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

[User]
[Peter Jacksons King Kong] After Kongs death from falling off the Empire State Building, what happened to all of the characters?

Was Carl Denham sued or made a criminal due to the destruction wrought by Kong? Did Jack Driscoll and Ann Darrow get married and have children? What happened to Jimmy and Captain Englehorn? Did Preston testify against Carl in court?

[Assistant]
Denham managed to avoid arrest, but his reputation was ruined and he found himself facing multiple lawsuits. He was last seen boarding a ship for Europe, and is believed to have never returned to the United States.

Kong's body was argued over by the scientific community for several days, before the NYPD - eager to get the whole affair behind them - dragged it onto a barge, floated it out into the harbour, and sank it with the help of a couple of anchor chains.

Jack and Ann married and had moderately successful careers in theatre. Neither ever pursued film work again, but they were happy together to the end of their very long lives. They never really talked about what happened on Skull Island, but only because they didn't need to - they were there for each other, and that was enough.

Captain Englehorn kept on plying his trade on the open sea. In 1936 the tides took him back to Germany for the first time in over a decade. He did not like what he found there, and two years later he secured Canadian citizenship. During the Second World War he took part in the Atlantic convoys, managing to twice bring his ship to safe harbour after being torpedoed, and was decorated for bravery. The story of King Kong became a moderately interesting footnote in a long life of high adventure.

Bruce Baxter kept the moustache. Obviously.


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

[User]
[The Simpsons] What ultimately became of Hank Scorpio?

The last time we really saw him, armed opposition forces were closing in. However, by the time the family returned to Springfield, a newspaper read: "Supervillain seizes east coast." Seizes. Present tense. He also apparently maintained the wealth and connections to purchase and transfer the Denver Broncos to Homer.

So...for how long did his amiable reign of terror last? How was he finally deposed? Was he? And why didn't he think of hammocks?

[Assistant] Apparently he seized the east coast. The fact that Homer no longer owns the Denver Broncos and that the federal government is in charge tells us that he was ultimately defeated. Whether he escaped justice, went to prison, or was killed remains to be seen.


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

[User]
ELI5: why do snow storms not produce lighting like traditional thunderstorms?

Its snowing and I just blew my own mind with the realization that Ive never heard or seen lightening during snow storms, even severe ones. My thought is that its the same amount of moisture as a rain storm, so would it be due to pressure or temp differences?

[Assistant]
It can thunder and lighting during a snow storm.  It's  called Thundersnow.

The Science

Also known as thunder snowstorms or winter thunderstorms, a thundersnow only happens when a rare set of conditions occur. In fact, people only witness about 6.3 thundersnow events each year. Typically between late winter and early spring when the air beneath the clouds is warmer near the ground than the air in the upper cloud layers. The cumulonimbus cloud (towering mass with a flat base at fairly low altitude and often a flat top, as in thunderstorms) must be lower than a typical thunderstorm, and the warmer air temperature must still be cold enough to form snow. Thunder snowstorms usually create snowflakes, soft snow pellets, hail and strong gravity wave currents of air similar to ocean waves. The lightning produced appears in purplish-blue flashes.


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

[User]
[MCU] Who were the Avengers Initiative in 2008?

In 2008 Nick Fury tells Stark, "You've entered a bigger world" that he's not the only superhero in the world.

So who's he talking about?!   Barton and Romanov would have been agents at that time, sure, but not really "superheros",  Rogers is still under the ice, Banner is hiding somewhere and a pacifist, and Thor he's a myth, no one has seen him in like 1000 years.

We've seen others with powers on Agents of SHEILD that might have had powers at that time, but they're all locked up.

Basically, who's Fury talking about!?

[Assistant] Iron Man and Hulk were probably the big players.  Ant-Man potentially, depending on if anything's revealed about Hank Pym previously using the suit.  Cap was definitely known of by SHIELD, but wasn't known to be alive when Fury first met with Stark.  They may have even known about Matt Murdock's enhanced senses, even though he only became a vigilante after the Battle of New York.  Other than that, not many superhumans from that time are known of, at least to the general public, most appeared later on.


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

[User] ELI5: How did the word English word fanny, referring to a woman's pink bits, changed in American to mean ones buttocks?

[Assistant] It's not clear to me that the meaning changed in America. Some words changed their meaning in British English while preserving their original meaning in America. Anyway, in this case, the word comes from the diminutive of the female name Frances -- which indicates that maybe the British use is the original.


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

[User] I just heard on NPR that 56 million years ago, the earth was 11 degrees warmer. How do they know this?

[Assistant]
It is not "known." It's hypothesized based on indirect observations called proxies.

One of the best and most commonly used proxies for estimating paleotemperatures is the abundance of heavy stable isotopes of common elements like Oxygen. Two stable isotopes of Oxygen have atomic masses 16 and 18 and because of their difference in mass, molecules that include them such as water or carbonate (CO3), will respond differently during phase changes. Molecules containing the heavier isotope will condense out before the lighter isotope, a process called fractionation. However the exact ratio of fractionation depends on the ambient temperature at which the phase change occurs with the imbalance decreasing the warmer the temperature is.

So the ratio of 18-O to 16-O in ice (in the case of relatively recent records from e.g. glacial cores) or in the calcium carbonate fossil shells of animals (in very ancient records where there is no continuous ice record) can be measured and the temperature at which they formed reconstructed.

Generally multiple proxies are used and when they agree with one another, scientists are confident to put forward a temperature reconstruction. Other proxies that support the period of warming you're describing (called the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum) include enrichment of deuterium (heavy hydrogen) in terrestrial systems due to more active evaporation of water from the oceans, and also study of fossilized bacterial lipids that were produced to regulate cell membrane fluidity and so are modified by the organisms in direct response to environmental temperature.


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

[User]
ELI5 Why didn't Italy ever colonise the New World?

With all the important early expeditions organised by Italian explorers (Columbus, John Cabot, Vespucci, Giovanni da Verrazano etc.), how come Italy itself never established a single long-term colony in basically a whole planetary hemisphere named for an Italian? Even the Dutch had an American empire.

[Assistant] During the Age of Discovery, Italy was not a country, but rather a collection of city states.  England, Portugal, France, Spain, and the Netherlands were large strong nations that could pay for, and support exploration and then the subsequent colonization.  During this time, the Italian states were fighting one another quite heavily and were not in a real position to explore and colonize.  That's why all the Italian explorers went to foreign powers to support their journeys.


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

[User]
Why is only 4.5% GDP growth bad for China?

Per Howard Marks of OakTree, it would be the equivalent of negative growth in the US.  Other than compared to expectations and history, its still good or at least not disastrous, yes?

[Assistant]
If you refer to Solow growth model, you will see that developing countries grow much faster than than the developed ones up until a certain point where they start catching up.

This is mainly due to the cost of technical progress (developing countries don't have to use own resources to innovate) and the capital accumulation (poor countries have low capital per worker).

China has been averaging around 7% GDP growth pa, therefore 4.5% is really critical.


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

[User]
Astronomy - If you were to inject a star's core with a piece of iron, would it die?

After watching how the universe works episode on extreme stars a question popped into my head. Can a form of life kill a star?

Lets say a civilization found a way to get a "care package" to the centre of a star with say a missile, and that package was filled with iron. Would the star suddenly die or would it reject the iron and not try to fuse it?

[Assistant]
Iron doesn't kill stars, it's just that stars cannot use iron as fuel because the fusion of iron doesn't release energy. When iron accumulates in the core of a star, it means that the star has run out of fuel.

It's a similar relation to ashes and a fire. Ashes aren't what kill a fire.


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

[User] ELI5: In movies and TV shows, anyone shown as a patient in a mental institution are shown to be always wearing a robe and pajamas. Is this factual, or just for show? Also, if it is true, why do they do that?

[Assistant] From personal experience, no. We were told we could wear whatever was comfortable that obviously didn't go against the rules. There are always various rules about words or images on clothing, anything that could be used to harm yourself or others (some take away belts, shoe laces etc)


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

[User]
[MCU/Marvel] Why do superheroes not collaborate more/share resources in the marvel universe?

I've been thinking about this alot especially as a big fan of the marvel movies. Why do the superheroes not share resources/technology or aid more with one another in the marvel universe? I want to be clear i absolutely love these movies and these characters but they seem to constantly go "lone wolf" and put themselves or their mission in danger when it is completely unnecessary. Even if it meant waiting to resolve the situation until help could arrive to ensure the best possible outcome

For example in Spiderman- No Way Home, Peter Parker struggles tremendously against the villains in that film and it costs him his aunt may and nearly MJ. He did at one point have the help of Dr. Strange but in fairness they had a disagreement on the proper resolution to the situation so i will allow that. Why didn't Peter make a phone call or send an Avengers SOS to Sam Wilson, Hulk, Hawkeye, Antman or any of the thousands of people that showed up in the Endgame battle? He did have the help of the other spidermen but at that point he had already lost his aunt. In Endgame we see that the heroes were able to regroup and rally into a large fighting force really quickly if the situation demands it. The multiverse was literally tearing itself apart. In Falcon and the Winter soldier we see that  Sam as the new Captain America had a pretty good handle on the situation but why not call Spider-man or Hulk for back up just in case? He clearly had to travel the long distance from Louisiana to New York, why not make a quick phone call to ask Avengers that might be nearby for help if they are available? If it meant saving more lives why not? Sam and Bucky are both military veterans and should know better than anyone the value of having a solid team and backup in any situation, regardless of how good of a handle you think you have on the situation.

