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

[User] ELI5: Why does a punch to the chin knock one out but a punch to the head might not?

[Assistant] Its about getting the skull to snap back. You get knocked out when you brain smashes against the inside of your skull, and a punch straight to the head probably wont generate enough rotation to do that, but a punch to the chin will rock your skull backwards and your brain will hit the back of your head.


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

[User]
Why fire is so bright? Where does the light come from?

I guess, it may by a silly question, but why fire (I mean flame) is  bright? From chemistry point of view, of course, burning is oxidizing (acetification?). And burning gives both heat and light. Assuming light is nothing but photons, where do all the photons come from? Right now I'm holding a match in my fingers, and all it does is just reflecting light. But how does it start to emit photons as soon as I strike it?

The same question can be applied to light bulbs. In this case electricity is converted to photons, is it? If so, how is it so? :)

[Assistant]
In typical red-orange flames, the light emitted is due to the incandescence of soot particles. Little particles of half-burnt fuel get so hot from the reaction that they glow and emit light due to their temperature, just like in an incandescent light bulb. The energy that makes the soot particles so hot comes from chemical potential energy that is released when chemical bonds are formed. If you want to know why hot objects glow, the words to look up are "incandescence" and "thermal radiation". Basically, the hotter an object, the faster and more violently its molecules move around. Since molecules contain electric charge, the more violent motion of the electric charges creates higher-energy electromagnetic waves, i.e. emitted light that gets enough energy per photon that it can enter the region of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to humans.

Note that your match is always glowing and emitting light. When unlit, it is emitting lower-energy light (infrared) that humans have not evolved to be able to see. When you strike the match, you ignite a chemical reaction with releases energy which causes the soot particles to heat up enough that they glow in the visible light spectrum as well as the infrared.


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

[User]
[Encanto/Tangled] Can Isabella grow the flower that gave Rapunzel her hair?

Assuming this is all in the same linear Universe, of course.

[Assistant]
Given that the flower is not unique, and can be seen also growing on the island of Motunui (Moana) as a result of the nature god/power returning. It would be reasonable to assume that another source of magic/nature could allow it to grow.

The only drawback may be that (currently) Isabella does not appear to have such a fine level of direct control over her power, and creates flora mostly based on feelings/mood. So would need to refine her power to do it on demand, or would need to see or 'know' the flower first to grow it.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do American electric plugs have a "fatter" side? What is the danger of plugging in opposite?

[Assistant] For electrical appliances to be safe it is important that the power comes through a fuse or circuit breaker, into the wall outlet, then the plug must take that same wire to the on/off switch of the appliance. This way, when the appliance is turned off, there is no power coming to the appliance. Put the plug into the wall backwards, and the appliance switch stops the electricity after it has gone through the whole appliance. If any wire is shorted out to the casing of the appliance, it will always be hot, even if the switch is off. That accounts for that fuzzy feeling in some lamps for example. If you touch this "hot" appliance and a sink faucet, even with the switch off, you could still get a shock. That is one of the basic reasons we have polarized plugs -- one fat and one thin. When you change a plug on the end of the cord, you have to make sure that the thin prong takes electricity directly to the on/off switch of the appliance -- and when wiring outlets you always have to make sure that the "hot" wire from the fuse goes to the "gold" screw on the thin side. The wide prong on the plug goes to the silver screws, and the white return wire.


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

[User] [General] Any examples of villains that have a no-kill rule?

[Assistant] From what I've been told, the Flash's rogues have a no kill rule. Barry does *not* have a no kill rule and will readily if reluctantly kill a villain that is a threat to civilians. And, being the fastest man alive there's not much any of them could do about it. So they have an understanding: they don't kill civilians and when they're caught, they go willingly. In return, Flash doesn't stop them permanently.


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

[User] ELI5: Transistors, what they do, how they work, how they're used.

[Assistant]
Think of them as a valve. You have a flow through them, which you can turn on or off with another, much smaller flow.

Now, how can we do so much with this:

Well, there are two cases: analog and digital.

**Analog:**

You don't have to open or close the valve all the way. This means that you can use a small flow (a weak signal) to regulate a much larger flow (a strong signal). This, basically, is an amplifier. You use a weak audio signal to control a much larger current through the transistor, driving a set of loudspeakers. Of course, an audio amplifier is just an example, they are very useful in other applications as well.

**Digital:**

In this case, we only use the valve as an on or off. So, basically, we have a tiny, tine swithc which is operated by an electric signal.

Now, you think, "What's the use of that?". Well, almost nothing. However, you can connect this with other switches. many of them, billions of them, creating a network (not network as in "computer network") of switches that can actually do things. By arranging them cleverly, you can set groups of them up as memory cells, you can add numbers in memory cells, you can move stuff between memory cells and so on. Do this cleverly enough, and you've got a computer. That's pretty useful.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] I'm a devout Christian from the Bible Belt yet I received an invitation to study at Hogwarts. If I'm born with the Magic gene am I damned to Hell?

The bible explicitly states that you shall not suffer a Witch to live. But apparently I can't help it! I have the Magic gene and I'm told that I've been invited to study the craft at a school called Hogwarts. What do I do? Can God make exceptions for me since I was born a Witch? Do I get a free pass? Can I be a Christian in good standing while also being a Witch?

[Assistant]
The original term is closer to the word "sorceress" than "witch". And it refers to someone who derives their magic from supernatural sources ie: making deals with devils.

As a natural witch, you're fine. Lots of witches and wizards were Christian.


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

[User] Why does Kant in the Critique of Pure Reason draw the distinction between analytic/synthetic and a priori/ a posreriori?

[Assistant]
It's all about the historical debate between empiricists and rationalists. Hume was one of the former, Kant one of the latter. Hume (according to Kant) basically showed that all that could be known about the world had to be known empirically through the senses, or that it had to be synthetic and *a posteriori*.

Kant's *CoPR* attempts to demonstrate that there can, in fact, be synthetic *a priori* judgments: that is, we can make judgments about this world that are must be true in every case. These synthetic a priori judgments tie the world that we live in to the realm of reason, allowing Kant to reject Hume's empiricism.

So, to summarize, Kant made the distinction so he could dismantle the Empiricism of Hume and argue for a world governed by rational principles.


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

[User]
I believe that the age limit on voting should be removed, but you should be tested on your knowledge of the candidates you are voting on before being allowed to vote. CMV

I'm 18, so legally, I can vote in elections. However, I know very little about politics, so I don't believe that I should be able to have a part in choosing how the country is ran, when I don't even know what I'm choosing. I certainly don't want Jim over here voting for Bob simply because he belongs to a party that Jim's parents identify with, and I don't want Jan voting for Terry because he's hotter than Bob. It's damaging to the country to have uninformed people put in control of everything, and something needs to be done about it. CMV

EDIT: Some of you are saying that this would basically make the lower class unable to vote. Well, maybe we could have free classes on basic current politics offered, or significantly reduced price classes.

[Assistant] Whats more dangerous, people voting for candidates they don't have much knowledge of, or the people running the test setting it up to target some demographic they don't want voting? Because thats what happened the last time ssimilar policies were applied in America.


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

[User] Would someone who has both legs replaced with fully cybernetic legs still get tired when walking long distances?

[Assistant] Depends on the exact mechanism, but most likely there would still be pressure on the place where they connect to the body, or possibly somewhere else on the body, that would cause a person to tire out.


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

[User]
What is "The Culture"

In the who would win subreddit I keep hearing about an overpowered group called The Culture. Who are they?

[Assistant]
In universe, they're an anarcho-socialist space-based society, primarily human and near-human, and nominally run by "Minds" - extremely advanced synthetic life forms, that usually take the form of the multiple-kilometres long ships that the majority of the Culture's human and Drone population live on.

They have a population well into the billions (trillions, possibly) and maintain one of the highest levels of technology in the Galaxy. The most telling thing is the motto most other civilisations have regarding them: "Don't fuck with the Culture". Although they look like peace-loving hedonists, their Ships can be utterly beyond ruthless when it comes to defending or avenging Culture citizens.

Out of universe, they are the subject of the Culture novels by Iain M Banks. Try Excession as a good intro to the universe.


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

[User] ELI5: How does "YouTube money" work?

[Assistant]
Yeah. People watch these videos, you -as youtuber- can be allowed to put ads in front of the video. Per 1000 views or something you get like 1-5 dollars. (Google and the Youtuber split the revenue)

So you really need many views to make a decent living from it.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do some foods seem to "go right through you"?

I think Taco Bell would be the place that comes to mind most with this title but why do some foods seems to slide right through you when others seems to take your normal digestive cycle to be processed?

EDIT: WOW! Thank you for my first award!  All the comments have been a joy to read through.  I've laughed and learned immensely.  Thank you, thank you, thank you all.

[Assistant]
Your GI tract does a lot more analysis and evaluation than you expect.

When you eat something that makes your gut decide, "Nope, this is toxic." it will release instructions to the entire GI tract that more or less translate to, "MAKE WAY!"

So it's not actually the Taco Bell that you're passing a couple hours later, it's a meal or two before. Your GI is just greasing the wheels so that it can get whatever is in the Taco Bell that it doesn't like out as soon as possible.


