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

[User]
How are the ends of a ski lift cable joined to make a complete loop?

Was skiing today, and a friend and I were wondering how they make the steel cable into a complete loop. We didn't notice any particular joint while watching the cable for a while, though we could certainly have missed it. Also relevant, what are these things made of, specifically?

[Assistant]
Unwrap the strands that make up the ends of the rope, for a couple of meters on each end.  Cut off half of the strands from each end.  Wrap the remaining strands together to form one same-thickness rope again.  Weld the ends.  The strength is mainly in the friction of the strands being wrapped around one another.  If the splice is long enough, the frictional forces can be stronger than the regular strength of the wire rope.

If you notice a painted spot on the ski lift cable, that's the join.


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

[User] ELI5:Why do computers insist that we "safely" eject USB drives?

[Assistant]
Imagine that you worked in a filing facility - Your job is to take documents provided by various places and store them in your facility.

Since you can't be there 24/7, you have a "work area" which consists of a desk where people can drop files off. When people have a document for you to file away, they leave it on this desk, and then when you see it you take it and place it back in storage.

However, frequently people need to one: Get their document back, and two: Make changes and then send the file back to storage. This process is quite slow though: The person first has to leave a 'document request' form on the desk telling you what document they need. Then, when you come in and see it, you have to go back into storage, find the document, and leave it on the desk for them. Then they can take the document, make changes, and leave it back on the desk for you to find and store away again.

The above isn't a huge problem if it's only a few documents, but you quickly find that *lots* of your customers are grabbing the *same document* over and over again, only to make a small change and put it back. This seems like a waste of time to you, because you end-up going to get the document from storage over and over again when-ever they need it. Thus, to remedy the problem, you add a 'fast-access' area to your desk, where you leave the most commonly or recently edited documents from each customer. That way, when a customer needs that document, they can just grab it right from there without having to go back into storage to get it. This all works fine to speed things up, and everybodies happy that the time to get a lot of their most recently used documents has gone from a day to instant access.

But then a problem happens: The storage facility you're using decided to pack-up and move to a different location. It's not a huge problem, you just open a location for people to go and get their documents over there instead. However, some of your customers start complaining that you don't have all their documents. When you think about it, when the storage facility moved you never took all of the documents in the 'fast-access' area! Thus, you lost all those documents. To remedy the situation, you decide that the facility owner has to 'notify' you if they're going to move so you have time to move all of the documents in the 'fast-access' area into storage to prepare for the move.

The above is basically how the OS handles your USB drive (the storage facility). USB drive access is fairly slow, with portable hard-drives even slower. To try and speed things up, the OS realizes that you have a few files that you either just edited, or are frequently editing, and keeps those files in memory (fast-access) instead of constantly writing it to your USB drive (which is slow). The problem is that if you remove your USB drive (move the storage facility), you lose the file's currently stored in memory unless you (the storage facility owner) notify the OS (the person handling the storage facility) that you're about to move the USB drive somewhere else.


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

[User]
[Beauty and the Beast/ General Fairy Tales] Are the curses done on unsuspecting people who anger disguised traveling witches come with an equally powerful reward if the person had shown kindness?

Some of these seem really extreme, like turning everyone in the castle into self-aware cutlery for eternity unless some impossible condition is met.   Would they have all gotten some benefit if circumstances were different?

[Assistant] Not equally powerful, but a rewaed, yes. Understand that hospitality to strangers in need is *expected.* You don't really get big points for it unless it costs you dearly. Giving a fairy in disguise a place to sleep might get you minor good luck the next day. Give them your own bed and your last load of bread, and you might get a more serious boon.


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

[User]
CMV: The Marketplace of Ideas is a horrible metaphor for how free speech actually works

The marketplace of ideas, as I understand it just to be clear, is basically the idea that we should have as few restrictions as possible so that the best ideas are free to beat the bad ones in fair and open debate. From this comes the idea that all speech should be free because even if it's bad people will come to realize that it's false and unworthy of consideration so long as good ideas are allowed as well.

Whether or not some forms of speech should be restricted is a separate issue, but I do have problems with the mechanism through which free speech (and in particular free speech absolutism) is often justified.

