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

[User] ELI5: Napoleon: Good or bad?

[Assistant]
He was both. Napoleon did end the French democracy established through the French Revolution and he did turn France into a military dictatorship. On the other hand, he kept a few things from the Revolution, most notably the concept that merit matters more than being from the right family. After all, Napoleon himself wouldn't have amounted to anything if it weren't for that change.

While Napoleon was a dictator, the countries who opposed him weren't fighting for democracy. They were monarchies who thought France was still too radical and wanted to make sure the old ways would never be challenged by the peasants. At the same time, you shouldn't think that Napoleon was fighting to spread freedom. Where he conquered, Napoleon spread progressive (for his time) ideas, but he was still fighting primarily for his own glory.


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

[User]
ELI5: The difference between a corporation, a company, and a business

Bonus points: why is it that it's specifically corporations that are associated with villainy in so much fiction, and not all companies in general?

[Assistant] I think you are confusing a few terms as they are all intertwined. Business is a trade of goods or services, thus most companies are engaged in business. And corporation means that the company is a legal entity, in this case the most important thing you should note is liability (what you owe). Say your company owes $100,000 but the whole plant/land/assets is only worth $50,000 and you go bankrupt. You only have to pay $50,000 to whomever you owe. However if you are not a corporation (in which case your likely a sole proprietor or partnership) and lets say you are in the same situation as above. They take your $50,000 from the company, then they can take your personal house, car, land etc to make up for the other $50,000.


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

[User]
[MCU] Why the hell does the US military have such bad tech?

For fucks sake Ironman is one guy, a really smart guy but none the less one guy. Why the fuck is the US military a organization with millions of members behind Ironman? Why haven't they hacked him or literally anyone else with somewhat advanced tech? I know this is a movie but you gotta admit this is some bullshit.

[Assistant]
The government has access to some advanced tech, it just has made the decision that soldiers aren't really worth the millions of dollars investment to keep alive.

They do come up with interesting things like the EXO-7 Falcon suit every now and then, but end up scrapping it.  Too hard to find and train people to use and maintain it.  The Iron Man suit is far more advanced.


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

[User]
Is this a dumb idea to fix roads in wintery places?

I live in WI.  Our roads get decimated every winter largely because the frost penetrates deep in the ground causing frost heaves, cracks and holes.  What if we spray foamed the first layer of road before adding the rebar, rock and pavement.  Would that stop the frost penetration and lengthen the life of muh roads?

[Assistant]
It's not so much the water penetrating the pavement, but the water in the ground under the pavement freezing and causing the road to "heave" and bend more than intended, and crack. once a crack forms, water seeps in, freezes, makes it bigger, etc...

a more flexible road surface is the answer... old "sand & tar" roads are great at pothole resistance... they're just not terribly smooth.


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

[User] ELI5 how Molotov cocktails dont explode in your hand when you light them, or pour burning kerosene all over your arm as you throw it?

[Assistant]
The idea is to have a bottle full of flammable liquid which is then stoppered up with the rag. The fabric is stuffed into the opening until it blocks the opening completely. If you turn the bottle over the liquid could seep through the fabric and drip but it won't just slosh out as you throw.

When used the fabric is lit and burns outside the bottle. There isn't enough air inside the bottle for the fuel to burn much, and the flame can't pass the dense fabric stuffed in the opening anyway. Once the bottle smashes and throws fuel all over the place with the burning fabric to light it then there will be plenty of fire.


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

[User]
[LOTR] How does the presence of Sauron cause the population of evil creatures (e.g. orcs, spiders, dragons) to increase?

The Spiders in Mirkwood got more numerous and dangerous after the Necromancer set up in Dol Goldur. Goblins become more numerous in the Misty Mountains when Sauron is stronger. Dragons multiply and attack the Dwarves.

Does this occur because the Free Peoples are distracted from culling the evil creatures because they are concentrating on other problems caused by Sauron, similar to how deer populations explode when wolves are killed and are no longer hunting deer? Does Sauron somehow make the evil creatures mate more frequently by increasing their libido? Does he send his servants to run breeding programs on the evil creatures?

[Assistant]
Say your kitchen is spotless.  Then you throw a big party and food crumbs and spills are everywhere.  You leave town for 2 months without cleaning up.  You also haven't had any pest control for the past year.

When you come back, roaches are everywhere.


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

[User] Why is self-awareness considered to be a necessary condition for consciousness?

[Assistant]
There's a question of etymology here which is interesting to explore. Etienne Balibar in his essay 'Conscience/Consciousness in Spinoza's *Ethics*' notes that in Latin (as well as French) there isn't a distinction between consciousness and conscience. In French, both are represented by *la Conscience,* and in Latin both are *Conscientia*.

In the essay, Balibar is writing about Spinoza as well as Locke (Locke, he contests, is responsible for establishing the difference in English between consciousness and conscience). In *An Essay concerning Human Understanding,* Locke writes that "Consciousness is the perception of what passes on in Man's own Mind." What's so radical about this definition, which became standard in metaphysics as well as psychology, is that consciousness is defined as internal perception of experience. Consciousness isn't the same as mind, and it's not the same as experience, but it is the mind's awareness of its own experiences.

In a sense, at least according to this view, consciousness is always-already self-consciousness or self-awareness. Then, self-awareness would be a necessary condition for consciousness because consciousness *just is* self-awareness (etymologically speaking).


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

[User] Why can the first electron orbital only hold 2 electrons?

[Assistant]
The Pauli exclusion principle states that no two identical fermions can occupy the same quantum state simultaneously.

A fermion is a kind of subatomic particle such as an electron with half-integer spin - in other words, it can either be pointed up, or down, but nowhere in the middle (For our purposes and for most common fermions like electrons - some Fermions can have other possible states, but always an even number.)

The lowest-energy state an electron can have is the simplest possible "stable" geometry. There's a mess of vector calculus that goes into determining higher-energy stable geometries (look up "Spherical Harmonics") but the lowest energy, simplest state is just a uniform sphere.

But since only one particle can occupy a state at a time, and there's only one way to make a uniform sphere of a given radius (as opposed to many ways to make more complicated shapes) you might think only one electron can live in the lowest-energy state.

But we can fit a second one in because of the two possible spin-states - our two lowest-energy states are a simple sphere with spin-up, and a simple sphere with spin-down.

In short: The lowest energy level is so simple there's only two ways to make it - one way to make a sphere, times two ways a particle can live in that sphere. Each "way to make it" can hold one electron, so we get two electrons in the first orbital.


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

[User] ELI5: When Performing CPR, aren't we just putting carbon dioxide into the person's lungs during mouth to mouth?

[Assistant]
Yes. But the percentage of O2 in the atmosphere is about 21% and the percentage of CO2 less than 1%. But when we breath out, the resulting air mix is about 16% O2 and 4-5% CO2.

Is it as good as breathing in "room air"? No, probably not. But it's still got plenty of oxygen and it's a far sight better than not breathing in at all.


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

[User]
ELI5:How is dividing scholarships by race, not racist?

Sorry if this sounds stupid but I honestly don't get it. What good does it do anyway?

When I ask this in school, everyone avoids the subject.

But I'm mixed, then what? Just apply for everything? I feel like that's wrong. What happens when the majority of the world is mixed with everything?

[Assistant]
Imagine you and your older brother both like cookies. Every Friday your mom puts a plate of cookies on the counter. You and your older brother both run to the kitchen when she calls you. Your brother runs straight for the plate but you have to grab a chair first because you are shorter and cannot easily reach the plate.

Because of this, most Fridays your brother eats the majority of the cookies. This isn't because he's naturally any better than you, you just have circumstances which make it statistically less likely for you to get to the cookies first.

Mom comes up with a way to help make sure you both get the same number of cookies. On Thursdays, mom bakes a special small batch of cookies just for you. Your brother is not allowed to eat any of these. Despite the fact that your brother is lucky to be taller than you and normally gets most of the Friday cookies, he doesn't like the fact that he can't eat the Thursday cookies as well. He complains to Mom that the Thursday cookies just for you are unfair.

She admits that her system isn't perfect and ideally she'd find a way to make sure you both share the Friday cookies equally. Because she can't think of a better way, the Thursday cookies will be fine for now. In time, when you are both older, there should hopefully be no need to make Thursday cookies...


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

[User]
Eli5 Why a horse need to be put down if it breaks a leg

Why do they kill horses if they ever Break a leg? Can't they heal it instead?

[Assistant]
It's a very long healing process for a complex limb. Horses put a lot of weight on that limb and they can't just lie down and heal for weeks at a time.

Horses are also fairly nervous and quite stupid. They will not take it easy. They will not like the cast. They will not stoically handle the pain. Most of the time, horses are just one little incident away from freaking out over something.

The short of it is that it's extremely hard to help a horse recover from a broken limb and it's very likely that the horse will either develop complications from a poor healing process or simply break the limb again because it doesn't know how to take it easy.

