from hardening?

[Assistant]
It doesn't.

If you're wondering why cement trucks rotate their drum it is to keep the contents well mixed. Continuous mixing helps delay setting by not allowing any one part to get drier than the whole mass. It will still harden eventually though no matter how much you mix it.


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

[User]
[sitcoms] Why are all these apartments laid out so strangely?

Every apartment has these weird floor plans with strange closets and hallways that seem to lead nowhere. What is going on with these apartments?

[Assistant]
Have you ever wondered why the rooms in sitcoms or usually so brightly lit, even when most of the lights appear to be off?
Or how a bunch of twenty-thirty year olds with odd jobs that give them so much free time can afford spacious, multi bedroom apartments in Manhattan?
All of their apartments are so messed up that no one else will pay anything for them, driving the price down.
You already touched on some of the reasons. Clearly they were all made by some drunk architect too secretly obsessed with his Canadian ex-girlfriend or green lighted by an unlucky schmuck who has better luck pretending to be a marine biologist than an architect. Maybe even by poor sap who lost both eyes and one hand after being patched up at a MASH unit in the 10th year of the Korean War?
There's no shortage of crappy housing in the world of sitcoms.


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

[User]
[Stargate SG-1] Why didn't the Asgard used older DNA samples for there cloning?

As we know the Asgard used cloning as means of procreation or rather sustain there species.

Sadly since they where using the DNA provided by the previous clone there species started to deteriorate. Carter compares it to "making a copy of a copy of a copy".

I know that when they started to use cloning they didn't know the risk involved but once the problem was discovered shouldn't they have just save up the oldest clones of each Asgard and used there DNA as basis for the next clone?

Maybe not solving the problem but permanently halting it. We know that they posses perfect stasis technology even better then that of the Ancient.

In an Ancient stasis capsule you still age although drastically slowed down but an Asgard stasis capsule keep you in stasis perfectly with minimal energy since they recovered an ancient Asgardien from a ship that crashed thousand of years ago.

Secondary question: If they found and ancient Asgardien why didn't they just started to clone him for all Asgards? Genetic diversity is only needed if you procreate sexually.

[Assistant]
DNA is only part of the problem. The other problem is that Asgard bodies (as they existed in the early 21st century) were the only kind that could safely house Asgard *minds*.

The Asgard have spent millenia copying their memories and personalities into cloned bodies to achieve immortality. They can't survive any other way, because of the centuries their own minds have incrementally adapted to living in a very specific kind of biological hardware. It's not possible to just copy some 8,000 year old DNA and stick an Asgard mind into it. The brain isn't advanced enough - the mind wouldn't really "fit" in it.

Think of computers: You find out that your current PC is putting out a mild form a radiation that's actually causing damage to the hard drive, causing minor but increasing damage to the files, and the damage is duplicated every time you copy them. You need a new file storage solution - but all your programs that would help you design a new system have been damaged, and all schematics for older models were purged years ago because you thought you didn't need them.

All you can do is look around for an older but more reliable storage system. After a few years, you find one magnetic tape storage system from 1985. This system isn't vulnerable to that radiation damage, but it's also nowhere near the storage capacity you need. It's all you've found, but it'll take a long time study it to the point that you can make new ones that are large and fast enough to suit your needs.


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

[User] Is there a measurement scale for stickiness?

[Assistant]
The technical term would be "tack" or "tackiness".

Measurement is force per unit area, in case of tensile tack.

Generally used with viscoelastic materials, whose properties are often affected by shear rate.  So, tack can depend on the properties of the substrate(s), the adhesive(s), geometry, and the rate at which they are pulled apart.


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

[User]
I think taxes are good for freedom, and libertarians have been tricked by the rich. CMV

There was a long facebook thread on this point after the Pope started shit talking capitalism, and it made me realize something. I no longer understand people who tell me that they think taxes should be radically lowered and most government services privatized.

I think that everyone who holds this opinion has been more or less tricked by the rich and powerful into thinking that taxes and government are antithetical to liberty when they really aren't. Taxing and spending creates a more even playing field and government is (at least supposed to be) a check on the ability of the rich and powerful to do whatever the fuck they want.

Key to my view is this: who stands to gain the most from a society with less government and lower taxes? Clearly not the poor.

Obviously I don't think that 100% taxes is good either. Don't reduce this to the absurd. As I have said in other fora, I believe the job of good economic governance is to strike a balance between encouraging individual creativity and making sure the most fortunate and successful don't break the system by becoming too powerful.

To head this avenue of attack off at the pass: I am an adult (most of the time) living int he USA, and I pay a ridiculously low rate of state and federal income tax and sales tax.

The kicker of it all is that I used to be a radical libertarian too, before I reached the age of reason (about 25). So I don't think you will, but I want to hear your best arguments for why taxes kill freedom.

[Assistant]
Let's first agree upon a definition for "freedom", e.g. "the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action".

By that definition, taxes, by their very nature, limit freedom, in that you must pay them, and are threatened with force if you choose not to pay.


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

[User] If I move both my index fingers at once, am I sending one signal to both hands, or am I sending 2 individual signals? Is there a signal queue?

[Assistant]
Lots of signals!

How are you moving your index finger? Just a quick movement and then stop? Sustained goal-tracking? Sustained proximal extension?

There is a swirl of signals operating between prefrontal cortex (probably both sides), supplementary motor cortex (probably both sides) and primary motor cortex (primarily contralateral to the moved finger); as well as between cortex, brainstem, cerebellum, thalamus, and back to cortex; and between cortex, basal ganglia, thalamus, and cortex. These are all for smoothing movements, planning movements, etc.

The final pathway is a series of pulses down the corticospinal tracts to alpha motoneurons in your spine, which send pulses directly to muscle fibers in your forearm and hand. Depending on how much effort you need, there may be more or fewer groups of muscle fibers contracting, and at different rates. The rates are governed by the spiking rate in the alpha motoneurons and the groups are governed by the activation pattern in the cortex and the spine.

With sustained effort, there will be a feedback loop set up with additional spike trains sent by intrafusal muscle cells and bag fibers both to the motoneurons and up the dorsal columns to the thalamus and the cortex to help regulate the muscle firing rate. If you're looking at your finger, that information can also be used as feedback. So now there's visual processing and flows from association visual cortex to prefrontal cortex.

There's no queue. Neurons send spikes, or *action potentials*, at varying rates. They code for responses by the rate of spiking or sometimes by the timing of spikes. Spikes propagate from neuron to neuron by the release of neurotransmitters across small fluid gaps (the synapses). Of course spike trains can also lead to inhibition, setting a gate to interrupt spike propagation from other cells (analogous to a transistor); or they can cause changes in gene expression altering the properties of the target neuron (analogous to resetting circuit props in an FPGA).

So if you're extending both index fingers, you have bilateral corticospinal tract signalling, bilateral dorsal column signalling, and bilateral intraspinal, cerebellar, basal ganglionic, thalamic, visual, and prefrontal signalling.


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

[User] ELI5: No Child Left Behind Act? The Good? The Bad? Everything?

