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

[User]
ELI5: Why doe we feel like we're in a "fog" when we're sick?

Currently fending off a nasty cold, and I've felt like my brain has been working at half-power the last few days. What makes us feel so out of it when we're sick?

[Assistant]
There's not really a better answer to 'what' other than 'the immune system'. Common viruses can't cross the blood-brain barrier, so what you're feeling is not the direct effect of the sickness. In fact, most of the symptoms - runny nose, sneezing, coughing - are really the effects of your immune system fighting off the virus, rather than the doing of the virus itself.

The reason for the general malaise that accompanies the immune response is most likely your immune system telling you "Get out of the way and let me handle this." Even if you could easily get on with your day in spite of the physical symptoms, the 'fog' motivates you to take it slow and rest so that you don't sabotage your own recovery. It's a crude measure, but we wouldn't have it if it didn't work.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why queasy when hungry?

It just seems really counterproductive to be queasy when you need to eat.

[Assistant]
Basically, your stomach was expecting food and prepared for it by making extra stomach acid. Without food to dissolve, the extra acid started irritating your stomach lining causing the queasiness.

When you push through the queasiness and eat, it goes away quickly because the acid is now dissolving food like it is supposed to.

It will also eventually go away on its own as your body absorbs the acid.


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

[User] ELI5: What the big deal is with "Han shot first"

[Assistant]
[](/cheerteach)The fact that Han shot first in his confrontation becomes a very telling part of his character. He was rogue - he played by his own rules and didn't give a damn about the notion of a fair fight or honour. That short little scene sets his character as a man who is purely self-interested.

By digitally adding Greedo firing the first shot, the whole scene changes from 'Han taking a cheap shot to kill the guy' to 'Han defending himself from an alien with horrible aim'. It was a cheap attempt to make Han Solo seem more 'heroic' when that is not who he is.

Plus, it just makes the whole scene look like crap.


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

[User]
Help settle a debate i am having: Does the way weight is distributed in an object affect how buoyant it is in water?

I saw a picture of a refrigerator that had floated and flipped over during the recent hurricane. My dad said he was surprised it would float away, particularly cause the  heavy mechanicals are at the bottom of the refrigerator, but i told him i dont think thats relevant.

So heres the hypothetical scenario. We have two refrigerator sized prisms standing side by side and the water level is steadily rising. Object A has a big lead weight sitting inside, at the bottom, while object B has the same lead weight, but it is located towards the top of the object. The weight and volume of the two objects is otherwise identical. The two objects are mostly hollow and can float in water. As the water level rises, at some point these objects begin to lift off the ground. Will one lift off the ground before the other, or will they both lift off the ground at the same time?

Thanks for any replies.

[Assistant]
If the volume and weight are the same, they'll both experience the exact same bouyant force.

The only thing the center of mass dictates is their orientation in the water. I.e. one with centralized center of mass will float evenly, while one with significant mass at one end would float with that end depressed to a degree (depending on the ratio).

In your scenario, they'd both begin to lift at the same time. If one of them floats at an angle, that one might drag a bit longer due to the depth of the heavier end, and so might take longer to clear the ground than the one that floated perfectly evenly, but overall they should begin to float at the same time.


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

[User] do we know how chameleons "see" Things with two independent eyes? Is it integrated? Side by side?

[Assistant]
To understand the way they "see" things, you can re-frame what you think eyes "do."

Eyes take what is in the world and translate it into something the brain can understand. Chameleons probably perceive the world just as the world is--their brain makes a map of what is 'out there' based on the light that falls on their eyes.

By the way, you own eyes do the same thing. You don't see the "input" to your eyes. You see the map of the world that your brain makes from the input.  For example, you don't "see" your nose, even though it takes up a bunch of visual space in each of your eyes' visual input. (Close one eye and look for your nose to check!)

You also don't see details in the world except for a tiny fraction of your vision (the "fovea" in the center of your visual field).  Want to check:  hold your hand out at arms length and look at your fingernail and without moving your eyes, try and describe any detail on one of your other fingernails. You will likely discover that you can't. You cant even see details a few inches from what you are looking at. Whenever you look at something, you are looking with your fovea. Everything else outside of the fovea is "blurry" and much less colored. You mind fills in the blanks and you end up perceiving the world as clear an detailed.


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

[User]
Why is the sound barrier an aerodynamic problem?

Vibrations we pick up as sound can only move so quickly through a fluid (air). Fair enough. But why does aerodynamics get so tricky at that same speed? Why is it difficult for physical objects to exceed? Why did transonic speed cause such odd control difficulties for old aircraft? Why is the sound barrier a barrier for more than just sound?

[Assistant]
Remember that the speed of sound isn't just the speed of waves, but the maximum speed at which any sort of information can be transmitted through the medium. This means that when flying at a subsonic speed, the air at the front of the wing "knows" (i.e. is capable of reacting to) what is happening to the air a bit further behind it, because the information (via sound waves) is able to arrive a bit earlier than the plane does. This allows everything to run more smoothly, in a certain sense. The air has a chance to move a bit to prepare for the plane to pass through.

On the other hand, when going supersonic, the air doesn't "know" that there's a plane coming until its too late and the plane is here - it can't, in principle, get advanced warning from the air nearby, and so you'd expect the equations to be completely different.


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

[User]
ELI5: If muscles can't "push," how do we make our belly expand while taking a deep breath?

All the answers I can find online are some combination of "your belly muscles expand as a natural consequence of your diaphragm moving down" (which doesn't make sense because you aren't putting above atmospheric pressure air into your lungs and we can only relax muscles, not expand them) or "air takes up space so when you breathe in, your body must expand" (which is what your diaphragm is moving for.) Both these mechanisms imply a "forced" draft where air is pushed into your lungs, but my understanding is that we breathe by "induced" draft, where we create low pressure in our bodies and air rushes in.

So why does our belly sometimes move out when we breathe?

[Assistant] when the lungs are empty, the diaphragm is released and bent upwards. when you contract the diaphragm to suck in air, the diaphragm moves down, meaning it moves to the most contraced point which is kind of straight between where it is connected to your chest bones - so not bent upwards anymore. so it actually moves down and pushes the organs and therefore the belly down and out.


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

[User] ELI5: How does a single LED produce multiple colours?

[Assistant] They don't. Each LED junction can only produce one wavelength, in fact, LEDs are famous for their narrow bandwidth. When we want a multicolour LED, what we do is embed a red, green, blue (and optionally white) LED junction on the same device very close to each other. By mixing the amount of these 3 colours, we can convince our brain that it's actually a single colour.


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

[User]
[Big Trouble in Little China] Why was Lo Pan only looking for green eyed Chinese women when he knew he could use a white woman for the same purpose?

So when Jack and Wang are talking to Basket Case on Wheels it seems that Lo Pan must find a Chinese girl (forgetting of course that the meaning of Chinese has changed a lot over the last two thousand years, but moving on) with green eyes.

Jack: So there can't be too many Chinese girls running around with green eyes...

Lo Pan: There are none.

And yet when he meets Gracie he's all hey another green eyed lady and puts her to the test.  Presumably he'd been in America a long ass time, why didn't he broaden his search before hand?

[Assistant]
Lo Pan is old school, which involves a touch of racism.  It had honestly never occurred to him to consider anyone besides a Chinese woman until Gracie fell into his lap.

You can see how concerned he was with bloodlines when he asks about Mao Yin's origins and parentage.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do wall street firms (like the one Mitt Romney ran) make money acquiring businesses and shutting down the entire operation?

I don't understand how financial firms purchase businesses for the sole purpose of shutting them down for profit... How are they making money off this? Isn't this unethical?

(edit: I know Romney's firm was likely not literally on wall street but the concentration of where it's happening is on wall street and it's always financial/private equity firms)

[Assistant] Think of it like a car. Maybe you have a car that's only worth $1,000USD.  You sell the engine for $500USD sell the transmission for $300USD sell the wheels for $50USD each,  you've already made back your money and now anything else you sell is money in your pocket.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] How much individuality does each Borg have?

Been catching up on some adventures of the starships Enterprise-D and Voyager. How much individual volition or sense of self does any one Borg have? They always say "We are Borg" rather than "I am Borg" which I found interesting.

I just saw 7 of 9's introduction on Voyager, but I don't mind spoilers (although other readers may appreciate a spoiler warning).

[Assistant]
Borg have very little individuality.   They refer to their own body as a number of a group when separate (physically) from the collective.  Geordie and Data did teach one borg, "Hue" individuality and this practically crippled the borg once the concept was introduced to the collective.

The hivemind that the borg are sees itself as individually parts of one mind. So "we (separate bodies) are (one with the hivemind that is) borg." This really isn't dissimilar from animals like certain species of ants or bees.

Anyway there is a bit more interesting philosophical ideas about the borg. They have... wait... hold on... what is that...

The one known as italia06823834 has been assimilated.   You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. You will become one with the borg.


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

[User]
How exactly did we find out about Earths internal layers if we never dug that deep?

  The crust, mantle, and core.

