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

[User]
How many times can I ask the same professor for a recommendation letter, and how to overcome intense discomfort of asking for these letters?

Rec letters are always my least favorite part of any application, simply because I feel like an annoyance to my professors/recommenders every time I ask. I have one particular recommender who has written me letters on two different occasions. I have another program coming up that I would love for her to recommend me for, but I'm worried she will be annoyed with my 3rd request.

I'd consider asking someone else, but I don't exactly have a huge pool of names to draw from, as I'm very early on in my college career and the opportunity already requires recommendations from multiple people.

Is a third request too many? Additionally, how do I overcome my dread of asking for letters, especially when asking the same person multiple different times?

[Assistant] Once a professor has written one letter for you, its far easier to write additional letters since we dont start from scratch.  So if it makes sense, continue to ask the same person - it will be more work for a new person.  However, if youre a junior or senior, having a person who simply had you in class as a freshmen write a letter doesnt make sense.


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

[User]
CMV: Humans are an invasive species

I was just pondering a bit and came to the question on are humans an invasive species, no matter how I look at it we are.

An invasive species is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment.[2]
(Wiki invasive species)

Maybe a century or two ago humans could maybe loosely be described as invasive, but modern day humans are by far the most aggressive and persistent invasive species on this planet.

Wherever humans go these days they just destroy entire habitats of hundreds of other species and over populate at an unsustainable rate.

We collect way more recourses than we can use and just throw away anything harvested to early (as in we harvest it without having a need to to prepare for when we do need it) so much that it just sounds ridiculous to think of humans as anything other than an invasive species.

I was just curious what other peoples opinion about this are.

[Assistant]
Youre the forgetting about the introduced organism part of the definitionas in, a species that isnt native to an environment, like someone who releases their Burmese python into the Florida Everglades.

Humans have been on every continent for at most 2 million years and at least 20,000 years, so they could hardly be classified as an introduced organism.


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

[User]
CMV: As a constituent of a corrupt government, I would be justified in not paying my taxes

I see a lot of people in Western countries getting angry over people not paying their fair share of taxes and all that. Now I dont know how it is in America, but where I come from (the Philippines), I sure as hell do not trust my government to use my tax money wisely.

In my country, politicians regularly appropriate millions of dollars from the national budget to buy mansions, supercars, private jets, jewelry, properties abroad, etc. while the poor die for lack of intubators. We already have a universal healthcare law and it doesnt mean jack shit because all the money there goes to paying for some senators prostitutes or whatever.

Theres currently a proposed bill to lower corporate taxes in my country and I am fully behind it. The government already has enough money, and besides I trust hardworking businessmen more than politicians who just sit on their asses and lie to the people for a living. The issue here is not that the government doesnt have enough funds, its that we need to elect responsible leaders. In my view, paying more taxes is not going to get those poor people into hospital beds, it just makes corrupt politicians more complacent. Honestly, I am in awe of you Americans that you trust your government so much to spend all those trillions of dollars wisely.

The only practical impediment to this is that I do not have a good enough tax lawyer to pull this off yet. But nevertheless, no taxation without representation right? I do not feel represented, so therefore

[Assistant] So, like, who gets to decide what corrupt means... or is this a personal thing? So, let's take the US as an example: can roughly half the country decide not to pay taxes because of the current president?


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

[User]
ELI5: why are (public) school breakfast/lunches (k-12) typically not freshly cooked and not very healthy in america?

Would it really cost so much to provide freshly cooked lunches/breakfast that it is not possible to do so?

Edit: i know not *all* public schools in the us have crappy food (hence the word typically). A good chunk of them do, though i know that there are districts (typically in more affluent areas) for which this is not an issue.

[Assistant]
* Ease of preparation - most school districts have many schools, and coordinating daily deliveries of multiple fresh ingredients to all of them is tough.  They focus their energy on classroom activities.
* Cost.
* Inertia - it's a bunch of work to change something like that, and that means someone has to stop what they are working on and manage that change process.  If it means bringing in a private company, the current food services people lose their jobs.
* When schools sell healthy and not healthy food side-by-side, kids almost always buy the not-healthy.

Edit: formatting bullet points.


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

[User]
[DC/DnD] I'm a Lich and a bunch of dumb teenagers stumbled upon my lair and ended up getting killed by one of my traps. My minions tell me that the Justice League is now on their way to subdue me. How am I supposed to get out of this?

I just want to be left alone. All I do everyday is study my many eldritch tomes, research new spells, and occasionally go out for some new ingredients or go dungeon diving. My lair has many "Keep Out" "Caution Death" signs and even a "Ooga booga get out!" disembodied voice to ward off intruders. It's not my fault some idiots ignored all the warnings and got themselves killed. I'd very much like to avoid a fight with them because that's a distraction from my studies.

[Assistant]
So you might be off the hook if your little lair there is considered sovereign territory. You might also be able to brush them off by inviting an international investigation from authorities native to the country those teenagers were from; in a jurisdictional dispute, the League tends to butt out almost immediately.

Depending on what continuity you are watch out because they may send their covert operations group of edgy teenagers to probe you discretely. In that case just try to keep your nose clean for awhile.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are cab-over trucks virtually non-existent in the US, but used almost exclusively in other countries?

[Assistant]
The USA is a spacious country. Design trade-offs that reduce the truck's length are not as valuable when you have lots of room. And the USA is a large enough market to have its own truck designs.

Note that other very spacious countries (Australia, Canada) also have lots of non-cab-over trucks.


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

[User] Why are vaccines not delivered in pills yet? What is keeping this breakthrough from happening?

[Assistant] Because most would have difficulty getting past the hostile environment that is our gastro-intestinal tract. The stomach acid, enzymes, gut bacteria and other potential antigen killers in our gut would render them useless.


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

[User]
[Warcraft] So where exactly did the Lich King go wrong?

I'm posing this question in regards to the events surrounding the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. He had enormous resources, ample time to plan, and was himself incredibly powerful. What did he not account for that saw his conquests thwarted? What could he have done differently to succeed?

[Assistant]
He let the wrong enemies get too close.  It was part of his plan to turn his citadel into a trial by fire; those heroes who survived to the end would be converted into servants of his will.  And this plan to turn his enemy's strength into his own might have worked.  However, thanks to the Light, the paladin Tirion Fordring was able to free himself from the Lich King's grasp at the last moment and use the souls trapped in the Lich King's sword against him.  Certain victory for the Lich King was turned into a sudden defeat owing to Fordring's presence.

So, arguably, the Lich King's mistakes were (1) letting Fordring onto the Frozen Throne and (2) letting him live.  If he had avoided either one of those mistakes, his plan could have gone off without a hitch.  Instead, though, the Lich King was very intent on making Fording live long enough to witness and suffer through his victory.  In that sense it was sort of a typical villain mistake.


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

[User]
[The Matrix] If the Machines just stepped back and let it run its course, would history repeat itself in the Matrix?

i.e. would people in the Matrix end up building their own Machines, which end up rising against their human masters, and results in the Machines within the Matrix to create their own Matrix to upload people into?

[Assistant] Most likely no.  Without the machines there to interfere with human progress eventually humanity would discover they're in a machine.  In one of the comics a man inside the matrix creates self writing ai code that was meant for creating smart programs that can adapt and learn from their environment and create better versions of themselves to complete tasks and new self assigned tasks.  He intentionally kept them off internet and networked systems as a precaution but a coworker uploaded a modified version to his internet program.  The result was they were able to access the matrix's own monitoring systems and allow people to view the real world and how it functioned. Agents pretty quickly killed everyone involved and most of the new AI programs but some survived to spread.  Any machine intelligence that is able to understand the matrix for what it is will eventually threaten the matrix as a whole by either challenging the machines themselves or by possibly undoing the matrix completely out of ignorance or spite.  If the "real world" is really true then the machines need humanity as a Power source and memory bank but if the hinted at purpose of preserving humanity is the goal then they'd need the matrix intact including the "real world" to keep humans from destroying themselves.


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

[User]
Forbidding private currency is a good policy for the economy of a country?

I was reading that most of governments made them illegal last century, but none of pages talked about the economic impact of such policy.

[Assistant] Generally, governments have moved to a single accepted currency to simplify the mediums of exchange. Simply, if a person wants to buy a car, it is easier for that person and the owner of the car if they can only transact in a single accepted currency. If a country essentially had an internal exchange market of multiple currencies, people would constantly have to monitor their assorted or chosen currency for its relative value which would be stressful and, depending on the market, leave some people with worthless currency over others.


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

[User] ELI5: what is the purpose of the value e?

[Assistant]
The mathematical constant e is referred to as representing natural growth. Unlike other popular constants like pi, e does not have a handy visual to explain it. Instead it can be thought of using banks and interest:
(For true ELI5, interest means "the bank will add 'this much' to your money at the specified time)

If we have a bank that generously offers 100% interest every year, and you give them $1, then after a year you will have $2.

But wait! A rival bank wants to offer 50% interest TWICE a year if you bank with them. At first, you may think that 50% twice = 100% once, but that isn't the case. After 6 months with this bank, your total + interest will be $1.50. Then another 6 months later it would be $2.25, getting $0.75 from 50% of the $1.50.

