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

[User] ELI5: If our body replace our skin every 7 years, why does our skin start to look aged?

[Assistant]
Your skin consists of 3 layers. Outside is the epidermis, these cells are indeed replaced, not even every 7 years, but every single month, so no problems there.

The layer under the epidermis is called the dermis. The dermis has cells, these are also replaced, not quite as fast as the epidermis, but still fast enough, still no problems. However, surrounding these cells are loads of filaments, the most important for the ageing effect are the elastic fibers. These cannot really be replaced, they were all formed when we were an embryo or in the first years of our lives and that's more or less it. So it is the loss and/or damage of these elastic fibers that gives us wrinkles and not the cells themselves.

(the 3rd layer is the subcutis, which is more or less the fat under the skin, but is also not really involved in ageing)

Contrary to some other comments, it's really not because of DNA damage or cell division.


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

[User]
Why do scientists spend so much time speculating about the first millisecond after the Big Bang?

There seems to be many theories and models detailing what happened in very small and specific time-frames about 13.7B years ago. What use are these theories? Is there hope of ever verifying them?

[Assistant]
Because it's important. The temperature of the universe scales inversely with time, so going further back in time, you're increasing the temperature. But once you have really high temperatures, what dominates the universe is new physics - beyond the standard model - and this news physics leaves an imprint on everything we see, from the CMB to the abundance of helium nucleus to the simple fact that there is matter around.

Of course, there are some crazy speculations and some real cool physics, but it takes training to tell one from the other.


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

[User]
[The Flash/Speedsters] Is there a minimum distance I can shoot someone where a speedster couldn't save them?

Basically, can speedsters hear bullets "faster than sound" or are they limited to reactions based on their own senses?

If I shoot a supersonic bullet at someone, The Flash hears the bullet and runs across town to stop it. I know Flash has such speed feats he basically teleports there, but he still needs to hear the bullet first, right? So, there would be a distance at which the bullet reaches the target before the sound waves reach Flash's ears.

I'm looking for any examples of speedsters reacting faster than the information could reach them. Given all the speedforce shenanigans that have happened I didn't want to dismiss it as not possible, but I couldn't think of a concrete example.

[Assistant] Depends on how fast the speedster is, but generally if you're able to pull the trigger with the gun pressed against their head you can outspeed most A-Class speedsters. But there'll always be a couple exceptions like the Flash with his "traveling half the distance of the universe faster than instant teleportation" bull shit.


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

[User] ELI5: How does a twin "absorb" the other twin in the womb?

[Assistant]
In the very early phases of the developing embryo like the blastocyst it's just a ball of undifferentiated cells.  There hasn't been any activity yet to distinguish the individual components: what's going to be the front or the back?  Which end is the head and which end is the butt?

Because there's no distinction between individual parts or the destinies of individual cells yet, the embryo has a very high ability to tolerate gains/losses of cells.  This can lead to the absorption of another embryo where the cells of both lines intermingle more or less evenly with each other.  This leads to what's called a "chimeric" organism.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are pianists celebrated for performing other people's work (Beethoven, etc) but musicians who "cover" other artists are sort of looked down on?

I'm pretty much asking why all rich/famous pianists make a living performing other people's music instead of creating their own like musicians do.

[Assistant]
Because the "classical" music hasn't been recorded, it's written on paper, so it's up to each pianist or orchestra to decide how THEY think it SHOULD sound. New music HAS been recorded, so aside from learning it and listening, there's not as much skill involved.
Not saying it's not skillful to be a cover artist, just sometimes it's easier than writing your own.


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

[User]
CS Major, struggling with Engineering based subjects. Do you eventually get through it?

I mainly got into CS becomes I love programming and mainly problem-solving. My favorite thing to do with code is to solve puzzles and think logically. So I thought I would do well in subjects like Physics and Calculus. I was so wrong, these subjects take the most time from me and I do poorly in them.

I don't do badly in discrete math though, in fact, that with my data structures class are the only ones I do well in even with minimal effort. Discrete math just seems like a puzzle-based math that has many parallels to programming. I like to call it "theoretical programming". The sub-topics are so interesting that I wish to take an upper-level form of them, but can't without going through the Calculus series.

I just don't do well with computational heavy subjects. Calculus isn't hard to understand, but since it's just so memorization heavy I don't do well in it. Since I don't understand why the deriv. of cot(x) is -csc^(2)x (not sth this basic but you get the idea), I'm bound to make mistakes. As for physics I seriously can't grasp it... I don't know why.

So people who have graduated with a degree in CS, how'd you get through those subjects and what can I do to get better? The whole thing has been damaging to my self esteem and has me feeling like I'm not a real scientist. I want to take those more abstract upper div Math classes, because I wish to go to graduate school for CS, and I think they'll help. As for physics, I find it interesting and I'm required to take a year of it, so no getting around it.

So this post is to people with Computer Science degrees and mostly Computer Engineering as they are often good at both computational and abstract thinking.

[Assistant] just slog through calculus. the chance you'll need it in real life is close to zero for the typical application. heck, you probably won't even need most of the discreet math directly, but it on the other hand is good to know what's going on under the hood.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is the difference between the best, high-pay lawyer and an average or so-so lawyer?

You always hear phrases such as "We'll get you the best lawyer in this country".

What makes a great lawyer compared to a good or average one?

[Assistant] It helps to think of it like a car mechanic. The best mechanic for you is one that has experience fixing the problem you have at a reasonable price. But the top mechanics in the world have experience solving highly specialized problems in exotic cars.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are monitors 144 hz instead of a flat 140 or 150?

[Assistant]
It's divisible by 24, which is commonly used for cinema.

If it was 140 hz you would have some weird possibility such as 20 frames showing for 7 cycles (which wouldn't sync with cinema), or stretching some frames for more refresh cycles to make 24 frames last 140 cycles (instead of showing each frame for 6 refresh cycles). 150 would have a similar issue.

144hz was the most sensible choice because each frame can be shown for 6 refresh cycles, and it can be split in half for 3 refresh cycles for each eye if used for 3D.


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

[User]
Immigration

Why does immigration have a positive effect on the economy? Is it just because of differing skillsets between immigrants and natives? Other than that, I would think that everything would scale up and the impact would be neutral.

[Assistant]
Immigrants are a complement to the current work force. Low skill immigrants work low paying jobs that Americans dont want to work and high skill immigrants have advanced educations and are qualified for high tech jobs.

Immigration also helps spur innovation and entrepreneurship. Immigrants move to America because of a lack of opportunity in their home countries. It is largely a subset of hard working people who are looking for a place where upward mobility is possible.


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

[User]
[Fallout: New Vegas] How did Joshua Graham survive?

He was lit on fire and tossed in the Grand Canyon, which is over mile deep. How the hell did he survive, let alone make it all the way to New Canaan.

[Assistant] Speaking from experience that the Grand Canyon isn't a sheer drop at all points.  Probably tossed him on fire near an edge where he gently bounced and rolled down into the river below.  Not saying it's likely you'd survive the drop but it's possible.  Several broken bones severe burns and definite internal injuries but it's possible that he could survive being tossed down the less steep edges.


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

[User] Why do I not get shocked when I touch both ends of a double A battery?

[Assistant]
Your electrical resistivity is too high for any significant current to flow through you.

Don't try this, but sweaty skin (lower resistivity) plus batteries that have adjacent terminals (closer terminals equals lower resistance from your skin) usually leads to small shocks.


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

[User]
Why dont we just take drugs until we die?

So for a long time my understanding was that everyone wants to be happy and that everyone acts and behaves in order to achieve this happiness. Therefore happiness is (for most people subjectively) the purpose of life.

But I started to question my views when I asked myself: If everyone wants to be happy and happiness is basically chemistry in our brains, why dont we just take drugs for our entire life which make us happy 24/7.

Are there any philosophical answers to this?
Can you recommend me some philosophers or texts which try to answer this question?

[Assistant] Mill discussed higher and lower pleasures in Utilitarianism, famously saying "better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied."  IIRC, Bentham disagreed though, so you may wish to explore those directions.


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

[User]
CMV: I think it is wrong to use China or the USSR as citations of communism as a failed system

For those familiar with Marxist communism, the actual communist society is meant to be similar to an anarchy of sorts. Following a revolution in which the extremely developed capitalist society is overthrown there would be an interim period of dictatorship of sorts which would set up the remaining infrastructure needed for the communist society. Following that, the dictatorship would release all power and let the actual communist society start.

Russia had some manufacturing potential, but arguably wasn't nearly ready enough to proceed to the "communist" phase. Lenin and others sort of wanted to jumpstart it and just skip the long capitalistic society part and go straight to communism. That isn't so much the concern here, but rather the fact that they didn't have nearly the manufacturing society to support it.

China was even worse, they barely had any kind of manufacturing potential and were nearly a complete agrarian society. While they managed to move into manufacturing eventually, the sudden change and poor planning was a massive failure.

Additionally, it seems clear that neither of the society's leaders ever planned to actually leave the dictatorship part. Stalin in particular was just far more interested in having absolute power, and there are some similar tendencies in china, although not nearly to the extent of USSR under Stalin. I think this is the strongest point to make, that neither society were communist to begin with, and were merely totalitarian governments that called themselves communist. Although they had a few communistic/socialistic tendencies, that doesn't make their system of government communism.

