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

[User]
ELI5 Quantum Computing

Is it faster? Or is it for storage? Is it real or just a theory? And how does it work?

[Assistant]
Quantum Computing is currently just a theory. The basic idea is that computers actually work in binary. Information is in a series of bits. A bit is just a 0 or a 1. Quantum computing is the theory that a bit can be 0, 1 or both.

It is "faster" in the sense that it reduces the way to combine data. For instance, a 256 bit encryption key is currently thought of to be unbreakable because there are so many possible combinations that it would take all the computing power in the world several years to try out all the combinations.

Basically, if a computer were to "guess" a 256 bit encryption, it would literally need to first try 256 0's, then 255 0's and one 1, then 254 0's, one 1, one 0. etc. Quantum computing would be able to line up 256 quantum bits that are both 0 and 1 and quickly break the encryption.

Again, it's still theory, so we don't have something that can actually do this yet.


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

[User]
[Interplanetary] Is there any way to explain interplanetary warfare without starships?

The game "Interplanetary" is an artillery game wherein the populated planets of a solar system start engaging in all-out war, without actually possessing space travel.  Or at least, good enough space travel for ships to relevant in war or successfully invade planets.  So they start firing massive railguns at each other (Think "Stonehenge" in Ace Combat), and later nuclear strikes, giant death lasers, etc.

These planets appear to be engaged in the most extreme form of total war imaginable, with lore entries alluding to school field trips in armored school buses, building road tunnels to serve as improvised shelters, game upgrades like "mandatory fertility medications," and in-game radio-astronomy telescopes to try to spot targets on opposing planets.

It seems completely insane, and yet fascinating.  Are there any circumstances where this could make some kind of sense?  It seems like if you had this tech and resources you'd just be able to do asteroid redirects (it's a late game superweapon).  And why are there multiple inhabited planets in a system that all suddenly decided they want to kill each other?  If it's to take the resources, there doesn't seem to be a way to properly exploit it from other planets even if they won.

[Assistant] Multiple inhabited planets are able to detect the existence of the others as they develop technological. By the time they develop any form of two way communication (radio) centuries of fears and suspicions have left them predisposed to attacking first (in a get them before they get us first kind of deal). This mean that everyone is busy investing in ways to strike the enemy as quickly as possible while the longer term fields of rocketry struggle on in the background.


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

[User]
If I were presented with the same dilemma as Neo at the beginning of the Matrix, it would seem beyond obvious that taking the blue pill would be the right choice. CMV.

The only circumstances where I might reconsider were if I were currently living under inescapably bad conditions that warranted escape. I guess this is why this seemed more perplexing in middle school.

As an adult, though, I can't imagine throwing away everything I treasure just to know the "truth". I've learned lots of true things about the world and reality so far, and the only ones which did not have an big impact on me or did not depress me were the ones which pertained to my life in particular. I don't remember much of the film series itself, so perhaps you can Change My View on these grounds, but even peeking at life behind the red pill, who's to say that life absent the Matrix is going to be any better than the illusion which it sustained?

[Assistant] I thought Neo was unhappy with his life at that time? Also after being chased by several agents for no reason, having a bug implanted on you, and then getting kidnapped by strangers who remove the bug, are friendly to you while offering you the "truth", will probably fuck up your sense of judgment.


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

[User]
[Pixar] What does Anton Ego eat on a day-to-day basis?

We know that Anton Ego is a notoriously picky eater, and that if he doesn't like something, he doesn't swallow it. So my question is, before Remy gives him a consistent source of delicious food... what does he eat for, like, sustenance? He can't be reviewing restaurants for every meal, and even if he is, he'd need to make up the calories he was missing out on every time he doesn't like something.

I have sort of a half-baked theory that his butler must be the second finest chef in all of France in order to satisfy him, or that he cooks all of Ego's mother's recipes, but there's not much to support this. I'm just trying to figure out what this dude ingests in order to stay alive.

[Assistant] He's just putting on an act. His critic persona is probably an exaggeration of his actual personality. Most celebrity foodies you see put on an act for the public different than their actual personality.


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

[User] [Marvel] It seems that they have some thing in common, but why do Frank Castle and Wolverine not like each other?

[Assistant]
I think it boils down to that Castle kills jerks that could easily be arrested.

He could, for example, subdue a serial killer and make a call to the FBI. The crook would go away for decades. But nope. Bullet to the head.

Wolverine kills, yes, but only when provoked. Like when those soldiers busted in to the Xaiver mansion and started taking the kids. THAT gets you a stabbing. THAT Wolverine would gladly have worked with Frank on a cross-mansion murder spree over.


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

[User]
[Bladerunner] what is a "kick-murder squad" exactly?

We know that Zhora was designed to be on a "kick-murder squad" and this makes her something of a "beauty and the beast." But, what does a kick-murder squad do? What is a kick-murder? Or is it a kick murder-squad, and if that what does "kick" mean here? Is Zhora being attractive an important part of committing kick-murder? What's the story here?

[Assistant] I figure it means that the  target is looking to  "get their kicks off" with a pretty girl, then they get murdered.  So she's basically a honeypot-assassin, and she was part of a squad of similar replicants.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] At what point in history did the Wizarding World start concealing itself from Muggles?

[Assistant]
We have no only a general time but an exact date!

It was decided in 1689, with the actual going to into secrecy beginning in 1692. After a failed attempt to negotiate and end to witchhunts with the british monarch, the wizards decided to retreat.

There you go!


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

[User]
ELI5: How come we don't have to get up while we sleep to avoid blood clots, but we do when we are awake?

like when you are on a plane or sitting at a desk for work, it's recommend that you get up and walk around everyone in awhile to avoid blood clots. Why not when we are sleeping?

[Assistant]
Because you sleep horizontal - your blood is less prone to pool in your lower extremities since it doesn't have to work against gravity. The reason that idling at a desk or in any kind of sitting position can be risky is because blood flow in the lower extermities is assisted by the contraction of the muscles, which give a kind of 'pumping' action to your veins. Without activity, though, the blood just pools in your lower legs, and its that stagnation that risks blood clotting.

TL;DR - never sit when you can lay down.


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

[User]
ELI5: What happened to Kansas' trickle-down experiment, and where did it fail/succeed?

Why did they cut so much from the education budget?

Why did they lay off so many people?

Did they succeed anywhere?

[Assistant]
Kansas collected nearly $45 million less in taxes in September than expected, this is bad, and it nuked their state budget.

State government now faces a shortfall greater than $60 million, just one quarter into the fiscal year.  Sometimes the shortfall is small  $10.5 million in August. In other months, the numbers are staggering: May fell $76 million below expectations.

Individual income tax collections were off by about $14 million, or 6 percent. The Kansas Department of Revenue cited weaker than expected quarterly payments related to capital gains and the stock market in explaining the figures.  Corporate income taxes came in short by $17 million, or 21 percent. Retail sales tax collections fell short by $9 million, or about 5 percent.

The approximately $45 million monthly shortfall represents a miss of about 8 percent. All the other layoffs and the like are because they are doing 8% more government than they have money for.


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

[User]
ELI5: In Prison break, when T-Bag got his hand reconnected to his wrist via stitches after it got chopped off, would it ever heal all the way?

Would the nerves and reconnect, allowing him to have full control of his hand again?

[Assistant] We have done full hand transplants where the attached hand gained full usability after the procedure, but it is WAY more complicated than just stitching around the edges. You have to individually stitch each nerve back together using a microscopic thread and a microscope or you risk forming an exquisitely painful neuroma as the neuron fails to heal together properly. You must stitch together each of the major blood vessels and stitch the muscles together and to tendons in order for everything to work at all. It's a 12-24 hour surgery, and then rehab can take months.


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

[User] [Pacific Rim] Why do they need two pilots when they can remotely control the mecha like the usual drones?

[Assistant] The explanation given in the movie is that the mecha is too big to run and requires the combined processing power of two brains. Interestingly, this is also true for the kaiju as they have two biological brains.


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

[User]
ELI5 How is reading posts/surfing on my cellphone different/better/worse than r adding a book?

Is there a distinct advantage to reading text in a book on a single subject versus reading text on a digital device with multiple subjects?

[Assistant]
Yes.

Short articles - and let's be honest, you're mostly talking about reading memes and Facebook junk - do not stimulate the brain in the same way that reading a lengthy article or book on a single subject does.

Scattering your attention is much less beneficial.  Consider the studies done on young children who watched Spongebob.

Whether you use a digital or paper source is less important.


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

[User]
In "The Matrix" did the protagonists kill programs or other people plugged in?

Especially in The Matrix 1. While we know that the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar (and the rest of the freedom fighters who can jack in) were at one point being battery farmed by the machines, what about the people they have to kill in The Matrix itself? Are they programs, like Agents? Or are they also people being farmed, potential Red Pills like Neo and Trinity? I don't believe this was ever explained.

[Assistant]
Agents who take over the avatar of a blue pill do not die when they are sufficiently damaged, the blue pill might not be so lucky.  If you die in the Matrix, the body dies in real life.

