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

[User]
ELI5: Bubbles are spheres. If I blow on the bubble it deforms, then it reforms into a sphere. Does the reforming need energy to happen or is surface tension "built in energy"?

Meaning that the energy used to create the bubble helped form the surface tension. And deforming it uses more energy than reforming it.

[Assistant] A sphere is the state with the least potential energy (why, because geometry and because electromagnetic forces are exerted equally in all directions). When you deform it, you add the energy in the form of electromagnetic energy between the molecules (polar molecules) in the bubbles (think of it like pulling two magnets away from each other which have a north and a south pole closest to each other). The magnets then closer to each other because this is the state with the least energy. You pulled the magnets apart.


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

[User] [fantasy] I'm the dark lord of a race of heavily armored orcs bred only for warfare, but I keep losing to random plucky elves and humans. What can I do to actually win?

[Assistant]
You can't go full evil - that'll just get your head chopped off.  You've got to win the hearts and minds of the populace. Use your orcs as cheap labor to help out the community.  Build some bridges, till some fields, mine some ore, etc.  Show everyone that you're a *valuable* member of society.

You can still rape and pillage and murder the occasional hamlet, just make sure there are no witnesses left alive.  Plausible deniability.

When the heroes come a-knocking, the kingdom itself will rally around you to fend off these rabble-rousers.  After all, it's *you* who saved the kingdom from that forest fire and helped build a new orphanage.  What have these teenagers done?


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

[User]
Build a project in Python or c++?

Im a student looking to add personal projects for resume. I wasnt which subreddit would be best to ask this on, but is there anyone that would like to brainstorm a project and develop a program together preferably in python or c++?
TL;DR: looking for a couple people to partner up with on project!!

[Assistant]
Depends on which kind of project

If you need something fast, low level stuff, or learning deeply about class, object, pointer, then go with C++

If you want to process of data, like Computer vision, or Machine Learning, etc, then go with Python

Ps: i dont mean C++ can't do what Python can, i mean it's more suitable. Choose right tool for right job.


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

[User] [Memes] I understand the applicability of studying the blade and cultivating inner strength, but how does mastering the blockchain help you fight the barbarians at the gate?

[Assistant] Tch. \*Spits off to the side* If you don't know, kid, then you still have a lot to learn. \*Does secret hand signs faster than the eye can see and disappears. You suddenly hear a disembodied voice from no discernable location* Come back when you're actually serious.


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

[User]
[Friday] In the 90's in California where gang activity was the all time high, how in the hell did Deebo survive this long bullying his neighbors?

It's the 90's in Compton of all places, I have grown up in the hood myself and even the areas I lived in I couldn't imagine a guy like Deebo surviving this long while being the neighborhood bully. They are in the hood where anyone could be armed, where everyone is stressed and on edge. Even the guy whose chain he stole could be related to a shot caller all of some sorts. Does Deebo have gang connections or what?

[Assistant] They explicitly state that Deebo only bullies people in certain neighborhoods where he can avoid trouble. Besides that you could easily ask how does any bully behave the way they do for so long in dangerous areas in our world.


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

[User] I've looked everywhere and I can't find an answer. Can the shamwow absorb mercury?

[Assistant] From personal experience, no. Mercury spills cannot be cleaned up with absorbents designed for water and aqueous systems. These rely on adhesion (sticking to a surface) to create capillary action, but mercury has much stronger cohesion (sticking together) than adhesion. Mercury spills cannot be cleaned up with towels or spill pads. If you have a large spill, your best bet is to have it cleaned professionally. They have special shop vacs with mercury traps (to be clear, do NOT try to use a normal shop vac).


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

[User]
ELI5 how music leaks ahead of its release date.

Edit: Referring mainly to entire albums, not record-label intentionally released songs.

[Assistant]
in terms of retail leaks.  manufacturing and logistics takes time and causes large amounts of pre-release albums to pass through the hands of countless individuals and organizations..

just at the retail level CDs can arrive a week (or more) prior to the release date.  all it takes is one rogue employee to grab one from the back and make a copy.


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

[User]
[Dune] "Mentats are many times more capable than any pre-Buterlian Jihad computer" Does that mean the 1960's computers of Herbert's present? Are our IRL 2017 PCs better processors than any thinker of the Bene Tleilax?

In short, did Herbert envision how many-times-over programmable machines would become in a relatively short period up to the end of the 20th Century and beyond? How comparable is a 'off the shelf' Mentat from my desktop PC? Let's discuss and talk in through.

[Assistant]
I think you're looking at it the wrong way, it's not all just about speed or processing power.

Mentats are "many times more capable than computers" not because they can crunch numbers so much faster than a processer, but because they're capable of things that computers just can't do. Call it intuition, the "gut feeling", inspiration, or even just a spark of humanity, but mentats are capable of making mental leaps that computers just can't do.

A mentat is more than just a really good organic computer, it is a *human* computer, and that humanity adds something that just can't be replicated by a machine.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do telemarketers, survey collectors, automated advertisers get my phone number ?

I'm bombarded daily with annoying calls from the aforementioned functions, despite telling them not to ever call back. How do they get my number?

Edit: Thank you to everyone who contributed! You were all a huge help!

[Assistant]
Companies you do business with sell your information, including phone number, email address and snail-mail address.

Put yourself on the FTC's "do not call" list and you should see the number of calls drop.  This doesn't prevent the overseas companies from calling you but it still helps.  Some people have even earned a few coins by suing telemarketers for contacting them after their names were put on the list.


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

[User] ELI5:The mass of the sun is about 1050 times greater than that of Jupiter. I weigh 140 pounds (64 kg) and an ant weighs about 5 mg (0.000005 kg). My mass is about 1,280,000 times greater than an ant's. Why isn't an ant rotating around me?

[Assistant]
A couple of reasons. One is that as long as you and the ant are on Earth, the planet's mass is so much bigger than both of yours' that the ant is mostly just being pulled towards the Earth. (Technically, the ant is being pulled towards the Earth and you and everything else in the universe all at once, but at a VERY sharp angle towards the Earth.)

If you were in space with no other objects though, even then an ant wouldn't necessarily circle you. In order to orbit something, the ant needs speed -- something would have to push it with a very perfect force and direction to get it to go around you without a) flying away or b) crashing into you.

Picture kicking a football. When it goes up in the air, it falls back down in a big arc. (That's how anything would fall, from an ant, to a ball, to Jupiter.) If you were Superman and kicked the football really, really hard, it's possible that the arc would be so wide that it would be about the size of Earth, and the football would never actually touch the Earth, just continually fall and curve downward  while the Earth's surface also curves. That perfect equality between the curve of the earth and the arc of the object's fall is what allows orbits, and requires a lot of precision to set up.

So an ant could circle you in space, but would have to be "falling" in a very specific way, and almost for sure be set up by deliberate action.


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

[User]
[A Christmas Carol] What did Scrooge's... uh... acquaintances think of his sudden (to them) change in outlook?

I mean, I can't imagine any of them were unhappy with it (at least, not directly), but... how did they interpret it? What did they *think* happened?

[Assistant]
They think it's weird, but they were forced to interact with him daily anyway, even when he was a complete tool, so they're not gonna question it too much if their situation gets better.

The guy has more money than god anyway and the only people he seems to interact with are poor. It would be like if you were struggling financially Elon musk suddenly showed up to your house and paid to put you up in a hotel and renovated your house and paid for college for you and your family. Yeah you may be suspicious, but you haven't signed anything, and everything that's been done seems unambiguously good for you, and the guy hasn't made you promise anything, so why wouldn't you run with it a bit to see what happens.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is walking up a hill backwards easier than walking up a hill forwards or sideways?

[Assistant]
It is not "easier." However, it may feel better because you are giving the muscles you normally use to walk up a slope a rest.

You are going to expend the same amount of energy either way.

It is mostly psychological. But you are using different muscles so if they are in shape, the muscles you use to walk forward appreciate not having to be used at the time.


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

[User]
[Batman] What are some of Batman's other contingency plans?

We know Batman maintains contingency plans for himself and the other main members of the Justice League. Has there been any indication he has plans for any other characters in the DC Universe?

[Assistant]
I think his most interesting contingencies revolve around what happens when he can no longer be Batman.

For most of his career, Bruce's mission was focused on Batman himself. All of his training and tactics were intended to make him a better crimefighter. His partners, when he took them on, were to aid in the Batman's mission. This ended up driving Dick away; he felt he needed to escape from the Batman's shadow.

When Bane broke his back, that changed. Bruce realized that Gotham needed *a* Batman, so he asked Jean Paul Valley to step in. It was an unmitigated disaster. The Azrael training gave Valley the skills needed by a Batman, but not the moral character.

After Knightfall, Bruce realized that "Batman" is much more than a man in a mask, more than a terror lurking in the shadows. Batman is an essential part of Gotham. In a city ruled by fear, "Batman" is fear being leveraged by and for the forces of good.

Batman is now building contingencies for when he inevitably cannot be the hero Gotham needs. He's created Batman Inc in order to train and fund -- and monitor -- people capable of carrying on his legacy. He's working closely with Robins, making sure he's training them to become what he is. And, probably most importantly, he's working with Batwoman to make sure the Bat family is an efficient, effective force with or without him.

