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

[User]
[MCU] How did Tony Stark program F.R.I.D.A.Y to have Sass if it isn't an A.I?

So from my understanding, Ultron is the first true AI in the MCU which is why he was a big deal and Tony and Bruce tried to work on him.

Jarvis behaved like a regular program, monotoned, does what he is told, and relays the information accurately.

F.R.I.D.A.Y on the other hand, has an attitude, is verbose and behaves like she has a personality.

How did Tony program that?

[Assistant]
Probably the simplest way: a massive database of sass responses, based on his own experience as a sassologist, and archived sass found online.

FRIDAY does not actually understand sass, she simply has a canned sassy response for each and every possible conversation or situation, and can improvise additional simple sass using a sass-pairing algorithms. Sometimes she gets it wrong, which in fact makes it more funny.


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

[User]
[Dark Souls] So whats in space?

Is the rest of the universe going through the eternal cycle of life and death or is it all just on this single planet?

[Assistant] There is very little talk of celestial bodies in the lore, with the Sun and Moon only referred to in their deific forms rather than their position in the skies. One theory is that the land lies in eternal night, and the sun went out as part of the Age of Fire ending (it's illusory whenever you see it). Hence, there are no other worlds besides this one.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] What haven't the Borg sent (n) cubes to assimilate the Federation where n>1?

Is it the Q or some other transcendent force taking an interest in the Federation ensuring the Borg never send more than they are capable of overcoming?

[Assistant]
The Borg Cube encountered at Wolf 359 was sent as a scout to asses the Federation. Following this incident we realized that we were woefully unprepared to combat a serious Borg invasion in our current state. As a result military research was ramped up. The most notable example of this military ramp-up was the development of the first Federation war ship, the Defiant.

The exact reason why the Borg did not immediately send more ships to assimilate the Federation is unknown, although it is likely that the ease with which the original cube crushed our defense fleet played to our advantage. It is possible that they decided to pursue more pressing matters until such a time that they could turn their full attention to us. It is fortunate that they did delay as this allowed us to upgrade our existing fleet to a state that would allow us to defend ourselves from the Borg.


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

[User]
[Middle Earth] How would the history of Middle Earth change if Eru had completely detached himself from Arda the moment after its creation.

In this timeline, he would not perform any kind of intervention, direct or indirect. He would be completely silent, not communicating anything to anyone, not even the Valar. All he would do is silently watch the events of the world take place. How would history change?

[Assistant]
That's basically what he did. Eru only intervened twice in the history of Arda. Once to sink Nmenor and remove the Undying Lands and once to destroy the One Ring.

So it really wouldn't change too much history-wise. If Eru didn't interfere well the Numenoreans land on Valinor only to get crushed by the might of the Valar and 3 Elven nations. The resulting battle shakes the world and sinks Numenor anyway. The only difference is that instead of slinking away, Sauron gets captured and tossed out the void with Melkor. Magic fades and the elves leave because that's inevitable.

The only difference is that the world is still flat and the Undying Lands are still on Arda which raises the possibility that Men can still find Valinor.


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

[User]
CMV: If Brexit doesn't happen we have made an absolute joke of democracy

I've been thinking this for a while. And for those interested in the referendum I voted remain, and still feel that way however I find the fact that we voted for Brexit and now every politician and MP is doing everything they can to railroad Brexit and sabotage the plan.

If we all came together, to perform in the interest of the people, instead of squabbling amongst ourselves and stabbing each other in the back with skulduggery, we would have had a deal by now.

I think it's an absolute joke. Whilst I didn't agree with the decision I respect the fact that that was the voice of the people. Now it seems everything is being done to shaft the entire plan, why even offer the vote if we are not gonna go through with it?

I also can guarantee if this were the other way round the backlash wouldn't have been nearly as severe as it is now. Screw Brexit and Remain, this should be a massive indicator that we actually have no say in the future of our country as the top dogs will just do whatever the fuck they want, regardless of the will of the people.

EDIT: Thank you for those who offered actual genuine debate. I honestly learnt a lot and my opinion, whilst not totally swayed, is certainly more open.

To those who decided to be complete dicks instead of actually having a decent conversation, I hope you enjoy the lasting pain of a cactus stabbing you in the eye.

I now have to get back to work and will no longer be able to reply. Thank you guys for making my first CMV an interesting one!

[Assistant] Asserting that the referendum really is the "voice of the people" is the real mockery of democracy. Democracy depends of the affected people making decisions about known quantities and coming to clear majority consensus. None of these things were true about the brexit referendum. Even if we give the leave campaign absolute benefit of the doubt and assume that the voters were fully informed of the possibilities  (which they weren't) and that none of the leave campaign's promises were outright lies (which they were) then there is still no clear majority for brexit: we can safely assume that at least some of the leave voters wanted a soft brexit, some wanted a hard brexit, and certainly very few envisioned crashing out with no deal. There's no majority for no deal brexit. Furthermore, what about the constituents who voted for PMs they knew were in favor of a deal, or no brexit at all? Shouldn't that Democratic voice be heard? What is the point of representative democracy if the government is going to cancel parliament to push through a decision that the elected representatives don't want? And finally there's the issue of suffrage. Many of the people most affected by brexit - foreigners in Britain - never got a say in brexit at all. The referendum simply cannot be called the voice of the people.


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

[User] ELI5: Why on old cartoons, did a scenery object look brighter if the characters were going to interact with it? Why would the quality differ regardless?

[Assistant]
They were being drawn in different layers.

Old cartoons were literally drawn on clear plastic sheets like you'd get on an overhead projector.  Character's movements therefore had to be drawn and redrawn for each frame.  The background didn't.  It would stay the same for multiple shots.  These different layers would be stacked on top of each other and a picture.would be taken.  Then, the character pictures would be swapped out for the next frame.  Maybe the background would be moved a bit too.  If an object was going to move, it would have to be on a separate layer from the background.


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

[User]
Differences in UK and USA PhD programs

I recently accepted a PhD program in Canada that is based on the English style of program. Can someone tell me the pros/cons and generally what the differences are in the style of degree programs?

[Assistant]
US programs require coursework (~30-60 credits), expect incoming students to have a more general background typical of an American bachelor's program, and usually take at least 5 years post-bac.

UK programs don't have coursework, you are treated like an employee of the university, and typically last 3 years because commonwealth undergrad program coursework focuses much more on the major.


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

[User]
Where does the beep be-be-bop be-be-bop sound from my speakers come from when I get an incoming call?

Whenever I'm about to get an incoming call and I'm near my PC, the speakers start playing out this beep be-be-bop be-be-bop thing which stops as soon as my phone starts ringing.

Obviously my phone is talking to the gsm network and the signal is somehow interfering with the speakers, but I get that beeping only just before an incoming call and never during, after or at any other time.

Can anyone explain why?

[Assistant]
Transmission spikes as your phone switches from a passive to an active connection with the tower. The cord of your speakers acts as an antenna and picks up the digital signal. Once the active connection is established, the signal strength goes back down.

If you have super sensitive stereo equipment with unshielded cables and self powered speakers they can also pick up a slight buzzing from the data connection as well if you're close enough, but the signal isn't nearly as strong.

If you want to avoid this phenomenon, get rid of your self powered speakers. Use a pre-amp system with a properly shielded input cable and your problems will go away.


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

[User] The 2011 earthquake in Japan shortened the length of the day by 1.8 microseconds. How was this measured?

[Assistant]
Atomic clocks have no problem keeping accurate track of a microsecond, or even a nanosecond, over a day. You just need a good reference, e.g. from the sky. By comparing the signals multiple radio telescopes receive you can determine the current rotation angle of Earth very accurately: The time delay between the signals depends on the rotation angle.

More modern: Laser interferometers can also keep track of the rotation rate of Earth.


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

[User]
[Pokemon] Are gym leaders in the order they are because they WANT to be, or is it an indicator of their skill?

Like, some gym leaders are older than others, you'd expect the older spectrum of trainers to be stronger, but sometimes we see adult gym leaders earlier on and then 6,7,8 gym leaders are sometimes even kids!

Are they in order of skill or do the gym leaders just prefer to be where they are? For example, can the first gym leader hold their own against one of the Elite 4?

I ask this because, for example, Lt. Surge should've been a member of Elite 4 or Champion just because of the fact the guy was in a war and should be a master tactician, yet he is merely the electric type gym ~level 20 pokemons.

[Assistant] The explanation in the Pokemon Adventures manga and Pokemon Origins series, which are the closest adaptions of the games, is that the gym leader chooses their Pokemon they fight with based on the number of badges the other trainer has. This explains why in Gold & Silver for example, Brock has higher level Pokemon than Lt. Surge.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does it seem like some colors look good together and others clash?

[Assistant] As with most things dealing with human perception, there is probably an evolutionary basis for what colors look good together (for humans at least). Perhaps during hunter-gatherer times, certain color combinations in nature would indicate whether food was fresh or, if it was unsafe to eat. There are probably many factors, but it's important to remember that 'colors' are just the way our brain intereprets light wavelengths in our visual spectrum, and color combination preferences that look good to us might look very bad to other species based on how their perception of contrasting colors contributes to their evolutionary fitness.


