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

[User]
ELI5: Why do the blades of a rotating fan collect dust over time? If its spinning, shouldn't all the dust be just 'blown away'?

I'm talking about ceiling fans / pedestal fans. I have one at home, and every few months it needs cleaning because of the thick layer of dust that sticks to the blades / propellers. How does it get there, and why doesn't it get blown away when the fan is turned on?

[Assistant] A lot of airborne particles are skin cells which have oil on them so once they land they they stick and make it easier for other things to stick.  There are other airborne particles of oil from cooking, exhaust, etc that add to the problem.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] Why aren't Romulans and Cardassians more worried about the Borg threat?

These two empires are almost paranoid about their own security, but they seem to devote more time and resources to sabotage the Federation a bit or deal with the small threat of the Maquis than to learn and defend against the Borg.

Is there any expedition to try to reach their quadrant to research about them?

Any secret weapons that they were developing in secrecy?

[Assistant]
They are (especially the Romulans). However, they obviously aren't going around and spreading the news to every Federation ship and person they come across, so that's why we don't ever hear about it.

If you are wondering why they never seem to join efforts to stop Borg incursions into Federation space, it's because why would they?  They probably see the Borg attacks on the Federation as the Borg doing their job for them.


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

[User]
[Sausage Party] If all foods, including processed/cooked foods are sentient, when are they "born"?

In the trailer we see a potato horrified at being peeled, however we also see that processed foods are also sentient.

if you make French fries out of a potato, is the potato killed and then each individual fry is born again as a new personality, or do the fries remember being part of the potato? Do the Hotdogs in the trailer remember being a piece of meat? Was that piece of meat sentient before being ground up to make hot dogs?

Do the buns remember being baked or is their first moment of consciousness when they come out of the oven, or when they get cut? But what if the bun was never destined to be cut?

if an Oreo is made of 2 cookies stuck together by cream, are they separate entities until being stuck together, or are they not alive until being stuck together, and again, what if the cream dispenser in the factory misses them and a cream-less oreo is made, are the 2 cookies only half entities?

As you can see, I am quite confused!

[Assistant]
I believe this is a case of multiple dimensions. Note that in the trailer we saw the human catch two baby carrots rolling off a counter. The human perceived the carrots as non-sentient vegetables.

There appear to be multiple layers of reality in this universe where each layer is not capable of perceiving another layer.

So Potatoes are not likely able to perceive sentient french fries, and vice versa.

So far we only have 120 seconds of footage to investigate. We will have to wait for the rest of the documentary to be released in order to know which beings can perceive each other.


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

[User]
[Fantasy] What's the best way to convince powerful mountain sized spell casting immortal dragons to join forces with you?

I'm an adventurer that wants to ride dragons.

[Assistant] They like money. You could try offering them lots of money. If you don't have lots of money, you could start a bank. They'll get more money in their hoard that they're guarding, and they'll get to keep some of it as payment. Double win.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why was Luke assigned to tauntaun patrol duty if he is a starfighter pilot?

Isn't he too valuable to lose if something were to happen since he is one of the top pilots and aren't other soldiers like infantry better suited to patrol duty?

[Assistant] It's an all-hands-on-deck situation. Everyone has to help out. Are talented smugglers and pilots the best people to go check out a meteorite impact? Probably not. But it's moving day; essential equipment has to be set up; ships are coming and going; high-skilled people pitched in and did some odd jobs. Nothing out of place there.


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

[User] ELI5: PayPal seems like it would be a goldmine for hackers, given all the bank and credit card info it stores. Yet, I've never seen stories about it being hacked. What does PayPal do that other businesses (e.g., Target, Home Depot) aren't doing?

[Assistant]
Trying harder most likely. The fallout from Target losing customer data is far, far outweighed by the fallout from PayPal losing its data. PayPal would likely be forced to close their doors from that sort of thing.

So the pay for the best in security and are willing to deal with a lot of inconvenience if it means security is better. a proper security setup means that no one vulnerability would give full access to everything. A good setup, for example, would mean that you'd have to compromise multiple systems to get at the most important data and would mean you have people watching closely for just such compromises in progress.

It's a bit like asking what the bank is doing with its vault that the hardware store isn't doing with its cash register. They're both locked, sure, but some locks are better, if more expensive and hard to maintain, and the bank is certainly watching a lot more closely.


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

[User]
Why have seawater plumbing systems not been perfected/used yet?

Most sailing vessels have a seawater intake that is used to flush their toilet, even wash their dishes. As our current plumbing systems insure that all our toilet water (on land) makes its way back to the sea anyways, why not use seawater to flush our toilets, as opposed to flushing potable water?

[Assistant] Because the costs associated with developing and maintaining the infrastructure to get seawater (or unprocessed fresh water) into buildings outweighs the costs of using clean water (specifically the cleaning process) which is already required in buildings.


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

[User]
What is the "doctors without borders" equivalent for programming?

I don't know of any big programming non-profit organizations. Most I have heard of our very small scale or not as impactful as doctorswithoutborders/engineerswithout borders.

I'm still very new to programming so I don't know what I want to do when I graduate school but its been a life long dream for me to work at an ngo or non-profit organization.

I guess doing software work for altruistic organizations is an obvious option since every organization will need tech help but is there one solely for programming?

[Assistant] FLOSS / GPL. Unlike doctors who treat patients and you can only treat one patient at a time, once you create open source software it has no limit on the number of people it can reach. There's no need to treat only the most needy, by contributing to open source you benefit everyone.


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

[User] [Marvel] if I had a perfect sphere of vibranium, and I dropped it from a hot air balloon onto a hard surface, would It bounce?

[Assistant] No, it would not. All the kinetic energy caused by the sphere's velocity would be imparted into the ground, resulting in a crater that is twice as large as that of an identical object of a different material.


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

[User] [Marvel/MCU] If seemingly anyone can learn the mystic arts (like Dr. Strange and Ned) why wouldnt every hero learn them as well to add to their tool kit?

[Assistant] This is like asking why not every human learns to be a doctor or a lawyer. Everybody is theoretically capable of doing it, but it takes a great deal of study, patience, and discipline. Strange was one of the greatest minds on the planet and it took him years to become a decent sorcerer. Ned is something of an anomaly. He said he had some sort of family history of magic. Remember, Strange was shocked that he was able to open a portal. It's not something that people can just do once they pick up a sling ring.


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

[User]
[DC] what are the limitations of the Lazarus pit?

How long could someone be dead for, before the pit wouldn't work?

Are any wounds or diseases incurable?

If you threw in a hand would a whole body regrow?

[Assistant]
The body must be more or less in tact, lets say ballpark, you need 75% of the body (water less weight) and it has to be more less arranged in the proper shape, the most important part is that the brain has to be in tact as far as possible.

The real downside of the Lazarus Pit comes from how far you are gone when you use it.

Use it for rejuvenation? Short spurt of rage when you emerge.

Straight out reanimate a dead body? Welcome to the sequel of Pet Sematary.


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

[User]
ELI5: Is 60 fps on a 60 hz monitor as good as having 200fps on a 60hz monitor?

I'm having a bit of a disagreement with a friend, who's against having more FPS than what your monitors Hz is rated for.
A lot of people say there's no point in having more FPS than what your monitors refresh rate (Hz) is, but there's a clear noticeable difference between 60fps, and 200. People who play competitve online games like CS:GO will instantly see the difference

So basically what I'm asking for is some clarification on this age old question: Is 60 fps on a 60 hz monitor as good as having 200fps on a 60hz monitor? if not, why not?

[Assistant]
If you play a game at 200FPS on a 60Hz monitor the remaining 140 frames per second will be discarded. So it is easy to assume that you only need 60FPS on a 60Hz monitor as that would ensure all frames are used. However a big problem with the rendering pipeline in reaction games is that it takes a snapshot of the scene and spend some time processing that into a frame before it can display it to you. If the game needs 1/60s to render a frame then events that happened between the frames will not show up on the first frame. However if the game spends 1/200s to render a frame then most of the events that happened between the frames are included in the one that is being shown. In some frame perfect reactions it will make a difference.

To prevent rendering unused frames a lot of games have vsync. This is a way for your monitor to tell your game when it is rendering the frame so that the game and the monitor will synchronize their actions and reduce the time between an event in game and when you see it on screen. Having the ability to render at 200 FPS is still helping but without having to actually render all the frames.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What repercussions were there for a Jedi falling to the dark side?

At the peak of the Jedi order, with the Sith completely in hiding, what kind of repercussions could a Jedi expect if he or she were to fall to the dark side, for personal means or otherwise? Would the Jedi be hunted down and killed? Brought in for more indoctrination? Let free to live their life in the galaxy?

[Assistant]
In the recent declassified document "Star Wars: Dark Disciple" we can see how the Jedi are willing to consider Execution as a penalty for falling to the dark side of the Force even when there are special circumstances.

It depends on how much have you fallen and what have you done. There are ways to bring a fallen Jedi back to the light and a live in the Jedi Temple is really good, but there are situations where the only choice is to execute the fallen one, it's mercy in the eyes of the Jedi.


