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

[User]
[MCU] Who do I call about aliens and Avengers wrecking my car and disintegrating my roommate?

I was supposed to move in with a roommate in Manhattan, but there was some fight with "heroes" and now my car, which was parked in front of the building with all my stuff inside, was destroyed by some guy that looked like Voldemort.

Then, I'm on the phone forever with my car insurance company and the line went dead, and suddenly my roommate turned into dust and disappeared. This is a big problem as the lease was in his name and my vacuum cleaner was in my car when it got wrecked. Plus, my landlord didn't disappear and I can't afford the rent on my own.

Since Avengers were involved I tried calling SHIELD, but I got some recorded message about "hailing hydra," which sounds like really bad weather, so they're no help. Because Iron Man was there I tried to get through to the Stark company but they said they spent all their money in Slovenia or somewhere. Does anyone know who I can call about this?

[Assistant]
Damage control inc will happily rebuild all that was broken by superhero or otherwise supernatural damages.
Please have an inspector verify that your damages were caused by one of the causes as described by our coverage. All repairs will be funded by a special super hero rebuilding fund.

Have a nice day.

(And read their comic its worth it)


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

[User]
If we were to take a cylindrical rod and shoot it at the Earth with enough energy to completely pass through its diameter and out the other side, what would happen?

Given a cylindrical rod of metal, etc, roughly the size of the Burj Dubai (approx. 830m tall) and apply enough kinetic energy to it such that it can penetrate the Earth completely through its diameter from one side and exit out the other, (assume the rod is  not destroyed and exits the planet intact) what would the resulting impact do to the planet?

Thanks everyone for your responses! Very insightful and definitely thought provoking.

[Assistant] You couldn't really impart enough kinetic energy onto something like that and have it penetrate the Earth.  If you gave an object that amount energy you're referring to it would probably in essence become a fusion bomb as soon as in impacting the earth if not the atoms in the atmosphere beforehand.


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

[User]
[Mass Effect] How would the events of the rest of the trilogy been if Shepard had shown undeniable proof the the Reapers existence?

I made a post a few days ago about how much it bugged me that Shepard never recorded his missions, had a war reporter on hand or had backup properly examine and retrace his steps. I get why it was done story wise but it seemed very heal hearted realistically. In this case there's no denial that the reapers exist at the end of Mass Effect 1. Assuming Shepard is still killed by the collectors what or how does the rest of the trilogy continue from here?

[Assistant]
The citadel council knew exactly what Reapers were. An ACTUAL REAPER tried to attack the seat of galactic government, which is the most proof anyone could have ever dumped onto the galactic doorstep. The Citadel Archives have a file that shows the council knew exactly what Reapers were, and had full knowledge of Sovereign's plans (most likely from Shepard's reports) all along. The fact that they "dismissed that claim" and edited the official story of Sovereign's attack was pure politics. They did not want to panic the galaxy by spreading stories of an unstoppable force intent on exterminating all civilized life.

There was nothing Shepard could have done, considering a full fledged Reaper showed up at the Citadel. The sad facts of realpolitik and psychological manipulation would have caused ANY other proof (but what better proof is there than an actual Reaper?) Shepard presented to be ignored.

Also, we know that not everyone was convinced by the Council's lame attempt to hide the truth. The entire Andromeda Initiative was conceived as a galactic evacuation. Maybe if Shepard provided more proof, they wouldn't have had to rely on such shady funding and gotten more volunteers from other people convinced of the horrible truth. But again, the Milky Way galactic stage as a whole would have remained unchanged. Shepard's story would have continued exactly as it did.


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

[User] Due to the speed of light being the speed of communication between earth and for example, Philae's lander, how is it possible to control it to a safe landing, without crashing, if your vision is ~1000 seconds behind real time?

[Assistant] You don't try to do it live, you pre-program maneuvers using advanced computer models and mathematical predictions.  This is part of what makes the landing so exciting from an engineering and technology standpoint.


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

[User]
[MCU] If Iron Man hits me in the chest with a direct energy blast to the torso, what do I perceive? Is it just like a big push to the chest that knocks me down; is there shrapnel or particle bits that hit me?

If it hurts to be blasted, what is the locus of the feeling/pain?

[Assistant] It would hurt a lot, but not for long, since if you're getting hit with a Uni\-Beam, you'd be dead very quickly. MCU\-Tony's repulsors, as seen in his first movie, are essentially repurposed flight stabilizers, so they don't shoot any kind of projectiles or exotic particles, it's essentially a force beam. For the uni\-beam it would be probably akin to being slammed with a truck, compacted into about ten inches diameter beam.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why every car I've driven only has the defrost option set to "defrost the windshield" or "defrost the windshield and blow on feet."

I get up really early for work so I was super cold the other day...anyways, I noticed you can't really warm your hands and defrost the window at the same time. You have two options, you can just defrost the windshield or defrost the windshield and blow air on your feet.

[Assistant]
Heating the window is, of course, a safety feature.

As for the "warm feet", that's just blowing it at the bottom because warm air will rise, so it makes the most sense to send it out at your feet.

You might look for an aftermarket accessory called "gloves".


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

[User]
Why do we use phase change refrigerants?

So from my memory of thermodynamics, an ideal heat pump is the carnot cycle. This cycle uses an ideal gas on both the hot and cold sides of the pump. However in the real world we use the refridgeration cycle with an evaporator and a compressor.

I understand that the Carnot cycle is 'ideal' and therefore we can't get to Carnot efficiencies in real life.

But what real life factor means we can't try and use a gas both sides (with a turbine to replace the evaporator? Is it energy density? Cost? Complexity? Do space/military grade heat pumps with high performance requirements do something different?

Thanks!

Edit: just a quick edit to say thanks so much for all the responses so far, it's exactly the sort of detailed science and real world experience I wanted to understand and get a feeling for. I will try and respond to everyone shortly!

Edit2: bonus question and I think some commenters have already hinted at this: flip the question, what would it take / what would it look like to have an all-gas cycle and if money were no object could it outperform a phase change cycle? I'm assuming extremely high pressure nitrogen as the working fluid to achieve a good energy density... Enormous heat exchangers. Could it get closer to Carnot COPs?

[Assistant]
Phase changes occur at fixed temperatures. When you introduce a saturated liquid in a heat exchanger and extract a saturated vapour from it, your temperature difference between the exchanger and your heat source has remained constant (assuming a sufficiently large source). Same goes for a saturated vapour entering a heat exchanger and leaving as a saturated liquid. This is more efficient than heating a vapour, as its temperature will increase, causing a smaller temperature difference between itself and its heat source/sink and with that a reduced heat flux. The latent heat of vaporisation for e.g. water is quite high, which means you can absorb or reject a lot of heat at a constant temperature.

This is readily apparent from the heat capacity of water vapour and the latent heat of vaporisation of water. The c_p of water vapour is roughly 1.8 or 1.9 kJ/(kg K) at 0 degrees Celsius. This means that adding 1.8 kJ to one kilogram of water vapour will raise its temperature one Kelvin. The latent heat of vaporisation for water at 0 degrees Celsius is about 2500 kJ/kg. Meaning one kilogram of saturated liquid water will absorb 2500 kJ before its temperature will start to rise.

So to answer your question more directly, yes, you can use a heat engine with only a gas as a working fluid, but phase transitions are an excellent way of absorbing or rejecting large amounts of heat quickly. An example of a real-world gas-only heat engine is the Stirling engine, which runs on the Stirling cycle.


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

[User]
ELI5: The proof behind the existence of black holes.

The proof used to know about their existence before they were captured on camera.

[Assistant]
To understand it, first you have to understand escape velocity.

If you throw a ball straight up, depending on the velocity the ball it has some velocity. It will be dragged on by the gravity of the Earth to slow it down and eventually it will stop and then fall back. However, the farther the ball gets from Earth, the weaker the gravity. If you throw the ball fast enough (faster than you can throw) gravity will get weaker faster than it can slow down the ball and in that case, the ball will never stop and fall back, it will just get slower and slower and slower forever. The minimum speed to achieve this from some distance from a gravity well is the escape velocity. The stronger the gravity, the faster the escape velocity.

We already had evidence for super-dense stars which we would later call neutron stars. The question just became, what would happen if a star was so heavy and so dense that the escape velocity from its surface was greater than the speed of light? Even light would be unable to achieve escape velocity, so anything which passed this 'event horizon' would be lost from the rest of the universe forever.


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

[User]
[Chronicles of Narnia] How could Susan forget Narnia?

I mean she must have spent at least a decade in Narnia at the end of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, and then she went back in Prince Caspian. Not only did she witness Narnia, but so did her family, the old man who kept them and not to mention the Telmarines who went through the portal, back to Earth.

Narnia has been consistently shown to be a very real thing and had lasting effects on Susan and others who have also been there, so how can she just forget it and believe it to be a childish fantasy?

[Assistant]
Because Narnia is magic, and the only people who can remember it are good Christians who hold Narnia in their heart.

Susan started wearing makeup and being interested in boys like some kind of trollop with biological urges. After she discovered sex, Narnia was no longer dear to her and was remembered as just a silly pretend game they used to play together.


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

[User]
[MCU] What is the durability of Iron Man's suits?