Bruce Wayne is Batman, but with these new plans, Batman isn't limited to just Bruce Wayne anymore.


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

[User]
How weak are weak-nuclear-forces and how strong are strong-nuclear-forces?

I know we can't compare classic to quantum model, but in layman terms can you show comparison in Newton(N)?

[Assistant]
The binding energy per nucleon of a typical mid-mass nucleus is about 8 MeV. This is primarily due to the residual strong force, but it contains contributions from other forces as well. The weak force causes parity mixing matrix elements on the order of a few eV or so.

So at the level of nuclei, the weak force is a squashed bug on the bottom of the strong force's shoe.


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

[User]
[Full Metal Alchemist] Why is Alphonse allowed on so many military facilities/secrets?

Alphonse unlike his brother is not part of the Military (Alchemists are roughly a Major rank iirc) so why is he allowed to acompany Edward into classified State documents and State secrets?

[Assistant] I imagine state alchemists are allowed assistants of their choosing as they might want people that are experts in a field that aren't in the military and Alphonse is an expert in alchemy and he is approved to be an assistant.


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

[User]
[Predator] What happened to Dutch?

The end of Predator sees Dutch being taken away from Val Verda by a chopper. Surely, he would try to tell the Army about his experiences or have some sort of lasting mental trauma from the ordeal, but we never find out what exactly happened to him. Is there anything in the comics that elaborates on this?

[Assistant]
He suffered a form of radiation sickness due to the Predator's self destruct device and was hospitalised. There he was interviewed by Peter Keyes from the OWLF (Other World Lifeforms Taskforce). He later escaped the hospital and disappeared. (Mentioned in the novelization for Predator 2).
He has a lasting legacy in both human and Yautja (Predator) civilization. Isabelle "Izzy", who was kidnapped and brought to the Game Preserve Planet (Predators) had read his file and uses that knowledge to defeat their hunters.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What exactly did Darth Vader do all those years in between episode III and Rogue One?

Chilling in a bacta tank on Mustafar cant be that exciting.

[Assistant]
His job.

Vader did more than just loom menacingly. He oversaw projects, hunted down Jedi, put down rebellions, etc.

Depending on how the official canon lines up with the Legends stuff, he got buddy-buddy with Thrawn in the years before the Death Stars completion.


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

[User]
CMV: If naturopaths, chiropractors, and osteopaths were strictly evidence based these jobs would not exist.

All three 'alternative' health practitioners utilise a combination of both western evidence based medicine and pseudoscience. If they only utilised proven effective therapies they would no longer practice pseudoscience.

Without these pseudoscience's their scope of practice would match that of their equivalent counter part (EG: Naturopaths following only evidence based therapies would therefore be a registered dietitian).

In addition I believe that this would be better as we would only have evidence based therapies instead of people scamming the non health literate with placebos.

EDIT: My location is Australia and primarily entails Australian professions. Osteopaths are under allied health here, do not have ability to prescribe medication and do not have ability to complete surgery. They do retain the Dr title, however this is not equivalent to an Australian MD.

EDIT 2: I don't believe that alternative therapies shouldn't exist, I believe that they should not be paired in the same practice as a health practitioner providing evidence based care. This is to avoid profiting off of confusion on what is looney and what is real when dealing with someone less health literate.

[Assistant] Osteopaths have mostly abandoned the pseudoscience. Standard medical schools that award MDs are more prestigious, but DO schools basically teach the same things and you can get similar jobs after doing either program.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it that maps are all oriented with North at the top?

It makes sense to me with the axes of Earth as they are that modem maps would have North on top and South on bottom. Why is it, though, that even maps made years and years ago are still North-oriented?

[Assistant]
Polaris!

While medieval maps were oriented toward Jerusalem (hence our word "orient" means both find our bearings and the east), renaissance cartographers rediscovered Greek/Roman maps and liked their use of Polaris, the north star.

Explorers used stars to navigate to the new world.  So as they added to the maps, they did them in reference to the stars.


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

[User]
[MCU] Why doesn't the average person learn to be a sorcerer?

After the events of Endgame I'm sure people would know about Dr. Strange and all the sorcerers that fought against Thanos. We never saw Dr. Strange pay to learn magic so what's stopping anyone/everyone from going to one of the sanctuaries and learning magic? I feel like in real life there would be portals everywhere.

[Assistant] It's basically the same reason why the average person doesn't learn to be a neurosurgeon. It's REALLY hard, requires tons of training and practice, and most people who try end up failing at it and finding something else to do instead.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do TV shows and movies have opening credits if the credits are shown at the end?

Like why do TV shows have music playing in the background while they list all the opening credits when the credits play at the end anyways?

[Assistant]
Opening credits are advertising, both for the major companies producing it and for the movie or show itself. It's part of the 'star system' where big names are promoted, and used to promote future works.

End credits are more about documenting the rest of the cast and crew.


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

[User]
[Lord of the Rings] How does Gandalf come to know Shadowfax?

it doesn't seem like Gandalf makes any mention of Shadowfax until at least the time of the Fellowship's formation, does Gandalf first befriend Shadowfax sometime between the Battle of Five Armies or is their bond older still?

[Assistant] Shafowfax had belonged to Theoden. After Gandalf was rescued from Orthanc, the eagle took him to Edoras, which was close by (one of the big holes in the 'take the eagles to Mt. Doom' idea is that Gandalf is told specifically he can't be taken far). Theoden, who was under Saruman's influence at this point (though not as deeply as he would be later), angrily tells Gandalf to take a horse and get out. He was ... displeased ... at Gandalf's choice, since Shadowfax was of a great lineage that historically only the kings of Rohan were able to ride.


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

[User]
[Star Trek]in the 24th century they can alter you to look like a totally different species then totally change you back, all in a few hours. If they have that kind of cosmetic surgery capability, why aren't extreme body modifications common?

like imagine if furies could have them selves transformed in that way?

[Assistant]
For the same reason people don't spend all day every day in the holodeck bonking supermodels, or gorging themself stupid with replicators, or filling their rooms with gold bricks; they've evolved, and such things are recognized an unhealthy.

Think of it this way, centuries ago it could be seen as a status symbol and attractive to be fat, as it's not easy to have significantly more food than you need. Now, it's seen as a bad thing, because it takes restraint and planning to be slim compared to allowing yourself to become overweight. Federation culture has evolved in a similar way.


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

[User]
[Star Trek, all of it] Are there any other significant forces for (relative) good in the galaxy other than the Federation?

Certainly the dealings of galactic governments cannot be simplified into black and white morality, but there still seems to be a disparity between the Federation, who are generally benevolent, and virtually every other large power they run into. The hot and cold Klingons and the ever dramatic Romulans manage to look good generally only in comparison to the other options: Cardassians, the Dominion, the Borg.

Are there any other large galactic entities that are generally benevolent, or is the Federation simply set on all sides by treacherous allies and ruthless enemies?

[Assistant]
The Borg truly believe what they're doing is for the benefit of all species. And when you think about it, they kind of are a force for good in a lot of ways. They have zero infighting, no internal strife, no poverty, disease or suffering. Species with lesser technology are given the gift of experiencing some of the most advanced hardware in the galaxy with no piddling "prime directive" getting in the way. All it costs is someone's heart and soul.

Other than that, in the Alpha and Beta quadrants, there are some independent planets and tiny empires that are on the Federation's level of real goodness, but they're not big enough to be considered significant. Voyager ran across a few benevolent empires in the Delta Quadrant, but again, they weren't very big or weren't mentioned very much since the ship was in such brief contact with them. (the good guys don't make good drama, so they're only mentioned in captain's log or in passing while the crew deals with the bad guys)


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] What happens if the Muggle parents of a Muggleborn wizard kid doesnt want their child to attend Hogwarts and instead lead a Muggle life?

What if the Kid also wants to be "Normal"?

The kid doesnt learn to control their powers and becomes a danger?

[Assistant] I imagine that the Ministry of Magic most likely takes a page out of the Jedi Order's handbook. So lots of "their life would be so much better if they were around other magic users" and/or "if they don't get trained, they could become very dangerous."


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

[User] ELI5 how drugs like bath salts and amphetamines give people super human strength

[Assistant]
So with the group of drugs known as bath salts we're dealing with chemicals known as synthetic cathinones. Most varieties of bath salts contain eithermephedrone or methylenedioxypyrovalerone, which are chemically similar to (but much more powerful than) khat, an organic stimulant found in the Middle East and East African countries.

The main issue with bath salts is that the user has no way of knowing what chemicals were added to the mix, and no way of knowing what a "proper" dosage is. They just get this package of stuff, usually in crystal form, and it's really a crapshoot as far as how severely what you take will affect you.

These chemicals are able to cross the blood-brain barrier, which means they can completely alter your normal neurochemical functions and impact mood, thought, perception and behavior in really alarming ways. Sometimes they can tap right into your lizard brain, the primitive part of the brain that controls things like the fight-or-flight response. They can also prevent you from sleeping, they can cause severe overheating, and all of that combined can result in what appears to be mindless rage, or intense paranoia, or horrible paranoid delusions.