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

[User]
Did Marx Believe in Contradictions in Reality

Someone told me that Marx allowed himself to be incoherent at times because he thought reality is not non-contradictory like Aristotle thought. Is that true?

What's an example of reality contradicting itself?

[Assistant]
No Marx did not think that there are true contradictions in the sense that is talked about in logic, contradictions in Marx are like conflicting tendencies that while are required for a certain system constantly dig out its own foundations.

Not directly relevant but Marx was quite positive as regarding Aristotle.


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40k] Did the emperor have any sort of plan for Angron and his impending terminal brain damage?

As far as I am aware the butchers nails implants he had could not be removed and would definitely end up turning him crazy. Was the emperor not aware of this? Did he have any sort of plan to deal with it? Seems like a massive and unforgivable oversight on his part.

[Assistant]
The Butcher nail was too dangerous to take out. It was already killing Angron, the Mechnicus estimated he'd be dead before the Great Crusade would be over, and any efforts to remove them from Space Marines proved to be fatal.

The whole purpose of the Primarchs was that they would lead his armies. Angron was still fit to lead men and so the Emperor didn't care if he would die right before fulfilling his objective of total galactic conquest.


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

[User]
CMV: The only way to ensure my vote is counted is to vote in person

It seems the republican party is trying their hardest to cast doubt on or outright undermining voting by mail and that the only way to make sure that my vote makes it in on time is to vote in person either early or on election day. At this point I think if you're not sick and can spend time in line, every effort should be made to vote in person in a voting booth. We've been taking precautions when going out to the grocery store (masking up, using hand sanitizer after the visit, etc.), we can do the same after voting in person. I know some polling locations service a lot of voters and lines may be long, but wearing masks and keeping 6 feet apart can help...plus you're a redditor, so now you have time to turn all the blue links purple or whatever your visited color is!

Edit: Thank you very much for all of the responses. While I am not convinced that other means of voting is better than in-person voting when healthy and able to spend the time in line, it is super important to vote! Vote early and use tracking to ensure that your vote makes it into the count if your state supports it. Regardless of the method you choose PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE VOTE!

[Assistant]
You can already vote by mail in north Carolina. You can also track your vote, like you would track a package. If you vote today, it will arrive well before October, and you can confirm that they received it. If there are any shenanigans, you have a whole month to figure it out before election day.

Why should someone in NC wait, when they can vote now, and track that vote??


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

[User] What one tip changed your coding skills forever?

[Assistant]
"If you're debugging bug just by randomly changing things and seeing if that fixes it; you're not a programmer". Abrasive Former-Lead about people who post on StackOverflow.

The guy was an ass, but he had a point. If you don't know what you're doing:

Stop and reread all relevant code. If you don't know what's going on; seek assistance from a colleague or whoever wrote that code (Might not be your fault, you may just be in charge of untangling spaghetti).


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

[User]
[Chronicle] What most likely happened to Steve and Andrews bodies after the final battle?

I assume they Andrews was immediately recovered and dissected while Steves body was dug up after the events on camera were discovered. In the script for the possible sequel by max landis it said that scientists are drooling to  get their hands on Matts brain as well. Would they be less eager if they already have 2/3 bodies?

[Assistant] Steves body would have begun to rot and Andrew was damaging himself with how far he pushed his powers in the climax. They probably were both dissected, but a living being would offer much more potential to anyone interested.


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

[User] Wikipedia says element 120 might be the last element possible to synthesize with current technology. Is this true? And if so, why cant we synthesize further elements with our current technology? What new technology would we need to synthesize heavier elements like 121, 122?

[Assistant] I dont see why there would be any hard cutoff at Z = 120. In principle, as long as you can find a beam and target combination such that their compound nucleus has a Z for at least 121, theres nonzero probabaility that youll end up with some isotope of that element. Your experiment may have to run for a year, but that doesnt mean its physically impossible to produce.


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

[User]
What makes treeline altitude (highest trees can grow) vary from place to place?

In Colorado it's about 10,800'. In California it's about 8,500' in places.

[Assistant] Water and heat availability. In general, a you get higher, both become more scarce until it's too cold and dry for any trees to grow. Of course, a mountain in the desert will hit the dryness limit sooner than one in the tropics, and one in Canada will hit the coldness limit sooner than one in Florida.


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

[User]
ELI5: How did "cheater boxes" (cable descramblers) allow you to watch premium TV channels for free?

I had a few friends who had one back in the 90's that allowed you to get HBO and pay-per-view without actually paying for it.  I always wondered how they work.

[Assistant]
Way back when, television was an analog signal. More accurately, it was a *series* of analog signals that your 100%-analog color television could use to produce a picture. You have three signals for color (your TV only looked at one if it was black-and-white) and a "timing" signal that indicated when it should start drawing a new line. The "vertical hold" was a sometimes-manual synchronization to that signal.

"Scrambling" was really just that. Some of the signals were inverted, some of them were switched. But, fundamentally, you couldn't *add* in junk or actually do significant *math* to obscure the signal, because televisions simply didn't have the ability to un-do that and produce a working picture for your paying consumer. Likewise, before relatively powerful integrated electronics became available, it wasn't economically feasible to give a customer a powerful computerized set-top box just to watch some television.

So your "encryption" was a scheme with only a few variables. Throw off the synchronization here, swap a color field here, and it would make the picture "off" enough to be unwatchable. But, likewise, once someone figured out your mechanism, they just had to create a relatively simply "decoder" to bring that signal back.

TLDR: Analog encryption wasn't terribly complicated, but it was analog, so it required *hardware* as opposed to something digital, which might be more complex, but also could be done with a wider variety of hardware. Nowadays, everything is digital (because computing power, even for high-definition video, is so cheap) so analog encryption/decryption isn't a thing.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it that in Science Fiction, Military Space-faring vessels are almost always controlled by the Navy?

Space *Marines*, Ship-based personel having naval rankings, Nautical terms used both onboard and when commanding/piloting a spaceship etc.

Whether it's explicitly said or not, the Navy (or a space variant of) always seems to be the branch of Earth's military forces which control our future space-faring vessels.

Why did this become a trend and is there any real-life reasoning for why this might be the case in the future? Would it not make more sense for the Air Force to have jurisdiction over militarized space-faring vessels as space is just an expansion of their existing domain?

[Assistant]
Because the Navy is the branch of military that is most often associated with travel, and ship, and such.

Not to mention naval terms are often used because the other branches don't really have terms for such large modes of transportation.

Most likely in the future it would not be any current branch in charge of spacecraft, warfare or travel, it would be some new branch. The Navy is just used because when it comes to navigation, operating ships and fighting the kind of battles that you would see in space, as of right now, the Navy is the best we can think. The Airforce would be good for dogfights, the army would be great for assaults, but when it comes to ship to ship manoeuvres, the Navy is currently the best.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do men bald on their scalps but not their beards?

[Assistant] Testosterone. Scalp hair and facial hair are rather different. Testosterone sometimes converts into a chemical called DHT that breaks down scalp hair, but leaves facial hair alone. (It has to do with a specific gene) In fact, facial hair grows because testosterone is in the body, which is why it grows so much during puberty.


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

[User] What is the most recent area of the human brain in terms of evolution and what are its implications in our neurophysiology?

[Assistant]
The neocortex is the most recent major feature of the mammalian brain and is the center for a lot of our higher order cognitive processes. Birds and such do not have neocortex but studies on the brains of notably intelligent species has found enlarged regions that play an analogous role.

Neocortex ratio is a fairly good predictor of species intelligence, and compares the ratio of neocortex size to overall brain size.  Humans have a high neocortex ratio.


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

[User]
CMV: Transgender individuals should compete with their biological gender

BIG EDIT: I goofed-- biological gender isn't a thing, I meant biological SEX. Sorry for the miss.

\---

To start off, I'm cis, but very pro-transgender rights and I have a lot of transgender friends. Thats one of the reasons that I'm bringing this up-- despite my support, the way I see it, transgender individuals should compete with the sex they were assigned at birth at least from the collegiate level, and I worry that this belief may be based in some inherent bias which I would hope to extinguish for the sake of my friends.

The reason I justify this belief is the fact that we separate the sexes for sports (theoretically) based upon the biological advantage that men have over women. If we are basing sport segregation off of biological make-up of the players, then it makes sense to me that transgender individuals compete with the team they are biologically a part of. I understand that it may be restricting for many people who are transgender and want to compete in sports, but may not feel comfortable competing with a gender they don't identify as, but I also feel that for many female athletes, it may put them at a disadvantage being required to compete with individuals that have a strong biological advantage and presenting this disadvantage goes against the spirit of segregating sports by sex in the first place.

I suppose the main thing that could change my view is that the biological advantage is not that strong or that those that transition lose their biological advantage, but I'm open to hearing other ideas.

Also disclaimer, I don't know if I'm entirely pro full sex segregation in general. I would honestly prefer something more like what the international chess leagues do, which is allow for female competitive spaces but also provide for both sexes to compete together.