The durability of the suits seems to vary so greatly. IIRC, his Mark 3 suit was able to withstand:
1. A direct tank shot

2. Punch through the wing
 of an F-22 without suffering much damage

In Iron Man 2, his portable suit takes some damage but does okay against Whiplash.

In The Avengers, his Mark VI suit suffers a decent amount of damage when pushed through the fan, but is able to tank some damage from Thor as well (though Thor is clearly stronger and causes more damage then he receives). His Mark VII armor is able to withstand the Battle of New York, up until the whole pushing a nuke through a portal thing.

Now Iron Man 3 is where it gets iffy. A lot of the Iron Legion suits seem super weak. Now, yes, extremis powered people are clearly strong, but at the same time, it is clear that the Iron Man 3 suits are weaker than even his earlier designs.

In the Age of Ultron we're back to 'strong' Iron man for the most part, including the entertaining Hulkbuster fight that Iron Man manages to outlast the Hulk in.

Now, in Civil War, we go back to 'weak' Iron Man. The Iron Man from the first two movies or the Avengers would not get ravaged by Bucky and Cap, even knowing how good they are at close range combat.

So, what is the ultimate consensus on how durable his suits are? (or is it merely a question of as required by plot)

[Assistant]
The Iron Legion suits were basically all prototypes, created during sleep-deprived nights when Tony was trying to get through his PTSD by obsessively inventing new suits.  It's no surprise that they were comparatively fragile, because they'd gone through none of the testing and optimization of an actual field-ready suit.  Each of them was basically a demonstration or proof of concept of a certain idea or innovation.

Regarding Civil War, the suit Stark was using against Cap and Bucky came from his helicopter, ie it was also a suit designed for portability and weight efficiency, instead of providing the best durability or power.  Furthermore, recall that Stark spent a lot of that battle fighting on Cap and Bucky's home turf, that is to say, in close-range hand-to-hand combat.  Cap and Bucky are two of the strongest and most skillful pugilists the world has ever seen, and even Friday acknowledges that Stark is completely outmatched in hand to hand combat against Cap.


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

[User] ELI5: How is the HeLa cell line immortal?

[Assistant]
First, let me tell you what it means when a cell is *not* immortal.

Normal human cells can divide.  1 cell becomes 2.  2 cells become 4.  4 cells become 8.  But most human cells have a limit - they can't just keep on doubling forever.  They can only divide so many times before a built-in safeguard says "that's enough, no more division."  So 8 becomes 16, 16 becomes 32, 32 becomes 64, but then it stops.  64 is the end.

An immortal cell is one that doesn't have a built-in limit.  It can keep on dividing forever: 64, 128, 256, 512, ..., one million, two million... one billion, two billion, four billion, until it takes over everything.

A cell that's abnormal but *not* immortal can form a small tumor, but the tumor's growth stops when the cells hit the division limit.  Because of that, a cell that's abnormal but not immortal isn't considered "cancer" - the limit prevents it from growing and spreading.  Instead, it's called a "precancerous condition" - the cells are abnormal and are forming a tumor, but until a mutation causes the division limit to be removed, they won't kill you - yet.

HeLa is actually a cervical cancer cell.  Like all cancer cells, it's immortal - if it weren't immortal, they wouldn't call it "cancer," they would call it "precancerous."

It is possible to take a normal human cell and remove the division limit in the laboratory - ie, "immortalize" it.  This can be useful for scientists, since they need to be able to grow the cells in the lab, and they don't want some built-in division limit to tell them they have to start over.


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

[User]
CMV: Borg queens shouldn't exist and the Borg would be stronger without them

The Borg collective is weakened by the existence of (and perhaps dependence on) Queens. The Queens do not have any practical value because they are integrated within the collective so any individual could have access to all the queen's knowledge and abilities. Since the Borg have nigh perfect unity of thought, it makes no sense to have a single body that has special duties and abilities. If the species were truly bent on assimilation and maximizing efficiency in pursuit of perfection they should eliminate queens.

They aren't an ant colony in which the mindless drones, soldiers, and queens are biologically wired to do different things. The Queens introduce a weakness in that there is a single body that has higher value than the others. This goes against one of the core strengths of the Borg.

[Assistant]
The reasonable conclusion would be that the Borg would have eliminated them if they were as detrimental as you suggest. Suggesting that their existence is more important than it might seem on the surface. Its not impossible for the Borg to retain some kind of vestigial aspect ofwhatever they were before becoming a race of assimilating machines, but it is unlikely given what we understand from the source material.

Of course the Queen was a narrative decision because they wanted a main bad guy in that one movie. But thats neither here nor there.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why are some of the droids less intelligent than others?

Specifically were some of the battle droids less intelligent than others. I assume that the programming is done once, and flashed to all of them.

[Assistant]
I suspect OP is talking about differences in intelligence in the same model of droid, not between different kinds of droid.

There are several possibilities here:

- Droids in Star Wars are to some degree learning computers. The 'smart' droids may have survived long enough to become canny to their opponents' strategies. (In the EU, there is also something of a suspicion of simple droids that have lasted long enough to become that intelligent and independent - hence explaining why the 'smart' droids aren't used as a template for new droid models. However, battlefield memory maintenance was problematic and so often skipped, leading to the above situation of smarter older droids.)

- 'Dumb' droids may represent earlier models of the AI package, and for whatever reason there has been no chance to push updates to all fielded units. Maybe some of the AI is on unwritable memory, maybe the time for a total software replacement is too long for a battlefield situation, maybe the 'dumb' droids are running on old hardware that cannot handle smarter intelligences, or maybe they just don't want to. (In the EU this is especially the case for the Trade Federation, who viewed B1 Battle Droids as expendable cannon fodder and not worth the time to write a stronger AI for when 'build even more' was also a possibility.)

- Malfunctioning or corrupted droid AI may result in inferior intelligence. This may be caused by damage or wear on the hardware, or a fault in the AI which was not discovered until after the droid was already produced and deployed. If it was the latter case, we go back to the second point above - in field replacement may not have been done for any number of reasons.


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

[User] How can you tell the difference between someone trying to sound deep and someone whos genuinely trying to express a complicated thought?

[Assistant] A lot of the time, someone who is just trying to sound 'deep' won't have an argument in what they're saying; they will just be asserting something that may or may not be meaningful. If someone is honestly trying to express a complicated thought, they will typically put some effort into explaining or arguing for what they are expressing.


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

[User]
ELI5: What cancer patients actually die of?

Is it blood being diverted from organs into the tumor? Weight of the tumor pressing down on the organs? Or something else?

[Assistant]
Cancer kills the patient by causing the organs the stop working as they should. Cancer can be thought of as "out of control" cell growth. It overcrowds or overtakes organs causing them to not work right. When certain organs don't work like they should then it eventually causes death. E.g. Lung cancer causes the lungs to take in less oxygen which eventually causes the patient to weaken which can lead to other organs failing as they compete for oxygen and other resources.

Cancer is actually very normal and we have these "out of control" cell growths all the time but most of the time our bodies can deal with it by killing these bad cells before they become too many or convert other cells from other organs to join in the rebellion. So, you can think of your body like a house with lots of children and these children all have chores. If one of these children is bad and isn't disciplined then he might make messes rather than do his chores. He may eventually talk his brothers and sisters to stop doing their chores but eventually if everyone breaks all the rules and don't do their chores the house eventually will fall part! This is why mommy and daddy want you to obey the rules and do your chores.


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

[User] [Star Trek] Do Borg drones (without a Borg ship nearby to support them) have any sort of counter against strong hand-to-hand fighters like Worf and Data? Can they "adapt" countermeasures to getting punched or Bat'lethed in the face?

[Assistant]
The entire borg system is based on scale is best. A few drones surviving or not is irrelevant when the collective can deploy another 30 or 300 cubes (or a time ship) to overwhelm highly resistive targets. Why care for a couple of drones out of millions on a single cube when you can virus bomb the planet with nanoprobes and replace them with billions of new voices? Sacrificing a few drones for the necessary data is highly efficient.

They don't adapt to melee because they don't give a damm about individual encounters. They value individuals so lowly that they don't even respond to boarding teams unless they can cause damage. And even then the response is basically instinctive.


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

[User]
Why can we digest fats but not plastics when both are mostly hydrocarbon chains?

For example, some saturated fats differ from polyethylene only in the chain end group (and total length). Is 'cracking' that end group the key to unraveling the rest of the chain? If so, what's so hard about breaking an extra C-H bond?

[Assistant]
1) The carboxylic acid changes the chemistry of fatty acids compared to plastic hydrocarbons massively. It looks subtle on paper, but it is like the difference between a stick and an arm (with a hand!) in terms of chemical functionality.

2) Plastic/polymeric hydrocarbons are very chemically inert and there is therefore a larger energy barrier to chemical transformations (and therefore use as an energy source).

3) The enzymes evolved over many millions of years to be exquisitely selective for fatty acids, not plastics.


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

[User] ELI5: Are lobsters' and other sea creatures' organs removed before they are served as a meal? If so, how?

[Assistant] It's different for different sea creatures.  Fish you gutt, for example.  A lobster body is often not eaten at all in favor of the tail, claws, legs (if a large one).  When you remove the tail you often see some of the guts - some people do enjoy eating the liver, but for the most part the guts/body of the lobster is ignored or used in soup stock, bisque etc.