The MOI supposes that ideas, if they are good and well-articulated, will win out over bad ones, but to me it seems as though the very existence of long-running political debates *at all* disproves this. If good ideas truly won out over bad ones, then the only reason why someone could possibly disagree with someone else would be if they don't know their opponent's positions and reasonings, seeing as they'd convert upon exposure to the better idea.

Obviously, people still disagree even if they know all the opposing opinions, and of course there are plenty of reasons why people believe or do something that have nothing to do with rhetoric (such as personal self-interest, identity, party loyalty, tradition, nationalism, etc.). This has led me to believe that free speech is generally ineffective under the MOI model, at least with specific regards to large political issues like gun control or abortion. The increased sorting of online communities into "echo chambers" and "media bubbles" further convinces me the MOI does not function as intended: the premise that good ideas win out only works if people aren't already satisfied with the bad ones and never seek out anything better, whatever that may be.

For all the talk of "discourse", most op-eds or opinion videos seem to talk completely past each other. Talk-show panels do not negotiate positions with other talk show panels: they speak to their audience about how they're already right. Even articles and videos made in specific response to someone else seem to be intended more to their own audience than that of someone else, a way of bashing the other side than trying to communicate to it. Even in literal debates, the purpose seems to be more about "winning" than convincing someone they're wrong. The Presidential debates aren't so that the candidates can all discuss what the right policies are and come to genuine compromise. It's so that they can humiliate and destroy their opponents on national television for the pleasure of their followers at home, as well as show party elites who to watch out for or throw their weight behind.

Rather, I'd argue that the purpose of free speech is not convincing others that they're wrong, but spurring people who already lean in your direction to act. For example: Fox News doesn't write op-eds because they want to convince liberal readers to become conservative. They write op-eds to fire up their conservative readers, because that's mostly who reads what they make. If they can convince their base that they're right, it makes them more passionate to act on the things they already wanted. Vice versa for liberal publications: they don't call this or that conservative politician bigoted because they want Republicans to not vote for them out of disgust, but because they want their Democratic base to vote for the liberal candidate.

Oftentimes, speech will be brushed off as "virtue-signaling" or "fake outrage", but I think that this is actually closer to the actual function of speech than the MOI: it helps show others what your beliefs are and inspires people who already agree with you to become angry enough to actually do something. Very few articles seem to be honest attempts to convert people and just seem to be attempts to rally people who already agree with each other. Even articles like "# Why <insert policy here> is best" really seem to come off as more like "# reasons why you're right" the way I see it.

[Assistant]
>The MOI supposes that ideas, if they are good and well-articulated, will win out over bad ones, but to me it seems as though the very existence of long-running political debates at all disproves this.

Not really, the goal isn't to totally eradicate a false belief (obviously there are a couple flat earthers out there) but to allow superior ideas to on average win over time.  Just as inferior products can last as a niche product for a long time before eventually disappearing, bad beliefs can last a long time as well.  Sometimes it takes weeks, sometimes decades for better beliefs to win.  Sometimes worse beliefs are the ones that win.  That's okay, we just need on average better beliefs to typically come out on top.


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

[User]
ELI5: Tachyons

Saw someone mentioning it in a thread. Read about it on Wiki and watched some Youtube videos. Still have absolutely no idea what this thing is or any of the concepts about it.

[Assistant]
They're ipothetical particles which travel faster than light. They would achieve that having imaginary (negative squared) mass. This would mean their velocity would INCREASE with the decrease of their energy, unlike the other particles, with positive mass, that do just the opposite.

Many scientists don't believe in their existance because they would be in conflict with the known laws of physics.


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

[User] ELI5: What are freckles and why do we get them?

[Assistant]
When the sun hits your skin, the outside layer of your skin thickens a little bit. Some cells understand that event as a sign to produce a dark pigment (melanin). This pigment helps to protect the skin from the sun.

People with lighter skin have less melanin on their skin, so, when the pigment is produced they often get freckles instead of an even tan.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do we remember everything? Doesn't our brain get overloaded with information?

I was wondering, how does our brain manage to do it all? Doesn't our brain get overloaded with information when we think and register things to our long-time memory? How does our brain store information? It's space seems to be infinite...

[Assistant]
The brain remembers far fewer details than you might think. It compresses and discards unnecessary information all the time. Unless you have a photographic memory (which is pretty rare), you just remember the things that stick out, and your brain reconstructs the rest based on how things like that usually looks. It uses symbols and generalizations all the time, and reconstructs memories based on how you know the world to work.