[Assistant]
The main thing that gives men an advantage is testosterone, That means that after a while on HRT trans people either gain that advantage (for trans men) or lose it (for trans women). Most of the advantages that trans people keep are their bone structures, which are not that different, only give a very slight advantage if the give one at all and most importantly cis-people can have these advantages as well, just from how normal variation in bodies works.

Additionally trans people are allowed to compete in the category for their gender at the olympic games after 2 years of HRT. They have been allowed to do that for about 20 years. If trans women would have such a big advantage over cis women then were are all the super successful trans athletes. There are a couple(as would be expected just by random chance) and these cases are then spread so far by anti-trans-activists that it seems like there are a lot.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do filmmakers use different framerate cameras in the same movie?

I was watching Daredevil recently and I started to notice that scenes would switch between a higher framerate and the standard framerate and it felt kind of jarring. Are they doing it for effect? Budget? Is it a mistake?

[Assistant] Do you have motion interpolation turned on with your television?  To compensate for motion judder, many, if not most, HDTVs have a setting that adds extra frames. It can create the so-called "soap opera effect," which sounds like what you're describing.


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

[User]
The physics behind breaking boards in karate

I was just curious and decided to work up a simple physical model of breaking boards, so I was hoping you guys could verify this idea:

**Motivation:** As with many other martial artists, I've broken my share of boards in my day.  I've found that if you hit a board and it doesn't break, it hurts like an SOB.  But if you do break it, it doesn't hurt at all.  You'd think hitting the board harder would hurt more (Newton's 3rd Law).

**Model:** We have a fist flying at the board with initial velocity v0. I modeled the board as a simple spring, F = k x.  If the board is stretched past a certain point, x=x_b, it will break and exert no more force on the fist.

**Analysis:** *For the analysis, I dropped the spring constant, the mass, and various factors of 1/2. They aren't really relevant to the analysis, and they'd sort of muddle the point a bit. So I'll be using kinetic energy E=v^2 , potential energy U=x^2 , and momentum p=v.*  The initial energy of the fist goes as E_0 = v_0^2 , the initial momentum goes as p_0 = v_0. Once the board reaches x_b, it has absorbed the most energy it can absorb, U_b = x_b^2 (The corresponding momentum is p_b=x_b). If anymore energy is introduced it will snap; any less energy and it will return to its starting position.  The final energy of the fist then will be either E_f= 0 or E_f = E_0-U_b=v_0^2 - x_b^2 .  The final velocity then comes from: v_f^2 =v_0^2 -x_b^2 . That makes our final momentum v_f=(v_0^2 - x_b^2 )

**Conclusions:** The energy taken away from the fist will always be U_b or less.  If E_0>U_b, the energy loss will always be U_b.  The momentum loss will be dp=v_0-v_f=v0-(v_0^2 -x_b^2 ). The energy/momentum statistics of breaking a board will be the same if you just barely manage to break it vs if you just barely don't break it, ie. you've still lost U_b energy and p_b momentum over the same amount of time. Since x_b is constant, as v_0 gets higher and higher, dp actually decreases. That means the impulse from the board actually diminishes with harder punches.  This is the reason breaking the board doesn't hurt.

**Summary (TL;DR):** The reason breaking a board doesn't hurt, while not breaking it does, is that you break the board so quickly the board cannot deliver an impulse to your hand.  The amount of force the board resists with will always be the same, no matter how hard you hit it, but breaking through the board quickly makes it so the force can't do much damage.  Consequently, if you just barely manage to break the board, it will hurt almost as much as if you didn't break it, but hitting it even a little harder will drop the impulse considerably.

[Assistant]
The conclusion is qualitatively correct, but you should analyze collisions from a momentum point of view instead of an energy point of view. The reason is that energy needs to take into account the sound, heat, deformation, etc. that are generated from the collision. Momentum is just straight up conserved.

Your fist has momentum p0, if it breaks the board, it has a lower momentum p1, but not by much. If it doesn't break the board, your fist essentially stops, and the board has to provide all of the momentum change, -p0, which hurts like a sonovabitch.


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

[User]
[WH40K] Could I befriend an Ork?

Alright, hear me out. I realize that, on a genetic level, he would want to hit me on the head with a club. But Orkz are still sentient organisms. They're intelligent, they have language, they have culture, they have emotions. Of the 1 trillion boyz out there, is it possible that I could go on awesome space adventures with one of them? Or does genetics trump any sort of intelligence 100% of the time?

[Assistant]
Many humans are great friends of Orks, at least from the Orks' point of view. The most famous might be Commissar Yarrick - da Boyz love that guy.

You have to understand something that fundamentally underpins every single aspect of Orks, from their physiology to their culture to their individual personalities. Orks fight. They love to fight. They *live* to fight. They don't go to war out of hatred, or greed, or religious fervor. They go to war because they fucking love it.

If you took two Orks, best friends from the day they grew out of the ground, who'd been through thick and thin and back again, and stuck them on an empty planet together, they'd be at each other's throats within a week. Not out of treachery or because of an argument, but because *Orks fight*.

So sure, you could theoretically befriend an Ork (in the human sense of the word). It's not likely, because Orks are pretty much hard wired to kill anything that's not an Ork (and also Orks, but to a lesser degree), but it's possible. But due to the very nature of Orks, this friendship is only going to last as long as you can keep the Ork's shoota pointed at things that aren't you.

That being said, there are exceptions. Weirdboyz are notorious among Orks for their reluctance to fight and general un-orky cowardice. If you don't mind the significant risk of being consumed by warp energies, you might be able to form a somewhat conventional friendship with one of them. Also, Orks do have brains, and those brains can be damaged (or sometimes don't develop right), making them rather un-Orky in a number of ways. One such Ork might be inclined to tag along with you, although he probably won't be much of a conversationalist.


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

[User]
[Galaxy Quest] How were the Thermians able to create the Omega 13 without even knowing what it does?

I understand that they could take inspiration from the TV version of the NSEA Protector and invent propulsion systems, shields, medical tech, even the technology to disguise their true forms and make them look human, and make them look like what they saw on TV. But the Omega 13 was never shown or described on air. It was a complete mystery as to what it was or what it was capable of doing. How can then be able to invet something when they don't even know what they were inventing? How could they create a working version of something so complex as a limited time machine and not even know that's what it is supposed to do?

[Assistant] The fans were able to theorize what it was supposed to do, so this had to have been based on clues and statements made throughout the show. The Thermians just created whatever device best fit those clues. That it also happened to perform that function is just a testament to the veracity of that particular fan theory.


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

[User] ELI5: How do we train ourselves to control our bladders while asleep?

[Assistant]
Very basic answer before somebody comes along with a huge answer.

The sphincters in your anus and along the urine path are a type of muscle that are contracted until they are relaxed. An always closed until open type of deal. Therefore, until you relaxed the pipes are shut.


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

[User]
[General media] What media has the most plausible "masquerade"?

By masquerade I mean that the fictional world is just like the real world, except that there is an ancient secret magical society/race/whatever living apart from normal humans that cover up their existence from most of humanity in some way, and most normal humans outright refuse to believe anything that isn't normal. Harry Potter is probably the most famous example, but it's a common trope in urban fantasy.

Often, the masquerade feels forced, you question why the masquerade even exists in the first place if magic has always been around, and the way it's kept over the years starts to strain credibility since even if most people would be skeptical about aliens or the supernatural, they would still notice weird stuff.

Have you ever seen a masquerade that made perfect sense to you in why and how they've managed to stay hidden for so long?

[Assistant]
*Heroes* is a pretty good take on this:

- Powered individuals are extremely rare, and seem to appear in bursts, so you'll have long stretches where the majority of them have all died off, and their existence can't be verified.
- Previous generations of powered individuals were all born before modern recording equipment.
- The previous generation has a powerful organization devoted to enforcing the masquerade full time.
- An event at the beginning of the series vastly increases the quantity of powered individuals that exist, and the masquerade cracks after only a few years.  It was clearly going to crack eventually, so that does end up happening.


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

[User]
Potentially a silly question, but does spousal hire exist for spouses who do not have PhDs (a job offer within the department or university that isn't a professorship)?

I haven't seen anything about that, so I have wondered about it. If someone is offered a tenure-track position, they can negotiate a spousal hire if their significant other also has a PhD. But what if their spouse doesn't have that? What if they possess only a Bachelors or a Masters?

It's easier to negotiate spousal hires for professors in departments, since they essentially create an extra position for them. But I'm just curious if there's anything for academics whose spouses decided to finish their education after college was complete.

EDIT: The reason I ask is because I will find myself in this situation in a few years. I'll have my PhD and my partner will have his BA; both of us will have our respective degrees in Psychology. Getting any job offer for him will be fantastic since he's moving wherever I'm offered a position.

[Assistant] Yes, I've observed spousal hires for admin related stuff. He was a super star with 2 decades of experience and very much sought after and his wife had a BA. So I'd speculate a lot of what they'll provide with spousal hires hinges on just how much they want you.


