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

[User] [Predators] If the Predators value honor, why do they attack from behind and use stealth?

[Assistant]
Predators are absolutely not interested in a fair fight. What they want is a challenge, and the bragging rights that come from bagging the most dangerous prey.

Essentially, Predators' code of honor allows them to use one better than the creature they're hunting. When Arnold fought the Jungle Hunter at the climax of the first movie, they fought hand-to-hand, but that was still an eight foot tall monster that can bench press a car fighting a (large, but still human) man. When that same Predator fought a squad of armed soldiers, it used a plasma caster instead.

More experienced hunters will limit themselves further. The City Hunter used its bladed weapons even against men armed with machine guns, because it was a harder challenge and offered bigger bragging rights. But it would still bust out the plasma caster, or the smart disk, when it needed to.

Saying that the Predators are "honorable" is kind of overstating it. It's really just that using *all* of their technology would be boring to them, and losing to a human is a disgrace worse than death.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How was Darth Nihilus force drain able to crumble people and even buildings to dust?

Had the impression from the game that he simply fed on life energies, but the comic about the devastation of Katarr showed everying crumbling to dust when he began to drain the world.

Update: Have also another question, how were Meetra Surik and their companions able to defend themselves against the drain, as the Force was actually the thing that Nihilus was absorbing. The most likely reason is simply plot armor :-) But does anyone have a good in-universe explanation?

[Assistant] It's likely has something to do with sheer scope of the wound in the Force that Nihilus internalizes. There's no real answer other than "such is his power", but we may speculate that it might affect matter as sort of ranged mass shatterpoint power, just sapping the internal durability and integrity of matter, reducing everything to ash.


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

[User]
Why do some isotopes, such as potassium-40, undergo beta decay while others do not?

If a neutron can decay into a proton, and some other subatomic particles, via the weak nuclear force, why does this not happen in all atoms?

[Assistant]
In order for a decay to be possible, it must be energetically allowed (meaning there is a final state with a lower energy than the initial state), and there must be a path to reach that lower state without violating any relevant conservation law (charge, angular momentum, parity, etc.).

About 90% of experimentally known nuclides are unstable, so its not the ones that beta decay with are special, its the ones that dont decay at all that are very special. They are the lucky ones that simply dont have a way to decay to a more favorable state in any reasonable amount of time (some of the heavy ones may have positive Q-values for alpha or cluster emission, but the time it takes for the cluster to form and tunnel out is effectively infinite, so theyre observationally stable).

Alpha decay, cluster emission, and spontaneous fission are most important for very heavy nuclides, and nucleon emission takes over at extreme N/Z, but in between the extremes of high mass and high |N - Z|, the weak decays (beta and electron capture) are the dominant ground state decay modes.


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

[User] [MCU] how much stronger and more durable is Thor compared to Captain America? Like, 3-5 times more?

[Assistant]
The number is so large you might as well say "infinitely." Steve was knocked out cold by Thanos' pimp slap. It took the fury of a dying star to take down Thor.

Steve Rogers protects himself with a vibranium shield. Thor stood directly in the path of a laser beam that melted uru which, while not as durable as vabranium, is magical and nearly indestructible.

Steve Rogers can be hurt by knives, bullets, fire, and a whole host of other mundane things. He's strong, and he has the durability to back up that strength, so his muscular-skeletal system is probably capable of supporting more then ten tons, but that's still child's play to Thor. Hulk tosses around tanks like they're weightless, and can leap as high as a skyscraper. Thor, in his more powerful incarnations, puts Hulk to shame.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do HD tv's make acting seem so different and often make movies look like home videos?

I noticed this when my parents bought a new HD tv a few years ago... but now I seem to have gotten used to the tv, and actors appear normal on it again... weird...

[Assistant] Many modern HDTVs have a featured called "Motion smoothing". It was introduced to reduce motion blurring that occurs on LCD displays.  When this feature is on, the TV is creating and inserting additional in-between frames into the video by interpolating the differences between the frames.  A movie traditionally only has 24 frames per second.  This motion smoothing adds frames making the movie to appear to have a higher frame rate closer to what you get from traditional video equipment used for television broadcasts which is between to 30-60 frames per second.  Thus, this is sometimes called the "soap opera effect".  You can typically disable this feature on your TV.


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

[User]
Is it possible to navigate in space??

Me and a mate were out on a tramp and decided to try come up for a way to navigate space. A way that could somewhat be compered to a compass of some sort, like no matter where you are in the universe it could apply.

 Because there's no up down left right in space. There's also no fixed object or fixed anything to my knowledge to have some sort of centre point. Is a system like this even possible or how do they do it nowadays?

[Assistant] Within the Milky Way galaxy, position can be computed relative to known pulsars.  Once you have your position, navigation becomes a matter of doing the same for your destination, relative to those same pulsars and yourself.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are pieces of stones used to cover the ground at electric switchyards instead of just having a concrete floor ?

[Assistant]
The big reason is to provide extra resistance between people and (earth) ground. The gravel is actually pretty high resistance overall because in a pile each piece only touches others at corners. Concrete on the other hand is pretty uniform, has a higher degree of ions that increase conductivity like calcium, and retains alot of moisture in it's pores.

You don't usually think of concrete as conductive, but it's still conductive enough to electrocute. Gravel is about 5000x more insulating than concrete.

There's also some side benefits for water drainage and maintenance compared to concrete.


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

[User]
CMV: Gay Pride ads should stop using stereotypes to represent gay men.

I dont mean to leave women out, but I can only speak for gay men that I know. Why is it all of the gay pride commercials I see portray gay men as feminine? The real truth is that the gay people you know are essentially the same as everybody else with a different sexual preference. Most likely the gay neighbor that lives down the street isnt prancing out to his car listening to Lady Gaga. He is also the mechanic fixing your car, the guy at the end of the bar screaming for his team to score a touchdown, the hunter, the fisherman. So why represent them as speaking in a stereotypical way? Dressing in a stereotypical way? Im not saying no gay people do act like they are portrayed in the media, but if we had a straight pride commercial with a dude eating a steak, while drinking whiskey, smoking a cigar, it would be just as ridiculous to make that the poster for straight men. In an effort to be heard, I feel like they are misrepresenting what gay is. Am I wrong?

[Assistant]
Story telling, especially in the short story form (like a commercial) has always relied heavily on archetypes.

There is no time for character development.  For all you know, that last Toyota commercial you watched had a gay guy driving, but they aren't "gay" unless the convey to the viewer that they are gay, and the best way to convey that in a short amount of time is using stereotypes.

>  He is also the mechanic fixing your car, the guy at the end of the bar screaming for his team to score a touchdown, the hunter, the fisherman.

And if you see a commercial of a fisherman... why do you assume they're not gay?  But if they want a character to be a fisherman, he'll be a stereotypical fisherman.  It is just how short stories are told.

If you do want a character that is obviously gay, you can't really be subtle about it or else they aren't obviously gay.  You use archetypes to sell that fact and to sell it in a short time.


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

[User]
[Spider-Man 2002] Was the Green Goblin always in control over Norman Osborn?

It's pretty clear that Norman's procedure made him lose his sanity and he developed the malicious Goblin persona. The movie gives plenty of screentime for both personalities. There are some scenes after his procedure where Norman is "in control", where he is the dominant personality and not the Goblin. Or so it seems.

The final fight scene has a lot of interesting implications. I'm referring to the part where Norman takes off the mask and pleads for Peter to stop. However, he's also setting up the glider with the controls on his wrist. This means that the Goblin can be in charge while pretending to be normal Mr. Osborn. That opens the door to a compelling theory that perhaps Norman's own personality "died" in the procedure leaving only the Goblin. Some moments like his vicious outburst at the conference meeting support this.

Am I just reading too much into it? Is it a similar situation to Banner and the Hulk? Is Norman "just insane" or is it the split personality problem that's a real thing? Any major differences from the comics?

(Absolutely no discussion on a certain newer film of course.)

[Assistant]
In the Raimiverse, Norman genuinely has a split personality. We see him arguing with the Goblin at several points in both Spider-Man 1 and upon his return in No Way Home. There was no one there for him to "perform" as Norman for either time. >!In No Way Home we see further proof of this as MCU!Peter's Spider-Sense starts going off the moment the Goblin resurfaces but is still pretending to be Norman.!<

With that said, the Goblin knew how to pretend to be Norman, and during his final battle with Spider-Man he was doing exactly that, in order to catch Peter off guard and run him through with his glider. After he had impaled himself instead, however, it was Norman that asked Peter not to tell Harry what he had become.


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

[User] ELI5:How are old films and photograph's, that are old, grainy and captured on film, restored to 1080p HD?

[Assistant] Film is better than 1080p. Not necessarily how it was shown on a television or projector, but the film itself is higher resolution than 1080p, and even 4k. This is why it can be reformatted for our current standards. Long live film.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why don't car companies create aesthetically pleasing car bodies (Lamborghinis, Ferraris) that have an everyday car's power and durability, but the looks of a supercar?