With the risk of failure being so high, it's usually not worth trying unless it's an extremely valuable horse that still has a breeding purpose that doesn't rely on it having a perfectly functional limb afterward.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] I am a Jedi knight. Can I still become a doctor or politician ?

So I'm a Jedi knight now but I've gotten really interested in working with hospitals and gaining my doctor title, can I do that ?

[ Canon & EU, whatever works ]

- additional question 1: I think the Republic is corrupt and would like to change this directly. Can I become a politician ?

- additional question 2: If I can't be either of those two mentioned above, can I actually do anything else but be a Jedi ?

[Assistant]
Doctor, yes, there are many healers in the Jedi Order who are trained to treat wounds using the force.

Politican, no, afraid not. That would be a conflict of intrest, and greatly against the Jedi Code.

There are many diffrent kinds of Jedi, with various fields, like pilot, mechanic, librarians.


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

[User]
ELI5: how does GPS work by just asking a satellite what its time is?

I understand it works we use triangulation via asking 3 or 4 satellites information. But if I know I'm:

*X metres away from point 1
*Y metres away from point 2
*Z metres away from point 3

 I can work out my location with triangulation...... but how do satellites sending out time signals equate to distance?

Also, are all the satellites working on the same time? if so who's time? Are they all ticking that atomic clock in unison? Or are they are different? if so are they using the current time zone of where they are?

[Assistant]
Yes - all the satellites have the same time, as they each have an atomic clock on board.

Now, the signal takes an amount of time to travel from the satellite to the GPS receiver.

When you look at the times you're receiving from all of the satellites, due to the fact that it takes a certain amount of time to get to your receiver, you'll see ever-so-slightly different times from each of the satellites.

By comparing these times, you can work out where you are in relation to those satellites.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does a previously wet paper become crinkly and more rigid after drying up?

[Assistant] Before becoming wet, all of the paper fibers are neatly aligned. This allows the paper to bend predictably and smoothly Once wet, all of the fibers swell in place like individual sponges, which puts the fibers into disarray. That disarray makes its appearance to us as a stiff, wrinkly paper.


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

[User]
Is going back for a Master's in math after already having a PhD in physics a terrible idea?

I have a BS physics, BA math and PhD in physics.  The thing is, I always kinda wanted to do math as well, but I got sucked in with the whole "be useful" thing.  I left academia after I defended and  I now have a great job as a tutor for highly gifted kids.  I've built a great business.  I get to use my math muscle all the time.

The thing is, in my undergrad I only took a few upper division math courses, and I always felt like I missed out.  Now that I'm steeped in the late high school/early college level material (think pre-calc through linear algebra and differential equations, with the occasional upper division physics course) I find myself feeling like my real analysis muscle would be handy... or that I should have taken that topology course that semester... or that I could use a bit more number theory (as in any...).  These kids eat up everything I offer and the perspective my few upper division math course gave me has been so useful. Now I find myself learning random math things to throw to them like red meat to starving lions.  A chapter and a half of a book here, a few lectures from a youtube lecture there. I hate not having answers for the kids so I have to keep learning.  It's a good problem to have.

I know, I know, I have a PhD, why cant I self study?   What can I say? I like the environment of the classroom and I like interacting with an instructor. I think I'd get a much more complete picture of the topics with the structure of homeworks exams and grades etc. I respond well to that kind of stimuli.

So what I'm wondering is

Am I crazy?  Is something like this ever done? Have I forgotten what a huge amount of work this is?  Is maintaining a busy job even remotely possible while trying to do a masters in math?

Also I dont want the teaching masters.  I just want the math courses, not the pedagogy courses.

[Assistant]
I think that if it's something you'd truly want to do for the fulfillment of just *doing* it, it should be viewed almost the same as an older person auditing classes cheaply/freely after they retire. Except, y'know, you'd be paying for it.

At this point, you shouldn't really be caring about grades or the degree since you have a more advanced one, so I'd question actually wanting to take it for credit or the MS. Instead, if you want to take a course, you should probably just audit it, no?

It's up to you how badly you wanna do it. If taking some classes would make you happy and you can realistically afford to do it, go for it!


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

[User]
[She-Hulk] In Episode 4

How was Madisynns testimony even admissible in court? She was clearly drunk, Wong literally portalled her in from a club where she had a drink in her hand in front of the judge and the entire courtroom.

[Assistant]
For context, this isn't a trial, just a hearing to grant an injunction.  There are different rules, and the judge has a lot of latitude in what they will hear and consider.

That said, one presumes that in the MCU, rules about witness testimony do not include a test or bar against intoxication.   The defense didn't object, as they surely would have if there was such a rule, and both Jen and the judge also acted as if this is a permissible, if embarrassing thing.

Also, in light of the fact that superheros and magic exist, portaling in a witness is allowable courtroom procedure as well.


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

[User]
ELI5: How Does Duck Duck Go Differ From Google?

From my understanding, DDG **depends** on Google API's and other data streams in order to provide me with search results ... and if that's the case, then how do they ensure that my privacy is maintained?

[Assistant]
Lets take 3 people; you, a friend and a librarian. Say you want to know something about dogs.

Google; the librarian is basically Google and knows where everything is. You walk up to the librarian and ask where you can find books about dogs, so the librarian points to a certain place and knows that you're interested in dogs. Repeat and you have Google.

DuckDuckGo; Google is still the librarian, however, instead of asking the librarian where you can find books about dogs, you ask a friend to do that for you and pass along the information. Now the librarian knows that your friend wants to know more about dogs - instead of you.

DuckDuckGo is everybody's friend, therefore everybody (using DuckDuckGo) is the same person - resulting in anonymity. Same principle applies to DuckDuckGo with Bing/Yahoo/whatever they support. Just insert a middle man.


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

[User]
[Star Trek]  In an emergency, why does nobody seem to walk any faster down corridors?

It'll be a situation like Picard and Riker set the ship to auto-destruct in 10 minutes, and they have to get to the bridge as quickly as possible, but then there's a shot of them just strolling down the corridors instead of walking faster or running.  Is it that the way Starfleet ships designed means that running faster isn't going to really save much time, because there are so many turbolifts everywhere, and the corridors aren't actually particularly long anyway?

[Assistant]
There is the issue you mentioned, yes. Most Starfleet ships are quite large and require a great deal of efficient turbolift networks to move crew members from place to place. Jogging between them could save a few seconds, but that comes to the next point.

Remember that these are military vessels with (sometimes) enormous crew compliments. In  the event of such a massive emergency that required battle stations or evacuation, each member of the crew is trained exactly where to go and when to get there. If you had hundreds of people trying to rush to their evac points willy-nilly, you'd easily see several of them hurt, or worse, left behind. This training is some of the most serious and critical of any starship operations, so even when it's just the command staff alone, they'll stick to muscle memory and protocol to ensure they arrive at their destination safely.


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

[User] [General Fiction] What would have been better to become after death: A Zombie/Ghoul or a Ghost/Spirit?

[Assistant]
this depends entirely on the type of zombie and type of ghost, if its a rotting no healing type then zombie fucking sucks ass and if its a permanent trapped in the mortal plane in one location type ghost then that also sucks ass.

now if we are talking regenerating zombies that only need to eat raw meat to stay in perfect condition then that is like the best option and second to that is the free roaming ghost that can be seen when it wants to and can interact with the living and the world  with the option of passing on to the next life eventually.


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

[User] ELI5: In an area of gas for $2.09+, why doesn't/can't one gas station just destroy the competition by selling gas for $1.99 and advertising it heavily?

[Assistant] Many gas stations sell gasoline at a tiny profit margin already. I've spoken to a gas station owner who makes more money on a single cup of coffee than 8 gallons of gas. This is also why they are allowed to charge different prices for credit card purchases versus cash. The small fees that credit card processor charges them is enough to totally eat up their profits.


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

[User]
ELI5: How come stuff like "Incels" or "Red pill" is mostly a male thing?

I feel like usually when women are rejected and lonely, they blame themselves and internalize it.

[Assistant] The reasoning behind the Red Pill and the like is complex, and perhaps overly simplified for consumption. One of the main drivers is 'abundance theory', which stipulates that women choose and men compete (which is true in most mammals anyway, humans are not that different). However, humans are able to *think* about this dynamic, and so you get phenomena like the Red Pill which talks about the men who lose the constant competitions, or win.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Why is Kang's name Kang?

With Kang finally being shown in the MCU, I'm looking more into the character's history in the comics. I've learned a lot about him but one thing that I can't find any sources on is the origin of the name Kang. Is Nathaniel Richard's middle name Kang? Does Kang mean something in another language that I'm missing? Is it just some arbitrary name he liked?

[Assistant] The Name Kang is a Bootstrap Paradox as a young Nathaniel Richard was told by a older version of himself that he was Kang and the young Nathaniel Richard grew up became Kang and tells his younger self that he was Kang.