[Assistant] Mainly by analyzing seismic waves. It's basically like taking an ultrasound of the Earth, using earthquakes as the sound source. Computer models are also helpful. And finally, looking at mineral samples on the surface can provide information about the conditions in the mantle under which they were formed.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do batteries need to be oriented the opposite direction of the batteries they're adjacent to?

[Assistant] They don't. It all depends on the connection wires in the device that the batteries are being used in. Though most commonly they are of opposite orientations because that allows the smallest distance in wiring to connect the positive to the negative poles of each successive battery.


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

[User] ELI5 So everyone is talking about this year's US inflation, can anyone explain why it's so important?

[Assistant]
Inflation, broadly, is what happens when money becomes less valuable as a result of more money being injected into a given economic system. In this case, spending went down during the pandemic, and a lot of stimulus money wasn't actually used. Now that the country is reopening, a lot of people are starting to spend that saved-up cash.

The current inflation is both a good and a bad sign; it's bad because it obviously means prices will go up on essentially everything, but it's a good sign because it indicates that a lot of people are starting to spend money again at pre-pandemic rates, indicating that the US is returning to economic normality. At the same time (on a personal level); inflation is actually a *good* thing for debtors, as debts don't inflate with the currency, thus the functional value of the money you owe goes down with inflation.


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

[User] [Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade] How did the knight live for 700 years? Did the water from the grail keep him alive? Because I didn't see any food around.

[Assistant]
The Grail Knight was sustained by drinking from the Grail every day. Each time one drinks from the Cup, a spark of life is lit within you. Food would no longer be necessary, as long as he remained there.

For the Knight, whose mission was to guard the Sanctuary, he would extend his life as long as he drank. There was a time when he was conflicted in his mission and refrained from drinking for a time, which is why he appeared aged, but regaining his faith he kept drinking and kept his lonely vigil. It was not an easy life, but he was faithful unto the end, and duly deserved whatever reward awaited him.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] What exactly was the original purpose of the chamber of secrets?

We know that Salazar Slytherin created it but for what purpose?
it cant just be a place to keep a big snake can it?

[Assistant]
It was basically a backup plan against progressivism.

1. Hide giant racist snake under large important school.

2. Set up a magical set of racist breadcrumbs to lead your racist descendent there after you die (and the damn mudbloods inevitably take over more than they already had).

3. Snake& descendent team up and go full racial cleansing on the place before anyone can escape.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is the purpose of "Occupy Wall Street"?

Hello. I am not US citizen and I know that bankers and companies and people connected with them earned money, So "occupy wall street" folks are trying to protest that? If so, what can be the outcome of it? it's not like companies will start to hire or just give away money right? or is there anything else I am missing?

[Assistant] There are quite a few very different people upset about a lot of different things, but their primary concern appears to be the reduction of corporate influence on politics. See, the big companies make lots of money and there are a lot of little rules and regulations they have to follow. But what they can do is take the money they make, give lots of it to politicians, then the politicians change the rules so the companies make even more money. Then the companies pay the politicians again to change the rules some more and make more money - it's a vicious cycle.


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

[User]
[Fallout] What factors have allowed large powers to rise to prominence in the West such as the NCR and Caesar's Legion, and what factors have prevented similarly large powers rising in the East?

So in the 210 years since the Great War, seemingly only two powers have risen to great prominence and amassed a large swath of territory, the NCR, and Caesar's Legion, and both of them are based in States in the West, namely California, and Arizona, as well as the surrounding states that each power controls.

As of 2281, the NCR has roughly 700,000 citizens, a sophisticated infrastructure system across its territories, a functioning manufacturing base and resource extraction industry, a thriving economy, a large, well organised, relatively well equipped, professional volunteer military, capable of overpowering the Brotherhood of Steel, the uncontested most technologically advanced force in the wastelands (since the fall of the Enclave on the West Coast), as well as their own small Vertibird fleet, and extremely well trained special forces such as the NCR Rangers and the First Recon Snipers (renowned for singlehandedly preventing Caesar's Legion from overwhelming NCR Forces at the First Battle of Hoover Dam).

Caesar's Legion itself is also quite formidable, having conquered something like 86 tribes and now in control of the territories of those tribes, and the Legion is remained uncontested until it met the NCR at the Mojave Wasteland. They're so uncontested that caravans and travellers prefer going through Legion territory because it's safer, as the Legion has practically wiped out any semblance of raiders and mutant abominations, something the NCR hasn't yet achieved. They also have a massive slave force feeding the Empire and the Legion war machine. Their ranks are filled with extremely well trained and experienced legionnaires, and they have arguably the single most effective espionage units in the wastelands, capable of infiltration, intelligence gathering, and sabotage deep into enemy territory, a capability that the NCR seems to be lacking. They're also not averse to simply throwing bodies at a problem like cannon fodder to overwhelm the enemy, and they can keep doing it because of how dedicated Legion soldiers are, and because they keep feeding soldiers to its war machines by taking the children of slaves.

These are both sophisticated, well organised, well supplied powers, rising in the ashes of a nuclear wasteland. If they were capable of achieving this in just 200 years since the Great War, why haven't any similarly large and organised powers risen on the East Coast? What is preventing this from happening?

So far we've visited the Capital Wasteland and the Commonwealth on the East Coast. The Capital Wasteland is basically still a hellscape, relative to the other wastelands we've visited. And that's quite understandable as it was hit harder than pretty much any other part of the United States during the Great War as it was the seat of the US Government. So I can understand why a large regional power hasn't risen from the Capital Wasteland. But the Commonwealth is different. Even with the threat of The Institute and their synths, and the arrival of the Brotherhood of Steel, there seems to be a large number of settlements, thriving trade between them, a much smaller and manageable Super Mutant presence compared to the Capital Wasteland, and even a volunteer police force of sorts in the form of the Minutemen. If you talk to the settlers, one thing they all have in common is the desire for security from raiders and mutants, and the ability to feed themselves, both of which are something that can be provided for by a regional power, like the NCR does in its own territory. Now at one point the Commonwealth did get close with the Commonwealth Provisional Government. Even The Institute was seemingly a part of this arrangement, sending their own representative, but something changed and the Institute's synth representative gunned down every representative of each settlement at the formal meeting to decide the governing constitution of the CPG. Now Nick Valentine says they never tried again because nobody trusted each other anymore after that massacre, but that doesn't really make sense to me because everyone seems to know that it was the Institute that massacred the representatives, so they have no reason to not trust each other. Of course the collapse of the Minutemen didn't help, but that only seemed to have happened in the months leading up to the Sole Survivor getting out of Vault 111, as opposed to the massacre which took place decades before, so why hasn't a regional power grown from the Commonwealth?

Aside from the Capital Wasteland and the Commonwealth, there must be other places along the East Coast that are in various stated of stability, so why hasn't a large regional power that people in the Capital Wasteland and Commonwealth are aware of risen yet? What is preventing something like the NCR or the Legion from growing in the East Coast?

TL;DR The West Coast has produced two large regional powers in the form of the NCR and Caesar's Legion, so why hasn't the East Coast been able to do the same?

[Assistant]
Lots of things:

- The east coast was hit *very* hard in the war, much harder than the west coast, to the point where even the water was radioactive two hundred years after the war.  *That is not even how radioactivity normally works.*  on the west coast, we only have one target (the Glow) that was hit that hard, and it was a top secret military based isolated from all the other population centers.  In Boston, we have the glowing sea right at the edge of the city.  We also have the entrance to vault 87 just a few miles from downtown DC, which is so radioactive even a full suit of power armor and full dose of RAD-X wont let you live more than a few minutes.

- On the west coast, the Enclave was actively assisting at least one group (the Salvatore family), and mostly ignoring everyone else, since they assumed those groups would be no threat to the Enclave, and everyone would just get wiped out by the modified FEV anyways.  On the East coast, the Institute was actively infiltrating groups of wastelanders and sabotaging their efforts at getting organized.

- The west coast had the Brotherhood of Steel helping out in the very early stages of the NCR.  Back in their early days the Brotherhood would still help clearing out raiders and trading with Caravans.  This dramatically reduced the number of threats to civilization that fledging states like the NCR needed to deal with, and allowed for regional trade routes to get set up much more quickly than in the east.

- Lastly, Caeser's legion is something of an anomaly.  It is a very large state, but it is not a stable one, and it depends on the cult of personality developed by one exceptional individual.  It grew very quickly, but is expected to fall just as quickly when he dies.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does Netflix offer streaming of only some movies and disc-only for others? Why can't they all be streaming?

[Assistant] For both the dvd rentals and the instant streaming, netflix has to pay licensing fees to the movie studios. Its part of where your monthly subscription goes. If netflix isn't granted the license from the movie company to do it, they can't stream it. Streaming services aren't quite the best way for studios to make money, so they often wait a while before allowing some of their bigger releases to be streamed. It may also be that the company has an exclusivity deal with one of netflix's competitors, like amazon instant. In that case, it doesn't matter how much money netflix offers, because the deal restricts it to the other company.


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

[User]
[Dune] What happened to Islam?

