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

[User] What equipment or arrays have been proposed for astronomy outside of Earth, using coordinated multiple devices? An array of optical telescopes? An array of rods on the lunar surface for radio astronomy? Or other equipment spread through the solar system?

[Assistant]
So what you're mostly getting at is called interferometry, where we combine signals from multiple telescopes to get a higher resolution image. The further apart the telescopes are, the higher the resolution you get, so putting telescopes in space seems like a good way to maximise your resolution. The famous black hole image from last year was taken by radio telescopes spread across the world, which is how they were able to achieve that resolution.

This is the right idea, but it's really tricky to do in practice. For interferometry to work, you need to know the distances between your telescopes down to a precision that's tighter than the wavelength you're looking at. If you're using radio telescopes, this is metres or 10s or centimetres - totally doable with good equipment. If you're using optical telescopes, you're down to less than a micrometer, and it becomes difficult if the telescopes aren't all on the same mountain.

This is harder to do in space, because the telescopes will all be moving relative to each other. Even if you track the positions of all the telescopes relative to each other with high precision, it vastly increases the computational complexity of combining the data when things are irregularly spaced and constantly moving. We can't just say "oh, we'll fix it in software" - the algorithms are still being developed and still take huge supercomputers. In Europe there is a huge network of cheap radio telescopes called LOFAR. The idea there was that you'd put down a large number of these little radio telescopes quite cheaply, and make up for it in the data processing stage. However, it took longer than hoped to get results, because the data processing was such a huge problem.

The issue is that you need to record and combine all the phase information of every telescope. You need to record and store information at a rate that's close to the frequency of the radiation you're looking at. It comes out to a tonne of data. This was also a cause for delay with the famous black hole image. The data from the southern station would take too long to transfer over the internet, so they had to wait for the weather to improve to literally ship the data there. This is another problem for a space telescope - you're dealing with low power antennae in space, which means you don't get nearly as much data throughput, and  that makes it a lot harder to combine the signals.

If you're dealing with higher frequencies, like infrared or even visible light, you can't record and store the data at that rate at all - you need to physically combine the light in one location. So you're forced to have all your telescopes in one site. So you can't really do this in space.

One thing that is a reasonable plan though is a LOFAR-style array on the far side of the Moon. The Moon is smaller than Earth, but you would be almost completely free from any "pollution" from radio stations etc. Being on a solid object would mean the relative distances would stay constant, and these radio antennae are fairly cheap and robust, so it would be quite plausible to dump a few thousand on the Moon and get them working.

Another completely different thing is LISA, which is a gravitational wave detector. Again, you need to know the distances between the instruments very accurately, but they will orbit in pretty close proximity so it's doable. This should help find even more gravitational waves than we're currently getting.


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

[User]
ELI5: How is a film that is filmed at a certain resolution remastered to 1080p/blu-ray?

I feel like this is an odd question but I was curious as to how its done because you can't really re-render the film at a higher resolution without losing quality.

[Assistant] Because film is/was much higher "resolution" than digital, we just never had a way to display it before. Now that we have HD televisions and monitors, and Blu-Ray, they can re-scan the original film negatives (assuming they still have them) and get the newer versions.


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

[User] ELI5: How did mountaineers prove they reached a summit before the days of cameras and selfies?

[Assistant] Alpine and mountaineering clubs in Europe placed small vaults with rubber stamps and pads on the summits of mountains.  When climbers summited a mountain they stamped their climbing logs with that mountains particular stamp to demonstrate/prove their success.  Way cool that.


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

[User] ELI5:How does aging meats and things like cheese work and not just make them rot and gross?

[Assistant]
The facilities used for aging meat are kept at very certain temperatures, humidities and so forth to discourage the growth of unwanted cultures, bacterias, molds while optimizing the growth of preferential cultures, molds, and bacterias.

Many kinds of cheese are sealed in a combination of cheese cloth and wax, which of course serve as a skin keeping unfriendly bacteria out.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do foods such as salsas and soups tend to taste better after they've been refrigerated overnight?

I made salsa on Monday, tasted it, and thought it was OK. A night in the refrigerator really brought out the flavor. It's almost like the ingredients mingled somehow to make it taste so much better.

[Assistant]
You've pretty much got it.

When you combine a bunch of ingredients in a flavored liquid, at first the flavors of the liquid will either just coat the pieces or barely penetrate the surface. As you let it sit, the flavors penetrate deeper into each piece of food, and each ingredient starts to give up its own juices to the mix, which are then absorbed by the others.

A freshly made chopped salsa or chunky soup tastes "disconnected", where each ingredient can still be individually discerned. In some cases, this is a good thing. As it sits, the ingredients absorb the flavors of all the others, becoming more of a cohesive overall taste.


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

[User]
[Gorillaz] How is Plastic Beach Inhabitable?

How the hell did Gorillaz live on Plastic Beach for so long? It was a floating trash dump farther built as far from land as possible, yet still is able to support the band and the collaborators in enough comfort to record music.  How are they getting food, electricity, and water to support them all? Furthermore, how hasn't the attacks by pirates managed to sink it? Do they repair it somehow?

[Assistant]
iirc Murdoc had it built from all the plastic floating in the ocean - as such, the building material would be relatively clean, as any organic matter would have been stripped by oceanlife and of course salt water acts as a purifying agent, so Plastic Beach wouldn't have been dangerous to live on

>food/electricity/water

Money

>Attacks by pirates

I mean, it's pretty goddamn enormous and extends a long way below the surface of the water (potentially to the ocean's floor), so size comes into factor here.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does cooked food offer more calories than its raw counterpart?

[Assistant]
The heat from cooking partially breaks down the food making it easier to extract the calories of the food. So since you use less energy to get the energy from the food you net more calories.

Also cooking methods often involve adding things like butter that give them more calories.


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

[User] ELI5- How are we able to send and receive data so fast through space from places as far as New Horizons reached at Ultima Thule? I understand there is a massive signal station, but 4.5 BILLION miles away? HOW.

[Assistant] All of this transmitted data is in the form of electromagnetic radiation (i.e. "light") that literally travels, at well, the speed of light, so even very long distances can be covered in very little time. There is also relatively little interference in outer space, so it doesn't take a terribly strong signal to cover a long distance.


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

[User] ELI5:How does Snapchat not get in trouble for hosting child porn on their servers?

[Assistant]
There's a law that exempts companies that allow users to upload content from being liable for the content they host that is uploaded by users. So if someone sends a snapchat containing illegal images, Snapchat isn't liable for hosting the image since they don't check individual images. If they discovered something illegal, they would probably be required to remove and/or report it though.

This is the same for Youtube, for example. You can upload child porn to Youtube, but it will likely get removed when it's discovered and you'll get arrested. However, you can't call the cops before it's discovered and get Youtube in trouble for hosting it because Youtube had no idea they were hosting it.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do you get really bad cramps before diarrhea?

Also, why is it that sometimes while you're pooing you get sweaty and clammy and the feeling that yep, I'm about to die?

[Assistant]
That's your large intestine muscles contracting to try and move the poop along. This is thought to be controlled (at least somewhat) by stretch receptors in the gut.

Under normal circumstances a group of muscles contract when stretched by solid poop, the poop moves down the tube, and then that group of muscles relaxes while another contracts.

When you have liquid diarrhea it doesn't activate (or deactivate) the stretch receptors properly. So your gut muscles contract harder and harder thinking they'll come into contact with solid poop, but they don't.

The cramps are pain caused by your gut muscles contracting really hard.


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

[User]
ELI5 If some contraceptives stop your period, what happens to the egg?

Can your uterus just keep it to use later in life? Would you never go through menopause?

[Assistant]
Unfortunately no, you don't get to keep the eggs that you aren't ovulating. Basically, your ovaries still select an egg and begin forming a follicle to ovulate the egg, but without the correct hormones the follicle doesn't mature and finish the process.

You still lose eggs, those eggs just don't get a chance to be fertilized.


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

[User]
Understanding of language by a computer, couldn't we make it work through linguistics?

Let's first define understanding of language. For me, if a computer can take X number of sentences and group them by some sort of similarity in nature of those statements, that's a first step towards understanding.

So my point is
-We understand a lot about the nature of sentence structure, and linguistics is pretty advanced in general.
-We have only a limited amount of words, and each of those words only has a limited amount of possible roles in any sentence.
- Each of those words will only have a limited amount of related words, synonyms (did vs made happen), or words that belong in same groups (strawberry, chocolate - dessert group)

So would it not be possible to write a program that will recognize the similarity between "I love skiing, but I always break my legs" and "Oral sex is great, but my girlfriend thinks it's only great on special occasions"?

[Assistant]
There's a lot more to language that people realize. Assuming we're dealing with just text, parsing is only around 85% accuracy these days, maybe pushing 90%. Dealing with speech, etc. is far more complicated.

To make matters worse, there is no agreed-upon model of grammars -- there are a range of models some of which are really good at describing language but really hard to use for NLP, and others are really good for NLP but not very good for describing language.

Still further, the study of meaning (both literal and non-literal) is fairly new, and what we know is vastly eclipsed by what we don't know. Further, a lot of what we say is caught up in world knowledge (it's not a fact about *English* that dogs are mammals) and about our knowledge of human capacities (using turns of phrase, metaphor, allusion, etc. are done because we expect people can *figure out* what we're saying extra-linguistically).