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

[User]
(Starship Troopers/The Forever War/The Lost Fleet/Star Trek/Star Wars/and others) Differing principles of interstellar travel.

Two questions

Which fictional travel method is more favorable?
Which fictional travel method is more realistic?

Starship Troopers = Cherenkov Drive days to weeks between A to B no time dilation effect

The Forever War = Collapse Star jumps almost instantaneous travel between massive distance from A to B suffers from time dilation effect

The Lost Fleet = Jump points and Hypernet Gates, jump points days to over a week between systems, Hypernet Gates days to over a week between massive distances.  Do not suffer from time dilation.

Star Trek = Warp Drive factored differently on how fast you can go there is a whole Wikipedia article on it.  Do not suffer from time dilation.

Star Wars = Hyper Drive factoring again on how fast and far you can go is up for debate.  A parsec is a measure of distance.  Do not suffer from time dilation.

I apologize in advance, I know this list could be much longer, but I have not read enough.

There are a multitude of other forms of travel I'm interested in hearing about and discussing.

TL;DR ships go fast no matter what fictional world you live in and no matter what physics say.

[Assistant]
You forgot one.

Warhammer 40k = Warp drive, enters a dimension filled with demons made of rape, lemon juice, and torture, to travel from point A to point B. Destination may be off from point B by a few dozen light years. Suffers from variable time dilation ranging from -1000 years to 1000 years.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Do human Jedi live longer than normal non Force Sensitive humans?

With their perfect physique and force powers it would seem so.

[Assistant] Typically in legends they lived slightly longer that average humans so long as a war wasn't happening but that was as much to do with access to advanced medical technology as anything with the force itself.


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

[User] ELI5:Why are internet upload speeds always much slower than download speeds?

[Assistant]
I have 10 lanes on a highway that can go in either direction.

Most people want to leave the city, only a few want to go into it -- so dedicate 8 lanes to outbound traffic and 2 lanes to inbound traffic.

Same thing with the Internet.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How was Vader able to choke out Admiral Ozzel through a monitor?

How did he do it without even moving his hand?

[Assistant]
Using the Force is mostly a mental undertaking. Using body movements just makes it easier.

The force being present throughout the entire galaxy, range isn't an issue, either. Sources say you just gotta imagine the target well enough, and you can affect them.
A video feed makes it much easier to imagine the victim in question.


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

[User]
In regards to classification (E.G.: Solid, Gas, Liquid, etc) What is fire?

This is a question my family asked in a recent discussion. It obviously isn't a solid or liquid, but it isn't exactly a gas either, right?

[Assistant]
The fire you see is just the effect of incandescence. When atoms are heated up to that degree they emit light, hence the visible flame. The variation in colours depends on what you're burning.

The conglomeration of atoms that comprise the flames you see would be classified as a gas.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do some people in India defecate in the street?

I know this is a meme at this point and I'm not trying to spark off any trolling or racist attacks at Indian citizens, I'm genuinely baffled that a country with a growing economy and industry has such poor public hygiene rules. Is this a systemic problem or a cultural one?

[Assistant] Much of India is still very, very poor, combined with a massively dense population of essentially homeless people. Combine it with developing infrastructure, and you get way more people than restrooms. People gotta poop, though.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] Why does the Federation have a shipping industry if replication exists?

I'm watching TNG season 6 now, and there's mention of some Federation shipping lanes that need protection - but just 2 episodes ago the Enterprise replicated an entire engine for a starship. What are the limitations of replication that they require long range shipping for?

[Assistant]
Replicators can't create **anything**. For example, latinum which is used by the Ferengi as currency is valuable precisely because it cannot be replicated.

Further, fuels (such as dilithium) could probably be replicated, but why bother? The replicator uses orders of magnitude more energy to create a material than the material itself contains. It makes no sense to replicate something that is designed to power the replicator.


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

[User]
ELI5:What was the universe like prior to the big bang?

I have googled and I have wikied this multiple times but despite being a relatively intelligent person my brain refuses to wrap itself around the concept, and I have a hard time believing what I do understand.

[Assistant]
The big bang is what we get when we take all the evidence we have for the expansion of the universe and rewind the clock back as far as we can. The farthest we can rewind shows us that the entire universe was condensed in a very small fine space. But that's where our current physics and mathematics fail us. We exhausted all our evidence and our science rewinding it to the point of the big bang. We need new physics and new mathematics to rewind farther. So we don't know. There are many hypothesis with
 a lot of good math behind them, but until there is any evidence for them, they will only stay hypotheses.


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

[User]
[Simpsons] Why does Homer only have a picture of the baby at his famous "Do it for her" work station?

That sounds like favoritism.

[Assistant] Because it's not for them. Remember he was debt free and quit the plant because he was able to support Marge, Bart and Lisa with his job at the bowling alley. He was happy. Maggie killed those plans. He was forced to return to the plant he hated. So why is he willing to tolerate that shit? For her.


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

[User]
[Fallout] What hypothesis were they testing for in each of the vaults that would have contributed to their goal of colonizing space?

Example: Vault 101 = Survival Rate of dwellers or societal decay rate under authoritarian rule.

[Assistant]
Vault 11 - Experiment in ethical pressure designed to test how long humans would compromise their ethics for the sake of survival

Vault 12 - Effects of prolonged exposure to low level radiation

Vault 13 - Study on isolation and genetic bottlenecking

Vault 15 - Study on conflict vs compromise with radically different ideologies

Vault 19 - The effects of propaganda on social programming and dehumanisation

Vault 21 - Basically whether a society can function on dumb luck

Vault 22- Unclear. Was clearly designed for study in agricultural sustainability, but their own internal developments caused them to be wiped out.

Vault 27 - Study on population pressure. Deliberately overcrowded.

Vault 29 - Basically Lord of the Flies. Only youths, with their parents deliberately redirected to other vaults.

Vault 34 - What happens when you give people more explosives than they could ever need.

Vault 36 -  Effects on unpalatable food over long periods.

Vault 42 - Effects on long-term low-light environment

Vault 43 - Study on how small groups deal with predatory threats

Vault 53 - Effects of constant work-related stress

Vault 55 - Effects of a lack of entertainment, and likely its impact on both stress levels and creativity.

Vault 56 - Effects of singular BAD entertainment, to be compared with vault 55

Vaults 68 and 69 - Impact of hugely disproportionate gender gap

Vault 70 - Impact of failure to produce clothing, likely a study on sexuality and inhibitions

Vault 77 - Beats the hell out of me.

Vault 87 - No real study, it was a research station on the FEV

Vault 92 - Impact of subsonic frequencies on the musically inclined

Vault 106 - Impact of mass exposure of psychoactive substance

Vault 108 - Ability and viability of a closed system to replace crucial labour with no training

Its worth pointing out that the Vaults do not seem to have been built under the goal of testing a specific hypothesis, but rather simulating particular potential scenarios that may be encountered either during prolonged space travel, or during colony development. This would have been to try and later design fail safes against any negative outcomes observed.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why shouldn't Iran be allowed to have nuclear weapons?

There always seems to be a lot of talk about Iran getting ready to have their own nuclear weapons and I dont really understand why the US (and other countries) is/are talking about it like its the worst thing that could ever happen. Why are the US & Russia (and others) allowed to have them if these people also say you shouldnt have them. I dont understand why any country thinks it can forbid other countries doing what theyre also doing. Thanks in advance. :)

[Assistant]
Basically its to do with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which almost all countries signed.

You're right that it basically says "No-one is allowed to get nuclear weapons if they didn't already have them when they signed the treaty", which seems a little unfair. However, the treaty is what it is, and every country in the world has signed up except from India, Israel and Pakistan. Additionally North Korea originally signed, but then pulled out, and Taiwan is a bit of a odd-case, but they're effectively covered.

So the situation is that Iran has signed an agreement that says they won't develop nuclear weapons, and if they were attempting to then that'd be a violation of the treaty.

Whether or not they're attempting to make nuclear weapons is something open for debate. Iran says that, whilst they are doing things that look like they might be making nuclear weapons (enriching uranium) that is only for the purpose of their Nuclear Power station and related civilian power research, and thus it is allowed under the treaty.

The US on the other hand doesn't believe Iran and thinks that it is doing work to develop nuclear weapons, and thus imposes restrictions on Iran as best it can.

In the end it is basically the big boys with all the power bullying smaller countries into not having nuclear weapons, whilst they hypocritically keep them themselves. Whether or not you think that's fair, the fact is we are alot safer as a world with less nuclear weapons in, so perhaps the ends justify the means.

Its also worth noting that all the countries that aren't covered by the NPT (Israel, Pakistan, India, North Korea) have subsequently gone on to make nuclear weapons.


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

[User] 0 Kelvin is considered the lower limit of temperature. Is there an equivalent upper limit of temperature?

[Assistant] No, there isn't. There are a few misconceptions though. One is because temperature is related to molecular velocity there must be a temperature at which the molecules are moving at light speed, and this is the limit. However, the relationship between energy and speed isn't the same at very high velocity; things get arbitrarily close to light speed as their energy increases. The other is that the Planck temperature (about 10^32 K) is the upper limit, but this is also not the case, this is just the regime where quantum gravity must be taken into account, (imagine if two particles collide with each other so fast that they form a black hole, for instance, and it's so hot that the Hawking radiation from this black hole is at thermal equilibrium with its surroundings, etc). The hottest we've been able to produce is a few trillion kelvin, with heavy ion collisions. That's hot enough to make protons and neutrons melt.