Its like when N. Korea calls itself democratic, or perhaps better examples being various middle eastern countries that are "democratic" or "The People's Republic" We never cite them as failures of republic governments, so why should we cite Russia or China as communism failures.

[Assistant]
Let's say you are an IT person- who has developed a brand new operating system.

This operating system is just... it's the tits man.  Once you get it fully functioning and onto everyone's PCs, it's going to be perfect.

Now, there is one flaw- every time you try to load it up onto anyone's system, it doesn't work.  It causes crashes, hardware failure, the like.

Is the system not a failure?

The road to implementing anything is often as important, if not more important, then maintaining said thing.

If one can not get the system off the ground, then said system is clearly rife with problems.


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

[User]
[DC Comics] In all seriousness, what did Lex Luthor do with the forty cakes he stole?

That's a lot of cake for one guy to eat.

[Assistant]
A guy like him would just get cakes legitimately if he wanted cakes, so it seems clear to me the theft was more to hurt or obstruct the person whose cakes they were rather than personal gain.

So the logical progression would be that he just gets rid of the cakes, most likely by throwing them in a dumpster or just leaving the cart out on the street for random people to grab them or something along those lines.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do kids love bright colors so much, but as they get older, bright colors seem less important?

[Assistant]
While growing, humans use attention to collect useful information. In early childhood attention is mostly focused on easily perceivable differences between events and things like contrast, brightness, loudness, primary tastes etc When you grow older you already collected that information and unless some part of your focus got permanently attracted to some of it, like getting hobby of collecting colorful things, your attention moves onto other, more complex and nuanced differences like differences in art style, subtle tastes, refined music styles etc.
Why is it working this way? Because brain builds more complex concepts using more simple ones increasing neural network complexity for their representation.


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

[User] [Dragon Ball Super] Why didn't Jiren defeat everybody right then and there if he was that strong?

[Assistant]
Jiren the Grey is an asshole.

You could make the argument that he was conserving his energy and stamina by remaining as his universe's "trump card" (or their second, if you count Topo going full God of Destruction), but mostly the thing is that for 95% of the fight Universe 11 didn't need him and he couldn't be bothered fighting all the different opponents, because he didn't need to. He took out a couple of the big threats, sized up the Saiyans and handed them their asses, and didn't care how much pain, stress, and heartache the other Pride Troopers suffered as they got defeated one by one. It wasn't until they very end when it was basically all down to him that he took things seriously...and that's basically why Universe 11 lost (which is almost assuredly a *good* thing in the grand scheme of things, because who wants to give that jerk a wish?)

But yeah, Jiren is an asshole. He's not a team player, shows no desire to help, talks down to *everyone*, wanted to do either nothing or everything.


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

[User]
How do my scales calculate my body fat percentage?

I'm 25, weigh 66 kgs and I'm 170cms tall. It said my body fat percentage is 26.7. How does it know I'm not really muscly with no fat, or really fat with no muscle?

[Assistant]
A small and completely harmless electrical current is passed through your body. The electrical current passes more quickly through fat free tissue like muscle than it does through fat or bone tissue. So...

The amount of resistance to the electrical current relates to how much fat-free mass a person has and their body density. Here's the first challenge...

Like all body fat tests, body fat scales don't actually measure your body fat percentage. They determine your body density. The examiner (or the scales) then uses a formula to calculate body fat percentage based on body density.

Bioelectrical Impedance

Bioelectrical impedance methods are basically special body fat scales or hand-held devices that send a safe electrical signal measuring its return through the body. The signal will travel faster with water and since muscle is 70% water and fat contains little water, the body fat scale is able to make a distinction, plug the information into an algorithm and give you a reasonable body fat percentage estimate.

Bioelectrical impedance is simple and quick. The scales are not outrageously expensive, usually $60 to $200, which makes it a practical method. Tanita makes some good ones.

The consistency of these measurements is a bit questionable however. Changes in water retention, food intake, skin temperatures and minor posture changes among other things can affect the readings given by these devices. These variables can leave you with some perplexing numbers.

While the bioelectrical impedance methods won't be as reliable as skinfold measurements methods, they are better than not getting a number at all. So if you're not a very patient person (and learning to get consistent body fat percentages with skinfold measurements will require a little practice and patience), body fat scales can provide serviceable body fat calculations. They will give you something to go on.

For best results, try to keep all factors as close to identical each time you jump on your body fat scales (temp, posture, etc.).


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

[User]
[SW Thrawn Trilogy] Why do the Noghri worship Luke and Leia so much when it was Vader that ruined their planet in the first place and Luke who killed a stack of them in the first book?

Shouldn't they be like, you know killing them.

[Assistant]
Wasn't this explained in the book?

During the Clone Wars, a ship crashed into the Noghri planet and spilled loads of chemicals. The identity of the ship was unknown at that point. Years later, a bunch of Imperials landed on the planet to investigate and were quickly killed by the Noghri. Darth Vader came to investigate, found out how skilled they are, and promised to restore their planet in exchange for their servitude to the Empire.

Since then, the Noghri peoples worship Vader and by extension, his children. The Noghri who were sent to kill Luke did not know who he was at the time. They only knew Leia was Vader's daughter when they sniffed at her hand.


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

[User] ELI5:  Why did Hitler think blonde-haired blue-eyed people were genetically dominant when he had neither of those traits?

[Assistant]
He thought *Aryans* were genetically dominant. The stereotypical Aryan was blonde-haired and blue-eyed, but that's just like the stereotypical Japanese person having straight jet-black hair; few people thought that you had to look like the stereotype to be Asian.

In general, the Nazi beliefs about race weren't nearly as extreme as people like to think. They *acted* on their beliefs in extreme ways, but the belief in white northern European supremacy was pretty widespread among white northern Europeans, and the Nazi version wasn't all that much different.


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

[User] ELI5: What exactly are voice cracks?

[Assistant]
Singing is a conscious effort, much like moving around your arms. Holding a note is basically the same as, say, holding up a book with an outstretched arm -- except this time, you are supposed to keep that arm held up at a specific angle. It takes effort to keep that arm steady, but sometimes you would under/overestimate the 'output' of how much effort you put in that and your arm might slightly fall/raise. That fall or raise could result in a voice crack.

Temperature plays a huge part in a singers voice, as do some beverages. Cold water cools your vocal chords too quickly, resulting them in tightening to soon. Milk builds phlegm, which causes you to sound stuffy. Sugary foods/drinks can mess with the lining of your throat.

Source: I've been singing for ten years.


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

[User] If I drink a liter of water, how much of the water is absorbed and used by my body, and how much just goes right through me?

[Assistant] All of it goes through you and all of it is absorbed and used by your body, mostly as a solvent. Even when you just piss it away, you do so along with some salts, and that's still the water being used by your body for a specific purpose.


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

[User]
[WH40k] If the Tyranid are only concerned with consuming biomass, why do they bother attacking Necrons?

Observation:
*Hive fleet detachments have engaged Necrons on several occasions.
After a successful Tyranid victory, the xenomorphs have been observed completely disregarding the bodies of their foes.*

It begs the question, why attack them at all?
Would it not simply be more efficient for the Tyranids to avoid all contact with the Necrons in the first place? After all, there would be zero net gain from a battle, if not negative gain because of losses incurred, and no new biomass to consume to replace it with.

[Assistant]
There are those among the Ordos Xenos that classify the above engagements as exceptions rather than the rule. They would point to the fact that Tyranid have avoided planets with substantial biomass, but on which were later discovered to contain Necron installations (so called 'Tombs').

It is possible that the Tyranid have interests other than the simple consumption and conversion of all biomass into more Tyranid, and that these unknown interests conflict with those of the Necrons'. The idea that the Tyranid may be capable of having interests other than mindless consumption implies a level of intelligence beyond a simple plague of locusts, and represents a startling line of thought best left to the experts.

The Emperor Protects.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are US tire sizes half metric and half English?

They have the tread width in millimeters but the rim size in inches for most tires except for large off road or other specialized tires.  How did that happen?

[Assistant]
Lets take an example tire size

# ***P215/70R16***

***P*** here designates that the tire is a **P**assenger tire

Other tires may have

T: Temporary

LT: Light Truck

C: Commercial

and

ST: Special Trailer

*215* here designates the widest point of the outside of the tire, from sidewall to sidewall.  It means that it is exactly 215 mm, which is easier than saying 8.4546 inches. This is also important for precision in installing the tire. the difference between a 215mm tire and a 220mm tire could result in flats or other vehiclular damage if driven for a sustained period.

/70

This is the most confusing part because it means that the tire height (from rim to tread) is equal to 70% of the tires Width from sidewall to sidewall. In this example, the sidewall is 215mm, so the tire height will be 70% of 215, or  150mm

*R*

the R indicated that the tire is a Radial tire. Radials are made without  belts in the rubber to prevent tire punctures. Other types of tires include

D: Biased Ply, which uses cloth belts and

B:  Belted which use steel belts

*16*

This last bit indicates that this wheel will fit on any 16inch wheel hub. It doesnt need to be in Millimeters, because the wheels are already made to the same spec as the tires.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] What were the "Really advanced defensive magic, probably, powerful countercurses, anti-jinxes" Hermione was talking about?

