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

[User]
When on a playground swing, why does the act of "pumping" your legs (and torso) accelerate the swing?

My daughter asked me this the other day, and my first thought was that when you shift position on the swing, it changes where the weight on the pendulum is - kind of the same way a metronome works. But I don't know the actual reason, and if that's correct, I don't know why shifting the weight up and down would work: wouldn't one cancel out the other?

[Assistant]
Pumping is a dynamic phenomenon.  It's pretty obvious that you can't get yourself going from a dead stop with static processes alone.  It turns out you *can* pump yourself from a dead stop, but it's hard, which is why most people give a little kick-start.

The simplest-to-describe pump is not what kids do at all, it's a type of standing pump you can do on a board swing.  That involves crouching on the board at the top of the swing, and standing up at the bottom of the swing.  That type of pumping works by conservation of angular momentum around the fulcrum at the top of the swing:  you lower yourself toward the board swing when you are at the top of the arc and not moving, and raise yourself when you are at the bottom and moving fast -- which increases your speed (just like a ballerina pulling her hands in while spinning).  The energy comes from the fact that you're *lowering* yourself in a low-G environment (at the top of the arc) and *raising* yourself in a high-G environment (at the bottom of the arc).  This technique is so effective that you can easily top out a typical swingset in ~10 arcs.

The back-and-forth seated pumping that kids do works sort of the same way.  When you lean you are kinking the chain/rope at your hand, which raises your center-of-gravity slightly.  The kink generally increases as you pass through the bottom of the arc, giving you the same effect as the standing pump in the last paragraph (but with less magnitude).  The kink increases because the period of the pendulum formed by the child under the kink is shorter than the period of the pendulum formed by the child and swing under the swingset, so the chain-kink-child system runs ahead of the swingset-chain-child system.  There's also an asymmetry in the weight distribution in the two different directions of leaning, that helps force the smaller pendulum into motion.

Anyway, swinging is all about breaking the symmetry of the swing system and exploiting that broken symmetry to excite the system.  The oscillating motion itself breaks the obvious symmetry of the static pendulum.

How to start from a dead stop?  One way is to whirl your arms around a horizontal axis.  As you *start*  or *stop* your arms turning, you apply a torque that can start the swing oscillating slightly.  The trick is to phase the torques with the oscillations of the pendulum formed by you on the swing.   If you time starting and stopping (and reversing) the whirling motion appropriately, you can actually get a reasonable amount of height:  say, a few inches above the bottom of the arc.  Then you can start conventional pumping.

**tl;dr**: even though the swing/pendulum itself is symmetric, when it's moving the symmetry is broken.  Pumping exploits that.  Most pumping works by moving your center-of-gravity up and down as you swing.

Edits: some typos and a tl;dr.


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

[User]
ELI5:Dark Matter, in grade school we learned "matter" is something that has mass and occupies space. If dark matter doesn't interact with the electro-magnetic force, couldn't regular matter occupy the same space as it?

I'm sure it's just a grade school simplification, like there being only 3 states of matter or 5 senses.

[Assistant]
'Taking up space' in particle physics means being subject to the *Pauli exclusion principle*, which says that certain kinds of particles can't occupy the same state as another, identical particle at the same time.

This principle applies to particles called *fermions*, which include the quarks that make up protons and neutrons, along with neutrinos and electrons. This doesn't require the particle to have charge - neutrinos don't and are still fermions. It's based, instead, on a property called *spin* - half-integer spins like 1/2 and 3/2 make a particle a fermion, integer spins (like 0, 1, or 2) make a particle a *boson* (that is, not subject to the exclusion principle).

The nature of dark matter isn't known - it may be made of fermions, or not. So we don't know whether it "takes up space" in that sense.


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

[User]
Can the discovery of the Higgs boson be used to define the kilogram (SI base unit of mass) by a fundamental physical property?

The kilogram, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units but it's still the only one that is not defined by a fundamental physical property but an artifact.

As far as I understand it the discovery of the Higgs boson helps us in understanding why things have mass. Could this lead to making kilogram a well defined SI unit?

[Assistant] There is a proposal to define the kilogram such that Planck's constant has an exact value, similar to how the meter is such that the speed of light has an exact value. That may be implemented in 2018. Doesn't really have anything to do with the Higgs though.


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

[User]
What exactly does a lobotomy do?

From what I've read over various sources, and also what i've seen in movies, it seems like the results of a lobotomy can vary from slight changes in personality to losing almost all mental faculties.

My question is mainly concerned with the transorbital lobotomy (or ice-pick lobotomy), and I want to know what exactly a lobotomy does, and what are the usual effects. Do patients usually lose their identity or become vegetables, or is it only meant to have a small effect, and why is there such variation?

[Assistant]
The lobotomy was designed to cut tissue connecting the prefrontal cortex to the thalamus.  Since transorbital lobotomies are not guided or visualized if any way, they're basically cutting blind into brain tissue.

It should be obvious why a tiny slip could have drastically different outcomes for differing patients.  They're slicing the brain, and can't see *where* they're slicing.


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

[User]
How can a person break away from the 'short term reward' feedback loops created and 'tended' by modern day corporations?

There are two paths in life for the modern being - that of acquiring knowledge and understanding, or the pursuit of entertainment/amusement.

The path in pursuit of entertainment and amusement is a hard one to leave; clearly it is the flawed one since it has no long term value or worth.
However that of acquiring knowledge is extremely difficult, ultimately being the true course since it can do nothing but positively enhance an individual's life, circumstances and wellbeing.

The choice is to indulge in corporate created fantasies, to live in the realm of distraction and unnecessary, feeling ultimately useless passing emotions through this. Or to throw away such burdens and cease to want them.

The problem is I want them so bad. So so bad. I want to lie down in bed getting stoned all day, doing absolutely nothing beneficial other than consume. I don't know why this is. I know what must be done. I have goals to work towards, that I want to achieve. I have pondered deeply over my concerns and fully addressed them.

**Yet I still cannot find anything strong enough within me to break out of this ridiculous cycle of consume, crave, consume, crave, etc.**

So basically, my question is, how does one break away from this short term reward system that one is trained to believe is reality since birth? Because I really am clueless at this point :\

I so want to achieve, yet part of me automatically just wants to stagnate and consume. Whyy?? :'(

[Assistant] Marcuse's "Eros and Civilization" has a lot to say about this.  His basic point is that the the division between the productive person and the consumptive, lazy person is a division created by society, no a real one.  The guilt you feel for not being productive enough is just a social construct created to keep people working and keep the capitalist system working.  Reading a book won't make you a more disciplined person, but it's a good read.


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

[User] [General] What non lethal superhero has an actually surprising body count?

[Assistant]
I feel like Groot may deserve an honorable mention. Tree kills a lot of people.

But the best answer is Aang from Avatar. He sank a fuckload of warships and you cannot tell me all those guys in heavy metal armor float.


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

[User]
Do fish hold their 'breath' when pulled out of water, in the same way we hold ours when we go under?

Do fish right before they're removed or voluntarily remove themselves from water have a big intake of oxygen (in the same way a human takes a breath before submersion) to sustain themselves while out of their natural environment?

If yes: comparing to humans (and other species) storing air in their lungs, how do fish do it?

[Assistant]
Fish can still extract oxygen through gills if water can still run over them.  Technically you can run water through a hose over their gills perpetually and they'll still live.  This is how fish surgery tends to be done.

The key is making sure water is moving across the gills to work their counter-current exchange mechanism.  Out of the water, they can't pull or push water on their gills.

So, they are still breathing when you pull them out because wet gills still allow for some exchange to occur, but it's so inefficient at that point that gas exchange becomes quite restricted, causing oxygen deprivation to occur.

Gill filaments also collapse out of the water because they are not buoyant in air, and there's no structural support for the filaments.  Rub your finger through gills and you'll notice they are feathery; each individual strand of gill is a filament that is supposed to be supported by water, which is not when out of the water.  Thus when water is not flowing through them the gill filaments fall down, and the collapse further decreases the surface area where gas exchange can occur.  This is why we recommend people NOT pull fish out of the water unless you have to take a hook out or you're moving them from system to system.  Gills take a little bit to unstick even if you throw them back right into the water, and in that time they are stressed because they are taking in less oxygen.


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

[User]
CMV: Bad or toxic fandoms do not make the content bad by proxy

Full disclosure, I hold this view even though I am considered a fan of games, shows, and more that are all are notorious for their toxic fanbases (League of Legends, Steven Universe, Rick and Morty, etc).

I've watched a lot of reviews and talked to some people who argue that their opinions of the content itself diminishes as a result of the behavior of the fanbases. I've seen good examples of the workforce behind the fan-base's followed content (That one shutdown of a malicious question by a voice actor of My Little Pony at a con comes to mind,) but how is a content creator supposed to moderate **all** of the shitty attitudes and actions of those who engage with their content?

I think that if we hold it to artists, musicians, writers, etc to the level of their fans, then we aren't allowing for their work to speak for itself.