[Assistant]
*How do we measure results?* Standardized testing.

*When do we measure results?* Why not every couple years, starting in third grade.

*But third graders don't know how to take standardized tests.* Teach them how.

*What results were we measuring again?* Uh, ability to pass standardized tests.


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

[User]
ELI5: how does a computer trackpad or a phone screen tell if a finger is touching it or a brick?

Im asking because a finger will work, but no matter how hard you push with a brick nothing will happen.

[Assistant] Basically, behind the screen is a big grid of tiny capacitors. As our finger gets close to them, the electrical current changes due to the interaction with our body. Our charge reacts with their charge. The system is optimised to respond within the ranges that we produce.


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

[User]
What are some obvious issues in academia, nobody wants to talk about?

Like inter-departmental politics, everybody knows but people rarely talk about it to resolve it.

[Assistant] Expectations that a single academic will do everything - teach, do cutting edge research, manage people, do admin work, write papers, communicate science to general public, service equipment and so on. No support staff, no division of work between people, you need to do everything and be excellent in every aspect.


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

[User]
[LotR] what happened to all the ent wives?

It was a comment made by Tree beard that he had lost them. What happened to them?

[Assistant]
The Ents and Entwives both loved all growing things, but where the Ents preferred to live among the wild trees of the forests, the Entwives preferred to plant and tend. So the Ents stayed in the forests, but the Entwives had great gardens where they lived. Because they lived in the open, the Entwives were much more widely known, and indeed it was from them that Men (and Hobbits) learned the arts if agriculture. They were greatly revered for these teachings.

But though they lived apart, they did not forget each other. Whenever Ent or Entwife felt the urge, they would go and visit the other, and thus young Entings continued to be born.

But during the War of the Last Alliance, Sauron scorched the earth ahead of the advancing armies of Gil-Galad and Elendil - which included the gardens of the Entwives. They are a desolate wasteland known as the Brown Lands, in the Third Age.

No one knows what happened to the Entwives during this. Whether fled, or destroyed, or enslaved, none can say. Some told the Ents that they saw the Entwives fleeing, and the Ents searched long and far for them. But they never found them.


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

[User]
I just read that space has a near absolute zero temperature but wouldn't a vacuum technically not have a temperature?

Temperature is a measure of the motion of particles in a mass and space should be a vacuum which has no particles. Am I missing something?

[Assistant]
Space is not a vacuum.

> Outer space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos. Theory suggests that it also contains dark matter and dark energy. In the space between galaxies, matter density can be as low as a few atoms of hydrogen per cubic meter. The baseline temperature, as set by background radiation left over from the Big Bang, is only 3 Kelvin; in contrast, temperatures in the coronae of stars can reach over a million Kelvin.


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

[User] Eli5: the differences between decibels (dB) and weighted decibels (dBA)

[Assistant]
Decibels (dB) is the "raw" measure of sound, whereas dBA take into account human perception. A person with normal hearing will not perceive all the frequencies of a sound equally. So dBA takes into account the natural filter of the human ear to give a more realistic idea of the sound's impact on your health.

dBA used, for example, to measure the loudness of working environments to protect workers (if they're exposed to X dBA for Y amount of time, they're required to use hearing protection so they don't end up deaf).


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

[User] [Demolition Man]How did Taco Bell win the franchise wars?

[Assistant] The history of Demolition Man differs slightly from our own.  In their world, Taco Bell never got in trouble for using less than the required amount of meat in their "beef" (20%) and as such, never raised quality, which raised their expenses.  Because meat patties need a higher amount of beef to keep a meat taste and solid shape than Taco Bell's "ground beef product" they had a higher profit margin than other fast food joints.  When the government stopped subsidizing meat, this price difference became much more pronounce, and McDonalds and Burger King just weren't able to compete.  They held on for a while, trying their hand at the "real restaurant market" but failed.  Taco Bell was the only choice left for those that wanted cheap filling food fast.


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

[User]
How is adblock plus able to remove the ads that stream before youtube videos?

Also I believe it removes ads that are overlayed on top of the video.  How does it do that?  How hard would it be for youtube to detect and prevent this?

[Assistant]
> How does it do that? How hard would it be for youtube to detect and prevent this?

Adblock programs work by reading the instructions to build the webpage, and telling the browser not to follow certain ones.

To prevent that, YouTube would need to make the ads indistinguishable from other content, to the browser.


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

[User]
[Fallout 2] Help! My home invader won't leave me be!

Please help, I am in a desperate situation. I have a small, humble home in klamath, and there was this wastelander claiming he was the "chosen one" or whatever, damned junkies. Anyway, this particular junky got himself a full suit of power armor, and he won't stop rummaging through my shelves and asking me more questions about this goddamn "enclave" or whatever. The first time he asked, I made a joke about going down to San Francisco, where he'd surely be killed, but he came back with a hideous beast in robes and a frikkin super mutant! I don't have much more than a pipe rifle, but this guy looks armed to the teeth and burglarizes me on a whim, daily. What should I do??

Tl:dr- made fun of this junky calling himself a chosen one, sent him on a fool's quest but he came back to rob and question me, help!

[Assistant] Cry me an irradiated bloatfly infested river. Most people contend with super mutants gangs, or roving ghoul hordes, or even actual armies of those power suit guys, and your problem is one dude and his buddy who just wants to go through your stuff? Hes obviously insane but at least he wont kill you immediately like everything else in this hell hole. Just keep saying the same thing over and over again until he gets bored of talking to you and wanders away.


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

[User] [DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE] if Jekyll had not been such a repressed Victorian, would Hyde have been a mere rascal?

[Assistant]
In the original fiction, yes.

Jekyll wasn't a good person- or to be more accurate, he was only a good person because he was scared of consequences. Mr Hyde wasn't a hulk style alternate personality- it was Jekyll but unaccountable. He was doing what he always wanted to do, secure in the knowledge that any consequences  would fall upon the imaginary "Mr Hyde" rather then him. He's not taken over by Hyde, so much as gets addicted to being Hyde.

Had he not had those dark urges, Hyde would have been less dark. What the potion does is give you the ability to do what you want you want without the worries about being caught. This only means committing atrocities if you're the type of person who would, if unaccountable, go out and commit atrocities.


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

[User] ELI5: How long do you have to be exposed to an environment where viruses are active to actually catch cold?

[Assistant]
A cold is a virus, which is a tiny little creature that is not quite alive, which you usually breathe in or eat.

It only takes one individual viron to infect you, but first it has to run the gauntlet of your bodys defence system.

You have a whole army ready to defend you against viruses.   The first is in your nose and mouth.   There are little hairs in your nose that actually beat in time to sweep viruses and other debris towards the back of your throat where you swallow it and it gets destroyed in your stomach.   That works a lot of the time.

If the viron gets through that, though, next it faces your intrinsic immune system.   These are the cells that patrol your blood looking for intruders like viruses or bacteria.   Natural killer cells, macrophages, that kind of thing.   These cells will try and destroy the virus, and they will raise an alarm that it is here.

