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

[User]
My medical-resident wife once said, "I've taken enough microbiology to know that those things don't work," talking about public restroom toilet seat covers.  What's the science here?

She doesn't remember.

[Assistant] Toilet seats are not a favourable environment for bacteria to grow in, so adding a barrier won't do much to decrease the already low chance of transmission. Bacteria like moist areas - not too wet, not too dry. A flat, smooth surface can dry rather quickly. Something like your kitchen sponge is what you should worry about...


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

[User] ELI5:Why is unhealthy food (fries, pizza, cake, etc) usually so much more enjoyable and delicious than healthy food?

[Assistant] Because it is full of fat, sugars, and salt. All things vital to our survival but relatively hard to obtain in a natural setting. We evolved to seek them out and have only reliably had them in surplus for around 200 years. In moderation they are perfectly healthy.


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

[User] If an entire species is inbred, how could that be determined or is it not possible unless there's a baseline of the non-inbred version of a species?

[Assistant]
Simplifying a bit - one can count how many genes have multiple variants, and compare that to the total number of genes for the species.

Variation increases over time by random mutation, but if there is a population bottleneck or inbreeding, it's dictated simply by chance that many variants won't be carried forward.

We know that humans had a big population bottleneck because, compared to species with a similar number of genes (chimps, e.g.), a smaller proportion of our genes have multiple variants.


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

[User]
[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy] What is the question to life, the universe, and everything?

The answer is 42, so what's the question?  If nothing can be said definitively, then what's the most reasonable speculation we can make?

[Assistant]
The Question and The Answer are mutually exclusive within the same universe/reality. If both were revealed, it's speculated that "it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.

There is another theory which states that this has already happened."


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

[User]
ELI5: Why can shots injected in your butt go anywhere, while other shots need a vein?

Wow, came back from class and the gym and this had way more replies than I expected! Thanks for all the input!

[Assistant] It's called an Intramuscular injection and it doesn't have to be in the ass. It is often in the shoulder or thigh, too. Basically a slower delivery method than an Intravenous injection. Used when you want the drug to hit slower.


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

[User] [Marvel Cinematic Universe] Before becoming a sorcerer, how rich was Stephen Strange? Especially compared to guys like Tony Stark?

[Assistant]
He was pretty wealthy, his "real world" penthouse is worth about $13.5 million and he drives a $235k Lamborghini. Not that it would be much different in the MCU, any kind of penthouse in the middle of Manhattan would cost that much. If we assume that only around half of his wealth is tied to the apartment, $20 million net worth would be reasonable.

Nowhere close to Stark, but wealthy enough.

Comparatively, Stark's Malibu mansion is valued at around $117 million and he has a fleet of supercars that make Strange's Lambo look cute by comparison.


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

[User] ELI5: Why has Marvel made so many movies in their universe while DC has made so few?

[Assistant]
During the 1990's Marvel Entertainment (who owns Marvel Comics) spent the best part of the decade selling off the film rights to their major characters.

Spider-Man and Ghost Rider ended up Sony, Daredevil, X-Men and the Fantastic Four ended up at Fox and the Hulk ended up at Universal. Other characters ended up at other studios, but nothing came of them and the rights reverted back to Marvel Comics without much happening.

After the Blade, Spider-Man and X-Men trilogies, as well as Daredevil, Elektra, Hulk and Fantastic Four 1 & 2 came out, Marvel Entertainment had earned quite a bit of money from selling their control over the film rights to characters, particularly Spider-Man, who earned them more money for even "creative" control, even though not one of them was made by Marvel Entertainment themselves.

To add to this, films that had been unsuccessful, (mainly Hulk at this point) meant they could be bought back. So Marvel Comics came up with a plan to start producing films. They went to Paramount pictures and basically asked for a huge loan in order to release Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk while Marvel *Studios*, a new company, produced them. This big gamble paid off, and Paramount distributed the rest of Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

However, after the release of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, Disney were moving in to buy Marvel Entertainment and all it's subsidiaries (including Marvel Studios). They did, for $4 billion and since then, have allowed Marvel Studios the ability to keep making films.

Marvel Studios is a film company devoted only to making superhero films. They are the only kind of film they can make and as such, they have been lucky enough to be able to make 2 a year, every year.

EDIT- It should be noted that films that were made by other studios are NOT a part of the Marvel Cinematic universe. No Spider-Man film is, none of the X-Men are, Fantastic Four isn't. The other films specified have had their characters relapsed back to Marvel Studios, but they still aren't a part of the MCU until Marvel Studios does something with them.

By contrast, DC Comics is owned by Warner Brothers, and do not have their own separate film studio. Warner Brothers is a HUGE film company that makes a huge variety of films, they made Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, The Hobbit, The Hangover and haven't really needed to rely on superhero films in the same way Marvel Studios is. However, Warner Brothers has seen the success of Marvel Studios, and the CEO has given the greenlight to essentially keep up the pace with the competition and from 2016 will also be releasing two films per year, at least.


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

[User] ELI5: People say that proving P=NP would change computing overnight, but how? Wouldn't you still have to figure out the programming/computing technology to solve the NP problems? How would it affect our current computing?

[Assistant]
First you have to understand a little bit about the P and NP problem classes. For instance computer scientists already know a fast algorithm to multiply two numbers together, which happens to be a P problem.

However computer scientists don't know a fast algorithm to solve the Traveling Salesman Problem, which happens to be an NP problem. The Traveling Salesman Problem is defined as so: Given a list of cities what is the shortest possible route that a traveling salesman can visit each city exactly once and return to the origin city? Alternatively computer scientists also don't know a fast algorithm to solve the Knapsack Problem, which also happens to be an NP problem. The knapsack problem is defined as so: Given a set of different objects, each with a weight and a monetary value, determine the number of each item to put into the knapsack so that the total monetary value is as large as possible.

What computer scientists learned is that some problems can actually be converted into other problems by using clever logic. For instance the Traveling Salesman Problem can actually be converted to the Boolean Satisfiability Problem, where the details to this problem are not really important here (just know that it is also an NP problem and does not have a fast algorithm to solve it as well). Computer Scientists also found out that the Knapsack problem can be converted to the Boolean Satisfiability Problem, along with many other problems (Decryption is another one of these problems, which also happens to be an NP problem). These problems, that can converted to the Boolean Satisfiability Problem, are actually called NP-Complete problems.

Now IF a computer scientist figures out a fast algorithm to solve the Traveling Salesman Problem it would mean that we could convert that algorithm to solve the Boolean Satisfiability Problem as well. In turn we could use the fast algorithm to then solve the Knapsack problem and all the other NP-Complete problems.

The important part of all this discussion is that, if in fact P does equal NP, that means there MUST exist a fast algorithm to solve the Traveling Salesman Problem and therefore a fast algorithm to solve all the NP-Complete problems (which there are a fair amount of). This would be a major discovery because then programmers would be able to use fast algorithms to solve problems that they previously thought could only be solved with slower algorithms. Which means that programmers would be able to make much faster software than they previously thought was possible just by modifying the algorithm alone and not relying on hardware advances.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is Iowa so important in presidential elections?

/

[Assistant] As stated elsewhere, it is first, so it is important. People vote for winners, so if you are winning early, people are more likely to get behind you. And there are a lot of benefits to doing it this way. With so much money involved nowadays, arguably a candidate with less money has a chance if he/she can win over enough people in a smaller state like Iowa. If it was in California, New York, etc, you would have to have a ton of money to make a dent in reaching that size of a population.


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

[User] [The Incredibles] How involved were the supers in World War 2?

[Assistant]
It would seem like a lot of them were, even the villains. Despite being ostensibly non-government trained, they all seemed to possess a level of tactical acumen that they couldn't have honed entirely on their own, otherwise they'd be killed during their first run.

Bomb Voyage, for instance, probably fought as part of the French Resistance, since much of his skillset would be suited for sabotaging supply lines and infrastructure.


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

[User]
Why did Aristotelian-Thomistic Metaphysics fall out of favor?

And can they make a comeback in this scientifically advanced age?

[Assistant]
To a certain extentKant. Shitgenstein is definitely right vis--vis Descartes, but even after Descartes we see a lot of Aristotelian/Scholastic influence remain. To a certain extent, Descartes just unifies and systematizes changes which had been going on in the tradition of Scholastic metaphysics. He notes in one of the letters (I am almost certain it is the letter to Gassendi) that his collapse of the Aristotelian accidents into a new category of mode is just following what Suarez has already done with most of them (I believe influenced by Ockham). Moreover, certain Aristotelian/Scholastic structures make a big comeback with Leibniz and Wolff (in a sort of post-Cartesian form). It is Kant who basically banishes this kind of metaphysics (or at least does his level best). Any metaphysics after Kant basically has to contend with his subjective turn, and so it became hard to argue for an Aristotelian metaphysics in its original form.

Another major turning points in which you may be interested is Duns Scotus transformation of the concept of infinite. The infinite, prior to Scotus, is considered only negatively, as indetermination (this is Aristotles view, and it persist throughout most of the Scholastic period). Scotus conceptualizes a _positive_ infinity, and it is this which is taken up by the early modern rationalists, Kant, and German Idealism.