For instance, the guts of a Honda Civic, but the body of a Porsche... or the guts of a Volvo, but the looks of a Jaguar?  I remember kit cars where you'd take a Fiero and put a Lambo kit on it and it would look awesome.  Why not just make a production car along the same lines?

[Assistant]
Most major car companies own these boutique brands. Putting that kind of style into a typical car would devalue their own brands.

Also if your car looks like a lambo but performs like a civic it's honestly less impressive then just owning a civic. Outside of teenagers you wont find a market.


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

[User] ELI5 please, the different defensive formations in American football. I'm listening to sports talk radio, and they just mentioned that this one guy would be used in nickel packages. I'm a football fan, but I just don't understand what these mean.

[Assistant]
A nickel defense is used when the defense expects the offense to pass--when the team on offense has to get a lot of yardage, or perhaps is behind and needs to score quickly.

A nickel defense uses five (hence the name) defensive backs--that is, players who play well back to cover receivers from the offense coming down the field to catch passes. Normally, a team playing on defense would have only four players back.

Teams could also run a dime defense, which adds an additional defensive back to the nickel to make six players defending against the pass.


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

[User] ELI5: What does the gas pedal in your car actually do to increase your speed?

[Assistant]
In older cars its physically linked to a cable that opens/closes the engines air intake.

With the intake further open, more air enters and the fuel control system (carburetor or fuel injectors) increases the fuel flow in kind.

More air and more fuel makes the engine spin faster, generating more power.

In modern vehicles the direct linkage is replaced with sensors and electronic controls, but the general concept is the same.


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

[User]
Change my view: An API token is the same as a password, but called differently.

An API token works like a password for any user: It allows access to the API. It's usually harder to memorize, but passwords can be hard as well. It can be changed, but so can passwords. It's usually automatically generated, but you can do that with passwords as well.
We just call it "token" because people would get scared if we called it "password" and it's in plain view.

[Assistant] I don't think anyone would disagree, but it doesn't seem to be a big deal. "Token" is _useful shorthand_ for "large, randomly-generated credential with authorization to perform certain operations". It has most of the properties one would want from a username/password pair without most of the pesky problems humans have in managing usernames and passwords.


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

[User]
[DC] Who was Mandrakk the Dark Monitor, How powerful was he, and what were his goals?

As the title says, I've heard he can one-shot The Anti-Monitor.

How powerful is this ... thing? And what were his goals?

[Assistant]
He is a monitor, who are essentially guardians of individual universes, that all work under the Primal Monitor, which is essentially the comic page itself.

Between each universe exists The Bleed, which is essentially pure concentrated story in liquid form. The first Mandrakk (the one youre talking about), learned that you can become much more powerful by literally drinking the Bleed, and did. The reason he was so powerful was because he had been chock full of story. Its all very meta.


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

[User] Can birth defects be detected in eggs or sperm?

[Assistant]
Generally speaking, no.

First of all, there are many things that happen after fertilization that can cause or prevent a birth defect.

Second, for many congenital disorders, it's neither sperm alone nor the egg alone that determines whether the disorder will occur; you have to know both the sperm and the egg to know whether a disorder will occur.

Finally, you don't know which sperm will fertilize an egg, so anything that occurs in a small fraction of sperm can't easily be detected.

That said, there are some cases in which we can conclude from genetics of the parents that the fetus would almost certainly have a genetic disorder.

And there are some other cases where we can conclude from genetics of the parents that the fetus would probably have a genetic disorder, and in some of those cases we can test a fertilized egg to see if it has the disorder. In those cases, we can fertilize multiple eggs in the lab, pick one that doesn't have the disorder, and implant it in the uterus to produce a fetus without the disorder.


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

[User]
[Man of Steel]Why were Kryptonians paring up and having children such a rare occarence?

Going by Zod's reaction, it is as if this has never happened before. Why are Jor-El and Lara the only couple around? Are we to assume that they geneticallly engineer the male and females so that they have lower sex drives? Also, if there are more couples, how would they stop them from wanting to have children, like what Jor-El and Lara did?

[Assistant] By the end, Krypton society has largely view natural birth as barbaric and primitive. It unnecessarily endangers the mother and leaves too much up to genetic chance for a Kryptonian child to not developed genetic defect. Artificial wombs eliminates those risks and also via genetic manipulation specialized Kryptonians to fill in the needs of Krypton as a whole.


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

[User]
[The Culture] I'm a ship Mind, and Contact has tasked me with introducing contemporary Earth to The Culture. What're my best options?

I'd like to minimize all human suffering as quickly as possible, while maintaining the dignity of the species.

I'm reasonably large and well-crewed, but am no GSV.

[Assistant] I'd recommend reviewing the records of the *Arbitrary* and its crew, they visited during the 1970s CE. The Earth's various cultures have changed dramatically (for better and worse) in the past 40 years, so their approach may not be appropriate now.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does cross breeding work between certain species but not all?

[Assistant]
Your genetic code is like a recipe, a series of biological steps that describe how to make you you.  Your unique recipe is created by going through your parents' recipes, and at each step choosing at random from your father or your mother.

If both of your parents are German chocolate cakes, their recipes are going to be very similar and most the steps are are going to be the same.  Maybe one uses a darker chocolate or has more pecans, but isn't going to matter too much which parent you get which step from.

If one of your parents was a red velvet cake instead, the recipes are different, but still pretty close.  There is pretty good chance you'll still get some sort of cake out of the combination, but it is going to be a pretty unusual one no one has ever seen before.

But if one of your parents was a banana cream pie, those recipes are too different.  When you try to combine them,  you are probably just going to make a mess, and not get any sort of edible dessert out of your efforts.


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

[User] [Silent Hill & Stranger Things] Is the extra dimension in Silent Hill actually the upside down?

[Assistant] Id say no, as the varying dimensions of Silent Hill (besides the actual city in Maine) all mold themselves differently to the psyche of the people who enter them in their search for catharsis. The Upside Down (only watched season 1) seems to vaguely reflect the physical location of where people enter it.


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

[User]
[SCP Foundation] How does the SCP foundation contain SCP-033?

Ok, there's a secret integer, and the foundation have it on a piece of paper they keep locked away. Fine. But how does that keep it locked away? If I write "2" on a piece of paper and stick it in a vault, that doesn't secure the number 2, does it? I just have a piece of paper, and things still come in pairs outside the vault.

If its a number it's just...in the world, surely? Having the symbols used to describe it on a piece of paper doesn't change anything. The *number* is still around waiting for someone to notice it.

I know there are unsustainable or incomplete containment, but this just seems pointless. How does writing an equation for a number down and locking it up do *anything* about the actual number?

[Assistant]
It's a number that doesn't fit in our current understanding of mathematics.

The necessary containment would be "watching universities to see if any professors go crazy screaming about the discovery of a new number."

The SCP is basically self containing anyways, it can't be stored on digital storage, any computer that tried to calculate it would crash, and any college student that accidentally stumbled on it would just assume they were making a mistake somewhere.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is atomic decay measured in a half-life? Why not just measure it by a full life?

Does it decay fully? Is that why it's measured by half of it decaying?

[Assistant]
Atomic decay is based on the current amount of the substance.  So if you've got 10 lbs. of uranium-238, you will have 5 lbs. in 4.5 billion years.  If you wait another 4.5 billion years, you'll then have 2.5 lbs.  And so forth.

The 'full life' - the time it takes for a substance to completely decay - would be infinite for all substances.


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

[User] [Alien]Why does cloning Riply also clone the parasite?

[Assistant] We know that a gestating an xenomorph take upon the genetic properties of the host.  It appears the transference is two ways.  Remember they are nanotech bio-weapons.  The sample they has must have been when the queen's DNA has already spread through her system.  We see evidence in the failures and that the new clone has alien xenomorph properties.  The 2d alien the new queen makes is an even worse genetic melange.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why do so many actors end up directing some of the episodes of the tv show they are starring on?

e.g. Michael J. Adams directed the winter premier of Suits, like I have seen it very often. Is it something with their contracts?

[Assistant]
It is a way to expand professionally.

Being on a mid-tier basic cable TV series isn't something you can ride for the rest of your career...especially if you were cast for being young and good looking, and that is becoming less true each passing year.  If you don't want to go back to doing dinner theater and TV commercials, directing is a career path you can continue one with when you are balding and overweight.

Also, not to disparage a career, but it isn't that hard to do with an established TV show.  The producers and writers have all the creative control, the actors know their characters, the sets are build, the wardrobe stocked, and there is an experienced assistant director standing right next to you.  It is more than just yelling "action!" and "cut!", but with a bunch of people who've done a hundred times before, it is a pretty gentle way to break into the craft.

Finally, sometimes it is in the contract.  If you are a lead in a long running TV show, there is a temptation to leave and find something else before it loses its popularity and before you lose your looks.  The show has to provide inducements for you to stay, money, more creative control, and sometimes the opportunity to direct.


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

[User]
Why is neutron radiation best shielded with materials made from light elements?

