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

[User]
ELI5: How do cellphones communicate over such long distances with such a small antenna while my router barely can cover my house?

Also why are phone antennas so big? Wouldnt a small antenna like one from a smartphone be enough?

EDIT: Holy... i just woke up. Well that blew up. Thank you all for your answers.

[Assistant]
Two reasons:

   * WiFi typically operates at 100 mW, cell phones are allowed to transmit up to 2000 mW.
   * WiFi operates at a higher frequency, which is blocked more easily by walls, etc.

These are intentional. Wifi links have been established by hobbyists using souped- up routers over long distances (miles), but that defeats the purpose of home use, because if all routers reached that far, they'd all interfere with each other, making the connection slow.


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

[User] [Green Lantern] If constructs are supposed to be extensions of your will then could you create a construct that could put another ring on? Or for that matter could a construct wear its own ring and be self sustaining?

[Assistant]
This seems like something one of the Earth GL's would come up with.

"I know, I'll make a giant green fist, that can wear another ring, that can make another fist, that can wear another ring... INFINITE FISTS!"


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

[User] ELI5: if the cells in our body are completely replaced every few years, how do tattoos stay on the body?

[Assistant]
Essentially, when someone gets a tattoo, ink is injected deep into the skin. It goes below the epidermis, which is the layer of skin where cells are constantly growing and sloughing off, and into the dermis, where things are more stable. Cells do get replaced in the dermis, but dead cells are not sloughed off like in the epidermis. Rather, the remnants of dead cells are eaten up by other cells.

In other words, what's in the dermis will stay there unless removed by cells. Tattoo ink cannot be eaten or broken down by the body's cells, so it will sit in the dermis forever.


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

[User]
ELI5: why are kitchen sinks mostly made of stainless steel, but bathroom sinks made or ceramic, porcelain or enamel-coated materials and white?

Yes, I know they also overlap, but traditionally there has been a clear distinction between the two.

[Assistant] Stainless steel is less likely to be affected by foods and liquids that stain or leave residual odors, and it's less likely to be damaged by heat, heavy cookware, metal utensils, and abrasives used for cleaning.


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

[User]
[Kingdom Hearts] Why do Sora, Donald, and Goofy start out weak as hell in every game even though they end the previous game being incredibly powerful?

Basically a thing that's always bothered me in every RPG with a sequel or series. In every game they'll start off weak and then get super powerful by the end of the game and then in the next game they'll start off weak again. What happened to them between games that made them so weak?

[Assistant]
KH1 sora: They just started out.
KH com: Castle Oblivion stole their memories of how to fight.
KH 2: They were asleep for a year while most of their memories were returned, their muscle's atrophied.
KH 3D: Yen Sid placed Sora and Riku in there younger bodies so they could relearn the real way to use the keyblade.

It should also be mentioned that after all of these "resets" Sora and company always start out stronger than the last time they reset.


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

[User]
ELI5: If the human body is made to regulate a temp of 98.6F (37C), why is that not the most comfortable temp?

It seems most people prefer an ambient temperature around 70F (21C), but logic would tell me it would be easiest to maintain our internal temperatures at 98.6F (37C). What am I missing?

[Assistant]
Our body generates heat, and can only cool through ambient temperature. If the ambient temperature is equal to or higher than our regulated temperature, then how will it keep its temperature down?

Basically, if it is cooler, you can do a little exercise to warm yourself up. But if it is hot, what can you do to cool down?

So cooler than regulated temperature is more comfortable because your body is constantly keeping itself warm.


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

[User] What is the probability (if it's calculable) that, when I throw a baseball at a pane of glass, the molecules will line up perfectly, allowing the ball to pass through the glass without damaging anything?

[Assistant] The classic example is, if you had a room of a thousand people bouncing a ball every second from now until the end of the universe, you will likely never see a ball pass through the floor. The chance is literally so insanely low that the percent is negligible. It CAN happen, mind you, but so immensely, incalculably unlikely that no one human now, or ever, is likely to see such an event occur.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Bobby Drake (Iceman) and Galactus linked by thermodynamics.

So Galactus gives out more energy then he takes in violating the laws of thermodynamics (first and second). Bobby Drake how ever removes energy from particles to freeze them from what I know. Meaning he removes energy from the universe. So my question is where does the energy that Galactus Generate come from and where does the energy Bobby Drake remove go? Also what is Bobby Drakes theocratical limit? If there is one.

[Assistant]
Honestly, most superpowers break the laws of physics as we know it, in one way or another. tons of characters that has either superstrenght or energy attacks in some way violate the laws of thermodynamics, this isnt unique to iceman.

as for your question specificly, there is no connection what at all between galactus and iceman.

galactus uses the power cosmic, which is just the natural power of the universe that exists, its a cosmic force that just exists. he also gains power from eating planets, which is partly why he does it, if he doesnt eat about once per month he grows weak. (the other reason is that he is saving life energy from the heat death of the universe in order to create the next big bang)

bobby drake, being a omega level mutant, can probably just straight up destroy energy, and since he is a omega level mutant, he has no upper theoretical limit. he could freeze the entire problem theoretically.


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

[User]
ELI5: Please explain the benefits and purpose of a union to me.

Dear Reddit,   I understand that this could be a volatile ELI5,  since unions and the NMB are kind of a polarizing topic.
A little background about myself and the reason I am requesting this ELI5.  I am a current employee of one of the largest airlines in the world.   I have always been a pro-union guy and have enjoyed the security that having a union provided.   Not too long ago we merged with (were acquired by)  another airline and the union was voted out.   This was due in part because we,  the unionized workers of the acquired airlines,  were out numbered almost 2:1 by the non-unionized employees at the other airlines.   In the next couple of months we will be getting another vote to try and get a union back in,  and I really need a way to explain to people, in simple, 5 year old terms,  why this is good for them and their family,  and is much more valueable than the $55 a month union fee that they seemingly can't afford to give up.

Thanks!

[Assistant]
The primary benefit of a union is the collective bargaining aspect. If the entire workforce negotiates together you have far more leverage than you would negotiating one on one with HR, et al.

What you have to weigh now is the value of the 55/mo versus the issues that you want to negotiate. The best way to help illustrate this in a roughly ELI5 way is to help them see the value that 55/mo brings.

Would you pay 55/mo for an extra week of vacation?

Would you pay 55/mo for a guaranteed limit on hours worked per week?

Would you pay 55/mo for a guaranteed minimum on hours worked per week?

Would you pay 55/mo to ensure adequate safety/precautions etc?

And you go on and on, the main counter argument you have to overpower is whether or not the abuses (actual or merely perceived) warrant coming together and funding the union. If your employer generally treats you well, why would you unionize? The other counter issue you need to consider is mobility. If workers can't move around or replace the job, then they are less powerful and need bargaining assistance, if it's easy to move from job to job then the need to make THIS job better is reduced.

I know this is not quite ELI5, but that's the argument you would have to make.


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

[User]
[LotR] shaddow of mordor

played the game a few months back. and i was just wondering if Celebrimbor was an actual character from any of the books? like did he help make the ring of power? or was it just for the game ?

[Assistant]
He certainly was a character, and yes he did help create the human and dwarves rings. He made the 3 elf rings in secret in spite of Sauron. And Sauron took the knowledge of ring-making and forged the one ring in secrecy as well.

However, as good as Shadow of Mordor was (I absolutely loved it) it is just glorified fanfic, there is no record of Talion, the evil lieutenants of Sauron, or that Celebrimbor had his family murdered in front of him and led an Orc army against Sauron.


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

[User] [Lovecraft Mythos] Do eldritch entities understand what fear is? Do they fear anything at all?

[Assistant]
Depends on the entity, and it depends on what you mean by fear.

- Various lesser eldritch entities will fight with each other, can kill each other, and be killed in turn.  Presumably they understand the threat of death, and experience an emotion analogous to fear when confronted with it.

- Nyarlathotep certainly seems to understand fear.  It doesnt feel fear itself, but clearly enjoys inflicting it on humans.  As the messenger of the outer gods, it is the bridge between us and them, capable of understanding both humans and outer gods, but clearly not being one of either.

- Greater entities like Azathoth and Shub-Niggurath are not threatened by anything, and have never been shown to possess anything resembling human emotions.  Nothing certain can be said about what they do experience, it's not certain they experience anything at all.  Whatever conciousness they possess is not at all similar to what humans possess.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that when I look at the moon with my naked eye it's huge, but when I take a picture of it with my digital camera it's a tiny dot?

[Assistant]
There are two reasons for what you described.

The reason the moon can look so big to your eyes is that it is usually low on the horizon when you notice it and there is some far off building/trees/skyline that gives your brain a reference for size. The image on your retina is exactly the same but your brain sees it as "bigger" because it now has a way to measure it against something familiar. If you look at the moon when it is straight overhead it is the same size but will look very small in the open sky (unless a plane goes in front of it).

The reason the moon looks small in photos has to do with the angle of view given by the lens. A "wide" lens has a short focal length, giving you ~60 degrees of the sky visible. The moon however only takes up 1/2 of a degree of the sky, with a 60 degree view the moon takes up 1/120th of the width of your picture and there is no fooling your brain into making it look bigger. To take a picture where the moon looks big you need a lens that has a very small angle of view, only a few ones of degrees, but those lenses tend to be very expensive, a few thousands of dollars. A lens with a 2.5 degree angle of view will make the moon cover 1/5th of the width of the photo, quite a bit bigger than the 1/120th of a normal angle of view.