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

[User]
Could we send a probe to a star in another galaxy?

Ignoring the fact that we'd be dead long long long before it reached its destination, and rejecting the possibility of faster than light travel (as we don't have it right now) could we successfully target a probe or some other object to pass close to a star in another galaxy?

First, do we know enough about the position and movement of any other galaxy, let alone the stars within, to be able to predict where the star we're aiming for will be in the millions of years it will take to reach it?  Seems like we'd have to be very accurate with both, and we haven't had a lot of time to track them and predict where they're going to be (relative to how long they've been moving.)

Second, can we predict or ignore the forces acting on the probe?  Would intrastellar wind cause the probe to be thrown off track before it even left the galaxy?  Is there any evidence of any intergalactic forces aside from gravity?  Would gravity from distant galaxies have enough of an effect to pull the probe off course, or could we predict that effect enough to compensate?

Third, could we get an object to a star in another galaxy before said star had burned out?  I don't know what the top speed we'd be able to accurately send a probe is, obviously well short of light speed, and don't know how long it would take and how that number would compare to the life expectancy of any star, or how much we know about life expectancies of a given star in a different galaxy.

[Assistant]
With technology available right now, not a chance. We couldn't get it to go fast enough to escape our own galaxy. The Sun is orbiting about 220 km/s in the Milky Way, escape velocity from the galaxy around the solar system is around 500 km/s. So we'd need the probe to have about 300 km/s velocity leaving the solar system. Voyagers are going around 17 km/s or so. If we really wanted to, we could certainly improve on Voyagers, but not by that much.

And the other points you bring up could present problems as well. At such long time scales, the movement of stars is hard to predict accurately. You're essentially dealing with an n-body problem with no analytical solutions. You'll just have to do numerical simulations to figure out where things are moving. Even the movement of the planets in our solar system are hard to predict accurately millions of years into the future.

If you accurately want to get close to a specific star then you'll certainly need to eventually do course corrections along the way. There's no way we'd be able to make the power on the probe last long enough for any computer on board to make the corrections.


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

[User]
CMV: Insider trading should be legal

Insider trading, for those of you who aren't familiar with the term, is the practice of trading (i.e. buying or selling) a public company's stock by individuals with non-public knowledge about the company. Inside trading is considered a felony. For example, in 2001 Martha Stewart had a significant amount of stock in a drug company called ImClone. When a new drug by ImClone failed to get FDA approval, Stewart's broker tipped her off that the stock prices were about to fall dramatically. Stewart sold $230,000 in ImClone shares the day before the failure to get FDA approval became public knowledge. Ultimately, Stewart was found guilty of insider trading, which lead to five months in prison, five months of home confinement, and two years probation. Stewart is now a convicted felon.

This all brings me to my point of this CMV. I can think of no reason why insider trading should be considered illegal, and especially why it should be considered a felony. Typically the designation of felony is reserved for only the most heinous of crimes- such as murder, rape, assault, etc. It is absurd to believe that insider trading is anywhere near these crimes. Some may say that insider trading should be illegal as it gives some people an unfair advantage when it comes to buying and selling stocks. But is that really a good enough reasoning to make it illegal? There are numerous legal ways that people can gain an unfair advantage in the stock world- certainly nobody is going to arrest Warren Buffett's daughter if Buffett gives her stock advice. Furthermore, who exactly gets harmed by insider trading? Insider trading may be the ultimate example of a victimless crime. Insider trading results when a willing buyer and a willing seller agree to trade property that the seller rightfully owns, with no prior contract being made between the parties to refrain from trading if there is asymmetric information. Even Milton Friedman, a Nobel laureate in economics said-

"You want more insider trading, not less. You want to give the people most likely to have knowledge about deficiencies of the company an incentive to make the public aware of that."

So there you go, CMV. Try and change my view on insider trading.

EDIT: Wow, I'm really REALLY overwhelmed by the amount of responses this post has gotten. I'm pretty sure my view has been changed, but I can't really point out a single post that changed my view, so I'm not sure what to do about deltas. If you really want a delta and think you deserved one, message me and I'll read through your post. If it helped change my view, I'll give you the delta. Thanks for the discussion, CMV. I will fully admit that I didn't know much about economics coming into this thread, and that I was fully aware that my view on insider trading was lacking and came from a place of ignorance. I'm glad that I got a chance to learn a lot on the subject, as there are obviously many people here that know infinitely more about economics than I do. Once again, thank you.

[Assistant]
>Insider trading may be the ultimate example of a victimless crime.

Not really. Let's say Mark Zuckerberg knows that the quarterly report for Facebook is coming out next week and it isn't going to be good, meaning the price of Facebook shares is going to drop. Before this happens, Zuckerberg sells of a large portion of his shares, while still holding enough to have a majority stake in the company. By selling his shares he is decreasing the value of everyone else's shares of Facebook based on his own inside information that has not yet been released to the public.


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

[User]
[Kim Possible] Why haven't Kim and Ron been arrested and/or murdered?

I don't know much about the show, but it looks like their identities are publicly known and they don't make a habit of hiding whatever shenanigans they get up to. So... why are they still alive and operational? Why, at the very least, wouldn't the US government throw them in prison for vigilantism, to say nothing of all the other laws they probably break? And why wouldn't all the hardened criminals just immediately come after them and bomb their houses or something?

[Assistant]
They aren't vigilantes. They are hired by people to solve the problems they are solving. (The most common example is being hired to retrieve stolen goods, but they've also been hired for protection and such.)

Given Wade's hacking abilities they probably have all the forms necessary for their jobs to be above board as well. Not to mention their ties to global justice (UN superspy organization) and their many powerful friends.


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

[User] Approximately how much power is lost when using a wireless charger compared to a normal wired one? And what factors contribute the most to this loss?

[Assistant]
Very, *very* roughly twice.  In reality it depends very strongly on the kind of charger you want to compare it against.  Wired chargers can be 98% efficient but consumer products are never so high and some are as bad as 60%.  Wireless chargers top out around 80-90% but can be as bad as 30-40%.

The function of a charger is to convert wall frequency and voltage (60ish Hz, 120+ V) to phone/whatever voltage (0 Hz, 5-24+ V).  Almost all wireless chargers convert the wall electricity to a much higher frequency (MHz), which is much easier to transmit through the air.  Then it has to convert back to phone voltage- that's where the "roughly twice as bad" comes from.  In reality the engineers strike a balance between the transmission efficiency and conversion efficiencies, and it can be a little better or worse than twice as bad.


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

[User]
[ATLA] Is the Avatar the most skilled bender on the planet for every element?

Assume fully trained Avatars. Was Toph a superior Earth Bender than Aang even in later years? Similarly could Uncle Iroh defeat Aang in a pure fire bending match? Or is the Avatar just a master of every element but not necessarily the best bender of that element?

Edit: also assume not in the Avatar state.

[Assistant]
An Avatar state Avatar would be stronger than any other bender on the planet, but they would not necessarily be more skilled.

So avatar state Aang would be able to overwhelm even Toph by throwing big rocks at her, but he never learned to metalbend (or presumably any of the other advanced earthbending techniques she knew), so he would not be more skilled.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are shows like Dr.Oz allowed to give out health advice that isn't scientifically supported? How isn't this considered illegal?

[Assistant]
He's not *really* giving out health advice. Instead, he protects himself by merely reporting what others say. He'll never say "/u/DanaNotDonna's itchy feet will be cured by eating dryer lint." Instead, he'll quote a study like this: "According to a recent study by the Home Appliance Institute, 57% of people who eat dryer lint say their feet do not itch." So it's the authors of the study making the claim, except not really. The study authors are going to say something non-committal like "Although a positive correlation was found between dryer lint consumption and non-itchy feet, more study is needed and it will be several years before the production of dryer-lint based medicines."

Dr. Oz can also shield himself by interviewing a guest about the problem instead of making any statement himself. "What options are there for people with itchy feet?" "Well, a recent study . . ." So, you'll have to go through 3 or more layers of people to finally find someone who didn't really say your itchy feet would be helped by the dryer lint anyway.


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

[User]
How does water reach every house in a city in roughly the same conditions? shouldnt a house interrupt the system?

just wondering about this when i was taking a bath. if i open the faucet water comes out at a given pressure, this seems to be the same base pressure on every house and building. but if all that water is running under the city at a base pressure wouldnt a house opening the faucet decrease the pressure of the overall system? how can every house recieve the same water pressure at the same time (7am for example when everyone is getting ready). how are some parts of the system not more pressurised than other by use/un-use.

and how can a valve be closed without increasing the pressure of the system? i know this is wrong because if it was true then water pipes could explode but im having trouble imagining exactly how its handled.

[Assistant] Pressure is largely static because the discrepancy between the volume of the source versus the volume of the house supply.  1,000,000:1.   When you do see the changes is when there are too many houses (overdevelopment) or is a few users pull water at a higher pressure (extract with a pump) a significant volume.  Example is a fire pumper truck which will drop the pressure in a neighborhood when fighting a fire.


