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

[User] Country A donates million dollars to country B. Did country B gain economicaly or just exchanged currencies?

[Assistant]
Country B certainly gains. Country A has essentially said "we'll give you a million dollars worth of resources. Oil, food, wood, labor or whatever else you want. Here are the coupons (money) you can redeem for those resources".

It's not an exchange of currency because Country B's currency is not involved. They can simply redeem in the original currency for goods from Country A, or trade them amongst themselves to someone else who wants goods from A.


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

[User] ELI5: How do big ass ships like aircraft carriers actually float on water while carrying the weight of aircraft, engines, controls, etc?

[Assistant]
Buoyancy is what holds up a ship. A ship displaces a certain volume of water  the ship makes a hole in the water of a certain size. If the volume of the ship inside the hole is lighter in weight than the water would be, it floats.

Water is _heavy_, and the interior of a ship is mostly air, really.

A cubic foot of air weighs very little (like, .08 pounds). A cubic foot of seawater weighs 64 pounds.


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

[User]
ELI5: How are there places where the desert meets the ocean, like in Saudi Arabia?

I don't understand how you can have a dry sandy landscape right next to an ocean and not have any precipitation and vegetation.

[Assistant]
You need two things for rain - moist air, and a reason for it to fall out of the sky.

If the prevailing wind always blows from the land to the sea in that location, then it's quite likely that the air will be very dry - so no rain there.

If the wind is blowing onto the land from the sea it's possible it's not been passing over the sea for long enough to collect significant moisture, or more likely there's no reason for it to fall as rain. If the airstream isn't deflected upwards by mountains, for example, then it may just move inland as warm moist air until it either rises, or cools, either of which can cause rain.


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

[User] ELIF: Why do your lips sometimes become chapped all of a sudden?

[Assistant]
Your lips become chapped primarily due to 2 reasons:
1. lack of humidity in air (that's why chapped lips generally occur in winter months)
2. licking lips too often (can actually dry out lips)

The reason lips get chapped whereas skin doesn't is because skin has oil glands to moisturize whereas lips don't.

Hope this helps!


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

[User] ELI5 How megaphones work.

[Assistant] **When one shouts , the sound waves disperse in a semicircle , the power of the voice cords distributed to 180 degrees. A simple megaphone channels the sound in a small angle and thus is directional and stronger. Electric megaphones amplify the sound and still send it in a narrow cone**


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

[User] ELI5: Why do "normal" or "generic" bricks almost always have some sort of orange-red color and why do said colors sometimes become darker?

[Assistant]
Bricks are made of clay from the Earth, and the specific clay they use has iron in it. When iron is exposed to oxygen, it turns red/orange (like rust).

Bricks become darker over time because they are porous (lots of little holes in them) that can be filled with dirt. Power-washing can bring them back to life :)


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

[User]
[The Legend of Korra][HEAVY SPOILERS] What are the metals that metalbenders are capable of bending?

It's a given that metalbenders can bend pretty much any composition of steel but can't bend platinum because metalbenders rely on sensing the tiny fragments of earth inside smelted metals(i.e. the charcoal/carbon inside steel) and thus cannot bend pure metals like Platinum. But in saving Avatar Korra, Suyin Beifong bends the liquid metal poison which looks like Mercury and to my knowledge, Mercury is a pure metal containing no fragments of earth.

How then was Suyin able to bend Mercury in spite of it being a pure metal and as an extension to that, what are the metals that metalbenders are capable of bending since not all of them contain fragments of earth that can be sensed by metalbenders(copper wiring for example)?

[Assistant]
i always assumed that it was just harder to bend the farther it gets from a natural state so the better you were the more refined metal you could bend.

mercury bonds with a number of natural elements including sulfur and selenium which could qualify as "earth" but you must understand that at a chemical level there is no such thing as "earth" so what earthbending can and can't affect is a function of what the magic can identify as "earth" and maybe if you know mercury is metal and metal is earth you can trick the magic to do it just that once.


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

[User]
ELI5: Do some people really have "strong" or "weak" genes?

My new baby is 95% me in looks and disposition.  My fiancee's sisters have 5 kids between them, and they mostly look like their fathers.  Does her family simply have "weak genes" or is it just coincidence?

[Assistant]
"Strong" and "Weak" are poor terms for this.

"Dominant" and "Recessive" are more accurate.  Remember 8th grade biology with those Punnett Squares?  Some traits are "dominant" which means that they tend to show up if someone has them.  Other's are recessive which means they tend not to show up as much since you need to have the trait from both parents for it to show.

Now Punnett Squares are overly simple when talking about genes but that is ultimately what you are asking.  So yes, some genes are "strong" but it is incorrect to say that they are somehow "better" than other "weak" genes.  Some genes just tend to show up if present while others do not.


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

[User]
[Stargate] Some things I've never understood about the stargate/iris.

So the iris blocks anything getting through the stargate. Ok. But why does it kill/destroy the stuff it blocks instead of sending it back through the gate?? I've always wondered why a person doesnt simply attempt to walk through the event horizon and fall back out like they walked into a wall since essentially that's what your doing, is it not?? Also if your on the other end of the gate and you dont know if the iris is closed or not, couldnt you just put your hand through and feel for it??? Thank you very much in advance for those willing to take the time to answer these questions seriously after like 9 years.

[Assistant]
Stargates are more complicated than they appear. They aren't a simple wormhole from one gate to the other, rather anything that enters the sending gate is dematerialised and transmitted to the other gate as a stream of subatomic particles. The receiving gate then rematerialises you at its event horizon.

The iris is so close to the event horizon that there is no room to rematerialise you in one piece, instead your particles are simply ejected from the gate while still separated from each other. The gate connection is unidirectional so it can't simply send you back the other way.


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

[User] ELI5: Are all of the cars in NASCAR the same? If each driver isn't driving the same type car, is it considered fair?

[Assistant]
They're not *exactly* the same but there's strict regulations on pretty much every aspect of the car so no one car should really have any significant performance advantage.

OTOH, how the teams choose to tune their car for a particular track and racing conditions can give the team an advantage.  That's part of the sport.


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

[User] [Ant-Man 2]Batteries work based on chemical charges. The lab is being powered by a double A battery. Their technology increases the space between atoms, not their number, so the power output of the battery should not change. How are they using a double A battery to power the entire lab?

[Assistant] Pym Particles.  That's all you need to know, because that's all the justification we're ever going to get.  Its the same thing with the Flash not turning someone into a red paste every time he accelerates while holding someone.  Speedforce.  Pym Particles are the same thing.  That's why nobody likes working with Hank, he never explains shit.


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

[User]
Why does wild meat taste and look different to farmed meat?

I know the diet of the animal could have an effect on the taste, but why does (for instance) wild pork look darker than farmed pork?

**edit** I'm in New Zealand, so when I say farmed meat I mean what you guys would call free range. We don't really do factory farming here (although some chicken eggs are farmed in cramped conditions, but they are clearly labelled).

[Assistant]
Using your example, wild pork muscles are actually used on a daily basis, running around, digging into dirt, competing against other pigs, etc.

The farm pig, on the other hand, is mostly sedentary.  Casually strolling over to food trough, meandering back to sleeping area, etc.

Level of fat in the muscle will be lower in the wild animal and the meat will be tougher due to the exercise.  (And the diet will have a major impact on taste, too).


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Was there anything more to the Emperor's plans to turn Luke?

In the Plinkett reviews of the Star Wars trilogies he notes that the way the Emperor approached Luke always seemed like a glaring flaw in the series, Luke comes to the Emperor's throne room on the Death Star, he tempts Luke with all the power being a Sith could bring him.. and then Luke just isn't interested, no thanks. Luke never really sought power for it's own sake, Anakin was always concerned with strength and status as a result of being a former slave and constantly losing the people in his life because he couldn't protect them (and actually breaking the rules of the Jedi and managing to save Ahoska a few times probably didn't help); but all Luke really had to do was trust the plan and he seemed satisfied to do so for most of the duel with Vader. He had been a soldier in the rebel alliance for years at that point, so he was hardly some guy who would choke up and do something stupid to save a single life like some youngling Order 66 survivor being hunted by the Inquisitors. I think some of the lore has said that the Rebels won in part because Palpatin's battle meditation was unfocused but aside from that by the time Luke is in the throne room the only thing he really manages to do is save his own life, from his perspective (and a Doylist perspective) everything that leads up to the destruction of the Death Star and the death of Vader and Palpatine are totally out of Luke's hands. In a lore sense was there something else going on there other than Palpatine not understanding that he couldn't just wave UNLIMITED POWER!!! in Luke's face and make him turn?

[Assistant]
The Sith don't understand someone not being motivated by power. The plan was to offer power, then threaten his friends, and if it didn't work, kill him.

If it didn't work, oh well, at least we took out the rebellion. The only hitch was Vader got himself a conscience at the end, and also the rebellion did better than the Emperor predicted.


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

[User]
ElI5 can you make "something" entirely eradicated?

Maybe I'm dumb, but whatever it's called, matter, particles or atoms.