Language -- strictly pure language itself -- doesn't cover nearly half of what you're aiming for. To get the rest, you need something bordering on artificial intelligence.


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

[User]
Why is smiling used to indicate happiness? Why couldnt frowning indicate happiness and smiling indicate sadness?

What is the evolutionary reason for these? Also, why does eyebrows up indicate surprise and eyebrows down indicate anger? I guess asking such questions is asking how a language got started because thats all these facial gestures are is a language, right?

Would it be possible to teach a kid to smile when they are sad and frown when they are happy? It doesnt even seem necessary to smile when one is happy, or even laugh when someone finds something funny. After all, people with paralyzed facial muscles still find things funny I assume.

With smiling, our facial muscles move in an upwards position, whereas frowning seems to do the opposite. Id say that up is associated with positive and down is associated with negative (like thumbs up or thumbs down). So my theory is that this is the reason behind smiling and frowning.

Edit: Please, instead of downvoting comments, Id appreciate some insight/elaboration.

[Assistant] I dont think there would be any reason for smiling to be happiness. It probably just started that way and worked so it never changed. Also its not a learned behavior its a biological one people will just smile when they are happy even if they have never seen a smile before.


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

[User] ELI5: What's wrong with high fructose corn syrup?

[Assistant]
It's more a problem with fructose in general. When your body absorbs  sugar, it can do two things. It can process the sugar immediately for energy or it can store the sugar for later as glycogen (a sort of compressed version of sugar).

When cells are processing the sugar for energy there are a few checkpoints where the cell checks to see if it has enough energy. If there's plenty of energy, the cell stops the process. Fructose enters this process after the checkpoints.

Excess energy generally gets stored as fat. It's not quite as simple as this, but that's the basics on why fructose is a shady sugar.


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

[User]
When beryllium-16 decays and produces 2 neutrons simultaneously, what happens to that dineutron?

When beryllium-16 decays and produces 2 neutrons simultaneously, what happens to that dineutron?

What is holding the neutrons together? Gluons?

Do the neutrons separate and undergo beta decay?

[Assistant]
The dineutron immediately splits apart into two neutrons. The dineutron is an unbound resonance, which decays on a timescale of 10^(-22) seconds.

The neutrons are held together momentarily by the residual strong force. At the lowest level, from QCD, you could say that this force is a result of gluon exchanges between quarks within the separate nucleons. However its common in nuclear physics to treat nucleons and mesons as the fundamental degrees of freedom. In these theories, the nucleons interact via exchanges of mesons.

And to answer the last question, the dineutron splits apart in around 10^(-22) seconds, then the individual neutrons live for **much** longer, since they decay via the weak force rather than the strong force. Neutrons beta decay with a half-life on the order of 10 minutes.


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

[User]
How much do the different disciplines of science work together?

Thats my question. I'm not a academic and I don't have any insight in the science- and research-system, so I hope someone of you can help me.
Do scientists from different disciplines work together? Like maybe neurobiologists and physicists or sociologists and psychologists?. Or do they tend to stay with their kind?

[Assistant]
Sure we do. There are varying levels of working together

* Collaborations (I'll do the simulation, you do the experiment, let's publish together)
* Special centers (Bring together all the people needed to work on solar cells - physicists, chemists, material scientists, mechanical engineers, chemical engineers, etc. and make them work in the same area)
* Interdisciplinary fields (New fields established at the edge of old fields - biophysics, biomedical engineering, behavioral economics, etc.)

There are always purists who work in a specific field, but working together is quite common these days.


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

[User]
CMV: There is no good reason (without political bias) for the continued use of the Electoral College system

There have been several pro-electoral college posts recently, so I thought I would try my opposite opinion and see if anyone can convince me to change my view.

In my opinion the Electoral College system has no benefit for America today.  If the majority of the population votes for a given candidate, that candidate should become president.  There is absolutely no good reason I can think of for a person who lives in a state like North Dakota to have significantly more influence on who becomes president than a person who lives in California.

People complain that candidates will no longer appeal to issues important to small states or even bother to visit small states at all, but first...well why shouldn't the candidate who appeals to issues important to a majority of the population of the country as a whole win?  Why should a candidate focus near equal attention on the issues important to the 30% who live in rural areas as the issues important to the 70% who live in cities and suburbs?  Focusing on the issues most important to the most people is a good thing, not a bad thing.

Second, a candidate could just as easily today pick a set of states which have a combined total of 270 electoral votes and campaign in just those states if they wanted, ignoring all other states entirely.  They don't because that's a foolish idea, and it would likewise be foolish to exclusively campaign in the largest states under a popular vote system.  People might talk about how candidates would only campaign in California and New York, but those two states have a total population of about 60 million - less than 20% of the country's population total (and even though they are in the minority, both with significant numbers of republicans too, so it's not like any candidate could get anything close to all of those states votes).  If every vote matters equally *every vote matters equally*, regardless of if you live in Rhode Island or Texas.  So this doesn't disenfranchise anyone living in a small state, it just makes their vote matter exactly as much as anyone else's.  Under the electoral college, anyone living in a big state is effectively at least partially disenfranchised, since their vote effectively just counts less than the votes of people in small states.

Further, since almost all states are winner take all, under the current system if you are part of the minority party in a given state, your vote doesn't really matter.  Republicans in California or democrats in Alabama don't really have a meaningful voice in presidential elections.  Going to a pure popular vote would fix this.

Ultimately I believe that the only *real* reason people still defend the Electoral College system at all is because it benefits their political party.

To change my view, you would need to explain a concrete, compelling, and non-political (i.e., no 'republicans controlling the presidency is better for America, so we should support whatever system allows that to continue happening') reason why the electoral college system is beneficial to America as a whole.

[Assistant]
> Republicans in California or democrats in Alabama don't really have a meaningful voice in presidential elections. Going to a pure popular vote would fix this.

You know what else would fix this?  States allocating their electoral votes by congressional district.

Individual states have the power to do this now.  They don't need to wait for a constitutional amendment that will never get approved by states that would be disadvantaged by it.

Democrats in California have the power to make this happen right now.  It would solve the problems they claim to have with the Electoral College throughout their state.

But they aren't doing it and they aren't even considering doing it.  Why?  Because their reasons aren't what they claim they are.  They want political advantage.

> (i.e., no 'republicans controlling the presidency is better for America, so we should support whatever system allows that to continue happening')

The reason the Electoral College is important today is to protect rural populations.  There tend to be personality differences between rural and urban populations, not massive, but consistent enough to be predictive, so rural populations end up mildly right-wing and urban centers are strongly left-wing.

The population distribution is currently such that if we went by a straight population vote, the cities would have the ability to dominate rural areas not only through college and culture and the news, as they currently already do, but also to dominate them with politics.  If rural political voices aren't loud enough to be heard, policies harmful to rural areas will get implemented.

Currently, Republicans represent the values of rural people and Democrats represent city people, but there is no guarantee or iron law that this must be so.  Democrats used to appeal to a broader coalition of people which included rural folks.  Nothing stops Democrats from deciding to appeal to rural folks again.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] Even with Magic, how long did it take to repair the castle after The Battle of Hogwarts?

[Assistant]
Probably not long. Maybe a hour or two for all the specific stones to be magic back in place.

Notice in one of the fantastic beasts movies, one of the American wizards does a spell that Magics a building back to normal. So stands to reason all the teachers and students would just do a bunch of the similar spell to make it go faster.


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

[User] Why are storm clouds darker than normal clouds?

[Assistant] Storm clouds are denser and thicker than non-storm clouds. Since its denser and thicker, a higher percentage of the light that hits it gets absorbed (as opposed to reflected back to your eye). This makes it look dark.


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

[User] How come individual countries in the Eurozone have different inflation rates if all use the euro? Isnt 1 euro 1 euro everywhere?

[Assistant]
1 is always 1, but then $1 is also $1 and a coke still costs more in New York than Alabama.

Inflation differs by state in the US as well. The money supply is not the only influence. The inflation differentials in Europe are bigger than across US states partly because fiscal integration is tighter in the US and partly because the differences between EU countries are simply bigger.

Countries have different GDP, different productivity, have different business cycles, etc. On top of that, expectations are also important. The economies of Greece and Germany for example developed quite differently in recent years, while Germany eventually recovered from the financial crisis, Greece struggled for much longer, and that influences people's expectations, which in turn actually leads to differences in inflation.


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

[User]
[Mass Effect] If Sovereign hadn't interfered with the geth by creating the heretics, would there be an organic/synthetic conflict?

Sure, the geth had kicked the quarians off of Rannoch, but the entire Morning War was in self defense and they allowed the flotilla to leave unharmed.

For the next couple of hundred years the geth endeavour to build a Dyson sphere, otherwise chilling in space stations and not being hostile, while the quarians won't get a new homeworld from the Council and developing AI gets outlawed.

Then Sovereign/Nazara comes along, tells the geth that they get upgrades if they help him defeat organics and a small percentage of the geth agrees.

Saren then attacks Eden Prime with help from the geth and we all know how it went down from there.

But if Sovereign never approached the geth, they would probably still be building their Dyson sphere, the Alliance might've decoded the Prothean beacon and screwed up Reaper plans something fierce. So did the Reapers create a self-fulfilling prophecy by employing heretic geth?