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

[User] ELI5 How does the human heart seemingly keep going as a muscle without fail through years while other muscles in our body get fatigued within minutes or hours?

[Assistant] Cardiac muscle cells contain more mitochondria than skeletal muscle, meaning each cell has more available energy, making the muscle more resistant to fatigue. On top of this cardiac muscle has more readily available blood supply than skeletal muscle, allowing for better transfer of nutrients in and waste products associated with fatigue (like lactic acid) out.


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

[User] ELI5: What happens when T.V. shows the first second of a commercial, then switches to a new commercial?

[Assistant]
It's because the local station is list a second late in starting the local commercial.

The network will have certain commercial spots that are for local affiliates/cable companies to air ads that they sell. But, just in case the local station doesn't have anything for that, the network will have a commercial running.

When it works smoothly, you don't see it, because the local ad completely covers up the national ad. But if the local channel is a little late in starting the ad, you'll see just a bit of the national ad first.


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

[User] ELI5: (USA) Why do people find it necessary to post "private property"/"no trespassing" signs on the fence around their property? Why doesn't the fence serve that purpose already?

[Assistant]
In some cases it may not be obvious that you are on private property at all.  Many national forests and other large tracts of public land have small sections of private land that the government never bought up, or are adjacent to private land such that someone wandering around on the public land could conceivably wander onto private property without realizing it. And plenty of fences have been around for a long time and may no longer delineate property lines.  Plus lots of farms divide fields and pastures up with fences, though they don't mark the edge of their property.

And generally speaking you aren't trespassing until you are asked or told to leave by someone.  A No Trespassing sign covers that in most cases (though there are still times when people can come onto your property until you ask them to leave, even with your No Trespassing sign.  If your mail box is up near your house, your mail man can come up to deliver your mail, for example.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do cough drops work so effectively?

I'm sick, and I basically take cough drops religiously because I use my voice a lot. And Halls works incredibly (like they should). What causes them to work well? Is it just the recipe?

[Assistant] You cough as a reflex in response to irritation of nerves in your throat and lungs.   Cough drops makes those nerves less sensitive to irritation.  It doesn't resolve the underlying root cause of the irritation, the disease.


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

[User] What happens if you break the sound barrier/going supersonic under water?

[Assistant]
Shock waves. It would analagous to the effect in air. The actual shock propagates out in a cone whose leading point is the moving body. Behind the cone follows a rarefaction wave where the fluid moves to fill in the vacuum created by the passing body.

The speed of propagation of the shock wave, and therefore the angle of the cone are largely governed by the Rankine-Hugoniot conditions. You can read up on the Riemann problem (and also finite volume methods) to learn a bit (a lot) more.


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

[User] eli5 What is the point of "press any button" screens on video games?

[Assistant]
Usually, "press any button" screens happen after the game loads, or after your saved game loads, or after a new level loads.  (Or these days, after a long time of waiting for the game to connect to the servers.)  The game does not want to start/continue until you are ready though.  So, it has you input something to indicate you are ready.

Some games also use this as a way to make sure the controller works or the input is captured by the game (on Windows or other system that allows multiple things running at the same time).

Back in the days of arcade games, it would indicate for you to press the start button after inserting coins.  This would allow the demo screens/mode to run even if someone dropped a coin in and then walked away.  The start button would allow the intro to play, and then the player would start playing.  If you think about games like Pole Position, Pac-Man, or Donkey Kong, the delay for the start button ensures that the player is ready, and does not lose a life because they were not ready.  With two-player games, the start button would also indicate if one person simply put double the money in (with the intention of playing twice or being able to continue after losing the game) or if two people put money in for two-player mode.

Many things in video games have their roots in arcade games, and "press to start" is one that comes from that, even though the reason for it has changed some.

(On a side note, the "three lives" system that is occasionally still present in modern games is from arcade games.  The early games were simple, but the designers did not want a single death to end the game.  On the other hand, they wanted to limit how long a player could play before having to deposit more money.  This idea came from pinball, where a player would typically get three balls -- insert testicle-based joke here -- and three worked out right for the number of lives in arcade games in the late 1970s and 1980s to the extent that it became nearly universal.  Even when there were not coins, on the early consoles, the idea of three lives was so deeply ingrained that console games continued to have three lives per "play".  After you died three times, you would have to "press start to continue"!)


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

[User]
[Marvel] So what is the magic that makes Mjolnir unweildable to the unworthy?

How does it work I guess? I know the question who can move it gets asked often, that's not what I'm asking. What I'm asking is why can't those who move it move it. I originally thought it was made extremely heavy, but Hulk at his angriest can't make it budge. I then thought it was tied to a fix point, but Iron Man moved it about in space, where the gravity was lower. So what is it specifically doing to make it unmovable by people on planets, or unweildable in space apparently?

[Assistant] It's magic. Magic, by definition, spits in the face of petty mundane things like "logic" or "physics". Magic just *does*. In this case magic just prevents lesser beings from messing with the hammer if they're not worthy.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does the US congress get involved with things like NFL concussions and MLB steroid use?

[Assistant]
Sports leagues typically enjoy de facto exemptions from antitrust laws, becasue their product *is* competition, and they have an interest in keeping things somewhat balanced, requiring collusion that otherwise would be illegal.

When it appears teams are abusing that privilege to violate labor laws and worker safety, congress gets involved.

Also, congressmen like to be on TV.


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

[User] [Star Wars] How was Darth Vader rescued after the destruction of the first Death Star?

[Assistant]
In canon, he sent off a distress beacon and was picked up by a Gozanti cruiser and returned to the *Devastator*.

In Legends, he went to the nearby planet of Vaal (as mentioned, his TIE has a hyperdrive, so he managed to limp along to Vaal), where he crash-landed then made his way to an Imperial outpost, and took a shuttle to Coruscant.


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

[User] [ELI5] why is it that a tumor that is beyond a certain size can't be cut out?

[Assistant]
There are a couple of reasons of why this sometimes happens:

It could cause a lot of bleeding and tissue destruction, the surgery might cause more damage than good, the tumor might invade certain areas of the body which if damaged could put the patients life in immediate danger.

Thats why sometimes if cancerous tumors are too big it's preferable to use radiotherapy or chemotherapy to shrink the tumor, and then operate on it.

Another reason of this is because sometimes cancerous tumors have already metastasized in other parts of the body, meaning that its sometimes better to just wait, because even if you operate a tumor there's still metastatic matter all over the body, and eliminating the big tumor alone does not have a very meaningful effect on the patients health.


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

[User]
Advice needed: first time working with a research assistant

I am a first-year tenure track faculty member who was unexpectedly assigned a research assistant for this coming semester.  As my first time with a student working under me in this capacity, I'd like to get the most out of this experience for both my RA and in terms of advancing my research. Any tips or advice you can offer from your own experiences would be much appreciated!

[Assistant] Lay out your expectations clearly at the outset - working hours, expectations of independence or meetings, authorship issues (if relevant), documentation requirements, etc. I've found that being explicit about these sorts of things can help minimize misunderstandings.


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

[User]
[ELI5] why planes have 100s of buttons, dials, knobs

What the title says. Why does planes have 100s of controls and why does it increase when the plane size becomes bigger. Thats not the case with normals road vehicles. A large truck will also contain same controls as a small truck with may be 10-20% variation.

[Assistant]
> Thats not the case with normals road vehicles.

On a car: *check engine light shows up*

On a plane: Ey fuckers! Starboard wing fuel pump #1 failure, start fiddling with the 6 other pumps and 20 valves if you want to have working engines in the next 2 minutes!


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it when a person forces and mentally prepares him/herself to write something creative the mind is usually blank where as when he/she isnt actually thinking about it the mind is full of creativity?

[Assistant]
When you're focusing, you're engaging the parts of your brain that handle step-by-step tasks like math. Creative efforts take specific skills to do, like drawing is a fine motor skill, but to get the ideas for that creative effort you have to use the parts of your brain that handle things like daydreaming. The daydreamy parts of your brain basically turn off when you're focused on a step-by-step type of task (unless it's a very very boring task that you've done so much you could do it with your eyes closed, like putting boxes together or folding clothes).

Basically, your brain is kind of like a computer that can do your taxes and can play video games but it can't run the video games if the taxes program is already running.


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

[User]
Advice on how to prepare for a TT interview

I'm about 2 years into my postdoc and just managed to score my first interview for a TT position (yay!). However, I am currently on parental leave, and have very few people to actually discuss it with, so I was wondering, what advice would you give to someone going into a TT interview? What should I prepare for? Any advice is much appreciated!

General info of relevance of relevance: STEM field in Europe.

[Assistant] Congratulations! Prepare for everything well. Look up who is interviewing you- and their research, info on dept and university Be able to explain your work experience and research as you would tell a story (while keeping it technical enough), be personable/someone they want to work with but focus on the job, be yourself, answer questions completely but be concise- let them ask follow up questions when they want to know more. Understand the basics of their coursework and what your role would be there. Know what you want/dont want before going in. Have some questions to ask them. (If its in person being snacks, extra cords, etc.) Enjoy it.