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

[User]
ELI5: Would it be possible for an average person to safely land a plane by talking to somebody on the ground?

You know the movies, etc.

Say you were to be in the cockpit of a passenger plane (or a small Cessna) and there is nobody on the plane with any flying experience.

Could you bring the plane to land by any means or would you not even be able to figure out how to work the radio? Would you be able to land on an airstrip or rather try a huge dried out desert lake or even a water landing? Could somebody "lower" some pilot into the plane from another plane?
Any chance?

I am sure there are procedures.

[Assistant]
Yes.  Mythbusters tried it in a professional simulator.  Some ATC operators are experienced pilots (and those who aren't usually have access to someone who is 'current on type' for the aircraft you're flying), and all commercial airliners are required to have autopilot functionality.  Most can even land themselves (called a CAT III autoland).  The ATC operator would tell the civilian what settings to put into the autopilot and when, and what levers to pull.  Most flying, at least straight in to land in an emergency, requires very few controls.  If you don't have to follow the jet corridors, and can go straight to the nearest airport, it's fairly easy.  You have even more of a chance if you've done any sort of flight simulation before, so at least you know what most of the buttons do.

EDIT: correction.


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

[User] Why/how do benzodiazepines and Z drugs/sleeping pills cause damage when used long term?

[Assistant]
Both drug families target the same binding site of GABA(A) receptors and potentiate GABA responses. This causes an enhancement of inhibitory signals in the neural circuits. As a consequence, there are less action potentials and thus we get relaxed and less responsive at sensible doses.

In a healthy individual there is a fine balance between  inhibitory and excitatory signals that shape communication between neurons. As said above, benzos or z drugs mess with that balance. There is no issue when people consume it rarely at recommended doses. However, when used long-term, the neuronal plasticity (the neurons' architecture which includes for example how many receptors are present at its surface) changes to achieve a balance again. Especially the impact of those drugs on dopaminergic neurons mess with the reward system and can such cause dependency.

When consumed at elevated concentrations, Benzodiazepines and (probably) Z drugs target other receptors and binding sites as intended. For example, they bind to sites on the GABA(A) receptor that are usually targeted by anaesthetics. At this point major neuronal pathways get inhibited which regulate perception of pain, awareness (consciousness), control of muscles and breath. Especially latter can be lethal of course.


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

[User]
ELI5: When a human is buried in a coffin, what actually happens with the dead organic matter?

I mean, if one just dies on the ground, the bugs and animals and smaller organisms will consume it. But if it's isolated in a coffin, does it just, mummify?

[Assistant] depends how much embalming fluid there is in their veins. generally,  after 10 years there's a lot of liquid in there, recognizable skin and bones lots of hair and a dank smell.  if the coffin leaks and doesn't flood they get leathery but if it collapses its usually just dirt and bones. i woked at a cemetery.   people move and a lot of times they want loved ones exhumed and cremated.   the dead travel better as ashes.  one time we dug up a teenaged overdose victim from the 70s.  her father was retiring to California and wanted her near.  she was perfectly preserved and still beautiful.


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

[User] What is the difference between aesthetics and morality?

[Assistant]
Aesthetics is about art, beauty, and other related topics. It discusses questions like "what makes something beautiful," "what is art," "is artistic merit subjective or objective," and so on.

Morality is about right and wrong, good and bad, virtue and vice, duty, and other related moral topics. It discusses questions like "what is the ethical thing to do in this situation," "what is generosity," "are moral rules subjective or objective," and so on.

So, the difference between the two is that they examine different areas and ask different questions.


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

[User] [Witcher] How are doppler so often defeated in combat when they take on their clones mindset too?

[Assistant]
They don't take their full mindset and they don't capture all of their memories or experience.

Think of it like watching someone paint.  You can see every brush strokes and make an effort to mimic them exactly, but even then you'll make mistakes and produce an inferior product.  The Doppler is trying to do the same thing.  They know what they are supposed to do, but actually doing it is very different.  In fact, they aren't even able to mimic their subject as it happens, they are trying to remember watching someone paint and then doing that.

For simple things it's easy enough, and many of them are very good at what they do, but close examination will always reveal the fake edges.


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

[User]
[Fallout] Do merchants only accept Nuka-Cola/Sunset Sarsaparilla caps?

For example, I know there are only Nuka caps in FO3 and Sarsaparilla caps in FNV but if there were other brands would merchants accept them? Would they have the same value?

[Assistant] Probably, yes.  Mind you that caps only have value because traders at the hub started accepting them;  and they only started accepting caps at all because of their small size and relative durability. The only reason why traders might not accept other kinds of Caps is if accepting those kinds of Caps distabilised the "cap" as a currency. (Like if introducing a new kind of cap would introduce a LOT more caps into the economy,  and make the cap collapse)


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

[User]
CMV: Trading stocks is glorified Pokemon card trading

I've recently started looking into trading, and also buying a bunch of shares here and there. But I can't help the feeling that all of this is just glorified Pokemon card trading. Hear me out.

1. The relationship between the company's performance (which should theoretically be measured by profit) is lost. The valuation is given by how "hot" is a company on the market, which boils down to the investor's feelings rather than some concrete performance metric for the company. This means that stock trading basically becomes "guessing the other investor's feelings". This would be more meaningful if dividends were involved, but very few company pay dividends nowadays.
2. Although is called an investment, you don't really invest in the company. You just buy a part of the company from an owner. The company does not benefit in any way for it. This is different from buying shares directly from the company, where the money goes directly to the company for development. So, the money invested just get in between the people who own/would like to own a part of a company. Like trading Pokemon cards, where the more people want a card, the more "valuable" it is.
3. Is an (almost) zero sum game. It has been many times discussed whether trading is or not a zero sum game. The main argument was that companies produce something useful for people, and thus inject value into this trading game. Which is true, but except from buying directly from the company, the simple trading is zero sum. And yes, there is the point that a company might want its stock price at a certain point to prepare another release of shares, but still, the point remains that the "new" shares are way too small in volume and way too disconnected to the real value produced by the company.

[Assistant]
Pokmon cards don't pay dividends.

That's the major difference.  You literally get a part of the profit merely by owning a stock (without buying or selling). There is no comparable mechanism in Pokmon cards.

Also, you can VOTE you shares to decided the board of directors. No similar mechanism with Pokmon cards.


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

[User] ELI5: if there is no actual "touch", just electric impulses between atoms that give the feeling of touching, how does a knife, for example, break bonds to "cut" something?

[Assistant] There are two kinds of bonds- intramolecular (forces that hold atoms together in a molecule) and intermolecular (forces that exist between 2 or more molecules). Typically intermolecular forces are much weaker and those are the bonds you can sever to make a "cut". For visualization, think of a bowl of uncooked rice and you take a chopstick to make a imaginary line to through the bowl. You are not cutting any individual/singular rice, but your chopstick will still go through because the pressure you are creating are enough for the rice to essentially get out of the way. In this case, each rice is a stand in for one molecule made of atoms. So while you can separate the molecules (rice) from themselves, but you cannot split a single molecule (not with a chopstick at least). A knife works similarly on a microscopic level, by creating pressure and repulsion between the molecules to separate and therefore cut. Hope this helps.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] If i were to give my House Elf money to buy new cloths because theirs are tattered and smell bad, would that count as me giving them cloths?

I cant have my elf walking around in cloths that smell like they do, does me giving them an allowance to buy cleaner/newer cloths count as me giving them their freedom?

[Assistant] No. They do laundry at Hogwarts, and that's more like giving them clothes. If a House Elf really wants to be free they could interpret some odd things as giving them clothes, but in general it's not something you can do on accident.


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

[User]
Is the night sky noticeably different on Mars?

I know the stars are crazy far away, but 140 million miles between vantage points seems like it might not be wholly insubstantial.

Would the constellations be familiar? Unrecognizable? Slightly distorted? A combination?

[Assistant]
The biggest noticeable difference would be the absence of Mars and Luna in the sky and the addition of Earth, Phobos and Deimos. The position of Jupiter, Saturn, Venus etc against the constellations would also be noticeably different. The shape of the constellations would look identical, although Polaris wouldn't be the North Star on Mars. Mars' North Pole points to a point in the sky about midway between Deneb and Alderamin, and the South Pole points near a star called Kappa Velorum.

Edit: Editing to add that Phobos and Deimos appear to move across the sky in opposite directions. Phobos appears to rise in the West and set in the East and it moves so fast that you could see it rise twice in one night. Deimos on the other hand, moves very slowly across the sky and takes almost 3 sols to cross the sky from East to West.


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

[User] eli5 how do casinos determine if someone is counting cards?

[Assistant]
Counting cards is a simple idea: in blackjack, the cards that have already been dealt can't be dealt again until a reshuffle. Therefore you can determine some information about what cards are coming next. The more high cards that are left, the better for the player (more blackjacks and more dealer busts). If you know this information, you can bet more money when you're more likely to win, and less money when the game is worse.

Casinos also know how all of this works. They're also tracking every card in the game to verify it's running properly. The casino can compare your betting patterns to the known state of the game, and see if you're betting like a card counter would.

The other factor is that they don't need to "prove" it - they can throw you out for any reason or no reason. So if they think you might be counting and you're winning a lot of money, you might be "politely" asked to leave.


