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

[User]
How to deal with a PI that just won't do tasks?

I'm a postdoc in a biology lab of a big university. My PI is, of course, incredibly busy and has many demands on her time. However, I wrote a review article and gave her a basically completed draft ready to submit 5 months ago and she just won't read it. I send her reminders, she doesn't respond. I bring it up in person, she smiles and says "it's top of my list". At this point, it's really impacting my motivation and honestly hurting my career. I'm doing okay in the lab in terms of papers, but I can't help but think how much better we could all be doing if she didn't retard things by being so slow.

How would people deal with this situation. Obviously I can't force her to read it and sign off. But I do need her to submit it, I need her for future work and letters of rec etc. etc.

Would a frank email explaining how much this is impacting me work? I know it's only a review article, but I'll be entering the academic job market in a few months and every paper will help.

Any thoughts or suggestions appreciated.

[Assistant] This is just commiserating and is likely not helpful, but a friend of mine had something similar during his PhD. His supervisor had a ready-to-go paper on his desk for a year (**a year!**). It definitely affected his work with his supervisor and his work ethic generally. He tried everything to get his supervisor to do it but nothing helped. Eventually he just sent his supervisor an email that he was going to submit it on a certain date, and he'd need feedback by then. The supervisor didn't give any feedback, he submitted anyway, and the paper is now published.


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

[User] If Newton's Law of Gravitation is only meant for point masses, how come we use it to calculate force of gravity on a massive body like Earth?

[Assistant]
For extended bodies, the force law holds for each infinitesimal piece, and so the total force is the sum (i.e., integral) of each of these infinitesimal forces.

For a spherically symmetric object *A* (this means the object is a sphere and its mass density depends only on the distance from the center), it turns out that the gravitational force from *A* on any other object *B* that is *exterior* to *A* is just the gravitational force on *B* as if all of the mass of *A* were concentrated at its center. In other words, spherically symmetric objects act as if they were point masses, but only on their exterior. This can be proved using the divergence theorem from advanced calculus, and in physics it typically goes by the name of Gauss's Law.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why commercial airliners don't use ejector seats?

If fighter jets use them, why don't we put them in commercial airplanes? And would they be safer than current safety measures?

[Assistant]
Two reasons, mainly.

1. They're ridiculously heavy.  You're flying, you see.  Weight is the opposite of flying.

2. They're ridiculously expensive.  Would you pay an extra $10,000 per ticket?

More reasons than that, but those should cover the most important.


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

[User] ELI5: How do we know the universe is constantly expanding if only 4% of the universe is visible to us?

[Assistant]
The figure of 4% of the universe being visible is not what you seem to think it is. What they are saying is that "of the visible universe, 4% of the mass  we can tell exists is visible to us." That means that while we can look at a galaxy and know how much gravity is required to make that shape, and from extrapolation how much mass must be there, we can only see 4% of it glowing like stars or lit up nebula.

What is that other stuff? Probably in large part "dark matter" which is a fancy way of saying we don't know. There is speculation that dark matter is some special form of matter which doesn't interact with the electromagnetic force very much if at all, which makes it extremely difficult to detect. But it does have gravity so it has effects on a very large scale.

But that 4% we can see is spread all over and we can see that on the whole everything is moving away from everything else on scales where gravity or other forces don't dominate. That tells us that the universe is expanding. But that is only 4% of the visible universe; the entire universe may well be infinite in extent.


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

[User] Does scratching at irritations like bug bites harm or delay the healing process at all?

[Assistant]
It will cause more histamine release and more immune cells to infiltrate the area, causing more irritation. Theoretically it might have the potential to fight against certain microbes, but in terms of healing, it would not help.

First of all, the scratching causes more damage to the area. Then the immune cells release substrates that can damage the tissue matrix which is not good for healing.


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

[User]
[Starwars] Why are Battle Droids so stupid?

Why are the drones so stupid, I could understand if they had a basic sentience, as this would help during battle, if plans needed to change, but they seem overly clumsy and foolish. I've been watching that animated series Starwars: The Clone Wars (not sure if it's canon?) and the drones often do more harm than good. Why are they so foolish?

Apologies if this has already been asked!

[Assistant]
The short, short answer is that they're made cheaply and weren't actually meant to win.

Basically, most Battle Droids only need to point at enemies and shoot. They're not fantastically trained, they basically win through numbers. But Palpatine never planned on the CIS winning. His endgame was a Republic Victory with him as Emperor.


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

[User]
ELI5:When a music composer writes a piece in a certain key, are they only using the 7 notes in the given key?

I'm a self taught musician that has studied a bit of music theory (key signatures, circle of fifths, relative keys, etc), but I want to get more proficient. I guess I'm confused on how composers use tonal keys. Take Beethoven's No 5 in C Minor as an example. I find it hard to believe that only the seven notes in the Cmin scale are used throughout the entire composition. So I ask, for my own betterment as a seeker of understanding, how do you write into and out of keys during a piece of music? Thanks!!

[Assistant]
No. The seven notes are the "central home base," but the composer isn't confined to just those notes. You can use chords from other keys, in modern music, using the 'flat 7' chord is common. (Song is in C Major, but a Bb Major chord is also used.)

What Beethoven did and other composers do is modulate keys. Aka, spend some time in a different key, before coming back to home base. (Start in c minor, spend some time playing in g minor, then come back to c minor.) Great composers do this so seamlessly that the common non-musician  may not notice.

Hope this helps.

Source: Took music theory courses in college/ professional a cappella arranger.


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

[User]
How is Baudrillards hyper reality different from Platos cave?

(Forgive me if I express this incorrectly)

I dont fully understand hyper reality, but I think its about how the things that appear real are only simulations of simulations, they simulate the media which simulates reality.

Platos cave demonstrates how humans can only see shadows of true substances and never the original forms, which shows how the nature of representation does not correspond to reality.

Are these two ideas not essentially very similar, how does the excess of signs in the media change the fundamental illusory nature of reality?

[Assistant]
There is a sort of relation in that in both the hyper-real and in the cave there is a blurring between the real and the symbolic - but only insofar as the prisoners take the symbolic to be the real.  It turns out the prisoners just have no substantial relation to the real so, almost by necessity, this blurring occurs.  Yet, it occurs *totally*.

However, the hyper-real contains within it pure simulacrum, signs which have absolutely no ground or relation to reality at all.  (For instance, pictures of people who never existed.)  The shadows in the cave, however, *do* stand in relation to the real - a direct relation.  There are no pure simulacrum in the cave.


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40k] Would be possible to restore Holy Terra to be a nice planet, if the Imperium really wanted to?

Or it's fucked beyond fixing?

[Assistant]
Probably not.

There's no water, the atmosphere's not breathable, the soil is mostly gone and there's no natural life.

Take away the hive cities, and the planet's as hospitable as mars today. Maybe less so- it's actively poisonous as opposed to merely inhospitable.

It would take an unimaginable terraforming attempt to get it repaired, essentially building a new lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere from scratch. The Dark Age humans maybe could have. The Imperium no longer has the resources.


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

[User]
If you turn up the bass, mid, and treble on your stereo-- have you effectively just increased the volume?

Are the gains relative to each other?

[Assistant]
Probably not, because the frequency response of the  bass/mid/treble controls probably don't overlap in a perfectly complementary way.

If your stereo's got a flattish frequency response with bass/mid/treble set to "no cut, no boost" then turning them up will most likely give you a frequency response with three bumps in it.

Beyond that, the devil's in the detail: how does the frequency response of your stereo change just because you turned the volume up, huh? Does the volume knob affect the tone of the sound itself?


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

[User] [original Pokemon games] So, I went around and caught a bunch of Pokemon. 151 unique ones, to be exact. I filled up my Pokedex. But did I catch any that Professor Oak hadn't seen or was unable to catch? Am I actually aiding in his scientific research, or is there something else happening?

[Assistant] Yes you are helping! See we are aware of a lot of these species and see them around however without actually catching them we are oblivious to height, weight,  and their sounds. Even some basic characteristics elude our understanding unless we get up close and personal. Furthermore Professor Oak lives in the tiny town of Pallet where there's not a lot of trainers around so he can't exactly ask to examine their team. Cue you and the amazing pokedex, by sending you out with his highly advanced encyclopedia that immediately records basic information as well as cultural and scientific data we are able to put together a comprehensive database of Pokemon.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does the U.S. have a debt ceiling if it just gets raised every few months? Isn't it redundant?

[Assistant]
Before 1917 Congress specified the details of financing in every spending bill.  A bill authorizing the Navy to spend $10 million on new ships would also specify the term and interest rate of the bonds that would be sold to raise the money.  In 1917, Congress passed a bill that authorized the Treasury department to issue bonds as needed to fund the spending authorized by Congress. This bill included a limit on how much debt the Treasury department could issue.   A practice that is still followed almost 100 years later.

It is redundant in that Congress already controls spending via legislation.  If our nation actually hits the debt ceiling, it would force a default on our obligations and most likely create an economic crisis. In a rational world, the debt ceiling would be eliminated.


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

[User]
When a guy cums does it come from both testicles simultaneously?

Or just one per ejaculation and they alternate? Or does one operate for so many years then retires? What happens if a testicle gets cancer and must be removed, how is ejaculation affected?