Then, your acquired immune system arrives.   If you have ever encountered this virus before - or even one that is very similar to it - you will already have antibodies in your blood that will recognise it.   They will attach to it and act like waving red flags alerting the body, and enhancing the response, drawing white blood cells to the site.  Death will be quick and brutal for the viron.

But - sometimes, the viron makes it past all of that.   It makes it to your cells and gets settled inside.   There, it begins reproducing.   You get sick.   Your immune system will fight it, but the virus has made itself an army instead of one lone scout.

So thats *how* infection with a virus works.  Your question was how long you need to be in a place with a virus to get infected.   The answer to that is: it completely depends.

You need to be there long enough to be exposed to a virus.   But that could happen in the first second, or it might not happen for hours.   And if you *are* exposed, there is a chance that you wont ever know.   Most viruses you are exposed to dont make you sick, because your very good defence system is looking out for you.  Honestly, youre probably looking at a timeframe of seconds or minutes before you are exposed to viruses in a crowd.  But dont let that scare you.

Tldr: Literally any length of time is sufficient.   Everything is riding on how your immune system handles the virus, that is what determines whether you will get sick - not the length of exposure.


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

[User]
CMV: Telling an underrepresented group in any media (games/movies etc) to go "make it their own stuff" is a completely valid option.

Asians underrepresented in media in the West? Well they got Korean, Chinese, Indian and Japanese cinema/media. Not only that but these became global phenomenons and attracted tons of interest to the respective countries. We have all heard of K-Dramas, K-Pop, Bollywood, Anime, J-Dramas, J-Pop and various martial arts movies like IP man etc. In fact Asian cinema has been attractive for western born Asian actors, with many of them choosing to go back to their home countries for career opportunities and even being noticed by Hollywood AFTER landing it big there.

Secondly, why would one group want another group to attempt to represent them properly? Only to get mad when they make mistakes? The logic behind that makes no sense to me. Weve seen it time and time again in gaming and movies, where minority/underrepresented groups demand representation from white guys who dont really know anything about them. Theres no way theyd be able to accurately depict these things, even with help, because many experts in the cultures dont agree with each other. A good example a game that recently came out called Detroit, the writer for the game changed things up this time and stepped back a bit and took input from a lot of sources. Even with that quite a few gaming journalists had complaints about being misogynistic, demeaning civil rights movements etc. For a more western successor story with regards to this, look no further than Marvels Black Panther, which boosted a mostly African American cast as well as director and did well. A lot of the reason behind this success was that many people found that aspect appealing.

So yes, I definitely think that "go make it yourself" is a completely valid option, please attempt to CMV.

[Assistant]
> Secondly, why would one group want another group to attempt to represent them properly?

They are Americans. Those K-dramas and Bollywood are representing Koreans and Indians, not minority groups in America.

> For a more western successor story with regards to this, look no further than Marvels Black Panther, which boosted a mostly African American cast as well as director and did well. A lot of the reason behind this success was that many people found that aspect appealing.

Which was spearheaded by Marvel. This is the opposite of 'make your own stuff'.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How does an Astromech Droid fit into the sockets of the Aethersprite- and Actis-class Starfighters?

Seriously. Their entire lower half just disappears, and I doubt they just take-apart and re-assemble the droid just to make it fit.

[Assistant]
In terms of the original Aethersprite, they didn't.  The fighter could not accommodate a full sized astromech, so they commonly used truncated astromechs wired directly into the figher's systems.  Later, the Delta-7B was introduced which made room for a full sized droid socket.
The Actis was designed for a full astromech from the get-go, so the full socket is there. The wing shape is deceptive, but if you take a look at the underside, the hull is plenty deep enough for the droid to fit.


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

[User] ELI5: How do heat-seeking missiles work? do they work exactly like in the movies?

[Assistant]
Early ones were really simplistic and just pointed the missile to the hottest thing it sensor could detect, be that a planes exhaust, the sun or flares (decoys). They had limited steering ability and only worked when shot at a plane from behind it (called "rear-aspect"), and even then weren't that reliable.

Modern ones are much much more sophisticated. They have high-resolution infrared cameras, can detect and track planes from all angles, ignore flares, plot efficient intercept courses, are much more manouvrable and fully integrated into the planes targeting systems.

A modern AIM-9X for example can be given targeting data from the planes radar or helmet mounted sight prior to launch and can track a target up to 90 to the sides (of boresight), allowing pilots to shoot at targets without having to point their own planes nose even close to it.


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

[User]
If a radioactive isotope is accelerated near c, will the decay slow down or remain the same relative to observer?

I would assume the decay would slow down, but the more I think on it, the less I'm confident.

[Assistant]
It will be slower.
For example, when cosmic rays hit the atmosphere, they can produce muons. A muon is more or less like an big electron and its lifetime is only 2 s.
So if you don't consider the time dilation, a muon cannot travel more than 2 s times 300000 km/s = 0.6 km. So you wouldn't expect them to reach the ground. But they do.

From our point of view, they live longer than 2 s. From their point of view, they live 2 s but the length of the atmosphere is contracted.


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

[User]
[Doctor Who] Why all the fuss over how awesome the Tardis is when a Vortex Manipulator can do Time Travel so much better?

Jack and River swear by it. No losing it, no turning up in the wrong time, portable, easy, better. Makes the Time Lords tech look pretty crappy.

[Assistant]
>no turning up in the wrong time

What are you talking about? One of the first times we see one used, it misses its target by about 150 years and then breaks.

The Tardis can go anywhere and anywhen and do things like take the full force of a supernova without any damage in order to make the equivalent of a long-distance phone call. It's dimensionally transcendental and exists in a state of temporal grace, meaning that it's bigger on the inside and no one can be hurt inside of it, both of which are obviously *very* complex stuff that's just being used as a matter of course, it serves as a true universal translator to every language, and it's powered by a perpetually dying star. It can tow planets across the universe, stabilize genetics (whatever that even *means)*, control gravity to a large extent, make itself immune to teleportation, self-heal, serve as a replicator, alter time without having to deal with paradoxes, run on the background energy of the universe if its power source breaks down, eat stars for extra power, lock itself outside the normal flow of time, prevent people from thinking about certain things... the list goes on.

Oh, and it's an *antique*, so old that the Time Lords, when they still existed, had stopped teaching about them in school.

So, sure, a Vortex Manipulator might be useful for the average joe, but that doesn't make the TARDIS any less of a ridiculous, unspeakable marvel of engineering. Time Travel is the *easy* part, and probably something the Time Lords figured out long before they ever built a TARDIS. It is one of the most impressive things to exist in a universe at any given point in time. That's why people gush over it. The Doctor uses it like a glorified Vortex Manipulator, but it is a sentient being capable of flying through suns and unmaking all of Creation.

It's not like a Pogo Stick vs a Luxury Car. It's like a Pogo Stick vs an Imperial Star Destroyer.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Where's my hovercar / jetpack? Iron Man is just around the corner. The Fantastic Four have a building in Manhattan. I suspect the SHIELD helicarrier is hiding underneath the Hudson. Why can't I buy a hoverboard for my morning commute?