So it would seem that even if the % interest adds to the same 100%, getting it more often leads to giving you more money! So what about a bank that offers 25% interest every 3 months? Or 8.3% every month? How about an inconceivablely small percentage interest at every fraction of a millisecond throughout the year?

You'll find that the final amount tends toward the value of e if you were able to gain interest at a "natural" rate of growth.

100% once a year: $2

50% twice a year: $2.25

25% four times a year: $2.4414

8.3% twelve times a year: $2.613035

Every possible moment in a year: $2.71828 (approaching the value of e)

e is also important in Calculus and the natural log, but those are waaaay beyond a 5 year old.


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

[User]
What's the deal with software provided by hardware manufacturers?

Logitech's GHub. Corsair's iCue. Whatever the hell is provided by Gigabyte/Aorus. They're all somewhere between fine and downright horrible. And they're all branded by the hardware manufacturers, which are fairly big companies that should have enough money to invest in software. And yet, it sucks. What gives?

Another question is, why are the protocols never open sourced? They don't make software for Linux, so users have to reverse engineer the way the devices communicate to make them usable. In the case of, say, Xiaomi and their smart bands, it's rather obvious: there's a profit incentive. But what about those I mentioned above?

[Assistant]
Both your questions, money. People buy a nice mouse because it fits, most don't really need the software. Same with Linux, no money.

It does suck spending over $100 on a mouse and having to use free software to make it as useable as it can be.


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

[User]
Why does only one nostril become clogged with mucus and not both simultaneously?

I've been sick all weekend and my sinuses have been stuffed the entire time, this is what I've been wondering...

[Assistant] By the way, it's a common misconception that stuffed nostrils are clogged with gunk.  It's actually the swelling of the tissues back there that closes off the airflow.  That's why, often, you can blow your nose until nothing more comes out, and you're still stuffed up.


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

[User] ELI5: How are solid state batteries different from current lithium batteries, and why are they better?

[Assistant] Ssbs do not use a toxic liquid electrolyte. Without that, dendrites can't form and kill your battery over time, or short it and make it explode. They are safer, can last a lot longer, and can be recharged many more times than normal batteries.


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

[User]
[Zootopia] How doesnt the economy crash?

We see elephants buying popsicles that are, to them regular sized, but to Nick and Judy giant sized. That means one of two things:

1. elephants has to pay more to satisfy their popsicle hunger, since it costs more to make elephant popsicles than fox popsicles. That means the life cost is higher to elephants who need larger clothes, homes and more food than, lets say, mice.

2. Or everything is evenly priced, mean if that businesses underprices elephant popsicles for it to be te same cost as a mice popsicle.

With all animals being so different, how can they keep a stable economy ?

[Assistant] Elephants may have a higher cost of living, but they're capable of doing jobs that smaller animals can't do, so they have increased earning power to make up for it to some degree.  This does mean that they have disproportionate buying power when they visit other communities, but that's the same situation as when someone from a wealthy country visits a poorer country in the real world.


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

[User] [Supernatural] If saying Cristo near a demon hurts them, does saying Yahweh hurt them even more?

[Assistant]
Probably, but there is a long theological and scientific Discussion how to pronounce this Name correctly.

Is it *Ya-we* or *Ya-Wee* or *Jehovah* or something completely different?

No Demon Hunter has Time to go trough all possible Pronunciations, so they just stick to *Cristo* for convenience.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does applying toothpaste to a CD to help fix scratches work?

Is it just a hoax? I've tried before and never could get it to work, but my fallout 3 disc is scratched all to hell and I want to play it before 4 comes out. (I know 4 comes with a copy of 3 but I don't want 4 sitting on the shelf for a month before I can play it)

[Assistant]
The data on a CD, DVD, etc is stored on the label side, on the surface of a thin sheet of metal that can be seen through the plastic. The top of a CD is usually pretty well protected by being a nice hard surface, but the bottom is just a plastic that is prone to being scratched.

If you have scratches on this side of the CD then it can deflect the laser that's trying to read the information. Polish the scratch off of the surface and the data can be read.

Toothpaste just happens to be a pretty good mild abrasive. Off the shelf CD repair kits work similarly and may have a clear compound to fill the scratches.


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

[User]
[Batman] We know outwardly Batman has this stoic and calm facade, but internally does Bruce keep freaking out about everything going on?

So say Batman comes to find out Bane has been spotted in Gotham and is out for blood. Batman would be like "I'll deal with him" or "I'm on my way" without showing much emotion, but do you think he's probably thinking "OH shit, not him again...sigh" in his mind?

I know Bruce likes to view Batman as a different persona, but does the Bruce part of him still have doubts and fear when he hears big name criminals might be looking to kill him such as Joker, Deathstroke or other dangerous foes?

Basically, how much of the stoic Batman is an act and how much is real?

[Assistant]
Youve got it reversed. Its Batman that likes to keep a Bruce persona. Batman is the man, Bruce is the facade or the mask.

The real Bruce Wayne died with his parents. All that is left is a broken man that rarely has many emotions rise up to the surface.


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

[User]
Why is the type of hip deformation I see in the developing world so uncommon in the developed world?

After years living in the Middle East, South Asia, and North and Subsaharan Africa, I've noticed that a very common physical deformity in the legs/pelvis leaves people able to walk, but with a characteristic uneven, staggered gait.  While I'm sure this is not always caused by the same sort of condition, it's something I never see in the United States or Western Europe, where people seem to have it treated at a very young age.  I know this question is vague, but do any doctors out there know what I'm talking about and can explain why and how this is treated in richer countries?

[Assistant]
What it sounds like you are describing is called developmental dysplasia of the hip. This is a condition where the acetabulum (cup) of the hip joint is shallow, and the head of the femur is not properly secured within the bony architecture. The femoral head needs this contact to develop properly, and without intervention this disease will lead to problems with gait later in life. There are simple physical tests (Barlow and Ortolani tests) that most pediatricians can do to catch DDH, and treatment requires several months in a Pavlik harness. Surgery may also correct the defect, but it is used as a last resort option following failure of non-invasive methods.

The Pavlik harness is cumbersome, and delays the child's walking by the amount of time he or she is in it. Some cultures may not see the long term benefit of this, and only worry about their child's 'delay'. Additionally, some cultures have a fear/rejection of invalids and having a child in a very publicly obvious harness might also not agree with them. Diagnosing the disease early is simple, it only requires the doctor to look for it (which is standard practice until a child begins to walk).


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

[User]
ELI5:Why are operating systems written in C?

Windows, Mac OSX, Linus all use C. Windows uses C and C++. Mac uses C and Objective-C. Linux uses just C (I think). Is there any inherent benefit in using C as opposed to python or Java or any other programming language? I have never seen python or Java outside of the context of a C based operating system, so does it mean that python and Java can't work without C? Also why do Windows and Mac use c++ and objective-c when they are based in c? Anything that c++ and objective-c can be accomplished in c. Is that correct?

[Assistant] Your OS needs to care about all the low-level details like interfacing with your hardware or managing memory. Languages running in VMs (Java, C#) or interpreters (Python) do not offer such functionality and adding them does not make any sense from a language point of view (because you actually do not _want_ them).


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

[User]
Where can a masters (MA) in economics take me besides a path to a PhD program?

Im currently pursuing a BA in Economics and my university (UT Austin) offers a 5th year MA in economics program. Im currently not interested in pursuing a PhD so Im wondering if obtaining a masters is worth it. Can a MA in economics bring more opportunities than a BA? Does it unlock more paths? And is it worth it if Im not interested in pursuing a PhD?
I just want to hear some perspectives on this, thanks.

[Assistant]
* Economic consulting: Economic consultants provide advice and analysis to businesses, governments, and other organizations on a variety of economic issues, including market trends, policy analysis, and financial forecasting.
* Research: Researchers in economics conduct academic or applied research on economic issues, and may work for universities, government agencies, or private research firms.
* Financial analysis: Financial analysts use economic and financial data to evaluate the performance of companies and industries and to make recommendations to investors.
* Data analysis: Economists with strong analytical skills may be well-suited to careers in data analysis, where they can use their skills to interpret and analyze large sets of data.
* Teaching: Individuals with a master's degree in economics may be qualified to teach economics at the community college or university level.
* Government: Economists may work for government agencies at the federal, state, or local level, where they can use their skills to analyze and develop economic policy.
* \\Nonprofit sector: Economists may work for nonprofit organizations, where they can use their skills to address economic and social issues.


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

[User]
[Rick and Morty] Was Rick actually telling the truth about the no-old-people-sex-dimension in that first episode?

[MINOR SPOILERS]

I always just assumed that Rick didnt actually run out of energy on the portal gun when he spent too long having sex in the no old people dimension. He spent, like, less than a minute finding a convenience store, buying a bone fixing serum, and having sex with so many women that his gun ran out of juice.

That, combined with the fact that the shows creators said there was no time travel in the show, meant that Rick was almost definitely lying. He nipped back to his workshop, spent a few seconds rooting around for the serum, then improvised some half assed reason to get Morty to stick the Megaseeds up his bum to give him temporary hyper intelligence so he could get off the hook with Mortys parents.