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

[User] [ATLA] I just watched the episode where Mama whatshername was a fortune teller and said the volcano wouldnt go off, she was wrong. In the village was a couple earth benders who dug a trench to redirect the lava flow. Could an experienced earth bender redirect the flow themselves?

[Assistant]
Point of order: She said the village wouldn't be destroyed by the volcano, not that the volcano wouldn't erupt.

Getting to the actual question however: Maybe-- ~~magma~~lavabending is a thing-- but very few Earthbenders would have the strength to singlehandedly hold back an entire volcanic eruption themselves.


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

[User]
Why don't we have on Earth those funny craters present on almost every planet?

I mean, I just saw the brand new picture of Mercury from orbit, and they're all over the surface, just like every planet and moon in the Solar System. Or am I wrong?

[Assistant]
Two factors:

1. Earth's surface is geologically active, so older craters will eventually be buried or torn apart by tectonics.
2. Earth has enough atmosphere, so there is more erosion to wipe out craters.

And actually, not every planet or moon is heavily cratered, you don't see many craters on Venus, Io, Titan or Europa; and you don't see them at all on Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune or Uranus.


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

[User]
[Watchmen] Why does Dr. Manhattan have to stay blue? Why doesn't he go back to how he looked before the accident?

I mean if he can zap a mark on his forehead, change his size, teleport to mars, change color, have omniscient knowledge of the universe, and duplicate himself what's stopping him from going back to how he used to be? Why would he want to be blue?

[Assistant]
He doesn't want to?

He has transcended human needs and wants, after the accident this is what he became. What he is.

Who exactly would he be changing for? He certainly doesn't care about such trivial things.


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

[User]
[Dark Souls] How exactly does Titanite work?

I understand that in the game itself reinforcing weapons make them do more damage, but exactly *how* does it work from a realistic standpoint? Like, does it make them sharper? How much sharper would a +10 Longsword be from a +0 Longsword? What about weapons like maces? Does it make them heavier? I could never really come up with an explanation for this myself, so what's exactly going on here?

[Assistant]
Titanite is no ordinary material. It resembles metal, but it is actually all derived from a single source, The Titan. Aeons ago, this entity, the Titan, was destroyed in the cataclysmic explosion of the First Flame and his "flesh" was scattered across the human world.

The Titan wasn't a being like you or me. It was a primal, immortal being who's body was a uniform substance animated by magical force. Being engulfed by the First Flame did not kill The Titan, rather it divided it's consciousness into a billion shards... Some fragments, such as the Prowling Demons, are large enough to have both awareness and autonomous action, though they are dumb and blind, they sense their surroundings through detecting vibrations in the aether and are capable of producing bolts of magical lightning. Smaller pieces are not "aware" as we understand it, but they are able to be coaxed into joining with various materials and having a reenforcing effect on them. Weapons and armor become more resilient, the more titanite the greater effect. Blades "want" to keep a sharper edge. Enough of it and weapons can contain more magical energy than ordinary materials, the weapons become more massive at just the moment of impact, pushing them through muscle and bone, armor hardens as it is struck, magical fire, or holy lighting may explode from a weapon properly infused and imbued.


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

[User]
Our only "real" purpose is to survive, reproduce, and our-compete others for scarce resources. Ideals are fine, but we shouldn't let them obscure this underlying reality. CMV.

We were taught to play nice as kids, with the golden rule and whatnot. As an adult, if your eyes are open at all to what's going on, you're likely to be disturbed by just how shitty people are to each other. Why all the killing, raping, exploiting, destroying the environment? On a less extreme level, in your workplace you see people trying to get ahead by any means necessary, even if it means pushing others under the bus. People are always trying to one up each other to gain social status, and reap the rewards that come with it (including better selection of mates etc).

We let ourselves be disturbed by this: why can't everyone just play nice? But we humans are just animals after all, we are a product of evolution. While we have some freedom to try to act more highly evolved, we should acknowledge our roots, as ape like creatures, and before that, rodents, fish, and ultimately microorganisms. We aren't special. Life for all of these organism s is a daily struggle to survive and outdo your competition. Its the same for us, only in a less obvious way, because civilization tames and prevents our most outright aggression.

If you acknowledge that life is fundamentally about survival and competition, you might find reality less disturbing. Also, you might take steps to make yourself more competitive, instead of complaining how life is so unfair.

The danger of this, of course, is if we forget morality entirely and just all act like selfish brutes.

[Assistant]
Purpose? We have an intrinsic purpose? News to me. Who assigned this purpose?

>we should acknowledge our roots, as ape like creatures

Yeah! Those stupid plants trying to photosynthesize. Don't they know that they come from one celled organisms, incapable of producing sustenance from the sun?


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

[User]
[General Fantasy] What does a Pegasus do with its legs while its flying?

I cant picture anything that doesnt seem totally ridiculous. Do they just dangle limply and billow about in the wind? Do they hold their legs tightly underneath themselves like a sort of horse-loaf? That seems incredibly uncomfortable to do for extended flights.

I know some media portrays them as sort of galloping at the air while flapping but that cant possibly be the case. Galloping requires solid ground to push off of so in mid air the Pegasus would just be flailing its legs futilely (which we have to imagine would unbalance the hell our of it as its trying to fly).

So what does it do with its getaway sticks while in the air?

[Assistant]
The winged horses are of divine/magical origin.  Their hooves allow them to gallop on the air.  The wings are used for altitude and stabilization, but they are still using their legs.

Legend also has it that their hooves have a magical effect on the ground as well, creating water springs where they step.


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

[User]
How to gently reject a student?

I apologise in advance if this gets lengthy but I am at a loss as to what to do.

I am the head of my (small) department and I am one of two professors who teach the coursework for our master's program. Because of this I am very familiar with this particular student, let's call her Sarah, and her work.

Sarah is a lovely, friendly girl. She has been eager to assist with conferences, workshops and with the undergrads, although our institution does not allow master's students to teach. Due to her outgoing nature, she feels comfortable coming to me with her academic struggles and I feel as though she's put me in a bind.

Quite frankly, Sarah is underperforming in her master's. I'm not sure how a student managed to do so well in her undergraduate and yet perform so poorly in her master's. I do not take her performance as a reflection on the program as the rest of her cohort is performing as expected.

Sarah struggled the entire year. She had difficulty keeping on top of the coursework and participating in class. She spent a few weeks prior to the exams crying in my office about how she was expecting to fail. She registered with disability services and I had hoped that this would help her, as she was given double the time of the other students for the exams, but alas, after each exam she came to me, in tears, over her performance. Of the four exams, she only completed one. While she managed to pass them, it was only barely. Her cohort scored well above minimums, so again, I do not think it is a reflction of the exams or the program.

Their dissertation is due at the beginning of August, and Sarah emailed me about 2 weeks back to let me know she hasn't even begun. She has had her topic and the necessary materials since late November and this was after 3 months of her being unable to come up with a topic, struggling to write a research proposal and finally, my colleague handing her a project to complete in the hopes that it would calm her nerves and makes things easier for her. Thus far it has not. She continues to come to my office on a nearly weekly basis to express that she does not believe she will finish her dissertation at all, much less by the deadline, and generally, does not believe that she will pass her master's.

Baffingly, however, she believes that she will be admitted to our PhD program for next year. She has not yet applied, but has come to me to ask about funding on numerous occassions. She doesn't speak about the PhD as if it is a possibility, or an option, but she discusses it as if it is guaranteed. My colleagues have mentioned as well that she speaks to them about it as though she will definitely be accepted.

The problem is, we would not accept her at this point. Her performance in her master's leaves her with a transcript that is far below our standards, even if she does complete the dissertation which I don't hold out much hope for. Outside of her transcript, I do not believe she could competently complete a PhD. She has demonstrated that she does not understand the material (through her exams) and as she expects she will simply be given a PhD topic (she has already asked me to give her something to work on) and as she has yet to start her master's, I am not confident in her research ability.

I do not know what to do. I have thus far answered her questions - I told her about the funding situation but emphasised that it is extremely competitive and expressed that I was not comfortable handing her a research topic when our other candidates came up with their's independently. But she keeps talking about her PhD next year. I don't want to crush the girl, but I don't know how to tell her that she isn't a suitable candidate when she hasn't asked about it, or even applied. It feels inappropriate to unofficially reject her, when she hasn't made the official step of an application

Our master's is terminal, there is no expectation of continuing, and our institution allows PhD applications up until a month before you're intended to begin.

Any input will be appreciated. Professors who have dealt with similar situations, or students who have been in Sarah's situation and know best how to soften the blow.

[Assistant]
The later you leave it the worse it becomes. Ideally you should have addressed this the very first time she spoke about it as a sure thing.

Be honest and forthright. It's as simple as that. Just be clear. It's not nasty to explain that someones performance puts them below the acceptance level. You let her down in the same way that you let down the unsuccessful candidates after a job interview; politely, clearly, and leave it at that.


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

[User] [portal/portal2] i was wandering, if i shot one portal on the ceiling and another on the ground, and was to dangle my foot over said portal and grab my foot, would i be able to pull myself up or if w ould free fall.

