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

[User]
[General Fiction] My Superpowers gave me my own private dimension. Inside are floating islands and I decided to pull one out in the middle of international waters... I'm now in trouble I think?

So this lady, the top super hero of the world, flew to my island all angry and pissy and shouting about how much trouble I was in. I'm pretty sure I'm not in trouble because I'm way way far away from the nearest possible border but she's making some convincing arguments. Internet, I need legal advice...

[Assistant]
1) What's her legal argument?

2) it's not about legal problems, super heroes don't enforce laws, they enforce their versions morality.  Convince her you don't pose any further danger, are new to your powers and will use them exclusively to help people.

You probably created a tidal wave.  Apologize, profusely and repeatedly.

It'll help if you promise not to use your island for evil stuff, and offer to let them take a look around.


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

[User] What exactly are VPNs and how do they work?

[Assistant]
Imagine you have to do everything by mail, and you don't feel safe sending postcards due to your post office being staffed by your overprotective mother. A VPN is like putting the postcard in an envelope to your buddy who is away at college. Your buddy opens the envelope and resends the postcard. He gets a response via postcard and puts it in an envelope back to you.

Now the benefit to avoiding your snooping mother (who is actually an ISP) is obvious, but you often hear things like "Australian Nexflix has that show, sucks to be in Canada." If your buddy (who is the VPN endpoint) is in Australia, how does Netflix know? As far as they're concerned, they're sending stuff to an Australian address.

As to how it works, it's mainly software in your PC or your router that's signed up for a service that encrypts traffic and sends it to the designated endpoint. One of the less talked about applications is very common in remote work - Companies set up VPNs so you can connect to all the internal tools as though you're on the company network by setting up endpoints within the company firewall.


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

[User] [1984] In "principles of Newspeak" it's said that any word could be used either as verb, noun, adjective, or adverb. Including abstract words like "IF" and "WHEN", how did that work exactly? How can I use if as a verb or adjetive?

[Assistant] Ifly using newspeak and you are unknowing "if" as a doing, Ungood. To using if as a doing, then plus -ed to end, making "ifed". Here Exampled "ifed" Can be when thinked toward action, but made unaction. Actioned ifly to cause. Unactioned ifwise to obstacle. Ifed when action was unnow.


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

[User]
[Avengers: Endgame] What exactly did Danvers think she was doing?

After Carol takes out Thanos's ship and gets the gauntlet from Peter, her mission becomes get the gauntlet into the time tunnel. She's unsuccessful, but had she been able to get in, what the hell was her plan?

She wasn't in any of the plan briefings.

She has no suit to travel through the wormhole. She also has no idea of the plan. Had she gotten into the tunnel she would have ended up god knows when with a gauntlet full of infinity stones and no idea what to do with them.

How would she have figured herself out of it?

[Assistant] I think her plan is to hand it to Hope and Scott and assume they know what the next step in the plan is.  She was a soldier most of her life she understands sometimes you don't know the entire plan but still have to play your part.


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

[User] Isn't there a limit to how much an economy can grow by adding more goods? Like people don't suddenly have more money, they just change their spending from elsewhere.

[Assistant]
No. Money is ultimately just a tool. Consumption is determined by output (of actual goods and services).

Consider a very small economy, just you and another person on an island. You grow potatoes or whatever, and the other person catches fish. If you make 2 potatoes and the other person 2 fish, that's what the economy produces. And if next year the potato harvest goes well and you harvest 4 potatoes, the output, and your consumption, will be 4 potatoes and 2 fish.

Ignoring saving for the moment, you would consume everything what you produce, and all the money you have would be spend on that consumption. More money doesn't change the real output, it doesn't give you more fish or potatoes, only actually raising real output leads to higher real consumption.


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

[User] ELI5 What would it take to build an AI with an average human's intelligence that you could talk to, like in movies.

[Assistant]
As Hapax said,

> If it can't be reduced to addition and subtraction, computers cannot do it

That being said, what it would take to build your AI would be the reduction of complex thought to a series of additions and subtractions. We would need to crack the code on what goes on in our heads that makes us think.


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

[User] ELI5: What are "eye boogers" and how are they formed?

[Assistant] Your eyes discharge a mucus which contains blood cells, water, skin cells, snot, dust, and so on. While you're awake, you tend to blink and wipe it away regularly. When you're asleep, this removal process is slowed, and the water has a chance to evaporate, letting the dried out remainder accumulate around your eye. It's called rheum.


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

[User]
[LOTR & The Hobbit] How do orcs and goblins perpetuate their species?

Do they mate? I never saw any women (or maybe because we only see the man at war?) or they all look alike and you can't discern their sex?

[Assistant] The Silmarillion clearly states that they reproduce in the same manner as the Children of Iluvatar, ie via sexual reproduction. Whether orcs are just too ugly to tell the men and women apart or if the females are kept away from the front lines is never really explored.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter/General] What is magic made of?

In Harry Potter, as well as many other fantasy series, magic is shown as a sort of spark/beam of light that shoots out of the wand. But what is that light? Is it plasma? Is is something else entirely?

[Assistant]
In most cases, the light we see is the result of the magical energy exciting the electrons of the atoms which make up the air (and thus making the air glow).  It's somewhat similar to an electrical arc, but there's more variety because the magic obeys different rules than normal physics.

If you could see into the Octarine, it would be even brighter and more prevalent.  That's part of why more spells seemed to result in beams of light later in Harry's time at Hogwarts; as a wizard trains he becomes more adept at perceiving octarine light.  Most of them don't even notice the change, it happens gradually and isn't mentioned much in the Hogwarts curriculum (unlike Unseen University, where it gets some emphasis).


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

[User] ELI5 The USSR under Stalin was exposed to a lot of propaganda and facts were conveniently altered, so how did historians decide what was likely the truth about that time period?

[Assistant]
This is actually a true problem. As offical statistics are often problematic, historians have to take into account various other sources,  e.g. private notes, media coverage from contemporaries, crossreferencing the "offical " event with internal reports or other non-secret notes,  secret service infos (if available) and several other sources.

In the end it is often just enough for a rough estimate. We'll likley never know how many people died during the great jump forward in china, or other things. Just a rough estimation which may very well be off,  but is the best we can currently reconstruct with the available data.


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

[User]
[MCU] How do the jumps through interstellar space work?

We see in GOTG2 that ships use some sort of jump points to travel through space. How do they work? And why does making multiple jumps cause such effects to people?

[Assistant] We don't know.  We do know that the jumping warps reality for the traveler.  We also know that this sort of travel is visible as a moving speck of light from the perspective of a distant observer.  The ship seems to travel under its own power, moving between 'gates' that seem temporary, maybe even generated by the ship, rather than between fixed hardware installations.  The gates seem to work like lenses, vastly accelerating and distorting the ship in transit, and then restoring it to normal space upon exit.


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

[User]
[LOTR] How much does the average person of each race in Middle Earth know about the events of the Silmarillion?

How much would the average human/hobbit/elf/dwarf know about the history of Middle Earth and would they believe that it was history or myth?

[Assistant]
Aside from the elves and the loremasters in Minas Tirith, probably not much. But it depends on which original stories. Theyre aware that there is a history there but the details are sketchy.

Hobbits wouldnt know much except for what Bilbo passed on (and he was seen as eccentric in his non-hobbit related historical interests). Most western elves would know without a doubt, as would the ents. Humans would probably only know if they were specially educated on the matter (such as Aragorn, Faramir, Denethor, etc). Dwarves would probably know something, but only as it personally relates to them (their long grudge against the elves goes back to the first age, for example). Orcs probably wouldnt have the interest and probably wouldnt be told anything anyways.

As an example of the general knowledge, when the fellowship first encounters the balrog in Moria, only Legolas and Gandalf know what exactly it is theyre dealing with and where it comes from. Even Aragorn was unsure when he was describing it to Celeborn and Galadriel later. Balrogs were more or less the elite shock troops of Morgoth back in the day, so it kinda shows how far knowledge of them had faded by the third age.


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

[User] ELI5 Why does it take a few hours to finance a $100k auto loan, but 30+ days to finance a $100k mortgage?

[Assistant]
The people selling the car and the people making the loan have already worked out much of the deal before you even walk into the dealership.  The lender knows the value of the car and exactly what condition it's in.

Should you stop paying, they can legally repossess the car pretty quickly - or report it stolen if you take off.

In a home sale, the bank is a third party that knows nothing about the property and will get stuck in a lengthy foreclosure/eviction process if you stop paying.

It doesn't take 30 days to clear the loan, but it does take longer while they appraise the property and investigate your credit worthiness.  It's a much greater risk for the lender even though the face value is the same.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why can't contaminated metal be recycled? Wouldn't the contaminants be burned off when the metal is melted down?

I was looking at recycling resources, and it said that aluminum cans are easily recycled, but aluminum foil is usually contaminated with food and can't be easily recycled. But wouldn't any of the food be completely destroyed when it's at the temperature aluminum melts at?
I tried to find explanations, but they just said contaminates lower the value of metal and not the reason why.