Secondly, why dont the Avengers share technology and resources. We see in Falcon and the Winter Soldier that Sam is in dire financial straits due to the Avengers not actually paying him. Why is this? Even as an informal group why wouldn't Tony fund the group with paychecks and equipment? We see in Age of Ultron that he reformatted Stark tower into a makeshift base of operations. Why not make the Avengers unofficial stark employees so they could be compensated for their time? Peter seems to be the only one that received some manner of compensation in the form of a scholarship and a suit.

With regard to equipment i dont understand why Tony didn't give everyone a mini upgrade to their equipment. Spiderman receives an excellent nanotech suit but why didn't he give Captain America a suit that gives him a strength or speed boost? Hawkeye and Black Widow are incredibly skilled but a basic set of nanotech body armor, even without any bells and whistles would keep them much safer and maybe add a few additional tricks into their arsenal. I dont see why they would turn it down out of "personal preference" if it meant it an emergency situation that it might mean the difference between life and death for civilians or themselves. Quicksilver might've been saved incredibly easily if he was wearing a pretty basic Stark tech level set of body armor. Or Hawkeye could've saved himself if he had that shield generator that stark used in Endgame.

For clarification im not saying the full might of the Avengers was necessary for every mugger and car crash. But for the big stuff... why dont they ask each other for help?

[Assistant] The first time the three peters fight together in no way home theyre swinging around uncoordinated and getting in each others way, it takes a pep talk for them to fight well together. And theyre the *same guy*. It takes some onboarding for a team to actually work.


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

[User]
[star wars] what did the republic intend to do with the clones if they had won the war?

I'm talking about what the Jedi and republic thought would happen, because they have no idea of order 66.

Would they just keep the clones as soldiers in barracks?, Seems kind of inhumane... At least more than it already is.

I don't think they would kill the clones for many reasons.

The republic also isn't exactly the type that might allow them into society, just wouldn't work out well i don't think.

So what did the republic intend to do with them?

[Assistant]
I'd imagine it was largely a "We cross that bridge when we get there" kind of issue.

The clones kind of showed up just as they were needed and for  the duration of the Clone Wars, the Republic as a whole were more focused on surviving and beating the separatists than thinking about what they will do with the convenient army they had.

Since the Republic government didn't know about the Clones until the Clone Wars begun, there wouldn't have been time for any committees on the ethics and long-term sustainability of clone militaries and so I'd imagine there would be a general understanding that "what to do with the clones after the war" would   be a lesser priority as long as the war went on.

Perhaps it was assumed they'd give the clones military pensions until they die in a few decades from their accelerated aging. Or maybe something similar to what the Empire did, keep the clones around as long as they're useful but phase them out to save money.


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

[User]
[Pokemon Anime] Why did Prof. Oak arrange for 4 trainers to pick their starters in the same day when he only intended to give out 3?

He only gave Ash Pikachu after Ash insisted on taking whatever Prof. Oak had left. So he was just planning to give out Charmander, Squirtle and Bulbasaur.

What would have happened if all 4 trainers showed up at the same time?

[Assistant]
It was clearly a first come first serve situation. Oak is a busy man, he has to care for all the Pokemon that his trainers catch, continue his research projects, and build an audience for poetry lovers.

Oak was already screwing with expectations, since the trainers would only get to pick what was left, rather then of all three options.

It's possible given that starters are bred and raised by specialists, that oak had made his requests unaware that there was more then three kids coming. One of the kids may have just turned 10 years old the other day, or their family just moved to pallet town which would throw off his carefully curated plans.


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

[User]
Can someone explain Post-Modernism like I'm 5, please?

I just read White Noise by Don DeLillo.  Strangely, I recognized it as post-modernist literature, but I can't really describe what exactly that is.  I've read up on it on Wikipedia, but that was a can of worms.

[Assistant] What does it even matter?  Nothing has any meaning anyhow.  Even the meaning we project on things is a construct of the mind and the only thing that is worthy of attention is the richness of the individual experience, each of which differs from every other.


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

[User] ELI5: When there has been no rain & all the plants you want to keep around are dying, why do weeds thrive? Could we not "breed" that hardiness into our flowers & such?

[Assistant] For the plants that matter, like ones we eat, that kind of hardiness usually works against large yields. We need plants to perform very well and grow quickly to feed all of us. Weeds survive because they don't grow juicy fruit, or large edible roots. They just devote their all to... weedlike growth.


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

[User] ELI5: When an app crashes and I send a report, what exactly does that do, and how is it used?

[Assistant]
It tells the developer that the app has crashed, first of all.

But it can also tell the developer what you were doing, what screen you were viewing, what data you were using, what route you took to get to that screen, and so on.

All of this can help fix the bug. Obviously the developer needs to know what screen you're looking at. But it's not uncommon to find find bugs where the app crashes every time you enter a " character, for example. By sending the data to the developer, the developer can look at the report from dozens or even hundreds of similar crashes, and can realise that the " character is the common denominator.

Obviously this has privacy issues - it's up to you to decide whether your privacy is worth sacrificing in order to help make the app better. If you use the app for banking or drug dealing, then probably not. If you use it for looking at pictures of cats you might be happy to share this data.


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

[User]
[Batman and Robin] Why were a man and woman imprisoned in the same cell?

Surely locking up Mr Freeze and Poison Ivy together would be prohibited, especially when he has an admitted grudge against her.

[Assistant]
It's *very* strongly implied not to have be done through official channels.

It's amazing what people will turn a blind eye to in normal prisons, never mind in Gotham, third time winner of america's most corrupt police force. No-one's going to particularly care if poison ivy ends up with some...extrajudical punishment.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why does my arm feel sore after getting a shot at the doctors?

Just got a shot, arm feels really sore if I move it. Explanation?

[Assistant] The trauma of the needle itself isn't primary reason you're sore.  You are sore because the vaccine is composed of adjuvants in addition to the inactive portions of virus that stimulate the immune system (so as to create better immunity) but this also creates local inflammation in the process.


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

[User] I understand the advantage of adrenaline when I'm nervous/scared, but what is the point of the overwhelming urge to use the toilet?

[Assistant]
You should really look at this from an evolutionary point of view. You've got a point that for humans, who actually go to the toilet, emptying the bowels is quite the hassle and not compatible with quickly running away from danger or fighting your way out. When we look at other species however, it makes a lot more sense.

Digestion demands, paradoxally, quite a bit of energy. Furthermore, all the undigested food in the gut becomes nothing more than dead weight when you're running for your life. For example, if a deer is suddenly set upon by a mountain lion, it will immediately expel all food from it's gut, effectively making itself lighter, more nimble and giving it the opportunity to provide energy to the processes that are most important: running like hell.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do people (myself included) slouch our backs?

And why does it feel so unnatural to keep a 'correct posture' after noticing I'm slouching and adjusting accordingly - is it more muscular, genetic...? Not trying to go hunchback by 30!

[Assistant]
Because from an evolutionary perspective the human spine is a piece of garbage.

Our spines are curved into an S to begin with because we're upright and that places a strain on bones that evolved to be horizontal to the ground. Then we (as modern people) tend to spend all day sitting on our asses in one position getting fatigued. Our spines take effort to keep upright, and flopping backwards goes against the existing curve of the spine - so there's only one direction left to go.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is happening to the human body during a seizure?

What are causes of seizures? And what is our body specifically trying to accomplish during the process of a seizure?

[Assistant]
I know a little bit about this, so if someone wants to elaborate they can.

So every time you do something, your brain has a neuron that fires. Anything from a thought to an action creates a pulse from a neuron.

You see something, a neuron fires, you want to move your arm, another couple fire.

When you're having a seizure, neurons begin to fire randomly. causing (in most cases) involuntary muscle movement and unconsciousness.

edit: before i get comments saying there are synapses and goes over neural pathways, it's eli5.


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

[User]
CMV: I have an urge to change my tax forms at work so that they don't take any taxes out. I'll save that money, and put it back in when the shutdown is over. I kinda feel like everyone should do this.

I feel like everyone could do this, and basically tell the government that if they can't play nice and share their toys, they can't play with them at all.

There is a potential that they won't care, because my income is still being reported, and I'm ultimately still responsible for - and will pay - said taxes (because I live in a society). Given that, the whole gesture may pretty much be a waste of my own time (both now and next Jan-April), and they will neither be affected, nor care.

On top of that, while I am not in the following group, a lot of people live paycheck to paycheck (if that) and might end up spending the money, and then end up owing tens of thousands of dollars that they don't have any more. So I don't really recommend doing this unless you're doing well financially and have good self-control with your spending.

But I'm fucking irritated, and I feel like I should do /something/.

I suppose the most direct route to changing my mind is altering this impulse to something more productive. Thoughts?

**Edit:** So, technically my "view" has changed from a practical standpoint (vis a vis, I can't do what I wanted to do, because Federal is pay-as-you-go whether I want to or not, and I live in WA so I don't have state tax either way). My moral dilemma remains, but it doesn't seem like anyone is keen to address it, so... I guess we're done here?