[Assistant] Sovereign attacked because the galaxy had reached the end of their cycle. The quarians struggle with the Geth simply proved that this cycle had the same issues as the ones before it. That eventually synthetics will revolt against their created. It was going to happen. Maybe the Geth would feel the need to expand. Or maybe another race would build synthetics and the same will happen. It's not necessarily a few years from the present but a few centuries in the future. Which is like the blink of an eye for a being like Sovereign.


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

[User]
ELI5: What decides if a helicopter gets 2/4/6 blades?

As the title says, why do Hueys have 2 blades, while most others have 4, or the Sea Stallion has 6? And if you put 6 on a 4, does that mean more lift and better performance?

[Assistant]
More blades means that you generate more thrust (move more air) but this comes at a loss of efficiency, more blades means more drag so you need more power. Ideally you want less blades because then they don't interfere with each other aerodynamically.

The problem then becomes the speed of sound. As you add more power you need a bigger propeller, but eventually it gets too big and fast and the tips break the sound barrier. This stops the blades from working.

The best solution to this problem is to add more blades, because then you get more overall surface area without having to increase the overall size of the props or make them spin faster. So it becomes a trade off.

More blades is more expensive though, and the more complex the shape the higher the cost. Such rotor blades are made out of composite materials, while the original Huey's 2 blades are made mostly of aluminum, very cheap and easy to maintain by comparison.

Another advantage is that more blades makes it quieter, and that is good for both passengers and people on the ground.


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

[User]
ELI5: What stops "bad" people from going to "good" neighborhoods to do bad stuff?

You hear a lot about towns where people don't bother to lock their cars or homes. These are also presumably the towns/neighborhoods where there would be goods worth stealing. Is it just a professional courtesy on the part of the thieves?

[Assistant]
"Bad" people will stick out like a sore thumb in a "good" neighborhood.

Better areas will also usually have something like a neighborhood watch scheme where everyone helps look out for each other or it may even be a gated community with round-the-clock surveillance.

Now obviously there's going to be better stuff worth stealing, but is it worth the risk of getting spotted, getting your face plastered on CCTV or walking into a rent-a-cop with a gun, when you could choose a nearby house in a bad neighborhood and make off with some TVs, laptops or smartphones that you can quickly sell off?

You've got to remember, a fence won't buy the real-high ticket items e.g jewellery, rolexes etc for full price-- not like you can complain to the manager that you're getting stiffed-- and these kind of items will usually have some kind of identifying mark that links them to the legitimate owner.

Also remember, most thieves are opportunists that just want enough money for the next hit.


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

[User]
[Endgame Spoilers] Why didnt the New York crew realize...

that Hank Pym was there in New York in 2012? Why dont you just go with Antman, get all the Pym Particles you can get and then go to 1970 to get the tesseract?

If Pym didnt make enough Pym Particles in 1970, what would have they done?

[Assistant]
Pym, if they even know where he is, has been intentionally avoiding anything Avengers shapes in general and Stark shaped in particular. By going back to before Pyms falling out with S.H.I.E.L.D. At the Triskellion they can sneak around a Hank Pym that isnt possessively paranoid about his invention.

Also isnt Pym in San Francisco in 2012?


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

[User] ELI5: I know the Rothschild family is a banking dynasty, but why are they so sketchy and feared to run the world?

[Assistant]
The Rothschild family is Jewish. They were court Jews, meaning that they were the bankers for royalty back in the day. Through this they gained a lot of money, power, and influence.

At the turn of the 20th century (1900) some Russian wrote The Protocols of the Elders of Zion which was a made up book that pretended to be real which outlined a plot by the Jews to take over the world. Through banking among other things.

A lot of people bought into it. Hitler referenced it in Mein Kampf. It caused so much hatred towards the Jewish people that some of it persist 100 years later.


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

[User]
Why did non-Euclidean geometry take so long to be developed/discovered?

If people were aware the Earth was a sphere and had cartography systems, globes, presumably featuring orthogonal lines, am I missing something our how would it not be obvious from studying a globe for a while that you can have three 90-degree angles form a closed shape?

[Assistant] It's trivial to make three 90-degree angles form a closed shape. The problem is doing it with straight lines. To someone who hasn't already thought of it, saying "you can make a triangle with three right angles and three straight lines, if you call a circle a straight line" is about as useful as saying "a horse has five legs, if you call its tail a leg".


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

[User]
[Fantasy/General] How would magical creatures fare on earth?

Specifically, what would happen if, say, a dragon, chimera, gryphon, unicorn, basilisk, or hydra were put under real world physics? (other creatures would be appreciated, it's for a tabletop roleplay I'm doing that involves the removal of magic from these creature's existence. I know it would probably be horrible and disfiguring, but that's kind of what I'm going for here)

Edit: to clarify, this theoretical world would *have* magic, and these creatures would use them, but it would then be suddenly removed.

[Assistant]
> Dragon

Flight and firebreathing actually work, if we assume that dragons have internal hydrogen sacs (or other exotic organs). As apex predators, dragons would also have enough mental complexity to be as smart as they are described in literature.

Megafauna and apex predators (c.f. mammoths) have not fared well alongside humans. Fortunately we have jet fighters and apache helicopters, which will do just fine against dragons if their scales are built from conventional materials. If dragons have magic and are highly intelligent, then we're screwed. If dragons are only highly intelligent, then after they see vehicle-mounted weapons they may decide to steer clear of humans, or arrange economically favorable partnerships (c.f. Naomi Novik).

> chimera

Multiple heads will only work if one head has control, which is fine. The rest of their abilities are normal. They'd probably crowd out existing apex predators on sheer agressiveness.

Humans don't have much trouble with lions because lions don't actively seek out and hunt humans. Chimera would fare similarly, although we'd probably go out of our way to drive them out.

> gryphon

They would have to be small for the flying to work, maybe the size of a bobcat. They'd fit in pretty well with existing avian apex predators, although the food requirements for their complex musculature would put them at high risk of injury from constant hunting. If they are intelligent, their food requirements will be ridiculously high, but they would have an advantage over avian predators and lions if they can effectively hunt using pack tactics.

> unicorn

Those are already in the fossil record. We also have lots of two-horned species that are about the same. Nothing implausible here.

Of course, their horns would be so coveted by human poachers that they would quickly be driven extinct. If we're lucky, some will survive in captivity. If they remain intelligent, they'll probably avoid humans at all costs.

> basilisk

It's just a komodo dragon. Why is this a question?

> hydra

See above note on multiple heads. Its size is comparable to large dinosaurs, which wouldn't work in current Earth conditions because of the lower oxygen content of the atmosphere. It would have to live in the water and stay sedentary. It could hunt like an aligator, which would make it scarily effective even if it couldn't swim well.


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

[User] Why does your computer need to restart to remove some programs? What does it do?

[Assistant]
They either have running background services, or use files (usually assembly dlls) that are also possibly shared by other programs.

On restarting, they check to delete these shared files (if they're still locked, they're used by other programs and would thus be left alone) and delete the now not running services.


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

[User] ELI5: How can evolution of the human race continue now that we have reached a stage in society where nature does not pose much of a threat?

[Assistant] Evolution always continues.  We'll adapt to our environment, even if it isn't "nature", we still have selection, certain people breed more then others, they're more likely to pass on their genes, that's evolution at work.


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

[User]
When a highly poisonous marine organism dies, why doesn't the poison kill all the fish in the area?

The poison has to leak out from the poison sac eventually. Especially when a fish has enough poison to kill a hundred people, wouldn't it be deadly even when diluted by the sea water?

[Assistant]
From a math perspective with no regards to the properties of animals or substances:

Assume a toxic fish can kill 100 adults and it contains 100ml of poison, so 1ml (1/100 of total poison) can kill one person.
 If the fish expels all of its poison at once, and it's diluted into a cubic meter of water, there will be 1000l of poisoned water. To receive a lethal dose, you'd have to consume 10 liters of poisonous water, so it would be less toxic (for a mammal) than beer alcohol content (or the overdose of water itself).

So basically any realistic dilution - even assuming the poison sac explodes immediately instead of leaking out - will be too mild to be toxic to any animal even if they'd somehow consume 100% of the poison by swimming through it.


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

[User] Why don't bones decompose with the rest of a dead body? Why do we end up with skeletons and fossils after decomposition?

[Assistant] They do, it just takes longer (to the extent that bone is organic, its broken down by bacteria; the mineral portions are chemically degraded). Only a tiny percentage of dead things are fossilized, and they occur in fairly specific conditions (generally, when the body is buried in sediment that blocks out air, preventing or reducing bacteria from breaking down the bone).


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

[User] ELI5: Do people who sing off key hear themselves singing on key? Do they hear other off key singing as on key?

[Assistant]
*Musician

There will be people who do think they're in key but still singing sharp or flat. Sometimes its due to change in hearing from aging but also could just be an untrained/lazy ear.

Theres probably many people who know they're out of key and have no business singing in the first place, but simply don't care because they can't hear the horrible dissonance they're creating.


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

[User]
ELI5:Axiom of Choice

Trying to wrap my head around this concept.  If someone could kindly duh it down for me I would be grateful.

Thanks!

[Assistant]
A "choice function" is a function which takes as input any one of a collection of sets, and returns some element of that set. So if we have all of the nonempty sets of positive integers, we can define the function "f(S) = the smallest integer in S". For example, f({11,12,13}) = 11, while f({2, 4, 6, 8, ...}) = 2. This is a simple example of a choice function. On the other hand, "f(S) = the largest integer in S" is *not* a valid choice function, since the set of all even positive integers {2,4,6,8, ...} has no largest element, and so f({2,4,6,8...}) would be undefined.