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

[User] ELI5:Why do we make such bad decisions related to food when we're hungry?

[Assistant]
One of the reasons is that self-control is actually a resource that can be depleted. The brain has to expend more energy to exhibit self-control rather than just doing what it wants. Want to guess what form that energy takes? Glucose! That's right, sugar. So, when your sugar levels drop you actually have less ability to exhibit self-control.

That's why it's a good idea to have your meals planned and prepared before you're insanely hungry because you won't have the self-control to stop yourself from going to McDonald's.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is dividing by zero not infinity?

[Assistant]
The logic for 2/0 = , goes something like this:

2/1 = 2

2/0.1 = 20

2/0.01 = 200

and so on.

Dividing by a really small number makes a really big number, so dividing by zero should be infinity.

But what if you start from the other side?

2/-1 = -2

2/-0.1 = -20

2/-0.01 = -200

etc.

Dividing by a really small number makes a really big negative number, so dividing by zero should make negative infinity.

2/0 =  and 2/0 = - can't both be true, so we say 2/0 is undefined instead. There's no definite answer to that equation.


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

[User]
[Back to the Future] How did Marty and Doc meet?

How does a 17 year old become best friends with a disgraced nuclear scientist?

[Assistant] I seem to remember reading somewhere that Marty was told when younger that Doc was someone to avoid, and of course being a rebellious adolescent, he approached Doc anyway, being taken on as his part-time assistant, and grew a friendship as time went on.


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

[User]
How do I understand Discrete Mathematics?

Hello, I'm currently studying Software Engineering, and would like to hear some advice on what are the best methods /  ways  to learn and understand Discrete Mathematics?
I genuenly dislike math, and am abit scared of the whole subject.

[Assistant]
If you're struggling with it, read the relevant textbook chapters before class, then attend lectures and ask questions, and start your homework assignments early so that you have time to go to extra help sessions.

If you're stuck, textbook practice problems are a great place to look, since they build up from simple to complicated.

If you spend more time studying (and just thinking about the material in general), you'll understand it better. If you understand it better, you'll enjoy it more. Or at least, hate it less and feel less afraid of it.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is the kitchen called The Kitchen and not The Cooking room to follow suit with other room names Bedroom, Living Room, Bathroom etc.

[Assistant]
it is

kitchen (n.)
"room in which food is cooked, part of a building fitted out for cooking," c. 1200, from Old English cycene "kitchen," from Proto-Germanic *kokina (source also of Middle Dutch ckene, Old High German chuhhina, German Kche, Danish kjkken), probably borrowed from Vulgar Latin *cocina (source also of French cuisine, Spanish cocina), a variant of Latin coquina "kitchen," from fem. of coquinus "of cooks," from coquus "cook," from coquere "to cook"...


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

[User] ELI5: Why do companies only get taxed on profits after all other expenses are paid, but individuals get taxed on their gross income and have to pay expenses from the remainder?

[Assistant]
The exact tax rules vary by country, but the logic is usually very similar:

Imagine you make cookies for a living. You buy flour, eggs, sugar and butter, and you spend 40 hours per week baking. Your ingredients cost $200/week, and you sell the cookies for $600. You also have to spend $50/week on electricity.

You're now a self-employed person. On your tax form you declare your $600 income, and deduct the $250 costs. Your taxable income is now $350, and you pay a percentage of that in tax. Let's imagine your country has a straightforward 25% flat tax rate, so you pay $92.50 in tax.

Your friend is also self-employed, and she makes cakes. She also buys ingredients costing $200/week and sells the cakes for $600, like you do, also paying for $50 of electricity. Her tax form looks exactly the same as yours.

The two of you team up and decide to work together. You and your friend decide to register a company to handle your cake and cookie business. Because you're working together you can save money on electricity as you can share the oven. So your combined finances now look like this:

Ingredients: $400

Cake Sales: $600

Cookie Sales: $600

Electricity: $50

At the end of the week you have $750. You now each take a wage of $350/week from the company, leaving the company with $50 of profit. You and your friend each have $350 of taxable income just like before, meaning you both pay the same amount of personal tax as you did before.

The company is taxed on its $50 profit.

If companies were taxed on their revenue, then it would clearly not make any financial sense for anyone to form a company, because they'd end up paying considerably more tax than they have to pay as a trading individual.


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

[User] ELI5: When a balloon pops, what is actually creating the sound I hear?

[Assistant]
Expanding air.

Sound is just vibrating molecules.  When you play music from speakers, the speakers vibrate the air and those vibrations get picked up by our ears.  Stronger vibrations sound louder, and smaller ones are quieter.

When a balloon pops, all of the air inside is suddenly free to expand.  So it does, instantly and with quite a bit of force since it was at a lot higher pressure than the outside air.  Our ears perceive this big pressure wave as a bang.


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

[User] [Star Wars] How come people seem to understand what an Astromech droid says?

[Assistant] The astromechs are speaking a language.  It's true that it's not one that humanoids can easily speak, but with time and effort one can learn to understand it just fine.  Most folks can pick up at least key phrases and general tone fairly quickly.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do men have larger Adam's apples?

Men have Adam's apples and women don't, but why do men have the protruding part?

[Assistant]
The adam's apple is actually the thyroid cartilage found in the throat. Women have them too!

In males it protrudes, and this is because their larynx (voicebox) grows larger during puberty than females'. The larger voicebox accounts for the deeper voice too.


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

[User]
[DC] what are the goals of the sinestro corps?

sinestro was one of the greatest green lanterns before he turned evil and founded his own corps.

but...why did he want to start a corp of his own? is the goal to abolish the green lantern corps? to kill hal jordan? its said that the sinestro corps. "deliver order via fear" but when have they EVER delievered order? are they an actual enforcer group like the green lanterns or are just purely evil?

[Assistant]
Sinestro made the corp for two reasons. One is internal, and a reflection of his emotional needs. The other is external, and is what he would tell anyone he asked.

As you probably know, Sinestro was kicked from the corp when it was revealed he was using the power of his ring to enforce an authoritarian order on his sector of the galaxy. He believed (and this is the fundamental disagreement between him and the guardians) that fear was the most effective means of ensuring order in the universe. His switch to the yellow ring was both a reflection of this (he truly believes that fear is better than will) and an attempt to prove this to himself/the galaxy/the guardians. In many ways, his formation of the yellow corp is an attempt to win an argument with the guardians and get them to finally admit he was right. He want them to validate his worldview, as despite his hate he still has a lot of respect for them.

At the same time, his desire to bring order to the universe has never really abated. In this sense, the yellow lantern corp is merely a tool he has created to further this goal. And he truly *does* believe it is the best tool for that goal. To that end, Sinestro is alternately attempting to conquer the galaxy (as he did his own sector) and replace the Green Lantern Corp as the main police of the galaxy (and given how he policed his sector, this would be indistinguishable from conquering it).

So yeah, the corp is partly an attempt to conquer the world, and partly an attempt to show his dads he was right and get them to validate his life choices.


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

[User]
[Stargate SG-1] Are Stargates nearly indestructible?

**Note: For now i've only gone up to the third season episode *Shades of Grey*. So please, no spoilers from the rest of the series**

In the S3 episode *Foothold*, when a group of crustacean-like aliens got cut off from their escape set themselves to self destruct, the Stargate was left undamaged from the explosion. Then in another S3 episode *A Hundred Days*, while SG-1 was evacuating the people on Edora from a deadly meteor shower, one of the meteors impacted straight onto the Stargate. But the Stargate the Stargate did not get shattered into little pieces, it got buried whole underground and it was still functioning.

So is it possible that Stargates or any kind of technology made from Naquadah is somewhat very difficult to be destroyed by a powerful blast?

[Assistant]
Stargates are very hard to damage, being made of some sort of Naquadah-based alloy or composite or something. Normal Naquadah can be used to make stronger, denser alloys but it takes considerable technology to get to the sort of strength the Stargate shows.

Stargates could be destroyed be black holes, being dropped into a star or by having a 10 gigaton *Naquadriah* detonated just behind the Stargate while it was open.

Otherwise they're shown to shrug off low-yield nukes, orbital reentry etc.


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

[User] ELI5:Emdrive. Why does this violate Newton's third law and how does it work?

[Assistant]
Conventional rockets work on Newton's Third Law, or simplified: you can't push yourself forward without pushing something else back. When you jump in the air, you're pushing the Earth away with the same amount of force that's launching you into the air. But because the Earth is so many millions of times heavier than you, the amount it moves away from you is immeasurably small. A rocket pushes itself forward by pushing exhaust out from behind it. Each individual gas particle is small, but all of them moving together very quickly in the same general direction are enough to push the rocket the other direction.

the EMDrive supposedly works by generating a resonance of microwaves inside a conical chamber. Supposedly, and without getting into graduate-level physics, the resonance is stronger at one end of the cone because it's concentrated down, and the sum of the forces is a very very small but nonzero value. In effect, that would mean that they are producing force without expending exhaust mass.