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

[User]
[Home Alone] Could Harry and Marv sue?

I know we've all heard that story about the burglar who sued for damages after being excessively injured by a booby trap.

It seems to me, your honor, that the actions that Kevin McCallister took were sadistic, and far in excess of personal defense. He engineered traps designed to maim, to inflict horrific wounds. He burnt a man's scalp with 3rd degree burns, inflicted permanent baldness. Does a person need to set another person on fire to defend themselves? No.

I say that the actions of Kevin McCallister are far in excess of personal defense.

[Assistant]
Kevin is a child who's home was invaded by multiple armed burglers with both a stated intent to harm, and active attempts to harm Kevin, quite possibly to kill him.

It is reasonable to assume that Kevin felt in fear for his life, and the acts and statements of the burglers show that to be a reasonable fear.

Therefore, anything short of killing the burglers should fall under the aegis of self defense, and defence of ones home.


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

[User]
When I remove a dot of ink from my hand with a bit of rubbing alcohol, where does the ink "go"?

Does it just get spread out really thinly so that it's not noticeable any more?  Or does it get dissolved in the alcohol and evaporate into the air?  Or does something else happen?

[Assistant]
> Or does it get dissolved in the alcohol

Yes.

> Does it just get spread out really thinly so that it's not noticeable any more?

Yes!

> and evaporate into the air?

No.

The alcohol acts as a solvent, and the ink gets dissolved in it. The alcohol dilutes the ink, and if you're using an alcohol pad, the pad ends up absorbing the ink and alcohol. If you pour alcohol from the bottle onto your hand, the alcohol will either wash off (down the sink drain) carrying the ink with it, or if it all stays on your hand it'll just spread the ink really thinly. The ink, however, does not evaporate. The alcohol will evaporate and leave the ink behind -- just spread more thinly than it originally was.


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

[User] ELI5: How do we know where our body parts (for example our hands) are when in complete darkness?

[Assistant] Proprioception.  Basically your brain pays attention to what all the body's senses are telling it: balance, touch, etc etc and integrates that into the sense of where your body parts are and what they're doing.


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

[User]
[Alien movies] instead of wasting all that time, money, ships and loss of life trying to capture aliens for military R&D, why not just focus on making combat androids?

 Seems like a better strategy all around for the company.

[Assistant]
Okay, if you're evil assholes, Xenomorphs *do* make a lot of sense as a bioweapon in this setting.

If you were able to modify them with a reliable timed killswitch of some kind (or control them any way), dumping a couple of facehuggers onto an offending colony or even a planet is a pretty cost effective way of wiping out the local population.  Combat androids are expensive, and you need way more of them,  though on the other hand they are a non-renewable resource, so they are more profitable to manufacture (this is one of the few reasons we aren't already dead from bioweapons IRL, they just aren't economically viable to develop).

The more immediate problem is that the first part invariably fails, and you'd think that after the first couple of tries they'd give up.


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

[User]
[Lord of the Rings] Why was the balrog still hanging out in Moria?

The balrog was presumably buried deep in the Earth during the last cataclysmic battle with Morgoth, until such time as it was accidentally awakened by the dwarves. After that, and after all the dwarves had been killed, why was it still down there? It was a being comparable in power to Sauron himself, and with no qualms about hiding its power (like Gandalf or Saruman), it should have been ready, willing, and able to emerge into the outer world and begin a rampaging reign of terror across Middle Earth. So why was it still hanging out in some boring old abandoned tunnels, with nothing more interesting to do than scare goblins?

[Assistant]
Balrogs are servants of Morgoth. They were his earliest followers, and they have never demonstrated an inclination to act outside his will. When Morgoth was captured and taken to Valinor, the Balrogs sat in his abandoned fortress and waited.

You could make the same argument there as you do for Durin's Bane in the Third Age. Outside and to the south were kingdoms of Elves, and a bit to the east of that a few Dwarven kingdoms in the Blue Mountains. Why not rise out of the depths of Angband and scour south, destroying these fledgling upstarts?

Because Morgoth wasn't there to tell them to do that, and that was enough. You might wonder why Sauron made himself a visible player in the Second and Third Ages, and the answer is that Sauron was ever only a servant of convenience. He joined Morgoth because he saw there someone who made plans and followed through, and Sauron wanted to do things. His purpose was always to act. Inaction was what led him to reject the Valar. The Balrogs had no such motivation. They were truly their master's agents.

So when the Balrog of Moria was awakened, he didn't even kill all the Dwarves. It was a full year before the Dwarves left Moria, and during that time they lost two kings, presumably, leading expeditions into the bowels of their kingdom to deal with whatever terror was picking off their people. When the Dwarves finally flee, no one knows what Durin's Bane was. Apparently, everyone who managed to get enough of a description to help identify the Balrog was killed before they could spread those details. Why did it take so long, and why was it incomplete? Why did the Balrog never venture out, over the course of a thousand years? And why did it not seem to care about the Orcs who arrived five hundred years into its quiet time?

Because it was a servant, and it was waiting for its master, protecting the secret that it was there, still waiting. As it was when the Fellowship came through. The Balrog did not pursue the Fellowship until Gandalf collapsed a room on it.


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

[User]
[DBZ:Android saga] Why did Dr/ Gero go past android 16. Yes he said he was not complete but he is A. Far stronger than 17 and 18. B. Level headed and obedient. C. wants to kill goku. Sure he wasn't done but why not just continue to work on him instead of making 17/18/useless 19

and cell for that matter.

[Assistant]
WAS he obedient?  Gero was dead so he just went with it.

Maybe he didn't follow Gero's orders, and after Android 8 Gero wanted to be sure things would go as planned.

Also he had that bomb in his body that he could choose to activate at any time.

Not following orders + having a ridiculously powerful bomb in his body = dangerous, do not activate.


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

[User]
What are the differences between waves?

I hear sound waves, I see light waves, and I would feel micro waves if they were in a high enough concentration. So what is the difference between then?

[Assistant]
Light waves and microwaves are the same, just at different wavelengths. They are both examples of electromagnetic waves.

Sound waves are just the motions of compressed air. A vibrating object will cause the air around it to compress and then decompress as it moves towards the air and then away.

We call things "waves" if they obay the mathematical "wave equation" which you can google. It is a partial differential equation that relates how quickly things are changing in space are connected to how quickly things are changing in time.

It turns out the intensity of light and how light moves follows the same rules as the volume of sound and how sound moves. Just with a different underlying thing changing (air pressure or strength of electric fields) and different speeds. But the math for both work the same so we call them both waves.


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

[User]
How do we know the chemical composition of the Earth's core?

I understand that we know the Earth's core to be mostly Iron and Nickel, but how do we know this is the case?

[Assistant] From a kind of meteorites called chondrites, we know the primordial composition of the Earth since they are made of materials that first condensed from the accretion disc. Compared to the composition of the Earth's crust, chondrites have an excess of iron and nickel as well as other siderophilic elements. We also know that iron and nickel don't mix very well with silicates when they solidify, so the "missing" iron and nickel on the Earth's outer layers must have sunk to the center of the Earth. This is corroborated by mapping of the different densities of the Earth's layers, the presence of a geomagnetic field, as well as compositions of iron-nickel meteorites.


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

[User]
What happens to the energy in a sound wave when it reaches space?

So, sound doesn't travel through space, right? Say you make a noise with enough energy to travel through all of the layers of the atmosphere until it reaches space. What does that energy change to when it reaches space?

[Assistant] sound travels at different speeds through different materials .. since at the edge of the atmosphere is simply runs out of material to "be a wave" in, it will splash and fall back ... create wave patterns on the "surface" of the atmosphere. like those fancy youtube videos of sound creating wave patterns in liquid metals and such.


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

[User] ELI5: Why on open highways do drivers generally drive in clusters? Usually someone blocking left lane as well.

[Assistant]
If you drive faster than average, you will eventually reach the back of another group of cars. Until you can overtake, you just added to a cluster.

If you drive slower than average, eventually other cars will reach the back of you. Until they can overtake, they just added to a cluster.

If an obstruction or problem appears, causing several drivers to all slow down, a cluster is almost guaranteed to form behind them, until everyone can speed back up and then let the fast drivers overtake the not-so-fast drivers.

Only by all driving at the same speed, or by making overtaking so easy that it always happens right away, could we prevent the natural formation of clusters.


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

[User] If you were to set an object in motion in space in a random direction what are the chances it will continue on without ever hitting anything?

[Assistant]
If it's faster than the escape velocity of the galaxy, then it would almost certainly never hit anything ever (unless it happens to start right next to a planet etc). This is quite fast - over 500 km/s - but note that we're already going around the Milky Way at over 200 km/s in our orbit. Milky Way escape velocity is <0.2% of the speed of light, and at that speed it would still take you thousands of years to reach Alpha Centauri, so while it's fast, it's not sci-fi ridiculous fast.