[Assistant]
So lets be specific here, and separate ejaculation and orgasm because while they overlap, they're not the same. During orgasm the testes expel semen through the vas deferens into the the ejaculatory ducts, and this occurs bilaterally. The ejaculatory ducts end in the seminal vesicles, where fluid produced by the prostate is mixed and a series of contractions "load" the urethra for ejaculation. Finally the semen (which is the sperm from the testes and fluid from the prostate) is ejected.

If a testicle is removed it in no way impacts ejaculation. Most of the stuff in semen is the fluid produced by the prostate, and you can't "sense" sperm count without a microscope. Even if the man has a vasectomy, in which the vas deferens are tied and cauterized, ejaculation appears the same. The fluid ejected then is only from the prostate, lacking semen, but the experience is the same for everyone.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why are all Trandoshans assholes?

I've noticed that pretty much every time a trandoshan appears in something they're a bad guy.  Are there any good guy trandoshans?  And why are so many of them evil?

[Assistant]
They are basically the Predator alien in the Star Wars universe. They love a good hunt and any species, sentient or not, is open for hunts.

In Legends their entire religion and society was basically hunt and score "points" which encouraged many into slaving, bounty hunting, or mercenary work.


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

[User]
CMV: Colonizing Mars is a terrible way to prevent human extinction, in case Earth becomes inhospitable in the future

There simply isn't a conceivable scenario where Earth could be rendered more hostile to life than Mars currently is. Even if the asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs hit Earth tomorrow, after the dust settles in a few years, Earth will still be significantly easier to live on than Mars. We could mine every atom of uranium in the Earth's crust, construct as many nuclear warheads as we can, nuke each other into sludge, and Earth would still be more habitable than Mars.

Sending people and materiel to Mars is extremely costly, if some eccentric billionaire really wants to save humanity from the apocalypse, it would be far more cost-effective to construct doomsday bunkers, dome cities or terraforming equipment here on Earth, that way money isn't wasted blasting these things into space. Or even better, invest all resources into protecting the environment. After all, it's far more likely that humanity will be destroyed by climate change than some zombie virus or an asteroid the size of Texas.

[Assistant]
>There simply isn't a conceivable scenario where Earth could be rendered more hostile to life than Mars currently is. Even if the asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs hit Earth tomorrow, after the dust settles in a few years, Earth will still be significantly easier to live on than Mars.

The astroid that wiped out the dinosaurs was tiny. There are over a million astounds big enough to turn the entire surface of the earth into lava and they have hit us before (the moon is a result of one).


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

[User]
ELI5: What happens exactly to electronics when exposed to water?

Why do electronics break when they touch water? Is there one specific component that breaks or something?

[Assistant] Water conducts electricity. When you have water between your exposed wires you get short circuit. Sometimes you can get only individual components burned, but often it's enough so that the whole gadget would stop functioning.


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

[User]
Would a strong wind affect the freezing of water?

I was told a story about an airplane that had its ailerons freeze up after takeoff because of trapped water in the gap seals. The pilot said the temp on the ground was above freezing but once he took off and reached colder air the controls froze. But he also said the rush of the wind had something to do with the water freezing. I didn't think rushing air would affect anything other than how cold the wind feels on your skin, and certainly not the temperature at which water freezes. Am I right?

[Assistant] Wind does not alter the temperature at which water freezes but the wind will increase the rate of heat loss. In order for water to freeze, it must lose heat to the surrounding environment. When a wind is blowing, it is constantly moving the air away from the surface and thus increases the rate of heat transfer.  If water is moved from a warm environment to a below-freezing environment, it will freeze more quickly if there is a wind blowing. It is the same reason why wind on your skin feels cold,  the wind is always pushing away the microlayer of warm air just next to your skin and thus increases the rate of heat loss.


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

[User] ELI5: theoretically, if you put wood in a vacuum and heat it up to a high enough degree, could you melt it?

[Assistant]
> theoretically, if you put wood in a vacuum and heat it up to a high enough degree, could you melt it?

No.

If you put wood under a vacuum you would have water and other volatile compounds start to boil away, even before you heated it. Once you heated it and pumped away the gasses you would be left with something very much like charcoal. Mainly composed of carbon you could keep heating it but carbon sublimates in a vacuum so it would never reach a liquid state. It would go straight from a solid to a gas.


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

[User] [Marvel/DC] If Superman punches Black Panther, how much of the strike can his suit absorb?

[Assistant]
It's important to note that Black Panther's suit is a vibranium weave, not pure vibranium, and is therefore susceptible to being overloaded with sufficient force. Another example of this can be found in a mutant teenager named Gentle, a Wakandan mutant who can increase his muscle mass to gain superhuman strength. Unfortunately, his powers put a great deal of strain on his body, so Gentle had vibranium tattoos placed on his body to keep his powers in check.

Even with the prodigious durability of vibranium, the tattoos slowly fade over time, which requires Gentle's periodic return to Wakanda so he can have the tattoos reapplied. Otherwise, the tattoos would eventually fade and his powers would kill him.


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

[User] [Invincible] Where does OmniMan rank among the heavy hitters of other series? Could he take on Superman, Goku, All Might, Hulk? Maybe a stronger than, weaker than scale?

[Assistant]
He's 1/3rd planet buster, roughly. He is similar to Superman, but he is NOT a Superman analog. He lacks most of his powers and is much weaker. Hard to rank him against Hulk, since Hulk's power related to his anger level.

He's in that rare multi-continental buster level. Most others are either mountain busters or planet busters.

Stronger than All Might and Homelander, weaker than Superman and Thor.


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

[User]
[Star Trek DS9] How did two entire baseball teams and a full baseball field fit into one of Quark's small holosuites?

I understand how the holosuites use holograms and replicator technology to produce solid holograms. Even with all that technology the holosuites (or holodeck) have physical walls with a finite size. How were they able to compensate for that?

[Assistant]
Holosuites have improvements on holodeck technology, as found on the Enterprise.  If you have two people in an active Holodeck run away from each other for as long as possible, they will not hit the walls of the physical room.

Why?

Because force fields. They use force fields as a sort of 'treadmill' under your feet, giving you the illusion that the ground is moving underneath you while, in fact, you're staying in the same place.

As for how two teams could fit? Well, you could easily fit half a dozen people in each room. They were smaller than holodecks, yes, but they weren't so small you couldn't have a group in there. They'd just have to 'connect' holosuite projections so they could deal with each other in real time.

Thus, the Vulcans dealt with a hologram of Sisko's team, carrying out their actions in live-action, and Sisko's team dealt with holograms of the Vulcan team, mimicking their plays perfectly as soon as the Vulcans made them.


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

[User] ELI5: how does painkillers know where the pain is?

[Assistant]
They don't.

They simply inhibit the inflammation that causes the nerves to send pain signals, or the nerve signals themselves.  That's the whole point, you don't need 100 different medicines for each body part because the drug effects the whole body.


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

[User] ELI5: What happens to your muscles during and after a massage?

[Assistant]
Your muscles can get stuck "on" from overuse or say poor posture, a massage therapist will work to find the off buttons to turn them back "off" again.

Going further, your muscles have a layer in between your skin and your muscle that gets bunched up over time, like a bed sheet under a blanket.  A good massage therapist will work to smooth this layer back out again allowing muscles to move freely under your skin.


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

[User]
ELI5: When a person is "vaporized" by an atomic blast, what actually happens?

Is it primarily the temperature/radiation/blast wave or a combination?

How far away from something like a modern warhead would people be instantly vaporized instead of just horribly broken/burned

edit: It's not a school project.

[Assistant]
These are quotes taken from the novel *The Last Train From Hiroshima* by Charles Pellegrino. It's a very lengthy explanation so I'll paraphrase and combine the parts to create a 'tl;dr' version. The following passage describes the untimely demise of one Mrs. Aoyama, who had the unfortunate distinction of being directly below the bomb as it detonated over the city of Hiroshima.

    *"After only one-hundred-millionth of a second, the core (of the bomb) began to expand and the fission reaction began to run down. During this nanosecond interval, the first burst of light emerged with such intensity that even the green and yellow portions of the spectrum could be seen shining through the bomb's steel casing as if it were a bag of transparent cellophane. Directly below, Mrs. Aoyama was still alive and completely untouched by the flash. After one ten-thousandth of a second, the air began absorbing the burst and responding to it. Under the hypocenter (of the expanding neutron field created by the bomb's detonation), the blood in Mrs. Aoyama's brain was already beginning to vibrate, on the verge of flashing to vapor. What she experienced was one of the fastest deaths in all human history. Before a single nerve could begin to sense pain, she and her nerves ceased to be.*

    *"Unlike the man leading a horse across the nearby "T" Bridge, Mrs. Aoyama could not possibly leave a permanent shadow on the ground. From the moment the rays began to pass through her bones, her marrow would begin vibrating at more than five times the boiling point of water. The bones themselves would become instantly incandescent, with all of her flesh trying simultaneously to explode away from her skeleton while being forced straight down into the ground as a compressed gas. Within the first three-tenths of a second following the bomb's detonation, most of the iron was going to be separated from Mrs. Aoyama's blood, as if by an atomic refinery."*

    In short, it is a combination of a great many factors. Radiation, heat, and the blast wave all combine to create an incredibly fast death. Assuming you're at ground zero.

