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

[User]
[WH4K] WH4K in WH4K?

So, I'm a low level bureaucrat in the planetary government of a hive world.  After work yesterday, me and a bunch of the other guys from my board game club came up with a crazy idea for a new kind of game.  Instead of just making a variant of chess or go that use abstract symbols and pieces, we could make little statues that look like real Space Marines and Dreadnaughts.  Then we make a board that represents real terrain and pit them against other little statues that look like filthy Xenos and Chaos Cultists.  I even volunteered to draw up some rules for how combat and movement works (it shouldnt be tough. Like maybe one or two typewritten pages, tops).  We're thinking of calling it "wargaming" or something like that.  Everyones really excited to try it out this weekend!

There are a few things that I wonder about, though:

* Are we going to get in trouble with the Inquisition?  I mean, we can call the Orks Orcs and paint them and outrageous color like yellow or something so it isnt real and that might buy us some safety.  But there arent a lot of guys in the club and we cant afford to have one executed for heresy every time the Imperial side makes a few bad rolls and loses.

* Could there be an actual market for something like this?  I know next to nothing about how private enterprise works outside of the documentaries about Rogue Traders and the Imperial Merchant Fleet.  I mean, I dont want to quit my day job, but are there any non-criminal small businesses out there?

We also had this idea where we pretend to be students and workers in a primitive postindustrial society thats *not* at a state of constant war (Papers and Paychecks) but I think that might be a bit too exotic to be popular.

EDIT: Words and stuff.

[Assistant]
tl;dr Heresy! *blam*

Creating Warhammer 4**0**k inside the universe of Warhammer 4**0**k would require extensive knowledge of things that vary from eyebrow-raising, to heretical, to classified. Just having an interest in Eldar or Orks is going to draw attention from your local Ecclesiarchical or Inquisitorial representative. Their questions tend to be sharp and pointed, as do their methods of asking them.

Knowledge of the Ruinous Powers sufficient to draw up the army lists would be an immediate death sentence. The knowledge itself is dangerous and evidence of ill intentions, not to mention any way of obtaining it would also be illegal and put you on half a dozen watch lists.

The general citizenry of the Imperium is not aware of the existence of Tyranids. They are classified. Simply uttering the name will probably get you a spot at the front of the line to receive the Emperor's blessing, as would creating any models that are recognizable to people in the know.

There's probably not much market for pass-times. The majority of the Imperial citizenry live in Hive Worlds, which has an extreme income disparity. Most citizens have a daily income of a handful of dirt, and the upper-class has leisurely pursuits beyond your imagination. Furthermore, idleness is time that could be spent in work or devotion for the Emperor, which means that playing games is literally slapping the Holy Emperor right in the face with your louse-ridden wang.

You might be able to pass it off to the Ecclessiarchy as an educational tool. Let little kids learn to adore when the faithful servants of the Emperor crush Xenos filth under their righteous heel! But make sure it's written by Matt Ward so that Grey Knights are super-lolz OP.


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

[User]
CMV: We are doomed

Ok, I may be a bit cynical at the moment, having witnessed several "recycling" bins filled with general trash but this has been festering for a while. I grew up thinking about our impact in the world (thanks Captain Planet!) and have always been careful about my buying and consumption habits. I try to be careful about my recycling ensuring it is properly segregated with the hope that the majority of the world does so too.

I've been feeling all of this is like pissing into a fan.

a) People don't give a shit. In my workplace, my educated colleagues can't seem to be able to differentiate between a bag with a half eaten sandwich and a drink bottle and dispose both the general waste and recycling bins. It's as if the bins do not have a colour or a label.

I keep my recycling bins out for collection and when I sneak a peek the next morning before the trucks arrived, they're filled up with some mystery junk from the people renovating their house the next door who can't be half arsed to dispose of their construction waste responsibly.

I see recycling dumpsters filled with general waste outside supermarkets and restaurants. "We recycled 1000 tons last year". Nope, that was a 1000 tons of garbage that went to the recycling centre and gummed up the works.

b) Companies don't give a shit. For all the feel good stories about reducing plastic by banning straws etc., there are tons of cheap and poor quality stuff produced that is bought for short term use and does not last. Every single day, my news feed has some article about "The 10 things from \*Mart that you must buy". Hell no. None of this is needed. I saw a "news" article about cheap pans from KMart that were must haves because they look like $150 designer ones but don't quite last that long. The lady said these last about a year with decent care so it's best to stock up. Nothing about the hundreds of thousands of pans that will go to the tip in a years time.

We use virgin paper to wipe our asses and flush it down the toilet. Virgin plastic to make bottles which get used once and thrown away. Why? Is it so hard to recycle materials?

c) All the stuff we "recycle" goes to the waste collection centre where they to do deal with the mess that we cause \[a\]. Most are ill equipped to sort stuff in a manner that results in a high quality recyclable mass which makes sense for a processor to recycle. We used to send all of this to China and other countries but they've had enough and there's enough of the same stuff they have to deal with anyway. All of this is now piled up in giant warehouses, waiting for the next toxic fire "accident" or is just being dumped into the landfill.

... I'm sorry. I can't think straight and didn't intend for this to be a rant that started with recycling and ended up with consumption. I like to think that the people in charge have long term plans for our survival but apparently, long term is relative. All we can think of is the next 5, 10 or even 100 years. We have lived for over 200,000 years and in the span of two centuries, we have screwed up our land, air, water and almost every other species. We've somehow managed to exhaust oil at a planetary level and have barely enough to last for the next 50 years. It would be a fitting end if our only hope for survival rests in some future technology that requires oil and we have none of it.

Please change my view. Please do.

[Assistant]
Manufacturing engineer here. If it makes you feel any better, plastic recycling is a net environmental negative and most recycling in the US goes to landfills anyway. The majority of plastic in the ocean most likely came from 90s style plastic recycling efforts. The 90s got environmentalism all wrong.

What would actually have a positive impact is carbon taxes, and modern energy positive incineration. We're starting to figure it outbut clinging to 90s style recycling isn't helping.


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

[User]
ELI5: How come there are far more patriarchies than matriarchies

So, pretty much title. Mostly all European contries since the middle ages and going far back had patriarchic tendencies. First born son being the heir, regents mostly being male, women not being allowed to vote and so on.

But where does this come from? Even considering "biological differences", from a biological standpoint, both males and females are equally necessary in any society, human or animal.

Couldn't it easily have been the other way around and it was just some kind of snowball effect that led to a mostly patriarchic society?

[Assistant]
On average, men are physically stronger than women. And women become pregnant and give birth, which is of course quite disabling. Those things together would be sufficient to get  men into leadership roles back when physical aptitude was the primary decider of power.

And from there, tradition took over.


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

[User]
[DCEU] do you think the dceu heroes are weaker kinda like how the mcu heroes are than their source material?

As it's kinda hard to tell for me?

[Assistant]
Supermans power increases in every movie. In the Snydercut, hes probably close to as strong as he is in the comics.

The biggest nerfing IMO is Darkseid, who in the DCEU was nearly killed by Ares. It still establishes Darkseid as a major threat, but nearly getting killed by a mere god seems beneath comics Darkseid.


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

[User] ELI5: You spray an ant with Raid (or a similar product), what is actually happening to it while it is dying?

[Assistant]
Different products contain different chemicals, but the active ingredient in normal Raid interferes with sodium channels. It prevents nerve cells from building up electrical charge by "breaking" the mechanism they use to transport electrically-charged particles, therefore causing paralysis and potentially "brain" damage as well... though the distinction between a bug's "brain" from the rest of the "nervous system" is not as obvious or well-defined as it is in humans.

The immobile/"brain-dead" bug can either be considered dead already (because it won't do anything), or will have other biological functions shut down as it does not eat, drink, etc anymore.


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

[User]
ELI5: What happens when your ankles and knees crack?

I recently had surgery on my ankle and have started walking again. I find when I stretch or move it, it cracks and pops a lot more then it ever did before. This doesnt cause pain, and sometimes even feels nice, but what makes the noise?

[Assistant]
Bubbles popping.

Your joints are encased with a shock-absorbing fluid called synovial fluid. This stuff is non-newtonian - its liquid normally to lubricate your joints and reduce friction. But a sudden shock solidifies it to protect your joints.

Synovial fluid can get gas bubbles in it, and applying pressure pops these bubbles.

Surgery on a joint typically includes disrupting the synovial fluid in some way while also modifying the joint itself, leaving the fluid more susceptible to these bubbles until the joint heals.


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

[User]
CMV: The government should regulate not subsidize

I think that regulation alone can solve a lot of the historical problems that have come with pure free market.

An example is the meat industry. Market competition made us increase our production until our morals were compromised and the animals found themselves in inhumane living conditions.

Regulation of free market is okay because it still allows us to all compete with each other under given rules that we all follow. Subsidisation is immoral because it favors one particular company and infringes the ability of other companies to compete which decreases overall efficiency.

To be clear I understand that subsidizing can be an effective tool for the government to get things done, but I think it's up to people to get those things done and it's not the government's place to interfere.

This is a moral argument but I am a consequentialist so this should be an easy Delta for some of you. Please change my mind :]

UPDATE:

 Reddit you never disappoint. My mind is changed.