Let's say I work in an office in Manhattan, NY.  I live in New Jersey, and I take a bridge or a tunnel in to work, which means my commute is terrible, but it's just too expensive to live in New York.  One wall of my cubicle is an exterior wall, so I'm lucky enough to have a window.  I've lost count of the number of times the Fantastic Four have zipped past in the Fantasticar.  Every time Iron Man flies past, the potted plants fall off the window sills.  Same goes for this Mach-1 guy.  The Wizard sometimes has this flying throne thing, or sometimes he's floating around on this translucent discs.  Don't get me started on all the supers with jetpacks or hoverboards or rocket boots.  It seems to me, personal flight devices are pretty common with the spandex crowd.  It's not like they're only toys for the rich and famous - some of these guys are nameless grunts (countless SHIELD operatives with jetpacks, and AIM flunkies), others are outright thieves and criminals.  What gives?  Where's my hovercar?  I would give an arm and a leg not to have to breathe in car fumes in the Lincoln Tunnel every morning and evening, not to mention the time I'd save.  I don't know how much the cost of jetpack fuel compares to gasoline, but I'm willing to consider it.  Why isn't someone selling flying cars or hoverbelts or rocket boards to the public?  I'd be the first in line.

*edit:* In fact, why isn't Tony Stark selling them, specifically?  Seems like it would be right up his alley.

[Assistant]
You know what else is common with the spandex crowd?  Money and resources, and lots of it.  Even your SHEILD operatives have lots of backing that the average Joe doesn't have.
If you want a jetpack, they are out there for you to get.  They're just too expensive for retail production at a price point that makes them available to someone who can't afford New York rent.


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

[User]
ELI5: If we can store up to 128GB on a micro SD card, why are we still using big bulky hard drives in computers?

Why not just use SD cards for all storage purposes?

Also, if we can compress files and make them way smaller than their original size (.zip), why don't we just store files that way all the time?

[Assistant]
* they are more expensive
* they wear out more quickly
* we do, they are called solid state drives (SSDs)
* SD *cards* typically have slower read and write speeds (as pointed out by brunoa)

As for zip files, they are kind of like a toolbox.  When you aren't using them, everything is packed away neatly.  But while you are working on a project, you open them up and spread tools all over the place.  Only using zip files would be like only being able to have one tool out of your toolbox at a time.


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

[User] ELI5 - Why is there an inner (Rocky planets) and outer (Gas planets) ring system? Why are they different and how were they created?

[Assistant]
\*Roughly\* speaking the general model is that our solar system formed out of a cloud of gas and dust, which collapsed under the influence of its own gravity (possibly after receiving a nudge from, say, an exploding star).  It was spinning, and because spinning things spin faster as they contract (like an ice skater pulling in their arms), it ended up flattening out like a ball of pizza dough turning into a flat pizza.

Friction made the ball of gas and dust get hot as it collapsed.  The middle got the hottest and became the S while the outside stayed fairly cold.

Little bits of the gas and dust started sticking together and growing into planets.  In the parts where it was still hot, only things that can be solid when its hot (like rock and metal) could do this.  In the parts where it was cold, the rock and metal could still grow, but so could things like ice--and there was a \*lot\* more ice than there was rock and metal, so these planets grew to be much bigger.  So big in fact that their gravity could pull in lots of stuff that was just gas, too.

Once the Sun got properly going, it started blowing a wind away from it, which got rid of most of the gas that was just lying around, so the inner planets lost anything that wasn't already solid and were left with just the rock and metal.  The outer planets were big enough and cold enough and far enough out that their gases didn't get blown away.

Now that we're finding planets around other stars, we've found some with big gassy planets that are very close in to their stars, which is confusing when you look at how we think they were made, so now we think that some of the time these big planets can get slowed down and move closer in to their star, but that didn't happen in our solar system.


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

[User]
Why does the shadow of a bottle of water show up as a "dark" shadow even though water is clear, and the bottle is clear.

Context:

I was holding a bottle of water and looked down at the shadow of it and it was showing up as a "shadow" and not like I expected.  The shimmer was showing up on the ground, but the shadow was basically like if I had motor oil in the bottle.  Weird question, but it doesn't make sense to me.

[Assistant] A bottle of water is basically a sort of misshapen lens.  If you take a proper lens and try the same thing, you'll see it casts a shadow except where it's focusing light.  The light that would shine where the shadow is has been diverted to the bright spot.  The effect is just less obvious for the bottle, because it's focusing light in all kinds of crazy, constantly-shifting places.


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

[User] I don't know how hard this is to answer but... About how many healthy people would need to survive the Apocalypse to repopulate the earth without inbreeding?

[Assistant]
If you survive and just a fraction of humanity remains, inbreeding should be the least of your concerns.

Bottlenecked populations will go through inbreeding depression, but then will generally recover over geologic time.

An effective population size of 100 is pretty good for avoiding the worst effects, 1000 is quite good, and 10000 is probably fine. Of course, this depends upon things like how closely the individuals are related to begin with and relative male/female ratios.


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

[User] [MCU] How well can you hear Tony talking to Jarvis/Friday if you're standing next to Iron Man?

[Assistant] Not unless he turned on his external speakers, no. Which, being Tony, he's likely to do - the bigger the audience, the better. But if he was trying to get his AI to setup a sneak attack or something that required privacy, then no: he doesn't have to be heard by those nearby if he doesn't want to.


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

[User] ELI5: How does concrete work on a molecular level? It goes from powder to chalky to wet to rock hard - what exactly is happening that makes it so shapeable and suddenly strong?

[Assistant] The chemical principle is called water of hydration.  Concrete doesnt dry out like paint.  It cures by combining the water into a chemical bond.  The reaction is also highly exothermic, meaning it gives off heat, a LOT of heat.  If concrete cant give off the heat, it remains liquid.  When Hoover Dam was built, they installed pipes at various places in the dam and circulated water through the pipes to cool the concrete and cure it.  In theory, some parts of the dam are still liquid.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Which religion should I join?

I'm force-sensitive. The Jedi are trying to recruit me, but Jedi aren't allowed to fall in love and it really doesn't look like much fun. And there's a member of Sith that came to my house in secret and tried to recruit me, but apparently I'm supposed to kill my master and later be killed by my apprentice, and I don't particularly want to die. What's the point of being evil if it doesn't benefit you? Are these people just evil for evil's sake?

Is there some benefit to either I'm missing? Are there any other religions that are better? Are there any secular force-using lessons? Could I teach myself? Should I just not bother?

[Assistant]
The Jedi aren't trying to recruit you. You obviously weren't born in the Republic and trained as a youngling, and they aren't going to train you now, you're being played. Real Sith are as creepy and evil as this guy who came to your house appears to be. But there is no reason for a Sith Lord to show up at your house and recruit you, much less leave you alive when you don't immediately decide. This guy is a faker.

But the real question here is why you think your Force-sensitive. An innate connection to the Force can easily fade away if not exercised from childhood, as your mind closes to the Force without training.