So when someone's under the effect of all these nasty chemicals, their muscles aren't literally getting bigger, and they haven't lost the ability to perceive pain, it's just that the primitive parts of the brain are absolutely freaking out, like you're suddenly in the most horrific, panic-inducing survival situation you could possibly imagine. It's like suddenly you're a big, human-shaped crocodile that's fighting for its life, and when your brain and body are in that state, normal rational thought just isn't happening.


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

[User]
Applied for a PhD at Graduate Institute of Geneva, got a response that I should (re)do a Masters with them first... is it legit?

I applied to do a PhD in International Relations at the Graduate Institute of Geneva. I received this in response: "Based on your previous studies, the Admission Committee believes you do not yet have the level necessary to start your PhD studies at the Graduate Institute at this time. However, the Committee strongly believes that you have the capacity to attain the necessary level relatively quickly and thus would like to admit you to the Master programme with the possibility to pursue a PhD through the fast-track option."

The only thing is that I already have a Masters degree... I wanted to do something completely different from what I did with that Masters (go from soft power as peace making to Internet Governance) so I can understand if they feel I need to bolster my grasp on the subject matter.

Basically, their fast-track program is to cram a 4-semester Masters into 3 semesters and then if I do well enough, I could jump into a PhD a semester early. I really wanted to go to this institute, because it's literally next door to a lot of IGOS, NGOS, etc., and it would be great for networking.  HOWEVER, I don't know about funding yet and it would be very expensive to get either on loans... would the networking be worth it anyway? Is this drop down to another Masters shady or actually something that's done? Should I be devastated or excited?

[Assistant]
Legitimate, yes. But there are two possibilities here.

1. They like your application, but have concerns about your background and want you to add more work before going to the PhD.

2. Less likely, but possible: They may like your application, but currently have an idea of who they want to accept in now and your application isn't 100% to them. Putting you in the MA lets them keep the spot open in the PhD, but also keeps you in their program.


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

[User]
Why doesn't Germany leave the EU?

It seems like Germany complains about how it has to support a bunch of defaulting countries, while those same countries refuse to implement the austerity measures that Germany demands. Everyone's worried that Greece will be the first domino to topple and leave the EU. Wouldn't it be in Germany's best interest to get out of the EU right now, before things get worse?

[Assistant]
You've confused,

 EU: european union-  a political project spawned post WW2

and

Eurozone - a common currency area that uses the Euro.

No-one will leave the EU because it confers powerful free-trade benefits on it's member states, enhances international relations and most people with Europe like Europe.

Why doesn't Germany leave the Eurozone: 1.) It would have to allow it's currency to appreciate which would damage exporters and manufacturers. 2.) It would mean that the entire Euro would collapse which would have far-reaching consequences for Europe as a whole which was also damage it's growth prospects. 3.) The Euro is a partly political project born out of the EU and EEC post WW2 and Germany want to be seen as committed to being a good part of Europe.


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

[User]
ELI5: If we were to go extinct today, would earth be able to erase any evidence of us completely?

I don't just mean fossils and stuff but all these constructions, bridges, heavy steel stuff etc. Would they be identifiable in a million years? Or a billion?

[Assistant] Yes and no. The things you mention, such as buildings and bridges, would pretty much fade to oblivion. Foundations would probably remain for some things but for the most part, we would simply fade away. However, many of our more forward thinking projects, such as seed banks, would be around for millennia. When we decide that we want something to last, we can do a pretty good job of it. Furthermore, our effects on the planet will live on for the rest of the Earth's lifespan. Trapped in the geology of our planet will be records of our lives here today. Changes in carbon and methane levels, along with traces of elements and isotopes which simply do not exist naturally, will be infused into the planet for all time. To a future civilization, it would be as clear as the words you are reading right now.


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

[User]
Is it currently possible to see colors outside of our spectrum?

For example the mantis shrimp has a much bigger color range than us, is there a way to develop "glasses" or a camera that shows us what they see?

[Assistant]
I think a lot of these answers are not what you're looking for.

While devices can "translate" colors outside our spectrum and allow us to see a representation of them, we are still only seeing colors in our normal range.

It's not possible to truly see outside our normal spectrum due to the limitations of our eyes. No device can allow this.


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

[User] [Game of Thrones] Why did the Great Houses of Westeros decide to stay under the Iron Throne instead of declaring independence after Robert's Rebellion?

[Assistant]
While the Great Houses of Westeros had gotten used to being one kingdom (having been one for three centuries), it came down to one thing: military might. The Targaryens were broken by the alliance of four of the seven great houses: Baratheon, Stark, Tully, and Arryn. Together, they already represented a strong enough force to crush any of the other Houses, and when Tywin Lannister (leading the single strongest house) joined them, they were absolutely unbeatable. And the alliances among these Houses were very strong: Stark and Arryn had an unshakable loyalty to Robert, Tully was bound in marriage to both of them (and sandwiched between them as well), and Lord Tywin was not about to rebel against the man who would put his own grandson on the throne.

That being said: while the Martells did not declare independence, Robert largely ignored them, and they returned the favor. Prince Doran had a very powerful, and very valid, grievance against Robert, along with a land that had A) strong natural defenses, B) a history of destroying invaders, and C) a strong independent streak. Thanks, no doubt, to the council of the ever-prudent Jon Arryn, Robert never tried to give them a command they might not wish to obey, and thus never gave them a reason to revolt.


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

[User]
[Speed Racer 2008] What exactly was Rex doing while racing that made him so infamous?

Like we get talks of suspension and crashes but Speed crashes people every race.  I think he takes out at least 20 in the final race.

[Assistant] It's one thing to be jockeying for position and have one racer or another end up crashing into a barrier, but Rex (and Racer X) went out of his way to target the drivers that were manipulating results on behalf of their employers, or tied to the corruption he and CBI were investigating. Rex actively hunted those drivers.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do our hands begin to shake in panic situations ?

[Assistant]
Your brain senses a stressor (note this may be a real stressor or an imagined one), and activates the sympathetic nervous system.  This prepares you for "fight or flight" response, juicing you up with adrenaline, widening your musculoskeletal blood vessels, and opening your pupils to let more light in.

All of that puts you on edge and may make your hands tremble.


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

[User]
Are there any other existential philosophies?

Apart from Nihilism, Existentialism, Absurdism and Essentialism/Religion are there any other existential philosophies that tend to look at the meaning of life?

[Assistant] You could look at Max Stirner's egoism, which is based around seeing all morals and ideologies as arbitrary and holding no cause higher than the self, which is viewed as a "creative nothing" that is beyond all definitions or categories. He was one of the first modern anarchist thinkers and often speculated to be an influence on Nietzsche.


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

[User] ELI5:Why does it leave a mark when you press on your computer screen?

[Assistant]
There is a very thin layer of liquid between the plates of glass/plastic that makes up the sandwich that is the LCD panel. An electrical charge twists the crystals in the is liquid so that they bend the light and allow it to pass through both the front a rear polarize layers.

The amount of twist depends on the strength of the electric field and the thickness of the liquid crystal layer. That's why the color changes when you push on it. The messed up color stays around for a bit because it takes some time for the liquid crystal to flow back. Pressing hard enough can damage the damage the area and make it permanent.


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

[User]
I don't believe the patriarchy exists, and is simply used as a tool to silence criticism of feminism.

Alright, I would like to start this CMV by stating that I do think feminism is necessary in our society. Girls everywhere are faced with discrimination due to their gender in overt and covert forms, and the feminist movement has been good for combating said discrimination.

That said, I don't believe the "patriarchy" is a real thing as of the year 2013. So far as I am aware, the patriarchy is a catch all term for male privilege and the causes, ideologies, and actions that uphold and advance said privilege. Sure, the patriarchy may have existed in the past, but it has been wiped out, or at least reduced to a role of irrelevancy.

First of all, the concept of the patriarchy doesn't make a ton of sense in terms of advancing the position of men. MRA's and similar groups often note the ways in which men are disadvantaged: Higher suicide rates, forced conscription, cultural expectations to be the bread winners, higher incarceration rates, imbalanced divorce/custody courts, lower education rates, and a lack of identity. Why would the patriarchy set up these factors to intentionally hurt men? Assume the goal is male dominance, why would the patriarchy set up disadvantages for men such as these?

Another thing I've noticed is that often feminists sight the patriarchy and/or male privileges for discrimination against them; we've all heard the arguments about wage discrepancy, traditional gender roles, and rape culture. However, it appears wage discrepancy today is more of a cultural thing than overt discrimination; men naturally flow into higher earning fields of work such as STEM. Where I feel this falls apart is that any girl can enter a STEM field if she chooses and face little resistance, but a straight male entering a traditionally "feminine" field such as dance or women's studies faces heavy resistance from both men and women. And although rape is a serious issue, I feel that those who are convicted receive heavy punishments (usually lengthy jail time). Why would the patriarchy seek to limit men in these ways? If it truly was about making men dominant, wouldn't it seek to give men complete freedoms while limiting the same freedoms in women?

Ultimately, I feel like this is where the idea of the patriarchy falls apart; both genders are limited in certain ways, it isn't simply men dominating over women for their own gain.