[Assistant]
Any upwards force you imparted to yourself through your arm would be equal to downward force acting on your foot. If your other foot remained planted next to the ground portal, you would remain stationary, unable to rise because of the force of your hand pulling you down in addition to gravity. You would in effect be fighting your standing leg with your pulling arm. If you had the strength to overpower that leg, you would end up falling through the hole. If you sit, as another comment suggested, you would still be unable to climb up as the moment your body rose relative to your feet you would find yourself unsupported, and would fall.

Imagine lying on your back with your legs in the air, and trying to lift yourself up by crawling up your own feet.


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

[User]
Is there a chance possibility of another General of MacArthur or Patton's notability appearing in the US?

I was recalling a history professor telling us of MacArthur's influence over the country during his tenure and realised that there hasn't been any General with that kind of influence since then(unless I'm wrong). Would it take another World War-scale war to happen for this to occur?

[Assistant]
Leadership theories suggest that most most of the qualities held by military officials become extraordinarily potent during extreme circumstances such as a crisis (natural disaster, terrorist attack, etc). During a crisis, followers seek out and judge leaders by their decisiveness, and their ability to take concrete and bold actions (Hunt, Boal & Dodge, 1999); much more than visionary leaders. Modern leadership theory suggests that effective leadership is in the eye of the beholder (i.e., the follower) but that the situation determines the criteria by which we determine the effectiveness of the leader. In highly volatile, uncertain, or threatening situations, followers look to leaders to provide sanctuary (see Bligh, Kohles, & Pillai, 2011). Thus, leaders are judged by their ability to alleviate this uncertainty (i.e., taking concrete steps to alleviate it).

Therefore, the qualities most demonstrated by military generals - such as taking decisive actions - will not become important to followers until negative emotions are elevated (e.g., through crisis or assault). (also see Pillai & Meindl, 1998)


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

[User]
[Jurassic Park] Why a Mathematician?

Or chaotician.  Why would you tap one to do an inspection on what is essentially a zoo?

[Assistant]
Malcolm was selected by the lawyer who represented the investors. That is, he was the "attacking" side to find faults in the park and hold Hammond accountable. Grant and Sattler were chosen by Hammond to be his "defense."

Why did the lawyer choose Malcolm? It seems clear that Malcolm was a rather "hip" and personable mathematician and likely had published materials on his subject of interest: chaos theory. Specifically, that complex systems are subject to unpredictable behavior.

This is clearly the type of person a lawyer would want in finding fault in a complex system such as a theme park. He wanted someone like Malcolm, who could use math to conclusively prove the inherent instability of something, to find fault with the park no matter what Hammond did in his defense.


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

[User]
[W40K] What would happen if you forced every Tyranid, Ork and Necron through the Eye of Terror and then closed it?

Let's say you're an omnipotent being, and somehow made *all* Tyranids, Orkz and Necrons enter through the Eye of Terror into the warp, kept it shut after they all entered, and then opened it again after 100 years or so.

What would the consequences be for Chaos, those races themselves and the galaxy in general?

[Assistant]
The Eye of Terror is only the largest and most persistent Warpspace-Realspace overlap in the Galaxy. It isn't the only one. All three threats would likely still be able to emerge and plague the Galaxy.

You then have the danger of exposing organic tissue to raw Warp energies. This wouldn't impact the Necrons, but the Orks and Tyranids would be subject to rapid mutation, and prolonged warp-exposure almost always brings with it the touch of Chaos.

IF the Shadow in the Warp was enough to dull the currents and disrupt the gods from the inside, then you may buy the galaxy some time. But with no biomass ans infinite destructive energies pointed against them, the Tyranjds would eventually be eradicated (and considering how time works in the Warp, the material universe may not get any reprieve at all) and you'd end up with near unlimited Daemon-Orks...

Or, if the Hive Mind can be influenced by Chaos...

There's really no good outcome from this scenario. It goes from Grikdark, to annihilation.


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

[User] ELI5: What is a .torrent file and how does it work?

[Assistant]
Torrents are whats called Peer To Peer (p2p). This means you download things from many other people, and not a central server. And those people can download from you too.

a .torrent file is basically like a shopping list.

It has

1. A list about what files you want to download. It has the names of the files and folders you need. This is like putting the ingredients for dinner on a shopping list.

2. It has a list of who can give you those files. So your buddy Jimmy might have the cooking oil, and your buddy Sam might have the tomatoes. Similarily, the .torrent files helps your download client know who has the files, and where they are.

This means, if someone has downloaded 10% of a file you want, and you have downloaded 95%. Your torrent client will check if they have the 5% you are missing, and if they do, you get that from them, even though they have downloaded much less. Theyll also download from your 95%. Downloading is called Leeching, and Sharing is called seeding. The torrent file helps you find Seeders, and also helps you find Leechers that need what you have downloaded.


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

[User]
[MCU] How do Doctor Stange's sling ring portals work?

Can he open a portal to anywhere he wants in the universe, or does he need to have been there before?

[Assistant] Not anywhere in the universe, but certainly anywhere on Earth. In Infinity War when he, Stark and Parker are stuck on Ebony Maw's ship and are arguing about turning it around or not, if Strange could simply sling-ring his way home he would have done.


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

[User]
ELI5: How did people before the invention of toothpaste keep proper oral hygiene, if at all?

I'm wondering how people could stand each others breaths...

[Assistant]
Toothbrushing tools date back to 3500-3000 BC when the Babylonians and the Egyptians made a brush by fraying the end of a twig. Tombs of the ancient Egyptians have been found containing toothsticks alongside their owners. Around 1600BC, the Chinese developed "chewing sticks" which were made from aromatic tree twigs to freshen breath.

The Chinese are believed to have invented the first natural bristle toothbrush made from the bristles from pigs' necks in the 15th century, with the bristles attached to a bone or bamboo handle. When it was brought from China to Europe, this design was adapted and often used softer horsehairs which many Europeans preferred. Other designs in Europe used feathers.

The first toothbrush of a more modern design was made by William Addis in England around 1780  the handle was carved from cattle bone and the brush portion was still made from swine bristles. In 1844, the first 3-row bristle brush was designed.

Egyptians are believed to have started using a paste to clean their teeth around 5000BC, before toothbrushes were invented. Ancient Greeks and Romans are known to have used toothpastes, and people in China and India first used toothpaste around 500BC.

Ancient toothpastes were used to treat some of the same concerns that we have today  keeping teeth and gums clean, whitening teeth and freshening breath. The ingredients of ancient toothpastes were however very different and varied. Ingredients used included a powder of ox hooves' ashes and burnt eggshells, that was combined with pumice. The Greeks and Romans favored more abrasiveness and their toothpaste ingredients included crushed bones and oyster shells. The Romans added more flavoring to help with bad breath, as well as powdered charcoal and bark. The Chinese used a wide variety of substances in toothpastes over time that have included ginseng, herbal mints and salt.


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

[User] ELI5:Why do a lot of people love the smell of gasoline?

[Assistant]
There are a couple reasons.

1. It gives you a tiny high. Just like huffing, it provides a mild anesthetic effect and gives a slight feeling of euphoria.

2. Associations. Smell is the sense tied closest to memory, so if we have positive connotations with the use of things with gasoline engines, we will get a positive feeling when smelling that again, as the ghost of the memory provides a little hit of dopamine.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] I just had to kill my Jedi master in self-defense, will I be reprimanded by the council?

I fear my master had fallen to the dark side and finally showed his true colours. I escaped with an inch of my life, but I fear the the Jedi masters back home will not understand the true situation and might take it that I killed my master for other reasons.

Is there some way the Jedi can verify my thoughts, memory and experience using the force? My master was a well-liked person in the society and I'm afraid no one will believe me when I spill the beans on his true self.

[Assistant]
You will undergo a formal investigation and, possibly, a trial.

Jedi can sense thoughts and read minds to a significant degree so that will help if you're truly innocent. But as a fellow Jedi you will possibly have countermeasures to this that you *could* theoretically use if you were lying, and they would consider that.

Basically all you can do is hope that evidence is on your side and the wise masters will do their job thoroughly and accurately.


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

[User] ELI5: Is mathematics discovered or invented?

[Assistant] Arguably it's both. Very simplistically, you could boil mathematics down to inventing a set of axioms (the things you will assume to be true) and then discovering what you can prove to be true based on those assumptions.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What ARE Snoke and Kylo Ren?

I don't remember them ever being called Sith, so what's their deal? Are they Sith after all and no one mentioned it? Are they a different chapter of Sith? Are they part of some evil Force cult? Like, what do they even stand for? Are they just evil jerks for the sake of being evil jerks?

[Assistant]
They're not Sith. The Sith came to an end at Endor, when Anakin cast down Palpatine and forsook the mantle of Darth Vader.

We don't know *what* the tradition that Snoke followed is called. There is a probable mention of what Snoke is, shown in one of the recent novels, but he himself isn't mentioned.

Likewise, we do not know what the "Knights of Ren" that Kylo supposedly leads are, as we haven't seen them outside of the flashback in TFA.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why did the Empire build a second Death Star?