Once you escape the Milky Way, the odds of you ever reentering another galaxy are near zero. As the universe is expanding, you don't get infinite chances at this. Basically if you're not aimed straight at a nearby galaxy, you'll just drift through space forever, and never reach another galaxy ever. And even if you reach another galaxy, you will shoot right through with low odds of hitting anything.

If you're slower than the escape velocity of the galaxy, then you get to orbit around the Milky Way for a very long time, and you will *eventually* hit something. However, this is only over an extremely long time-scale.

There's a couple of ways to picture this. One is that a star is more likely to hit another star than a spaceship is to hit a star. Two stars have more gravity and pull each other together. A spaceship doesn't accelerate stars or planets significantly, so gravity is less of a help. So the time-scale over which you have a 50/50 chance that your drifting spaceship has hit a star or planet is *at minimum* the same time-scale over which *every star* has a 50/50 chance of hitting another star. Basically, by the time a drifting spaceship has hit a star, so many stars in the Milky Way will have had mergers or close encounters with other stars that the Milky Way will look very different. Many stars will be ejected from the Milky Way by close encounters or fall down to the centre. This very far in the future - thousands of times the current age of the universe.

Another way is to think of it in terms of Olber's Paradox. For unresolved distant stars - as in the Milky Way - they blur together into a faint wispy white cloudy band across the sky. This is of course not as bright as the Sun. The reason it's not as bright as the Sun is because there's big gaps between the stars. Basically, the brightness of the Milky Way is the "filling factor" of these stars, multiplied by the surface brightness of the stars (which is similar to the surface brightness of the Sun). Basically, if the Milky Way looks a million times dimmer than the Sun, that would be because the gaps between the stars are a million times bigger than the area filled by stars. The fact that the Milky Way is so dim tells you that there are huge gaps between stars, even if you add up all the stars along your line of sight, and any random ray will almost certainly miss every single star.

Note that this means that this popular quote from Mass Effect 2 is not accurate:

> Every five seconds, the main gun of an Everest-class Dreadnought accelerates one to 1.3 percent of light speed ... Once you fire this hunk of metal, it keeps going 'till it hits something! That can be a ship, or the planet behind that ship. It might go off into deep space and hit somebody else in ten thousand years. If you pull the trigger on this, you are ruining someone's day, somewhere and sometime!

Unless a high-speed projectile hits something immediately (i.e. a ship or a planet behind the ship), it will almost certainly never hit anything ever while drifting through deep space. It'll fly straight out of the galaxy and never be seen again.


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

[User] ELI5: how do touch lamps work?

[Assistant]
Most touch lamps have a small computer circuit in them that is measuring and sensing the capacitance of the metal frame of the lamp.

Capacitance is the ratio of the amount of electrical charge stored in a conductor like the metal lamp frame compared to that conductors electrical potential. (how much charge could be stored)

By your touching the lamp - you change its capacitance which the computer reads as someone touched me and changes the brightness using a dimmer circuit which limits the lights brightness or turns it off completely on a more basic lamp.

TL:DR

They replaced the pull chain or switch that turns a light on and off - with a computer thats waiting for an input. The input is your skin changing the electrical properties of the frame of the lamp.


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

[User]
[ATLA] How did Zaheer, a non bender, get so good at airbending in a few weeks?

Don't most people have to train for decades?

[Assistant] Zaheer was a fanatic for Airbending culture and studied several historical masters in-depth before he actually became a bender. He was an accomplished martial artist and knew the forms needed, with a wealth of time on his hands to practice while incarcerated. Essentially he had all the knowledge of the theory and the necessary physical fitness, the last piece of the puzzle was the ability itself.


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

[User] ELI5: What even is plastic?

[Assistant]
You've probably heard that everything is made up of atoms. Well, atoms come together in different ways to form unique molecules. Sugar is a molecule, for example.

Plastics are very special molecules called polymers. These polymers are made up of monomers, which are like lego blocks that can be stacked up on top of each other to make a bigger and bigger molecule. What makes plastics really special is that these molecules are very big and stable, and it's very hard to pull the lego pieces apart and break them down again. That is why plastics last for so long in the environment.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why don't astromech droids just speak Basic?

So I was saving up for *ages* and now I finally have my very own Astromech droid. It's nothing flashy, just a stock R5 (certainly not one of those inexplicably trendy R2 units - is there a Huttese word for 'overpriced?'). I was so excited! Finally I have a navigator and mechanic that will just follow me everywhere and also be my best friend.

It's only been a few cycles, so maybe I just need to get used to it, but can anybody else understand just what the Hell these things are saying? Here's basically a transcript of every exchange I have with the useless little waste of money:

"hey R-5, did you lock down those power couplings like I asked you to?"

"BEEP BLOOP BORP BLAAAAP."

"What? Is that a yes?"

"BWOOP BWOOP BEEP BOMP"

"I don't understand this. Is this a language?"

"GURGLE"

"Are you malfunctioning? I can't tell if these are noises you're supposed to be making."

What good is having a best friend slash mechanic if the thing is constantly monologuing in unintelligible techno-gibberish? I swear this little asshole talks to himself all night. Do you have any idea how annoying it is to be woken up from a twi-lek slave girl dream by a stupid little garbage can reciting some ancient droid poetry or something? Did nobody think a useful feature for one of these things might be asking stuff like "what's the temperature outside?" or "give me any kind of useful information whatsoever." Let's not even mention the fact that I basically can't use stairs anymore.

Do I have it in the wrong mode? Is it set on fax machine? Is this some obnoxious ploy by Industrial Automation to force me to buy another droid just to understand my first droid? I swear to the Force if I have to have some gay-ass protocol droid follow me around, it's not worth the trouble. How in the galaxy did these things get so popular, anyway?

It's a big pile of poodoo if you ask me.

[Assistant]
Clearly you bought into the marketing hype and got a product that wasn't intended for you. The Astromech-series droids were not designed for frequent interaction with sapient beings. They're designed to be mobile computers that interact with other computers and do a lot of the background work, computer processing, diagnostics, and basic repair. They're supposed to be tools that are connected to a central computer, not companions and even their use in starfighters is a bit of stretch for their initial design. The Industrial Automation company frequently tells their customers of this, but that doesn't stop them from running those flashy adds on the HoloNet where they show off adventurers and their trusty R-line droids.

If you wanted something you could interact with on an individual level, you should have purchased a protocol droid.


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

[User]
[Middle Earth: Shadow of War] What new powers does Celebrimbor's ring actually possess?

Been watching the story mode gameplay, haven't seen the entire game yet. Is there any actual difference between what Celebrimbor/Talion was able to do before ( dominate, interrogate, life drain, etc. ) and what he does after forging his new ring?

Is it just a generic more powerful version? It's heavily implied that Celebrimbor, due to pouring most of his wraith power into the ring, is much weaker without it, and he can't dominate uruks until he gets the ring back.

Does it have any other powers, or purpose, besides being a generic power buffer?

[Assistant] I think the endgame is to have a ring that can challenge Sauron, not just dominate Orcs. He mentions a lot that with the One Ring, he was unstoppable and was serving Sauron his ass on a silver plate, so that's the result he's trying to achieve, just without the 'and then it abandoned him huehue' part.


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

[User]
Why aren't more people cured of HIV with bone marrow transplants?

It's been 13 yrs since the first person was cured while attempting to treat their cancer and several others have been as well. Why isn't this used as a treatment? Is it just because it's so hard to find a match? If so, why isn't there a HUGE push for sites like Be The Match? Every time it happens every article just says "this may lead to a cure" well it's been over a decade now.

[Assistant]
Because its incredibly dangerous.  The treatment itself nearly killed the guy. The only reason they did it, is because he would've been dead in a few months anyway. He had both HIV and Cancer, the cancar treatment was a bone marrow transplant.

They just used a very specific donor marrow and curing his HIV was a secondary outcome.

HIV is no longer a death sentence, its not worth the risk to the patient. Except in extreme cases.


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

[User]
Why did they use black balls as opposed to white balls to cover the LA reservoir?

Since the reason for covering the surface in the first place seem to be to reduce evaporation. Would it not make more sense to cover it with something white instead of black?

[Assistant]
They're not to reduce evaporation, sunlight is causing a chemical reaction in the reservoir that is unsafe for drinking. These balls prevent 91% of light from penetrating the surface, reducing the chemical buildup of unsafe minerals.

Got this info from Veritasium on YouTube, he's got 2 great videos about them.


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

[User]
I think organ harvasting from death human bodies should not be optional, but mandatory, so CMV

After a person dies there is relatively short period during which certain organs may be harvasted from their body and transplanted in patients suffering from for example kidney failures. Most countries have an opt-in system whereby you must consent to it explicitly. Some have an opt-out system whereby you must explicity state you don't want your organs to be used. My point of view, that you are welcome to change, is that a person should never have the ability to refuse organ and tissue harvasting after their death. Not from themselves and not from their family. Every single body that is medically usefull should be automatically be available. Anytime, anywhere without questions.

First, there is no denying that the world is suffering from a shortage of donated organs. Nor is there denying that this shortage incures a real hardship and suffering on an untold number of patients who die or are disabled while yet another person gets buried or cremated with organs that would greatly enhance their life had they been available.