Ron also speculates about Spectacular hexes and Jinxes when talking about what Dumbledore is likely to teach.

What were they talking about?

[Assistant] Probably something along the lines of what he would have used when fighting Voldemort in the Ministry, where you had magical barriers stronger than the standard basic one, or the multilayered protection spell that would be cast on Hogwarts itself later on.


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

[User] Eli5: Why does the pledge of allegiance go 'under god' if one of the founding principles of America was religious freedom?

[Assistant] To show hostility toward the state-enforced atheist Soviet Union. Before that it did not say 'under God' and it's not an issue now because you can't be compelled to say the pledge, nor does it specify which god of which religion they're talking about. It's just that the majority of Americans are Christian so they default to that one.


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

[User]
How does cancer kill people?

It's my understanding that cancer cells are cells that divide abnormally  and develop into large masses, or tumors. My question is how is that lethal?

[Assistant] Because it kills of heathy cells, and replaces it with cancerous cells. So if this cancer is affecting a vital organ (kidneys, lung, brain, etc.) then eventually it will cause the organ to fail. Think of it like this, if you have a car, and a small sensor goes out, it's no big deal, it's just a sensor. You drive on without it, but say this sensor is a part of the a circuit, that needs that sensor to work. So after that sensor fails, it spreads to another sensor, that then fails itself. Now that sensor leads to a computer chip that needs those two sensors to function. Because those two failed, now the chip fails. Now let's assume your car needs that chip to function, well with the chip failed, the car dies, and won't run. It's much like that.


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

[User]
[Economics] After the IPO, how does having publicly traded stock benefit a corporation?

Are there any benefits to a corporation being traded publicly beyond initially raising funds? Catering to shareholders just seems to be a headache after that, especially for an established company which has been public for many years.

[Assistant]
There are practical benefits and more theoretical benefits.

In the practical category, it makes it easier for the company to raise money, even after the IPO. Shares that can be publicly traded are worth more, because people who buy them know they will be easier to resell, and because more people are eligible to buy them in the first place. So, if a company needs to sell shares a year after the IPO, they can most likely get a better price than they could in a private placement.  This is also good for shareholders, since it allows them to more easily sell their shares if and when they want to; whereas with a close corporation, you have no real way to get your money out. And since you can't readily get your money out of a close corporation, you might be less willing to invest in the first place.

In the more theoretical category, it probably leads to better management of companies, because public markets provide information. Essentially, the public price of a stock is a real-time, constant opinion poll that tells company managers what thousands (millions even) of people think of the job they are doing.  If management makes a boneheaded decision, the share price goes down instantly and the managers know right away that lots of people think they are doing a bad job; and vice-versa if they make a positive announcement.

Also in the more theoretical category, public listing probably makes companies more valuable because public companies are more heavily regulated. For example, under Sarbanes-Oxley the executives of a public company face jail time if the company's accounting statements are misleading, so we would expect that these executives will be extra-careful to make sure that the accounting statements are accurate. But Sarbox doesn't apply to privately held corporations, so you might worry more about whether you were being cheated and thus be less willing to invest.


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

[User] ELI5: In a recession, where does the money go?

[Assistant] It's not that money disappears, it's that money flow slows down. People pull out of investments, or have debts that they can't repay (which sometimes are what backs the investments), which slows growth of business and then creates unemployment, ect.


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

[User] [star wars] if the milky way does exist in star wars, what time would it be on earth?

[Assistant]
Our only metric is "A long time ago." That could mean anything - a generation, a lifetime, or thousands or even millions of years.

We know the story of Star Wars stretches from the beginning of the Old Republic to the establishment of the New Republic and beyond - a timeframe of some 4000 years or more. So if the first Death Star was blown up in, say, the year 1977, then the Jedi Archives on Coruscant were built at around the same time as the Great Pyramid of Giza on Earth. This is 500 years before Darth Revan came into power.


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

[User]
Does geology play a part in showing the average temperature of the Earth in a certain time period, like the chemical makeup of the rocks? Or is there more to it in determining geologically what the climate was like in the past?

Had someone mention in another thread that we have historical data on temperatures obtained by geology studies that shows the climate currently doesn't match with the general trend we'd expect to be naturally occurring, so I'm curious as to if there's something geologically that shows the Earth's average climate in comparison to now, and how that shows it's much warmer now than it should be by natural progression.

[Assistant]
The rocks generally just offer insights to the climate of the time. Showing us if it was deep sea, continental shelf, delta, beach, grassland, moorland, mountainous, jungle, forest etc

Fossil evidence can show the cycles of population booms and falls over millions of years, pointing to ecological instability through many factors such as climate.

Now, Ice... Ice can offer much more, over a much smaller time period

Ice traps air, and we can find the chemical composition of that air to determine the global temperature. Through this method we've been able to track Carbon concentrations over thousands of years.


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

[User]
ELI5: What's all the fuss this morning with Wikipedia and Go Daddy?

I don't get it.

[Assistant] Long story short, yesterday, a call to boycott GoDaddy came about because of their positive stance on SOPA. Today, someone suggested that Wikipedia switched their domains from GoDaddy to another domain name provider.


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

[User] ELI5: What happened to Ebola?

[Assistant]
The epidemic died down. Ebola is not a particularly infectious disease, requiring direct contact with the bodily fluids of a victim to transmit. Thus, once proper containment could be done, the amount of infections dropped.

The diseases is still slowly continuing in Liberia, but a vaccine has been developped, and so far, appears to be very effective, though trials are ongoing.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is store brought ice clear but when you make it at home it goes cloudy?

Title says it all really, the store brought ice is always very different. Why is this?

Edit: I know Im a moron, bought*

[Assistant]
They use a different process to make ice more efficient and quickly. Instead of putting the water into a freezer and cooling it with air they spray/pour water directly on the coils of the freezer. This makes it form in a bunch of thin and quickly formed layers, instead of as one thick chunk which is frozen slowly over dozens of minutes.

When ice is formed in a big chunk it freezes from the outside in. So a layer on the outside forms, and then the inside of it is stopped from expanding and can't push itself out, which makes a bunch of stress lines/fractures throughout the cube. This is also why ice cubes from your freezer will 'pop' or sometimes explode when it's melting in your glass.

None of this happens when the ice is formed in layers from one direction because the water has room to expand.


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

[User] [Aladdin] If Aladdin is the only one worthy of entering the Cave of Wonders but can only touch the lamp, who is all that treasure for?

[Assistant]
To quote the Disney Wiki:

>The cave can only be entered by an individual whose "worth lies far within" --the diamond in the rough. Those who make attempts to enter, otherwise, are killed almost instantly.

>To keep these laws intact, and unworthy thieves away from the powerful riches that lie within, the cave is guarded by a massive, intimidating God-like Spirit with the shape of a tiger's head.

To me, this implies that the gold is there to weed out borderline entrants that may be tempted to grab something exciting when they only have permission to snag the one item they're after.

It is a cave of wonders after all, it may have all sorts of other exciting items. A sonic screwdriver from the doctor, or a lightsaber, but mostly it seems just gold.

Maybe all that other jazz is just some kind of illusion for whomever made the entry by the guard at the front. Personalized for what they would think is best.

Also, someone let the monkey in, so Aladdin's not the ONLY one who can get all up in that.


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

[User]
[Inglorious Basterds] Would Aldo have kept the deal with Wilhelm had von Hammersmark not shot him?

My cousin said he would not have since Wilhelm wouldve blown von Hammersmarks cover and it would make sense since at the end of the movie Aldo shoots the Private, breaking the deal with Landa.

[Assistant]
Little Willy was a dead man.

The Basterds operate in open violation of the laws and customs of war. They torture and murder prisoners, mutilate corpes, engage in violence both in civilian and false military garb, act as assassins and saboteurs, and so on. Smoking the kid is *less than nothing* compared to the war crimes they've committed to that point.

Wilhelm is a massive liability. He knows there's bullshit afoot, and can connect von Hammersmark to said bullshit. Leaving him alive is a death sentence for Operation Kino, so he's got to go, one way or another.


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

[User] ELI5:Why is it when I blow on my hand the air is cool but when I make a haaaaaaaa sound the air is warm?

[Assistant]
The air is the same temperature either way.  The difference is that quickly-moving air can "entrain" surrounding air, essentially pulling it along for the ride.  So when you blow out through pursed lips, the air you feel is a combination of air from your lungs and air from the surrounding environment.

Try cupping your hands around your mouth (to prevent ambient air from becoming entrained) and blowing both ways, and you'll feel that they're both the same temperature.


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

[User]
[Adventure Time] Why does Farmworld Marceline look so old?

Yes, I know that regular Marceline is 1000 years old, but she looks 17. Her Farmworld counterpart looks her age.

[Assistant]
Marceline was born a half-human, half-demon. In the main universe, when the Bomb landed and the world ended in the Mushroom War, she helps the remaining humans escape to another landmass whilst fighting off the vampires and mutants that prey on them.

In the main universe, she ends up getting bitten by one of the vampires, making her now part vampire. This freezes her physiology at the age she was at the time.