For example, burn something and ashes would be produced, then the ashes can be spread everywhere in the world, and "disappear"?

But is it possible for something to get destroyed in a so-called "atomic level" and no longer exist? Maybe putting the ashes under extreme heat like the sun and being eradicated forever and ever?

Or would it just change forms and exist forever and be recycled over time through whatever methods?

Yup I am aware this is a stupid question as my education level is too low, hope someone clears this up for me! (I'm not sure what category this falls into, probably physics)

[Assistant]
Kinda.

If you take regular matter and make it touch anti-matter, you will end up converting all of it's mass into energy.

In a sense it is all still there, only there is nothing physical left, it's all energy.

Honestly, when you get down to the really small stuff (atomic level), Matter and energy are kinda the same thing, just in different "states".


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

[User]
How do services like 1and1 possess the capability to sell domain names? Who owns them before they are bought?

Is it a licensed dealer type of thing? Did companies just buy spools of domain names in the beginning and are just selling them off? Why are they not free to register - like finding gold in a river bed?

[Assistant]
No one owns it before you buy it.   When the West was being settled, and the government offered "free land," you still had to pay to have the deed recorded at the county level.  Registering a domain is exactly the same concept.  No one owns it before you do, but it costs money to acknowledge your newfound ownership.

Also, no one owns your New Idea (patent pending)(TM) before you patent it, but you still have to pay a fee to register the patent.


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

[User]
How many fighters did the Rebels have during the attack on the first Death Star?

As Rogue Squadron was floating towards the Death Star, it never really made sense as to how a small group of fighters managed to blow up a space station the size of a moon. In addition, where was the rest of the Imperial Fleet during this attack?

[Assistant]
22 X-wings and 8 Y-wings.
They were able to blow up the station due to the combination of the Death Star's defenses being meant for large ships, not fighters, and the vulnerability of the thermal exhaust port enabling small scale weapons to start a destructive chain reaction.
The rest of the Imperial fleet was deployed throughout the Empire as per normal.  Tarkin did not estimate that additional assets would be needed to destroy the Rebel base.


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

[User] [Blade Runner] Do Replicants need to eat and sleep like a regular human? Or will they be fine without food?

[Assistant] Replicants have nearly-identical biological needs to humans. They eat, drink, and relieve themselves just like humans. Synthetics are different, they do not have *biological* needs in the same way humans and replicants do.


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

[User]
How big does a nebula have to be to form a star?

A friend told me that a nebula cant form a star if its too small; and that if its large enough, it will form a red dwarf.

Do we know how big the nebula has to be to form a red dwarf?

[Assistant]
There's lots of different types of nebulae. The smaller ones produced from ejected material from stars - e.g. supernova remnants and planetary nebulae - are too small to form any star, and just continue to expand until they mix into the "interstellar medium", which is the thin gas/plasma that fills most of the volume of the Milky Way.

The nebulae that form stars are massive "molecular clouds". These coalesce from the interstellar medium, through a combination of cooling and gravity.

At very low densities, the main mechanism for cooling is particles bump into each other, converting kinetic energy into "excitation" of each atom (internal wiggles), and this energy can then be radiated out of the (mostly transparent) gas as light photons. So the more often particles bump into each other, the more energy they can radiate out of the system, and the faster the gas can cool down.

This, combined with basic gas dynamics, and gravity, makes cooling a runaway process in interstellar gas.  If one part of the gas is a little bit cooler, then it also has lower pressure (from e.g. the ideal gas equation). This means it can't support itself so well against gravity and against the pressure of the rest of the gas, so it shrinks a bit. This makes it denser, which means the particles are closer together and are bumping into each other more often. More collisions mean you can cooler more quickly, which drops the pressure further, which increases the density, which increases the cooling rate, which decreases the pressure, and so on.

Eventually you get dense enough that gravitational collapse takes over, and the whole thing fragments into *multiple* stars.

These star-forming molecular clouds tend to be very massive - thousands to tens of millions of the mass of our Sun. Each one collapses and fragments to form an entire *open cluster* of stars. The Pleiades are a good example on an open cluster of young stars, where they are still visibly close together in the sky, and you can even make out the cloudiness of the gas around them. The Hyades - the "head" of Taurus - are another example that's easy to see, but they're less dramatic. Both are high and quite visible right now, in both hemispheres.

But a ten million solar mass molecular cloud doesn't collapse all the way into ten million stars. Instead, there is a *feedback* process - new stars stop other stars from forming. The radiation and winds from the first stars, especially the young-lived big blue stars, starts to heat up and blow away the molecular cloud. After a few million years, those big blue stars will go supernovae, and blow away the rest, and you're left with a "dry" open cluster of stars, which slowly drift apart and mix among the rest of the stars in the galaxy, over one or more orbits around the Milky Way.

Typically open clusters have thousands of stars, with the full range of masses. The most massive ones burn the fastest, so the older an open star cluster is, the fewer high mass stars it'll have.


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

[User]
Why is UBI better than just decreasing tax, socializing healthcare & education and giving the unemployed welfare?

By better I mean, better overall (for the economy as a total).

[Assistant]
UBI might be preferable to other types of welfare because it lacks a lot of the administrative burden and has a lower likelihood to "overlook" anyone. A bunch of different social programs always have a chance to be overly complex, to set bad incentives, to have gaps, etc. It might also be an easier sell politically co.pared to vast reforms for every single aspect of current social programs.

I don't see how there is necessarily any direct relationship between UBI and healthcare/education systems though.

Generally economists see high UBI as quickly becoming unsustainable due to cost and in an ideal world robust systems tailored to specific needs are preferable.


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

[User] ELI5: We all know the UV rays from the sun is dangerous and we can use sunscreen for protection. If it is so dangerous, why are weaker SPFs produced?

[Assistant]
SPF 15 is the lowest to be considered sunscreen. It blocks 93% of UV light. The skin is capable of naturally stopping a little UV light. So that is sufficient to get the job done, maybe give you a little tan.

SPF 30 stops 97%

SPF 50 stops 98%

SPF 100 stops 99%

Edit: Different strengths are developed because different skin tones require different levels of protection. The skin produces melanin that is basically our own natural sunscreen. The more melanin you produce the darker your skin. When UV light is detected it triggers melanin production which gives you a tan. If you want that then you use a lower strength sunscreen that let's in enough UV to trigger melanin production. If you dont want that then you use a stronger sunscreen. High SPF sunscreen is for those with very fair skin that dont produce much melanin leaving them highly susceptible to sun burns.


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

[User]
If inbreeding is bad for a species how does the "first" of that species overcome it?

Inbreeding is regarded as highly negative for most species (as I understand it) so how did the first of any type of animal get past this problem?

[Assistant] A "species" is just our way of categorizing an animal based off of certain characteristics. A species doesn't just pop up. As animals evolve, their characteristics slowly change until it gets to a point where they no longer fit our definition of their current species and would then be classified as another. If you could actually determine an individual animal to be  the "first" of its species, it would be a "straw that broke the camels back" situation. Those animals would have been pushing the limit of that species definition for a REALLY long time. This "first" would be almost identical to the rest and would still be able to mate with others of its kind. The new species would continue to grow as more and more gained that specific characteristic that warranted the reclassification. No incest necessary.


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

[User]
[General] What are some interesting examples of gravity waves in scifi?

I'm sure there were some filler episodes of star trek where a ship got hit by gravity waves and a com panel exploded or something, but I can't think of a specific instance.

With today's news release about gravity waves, I'm just curious how well-explored this concept is in scifi.

[Assistant]
Both the Puppeteers and Protector version Louis Wu believe that objects traveling in hyperspace can be tracked by their gravitational waves.

Apparently Niven has written about them on a number of occasions.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] What happens if two ships with their shields up collide?

Would their shields prevent their hulls from touching? Or would the shields pass through one another?

[Assistant]
It helps to understand how shields work first-

Starship deflector shields are basically layered force fields- gravitons held unidirectionally in a shell that push back against any object or energies that enter their vicinity.

The direction and shape of them are managed by shield emitters, which use magnetic fields and exotic particles to shape the graviton fields and project them at a certain distance from the hull. The massive energy expenditures for those devices are handled by shield capacitors, basically huge temporary batteries that allow energy to be accumulated and then dished out to the shields.

The emitters function at a specific frequency. This means there are always certain frequencies of energy and matter than can pass through the shields, because the emitting ships needs to be able to emit particles and allow them to be reflected back to sense the outside universe, and fire weapons back at enemies. Shields are also programmed to flicker momentarily to allow physical objects like shuttles, missiles or torpedoes to pass through them.

Now all this talk about how shields function is important because there are several different results to a shield clash, especially in a collision:

Your collision may describe shield vs. shield strike- lets assume the same sized ships, and that both shields hold. The ships collide, both ships' emitters are capable of handling the backlash of energy through the system, the capacitors hold their charge, and the frequencies clash. The two ships will basically divert one way or another off each other, according to whatever vector they had when they approached. it's a physics problem, and put basically, they bounce in some way.