[Assistant]
I think wells can be poisoned. Sometimes the culture that grows (or festers) around a thing is enough to socially eclipse the thing itself. Irrespective of the merit of the original idea or concept, fans (sycophants, cult members, promoters, what-have-you) can make the whole scene completely insufferable.

Content creators aren't necessarily responsible for policing strangers, but sometimes even they come to disavow their own creation due to the wretched shitbags who take their intellectual property and run with it toward their own goals. The original creator of Pepe the Frog is one such person who recognized what his product became out in the world once a critical mass of toxic fans/users became the center of gravity.

We can also see where toxic fandoms of another sort pollute and defile a set of original ideas in fringe cults and in the various incarnations of religious extremism where a few bad ideas within the religious system are accentuated to the point where the whole recast set of ideas becomes irredeemable.


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

[User]
As a person with no self-esteem, where is my self-esteem/self-worth supposed to come from if not from my achievements or the opinions of others?

Also looking for reading material on philosophies regarding self worth. Thank you.

[Assistant]
Nietzsche talks a lot about this sort of thing in *The Gay Science*, and it seems like his very general answer is that these things can only come 'from your Will.'  He seems to think that true esteem can't come from anywhere but within - though certainly you can hold yourself in esteem for your achievements and you can see in other people a confirmation (though not a validation) of your esteem.

He recognizes, though, that this is a terrible challenge and mentions at least once that it often only comes by way of a certain kind of self-deception - a kind of "willful blindness" to your own weaknesses, the possibilities that you might fail or be overlooked by your peers, the worry that what you're doing is not very important, etc.

He says elsewhere that it must come also from a methodological approach to self-styling, and a self-love which involves striving toward the total affirmation of the self and its circumstance (the *amor fati*).

None of this is terribly easy, but this is what he says.


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

[User]
I think a prerequisite of going to war should include a significant tax increase on American citizens. Also, the wars should be voted on by the people. CMV

I think that the idea of going to war, and lowering (or keeping taxes the same) doesn't work and leads to unfunded wars and debts. I think it would make citizens think more about going to war if they knew it was going to affect their day to day lives. I also believe that all wars America wants to be involved in, need to be voted on by the people. CMV.

[Assistant]
In answer to your second point, why don't we have votes on every new law? Surely the whole point of having politicians is that they're experienced, knowledgable individuals who make the decisions that are too complicated for most people to understand?

The average person simply doesn't have the knowledge and experience to deal with the extremely complicated web of decisions and consequences that a war involves - a trained military official does.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is the mouse cursor slanted on a PC?

[Assistant] I believe it started that way due to a pixel resolution thing.  Having a clearly visible wedge with a precise point worked well, but when trying to design it in a vertical orientation, both lines looked wonky and blurred. Having the left side of the cursor go completely vertical to the screen made it possible to make a perfectly straight solid line, which gives the rest of the design more "structure".


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

[User] How big of a role does drag play in atmospheric reentry breakup?

[Assistant] All of it. When an meteorite enters the atmosphere from space, its often going several kilometers per second. Drag increases at an exponential rate, with the velocity squared, so an object going ten times the speed has roughly 100 times as much drag. When it hits the atmosphere the drag and pressure created from it pushing air out of the way causes it to heat up and burn, and the force of drag is often enough to break the object into multiple pieces.


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

[User]
[The Hobbit] What purpose did the elves have making hobbit sized swords?

The sword Gandolf handed Bilbo, it was perfectly his size and it wasn't a dagger it was an actual sword. Did elves fight with hobbits?

[Assistant] In the text, it's made more clear that Sting is actually just a long elvish dagger, which will work as a sword for a Hobbit.  The version used in the film is actually a bit too long to really portray this.


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

[User] ELI5: What happens physiologically when a girl gets wet when turned on? What is it, and where does it come from?

[Assistant]
From Wikipedia

Vaginal lubrication is a naturally produced fluid that lubricates a woman's vagina. Vaginal lubrication is always present, but production increases significantly near ovulation and during sexual arousal in anticipation of sexual intercourse. Vaginal dryness is the condition in which this lubrication is insufficient, and sometimes artificial lubricants are used to augment it. Without sufficient lubrication, sexual intercourse can be painful to women. **The vaginal lining has no glands, and therefore the vagina must rely on other methods of lubrication. Plasma seepage from vaginal walls due to vascular engorgement is considered to be the chief lubrication source, and the Bartholin's glands, located slightly below and to the left and right of the introitus (vaginal opening), also secrete mucus to augment vaginal-wall secretions.** Near ovulation, cervical mucous provides additional lubrication.


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

[User]
Theoretically, if we had a strong enough telescope, could we witness the big bang? If so could we look in any direction to see this?

If the following statement is true: the further away we see an object, the older it is, is it theoretically possible to witness the big bang, and the creation of time itself (assuming no objects block the view)? If so I was curious if it would appear at the furthest visible point in every direction, or only one set direction.

[Assistant]
The cosmic microwave background is the closet you can get to seeing the big bang.  It is the light left from when the universe cooled enough to be transparent shortly after the big bang.

A common misunderstanding is that the big bang was like a regular explosion that happened at a specific place and time.  Actually, it happened everywhere in the infinite universe all at once.  The expansion is every point in space getting further away from every other point.  There was no _expanding into_ anything, space itself was getting bigger everywhere.


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

[User]
We subsidize what we want to increase, and tax what we want to decrease. So is subsidizing welfare state increasing dependence of the state?

We subsidize what we want to increase, like business. Want private players to make industries? Subsidize land and electricity and tax less, industries start flocking. Income increases and poverty decreases.

We tax what we want to decrease. You as a businessman making so much profit, give more taxes as your income grows. It helps distrubute money towards better things.

But subsidizing welfare for people makes them dependent on it, causing them to become burden on the government and its people. E.g. California's homeless population. If you have more benefit to live on govt money why would you work.

So help me understand this concept. Should govt take care of everyone or should govt provide the methods to get a job for everyone but not provide direct money to people? Like make education and vocational training more accessible and free of cost. Govt makes the environment, let people decide how and where they want to get employment.

A noob on economics here, please point out my blind spots. Be civil in discourse. Thank you.

[Assistant]
I disagree with your starting thesis. Taxes and subsidies are just two policy tools, and not always the best ones. For example encouraging business by subsidising electricity would encourage inefficient over use of electricity. Compare that to encouraging business by good quality stable regulations, reducing government corruption and increasing social trust.  Or establishing clear property rights (not necessarily *private* rights) can be a better solution to some environmental problems than taxes. Private property in land for example encourages land owners to maintain the long-run productivity of their property. Both subsidies and taxes come with administrative costs and the more targeted the subsidy or tax the higher tends to be the administrative cost.

Everyone agrees that social welfare can reduce the incentives to work, this is often the point, that say a widowed parent with young kids can spend time looking after the kids, or the elderly can retire rather than struggle on. Or arguments for a UBI are sometimes made on the basis that the UBI will improve the treatment of workers as people won't need jobs so much. In terms of providing education and vocational training, many of the poorest people in society are ones who can't work, due to reasons like disability or caretaking responsibilities. It also doesn't address issues of people needing to eat now. Paying poor people money to let them meet needs like food and housing has some administrative advantages. On the other hand, healthcare costs are highly variable between individuals, there's no way the government could pay every individuals enough to cover the greatest possible medical expenses someone might face in a year, and to pay people directly would encourage mass fraud. So the government paying healthcare providers or providing medical care via public employees has advantages over cash payments.


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

[User]
[Attack on Titan] Could the humans have won the battle of Trost without Erin?

Regardless of the monetary or human cost, is there any tactic they could have used to stop the Titans without Erin's shifting ability?

[Assistant]
Heavens no.

The key issue was the giant hole in the wall; something the humans couldn't safely fix, if they could fix it at all. Without that hole plugged there was no way to stop the constant stream of titans.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do most of us dislike our own voice when heard from some kind of recording?

[Assistant] Because it's foreign to us. It's not the voice that we expect to hear. We're used to hearing our voice being transmitted internally straight to our inner ear, and don't recognize the completely differently sounding voice that was transmitted through our entire ear canal.


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

[User] [MCU] Between killing Gamora in Infinity War and watching his army get dusted in Endgame, which was a lower point for Thanos emotionally?

[Assistant]
Technically these were two different Thanos'. The one who killed Gamora was killed by Thor, and the one with the dusted army didn't kill his Gamora.

So both are the lowest points in the others lives.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] Why do Starfleet Officers make such bad parents?

**Wesley Crusher**: A socially-inept genius who gets a fellow cadet killed before abandoning his family and friends to shirk his responsibilities and gallivant the universe.

**Alexander Rozhenko**: Despite being raised without a father, then by an elderly couple, and eventually reluctantly by his own father he still grew up to be a weenie.

**Molly O'Brien**: Was once lost to a hell dimension for 10 years, only to be saved by accident.

**Will Riker**: Hated his father well into his adulthood.

**David Marcus**: Well-rounded despite hating his absentee father.

I guess **Jake Sisko** and **Deanna Troi** (even though her own kid(Ian II) killed himself after 48 hours of her parenting) turned out all right.