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

[User]
So Im reading through Nausea, and I came across the quote My memories are like coins in the devils purse: when you open it you find only dead leaves. What does it mean?

Assistance from an expert in existentialism would be nice.

[Assistant] It's just an allusion to a story in which the devil grants someone a wish and cheats the person making gold turn into leaves. The meaning: we cherish our memories as if they are gold, but they are nothing more than withering leaves from the tree of our life.


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

[User]
I cannot get the idea out of my head that abortion is murder. CMV

People that I have talked to discuss about how banning abortion won't stop it and it will drive people to do more unhealthy illegal abortions that are more detrimental to the health of society than regulated legal abortions. While this point is valid, I cannot get over the way I perceive abortion as simple murder. In my view, although dependent on the body of the mother, when a sperm meets an egg that fetus has the mechanism to become human. This "potential" is not met by sperm or the egg because by themselves they cannot form a human being.

Just like any murder, we have a moral obligation to stop it, even if it is rampant. Tossing any religion views aside, for me it comes down to murder, and I see no way around it. If many people were murdering fully developed humans for benefit to their lives, I believe that we still have the obligation to stop it, even if it is the norm. For me, the same logic applies to abortion.

[Assistant]
Hypothetical question:

If you had the opportunity to prevent three women from having abortions or one man from shooting a three year old girl in the head, and you can only choose one, which would you pick?

If you truly believe that abortion is murder, than you would have no problem choosing three lives over one; if you have a hesitation to choose that option than you have an internal conflict with the label 'murder'.

I think before a certain point we must realize that "an acorn is not a tree".


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

[User] [Star Trek] If the Borg collective is the sum of all the brains it is made up of, does it evolve and change based on the traits of the species which make it up? For example, if the Vulcan race was completely assimilated, would their particular way of thinking subtly affect the whole collective?

[Assistant] Because the Borg have been successfully defeated by the Federation so many times, it has been theorized the Borg cannot process new information efficiently.   It has a great library of knowledge, but can't recall and process information quickly.  Or else the Federation would have been dispatched immediately.


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

[User]
ELIF: Waking up.

How we go from that special sleepy brain wave stuff to normal awakeness. Especially after being really suddenly awakened by a loud noise or something.

[Assistant]
When you're both asleep and awake different parts of your brain are working together, activating and suppressing each other.

* When you're deeply asleep and not dreaming, in non-REM sleep, most parts of your brain (as far as we mostly know) are in a literal kind of "sleep-mode", pulsing with slow waves of brain activity. We don't know *exactly* how and why we feel more rested and other specific mechanics of sleep very well but this is something lots of scientists are trying to understand. When you wake up naturally, your brain has already started to get out of most of this very deep sleep by the time you regain consciousness.

* Being violently woken up in this state leads to massive disorientation and grogginess. You're bewildered, blinking in the dark, and just like "whaaaa...?" Your brain is still "powering up" and waking up in the literal sense. All those parts of your brain that you need to consciously function that were put asleep such as acute visual processing, spacial orientation, and hearing need to get running. Obviously, these work at a minimum to defend you against danger while sleeping, but the amount of stimulus needed for a reaction increases. For example, when someone is sleeping very deeply you need to shake them or make quite a lot of noise to get them to respond. Their senses are "dumbed-down". When you wake up suddenly, your senses are still "dumbed-down" and it takes a while for them to become acute and fully functioning. The consciousness and reasoning zones of your brain are especially effected which results in the zombie like confusion. If your alarm was set to wake up you up while you were in this state, you might still feel tired and in need of lots of coffee for many minutes or even a few hours. Of course, if what woke you up was violent enough and your brain thinks you're still in danger, your survival mechanisms kick in and all the flight-or-fight chemicals such as adrenaline can make you focus almost immediately because it might be a matter of life and death.

* When you're dreaming, in REM sleep, much of your brain is already active. Parts of your brain release biological chemicals that block signals from leaving your head so that you don't physically act out your dreams. If you're woken up in a "shallower" sleep state or REM sleep, your brain doesn't have as much "waking up" to do, it's already alert and processing and functioning at near-full power, including the consciousness and reasoning zones (after all, you're consciously perceiving in a dream even if you're not aware that you're asleep). If you're jolted into the frame of reality, your mental faculties are already up and running and all you have to do then is quickly get an awareness of your surroundings and you're good to go.


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

[User]
[Star Trek DS9] Why does the Defiant exist in the alternate universe? And why isn't the "teleporting bullet gun prototype" not standard issue?

The Federation does not exist in the alternate Universe - so why does it get a chance to shoot Worf's Alliance cruiser?

When the Vulcan modifies the prototype projectile rifle with a teleporter, why does that not become the instant standard issue? Or why isn't there a team of people (perhaps like Navy Seals) who specialize in it? No one could deal with this gun.

Although - I don't think that bullets would hold their velocity after being teleported either. If it needs to turn the bullet to energy to send it to a new place, then shouldn't phasers be able to "teleport fire" too?

They created a super weapon and it is never used again.

[Assistant]
The defiant exists because Smiley stole the blueprints when he went into the regular universe so that he would have badass ship to fight Worf with.  Smiley even brought Sisko back to the mirror universe to finish up building it.

As for the rifle, it uses a mini transporter.  In a war zone or other high security area, they have dampening fields that make the transporter completely useless.  Also the gun will not shoot through shields, which makes it uesless compared to a phaser.


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

[User]
[The Matrix] Why didn't the agents just take over Neo's body before he escaped the first time?

Throughout the movie we see agents taking over the body of random people so why couldn't they just take over the body of Neo when he first was escaping the matrix? It would also mop up everybody else pretty quickly having an agent among them.

[Assistant]
Records show that the one who was known as Neo was identified by both the human and machine side at roughly the same time. Why it took so long to find him is unknown but it *is* known that the humans were the first to act, making contact with him and offering him some of the answers he sought.

From the start the one known as Morpheus believed that Neil (whoops Neo) was "The One" but this was not the case with the machines. To them he was just another human who had the potential to escape. This was to prove a fatal miscalculation on their part.

As per machine protocol, they attempted to use Neo to infiltrate the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar by taking Neo and injecting him with tracking code, hoping that would lead them back to the humans. Unfortunately for them this tracking bug was found in Neo and removed.

From there, without the bug it was impossible to immediately pinpoint him, per protocol agents used local forces within the Matrix to try to identify and track them but agents were held until confirmation had been achieved. Agents are active all over the world and unlike the one who was later about to copy himself, agents do not have that power.

Without confirmation of location or identity or any reason to prioritise and request the processing power to find them quickly, the agents missed their chance to take our Neo and the rest is a part of history.


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

[User]
Why wasn't Han Solo surprised to find Mynocks inside the asteroid?

Han's reaction to the Mynocks chewing on the Millennium Falcon suggests that they're a common pest. Mynocks might have spread around the galaxy like rats on ships, but why would they be living inside a random asteroid (or rather, asteroid-dwelling space-worm)?

[Assistant] Well, Solo was a smuggler, right? So he's seen a lot of strange shit; The Force, Giant Slugs, Aliens, etc. Anyways, with all these things, and all the runs he's done (he DID do the kessel run in 12 parsecs afterall), he's bound to have encounter Mynocks before. A man's gotta lay low sometimes during a risky move, ya know? So yeah, he's seen Mynocks on random asteroids, and even inside a few super-sedentary creatures he's made the mistake of landing on/in.


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

[User]
How is early abortion different than deciding not to have another kid?

Ive always thought of the two the same.

Example:

- A couple decides to get an abortion early on (not physically hurting the baby) and thus prevents a "would-be" life.

- A couple has 2 kids and decides not to have another. Thus, not having a 3rd and preventing a "would-be" life.

[Assistant]
The difference from an "objective" standpoint is that in an abortion, you destroy something that presently exists (whatever that something is). In deciding not to have a child, you avoid bringing anything into existence at all.
From a more subjective standpoint, it depends on what the definition of "a life" is. Your first example hinges on the assumption that what has been aborted is not a life already. Do you define the beginning of life as the capacity to feel pain?


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it common amongst animals to give multiple births but not in humans?

[Assistant] Basically quantity vs quality. Animals that give birth to multiple babies because more babies means a better chance that some will live to reproduce while animals, like humans, tend to be much more involved in the growth of the child ensuring they live on to reproduce e through care and protection.


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

[User] ELI5: We all heard the line on computers shutting down when we were younger "if you just cut the power, you will corrupt the hard disk". Why is that? Is there something that facilitates that corruption? And why is it so much less common nowadays than in days gone by?

[Assistant]
The corruption occurs when the hard drive is in the middle of writing data to a file (potentially a critical system / configuration file) and the power is shut off before the remaining data can be written.

When the computer / operating system then attempts to open and read the file later, data will be missing and some of the data may be prematurely terminated. This potentially cause the system to crash, and at the very least will likely prevent the software/OS from reading and processing the file normally.


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

[User]
[Danny Phantom] How does no one recognize Danny?