This almost never happens except for smaller ships. Why? the inertia and mass involved with full-sized starships is staggering. Shields are not meant to repel objects of such mass, and when the average system is taxed to those limits, the emitters usually explode as too much energy is forced back through their circuits, or the capacitors run dry long before the object is diverted, and the shield runs out of juice.

If you change any of the variables listed above the result is usually the same- somebody's shield fails and that object runs into the opposing ship's shield or hull at speed. In stellar terms that is almost always a fatal event as we're talking percentages of the speed of light in terms of velocity, which involves a *lot* of potential energy.

For most collisions it would be fatal to both ships. Some ships with extremely superior shields could survive such an impact, but they would likely be devoid of shield emitters or capacitors, their bridge crew likely burned or dead from plasma backlash, and their hull and systems significantly damaged. if one of said systems is life support, then they have only delayed an instant explosive death for a more horrific death by deprivation.

Unique shield collision effects are possible, though, even though the results are always the same. There is the possibility that the ships will collide at the instant there's a shield flicker on each side for some reason.

Also the shield frequencies could be set intentionally or accidentally be complementary, in which case the same effects ensues-

Both ships collide, shields up, but act as if the shields were not. Obviously that is always fatal to both ships. This actually is used as a traditional last-ditch tactic for death-above-dishonor type captains: "Match frequencies and ramming speed!" It's all very dramatic, but ends the same way- death and debris.

This really has been a lot of words to say something simple: If you direct a ship under your command into the shield envelope of another craft at anything but the barest of acceleration, one, usually both of you, will die.


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

[User]
Given a file's hash and the exact length of the file, would it be possible for a super computer to regenerate the file?

I would like to elaborate on the question by breaking it up a little. I know that multiple things can produce the same hash. Would knowing the exact length rule out all other possibilities? Take a picture as an example. Would it be possible for a computer to systematically change each bit until the hash of the new file matched the original? How long would it take a super computer to perform this type of operation if it's possible?

[Assistant]
Hashes are supposed to be "one-way" functions, and as a result, aren't designed with anything like unique reversibility in mind. The problem is that, even for exact-length data, a hash is still so ambiguous that many, many results can be produced with the same hash. And most of them are garbage.

You could brute force search all data of a fixed size to see how many things result in the hash you're looking for, but two things would happen:

1. You'd have to be able to figure out what data is useful without knowing how each enormous chunk of data is supposed to be interpreted (unless you're also assuming you know the exact format, including compression, etc.)

2. You'd need to be able to count for a very, very long time depending on the size of the data. If you have an N-byte block, that's 2^8N numbers to count and test, which blows up quickly.


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

[User] ELI5: What is the science behind a second wind at night?

[Assistant] From an evolutionary perspective, your second wind was useful because if something was keeping you up for that long after your normal bedtime it must have been life-threatening and you need that second wind to keep from being eaten by the thing keeping you up.


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

[User] Two questions about nuclear weapons: Why does the reaction cause such a devastating blast? Why does the explosion create the "mushroom" cloud shape?

[Assistant]
When you split an atom, or fuse atoms together (fission/fusion), you are liberating a infinitesimally small amount of energy, which then has to go *somewhere*. Now imagine that little bit of energy is trapped in the middle of an unbelievably large, but shrinking, ball of similar atoms, all of which are feeling the pinch. As individual atoms start to give off their energy, they push outwards with pressure... but the outside of this sphere is also being pushed in with explosives of some sort. This energy from the nuclear reaction on the inside is directed into neighboring atoms, which helps them fission/fuse, releasing more energy. In a tiny fraction of a second, the number of reactions double, then double again, then double again, etc, until the pressure inside balances the pressure outside. Until this moment, the visible explosion hasn't even started yet!

As the atoms release their energy, many extremely energetic photons escape in all directions. The first thing outside of a nuclear bomb is probably a metal shell, so this gets irradiated to the point where it glows hotter than the sun. This, in turn, gives off more radiation, which heats up the air until it glows as well, which in turn... etc, etc, until surrounding the bomb is a gigantic wall of glowing gas, a fluorescing cloud of energetic particles, which have had electrons stripped off and all sorts of other terrible things.

Everything above happened in about 50 nanoseconds.

*Then* the blast begins. All that energy has disperse, and so it's turned into a blast wave, where the air molecules are compressed and travel outwards as a pressure wave. Because the molecules are so hot, they begin to rise, as hot gases are lighter than cool gas. In the process, often a bomb will pick up dirt and debris and rock dust and coat it with radioactive leftovers -- this is "fallout", because eventually the radioactive dust lands back on the ground and screws up.... well, life.

The rising air causes the mushroom shape, just as smaller "explosions" like fireworks and propane tanks going "boom" will do, just in miniature. In addition to the blast wave, the light-energy put out by a nuclear weapon can instantly light things on fire at a tremendous distance. If you watch videos of nuclear testing, entire houses burst into flames from the power of the *light alone* before the blast wave reaches then, tearing them asunder.


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

[User]
Why is medicine dosage linked so closely with weight?

I work in a pharmacy and specifically in children the pharmacists will constantly check the patients weight for dosage. I found myself wondering why the dosage is linked so closely with weight, instead of some other factor. When I asked the pharmacist I was working with he didn't seem to know exactly why. All he told me was that if the patients weight is higher they can take a higher dosage of the medicine. I did a google search but all I got were links on calculating dosages based on weight.

I apologize if this is too broad a question. I just want to understand why weight is the highest determining factor in dosage for children.

Edit: thanks so much for all the answers. I think I understand a little better. Much appreciated.

[Assistant] More weight means more cells and more blood/vascular structure to feed all of those cells (regardless of whether this is weight from muscle, fat, or bone). Thus, with a heavier person with more cells and more blood would need a higher dosage to achieve the same blood concentration of the medication.


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

[User]
Can someone explain to me, in a nonpartisan way, what each government branch currently wants.

I know what the Reps and Dems want normally but what is happening right now that is causing all this trouble. Please dont post only the one side and as I said I would like to not be swayed toward either side.

[Assistant]
There's two kinds of wants.  First, ideological.  Second, political.

Ideologically, the Democrats want to cut spending but also to raise revenue by increasing taxes on the rich back to what they were under Clinton.  At the moment, though, tax increases are off the table as they aren't even in Harry Reid's plan.

Ideologically, the Republicans want to cut government spending with no tax increases.  They believe that increasing taxes on the rich will harm their ability to create jobs.

Politically, the Democrats want to make the Republicans look like dicks who only care about rich people and lobbyists, and for Obama to look good.  They also want this debt debate to be covered with enough room so that it won't come back until after the 2012 election, so this issue won't be a problem before election time.

Politically, the Republicans want to make sure Obama loses in 2012 and also want the Democrats to come off looking like socialist tax-hikers.  They want the debate to come up again in 6 months so they can use it to try and make Dems look bad before the elections.


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

[User]
ELI5: why are there only two main political parties in the United States of America?

Right or left? Other countries seem to have more than two. If America is so progressive why no Variety?

[Assistant]
Our winner-take-all voting system makes it *mathematically optimal* to have two parties.  If a strong 3rd party were to occur, its stances (and its voters) would rapidly be taken over by one of the other major parties.

Also, I've never heard of the US being described as progressive, at least not since the early 20th century!


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

[User]
ELI5:why is cocaine worse than a energy drink from a health standpoint?

Obviously there are many reasons why one should not do illegal drugs. But putting financial, legal and social reasons aside, how is cocaine any worse? They both make your heart race, they both make you energetic and they both leave you staying up all night.

Thanks!

edit: wording!

[Assistant]
Cocaine exerts its stimulant effects by preventing the reuptake of the neurotransmitters that stimulate your brain and body.

These neurotransmitters are allowed to hang around the neurons for much longer, increasing the rate of firing and causing all of the effects associated with increased energy and strength.

The problem with this is that it is unregulated, meaning the body really has no way to prevent the excess stimulation. This can lead to hyperfunctioning of the several systems that are controlled by these nerves.

In the case of the heart, it starts to beat much faster and harder, which increases the oxygen and nutrient demand. Cocaine also has an effect on the blood vessels, making them smaller and reducing how much blood can flow through it. The combination of both of these can create a bad situation of supply and demand, which can reduce blood flow to the heart and lead to ischemia, and a heart attack.

Cocaine also has a rather nasty effect called **reverse tolerance**. Remember that unregulated effect we talked about earlier ? Imagine it occurring at even lower doses, and you continue to take the same amount or even higher doses all the time. Take too much cocaine and the blood vessels will constrict too much. That can push your blood pressure to extremely high levels, increasing the risk of vessels bursting in the brain, or reducing blood flow to very important organs such as the heart and kidney.

In contrast, most energy drinks work by a different action. They are stimulants, but act on an intracellular level and affect molecular signaling. In simple terms they allow the cell to function at a much more efficient and active state for a longer time, in a more regulated and effective manner. Caffeine works by competing with adenosine receptors in the brain, which normally have the effect of making you sleepy.