Secondly, as soon as a person dies, their fundamental rights end. The rights to physical integrity and religion specifically apply here. Rationally, it only makes sense to confer these to actual living humans. It's also what we do in practice. For a totally non-controversial example : when somebody dies, their right to vote stops abruptly and automatically. There just isn't a person anymore to take advantage of any would-be right. Not to vote, not to religion and not to physical integrity.

Finally, I understand my proposal might lead religiously extremely motivated people to forego medical help in the last hours of their life in fear of being used as an organ donor. Of course that's not a diserable outcome. That's why I think my proposal makes the most sense for a country like Belgium. It is as secular as you can get and already has an opt-out system. Just like with gay marriage, this issue could then form it's own propaganda by showing the world that the sky is not falling after its enactment and gradually break down the irational support against it.

[Assistant]
Well if the wishes of the living are irrelevant after they are dead - should we legalise  necrophilia? Should we have a 100% tax on all you assets for the greater good? Selling your house could do more "good" in your formulation than letting your bereaved widow live in a house built for 2!

How we treat the dead is not just about the person who has died, but about the values we want as a society and the way in which we respect both the expressed preferences of the living and the rights of the living relatives of those who have died.


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

[User]
[Marvel]How does Daredevil not have Tinnitus?

He dodges gunfire all day and night with his enhanced senses, but how does it not affect his hearing?

[Assistant]
Mild spoilers for DD Season Two.

Three things:

First, Matt's ears aren't exactly more sensitive than ours, it's that he's better able to process the signals his ears send to his brain. Or it could be that his more sensitive ears are also more resilient. Either way, the sounds he experiences aren't any more damaging to him than they are to us.

Second, the meditation Stick taught him provides amazing regenerative and recuperative abilities. This is most obviously a benefit when he's beaten, stabbed, or shot (what Matt calls a "normal Tuesday"), but we also see it when he goes temporarily deaf. He sits down and meditates for several hours, and when he's done, everything is back to more or less normal.

Third, his helmet has some ear protection.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do they remaster old tv shows in HD?

Surely if something was filmed originally in standard definition, and was never re-filmed, they wouldnt be able to enhance the quality, right? All they have is lower quality footage with less pixels, how can that be converted into HD?

[Assistant] Old analog stuff was filmed on film. Film is just photographs and doesn't store data in 'pixels' but on the color change of microscopic crystals so it's storing a ton more data than even the highest resolution tv.


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

[User] ELI5: How do dishwashers clean everything so thoroughly?

[Assistant]
It's a combination of high pressure hot water sprayed over and over and over again, and a detergent in the water that breaks down grease and food particles and dissolves them into a solution in the water to be drained away.

Even without detergent, just the hot water spraying repeatedly for the cycle does the majority of the work.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Had Fives revealed the truth to the Jedi Council, would they have defeated Palpatine?

It seems like Fives was *so* close to blowing the conspiracy wide open. Had Fives rested up, overcome the drugging which made him disoriented and aggressive, and managed to contact Anakin for safe passage to a Jedi Council meeting (wherein he explains everything he knew and the revelation about Palpatine) would it have really foiled Palpatine's plan?

I feel like the Jedi Order were so stuck in their ways that they would take their time investigating the claims, inevitably allow Palpatine to cotton on to the fact that his cover is about to be blown, and then still spring an Order 66 on them with some additional mass bombardment on the Jedi Temple to take out many of the wary Jedi Masters.

But at the same time, perhaps it would be the final piece of the puzzle, making everything click for the Council in regards to Palpatine being the Sith Lord?

TL;DR Would the Jedi Council learning the truth of the inhibitor chips and Order 66 around the Fives Arc change their fate?

[Assistant] Honestly they probably still wouldn't have figured it out. By the time ROTS starts, the Jedi are aware that a Sith Lord influences the Senate and has manipulated the Clone Wars, they're also aware that Palpatine has been using the Clone Wars to extend his term using emergency powers, and they also sense that the Dark Side clouds the Chancellor. And it still takes Palpatine confessing to Anakin for them to realize they're the same person.


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

[User] ELI5: how does ibuprofen increase stroke risk if it thins the blood?

[Assistant] Well, it makes the blood thinner and can also cause high blood pressure. Both of those together are a recipe for bleeding at weak points in blood vessels, and if that happens in your brain, you're on a one-way train to stroke town.


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

[User]
How was the universe a few light years across within a second of creation?

I was reading Astrophysics for people in a hurry, and there is a line in chapter 1 that says that when a second had passed from the Big Bang, the universe was a few light years across. Wouldnt it be, at most, 2 light seconds+100 or so Meters across in the first second? How could the edges move magnitudes faster than the speed of light?

[Assistant]
This is the size of the *observable* universe. The (old) volume of the stuff we can observe today, 13.8 billion years after the big bang. What is the observable universe today had no special meaning back then. Someone making the analog statement 10 billion years ago would have given different numbers (as their observable universe was smaller - less time for light to arrive at them). The overall universe is much larger than the observable part, potentially even infinite.

The big bang was not matter moving through space. It was space itself expanding. Nothing moved faster than the speed of light. The distance between stuff grew.


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

[User]
[Terminator] Considering Skynet was a Cold War AI, why does the US military keep developing it?

Basically, I guess we already have to accept the Soviet Union lasted a decent amount longer than in our universe, Im guessing at least until the mid-2000s; that being said, why is this AI always developed? Dont get me wrong, I think the US military is bad, maybe its just always crafted as a weapon to dominate competitors regardless of when the Cold War ends? Maybe it was created in our period of intense competition between the US, China, and Russia? Why do you think the US always develops Skynet no matter how far into the future the plot moves?

[Assistant] The funny thing is, even with the original reason for building Skynet (coordinating nuclear strike options with a speed and precision a human couldn't manage) fading in importance, AI remains a serious target for military planners. Right now, world governments are being swamped in sensor data; drones, satellites, gun cameras, and many more sources of information are feeding into a pool that no human being can reasonably process. If the military had an artificial intelligence that could be fed all this data, process it in real time, and make intelligent decisions based on that data, it could be a quantum leap in intelligence and tactical capability. Of course, for the AI to work as intended, you need to give it access to *everything*...


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

[User]
Why are libertarians opposed to organized labor?

Is this a misconception? To me it seems that libertarians would be opposed to government involvement in organized labor, for instance, a law forcing individuals to join a labor union in order to join the work force. But if the market determines these sorts of things then why does a libertarian oppose organized labor. If prison guards in Ohio join a union in order to raise their wages I don't see how that isn't the market determining wages. If prison guards refuse to work for anything less than a certain amount and their unity on the issue makes it so that they have to be payed that amount or else they will strike then isn't that just reinforcing the market value of a prison guard? Or, if the price the prison guards ask for is too high, then a new crop of unemployed people that were willing to work for less would presumably take their place. I don't see how this is violating liberty. There's something here I'm misunderstanding, but I don't know what it is.

[Assistant]
Libertarians don't oppose them, they just oppose all of the government protections they have.

Every individual employee, according to libertarians, has the right to quit working (unless you signed some sort of contract that says I'll work for <x> years no matter what). If they all have that right, then surely they can all exercise that right at the same time, if they so choose. If employers find it's problematic to have all of their work force walk out at the same time, well, they'd better start dealing with the union.

That's fine by libertarians. What they don't like is when you have laws that force people to join unions if they don't want to. They don't like that unions have a tendency to physically prevent replacement workers form entering their workplace, meaning that employers don't get the option to replace the people they've fired.
Unions occasionally get away with beating up 'scabs' which is obviously wrong. Libertarians don't like how difficult it can be to fire someone in a union, etc. Basically, so many contemporary union powers are granted by government legislation, rather than stemming from their inherent value as workers.

There aren't any modern unions that *only* exercise their right to quit, which is the only bargaining chip libertarians think it's ethical for unions to use.


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

[User] ELI5: how and by what means can the origin of the poison be determined, example from the recent poisoning in UK where they know it came from Russia?

[Assistant]
Certain details of the manufacturing process leave detectable impurities in the chemical.  If you have samples to compare them to, you can determine with decent accuracy what lab they came from. The same sort of technique is used in drug investigations.

Also, particular ingelredients may be local - as someone else mentioned - making it possible to determine origin.

Edit: however, those sorts of things only tell you where it was *made.*  Russia has, at times since the end of the Cold War, been a *bit* careless with their military stockpile.  Presumably, this is why the Brits gave their unanswered 'deadline for explanation.' as opportunity for the Russians to explain the possible black-market movement of the chemical.

They may also have other types of evidence, intercepted communications or some cool spy shit, that indicate direct Russian involvement.


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

[User]
ELI5 Cloning

I see many ELI5's about the ethics of cloning or how cloning fell of the news scene in recent years, but I am wondering about the process of cloning. Especially with the rise of Boyalife in the news, building a massive cloning facility in China. I am interested in how cloning happens! Any help is appreciated.