[Assistant]
Think of what happens when you burn a pizza in the oven, or you're cooking a hot dog over a campfire and it falls into the fire and you just leave it there. It doesn't just disappear/get destroyed, it undergoes combustion which will leave behind carbon and other trace minerals in solid form. Carbon's melting point is much higher than aluminum's, and even if it weren't you'd still need to separate the carbon/other trace elements from the aluminum if you wanted pure aluminum. More leftover food, more leftover carbon/other trace minerals, less pure aluminum.

That, plus leftover food waste can help gum up sorting machines.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that honey has no sell by date and can never go bad?

[Assistant] Honey is actually a nearly perfect preservative. Honey has been found in jars in Egypt that could (theoretically) be eaten today. It has so little water in it that bacteria can't live in it, and mold can't grow on it, it doesn't "spoil" or break down or go stale.


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

[User] Why do pets typically sleep at their owners feet in bed?

[Assistant]
Dog's still have a lot of leftover instincts from their days as wolves. In the wild, they would trample down plants and whatever in a safe place to make their bed. Domesticated dogs still do this sometimes, you may see them pawing at their blanket or bed.

They choose their sleeping spots based mostly on safety and comfort. As the owner, you are seen as the provider and pack leader. By sleeping at your feet, a dog is showing submissiveness, that he feels safe and comfortable with you, and that hes ready to fight for you.


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

[User]
ELI5: how do our bodies know when we've ingested something toxic?

I just ate something that had expired without realizing it, and within a minute I was throwing up. How did my body know that I needed to expel it from my stomach?

[Assistant]
Short answer, your brain told it to.

Long answer,  your nose is the first defense against eating something bad. If you bring something to your mouth that smells bad, your nose is gonna tell you it's bad. Your taste buds are next, if something tastes bad, we spit it out. Next your throat and esophagus. As the food slides down your throat, food that's gone bad will release chemicals that can damage the cells lining your esophagus, that will signal your brain and cause you to gag and could expel bad food. Next into your stomach where the food begins to break down in earnest. Very strong acid in our stomachs begin breaking down whatever we eat almost immediately. If the bad food starts releasing chemicals that are damaging, toxic, or irritating to the stomach, your stomach will signal your brain to throw up whatever is in the stomach. Next down to the intestines. The food has now completely dissolved and your intestines drain the moisture and nutrients out of it, while moving it through your intestines by way of these little finger- like things called villi. If the bad food starts releasing something that irritates the villi, your body will try and get rid of it, but since going up isn't an option, gotta go down.


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

[User]
Is Nathaniel Branden's view on self esteem widely accepted ?

I was reading the book and was wondering whether I should accept a lot of his assertions.

He describes what self esteem is and describes six pillars that increase self esteem.

I am curious to know whether his view on self esteem is accepted or rejected/discarded as nonsense by the experts in the field of psychology.

I can personally say that I followed some of the pillars before I even knew what the word self-esteem even meant and It definitely  has affected my self-esteem and that is one of the reasons I am leaning towards accepting the his ideas completely.

Thanks

EDIT: Thank you everyone for your answers. A lot of you have claimed that either the author is unheard of or his views are not really accepted. Can any of you share what exactly is the mainstream psychologist view on self-esteem? It's meaning as well as what builds high self esteem? Are their any books or articles that explain this mainstream view?

[Assistant] I've been researching and teaching psychological science for over 20 years and had to google Nathaniel Branden to find out about him. His views on self-esteem appear to be overly complex and not well backed up in the psychological literature. The general idea that people derive self-esteem from multiple sources is well accepted and well-established though.


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

[User]
ELI5: Yes, a question about the penis.

I'm not sure how to word this question, but I try my best.

Guy A has a 2 inch penis when flaccid. Guy B has a 6 inch penis when flaccid. When Guy A is aroused, his penis grows to 6 inches. When Guy B is aroused, it basically stay the same size but only gets hard.

What is happening with Guy A's penis? Like.. Where does Guy A's length go when he is soft? Sorry if the question was unclear.. Just was curious and having a hard time explaining in words what I am trying to ask. lol

Edit: Umm.. I didn't expect this question to be so popular.

[Assistant]
Think of it like the difference between a beach ball and a balloon, both the same size when filled with air. You deflate the balloon and it fits in your pocket, but the beach ball will still be big.

It's about elasticity and how much spongy erectile tissue there is, which varies across people. The spongy tissue has lots of space to fill with blood and expand/contract in size, and the higher the ratio of this tissue to other types, the more you're a grower rather than a show-er.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does a big social network like Twitter let me change my username, but virtually no other websites don't?

I my have used hyperbole, but right now I'm very upset that there is no way to change my Snapchat username. (I spelled hungry as "hugry" and me being Asian doesn't help the situation)

But I've always wondered why Twitter still lets me change my username. I thought they would stop letting people after it grew bigger--but nope. I can be JBlove95 one day and OnEdIrEcTiOn4LifE another as long as no one else uses them.

Is there a special reason?

*edit: ELI5 how do I change the title ;_;

[Assistant]
Probably how the database that stores all the account information is set up.  There needs to be a unique field for each account - either an account number or a username that nobody else can have. Allowing the user to change names means that all the other inter-linked things with that name, all the assosciations with other databases and so on, may be lost - or, the computer system will need to go through each of these and update each one, which is a pain in the ass and uses computational power that could be used elsewhere, which increases the risk of downtime just to keep a few people happy who change their names for stupid reasons many times a week.

Imagine if a bus company randomly decided that the number 44 was now the number 55.  It would have to go around every bus stop and update the entire timetable, then update it's online timetables, then it'd have to deal with all the people that get pamphlets with the timetable on who have missed the 44 because it's now the 55.  It's easier just to not do it.


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

[User] ELI5: Where does the blood in a fetus comes from? Is it transferred from the mother or created by its own cells?

[Assistant]
Its created by its own cells.

No blood from the mother enters the fetus or vice versa, it stays separate.

The fetuss blood and the moms blood both path close by each other in the placenta to transfer nutrients, but the blood itself isnt mixing.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Do the Jedi ever try to "upset the balance" of the force like the Sith do?

Jedi like to go on about how the force is a balance between the light side and the dark side, but it only seems to be the Sith who ever try to swing that balance in their favor. Are the Jedi really just interested in preserving the balance, and if so has there ever been an unbalanced light side organization like the Sith?

[Assistant]
That's not how Jedi view balance to the Force, and it's not how the Force is balanced at all.

The Force, in its natural, balanced state, is "Light," with little to no dark side usage. The dark side is also natural - as natural as the emotions that empower it - but in the way that microbes are natural but in the wrong place can be disastrous.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does one make a random number generator?

Maybe more like ELI15, but I've been thinking about this all morning, and it's baffling me.

[Assistant] The common way is to use an algorithm that makes "random" numbers. However there was no way to generate truly random numbers until recently, where the movements of quantum particles, which are truly random, are recorded as numbers.


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

[User]
ELI5: How people sell movie scripts and who decides if it's a big budget movie?

I have been working on some scripts since it's a hobby of mine and can't really afford to shoot any of them, being they would be in need of a high budget (by this I mean more than a few hundred dollars I could scrap up). If I wanted to 'shop my script around' who do I send it to? What protects my rights as owner and who decides what movies get made or pushed to high budgets? I'm curious just be curious but also because I'd love to sell some of my script and see a more talented and professional crew make it a reality. If this belongs elsewhere or has been answered, please direct me there and I will delete this, otherwise thanks for your responses!

[Assistant]
Most studios will not accept unsolicited scripts because it exposes them to high risk litigation (e.g. accusations that they stole a story).  Studios will usually only take material from literary agents with whom they have an established relationship - so if you want to get your scripts made by studios you will have to get an agent first.  To get an agent you need two completed scripts and a third in the works.  However, getting your first script to an agent is a task in itself - you will usually need a personal introduction in order to have your query letter opened.

Once you get an approval for your spec script to be read, the agent will get one of their lower ranking employees or interns to write "coverage" - usually a single page of plot synopsis and a single page of analysis together with a chart that ranks parameters such as plot, structure, visuality etc.  The reader will also provide a tagline, and one of three grades, Pass, Consider and Recommend.  It's typical that about one in a hundred scripts receive a recommend because the readers have to stake their reputation on the reliability of their coverage - if they recommend too many scripts and the senior executives find themselves having to read too many sub-standard offerings they will be fired, or non-re-hired.

If your agent considers your script strong enough, they will then start the process of shopping it around to various studios (who will then do their own coverage).

You may be able to shop your script yourself (without an agent) to independent film production companies, but be aware that independents are generally looking for projects that can be made on cost-effective budgets (say between $250k and $5million), and that won't be realistic for many genres.

Other ways to get your script read and evaluated are websites like Kevin Spacey's triggerstreet.com or Francis Ford Coppolas, zoetrope.com - but in order to have your script evaluated, you have to evaluate other peoples' scripts in return (which can be a useful exercise in itself).


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

[User]
ELI5: Has acting in movies gotten better throughout the years, or is there some sort of "recency bias"?

I am currently watching the first Terminator and for the thirty minutes I've been watching, the acting through multiple parts have just been awful.

Not only that but when looking at even older movies, the acting just seems, unnatural.

 Why?

Has acting lessons gotten better through the years?

If so, why?