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

[User]
Would a fork actually be better than a spoon for stirring liquids?

Stirring is essentially the creation of turbulent force to blend the two or more ingredients, so wouldn't the tines of a fork create more turbulence in the liquid - and, thus, a more thorough blend - than just the concave shape of the spoon?

[Assistant] Moving a spoon through a liquid delivers more energy to it than a fork would. Think about the relative force it takes to move either one: having to push harder on the spoon means to stir with it exerts a greater net momentum change in the molecules of the liquid. The tines of the fork may cause some turbulence in the liquid flowing between them, but the spoon sweeps all the liquid it touches to higher overall velocities around its edge. Of course, multiple sweeps with either a fork or spoon back and forth will get to even mixing in an appropriately small volume.


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

[User] [General] I've won the lottery and accepted my winnings. However, it came out that my lottery numbers may or may not be related to the fact that I recently invented a time machine. Have I violated any laws or lottery regulations and have I opened myself up to any litigation?

[Assistant]
There's probably not a law or regulation, but they're sure as hell not going to pay.  They want people to play the lotto, this undermines that.  They'll have a team of lawyers explaining to your time travelling ass why you get no money.

Luckily you have a time machine and can make money easier ways.


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

[User]
When and how do infants learn that their limbs belong to them?

Cognitively/neurologically, how does a child learn to distinguish between an arm and my arm?

[Assistant] Antonio Damasio's book Self Comes to Mind discusses this within the context of how our brains and minds develop a mind map of what and where our body is. The concept is ongoing and fluid, and can change if for example, you lose a body part, or use a tool for an incredibly long, repetitive time. The sense begins to form in the womb, but is refined continuously. Actual deliberate control of limbs, and consciousness of the separation between nursing infants and mothers occurs around 3-4 months.


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

[User]
ELI5: why does illegal money need to be "laundered"?

for example, in breaking bad walt needs to have his meth money laundered as to not bring suspicion, but if he walks into a store and buys something with the cash, how would anyone ever know the money was meth money and how would he ever get caught?

[Assistant]
Because people have to pay taxes, and the government would notice huge amounts of money appearing from nowhere.

Let's say that you are a drug dealer. You make cash money, and you buy a big house and a car. But, you don't pay any taxes. The IRS sees all of the sales records (the person that sold you the house files taxes, the dealership that sold you the car, etc.) and says "That's odd, this guy isn't reporting his income!" And then they investigate, and find out that you have all this illegal income, and you get arrested for not paying taxes, and then that gives them cause to look into everything else you have been doing.

Let's say, however, that you own a carwash. You get money coming in from that. But, you also have money coming in from your drug business. So, you make it *look* like the drug money was actually from cars in your car wash. The IRS looks at it and says "what a successful car wash," stamps your form, and you're good to go. It disguises the illegitimate money to look legitimate.


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

[User]
How did Schopenhauer manage to form a pessimistic philosophy while he was an utmost fan of Vedanta?

The core of Schopenhauer's philosophy was the 'Will', which I think in layman's term can be described as an evil force at the heart of everything. However, he also was an avid fan of Indian religion school Vedanta (the philosophy of the Upanishads). Vedanta, for layman's term, states that the heart of everything is the Self. 'The Self' is pretty much the opposite of Schopenhauer's 'The Will'. The Self is Sat, Chit, Ananda (existence, consciousness, bliss). It is believed that those who are enlightened beings and abide in 'The Self' are in the state of constant bliss.

So I was wondering if any of you could shed a light on that.

[Assistant]
So, two things here. Schopenhauer doesn't privilege the Upanishads over his other sources in his thought, which include strands as diverse as Kant, Plato and Karl Friedrich Krause. On a very simple understanding, Schopenhauer is simply borrowing monistic concepts from Hinduism and integrating them to his own thought, while also constructing his pessimistic edifice from Kantian and Platonic sources. It's obvious he isn't a mere regurgitator of the Upanishads, despite his profound respect for them. Second, its anachronistic to assume that the Upanishads are exemplified in the thought of Advaita Vedantism, which is a tradition that comes long after the work Schopenhauer was actually acquainted with.

Schopenhauer's primary engagement with Hindu thought (especially the Upanishads) came through an understanding of these texts as containing doctrines that supported Samkhya-Yoga thought, a tradition described as monist-dualism in the Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies' volume on Yoga. If you read through Yoga and Samkhya texts, and relate them to the Upanishads, you see where Schopenhauer's position comes from, especially the distinction between prakriti as dynamic matter that consists of all objectivity and purusa as pure self-consciousness, and meditation and "higher cognition" in order to liberate oneself from bondage to prakriti and become purusa i.e. pure subject. Schopenhauer also relies on multiple Upanishadic sources which talk about the stilling of desire as opposed to positive bliss, a theme that was common in classical Indian philosophy (it was a huge controversy in the Nyaya darsana, though there's no evidence Schopenhauer had any engagement with literature of that school.)

In fact, Schopenhauer seems to have not had engagement with some Upanishads which parallel his position, for example the Katha Upanishad and its discussion of Naciketas being sent to Yama, the god of Death.

Furthermore, towards the end of WWR, Schopenhauer describes the state of pure subjectivity where the will is quietened as akin to a bliss that would appear to those still caught in the veil of maya as nothing, but to the liberated subject as everything.


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

[User] eli5:with billions of stars emitting photons why is the night sky not bright?

[Assistant]
This is known as Olbers Paradox. If the universe is populated with a distribution of stars similar to what we see nearby, then the math works out that every sight line should end at a star and the night sky should be bright. However, because the universe appears to have a finite age and the speed of light is also finite, most sight lines end at the very distant remnants of the soup of primordial fire that was the early universe, which was also very hot and therefore very bright.

So the the real answer is not that brightness is too distant or too sparse. The real answer is redshift. The light from very distant stars and from the early universe has been stretched by the expansion of space into wavelengths far longer than what we can see. You may have heard of it as the cosmic microwave background.


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

[User]
How to tell a struggling PhD student who wants to stay in academia that it's time to look for other jobs?

I have a PhD student who is finishing this year who ended this job round with no postdoc offers. It's not completely surprising, unfortunately. The student, let's call them P, has had 4 years to improve on things like writing, communication, technical skills, and programming but has fallen short on all of them for where they need to be to be competitive for postdocs. That being said, P is a hard worker, super enthusiastic about research, and has been a good member of my group. P has gotten some interviews, but often gives extremely technical talks with no introduction (despite many rounds of feedback on this from me and others) and has tripped up when asked about the deep details of their work. Unfortunately, I see almost no way of them making it through the whole tenure track (postdoc, postdoc, faculty, building a group) without a quantum leap in their skills, even if there was an offer this year.

P is understandably very upset about not getting any offers but continues to say that all they want is a career as a researcher and to stay in academia. This doesn't seem realistic and I want to start gently steering them towards the idea of looking for opportunities in industry or policy, especially since their PhD funding runs out later this year. But I'm not at all sure how to have this conversation without dashing their dreams. They're really eager and dead-set on this line of work, but I just don't see a path. Any advice for how to steer this conversation and offer constructive suggestions? I feel terrible that I have to deliver this news, and I've never done it before.

[Assistant]
This is a hard conversation, but you owe it to P to dash their dreams as you say. Practice your script beforehand, warn them that this wont be an easy conversation ahead of time, then tell them exactly what you said here and just as directly. Dont leave any room for nuance. Resist the urge to couch your feedback in positivity. They need to fully understand everything you said here.

Then give them time, maybe a week or so, to process. You wont be able to make them feel better since you were the one who gave them the negative feedback, so encourage them to seek out someone who can (friend, mentor, significant other, etc). Make it clear you support them and want to talk next steps with them, but that they should take time to process feelings first. Dont push them to get past the negative feelings and accept that they may blame you partly.

Ultimately P deserves to hear this direct feedback and you owe it to P to tell them this. The truth is that we dont all get to have all of our dreams and this is okay. But you cant let P continue down the path of thinking they are headed to academia with your blessing.


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

[User] [Star Wars] If Jedi are not to develop attachments, how does having one Master teach one Padawan seem effective?

[Assistant]
It's far more effective to have one-on-one training, particularly out in the field.  Having two padawans means spending half the effort on each one.  One-on-one, you have more time and energy to spend helping your one padawan to grow and learn and develop, and to keep an eye on them to prevent their mistakes.  It may be more efficient to teach Jedi multiple at a time, but that means it will take them longer to master their abilities and make them more likely to stray from the proper path.

Also, having a relationship with someone is not the same as being attached to them.  There is of course going to be a relationship between Master and Apprentice, just as there are going to be friendships within the Order.  That's not the problem, the problem is not being able to let go of them - to put the will of the Force or the good of a planet above that person, to let them die and fade into the Force without letting the loss consume you.

When Anakin fears losing Padme, he goes to Yoda for advice, and Yoda's response is not to tell him to cut that person out of his life, just to let them go if it is indeed their time to die.  "Mourn them, do not. Miss them, do not."