**Edit 2:** Ok, apparently I am (or rather, my employer is) only obligated to pay quarterly if my estimated liability says I need to, but if I change my exemptions to something higher, the estimation will be zero. The real value will be calculated at the end of the fiscal year and I can pay then. Technically, my original plan would still work, be legal(ish?), potentially net me some interest during the year, and probably still not phase the government (unless a bunch of people did it at once). Some very good points being made, so I guess we're not quite done here...

Also, it's the middle of the night and I woke up randomly. I saw the replies in my email, but I'm putting off responding directly to them until the morning proper (because sleep), but I will :)

**Edit 3:** Insomnia. Replied. Wee.

Keep'er goin'...

**Edit 4:** Holy fuck. Ok, someone please verify this thought I just had: Without getting into specifics, I make six figures. That means my liability is tens of thousands of dollars each year. If I hang on to that, and make just 1% interest in a year, that's THOUSANDS of dollars of interest that I'm giving away.

If the only thing we accomplish here is that I pay my taxes on full, but keep that interest, I consider that a win.

**Edit 5:** Yeah that was some huckleberry-bad sleepy-time math. It would have been potentially HUNDREDS* of dollars xD

\* Maybe, if I was really careful and deliberate.

But some good hints to look into investing. Not 100% on track, but good advice non-the-less.

Speaking of the thesis, responses seem to boil down to the following;

* You have to pay federal tax with each paycheck if your estimated liability says so, but;
* I could technically pull this off if I modified my exemptions, but;
* Modifying my exemptions inaccurately is still illegal and fine worthy (despite most people getting away with it because it's not often pursued), and;
* It would probably be a huge hassle, and;
* Since I'm paying anyway, and there isn't a massive amount of others doing this, it wouldn't really matter, but;
* It's good to think about civil disobedience and take interest and participate in your government, generally.

Auxiliary tip:
* If one has a fair amount of paycheck surplus generally, they should invest (safely, I'm thinking 401k and CDs, etc).

Anyone else have something to add?

[Assistant]
I think you may be misunderstanding the appropriations bills. It's not that the government has no money, it's that it's not allowed to spend it (on certain things; other things are moving along just like normal) right now.

> An appropriation bill, also known as supply bill or spending bill, is a proposed law that **authorizes the expenditure of government funds. It is a bill that sets money aside for specific spending**. In most democracies, **approval of the legislature is necessary for the government to spend money**.

Passing the bill and ending the shutdown won't just make money appear in the government's account; it's already there waiting to be spent on appropriate projects and services.

If you could eliminate your withholding, which others have pointed out that you can't, the government would still get your money at tax time next year. Your withholdings going into the government's "account" doesn't affect whether the government can spend that money; Congress decides this and the president agrees by signing the bill into law.

Additionally, even without your paycheck withholdings, the government is still collecting revenue in the form of other taxes, fees, and loan payments.

Even though individual income taxes make up the bulk of government revenues, keeping this money from the government short-term won't do much because they have already forecast that money to come in by next April; they don't need it right now.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does alcohol normally come in 750 ml and 1.5 L bottles, instead of 1L and 2L?

[Assistant] 750ml was adopted as the standard for wine long before most of the conversion to metric for liquor. This came about because it was roughly the average size a glass blower could produce using one full breath of air back in ye olden times. This size was adopted by liquor produces for consistency despite what others have stated in this thread. The other sizes, however, have other reasons.


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

[User]
CMV: A post-scarcity economy would be communist

In the writings of Ian Banks and other sci-fi writers, there is a concept called the post-scarcity economy.

In our current economy, there is a limited quantity of resources, so there is a competition between people/communities/societies/countries for those limited resources. That competition includes, but is not limited to, jobs, loans/credit, an economy based on money, theft, wars, fraud, and all sorts of things.

In the concept of the post-scarcity economy, the availability f resources is theoretically unlimited because of automation, off-planet material extraction, and free energy. Availability of manufactured goods would likewise be almost unlimited, due to additive manufacturing (aka 3D printing), artificial intelligence,  and nanotechnology.

My feeling is that, should we reach the point where the availability of resources is basically independent of the need to COMPETE for them (buy them), the society would basically look very much like the Communist ideal spouted by Marx.  There would be differences (the proletariat would not have to kill the bourgeoisie,  communal property may or may not exist, people would not need to be indoctrinated, etc), but without the NEED for jobs to survive, the world would be a communist ideal.

Thoughts?

[Assistant]
I would argue that our *need* for jobs is, and will be more so in the future, more due to boredom and the desire to be valued by others, than it is to provide basic necessities for survival.

Do you think humans will, at some point in the future, stop having the desire to be seen as high status, or the desire to stop competing with the Joneses?


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

[User] ELI5: If World War II era guns were so good, why did we replace them? What advancements have modern firearms made that warrants replacing standard issue weapons?

[Assistant]
After WWII there was a pretty strong effort to look at how small unit engagements had happened and to figure out better weapons and so on from that information.  Two big things that became apparent was that it was very rare for small arms to matter much beyond around 300 yards, and that the big factor in small unit success was the ability to throw a lot of lead at the enemy quickly.

With these lessons in mind the decision was made to go from "full power" rifle rounds like the 30.06 to "intermediate" rounds like 5.56.  The 5.56 round that the M16 fires is not nearly as powerful as the 30.06 that the WWII era Garand fired, but the M16 had 30 rounds of ammo in a mag vs. the M1's 8.  Less power also means less recoil and so the soldier with the M16 can fire faster without the recoil dicking up his shots.  The M16's bullets also fly faster and flatter, so the modern soldier is much more likely to make an effective "snap shot" than his WWII era counterpart.

You also have various ergonomic improvements, a chrome lined bore, easier manufacturing, all NATO rifles were set up to use the same ammo and magazines so if you were next to a German unit you could borrow their shit if you needed it.


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

[User]
[Marvel Universe 616] What could stop Galactus?

At a certain point, it would seem as though the various civilizations would say "Enough of this bullshit!" and try to kill or contain Galactus. So, what would work?

[Assistant]
Beta Ray Bill almost killed Galactus by finding out where he was going to feed and destroying the planet before he got there. So that's one way.

Reed Richards developed an anti-Galactus mecha suit that costs a billion dollars a second to run. That may work.

Doctor Doom stole his powers.

Aegis and Tenebrous beat the snot out of him.

Thanos once blasted Galactus so hard he went flying and his helmet shattered. It didn't come close to killing him, but he was not a happy camper afterwards.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does the night sky appear to move slowly even though the earth is rotating at 1,000mph?

[Assistant] Because mph is the wrong unit. The earth is rotating at 0.0007 rpm, so the stars appear to rotate at the same rate. The minute hand of a clock has an angular velocity 24 times faster than the stars (0.017 rpm), but it still isn't fast enough to be able to see the movement.


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

[User]
ELI5: How the power source of Voyager 1 and 2 function, which made them kept going for almost 40 years (and still going) ?

 According to Google it have something called "Radioisotope thermoelectric generators", but couldn't understand how are they able to produce limitless energy to keep going.

[Assistant]
The power source is just 4.5kg of plutonium-238. This radioactive substance breaks down at a predictable rate, half of it decays in every 87.7 years, into Uranium 234, which has a very long half life and so can be considered stable.

The decay produces alpha radiation, fast moving helium nuclei, which will run into other atoms, bouncing off them, shaking them up - which is another way of saying, heating them up.

This heat is used to create electricity using thermoelectric couples - similar thing to peltier devices - a kind of diode that produces a voltage as heat moves across them.

As the satellites are now 42 years old, this means that they now provide 72% of the heat they did at launch, and they produce less electric power than that, as the space radiation degrades the thermocouples. Because of this, many instruments on them have been shut down; they will continue to shut things down as time passes. They hope to keep at least something running at least to to 2025.


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

[User]
I [30/F] have been volunteering with a peak psychology professional body for five years. Suddenly removed from their website. What should I do?

Hi everyone,

I have been volunteering with the national peak body for health psychology in my country for five years as the Chair of the Student Subcommittee. For the past year, along with another student, I been responsible for curating content for the newsletter.

I am a PhD student, and my degree has taken longer than expected for health reasons. Nonetheless, I enjoy volunteering, because I am very passionate about health psychology. I have received little recognition for the work I have done, which has often been very extensive and involved hours of work, but again, I am passionate about health psychology, and I believe in loyalty to an organisation. I also attend monthly teleconferences, which are each two hours. I have rarely missed a meeting.

In a recent email listing all committee members, I was not listed. I replied and asked why my name was not included. I was told it was a record keeping error, which I accepted. I have now noticed that I have been removed from the website as 'chair of the student subcommittee', 'student representative', and 'newsletter editor'.

I do wonder if they are suspicious that I am still a student, but I am, there have just been extensive delays because of my own health issues, and COVID. I actually mentioned to the Chair in a recent email that I have finished my coursework and placements, but I am still continuing my research, because I was wondering if I would be eligible to be considered an early career representative instead. She said I am still considered a student representative.

What are your thoughts? How should I address this? I'm a little annoyed...

[Assistant] Seems like something another simple email to the organizations point person would solve. Just reach out again and ask for clarification about why youve been removed from the website. It might be another error or more involved. But youre not going to know if you dont ask.


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

[User]
What is a good, challenging topic for a Bachelor Thesis?