TL;DR

Cocaine has no stop button, and can end up pushing vital organs into failure due to the effect it has on the heart and blood vessels. The body has no way of regulating the effects of sympathetic overload due to the pharmacological action of cocaine, so it cannot self regulate and stop the cells from working themselves to death. Cocaine ODs can also occur at lower doses at random.

Energy drinks increase cellular functioning in a different, more controlled way, and have a much lesser dangerous effect on the heart and blood vessels. The body is able to self-regulate and limit how much stimulation occurs, and the doses needed to actually suffer an overdose are much higher.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do people in Australia for example wear mostly shorts and t-shirts during the summer but people in the middle east wear long, drapey clothing? Is one better than the other for dealing with the heat?

[Assistant]
Shorts and t-shirts leave exposed skin open.  This allows sweat to evaporate from your skin, which cools you off, and also allows the wind to cool your body.

However, if temperatures become *too* high, even the wind won't cool you anymore.  And exposed skin is vulnerable to sunburn and to dust/sand kicked up by desert winds.  So people in the Middle East have found that they actually remain cooler by wearing clothing to keep the sun and wind off their bodies.  In addition, in the desert it not only gets hot during the day, but cold during the night.  That long clothing serves a second purpose of keeping the people warm at night.


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

[User]
[WH40K] Chaos Gods are confined to their own galaxies because there is nothing to power it them between galaxies. What happens when two galaxies (like the Milky Way and Andromeda) collide?

Inside galaxies, however, because of the various civilizations generating emotions, the Warp can, sometimes, be very chaotic.

In between galaxies, there is nothing to power the Warp, and so it is very calm. Usually, this means that Chaos Gods can not leave their original galaxy, unless one civilization makes a mass migration elsewhere (which brings a follow-up question: if a Chaos God were to follow them like that, would it still be able to have power in its home galaxy?).

So then, what happens when two galaxies collide? When one if chaotic and he other is not, I assume the chaotic galaxy's Chaos Gods takes control over the calm galaxy. But when they're both chaotic, what happens?

[Assistant]
Well the simplest explanation i can think of is that the warps would gradually fuse as the galaxies fused. Wether this means the gods and entities eat eachother or coexist really depends on how similar they are and how much of each galaxy is thrown out into the emptiness of space

Really a much more interesting question to me is do solar systems between galaxies have minor warps with minor warp entities assuming there is life to fuel them?


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

[User]
Does anyone else feel like they aren't doing enough towards their PhD?

So I'm a second year PhD student (UK) researching horror games. While I'm reading up on the literature, taking notes, working on my literature review and methodology, prepping for data collection next month, keeping an eye out for potential CfPs, attending (and sometimes participating in) online seminars, and making plans with my supervisor to hopefully do some guest lecturing down the line, there are times when I feel I'm not doing enough. I make it sound like I'm really busy, but I'm truly not. A lot of the stuff I've listed is hugely spaced out. Weeks go by without half of this stuff occurring.

As of now, I don't really know what to do to fill my time. I can read papers and take notes, that's no problem. But I just feel like a lot of the time I'm sat there thinking of what to do. I try to keep a weekly list of tasks I want to get done, but most of my days I feel I can walk away from my desk by 2pm. Sometimes earlier.

I don't know if it's because there's this ideological view of what doing a PhD requires, but a lot of the blog posts and online posts I read from others suggests that this is an unbelievably busy period and there are simply not enough hours in the day and people's mental health is at stake because of the hours they put in. And honestly, I just don't feel like that. I find it very easy to walk away from my work (either in the evenings or to take breaks now and then) and I wonder if this is detrimental to my completing a satisfactory thesis.

None of my supervisors seem to have any cause for concern and I have plans ahead of me, so I'm not stuck for anything to do. I just wonder if there's a toxicity to the whole PhD lifestyle which pressures people into thinking they have to work themselves into dust or it's not good enough. Maybe this is an American mindset. Maybe it's because of the subject matter I'm researching (I can do it all online from my own bedroom). I don't know.

Anyone else feel this way?

[Assistant] I think youve hit the nail on the head with the fact that you can work from home. Lab based students have to fit all their reading etc in around time in the lab so that gives you more undirected hours. Is there any writing you can start on now that will save you time at the end? Like a draft literature review or methods chapter. It will need updating before your submit but could be something to get on with while you have spare time.


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

[User]
How do capacitors actually "store" energy?

For example, after you charge a capacitor and one plate is positive and one other plate is negative and then you use it to power another component i understand that it is about the flow of electrons due to the charged plates, but my question is what type of energy this is defined as? For example is it a type of potential energy whereby it has the potential to cause a current? Also in things like ultracapacitors how exactly do they stop them discharging when they are not connected to anything but are in contact with some sort of cause or air?

[Assistant]
I don't know how deep you want to go with this, but I'll answer this way and then we can gauge whether you want to go deeper or not.

When you charge a parallel-plate capacitor (the type you're describing in the question), one side is positive and the other side is negative, like you said. When this happens, you generate an electric field between the positive and negative plates. Energy is stored in this electric field.

It's a type of potential energy in the sense that the electric potential is calculated from the field (taking an integral of the field will give you the potential). So in that sense, it is a form of potential energy, since the energy is stored in the field.


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

[User]
[Dune] Why didn't anyone ship water to Arrakis?

When Arrakis was a desert planet the population had to take extreme measures to conserve water.  But for a society that has enormous spaceships, it seems like it would be fairly simple to move a few million liters of water around every now and then.  So why didn't some water-rich money-poor house bring in plenty of water to sell at Arrakis prices?

[Assistant] Introducing more water to Arrakis would've introduced water to the atmosphere, and eventually lead to increased rainfall (over centuries). Water is problematic for the health of the great sand-worms, who are in turn a necessary part of the production of the spice melange. Thus, for Arrakis to have any value, it needed to remain a desert.


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

[User]
[Watchmen] What sort of universe did Dr. Manhattan create? Did he create life as well?

When last we see the Dr., he's moved onto his godhood phase, creating his own universe but is it a clockwork universe devoid of life? Or did he make something in his own image?

[Assistant] Dr. Manhattan creates our universe, which is similar to our universe with a few small differences (Ronald Reagan becoming president instead of Robert Redford, for example). The biggest difference, however, is that Dr. Manhattan deliberately prevented the rise of superheroes, since they never did anything Dr. Manhattan saw as beneficial.


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

[User] How do Schopenhauer and Nietzsche differ in their understanding of suffering and the will to live?

[Assistant]
Schopenhauer thought the true basis of morality was the *denial* of the will to live in a kind of asceticism. Nietzsche thought we should *embrace* life and the will to power.

Schopenhauer points out that the denial of the will to live is a tenant of Christianity, and thought this was a good quality of the religion. Nietzsche agreed with his analysis but thought this is what was *wrong* with Christianity.

I do believe both Nietzsche and Schopenhauer found value in suffering though.


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

[User]
ELI5: how do illegal streaming services work?

I don't understand.
Why are there several servers per episode?
How do they get the media?
Who's behind those servers?
How can we find EVERYTHING from ANYWHERE in some illegal streaming websites?

[Assistant]
Those services work by making money by drawing in an audience. They don't own what they host - often these servers are located in countries that the rightsholders will have a hard time legislating in, so they're pretty much out of luck when it comes to shutting the servers down. The global nature of the internet also means that blocking access to that content isn't as easy. Attempts at content filtering at your internet service provider (think cops determining which cars may pull out of the driveway) aren't popular or widespread yet, and have already been countered by VPN services (think getting your car on the road by loading it into a hauling van so the cops can't see that your car is actually moving inside the truck).

How are they getting the media? Various ways, but usually just from downloading the stream from a legal source, then editing it to remove watermarks and such, and reuploading it to the new service. Sometimes an insider can also pass a master copy of the data, if the right person is bribed.

As for why you can find all the stuff - it used to be there were very few streaming services - primarily netflix - and all the major content producers were content to make stuff and get it out to the public efficiently. So you had all the good content on one streaming platform. Nowadays, everyone is making their own private streaming service, with 10% good content and 90% trash filler, and that's a generous estimate. The stuff people want no longer gets aggregated on any legal platform. The illegal streaming services disregard the trash and aggregate what people are actually interested in, therefor it looks like everything from everywhere is available.

The trending pages on an illegal streaming site are generally a better barometer of what people are watching these days, then sites like Rotten Tomatoes.


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

[User]
ELI5: What qualifies as a religion under the freedom of religion protection laws?

Recently I've been reading on reddit that it's not possible to do anything against scientology because of freedom of religion laws. I've also read the large number of cases of parents with unvaccinated children that can do that because of religious exemptions.

But scientology is a corporation that was founded shortly ago and no religion had anything against vaccines since there were no vaccines when the sacred books were written!

So I was wondering.. Is there in the law something that specifies what qualifies as a religion and what doesn't? If it has to be old or what?

[Assistant] It has less to do with how old/established the religion itself is, but whether the religious practices infringe on someone else's rights. For instance, there have been a number of cases where parents opted to deny their children medical treatment and instead go for Christian faith healing, then were arrested for child abuse as a result.


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

[User] If color is the non-absorption of specific wavelengths, wouldn't a 'red' laser consist of every color except red?