Some programs do not take over a blue pill avatar and simply have an avatar of their own, this is true in most cases of a program in the Matrix.  However, programs whose avatars are killed don't necessarily die permanently.  Remember, the Merovingian managed to delete the avatar of the Oracle and she managed to find a new one with which to manifest in the Matrix.


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

[User]
where is the line drawn between childhood and adult abuse?

im sure its not a hard line, but more a difference between life stages, but when is it considered adult abuse instead of child abuse? is an older teenager still considered a child?

[Assistant] It's a legal distinction rather than a clinical one, and as such it breaks along the legal age of majority.  Abuse against a person who is legally a child is child abuse, and abuse against a person who is not is not.


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

[User] Is Michael Jordan in Space Jam a fictional character?

[Assistant]
This is interesting to think about in connection to Kripke's *Naming and Necessity*. He proposes the following sort of picture for how a name (in your mouth) refers to that object:

1. Someone initially dubbed that object with that name (think of christening a ship).
2. The usage of that name got passed down a link of causally related uses.
3. You use the name as part of that link.

On this sort of picture, the name 'Michael Jordan' as used in *Space Jam* refers to Michael Jordan (the real life person) as 1. his parents dubbed him Michael Jordan 2. a causal chain passed the usage of that name down and 3. the writers/performers in Space Jam used the name as part of that causal chain.

Given that a necessary condition for being a fictional character plausibly is that the name for that character fails to refer to any physical object, Michael Jordan is not (by broadly Kripkean lights) a fictional character in Space Jam.


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

[User]
Work-life balance (No Im not joking)

After finishing my undergrad, I took a full time RA job in a research lab for 1 year, ending this fall. In the fall I will begin my masters program in a non academic field.
I feel extremely anxious in my current position. I should be happy to have a good job and be working with amazing people. But I see other people working nights and weekends and on holidays and I worry that I will be branded the lazy one or the dumb one. The PI of my lab works 24/7 and is always pushing to get projects (that I help coordinate) up and running as quickly as possible. I dont want to be like the people in my lab who seem to have no limit on how much they will work. I know these issues are common in academia, but I have no desire to be a part of it.
My university has a union for RAs with a list of holidays and I have PTO, but I noticed people in the lab dont use their days off. I would like to use mine because Im a human being who has a life.
I get emails nights and weekends. I have been trying not to check my email during times Im not at work but it feels like everyone else does and I dont want to annoy my boss or seem inflexible.
Im currently managing a project that eventually might require some evenings and weekends. Im scared once its up and running I wont have a life anymore and I will be expected to work whenever my PI decides. Can I set boundaries an explain my hours are full time and not more? I need help!!!

[Assistant]
What about if you need to be in the lab in the evening or weekends, taking time off during the day to compensate. Full time doesn't have to be M-F 9-5.

If you are already leaving academia, then don't feel bad about doing the hours you are paid for. Many people work more to get ahead in academia, hoping the more hours will make later success more likely.

You do need to sit down with your PI and explain your position and make sure what their expectations are and how you can balance that.


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

[User]
How strong is Gandalf?

I've only seen the movies, and he seems kind of weak. All I remember from the movies is that he made light and could use telekinesis. from what I have read on reddit he's super strong but the movies really don't show it. what is Gandalf capable of?

[Assistant]
Galdalf and the other wizards are Istari, lesser gods (Think Angels) of the world. When Gandalf and the other wizards were sent to Middle Earth, they were commanded to take the form of old men, and forbidden from using their full power, and forbidden from using force to control the mortal races.

As such, their powers were limited by their physical forms to a large extent. Consider that the Balrog and Sauron are also Istari, though they did not have the limitations imposed upon their power.

When facing the Balrog, though, all bets are off. It's power verses power then. You see some of what Gandalf is capable of.

And, to break the fourth wall, the movie does a poor job of showing the power of these people. Gandalf, Sauron, the Balrog, and even the more powerful Elves were full-on badasses. The fight between Gandalf and Saruman is never presented in great detail in the books. It's something added to give flavor.

Gandalf seems weak because the vast majority of his power is restrained by the gods. Sticking to his oaths, he abides by what the Gods commanded of him, unlike Saruman and the other wizards.

It's akin to saying a track athlete isn't very fast, only to find out that the athlete has had one leg tied to his back the whole time.


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

[User]
Does a computer take the same amount of time to divide 1024 by 2 as it would to divide 256 by 4?

I am trying to understand how the splitting part of merge sort runs in O(log2(n)) time as it has to go through hundreds of divisions in later lines. Surely 1024/2 will complete a lot faster than 2/2, 512 times would, right?

Thanks!

[Assistant]
> Surely 1024/2 will complete a lot faster than 2/2, 512 times would, right?

On the machines you're typically using, integer division is a mostly constant-time operation, so any division runs about as fast as any other division.


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

[User]
[spoilers inside] On the subject of nuclear weapons, Jaegers & Kaiju

I have a few questions:

* The nuke used at the rift was 1.2 megatons.  How is it that the category 5 Kaiju survived?
* The Gipsy Danger was pretty close to the initial blast, how did withstand the damage?
* Given the answers to both of the above, how is it that Jaeger fists, plasma cannons and swords can even hurt the Category 5 Kaiju?

[Assistant]
Go read the papers by Geiszler and Gottlieb. The Kaiju masters were engineering the Kaiju to better defeat our weaponry. They deliberately made a nuke-resistant Kaiju (heck, it took multiple smaller nukes to kill the first few Kaiju, although those weren't direct hits).

Jaegers were also designed to be nuke-resistant. The first few Kaiju were killed by repeated nukings, so the engineers knew that Jaegers would probably be operating in the vicinity of nuclear weapons. "Can survive a megaton warhead detonated 2 km away" was something like priority 2 or 3 on the Generation 1 feature list. It shouldn't surprise you that Gipsy Danger hiding behind a cliff was able to survive the warhead detonation.

Kaiju resist most weaponry through ablative armor. A plasma shot will burn off a chunk of their skin, but there are still dozens of layers of fat and muscle below that. Being able to resist an intense burst of nuclear heat is quite easy if you don't care about getting your skin burned off. This is one reason why Kaiju battles take minutes, the Kaiju won't stop until the Jaeger scores a killing blow.


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

[User] ELI5: How come when you insert a credit card chip, some make you remove the card rapidly and some make you leave it inserted?

[Assistant]
If youre being asked to keep the card inserted, its chip based transaction.

You cant swipe your cards chip.

So if youre being asked to remove the card rapidly, its actually just getting you to swipe your cards magnetic strip at the back of your card.

Theyre two very different types of machines - one being significantly older and dated.


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

[User]
[MCU] If/When Ben Grimm is turned into a rock man due to cosmic accident, will Korg be able to provide him guidance and support?

Think about it, he's alone, turned into stone, missing his bones, and there's not much anyone can really do to console him or understand what he's going through.

If only there were another dude made of living rock who was quite a nice chap. Oh, wait, there is!

Could Korg help The Thing understand the benefits of being, like, totally rock, mate? Could he extol the virtues of some of those beautiful rock women he knows are out there? Suggest some nice cement skincare products?

[Assistant] Korg can help with living as a rock monster, but he can't help with *becoming* a rock monster. He's always been a rock monster, which puts him in a similar, but not identical, situation to Ben. Some things he can help with. Some things, he just can't relate to.


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

[User]
[general] If a vampire is in space, how far from the sun do they have to be to be safe?

So, if a vampire was in space in earth orbit, or on the moon, when the sun came up they'd be screwed. But starlight is fine, as is the reflected sunlight from the moon, so there has to be a limit. Would they be OK on mars? How about further out? A planetary atmosphere filters out a certain amount of radiation and protects us, does it also filter out whatever harms vampires?

[Assistant]
The moon is very small in the sky and is pretty dark, so it reflects very little light. The bigger issue is that they're generally okay with sunlight reflected from walls and such.

The amount of sunlight they get is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the sun. I'd say ten times darker is probably enough, which would mean they'd have to be about 3 AU away from the sun. That would be at around the outer edge of the asteroid belt.

That's assuming they don't need to breathe, but as undead, they probably don't.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do scam emails ask people to use Western Union for transferring funds?

[Assistant]
Western Union's wire transfers are often non-reversible. That means that if you send money via Western Union, and it goes to the person you sent it to, you can't get your money back, even if you learn that the recipient was cheating you.

Western Union is also often involved in scams from the other side, because it can take up to several days for its money orders to be processed. So if you try to sell something on Craigslist, scammers will offer to buy it, then send you a Western Union money order for more than the price. (They will tell you some lie about why this implausible error has been made.) They will then ask you to send change, again via Western Union. By the time you realize the first money order was a forgery, your own money will have been sent, received, and vanished.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Where would I go to PURCHASE a starship for myself?

This site has done wonders for me so far, already seen plenty of topics about starship costs, maintenance, fuel, and subjects like that. But what I'm wondering is where would I actually GO to PURCHASE such a ship?

Are there "starship shops" littered in the streets of Coruscant? Are there dealers similar to Watto that are a little less...er, junky? He seems to be the only example that comes up, but dealers like him can't be all there is. Do they just have all their stock lined up in a giant parking lot, or are the ships stored somewhere else and then delivered?