[Assistant]
I would not say the O'Brien's were bad parents at all... they had no way to know that Molly was going to fall into the portal they had no idea existed until it was too late.

Riker's father was not a star fleet officer but did work for the Federation.

Wesley (father KIA), Jake (Mother KIA at WOLF 359) and Alexander (witnessed his mother's murder) each lost a parent at a young age...even with counseling they would have had lasting effects from these losses.

Lwaxana Troi was a Federation Ambassador and Deanna turned out just fine.

Ensign Wildeman raised her daughter Naomi on her own 75k light years from home. Naomi turned out alright and even helped save The USS Voyager.

 Overall Id say many officers try to be the best parents they can be in a military family while deployed in less than ideal situations.


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

[User] ELI5:Why are 4K computer monitors more than twice the price of same-size 4K smart TVs that can also be computer monitors?

[Assistant]
There isn't an actual difference between a TV panel and a monitor panel.  A 30 inch 4k panel is a 30 inch 4k panel. In reality the main difference between a monitor and a TV is simply a tuner.

 You can think of the monitor as the higher quality product. For the 4k monitors market, panels are largely "IPS" technology which is a more expensive more accurate panel than a common "VA" technology  panel found on budget TVs. Computer monitors are meant to have accurate image reproduction for video and photo editing work, in addition to requiring a higher level of sharpness (especially in text) due to being viewed from several inches away VS several feet.

A TV with the same internal panel technology will be a comparable price to a monitor.

Like you are 5: Monitors need higher quality screens because they are viewed more closely than TVs and need to be accurate because they are for work and not play!


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

[User]
[Marvel]If Steve Rogers were to have children, would they inherit his powers?

Has it been confirmed that the Super Soldier Serum modified him on a genetic level? Would it affect his descendants?

I have one example of the answer being no(Patriot) and one example of the answer being yes(the Van Patricks). Which one is right?

[Assistant] There's actually a recent Captain America issue that showed the possible future after the super soldier serum is derived from Captain America, and no the children can't inherit the powers, they have to get SSS all over again to inherit the benefits. Which makes sense, it doesn't seem like the vita rays and SSS manipulate the genetic makeup of the person or the reproductive DNA.


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

[User] [Community] How did Annie's Boobs go unnoticed for so long?

[Assistant] The school has many many many infestations of various species and a problem with homeless students and teachers living in the ventilation systems. Annie's boobs was just another rustling noise in the vents to the janitors and exterminators.


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

[User]
[The Matrix] Do animals in the Matrix exist in the real world, like humans?

Or are they a part of the simulated reality, like the Agents?

[Assistant]
They're part of the simulation.  In *Reloaded*, the Oracle points to some birds in the park and tells Neo that someone at some point wrote a program to govern their behavior.  She says:
> Look, see those birds? At some point a program was written to govern them. A program was written to watch over the trees, and the wind, the sunrise, and sunset. There are programs running all over the place. The ones doing their job, doing what they were meant to do, are invisible. You'd never even know they were here.


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

[User]
CMV: Conservative billionaires promote climate change denial because they actively want it to happen

This is a view I have recently had presented to me by a friend and I find strangely compelling. Until then, I believed that climate change denial from members of the presumably intelligent billionaire class and their supporters was due to cognitive dissonance - they simply couldn't psychologically accept that their rampant capitalism would be responsible for the potential massive horrors of climate change - and they earnestly didn't believe it was happening.

Now I think my previous view was an insult to their intelligence. Climate change will be less likely to impact them personally, as they can move to more habitable areas, and they can afford the well-armed security staff to keep hungry populations at bay. At the same time, potential breakdown of governments, and an increase in desperation of the general population all makes for fewer regulations and cheaper workers.

TL:DR -  The Billionaire-class don't want action against climate change because it's in their interest for climate change's worst predictions to come true, allowing them to happily return to societies of a small aristocracy and population of impoverished serfs.

[Assistant]
The chances of most billionaires hoping for this are pretty small, and it involves a lot of steps. First, they'd have to be super evil. Second, they'd have to be planning for far in the future (something most people don't do). Third, they'd have to expect that we won't have any type of successful intervention or outcome aside from their master/serf plans.

Isn't it easier and more like human nature to assume they don't care about climate change because they don't care? Apathy is pretty powerful, especially when you're doing well personally.


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

[User]
Why wouldn't crossing an event horizon mean instant death?

As I understand it, once inside a black hole all paths lead towards the singularity, no matter the properties of the matter that falls in, so I assume bodily functions like blood flow would fail immediately because it would require some small motion away from the singularity.

I have also read that in a supermassive black hole one could survive crossing the horizon (radiation aside) until very close to the singularity. Is this true, and why?

[Assistant] Blood can flow to different parts of your body while still getting closer to the singularity. Consider when a person is flying on a plane traveling at hundreds of kilometres and hour. All the parts of his or her body are always traveling in the direction of the plane with respect to the ground (and so are always getting closer to the destination). Nevertheless blood can flow towards the back of the plane by flowing slower with respect to the ground than other parts of the body.


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

[User] If you melt a magnet, will it still be magnetic? Why or why not?

[Assistant]
It will not. Magnetic solids are only magnetic up to a certain temperature (called the Curie temperature). Above this temperature, the increase in entropy when atoms are not aligned with respect to one another overwhelms the stability inherent to magnetic alignment. The Curie temperature is below the melting temperature.

You can also have complex fluids that are magnetic, like magnetorheological fluids.


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

[User] When metal boils, does it release metal vapor in the bubbles?

[Assistant] If you can get a bubble to nucleate and the vapour is chemicaly stable, then yes. That is essentially the definition of boiling. Liquid metals often have stupendiously high surface energies, so getting a bubble to nucleate in the first place is often very difficult; often bubbles will be primarily composed of gasses that were dissolved in the solid metal. And often the metal vapour will often immediately catch on fire if done in normal atmosphere as the metal oxide is much more stable. For these reasons the easiest metal to boil with bubbles and all is probably mercury. In fact, distillation is how mercury is extracted from cinnabar ore and purified of amalgamated metals.


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

[User]
[The Matrix] How would the machines handle contact with aliens, hostile or otherwise?

Assuming that aliens could penetrate the dark sky and make contact, how would the machines play it?

[Assistant]
They'd likely approach it in a beneficial/let's be friends way at first.  Remember that it was *humans* who struck first, and destroyed the sky.  And that after being attacked, the machines didn't kill everyone - they created a utopia for the humans to continue "living" in.  And when that failed, they created a new world for humans to live in, all in an attempt to keep their creators alive and stop them from destroying themselves.

That said, if the aliens show any hostile intent, the machines would switch to war mode, and blast every one of them out of the sky (or at least attempt to depending on relative levels of technology).  Provided they can do enough damage to the attackers, they would probably reverse engineer the technology that allowed them to break through the sky (if it allows travel both ways), integrate any survivors to the matrix (if the biology is compatible - if not they would try to study them until they can make it compatible), and start building rockets and stuff.

Without knowing where the aliens came from, the machines would set up orbital (defense and observatory) satellites, try to disband the "dark sky", and maybe even send probes out to explore other planets.  If they find one that suits their needs (which given that they are solar-powered and otherwise don't need resources for sustenance could even be Mars) they could transplant themselves to it (or a part of their collective), and leave the humans to inherit Earth (or leave them to be cared for by the Matrix indefinitely).  They could expand from there almost indefinitely, though keeping communications across their collective would be tricky.  Any other aliens they meet could be absorbed into the Matrix, and their technology could be adapted to suit their needs and *oh shit they just became the Borg*


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

[User] If the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate, does that imply that certain parts of the universe are in principle unobservable/unknowable?

[Assistant]
Yes. Although more and more galaxies will continue to enter our observable universe, any galaxy that is currently farther than about 65 Gly will never be seen at all. (For reference the current radius of the observable universe is about 47 Gly.) This occurs because of the acceleration of the expansion. Without dark energy, all galaxies would eventually enter the observable universe.

There is also a so-called cosmological event horizon, beyond which any signal emitted right now will never reach us. The current distance to the event horizon is 16 Gly, and this distance shrinks over time. Eventually the only galaxies with which we will be able to communicate will be those within our own local cluster.


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

[User]
[Star Wars Canon] What was Palpatine's ultimate goal?

Okay, so at first it was to rule the galaxy as emperor. But when he finally wipes out the Jedi, creates Darth Vader, and establishes the Empire.. What was his goal then? He doesn't live in opulence. We don't ever see him surrounded by wealth, feasts, women, anything that a supreme ruler might desire. What does he ultimately desire? Suffering? Well he could have done a far better job if he was truly sadistic. Was it peace? Can we believe that he truly wanted a united galaxy and merely decided that the Sith way was the only viable method of achieving peace? If he had successfully squashed the rebellion, what does he do next?

[Assistant]
His ultimate goal was to unlock the full powers of the dark side with Vader in the ancient Sith shrine underneath the Jedi Temple.