Hi all,

I know that since neutrons are not charged, they tend to be shielded through capture by nuclei.  This seems to often create unstable isotopes that emit secondary radiation.
Why do I hear that the best materials for neutron shielding are derived from elements with low atomic number (such as even water)?  Is it because these materials tend to have a higher volume density of nuclei due to fewer electrons in high level orbitals?  In that case, how is the secondary radiation dealt with?

Thanks!

[Assistant]
If you work through the math, you will find that a neutron will give up more energy (per collision) if it is running into nuclei that have lower mass.  Ever play pool (billiards)?  The balls all weigh the same - if you hit another ball dead-on with the cue ball, the cue ball comes to a complete stop.  If the balls weighed 10 times as much as the cue ball, it becomes much harder to transfer any energy to them.

Water is mostly hydrogen atoms (protons), which have basically the same mass as neutrons.  It only takes an average of 18 scattering events with protons to slow a fission neutron completely.  It takes over 2000 scattering events with uranium to do the same thing.

Why do we want to slow them?  Neutrons are easier to capture the lower their velocity.  So an effective neutron shield will be able to 1) slow neutrons down and 2) capture them.  Hydrogen also has a decently large capture cross section, so it can both slow and absorb them.  Also, if H-1 absorbs a neutron, it becomes H-2 - which isn't radioactive.  If you want to get fancy, you can mix in a strong absorber like helium-3 or cadmium.  To shield the secondary radiation, you can throw on another shielding layer (like lead).

One of the best neutron shields is just plain old concrete.  It's low-atomic-number, dense, fairly cheap, and you can mix in other components if you want to get fancy.


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

[User]
ELI5 - Why is all lint blueish grey?

I have a pretty colorful wardrobe, and yet all the lint that comes out of the dryer is the same blue-grey color. In fact, it's the same color as all lint from any dryer I've seen. Anyone know why? Something about the detergent or something?

[Assistant] Dark colors are always gonna be the most prominent of colors, regardless of what you have. Multiple colors at once make darker stuff, and a lot of the fluff that comes off in the dryer are very thin/small bits of color, when combined tend to make grey.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do adults need fiber if babies only drink milk?

[Assistant]
Babies digestive tact is not ready to make fully formed (solid) poops.  For babies, having solid poops before they are a little older can be a problem.

Many adults don't "need" fiber, but it has been shown to improve many health markers.


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

[User]
ELI5: if every person's genome is unique, where along the umbilical cord does the mother's genome end and the child's begin?

The genome is obviously specific to an individual's cells, but the umbilical cord transports nutrients and blood and the like to the child. Is the cord itself the child's genome but what it transports are the mother's?

[Assistant]
All of the umbilical cord contains cells with the child's DNA, and (mostly) all the blood cells it transports are also made with the child's DNA. But the organ the umbilical cord connects to, the placenta, is where the mother's cells and the child's cells interface to exchange nutrients.

Some cells do cross the placenta, so the mother will have bits of her child's DNA in her system, and the child will have bits of the mother's DNA in their system.


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

[User] ELI5, how someone who earns money through stocks creates jobs.

[Assistant]
Let's say you run a little ice cream company. Your ice cream shop is doing great! You want to build more space to make more ice cream and give out more cones to your friends! (hopefully their parents will pay, too) The problem is that building a bigger ice cream shop is expensive, and you don't have all the money you need right now. Actually it's really really expensive and not even your credit card can cover it.

What if you asked random people to give you money in exchange for part ownership of the company? That way you can get all the money you need now to build, and the people who helped you out get some money back in the future - it's a win/win situation.

Since you decided to hand out ownership slices (stock) to these people (stockholders), you now are able to build a much bigger shop and hire new people to run the bigger shop. Once you start making money (which is now, everyone loves ice cream!) then those people (stockholders) start getting a certain share of the money your business makes after paying normal bills (dividends).

It's not that people make money and jobs are created, it's that people give money to create jobs, then some (or a lot) is made back.


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

[User]
If atoms are 99.9999% empty space....

How far is each atom in relation to the other?  Are the nuclei closer together?  Do electron paths cross over into the adjacent atoms' space? Am I asking completely the wrong questions?

I find this fact extremely mind boggling, yet very interesting!

[Assistant]
The space in the atom is fully occupied by electron(s). It is not empty in any reasonable sense. When an electron is in a bound state in an atom, it is not just that we don't know exactly where it is, it is that it literally does not have a specific position. It is like a standing wave, where the ripples are mostly concentrated in a rough sphere with a radius on the order of half a nanometer or so.

It is only when you fire something like a high energy x-ray at the atom that the scattering between the x-ray and the electron takes place in a smaller and more well defined region of space in the atom. But once you resolve the position of the electron in this manner, and say 'it is right over here', it is no longer bound to the atom, it is being shot right out of the system with incredible momentum.

When people say that the electron behaves like a point particle, they are referring to a hypothesized internal structure. If you shoot very energetic x-rays or gamma rays at an electron, no matter where you resolve the position to be, the electron seems to be a singular object.

The proton is different as it has internal parts. The position of the proton can be smeared out all over space like an electron, but no matter where it is its parts are very close together (mostly within 10^-15 meters) of each other. You can tell that it has parts because if you hit it with a high energy particle, it behaves like a bag of stuff, not like a singular particle.

If the electron has parts, then they must be confined to a region within about 10^-18 m or so. So if you fire a super high energy gamma ray at an atom and hit the electron, you will change its state to occupy a very precise volume, but you will find that all of its pieces are mostly in that volume. Right now, there is no indication that an electron has any such internal structure, so people think of it as a point particle when it is hit by super high energy particles.


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

[User] ELI5: What exactly happens when a WiFi router stops working and needs to be restarted to give you internet connection again?

[Assistant]
Routers are essentially tiny, low-power computers. They have their own operating system in there and everything.

When the OS is first started, it's in a 'clean' state where everything is configured and working properly. All the services are in place, all the connections are set up, everything is green.

As the OS works, over time it might encounter problems. There might be errors. Some of those can be easily recovered from, some not. Some of them don't cause any problems, some of them interfere with the router's function, slowing it down or outright preventing it from doing its thing. Restarting the router returns the OS to that initial clean state where everything is working again.


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

[User]
[Marvel/DC/General] What fictional characters would likely be the most pissed off the learn that they're fictional?

I believe this question was asked before, but I can't find it for the life of me.

[Assistant] Peter Parker, Bruce Wayne would be pretty upset once they figured out that a writer killed their parents for a good backstory. Also, Oswald Cobblepot, MODOK would probably be upset that a writer decided to give them a hideous deformity.


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

[User] [Marvel] A whisper from Black Bolt can level an entire city. What happens when he screams at the top of his lungs?

[Assistant]
He could destroy not just Earth, but possibly several surrounding planets. Maybe even the solar system if it's loud enough.

During the War of Kings, he concentrated a large amount of his voice's energy into a bomb named the Terrigen Bomb. When it detonated, it completely vaporized a huge fleet of enemies, vaporized several planets, and tore a massive hole in the fabric of spacetime, all in a couple of seconds.

So yeah, his scream would be pretty damn powerful.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why was Krakatoa's eruption so much louder than other volcanic eruptions?

There have been numerous other volcanic explosions in Earth's history, and some which were hundreds of times more powerful than Krakatoa (Ex: The Toba Super-Eruption). Yet, Krakatoa's Eruption is considered one of the loudest events in Earth's history. Why is this?

[Assistant]
One of the leading theories is because of Krakatoa proximity to water.

Krakatoa has been erupting for a while before its massive explosion, leading to the theory that would of the eruptions had actually plugged the caldera down to the magma chamber, allowing pressure to build.

The next step in the theory is that some part of the eruption/building pressure allowed a lot of sea water to rush into the magma chamber. This sea water instantly boiled when hitting the hot magma, creating gas, and a significant amount of pressure.

Like how pouring water into a pot of oil will send the oil everywhere (because the water sinks, hits the bottom of the pan, and instantly turns to gas bubbles sending the oil above it everywhere).

Its theorized that this is what gave Krakatoa so much extra energy, several times more than say Mt St Helens eruption. Because of this flash boiling effect.


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

[User]
[Mass effect] If everyone had belived Shephard, how much more effective would the council races been at fighting the reapers?

Edit: Just to specify I meant after sovereign attacked.

[Assistant]
Not much. They had a sample size of one Reaper and very little information on what they'd be facing. The Reapers were still quite good at keeping the organics down technologically.

Basically, think the Prothean Empire, but instead of a decapitation strike to the Citadel, an extremely protracted galaxy-wide scouring.


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

[User] Can leeches contract aids/hiv?

[Assistant]
No. It doesn't really work like that.

So viruses are fairly specific to the lifeform and similar beings. It may jump, but the two species need to have similar immune system.

Leeches, and **all** invertebrates, don't have an adaptive immune system.  That means leeches don't even have the cell HIV infects.


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

[User]
What is missing from the theoretical model of physics that prevents us from replicating everything as a simulation? (something along the lines of the matrix)

 What sort of computing power would you need for that kind of simulation?