1) Taxes and subsidies are two parts of the same tool and can't exist without each other.

2) We need both of them in the name of self defense

And side note:

A whole industry should be subsidized, never a specific company.

[Assistant]
Subsidies may be essential to national security.

For example, a country that is uncompetitive in a core area for defense (food production, energy, minerals) may logically choose to prop up industries that would otherwise be destroyed by free trade with other countries just to plan for the day when war may cut off those trade relationships.


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

[User] [Buffy] If a homeowner in the buffy universe is turned into a vampire would they be able to enter their own home?

[Assistant]
Depends on who else lives there.

If they are the only one living there, yes. The house is now vacant as far as entry rules are concerned.

If others live there, no. The vampire is not the same person who once lived there, the vampire is a parasitic demon that has taken over a host body. The people who reside there need to invite it in first.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do American semi-trucks (18 wheelers etc) exclusively use inline 6-cylinder engines, no matter if its a Mack, Detroit Diesel, Cummins, or Volvo-built engine?

I get why they are diesel, but why are they all of the inline 6-cylinder configuration? Why not V6 or straight 8 or freakin huge inline 4-cylinders?

[Assistant]
Inline-6 cylinder engines have a unique characteristic: they can have perfect primary and secondary dynamic balance without needing a balance shaft.

Essentially what this means is that the forces on the engine caused by the pistons and whatnot moving around mostly cancel each other out, and the engine runs very smoothly without needing extra, very heavy parts to dampen the vibrations.

All other engine types (V8, V6, especially I4) have imperfect balance, and V6 and I4 engines have bad enough balance that they need the heavy balance shafts to reduce vibration.  I6 engines (and engines made of I6s like V12s) don't.

As the mass of the moving parts increases, the forces involved increase, so by the time you get to the size of engine needed to move an 18 wheeler, you're dealing with some truly massive forces.  With anything other than an I6, this would mean monstrous vibration or a stupidly heavy balance shaft that would take a lot of engine power to spin.

Thus, for large engine applications, I6s and V12s are an easy choice.


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

[User]
Why are greasy foods considered tasty by many people?

Whenever I crave a greasy burger or pizza, I've always wondered exactly why this is?

[Assistant]
Taste is basically the body's way of directing us toward the nutrients we need. Back in the dawn of our species, fats and salts were quite hard to come by.  Fat has the highest calorie density of any food, so our sense of taste makes it 'good', by eating it we increase the likelihood that we will survive, and thus pass on our genes. As the ability to pass on genes is the cornerstone of natural selection, there is a strong evolutionary pressure to value to taste of fat.

As we lived in central Africa, in the beginning, salt was also hard to come by and is an essential nutrient.  So, by the same mechanism, we 'learned' to crave salt, as it encouraged us to seek it out.

Of course, now, the drive to eat salt and fat is no longer necessary and could arguably be said to be a draw-back, or a evolutionary weakness. But natural selection takes time to correct for mistakes and to adapt to new circumstances, so, you still love yourself some God-damn McFat.


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

[User] [Ghostbusters/Evil Dead] Would The Ghostbusters be able to capture a Deadite?

[Assistant]
Not with their standard gear (they lean heavily  towards free-roaming ectoplasmic entities, not possessed/zombified bodies), but if they A) survive their first deadite encounter, B) get some good sensor data while running like hell, and C) make it back to the firehouse and bolt the doors before more deadites show up, there's a good chance they could find a scientific answer to the problem.

That said, the "answer" to the problem is probably to call in an outside specialist, someone Ray has heard of through his contacts in occult academia...


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

[User] What exactly is brain death? Why cant the brain recover if it receives sufficient care quickly enough? Is there any hope medicine may eventually be able to reverse that process?

[Assistant]
Brain death is the permanent loss of some or all brain function required to stay alive. The most important is the breathing center, that controls your breathing. If that doesn't function anymore, your brain isn't capable of keeping your body alive. Others are reflexes related to pain that pass through your brain (most reflexes don't).

And no, brain death isn't curable. The cause of brain death is most often hypoxia, which causes neurons to go into apoptosis and die. These neurons are never growing back, and will never be able to regain their function.

You'll see some stories of people who "recovered" from being brain dead. But those people weren't brain dead, by definition. Most often the tests to confirm brain death we not performed properly.


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

[User] ELI5: what are the Panama Papers?

[Assistant]
Oooooh this goes back a bit.

Basically there was a firm call Mossack-Fonseca that handled the financial affairs of many of the world's wealthiest people (including numerous heads of state and former heads of state). Their job was to basically dodge as much tax as possible. They did this using fancy legal tactics (The details of which may be a bit involved for an ELI5 - but moving money about in ways that make it hard to tax is the gist). This allowed these rich people to pay little or no tax on their earnings or inheritances in some cases. And technically this was all legal (if highly unethical).

The documents that detailed all this tax dodging were leaked to the press, who, after a lot of hard work to interpret (apparently even the documents made it hard to see from whom the money was coming) published lists of people they had identified and how much money they didn't pay tax on. There were a couple of terabytes of data handed over. Caught up a lot of important people. (Named Panama papers because Mossack Fonseca were based there).


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Is R2-D2 unique in any way?

For instance, C3PO was built by Anakin and so I imagine his intelligence is superior. R2 also seems to have some sort of cognitive ability as he works to fulfill given tasks. Is that a feature of the model or something unique to the droid itself?

[Assistant] R2 units were crafted to all be the same, under the paint job. Or at the very least, standardized. R2-D2, specifically, had nothing particularly special about him. What set him apart was the depth of his experiences. You see, unlike most astromechs, R2-D2 never underwent the customary regular memory-wipes. This led to a few eccentricities in his behavior, sure, but it also meant he could draw on experience and develop a personality.


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

[User] ELI5 why does taking a multi-vitamin on an empty stomach cause nausea, but something like Tylenol doesnt?

[Assistant] I was not aware that multivitamins had a tendency to cause nausea (they don't for me, personally). That said, I've been told that taking them on an empty stomach means it won't be absorbed nearly as well compared to with a meal. Perhaps the absorption and nausea are related?


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

[User] [Disney] Why do the core Disney characters (Mickey, Goofy etc) wear gloves?

[Assistant]
I argue the answer has more to do with culture of the time in which these characters first came from. While today wearing hats and gloves are possibly ostentatious or at the very least out of style, during the 1930s it was commonplace.

Consider the eponymous coat and hat rack in every resturant or the fact that 100% of cars come with a 'glove box.' It was a different time and while these characters have grown in the ensuing decades they each retain vestigial gloves from a time when they were not just popular but necessary.


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

[User]
[The Good Place] Why was Chidi speaking with an American accent?

This is all based on the ending of Season 2, and shouldn't actually have any spoilered content for Season 3. But if you aren't through Season 2, you've been warned.

So, when we first met Chidi, we learn that he is most comfortable speaking French but Eleanor simply hears him in "unaccented" American English. A perk of the afterlife, it seems. Presumably, he continued to speak French throughout the duration of their time in the afterlife and afterlife shenanigans continued to translate for Eleanor/the audience.

Then, the push happens and the characters go back to Earth. At this point, when Chidi and Eleanor meet again, Chidi is teaching at a university in Australia. So, fair enough, he would most likely be talking primarily in English. But he's still a Senegalese expat, living in Australia, who (as far as we know) never even been to the US. He certainly shouldn't have an American accent, yet he does. How did that happen?

[Assistant] I believe, in the afterlife, he was speaking french, and Eleanor hears him in English, as you have said. Later, we learn he was educated in America, and so we can infer (from his accent and language) he is fluently bilingual, and simply prefers speaking French given the choice.


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

[User] If a person breaks their neck and becomes paralyzed from the neck down, how does the brain continue telling the heart and other organs to keep working?

[Assistant]
It doesn't whem it happens high enough. The heart has an intrinsic pacemaker that keeps it beating at 60bpm and below. The sympathetic and parasympathetic innervation is lost so the heart may not speed up or slow down on command. However there are receptors that are chemical, stretch in nature and they do what you think they do. With other organs, you do not have control over them anyway so they function just how they normally would because of receptors and feedback loops through spinal cord. With Cranial 3 and above cord transections, the diaphragmatic innervation and nerve control of muscles of respiration is lost so people will require mechanical ventilation.

The interesting thing is that the body still perceives noxious stimuli and feedbacks it as abnormal response with compensation above and below the level of injury. With injuries to Thoracic 6 and above a patient may suffer from Autonomic Dysreflexia, where a noxious stimuli below level of injury causes vasoconstriction and sweating with sympathetic response above with hypertension, pounding headache, stuffy sinuses.


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

[User]
Will I ever be employed as a programmer again?

I was a software developer for about ten years until I left for health reasons around 2014. Since then, Ive never stopped learning and working on my own little hobby projects. I feel that Im still competent, yet my confidence has taken a severe beating after being absent for so long. Im not sure how to convince an employer that Im still relevant. It doesnt help that Im terrible at finding potential positions and selling myself.

What should I do? Has anyone else faced anything similar?

[Assistant] There's a monumental skills shortage. Just start applying for jobs. Don't go for anything too senior, but once you've been back in the saddle for 3 months you'll be swearing at the code base like you never stopped.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How did the rule of two deal with possible bad luck killing both of them such as a mechanical malfunction blowing up their ship?