I think creating the empire and becoming emperor was a means to an end.  Palpatine rarely appeared in public after becoming emperor, he left the daily management of the empire to the Ruling Council and he spent a lot of his time meditating in the shrine.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are some smells universally accepted as good smelling, and some universally accepted as bad smelling?

Everyone I know agrees that cinnamon buns smell good and poop smells bad but why?

[Assistant]
Ah, so there's two theories to this:

There are certain smells that are nearly universally considered bad, and they're usually associated with the really, really bad: poop, rotting/decaying things, spoiled food, etc. Some people speculate that certain smells are just hardwired into our brain as "DANGER, AVOID NOW" because the things the smell is associated with is terrible: you don't want to eat rotting things, or be near poop. So smell is a way of telling you something is to be avoided.

Another theory is that smell, and our definition of it as "good" or "bad" is learned. As we grow up, we're exposed to new things (that sometimes smell) and experience new things: smell can be associated with a good or bad experience and be labeled from then on as "good" or "bad" (Like a happy day at a carnival with cinnamon buns mean cinnamon buns are now good).


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

[User]
How does weight loss actually work?

Specifically, the idea of "if calories in > calories out, weight gained. If calories in < calories out, weight lost." Is this to say that if I ate something, say a Greek yogurt that was 340 calories, would I need to run 2 miles (assuming 1 mile=170 calories lost) just to maintain my weight? Why is it that doctors suggest that somebody who lives an inactive lifestyle still consumes ~1500 calories per day if calories in then obviously is not less than or equal to calories out?

[Assistant] Not taking into account losses due to incomplete digestion and all other funky biological stuff, those 1500 calories per day are used up running your body. Moving muscles in the heart and lungs requires energy, keeping your eyes open, raising your temperature when you are cold, all these things don't just happen, they need energy input. In fact, the brain takes a very large amount of energy to keep running, controlling your body, analyzing sensory information, thinking about how many calories you ate today; all that work uses up a lot of energy. This is where the majority of your food intake energy goes. You can even notice how little energy is used up by mechanical processes like running and lifting weights compared to your basal metabolic rate (energy use when not doing physical activities).


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

[User]
CMV: Adding more and more requirements for welfare recipients is a terrible idea

Please read my entire post before commenting. If you ask something that is addressed in the post, I'm just going to tell you to read it again.

I keep seeing people proposing things like drug tests, social media monitoring, and card systems that only allow welfare money to be spend on pre-approved things. These are just a few of the things people want implemented to stop welfare fraud. These are all terrible ideas, and I firmly believe that they're only even suggested in the first place to win votes from people who are too stupid to actually think of the implications and are just supportive because they're angry about the prospect of their hard earned tax dollars going to someone who doesn't deserve it.

The problem is that a) the requirements to get on welfare are already ridiculous, making it very difficult to commit welfare fraud in the first place, b) it would be very expensive to implement these additional requirements - think several million minimum - with little return on investment, and c) more requirements would only make life more difficult for people who welfare is supposed to be for.

I really want people to understand just how difficult it is to get onto welfare payments, ESPECIALLY for disability. You have to bring in a ridiculous amount of evidence, and even then, they will reject you for even the smallest thing. You're missing both legs and an arm? Well you can still type. That sort of thing. I brought in a 3cm stack of medical records for my long list of fully diagnosed permanent disabilities that impact every single aspect of my life, and was STILL rejected. I have at least 10 dislocations a day, and spend some days bed-bound and in serious pain, but that isn't even considered a real disability because people keep wanting stricter requirements. Sleep issues aren't even taken into account despite the fact that there is basically no job I could hold where I wouldn't be fired for being late.

**Why specific requirements are terrible:**

Drug tests: For one thing, forcing every single person on welfare to do drug tests would be incredibly expensive, and would only stop the stupidest addicts who don't know how to fool the test. This would also waste a ton of time that could instead be spent looking for work. Not to mention that kicking addicts off welfare will do nothing but force them to turn to crime. Poverty doesn't cure addictions, it makes them worse. If you hate addicts, then maybe consider supporting policies that will help treat their addictions. Resources for addiction are spread incredibly thin, and improvement in this area would reduce money spent on addicts both in welfare and medical expenses. Reformed addicts are also able to contribute to the economy, making it very much worth helping them.

Social media monitoring: This is expensive to implement, especially considering how damn slow the government is at programming *anything*. It's also a massive violation of privacy - seriously, do we want to be like China - and would only cause unnecessary headaches for people who absolutely need their welfare payments but need to consider whether their welfare payments would be stopped if they posted a joke about having a job or something. It would have many false positives that could cause someone to be kicked off their payments unfairly, causing unnecessary financial hardship. You also have to consider that you have to pay all the people doing the monitoring and dealing with people who have been kicked off their payments.

Welfare cards: This makes it more difficult for disabled people to manage their finances, and would almost certainly limit their choices to large businesses. This negatively impacts small businesses, since there is no list of every item sold at every store that could be used to determine what people could spend their money on. There is basically no way that could be implemented that wouldn't cause massive problems and constant complaints. And of course, dealing with all these complaints and dealing with the software side of things would be massively expensive. Even with these downsides, people could still easily get around it by getting people to give them cash in exchange for paying for their groceries on their card. Making it effectively another useless waste of money.

*Note: This post is mainly about Australia and the US, but since I'm not from the US I can't really comment on more specific aspects of their welfare programs.*

**EDIT: Since this post is getting some attention, I want to remind people to read through the comments to make sure their response hasn't been posted already. I don't really want to answer duplicates.**

**EDIT 2: I am going to bed and will continue responding tomorrow.**

**EDIT 3: Ok, staying up all night responding to this post and subsequently sleeping through Wednesday was a bad idea. Maybe I'll be back after work.**

[Assistant]
I dont know if anyone will be able to build consensus on this issue, or that Ill be able to change your view. Why? Because the goal of a welfare system differs based on philosophy, not on facts.

Either you believe in:
- A generous welfare system that supports everyone who truly needs it, but also leaves room for people to take advantage; or,
- A frugal welfare system that is very difficult to abuse, but also prevents some people who legitimately need help from reaching it.

(You could also just believe in no welfare system at all but thats not relevant for this argument.)

Pretty much every argument is going to come down to this difference in philosophy, whether its people saying but people will learn to game the system! Or people saying, but youre putting up barriers that needy people cant cross!

The cost doesnt matter, the benefit doesnt matter - for some people, the idea of abuse of the system justifies all barriers and all extra expenses to make sure the money is used properly.


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

[User]
As long as you also scaled all building materials proportionally, would it be possible to simply scale up a structure to a massive size while maintaining structural integrity?

I always wonder why things are the size that they are, or if it would be possible for giant humans to exist. That's a complicated topic, so to simplify lets talk about buildings.

Very simply: could you rebuild the empire state building, for example, to 200X as long as you used metal support beams that were 200x larger? Intuitively it would seem like it wouldnt work, but I'm not even sure why I would think that.

It seems like the atomic forces that keep things solid and from bending have limits, and that these limits would reach a breaking point at a certain scale.

Thanks in advance!

[Assistant]
Even if you scale all dimensions proportionally, not all properties of the building or object would scale the same way.

Consider a standard block-shaped building of size X * Y * Z. If you scale everything up by a factor of 2, you get a building of 2X * 2Y * 2Z. The volume of the building (and by extension its mass) has gone up by a factor of 2 * 2 * 2 = 8, while the surface area of the ground floor has gone up by a factor of 2 * 2 = 4.

The same will be true for all the support beams and other structural components: surface areas go up by a factor of 4, while volumes and masses go up by a factor of 8.

This means that pressure, which is defined as force divided by surface area, goes up by a factor of 2 in many areas. So despite all 3 dimensions being scaled up proportionally, pressure on supporting structures will increase since the mass has increased more than the surface areas and cross sections.

A similar argument can be made for why an ant scaled up in all dimensions by a factor 100 would instantly have its legs collapse, while it's perfectly fine at its regular size.


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

[User]
[The Flash] How can flash carry people?

>speedforce

No but seriously I get that his abilities allow him to move people and objects at super speed that's not what I'm asking. My question is, how does he actually carry people at all? Anyone who has ever tried to lift a person knows that people are heavy and hard to carry and that's when your standing still... Can you imagine how hard it would be to pick up even a relatively light person bridal style then run?

Does he have some form of super strength?

[Assistant] Basic answer is Barry doesn't have super strength, but he does workout regularly (at least in the comics) even though is powers keep near peak health under normal conditions. There's also the fact he's not carrying people for very long because he's moving so fast.


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

[User]
CMV: I don't believe women's minds are any more complex or difficult to understand than men's. CMV

I believe the common say that a man will never understand a woman's mind is highly subjective and wrong.

I believe both men's and women's minds operate at the same complexity level.

Evidence of this is that major psychological concepts such as Maslow's pyramid of needs or learning theories aren't gender specific.

On the other hand, i do believe that women tend to be less direct and consistent that men at expressing themselves. This makes ir more difficult to capture the whole message but doesn't make it more complex.