He looks exactly the same except he has green eyes and white hair.

[Assistant]
In the DP universe, it seems there are two kinds of "ghosts"- actual dead people, and Anthropomorphic Personifications of various concepts. (The exact line is a bit blurry, with some being clearly on one end and others being combinations. Maybe when you die, you slowly become an embodiment of something you care about?).

 But anyway, the point is, both those sides have one thing in common- they don't have secret identifies.

Danny is clearly not dead, and why would a literal deity be moonlighting as a teenage schoolboy? We don't know why that ghost looks like Danny, but unless you know about the existence of half ghosts (and they don't seem common knowledge), then he's got a very obvious alibi.


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

[User] [Bioshock Infinite] How could eating old cotton candy out of a trashcan possibly be healthy?

[Assistant] Maybe it's psychological. You get into a lot of fights and take a lot of superficial injuries, and you'll start to feel worn down even if you're not that badly injured physically. A nice snack might cheer you up. (Also maybe their trash cans are really clean.)


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

[User]
Why does air blowing from a fan feel cooler than air of the same temperature without one?

Why is it a relief to have the usually uncomfortable air blowing in abundance at one's body?  I don't believe fans actually cool air do they?

[Assistant]
Your skin warms up a very thin layer of air right next to your skin. The fan blows that warmed air away, feeling cooler.

Also, your skin has moisture on it. Blowing air across your skin increases the evaporation rate, and that evaporation is an endothermic reaction which uses your body heat, so it draws heat out of your skin.


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

[User] [Superpowers] Is Super strength an overrated power? It just seems so basic, and it doesnt seem to be particularly versatile.

[Assistant] Id argue that while boring, its very practical as a superpower - youd be invaluable at things like lifting/clearing debris, saving trapped people, or even creating paths for rescue vehicles/personnel during search and rescue operations. You could substitute for almost any heavy equipment. And thats discounting the combat possibilities. Even outside of the superhero world, its really useful - tons of everyday tasks can be done easier if you have even above-average strength, and pretty much any job involving physical labor would be open to you.


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

[User] ELI5: How do fans cool a room if all they do is agitate the air raising kinetic energy and temperature?

[Assistant] They don't cool the room - they cool you. By blowing air around you, they allow your body to control your body temperature better. The heat produced by your body is (literally) blown away, allowing your body to lose more heat.


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

[User] [Sky High] How would one be able to keep an entire high school suspended in air for such a long period of time?

[Assistant] The anti-gravity device designed for Sky High is a work of art. It works so efficiently, normal minds cannot comprehend it. As such, it needs very little maintenance from the schools Mad Science teacher. It gets checked on about once a year. In fact, it is part of the job requirements.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does it take a year to produce a 2-hour-long movie when it takes the same amount of time to produce a 12-hour-long season of a T.V. show?

Something I've always been curious about. Like I get that the budgets are different but it seems like seasons of TV shows are cranked out so fast.

[Assistant]
TV shows use fixed sets, have dedicated cast, and don't need much post processing (special effects, CGI, etc).  They are able to re-use just about everything very quickly and with little setup time.

A movie, on the other hand, may need to move the whole crew around the world to get a handful of scenes shot.  The actors/actresses may be on conflicting schedules.  The movie may require a great deal of CG effects/sequences.


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

[User]
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" was an embarrassment of a book. CMV.

...

[Assistant]
> politics

You must understand that Voldemort, no matter how talented, did not rise up in vacuum. There were always pure-blood-supremacists, and sympathizers of the old way, just that they kept quiets because it was politically incorrect to speak up. When Thicknesse replaced Scrimgeour, most people rejoiced that the tides had turned and gladly joined the new bandwagon.

Moreover, most ordinary wizards weren't as informed as our main characters, many of them were still confused and didn't know that the ministry was compromised. They would have co-operated with the ministry orders and only gradually realized something was wrong.

> ending

I agree with this. It was too sugary an ending.


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

[User] What are the most reputable books about art's role in society, especially in affecting social change, promoting humanist ethics, and help people cope with existence?

[Assistant]
John Berger's *Ways of Seeing* explores how paintings reflect their age of origin, and how the way we see them is dependent on our own age.

Walter Benjamin's *The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction* suggests that the modern industrial age has transformed the role of the arts; Benjamin gave several arguments throughout his career regarding how art should be re-transformed to cope with the modern age.

Susan Sontag's *Regarding the Pain of Others* is an essay on photography that aims to answer a question posed by Virginia Woolf in *Three Guineas*: "How are we to prevent war?"

Friedrich Nietzsche's *The Birth of Tragedy* is an analysis of the arts in Ancient Greece, with the aim of showing that Greek tragedy was a balance of the 'Appolinian' and 'Dionysian' ways of life, allowing the Greeks to experience existential fulfilment.

Theodor Adorno's *Minima Moralia* is a book of aphorisms, many of which are about various artworks, which explores existential themes and the notion of 'the good life' in a post-holocaust world.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do our energy levels diminish as we age?

Children have an abundance of energy, but as we get older we seem to lose those energy levels.

Is there a specific factor (or set of factors) that cause humans to feel less energized as we get older?

[Assistant]
Kids don't have more energy than adults.  Adults can outrun, out walk, and out perform in any energy demanding task there is.

What kids have is excitement and playfulness.  It is more of a psychological drive than anything else.  If an adult is truly motivated or excited about a sport or activity, you can see that adult perform it for hours and hours and hours; however a kid could not keep up to that pace.

The same is seen in adult animals. An adult wolf could track its prey for miles and miles and miles. However, adult animals do not partake in play activity, for it is a waste of energy, but crucial for young to develope their motor skills.


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

[User]
Do other animal species experience the same right vs. left handed population differences as humans?

So the other day I was wondering if other animals exhibit hand dominance like humans and read that other primates, kangaroos, and a host of other animals show signs of handedness.

Then I started to think about human left handed trends, like how left-handed humans generally have shorter life spans and are GENERALLY more gifted in mathematics and music. In humans, there is a positive correlation between complications of birth and left handedness. Left handed humans are also more likely to break bones, get breast cancer, and suffer from heart disease.

Do other animal species see these same differences between their right and left handed populations?

I did a bit of digging and couldnt find anything myself, so I thought that you beautiful people maybe be able to help me out.

PS. This is more of a zoology question than biology but this is the closes tag I could find :/

[Assistant]
Parrots have "handedness"  it was revealed to be linked to speech.  Handnedness involves very controlled motor functions for small muscles, like the small controlled motor control needed for speech.
Left handedness is advantageous in battle situations in humans and in some modern sports like baseball.


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

[User] ELI5: Having just watched a documentary on Chernobyl and it's condition today, why is it that vegetation seems to be mostly unaffected by the fatal radiation which would kill us?

[Assistant] People could live without too much trouble in the Chernobyl area, just as plants can.  The higher level of radiation means there's a higher chance of dying of cancer; not drastically higher, but enough that nobody wants to live there.


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

[User] Why hasn't the Leaning Tower of Pisa fallen down?

[Assistant] Firstly, it was built to be very heavy in the base. Secondly, as soon as it started leaning, which was before construction finished, they started doing things about it, like adding weight to the uphill side. Most recently, it was tied down to the bedrock on the uphill side, and modern foundations placed on the downhill side. They also corrected the lean by several degrees.


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

[User]
CMV: Computer games now have better music than movies

When I was younger I remember going to the movies and being stunned by the quality of the score.  I went so far as to buy soundtracks to listen to.  Who does not feel a tingle down their spine on hearing "The Imperial March", that is music that stands the test of time.  Every movie (well not quite) had a score written for it and they were amazing.  Artists like Danny Elfman were visionary.

Sone where along the line it changed, most movies now are a mix of songs.  Don't get me wrong, they can be great songs, they may even work exceptionally well with the movie but they are still just songs.  Some may even be as memorable as a well written score.

There a re a few exceptions around, some great movies still have a great score, but it feels rarer.

Compare that to gaming.  Great games have great scores, from Witcher 3 to Skyrim, to Halo and the one I have recently been listening to, Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous.  Who would have thought a computer game would have such dynamic and stirring music written just for it?

Where in movies it is waning, I would say in gaming it is waxing.  Great music is great music regardless of where you find it, but scores written for computer games have overtaken scores written for movies. This is on aggregate, you can still find great movie scores but you will find more in the gaming industry, certainly among the big hit games.

Change my view.

[Assistant]
It seems like you're comparing the *best* game music to *average* movie music.

I think what's happened here is just that you got used to games when they were lower budget than they are now. Since then they've grown in popularity, and so the "big hit games" have big enough budgets to warrant the same peak quality of music as movies have.

Since you came to think of that as *normal* in movies, and *unusual* in games, you're noticing movies where it's absent more, and games where it's present more.


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

[User]
CMV: We should wash our hands BEFORE using the toilet

I wash my body daily. Most of my body is covered by clothes all day. My nether regions stay pretty clean.