So the first one seems like a pretty decent idea on paper and you probably couldn't count on what happened at Yavin, but once it did what exactly was the thought process that lead the empire to think you can't give up after the first time. As a weapon of fear it ironically proved to be a total failure as it's destruction, I assume, proved if anything a rallying cry and an example that even at their most seemingly powerful the Empire is actually beatable. It's a super expensive weapon that was literally an embarrassing failure. Why wouldn't the Empire focus on other ways to take on the rising Rebellion rather than dump more money into a giant death laser?

[Assistant] The rebellion threw everything they had at the Death Star and managed to eek out a victory.  Then the Empire almost immediately has a bigger and better one.  That could prove to be really disheartening for the rebellion.


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

[User]
[Minions] are some of the minions Nazi's?

I watched the trailer for minions and the narrator said that the served the most despicable master around then they showed them throughout history. Are they Nazis, or am I over thinking things?

[Assistant]
No, the Minions weren't Nazis.  They work for people who can be classed as despicable.

despicable
dspikb()l/
adjective
adjective: despicable

    deserving hatred and contempt.

Minions apply cultural relativity in choosing a master.  By the standards of the culture that existed in Germany during WWII, Nazis weren't sufficiently despicable.  They were the heroes of their own story.  However, they weren't sitting around idle during the war.  The minions were working for a Polynesian master whose army of specially bred sharks used heat rays on their heads to keep the waters around his island clear of all military vessels, and had produced flak gulls to handle aircraft.  That's the sort of master that Minions go for.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do boomerangs work?

Ive never actually understood how they can return to the thrower.

[Assistant] It depends on how you throw it. If you throw it flat then it will not return, only when you throw it on its edge. A boomerang is shaped like a wing. You throw it with a rotation so it keeps stable in flight. The wing shape generates lift to one side. Normally this would cause it to flip over but the rotation keeps it steady. So it keeps getting lift to one side causing it to turn. With a lot of practice you will be able to make it turn just the right amount before it hits the ground that it comes back to you.


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

[User]
[Smallville] Why does Red Kryptonite make Clark evil?

Red kryptonite causes kryptonians and/or humans that are affected by it to become reckless, evil, and dangerous, under the premise that it removes inhibitions. But Clark was raised by the Kents, who are basically superheroes in parenting, and taught him to be a good person. If it just removes his inhibitions, instead of going from good to evil, shouldn't he go from good to chaotic good?

[Assistant]
It all comes down to what you think is under the surface. Nature Vs nurture kind of stuff. Is Clark good because of the goodness within him, or because of the guidance of John and Martha? There have been realities where Kal-El has not met with such fortune when arriving on Earth and has on occasion become quite the tyrant. Even under the stewardship of the Kents, he is not beyond having his "one bad day" that breaks him.

So if you strip away all the social nicities, the guilt, the obligation and duty... What Clark lies underneath? Maybe that's what Red Kryptonite exposes.

Does that make Clark secretly a would-be enemy of Earth, waiting to explode in alien rage?

Maybe. But maybe that's all of us under the facade and it's our willingness to maintain that facade that makes us truly good.


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

[User] ELI5:How do ghost kitchens work?

[Assistant]
Its a kitchen that sends food out to customers - no dine in or carry out only delivery.  Because of the common shared equipment and base ingredients in kitchens along with no need to differentiate a dining room to customers, one physical kitchen can house several ghost kitchens.  This reduces startup and ops cost for a notoriously narrow profit margined industry.

Because no customers see in, some ghost kitchens are under fire as rebranding their exact business to always seem new and fresh/dodge accumulating poor reviews.  In actuality theyre just recycling the same old everything.


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

[User]
The Avengers - Mjolnir and the helicarrier

During the Thor-Hulk fight there was a moment when mjolnir was on the floor. Shouldn't it take the helicarrier down? Was the helicarrier (or the pilot) holding it? How does mjolnir work?

[Assistant]
Mjolnir itself is only 42 pounds.

The enchantment doesn't make it super-heavy, or else Thor wouldn't be able to sit anywhere or hang the hammer up anywhere. All it does is say "Unless you're worthy, you can't pick me up."


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do we have both a North and a True North?

My iPhone shows if I want to see the North or the True North. What is the difference between both and why do both exist?

[Assistant]
True North is what we see at the top in a standard map. It is the top of the world. These will follow the meridians.

The "other" North is Magnetic North, and has slowly been shifting away from True North an is now in the Arctic Ocean.


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

[User] What determines if two plants can be hybridized or not? e.g. can I combine an avocado tree and a strawberry plant?

[Assistant]
Genes determine. So it is the same thing about when two animals evolve different enough to no longer interbreed. Humans have 23 chromosomes, so we can only breed with other things that also have 23 chromosomes and even further only if those 23 are pretty close to ours. Even if the DNA recombines, it can code for nonviable traits (like missing lungs or whatever).
Same thing for plants. First they have to have the same number of chromosomes, then those chromosomes have to be similar enough to recombine and still have enough basics to make a viable plant, then seeds have to have DNA that can code for propagation of the new plant. It is actually very difficult to find plants that can crossbreed, as in general they have to survive being exposed to lots of different pollen while only propagating with the correct pollen (or whatever the equivalent is for the particular plant).


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

[User] What happens when you get the wind knocked out of you?

[Assistant]
Google:

Getting the wind knocked out of you can be terrifying, but it's not life-threatening. It happens when a sudden force is applied to the abdomen or back, putting pressure on the celiac plexus, resulting in a spasm, or 'freezing,' of the diaphragm muscle.


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

[User] What do academics in gender studies think about research on topics such as sex differences in the brain?

[Assistant]
This question is like asking.  "What do kids think of macaroni and cheese?".

It various from kid to kid. You cant ask what a field thinks about a topic.  Because everyone has their own opinions.  Also.   Your question is way too general.

Gotta be much more specific.


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

[User]
CMV: Valve software should sell off their IP so that fans of their games can get the attention they deserve

It's pretty clear at this point that Valve is a distribution platform and microtransaction company with a game development studio attached to it. Fans of the Half-Life series, Team Fortress, and Left 4 Dead have been getting left out in the cold. Fans of Counter-Strike and Dota have only been getting attention because of cosmetics and microtransactions.

I think Valve should spin off their game development studio to focus solely on their distribution business, or sell off their neglected IPs to a studio with the intention of *actually shipping video games*.

[Assistant] This is classic gamer entitlement. You aren't entitled to a new game because you want one. It's the owner's discretion to release or abstain from releasing new iterations of a series. If Valve doesn't want to release a sequel, they are not obligated to just because you want it.


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

[User]
CMV: Attendance should not count towards the final grade in a college course.

When I was in high school, it was continuously stressed that the individual had no cap on their freedom in college, for lack of a better explanation. I was told time and time again that students were able to eat in class, or sleep, or play on their laptop, but I am now in my senior year and have realized more than ever that these things are not true in the least.

Professors care more than it appears. I personally find it disrespectful to attend class and not give the professor the undivided attention they deserve, and if you dont believe me, let me know how they react when you spend class time playing on your phone and then wonder into their office at the end of the semester in search of extra credit.

Although I believe professors deserve undivided attention from the students during class time, I do not believe that students should be required to attend class and forced to watch their grade suffer with each absence.

First and foremost, if a student is able to regularly miss classes and still pass the course, they are either qualified to move on given their knowledge in the subject, or the professor should step their game up, as the content is obviously too easy. Furthermore, college students know better than anyone that life is not a walk in the park; everyone has their own shit to deal with, and sometimes it really is inconvenient to attend class. College students pay tens of thousands of dollars each school year, why should they not be allowed to skip a class or two if they want? Some professors I have had in the past have given two free skips, where the attendance grade is not lowered until the third skip.

If a student misses a class where there was a quiz or an important announcement made and they have no legitimate excuse, its completely on them and they should be given no special treatment. Besides, depending on total enrollment price, each class missed could be a couple hundred dollars down the drain.

But maybe im wrong. CMV.

[Assistant]
One thing that "having a college degree" implies is that a person is "disciplined" enough to set a goal and follow through on it.

In college, unlike high school, nobody is forcing you to go to school.  Nobody is forcing you to go to class.  Therefore, your ability to attend class indicates how disciplined you are.  And this is something employers want to know.  Can you follow instructions and be where you're supposed to be even if you don't feel like it?  If a college professor makes attendance part of his final grade, it's because he believes having the discipline to attend all the classes is an important element of the students' development, and employers think so as well.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Did Obi-Wan recognize R2-D2 when he saw him again on Tatooine?

Obviously Obi-Wan had known him years ago, but did he know him as the same droid, or just another R2 unit.

[Assistant]
He knew.

How many pairs of gold protocol droids and blue astromech droids named "C-3PO and R2-D2" do you think go running around the galaxy? Especially when one of them is carting a message from the daughter of your best friend turned evil mouth breather. He may not have recognized them at first, but by the time that message finished he did.

From that point on, it was all about easing Luke into his destiny and keeping him away from his past and his dad. He said he never remembered "owning" a droid, which is true. What he didn't say that was he remembered these droids, remembered that they belonged to Anakin, and remembered that he left them with the man who would eventually be Leia's adopted father.


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

[User]
[The Incredibles]Why build a base in a volcano?

It didn't look like there was any type of barrier between the walkway and the magma. Isn't that hot? Isn't dangerous?