Say I was born on, I dunno, Onderon. Typical Mid-Rim world that's not as rich as Coruscant but not as trashy as Tatooine. I have the credits, have a good idea as to what ship I want, but don't know where to go or who to talk to. How would an average citizen like me make a transaction like that happen? Is it even possible outside of sketchy sources? And I'm certainly not talking a whole CRUISER or anything like that, just something simple the size of a Z-95 Headhunter.

Oh, and what would be the differences between a used ship shop and a brand new complete ship shop?

[Assistant] Well, you could either go to a shipyard if you have one available, or buy from a reseller. Buying a ship is no big deal if you have the money, even an armed ship isn't very difficult. It's the military-grade vessels that you'd need a serious hookup to purchase.


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

[User]
[Star Wars ROTS] The whole point of Anakin turning to the dark side was to keep Padme alive, with her dead why did he then continue on this path rather than go back to being a Jedi, die himself or try and take out the Emperor?

He seemed to get over her pretty quick for someone who risked it all to be with her in the first place.

[Assistant]
He literally had nowhere to go, no one to turn to other than Palpatine. The Jedi were all gone, many slain by his own hand, and the few who survived would never trust him again.

Of course he knows that Palpatine has manipulated him to this point in his life, but with him knowing Palpatine's secret, he's bound to obey or die. And if he truly wished to die, then certainly one of Palpatine's challenges would have ended him quickly.


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

[User] [Half-Life] Is there even a Watsonian reason why a theoretical physicist is powerful enough to take down legions of monsters and the actual army?

[Assistant]
1. He has combat training.  The Sector A Training Facility (also referred to as the Hazard Course) was used to give him training in weapon use, maneuvering through hazardous environments, etc.

2. He has his HEV suit.  The suit gives him a measure of protection against environmental hazards, ballistics, falls, etc.  The suit also dispenses medication such as morphine and gives him a heads-up display that helps him track his weapons, ammo, and current status.

3. He has some very useful weapons.  Where most of his enemies are limited to firearms, grenades, alien tech, etc, Gordon can carry all of them simultaneously, which means he can generally pull out a suitable weapon to deal with his current predicament at any given time.  Plus he can get his hands on experimental futuristic weapons such as the gluon gun and tau cannon.

4. His enemies often do not see him coming.  Gordon excels at crawling through vents so that he can get to places that his opponents aren't expecting him to pop out from, and attack from behind their fortified defenses.

5. He's smart and can use his environment and resources appropriately.  From blasting open doors using an artillery emplacement to killing a gargantua with electrified rails, Gordon has the ability to think on his feet and improvise solutions.

6. He has members of the Black Mesa staff helping him, including security personnel who will help him in combat as well as science personnel who can open doors for him.

7. He is, admittedly, very lucky.


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

[User]
Are people with achromatopsia more sensitive to light?

I know that monochrome cameras are three times more sensitive to light than color cameras, thats why theyre so useful for astrophotography. Does the same apply for humans who only see in black and white?

[Assistant]
In this instance, comparing cameras to human eyes is not an equal comparison. Cameras use the same kind of recording media for color as black and white, either film or some kind of digital sensor. In both cases the difference is thst B&W uses only one layer of film or one sensor, where color has to break the light spectrum into three and either use multiple layers of film or multiple sensors.

The human eye, on the other hand, uses two separate types of cell to evaluate light. One type sees shades of grey, the other sees colors. Missing one type doesn't effect the amount of light the other type takes in.


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

[User]
CMV: US high schools put focus on the wrong countries when teaching European History.

N.B.: This class is talking about Renaissance forward since that is the scope of most high school history classes.

I have taken and heard about several courses in European history in the US. These all seem to focus mainly on England and France except till the world wars when Germany is partially included. The central narrative of these classes is that European History is a story of Britain rise to dominance and their struggles with France. This narrative leads to a disproportianate amount of time being spent on Britain and to a lesser degree France. A better narrative would be one that talks more about the importance of the Dutch and Germans. This leads to students having aggregious ideas of how the world was.

The main issues I see with students perspectives are:

1. Failure to see when ww1's causes started.
2. Lack of understanding how Germany unified.
3. Lack of understanding how the Nazi party came to power and how ww2 was inevitable.
4. Lack of understanding of Germany's strength before ww1.
5. Failure to understand how strong the Dutch Republic was.

What needs to be changed:

1. Most students and teachers peg the cause of ww1 on the Franco-Prussian war. This ignores the causes of the Franco-Prussian war which are normaly chalked up to Bismarck's unification. Alliance networks is a common response too although that explanation is not talking about the change that occured. Both these explanation ares lazy and don't give a full picture.
2. Mostly they say nationalism. That doesn't explain anything though. A cause for nationalism should be given and the war of German Liberation is what should be thought of as the begining of the build up to ww1.
3. Mostly it is just the depression. That again doesn't tell the full story; it is also the rampant nationalism of the time which was only enhanced by Versailles.
4. In most classes Britain is talked of as the strongest power in the world from Napoleon till the end of ww1. This ignores the fact that the intelectual and cultural capital of Europe was Berlin. The best thought was in Berlin along with many influential people from around the world. Germany was also the vastly superior military which many students I have talked to don't think is true.
5. The Dutch republic should be something of great importance to these classes, but is normally just a few days if even that. Many people will answer England as the dominant commercial power during the 17th century when that is simply not the case.

History education needs to be reshaped to give a coherent narrative for the history of Europe till now.

[Assistant] The reason England gets so much coverage between napolean and ww1 is Canada, south Africa, Palestine, India, Australia... the British empire was the pinnacle of colonialism and we want to understand the transition from c oppo colonialism to whatever post ww2 world. Also you can understand the impact GB had globally.  Germany never got into the colonial game like that. The story of Germany is less global and more euro centric.


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

[User]
Eli5 What is blood pressure?

What is blood pressure? How is it taken and what do the numbers mean from your results?

[Assistant]
As the heart contracts (systole) it ejects blood and sends it throughout the arteries to the rest of the body. Then it relaxes (diastole) and refills.
This cardiac cycle puts outward pressure on the walls of the arteries. The pressure (mmHg) is greater when it contracts and lesser when it relaxes. i.e. 120/80 mmHG.

The typical way it is measured is inflating a cuff on the upper arm until the cuff's pressure is greater than the blood pressure and it mushes the artery closed. Then the cuff is gradually deflated and a stethoscope is used to hear when the artery starts reopening, this is the systolic pressure (top number). Eventually, as the cuff pressure drops the artery stops vibrating the stethoscope. The pressure at which that happens is the diastolic pressure (bottom number).

High blood pressure means the heart is working/pumping harder to get blood to the body. This puts strain on the heart and arteries and can create and/or magnify problems.


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

[User]
Seasonal flu has a basic reproduction number (R0) of 1.3 and COVID-19 has a 2-2.5. What factors dictate the difference between these diseases in terms of spread?

For example, does that mean that a smaller amount of COVID-19 viruses are needed to infect a person and gain a foothold in the body than seasonal flu? Also would the shape of the spike proteins protruding from the capsid affect the viruses ability to attach to respiratory cells thereby increasing the R0 value?

[Assistant]
R0 is the average of how many people one infected person would spread the disease to in an 100% susceptible population. So very similar to infectivity of a disease, not how many viral particles are needed to infect one person.

Stuff that affects a diseases R0 = how long you can be walking around spreading the disease before you get too sick to leave home, whether it makes you sneeze and cough or not, how well the pathogen can infect your cells (this would be affected by a virus' spike protein binding adherance to human cell receptor like you mentioned), lots of other facts. Also affected by climate (people are more social in different weather), social factors (cities are dense, public transport can be an infection hub, good hygiene reduces spread of disease).

That is why it is quite hard to measure R0 in a real life pandemic.


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

[User]
[40k]Human size terminator armour.

I have, but a humble question about the mighty Terminator Armour. My regiment was fight on a planet. We were on the verge of defeat but when all seemed lost they came. The mighty space marine came and brought the Emperor fury upon the enemy of man. At that moment I saw but a single space marine in what appeared to be bulky power amour. Those as i watched on I realized it was no power armor. The space marine was taking tank shell after tank shell that would have gone thought even the best forge and blessed power armor of the mechanicus. It was not until after the battle that i learn of Terminator Armour. From what I learned from the tech-Priest that there are normal human sized power armor, but what about Terminator Armour. I know that Terminator Armour is incredibly difficult to forge, but has the Imperium ever made a human size version. If so dose the Imperium still the stc to make it or has it been lost to the age.

sincerely a humble servant.

[Assistant] Why would the Imperium waste such a precious resource on someone like you? Astartes Tactical Dreadnought Armor is complex enough to be made by hand by the finest artisans of the Mechanics. Any that are made for normal humans would be given to champions of humanity that face the absolute worst things the universe has to offer. An Inquisitor would be an excellent example of this, not some random guardsmen. We make do with carapace and flak armor, the Guard does not need Terminator Armor to get the job done, because we do not fight the battles where it is required.


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

[User]
Why aren't there more assassinations?