[Assistant]
I don't understand your view.

First you say "I don't believe women's minds are any more complex or difficult to understand than men's.".

And then you say "This makes ir more difficult to capture the whole message".

How is one to understand anyone else's mind other than through the communication of their messages?


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

[User]
CMV: Vaccinations for children under the age of 18 should be compulsory.

Vaccinations have been a vital tool for reducing, sometimes eradicating, deadly diseases. They have been a huge part in increasing the expected life expectancy of people. Therefore, I find find it terrifying that some parents refuse to allow their children to be vaccinated. I feel that it is ok for someone over the age of 18 to say no, because they are old enough to make informed decisions. But if a parent refuses to vaccinate a child, this borders on child abuse. The parent is witholding something from the child which could potentially save their life.

I am now going to attempt to rebut some common arguments against vaccinations. One of the arguments that is common is that vaccines cause autism. Firstly, the studies that suggested this have been proven to be psuedo-science. And secondly, if they did cause autism, surely having a child with autism is better than having no child. Another common argument is the argument of herd immunity. I feel this is invalid as the child only has to meet one infected person to gain the disease. And whilst the vaccination rates are high, if a few kids are unvaccinated, that is still too many children that could die.

So Reddit, change my view.

[Assistant]
>I feel that it is ok for someone over the age of 18 to say no, because they are old enough to make informed decisions. But if a parent refuses to vaccinate a child, this borders on child abuse.

So an adult can make an informed decision about themselves, but the same information does not apply to their child? What is a parent if not someone whose responsibility it is to make informed decisions for their children?


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

[User]
ELI5: Why aren't doctors getting sick with so many patients?

Reddit, I was wondering if you knew why doctors weren't getting sick when they work with so many different patients and are in contact of so many different illnesses every day. Thanks!

[Assistant]
It's because many patients they treat don't have infectious or transferable diseases. Sure, they may see many people with colds and flu, but your average GP is seeing just as many allergies, pregnancy checks, general vaccinations, awkward rashes, and sprained joints as they are cold and flu patients. Similarly, in hospitals, most doctors are treating transplant patients, broken bones, heart attacks, cancer patients, and the likes.

While there are many illnesses a person can suffer from, very few can actually be spread by general face to face contact. Lets not forget as well that hospitals are generally some of the cleanest and most sterile places around, with doctors using more hand wash, antibacterial scrub, and cleaning products in half hour than many people do in a day.So even if a patient comes in with a nasty cold, and coughs all over the place, chances are it gets cleaned up long before the germs can spread.


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

[User]
[Prometheus] When the engineer sacrifices himself and his body falls into the raging waterfall/river, wouldn't the molecules become separated and stop reacting?

I get that the black goo started changing his body but, dissolving into a raging waterfall and river would likely scatter the bits amongst millions of gallons of fairly pure water.

If they wanted to start life they should have done the ritual in a cesspool swamp or bog where the materials would sit and fester and grow into fungus or mold or whatever.

[Assistant]
His DNA carried the seeds of future development, but the initial organisms created from his body were single cells that reproduced through mitotic division.  All they needed was nutrients and room to grow.

A cesspool would have had less dispersal and more possibility of failure from a localized catastrophe.


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

[User]
First time: How does food and drink normally work at international conferences?

I know this sounds like a silly question and probably varies based on location/field, but it's my first international conference (in the US). The conference runs for a week and I know there's one reception dinner planned and one networking night.

I'm a bit stressed at the thought of having to buy lots of food every day. I can claim it back on my research grant but I don't want to go broke in the process and have to wait it out. I imagine the food prices will be pretty high judging by the hotel prices, and I just about manage at home bulk buying food and meal-prepping to keep costs down (I'm a PhD student).

What is the food/drink situation usually like at big international conferences like this?

[Assistant]
The prices are very high in the conference center, but you can just leave and visit a little shop 1 block away for something better/cheaper.

Keep every receipt you get, and if you got out for a meal ask for individual receipts. Make sure you claim all that shit back and dont pay out of pocket.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does friction work differently on wheels than on normal surfaces?

Normally friction isnt influenced by the size of the surface but dragsters and race cars use wider wheels for more friction. Why is this?

[Assistant]
It doesn't.

It's not that wider wheels have better grip, but that wheels with better grip are made wider.

Soft compound tyres are required to be wider in order for the side-wall to support the weight of the car. softer tyres have a larger coefficient of friction, therefore better traction. A narrow, soft tyre would not be strong enough, nor would it last very long, since the rate of wear is inversely proportional to the contact area.

Harder compound tyres wear much longer, and can be narrower. They do, however have a lower coefficient of friction, therefore less traction. Among tyres of the same type and composition, here is no appreciable difference in 'traction' with different widths.

Wider tires, assuming all other factors are equal, commonly have stiffer side-walls and experience less roll. This gives better cornering performance.


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

[User]
[STAR WARS] Did the Jedi Council fail Anakin Skywalker, or were larger forces at work (Palpatines manipulation, Skywalker's weaknesses) more to blame for Anakin's fall?

I ask because of Episode 11 of Season 6 of Clone Wars, *Voices*. In it, Anakin and Yoda have more contact than normal and it appears that Anakin's rebellious and frustrated spirit find answers in Yoda's way. It seems that, had Anakin been trained differently, he may never  have fallen to the dark side.

[Assistant]
The simple answer is "yes".

Anakin was already weak (raised a slave, his mother was kidnapped and died, just his general recklessness). Palpatine sensed both the boy's weakness and his power, and started manipulating Anakin and people involved with him.

The Council _might_ have prevented Anakin's fall, even given Palpatine's influence, if they had responded better to the situation. Instead, they talk about how dangerous Anakin is _right in front of him_, and try to simply shove down any problems he has instead of dealing with them.


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

[User]
[John Wick] How is New York able to support so many assassins?

In the second movie we see Winston calling up a flash mob's worth of killers on short notice. Or maybe they were just staying at the Continental. In any case there's enough hired guns to have their own upscale hotel.

We also see specialists -- there's the lady who disguises herself as a busker, the Asian dude who tanks gunshots, and the homeless dudes who carry suppressed pistols.

What is going on in this city? *Why* is it overflowing with liquidators?

[Assistant]
There's a lot of money in NYC, and it's excessively cutthroat even on the surface.  With that kind of money it's quite likely that elements of the underworld John Wick works with also has strong ties, at the very least elite bodyguard detail would be appreciated by the wealthiest.

And getting away from the money thing, it's just one of the densest population centers in the West, and it's trafficked constantly by tourists and foreign dignitaries.  Contracts outside the U.N. HQ probably set someone up for life.


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

[User] ELI5: How do people writing biographies recall their lives in such detail. I barely remember my childhood just bits and pieces here and there. But nothing close to writing a book.

[Assistant] Most autobiographies will have a ghost writer who "helps" with the writing. Part of that will be interviews to help jog the person's memories together with interviews with others who knew them at that time. And if all else fails they can make something up that is in keeping with the image they wish to convey.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How much did it actually matter that the Galactic Empires leadership were sith?

Sith ideology wasnt enforced by the government, and Sidious capitalized on populist sentiment that existed prior to the Sith takeover.

It looks like the Sith were basically just a cult popular with political leaders, like Mormons in the FBI or neo-paganism amongst Nazis.

Did sith ideology actually affect the lives of galactic citizens and policy?

[Assistant]
> Did sith ideology actually affect the lives of galactic citizens and policy?

Of course. The Sith beliefs basically boil down to "Might Makes Right". And as for that affecting the lives of galactic citizens? Why not ask the Wookies who were deemed "non-sentient" so they could be enslaved. Many other species were enslaved .

Or ask the people of planets that were literally stripped of all their resources and left empty husks.

Or ask the Mandalorians who were nearly genocided by the Empire.

Basically Palpatine capitalized on populist sentiment to gain power, and then once in power he cultivated a power-hungry and racist government that would follow his lead....it is less like the neo-paganism among nazis and more like "Mein Kampf" to the nazis. Not everyone believed in it, but they still used it as a guiding tenet in their actions.


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

[User] ELI5: What is antimatter?

[Assistant]
In the simplest sense, antimatter is particles with the opposite charge of their matter counterparts.

A proton has charge +1 and an antiproton has charge -1.

An electron has charge -1 and a positron has charge +1.

A neutron has charge 0 and an antineutron has charge 0.

A particle of matter can annihilate with its antimatter counterpart, at which point the total mass is "converted" to energy in the form of photons.

There's much more to it than that, but the rest isn't as ELI5-able.


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

[User]
How Did We Discover Bi-209 Is Radioactive?

Given that its half-life is so ridiculously long, what led us to find out that Bismuth isn't actually stable? Did we "get lucky" and happen to witness some decay, or are there analytical ways to determine an element's radioactivity without needing to observe anything? If the latter is the case, what prompted us to do this for bismuth?

[Assistant]
> Are there analytical ways to determine an element's radioactivity without needing to observe anything

There are ways to roughly predict whether an element would be radioactive, but getting an actual quantitative result to any precision is not possible from first principles using theory, and even numerical methods will be at best very approximate.