Did they leave Sith holocrons to find in hope someone continues their mission?

[Assistant] Higher-end force users, such as any Sith involved in the rule of two, can use the force to foresee major events, which would include their ship blowing up. Think of it like a more clear 'gut feeling'.


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

[User]
ELI5:Scientifically, what is "intuition"?

Scientifically speaking, what exactly is intuition? Is it a culmination of unconscious intelligence or something else?

[Assistant] One author has defined it as the subconscious reaching a conclusion before the conscious mind even knows there is a question. For instance, you might see a shady-looking dude approaching you in a dark parking lot and your hair stands on end long before you process that he's walking too fast, maybe has clenched fists, and has murder in his eyes. In other words, your brain goes from A to Z before your conscious mind his even evaluated the situation.


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

[User]
I believe that transsexual youth should have full access to hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery. CMV

I did search for other CMV's, but there wasn't anything directed specifically towards trans-youth.

I believe that transsexual **youth** should have full access to hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery.

My reasoning:

- The DSM considers transsexualism a mental illness, and people lobby to keep it there, as it allows for trans people to have more affordable access to hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery.

- Studies have shown that transsexualism is identifiable in very young children.

- Beginning hormone therapy before the completion of puberty ensures that "feminine" or "masculine" features (breast/hip fat, face, and body hair) are better developed.

- When they go through treatment at a younger age, they are far more capable of keeping their birth sex a secret.

- Maybe the most important part: no one ever has to know. They're not a "freak" or "crazy". They're themselves.

- They live far healthier and productive lives, they experience far fewer instances of suicide, and they go on to have healthy sexual and romantic relationships. The same cannot be said for those who are a forced to hide, and transition far after puberty.

I think it's important to identify these kids and make sure that they have all the resources available to them.

BTW: I'm certainly not suggesting that a *child* participate in treatment, as they may not understand the consequences, but a young person who clearly identifies as the opposite gender to their birth gender should be able to do what they need to do.

Edit 1: I would suggest hormone therapy to begin in the early teen years. The surgery: no younger than 16.

[Assistant]
Regarding your argument about sex reassignment surgery: There is an issue of legal parental consent.

Minors can't undergo ANY elective surgery without their parents' permission. (With one exception being abortions for teens of certain ages in a handful of states.)

Why should minors be allowed to have sex reassignment surgery if they can't get their tonsils out without their parents' consent? Almost all minors are on their parents' health insurance plans, too. This adds another element of parental consent being a factor.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Do lightsabers or blasters ever run out of "batteries" or energy?

[Assistant]
Both do eventually run out, yes. Blasters much faster than lightsabers.

Lightsaber's containment field bullshit means that they only expend energy while they are actually hitting something. They're amazingly energy-efficient.

A blaster pack holds a few hundred shots before they need to be replaced.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why/How did Germany's economy not fall as badly after WWII than it did WWI?

I always see or read in documentaries and books that after World War 1, Germany's economy had been reduced to almost nothing and that the Mark was basically worthless. I don't hear much about anything like that happening after World War 2. Did their economy crash and it's just that nobody talked about it as much? Or was there another reason it stayed afloat?

[Assistant]
After WWI, the Allies demanded a lot of "reparations" (money) from Germany, deeper bankrupting a nation already drained of resources, creating the situation (misery, resentment) that led to the rise of Nazism.

After WWII, having learned an invaluable lesson and ready to avoid making the same mistake again, the US instated the Marshall Plan, $17 billion ($120 billion in today's money) in aid to prevent the local economies going into a free-fall, and rebuild Europe.
There was also another crucial, political goal:  keep Western Europe happy to prevent the spread of communism.

A similar plan was implemented in Japan, under the watchful eye of General Douglas McArthur.


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

[User] ELI5: What is "lattice based asymmetric cryptography"?

[Assistant]
Asymmetric cryptography is a kind of encryption where there are two keys, a public key and a private key. Generally, you keep the private key secret and publish the public key for anyone to see. A message encrypted using one key is decrypted using the other. Anyone can send you a secret message by encrypting it with your public key, so that only you can decrypt it using your private key. In addition, you can sign a message by encrypting it with your private key; then, anyone can decrypt it using your public key, and they can be sure that you wrote the message.

Asymmetric cryptography is very important to modern commerce. Secure websites (which these days are most commercial websites) use asymmetric cryptography to ensure that no one can impersonate them; that is, when you're talking to your bank, you're not really talking to a hacker's website instead.

The most common asymmetric cryptography system is RSA, which uses math involving factoring large numbers. It's hard to break RSA (decrypt a message without the appropriate key) because as far as we know it's hard to factor large numbers. However, we know that a sufficiently powerful quantum computer could easily factor large numbers and thus break RSA.

Certain mathematical problems involving structures called lattices are believed to be hard to solve, even on a quantum computer. New cryptographic systems have been devised that rely on lattice problems to ensure security instead of integer factorization. These systems, or systems like them, could someday supplant existing asymmetric systems like RSA if it looks like quantum computing will be a practical reality.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do potholes appear suddenly on roads?

Because it wasn't there yesterday and I kind of hate them.

[Assistant] Someone will give a better, more detailed answer, but it is do in part to water getting into tiny cracks or crevices in the asphalt, then freezing into ice, which expands, causing the cracks to grow larger and, with the help of constant wear and tear of vehicles constantly using the road, leads to potholes.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do ship propellers create all those underwater bubbles, even when fully submerged?

[Assistant]
There is a lot of various gases dissolved in water (well, not *all* water, but certainly most).

When the propeller spins it creates areas of high pressure on one side, and low pressure on the other. Where the two meet you often get very low pressures - sometimes so low that the water actually gets pulled apart leaving a vacuum, called cavitation.

That's *not* what you're seeing streaming off the ends of the blades - the vacuum bubbles collapse very quickly, but sometimes gases dissolved in the water come out, and form bubbles. They may eventually dissolve again but not immediately.

The other alternative is that some outboard motors pump the exhaust through the prop hub, and you're seeing that.


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

[User]
How do electronics keep track of time when they are turned off/ out of battery?

My iPod died a few months ago and was completely without power until a few days ago when I plugged it in. When it opened it was down to the second. It also wasn't connected to wifi. How does it keep track?

[Assistant] Small on-board battery whose sole purpose is to maintain a few critical pieces of information and keep track of passage of time. If the on-board battery dies, the clock resets. (This is why ancient PCs always come up with date set to 1907 or 1970 after reboot.)


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

[User]
ELI5: Superstring Theory.

I am currently reading Brian Greene's book which is good, but if someone can break it down in even simpler terms, share. I am talking "in a nutshell" kind of thing. I have no particular focus (though if you want to discuss quantum mechanics and/or general reality and their roles in SST, please do).

[Assistant]
Superstring theory is the union of string theory and supersymmetry.

Supersymmetry (which is a scientific theory) holds that the Standard Model of particle physics is only a *partial* model. The idea is that there is at least one more symmetry in the model that gives rise to a whole family tree of fundamental interactions we haven't observed yet, because we didn't know to look for them. Supersymmetry hasn't yet been confirmed by experiment or even really *hinted at* by experiment but the existence of dark matter tells us *for a fact* that the Standard Model is incomplete, and supersymmetry provides an easy and internally consistent theoretical framework to start exploring.

String theory (which is not a scientific theory) is a family of mathematical methods for modeling the fundamental interactions in nature. It doesn't say anything physical about the universe; instead, it's a set of alternative mathematical formulations. The idea goes that if we can find other, different mathematical models that describe reality as we've observed it so far, maybe those models will *imply* new truths that we can go out and look for.

Supersymmetry is what you get when you combine both approaches: using new and speculative mathematical models to try to predict the characteristics of types of interactions currently not described by the Standard Model.


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

[User]
[WH40] Why doesn't the imperiam disintegrate?

My knowledge of WH40 comes exclusively from this subreddit and the Emperors Text to Speech series, so my understanding may be bad, but...

The imperiam seems completely unmanageable on pretty much any level.

* Communication times to areas outside the inner most territories are measured in years or centuries. This means that any orders are basically unenforceable and control falls to the local strongmen controlling at best a segmentium each. This should just about finish the Minastorium off as an effective govenment.

* Oversight of the various organisations that police the imperiam is minimal at best. Combined with communication times this will very quickly lead to radically different understandings of orthodoxy and what the imperiam is. This should mean that various branches of the inquisition are forever at war with each other.

* This leads to conflict within the empires main bodies and between them. Given that the empire is fanatically militarised, the invariable result is full scale civil wars between, for example various marine chapters, or between marines and the inquisition. So basically the 'govenment' should be a clusterfuck of continously fighting official bodies and breakaway petite kingdoms.

* On top of this the imperiam is absolutely beset by powerful foes of all kinds. Unauthorised negotiations and weapons development would run amok as people try to cope with largely theoretical government support. There should be events of the level of the AI revolt and the Horus heresy every year all around the empire. Without a strongly co-ordinated response these will create powerful splinter factons with no regard for the failed emperor worship of their past. And that is basically impossible.

* Worshipping the Emperor would be severely diminished. Just look at the history of any long lived religion and you can find plenty of examples of isolated groups denying the othodox version. And this is in a world of travel times measured largely in months.