My hands get gross. I touch dirt, grease, people, animals, and other peoples keyboards. Why would I subject my baby-making bits to all that filth just to clean my hands seconds later?

This isnt to say take a leak between washing your hands and performing surgery. Specific hygiene requirements exist for a reason. In my daily life however, hand washing is to remove the germs and dirt on a periodic basis.

Someone somewhere decided that hand washing should occur after using the toilet but I guess they didnt have the same relationship as Mr. Jones and me.

[Assistant] People typically wash their hands throughout the day especially if there is visible dirt, grease, food, etc. While you're genitals are clean in the morning, being trapped in your clothes all day makes it a hot, moist environment perfect for bacterial growth. So touching them at varied points would necessitate a hand washing. On top of that, when you're urinating in a urinal, the there is microscopic back spray that's going everywhere. So now your genitals are covered in that hot mess and back to a hot moist environment. It really makes for a heavenly brew. Washing your hands beforehand doesnt hurt and maybe a good idea depending on your cleanliness, but doing it after is definitely required.


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

[User]
[Death Note] If Light really wanted to shake things up, wouldn't he have executed heads of states and businesses, rather than petty criminals?

I mean, wouldn't it make more sense to attack the sources of systemic pressures that create criminals, rather than target criminals themselves? Most criminals don't commit crime out of evil, but desperation, so, honestly, what would Light even be changing?

[Assistant] He simply didn't see it like that. He didn't view it as a problem with the system. He saw it as a problem with the criminals themselves. He doesn't likely even think  there might be a problem with the system. He was raised by someone who upheld the system, and his belief that all criminals were scum was probably instilled early on.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it easier to focus on things that we don't have to do (like watching YT, TV shows, movies etc.) rather than things we "must" (for example studying, working out, going to job, finishing project and so on) ?

[Assistant]
Dopamine. Dopamine is a chemical in the brain thats part of the reward mechanism thats evolved to entice us to do things. When we get a good grade, a job promotion or someone compliments us on how buff our bodies are, the brain gives itself a hit of dopamine. However, the actions themselves we take to get that good grade, promotion or hot bod dont usually provide that dopamine hit.

YT, TV, games, FB, etc. are specifically designed to provide a hit as you use them. The same with sex, drugs, gambling, etc. These are generally called immediate gratification activities. That is when you do them, you get an immediate dopamine hit. The temptation to do an immediate gratification activity can be overwhelming over a delayed gratification activity.


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

[User]
ELI5 Why do people say music has a dinosaur business model?

Everytime acta,sopa,megaupload or illegal downloading as a whole get's discussed people mention that "it isn't the internet's fault that they have a dinosaur business model!". What do you guys mean?

[Assistant]
It's simple. In the olden days, the logistics of producing and distributing audio recordings was complex, expensive, and labor intensive. Recording studios were huge investments in state of the art equipment that no musician could afford. Pressing albums and distributing them to retail stores was beyond the reach of anything but a huge, well heeled organization.

Now, with only a little money and effort, a 14 year old can make a basement studio using off the shelf gear, record and produce their album with reasonably priced software, and make the results available instantly to the whole planet. The record production industry is vestigial.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] There are queens and princesses, but also a democracy? How does that work?

I'm confused by the Star Wars political system. There's democracy and a galactic senate. But, there's also a nobility?

What exactly is the role of Queen Amidala or Princess Leia in this democratic system? Are they ceremonial figureheads, like the Queen of England? Or, do they have some actual political power? Are they elected? What is the political system of this universe?

[Assistant] Amidala was an elected monarch of her home planet only. First elected at age 14. When she served her term, she was elected senator of her home planet of Naboo. She and Representative Jar Jar Binks were the representatives in the galactic senate from their home planet.


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

[User]
ELI5: If repetition strengthens our synaptic connections, what happens when we over-practice, and seemingly start to get worse?

Practicing an instrument for example.

You are learning a part. The more you repeat, the better you get. But if you overdo it, you start to get worse the more you play. So you put the instrument down and come back 1 or 2 days later and you find that you can play the part better than ever before.

What is happening here?

[Assistant]
Fatigue, for one part. Maybe others can chime in on the neurological aspects of learning, but you can't forget that playing an instrument is a physical activity and if you practice for a really long time, you get tired.

It's similar to exercise - once you've done several sprints, you won't be able to do more at the same level without some rest. It works the same way for music, there's only so much your muscles can do and you will need to rest at some point.


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

[User] ELI5: How sites like The Pirate Bay are illegal but find ways to stay up and even fight the cases brought against them?

[Assistant]
The reason is that they do not host illegal files. They index them which puts them in the same grey area as search engines like Google and Bing. In fact, the pirate bay doesn't even host the torrent files, they provide magnet links.

 When they fail to respond to DMCA and other copyright takedown requests is when torrent sites get in hot water.


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

[User]
When will earth lose the moon?

The moon is moving away from the earth at a rate of 4 cm per year. How long before it escapes our orbit? What will happen to it then?

[Assistant]
We will not lose the Moon. It will recede as it exchanges energy with the Earth by slowing our rotation. Eventually the recession will stop when the Earth becomes tidally locked to the Moon and one side of the Earth will always face the Moon.

The opposite process has already happened and the same side of the Moon faces the Earth. When this happens to the Earth, one day will take several "now" months, that is how slow we will rotate. This process is very slow due to our greater mass, the Sun will be long dead before this happens.


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

[User] [Walking Dead] How did the US military lose to a slow walking zombies?

[Assistant]
Zombies don't have to fight the military- soldiers have to fight during a zombie apocalypse.

At the start, soldiers are probably well-armed and high on resources. The first zombies are probably dealt with by police- they shoot a crazy person in the head, and the soldiers don't even hear about it beyond rumours because... well, they're military soldiers, not domestic peacekeepers.

And then all of a sudden it escalates- SWAT's been overran, people are dying, and these soldiers are being sent in to fire guns and shells into unarmed civilians their own cities. Perhaps there's argument within the chain of command. Perhaps some soldiers still think there's a cure. Or perhaps some men can't psychologically cope with shooting people who by all rights they should never have had to shoot at. Either way, the attack is carried out, the day is won, but morale suffers for it.

Then things escalate again in the same area. They missed some, and the last failure- as well as similar happenings all over the country- left the police in too poor a state to cope effectively. The military returns, and this time they clear it out room by room, bringing supplies and rescue to beleaguered civilians and having to fight in close, bloody situations where the only difference between an enemy combatant capable of transmitting a lethal bioweapon and a child running towards you for safety is whether the crazed look in their eyes is fear or rage.

And while this is going on, new centres of escalation are breaking out. The military is stretched thin, and more costly strategies are invested to get breathing room- bombings, heavy weaponry. But this isn't an enemy country, and every bomb dropped, every tank ploughing through a field is damaging American resources, American supply lines, and both of them are what the military desperately needs given the initial resource-costly tactics and their duty to support their civilians. As civilians are killed and cluster together for safety, manufactories of all kinds begin to go dark- putting a time limit on how long the military has left to fight effectively.

The continuing increase in zombie concentration soon begins to fracture what supply lines are still available on its own. Roads going into town swarm with zombies when supply transport vehicles approach, stopping or redirecting some vehicles, damaging others, and often forcing those same resources to be spent on repelling the zombie trail the supply gathered. Overseas shipments are unable to make land as the noise and human presence (first dockworkers, later scavengers) of docks leave large groups of zombies ready and in position if a ship happens to come in. And all the while, resources are used up- on zombies, on enforcing martial law, and on providing aid to the country's citizens.

All this time, morale is steadily dropping. This shouldn't even *be* a war- it's a job for hospitals and police, not the *United States armed forces*. It's practically unthinkable that a disease- not even a bioweapon, a normal, bog-standard *disease*- is bringing the country to its knees. And yet soldiers are going in and shooting people, *American* people, people who they might be able to cure- and a lot of the time it's not even the infected they're fighting, they're fighting with people who have lost faith in the army's ability to protect them, who see the people who once protected them as resource hogs and bullies.

And eventually, under all this weight, something snaps- not frequently, not soon, and- initially- not far up the scale. It's small-scale, first. Perhaps a group of soldiers misses one zombie, and isn't willing to fire on their own comrade until the situation is already beyond their ability to control. Perhaps the psychological trauma of mistaken shots and firing on infected civilians leads to a localised breakdown in the chain of command. Perhaps a supply truck refuses to travel a route that's too risky for their survival.

But the mistakes get larger, the cracks begin to propagate. The suppliers demand roads get secured, and they spend too much ammo trying to clear every stretch of road of zombies. A military base receives too many refugees, or what they think will be spare supplies are given out, and food stocks begin to run low. Civilians are drawn together to be protected, but a dead girl gets up again and the camp goes into chaos before things get under control. Stress runs high, and resources run low.

Then, finally, something breaks. A riot breaks out, ammo runs low enough for a desperate all-hands-on-deck excursion to resupply, the supply truck brings just a few more zombies than the soldiers can handle, a bridge breaks- and bases, bases that have never, *ever* lost a battle against the walkers, meet a population of zombies they aren't equipped to handle. Maybe they don't have the fuel to transport their soldiers and supplies in safety, maybe they don't have the food to sustain their stamina, maybe they don't have the guns to kill without losses. And just like that, a base has fallen.