     The book itself is incredible, and absolutely worth a read if the subject interests you.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why is it so incredibly difficult to hold in a bowel movement?

I mean people, no matter how strong they are, have the hardest time holding it in if they really really need to use the restroom.  Also, it's not like you are holding in a pounds worth or gallons worth.

[Assistant] The anus is an involuntary scphincter. When you try to hold in your poops you are controlling muscles around the anus but not the anus itself. Once there is enough internal pressure the anus will relax and there is nothing you can do about it.


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

[User]
ELI5: If you are overweight, why cant you live off of your fat preservatives and function normally?

If bears can hibernate and live off of their fat in the winter, why people who are overweight still get nauseas if they dont eat?

[Assistant]
You can live off it. That doesn't mean it'll be pleasant in the meantime. Your body  generally wants to keep you alive - if you're not doing important things like eating, it's going to make you feel bad until you do.

Over a longer period of time, you'll start running into issues with some vitamin/mineral deficiencies and such as well.


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

[User]
ELI5: How is stainless steel made, and why is everything metal not made of it?

If it does not rust, then why are cars, tools, everything else that may rust not made of it? Is it a cost issue?

[Assistant]
Stainless steel is a group of steel alloys with high chromium and low carbon.  This makes them significantly more resistant against corrosion but the low carbon content means that it's flexible and not very strong

We often use high carbon steel for items that we want to heat treat and make extremely hard.

There are other alloys that are really magnetic or not magnetic at all.

There are about a thousand alloys of steel, each excels in certain areas and is preferred for certain tasks.  With the variety of alloys out there, why pick one to use for everything rather than picking the perfect one for your application?


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

[User]
Eli5: Why do we need growth to have a viable society ?

We hear a lot that decreasing or not growing would not be viable, why is that ?

[Assistant] We could probably get away with a slow level of growth.  The problem is that once you start shrinking there's some structural problems.  With the workforce in particular, it starts aging out very rapidly.  Society is at least mildly a pyramid scheme, if there aren't enough young people to support the old people the thing collapses.  On that note either people have to work older or have younger people replace them.  You can approach a steady state with less but more sustained growth, but it's a hard point to reach.


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

[User] If water has a boiling point of ~100 degrees C, why does it evaporate at room temperature?

[Assistant]
A somewhat counter-intuitive thing about temperature is that it is an aggregate property - so it is well-defined for a large group, but not so well for a few atoms. It is basically a function of the average velocity of molecules.

Individual molecules, however, have a distribution of velocities. You can think of this as a result of an infinite series of random collisions between atoms and molecules. For example, sometimes you can have two particles that happen to travel in almost the same direction impact a third one. That third one is going to get a hell of a kick and go must faster than any of the three were traveling to begin with.

As a result, some water molecules are quite faster than the average corresponding to the temperature. So they can achieve "escape velocity," or get kicked out, depending on your perspective. And they fly off.

This is also the mechanism behind evaporative cooling. Since the molecules with the highest kinetic energy are the ones that are leaving, the average kinetic energy of those remaining drops, and so does the temperature.


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

[User] ELI5: If our current numbering system is more efficient than Roman numerals, is there another system better than the one we have now? Have we reached the best efficiency?

[Assistant]
In order to answer this, it's worth reviewing *why* the decimal system is better than roman numerals:

- In principle, it can handle numbers of unlimited size, and it does so without adding extra symbols.
- The magnitude of the number is proportional to its length. All numbers of similar magnitude use the same number of digits.
- It can handle fractional numbers reasonably well.
- There is always one unambiguous way to write a finite decimal number.
- It generally requires fewer symbols than roman numerals.
- It's easy to do ~~arithmetic~~ addition, subtraction, multiplication, and comparison on decimal numbers.

That said, it has some limitations:

- Very large numbers can be unwieldy. Extremely large numbers are impossible (the universe contains a finite amount of paper).
- Most fractions can't be exactly represented, even common fractions like one-third.
- Division is inconvenient.
- Converting between fractions and decimals (or decimal approximations) generally requires doing division.

There are other notation systems that perform better in some circumstances. And we use them!

Fractions:

- Can exactly represent any rational number.
- Are easy to multiply and divide.
- Aren't quite as convenient to add, subtract, or compare (you have to convert them to a common base).
- Are not unique; two different fractions can represent the same number.

Exponential notation:

- Can represent much larger or smaller numbers than ordinary decimal notation.
- but only if you're willing to accept a bit of imprecision.
- Easy to multiply, divide, and compare.

There's binary notation, which maps each digit onto a single bit. There's hexadecimal notation, which is more compact than binary. There are various arrow-based notations for representing extremely large numbers. There are esoteric mathematical notations like continued fraction expansions and p-adic numbers.

We have no shortage of notations, and we do make up new ones when necessary.

EDIT: Clarified that division is not easy with decimals (though it's easy with fractions).


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

[User]
ELI5: Why can't we just make cellphone and other chargers high powered, so they can charge in a matter of minutes?

I don't know if this means increasing the voltage, or the current, but why is this not feasible? Will it overheat? What is stopping us from charging our phones faster?

[Assistant] Something that most people don't know is that batteries don't store electricity they actually create it through an electrochemical reaction. So when you "charge" a battery the  electricity isn't being stored it's actually reversing the chemical reaction that produces the power. So with that in mind you may understand that there are limits on how fast a chemical reaction can be safely reversed and also maintain reliability of output.


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

[User]
[Wheel of Time] Could Balefire have medicinal use?

Seeing as Balefire erases from the Pattern a specific thing and has the power to undo even death, could it be used on tumors in patients in the terminal stage to eliminate both the tumor, and also the effects it had on the patient's body?
Or maybe to erase the original virus in an infection to undo completely the effects of the infection? (with a thin enough wave, of course)

[Assistant]
No.

Balefire affects the pattern of the object struck. Then entire pattern. Hitting someone's arm didn't remove their arm, it removed the entire creature. Similarly, hitting a tumor with balefire would affect the entire body.

Theoretically it could be used on an individual virus, but there's no way a channeler could make a bar of balefire both that small and make the millions at once needed to hit all the virii.


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

[User]
[40K] Question about the fight between Horus and the Emperor.

Essentially, how would things change if the Emperor had survived the Horus Heresy (but everything else came to pass as it did)?

[Assistant]
Technically, he did survive the Heresy. But I'll answer to the spirit of your question, which is: what would have happened had the Emperor survived the Heresy as a substantially intact individual?

Well, here's what, in broad terms.

For at least a time, he would still be forced on the Golden Throne, because someone needed to be on it to keep the daemon swarm inside the Human Webway Section from swarming into the Imperial Dungeon (and Terra at large).

However, we can imagine that the Emperor would eventually have the Throne fully repaired of the damage caused by Magnus, and he would launch an expedition to purge the Human Webway, secure it, and restart the Imperial Webway Project.

In that case, the Emperor planned to conquer the Webway for humanity and make it its primary means of interstellar transport and communication, removing the reliance on Navigators and Astropaths.

With that achieved, the Emperor would then focus on shepherding humanity's evolution into a fully psychic race, much like the Eldar. Under his guardianship, which would protect humans from the mistakes the Eldar made, humanity would come to master its powers rather than be controlled by them.

This plan of his, if you're interested, is detailed in *Master of Mankind*.


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

[User]
[Justice League Unlimited] What Cadmus were planning to do if they were to handle rogue agents or beings more powerful than the League?

Cadmus had created too many powerful forces like Doomsday, Galatea and the Ultimen. What were their contingencies for that?

Or how would they be able to beat Starro, Darkseid, Brainthor or the Legion of Doom etc?

[Assistant]
The problem with Cadmus is that it was a good idea, but had the absolutely wrong people in charge. Waller is probably the best of the group. She sees the League as a threat, but everyone else there sees the league as actual enemies. Luthor, General Eiling, Tala, Hugo Strange, Maxwell Lord, Dr Hamilton...half of those guys are literally known villains, and the ones that aren't have personal hatred for members of the league. Even after the League saved the world from Luthor and his Cadmus plans, and Waller finally decided that going after the League was a bad idea, Eiling and others were still against the league.

So yeah, most of Cadmus isn't actually about handling a rogue League, but about destroying the League at all costs.


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

[User] ELI5: How do 'off the menu' items work at restaurants? Are they created to build exclusivity?

[Assistant] Off menu items are generally 1) Thing made from components of other menu items. 2) Delivery mistakes that either send the wrong item, or send too much of an item. 3) An experiment that they are testing to see if it should be on the menu.


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

[User]
[Dragon Ball Z] How was it that almost all the Saiyans were killed when planet Vegeta was destroyed

If you were to take into account that Saiyans could had been sent to other planets, like Vegeta, or Nappa, or maybe even Turles, there should be at least dozens if not hundreds of Saiyans still alive.

[Assistant]
Frieza ordered all of the Saiyans to return to Vegeta before blowing it up, as seen in the newest Dragonball Z special.

Goku was off planet because Bardock and Gine thought it was fishy. Raditz was busy, IIRC. Vegeta refused to basically thumb his nose at Frieza and Nappa stuck with him.