It's important you know that the EMDrive almost certainly doesn't work. The force that was measured was extremely small, and it is far more likely that some other variable was generating a phantom force than that the engine is working as intended.


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

[User]
[Witcher] Is there a reason witchers don't use proper bows or spears?

We've seen that they carry crossbows, so they obviously understand the value of being able to damage quarry from a distance. But the little hand crossbows that they carry are, quite frankly, the dinkiest and least damaging that you can possibly get without being a glorified slingshot. Witchers are supernaturally strong and fast. There's no reason that they couldn't have someone fashion a super-powered bow for them that could be useful in hunting. Or, at the very least, they could get wicked power and distance with throwing spears or even some sort of atlatl. While the iconic twin swords looks cool and all, it can't possibly be practical to have to kill monsters at arm's length all of the time. And Geralt especially strikes me as nothing if not practical.

[Assistant]
A lot of it is cost.

A silver sword is expensive, but constantly replacing silver arrowheads would be rediculously costly.

The hand crossbow is occasionally useful, and you are correct that arrows would often be the preferred method of they could kill monsters.


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

[User]
[Dr Who] The Doctor seems to be the smartest and bravest of the Timelords, outwitting or outright defeating most enemies he faces. Are there actually any beings he is afraid of?

Ok, maybe he does have a certain amount of fear for every enemy he faces but I sometimes think he's just afraid they'll hurt his companions. I mean, the doctor is smart enough to conquer the universe (at least to me) if he wanted to but are there enemies he would downright avoid confrontation with?

[Assistant]
If he *could*, the Doctor would avoid conflict with all of his enemies.  By Nine's own admission, s/he's a coward.  Any conflict s/he's been a part of save for the big one, s/he would much rather have avoided it, and is only there because there's legitimately no other choice.  Dalek fleet can't go unchecked, they'll destroy Earth and exterminate countless more worlds besides.  That volcano can't be stopped, it's a fixed point in time, face-to-be-used-in-a-few-centuries be damned.

It's not that the Doctor is unafraid.  It's just that - all too often - the Doctor is the only one capable of stopping these threats.


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

[User] [GTA V] How is it, in the entire state of San Andreas, are there no children present?

[Assistant] Children are all collected in factory farms, to be forcibly injected with schooling and rendered down if they prove unable to absorb sufficient knowledge and released at age 18 onto the streets. The child-slurry of failures is then stored for personal use of the wealthy. This is why the populace is so.. odd.


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

[User] ELI5: Can other natural omnivores survive on a plant-only diet and have a normal lifespan like humans can?

[Assistant] I guess it could be possible but not sustainable in the wild because meat is a lot more calorically dense than fruit and veggies. Youd have to spend a lot more time/energy to eat just plant matter. Theres a reason grizzlies bulk on salmon before hibernation and not just eat grass and berries you know


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

[User] Since Thor's hammer's immovability is given by Odin, would someone more powerful than Odin be able to remove the immovability and take it?

[Assistant]
Odin's enchantment on Mjolnir is particularly powerful one, made by a God.

There exist beings more powerful in the omniverse, but few more magical.

If someone of that ilk were to remove said enchantment, which is part and parcel of the hammer because of the uru metal it's constructed of, the hammer itself may not survive the process. If it did? Then yes, Mjolnir would become a normal short handled lump hammer made of exceedingly hard metal.

Of course, without the enchantment it would not be worth taking, as there are much deadlier mundane weapons to use than a top-heavy hammer with no leverage.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does a leather strap sharpen a razor?

In movies and TV you always see people running a straight razor back and forth on a leather strap. How can this possibly sharpen a metal blade?

[Assistant]
> How can this possibly sharpen a metal blade?

It doesn't sharpen it, it hones the blade.

When you sharpen a blade the edge is made very thin. It is so thin that it is flexible, and can easily be curled over by use or even accidentally while sharpening. This makes what would otherwise be a sharp blade a bit blunt. By running the blade backwards against the leather strap the curled edge can be straightened back out, returning the blade to peak sharpness.


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

[User]
Is stoicism and existentialism a view that can coexist?

So I tend to follow stoicism as a personal philosophy but see existentialism a meta- philosophy that makes sense to me. I try to live my life by stoic virtues but also tend to view life as having no explicit or implicit meaning. Are these two views able to live in the same realm or are there some of these philosophies that are at odds with each other and thus, me holding hypocritical views?

[Assistant] Im no expert in either, but historically, the Stoics seemed to have been strong believers in determinism and fate, while existentialists like Kierkegaard and Sartre emphasized freedom as an essential component of humanity. Wonder if that leads to a conflict?


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

[User]
ELI5: What algorithms do programmers use to produce "randomness"

I know that it is impossible to make something truly random, but what algorithms do most people use to do so?

[Assistant]
There are different possibilities: There are so called "hash functions". You put a number in, you get a number out. The important thing: if you put two close values in, you get two vastly different outputs. If you use now the system time, you can get pseudo-random numbers.

Another way is that your Operating System helps you. A computer can "gather" randomness by user input (what does the user type? how fast? how does he move the mouse?) and hard drives (how long does it take to read?). This is much better randomness, as it can't be predicted by software how you type. Then, when the randomness is gathered, the Operating System allows programs to extract random numbers.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] Why are transporters not used as weapons?

As I start my tactical training at the academy I can't help but wonder at the oversight of the tactical utility of transporters.

* Methods of transporting even antimatter have been known since the days of Kirk, and lower-grade explosives and weapons are routinely transported.

* Even with the supposedly big bad Borg, our ability to routinely access their vessels via transporter, even to the point of carrying out assaults and kidnapping their leader during that Locutus thing... for as adaptable and scary as the old timers say they are, I don't believe I heard they ever adapted to this.  So why didn't the Enterprise simply beam over their compliment of photon torpedoes, the antimatter storage, or even the warp core?  Or override protocols and beam matter into the enemy's antimatter storage or weapons systems?

* If Borg can be unwillingly transported why not repel Borg (or any) invaders on a ship by simply slapping on a pattern enhancer and dematerializing?

* Sure, most of their doings are way to classified for the clearance level of a cadet, but I heard something about one of the early enemies Voyager faced... the Kayzon or something like that?  Anyway, space-fairing race that couldn't even replicate water???  (Or even harvest hydrogen and oxygen enough to manufacture it?  Sheesh!)  So clearly no understanding of any of the principals of replication/transportation, yet were somehow a tactical threat to an Intrepid class vessel?  They want water, exchange all the air in their ships' haul with it!

I can't wait to to sit up front and ask Admiral Shelby about this when she does her big Borg guest lecture in a couple weeks!

[Assistant]
Transporting is more difficult than you seem to know - looks like you'll be spending a lot of extra time reading your engineering handbooks!  First off, transporting requires transponder signals - a physical beacon - in most cases to be done easily.  Starfleet officers have these embedded in their communicators.  Transporting is possible without them, of course, but if you don't have one, transportation engineers must spend a lot of time and effort correctly calibrating the transporter for each transport, which is difficult enough when there is no high-stress situation.  In combat, much more difficult!

Next, most shields block transporters.  The Borg were actually uniquely weak in this regard, since Borg vessels didn't use conventional shields, instead relying on their adaptation technology.

Also, transporting must done between two locations that are stationary relative to each other.  During combat, that's very unlikely, and ships in combat are moving fast enough that while you might TRY to transport a photon torpedo into the enemy ship's engineering, by the time the transport is completed, the enemy vessel may have moved from that location.  In order to accurately transport something onto a ship that isn't stationary relative to yours, you'd have to correctly guess where the ship would be, and "lead" it, so to speak.  But that assumes that you'd know exactly how long the transport would take.  Transport times can vary wildly, however, depending on certain kinds of interference - that are very likely to be present during a battle.  And if the transport fails?  Well, now you have unstable antimatter or an armed torpedo in your OWN transporter bay.

So while there are some tactical applications to transporting, they generally apply to sabotage, not to actual combat.


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

[User] ELI5 why does hay spontaneously combust when it gets wet?

[Assistant] Hay is made from freshly-cut plant matter. When plant matter decays in a moist environment, bacteria and other microbial life thrive. Organisms generate heat as a natural byproduct of just being alive. The hay insulates the heat, so the hay cannot cool quickly enough. When the temperature reaches about 130F, the moisture and the microbial life undergo chemical reactions that release even more heat. Hay has a remarkably low ignition point of a little over 200F. For comparison, paper ignites at about 450F.


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

[User] Terence McKenna claims psilocybin (the active chemical in Magic Mushrooms) is the only 4-phosphorylated indole occuring in nature, and that this is an argument for it being "alien technology". How true is the first part of the statement, and what are its realistic implications?

[Assistant]
I can't find any similar compounds with a cursory search. However a better question would be : how surprising is it to find an unusual chemical like this?

