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

[User]
CMV: It is the obligation of the teacher to make sure that he/she is understood verbally, audibly and scripturally if he/she wants to deliver content effectively to facilitate learning

All jobs have certain requirements. While it might not be absolutely necessary to possess them, it is a huge bonus. A teacher/professor needs a degree/PhD to teach something. But a lots of other skills prove useful.

A teacher must be able to clearly communicate ideas to students - whether verbally or by writing it down. If they cant be heard or their handwriting isnt good/clear enough, they dont get to excuse that by simply saying, Tell me if Im not loud enough or Tell me if you cant read something thats written. If you know your handwriting isnt good, work on it. Do not expect students to point out every 10 inches of the board asking what that letter or symbol means. Students usually dont want to disturb the lecture, it breaks the flow of the content delivered and lets face it, its annoying.

This is especially true for math, physics and engineering students where all sorts of weird symbols and parentheses are used. There have been incidents where simple misinterpretation leads to difficulty in comprehension, errors in exams and incorrect understanding of content.

I have personally looked at all my classes and many of the classes and professors Ive liked were good at this stuff. Not saying theres a causation, only a correlation.

Of course, reasonable limits apply. Im not asking for professors to be calligraphers or make every lecture as good as TED talks but a decent standard is a reasonable expectation.

[Assistant]
Teachers are not psychic.

How are they supposed to know if they aren't being loud enough without someone telling them? Even if you know your handwriting is a problem and are working on it, how are you supposed to know if "working on it" has paid off or not unless someone says something about it?

Communication is a two way street. The only way for a teacher to know that they aren't being understood is for someone who doesn't understand to say so. If a teacher is obligated to be understood, then it's the obligation of the students to make clear when they are not understanding.


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

[User] ELI5: What makes some clothing materials "warm when wet" (like wool) but others not (cotton)?

[Assistant]
In the case of wool and cotton it is the individual strands that make the difference.

 Wool is rather none porous (it's just hair) and ends up coating itself with natural oils (from your skin, or if raw, the sheep's) that help repeal water. It is a very curly/crinkly material and this creates many pockets of air that warm up and act as insulation.

Cotton is a porous plant fiber (absorbs oils and water into it internal structure) that is significantly straighter. The straightness of the fiber helps create a smoother fabric that lays against the skin rather than poking into it (not itchy, yea!) but is less effective at creating air pockets for insulation.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] So, I'm back from cyro-stasis and I'm just wondering, what happened to carriers while I was frozen?

Back on Earth in the 21st century we had Carrier ships that carried fleets of strike craft into battle. These were so effective that they caused the obsolescence of Battle Ships. But it seems as though they didn't make the leap into space. Why not? Would a space vessel carrying a fleet of small strike craft not still be more effective than battleships like D'deridex or Sovereign class heavy-hitters due to it's stand-off capabilities? It seems like none of the dominant races utilize carrier-like vessels, so there must be SOME major drawback.

[Assistant]
Sea vessel carriers work because aircraft are much faster than watercraft.

In space, larger spacecraft can mount much larger and powerful drives, both warp and impulse, and are almost always much faster than smaller craft.  A warp-equipped shuttlecraft can do about Warp 2, while a full-sized *Constitution*-class starship can do Warp 9+.  Impulse capabilities are also similar. Small ships sent out to do battle would eventually just be left behind by any running battle between larger ships.


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

[User] ELI5:what is the deep web?

[Assistant] All the deep web is, are things that aren't indexed by search engines. Stuff that's not on Google, Yahoo, etc. Look up TOR and check out .onion sites if you're really interested. But be VERY careful what you click on.


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

[User] What causes the body to produce dental tartar, and how does tartar control toothpaste reduce the amount of tartar buildup on the teeth?

[Assistant] Tarter is caused by a bacteria that resides in your mouth, plaque. When plaque builds up it creates a biofilm. If you leave this biofilm on your teeth it will eventually harden which is commonly known as tartar. Toothpaste uses a combination of cleaning chemicals that interact with the biofilm to dispel it, however, biofilm are hard to get rid of which is why we use toothbrushes to physically remove it.


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

[User] [SpongeBob] Why did Bubble Bass hide the pickles under his tongue instead of just swallowing them?

[Assistant]
A whole host of reasons:
1) Like any Greek tragedy its all back to hubris. He thinks hes amazing: so his victory is all the better tasting of the pickles are in his mouth the whole time.
2) He enjoys his food and pickles are delicious- cant just swallow those. You have to enjoy them slowly.
3) His tongue is huge - perfect hiding spot.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it, when people are drunk (often in films), they offer them coffee?

Often you see in films, and I have seen in myself too, people offering coffee to drunk people who tend to be very exuberant.  I would've thought the effects of coffee would further heighten said exuberance; e.g. Caffeine.

[Assistant]
Coffee does nothing except keep you alert for a bit and in one place while you drink it. It actually will make your hang over worse, because caffeine is a dieretic as well as alcohol.

 Fun fact: if you feel as if you're going to vomit after a night of drinking, or feel full, you can drink a cup of water without getting sick because your body is craving water although you don't feel it yet. So drinking a cup of water after a night out will let you rest better and wake up without as bad a hangover.


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

[User] [The Matrix] Why does Neo not use guns in the sequels?

[Assistant]
Even in his first fights with the agents it's clear that it is almost impossible to hit them with bullets, they're simply too fast. It's only when they are completely surprised that they become susceptible. When he realises that they have "upgrades" it becomes pointless to even try.

His hands and handheld weapons can move much quicker than bullets and far less predictably, allowing him to have a chance to hit and damage them. Any time he is anywhere near they are on massively high alert and he's never going to have the chance to sneak up on them that would be required to get a hit from a gun.

Guns (well bullets) are also often used by others to distract or slow down agents, giving a chance to run for a phone, but Neo no longer needs to run, he *wants* to fight them and repeatedly stands his ground. When he faces an agent, he knows he can win the fight and a gun wont help him do that.


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

[User] [Lord of The Rings] Why didn't the White Council follow up on Sauron after they chased him out of Dol Goldur? Especially seeing as he went to the most obvious place in Middle Earth, his old stomping grounds in Mordor?

[Assistant]
Primarily, Saruman, leader of the White Council, had become corrupt with a desire to have the ring for himself and misled the council with false advice. After Sauron openly revealed himself in Mordor, the White Council, in its last meeting, debated what to do. Saruman claimed that the One Ring was lost forever and that Sauron was no real threat.

At this time the White Council consisted only of Elves and Istari. The Elves were on their way out and the role of the Istari was to be advisory and not to take full control. With the Dwarves being increasingly isolationist, it fell to Men to deal with Sauron.

Unfortunately, only Saruman had a good relationship with men, which he exploited to seize control of Isengard and its Palintir (with which Sauron exert his control over Saruman). Gandalf was manly involved with the Elves and Hobbits (specifically Bilbo and his ring) and his interactions with Men was often luke warm. The other Istari did not factor into the stories of Men (or at least not the Men of the West).

So there really wasn't anyone save Gondor to deal with Sauron, and that was a gradually losing battle.


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

[User]
[The Boys] What is the use of Lamp Lighter

Looking over the original 7 all if them have a particular purpose

A-Train- Mobility unmatched ability to cover a massive swath of ground and collect information as well as deliver and receive critical goods

Homelander and Maeve- Brute tanks. They can break into any criminal stronghold

The Deep- Able to get info on illegal shipping and water based crimes

Translucense- The worlds greatest wiretap

That Batman dude- Useful for quieter ops the public doesnt need to know about

Where does Lamp Lighter fit in? What is the relevance of using a flame thrower against crime? We could do that now if we wanted to.

[Assistant]
Well the 7 tend to take care of crime in the most brute force way possible from what ive seen. So having a guy who can set you on fire with a thought would act as a huge deterrent. being killed by homelander laser eyes or exploded by a-train is bad enough but its instant. Dying while being on fire hurts the whole time its killing you so is more or a deterrent to encourage surrender.

Watching Gary explode you don't have time to register that with all the adrenaline. Watching Gary burn to death screaming the whole time its happening that registers much more.


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

[User] ELI5: How did we decide in PEMDAS as the proper order of operations?

[Assistant]
Parenthesis go first because you need a way to specify an order when the default order is incorrect (or you just want to be explicit).

From there it's entirely convention, but the convention isn't without reason.  One thing that winds up showing up a lot in mathematics is a polynomial, such as x^2 - 4x + 3.  Ideally you want to be able to write this without parenthesis, which requires that exponentiation goes first, followed by multiplication and division (at the same priority) and finally addition and subtraction (at the same priority).

The decision to make addition and subtraction the same priority (and therefore executed left to right) as well as multiplication and division because ultimately these are just the same operation with a slight twist.  If you have A - B then you really have A + (-B), just as if you have A / B you have A \* (1/B).


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

[User]
What effect did Chomsky have on philosophy?

His wikipedia has a lot of references to him being a philosopher and being a major figure of philosophy which is contrary to what I've read but I'm curious what effect he actually had on philosophy?