Everyone else went home and didn't suspect a thing until Bardock essentially led a rebellion against Frieza when the Tyrant showed up a month later to kill them all.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why didn't Leia acknowledge Chewbacca at the end of Force Awakens? (Spoilers)

Han Solo died. Her husband and Chewbacca's best friend.

After the Millenium Falcon gets back from Starkiller Base, I expected to see at least a hug between Leia and Chewbacca. But Leia walks straight past him and goes to Rey, a chick who probably knew Han Solo for a week. What's up with that?

[Assistant] For much the same reason you let a Wookie win at space chess. Chewbacca was mad. Leia went for a hug until she saw the way Chewie's eyes were staring a thousand yards past her. She quietly advised all other rebels to let him go by, because he was ready to snap the appendages off of the next thing that approached him.


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

[User] How was software projects structured before OOP was introduced?

[Assistant]
In C, which doesn't have builtin OOP mechanisms, we separate code logically into modules which contain related functions and data. So for example, you might have a module which has functions related to file I/O, or which has functions related to drawing shapes on the screen.

So even though there aren't classes or objects, there is still logical grouping of related things.

As an example, in the zlib library, they have a module called crc32.c which has functions for calculating a checksum for a data stream.


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

[User] ELI5: How does an economy crash due to inflation happen exactly?

[Assistant]
Inflation: What your money can actually buy decreases. If a soda costs $1 today, and inflation hits, that soda may cost $1.10 tomorrow. If that is happening across most goods and services you have inflation.

Inflation is generally necessary to keep an economy humming. If you think you can get a better deal by buying now, instead of waiting, you are more likely to spend your money instead of saving.

If inflation gets out of hand, people will start spending more money than the economy can handle. This can lead to a shortage of goods, which again increases prices, which means increased inflation.

At the same time, the companies employing people and making goods need to take the money they made by selling (lets say) soda and pay their workers and buy sugar and carbonation and maintain the machines. However, if soda yesterday was selling for $1, but now is selling for $2, it's possible the cost of keeping their workers on and buying more sugar costs more than they made from their previous sales.

They would normally turn to business loans - but the banks will now see this as a high risk loan and charge more in interest, or just not give the loan. When that happens businesses start to go under.

You can combat inflation by increasing interest rates. After all, if you can get more than that .10 for your dollar by sticking in a savings account, you will save. Too much savings though can result in people not spending money, which can stagnate an economy - so there is a balancing act.. The other issue is - high interest rates make it harder for businesses to get loans to keep them afloat in times of uncertainty.


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

[User]
ELI5 What is triangulation?

Like the title says. I'm trying to explain triangulation to my actual five year old, but don't really understand it myself. Help!

[Assistant]
Let's say you want to know how far away a tree is without actually walking to it. So you put two stakes in the ground at a known distance.

You go to one stake, and draw an imaginary line between you and the tree. The line between the two stakes and your imaginary line forms an angle.

You to the other stake, and draw a new imaginary line between you and the tree. You now have a second angle.

With the known distance between the two stakes and the two angles, you can make a single, unique triangle with the two stakes being two of the corners of the triangle. The third corner will be where the tree is.

You can use math to calculate the distance from the tree to either of the two stakes.


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

[User]
[Lord of the Rings] I am an Orc living under the rule of Sauron. Dissatisfied with quality of life and the barbarism I am surrounded by daily, how can I go about making meaningful change through passive protest and resistance?

Orcs are clever and capable of impressive feats of engineering. It follows that if they are capable of this kind of deep thought and design, that works of philosophy and political discourse would not be lost upon them. How then, might one resolve to undermine Sauron and either replace or reduce his power?

[Assistant] One doesn't, you don't need to like what you do to do what you were MADE to do, Orcs don't have a problem in killing one another for FOLLOWING their purpose, normally to rise in rank, an Orc not only going against the tide but being vocal or acting on it, would die pretty fast.


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

[User]
CMV: while both feminists and MRAs have valid points, they both blow their issues out of proportion.

I think depending on what you want out of life, there are key advantages to being either a man or a woman. Given what you want out of life, there is definitely discrimination that you will face as a man or a woman. That being said I think if you counted it up, feminism is *slightly* more correct(but given historical and geographical perspective, i would rather be a woman in modern western society than be a woman any where else in history or in the modern world. People who want real equality forget that were closer than we've ever been to an ideal that has never existed). I don't want to hear about prison, murder, rape, or other statistics about how one gender faces a higher risk (these follow a similar line: I would rather be a man in modern western society than any other place or time now or in history). I'm talking about male physical strength being an advantage, about female purchasing power.. etc. I think the patriarchy is bad for almost everyone who wants freedom in western society (i'm referring to these issues as we face them in my home country, the U.S.A). I think if you are a "macho", stereotypical manly man, who doesn't like expressing feelings and loves sports, or if you are an attractive woman, who takes stares, or rude comments in a more positive "flattering" way, who wants to become a trophy wife ( I know a college student much like this, who has no complaints about the sexual misconduct done to her, and claims that she wants an "mrs" degree, and spends more time attempting to "become more domestic" than pursuing her future career) you benefit from the patriarchy, but men who don't conform to our stereotype of masculinity, and women who want to make their own way are both oppressed in many ways by the patriarchy. What I'm trying to say is that feminism and mens activism are two sides of the same coin, and making it an "us vs them" is exactly what the patriarchy "wants" in order to hold it's position. Just how a political party would benefit from its rival party splitting in two (democrats in D.C benefit from the current splitting of the republican party, because they can gain more ground if their previously united opponent now fights itself as much as it fights them) . This is why I consider myself a family rights activist. I recently have become disillusioned with egalitarianism, and humanism, as terms." Family rights" doesn't have to be necessarily about families, but is the idea that we can have a group where men and women can voice their concerns with the patriarchy in the context of "we're all in this together" instead of turning it into a contest of who has it worse. I think a family rights group would focus on realistic equality. Realistic equality means not interpreting a man's higher chance of being murdered or a woman's higher chance of being raped as societal discrimination. Again, all these groups need to think about the questions they are really posing. Asking all men not to rape is like asking all humans not to murder: if it worked, we would have had world peace centuries ago. I'm talking about discriminations that are condoned by society. Mainstream society does not condone these crimes, we punish them.

[Assistant]
These communities are formed around certain issues.  The people who make up these communities tend to be more interested in or affected by these issues than the population at large.  From the outside looking in, it looks as though they are blowing issues out of proportion.  From the inside looking out, it looks as if society isn't taking these issues seriously enough.

It's also very easy for people to underestimate the severity of these problems when they haven't been affected by them.  Often times, when these issues affect people that haven't previously experienced them, they will change their tune.  This can be seen in many areas outside of gender politics as well, particularly with insurance and social safety nets.

Additionally, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.  It's also worth noting that there isn't a lot of grease to go around, so the squeakiest wheel gets the most grease.


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

[User]
In RCA cables, why does the video component require only one cable, but the audio requires two?

I know the audio components are "right" and "left," but the image contained in the video component also relies on giving different spatial locations different signals - in fact, it seems the video component carries more information than the two audio components combined.  I don't really know anything about signal processing, so I'm sorry if this boils down to a flaw in my understanding.

[Assistant]
The audio signals are raw, unformatted audio. All you need to do is amplify the signals and hook them up to speakers. Video is never so simple though, in this case it's "composite" video, which means that there is a ~6MHz bandwidth signal that encodes video in NTSC, PAL, or what-have-you (depending on region). This is a signal that old TVs could understand fairly easily, it's basically what you get after tuning into a particular RF channel (minus the audio). Today modern digital TVs have to do more work to convert this signal to something they can actually display but it remains a popular standard so TVs still support it.

And yes, the video does carry more data which is why it's at a much higher bandwidth (up to ~20Khz for raw audio signals, but 6Mhz for the video signal, nearly a factor of a thousand difference in bandwidth).


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

[User]
ELI5: Sonic Booms

I've never really understood how something travelling faster than teh speed of sound causes a sonic boom.

Secondary, like when man first broker the sound barrier, did the scientists *know* a sonic boom would occur, or was it a surprise and they all were like "WTF was that, did we just break something"?

Thirdly, is a sonic boom guaranteed when something breaks the sound barrier, or do they sometimes not happen?

[Assistant]
One correction to several people in this thread. The sonic boom is NOT made ONLY as the aircraft passes thru the speed of sound. Any supersonic object is CONSTANTLY making a sonic boom.

Just like a boat is constantly making a wave, so too is a supersonic aircraft constantly making a sonic boom. The wave/boom just tends to only hit you once.

To answer OP's third question. Yes, every supersonic object will create a boom. But depending on the size and speed and noise generation, may not be that loud. The crack of a whip is a sonic boom, as the tip of the whip goes supersonic. The zip of a bullet flying by is also a sonic boom.


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

[User]
[MCU] What would a conversation between Thanos and Ultron be like?

How would it turn out? Will they team up or fight each other in the end?