[Assistant]
Free geothermal power. That fancy machinery isn't going to run itself. Plus it's a wee bit difficult to detect the infrared emissions of a base on top of a volcano.
>Isn't that hot? Isn't dangerous?

No villain respects OSHA.


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

[User]
Is "a history of philosophy" by Frederick Coplestone the best/most comprehensive philosophy textbook to build a fundamental understanding of philosophy as a whole?

I'm really trying to get into philosophical literature, but i feel overwhelmed by all the different branches, resources and the "diffuseness" of the subject in general. So i'm looking for a textbook that can give me a fundamental but comprehensive overview, which i can then hopefully expand on. What do you guys think of Coplestone? Or are there any better textbooks that are as detailed?

[Assistant] Copleston's series is a history of philosophy, which is not the same thing as the whole of philosophy, although it's certainly a part of that whole and a useful step in getting acquainted with that whole. As histories go, Copleston's is still the best the single source--notwithstanding the significant hurdle of its length--although it's getting significantly dated, and more recent specialized secondary scholarship in particular periods or figures in philosophy's history will tend to give a better treatment than one finds in Copleston.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does does unresponsive software sometimes start working normally the second after I try to close it?

Its not loading, I try to close it, it loads normally, then it accepts the close. Why?

[Assistant]
That depends on why it's being unresponsive.

Usually, it's unresponsive because some process is blocked or waiting on a resource that it can't access. When you click the close button, or when you force it to close via the task manager, you tell those processes to stop doing whatever they were doing. Since they're no longer waiting on resources, the program becomes responsive again--but since you clicked close, it closes.


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

[User]
[Treasure Planet] Are Treasure Planet ships capable of faster than light travel?

Or are the planets and stars in the Etherium much closer together than in realty? If they are capable of FTL, then we never see it in the film, which seems like an odd ommision.

[Assistant]
They're able to use solar Winds as a means of Transportation with is a reliable, but slow Way to get around.

Their local Closter is just very small and that makes it feasible to travel around like that.


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

[User]
[SCP] Would a Thresher Device be more efficient than a onsite nuke?

In SCP-1730, the Thresher Device was the machine that transported the (completely fucked) Site 13 from an alternate universe to ours. Would this be a better alternative to nuking a Site to smithereens?

[Assistant]
It's critical that we don't quite understand how the Thresher device functions, or under what circumstances it was first designed and implemented. Some potential considerations:

- Given the ruthlessness of the Foundation in Site-13's native reality, it's possible the Thresher Device inherently requires research or materials so disturbing in their origin that "our" Foundation's O5 council or Ethics Committees vetoed pursuing it.

- While the Thresher Device functioned well under the circumstances it was activated, it may not be 100% reliable in nature. This might make it a "last resort, throw everything at it" contingency on the scale of SCP-2000, far beyond a mere nuclear detonation.

- A Thresher Device does not *destroy* a target, only moves it. A nuclear weapon destroys (hopefully). "Our" Foundation may consider shunting something sight-unseen into another reality to be an unacceptable loss-of-containment - other interdimensional SCPs are known, after all, and there's always the risk something might send it back - or worse, come looking for what sent it there.


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

[User]
[Captain America TFA] Assuming Hydra hadnt sabotaged the Super Soldier program, what was ther armys plan for their resulting army postwar?

The plan was to produce an army of Super Soldiers, not just a singular Captain America. Was the army planning on just discharging them when the war was done or somehow getting rid of them? Even if theyd limited themselves to, say, around 5000 supermen rather than an entire army, thats still an awful of lot of people to disappear. The alternative is thousands of enhanced humans being introduced into 1940s society. Were they going to just trust that theyd all behave?

[Assistant]
One step at a time, fellow.

First, let's see if this cockamamie idea even works.  And if it does, then we can start worrying about it.

Second, they weren't going to give the serum to every Tom, Dick, and Harry, the same way they had high standards for combat pilots and submariners.  The men getting the shot would have to be highly stable and moral.  Remember, the Colonel warmed up to Steve after he jumped on the grenade.  That's the sort of man they'd be looking for.

Finally, there'd be plenty of jobs that would be begging for super vets.  Besides police and FBI, front line fire fighters would take up more than a few of them.  If one or even a dozen went rogue, they'd be tracked by a squad.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does the moon look so big and bright through our eyes, but when we try to take a picture it just looks like a small dot?

Drives me nuts.

[Assistant]
Part of it is the automatic adjustments of the visual information happening inbetween the eyes and the conscious part of your brain. Basically your brain is adjusting everything you see to make it as clear and bright as possible. You can get the same effect by editing a photo of the moon or by using better technology to get a sharper and bigger picture. The brain is just doing that by default.

TL;DR: brain is touching up our eyesight before it reaches our consciousness. Modern cameras have functions similar to this but the human eye and nervous system have been gradually improving this capability for a long time.


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

[User]
[The Avengers] Can Hulk die of natural causes?

Is Bruce Banner essentially immortal?

[Assistant]
The Hulk? Yes. Is Bruce? Nope.

It's why the Hulk changes if Banner gets hurt or adrenaline rushes through his body. If the Hulk sense Banner might be in a dangerous situation he switches over to heal him and deal with the problem. Not because he cares, but because he doesn't want to die.


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

[User] [Star Trek DS9] How was the Cardassian occupation and war with the Bajorans perceived/reported in other parts of the Alpha Quadrant?

[Assistant]
It doesn't seem to have been, all that much. The Cardassian war and occupation barely even made ripples in the Federation, who fought their own war with Cardassia.

The Federation would probably care the most about them anyway. The other equivalent powers either care little about slavery/occupation of that nature, or partake in much of the same. We already know that both the Romulan and Klingon empires have vassal planets, for example. They could easily turn a blind eye, taking it as just a regular part of life in the galaxy.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does TV (usually) come through so clean and consistently while streaming on wifi tends to cut out and buffer more often?

Half the time I watch baseball on TV, other times I stream it. The TV feed is so consistent and smooth, but sometimes the internet cuts out and I have to reload the page. I understand the general gist of why this happens, but a thorough explanation would be appreciated!

[Assistant]
Television and internet streaming videos are entirely different forms of transmission.

TV signals are just broadcast and sent everywhere at once, no matter if you're watching it or not.

Streamed videos are like any other thing you do on the internet - requests are sent from your computer to the server, who then replies with the data.  If there are bottlenecks anywhere along the route between your client and the server, then packets may start to get lost, have to be resent.    This is what causes the stuttering and buffering.


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

[User] ELI5 What does turning clothes inside out before washing them actually do?

[Assistant] Your clothes have zippers and snaps which scratch against the fabric while washing.  While this causes minimal damage to most items, it can put snags on some items and screen-printed images on t-shirts will be scratched, causing them to peel.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] Would a single nanoprobe be able to continue the Borg legacy?

Suppose that somehow all Borg in the galaxy were suddenly wiped out, save for a single nanoprobe that somehow managed to get into the bloodstream of an intelligent species. Would this be enough to 'restart' the Borg?

[Assistant]
absolutely.

every nanoprobe has the instructions on how to make a borg, and every borg has the directive to

1. be connected to the hive, and if not, reestablish the connection.

2. if no hive is found, create more borg until there are enough to contact the hive, by combining their tech and recievers

3. assimilate.

in this order, the nanaprobe would first replicate itself, and eventually turn the infected into a drone.

that drone can't find a connection to the hive, so it follows 2. and infects more of the surrounding populace. they hide and abduct more and more until they combined make the rational deduction that there are no more borg and they are the last. they then would swiftly take over the planet, start to build a small navy and start infecting more surrounding worlds.


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

[User] [pokemon anime] Why was Misty able to follow Ash around after meeting him? Didn't she have any other plans? What was she doing before she met him?

[Assistant]
Misty is a fellow Pokmon Trainer like Ash so she is meant to go out and explore like he does, so sticking with him serves her further interests while also providing safety in numbers. Since she plans to take over her family's gym >!and succeeds later, with the aid of a Nurse Joy helping her earn her credentials!<, she needs the experience of travelling and training Pokmon.

Also, Ash owes her for destroying her bike, which he used to ride his Pikachu to the nearest Pokmon Centre after it was badly injured saving him from some wild birds.


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

[User]
CMV: Lizzo playing James Madison's crystal flute is not important or worth talking about.

From what i understand, the artist Lizzo ~~purchased~~ played a flute that James Madison owned. There are tons of videos of it on reddit, articles and discussion for some reason.

I would like someone to CMV on this because i think this is not worth the attention its getting, in fact i think its a total waste of time to talk about and is completely vacuous.

Lizzo owns/borrowed the flute, and she can play it, i dont see why it matters if a Founding Father/slave owner's instrument is played by an African American woman owns it and plays it now.

Who cares? Why? Of course African Americans own/use stuff racists used to own, and that as a broad trend is good and worth noting, as in worth briefly mentioning alongside other gains in civil rights. But this specific instance is probably worth mentioning once or twice, but it seems to be worth bringing up more than i would, why is that?

[Assistant] The way people have responded to a trained floutist playing a piece of history, by calling her trashy, humiliating, ruining our history, and so on, IS worth talking about. Furthermore, it is worth asking them publicly to explain *exactly* why they have so much disdain for Lizzo (by all measures a deeply wholesome pop artist) playing this flute when anybody else could have with no such negative attention.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do flowers stay alive in vases even after the roots are removed, but plants will drown when there's too much water in the flowerpot.