If you want to dedicate your life to the Force you can join a religious community on a planet like Jedha. Though your particular mindset seems ill fitted for any sort of life in concert with the Force of Others.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does hollywood produce these straight to video movies which are clearly terrible and how do they manage to get good actors in them?

[Assistant]
Another often overseen aspect of this is to keep the "side-industries" busy and flourishing, because the studios depend on them so badly for their major blockbusters. And this could include everything from hair stylists, to on-set catering services, animation artists, CGI modelers, camera and gear lenders etc.

For the studios producing such a direct-to-video movie sometimes is a sheer zero-sum-game, if you take a look just at the balance between expenditures and revenue. But the indirect impact, which you can't account to directly related revenue might be important.

For example they might fulfill contracts like "we will produce 60 films in 2014 with equipment rented from you" or might be able to license more content to all those different content providers (cable networks, netflix, itunes, etc.), we sell you the licenses for this package of "100 movies and includes those 20 blockbusters".

And sometimes  especially in the case of movies targeted towards children  it is to give a decaying trend another little upward marketing spike. Young children are less aware of the concept of "contemporariness", so if "Pixar's Cars (1)" is shown to them today maybe via cable, parents might feel the urge to show them the other parts as well. For the parents it's an easy way to keep their kids busy. Or maybe it's due to sheer pressure by their kids, when they see the other ones in store or in the digital library. Another important aspect is that the kids might respond strongly to otherwise old merchandising or licensed products that are still in stock and that otherwise needed to be recycled, if they don't get sold..

Especially in retail those type of agreements actually are common.
The retailers that sacrifice valuable shelf-space for a merchandising article (let's say character figures of Disney movies) want some guarantee that those will be demanded by their customers. Those deals are closed way ahead of the actual release (sometimes even completion of the creation) of the movie, as the items need to be manufactured (mostly) overseas and distributed world-wide in advance. So no one knows for sure how huge of a success a movie will be. Those are all bets...some are safer (next Pixar block-buster), some are more risky.

Sometimes you'll see agreements in the manner of being very cross-promotional.
Deal with cable companies might include that the movie should be aired at specific times of the year or on very specific days, like around christmas or thanksgiving etc. and at the same time you might notice that a certain fastfood chain "recycles" those figurines once again as a gimmick in their kid's meals, while there occurs to be a printed ad in a kid's magazine or comic simultaneously.

This is all planned months/years ahead and a pretty complex field to work in.
The trickiest part is that you can't directly measure your marketing success, because there are so many influencing factors that the data is kind of corrupted by it being so scattered. But as we all can clearly see...it's possible :)


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

[User] ELI5: why is is still hard to fall asleep when youre sleep deprived?

[Assistant]
When you're sleepy but want it need to stay awake, your body will produce a bunch of chemicals that will help you do so - adrenalin and others, depending on a number of factors.

When you finally want to go to sleep, but your body is still flooded with those, is going to be pretty hard until they're reabsorbed. If you have a lot on your mind still, it could be that your brain keeps making more.


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

[User]
ELI5: How are we able to measure space?

For example, I read about the Pillars of Creation and how theyre 4 light years tall and that equates to something like 23 trillion miles long. How do we know that its 4 light years long?

Or another example, the galaxy that were in is 100,000 light years wide or something like that. How do we possibly know that?

And i guess i also have a related question but how can telescopes see so much to begin with ?

My mind cant wrap around the understanding of how were able to observe space lol, its so daunting how small we are.

[Assistant]
There are several methods to calculate the distance of a celestial body. Which one is used depends on the exact circumstance. Here are some of the most important methods:

---

* **Parallax**: Earth orbits the sun. In the process of this orbit, we change our position in space relative to a celestial body (just like you see a nearby tree in a different position if you move 10 steps to one side) Using trigonometry, we can calculate the distance to the celestial body in question.
 * Advantages: very precise for close objects, no complicated instruments needed.
 * Disadvantage: only possible for close objects

---

* **Spectral emission**: Stars emit photons with specific wavelengths based on the material they are fusing in their core. We can identify the composition of a star by analyzing those photons.  Due to the expansion of space, however, the wavelengths of photons emitted very far away get redshifted. That means, their wavelengths get longer the further they travel. By comparing the wavelengths of the photons we *measure* to the wavelengths the photons *should have* we can calculate the distance those photons traveled. And thus the distance to the celestial body.

 * Advantage: Possible over longer distances

 * Disadvantage: The object has to be bright enough so we can measure spectral lines reliably

---

* **Standard candles**: Standard candles are celestial bodies of known luminosity (~brightness). We know this luminosity due to the characteristics of some bodies (special types of super novae etc.) By comparing the absolute brightness to the apparent brightness (the brightness the object has vs the brightness we see from the distance) we can calculate the distance to the standard candle. By identifying standard candles in distant galaxies and nebulae, we can infer the distance of those structures.

 * Advantage: Possible over long distances

 * Disadvantage: We need to find standard candles

---


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

[User] [Star Trek]Is it accurate to describe the Ferengi as Anarcho-capitalists?

[Assistant]
No. The Ferengi Alliance has a very powerful and intrusive centralized state whose rules and regulations permeates throughout the entire Ferengi alliance and touches upon any contract between Ferengi. The very rules of Acquisition (which are legally binding) are contrary to the "anarcho" part of anarcho-capitalism (AC).

There are some similarities, AC favors a highly privatized system, which Ferengi ideals are consistent with, and the idea of taxes in both is an anathema. However, anarcho-capitalists would consider a central government operated by a single party to be a political monopoly subject to corruption. The Ferengi do not view corruption as a bug, but as a desired feature of the system, always oping to exploit it to further their own gains.


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

[User]
Are there any good resources to study Foucault's Madness and Civilization?

Spark notes leaves out a good amount of content in each chapter and I find it generally lacking in the book. Are there any supplemental resources to hell make sense of what Foucault is saying?

[Assistant] There is a podcast called Philosophise This which covers Foucault extensively, as well as most other philosophy topics (it's a long going podcast). Things are looked at seriously, with quotes, explanations, counter arguments etc. You can find it on Google Podcasts and just look for the Foucault episodes.


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

[User]
Is there a fundamental difference between tornadoes and dust devils, or is it *just* a matter of size?

Are they formed by similar (yet differently scaled) causes, or are they, at their root, different beasts that merely *resemble* each other?
Does there exist a smooth spectrum (continuum) of possible sizes, or is there a clear jump from dust devils to tornadoes, with nothing in between?

[Assistant] Tornadoes begin a rapid rotation of extremely powerful super cells.  The rapid rotation concentrates and accelerates, and wind shear causes it to descend to ground level.  Dust devils are small low pressure vortices caused by rising thermals and the backfill of air along the ground.  Fairly benign, but in theory could be the initial vertical development in an unstable atmosphere which leads to super cells.


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

[User] ELI5:Why does soup make you feel better when you're sick?

[Assistant] It's easily digested and generally warm which needs less energy to absorb. It provides fluids, nutrients, and calories very easily. On to of that, the placebo effect from having been told your whole life that it works.