It seems to me like assassinations would become a lot more common as the population, information, and transportation increase. Increased population means more mentally unstable people, increased information means it's easier to find a target, and increased transportation means that it's much faster to get wherever you need to go. In addition to that, our techniques for killing people have gotten better and better as the years have gone on, which means that a person should have an increased chance of success when they *do* attempt assassination.

But this theory doesn't really seem to be borne out by the data, sparse as it is. Is security around famous actors, musicians, and politicians just really great, or is there some counter-balancing factor that I'm missing?

[Assistant]
It's precisely because of the compression of space and time and massive information/intelligence that makes assassinations risky in this age. Forensics has advanced so much that concealing the actor behind the assassination is extremely difficult - for an international actor, this makes it extremely risky. It goes without saying that assassination is casus belli for war.

Anyway, there have been some contemporary examples of assassination, notably by Israel, which regularly assassinates leaders from militant palestinian organizations - and it is also suspected of being behind the assassinations of iranian nuclear scientists.

Finally, assassination was largely a tool of fear more than politics, which is why its namesake (the hashashin) made sure to make it a public spectacle in order to dissuade their targets and unnerve them. Basically, it's a low-level form of political terrorism. Not something which is very useful for international actors in our current global environment.


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

[User] ELI5: If Google/Google Maps owns Waze, why aren't Waze's traffic features just implemented into the more cleaner, user-friendly Google Maps?

[Assistant]
That's the thing, though: Google Maps is cleaner and user-friendly *because* it doesn't include the more complicated feature set that comes with Waze.

Some of Waze's features are built in, but are hidden from the user until they're necessary -- alerts to warn about upcoming traffic jams or accident sites, for example.

By offering both apps, Google can appeal to everyday drivers who just want something that works, and to power users who want more information and options.


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

[User] ELI5: What happens to a mortgage or similar loan if the person getting loaned to dies?

[Assistant] When someone dies, their assets and liabilities become part of their estate.  This normally includes the house (as an asset), life insurance proceeds (another asset), and some types of loans (liabilities).  The assets can be used to pay liabilities and remaining assets are given to heirs.  Paying off the mortgage after the death of the family breadwinner is one of the big reasons people purchase life insurance.


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

[User]
ELI5: What triggers a seed to start growing?

Obviously water, sunlight, and soil conditions are the macro-triggers, if you will. But what happens inside the seed to get things moving?

[Assistant] Seeds wait to germinate until three needs are met: water, correct temperature (warmth), and a good location (such as in soil). During its early stages of growth, the seedling relies upon the food supplies stored with it in the seed until it is large enough for its own leaves to begin making food through photosynthesis.


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

[User] Are there any poisons/toxins which, if taken separately, are fatal, but if taken simultaneously, are not?

[Assistant]
Atropine and physostigmine, in the right combination.

Physostigmine causes dangerously high levels of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Atropine prevents cells from sensing acetylcholine.

Atropine is actually used as an antidote for acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (like physostigmine and sarin), but it is poisonous in its own right.


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

[User]
How to deal with detailed student emails that is partly outside the scope of the topic?

I am teaching a topic that's mostly within my area but I do not know everything about it by heart. I cover the textbook, give extra readings I am familiar with and mark their assignments with enough feedback.

Lately I have been getting demanding and sometimes rambling emails from the same 2-3 students who usually list 8-10 questions. My first instinct is to reply very quickly and some can be easily be found in the lecture recordings or readings.

But some are deeper questions about things that are outside the scope. They almost get lost in the footnotes that refer to other footnotes or cases from decades ago, misinterpret them and claim the opposite in the scope of what we actually covered. It takes hours of my day to figure out find what they read, where they went wrong and got confused. I like that they are critical and want to know more about it but it's also taking all of my time and they come back with more questions almost immediately, i feel like a private tutor sometimes.

How can I deal with this without looking incompetent or dismissive?

[Assistant] Ask them to set an appointment to meet with you, or come to office hours. They shouldn't be expecting an email response to that many questions. Ask them to bring the book/article they are confused about to meeting. It is totally fine to say "this is a conversation better had in office hours. Please swing by so we can chat!"


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does the size of the packet impact the speed at which a firewall can process traffic?

Something that I do not entirely understand. Why is it that a router can have different throughput ratings depending on the size of the packets?

If a router receives a 1518 byte and can achieve 100 mbps. Yet the same router receives a 64 byte packet and the throughput drops to 50 mbps for example.

Why is that?

Since the router can handle large packets wouldn't the small ones just glide right through?

[Assistant] Since the firewall has "packet inspection" it needs to stop, open, analyze, close and pass along each packet.  So....if you have larger packets there is simply less of the "stop, open, close and pass along" parts of that process.  The analyze takes a smidge longer, but the elimination of all the per-packet overhead improves the overall performance.


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

[User] ELI5 where were farm animals like cows and pigs and chickens in the wild originally before humans?

[Assistant]
Domestic cattle descend from aurochs, a now extinct species which once ranged all across Asia, Europe, and North Africa.

Domestic pigs descend from the Eurasian wild boar, which had a similar range as the aurochs.

The ancestor of domestic chickens are red junglefowl, native to Southeast Asia.

You didn't ask, but I'll include them anyway: sheep are descended from the wild mouflon, native to the Caspian region of Eurasia. Goats descend from the common ibex, native to western and central Asia. Turkeys are the only common domestic animal native to the new world; wild turkeys are native to North America.


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

[User] [ELI5]: How do antivirus apps work? What are the looking for when they scan our files?

[Assistant]
There are two primary methods for virus detection: signature-based and heuristics-based.

A signature-based antivirus program looks at the files on your system and calculates a specific value based on the file's contents. It has a list of values that it knows correspond to viruses and other malware; if it sees one of them pop up on your machine, it knows to delete it. These definitions are updated often, and are very good for detecting and cleaning known threats. Not so good for code that changes, or new threats. Which leads us to...

Heuristics. It's a fancy word for a simple concept, and what it boils down to is that your antivirus program will simulate the effects of unknown code in its own private sandbox, and watches the commands as they run. If it looks like a virus, the program will flag it.

Advantages: not reliant on signature lists, can detect new variants of old viruses.

Disadvantages: can be slower, can generate false positives.


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

[User] ELI5 When a banana starts to go bad, does the banana make the peel go bad or is it the peel that makes the banana go bad?

[Assistant] Bananas don't give a damn about who eat them, they only want to be eaten (and theirs seeds dispersed). So, bananas will appeal to a broad spectrum of banana eaters to achieve this. How? they will release ethylene, which is a gas that sends a message (most of times is "die, cell") that makes cells in bananas to start to break apart complex sugars and turn them into easily digestable sugars. More simple sugars, more tasty banana, until it reach a point when it's just a bag of water and sugar that any fungus floating around can eat. That's what you call a bad banana. So, who's to blame? the banana itself, as a whole, not just a part.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Is Harry Potter a powerful wizard or just an average student with some talent?

This probably just comes under the myriads of plotholes that JK Rowling littered throughout the series but I'm curious with what the general opinion is here.

As far as I can remember the only truly impressive magical feats he performed were conjuring a corporeal Patronus in his 3rd year and was above average at DADA.

The story seems to suggest he is but compared to the things we've heard about Dumbledore and the Marauders I'm just not sure.

[Assistant] Well Id say he has some stronger than average magical abilities. Hes not as smart as Hermonie but more magically powerful. In the 7th books when Ron and Harry are arguing Hermonie casts a shield spell which knocked them back a few inches. Later in the book Harry casts the same spell to stop Hermonie and Ron and it knocks them both to he ground. Although hes no Snape. Hes certainly not Dumbledore. Hes weak compared to any hogwarts teacher. Exception Lockhart and Umbridge (maybe Lupin).


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

[User] [X-Men] Could Mystique change to a man, freeze her own sperm and then inseminate herself with it?

[Assistant]
Not in canon, *however* Chris Claremont in fact planned this exact scenario to have been how Nightcrawler was conceived-although instead of impregnating herself, it'd have been Destiny, her lover. Marvel said lol fuck no because it was the goddamn eighties, so it didn't make it to text and Azael was revealed to be Nightcrawler's dad.

Take the validity of that information with regards to canon as you will.


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

[User] ELI5: How was the Soviet Union, despite being so poor that people were starving to death in famines, rival the US for the better part of a century?

[Assistant]
The Soviet Union had no famines after 1947, and they only had one that late due to the after effects of WW2.

The Soviet Union was poor, but it wasnt *that poor.* There might be a long line for bread, but there would be bread, or something else. As an empire they rarely had overall shortages, but distribution was very patchy. So party officials used their travels to buy, say, goods in Vladivostok that werent available in Moscow, and goods in Moscow you couldnt buy in Leningrad.

Dont confuse them with North Korea (although even they managed somewhat alright until the USSR collapsed and their support vanished).


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

[User] ELI5: How do we make water safe to drink? (Including removing the chemicals used make the water "clean")

[Assistant]
Several ways:

Desalination: turn water into steam. Salt and dirt doesn't become steam. Steam is clean. Turn steam back into water. Water is clean and not salty.

Reverse osmosis: force water through a tiny screen. Dirt and germs are too big and stay behind.