[Assistant]
Flowers are able to stay alive temporarily after cutting if you put them in water immediately, and they do so by taking up water through the stems. The reason they don't last this way is because they're not getting any of the minerals and nutrients they would be getting from the soil.

However, plants don't actually drown when they're overwatered. They suffocate, because they cannot pull the oxygen they need from the oversaturated soil, and then they become more susceptible to fungal organisms in their weakened state.


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

[User] [The X-Files] Prior to Scully joining, was Mulder on his own handling cases? If so, did the department raise its budget in order to accommodate another agent working with Mulder?

[Assistant]
Mulder was just a normal FBI agent who was big into conspiracy stuff and got on people's nerves.  He investigated regular crimes, but would come up with weird theories sometimes.  People seemed to like him okay enough, but you probably didn't want to get paired up with him as a partner long term.

A modern day equivalent would be somebody who listens to Alex Jones a lot.  He might be competent at his job, but he's just gotta tell you about how the Bilderberg group is behind Covid-19 or something.  A lot of agents probably request a transfer if they get stuck working with Mulder too long.

Once Scully becomes his partner, the FBI leadership is happy.  She doesn't seem to mind his weirdness.  Mulder is an active field agent, and he investigates crimes like any other.  His budget comes from the same budget as everybody else.  Mulder just likes to take the cases that are kind of odd, the ones other FBI agents want to avoid.  Scully functions as the straight man, and she can write up a report that satisfies the higher ups (in other words, a report that doesn't involve vampires or aliens).

What separates X-Files world from ours is that they have *enough* weird cases to justify having a couple of agents who only handle them.  Though you could argue that a lot of agents kind of dump weird cases on Mulder because they know they can.  A weird little town where everybody talks about seeing Bigfoot?  You don't want to waste the next month of your life in BFE, Oregon.  Let Mulder go do it.


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

[User]
Eli5: Why monarchs have numbers in their names to keep them distinct, why can't they have a different name?

like why king xyz 2 and not some other name
?

[Assistant]
In most monarchies in Europe, the new monarch can choose their regnal title- basically their name as the reigning monarch, and quite frequently that's not their given name.

For tradition reasons, or because they want to evoke the image of a past and potentially revered ruler, they will frequently choose a name that's been used previously.

The Pope of the Catholic Church does the same thing on ascending to the throne of Vatican City.

It's mostly about tradition.


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

[User]
Would there be any advantages to a microprocessor made with superconducting materials?

Apart from (I'm guessing) the lack of heating up and energy efficiency it ensues, would there be any processing power advantages we can fabricate a microprocessor chip where all the circuits are made of superconducting material?

[Assistant]
Various people have mentioned the speed at which signals travel in a microprocessor, concluding that they aren't long enough to matter. These people are evidently not uP designers, as this is too crude of an analysis.  When designing a processor, you can't just look at the length of the longest path, or even the longest critical path, and use that to determine the maximum clock rate that can be propagated using that interconnect.  If you designed to that, your yield would end up being near zero.  You also have to design for variability (or what is called Design For Manufacturability) and to include other factors like noise (which affect timing by effectively reducing Vcc levels) and clock skew.  When you do those things you eat into the design margin considerably vs the theoretical value you could get using sheer speed-of-signal calculations.

RC delay is significant in making complex microprocessor designs work today, and if we could wave a magic wand and make R go to zero in the interconnect it would be quite valuable.

Other people have mentioned heat generation and heat density. Both are problems, of course. And to some extent, they are probably the limiter today for mass-market microprocessors. But a good deal of the heat dissipation is created by the need to drive fast signals across the interconnect. Reducing the R of the interconnect would help with that problem a great deal.


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

[User]
So, where are all the beneficial infectious diseases?

As far as I can see, most infectious diseases work somewhat along these lines (obviously extremely simplified):

* microorganism infects host
* microorganism takes energy (in var. forms) from host to reproduce
* host is none to happy about thieving microorganism & tries to get rid of them
* microorganism is happy, if expulsion gets them to a new host (therefore might actually get annoying enough, just to actively trigger expulsion, even if host's immune system would not care otherwise)

Correct so far? If so, why are there no diseases which are actually beneficial to the host - either at least beneficial enough, to offset the energy-cost, or, ideally, so beneficial, that the host will WANT to spread it to family and friends - or actively seek to get infected in the first place? E.g.: a microorganism that increases pheromone-production & thereby makes its host more attractive, would probably spread rather well.

The only cases I can think of that are at least somewhat like that are Sickle Cell Anemia, and, come to think of it, I wonder whether the species making up our gut flora do not fulfill these criteria as well (though probably not - no spreading to other hosts, apart from childbirth, so not really infectious?)...

EDIT: Yes, obviously "disease" would be the wrong term in this case, sorry for that. Make it "beneficial infections" instead, and the question still stands.

[Assistant]
The very nature of the word disease does not allow for any kind of benefit. Anytime an organism interacts with the human body in a positive way, it is called mutualism. However, it is hypothesized that early in evolutionary history, small, bacterium-like prokaryotes developed a mutualistic relationship with eukaryotic cells and gave rise to the mitochondria, with their unique mitochondrial DNA.

Further, there are bacteria in our intestines that also provide us with many benefits, such as breaking down things we have not digested and providing us with vitamins. Said bacteria also compete with harmful bacteria and fungus, thereby helping us to avoid infections. A woman once took antibiotics for a year and developed a yeast infection all the way into her colon because her native bacteria were being killed off, allowing the yeast to fill the empty niche. Technically we all have an "infection" of these helpful bacteria, but we don't call it a disease because its not a "dis-ease;" its a good thing.

Sickle cell anemia is not an infection. It is caused by a genetic mutation, where a glutamic acid is replaced by a valine in the protein chains of hemoglobin. It does assist in defense against malaria, but is not itself an infectious disease that is helpful. In fact, if you are homozygous for sickle cell, you will probably suffer a great deal before you die an early and painful death.

EDIT: It is also hypothesized that retroviruses (viruses that can insert their genome into ours) have made many beneficial contributions to our genome over the course of our long evolutionary history.


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

[User] [Star Wars/Babylon 5] How would things be different in the Star Wars universe if the only FTL travel available was Jumpgate technology?

[Assistant]
If it relied purely on gates, the Empire could just park ships next to every Jumpgate and board any ship they suspected of being part of the Rebellion.

However, in Babylon 5 there were larger ships that could generate their own hyperspace windows.


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

[User] ELI5: How does your DNA know where it is in your body and which body part to grow into?

[Assistant]
Some parts of your DNA are regulatory genes. They don't build anything used for tissue or enzymes or anything like that. Instead, they build proteins that activate other parts of your DNA. So, say your DNA is trying to build an eyeball. It doesn't immediately start making an eyeball. Instead, there's a gene for "build an eyeball" and that gene turns on another gene that says, "build a retina" and *that* gene turns on *another* gene that says, "build a nerve cell" and so on.

Those regulatory genes are activated by any number of chemical signalers. Some of them turn themselves on and off. So for instance, to build fingers there is a signal that both turns on the "build a finger" gene *and* turns *off* the genes that build itself. So the more of this signal there is, the less of it will be made. So you end up with pockets of high levels of this signal, but they fall off really quickly. So your body builds a finger where those signals are strong, but not where none exist.

Similar signals pervade your body. Signals turn genes on or off which turn on or off other signals, which turn on or off the genes that code for the actual "stuff" that you're made out of. Every type of cell tells every other cell what kind it is, and affects which parts of their DNA is activated, which feed back to that first cell and tells *it* what DNA to activate. Before your cells even start to differentiate, when you're just an embryo barely starting to form, the cells still started with some signals that affect the growth of the cells from that point forward so they *do* begin to differentiate.


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

[User] In the Bond film A View To A Kill. James remarks that they're pumping sea water into the oil fields and a geologists states that the area is near a fault line and that it is incredibly dangerous. Is this true? and if so why?

[Assistant]
Haha well maybe but probably not, though that's the best bond film because geology, Christopher Walken and peak 80s.

I guess the best analogy would be fracking, which  can induce earthquakes by increasing the fluid pressure in faults. There have been some magnitude 4-5 quakes in places like Oklahoma where induced seismicity from fracking is to blame. But fracking is a whole lot more complex than just pumping water down a hole. Magnitude 4-5 quakes also represent slip on relatively small surfaces...say 3x3km of fault length. A massively damaging quake like Zorin wants would be slip on 10s to 100s of km of the San Andreas. There just isn't data on how seismicity of that scale can be induced artificially. It seems like it would require fracking on an enormous scale. Maybe even a cave filled with dynamite.......ha.


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

[User]
How do Palaeontologists build image of an organism from fossils? How accurate is their method?

I was recently saw a rabbit skeleton and could only imagine a monstrous creature but not a cute bunny. It got me thinking if dinosaurs were actually that intimidating.

[Assistant]
Not a paleontologist but Comparative anatomy gives a lot of insight into fossils - e.g. Proportionally long legs (specifically lower legs) correspond to animals adapted for speed or sprinting. Robust bones are indicative of heavy set animals with lots of muscle of fat. Unusually dense bones can be indicative of aquatic animals.