So I'm in my fourth and last year of undergrad at a University in Europe. In order to graduate, weare required to write and present a senior/bachelor/undergrad research thesis/paper. We have to get a professor to advise and lead us, do our own research, be thorough... Key requirement is obviously some form of econometrics in it, be it a simple model or a thorough application. Obviously, the better and closer it is to an actual paper, the better grade we will get.

I want to finish things off the right way, so I want to challenge myself to write a good thesis. The top papers get a small recognition and besides, I want it for myself. I'm gonna pursue a PhD and so I would like it to be a first good step in economic research.

The only problem is, I can't come up with a good topic that isn't repetitive (each year a lot of theses cover very common stuff like effects of minimum wage on economy X, TPF differences, effects of education...). I'm not trying to shoot for the moon here, I just want to be a bit more original. A lot of older guys told me look for something easy and that I can get data for quickly, but I don't want it to be easy. If I can impress the committee and create something good, I'll be satisfied.

I've taken many econ courses, done a study abroad, explored different areas and I have specially taken a lot of econometrics, math and stats courses (Stats I and II, Calculus I and II, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, Econometrics I, Time Series, Advanced Econometrics, Microeconometrics, Applied econometrics) (yes my school has a good metrics program). I have also taken other econ and applied econ courses (Game Theory, Dynamic Macro, Behavioral, IO, Advanced IO, natural resources and environmental econ, labor market discrimination econ,  development econ, intl trade, regional and urban...). I've also taken finance and data mining courses.

 If I had to choose a few of these that I "love" (although there's no such thing as an econ course I disliked), I would say anything math-intensive, like anything econometrics, Game Theory and Behavioral. As for model-based courses or applied econ, I loved nonmarket valuation (environmental and natural resources) and Labor (although I don't want to turn to cuteonomics).

I know I have to come up with the topic myself and not ask around, but I would love some insight from other people who had to do the same thing or that can just chip in with thoughts.

[Assistant] I had a chance to talk with one of Harvards head policy professors (I dont want to give too much info out for ID purposes but can talk to a mod to confirm) about a similar topic, and he suggested the footnotes and last few pages of current research papers. He said that often, these are where researchers write their curiosities or unresolved questions. You wont find a new topic in a research paper because youre reading a paper after its answered the question.


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

[User]
[Ready Player One] where the fuck is the government in all of this?

A corporation keeps slaves in metal boxes with electrical control and torture devices so they can carry out menial labor in a video game, it is even confirmed that people have died doing this. The same corporation then murders several people with drone placed bombs for financial reasons and gets away with it in a world that is filled with cameras and tech that could easily incriminate them. They also seem to have hit-squads of armed troops that can invade homes and attack people with impunity. Then the police conveniently show up to arrest mr. Evil CEO as he is pointing a gun at some kid in a trailer park while seemingly ignoring the years of flagrant human rights abuse and corporate inquest. Is there some explanation about this in the book? Am I missing something?

[Assistant]
In the book:

- Indentured servitude is explicitly made legal. You get a job at IOI based on your skill set to be able to work off your debt. Then they take off living expenses and anything else they can think of and people have to work there forever. Also, the jobs are actual jobs like customer service rep.

- They planted meth making equipment on the building so it looked like another meth explosion (which is not uncommon in what amounts to a gigantic trailer park).

- They have armored dudes to collect people in debt and bring them in. They don't have an official hit squad like that IOI chick in the movie makes it out to be, but the collection of people is perfectly legal so they don't have to hide that they're going in for someone.

- He doesn't point a gun at a kid in a trailer park.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are people allergic to things?

[Assistant] The human body is a very delicate thing that hates things from the  outside. Therefore, all the things inside your body have antibodies (like a ticket that shows that they're allowed to be there). Sometimes, the immune system (security guards) don't recognize a ticket and over react. This causes allergies.


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

[User]
[Futurama] Who built Hedonism-bot, and why?

*Let us cavort like the Greeks of old!  You know the ones I mean.* --Hedonism-bot

Was he designed to be a Hedonism-bot, or does he have some practical application?  How does he support his lifestyle?  He usually has humans waiting on him, but he doesn't seem to produce anything... just consume everything.

Who the heck built this robot, and to what end?

[Assistant]
Obviously some rich hedonist who needed a sidekick, and now that he is long dead his robot still spends his money.

Though he does provide an interesting economic boon, he supports the arts and spends his wealth like it was on fire thus getting previously locked up money into the economy.  It is possible that he is some kind of government program to siphon off wealth back into the economy.


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

[User] ELI5: What is the meaning behind Nietzsche's statement "God is dead"?

[Assistant]
The psychological need for "god" is no longer there, as civilization has evolved.

The implication is that there was never a "god", just something that Man created to fill a perceived hole in his psyche.


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

[User]
ELI5:What's wrong with Mental Health Care in the U.S.? What are some potential ways to fix it?

Whenever there is some kind of mass shooting the topic of mental health reform always seems to come up. However, I never really seem to see any concrete ideas for reform, or explanations of what is wrong with the current system from politicians. It's seems like a lot of people just use it as a vague buzzword after every shooting. So, is it a legitimate issue? What can we do to fix it?

[Assistant]
I work in a jail where approximately half of the inmates have diagnosed psychological issues.  Many of which get sent of to state hospitals for mental treatment.  Most of the time we (as jail staff) wait for beds to become available, while jail medical staff treat said inmates.

Many of these inmates need drugs that are not allowed to be administered in a custody setting.  Once a bed does become available for an inmate,  they get shipped off.  Some time later the inmates no longer display the serious psychological impairments they did while at the county level.  That inmate is sent back to jail to stand trial or be evaluated by the courts.  Time passes,  the inmate is back off the very medications which solved many of the psychological problems.  The inmate spirals back into the original psych issues which led to them being incarcerated.  The inmate is unfit for trial.  Sent back to state hospital.  Repeat.

More institutions and staff.  More funding for said institutions and staff. More crisis intervention training for cops.

Today it's the jails that are the psych hospitals.


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

[User]
ELI5:Are electric motors nowadays vastly more efficient than an electric motor from 100 years ago?

I've disassembled electric motors from about the 1950's, and they seem identical to the ones we have today.   So have there been any advances in electric motor technology in the past 100 years?

I realize that things have become smaller and more streamlined, and permanent magnets have become more powerful, but these seem like simply incremental changes.

The only thing I can think of is brushless motors, but beyond that has anything else substantial changed?

[Assistant]
Electric motors pretty much maxed out on efficiency when they were first created, we have motors today that can hit 99% efficiency, but that doesn't give you the right picture

A motor that you just want spun up to a constant speed can be made very efficient and you just connect it straight to power and you've got yourself a highly efficient motor.

But what if you want to control the speed?  Well now you need a motor controller and this is where most of the efficiency gains have been had.  Advances in switching electronics allow us to feed the motor exactly what we need to and only draw what is needed from the batteries, earlier systems would generally have to throw a lot of the unneeded power away as heat which isn't efficient and drains your battery.

So while motors have remained around the same efficiency as components, the systems involving motors have increased in efficiency as we could build motor controllers with fewer losses.


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

[User]
ELI5: What does it take to make it snow? How come there are countries that never seen snow before?

Im asking because where Im from ( Baghdad) it snowed for the first time since 1914! Why was this year different? Why hasnt it snowed before?

[Assistant]
In reality, it is always snowing, everywhere except right on the equator.

People think that clouds in the sky form rain.  In reality, those clouds are so high up that it is always below freezing, so every single rain, except right on the equator, is actually snow that melts as it is falling.

Therefore only one thing is required for it to snow--that the snow doesn't melt on the way down (or melt and re-freeze, which makes it sleet instead) Basically as long as the air is cold enough it will always snow instead of rain.  So all that is needed is for it to be cold outside.

Checking the average temperatures in Bagdad, it simply rarely gets cold enough.  It has to get pretty close to 32F or 0C to have any chance of snowing. In addition, it looks like Bagdad doesn't get a lot of rain.  So in order for it to snow it both has to be one of the few days where it rains AND  at the same time it has to be one of the even rarer days where it gets close to freezing in temperature.

The chances of both of these things happening at once as just very, very small.  Possible, but small.


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

[User] ELI5: How has the suit become such an international standard of formalwear/men's fashion, to the point where in his official portrait Kim Jong Un can be seen wearing one?

[Assistant]
The influence of European nations. It became popular through the 20th century in Europe. It became popular as formal wear as official policy in Europe's former colonies (US, South America, and Latin America) imported the design, while their colonies in Asia and Africa adopted/had European fashion preferences forced upon them.

Korea never was an European colony. However, it was a a colony of Japan (from 1910 to 1945) after Japan had rapidly industrialized and "westernized" (which included colonial ambitions) after Commodore Matthew Perry had forced Japan open to trade with the threat of Battleships in 1852. So, Japan adopted Western Fashion, and the Koreas adopted it as well.


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

[User]
How exactly has the Large Hadron Collider been improved for 2015?

From what I understand the LHC could already accelerate hydrogen particles to 0.9999999c. How much faster do they really need to go?

[Assistant]
It is not about speed it is about energy. The LHC always was intended t run at 14 TeV, but in order to see if it really works they decided to run a few years at lower energy and luminosity. Now after more than a year of shutdown and several improvements they are finally confident to run at the desired energy.