[Assistant]
Traditional reproduction has a sperm and egg. Both have half of a full set of chromosomes. When the sperm enters the egg it deposits its half of the chromosomes, now with the two combined the newly formed zygote has a full set. It begins to develop as a new individual with neither the exact DNA of its mother or father, but a mixture.

In cloning you remove the chromosomes of the egg and insert a complete set. It can be from the mother, father or any other member of the species The resulting individual will be an exact duplicate of whatever was the source of its chromosomes. This is a clone.


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

[User]
Hegel and Marx in 4 months?

 I'm taking a course titled "Hegel and Marx" in September as a part of my undergrad degree, and I don't know much about these two, but I have four months to prepare. I'm not sure what exactly the course will cover, but if anyone could suggest a reading list or lesson plan for the next four months to get acquainted with these guys I'd greatly appreciate it.

[Assistant] How up are on on your Kant? Dont worry about reading up on Marx and Hegel in the next four months, thats what the course is for, but it might be worth while brushing up on your pre-hegel german idealism, and some British political economy (Adam Smith and David Ricardo).


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

[User]
[X-Men: DOFP] So, why doesn't the Professor seem at all mournful at the end?

Wolverine just woke up. But he's not the same Wolverine who went to sleep the night before. That Wolverine, yesterday's Wolverine, the man that Professor X has known for decades, for all practical purposes no longer exists and is dead - and in his place is this stranger whom Professor X knew for a few days back in the 70s.

But Charles is acting like his best friend just strolled in from a camping trip, and is eager to catch up. Seems a little cold, doesn't it?

[Assistant]
For all we know, Xavier has been "backing up" Logan's memories periodically for years now. And even if he hadn't, catching someone up is simple for a telepath.

But most importantly, Charles Xavier is first and foremost a person who looks after others. Even if he *was* crushed by the loss of his long-held friend... he wouldn't saddle the newly returned 70s Logan with that burden. He'd seal that up, welcome him back warmly, and then quietly stare out the window after Logan left.


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

[User] If energy cannot be created or destroyed, why do scientists predict a heat death of the universe in far future?

[Assistant]
Heat death isn't no more energy it's just that all energy is the same everywhere.

You have 10 sheep in a pen and two sheep in an adjacent pen. Connect the pens. How many sheep would you expect in each pen after a week? Six in each pen. Ditto for energy at the end of the universe. The energy will be distributed so every single pen has the same energy.

Turns out interesting things (aka all life) requires differences in energy to function.


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

[User] [DC] Can superheroes who fly reach lightspeed by continuesly adding to their momentum in space?

[Assistant]
Some can, some can't.

As you get closer to *c*, you require exponentially more energy to accelerate the same amount. For some heroes with near infinite amounts of energy (superman, the flash if he could fly, Martian Manhunter). For others with less stamina or what not, the strain would either impossible, or kill them trying.


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

[User]
[Star Trek: All] Considering all the wars the Federation has been in, why haven't they built a fleet of dedicated warships?

I understand that Starfleet's main goals/ mission is science based, but how can you not justify at least a small "taskforce" of dedicated warships? Or better yet, have the Federation create a branch of Starfleet not dedicated to science... Am I missing something?

[Assistant]
Starfleet has built some dedicated warships, like the *Defiant*.  But as to why they haven't built an entire fleet of warships?  It's probably because Starfleet ships are already exceptionally well-designed for combat as well as exploration.  The newer ship classes, like the Galaxy- and Intrepid-class ships, have been found to be more than a match for the warships of other alpha-quadrant species, like Klingon Birds of Prey.

Now, Starfleet certainly could have used a fleet of dedicated warships during the Dominion War.  But this was more a case of Dominion shipyards being more efficient than Starfleet's, and the Dominion being able to breed enough Jem'Hadar to man them, while Starfleet was experiencing a manpower shortage.  The problem wasn't the design of Starfleet's ships, it was just that there weren't enough spaceworthy ships out there to match the Dominion's numbers.


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

[User] [1984] Seeing as the timeline diverged in 1948, after only 36 years surely there are still historical figures either politicking, imprisoned, or going about life. What's Margret Thatcher doing? Richard Nixon? Anyone interesting in the inner party/making trouble in Oceania or elsewhere?

[Assistant]
The year is 1984. Last year was also 1984, and next year will be 1984. History is mutable, just like memory.

tl;dr: It's almost certainly not actually 1984, as history is constantly being re-written by the governments.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do countries do trade with different currencies?

I was thinking about it, and I couldn't figure it out. If say the US bought $500k of product from Germany, what does Germany now do with US Dollars?

[Assistant]
Well it depends on if youre buying it form
The German government, or. Richard German company.

If its a private German company, they might just keep it in a bank account as dollars, or more likely exchange the currency for the equivalent amount of euros with some party (Bank, financial group, whichever, idk exactly how Germans function) that does currency exchange.

If its going straight to the German government, well, chance are theyll just hold onto it. And then use it whenever they need to buy something from the US, or other countries. US dollars are close to being the accepted global currency on a macro level, pretty much every country has reserves of US dollars stored somewhere.

This mainly stems from the years of economic dominance the US had post WW2, it was the most stable country so everyone was confident in its currency and wanted to trade with the US.


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

[User]
CMV: Toxic Masculinity exists just as tangibly as Toxic Femininity, and it's unreasonable to focus on one over the other.

First, I should explain my definition of each term, as everyone seems to interpret it differently:

"Toxic" refers to any substance or behaviour that, due to its excess, causes harm.

"Masculinity" is a collection of traits that are traditionally attributed to males due to their increased prevalence in males as opposed to females.

"Femininity" is a collection of traits that are traditionally attributed to females due to their increased prevalence in females as opposed to males.

Now, I recently came across a YouTube video about a conversation between feminists and men's rights activists. The topic of the existence of "toxic masculinity" struck a chord with me.

Traditionally male characteristics such as aggressive behaviour, stoic demeanour, and self-assurance are all characteristics that, when exhibited in excess, can be toxic. That much, I agree with.

Despite this, I believe that these traits can be exhibited in a toxic manner by females, despite it never being mentioned. Furthermore, these traits, in regulation, are incredibly helpful in certain situations.

For example, controlled aggression can be equated with being forward and honest. Overcoming fear through bravery does require an aggressive approach, as opposed to a passive one. Acting stoic and masking emotions is important in negotiations, when speaking in public, when in difficult situations, and when accomplishing tasks that outbursts of emotion would hinder.

That said, feminine traits share similar pitfalls and advantages. In my mind, they are both equally important traits to posses and regulate.

So why is one plastered all over the media, while the other one isn't?

Well, I'm of the opinion that it's because feminism, the movement that coined the term "Toxic Masculinity," benefits more from pointing out the flaws in behaviours more frequently seen in men (who make up a minority of feminist groups), than from doing the same to flaws frequently seen in women (who make up the majority of said groups).

I find this bias to be unreasonable, and even harmful, as it demonises men in an unfair manner.

Now, I've never seen any prominent figure so much as mention "Toxic Femininity," much less explain why it is not as relevant to talk about as its masculine counterpart.

This is where I hope that Reddit comes in. Can you offer some insight with regards to the validity of one topic after another? Maybe there's a train of thought I haven't considered yet, beyond plain confirmation bias of feminists and/or tribalism.

(Note: I consider myself an egalitarian, so I don't have anything against feminism itself, just the behaviours its members seem to exhibit, but I see how it can come across like I do.)

[Assistant]
This is actually pretty simple to answer.

Toxic femininity absolutely exists. Think about traditional female roles: she's demure,  sexy, prudish, nurturing, quiet, helpful, empathetic. So take these to the extremes and you have toxic femininity. Women *can* be more nurturing, so therefore they can *only* be nurturing and must be mothers. Women *can* be quieter than men, so they must never speak, and when they do, it must only be with smiles and laughs and god forbid a woman should swear. Women *can* be more empathetic, so that means women are hysterical baby-machines controlled by their emotions.

So why is there so much talk about toxic masculinity in the media and almost none about toxic femininity? *Because that conversation already happened over the last 100 years*. The feminist movement is quite literally the movement to destroy toxic femininity.

>Now, I've never seen any prominent figure so much as mention "Toxic Femininity," much less explain why it is not as relevant to talk about as its masculine counterpart.

Look at feminist writings of the past century, and a metric fuck ton of them talk about how women need to stop boxing themselves into this small-ass space. *Which is what feminists and menslib activists are saying now about toxic masculinity*.

Why doesn't anyone harp on about toxic femininity the same way we harp on about toxic masculinity? Because that discussion already happened. You hear so much about toxic masculinity because men are currently in our own liberation movement to break out of the masculinity box.


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

[User] ELI5: Why were prehistoric animals so much bigger than their present counterparts?

[Assistant]
As a general rule of thumb: animals gradually evolve to larger and larger sizes as the environment permits, until the a change in the environment occurs (drought, food source goes extinct, etc) and then that large animal goes extinct because it has evolved to a size that required all of the existing food and is adapted to a very specific climate and any change in either of those things will lead to extinction.