So what relevance does this have to modern feminism? I feel that the concept of the patriarchy is used to suppress any criticism of feminism. As a straight male I am not allowed to question feminism, because I am part of the patriarchy and therefore my male privilege blinds me. I find this is extremely restrictive to discussion about the aims of feminism, where it succeeds, and where it fails.

EDIT: Something I forgot in the original post, which I meant to comment on. A lot of people state that the issues men face are a result of the patriarchy assigning gender roles to men as well as women. I can agree with this. There are even men out there who are currently fighting these gender roles, not unlike women did "back in the day". However, whenever somebody even suggests discussing the possibility that men face issues, the response they usually receive is "well you're privileged so shut up/women have it worse, quit bitching". I have observed this happen twice relatively close to home for me: Once at University of Toronto, where a "MRA" lecture was barricaded by feminists, and then again even more recently at Ryerson university (also in Toronto), when students suggesting a new group to examine mens issues was immediately shut down.

Now, where these groups raising legitimate points or just spouting misogyny? We'll never know unfortunately, because the concept of "privilege" was used as a tool to prevent men from voicing their opinions. This is where I have a large complaint; women are allowed to discuss their issues and work towards a solution, but any male attempting to discuss an issue is instantly shut down by the more militant side of feminism.

[Assistant]
>Assume the goal is male dominance, why would the patriarchy set up disadvantages for men such as these?

>Why would the patriarchy seek to limit men in these ways?

You seem to be thinking of the patriarchy in terms of a grand conspiracy that's pulling strings to make life better for men at the disadvantage of women.

In reality, when feminists refer to "patriarchy" they are referring more to the historic dominance of males in society and the lasting cultural implications of that dominance. These implications (are seen to) disadvantage women in favor of men, but they can also hurt men (see: your point about men taking on "feminine" roles in society). In reality, no one is pulling the strings.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do most plastics turn white when you bend them?

[Assistant] First of, this phenomenon only occurs for a certain kind of plastics. When you deform those by bending or stretching them to the point where they won't revert to their original shape, you induce permanent deformations that change the microstructural organisation of the molecules that the plastic is made of. This causes the formation of voids or very small bubbles in the plastic. Those voids grow in number and size and there comes a point where light starts interacting with thise gaps in a complicated way that make the plastic opaque and seemingly more white.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do some people get seasick and some don't?

[Assistant]
Motion sickness is caused by conflicting signals from

a: your eyes

b: your sense of balance

When your eyes see the deck of a ship as stationary, and your balance tells you "shit's moving, yo!" you get confused.

When we were cavemen, such conflicting signals primarily appeared whenever we'd eaten something toxic/poisonous, and hence our body responds by throwing up - getting rid of the poison. Those who did so, had a statistically better chance at surviving and thus having more offspring and passing on the genetic predisposition of motion sickness.

Apart from that, it can be mediated to some extent by not having an empty stomach or by dulling the balance system (which is what most motion sickness drugs do).


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

[User] ELI5: What is the difference between a hive mind and a group of individuals working together?

[Assistant]
A Hive Mind is a single entity in control of the actual minds of their subjects, forcing them to act even if they find the process painful and gruelling.

Individuals working together is because they're just that: Individuals. They have the ability to think freely and against the work, and can oppose anybody or anything forcing them to participate in the work.


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

[User]
CMV: I should use methods similar to farmers from farmers markets to get my (future) children to eat fruits and vegetables.

Context: I am 23, and don't plan on having kids anytime soon, HOWEVER I was at a farmer's market pretty recently, and I noticed something that is probably well known, but was pretty interesting to me.

The farmers at the market will provide samples of their goods, but they are sneaky and sprinkle some sugar on fruit, or salt on tomatoes. This makes the fruit/tomato taste better than it normally would, and then you are more likely to buy fruit/veggies from them. Cool tactic, a bit deceitful, but whatever.

Some axioms:

1. A ton of habits are developed at a young age (I don't know the optimal age for this).
2. Diet is partly habitual.
3. First impressions of food are very important, especially at a young age.
4. Deceiving your child isn't inherently bad if it is, in the end, better for them.
5. I can fool a child into not noticing that I added something extra to their food.
6. Healthy eating is inherently good.
7. Fruits and vegetables are important parts of a healthy diet.

My plan:

At a young age (not sure what age exactly), where dietary habits start to form, I should feed my child healthy foods that are doped with something to make it taste a little bit better. This will develop a good impression of the food.

Over the course of a couple months (again not exactly certain of what timeline I should use) I will ween them off of whatever I was using to make the food taste better that was a bit unhealthy.

Desired end result:

My child develops good dietary habits, at the (IMO) small cost of eating a bit more unhealthy food at a young age.

Tips on changing my view:

1. You are unlikely to change my view using an ethics based argument in this specific case. If you think this makes me a bad future parent on the exclusive grounds that this is deceitful and i should not deceive my child, you are entitled to that opinion, and are entitled to make an argument from this angle. If you go this route, your argument will have to be incredibly strong, and will need to show me some kind of cause and effect. Simply stating that this makes me a bad person will not work.
2. Argue to me that my plan will not end up with the desired result. I am no child psychologist, hit me with different ending scenarios, show to me that these are likely to happen, or that my desired result is unlikely to happen. Provide evidence as to WHY these things will/won't happen.
3. Argue to me that my plan will achieve the desired result, but with some overlooked consequence. Am I underestimating the detriment to the child from the added sugar/salt at a young age? These kinds of things.

[Assistant]
Ill just propose a different approach:

Let your child(ren) help you with preparing the fruit and vegetables. Let them hold the carrot while you carefully cut the top off, let them peel the cucumber with safety peelers. Sneakily eat little bits of fruit and vegetables while preparing them, make a funny face - it will encourage your child to do so themselves.

When theyre a bit older, teach them how to cut up veggies or fruit with a knife. Let them help you with cooking, let them taste the sauce and ask them for their opinion.

Will it take longer? Yeah, probably. Will it taste funny at times? Yeah probably. But: humans really, really like things they made themselves, or helped making.

And: make fruit and vegetables an always available snack. Let bananas or tomatoes sit on the countertop, always ready for a hungry child.

With that approach, you wont have to trick your child into liking vegetables or fruit - it will just always have been part of their life.


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

[User] ELI5: What is bandwidth and how does it work?

[Assistant]
To ELI5: You know how the road outside your house is smaller and slower than the interstate?  That's the bandwidth of the road: the number of cars it can hold every second.

Internet has the same thing, but for cat pictures.


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

[User] ELI5: If states can defy federal law and legalize marijuana, then why can't they just start deporting illegal aliens?

[Assistant]
The Supreme Court has said, multiple times over the past 200 years, that states have no authority whatsoever to regulate immigration.  The Federal government's authority over immigration is "plenary" (complete) and "unqualified" (there are no exceptions).

By contrast, states have always had authority to define crimes for themselves, and the the Federal government has a much more limited authority over crimes than the states.


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

[User]
ELI5: How is sound digitally stored?

I understand how for storing an image the shade of each pixel is assigned to a number and remembered, but I don't get how this works with sound. Is every single tone/volume/pitch assigned to a number?

[Assistant]
You're actually pretty close to the truth for some forms of sound storage.

Sound is recorded with a microphone, basically just creates an electrical signal that responds to different levels of air pressure.  You can record those air pressures, and you record the sound.  Analog recording, could say, connect the microphone with its electrical changes related to air pressure to a little arm that would go up and down with the air pressure, to engrave a track in wax cylinder or similar reasonably soft object.   Then to play it back, you use the little arm to regulate the electrical power sent to speaker, which moves back and forth pushing air to recreate those pressure changes.

For a computer, you  set it up so that you can record a measurement of the pressure enough times every second, that when you recreate those pressures with a speaker it sounds like the same sound.  And storing data this way will basically give you .wav file.  Its also how the data is stored on a CD.

However you're also right about storing sound as a collection of pitches with volume.  That's for example how an MP3 does it.   You take all that data and you do a bit of math to it called a Fourier transform.  (Interestingly this transform is also used as part of jpeg image format).    The Fourier transform isn't any type of compression in itself, its a very general piece of math used everywhere in science.  It lets you take all this data you gathered of sound pressure over time, and change the way you look at it.  Now what you have is a collection of sound frequencies and how loudly they're represented, and if you add them all up you get the original signal recreated exactly as well as you first measured it.  Now if you want to save space in making an mp3 file, you can use this new way of looking at the information you measured, and drop pieces of it.  Frequencies above and below human hearing? gone.  Anything else people can't hear the difference between? Kill it with fire.   How aggressive you are depends on the bit rate.  But it is definitely very common to store sound on a computer as collection of intensities at a series of frequencies.

You had a pretty good guess.


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

[User] [The Thing] If every piece of it is a complete organism, why would it need to hide? Why not just swarm and kill everyone at once?

[Assistant]
The Thing is a hive mind. The smaller the pieces the less sapient it becomes. Enough biomass to emulate a human, it's intelligent enough to think logically. Lose enough biomass until its only a spider-head, it can do basic problem solving. Any less makes it barely more than a wild animal.

It should also be noted that The Thing wasn't coming in with a plan, it was trying to survive. Its ship crash lands and it gets frozen for thousands of years. Then it gets thawed out and chased.