In the Farmworld, the world doesn't end in the Mushroom War but instead by getting frozen over by the crown. Because of this, creatures such as the vampires (presumably) never arise to become a menace, and Marceline, isolated in that cave for a thousand years, never becomes a vampire.

But because she's still half-demon, she can survive that long. She just ages as well.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Before George Lucas made the prequel trilogy, what was the backstory/history of the pre-Trilogy era? (e.g., what was the canonical history of Clone Wars, the Republic, Jedi, etc. and characters like Darth Vader, the Emperor, Yoda, Obi Wan etc. according to the novel/comics/cartoons?)

[Assistant] There were only a few hints and references - the Thrawn trilogy for instance mentions the clone masters, spaarti cylinders, clone madness etc, but only passing references. It did appear however that the clones were the enemy of the Republic. Coruscant was established before the prequel trilogy (again, by Timothy Zahn) so again the jedi presence and their temple on Coruscant was established, but nothing was really delved into with any level of detail.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How did Yoda and Obi-Wan manage to retake the Jedi Temple after the Purge?

Also, if there were surviving Jedi's after Order 66, how come they didn't find the rest of them and try to rebuild the Order, They could of gone to some off-world planet and slowly rebuild it.

[Assistant]
They didn't retake it, they broke in to the equivalent of the security officer room to look at the holographic records and change the signal calling the Jedi back to Corosount.

They probably waited for a shift switch in the clone troops watching that part of the Jedi Temple and attacked them when there number where lowest, a quick in and out with minimum guards around hardly qualifies as taking back the entire Temple.


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

[User] ELI5: If Mexico legalizes marijuana how will this impact the illegal drug trade between mexico and the US, the DEA, etc.?

[Assistant]
Depends on how they legalize it.  If they just 100% legalize it and don't regulate it then nothing will change because it would still be cheaper to buy marijuana from mexico on the street than buy it at a legal pot shop in the US.  Also there is still the demand for marijuana in states where it is still illegal and it's way cheaper to buy and smuggle mexican marijuana than smuggling in stuff from legal pot shops.  Mexico would have to regulate and tax it to the point that it isn't worth the trouble to try and smuggle it into the US.

The other thing that isn't being considered are the other drugs.  Things like cocaine from south america end up going through mexico to get to the US.  So even if marijuana is legalized and regulated to the point that cartels can't make money on it, the cartels will just shift focus to smuggling more cocaine, meth, haroin, etc.


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

[User] [Marvel] Vibranium vs. Adamantium. What are the advantages or disadvantages of each over the other?

[Assistant] IIRC, vibranium is much better at absorbing shock but is more brittle to a certain degree. Adamantium is an alloy which is more flexible (aka harder to break) but doesn't absorb vibration nearly as well.


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

[User]
When programming is your job, do you google as much as you did when you were a begginer?

I'm currently aplying for programming jobs, and i'm wondering if i have to know a lot of things of the top of my head, or is professional programming a continous learning process?

[Assistant]
Depends. If you switch to a new language or framework, you google a lot. After some time you get familiar with common issues and error messages.

If anything, you get better at knowing which keywords to use. Google is very good at showing results with similarly-meaning words, so if you only know the term for a different language or framework, using that knowledge in your search message will likely still give you the results you're looking for.

Other than that it's mostly reading documentation. Stackoverflow and similar sites are usually helpful as well.


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

[User] What neurological differences are there in a crow's brain that allow it to have such high intelligence for its size?

[Assistant]
Cognitive science is really only just getting to the meat of this area. For a long time people didn't really accept that birds could be intelligent, because they do not possess a neocortex. Later they argued that there must be mammalian like neural structures to allow such intelligence. That wasn't right either.

Using the new caledonian crow, studies have found that when compared to less intelligent bird and corvid species, the crows have a enlarged region of their brain called the nidopallium. There is a (flawed but workable) measure of intelligence called the neocortex ratio-- which is the ratio of neocortex size to the total brain size of an animal. Animals with lots of neocortex tend to be more intelligent and capable of higher cognitive behaviors. The Nidopallium seems to fill the same roll in many intelligent corvids (and other bird families) that the neocortex does for us mammals. This seems to be (one of the) major neurological factors that allow some corvids to be so intelligent.

Thats not the whole view though. There's considerations for the social environment that an animal interacts with, the specific physical environment, and other factors. The evolution of intelligence is still very hazy, though we have some good developing theories right now. the nidopallium and neocortex are an example of convergent evolution-- two unrelated developments that evolve in response to the same or very similar selection pressures.


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

[User]
Can schizophrenia actually manifest silhouettes and voices?

My understanding of schizophrenia is, that person have sort of visual and hearing hallucinations, but can late stage of this illness actually cause, that person hears voices?

And if it can, can this progress so far, that person can project hallucinations of human being with its silhouette and voice?

[Assistant] Yeah, visual and auditory hallucinations can be present at any stage of schizophrenia, just depends on the type and severity. These are the more serious types, especially when accompanied by psychosis..


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

[User] ELI5: What makes crystal clear water so clear? Does the water have the same refractive index as air? Is it a lack of sediment?

[Assistant]
Crystal clear water is very filtered.  This process is done naturally, by rocks, glaciers, or pressure under the ground. Since the water is so clean, there are not enough ions for plants, bacteria to survive in well so they do not affect the clarity of the water.

The water will obscure light more so than air, but you can see significantly far into the water.

Personal anecdote: In Iceland, you can snorkel / scuba in Silfra, which is some of the purest natural water on earth. you can see down at least 400 feet without issue. It was very fun and I'd highly recommend.


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

[User]
Do plants have a life expectancy? Can you predict how long a plant will live, given the proper conditions?

There was a story in the newspaper about a tree that had "reached the end of it's life-cycle." It is the centerpiece of a large condo/shopping center, and is going to be removed for public safety reasons. They claim to have consulted 6 arborists who all said it had died a natural death, at approximately 125 years old.  I find this claim strange, considering the age of some plants alive on earth this very moment.

[Assistant]
Yes, plants do have a life expectancy. Every species has its own natural life expectancy, but it can be also affected by the environment, disease, etc. A simple example would be annual plants - they germinate, grow, flower, set seed and die within a year.
Predicting how long a plant would live is a bit of a different story, mostly because of 'proper conditions'. Plants that don't live in a closely controlled glasshouse will have to survive changing conditions and that affects how long they live. Weather changes and climate changes, so defining 'proper conditions' is tricky, since plants that were perfectly adapted to a given environment 100 years ago don't have to be so perfectly adapted now (for example some seeds need frost before they germinate).


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

[User] [Star Wars] Can your standard Jedi with a standard lightsaber deflect blasts from an AT-ST or AT-AT?

[Assistant] Think of it this way.  Lightsabers deflect blaster bolts by electromagnetically repelling them.  But different intensity blaster bolts will carry different energy levels and momentums.  So deflecting a blaster pistol bolt would be akin to deflecting a golf ball with a baseball bat, whereas deflecting a standard E-11 bolt would be akin to deflecting a baseball.  (Just making estimates going off of how lightsaber wielders move and react while deflecting bolts).  Extrapolating, deflecting an AT-ST round would be akin to trying to deflect a bowling ball with a baseball bat, and trying to deflect a heavy AT-AT round would be like trying to stop an industrial wrecking ball.


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

[User]
ELI5: Can someone explain the hotel rating system?

My parents always go for the max but is 1-3 star really all that bad?

Edit: wow this has gotten crazy attention thanks for all the replies :)

[Assistant]
No it's not. If you're talking about the widely used "star" system and not some ranking process that some website made up recently for its own purposes, it doesn't directly *and only* represent the place's quality.

The number of stars in "official" ranking systems has to do with the number of amenities and services offered by the hotel. If it includes a valet, a concierge, a day spa, a pool, a restaurant and bar, room service, great decor and so on, all of these perks add up to the star rating associated with the hotel. If on the other hand it's a small but very clean place that only offers you a small room and an ice machine down the hall, despite being run by the nicest staff in the world that'll do just about anything for you to ensure your stay is pleasant, it'll still only be a two-star establishment.

There's absolutely a *correlation* between the number of stars and the quality of the place though. It takes a LOT of money to run a five-star hotel, and they can't afford bad reviews or pissed off customers so they usually try and train their staff very well. So five stars usually means a great and comfortable stay... usually. And you pay a lot more for it.


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

[User]
eli5: How often can skincells renew themselves? (Retinol)

So, recently, Ive been trying to take better care of my skin. I read about retinol A LOT. Its supposed to speed up cell turnover.

But cells do have a limited number of turnovers, no?

I am afraid of using retinol, I am worried it might make my skin look nice for now but might ruin it in the long run (because of the quick cell turnover). Can someone please explain this? Where am I wrong?

[Assistant] One thing you need to be careful with is taking retinol (Vitamin A) when you don't really need it. It's a fat-soluble vitamin which means it can build up in your tissues when you take too much. Water-soluble vitamins, on the other hand, can be freely removed by peeing them out if you take too much. Excess Vitamin A has also been linked to osteoporosis down the road, even if you're not taking dangerously high amounts.


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

[User]
How can spiderman climb walls when he is wearing gloves and boots?

Wouldn't the fabric of his clothing prevent his hairs from creating a Van Der Waals force reaction?