[Assistant]
Chomsky's been pretty engaged with two important branches of contemporary philosophy: language and mind. His book, New Horizons In The Study Of Language And Mind lays out some key philosophical commitments, including methodological naturalism (belief that we can study L&M using the methods of the natural sciences) and semantic internalism (that there is no word-world relation like reference or denotation). His work has certainly influenced philosophers such as Fodor (a great deal in his case), Searle, Grice, (slightly obliquely and less neatly) Davidson.

I can add more if you have more questions.


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

[User]
How is the Doppler effect different for sound vs light waves?

I made a bet with a friend of mine on this (I said they were somehow a little different), but everything I'm reading online seems to support his side. I did manage to dig up a sentence from Lawrence Krauss' "A Universe from Nothing" where he says that "It turns out that the same phenomenon occurs for light waves as sound waves, although for somewhat different reasons." Can anybody shed some light on these "somewhat different reasons?"

[Assistant]
They are mostly the same with a few subtle differences.

With sound, it matters how fast the emitter and observer are both moving with respect to the medium. With light, it only matters how fast they are moving relative to each other. With light, things can be moving fast enough that the relativistic Doppler effect has to be taken into account, but nothing has a fast enough speed of sound for this to matter for sound.


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

[User] In binary 1 represents the existence of electric flow and 0 reps the none exists of it. Theoretically does sending information that contains more 0s than 1s will consume less power?

[Assistant]
If that were the case you would be correct. But this is not the case.

0s and 1s represent voltage levels not current levels. For the shake of simplicity let's say that binary 1 means 1 volt and binary 0 means 0 volt.

Modern CMOS implementations theoretically consume zero power when idling, that is they consume power only when a transition from 0 to 1 or 1 to 0 happens.

So the count of 0s and 1s does not really play a role in power consumption.


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

[User]
CMV: Public Universities should not prohibit the formation of White Student Unions.

Henceforth WSU will refer to White Students Union and not Washington State University.

I can certainly understand why a University would be concerned about a WSU being founded as, or devolving into, a White supremacist organization. This is a serious concern, and should be addressed with faculty attention.

Supposing it serves the same purpose as a BSU, I think it's a violation of Title VI or the 1964 Civil Rights Act (I'm not a lawyer, don't let the username fool you.) to permit a BSU, and prohibit a WSU.

If you don't mind I'll just argue with myself for a moment to kick this off. I hope this doesn't come off as strawman, I'm here to take on the most compelling arguments. Please don't feel that your argument has been preempted because I brought it up in this section, we can certainly re-examine any of the following lines of argument.

I've heard the following arguments for prohibiting a WSU, and my responses follow:

> A. This group is/will be a White supremacist group.

Maybe! That's certainly a very real possibility. If their charter claims their goal is "revealing the true nature of the American Negro," or some such deeply troubling language, that's grounds to reject their charter. If they claim their organization is for the appreciation of Western culture, the achievements of European thinkers and architects and meeting similar looking people, but it's later found that the group is simply a sham organization for using University endorsement to spread hate speech, then it should be disbanded at that time. However, it can't be preemptively banned on the assumption that it will someday devolve into a hate group. That thinking could easily be applied to any group at all.

> B. Minority racial groups face discrimination either of a sort or at a volume that White people do not, and a race-specific group is valuable for them to advocate for themselves and/or present a united voice.

Agreed. This is certainly a reason why a minority Student Union is more valuable than a WSU. Students frequently form University-recognized organizations for frivolous reasons - my university had one for playing DOTA1, one for swapping anime, for learning rock climbing etc. If the group can attract members, certainly it's not so frivolous that it should be pre-emptively banned.

> C. The group is essentially a political organization designed to counterpoint Black Lives Matter (henceforth BLM), and my university has a policy against recognizing political groups, including BLM.

I don't have any problem with this. I'm arguing with the assumption that either BLM is a University-recognized group, or the WSU is not a facially political group.

> D. White people are already very well represented on campus and/or in University administration, and do not have trouble meeting people that look like them.

Yes, agreed, so what? Argument B. applies, but also, this argument would never be applied to Democrats or Honors Students both of which regularly form groups on campus.

> E. The group's benign conduct or mere existence may invalidate the experiences of POC OR Having a group that disagrees with some or all of the ideas spread by WSU's other-race counterparts is potentially traumatizing to people trying to share their experience.

This is a pretty weak argument.  I say that not as an ad hominem, but to pre-empt being accused of strawman-ing my way through the OP.  I bring it up because it was brought to me.  Issues like "Who should be admitted," "What ideas can be criticized," "Whose speech should be valued," and more are important enough that the answer is worth some hurt feelings.  Feelings matter - I'm sympathetic - no one likes being disagreed with, but this can't be a reason to prevent people from assembling or sharing their views.  It violates the spirit of a liberal education.

Thanks for reading!

[Assistant]
Looking at Response B -- have you ever known any collective "white pride" group that *wasn't* about white supremacy?  You mentioned a group that celebrated, for instance, European history, etc.  Those groups can and do exist.  You can find a Norwegian students group, a European history study group, etc., if you look.

Let's just be real.  Talk about the real world, not pure logic.  Any "White Students Union" will attract racists and white supremacists, because 99% of white people who *aren't* racists wouldn't touch a group named like that with a ten foot pole.  Google "white pride" and tell me what you find -- what percentage "white pride" or "white unions" do you find that don't believe some disturbing shit?

You act like this could be avoided by not accepting charters with facially racist missions.  Come on.  Any reasonably intelligent white supremacists will manage to hide their motives in their application materials.


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

[User] Why can we discover planets thousands light years away from us, but "miss" Neptun-sized planets in our Solar System?

[Assistant]
The key is that the planets we are discovering around other stars are **much** closer to their star than this new hypothesized planet is.

This new planet is about >20x further away from the sun than Neptune is. Even from Neptune, the Sun wouldn't appear to your eye to be very different than a bright star. It would be about the same size in your vision as a racquetball held 2 football fields away. Neptune itself would be a little smaller than the short axis of an uncooked grain of rice at that distance.

That's just Neptune. Light from the sun when you get out as far is this other hypothesized planet is so faint, and the amount reflected back to Earth again fainter still, that there's no real chance of seeing it without looking at just the right spot for a long time with a big telescope. It's also so far away that it has very little effect on our sun's motion, and what effect it would have would take place over it's **15,000 year orbit**. No observational campaign on human timescales, even one started at the same time as human agriculture, would be able to find and confirm the planet's existence by watching the sun.

By contrast, the exoplanets we find are generally very close to their star, with short orbital periods (days, weeks, and months instead of thousands of years). Because they are closer, the effects on the star's motion are much more pronounced, and they occur regularly so we can actually observe multiple orbits. Kepler finds planets by watching dips in the amount of light instead of the star's motion, but the same effect applies. We can't find exoplanets like Saturn (yet), much less ones like the hypothesized ninth one.

**TL;DR:** It's very, very, very far from the sun with a correspondingly long orbital period, while the exoplanets we can find are very much not.


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

[User]
[WP] I am a stormtrooper serving on the ISD Devastator. Lord Vader summoned my fellow stormtrooper and myself to his chambers, cut my friend down with his lightsaber, looked at me, and then told me to get back to my station. What just happened?

Title explains it all. Why did Lord Vader cut my friend down with his lightsaber? We're just stormtroopers. We didn't let any rebels escape.

I thought he was going to kill me, but he looked at me for a few seconds without a word and told me to get back to my station. I obviously did as he told me to do.

What happened? Why? I have so many questions.

[Assistant]
Using the available evidence, he'd narrowed the possible traitor down to just two candidates. When he called you before him, you were probably feeling nothing more than mild trepidation mingled with curiosity; you didn't know why you were there, and were expecting some kind of orders.

Your friend was the traitor, and no matter how good his deadpan Vader could sense this fact from his emotional state. Justice was swift and merciless.


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

[User]
Why doesn't aluminium spark?

Hi guys, I was just watching some youtube video of Adam Savage and as he sands down some aluminium and it doesn't create any sparks.

I have never really noticed it before, can anyone explain why that is?

[Assistant] Because it's too soft.     Grinding sparks occur when two conditions are met, the metal needs to be flammable, which aluminum certainly is, and it needs to be hard enough for the grinding process to heat it up to the ignition temperature.  The harder the metal the more work needs to be done to grind it and the hotter it gets.  The idea formula is an alloy with rare earths know as mischmetal, very hard as well as flammable, used in lighter flints and such apps.


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

[User]
What if persons, seen as mentally ill, are in fact perceiving the "real reality"?

Because mental health is determined by how the majority of people "is". But what if the mentally ill minority, are those experiencing reality?

[Assistant]
Partly the answer will depend on what "mentally ill" specifically means-- after all, we now recognize many mental disorders, of some considerable variety. To take just two major ones, schizophrenia (itself found in many forms) and major depression are quite different, and involve experiencing self and world differently.

Our evaluation of the proposal, accordingly, will vary. For instance, there is a view called "depressive realism" which posits that depressed people make more accurate inference about certain things (such as one's own abilities and competence). Or, more broadly, we could suggest that depressed people are accurately seeing that the world is a hopeless and ultimately tragic place.

On the other hand, if we're talking about, e.g., paranoid schizophrenia, the idea that the patient sees more accurately would presumably involve his picking up on real conspiracies that other people don't catch. Or perhaps the suggestion could be that what *we take* to be mental disorder is simply perceiving some disturbing fact-- perhaps there really are alien intelligences speaking to some people telepathically, and we say they're just "hearing voices" and label them as mentally ill.