I've been rereading Dune recently, and the parallels between the Fremen and the Muslims of earth -- or at least, people of Arabic descent --- are really clear. Lots of Arabic words, an explicit mention that they were once Sunni, and of course, the desert world of Arrakis.

So what happened to Islam? The novel clearly plays off of the stereotypical fervor the media present very religious Arabic people as, but until Paul Muad'Dib, there was apparently no god-like figure.

[Assistant]
The people who would eventually become the Fremen were once called the Zensunni monks, which implies they came from a fused culture, or at least religion, that blended many things from modern Islam and some things from predominantly Chinese philosophy. The Orange Catholic bible is also a work of the fusion of many different faiths and doctrines.

So Islam, like most religions in the year 20,000+ have waxed, waned, fused, and become entirely new things. Nothing "happened" to Islam other than the march of time and the natural trend of people to culturally share and move forward.


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

[User]
CMV: It doesn't make sense that saying "bless you" when someone sneezes is polite.

This is something that's always bothered me, all the way back to when I was a kid. I never understood why it was considered polite to say "bless you" after someone had sneezed.

From my understanding, because people believed sneezing was a demon being expelled from your body, they would say "bless you." Nowadays, that doesn't really make sense, and I doubt that anybody believes that is the reason people sneeze.

Now I don't really care if people prefer to say "bless you" after they hear someone sneeze, but it's absolutely ridiculous that some people actually get upset, and will even go as far as calling someone out for not saying "bless you" after they'd sneezed. They simply had a tickle in their nose and their body was getting whatever particles it didn't want in the nose out.

Some may say that it's similar to saying "excuse me" when they burp, fart, or yawn, but I disagree. Saying excuse me is a way of apologizing for being a disruption, while saying "bless you" is a silly way of saying "I acknowledge that you have sneezed."

Saying "bless you" doesn't make sense, and while it doesn't hurt to say, I shouldn't be ridiculed for refusing to congratulate someone on their sneeze. It becomes more disruptive than the sneeze itself and it's just silly.

Please, please CMV. I'm tired of getting shit for not wanting to say "bless you" but I'm also too stubborn of an asshole to conform.

[Assistant] Even if its lost its original meaning, it still serves as a way to acknowledge that you heard the person sneeze and are concerned for their well being. If you don't say anything it communicates to the other person that they are not worthy of acknowledgement, which can be insulting.


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

[User] What causes moles to appear on our skin?

[Assistant] So there are cells called melanocytes that provide pigment/coloration to our skin and hair in the upper layer of our skin. A mole (or nevus, if were getting fancy) is actually considered a benign tumor of those melanocytes. Tumor just means an abnormal, excessive growth of cells (not cancer!), so essentially, some of your melanocytes had some funky things happen with their DNA (damage, random mutation, etc) that caused them to grow more in clusters as opposed to spread out across your skin. The reason that youre told to check the size, borders, color, etc of moles is because benign moles and potential melanomas can look very different!


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

[User]
How can Antiprotons annihilate with Neutrons?

I thought annihilation requires a particle and its specific anti-particle but I read in a book about antimatter that antiprotons annihilate with neutrons. How so?

[Assistant] Hadrons are made of quarks. A neutron has valence quark content of udd and a proton has valence quark content of uud. So an antiproton has antiup and antidown quarks which can annihilate with up and down quarks in a neutron. They cant fully annihilate each other; there will still be some quarks in the final state (probably in the form of pions).


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

[User]
[Kung-Fu Panda] Why does Po have no problem with murder?

It's always bothered me how Po has no response other than a goofy smile to murdering Tai Lung (as confirmed in Kung-Fu Panda 3) as his body gets exploded into a giant cloud of cheese dust. Why is he so okay with it?

Also, what are the health problems of breathing in Tai Lung cheese dust?

[Assistant] Why do you think Tai Lung was imprisoned in the first place? He attacked people when he was declined for being the Dragon Warrior, and clearly had no remorse for it. He beat the Furious Five to an inch of their lives, almost killed Shifu despite when his master apologized and tried to reach out to him, and he wasnt exactly working to peacefully resolve the situation with Po. Even after seeing the scroll and Po trying to explain it to him, Tai Lung was still going to fight. Pos a nice guy, but hes not inclined to help someone who doesnt want to be helped and will hurt many in the midst.


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

[User] Eli5: how does the circulatory system work for amputees?

[Assistant] During amputation, the blood vessels that go to the amputated area are cut and sealed off. The blood that would go to those areas diverts into the vessels above the cut and returns to the heart the same as any other blood does.


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

[User] [Looney tunes] Considering that no one ever falls until they look down, could a blind person walk on air indefinitely?

[Assistant] Blind people don't find themselves in that situation because they get deflected into another direction before they walk of the cliff or girder or what have you.  Either by an allied protagonist that is too busy for that sort of nonsense, or by happenstance (e.g. gets hit in the head by a golf ball).


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

[User]
[Star Wars Ep:7] Didn't Poe make the right call destroying the dreadnaught?

Later, both Leia and Holdo chastise him for going after the dreadnaught rather than come home and jumping out while preserving the bomber fleet to fight another day.
However, had he done that, wouldn't the dreadnought have simply tracked them along with the rest of the fleet, then destroyed them with the autocannons?
I get that he disobeyed orders, but his actions saved the fleet, did they not?

[Assistant]
They had no way of knowing that, and they couldn't mount a response becsuse he cost them most of their fighter fleet.

Given what they had and what they knew it was a terrible choice. He cost them fuel, people, and strength as a whole.


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

[User] I once placed my elbow right above an electromagnet and a strong magnetic pulse caused my arm and hand to flex briefly.  Why did this happen?

[Assistant] Yes, the electromagnetic field depolarized the axons in the nerve fibers, causing voltage sensitive sodium channels to open, leading to an action potentials which were propogated down the axons to your muscles. This is actually how they localize nerve damage: by comparing the latency of muscle response to electric or electromagnetic stimulation from different parts of the nerve fiber.


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

[User]
ELI5: Whats the difference between the various SSRIs?

Why do they have different effects? What do each of them do differently?

[Assistant]
Assuming you have a basic understanding of how SSRIs work (?). All SSRIs have the same mechanism of action.

- Some SSRIs are more selective than others. That is, some SSRIs target serotonin receptors very specifically while others are a bit (just a bit) less selective. In comparison, less selective SSRIs will bind to NET and DAT, which impact norepinephrine and dopamine availability, respectively. SNRI drugs like Cymbalta are designed to target both serotonin and norepinephrine receptors.

- There are differences in how SSRIs are metabolized by the body (which has dosing implications for older adults and people with reduced liver and kidney functions), the half-life of the drug in the body, and how the drug may interact with the metabolism of other drugs.

- There are some differences in the side effects reported for different SSRIs, with some more commonly causing stomach upset, lethargy, and weight loss.


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

[User]
Do any philosophers challenge the idea that an argument that's both valid and sound is necessarily true?

One of the first things I learnt in philosophy was that *validity* means the conclusion must follow from the premises, and *soundness* means an argument is both valid and that its premises are true, but I want to know if there are any philosophers who accept that an agument can be valid and sound and yet, in some sense, not true.

I suppose I'm thinking along the lines of Gettier problems and those who think that you can have a belief that is both justified and true, and yet still not have knowledge. Do any philosophers think something analgous to this exists for validity and soundness? It doesn't seem plausible to me, but then there's a lot of philosophy that also doesn't seem intuitive to me and yet still seems to be right.

Thank you, lovely people.

[Assistant]
I don't think so since, in a sense, validity and soundness are technical terms within the field of logic. They aren't broad concepts like "justice" or "goodness" that can be interpreted intuitively, they've been defined in a very specific way for a very specific purpose. Let's take the definition of soundness:

*An argument is sound if and only if it is a valid inference with premises that are true.*

This means that the conclusion of a sound argument is true by the very definition of soundness. There's no wiggle room in that definition; if we don't think it's right then we have simply changed the definition of soundness or the concepts that comprise it.


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

[User]
The oxygen level rise to 30% in the carboniferous period and is now 21%. What happened to the extra oxygen?

What happened to the oxygen in the atmosphere after the carboniferous period to make it go down to 21%, specifically where did the extra oxygen go?

[Assistant] Oxygen is unstable and reactive. If photosynthesising plants didn't keep replenishing it, we'd pretty quickly lose our oxygen to fires, aerobic respiration and so on. Our current equilibrium is around 21%, whereas back in the carboniferous the abundance of green plants and warmer temperatures would've lifted that balancing point to 35%.


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

[User] Is your peripheral vision more geared toward perceiving movement when compared to your central vision? What other things is your peripheral vision better/worse at perceiving than your central vision?

[Assistant]
when you're completely dark-adapted, your foveas are blind and you see only with the peripheral retina (though that's a generous definition of 'peripheral'), so that is one big specialty of the periphery.

aside from that, basically what you mentioned: peripheral vision is more sensitive to motion, and you can also think of it as more sensitive to large shapes. both of those have to do with the fact that receptive fields of peripheral neurons tend to be larger and more sensitive.

despite what some might tell you, peripheral vision supports color perception just as well as foveal vision (with caveats), there's not a big difference there.

peripheral vision is much worse at feature integration than foveal vision - you tend to over-integrate features, so you have trouble recognizing objects that require very precise integration (this is called "crowding"). best example of this is the fact that you can't read in the periphery, even when you can see the letters, unless the letters are big and widely spaced, and even then it's hard.