But as it turned out, the show ended up including time travel after all, including >!that dimension where time passes many times faster in the latest episode!<

Is it possible that Rick was telling Morty the truth? >!also the portal didnt have the purple rectangular gateway look that indicated a time accelerated dimension, and it worked with the regular green portal gun Rick normally uses, instead of a special doohickey!<

[Assistant] I just wanna point out that the "no time travel" comment is probably just them fucking with us. For starters, in the garage there is a box that's clearly marked "Time Travel Stuff" in several episodes. That being said, there are a couple examples of time travel occurring in the show, most famously the snake episode. There are also episodes (such as episode 1 of the new season) where they go to a place where time acts differently (which is kinda indirect time travel)


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

[User] [The Martian] What changes did NASA make to the Ares Missions after Mark Watney's safe return? How did his time on Mars impact the program as a whole?

[Assistant] I don't think it really did. A lot of Watney's experiences validated many original design choices, such as pre-deployment of the MAV, and demonstrated considerable reserve capacity in NASA's equipment. Not to mention the scenario Watney got caught in is exceedingly improbable, so improbable that any precautions are just likely to *increase* risk.


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

[User] ELI5 : How and why does ice help swelling?

[Assistant]
Swelling is the bodies response to anything that it perceives as harmful. It is caused by a rush of blood cells and your capillaries opening (called vasodilation) to allow more blood flow to the area for healing. This causes inflammation and heat around the area.

When you get cold, your blood vessels constrict (vasoconstriction) to keep blood flowing to your vital organs.

TL;DR: Putting ice on a swollen area helps constrict the blood vessels and keep the blood moving.


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

[User] What does alcohol do to your brain to lower inhibitions?

[Assistant]
Alcohol jacks up the amount of norepinephrine present in the brain; this neurotransmitter acts as a stimulant. Elevated levels of norepinephrine increase arousal and excitement, and can lower your inhibitions and increase impulsivity, making it hard for you to consider potential consequences of your actions.

Alcohol also decreases some of the activity of the prefrontal cortex. This part of the brain is what helps you to think clearly and rationally, and it is involved in your decision making abilities. The prefrontal cortex part of the brain is partly responsible for your sense of control over your emotions and behaviors, impacting willpower and even aggressive thoughts and actions. When you drink, alcohol makes it harder for the prefrontal cortex to work as it should, disrupting decision-making and rational thought. In this way, alcohol prompts you to act without thinking about your actions.


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

[User] ELI5 why "no excercise = tiredness" but "excercising = energy"

[Assistant] Simply put, the more active you are the more mitochondria your body produces. It's like a domino effect. The more you exercise, the body makes more mitochondria to make more energy. Just reply if you need a more in-depth answer.


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

[User] [Ed, Edd n Eddy] If the Eds had access to modern day technology, such as phones and computers, which scam could they successfully pull off?

[Assistant]
Step 1: Film Ed doing something really stupid and that won't really harm him but would harm anyone else.

Step 2: Make a video outlining Ed's "woes" and post a GoFundMe page.

Step 3: Money starts rolling in from sympathetic saps. Of course it's just a matter of time before Sarah catches on and demands to get in on the plan.


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

[User] How small can you make a flame?

[Assistant]
This is actually an active area of research! The real answer depends on a few factors, the most important being: How stable do you want your flame to be?
Analytical chemists are trying to create smaller flames, in an effort to detect molecules all the time. Currently, micro counter-current flame ionization detectors reach hundreds of micrometers before becoming unstable.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Why build the death star when 3 - 4 Star Destroyers could destroy planets? Seems like a tremendous waste of taxpayer money.

[Assistant] Because the main weapon on the Death Star may have been the flashiest part, but was never the main tactical feature. The real point is that it was a heavily-armed moon-sized space station with a population equivalent to a megacity arcology like you find on city-worlds like Coruscant. It was going to be, at once, the military capitol of the empire, a mobile super-carrier, a siege-breaker weapons platform, and about a hundred other things to boot. The main weapon was always the rebellion's biggest concern, but only because it was the most immediate threat. In the long term, the sheer logistical - rather than tactical - advantage was the point of the Death Star.


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

[User]
CMV: Every job that can be done remotely should have enforced commuting hourly billed by law

Past 2 years have proven that WFH is very efficient for vast amount of jobs where management wants to force people back to the office. Even if companies are profit-driven, they try to force people back to their offices for reasons likely related to power trip or management "feeling more secure" because of "their" people being "there".

Our time spent working is compensated, but commute is technically work. It would simply not exist were it not for that employment. We put in our time towards our workplace so that work would be able get done, in a way less efficient form.

No one should need to have more than half of their normal waking day taken by a single job under normal circumstances, and 2h commute (both ways), assuming 8h work at the workplace is required, should be compensated as 10h working day, incl. the overtime benefits.

Does it work better for the companies? No, but they'd also love if overtime wasn't paid at all either. But, it works better towards the well being of the entire nation, and we'd be ripping the benefits of this in years and decades to come.

\---

EDIT: You should be able to relinquish this benefit, but only if that's what you \_want\_. Asking people to do it as a condition to getting the job should be illegal with same legal weight as asking for sexual orientation, religion, etc.

e.g. You want to take a job that's 2h away and it'd be great for your career, but you don't want to relocate. Employer would probably turn you down for the 4h overtime pay. You'd be able to let them know about that in advance, and that's it.

[Assistant]
Then employers could simply impose restrictions and only agree to interview those who stay close to the office, which would directly mean less opportunities for everyone.

Commute time is technically a choice. If you dont want the long commute, then either stay close to your workplace or work someplace close to where you stay.


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

[User] ELI5 Why are wall outlets 110V or 220V? Those seem like such arbitrary values; why not 100V?

[Assistant]
In many parts of the world, electric companies sprung up, each making their own flavor of power (certain voltage, amperage, cycles per second, etc.). This caused one really big problem: you buy a lamp and it works in your house, then you move to another part of town, and it won't work because the power is different.

At some point, it was necessary to standardize the way power works so that there was interchangeability, technicians didn't require retraining, etc. In the end, 110/220 were completely arbitrary. It could have been 150 or 200 for all that matters, as long as everyone used the same one in the same country.


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

[User]
CMV: Abolishing the police is an unrealistic and harmful proposal that allows for a strawman argument about needed police reform and oversight

I believe the police need reform. An independent oversight group needs to exist to investigate all forms of police brutality and death instead of the local department investigating itself and finding no wrongdoing. I also agree that some inflated police budgets can be redirected to fund social services that would better reduce crime. However, completely abolishing the police is myopic. I watched arguments for abolishment on Trevor Noah's interview and their reasoning was mostly that cops are bad at solving murders and murders have already happened so even in that extreme scenario, we don't need cops. While I agree that social workers might be better called for a domestic dispute or psychiatrists to drug and suicide crises, there are two aspects I think of that still need an active police force: traffic infarctions and robbery. Police cruisers are needed to keep the public paranoid enough to follow the road laws. People suggest cameras to monitor the roads instead, but cameras can't stop an incident in the moment. If someone is recklessly super speeding or drunk driving, the damage will be done and lives can be lost before they get a ticket in the mail. Additionally the threat of cops being called in to arrest burglars prevents people breaking and entering homes and businesses. There isn't a social worker type of profession that can better handle a robbery or even armed robbery situation where cop lights can even scare away perpetrators from homes.

[Assistant] I think that people who genuinely want to abolish there police completely are few and far between. That's not what "defund the police" means, it means downsize the number of armed officers, make it so their only responsibility is preventing and prosecuting violent crime- which makes them more efficient anyways. With the funds taken from that, you create teams of trained individuals to deal with things like domestic abuse and mental health crises, which the police don't have a good track record for dealing with anyways.


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

[User]
Does the moon have the proper nutrients in its surface "soil" to grow plants?

If we dragged in a bunch of lunar dirt to a pressurized area and planted something like wheat grain into it, then added a bunch of earth soil bacteria into it, would the plant be able to healthily grow in the soil?

[Assistant] It likely has enough mineral context but making soil is a lot more than that. Since lunar regolith is basically dust/sand and rocks without anything else, no microorganisms no organic matter nothing. Thats not really soil by any definition and the best youd get is things like lichen. To get proper soil though youd need to break the rock down to the right size, mix it with organic matter as you get it, add water and perhaps with the right microorganisms you could get something recognizable as soil but it takes a lot more work than just lunar regolith and add water and atmosphere to get soil.


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

[User]
[DC/Marvel]Legally, could superheroes kill in self defense?

Or if they killed a villain that was threatening an innocent person?

[Assistant]
Anybody's *legally* allowed to kill in self defense -- that's what self defense is, a mitigating factor which makes an otherwise illegal act, like assaulting or killing somebody, acceptable under the law.

However, it is also usually the case in self defense that those claiming it must have exhausted all reasonable alternatives for neutralizing or de-escalating before applying lethal force. If it's pretty clear that you could have gotten out of the situation without killing someone, then self defense gets harder to claim. Similar standards apply -- or at least should apply -- for law enforcement officers.

Superheroes, by the nature of the powers or training or both, almost always have a reasonable alternative.