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

[User]
What do roach sprays and barrier sprays actually DO to roaches to kill them?

As I'm sitting in my living room, I can see a roach on my porch in the throes of death, on its back, kicking and writhing.  It'll probably do that for another half hour or so, and then finally kick the bucket.  But what is it dying of, specifically?  Asphyxiation?  Some nervous system shutdown?

[Assistant] Many bug sprays contain pyrethrin family compounds which mess with the nervous systems in most insects by preventing the resetting of their nerves. Once tensed, muscles cannot relax so the bug basically siezes up. Larger vertibrates have sufficient enzymes to inactivate these compounds before they can affect our nervous system.


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

[User]
A property of metals is that they conduct heat. If that is the case, why do they feel cold at room temperature?

Because it conducts heat so well, I would expect it to 'receive' the heat energy from the air far more readily than other materials such as wood and plastic, yet wood and plastic feel warmer to the touch than a piece of metal in a 20C room. Why is that?

[Assistant] It feels cold precisely *because* it conducts heat so well. If the metal is at 20C, and your body temperature is 37C, then the metal will very efficiently conduct heat away from your body, and that feels cold. It does this much more efficiently than wood or plastic.


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

[User] How significantly do plastic dental appliances, things like retainers, Invisalign, or night guards, contribute to the build up of microplastics in the body?

[Assistant]
Generally microplastics are formed by either the degradation of plastics disposed of into watercourses, or from the shedding of plastic fibres from fabrics, ropes etc.

Large, solid plastic objects are unlikely to produce microplastics. You might as well worry about the miles of plastic piping bringing your water to your tap. It's far more likely that the microplastics are going to be in the water already from plastic pollution or shedding from washing plastic fibres.


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

[User]
Where do the light waves go when you turn of the lights?

This might sound like a joke, but I genuinely don't know the answer.

So, when you turn on the lights, the circuit closes and the lights turn on. The light bulb or whatever sends out beams of light, which are reflected and absorbed by objects. That's my understanding of it, though I might be wrong.

But what happens when you turn off the lights? I get the part that the circuit is interrupted and therefore the light bulb isn't sending out light anymore. But what about those light beams that are already bouncing around the room? Do they just disappear after a while?

On a similar note, I've been taught that shade is where the light doesn't get to, since light isn't like sound in that the beams are straight and don't go in all directions. But you can still see something in the shadow, it's not just black. Everythings darker, but not completely black.

I'm looking forward to some answers on this, because I really don't get it. Thanks in advance.

[Assistant]
You already answered your own question:

> absorbed by objects

Light that is emitted is very rapidly absorbed by the objects and surfaces it hits. Even light that is reflected once or multiple times ends up being absorbed. This process is extremely fast because of how fast light moves. It takes a mere 3 nanoseconds for light to travel 1 meter. So even bouncing back and forth between two mirrors (which never reflect 100% of the light and always absorb some of it), a beam of light will diminish to a level where it's no longer visible in microseconds or less.

When light is absorbed by an object, that object gains a bit of energy and will therefore heat up ever so slightly.

> On a similar note, I've been taught that shade is where the light doesn't get to, since light isn't like sound in that the beams are straight and don't go in all directions. But you can still see something in the shadow, it's not just black. Everythings darker, but not completely black.

Details in shadows are visible because they're illuminated indirectly or by another light source. Consider an object in a room near a lamp. The lamp casts a shadow behind the object, but details are still visible in this shadow: It's not pitch black. This might be because the area is still illuminated by another lamp elsewhere in the room or it is illuminated by light from the nearby lamp being reflected by the walls or ceiling and taking an indirect path from lamp to the shadow area.


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

[User]
[Marvel] What is in the Avengers Tower in Manhattan?

I'm sure each member of the team probably has some kind of armory in the building, maybe some labs or something, but the tower is MASSIVE. What do the Avengers need with all that space? Do they have employees working in the tower or is it just the Avengers?

[Assistant] It was originally the Stark Enterprises building - despite the signage change and the renovation of Tony's personal floors at the top levels to better suit Avengers affairs, I'd imagine the lower levels wouldn't have changed much. It's probably still Stark Industries offices and labs and stuff, commercial tenants, etc.


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

[User] [Dragon Ball Z] Will all of Gokus descendants have some form of Saiyan power? Or is there a point where it becomes so diluted that theyre basically human? (Assume that none of them have full-blooded saiyans for parents.)

[Assistant] If Dragonball Online counts for anything, then yes, even after full blooded saiyans go extinct, humans with Saiyan blood still have the latent ability to do things like become Super Saiyan. This is also further backed up by the fact Goku's children seem to be naturally stronger and achieve Super Saiyan earlier than Goku. However, one trait about Saiyans does seem to be recessive, which is their monkey tails. Goten for example, seemed to be born without the characteristic tail. This is probably ultimately beneficial, because the Great Ape transformation is not as strong as Super Saiyan states, but would cause chaos if people had to randomly deal with it.


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

[User]
[Jurassic World] Would the Indominus Rex have been an effective military weapon?

**[Spoilers for JURASSIC WORLD]**

Vic Hoskins wanted to use the Indominus Rex in warfare. This was obviously a stupid idea. I wasn't there when it happened, but I heard that the animal escaped captivity and managed to outsmart its creators, causing massive amounts of death and destruction.

However, let's assume that everything works the way Hoskins wanted, and they eventually send it (or multiple Indominus Rexes) overseas to eat the Taliban or Boko Haram or ISIS or whoever they want dead.

Would this work? A massive carnosaur seems like a pretty easy target for rocket launchers and stuff, and it likely wouldn't have a lot of trees to hide in like on Isla Nublar. It also might be too big to fit in many places where insurgents could hide.

Also, I highly doubt that this would be good PR. A carnivorous dinosaur isn't going to just eat the terrorists and leave civilians alone (unless they can somehow genetically program it to do so, but that seems impossible).

[Assistant] The I-Rex was a prototype that had exceeded it's original design specifics and was going to be displayed in the park as a means of recovering some of their development costs. The plan was always for something more like the raptor in size with some of the features of the I-Rex, Hoskins mentions as much when discussing the program with Dr. Wu this is further evidenced by his willingness to field test the raptor program against what he viewed as an expendable asset.


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

[User] How is it possible to survive rabies and why will it almost always kill you?

[Assistant] It has a point of no return.  If it progresses to the point that you are showing symptoms, its already too late.  Basically, if you get bit by a wild animal go get a rabies shot immediately because the sooner you get it the more effective it will be(if you were actually exposed).


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

[User]
[Lord of the Rings] Just how elite were the members of the Followship as warriors compared to the rest of their races?

For example it's shown that Elves are exceptional archers by human standards but was Legolas notably proficient even amongst his peers? Was Gimili stronger and tougher than the average Dwarf?

[Assistant]
Pretty elite. Bloodlines/royalty are a pretty big deal in Middle-earth. Those of the royal line, either through hereditary or magical reasons, tend to be stronger than those not of the royal line. This is pretty common across a lot of Middle-earth, even in Northmen who are the most similar to modern humans".

Aragorn - Has ancestry going back to the first Elves who ever lived. He's probably the "purest" Numenorean alive, who were basically superhuman compared to normal men. Not only that, he has a long list of heroic deeds going back even before he joined the Fellowship. He's also 6'6" and wields Anduril. Yes, he is a significantly better warrior than most men.

Boromir - Boromir was pretty much the best Gondor had to offer. He's exceptionally strong, valorous, and played a large part in defending Gondor leading up to the War of the Ring. He's not descended from the royal line of Gondor, but he's still of Numenorean blood. He's described as being 6'4" and broader than Aragorn, and it took "many" arrows to bring him down. So yes, he is also a significantly better warrior than most men.

Legolas - Legolas is an odd one because he doesn't appear in Tolkien's writings at all until the Fellowship of the Ring. We don't even know how old he is. We do know, however, that his father and grandfather were born in or before the First Age, and both of them lived in Doriath before the destruction of Beleriand. Oropher (Legolas' grandfather) pretty much assumed kingship when he arrived in Greenwood, so it's safe to say that he was probably...better(?) than the normal Silvan Elves. Considering Legolas is the Prince of Mirkwood, then yeah, he's probably much more capable than your average Silvan Elf. Regardless, his deeds during the War of the Ring speak for themselves.

Gimli - He's a direct descendant of Durin the Deathless, the first and longest-lived of all Dwarves. He's also the only Dwarf to arrive in Rivendell wearing armour and weapons, so chances are he's a well-known warrior amongst the Dwarves. And like Legolas, his deeds during the War of the Ring also speak for themselves.

Gandalf - Amongst the Maiar, Gandalf is probably one of the weaker ones that gets encountered. In saying that, his power is restricted in Middle-earth, so we're also not entirely sure.

The Hobbits - Can't really compare to anyone. The Hobbits don't really have warriors. So by default, Merry, Pippin and Sam are simultaneously the best warriors whilst also being the worst.


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

[User] ELI5 - How do ointments used to treat body parts besides the skin (like ointments for muscle pain or joint pain) work? Do they even work?

[Assistant]
Really depends on the ointment.

Some have lidocaine or related meds that work as direct numbing agents- think novacaine. It can block the nerves from the whole region, even beyond the skin.