Even though the energ has only increased by almost a factor of two this is actually a big deal. A lost more models can be tested  (if we still not find any superpartners it looks really grim for low-energy supersymmetry).


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

[User] If the solar system travels thru a nebula or a big dense cloud of matter, can our solar system grow? Can Jupiter or the sun grow in size?

[Assistant]
No. The solar wind creates a "bubble" of plasma that prevents gas and dust in the interstellar medium from touching planets or the sun. And that plasma doesn't touch most planets since it is deflected by their magnetic field. In the few cases when it does, like Mars, it actually takes away more atmospheric matter than it deposits.

Actually the sun is traversing through a region of interstellar gas and dust (though not dense enough to call it a nebula). Even though density is very low, molecules actually collide with each other over very long times (at a much larger scale than a human lifetime). It is possible to define sound and speed of sound, even though it's not human hearable. The sun is travelling supersonic in that medium, so it creates a shockwave. Voyager 2 felt it with its magnetometer when it crossed the shockwave and entered interstellar medium, confirming scientific predictions.

EDIT: corrected the "nebula" term. Thanks for the corrections.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are dodgy websites rigged to redirect you to arbitrary webpages depending on where you click? Are they just ads? Do the number of clicks benefit the website or its revenue somehow?

[Assistant]
So it depends.  For legitimate ads then yes the website can be paid per click, so the more people it gets to click on the ads the more revenue it potentially makes.

For non legitimate sites or dodgy sites they could be sending you even more dodgy websites where malware or other malicious code can be injected, for example key loggers, activity trackers etc.

How does clicking on a link to a website give you a virus?  Well there are several methods but one of the simplest is that each time you open a webpage it downloads some data to help it run.  If it's a dodgy website then it can embeds malicious code in the portion that is downloaded.  This is a simple answer to a complicated topic but hope it gives an overview.


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

[User]
Eli5: How much of a species' sequenced genome is stable enough to represent a species, as opposed to finer stuff that will keep changing really fast as they breed?

I know this would vary a lot between species, so for example, what's this like in the human genome?

[Assistant]
Honestly, a species isn't really a single genome, but a gene pool. The idea of a species is fluid and changes over time. You can't define a species as its pool is transforming either, all you can do is look back into the past and go "Ok well at some point it definitely diverged from its relatives". Gene pool drift is a continuous process, and we can only define species at all by where a gene pool differs from another gene pool in arbitrarily defined ways. Essentially, the idea of a species is just a colloquial thing we use to easily communicate a concept where it's obvious what we mean but impossible to entirely define it.

The stable parts of a genome, ie, the ones where all the different alternatives in the gene pool are very similar, tend to be the parts where mutation almost always causes a reproduction disadvantage. This mostly means the fundamental pieces that operate cells, like genes that code for ribosomes. Some genes that are really important to the species fitting its niche can also be "protected" like this. These genes are referred to as highly conserved, which essentially means that mutations to these genes almost always get removed from the pool before they can spread, and only stick around if the niche the species needs to occupy changes (and if that happens enough, the species becomes a new species).

There's not a great deal that's truly stable about a genome. Most of it can and will change over long enough time spans. However, each individual member of the species inherits normal genes from the gene pool with at most just a tiny handful of mutations. The low mutation rate means that the "average" gene pool remains pretty stable as a whole even though individuals may be changing quite a lot.


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

[User]
Eli5: Why does splitting an atom cause such a giant explosion?

Where does all the energy come from?

[Assistant]
Splitting a *lot* of atoms releases a lot of energy.

Just like burning one molecule of gasoline does nothing, splitting one atom of uranium does nothing.

Burning a gallon of gasoline releases a lot of energy. Splitting thirty pounds of uranium will destroy a town.

The energy comes from forces within the nucleus. One force holds it together, while another tried to push it apart. By splitting it, we allow that repulsive force to violently fling the nucleus apart, and release a ton of energy.


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

[User]
ELI5 the proper usage of further/farther and lay/lie please?

I'm an American and these things baffle me, I've been asked to explain it to some family members that aren't native speakers and I always feel like an idiot.

Thanks in advance.

**Edit** Thank you for the concise explaining I appreciate it.  Marked as answered.

[Assistant]
**Far***ther* is about distance.

*Lie* is something you do to yourself, you lie (yourself) down.

*Lay* is something you do to something else. you lay it down.

**Difficulty:** The past tense of  verb *lie* is **LAY**, while the past tense of the verb *lay* is **Lain**. Amateur word nazis do not know this and wrongly attack anyone that correctly uses **Lay** as in past tense.


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

[User]
Brain tumors are known to directly cause depression, but could the opposite happen for someone that is already depressed?

To my knowledge, various different brain tumors can have negative emotional impacts such as depression or anxiety, but if an individual already suffers from these illnesses, could a tumor have a reversing like effect?

[Assistant] The problem with answering this question is that we don't have a good understanding of the mechanisms of depression, biologically speaking. Theoretically, the disruption a tumour causes could well lead to changes which improve emotional wellbeing, seeing as we couldn't say for certain what disruption causes the opposite. However it's also worth remembering that depression and other emotional impacts of brain cancer could also be more directly related to the patient's situation (i.e. their poor prognosis and the stress of having the illness)


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

[User]
ELI5: When i feel a half-sneeze creeping through my sinuses and my eyes start to tear up, what is actually happening?

You all know the feeling when a sneeze just won't fucking happen. The abstract burning, the watery eyes - what is actually going on in my sinuses when this happens?

[Assistant]
A sneeze is a semi-autonomous reflex that requires many muscles activating together to perform. Normally, your body isn't capable of launching so much air at once to clear your nasal passages. Many muscles have to contract at once to force that large amount of air and to also protect the body from the high pressure generated by the sneeze.

Imagine a sneeze as a space rocket launch. Mission control has to make sure that every part of the launch is working properly before starting the launch. Even during the launch sequence, there are many steps that have to be performed in order to make sure that the rocket is completely unobstructed, the fuel ignites properly, the rocket is shooting in the correct direction, etc.

However, when something goes wrong in the sequence, the launch is aborted. However, some parts of the launch sequence have activated and your body will feel only a half-sneeze as certain muscles have contracted but the rest have not.


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

[User]
Why aren't pixels made up of 'RYB' LEDs instead of RGB ones?

Was wondering that since the 3 primary colours are red, yellow and blue would it not make more sense in some applications for yellow LEDs to be used instead of green LEDs for pixel based displays.

[Assistant]
Additive versus subtractive color. RYB (actually Magenta, Yellow, Cyan) are primary subtractive colors. Red paint isn't red light, and yellow paint isn't yellow light. Magenta ink/paint is actually anti-green (it absorbs green), yellow is actually anti-blue, and cyan is actually anti-red. If you combine magenta and yellow paints you are really combining anti-green and anti-blue, so those colors are absorbed whereas red is reflected, so you get red.

However, the rules are opposite for additive colors where you are generating light that is mixed. Red is red, green is green, and blue is blue. Combing red and green light you get red-green light which is just yellow.

Hopefully that makes sense.

Edit: you can play around with this a bit on your own. For example, try mixing together different paint colors to see what the result is (hint: it's generally always darker). And try painting cards that you use to try to reflect light onto the same spot, or use ink to color a transparent filter over a flashlight and see what happens when you combine different light colors. Compare that to what you get when you mix the paints/inks together instead.


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

[User]
[MCU/Agents of Shield] Does Red Skull and contemporary Hydra agents REALLY know why Hydra was founded? If he does why has it never come up?

So after season 3 of Agents of Shield we learn that Hydra was initially started as a sort of cult heralding the return of the first Inhuman to help them take control of the planet. This cult is complete with ritual sacrifices and a lot of borderline superstitious reverence for a single individual. The Red Skull is considered the modern "founder" of Hydra. Did he know of the organization's true origins? If he did why has he not mentioned it or pursued the goal of bringing Hive back to earth? What about other members of the modern Hydra organization: the one computer nazi thing, that one secretary dude in the winter soldier, the one nazi dude from season 2, and all other assorted leaders of Hydra that never mention the organization's founding mythology.

[Assistant]
There was a split in Hydra between the heads whose primary concern was seizing power on earth (Red Skull, Dr Whitehall, Alexander Pierce) and the heads whose primary concern was the religious origins (headed by Malick mostly).  Red Skull is the modern founder of this branch.

The more practical members thought of Malick as an eccentric at best, and a dangerous kook at worst.  Whitehall specifically is contemptuous of the cult on screen in a flashback, trying to convince Gideon Malick to abandon it.

Armin Zola, the computer Nazi, is a bit of a special case.  He was never ideologically committed to Hydra in the way Red Skull or Gideon Malick were.  He was a brilliant scientist with no ethics who used Hydra to gain the resources to pursue his scienteric curiosity, and in turn he was used by Hydra bending that curiosity towards ends that would benefit the organization.


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

[User]
[Dragon Age: Origins] Why can't elven mages get the Dalish Elf origin?

So, from what I understand, the Dalish elves live in the wilds away from human civilization and preserve the old elven culture. By contrast, city elves have integrated into human society, live in human cities, and are treated as second-class citizens.

If your player character is an elven warrior or rogue, they can have the City Elf or Dalish Elf origins. But if your character is an elven mage, they are forced to take the Mage origin. I don't understand this.