[Assistant]
Too much computing power. The fundamental issue is that the number of interactions you need to calculate increases as the factorial of the number of things in your interaction. Let me give an example.

Lets pretend that there are 2 electrons in our simulation, and we want to keep track of their behavior. In this case, there are only 2 forces we need to calculate: the force of both electrons on each other. Now lets say we add another electron to the simulation and label them A, B, and C. Now we have 3 objects, but now there are 6 interactions: A on B, B on A, A on C, C on A, B on C, and C on B. ~~(Or, 3 factorial, which is 3 x 2). If we had 4 objects, there would be 4 x 3 x 2 = 24 interactions, and so on. As you can see, the number of interactions increases extremely quickly. By the time you get to 60 electrons, you need to calculate about 10^82 different interactions- a number bigger than the number of atoms in the visible universe. Let me re-iterate that: Fully simulating 60 electrons would require more calculations than there are atoms in the universe.~~

Edit: as others have pointed out, this is incorrect. The number of interactions scales as n^2 not n!.

The end result of all of this is that we cannot take our fundamental understanding of the universe and use it to simulate anything but the most simple of systems. Instead, simulations need to use simplified models and shortcuts in order to get reasonable calculation times.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Where did the Naboo blockade go between Amidala leaving and returning to the planet?

[Assistant]
The planet was already occupied, their allies in the senate were working to clean the situation up. There was no longer a need for a full blockade.  They had control of the ground.

Ships are expensive, no business is going to leave them deployed racking up the bills if they could be of more use elsewhere.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do we have to emulate old consoles? Why can't we instead write a translator that will transform, for example, old NES game code to new X86 CPU?

Why? What are the technical limitations? The NES vs X86 is just an example, but let's say we can "fill out the blanks" like GPU emulation, etc, then why? Were there any attempts like that for software emulation?

I mean, why can't we write a one-time translator that converts NES rom to Windows Exe (for example)? Wouldn't it be better than using "runtime emulators" and virtual machines?

[Assistant]
In theory this is possible. What you're describing is essentially decompiling software compiled for one architecture, and recompiling it for a different architecture.

The main issue here is that writing such a "recompiler" is extremely hard. Decompiling is already a pretty shaky process that often results in very questionable source code that is near impossible to understand (despite being technically "human readable") and sometimes has a few unexpected errors when recompiled as the computer starts to get confused working with this pretty washed code. Trying to then adapt this code to new architectures and trying to guess what each code maps to is not a trivial task at all.

In some cases you'd simply collide with modern architectures not allowing things that older architectures did. Certain games on older consoles did a lot of *really* shaky things for optimization sake, like writing and reading from "off-limit" memory to increase their own memory space or relying on very specific hardware quirks (not architecture quirks, quirks in the literal hardware) that are either impossible to do or will get a resounding "no, forbidden" from the target OS.


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

[User]
ELI5: The difference between 1080i and 1080p

While you're at it, whats the difference between 1080, 720, 480, etc.?

[Assistant] They're names for different screen resolutions, with the number indicating the number of horizontal scan lines, i.e. 1920 x 1080, 1280 x 720, 640 x 480, etc. The i and p mean interlaced and progressive, respectively. What this means is that with 1080i, every other horizontal line is drawn, thus saving computation time and especially video size. In 1080p, *every* horizontal line is drawn. With a still picture, most people cannot tell the difference between 1080i and 1080p. With a moving video or games, however, the difference between the two becomes far more apparent. 1080p is very noticeably more clear in fast motion.


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

[User]
ELI5: If a coin is flipped 1,000 times, would the result of it being head all the 1,000 times be the same as if it was split 50/50?

I had a test last week in math, and it got me thinking. It asked the following question;

"If you toss a coin 4 times, what's the most likely scenario; AAAA, BBBB, ABAB, ABBA."

I chose all of them, can anyone explain me why or why not that is correct or wrong?

[Assistant]
That depends on *how* it is split 50/50.

There's only one way to flip heads 1000 times in a row.

However, there are many ways to flip 500 heads and 500 tails: you could flip 500 heads followed by 500 tails, or flip heads and then tails and then heads and then tails and so on, or flip heads and then 500 tails and then 499 heads, and so on.

But the chance of any *specific* order occurring is equally as likely as any other specific order, since the possibilities for each event are equal and the events are independent.


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

[User] ELI5: How can it be possible to be declared innocent of a crime when there is video and audio of the event?

[Assistant]
The point isn't to be declared "innocent", more "not guilty". The distinction is important because innocent means "we know he didn't do it" which is nearly impossible to know.

"Not guilty" means there's not enough evidence to convict someone of a crime.


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

[User]
ELI5: Different bullet types and their pros/cons

Particularly your basic bullet, full metal jacket and hollow points.

[Assistant]
Full metal jacket means that the lead bullet has a thin coating of metal around it.  These bullets are pointed at the tip.  Pros: Since the lead is coated there is less residue in the barrel after shooting.  Con(?): Since the tip is pointed and covered in hard metal, this kind of bullet pierces without expanding much.

Soft tip bullets have a flat tip with the lead exposed.  These expand a bit when hitting the body (meaning, more damage) but are a little dirtier in the barrel.

Hollow points are soft tips with a little scoop taken out so that they really expand when hitting something.

Armor piercing bullets have a hard little core of VERY hard metal so that when the bullet smashes into something hard, the metal core punches through it.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] Its been implied wizards of the past were measurably more powerful than those today. Examples include stories of feats modern wizards can't do and old magical artifacts that can't be duplicated. (eg: sorting hat, philosophers stone, deathly hallows) Is there a reason for this?

[Assistant]
It is the same as somebody saying 'no good music is produced these days, the music of the 60s/70s/80s was much better'. There was a lot of worthless music/crappy magical artifacts in the past, but only the good music/powerful artifacts survived to the present day, giving a skewed perception of the past.

There are plenty of powerful items being produced in the present day, such as Voldermort's horcruxes or the Marauder's Map, but you don't notice them as much because of all the cheap modern tat that abounds, such as the Weasleys' novelty products. The items of the modern era that are powerful enough to stand the test of time will eventually develop their own legends, like the feral Ford Anglia currently living in the Forbidden Forest.


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

[User]
What would happen if an electron and a proton met?

Would it create a neutron?

[Assistant] At low energies they would form a hydrogen atom, under extreme pressure they would form a neutron, and if you smashed them together really fast (like in the Hera experiment at Desy), you can break up the proton and get quark jets.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do we hear so much about Mexican drug cartels but nothing about the American distributors they sell to?

What happens when the drugs cross the border?  Where do they go?  Who is moving them and why do we never hear about it?

[Assistant]
Drugs operate in a pyramidal fashion. The cartels are at the top. That's where the money, guns and power resides. The people crossing the border are next down, and they have the toughest job. Next is the distributors who pass it out like middle management. Drug dealers are the bottom of the heap.

When you hear about any big company, you usually hear about the CEO and board of directors. Sometimes upper management. How often do you hear about middle management or the cube farm workers?


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

[User]
Why do science fiction movies include statistician characters that know the odds of any particular event happening?

So in Star Wars, for example, when C-3PO says something like "Our chance of survival is only 2.5%." How does that work? Wouldn't there be an innumerable amount of variables in any given scenario the characters of the story could go through? Is my conception of what statisticians do completely distorted by this idea of being able to calculate the probability of a seemingly unknowable event happening in a matter of moments? What are your thoughts?

[Assistant] I wouldnt really call c3p0 a statistician, and i wouldnt really call statisticians people who know the probability of all events. In terms of star wars though, c3p0 could have referenced known facts about asteroid travel. (I.e. im sure intergalactic insurance companies compute the relative incidence of asteroid accidents per lightyear travelled). Not sure what other answers exist but am curious!


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

[User] [Star War] Did Obi-Wan know that Anakin and Padme were together?

[Assistant]
Yes. At the very least, he had his suspicions, according to the novelisation to *RotS.*

Anakin never hid how he felt about Padme, although he and Obi-Wan don't walk about it. Obi-Wan could also tell that Padme's eyes light up when someone mentions Anakin.

Obi-Wan never acted on it because he knew that Padme made Anakin happy.


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

[User] [His Dark Materials] So let's say I take a knife or a gun or some weapon and start trying to kill a daemon like it's a normal animal. What happens?

[Assistant] If you kill a Daemon with conventional means it kills the human. That's why a human without a Daemon is so terrifying, and why the witches (who can operate so far removed from their Daemons) are so unnerving.


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

[User]
How are we able to calculate the mass of the Sun?

I understand that you use The Law of Universal Gravitation, but can someone give me an in-depth explanation?

[Assistant]
Law of Universal Gravitation
F = G*M1*M2/r^2
We know G, we know M2 (mass of earth), and we know r (earth-sun distance), so all we need to do is calculate F.
We also know that for circular motion
F = V^2/r
r is the same as above, and V (velocity of earth) we can calculate based on the period of revolution (1 year) and the distance (2*pi*r).