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

[User]
Is there enough density change in a tree's growth rings that would make Ultrasound a viable method of non-destructively aging a tree?

Hearing that in order to work out the age of a tree you need to either take a core sample or cut down the whole tree, opening it up to infection or even death, couldn't Ultrasound be adapted to peek at the rings without needing to damage the tree?

[Assistant] It's worth noting core samples are usually pretty safe for trees of any appreciable size. Obviously it's not great for trees that are particularly vulnerable already (or tiny) but the cores we take are less than a centimetre across.


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

[User] What is the liquid inside blisters?

[Assistant] It depends on the type of blister. If you're talking about clear blisters, it's blood plasma - everything that isn't a red blood cell in blood, such as water, nutrients, clotting agents, drugs, proteins, hormones - filtered out of the bloodstream. A blood blister is filled with, well, blood. Infected blisters can be filled with pus - dead white blood cells and waste products.


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

[User] ELI5: How are some paper products made to be "softer" than other?

[Assistant]
For example,  with toilet paper, the sheet is adhered to one large steel cylinder to dry and is then scraped (or creped off) by a metal blade. Creping imparts flexibility and stretch into the sheet, while lowering the strength and density, resulting in soft tissue products.

I've personally worked in a release paper mill where coating adherence is important.  So a sheet's porosity and denseness is much more important than how "fluffy" it is.

It really boils down to what characteristics you want the paper to have. You can use different chemicals, compositions, refining techniques, weights, and drying to achieve different characteristics.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do cash-prepaid gas pumps slow down so much 25 cents before reaching the cutoff?

Couldn't they just run up to the very end, or at least not slow down until the last 2-3 cents?

[Assistant] They may well be stopping sooner than necessary, but it is better than being late. And liquids have momentum like everything else, so if you are pumping along and try to stop on a dime then you will have a "water hammer" effect caused by the fluid trying to keep flowing and slamming into your suddenly closed valve. Slowing down very gradually may help save on the wear and tear on the pump mechanism.


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

[User]
If wind is the flow of air from high pressure to low pressure, why does it seem to flow in bursts as opposed to one continuous flow?

It seems to be that if the air is moving to equalize pressure it would flow continuously to equalize it. What causes you to feel gusts of wind on a windy day?

[Assistant]
1) First off, in the earth's atmosphere wind does not flow from high pressure to low pressure but rather mostly circle around regions of high and low pressure.  This is due to the earth's rotation and the Coriolis effect which causes wind (air parcels) to tend to turn to the right (left in southern hemisphere) so the large scale winds mostly satisfy a balance where the tendency to turn is balanced by the pressure gradient.  This is why weather maps mark regions of High and Low pressure.  Winds circle regions of high pressure in a clockwise direction (counter-clockwise in southern hemisphere) while low-pressure regions, such as the center of hurricane, generate counter-clockwise flow.  Frictional effects at the earth's surface allow for a small degree of flow from high towards low pressure but the dominant character of wind is to flow along trajectories of constant pressure.

2) The bursts of wind you experience at the surface of the earth are mostly due to turbulence in the atmosphere.  In most cases, wind is not a steady smooth flow but rather a turbulent mixture of mean flow with lots of eddies of different scales. At the bottom of the atmosphere (where we live) the frictional effects of trees, buildings and mountains creates a boundary layer full of eddies and swirls. We experience those turbulent eddies as wind gusts.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do we find people's misfortunes like tripping and falling funny?

[Assistant]
Research has shown that the brain releases small amount of pleasing chemicals when a human sees something that fits their expectations. However, the brain releases even more pleasing chemicals when a human sees something that the exact opposite of their expectations. This is what we call "funny."

It is funny to see someone trip and fall because we all try so hard not to trip and fall all the time.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How far into the secret of immortality did Sidious delve?

According to the novel of REVENGE OF THE SITH , Sidious tells Anakin to live and it mentions him willing the Force to keep him alive....yet we know he did not get as far as Plagiues. Discuss.

[Assistant]
Plagueis didn't get far either. He only could regenerate parts of his body but he died. Edit: to clarify, Plagueis could resurrect people but with what he knew he couldn't resurrect himself, so... useless.

Palpatine knew he needed more to be really immortal, a shitty resurrection and some nice body regeneration isn't enough.

The clone stuff was better than what Plagueis had.


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

[User]
ELI5: How did the sword become so popular?

The sword (or some version of it) is everywhere. It's in video games, movies, books and throughout history it seems that the sword over most all other weapons retains some sort of use even after they become obsolete weapons of war. So how did the sword become so popular? Were there other weapons that were more popular in different periods of history for various purposes? Does the use of armor lessen the popularity of sword use?

[Assistant]
The sword is a side arm which meant that it could be carried in normal daily life, and it would often mark the wearer as landed gentry who might kill you for dishonoring him. Dueling with swords was popular long after the sword itself became obsolete. It was a status symbol for thousands of years and when things are symbols for that long it's hard to get over them.

As side arms go the sword is more or less perfect. Because the center of gravity is close to the hand the sword allows much freer and faster motion than other weapons such as the axe. One could argue that axe plus shield is about as good as sword plus shield but a lone sword would almost certainly defeat a lone axe.

Sword of course are not terribly useful against armor and that is why the main weapon in the middle ages would be pole arms. But you can't walk around town carrying a halberd. Swords could still be useful enough against most armor if you could use it as a lever or get into weak spots.


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

[User] Is it possible to make a food that only has required nutrients in it, such that excretion is not required after eating it?

[Assistant] No.  Feces is not just "undigested" food.  It's about 30% bacteria and other waste products from your body, like dead red blood cells.  Even if you could eat to produce no waste, you'd still have cellular waste that would need to be excreted.


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

[User]
[Does Arkham Asylum and/or Blackgate prison have conjugal visits?]

I also asked this in Ask Reddit, but someone recommended I ask here as well. The full details are over in that sub reddit.

[Assistant]
Arkham is not a penitentiary, but a privately owned psychiatric hospital. Its goal is not to punish criminals and let them serve their debt to society, but to treat their mental health and hopefully release them back into the world clean and healthy. This naturally almost never happens either because of happenstance, outside influence, corrupt doctors or just the blatant manipulation and charisma of the patients, of course.

But because Arkham is not run by the state, the rules about visitation are both up to the people who run the facility and the doctors who treat the patients. In fact, if a doctor so chooses, a patient/villain could be kept isolated in Arkham indefinitely, and there's nothing the legal system could do about it, because the state put said person in their direct care and supervision.


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

[User]
Why is it wrong to keep collecting data only until statistical significance is achieved?

My psychology and biology professors say it's wrong to repeatedly check for p-values after every replicate and keep repeating until you get the p-value you want. I don't totally understand why.

[Assistant] p-values are uniformly distributed on \[0, 1\] if the null hypothesis is true. If you just keep sampling repeatedly you're eventually going to get a p-value below 0.05 (or whatever treshold you want to use) just by pure chance, even if the effect you're looking for doesn't exist.


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

[User]
[MCU] Who are the poor Wakandans that live in fake poor Wakanda prior to the events of Black Panther?

So the real Wakanda is advanced, wealthy, and tucked away behind a technological disguise, but to the rest of the world, Wakanda is an actual third world country. I'm assuming, full of real Wakandans. Are these people in on the secret? Have they volunteered? Do they have access to the wealth of Wakanda or are they actually living in third world conditions? How many people live in fake Wakanda? What is the deal?

[Assistant]
IIRC the Wakandans on the border that most foreigners would encounter are the farmers and warriors clan, which would make sense if they lived a more ascetic life than their urban brethren. But in Endgame we see that even their cloaks are secretly holoshield technology, they probably have a number of creature comforts hidden aw everyday objects.

Also Wakanda doesn't seem very large, it's probably a short trip into the more developed parts of the country, they might just be agrarian Wakandans who have plantations on the borders and love comfortable lives in the city and still tend to their property. You'd only need a small "Garrison" of people at the border to scare off any wayward hikers or poachers.


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

[User]
[Marvel Universe] Based on his major character origin, how the hell is Magneto still alive and present if the Marvel universe supposedly takes place in modern year?

So I was wondering the other day about how while DC tends to reboot their characters in order to keep them up to date, Marvels characters seem to be more flexible in updating, such as having Tony Stark become iron man during the Gulf War or saying Peter Parker went to high school in the 2000s rather than the 1960s. Then you have characters like Captain America, whos history in the golden age stays the way and only updates when he unfrozen onward.

Then, I got to thinking about Magneto... I know hes been retconned in the past before, especially with his relationship to Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, but a major character point for him is that he was a holocaust survivor and witnessed the horrors of humans, which built into his belief that mutants are the next step. Unlike most marvel characters, I feel thats something you cant change about him, which becomes a problem when Marvel acts as their stories always take place in modern year... so Magneto would have to at least be in his 80s by now. I get that its comics and he could still be pushing it at 80, but theres gonna come a time when hes pushing 90+, 100+, etc. Then you have the fact he and Xavier are still peers, so then Xavier will have to age as well. Im curious as to what Marvel would do come the time theyre both ridiculously old, even by comic book standards.