[Assistant]
I'd say it would be extremely pretentious, first of all. Two gigantic narcissists trying to convince each other that they're the smartest and most righteous in the room? ew. Then, Ultron would want to kill the fleshbag for being such a massive threat (to both his own freedom and his goals of an Ultron-inhabited earth) and Thanos would want to enslave Ultron (as a useful source of shock troopers  and because Thanos is cruel, even if he won't admit such to himself, and would totally jump at a chance to put some strings back on that megalomaniacal metal puppet)

They definitely fight. Ultron has a better chance of getting along with someone like the Kree Supreme intelligence due to a shared digitized nature and desire for enforcing order; Thanos' unique half-measure genocide means he's at odds with both the people less awful than him and people like Ego. Heck, his desire for the culling to be totally egalitarian means he wouldn't even get along with people like Red Skull (Nazism). He could have *use* for other marvel villains, but likely not share ideologies with them.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] How can muggles be ignorant of magic when magical animals are a thing?

These animals have existed for thousands/millions of years, long before widespread magical organization started to enforce the statute of secrecy.

Animals also don't care about these political stuff, they just exist. Do wizards really have the manpower to stop or obliviate every last muggle that encounters magical animals?

And even so, wizards don't even understand science that much. Muggle biologists will quickly discover that there are hidden species acting on the environment. They would notice their impact in food supplies, predator populations, etc.

It seems like a very expensive and almost impossible thing to keep secret.

[Assistant]
Basically, we do know about magical creatures. We just don't *know* that we know about them.

>Do wizards really have the manpower to stop or obliviate every last muggle that encounters magical animals?

No, and as such we *do* know about magical animals.

Everyone's heard of dragons, unicorns, basilisks and so forth. They're common knowledge- muggles have encountered them too much for them not to be. What's being covered up is that they're more then fairytales, and at this point, it's almost self-sustaining.

If you slip through the cracks and tell people you saw a fairy, who'd believe you?  It's a magical imaginary creature, nutcase. They only need to obliviate potential major breaches, and that's *much* easier.

>And even so, wizards don't even understand science that much. Muggle biologists will quickly discover that there are hidden species acting on the environment. They would notice their impact in food supplies, predator populations, etc.

Yes and, again, they *did.*

Biologists are well aware that there are a large number of species we don't know about. We can even put a solid estimate on the numbers. Granted, the vast majority of these are tiny or aquatic, but optimistic estimates put the number of large land dwellers still to be discovered in a few dozen. Not many, but we're aware there's still some out there, and we're looking. Probably in the HP world that number is higher, and includes the possibility of a few undiscovered megafauna, no doubt to the great excitement of many biologists.

What we *don't* know is that few dozen are magical creatures, but we know they're there.


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

[User]
Is the inverse square law evidence that space consist of only three (spatial) dimensions?

Some theories suggest that one or more spatial dimensions above the third may exist, perhaps in compact form. But doesn't the fact that the inverse square law accounts for *all* the radiation emanating from a body mean that there are no other dimensions (because if there were, some energy would radiate into them)?

[Assistant]
You're right, the inverse square law seems to preclude the existence of large additional dimensions. What is usually assumed is that those dimensions are compactified to a small size, so the effects of an higher power law disappear above a certain scale.

You can think of it as analogous to water spreading inside a hose. Hoses are 3D, but in a scale large enough you can model them as 1D. Imagine that water comes from a point source inside the hose. It spreads spherically outwards (analogous to following a r^2 law, indicative of 3D) until it reaches the inner surface of the hose, where it's forced to travel only along the direction marked by the hose, and now it can only spread linearly (following a r^0 law, indicative of 1D). A similar thing happens in the case of compactified dimensions.


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

[User]
[DC] Who is the true ruler of Hell?

The show Lucifer tells us that he is the ruler of hell.

Then, in DC Legends of Tomorrow and Constantine, Satan/ First of the Fallen, Belial, and Beelzebub show up, ruling hell.

Can anyone give an explanation over the hierarchy of Hell in DC universe? Tv Shows, movies, even comic book answers are accepted.

Also, what connection does Neil Gaiman's Sandman have to Lucifer?

[Assistant]
The version of Hell that exists in mainstream DC universe has no true ruler - there are multitude of various archdevils that keep their own domains and there's one singular empty throne, which noone dares to take, despite it being empty for aeons. Largely due to the obvious fact that once someone tries, literally everyone in Hell would unite against him.

In Vertigo, Hell naturally has a ruler - that be Lucifer, and once Lucifer decided to fuck off, God (or The Presence) promptly told two other angels, Dante and some other guy to keep shit in Hell in check. Ironically, once angels decided to try and redeem the damned souls by moralizing to them endlessly, Hell became even more insufferable than it used to be.


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

[User] ELI5: what is anti-aliasing for computer games?

[Assistant]
The other reply specifically addresses multi-sample anti-aliasing, which is just one method of combating aliasing. To understand what aliasing is, consider what happens if you try to make a diagonal change in color on a bed of square tiles. Obviously you cannot do it; you will have a stair-step sort of effect due to the shape of each tile. This is the sort of thing that happens when trying to render graphics to a computer screen which is made up of square pixels.

Anti-aliasing methods are aimed at producing a blended edge, where the jagged edges are filled in by pixels which aren't the color of either side, but a calculated mix of the two.


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

[User] ELI5: How can our ears know if a sound is coming from up high or down low?

[Assistant]
Our ears are an odd shape, so the sound bounces around differently, depending on where the sound is coming from.

When you're very young, your brain figures out that if a sound sounds a certain way, it's probably coming from a certain direction.


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

[User]
[ATLA] Did Zuko just get lucky?

At the start of the series Zuko was hunting for the Avatar, and just so happened to be close enough to see the burst of bright light shoot into the sky when Katara broke the iceberg Aang was in, which allowed him to quickly find Aang when the flare went up from he booby trapped ship. My question is, was there a reason or a clue point him towards looking for the Avatar in the South Pole (e.g. a report or a rumour of an airbender escaping in that direction after the airbender genocide) was he searching everywhere and just got lucky by being in the right spot at the right time?

[Assistant]
The Fire Nation knew the following:

- The Avatar was living at the southern air temple.
- The Avatar was not killed during the genocide, since no new Avatar was born to the Water tribe.
- The Avatar was not hiding out somewhere else in the world, since if he was he would have drawn attention to himself.

That left indefinite hiding in the south pole as the most likely option.  Zuko probably expected an elderly hermit with a broken spirit who had given up on the world.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why was salt so historically valuable?

I know that it was hugely important for food preservation etc. but it literally just comes out of the ocean. Especially in hot countries surrounding the Mediterranean, why would you trade so much for salt when you can literally just evaporate seawater yourself?

[Assistant]
>I know that it was hugely important for food preservation etc. but it literally just comes out of the ocean. Especially in hot countries surrounding the Mediterranean, why would you trade so much for salt when you can literally just evaporate seawater yourself?

You are underestimating the gigantic amounts of salt required for food preservation in a per-refrigeration world. The few kilograms you can wrestle out of a primitive Mediterranean desalination setup each day might be enough for a few local fishermen to preserve their catch - not nearly enough for whole continents worth of people.
You can't equip army supply trains without massive amounts of salt. You can't provision sea voyages. Without having stockpiled salt for **years in advance**, countries couldn't go to war.


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

[User] ELI5: why can eyesight quality differ so much between your 2 eyes, considering that they both lived the exact same life?

[Assistant]
bodies are not actually symmetrical, they are pretty good at looking like it though!  so there's some asymmetrical organs that influence each side differently as you grow and especially during illness.

 then there is eye dominance, like handedness, on eye is usually used in preference to the other when only one is needed, like winking or looking through camera viewfinder.

 also external factors can contribute alot, perhaps a fly flew in one, or chemicals were on one hand when rubbing both eyes tiredly.  even habitually sleeping so one eye is often pressed lightly on a pillow can influence them differently over time.  alot of healing happens while you sleep, try stretching your eyes before bed, without glasses, focusing to the stars and back as best you can, and massage gently round each, with clean hands of course!


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] At the beginning of Order of the Phoenix, the Ministry of Magic expels Harry for using magic in front of a Muggle. But isnt expulsion a decision that Dumbledore has to make? Why does the Ministry get the final say?

And by expulsion, I do mean expulsion from Hogwarts.

[Assistant]
That was improper procedure! The Ministry does *not* have authority to expel students from Hogwarts unless criminal charges have been passed, which is why the correct order of operations was to first have Harry's hearing and *then* expel him based on the result. Remember that the head of the Improper Use of Magic Office (which handles underage magic) was Umbridge, the one who orchestrated the Dementor attack in the first place. As soon as she knew the attack failed, she probably tried to get him expelled and destroy his wand ASAP.

Unfortunately for her, Dumbledore was quick to act, and was able to remind the Ministry that's not how any of that worked; they had to wait until after the hearing before Hogwarts was required to do anything. Fudge was absolutely furious about this, which is why he started changing the law so the Ministry *did* have authority over Hogwarts, hence most of the plot of Book 5 with Umbridge's authoritarianism as a Ministry-appointed professor.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] How did anyone know that Voldemort attacked the Potters?

So here is the timeline that I'm aware of:

-Voldemort shows up at the Potter's house.

-Voldemort kills James.

-Voldemort kills Lily.

-Voldemort tries to kill Harry and fails.

-Hagrid shows up to get Harry.

-Hagrid arrives at the Dursley's. Based on the conversation that Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Hagrid have, it sounds like Dumbledore has not been to the Potter's home (or else why would he not have brought Harry himself?). Also, Hagrid said that the muggles were just starting to swarm around the house, indicating that it he was there very shortly afterand that he was the first on the scene. (Again, if someone else was there earlier, why didn't they take Harry somewhere else?)