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

[User] Why are the violent drug cartels not considered terrorist groups?

[Assistant]
A "terrorist" is a person who is trying to use terror (fear) to influence politics.

The drug cartels aren't in it for the politics.  They're in it for the money.  So that makes them not terrorists, just regular criminals.


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

[User]
Why is Ebola so successful this time around?

Ebola has appeared many times, killing less than 100 people each time, and then it is gone.  Why is it killing so many more people today?  Is this a new strain with better propagation characteristics? What has changed?

[Assistant] Africa has changed, not Ebola.  There are now more than a billion people in Africa, in the 80's, less than half that.  With more people packed into bigger cities and more people pushing out into the rural areas, and with faster transportation between the bush and the cities, it was only a matter of time before Ebola got out of a small isolated community and into a major population center.  That's what happened this time, and that's why the epidemic is killing more people.  It's reaching more people.


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

[User] ELI5: If two photons approach each other, what is their relative velocity?

[Assistant] You'd initially think that they'd perceive each other as double the speed of light, but that's actually not true. The speed of light, in a vacuum is the same for all observers no matter what their speed is. So, two photons approaching each other at c (speed of light) will perceive each other approaching at c and their relative velocity will be c because the frame of reference does not matter.


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

[User]
Heidegger's the nothing

Can somebody give me a relatively straightforward account of Heidegger's concept of nothing? Especially in relation to his essay What is Metaphysics?

[Assistant]
The key to this text is the line where Heidegger says that the sciences "look at beings a whole, an nothing else," and repeats a similar line three times. He then says: "Yet what is *this* nothing?" That is, the "nothing" indicated by this phrase "nothing else." As the essay eventually reveals, in reference to Hegel's *Logic*, "the Nothing" is another way for thinking about "Being," the main subject of all of Heidegger's essays.

One of Heidegger's most basic insight is the "ontological difference" between beings [*Seiende*] and being [*Sein*]. Previous philosophers, he thinks, have conflated the being of beings (what makes beings *be*) with the beings that are (the things, or entities, that "have" being).

So in sketching out the "nothing" that remains when we look at what lies outside of a total theory of everything, something that Heidegger also connects to Dasein's feeling of angst, Heidegger is attempting to pave a path toward the main topic of his entire philosophy: Being itself.

At the same time, Heidegger is clearly engaging in meontology (a theory of nothingness), and makes some very interesting points about how different conceptions of nothingness inform metaphysics. For example, there's the interesting paragraph of the difference between Greek and Christian meontology, and how this informs the respective theories of being.

Heidegger is also interested in how thinking the idea of "nothingness," the total nihilation of being (the nothing noths) helps us think about the "pure thatness" of beings, the fact that beings are not nothing, but rather reveal themselves in their manifestness.
In *Being and Time*, Heidegger looked at angst to illustrate how most of the time, we are engaged with the world, interested in it, and care about it. In angst, all significance disappears into nothingness and depression, showing us that most of the time, the opposite is true.

In "What is Metaphysics?", Heidegger makes a similar move on the level of Being itself. Most of the time, beings are manifest, but we usually overlook this simple "thatness," taking it for granted. Only in thinking about the whole of beings against the background of the nothing do we notice the presence and manifestness that we take for granted on a regular basis. That's why Heidegger ends with that Leibniz quote: "Why are their beings, rather than nothing?" The feeling of this question, a sense of wonder at the pure manifestness of beings, attunes us into thinking about Being itself, thus making the ontological difference between Being and beings (what-is) evident.

So that's the gist of what's going on in "What is Metaphysics?"


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

[User]
[Marvel] Would the restraints binding Scarlett Witch at the end of Civil War actually be able to stop her?

If she could escape what would the chances of her being able to free the rest and mounting an escape without the help of Cap?

[Assistant]
In that moment it evidently was enough, but MCU Scarlett Witch seems to still be scratching the surface of her power potential, at least if we assume she's suppose to be as potentially powerful as her comic counterpart.

If the ceiling for her abilities is as high, then she'd potentially could escape given enough time and disintegrate the entire Raft single handedly.


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

[User]
[Game of Thrones] King Tommen's inability to act.

So I'm really confused by this whole King Tommen situation. He's the ruler of the Iron Throne. He had a huge powerful army behind him. So he just have dozens of high level military officials and advisors to aid him.

So why are his mother and his wife still locked up by some crazies? why hasn't one of his Generals come to to him and say "I know your family is being kept prisoner. Allow me to get them back safely for you", and take a regiment of soldiers to get them back by force? I get that he's a kid and might not realize he can do it, but why aren't his advisors telling him to let them take care of it? Is there something I'm missing?

I get that he's a child and might not think to do this on his own,  but he's got the whole army at his side. It really annoys the shit out of me that a high level military official hasn't gone there with 1000 soldiers with spears and bows demanding the safe release. The army should easily be capable of handling this uprising, and I don't see an advisory committee letting him stay ignorant of that option.

Why don't they get them back with a strong show of force?  They don't have to kill them. They can just walk up in there and take them. Even if the local population supports the church to a degree they won't stand up against an army taking the Queen and the King's mother back from imprisonment. No legitimate country would stand for that.

[Assistant]
Do you not remember the Riot of King's Landing? And that was *before* hordes of refugees from the war streamed into the city - zealous refugees at that. Once again the city is pretty much ready to burst and its only those advisors that are keeping the balance and stopping everything exploding again.

If Tommen waged war on the Faith (and that's what it would look like) it would end **badly**


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

[User]
[Spider-Man: Far From Home] Why would he trust Peter with...? (Spoilers)

Why would Tony trust Peter (of all people) with the entire Stark Global Security Network (of all things)? Here's a refresher of what EDITH tells Peter when they first meet:

> I have access to the entire Stark global security network, including multiple defense satellites, as well as back doors to all major telecommunication networks.

Seems like way too much responsibility for a teenager, doesn't it? I know Peter's a great kid and I understand Tony sees him as the next... well, *him*; nevertheless, it's one thing to give him a couple super-powerful suits and another one entirely to give him full access to a system that can decimate nations with a simple voice command. And as we see in the movie, Peter makes the hasty decision of trusting Beck (a person whom he'd met just a couple days prior) enough to give him full-access, on top of almost getting Brad accidentally killed with the drone strike. So he was extremely careless, to say the least.
Seems like an incredibly irresponsible decision on Tony's part. Why not leave EDITH to Pepper, Rhodey or Happy with a note that said "Hey, please give this to the kid when he's older and much more level-headed"? Thank you in advance for your responses.

[Assistant]
Peter was the only person Tony could trust with that level of power; everyone else, even those closest to him, had flaws or personality quirks that made them untenable.

Pepper has never loved Tony's adventurism. She's happy as CEO, and was willing to don a suit when the literal fate of half the universe hung in the balance, but most of her interactions with Tony regarding the Avengers revolved around her trying to get him to stop being Iron Man.