Unfortunately, that's quite a tricky one to answer! It's not as if there aren't other indole compounds (like bufotenin) or phosphorylated ring compounds.


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

[User]
ELI5 Why does electricity appear blue but sparks from electricity are yellow-ish Orange

Driving down the road yesterday they were repairing some electrical lines and I guess one of them sparked and it left a trail of blue sparks on the ground. But when I hook up a battery and short it with a wire sparks appear an orangish-yellow color.

Anyone know why?

[Assistant]
None of the answers so far have correctly mentioned the reason why electricity often appears blue. Electrical sparks are a result of ionizing the nitrogen in the air, which glows violet. Its the same phenomenon that makes neon tubes glow.

The yellow and orange sparks you see are little bits of hot metal flying off whatever the electricity is burning up.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Where did the materials for the Death Star come from?

The DS (and DSII) are massive. Theyre mini moon sized things made mostly out of durasteel. Where did all of that durasteel come from, though?

[Assistant] The Death Stars were killing planets before the lasers were even operational. Ahsoka ends up on a planetary body that is being farmed to death to support the nutritional demands of the Empire's workforce - and possibly the Death Star crew. The people (labor) of Geonosis were exterminated by the Empire. Ezra's home world is being mined into a wasteland for metals. Jedha is in severe decline as the Empire strips all the kyber from it. The resources for the Death Stars came from other planets and moons in the Galaxy. It's akin to the excavation of lands from one country to extend the landmass of another.


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

[User] ELI5: How are video game cheat codes discovered? Does it have anything to do with algorithms or are they simply leaks by the developers?

[Assistant] What gamers call "cheat codes" are usually commands created *intentionally* by the game creators for testing purposes during production. There's no reason to remove them once the game is done, so when its released people will dig around "under the hood" as it were to find them.


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

[User] ELI5: Wheels, wagons, and chariots were invented thousands of years ago. Why, then, did it take all the way until the 1800s for the bicycle to make its debut?

[Assistant]
Materials, manufacturing techniques, and road conditions.

We had to reach a point where metallurgy and materials made a bicycle beneficial. You can make a bike out of wood and metal, but its gonna be extremely heavy, prone to breaking, and difficult to ride. Without extremely smooth solid roads you would be slamming and jarring the wheels and frame constantly.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Who the hell is Jessica Jones and why should I care?

I've been seeing all these teasers for the new Jessica Jones series, which seems to revolve around some girl in tight jeans walking away from cameras and David Tennant being sinister (the only part I'm interested in thus far).

Glancing over the Marvel wiki about her, she appears to have the standard loadout of uninteresting superpowers and feels like a retroactive fan insert into everyone else's stories (was walking up to Peter Parker when he got bit, Thor saved her from a river, etc.).

So, can someone help me give a fuck about Jessica Jones? Daredevil was *fantastic* and I eagerly await the other Marvel Netflix series, but until yesterday, I hadn't heard anything about Jessica Jones at all.

[Assistant]
Without going in to too much detail to spoil some reveals, Jessica Jones is an ex-super hero turned private investigator.

She hung up the tights after being subjected to some truly, truly awful shit for a very long time, which Tennant's character is involved with.

We always see heroes bounce back from awful stuff, deciding that it could have been worse and they can take the abuse, that its all worth it in the end.

Jessica Jones is the story of what happens when the hero doesn't bounce back, when the villain breaks the hero.


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

[User]
Why do people spend up to 6-7 years to finish a PhD in the US, compared 4 years in the UK?

Not to knock anyone down, just an honest question. Is the standard in the US higher? Which is ironic considering the opposite is true for undergrad.

[Assistant] Other commentators point out the practical differences but should add specialisation occurs much earlier in the UK. Consider that you narrow to 3 to 4 subjects age 16-18, then to one at degree, plus a master's.


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

[User] ELI5: How does salt increase the boiling point of water, I know it does but how?

[Assistant]
In any liquid the molecules are in motion. Even if the liquid is motionless, if you could look at the molecules with a powerful microscope you would see them moving around and bumping into each other.

The motion is due to thermal energy. Some molecules move faster than others. Some have enough energy to escape from the surface of the liquid and become vapor. Even if the liquid is not boiling, some vapor escapes from its surface.

When the temperature is raised high enough the pressure of the escaping vapor equals the pressure of the air over the liquid. Bubbles form inside the liquid because the vapor pressure is high enough to push the liquid out of the way.

If you add something to the liquid that dilutes it, the vapor pressure is decreased. That is because there are fewer liquid molecules per square inch on the surface because some of them have been replaced by the dilutant. Fewer molecules on the surface means fewer molecules escaping and less vapor pressure.

The dilutant can be anything that dissolves. The phenomenon does not depend on the molecular properties of the dilutant, it only has to dissolve.

Edit: this is a well known phenomenon in chemistry. Search "boiling point elevation".


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

[User] ELI5: Why is the English language the only language that uses the word 'Pineapple' when almost every other language known to man uses the word 'Anana'?

[Assistant]
The Wikipedia entry on pineapple has a great etymology on it:

The word "pineapple" in English was first recorded in 1398, when it was originally used to describe the reproductive organs of conifer trees (now termed pine cones). The term "pine cone" for the reproductive organ of conifer trees was first recorded in 1694. When European explorers discovered this tropical fruit in the Americas, they called them "pineapples" (first so referenced in 1664 due to resemblance to what is now known as the pine cone).

Also the Spanish language has two names for them: pina and anana.


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

[User]
If soil comes from dead plants, what substrate did the first terrestrial plants grow on?

This question was asked by my 8-year old as part of a long string of questions about evolution, but it was the first one where I didn't really know the answer. I said I'd look it up but most information appears to be about the expected types of plants rather than what they actually grew on.

[Assistant]
Generally bacteria are the first things to colonise bare rock and provide a substrate for other micro-organisms. Simple multicellular organisms like lichens can thereafter colonise the rock. They reproduce quickly and can survive the harsh conditions, and many species don't need soil. Its these plants that start to lay down soil as they die off and decompose, providing a substrate for increasingly more complex species.

What your 8-year old is asking about is called "ecological succession" and is the process through which an area can go from bare rock to a rich forest over a hundred years. You can see the early stages of ecological succession all over the place, particularly in concrete urban areas that have been neglected and are in the early stages of colonisation. In fact your local hardware store will sell lots of products which are the armoury of the homeowner in the struggle against the primary colonisers of ecological succession.


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

[User]
[The Witcher/Harry Potter] Would a Witcher be welcomed in the Harry Potter universe?

Or would they be a nuisance? There seems to be a lot of dangerous monsters in the wizarding world but nobody does anything about them.

[Assistant]
If there's coin to be had, Witchers gonna Witch.  That is to say, if a wizard has a problem with a creature, they could put up a contract and a Witcher could work on it.  Witchers would be recognized as magical, but since their Signs are very simplistic, they would be looked down upon.  They'd do very well in Potions and Care of Magical Creatures classes, though.

I imagine a Witcher would be treated like Hagrid, only more pest control than gamekeeper.


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

[User]
[WALL-E] Why is EVE's first instinct to shoot anything that moves?

We see that she immediately blasts WALL-E and the cockroach as soon as she noticed their presence. But if her directive is to find plant life, why would she risk shooting an animal which might lead her to plants? What would she be defending herself from?

[Assistant]
She was never intended to find plant life. She was programmed to keep up the pantomime of looking for life, but it was taken for granted the earth was now liefless. The programming isn't made to be useful for finding plants, just for running around making it look like you're doing that.

Under her a*ctual* directive, any animals would be the last few starving desperate creatures on a lifeless world, and thus likely to attack any potential foodsource. Hence the immediate defensive attack- they're threats, and they can't lead you to any plantlife anyway.


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

[User]
How valid is the concept of Brain Drain? Is it proven that the immigration of high-skilled workers to other countries has an overall negative impact on the home countrys economic growth, especially in the case of developing countries?

I checked the FAQ on Immigration but that focuses more on the host country than the home country.

[Assistant]
I can write about this from a health professional perspective.

First, brain drain imposes a double burden on the home country:

1. The home country invested in the education of the health worker who leaves, providing the home country no return on investment.
2. Many home countries already suffer from a dearth of health workers.

Regarding #1, many (most?) countries publicly educate workers using tax money. The worst case scenario is workers that leave and never return nor provide remittances as the home country gets absolutely nothing from its investment.

Regarding #2, many countries, especially sub-saharan countries, have less than the WHO's recommended 2.5 health workers per 1000 people. E.g. post-Ebola, Liberia had only 0.1 health workers per 1000 people.

In this context, targeted recruitment of health workers from certain countries has been seen as a threat to those counties' health systems and a threat to global health.

This is why the WHO promulgated the Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel. It is meant to balance the rights of individuals to move and work to where they want with the needs of both host and home countries. The recognition that certain kinds of international recruitment, such as from India or Philippines where they specifically train health workers for the international market, has different benefits and costs than other recruitment makes this issue too complex to simply label as "bad" or "good".