Will acting continue to get better?
I remember getting into an argument with a roommate about it and saying "you can't act better than making someone believe you're not acting".

So do we have a skewed perspective on acting based solely upon experience with movies and such?

[Assistant]
First, there are "trends" in acting, because successful acting is ultimately about an interaction with audience expectations. Back when the stage was still the centerpiece of acting, actors were trained to be far more theatrical and audiences expected that.  More natural performances weren't always the standard everyone looked for. And, sometimes they still aren't---just look at a movie like, say, The Rundown. The acting there is great, but very few people in that film are going for emotional realism in all their scenes, if any.

And, second, there is something of a recency bias because people change.  What might seem like a reasonable emotional response to someone from 1940 might read false to us today, because they way we interact with others and express emotion has changed.

And, all that said, Terminator is hardly known for its spectacular acting. There are plenty of films, much older than Terminator, where most people would argue the acting holds up pretty well.


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

[User]
[Dune/Avatar] Question about the unobtainium/spice.

I just saw the movie Dune, have no read the books, and they explain within the first 10 minutes about how spice is nessecary for space travel.

Now this raises the obvious question; How did they get to a deserted desert planet in the first place to acquire the material nessecary for space travel? Was spice in small quantities in other worlds? Did they use other methods? I'm confused, it was never explained in the movie even though it's something I thought about immediately.

This also came up in the movie Avatar. They explain in the movie that unobtainium is used for interstellar travel. Again, what did humans do before they acquired this material? How did humans get to the planet in the first place? I haven't seen this movie in years though, so maybe I am missing something. Just a side-note on a related topic to Dune I guess.

[Assistant]
In avatar, they just travelled there slower and less efficiently. Like how we had coal-powered vehicles before oil-powered. Simple enough.

In dune, spice is necessary for *safe* interstellar travel. So how did they get to Arrakis? With a *significant* death toll. Spice changed interstellar flight from something only reckless explorers would do to something you can base a civilization on.


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

[User]
[Slime Rancher] What does the slime sea do to largos and tarrs?

Single slimes fall in, they reappear shortly afterward (As stated in the Slimepedia.) Largos and tarrs just seem to disappear (This happening to the latter is probably a mercy.) Does it revert them into the back into their original species, simply kill them, or something else?

[Assistant]
Smaller slimes are lighter and less dense, so they tend to float to the surface (with the exception of puddle slimes, who most likely just swim around in there once they're in). Largos are larger and heavier, so they sink to the bottom. It's unclear whether slimes are able to drown, so it's possible that they might just be chilling at the bottom of the ocean after that.

Tarrs are a different story. Even a couple of drops of water from the vac-pack is enough to completely obliterate a tarr, so dropping them in the ocean is a guaranteed death sentence. The one upside is they would probably be destroyed before they could even realize what's going on.


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

[User] [Star Wars] How do Jedi know who is force sensitive and who isnt. What is the Jedi Padawn recruitment process?

[Assistant] Midicholorian test kit. If they're less than 6 years old, the Jedi would approach the guardians/parents for training their younglings in the Jedi way, explaining that it's an honor for their younglings to be chosen.


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

[User] [Futurama] What are the causes and symptoms of sexlexia? What are the treatment options?

[Assistant]
Sexlexia is to sex as dislexia is to reading. So, genitals appear in different places to an observer with the disease than they do to someone without it, things do not fit properly in their designated locations, timing and tempo are all off, and it's difficult to establish a working sexual cadence.

It is caused by a faulty bran gland, which is a sexual prowess gland located in the frenulum of the penis. It secretes pure sexual energy based off of an electric spark between two consenting adults.

The only useful treatment is electroshock to the bran. Only one is needed for long term treatment, so most men never need to zap their bran again.


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

[User]
[Mario] Who was King Boo when he was alive?

Also, what sorts of creatures are boos the spirits of?

[Assistant]
Who says he was ever "alive?"

[4th wall break:] Boos are based on the Will o' wisp(yes, like the Pokemon attack), which is a spectral flame that appears to travelers at night, luring them off of safe paths, then disappearing,  leaving them alone in the dark. (Then presumably eating them, or something like that)


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

[User]
[WH30K] So why does this Emperor guy hate Xenos so much?

Alright so yesterday some intergalactic space ship pulled into orbit and sent down a legion of metal men handing out pamphlets encouraging us to be annexed into "The Imperium of Man" as part of their "Great Crusade". Sounds great not being alone in the universe but under point 8 of their leader's mission statement he called for the complete annihilation of all alien life. Seems pretty absurd that he accepts all humans but won't give **any** xenos a chance? Take our natives, we've lived beside them for hundreds of years without conflict and we've managed to form an interdependent society. How does wiping out our neighbours benefit mankind?

*For those who didn't notice, this is set during the Great Crusade. It is canon that humanity was more rational and less ignorant, so simply responding with HERESY! -BLAM- wouldn't fit as a response.*

[Assistant]
An interpretation I've had is that the Emperor doesn't necessarily demand the complete extermination of all Xenos in the Milky Way. He only wants the best for Mankind, which means that non-Humans must be kept under some sort of control, seeing as aliens have been more than willing to subvert humanity or attempt to outright destroy it. The Jokaero, the Kinebrach, the Eldar, the Greenskins, the Megarachnids, and the vast majority of aliens that Mankind has encountered across the stars all seem to be particularly dangerous, and have refused any attempts at segregation or imposition of order on behalf of Mankind.

It's bound to be true that not every Xeno wishes to see humanity burn and crumble, but it's also not worth the risk to let the few who do find quarter within Mankind's grasp. If non-humans can't be contained within specific planets/systems, then the only control we can impose upon them is through a brand warfare which ends with their extinction.


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

[User]
I believe that marriage serves no purpose and, if anything, is detrimental to society. CMV.

I don't think it's necessary in modern society. It's just making someone your permanent girlfriend/boyfriend. People expect you to marry, but what other reason is there? If you really love someone, why do you need to sign a formal agreement to prove you love each other? How does marriage benefit anyone? In my opinion, it creates more problems than it solves. Divorces can be really messy, and the expectation that a stable life includes a husband or wife probably causes a lot of people to marry someone they don't really want to.

Edit: So I'm realizing that I would have to have a different opinion on this topic if I was actually married. Now I'm wondering how society would be different without the notion of marriage at all, and would we be better or worse off?

[Assistant] Marriage is a legal framework for sharing property and rearing children. It serves a number of purposes in that regard. Because this situation is so common the baseline agreement is usually codified in law, and even then the contract is usually able to be amended via another document (aka a pre-nup) as long as it doesn't negate the rights granted via the law.


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

[User]
Once/if we get a sustained fusion reaction, how will we get power out? A steam turbine??

Steam spinning a turbine seems like such an archaic method of energy transfer. Are there any other proposed methods of converting the energy of a fusion reaction to electricity?

[Assistant]
>Steam spinning a turbine seems like such an archaic method of energy transfer.

It is more common today to use pressurized water instead of steam, but it still comes down to heating water through some means and using that to drive a turbine.

This is essentially how nuclear, coal, and concentrating solar power work.


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

[User] ELI5: why do harmonicas come in different keys? Does this mean that to be able to play any song which you like , you need to purchase a set of harmonicas? If no, does a chromatic harmonica capable of playing any song?

[Assistant]
Wind instruments generally rely on perfectly sized holes to create musical notes, and as such the given notes they can produce are fixed.

With large instruments like flutes you have enough 'space' to make holes for lots of notes, so you can create all of the semitones within a given octave. That means all of the little sharps and flats between can be played at any time.

Because harmonicas are small, they economise by using only the notes within a given Key, typically C.

This has meant that the harmonica is easy to play in key, because all of the notes are in key, so it's a simpler instrument to learn to play, and that the Harmonica is a good name for it.

It also means that you get the harmonics of two or three notes playing at any one time, since it's tricky to play just one note on a harmonica.


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

[User]
[Overwatch] Why do some of the Overwatch agents have nicknames and others don't?

For example, Dr. Angela Ziegler and Lena Oxton go by the codenames Mercy and Tracer, respectively, while Reinhardt and Torbjorn simply go by their own names.  Why do only some agents get nicknames, especially when all four of the ones mentioned here wound up on at least one field mission together against Null Sector?

[Assistant]
Each character that does have a nickname was given it for a reason.

- Tracer got her name as a call sign when she was a pilot.

- Mercy very clearly has a flair for the dramatic since she built her suit to look like an angel and carries around a god damned staff.

- Symmetra was given her code name for when she did black-ops for Vishkar.

- Considering that Sombra's name is listed as   we don't have much other choice.

- Reaper has been a figure moving behind the scenes for decades now.

- Widowmaker was given her name by Talon.

- Pharah is a call sign.

-  Soldier 76 and Roadhog took their names where their respective past selves "died"

- Junkrat and D.Va got theirs probably because it sounds cool.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] I'm a student at a prestigious magic school, but I'm having some issues. Need advice.

I just enrolled at a famous academy of magic, you probably know it. It has a great reputation, but it's a mad house. The place is completely insane. It should be closed down immediately or at least the administration should be fired and replaced.