[Assistant]
The colour of an object is determined by the wavelength(s) of the light that it emits or reflects. If you take an object that doesn't emit visible light on its own, then the visibility of the object is purely caused by reflection of light from other sources.

Depending on what the object is made of, it will reflect some wavelengths of light, while absorbing others. In general, we say that an object is red if it primarily reflects red light and absorbs other wavelengths.

So in that sense, the colour of an object is indeed determined by the non-absorption of specific wavelengths. But what ultimately determines which colour we see is the wavelength of the light that hits our eyes. When we look at a red object, all light other than red is absorbed and only red light is reflected towards our eyes.

But when we look at a laser or other light source, we directly see the light that it emits. So a red laser emits red light which eventually enters our eyes. In this case, there is no absorption or reflection required.


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

[User]
If silica aerogel looks blue due to Rayleigh Scattering, would making a much larger block of it make it go red?

So from my understanding of Rayligh Scattering, the photons of the shorter wavelengths (blue) get scattered preferentially to those of the longer wavelengths. But if you lengthen the photon path length eventually those longer wavelengths would be scattered, like at sunset.

So would this work for bigger blocks of silica aerogel?

[Assistant]
No, the aerogel should still look blue.  If you shine a beam of white light through it onto a screen, the color on the screen may get more red.

Raleigh scattering is splitting the blue light from the other colors.  The sun is white - but scattering off a little of the blue light (to light up the sky) leaves the rest of the direct light looking yellow to us.  Scattering more of the light off, means that the remaining light is (proportionally) more red.

Water is also blue due to scattering, but if you look at deeper or larger bodies of water, they don't look more red - only more blue.


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

[User] [Ghost in the Shell] Do you have to learn things in this world the way we do, or do you just download the information straight into your memory, Matrix-style?

[Assistant]
Almost nobody undergoes the full cyberbrain conversion, so you still need to study something to learn it and integrate it into the biological parts of your brain. But even so, you can learn a lot faster than with a fully biological brain.

You can also offload a lot of difficult things, depending on your level of cyberization. Your cyberbrain could host a calculator, for example. Not to mention the internet hookups.


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

[User]
Eli5: Why are prescription antibiotics being prescribed less out of fear of bacteria developing immunity, but creams and other bacteria killing methods still very easily obtained?

So doctors have been trying to limit antibiotic use/prescriptions to combat antibiotic resistance. Why arent antibiotic creams (like Neosporin) more regulated if bacterial resistance is trying to be prevented/slowed down? Do the bacteria that creams deal with not have the potential to form resistance to said creams? And what about alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, etc.? Why is rubbing alcohol able to be used without the fear of bacteria growing immune to it?

[Assistant]
Antibacterial creams are high concentrations of antibiotics, so it's very unlikely that any bacteria survive. They also start working immediately upon use, as they're directly touching the bacteria.

By contrast, oral antibiotics take time to be absorbed into the bloodstream. They're also present in smaller concentrations, allowing more of a chance for bacteria to mutate and become resistant.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does my N64 look so much better on an old CRT than my 20" LCD flat screen?

Also, input lag. Maybe I'm just imaging the lag, though- it's so difficult to track lag that's under a second.

[Assistant] It looks better because of the lack of pixels/lights in old TVs, which gave 3D objects a smoothing, fuzzy-ish effect. You could say less is more. When you play an old game on a new TV, you can see the sharpness and edges and that's why it looks funny. Also they weren't designing much for hi-def TVs since nobody really had them at the time (most computers were still big, boxy monitors.)


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

[User]
ELI5:Why do we dance/move frantically when we're trying to hold our bladder?

We've all had to hold it in because someones in the toilet but what actually happens to you internally that prevents you from wetting yourself.

[Assistant] The simplest answer is that the frantic movement tells your subconscious/autonomic brain that this is not an appropriate time to urinate.  Then your autonomic nervous system stops the contractions of the bladder muscles and clamps the internal sphincter shut to prevent urination.  This only works so long before the Micturition relfex exerts itself again and eventually wins causing you to urinate no matter how much you jump or wiggle around.


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

[User] Jupiter is sometimes referred to as a failed star, too small to achieve nuclear fusion. If a Neptune sized planet crashed into Jupiter would it be big enough to be a star then and give us a small second star in our solar system?

[Assistant] The theoretical minimum mass a star needs to undergo nuclear fusion (i.e. to actually be a "star") is about 75 times the mass of Jupiter. Neptune is about 5% of Jupiter's mass, so we'd be increasing Jupiter from 1 "Jupiter mass" to 1.05 "Jupiter masses" - still way below what we need.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How did Stormtroopers obtain trained dewbacks on such short notice when searching for the droids on Tatooine?

Also wouldn't it be easier, faster, and more efficient to use a speeder or STAP?

[Assistant] Those stormtroopers would likely have been part of the local garrison based out of Anchorhead or Bestine, and would probably have a couple trained dewbacks in their duties that didn't necessarily call for bringing the speeders out.


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

[User] [Elder Scrolls] If the Third Empire had Dragonborn as a criteria as being the heir, does that mean that the Last Dragonborn can claim the Empire as its Emperor after the death of Titus Mede II?

[Assistant]
No. The legitimacy of the Dragonborn Emperors dates to Alessia, and the First Empire, it's not something related specifically to the Third Empire. It is, instead, a mandate to rule as part of a divine contract with Akatosh, referred to as the Covenant of St. Alessia.

That Covenant ended with Martin when he mantled Akatosh and drove out Mehrunes Dagon during the Oblivion Crisis (the events of Oblivion). The Dragonborn Emperors no longer have their Divine Mandate, and no longer have any claim to the throne of the Empire.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is jumping off of a bridge like the Golden Gate fatal ?

[Assistant] At high-impact speeds, water is a bit like concrete. Imagine that a lake is made of millions and millions of tiny balls. Each of those balls needs time to move and absorb the impact when something hits it. But at fast enough speeds (like jumping from the top of a tall bridge), it simply doesn't have time to do that, and so the effect is like hitting a hard surface.


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

[User]
How are the two explanations of pressure in a fluid (kinetic and gravitational) related?

Both online and in my physics courses Ive seen two seemingly very different accounts for pressure in a fluid at hydrostatic equilibrium:

 The first posits that pressure is a macroscopic measure of the impacts of fluid particles on a surface submerged in the fluid. It is therefore a function of the temperature of the fluid and its density.

 The second explains pressure by the weight of the volume of fluid above each point. It therefore depends on its density and the depth in the fluid (or the altitude in the case of the atmosphere).

I cant figure out how the two are related. The first explanation requires no gravity, while the second would imply zero pressure in a zero g environment. What am I missing? Is the first explanation only valid for gases and not liquids? And if so, why?

And on that note, I would also like to ask how the second explanation accounts for pressure being a scalar and not a vector: if it is merely the reaction force which balances the weight of the fluid above (per unit area), then why is it the same along axes perpendicular to the vertical?

[Assistant]
The first explanation implicitly requires gravity, or some other external force, because without a force holding the fluid together, those little collisions will just bounce all the molecules apart in quite short order. This is what distinguishes a fluid from a solid.

A solid, even if subjected to essentially zero external force (pressure), maintains structural integrity because the bonds between the constituent particles are strong enough that it's kinetically unlikely for any given particle to gain enough energy through random fluctuation to escape from the bulk. Now, of course, even solids, if subjected to true vacuum, will evaporate over time, given enough time, but at typical temperatures and pressures for most applications for solid materials used structurally, you don't have to worry about your solid subliming.

Fluids, on the other hand, have to have some external force applied to confine them to a particular region. If they don't, the fluid particles will bounce off of each other and whatever surroundings they do have in the bulk, and in the direction where they don't have a constraint, they'll just keep going indefinitely. This is what happens if you have a pressure vessel that's got a pinhole leak: there's net acceleration of fluid towards the leak because there is no surface there to provide balancing force to confine the fluid anymore.

As for why pressure induced by gravity is uniform, that's guaranteed by the condition of hydrostatic equilibrium. Imagine a tiny parcel of fluid. Because fluids flow when subjected to pressure, if the pressure felt by this tiny parcel of fluid was different in any direction, it would flow in the direction of the net applied force. Since we are saying that there is no net fluid flow in hydrostatics, pressure for any tiny parcel of fluid has to be isotropic.


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

[User] Eli5: Why do farmers plant sunflowers around corn fields?

[Assistant]
Corn crops leave an excess of Nitrogen in the soil.

Sunflowers can be planted as a follow-up to take advantage of that.  They like the nitrogen-rich soil.

Farmers used to do this with soybeans as a pairing but found that the soybeans had various problems that the sunflowers do not have.

But the short short answer to this is "because they found it to be most profitable to do."  That at least speaks to the motivation.


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

[User]
What's the closes humans have ever come to extinction?

What caused it? When was it? Why do we think that's the closest we have been?

[Assistant]
There's a theory that about 70,000 years ago the number of people on the planet may have dropped to about 2,500-4000.