Others have drugs like aspirin, which absorb through the skin and act as they would if they were swallowed

Still others have capsaicin, which gives the sensation of heat. It makes the body respond as if it was actually hot, relaxing the muscles. Or menthol, which acts as a cooling and numbing agent.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do countries get their names?

Places like America, Britain, Kenya, Mongolia, Russia.

Who names countries and how does the name come about?

[Assistant]
Really, they're named for all sorts of different things.

- Some of them are named for the ethnic groups that resided there before modern countries emerged  Britain, probably, for a celtic-speaking tribe that the Greeks wrote about in the 4th century BC.

- Some are named for individuals  America, for Amerigo Vespucci, the first explorer to establish that the land Columbus returned from was a new continent (as far as Europe was concerned) and not part of Asia.

- Some are named for natural features  'Kenya' was the name for a mountain located there, in one of the natively-spoken languages.

Some countries even have totally different names in different languages. For instance, in English we call it 'Germany', based on a classical term for the tribes that lived there. But the Germans call it 'Deutschland,' which if you trace out its roots literally means something like 'people land' or 'popular land.'


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

[User]
ELI5: How far into space can we go before video or voice transmission would cease?

Even if the home base would not be on earth, what is the distance, if there is any, that would stop communication.

[Assistant]
No distance would be too far.  The only limit is the lifespan of the people trying to talk to each other.  All forms of light travel at the speed of light.  This includes radio waves, which is how you might communicate.  If you broadcast such a signal, it will travel out into space forever and ever.  However, if you're trying to talk to someone who is 1 lightyear away, it will take one year for the message to arrive.  And a further year for their message to make it back to you.

Move the speakers further apart, and it takes even longer.  Imagine asking a question, and then telling your descendants to wait around for the answer.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do we have to brew tea or others herbs instead of eating them raw? Why (probably) can't we get the same health benefits from dry herbs?

[Assistant]
You can (and many people do) chew fresh herbs, either for their taste or their perceived health benefit.

But fresh herbs only stay fresh for a very short time after being picked. Within a couple of days they're usually starting to go limp, to lose some of their flavour, and generally to be less desirable.

So the answer to that is to dry the herbs and distribute them in their dried form. But then they're quite unpalatable: putting a handful of dried herbs into your mouth is not far different from shoving in a handful of sawdust!

However if you steep the dried herbs in hot water for a few minutes, you get a reasonable compromise: a product that can be easily distributed and stored for months, along with an experience for the consumer of something that tastes good and isn't unpleasant.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do we pay sales tax on used (pre-owned) vehicles? Hasn't the tax been paid already on it once (when it was new)?

Is there such a thing as a double taxing rule?

I know when normal items are purchased regularly, the business are tax-exempt and the sales tax is then passed and paid by the consumer. Why can a car be taxed and retaxed every time it is sold?

[Assistant]
Sales tax is a tax on the transaction, not the item.  There's other sorts of taxes, such as a VAT (value added tax) that specifically target goods.

The item being secondhand makes no difference to sales tax.


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

[User]
Do people who have undergone gender-reassignment surgery have life expectancies similar to those of their 'original' gender or those of their 'new' gender?

My apologies if the terms 'original' and 'new' offend anybody from the transgender community - if that is even the correct term.

Anyway, I was wondering about this and I could only find very patchy and strange information via Google. I understand that the suicide rate is high for transgender individuals, but I was wondering more on a biological level whether or not life expectancies would be less overall due to surgery etc and perhaps the impact on the body of undergoing gender reassigment, or similar to the 'original' biological sex at birth.

Is the whole concept (and process of hormone therapy etc) too new for us to have decent data on the subject?

Further apologies if the question has been posed elsewhere or is incorrectly formatted etc.

[Assistant]
Surgery doesn't impact life expectency much, though trans men have drastically reduced breast cancer risk after chest reconstruction.

Hormone therapy, however, changes everything. For one, estrogen and anti-androgen treatment (or post-surgically the removal of one's testosterone factories) basically reduces the risk of prostate cancer to almost nothing. Beyond that, cholesterol levels and risk of heart disease and etc. are largely shaped by what hormones are dominant in your system. If someone has spent years or decades with a testosterone-based endocrine system, they're going to have male-level risks of heart disease and stroke, even if early in life they had ovaries. And vice versa for those who spend years or decades on estrogen supplements; they'll have female level risk, even if they started life with a testosterone-based system.

And hormones reshape fat and muscle distribution. A guy on testosterone will be likely to develop the "apple" shaped body most men have, with body fat concentrated around the organs. A woman on estrogen will be likely to be more "pear" shaped, with the lower risk associated with carrying most body fat around the hips.


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

[User] [ELi5] What's the difference between hard and soft water, and what does salt have to do with it?

[Assistant] hard water has lots of minerals in it (usually calcium or magnesium), soft water does not have these (or in lesser amounts). Water softeners usually use an ion-exchange resin, which is porous material which the water flows through. The resin has a bunch of sodium ions in it, when the hard water flows through, the sodium is exchanged for the Ca or Mg. The sodium doesnt cause the same issues that the Ca and Mg do. You put salt in the softeners, because it uses it to replace the sodium in the resin.


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

[User] [Physics] [Chemistry] Why does something smoulder instead of be on fire with a flame? What's happening physically?

[Assistant] its important to realize that burning and smoldering are both examples of exothermic oxidation reactions. Smoldering usually occurs because there is some impurity absorbing some of the heat energy causing the reaction to proceed more slowly than outright burning. For example a fresh leaf has a great deal of water in it. Water has a very high specific heat capacity, so it is great at absorbing all the extra energy given off from the exothermic reaction of combustion.


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

[User] How is it that sleep depravation can actually kill you? What is the human reaction that leads to death?

[Assistant]
No one knows for certain.  In a study involving rats, all of the sleep-deprived rats died in about a month.  The specific cause of death in each case was unknown.  Various suggestions were posited, but nothing was agreed upon.  There was evidence of brain damage in some, but not all.

So, in short, the specific causes of death would likely vary by case, but the ultimate result of death from prolonged sleep deprivation is certain - at least in rats.  For ethical reasons, no such study could be performed on humans (Ill let others debate the ethics for rats).


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

[User] ELI5: What is this new Canadian Anti-Terror bill and why are people protesting it?

[Assistant] It's basically our version of the Patriot Act, meant to expand police and intelligence services' surveillance powers.  People don't like it because it means the police will need less evidence to detain or charge people and the intelligence services will be able to do more surveiling of Canadians.  People also don't like it because it doesn't really provide for any oversight, accountability or transparency with these activities.  People are also pretty pissed that neither of the other two big parties (Conservatives are the party in power and are right wing, and the Liberals and NDP are the left wing parties in the opposition government) aren't meaningfully opposing it.


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

[User] Eli5: Why do waves break left to right/right to left instead of breaking all at once?

[Assistant]
How the waves hit land depends on the direction of the wind that made the waves, and they break when they hit a certain surface level of the sea bottom. If you have ever dived you will know that the surface bottom us uneven. Ironically because of waves.

Wind can come from all directions. Which is 360 degres all around. For the waves to break evenly they have to hit a total evenly rising ocean bottom at a direct 90 degree angle.

Statistically that never happens.

Build a concrete ocean floor that rises relatively sharply in a 90 degree angle to the prevailing winds and it will happen from time to time :-)


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

[User]
[generic fantasy] What happens if you force an undead to drink a health potion?

Say you captured a mindless wild ghoul or zombie.

Also would it make a difference if the potion is injected?

[Assistant] They tend to take damage from it.  Health potions reinforce life energy.  Undead have the opposite, so forcing them to take (whether ingested or injected) one will usually cause them equivalent damage to what a living person would get in healing.


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

[User]
Does the concept of Altitude exist in space?

Is there an "above" or "below" in space or do all objects exist on the same plane? To be more precise, does the equator of all objects exist on the same plane?

Edit: Thank you for the Gold, wonderful stranger. It's my first.

[Assistant]
No - the equator of Earth is different from the plane of the solar system, which is different from the plane of the galaxy. Galaxies are in amorphous groups or spherical clusters rather than planes. These groups and clusters are in a "cosmic web" filamentary pattern.

We do use latitude/longitude style coordinates for plotting things on the sky, but this isn't a universal system. We either use the Earth's equator as the "plane" for the system (the "celestial" system of "right-ascension" and declination), which is useful for observations from Earth, or we use a galactic system of "galactic latitude" and "galactic longitude", where we define 0 latitude & longitude as the centre of the galaxy, as seen from Earth. So, not only do we use multiple different systems, these systems also only work if you're at (or near) Earth.


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

[User] [Community] How much is Pierce Hawthorne worth?

[Assistant] In the episode where his will is read, according to his attorney Mr. Stone, the total inheritance from Pierce Hawthorne is over $20 million. The shares in the Hawthorne Wipes Company given to Troy are worth $14.3 million, leaving $5.7 million unaccounted for. It is highly unlikely the remaining fortune was used entirely on the rest of the study group's bequethals plus the 6 canisters of sperm. It could be speculated that it was possibly used for any alimony payments Pierce owed to his seven ex-wives. It's also possible that the cost for Troy's boat expedition, including hiringa famous celebrityfor a whole year, was considerable.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why isn't solar power the most used source for electricity?