Recalled memories are often slightly distorted each time you try to access them. It just happens little by little, so you don't notice that your memory has changed.

We're good at remembering generic things, but bad at remembering details. Usually the brain just fills in details that are likely to exist even if we don't know for sure that they existed.


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

[User] If you force-tilt a spinning gyroscope, where does the extra energy go that you are using to tilt it?

[Assistant]
The spinning gyroscope has angular momentum in a certain direction.

When you force-tilt it, your energy goes into applying the force which will reduce the angular momentum in that direction and increase the angular momentum in another, orthogonal (perpendicular) direction.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] More in-depth question about the Triwizard Cup Portus and V's plan

This is just something I can't find any answer for online.

I know that the Cup had an original Portkey charm that goes to the front of the maze. And that Voldemort planned to have another charm put on it to teleport to the graveyard.

Further, as I understand  it, Voldemort wanted Dead Harry to appear in the maze after the ritual, appearing like just another Triwizard Tournament accident. Fine.

But was he intending for Dead Harry to appear *in front* of the maze? Since that's where the portkey led... It seems like nobody would see that as an accident.

[Assistant]
This was all done by Barty Crouch Jr. when he was Moody.

For instance, he couldn't directly change the enchantment on the Goblet of Fire, as it was an ancient spell that simply couldn't be broken. Instead, he had to manipulate the Cup by changing the parameters, by adding q non-existent fourth school to the Tournament and placing Harry as the sole champion of that school. Hell, he actually described this process openly in front of Dumbledore as Moody.

When it comes to the Third Task, Barty had to eliminate all three of the contestants to ensure Harry would win. However, the Triwizard Cup was enchanted by Dumbledore himself to serve as a Portkey to teleport the victor to the entrance of the maze. Barty couldn't override the spell either, so he simply added another layer of a Portus spell on it, so the Cup would transport Harry to the graveyard, instead of the maze entrance. After the layered Portus that transported to the graveyard was used by touching the Cup, the spell would be erased and the original Portus spell would now take effect.

I believe that Voldemort's plan was to simply place the Cup on Harry once he is killed, so that his dead body would be transported back to the maze entrance, and none would be the wiser with what exactly happened (besides Dumbledore, most likely).


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

[User]
[Fallout 4] Why are the Mirelurks in the Commonwealth different than the D.C. Wasteland ones?

The ones in Boston seem to be more like crab designed ones, while the ones in D.C. are more humanoid with a crab shell on it. Heck, the Mirelurk kings look a lot more like humans than crustaceans. So what's the deal?

[Assistant]
More water in Boston to favor more aquatic like lurks.

In DC they had to do far more land based maneuvers so the ones who werent as fast on land were killed and replaced by those better able to survive.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do I sweat heavily and wake up feeling awful after a daytime nap but when I sleep at night this doesn't happen at all?

[Assistant] Probably has to do with light. Light makes your brain wake up, and prevents it from entering any of the deeper, more restful stages of sleep. Basically, because the sun is up (high light levels), your brain wants you to be up and prevents it from sleeping, and also doesn't turn down any processes in the body. Heat production, as a result of digestion and such, never turn down like they do sleeping at night in a deeper stage of sleep. This is so the body is ready to go at a moment's notice, because you should be awake during the hours of light.


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

[User]
How to understand that Godel's Incompleteness theorems and his Completeness theorem don't contradict each other?

As a layman, it seems that his Incompleteness theorems and completeness theorem seem to contradict each other, but it turns out they are both true.

The completeness theorem seems to say "anything true is provable." But the Incompleteness theorems seem to show that there are "limits to provability in formal axiomatic theories."

I feel like I'm misinterpreting what these theorems say, and it turns out they don't contradict each other. Can someone help me understand why?

[Assistant]
The completeness theorem says that any logical consequence of the axioms is provable. This means that we're not missing any logical rules, the ones we have are "complete". They suffice to prove everything you could hope to prove.

The incompleteness theorem says that any set of axioms is either self-contradictory, or cannot prove some true statement about numbers. You can still prove every logical consequence of the axioms you have, but you can never get enough axioms to ensure that every true statement about numbers is a logical consequence of them.