Lake Toba in Indonesia was formed by a super-volcanic eruption that
occurred around 70,000 years ago that coincides with a "genetic bottleneck" which can also be used to explain the (generally) low amounts of genetic differences between Homo Sapians today.


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

[User] [General Comics] I was just sprayed with radioactive juice from an alien laboratory. Doctor checked me out fine, but I'm pretty sure I now have super powers. How do I figure out what my powers are?

[Assistant]
Dont worry.  The law of radioactive juice states you'll either:

*  Meet a mentor who will guide you through it
*  Get into a situation where the only way to save or defend yourself or others will be the sudden, spontaneous activation of your new powers

I would suggest walking through a bad neighborhood as the best way to make your new powers express themselves.


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

[User]
[DC/Star Trek/Marvel] someone with the physical strength and athleticism of Deathstroke, Khan, or MCU Winter Soldier is sent back in time to the Iron Age. What melee weapon could they use that few others could that would make great use of their physical strength and show how boss they are?

I imagine that these guys or anyone with their comparable physical abilities could easily wield big ass, heavy weapons for long periods of time without tiring and absolutely dominate people with them in the Iron Age.  If I were like them I'm sure that I'd want a sword but I wouldn't limit myself to *just* a sword, you know? I'd want something that could bat people aside or crush people with ease and would definitely let people know that I shouldn't be screwed with, but what would that be?

[Assistant] A thick solid iron club.  Iron swords weren't terribly durable compared to later weapons, they won't be able to cut through a thick club.  If you find our their local religion, inlay some copper or bronze with the right symbols or designs and they can see you as a god, you won't be messed with.


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

[User]
[Mad Max]Where were Furiosa and the Vuvalini planning on driving that it would take 160 days by motorcycle to get there?

With enough fuel, they could cover hundreds of miles a day on a bike.  Australia is maybe 2400 miles from coast to coast -- it would only take them a few weeks to travel across the entire continent.  They could drive around the planet in 160 days.

[Assistant]
First up, how fast do you think they're going? They are cruising along along at maybe 20 kilometres an hour for fuel conservation, hardly fanging it.

Secondly, they had enough supplies for 160 days, they planned to drive until they found something, although it's implied that they're heading east across what used to be the pacific ocean.

Thirdly, it's more like 2500 miles, or 4000 kays if your not a fuckin' seppo cunt.


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

[User] [Men in Black] Why in the world did Agent K give such a monstrously powerful gun to a trainee, without so much as a trip to the shooting range, or a proper warning about the recoil?

[Assistant]
It's a training exercise and one that can't easily be replicated on a shooting range.

J is obviously dismissive of the gun and even remarks that he thinks he's going to break it so probably thinks a larger gun will be more powerful whereas K has worked for years in a world where appearances can be deceiving and it's not always the big things that will cause you problems, it also helps to take J down a peg or two and hopefully he'll evaluate the situation more before choosing a course of action.


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

[User]
CMV: It is not Scar's fault the Pride Lands went to crap.

In the Lion King, once Scar takes over the Pride Lands, the herds of prey animals move away and there is a severe scarcity in food and water. This causes Nala to leave to find food and help, which leads her to Simba.

However, the scarcity of food and water is due to a drought and the blame is placed on Scar since he is now King, but it's not his fault since he can't control the weather.

Simba is just lucky that it started to rain right after Scar was defeated. Had it not started to rain, he would have been in the same position Scar was.

[Assistant]
Scar may not control the weather but he is an exceptionally poor leader. He was asked by Sarabi to give an official command that everyone leave pride rock to search for a good source of food and water. Scar, being stubborn, said that they would stay there anyway despite the fact that it would have been a death sentence.

If the animals under his control died because he was too stubborn to tell everyone that it was time to leave pride rock, then it would absolutely be his fault.

Whether it was rain, or whether he told everyone to stay put despite a coming super-tornado, he took on the responsibility of a king and refused to wield it well, so he should be blamed for any negative consequences resulting from his stealing the throne, including owning up to his shitty leadership skills.


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

[User]
[StarTrek / WarHammer] Would the Federation be able to accomplish its goals in a universe as dangerous as 40k? How could it adapt in order to survive if this is not the case, and could it become one of the big contenders of the Galaxy?

We can assume that its separate from the Imperium, some sort of cross dimensional bullshit let's them cross and explore...

[Assistant]
They'd have to drop pretty much all the values that make them the Federation. The Federation, although willing to go to war, will always seek diplomacy first, and most species in 40k will just skip to "destroy everything that isn't us".

Worse, they likely wouldn't do too well in a war as 40k technology is well ahead of theirs, especially with regards to weapons.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] How would you try to destroy the Sword of Gryffindor?

So I'm just wondering if anything can actually harm that stuff. Cause if something doesn't kill it that makes it stronger and it absorbs everything that makes it stronger. So nothing can kill it, am I right?

[Assistant]
If goblins can forge it, goblins can unmake it. No sense in making a weapon you can't counter.

In Merlin's time (or previously) there must have been wizards or witches who understood more about goblin smithing than modern-day practitioners. With a proper application of magic/willpower, it has to be possible to melt it down. Otherwise every Hogwarts student on a minor adventure would be tripping over an indestructible goblin made sword.


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

[User] How sporadic would encounters with dinosaurs be if we were to wander around in the Mesozoic Era?

[Assistant] Given that dinosaurs were the dominant group of land animals during that time period, the odds of running across any seems relatively high. Though, depending on which species you encounter, the encounter might turn out to be quite brief.


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

[User]
Can air permeate through window glass?

I always shut the blinds at night because I thought it would keep more of the cold air out, thinking that cold air permeates through glass and the blinds would simply act as a secondary barrier. My friend laughed and said that's wrong.

I've always just assumed this, is there any benefit to it?

**TL;DR**: Will shutting the window blinds "keep more cold air out"

[Assistant]
No significant air will permeate through the glass.  It is possible that individual oxygen atoms could over very long timeframes but that is so minuscule as to be irrelevant to this question.

However, shutting the blinds will certainly keep more cold air out of your room.  The window will still conduct thermal energy from the warm inside to the cold outside through normal conduction.  Putting down the blinds will create an air gap between your room and the window which serves as a layer of insulation since trapped air is a very poor heat conductor.  The overall effect is that putting down the blinds will keep your room warmer.

Still nothing to do with cold air seeping through your windows though.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why smoking marijuana enhances enjoyment of music

I know this is a subjective effect and doesn't relate to everyone who smokes.

[Assistant]
Going from memory and not an expert and somewhat theoretical.. but

the short: It forces your brain to reroute stimulus because the usual neural path is temporarily blocked, until the drug wears off and signal receptors are no longer occupied.

the long:

Neural transmitters and receptors are the parts of your nervous system that act as the wiring to send tiny electrical impulses to where ever they need to go. The brain transmits signals that tell your muscles what to do, your senses send information back to the brain to be translated into sensation.  Taste, sound, touch, sight, smell. All of it is just your brains translation of the signals it receives from your senses.

Different sensations get routed to specific parts of the brain that are specialized in translating that type of sensation into your perception. Everything you experience, whether it's physically real or imaginary is processed by your brain this way.

You do not experience reality, no one actually does. We only have our perception of reality based on what our senses tell us and how our brains translate that information.

The brain is jam packed with receivers, many of them are a type called cannabanoid receivers.

Besides THC, marijuana also introduces cannabinoids (CBB & CBD) into your system that find their way to and occupy these receptors and temporarily prevent them from receiving further input. This alters the way the brain normally processes stimulus. This is why it's also helping many people with muscular and neurological disorders like epilepsy and narcolepsy for example. It's also been shown to decrease the adverse effects of severe autism in some cases

Music might sound new and perceived to be better, or foods might seem to taste better, colors more vivid, even stupid jokes funnier because the signal path is rerouted to a path not normally associated with those sensations. It is essentially a new and different sensation because the neurons that conveyed it had never taken this newly created path before and some of that stimulus arrived at a portion of the brain not as adept at processing that particular type of information.

You are essentially re-wiring your nervous system to work around a shorted circuit...   Some biologists have theorized, it was because humans evolved to gain the ability to reroute these signals so efficiently if needed, that gave rise to our further evolution, of increased intelligence, a spoken language, social interaction and imagining such cutting edge inventions as the wheel or the spear. aka The ability to think "what if?" In fact some go as far as to say, if primitive man had never ingested marijuana, we'd still be living in caves.


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

[User]
We detect black holes from x-ray signatures, right? Why aren't the black holes sucking up those x-rays, how do they escape?

My admittedly very layman's understanding of black holes is that a primary way of detecting them is from x-rays formed as matter falls into them and is torn apart.  But the gravitational field of a black hole is strong enough that even light can't escape, so how can x-rays make their way out?

[Assistant]
So, black holes aren't cosmic vacuum cleaners, sucking up everything in sight. They're just gravitational bodies you can get *a lot* closer to than normal. Imagine we compressed the sun down a good bit. You can imagine being at its surface now, and then being at its compressed surface, the gravitation would be stronger. But overall the rest of us orbiting the sun don't really notice (gravitationally speaking). Keep on compressing it through the various states of "matter" and eventually you can get so close to the center of mass that the escape velocity to *leave* the surface is now c. That's the point when it becomes a black hole.