Why isn't solar power the most used source for electricity?
I feel like the cheapest form of electricity should be collected and regulated everywhere. I'm just curious why it isn't.

[Assistant] Because it's the least dense form of energy available to us. You can only get about 150 watts per square meter out of sunlight. That's barely enough to run a lightbulb. Solar power is plentiful and free, but *very* paltry unless you want to spend billions to pave over whole states with PV arrays.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do most smartphones not have built-in FM receivers? (When they have many other technologies like WiFi, GPS, 4G, etc.)

[Assistant]
This is probably for a number of reasons.  For one, people care less about FM radio than before.  Second, device manufacturers might have a profit motive in selling audio content and other sources of media rather than FM radio.

There are some unique complications with FM, though, compared to the other radio technologies in phones.  It is on a fairly low frequency, so an effective antenna needs to be relatively large.  It is also an analog technology that can be a little bit more complicated to design in than digital communications standards.

It is very challenging to design many radios close to each other.  Mobile phones already typically have, at the very least, a couple of bands of radio for the cellular technology; BlueTooth; and GPS.  Many others add near-field communication and WiFi.  As you add radios, the chances that some of the radios interfere with or hamper the performance of others increases.  This is not insurmountable, but it's already very impressive the number of radios that are put into such a small footprint.


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

[User]
How to engage with people doing similar research to yourself?

Whenever I meet someone doing very similar research to what I'm doing, I don't know how to act. A part of me feels really excited to find someone interested in the same topic, and begin day dreaming about asking them to co-author something. But the other part of me feels incredibly stressed at the thought that someone else is working on research that is (sometimes very) close to my own. I'm a PhD student, so I feel particularly threatened if I meet someone more senior in this category.

How much do you share in these situations? How do you go about things?

[Assistant] The main point that you want to communicate in this situation is that you are interested in knowing more about their work. Try not to think about issues like future collaboration, etc. because the first step is to build a connection around your shared interest, and that takes time. If you just give someone a chance to talk about their work they will often be happy to share. Hopefully they will ask about your work in return.


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

[User] [Hellraiser] For a sadomasochistic in an immense and constant state of pleasure and pain, why does pinhead sound so. lethargic?

[Assistant] He has been a cenobite for 60-some years by the time that we see him in the mid-1980s. He has experienced both immense pain and pleasure for 6 decades and over that time, he's built up a tolerance to it. He does still enjoy it, but he is basically to the point of needing a good flaying just to get out of bed in the morning.


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

[User] ELI5: What's the difference between a subsidiary of a company and a division of that company?

[Assistant]
Imagine you own a big supermarket with many departments, meat, sea food, produce, paper goods, etc. Each department would be a 'division' of the company.  Everything gets sold at the same registers, and the stock crew fills up all the shelves regardless of what the product is.

Now you buy a deli across town.  You own it, and have someone else running it for you.  If someone buys a loaf of bread at the deli, they pay for it there, not at your supermarket.  The deli and the supermarket might have different insurance companies, sell different brands of soda, etc.

If you're the 'corporation' the deli and the supermarket are both subsidiaries.


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

[User]
cmv: Voting party lines is a cancer in American (potentially others) politics.

By voting "Party Line" I mean selecting the option to not look at the entire ballot and just cast a vote for a single party. By cancer I refer to the increase of separation between people of different political parties.
There was a lack of basic information available (at least for me in SC, USA) on candidates and an increase in people digging deeper into their echo chambers. I find the "Party Line" option to be guilting of perpetuating Political separation. The rise of rank choice voting is great but the removal of voting "Party Line" should come with it.
I don't see any benefit outside of saving time at poling stations.

[Assistant] Saving time at polling places is a HUGE perk. In states with restrictive early voting laws, a small number of locations to vote and high thresholds for ID verification, people have to spend hours waiting to vote. Couple this with the fact that voting takes place on a work day, and is not a national holiday, and you have a pretty potent cocktail for discouraged voters.


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

[User] ELI5: When you're on a roller coaster or something which drops quickly, what is the feeling in your stomach and why do you get it?

[Assistant]
That feeling is two things. One - you have special sensory cells that detect acceleration. These feel rapid acceleration and essentially cause a panic response.

The other part of it is more visceral - literally all your organs are moving and you feel it.


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

[User]
Economic Models in Excel? Or online? Change variables, see effect. Solve for max/min. Revise model.

I did a dual-major in university, half in economics, 20 years ago.  I thought by now I would be able to find an online economics course with functioning economic models.   Nope.  Am I just looking in the wrong places?  I found online courses with static diagrams, but not functioning models.

Bonus #1: users can change the labels and the data.

Bonus #2: users can revise the model itself.  Do you know of any spreadsheet-based or online models that allow users to not just change variables but to edit the model itself?

Hessian Matrices, Lagrangian Multipliers, Local and Global Maxima and Minima, Saddle Points, Higher Order Derivatives ---- these are what my dreams are made of!

(And: indifference curves, aggregate demand, socially-optimal vs privately-optimal output, Edgeworth box...)

\----------- DO NOT REPLY TO THIS POST - REPLY TO MY COMMENT BELOW ------------

(If you reply to this post, I may well never see your reply - AutoMod removes replies unless you're whitelisted.  8 replies to my post disappeared.  I want to believe a Moderator will approve the good replies, but 2 days ago I got notifications which showed the beginnings of several replies that looked excellent, and ... I'm waiting.   If you reply to a COMMENT, your post will not be automatically deleted.)

[Assistant] Most economic and econometric models are written in languages like Stata, R, Python, or Matlab. For example, many central banks provide data and code in Matlab format. Many applied microeconomics papers provide data and code in Stata format.


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

[User] Why is it that whenever we are anxious or nervous, we feel it so strongly in our stomachs? What is the link between the two?

[Assistant]
Being in a situation that provokes anxiety or nervousness can activate the body's sympathetic nervous system (fight-or-flight response).  This causes a release of epinephrine (adrenaline) which inhibits motility in the small and large intestine (your body does not need to waste energy digesting food while you are running away from a bear).  You also have changes in blood pressure and blood flow to the gut.  The sensation you feel in your stomach is likely a result of these physiological changes.

The enteric nervous system of the gastrointestinal system also probably plays a role.


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

[User]
[MCU] What would Ultron think of Thanos and his goal?

Would he disagree with Thanos or would there be a part of him that agreed and would even like to help him?

[Assistant]
Mostly they are irrational in there own ways and probably wouldn't agree.  Ultron had overcoming disaster and coming out stronger mixed with a superiority complex leading him to want to replace humanity. Ideas like rock that killed the dinosaurs and things like that.
Thanos has ideas about cosmic balance, he doesn't necessarily want suffering and death or him self to be venerated but sees these as a means to an end.
It's unlikely they would get on.


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

[User]
[Cinematic Marvel] Does the Avengers universe overlap with the new Spider-Man universe?

Is there anything that separates the Amazing Spider-Man universe from the Avengers universe?  Can we assume that it's possible that The Amazing Spider-Man can be a member of the Avengers reserve team, or was there anything that officially separates the two versions of New York?

[Assistant]
No. The universe where Spider-Man has organic webshooters is Earth-96283.

The universe where his first big foe was the Lizard is Earth-Earth-120703.

The universe where Loki aided an alien invasion of Earth is Earth-199999.

They're in different universes entirely. Some similarities might apply, but it's highly unlikely that we'll ever see any crossover.


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

[User]
ELI5 Why is it more difficult to put clothes on slightly wet skin?

Often after taking a shower, it is difficult to put, say, socks if the skin is not well-dried. This is cause the fabric kinda sticks to the skin in ways it doesn't when it is not wey. Why is that? Shouldn't water generate less friction than normal, not-wet skin?

[Assistant]
The water causes the clothes to stick to your skin because the fabric is attracted to the water. It's the same basic principal that allows paper towels to soak up water. This increases the total amount of fabric-to-skin contact.

>Shouldn't water generate less friction than normal, not-wet skin?

Yes but normally when you put on clothes there's little to no fabric-to-skin contact, so even though water is better than skin, it's worse than just avoiding contact altogether. A better comparison would be wet clothes vs a skin-tight rubber suit. The wet clothes are easier to put on because fabric-to-wet skin contact is better than rubber-to-skin contact.


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

[User]
Eli5: why are the majority of wealthy/developed countries concentrated into the northern hemisphere of the world?

It seems that the northern half of the world contains most to all of the developed countries in the world. Why is this? My best guess is that explorers from Europe never settled too far south of the equator.

[Assistant]
There's a really great book about this called Guns, Germs, and Steel that explains why some societies have gotten so much more progress than others.

A couple of things.

The "northern half" includes North America, which is one of the least advanced, historically. So saying that "the northern half" contains the most developed countries in the world is only partially true. If you take the United States, well, that's essentially a really large European colony, and can take advantage of Eurasia's natural advantage.

So that leads to the question: Why did Eurasia have that kind of advantage, anyways? Why did Europe colonize the world instead of Africa or South America? It's a couple of things, actually: The east-west axis of Eurasia, the availability of domesticable animals, and the availability of good quality metal ores.