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

[User]
[Lord of the Rings] Is Gandalf powerless without his staff?

More specifically, what exactly can he do with/without it; how much does it influence his powers; and what is the extent of his powers, anyway?

[Assistant] The wizards are Maiar, angelic beings in the guise of humans. Their power is inherent, but their staffs are symbols of that power, not unlike a crown symbolizes a king's power. What is the extent of Gandalf's power? Manipulations of the natural world, including both objects and people, but not to the point of producing completely "unnatural" effects. He can inspire Theoden to shake off Wormtongue's influence or light trees on fire or call down lightning or break a stone bridge, but he can't teleport or fly or throw fireballs around without any source of fuel. The scope of this manipulation is also limited by Gandalf's own spiritual stature, especially if matched against another angelic being like a Balrog or Sauron himself.


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

[User]
CMV: The silicon valley companies (Google, Facebook etc.) harvesting your information is not the same as Chinese companies harvesting your information

With a lot of criticism towards Tik Tok and other Chinese apps being described as spyware and unknowingly harvesting the users personal information, there is always the counter argument  "But Facebook/Google/Apple/etc do it to".  Yes they do, but there is a massive difference between a profit driven company doing it and a company under the control of a hostile regime doing it.
Any successful company in China has to be in bed with the government, there is simply no way around it in a totalitarian regime.
In  the USA, Apple point blank refused to weaken their encryption for the law enforcement and eventually won out with it. Do you think Tencent would say no to its government?
I am by no means condoning the practice of either side when it comes to data harvesting or saying that everyone in the silicon valley  is a saint, but I am sick of the false equivalence  between them being used as an argument.

[Assistant] What would the CCP do with your information that impacts you in a worse way than the US government would do with your information? The only company that you list as a data secure company is Apple. Google, Facebook, and Twitter are not secure at all so your argument wouldn't work.


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

[User] [Star Wars VII] Why aren't the wrecked Star Destroyers entirely salvaged?

[Assistant]
Most of the useful stuff is. Hull plating and duct work aren't that valuable, but functioning electronics and power systems can at least be worth some modicum of effort.

What you see is, for the most part, just the skeleton with all the worthwhile bits torn out.


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

[User]
Viral spread in marine environment?

How do viruses spread in marine environments? After reading about the morbillivirus causing the increase in dolphin beachings and deaths, I was wondering how a virus like this might spread in a marine environment.

[Assistant]
Understanding aquatic disease is in three steps:  1) you have to have an environment suitable for the pathogen, 2)you have to have a susceptible, compromised/stressed individual, 3) you need the right pathogen.  When all three are positive, then disease is highly likely.  If one is negative, then you have a very low possibility.

When it comes to pathogens in general in the aquatic environment, the water itself tends to be the transmitter: that is the media/mode by which contact with may result in the transmission of pathogen to the host.  Like the common cold be can be transmitted through the air, many pathogens can be transmitted by water.

What we worry about in the realm of viral outbreaks in oceans for stocks of fish, whale, and other resources is how that virus exactly transmits itself.  You can't treat the organism without acknowledging the pathogen's mode of transmission.  Most of the time, we think of horizontal spreading of viruses: that is direct contact between infected individuals or the media that is occupied by a pathogen.  Basically: organism-to-organism whether directly (touch) or indirectly (touching the transmitting material).  There can be also vertical spreading (from mother to daughter/son).

Many disease causing pathogens are found in the soils more so than the water column.   This is because eventually diseases in the water column have to fall because they are particles and are subject to Stokes' Law.  The only way to counteract this and remain in the water column is to be buoyant in some capacity (have a vacuole or something).  Or, it divides fast enough to infect carriers.

Carriers are disease vectors such as little fish, inverts, or other plankters that can carry the disease itself, but don't necessarily become affected by it.  When an organism eats a carrier, or comes into contact with the carrier in a way that's similar to how a remora attaches to a shark, then it can be sick.

Finally, diseases and carriers of disease in the oceans move about with the help of vector dynamics (movements of carriers) and the currents/tides themselves (physical moving of pathogenic particles).  Pathogens can be killed in bad environments by chance so this is one reason why you may see local diseases.  Other reasons are that there are no individuals to infect so there's no chance for the disease to occur.  However it can still persist there in the carriers.  And further, other areas may aggravate the occurrences of viral disease so that it may be even more devastating than the source area of the disease.

Simply put, viral dynamics in water are not too dissimilar than viruses in air media.


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

[User]
Are the blackholes in center of galaxies formed by super gigantic stars?

I understand that if a star is huge in mass it can form a blackhole and that at the center of the galaxy there is a blackhole. Does that mean that, for example at the center of the Milky Way, there was once a gigantic star that has collapsed? Or is it more likely that it was a blackhole that has simply gotten bigger over time.

Wouldn't there be a threshold as well to as of how big a star can be before it becomes a black hole or is it simply just how much fuel it has?

[Assistant]
The black hole in the galactic centre (Sg A*) is far too massive to have formed from a single star (it is of the order of a few million solar masses, stars are rarely found above a hundred solar masses due to stability). Thus, it must have grown over time from coalescing black holes plus accreted matter.

This is actually a major area of research, because there is a 'missing link' stage in black hole growth between stellar mass black holes and supermassive black holes, which to date nobody has been able to find evidence for.


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

[User] ELI5: How there are more numbers between 0 and 1 than there are integers?

[Assistant] An easy way to think of this one is that for any integer, you can place a decimal point in front of it to produce a number between 0 and 1. This proves there are at least as many numbers between 0 and 1 as integers. By adding zeros between the decimal and first non-zero value, you see that for every integer, you can generate an infinite number of decimals. For example, 1 would generate .1, .01, .001, .0001, etc. Thus the infinite of 0-1 is larger than the infinite of all integers.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why when looking out at the ocean from an airplane do the waves appear to not be moving at all, while other objects like cars are still in motion?

This question haunts me every time I am in an airplane.

[Assistant] It's because your brain needs something relative to base the wave speed on. A car will look like it is moving relative to a road/landscape. Waves in an ocean have nothing for the brain to base the motion from, unlike waves on the shore. So unless there is a rock or something to break up the area and show motion, waves will appear stationary.


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

[User] [SANTA CLAUS] How does santa control a flying sleigh with only a set of reigns? He needs to be able to control, roll, pitch, and yaw, as well as speed.

[Assistant] The reindeers actually do most of the work. Santa uses the reigns as contextual commands (e.g. stop, turn, speed up, slow down) and shouts the more complicated commands. If he needs to adjust altitude, he'll yell something like "Go to 1000m above sea level!" and the reindeers will ascend or descend as necessary. Yes, he can also yell "do a barrel roll" and the reindeers will do it.


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

[User]
[WH40K] Here in Warhammer 2K15, where are those who will be the Psykers of Warhammer 40k? Anything special about them?

Are they reading palms at the fair or locked up schizophrenics or something?

[Assistant] In the third millenium, the Emperor steers Humanity towards progress. The few psykers that exist work as entertainers, squandering their gifts, or politicians, for their own petty gain. The rest were "exorcised" or condemned to mental institution.


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

[User] ELI5: How can water filters remove 99.9% of impurities but not turn salt water to fresh water?

[Assistant] The impurities referred to are larger particles and very large molecules. Unfortunately for us in this case, salt is an extremely tiny molecule -- not much bigger than a water molecule, and far smaller than normal filters. Only a very special filter, requiring very high water pressure, can filter out salt molecules.


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

[User]
CMV: when you move to a new country you should want to assimilate

People often claim its racist to suggest that people who move to a country should integrate  with the culture theyve moved to. I think that its perfectly reasonable to expect that they do. This isnt to suggest that they cannot hold on to their previous identities, or speak their mother tongue language to people who also speak it, or practice their religious values, but they should want to adopt some of the culture exists in their new country.

They chose to move to a new country, and it shouldnt be surprising that people find some things like the fact that they wont learn the language, or they talk down on the culture, a bit annoying. This in no way means that they should be harassed or mistreated for it though.

I just dont understand why its something people view as racis/xenophobic.

Edit: when I say integrate, I dont mean giving up things like their native food or likes and dislikes, but rather learning to speak the language of their area, or trying to respect the cultural values of their surrounding area. The goal should be that you want to combine your cultures.

[Assistant]
Whenever you combine two things, the goal is to take the best parts of the original entities, and discard the worst parts. So if a car company makes reliable, boring cars and another makes sexy, shoddy cars, the goal should be to make a reliable sexy car. Both entities have to change for the optimal outcome.

Whenever people talk about assimilation, they think they should stay the same and the new group should adapt to match their culture. Really, both sides need to change for the better. That's the best way to get the "little bit of familiar, little bit of different" blend that makes the best stuff (e.g., music, food, clothes, etc.).