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

[User]
Does an X watt appliance also act as an X watt heater?

To my understanding the energy that goes into an appliance plugged into your wall is lost in the form of heat and light (which eventually bounces around your room enough times to also become heat).

Does this mean that any appliance that produces heat as a byproduct is equally efficient as an electric space heater?

Does this mean running a PC in a thermostat heated room is essentially free, on account of the heat from the PC meaning the space heater has to run less?

If this isn't the case, then where does the excess energy from the appliance go, if not into the room the appliance is in?

This dumb question brought to you by, me fussing about energy bills this winter! Also a bit of natural curiosity since no answer feels obvious in an intuitive sense to me.

[Assistant]
Yes, assuming it's actually drawing X watts. All of the energy that comes out of the wall has to go somewhere, and heat is the overwhelming majority of it (you'll probably lose some tiny amount of it through light out of the window and such).

> Does this mean running a PC in a thermostat heated room is essentially free, on account of the heat from the PC meaning the space heater has to run less?

Yes, *assuming that your heating is all electroresistive*. If you have gas heating, or a heat pump, then this will not be the case, because in the former case gas is cheaper per unit energy than electricity, and in the latter a heat pump can be considerably more than 100% efficient.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is 'cold working' & 'hot working'?

In terms of metal works, etc. I've also read the term 'the rivet is driven cold'. What is it? How is it done?

[Assistant]
It very simply refers to the temperature a metal is worked at. Cold working means simply working the metal as it is, hot working means working it when it's hot.

Hot working obviously requires the metal to be heated, but makes it softer, as well as leaving less residual internal stresses behind (by heating the metal, internal stresses can be allowed to resolve). Cold working typically creates internal stresses.


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

[User] ELI5: Tear Gas. What is it and what does it do to the body?

[Assistant]
You know mace/pepper spray?

Package that up with a minor explosive/propellant and you have tear gas.

It's not simply capsaicin, there are more chemicals in it. What they do, they irritate the eyes and cause them to swell. This is where it gets it's name, as the eyes produce tears to wash it out. It then enters the lungs, where it causes immense irritation, causing coughing. Sensitive areas of the skin, like those around the eyes, will begin to get irritated and start bo burn. It is immensely effective at making someone stop what they are doing.

Interestingly, it is OK'd to be used as Riot Control, but cannot be used as a weapon during wars, as it violates the CWC. This is because tear gas can be made into a toxic compound that is essentially mustard gas.


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

[User] ELI5: How did ancient astronomers distinguish planets from stars?

[Assistant]
The word "planet" means wanderer. When ancient astronomers looked at the night sky they noticed that most of the points of light were fixed in relation to each other. Each night the stars would all be in the same place as they moved across the sky. But, a few of the points of light would move from night to night.

Over the course of weeks and months they would be in completely different positions. Sometimes, near this constellation, sometimes near that one. Sometimes they would rise just after dark, sometimes not until just before dawn.

Through these observations they realized these wanderers were a different type of object from the fixed stars.


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

[User]
Why do politicians and economists claim new construction is important for the housing industry (eg. to lower prices) when there is already a large number of (even vacant) houses?

Doesn't dedicating resources to building new houses when we already have many vacant houses a bad allocation of our land, labor and capital -- not to mention unnecessarily bad for the environment?

[Assistant] Because the general idea is that where demand is is not the same place that supply is. There is a lot of demand for housing in urban areas, hence they tend to be significantly expensive.  But its the opposite effect in rural areas where there is low demand. So, by building more housing in urban areas we can shift the demand supply left so the end result is cheaper housing.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is Phillip considered a prince, even if he's married to the Queen?

[Assistant]
The wife of the King is a Queen (Queen Consort).

The husband of the Queen is a Prince (Prince Consort).

Phillip is not King. He is husband to Elizabeth, who is Queen (Queen Regnant).

The difference between Queen Regnant and Queen Consort is that Queen Regnant is Queen by her own right, while Queen Consort is Queen through marriage.


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

[User]
[WH40K] Can an ordinary human use Space Marine Armor?

Outside of heresies in using them. Can salvaged SM Power Armor be used by an ordinary human? If not in a moments notice, can he/she modify it to work?

[Assistant]
No, but there are variants of power armor specifically designed for normal humans.  Space Marine power armor is designed to interface directly with his body in such a way that it becomes a natural extension of his own self.  They can move and interact with other objects as if they were using their own flesh.

Examples of normal humans who use power armor include the Sisters of Battle, an all female military order who are not space marines, but are confidant and powerful warriors for the Emperor.


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

[User] [Supernatural] When Angels take a vessel where do their blades come from?

[Assistant] Since the "weapons" of heaven are shown in *The French Mistake* to just be a powerful cleansing light from the user's body, one can assume that Angelblades are similar, and exist by default in a spiritual state, not a physical one. When you see one slide out of an angel's sleeve, that's probably them summoning it into physical form. At other times, it would exist inside their noncorporeal being, and thus travel around with them when they're not in their vessel.


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

[User]
Why do the people of Earth love the Fantastic Four, but hate and distrust the mutant threat? [X-men, Marvel, Fantastic Four]

The difference between natural born mutants and the scientists zapped by cosmic rays is purely intellectual. And the 'threat' of a superpowered person who can beat the safeguards society has put in place to make people feel better remains with the F4. So why the difference of opinion between the two types of mutants?

[Assistant] Good publicity, and the fact that they were born human. Even before they gained superpowers, three of the members of the team were already nationally-recognized celebrities. The media was all over it, and they had numerous public appearances and interviews which put a very positive light on them and their unique situation. Every kid dreams of gaining superpowers, and the Fantastic Four embodied that for a lot of people.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it "safe" to drink contaminated water that has been boiled, but "unsafe" to eat spoiled meat that has been cooked? The dead bacteria and viruses are still present in both cases.

[Assistant]
The bacteria actually aren't present after boiling.

"Boilingis sufficient to kill pathogenic bacteria, viruses and protozoa."

Meat: " started to go bad, then yes, cooking it will kill the germs. However, some bacteria (like Staphylococcus) that cause food poisoning do so by the fact that they excrete toxins, which are not necessarily destroyed by cooking."


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

[User] What do people mean exactly when they say Earth's escape velocity is 7 miles per second (correct if wrong) if a helium filled balloon can lightly float away?

[Assistant] The escape velocity is the speed that an object has to be moving at the surface assuming no more force will be imparted.  If you throw a baseball from the ground it needs to be traveling 7 miles/sec as it leaves your hand to make it to space, but you could attach a rocket to the same baseball and it could escape at 1 mile an hour as long as it had enough fuel to keep going.


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

[User]
What research has there been into blood clots developed from birth control, or why hasn't the problem been solved in the decades since the pill's introduction?

What could we do to help that? I was just made aware of this and it sounds alarming that no attention is being paid.

[Assistant]
Estrogen is inherently procoagulable. This is unavoidable in the same way that if you are sprayed with water you will get wet. If you inject high dose estrogen into a man who is bleeding, it can help stop bleeding (and cause blood clots).

Any systemic estrogen will have a risk of causing blood clots that is related to the dose taken, and any other risk factors the person has for clotting (ex: smoking, older age, etc).

We get around the risk of clots from estrogen containing oral contraceptives by using progesterone-only OCP when appropriate, and by not using estrogen based methods in patients who have an elevated risk of clotting due to their other risk factors.

You need to consider however that blood clots are a relatively common medical problem in the grand scheme of things, with an average *annual* risk of 1/1000 per year in all-comers (though this will be lower in those <40). Thus, the additional ~5/10,000 *total* risk of getting a blood clot while on estrogen OCPs does not lead to that large of an absolute change in your risk.

This is like how eating preserved meat regularly increases your risk of cancer. However, if you are reading this, you already have a ~40% risk of getting cancer in your life, and eating preserved meat regularly will increase that to 40.0001%.


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

[User] ELI5: Why/how does "wetting" a trampoline with water cause it to bounce you higher?

[Assistant] It works something like this: when you wet a trampoline, some of the water gets trapped in the mesh of the trampoline which weighs it down a little.  So before you even jump on it, the trampoline is "pre-tensed".  So when you jump on it, you're able to stretch it further than you would normally would be able to.  However, the key is that when the trampoline snaps back, it's moving so fast that the water that was in the trampoline cannot hold on to it and gets left behind, removing itself from the trampoline.  The end result is you are getting a stronger snap back than you would be able to achieve by yourself.


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

[User] ELI5: What's the cause of the "Elmer Fudd" speech impediment where r's and l's come out as w's?

[Assistant]
When you're speaking, you're not just using your vocal cords. You also use your lips, your teeth, and your tongue to pronounce words. When one of these doesn't work properly, you can't properly pronounce sounds that rely on that part of your body.

The reason L and R are often mispronounced is because they need you to precisely control your tongue. If you can't do that, maybe because of a disease or maybe because you just didn't practice enough, your tongue will be in the wrong position and you'll say something similar to a W instead.

Imagine you're saying the word 'peel'. The P is pretty easy to pronounce - you close your lips for a split second, build up a little air in your mouth, and let it explode out all at once. The 'ee' is also easy - you close your mouth halfway and just let the sound come out.