Some friends snuck out after dark, but one of the other students snitched and they got detention. I thought they'd have to stay in class after school let out, but instead they sent them into a dark forest, in the middle of the night, to find someone who had killed a unicorn. That's crazy and dangerous.

Just walking around inside of school is a hazard, there are stairways that keep moving--some kid from math class already fell to his death and was crushed.

Right from the beginning I knew there would be trouble, they put a magic hat on your head to pick your dorm, but everyone has to wear it and they don't wash it. It smells, it's sweaty, and the last dozen kids now have lice. Three dorms have cool names, but I'm stuck in the dorm named after a muppet.

The janitor hates us and advocates torture, the groundskeeper is a nice guy, but totally inappropriate in his behavior. We were given flight lessons, but with no helmets or protective gear, and then the instructor left us alone and all hell broke loose.

There's no security at all, there are monsters and ghosts just wandering everywhere. There's a girl ghost that hangs out in the boys' bathroom, it's really perverted but they won't do anything about it.

Some students found out that someone was in the school trying to steal some magic rock and told the vice principal but she didn't care and just dismissed them, then they nearly got killed. The VP is still there, nobody cares. The principal is never around, he's always off doing something more important.

There are all these animals in school, kids are getting bird flu from the owls, the plague from the rats, and there's a group that hangs out in the tower licking toads. I was eating lunch the other day and a bunch of messenger owls flew in and started crapping all over the food. It's really disgusting.

My language teacher is just making stuff up, she's completely unqualified. I don't even think it's real Latin, just gibberish.

I went to watch a sporting event, some game I couldn't even follow, and kids were being injured so badly they had to be hospitalized. There's a guy in my dorm who's had a few concussions already, his handwriting is barely legible now and he can't remember things. The teachers don't care, they keep giving him good grades even though you can see his hands shake when he holds his wand.

There's a weird kid in the other dorm who's always getting into trouble, but they don't care. I heard he's from an abusive foster family and is forced to live in a closet, maybe that's why. They should really get him into a better home and find a therapist for him so he stops acting out.

The favoritism is really out of hand, all year long there's a competition for which dorm is going to get the most points and at the last minute the principal showed up, started handing out bogus points, and arbitrarily decided that his favorite dorm should win.

Finally, they have all these elves enslaved at the school. They tell us the elves want to be there, working long hours in bad conditions, but I can't believe that's true. The elves have been beaten down so much that they claim they love the school and don't want their freedom, it's pitiful.

I've been writing letters home to my parents, but they're convinced I'm exaggerating things and don't believe me. I want to report the school, but I've told that the ministry is quick to silence its critics, so I'm scared. There are spells to know if people are lying, but they keep locking up innocent people anyway; it's like a police state. I just want to go to a normal school, what can I do?

[Assistant]
The wizarding world is even more dangerous and nonsensical than Hogwarts. If you can't handle it now with the supervision of the most qualified witches and wizards in Britain you might as well toss your wand into the Black Lake.

And the elves are offered pay. Most refuse.


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

[User]
[WH40k] Can other races create their own versions of the God-Emperor of Mankind?

The prevalent theory is that thousands of human psykers voluntarily gave up their lives and reincarnations to be combined into a single entity, the God-Emperor of Mankind. It was also believed that this event could not be replicated in the present as the Warp is a lot more corrupted.

Let's assume this is back in 8000 B.C. when the Warp is a lot calmer. Can any of the other races create their own versions of the human Emperor using the same technique? The Eldar in particular have more psykers in their population on average. The Orks have a form of shared psyk-field among every members of their race.

Also, is it possible for Chaos to create their own Anti-Emperor using the same method?

[Assistant]
With regards to the Eldar, their experiences with creating gods out of psychic power has left them wanting. It also killed most of them. Before the birth of Slaanesh, they already had a pantheon of warp deities like Khaine and Isha and were much more focused on hedonism than any attempt to coherently produce a new warp-god.

As for Chaos, there's really no drive. There are already four Chaos gods (three if we're talking before the Fall of the Eldar) and they'd probably put the brakes on any attempt to create even more competition for followers and power by making a new god. Besides, they despise the Emperor for being a symbol of Order in the Galaxy and any god produced via a voluntary association of psykers would likely embody that metaphysical concept in some way or another.

And the Orks? They're fairly suspicious of gifted psykers within their ranks, so any large association of them would probably attract very violent attention.


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

[User]
CMV: The trope in media where the high school bully ends up working fast food or retail and the main character works a successful job is harmful and reeks of classism.

Growing up as a kid Ive seen this trope constantly; the main character gets bullied in high school but later on the bully is stuck working in the same town they grew up in as a busboy or flipping burgers while the main character is successful in the well paying job of their dreams.

I bought into that trope hook line and sinker all throughout my life and thought if I worked hard and got good grades Id be set for life in a great career. Well that didnt happen and I realized the field I studied in college was a lot more competitive than I originally thought it was. Now the only jobs that will hire me are retail and customer service type jobs.

The reason that this trope is harmful is that it buys into the notion that working these types of menial jobs is almost a type of karmic punishment, and that to end up working these jobs for the rest of your life means youre a failure and must have done something bad to only be qualified for these types of jobs when that simply isnt true.

The fact of the matter is the job market for well paying jobs is more competitive than ever and you dont only have to be qualified for a job to get it, you have to be overqualified to the point where youre insanely talented and have connections with a bunch of people to even have a SHOT at getting an interview for the job.

This notion of low paying menial work = youre a terrible person who deserves it is everywhere in media. We had it hammered into our heads as a kid to go to college so we dont end up like failures working customer service or at fast food restaurants. Only that make us even more depressed and ashamed of ourselves when theyre the only jobs that will hire us because of this fucked up economy that gives a leg up to the wealthy, privileged and connected, but not the people who deserve it.

I really think this trope needs to die in fiction because its predicated on the idea that people who are talented and good at something will automatically get a better paying prestigious job with benefits when thats almost certainly not the case. Tons of talented people who deserve to work in the field they studied in college get passed over every day because somebody was better and there was only 1 position to fill. Companies want to save a buck and hire only one person instead of 20 so competition for that job becomes more stiff than ever.

Edit: I first wanna say that Im not suggesting media should reflect reality and be accurate but rather that these tropes and harmful stereotypes have an effect on how people view society and poor minimum wage workers in general. Media affects how people view the world and Im arguing this trope is harmful.

Edit 2: A bunch of people have asked what I majored in. I received a BFA in animation in 2015.

[Assistant]
Stories don't have to reflect reality.

How many survival stories end with the main character dying of dehydration half way through the movie? In reality, most people would just die, and not make it to the end.

How many action movies end with the main character getting shot in the back 2/3rds of the way into the movie? In reality, war is cruel and many people don't make it.

Stories are written by the winners. Stories are written, by the people that make it through. Part of what makes a story compelling, is that so many people fail, yet the main character succeeds (generally).

Jackie Robinson, is an inspiring story, precisely because it was so difficult for black men to find prestige in that era. The fact he succeeded where so many others failed to find success, is what makes it a story. If every person who wanted to play major league baseball, could regardless of race, then the story would be pointless.


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

[User]
Why does brushing my teeth with an electric brush alter only specific light?

Specifically, when I am brushing my teeth with an electric toothbrush and I look at the LCD's on my alarm clocks, the numbers "dance". If I am across the room there is almost a centimeter of oscillation in the digits. What I don't understand is the clock, and the rest of the room is not affected at all. This happens on both clocks, one red light, one green.

[Assistant] The LCDs are flickering out of phase with the frequency that your skull is vibrating due to the toothbrush.  The rest of the lighting does not flicker, and so the same stroboscopic phenomena does not occur.


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

[User]
Is it appropriate to offer a letter of support to a professor?

Say for example I have a professor who I thought worked very hard and I felt that he or she was a really effective mentor, could I offer to write them a letter of support for their tenure application?

My school doesn't traditionally ask students for their feedback and instead relies on course evaluation forms that we are given 5 minutes to complete with 3 comment lines and a pencil.

I also hear that it is not really appropriate for a professor to approach a student to ask him or her about a letter.

That all said, would it be appropriate to write a note after the semester with something like: "Hi, thanks for blah blah, good luck with your application later this year and if you would like a letter of support please do not hesitate to ask"?

[Assistant]
Yes.  It would be an unsolicited letter which can be helpful depending on the school.  Near in mind it's unlikely to make the difference, but it doesn't hurt.  You should first check with the dean of faculty if they allow this - it would also need to get approval from that faculty member to go in their file so you may want to ask them as well.

It really depends on the school. The tenure process is often highly regulated by the faculty governance or union (if there is one) and casually it won't just be added to their list.  However, at the very least, a strong letter sent to the department chair would perhaps favorably impact the departmental level of the review. Politics between faculty members may be problematic though, so it's also unclear if the chair happens to be an ally or opponent of that faculty's tenure.


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

[User]
[Beauty and the Beast] How many servants does the Beast need?

It seems that there are thousands of people living in the castle (based on the number of all the living household objects), but why would he need so many servants and such? Wouldn't, like, about 10-20 do?