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

[User] Could a lightsaber with a kryptonite focusing crystal cut through Superman?

[Assistant]
Assuming that kryptonite could even work as a focusing crystal, probably.

Would it not also be possible to just keep a chunk of kryptonite in a chamber on the hilt, weakening Superman by proximity, and then cutting him like anything else?


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does the human body like vibrations so much?

I have noticed that the human body really likes vibrations a lot. Like massage machines, when somebody roughens up our hair, etc. I was wondering what could be the reason for it.

[Assistant]
> massage machines, when somebody roughens up our hair

Basically considering these as 'touch sensations', there are two aspects, the psychological aspect and the physiological aspect.

Psychological factor is that being touched or touching someone else are important modes of human interaction next to language.  Studies show that the hormone oxytocin has a role in this, which is the hormone of love and attachment.  That's why we feel good when we get a handshake, hug or a shoulder massage to a congratulatory pat on the back.  Secondly, the physiological aspect, the stimulation, increased blood flow, etc.  When we get a massage, our brain receives the sensation because our skin cells send the nerve signal from skin to brain and then our body released endorphins which act like natural pain killers.  Then the body tend to be more relaxed as the stress level is reduced.


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

[User] [The Purge] Why don't people go to Mexico/Canada before the purge occurs and then come back once it ends?

[Assistant]
Money.

The wealthy probably do, easily, as do reasonably well off people at the borders. Maybe even some of the middle class further towards the centre of the nation. And that's fine. They're meant to survive the purge anyway.

But there are those who don't have passports, or cars, or the ability to pay for a place to stay for the night, or simply the stability to miss a day of work.

And those are the people who are meant to die in a purge. So they stay there and die.


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

[User] [Ghostbusters II/Harry Potter] So how exactly did an object that looks one hell of a lot like a horcrux end up in a muggle museum? Shouldn't there be someone in charge of preventing that kind of thing?

[Assistant] If you're referring to the portrait of Vigo Von Homburg Deutschendorf, it's a rare example of seventeeth-century Carpathian portraiture, and it belongs in a museum where it can be appreciated by future generations rather than moldering in a private collection.


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40k]How does the whole "no one but inquisitions and higher-ups know about Chaos" thing actually work? How can it be that all of Cadia has no idea what they prepare to fight for? Or how tons of trained troops are wasted with executions after fighting chaos?

I just don't feel it makes sense on some level. How can the Horus Heresy be such an integral part of the lore without anyone knowing what it was? How do soldiers/space marines prepare to fight and spend their whole lives fighting chaos yet they're killed after seeing them by Grey Knights/whomever?

You can answer in the form of a veteran inquisitioner addressing a new one if that's your thing.

[Assistant]
You can give your soldiers a general idea, but there are documented instances in which **merely speaking the name of a particular daemon has given it enough leeway to force its way out of the warp through the unfortunate sod's corpse into realspace.** Against such a powerful foe, even the merest whiff of knowledge can seem totally unacceptable without the proper defenses. Troops shooting lasguns do not have to understand what they are shooting at. They merely need to shoot.

The loss of a regiment of (for example) highly trained Kasrkin is a small price to pay in the long run compared to the damage that a single possessed soldier could cause, either directly in combat, or subtly by whispering lies into the ears of the powerful. The loss of a hundred regiments of average guardsmen is nothing, not even a blip on the radar. The Imperium can replace them with a single round of draft slips on a single hive world.


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

[User]
What is your favorite non-technical CS book?

I'm looking for some casual reading about CS (history, important people, etc.). I guess you could say I'm a bit lost and looking for motivation and inspiration for why I'm still in this field suffering :)

As sort of an analogy, I'm looking for something like Mukherjee's *The Gene*, but about CS instead of Genetics. I'd really appreciate any suggestions!

[Assistant]
If you want a nice history of computers, read *The Innovators* by Walter Isaacson.

If you want a more well-rounded history of computers after reading the Innovators, read *A People's History of Computing in the United States* by Joy Lisi Rankin.

If you want an interesting look at the people who make computers and what drives them, read *The Soul of a New Machine* by Tracy Kidder.

Some of these are certainly more "computing" than Computer Science, but people mean different things by "computer science" so they might fit what you're looking for.


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

[User] [General Modern Fantasy] Why not make a gun that shoots magic ?

[Assistant]
So, a gun that shoots magic doesn't require a projectile, so you don't need a barrel.  Solid metal rod would work.  Since it's magic, aiming is probably more about where you want it to go and not where you're pointing it, so a stock is unnecessary.  Again, being magic, you can probably fudge the sizes a bit too, something more handgun sized than rifle sized.

So a solid rod, maybe 12ish inches in size.

What does that sound like?

**TL:DR** It's spelled "wand"


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

[User] eli5: Why are ski mountains groomed with a groove pattern opposed to something flat?

[Assistant]
If they groomed it smooth, it would melt and refreeze smooth, and you'd get an inclined ice skating rink, which is no fun to ski on.
With the grooves, it melts and refreezes unevenly, meaning it likely to break up when the ski edges dig in. Which is more fun to ski on.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do people "blackout" from drinking too many alcoholic beverages but remain conscious with no recollection?

This happens to me way too often so I might as well understand what is happening.

[Assistant] Your brain has to keep track of a lot of different things at the same time.  Part of the brain deals with this "what's going on right now" information.  It's way too much information to store long term though.  So your brain makes decisions on what gets moved into "I should remember this later" parts of the brain and what just gets thrown away to make room for what's continuing to happen right now.  Alcohol messes with the brains ability to move stuff into longer term memory.  You drink enough of it and it pretty much shuts down the process all together, which means by the time you recover from your drunken stupor, you brain didn't save any of that information.


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

[User]
[HALO] Why haven't the flood won again?

If the Forerunners, who made every single other galactic power in the galaxy look pathetic, couldn't beat them, how come a Tier 3 civilization has managed to keep them at bay? Is it because of the Forerunner's efforts?

[Assistant]
It was because the flood had a lot of time to prepare against the Forerunners, and the Forerunners didn't take it seriously. It was actually ancient humans who discovered the flood, and they did a good job keeping it under control until it spread to a Forerunner planet. In order to stop it they just blew up the planet which caused the Forerunners to declare war on them in retaliation. Humans couldn't fight the flood and Forerunners so they lost and were sent back to the stone age (literally). The flood meanwhile was growing and even still the Forerunners refused to take it seriously because they basically thought the humans were just exaggerating the whole thing.

Eventually they realized the flood was a real threat but by then it was too late. The flood turned an AI the Forerunners used to control most of their military against them and had already absorbed tons of biomass. It was smart and powerful and getting stronger all the time. So out of desperation, after losing for a long time, they made the halos.

The flood by the time of the games is much newer and smaller. The gravemind is just as smart since it regains it's knowledge when it reforms, but it doesn't have the resources it did when it fought the Forerunners yet. It's only been active for like a few weeks really. It was still pretty contained to a few ships and then high charity, so by firing the Halo while it was still on the ark they were basically able to wipe out the majority of what was left of the flood. There's still some left, but they're sort of mindless without a gravemind to direct them.


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

[User] ELI5: Can plants get old and die? What usually determines the lifespan of an individual plant? Theoretically, if conditions were kept properly could you keep a plant alive forever?

[Assistant]
1. Yes, they can get old and die in a sense. Typically in the from of degenerative diseases.

2. Lots of factors. Evolution, genetics, environment. Some can live for thousands of years, some live only a few months.

3. You can theoretically take what's called a "cutting" of some plants and keep it going forever if conditions are kept right. But you need to constantly take a cutting every now and again and grow a new plant.


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

[User]
ELI5: What does it mean when music is played in a specific note such as "Pachelbel Canon in D"?

Can the songs be played in other notes or would it sound awful or strange?

[Assistant]
D was the "key" chosen.  D is the base note and it follows the scale up to D by going through the notes D E F# G A B C# D

Pachelbel's Canon was originally written for 3 violins and accompaniment (cello, harpsichord, etc).  The violin sounds really great in D major because of how its strings are tuned.

They certainly could move the piece to a different key (called transposing).  It wouldn't sound as good on a violin, but maybe if different instruments are used instead.

Composers write keys in different keys for a wide variety of reasons.  Different instruments sound "stronger" in different keys.  But sometimes they just write in a different key to give them new ideas.  A key will 'feel' different to a player.  Certain melodies are more apt. It just freshens things up to use different keys from time to time.


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

[User] Would a observer in the moon see a Super Earth as we recently experienced a super moon?

[Assistant] Yes, Earth would appear 7% larger than average from the Moon when the Moon is at perigee. Of course, during a "supermoon" when the Moon is full, Earth would be new (its dark side facing the Moon) so you wouldn't be able to see it easily.


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

[User] ELI5. Why do we get bayonet and screw light bulbs? Why not just one type?

[Assistant] The bayonet types came from UK manufacturers and Edison developed the Edison Screw (ES) fittings in the USA. These were adopted internationally largely according to the patterns of trade and colonization of the  UK and USA.


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

[User] [Bladerunner] When and how did the Bladerunner timeline diverge from our own?

[Assistant]
The Soviet Union never collapsed. The Space Race never ended, so humanity colonized the solar system much faster. There wasn't a World War III, but ecological disaster happened after repeated "Cold" War brushfires resulted in limited use of nukes.