Rhodey was a military man. That became less true during *Infinity War*, when he told Ross to fuck off and agreed to work side-by-side with a still-fugitive Steve Rogers, but at the end of the day, Rhodey works for the US Military, and Stark was very much against giving the full might of StarkTech to the US Military.

Happy is a good friend, but he's not ready to hold the fate of the world in his hands. The guy's resume can be summed up as "bodyguard for Iron Man." there has never in the history of the world been a job with fewer actual responsibilities.

Fury is ... Fury. Nobody really trusts him.

Peter is as smart as Tony, and has learned the same lessons about power and responsibility as Tony. And while the Thanos threat has been eliminated, who knows what clusterfuckery is going to beset the Earth in the next few years? Tony's vision was always to build a suit of armor around the world, and Peter is the only one Tony could trust to wear that suit.


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

[User] ELI5:Why and how are bats able to hang upside down for long periods of time without all the blood rushing to their heads like it would for a human?

[Assistant]
Due to gravity, blood is pulled towards your feet. Because humans stand up perfectly straight (a trait unique to us amongst mammals) your entire vascular system is designed to pump blood towards your head stronger than towards your feet; this counteracts gravity and results in healthy blood flow.

Because bats spend so much idle time upside down, their vascular system has evolved to do the opposite: pump blood away from the head to normalize the blood flow. During flight, the wings absorb so much blood that this effect is negligible.


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

[User]
How are we able to locate and measure planets hundreds of light years away yet unable to see the hypothesized planet beyond Pluto?

   Based on gravitational pull some scientists have proposed a possible 10th planet that lies beyond Pluto which should have a sizable mass. Given this technique has been used successfully in the past to discover Neptune before we had been able to see it, that would suggest it is somewhat plausible there is something additional in our solar system.

Given this information, how is that we can detail, measure, and name planets in other solar systems, when we cant even see the end of our own?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Assistant]
The way we observe exoplanets is quite different from how we observe planets in our own solar system.

For a planet in our own solar system, we either have to observe it directly by registering the light coming from it, or deduce its presence because of the impact its gravity has on objects that we can see directly.

The problem with direct observation is that planets don't emit much light on their own and we rely on the planet reflecting sunlight to be able to see it. The intensity of light falls off with the square of the distance, so objects twice as far away only receive a quarter of the light. So take Pluto, for example. On average it's about 40 times further away from the Sun than the Earth, so it receives 1600 times less light per unit of surface area (and Pluto is quite a lot smaller too). But to see Pluto directly, its light needs to make its way back to us after being reflected by the surface of this little dwarf planet. Objects that are further out than Pluto will end up being much dimmer.

A second problem is where do you look for such an incredibly faint spec of light? To observe it directly, you'd have to point your hypersensitive telescope at the exact right spot in the sky.

So objects that are at a distance of Pluto or beyond will be both incredibly dim and will take up only a tiny point in the sky. These things combined make them very hard to spot.

So how do we spot exoplanets?

One way that we see an exoplanet is not by seeing it directly, but rather by seeing its shadow. As the exoplanet orbits its star, it will sometimes pass directly in front of the star (when seen from Earth). When that happens, it blocks a little bit of the light coming from the star. So by keeping a telescope pointed at a star and keeping track of the intensity of light that's coming from it, we can detect whether a planet is moving in front of it and briefly casting a shadow.

But there's another way to find exoplanets, for those that don't happen to orbit in a way that lets them cast a shadow our way. While a star exerts gravity on a planet, the planet also pulls at the star, albeit in a greatly reduced way. Nevertheless, this pull causes the star to "wobble" a bit and this wobble introduces a periodic Doppler shift in the light coming from the star. Detecting such a Doppler shift is an indication that an exoplanet may be present.

If one observes a star long enough, it's possible to determine the period of either of the aforementioned phenomena and this determines the length of a "year" on the exoplanet. This, in turn, is linked to the distance between the planet and the star. Finally, the magnitude of the distortion caused by the planet is a measure for its size.

With this information, a fairly complete picture can be formed of the exoplanet. We can determine if it's a likely to be gas giant or a rocky planet and if it's in the stars habitable zone or not.

So to conclude: We observe things in our solar system by looking at them directly and seeing the sunlight reflected by the object. Things that are beyond Pluto are simply too dim to easily spot this way. Exoplanets on the other hand are detected and studied by the effect their presence has on the star they orbit. These two different approaches are why we can spot exoplanets more easily than distant objects in our solar system.


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

[User]
Solution for combating eye-strain?

On Friday I read over 100 abstracts and just about killed myself. What would you suggest to help combat eye-strain?

I'm trying to work in eye-breaks, but it's tough when I'm "in the groove". A friend suggested LASIK to keep me from being dependent on my glasses. I also thought a new laptop with a higher resolution screen might be better. Do you have any tips that you would like to share?

Thanks.

Edit: wow, A lot more responses than I thought there would be! Thank you!

Edit2: Since there's been some disagreement about blue light contributing to eye strain, I found some research:

Rosenfield, M. (2016). Computer vision syndrome (aka digital eye strain). Optometry in Practice, 17(1), 1-10.

>"It has recently been suggested that the blue light emitted
>
>from digital displays may be a cause of DES, although there
>
>is no published evidence to support this claim. " (pp. 5)

(Though to be fair they cite a recent study with positive reported effects for a "blue filter" as they call it, but the study has no control; so it's not conclusive)

[Assistant]
Let me suggest to you:

- Install F.lux
- Every 30 min make a brake, move you body and look at distance
- have small external source of light thats not your monitor. Buy lamp with option to dim the light, have light in different colors
- put antiglare coating on your glasses
- put cotton wool soaked in tea from chamomile on your eyes
- If you plan reading and writing a lot, buy big monitor 27-32 inch mat finish, noflicker, IPS and 2k resolution.
- If you plan reading a lot lot more then buy big eink reader 10 inch or more. KindleDX or Onyx.


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

[User]
[MCU] After the events of Civil War, Peter Parker decides to train his body to be stronger and faster while seeking out someone to teach him how to fight. What would be the best and most logical way he can go about in completing all these things?

Tell me your thoughts.

[Assistant]
Just adapt non-weightlifting techniques. Spidey's strong enough that finding heavier weights to lift would be a waste of his time.

Wanna be faster? Do sprints. Do shuttle runs. Push harder every time. Go webswinging and challenge yourself to cover the same ground faster and faster. The goal isn't to beat the time someone else lays down, it's to beat your best. Find a complex area and race yourself through it, or get someone to put drones and other obstacles in your way.

Wanna learn to fight? Go to karate classes or something. Visit a boxing gym. Learn form. You don't need to learn to throw a punch with all of your strength in order to learn how to punch and kick better. If you know how to throw a punch right, you'll automatically be hitting harder and better.

Want to get stronger overall? Go swimming. Go diving. It's a full body workout and, if you're going as fast and as hard as you can, you're going to get some improvement. Work until you're tired.

There's no need to go overboard and track down superheroes to spar with or find bigger and better things to weightlift. If Spidey wants to improve, he just needs to focus on the basics. Improving his form and racing himself. Even if he started off training under Iron Fist and Captain America, they'd start him off on the basics. Proper stance, proper form. He could learn that from any old instructor.