 The texture of the bones themselves can reveal even more information - deeper scarring on muscle attachment sites means beefier muscles in that area; rugosities and landmarks on the bones can reveal places where keratin sheathes would anchor to or where blood vessels flow. Quill knobs are seen where feathers anchor on some dinosaurs.

Some fossils are preserved well enough to preserve scales, skin and feathers. A handful of fossils even preserve melanosomes which determines colour. Evolution also leaves lots of remnants of a species' ancestry behind - for example: pliosaur, crocodile and spinosaur teeth are extremely similar but theropod (the group of Dinosaurs spinosaurus belongs to) teeth are flat with serrated edges, so even though spinosaurus teeth are evolved convergently to other fish-eating animals, they have subtle remnants of traits only seen on theropod teeth, in this case being slightly less circular and having faint ridges where the serrated edge used to be. Teeth themselves are hugely informative of diet and environment too to the point that microscopic wear marks can tell you how a herbivore moves its mouth! In mammals, the patterns in teeth is even more unique (compare the pattern on an elephant molar to a cow to a human).

All these things offer different pieces of the puzzle. Phylogenetic bracketing takes all these clues, adaptions and identifying features and models the most likely relationships, this can then reveal where along the chain certain traits pop up (for example, feather-like filaments have been found across a range of distantly related dinosaur and even pterosaurs, indicating that all dinosaurs probably evolved from an animal with some level of proto-feathers). All of this can also be compared with chemical isotope analyses of fossils and the formations they are found in, to build up an even better picture.


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

[User]
ELI5: What do pharmacists do? Doctors write the scripts, big pharma manufactures the drugs, what's the pharmacist do other than select a bottle from the shelf and dole out the pills?

Genuinely interested, sorry for belittling an entire profession.

[Assistant] A pharmacist is basically a specialist in medication, meaning they probably know more about medicines than some medical practitioners.  They do so much more than dispense medicine, they also offer consults on use and dosage.  They are also the last line of defence when it comes to drug interactions, especially when a patient is treated by numerous practitioners.  And last but not least, they deserve a medal for being able to translate a practitioner's handwriting.


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

[User]
[Interstellar] In the end, did they get the entire population of Earth off-planet?

Or did they leave most of them behind to die of starvation?

Bonus question: if they had the budget to build self-sufficient habitats in orbit near Saturn, wouldn't it be much easier to do the same thing *on the surface of the Earth*?

[Assistant]
We didn't get everyone off the Earth, nor did the Earth become completely uninhabitable. The blight destroyed our crops, one by one. But it didn't cross over to all of them. Some plant species are too genetically different for the the blight to make the cross species jump. Unfortunately, the blight resistant crops, such as certain vegetables and fruits, can't be stored like grains can, nor could we transport them across the earth like we used to. With the climate change and collapse of the bee populations of the 21st century, these remaining crops couldn't support a technological society. The humanity left on earth would regress to about 1500CE population and technology levels. This might not sound bad, but if you were one of the 9 billion staving to death, it would suck.

However, the Great Collapse was only a brief set back in humanity's history. Do you really think that a society that can create a tesseract and manipulate the interior of a black hole doesn't have the technology to genetically create blight resistant crops? All we need is the time to do it, and the orbiting habitats gave us the time.


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

[User]
[General] Do any Sci-Fi's have a device that adjusts gravity to the user personally wearing it, that varies from planet to planet, and how would it work?

In most scifis when characters are visiting any planet they all seems to be walking just fine, never attempting to adjust to the new and different gravity.

I've seen in some cases a race of aliens would wear very heavy armor when theyre off world to simulate the heavy gravity of their home planet

Maybe an unspoken scifi rule (like everyone has universal translators) is also everyone wears a gravity adjuster - that increases or lessens your localized gravity

**My questions are:**

* Do any Scifi's mention a device like this?
* How would it work (especially the lessening of gravity)

[Assistant]
Star Trek life support belts come with antigrav/gravity manipulation functions.  You see this most often when crewmen beam onto powerless ships or stations and walk as if they're on a planet.

One of the main viewpoint characters in the Sector General documentaries (about a hospital space station serving a wide variety of sentients) is a member of a flying race from an planet with a tenth of Earth's gravity.  She uses gravity nullifiers to fly about the station.


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

[User]
ELI5: why does the radio sound so redundant now when it feels like 10 years ago it was playing much more music?

Like for instance why am I hearing only like 20-30 songs for literally weeks at a time? There's TONNES of new songs and artists out there why is it so limited?

[Assistant] because you're 10 years older and just realizing how it's almost always been...radio as a business exists to sell commercials, they (the owners) don't care about the music (the djs might but they don't decide what's played). in general, research shows that the average listener only listens for about 15 minutes consecutively, so in order to get the average listener to stick around for those commercials, they need to guarantee that the average listener will hear as many of their favorite songs as possible in that 15 minute window. this means that the top 20 songs must be repeated as often as possible, especially during "drive times" such as on the way to and from work.


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

[User] ELI5: Why doesn't/can't Russia annex Eastern-Ukraine the same way they annexed Crimea?

[Assistant]
Politically it's a strategic way of keeping Ukraine out of Nato/EU. They won't bring in a member in the middle of a civil war.

Pragmatically the Donbas is alot larger and has more people than the Crimea. It would put too much pressure on their budget/resources.


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

[User]
ELI5: How can you wash germs and dirt off your hands but not some smells?

Your hands stay stinky even when they're clean. Such as a fish smell lingers on the skin hours after fishing and labourously washing hands. Why is that?

[Assistant]
Germs are thousands of times bigger than smells.

For a real ELI5: If you spill marbles on the floor, you can "wipe" them into a pile. If you spill flour, there's almost always a trace left behind unless you work very hard. Because the flour particles are so much smaller than what you're wiping with.


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

[User] What is actually happening to sperm when it touches your skin? do billions of them just go into your pores?

[Assistant] skin is designed to keep foreign material out and it does a rather good job... if the sperm could get in through your pores, imagine how susceptible we would be to many protozoa, bacteria, and viruses.  i dont imagine there is a gamete invasion  going on.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What was the relationship between Grievous and Dooku?

I understand where they sat on the chain of command, my question is more to do with how they see each other, in Clone Wars it honestly seems like Grievous genuinely hates Dooku and like Dooku looks down on him as a pathetic pawn at best and incompetent at worst, would this be an accurate perception of how they view one another?

[Assistant]
They both despise each other for different reasons.

Grevious hates Dooku because Dooku is a pompous asshole who represents what he will never be.

Dooku hates Grevious for being a pale imitation of a Force User and who thinks he deserves a place among the best of them.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it that washing bloodstained fabric with cold water helps to remove the blood, but washing with warm or hot water causes the stain to set?

It seems like most fabric stains come out more easily with hot water. Is blood just weird?

[Assistant]
Cleaning protein stains can be thought of like cleaning a raw egg white off of a rag.

If you use hot water the raw egg white will cook enough to set into the cloth. You can't just rinse out the egg white if it's been turned into cooked egg white all imbedded around the cloth fibers. It's *much* harder to get out after the proteins are heated. Same with blood.

That's also why you always want to check on a stain *after* it comes out of the wash. Because once you put it in the dryer it's probably never coming out.

But for some things, like blood and grass stains, if you soak it with an enzymatic stain remover (like Shout) for long enough the enzymes will eat the protein and it'll still wash out.

-

*If you want to see what's happening on a more molecular level, take a handful of thin rubber bands. Gently mix them all together into a cohesive pile. Each rubber band represents a protein strand.

You could untangle this pile.

But not after you blast it with a hot hair dryer. That pile is not untangling ever again.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do game companies not support their games better?

Hi

Can someone explain the actual economics and concerns from a business point of view, for why games companies spentd years developing AAA titles and then a few months after release or less, they stop supporting it? Maybe there's a patch even 2-3 years down the line and more content too, but if a game is really great, wouldn't it be worth supporting it for a longer time and better too, instead of just moving on to the next title and upsetting a lot of otherwise potentially very loyal customers? What would it require for companies to keep supporting a game, for 5-10 years? Especially big companies.

Thanks.

[Assistant]
For most heavily marketed AAA games, most of the profit is made during the spike of sales when the game is initially released at full price. There may be additional spikes later on when the game price is marked down but because of the lower sale price, the profit per sale is reduced.

Therefore, a game company, knowing that they get most of their profits immediately after release, will only care about the release and not supporting the game afterwards. It's better to allocate people to work on a new game which will have a profit spike when released than to have them work on patches for an old game which will not make much more money as time passes.

Furthermore, continued support for older games means gamers will stick to playing the old versions rather than buy the new versions. Game companies can't sell their new yearly iteration if people are content with playing the previous year's version.

And for upsetting the loyal customers? It turns out sale records are broken time and time again with this strategy. Why worry about loyalty and support if people are still buying it up upon release?

There are a few exceptions to the model. Certain games that offer a "service platform" for gaming tend to have continued support (DOTA 2, Overwatch, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Rainbow 6 Siege, CS:GO etc.). A great deal of the profit comes from players spending money on microtransactions as they continue to play.


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

[User]
Why do commercial jets have rounded noses?

Fighter jets have a more pointed nose but for some reason commercial jets do not.  Why?