But what if, instead of nonempty sets of positive integers, we're working with nonempty sets of real numbers? If we try to just copy over the same choice function, we'll find "the smallest real number in S" is undefined for a great many sets of real numbers, such as the set of all negative real numbers. Other basic attempts at defining a choice function will similarly run into problems with sufficiently weird sets of real numbers. It's far from clear whether a choice function should exist that is defined on all possible nonempty sets of real numbers.

The axiom of choice states that for *any* collection of nonempty sets (whether nonempty sets of positive integers, nonempty sets of real numbers, or anything else) there always exists at least one choice function. It doesn't say anything about what the function is or how it works - it just says that there *must* be some such function. Surprisingly, this axiom is necessary to resolve several basic-seeming conjectures in set theory (and occasionally other areas). Some of them even feel "obvious", like the statement: given two sets A and B, either they are the same size or one is smaller than the other. Others are deeply counterintuitive, like the Banach-Tarski paradox, which shows that (assuming the axiom of choice) it is possible to cut a sphere into five pieces, move and rotate the pieces, and end up with two spheres identical to the original. Regardless of this latter category, the axiom of choice is generally accepted by mathematicians - though there are still some who reject the axiom of choice or who work with alternate axioms which negate the axiom of choice (the most prominent being the axiom of determinacy).


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

[User] [Fullmetal Alchemist] Alchemy is pretty strict about equivalent exchange. Where does Alphonse get his energy to function if he doesn't eat?

[Assistant]
SPOILERS
Talking strictly Brotherhood- Its alluded to that the reason Ed eats so much food and will sleep for almost entire days throughout the show is because he is sustaining both of their souls.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is bigamy illegal in most places?

I know that some religions allow men to have multiple wives, but why do most countries ban it? Why I can have multiple stable simultaneous relationships, but I can only marry one person at a time?

[Assistant] There's a combination of reasons. First, and perhaps most prominent among the reasons in the Western world is that mainstream Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism) espouse doctrines of monogamous marriage. Many laws on this type of thing were written with explicitly religious ethics in mind (the late 1800s in the United States had a lot of this, including what eventually became Prohibition). On a more pragmatic side, there is a history of oppression among polygamous societies. While the relationship may not be by definition one that restricts the freedom of the multiple wives/husbands, the practical truth is that the two often go hand in hand. Also, from an interesting perspective, polygamy is really bad for non-powerful men. In a "normal" society there is a near match of men to women allowing nearly everyone to end up in a monogamous match. When many women (in all cases swap genders for polyandrous societies) can all marry one man, they will choose one with wealth and power who can support them and their offspring. This leaves an underclass of men who cannot hope to find a mate which, given biological drives, generally makes them unhappy.


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

[User]
CMV: Marvel movies would better better for the viewer if they didn't reveal major plot points in the trailer

Example 1 Captain America: Civil War; if they didn't show Spider-Man and Black Panther in the trailer the movie would have been better because you let the viewer be surprised that these characters are actually in the movie.

Example 2 Thor: Ragnarok; When you saw the Thor Ragnarok trailer or even first heard that Hulk was going to be in the movie what was your reaction to it? I am guessing you were surprised, amazed, excited right? Imagine seeing them first showing up on the big screen.

By showing the characters in the trailer they unintentionally make it so these emotions you are supposed to be feeling in the movie are dulled.

[Assistant]
I find it odd that you think they are "unintentionally" dulling the surprise of the movie. They're doing it on purpose, because it makes *the trailers* more interesting, and generates hype for the movie beforehand.

Take Thor: Ragnarok. When the trailer dropped and Hulk was shown in it, people went *nuts*. Along with the bright color scheme and tone shift, the Hulk reveal generated a massive amount of buzz for the movie and got people excited for the movie, leading to more people going into the movie and the people going into the movie *anticipating* Hulk and being entertained waiting for him.

Is that an objectively "better" experience than being surprised in the theater? Depends on the person, because hype leading into the movie is part of the experience for a lot of people. Some people might not like it, while other people might love having some of the "reveals" show up early to keep their hype levels up. And it certainly means more people show up to the movies, which is a pretty important metric.


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

[User] What might the surface of the moon look like (were you standing upon it) during a "blood moon" like last night? Would the ground have a red glow, or would it be too subtle to notice up close?

[Assistant] A blood moon is a result of the Earth's atmosphere filtering out the non red light which hits the moon, then bounces back, gets filtered again, and hits your eyeballs. It would be the same color you see, minus about 50-80% redness. The math would depend on the precise moment that you're talking about, because... atmosphere... spheres... magnetic... ugh. Too long, not doing it.


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

[User]
Given the Skin Effect, why not make wires hollow?

If I understand Skin Effect correctly, alternating current basically flows along the surface of the conducting material. Given this, I assume the reason we need thicker cables for high ampere currents (such as those found on high tension poles) is so that the current has more surface area to travel along and it would appear that the volume of the conducting material would not be a consideration beyond a point.

Why not make high tension cables hollow since you still get the higher surface area while saving a whole bunch of metal?

[Assistant] For very thick conductors, we do make them hollow.  But most electrical signals go at 60 hz, which is very low, and so the skin depth is very high.  The skin depth for copper at 60 Hz is about 8 millimeters, so it's not worth making them hollow unless the radius is much greater than that.


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

[User] [Song of Ice and Fire] As smart as Rhaegar was said to be, and given that he'd previously been sowing dissent against his father, why didn't he switch sides with some of his loyalists when Robert's Rebellion started gaining steam?

[Assistant]
I don't think Robert would have accepted it. First due to not trusting a Targ turncoat, but *moreso* that Robert started the war for Lyanna's sake. The only acceptable outcome for Robert would be that Rhaegar hands Lyanna over, she says Rhaegar never touched her, also says that he protected her from someone trying to rape her, before Rhaegar swears fealty to Robert. So basically an impossible path to victory here.

What you have instead is that Rhaegar tries to switch sides. Robert is metaphorically drenched in hatred for Rhaegar, but holds his tongue under the advice of all his allies (especially Ned). After all, a charismatic and skillful Targ prince behind him will surely sway the war considerably in his favour. He demands Rhaegar bend the knee and relinquish Lyanna if he wants to join Robert's cause. Rhaegar states he cannot give up Lyanna. He loves her. And, he states, she loves him. Robert is losing his cool, and suggests Rhaegar is another mad Targaryen who mistakes raping a woman for mutual love. Rhaegar admits he divorced his last wife and married Lyanna in a consensual ceremony.

Robert is enraged, orders his guards to attack Rhaegar and his men. The skirmish ends with Arthur Dayne and Rhaegar slaying many of Robert's men before escaping to regroup. Robert issues a command to the Lords who swore him fealty, stating that regardless of where their supposed loyalties lie, all Targaryens are to be put to the sword. Especially Rhaegar. Lyanna is to be captured, and the truth will be forced from her own mouth.

Various houses split off, concerned that Rhaegar seems like a good leader and or that Robert is motivated by irrational jealousy. House Stark even waivers, Ned fearful for his sister's safety if jealous Robert takes his anger out on her. The Rebellion is extended as the now-three factions (Aerys Loyalists, Rhaegar Revolutionaries, Robert Rebels) trade lives and land frequently. "Aegon Targaryen VI" (aka Jon Snow) is born. Rhaegar being publicly committed to Lyanna makes no small secret of their son's existence. This confirms to Robert that Rhaegar was speaking true, and as such their family will be put to the sword. He tells Ned that Lyanna will have a chance to survive if she denounces Rhaegar and their mistake of a son, but Ned realises it won't play out that way.

House Stark joins Rhaegar's faction, acknowledging that Rhaegar is more honorable, Robert is clearly losing the plot, and Ned has to protect his sister and nephew. Robert is defeated at the Trident, and the Revolutionaries march on King's Landing. Jaime Lannister slays Aerys as he's screaming "Burn them All". Rhaegar takes the throne with Lyanna as his queen, and Prince Aegon VI as their heir. Ned is Warden of the North. Eventually political alliances between the Starks and Targaryens are strengthened as Danaerys is wed to Robb Stark. Viserys is wed to Margaery Tyrell (to secure the Tyrell funding). Aegon (Jon) is married to Myrcella "Bolton", Cersei and Jaime's secret bastard daughter, believed to be the daughter of Cersei and her arranged husband Roose Bolton, in order to secure the loyalties of House Lannister and House Bolton.

Sansa Stark is promised to Theon Greyjoy to repair the relationship between the Starks and the Greyjoys. Arya Stark refuses to be matchmade, and strikes off on her own for a while. Bran is engaged to Ned's best friend Howland Reed's daughter, Meera. Rickon is still too young to consider betrothal, but is considered a match for Lord Jorah of House Mormont's cousin, Lyanna Mormont.

The realm prospers until the Night's Watch inform House Stark about the White Walkers. The Realm is quickly convinced of the threat due to Ned's honour, and Rhaegar/Lyanna's willingness to believe him. The Maesters in The Citadel quickly research The Night King and discover a bunch of tales regarding his faction from over thousands of years. Dragonglass is mined and forged into weaponry as is prudent to do so, given its supposed strength against the Dead. Valyrian Steel smiths are brought in by the Crown to outfit the best warriors in the land with Valyrian Steel weapons. Barristan Selmy, Jaime Lannister, Aegon Targaryen VI, Oberyn Martell, Sandor Clegane, Gregor Clegane and Loras Tyrell are some of those outfitted with the Realm's best equipment.