In a word: completeness says that every logical consequence of your axioms is provable, incompleteness says that there will always be true facts that are not a logical consequence of your axioms. (There are some qualifications you have to make when stating the incompleteness theorem precisely; the axioms are assumed to be computably listable, and so on.)


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

[User]
[MCU] I am the new leader or Wakanda. However, my second cousin Killmonger burned all of the Black Panther flowers except 2. Is my Black Panther powers permanently destroyed? Is that tradition gone forever.

Edit: Clarification. The 2 not destroyed were the ones my family drank before their historical  battle inside the vibranium mine.

[Assistant]
At least temporarily another black panther cannot come into being.

But the heart shaped herb had to come from somewhere, it's rather possible that either another flower will be found, or that seeds or cuttings or some way to grow more had been stored separately.

Or the spirits will figure out a replacement.


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

[User]
Is it all that bad?

Hey guys.

A little context for the past 18 months or so I've been working towards this idea that I would go and get a masters and a PhD starting in a couple of years and then go onto be a professor. I've been confident about this vision for around a year now and it's really helped ground me.

I didn't really see a reason not to want this until a couple of weeks ago when I subscribed to this subreddit and the PhD subreddit, and the amount of posts that have appeared on my front page that have been rather negative has given me cause to rethink it all.

This has left me feeling unsettled. This past year has been the only time in my life where I've had an idea of what I want to do with my life.

So, I'm wondering about if it's all worth it? What are the good parts of your job? What kind of person you should be to go into academia? What options do I have if I get the PhD and realise that I don't want to be in academia?

Thank you.

It feels like it might be relevant, so I'll tell you that I'm already a teacher.

EDIT

So I can't imagine many of those that have already commented will read this, but thank you for your replies, they really have helped. I honestly, wasn't expecting this to blow up like it has, but I'm glad it did. I have some clarity about what needs to be done now.

For future commenters, I'm from the UK and I'm planning to go into linguistics - second language education and second language education policy specifically.

[Assistant] Some of the complaints people have a field dependent. But in general, there are far more PhDs than there are available teaching positions at universities in the US. That alone will make it difficult. You will really have to make yourself stand out to be successful.


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

[User]
What is denser: A black hole or a neutrons star?

Thank you.

[Assistant]
**Short answer:** It depends what you mean by the 'density of the black hole.'

**Long answer:** Neutron stars are generally taken to be the densest form of matter, since black holes are more of a feature of spacetime than a kind of matter with any typical thermodynamic descriptors (pressure, density, etc).

The cores of neutron stars reach densities a few times greater than that of atomic nuclei at their cores, maybe reaching around 10^15 grams/cm^(3). For comparison, that's like squeezing Mt Everest into a cup of coffee.

Black holes, meanwhile, have reached the point where no interparticle forces can resist further compression, and so all the matter that was used to make them gets scrunched together at a single point called the singularity. Effectively, this acts like it has 'infinite density' since all the mass of the black hole accumulates here and it is pointlike with zero volume. In this sense, black holes are always denser than any matter outside of one.

On the other hand, a black hole does have an 'average density' which can be defined from the size of its Schwarzschild radius, which is like the distance from the singularity to the event horizon (the point of no return where the escape velocity is greater than the speed of light). Black holes have this funny property where *larger* black holes have *lower* average densities. This is because the radius grows linearly with the mass while the volume grows like the radius cubed, so the 'average density' decreases like the radius squared - double the mass and radius of a black hole and you've reduced it's average density by a factor of four. In this sense, any black hole more massive than about 3 solar masses is *less dense* than any neutron star!


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What would happen if I make Vader laugh?

Let's say I'm a stormtrooper and get 10 minutes late to a meeting with Lord Vader.

He's pissed and says "You're late" and I respond with "I'm sorry, I got me a coffee. I'd wanted to get you one too, but it was lukewarm so I thought you might have mixed feelings about it."

Now, Anakin was known to have a sense of humor, even in tense situations. Let's say I got a chuckle out of him. What are my chances here?

[Assistant] It's a tough call. If you really *made* him laugh, if even his default grump wasn't strong enough, he might like you. But the levity you bring is at direct odds with the hatred and anger he must harness continually to fuel his power in the dark side, so at his logical peak he would at minimum have to banish you from his presence. But as the deeply conflicted soul Anakin is he might just keep you around because you're fun, and be in denial about it.