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

[User]
How would a dragon fare against modern weaponry?

Let's just say the situation is a modern Marine fire team is patrolling Afghanistan, and they come across a dragon. They have what they are armed with, and backup, through their comms.

[Assistant]
As the documentary Reign of Fire clearly showed, dragons proved impervious to and managed to annihilate RPGs, high caliber weapons, even miniguns firing depleted uranium bullets sufficient to penetrate tank armor (even when mounted to maneuverable aircraft like the Cobra, Apache and Warthog).

The only known vulnerability is a meathead with a bowie knife jumping out of a helicopter.


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

[User] ELI5: Why so humans undergo several growth spurts and not just grow at a uniform rate?

[Assistant] To make sure all the other parts catch up. Certain things are easy and cheap in energy to grow, like soft tissues, skin, and hair. Other things, like bones, heart muscles, and important cells take a lot of energy and are created slowly to make sure less mistakes( ie cancer) are made such as creating more neurons. Your body builds certain structures like Bones in big spurts then lets the other stuff catch up. So your head and legs have to grow first before the other stuff can fill it in.


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

[User]
[Batman] Would Batman kill a villain to save an innocent persons life if there was literally no other way to do so?

* In this scenario, lets assume that a villain is about to kill an innocent person, and all of the possible options that Batman could take to stop them would result in the villain dying. There is no getting out of finding a non-lethal option for this predicament.
* Would Batman kill the villain to save the innocent persons life?

[Assistant] The  Dark Knight trilogy batman killed two face to save Gordan and his son. The Arkham series batman basically killed Clayface with the lazurus pit.I don't know about the comic book version but i'd say he would.


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

[User]
ELI5: How can some terminally ill people just "hold off" death until they're ready?

Recently a family friend's mother died. She had some kind of terminal illness, but they all decided to go on a vacation to the Bahamas towards the end. She managed to keep going through the whole vacation, then "let go" and died a few days after they got back. There are many stories like this, where someone holds on for one reason or another, then simply lets go when the loose ends are tied. Medically, how is this possible? I know mind over matter can be pretty powerful sometimes, but how do some people literally hold off on dying until a certain time? I can't imagine you can just keep thinking "I can't die until X/Y happens" over and over in your head and keep living. What is the scientific explanation of this?

[Assistant]
With a lot of diseases, your body become so weak that breathing is difficult, and can at teams require a conscious effort.  You even have minor attacks, were you have to breath as hard as you can for a while just to stay alive.  At some point, you might choose to not make that effort anymore.

Also, you can make choices about the type of treatment you receive.  Curative treatment is about fighting disease and extending life.  Palliative care is about relieving suffering without attempting to cure.  A patient holding on for some event might endure more pain with curative treatment, then switch to palliative care after.

Finally, there is some selection bias here.  People are less likely to tell the story of the family member who died two days before the grand final vacation.


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

[User] ELI5: What is shock and why is it bad for patients to go into shock after a serious accident?

[Assistant] Shock is the general state of blood not being properly pumped around your body.  It means the brain & internal organs are not getting enough blood flow and this causes damage to them.  There are several different kinds and causes of shock, but they all must be treated rapidly for your patient to survive with minimal after-effects.


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

[User]
What does a Gyroscope's axis remain constant relative to?

I remember hearing somewhere that when you have a gyroscope spinning, it's axis will remain constant in relation to the earth's rotation. Does it also stay constant in relation to the earth's movement around the sun? If not, why?

[Assistant]
If there's no net torque acting on it, then its angular momentum is fixed in any *inertial* frame.

Neither of the frames you describe (one fixed to the surface of the Earth, and one traveling with the Earth around the sun) is inertial.

So if you imagine sitting in some inertial frame, watching the Earth rotate around its own axis (and revolving around the sun, if you want), you would see the angular momentum of the gyroscope remaining fixed.


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

[User]
CMV: Healthy animals should never be put down simply because theyre not getting adopted.

I understand the issue about space, accommodation and how many shelters are already struggling taking care of the ones in shelter, needing 24/7 care and attention. But do we put down our family who are going through similar or more painful health issues? Family whos fighting through cancer, or elderlies who are too old to care for themselves, we take on the responsibility for them. Then why cant we try and do the same for animals who are much more helpless and in need of support instead of putting them down simply because it might be too much work and money?

I may not know all the specific details that go into this decision, so help me learn please?

[Assistant]
Animal rights advocates/vegans, say that we should be adopting the animals that we can, make sure that animals are properly spayed/neutered so that they don't breed in an uncontrolled way and crack down on dog farms and breeders which bring dogs into the world , the unwanted dogs of which get thrown away out of sight and out of mind.

Unfortunately, shelters will need to put dogs down just as a matter of lack of resources. What else is there to do? Keep them alive but isolated and under-cared for? Send them to a home that may not be right for them where they are likely to suffer further?

You need to look at the broader picture. These animals absolutely have a right to life and it is our responsibility to take care of them but where we can't give them a good life then they will also just be suffering anyway. If you care a lot about this topic then you need to ask what practices led to all of these unwanted dogs and solve the problem there instead of downstream after the problems are difficult to solve.


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

[User] ELI5 Why can rain and snow last for hours/days but it never hails that long (or at least Ive never seen it)?

[Assistant]
Hail requires much more specific conditions to occur, and those conditions are hard to maintain for very long. In particular, hail implies very strong updrafts within a storm cloud, and those updrafts usually only last a matter of hours at specific times of day. On the rare occasions that they don't, it's usually part of a very large storm system, and those systems usually don't stay in one place. It's not *in principle* impossible to maintain hail for a while, but you'd need a bunch of things to align exactly right.

Rain, on the other hand, is pretty easy: all you need is a decent low pressure system to park itself overhead.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is the noun form of "unstable" written as "instability"? Why with the change of prefix?

[Assistant] You do not really derive "instability" from "unstable".  Unstable derives directly from stable, and instability is derived from stability which is derived from stable.  At no point does the un prefix transform into the in prefix.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Could a 100 megaton nuclear bomb disable the Death Star if it was detonated inside the station?

Not in the reactor. If it was detonated in a random place inside the Death Star, could it disable the station?

[Assistant] The radiation would bounce around inside the ship and there'd be a lot of fallout deaths and cancer.  Lawyers throughout the Empire would make a killing off of class-action lawsuits for survivors that later developed cancer.


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

[User] How do W bosons decay into an electron and a neutrino if they are fundamental particles?

[Assistant]
I suspect you are confused because you are thinking of particle decay as something breaking apart into the things it is made of.  This is not what's happening.

When a W boson decays, the W simply ceases to exist, and the energy that was in the mass of the W is reconstituted as the electron and antineutrino (or whatever decay products happen to arise), with that energy showing up in the mass of the decay products as well as their kinetic energy.

In other words, the W doesn't break apart into the decay products, but rather it turns into them.

Edit: Typos fixed.