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

[User]
[The Boys] Is there any way Homelander could have saved the passengers on the plane?

I rewatched that scene, and for the record Im not a physicist, but couldnt he have flown against the bottom of the plane so it could have glided into a safe landing on the ocean? Sure he said that he cant stand in air but I still feel like him flying against something would have some effect. Afterwards they could have just gotten a rescue team in there. Again, Im not a physicist. It just seemed to me that Homelander was being lazy and just didnt want to look for a solution.

[Assistant]
I don't think that particular solution would work, mostly because he's not Superman.

Supes has a quirk of his power that he can lift an object by almost any point and it retains its structural stability.  Homelander doesn't have anything like that.   So if he gets below the plane and flies up with super strength, he most likely just pushes straight through the aircraft and makes it crash sooner.

Now, if he knew a bit about aircraft, and could pick the right spot to push, it's possible that could work, but he doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who knows a lot about a great many things that aren't immediately useful to himself.


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

[User]
[Spyro the Dragon] Why is Spyro the only dragon that does anything?

Surely one of the many dragons he freed could have helped out in SOME way. Half of them say something like "when you get big and strong like me" but let you do shit on your own. Since Gnasty Gnorc basically conquered the Dragon Kingdom overnight, is Spyro some chosen one among dragons for soloing his entire army? What in gods name are all the other dragons doing?

[Assistant]
Spyro is a rare Purple Dragon, a dragon who is far more magically attuned than the others. All dragons used to have powerful magics but once they were banished from their original world by the Sorceress, causing all the magic to fade.

Spyro has insane power even at his young age, with mastery over magic not even the Elders could comprehend. Most dragons barely stand up to basic magics. Which is why they are often easily defeated by those who can use it.


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

[User]
[Animorphs] Where does the extra mass come from when they morph a larger form?

It's established in a couple of the books that when a morpher morphs a smaller form, the excess mass is shunted into Z-space, thus preserving conservation of mass.

But what about when a morpher morphs a larger form? Where does the extra mass come from?

[Assistant]
Z-space again.  Matter is simply a different expression of energy, in much the same way that ice is a different expression of steam.

When morphing a smaller form, excess matter is 'stored' in Z-space as energy.  When morphing larger forms, energy is siphoned out of Z-space and temporarily transmuted to matter.

Thus, for instance, a 100kg Andalite can morph into a form weighing several hundred tonnes.  Upon de-morphing, the excess matter is shunted back to Z-space.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are guilty plea's of value to the state?

Meaning: You often hear in court "the state is willing to _____ in exchange for a guilty plea." Which implies obviously that there is maybe a quota I guess? Or at least some sort of value to them.
Any law peeps?

I had traffic court this morning and was just curious.
Edit for quotations

Thanks for the quick responses guys! Makes sense. I knew I could count on ELI5.

[Assistant]
They don't have to undergo the cost (the state pays the judge, prosecutor, court staff, and jury, small stipend but also the cost of the time of the state's citizens) of a trial and gets a desired result (the person the state believes commit a crime accepts their guilt and faces some punishment).  The generosity of a plea bargain greatly depends on the facts of the case (how likely the state is to win in court), and whether the accused has testimony that could be used in other cases.

Think of it this way, if a plea bargain gets a minor traffic offender 80% of the sentence they would get if convicted, the state saves an enormous amount of resources, in exchange for very little (many traffic offenses aren't punished that severely).


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

[User] ELI5: What is the point of the US Congress drafting resolutions that just condemn something?

[Assistant]
Basically, its the "sending prayers and good vibes" of the politics world. They do it when they see something bad going on in the world but dont want to send people/money to help, but they dont want to be accused of doing nothing.

Of course sometimes its all the government can do as trying to pass a resolution to send aid can be hard/impossible to pass.

Is there an example that you were looking at?


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

[User]
What branch of psychology would be ideal for me?

So I am considering the field of psychology. I'd really love to make a difference in the lives and minds of others, and teach and lead people who are struggling with life and their mental health. Ultimately I want to transform the lives of others. However, I do not want to be tied to a desk, in an office, with the same routine day-in and day-out. I'd really like the opportunity to have frequent travel, but I'm not sure travel psychology is right for me either, as it seems to focus more on the psychology behind travel itself rather than aiding suffering minds (if I'm wrong about this, please correct me.) So that said, do you have any suggestions for me? Thanks.

[Assistant]
Working as a school psychologist could be interesting. You would not be stuck behind a desk and would get to work with students one-on-one. Low-income schools are particularly in need of school psychologist because their student population suffer through lots of complex trauma.

Also, to accommodate your need for travel, you could look into an NGO that travels to other countries where disasters or other traumatic events have occured. Often there are populations who need counseling for things such as genocide, natural disasters, or war.

Let us know if these are jobs you are interested in or steer us in a better direction if you are interested in other ideas besides treating trauma.


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

[User]
PhD Advisor Doesn't Let His Student Go on Internships

Okay, I recently got an internship and I need to file my paperwork which requires the approval of my advisor. Here is some background about me and my lab:

I am an international student in an US university and I started my Ph.D. in Fall 2018 and have passed my qualifiers and published a journal paper and am writing my second paper currently. I don't intend to stay in academia after graduating, and I have no work experience hence I applied for an Internship to get jobs after I graduate. It is difficult to get jobs in the US when you have no work experience and are on a visa.

Now my advisor is known for not allowing his students to go on internships. Two of my colleagues in my lab couldn't go on internships as my advisor strongly advised them not to and some of his former students didn't even apply. My relationship with my advisor is positive so far however, I am concerned as to how I can approach him about this. I will send him an email explaining my situation sometime this week as I need to keep the company informed too.

I would like to get your input on how I should go about approaching my advisor. How I should react in case he says no.  What should I say and what should I avoid.  Thank you very much for your advice.

Clarification: before joining the lab I have informed my advisor that I will work in the industry and not academia. Furthermore, the funding in the lab runs out before summer and there is no incoming source of money as far as I know.

Thank you all for the responses. I appreciate them greatly.

Update: So, I spoke to my advisor,  yesterday and in short he agreed to the internship under the condition that I keep working on our research. He shared his concerns with me, as about 5-6 years ago he had 2 students who did excellent work for him went on interns, one did not come back and the other came back only to graduate within a semester and did not pursue any more research work. I reassured him of my intention to return to the program, and that legally I cannot just take a full-time job after my intern is over as my visa won't allow me to just quit my program and start working for any company in the US. He agreed the intern will significantly help in my personal career growth and will save him some money as he won't have to pay stipend over the summer. While I would have preferred to work the internship alone in the summer, however, getting the research work done will be beneficial to me in the long run. He further emphasized the need to be in a strong position to graduate, by working in the summer and producing more paper I will be in a safe position and can graduate quickly in case he is unable to get funding. I agreed with his reasoning, I do want to finish my degree and achieve my research objectives without having to support myself.

Again thank you all for the kind and supportive advice you provided to me in handling this delicate situation.

[Assistant]
Its pretty early in the year - if you have a good working relationship w him perhaps ask him to go for coffee and advice - explain the situation (many US faculty dont know all the visa rules that international students deal with), and that you have been advised that this would help you post- degree, but you dont want to leave the lab short staffed for 10 weeks this summer  so is there a way to get work done in the spring (etc etc)
In your conversation project a belief that you both want the best for the lab *and* for you / your future - and that you need help figuring out how to do this.


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

[User]
Why is it that you can stream >1080p HD quality video with surround sound, but video calls like Hangouts looks like you are communicating via potatoes?

I get that it is using UDP and that packets are not guaranteed.  I also get that you are uploading as well as downloading and are at the mercy of the upload speed of both sides.  But those reasons do not sit well with me given that when I try to call my dad who a) is in the same city and ISP and b) we both have sufficient upload speed (enough to stream HD videos from home, ie via plex).

[Assistant]
You also have to consider that streaming video is either a full file being served in parts (streaming a movie), or on a sizable delay (a "live" broadcast). This allows a buffer where the content can be downloaded ahead of being displayed. It also allows a program like Netflix to seamlessly switch between HD and SD if your internet connection speed changes, because it has enough warning ahead of time to make the changes.

With a video call, latency is everything and even a 1-2 second delay is frustrating when trying to have a conversation. To ensure super low latency, video quality suffers in this tradeoff.

Also take into consideration that most front-facing cellphone cameras and laptop cameras are made to be small and cheap, with low resolution captures. You're comparing a movie (shot with nice high end cameras with good lighting) to a shot of yourself in a dark living room with a camera smaller than a dime.


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

[User] CMV: Bar soap is better than body wash.

[Assistant]
That squeaky clean feeling on your skin the the result of all your natural oils being stripped completely from your skin. This in turn causes your body to go hard out trying to replenish the stripped oils. Skin oils are there for a reason. It is not dirt or odour causing bacteria and is not something that needs to be stripped away daily.