[Assistant]
Spider-Man's wall crawling ability has been explained to have several different sources. Peter himself has explained that he is able to manipulate the inter-atomic forces on surfaces that he touches, effectively increasing the coefficient of friction between a surface and his fingers to such a high a degree that he can "hang" objects from his fingertips, up to weights of several tons.

There are versions of Peter that achieve wall crawling via tiny hairs on his fingertips (movie Peter), and those utilize Van Der Waals forces. Those hairs probably stick out through the fabric of his gloves, though.


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

[User] [Iron Man 3] Why couldn't Tony charge the Mk. 42 from his chest reactor?

[Assistant] It's possible that its power requirements were too high to do so, or at least too high to do so from the level it was at when it was forced to crash-land. His reactors seem to have some limit to their power output - maybe after that long flight, the reactor had enough juice left to power his heart, but not to sustainably power the suit.


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

[User]
CMV: Clapping at the movie theatre when the film finishes is pointless.

I go to the movies a lot and it seems to happen pretty often that when the film finishes people in the audience will clap. I've never understood this as no one who had a part in making the film can hear the clapping. I could understand if it was a special screening, premiere, or there was an actor from the film or a special guest in the audience. But for normal movie-going circumstances, it just doesn't make any sense to me. Please change my view so I can stop getting annoyed when a theatre full of people clap.

[Assistant] Havent you ever been near a sports fan clapping in front of the TV after their team scored the winning touch down? Clapping isnt just a way to directly show the artist/athlete that you approve, its also a physical form of release that the viewer partakes in after witnessing something that made them excited and/or feel connected on a deep level. Its sort of like when someone dances around after finding out they landed a new job  same concept.


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

[User] Why are virus capsids usually icosahedrons?

[Assistant] It's a case of convergent evolution where relatively few structural proteins can fit together in such a way as to completely enclose the viral nucleic acids. There are also other shapes of viruses as well: Rhabdoviruses are bullet-shaped and filoviruses are filamentous. Irregularities in protein maturation can also cause deformation of the icosahedral structure, so it's not necessarily the perfect geometric structure you are imagining...


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

[User] [Star Wars] Does technology advance at any significant rate? It seems like the Ebon Hawk (4000 BBY) could compete with the Millenium Falcon. Maybe technology is near its peak, but only designs change based on contemporary needs?

[Assistant] The galaxy is a big place; like, seriously big. Absurdly huge, even. It takes a *long* time for technological innovation to spread over a space that size. Technology is constantly being advanced, but it isn't being distributed anywhere near fast enough to see much progression when the galaxy is examined as a whole. Imagine that a research lab develops, say, a new hyperdrive. It's 40% faster than the old ones, while using 30% less fuel. They put it through all the tests, and finally start to produce it. Well, of course they want to make money off of it, so they have their design patented so that other people can't produce it, and start building these drives. They're a small, system-level company, so they can only produce 5-6,000,000,000 a year. At that rate of production, it would take them *200 years* to outfit *just* the population of Coruscant. Of course, before 200 years have passed, another research lab will have produced a competing, comparable hyperdrive, better in some ways, and worse in others. They'll start doing the same thing. But even then, 1000 years later you'll still see the old type of hyperdrive being commonly produced on Rim Worlds, because the new ones haven't made it out that far yet, and they don't have the science facilities required to develop their own, so they just build the level that everyone knows and can make easily. The amount of production required to actually *standardize* a new development across the entire galaxy is just mind-boggling. If you look at the single most advanced tech item in the whole galaxy it's going to rise steadily, but if you look at the items in general use by everyday people, the change is significantly slower, just because the number of things that need to be built to get a majority of people using the new tech is just so staggeringly high, that even when the tech is there, most people aren't able to get it.


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

[User]
CMV: Teachers should be one of the highest paid professionals in our society

We need to prioritize what is beneficial to society as a whole and what is not. There is no justification to pay a CEO thousands of times more than what a normal employee makes. The foundation of our society depends upon educating our kids. It pains me to see teachers using their own money to buy school supplies because of budget cuts. Also it pains me to see teachers quitting their jobs over low pay. The average teacher's pay is so low compared to other useless professions like sports managers, investment consultants, etc

Edit: No, I did not mean teachers should be paid millions of dollars as CEO's. I was just trying to compare the difference in pay and the value they bring to society.   You may pay a bit more in taxes now to pay for the teachers, but it will be rewarded in the future. Teachers make way less than the value they add to society.

[Assistant] How do you propose this be done? CEOs, consultants, sports professionals are all paid through private industry. Teachers are paid through tax dollars. Should we privatize schools or nationalize all remaining industry?


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

[User]
How where Jurassic Herbivores (like the Stegosaurus) able to physically sustain themselves with only leaves which are so low in Calorie?

I know they where basically eating for the entirety of the day, but I still dont understand how such a big animal could sustain itself with only plants when even a koala eats all day just to sustain.

[Assistant]
In terms of efficiency, getting bigger is better so long as there is an available food source.  Larger animals have lower area/volume ratios, meaning they need to spend less energy to stay warm.  So if you double your mass, the mass of food you need to eat increases but does not double.  Big animals are also harder to prey upon, which is a valid defense strategy that doesn't involve spending time or energy on other tactics (horns, big teeth, armor, etc).  It is harder to move around when you get big, but this trade-off may be worth it for the positives up to a point.  The natural stopping point will vary depending on the ecosystem, but one of the hard stops involves gravity and the maximum strength of bio-materials.  Until nature evolves a stronger type of bone, land animals can't get so big that bones won't support them.

You can see this in action comparing mice and elephants.  You could drop a mouse off a skyscraper, and when it landed it would be just fine, so long as it didn't freeze to death of die of panic.  Its body is so light that impacts from free fall are not enough to injure it.  On the other hand, elephants can break limbs just by tripping, and are completely incapable of jumping even an inch or two without risking death.  Something much bigger than an elephant wouldn't even be able to stand up without shattering its legs.

The payoff for the elephant's size and fragility is it's efficiency.  An elephant eats a lot of food every day, but that food adds up to only a tiny portion of its body mass per day.  On the other hand, tiny animals like mice need to eat a significant portion of their body mass every day, because they need to use tons of energy to keep warm.  Hummingbirds are really scraping the bottom edge of the possible size for warm blooded animals, and they need to spend so much energy keeping warm that they must eat more than half their body weight per day.  Imagine if humans had to eat 60-100lbs of food per day in order to not starve to death.

In the water, even the movement penalty is gone.  The bigger you get, the less energy you need to use to move around.  Since there are basically no downsides to being big in the water, things which adopt the "get bigger" strategy don't hit any sort of stopping point and continue to get more and more gigantic.  Whales are a good example of this, as well as sharks and the aquatic dinosaurs.

Another natural limitation involves the circulatory system.  The bigger an animal, the hard it is to get nutrients distributed to all of the internal cells.  You can therefore see size limitations for different sorts of circulatory systems.  Animals with no circulatory system must remain quite small.  Insects have a sort of "circulation goop plus stirring mechanism" system which allows them to get a bit bigger, but the upper limit on insects is probably under a pound.  Advanced circulatory systems with arteries, veins, and multi-chamber hearts allows animals to get huge (whales and dinosaurs), but there is probably some upper limit on those as well.  Interestingly, the size limits for different systems depends on the availability of nutrients.  Larger animals cannot be found where nutrients are sparse, such as high up on mountains where there is little oxygen.  Millions of years ago, there was actually more oxygen in the air, which allowed bigger creatures with cruder circulatory systems.  For instance, there were giant dragon flies and other insects which were 10x or more the size of today's insects.


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

[User]
ELI5: How can hooliganism be orchestrated?

The news keeps talking about professional hooligans who are orchestrating violence at Euro 2016. I don't disbelieve it, but I just have no idea how it works. They get together and practice? They strategise beforehand?

There just seems to be a disconnect between the concept of hooliganism and any sort of planning. How does it work?

[Assistant]
We live in an age where people with similar interests can very easily hook up using the virtual tools the internet provides. It's quite simple for someone that wants to engage in criminal activity to find others that do too. A quick chat with one hooligan will lead to others, and perhaps an in-person meeting, and suddenly you have a conspiracy.

Throw in some access to funding, such as if there's organized crime that can profit or a political group that wants to make a statement or destabilize something, and even anarchists can get organized.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do I lose money that I put in a health savings account if I don't spend it all before the yearly deadline? Isn't that my money if I put it in there and no one else is contributing? Who gets it? Why is this legal? Why would anyone want an HSA?

[Assistant] You don't lose money from an HSA. You lose it from a FSA (Flexible Spending Account), and you might want it if you have predictable expenses and want some tax-free money for them. You can't have both an HSA and an FSA.


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

[User]
ELI5:A movie bad guy gets his neck snapped in the movies by good guy and dies instantly. Yet people like Christopher Reeves break their neck and live for years. How do some people survive broken necks and others don't?

I appreciate there's a difference between a broken neck and a severed spine, but Reeves severed his spine and lived, while I think others can die instantly from a broken neck. This I don't understand.

[Assistant]
A broken neck in and of itself is a totally survivable injury.