The L is harder, though. You need to gently press your tongue against your teeth so it almost, but not totally, covers them. This is a lot harder than popping a P or squeezing out the 'ee'. Try pronouncing 'peels', but keep your tongue perfectly still. It sounds a lot like a certain Nimrod!

The American R is even harder. Not only do you need to bunch the back of your tongue up, but you also need to clench your teeth and let a tiny bit of air out of your throat. If you don't clench your jaw, your R sounds like a British R, more like an "ahh" than an "arr". If your tongue isn't bunched up enough or your throat is too open, you make a W sound instead of an R.

The S sound is also hard for the same reason. Your tongue needs to be positioned just right to let out a little hiss of air. If it's even a little bit out of position, you'll say 'peelth' or 'peelf' instead of 'peels'.

Because of how difficult these sounds are to make, they're really common speech disorders.


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

[User]
CMV: Greta Thunberg is a poor choice as the voice for climate change due to her age, rhetoric, and lack of academic and political experience.

To start off, she is no doubt inspiring and clearly doing good for the world. I wish her nothing but the best, and I would much rather have her than *no one* advocating for these issues.

Despite that:

-	I think its fair to say that most, especially older, people will not listen to a teenager with no experience regarding climate science, no matter how accurate or precise her statements are. This is less an inadequacy of Greta, and more so that of those listening to her. The drama surrounding her age is a polarizing point that causes both sides to entrench in their positions. To further make my point Id like to generalize a bit. Most non-conservatives will find her ideas to be self-evident, and take any criticism of her as personal attacks (against her person). However, the topic is climate change, not unnecessary attacks on teenagers. And, most conservatives will not want to argue what they believe as the proper climate change argument with a teenager, so unless theyre particularly open-minded, this aspect of Greta cause more damage than benefit.

Respectfully, I believe a proper college-aged candidate that could rip into conservative counter points with painful accuracy and not draw unnecessary attacks on age and inexperience would be better. Lastly to this point, the authenticity of Greta is curtailed by how painfully obvious it is her speeches are not completely her own. Despite that logically not being a big deal, audiences see her speeches the same way we see parents of 9 year olds quoting some enlightened thing their child has said.

-	A rhetoric of fear, combined with any emotional misperceptions due to her age as stated in the last point, could cause the public to not take her seriously. Climate scientists, despite being right more often than not in the last few decades, have unsuccessfully predicted climate disasters throughout the years. Opponents of climate change are focused on these instances, and the rhetoric of fear and disaster (implied to be in the moderately short-term to those uniformed of climate change time-scales) could very easily make them believe this is another one of those instances.

Unfortunately, I am not educated on what alternative rhetoric would work best. Perhaps framing green energy as a missed opportunity or climate change as more optimistically avoidable would work.

-	This is probably my weakest point, but I think its fair to say that unless Greta has politically experienced people behind the scenes helping her, she will most likely miss political opportunities, or get taken advantage of. A more experienced spokesperson would have better odds of avoiding obvious political mistakes and taking advantage of political opportunities.

Lastly, as a general point, I think Greta makes it too hard for conservatives to lose this argument against her. Despite how nice it would feel, making it easier on opponents of climate change egos would probably have a net benefit in the long run.

Editing for any spelling and grammar mistakes.

[Assistant] I have trouble understanding this view.  She is not "the" voice for climate change, she is "a" voice for climate change. Political figures and scientists alike have been saying that it is an issue for 30 years so why would we not want an additional perspective voicing their thoughts?


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

[User] ELI5: Why do Verizon and AT&T both claim to have the nation's largest network?

[Assistant]
There are different ways you can measure largest...number of customers, number of towers, square miles of coverage.

On top of that, "network" is also vague...is it phone service, internet service, 3G, 4G?

So it is is pretty easy to pick and choose a definition that could make either one the largest.  In ads, you'll often see an asterisk and some fine print describing the exact criteria.


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

[User]
[LOTR] Why does Isildur flee at Gladden Fields instead of stand and fight with his men?

He fought Sauron face to face and was a skilled and honorable warrior. Did the influence of the Ring make him cowardly? Was he being evacuated to safety Secret Service to US President style?

[Assistant]
There's a difference between fighting in a war surrounded by men and fighting in an ambush where most of your much smaller amount of men are being killed. But the thing is, the nature of The Ring entices you to use it. And without knowledge of it's true purpose, the only thing you could really use it for is hiding.

The Ring then tried to get him killed - getting found by an orc would make it pretty easy for Sauron or some other powerful being to discover - but made the slight miscalculation of being in a river. But if it hadn't done so, the plan would have worked. Isildur would have escaped the deadly ambush and returned alive to his family and kingdom.


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

[User]
Do engineers at CERN have to repair the Large Hadron Collider after every "explosion" that happens? [Physics]

Tried googling it but a bunch of old 2012 articles came up focusing on the "black hole" thing. But, are the explosions large enough to cause that type of damage? I get that they're not "explosions" like a bomb, but they're still particles slamming into each other at nearly the speed of light, so I would imagine some thinking could be damaged.

[Assistant]
The energy in an LHC collision is 13 TeV. That's a lot for particles, but it's not really a lot at all for us. 1 TeV is famously described as roughly the kinetic energy of a flying mosquito.

Besides, very fast charged particles (such as the muons and pions produced in the collisions) somewhat counterintuitively don't actually release much energy when passing through matter.


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

[User]
What are philosophers experts at?

When I want to fix my plumbing I can turn to a plumber as an expert at fixing plumbing issues. When I want to have knowledge about climate change, I could turn to resources from climate scientists and learn about the relevant facts on climate. For what should people turn to philosophers for? What kind of knowledge can they provide and what kind of skills are they the best at?

[Assistant] Philosophers are often expert witnesses at courts, sit in all kinds of ethics commitees, are bioethicists at hospitals. Logic is a subfield of philosophy and logic is used in many fields. Philosophers of science sometimes work with scientists on solving problems of data classification, solving some problems of method etc. The uses of philosophy in science are many. Most of the previous century quantum physicists were also writing work in philosophy, in an attempt to interpret the empirical evidence they were gathering. On the other hand, Einstein credited Mach's philosophy on time for helping him develop general relativity. There are many other subfields of philosophy, most of them have some practical use, even though practical use is not always the aim of philosophy.


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

[User] ELI5: What prevents Tesla cars that are powered by lithium ion from exploding in a traffic wreck?

[Assistant]
The battery is protected by an armor plate made from aluminum and/or titanium (depending on model) and divided into separate compartments. This provides decent protection against damage to the battery that could cause it to catch fire.

Battery fire is still a risk, but remember that you aren't comparing it to no risk at all, you're comparing it to a risk of fire from a spilled tank of gas, and compared to that it really isn't bad at all.


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

[User]
[MCU] How do you lose a Chitauri Leviathan? - those giant alien space whales (spoilers)

The Chitauri invaded Earth at only one point... downtown Manhattan, New York City, 100% American soil and SHIELD jurisdiction.

From the Marvel One-Shot Item 47, we know that Chitauri technology was jealously tracked by SHIELD, as is all alien technology by the Agents of SHIELD in their pursuit of 0-8-4 codes.  It is easy to count the number of Chitauri Leviathans that fell in New York and Item 47 shows tracking is even more granular than that.

Chitauri Leviathans are the size of a small city block (not to be confused with a New York City block) and without being disassembled, can't be lifted by any operating human technology known to man *except* SHIELD helicarriers.

**How do you "lose" an entire Chitauri Leviathan in Sokovia?**

From TWS, we know HYDRA has infiltrated SHIELD, however, we also know there are still loyal SHIELD agents at the highest levels.  How does an entire Leviathan take a ride on a helicarrier to Sokovia without coming to the attention of a single loyal SHIELD agent?

How does HYDRA justify taking a helicarrier and a Leviathan outside of the USA to Sokovia, never to be seen or heard of or return again that doesn't either immediately blow their cover or bring Sokovia straight to the top of SHIELD's suspect-list once HYDRA is blown?  When HYDRA is blown, why isn't recovering a giant city-block's worth of alien tech which rivals the significance of a helicarrier a top priority to the top-brass compared to tracking an Obelisk that is just one-of-many?

From AoS, we see that helicarriers are such valuable assets the orders are to blow them up rather than allow them to fall into enemy hands... and that's mundane Earth tech that anyone can replicate... a Leviathan can- and does- allow HYDRA to take its minions to another level.  HYDRA having an active working helicarrier (capable of moving a Leviathan) would absolutely be unacceptable and a top-priority target, so that suggest the Leviathan wasn't moved *after* SHIELD fell.

So how can you possibly disappear a Leviathan that doesn't get called into question or isn't immediately traceable afterwards?  Fury's Toolbox seems to know what Coulson had for breakfast... how does it lose alien tech of that scope and size?

----

Regarding the ridiculous "can't count" argument.  There are several times to establish a count and the count isn't that high.  The Leviathans were kept in control by three Avengers alone.  There weren't that many of them.  Their appearance was heralded by a beam of light into the sky in one of the most densely populated cities in the world in a era where everyone has a camera.

Count #1 is of anything coming through the portal which would be remarkably easy to aggregate a correct count on.