So a lot depends on the details, and we'd have to consider in each case just what our reason is for thinking any of these scenarios are plausible.


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

[User]
How are underwater cables laid? Plus other related questions in the text.

I understand that This has occurred since the days of the telegraph and now with the internet and so on. But I wondered how the process laying the wires is undertaken. What do the wires look like, is there protections against marine life, pressure, conditions down there.

Do they wear out? Is maintenance done? How are they upgraded/replaced?

What determines the best location for the routes? Is it simply shortest distance? Is there any consideration of the layout of the seabed or anything like that.

How do people know they are in the right place? What are the costs of these operations? Are there companies which specialise in underwater cabling? Does there have to be special political permission between countries where the wires connect and the waters they cross? etc etc.

Infographics would be greatly appreciated as well.

Thanks.

[Assistant]
Seabed cables and pipelines are very complex, and to answer all the questions you've asked would take the better part of a 100+ page technical report.

In short, cables are typically manufactured in protective, elastic sheathes, designed for the operations conditions (depth, etc) and deployed by spool from the back of a ship, generally with some subsea monitoring (ROVs, divers etc.) Typically many spools would be required, so each cable is attached to the previous on in situ, before being rolled off into the ocean.

In some circumstances they are buried to protect from seabed scouring, or other potential damaging items (anchors for example).

Maintenance or retrieval would be more expensive (in most cases) than replacement.

Politics are important. Each country owns a set distance of seabed from the coast line, and international agreements/treaties/permits are required.

Routing is done via economics. The cheapest solution is usually the one chosen. However this may be impacted by the need to bury the lines, and operational requirement for deploying the cable(s).

Deployment is done via GPS, and yes, they are crazy expensive. You need specialized ships for often months at a time. Chartering ships gets you into the millions of dollars pretty fast, never mind manufacturing costs  and required technical expertise on board. Add in the time/man hours you need to complete the design, approve all the permits and get the ball rolling. Weather can impact operations significantly, so you need to account for scheduling risk etc. etc. etc.

TL;DR: Subsea cables are laid very carefully.


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

[User] ELI5: What are canker sores and why do they only occur in the mouth?

[Assistant]
Canker sores are small, shallow ulcers that appear in the mouth and often make eating and talking uncomfortable. There are two types of canker sores:

Simple canker sores. These may appear three or four times a year and last up to a week. They typically occur in people ages 10 to 20.
Complex canker sores. These are less common and occur more often in people who have previously had them.
What Causes Canker Sores?
The exact cause of most canker sores is unknown. Stress or tissue injury is thought to be the cause of simple canker sores. Certain foods -- including citrus or acidic fruits and vegetables (such as lemons, oranges, pineapples, apples, figs, tomatoes, and strawberries) -- can trigger a canker sore or make the problem worse. Sometimes a sharp tooth surface or dental appliance, such as braces or ill-fitting dentures, might also trigger canker sores.

Some cases of complex canker sores are caused by an underlying health condition, such as an impaired immune system; nutritional problems, such as vitamin B-12, zinc, folic acid, or iron deficiency; or gastrointestinal tract disease, such as celiac disease or Crohn's disease.

Are Cold Sores and Canker Sores the Same Thing?
No. Although cold sores and canker sores are often confused with each other, they are not the same. Cold sores, also called fever blisters or herpes simplex type 1, are groups of painful, fluid-filled blisters. Unlike canker sores, cold sores are caused by a virus and are extremely contagious. Also, cold sores typically appear outside the mouth -- usually under the nose, around the lips, or under the chin -- while canker sores occur inside the mouth.


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

[User] ELI5: How can something be artificial if everything is made from naturally occurring elements?

[Assistant]
It's essentially a convenient term for indicating a specific group, ala "Stuff made in a lab" vs "stuff we found in the ground, or a plant."

Certainly, one can argue it does not really hold to the 'spirit' of the definition of "stuff in nature" any more than 'organic potatoes' are any more organic than regular potatoes.

But language doesn't care about such niceties. People adapt the word for a particular use for marketing, or convenience, or ignorance, etc, and sometimes it takes off, regardless of its applicability.


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

[User] Why does a wooden spoon on top of a boiling pot of water prevent the water from boiling over?

[Assistant]
Generally it doesn't, it just delays it at best. If you boil things long enough in water, enough starch will accumulate in the water that the spoon doesn't help much anymore.

I don't know the full chemistry behind it, but in the example of pasta, the starch molecules released in to the water causes bubbles that stick to one another and expand with hot air. As they grow larger and larger, unchecked, they boil over.

When they hit the spoon, their expansion is halted, the bubbles break up, and the steam escapes.

A better option for starchy-water is to pour a bit of olive/vegetable oil in to the water. This prevents the starch-water bubbles from sticking together in the first place, popping naturally much sooner and releasing their steam, just as normal boiling water behaves.


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

[User] ELI5: Why did crude oil go down in price so much?

[Assistant] The short answer is "on purpose". As more and more American oil companies began fracking OPEC and other traditional crude oil companies drove the price down to keep the fracking process from being profitable. It they drive them out of business they can raise the oil prices much higher with theirs being the only supply. They are taking a short term loss for a long term boom.


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

[User]
What are some skillsets that you would expect any Sr. Developer to have?

Basically...

I'm reaching the point where, strictly speaking on years of experience, I can start to call myself a Sr Developer, however, I feel like a fraud on this regards since I strongly believe I have a huge amount of skillsets/techs that are missing from my portfolio, it's just that I don't specifically know what I'm missing.

So I would like some opinions of what a seasoned developer should be expected to already know.

[Assistant]
Knowing, that you don't know everythig, would rank pretty high.
Generally Id say writting clean code, understanding how to abstract and transform your problem space so the solutiom becomes clear and elegant. Being able to learn new subjects quick and adapt. Knowing how to teach others. Some leadership skills.


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

[User]
Why is there such intense radiation around Jupiter?

From what I understand, Juno is about to get slammed with radiation which will slowly take out its instruments. What is the source and nature of this radiation? How would a human visiting Europa or Titan be able to withstand it?

[Assistant]
Titan is a satellite of **Saturn**.

Jupiter has a massive magnetosphere, both in intensity and size. Solar wind (which is radiation composed of charged particles) is unable to penetrate it.

Primarily, the radiation around Jupiter comes instead from gases from its innermost moon Io, which has intense volcanic activity. It mainly ejects sulfur dioxide which once in space is ionized by the sun's UV radiation (which of course, being just EM radiation can enter the magnetosphere just fine). The resulting ions are charged and are now affected by the huge magnetic field. They add up to an intense belt of radiation which is the Io plasma torus around Jupiter.

Lots of complex dynamics then affect this radiation and give rise to the complex flows between the inner and outer magnetosphere. Essentially you have high levels of radiation throughout the Jovian system, and very very high if you get very close.

>How would a human visiting Europa or Titan be able to withstand it?

He wouldn't. He'd die horribly. Without some clever ideas on how to shield from the radiation, a man on a Jovian moon is out of the question.


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

[User]
[Marvel] what does Tony Stark do now?

So Tony stops production of weapons in Iron Man after finding out they've been selling to both sides. But what does the company do now? There can't be much money in making your own superhero suit. How does Stark industries stay a float?

[Assistant]
Stark industries powers almost every piece of technology you own.

Your phone?  Stark.  Your computer?  Stark.  Your fridge, oven and microwave?  Stark.  If it's new and electronic, it's Stark.

In addition to the consumer goods Stark Industries is a heavy industrial and biomedical producer as well.  Power plants, steel foundries, pharmaceutical companies, and plenty more are all heavily influenced by Stark Industries.

When we watch the Iron Man documentaries we mostly see the super suits, but the company and Stark himself have a lot more going on behind the scenes.


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

[User]
How do countries with more than one official language write their laws?

I'll use Canada as an example. When they translate a law from English to French, does it ever lose its intent or true meaning? Who does the translating?

[Assistant]
They have the law in both languages. There are specialists who draft laws and its special language.  They also tend to do the translation work.

Laws tend to be written in a peculiar style of writing that really is full of legalese and rather clunky.  Strangely enough, this makes translation somewhat easier since it typically prefers substance and utility over style.  They usually just do their best though, since whether something such as "statutory derivative action" is translated correctly makes minor differences in what it actually does or refers to.

Usually, one language will trump over the other in case there is an issue on interpretation or inconsistency.  Interpretation of laws is another topic that judges and lawyers will deal with and is another topic in itself.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] Why arent fighter craft more common in Star Trek?

Within the Star Trek universe, with few exceptions, there is a distinct lack of fighter spacecraft, with most battles being fought between capital ships.

But much like the parallels with real-world naval combat, with the emergence of aircraft, large capital ships going head to head began to wane in favor of sending small carrier-borne fighter aircraft carrying bombs and torpedoes to attack capital ships was much more effective. You were able to strike the enemys ships from far greater range, while your own capital ships were out of harms way.

So why dont we see this in Star Trek?

Wouldnt it make sense to have capital ships send out waves of smaller, maneuverable fighter spacecraft to launch in waves from carrier spacecraft like the Enterprise, launch their offensive weapons at the enemy capital ships, and head back to base?