Broken bones in the neck, however, can put abnormal pressure on the spinal cord, causing damage leading to anything from numbness to paralysis to death. It's all about the extent of the damage to the spinal cord, not the bones themselves.

Incidentally, breaking the neck and severing the spinal cord is how execution by hanging works.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do blacklights make white stuff glow?

[Assistant]
Ok so our eyes can only see from red to violet (red,orange,yellow,green, blue and violet). The rest, either we cannot see or we see black.
A black light produces what we call ultraviolet light. Ultra goes for what's over violet in the electromagnetic spectrum.

What you see thanks to a black light are **phosphors**. Basically a phosphor is anything that emits **visible light** in response to some sort of radiation. So a phosphor will "convert" the energy in the UV radiation from the black light into visible light (from red to violet).

The general phenomenon is called **Luminescence**. And in this case, it's called **Fluorescence** or **Phosphorescence**.

The difference is that Fluorescence occurs so **quickly**, you can see the material glow when the light is on and stop glowing when the light is off. While Phosphorescence is **delayed**, the black light (UV) absorbed by the material can release light **seconds, minutes or even hours after exposure**.


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

[User] Why aren't any planes covered in dimples, yet every golfball is?

[Assistant]
Masters in Aerospace here.

There is a characteristic of the airflow that is called turbulence. Turbulence represents the amount of rotation in air molecules as they move through the air. Turbulent flows are more energetic, because in the addition to the kinetic energy from moving with the stream, they contain rotational energy as well.

Turbulence can occur at various scales and various strengths. You can have large vorticies, and you can have very small ones. As it happens, the vorticies that one would find in the general air through which the golf ball flies happen to be very weak - observe the smoke from a match in a room without the AC blowing. You will see very slow rotation.

The second part of this is aerodynamic drag. There are two major sources of drag - skin friction drag (air friction), and pressure drag. The latter is what you experience when you attempt to move a large sheet of wood through the air - the pressure on one side is a lot from the molecules bunching up, and the air behind the sheet is for the most part stagnant at the start, thus creating a pressure difference which causes a force in the opposite direction of movement. In fact, the energy you exert to move the sheet goes into the creation of vorticies as the air flows quickly around the edges of the sheet.

And that situation is unfavorable for you because you want the majority of the energy going towards the propulsion of your object, not the creation of vorticies that do you no good. This is when people figured out what it means to have an aerodynamic shapes.

Well, a golf ball is a smooth shape, so it should be fine, right? Nope, this is where the interesting effect of turbulence comes in. You see, the smoothness of the golf ball is enough for it to avoid the creation of vorticies, but because the initial strength of the vorticies in the ambient air is so low, you get something thats called separation - the flow does not have enough energy to go to the back of the ball, leaving you with pressure drag.

So what the dimples do is they create micro vorticies, with significant strength. The higher energy flow has the energy to expand to the low pressure area behind the ball, thus increasing the pressure there.   The downside to this is that the vorticies cause more skin friction drag then before (the energy from the motion goes into the creation of the vorticies), but the decrease in pressure drag is greater then that. Therefore the ball flies further.

For airplanes, for the most part, the wing shape prevents separation because it channels the flow smoothly from front to back. Also, the skin friction creates micro vorticies as well, that serve to keep the flow "attached" to the wing, preventing separation. (Golf ball without dimples does create some, however because it flies relatively slow compared to the aircraft, and the area exposed to the air is much smaller, they are much, much weaker then the aircrafts, and are not able to punch through the low pressure area).

However, to improve performance at low speeds, some aircraft add transverse strips on the top part of the wings towards the front to create artificial turbulence to aid with keeping the flow attached to the wing.

In the end though, you don't want turbulence - if you can find a way to keep the flow very laminar (i.e. turbulence free), you don't have to expend energy into creating these vorticies. Remember, the faster you go, the higher strength vorticies you create with skin friction, the more energy you expend. So if you look at something like an F-104 Starfighter jet, you have short stubby wings to minimize the area of affect. The wings were also very, very thin - in fact, you could cut your finger on the leading edge. This design keeps the flow laminar, and avoids the separation bubbles. The downside is you have to be going very fast for this, because your short wings do not provide enough lift at slow speeds, which means that at slow speeds you have to pitch up to increase lift, and your sharp edge starts creating vorticies way more then a conventional smooth wing of a passenger aircraft.


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

[User]
ELI5 how does the sensor which measures the level of fuel of a car know pretty precisely how much fuel there is in the tank?

I mean this might sound dumb, but hear me out, there are lots of bumps while you drive and the liquid always moves due to acceleration and breaking. What type of sensor is this? How does it work so well?

[Assistant]
This sensor is known as a float, and the name is pretty straightforward. Sucker floats. It is not a particularly precise instrument, but it gets the job done. While fuel may slosh around some, this is significantly reduced by the presence of baffles in the tank. Partial walls that seriously hinder the fast and rhythmic movement of the liquid while taking up very little space.

Additionally, a few other systems may be used to get a more accurate readout. This part is speculation, as I've never personally disassembled a gas tank/float, but:

Even as it moves around, the average liquid level does not change. If you can slow the movement of the float by some mechanical means, you can prevent it from wandering too much as the liquid sloshes. Again, the device doesn't need to be precise; it just needs to give you a rough idea (within a gallon or two) of the liquid level. This solution would not work if the sensor needed to detect rapid changes in liquid level, but hopefully your gas tank isn't draining all that much in a fraction of a second.

Another improvement is to place the float at the center of the tank. During longer periods of consistent acceleration, including turns, the surface of the fuel becomes angles. For instance, during a left turn, the right side of the fuel raises while the left side lowers. The solution may be obvious, when the problem is presented like this. By positioning the float at the center of the tank, it does not experience any significant disruptions from the fuel 'tilting' in the tank.


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

[User]
ELI5: How did Donald Trump end up with so much money?

He obviously inherited a good chunk, but I've heard all sorts of tales about how (and how well) he handled his money after that: "He would be worth more if he had just put his money in the stock market"; "He took advantage of the bankruptcy system"; "He made back his money by selling his name"; etc., but I don't have a clear picture of what exactly he did and whether he's an incompetent buffoon, a devilishly shrewd businessman, or something else. So I'd like to get a clear picture of how he got to where he is, so I know in what ratio I ought to be despising/mocking him.

[Assistant]
he made a business of getting investors to pay for a building to be built, called trump hotel, tower, ect. he didnt use his own money that had been used up with a previous failure. so he goes to people a b and c, and asks each for a million bucks. b and c agree. he uses that  million, tells a "hey a, ive got 2 million bucks, give me another million and ill make a building worth 6 million" so a goes along with it, because who doesnt want to double their money? then trump takes out a cut, builds the towers, and promises a b and c their money back, afte he gets tenants. if the building doesnt get tenants, then he files for bankruptcy, and loses a b and c's money, but he gets to keep the chunk he had taken out. rinse and repeat.
edit: if he does get tenants for the building, then he says, "A b and c, i have made you money, now i wish to put up another building, but i need 2 million each" and he keeps going like this, making more money by taking out a cut each time.


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

[User]
CMV: Fireworks are harmful in many ways and we should stop using them. We only use them in the first place, because of tradition.

I think many people are aware of the downsides of fireworks:

* They pollute the air
* They end up as trash in the streets
* They are very loud (which can cause harm to animals or simply be annoying)
* Some are dangerous and can cause injuries

The upsides are that they look pretty and are sometimes fun to use. I don't think that these are sufficient reasons to justify using fireworks. Maybe someone can suggest other positive effects that they have. I just don't see them yet.

I think one of the reasons why we still use fireworks and why even some usually environmentally mindful people still use them is that we have established a kind of tradition where it is expected that we use fireworks on certain occasions. At least in the west (where I am from) we usually use fireworks on New Year. In the US they use fireworks on the 4th of July (I think). These are occasions where people want to use fireworks, because they like the experience, because they want to show off in front of their neighbours, or in front of their kids, or because they are simply used to doing this from their own childhood. I can understand where this feeling, this expectation is coming from, but looking at it objectively, the downsides seem to outweigh the upsides (at least the ones that occurred to me).

Imagine if tomorrow we started a new tradition. Imagine if tomorrow every household poured several litres of colourful oil into the ocean to celebrate the New Year, or a different occasion. I am sure that it would look quite pretty. And I am sure that many people would be outraged. The main difference seems to be that pouring colourful oil into the ocean is not yet a tradition. Here, people can easily realize the environmental damage that would be done, let alone if someone where to suggest turning it into a yearly tradition. But when it comes to fireworks, people seem to turn a blind eye to a tradition we arbitrarily ended up with and that - at least in my opinion - is worse than the oil.

So, do you think that there is something to be said in favour of fireworks that I have forgotten? Or do you think that I am misunderstanding people's reasons for continuing to use fireworks? Let me know and CMV.

Edit: To clarify, I do not necessarily advocate for a simple ban on fireworks. I am aware that this might not solve the problem, as people can find ways to avoid a ban. Rather, one might find ways to convince people that fireworks cause harm and thus willingly refrain from using them.