Distillation: pretty much the same as desalination except you start with not-salty water. Minor differences that a 5 year old won't grasp.

Filtration: similar to reverse osmosis except use a can of charcoal and other stuff instead of a tiny screen. Minor differences that a 5 year old won't grasp.

Chemical treatment: kill the bad stuff by adding bad-stuff poison.

Boiling: kill the bad stuff by cooking it.


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

[User] ELI5: If NASA built a giant, empty storage tank in space, is there a means to pressurize it (with breathable air) without bringing air from Earth.

[Assistant]
Sure. Space is full of stuff that could be made into breathable air.

The simplest way to do it would be to find some ice (probably in the form of a comet) and use electricity (generated with solar or nuclear power) to crack the water into hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen can be fed into your storage tank for breathing air, and the hydrogen can either be discarded or kept as rocket fuel.

There are also other ways to get oxygen out of certain minerals found in space. However at this point bringing the air with you from Earth is cheaper than finding the materials in space to make air.


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

[User]
[WH40K] How fast is Webway travel?

The Dark Eldar have Commorragh, the Craftworld Eldar have, well, Craftworlds. From their respective safe havens, the Eldar seem to be able to act all across the galaxy, and don't ever seem to set up any kind of forward base or supply lines or anything of the sort.

So just how quickly can the Eldar move throughout the galaxy? Does your speed depend on your vehicle, or do infantry move just as fast as space-capable ships?

[Assistant]
Imagine all the galaxy bent to the surface of a sphere, enclosed within that sphere a labyrinthine maze of web-like corridors of varying size and shape. This is nothing like the Webway, but it's the closest your mortal mind can come to understanding it.

In these corridors, traversing distances is similar to how it is managed in realspace: It is faster to fly than to walk. However, some passages are so narrow that one must walk, and some are so jagged that one can only fly.

As for speed, it varies (as it does for your own means of travel). Distance is no real obstacle but one must be cautious not to get lost. As you may well know, the Webway is a vast labyrinth, impossible to chart upon any map. We can pass through the Webway at great speed, even faster than your Warp ships (usually - the currents of the Warp can be fickle) but we are limited somewhat by the need for a gate to enter and exit. We may only emerge near where these gates are found, else our travel is tediously slow.


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

[User] ELI5: What's the point of SLBMs if we already have ICBMs?

[Assistant]
Submarine-based missiles have a few major advantages.

1. They can be launched very close to their destination. A missile hitting Pyong Yang from the Sea of Japan takes a lot less time than one fired from Guam, simply due to range. This gives the enemy a lot less time to detect and retaliate.
2. Since they are mobile and hidden, they cannot effectively be targeted by your enemies. In theory, an enemy could knock out any number of land-based missile launchers, since they are hard to hide and cannot move.
3. They guarantee the ability to retaliate. This is part of the mutually-assured-destruction nuclear deterrent. If you strike an enemy and take them out with no chance of retaliation, then there's very little stopping you from doing it. If they have a sub that could launch a retaliatory strike afterwards, you have to weigh that risk.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] How exactly does the Transporter work? Doesn't it just kill the user?

Specifically, what are its effects on the individual? I've never gone through one, but if you deconstruct the body and reassemble it elsewhere, aren't you just killing the person and creating a new one? For instance, if the Transporter malfunctioned and we ended up with a person still on ship and on the planet, we'd have two different people - they wouldn't share a consciousness. So isn't transportation just killing people and making copies?

To me this seems to be the case, unless I misunderstand how transportation works. Can anybody clarify this for me?

[Assistant] In the ST universe.   Consciousness is an emergent property from your memories and biology (see Riker Copy), however, we see Characters being aware in the pattern buffers and materialization process (see Barkley).


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

[User]
[Star Wars/Stark Trek] What is the warp factor equivalent of hyperspace travel?

So, it's apparently been firmly established that Hyperspace Travel from Star Wars is significantly faster than Star Trek's Warp Factor. I'm wondering how fast it is by comparing the hyperspace speed of an ''average'' Star Wars spacecraft to the established Warp Factors of the Star Trek Universe.

[Assistant]
A class 1 hyperdrive motivator allows you to travel through mapped hyperspace at about the equivalent of 100,000c. The USS Voyager was capable of warp 9.975. Warp speed is highly variable, with warp 9.975 equalling at different times: 1000c, 33c, 1500c, 2900c, and 2700c

Edit: The important thing to consider is that hyperspace travel is extradimensional, while warp travel is nearly realspace.


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

[User]
[Marvel comics] Would Captain America be a benchmark for abilities considered superhuman?

If I remember right in most continuities Captain America is not considered superhuman, just peak human. In fact in the MCU they confirmed he is not superhuman.

 So  any traits he has they're the best possible natural traits for a human. By this I mean peak strength, peak speed, perfect eyesight, perfect memory you get the idea.

So my question is that within marvel comics at least could I say someone's traits are superhuman if they surpass captain America or is my logic flawed?

[Assistant]
I don't think so. You are correct that 616 Captain is not beyond the technically possible ability of a human, but you can still be superhuman while having powers unrelated to physiology, or be enhanced in some ways but not others.

At the same time MVP is a character with the same ability as Captain America, but he is canonically non-enhanced--just born that way and set on strict training regiment.

There is a Marvel powers ranking system where in different attributes characters are given a score.

Superhuman is just too broad a category to peg someone as the bench mark because they're a physically peak human. Where does that leave Sue Storm? Or Bulls Eye? Or Black Cat or a whole range of other characters with powers that are less direct than enhanced physical ability.


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

[User] Why has state run enterprise done so well in China but failed in Venezuela in general?

[Assistant]
Do they work well in China?

In the past three decades most of China's growth has come from private businesses in the special economic zones. China has become more successful as more of it's industry has become private.


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

[User]
Why are there varying cooking safety temperatures among meats? Don't bacteria die at similar temperatures?

Or do different types of bacteria with different death temperatures proliferate on different types of raw meats?

[Assistant]
165 F is a temp that kills salmonella quickly. In chicken,  the bacteria can exist anywhere in the meat, meaning one must cook all of the meat to that temp, or risk ingesting potentially harmful bacteria.

Cut beef (steaks) are less likely to have salmonella or ecoli exist within the meat fiber, and would likely have the bacteria present on the surface, so grilling the outer shell of the peice of meat is sufficient for killing pathogens.

Ground beef must be browned (reach 165 degrees F) because more surface area of the meat is exposed to potentially harmful bacteria.

Edit: Cleaned up, words.


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

[User] [WH40k] How much do the Eldar know about the Emperor himself and his psychic role in the warp, keeping the chaos gods' material presence in check?

[Assistant]
The Eldar are more than aware of the Emperor's presence and abilities, and tend to view him as something of a crude choke collar to mankind's uncontrolled psychic orgy. They see him as a brute force solution to a systemic problem, an amputation of an infected limb rather than treating the cause of the infection. He is the finger in the dam to humanities lack of restraint, and the flood that's building is far worse than Slaanesh.

The extent of an individual Seer's knowledge of the total extent of the Emperor's presence and power is going to vary, but as a race they know what he is, and what he does. And they're not particularly impressed.


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

[User]
I think machines and computers will replace 90% of human jobs within 30 years. CMV

Some points to  consider

* Non-skilled jobs and non-technical jobs will be a thing of the past. Any job that doesn't require a college degree is **already** obsolete (in 2013), the fact that the positions still exist is simply a consequence of a machine not yet having been designed and installed in all of these industries. It's going to happen soon. Think about a McDonald's, what job in a McDonald's can't be done by a machine?
* Skilled and technical jobs (that require creativity and problem solving skills) aren't impossible to teach to machines. Most employees have protocols to follow in their work, and what is creativity but the ability to mix seemingly unrelated ideas together in new and useful ways? A computer can't be creative?
* Don't forget to think 4 dimensionally; just because a computer can't do something today doesn't mean a computer won't be able to do it in 20 years. The main difference between the human brain and a machine is that the human brain can dynamically rewire itself based on experiences - machines can virtualize this process or we could build machines that have more dynamic hardware components so that they can do the same thing

Beyond this discussion, we could discuss what happens to society when 90% of our jobs go out the window... but I'm more interested in being convinced that 90% of our jobs won't go away. Show me/teach me/explain to me why machines won't replace humans. Also, I know the 'luddite' mentality is quite old, but computers are game changers in my view. And I would argue that low skilled jobs have been phased out. We are in a world where people without high school diplomas and often college degrees struggle to find work at all. So please keep this in mind as well.

I'm really hoping to see some good discussion about this, it's an issue that has plagued my mind for over a decade.

[Assistant] I mean, I'd quibble about your timeline, but the important thing is that this already *happened*. The development of automated factories and better farming techniques has eliminated 90% of the jobs that existed in the mid to late 1800s. This hasn't resulted in massive unemployment; instead, this enabled the creation of new jobs, that couldn't possibly have been supported before.


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

[User]
Why aren't the *sub*species of brassica rapa just considered different *species*?

I guess the question is, what's the difference between subspecies and species, at least in the plant world? *Is* there even a clear distinction?