The Wildlings are all but wiped out. With no Jon Snow gaining mutual trust with the Freefolk, they're hard pressed to pass the Wall. Mance Rayder's army does pose a threat, but is repelled at Castle Black by a joint team of Stark/Stannis Baratheon soldiers bolstering the Night's Watch garrison. Mance Rayder's army is picked off and encorporated into the Night King's army. Multiple Wight Giants help bust through the tunnel through The Wall, overrunning Castle Black. The Dead begin funnelling through, marching on the Realm. However with such a united Army of the Living prepared for such an invasion, the Dead are met at Winterfell and pushed back. Wildfire trebuchets clear out swathes of Wights, clearing the way for heroes like Ser Barristan and Beric Dondarrion to take out the Wight Walkers, and Jaime Lannister to gain honour to his Kingslayer title by slaying the Night King.


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

[User]
[Dungeons and Dragons] With Aasimar being relatively common, just how and when does all this intercourse between angels and mortals occur?

Do angels commonly visit the mortal world in disguise and go out on the town? Or do they visit their god's faithful for the express purpose of breeding angel/mortal offspring? Do angels actually fall in love with really amazing clerics and paladins? And I lean towards assuming the mortal in the situation is almost always female, but will a lady angel sometimes stay on the prime material plane long enough to complete a pregnancy?

[Assistant]
Aasimar aren't that common.

One of the guides states "Aasimar could live for the whole of their life without ever meeting another of their kind and, as such, were resigned to living amongst other races".

Aasimar also aren't always the direct results between celestials and mortals, more like descendants. IIRC it's uncommon but not unheard of for two humans to give birth to an aasimar because one or both had an angel as an ancestor.


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

[User]
[Pokemon] why does Giovanni keep Jessie and James on team rocket?

Not only does he keep them on the team, he sends them on special assignments and gives them a ton of resources. In the journey series they literally have a pelipper with a hoard of Pokmon following them at all times why? Are they super successful outside pikachu catching or something?

[Assistant]
Probably nepotism. Jessie is the daughter of an elite rocket member, while James comes from a wealthy family.

The rest of team rocket aren't brilliant masterminds either. Despite regular failure, Jessie and James show a lot of autonomy in planning and running heists.


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

[User]
ELI5 how adverts before YouTube videos never have buffering/loading problems, even on a slow connection.

Just curious, as I'm on a slow connection right now while I'm house-sitting and even short, low quality videos take abysmally long to load while the pre-video spots load instantly.

[Assistant]
It might have something to do with the fact that the average youtube ad is viewed *very* often.  Generally web servers (or really most servers) make so content accessed more often is easier to get to.  So a really popular video could load much quicker than some obscure video with 50 views, latest back in december.  This may also apply to ads.

Sorry if this isn't a good answer...it's more of a guess.


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

[User] [Scrubs] If Ted is such a bad lawyer, why is he still employed by the hospital?

[Assistant]
He's cheap. Over everything, we know Kelso wants to keep cost down, and evidently it takes less money to pay the occasional settlement than to keep a proper lawyer on staff, or a firm on retainer.

Also, he functions like a secretary too, thus eliminating another position they'd need to pay. Somebody more competent might have more of a spine and make them hire a secretary instead.


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

[User] ELI5: What is the difference between a bank and a credit union? What are the advantages/disadvantages?

[Assistant]
The main difference between the two is how they are owned. Banks are owned by shareholders who each own varying amounts of the bank (depending their investments in to it) and generally work in a way where they want to maximise profit. On the other hand, credit unions are owned by anyone who is involved with them regardless of how much money they actually have in it, and work in a way to better the lives of their members/customers.

Banks tend to be far bigger so they have advantages in being able to offer a lot more services, but the fact that they prioritise profit means that customers may not be getting the best deal in terms of things like interest rates.

Credit unions have an advantage in the sense that being member-owned would mean that everyone would get a say in how it is run, so in theory this would help make the lives of their members more convenient. Of course, they're generally far smaller than the banks so you'd usually have far fewer services be available to you.


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

[User]
[Marvel] If X-23 got pregnant, would her healing factor affect the pregnancy?

A typical healing factor works by accelerating cell growth within the person's body. A fetus is a collection of growing cells. Would a healing factor accelerate a pregnancy in any way?

Would Laura come to term within hours? Would the child develop up until the point where it's capable of surviving outside the womb? Would her enhanced immune system recognise the sperm as a foreign contaminant and eliminate it, thus requiring Laura to take anti-rejection drugs if she ever wanted to start a family? If it was unplanned and she elected for a termination, would that even be possible?

I mean, the only traditionally conceived child of a regenerator we know of is Daken and his mother was an unpowered human, though he was able to survive a unplanned nonconsensual premature Caesarian Section.

[Assistant]
A proper healing factor restores a healthy body.  This is why Wolverine does not grow benign tumors which is what growth out of control is.

Deadpool's healing factor may have been screwed up when it developed.  It 'set' minor benign tumors on his skin and constantly restores that as its baseline 'healthy body'.

It is more likely X-23's children's powers would work like her own, unless an outside factor or further mutation (which is how we get real cancer) occurred.  If the child's powers were negated during development, you might get a Deadpool situation where the healing factor doesn't 'set' correctly.


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

[User]
[Stephen King] Which characters in the Stephen King universe can shine?

Does anyone have a list of characters that have the shine? Just watched doctor sleep (underrated movie by the way totally check I out of you get the chance), and that made me think maybe Carrie or John Coffey had the shine. I know all his novels are supposed to take place in the same world so What do you all think?

[Assistant]
Let's see....

 - Danny Torrence (The Shining)
 - Mother Abigail (The Stand)
 - Tom Cullen (The Stand)
 - Leo Rockway (The Stand)
 - Louis Creed (Pet Cemetary)
 - Ellie Creed (Pet Cemetary)
 - John Coffey (Green Mile)
 - Mike Noonan (Bag of Bones)
 - Abra Stone (Doctor Sleep) and every member of True Knot
 - Jake Chambers (The Dark Tower) and Roland's ka-tet if they're together
 - Johnny Smith (The Dead Zone)
 - Charlie McGee (Firestarter) and both her parents.
 - Carrie (Carrie)
 - Jack Sawyer (The Talisman)
 - Ralph Roberts (Insomnia)
 - Jessie Burlingame (Gerald's Game)

Probably a few others...

EDIT: It's been suggested that everyone who survived Captain Tripps in The Stand had some small shine, even unconsciously, and that's the factor that determined if they lived or not. Well, everyone but Flagg.


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

[User] ELI5: how come my rack light on my ship (Navy) takes forever to turn on when it's dark, but if I flash my phone screen light at it it turns on immediately?

[Assistant] Probably has a photo sensors to slowly come on when dark to allow yourself to adjust.  (In emergency wouldn't want to be temporary disoriented by bright light) vs when you shine your flashlight at it you're tricking it into thinking room is already bright.


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

[User]
[Lord of the Rings] If an orc (lets say a Mordor orc) was taken in by an Elf family and raised, could it turn out good?

I was just mulling over the fact that the orcs were created by Morgoth and are basically evil by design, through no fault of their own. Just wondered if their nature could be overcome with the proper nurture, and what the results would be.

[Assistant]
Sadly... we don't know. Tolkien died before settling on the origin and nature of orcs. To put it simply: whether they were actual beings with free wills or merely beasts or automata.

If it is the former (e.g. bred from Elves or Men), then certainly you could have a "nice" orc. If it is the latter, then that would depend on how much of their nature is bound up in being evil. You can easily raise a horse to be nice, but try that with a zebra and you're going to have a bad time. And if they're pure automata, then no dice.


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

[User] ELI5: does writing on your skin with a ballpen damage the ballpen or the ink inside it? Is there something about the oil on the skin that makes the ballpen stop working?

[Assistant]
A ballpoint pen works by having a tiny ball held such that it blocks the opening to a reservoir of viscous sticky ink. When the ball is rotated by friction against a surface the ink will stick to the ball and be dragged out, applying it to the surface.

If you draw on your skin then your oily skin will apply oil to the ball. This will reduce the friction of the ball against the surface and make it more difficult to turn. The coating of oil will also make it harder for the ink to stick to the ball and be drawn out of the reservoir.

In summary it just makes it not work as well.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are you cold and sweat at the same time when you are nervous?

When I am nervous I normaly tend to sweat a lot but at the same time I am freezing. I would like to know what is the process that the human body does to reach this situation and how common this might be.

[Assistant]
you get an adrenaline rush, adrenaline makes your body go into fight or flight mode.
it pulls blood to more important places. you become cold in your hands and feet where it narrows arteries. your glucose processing goes into overdrive to create more energy for the muscles. adrenaline also makes your sweat glands go into overdrive. makes your face become red from the extra blood, makes it very hard to sleep and makes it very hard to eat because blood has been pulled away from your digestion.
afterwards you get to have a nice low blood sugar crash.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] If fighting a dragon was a challenge in the new, "safer" Triwizard Tournament, what the hell were the old ones like?

Sure they only had to steal the egg but it doesn't take much to get roasted alive doing that.