Of course the orbit is slightly elliptical so you can get a bit more technical, but that should get you most of the way there.


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

[User] [Terminator universe] If the time machines only travel living tissue, than why is hair kept?

[Assistant] "Living tissue" is a simplistic description, as is the "no metal" rule (since the T-1000 is made of some kind of alloy). It'd be more accurate to say organic material is cool, though the T-1000 still somehow passes muster with the machine.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does my voice sound different recorded

When I took a video&film class we had to create an entire short story riddled with dialogue.  While I was editing my film with my partners, we noticed that we each thought our voices sounded differently from what we thought we sounded like.  Does my voice actually sound like what I hear when I speak or is what I am hearing from the film truly how I sound?  Also, what is the reason for this discrepancy?

[Assistant]
You sound like the recording to others more or less.

When you speak you're causing vibrations in the air that produce sound; these vibrations are also rattling your facial bones slightly. The vibration of your bones is picked up in your ear and what you hear when you speak aloud is a composite of the vibrations in your bones and some of the vibrations in the air.

Others only hear the vibrations in the air.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How stupid and blind were the Jedi to not know Anakin and Padme were involved?

I don't have any control over The Force and I can instantly tell when two people are attracted to each other.

How did they manage to sneak around for years without anybody having a clue they were banging? Did nobody ever say "Hey, I have a question for Anakin." and feel through the force that he was mid-coitus?

[Assistant] They knew they were banging.  The Jedi don't really have a problem with banging.  They didn't know that they were in an actual loving committed relationship.  Their overall ability to sense things was clouded by the Dark Side for most of that time.  Yoda says so outright.


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

[User]
[Halo] Which branch of the UNSC military do the Spartans belong?

So the UNSC millitary is divided into Navy, Army, Marines, Air Force, and the Office of Naval Intelligence.  Which branch of the UNSC military do the Spartans belong? Is it ONI as they were the ones who came up with Spartan project?

[Assistant]
Spartan IIs were under ONI as part of the Navy, Spartan IIIs and IVs were organized as their own branch under United Nations Space Command Defense Force.
Essentially you have the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Spartans all as separate branches.


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

[User]
What happens when you compress water?

I hear a lot that water is incompressible. But it must to some degree.

Hypothetically if you take the mass of two planets and make them collide with a litre of water in the middle, what would happen?

When people say water is incompressible, I take it as such. Can a litre of water really support two planets? Seems too far fetched. Please ignore the container and all little nitpicks such as this.

[Assistant]
You don't need to collide two planets to compress water. You can just put it in a pressurized chamber, or go to the bottom of the ocean.

Water is incompressible for most engineering applications, but it definitely compresses. It compresses by about 2% at 4 kilometers under water. If you put it under more extreme pressures, you get different types of ice that form.


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

[User]
[The Matrix] Why didn't the agents take over a body of a cop near Trinity at the beginning?

We know that anyone plugged in is a part of the system and no one can be trusted. I know the first scene was shot before the rest of the movie as a showcase for what they could do, but it was so much easier for Trin.

 On a related note, what happens when your friend who is a cop is turned into an Agent? Do they just forget about them? Is their mind erased? Does the person disappear form the Matrix?

[Assistant]
"No, Lieutenant, your men are already dead.". Smith knows it because he would have taken them over if them if they weren't. By the time the Agents arrive, those men were already dead, we just didn't see it in sequence.

I also assume that the Agents can't possibly monitor the entire Matrix at once, otherwise Morpheus and the Gang would be spotted the moment someone connected to the Matrix sees them.

>On a related note, what happens when your friend who is a cop is turned into an Agent? Do they just forget about them? Is their mind erased? Does the person disappear form the Matrix?

They can manipulate your perceptions, they interrogated Neo, sealed his mouth shut, implanted a shrimp tracker into his stomach and passed it off as a dream.

I assume if they still lived, that's what would happen and if not, a suitable cover story is used to maintain the illusion.


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

[User] If I take a concrete block and grind it down to a fine powder and then add water, will it re-solidify? If so, will it have the same integrity as the original block?

[Assistant]
Huzzah!  In short the answer is no, mostly because the idea that concrete existing as both a solid and a liquid (or a flowable solid) is incorrect.  Concrete in reality only exists as a solid.  Before mixing, the dry components of concrete are a combination of binder and aggregate.  The binder is typically portland cement (limestone, alumino-silicate, and calcium sulfate) while the aggregate is sand or rocks, the size of the aggregate varies depending on the mix and is tightly controlled.  When water is added to the mix it reacts with calcium silicate (either tricalcium silicate or dicalcium silicate) and results in calcium silicate hydrate, calcium hydroxide, and heat.  In a perfect world all of the calcium silicate would hydrate during the first 28 days, but sometimes a small percentage is left over and reacts slowly over time as the concrete is exposed to to the environment.  This can cause expansion and cracking of the concrete.  If you took cured concrete and ground it down, that minute portion of unhydrated calcium silicate would react, but it wouldn't be nearly enough to hold the rest of the mixture together.

**tl;dr Concrete is formed through a chemical reaction, and can't be ground down and used again.**


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

[User]
ELI5: <serious> How does a business like Trump's golf courses/hotels that have been losing money for so long continue to be able to make payroll, yet many other businesses that run this kind of debt end up going out of business?

Please no political debate.  I'm just curious from an economic standpoint how these businesses stay around yet I see plenty of other companies (small to large enterprise) not surviving 2020.

[Assistant]
Youre not going to get an accurate answer here, because the tax records are not public and there is more detail needed to explain why this might be happening.

However there are really only two options:

-	The business is cash flow positive but losing money. The US has aggressive depreciation options. If the EBITDA is positive on the assets, then the loss is just in the interest, depreciation, and/or amortization.
-	Outside money/financing. The company is being subsidized through other assets with positive net income.


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

[User]
[Star Wars Episode III] Can the Jedi Council legally arrest a Chancellor?

In Star Wars Episode III, once the Jedi Council find out from Anakin that Chancellor Palpatine is a Sith Lord, they move to arrest him. My question is, was the Council acting within their authority? I'm assuming they'd have the power to arrest people, since they essentially act as law enforcement, but can they unilaterally arrest someone as powerful as the Chancellor, especially with no evidence besides one witness testimony? Were Palpatine to voluntarily go on trial, would the charges have actually stuck?

[Assistant] Yes they could. He is a sith lord which was outlawed by the old republic laws and the jedi code. All they had to do was hold him as a sith and present evidence that he had masterminded the war with count dooku. It would be extremely murky legally like the equivalent of a mall cop detaining a terrorist until homeland security could take custody.


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

[User]
Does programming get easier?

Currently a freshman taking Computer Engineering (CpE in my uni is more focused on EE, bt dubs) and I'm pretty sure a few days ago i got a 2/5 in our first activity in intro to programming . We basically created a flowchart/algorithm for a few tasks (we were allowed to partner up but I didn't). Most of them went home early because they completed it on time. Me, I couldn't even answer the last three! The tasks were 1;expressing a\^b algebraically, 2;switching the variables of x and y without using another variable, and 3; expressing modulo division. My question is: does it get easier? I've already dabbled in coding before (finished like half a week of CS50) but I seem to lack an "intuition" or something. Can this "intuition" be learned? Or should I just switch courses? (Keep in mind I really love working with computers but I don't think I have the "it" factor that programmers have)

[Assistant]
> does it get easier?

>Can this intuition be learned?

Of course. Programming is like any other skill, the more you practice and learn, the easier it becomes. The question you should be asking is do you want to take the time and effort to learn these things?

>Most of them went home early because they completed it on time

Yes, some people will start off with a better knack for programming then others, but that doesn't matter. No matter what you choose to do, you will always find people who are better at it than you. You'll also find people worse at it than you. What really matters your own self-improvement.

Its totally reasonable to not grasp everything in the first quiz of a course. You should take this as a learning moment, go look up these things right now (google is your friend) and see if you can figure it out. Ask your instructor for the answers to the quiz so you can see how it was done. Ask your instructor some more questions at the end of class about it if you're still struggling. Keep trying until you get it.

Or take something else, you're under no obligation to learn programming if you don't want to. The first weeks of freshman year is a great time to experiment.


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

[User] ELI5: What is laughing and why does it happen?

[Assistant] It's an evolved social signal that indicates safety / lack of a threat. Think about how we often laugh when someone has a very minor injury - the opposite reaction of a serious injury. Laughing diffuses tension and makes people lower their guard.


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

[User]
CMV: There is no silver lining to the COVID pandemic.

The pandemic brought millions of deaths, a lot of people got sequels from COVID, others got anxiety, the world is in (another) economic recession. P.S.: also, the expansion of public transit is basically dead.

\- Change of mentality: this pandemic showed how selfish the human being can be. This pandemic came to be during the post-truth era and during the government of conspirationist populists in some countries, so a lot of people (especially in supposedly well-educated countries) ignored health safety measurements because of some conspiracy in regards to "loss of freedom". Also, countries in the lower end of human development will take forever to vaccinate their populations because of patents.