Basically the will of the imperiam is completely unenforcable in the near term and culturally fragmented. They might claim to be imperials, but really WH40 should disintegrate into a medievil Europe situation except with a whole lot more chaos induced darkness.

So given all of this, what exactly holds the system together?

[Assistant]
The Imperium *is not* a culturally, socially or politically strongly coherent state. There are extreme differences between the planets in it.

Some are paradises with a nice democratic government, some are dystopic 1984 style hellholes where free thought is outlawed and punishable by death, some are overcrowded anarchic cyberpunk hiveworlds ruled by Mad Max like gangs, some are plain weird and overgrown with alien jungles and creature straight out of nightmares, or post-apocalyptic wastelands where people are grown in ancient cloning facilities deep below the ground to become soulless soldiers.

The Imperium is exactly the clusterfuck you are describing.

The only thing holding it together is the fight against its enemies. Governmental duties are left almost entirely to the individual worlds and they are allowed to do as they please. The only thing everyone has to do is pay the tithe and send regiments of guardsmen. And pray to the Emperor of course, but how exactly you do that is even up to you.

It is more of a federation than an empire in most parts, being held together entirely because everyone in charge knows there is no alternative. Alone you get devoured by extragalactic space ants, smashed by insane mushroom people or massacred by lovecraftian horrors or their meatpuppets.


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

[User] [WH40k] A Ork live to fight a good fight. Will they attack who does not seem to be able give a good fight?

[Assistant] When it comes to humans in particular, the Orks have learned that if you kill enough weak ones, stronger ones will turn up. Then, if you kill them, even stronger ones will turn up, and they'll keep getting stronger and stronger, and there'll be more and more of them until eventually the Ork is killed, which he doesn't mind, because he spent his entire life fighting.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do video game cartridges and motherboards need a battery to maintain save data but a simple SD card does not?

[Assistant]
Motherboards use the battery to keep an internal clock running when there is no power.

Old game cartridges used volatile memory. Like the RAM in the computer. It needed constant power to keep the data good. This was from before when the flash storage was easily available.


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

[User]
[DC] How much attention does Batman pay to pop-culture?

Considering how dedicated Batman is to crime-fighting by night and occasionally mingling with Gotham's high-society by day, does he have any time left to keep up with popular movies, shows etc? Would he even enjoy it?

If one of his villains or a more relaxed member of the Justice League made a pop-culture reference, would he even get it or would it fly right over his head? I feel like it could be a disadvantage to be completely out of touch with what the general public is interested in.

[Assistant]
He has to keep up appearances as Wayne, and that includes a bit of research into popular media - at least- popular media the Wayne persona he's crafted would be interested in.

So if you bump into Bruce Wayne at the annual Policeman retirement function, he's not going to know the latest about *The Bachelorette*, but he'll probably know the roster for the *Gotham Knights* as well as all about the shakeup at the Metropolitan Opera when it was found out their newest Tenor was sleeping with the program director.


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

[User] ELI5: How did America become the global hegemon and why did we come to dominate the world so quickly despite being such a young nation?

[Assistant] World War II. Every other industrial power in the world got huge amounts of their infrastructure destroyed; apart from an attack on Hawaii and some minor Alaskan islands, the US itself was untouched by the war. The USSR managed to recover fast enough to oppose the US during the Cold War, but that just encouraged the country to spend even more on securing global dominance.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does shampoo seem so much softer and well lathered after a second application?

Every now and then I will accidentally go to shampoo my hair a second time while I am showering. I can always tell because the shampoo seems to lather much thicker and feels much softer in the hair. Why???

[Assistant]
Shampoo, and more generally soaps, contain surfactants. Surfactants are molecules containing one end that really loves water (hydrophilic) and one end that really loves dirt/oil/grease (hydrophobic). When a surfactant finds some dirt, the hydrophobic end will bind with the dirt and then hydrophilic end will interact with the water which allows the whole molecule+dirt to be washed away.

Under circumstances where there is very little dirt, the hydrophobic ends don't have much to attach to. They also really don't want to be touched by water, so what they end up doing is grouping together in a sphere (micelle) where the hydrophobic ends are pointing inwards towards each other, and the hydrophilic ends are pointing outwards towards the water. This (along with a decrease in surface tension) is what causes a bubble to form.

So, when your hair is really dirty, the surfactants will bind with the dirt and not need to come together to form micelles. On the second wash, where there should be considerably less dirt, the surfactant will form micelles and thus form soap bubbles.

TLDR: dirt is the enemy of suds.


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

[User] Eli5:Why is it bad to refill the same plastic bottle?

[Assistant]
It is not. It is a psychological marketing trick to increase the sale of bottles.

Plastics can leech into the contents (e.g. water) of the bottle if it gets damaged either physically or chemically. But a standard polyethylene bottle will last a very long time when if treated well.

Companies have been/tried to have been sued for people using incorrect types of plastic bottles to store thing that they were not originally intended for. Like paint or solvents in old drinks bottles, and this can cause some bottles to degrade faster. So for liability reasons companies also say it's bad, but it's just the standard idiot label. Similar to how a bag of peanuts has a warning that the bag contains nuts.

Long story short, it's a marketing trick masquerading as a liability trick, in turn masquerading as a health issue. Be smart, refill your bottles, help stem the plastic tide!


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

[User] Eli5: If a compiler is a program that converts your code into binary form for the computer, unless my understanding is incorrect and it isn't just a program, wouldn't the compiler also need a compiler to run it since how do you run a program without a compiler?

[Assistant]
This is the compiler bootstrapping problem. Nowadays the compilers are juste written in another language where a compiler already exist. Once the program have compiled there is no need for a compiler any longer so you can run this program without having the original compiler. This is how you can create an independent compiler. Some procramming languages can also be interpreted, where you need the interpreter to run it. So you can write a compiler, run it in the already existing interpreter, and have it compile itself.

In the old days, when compilers were still quite rare. You could write machine code directly, or partially helped by existing tools. There are several such known projects where a compiler were first compiled to machine code by hand. Once the first hand written copy was down you could use this to compile the code properly.


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

[User]
CMV: We NEED to domesticate raccoons.

They are cute and just like dogs, they deserve equal attention. I know it can take thousands of year to domesticate animals so we best get started right now. You may say "they are dirty and eat out of the trash" or "they are stray animals" and that is EXACTLY why we should domesticate them. You think dogs and cats didn't do any dirty things before they were domesticated? Just imagine 100 breeds of cute furry raccoons. They don't bite. They get rabies shots. They would be perfectly innocent cute pets that we feed and take care of.

[Assistant]
Raccoons aren't social animals like dogs and cats were. And not being social makes them less receptive to being domesticated. They don't *want* to please their master.

Dogs essentially domesticated themselves by becoming more and more docile around humans to get food.


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

[User] [Home Alone 1 and 2] Upon discovering they had left a young child behind, why didn't his parents call a neighbor, a friend, a church, the police or literally ANYONE instead of leaving him alone for days?

[Assistant] They attempted all of this, they called the police but the officer left after knocking on the door a couple times. They also tried calling friends and neighbors but couldn't find ANYBODY who was still in town.


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

[User] ELI5: Five years ago 3G from my hacked iphone was fast enough to power a hotspot fairly well without much lag. Now if my LTE phone has 3G, it's worthless. Why??

[Assistant] Standards for data presentation have changed.  If you attemted to load a site as it were when 3g was in its prime, it would load wonderfully.  The problem is that as wireless data capabilities have increased, so has the complexity and amount of data in sites to make good use of it, to the point where the outdated transmission medians now seem useless, because they are for today's standards.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why did point-to-aim videogame light guns die
out in the transition from CRT televisions?

I'm vaguely familiar with the nature of how light guns used to work, a patterned flash-frame that the gun used to calculate where it was pointing. I'm also vaguely familiar with what light guns have to do nowadays in order to mimic that former behaviour with Wii-esque reference lights and an IR sensor.

What I don't understand is, what is inherently different about television technology now that the system that used to exist is no longer possible. Is it a matter of resolution, that the pattern would now be ineffective? Is it that CRT used to be the standard, but now it could be a variety of technologies and having no keystone standard makes coming up with a new trick impossible?

Is there any hope to getting back to point-to-aim light guns, or are we sticking with drag-to-aim cursor guns from here on out?

[Assistant]
CRTs work by having an electron beam light up the phosphor of the screen.  The electron beam can only light up one pixel at a time.  That lit up dot scans across the screen one scanline at a time all the way down the screen to form an image.  It happens so fast that you don't see it happening.  The light gun has a very narrow view of the screen, and by measuring when it sees the brightness spike within the 60th of a second that it takes to refresh the screen, it can tell where on the screen it is pointing.

LCDs don't flicker like that.  Every pixel is always on, so it wouldn't work to look for a brightness spike to calculate where the gun is pointing.  The Wii uses a very different technique.


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

[User] ELI5 How do video game cheat codes work, and why are games made with the possibility to use them?

[Assistant] Sometimes they are created so testers can test out the games to check how they run without having to go back to the beginning each time etc. At other times they are created by games so they can be sold to players making the company more money for the game.


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

[User] ELI5: What is the point of asking for a digital signature when literally anyone could type any name?