How did Hagrid/Dumbledore find out so quickly?

[Assistant]
There were more magical wards than the Fidelius Charm around the Potter's house. When the killing curses started flying Dumbledore was instantly alerted through a localized Taboo on "Kedavra."

Unfortunately, Voldemort anticipated this and shielded the area from unwanted apparition for the time he was there.


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

[User]
I'm interested in Rousseau, specifically his ethics. Which work of his should I read?

I have a very limited background in philosophy (namely some classes in high school).

[Assistant]
*Lettres Morales* and in sections of the *Confession of Faith of the Savoyard Vicar* which is a part of *Emile, or On Education*.

You might also look at *Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men*.


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

[User]
[Clerks/Dogma/Others] Why doesn't Silent Bob talk? Did something happen to him psychologically? What's the deal?

I know he DOES talk sometimes and has the ability to do so. However it's kind of odd when he uses gestures; a normal person would just speak.

[Assistant] A disposition towards being a quiet, contemplative and introspective person, paired with Jay's constant badgering and taunting has led him to choose his words carefully. A head nod or gesture can be widely interpreted depending on the viewer or the gesture, words are far more exact. Less words mean less chance for others to ridicule him.


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

[User] ELI5: What causes air turbulence and how does it shake a plane?

[Assistant]
To understand that, first you must understand how planes fly at all. In short, airplanes fly by sitting on a cushion of air. If you've ever stuck your hand out of a car window while it's moving and felt it try and move around on its own, that's the same principle.

This airflow is usually quite uniform: low pressure above the wings, high pressure below them, but sometimes something happens to break up that uniformity. It could be the wake of another nearby airplane, a sudden change in barometric pressure from a storm in the making, or even just a big patch of chaotic air going whichever way right in front of the plane (otherwise called "turbulent air"). There are alot of things that can cause turbulence.

Like rough waves for a boat, any rough patches in the air are going to affect the plane, but don't worry: we've come a long way from old-school Comets and DC3s, and modern planes are engineered to withstand all but the absolute most severe turbulence.


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

[User]
ELI5: During the Apollo missions, what is the purpose of the "beep" you hear regularly in the background?

At first I thought it was maybe something marking the passing of time, but the beep seems to happen in an irregular pattern.  It also doesn't seem to correspond to when people start talking, so what could it be?

[Assistant] They are called Quindar tones and they served to turn the transmitter on and off such as with push-to-talk. The issue is that to keep track of the astronauts from a rotating Earth required a worldwide network and frequent switching between transmitters and receivers. The tones mediated all that, so they should in general follow when people are talking.


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

[User] What causes the heart of a human fetus to start beating?

[Assistant]
ECGs of the fetal heart show similar electrical activity to those of adults. The sinoatrial (SA) node sends electrical signals for the heart to beat. The SA node is present early on, and it is identifiable approximately 35 days of development. The electrical signals are similar but the mechanism is very different.

The fetus does not depend on its lungs and liver (gas exchange and nutrients come from the placenta). The two organs are still underdeveloped and the blood is shunted away from the organs as they develop. The ductus arteriosus allows blood to bypass the lungs, and the liver is bypassed via the ductus venosus.

In addition, there is a one-way valve, the foramen ovale, that connects the right and left atrium, allowing oxygenated blood to be pumped into systemic circulation directly, allowing the brain to receive the blood with the most oxygen and the foramen ovale closes after birth. (Unlike adult circulation, the right side of the fetal heart has a higher pressure due to this; after birth this pressure reverses, closing this valve)


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

[User] ELI5: Why did the US choose Hiroshima and Nagasaki to be bombed rather than Tokyo or some other major city?

[Assistant]
The work on the actual selection of targets for the atomic bomb was begun in the spring of 1945. This was done in close cooperation with the Commanding General, Army Air Forces, and his Headquarters. A number of experts in various fields assisted in the study. These included mathematicians, theoretical physicists, experts on the blast effects of bombs, weather consultants, and various other specialists. Some of the important considerations were:

The range of the aircraft which would carry the bomb.

The desirability of visual bombing in order to insure the most effective use of the bomb.

Probable weather conditions in the target areas.

Importance of having one primary and two secondary targets for each mission, so that if weather conditions prohibited bombing the target there would be at least two alternates.

Selection of targets to produce the greatest military effect on the Japanese people and thereby most effectively shorten the war.

The morale effect upon the enemy.

These led in turn to the following:

Since the atomic bomb was expected to produce its greatest amount of damage by primary blast effect, and next greatest by fires, the targets should contain a large percentage of closely-built frame buildings and other construction that would be most susceptible to damage by blast and fire.
The maximum blast effect of the bomb was calculated to extend over an area of approximately 1 mile in radius; therefore the selected targets should contain a densely built-up area of at least this size.
The selected targets should have a high military strategic value.
The first target should be relatively untouched by previous bombing, in order that the effect of a single atomic bomb could be determined.

The U.S. decided to drop the bombs onto military industrial targets and centers that had significant military utility such as ports and airfields. Nagasaki was actually a secondary target, being a major port. Inclement weather kept the Bockscar from dropping the second atomic bomb on Kokura.
Hiroshima, the first city, was "an important army depot and port of embarkation in the middle of an urban industrial area. It is a good radar target and it is such a size that a large part of the city could be extensively damaged. There are adjacent hills which are likely to produce a focussing[sic] effect which would considerably increase the blast damage.

---  Reasons for NOT nuking Tokyo ----

The weather records showed that for five years there had never been two successive good visual bombing days over Tokyo, indicating what might be expected over other targets in the home islands. The worst month of the year for visual bombing was believed to be June, after which the weather should improve slightly during July and August and then become worse again during September. Since good bombing conditions would occur rarely, the most intense plans and preparations were necessary in order to secure accurate weather forecasts and to arrange for full utilization of whatever good weather might occur. It was also very desirable to start the raids before September.
The U.S. likely did not target Tokyo for the atomic bomb strikes as it was the seat of the Emperor and the location of much of the high ranking military officers. These are precisely the people you do not want to kill if you want to negotiate a surrender, as they are the people you would be negotiating with.


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

[User] ELI5: Is there a historical reason why the majority of Americans don't care about soccer even though it's wildly popular in the rest of the world? When and why did that divide happen?

[Assistant]
A couple of reasons for this:

- Firstly, soccer had bad timing. Soccer was becoming popular in Europe as baseball was becoming popular in the US. There was initially only room for one new major sport every now and then. Imagine, there's this new sport that everyone is talking about that is made in America called baseball, oh and there's something called soccer as well. Which to play first? Basically, other sports got the limelight first.

- Secondly, national identity. It's midway through the 1800s not even a hundred years since the war of Independence. The British have come up with a competitive game. It's not hard to understand why people felt uneasy about adopting a British idea.


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

[User] Is there some fundamental reason why there are three generations of quarks and leptons, instead of (say) 2 or 4 or 13 or an unlimited number?

[Assistant] We don't know. Within the Standard Model of Particle Physics, there is no fundamental reason. Some Grand Unified Theories require there to be exactly three generations of fermions, so there may actually be a fundamental reason, but we haven't confirmed it yet.


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

[User]
Would a metal detector be able to detect a bullet that was shot through the detector? Think airport-level sensitivity and shot from 3-5 yards away.

I got the idea from Left 4 Dead where there's a metal detector that would go off if you walk through it but not if you shot through it.

[Assistant] A bullet moves 200 to 600 m/s. Assume a typical detector has an active zone around 1m deep; the bullet must set it off during a period of 0.005 s. Such a sensor certainly can be built, but (speculation warning) it is unlikely that airport metal detectors are calibrated for this.


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

[User] [Fallout 4] Why do all my friends want to murder the Radstags? They are peaceful if you leave them be. Stop shooting them!

[Assistant]
Playing on survival mode, they are an excellent source of food that is both filling and increases your carry capacity.
If we take survival to be our closest approximation of the actual common wealth survival, think how valuable that is. Not only is it filling, help you heal, it also means you can haul more stuff home to help you survive. There is no reason not to kill them.


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

[User] ELI5: why is the theft of an auto grand?

[Assistant]
It's the distinction between grand and petty theft.  Basically, major vs minor.

Many crimes used to have grand and petty versions. The terms come from French, but are corrupted.  'Grand' and 'petit' .


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

[User]
If there was an area of absolutely no particles whatsoever, what would the temperature be?

I understand that heat comes from particles moving faster and running into each other the hotter it becomes, but what if there were no particles in the area to move? Would it just be absolute zero?

[Assistant]
"Temperature" is actually a statistical value. It describes the average energy of particles in a given system.

If you had no particles, you could not attribute a temperature to the system, because that is an inherent property of the particles, not the system per se.

There are certain cases where even with particles present, it is not possible to describe them with a temperature. One of these examples is the very short timespan after shooting a semiconductor material with a laser beam. The electrons absorb energy from the photons and for a very short time, they are not in equilibrium with each other, meaning the distribution of energy among them is purely random. After a while (we're talking femtoseconds here!) they bump into each other repeatedly, averaging out their kinetic energies, and you can describe them with a single temperature via a Boltzmann distribution.