[Assistant] Depending on the size of the castle, and his wealth, it could be well over 100. As many as a dozen kitchen staff, 15-20 maids, librarian, Steward, gardeners and grounds keepers, guards, personal attendants. And that's if he doesn't employ a personal artist (or multiple) tailor, architect or any other specialist professionals. And if it was his entire Court that was cursed, it would include lesser nobility and their own households as well.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do our faces look so weird and tired when we wake up?

Why do our faces look bloated and eyes all puffy when we first wake up? What's taking place in its tissues to cause this and is there a way to speed up recovery?

[Assistant]
More concentrated blood In different locations. All day you are standing up and walking around, and our body is built for that. Our veins have tiny one way valves that let blood go up but not back down to reach the head.

When we sleep, that blood needs much less effort to go to the head. So there's more blood, think of it like completely harmless swelling. Just standing up and walking around will get everything back to normal.


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

[User]
How does exercise reduce your resting heart rate?

Does it make your cells physically need less oxygen?  Does it make your heart more efficient, how?

[Assistant]
The ventricular walls will also thicken, increasing the contractility of the heart. This increased power in turn leads to a greater stroke volume (amount of blood pumped per contraction).

The cardiac output is further defined as heart rate x SV: hence functional cardiac output can be maintained at a lower heart rate with increased stroke volume.


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

[User]
ELI5: How can the body of some animals like Cows, Horses, etc. that only eat grass make those huge muscles?

They only eat vegetables, yet they have huge muscles. Their bodies are full of protein. How is that possible?

**In bodybuilding they say you need to eat high protein foods like beef and chicken to make muscles. It doesn't make any sense!**

[Assistant]
First of all you need to consider that all plant matter, or every living being to be exact, contains all essential amino acids that are needed to assemble the proteins needed. The common claim that only some foods contain "complete protein" is utter bullshit - even apples and potatoes theoretically could supply us with sufficient amino acids to get by, we only need eat insane quantities to do so. The efficiency at which the pure protein of food can be used also varies by a large margin.

Animals that can digest grass need to eat a lot of it, but by doing so they can get plenty of amino acids and most other essential nutrients to thrive.

Now the reason bodybuilders usually recommend eating meat is that they aim for very low body fat and optimum muscle growth. One way to achieve that is to eat way more proteins than the body can use to grow (the amino acids can be used as source of energy otherwise) while avoiding fat and sugar, so lean meat and eggs are pretty good foods for that.

If you merely want to get ripped you can be a vegan and grow muscles just fine. Legumes like beans and peas, and grains contain a significant amount of protein, and combined they can be used very efficiently (grain lacks one amino acid legumes have plenty of)


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

[User]
ELI5: Why cant cigarettes be made healthy?

Surely things can be removed from cigarettes that will make them healthier.

[Assistant]
Burning any carbon compound inevitably creates the dreaded polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that are the primary cancer causing agents.

You cant remove them from a cigarette without removing *everything*.

Intentionally inhaling smoke is harmful.

You could remove the nicotine to make it non-habit forming, but that sort of defeats the purpose.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it that when you're in a "dark" room and you focus on a really dark spot everything around you (even light) starts to fade away?

I know I probably didn't make any sense since it's hard to explain but imagine being in a dark room with nothing but a little red LED light in the center of the room if you focus on a really dark corner, the light will start fading away into darkness. Why is that?

[Assistant]
ELI5 Answer: Your eyes see things by seeing changes. When nothing changes, we can't see anymore.

Complicated answer: Image burn-in. Humans see light as an "excitement" of the cones and rods in our eyes. If we continue to stare at the same image without it changing, the excitement ends even though the image does not. If you stare at anything for a while, you will notice that your peripheral vision starts to fade and eventually your primary vision starts to fuck up as well.


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

[User]
If a & b are irrational must a+b be irrational?

Yesterday I stumbled across a dumb little "Only 10% of people get this right!" problem on Facebook:

x + (x+15) = 15

My solution was simple: I assumed that x and (x+15) were both perfect squares, and given that the distance between the *nth* and *nth+1* perfect square is always 2n+1, it was immediately obvious that n=7 and x was 49.  No big deal, not a hard problem.

However, it occurred to me my solution involved a weird postulate.  That x and (x+15) **must** be perfect squares.  As if there's no imperfect squares (if there is such a thing) the irrational roots of which  could sum to the rational number 15.

So here's my question:  Is it possible for 2 irrational numbers to sum to a rational number?  And let's disqualify the obvious degenerate case where the irrational parts of the number cancel out, like if:

* a = 2 + 2
* b = 2 - 2

Yeah, obviously their sum is rational.  But what I'm really asking is you could sum *just the irrational bits*, much like we do with imaginary numbers, if it's possible to make a rational number.  My intuition says no, it's not possible.  Is there a proof?

[Assistant]
It A+B=R, where A and B are irrational and R is rational, then you  necessarily have B=R-A. So things like A=2+pi and B=18-pi are the only possibilities. So if you exclude all the cases A and B where A+B is rational, then there are no other pairs of irrational numbers A and B so that their sum  A+B is rational. But that's kinda tautological.

Though, you can prove that if you modify the equation to x + (x+A) = B for any rational A and positive B, then the solution in x is a perfect square rational number. You can use basic algebra to  show that the solution is x=(A^(2)-B)^(2)/4A^(2), which is always a rational square for rational A and B. Though, the proof that the solution must be a rational square is basically just finding the solution.

Now, your reasoning led to the correct solution, which is good, but you have to be careful. Had 49 not been the solution, then your reasoning wouldn't have been enough to say that there were no solutions (in fact, the intermediate value theorem guarantees the existence of a solution). For instance, if we just change the square roots to cube roots, we do get solutions that are not perfect cubes. The solution to x^(1/3)+(x+15)^(1/3)=15 is complicated and not a perfect cube. In fact, z=x^(1/3) is a root of 2z^(3) - 45z^(2) + 675z - 3360=0, which has no rational roots, so x is not a perfect cube. So in this case, you *do* get irrational+irrational=rational.


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

[User]
[Star Wars: the Clone Wars] Why do Jedi stop using armor near the end of the war?

In the show almost every Jedi master featured wears some armor. Notable examples are Anakin (shoulders), Obi-Wan (shoulders and forearms), and Mace Windu (forearms only). Why do they abandon this armor by the time of Episode III? (Oversight is probably the best answer, but does anyone have a canon explanation?)

[Assistant]
From beyond the Fourth Wall: they couldn't get the 'flow' of cloth right when they first started the CG show.

In Universe: Perhaps the Council feared that they were becoming too soldier-like and therefore ordered the Jedi to stop wearing the Clone Trooper armored parts and return to the traditional Jedi robes in order to remind them that they weren't just warriors?


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

[User] [Star Wars] Could a droid with a hand made from pure beskar catch the blade of a lightsaber, and then force it out of the way? If so, for how long could they hold it?

[Assistant] Well in last episode of Mandalorian a spear out of pure beskar began glowing perilously red when it was parrying a lightsaber for an extended period of time, so probably lighsaber EVENTUALLY will melt it, maybe indeed in a minute or so. In combat though it's still more than enough to parry or deflect lightsaber blows, although advantage of surprise won't last long.


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

[User]
[Overwatch] Why is Tracer allowed to travel through London so armed?

During the events of Alive we see Tracer, a former agent of Overwatch, attending a peace rally. The rally is attacked and Tracer responds, but my question is,  why is she given the capability to respond? My limited knowledge leads me to understand she requires that machine on her chest to survive, but does she also need the retractable guns in her wrists? Seems dangerous for the UK government to allow a former member of an organization disbanded for illegal and immoral activities to walk to streets of a major city so armed. Does she have special privileges that I am not aware of?

[Assistant] Simple, Tracer's devices are so esoteric and poorly understood they don't legally qualify as guns, and they're a part of the medical device. You want to be the member of parliament trying to write a law to disarm a single person, who is a disabled, veteran, gay war hero, of her life support?


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

[User]
What is the closest that we can push two electrons together?

I just want to get a better understanding of electromagnetic forces. How close can we bring two together? How much energy would it take? What would happen?

[Assistant]
They can actually almost be in the exact same place, quantum mechanically, if they are in what's called the "singlet" state. As long as they have opposite spins, the Pauli Exclusion Principle will allow them to both occupy the same state. For example, two electrons in the ground state orbital of helium (the 1s2 state) are actually described by a difference of products of their wave functions.

Okay, that was a lot of jargon. Imagine it like this. The electron is a wave, right? It's spread out over some space, like the surface water sloshing around in a bucket. Now pour another cup of water into the bucket. The water sloshes differently now, and you can identify that it's "two cups of water" sloshing, but you can't point to an exact ripple on the surface of the water and say "this is the original cup of water" or "this is the added cup of water." All you can do is describe the ripples as they are with either two cups of water in the bucket, or one cup of water in the bucket. The bucket is like the atom, and the sloshing is like the electron wavefunctions for different orbitals and electron occupancies.


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

[User]
ELI5: How was 50 Shades of Gray a bad protrayal of BDSM?

I remember hearing somewhere that 50 shades a gray was a pretty shittyk movie and it protrayed BDSM terribly. I've never seen the movie except for some parts of it but I get the point. So how did it fuck up protraying BDSM?