Count #2 is after the battle when all those Leviathans fall from the sky, they do accountable property damage and remain there, static, for a good amount of time.  Time for them to be recorded by civilians, by Tony, by satellite, by aerial survey, by many reliable means.

Count #3 is when SHIELD is tasked to extract these Leviathans from NYC at all speed so that normalcy can resume.  When there is an available and operating technology that can actually grant NYC relief from the giant corpses of Leviathans stopping recovery, there's no way the helicarriers stand idly by or have them be removed by some slower laborious effort.  When those Leviathans are moved there's going to be a count.

But... somehow, SHIELD can't count.

[Assistant] Easy. You bury the facts underneath a mountain of minutiae and meaningless acronyms. SHIELD has multiple covert research bases across the globe. HYDRA, via Secretary Pierce, obfuscated the storage sites of recovered Chitauri tech so that the most valuable ends up at Sokovia.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How did the clone troopers view Jango Fett during the Clone Wars?

The clone troopers' creation was ordered by the Republic and yet there was Jango Fett - effectively their father - allying himself with the Separatists and even attacking Jedi during the battle on Geonosis.

Did they care? Did they see him as a betrayer?

[Assistant] This is legends but they saw him as an honorable bounty hunter and warrior who took out dozens of Jedi before he died. It just so happens that his client was separatist scum but that isnt Jangos moral responsibility.


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

[User] Why can I block most of the light when I hold my hand between me and a light source, but I can't block most of the sound when I hold my hand between me and a sound source?

[Assistant]
Diffraction. Light and sound are both waves, and all waves exhibit five common behaviours:

1) Reflection, where a wave hitting a surface is reflected back or at an angle identical to its angle of incidence,

2) Refraction, where a wave moves through an interface between two different media, and in doing so changes its direction,

3) Diffraction, where a wave moving past an object is bent around the object to some extent,

4) Interference, where coincident waves will sum together to produce a disturbance which is either of greater amplitude (constructive interference) or lesser amplitude (destructive interference) than the constituent waves, and

5) Polarization, where the wave is filtered to permit excitation of the medium or transverse amplitude of the wave in only specific directions.

Diffraction, as outlined above, is a wavelength dependent phenomena. Sound waves typically travel through air at about three hundred forty meters per second, and have frequencies between 20 Hz and 20 kHz. This corresponds to wavelengths between about 17 m and 17 mm. Light, on the other hand, travels at 300,000,000 meters per second, and has wavelengths between 450 and 750 nanometres.  The longer sound waves diffract much more easily around objects which are comparable to the wavelength or larger. That said, you can see diffraction if you look at a shadow cast by your hand. When it is close to the surface, the edge of the shadow is well defined. As you move your hand away from the surface and closer to the light source, the edge becomes fuzzy and less distinct. Some of that is parallax, because the light is not a true point source, and some is diffraction, which changes the direction of some of the incoming light to scatter a bit.

Sound waves also reflect off of nearby surfaces and objects, taking alternate paths to reach your ears. Light does the same thing, which is why if you hold up your hand to block out a light source in an otherwise dark room, you can still see the back of your hand.


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

[User]
Does 'mastering' fusion mean making current fusion reactor designs a lot more efficient, or is there a different design or process we are hoping to figure out?

You hear people talking about the amazing potentials if we master or 'have' easy fusion, while current designs are struggling to be positive in net energy output. Does 'having fusion' just mean making the current design a lot more efficient, or is there a specific design, process or way of approaching fusion we don't know how to do yet?

[Assistant] The difficulty of fusion is that the constraints are pretty tight from an engineering perspective. Throughout the years the questions you ask have been driving ones: is it just a matter of getting the engineering right, scaling things up, etc.? Or are they barking up the wrong tree, is there a better approach? The answer is... we don't really know yet. We haven't achieved true breakeven yet except in thermonuclear weapons. We _have_ achieved fusion reactions, but they consume more energy than the system requires to get started. Inertial confinement fusion looked like it was going to take the prize a few years ago... and then it turned out it was harder than they thought. Scaling up magnetic confinement fusion (the ITER project) is looking promising, so we'll see, in a few years, when they start doing real experiments with it. Will it ultimately work, or will it create new engineering problems that will have to be solved? We'll see, we'll see. Are there better ways to do it? Some people and companies are betting on other approaches altogether, and, again, we'll see, we'll see.


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

[User]
[40k] I'm a space marine and want to kill one of the traitor primarchs. What methods could damage their super-bodies?

Will my bolters even have some effect?

[Assistant]
Go ask Guilliman if he can loan the Emperor's Sword to you. They are all daemon primarchs, and as such, immortal if you can't snuff out their soul. Which the Emperor's Sword can do.

The best you can do with mere mortal weapons is drive them back from reality to the unreality of the Warp. Now if you want to do that, you'll want at least a Company's worth of Grey Knights or an equivalent amount of Sisters of Silence, however many that might be. Or maybe a few Warlord Titans instead.

Now stop dreaming like a neophyte and go meditate on the Codex for thinking such idiocy.


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

[User]
Here in the Canadian prairies there's been some freaky summer snow storms. My question is this: why do trees collapse under the weight of snow during these early snow storms seemingly more often than they do during the long winter months?

Is it simply the extra weight of the leaves still being on the branches collecting the snow? Simple physics? Or are trees, for lack of a better term, more prepared somehow for snow in the winter?

[Assistant] Trees shed their leaves during fall, which serves two purposes. One, they don't lose energy or water trying to make food in the slim winter sun. And two, the leaves would otherwise hold snow and ice, which weighs them down and snaps off the branches, or even breaks the tree. When storms come early, before trees have a chance to shed their leaves, they encounter this problem.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do eggs become solid when we cook them?

Why do eggs become solid when being cooked?

[Assistant]
Eggs contain a lot of proteins. Proteins in normal states have a very precise structure and there are 4 levels of that structure. While proteins have their structure intact, they look like a ball of tangled string. If you heat up these proteins, they start to unwind, destroying this tangled webs of bonds and unwinding. Now, proteins are really long, while tangled they occupy a little space but when untangled they are super long and act like interlaced book pages and its harder for them to move. They change from a gel-like substance to a solid. Internal structure of these proteins lets light go trough it but once they are untangled they stop light, thats why they change from a transparent gel to a white solid.

EDIT:
The process in known as denaturation and occurs not only due to heat, read about it on wiki, theres a lot of info about how the process works.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Do lightsabers run on batteries?

Do jedi/sith have to worry about loosing a charge in the middle of a duel?

[Assistant]
yes lightsabers do run on a type of battery.

as for running out of a charge in the middle of a fight, that's not as big a concern since they use very powerful batteries.

the lightsaber blade is actually a very tight loop, superconductors in the hilt feed the return loop back into the powersource and continue the cycle, so the lightsaber is only ever losing power while it is actively cutting something or being disrupted.

this makes them more energy efficient than the typical blaster, monitoring and replacing the power pack is simply a part of basic equipment maintenance.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does my glass of tap water fill with air bubbles if it sits still overnight?

ELI5: Why does my glass of tap water fill with air bubbles if it sits still overnight?

[Assistant]
Atmospheric gases, Ike oxygen and nitrogen, come out of the water as time passes and as the water warms up.

 Your tap water isn't pure water, it's mixed with the air around it as it travels through the pipe and out the faucet. The bubbles forming are the gasses coming out of equilibrium with the water. Kind of like some sauces (or nail polish)  separating if you leave it alone for a while.


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

[User] [Invincible] If Earth was so important to the Viltrumites, why didn't Nolan have more than one child? Heck, why did he stop at one family?

[Assistant]
Later in the series, >!Other Vitrumites covertly come to earth and begin doing exactly that in order to build up their numbers. However, there's a huge range of outcomes in terms of how each individual Viltrumite goes about doing it. One of them gets so attached to his new wife that he refuses to take additional mates despite being under direct orders to do so, because he doesn't want to hurt her feelings. Another falls in love with *dozens* of women and starts families with all of them all over the world, like something out of a bad sitcom.!<

>!The throughline is that forming relationships with humans is the fastest way to steamroll the bastardry out of a standard issue Viltrumite and get them to stop caring about optimizing their takeover plans. Nolan is lying through his teeth about his disregard for Debbie, so it's very possible that his preferences were simply monogamous.!<


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

[User]
[40K] Which of the Chaos Gods best rewards their followers?

Let's face facts for a minute - humanity is screwed. We've been fighting the powers of Chaos for millennia and not once have we had any real success. They gain power from the very nature of humanity and all we've got on our side is a withered old corpse and a bunch of 'roided up boy scouts.

Now before you get all "die heretic" on me, stop and think. Wouldn't it be nice to be on the winning side for once? You've got to think long term. Humanity might hold on for a little while longer, but Chaos is eternal.

I've been considering my options, but given that I'm looking at the long term, which Chaos God best rewards their faithful servants in the "afterlife"? Sure it'd be nice to have power and glory now, but I can delay gratification for a greater eternal reward.

[Assistant]
It depends largely upon what your ambitions are.

Many consider Papa Nurgle to be the "best" to his supplicants because he is the only Chaos God that appears to TRULY care about each and every single one of them (at least in his own way). The others tend to simply see each new convert as a means to some unknowable end.