Prehistoric animals had tens of millions of years of gradually reach enormous sizes (the Cretaceous Period lasted about 79 million years) whereas the last ice age ended only about 11,000 years ago. Anytime there is a dramatic environmental change, the massive animals tend to go extinct and the smaller and more environmentally adaptive species tend to survive and be the dominant lifeforms for the next age.

When you have a climate that is rich with biomass and it doesnt change dramatically for tens of millions of years, there is sufficient time and material for massive animals to evolve.


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

[User]
[Pacific Rim] What the heck did we do with all the Jaegers afterword?

We certainly don't have any museums large enough to accommodate them, but dismantling them entirely seems like a disservice.

[Assistant]
Rock'em Sock'em Robots.

Seriously, it's highly implied that the Jaegers which were collected for the final assault on the Rift were, in fact, the last. Since none survived, it's not really much of an issue what do do with them, is it?


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

[User]
What will happen if I get infected by COVID-19 a few minutes before getting vaccinated?

In my country, the queue for COVID-19 vaccinations tends to be long and people in line do not follow safe distancing measures.

What will happen if I get infected with COVID-19 while queueing for the COVID-19 vaccine then get vaccinated a few minutes or some hours after?

Will the vaccine still protect me?

[Assistant]
Probably not. It takes around 2 weeks for your body to create an effective immune response. Also if it's not a one-shot vaccine like J&J, you have to go back a month or so later for a second shot then wait a further two weeks.

After that you are around 90-98% safe but breakthrough infections can and do still occur in some fully vaccinated people.

If it's an option for you, it might be best to stay locked down until the demand for the vaccine lessens and the crowded lines get shorter.


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

[User]
By saying that we can't quantify variations of intensity in different experiences, is Bergson basically completely discrediting what research psychology does?

I sort of got the effect from reading Time And Free Will (first chapter especially) that if psychologists can't use the traditional method of measuring variations between two experiences, then what else is left for them?

If after experiencing two sensations what I experience is the sensation of variation itself (according to him), then what should we make of the studies that have been done so far in psychology? His point seems compelling but since nobody took them into account in social sciences I just wonder how to reconcile the two (his argument and the actual state of psychology/social sciences). Unless I misunderstood something?

I think a problem I have is I'm not entirely understanding the alternative he offers. I understand what the problem is (that quantifying two internal experiences is not possible because the methods of measuring external objects is not applicable to experiences of consciousness, because what is experienced is the change itself), but I'm not sure I understand what his next move is. He also doesn't want to use the traditional method of investigating the cause and effects that lead to the sensation of a given experience, right? So then what's the alternative?

Thank you in advance for helping me.

[Assistant] His argument is little more subtle than that.  It isn't that we can't quantify sensations, but that sensations do not have magnitudes intrinsically - they are qualitatively different from each other.  Rather, we infer magnitudes indirectly and thereby attribute quantity to sensation.  One mechanism he gives is by estimating the size of the cause.  He gives other mechanisms as well.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does something like cocoa powder dissolve in hot liquids but not cold liquids?

[Assistant]
When liquids are hot their molecules are moving around a lot because of the heat energy. When liquids are cold they're sluggish and slow.

The hot liquid molecules move around, constantly shifting, making room for other stuff to be stirred in and mixed. Cold liquid molecules don't move out of the way to make room for more stuff.

Suppose you had a box of Raisin Bran cereal, but you wanted to add Lucky Charms to it. If you pour the Lucky Charms on top of the Raisin Bran and shake the box a little it'll mix a little(cold liquid, not much movement in molecules because low energy) If you shake the box vigorously it'll mix much better (hot liquid, lots of molecular movement because high energy).

Hope this helps!


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

[User]
[RWBY] How does qrow know what his semblance is?

Everyone in the show has a easily seeable and testable semblance except qrow.  Is there a chance he hasn't unlocked his semblance and is just shockingly unlucky?  Does he and everyone else assume what his semblance is?

[Assistant]
There are points in his fight with Tyrian that Qrow uses his semblance offensively. Nearly bringing a timber beam down on Tyrian's head being the clearest one.

So he's able to sense or use his power in some way, even if he can't turn it off.


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

[User]
Any advice for managing anxiety leading up to a talk/presentation?

Hey all! Kind of a subjective question, but I was looking to see if anybody else had good methods for managing their anxiety for a talk. It's weird, because I'm always very confident, but still get overloaded with anxiety, usually starting a couple days before the talk (I have one Tuesday morning). I'm confident in my understanding of the material, I generally speak well, and know how to carry myself. But I still can't shake the anxiety. Sometimes it has an affect on my performance, though I'm not sure if anybody notices it except me. I often do well, but manage to not say half of what I had intended. I'm currently preparing my PowerPoint slides, which I rely on for my talk (I don't script anything, and generally just use the information on the slides as sign posts of what to be talking about. I don't read my slides, but provide supplemental information to them). The talk is only about 15 minutes, so I probably only need about 6-8 slides. Well anyways, again, any information, suggestions, tips, etc are welcome! Thanks in advance!

[Assistant]
Rehearsal is key!  Pay special attention to your transitions, because thats where youre more likely to stumble because of nerves.

I like to work backwards through a talk:

> conclusion
> transition to conclusion then conclusion
> last idea, transition to conclusion, conclusion
> Etc

So that as the talk progresses, Im working with material Im increasingly comfortable with.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it still so expensive to call internationally, when i can download free apps and do it for free?

Seems like charging per minute is a little outdated.

EDIT: Thank you all for the thoughtful, well written responses. I genuinely appreciate it.

[Assistant]
Because the way the systems work are different.

When you make a phone call, it gives you a dedicated connection from you to the person you are calling (which is known as circuit switched) and making that dedicated circuit for you can be expensive.

When you use an app, it flings packets of your voice call in to the aether, and if they don't all arrive or arrive out of order, the programs are designed to cope with that.  This is known as packet switched.

You can look at it as the difference between a rifle shot and a shotgun blast- with the rifle, you are making one long distance connection that takes some effort to produce.  With the shotgun you are flinging a lot of little bits at your target and enough of them should hit that it gets your message across.


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

[User] ELI5: how does tread (like snow tires and boots) provide better grip if they are packed with snow?

[Assistant]
It isnt just tread on snow tires that makes them better for snow than other tires.

Most rubber gets hard in cold/icy conditions, so the rubber isnt able to grip and is as good as having tires made of rock. However the rubber compound used to make snow tires is made in a way that keeps them from getting as hard at cold temperatures, allowing them to remain more grippy in those conditions.


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

[User]
[Toy Story 2] How much did Al lose between overnighting 6 packages to Japan, the last minute flight to Japan, and then losing all of the toys?

Im curious how much money Al lost because of the sentient toys.

[Assistant] I know from experience that the fastest rate you can ship a package to Japan for costs around $100-$150 each and a last minute plane ticket there costs between $1,500 and $2,000. So, probably somewhere around $2,500 total.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Is Luke Skywalker left-handed?

He wields his lightsaber mainly right-handed but he seems to do most things with his left. When he loses his right hand, he seems to be very skilled in using his remaining hand. I know Hamill himself is left-handed.

[Assistant] In the books masters couldn't tell which was his dominate hand while practice dueling him. He took on 3 masters to keep his skills up. If pressed I'd say neither some people are very ambidextrous. Even after his hand got hacked off he worked really hard to get used to it and had its sensitivity up graded a few times.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does bacteria on food survive stomach acid to the point of making you ill? for example, Chicken can make you ill, not being cooked properly.

It was just a "shower question" that popped into my head.

[Assistant] Bacteria that need to reach your gut to survive have a number of adaptations to survive the stomach. Of particular note are a polysaccharide capsule and active proton pumps to regulate their internal pH. These are known as virulence factors, also they will "hide away" in food, and you can need very few to make you sick, so if you eat 100000000 and 1% survive that's plenty.


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

[User] [MCU] In our world, most of those advanced gadgets and inventions like nanotech would propably require huge numbers of work hours, money and scientists. Does this fact suggest that Tony Stark AI makes 99% of the job for him?

[Assistant]
From what we can see of Tony's work process in the first Iron Man film, he does delegate a *lot* of the actual scut work to his AIs, acting as a supervisor while Jarvis does a lot of the actual design work and the various servo arms handle physical assembly. While his work in the cave with the box of scraps in IM1 and Harley's garage in IM3 clearly show he *can* do his own work, he won't choose to when he has an option.

That, and he's willing to stand in front of other inventor's work and put his face on it; he's not the only genius on the Stark Industries org chart, but you wouldn't know that from the press releases. It's left vague in IM1 just who designed all the subsidiary bits that Tony 'borrows' from the company to make the post-Box of Scraps suits, but in Homecoming we see flat out that the advanced hologram tech demonstrated in Civil War was made by Quentin Beck's team, and Tony was just the one who showed it off and gave it an unfortunate moniker. Any number of the breakthroughs behind EDITH, the Bleeding Edge Armor, or other "StarkTech" may have been made by a team like Beck's and then bought straight cash by Tony.