[Assistant]
In Defenders #16 Magneto created a being called Alpha the Ultimate Mutant.  Alpha de-aged Magneto to infancy.  He was restored to adulthood later, but restored to basically have the body of someone in their 20s while keeping his mind.  He's aged normally (-ish, Magneto is inhumanly fit) since and is now ~50-60 physically.

So he is very old, but through these types of super-powered shenanigans his body doesn't necessarily reflect that.


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

[User]
How does magma ascend miles and miles and goes through solid rock, eventually reaching the surface?

I really have no idea how this happens.

[Assistant]
Magma is buoyant. Simple as that. It's basically made of the same stuff as the crust, but a thousand degrees C hotter.

It usually travels by fracturing rock and injecting itself into the cavities formed by the excess pressure, or it can simply melt surrounding host rock.

When it gets closer to the surface gas starts to come out of solution as the pressure drops, which expands, often causing sharp pressure increases, the force of which can drive particularly high-energy eruptions.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why was Cesium-133 atom chosen for defining "1 second" under Standard International?

I remember years ago in high school my physics teacher explained to us that Standard International defines 1 second as "the time needed for Cesium-133 to vibrate 9.192.631.770 times". Is there any particular reason why Cesium-133 was the element chosen for this purpose?

Edit: wow, my first silver award! Thank you!

[Assistant]
Accuracy & consistency are the most important things for SI determination. Caesium has a very, very high resonant frequency.

A quartz clock is accurate to something like 1 second in a couple of years.

A caesium atomic clock is accurate to something like 1 second in a million years.


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

[User]
ELI5: When a tank is filled with helium does the tank become lighter or heavier?

I just picked up a small tank of Helium from the store for work and was suprised by how light it was. Is the tank filled with Helium heavier or lighter than it was before the helium was added?

[Assistant] The helium in your tank is compressed. If it weren't, you couldn't use it to blow up balloons: if the pressure on both sides is the same, there isn't any flow. A side effect of this is that you can get more mass in the same volume. And as a result, your helium tank will be heavier than the tank's volume of helium at standard pressure and temperature.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Since everyone except Palpatine was trying their hardest to win the Clone Wars, was there ever a time where events didn't go as Palpatine wanted due to brilliant strategy by someone?

[Assistant]
Palpatine was explicitly making sure that the Separatists wouldn't win - while individual battles might have been won or lost due to the actions of extraordinary individuals, there are several times like the Zillo Beast being loosed on Coruscant that could have gone badly that he turned around and made good use out of.

Not every single battle went exactly how he wanted, but Palpatine is nothing if not open to twisting events to his advantage, even things that probably should have gone against him.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do faces look odd/weird when paused at random but normal when in motion?

[Assistant] When you speak, your mouth makes many shapes that you'd never hold as a facial expression. So when you put that "ee" face on pause, it looks like you're deliberately holding your face that way to be a goof on picture day.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Are there any heroes that successfully got out of the hero business?

As per title, has anyone actually made it out, and stayed in the stories, but also quit/retired from being a hero? I wouldn't count turning into a villain, anti-hero, etc, I mean civilian.

[Assistant]
Technically Jessica Jones. She still does good things once in a while but she's really not a superhero in the conventional sense.

I was going to say Phil Urich, who quit heroing (which he sucked at) to become a self-help guru, but he would up becoming a villain later anyway.


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

[User]
How do pulmonary catheters measure cardiac output?

I get how PA catheters can measure RAP, PAP, and PAOP but the text I'm reading says "the lumen near the distal tip measures changes in core temperature, which is essential for measuring cardiac output." My question is how? Thanks in advance!

[Assistant]
It's called Theromodilution.

you inject cold saline into the catheter and the catheter has a thermometer to measure how quickly the temperature changes, and then It calculates the CO from the drop in temperature, and subsequent normalization of the temp.


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

[User]
[Batman: Return of the Dark Knight] What's up with Superman being Ronald Reagan's lapdog? It goes against everything he stands for in most realities.

He forces other heroes into retirement, mutilates Oliver, and then intends to do the same to Bruce at one point. On top of all of this he makes himself a weapon of war, obviously involved in the death of numerous Soviet Soldiers. . . what happened in this reality? It's so. . . un-superman.

[Assistant]
He's not a lapdog.... the world is on the brink of destroying itself and Superman could barely handle one nuclear blast, let alone the thousands that would happen if war broke out.

He is doing whatever he can to keep humanity alive, which in a Cold War, mutually assured destruction kind of scenario, means dealing with this issue.

Batman however, is and has always been a destabilizing figure. Moreso even in the DKR reality. He is a troublemaker, an anti-establishment genius with tons of money and the will and know-how to get shit done.

Superman needs him to cool off because what Batman is doing in Gotham is starting to reverberate across America and could lead to uprisings and civil unrest on a large scale which is just what Batman wants, while Supes is looking at the big picture: an unstable America is easy pickings for the Soviet Union, especially when they're measuring dicks over Corto Maltese.

Superman isn't Reagan's lapdog. He knows well enough what the President asks of him and how he's treated, but it's Superman. He doesn't care about this, he's not in it for the ego. The world is in the brink of destruction at the hands of mankind itself and he is doing what he can to keep shit in check.

Oliver Queen is as big a revolutionary as Batman..... that's likely why Superman crippled him. The other heroes weren't forced into retirement by Superman, but by the government. Superman was all that was left because he wanted to play ball for the sake of everyone.


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

[User]
[FMA] How does Alchemy work?

We see three types of alchemy throughout the series.

1 - Turning one thing into another, such as stone into gold. In fact this is one of the rules of alchemy not to do so as it adversely affects the economy.

2 - Synthesis and Decomposition, such as combining the elements of a human body to create a human doll, or parts of a radio to repair it. Or decomposing water to create a highly flammable gas to ignite.

3 - Transformation of matter from one state to another, such as freezing or melting or boiling.

My question is, why can't they do this more often?

There are various points at which is might be simpler to do so.

Such as while inside Gluttony with all the blood, why did they have to eat Ed's boot? Why couldn't they take blood, transform it into something edible like stone into gold?

Ed travelling through the desert and having his automail heat up. Why couldn't he just ask to stop every few hours, create a pool of cold water and dunk his automail in?

And most importantly, the greatest question of all "What could equal the value of a human soul?" Couldn't they just take a bunch of something, transform it into something valuable and just transmute tonnes of it in exchange for a soul? Or even easier, just transmute it to create a leg and/or arm, which we have seen is the price of transmuting a soul to be able to bond with armour?

[Assistant]
Organic substances are incredibly complex to make and very few alchemists can manipulate them, let alone create them from scratch.

Different Alchemists specialize in different forms of alchemy Ed cant manipulate sand very well.

It is incredibly difficult to put a price on a human soul in order to make a fair exchange, this was pretty much the main point of the entire series.


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

[User]
How can anthropogenic climate change (global warming) cause the earth to dry up when more water becomes part of the hydrologic cycle as ice caps and glaciers melt?

I thought that the earth was more dry than it is now during the last ice age when more water was trapped in ice caps and glaciers and wetter during times when there was no permanent ice.

edit.  I've seen predictions of the earth becoming drier with larger deserts due to climate change.

[Assistant]
It would be easier to address the individual predictions- but while there may be a larger total amount of water in the surface oceans and greater surface area of water on the planet due to inundating low-lying coastal areas, the *distribution* of water may change in ways that greatly enlarge existing deserts and create more dry areas, especially in tropical and subtropical latitudes.

Climate is a dynamic system- as we add heat and water, ocean current and wind patterns may shift, changing precipitation patterns, rainfall, and local climates.  The Sahara, Kalahari, Taklamakan, Gobi, and other deserts would likely expand.  The disruption of the monsoon could massively dry out much of southern Asia.  Central Africa could dry out as well.

However, other areas might see increased precipitation- while we can make predictions with some confidence, it is difficult to know exactly which effects will dominate in which areas, and how they will fully interact.  Nevertheless, it is very easy to imagine a drier, more arid world with larger deserts despite a greater total volume of water in the water cycle- the problem is simply disruption of existing climate patterns causing the water to move elsewhere, destroying local biomes, agriculture, and making it much harder for people to live in those regions.


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

[User]
If neutrinos can move through vast quantities of mass without interacting with it, how are they detected?

Also, if there is some form of interaction, what exactly occurs?

[Assistant] Neutrinos are detected by using vast quantities of mass, like giant pools of water buried deep underground with detectors all around, so that the odds of a neutrino interacting with a single atom of that giant mass becomes high enough for the interaction to be detectable, say by detecting any photons that are emitted from the interaction.


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

[User]
Why do some diseases cause lifelong or much longer periods of immunity than some other diseases?

And why do some need boosters whilst others do not or need fewer boosters?

[Assistant] That can be attributed to the mutation rate of the microorganism. That is if you are talking about infectious diseases. If a microorganism is able to mutate at a faster rate, then it can evade the immunity that has been triggered before by its ancestors. Take HIV or Ebola virus for instance, these two have a high rate of mutations this is why making vaccines against them is pointless, take the flu virus for an example as well, every year other people need to get another flu shot. This is because of its mutation rate which renders the virus a chance of evading the defense mechanism that the adaptive immune has already recorded. The microorganism will mutate and the antigens that are on its surface will also change, and these antigens are what the immune system use to identify and classify the microbes as threats from your body proteins.