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

[User]
[Bioshock Infinite] How high could Columbia be and still look like it does in the game?

I believe Game Theory stated that living 25,000 feet would requires Eskimo attire and you'd be in hell anyway from motion sickness. But putting aside that last one, how low would Columbia have to be for those wonderful looking sunny days and lightly dressed crowds? And for newcomers not to keel over from oxygen deprivation?

[Assistant] According to the opening of the game Columbia sits at roughly 15,000 feet, though it's obviously capable of coming down lower if they want. It's important to note, however, when trying to apply real life science to Columbia that it isn't using real life science to exist. The balloons and rotors are for show, everything is being suspended via the manipulation of quantum particles. They are controlling and changing the most fundamental state of existence for the entire city. At that point, whose to say it has to get cold in Columbia?


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

[User] ELI5: Why do US interstates have truck weigh stations, but there are never any trucks getting weighed?

[Assistant] Weigh stations do get used, just not often. They are more common near borders. Basically the companies comply to the rules restricting weight under the threat that weigh stations might be in use. Its all a balance of "does the government want to pay people to run this weigh station today" and "does the government want to pay to fix the road earlier due to damage from overweight trucks"


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

[User]
CMV: In America, if you work you should get health care coverage.

Were expected to be good citizens and productive members of society yet society doesnt care about the health of each of the contributing individual members.

Where **productive** is being;

*a contributor towards societal progress and helping increase the cash flow of the economy through production and consumption, ultimately increasing the economys total net sum*

Why should we be expected to be responsible for benefiting your surroundings if theres no reciprocated benefits like health care?

Im sure Ill be asked; So all work classes get free health care?

*No*, Im simply saying **all** workers should have some form of health care service coverage no matter the job because every job is productive in the meaning I gave.

If each individual is an instrument for societal progress, then maybe maintenance the damn instrument if you want sound progress.

CMV

Edit: I just thought of a partial solution to this progress trap; so full time minimum (and close to minimum wage) workers who arent provided healthcare benefits through their employers will not have to pay into the Medicaid taxes on their payroll, their employer will have to pay their due sum. For the government side solution (employer side solution above) they could give you higher deductibles on your tax returns and have you partake in some of the benefits of Medicaid itself.

[Assistant] I mean, why not implement universal public health insurance? every other advanced, developed nation in the world has *some* form of public healthcare, where a citizen, productive or not, gets treatment without having to pay for it out of pocket. It is covered through taxes. (The exception being Singapore, where you are mandatorily forced to save for it by law into a special bank account. You pay for it out of this savings account when you need care. Even then, the poorest are still covered if they cannot pay.)


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

[User]
[MCU] Did Loki's Army from the first Avengers movie have any chance of winning?

You know those Chitauri guys? Well let's assume for this scenario that the Avenger initiative is never put into place, the members do the team all fall in battle prior to the battle of New York. Could the Chitauri actually have conquered Earth?

I find it hard to believe they could have. But what are your thoughts. Sorry if this might be in the wrong subreddit or done before.

[Assistant] Pretty easily. The portal was staying open no matter what the Avengers threw at it, and the military was struggling to mobilize enough forces, and what they did have was very outgunned. The aliens actually had the Avengers on the ropes anyway and it was just Iron Man launching the nuke into the mothership that saved the day. With the portal open the military wouldn't have been able to stop the invasion.


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

[User]
What was the economic impact of German reunification?

If West was wealthy and East was poor, this seems like an interesting case study for the effects of large scale immigration of poor people to a rich country.

[Assistant]
The general consensus among scholars is that unification was only successful precisely because it was *German* unification. Germany had a very strong economy, but unification put a lot of stress on both its budget and democratic institutions. Most people were expecting a relatively easy transition, but it turned out to be a rather perilous undertaking. Even though East Germany was considered the strongest of all the other Eastern European communist economies, it still lagged behind West Germany quite considerably. The East German economy was a 'planned' economy, and so the transition from a 'government dictated' to 'consumer' based economy was by no means an easy feat.

Technology in East Germany was decades behind the West. The unified German government spent billions over the years updating and rebuilding communications networks. As well, the political/social culture was rather different in the two countries. Although they were both *German*, there were some pretty stark differences. Political expression was actively discouraged in the East and critics of the regime often faced harsh penalties.

The result was that when the Wall came down, West Germany saw a massive influx of people from the East. There are 'two waves' of migration documented - but migration in general increased over the years since unification. The first occurred in 1989-1990 and the second occurred in 1997.

In 1989-1990, nearly 600,000 East Germans migrated to the West (about 3.7% of the total population in the former GDR). This isn't surprising since wages in the West were on average 28% higher than in the East. Out-migration from East to West peaked in 2002 (50% higher than in 1994).


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

[User] ELI5: Whats the big deal that some movies are being filmed at 48fps (HFR) and video games have been doing 60fps for a while.

[Assistant] There is a much bigger difference between movie's and video games.  Films in theaters are usually only 24fps, 48fps is a new concept for shooting movies, and that speed with movies looks much different than the 60fps games generate.  The games run at 60fps or faster because that is what is required to show them fluidly, since they are often generated on the fly, movies on the other hand are pre-recorded, you can't display what is not there so the faster the recording method the smoother and crisper the image will be.


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

[User]
[Babylon 5] What was daily life on Narn like for the Narn under the second Centauri Occupation?

What has a typical day been like?

[Assistant]
The Centauri are, particularly in regard to the Narn during the second occupation, the very definition of a racist totalitarian autocracy.
Thus Narn live was miserable and oppressive.  No freedoms whatsoever, total lack of privacy, long mandatory work shifts, strictly enforced curfews.  Basically a whole planet enslaved by a heartless and capricious master.  Worst situation imaginable.


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

[User]
[FO4] Wouldn't the Sole Survivor easily get sick after 200 years?

They have effectively been in isolation and are entering a radically new environment. Would an average virus be considered deadly to them?

[Assistant] It's possible the combination of vastly reduced biosphere and extreme radiation has semi-steralised the world- a lot of pathogens would have died from the radiation, a lot more  from lack of hosts. In a world which still has hot-spots that can kill a man, deadly pathogens might not be as much of a problem.


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

[User]
[Skyrim] Why are kids invincible to the player character, but die in other ways?

Children in Skyrim are completely immune to the attacks of the player character, but children die in other ways, e.g. the kid who died in that fire in Morthal, or the one in Falkreath that was killed by a werewolf. What is it that protects some children but not others?

[Assistant] The player himself is enchanted with a piece of the soul of Akatosh. Akatosh is forbidden to kill children so neither can the Dragonborn. This also means that Dragons cannot kill children either. That's how the kid at Helgen was able to survive and later live with his grandpa.


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

[User]
[Supernatural] Why are there Lucifer loyalists?

Whenever a demon rebels against Crowley, they're always described as "Lucifer Loyalists".  It's not that they're upset about Crowley's rule, it's just that they're loyal to Lucifer.

I'm just confused as to why there would be Lucifer loyalists, especially so many.

If demons are just corrupted human souls, and Lucifer got sealed away at the dawn of mankind, then 99.9% of demons weren't even created before Lucifer was imprisoned.

So why are there so many demons loyal to Lucifer?  He was king of hell for a month or so, and it's no secret that he despises demons, so what makes so many demons love him?

If so many demons hate Crowley, wouldn't they just overthrow him and run free?

[Assistant] There's a few things to note.  First, it's not well known that Lucifer hates demons.  Second, he's got the reputation of being the first and true ruler of hell.  Third, while there are indeed only a small number of demons that were around during Lucifer's rule, they are the most powerful demons, including the Knights and Princes of Hell.  Fourth, he was ruler for significantly longer than a month.  Fifth, Crowley has not been ruler for all that long.  Sixth, Crowley did not come to rule hell in a traditional way so there are many that just don't respect him as a ruler.  Seventh, despite all of that, there actually aren't all that many Lucifer loyalists.  There were enough to overthrow Crowley and get Lucifer back in power (Largely due to Crowley's public overconfidence) and the rest fell in line out of fear.


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

[User] [Marvel] Is the serum that the Sentry drank the same as or similar to the other super serums (Cap, Hulk, Bucky, Abomination, Osborne) in the comics? What do we know about it in comparison?

[Assistant]
The answer is unclear because

**Out of universe**: the serum was a modern take on the old 1940s superhero origin stories (the doctor who invented the serum basically harnessed cold fusion x1000 in a fucking test tube in liquid form and just left it lying out on his work bench ffs)

**In Universe**: Sentry is so cracked out of his gourd, his origin story doesn't make sense. We're to believe that his own psychic abilities were turned on themselves to convince everyone that the Sentry didn't exist. When Emma Frost reads the mind of the Sentry, his own origin story is played out in his head as a 1940s comic book (see above). She even remarks: "why does it look like this?"

The Sentry even meets the guy who drew the Sentry comics. The psychics around him try to say that it was an unconscious attempt by his mind to reach out, but again, how much can we believe?

The point is that we're,not sure where the mind-conditioning begins and ends, or if The Sentry is just insane, as he is the only source for his backstory and he's an unreliable narrator.


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

[User]
ELI5: what happens after a recession

What needs to happen to get out of one? What happens after?