The Americas are primarily north-south in their orientation, and it's obvious that there are larger differences in latitude than longitude. You can bring that awesome wheat variety you've just domesticated eastward or westward, like what happened in Europe, but it's hard to move that wheat north or south, where it's colder or warmer, and where the weather is probably different.

Secondly, Europe and the Middle East have by far the most large animals available for domestication, and that's a huge deal. When you have a large animal working your fields, you are a lot more productive, and the more productive you are, the more people your land can sustain. Agricultural societies are always a lot more dense than non-agricultural societies, and more dense societies can sustain more non-productive citizens like philosophers, artists, kings, and soldiers.

Domestic animals also increase your ability to travel, and the amount of luggage you can tow around. When you're limited to smallish loads carryable in a hand cart, you're not going to be able to realistically trade as much as you could if you had a horse-drawn cart, and you're not going to want to go as far. You're not going to be able to really use the massive power of the wheel, because you can't scale up as far as you can if you had an ox-sized being hauling stuff.

Lastly, the advantage of iron and bronze over stone and wood is self-evident. If you have bronze, you're going to beat your stone-equipped enemies and can access iron. If you can access iron, you're going to defeat your bronze-equipped enemies and can access steel, and so on.

Surely I've missed something, but I've gotta go. Hopefully this helped!


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does my son's stutter go away when he talks in an accent?

My son has a moderate stutter. When he talks in an accent  - and his Scottish is on point, let me tell you - his stutter goes away completely. He is 13 but wants me to ELI5 to him.  Help me?

[Assistant]
It's the same reason that James Earl Jones (yes, the famous actor) doesn't have one.

Singing, and well . . . accents. They both use the same part of the brain, that regulates speech patterns and rhythm.

Because he isn't using the part of the brain that natural wants to be used while speaking, he sort of "bypasses" the stutter. And allows him to speak normally.

James Earl Jones had a horrible stutter that made him almost voluntarily mute. One day a teacher/therapist suggested that he take up singing, to him it sounded ridiculous, but it helped him work past it.


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

[User]
Does my phone have an IP address when I'm using the internet, but not connected to WiFi?

If so, what's providing it? The nearest cell tower?

[Assistant]
Your phone will certainly have an IP address if it is communicating over IP, and everything that you would typically think of as "software" on your phone (aside from the telephone itself and SMS) does so, typically using TCP/IP (web, e-mail, most apps) or UDP/IP (video/audio streaming, VPN, some games).

Whether the IP address is reachable from the public Internet, however, depends on your ISP; most mobile ISPs operate a NAT that multiplexes several network-internal IP addresses through a single address visible to the public Internet. The externally visible IP address may change on the fly as you move around from cell tower to cell tower.


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

[User]
[Marvel] What was Wakanda like before the landing of Vibranium?

And why didn't it cause massive damage to the city and surrounding area?

[Assistant]
Wakanda was very primitive at the time. Bear in mind that the vibranium meteor landed centuries ago, so the Wakandans were, at the time, no more advanced than the rest of Africa. At least, the parts that hadn't been colonized by Europeans.

It did cause quite a bit of damage when it landed, but the vibranium inside the meteor also absorbed much of the impact.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it called "giving up"?

If you think about it, it doesn't really make sense. Try explaining it to somebody whose native language isn't English.

[Assistant]
"Give" has meant "to yield" since the 1600s, from a Middle English word (yeve) merging with the original definition, the Middle English "yiven." And it's based on the concept of giving tribute.

From there, it'd be a relatively simple leap to "give up." To present tribute to someone above you, to surrender.


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

[User]
What happens to a displaced ant? Like if one climbs on my shoe and I get in my car and go somewhere and once I get there he climbs off my shoe onto the ground 10 miles from his colony.

Would he find his way back, try to live on his own, assimilate with a new colony, or just feel doomed and let itself die?

[Assistant] Depends on the type of ant, some species (specifically Argentine) can assimilate into new colonies provided they are the same type of ant.  For every other species, in all likelyhood yes they will just wander around until they either die naturally or reach another colony where they will be killed.


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

[User]
[MCU] What was Hulk's plan in New York?

Hulk/Banner assumed he'd run into Doctor Strange in New York.  What was his plan if he actually ran into the Doctor?  Every other group went in stealthy with a plan.  Hulk isn't exactly subtle.  How was he going to quietly get the stone from Strange?

[Assistant]
Much like with The Ancient One, he figured that he'd be able to reason with Strange, explain the situation and they could come to an arrangement. And of course, if that failed, much like with the Ancient One, he would attempt more Hulkian methods of persuasion.

Likely to similar impotence. No-one expects the astral punch.


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

[User]
Did they have to bring the air up to the international space station?

how did they get the air to the international space station?

[Assistant]
Sure. And they keep bringing up "air" - now mainly as water, which is split into hydrogen and oxygen at the station. The oxygen is needed for the crew, the hydrogen is used in the CO2 removal system. A bit of nitrogen covers losses to keep the interior at an Earth-like gas mixture.

It is part of the usual missions for new supplies and experiments.


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

[User] ELI5: How do we know so much about far away planets (what they're made of, their atmospheres, possibilities of water, if they are exoplanets etc) just by looking at them through a telescope?

[Assistant]
We can tell if a planet is an exoplanet because if it was orbiting our sun it would move across the sky. Exoplanets can't actually be looked at through a telescope, they're too faint. They have to be indirectly observed - for example, if a star's light dips for a long period then returns to normal that probably means a big planet of its own just passed in front of it.

For finding out about the composition of far away planets, we can use spectroscopy. Every element on the periodic table has a unique pattern of light that it absorbs, meaning the elements can be worked out by splitting up the light from the planet (like when you shine a white light through a prism to make a rainbow) and comparing the pattern you get with the known patterns of elements.

For working out possibilities of water, astronomers look at several factors, like the planet's distance from its star and the density and temperature of its atmosphere. Liquid water requires a thick atmosphere so that it doesn't just evaporate into space, and it needs to be close enough to its star that it doesn't freeze.

An exoplanet's mass and size can be calculated using the wobble it causes to its star or the amount of light it blocks when passing in front of its star.

But the truth is, that's about all we can know about exoplanets using telescopes. The only reason we know so much about the planets in our own solar system is because we've sent probes to all of them. Before New Horizons arrived at Pluto, we didn't even know for sure how big it was, or what its surface was made of.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does scratching an itch make it stop itching?

[Assistant] The itch is usually caused by histamine, a substance that exists in basophiles, which are a type of white cell that moves to inflammated parts of the body (for example, a mosquito bite). Due to the inflammation the basophiles release the substance and when you scratch it you make them release it all the more fast and effectively - that is why at first you feel itchier when you scratch. Eventually all the basophiles in that spot have no more histamine to release and the itch stops.


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

[User]
Is there a way to establish a network?

Hi, I would like to know how do you start to establish a network with other researchers. I'm actually an Assistant professor at a top-3 university in Brazil, so I'm already in academia.

However, I'm having too much difficulty in establishing a research group/network or any type of contact with other researchers to work together. I have a researchgate and academia.edu profile but I don't interact a lot there.

Unfortunately, my colleagues from my department that share some common research interests with me are at  another moment in life, with little focus to work and more to family.

So, how do you started your research network?

[Assistant] A good place for me has been by attending conferences for professional associations and organizations. Those provide a good place to meet and talk with like-minded individuals and begin to build relationships that can turn into research collaborators and co-authors.


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

[User] [Hansel and Gretel] Were the Witch and the Stepmother the same person?

[Assistant]
First edition of the story: No.

Later editions of the story: Maybe.

The original story has about a million variations that have popped up over the centuries. Some versions of the story do have an association with the (step)mother and the witch, who is sometimes Baba Yaga.

There is unfortunately no fully watsonian answer for this but I'd recommend looking into the wikipedia article if you've got the time.


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

[User]
[Predator] At what point would a potential prey be so overpowered that a Yautja would just nope out?

I'm sure that Wolverine, a jedi knight, or any other number of heroes or villains would make desirable trophies for a hunter. But the Hulk? Thor? Thanos? What would a Yautja have to see a new potential prey do in order to decide that it was just out of the hunter's skill or level to even try?

[Assistant]
Well the Yautia would go ahead and attempt to kill any kind of potential prey overpowered or not.

They absolutely love to hunt extremely dangerous prey.

An excellent example would be a Xenomorph Queen.

If a yautja killed a Queen it would be like getting a Nobel prize.

In the event of it losing they are expected to commit ritual suicide to regain their honor they lost in them losing a battle.

If they refuse to commit suicide than other yautja are expected to assist the loser in committing suicide.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] Why does it seem all space ships are piloted with a keyboard and not a joystick?

This has to be among the least optimal ways to pilot any vessel.  Especially in a combat setting you want as quick a response as you can get to move your ship into and out of position and danger and your typing skills shouldn't be the main factor of life and death in a space battle.  But man every time they need to move any ship in Star Trek all of a sudden there is a small symphony of beeps and boops from the control panel being used to pilot the ship as the helmsman lays in a course that sounds like they are typing an angry reddit rant, but how is that system at all better than just a basic joystick or steering wheel like literally every single vehicle has?