As the process repeats itself, the higher governing structures are left relying entirely on goodwill- no promise of supplies, of effective strategies, of everything a soldier needs to survive; just a simple 'you have your duty' and nothing else. And, inevitably, people begin to leave- some soldiers disperse to find food or protect people, some establish their own fiefdoms out of duty to the locals or the need to get things under control again now that the government is unable to handle it. Some people remain, of course, but without the suppies or the command structure the military is a hollow shell of what it once was- more a well-trained militia or roaming warriors united by honour and duty than the sword of the United States.

The US Military has fallen. Not to zombies, no- but psychological stress, growing isolation and a desperate need for any resource that's available will bring a military to its knees in as drawn-out a process just as easily as it happens to an individual.

They could gun down zombies in their hundreds, certainly- but War, Plague, Famine and Death are infinitely more insidious, and a lot harder to shoot in the head.


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

[User] What really is at the edge of the universe?

[Assistant] Almost every cosmologist believes that there is no edge, and this question is precisely why. There just isn't anything we could put as the boundary to the universe that would make physical sense under our current theories. You can define mathematical surfaces that are bounded, but mathematical surfaces don't have to worry about trying to conserve energy and momentum when something bumps the boundary.


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

[User]
Eli5: Why do humans (and other animals) enjoy kissing the things they love?

When it comes to partners, pets, trophies, etc. Why/how did we develop the desire to put our lips on things we are attracted to?

[Assistant]
There is a hypothesis that the behavior arose from mouth feeding (think birds feeding their young) but we don't know for sure. 90% of human cultures have some form of kissing, so there is evidence that it is an inmate human characteristic.

There is also evidence that kissing helps us detect another person's MHC genes which is a genetic compatibility indicator (research suggests that we are attracted to others with different MHC genes as our own).

Why we kiss our dogs and other things? Habit, and learned behavior most likely. Kissing releases oxytocin and serotonin and we learned that that feels good so we kiss things we love.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] If muggles were able to buy spells and potions as single use devices, what would be the best selling items?

For example, one Alohomora device would unlock exactly one lock.

Also, assume that muggles accept a magical culture.

[Assistant]
Love potions would be the new roofies. Confundus charms for similar purpose. Summoning charms to steal things. Crucio curses for sadists and interrogators.

On the less pessimistic but still jaded side, kinky weird stuff. Imagine being able to polyjuice into a movie star, supermodel, etc for a bit of next-level roleplay.


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

[User]
ELI5: Now that we know that "spooky action at a distance" is a confirmed phenomena of the quantum world, what does it mean?

I know whatever the average internet surfing Joe would know about Quantum mechanics. Mostly nothing.

What does this mean for general physics? I saw in the comments that this means we are all connected. Does that mean I am somehow connected to my plate of oreos? Or does this 'connection' work only from like to like, humans to humans, oreos to oreos.

[Assistant]
Quantum entanglement, or 'spooky action at a distance', is a phenomenon that can occur when two particles are created. I'll use spin as an example of a property that can be entangled. If two particles are created that are entangled, their spins will have opposite values. You can only know the probability that a particle's spin will be in a particular direction. There's no way to be sure ahead of time.

Say you measure the spin of one entangled particle to be clockwise. You now instantly know that the particle it is entangled with has a counterclockwise spin. Even though it's impossible to describe spin as anything other than a probability, the spin of the second particle is determined by the measurement of the first particle. Whatever measurement you get, the other entangled particle will measure the opposite way.

The second particle 'knowing' which spin to have based on the first particle's measurement happens instantaneously, and this bothered Einstein, the man who first referred to it as "spooky". According to relativity, nothing can move faster than the speed of light. Yet, the second particle's spin is determined instantly. Theoretically, the particles could be separated by light years, and measuring clockwise on the first particle's spin would guarantee that the second particle's spin would be counterclockwise.

This doesn't violate relativity, however, because there is no way to transmit information via entanglement. The second particle's measured quantity will always be determined by the measurement of the first particle, but what that measurement yields is inherently probabilistic. It's random, and the qualities of the second particle will be random too, just in the opposite way. So no physical laws are broken. You can't use quantum entanglement to send a message or intentionally make anything at all happen. And it's something that only really matters on the scale of individual particles. The chances of your left big toe being entangled with your right are about as likely as Jupiter spontaneously appearing in the Andromeda galaxy. It's technically possible, but the odds are so small that they're barely quantifiable.

What does this mean for general physics? Nothing, because we've been aware of entanglement for quite some time now. All that has happened is that yet another rigorous experiment has upheld it to be true.

As an aside, Einstein's resolution to the problem was to say that the two particles contained hidden variables that determined what state they'd be in when measured. He had no evidence, but he imagined that there were some things that we just didn't yet know about the particles that would cause them to measure in opposite ways. The measurement of the first didn't determine the second because, to him, the information about what the measurements would be was contained within the particles all along, unknown to us. Many experiments have shown this to be false; quantum entanglement has withstood all experiments to date. Look up Bell's Inequalities if you want to know how we can prove that there are no hidden variables.


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

[User]
[General Scifi] Independence day resurgence. Isn't the Earth still doomed?

The earth still has a mile wide hole going just miles from the core with a whole ocean feeding it. Shouldn't that cause a lot of issues?

Also the mothership had so much mass that it had its own gravity that even affected the shuttle. Shouldn't it entering and leaving earths atmosphere wrecked our ecosystem?

Also the water displaced from that much mass and its gravity effect the tides in such a way that most of the planet wouldn't be habitable for some time?

[Assistant]
Causing a gravitational pull in space, where it would affect ships, is far different than being on Earth. A planet's gravity would trump that ship by many magnitudes.

And even if they *did* come close to the core (I don't think they did, persnally) it wouldn't have made a dent in the ocean. If this was a hole 1 mile wide, and 1800 miles deep (assuming they drilled through the mantle), you get a volume of 5654 cubic miles of water.

The oceans are 321,000,000 cubic miles of water. So you lose about 0.5% of the water, which cools and solidifies the rock, which collapses in on itself because of gravity, and then no more hole.


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

[User]
[Marvel] How can I get hired as Herald of Galactus?

Hello everyone, I just got word from a friend of a really cool position as Galactus' Herald and I would like to apply for the job. He said I'd get to travel a lot, and I currently don't have any familial ties in the city so lots of business trips don't bother me. Besides, my friend told me the Heralds are given the Power Cosmic (he's a strange fellow so I assume that's just fancy talk for lots of cash or at least good health insurance).

Anyway, how can I apply for the position? I was told Galactus runs a time sensitive operation, and I'm an Industrial Engineer so I could help him optimize all his processes. I did some digging and found two other men who have had this position: the Fallen One and the Silver something or other. Are they on LinkedIn? Do I give one of them my rsum and they hand it over to Galactus or what? Thank you guys in advance, I could really use this gig.

[Assistant]
So, there's only one real way to get hired. Wait for an opening, and be there when he's about to eat the planet and ask for the job. When he comes to Earth, he normally visits New York City. So next time he's in the area, check out the news, see if he's alone or if he has some glowing shiny assistant flying around him. If he's there along, then make your way to wherever the heroes, generally the Fantastic Four, are gathered, and try to get up close to him and ask for the job.

This apparently is his normal recruitment system. Just give the job to someone who asks. He doesn't even check resumes apparently. The trick is that he's rarely hiring. He's been pretty good about hiring folks who will work for him long term, so there's rarely openings.


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

[User]
[Interstellar]: Why did NASA even bother sending humans?

We're pretty much told straight up that the Lazarus program had a 99% death rate (only Coop & Brandt survived), but why would NASA send squishy meat people through the black hole if they had reasonably intelligent AIs like TARS and CASE?
I'm pretty sure it wasn't because they needed a human womb for all those frozen embryos on their spaceships; after all Brandt couldn't have been expected to give birth to hundreds of kids and raise them on her own on an alien planet, that's insane.
Also TARS was able to comprehend what the 5th dimension was and emerged from it unscathed. He and CASE were able to cope on the water planet better than the humans, could operate the ship, and (I think) could beam data back to Earth.

[Assistant]
>Why even bother sending humans?

I think early on they said that the AIs were unreliable.

>Brandt couldn't have been expected to give birth to hundreds of kids and raise them on her own on an alien planet, that's insane.

Plan B didn't call for Brandt to raise all the kids at once. Just a few at first, and then wait until the colony can support more people and the kids are old enough to help raise the second generation.


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

[User]
Why are European languages's words for "dog" all different but their words for "cat" all basically the same?