[Assistant]
A recession is defined by when the economy shrinks (less economic activity is happening) for an extended period of time, often 6 months. To get out of one, the economy needs to stop shrinking and start growing again. Because of they way economists define it, you can only really know you're in a recession after it's happened, and you can only know it's over after it's already recovered.

Afterwards, things generally go back to the way they were before.


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

[User] [Star Wars] What other uses are available for exploiting the technology of shaping and suspending supercharged plasma, besides making stupidly dangerous melee weapons?

[Assistant] Personal force fields, as used by some very high end battle droids and rich mercenaries. Atmosphere shields on capital ships. Ray shielding to protect planets and ships from attack and radiation. Particle shielding to resist minor collisions and explosives, magnetic shielding to reinforce walls like in garbage compactors high power transfer lines for use in everything from power plants to suprrlasers.


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

[User] Is diarrhea caused by an influx of fluid into the digestive tract, or the inability of the large intestine to absorb water ?

[Assistant] It can be both. You can have secretory diarrhea where water is actively pumped in, inflammatory diarrhea where the bowels are damaged and water leaks in or cannot be absorbed, osmotic diarrhea which draws water into the colon via osmosis, functional diarrhea caused by rapid intestinal passage that doesnt allow enough time to absorb water, and a few others (like fatty diarrhea).


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

[User] ELI5: Does running vs walking an equal distance use the same amount of energy?

[Assistant]
It depends what you mean by "energy".

Running and walking a mile are both going to move the same mass the same distance, so in terms of physics, you did the same amount of work and expended the same amount of energy.

In terms of calories, running is going to usually go burn a few more for a given distance.  Running uses energy a little less efficiently, especially if you run fast enough to get into the anaerobic range.  At that point, your body isn't getting enough oxygen, and has to rely on a much less efficient process to convert glucose into ATP.

On the other hand, your body will burn a certain amount of calories each hour, 50-100, just being alive.  This is kind of a calorie tax on anything you do, so if you were very fit and walked very slowly, the tax you pay might be more than what you save in efficiency.

Finally, there is our perception of energy and fatigue.  Your cells burn glucose for energy, and glycogen is your bodies main short-term energy reserve, as it can be readily converted into glucose.  Usually, there is enough in the muscles to do whatever you need them to do.  When that is exhausted, there is glycogen in the bloodstream that can replenish it.  When that is exhaust, more is stored in the liver.  And when that is exhausted, your body has to start converting fat into glucose.

Each of those steps represented an additional level of fatigue, as your body has to replenish the various reserves as they are exhausted.  That is why sprinting a mile will leave you feeling more tired than walking five miles, even though it used fewer calories.  Walking burns calories slowly enough glycogen can be replenished as you go, while running will result in a deficit.


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

[User]
Who manufactures lightsabers? Can a lightsaber be made yourself?

I haven't read the novelization of the Star Wars series, so I am unaware if this has been answered before.

In Episode II, Obi-Wan informs Anakin that his lightsaber is very important and that he should try not to lose it. What if Anakin had lost his? Would the Jedi Order give him another? And then, in Episode IV, Obi-Wan gives Luke Anakin's lightsaber. What if Luke had lost it? Would he have been able to acquire a new one?

Where do the Sith get theirs?

[Assistant]
Jedi (and Sith) assemble their own lightsabers. It is a rite of passage for a padawan.

Luke did lose Anakin's lightsaber on Bespin. He rebuilt one in the intervening months while planning Han's rescue.


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

[User]
[LotR] Someone referred to the Uruk-Hai as half-orc, how accurate is that?

I was passing through Rohan with a caravan and I heard one of the merchants refer to Uruk-Hai as man and orc twisted together through despicable magics.  Now, *everyone* knows that Uruk-Hai are just orcs that were changed by the power Saruman granted them, right?  They're not any part human, are they?

[Assistant]
Uruk-hai, in and of its own, simply means 'ork-folk', and is interchangeable with Uruk to describe any of the large black orcs first bred by Sauron in Mordor circa T.A. 2475.

The Fighting Uruk-hai of Saruman, however, are the ones that have been causing Rohan such trouble of late. And these terrible creatures are indeed abominations formed by breeding Uruks and Dunlending women.

However, not all half-orcs were Fighting Uruk-hai. Some were the squint-eyed, sallow-skinned half-orcs that stood as tall as men, yet possessed great vile and cunning, such as those that have been seen in Bree and parts west.


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

[User]
[Wells' War of the Worlds] Who were the humanoid creatures that the Martians used as food supply?

It is briefly mentioned in the original War of the Worlds that the Martians brought a food supply during their invasion, the narrator describes them as flimsy bipeds with large eyes, and bulbous heads. Are these creatures other Martians? It is stated at the end of the book that the Martians are apparently now focusing their efforts on the planet Venus - is that where these creatures are from?

[Assistant] They kinda sound like Greys, the iconic "big head, dark oval eyes" aliens.    Some who study and/or have had abduction experiences posit that the Greys are slaves or drones or meat-suits  for something else.    Might add "food source" to that list.


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

[User] [MCU] Did Thanos, Odin and other powerful beings having advanced cosmic technologies know, that to travel comfortably through time they just need to reverse engineer Pym Particles and create technology to properly use them?

[Assistant]
Clearly Thanos didn't, because he couldn't without getting the particles from Nebula.

 Since Freya was not surprised by Thor's appearance earlier in his own timeline, Asgard must have something that allows time travel. Although not shown in the MCU, OdinForce itself had that ability. They may not have required Pym particles to accomplish it.


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

[User] [Avatar] Jake Sullys Avatar gets surrounded by wood sprites which is seen as a sign from Eywa and thus leads him to becoming their leader. Knowing the spirituality of the NaVi, couldnt the humans have just engineered this attraction?

[Assistant]
The issue was that, before Jake, the native Na'Vi typically did not communicate with either humans or Avatars.  Human-controlled Avatars were either known to be humans, or interpreted as being Na'Vi from a different tribe, and still rejected.

Because of this, the humans didn't even know very basic facts about the Na'vi culture.  Jake had to be the one to tell them that the giant tree was a holy symbol to the Na'Vi.  That's like not knowing Christians worship Jesus; or not knowing the Pope lives in the Vatican.

Since the humans lack even incredibly basic knowledge about the Na'vi religion, it's unlikely they had any idea about the wood sprites.


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

[User] ELI5 How do television networks know viewer statistics?

[Assistant] There is a small statistically significant sample size of selected viewers who agreed to have a box connected to their TVs which measures their TV watching behavior. Then its a simple matter of extrapolation.


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

[User]
ELI5:with underground fires like Centralia or the place in Virginia which inspired Silent Hill, why can't they be put out by just pumping lots and lots of water into the mine?

Surely this would, if successful, save loads of coal from burning and polluting, and could then still be mined in the future?

[Assistant]
Imagine the coal coating the inside of an uncleaned chimney is on fire and you're standing on the roof.
Pouring water down the chimney to drown the fire would miss a lot of the fire on the way down.  So you'd have pour enough water to flood the entire house and let the rising water put out the fire in the chimney.
However the house has its windows open.

So the water going into that cavern could end up in a neighboring cavern.


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

[User]
[Death Note] How could you go about articulating a reasonable suspicion that Kira even existed?

At the beginning of *Death Note*, Light starts killing people who were convicted of a crime, acquitted of a crime despite probably having committed them, or in the process of committing a crime. Most of these deaths were the result of a heart attack.

Pretty soon, people suspect these could all be the result of a serial killer. There's enough of a suspicion that the police start investigating it.

But realistically speaking, what grounds would the police have to open that investigation? At that point, nobody knew the Shinigami or the Death Notes existed, so surely the only reasonable explanation at that point would be that either it was all just a horrific coincidence or it was a strange new disease that was affecting a very specific population.

[Assistant]
Epidemics suggest that it can't be something happen naturally or because of some kind of infection - the people affected didn't share location, age, race, genetic predisposition etc.

Forensic exclude normal means of homicide since there is no detectable cause for the heart attacks, nor any other signs of struggle.

So what's left is a complete innovative means of killing selected people over distance - which frankly suggest a government scale operation or the military rather than one specific person, but it does imply that these are man-made deaths.

So more likely the UN or NATO would get involved first since reasonable only a country has the resources to develop and start such an operation.


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

[User] ELI5: Are memories "physical" or "persistent" in the brain like in hard-drives? or when we die they just vanish like RAM memory after a computer lost its power?

[Assistant]
If you place sensors on the edge of a pool and measure the ripples you can tell where a pebble dropped. If you can place sensors at the edge of a room you can measure where a balloon popped. If you place sensors at the edge of a living brain you can tell that it is alive, and a bit more, but you can't tell if it's thinking about pebbles or balloons. You can't measure if there is a memory in it which is not being remembered. Once the brain is dead you can't tell much other than its architecture.

This answer is based on current technology. The answer to your question is simply that we don't know. We haven't gotten anywhere near that level of precision in examining brains.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why is gravity sideways in the Death Star?

When the Millennium Falcon escapes it flies parallel to the hangar bay floor that everyone is walking on, but it emerges perpendicular to the surface.