LA county is unchanged.


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

[User] ELI5: How does cold weather cause our noses to run?

[Assistant] The drainage system for your eyes nose mouth and ears all connects in canals and reservoirs in your skull. At lower than normal temperatures (and windy conditions) the pressure of water in the air is lower and because of this any water from your eyes mouth and nose evaporates much more quickly. Your body compensates by releasing more fluid to keep your tissues moist (through tears, snot, saliva). Excess tears and snot meet and drain out your nose, and this is why your nose is runny.


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

[User]
Say you had a massively long stick in outer space and you started to rotate it like a pencil on a turntable. If the stick was long enough, could the far end of it ever exceed the speed of light?

Ever since I was a kid and learned that the edges of a record move faster than the centre I've wondered about whether rotating a sufficiently long object could break the speed of light. I look forward to hearing how stupid this is.

[Assistant]
one way to think about why this wouldn't work is to see the long stick not as a uniform solid long stick, but as a chain of atoms from one end to the other (which well it is, since it would in fact be made out of atoms). when you try and move it on one end, you would cause the nearby atoms to move first, which would cause their nearby atoms to move, and on and on. this "propagation" has a speed limit, so anything you do with this large stick would need to propagate your movements to the other end at a maximum speed of that speed limit (otherwise, you could build a stick say 2 ly long stick, and just move it back and forth to communicate at faster than speed of light). so in your situation, the long stick would simply bend as the movement gets propagated from your end to the far end.

note, this isn't even considering the impossibility of creating such a stick in the first place, but rather more of a thought-experiment on why such a stick wouldn't work the way you are talking about at all.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why can't we use salt water from the ocean for non-drinking purposes?

This was a question brought up to me by a seven year old, so I figure in order to give him a explanation he'll understand this might be the place. I'm kinda interested in the answers too.

I was talking about water shortages in places, and how there is a lack of fresh water, when the fact that the oceans cover so much of the Earth was brought up. Then the question came that if there is a shortage of water, why do we have clean water in our toilets, and why do we use clean water to wash cars rather than using salt water from the ocean? I'm assuming the salinity affects the surfaces of these things?

[Assistant]
This kinda stuff was attempted in Hong Kong back in the 50's. They tried to promote using seawater to flush toilets, but it was unpopular due to the need to build a separate plumbing network for each house. In order to even try to implement what you're speaking of would require tons of money as freshwater and seawater would be coming in from 2 different sets of plumbing. One set for drinking and another set for everything else. The costs wouldn't stop at just homes though. Cities would need to also implement separate water supply systems just to carry the two types of water.

Also, imagine all the salt and minerals in seawater. Imagine that building up in your pipes. It would lead to serious amounts of corrosion. Corrosion resistant metals rely on an oxide film as a means of protection. Think stainless steal or titanium. There are many ways to protect metals from corrosion, but that would mean completely new plumbing. No one wants to pay for that and it's simply incredibly expensive for no savings.


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

[User]
[DC] So why does every speedster seem to have some variation of Barry Allen's/Wally West's suit?

Seem's like 90% of the speedsters out there just take the classic Red Flash suit and invert the colors.

[Assistant]
The Flash is legacy character. What that means is that there was an original Flash and that the mantle can get passed on. Same name but different person. Because of that, a lot if them keep the costume similar out if respect to the originals.

Even people who aren't going by the name The Flash keep with the lightning theme or some aspect of the originals costumes.


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

[User]
If a fundamental point of MMT is that countries can print money to meet the demand for spending, why are taxes going up?

It's been many years since I studied economics in college, and apparently things have changed a lot since the Austrian school was the vogue.

Modern Monetary Theory, honestly, confuses the hell out of me.  The way it was pitched to me, is that governments can simply print money if they need to spend money without actually having the money.  Because of the way "modern economies" work (whatever that means), the increased production of money wouldn't greatly impact inflation rates.

So then my question is, if MMT holds true, and the purpose of taxation is to fund government programs, why are we still getting taxed?  Hell, why are taxes going up?  If we can supplement the government's budget by just printing the difference in the budget, shouldn't we see tax cuts?

[Assistant]
MMT is pseudoscience. Everything it says is consistent with mainstream economics, it misleads by what it *doesn't* say. In a way that makes it very hard to believe they're doing so innocently.

In the case of spending, what the government really needs is real resources. For example if the government is building a road it needs things like gravel, bulldozers, construction engineers' time, etc. There are excellent reasons why governments generally obtain such resources via taxation rather than direct requisition. But at the heart, real resources must change ownership. We talk about government budgets in terms of money because it's impractical to talk about all the different goods and services needed.


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

[User]
[MONSTERS INC.] How do the monsters breed? Are they different species altogether, or variants of the same species, like dogs? Do they have to get with someone of the same 'type'?

In Monsters University, Squishy and his mother are both the same 'variant' of monster, and we presume the father is too, leading us to believe only two monsters of the same 'type' can breed. What if Mike and Celia were to have children? Would all children look the same? Would they be a mix of the two parents and create a new 'type'?

Secondly, do the monsters even have sexes? They're referred to with at least two pronouns ('he' and 'she'), but as far as I'm aware have no defining sexual characteristics.

[Assistant]
Potentially like Pokemon.  In Pokemon, creatures of different species are capable of breeding as long as they're within the same "egg group".  Monsters seem like they belong to one "species" - monster, but because of differences in their morphology it's likely that there are certain groups that are physically capable of reproducing and having sex with each other.

Ex. Mike and Celia are most likely capable of having sex with each other since they're romantically entwined.

It's not definite that all can have sex with each other though, and with such wildly different bodies, it's unlikely that say Sully and Roz could fuck.

The babies would probably take after both parents. Mike and Celia's baby would be one-eyed, maybe have horns, maybe have snakes, could be tall, could be short, maybe pink, maybe green.


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

[User]
[LordOfTheRings] What prompted or caused the elves to start leaving Middle Earth en masse? Why right when they could have been one last help against A Big Bad Evil Thing and leave on something of a positive note?

Also, why were the elves who stayed behind implied to eventually just fade away into nothing? Weren't they all from Middle Earth originally?

[Assistant]
That age of the world was ending.  The magic that sustained the elves was fading.  And as it faded, they felt less connection to the world of Middle Earth.

Think of it this way.  You know those guys who just loved high school?  They love it so much that after they graduate, they go back and go to the high school parties.  They attend the high school football games, they go see their old teachers, they keep up on who is dating who.  *Those guys are the elves in Middle Earth.*  They're the ones who haven't left yet.

But eventually, it's time to move on.  Those guys quit showing up to the high school games.  They stop going to the high school parties.  They don't care if the new history teacher is a bitch.  It just stops mattering after a while.

The elves are hearing the call of the sea.  They are leaving Middle Earth for an immortal land of eternal life.  They're going on to live with the gods.  They just start caring less and less.


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

[User]
Marxist critiques of Singer's effective altruism.

I have heard some claim they they exist, so what are they and (if you can be bothered) what counter arguments could be raised against them?

[Assistant]
A fairly standard criticism of charity from a revolutionary Marxist perspective is that charity can function as a means of making an otherwise unjust capitalist system tolerable. It both prevents those who would suffer under the system from revolting, and prevents those with power from seeing the reality of the suffering the system would naturally cause. In effect, charity treats the symptoms and not the cause of problems due to inequality.

A possible counterargument is that lifting people to a level beyond extreme poverty can be a step towards allowing them to have time to be educated and reflect on their circumstance, so rather than disguising problems it might provide more people with what they need to begin thinking about ways of correcting the root problems. It also might raise expectations of what standards of living are possible.

Another possible counterargument is that it is inhumane to ignore the very real and extreme suffering of people on the small hope that things getting worse might lead to revolutionary change.


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

[User] ELIF: How do goats have such good balance/fearlessness for jumping on precarious ledges?

[Assistant] They evolved in a region that had that terrain and survival dictated that they become skilled at that type of thing or they would be eaten. Those that were not balanced fell and died and eventually those with the skills were the ones that reproduced and the entire population obtained the skills.


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

[User]
[Marvel Cinematic Universe] What happened between Iron Man 3 and Avengers: Age of Ultron?

After defeating Killian, Tony Stark detonates all his Iron Man suits in a romantic gesture for Pepper, then has the Arc Reactor removed from his chest, presumably to replace it with a lower power magnet or fully remove the shrapnel in his chest. The last scene does show him recovering the first robot arm and vowing to  continue to be Iron Man, but the events leading up to that seem to suggest that name applies directly to Tony, not the suit.

We flash forward some time to see the Avengers having reunited to hunt down the last remnants of Hydra and recover Loki's scepter, and Tony Stark is right back in the fray in yet another armored suit. Was his promise to Pepper just empty words? (Is that why we don't see her at all through the events of Age of Ultron?)

I'll grant that Tony does seem very focused on removing himself from the equation, leading him to push the Ultron project harder than he should have, but otherwise very little of the changes he experienced seem to have stuck. What caused him to swing back to his old ways?

[Assistant] His gesture was to show Pepper that he isn't *just* Iron Man, but he's also Tony Stark. Granted, Tony Stark still needs to act as Iron Man when the world needs him, so he still needs a suit. However, the Iron Legion drones were an attempt to lower the need of the actual Iron Man, one part Pepper, one part Tony being lackadaisical.