That being said, the rewards for pleasing a Chaos God - any Chaos God - can be incredible.

Khorne can bestow upon you the strength to utterly crush your enemies. Khorne can imbue in you the kind of thoughtless brutality that makes even Him blush. You will be a vaguely biological machine of eternal war, bringing forth a sea of destruction that washes over everyone and everything in your path.

Tzeench can show you the intricate paths of fate, and bestow upon you knowledge of things even the most ancient beings have long since forgot. He will give you access to Psychic powers that make Librarians seem like disabled children. He will weave you into His great tapestry and guide you to greatness.

Slaanesh will allow you to experience sensations and emotions you could never have thought possible. She will bestow upon you the means to inflict any pain, any pleasure, or any emotion upon those lesser than you. You will be made a maestro of screams, both pleasurable and agonizing, and you will compose a symphony worthy of the Lord of Excess.

Nurgle will show you what life truly is, and what it is truly capable of. You will be shown its infinite diversity, its all-reaching influence, and its innumerable weaknesses. You will be given access to His Garden, and the means to paint an ever-expanding mural of pestilence and corruption, ensuring that all have the chance to share in the love of their Papa. You will be capable of both taking and *giving* life, like the force of nature that you are.

The gifts of the Gods are as great as they are terrible, but they come at the cost of your soul. You are now property, owned by a being that cares little for the future of anyone but themselves. As much as Grand-Pappy Nurgle loves you, His true love is within His Garden. As much as Khorne wants to see you lay waste to all before you, He only truly cares about His skulls and His blood. As much as Slaanesh wants you to explore the vastness of sensation, She really just wants to fatten you up to consume your soul. As much as Tzeench might love to see the fruits of your sorcery, manipulations and strategies, in the end, you are merely a pawn in His infinitely complex scheme.

Your ambition is the only thing that will get you anywhere in this galaxy, and with the favor of a God of Chaos that ambition can be taken to heights not seen since the rise of the Anathema. Your soul can either belong to a corpse, or it can belong to beings that have existed since the infancy of our race, beings that brought a God of Order to His knees before His own son.

Eternity is a long time. How do you want to spend it?


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

[User]
What does RNA primer have that DNA Polymerase-III doesn't that allows it to start complementary nucleotide base-pairing with the template strand of DNA?

What the textbooks say is that DNA Polymerase-III, by itself, can't begin arranging the complementary base pairs in a replicating DNA strand. What is needed first is an RNA primer, that acts to place a few nucleotides to the strand being synthesized, and THEN DNA pol-III will begin adding nucleotides to the 3' end of this newly created primer.

But, how is it that RNA primer **can** add nucleotides "from scratch" and DNA pol-III can't?

edit: Wow, many thanks for all the helpful replies. Sorry for the confusion - I DID mean RNA primase, instead of primer!

[Assistant]
Cells make many copies of RNA, so it doesn't need to be extremely accurate. On the other hand, mistakes in DNA are long-term, so DNA polymerase needs to have a high degree of accuracy (referred to as fidelity). When adding a base to a strand, the new base pairs with its complementary base before the polymerase catalyzes the addition (this ensures the high fidelity). The key, though, is that pairing between bases is stabilized by the pairing of the neighboring bases.

The first few bases of the primer are often not added correctly, which is why the cell uses RNA primers--if it were a DNA primer, there would be no way of determining which bases to excise, other than through the normal proofreading techniques.

(I am a PhD student in medicinal chemistry, and have taken classes on nucleic acids as well as biology and biochemistry)


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

[User]
ELI5: 'It's not the heat, it's the humidity'

Why does the amount of humidity in the air affect comfort moreso than the temperature?

[Assistant]
A big part of how the body regulates temperature is by sweating.  This is because when water evaporates, it takes some of the heat away with it.

When there's more humidity in the air, there's less opportunity for water to evaporate, so that leads to you sweating, and it taking longer to evaporate & cool you down.  So on top of being just uncomfortably humid & "wet", you're also not losing as much heat from sweat so it feels warmer.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do master keys work?

How does one key e.g. A hotel key (metal keys) have a pattern that allows them to open any door in that building? I thought keys had certain patterns and obviously keys don't shapeshift to fit each different lock pattern.

EDIT: grammar and update to say thanks for people's time to find YouTube videos etc.
Also, I'm not a burglar... No seriously I'm not. Okay now it just sounds like I'm trying to bluff. I shall leave.

[Assistant] A regular lock has a set of tumblers in it, each one has a groove cut in a certain spot so that when the key is put in, the grooves line up and the lock can turn. A lock with a master key has a second set of grooves cut in it so the unique key or the master key can open it.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why can't we connect multiple Bluetooth speakers to a phone and play them all?

I was thinking of WiFi and how it is possible to connect multiple devices and use the internet. Why is it not possible with Bluetooth? I mean the same song from one phone being played in multiple connected speakers.

Edit: Thanks everyone for the clarifications.

[Assistant]
The bluetooth protocol doesn't have anything built into it to handle multiple devices like that.

While in theory it could handle sending a signal to multiple speakers, the most important thing when you've got that many speakers is that they are in sync with one another, and that is a significant technological problem that can't just be shoehorned in to the protocol.


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

[User]
Is bonding angle between atoms in a crystal changed significantly under mechanical strain?

For example, does slightly bending a metal bar significantly change the crystal structure?

[Assistant]
It is difficult to have elastic strains much larger than 0.1 % in ordinary  metals. Larger deformations are permanent, atoms get rearranged.

Exceptions: whisker crystals (10 % elastic elongation, yes, also the distances between atoms) and superelastic metals (a reversible phase transition).


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

[User]
How do you go about reinventing yourself as a developer?

Hoping this doesn't end up being too rambling - I've been in webdev for about 4 years now. Prior to that, I did a stint working on an ML platform for a couple years, which was basically my first professional gig. What I am learning is that while it's a reasonable sector to get comfortable in, I'm bored out of my mind and it just isn't the way I want to deploy my skillset.

But, of course, you're pigeonholed basically the moment you step out of the classroom based on where you happen to have picked up an internship or where you managed to land that first job after a desperate few months where you'd basically take anything. So I'm many years deep into being a full-stack generalist and all lateral moves available to me must involve those skills. Let's say for the sake of argument that I don't really care about making a lateral move: I want to *start over*. Let's pretend that my passion is instead something in the realm of operating systems (it isn't), but I have very little experience and am minimally conversant in most of the tech involved. This is basically starting from scratch.

So, is that even a thing? Are we talking about a 33 year old going back and doing an unpaid internship at Microsoft or something? Or do I just yield to the pigeonhole?

[Assistant]
There are other places where you can go.

Hypothetically...

Assume you move to a company that develops, say interconnect devices. Those devices will have some form of full stacking for configuration to status display to everything. But that's only one part of it. You could learn things about the device, then ask your superiors to give you small tasks on the actual device development itself, say fixing simple bugs on the network protocols, then maybe adjusting some drivers. Once you understand how it all works, maybe ask for something bigger, like setting up a data path or converting some tools, etc.

Now you know webdev and you know little something about the OS and the way circuit interacts with the overall system.

You can then find a job that is strongly only just into interconnect devices.

I know a dude who did sports medicine or something in college, then studies devops and is now our only hardware engineer and really good one at that. Dude knows more about schematics than most of us. It's not impossible. Just takes patience. Find something fitting you.


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

[User]
CMV: HOAs should not have legal power to enforce rules

I should start by explaining I don't have a problem with the concept of HOAs. They are totally valid and if you find yourself living in one, it would be wise to abide by their rules for the sake of your own financial investment in your home/property.

The benefits of living in an HOA will be enough for most to follow their rules, however HOAs should accept that there will be a few "bad apples" in the mix who they ultimately can't control. Just like any membership-based service, the HOA should be free to remove access to benefits (where possible) if a member refuses to comply. But in my opinion, legal action (i.e. violation fines, lien/foreclosure, etc.) is a step too far.

Here is my reasoning:

If you buy a house, you are buying the inside AND outside of that house. If you own *all* of a thing, then a 3rd party does not own *any part* of said thing.  In what other scenarios can you own something but have limited autonomy as to what you're able to do with it? Of course I am referring only to *visuals/aesthetics* and not actions that could risk the health/safety of others, or noise, light, and odor emissions, etc.

For example: The difference between 4 and 6 inches of grass does not affect my neighbors in any meaningful capacity. Nor does hanging a basketball hoop on my garage or having a few mismatched shingles on my roof. On the other hand, loud noises outside of a certain time frame, tobacco/bonfire smoke drifting into nearby houses, strobe lights on the exterior of the house, etc. can be *objectively disruptive*, so those types of things are not included my in my view.

And as an extension to my argument about what can be considered objectively disruptive, I don't believe the value of your home being affected by others in the community falls into that category. You chose to live in that community just as the person you believe is bringing down the value of your home chose to live in that community. You are free to move somewhere else you feel will be a better investment. If you can't move somewhere else, you will have to accept that human behavior sometimes negatively affects financial investments. Are you legally entitled to a stable stock portfolio or crypto investments? Do you think you should be? How is it any different to claim you should be able to restrict the rights of others to protect the value of your home?