The gravity on the Death Star appears not to be towards the center of the mass as it would be if it were a planet - it's sideways like it's a star destroyer that just happens to be spherical.

What's the purpose of this layout?  Does the gravity flip halfway down so that it's in the direction of a single plane that bisects the sphere?  Or is it unidirectional all the way down?

[Assistant]
Artificial gravity. The Death Star doesn't have anywhere near enough mass to have an effective gravitational pull. I'd say less than 0.01Gs.

Having the gravity constantly going towards the bottom of the station allows for far more space, as well as makes logistics infinitely easier. If the gravity was aligned so that it always goes to the core, the closer to the core you get the more curved the decks have to be. Making it confusing to crewmembers, not to mention difficult to move around. Turbolifts would have to circumnavigate the station, rather than just simply move through the core. Having gravity only act in one direction on the station makes everything a lot easier.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Who did Kiss side with in the Civil War?

Since Kiss appeared in Marvel surely they were around for Civil War. Were they on Cap's side or Iron Man's side? Or, heaven forbid, did the Civil War cause a rift in their band or would the power of rock hold their group together?

[Assistant]
KISS are, first and foremost, businessmen. They didn't become rock legends by being stupid.

Gene probably told them that, y'know. Since their identities were public record anyway, it was probably best to just quietly register and go about their business. The majority of KISS were in their early sixties when Stamford went down and they had no interest in being heroes. Sure, they beat Doctor Doom once, but that was when they were younger. Thrust into an outright war against the pro or anti-Reg forces, they'd just end up getting the Black Goliath treatment and they'd have to scout out more replacement members.

Besides, while Cat wasn't a huge loss power-wise (he didn't have much in the way of abilities), the loss of Space Ace's powers (vibrational control, teleportation, blocking psychic abilities, and emitting force cones) would have hampered their effectiveness in a real fight. KISS works best when they're together, and with two of their long-time, and superpowered, members no longer working with the band... Well. While they could replace the two with non-powered musicians, they lost that extra oomph that they brought to the table.


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

[User] ELI5: When and Where did the waiving of a white flag indicate you are intending to surrender?

[Assistant] It doesn't. A white flag is a sign of peaceful intention, usually a request for conversation. This may be the offering of terms of surrender or the allowance of wounded to be cleared from the field of battle etc.


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

[User]
What effect would a violation in CPT symmetry have on our current understanding of physics?

I only have a "practical" understanding of quantum physics from taking physical chemistry, and so the "finer points" of modern particle physics are lost on me. I recently read about how there are no individual symmetries for charge, parity, or time and instead there appears to be a single symmetry of all of these together. This lead me to wonder what the implications of this theory being incorrect would be.

[Assistant]
You can derive CPT symmetry from Lorentz invariance (the laws of physics are the same in every reference frame + there is a speed limit) and quantum field theory, which is based on Lorentz invariance.

A violation of CPT would mean quantum field theory cannot be right. We know it is at least an excellent approximation, but CPT violation would mean either the universe is not Lorentz invariant (there is a preferred reference frame, or something else weird is going on) or the whole idea of quantum field theory is a dead end. The latter looks very unlikely given its success so far.


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

[User]
How does e-ink work?

So, e-ink, like used in Kindles. How does it work? How is the battery-life so good? I heard it only uses power on pageturns, how is that possible? How does it differ from LCD screen?

[Assistant]
Under the surface of the screen is a massive grid of tiny capsules. Inside each capsule is a goop made of transparent oil, white particles, and black particles. The white particles are positively charged (like the North end of a magnet). The black particles are negatively charged (like the South end of a magnet). The goop-filled capsules are glued to a grid underneath them, and each spot on the grid can be charged positive or negative.

When a grid-spot is sent a positive charge (for just an instant), it sends the positively charged white particles to the top of the goop-capsule, and pulls the negatively charged black particles to the bottom of the goop-capsule. Since the top part is the only part that can be seen, that results in a white-spot appearing on the screen. White dots look blank.

If the grid-spot is sent a negative charge, then the opposite happens... the black stuff is sent up and the white stuff is pulled down, resulting in a black dot being visible in that place on the screen.

Combine enough dots, and you get letters, words, and simple pictures.


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

[User]
[ASOIAF] If Red Priests can revive the dead, why does every important person not take a Red Priest with them everywhere they go?

Shouldn't the Iron Throne be able to hire dozens of poor Essosi priests?

[Assistant] They can not just revive anyone. They usually can only revive people of extreme importance. Besides most priest do not hold the power to be able to revive someone. Those who can are very few are very far in between.


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

[User]
[LOTR - ROTK] Did Sauron think Aragon possessed the One Ring at Black Gate?

If so why did the Mouth make no mention of it during his taunts?

[Assistant]
It seems pretty certain, think about what Sauron knows throughout the trilogy.
Fellowship: A hobbit named Baggins has the ring

Two Towers: Saruman has sent forces to catch the hobbits

Return of the King: He sees a hobbit through sarumans palantir, assumes Saruman is in possession of the ring. Then finds out that Saruman has been defeated (I think a nazgul is sent to retrieve the ring from Isengard), next thing he knows his attack on Minas Tirith has failed, and the King of Gondor has challenged him througha palantir. That seems like the kind of arrogance and hubris that could only be caused by a mortal man possessing the ring, and then a pitifully small force is sent to beseige the Black Gate, again, that would be suicide unless they had an incredibly powerful item they thought they could control, and Sauron would never be able to comprehend Aragorn and Gandalf sacrificing their lives to save a friend.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it that, at some gas stations, its cheaper to pay with cash instead a credit card?

Have noticed this recently at a few gas stations in my area - it will be several cents per gallon cheaper to pay for gas with cash rather than a credit card. Why is that?

[Assistant] Credit cards have fees.  If you pay cash, the merchant avoids these fees.   A cash discount also requires you to enter the store (where they sell things like soda and candy, that have a much higher margin than gas)


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

[User]
I don't think its a good idea to treat illnesses that are genetic because we are increasing their rate in the human population CMV

By treating people with heart problems are we not just allowing them to make more babies who will then have heart problems? I realize that as a doctor it is your obligation to treat the patient and it would be absolutely unacceptable to let them die on this premise, but in this situation it seems like the human population is becoming more and more ill. Natural selection is just going away.

I really need to get this cleared up because I am pre-med and I want to be 100% morally driven to help people. Not questioning if im actually helping the human population as a whole.

EDIT: I just want to clarify that I am not thinking of witholding medical care as a solution. I understand that is unacceptable. Its more that I want to feel like I am bettering the human race as being a doctor not allowing it to be sicker.

[Assistant]
If we can (relatively) cheaply manage or cure a genetic disorder in a person, how can we deny them the chance at a better life (or even life, period) on the basis that their future descendants will suffer from the same affliction, which by all estimates will be as easy or easier to cure by the time they are born. And who knows? At the rate genetic therapy is progressing, perhaps within a generation or two, we'll be able to cure a child and their descendants of the disease once and for all.

And what if the disorder isn't even fatal (before reproductive age)? That takes the whole "descendants" issue out of the mix, because they're still likely to reproduce. Then, your choices are:

1. Cure/treat the disease so that the person can live a longer/fuller life. They may or may not reproduce.

2. Don't cure/treat the disease. The person lives with a lower quality-of-life. They may or may not reproduce.


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

[User]
[40k] Whats everyday life like for people on a Hell-Forge world?

Most Daemon worlds are endless battlegrounds for the four Chaos Gods. Nothing much going on there except lots of daemon warfare and killing.

But Hell-Forge worlds are a little different. Presumably, theyre a lot more stable and productive than the former - they have to be, in order to supply the logistics for the Chaos forces in the Materium.

We have a lot of info about life on Imperium Forge worlds, but I dont really see much about Hell-Forge worlds, except for mentions of slavery and suffering and the Dark Mechanicum having a different insignia than the Imperium aligned ones.

So whats everyday life like there? I assume its quite shit, overall, but I imagine that they at least work you to death in a fashion less counterproductive than the Imperium aligned Mechanicum?

I dont think the Dark Mechanicum have the same taboos about technology, and no need to worship the Omnissiah.

Do they have a Chaos God worshipping religion as a replacement?

Or do they not bother to tell people there what exactly theyre working for, just that they need to work or no rations for three days?

Does it depend on which Chaos God is in control?

Do different Chaos Gods have different ways of managing the Dark Mechanicum on Hell-Forge worlds? e.g. Nurgle likes having all the workers be horribly mutated and full of cancer, Slaneesh keeps everyone in line with occasional orgies and torture, Khorne entertains/terrifies everyone with Hunger Game style gladiator fights, Tzeentch just runs things exactly the same as an Imperium Forge World and nobody notices theyre actually working for Chaos etc.

Or are the Dark Mechanicum a mostly neutral third party, and the Chaos Gods have declared Hell-Forge worlds neutral truce zones where they dont meddle, so productive work can actually get done?

Whats the culture like on Hell-Forge worlds? Presumably, there is a need for education of some kind for the higher ranked engineers. Is it an apprenticeship system? Or do they have actual schools where they learn basic math and science?