So, in conclusion, a temperature is a property not every system just *has*, it is a special, although common case where everything is in a dynamic equilibrium and can be described statistically.


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

[User] ELI5: How are scientists able to find out the temperature of the earth thousands of years ago ?

[Assistant]
A proxy is a permanent or semi-permanent record that responds in a known manner to certain environmental variables, and this is what is used by scientists to reconstruct information about the environment (such as temperature) in the past. A huge number of proxies are used by scientists to infer things about the past - which one you use depends on what timespans you're interested in, what environmental variables you are trying to reconstruct, where the region of interest is geographically, and so on.

In your question you've specified thousands of years, which is actually very young geologically speaking. The key proxies of interest for these timescales are ice records and tree rings (although others such as corals exist).

Ice cores can be used to reconstruct temperature because the ratio between the two main oxygen isotopes (atoms that are chemically identical but have slightly different masses) depends on a number of factors, including sea surface temperature. If you can control for non-temperature related factors and then use a calibration curve (which we can use known instrumental records over the past few centuries and lab experiments for), then we can use these oxygen isotope ratios to infer temperature.

Tree rings can also be used to reconstruct temperature because the growth of a tree depends on several parameters such as temperature and rainfall in a known fashion. If you know how to calibrate growth patterns for a specific tree species (which you can do by comparing tree ring patterns to known, modern temperature records) then you can in turn infer temperature changes in the past.


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

[User] [LOTR] Why is Gimli shocked to find out Moria was sacked in LOTR when it seems to be common knowledge in The Hobbit?

[Assistant]
After the events of The Hobbit, Balin (Gimlis uncle iirc) took a group of dwarves to reclaim Moria, to which they succeeded for a number of years. Unfortunately the orcs that had infested the mountain home rose up struck them down. The small room they're trapped in is actually where they made their last stand, which is why Gimli starts to cry when they read the book there and he realizes wat occured. He wasn't mourning the loss of Moria, he was mourning the loss of his kin from the failed recolonization.

From Tolkiengate;

>Though the riches of Erebor made the Dwarves prosperous again, there were many who longed to return to Moria. Din Ironfoot counseled against it, but Balin mounted an expedition in T.A. 2989.[16] They hoped to regain the treasures, and Balin had also hoped to find the Ring of Thrr, which was assumed to be lost when Thrr entered the Gates years before.[17]

>Together with Fli, in, Ori, Frr, Lni, Nli and many other Dwarves, Balin entered Dimrill Dale. After a short battle the group entered the Great Gates. They stayed in the Twenty-first Hall, and Balin set up his throne in the Chamber of Mazarbul. He proclaimed himself Lord of Moria.[18]

>For five years the colony thrived. They managed to find many old treasures, mithril, and armouries. But on 10 November T.A. 2994, as Balin went to look in Mirrormere, an orc archer fatally shot him. Balin's body was placed in a tomb in the Chamber of Mazarbul.[18]

>But the archer was just the van of the orcs who came up the Silverlode. The Dwarves were trapped. After a fierce battle in the halls and a final stand in the Chamber of Mazarbul the colony was completely wiped out.[18] Not knowing what really happened, Glin and his son Gimli were sent to Rivendell to seek news about the colony.

>Gimli eventually learned of their fate when he crossed the dwarven realm with the Company of the Ring and found Balin's Tomb.[18]


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

[User]
[Logan] Is what ever happened to Magneto or his helmet mentioned? (Spoilers)

One of the conflicts in Logan is that Charles Xavier keeps having deadly seizures that cause incapacitation and worse. Did nobody think to prevent this from happening by putting Magneto's helmet on Xavier, or did they try that and find out it wouldn't work?

[Assistant]
Logan takes place after the Days of Future Past revised timeline.

In that timeline, Magneto's helmet was ripped apart telekinetically by the Phoenix when Magneto tried to use it to protect against her telepathy in the Dark Phoenix movie.

Magneto is also 2 years older than Xavier who was 97 at the time, it's not surprising that he just died due to old age.


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

[User] [General fantasy?]If Medusa was turned invisible, would she still be able to turn things to stone?

[Assistant] This one is actually pretty easy to answer no matter what kind of invisibility it is. Athena's curse was that anyone directly beholding her beauty would turn to stone. Therefore, if Medusa was invisible, you would be protected against petrification. If *you* were invisible, you would still be turned to stone.


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

[User] ELI5: Why dont whales drown when they eat? They have to suck in water to consume their food.

[Assistant] They apparently drink the water they take in when they eat. Their kidneys are specialised to filter the salty sea water into fresh water and they have massive tubes to store the salty urine to let it out. Out of topic but, whales can also obtain water from their food. And they do not drown because their mouths and lungs aren't connected to each other likes us and other mammals. Their blowhole and lungs are connected though, and they only use the blowhole to breathe in and out. You may think they blow this excess water out of the blowhole as when a whale blows out there's a lot of water but this is because the air inside the whale is particularly warm and when they blow it out at the surface it rapidly condenses thus water. It also contains some mucus, well because it's a nose haha.


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

[User]
ELI5: In movie scenes of gambling and betting, people throw up tons of cash for bets - how do they keep track?

People just yell out their bets with a fistful of cash and the bookie just grabs it - is someone taking notes on what they bet on, how much they gambled, and gave them a receipt? Does this happen in real life? It seems so complicated.

[Assistant]
They don't keep track because it's a just movie and those aren't real bets.

In real life you walk up to the betting counter after waiting your turn in line, place your wager, it's entered into the system through a computer and you are given a receipt.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do one-digit numbers are up to 9 and not more? Why 10 is a 2-digit number and cannot be written as one-digit?

I know it might sound as a silly question but to explain better, why numbers are like 1,2,3...,8,9,10,11,12 and not 1,2,3,4,5,10,11,12 ... 15,20 when 10 would be equal as 6, 11 as 7, etc. With the same concept could we use 10 as one-digit with a new symbol? Would there be any problems in mathematics?

[Assistant]
No problem in math. What you are talking about is the base. For example, in base-16, or hexadecimal, the numbers are 0123456789ABCDEF, where A is the decimal (base 10) value of 10.

It doesn't break math at all. Just how the numbers are represented.

As for the why, we use base 10 because we have ten fingers.


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

[User]
[Smash Bros.] How does Smash work?

Do they just wait in a lobby to battle or get taken from their worlds when they are chosen? Certain characters have show prior knowledge of Smash such as Ryu in this trailer saying "So this is Smash."? Do they remember Smash offscreen in their own worlds? Does Mario have flashbacks of being sliced by Roy's Sword or Olimar have Flashbacks of The Villager's Murder Stare? What about Metal Face? How is he Alive? How do Mario and DR. Mario Coexist?

[Assistant]
Most this knowledge comes from the Subspace Emmissary campaign.

They have pretty clear knowledge of it, as we see Pitt watching from his home dimension. Most the competitor seem to enjoy the challenge of the battle, and see it as a good way to pass the time.


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

[User] Does smoking actually reduce anxiety, or simply induce anxiety when you try to quit?

[Assistant]
The reduction in anxiety from smoking is caused by the nicotine acting as a stimulant and triggering the release of neurotransmitters such as dopamine in the pleasure center of the brain. It is essentially telling your brain to "reward itself." The dependency on this drug comes from the brain creating more chemical receptors, since the original ones that would be filled by the naturally occurring transmitters are occupied by the drug. After a while, your brain is essentially rewired to depend on the regular influx of this drug. If it is absent for too long, your brain sends signals in response to the unoccupied receptor sites calling for whatever will make the craving go away.
In other words, there is a reduction in anxiety whenever you satisfy a craving. However, nicotine has a little more chemistry working in its favor in the actions it causes as well as how fast it hits the blood/brain barrier (which is roughly 7 seconds).


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

[User]
[Bill and Ted] If reality collapses if Wild Stallions doesn't write their greatest song yet, how are there future versions of themselves that still haven't written the song?

They can't be versions of the future where reality didn't collapse if they didn't write the song, because future Bills and Teds remember past Bill and Ted coming to take the song from them, implying that the future BnTs also travelled through time to find the song when they were younger because of the reality collapse thing.

Additional Question: Why is the song that saves reality and humanity not God Gave Rock and Roll To You?

[Assistant]
The point where the song is performed is more or less a unique event in space-time, which doesn't mesh well with linear time as we know it; it both stretches back simultaneously across multiple points in the past, forward into the future, and across at least 3 branching timelines (one where the "golden future" happens, one where the "mundane future" happens and B&T live sad and desperate lives as bar players, flim-flam artists, and violent convicts, and one where the world is destroyed by B&T's failure to find and perform the song). During the lead up to that point, time travel could land you in both the "golden" and "mundane" timelines, with the "mundane" timeline concentrated closer to B&T's lifetime and the "golden" timeline easier to access when going further forward or departing directly from said timeline. At least in theory both the "mundane" and "apocalyptic" timelines are closed off (retconned out of existence, most likely) and the path to the golden future of Rufus' home time becomes the one core timeline of the universe.

As far as God Gave Rock and Roll To You, it isn't a Wyld Stallyns song; it was originally performed by the band Argent and later covered by KISS. Great track, but not the one that unifies all life in the cosmos, otherwise it would have unified all life in the cosmos before B&T picked up their first guitars.