\- Vaccines: the pandemic brought to us a vaccine that was made in record time and still be around as effective and safe as other vaccines. However, the record time brought a problem: people start to mistrust it because it took too little to make. Also, these people's fears got intensified because the vaccine has an "extremely high" (read "non-zero") chance of side effects. And it gets worse because there are (supposedly) a few cases of vaccinated kids getting heart issues, which will hinder the vaccination even more.

[Assistant]
No one is saying that silver lining offset the negatives, but they do exist.

I would say the biggest one is glacier shift on "work from home" culture. Employees and companies found out that many jobs can be done from home which is great because it eliminates commute which is bad for both personal time and environment.

I don't think "office only" culture will survive even post pandemic.


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

[User]
Businesses that reduce working hours to avoid paying insurance coverage for employees and their spouses under ACA deserve to be vilified in the press and in public opinion CMV

Any company that already pays for insurance but threatens to reduce coverage or eliminate it entirely because of the ACA is gaming the system and deserves to be vilified by everyone that comes in contact with that business.

Businesses that are already mostly part-time should keep their public relation arms silent on the issue. They never intended to cover their employees anyway. By speaking up and demagoguing the issue they expose themselves as tools of the Anti-Obama right and should have no voice in the debate. Their employees will finally have access to affordable health insurance under the ACA. Their opposition to it is deplorable.

If a small business owner has to make larger outlays to provide health insurance, they can pass the cost to their consumers. Everyone in the same boat. Besides the cut-off of 50 employees that requires insurance for full-time workers means that your business is not that small. Its time for a little reciprocal responsibility to your community. Enough of pushing the health needs of your employees to the public welfare system of health care. Man up!

[Assistant]
There's a huge structural problem with the 50 employee limit, though, which is that it's based on something that has nothing to do with the business's ability to pay for the healthcare.

And it means that businesses right around this threshold of size (in employees) have massive incentives, created by the law, to game the system.

A company that helps unemployed people find work as ditchdiggers might have hundreds of employees, but extremely low margins, and might be completely incapable of providing healthcare without going out of business.

On the other hand, a software company with 25 employees might be entirely capable of providing the benefit, but fail to do so purely out of greed by the owner.

If they based the threshold on the profit per employee of the business, then businesses would have an interesting conundrum on their hands. The only way they could reduce their healthcare costs by "avoiding" such a rule would be to be less profitable. Or hire more people. Win/win.

The way it's actually structured, they win by employing (effectively) fewer people.

The system is gamed entirely because it's *designed* to be gamed.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is a CPU so small?

Like I understand that it has to fit on the motherboard and socket size but why that specific size?

[Assistant]
Smaller chips - > shorter circuits-> faster signal transduction and less resistance - > less heating and less voltage needed (goes hand in hand).

Heating is the biggest problem for the chip and one of the limiting ones for more power.


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

[User]
[General Fantasy]Why do dwarfs and elves never seem to get along?

I've noticed this whenever dwarfs and elves spot each other, they both seem to make some sort of grimace, make rude gestures, say something rude or in worse case scenarios fighting. I've traded with dwarf, elves and everything in between and found no reason to dislike any of them, maybe disliking someone on a personal reason sure but never the entire race. So why this animosity between the two?

[Assistant]
Its the dichotomy between technology and nature.

Dwarves in general fantasy are usually subterranean, mine the earth, build machines (Of war typically), worship different gods etc etc.

Elves are typically the nature loving, non-interference, live in trees, ancient, dont exploit natural resources etc etc.

They just culturally dont mesh and the values that one holds, like machine building for dwarves isnt reciprocated by the elves and vice versa.


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

[User] [General] How do dragons breathe fire?

[Assistant] There are so many explonations for this, every universe probably has its own. Some have them mixing chemicals, either in the stomach or in the mouth, who they then shoot out. Sometimes these chemicals are so explosive the catch fire as soo as they come out, sometimes they have something relly hot in their mouth that ignites it. Sometimes its straight up magic. Sometimes they are just said "to have the fire inside them", which could mean that their insides really are on fire, or it could means that its just more magic.


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

[User] Would it be better to neutralize an acid spill with a weak base or a strong base?

[Assistant]
How you neutralize depends on the acid.  If you spilled concentrated sulfuric acid, you're best off avoiding water and using something like solid calcium carbonate.  If it's hydrochloric acid, you should dilute before attempting neutralization because HCl produces vapors when it heats up.  If you spill something like hydrofluoric or perchloric acid, you run.

Either way, you will produce less heat if you neutralize with a weak base instead of a strong base.


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

[User] [DC] If Barry Allen generates the Speed Force, how is Wally West the fastest Flash?

[Assistant]
Basically, while Barry is the source of the speed force, Wally has a more efficient mechanism for using it.

Think of them like electric cars. The Tesla S and D use the same battery technology, but the D has a better (pair of) motors, and can accelerate more quickly and achieve a greater top speed.

Barry's generation of the speed force is the batter technology, which Barry and Wally share. Separate from that, Barry and Wally are both able to draw on the Speed Force, which is the motor.

Or, using Star Wars as an example, all living things generate The Force, but some individuals are much more adept at using it.


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

[User]
Is our moon typical compared to other moons in our solar system? In other solar systems?

Is our moon a unique snowflake, or are other moons pretty much the same as ours?

[Assistant]
In the early days of the formation of the solar system, material in the same 'neighborhood' (you can think of this as the distance from the sun) coalesced under it's own gravitational attraction. This is where the planets came from. Their moons most likely formed along with the planets and later became captured. The earth's moon and the earth were most likely both protoplanets along the same orbital path, but eventually the moon's orbit destabilized, it crashed into the earth, and became gravitationally bound like it is today.

Every moon has a unique story. They come in all sizes, some have atmospheres, three have active volcanoes, and two more have icy layers that may have liquid water oceans teaming with life underneath. Mars plucked two asteroids from the asteroid belt. Pluton shares it's orbit with Charon, which is essentially a binary dwarf planet system.

TLDR: Moons are the coolest part of the solar system.


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

[User]
[Marvel/DC] If instead of Tony getting captured by the Ten Rings, it was Bruce Wayne, what would Bruce make in the cave? A Batsuit? Would he even need weapons?

Just wondering, what could Bruce come up with to escape from the Ten Rings' facility? I'm thinking armor, but unlike Tony I doubt Bruce would kill any terrorists, so something non-lethal at the same time. Question is, can Bruce do it? I'm curious because in the films, Lucius seems to be the tech guy and Bruce mostly relies of already existing technology to add to Batman's arsenal. I've never seen Bruce himself ever make the gadgets, atleast, not in the films.

[Assistant]
Traditionally, Bruce makes a lot of his Batman gear himself- Luicus being Batman's Quartermaster is a relatively recent concept introduced by the Nolan movies then got adapted into other media.

That said, Bruce's skillset would probably let him find a way to escape without needing to build any extravagant armor or gadgets on par with what Tony had to do. He's broken out of a maximum security prison as Bruce Wayne before in the comics using his martial skills and ninja training.

Not to mention he probably wouldn't have access to a lot of those resources that Tony had to build his MK1 armor since nobody kidnapping Bruce Wayne would expect him to build a weapon for them or reveal weapons technology secrets. They'd mostly be doing it cause they think it's an easy ransom job.


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

[User] [Superman - any continuity] In the far flung future, how far to humans advance in terms of technology and evolution? Do they, the humans, become like Superman having any sort of powers?

[Assistant]
Usually there is no connection between Krypton and earth's future, other than Superman continuing to hang out in the cosmic neighborhood as an immortal like in Superman 1,000,000.

In the Red Son continuity earth becomes Krypton, which sends Kal-El back into its past to land in mother Russia during the reign of the USSR.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] Does "riddikulus" have any other uses or is it specifically for turning boggarts into funny things?

[Assistant] On some level, this exercise is a lesson in overcoming fear.  It's sort of the same as people telling you to imagine the audience naked to overcome stage fright.  You wouldn't necessarily cast riddikulus when you're facing down a dark wizard, but the overall lesson you're learning here is how to operate *through* an episode of fear and that might come in handy in a situation that might otherwise be fairly paralyzing.


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

[User] What is the difference between gravitational mass and inertial mass?

[Assistant]
Inertial mass is the "m" in F = ma, and gravitational mass is the "m" in F*_g_* = mg.

The former determines how much an object will accelerate for a given force. And the other is like a "gravitational charge", it's how strongly something couples to the gravitational field.

The interesting thing is that there's no known reason why those two quantities have to be the same thing, but as far as we know, they are.


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

[User]
[Sociology]Why is it that most older American women seem to prefer short hair styles, while most younger women favor longer hair styles.

Why is it is that most older American women (in their 60's and up) seem to prefer shorter hairstyles, while most younger women (teens and 20's) seem to prefer longer hairstyles?  What would be the sociological reasons for this?

[Assistant]
There are some interesting theories in here, but they all miss the mark in this (borderline middle-aged) woman's opinion.

Older women cut their hair shorter because long hair makes an old woman look even older.