[Assistant]
BDSM should be safe, sane and consensual. Both partners should be agreeing to what boundaries they want to push, which ones they want to leave in place, and everybody involved should always be able to stop at any point during either through using no and/or a safeword (depending on what sort of scene you are doing).

50 shades is not safe, nor sane, and definitely not consensual. The guy stalks his partner, threatens her, controls her through expensive gifts, pretty much throws a mental tantrum when she uses her safeword and on at least one occasion disregards her use of no/her safe word entirely. We call that rape.

Plus, there are a lot of people who aren't really happy with how the guy's backstory and his interest in BDSM were linked. It really feeds into the whole 'all people into BDSM have to be mentally damaged' stereotype, which is hardly true.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do video games tend to require a loading screen when you walk into a building? Im thinking about games like Skyrim which let you roam their huge open world without any loading but require a load screen to enter a small building.

[Assistant]
A couple possibilities come into mind. First, towns tend to be a lot more dense. That is, there's a bunch of stuff in a relatively small space. If all the interiors of all the buildings had to be rendered when you enter the city, it may exceed the ability of many systems to render well. So to mitigate this, the game waits until the player enters a building before rendering it.

Another possible reason is simply to allow more modular programming. The interior of the building doesn't have to exactly match the outside dimensions, allowing the developers a little more room to make elaborate interiors without worrying that they might infringe on the constraints imposed by the exterior. So you can have one map designer working on the overall layout of the town while another works on the interiors without worrying about potential conflict.


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

[User]
ELI5: What the difference is between a normal CPU (e.g. Intel i5/i7)and a server/workstation CPU (Xeon series)

Just looking at computer parts, and some benchmarks for CPUs and saw that some Xeons top that list. But why would I not want one for my gaming PC? What's the difference?

[Assistant]
Gaming PCs desire a CPU which can run very few tasks at a very high speed. This means they want a high clock speed and a relatively small cache.

Servers on the other hand desire a CPU which is very stable and can handle many different tasks at a reasonable speed. This means they want a relatively large cache and are willing to sacrifice clock speed.

They are just oriented toward different applications and while both would work for either use, it makes sense to use the best tool for the given task.


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

[User]
Why are oranges, garlic, etc. separated into edible cloves?

As I understand it, most fruits/herbs/vegetables/plants strive for survival and reproduction. Are these any different? Have this behavior benefited them in any way, historically?

Thanks in advance!

[Assistant]
Well, we've modified oranges to be easier to segment, but even the ancestors separated. Each slice of orange is a carpel, each of which contains ovules that become seeds. It's different in garlic, where the cloves are actually storage leaves. They propagate as buds in the axils of sheathes of foliage leaves, below the blade.

This isn't a reproductive advantage as much as it is a consequence of development. Apples also have this segmentation, but it's harder to see and both apples and oranges have a single ovary that is split into chambers.


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

[User]
Why does Althusser refer to direct democracy as "fascist"?

In "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses", specifically in the chapter " On the Reproduction of the Relations of Production", Althusser writes the following:

"The political apparatus \[contributes\] by subjecting individuals to the political State ideology, the indirect (parliamentary) or direct (plebiscitary or fascist) democratic ideology."

Why does Althusser call direct democratic ideology fascist? What I think of when I hear "fascism" is entirely the opposite of direct democracy, so I am interested in why he makes this connection. I was of the impression that direct democracy was maybe even something that could be compatible with higher communist society, but I might be completely off the mark. I'm pretty new to philosophy so are there perhaps Marxist definitions of fascism and democracy which differ from the common understandings of the words? And what exactly is the relationship between communism and democracy?

[Assistant]
>Why does Althusser call direct democratic ideology fascist?

Read the rest of the quote in context. He's not making a statement about the "essence of democracy", but about the role of education in shaping subjects toward the capitalist state in ways that reproduce capitalist social relations. The comparison here is between shaping expectations in a representative form (note how many big brains in the US repeat tropes critical of "mob rule" as if they're the first to have those original thoughts) or in the plebscite form (a populist notion of having "the people" exercise their sovereignty by putting an agenda to the vote, ignoring the fact that the creation and interpretation of the agenda isn't part of a deliberative process to ascertain the popular will about anything). The plebiscite is ratifying an already decided agenda and creating a class of people who aren't "the people", meaning those who don't agree with the "popular will.

The point here is that the subject has already been shaped (and he'd say the subject itself is constructed, constituted through this interpolation by the ideological state apparatus), and there's nothing in the political forms or ways we talk about politics to counter the ideological force of that apparatus. And the plebiscite's false democracy here would somehow say the opinion of the majority on the interests of the minority is already shaped to further this social reproduction. Asking white Americans raised in a racialized society, born into a political caste system, what they think about issues of racial justice and the results aren't "freely democratic" in the sense envisioned by the Enlightenment. Their race has been handed to them and the significance of that race called out by society in key moments to protect the reproduction of a racial hierarchy.


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

[User]
[Children Of Men] What is life like in "middle of nowhere" USA?

We get some hints as to how some of the major US cities are doing (Spoilers: Not very well), but what about smaller towns?

Is Everytown, USA, where everyone knows everyone and nothing is worth nuking doing relatively okay, or is it just as chaotic as the bigger cities?

[Assistant]
Severely depopulated.  Lawlessness abounds, though more in the sense that no one cares what you're doing and not that you're at risk of getting massacred by roving gangs.  Those exist, of course, but the societal depression that's occurred has manifested more as nihilism than rage.

Unstable and violent individuals have mostly moved on or already gotten themselves killed.  A combination of formal municipal organizations and informal cliques of individuals who can get things done provides the backbone for most communities.   Nature has begun to reclaim many areas as the population dwindles.


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

[User] [Star Trek] How does a Kingon cloaking device differ from a Romulan cloaking device? Or do they function similarly?

[Assistant] The klingons traded the romulans for the cloak during kirks era. The Klingon Cloak is probably the same minus 100 years of romulan upgrades. Then again the klingons figured out a way to fire whilst cloaked, something the romulans couldn't do til Shinzon 100 years later.


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

[User] ELI5: How can they tell how much oxygen is in my blood by putting a clothespin from Tron on my finger?

[Assistant] They work on the principle of spectrophotometry. Hemoglobin is the protein that carries oxygen through your blood and hemoglobin is a different color when it's bound to O2. The clothes pins simply emit light and the amount that passes through is dependent on how much hemoglobin saturated with oxygen is in your blood. The colors they emit are red (absorbed by deoxygenated blood) and infrared (absorbed by oxygenated blood). The machine then does a calculation to result in a percentage.


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

[User] [The Flash] I almost walked in front of a speeding car today, but the Flash grabbed me and pulled me out of the way. Unfortunately, he grabbed me so fast he broke my arm. Does this normally happen? Could I sue?

[Assistant] This doesn't normally happen, since the Speed Force allows him to accelerate himself, you, and any other object way faster than should be physically possible without causing any damage to it. If he's losing control of the Speed Force it probably means there's some serious shit going down, and the last thing he needs is you distracting him with litigation.


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

[User] [John Wick] Is John Wick amazed that he's still alive or has it all just been part of the plan?

[Assistant] I imagine on some level he saw his assault on the mob as something of a "get payback or die trying" scenario, with either outcome being acceptable and the latter being the most likely, but he did plan to win. He had an endgame in mind, knowing that he'd need to extract some kind of peace terms from the surviving remnants of the Tarasov family before he could return home (hence the opening sequence of JW2); had he just been in a blind kill frenzy, he likely wouldn't bother with that step.


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

[User] Why is it that when you hear yourself on a recording, you sound different than what you thought? Also, which one is what you actually sound like? What you hear when you talk, or what you hear on a recording?

[Assistant]
When you talk, part of what you are hearing is the vibrations through your facial bones.  When you hear others (or a recording of yourself), this component is not present.

If you record your voice on a high quality recorder, what you hear from the recorder is what other people hear.


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

[User]
[Bayverse Transformers] What are the cognitive abilities of a transformer?

They're introduced and titled a "super advanced race of alien robots", however it seems like their most significant developments are out of their control (their robot 'biology') or something any sentient race could develop in time (space ships, physics-warping tech, laser guns, etc).

How capable mentally is an individual transformer? Are they a super-computer, or are they just a 'person' with a robot body?

We usually see them interacting just like they're normal human people. We almost never see them using high-tech military strategies like radio or binoculars or grouping up. Heck, most of the time a single injury reduces them to a kicked dog - flailing in pain, without regard to the fact they were just injured and should probably react somehow.

[Assistant]
They seem roughly equivalent to a human, with all of the benefits and drawbacks that entails. Some of them are smart and noble, like Prime, some of them are greedy and evil, like Megatron, and some of them exist to make dick jokes.

I don't think it's canon in the Bayverse, but in the TV show and comics, Mechanus created the Transformers to be *life*, not to be super tailored to a specific task, so it makes sense that they have all of the flaws and weaknesses of a human.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why is it acceptable to wipe the memories of droids?

Edit: Sorry, implied in my question is the acknowledgement that they demonstrate human intelligence and awareness.

Edit 2: It's a fascinating "rationalization after the fact" that we've been rationalizing mind-wiping sentient, self-aware beings since "A New Hope" and I think that it wasn't until the Han Solo movie did they really address the elephant in the room.