This is the same reason why shampoo use causes oily hair. The more you try to strip away your natural oils the worse you make it as the body overcompensates in oil production.

After proper cleaning with body wash you ARE clean. You are just used to years of soap use so it feels much different.


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

[User]
[TRON Legacy] what would have happened if CLU managed to get out?

He had an equivalent of an aircraft carrier, he had troops and a bunch of technology... But what would have happened? Do programs die IRL?

[Assistant] His troops would be bottlenecked in that basement.  The aircraft and vehicles would most likely not work in the real world and the soldiers used either staffs or their data disc.  The real world has nothing to be concerned about since day punk wannabe beating the shit out of a few pedestrians before they get put down.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Instead of trying to "cure" mutants, why not invent something that will create more mutates?

Sure, it won't appease those who hate mutants because of cultural reasons  it would maybe even make things worse; however, since the main reasons why people hate mutants are lack of safety and jealousy, why not have something that turns you into a mutate?

This way, a majority of people will feel safer and will not be (as) jealous anymore with their new power(s). Plus, even if more supervillains pop up, there would be ten more superheroes willing to fight and neutralize the threat.

[Assistant]
A) Its not that easy to just whip something up that will convert a person with no potential for super powers into a person with superpowers

B) Thats extremely dangerous and not a smart decision at all.  Its kind of like trying to answer the question of " Are guns too dangerous to be allowed in public hands?" with " Not if we give everyone a rocket launcher"


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are diseases such as chickenpox and measles more deadly to adults than they are to children?

I can't speak for America, but in the UK children are encouraged to catch chickenpox when they are young as they can recover fairly easily from the disease at that age but would be at much greater risk if they were to contract the disease as adults, but surely our immune systems get stronger with age?

[Assistant] Thats actually the problem. If the immune response is too strong, it can wear your body down more. The aches and crummy feeling you get when youre sick arent caused directly by the pathogen, theyre a result of what your immune system is doing.


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

[User]
CMV: It should be a requirement that you hold some form of public office, no matter how small, that you get voted into before being able to run for president.

It's clear that "Not being a politician" doesn't mean you'll make a good leader. Quite the opposite in fact. In order to run for the HIGHEST seat in government, individuals should be required to run for, get voted into, and hold public office. Whether it be state, city, or country government. A fucking school administrator SOMETHING that shows it's not about power, it's about representation for people you feel aren't being represented. It's hold office is a service. And holding the biggest office in the country doesn't change that.

[Assistant]
Why does this need to be a requirement? If people don't want someone who advertises themselves as not a politician as president, the solution is for people to just... not vote for them.

If people would vote for such a person even if they didn't hold public office in the past, that is their choice, and people having the freedom to choose and vote for who they want as a leader is the main point of representative democracy.


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

[User]
What would be the real world consequences if Earths magnetic field 'flipped'

Would all our electronic compasses fail and planes fall out the sky or would it be less hollywood than that?

[Assistant]
Less hollywood, but compasses would indeed stop working as the currently do.

A reversal is - in all likelyhood - not a rapid swap from north to south. Our best understanding of it is that the dipole field which presently exists starts becoming a multipole field, with several different north and south poles developing (as, in fact, appears to already be happening). Those multipoles migrate, then re-coalesce to a dipole oriented at or near the opposite polarity of the previous stable orientation.

This will likely take decades to centuries. Certainly magnetic navigation will be vastly more complicated during the multipole state.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does a ripe banana contain more sugar than an unripened banana?

Doesn't the contents of the banana remain the same? All the carb contents are broken down within the body into sugar in the end right?

[Assistant] You've pretty much got the answer right there in your question. The banana contains a relatively constant amount of sugar monomers. In the unripe banana those sugars are chained together to make starch, then enzymes in the banana gradually break it back down into sugar over time in the same way your body would. The ripe banana tastes sweeter than the unripe banana because once sugars are chained together to make starch they don't fit into our sugar receptors anymore and we can't taste them.


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

[User]
[General] What exactly is luck?

People talk about luck all the time.  But, what exactly is it?  Assuming that it's a real force, how exactly does it work?  Where does it come from?  Is it related to magic?  Why are some people lucky, and others unlucky?

[Assistant]
Luck is another name for probability.

High luck means getting the desired probabilistic result a non-reasonable amount of time.

Low luck means getting the non-desired probabilistic result a non-reasonable amount of time.

All your other questions depend on the universe.


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

[User] How are chargeless particles such as neutrons isolated from other types of matter?

[Assistant] One way to isolate neutral particles is to take advantage of the fact that they don't react to a magnetic field.  By applying a magnetic field to, say, a beam of positively charged, negatively charged, and neutral particles, you can strip away the charged particles, leaving the neutrals.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How major are the power differences between the main characters?

Seriously, like I see titles of "best swordsman" or "gifted force user" on just about everyone. Just how big are the power gaps between the big names like Sidious, Dooku, Obi Wan, Yoda, etc.?

[Assistant]
I think the best way to conceive of the different skill levels is to think of a pyriamid. Lots of Force Sensatives at the bottom - a few skilled users higher up - with a few rare masters at the top.

The difference in the top and bottom is such that they probably cant be compared.

At the top - it seems the defining difference to be slight - think light saber duels that last a significant amount of time with 99% non-destructive strikes but when one makes a mistake - the other is there to exploit.


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

[User]
How accurate is the real time information from Kepler space telescope and others if the light they are looking at is millions of years old?

Some follow up questions:

What would that mean for potential interstellar travel in the future?

Could there theoretically be a way to image deep space in real time or in its true current state?

[Assistant]
The light isn't anywhere close to that old. Other galaxies are millions to billions of light years away.

But Kepler and any exoplanet surveys are only looking at stars within our own galaxy, which is only ~100,000 light years across. More realistically, exoplanet surveys will only look at ~nearby, bright stars, within about 10,000 light years.

Stars don't change very dramatically over the course of 10,000 years, (especially the ones with masses less than 2 times that of the sun, which is what all exoplanet surveys are focusing on). So we can pretty much just assume that any planets we find are still alive and well and unchanged from how they are when their light reaches us here on Earth.


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

[User]
ELI5: With grilling season on the horizon, can someone explain to me why the TYPE of grill you use affects the taste of your food? I keep hearing that, when it comes to tastes, charcoal > gas > electric.

Charcoal and gas aren't remotely appetizing, so how can cooking with them have a positive (if any) affect on how food tastes versus regular-ol-electricity?

[Assistant] Smoke alters the flavor.  If you are buying a grill I'd only consider charcoal/wood or propane gas grill.  If you like speed, go with propane (Hank Hill recommends).  If you like a leisurely 1/2 hr of lighting the grill for a very minor improvement in flavor, the you should go with charcoal.


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

[User]
I think that religion is pointless. CMV

I don't believe that there is a god or enough evidence to prove that one exist. People say that religion is a source for comfort, when really its just a delusion that makes them feel comfort. Also peoples religious views have stopped humans from scientific progress (Bush banning stem cell research). I just see no good in it. The other problem with religion is that it satisfies people with the given answers like god created the universe instead of actually trying to figure out how the universe was really created. I fail to see a point in religion, it only inhibits humans.

[Assistant]
>People say that religion is a source for comfort, when really its just a delusion that makes them feel comfort.

The fact that it is a delusion does not change the fact that it can be comforting to people.


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

[User]
With planets similar to earth, would an older planet have more islands and more continents compared to a newer one?

I watched a video of Pangea forming into the current layout of the world. Islands began to pop up more and more and as Pangea broke the separate continents appeared. Would the same thing happen to a planet similar to earth? Also, as earth ages, will/is it likely the continents and current land masses will continue to separate into smaller parts?

[Assistant] That video only showed part of the story. Pangea is only the most recent supercontinent. Before that there were several land masses, and before that another supercontinent. In the future the continents will join back into a supercontinent again.


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

[User]
ELI5: why does inactivity cause fatigue?

Why is it that total inactivity (I.e. no exercise at all, very sedentary lifestyle) and oversleeping cause fatigue?

[Assistant]
A big part has to do with the human body being very energy efficient. Muscle tissue eats up a lot of calories. When you are inactive for extended periods of time, your body decreases your muscle volume because theres no reason to burn the extra calories to sustain it. Your lung capacity also goes down and your heart becomes weaker, decreasing the oxygen intake that powers your bodily functions.

Theres also a good chance youre eating poorly and/or eating too much, so youre packing on the fat and losing nutrients, which adds on weight that you no longer have muscles to support and throws off your body chemistry.

The next time you try to be active, even doing small things like walking across the room, you get tired much faster.

Theres also a lot of changes in brain chemistry and oversleeping messes with your circadian rhythm, but Im not entirely confident in explaining that.


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

[User]
[MCU] is Hela actually physically strong or just durable? Also, arent Asgardian blades implied to be more powerful than standard blades?

Like, if Hela punched Hulk, would Hulk stagger back?