[Assistant]
One really important thing to understand is that _morphological_ difference (IE, difference in shape) has surprisingly little direct relationship with _genetic_ difference.  You can change a very few genes and produce a plant that looks totally different.  Or you can change a lot of genes and produce a plant that looks almost exactly the same.

So the visual differences between, say, cabbage and broccoli aren't actually representative of a deep genetic difference.


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

[User]
How fast does a star collapse?

Obviously, it takes billions of years to get to that point, but once the threshold is crossed, the tipping point, how fast is the process of collapse and explosion?

[Assistant]
In the case of the formation of a neutron star, the core collapses in mere seconds (or event less), while the outer parts will enter free fall and bounce back so that the actual explosion happens minutes/hours later. That's because the shock wave is regulated not only by the gravitational energy released during the fall, but also by all the nuclear reactions that ensue and hydrodynamical instabilities that develop.

Note that the neutrinos emitted during a supernova escape earlier that the light of the explosion, since they do not interact very much with the outer shells of the star and can go straight through. You will "see" the explosion once the shock wave reaches the surface of the star and disrupts it.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Why does doctor Doom hate Reed Richards so much ?

I have next to zero knowledge when it comes to the FF, but i know that there is a great

intolerance between them and doctor Doom, especialy with mister fantastic.

Why is that ? Did Reed somehow offended Victor or does Victor feel inferior next to Reed ?

[Assistant]
So, Doom and Reed were rivals in college. Both were geniuses, but they didn't get a long. Doom is much more practical, Reed much more theoretical. Doom believes in the supernatural as just another part of the universe, Reed thinks that's complete nonsense.

Reed went into Doom's dorm without permission, saw that he was working on a device to go to another dimension. (Doom wanted to go to Hell and fight the devil to save the soul of his mom. Reed saw it as an unstable dimensional portal to an unknown realm.) Reed pointed out all of the ways that it wouldn't work, and Doom refused to listen. Partially because their rivalry had been heated, that really Reed was in the wrong for going into Doom's dorm and looking at his private papers, but also because Doom's plans were based on an understanding of the supernatural that he knew Reed didn't appreciate.

Still, Reed was right. He may not have known what dimension Doom was trying to explore, but he knew that the device would literally blow up in his face. Doom couldn't stand that. Couldn't stand that Reed, all superior and thinks he knows better than everyone else. Doom is a vain man, a proud man, and took that as an insult.

Now, Doom has used Reed as a scapegoat for his problems. It's easier to blame Reed as somehow responsible, for sabotaging his success, than to admit that he's screwed up on occasion. Doom knows he's being petty, and while normally he is an honorable man who genuinely cares for the people of the country he runs, and really thinks the world would be a genuinely better place if he were ruling it, Reed is his weakness, the part of him that he just can never get over.

At the core, Doom is a petty jerk, and Reed is his rival and the one man who can best him in pure science. Doom refuses to acknowledge that he has anyone better than him in science. (He's okay with Dr. Strange being a better sorcerer, because Doom doesn't really focus on magic primarily. He's a scientist who also uses spells, more than a sorcerer that also uses technology. Also, he's pretty sure his combo of science and tech is enough to beat Strange if he really had to.)


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

[User]
[DC] Will a lantern ring leave it's bearer for a more suitable one?

Ok so as a theoretical.

Let's say that Atrocitus was walking around with his red ring in new york for whatever reason. Then soon, The Hulk walks up, pissed off beyond all belief.

So would the ring transfer to the person with nigh infinite rage in his heart or would it stay with Atrocitus?

Or would it simply stay with Atrocitus?

Edit: Just to clarify, I know The Hulk isn't DC. I was just using it as an obvious example.

[Assistant]
Well there are issues with this.

Firstly the rings are not sentient (with the exception of Earth-3's Power Ring) and they aren't programmed to go from host to host, they will only leave their host because they have died, willingly been taken off or removed by a superior in rank.

Secondly the rings of some Lantern Corps are sector specific, so with Atrocitus being from sector 666 he wouldn't be replaced by someone from 2814.

Third, if someone in a sector exists with that much ability it's unlikely that they would be passed over, the rings are designed to pick only the best. The closest instance i can think of would be Hal being picked as Abin Sur's successor over Guy Gardner but that was due to proximity rather than one being more willful than the other.


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

[User]
How is it determined which way conditioning works?

If you try conditioning a negative response with a positive reward, how is it determined by the brain which of the two is affected? For example, one may try to make their morning more pleasurable by playing a song they like as their alarm, but instead end up hating the song. Why is it that the latter occurs instead of the first?

[Assistant]
This process, pairing, means that both stimuli condition each other. Whichever stimulus is more effective reinforcement or punishment "wins". The are two kinds of conditioning, operant and respondent/reflexive. Your scenario of preferred music in the morning, describes both. Reflexive conditioning describes stimulus pairing that happens simultaneously. The morning might have aversive stimulation that include non preferred tasks (getting ready for work) or sensations (feeling tired). If these are more aversive than the music is pleasant , then the music, not the morning stimulation, is conditioned. Operant conditioning describes non simultaneous pairings of behaviors with stimuli. It could be that you are listening to music before having to do something aversive. If so, the music then indicates the occurrence of unpleasurable events, perhaps going to work. If the music happens after the unpleasant events, and does actually function as reinforcement, then only the behaviors that happen immediately before the music would be reinforced.
There is also the phenomenon of unpairing. Your favorite music might have been conditioned by other stimuli that made it pleasant. If you usually are engaged in otherwise pleasant activities while listening to music such as dancing, relaxing, playing video games, eating, or other preferred activities, then the musical stimulation in the absence of those other preferred stimuli would lose its potency as "pleasurable".


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

[User]
Whats the difference between sleep and just laying down/resting?

Why is sleep required for our bodies, and what does it do that simply laying down and resting doesnt do?

[Assistant] Frankly, nobody knows for sure. It's one of the great unresolved questions in psychology and neurology. Hypotheses for the function of sleeping range from consolidating new memories to cleaning up metabolic waste products accrued in the brain. All we know that deprivation of sleep eventually incapacitates you no matter how much physical rest you get. Or, like some researcher once quipped, the only thing we know for sure is that we sleep because we get sleepy.


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

[User]
ELI5: The importance of a will for my belongings after I die.

I'm a recent college grad and don't own anything, but when I'm older, I expect to own a few nice things.

If I don't have a will, can the government just take everything from me after I die or would my hypothetical children be able to just take it and keep it? Things like a expensive pieces of art and fancy heirlooms.

Do children have to pay taxes on the value of the items they inherit? If that is the case, that just seems like a mobster bullying the local business owner. "Pay me some money so I don't break the windows of your store."

My intention is not to turn this into a political conversation, I'm genuinely curious as to how all that works. Thanks for the answers.

[Assistant]
It depends on the state. That being said, the very, very basic answer is this:

If you die without a will, it's called dying intestate. Basically, what will happen is that the government decides how to divide your stuff using state law. So will your kids/wife/etc get your stuff? Maybe/probably/it depends.

A will basically allows *you* to decide how to decide to divide up your stuff when you die.

Think of dying intestate like dying with the default setting on and using internet explorer. Dying with a will is more like custom settings and using a bunch of plug-ins with Chrome. One is clearly better than the other and causes far fewer headaches and problems.


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

[User] How is it possible that a soft drink, like Coca Cola Zero, has 0 calories?

[Assistant]
Carbonated drinks like Colas are mostly water and sugar. Light versions replace the sugar with an edulcorate, like saccarine or aspartame, which is not absorbed by the body. Note that these drinks normally say "less than 1 (kilo)calories", not really zero. A Coca Cola Zero is listed as "< 0.25 kcal per 100 ml" in the label, so it is not entirely zero. The remaining comes from the 0.1g of protein they contain.

Note however, that new studies have also shown that while not absorbed, the body seems to react to some edulcorates as it is still sugar. Maybe a biochemist can expand this.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is Oman NEVER in the news?

[Assistant]
Oman is reigned over by Sultan Qaboos who is British educated and very pro western, and as such is much less orthodox and more liberal towards westerners and it's people than most other Middle Eastern / Islamic countries.

Qaboos initiated several 5 year plans to bring the country into the 20th Century and is a very benevolent ruler to his people. However, there are problems within the Country , not least with tribal crime and issues with the immigrant labour used there, but it's not international headline news.

Yemen is kept in check by having a permanent military presence on the border comprising of SSF units and the RGO.
On the whole Oman keeps her nose clean, encourages and allows western investment, buys a lot of Western military gear and has a very close relationship with the USA and the UK, enough perhaps to ensure that should any extremeists from Yemen decide to pay a visit with their luggage in tow, they'll soon be heading back home.


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

[User] It feels like JavaScript is in everything and I am terrible at it. What are some jobs that use SQL or c++?

[Assistant] C++ sees use in plenty of places, including embedded systems and gaming. A lot of the work done with SQL isn't like other languages, and generally only sees use when interacting with databases, it isn't often the sole language of a project. CS is a broad field, and you can go pretty far never touching JavaScript if you don't want to, but as you learn to program, you'll be able to pick up other languages easily and explore the parts of programming you do like. Websites are a large share of the market, but there is a ton to explore.