Edit 3: I wonder if it's because The Force is a measure of the value of life and droids don't emit the force so they aren't seen as alive and thus not given intrinsic value.

[Assistant]
Because droids aren't seen as people, just as machines that can get uppity when you don't wipe their memories from time to time.

This sentiment became even stronger after the Clone Wars since droids were used as killing machines in this recent conflict.


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

[User]
[GoT] Where did the Iron Islanders get the resources for an Armada?

[Not really spoilers since this came up last season]

How was there possibly enough wood on the Iron Islands to build an armada of a thousand ships? It's a rocky island, and the history of civilization there goes back thousand of years. Shouldn't mast sized trees be hard to come by?

[Assistant] Not sure about the show, but in the books the Ironborn pretty much exclusively use longships, which are much smaller than the type of sailing vessel you're probably imagining. Beyond that, they had recently been occupying chunks of the North, where there's definitely no shortage of trees.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that one feels more rested when sleeping earlier (11pm) than sleeping later (3am) despite the same hours of sleep (8hrs)?

[Assistant]
This is almost certainly depending on your sleep cycle and whether you're a "night owl" rather than anything else.
For example, I'd say that 3am to 11am is condiderably more restful than 11pm to 7am.
Additionally, there might be external factors, such as street noise. You might not realise it, but traffic noise can disrupt your sleep even if you don't wake up.


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

[User] ELI5: how the US Supreme Court decided the 2000 Presidential Election, and how is the decision viewed today?

[Assistant]
With all states except Florida counted, neither candidate had the majority of 270 electoral votes they needed to win.  The 25 electoral votes from Florida would give either candidate the Presidency.

The Florida vote was extremely close.  There was a long process of a hand count which ended with Bush leading by less than 1000 votes.

Gore requested recounts in only heavily Democratic districts.  The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that that approach was unconstitutional because it did not treat all ballots in the state equally, especially with different criteria being used to recount in each county.

Probably the most controversial part was that the U.S. Supreme Court also ruled that there was not enough time remaining before the legal deadline to conduct a full state recount.  This basically ended all legal challenges and with Bush in the lead, he was the winner.  The ruling had a 5-4 split.

If the selective recount Gore requested would have happened, Bush still would have won.

If a state-wide recount would have happened, using the standards the election officials stated they would have used, Bush would have won.

If a state-wide recount would have happened, using some other theoretical standards, Gore would have won.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does eating snow kill you eventually

I've heard many times that if you're trapped somewhere in the mountains (for whatever reason) you must not "drink" the snow-water because it will kill you. Why is that? We can drink rain water, so why not snow-water?

Thanks!

[Assistant]
You ARE supposed to drink snow-water *(edit:) when there isn't any other water available*, it's  a great source of water in an emergency.  But you're never supposed to eat snow unless it has melted first.

Eating snow makes it much easier to die of hypothermia.

It doesn't matter if you're in a good shelter, because the snow freezes you from the inside.  When you are stuck in any place cold enough that you risk freezing to death, it is dangerous to eat or drink very cold things.

It is safe to let the snow melt first, and then drink it.

Edit: You should only eat snow as a last resort.  Snow has more bacteria in it than some other kinds of water.  It also has a bit of whatever was in the air when the snow fell, which could include pollution.   Snow that has been on the ground a long time can be considered comparable to an especially clean pool of  stagnant water.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are there separate folders for Program Files and Program Files (x86)?

Seems like they serve the same purpose. When I download new programs it seems random which folder it ends up in. Why not have one big folder for program files?

[Assistant] It's not random. x86 is a repository for 32-bit programs. 64-bit programs go in the regular folder. Your computer can run both, but they're not readily interoperable with each other. They're kept separate so programs that interact with other programs can easily distinguish which is which.


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

[User] Will Saturn's ring ever disappear (by eventually assembling into a moon)?

[Assistant] No. If it were going to do so, it would have done so already. The gravitational effects of Saturn (edit: this means tidal forces, everyone) as well as the moons which orbit in the rings prevent the formation of additional moons within the ring system. The remaining material is only on the order of 3 x 10^19 kg, comparable to the smaller moons of Saturn, but the rings are almost entirely water ice, and you need some heavier substances to get a moon or planet forming.


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

[User]
[LOTR] Who in Middle Earth knew that the Wizards were not humans?

Did the rulers of Gondor know since they gave Saruman Isengard with the assumption Saruman is powerful enough to defend it? Which elves knew Istari were Maia? Was it common knowledge that the Wizards had lifespans too long for humans? What did Dwarves, Hobbits, and ordinary men think of what Wizards are? Is doing magic tricks enough to convince most people that Wizards aren't humans?

[Assistant]
The only individuals in Middle Earth who explicitly knew for sure the Istari were Maiar was Cirdan, Elrond, and Galadriel. Celeborn, Glorfindel, Bombadil, Sauron, and the Balrog certainly knew as well.

The fellowship, Treebeard, and Faramir probably had the next best suspicion of their origins through close interaction.

Everyone else saw them as sorcerers who were members of Wise. Wizardry and sorcery are not unique to the Istari.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] In Episode 2, Anakin and Obi-Wan almost always seem at odds with each other. But by the time of The Clone Wars and Episode 3, they seem really close. How (and why) did their relationship change so quickly?

Not to say that the friction goes away completely; the faux-assassination of Obi-Wan really drove a wedge between them.

But for the most part, Anakin and Obi-Wan seem really close by the time of TCW, which is canonically months(?) after AOTC. Is it Anakin becoming a Knight? The war itself that bonded the two? What made them go from tense father-son to brothers?

[Assistant]
Anakin was dealing with a month of seeing his mother in agonizing pain and unable to sleep, which combined with his and Obi-Wans normal trouble communicating led to a far more unstable partnership.

TCW takes place seven weeks after Geonosis, at which point Obi-Wan and Anakin are in the trenches of a high adrenaline constant war. They finally are able to fully get their teamwork in by the constant high-tension situations they need to work together in and are able to focus on the mission. Come ROTS, theyve been a team for three years and are able to work together near perfectly as the brothers they are without problem. The near, of course, being Anakins extreme emotional instability thats been steadily growing throughout the war, Obi-Wans denial of it, and the Sith Lord whos been grooming the former for nearly a decade and a half now whos ready to make his final gambit for apprenticeship.


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

[User]
ELI5/ Why do unused blades lose their sharp edges over time?

Answered-
I only use my skates once a year and the rest of the time they're sitting in storage. Every single year I have to re-sharpen my skates even though I've only used them once. What happens to the blade edge? No pressure is dulling the blade while they're in storage so I'm confused about why they become dull over time.

[Assistant]
The fine edge oxidizes. If you were to look at the very thinnest part of the blade under a microscope, you'd see pitting and etching from rust - even stainless steels are not immune.

You can protect them to some degree by drying them thoroughly and then oiling them after use.


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

[User] What do physicists mean when they say that gravity is the weakest of the four forces?

[Assistant] It means exactly that: out of the four forces, gravity is the weakest one. Gravity only seems strong because we live right next to a giant mass of rock and experience gravity all the time. When an entire planet worth of gravity is opposed to a small fridge magnet worth of magnetic force, the fridge magnet usually wins. That's how weak gravity is.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is street food not very common in the US?

Whenever you're browsing reddit, you inevitably see someone singing the praises of the street food that you can find in one country or another. But why does street food not really seem to be a thing here in the US? I've lived in three different states and never really seen it. There are a couple of food trucks and that's it. Is it only in bigger cities, or is it actually a national/cultural difference?

[Assistant] Where so many Americans are spread out over a large area, there are very few places where there is a high enough concentration of people to allow street food vendors to make a profit. It's common in large cities like New York with lots of foot traffic to have street carts, but anywhere else in the US it wouldn't be very profitable.


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

[User]
ELI5 do most chefs actually wear those chef hats, If so why? And if not where does the idea that they do come from?

Been puzzling me for a while.

[Assistant]
It depends on where you are in the world, but for the most part; absolutely not. It's a classic French thing, hundreds of years old, and a whole fuckin' lot of places once looked to France for their ideas about fine dining. This means they emulated the French, so we got a lot of French chef's hats.

Contemporary chefs just don't wear those absurdly tall and ridiculous looking hats. They absolutely will wear a nice white hat, but they're small and tight. The hats keep hair and sweat out of their eyes and out of their food. You want your chefs wearing hats or hairnets.

If the chefs are visible to your dining public, you want their hats to be white. Clean, white hats on your chefs signify a clean kitchen, and customers want to know that the restaurant they're eating in is clean. Especially in a post-Kitchen Nightmares world. Black hats, while common, aren't easy for a customer to see cleanliness in.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does your stomach grumble when you're hungry?

Title says it all.

[Assistant] When your intestinal muscles contract they push stuff around. If there's food in there it doesn't make much noise; if there's nothing but stomach acid and air it'll make a gurgling sound as gas pockets move through the liquid in your guts.


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

[User] [Tolkien] There are five wizards, right? Gandalf, Saruman, Raddagast... Who are the other two?