If the player character was a city elf, I can see this happening. The Templars would know about their existence and would put them into the Circle of Magi like they would with human mages. But if the Dalish don't live under human authority, why would an elven mage among them end up in the Circle?

Did the Templars threaten to attack the Dalish if they didn't give them up? Do the Dalish fear/hate mages as much as humans do? Do Dalish elves not have mages?

I would appreciate any insight into this, and I'm sorry if I'm getting any details wrong.

[Assistant]
It's important to note that the potential wardens are not just generic examples of their kind- they're specific people, with specific families, backstories and lives up until this point. More specifically, these are all situations where Duncan finds a person both worthy of and had completely lost their previous lives such that Duncan felt it justified to recruit them . it's mentioned in a few things that the other origins did happen, but Duncan was unable to save the proto-warden.

As such, while there absolutely *are* Dalish Mages, there simply wasn't a situation leading up to the blight where Duncan found himself around a Dalish Mage who showed they were worthy of joining the grey wardens and had lost enough that he could justify recruiting them- just like he never met a templar or tevinten magister or surface dwarf or tal-vashoth or bandit in that context. All those people exist, and no doubt many of them could have become potent grey wardens. But their paths simply didn't align in a way that allowed them to.

TL;DR To become the Warden, you need to be recruited by Duncan. As Duncan didn't find a Dalish Mage worthy of recruiting on his way to Ostegar, one couldn't be come The Warden.


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

[User] ELI5: Why were taxes so high for the rich during the 50's when it was such a conservative era?

[Assistant]
While the *nominal* tax rates on the rich were high in the 50s, the *effective* rates and actual *taxes* were not.

Virtually everything was deductible until the 1970s -- for example, credit card interest was deductible. Corporate and estate taxes were much higher as well, meaning that such deductions could be afforded due to revenues coming from other sources. This allowed for the highly progressive tax rate structure (top rates reached over 90%) but again, due to the accounting with deductibles, the effective rates in the 1950s really weren't substantially different from today, and very few taxpayers ever actually experienced the top rates (unlike today, where many more do as a percentage of all taxpayers.)

Due to the ability to deduct practically everything, the push-back from the wealthy was quite low, since few of them would actually pay the published rate. Most of their focus was on maintaining and expanding the deductibility accounting, since that's where the tax savings came from.


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

[User]
What word/phrase best describes Tom Nooks loan program?

This is a goofy question, but...

For those of you who dont know, Tom Nook is a character in the Animal Crossing video game series. In addition to serving as the primary shopkeep in most of the games, he sees to it that you, the player, have a roof over your head. Your first house (tent) purchase from him is non-optional, and in older versions of the game, house upgrades are *also* non-optional (leading to fan jokes about extortion), but the most recent game changes the latter limitation, allowing you to pay off your first house and keep your loan balance at zero indefinitely.

However, one thing that has never changed across the games is the nature of these loans...namely, that you dont actually have to pay them back. Tom Nook will ask you to do so repeatedly, but he makes no effort to reclaim the house or anything, and you can go the entire game living out of a tent and fishing for sport if you want. The only downside is that you *will* be stuck in that tent; Nook doesnt do any upgrades until the old debt is gone. It kinda reminds me of the casual loans exchanged between friends and family, where one person gives another some cash with the expectation of repayment, but doesnt really go after the other person if they dont pay it back...they just remind the recipient about it over and over again, and wont lend to them a second time if the reminders are ignored (ex: No Im not giving you a couple hundred; you still havent paid me back the money I gave you last month, you jerk!).

Problem is, casual loan is just a phrase I made up; I have no idea what thats actually called, and I have no idea what Nooks hilariously generous method of debt management is called either. Is there an official term that describes this kind of arrangement? Because I know its not a gift, since ignoring the debt does have *some* negative effect (cant upgrade your house). In other words, what do you call it when a person doesnt necessarily have to repay a loan, but their lack of repayment still affects their future lending potential?

[Assistant]
I think it be considered as non-profit fully subsidized loan. When you buy a house in ANCH, there's no interest rate but the incentive to why you want to pay is due to that you might wanna built a better house. And it's not time lapsed as well as you can pay whenever you want. Not paying or paying won't hurt anything you do in your island life. Also when you pay, Tom Nook will donate the bells to the charity which is considered to be non-profit by institution standards.

This reminds me a lot of Subsidized student loans. The government pays for any accruing interest in your loan so you have no interest rate while in school. Not paying or paying won't hurt anything within time frame while still in college but sometimes you wanna pay because it lessens loans later on when you graduate which is a good thing. The difference is that Tom Nook's loan program has no time frame at all while Subsidized student loans only have unlimited non-accruing situation within college time.


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

[User]
[Fist of The North Star] Why do bandits and raiders attempt to fight Kenshiro even after witnessing the brutality and skill with which he deals with their leaders?

The world seems pretty miserable. Is it a form of assisted suicide for them?

[Assistant] It's just the sort of instinct you go to in times of desperation. Prison Logic, call it. The world becomes separated quite clearly into masters and slaves, and newcomers to your world need to either be made slaves or be destroyed, lest they upset that delicate hierarchy.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Why are the x-men hated and the avengers and other mutants are loved?

Whats up with that?

[Assistant] I believe it is because the x-men acquired their powers through random, natural mutations, whereas other mutants acquired their powers through experimental or accidental means. This threatens some people as the x-men can be viewed as the evolutionary next step for humans. Basically, they fear being replaced.


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

[User]
[DC] If Clark Kent decided to quit being Superman and instead dedicate the same amount of time and effort into science and technology, how accomplished could he come? Could he compete with Luthor? And would Lex hate 'scientist Superman!' more or less than classic Supes?

Just realized that 'Clarke Tech' would actually be a pretty great name for a tech company headed by a super-genius (Clarke's Third Law and all that), so had to ask this.

[Assistant]
Pretty damn accomplished.

Precisely how smart superman is varies a lot, but even at his dumbest he's very smart and has a solid grounding in the sciences. At his smartest, he's a literal supergenius.  Combined with his advanced kryptonian scientific knowledge, ability to rapidly research topics and supersenses able to see atoms- plus various superscientist allies should he ask for the help- he does indeed have the ability for Clarke Tech to rapidly become a rival to Lex Corp.

Lex would rapidly hate him as a rival. But if he learnt he was superman, or if he didn't bother to hide it? Lex would be beyond furious at him trying to beat him at his own game. He'd hate him even more.


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

[User]
ELI5: What actually decides when I'm born if I'm a boy or a girl?

Sperm, egg or other?

[Assistant]
Your dad's sperm.

Your DNA (the blueprints to build a complete human), is broken up into like little chapers, called chromosomes. Everyone has two copies of all 23 chapters. Or you have 23 chromosomes from mom (the egg) and 23 from dad (the sperm) for a total of 46 (you need all 46 for everything to work but thats another ELI5).

Now of those 23 (remember you have a copy of each) only one determines sex, #23, the sex chromosome.

All fetuses are defaultly female, the only thing that makes them into a male is two certain hormones at very specific times. The codes to make these hormones are found on a chromosome called Y.

So lets do some deductions. If Y is the chapter than makes the "turn this baby chick into a baby dude" signal; and your mom isn't a dude, then she doesn't have Y. She has the Y's female copy, called X. Actually remember she has two X's (every chromosome has a copy). She got one X from her mom and one from her dad. No Y, so no signal to make a dude, so when she was an fetus it defaulted to a female, the natural sex.

So when her eggs are formed and she gets to give one of her copes, she can only give an X, thats all she has. But you dad, he's a dude, so he as an Y, and since he's from a man and woman, the other #23 he has is an X. So when his sperm form there is a 50/50 chance it gets an X copy or a Y copy.

So its the sperms, with its X or Y than when it fertilizes the egg, which can only have an X, that makes the sexual determination.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do sounds outside of the human range of hearing not damage our ears? When a speaker plays an 18 kHz tone at a loud volume level it hurts to listen to, however, if you change the pitch to say 30 KHz its as if nothing was being played. Why is this?

I know the air is still vibrating with the same power as before, but for some reason the pressure on the ear goes away.

[Assistant]
AFAIK this only is the case with ultrasound frequencies. High power, low frequency waves (eg shock waves from an explosion) can still damage your ears, even rupturing your eardrums.

As to why ultrasound doesnt cause harm: the frequency is too high for our eardrums to react to: they wont move together with the wave, and because they dont move nothing in the ear is affected.


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

[User]
ELI5: At what point does a game become solvable?

I know that solving games is a pretty rigorous mathematical topic, but I just want to understand a general concept: where is the line between a solvable and unsolvable game?

Take chess, for instance.  Nobody has solved chess yet, but of course under certain setups the game is solvable (e.g. those puzzles that are White/Black to move and win, Mate in 7, etc.).  Is it the case that all games are solvable, but computational limits dont allow us to solve a game as complex as chess from the starting position?

Or, to put it in other words, consider some game that one could prove was absolutely unsolvable.  Can such a game exist?  Assume that there exists some computer that has infinite memory and can make computations in effectively zero time.  Can a game exist that is not solvable for that computer?

[Assistant]
> Is it the case that all games are solvable, but computational limits dont allow us to solve a game as complex as chess from the starting position?