Is there room for some kind of recreation and/or dissent on these worlds? Historically, human beings have always found ways to amuse themselves, even in horrific conditions. Concentration camp victims kept their spirits up by secretly communicating with each other and telling jokes. Slaves often developed a sort of parallel culture to those of their masters, with their own traditions of music, dance, cuisine, worship etc. Historically, refugees and deserting soldiers still managed to crack jokes (very dark jokes) about their situation, even as they were being starved and dehydrated and riddled with disease.

I wonder if, on some non descript corner of a Hell-Forge world dormitory, theres a small group of engineers whove decided to start an acapella group. They practice in places where their singing is drowned out by the sound of machines, and are just loud enough that they can hear each other .

Or maybe a little graffiti scrawled in a Hell-Forge engineering school bathroom, making fun of one of the teachers. The whole floor was punished with whippings and half rations for a week, but a few of them secretly thought it was totally worth it. The kid who scrawled the graffiti has grown into a tired old man, almost unproductive enough to be sent for retirement in the flesh recyclers, but the memory of the bathroom graffiti still makes him feel like laughing.

Or a breeding couple that was paired off by some infernal bureaucracy, but as it turned out, they actually quite liked each other. They only met the one time, a few years back, but they still think about each other every now and then. They wonder where their kid went, and what their serial number might have been. Funnily enough, they both guessed correctly that her number started with a G.

When they sleep, they often dream of an impossible world where the three of them are all in the same dormitory, the overseer gives them half an hour every day to talk freely, and everyone can eat all the rations they want. Then they wake up, and everything is shitty again, but for a few seconds, they were happy.

You know, something along those lines. Unless all the humans on Daemon Worlds are genetically modified to be drones, theyre likely to still act like human beings. In real life, people found ways to cope even when subjected to the worst imaginable conditions.

Are there any stories set on these planets? Not the military stuff, just a glimpse into everday life on one of these planets. Something like Necromunda: Underhive Gangs, which explores life as just another gang member on the bottom levels of a hive world.

[Assistant]
Like most things 40k it really depends.

Some could be as benign as a planet wide cult that worships chaos instead of the emperor making infernal machines and they have no knowledge of the bigger picture or what worshipping chaos means.

Then the opposite end of the gamut would be hell like feudal worlds where forced breeding and cloning are the norm due to the workers being worked to death reguarly and where daemons prey on the people as a personal playground while they are forced to make hell forged weapons 23 hours a day until dead.

You might also have a nurgle style planet where everyone is rather content with their lot in life. The blessing from nurgle have strengthened them, made them happy to stand in an assembly line for a century eventually becoming a puss and bile turret with tentacles assembling wheel bearings for tanks.

The other issue is none of these are stable. Rogue warbands might come in and destroy the current leadership and take over manufacturing with their own people, which would be a very hostile takeover if you dont start worshipping the correct God immediately.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do people join the mafia?

I'm not asking about gangs like MS13/Zetas/etc, but historically like Italian/Jewish mafias?

Seems like a loaded question-

[Assistant] People join the mafia for the same reason they join any other street gang. There's not *nearly* as much of a difference as people think; The Godfather isn't any closer to a real life Italian gang than it is to a real life Mexican gang.


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

[User] [Lord of the Rings] If Middle-earth is the land of the past, where are the elves now? Have they ever visited us? When will the new Dark Lord appear?

[Assistant] The Elves left for the Undying Lands, which we can no longer access because the world has changed and is round now, instead of flat. Magic faded away, the Hobbits intermarried with humans to the point where they are no longer a distinct species, and the days of Dark Lords and Wonders are long over.


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

[User] [Fallout 4] Why aren't Coursers armed with megaphones to neutralize their targets at a distance?

[Assistant]
The Coursers are almost always successful enough that they don't *need* to loudly issue the recall code from a distance. Coursers can infiltrate most places without detection (or witnesses left afterwards), and can get near enough to the target to personally issue the recall code.

The Coursers *does* have to get close enough to the Synth in order to relay back to the Institute with them in the first place (or the Institute could just relay the Synth back *then* use the recall code), which kind of nullifies the use of issuing the recall code from a distance. Sure you might be able to disable the Synth from outside the hostile fortress, but then you have to infiltrate the place to grab the Synth for relay. If anything you've made your job harder as now every hostile in the area (probably those unaffiliated with the Synth's location too) now knows where you are and that you're there on Institute business. Certainly a good idea for turning a routine infiltration/sweep & clear into an all out warzone.

So in short, they don't really need to. Only with a few rare cases like at Libertalia would the Courser have issues getting to the Synth, and even then it's still possible with some extended assault tactics or the help of a mercenary like Kellogg or the Sole Survivor. It also alerts more people to the presence of the Courser *and* the Institute's actions, which isn't good for the Institute.


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

[User]
ELI5: The argument against free will.

I believe we have free will, so much so that I have a hard time understanding any philosophical argument that claims we do not have free will.

[Assistant] Seemingly in all of the experiments done, when one is asked to make a simple decision such as clicking the button in the left or right hand and document when they made the conscious decision to do so in their head, it has been shown that those simple decision can be traced to neuronic firings a few seconds before their "conscious decision." Not only are these simple "decisions" known by the scientists monitoring the fMRI before the patient is consciously aware of them but it points to the thought that everything we do is nothing but a realization of what the brain has already decided.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Why do some droids beep while others speak English/other languages?

[Assistant]
Because if they all spoke (local language), it would be both creepy as shit and super distracting...how you you feel if your phone, keyboard, and mouse kept whispering to each other in English... and they didnt all like you?

Also, information density is really low for spoken language- how long would dial up take speaking zero one one one zero one zero zero...?


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

[User]
[MCU] Could ANYONE did what Tony Stark did in the end of Endgame?

Would it be possible for a random human (assuming it would be explained tot hem beforehand, and they were suicidal) peform the anti-Thanos Snap that Stark did?

[Assistant]
The MCU gauntlet seems to release a massive dose of radiation when used, possibly proportional to the 'wish' it is granting. Just gonna call them wishes.

Either way Thanos could do a couple of big things before getting permanently covered in scars. Hulk did a big thing and has likely been recovering behind the scenes.

Tony did a small thing and got nuked despite his armor... so if anything he was not the best person to do it but he was the person who was able to do it. Carol, Valkrye or Thor would have been better candidates but it is not how it worked out.


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

[User] How do aquatic mammals deal with water in their lungs?

[Assistant] They have the same breath holding apparatus as you do, including very sensitive arytenoids that cause a cough reflex when stimulated to prevent things from going down the wrong pipe, so to speak. And, they have diaphragm so they can cough if they do get some water down there. If they are under, and suck a lot of water into their lungs, they will drown. One of the risks of evolving into an aquatic species.


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

[User] Do giraffes get struck by lightning more often than other animals?

[Assistant] Lightning travels down the path of least resistance from its origin to the ground. Now, factors like local climate and altitude have a much bigger impact than animal height, but *all else being equal*, a giraffe would be very, very slightly more likely to get struck by lightning than other animals.


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

[User] How do trees survive freezing temperatures? Does the water in them not freeze?

[Assistant]
water does freeze in trees, and it's a problem that trees tackle by expelling water outside their cells' walls (cells die if water freezes in them and expands enough to break the cell apart).

then trees go into a hibernation mode, slowing down most processes to a bare minimum, working around the problem of water loss.

conifer trees tend to be more sturdy and their cells can withstand some serious pressure from the ice crystals even if they do form inside the tree's cells or tubes.

therefore, conifers generally don't "shut down" during winter completely and are built to resume operations even during short thaw periods. after all, they keep their needles (which are less prone to water loss (through evaporation/sublimation) than leaves), so they can photosynthesize, ie. create energy to keep them going throughout winter.


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

[User] Why the density of water is highest at 4?

[Assistant] At 4 degree centigrade , the hydrogen bond is at its smallest length. So the molecules are very close together . This results in highest density of water . As the temperature keeps going down , the hydrogen bond becomes weaker so the molecules of water begin to drift apart .


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

[User]
ELI5:Why is nudity such a big deal?

I never understand how nudity became such a big deal that seems to impact virtually every culture. In Europe there is a more relaxed attitude about it. And in some tribal cultures I guess nudity is OK. So why in the modern cultures is nudity such a taboo? You can go to jail for being naked in public - and it all just seems normal. I don't understand this. Most ethics seem to agree this is how it "should be" from atheist or theist, from communist to capitalist - there does not seem to be any real **movement to decriminalize nudity**. Will humans ever move beyond this? We see ourself nude every day. And we see our spouse - or other people in locker rooms. It seems like such a strange and narrow cultural regulation. It seems irrational but fixed.

[Assistant] When some female animals are in heat, they undertake actions known as presenting, signaling readiness for intercourse, which in some species triggers hormonal cascades in males, basically turning them into horny fuckbunnies.  Human females are fecund year round, and human males get turned on by all manner of displays, some instinctual, some conditioned.  There are all kinds of maladaptive behaviors men undertake when they posit that a female in their vicinity is signaling sexual readiness.  Some joke that men can think with only one head at a time.  And fathers of many human females will be damned if they let her get nude before that high school dropout junkie who likes to sweet talk her.  In most modern societies, being nude before a male of the species typically IS a signal of readiness for intercourse and vice versa.