English *dog,* German *Hund,* Spanish *perro,* French *chien,* Russian *sobaka,* Greek *sklos,* Irish *madra,* vs English *cat,* German *Katze*, Spanish *gato,* French *chat,* Russian *kot,* Greek *Gta,* Irish *cat.* The words for "dog" all sound completely different from each other, but the words for "cat" all sound the same, just adapted slightly to fit the sound of the language, like a loanword. Why is this, considering cats and dogs were both domesticated by humans well before any of these languages branched off from Proto-Indo-European?

[Assistant]
Part of this is time depth - most European languages are related (the Uralic languages, including Finnish and Hungarian, and Basque are the main ~~examples~~*exceptions* that aren't on the periphery). The word for dog in many of those is related: English hound, German Hund, Latin canis, French chien, Armenian un, Latvian suns, Russian suka, Irish c, Greek kon are all from the same original word. Russian sobaka is also from the same root, but was loaned in from Indo-Iranian rather than inherited directly. Most of those relations have just been thoroughly masked at a surface-level glance by millennia of sound changes. English dog, Spanish perro, and Irish madra represent relatively recent innovations that aren't of clear origins.

Cat, on the other hand, was loaned through Latin in many languages, substantially lowering the amount of time sound change had a change to mask the origins. It makes sense it was borrowed because it's of vastly more recent origin - while it was technically *domesticated* some time around 10000 years ago, domesticated cats *in Europe* are substantially more recent: they were first introduced into the Mediterranean very roughly 3000 years ago, and their spread beyond the area of the Roman Empire only happened near the start of the Medieval period.


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

[User]
Why are we as humans more comfortable in 'colder' temperatures?

The human body runs between 98 and 99 degrees Fahrenheit, but most humans are uncomfortable if the air around them is much above 80.

Why is this?

[Assistant]
Our *core* temperature is 98F. The temperature of our extremities is lower.

Our metabolism would make us get dangerously hot if we couldn't dispel extra heat, and the easiest way to do this is to be in an environment that is significantly lower than our core temperature.

At higher temperatures, we have to rely on evaporative cooling. When the temperature and humidity are high, we are in danger of overheating.


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

[User]
CMV: The Jedi council deserved to fail in Episode III

EDIT: Thanks all for contributing. Definitely some interesting points! Sorry - theres too many replies so cant get to you all!

EDIT: Deserved is a strong word so apologies. I more mean that they are largely experiencing the consequences of their own actions. For sure they didnt deserve to be murdered, but the institution probably should have been dissolved regardless.

For context, I rewatched all the Star Wars (first 2 trilogy) films over the last week. I had seen them all before but 15 years ago or so. When I was watching, a lot of subtle things I noticed made me think that the Jedi Council didnt fulfil their responsibilities and, ultimately, deserved to fail.

A few bits I noticed:
- If the Jedi were not self-interested, they would have been more receptive to Anakin. They treated him badly, mainly because of his potential if they had actually mentored him collectively, he would have had someone to turn to when he was in doubt.
- The Jedi should have seen the dark side of the force slowly creeping over Anakin. The fact that they didnt just highlighted that they were not fit for purpose.
- The Jedi council were more upset with the politics of the situation rather than actually treat Anakin fairly. They essentially said no to Anakin multiple times just because they didnt like that they were asked. He could have been a master; he could have accompanied Obi-Wan when he went after Grievous especially as he hasnt been granted master.
- The Jedi were hypocritical. One example, Windu trying to kill Darth Sidious despite it not being the Jedi way. Moreover, they were trying to seize control from the senate (good intentions or not).
- The Jedi council actively exploited Obi-Wans relationship with Anakin. Exactly the same as Darth Sidious except he just did it better. They even condoned treason (maybe rightfully) but still not in keeping with the hard and fast Jedi code.

The above makes me think that maybe the Jedi were the next best option but definitely didnt deserve to lead / shape society.

As a child watching these, I always felt a sense of loss around the Jedi maybe Im just more pragmatic now. I would love to hear some counter points to recapture that righteous feeling I had towards the Jedi!

[Assistant] I don't think deserved is the right word. It was inevitable. Fate. Anakin was destined to bring balance to the force. It does not matter what the Jedi council did, Anakin was going to bring balance to the force, he couldn't not.


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

[User]
[Avatar] If an Avatar dies young, as a child for example, how they would act when the next Avatar enters the Avatar State to talk to their previous reincarnations? Would the child Avatar understand whats happening?

Like, if the kid dies before even knowing they were the Avatar, by an accident or a disease.
Or even after they knew, but didnt had time to train or get wiser.

[Assistant]
Raised by the other avatar spirits?

You might actually get an interesting and useful perspective as the new avatar from a person who has spent their whole "life" as a spirit, with only a brief period as a human.


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

[User] [ELI5] Why are some pages "intentionally left blank" in some books?

[Assistant]
Look at a book from the top of the spine sometime - you will see that the paper is glued in bundles - 8 sheet/16 pages per bundle.

It is very cheap to make books with these bundles, so almost all books are printed this way. This means that the final page count needs to be a multiple of 16.

Some of this can be taken up with "other books by this author" and other content, but sometimes, the pages are just left blank.


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

[User]
CMV: If you are pro-life than you should be anti-death penalty

Being pro-life, I find it easy to take the stance that no one should be able to take another persons life. We can all agree on that. Obviously the abortion argument comes down to when does life begin - but Im not here to argue that. If we can agree that murder is wrong than wouldnt it make sense that we shouldnt kill to justify killings? A bit hypocritical.

Also, by choosing whether or not to have the justification of killing someone based off of their own misdeeds, youre basically playing God. Its a subjective system and grants no mercy. Pro-life should care for people both in and outside of the womb.

[Assistant] The argument is - killing a fetus is killing an innocent human life. That doesn't apply to someone that is guilty. Perfectly logical to believe people who rape/murder etc.. can be setenced to death but those that are innocent shouldn't be killed.


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

[User]
ELI5 How do magnets not violate the conservation of energy?

I have a pair of magnets with a top magnet on one side of a wooden shelf and other on the bottom of the shelf. They've been like this for a year. The earth's gravity is constantly pulling the bottom magnet and the top magnet is pulling as well. Will the top magnet ever run out energy?

EDIT: Thank you everybody!

[Assistant] It doesn't need energy to stay in the same place, just like the shelf doesn't need energy to stay where it is (the shelf is also held up by electromagnetic forces between the atoms in it). You would only need energy if you were moving the magnet to where it has more energy (like pulling it further away from the other magnet) or if you were giving it kinetic energy by speeding it up. Since it's not moving and it's not getting further from the other magnet, the energy stays the same.


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

[User] [Star Trek]It has been a couple of centuries, whatever happened to that planet full of Nazis? And no, I don't mean Cardassia, I mean that actual planet full of Nazis. The ones wearing swastikas. Again, not the Cardassian. They looked like humans.

[Assistant]
Ekos. Basically, after Kirk came in and broke their social structure, it was hoped that peace would be lasting and permanent. It wasn't. The planet fell back into war not long after Kirk left, and then the Klingons started selling arms to both sides of the conflict. The Federation returned to try and stop that, and well, it went poorly.

In short, it's a sad planet that's in a constant state of war that the Federation has decided that they just should leave alone because their past few attempts of fixing things has just made worse every single time.


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

[User] [MHAcademia] How does Todoroki protect himself from the pressure waves he creates when he rapidly evaporates his ice structures?

[Assistant] Just like when anyone uses their quirk for their whole lives, their body becomes conditioned to the recoil. For instance, we saw that Bakugo's explosions actually had a lot of recoil to them. Midoriya could barely handle it, but Bakugo can do it all day because he's been doing it most of his life. Todoroki started small and has been working his way up to what we see in the show.


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

[User] [WH40k] How strong is an average Ork Boy compared to a human?

[Assistant] MUCH stronger. Several times stronger. Only the absolute strongest human, the swolest of the Catachans for instance, can match even the average Ork. Your average Ork can casually tear a mans arm off and beat him with it.


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

[User] ELI5 What are all the Microsoft Visual C++ 20005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015-2019... different versions currently on my Windows computer for?

[Assistant]
Some software needs visual C++ to run (just like minecraft java edition needs java installed to run the game)

With each version of visual C++ there are different code libraries. To make your system backwards compatible with older software written for an older visual C++, they just install all versions of the visual C++


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

[User] [LOTR] When Gandalf refused to take the One Ring from Frodo, he said it would wield a great and terrible power. What would happen if he wore the One Ring?

[Assistant] >Gandalf as Ring-Lord would have been far worse than Sauron. He would have remained 'righteous', but self-righteous. He would have continued to rule and order things for 'good', and the benefit of his subjects according to his wisdom (which was and would have remained great).


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

[User]
ELI5: Why hubcaps/rims seem to spin in the opposite direction when moving at high speeds

Is this a trick of the eyes (something to do with light), or an entirely different phenomenon?

[Assistant]
Basically due to the strobe effect. Your eye can only see at a certain number of frames per second. You are capturing frames while the wheel is moving forward, *but* those frames happen at a time when the spokes appear to be slightly behind where they were in the first frame.

If the car changes speed while you are watching, you'll "see" the wheels slow down, almost stop, and then reverse to the correct direction!