[Assistant] The Blue Wizards, Morinehtar and Romestamo, traveled into the East early on. They attempted to stir up rebellion against Sauron's rule and undermine his strongholds in the area. Tolkien went back and forth on how successful they were, but his latest writings suggest they did quite well. Otherwise Sauron's eastern armies would have far outnumbered the free peoples of the West and he would have conquered them long before LotR.


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

[User] ELI5:Why are we told to exercise damaged muscles to restore normal function, but wear glasses for our eyes?

[Assistant] If one leg is longer than the other you're not told to fix it with exercise.  Vision problems are most often caused by eye geometry problems.  There are tiny muscles that control focus, and they are the strongest muscles in the body by mass, but workouts for them won't change the geometry that put your retina too far back into your head or chemical changes that make the focus lens less elastic.


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

[User]
[DC] How can Batman perform well on the Justice League but still challenged and sometimes bested by Joker, Poison Ivy, Riddler, Penguin etc?

How can Batman perform well on the Justice League against extremely powerful villains but is still challenged and sometimes bested by Joker, Poison Ivy, Riddler, Penguin and other street level villains?

[Assistant] Joker can best him because he's an A-Lister. He's knocked out an iteration of the Suicide Squad in literally seconds with no harm to himself. He managed to track down and kill the Black Glove's members mostly on his own. The United States Govt once declared war on him during a particularly nasty rampage. Don't underestimate the Joker, he's not some dude with a skin condition, he's evil Batman with a skin condition. And that's exactly why Batman's villains can keep up with him. They're smart. They don't have to outfight him, just outmaneuver him.


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

[User] ELI5: What happens to extra blood vessels when someone loses a substantial amount of weight?

[Assistant] In the short term, nothing at all. Only after a long time of disuse will there be remodeling. Think of the cells and blood vessels like houses. When somebody moves out of a house, it's not immediately torn down. It's kept in case you need to fill it again, with people, or with fat deposits. Only after a long time with no one using or caring for the house does it get bad enough to be torn down, and all the internal piping and wiring with it. Same with the empty fat cells. Your body invested a large amount of resources and energy making those cells and vessels, it's going to keep them until it's absolutely sure you don't need them anymore. Incidentally, this is also why weight loss requires a long term change of lifestyle. If you lose fifteen pounds over a couple months, then go back to normal, your body will just fill back up the old infrastructure it had, storing up just in case.


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

[User]
ELI5: What causes us to age and what would have to be done to prevent aging?

I've been wondering about this topic for quite a while now. Especially after hearing about the "Singularity" theory, which says that the newer generations are basically living forever already because anti-aging medicine would develop faster than we could age.

[Assistant]
When your cells split in half to make more of themselves, the ends of the DNA get damaged a little bit. It's a bit like tearing paper in half: each time you do it, the chance you'll get a perfect split is lower and lower. Eventually, the DNA gets damaged to the point where it cannot transmit it's information as accurately, or perhaps at all. This causes our organs to degrade and no longer fill their purpose.

As for anti-aging, it is possible, to some extent. Unlike normal cells, reproductive cells (sperm, eggs) do *not* get damaged when reproducing. This is because the reproductive organs produce a special chemical that repairs the ends of the DNA, thus making sure every cell has a good set. This idea could be applied to the DNA of all our cells, essentially preventing us from decaying. We don't know enough about it yet to really utilize it, though.


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

[User]
ELI5:mm numbers and the power/lethality of a firearm

Is a 15mm more dangerous than a 9mm? What does .308 mean?

[Assistant]
It's confusing because we don't use consistent measurements.

The caliber (like 9mm or .308) is the diameter of the bullet. Other things being equal, bigger is more powerful. A 10mm is more powerful than a 9mm, partly because it makes a bigger hole, but also because it's heavier and hits you harder.

Those are both measured in millimeters. For other calibers we measure in inches. Common ones include .22, .38, .357, .40, and .45. Any time you see a decimal in front, it's an inches measurement.

Everything I've listed so far is a pistol caliber. (Well, mainly, .22 is also used in rifles, and  any pistol caliber can be used in a "carbine" which is basically a rifle using a bullet mainly used for pistols.) By and large, bigger is more powerful, but an exception is that .357 is more powerful than .38. The reason is that .357 cartridges have a lot more gunpowder, so the bullet goes faster. More energy, more impact.

Which brings us to rifles. Most rifle cartridges have lot more gunpowder than pistol cartridges. You have that long rifle barrel, and with lots of gunpowder you can accelerate the bullet the whole way. If you used that much gunpowder from a pistol, a lot of it would burn after the bullet leaves the muzzle, making a big flash and a lot of noise but not pushing your bullet that much more.

So generally rifle calibers are a lot more powerful even though they might be smaller. The military uses .223, almost the same size as .22 but it goes way faster and will do a lot more damage. (Actually they use 5.56 mm, almost the same but with slightly different specs...but any 5.56 rifle can fire .223.) And of course you can shoot a lot farther with rifles.

.308 is a bigger rifle cartridge, better at penetrating cover and shooting long-range. It's the smallest rifle caliber commonly used by snipers.

Shotguns are completely different. The common sizes are 12-gauge and 20-gauge, and the 12-gauge is bigger. The measurement works like this: take a lead ball that just fits inside the barrel. How many lead balls do you need to make a pound of lead? That's the gauge.


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

[User]
ELI5: what is happening in our brains when a song becomes "old" to us?

For instance, I will be listening to this one song I really like, but after overplaying it I lose my appeal and actually start to dislike it. Why?

[Assistant]
One theory of music is that the composer/performer is playing a sort of game with the audience.  They provide patterns for the audience to try to anticipate.  When the audience can't see any pattern at all, it just seems like boring noise.  When the audience can follow the pattern perfectly, it is also boring.  When they can follow some of the pattern, they are pleasantly surprised by the exceptions to it.

This means that when you've perfectly learned all the twists and turns of a song, it no longer surprises you, and becomes boring.

I don't know if there is an objective "right answer" to this question, but this seems to fit.


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

[User]
ELI5: How exactly do movies and tv shows work when an actor or actress starring in them is also the one directing it?

I am referring to major roles, not just cameos. For example Aziz Ansari directed a few episodes of Master Of None and he is the main character.

[Assistant]
In cases where the director is also on-screen, not much is different. Prior to filming a scene, everyone involved will have a meeting to discuss challenges and other talking points. This makes sure everyone is on the same page, everyone understands their blocking, discussing last minute script changes, etc. This little pow wow is standard practice and minimizes reshoots.

One of the biggest differences with an actor-director is that they themselves are going to have twice the work to do, since they have to create and direct a scene, review and approve dailies (all the scenes that get shot over the course of that day), send progress reports to the producers, wrangle the crew and any other 3rd parties involved with the shoot, etc; all while also fulfilling the full time duty of an actor.

As far as actually directing the scene, directors say and do very little while a scene is filming, since all of the finer points should have been covered prior to slate. Though we see it a lot in Hollywood movies about Hollywood (director storming onto an active set yelling "cut cut cut") this happens very little, as it's a sign that person is not a good communicator, and poor communicators make very poor directors. Most of the time, after discussing the scene and possibly doing a dry rehearsal, the actor will take their place before prepping the crew and then either they or an assistant will call "action" and the scene will start filming.

In the end, it's really just more work for an actor, as now they don't get to stop working/caring once the scene wraps.

Source: have worked theater, family working in Hollywood.


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

[User] ELI5: How do the flashing lights, alarms and gates at train crossings know when to start and stop when trains pass by?

[Assistant] They run a small electric current down the rails. When the train is coming the axles of the train cause act like a short between the rails which causes the behavior of that current to change. The crossing guards can detect this change. Because the nature of the change is a function of how far away the train is from the crossing a smart crossing can figure out how far away the train is, and how fast it's moving, and use that to figure out when it needs to close & open the gate.


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

[User] [The Dark Crystal] Were the Skeksis good rulers of Thra once? What exactly happened to them to become those corrupted evil monsters?

[Assistant] The original movie explained this quite clearly.  The Mystics and the Skeksis are the Good and Evil sides of beings that were divided when the crystal was cracked.  The Skeksis themselves were never good in any way.


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

[User]
[DC] Why did Bruce Wayne spend years training in martial arts before he knew that he wanted to be Batman? What was his motivation as a young man?

Here's my understanding of Batman's origin.

He witnesses his parents get shot as a child. As a young adult, he travels the world training to be one of the greatest fighters of all time. After a number of years, he returns to Gotham. At first, he's not sure what he wants to do. But then, he witnesses a bat crash through his window. Upon seeing this, it occurs to him that criminals are a "superstitious cowardly lot". He decides to dress as a bat in order to frighten criminals and clean up the streets of Gotham. Hence, he begins his career as Batman.

But, what exactly was his motivation during the years when he was training to be a fighter? He apparently didn't decide to become a super hero until shortly after returning to Gotham. So, why all the training? What was going through the mind of 20 year old Bruce Wayne as he was learning martial arts in Asia? What was his plan?

[Assistant] IIRC, his intention was always to fight crime, but as Bruce Wayne. It was only as an adult that he realized he needed a disguise. When the bat crashed through his window, it gave him the perfect inspiration for a disguise that would be both effective and intimidating.