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

[User]
[Sharknado] Why do sharknadoes only carry sharks?

If a tornado blasts across the sea and begins pulling sea life up with it, why does it only pick up sharks specifically and not other forms of sea life including kelp, dolphins, tuna, sea lions, squid, small whales, or anything else? Furthermore, how are they able to pick up that many sharks in a relatively small area?

[Assistant]
The storm, as you can guess, isn't natural. It's a psychic storm that manifest when a large number of sharks gather in a small area.

No real idea why this happen but the sharks recovered after the storm all appear normal earth types. No enlarged brain or green blood here. Leading theories are (all) sharks are alien and this could be some kind of mating storm. Another being thrown around is it's just a shark party that got out of hand. Sharks don't have police so there's no one to tell them to turn it down.

Most accepted theory is that north Korea has invented a shark weather machine that can't be controlled. the United nations is currently trying to get access to the country for a inspection.


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

[User] [MCU] If they had enough intel, could American army send a nuke into the portal from the ending of the Avengers (2012) without a carrier that was Tony Stark?

[Assistant] The Chitauri didn't seem to have anything in the way of defenses so it seems like something you could have done with a drone or a jet. They have flying cars, as well, so you could have just thrown it in the backseat and driven it through the portal.


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

[User] ELI5: Why instant noodles are not good to our health?

[Assistant] The noodles themselves are fine, it's the amount of sodium in the broth that's unhealthy.  Also, there's not a whole lot of nutritional value in the broth.  If you took just the noodles and made your own soup to use them in, you could get a fairly healthy dish out of it.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does our skin leave white marks when we scratch or get scratched?

[Assistant]
The skin is made up of several layers and the top layer is dead (gross right?). Well when you scratch you're scraping a bit of the layer off. This layer is slightly transparent so appears white when not in direct contact with the lower layers.
Hope this helps.


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

[User]
[Kirby] What happens to the living beings that Kirby swallows?

The little that I know is that Kirby inhales them, gets one of their powers, and can then spit it out as a bouncy star that disappears a few seconds later. But does anyone know what happens those he swallows? Do they get digested by acids? Is their life energy absorbed into Kirby's soul? Do they disappear into a parallel universe, which could explain why he can eat so much without being stuffed? Or is it just something completely different?

[Assistant]
He eats them.

Because Kirby is a... pink... puff... Kirby-shaped... thing, he... Um... Let me start over.

Because Kirby is a whatever-he-is, he has an alien metabolism. He can almost-instantly convert anything he eats into energy with little to no waste. It's analogous to a mammal's digestive process, and whatever gets eaten is dead and can't be un-eaten. He can even do this to air, which is how he produces a strong vacuum force (by absorbing the air inside his mouth, which produces negative pressure). If he hasn't fully digested something, he can spit it back out whole. Once he has digested something he can only convert it into glowy star-shaped chunks of unstable matter.

This process is definitely *not* 100% efficient matter-to-energy conversion, otherwise there would be a massive explosion everytime he ate something. Kirby also seems to have very poor capacity for storing this energy, which is why he often loses absorbed powers when startled or injured, why he can't spit stars out whenever he wants to, and why he is always hungry.


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

[User] [MCU]If Wakanda has been isolationist for centuries if not millennia, does that mean they've never adopted staple foods from the New World like cassava, maize, potato, or peppers, or even older imports like bananas?

[Assistant]
Wakanda isn't THAT isolationist. Their official story is that they're a poor nation with a weak agricultural economy, and they welcome people to visit their (carefully curated) farms and villages. We also see their royalty/ambassadors/representatives regularly visit other nations on diplomatic missions of all kinds.

Wakanda is fully aware of other foods, and they even conduct trade under the pretense of their public appearance. Many Wakandans have eaten foreign food and know about foreign media/have internet access, though they almost certainly prefer things made at home.

They might also conduct covert trade for things people might become suspicious of poor Wakandans trying to buy. They could pose as wealthy dealers and merchants from other African nations in order to keep Wakanda stocked up on foreign luxuries they couldn't otherwise manufacture.


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

[User]
ELI5 Salt Sanitation for a swimming pool

How does salt sanitize the water of a swimming pool?

[Assistant]
Chlorine generator in the pump lines creates chlorine via electrolysis. A very small concentration of salt is required to make the process more efficient.

People choose salt water pools for the feel but also to get around the negatives associated with adding liquid chlorine every day or from using powdered or puck chlorine.

Chlorine is broken down by UV rays, so manufacturers add conditioners to the powdered or puck chlorine (cyanuric acid) which acts as a sun screen for the chlorine. Unfortunately, the acid builds up over time and reduces ability of the chlorine to do its job. Only way to remove this acid is to replace water, which is not ideal.

Salt water pool negatives include damage to surrounding metal fixtures and/or certain types of rock, grout or tile used in the pool.


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

[User] [King Kong] What did the US do to his body after he died?

[Assistant]
New York Port Authority kept Kong's corpse refrigerated while they tried to figure out exactly what to do with it, due to its massive size.

Meanwhile, the natives of Skull Island - who worshiped Kong - sent out a plea to the infamous pirate, Princess Janni Dakkar, begging her to retrieve the ape's body. In a rare moment of kindness, or perhaps pity, Janni (daughter and successor to the original Captain Nemo) and her crew managed to steal the corpse and return it to Skull Island.

(source: *Nemo: Heart of Ice* graphic novel)


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

[User]
If you are paralyzed, can you still move some muscle-
groups. If yes/no, why?

I was thinking about **Steven Hawking** when this question popped up in my head. To be able to communicate he makes use of a tiny IR sensor that lets him twitch his cheek to spell and speak words.

But how is he still able to move his eyes and the cheek for that matter? I may not fully understand the effect of the disease that he bears, but lets take another example just in case.

Let's say that you are paralyzed, top to bottom. Could you still be able to move small muscle-groups at all? Or are there areas around your head that doesn't get affected by something like a paralyzation?

EDIT: Thank you all for your answers. I understand paralyzation, and Stephen Hawking's case a bit better now.

[Assistant]
Paralysis has a cause, and that cause determines what muscles are paralyzed. In cases of spinal cord injury, all muscles whose nerves leave the cord below the injury are lost. That's why some people have leg parlysis, but their arms are fine, etc.

Hawking has ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, which causes the loss of motor neurons, usually from largest to smallest. In ALS, there is nearly always some residual muscle capability. Hawking makes use of his.


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

[User]
When the wind blows, do the individual air molecules actually travel as fast as the wind?

How fast do air molecules actually move? It seems like they're so incredibly small that they would have to be moving at relativistic speeds to get anywhere.

[Assistant]
>It seems like they're so incredibly small that they would have to be moving at relativistic speeds to get anywhere.

What? Speed means you travel x distance in y time, it doesn't have anything to do with how big a thing is.


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

[User] ELI5: Do worms travel with a single orientation? Do they have a "belly" side that they usually travel facing down with? Or do they just move without caring about their rotation?

[Assistant] They have a "belly" (abdominal) and a back (dorsal). They are not symmetrical inside. The neural system is the top side, the digestive system is the bottom side. And they aware of which side is up and down.


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

[User] All political philosophy aside, is Basic Income actually affordable or economically viable in any way now, or in the foreseeable future?

[Assistant]
This question is completely impossible to answer.

What's the Basic Income level you're targeting? The poverty line? Twice the poverty line? Half? $10?

What's the clawback rate? Are you planning a hard-limit on the eligibility of benefits or a soft cap?

One of the main ideas behind Basic Income is that it can promote efficiency in government. Instead of a mish-mash of different benefits according to your specific circumstance, the government offers a single program that everyone is eligible for if they have a low enough income. So, which programs and/or benefits would you eliminate after Basic Income is introduced? Workers tax credits? Old age tax credits? Employment insurance?

Basically, Basic Income is a broad term describing the way in which taxes are collected. It'd be affordable at some levels and unaffordable at others. Unless you give some clue of how you picture it working, there's no way to answer.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do wounds in the mouth heal so much faster than wounds on other parts of the body?

[Assistant]
Simply put, saliva has enzymes that speeds the healing process slightly. Its why the phrase "Lick your wounds" has some truth to it.

Our teeth are designed to tear meat and plant matter, so our bodies needed a way to reconstruct the flesh in our mouth rapidly to prevent us from starving while healing.


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

[User]
[Injustice/DC] Role Reversal, Batman Goes Bad, Superman Stays Good. Does Batman Even have a Chance?

I love the Injustice Comic book and video games, I really do. But they all fall into the same problem a lot of modern day Superman and Superman expy stories go into. They make Supes the villain. Because apparently nobody in DC is creative enough to figure out what to do with the boy scout aside from make him a villain, and/or make him a strawman/obstacle for the much 'cooler' Batman to beat up and/or overcome.

But whenever I bring this up, there's always SOMEONE who says. 'Well. . . yeah. Batman goes bad? Worse case scenario Gotham becomes a little worse than it already is. Superman goes bad? EVERYONE is in big trouble. Gotham, Metropolis, Shanghai, etc. There's no way a man in a Batsuit with infinite money could be as much of a threat to the world as a literal Alien Demigod gone man.