That's it. Simple.

There are exceptions, and some older women can pull off long hair. But to be perfectly blunt about this, when gravity has begun to have its way with your body and everything is sagging downward more than you want it to, having long hair hanging by your face only exaggerates the effect. Short haircuts give your appearance a bit more of a structured, upward-oriented lift. Take an older woman with long hair, cut it off above the shoulder and style it, and she instantly looks ten years younger, or at least more put-together for her age.

The other point here is that grey hair is different. It's coarser and tends to curl in strange ways, which makes it ill-suited to the long, silky, flowing thing that we expect from beautiful long hair. Long grey hair tends to make a woman look a bit like an unkempt old crone. Short haircuts keep grey hair craziness as contained as tidy as possible.

Nothing to do with what was in style when they were younger, nothing to do with upkeep. They're just trying to groom themselves as flatteringly as possible.


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

[User]
Has anyone had funding stolen? or even heard of that happening?

I had a faculty member ask for picture evidence of a successful outreach event I spent hundreds of hours organizing because they said they were responsible for tracking outreach. Later, they asked me how I was planning on funding the event again and suggested it probably couldn't run because I didn't have funding.

In the process of trying to find funding, I found out from our faculty fundraising team that that faculty member had already been given funding by a private donor that thought it was partially going to fund the outreach event I was trying to run again. She had used the pictures she asked for from me to apply for funding and was planning on using the funding from that solely to promote her work.

It appears to be a violation of our University fraud policy, but I might not bother pursuing that. I was mostly just shocked anyone would care so much more about promoting themselves over outreach.

**Has anything like this happened to anyone else? It took me completely off-guard. What would you do?**

[Assistant] If you mean misappropriation of funds or embezzlement it happens. You could try reporting it, but this is the problem in organisations that accept donor funds without proper processes and governance in place. Really the donor and your organisation should be requiring accounts not just pictures that could be from anything and if there's no proper agreement in place then arguably nothing untoward has happened even if morally it's corrupt.


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

[User]
ELI5: What happens to my plastic bottle after I throw it in the recycling bin?

How long does it take before it is another plastic object for consumer use?

[Assistant]
TL;DR: Your plastic bottle will almost always wind up in a bale of sorted "mixed plastic" in a few days, maybe a week or so. But it's hard to say how long it will be until that bale is processed into recycled plastic granules/pellets and then used to make consumer goods.

Let's start with you putting your plastic bottle in a recycling bin. What happens next?

First, the bin gets collected by a waste management company. This may or may not be the same company that collects non-recyclable garbage in any given area, but it's almost always done with trucks dedicated to recycling. The recycling trucks dump their loads at a recovery facility that may or may not be owned by the same company that owns the trucks. These drop offs occur pretty much all day during business hours, but any given recycling bin is typically only collected once a week.

Second, the recovery facility sorts incoming "mixed material" into different categories using a number of different processes, some automated, some manual. Paper is sorted with an "air knife" that blows it onto a different belt while leaving heavier materials behind. Metals are separated with a magnet (yes, even aluminum, though not in the same way that steel cans are). Rotating drums sort out lighter materials (like plastic) from heavier ones (like glass). And "pickers" remove things like plastic bags, contaminated cardboard, wet/shredded paper, etc., that tend to jam up the machines. Your plastic bottle will most likely end up in a gigantic container containing almost all plastic, sometimes even sorted by plastic type (depends on the facility). The recovery facility will then compact these plastics (mixed or otherwise) into bales, usually of a size appropriate for moving around with a skid loader. This sorting/baling process can potentially run 24/7, depending on how many different waste management companies are dropping off "mixed material" at a particular recovery facility.

So, how long does all of the above take? Well, it could be anywhere from a few minutes to an entire week after you put your bottle in the bin before it gets picked up. But once that happens, it'll probably make its way into a sorted "mixed plastics" bale in less than 24 hours, as recovery facilities try to process material more-or-less as fast as it comes in. Otherwise they'd wind up with an ever-expanding amount of un-sorted material to store!

Recovery facilities sell these bales to plastic recycling companies. Plastic recycling companies take in these bales, sort them (far more carefully than the recovery facility does, and sometimes dividing different kinds of plastic into different production lines), wash them (recovery facility doesn't do that), shred them, and then melt them down to be molded into granules/pellets suitable for use in manufacturing processes.

How long does it take for mixed plastic bales to get recycled? Hard to say. Recovered "mixed plastic" bales are an industrial commodity. Recovery facilities obviously like to move their inventory as fast as possible, but it could be anywhere from a few days to a few weeks before any particular bale gets sold, for any number of reasons not important here. Once a recycler buys a bale, it will typically process it almost right away. But then there's another indefinite period between producing the recycled plastic granules/pellets and selling those on to a manufacturer. Once a manufacturer buys recycled plastic, it's typically used to make consumer products almost right away. But those two delay periods--between compacting a bale and selling it, and between producing recycled plastic granules/pellets and selling those--make it hard to provide a precise estimate. Again, anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. A few *months* even, if the market in recycled plastic is slow for whatever reason. Shipping takes time too, so add in a day or two for each step.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why do law firms use the partnership model?

I'm sure the partnership model works in a lot of situations, but what makes law firms so unique for this model to be the standard? Why aren't they run like 'normal' businesses with an owner/shareholders and salaried employees?

[Assistant]
In modern times, it is legally restricted how lawyers can organize themselves--it's viewed as a bad thing for an attorney to be under control of a non-attorney shareholder for example, considering his special duties toward clients. But that doesn't really answer the historical question.

A lawyer is a typical example of a professional. He trades on his reputation, and it's all about his abilities. You cannot separate the service from the attorney providing it--being represented by John Doe is not the same as being represented by Richard Roe. So it makes sense for lawyers to be business for themselves, albeit with clerks or secretaries assisting them perhaps.

A partnership is an extension of this model--you've got lawyers working together, but they're still individuals with clients specific to them, they just pool some of their capital and other business sources.


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

[User]
Could neutrons be used instead of X-rays for medical imaging? Would that be safer?

I know that X-rays are more commonly used because they're easier to produce, but if we could produce neutrons without the use of a nuclear reactor, would it be possible to use neutrons  for medical imaging? And would that be safer?

[Assistant]
Neutrons can transmute nuclei, making them radioactive. That would not be very good when you're dealing with a human body.

Also since neutrons are not charged, we can't really control how fast they move.


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

[User] Why do we measure ppm by volume for gases all the time and not by weight like water and soil?

[Assistant]
Likely because the molar volume of gases is pretty much the same for everything. So if you take 1 mol ethanol and water, ecaporate it and have the vapor and gas ethanol at the same pressure and temperature they will have the same volume.

For liquids and solids its different for each compound and element, using weight here makes more sense. As gas has an easy determined amount of particles we can use ppm for better quantification of components.


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

[User]
[The Grinch] Why doesn't the Grinch simply move away?

In the live action Grinch film we see multiple shots from higher up that shows us that Whoville is located in a massive mountain range. Not once did I see any other towns in the distance or any indicators that there were any nearby. The Grinch has shown to be able to easily survive the cold weather and atmosphere atop his mountain, even as a child. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to assume he could easily relocate to another mountain further away from Whoville, so why doesn't he?

[Assistant] Going a little bit meta here, the Grinch isn't the way he is because he wants to be alone, in fact solitude is the last thing he wants. He's a jerk because he wants to be part of them, but doesn't know how. His antics are a kind of cry for help as, due to his isolation and rejection, he doesn't have or know of many avenues to get attention.


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

[User] How is the mass of a black hole determined?

[Assistant]
If you are talking philosophically, a black hole is considered to have the same mass as an object that can create the same gravitational field at a distant point

If you are talking practically, there are a number of methods. If the black hole is a part of a binary system, we can use information from the Doppler shift (magnitude, period, etc.) to determine many properties of the black hole, and of the object it is orbiting.  If the black hole has an accretion disk, we can use the spectrum and luminosity of that disk for similar effect.


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

[User]
[DC] What is the relationship between each of the Lantern Corps?

I know Green's are the "protectors of the Galaxy" or something like that, and the Sinestro Corps like to be mean and evil and stuff - but what do they other Corps do for the other colours? Do they do the same stuff, cause trouble - are they all on call with each other in case they need help. I saw a scan where Hal Jordan was asking Superman if he should call the Red Lanterns, are they benevolent or do they just like to smash things?

[Assistant]
The Red Lanterns were created as a form of primal justice for the galaxy.  They use the rage in their hearts to kill those who would do harm to the innocent.  No due process needed.  Their leader, Atrocitus harbors great hatred for the Guardians of the Universe for the "glitch" that caused their Manunters to wipe out his family and species from his homeworld. Due to this hatred, the Green Lantern Corps is seen as an enemy as well.

The Indigo Tribe was created by Abin Sur and Notromo after discovering the Indigo Light.  The tribe was created to combat the Blackest Night and even was meant to stop the Guardians.  All the members of the tribe were test subjects to see how the Indigo Light can be used.   The worst scum of the universe were subjected to be a part of the tribe so they may know what compassion is.  They consider themselves allies of the Green Lantern Corps as they assisted in fending off the Blackest Night.