[Assistant] On real signatures anyone could write any name also. Thats not the point. The point is so that later you cant argue that you didnt understand when right next to the signature box it says I have read and understand these terms.


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

[User]
Academic CVs

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone could give me some pointers on how to write an impressive academic CV. Ive been asked by a potential PhD supervisor for a copy of my CV... which I need to write now. Ive found the same sort of generic stuff but I would love to know what people look for, as well as handy hints and extras from people who have done it before

Thanks :)

[Assistant] What's important about a CV is that it presents the information *clearly* in an easy-to-digest manner in reverse-chronological order. Use blocks to give it a structure and bold print to highlight the important information. Include publications and conference contributions if you have any.


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

[User]
[MCU] What would life have been like had Loki's takeover succeeded?

Let's say Loki and his army win. The Avengers, US military, SHIELD  all that is driven back and rendered powerless to remove him in the near term. Ditto for other Earth heroes. They can revolt later after gathering themselves, but Loki has won the first round and is in a position where he has some breathing room and will not face open rebellion for the moment.

So... what is this like for ordinary people? Loki doesn't seem like he wants everything turned into a dystopia. Will he try to create a thriving, Asgardian-tech wonderland with a high standard of living, to show he can be a wise ruler? What about the icky envoy dude who talks about how humans will make good slaves  what is it we're going to be forced to do?

[Assistant]
Based on what we saw when he was impersonating Odin, Loki isnt going to be a particularly cruel ruler. Hell be lazy, with no interest in being wise or even competent, and just want to bask in the glory of ruling. He does, however, execute all the Avengers with the exception of his brother. Not being able to bring himself to kill Thor, he uses the Tesseract to banish him back to Asgard. He hoped with the Bifrost still destroyed, Odin will be happy enough to have his son back and wont bother to try to come to Earth to stop Loki with the full might of Asgard.

Life on Earth can go on somewhat as it has, except that people will have to pay tribute to Loki, things like that. Loki being the arrogant fool he is, conveniently forgets about his deal to give the Stones to Thanos. He may not realize exactly what they are but, like Ronan, he figures with both of them hes powerful enough to deal with it when the time comes.

With Loki hoarding the Stones, Ultron never emerges. Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are never created. Hive never comes to Earth because most of SHIELD and HYDRA were destroyed in the Battle of New York and its aftermath. The Vision never comes to be.

Lokis reign will prove to be rather brief, however. The current Sorcerer Supreme, who in 2012 is still the Ancient One, takes note of Lokis use of several Infinity Stones. While she may not be interested in Earthly politics and petty matters like who the ruler of the planet is, the use of Infinity Stones does alarm her. She begins to prepare Earths sorcerers, including Wong and Mordo, to battle Loki.

Speaking of Infinity Stones, not long passes before the Aether emerges and possesses Jane Foster as it did before. However, without Thor to bring her to Asgard Malekith never finds out where the Aether is and does not invade Asgard, choosing instead to bide his time. Instead, Jane is found by the Ancient One and brought to a Sanctum. With their magic, they are able to remove it from her and harness it.

Now, Loki has two Infinity Stones and the Ancient One has two Infinity Stones. She has no interest in using hers, however, because she more than anyone on Earth is aware of what they are. Instead, she has secretly  been building an army, a rebellion against him of both powered and non powered people. Fighting against Loki will be such heroes as Spider-Man, Ant-Man, Daredevil, Black Panther and Ghost Rider. On Lokis team are Abomination, Aldrich Killian, Grant Ward, the Winter Soldier, Darren Cross and a brilliant tactian and family man named Helmut Zemo.

A huge war breaks out that devastated the Earth. The Ancient One and her teammates fight bravely but are ultimately overpowered. Loki prepares to personally execute the top members of the resistance against him, but just as he does, his brother appears!

It appears Thor took advantage of the Convergence of the Nine Worlds to find a way back to Earth. He implores Loki to stop what hes doing and relinquish his throne. If he doesnt, well, Odin is working hard to fast track the repair of the Bifrost and will invade Earth with all of the armies of Asgard as soon as he can. When that happens, Loki will lose his new playthings.

Loki considers this, but quickly uses the Tesseract to once again banish his brother back to Asgard. Hes not afraid of Odin. Hes not afraid of anyone.

He goes back to what he was doing before; he prepares to execute his enemies. He has set up a huge public execution with all the villains there to watch him slaughter all the heroes. He begins with the most pathetic of all the heroes; Ant Man. He brutally decapitates the criminal.

As soon as he does so, however, he sees he is once again standing before an unharmed Ant Man. He quickly kills him again! But, as before, he sees himself before an unharmed Ant Man.

Scott explains to Loki that hes caught in a time loop. Despite the Ancient Ones orders, Scott stole the Time Stone and plans to use it to save the day. He holds up the Stone and explains all this; Loki, however, has his own Stone. The Mind Stone! He taps his staff to Scott and orders him to break the loop.

Oddly, it doesnt seem to work. Scott waves the necklace around, taunting Loki rather stupidly and bragging this is how hes keeping the loop going. Enraged, Loki snatches the necklace holding the Time Stone out of Scotts hands. As soon as he does, however, he begins to shrink. Scott snuck one of his discs onto the Necklace. Loki shrinks and is banished forever to the subatomic realm. The necklace holding the Time Stone clatters to the ground and Scott quickly snatches it, and the Tesseract, which is still safely in a protective device.

Scott has defeated Loki, and now he turns to see the Ancient One standing before him. She tells him he has done well, but now must hand over the Tesseract and the Amulet. Reluctantly, he does so. As soon as he does, she blasts his head off with an Eldritch bolt. Then she takes the Tesseract and Amulet and hands them to a man who steps out of the shadows; its Zemo. He smiles and looks down at the head of the staff in his hand. He switched Lokis staff for a fake and used the Mind Stone himself to control the Ancient One. With the Aether she had been carrying, he now has four Infinity Stones for himself. The heroes AND the villains watching this gasp in horror.

Zemo isnt a power hungry man, but he is a practical one. All the time he was in Lokis employ, he talked to his former boss. He learned of Thanos, and realized that he would be coming for Earth, expecting to get the Tesseract and the Mind Stone back.

Zemo explains this to all of the remaining heroes and villains. He tells them the battle ahead will be hard, but they must work together if they want to defeat Thanos.

Spider-Man, Black Panther, Ward, Ghost Rider, Daredevil, Punisher, Bucky, Abomination and the others reluctantly agree, and with a thought, Zemo zaps them all to Asgard. He explains the situation to King Odin; Odin doesnt think Zemo is worthy to carry all of that power but is in no position to take it away from him. He agrees to send an army, including Thor, to help battle Thanos.

Using the Tesseract, Zemo opens a portal to deep space. Protected by a magic spell, Spider-Man, Abomination, Mordo, Thor, Punisher, Daredevil, Ward, Ghost Rider and the rest of Zemos Avengers enter.

This Infinity War will be very different. They are taking the fight to Thanos.


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

[User] ELI5: What problems do the north Koreans face if they merge into one country with south Korea ?

[Assistant] Some culture shock, maybe. Other than that they can only benefit assuming they are being absorbed into South Korea and not the other way around. The SK economy would probably take a hit, however, much like Germany after reunification.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does your skin turn red when pressure is applied for long periods of time?

[Assistant]
In short periods of pressure your restricting blood flow causing your skin to turn pale/white. Once pressure is relieved you get a rush of blood flow making the area look flush/red. This is called reactive hyperaemia.

In longer periods of unrelieved pressure you get non blanchable erythema I.e persistent redness despite relieving pressure. The prolonged lack of blood flow and oxygen results in blood vessel damage and  other cellular processes.  As a result your blood vessels remain dilated and even leak blood into surrounding tissues. This causes that persistent redness. Tissue will recover if pressure is completely relieved, if not it can result in a pressure ulcer!


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

[User] ELI5: How are underwater tunnels for cars reinforced to make them safe from the incredible water pressure above and more importantly how are the monitored to ensure they arent weakening?

[Assistant] Most underwater tunnels are not actually in the water, they are dug a good distance under the seabed. The Channel Tunnel between the UK and France is about 40m under the seabed, so the earth above it helps absorb the water pressure. Laying a tunnel on the sea floor would be very risky as any small leak would cause the tunnel to flood.


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

[User] ELI5 W; Why does hot water clean better than cold ?

[Assistant] Much of the things that stick to surfaces are molecules that look like long chains all tangled up. They are tangled in each other and caught in the tiny microscopic ridges in what seems like a smooth surface. When we heat up those molecules the connection between each link in the chain becomes looser and the molecules can untangle themselves from each other and the surface. Then with the physical motion of the water they are removed.


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

[User]
If you move away from a sound source at the speed of sound, do you hear the same note constantly?

For example, if you were moving away from a sound source playing a song, would you hear the same exact point of the song until you were too far away for it to be audible?

[Assistant] You wouldn't hear anything as there would be no relative pressure change.  If there was a very small difference in speed you still wouldn't hear anything as the frequency would be much lower than the human ear can detect.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are flywheels still unworkable? It seems to me that they're such a simple method of power storage, but every article I read seems to be about how they're out of reach. What's the problem?