Other sci-fi franchises such as *Star Wars* and *Babylon 5* have this concept, so why not Star Trek?

[Assistant] Star ships can one shot a fighter craft with very accurate weapons they can spam.  Anything that isn't large enough to carry a power plant for ship based shields is a sitting duck.  When we do see the Federation use fighters it's in fleet maneuvers where there are so many targets that the Peregrine fighters stand a chance by just not being priority targets.  Really the role of a fighter in the Trek Verse is usually carried out by smaller but not single man ships like a Bird of Prey or Defiant.


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

[User]
[MCU: Civil War] Why was Rhodey part of the Sokovia Accords?

Maybe I missed some important aspect of his character, but isn't James Rhodey an active duty Air Force Colonel in Civil War?

Why would he be considered part of the Avengers? Did the Air Force transfer Rhodey to fall under the hierarchy of the Avengers? Does the DoD want Rhodey to be some kind of military/Avenger representation?

I can understand Rhodey being there to convince people to go along with the government's desires, but why was he a signer on the accords?

[Assistant]
The Sokovia Accords were written *because* of the Avengers, not explicitly for them. It specifically governed international deployment of enhanced individuals. All such individuals were "asked" to sign. The War Machine suit is keyed to Rhodey specifically, so if Rhodey doesn't sign the Accords, the Air Force can't legally deploy War Machine. Of course, it's really not changing his role much. And he's a military man to his core, so he didn't have any issue with them.

Side note, being in the military and being an Avenger aren't usually mutually exclusive. Rhodey just does both.


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

[User]
Musicology PhDs! Where you guys at?

Im currently a vocal performance major at an undergraduate conservatory in Asia. I would love to pursue a PhD in musicology after my graduation and Im slowly but surely learning the ropes in regards to reaching my goal (eg. GRE prep etc etc). However I understand that the niche nature of the musicological field, is such that there would be limited information out there for prospective candidates!

Current candidates, how did you all arrive at the decision to pursue a PhD and especially so for undergraduate performance majors, what did you all have to do, while still in a conservatory (eg. writing samples, research experience) to get to where you are right now?

[Assistant]
Musicology is not that different from other humanities disciplines when it comes to preparing for grad school applications:

Do several independent studies (or whatever they are called in your institution) with several faculty members if that's an option. This way you get some research experience, have a few writing samples, get to experience different mentoring styles, figure out what your research interests are (musicology is a very diverse discipline), and most importantly decide whether musicological research is something you enjoy doing.

Take graduate musicology seminars if possible (if not, ask to audit but do all the work), and make friends with grad students.  If these are not available in your institution, look into other institutions (especially research universities) in your region. Attend all lectures, colloquia, symposia, and conferences in your region in musicology (and in other disciplines toomany musicological topics can well fit into other disciplines like history, anthropology, media studies, American studies, etc.).

When doing all of the above, be prepared at all times, ask good questions, and talk to people (it never hurts to mention that you're considering to do a PhD in musicology). Talk to grad students and professors about your goals as early as possible; seek guidance regarding essential readings for your specific interests, scholars whom you should know/cite, and specific programs to apply to. They might be able to connect you to potential advisors.

Most importantly, read musicological texts. Read a lot and read broadly; read beyond your interests and subdiscipline (HM, ethno, MT). Being able to show that you're familiar with the disciplinary landscapes will make your applications much more convincing.


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

[User] Eli5 how do cargo ships not tip over? Aren't they super top heavy?

[Assistant] They can in fact, tip over, but a lot of time and planning is spent so that they dont. Cargo ships are not just platforms with cargo on top, there are giant engines underneath, the enormous prop shaft, fuel tanks, the bilge, and often more storage. Pains are taken in assuring that the ship isnt unstable in any way, often with the assistance of automated systems which use ballast to enhance lateral balance. The real risk isnt with containerized shipping though, its with bulk dry goods, especially certain cargoes like bentonite which are notorious for suddenly shifting and causing a boat to capsize.


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

[User]
[MCU] What are the limits to Heimdall's vision? Potential spoilers for Thor Ragnarok

I personally consider Heimdall's sight to be the single most useful superpower in the Thor movies. That being said, despite its apparent ability to see literally anywhere in the universe, I wonder what it's limitations are.

How was Loki able to hide himself from Heimdall? Was it limited to just him, or to the general area of Jotunheim he visisted, considering Heimdall couldn't see ANYTHING Loki did?

If Loki's sorcery can hide oneself from Heimdall's gaze, can Dr. Strange's magic do something similar? Can going into other dimensions be enough to hide?

How many things can Heimdall watch at a time? Is it Sauron-esque, where he has limitless distance in his clairvoyance, but can only focus on one thing at a time? How was he able to hear Thor in the midst of saving all the surviving Asgardians during Ragnarok?

[Assistant]
> How was Loki able to hide himself from Heimdall? Was it limited to just him, or to the general area of Jotunheim he visisted, considering Heimdall couldn't see ANYTHING Loki did?

Loki was a master illusionist, devilishly clever, and intimately familiar with the layout of Asgard. If anyone could hide from Heimdall, it would be Loki. He probably used some combination of magic and his knowledge of particular places in Asgard that interfere with clairvoyance.

> If Loki's sorcery can hide oneself from Heimdall's gaze, can Dr. Strange's magic do something similar? Can going into other dimensions be enough to hide?

Strange is the Sorcerer Supreme, his magic trumps Loki's, and he has *lots* of powerful magic-wielding enemies who would want to scry on him. He definitely has countermeasures that could block Heimdall.

Going into another dimension is probably a good way to hide from Heimdall. He can see anywhere in the Nine Realms, so going outside of those would probably keep you safe from his gaze. However, depending where you hide and how interested Heimdall is, you might just slow the inevitable.

> How many things can Heimdall watch at a time? Is it Sauron-esque, where he has limitless distance in his clairvoyance, but can only focus on one thing at a time? How was he able to hear Thor in the midst of saving all the surviving Asgardians during Ragnarok?

He can only focus on one thing at a time. That's why he spends most of his time relaxing on the Bifrost and doesn't do any other kind of work. For example, it would have made sense to send Heimdall to get the Infinity Stones, as both his seeking and combat abilities surpass Thor's, but Heimdall is busy keeping the Bifrost operational.


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

[User]
ELI5 Why are some Water Towers very tall and skinny with small reservoirs while some are pretty short and fat with huge reservoirs.

I know it has to do with water pressure and gravity but the range of size and height, which I have seen, is quite vast.    In fact, by our home we have 2 that are on either side of the freeway.  One is tall and skinny with a small reservoir and one that is short and wide with large reservoir.  Why?

[Assistant]
One major factor for the height of the water tower depends on the terrain.  You need to have the tank high enough over the area supplies water to for enough pressure.  If the ground is flat you need to build a tall tower but if there is a hill that is high enough you can just put the tank on the ground on top of the hill.

The size of the tank will depend on the usage of the network you are supplying, If you design the tank so it can provide enough water for 24 hours even if there is no power it is quite obvious that the size depends on demand.

You can build the tank so it lasts longer or so it is large enough to if the city grows. It is also a question of money so tanks you place on the ground can have extra capacity for a minimal extra cost.


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

[User]
I thought "Arab Spring" meant these countries were gonna be more democratic and progressive. What happened? Should Western countries do anything about it?

When the different revolts started happening I thought that these countries were going to be taken over by more progressive secular parties, but instead it seems like they're just as extreme as before. What happened?

Also what should western governments stance be on it? They seem to hate us so should we not go there anymore or trade with them anymore? If all western countries ignored them, what would happen to them? Whats the best course of action?

[Assistant] Lot's of questions so I'll try to answer generally. The "Arab Spring" started because of corruption and inequality between the upper class and lower classes of society in the middle-east. It was a rejection of the way things have been done for the past 30,40,50 years and a demand for change. That change was never going to be a western democracy, and it never will. The middle-east is shaped by Islam and will be for quite a long time. This means (ELI5) that people are more likely to favor a strong/stern government, but one that allows them more freedoms than previously. We aren't going to go from body coverings to bathing suites, we'll go from body coverings to less body coverings without public beatings and shaming. That's a small start in the right direction.


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

[User]
CMV: A couple renting a two bedroom with an individual should split the rent three ways.

The argument against seems to come down to the fact that the couple considers themselves as one entity while the individual sees them as two separate people.

You can argue that you're paying for 50% of the bedrooms (true but that's your personal decision) and 50% of the living space (wildly inaccurate as no matter how you slice it two people take up the same amount of space whether they're in a relationship or not--everyone is getting 33%), but the reasonable approach should be to split everything evenly. Realistically, the individual isn't getting the living room twice as much. Not getting twice as much refrigerator space. Not having people over twice as much. Not getting twice as much access to the apartment's amenities. Not getting to put up twice as many decorations. Not getting twice as much voting power when it comes to decisions or establishing house rules. That would be the only way a 50-25-25 even comes close to being fair. The couple is putting all the weight on the bedroom as if that's the only significant feature of the apartment and as if they wouldn't be sharing one, by choice, anyway.

If these people were splitting a two-bedroom hotel room, would they expect the individual to pay twice as much just because they physically share a bed? That sounds ridiculous.