[Assistant]
You're working from different textbooks here. Madame Pomfrey can regrow your bones overnight. Anything short of fatal and she can fix you up with a wave of her wand.

The difference between the old and new tournaments is now you have a team of expert dragon handlers on hand to step in at a moments notice and medical attention beyond the wildest dreams of muggle doctors on standby.

Whereas in the old tournament they would have just thrown you in with the dragon like "there, kill or be killed"


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

[User] Why does ice bind together in my cup of water?

[Assistant] It takes time for heat to move around.  When you take the ice out of the freezer, it's colder than freezing.  When you put it in water, the surface of the ice and the water touching it very quickly reach thermal equilibrium with each other.  However, the *interior* of the ice cubes doesn't warm up instantly - that part is still below freezing.  Likewise, water in one part of the glass is not necessarily the same temperature as water elsewhere in the glass.  The ice cubes get in the way of convection, and in many places you'll have small amounts of water sandwiched between larger pieces of ice.  Under those conditions, some of the water will freeze before the ice cubes warm up all the way.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are older electronics more durable and last longer than newer ones?

Wouldn't it make sense if they kept making them strong?

[Assistant]
As things get more components, they have more potential points of failure.

Imagine an old style coffee maker that just has the heating element in the base that powers the whole thing. As long as that heating coil works, everything works.

Now get a nice fancy coffee maker that has an automatic water dispenser, bean grinder, WiFi enabled, etc. That is more parts that can fail.

If every part has an average lifespan of 10 years, then the basic coffee maker has a 50% chance of working after 10 years, but the complex one has a 6.25% chance of working (each part independently only has a 50% chance of working, and you need all of them to still work).


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

[User] [Stargate]The novus humans know Canadian/American English from Eli's ancient video lectures, but is that what they actually speak in day to day life?

[Assistant]
Why wouldn't they?

The colony was founded by humans who used those languages.  Training videos exist that include examples of those.

Outside of expected linguistic shifts that might occur over the centuries with some words that aren't otherwise explicitly demonstrated the language would be relatively resilient.

For example, if no one ever heard or saw the word "buffalo" to be included in any of Eli's videos, but found it in literature, they might not know how to speak it aloud but for a dictionary pronunciation guide.  And even then, their grasp of it might fail.

You could end up with "boofaloo" or "byoofallah" instead of the intended "buffalloh" or something similar, but audio training is an excellent way to keep a large portion of the usable language viable.

They might end up inventing their own words for certain things.  Perhaps "pudding" never  was documented, but they came up with "milk jello" instead.


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

[User] [Pokmon] What is the devastation from which the Rocket Team want to protect the world and to denounce the evils of truth and love?

[Assistant]
Team rocket don't actually want to protect the world. We can see that with it's leader giovanni , when leading team rainbow rocket he leads the joined forces of other villains of the series from other world's where they have won.  Each owning a legendary pokemon which caused destruction plus Lysandre's ultimate weapon. So if anything they would want to cause more destruction and gain from it.

Also Jessie and James messed up the motto.


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

[User]
[General horror] How to pick a Final Girl/Guy

Hi, everybody. How are you all doing?

As a hideously deformed monster who was raised in a root cellar by his possibly insane grandmother, I was thinking Id spend my summer stalking a random group of generically attractive high school seniors, brutally murdering them one by one in various creative ways  possibly involving farm equipment, I havent quite worked out the details yet.

Obviously my hideous spree of carnage will end when one of the last couple of survivors, ideally a wholesome yet emotionally troubled youngster who has managed to overcome past trauma in order to survive the horrors I have perpetrated, finally gets lucky, discovers my weakness (hint: there were no mirrors in the root cellar), turns the tables, and kills me.

But theres a problem. Modern youth culture isnt something Im exactly in touch with, and I'm not sure how best to pick out which of the teenagers I should be stalking and menacing, but not actually killing until all the others are either dead or injured. I mean, according to grandma (who was kind of old-fashioned about stuff in general, and especially sex stuff), it should be a beautiful virgin, but that seems weird and sexist and all kinds of gross to me. Plus these days, at least if the media are to be believed, the odds of *any* of them being virgins are pretty slim.

So what kind of qualities should I be looking for in the teenagers while I'm watching them from the woods, following them to their cars, hiding in their attics, etc? What behaviors would mark somebody out as having the necessary qualities to be my Final Girl (or guy. I mean, I'd prefer a girl because I'm an old-fashioned kind of freak of nature at heart, but I don't want to narrow the field unnecessarily).

I dont want to suddenly find I've dismembered the one member of the group with the right combination of moral purity and personal courage to finally end my reign of terror, but I also dont want to hold back on the brutal slaughter of his or her less likable, but undeniably more interesting, friends.

[Assistant]
It might be hard to spot, but pick The one that has The biggest potential for self growth. That way, you will make them discover their own badassery and will to live, and If you both survive this, it will make The next time you meet that much more intressting, when this battled harden survivor must try and protect The next group from your attacks, which will most likely take place is a asylum. People dont want helpless virgins saved by luck anymore, they want heros that stand victorious against The odds! It also gives you The opportunity, as a monster, to improve yourself and push your limits. If you are lucky, you and your newfound nemesis will get locked in a cycle of battle and growth, which just makes both of you more and more powerful.

No, dont find a virign, find a Ripley.


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

[User]
The idea of getting a sex change is ridiculous. CMV

Gender isn't a real thing. There are human beings with penises, and human beings with vaginas. The whole idea of boy/girl and man/woman is just a product of gender roles and stereotypes. You can't be a man (person with a penis) and "feel" like a woman simply because you like to shop and play with barbies and wear dresses. You can't be a woman (person with a vagina) and "feel" like a man just because you like sports and beer. It doesn't make sense.

While these people deserve to be treated equally, just like anyone else, I think it's insane to get a sex change operation just because you don't conform with societies idea of a man or a woman. Yes, there may be difficulties, such as discrimination or finding a partner, but that's something that you just have to deal with. To me, it seems like the equivalent of a black man getting surgery to become white because he is discriminated against/wants to be with a white woman who does not want him because he is black.

I think getting a sex change is extreme conformity, something that these people advocate against. Because they don't agree with the way society portrays their gender, they change their anatomy to match the one society says they should have. These same people preach that conformity is bad and it's okay to be different. If it's okay to be different, why do you feel the need to get a sex change? I don't hate them, I just cannot agree with or understand their ideals at all. If someone could better explain to me the reasoning behind a sex change, and help me see it in a better light, then please do so.

Edit: I'm going to give a final round of 's to the people who gave the most helpful answers. I'll be honest, I wasn't aware of the fact that trans people do in fact have differences in their brain function. Some other good points have been brought up, so my view has been changed for the most part. It's kind of led me to a different view which is probably more controversial than this one, but my view has been changed nonetheless. I can't keep up with the responses anymore so I'm gonna be leaving the thread now. Thank you to everyone who responded!

[Assistant] People don't get SRS to conform or to have people view them differently. They get it so they can feel whole. Look the concept of being trans and the dysphoria and discomfort that goes with it is difficult to understand without being trans, but seriously,  they do it to feel whole and comfortable with their body.


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

[User] There is a news alert in my city that ozone levels are predicted to be dangerously high this afternoon. How are ozone levels predicted for a particular day and place?

[Assistant]
Almost all ozone near ground level is formed by reactions happening in the atmosphere. The most common pathway is for NOx gasses (NO or NO2), mostly produced by vehicles, to react with volitile organic compounds (VOCs) coming from a variety of sources. That reaction needs energy from sunlight, so a high ozone concentration is predictable if there are high NOx and VOC levels, and a sunny day is predicted.

There's some more complexities involving atmospheric temperature dynamics, but those tend to be more seasonal.


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

[User]
ELI5: How wine is made.

Also, is making champagne much different?

[Assistant]
Yeast is the real secret.  It's used in a lot of things, and it loves to eat sugars.  When it eats sugar, it poops out alcohol and burps carbon dioxide.  Some kinds of  yeast make more carbon dioxide and some make more alcohol.  The kind in bread makes mostly carbon dioxide and that's what makes bread rise.  The kind in wine makes a lot of alcohol.  The kind they use to make beer is in between (usually).

To make wine, they take grapes (which have sugar in them naturally) and crush them up to get the juice out. Then they add high alcohol yeast to the juice and let it go to town.  The yeast turns the sugar into alcohol and you have wine.  If you let the yeast eat sugar until the alcohol concentration is high and it kills them (the same way hand sanitizer kills germs) and then bottle it  you get wine.  If you have a yeast that can stand a lot of alcohol before it dies and bottle it when the yeast hasn't eaten all the sugar you end up with sugar in the bottle with yeast.  The yeast left in the bottle eats the sugar left in the bottle and their carbon dioxide burps carbonate it giving you champagne.


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

[User]
Is a twin born through in vitro fertilization more likely to give birth to twins?

As I understand it, twins are more likely to have more twins. Does this hold true if the twin was a twin because of in vitro?

[Assistant]
In a word, no.

There are two kinds of twins. Identical and fraternal (non-identical).

Identical twins form from one fertilised egg. So two babuea from one egg. We dont know why this happens in most cases, but the chances of it happening are uniform across populations.

Non identical twins are the result of two eggs being fertilised. This can be because the mother has released more than one egg at ovulation, which has a genetic factor. Women with non identical twins in the family and older mothers have a higher % of this happening.