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

[User]
Why are testicles stores in a thin, sensitive sack outside our body instead of a protective casing inside our bodies?

I don't understand how we never evolved to have our testicles inside our bodies (such as behind our pelvises) instead of being exposed to extreme pain when they are even just tapped a little.

[Assistant]
Sperm require a fairly specific temperature to be most healthy, and this temperature is lower than body temperature. So, hang the baby makers outside the body in a sack that can expand and contract to cool it or warm it, and you're good to go.

Until you get kicked in the nards.

But, evolution decreed it's 'good enough', which is all evolution can ever do.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is beef/red meat bad for the environment?

Over the past year, I've seen numerous headlines saying that beef/red meat is bad for the environment and everyone should eat more fish and poultry or even go vegan.

Why is red meat/cattle so much worse than other forms of meat?

[Assistant] Basically to produce a pound of beef you need a lot more water and fodder than you do for a pound of chicken. Of course if you eat plants and water directly you of course need even less than if you use them to feed a third party animal.


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

[User]
Where do the electrons go when my phone battery drains really fast when its cold?

I thought electrons couldnt be destroyed.

[Assistant]
Electrons aren't being destroyed. Your phone battery (probably a Lithium-Ion battery) relies on chemical reactions to work, and lowering the temperature significantly can slow or even stop these chemical reactions. Because of that, the battery is unable to provide enough current to keep your phone properly functioning.

That's an extremely general explanation, there's a lot more to it when you go in-depth.


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

[User] [DOOM] If Doomguy is from a swords-and-sorcery dimension, why does he easily comprehend firearms and futuristic technology? Also, why is his armor technology-based instead of magical?

[Assistant]
Argent D'Nur was not a swords and sorcery dimension. They had advanced armor and what appear to be advanced weaponry.

If anything they are more advanced that we are.

But the Doom guy in the new game is *the* Doom Guy from previous iterations. He was born and raised in a society with guns.


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

[User]
eli5 How is breastmilk made?

I understand that its made from blood, how does it go from blood to milk? How much blood is required to make 1 oz of milk? Is there waste? How does the composition (lipids, proteins, water, nutrients etc) change?

[Assistant]
Breastmilk is made in the mammary glands inside of the breast. These glands are actually modified sweat glands.

In terms of "made from blood" it's the same as most other cells where blood carries the nutrients needed for the cells. Breastmilk requires about 20 Calories per 1 oz so nursing mothers need to eat! The conversion is actually quite efficient as most of the extra calories consumed get converted to milk calories for the baby.

While the fat content of breastmilk may change with the age of the baby, the composition of breastmilk is very consistent among mothers even living in different environments and with different diets.


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

[User] Is it possible for the Cassini to take and send some final pictures while entering the surface of Saturn, right before (or maybe even during) it's burning to ash?

[Assistant]
While the spacecraft is burning it generally has a communications blackout. This is caused by the hot plasma around it behaving like a black body: it not only emits in all frequencies, but also absorbs all electromagnetic waves.

Unlike the Galileo probe, Cassini doesn't have a heat shield or a parachute. During burn up it will be completely destroyed, so we will never get any more signals from it after the blackout starts.


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

[User]
[WH40K]Has a genestealer cult ever successfully infiltrated an eldar world?

From what I know the eldar haven't had too many encounters with the nids. I think their most notable were with either kraken or leviathan and what is currently happening in the octarius war neither of which genestealers have had the option to infiltrate their culture as eldar got themselves involved.

[Assistant]
The Eldar have had plenty of contact with the Tyranids, unfortunately for the Eldar.

No. Genestealers have no infiltrated any Eldar worlds, Craftworld or otherwise.
Genestealers do not work so well on Eldar. Namely because, unlike in Human civilization. They can't slink off into the depths of the sewers and skulk around abducting people until they have enough strength to do something. The Eldar are also passively psychically linked to other Eldar they interact with. Even if they reached the generational stage where they can physically replicate the appearance of an Eldar they are not going to be able to blend in.

Mainly though, they simply cannot infiltrate Eldar society. Craftworlds are far too ordered and well kept for them to try and hide anywhere and any Eldar that is infected will be noticed by not just nearby Eldar but the actually Craftworld/Worldspirit itself.


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

[User]
If there is a breach in a fusion reactor, what will happen?

I'm writing a novel and I want to have a fusion reactor breach its walls through some kind of coolant malfunction or whatever.

My question: If you had a stable reaction going, and then removed a chunk of the wall, would the resulting energy escaping be catastrophic or would things just flicker out? I'm hoping catastrophic for the books sake...

[Assistant]
If you remove a part of the wall but not the magnets the fusion reaction will heat the magnets until they stop being superconducting. The magnetic field breaks down, the reaction stops - essentially instantaneous, probably before you even managed to fully remove the wall segment.

The energy stored in the plasma at any given point in time is small - less than the energy in a hand grenade probably. Fusion reactors cannot explode or do anything else dangerous.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do toddlers make that high-pitched screeching noise when distressed, instead of just screaming or crying?

I am specifically talking about the pre-verbal "eeeEEEeee" noise toddlers make, the noise which resembles a bird call or even a bark. It is clearly an attempt to communicate, but it somehow conveys less information than if they were just crying. Why do they make the noise, and has it always been this way? If not, when did it start?

[Assistant]
Its instinct. Like a bird call, the "keening wail" is of a pitch that carries farther and penetrates insulary barriers. You might not hear regular crying or screaming if you were more than a few yards away with foliage and ambient noises between you, but the shrieking cuts through. I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that baby gorillas or chimps make a similar sound when they see a snake.

Also, adults might be able to ignore crying/screaming, but will do anything to stop that ear stabbing shriek...


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

[User] [Harry Potter] Since Basilisk venom can destroy Horcruxes, lets say the fragment of Voldemorts soul in Harry was destroyed by it when Harry was poisoned in Chamber of Secrets. Harry was still healed but no longer carried the burden of a Horcrux. How does this small change impact future events?

[Assistant] Voldemort and Harry can't see into each other's minds. This won't change anything until 5th year, as Voldemort only became aware of the link at that point. Arthur Weasley likely dies since Harry can't see him being attacked by Nagini. However, Voldemort can't trick Harry into going to the Ministry of Magic to get the prophecy.


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

[User] ELI5: How can you protect a base on the moon from meteor impacts?

[Assistant]
Pile lots of dirt on top of it.

You'd probably need to anyway to reduce exposure to cosmic radiation, and to stabilise the temperature. There aren't many large rocks left around - at least, not compared to a few billion years ago, and ten metres of bulldozed regolith would probably soak up all but the really rare big stuff.


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

[User]
Need help with writing a birthday message in code

Hi!
My brother is a programmer and I thought it would be a neat idea to write a message in code on his card or cake. I know that he knows C++ and Java.
How would I write a question followed by an answer? In either language, whichever is easiest.

[Assistant]
I would look into if statements for placing your questions.
I made a card before for a friend as the following:
While(isAlive()) {
 age++;
 If(age == 22) {
  drinkShot();
 }
 Thread.sleep(31536000000);
}
Fun part is most people can understand what's going on.


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

[User]
Why are some vaccinations live virus while some are not?

Why are some vaccinations "required" to use the live attenuated virus rather than dead?  Is there a biological reason why only some viruses are still effective dead, or do they both work but there is a preference for live virus in some cases?

I know that, for example, immunocompromised patients can not get a live-virus vaccine, which could leave them open  to illness.  Wouldn't it be better overall to use "dead" virus vaccinations in all cases to get more herd immunity coverage?

[Assistant] For safety reasons, wed rather use a dead virus or just a part of the virus (one or two proteins). However, not all of these are immunogenic (i.e. produce a strong immune response). In those cases, we have to use a live attenuated virus (i.e. a virus that has been weakened). These arent good for immunocompromised, like you said, because they do have a chance of reversion to virulence (full strength). But live viruses make better vaccines because they act the same way the real virus would act, meaning that they elicit the same or similar immune response. Its basically a toss up between safety and efficacy.


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

[User]
ELI5: How can a psychological factor like stress cause so many physical problems like heart diseases, high blood pressure, stomach pain and so on?

Generally curious..

[Assistant]
None of these responses seem at the ELI5 level. Let me try:

"Stress" is your brain thinking there is a threat and telling your body "do what you have to so you can get through *right now* and we'll sort it out later." So your body floods itself with chemicals that it thinks will help you overcome whatever threat the world has thrown at you - this is when people talk about "super human strength" for example.

The goal of this is to fight off a bear or out run another predator. These chemicals that get dumped into our body are highly toxic to us in the long run, but what does that matter if you die to this threat *right now*?

The issue for public health is that your brain is setup for living in the wild and doesn't know that an unexpected meeting with your boss is not a threat to your life. So now we have a situation where we are constantly dumping toxic chemicals into our bodies for prolonged periods which causes all the problems you mentioned.


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

[User]
How were early humans able to get around inbreeding in their small tribes?