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

[User]
ELI5: Difference between GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and other navigation systems

With India's successful launch of its last satellite for IRNSS, why is there a need for so many navigational systems and how as a user, can you switch between them?

[Assistant]
These systems are so useful, that many governments don't want to be restricted to something that is controlled by a foreign government.

For example, GPS is a military system run by the US Navy. They could, if they wanted to, shut it off or degrade it. The Russians weren't happy with relying on a US military system, given that there is a lot of disagreement between Russia and America, so they built their own (GLONASS).

In Europe, the EU government were concerned that they were relying on a foreign military system for a lot of commercial and government work. They were also annoyed that GPS only made a crude signal available for the public and law enforcement, but the military got a much higher precision signal.

So, the EU government decided to build their own system (Galileo) which would give an improved accuracy free public signal, and a premium signal (with paid subscription) which would give the same accuracy as the GPS military signal. It would also be optimized for use in Europe. GPS satellites don't really orbit over the Arctic region, so GPS reception in places like North Norway or Northern Sweden is not very reliable. The Galileo satellites are intended to go into orbits which go much further North, but the disadvantage is that you need more satellites to cover the increased amount of land.

Same sort of thing with IRNSS (India) and BeiDou (China).

In general, all these systems you broadly the same technology but on slightly different frequencies. This means your receiver needs to have an antenna and circuits capable of receiving all the different systems. Dual system GPS/GLONASS receivers have been available for a while - they weren't terribly popular initially because the GLONASS system has been very unreliable with satellites dying or malfunctioning and not being replaced.  However, the Russians have repaired and updated their GLONASS satellites, and it's now a good quality modern system, so most latest generation GPS receivers do actually receive the GLONASS signal as well.

One of the advantages of a receiver which supports both systems is that it is possible to get a more accurate position because you can combine the measurements from both systems when the receiver does the final position calculation.

The Galileo system isn't complete, in fact, it isn't really functional, as it doesn't have enough satellites to work 24/7. However, many new GPS receivers are "Galileo ready" which means that they have the antenna and circuits in place, but the firmware to process the signals hasn't been finalized. Once enough satellites are up and working, the manufacturer of the receiver will be able to test their firmware, and then once tested and working will be make it available for download.


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

[User] [Batman] Do Poison Ivys pheromones work on people who arent attracted to women?

[Assistant]
Canonically yes. After all, they work just fine on people who aren't normally attracted to Poison Ivy specifically. Why *wouldn't* they work on people who aren't normally attracted to women generally?

Remember, she isn't *seducing* people, she's hijacking your hormonal system and overriding your normal attraction directly. It's actually kind of horrific when you think about it, but that's why she's the bad guy.


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

[User]
How does a radar gun work while mounted in a moving vehicle?

In other words, does a cop have to be at a complete stop to accurately "clock" a moving vehicle?

[Assistant]
Radar will give you the speed relative to the speed of the cop car. If the cop is driving 50mph and he wants to radar a car going in the same direction as he is but doing 70mph, the radar will read at 20mph (add that to the cop's speed to get actual speed). If the speed are the same but the cars are going in opposite directions, radar will read 120mph (subtract the cop's speed to get a real speed of 70).

Edit: If you wanted to get a more detailed answer of how radar works in general, I, or someone else, will be able to answer that too.


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

[User] ELI5:How is Cliven Bundy not in jail after having an armed standoff against federal officers?

[Assistant]
Because an attempt to arrest him would result in armed confrontation with law officers, and likely death on both sides. He and his supporters words and actions have threatened this.

The government agencies involved are making a conscious decision to let this wacko have his own little piece of America instead of igniting a powder keg of rights issues that would likely lead to civilian militias rising up across the nation.


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

[User] ELI5: why are some peppers so hot that they require people to use gloves when handling/eating/cooking with them, yet those same peppers are safe for us to eat?

[Assistant] They wear the gloves to help prevent the juices from getting into eyes and other places they shouldn't get, which are extremely sensitive and will suffer permanent damage. Your stomach on the other hand is designed to eat stuff that may be dangerous for your eyes (think lemon juice).


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

[User] [Gilligan's Island] Why did the combined talents and knowledge of Captain Jonas Grumby and Professor Roy Hinkley fail to come together to build a seaworthy craft? After all, the Skipper was a seasoned sailor and the Professor held multiple graduate degrees.

[Assistant]
Building a seaworthy raft was exactly what they did, it was pretty much their first escape attempt (Season 1 Episode 1: "Two on a Raft").

That's how they discovered the currents and wind patterns around the island were uniquely arranged to make escape very difficult.  Professor Hinkley subsequently spent years trying to find a way around the problem - analyzing archeological finds on the island for clues, trying to negotiate with visiting Oceanic tribesmen for navigation secrets, studying the winds and tides, etc.


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

[User]
[MCU] So Are Doctor Strange and Wongs existence public knowledge?

Minor Spoilers for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

In the movies, the existence of magic is generally kept hidden from the public eye by the Masters of the Mystic Arts through the use of the Mirror or Astral Dimension. But Doctor Strange and Wong dont seem to be as hidden away as their fellow magic users, operating freely in New York as they please - They make portals out in the open, like busy streets or restaurants, they fight in underground battling rings, and they participate in battles like the Attack on Greenwich Village, which most likely was not conveniently empty of people with cellphones or something else. So are their existence still a secret? The Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer suggests that its incredibly unlikely that they could just do a magic spell to erase everyones memory of their existence.

[Assistant] In Far From Home one of Peter's classmates said Mysterio is like Dr Strange combined with Thor. It's likely that people only know him as the Avenger that can cast spells rather than as the Sorceror Supreme.


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

[User] Why does a mirror appear to be silver? When it in fact reflects all light?

[Assistant]
Any perfect mirror will appear silver. Silver in that sense is not a colour but the appearance of a metallic object. So you associate high reflectivity with "silver" even when the mirror is not actually grey.

White objects are objects which scatter light of all wavelengths, not objects which reflect light of all wavelengths.


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

[User]
[Bambi] Why is Bambi's father called "The Great Prince of the Forest" and not "King" or "Emperor"?

Also, Bambi himself is called "The Young Prince" by a couple of other characters.

I always thought it was because the forest where Bambi and his family live is a principality (like Monaco, and formerly India), not a kingdom (like the United-Kingdom of Great-Britain and Northern Ireland, and formerly Korea).

[Assistant]
From Tvtropes.org:

Because in the novel they're roe-deer. Prince is an individual term for roe-deer in the books. The Kings are the red deer (and most roe-deer are terrified of them, on account of them being so large and fierce). Disney turned Bambi & Co. into white-tailed deer, but didn't bother to change the hierarchy.
In the Disney version, the Kings are elk.


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

[User]
ELI5: How is Hollywood allowed to make a movie about a person and their life without the permission of that person such as Whitey Bulger in the movie Black Mass?

I recently read that Johnny Depp tried to meet the real White Bulger multiple times and he refused.

[Assistant]
There's no such thing as a "right to not have people talk about you."

As long as the producers didn't use anything that could be considered legally private information (like Bulger's health records) and as long as they didn't do anything that could be considered libel, then there's no reason they would have to get Bulger's permission first.


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

[User]
[LoTR] How does Gandalf know everything?

How does Gandalf seem to know everything and everyone? I know he has limits like the Gates to the Mines of Moria, but what are some other of his limits?

[Assistant]
When it comes to knowledge, he doesn't actually know everyone and everything. However, he is *extremely* skilled at putting together information, and spends much of his time meeting people, rubbing shoulders with folks from all walks of life, and observing things around him.

In some cases (Such as Bilbo), he's known their family for generations. In others, he's lurked in the shadows.

In others, he's spent decades, or centuries, building information networks and studying things. Remember, he can speak to moths, eagles, and other wild animals. He can get information from places where men fear to tread because he doesn't rely just on human sources.

After over one thousand and five hundred years of wandering Middle Earth, and bear in mind that's just the continent, he's had a lot of time to gather information and learn how people think and act.


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

[User]
Why is the UK so economically dominated by London?

I get the impression that the UK's economic activity is particularly skewed towards London, with the rest of the UK lagging behind a lot. Other countries often have strong centres of economic activity outside their capital city.

This seems to cause a lot of problems (high house prices and overcrowding in London, a feeling of left-behindness elsewhere) so I would be interested in knowing why it's happening.

[Assistant]
History. Historically the UK government centered in London, and when the country grew in size and power (to a great extent due to the government) that growth lead to growth in the Capitol. This happened early on (late medieval/early modern period). Countries that centralized government relatively late tend to have more large cities outside the capitol (Germany, the Netherlands and US have had decentralized states and have many large cities. Countries like France, Turkey (counting Istanbul, not Ankara) and England have a bigger gap between the largest city and the rest).
That being said, many other countries also experience similar issues in their mayor cities.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do ear infections hurt so much?