This is the most common cause of multiples in IVF. But in this case it is artificial, rather than the mother releasing multiple eggs, multiple fertilised eggs are implanted to,increase the chance of taking. So any female children concieved, would not inherit the genes for multuple egg release unless the mother had it.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why don't more Jedi wear armor in battle?

I mean robes are really stylish, and traditional, but there have been times in the galaxy when the Jedi are forced to go to war. Why don't more of them opt for armor, especially the lightweight variety that does not hinder their movement or agility while providing protection against explosions and blaster fire?

I noticed that Obi Wan once wore modified clone trooper armor in one battle in the Clone Wars, but why didn't more choose this option?

[Assistant]
Some did, especially during the Clone Wars, but you gotta remember that Jedi are primarily peacekeepers, and aren't warriors. Their primary purpose when traveling to a conflict is to defuse that situation. Showing up in full battle rattle isn't a great way to convey peaceful intentions (even if it might seem most practical at the time), and honestly, the Jedi have little need of it. Most situations they get into can be resolved through negotiation, the Force, or a lightsaber. The only time it would really be practical is when they are in a serious war zone where they are constantly under attack from numerous types of threats, like shrapnel, where armor would be most prudent, and even then many don't wear it out of preference.

So, in reality, there's no real need for them to do so outside of extreme circumstances, unless they want to.


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

[User]
[Full Metal Alchemist] Can Edward just transmute his body to be bigger or to regrow his body parts?

As I understand the problem with human transmutation is the whole value of a soul problem; but if that's the case you don't need to even touch your soul to grow your legs out a bit or put a new hand on your stump. So why do that instead of the whole automail thing?

[Assistant]
Amestris alchemy science flatly doesn't cover the transmutation of flesh, and research into chimeras is pretty much top-secret military branch of state alchemy.

Maybe if this happened in Xing, where alchemy took a different turn in development, it would be possible to somewhat alleviate the plight of amputees, but Amestris has to go with automails, unfortunately.


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

[User]
[Comics & Manga] If Spiderman gained the Speed Force, considering his Spider Sense, would he pretty much be untouchable?

Also, how would a Spider Sense + Speed Force combination compare to Mastered Ultra Instinct (DBS), in terms of how untouchable they'd be?

[Assistant]
Assuming speed equalized, Spider-Flash *would* be pretty much untouchable, but he'd still be inferior to MUI in a straight fight.  Spider-sense is defensive and focuses on avoiding danger, while MUI is both defense and offense.  They'd start off similar when defending, but the MUI user would dodge in ways that gave him an offensive advantage and help end the fight faster, while the Spider-sense user would be dodging in ways that maximize his safety and would have to do the offensive part on his own.

(Edit: to put it more simply:  Spider-Sense lets you predict attacks and automatically avoid them.   MUI lets you predict attacks and automatically give the *perfect response* to them.  Spider-Flash only wins if Speed Force is so much faster that there's literally *nothing* the MUI user can do to defend himself.  With speed equalized, MUI beats Spider-Flash.)

*However*, MUI appears to be a straight physical power up, while Speed Force breaks physics.  A non-jobbing Spider-Flash could, eg, time travel to erase a MUI user from history.


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

[User]
How do needlers work in the Halo universe?

I thought they exploded once they reached a point higher than a certain mass, but they're kept in the gun in pretty large quantities already, and in Halo Wars there are gigantic turrets that shoot massive ones at aircraft. I'm also pretty confused how they travel at such a low speed while remaining aloft and turning almost 90 degrees.

[Assistant] The projectiles are probably organic. It would explain how they steer and control themselves in flight and how they are able to identify a foe target and detonate when necessary. The crystals could also contain a form of plasma energy that requires several to explode, but has to be "armed" by moving at a high speed. Or is armed in flight like a 40mm grenade.


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

[User] ELI5: If your whole body is hot under the blankets at night, how does sticking one leg out from under the blankets reduce body temperature enough to make you comfortable again?

[Assistant]
One leg has a decent amount of surface area that it can cool down when it's exposed to the cooler air.

If you're wondering why one leg doesn't get cold while the rest of you stays warm, that would be blood flow. The leg and the blood in it cool down, and the cooler blood circulates through your whole body, bringing the temperature down.

Kind of like opening one window in a warm room - the cool air that comes in the window can flow through the whole room and lower the temperature a bit.


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

[User] Why are UHF TV antennas (almost) always loop antennas, vs. VHF antennas which are usually whip antennas?

[Assistant]
The length of an antenna is related to the wavelength of the signal it is meant to receive, typically some fraction (1/2 or 1/4). UHF wavelengths are less than a meter, so loop antennas (antennae?) work fine. VHF wavelengths are longer, 1m - 10m, so they need longer antennas.

There is math involved, so someone else will have to get into that.


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

[User]
[General] What universe is the easiest (or most difficult) to start as a low rank and work your way to a commendable rank?

For example, in FMA universe, everyone can learn alchemy but it'd take years of studying to do it. So, if I was an ordinary person, I'd take a few months to years to practice alchemy and get the hang of it, then a few more years to hone my skill. Depending on how difficult it is, I may or may not reach the required skill to become a state alchemist however.

Another example can be Konosuba. Register at the guild, pray you have a decent class, do quests (push through the low supply of low level quests) or do other objectives that can help progress you if you have an adventurer class (same class as Kazuma), level up, get stronger. Of course you aren't immortal in this world, but I guess as long as you get into the good side of the goddesses, you'll keep on reincarnating

I'd imagine universes currently in war or medieval eras would be one of the more difficult ones due to the lack of powers or plot armor to save you.

[Assistant] I'd probably go with the Warhammer 40k universe for hardest. The casualty rate for "guys at the bottom" is so high you'd have a better chance of winning the lottery at the exact second you got struck by lightning than surviving, much less advancing all the way to the top.


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

[User]
[ELI5] why do spiders tend to build webs in the same places when they get destroyed every day?

For some more context, I park my car under a pine tree every day. Every morning when I leave for work there's always a couple of spiderwebs going from my car to the tree. Naturally I destroy them. Why do spiders keep insisting on building webs in places when they're consistently being destroyed?

[Assistant]
During the time right before dawn to right after dawn, nocturnal insects head in to sleep, while diurnal insects wake up and head out to do... insect things. Spiders often set their webs to catch this transitioning prey.

After the sun has risen, the spider has gotten all the food he expects to catch from this web, has had a good meal, and has stashed any extra in a safe place.

Now you come along and destroy his webs. No big thing, mealtime is over, he's well fed and happy.

Next night, he spins his web to catch another breakfast.

tl;dr: Spider has gotten use out of it, it's a good spot, so doesn't care if it got destroyed during the day.


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

[User] ELI5: Prime numbers and encryption. When you take two prime numbers and multiply them together you get a resulting number which is the public key. How come we cant just find all possible prime number combos and their outputs to quickly figure out the inputs for public keys?

[Assistant]
The number of all possible prime number combos is simply too large.

Public key encryption relies on asymmetric mathematical operations - operations that take much, much longer to perform in one direction than the other.

Prime factorization is one of those. 12503 and 16187 are both prime numbers. If we multiply them - something you can do manually in less than a minute and in nanoseconds on a computer - we get 202,386,061.

Now try to factor that number without knowing what the prime factors are. The most basic method - a sieve - involves just running through prime numbers from 2 to the square root of your number and seeing if there are divisors.

The number of prime numbers less than 12503 is approximately 12503 / ln(12503) = 1325. So to factor our number, you'd need to do 1325 divisions vs. 1 multiplication to create it in the first place.

Moreover, as you create larger and larger numbers, this disparity between time-to-encode and time-to-decode grows without limit. No matter how large of a prime you pick to start, you'll never need more than a single multiplication - but you'll need an increasing number of divisions the larger the number goes.

Note: There are ways to make prime factorization more efficient, the sieve is just the easiest to explain.


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

[User] Will I generate more power if I focus sunlight with a magnifying glass onto a solar panel?

[Assistant]
If your magnifying glass is bigger than your solar panel you will get more power. The lens would collect over a larger area than what the panel is able to do on its own.

However there is a couple of things to consider. First the solar panels efficiency drops with temperature. So usually a 2m^2 panel would produce more power than a 2m^2 lens focusing light on a smaller panel. Moreover panels have a maximum operating temperature before the semi-conductor stops to work.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] When did the bounty hunter profession get turned into being a hitman/assassin?

Boba Fett in ESB seems to be the correct usage of the bounty hunting profession. He was hired by someone (an actual authority if you want to get technical) to bring in a criminal. He fulfilled his contract, he got paid.

When did this turn into these ideas of Boba Fett icing tons of people, scalping Wookies, disintegrating people left and right, and being a cold, ruthless killer? That's not a bounty hunter at that point, it's a hitman/assassin. Especially Jango Fett, who was hired to kill a senator.

And in the Clone Wars, bounty hunters do everything. They steal holocrons, kidnap politicians and children, protect villages, deliver cargo...like what in the world is the definition of a bounty hunter in Star Wars??

Or does it just mean something entirely different in the galaxy far, far away. I don't speak Basic.

[Assistant]
A bounty hunter is really just someone who finds/receives open contracts and tries to fulfill them while working as little as possible. The galaxy's most infamous bounty hunter probably had informant networks in almost every system that would give him lists of the best bounties. That way he could execute multiple bounties on each leg of every trip in order to make the most money. He would probably have one huge but risky contract from the empire and many smaller hits/intimidation jobs from other crime syndicates, corrupt politicians, oligarchs, and whoever else had money going at the same time.