Exceptions to my view:

1. The HOA owns the property and rents it out to you
2. The HOA owns the property and sells it to you on the condition that you sign their CC&Rs

Both of these exceptions involve the HOA owning the property, therefore justifying the use of a legally binding contract. But how exactly would an HOA literally "own" a property? A group of people coming together to establish rules for their community (whether mutually beneficial or not) does not equate to ownership of said community.

Arguments that will not change my view:

1. You signed a legally binding contract-- that's why HOAs have legal power.

*Right, I get that. By extension, my view is that HOAs should not have the power to require signature of contract in order to purchase a property they do not own.*

2) Variations of: No one is forcing you live where there's an HOA; if you don't like it, don't live there.

*This is not a valid argument. Not everyone can control their housing options. You can't speak on behalf of others' financial situations, work locations, etc.*

**Edit 1: Countless people making the above 2 arguments. Not spending my time responding to these just because you didn't take the time to read everything I said.**

In order to change my view, someone will need to demonstrate how you can *ethically* make the leap from a community agreeing to a set rules to that community being able to enforce those rules by law. I am genuinely open to having my view changed on this-- I might be missing some information that explains the logic behind HOAs having legal power. And if there are any flaws in my logic, please point it out.

[Assistant]
So, all HOAs own part of the property youre buying. They all fit into your second exception.

In property law, its easiest to think of property rights as a bundle of sticks. As the owner of the property you can sell all the sticks, one stick or only some of the sticks. This is what the developers do, they sell you some of the sticks but keep certain property rights to the land. Those residual rights are than transferred to the HOA and the developer moves onto their next project. Therefore, the HOAs do have legal rights over your property, even though you bought it. You were never buying free and clear land.

This can be accomplished with individual contracts (because thats how it used to be done up until around the 70s or 80s) but its performative and doesnt really change the legal effect.

I think many people dont have a good understanding of what they are buying, exactly. Just because youre buying the house doesnt mean youre buying the whole thing. Its more like youre buying 97%, and the HOA gets the remaining 3%.


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

[User] ELI5:Why do we have so many blackheads on our nose?

[Assistant]
A blackhead is a clogged hair follicle. Oil and a skin protein called keratin combine to clog the follicle. When the combination is exposed to oxygen, it turns black.

You have a lot of oil glands on your nose because they protect your skin from the sun and other environmental hazards. Oil tends to collect on the side of your nose because of gravity and the way it's shaped. Furthermore, you have more oil in your hair, hands, etc. People touch their nose a lot, which moves even more oil to their nose.

Your nose has keratin because it is the main structural component of skin cells (and hair.) Your body is constantly making new skin cells and the old ones slough off. This helps protect you from UV sun rays that cause skin cancer, and other environmental dangers.


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

[User] When we pop a joint like a knuckle or our back, its a realeases air. Where does that air go?

[Assistant] It dissolves back into the fluid. When you pop your knuckles, you're decreasing the pressure enough to allow the gas to escape the solution, which creates the popping noise. When you decrease the pressure again, it dissolves again. Think of a soda can; when you open the can you decrease the pressure and the gas escapes forcefully, creating a noise.


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

[User]
ELI5: How is the speed of vehicles traveling on a highway monitored by aircraft?

I went on a road trip recently and on the way there were signs that say speed monitored by aircraft. How does this work? Are drones used? Some type of plane/helicopter or even a blimp? Is it more accurate/effective?

[Assistant] Lines are painted 1/4 mile (or possibly other distances) away from each other across the highway. A plane flies above the marked area with officers who will time cars from point a to point b. He/she will then radio down to patrol cars the location, color, and model of the car, and the calculated speed based on the time it took them to travel from a to b. It's generally not used as its pretty expensive to keep the planes up in the air.


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

[User] ELI5: Why aren't Deer domesticated the way cows, sheep and pigs are?

[Assistant]
They are, but their meat isnt in as high demand and theyre more expensive and difficult to manage than cows, sheep and pigs.

Pigs are an easy one, they grow fast, do well in sheds, eat most of anything and dont require a lot, cows and sheep are herd animals, easy to muster and relatively easy to fence while growing large and meaty fast.

Deer are more difficult to muster, running faster and more prone to splitting up, they can also jump high requiring taller and more expensive fencing.


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

[User]
ELI5: why can't clothes dryer send the static to ground?

 Lots of static electricity is created when drying your clothes.  Why can't the dryer send the static to ground?

[Assistant] It does. The problem is that clothes don't give up their static easily. The dryer has to touch the part of the clothes where the static builds up in order to discharge it. Touching every square inch of  shirt is difficult.


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

[User] Other than body language, why is having bad posture bad?

[Assistant] Your skeleton, joints, ligaments, muscles, tendons, fascia etc. form a complex structure that works together to bear your weight and transmit force for activities.  Proper alignment transmits the forces through the structures best suited to bear them.  Poor posture can result in excess force being borne by softer structures, which may result in injuries or chronic degradation of these structures, particularly as you age.  Examples include things like disc injuries in the lower back or knee problems.  The net result can be more pain and/or reduced mobility when you are older.


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

[User]
CMV: The skin color of the Ancient Egyptians depends on which dynasty we're looking at.

I've seen a lot of debate about the skin color of Ancient Egyptians lately. Many people claim that the Egyptians were black, while others claim that they looked more like Europeans, but wouldn't that depend on the dynasty? Here's my reasoning:
If Egypt was one of the first human civilizations and humans originated in Ethiopia, wouldn't that mean that the Egyptians of the first couple of dynasties looked more African than anything else? Then over time and through many invasions their skin color became lighter. The first dynasty Egyptians had to have migrated from a Central African location right? So once they did, through a very long time their skin color would have adapted to becoming lighter due to being further from the equator. Then once the invasions took place and people of European decent took over obviously their skin color was lighter. I would love to know if I'm incorrect on how skin color works or about the history of Egypt.

[Assistant] You're correct in the sense it does depend on the dyansty, but you aren't correct in the fact that it slowly changed and lightened over time. The vast majority of pharoahs were of a regular north african complexion, however there were times when Egypt was invaded, notably by the Nubians, who were black. Aside from those times, the other time that the skin colour changed was during the Ptolemaic Dynasty which came about due to the death of Alexander the Great, and the division of the empire. The Ptolemaic dyansty was marked by Greek rulers who went out of their way to stay as Greek as possible. Other than that, the skin colour didn't change all that much.


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

[User]
is it a an natural human response to judge others

when people see something about others and jump to conclusions, is that a learned behavior or is it a biological response?

[Assistant] Id say theres multiple answers to this question. Judging someone based on adhering or not adhering to societal standards (how theyre dressed, how they look, how they behave to some extent, if theyre together with someone you dont see as being fit for them, ) seem to be to be learned, while judging if someone is a danger or can be trusted can be a biological response.


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

[User]
how to learn statistics if you're really, really dumb?

The question says it all. :(  I have one brain cell, and I really want to finish my masters thesis using logistic regression, but I am absolutely lost and even youtube videos aren't helping me.

[Assistant] If you just want to finish this thesis rather than "learn statistics", and if your school has a statistics department, you could ask them for help with it.  University stats departments often have programs for stats students to help other graduate students with their thesis stats.


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

[User]
[Star Wars]Why no one looks for Yoda.

In Obi-Wan Series we know that the Inquisators were looking for Jedi and specifically Obi-Wan, however no one even mentions about Yoda, which is in theory one of the greatest threats to Sith.

[Assistant]
Grand Inquisitor: "Jedi hunt themselves"

Yoda, conversely, actually did keep his head down, stay out of the way, and not get involved.  He did not hunt himself, so he never showed up on the Inquisitor's radar, and they had no leads on him.


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

[User] In what way is time a dimension? Why is it called the fourth dimension?

[Assistant]
You define something's location with coordinates. On a line, you need one number. This is one dimensional. On a sheet of paper, you need two numbers - two dimensional.

In a three dimensional world you need three numbers to define where something is. Now, what if we had things like photons that can be absorbed and emitted? Three numbers is great, but it can't tell us anything about when that photon was emitted. So we add another number, time. A fourth dimension.

It's like saying "I'll meet you at the train station at noon." The train station has three numbers to define where it is. But you have to add another number for the time that you'll be there.


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

[User] ELI5: What would happen if someone who is obese starves back to normal weight?

[Assistant]
Nothing good.

Fat cells act as storage for excess glucose, which can be accessed for cellular respiration.

However, the body needs a range of amino acids and vitamins to function, which are *not* stored in fat.  Before you starve off the weight, your body will be reduced to cannibalizing muscle tissue for proteins, and even bone tissue.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is there a calm before a storm?

So I live on the South West Coast of Ireland and tomorrow we are expecting to be hit by the tail end of Hurricane Lorenzo. If you stand outside tonight, there isn't even a puff of wind, just deathly calm. It's eerie out there. Similar to a tsunami, is it a bit like all the wind has been sucked out beforehand?

[Assistant] As warm, moist air is pulled into astormsystem,itleaves a low-pressure vacuum in its wake. ... That descending air becomes warmer and drier which is relatively stable, and onceitblankets a region,itstabilizes that air in turn. This causes thecalm beforeastorm.


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

[User] [DC] What's does the Anti Life Equation even do? Could it beat Galactus, the Phoenix force, or the Beyonders?