[Assistant] She throws her blades with enough force to pierce through Asgardian armor and flesh. Shes also strong enough to crush Thors hammer and physically overpowers him numerous times. Shes definitely on an extreme level of physical might considering what weve seen Thor do.


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

[User] ELI5: Do jellyfish ever get their tentacles(?) tangled? If so, do they die? How do they get unknotted?

[Assistant]
Think of sally who has the longest hair in class. When sally goes underwater, does her hair become tangled as she shifts directions in water? They don't because of how inertia works in water. Each strand of hair flows uniformly in the same direction.

Lets say hypothetically they get attacked by some bored dolphin and it decides to leave after trying to eat one. The inertia from the water will naturally flow between the strands and they will eventually untangle. If it dies, it's because the dolphin ate that thing whole.


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

[User]
CMV: Self-titled albums are unimaginative, boring and are detrimental to the album as a whole

I listen to quite a lot of music and I've always felt that the name of the song or the album can add a lot to the story that the record is trying to tell.

I've always appreciated the naming by Artic Monkeys for example , such as with their album 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not'. I think it adds character to the record and allows the listener to be more invested in it from the off. When I see self\-titled albums, I find it lazy at best and at worse I find it detracts from the album as a whole.

If you have any examples where you think I might be wrong, please let me know. I can't seem to get over this bias myself.

[Assistant]
Sometimes self titling an album is an artistic and creative choice that is central to the theme of the album! Ill give you an example:

Most of us have heard of the Beatles White Album, however, that name is just a nickname based on the album cover which is completely white with just the band name written on it. The actual name of that album is The Beatles.

This is because the Beatles wanted a stark contrast to their previous records like Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour which both had fun interesting names,wildly colorful album art, and psychedelic sounding music.

The White Album, however, features a much more stripped back sound than those aforementioned records and is more similar to their earlier sound. So, to fit the mood of the album being much more scaled down compared to Pepper, Magical Mystery Tour, Yellow Submarine, and Revolver, they chose to have a plain album sleeve and a plain album title to signal that they were going back to a more mature version of their earlier Beatles sound and would be stepping away from the psychedelic scene.


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

[User]
[Skyrim] What does the Eye of Magnus do?

I see that it makes a force field around the college, and sets loose some magical anomalies, but that seems pretty negligible for an object as hyped up as the Eye.

[Assistant] The Eye of Magnus is... a ridiculously ancient object. What it was doing in while Ancano was attempting to use it is just a fraction of what it could do. If it's truly linked to Magnus, then it has untold power - Magnus himself was the being that left Mundus behind, tearing a hole from Mundus to Aetherius that is recognized as the sun and the source of magicka.


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

[User] ELI5: what's Happening when I'm by myself but it feels/sounds like someone just entered the room?

[Assistant]
Its a sensory illusion. misinterpretation of external events and internal thoughts. Your brain doesn't take chances with your safety, it encourages you to check just to be sure. Since the only thing that would likely make you react in that way is another person, you momentarily think there may be anohter person who just came in.

Basically, your brain gets confused and responds to its own confused responses, in an attempt to keep you from being killed.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Shouldn't getting hit by a lightsaber or blaster bolt cause the human body to explode instead of cauterize as shown in the movies?

I often hear it tossed around that the lightsaber cauterizes the wound when it passes through. However if the blade is hot enough to fuse blood vessels shouldn't it also boil your liquids and cause them to expand as gasses? This should lead to messy explosions of blood and guts instead of neat cauterized wounds. And this is shown in the universe as well when Hans explodes the wall with his gun and the clone troopers shoot down columns and rocks. However when they hit a person they just turn into neat holes.

[Assistant]
**ENERGY DENSITY.**

Being hit with a lightsaber imparts a lot of heat on the cut surface, but does not transfer enough energy to boil tissues more than 1-2 cm from the cut.

Notice that in the majority of lighstaber fights, the stabs and slashes are extremely fast. The actual time of contact between flesh and the lighsaber is *fraction of a second.*

However, recordings show a few instances of people being **impaled** with a lightsaber, and then the **blade being left in their body for a second or two**. This is infamously how Master Qui Gon died, or how Han Solo met his end. In such situations, the heat of the saber has enough time to penetrate the body and boil the organs, and cause steam to run through the victim, causing internal burns and hemmorhages. In such an instance, the person cannot be saved and dies in seconds.


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

[User] ELI5: What the heck is going on with Amy's Baking Company?

[Assistant]
Batshit-crazy woman and her husband spend millions opening a restaurant, the husband is a control-freak and the wife can't cook. Neither can manage a restaurant. When anyone points out anything they do wrong (online or in-person) they flip their shit, and abuse the person making the complaint.

Said restaurant was visited by Gordon Ramsey as part of his "Kitchen Nightmares" show, and attempted to get them back on track, but they both refused to change or admit they may have been doing anything wrong, Gordon left the restaurant, effectively giving up, though not for lack of trying to help.


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

[User]
[DC] I'm in the middle of getting mugged. I shout "Save me Superman!" What are the chances that he comes to save me?

Okay, so I know he's in the city right now and there's no other bank robberies or intergalactic conquerors happening right now.

So there's no real "Bigger threat" that needs to be taken care of right this second.

What are my odds I'm saved?

[Assistant]
As you call out to the sky for him, you hear a thunderous crack among the clouds. Before you can even blink, a white streak tears through the alley as you fall on your back from the sheer force of its speed. You look up to see your mugger dangling, grabbed up by none other than Power Girl herself. She looks down at you, makes a smart comment on expectations, and rockets off into the skyline, holding the mugger by his collar.

TL;DR: Most likely you'll be saved. Though not by Supes, some other hero on patrol will be there. They run shifts these days, spread out all over the world. No, Supes couldn't be there, he's putting out fires somewhere. The world's a big place.


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

[User] [Pokemon] I am in the Johto region and defeating the Gym Leaders, I just beat the final Gym Leader Clair, it was a close battle but I ended up the victor, yet she refuses to give me a Gym Badge and says I need to go to Dragons Den nearby to prove my worth, is there someone I can report her to?

[Assistant]
You can report her to the Pokemon League, however the league is notoriously bad about responding to these complaints of abuse of power by gym leaders. It might take months for someone to formally investigate, and very often the gym leader in question just gets a slap on the wrist.

By the time someone actually looks into this case, the odds are that a rival of yours will become the new Johto region champion.


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

[User] ELI5: How did the punctuation marks get their shapes?

[Assistant]
. comes from ancient greece, there used to be 3 different kinds which sat at varying height, the higher the dot the longer the pause.

! is the latin work Io (joy) with the o smushed under the I.

? derives from the same dots as the period, only it had a squiggle to show that you should raise your voice, like you do when asking a question. It started out being sideways, but was eventually turned upright to work better with other punctuation

, used to be represented by a slash like "/", it just got squished down.

Basically, most punctuation is because some ancient guy said so.


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

[User]
Currently thinking of dropping out of PhD

As the title states, I am seriously considering dropping out of my bio PhD program and just apply to consulting jobs. I realize how stereotypical that sounds, but I just do not see myself completing this degree.

I am not even one semester into my program and I am feeling quite confident that this is not what I want to be doing for the next several years and beyond. I got into my program straight out of undergrad and I barely knew what I was getting into. I learned about prelims, dissertation, rotations, etc. at my orientation for this program.

The reason I chose PhD during my undergrad was because I was a bio major who dropped Pre-med. I did not know what else I could pursue without disappointing my family. I saw PhD as the most obvious answer at the time because I would have had an "easy-in" because of my PI at the time (he is a well-known professor in his area of research). When I was writing my essays for the four schools I applied to, I faked my reasonings as to why I wanted this degree. I just took what I heard from others and put it into my essays. I even remember going to my professor's office nearly in tears because I never felt the "passion" for science that he always talked about. I thought that I could just ride this wave until I got in and maybe figure it out from there.

Well, I got to school and met my wonderful cohort. They are the brightest individuals I have ever met. I am so grateful for them, but I realized how passionate they are about the science they are doing. Each conversation I have with them makes me think of why I am even here.

Are these reasons valid? Am I making the right choice to drop out? I know it is not a matter of under/poor performance because my grades and lab work have been fine. I am just extremely unhappy and feel like I am not pursuing this degree for myself.

[Assistant]
Yes. To finish PhD you dont need passion but you need to know how to manage frustrations. And, you need to know how to handle lot of disappointments like failed experiment, funding, rejected journals, longer time to get paper published, limited resources (in some instances) to complete your work etc.

Also, if you are planning to join industry rather than Teaching then that bring different kind of frustration because there experience gets more attention than degree (some industries or companies are exceptional).

If you are young then i suggest to go to job and if you are still interested in PhD then you comeback later. Your time is limited in this world. Go for what makes you happy (if that decision is entirely in your hand). Your PI might be disappointed to hear ur decisions but they move on. Good luck and all the very best for what ever your decide to do next.


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

[User]
Why is the man o war jelly fish considered a colony of cells as opposed to one organism?

I'm trying to understand the functional difference between the various zooids in this siphonophore. It seems as though all zooids branch from the same egg (I think? ) so theoretically they should share the same DNA. If they do share the same DNA and essentially differentiate into a few different functions (i.e. gastric or singing) then why are the zooids considered separate organisms and not just specialized cells or organs in one single organism?