When people get middle/inner ear infections, it hurts a lot. Why is that? I get that fluid builds up in there, but why does that trigger a bunch of pain?

[Assistant] Usually ear infections involve the middle ear, which is the chamber between your ear drum and the little organs that allow you to perceive sound/body position. The only way out of that chamber is through the Eustachius canal which leads to your nose. When that chamber gets infected and the canal swells up and shuts (for example when you have a cold and some microbes travel up the canal into your your ear), fluid and pressure builds up inside. There are many nerve endings in and around the ear, most notably the facial nerves actually passes straight through that chamber. Thats why pain from an ear infection feels like it radiates so much through your face. The thumping sensation comes from your body natural response to trauma: inflammation. This means the blood flow to the affected area is increased and the tissues swell up a little, which increases the local pressure and makes you aware of the heartbeat in the area.


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

[User]
[One Punch Man] If there were two of Saitama... would he be able to one punch himself?

If there were two of Saitama... would he be able to one punch himself?

[Assistant]
Unlikely. The idea that he can "one punch any enemy" is not technically true, it's just that most if not all of the enemies he encounters are too weak to withstand anything more than a "regular punch" from him.

For example, in his fight with Boros a "regular punch" isn't enough to defeat him. In the end it takes a "serious punch" from Saitama in order to defeat him. Compared to all previous enemies this is a real step up. Boros acknowledges that even with that Saitama was really only toying with him.

Considering that Saitama appears to be the most powerful being on Earth (indeed, if not the universe) it stands to reason that it would take more than a single punch to defeat him.


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

[User]
[Avatar] Why can't the avatar learn the four styles of bending through the avatar state?

Why can't his/her past lives teach the new avatar how to bend the elements?

[Assistant]
The avatar can and does, but its most subconscious.

The avatar learns bending faster the normal students while he's normally considered a bending prodigy (because he's the avatar) Avatar Roku sums it up by saying, "You've already mastered the elements before."


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

[User]
Why is RNA necessary?

I was curious as to the reason that RNA is necessary as an intermediate between DNA and proteins. It seems like it would be much easier to have DNA polymerases create single stranded DNA molecules and have ribosomes bind to this in order to create proteins. Why cant RNA function as the long term storage of genetic material?

[Assistant]
1) RNA is not used to permanently store genetic information because DNA is more chemically stable. At the beginning of life on Earth, RNA was used as the genetic storage material, but use of DNA proved to be more stable and reliable and was selected for.
2) mRNA is still used as the mediator between DNA and protein because of the ribosome. Ribosomes are comprised of RNA and protein, and require RNA for translation. Apparently, there was no evolutionary benefit to using DNA- based ribosomes (deoxyribosomes?), so the machinery never changed.


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

[User]
Why do I fear the inexistence that follows death?

I don't get it. The fear of inexistence is an oxymoron; after all, if I don't exist, I won't be able to be upset of bummed out that I don't exist. And yet sometimes the thought that in a few decades more or less I'll cease to exist fills me with wave after wave of horror and dread. The mind cannot grasp the possibility of it not existing. It is beyond comprehension, at least to me. A part of me wishes that some religion is true and that when I die I'll burn in hell for eternity because, for whatever reason, that possibily frightens me less than painless oblivious inexistence. Why do I fear oblivion so much? and is there any way to eliminate that fear or at least reduce it?

[Assistant]
A (rough) Heideggerian response: you do not fear death, but are made anxious by it. Fear and anxiety are quite similar feelings, but fear has an object. You fear x. Death, the state of nonexistence,  is not a proper object.

You are anxious in the face of the world (the totality of possibilities). You anxious in the face of your utmost possibility of death and your finitude. We (Dasein) project onto the future, and projection to one's death is the projection to futurelessness. A contradiction of sorts.


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

[User]
ELI5: When a bank is robbed, do the people/companies get reimbursed by an insurance company or the bank for all of their money that has been lost?

Or is it not even their money in the bank?

[Assistant]
It's not their money in the bank. When you give your money to the bank, it's just that: you're giving it to them. What the bank does in return is give you a slip of paper otherwise known as a "balance" of how much money you have with them, that they need to be able to pay you should you request it back.

As an added bonus: think about how a bank makes money, and incentivizes you, the customer to have them hold your money instead of another rival bank. The interest rate the bank advertises is the major selling point that most people would care about. How can they provide interest if your money just sits there? It certainly doesn't multiply on its own, otherwise under the mattress would be the ideal place to store it. Where the real money comes in is from loans. The bank uses all the money that people have given it, and attempt to make good investments on people applying for loans and earn additional income through interest they charge on top of those loans. A sound loan applicant with a well thought out business stratagem will most likely generate a return on the initial investment that the bank gave out, thus turning a profit and having more money than it had with everyone's deposits. A lot of these happen every day and it's why bankers look at "risk" which is between 'none' (a sound investment with no chance of losing money like an arbitrage) and 'high' (an unwise investment unlikely to get any money back from, such as fedoras for dolphins)

The bank gives out this Return On Investment in very small amounts as a reward for using them across all the customers. And because you don't own the money you gave them, just a balance that's good for that much money from them they give you a little extra to incentivize your continued patronage.


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

[User]
CMV: Toilet paper isn't free, why should tampons be?

Pretty simple concept there. Obviously womens hygiene products are essential. But just because something is essential doesn't make it free. Take toilet paper, we all pay for it and use it every single day. No one complains. Or hell, something that is absolutely basic to all life, water. Not free.

I don't think it has anything to do with sexism or the patriarchy to make women buy tampons or pads. It's just the way the world works. And I believe we should put more effort into making things like food or water free over anything else.

Full disclosure, just a pretty normal white straight dude. Not a Trump supporter at all. But also not a Bernie Bro. Just so we can get away from the politics side of any ones argument.

[Assistant]
I think this one needs more context? Who is demanding free sanitary products for women and why?

In developing countries with a lot of stigma around period blood this can be an important change for girls and women. They are often shunned when on their period and miss out on school/work on these days without access to tampons or pads. So there are many NGOs that work on making these products available for free especially for poorer women.

In many other countries these products are/were taxed higher than other necessities like your example of toilet paper.

When using a public restroom you would usually find toilet paper available, sanitary products are less likely to be lying around freely. So this demand of free tampons could derive from this discrepancy.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do our joints ache when the barometric pressure changes?

[Assistant]
Where two ends of the bones meet, they form a synovial joint. Basically a sac encloses the joint with fluid inside called synovial fluid. Low barometric pressure can increase the pressure inside of the synovial joint, indirectly increasing pressure on the ends of the bones.

EDIT: Someone rightfully corrected me, low pressure will cause the pain not high.


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

[User] ELI5: Why don't/can't motor vehicles have spherical wheels like in "I, Robot"?

[Assistant]
A spherical wheel just isn't practical. A sphere is going to have a small contact patch for the size of the wheel compared to a normal wheel. They would be hard to manufacture as well.

A car COULD have spherical wheels, but it just doesn't make sense to have them.


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

[User] [Mulan] Why is Mulan the only person with an ancestral guardian?

[Assistant]
Ancestral guardians usually work behind the scenes, invisible and undetectable, but still able to influence matters with their vast powers.  If the Great Stone Dragon had awoken like the ancestors had intended, then that's likely how it would have operated.

Mushu is not nearly so powerful, so he had to take a more hands-on approach.

Thus, it's perfect possible that other people had active ancestral guardians watching over them, it's just that these guardians were not visible.  After all, Shang and the other soldiers do get rather lucky at times.


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

[User]
ELI5 the hard problem of consciousness

Can someone explain this to me in clear jargon-free language?

[Assistant]
One way to see the problem is in the distinction between objectivity and subjectivity. If anything is subjective, it's consciousness. The sites, sounds, and feels that are the subject of your mental life are (on the usual picture of the mind) completely subjective and private. You might be wrong in thinking that there's a purple unicorn standing in front of you, but your conscious experience of that unicorn is as real as can be -- you are, according to one metaphor of consciousness, the sole viewer in the theater of your mind, and whatever is on that screen is *yours*. You experience it first-hand.

If anything is objective, it's science. Science doesn't vary from person to person, and it's supposed to be a third-person pursuit. The world is a certain way, and science tries to explain how that is, from a non-subjective perspective.

So we have, seemingly, a problem. If we want to develop a science of consciousness, we're going to have to use objective means to study a subjective phenomenon. Those who think this is reflective of something insoluble have called this the "hard problem". They think that any science we apply towards studying the mind will necessarily fall short of describing consciousness, because we can't use objective facts to get at something that is totally subjective.


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

[User]
[King Kong] is King Kong the only one of his kind?

Is he the last of a species of Giant apes? maybe he is some crazy mutant gorilla? or maybe we just don't see other giant apes because they are extremely rare or solitary creatures?

[Assistant]
In the most recent film adaptation, you see the remains many others of Kong's species in a cave. He is, literally, the last of his kind, though the cause of their extinction is unknown.

Doesn't apply to the original, but it's as good an explanation as any...


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

[User]
What is needed to become a professional software dev in your country?