Who the hell came up with that piloting system the descendant of the guy who invented the QWERTY keyboard layout?

[Assistant]
Because the ships are dealing with potentially hundreds of Gs of acceleration, faster-than-light maneuvers etc. The ship isn't a fightercraft in world war 1 making lazy strafes with fixed machine-guns, the pilot is half-piloting and half-programming the ship to go through various maneuvers coordinating with the shields and weapons, which are all constantly being adjusted, re-tuned, re-calibrated and having frequencies shifted and power routed around.

They're not necessarily directly controlling every action of the ship, so much as they are herding/directing various AIs and algorithms that optimize the ship's performance faster and better than any human or humanoid could.


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

[User]
[General] How strong are reanimated skeletons?

Without any muscle tissue, what's the base strength of a skeleton?  Assuming it's animated due to black magic, is there a limit for it?  Like the strength of the
skeleton is based on the strength of the magic, or is there a physical limitation to it?

[Assistant]
It depends on how much milk they drink.

In Oblivion skeletons were rather tough.

Meanwhile in Skyrim skeletons are pathetic.

Why the difference in the exact same universe?

Well Milk-Drinker is an insult in the land of Skyrim but not in Cyrodiil. So in Skyrim there is less milk being drunk resulting in weaker bones. Weaker bones result in weaker skeletons.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do text messages have character limits, and why is it measured as 145/1 until I use it up and it becomes 145/2?

Also, why is it that sometimes it stops me at 145/1 and doesn't go to 145/2?

[Assistant] The number after the / isn't related to characters, it's the number of SMS messages which will be used to send the text written. If your phone stops you at the 145 limit, it is doing the behaviour of older phones which only allowed a single text to be sent at a time.


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

[User]
[IT] What if I have a fear of heights

I have a fear of heights and I was curious how Pennywise would show to me? How would he manifest himself?

[Assistant] He manifests as a giant eagle with the face of a clown, snatches you off the ground with it's talons, and flies straight up into the sky, giggling while you scream. Once at a good height, there's a few rounds of letting you "accidentally" slip and fall, letting you plummet a few seconds before diving after you and snatching you before you hit the ground.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Would Anakin have been more powerful in his prime as a Jedi or Sith?

I'm aware this could come down to a debate between the light side and the dark side, but is there any way to determine if the full power of the chosen one would have been more powerful as a Jedi or a Sith?

[Assistant]
It's two different kinds of power. Prime Anakin as a Sith would have had a terrifying amount of destructive power at his fingertips (George outright said Anakin had the potential to be twice as Palpatine), but a theoretical Prime Anakin would be a match for Sith!Anakin in containing that destruction.

The other thing is that dark siders gain a lot of power in the short term but without self-control they'll basically burn themselves out and not achieve much. A light sider on the other hand will take longer to reach their theoretical peaks, but won't burn themselves out by raging against everything they see as against them and their goals.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do medial professionals decide treatment for a comatose person w/o family?

Say someone (in the U.S.) without any family at all winds up at a hospital and goes comatose, needing to be on life support. Would they be on life support indefinitely or would anyone have the authority to pull the plug so to speak? Sorry its kind of a dark question but these are the kinds of things keeping me up at night haha.

[Assistant] Hospitals have a medical ethics committee that would come in and make that decision. Pulling the plug, essentially removing the patient from a mechanical ventilator, is often seen as essentially allowing someone to pass away. Going a bit further, oftentimes it also means removal of life sustaining drugs for supporting adequate blood pressure and/or basic bodily functions (i.e., nutrition, electrolytes, blood products). Ive seen patients die almost immediately, and Ive seen patients linger for days once the ventilator is pulled. Its always a weird situation for all bedside attendees, but the medical ethics committee essentially steps in when there is 0.00 quality or chance of life once care is removed.


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

[User]
ELI5: If a glass is clear and water is clear, why can you see water in a glass?

I mean, it's not like there are shades of clear. Why can't we see air either?

[Assistant]
You can see water in a glass because the two materials have different refractive indecies. RI is a measure of how light moves in a given material compared to in a vacuum. The refractive index of glass is about 1.46 and the refractive index of water is about 1.333. This difference makes light travel differently so they appear as two different objects. (RI is also why a straw appears "bent" in a glass of water).

You can't generally see air because you're surrounded by it. However, if the layer of air is thick enough you can see it. If you look up you'll see that the sky is blue. This is due to the atoms in the atmosphere scattering incoming sunlight.


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

[User] [General]How are traditional spells discovered?

[Assistant]
Of course they won't be the same for all cultures. But, often, they were the result of a magician wanting a specific effect, with the words and spell components only there to help focus it.

Let's take the legendary Bigby's Hand Spell, for example. The mage, Bigby, wanted a spell that let him manipulate things at a distance. Not through some invisible servant, but as his own hands. So he experimented with the magical forces that wizards can tap until he got the right results and later added the items needed, the vocal components, and the gestures required as a way to make it easier to cast.

This experimentation could have granted nothing, it could have had wild effects. This is, of course, why wizarding towers are so strange  and dangerous to be around. It's not that there's some kind of magical buildup or some nonsense (though, admittedly, this can be possible. Take the Unseen University of Discworld, for example.), it's that when they're trying to invent/master new spells and abilities, the side-effects can be unpredictable.


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

[User] ElI5: How do hackers use brute force attacks like dictionary attacks if I get locked out of my account after 3 failed attempts?

[Assistant] Usually they do this either on systems that don't have such lockouts (to prevent just those kinds of attacks) or they steal an encrypted database and can try those attacks on them at their own leasure.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are so many people afraid of clowns?

It is such a common fear that many movies have profited off of this fear. Whenever I see an evil clown in a movie, I just laugh because it is such a cheap, overused trope.

[Assistant]
It's a distortion of a familiar figure to a young child. You take a basic human shape, give it long feet, baggy clothes that give it less physical form, and the face is heavily exaggerated with makeup and bizarre wigs.

Some children respond to it with delight at what's essentially a caricature, usually when old enough to realise that, but many younger ones respond in something sort of like the old uncanny valley effect: It looks like it should be human but enough about it is wrong to make it distressing. Once that latter idea is in a child's head, it can quickly end up developing into a phobia. And since clowns are supposed to be "kids" entertainers...


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

[User] ELI5 Why is it that it can rain heavily for days on end yet it seems like the rain clouds dont get smaller?

[Assistant] There are a few reasons. One is that you only see the bottom of the rain clouds, particularly if they're nimbostratus ones. They may be getting smaller in ways you can't see. Another is you might also be seeing many huge rain clouds crossing the sky if they're traveling along a front, and not just one. There are also occasions where you will be directly under where the rain clouds are forming due to how the air masses are mixing overhead in a stationary front.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are there different accepted measuring systems for weight, speed, distance etc. but only one for time?

Have there been any others? How did we all land on this one across cultural and geographic lines?

[Assistant]
Much of time wasn't formalized until far later than languages.  Years, months and days are natural phenomenon (earth's orbit around the sun, the moon's orbit around the earth, and the earth's rotation), but beyond that there was quite a few different formats that most people didn't really care about.  Hours were flexible units of time, minutes and seconds even moreso.  Most people worked by morning, night, afternoon, etc.

Things like hours, minutes, and seconds weren't formalized until tools were made to measure such things accurately.  At which time there was already nearly worldwide contact.


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

[User]
[LOTR Movies] Before they got to Rivendell did Frodo ever tell Pippin and Merry what the ring was, who Sauron is, and why they were leaving the Shire?

even in the extended cut? is there any scene where frodo pulls pippin and merry aside and saylook, see this?...

or did all they know is...scary guys on horses are chasing us keep running?

[Assistant] No. Contrary to popular belief, Pippin and Merry weren't idiots, at least not when it came to understanding Hobbits. They could simply tell from Frodo's behavior and demeanor that this was something serious that needed their support, no questions asked.


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

[User] [General time travel] You're sent back in time into your own body 15 years ago, retaining all knowledge you have today. How much can you use that knowledge to change your life, or change the world, before the changes you make affect the timeline enough to render your future knowledge useless.

[Assistant] Read "Replay" by Ken Grimwood. It's about a man, who at the age of 48 "dies" and is transported through time into his 18 year old body. He successfully makes a very large fortune using only his knowledge of the future. It talks about how even with his fortune, his ability to push events is limited. It is a very good book.


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

[User]
[MCU] In Iron Man 1, does the second arc reactor house an electromagnet inside itself?

Watching Iron Man 1, and noticed during the scene where Pepper helps Tony replace the arc reactor, that she pulls out the entire electromagnet as hes warning her not to. Tony then tells her not to put it back in, and has her throw the second reactor in without replacing it.

Maybe Im missing something, but it is my understanding that the electromagnet is the only thing keeping the shrapnel from reaching his heart, and the arc reactor acts solely as a power source. If this is the case, how does Tony not suffer from cardiac arrest (as he mentioned he was when the magnet was removed) and die after the second reactor is inserted? Is the electromagnet housed in the reactor itself from the second version on?

[Assistant] I think based on context, the magnet he had first was literally a rare Earth magnet, with a copper wire wrapped around it, boosted by the arc reactor, whereas the replacement was an electromagnet he built and powered, if that makes sense.