[Assistant] So the big difference between a colonial organism and a single multicellular organism is how it forms. Humans and other multicellular organisms all arise from a single cell which divides and specializes to create the whole organism. In the case of the Man-o-war, like many other animals of the Cnidarians has a two-stage lifestyle. One is what you think of when you think Man-o-war, the other is a polyp which resembles a sea anemone. The polyp can asexually divide to create multiple clones which each specialize to become a zooid and form the colonial organism known as a Man-o-war. The important distinction is how they form, they originate as individuals even if they later form a colony.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does pressure on the ears go away if you swallow?

[Assistant]
Inside our middle ear, there's a tube called the *Eustachian tube* that connects it to the back of our throat. Swallowing opens that tube, letting air flow between your middle ear and the outside, letting the pressure equalize.

This is why yawning sometimes helps, as does plugging your nose and blowing out hard through your nose (the *Valsalva maneuver*).


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

[User]
ELI5: Why can a seven year old PS 3 run GTA V, but a seven year old computer couldn't?

Aside from "Because it's not out on PC"

[Assistant]
It can, depending on the PC. The problem is not in regards to OS, etc. It is almost entirely due to weaknesses in optimization. Due to the fact that every PS3 or 360 has identical hardware they optimize the game *purely* for that set of hardware. PC hardware for a gaming PC created today would be approximately 5-6 (or 10 if you spend the money) times the ability of a PS3 graphics card.  The problem with PC's is the fact that theres 1000's of different combinations of hardware and software that can be running on a PC, and the company needs to optimize their game for them all. This is the primary reason why so many PC gamers decry console ports, because when you go from console -> PC, optimization always suffers.

Have you ever played a game on PC where you exceed the recommended system requirements but it's still poor FPS on medium settings? That's a sign of poor optimization.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why Google pushes open standards so hard, yet still uses Flash in some of their biggest services.

I really don't get it. They're big on HTML5, right? So why is my music constantly skipping/scratching as my old computer at work chokes on Flash while streaming from Google Music?

[Assistant]
Flash is everywhere, HTML5 support is spotty at best. You have to give HTML5 time to acquire more browser support (and get rid of browser specific silliness *cough*webkit*cough*).

Google wants Flash to die out and to do that there needs to be a replacement for it. If they don't back a replacement it can end up being just as bad as Flash ended up. They'd prefer it to be an open standard so they don't have to pay for licenses and can help ensure support ending up everywhere.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why isn't the draft considered involuntary servitude?

Being forced to serve sure sounds like involuntary servitude to me. I am not trying to argue for or against the draft, but this seems like a major conflict to me. Is the draft given a special exemption?

[Assistant] The Supreme Court has held, in Butler v. Perry, 240 U.S. 328 (1916), that the Thirteenth Amendment does not prohibit "enforcement of those duties which individuals owe to the state, such as services in the army, militia, on the jury, etc."


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

[User]
[Death Note] Would a death note be able to kill a shapeshifter?

Literally, any person capable of changing their face should be immune, right?

[Assistant]
It only works on mortal humans, many creatures with powers like you describe are neither.

But if you were dealing with someone with magical glamours, or just someone who had plastic surgery, you would need to know their true face, in the same way you need to know their true name.

The wording in the Death Note instructions implies that both requirements are meant to remove any ambiguity about the target rather than actual physical/metaphysical properties, which should answer most follow-up questions.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are worms developping on rotten food? They can't appear out of nowhere, so are they "there" when we eat food and appear in the right conditions?

[Assistant] People used to think that they just appeared out of nowhere: the theory of spontaneous generation. There were even recipes - for example, how to create bees. But of course we know now that the world doesn't work that way. Generally, when things rot, the "worms" you see are maggots. Maggots are the larvae of flies. So what happens is the rotting food attracts flies, which lay eggs, and those eggs then hatch. [edit:spelling]


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

[User]
[Star Trek] I'm at an interstellar job fair and all the races are there. Who should I take a job with and why?

After working for fellow humans for so long I need some excitement in my life so I'm looking for a job with another race. I found a job fair where it seems everyone is present and it's a little overwhelming. Any advice on who I should take a job with? And why should I set up shop with that race?

[Assistant]
Want to travel the galaxy further that a Federation starship can go in a lifetime?

Want to meet lots of new species and learn everything about them?

Want cool new abilities and tech?

Well lower your shields and surrender your CV, we are assimilating candidates right now!  The Borg collective, bringing people together.


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

[User]
[DC] Is Lexcorp publicly traded, or does Luthor own it outright?

It seems that both Wayne and Stark Industries have stockholders to please. I've never seen anything to say whether Lexcorp has stockholders.

[Assistant]
Lex would never allow someone to have power over him if he can get away with it.

It's either owned outright, or if it does have stockholders, they're so tightly under Lex's control that it's good as outright owned.


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

[User]
Did scientists know that there was going to be a loud *BOOM* before they first broke the sound barrier?

Just a random thought I had last night. Did they suspect that there would be a specific indication of when they reached 343.2 m/sec?

[Assistant]
First off, the sound speed in air isn't so precise. It can vary by +/-10 m/s based on temperature alone.

Second, they knew that the pressure would build up in front of the plane, that the build up of pressure would eventually form a shockwave, and that the shockwave formed would sound like "boom." It's hard to say what people close to the problem knew, but there seems to have been some discussion about what forces would act on the plane at that moment, and whether it would get ripped apart by them.

Incidentally, the first manmade sonic boom likely came from the snapping of a bullwhip moving faster than the speed of sound. This probably gave scientists something of an understanding of how a sonic boom would behave.


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

[User] ELI5: How does UV light sanitize surfaces?

[Assistant] UV light is a short enough wave length that it can penetrate into cells/viruses.  When it does, it causes damage to the pathogens DNA.  Essentially it gives pathogens supercharged cancer.  It damages bacterial/viral DNA so badly that the cell cant replicate and dies.  Which is why most UV sterilization protocols are a minimum of 15 minutes, sometimes up to an hour, to make sure enough damage is done.


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

[User]
CMV: SEO and clickbait(ish) headlines/titles have ruined online content, and any person or entity that uses either of these tactics is only in it for clicks and bucks.

I am done with the web and searching for content on it.  It's now at the point that almost any given search anywhere results in little more than clickbait(ish) titles, over-SEO'd pages, sales pitches, and malicious crap on a hacked WordPress site.  Good luck searching for something that's not pop culture  or the fucking Kardashians or something you're looking to buy.  if I see any of this attached to your content, all that tells me is that you are only in it for clicks and profits and nothing else, and that your online ventures are part of the massive friggin' malignant cancer that is today's online "content", the lowest of the low.

The following are what will lead you and your content to be immediately and permanently block-listed in my books:

* titles/headlines beginning with a number, or the words "this", "here", "here's", "how" or any of the five W's
* titles/headlines written as questions
* titles/headlines with at least one all-caps word (not an acronym)
* any mention of affiliate links/marketing/etc.
* blog posts that, in the end, are sales pitches
* listicles
* titles/headlines containing the words/phrases "best" or "top" \*and\* "in \[current year\]"
* any references to *Charlie Oscar Victor India Delta One-Niner*

I have even started seeing traditionally reputable newsgathering organizations around the world, and not just in the U.S. or Canada, constantly employing these tactics in their online content.  Why?  Because they care more about clicks and profits than they do quality content.

I get that the web and news media are almost always businesses first and foremost and that these organizations need to make money, but when you use B.S. tactics such as clickbait(ish) headlines and SEO shit to lure people to your content, that, again, tells me that you are only in it for clicks and profits and not to provide high-quality, useful and 100% correct, complete and true information.  Oh, and don't bother mentioning your "shareholders", because your greedy, faceless, good-for-nothing shareholders are fucking idiots who, again, only care about profits and nothing else.  Is there not more to life than fucking profits, profits and more profits?

Stop employing this shit RIGHT NOW. PERMANENTLY. FOREVER. Unless you can actually convince me that, without referring to money or metrics/analytics, there is any good in your shit SEO/clickbait-ish tactics.

[Assistant]
I think what you're missing is that, because of the dominant position of search engines, the internet is going to look like whatever Google ends up favoring. An individual person or business has no choice to opt-out of what google's algorithm design wants. The only thing they'd be opting out of is being seen by people at all.

I'd liken them to plants in a garden, where google is the gardener. A plant that doesn't exhibit characteristics that the gardener desires is going to be removed from the garden. Not playing google's game means you are an internet weed.


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

[User]
I believe there is nothing wrong with urinating in public. CMV.

I believe that laws banning urinating in public are based on 19th century moral values, and discriminate against those with small bladders.

I live in London, and I've often had to stagger home from a night out  for over an hour on the tube. Even if I empty my bladder before I leave, it's entirely likely that I'll need to go again before I reach my final stop. Unfortunately, there's often no choice when caught short on public transport, or waiting for a bus late at night, so I'll have to have a piss on a tree, or in a drain, or a dark corner somewhere. However, I know that if a policeman caught me, I could face an 80 on-the-spot fine.