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

[User] How do you avoid "philosophical paralysis"? Can't everything be 'justified', depending on what logic you're using?

[Assistant]
> Can't everything be 'justified', depending on what logic you're using?

I suppose we can make up some set of principles according to which whatever statement we choose is true. But this isn't going to justify the statement in any meaningful sense, since there's no reason to accept principles we just make up in this way.


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

[User] ELI5 why do babies vomit so often?

[Assistant]
The valve that connects your esophagus to your stomach is not fully formed/does not fully close when you are first born. This means that it is much easier for food to come back up.

Also, the manner in which babies feed means that they are more likely to ingest air which can cause discomfort and increase chance of spitting up. Burping the baby after feeding can mitigate this but sometimes you don't always get all the air out.


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

[User]
Why is skepticism seen as unintuitive?

To me, at least, skepticism seems almost obvious. I am quite new to philosophy and am just learning about the concept, and it seems like philosophers will completely overcomplicate this topic in order to avoid skepticism at all costs, when I dont see how it can be disproven at all. It is surely impossible to know anything, with 100% certainty.

I am really struggling to get through the views of contemporary philosophers who go on about other worlds and different contexts. Maybe I just  dont understand them, but its so hard to follow when I just dont have the intuition that something is wrong with skepticism.

If anyone could pursuade me otherwise or explain that I am misunderstanding something, then I would be grateful.

[Assistant]
Philosophers who reject skepticism typically reject the stringent standards which skeptics hold. In short, they dont claim to have 100% certainty, but instead allow knowledge claims without 100% certainty.

Heres one way to think about it. Suppose you accept skepticism. Okay, now what? Theres nowhere to go. But, if were willing to accept a little uncertainty, we can develop ideas, raise arguments, respond to objections  basically skepticism is a dead end.


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

[User]
Why books (except for porn magazines) don't have maturity rating like musics movies, and games?

I just finished reading ASOIAF series (up to ADWD) and found it surprising that there was no maturity warning on the cover.  The violent and coitus descriptions in the serie are rather very vivid.
Also lots of words such as Fuck and Cunt are used as well.   Oh yeah, also there is incest.

If it were movie or music, it would certainly be the age 18 or up.
But no, books don't have age limit (other than one's capacity to read and comprehend the words)

Why is that?

PS does audio book have maturity rating like music?

[Assistant]
The writing "level" of a book acts as its own maturity rating, don't you think?  Any asshole can sit down and *watch* an episode of Game of Thrones and be exposed to the beheadings, wenches, incest and more.  That's why the maturity ratings are there, to say "hey, this TV show has some gnarly content, it definitely shouldn't be viewed by kids."  But the book doesn't need that rating, because if a child opened up *Game of Thrones* (the book) and started reading, they probably wouldn't be able to comprehend it, because of word use, sentence structure, even font size.  A child could understand that the book is not "for" them.

In other words, if someone is old enough to be able to read a G.R.R. Martin book, they're old enough to handle the mature themes present.


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

[User] ELI5: Browser war. Why did they care so much what browsers people used? They're free, and some are even opensource.

[Assistant]
They're free, but they can still make the parent money, or serve some purpose.

For example

**Internet Explorer** - only available on Windows. Windows costs money, even if it comes with the computer the manufacturer had to pay for it. So if IE is a preferred browser, people need to give Microsoft money to use it.

**Chrome** - Chrome reports usage statistics back to Google, and ties very conveniently into lots of other Google products and services. Google makes most of its money on ads, and the more data they have about people the more relevant ads they can show.

**Firefox** - probably the most altruistic of the browsers. Mozilla Foundation is nonprofit, and it's original drive of creation of FF was to break the IE stranglehold of the 90s and provide a free, standards-compliant browser that'd behave consistently on any OS.

**Safari** - no idea, but they must be making it for some reason. Anyone else wanna chime in?


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

[User]
ELI9, from an actual 9 year old! "Are the planets like the Sun's moons?"

Hey all, my daughter came home with a question I couldn't respond in confidence to. So she suggested I post it on "Snoo's website"

 I figure there's a scientific reason that the planets aren't moons of the Sun, but I don't know what that reason is.

She thanks you! "Put one of those smiley things!" :)

[Assistant] For all intents and purposes, yes, the planets are essentially the Sun's moons.  They are objects gravitationally bound (and in orbit around) the largest, most central object - effectively what defines a moon.


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

[User]
CMV: Trump would not have stopped a Ukraine invasion

There is a lot of I think misplaced US political talk surrounding the recent world events. While I do think Biden's response has been rather weak,  it's really not clear to me how any US president could have stopped Putin from invading short of committing troops. But that hasn't stopped many people on both sides comparing the presidents anyway, with many asserting that this wouldn't have happened if Trump was president, or even saying that the reason the invasion happened now and not before is proof that Trump was harder on Russia. I disagree.

First, from my perspective Trump is very soft on Putin and clearly admires him very much. Trump's actions on Russia have been appeasement not toughness. This is just based on his own words and actions. I would go so far as to say that not only would Trump allow the invasion to happen with little to no sanctions, he might even agree with it. This isn't a hypothetical, this is essentially what he has been saying about the current situation now. This is based on his recent comments about Putin and his failure to actually condemn Putin's actions. How can you stop an invasion if you won't even clearly condemn it? He calls the invasion an "atrocity" but solely blames Biden and NATO for the invasion instead of Putin, parroting Putin's justifications. Hardly a strong condemnation. In terms of past Russian aggression Trump has recognized the illegitimate puppet states. Trump has also heavily criticized NATO and threatened to pull out... again appeasing Putin's wishes. Trump even suggested invasion could be a good solution to immigration. Trump's supporters like MGT have even suggested invasion or violence to address our other domestic issues. To me, these quotes indicate that while Trump is willing to speak against the situation he isn't actually condemning Putin directly. It's like saying "that rape was a tragedy but she was asking for it."

What would change my view is examples of Trump strongly condemning Putin with regards to similar actions. Or evidence of Trump not appeasing Putin. Or a compelling argument why Biden did something to provoke the attack that Trump would not have done.

What would not change my view... the idea that Trump *could* "nuke" Moscow... I know what he could do I'm interested in what he *would* do. I also don't think that evidence of "appeasement preventing the war" would change my view because my view is mainly predicated on the claim that Trump is "tougher" on Putin than Biden, and appeasement is not being tougher.

EDIT: I have changed my view slightly. Some commenters have given a variation of the idea that Putin may have considered NATO weaker or less of a threat under the Trump administration and therefore would not have felt the need to invade or takeover Ukraine. I gave a delta to the commenter that fleshed out this concept the best and changed my mind. I'm not claiming this is definitely the reason for the invasion, nor do I think anybody but Putin is to blame for the invasion, but it's a good theory for why the invasion may have happened now and not before. I'm not sure we know for sure what Putin is thinking. I'm still interested in more discussion.

[Assistant]
(I say this as a person who hates Trump and everything he and his supporters stand for)
Putin probably wouldn't have invaded if Trump was president because he didn't see Trump as a threat. Trump didn't and wouldn't have continued getting close to Ukraine. Trump would have probably gotten in the way of Ukraine joining the EU and would have prevented them from joint NATO. If anything Trump's presidency delayed the inivitable.


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

[User]
ELI5:why have human beings developed body odor?

What is the positive aspect of body odor? I know bacteria cause B.O. with their waste. I'm Interested in learning if there is an evolutionary advantage to having body odor.

[Assistant] Not everything that happens to a species is good. Especially humans who have a number of prominent aspects that are pure negatives. BO is caused by humans accidentally wondering into a symbiotic relationship with a kind of bacteria that creates a horrible smell when they come in contact with sweat, which doesn't smell good in the first place. This is why bathing helps curve the smell.


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

[User] ELI5: Why would terrorist organizations confirm the deaths of their top officials?

[Assistant]
Another, lesser, reason is so that the mid to low levels members no longer answer correspondence from that person.

So when the VP of Hijackings gets killed, the Director of Suicide Bombings doesn't reply to his email (sent by the CIA) asking about when the C4 supply closet is going to be refreshed.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is male and female handwriting distinct?

[Assistant]
Studies have shown females as a whole have better fine motor skills where as males as a whole have better large motor skills. This can be somewhat attributed to genetics as men where expected to hunt while women would go pick berries. As these differences became expected in society they would get reinforced by expecting, for example women to sew and men to lift heavy things. In addition when a female is bad at handwriting society will harp on them to make it better because they expect it to be better, whereas if a male has bad handwriting they'll say "well boys are just bad at it". The reverse is true for sports in many cases.

Basically it's nature that gets extra reinforced by nurture.


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

[User] ELI5:Why do we use gas, electricity, and chemical injections for executions when a noose and firing squads are proven effective and **WAY** cheaper?

[Assistant]
firing squads and nooses are actually not all that guaranteed. If the hanging is not done right, the convict will not die instantly and will instead suffocate to death.

Firing squads are similar in that you could perhaps only graze the heart/other vital organs and not kill the person.


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

[User] ELI5: why do people sell (and presumably buy) cracked iPhone screens on ebay?