[Assistant]
Efficiency, for one.  Flywheels are used in a few applications, like very large online UPSes (uninterruptable power supplies). High speed flywheels can make a big mess and kill if they come apart, so some work is being done to find good designs that can run at very high RPMs.  This helps make them more efficient and higher capacity, while making them smaller in size.

EDIT: typos EDIT 2: and size. Size could be the biggest reason.


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

[User]
[Dresden Files] Would Harry Dresden be able to use a computer if he barged into someones home?

In the Dresden Files series, technology made from around World War II and beyond has a tendency to go haywire when around magic, whether that be spells or just the presence of a wizard. The level of magic and the technology is related, in that higher levels of magic will burn out the tech more quickly, and more advanced technology has a higher chance of being shut down when around magic of any level.

Another important rule in the Dresdenverse is the idea of thresholds; that is, going past the front door into someones home. If a wizard is invited in, their power remains as it is. If they are not invited but enter anyway, their magical powers are greatly reduced.

Harry Dresden is a wizard with a lot of raw power, to the extent that the only car he drives around is a 1930s VW Beetle since its the only thing he can keep running for any length of time. However, if he were to barge into someones home without being invited, would his power be reduced enough to the point that he could use a computer or a smart phone?

[Assistant]
No. The exact scenario you describe happens in *Cold Days*, and he causes a computer to crap out after spending two seconds in the room with it.

>!When Harry breaks into Butters' house to steal Bob after becoming the Winter Knight, Bob is watching porn on Butters' gaming rig. Harry walks into Butters' computer room, and two seconds later Butters' computer craps out, alerting Bob to Harry's presence.!<


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

[User]
[The Shawshank Redemption] How does Andy have evidence about Tommy's murder?

After Andy escapes he sends evidence to the police that lead to the arrest of the Warden and Capt. Hadley, the news paper reads 'corruption, murder at Shawshank.'
I assume the murder refers to the murder of Tommy Williams, however as Andy was in the 'hole' at the time how did he find the evidence to convince the police and media that it was murder?

[Assistant]
He may not have had any evidence of the murder other than his own word. However, the extremely thorough accounting of his money laundering for Norton would lend credence to every claim he made.

Andy wouldn't have to provide evidence for everything. Once the money laundering was proven (which it would easily be), more thorough investigations into his other claims (Boggs, Tommy, the first Fresh Fish) would be begin and be substantiated enough over time that most people wouldn't likely doubt them.

Even if Hadley can't ultimately be convicted, there's definitely enough information to ruin his career.


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

[User]
ELI5: How are electronics "grounded" on spacecraft?

...and what happens "electronically" when 2 spacecraft dock? are the isolated from each other?

[Assistant]
"Grounding" in electrical circuits just means a reference point, to which everything else can be connected.

For example, in a car, one side of the battery is connected to the car's body/chassis. This provides a convenient way to complete an electrical circuit. So, if you want to connect a headlight. You don't need to connect 2 wires - one taking current from the battery to the bulb, and one taking the return current from the bulb to the battery. Instead, you can just use 1 wire to take current from the battery to the bulb, and the return current can go via the car's chassis.

The same principle is used in marine craft, aircraft and spacecraft. The metal structure serves as a convenient method of connecting multiple things together to allow circuits to be completed. If two spacecraft need to dock, then the bodies can be electrically connected together to form a single "ground" zone covering both craft. Each craft retains its own electrical system, but the two systems share the same reference point.

For land based stationary applications (buildings), then the ground itself (which is electrically conductive) can be used as a convenient reference point, and as a failsafe method of carrying current in the case of an electrical fault. The ground itself isn't a very good electrical conductor, so it isn't usually used to carry current under normal conditions for energy efficiency reasons (but this is sometimes used in very rural areas, where a remote house or farm needs a long power line, but only a small amount of power, making it too expensive to run 2 wires on the power poles - in this case, you can just run a single wire, and use the ground as the return path).


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

[User]
[Naruto] Why doesn't Might Guy amputate his leg and get a fake one like naruto's arm?

I get the whole DR. House angle where you don't want to lose a limb, but if you have a replacement that works just as well as the original like Naruto's arm, why doesn't he get one as well?

[Assistant] Naruto's arm is made from Hashiramas Cells, the experiment Yamato is from shows that most people die instead of integrating his cells into their body, so it would be really risky to use it on people without special chakra.


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

[User] Why is it that laptop and phone speakers are too small to reproduce lower frequencies but tiny earbud drivers have no problem with them?

[Assistant] It's not exactly that smaller speakers can't be vibrated at lower frequencies (though it's entirely possible to try to drive a speaker too fast or too slow for it to make any noise at all) but more the amplitudes at which the speakers can be driven. In a small speaker, the distance the cone can travel is relatively short, which severely limits the power it can output. Couple that with your point that smaller speakers usually have higher center frequencies, and you get an idea of why laptop and phone speakers can't do lower frequencies - the speaker is being driven far from its center frequency, and doesn't have the power output to make up for the difference. In your ear, however, loud volumes are not required (and not recommended) - since the earbud is usually fairly airtight when in your auditory canal, the coupling between the speaker diaphragm and the eardrum is pretty good. You might notice that while a phone speaker is roughly the same size as an earbud, you can't usually hear an earbud unless it's right in your ear, whereas you can hear a phone speaker from several feet away. Using lower amplitudes allows the earbuds to have truer sound reproduction at the expense of loudness.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do we have to buy domain names from companies instead of just claiming it ourselves for free?

[Assistant]
Back in the day, before everyone and his uncle wanted a domain name, before the world wide web, before google, you *could* just ask for a domain name and get it for free. Who did you ask? The National Science Foundation, of all things.
When domains started getting more popular, the National Science Foundation got tired of doing it, and farmed the process out to anyone who wanted to be a "domain registrar."
Turns out it's quite a bit of work.


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

[User]
Why do storms seem to be worse at night?

Whenever there is a thunderstorm, hurricane, or especially snowstorm, why does it seem the worst of it is always overnight?

I live in New England and snow is constantly an overnight thing. Is it just coincidence?

[Assistant]
Reposted out of the buried thread at someone's request:

Convection in the atmosphere comes from the air at the bottom being warm enough (compared to the air at the top) to force overturning, kind of like bringing a pot of water to boil. You can achieve this effect by heating the bottom or cooling the top (or both). Lake-effect snow, for example, is caused by frigid air moving over a relatively warmer lake surface, where the air warmed by the lake experiences sudden buoyancy and rises, triggering the formation of clouds and snow.
The atmosphere is typically moist near the surface (where the water source is) and dry aloft. The interface between dry and moist air can be particularly sharp. When the sun sets, water droplets in the moist air radiate heat in all directions, and the heat radiated upward is not compensated for by heat radiating back down, because the air is dry above. This causes a net loss of radiation at the top of the moist layer, cooling the air. Cooling aloft while leaving the surface the way it is means you are "cooling the top", and the warmer air at the surface experiences buoyancy and starts to rise.


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

[User] When a baby is born is it born with all the gut flora it needs? If not how does it accumulate all those bacteria?

[Assistant]
A fetus in the womb is generally sterile. It has developed entirely inside a sealed environment, the amniotic sac, so there's nothing in the gut except its own cells. Once that sac ruptures, colonization happens quite rapidly.

An infant born vaginally will pick up some of its mother's bacteria on its way through the birth canal. An infant born by C-section will pick up bacteria from the air and the environment. Either way, the upper GI tract is inoculated either during birth or within moments afterward.

The actual growth and establishment of bacterial populations takes longer. At first it is the least "picky" bacteria, like *E. coli*, that multiply the fastest. Those dominate for a few days. But as those strains become very numerous, they change the environment inside the gut (removing oxygen, for instance) allowing other species to begin taking hold. Those bacteria further alter the environment, again changing which species can thrive, and so on.

This feedback cycle happens several times before the bacterial makeup settles. In an infant born vaginally, it takes about a month for the flora to be really well established. In one born by C-section, because the initial species mix differs, it may take up to six months.


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

[User]
CMV: If aliens were to send a message to all of humanity to choose a leader so that they could negotiate with us, we would enter the third and final World War

**"Take me to your leader"**.

It's common to hear, watch or talk about stories where aliens come to earth and say the legendary phrase.

But I'm of the opinion that, countries would battle over whose president should represent all of earth. We all know the top contenders are USA, Russia, North Korea, Britain, China, Japan and Germany. Considering the bad blood and the tense atmosphere, especially with Trump as president, we would enter the final showdown of nuclear warheads.

Should anyone want the world to end badly, all they'll need to do is pretend to be a group of alien lifeforms trying to reach earth's leader.

[Assistant]
Who would the aliens be asking, in this case?

I would think wherever the aliens landed, people would take the alien to the leader of that nation.

Also, should the alien want to make a global address to all of mankind, most would suggest the UN general assembly.


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

[User] ELI5: What's the difference between having a heater on 72 degrees and having an air conditioner on 72 degrees?

[Assistant]
The selected temperature isn't necessarily the temperature coming out of the vents. If you're trying to warm/cool a room to a certain temperature, it puts out more extreme air.

Room is 70, you want 72, the heater comes out at 75.
Room is 75, you want 72, the AC puts out 70.