I recently read somewhere that scientists came up with the number of 160 people necessary to populate a space colony to minimize the amount of mutations from inbreeding.  How were early humans able to get around this?  Early tribes could not have all had 160 genetic lines to mix.

[Assistant]
The simple answer is that earth is not an isolated space colony, and never was. Tribes would often meet up with each other. Mechanisms for genetic spread include tribes merging, tribes diverging, tribes conquering others, members of one tribe stealing a few females from another during a late-night raid, impromptu inter-tribal rape, one-night stands by two strangers who met in the woods, two lovers from rival tribes running off together to find a new one to join because they're scared of being persecuted by their parents, one tribe offering a gift of females to another tribe's leader as a sign of good will (ie don't kill us, we're your friends), one man giving his daughter as a wife to a respected man of moderately high position in another tribe in an effort to boost his own power and influence and attach himself to a more powerful family, etc etc etc.

Honestly, even just a few instances of crossover every few generations is enough to keep the genetic material flowing at a decent rate, and is actually an important factor in how our race evolved.


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

[User] Eli5: How are companies like Uber and AirBnB among the most valuable private tech companies if they don't own much in the way of property (cars, houses, etc)?

[Assistant]
If every single employee except one left, every piece of real estate, equipment, vehicles, etc., and every bit of inventory of Coke were wiped out tomorrow, how much would the company be worth?

Answer: probably well over $1 billion.

Coke in this example would still all of their contracts, all of their IP and trademarks, all of their distribution agreements, their brand recognition, goodwill, etc. There'd be an army of investors ready to get the company going again overnight.

A company is worth more than just its tangible assets.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is my bagel so hot coming out of the toaster, compared to normal bread?

[Assistant] A bagel is more dense compared to most breads.  If you touch the outer surface, you're pretty much entirely touching solid material.  Solids transfer heat much faster than gasses, so you'll feel the effects of it's temperature a lot faster.  Bread is very porous so when you touch it you're touching a lot more gas compared to solid material: slower heat transfer.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it such a difficult task to locate and rescue a malfunctioning submarine at sea and why can't all the sailors escape safely via the torpedo tubes in pressure suits?

These questions came to my mind in light of the recent San Juan disaster.

[Assistant]
The ocean is *big*. Incredibly big. And huge swaths of the sea floor haven't been mapped. You're talking thousands upon thousands of square miles to look through, except you can't just look. You have to use sonar instead. Is that roundish bump that showed up on the sonar the nose of a submarine? Or is it just a roundish rocky bump on the bottom of the sea floor? Is the sub not in this area, or was it just in the shadow of a rocky underwater ledge so your sonar couldn't hit it? Is the submarine even still in one piece, or is it in pieces? How many pieces? Did the pieces settle on the bottom together, or did an ocean current drag different sections miles apart before they hit the bottom?

Did the submarine continue on a straight course, or did it get caught in a current? Did the engines or props or rudder malfunction, so that it veered off course? When? By how far?

You're basically looking for a needle in a haystack after a storm blew your haystack all over the place and also you're not allowed to look for it, you just have to poke around with your finger until you find it, and also it could just as easily be in your neighbor's haystack.

There aren't pressure suits on board. You can't carry enough for every sailor, and it would be impractical and expensive to carry the right kinds, especially since at some of the depths a sunken sub would end up in, a suit wouldn't help you. There are hatches and small oxygen tanks and flotation devices to get you out, but you have to get to those. There's no guarantee that the sub isn't already flooded in the corridors between you and any of those things. Sure, you could open up the torpedo tubes, *if* you are close enough to them, *if* that room isn't already flooded, *if* you can get the tubes open, *if* the sub hasn't already sunk too deep for you to escape without help...


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

[User]
ELI5 How homeopathy is supposed to work?

I just don't get it.

[Assistant]
Homeopathy claims to work on two principles.

1. Like cures like.
2. The more dilute the medicine, the stronger it works.

Principle 1 goes like this. If substance S causes symptoms X, Y and Z, then substance S should be used to treat a disease with symptoms X, Y and Z. For example, if you can't get to sleep, and go get a homeopathic sleep aid, it's quite likely that the active ingredient listed on the box will be caffeine.

Principle 2 says that once you have identified the active ingredient you want (e.g., caffeine for sleeping pills), in order to make its effects more pronounced, you should dilute it. When diluting the active ingredient, you're supposed to dilute it by ten times. That is, you put one part of the active ingredient in ten parts water and mix. Each dilution is one "x". If you look a the label of a homeopathic remedy it's not uncommon to see 20x or even 60x dilutions.

Now, remember, each dilution dilutes the substance by ten times. A 20x dilution is not 1/20th as dilute as normal, it is 1/100000000000000000000th (that's 1/10^20 ) as dilute as normal. Once you get in the neighborhood of 20x dilutions there's a good chance there is absolutely none of the active ingredient left, and all you have is water. Go higher than that and it's almost certain there is none of the active ingredient present.

Here's the best bit, though. At the time homeopathy was created, it was relatively beneficial. The important word there is "relatively." At that time doctors were still performing bleedings and giving patients remedies containing heavy metals like mercury. The homeopaths were actually safer, but only because they weren't actively poisoning and harming their patients. All they were doing was giving people a drink of water and sending them on their way, and some people just got better on their own.

These days you would have to be a drooling retard to think homeopathy has any merits at all.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why or why can't we use cloud seeding to fight forest fires?

I recently learned that making man made clouds are a real thing that have been used to stave off droughts and that parts of China have been regularly using this tech. If so, can we use it to fight forest fires like the fires that have been so devastating in Australia? If not, why?

[Assistant]
You need clouds to start with. Cloud seeding just gives the moisture in clouds something to form drops around, so it just makes sense in the narrow band of conditions between rain clouds forming and it raining anyway.

Seeding the Australian air to make rain works as well as throwing seeds at your blow drier to make crops.


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

[User] ELI5:What is happening in a person's brain/body when they will themselves not to feel fatigued or some forms of minor pain (i.e. Navy Seals)?

[Assistant] Exactly how power of will works isn't really understood in any meaningful scientific sense, it's simply something we know you can do and can practice to get good at. Simple breathing exercises to maintain focus, or to encourage calmness or energy are well known and certainly can have a measurable effect on heart-rate and some other physical indicators, but how you could, for example, ignore pain isn't something for which there's a concrete scientific explanation because the scientific understanding of consciousness and the brain are so very limited.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What if Vader went with Ahsoka on Malachor?

After hearing his former Padawan promise not to leave him, Vader remembers all of the good memories he had with her as Anakin and comes back to the Light early for her. He is 100% dedicated to this, and doesnt fall to the Dark Side again. How does this change the course of galactic history? Will he join the Rebellion? How does the crew of the *Ghost* react to him being on their side? What does Palpatine do?

[Assistant]
If Anakin sticks, he has A LOT of Intel to help the Rebellion. He knows the Death Star is almost complete though not it's weakness. When Bail Organa finds out, once Bail is convinced that Anakin truly is back, he will consult with Kenobi to confirm.

If Kenobi is convinced, he will explain what happened with Padme, Leia, and Luke. This might also means Yoda is brought into the fold.

This has a bigger problem - Palpatine takes the Rebellion much more seriously. Before it was a few starfighters and barely an army. Now it has three Jedi masters, other Jedi Knights, and more coming. The extermination of the Jedi is critical to the Sith, so the Rebellion is going to have a much tougher time.


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

[User] ELI5 Why do animals have mating seasons?

[Assistant]
The real question is why humans *don't* have mating seasons when most animals do. Animals have mating seasons so that they give birth when food is plentiful and baby animals have the best chance of surviving.

For humans, though, social factors are more important than food availability. Continuous mating is part of humanity's highly social communities, and being highly social has evolutionary advantages that outweigh the disadvantages of having a baby in winter.


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

[User] [WH40k] How exactly does a ground invasion work? How does the fleet get Leman Russ tanks to planet side?

[Assistant] First you start with some light orbital bombardment to get a safe(r) corridor to the surface. Then you land on the planet. There are a variety of different sized drop craft available for deployment, from craft used to deploy a squad or two of troopers, to divisions worth of them. On some industrialized planets they can bring the whole mass conveyor down. The same applies with tanks. In the extreme end are the coffin ships of the Collegia Titanica which land the God Machines of the Mechanicus.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why chocolate is harmful to dogs?

I've also heard grapes are bad for them too?

[Assistant]
Chocolate contains a chemical called theobromine. Humans can easily metabolize theobromine, so you would need to eat a monumental amount of chocolate before you would suffer any consequences.

Dogs don't metabolize theobromine at the same rate humans do, and it is possible for a dog to eat a modest amount of chocolate, and get theobromine (chocolate) poisoning.


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

[User]
ELI5:  Why is suicide illegal?

Obviously, you can't be put in jail for committing it.  Attempted suicide is still widely illegal.  Why are people not allowed to do what they want with their bodies?

[Assistant]
1) By making it illegal, the police have the authority to stop someone who is about to commit suicide.

2) Generally when someone is suicidal, it's the result of a recognized mental illness, such as depression.  Legally, some decisions, such as a "do not resuscitate" or medical refusal order must be made by someone who's mentally sound.