So now with black holes out there, there's stuff orbiting the black hole, just like we orbit the sun... and as the stuff orbits it collides with other orbiting stuff. That causes things to fall inwards closer to the black hole, where the densities get even higher, causing more collisions, and so on. The gas and stuff falling in gets *so* hot it glows. Glows in the XRay spectrum at that. But it hasn't fallen all the way in yet, so the XRays are totally fine to escape out to us from there.

So it's not like we're seeing the black hole *itself*. We're seeing the stuff falling into the black hole glow super brightly. Like being able to see all of the planets going around the sun and inferring that a sun must be at the center (even if the sun wasn't visible).


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

[User] Why is the Kuiper belt a disc but the Oort Cloud is a sphere?

[Assistant] The Nice Model explains this. The Kuiper Belt (at that time a disk of planetesimals without planets) was already here after the solar system formed, back when the planets were much closer to the sun (ye the gas giants moved outwards after). Due to gravitational interactions between planets (mostly orbital resonance between Jupiter and Saturn) and also between planets and planetesimals, the last 3 planets moved outwards into the planetesimal disk, flinging many of them towards the inner solar system. Many of these are intercepted by Jupiter, which due to its large mass and their trajectories, flung them outwards into deep space in all directions. The stuff that got flung out never fully escaped the Sun's gravity and started orbiting it. This is what's known as the Oort Cloud today. The disk of stuff which is now the Kuiper Belt still remains.


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

[User]
ELI5 why do laptops get hot and tablets don't?

My netbook gets hot and noisy while watching a YouTube video as my iPad in a same situation stays cool to touch - why is this?

[Assistant] The iPad uses much weaker hardware, it's still sufficient to do most tasks but with much lower power consumption and thus less heat waste as well. The amount of heat is directly related to the power consumption and efficiency. It's a bit like how a car will use more fuel than a motorcycle even when both of them are just carrying one person, but the car could potentially carry 4 or 5 people while the motorcycle wouldn't be able to.


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

[User] ELI5: I've read that there's billions in gold and silver in underwater shipwrecks. How come tons of people don't try to get it?

[Assistant] It's very expensive. There is a publicly traded company that does it for a living, Odyssey Marine Exploration. OME spent a small fortune recovering a $500 million treasure in 2007 only to have the courts force them to turn most of it over to Spain.


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

[User]
[40k] Why would anyone willingly worship Chaos?

I understand there is a deep seeded corruption element to Chaos forces, but I can't imagine how tens of thousands of space marines, entire planets, and sometimes even whole sectors of Imperial Space throw themselves into Chaos worship.

Aside from the obvious loss of the Imperium's protection, you're destined to end up in some horrific asset of the Chaos God's Great Game. There isn't a lot of signs of "positive" outcomes for people who worship chaos, no matter how you look at it. You're not getting a fancy house or immortality, you're becoming blood for an engine that summons Daemons or turning into a plague marine or some other horrible fate.

How does Chaos make \any\ headway in convincing people to join them?

[Assistant]
People worship them every day by accident - every time you hope for a better tomorrow - **BOOM** Tzeench just got a top-up.  Every time you think to solve problems through combat or honour - **Boom** Khorne. Pleasure or experience? Slaanesh.  Life (created or enduring)? Nurgle.

Everyone is already worshipping them, some people just decide to gain a little something back from it.

In the games we're only every shown the really dark sides of them, but not every acolyte starts with peeled skin, sacrificing babies in sewers - that's just the end result after years of small steps.

The road to hell is paved in good intentions.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do our bodies have the ability to dislike food when we need it to live?

[Assistant]
In nature, bitter or sour flavours can indicate poisonous, inedible, burnt or rotten food. Notice how lot of people don't like bitter foods - such beer or unsweetened coffee - the first time they try them, but they gradually start to appreciate them because their brain gets to know they aren't harmful. The same goes for cheese,  some people just can't stand the smell and taste cause their brain thinks it's rotten milk. Stuff like blue cheese is liked by even less people cause it has mold, another thing your brain wants to avoid.

For the rest of flavours, it's mainly because the abudance of food we have made us picky. If we can choose between different foods, we are wired to go for the ones that have the highest nutritional value, so food with lot of sweet taste or umami taste (which generally indicates high fats and proteins).

Hunger is the best spice in the world and lot of people never experience true hunger, which only kicks in after like one day of fasting.


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

[User] If UV light can effectively kill bacteria, How come my local hospital does not look like a Black Light Mini-golf course inside?

[Assistant] For the same reason not all effective bacteria killers are used indiscriminately. For example, fire is a great tool to kill bacteria as well, but you wouldn't set your whole building on fire. Just like fire, UV light can be harmful to more than just bacteria.


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

[User]
Why do physicists assume that in the double slit experiment there is no interference from neutrinos (or perhaps from photons) BETWEEN the slits and the wall that cause electrons to act like waves?

The double slit experiment indicates that electrons act like both particles and waves. However, when we measure the electrons at the slit, they act like particles. My question is, when we DON'T observe them at the slit, is it possible that there is some other tiny particle (or maybe force) that is causing electrons to create a wavelike pattern on the wall? It seems to me that even simply turning on a light could interfere with electrons after they pass through the slits. Am I completely wrong on this? Why have physicists resorted to explaining it by saying that electrons pass through BOTH slits and interfere with themselves?

[Assistant] Interference and waves aside, the probability of the electrons interacting with neutrinos is really really small, so small that in any reasonable time frame using any reasonable double slit setup there would not be any measurable effect from electron-neutrino interactions.


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

[User] ELI5 Why flies come right back to f*** with me even after I swat at them?

[Assistant] They don't even know what you are. They don't understand the difference between you and an inanimate object. For all they know, your hand swatting them is an entirely different thing from your face or body.


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

[User] Why does rust not occur on stainless steel?

[Assistant]
Lots of metals react with oxygen and moisture to form an oxide. Steel is just iron with a bit of carbon and various other elements to control its exact properties. The iron in steel also reacts with moisture and oxygen (its relatively passive to just oxygen, the moisture helps the reaction along.) Unfortunately iron oxide doesn't stick well to iron because metal expands as it turns in to iron oxide so it flakes off. In addition iron oxide is slightly porous and can adsorb additional moisture, so the rusting process progresses through the metal.

Some metals react with oxygen and form a compound which doesn't undergo a significant volume change and doesn't flake off. One such metal is chromium. In addition chromium oxide is pretty stable and is relatively resistant to chemical attack. Stainless steel is steel where a significant quantity of chromium has been added - this chromium reacts rapidly with oxygen in the air and forms an incredibly thin but inert layer on the surface preventing oxidation of the iron. Other alloying elements can be added to further improve the resistance of stainless steel under particular conditions. (High temperature, salt water etc)


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

[User] [Superman] Are Superman's involuntary muscles as strong as his voluntary muscles? Does he basically poop diamonds?

[Assistant] His involuntary muscles will be as strong as they need to be to perform the necessary physiological functions. Superman has sufficient fine motor control that he doesn't randomly destroy things by accident. No doubt if Superman had a seizure it could lead to significant destruction, but just because the potential for super strength is there doesn't mean it'll be used.


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40k] What's the point of becoming a Demon Prince?

Most of the traitor Primarchs became demon princes, but you almost never see them actually do anything. As far I as I know, people who submit themselves to the Chaos Gods gain a massive amount of power, but the more tainted by the Warp you get, the less of an impact you can have on realspace. So then what's the point? You can be one of the most powerful beings in existence, but if all you can actually influence are a bunch of mindless demons and four 'Gods' that have realistically just dicked around for millennia, is there actually any point in it? Power's useless if you have no way to actually use it, after all.

[Assistant]
Long story short is because its a lie. They eschewed slavery under the Emperor for slavery under someone who views them as little more than a trophy but this time they cannot rebel. The Primarchs to a (man, primarch, superior being?) well to the last one were all extremely ambitious, most kept their amibitions to the receipt of the Emperors favor others not so much. For Horus it came down to out right lies and a twisting of his understanding until he believed he was stopping a tyrant. The other traitor Primarchs followed this idea combined with differing degrees of desiring power or knowledge.

For others this same thought process is repeated, desiring power and immortality they sacrifice themselves in a self defeating proposition that takes away their free will putting them under the heel of whatever god they choose. Generally, nobody tells prospective Princes the whole truth, either because they stand to benefit from them doing so or they cant or dont know. We see stories of Princes sundering worlds with great effort and starting small empires in the name of their god. But we dont see beyond the veil to understand them as the tool they are for their god, the tortured souless being who is stuck upon the whims of another. We hear about the great effort needed to remove these undoubtedly powerful threats but none speak of the near inevitability of their disposal back to the warp and the eons they spend in that hell until called forth to do their gods bidding once more.


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

[User]
How do the body regenerate the stomach acid after we've vomited?

How long does it usually take and (providing I've essentially emptied my stomach), how long should I wait until I eat again?