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

[User]
Eli5 how Chinese language is typed in

I was watching over the shoulders of some girls, on a train, texting in a Chinese language. I realised I never really thought how it might be done. It looked as though they would write it phonetically in the Latin alphabet and then choose from a menu that popped up.

They were very quick but it seemed incredibly convoluted. Do you have to learn a European alphabet as you learn to use computers and phones? What particular European alphabet is used?

Is there another way it is imputed without the Latin alphabet?

Edit: Thanks everyone. Very interesting. I can see why its actually a neat system.

[Assistant]
It is indeed a phonetic QWERTY keyboard where you type the sound you want to convey and then choose the word. The most common words with each pronunciation are displayed first, so it's easier.

This is simple to do because Chinese has the Pinyin system, which translates their sounds to the latin alphabet, for accessibility. This system is taught there as well. So you just type what you want to say using pinyin and it will send the actual Chinese characters.


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

[User]
[General Sci-Fi] A new alien race is joining our Federation. They're a hive mind. We're a democracy. Do they only get one vote?

I suppose we could count each entity in the hive-mind separately, but then shouldn't every cell in your body get a vote? Should we do it by body mass? Brain mass? Also, what happens if they commit a crime? Do we have to lock up the entire race? Or execute them if it comes to that?

Also, from an ethical point of view, do they only count as one person? I'm against slavery, but if we can get a huge benefit from just enslaving one person it seems worth it. And it would help cut down on black market person trafficking, which means that there'd actually be a net decrease in slavery.

[Assistant]
A straight democracy would be a terrible governmental model for an intergalactic federation.  If you wanted to stay on the democratic side of the tracks the best bet would be a republic with each world/civilization getting one vote and strict limitations on the power of the governing body.  Something that is essentially set up to avoid wars.  A straight democracy would encourage each world to bread as much as possible which would lead to inevitable war and conflict.

From an ethical standpoint it really depends on the level of autonomy the individuals in the hive mind have.  If it is a true hive mind with a singular consciousness then can be considered a singular person.  Also slavery is generally considered unethical regardless of the perceived benefits.


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

[User]
What are good questions for detecting logical fallacies?

What are some good questions to ask someone (or yourself) when they make a claim, in order to quickly evaluate (without needing to do independent research) the likelihood that their reasoning is sound? I understand that the best way to evaluate a claim involves some research, but I'm looking for quick rules of thumb here that can be used with someone in real time.

Ideally each question would uncover many logical fallacies, and not just be a check for a single fallacy. Bonus points if they are non-confrontational.

Here's what I have so far, in no particular order:

1. **What would convince you otherwise?**
If nothing that could be reasonably expected would change their mind, then it's not evidence-based.
2. **Does the same logic make sense when applied to the other side?**
example: If the other's desire for more laws implies they are totalitarian, does your desire to repeal laws imply you are an anarchist?
3. **What are the good arguments of the other side?**
If they make the other side seem stupid/evil, they are probably acting in bad faith and/or didn't research what the opposing scholars say.
4. **How do you know that?**
It's a good sign if they cite sources.

What are some other good questions for detecting unsound reasoning? Are there any problems with the ones I presented?

[Assistant]
To me, the word "sound" has a precise definition in the context of philosophy. For an argument to be sound is for  it to be "valid" and for it's premises to be true. An argument is valid if there is no way that both the conclusion is false and the premises are true. To determine the soundness of an argument, first you determine its validity, then you evaluate whether the premises are true.

Testing for validity is simple, you assume the premises are all true, then try to conceive of a scenario where the conclusion is false. If there is no conceivable scenario where the conclusion is false and the premises true, then you have a valid argument. You can also do this by breaking it down into formal logic statements like "If A then B" and all that and see if it works out, but that's a bit of a drag and not particularly practical during a conversation. Note that validity is a relatively weak distinction. For example, if the premises are all impossible, the argument is inherently valid. The distinction of soundness avoids these cases by enforcing that all the premises be true.

So with this definition, to argue over soundness is to either contest that the premises being true does not imply the conclusion, or that the premises are not all true in the first place.

I think this definition of soundness avoids you having to think too much about their motivations/bias and all that because even if they are arguing in bad faith or they won't change their mind regardless, if their argument is sound then the conclusion is true whether they know it or not.


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

[User] ELI5: What is the difference between what dietitians do and what nutritionists do?

[Assistant]
Dieticians have to be licensed to use the labels RD or RDN, much like being an RN or an MD.  Nutritionists don't.

Nutritionists may have a lot of knowledge and be a big help or they may just be some weirdo who thinks kale is magic and gluten is the devil.  If you wind up on a structured diet in a hospital, for example, you WILL be working with a dietician, not a nutritionist.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Why did Luke's ship go haywire and crash on Dagobah?

[Assistant]
It didn't really malfunction per se. It just had a bad approach, likely due to limited visibility, both visual and for sensors, combined with a critical lack of proper landing space, also due to the lacking sensor readings.

But you know what they say!
If you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. If you use the craft the next day, it's an outstanding landing!


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

[User]
[Mass Effect] How advanced does a civilization need to be before the Reapers deem it necessary to destroy?

Say the Reapers attacked the galaxy in the early 21st century. I mean, Earth barely had spaceflight then, and we had no idea that we weren't alone in the galaxy. So I don't see the purpose in wiping out humans while we don't have any mass effect technology to speak of. That being said, if they passed us over, we would have gained 50,000 years worth of technology before they came again. We might give them a serious run for their money if we had that sort of time to build an Empire. The last cycle, they skipped us because we were still living in caves, but 150 years ago, we were taking our first steps into the cosmos. Where is the line between primitive and advanced in the Reapers eyes?

[Assistant] If the Reapers attacked before we had any spaceships/notable space presence, we'd be fine.  The Yahg were in this same situation during the Reaper war, in that they were barely getting to space on their own and were ignored.


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

[User] If the minimum wage is raised from $7 to $15 doesnt it immediately devalue skilled middle class jobs earning $20-$30 per hour by the same $8? What effect will this have on prices, rents, cost of living, etc?

[Assistant]
\>  **doesnt it immediately devalue skilled middle class jobs earning $20-$30 per hour by the same $8**

No. Their buying power would decrease buying power somewhat, but not by the same $8. There would be an increase in payroll costs for X% of companies, where X is a good deal less than 100. The next question is would they raise prices to cover 100% of the rise in payroll, or would they find savings elsewhere?

\> **What effect will this have on prices, rents, cost of living, etc?**

We've already touched on this a bit. Any good or service you buy where labor is already $15/above or where the labor is done overseas shouldn't be affected. So, car prices for instance shouldn't be affected. Construction costs will go up some, although many of those jobs already pay $15/hour or better. And a min. wage might increase the prices of pre-existing economical houses, as it would create more lower-end home-buyers (this is a maybe, can't be sure that this would happen). Food prices would probably see the biggest increase, but staple foods like corn, rice, and wheat shouldn't see much increase because they're grown and harvested at such scale that labor is a near irrelevant factor.


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

[User]
I think all congress members should have term limits. CMV!

Without term limits dysfunctional government occurs. Lobbyists reign supreme...government becomes stagnant, bought out and corrupt.

I also believe the same people keep getting re-elected because they already have the support, finances from outside influences. And the American people often are misinformed or vote heavily based on their party affiliation rather than the actual candidates performance and representation of the American people.

Does anyone think the current system of being able to be re-elected indefinitely is working? I propose a 2-3 term limit max for each congress member.

[Assistant] There's a very strong argument against term limits, and that's that if representatives know they have 4-6 years max in congress, they'll devote their time toward currying favor with industry so that they can get a lucrative job once they can no longer legally be a representative.  Now granted, some do this *anyway*, but why give every single one the incentive to do so?


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

[User]
How do space vehicles know how to orientate themselves? (Specifically unmanned spacecraft)

Do they use a gyroscope system? Or the planets magnetic field?

(I got curious watching a Scott Manley video on YouTube, he talked about the pitch and yaw of the recent Astra rocket launch and I realised Id never questioned the method - hard to get a straight-forward answer out of google)

[Assistant]
Commonly-used sensors are: coarse sun sensors, gyroscopes, magnetometers, star trackers, and GPS receivers.  Common actuators are: reaction wheels, magnetic torquers, thrusters, and (less commonly) control moment gyros.

Coarse sun sensors are simply photovoltaic solar cells.  Arrange several of them around your spacecraft, and you can get an idea of where the Sun is.

Gyroscopes (aka inertial measurement units, inertial reference units) measure angular rate.  There are several technologies available: MEMS gyros (which you might have in your phone), fiber optic gyros, ring laser gyros, and hemispherical resonating gyros.

Magnetometers measure the magnetic field, like a 3-D compass.

A star tracker is like a video camera that can compare its image with an internal star catalog, and so figure out where in the sky it is pointing.  This is the most accurate off-the-shelf sensor in common use.

A GPS receiver tells you your position, not your orientation.  But position is a good thing for a spacecraft to know, too.

Reaction wheels exert torque by action/reaction.  Spin one up clockwise, it makes your spacecraft spin counterclockwise.  Use several, properly arranged, and you can control all three axes of your spacecraft with precision.

Magnetic torquers are big electromagnets.  Energize one, and it tries to line itself up with the local magnetic field.  You can use this to exert torque on your spacecraft.  Magnetic torquers aren't precise, but they are very commonly used in combination with reaction wheels in low Earth orbit.