Three adults. Three incomes. Doesn't matter if your friends or complete strangers. You shouldn't even have to break out the tape measure to try and break it down to the square footage. The *reasonable* decision is for everyone to pay an equal share. This is especially true in a high cost-of-living area where a greater portion of your income is going to rent. If you're fine with one person struggling while you--the couple--has room to save/has more disposable income based upon something that is entirely within your control, you're kind of being shitty people. You already have the advantage of sharing your incomes. You don't need an additional discount on top of that and especially not one at the expense of the other person.

[Assistant]
The truly fair way to do it is cost per square foot.

Total rent / total square footage = cost per square foot.

Living room, shared bathrooms, kitchen, etc - all common spaces - square footage cost is divided evenly between the three roommates. This isn't about who uses the space more, but that all three have equal rights to the space regardless of use.

Bedrooms and private bath square footage are paid by those who occupy them. Single roommate pays full cost of their bedroom square footage, couple takes care of the square footage of of their own space.

Depending on apartment layout the payment ratio changes, but ultimately everyone pays specifically and proportionally for the spaces they have rights to.

Of course, despite being the fairest, this is a tedious way to divy up the rent; so as others have pointed out here, what's the issue if a different arrangement is agreed upon?


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

[User] ELI5: if the whole point of washers is to disperse the force of screws and nuts to prevent them from digging into the material, why not simply create screws and nuts with extra wide heads?

[Assistant]
Washers spread out the force like you said, but they also reduce the friction between the bolt head or nut and the surface they're being tightened against. When you tighten a fastener, most of your torque goes towards overcoming the friction in the threads and under the head of the bolt or nut. About 40% is lost in the threads, about 50% is lost under the head, and only about 10% is used to stretch the bolt or compress the material. These vary depending on the shape and material of the bolt, nut, and part being clamped, but that's a rough estimate. By reducing the friction between the part and the bolt head or nut, more clamping force can be achieved with a given amount of torque.

There's also the matter of cost. It's cheaper to make a bolt and a washer than it is to make a flanged bolt (the extra wide head you mention).


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Did the Death Eaters have a particular role within Voldemort's inner circle?

For instance, Lucius was an interrogator and manipulator, Bellatrix was in charge of "negotiations" (threatening), etc. If so, which ones do we know?

[Assistant] Bellatrix was his Murder Ho (to quote Otto from The Simpsons), who he trusts with most of the important jobs somewhat inexplicably. Beyond that, there doesn't seem to be that much said. The safe guess is Lucius being primarily their money guy since he mostly sits in terror in the later books, clearly out of his depth. Most of the rest are just assorted interchangeable hired goons without a lot of development.


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

[User]
[Hannibal/Batman] What if Hannibal worked at Arkham Asylum?

How would he react to being the psychiatrist of various elements of the Rogue's Gallery?

For example, the Joker.

Let's say it's the TV series version of Hannibal.

[Assistant]
Binging the show now.

Joker would try to get inside Hannibal's mind, and by observation realize how crazy Lecter was.  There's one comic where Joker breaks a light bulb in his cell and uses the ground glass to poison a guard/orderly.  When he did something like that and Lecter's mask slipped mr. J would know what he was dealing with.

Hannibal would be egotistical enough to think he could 'cure' the joker, but Joker would turn the tables.


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

[User] [Doctor Who] Why doesn't the Doctor overthrow tyranny on Earth as often as other planets?

[Assistant] There are a lot of dictators on a lot of planets in a lot of times. They aren't necessarily shown, especially if the doctor is NOT visiting those times. So yes, he does overthrow tyranny plenty of times, he's not exactly cleaning them all up either. Another question to ask: maybe he has overthrown tyranny on earth, or prevented it in some way. Maybe he's done that dozens of times. You'd never know, because he made it so it never happened, or was thwarted before getting big. You ONLY know about the ones he hasn't stopped.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why has there been a sudden influx of sites warning about the use of cookies?

I thought that a decent amount of websites used cookies by default. Now all of a sudden there are dialog boxes popping up on what it seems like every website stating it uses cookies. Did a huge lawsuit create this? Or maybe it was always like this and I just never realized.

[Assistant] There's been an EU directive requiring those warnings since 2011. It may be that you've been visiting a lot more European sites lately. You're right, almost every website (especially every website with some sort of log in system) uses cookies.


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

[User] ELI5: What is the difference between poison, venom, and toxin?

[Assistant]
*Toxins* are substances which have a profound negative effect on the body, which may be produced by the body or from an outside source.

*Poisons* are toxins which are ingested, and often are produced by plants. Potassium cyanide is such a poison. Lead and arsenic are examples of inorganic poisons (they have no carbon).

*Venoms* are organic toxins which are injected, and usually are produced by animals.


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

[User]
[Star Wars]Why did Yoda go in exile?

This is something that has always bothered me about the historical documentaries. They're always a bit vague about why Yoda went into hiding. Obviously the Jedi had been mostly wiped out, but Obi-Wan was still alive. The battle between Yoda and Palpatine clearly ended in a stalemate, with no clear victor. Shouldn't the next step for Yoda and Obi-Wan been to confront Palpatine together? If Yoda could almost take him down, surely he could have finished the job with Obi-Wan's help.

[Assistant]
It's a fair question.  However, by the time-frame you are referring, the Jedi had been destroyed.  In order for Obi-Wan and Yoda to take on Palpatine, they would have to get to him through all the military forces of the new Empire.  And it would not simply be a matter of sneaking in using stealth and Force powers; Palpatine would sense them coming.  Obi-Wan and Yoda could not take on a large military force and a Sith Lord at the same time.

This does lend some credence to the theory that Luke was placed as a decoy on Tatooine with his birth name and everything.  If Vader or Sidious could be lured to Tatooine, Obi-Wan might have had a shot at them...


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does hitting my hand against something hurt more when it's cold?

It's now winter here, and any time I pump gas or work outside, and I bang my hand against something, it hurts so much more than when it's warm. Wouldn't the cold numb my hands? Why does it seem to hurt so bad? (I don't mean the pain from the cold itself).

[Assistant] Cold dulls your nerves, and makes them less sensitive... EXCEPT FOR PAIN NERVES. They actually function *better* at colder temperatures. You have to be *really* cold for those nerves to become *less* functional, cold enough that you have bigger problems with hypothermia and frostbite.


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

[User]
CMV: Donald Trump wasnt the worst president in American history by a long shot

It has become fashionable in both popular discourse and mainstream media to refer to Donald Trump as the worst American president in history. For the life of me, I cannot comprehend that view.

Sure, Trump is a criminal, a racist, an idiot, and a narcissistic sociopath who would happily kill to get his way  *but look at his predecessors!*

FDR operated concentration camps.

Truman nuked 200,000 civilians.

Johnson sent mentally retarded teenagers to die in Vietnam.

Reagans War on Drugs (happily continued by his successors from both parties) incarcerated millions of people and devastated Latin America.

Bush Jr. legalized torture and started a war that killed at least half a million people.

Compared to those mind-boggling feats of evil, Trumps accomplishments just seem *meh.* The most infamous event of his presidency, the storming of the Capitol, was a one-day affair that led to a grand total of five casualties. It was a terrible crime with major political implications, and Trump is 100% responsible for it. But it pales in comparison to the Vietnam War, which killed 60,000 Americans and traumatized an entire generation (not to mention its effects in Vietnam itself).

Much has been said about Trumps withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and the WHO. Its flabbergasting to see peoples sudden outrage at this, considering that fuck everyone else has been the main theme of US foreign policy *basically since forever.* The US passed a law permitting themselves to invade the Hague. The US is the *only(!)* UN member that has not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The US hasnt even paid their full dues to the UN in a long time. Trumps middle finger to the world was business as usual for America.

Trump is a clown who became president almost by accident. His ramblings on social media gave the impression that a complete idiot was in charge. He is evil and if you picked a dozen people at random, he would almost certainly be the worst among them.

But American presidents are not random people. They are power-obsessed individuals who have committed some of the most horrible crimes in history, including mass murder. *As a US president,* Trump was utterly mediocre. At least he didnt start another war, which in my eyes already puts him above several post-WWII presidents. Obama was better, but Obama was clearly an above-average president. Trump was below average, but calling him the worst of all time when even recent history includes war criminals like Bush reeks of media sensationalism, and is frankly insulting to the hundreds of millions of people around the world whose entire existence has been haunted by what some of Trumps predecessors have done. *Change my view!*

[Assistant]
The difference between Trump and the other bad presidents you mentioned is that those presidents had major achievements that offset the negative aspects of their presidency.

FDR guided us out of the Great Depression and through WWII. Truman ended WWII. Through nukes, yes, but that was arguably better than the alternative (a land war in Japan). Truman also guided America into post war prosperity and kept Western Europe from falling to communism. Johnson was instrumental in passing Medicare and some of the most important civil rights legislation in American history. Reagan led us out of stagflation and played a role in the end of the Cold War.

Trump has no similar achievements. His best accomplishments are relatively minor Israeli peace treaties (which this week has shown did not bring much peace to the region) and a very unpopular tax bill. He also failed to handle the only major crisis of his presidency (COVID).

So his only legacy is his corruption. Theres nothing else there. Thats why trump is so bad.