In this way, if your side does something better, you absolutely should not give that up. You should make sure that the combined new group has that quality. You should only adopt the good things from the other group. The neutral things can stay the same because they don't matter. In this way, both sides only take on things that are objective improvements, and shed the outdated ways of doing things. The goal isn't to assimilate, it's to create something new that is even better than either side had before.


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

[User]
ELI5: What are free radicals and antioxidants?

What do they do that makes them bad/good? Why do some foods have more of the antioxidants?

[Assistant]
All day, you breathe air in and out. This is to get yourself oxygen, a type of atom which is very important to have.

Your body needs oxygen because of one thing oxygen has, that not many other atoms have. Oxygen is very sticky. It's one of the stickiest atoms there are. Oxygen likes to stick to stuff because of it's "electronegativity", and it will try to stick to whatever it can.

When you breathe in oxygen from the air, it comes in pairs. These are two oxygen atoms stuck together, making their stickyness cancel out. Your body knows how to unstick them and use them to glue other atoms together to form molecules that can be used throughout the body to make things, from bones to skin. But when a single lonely oxygen atom gets free, we call it a "free radical"

A free radical is just a single oxygen atom, but remember how we said oxygen is very sticky? It will try to stick itself onto other molecules, even when it shouldn't! This can easily break things, because the molecules in your body have to be very carefully made. If an oxygen molecule just walks up and sticks to it, this is very bad.

Lucky for us, there's other types of molecules called "antioxidants". Antioxidants are molecules too, but they have a special slot just for sticky oxygen atoms. Antioxidant molecules are sticky too, but they have a shape that only fits with a sticky oxygen atom. If you eat antioxidants, they will go around your body gobbling up all the sticky oxygen atoms, before they stick to something they shouldn't.

They only work on sticky oxygen, they don't work on the paired oxygen you breath in, so don't worry about them using all the oxygen in your body.

Some foods just happen to have a lot of antioxidants. It's because food is made up of molecules too, and some of those have more antioxidants than others. They make them on their own as they grow so they don't get broken by sticky lone oxygen molecules either.

Your body makes it's own antioxidants too! But sometimes it can't make enough on it's own, so you need to eat them to get more. The healthier you eat, the more antioxidants you can get, and the less likely your body will get hurt by those sticky lone oxygen molecules.


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

[User]
[MCU] Why do people even dismiss the supernatural anymore?

After the Battle of New York and the fact that Inhumans are popping up all over the place, why should it even be a surprise that there is some guy with mind control powers? Obviously, the legal precident would still be a little hazy in such cases, but dismissing them out of hand seems woefully naive if not totally delusional.

EDIT: And who could forget a whole city being lifted into the sky by super intelligent robots? (Though I imagine people forgot about the Hulk destroying a large town in Africa quickly enough.)

[Assistant]
Isolated incidents in an admittedly big city, in an admittedly big country are still small scale for the rest of the world where its not happening.

This allows people who did not see it in person to say it was all a hoax like the moon landing or the holocaust. They do it so that they can stay safe in their little bubble where the worse thing they have to worry about is normal crazy people with normal dangerous weapons that can kill you normally, but not likely.


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

[User]
Referring a friend to a post doc position to my PI.

Hello, I'm a 1st year PhD student and my friend has recently completed his PhD in the same field as mine and is interested about the topic my PI works on. When I met with him I was talking about a post doc position that is available in my lab and I would like to refer him to my PI but I am very naive when it comes to interpersonal stuffs related in academia and i dont know how to deal it in a professional way, like should I first let my PI know about him before my friend approaches him by email? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Will my PI think negatively of me if I refer my friend?

This is my first post in the group, I hope I didnt overstep any rules, also sorry if I have a bad grammar, my first language is not English.

[Assistant]
Rightly or wrongly, the performance of your friend is going to reflect on you. Keep this in mind when recommending anybody for any role.

Similarly, if your friend doesnt get the job or doesnt like your PI, this could affect your relationship.

If neither of things things are a concern to you, then Id just tell your supervisor you know someone who might be appropriate for the role and that youll refer them to the application.


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

[User]
What causes the EMP in a nuclear explosion?

My next question would then be: If a nuclear bomb was detonated in a vacuum on Earth, would it still cause the same EMP?

Thanks!

[Assistant]
A magnetic field is generated when there is a changing electric field.  A nuclear blast releases a lot of electrically charged particles, and it accelerates them very rapidly.  Rapid release of charged particles as well as their violent motion creates a massive magnetic field.

On the same token a changing magnetic field generates an electric field, so for simplicity you can think of the blast generating a ring of powerful magnetic field around the center, which in turn generates an electric field a little bit further away, which generates a magnetic field a little further away...

Your question asks if it would create the same pulse if it was detonated in vacuum.  The answer is yes there will be a pulse, but no, it would not be the same. If the blast is in vacuum, the pulse is due only to the material in the bomb that is ionized and accelerated.  If the blast is not in vacuum, the blast will not only ionize material from the bomb, but it will also ionize material from whatever medium it is in.  Additional charged particles appearing as well as being accelerated means bigger electromagnetic pulse.


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

[User]
[Captain America: The Winter Soldier] WTF didn't Bucky kill Steve after taking his shield?

In Captain America: TWS Bucky snipes Nick Fury and is being chased by Captain America. Around the end of the chase Captain America throws his shield at Bucky to stop him from escaping and Bucky catches it. I mean Bucky's holding Captain America's most significant weapon and or defence and it would take seconds from him to shoot Cap but he chooses to throw the shield right back to Steve and not SHOOT HIM.

Why would Bucky return the shield?

Why would Bucky not shoot Cap on the spot?

[Assistant] He didn't "return" the shield, he threw it back at him as a weapon.  He took out his target and was in escape mode. Bucky didn't know who Captain America was and didn't know he would be a long term threat.


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

[User]
eli5: Why/how do erasers get stale?

Ive noticed that erasers on the ends of pencils and sometimes standalone erasers will harden so they just smudge pencil, or theyll break on use. Arent they just rubber? Why does this happen?

[Assistant] The erasers on the ends of modern pencils are usually some form of synthetic compound, possibly with some rubber, possibly without.  The most common ingredient is vinyl, a petroleum based compound.  Petroleum compounds are great for making flexible objects that perform elastically (like erasers and rubber bands), but those properties are partially due to the volatile chemicals in them.  Exposure to light and oxygen accelerates the evaporation of these volatiles from the compounds, thus making the eraser go stale.  The compounds that held everything together in that flexible matrix are gone, leaving only the solids behind, and a lot of times they are barely held together until you start to use them, at which point they crumble.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Would Boba Fett and Vader ever connect over their mutual hatred of Mace Windu?

Say that they happened to be passing through the Executor mess hall, and hear a bunch of Stormtroopers talking. One is a former Clonetrooper assigned to Windu during the Clone Wars, and is venting to the others about how much of a dick Windu was, and how unfair he was to General Skywalker.

Would Vader and Fett enjoy this conversation, or is too unprofessional for both of them to join in and stir the pot about Windu?

[Assistant]
Boba Fett would probably only take a small amount of satisfaction from hearing it, and only when he was done with the task at hand.

Vader wouldnt give two shits one way or another because of his sheer apathy for the galaxy outside of his own self-loathing and anger or whatever other minor emotion he feels at the moment. Hell, hed probably order that trooper decommissioned for talking about the Jedi, a pretty big no-no for the Empire.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do sports stat sites calculate odds to win?

I see these graphs on sports stat sites that calculate the odds that the Golden State Warriors will go 73-9.  How are these odds calculated?

[Assistant] Though historic analysis of the teams,  situation,  and betting patterns. These are payouts, and the job of the odds setter is to set the payouts do there is the same amount of money on both sides. That way regardless of who wins,  the book collects the vig or fee for placing the bet. As bets become lopsided on one side,  the payouts will move to induce more betting on the other side. You'll often see this recorded as where the book opened and where it is now.


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

[User]
ELI5: How come videos don't load like they used to?

It seems like not long ago one could click on a video, hit play and then pause it so that it could load all the way before watching it. One could easily re-wind by clicking any time in the video and it would already be loaded.

Nowadays it seems like you click the video, hit play and then pause and the video does not load all the way. It only loads a little at a time and then when you try to rewind it has to buffer and re-load again.

Whatever happened to letting a video load, watching it and rewinding easily without all this re-loading?

[Assistant] They changed the way buffering works to try to cut down on data usage. Many people dont watch the entire video so there is no point in loading the whole thing. and internet is faster these days so most people's connection can buffer faster than the video plays. So they only buffer slightly ahead of where the person is in the video.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are there far more bald men than bald women?

Is there something about hair-loss that targets Male genes over Female ones?

[Assistant] Male pattern baldness is caused by DHT in the scalp (a potent form of Testosterone) so the higher your Testosterone levels the more quickly you bald. (there are also some genetic factors also but this is the reason for the sex disparity)