Now, I'll concede that urine doesn't smell particularly nice, but that shouldn't be a problem if public urinators take a little time to pee on soil down a manhole or whatever.

Urine is perfectly sterile, and poses no health risk. Furthermore, I would argue that complaints about having to look at someone weeing (and possibly catching sight of their genitalia) are as immature and repressive as opposing public breastfeeding.

And also, would you rather I took a leak on a tree, or that I pissed my pants on the train?

Ladies and gentlemen, please change my view.

[Assistant]
* Urine is only perfectly sterile if you are healthy. Even if you are healthy, it is sterile only until it leaves your body. Once it does, it's excellent breeding ground for bacteria. Additionally, it is human biological waste, and therefore hazardous. Have you been in a hospital and seen how they deal with bodily fluids? They're assumed dangerous for a reason.
* try not to think of it as urine, but as garbage. Are you allowed to throw away garbage on the street? No? Then you can't do that with your bodily fluids either.
* if you can go to a tree and urinate against it, chances are you can hold it until you find a nearby toilet. Not every city has so much green area. So no.


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

[User] ELI5: How is it that when 2 parts Hydrogen (a highly flammable gas) is combined with 1 part Oxygen (a gas that feeds fire) it creates a liquid that is used to put out fire?

[Assistant]
Because water and oxygen are very different chemicals. Changes as small as one electron can mean huge differences between molecules and individual elements. And the difference between water and oxygen is way more than one electron. Thats why their properties are very different.

Look the difference between oxygen we breathe O2 and dangerous Ozone O3. Little changes in chemistry can mean big differences in the properties of a substance.


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

[User] ELI5: If a CFL bulb is rated at 2700k, how would it still emit blue light?

[Assistant] The color temperature refers to the peak of the frequency output of the light. In actuality it outputs a wide range of other frequencies, otherwise it would appear like a laser or extremely filtered light source of a single color.


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

[User] Why did Longswords give way to rapiers and sabres during the Renaissance?

[Assistant]
This is a very basic explanation: The rapier is dated to the 16th-17th centuries, and the sabre was popularized in the 17th century as well - the late Renaissance.

Concurrent with this was the popularization of gunpowder, and earlier, the popularization of the crossbow. These two weapons were very strong and efficient at countering basic medieval infantry, but vulnerable to attack. This led to the popularization of pike and halberd infantry defending arquebus or musket infantry formations with cavalry support, and a general disappearance of man-to-man combat that dominated medieval warfare.

The rapier is a weapon of nobility, and intended for dueling or ceremonial usage - not for use in heavy combat. These weapons valued aesthetics and lightness over military efficacy. You would never see a knight or a man-at-arms take a rapier into battle. It was a "civilian" weapon, much how hunting rifles and military rifles differ today.

The sabre was a cavalry weapon, and chosen for its ease of use in cavalry charges. The sabre's design makes it very efficient at slashing, which men on heavy horses charging toward other men would be doing, rather than longsword combat which was best done on foot.

To summarize, the longsword was the weapon of choice for antiquated fighting styles, and did not have a role in the new armies of the late Renaissance. The rapier and the sabre did play a role, however, in their own niches. The longsword did not so much give way or be replaced as die out, with other combat styles replacing it. A similar question would be asking why cavalry gave way to tanks.

TLDR: Gunpowder and pikes replaced longswords, not rapiers or sabres.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is Wednesday pronounced like "Wensday"?

[Assistant] Wednesday comes from Wodin's Day, which meant "Odin's day." He was a god in european folklore but thats unimportant. But yeah Wodinsday -> Wednesday (Woh-dins-day ->wons-day->wensday) over time just because people who speak a language are always making ways for that language to be faster.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How much trouble did Luke get into after Bespin for desertion?

He took a X-wing to Dagobah that could have been used to escort a transport and defend it if necessary, lost the expensive X-wing at Bespin, and did all this without permission from his superiors.

[Assistant]
> He took a X-wing to Dagobah that could have been used to escort a transport and defend it if necessary,

I believe all the transports were already away by the time he left to Dagobah.

> lost the expensive X-wing at Bespin,

The vehicle inventory guy was probably pissed but everyone else got over it considering Luke was already the hero who blew up the Death Star and saved the Galaxy.

> and did all this without permission from his superiors.

if you're new to the Rebellion, you're probably under a watchful eye the entire time in order for the rebels to ensure you're not a traitor. Proven heroes get a lot more room on the leash though. We've seen the Ghost crew from Rebels go off on personal missions all the time.


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

[User]
Eli5: Why are some things about our brains/psyche malleable while others are not?

For example we can all learn how to become proficient at a skill, while we cannot entirely suppress the effects of emotional abuse.

Im just wondering where the limit for our adaptability is?

[Assistant]
Adding a response is always easier than removing a response because accessing the response reinforces it.

Basically, when you are learning a response you are cutting a trail through a forest, each time you walk it the trail becomes a little more clear and a little easier to walk.

When you're trying to "unlearn" a response you're trying to regrow the forest over the path. It will slowly fade over time but every time you walk the trail to see how it is fading you're reinforcing the trail.


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

[User]
I don't think fast food workers deserve to be making $15/hour - CMV

I'm not a capitalist or conservative. I'm not rich, nor am I business owner. I agree that fast food workers are often underpaid. I'm sympathetic that fast food workers earn under the poverty line and are often supporting families on these minimum wage salaries. I would genuinely like to support these national protests and walkouts by fast food workers, but I can't make myself justifiably believe any job that requires no prior education, training or certification or where they are not risking their lives on a daily basis should be earning more than $10 an hour. I would love for someone to change my view on this, but I can find no reasonable argument for why fast food workers should be paid $15.

[Assistant]
This is a fairly new philosophy. It used to be that someone with no high school education could work at a factory and support a small family modestly. This includes a stay at home spouse! If you graduated high school you could get a somewhat more lucrative job, or if you graduated college or beyond you'd basically be guaranteed to be well off.

Every job deserves at least a living wage because workers are giving the greater part of their life to work them.


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

[User] If a pool is on a ship and the ship is in rough waters, how do the waves in the pool mimic the waves that are hitting the ship if at all?

[Assistant]
The size and frequency of waves on the ocean are determined mostly by wind speed and fetch (how long the waves are exposed to the wind in the same direction).

The size and speed of waves in the pool would be determined by the depth of the pool. the size by the amount of the ships pitch (or roll as the case may be).

The most likely scenario is that the ships pitching will not be aligned at all with the available frequencies for a standing wave of the pool shape/depth.

As the ship pitched, from the perspective of the water in the pool, the walls and floor moved up and then back down, causing a sloshing. Yes this would (to a small extent) dampen the pitch and roll of the ship.

The speed of the wave across the pool will be much faster than the time between pitches of the ship

Since the frequencies will be quite different, each large sloshing wave will bounce back and forth slowly decreasing in amplitude until the next sloshing event.

Depending on the height of the pool walls above the water line, for a given (constant) pitch of the ship, a certain amount of water will slosh out onto the deck and then the remainder will slosh back and forth at the speed of the wave based on pool depth until the next pitch and it starts again.


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

[User] Eli5: How exactly does a bee hive work, and how does the honey production cycle work?

[Assistant]
Bees live in a beehive, mostly workers and one queen. The queen lays eggs in honeycomb cells in the center of the hive. The outer areas are filled with pollen, nectar, and honey. Pollen and nectar are collected by the worker bees from flowers.

Honey is created when a worker drinks honey in a second stomach and starts digesting it. They they spit the honey into a honeycomb cell and fan it so that the water starts evaporating. Once enough water has evaporated, they cap the cell to store it for later. This is what gets collected by beekeepers to process and sell.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is the difference between Celsius and centigrade?

It seems interchangeable, I'm just curious when to use each, and if there are specific rules about it.

[Assistant]
The terms are interchangeable.  The term Celsius comes from scientist Anders Celsius, who studied and helped develop the temperature scale.  Centigrade come from the Latin term meaning *a hundred steps*.  The hundred steps are the hundred degrees it takes for water to go from freezing to boiling.

Basically, you can either use the term that is named after the creator, or use the term that describes the scale.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do so many different illnesses display "flu-like" symptoms, rather than having unique symptoms, or otherwise different combinations of symptoms?

[Assistant]
Because flu-like symptoms are simply indicators that your immune system is working to combat an intruder.  It is the biological version of a Busy light.

You might get other specific symptoms, but youll also get the non-specific response of fever, body aches and general fatigue.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is Google just so dominant?

Why is it *_the_* search engine? How did it achieve that?

[Assistant]
Another key but historically overlooked thing about Google search was that the search page was blank with just a search box.

Why was this important?
Back in the day all search engines has masses of ads and articles on their search page.

 This was a particular problem in the days of dial up. People had to wait tens of seconds for a search page to load up all the shit you weren't interested in, before you could enter your search query.

By having an almost blank search page, Google became synonymous with easy accessibility and a clean search experience.

Together with better search algorithms, this clean approach was a winner.