While I don't think that assessment is entirely invalid. It also makes for an interesting thought experiment.

Let's say after seeing Joker do something as bad as he did to Superman in the Injustice game (Nuke Metropolis, Trick Bats into killing someone he cares about like Alfred), Batman decides to just do the deed and keep joker from ever killing ever again. What happens next? Which other heroes/villains join him? How do the other characters react? Would Batman's plot to end crime worldwide ever last if he tried?

TLDR? Plot of Injustice, but Batman is the bad guy not Superman. What happens.

[Assistant]
He couldn't go bad in the same way Superman did, where he could basically just become a self proclaimed dictator in a week and kind of just wing it.

Bruce is reliant on subterfuge to get a leg up on his more powerful peers so the best thing he could do is find a way to preemptively kill or contain as many of the leaguers as he could before any of them get a whiff that he's flipped his morality.

Also Batman lacks the level of overwhelming public trust and support across the world Superman has, which would give him a significant disadvantage in forming a power base of ultra powerful lieutenants and civilians around himself like Superman did to convince other heroes that he was in the right, since everyone has been sort of conditioned to give Superman a benefit of a doubt on some level before the floor fell out and found themselves sliding down the slippery slope of  authoritarianism.


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

[User] [Marvel] What Exactly Is The Difference Between The Celestials, The Builders, And The Progenitors?

[Assistant]
Celestials are powerful beings, among the first ever created by the First Firmament. They predate the existing universe.

The Builders claim to be the universe's oldest race, presumably *this* universe.  They created a variety of races with which to control and order the universe according to their designs.

I can't find anything on "The Progenitors"


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

[User]
[Avatar] (and other fiction] While the four classical elements are popular, what would the four elements of a sci-fi setting be?

I know many might think the periodic table of elements but I'm curious to see if one could come up with a cool group of four for a sci-fi setting.

[Assistant]
The four classical elements still hold up:

- **Earth** has to do with the manipulation and transportation of matter. Your materials scientists and engineers go here.

- **Air** has to do with the storage, manipulation, and transmission of information. Your hackers, mediamen, and AI entities go here.

- **Fire** has to do with energy and change. Your nuclear physicists and transcended beings go here, as do social activists and revolutionaries.

- **Water** has to do with life and feeling. Your psychics, biologists and world consciousnesses go here.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does a company decide a job requires X-Y number of years for a particular position?

Just scrolling through job postings. I'm qualified for a lot of jobs with the exception of 8-10 years in business XYZ or 4-5 years in industry ZYX. I know what they want and could probably hop right in and do it, but I learned many of my skills from the military or from night classes while doing a completely different job.

Why not just put, "A solid understanding of ____, ____, and ___ in the ZYX industry." Give interested candidates something more specific and can be proven in conversation or written test.

Anyone know how they come up with the required number of years?

[Assistant]
When it all comes down to it, they are guessing.

They know who last did the job and about how much experience they had coming into it, and in general they know that someone with more years experience will be better at it.

Besides, they can afford to discriminate.  If you post a job with no experience required then you get thousands of recent grads applying for it.  Better to ask for 3-5 years experience and then you get people for not much more who have already proven they can do the work.

I find that the 'experience required' restriction is never a deal-breaker.  It is just there to narrow the field of applicants.  The company will find out in the interview whether you know what you are doing or not, so go ahead and apply.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] What happens if someone makes an Unbreakable Vow to do something that's completely impossible?

Do they just die instantly upon making the Vow? Is it not possible to make an impossible Vow in the first place? (Side question: Does it matter if the person making it thinks it's possible even though they're wrong?) Or something else?

[Assistant]
I would lean towards it not being possible to cast, not because the task is impossible, but because you're vowing an outcome instead of a decision to act.

A knight who vows to defend their king but loses in battle despite their best efforts may have failed, but did not break their vow.


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

[User]
ELI5 why do mobile games that look... underdeveloped... have so many ads and hundreds of thousands of downloads?

You know all those annoying ads on YouTube for mobile games. Yeah those. How do these games actually survive?

[Assistant] You sort of answered your own question, as long as your ad campaign pushes your game as far and wide as possible, it doesn't matter if your game is shit because the majority of people will play it for like 30 minutes to an hour and by that point you've made a bunch of ad revenue off them by spamming ads.


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

[User]
What happens to males and females after they experience an orgasm? (Chemically, in their brains)

I did some light research, and i came up with a few things, but i wanted to ask you guys too, being a direct source - and hey, the more information, the merrier.

From what i found, Mens levels of testosterone drops and "both genders experience similar chemical changes" - i was hoping someone here had some more specific information.

The information i want, is that of the major chemical players. People become fatigued, hungry, content (etc) - but how long does it take for these major players to return? Which chemicals are even involved? The chemicals that both genders share, do they return as quickly for both sides? Does an estrogen loss make females tired, like testosterone does in men?

Any (more offical) documentation/links about this idea elaborated is completely welcomed. Any rants and tangents on the subject are welcomed too, i'm very interested in the working of pre- and post- intercourse biology.

[Assistant]
The "similar chemical changes" aren't far from what you might predict. But it's really during orgasm that the brain chemistry really goes off the rails and post-orgasm is mostly recovering from that. Mostly those changes involve a lot of relaxing sorts of things like serotonin and prolactin. Also there are hormones like oxytocin and vasopressin which are 'love' hormones that are associated with forming pair-bonds.
But that's all mostly true for both sexes.
I think the place you really get any difference is in how those changes will interact with the sex-specific normal conditions.
As an example it's been suggested that in men's brains the effects of oxytocin are somehow mediated to some extent by testosterone which would help to explain why men seem sometimes better able to engage in casual sex without necessarily making any strong emotional attachment.
Also, men tend to fall asleep after sex and hypothesized reasons for that range from prolactin to depleted glycogen.


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

[User] ELI5: I remember my secondary school science teacher telling us that light can slow down moving through objects (prisms, water etc) if this is the case how is it a universal constant?

[Assistant] When we say "the speed of light," we usually mean the speed of light *in vacuum*. That is a universal constant. Light can pass more slowly through materials, but even then the speed will be constant for that material if the material is uniform.


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

[User]
PhD interview (physics)

Hello all! In two weeks I have an interview for a PhD in physics. I have to give a presentation, meet members of the group and theres an interview element.

Im pretty confident with the first two requirements but have no idea how to prepare for the interview as my PhD friends are in the arts and had no interviews.

Any advice on what to prepare? My grades are pretty standard but I have quite a good life with a job, volunteering etc so I feel I may need to flaunt that a little because therell be more academic candidates (I guess).

Any advice would be much appreciated - this is my top choice! (I do have other offers)

[Assistant] It's essentially a job interview and you should treat it as such. You can prepare in  by considering how you'll articulate what you want to do, why you want to do it, and why you're a good candidate.  They'll probably want to see evidence that you have some familiarity with the field and the problems you'll face, an idea of what doing research is like, and a decent grasp of the technical and soft skills required to succeed.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is sending images on messaging platforms like discord considerably slower than video call, where you're sending each other over 30 images per second almost instantaneously?

[Assistant]
**Sending an image** is a kind of file transfer. It uses a TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), which is connection oriented. Essentially, all hosts (i.e. both you and your friend's computer, or each computer and a server in discord's case) care about what is being transferred and if it was done so correctly.

It does this by sending both the image itself and a 'hash'. The hash is just the image data sent through a particular algorithm resulting in a string of what appears to be gibberish. However, the receiving computer can run the payload (the image you sent) through that same algorithm and compare the hashes. If they match, the image was sent completely without error. If not, the whole thing must be sent again.

**Video Streaming** typically uses some connection*less* protocol (like UDP). In this kind of interaction, both hosts don't care what is being sent or if anything is lost. If some packet doesn't make it or is damaged, it just moves on to the next like there isn't an issue. This is considerably faster but you will inevitably end up with packet loss (and stuttering/blurriness) unless the connection is perfect.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does the gum tissue regenerate in the soft palate but not around the teeth?

[Assistant]
It regenerates well everywhere, as long as there is no infection going and the damage isn't too severe.

Gum disease is driven by constant infection in hard to reach spots. Unless the pockets are completely cleaned and disinfected the mucosa can't heal. When it gets really bad the infections will eat away the bone, up to where teeth fall out because they're no longer anchored. At that point it all can't heal to what things were like before all the erosion. Bone will smooth out, mucosa will grow to cover it again, it'll be healthy tissue again but in the shape of the defect.

When there are large wounds it can be necessary to transplant health mucosa into it because it's just too much surface to cover and it needs to be closed fast, before another infection starts up in there. Mouths are filthy.


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

[User]
ELI5: When one call 911, how is the call automatically local?

Hypothetically speaking, if someone is living in New York and they call 911, how does the call not go through a hospital in Los Angeles or other city from another state? How does the call automatically transfer to a local hospital in the area one lives in?

[Assistant]
I feel very old having to explain this.

In the 1950s-1970s, there was no 911.  If you didn't know the phone numbers to your local ambulance service, police department, and fire department, you were SOL.  (Well, you could probably call the operator and hope that got you somewhere.)  If you bought a (landline) phone in the 1970s to mid-1990s it usually had a little card with a clear plastic cover, with a blue police car or shield symbol, red fire or fire truck symbol, and red cross symbol, for writing down phone numbers for police/fire/ambulance. When you bought a new phone you were supposed to fill these things out.