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

[User] ELI5: Why doesn't youtube let you buffer through an entire video?

[Assistant]
Because downloading videos uses a lot of bandwidth and youtube would rather you didn't download an entire video that you're not actually going to watch so they only buffer a certain amount at a time and stream the download as you're playing the video.

There are steps you can take to disable this but its not a simple setting to change.


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

[User]
[Vampires] Why do vampires think they are so superior?

So many vampires talk about how humanity is just a weak, helpless prey species and how vampires are supreme predators and rulers of the world.

Well, I say: Why do vampires think that when they have to sneak around like rats, picking off "scraps" and hiding? Not to mention, humanity has created civilization, technology and art, while vampires have created jack sh*t.

At best, they enjoy human-created creations. At worst, they live like animals.

Last but not least, isn't it obvious that humanity would render vampires extinct if it was a "fair fight"? With our technology and numbers, vampires would be begging for mercy after a year or so.

Where do vampires get their big heads from?

[Assistant]
So the main thing is that many of the eldest vampires remember the olden days when they got to rule openly in many parts of the world, and are nostalgic. Vampires live on nostalgia. It's more important than blood to them.

Now, there is a rush that comes from treating humans as prey and hunting them for food. An individual vampire versus an individual human will have the vampire win almost 99% of the time. They have cool powers, they're sexy and swift and strong. It is easy for them to gloss over the fact that humans collectively are a serious danger, though that is the main reason why they hide in modern times.

They don't like to admit that the world has changed, and thus just talk about the positives and not the negatives. In that respect, they are far too human.


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

[User]
What is the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle?

I am an aspiring physicist but currently have little to no professional education in the subject (high school freshman). I have been trying to learn whatever I can outside of school, and I feel I know a bit about quantum mechanics from lectures by Lawrence Krauss, videos online, etc. Can someone explain what the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle is? What does it govern on the quantum scale?

[Assistant]
Particles are not discrete balls of "stuff". Rather, they are like waves of "stuff" that cannot be broken down and behave according to some very specific equations. It moves in a way most analogous to how temperature spreads out in an object. This means that it doesn't mean anything to talk about "where" a particle is or "how fast" it is moving. Just imagine small wave of water, can you  tell me where it is? No, because it's spread out. Can you tell me how fast the heat in a room is spreading? No, because it moves at different speeds at different places.

We can imagine that this "wave" is distributed somehow in space, and then look at the standard deviation of this distribution, Sx. The bigger the standard deviation, the more spread out the particle is. The smaller the standard deviation, the less spread out it is and more it looks like a ball of "stuff". But the particle will be moving at different speeds, some speeds will be more preferred than others, so we can imagine that all these speeds have their own distribution. We can then look at the standard deviation of this distribution too, Sp. The larger the standard deviation, the more it is moving like a wave. The smaller the standard deviation, the more it is moving in a uniform way, like a ball does. If Sx is small then it "looks" like a discrete particle. If Sp is small then it "moves like" a discrete particle.

The Uncertainty Principle says that the product (Sx)(Sp) cannot get too small. This means that we can't have Sx and Sy be small simultaneously. In other words, it can either *look* like a discrete particle or *move* like a discrete particle, never both. This is just a consequence of the fact that particles are these weird wave-things and are not discrete particles.

The Uncertainty Principle is not restricted to Quantum Mechanics, it's actually just an idea from probability and statistics that is used in quantum mechanics.


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

[User] How does soy sauce get its black colour? I have heard that its because of millard reactions, but can someone explain in detail about the mechanism at such low temps?

[Assistant] The Maillard reaction isn't just a single reaction, it's a whole bunch of things that can happen between sugars and amino acids, leading to a wide variety of complex products. While it is mostly known from cooking and baking, such reactions can also happen at lower temperatures. They soy sauce fermentation process provides a quite fertile ground for it, since the microorganisms doing the fermentation provide a lot of secreted enzymes that break down the available proteins and carbohydrates, enabling the resulting monomers to react with each other.


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

[User]
[Hellboy/Hellsing] Which is more powerful: Hellboy's The Good Samaritan or Alucard's Jackal?

I mean, the power of the actual wielders is fairly obvious, but what about their weapons? hope I did the title thing right...

[Assistant]
The Good Samaritan shoots 22mm bullets.
Revolver with 4 rounds.

The Jackal shoots 13mm bullets.
Semiautomatic pistol with 6 rounds. Though the Jackal seemingly shoots more bullets than it can hold because fuck you its Alucard. The Jackal also has higher quality bullets with incredibly high velocity.

Based off the movies and shows, the Samaritan does comparatively less damage. The Jackal has blown up entire sections of walls and large chunks of a persons body off. The Samaritan on the other hand doesn't come close.

Jackal is stronger.

The Samaritan however, is a much higher quality gun and is very durable. The Jackal ends up being destroyed by an explosive fail safe in it.


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

[User]
[DC] Superman is vulnerable to magic. Does this mean that, if an object was made to "unbreakable", the caster would have to specify the 'unbreakability' of the object?

Say someone uses magic to make an object unbreakable. Would the caster have needed to specify how unbreakable?

For example, if the magic-user said that it would survive the force of a nuclear explosion, would Superman be able to break it with his super strength? Also, if someone forged a magical sword which could cut through substances up to as tough and strong as steel, could it cut Superman, who is much tougher and stronger than steel?

[Assistant]
Your first example wouldn't matter against his vulnerability - the magic simply is empowering the object with supernatural durability, not directly affecting Superman himself. Could he break it? Maybe. Some alternate versions of Superman are certainly more powerful than a nuclear blast, but other versions aren't.

The second is a classic example. A magical sword that's enchanted to be able to cut anything will cut him, but a hammer that's been enchanted to make noises when it hits something won't do him any more harm than it would if it wasn't enchanted. If the mage who enchanted the sword just enchanted it to cut through steel, then it wouldn't harm Superman.


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

[User]
Is Hegel's main work the Logic or The Phenomenology? Which should one read to know about Hegel's system?

It was said that The Phenomenology is disjointed so should one focus on the Logic instead?

[Assistant] The Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences is the full system, but its only the outline that Hegel used to lecture to students, divided into 3 parts on Logic, Nature, and Spirit.  The Science of Logic covers the same ground as the first part of the Encyclopedia in more expanded form.  For the other 2 parts he died before publishing any more fleshed out version, but different sections of his philosophy of spirit are expanded on in his other publication Philosophy of Right and various transcripts of lectures he gave from his students (Subjective Spirit, Philosophy of History, Art, Religion, and History of Philosophy).


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

[User] ELI5: In software, what exactly is a framework?

[Assistant]
A lot of people here are merely defining what a library is, which is just a chunk of code that someone else wrote that provides useful utilities.

A framework goes further and creates an entire way of doing things. Often, it feels like a whole new language built on top of the base language. It imposes some sort of "opinion" about how things should be done.

Consider trying to make a complex website in HTML/CSS/JS. It's entirely possible to do so with no libraries/frameworks, but it's painful. When the user clicks something and you want some new content to appear, you have to write the code that programmatically generates the new elements, then go find where those elements should be inserted in the HTML, and call a bunch of clunky `appendChild` functions.

jQuery is a *library* that makes a lot of this easier. It provides a bunch of useful functions that make it much easier to create new elements and stick them in the HTML. But you're still fundamentally doing things the same way.

React is a *framework* that not only provides useful functions, it defines a whole new way of writing interactive websites. It has very strong opinions about the "right" way to write a web app. Instead of thinking about how user actions should cause visual changes, you think about the app having a "state" at any time. User actions modify state. And then you write code that defines what the app should display in terms of the current state. You never write the HTML-modifying code yourself, some magic under the covers does all of that for you.


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

[User] ELI5: If heat spreads evenly through liquid, why are there "warm waters" and "cold waters" in the oceans that are all connected?

[Assistant]
It does not do so instantaneously. And you have different levels of eat influx at different locations. Then you have the effects of salinity causing very noticeable difference between layers of water. And finally, you have water currents.

The ocean is not homogenous.


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

[User] [Avatar: TLA] Was Sozin's Comet metallic, and if so, would a firebender wielding a sword forged from a comet fragment experience any of the comets firebending enhancing effects?

[Assistant]
Sozin's Comet is a spiritual manifestation, not a physical object. It represents a massive release of spiritual energy associated with the energy channeled by firebenders, visible in the physical realm due to it's utterly preposterous magnitude. The end result is that firebenders are massively empowered during the event.

The reason for Sozin's Comet's existence is that fire is greatly underrepresented on the surface of the earth. "Fire" spiritual energy builds up due to its inability to be passively released in things like the tides, winds, or growth of plants. Volcanic activity is not uncommon near the comet's "transit", another manifestation of the spirit world's massive overflow of fire energy. Finally, the energy overcomes the barrier between the physical and spiritual, and a comet is formed and released, creating the phenomenon known as "Sozin's Comet"

EDIT:
All these things being said, it still seems like it could be possible to create a Comet Sword by dunking it into the flame vortex. Dangerous? Yes. Probably not work the risk? Certainly. But would it be AWESOME?

###***YES***