The Blue Lantern Corps were created by the Guardians Sayd and Ganthet.  They were meant to be joined along with Green Lanterns since the blue light of Hope can overcharge a Green Lantern's ring to be incredibly powerful as the power of Will from a Green Lantern ring unlocks a Blue Lantern's ring to be able to use constructs.  With no Will present, Blue Lantern members can only use the ring for flight and protection.

The Star Sapphires' relationship with the Green Lantern Corps is someone strained and political.  They wish to bathe the galaxy in Love (without choice) but the Guardians do not believe it should be forced upon everyone in the galaxy.  However the leaders of the Sapphires, the Zamarons are cousins of the Guardians and try to maintain somewhat of a peace between the Sapphires and the Green Lanterns although both sides would like to be rid of the other.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do kids menus at restaurants have age limits?

[Assistant]
Kid's menu's are what's called a "Loss Leader".

It's something sold at no profit or even below cost to entice customers into the store, knowing that they'll spend more on other stuff once they're there.

Nobody brings a kid in to eat off the menu and just sits there.   They get food for themselves as well.     When you're talking kids, that typically means a family night out.   Mom and Dad have full priced meals, perhaps an entree, couple of drinks.     It's the same they'd spend if they were on a date with no kid.     The kid menu is just something to get them in the door.     Without it, they'd just stay home with the kid.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do I kind of like the feeling of being really scared when watching a horror movie?

[Assistant]
Biologically speaking, the reactions of fear and pleasure are really similar. Both release a flood of hormones that basically amp your body up, both increase your heart rate and blood flow etc.

When you're genuinely scared, say if you got held up at gunpoint or something, you experience all the biological effects as unpleasant because other parts of your brain are telling you that you are in real danger.

But when you are in a "fake" fear environment - like a horror movie or a rollercoaster - you get the fun of the physical effects while other parts of your brain are confirming that you are still safe, so you experience it as pleasurable instead of terrifying.


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

[User]
[The Witcher] How are the other Witcher schools doing?

I know  A big point of the books and games is that the secrets of making new Witchers have been lost due to an angry mob. However that's just for the Wolf School correct? is it possible the other Witcher schools have survived and retain the knowledge of making new Witchers? Or did they all get knocked out at once? (I know in the 2nd game there is talk of reviving the Viper School)

[Assistant] They all suffered from similar problems to the Wolf School: as their numbers dwindled, the ones that knew how perform the Trails either died or refuse to do so. That being said, we don't really know the statuses of the other schools outside of Wolf, Viper, and Bear. It's possible that the Cat School is still creating Witchers, and may even be possible to revive the Wolf School as the Cat School were originally made of "failed" Wolf School Witchers.


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

[User]
[Mass Effect] Why are there no non-lethal or less-than-lethal weapon options on standard firearms?

I'd guess a really low power concussive shot would knock the wind out of someone and put them on their ass so they could be arrested. But it just seems like no one ever has a stunner or other weapon, not even C-Sec.

[Assistant]
Administrative C-Sec here. There really isn't a 100% non lethal weapon and labelling them as such will encourage more careless use.

A non lethal electric stunner from a weapon calibrated for humans will

* Perturb a Krogan
* Hurt but not disable a Turian
* Problably knock out a average sized human
* Problably knock out an Asari
* Problably seriously injure a Salarian
* kill a Hanar

Even to Turian, Asari and Humans so there is a slight chance due to other circumstances that the stunner will kill the target. Heart conditions, wet floors, differences in skin conductivity due to perspiration, or drugs. Concussive weapons have even more variance and risk property damage.

Given the risks and the probable odds that you'll be dealing with a chemically impaired angry krogan (I know racist, what ever) assigning only lethal arms and use them accordingly is best. Less to think about in confrontations and simpler protocol. Only draw your weapon when you mean to kill someone.


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

[User] ELI5: What is the difference between a major and a minor heart attack, and how is a heart attack classified?

[Assistant]
Heart attacks are usually classified via EKG.
If there are certain changes from a usual, healthy EKG (ST-elevations in this case) it is classified as a STEMI, which in most cases is the major heart attack in comparison to the NSTEMI, which shows no changes in the EKG but only changes in heart enzymes in a patients bloodwork.

Also, major heart attacks lead to malign arrhythmia more often which can result in loss of consciousness and sudden death, while minor heart attacks more often than not cause severe pain for the patient, but won't lead to loss of consciousness.

Source: i'm a cath lab nurse.


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

[User]
I think that people today are too easily offended and that efforts should be made not to protect their feelings but to encourage "thicker skin" - CMV

People today are so easily offended by casual word choice and unintentional rudeness - should you really get all ruffled just because somebody called somebody else a faggot in jest when both parties know that it is not meant with intent to harm or even to refer to a homosexual, or when someone calls something gay or retarded when the speaker does not intend to denote homosexuality or mental handicap? Do we need campaigns to stop nonphysical bullying, or do we need campaigns to strengthen emotional fortitude? What happened to "sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me?"

**TL;DR - People need to stop being so emotionally fragile and society should seek to thicken the public skin rather than thin the public vocabulary. CMV.**

[Assistant] Why should it be the responsibility of the victim to grow thicker skin, rather than the responsibility of the person who is saying hurtful things to stop? Why is being sensitive worse than being an asshole?


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

[User] ELI5: Why do bicycles make that clicking sound when moving but not pedalling?

[Assistant]
There's a ratchet mechanism that allows the wheel to turn without pedaling. It lets you coast comfortably without the pedals spinning. There's a bunch of teeth kindof like a gear, and a spring loaded pawl that clicks up and down when the ratchet spins one way, and locks in place when the ratchet spins the other (relative to the chain).

Stunt bikes don't have one of these and the chain is directly connected to the wheel which let's the rider control the speed by pedaling in reverse.


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

[User] [MCU] Do the public consider spider man an inhuman?

[Assistant]
We don't really know.  He seems to be received relatively favorably by the public, whereas inhumans typically aren't (unless Jefferey Mace aka Patriot managed to turn public sentiment around in recent years).

It's more likely that origins are less important to most people than actions.  Spider-Man has shown himself to be a good guy, so how he got his powers isn't a huge concern for most.


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

[User]
CMV: The most ethically vegan thing to do is to commit suicide because human population impacts animal life more negatively than eating them.

Animals, in their current state, can be reproduced infinitely, given the resources at this current state in time.

Vegans make a big ethical stance that eating meat is not ethical because it takes away a life and all life is valuable, yet as the population rises, more animals will be pushed out of their homes as land development takes over. It seems to me that the most ethically vegan thing to do is not only mass castration, but mass suicide, you know, for the environment.

We don't fit into the food chain and there doesn't seem to be any meaning for us in nature. Environmentalists are more about sustaining the Earth for the future rather than saving it - they understand that there is no saving it, human presence will either deplete it entirely of its resources and die off or a disaster will occur and we will all die from it. We might as well do the former before the latter. CMV.

[Assistant]
If vegans had done this instead of forming organizations and exposing cruel farming practices, there would've been a lot less animal rights advocacy. That advocacy has led to more vegans and vegetarians, more ethical and enforced farming standards, and an emerging market for alternatives to meat. None of this would have happened, at least nearly to the same extent, if vegans were wiped off the earth.

Analogously, if all environmentalists had killed themselves to protect the environment, there would've been no one left to advocate for it. Carbon taxes and pollution regulations would have never been adopted. But by influencing companies, policies, and governments, rather than acting solely as individuals, advocates had a much bigger impact on the environment. The recent Paris Accords, for example, will likely help the environment far more than mass suicide would.

In general, systemic change is far more influential than individual change because it can stay in effect long after the individuals who supported it have left. And only vegans who stay alive can advocate for that.


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

[User]
Hydrophobic substances and ships.

If one were to coat the outside hull of a ship with a hydrophobic coating, would it decrease the displacement of said ship? Would it increase the ship's top speed? What would it do to a submarine?

[Assistant]
Naval architect here: Only a fraction of the total drag of a vessel is viscous (friction), the rest is due to the wave drag, we call it residuary drag. In fact most drag reduction devices such as bulbs and stern flaps are designed to reduce this component for some specific speed.

Reducing the skin friction can only do so much. On an established vessel design like a submarine, reducing the friction would change the boundary layer and in turn change where the flow separates. If the flow doesn't separate in the right place, you can actually induce a suction drag possibly at a speed you'd like to cruise at.

Hydrophobic coatings would need to be implemented from the design stage but still represent a big problem because maintaining them would require drydockings, which are an expensive proposition on top of the cost of the coating.


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

[User] [Alien] What would happen if a facehugger impregnated a xenomorph?

[Assistant]
That doesn't happen. Facehuggers don't attempt to implant adults.

If one did by some twist of damaged DNA, the adult would chomp off the ovipositor with it's inner mandibles and spit the mutilated facehugger away to die.