[Assistant] Parietal cells in the gastric endothelium (cells lining the stomach) produce acid (HCl) in response to various signals, including changes in stomach pH and hormones like histamine and gastrin.  The amount of time varies a lot, but eating after vomiting won't probably hurt you, though you might vomit again.  The stomach will naturally increase production of acid and digestive enzymes in response to any food you put in it.


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

[User]
I think that it should be illegal to protest at a funeral. CMV

Yes, I am specifically thinking of the Westboro Baptist Church when I write this.

I think that when people are in a compromised emotional state at a funeral they should not have to deal with any protesters. I mean, what valid point could someone make to picket a funeral? Even if they held a funeral for Hitler, I think that no one should have to put up with any kind of opposition within eye sight of a funeral, because, even if that person was awful, that does not mean the people there are all awful. Also, that person is dead. Protesting an event finalizing there time on earth does nothing to that person you are protesting, only to other bystanders to the protest who don't want to be there, but are there to say bye to that person at their funeral one last time.

I do believe in free speech and I think that it is OK to speak your mind of a funeral, but not to those attending it at that point, because with their emotions so insanely amped up, they are in a compromised state of thinking.

How about they cannot protest from a point that the people grieving can see them at any point during the ceremony, including their ride home? Just not in sight of the ceremony.

[Assistant]
Okay, so let's say we pass the "no protesting at a funeral" law. We've just effectively gave any extremist group free reign to hold any kind of rally they want and outlawed anybody from protesting. All they have to do is make it a "funeral." And what is a "funeral" in this case anyway? Does the dead body have to be present? If so, what about people who were killed in a way that made the body unrecoverable? Their memorial service can be protested?

Imagine the KKK holds an international meetup with thousands of members present. What is the bare minimum they would have to do to make the meetup technically a "funeral" so that it would be illegal to protest?


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

[User]
ELI5: why do ingrown hairs get infected even if the surface of skin isn't broken?

If the skin isn't broken bacterial shouldn't be able to make it's way in right? But somehow they still get infected.

[Assistant]
In fact they dont.
Ingrown hairs simply are seen as forein object and thus needed to be isolated and/or eliminated. This is one of the jobs of our white blood cells.
Sadly most of these cells have a very short lifespan (around 2 days) and when their "corpses" accumulate they create pus.
Inflammation appears whenever our white blood cells discover something "not right": it is like ringing a local alarm, while pus appears when lots of white cells, called by the alarm, gather for a long time and then die in the area.
So, while these mechanisms do appear durning infections, it doesnt mean that when they do there is an actual infection. Simply this time the foreign object instead of being a bacteria is a looong string of chitin (the hair).
The white cells continue to attack it trying to remove it and in the end just die around it. (They dont know that they are doing an useless/harmful work, they just react as programmed)


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

[User] [Snow White] Is the Evil Queen's beauty natural, or a result of her witchcraft?

[Assistant]
Her beauty is wholely unnatural. In these tales, good and beautiful are always synonymous, as are evil and ugly, but Snow White's stepmother (the most evil of relatives) clearly goes against all known laws of nature by being both very beautiful and evil.

I would like to propose that it is the result of a spell that she had cast a long time ago, one that she couldn't reverse or update. The spell was likely to be the fairest person in the world, but she had later learned that it was conditional only at the time the spell was cast. That would give her reason to require the magic mirror and the daily ritual of asking it who the fairest of all was.

\*Note: This is for the 1819 Grimm's version and it's progeny. There are other versions, including Grimm's original in 1812, where the Queen is Snow White's mother, which could lean towards the other side since pretty people tend to have pretty kids.


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

[User]
Eli5: how can free divers hold their breath for so long without causing brain damage?

If it only takes 4 minutes without oxygen to cause brain damage, how can they stay underwater for 4+ minuets and not hurt themselves.

[Assistant]
The brain isn't without oxygen when they dive, they are relying on residual oxygen in their lungs, blood, and tissues.

Consciousness is very expensive and generally a lack of oxygen will put them to sleep well before permanent brain damage occurs.


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

[User] [Destiny] Does our Ghost just make us a new, identical body or does it basically just stitch together our corpse on a molecular level, similar to how it heals?

[Assistant]
I think* that since both you and your ghost are bound by light that it works similarly to teleportation or time travel.

A. It de-constructs your dead body and rebuilds it to the point that the body can survive. The Drifter noted that, during the dark age, guardians could and would die of starvation. They would then be resurrected but still be hungry.

B. Your ghost takes your body and time travels back to -from a few seconds to minutes- A moment where you were still alive. This would explain the checkpoints in Dark zones, but not in regular areas where you (in-universe) "respawn" almost immediately.


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

[User]
Graduated and Incompetent

I'm not quite sure if this is the right place for this type of question so apologies if this is breaking some subreddit rules.

I recently graduated with a Bachelor's in Computer Science and I feel/know I am behind the curve. To be quite honest I am not entirely sure how I graduated. My GPA was okay sitting at a 3.2 and I would usually complete my course assignments, with a few exceptions, but never did great on tests. My last 2 classes were focused on full stack development in teams of 4 and I did my best and wanted to help but It felt like I had no idea what I was doing (granted they were done using React and Node which I had never used before). I still participated and was able to do some tasks but the project was carried by 1-2 students who really knew what they were doing. Throughout college each semester felt like it was my first. What I mean is I felt like I had to re-learn many core concepts over and over again. Again I was able to complete my courses with decent grades but I feel like the knowledge was never engrained in my mind.

I know a lot of people like to build projects and practice but outside of class I never had the desire to code/program. My free time was usually spent with my spouse, friends, or hobbies.

So now I am out of school searching for jobs. I am nervous about interviewing because I feel like I wont be able to pass any sort of technical test without being able to google or sit down with it for hours. I feel my skills and knowledge are not up to par with others. I have been using codecademy to refresh some skills but I'm not sure if that is a good use of my time.

So I guess my question is:

Is there anyone else who made it through school or a program and still felt like they knew nothing afterwards? What did you do about it?

Alternatively:

Is there anyone that can give me advice on what I can do to help my situation so that I can eventually be semi-competent and successful.

Edit: Thank you everyone for the responses. They have been super helpful and I definitely feel better about the situation more than I did before.

[Assistant]
Two things:

1. If you can, make programming your hobby/passion. Work on any game/app/website ideas you have; even if they're not great or well executed, you'll learn exponentially faster by working on projects that you care about
2. Practice basic algorithmic thinking using LeetCode/HackerRank/whatever. Try to fully understand "easy" algorithms and data structures. It's worth more, to me, to have a solid foundation on the basics than to attempt tons of difficult problems only  to not understand them. Save those for later. Along with this, practice your problem solving skills by thinking out loud. In a technical interview, even if you can't solve the problem in the time given, you will go surprisingly far just by voicing your thoughts as you work on it

Also a big thing to remember is that real jobs almost never resemble the work you do in college. And they won't expect you to come in with a senior-level skillset or experience.

Hope that helps and good luck!


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

[User]
[Star Wars] I just heard on the HoloNet that the Republic is dead and has been replaced by The Galactic Empire. As a human living in a Mid-Rim world. How is this going to affect me?

I'm just an owner of a modest speeder repair shop, and I don't really pay much attention to Galactic politics. Should I be expecting any major changes in my day-to-day life? Or will things remain mostly the same?

[Assistant]
Assuming your planet doesn't have any exceptional industries or resources, you can expect that things will stay mostly the same at first.
Down the road a bit you can expect an increase in taxes, a general reduction in local government's autonomy and authority, and an increase in Imperial oversight.  Down the road a bit more, you can probably expect some portion of your population to be conscripted into military service.
Now, if your planet bears all this with good grace, you can probably just go on running your repair shop.  You'll make a little less money, and you might have to do the odd job for the local Empire forces gratis, but that's about it.
If your planet chafes under Imperial rule, things will go significantly worse.


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

[User]
ELI5: Do you really cough out blood when you get stabbed/shot like in the movies? If yes, where does it travel from?

I've been watching too many movies and every scene I saw where someone gets stabbed/impaled, blood comes out of their mouth. Is it true or is it just for dramatic effect?

Edit: Thanks a lot guys! I learned a lot. This has been in the back of my head for ages and I didn't really know who to ask. Mostly because I'd see a scene where someone would get stabbed in their lower abdomen region and they'd splurt out blood, like "Where did that come from???"

[Assistant]
If you catch a wound that compromises your lungs, airways, or esophagus you could definitely cough up some blood.

Movies tend to use it for dramatic effect because it's a fairly non-gruesome way to send the message that a character is grievously wounded.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] If the atmosphere or radiation prevents beaming up, can a ship lower a shielded cable which lets the data for the people being transported up to the ship for Re-materialization?

the cable would be extremely long.  but hypothetically would it work?  and if so why dont ships carry them?

[Assistant]
Shuttle craft are a much cheaper and simpler option.

iirc there was one episode of TNG where they dropped probes into the atmosphere and used them as a transporter 'relay' moving the signal up to the ship.