(Although Id agree W Bush gives trump a run for his money for worst president).


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

[User] ELI5: AES, DES, 3DES and Blowfish, whith regards to cryptography what are these things for, how they work and what's the difference between them?

[Assistant]
AES, DES, 3DES, and Blowfish are some different types of encryption  mixing up and substituting information in a *message* according to a *key*, so that it is extremely difficult to figure out what the *message* is without reversing the process with the same *key*.

Starting with DES:

DES is the **D**ata **E**ncryption **S**tandard chosen by the United States for use in encrypting sensitive communications.

What it does is basically take a message, like

`The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog`

And a secret key, like

`Mary`

 it then breaks the message into chunks, like
`The` `qui` `ck ` `bro` `wn ` `fox` `jum` `ps ` `ove` `r t` `he ` `laz` `y d` `og.`

And mathematically mixes each of those chunks, called "blocks", with the key, by turning each block into a number and the key into a number (which is easy for computers, because they already treat all text as binary numbers), and performing what's called a *bitwise exclusive or*

Line the block and the key up. If both bits in a column are the same, write down 0. If both bits in a column are different, write down 1.

So "Mary" is

`01001101 01100001 01110010 01111001 `

And `The` is

`01010100 01101000 01100101 `

And the result of the bitwise exclusive-or here is

`00011001 00001001 00010111`

DES does this with its secret key and each block of the message. THEN, it takes *that* result, and does the *same thing* again, fifteen more times.

The result is extremely difficult for someone to figure out the original from, unless they have the key (which in actual DES is something uncommon like `4$8Bve#*`), or they have *a lot* of computer time to guess keys.

3DES is the same thing, except it uses *three* keys to exclusive-or on each block.

There was a lot of criticism of DES and 3DES, so the US Government asked for proposals for replacements. The scheme they accepted, called Rijndael (named after the authors), was designated the **A**dvanced **E**ncryption **S**tandard.

AES is best described simply using a deck of cards to represent the message, where each card represents a block of the message, and you can have as many of any card you need in this deck in order to represent your message.

The first thing AES does is use the key you give it to generate a lot more keys, called "round keys"  keys used in each *round* of encryption of the message, each time the whole message goes through again.

Then, it takes the *round key*, and uses it to perform bitwise exclusive or on each block of the message  each card of the deck, in our analogy. It takes that result and swaps out the original card for whichever card results from this.

*then*, it substitutes each card in the deck with a different card according to a reference table,

*then*, it cuts the deck in a certain way three times and restacks it.

*then* it cuts each *card* (block) into many pieces and rearranges each *card* according to a certain technique.

*and then it does that all again, for a total of 10, 12, or 14 times, depending on the size of the key*.

Blowfish does encryption differently than AES.

It also creates a large number of "round keys" from the initial key.

What it does then, however, is to simply break the round keys up into their own key blocks, and for each round, it (basically) consecutively combines each block of the message with the next unused block of the round key through exclusive-or operations, and then takes the two most recent block results of the key-encryption process, and exclusive-ors *those* together.

Does this answer your question?


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] About Wizard's Chess...(Sourcerer's Stone)

Do the pieces reform after being destroyed? Since this is a magical world,there's gotta be an enchant that fixes them up,either that or someone has to manually do that.

[Assistant] We know from the clothes enchanted with the Protego charm sold by Fred and George that it is possible to imbue and object with the properties of a spell. It's likely that the chess pieces were enchanted with the Reparo charm.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do cold surfaces sometimes feel wet even though they arent?

[Assistant] Because you can't really feel wet - you feel the difference in temperature (usually colder) and the slickness, then the shortcuts in your brain conclude that it's wet. A surface that's colder than your hand and slick feels enough like wet to trick you.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are male Homo sapiens typically stronger than females when the opposite is true for most other spiecies?

Emphasis on most.

I was watching a documentary and they said that females are typically larger, stronger, and more aggressive then the males. Why isn't this true in humans?

[Assistant]
A lot of those species, in which the female is larger, stronger and more aggressive than the male are species where the animals are solitary. For a female to be bigger and more aggressive than the male helps her when she needs to protect herself while pregnant / needs to protect her young afterwards.

Humans, however, are social animals so women aren't supposed to rely only on themselves while pregnant. They have the protection of the group.


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

[User] ELI5: 20/20 vision. What does it mean, why 20/20, and not 10/10 or 50/50?

[Assistant]
At some point it was decided how clearly a person should be able to see at a distance of 20 feet. If you can see from 20 feet what a person "should" be able to see from 20 feet, you have 20/20 vision. As your vision gets worse, the 2nd number gets larger - e.g., 20/200 (IIRC, considered 'legally blind' in the USA) means that the amount of detail a "normal" person can make out from 200 feet away, you'd have to get to 20 feet away to be able to see.

IDK about why 20 vs. any other possible number.


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

[User] [XCOM Enemy Unknown] so we defeated the alien invasion, but now I have these Mech Super soldiers, what am I supposed to do with them now?

[Assistant] They're only super soldiers when they're in the gigantic mechanized suits. They can expect the same sort of life as pretty much any other quadriplegic veteran once the fighting's over, although whoever ends up acquiring the suits in the war's aftermath will certainly have need of MELD-infused operators for them.


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

[User]
ELI5: do pups in a litter all share the same DNA like human twins?

Do multiple pups in litter (or any other animals born as several at a time) share identical genetic code like human twins?

I'm hoping for a true Eli5 and a deeper explanation as well.

[Assistant] They are more like fraternal twins, so they have as much in common genetically as normal siblings. Dogs release multiple eggs during ovulation, whereas humans usually release only one, which is why multiple births are the norm in dogs and not humans. It's also possible for there to be two or more fathers to a litter (this is fairly common in dogs, possible but less common in humans). In this case, the siblings would have as much in common genetically as half-siblings (same mother, different father).


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

[User]
[40k] A what-if concerning the IoM's intolerance of xeno tech

I've been thinking on this one for a bit and I'm not entirely sure how to apply the 'kill all xenos' rule to this. Say a group other than the AM (who would just hide it) finds a compatible ftl drive that completely bypasses the warp (a la Star Wars), uncorrupted, with the only downside being that it's a filthy xeno's design. Obviously this is a *massive* improvement over the current warp-drive design. Would it be destroyed?

[Assistant]
Probably.

The Emperor himself actually had some pretty good justification for his "kill all xenos" madate, but as usual the Imperium took it a bit to far after his battle with Horus.

See, during the great crusade, humanity was just pulling itself back from the scraps that were left from the age of strife.  And it's a bug scary galaxy, full of Orks (which will kill you), Eldar (which will mind rape you), Dark Eldar (which will mind rape you, then rape you, then MAYBE kill you), and Chaos (which will do all of the above.)  And that's not counting the various death world xenos, tyranid scouts, and what have you.

All in all, it's a big scary galaxy out there that's not exactly friendly to humanity as a whole.  And literally the only thing the Big E cares about it making sure that humanity prospers.    Sometimes this means going a bit far with some things,  but when your toaster could summon demonettes from the realm of Slaneesh just because you put rye bread in instead of wheat, it's better safe then sorry when it comes to technology.


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

[User]
How does the Taylor series know that angles are measured in radians?

To find the Taylor expansion of, say, sin(x), you find all the n-th derivatives of sine, but regardless of the units you measure angles in, the derivative stays the same. How come, then, that if you calculate the Taylor approximation for a given angle, it only gives you the correct answer if the independent variable is given in radians? How does the Taylor series know that radians are the fundamental units for measuring angles, as opposed to degrees or anything else?

[Assistant]
> regardless of the units you measure angles in, the derivative stays the same

This is not true, though. Let's call sin in degrees sind. Then, as you may know,

sind *x* = sin (/180 *x*)

So when you differentiate, you get

sind' *x* = /180 sin' (/180 *x*)

Derivatives are *not* invariant under a change of units! Radians are the only scale where sine and cosine are each other's derivatives (up to sign).


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

[User] [Iron Man] How does the suit compensate for extreme g-forces?

[Assistant]
It automatically diverts power to inertial dampeners.

Other than that, it functions as a flight suit much like fighter pilots wear, it compresses the lower body and provides oxygen during high g-force maneuvers to prevent the wearer from passing out.


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

[User]
[Star wars] What were the non-soldier clones actually doing during Order 66?

Suppose a Jedi was on a hospital ship during Order 66. What would they have done then? Or the men on the bridge of a Venator (see clone wars season 7) then what do the clones do that actually operate the guns or just do repairs?

[Assistant]
Insofar as they had access to a Jedi, they would try to kill them.  Otherwise they just continue to support the combat clones by carrying out their assigned roles and duties like any other time.

Order 66 was just another mission directive from their point of view, they'd play their part like they would in any other mission.


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

[User] [DC] How does Bruce Wayne purchase his Batman equipment without raising any red flags?

[Assistant]
If there's one thing the hyperwealthy are very good at, its obscuring their finances. There have been people purchasing literal slaves for decades without raising any red flags.

With high powered enough accountants and enough levels of obscuring paperwork, buying a "custom car with self-defence modifications" is nothing.


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

[User]
ELI5 Why do whales beach themselves?

Just saw a headline: "Whale stranding: Most of 230 stuck on Tasmania beach die".