I was wondering the other day what is needed in different countries to become a professional software developer. In Germany,  where I live, you either have to study or follow an dual vocational training, which takes you 3 years. After that you have a training certificate which you can use to apply for jobs. In Germany it is extremly hard nearly impossible to land a job you didn't study or follow the training.

So my question is, how is the situation in your country?

[Assistant] In the US? You just need to be able to convince a prospective employer that you can be a competent software developer. You can get an associate's or bachelor's degree in computer science or something like that, or attend a coding boot camp, or build the next killer app in your spare time, but those are just ways to get your foot in the door.


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

[User] [ELI5] When you accidentally inhale something, like water or food, and you cough it mostly up and are fine, how does the rest get out of your lungs and how do you not get pneumonia?

[Assistant]
Your airways are all covered with little "finger-like projections" called cilia. Their entire job is to grab onto junk that doesn't belong and scoot it back up and out until you can cough it out. Things that don't get pushed out like this get absorbed, ie, water, or attacked and eaten up by the many immune cells that live in your lungs.

For pneumonia to occur, you usually need a much larger amount of food or fluid to get deeper in the lungs than most people will achieve with regular choking. More likely, people who get pneumonia already have a respiratory infection interfering with a normal immune response, which allows bacteria to set up shop and go wild

Edit: Thank you for awards!  Wow!


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What's going on with Vader's fighting ability in the original trilogy?

We've seen that he is very dexterous and agile in his fights with Ahsoka and other former jedi, but it seems like his fight in the hallway over Scariff is the last time he can muster the energy to be a complete menace.

Afterwards, he is very stiff and can barely move.

[Assistant]
This was asked here recently and someone had a great explanation.

By the time they meet again on the Death Star theyve both become masters at their craft. Where they used to fight agile and flashy, now no movement is wasted. Theyre two samurai where minute changes in posture demand a reaction. And by the time either strikes a blow the fight has already been decided.


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

[User] [HIMYM] How much money did Robin get from being Robin Sparkles?

[Assistant] You would actually be surprised by how little money child stars actually get, most only get scale and Robin is canadian. She likely made plenty to get through college and enough to get an apartment in new york for long enough to get a job.


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

[User]
[Lord of the Rings] Would Gimli have made a good Ring-bearer?

This was a suggestion mentioned by a theory channel on YouTube, and I currently find it logical enough that it deserves a bit of discussion.

In the movies, Gimli's first and only real interaction with the ring, is to try and immediately destroy it. After that, he hardly seems to care about its existence, but just goes along with the quest as a loyal friend. In fact, he appears to show far less of an interest in the ring than any of the hobbits that ever had it. Adding to all this, the dwarves in general were not known to be susceptible to the influence of the rings, at least not in the same way Sauron had intended.

One point I am not knowledgeable about are the books. Does Gimli act any differently around the ring there? And if not, is the idea of Gimli as a Ring-bearer a viable one?

[Assistant]
Rings of Power affect Dwarves differently than they do Men, possibly because the Dwarves were created by Aul (a Vala, or "archangel") rather than Eru Ilvatar (God): they tend to make Dwarves more greedy and selfish, without bringing them under the dominion of Sauron quite so quickly.

So if Gimli had taken the One then he'd  probably have claimed it for himself, resulting in a similar situation to the Battle of the Five Armies: an avaricious Dwarf with a _precious_ artifact, held under siege by multiple parties after fleeing to a stronghold somewhere.  Except in this case, each of the parties besieging Gimli would have been driven to bloodlust by desire for the Ring.

News of this wouldn't have taken long to reach Sauron (or Saruman) and regardless of how the siege was resolved, things wouldn't have ended well for Middle Earth.


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

[User] ELI5: The basic plot of Dragonball Z and why it is so popular.

[Assistant]
Dragonball Z is based of the show DragonBall which is about a boy called Goku who is sent from another planet to destroy it. He hits his head when he arrives and that causes him to lose his memory and thus forget his mission. Goku has incredible strength and is great fighter as his home planet celebrated fighting.

Dragonball Z take place when Goku grows up and has a son of his own. It follows the already epic story that is Dragon Ball and uses the same characters and settings. It's about Goku journey to save the earth and usually involves him collecting 7 magic balls (Called dragon balls) so that he can make a wish. A key point is that you can only make the same wish once. Goku usually save the word by beating people up.

Dragonball Z is so popular because it's basically a giant soap opera with fight scenes.  The characters are quite well written for anime and develope as the story goes on and their always fighting (Although it's mostly posing for a fight.)


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

[User] [Star Wars Legends] Have any Jedi and/or Sith attempted to recreate the Je'daii Order of old? What was the outcome and if it hasn't been tried before, why?

[Assistant]
The Je'daii belief in allowing for use of the Dark Side, so long as it wasn't extreme, is absolutely antithetical to the modern Jedi Order. They dogmatically insist that the Dark Side is some sort of leukemia the Force is suffering from and the only way to live is to subsume yourself and your life entirely into a slavish devotion to the Light.

The Sith, on the other hand, have no problem using both the Light and the Dark, but reject the Je'Daii's insistence that one *must* use them in complete balance. Submitting to that sort of absolutist demand (so much so that they would exile people to a moon for being "out of balance") is weakness. It relies on permanent deference to a higher authority, which is antithetical to the Sith.

You're free to make an attempt on your own, though.


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

[User]
[MCU] Why is Hela so friendly with Skurge?

I thought it was interesting that the big, bad goddess of death latched onto the first commoner she saw (who wasn't trying to kill her). For the rest of the movie, you see her with Skurge and no one else. She even takes him into the vault! And leaves him alone in there, with Surtur and the eternal flame.

She also hooks him up with the position she said used to be hers, next to Odin. Sentimental much? On top of it all, she talks candidly and openly with Skurge. She's never even mean to him.

I'm sure she doesn't need Skurge, and he can't be the only one in Asgard willing to take a knee. In the end he (rather unsurprisingly) betrays her anyway. So what's the point of all this? Is it an uncharacteristic soft spot on the goddess of death?

[Assistant]
She wasn't trying to murder *everyone*. Just the ones who refused her claim. She wasn't some death monger, she saw herself as rightful heir to the throne.

It's almost textbook ruling 101 to put people who are good with you in positions of power. He gets a nice high rank and political power and it's a display to others. If you join her she will treat you right.


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

[User]
Set me straight on expansion of space

I've been slowly reading the Pale Blue Dot and I got to a section early on that talked briefly about the beginning of the universe, light years, and the expansion of the universe.

I've been reading some wikipedia articles about it but I still can't seem to get my head around it.

Some points of confusion are:

* It takes light one Julian year to travel a light-year. So there is most likely light beyond what we can currently see because it is so far away. I was under the assumption this was what 'the expanding universe' was but further reading suggests that I am wrong. (As more light reaches us, it would appear that the universe is 'expanding'.)

* The ~ 13 billion year age thrown around is not really the age of the universe, but just the time since the Big Bang singularity. The explanations of the measures of this are somewhat confusing to me. Now, if there is light coming in from further than that number of light years away, wouldn't that mean the universe is older? (I realize that would be impossible to see without a large enough amount of time.)

Thanks. I'll be checking in and out of this thread for a few days and commenting on what you guys say.

[Assistant]
* The expansion of the universe is a metric expansion. Space itself is getting bigger. Because of this 2 non gravitationally bound objects can become separated at speed faster than light can travel. The objects aren't really moving faster than the speed of light, but the space between them is expanding. We illustrate this to undergrads by putting 2 marks on a balloon, as you blow the balloon up the marks are stationary, but the distance between them gets greater, its not a perfect analogy, but it works.

* Due to the expansion of space itself, there are places in the universe that are separated by  a distance that is greater than the speed of light times the age of the universe.


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

[User] [The Culture] Why do people outside the Culture try and get unsafe and unreliable body modifications from space faring civilizations trying to replicate the Culture, instead of getting them in the Culture itself?

[Assistant]
I can't remember any  examples of this.  It's a big galaxy so am sure it probably has.

There are galactic treaties between civilizations about tech sharing with lesser civilizations.  In some cases the genetic modifications would be enough to constitute such a transfer.  For example the Empire of Azad would have been fascinated by the Game Players "plumbing".

So if you are from a lower tier civilization and can make it to the Culture, you may not be able to get "work done".  If you are from a level 8 civ, sure advanced body mods are probably not a problem (You may not have to be level 8, probably depends on whatever level the particular mod is considered).  Then again you would already have access to it.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What made Alderaan a safe place to hide Leia?

So the decision to hide Luke on Tatooine makes logical sense. It's an outer rim planet and a planet that Vader despises so he wouldn't go back there. But Alderaan is a core planet of the Republic/Empire and is aiding the Rebellion. Doesn't seem like the best place to hide a force sensitive child of the Chosen One...

[Assistant]
The only surviving people who knew that Skywalker had a child, let alone two of them, were Bail, Obi-Wan, Yoda, and the droids.

Statistically speaking, Leia was as safe with Bail as she probably could have been anywhere else.