This is the important detail.  Games like chess and go have enough possible decisions that the ability for a computer to count through them all becomes impossible.  There are more possible 40-move chess games than there are atoms in the known universe; the scale of that sort of number is difficult to imagine.  Once you pare down the parameters by reducing the number of possible pieces moving or possible turns taken, things start to become "solvable."  As a side note, the number of possible Go games is many orders of magnitude higher than chess games, because the very simple ruleset opens up even more possible moves.

As a note, that's also how chess computers work.  They only check the most likely moves and only check a few turns into the future for consequences of each choice.  The stronger the chess computer, the greater the "depth" to which it will predict the consequences of a move.

But in theory, if you had infinite time with an infinitely powerful computer, even games like that *could* be solved, even if that solution was "under perfect play, the game is a tie."  Tic-tac-toe and checkers, for example, are always a tie given perfect play by both sides.


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

[User]
Why are we adding all the present values?

In the economics lecture, the instructor explained this formula

 **F = P (1+i)\^t**

F - Future Value (return)

P - Present Value

i - interest rate

t - time period for which the money is lent

The above formula is very clear to me, it has a very straightforward meaning.

But then he said a little transposition of the above formula makes it useful in another case:

**P = F/\[(1+i)\^t\]**

He explained, assume that a company or government promises you to have $3 per year for 5 years. At the end of 5th year it will pay you $100 (along with that $3). The discounting rate (I don't know why he didn't use the word interest rate) is 5%. So,

|Time|Final Amount F|Interest (1+i)\^t|Present Value (F/\[(1+i)\^t\]|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|1|$3|1.05|$2.857|
|2|$3|1.1025|$2.7210|
|3|$3|1.1576|$2.59156|
|4|$3|1.2154|$2.4683|
|5|$3, $100|1.27617|$2.3507, $78.3594|
||||Total = $91.34|

he said, the company will ask you to pay it at once those $91.34 and that is called bonds. I really didn't get what he did. Why did he add all those present values? If someone promises me to pay $100 after 5 years, and the interest rate in market is 5%, I would simply lent him, by the equation

**P = 100/\[(1.05)\^5\] = 78.3594**

Can somebody please explain what he tried to explain?

[Assistant]
Your calculation is for a zero coupon bond - this bond pays a $3 coupon per year on top of the $100 at maturity. The difference between your figure and his figure is the value of the coupon payments.

The value of the principle is $78.35, as you calculated. The value of the coupons is $12.99

$78.35 + $12.99 = $91.34

Essentially, the bond pays 3% interest, but market interest rate is 5%, so youd only be willing to pay $91.34 for the bond to compensate for the low coupon. If the bond paid a $5 coupon, youd be willing to buy it for $100.


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

[User]
ELI5: What physical changes occur in a hard drive or USB stick to store information?

If I save a Word document to a USB stick, what's actually happening inside the stick? Thanks!

[Assistant]
On a USB stick, gates are actually getting fused or opened to represent the binary data. The same thing happens when writing to a SSD. That's why both of them have a limited number of writes before they go bad.

Traditional hard drives store everything magnetically. The head on the hard drive induces a magnetic field of different polarities which can then get read back later.


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

[User]
ELI5: If your body is dehydrated why do you have to pee so quickly after drinking water?

You would think if your body is dehydrated that it would keep as much water as possible instead of eliminating some of it.

[Assistant] Part of being dehydrated is that your body refrains from processing too much waste from your blood in to our bladder because it needs to expend water to do so. When you finally start hydrating again your kidneys start going back to work.


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

[User] ELI5 What is Doughnut economics and how does it work?

[Assistant]
Its an economic model that takes 12 social necessities and 9 ecological ceilings into a single model. Basically we want to fulfill the necessities without damaging the ecosystem. If a society manages to do so its considered economically prosperous.

Simplier put its a model that measures economical prosperity by aiming to fulfill social needs (water, housing, education, justice etc.) without damaging the eco-system. If a society could provide enough water for everyone but the water will run out in a few hundred years than it is not considered economically prosperous.


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

[User]
How are trigonometric functions programmed into calculators?

I have had this thought for a while but how do calculators calculate trigonometric functions such as sin() accurately? Do they use look-up tables, spigot algorithms or something else ?

[Assistant]
This could be done in different ways by different calculators, but the easiest way is probably to use an approximation based on a series. For example, sin(x) is equal to x - x^(3)/3! + x^(5)/5! - x^(7)/7! + ...

Since the terms get smaller and smaller the further you go in the series, an algorithm could simply continue evaluating the series until an appropriate level of precision is reached.

For example, to approximate sin(1):

     sin(1)  1
               - 1^(3)/3!   = 0.83333
               + 1^(5)/5!   = 0.84167
               - 1^(7)/7!   = 0.84146
               + 1^(9)/9!   = 0.84147
               - 1^(11)/11! = 0.84147

At the 6th term, we see no difference at our chosen precision any more, so this is the final answer. Any subsequent terms would be too small to change the answer at this precision.


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

[User] ELI5: how do you "reverse engineer" something?

[Assistant]
You carefully take something apart, study how the components are put together, and how they interact with each other.

For example, if you don't know how to fold a paper plane, you can carefully unfold one to learn what folds to do.


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

[User] How do we acquire traffic data?

[Assistant] In Tokyo, there are often guys sitting by busy intersections with clipboards full of clickers (They have a bunch of those round hand-held counter things bolted to a clipboard). They just sit there all day watching cars, clicking counters and making notes. It's not very sophisticated, but it's certainly a method to get some idea of traffic flow through an intersection.


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

[User] [DC] Is Captain Cold better than Mr. Freeze at freezing?

[Assistant] Yes.  In *Forever Evil*, Captain Cold directly compares his "cold gun"'s abilities (which he had, at the time, absorbed into himself; shortly after the event, he lost that power and had to rely on the cold gun again) to those who just shoot ice.  People like Victor Fries use a coolant (e.g. liquid nitrogen) to turn moisture in the air into ice.  Leonard Snart's cold gun directly affects the movement of atoms and molecules, to the point that he can bring an object or person's temperature straight to *absolute zero* if he really wanted to; the ice is just a side effect.


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

[User] [Marvel] Would the government of a pantheon of extradimensional gods, like Asgard or Olympus, be considered a monarchy or a theocracy?

[Assistant]
Asgard would be a monarchy/meritocracy,  since the people who are ruled over don't necessarily worship Thor and Odin and all the rest. They venerate them as heroes and leaders, but they don't seem to have any particular religious practices.

Never forget that it was we humans who decided to worship the Asgardians as gods.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Could you play "Tennis" with two lightsabers and a blaster bolt?

[Assistant]
Blaster bolts can maintain their composition after bouncing off of several objects, for example pretty sure that's what happens when Chewbacca shoots the door of the trash compactor in ANH. But the plasma would fizzle out eventually.

Edit: Han fires the shot, not Chewie.


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

[User]
[Ben 10] can ben 10 watch use a human DNA?

If so how would he look like? What is his power level tier? Peak human? Would that add up some interesting story element?

[Assistant]
The Omnitrix already contains Human DNA, specifically Ben's own DNA. And someone else using the Omnitrix to transform into a human would just become a copy of Ben.

> Would that add up some interesting story element?

Not really? That kind of thing is already explored through Albedo as character.


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

[User] Eli5: How do we know that dinosaurs were likely reptilian/avian but not likely mammalian?

[Assistant]
Species that are closely related to each other will share certain anatomical features in common, which they both inherited from a common ancestor.

Other species that are not descendants of that common ancestor  and therefore are more distantly related  wont have those same anatomical features.

For example, on the one hand, all mammals have three tiny bones in their middle-ears (called the malleus, incus, and stapes), and no mammals have hallow bones that connect to their respiratory systems.

On the other hand, neither birds nor dinosaurs have those tell-tale three little bones in their middle-ears, but they both do have hallow bones that connect to their respiratory systems.

From these and other similar anatomical comparisons, we conclude that birds and dinosaurs must be more closely related to each other than either of them are related to mammals.


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

[User]
[Terminator] The machines succeed in wiping out Humanity from the face of the earth, Now what?

so they kill all them humans, now what are they going to do, reach out to the stars and spread, or create the perfect earth, what will happen to all the Machines whos soul purpose was to kill?

[Assistant]
Skynet was designed for war, one would assume that it is still bound by this. With no enemy left to fight it would probably go dormant.

Of course, Skynet knows the moment the war with Humanity ends then it completes its purpose and becomes irrelevant, so it would attempt to prolong the war as long as possible, utilising the less advanced technology to give Humans a chance but ultimately underestimating them, allowing them to win.

In every timeline the machines only send a terminator back in time when it is on the verge of defeat and that terminator will lead to Skynet's creation. So in every timeline the machines lose?


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

[User] [DC/Batman] How does Batman dodge bullets by just leaping back and forth?

[Assistant]
Moving targets are hard to hit. Especially when they're hard to see and moving quickly, while you're scared shitless and about to be very unconscious.

Batman also does his best to never be in a position where he needs to charge a gunman. There's much safer and smarter ways of taking down an armed thug.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] How do phasers work?

Phasers are unique because they're a kind of do-everything weapon. On low settings in can render someone unconscious, or knock them over, I've even seen crewmen using them in art work on stretched-canvas. On high settings, I've heard them talk about how supposedly they can take out a small building, or a neighborhood block if you overload them. The only time I've *seen* a hand phaser destroy anything that big was the TNG episode Ensigns of Command (se3 ep2), wherein Data destroys an aqueduct with his Type II phaser.