[Assistant]
Saying that it's "just a tradition" is wildly downplaying the role tradition has. Traditions create social cohesion, shared experiences, a sense of belonging, enjoyment, and many other things. They help bind together societies and cultures. Plenty of conversation, especially with new people, centers around things you have in common: tv shows you watched, books you had to read in school, and yes, holiday traditions.

To address your points specifically:
-Fireworks are pretty mild air pollutants. They're just not that big, and the atmosphere is. They're smelly, but that's mostly because of the sulfur, which your nose is very sensitive to. They're not making the air appreciably dirtier, at least not by the next day.
- Yup, they do end up as trash. This could be addressed more specifically without a total ban though. PSAs about cleaning up would help. As would some restrictions on what fireworks can be made from. They're mostly wood and cardboard anyway, so as far as litter goes, they're not too bad because they break down. And again, fireworks aren't that large and there's not that many of them. In the grand scheme of things, they're a pretty small amount of trash. It's just more noticeable because it all happens around one or two times of the year.
- Yes they are loud, no argument there. Dogs sure as hell don't like them. They're typically only used a handful of days out of the year, so it's hard to say how much of an issue this is.
- they can definitely be dangerous (as with plenty of other things in common use). Unlike other things people do for fun, like say, pleasure driving, fireworks usually only injure their users (the big exception being the risk for wildfires). People's right to take on personal risk is much greater than their right to subject others to risk. But again, education and awareness. Most injuries are caused by misuse.


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

[User] Do 15 year old dogs get cancer at rates similar to 15 year old humans, or to humans at a similar point on their lifespan?

[Assistant] Definitely the latter . A 15 year old human is an adolescent. Cancer in adolescents (14-19) is pretty rare , accounting for less than 1% of all cancers. They also tend to be different types of cancer than what children or adults get. This would be more equivalent to a 1-2 year old dog. A 15 year old dog is beyond geriatric. That's beyond the normal lifespan of many breeds. A better example might be comparing to a middle aged or older dog (10-12) in many breeds. Their rates of cancer are going to be higher, comparable to people above 65. . Age is a big risk factor for cancer; certain cancer types in particular are linked to aging.


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

[User] ELI5:How did popcorn become a standard movie "meal"?

[Assistant]
Popcorn was originally sold by street peddlers.  Oftentimes businesses rented popcorn carts to poor / homeless people to sell popcorn on sidewalks around the city, in exchange for a cut of the day's take.  Unpopped popcorn isn't heavy or bulky, and cooking it requires simple equipment and little skill or effort.  Thus it's not surprising that popcorn would be a popular food in this role.

Movie theaters had to cut prices during the Great Depression because their customers didn't have as much money.  Meanwhile they noticed that popcorn carts seemed to appear outside at many theaters, because people liked to sneak it into theaters.  At the time, eating was forbidden because movies were viewed as an upper-class cultural experience -- eating at the movies would be like eating at a classical music concert.

So theaters decided that they needed re-brand themselves to be more attractive to lower- and middle-class customers by cutting prices and allowing food, then making up for the lost revenue by selling popcorn themselves instead of letting the street vendors get all the money.


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

[User] [WH40K] Is there any chance of the world of 40k improving? Or is humanity just doomed to die a slow, painful death?

[Assistant] Unless Big E reincarnates, things are not looking good for the Imperium. Yes, they have Guilliman and the new Primaris, but Chaos got stronger, and so the Tau, Eldar, Orks and Tyranids apparently since they all got new stuff. The Emperor seems also more sociopathic than ever according to Guilliman, so who knows what would happen even if he gets at full strenght. The Chaos Gods are still around, and they are probably even stronger.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Do all 4 houses have an equal amount of students? If not, how large are they when compared to each other

From what I gathered from the films, all 4 houses are fairly equal, but that doesn't make sense because those who are particularly brave go to Griffindor, the clever to Ravenclaw, the evil/ambitious go to Slytherin and everyone else goes to Hufflepuff. Shouldn't hufflepuff be the largest house then?

[Assistant]
They're roughly equal. The traits that the houses represent are general rules, but not hard and fast. Hermione would have been a Ravenclaw if the hat were judging by simple measurements like 'clever' vs. 'brave.' So what the hat is really looking at is more of an evaluation of who they are as a whole, where they'd fit best, benefit the most, and what the hat thinks they'll become.

Also, Hufflepuff isn't defined by being 'the remainders' they're defined by being hardworking. Cedric Diggory was clever and brave, but he was also a hard worker, and a better wizard than Harry Potter (just lacked in Harry's plot armor..)


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

[User]
[Warhammer/Disney] Which Chaos God would each Disney princess fall to?

Each of the disney princesses is exposed to the temptations of Chaos. Which one do each of them end up serving? Who has the highest chance of resisting Chaos altogether?

[Assistant]
Okay sure why not.

**Nurgle -** Aurora, Cinderella, Snow White - these ones are the passive participants in their own stories. Also, Pocahontas, with her reverence for nature.

**Slaanesh -** Jasmine.  "Jasmine... ...longs to experience life outside the palace." This implies to me it's less a curiosity and more a desire to *experience* new things.

**Tzeentch -** Ariel, Belle, Rapunzel, with Elsa and Moana as honorable mentions - The stock Disney princess goal(I want to see what's outside the tower/island/ocean) lends itself readily to the influence of Tzeentch.

**Khorne -** Mulan, Merida. Both of these are more or less self-explanatory.

Tiana seems the most likely to resist chaos.


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

[User]
[MCU] Did Nick Fury know about cosmic threats or not?

In the avengers nick fury says they were looking into using the tesseract to make weapons. He says this is needed because humanity didnt know about the existence of threats from space until the events of the thor movie. However in captain marvel it becomes clear that nick fury had extensive contact with cosmic beings and knew of the dangers they could pose to life on earth. Which if these is true?

[Assistant]
Nick Fury talks on a very need-to-know basis. It's also unlikely that Shield was able to harness the power of the tesseract in the time between Thor's arrival and the Chitauri invasion.

Now throw another decade or two on top of that... you might have a bit stronger grasp of the mechanics involved.

Nick is only revealing the information he needs to reveal. He knows about extraterrestrial threats. He knows about Thor. Maybe one is because of the other. Maybe.


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

[User] ELI5: How do scientists cryogenically freeze people without knowing the process of unfreezing them? How can they say that revival is possible if they havent been able to do it?

[Assistant]
The idea is that the revival technology will be developed in the future.

People who have done this left instructions to be frozen immediately after their death from terminal illness, on the offhand chance that a way to revive and cure them is eventually discovered.

The companies that handle this process make no guarantees that youll ever actually come back, only that theyll do their best to maintain your mummy for as long as the trust funds last.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]What would have happened if Harry & Ron went back to the weasley parents after platform 9 3/4 closed, instead of stealing the flying car?

would Molly and Arthur have not just  found a different way to get them too school?

[Assistant] Sure they would have, easily. Likely the adults would have just sidealong-Apparated to Hogsmeade and walked them up to the castle; it's not like it's far. There's a good chance they would have gotten there before the train. Harry and Ron were just being dumb, irresponsible twelve year olds. It's not like that's uncommon.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why colonize Mars and not Antarctica?

Wikipedia claims that the average temperature on Mars is -85 degrees F, which is pretty darn cold.  When you add other terrible things like radiation, extreme distances between the Earth and a lack of a huge water supply, why are we considering colonizing Mars when there is an entirely uninhabited continent on Earth?  Is it merely the romantic idea of space travel and exploration?

[Assistant]
It's partly because it's more awesome, partly because we already have people living on antarctica (been there, done that).

However, looking forward to developing long term coping strategies for humanity, antarctica doesn't solve all of our problems.  We want planet-redundancy and learning how to _get to_ and _live on_ a planet that is separated from supply lines, has a different set of challenges than we have on earth (not just temperature) is a unique challenge, with a unique long term reward.


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

[User] ELI5: How does fire produce light? How does anything hot produce light? It might be simple but I have no clue...

[Assistant]
The term for hot objects production of light is black body radiation

Anything above absolute zero will radiate some energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation. For very cold objects, it is very long wavelength and low intensity, barely detectable by even instruments. Things do this because of entropy, energy always seeks to be at the lowest energy level possible.

As atoms get hotter, the energy they release gets more intense and of a shorter wavelength. At a certain temperature (starting around 400C) that wavelength starts to get into the visible spectrum and we see it as light.


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

[User] ELI5: Survival experts will tell you to not chug water or stuff your face with food after being found dehydrated and malnourished. Why?

[Assistant]
Refeeding Syndrome has been covered for food, but what about water?

When you are dehydrated, Anti Diuretic Hormone is released, causing your body to retain sodium ions. Your blood sodium rises and slowly equilibrates with your brain sodium level. If you drink a lot of water quickly, blood sodium drops quickly but brain sodium stays high. This creates osmotic force that pulls water into the brain, increasing pressure to dangerous levels. This results in cerebral edema, seizures, brain damage, or death.

TLDR; quickly rehydrating a dehydrated person could pop their brain.


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

[User] [Fantasy] What are the most general taboos of Dwarven culture?

[Assistant]
**SHAVING YOUR BEARD**

Seriously. Stab your mom, F your dad, just don't get your beard messed up while you do it.