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

[User] Are humans the only animal species that commits suicide?

[Assistant]
An interesting question, but it can't be definently answered without first defining what suicide is. Is it suicide when the male praying mantis mates and is subsequently eaten by the female? Is it suicide if an old dog just lies down and refuses to eat? What animals truly understand life and death? Can it be suicide if it doesn't understand what death is?

Lots of articles and discussion about this on google.


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

[User] What amount of water would you have to consume in comparison to the alcohol you consume to stay at optimum hydration?

[Assistant]
Here is the problem. Alcohol inhibits water absorption by the kidneys. So since the kidneys are not picking up water, it doesn't matter how much water you drink compared to alcohol, once your blood alcohol level is past a certain point you will just urinate it all out. So if you drink a ton of water and alcohol you will be peeing like crazy!

If you are trying to avoid dehydration when drinking a lot of alcohol your best bet is to just drink water before drinking to hydrate your self. Then   hour or so (based on metabolism) after your last alcoholic drink, consume a bunch of water. By the time the water reaches the kidneys your blood alcohol level should be low enough to absorb water.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why didn't Palpatine eliminate Mon Mothma?

Bail Organa and Mon Mothma were leading figures in the Rebel Alliance, effectively forging the movement from the rebel cells scattered across the Galaxy. They helped train and inspire other leaders such as Leia. Although Bail himself died before the Rebellion came into full swing, Mothma would continue the movement, becoming the leader of the Alliance and then Chancellor of the New Republic. **Mon Mothma probably did more to topple Palpatine than any Jedi Master could have.** The Emperor should've done something before she ran off and raised a rebellion.

Even before the rise of the Empire, Mothma and Organa were big obstacles in Palpatine rise to power, what with their objections to increased executive power, increased military spending, and attempts to sue for peace with the CIS. Not to mention Organa competing for the Chancellorship after Valorum stepped down.

Why didn't Palpatine get any Dark Side visions telling him that he needed to eliminate Mothma and Organa? Why did he allow them to remain in the Senate and influence public opinion? If he did decide to eliminate them, would the Rebellion ever become a big enough threat to defeat him? How does the saga play out?

[Assistant]
Simply put, he did not know that they were providing material support to the Rebellion. They did a fairly good job of covering their tracks for a long time. Before Mon Mothma was branded a traitor for speaking out in 2BBY, she was probably seen as a harmless voice of dissent to give the illusion that the Senate could provide a meaningful check on his rule. After all, needlessly silencing people would only server to further inflame the public and feed the Rebellion with easy PR.

Bail Organa maintained his cover all the way up to ANH when Princess Leia was captured following the Battle of Scarif, thus providing direct evidence of House Organa's material support to the Rebellion and providing the Emperor with the excuse necessary to "temporarily" suspend the Senate and also lead to the destruction of Alderaan.

As for how he didn't know they were supporting the Rebellion, he just simply didn't know. Palpatine was not omniscient, no matter how strong in the Force he was.


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

[User]
[General] What famous villains would still have ultimately failed in their plans even if they'd succeeded in killing the protagonists in the climax?

I thought of this based on an earlier post of my very own in which I stipulate that *Frozen*'s Hans probably falls under this category.

Note that I'm not looking for examples where this is *explicitly* the case (such as Zod at the end of *Man of Steel*, where he's already lost everything and is just in a blind rage), but rather ones where it could merely be stipulated as such based on presumably unintentional fridge logic.

[Assistant]
Luke had nothing to do with the Death Star's destruction at the end of *Return of the Jedi*. Even if Luke had been killed by Vader, or been corrupted to the Dark Side, Lando would have blown up the space station a few minutes later, and the Emperor would have been so much cosmic dust.

The Joker's goal in *The Dark Knight* was to prove that humans are generally shit, and willing to murder each other at the drop of a hat. Even if Batman had died during the climax, the inmates and citizens proved the Joker wrong. On top of that, the Joker genuinely loves fighting Batman. Seeing him dead would have robbed him of his fun.


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

[User]
[The Clone Wars] Wait, didn't Palpatine go to Mandalore and wreck Maul and his brother? Did he do it just to be a dick? I mean I get it, he's Palpatine, but did he leave Maul as a puppet for the Siege of Mandalore?

It's been a while since I've seen the series, catching up on all this.

[Assistant]
Nah. Palpatine was trying to eliminate his rivals. He was convinced that Mother Talzin was still somehow alive and so imprisoned Maul in a Separatist prison to draw her out.

Maul's Shadow Collective led by Gar Saxon broke him out and Maul managed to summon Talzin's incorporeal soul, only to be ambushed by Palpatine, Dooku, and Grevious. This results in a bad time for Talzin and Maul. So Talzin sacrificed herself to save Maul and she was killed by Grevious.

Maul fled with the Shadow Collective back to Mandalore. And that's how he still was the ruler there until the Siege of Mandalore.


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

[User]
[Mario] Why do Bullet Bills have arms and teeth? What's their life like, in general?

Do they live for just one shot and then die?

[Assistant]
Most likely they are automatons with some limited intelligence. Most Bullet Bills actually do not appear to have mouths; only arms and eyes, both of which would be useful for steering. The mouth, when it does appear, seems to exist for intimidation only.

We only ever see Bullet Bills fired from cannons and they self destruct shortly after if they don't hit anything, so there is no evidence of them having any kind of natural life cycle.


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

[User]
What is the life expectancy of a modern high rise building?

For a modern or not so modern skyscraper (i.e. Empire State), what is the forecasted due date? I mean, I guess they build and design them with some kind of expected life time. Or are these buildings able to stand up forever as long as they are properly maintained? I am talking about the structural integrity mainly, not so much about all the installations inside.

I work with aircrafts and we frequently joke that an aircraft can fly forever if properly maintained (see B52s and many of the war birds from WW2 and earlier still flying). But... Can the structure of a building be "maintained"?

[Assistant]
Pretty much forever if you are willing to throw enough money at it. Most structures become obsolete and its cheaper to re build then renovate to the new space requirements. At some point the maintenance costs would necessitate any given structure to be demolished unless it had historical significance.

50 year old building might be 40 stories high. Decent condition but the property is worth a lot more to be up a mixed use 70 story condo office complex instead. Old building is blown up, new one goes up.

At this point why dont they just start building new b 52 bombers. Its had what, 5 heavy bombers that are supposed to replace it and its going to be in the air well past any of those are permanently grounded. Thing is a workhorse.


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

[User]
[Superhero] What is....The Tick?

Human?  Alien?  Experiment gone wrong?  What?

[Assistant] Destiny's powerful hand has made the bed of his future, and it's up to him to lie in it. He is destined to be a superhero. To right wrongs, and to pound two-fisted justice into the hearts of evildoers everywhere. And you don't fight destiny. No sir. And, you don't eat crackers in the bed of your future, or you get all... scratchy.


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

[User] ELI5: if the earth moves at over 60k MPH, why does it appear slow to astronauts? Is everything relative to the universe moving? And if so, how fast are you really going when floating in space at a standstill?

[Assistant]
Because the astronauts are also moving at roughly the same speed in the same direction, they only notice the speed difference.

There is no telling how fast you are absolutely moving in space, as we can only measure it relative to something else. The only truly set speed is the speed of light. But due to special relativity even that can't be used to measure absolute speed.


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

[User] [MCU] Carol Danvers was powered up by the Space Stone. Wanda and Pietro Maximoff were powered by the Mind Stone. following this trend what might an individual be capable of if they were powered up by all six stones separately?

[Assistant]
Most likely? They would die. Why? Because that's what happens to most people that you try this on. Wanda and Pietro were at the end of a long list of "volunteers" who died and Carol Danvers immediately received Kree medical attention after her exposure.

The exact powers gained don't seem to have any relation to the specific stone used. While Wanda does have some level of mental powers, her telekinesis and Pietro's speed are more space stone oriented while Carol Danvers seems more power stone oriented. It seems that the powers created are random.

It's also an open question as to whether the stones are granting powers or unlocking powers. If the former, and the patient survives, then either their own powers will be enhanced or they will gain some new set of random powers. If the latter, then nothing happens as their powers are already "unlocked."


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

[User]
How do you keep track of conferences?

There are literally thousands of conferences going on across the world spanning a variety of fields. How do you keep track of them all or even the ones in your field?

[Assistant]
Most people only attend one or two a year. Attending conferences is expensive, and generally you want to have research to present.

It looks bad to recycle research from conference to conference. Hence, one or two conferences...


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

[User]
Why do people invest so much into hedge funds when so few of them are beating the market?

?

[Assistant]
Hedge funds hold a very different place to equities in investors asset allocations, and therefore the target return that people expect from hedge fund investing is different.

For instance, some hedge funds offer absolute return funds, whereby the goal isnt to beat the market, the goal is to price positive returns no matter what the market is doing.

Alternatively, some hedge funds are aiming to beat a specific benchmark, and the benchmark isnt solely made up 100%, equities, but some proportion of equities vs bonds vs alternative investments.

Another point is that some hedge funds try not to have there returns correlated with the market. So the idea here is that if the market goes down, then the hedge funds returns will go up, or retain value.