[Assistant] Commercial jets fly at subsonic speeds and at those speeds a spherical leading edge (i.e., rounded nose) has the least drag of any shape.  At supersonic speeds the shock wave created by the aircraft becomes a bigger factor in drag than the aerodynamic drag.  The shock wave will begin at the forward most point of the aircraft traveling faster than sound (i.e., at the nose) and forms a cone aft.  The angle of the cone decreases as the speed of the aircraft increases.  If an aircraft component gets outside of the cone formed by the nose, it will create it's own shock wave and drastically increase the drag on the aircraft.  By having a sharp pointed nose, a fighter jet is designed to keep the entire aircraft behind the shock wave.


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

[User] ELI5: What is so profound in Lockheed's new fusion discovery?

[Assistant]
They haven't quite told us that part. In specifics. The CEO of Lockheed was recently quoted stating they are looking for partners (investors) so it appears we've all gotten excited about a very uplifting commercial about a technology we could very possibly master in one decade or less, if we had more money because Lockheed has probably reached a point of fully operational/staffed division that probably solved some stabilization mathematics and engineering obstacles but without fully funding thier fusion R&D dept. They wont have enough to produce a working prototype to prove thier concept.

If fusion exists in 10 years, according to some recently proposed economic models it could be that profound of a paradigm shift in our civilization, we could stop uding currency! With ubiquitous free green energy we would become a type 1 civilization in 25 years. So fusion is pretty big.


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

[User]
[MCU] what would successful Ultron look and be like?

I guess this can be looked at from 2 perspectives: Ultron being successful for the Avengers, and Ultron being successful for himself.

[Assistant]
Tony and Bruce wanted a defense network that would stand in for the Avengers. Picture the autonomous suits piloted by Jarvis in IM3 or Friday in Spiderman Homecoming, but on a massive scale.

There would be a benevolent AI deploying Ultron robots to areas in need via Satellite (a la Far From Home) or grounded distribution centers (seen in AoU with Tony's Iron Man Suits). This AI would presumably not want to kill all humans.

Ultron would want the same as above, but with the killing all humans. Maybe  with blackjack.


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

[User] ELI5: When a nuclear bomb detonates, what stops the self-sustaining chain reaction of fission events? Why isn't the blast infinite?

[Assistant] The explosion blasts the nuclear material apart which stops the fission reaction. This typically happens after a few percent of the material has fissioned. Even if you were to keep the material together, there's only a finite amount of nuclear material in the bomb that can undergo fission, so it would still stop once enough of the nuclear material had fissioned that a chain reaction could no longer be supported.


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

[User] ELI5:Why are some boats pointy on both ends, while other boats are pointy in the front and flat in the back?

[Assistant]
The ideal high speed ship is infinitely long and infinitely skinny, this gives the least amount of drag but is impossible to build.

The practical high speed ship is fairly long and fairly skinny at the water line, but this also makes it relatively unstable.

A ship that is fairly wide relative to its length will be very stable; and make it a lot easier to put your stuff close to the water line which lets you carry more cargo with less of a risk of flipping over.

Ships that have a flat stern often aren't concerned about absolute speed, there is often something else they had to worry about more than just going fast.  It could be overall length like on a speed boat.  It could be a need to load cargo in from some side and a big rear loading ramp was convenient.  It could be that they're a big ass ferry only ever doing 6 knots so what do they care about high speed drag.

Points on both ends help the boat go faster with the same horsepower, but not all boats care about speed.


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

[User]
[The Producers - Broadway version] Why were the lyrics to Springtime for Hitler, written by a devoted adorer of Hitler, so campy?

Up until opening night, Franz was always meant to be playing Hitler, and Roger knew thw lyrics by heart, so presumably the lyrics were unchanged, just Rogers performance. But even ignoring that, the lyrics Roger sings are campy and silly - why would Franz write them that way, and how on earth would he have delivered them respectfully?

[Assistant] There was *never* a way to deliver the lines respectfully. Franz is an idiot and a fanatic, who is so tone deaf to the general public that he honestly believes that he could go goose-stepping across the stage barking "Heil Me" and people would applaud.


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

[User]
I believe it is in the best interest of the US to allow and even encourage the conflict in Syria to continue indefinitely. CMV.

I offer the following reasons:

The fighting in Syria has attracted many of the extremist jihadists from all over the world. It is in the best interest of the US to perpetuate bloodshed in Syria as a way to concentrate and exterminate those that affiliate with terrorist groups like al Qaeda.

Having either the FSA or Assad gain full control of the country would end with a brutal dictatorship (and probably genocide) or a radical Islamist government. Neither of these results are acceptable. The US cannot get involved in the war without picking a winner.

Furthermore, the Syrian war takes the heat off the US's continued killing of Muslims and  occupation of Muslim land.

By perpetuating constant Muslim-on-Muslim violence, perhaps it will spur a movement amongst moderate Muslims who are sick of war to take a stand for secular democracy.

The enemy of your enemy is your friend. Both the FSA and Assad are the enemy of the US, therefore they are both our friend. In order to maintain this status quo, the US must refrain from intervention.

[Assistant]
>The fighting in Syria has attracted many of the extremist jihadists from all over the world. It is in the best interest of the US to perpetuate bloodshed in Syria as a way to concentrate and exterminate those that affiliate with terrorist groups like al Qaeda.

Is there a finite number of extremist jihadis, or do their numbers tend to increase in times and places of great chaos and misery?

>By perpetuating constant Muslim-on-Muslim violence, perhaps it will spur a movement amongst moderate Muslims who are sick of war to take a stand for secular democracy.

Pure speculation. A theocratic Syria's bloody excesses could horrify the moderate Muslim community and produce the same result. A secular-dictatorial Syria might fund moderate Muslim groups in the hope of drowning out the extremists who threaten their stability. A peaceful, secular Syria could be the positive influence on the region that the neocons hoped Iraq could be. An AI-governed Syria could take over the world. Many things are *possible* or *conceivable*: what is *likely*, and why?

Additionally: Oil. Violence and chaos in the Middle East drives the price of oil up, and oil is the single most important commodity to a modern economy. The United States has very few priorities that are higher than its economy.


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

[User] Assuming it was ridged enough and there was enough liquid, can a straw be so long you simply couldn't drink through it?

[Assistant]
Yes.

A straw works because the pressure inside the straw is less than the ambient atmospheric pressure. So the atmosphere pushes down on the liquid and forces it up the straw.

One atmosphere of pressure can support a column of water only about 10 meters high (p = gh).


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

[User] ELI5: What does "open source" mean when people are referring to software and programs?

[Assistant]
When a programmer works on an application, the file or files they produce are usually called "source code", and those files are used by a compiler to build an executable program.

"Open source" means that a project team has intentionally posted their source code publicly, so that anyone can inspect it. Other programmers can read the code to see exactly how the program was built and what it does, which allows others to learn from the code, audit it for bugs or security issues, and potentially contribute patches back to the project.

Many open source programs are free to use, and people tend to associate the two ideas, but it's not necessarily a requirement.

You can find many open source projects on websites like GitHub or BitBucket, which provide free hosting for those projects.


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

[User] How is altitude measured on other planets if they don't have seas and hence they don't have a mean sea level?

[Assistant]
A zero-altitude reference surface is defined.  Depending on the body and the usage, this surface might be a sphere, spheroid, or ellipsoid whose dimensions are taken from average measurements of the planet's dimensions.

The reference surface for large solid bodies with slow rotation (e.g. Mercury, Venus) are often simply spheres with the average radius of the planet.

For faster rotaters (Earth, Mars) an oblate spheroid is more appropriate.  This shape approximates the equatorial bulge caused by planet's rotational momentum.

For a *tidally locked* fast rotater (Io, Europa) an ellipsoid usually provides the best fit reference surface.

For the gas giants, the convention has been to define zero altitude to be the atmospheric depth at which the pressure equals 1 bar (100 kPa).


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Is it possible for a dark side user to use force lightning to restart someone's heart?

Let's say someone is having a heart attack in the Star Wars universe and a friendly Dark Lord of the Sith (or any strong dark side user) is around. Can he/she restart the persons heart with force lightning? Can the lightning be controlled like a person peeing? Or can you only release it in the full torrent? Can it only be used for pure destruction? Those who use the dark side always boast that it's more powerful, but if it can't be used for anything legitimately helpful then it seems to quite limited. (Sorry for all the questions in one post but I'm a curious guy...)

[Assistant]
In Legends, yes - Cade Skywalker does exactly that in the Legacy comic line.

In canon, no.

As for amount released, yes that can be controlled. Palpatine does exactly that with Luke at Endor, starting with just enough to hurt him, but eventually scaling up to where he was going to kill him had Anakin Skywalker not intervened.

The dark side isn't more powerful, but it is more "showy" and destructive.


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

[User] ELI5: What is an "Agile" environment?

[Assistant]
Agile can be summarised very briefly:

* Only work on the most important things at any given point in time
* Break those things into small bite-sized tasks for individuals to work on autonymously
* Catch up for about 10-20 minutes every morning on progress
* Meet at the end of a set of 'things' to plan the next set of 'things'

Edit: As someone pointed out the flavour of Agile here is Scrum. Agile broadly can be summarised by the first two bullets.