[Assistant]
The Anti-Life equation is a mathematical proof that free will is a lie, life is not worth living, and total submission to Darkseid is the closest thing to meaning a soul can actually experience.

It absolutely could.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that if we wet our fingers before putting out a candle, we don't get burned, but if we grab a hot pan out of the oven with a wet oven mitt, we get burned?

[Assistant]
A thin layer of water can *very* briefly protect you from hot temperatures by absorbing the energy and evaporating before the heat transfer reaches your skin.  For an object with very little residual heat like a candle wick, this is sufficient.

A much more massive metal pan has vastly more heat to give, and the large volume of water only serves to conduct it to your hands more efficiently.


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

[User] Why was cephalization an evolutionary advantage? Did quicker information processing between senses outweigh the chances that multiple nervous centers could be destroyed at once?

[Assistant]
One key concept to remember in evolutionary biology: the search space for potential adaptations is effectively infinite, so you will almost never find the "best" solution for any problem. What you tend to find is the first serviceable solution, which is then improvised upon and gradually improved.

Whether or not cephalization is "best", it probably has some evolutionary advantages of simplicity.  Is it easier to make 5 separate brains, or is it easier to just have one brain grow much bigger? Probably the one-brain solution.  Once you've got a single big brain, is it easier to make that one big brain smarter? Or is it easier to break it all and start over trying to develop a distributed brain?  Almost certainly better to just improve on the already-existing brain.

The advantages for processing speed for a centralized brain may be incidental, or they could be the driving force, it's pretty hard to say and might need some complicated modeling to see if one method is much better or not.  Even if the distributed model were better, it would be starting at square one right now.  It would be hopelessly un-evolved and would be badly outgunned when competing against smart and aggressive cephalized animals.


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

[User]
CMV: Bullies should get punished equally despite mental disabilities

As someone who goes to a special education school I see this problem all to much. Some bullies are constantly pestering a child but because they are autistic (most in the school are that btw, the rest have other mental problems) they get away with just a little warning. And while damaging someone is strictly prohibited at my school they get away scotfree because of this. I mean (for example) if someone would beat you up or pesters you constantly with a dumb thing you said ages ago, they should get punished, right?

[Assistant]
>I mean (for example) if someone would break your bone or pesters you constantly with a dumb thing you said ages ago, they should get punished, right?

Pestering someone or breaking their bones are two vastly different things. At your school has someone had their bones broken by a bully, and the bully was not punished?


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

[User]
Would moving your body (subtly and imperceptibly) back and forth at 99.99% the speed of light cause you to experience time any slower? Would you live longer than everyone else around you?

And if so could there be any negative side effects? E.g. your body losing its shape and form and exploding?

[Assistant]
> Would moving your body (subtly and imperceptibly) back and forth at 99.99% the speed of light cause you to experience time any slower?

Yes, for a fraction of a nanosecond.

> Would you live longer than everyone else around you?

No, you'd die a second or two earlier than them.

So, you're vibrating with a peak velocity of 99.99% of the speed of light. Assuming your rest mass is 80kg, the energy of your vibration has a mass equivalent of order 70 times that, or 5.6 tonnes, ie, 510 exajoules. (For comparison: the daily energy consumption of New York City is about 0.0005 exajoules)

Now, something is keeping you vibrating - some force, or motor, or engine, or superpowered muscle. I'll assume it's 99.999% efficient.

You will be generating waste heat at ten times the rate New York City does, that is, about 60000 Megawatts. This will boil the water in your body within 3 seconds. it then burns out the machinery maintaining the vibration, the efficiency drops to 0%, and the 5+ tonnes of energy of your vibration is released with the force of a 120 Gigaton nuke. Nobody knows the precise effects of this, but it probably wipes out a good chunk of whatever continent you happen to be on, and plunges the rest of the earth into an unsurviveable nuclear winter.

Please don't try this at home. There are safer ways to achieve longevity.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do so many rappers, including the ones which are fairly tall, have "Lil" prefixed to their names?

[Assistant]
It actually has nothing to do with size. In gang circles,  "Li'l" as a prefix is intended to be like "Jr." As a suffix.

In the gang, you earn your name by putting in work. If somebody already has the name you are intended to be given, you will be "Li'l ___".

Your gang name is going to be Monster? Well since there's already a Monster, you're going to be Monster Jr., or Li'l Monster.


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

[User]
[Batman] How does Batman/Bruce Wayne feel about police brutality?

Does he think its justified or does he think only he should be the one to step over the line? Would he stop a cop from beating a suspect?

[Assistant]
Well, did that cop take down the suspect in the act of a crime; or was it just a person of interest, or a suspect that hasnt had a proper investigation?

Batman has the benefit of researching and getting the background on criminals who are active in Gotham.  He can go over the line with some brutality but he already knows who they are, who they work for.

What he isnt going to do is go in to a protest scene and start after those people.  He doesnt have enough information, and he'll want to identify who's in charge, and what kind of threat they are.

If Bats does come across a police officer abusing a suspect - he's going to find himself hurt.  Your job is to take the suspect into custody - not murder.


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

[User] [Star Trek:TNG] How long would it take for Cmdr. Data to mine 1 bitcoin? What about the Enterprise-D?

[Assistant]
Data has stated that he performs 60 trillion Operations Per Second.

According to Federation records, "hashes" are used to determine the mining rate of bitcoins.  It takes about 2,700,000,000,000,000 hashes or 2.7 million gigahashes to mine a single Bitcoin.

A gigahash is approximately equal to 1.3 trillion operations per second.^1  2.7 million gigahashes times 1.3 trillions operations per second gives us a staggering 3,510,000,000,000,000,000 or 3.51 quintillion operations that need to be performed before a single bitcoin is mined.

Since Data can perform about 60 trillions operations per second, it would take him 58,500 seconds or 16.25 hours to mine a bitcoin.

^1 **Note**: this is an approximation, and shouldn't be taken as the standard.  Hashes don't actually use opeartions per second for their calculations.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does a drug overdose kill you?

What happens in your body that might end up being lethal?

[Assistant]
Depends on the drug. Heroin and other narcotics cause severe central nervous system depression which leads to respiratory failure (you stop breathing).

If it is something that causes stimulation to the sympathetic nervous system, like cocaine and meth, they can cause heart failure or even rhabdomyolysis, which is break down of muscles that is so severe that calcium and potassium will release into the bloodstream and cause the heart to go into ventricular fibrillation, which will result in cardiac arrest.

Over the counter drugs like ibuprofen and Tylenol, among many other drugs, are eliminated by your kidneys and liver. Too much causes severe damage to those organs and they shut down.


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

[User] Am I correct in saying that when someone drinks a large amount of water, it **all** gets absorbed into the blood and then filtered out by the kidneys? as opposed to having a direct passage from the GI tract to the bladder? (sorry may be a stupid question)

[Assistant] Pretty much. There is NO normal direct connection between the gut and the urinary bladder in the human adult. So when you drink water, most of it will be absorbed through the gut into the blood, and then be distributed throughout the body (not all of it just gets filtered back out right away; we lose water continually and need to replace it). Some stays in the gut and is excreted in your poop (which is not perfectly dry).


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

[User]
ELI5: Who would be responsible for an accident caused by an autonomous car?

The owner of the car, or the car manufacturer, GPS manufacturer etc.?

[Assistant] No laws have been decided on this front yet, so nobody can answer this question with certainty. It also might end up depending on what sort of defect caused the accident - is it the owner not keeping up to date on maintenance, is it a design flaw by the manufacturer, or was it something in the GPS that went wrong, etc etc.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are solar panels only like ~20% efficient (i know there's higher and lower, but why are they so inefficient, why can't they be 90% efficient for example) ?

I was looking into getting solar panels and a battery set up and its costs, and noticed that efficiency at 20% is considered high, what prevents them from being high efficiency, in the 80% or 90% range?

EDIT: Thank you guys so much for your answers! This is incredibly interesting!

[Assistant]
Physics and cost.

The theoretical efficiency limit is 95%. This is solely determined by the temperature of the sun and the temperature of earth. Whatever you do, a higher efficiency is never possible.

However, there are a couple of limitations. First, the solar panel has to *send out* light as well: the temperature of the panel is above absolute zero, so it emits heat. This brings it down to 86.8%. But that assumes that the incoming light comes from every direction at once. In practice, the sun only covers a small part of the sky, bringing it even further down to 68.7%. And that's still with a perfect solar cell! That assumes the cell is infinitely thick and has zero losses.

If we try to actually build cells, the best we can currently do is around 44.4%, which isn't too bad! But those cells consist of multiple layers, use exotic materials, and are very expensive to construct. It is *way* cheaper to construct less complicated cells. Turns out we don't really care about the absolute efficiency: there is plenty of sunlight available. We just want the most power at the lowest cost.

The most common (and cheapest) cell type is "single-junction". The theoretical efficiency limit for those is 33.16%. Then we have some losses due to the protective coating, the wiring, being unable to cover 100% of the panel with cells, and loooots of other small stuff.

So yeah, it might not sound like much, but an efficiency in the 20ish% isn't too bad. Don't expect anything over 30% soon, because we're already rapidly approaching the limits of physics!