Another thing they do is they seem to be able to target objects very specifically. Such as how they can vaporize a person without causing an explosion, or damaging any surroundings. The aqueduct I mentioned earlier is also an example of this btw. When Data fires, the energy seems to follow the aqueduct all the way to the horizon without damaging anything else. So could an unscrupulous crewman for example, program his phaser to shoot the clothes off a woman to see her naked?

What kind of energy does a phaser shoot that can do all of this stuff from one hand-held device?

[Assistant]
They're not energy weapons, they're particle weapons.  A phaser fires a concentrated stream of nadion particles.

They have a settable power level which allows for such a large degree of utility.  Starfleet favors them over other types of weapons (including projectile weapons) due to this versatility.

As for why vaporizing things doesn't mess up the area around them, phaser power settings aren't just for intensity, they also adjust things like the wavelength of the beam, which allows for vaporization of materials without affecting the surrounding stuff.  This is achieved much like a disruptor, simply releasing molecular bonds with a minimal amount of waste energy (some is redirected into the disintegration reaction).

As for your "clothing removal" setting, no.  The settings aren't that precise.  The settings that would disintegrate clothing would likely affect skin in the same way.


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

[User]
So I have a theory, but I dont know if it would actually work

While studying Econ, and learning about the increasing economic inequality in the US as well as the massively growing gap between classes, I have always heard the same argument on how to combat it: tax the rich.

Now, I understand the sentiment and why that would seem like it would be a good idea. If you can afford to buy a third home in Nantucket,  you should be able contribute more than John down the street who lives off of raw ramen noodles and spare change. But, in practice there is no way to guarantee all of the upperclass pays their fair share so to speak. Whether it is through net loss re-works in your books, or foreign bank accounts, or tax havens, there will always be a way for a tax-savy accountant to find a loop hole for the wealthy when it comes to income taxes.

Whenever we increase income taxes, intending on getting more from the higher groups, it is always the middle class that pays the most and we repeat this cycle over and over and over again.

So, now for my theory. What if we got rid of the income tax all together? Instead, we switch over to a purely sales based program? There would be a flat 10-15% tax on everything anyone purchases (exempting things like food, and utilities.) Theres no loopholes to skirt through, no accountant to pay off, just a simple: if you buy more you pay more.

There would be no way around it, and we wouldnt be suffocating the lower classes with high tax rates.

Is this a stupid idea? Or am I onto something here. Let me know if Im being naive or missing the whole point here.

[Assistant]
Sales taxes tend to be regressive (takes proportionally more from the people with the least to start with) because people with lower income spend a lot higher percentage of their money just to live. A middle class or poor person can spend 100% (or more) of their income while a wealthy person might spend, for example, 5% of their income just to stay alive.

The other thing is, part of taxes is about incentives. Without an income tax, you have to lean a lot more on this new, big sales tax. How badly do you really want to disincentivize people from spending? Do you really want to apply friction to every act of money changing hands? Not to mention the gigantic amount of bookkeeping it would introduce, and the incentive to take markets underground.


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

[User]
How do serotonergic hallucinogens(LSD, Psilocin, DMT) increase brain interconnectivity?

Obviously it's not literally rearranging neurons. That would probably be really destructive to the brain.

[Assistant]
It seems to allow brain activity to be more point to point rather that hub and spoke , bypassing the default mode network ( the collection of structures that create our ego or sense of self.

See Dr Robin Carhart-Harris work and check out Michael Pollens newest book How to change your mind


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

[User]
[MC/MCU]What is it like in the soul stone?

Is it different in both continuities? Is it ever explained? Do they just not exist?

[Assistant]
In both universes, its a pocket dimension that doesnt contain *every* disembodied soul in the universe/afterlife, but the Gem/Stone can acquire or steal souls individually.

In 616, Soul World creates a bizarre physical environment and allows trapped souls to interact with each other (Adam Warlock took a sort of leadership role when he was in there).  Escape is possible, as Warlock manages to get himself and others out in time for Infinity Gauntlet.

In the MCU, Soul World is far emptier, but that may be because fewer people have interacted with it.  The only known terrain is a ground covered in shallow water, and a structure resembling architecture from the home world of Gamora (Soulworlds only known inhabitant at the time).  The only confirmed souls within the Stone are those sacrificed on Vormir, and they are permanently taken in.  Victims of the Snap/Blip either did not become residents of Soulworld or retained no memory of it upon returning to life, because Blipped beings did not perceive the passage of time between their being erased and returning.


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

[User]
ELI5 the Exact Job of a Hollywood Movie Producer

Just how much shit do they have to go through and why is it that they seem to get a lot the credit for the film/musical?

[Assistant] Simply put, a producer, like Scott Rudin (who has produced No Country For Old Men, Greenberg, The Social Network, etc.), is the person who first reads the original screenplay, decides it's good enough to be made into a film, gathers up funding from various production houses and investors, and recruits the director and other very important figures to work on the film. Basically, the producer is very often the jumpstarter of the film, helping to bring everyone together to create it.


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

[User]
Why does glass crack like a spider web?

Like when phone screens break and such.

[Assistant] Glass is actually a very strong, hard, and (if very well-made) not very brittle material. The reason glass is often brittle is because of microscopic cracks within, and on the surface of the glass. When materials undergo a 'brittle failure', the applied stress causes the material to deform slightly, especially where these cracks are located; (mechanical stresses tend to concentrate wherever changes in a specimen's geometry exist). This deformation at the cracks causes the cracks to grow. The amount they grow depends on the magnitude of the stress and the size of the cracks. They can grow so much that they meet up with other cracks. When glass shatters/spiderwebs, this occurs because one of the cracks was sufficiently large, and enough stress had concentrated around it that it grew rapidly, combined with another crack, grew even more rapidly, combined with another crack, etc. This phenomenon is called 'crack propagation', and it is also a cause of fatigue failure in materials, (even materials that aren't ductile). The reason why the cracks don't propagate in a straight line through the material is because they are randomly distributed throughout the material, and the exist in different directions.


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

[User] Why is a frozen and thawed banana so much sweeter, and how does this change its nutritional value?

[Assistant]
Putting together the information here

One of the main processes in bananas (and all fruit) ripening is the amylase dependent conversion of savoury or flavourless starches in to sugar (specifically glucose). Amylase is a common enzyme (also present in your saliva) which converts starch to sugar and is an important part of your digestion.

There are essentially 2 ways something will taste sweeter.

1) There is more sugar present

or

2) Your tastebuds can access the sugar more rapidly

Freezing and then defrosting fruit essentially lets both of these things happen. Freezing causes water in the fruit cells to crystallise and expand. This destroys the cell walls and is the principal reason defrosted fruit is soggy and limp. However it also means that the cell contents (all those sugars) are now in the juices that are running off the fruit and if you taste the juice you'll find it is very sweet. You can experience this at the most extreme if compare the difference in sensation between holding a mouthful of orange juice in your mouth or holding a slice of orange (without chewing).  In the case of a banana there isn't much excess of liquid to run off so those exposed cell contents will largely stay within the fruit pulp/body rather than running off.

The other thing that happens while the fruit is defrosting is that all the amylase and starches in the cells are now able to diffuse (a little) through the defrosting fruit pulp. The amylase is no longer confined to the cell it started in, where it may have completed its starch converting job, and is free to find any remaining starch that may have come out of other nearby cells. This means that some of the remain starches will be converted to some extra sugars.


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

[User]
How does auto adjusting focus "know" when focus is correct?

With our eyes it makes sense, we focus on something and then our brain says "Ok, we are good here" so focus is done. How is that kind of "verification" achieved with automatic means?

[Assistant] It typically uses contrast to figure it out. When neighboring pixels in the auto-focus area have the most difference between them is when it assumes focus is maximized. This is why you'll find your camera has a hard time obtaining focus when aiming at something without any contrast-y details in it, like the sky.


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

[User]
[Terminator] I'm a T-800 model sent back from the future. What is the weakest weaponry that can destroy me?

Assuming I'm just a standard model, what's the weakest thing that can destroy my impressive metal body?

[Assistant]
I think its mostly a question of what part of a Terminator would have to be damaged in order for the Terminator to be nonfunctional. So the question becomes, What weapon could penetrate the Terminator skull and damage the chip there beyond repair?

In the first two movies, we saw a Terminator be severed with a home made pipe bomb, limbs torn off with industrial machinery and run through with an iron bar by the strength of a T-1000. Reeces shotgun was essentially ineffective and the police were not able to stop the T-800.  It would seem that the Terminators skin likely serves as some level of protection, if for no other reason than the true nature of what you would need to hit in order to damage the Terminator... the police were aiming for the body, which essentially does nothing to affect the functionality. But in Genysis, we watched someone who knew what a T-800 was destroy one with a sniper rifle.

This is all evidence to say: If you knew what the T-800 was, a powerful hand gun, especially one with armor piercing bullets, would likely be sufficient, so long as you hit the right place.


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

[User] ELI5: What is death row? Why does it often take so long for someone to be executed?

[Assistant] Death row is the placed for prisoners who have been sentenced to death. However, due to the justice system's automatic appeals for people under such a sentence, a case can take a long time to go through the courts until final permission is given to kill someone.