Thrusters are rockets.  Push mass out one way, the spacecraft moves the other way.  You can exert both forces and torques with thrusters, so you can change your orbit as well as control your attitude.  (Everything else on this list is torque-only.)

Control moment gyros (CMGs) are like reaction wheels except different.  Instead of exerting torque by changing the wheel spin rate, you keep the wheel spinning at a constant rate and use a gimballed mount to change the CMG's orientation in the spacecraft.  Spinning masses resist having their axis of spin re-oriented (look up "gyroscopic stiffness"), so the result is a torque on the spacecraft.  CMGs are bulkier, more power-hungry, and more expensive than reaction wheels, but they provide orders of magnitude more torque.  If you are very agile (like some remote imaging spacecraft) or just huge (like ISS), CMGs are worth it.

I hope that gives you enough of a start that you can get more traction with google.


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

[User]
[Star Trek/40k]What would the Q Continuum think of the Chaos Gods?

Just a random thoughts.  Instead of a Star Fleet Officer entering the Imperium, Q takes a wrong turn at Firefly and ends up face to face with one (or all) of the Chaos Gods.

Now I would think that Q is more powerful than them, but the Warp is a very, very different place.  Aside from breaking out the Mariachi Band and calling Nurgle dour, what would you think would happen?

ETA:  Or is Q the embodiment of Chaos Undivided?

[Assistant] Well, while the Q continuum does seem to have quite a bit of power in the material plane, we've no idea how much power they have in the immaterium.  The immaterium is a fickle place, the only reason travel is possible is by bringing a tiny shielded bubble of reality with us, and frankly, that only mostly works.  In the immaterium, the Q continuum may not have any real power, the same way the gods of chaos didn't have any real power in the material plane.  A warp storm may give them access in a similar way the opposite get access to us.


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

[User] ELI5: Why a newly created natural pool automatically gets fish after a while?

[Assistant] Some manmade lakes/ponds are stocked artificially, ie they just straight up dump fish or eggs in. Other isolated bodies of water, like glacial lakes, are stocked with fish by birds, which carry eggs and/or adult fish and then drop them into water (accidentally).


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

[User] ELI5: If Apple Music lets me download songs to keep on my phone, how does $10/month cover the artists fee?

[Assistant]
After your subscription ends, you cannot access those songs anymore. The songs are encrypted.
It just enables you to listen to the songs while offline.

Other services like Spotify also have this feature.


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

[User] ELI5: If torrents are not inherently illegal, why are ISPs allowed to throttle them?

[Assistant]
ISPs are allowed to take measures to ensure the proper flow of traffic on their network, most ISPs don't specifically target bittorrent or even bother with deep packet inspection as the throughput of data makes that prohibitively expensive.  Rather, they target specific signs that are generally indications of torrents such as a large number of connections to are large number of different IPs or a large amount of overall data flowing to a specific IP and then lower the priority or cap the flow of data.

The claim is that this is done to protect other users on the network from suffering a loss of service due to a heavy user.  It may appear to target specifically bittorrent users but it can also affect large file transfers over FTP as well as some software update clients that use distributed updates.

So they claim they are protecting the function of the network for all users rather than targets a specific group of users.

Generally most ISPs have a term in the terms of service that states that they may reduce or halt your service if you exceed a normal amount of usage, so they cannot be held accountable for not providing you with your full service.


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

[User]
[ELIF] Why Do we need even isp's at this point? Why not make everything peer to peer?

Forgive me if I've used the term peer to peer incorrectly, I mean a decentralised user controlled network(s) that links everyone together thru their own devices.

Thanks for any input:)

EDIT: I messed up the headline, I meant: Why do we even need isp's.

SOLVED. Thank you everyone! :)

EDIT 2: Why not have both? I accept it's necessary to have isp's, Why don't we build our own networks on top of them?

[Assistant]
Well, the obvious question is, whose line do you use to connect yourself to someone on the other side of the atlantic ocean? Laying a cable across the pond costs about $200,000,000, so even if you and your friends all agree to pay for your share on the cable, you probably won't have enough friends to make this effort worthwhile. So you gotta find someone that has laid this cable, and is willing to share it. Next up, do you pay for them, or did they do this cable laying thing as a charity? You'd have to negotiate with them about that.

Even if we're just talking about connecting cities, it's still gonna be massive undertaking for someone. How do you organize this thing? You probably want to do some sort of sharing agreement where if someone else uses your cable, you can use their cable in return, and if you're sending traffic through someone a lot, then you should probably pay for them, right? Since otherwise they could just block you from sharing their internet.

ISPs do all this sorta thing for you, lay cables, negotiate with all the different companies so they get sweet deals on how you can borrow cables others have laid on ground, and all you need to do is pay your monthly fee to use all of the Internet.


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

[User]
[fallout 4] are horses still around?

I mean there's a lot of them in America already, so is it possible that horse would still be alive during the events of fallout 4?
Plus what would they even look like?

[Assistant]
Possible sure, but in case you didn't notice most of the plant life is dead.

No matter which way you look at it, the ecosystem is fucked, it is entirely possible horses are still around somewhere and entirely possible they went extinct.

As to how they look, assuming feral horses that have lived in the wasteland the entire time and not horses from a vault, probably hairless and larger and possibly two headed.


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

[User] ELI5: How come the skin on our hands and feet looks so old after swimming, while the rest looks the same?

[Assistant] The skin wrinkles like that due to a response from our brain to the water itself, when the skin on our hands and feet wrinkle in that manner it helps improve grip UNDER water, not so much out of water. We know this is a direct response by our body because there have been experiments done where they severed the nerves in a finger, and placed it under water, when they did that the finger with the severed nerve did not show the response to wrinkle as it could not communicate with the brain.


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

[User] ELI5: What will happen if Iran can export oil again?

[Assistant] It will likely cause the worldwide price of oil to fall since there is more supply. I've seen estimates of a 15-20% drop once they come fully online. The other consequence is that Iran will have more money, which could have unpredictable results.


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

[User]
Why does every dragon attack in Skyrim?

So, I've noticed that every single dragon in the wild wants to kill everyone around them on sight.  Like, literally, they will attack anything that happens to be around, like the sight of anything moving sets them into a berserker like rage.  Why is that, though?  Every time that circumstances necessitate it, the dragons I've encountered and actually spoken with have been intelligent and reasonable, so why is their default mode burn/freeze everything to death?

[Assistant]
The Dov, or Dragon, to use the common parlance have slept long. They have slept under rock and stone for millenia. The time spent undone has warped their minds, snapped their hold on sanity.

They know naught but pain and anger, and hold true to the fragment of knowledge - It was man that did this to them, and it is on man that they will slake their thirst for revenge.


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

[User]
Why is Tritium so ridiculously expensive?

I am a huge fan of self-powered radioluminescent light sources powered by tritium like keychains. For a long time I have been wondering why  isn't there anything more powerful (like a flashlight) since such keychains output is something like couple hundred microlumens. After a quick web search I found out that tritium price is in the range of 30.000 USD per gram making it one of the most expensive substances on Earth.

I would like to learn why is that so. From what I understand tritium is produced as a waste product in heavy water moderated reactors in quantities exceeding commercial demand and that it can also be made from lithium (which is a common and cheap metal) by neutron capture. Is it so difficult and expensive to separate tritium from deuterium in reactors moderator? Is it so difficult to insert a lithium rod into an ordinary nuclear reactor in order to irradiate it with neutrons and then extract resulting tritium?

I wish to understand difficulties behind tritium production and where does the high cost come from.

[Assistant]
a.) It's got an expiration date. You've got a half-life of about 12 years, which means that you constantly need a new supply of it, and that any light is going to die, and any manufacturer is going to need to anticipate a continuing production line, not just buy up a lot at once.

b.) It's not naturally occurring - all tritium comes from nuclear reactions, so there's no source of it out there to be cheaply exploited, you need to contract with a nuclear plant.

c.) It's radioactive - on its own, it's not especially dangerous, but if it's inhaled or consumed, it can hurt people, which means that the costs of storing it, shipping it, and working with it are much higher.

d.) No economies of scale - since the entire marketplace of tritium is pretty small, and the process to create it is pretty specialized, you don't get to spread the fixed costs over a lot of products.  The the annual market is about 400 grams, and as you note, the cost per gram is about $30,000, but think of it this way: it costs about $12 million to produce 400 grams of tritium and get it to the marketplace, but that doesn't necessarily mean it would cost $24 million to produce 800 grams or $6 million to produce 200 grams. It might cost $11 million just to get *any* tritium out there, and after it's set up, then maybe each additional gram is fairly cheap. But you gotta start somewhere.

So it might be that all the tasks involved are scalable, and tritium could get much cheaper if there was demand. But getting started is so expensive, and demand is pretty small, so it's a niche product.


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

[User] ELI5: If banknotes are manufactured daily. How are old banknotes disposed of ? How is an equilibrium maintained ?

[Assistant]
When you buy stuff with cash, (if not you, other people do) business will end up with a lot of money at the end of each day. They take the cash and deposit it in a bank so they can pay their debts and other business stuff.

Banks will remove old or damaged bills and replace them with fresh new bills. No new money has entered the system, it's just traded out.