Also, building a shitty tunnel is pretty much tantamount to treason; aside from the risk to dwarf life in a collapse, a general loss of faith in local dwarven tunnel work can be a death sentence for an entire city. If no one feels safe travelling to and from work sites or other locations, trade and production break down. Trade and production break down, resources for tunnel maintenance become scarce. Skimping on maintenance risks additional tunnel collapse. Cue financial death spiral... or literal death spiral, if your shitty tunnel connects to a vital resource.


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

[User]
ELI5: When dubbing a movie in a foreign language, how do they edit the actors voices out to replace them?

I'm watching a series (Vikings) right now and i have the option to switch between English and German. The sound effects sound the same in both versions, so i assume they didn't recreate *all the sound effects* afterwards. But you can't simply cut out the actors voices, can you?

Edit: Thanks guys, i actually learned a lot!

[Assistant]
Audio in film is made of a number of different "tracks." One contains all of the actors voices recorded by the on-set mic or during the dubbing process, while others contain music, sound effects recorded on set, and other audio put into the film.

When they replace the voice acting of a film, all they have to do is record the lines in the new language and replace the original voice track -- the rest of audio remains the same.


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

[User] [Star Trek] Why do consoles explode on the Enterprise bridge when taking fire anywhere on the hull?

[Assistant] Energy weapons are designed to cause power surges and magnetic fluctuations because the added damage to internal systems can disable the entire ship instantly. Modern countermeasures and EM shielding on electronics can only lessen the impact, not negate it.


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

[User] When you boil water, does it ever get hotter than 100C in the pot?

[Assistant]
If your pot has a very very smooth surface all around its inside, and you heat it gradually, it can become 'super heated', and exist at higher temperatures than 100C. After that, when it starts bubbling, it will cool to 100C.

And the amount that it goes over isn't a whole lot. But it is measurable.


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

[User]
CMV: U.S. Presidential elections would be more democratic if the Electoral College should be abolished

In my opinion, the Electoral College is an anachronism from another time. It hails from a day when kings and aristocracy were the norm and democracy was unusual. True, my view is colored somewhat by the fact that twice in the past two decades a candidate I favored won the popular vote but still ultimately lost the election. I find this an especially bitter pill to swallow because it is clear more voters wanted one candidate to lead this country than the other, and yet the candidate with less popular support still took office.

Why shouldn't the electoral college be abolished? Why not use a direct popular vote?

People argue that smaller states should have more say than they should despite their populations, but I disagree. All people should cast a vote and that vote should count equally with all of the others.

Some argue the College grants legitimacy to the winner and makes it seem like a decisive victory, but is that really true? If one candidate wins the popular vote and the other wins the Electoral vote, it merely serves to divide and embitter a country already in the throes of partisan bickering. There is no greater legitimacy than a majority of voters.

I write this post in the earnest hope that someone can help me learn and grow. Change my view.

[Assistant]
Trouble is that the electoral college is a solution to a real problem, the 6 biggest cities in the US could rule over all of the US because of population concentrations and certain areas, mainly rural areas would be ignored to death more than they already are.

Now, it is a BAD solution.

I agree with the fact that if we abolished that would be a more democratic process, IF you also institute a super-majority requirements. Stop the whole half of the country vs the other half, you need 60% of the votes to win, otherwise, try again.

No attacking conservatives, no attacking left wingers, you are going to be the president, so you unite the country or get the frack out of the way.


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

[User]
How does psychosis differ from drug-induced psychosis to schizophrenic psychosis?

Is it one and the same?

[Assistant] 'Psychosis' is a collection of symptoms often experienced together, so that's like asking what the difference is between a fever due to a bacterial infection and a fever due to a virus...the only difference is what caused it.


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

[User] [He-Man] If Skelator is a skeleton then how is he so muscular?

[Assistant] Only his face in skeletal. In the 2003 series at least, he used to be a fully flesh-and-blood human and Prince Adam's uncle, but when he betrayed the king while trying to take the throne for himself and was exiled, the dark magic he used to aid him turned his face into a skull.


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

[User]
A question about centrifugal force in a weightless environment?

After reading 'Rendezvous with Rama' by Arthur C Clarke, I have been stumped by a thought about centrifugal force in a weightless environment. In the book a character attempts to fly in a winged craft along the central axis of a massive closed spinning cylinder with a gaseous environment. As they go along (If I am remembering correctly) they lose power and end up being pulled down to the inside surface. So I have been thinking about what particular set of circumstances are required for the centrifugal force to act on a body.

Say for example, if I am floating in space and a completely open-ended massive spinning cylinder were to pass around me i.e., I pass through the cylinder, however I am not on the central axis but closer to the inside surface. Would I be pulled down to the surface by the centrifugal force? I am deliberately excluding the gravitational force from this thought experiment.

[Assistant]
If you are not in contact with the wall of the cylinder at all and it starts to spin, you won't suddenly feel a centrifugal force pushing you outwards in your frame of reference.

However if you hold onto the side of the cylinder while it spins up, your rest frame is now non-inertial. And now there *is* a centrifugal force pushing outwards on you.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] What's the reaction of your average Ferengi when told about Humanity's capitalistic past?

To put it another way, is it well-known among the Ferengi? And among those who do know of it, how do they feel about the fact that Humanity-at-large abandoned the pursuit of profit?

[Assistant]
Many Ferengi who deal with humans are aware that the species was once similar to them in terms of economics. But it doesn't really affect their day-to-day. Just like it's common knowledge that Vulcans used to be even more violent and deadly than Klingons in the distant past. How does that help anyone right now? Sure, there are isolated incidents where having that knowledge MIGHT help, but it has no real effect on anyone in the modern day.

A Ferengi who doesn't pursue profit isn't a Ferengi at all. But to them, that's all that matters. A Pakled could be the richest sapient being in the galaxy, and the Ferengi wouldn't care much. They're a Pakled, after all, not one of them. Other species have cultures and values that the Ferengi might not understand, but they usually respect them. (and most of the time keep their mouth shut instead of loudly judging them. It might drive customers away if they did so)

Humans, in the Ferengi's eyes, were stupid to abandon their pursuit of economic gain. But then again, their society is still around, and still trades with the Ferengi along with all the other Federation members. So it balances out. Plus, sometimes humans being devoid of business sense makes it very easy to exploit them. (mostly price gouging, since a human wouldn't have much concept of it)

On the other hand, we know from Quark that some Ferengi are glad that humans abandoned their capitalistic ways. Good members of Ferengi society live by VERY strict rules and laws. They do just about anything in the pursuit of wealth, but the "just about anything" is extremely important to them. Humans had no rules. Mass warfare in the name of profit, slaughter, slavery, suffering. Ferengi might exploit their friends, but they'd never sell them into slavery or bomb their homes in order to take their stuff. Humans developed warp drive after 600 million people died in Earth's most horrible war. The Ferengi bought it.


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

[User] [X-Men] How far can Nightcrawler teleport?

[Assistant]
Since his inception, his powers have never been extreme. Nightcrawler used to get exhausted from jumps of anything over 100 feet. By the time he was an official part of the X-Men, he could make multiple jumps per second and travel up to two miles. He can jump blind, but it's exceedingly dangerous. Usually he has a pretty good idea of what it will look like wherever he is going.

Nightcrawler once escaped Genosha by making hundreds of jumps each a few miles long and just slightly above sea level. By the time he got to  Florida, he was exhausted.

Nightcrawler can take other people with him when he teleports but it is a nauseating trip and more difficult for him to do.

Nightcrawler can opt to teleport 'pieces' of things instead of something in its entirety. This being exceedingly fatal, it is not something he practices on living creatures. He needs to be touching whatever he teleports.

Nightcrawler's teleport is not direct. He passes through an interdimensional space nearly instantaneously. Theoretically, the longer he was able to stay in the interdimensional space, the further he could travel, but considering the negative biological effects of travel through this non-Euclidean dimension, this seems like an unhealthy step to take.

Finally, whenever Nightcrawler teleports, he leaves behind a puff of sulfur smelling smoke. This is probably an indication that the non-Euclidean dimension he teleports into is filled with sulfurous compounds that cling to his skin when he teleports and oxidize abruptly on arrival. (Indicating a volatile reaction.) This indicates an inhospitable atmosphere at the very least.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does showerheads start dripping 10+ minutes after being used?

Basically some time after having the shower, 10+ minutes after, the showerhead starts dripping hard for some time like someone had opened the shower again for few seconds. Any clue why this happens?

[Assistant] So after you turn off the shower there is still water in the shower-head and the pipe. Its held there by force of vacuum. Eventually some air leaks into it, and a big enough bubble of air detaches and goes up to the highest point of the system, disrupting the balance and freeing some water to fall out of the shower-head.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why is it so hard for a third party replicate money perfectly so that it can't be told apart from the real thing?

I understand it is illegal but the question is, if a bank can print money, why can't a third party make a perfect replicate of a note, for example, so that there is no difference between that and a real note.

[Assistant]
Banks don't print money, mints do. To make currency of equal quality to a mint, you need the resources of a mint. Many countries don't even have that (they outsource to other mints). Doing it yourself is nearly impossible because they use techniques that, on purpose, are way out of the league of almost everybody.

The only real "perfect grade" counterfeits known to exist at the moment are actually suspected to be the work of a national mint.