[Assistant]
People sell broken stuff to get a bit of money for something that is worth nothing to them.

People buy broken stuff because it is cheap, they know how to fix it it, and they can resell it for much more than they paid.


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

[User] ELI5 Top-level government direct exchange is often said to proceed via a 'secure line' - how is such a line secured?

[Assistant] It varies of course but usually it involves something like end to end military grade encryption and only moving the call over infrastructure which is difficult for a listener to compromise, such as military communications satellites or secret fiber optics cables. There is no such thing as communication that is impossible to intercept and decode but it can be made impractically difficult.


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

[User] [Doctor Who] How accurate is a Dalek? Can someone agile enough just keep dodging the beams?

[Assistant] The beams are pretty damn fast. Humans either need to blind them or hide behind somethingz There is a creature called the raston warrior robot that is as fast as light, itd be the creature a dalek couldnt beat just for speed .


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

[User]
ELI5: How do single propeller planes counter the torque from the propeller.

I was playing kerbal space program last night and my single prop planes kept flipping over. I understand that having a second propeller spinning the opposite way can counteract this, but how do single propeller planes do this?

[Assistant]
The only way to stop the plane veering up and to the left is actively steering against it. Modern single-prop aircraft have automatic systems to counteract this issue in a manner relative to the speed the propeller/plane is moving, so the pilot doesnt have to correct it. It most often can be felt during changes in speed (i.e. during takeoff/landing), due to the larger difference between the speed of the propeller and the speed of the aircraft.

This also means that in many light aircraft - particularly older fighter planes - its actually quicker and easier to turn left than it is to turn right. This is called a rotary turn.


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

[User]
When and why do social scientists use log scales

I noticed that in some instances (the popular science talks on why we might not be doomed by Hans Rosling, stick out for me) data like global income distribution is represented using a log scale.

Now I know that it makes sense to use log scale for doing stuff like plotting the progress of an exponential process.
But what are other reasons to use one, like in the casw as above?

[Assistant]
Log scales are useful for describing phenomena where changes occur mainly multiplicatively instead of additively.

To construct a silly example, let's say we're playing a gambling game where everyone flips a coin and if they win, they gain $10, otherwise they lose $10. If you wanted to plot the final distribution of winnings, a linear scale is appropriate. If you played for 10 rounds, the largest possible value (if everyone starts at $0) is $100, so you can imagine a histogram with x-ticks for each $10.

If instead, the gambling game had you double your money if you won, and halve your money if you lost, then with 10 rounds if you start with $1 then the largest possible winnings is 2^10. If you wanted to depict the actual winnings value, again a linear scale is appropriate, but if you wanted to depict the number of win events minus the number of loss events, then a log scale is appropriate, with base 2. In a log scale, the largest x-tick would be 10, representing 10 wins and 0 losses.

Many real-world phenomena increase/decrease multiplicatively rather than linearly (ie, many real-world phenomena are described well by exponential functions), and log scale plots are useful for depicting multiplicatively changing phenomena when you care more about the number of "change events" rather than the actual value. It turns out this is often the case, so log-plots are quite useful.


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

[User]
[General Fiction] What are some examples of henchmen, or "right-hand-man" who is much stronger and dangerous than the main villain, but follow the villain anyways (not for financial reasons)?

I'm always curious about characters who seem to be EXTREMELY powerful, sometimes much more than the main threat or perceived antagonist, but they still prefer to be more of a side-character, almost henchmen level.

I don't want it to be for some sort of financial reasons, since I know many weak but rich villains use money to buy power such as say, Penguin in Batman. I'm looking for example where they do it out of some other purpose.

I guess a generic example would be....lets say the main baddie wants to achieve rule the universe but is capable of dying, whereas his right hand man is immortal. Does that make sense? Like, why would the henchman even work for someone like that?

Another exmaple would be like, Ebony Maw following Thanos (w/o Infinity Gauntlet), why doesn't Ebony just use telekinesis and fling Thanos away?

[Assistant]
There is Dr. Girlfriend (later known as Dr. Mrs. The Monarch), who is the lover/wife/right-hand-woman to The (Mighty) Monarch.

She might not be quite as dangerous as the Monarch, but she is certainly much smarter and better at organizing a criminal enterprise, and is also usually the only thing keeping the Monarch from being completely worthless.


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

[User]
CMV: Israel has the right to remain an independent nation.

There is a lot of debate happening regarding the Israel-Palestine issue these days, and the one argument that keeps popping up is that Israel shouldn't even be considered a nation.

I believe that this is a very hypocritical stance, since Israel won a war against many of its neighbouring countries and won, thereby making it an official nation according to international law. If you don't accept its existence, then you must say the same for Algeria, Norway, Nigeria, America, Bangladesh, and the numerous other countries that gained independence through wars.

Now, the fact that Israel has extended its borders well beyond what is legally allowed and treats Palestinians as 2nd class citizens is undeniable. I'm not condoning the Israeli regime, but strictly challenging the notion that the nation shouldn't exist to begin with.

[Assistant]
There's a difference between being called an independent nation and being called the independent nation you claim to be. Both Tawan and China claim to be the rightfull authority over both.

And there's undeniably problems regarding contested territories when it comes to Israel. Not regarding it as the nation it claim to be doesn't mean you shouldn't consider it as a nation altogether.


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

[User]
How are multiple signals passed over wires (phone lines, fiber optics, etc...) without interference?

I was thinking about the old days especially when most communication was over the phone lines which I know to be multiple individual strands of wire spanning thousands of miles with various interconnections. But, if my neighbor and I are making a phone call at the same time, how do the lines keep those 2 signals entirely separate when its on the same line for at least a part of the transmission?

[Assistant] There are three basic ways. Either you send the signals at different times and then reassemble at the receiver (time division multiplexing), or you send different frequencies or colors (frequency division multiplexing) and separate at the receiver, or you encode the different signals digitally such that they all appear like noise to each other but you can descramble them at the receiver (code division multiplexing). The latter is very common in cell phones.


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

[User] ELI5: How did Wells Fargo benefit by creating 2 million bogus accounts?

[Assistant] Wells Fargo, the company, didn't benefit much, if at all.  However, Wells Fargo had monthly quotas of new accounts that their employees had to meet or they were subject to disciplinary action.  Since it's quite difficult for a bank branch employee to generate interest in creating additional accounts (bank branches aren't usually where people make spur-of-the-moment financial decisions), those employees decided to create accounts for customers without their knowledge or consent, in order to meet the quotas that had been set for them.


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

[User]
ELI5: What's the difference between CPU and GPU? I know that one is usually for graphics and the other for all the other computations but why you can't use one for the other when they are both logical circuitry?

What makes the difference between them physically? Today a lot of AI works are using GPU, why use GPU if the one for processing things is the CPU? Why miners like GPU more than CPU?

[Assistant]
To put it as simply as possible: a CPU is really really good at doing a lot of different kinds of things one or two at a time, while a GPU is better at doing a few things but a lot of them at one time.

In more detail:
CPU's can be programmed to do addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, and complex logic like 'if A = 1 then B = 2, but if A= 2 and C = 0 then B = 3' and so on. CPU's also have special instructions in them to make certain things faster, like watching video, zipping a file, encrypting your data, lots of special enhancements for very complex math things on top of being very adaptable to random problems you throw at them. A GPU will usually understand fewer instructions but is really good doing a lot of them all at once, like performing lots of addition problems simultaneously. Say you needed to count to 10 a million times, the GPU can do that 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 count by a million all at once taking no longer than counting it just one time, but a cpu would need to count to 10, then start over and count to 10, then start over and count to 10, and on and on a million times over.

Stuff like AI is better on the GPU because it's trying to find the best solution to a problem by running through the problem thousands and thousands of times over and the GPU can do those thousands of runs of thousands of different solutions in really big batches all at once, the CPU would have to do a few at a time for a very long time. Modern GPUs even have special little cores that do certain maths *very* well, the kind of maths you need to use for good AI, and can so it can do lots of those problems all at once even better than older GPUs (pre-RTX) could have done. A CPU is also built to handle lots of tasks related to running the computer as a whole, like talking to your hard drive / ssd, putting data in and out of RAM, keeping programs from interfering with each other, coordinating the hardware on your motherboard so everything plays nice together, lots of important tasks for which GPUs simply do not have the ability to deal with because they weren't built with it in mind.

For a long while now CPU's have been increasingly built to do more things at once, but it's not so easy to write software to take advantage of this and not all software *needs* to do a lot of things at once, so being able to do one thing really fast is a key factor for a good CPU. This is all really simplifying it, but that's the basic difference between a CPU and a GPU, the kinds of instructions they understand and doing things in order vs doing them all at once.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does using bar soap when washing my hands and/or body give it a very grippy feeling after using it, while liquid soap doesnt?

[Assistant]
Bar soap has a more alkaline pH than liquid soaps. This breaks down your skin's natural oil barriers easier and more so than liquid soap. Liquid soap does still break it down, and can still make your skin feel 'grippy' but just less so as it's less alkaline, and not as good at dissolving that oil barrier.

The oil barrier is acidic, and keeps moisture in your skin. When you remove it, your skin can't hold the moisture, feeling odd.