Is this some sort of navigation error?

[Assistant]
Welcome to a well debated question in marine biology!
Theres a few solid hypotheses about it but not one solidly accepted answer.
Habitat change, weather, weird echolocation situations, herd mentality, and naval activity are all cited as reasons.

Weather and habitat can change hunting patterns to lead the pods closer to shore.
Their echolocation has been theorized to track certain coasts poorly.
One getting stuck puts out a distress call for others to come help.
Naval active sonar that blasts out huge amounts of energy to map out, can disorient them. Not all sonar is active, but the movie pinging version is(I say movie since its what people see. in reality a submarine trying to be stealthy isnt going to be blasting loud noises out since other ships can also use that to track it but it is sometimes used by surface vessels or some situations by subs, Give me a ping Vassily, one ping only please. ), that pinging(or chirp, or other noises) can disorient sea life, even more so sea life that uses sound to communicate and navigate.

Though there isnt really a single accepted version for all of the beachings. Sonar has been found to increase them, but whales also did beach themselves before sonar.


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

[User] [Star Wars] We see Jedi with knowledge in advanced fields, such as medicine. At what point in their training do they learn these skills?

[Assistant] This answer is going to rely on Legends. Part of the Jedi Order was the Jedi service corps, with divisions for exploration, agriculture, medicine, and education. Initiates that finished basic training but were not selected to become padawans could instead join a Service. A Jedi that completed Padawan training and graduated to Knight could also choose to affiliate with a service division if they had an aptitude for it.


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

[User]
Ways to ensure my payment/reward on opensource project

Hi, everyone;
I've got a kind-of urgent question to ask.
I've spotted an opensource project on Github to which I've been a contributor in the past.

The project's creator has opened an issue asking for help implementing several features and is willing to reward the person who does the job with a good amount of money.

My question is: How do I ensure, upon implementation of the desired features that I will get the reward? *(That is knowing that the person has agreed to pay me...)*

I am interested in something like a platform (Github included) that will tie both me and him to the transaction terms: me finishing the job, him paying me.

To set things on the right track, I am not in any case thinking this person is going to trick me, though you can never be too sure, especially on places like Github where you have ability for no-commitment and somewhat of anonymity.

Thanks.

[Assistant]
It sounds like a bounty not you being hired.

You have no real guarantee unless the projects creator uses a 3rd party bounty service that acts as an escrow and the creator funds the escrow.

Sometimes you just have to trust people though.


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

[User] [Wizarding World] How does Hogwarts get muggle born wizards to suddenly believe in magic when they get their invitation letter. Better yet how do they figure things out like currency, platform 9 3/4s, and Hermione somehow being an expert before even getting onto the damn train.

[Assistant] Cant remember where, but Im pretty sure the school will actually send someone to explain it all with the Hogwarts letter. Kind of like Hagrid did with Harry, although probably a bit better. Hermione knew so much because she read it all after she was taken to Flourish and Bouts and bought a book like the nerd she is.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is porn arousing to us? Why does other people mating turn us on?

[Assistant] Because it is human imagination. Porn isn't just watching two people having sex; it is a fantasy. We are putting ourselves into one of the positions. This is why people tend to like porn that they like to do themselves.


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

[User] [Chip N Dale] Why is Ugly Sonic an entirely separate entity from the real Sonic?

[Assistant]
Iconic fictional characters like Ugly Sonic are egregores given life by collective belief.  Since the world decided that the Sonic seen in the original movie trailer was ugly and needed to be redesigned, Ugly Sonic split off from the main Sonic to become his own thing.

Look at Pepe the Frog for another example.  His creator Matt Furie said he was representative of the idea of "feeling good," and of the pleasure gained through making comics that made his friends laugh.  In the years since, Pepe has been twisted by collective thought into a mascot of the far-right/alt-right.  That Pepe could be considered a very different entity from the original webcomic version of Pepe.


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

[User] [Young Justice] So what exactly was "the light" that all the villains were obsessed with?

[Assistant]
The "Light" isn't anything. It's basically what the villains called themselves and a metaphor.

You know how people "seeing the light" means that they're seeing the truth? That's really what they meant. They wanted people to see the 'truth' that heroes were holding them back.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why did Rock Band and Guitar Hero die? Could they ever make a comeback?

Rock Band and Guitar Hero were some of my favorite games to play, because they were unholy amounts of fun. The setlists were great, the instruments were fun, and it was the perfect party game.

But why did it fail? Over saturation? Not enough creative ideas? The setlists weren't good enough? I don't know. I just feel like these games exploded so quickly and was snuffed out at an astounding rate. I just wanted to know what everyone else thought.

Also, another question; could it ever come back? Instruments are dirt cheap right now, as are the games.

[Assistant]
>Why did Rock Band and Guitar Hero die?

Overexposure. They made way too many titles, and people got tired of buying the same thing over and over.

>Could they ever make a comeback?

Why couldn't they?


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

[User]
[40k] Is it possible for humans who are taken into the Tau to be redeemed in the eyes of the imperium?

I understand they would be considered traitors to humanity but in alot of cases it could be argued they were simply left behind by the imperium and had their systems occupied. Is there any case of them being forgiven by the imperium? Further more if this is a thing what would the Tau treat them as?

[Assistant]
It really depends on who shows up to do the redeeming.  Lost worlds are, to this day, routinely discovered and brought back into the fold with nothing more than a declaration that they will accept the Imperial truth, worship the Emperor, and contribute to the imperial levies.  A commander who makes the call that this is a lost world being returned to the fold would not be questioned unless a particularly strict Inquisitor happened to be around.

At the same time, a commander who decided these people are filthy traitors who joined the xenos instead of doing their imperial duty and dying to the last man would *also* not be questioned.  If it's an Inquisition ship that shows up to do the redeeming, youd better bet they'll be purifying the planet instead of redeeming the population.


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

[User]
[DC/Marvel/comics] What's the most callous comic book murder?

I've just read the Injustice comic where Sinestro kills a Green Lantern (no spoilers on who) by removing his ring in the middle of space - which seems unnecessary callous. Are there any others like this?

[Assistant] The murder of Green Lanterns girlfriend Alexandra Dewitt being stuffed into a refrigerator had an impact in both the DC and Marvel universes as villains gradually stopped murdering/raping/depowering the girlfriends of male superheroes for the sole purpose of affecting/motivating them to action. Im not sure how the Marvel villains learned about her but they got the message just the same.


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

[User] Why don't they make 3D printers like such?

[Assistant]
First, you have a potentially good and profitable idea...keep that in mind.

3D printing is very useful, but not applicable everywhere, because of inherent advantages and disadvantages.  It's very useful, for instance, when a one-off item must be quickly designed and fabricated.  It's also good for prototyping new concepts.

Compared to more traditional manufacturing methods, however, it isn't typically cost-effective at high-volume runs.  So in this case, toys can be molded out of plastic using these traditional methods, and run in high volumes.  The result are toys that are cheaper than what one could print at home (look at current ABS and PLA filament pricing if you don't believe me), and more complex toys can be made this way.

As far as the complexity of current 3D printers, well, they require a certain inherent complexity to function.  Think about what they are required to do: three axes of precise, controlled movement, plus controlled extrusion, of a precise diameter, to produce strong, dimensionally stable parts.  That's quite a feat.


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

[User] ELI5: Instead of trying to be emotionless, why poker players don't exaggerate fake emotions to confuse the opponent?

[Assistant] Doing nothing all the time gives away nothing.  Exaggerating fake emotions is you doing something, doing something can be tracked.  In the case of poker where there are so many hands, you trying to mimic exaggerated movements will eventually lead to inaccuracies where your "tells" will become known.  This technique may work while playing with friends but pros will be able to pick up on things.


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

[User] [Fullmetal alchemist brotherhood] How exactly does a human based philosopher's stone work? does it's body need to eat or sleep? who's soul is picked to be in charge? does it still need to expell waste or other normal functions? If it reproduces do the resulting children get souls from the stone ?

[Assistant] A human-based philosopher's stone feeds on the souls within it as sustenance if there is no food around to feed it. It's established in the canon that humans can use their own souls to transmute at the cost of shortening their lifespan. If the souls are added in a ritual, the original soul is in charge. If the souls are injected into the person, the primary soul is a new soul compromised of all the collected souls, unless the original fights the other souls at which point the soul standing remains but the stone is exhausted of its power. A human-based philosopher's stone does give off waste. And based on what happened with Edward and Alphonse's dad, the children do not inherit any of the souls.


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

[User] [DC] Batman is a genius on all fronts. His ability to do good with his wealth/power/genius is hindered by deploying himself as a front line combatant. Wouldn't he be much better suited for command and control rather than single combat? Couldn't he do more good as a commander rather than a soldier?

[Assistant]
Arguably he already is a commander. Over the course of his career he builds a network of numerous collaborators and proteges who multiply his effectiveness and the reach of his mission.

Per an observation by Barbara Gordon, at some point in Bruce's career, probably the moment he adopted Dick Grayson and taught him to be Robin, 'the Batman' transcended Bruce Wayne, and became a movement or enterprise unto itself.