In the 1960s-1990s, 911 service was rolled out throughout North America.  The idea was that when you dialed 911, your call would be automatically routed to whatever local authority (often a police station) agreed to service the block of phone numbers that includes yours.  No need to memorize numbers - no matter where you lived, you dialed 911 and got someone who could either help or direct you to help.  The rollout was very slow.  Emergency phone number cards and stickers were still a big thing for decades.

By the late 1980s, 911 service was almost everywhere, and it was no longer necessary to call your local FD/PD/EMS directly.  The 911 system was great - you made a call, and you got a 911 center assigned to your phone number.  The ubiquitous emergency stickers with police/fire/ambulance next to every phone slowly disappeared.

Then cellphones became a thing.  They operated in the same system - you called 911 and got a 911 center assigned to your phone number.  That might be on the other side of the continent if you were traveling.

Enter Enhanced 911, or E911.  Under this system, the 911 system was improved, so that 911 calls weren't blindly sent to whatever police department claimed that block of numbers, but instead went to Public Safety Access Points (PSAP) with equipment and operators that could make sure the caller was physically in the region, determine what sort of emergency response was required, and redirect the caller if necessary.  For cellphone users, the tower used to make the call was encoded as metadata, and used to redirect the 911 call to the PSAP associated with the tower, *not* the PSAP associated with the phone number.

E911 has some additional features, such as the ability to poll your phone for location data, if your phone has GPS/AGPS enabled. This of course only works if your phone has an active and accurate location fix at the time of the call, and the PSAP has the equipment to poll that information.


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

[User]
[Marvel Movieverse]How could have Black Widow worked for the KGB if she was born in 1984?

If the Soviet Union still collapsed in 1991 she would have only been 7 years old.

[Assistant]
KGB turned into FSK in 1992 and FSB in 1995 but the headquarters is in the same buildings as KGB

Perhaps in the Marvel Universe the KGB didn't go through the motions of changing the business cards and stationary.


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

[User]
Why is the Oort Cloud spherical in shape and not a disk along the solar plane like the Kuiper Belt?

Given time, most objects due to angular momentum, become restricted to some form of plane, the galactic plane, the solar plane, etc. Does the spherical shape of the Oort Cloud suggest that it is relatively young?

[Assistant]
It's because the Oort Cloud is so massive and vast that the Sun's influence on it is relatively small at those distances, and other stars and the galaxy overall are also able to influence the motion of the objects. The outer limits of the Oort Cloud are ~1/4 of the distance to Proxima Centauri, for example.

The *inner* Oort cloud *is* roughly disk-shaped, but the farther you get from the Sun, the more spherical it becomes as the absolute gravitational domination by the Sun diminishes.


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

[User]
[WH40k] What are the powers of a psyker?

I know mostly stuff from The records of Eisenhorn and dawn of war, a few powers seems to be firing warp lightning, telepathy, imposing your will on others and more straight out mindcontrol, warp fire (dont really know how that one works) and being able see tyhe memory imprints on stuff, and sometimes talking to a soul of someone thats about to die, or capturing their soul in a vessel, along with the ability to use force weapons. I know that the emperor could also open huge warp rifts, and slow down/stop time locally. You also run the risk of having your head split like a grape and being possesed by a demon. What are some other powers of being a psyker? Can a chaos sourcerer do things a normal psyker cant?

Also, how strong is a alpha or beta psyker and so on? I know that some alpha psykers Eisenhorn meet could mindcontroll several hundred of people in a area.

[Assistant]
The psyker is a dangerous thing, friend. There is no limit to the range of powers they can wield for they possess the power to alter reality itself.

Each psyker's dark gift is different and each one will have an affinity for different powers but a psyker can do anything imaginable to a degree. This degree is determined by the particular psychic power and mental fortitude.

Sorcerors are different, though. Sorcerors are conduits to the Ruinous Powers, having made pacts with their patron "god", selling their souls for vile boons. Again, their powers are limitless in range but they don't risk being harmed by the Warp when they use them like a psyker does, for a sorceror is already lost to it entirely.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] Who owns Hogwarts? The headmaster? The school governors? The descendants of the founders? Someone else?

[Assistant]
The school itself is funded by the Ministry, though by law it has limited control over it. For example, in Book 4, Dumbledore points out that Cornelius doesn't have the power to interfere in Hogwarts affairs, but Cornelius replies he can change the laws, which he does in Book 5. But that's a bit of obvious. Yes, under a tyrannical state, the state owns everything.

Absent tyrannies, Hogwarts is under control of the Board of Governors comprised of twelve wizards, who until Book 3 were led by Lucius Malfoy. They are responsible for selecting a Headmaster, for instance. It's a good guess that the Board would include descendants of the founders, but that's not the case, since we learn in Book 6 that the identity of the founders' heirs isn't exactly public information.

Considering that Lucius, of all people, was the chairman for a period, it's fair to guess that several of the twelve members are from pureblood supremacist families. However, the fact that Lucius was kicked out eventually plus the fact Dumbledorea known Muggle-lover was Headmaster do suggest there's also a fair number of non-supremacists.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does Israel spy on the US?

[Assistant]
Everyone spies on everyone as much as they are able if they are smart.

Making decisions requires information. If you don't have correct information then you are less capable of making the right decisions. Therefore if you value making the right decisions then you must also value pursuing accurate information, even if those people with the information don't really want you to know. You see, the people making the decisions swore an oath to their own people and owe it to them to make the right decisions, and they don't owe the people who want to keep secrets anything at all.

This is why everyone has spies of varying ability, even if nobody wants to talk about it.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is that for some people drinking coffee makes them wide awake for quite some time but for others it makes them tired?

I finished my coffee about 15 minutes ago and I feel more exhausted now than before I drank it. This happens every time I drink coffee.

[Assistant]
The caffeine in coffee stimulates neurotransmitters that have to do with alrtness.  It is  possible to overstimulate and drain these neurotransmitters. So if you are drinking lots of coffee and energy drinks,  that can happen.

Also for some people who have very "hyper" or "scattered" or "trouble focusing" brains (aka ADD) the stimulus from caffeine can actually help the "focus" of the brain, and it is very relaxing and even restful.


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

[User]
[MCU] Why was Gilgamesh allowed to fight the Frost Giants?

In Eternals, Gilgamesh mentions in passing that he helped Odin and the Asgardians defeat the Frost Giants when they attacked Earth in the 10th Century. This is in spite of Sersi saying that the Eternals were only allowed to intervene when Deviants attacked (she gives this as the reason why they didn't help against Thanos).

The Frost Giants obviously aren't Deviants, so what gives?

[Assistant]
I think the three simplest explanations are:

1. He joined the fight before the Eternals knew whether the Giants were deviants or not, on a well were not sure, lets not let them wipe out all these humans though basis.

2. He got caught up in the conflict just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time (and maybe didnt *mind* getting into a battle).

3. He didnt get permission, and fought anyway, for which there may or may not have been repercussions we just dont know about.


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

[User]
How do we get vitamin D from being in sunlight?

Title says it all. Thanks.

[Assistant] Cholesterol is synthesized into 7-dehydrocholesterol, which when exposed to UV light becomes vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol).  This is further modified by the liver into 25-hydroxy vitamin D (calcifediol), and by the kidneys into 1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D (calcitriol), which is the most metabolically active form.  The last step is under regulation by parathyroid hormone, since vitamin D affects calcium homeostasis.


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

[User] [Kill La Kill] What would happen if you inhaled a single life fiber by accident?

[Assistant]
You would pass it normally. It takes great skill to be able to harness the power of the life fibers. Only 3 people in the show where shown to has this ability.  Im on mobile now but if someone could remember the names for me.. its the computer club president, the one girl who lost her eye and the old scientist that created the scissor blade.

Edit: Nui, Hoka Inumuta and Soichiro Kiryuin.


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

[User] Why doesn't the atmosphere settle into different layers of the same gas molecules, seeing as how they have different densities?

[Assistant]
Reason: Because of WIND

The air likes to circulate a lot, due to numerous factors such as the Coriolis effect (earth rotation), heated air from albedo effect (dark stuff re-emits heat, rather than reflect light), mountainous terrain interacting with moisture, etc.

All of this air movement causes air molecules (which are so tiny on the microscopic scale that gravity isn't super duper strong) to move around and mix, hence no even layers of the atmosphere.


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

[User]
ELI5: What would happen if you never got a cavity filled?

edit: Should clarify that I don't have any cavities I'm currently ignoring! It's just a matter of curiosity.

[Assistant] The cavity deepens until it fully pierces through the enamel on the outside of your tooth. Once that happens, the vulnerable dentin and pulp inside the tooth come under attack (this would require extensive drilling and a crown), and eventually the infection reaches the nerve at the base of the tooth (requiring a root canal). At this point it would be hard to ignore, given that it'd hurt like hell, but if you did ignore it the infection could continue down into your jaw and bloodstream, which can be fatal.


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

[User]
[General] Is superspeed mental torture?

Thought about this after seeing X-men apocalypse.

So a speedster often sees the world in slow motion because their minds have to process stuff faster to accommodate the blinding speeds they work at, right?

So from their perspective they would have to run for hours on end without stopping when going long distances, right?