In conclusion, Boba Fett was not only a bad ass motherfucker, but a savvy small business owner.


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

[User]
ELI5: what makes ankle joints withstand age-related wear and tear, comparatively speaking?

Hip replacement surgeries are commonplace, especially due to age-related damage. But ankle joints dont seem to suffer the same amount of damage / require replacing as much as either hips (or knees) do, despite being smaller and more delicate constructions. What in the construction of ankles makes them more resilient than other weight-bearing joints?

[Assistant]
The magic of the ankle biomechanics is more-so in the synergy it has with the foot than simply the ankle itself. The ankle-foot complex (AFC) is an extremely intricate &  complex structure with a high concentration of bones and muscles, connected by very supportive and flexible Connective Tissue (Tendons, ligaments, fascia).

With the AFC being the first load-Bearing system of the body, we expect these Connective tissues to be far more responsive and adaptable to the stressors imposed from our body and the changing terrain. While the hips may have stronger ligaments than the ankle, the ankle has an uncanny ability to adapt to the changing environment because of the foots ability to evenly distribute the load evenly before sending the force upstream.

Summing this up, the Ankles ability to alter its  compliance based on the terrain its interacting with may cause it be more resilient to the less compliant hip joint.


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

[User]
[2001: A Space Odyssey] Why wasn't the crew of the Discover briefed about TMA-2?  Why brief HAL, but not the crew?

I don't understand.  I can see the need for secrecy prior to launching the Discovery mission, but to keep it secret the entire time?

I mean, HAL really didn't need to know about it until they got to Jupiter/Saturn either... or they all could have learned about it.

[Assistant] They were juat the pilots and didn't need to know about it. The plan was for them to go into hibernation once Jupiter (Saturn in the book) was reached, and for the science team who had been briefed to wake up until it was time to go back.


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

[User]
CMV: Laws should be strictly enforced

If there's a law on the books and someone is discovered to be breaking that law, it should be strictly enforced. That doesn't mean a police state where we have cameras everywhere to catch everyone, but it does mean that we shouldn't "de-prioritize" crimes or let people off with a warning.

If a crime is a burden on the police department or the civil courts, then the legislature should change the law. If the penalties are too severe, then change the penalties. If you want to give people some leeway, then create a formal warning system where everyone is warned equally.

The problem with selective or de-prioritized enforcement is that it's unfair to citizens that continue to follow the law. It's also unfair to the small number of people who police choose to arrest or ticket. De-prioritization is also not a clear set of standards. It means that you can still be arrested or ticketed, but probably won't be. Laws should be clear and consistently applied to everyone.

[Assistant]
I think even well designed legislation will run into hurdles where common sense needs to prevail.  For example, it is unlawful in New York City to ride a bicycle on the sidewalk.  This makes sense, since NY sidewalks are quite heavily used by pedestrians and bicycles pose very real hazards to pedestrians.

However, it is obviously the case that we want to allow some people to cycle on the sidewalk.  For example, a young kid with training wheels and their parent supervising should be able to use the sidewalk to cycle, and indeed it would be *way* more dangerous for them to be cycling in the street where it's legal.

But you can't write every exception like this into the law, and sometimes you just need to use common sense to decline to enforce laws in particular ways when those ways make no sense.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] How significant was Lord Voldemort's escapades to the wider wizarding world?

We know that the magical world exists beyond England and Hogwarts. I was wondering how much impact Voldemort had on the wider community?

Did they not 'speak his name' and feared him? Or was it something they read about in the news?

[Assistant]
He was barely know outside of Britain and not much of a threat to outside powers. The big name that everyone feared was Grindelwald that supposedly conquered part of Europe.

Voldemort was just small fry and even thought as a rebel and a hero in other countries for fighting against the stagnating English wizard society.


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

[User]
[MCU What If] Why did Killmonger....? Spoilers

Why did Killmonger reactivate the drones? He already defeated them, and he had gained the trust of the Wakandans by deactivating them. What was the point in reactivation them inside the shield?

[Assistant] Simple. Bringing them the corpse of Klaue and swearing fealty to T'Chaka proved his loyalty. But fighting the drones and saving the queen and the Dora Milaje showed his heroism, thus guaranteeing that he, not Shuri, would become the Black Panther and T'chaka's heir apparent. Killmonger wants to be king so he can bring his revolution to the outside world.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why was Tatooine so diverse?

Tatooine seems to be a desolate planet mostly covered with deserts, yet as we saw at Mos Eisly it appears to hold countless races. Did Jabba the Hutt as a crime lord bring in a diverse cast? Or is Tatooine just weirdly diverse?

[Assistant] Well, you have to remember that Mos Eisley is a spaceport, so you are naturally going to attract a wide variety of individuals from various places.  Yes, some of them work for Jabba, but many others were just traveling and were currently stopped at that port.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do we spell the country as 'Philippines' but the language as 'Filipino'?

So why are they spelt differently?

'Filipino' also describes the people, culture, cuisine etc.

[Assistant]
Philippines is an old English name of the country. It was a Spanish colony, the Spanish name for the country is Islas Filipinas. Then the people of the Philippines decided to choose a new language to become the national language. They chose a language called Tagalog. Tagalog called the Philippines the same way as Spahish.

Subsequently they decided to rename Tagalog to Filipino to highlight its role as a national language. And English just borrowed the name.


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

[User] When did the CMB (Cosmic Microwave Background) pass through the visible light spectrum? If we had been around at that time, would it have been bright enough to see it?

[Assistant]
At its inception it would have been visible. During the early moments of the Universe it was still immensely hot, so hot that the atoms around where always ionized as a plasma. Plasmas are incredibly opaque because with the electrons and nuclei separated they can absorb a wide range of photon energies, whereas when confined in a neutral atom only photon energies that excite an electron to one of a small number of specific energy level will be absorbed.

At that time the entire universe glowed, everywhere in every direction because everything was hot. But the light from that glow didn't travel very far due to the opacity of plasma. But eventually at about 377,000 years old the Universe reached a tipping point where it finally cooled enough for neutral atoms to be able to form and stick around, which caused the Universe to become transparent fairly suddenly.

Now here's one of the little weird parts that might be hard to wrap your head around. When you look into space you're looking back in time, so when you see the cosmic background radiation from this era you are actually seeing the hot, dense plasma of the past through the transparent veil of the recombined atoms of the early Universe. Or, put another way you could imagine all the light bouncing around the early Universe when it was in its plasma stage and then the Universe suddenly going transparent and all the light that was in between being emitted and absorbed simply flying off in every direction from every point. Because of these conditions the "temperature" of this light must be very close to the temperature at which Hydrogen atoms (which dominated the early Universe) ionize, which is right around 3000 Kelvin.

If you happened to be magically transported to the Universe at that age and could see this light it would look mostly white with a slight yellow/orange tinge, similar to an incandescent light bulb. And it would be incredibly bright, the entire sky would look nearly as bright as a star, if Earth popped into existence there it would melt quite promptly (the entire sky would be bathed in 3000 K light, so everything in the Universe would settle to becoming that temperature).

However, at this period of time the Universe was expanding very rapidly so it didn't take long, by astronomical measurements, for it to cool off significantly. This is because as the Universe expanded the relative speed between any given part of the Universe and the sphere of points corresponding to the date and location where the big bang glow was still visible became larger, so that light became "red shifted", effectively cooling it to lower and lower temperatures. Another way to look at this is to imagine that you have a quantity of energy in photons in the Universe at the moment when it becomes transparent and then you stretch out the Universe, logically as you increase the volume the amount of photon energy in it must go down.

Anyway, today that once white-hot glow of superheated gas and plasma that filled the entire sky is now a very cold 2.7 K glow of mostly microwave radiation.


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

[User] [Injustice League] They want to plan an all-out attack against the Justice League. Which hero do they need to plan the most contingencies against in order to have the highest success rate possible?

[Assistant]
Plasticman. You wouldn't think so, but he's immune to telepathy, practically immortal, nigh-indestructible, and completely unpredictable. And that's if you get the *nice* Plasticman.

Superman you can hit with a kryptonite rod from orbit. Martian Manhunter can be taken down with a flare gun and a box of Oreos. Hit Wonder Woman hard enough and she breaks. Set up some wire ahead of time and the Flash will know what it feels like to run through a blender. Hawk-people can't fly if you clip their wings. Ring-people run out of juice eventually. Green Arrow is vulnerable to STDs. Zatanna has daddy issues. Batman is tricky, but only because you need to catch him by surprise. He probably has a million contingency plans, but this is a guy that regularly deals with fucking clowns and riddles; you get enough villainous screenwriters to keep him busy with weird shit and he'll be out of your hair for weeks, maybe months.


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

[User]
[Megamind] How did Hal not immediately kill Megamind?

So, Hal was granted with ALL of Metroman's superpowers  right? Later on in the movie we see Metroman just casually walk around the entire city Quicksilver style in less than a millisecond. It was established that Metroman could have easily taken out/killed Megamind if he wanted to. What's stopping Hal from doing the same?

[Assistant]
Could be that he's simply unaware that he can move that fast.

Hal was trained in how to use his powers by Megamind and he only found out that Metroman could move that fast when Metroman told him and Roxy.