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

[User] If at absolute zero all motion stops, does that include the orbit of electrons around the nucleus of an atom?

[Assistant]
Firstly, electrons do not 'orbit' in the way that a planet orbits a star. At the level of quantum physics particles exist in one of a set of distinct 'states'. For electrons in an atom, these states are usually defined by energy and angular momentum, instead of position. Heisenberg's uncertainty principle says that we cannot measure position and momentum with 100% accuracy at the same time. So an electron's 'orbit' is really the region where the electron is likely to be found, and is rarely shaped like a circle.

Absolute zero temperature means that *kinetic* energy vanishes, but there are other forms of energy. For an electron in an atom, there is energy that binds it to the nucleus due to the electric force between it and the protons. Even if there is no temperature and the electron is as closely bound to the protons as possible, it still has some energy.

Also, temperature is a large-scale idea (thermodynamics), and at the scale of single particles, things can still move without having temperature. We need a different theory to explain what goes on there (quantum mechanics).


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

[User]
[Halo] Why did the Forerunners keep a sample of the flood on the Halo Rings? Why didn't the Forerunners program the Halo Rings to self destruct once the Halos fired?

I think a more sane option would be:

Do NOT keep any sample of the Flood.
Program the Halo Rings to self-destruct after firing, since the Flood is suppose to be extinct after.

[Assistant] IIRC, the flood were kept on the Halos for research. Killing goddamn near everything to defeat your oppenent is a bit of a last straw. Allowing the Flood to be contained and researched allows for better ways to fight the Flood.


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

[User]
How does a computer know how to interpret binary?

How does the computer know what the binary represents, such as an image/text/audio/etc. as many of these have overlapping binary codes?

[Assistant]
It does not.

At the hardware level, the computer has no idea if a series of bits form an ASCII character, a UTF character, a number, a pixel, a signal level, an instruction code or any other type of data. They're just binary digits that the CPU manipulates as it executes instructions.

The program code ("software") running on the computer gives meaning to those bits from the user perspective, as defined by the programmer. The computer has various components for graphics, sound etc. that can interpret bits appropriately, but the software is 100% responsible for which bits go where.

If there is an error in the program that makes the CPU try to execute, say, image data as instruction codes, it will merrily try to do so. If the image was specially crafted to actually contain a valid set of instructions, the CPU could even succeed rather than just perform nonsensical operations until an error occurs.


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

[User]
Job start date and pregnancy due date super close

I have just been offered a dream academic faculty position starting Jan 2nd and my due date is Jan 15th. I will have teaching, mentoring, and research duties. They do not know I am pregnant. I desperately want to keep this position but do not know how to go about disclosing my pregnancy and ensuring my rights. Any advice would be much appreciated.

[Assistant] Sign your contract first if you haven't yet. This happens, and you are not legally required to disclose being pregnant before signing. However your colleagues will appreciate it if you can provide warning about being out on leave or reduced teaching load, as they will need to find a replacement for your section (same thing goes with sabbatical or health issues).


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

[User] Are there any microorganisms / viruses that can use both humans and plants as hosts?

[Assistant] Aspergillus are fungi which cause rot in cereal crops and also poisoning in humans.  Plants and humans share many bacterial and fungal genuses however when specialized into new hosts the new species tend to be renamed.  However, the genetic transfer between human and plant microbes of similar genus can spread traits like antibiotic resistance and fitness in the environment.


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

[User]
ELI5: How is it that axolotls are listed as critically endangered species, but they are allowed to be pets that dont even sell for more that much?

Apparently there are breeders making Axolotls and they only go for a few hundred bucks at most. How is this possible? And how are so many people able to own them as pets if they are very close to extinction?

[Assistant] They are endangered because of habitat loss and pollution. The ones bred to be pets aren't subtracting from the wild population, so it isn't increasing the risk of extinction. Putting the captive raised ones back in the wild wouldn't fix anything because until the underlying causes are fixed the population would quickly reach endangered levels again.


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

[User]
Can we fly fast enough around the world to never loose sight of the Sun?

Let's say you take off from an airport in Equador right at sunrise. Do we have the speed of an aircraft to fly on the equator around the globe and never loose sight of the Sun?

Would gas become a problem?

[Assistant]
Circumference of the earth is 24,901 miles. The plane would have to make a complete circumnavigation of the earth in 24 hours. That means the plane would have to go a little more than 1,000 miles per hour. Many modern jets are more than capable of that feat.

So yes, it's possible.


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

[User]
[Avatar: The Last Airbender] How does lightning redirection work exactly?

Does the recipient of the lightning bolt create some kind of electrostatic field around their hand to draw in a fast-moving bolt to their fingers/hands? It seems like such a small place, and a misstep could result in serious injuries.

How does it get transduced throughout the body without overloading cells or nerves? How are Firebenders able to insulate that kind of raw energy to direct it out? Iroh said they direct it through the stomach (sea of chi) but there's nothing particularly unique about the stomach physiologically to support suggestions that it could harbor chi energy in excess. Could he have meant the liver?

[Assistant]
The source of a fire bender's power comes from the Fire Chakra, located in the stomach. By manipulating the chi in this Chakra a fire bender can perform all of the feats we see (combustion bending utilizes an additional Chakra.)

To redirect lightning a fire bender channels the power into and then out of their Fire Chakra. If they do not guide it out the consequences can be fatal, but a partial redirection is merely very painful.

All fire bending comes from this Chakra. Most times a fire bender is only guiding chi out of the Chakra, but lightning redirection is one of the times chi is guided in. Others examples include when a fire bender reduces a fire down to nothing, or when Fire Lord Sozin took heat from a volcano and redirected it into the air to cool the volcano. In that case it was likely too much to simply absorb, hence the redirection.


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

[User]
The weather forecaster just said that summer officially starts at 11:54 am. What determines when a season starts and why isnt it the start of the calendar day?

Furthermore who makes that determination?

[Assistant]
This start of summer is the moment when the sun reaches its northernmost position in relation to the earth.

Because years are not 365 days long (but approx 365.2425) it shifts slightly between years.

Winter is when sun in the most south.

Spring and Autumn start when the sun is exactly above the equator.


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

[User]
How did the tribal people of the Sentinel Island reached there in first place ?

How the island got inhabited in first place thousand of years ago? The only way to reach there was through ships in past. But if they even don't know how to start fire or do agriculture, then reaching the island by boat for them is not an option.

[Assistant]
1) Societies build and lose ships all the time. Easter Island is a great example of a grand naval empire sending a colony out which eventually lost its ability to travel at sea for great lengths of time.

2) Land bridges, now submerged islands, Not all sea levels that you see today are how they were thousands of years ago. This means some water may have been crossed by land, it can also mean there were islands that connected them which were far more accessible.


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

[User]
[marvel] What the hell do Sentry, Hyperion and Blue Marvel do with themselves?

These guys are all superman equivalent and yet somehow a teenager who can swing on ropes really well is a more important, vital figure in the well being of their universe.

[Assistant]
Well Sentry goes batshit insane and ends up comitting suicide-by-Thor.
Hyperion is busy in the Savage Land raising a whole new species that seems likely to surpass humanity.  That is until he goes off to help Unworthy Thor fight gods of infinite power.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] What would happen if the drive section of a starship was destroyed but the saucer section survived?

Would the drive section be rebuilt or would they scrap the whole thing and start from scratch?

[Assistant] Really depends on the nature of the damage.  If the saucer section had separated prior to the destruction of the drive section and had gotten far enough away to remain relatively undamaged, sure - it'll be refurbished and mated with another drive section -  the Federation is post scarcity but they've also kept the Miranda class hull in service for over 100 years - they're practical.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are inner cities filled with so many lowlifes such as junkies, muggers, rapists, drug dealers, gangsters, etc.?

[Assistant]
In the US, part of it is because we made a special effort to attract poor communities (primarily blacks) into our cities by way of rent-controlled housing.

The original intent of this was ostensibly to provide better economic opportunity to the poor because cities were (and still are) the primary centers of economic activity.

However, this had the negative effect of concentrating poor communities into the city while they still lacked the skills necessary for the jobs that generally were needed in cities (professionals and skilled laborers).

Crime became a "solution" for some members of these poor communities, thus motivating the more affluent (generally white, at the time) residents of the cities to move to out of the city to the suburbs, since they could afford cars to commute into work anyways.

This effect is also known as "white flight".

The end result in many cities is that there are areas in many US cities almost completely dominated by poor minority communities with high crime and unemployment rates.


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

[User]
ELI5: When momentarily walking past fumes (exhaust, tar, etc) is it better to breathe normally or to restrict your breathing for a short period (thus reducing oxygen intake)?

I walk to work and follow a busy road. It's not like walking in a park where the air is 'fresh.' Is it damaging or beneficial to restrict my breathing when beside several lanes of idling vehicles?

[Assistant] Hold it. There isn't harm in short periods without breathing, so the down side is nil. The stuff you're breathing probably isn't going to hurt you if it's just a whiff, but there's more potential harm from it than from held breath.