Example: New York to LA is 4488 km (2789 mi). The average running speed for a male is 9.4 km/hr (5.8 mi/hr). At that speed it would take about 477hrs to run there.

Let's assume a speedster could run that distance in a single go. In real time only hours or minutes may have past but from their perspective they are moving at normal speed in a world that is slowed down, so are they running for about 477hrs non stop?

Maybe I'm wrong but that sounds bloody horrible.

[Assistant]
Red Rush from invincible actually touches on the subject.

He can't have conversations or do anything in his daily life because every minute feels like hours so he is constantly fighting crime so he doesn't go insane.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are younger children so picky about the foods that they eat?

[Assistant]
I remember having a course on evolution and behaviors where we were taught that children are picky with vegetables because in nature, a lot of plants are toxic and children tend to avoid them, especially since children are more fragile in case of an eventual poisoning. Moreover, a lot of green vegetables have a bitter taste and this tends to be an indication of toxicity in plants. As adults, we lose our sensitivity and therefore our aversion for bitterness, and we just learn what is safe or not to eat.

Add to that some other factors, like cultural aspects (advertising for instance, fastfood restaurants), or the fact that humans have a natural tendency to favor energy-rich food (for evolutionary reasons that are not really "useful" anymore when you live in a developed country).


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

[User]
[WH40K] Why are nuclear weapons not more widely used?

Tactical nuclear weapons predate human spaceflight. Why, then, are they not seen on the battlefields of the 41st millennium vaporising Ork hordes and beating back the forces of Chaos?

Giant multi-megatonne fusion warheads are elsewhere used in exterminatus operations and space combat. Has the technology for small, simple nuclear bombs somehow been lost, or is it doctrine which precludes their use?

[Assistant]
They don't need them. Need an enormous explosion? Artillery! Space Marines! Aeronautica! Certain squad weapons! Orbital bombardment!

Fusion warheads are often used in space combat, and sometimes in exterminatus options when they decide to crack the planet's crust in a very particular way, but they simply don't have a wide enough application on the modern battlefield.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why SSDs aren't better, if we have stuff like the Sandisk 128GB microSD

It was my impression that SSDs and microSDs both use the same technology, essentially.  So why can't SSDs be made bigger and cheaper, if 128GB fits onto something as small as my thumbnail?

[Assistant]
First of all, microSD cards have no controller inside. They require an external processor to control everything, which is usually very simple. SSDs have very advanced processors inside which decide where to write information into the flash memory so as to avoid wearing out locations, as well as erasing information in an efficient manor. These processors and their interconnects take space. The big key though is speed. microSD cards can only be written to at 10-20MB/s whereas SSDs can be written at 500MB/s+. There is also the factor of Input/Output Operations per Second or IOPS. This is how many individual reads/writes can take place in one second. microSD cards may be up to 1000 IOPS, but SSDs can get up to 100,000 IOPS easily, mostly due to their onboard processor.

Basically we can make flash memory devices small, slow, and low durability, or large, fast, and high durability, the latter being more suited to SSDs.


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

[User]
ELI5: What's happening between EU and Switzerland?

I've read something about immigration on Switzerland and punishment from the UE but I'd love a simpler and less subjective explanation.

[Assistant] In order to enjoy free trade between Switzerland and the EU they have to abide by a number of rules that apply to EU countries as well. One of which is free movement of people. Since they are putting a stop to immigration, also from people who live within the EU, they risk blowing up the free trade agreement since they dont play by the same set of rules as EU countries do anymore.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does the body become sensitised to certain chemicals whereby the chemical now becomes a serious allergy when it would not have been allergy in the past?

I was reading up on Black Henna Tattoos and it mentioned that this type usually has really strong doses of a certain chemical that can cause you to become allergic to dyes (I.e,. Hair dyes) in the future. What changes does the body go through that makes you allergic to the dye?

[Assistant]
An allergic reaction is when your immune system overreacts to something foreign.

For things like bacteria or viruses, we can develop our immune system to fight them better the more we are exposed to them.  Every time your immune system encounters these threats, it builds more weapons to identify and fight then. This is how we develop resistance.

The problem with allergic/anaphylactic reactions is that we dont want our immune system to be reacting to something,  but because our immune system learns and adapts, it gets *stronger* every time it is exposed to the foreign thing.

So if youre allergic to bee stings heres what might happen. You get stung by a bee the first time and your immune system identifies the venom as a significant threat. The first time you get stung you may not experience much because your system is learning about it and developing weapons to fight it next time it comes around.  The second time you get stung, you could go into full anaphylaxis because your body is prepared for an all hands on deck response. Your body overreacts to the point of potentially killing you.  Legitimate responses to fight your bodies, invaders (swelling for instance) go completely overboard.


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

[User]
If you are traveling faster than the speed of sound and you turn to say something to you friend, will they hear it ?

The scene: you are in a jet going faster than the speed of sound, but the air inside is still. Will you hear things ?
If so, its sound traveling faster than the speed of sound.
If not, where is it going ?

[Assistant] If the air inside is still (meaning you're travelling in a pressurized cabin and the air is travelling with you) then yes, your friend will hear you.  This does not count as going faster than the speed of sound because the speed of sound in measured relatively to the air that the sound crosses (inside the cabin), not the air outside the plane.


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

[User]
CMV: People throw the words "Concentration camp" around way too lightly.

When I was a kid, I watched a LOT of Walter Cronkite an WW2 documentaries. Seeing images of destroyed buildings an dead soldiers in the hundreds maybe wasn't the best thing to be doing, but I learned a lot.

Years later, I saw a CNN talk where the host described the camps that the Japanese men an women an children were put in during WW2 as Concentration Camps. I though that was stupid, but ok. Then I hear about how the illegal immigrants who were caught at the border were put in concentration camps. Then how the Chinese had concentration camps. An it just went on an on.

I saw images of those camps. Heaps an stacks of emaciated corpses. Rooms filled with clothes an shoes of the dead whom the Nazi hated. Survivors who collapsed dead right when they were rescued. Bodies of people who you could honestly describe as more skeleton than human.

Those images should not be taken lightly. That is the truth.

Sure, we have problems. But don't you compare people being locked up inhuman conditions, or those imprisoned in reeducation camps, to those which are well oiled machines for killing millions of people in cold blood.

They are nowhere near the same.

[Assistant]
Here is the definition of a consecration camp.

> a place where large numbers of people, especially political prisoners or members of persecuted minorities, are deliberately imprisoned in a relatively small area with inadequate facilities, sometimes to provide forced labor or to await mass execution.

So, if we make it a checklist.

Large number of people: check.

Political prisoners: check depending on who you ask

Imprisoned in a small area: check

Inadequate facilities: check

The only thing not checked are the "sometimes" checks.


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

[User] Explain how people who have solar cells or wind farms can "put back" energy into the power grid, LI5.

[Assistant]
There is a device called an inverter that converts the energy produced by the generator or solar cells to the same voltage and frequency as the power grid.  This device is designed to synchronize the frequency with the grid.  Once synchronized the power can safely be fed back through the meter to the grid, in effect, running the meter backwards in the process.

Remember that the power in the "grid" doesn't come from a single generating point.  That's why it's called a grid.  When you use a synchronizing inverter, you simply become another generating station attached to the grid.


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

[User] [General Fantasy] So, I'm in the market for a new sword, and I've heard that you can make a sword from the iron in the blood of men. Is a blood iron blade worth it? What special properties would a sword like that have?

[Assistant]
It would be an absurdly expensive sword due to the extreme amount of people you would need to get blood from, then seperate the iron from their blood, then melt into iron to turn into a weapon.

It would have the property of making a lot of people, nay, countries especially angry with you for commiting genocide for the sake of a sword. That's it.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does Julian Assange (/WikiLeaks) benefit from constantly restating they have material on this entity or another, instead of simply distributing said material?

Is it simply to get media coverage or are there any other reasons why this may be beneficial?

[Assistant] Yes it is to get additional media coverage, the leaks are not just about giving information to the public they are also trying to push a political message at the same time, in order to do this they spin the media.


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

[User]
[Michael Jackson Songs] So did they ever catch the smooth criminal?

I feel for Annie, but I'm worried for the neighborhood as well.

[Assistant]
At the risk of verging into a tautology, no, they don't. He's a smooth criminal in that he doesn't get caught, this making him a smooth criminal. It's right there in the title.

She was struck down. It was her doom. It is her doom. It will always be her doom. He is a smooth criminal. He was a smooth criminal. He is and was and for ever shall be a smooth criminal.


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

[User]
[Time Travel] How to prove I'm from the future

I've been sent back in time (Terminator-style) to America during the creation of the U.S. Constitution to explain to the founding fathers all the gray areas that have arisen in the past 200 years.

How do I convince them that I'm from the future?

Added question: What gray areas do I warn them about?

[Assistant] Research the time of your arrival before you leave. Write down places and dates for important events. When you arrive make a bunch of predictions and hope they find time travel a more likely explanation than demon possession.


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

[User] ELI5:What prevents the Tigers in a circus from mauling the trainer during the performance?

[Assistant]
Nothing! Sometimes, sadly, it has happened.

Years ago some of the trainers even carried a pistol, theoretically for self-defense but also perhaps because it impressed the audience with the reminder of danger.