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

[User]
CMV: Conservatives arent funny

I guess the most obvious angle here is that theres no politically conservative equivalent of Jon Stewart. No one on late night TV is getting laughs with witty defenses of Trump or Mitch McConnell. When someone does make a funny and insightful joke at the expense of a Democrat, that person is usually a liberal themselves, as some brands of humor are reflective and self-deprecating, and because their fellow liberals are also capable of some of the same hypocrisy and idiocy as conservatives.

Jim Jefferies got famous off the back of a bit skewering the second amendment, and Ive personally witnessed conservatives laughing at and enjoying parts of it. Im not aware of anyone who hilariously defended unfettered gun rights.

Even the political cartoons and memes on the right suck. Its all just simplistic ha-ha, those liberals are easily triggered by our beliefs circle-jerking, or else its just blunt cruelty.

Am I missing something? Is there a secret world of conservative hilarity out there?

**Edit 1

This blew up a lot bigger than I had expected. I will get back to all of you, but its going to take me some time. Thanks for all the great responses.

**Edit 2

Awarded a delta for the first person who brought up Tim Allen and Roseanne. They are valid responses given the wording of my OP, but not what Im looking for in terms of actually changing my view. What Im looking for are examples of people who can deliver compelling and funny conservative political commentary to a mass-media audience. Tim Allen and Roseanne played conservative-leaning characters to match many of their conservative ideals, but in my opinion their shows were ultimately about coming to terms with a liberal reality. Im looking for a conservative equivalent to Stewart, Colbert, Meyers, etc, who can provide funny content for a mainstream audience that works as a defense of their politics. The Blue Collar Comedy tour was also mentioned: Im not disputing that conservatives can be funny when talking about other things. But when it comes to politics specifically, they seem to either fall flat (Steven Crowder) or avoid trying in the first place (Blue Collar comics).

[Assistant]
>I guess the most obvious angle here is that theres no politically conservative equivalent of Jon Stewart. No one on late night TV is getting laughs with witty defenses of Trump or Mitch McConnell.

To be fair, if you watch the late night shows a lot of what they say aren't jokes that get laughs, they are statements that get applause. It's just confirmation bias in entertainment form.


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

[User]
ELI5: How can cell phones and other electronic devices tell how much battery life they have left.

do batteries put off more energy when full?

[Assistant] Batteries are kind of like tanks filled with water attached to a faucet. When you turn on the faucet, the water comes out. You can tell how much water is left in the tank by measuring the force at which the water comes out. Same thing with batteries, except the water is electricity and the force is the voltage.


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

[User]
Why are the cynics, specifically Diogenes, rarely studied/talked about in class?

I've heard that it's because we don't have much texts on them -- only fragments. However, we also don't have many texts on the Pre-Socratics we study them regardless.

Is Diogenes often brushed over because of his criticism of Plato?

[Assistant] Just a heads up - German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk wrote a voluminous book about the Cynics. He thinks they have a lot of influence in comtemporary society. *Critique of Cynical Reason*it is called. it's a pretty good read.


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

[User]
How does smell work?

At an interested engineer, totally not a biologist level, I can smell things.  When I try to understand how smell works, though, I get confused.  I've heard a couple of answers which I'm not convinced by, so thought I'd get some clarity.

* Resonating bonds between atoms in molecules.  This sounds semi plausible, but it doesn't account for handedness, where (AIUI) for instance a left hand identical arrangement of atoms smells of lemon and the same atoms arranged right-handed smell of mint.

* That suggests shape is the driver, which seems compelling, but then why do brand new molecules we never evolved for have a smell?  Not perfume blends, that's obvious, but molecularly.  If we don't have a receptor for a molecule shape, how could we smell it, and how could we evolve a receptor for something that doesn't exist?

* Smell buds, and every aroma is a unique combination of the nose equivalent of bitter/sweet/salt/acid/umami.  This seems pretty unconvincing to me as with shape alone - how could novel molecules smell?

* Nose as a diffraction column.  Doesn't seem intuitive, but unique graphs for aromas at least includes the possibility of novel molecules having a smell, but we return to the handedness question.

What am I missing?  Am I overthinking it all, missing something obvious?  I mean it seems like something we should know, but I'm not seeing consensus.

Thanks for your ideas about this, it's troubled me a while!

[Assistant]
**Shape is the driver.** This is a core concept of biology. Biology is just physics due to shape due to chemistry.

There are tons of chemicals we cant smell.

The ones we can smell are easy enough to explain. There is not simply one receptor per smell just as there is not just one taste receptor per compound in your food. Each smell is a composite signal of all the signals from different receptors that got triggered to specific degrees and your brain turns it all into a perception. You have receptors with specific shapes, and many different molecules will have a close-enough fit for that receptor to trigger it to some degree. Some of these signals may be time-modulated, as a receptor with a molecule that fits half the time will send half the overall signal as better-fitting molecule might.

You only need a toolkit of a certain number of receptors to generate unique signals for an arbitrary number of chemicals. Each combination of receptor-response fingerprint is unique; each scent need not have its own unique receptor.

Your immune system also works or youd be too dead to type this, which suggests that a limited toolkit is quite sufficient for recognizing arbitrarily many new shapes. Instead, your infant body prepared a limited set of shapes ahead of time, and theyve worked to keep you alive since.


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

[User] ELI5: How do accents, like the American accent, form?

[Assistant] Isolated communities help accents and languages form more quickly. Then they just slowly evolve. Sometimes a very powerful or popular person can spread a change. Look at it on a micro-level. In your group of friends, what if the coolest guy started slurring a word or two or sounding a little different. Pretty soon when you're around him you might slip into it as well. Then it just keeps going.


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

[User] How do lasers measure the temperature of stuff?

[Assistant] Usually they're used to just align an IR sensor, but in principle you could shine a laser on something and determine the ratio of Stokes to anti-Stokes scattering, which would be an indirect measure of the temperature.


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

[User] [Lion King] So is there only one family of lions in all of Africa? Also are these lions vegetarian, or are their loyal subjects just okay with being eaten?

[Assistant]
Africa is a big place. Pride rock and the family of lions that it house that are shown in The Lion King are only one of many groups of Lions that live all over the continent.

The reason Mufasa's teritory is so large is because he can see everything the light touches from atop his throne on Pride Rock. He could spot encroaching Lions from afar and deal with insurgency whenever it presented itself to him.

It's a shame the light didn't shine on the shadow his brother was hiding in.


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

[User]
Is server specific code a bad idea ?

So today I made a bad mistake at work. I migrated some code from the testing environment to production, however at some point the code in production had diverged from that elsewhere in source control, so I overwrote the production approach with the approach that was used in dev and testing which didn't work properly in the production environment.

Yes it is confusing to have it set up this way. In some ways it is as much a systems failure as it is my mistake, but I probably should have checked everything more carefully.

Discussing this with one of the managers he said, "elsewhere we deal with this problem of diverging code bases by having logic of the form if code is running on server A do this, else if it is running on server B do that". Just to be clear the servers aren't different operating systems or anything. This just seems like a bad idea, as it makes it impossible to test properly, and what if you want to migrate the code to a different production server ? For lack of a better term it seems like a code smell.

Some of the managers are a bit surly and I hope this doesn't turn into a drama, but I think I will make the case that we need to just sort out the reasons for having different code running on the different servers.

What do people think of this situation ? Thanks for any advice.

[Assistant]
> however at some point the code in production had diverged from that elsewhere in source control

Just that sentence alone makes me cringe. Directly modifying code on prod without going through SC is ... yikes.


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

[User]
CMV: Moderates get an unfairly bad rap

I'm a moderate, left moderate. I've voted Democrat my entire life, but I might vote for a Republican in the midterms and my hope is that Republicans win either the House or the Senate (but not both.)

I generally think my opinions and the opinions of most moderates are reasonable. The only area where I'm extreme is climate change (I think a lot of moderates support drastic action where climate change is concerned because it's an existential threat.) Besides that I want to reform the police, not defund them, I support the LGBTQIA+ movement, I have mixed feelings about CRT, I am against mandated political correctness and censorship, I believe everybody should have healthcare, food, water, and shelter and the government should provide it if necessary, I believe weed should be legal as well and everybody should have equal opportunity.

Moderates are a very diverse group, so I can't speak for every moderate, but the positions I mentioned seem like fairly common moderate positions. All of them seem pretty reasonable.

Yet we're anathema to many on the left and some on the right (I personally have experienced far more venom from leftists than I have from the right, although I've definitely experienced it from both.) It seems like some leftists hate moderates *more* than outright conservatives.

I'll admit, there are some people that call themselves moderate because they can't be bothered to research the issues and take a stance on them. They want some of everything because they don't know much about anything. I understand why that would be frustrating. But most moderates identify as moderates because they've researched the issues and they like some aspects of both parties. Maybe they don't like how extreme the parties have become and they find their views are more middle of the road. I don't see what's wrong with that or why there's so much animosity towards moderates. I don't think it's deserved.

Expanding on what I said because I feel like I didn't make a strong enough case for moderates. I think moderates:

-Help ensure national stability and that things don't get too out of whack in any direction

-Offer an important alternative perspective to mainstream thought

-strengthen third parties so, potentially one day there will be more than two viable options.

[Assistant] The only issue you brought up that's remotely conservative is the crt boogeyman why the heck would you want a Republican house of Congress? None of your actual policy preferences would happen if that were the case.