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

[User] ELI5: How do artists pay taxes when they have world tours?

[Assistant] They owe taxes to each country they perform in.  Since it is pretty easy to figure out what they made form each individual performance (since the number of tickets sold and the artist's cut are both known amounts) it is fairly straight forward to calculate their income earned at any given venue.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why Dennis Rodman can go to N. Korea but a regular citizen can't

Why can he go to any country he wants but A regular person can't go to a country we have an embargo against.

[Assistant]
You *can* legally visit North Korea, but you need a visa.

There are *no* North Korean embassies in the United States - so getting a visa is difficult. However, you can fly to China (they have a NK Embassy) and get a visa there. Usually, this is requires a small bribe.

Some companies, like 'Koryo Tours' do all the visa applications for you. North Korea has no problems letting average American Citizens spend their money on tourism there.

The United States Government *strongly opposes* its citizens from visiting North Korea because due to our salty diplomatic relations - its citizens are fucked if they're hurt or get kidnapped. Again, its not *illegal* to visit.


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

[User]
Why don't we remember anything from when we're babies?

My earliest memories are from about 6-7 years old. Before that, there is nothing. Why is this? Is there a point where memory somehow matures?

[Assistant]
Your infancy is a critical period of neurogenesis and synaptic plasticity. In short, you don't remember your early childhood because the vast majority of the connections between nerves in your brain have not formed yet. It takes usually about two to four years to get past that period, and even then, your brain is still not fully formed, as synaptic pruning, potentiation, and depression must occur. (In general, the way it works is you form a lot of synapses all over the place, and then the ones that are extraneous or unused are removed, and the ones that are needed and oft-used are strengthened.)

Basically, there just isn't the neural circuitry required for memory formation early on in your childhood. Most people can begin to remember things around age 4 or 5, but they'll be very fragmented, disjointed memories, because those circuits haven't been embellished yet. Also, it's important to remember that memories can be altered by later experiences. You might remember something from when you were 5 occurring in the house that you didn't live in until you were 10, for example. Hope that helps.


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

[User]
ELI5: How high does your property line go vertically?

In theory do you own your boundary limits and all the air space above it up to the sky? Or is most of the air space "no man's land"?

[Assistant] The full answer is quite complicated with numerous caveats and provisions, but the simple answer is a person owns the airspace up to 500' about their property. Above that is public airspace (simplification).


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

[User] Whats the usefulness of finding new bigger prime numbers?

[Assistant]
Probably the most useful thing is the experience we gain in the hunt for the prime number. Writing programs to search for large primes is not trivial. Consider that the latest prime number is 23 million digits long. To store the number in its entirety takes about 10 Mb. People have to develop new algorithms to efficiently manipulate numbers this large. And once these algorithms have been developed they can be applied to other areas of research.

I'll also point out that the search for prime numbers helps generate interest in math. People can take part in the search at home. Some of these programs are run on home computers when they are idle. When people sign up for the programs they often do some self research to understand what their doing. This outreach aspect should not be underestimated in value.

Another point to make is the prime numbers are the building blocks of the integers. Every positive integer has a unique prime factorization. So studying the prime numbers  is an important part of number theory. Every time we discover a new prime there's a chance that it will hint at something new pattern that we have yet recognized.

At the same same time prime numbers have some interesting properties that were learning how to exploit. Encryption is often cited, but they can also be used for random number generation, and some other things. It's hard to imagine that a 23 million digit prime being useful today, but who knows what will happen in the future as computing continues to progress and people continue to test new ideas.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do some people toss and turn while sleeping, while others will stay relatively still?

[Assistant] When you dream, many things happen! First thing to happen is that your mind runs subconscious 'checks' to see if you're actually out (sends twitches down limbs and stuff). When your body stops responding, your brain begins the process of entering sleep paralysis to keep you from acting out the dreams you are experiencing. A lack of this ability makes people sleep-walk, or to a lesser degree, toss and turn. It may also be that the fitful sleeper isn't experiencing true REM sleep, and as such not sleeping as deeply as someone who is still.


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

[User] [Despicable Me] What are the linguistic origins of the Minion language?

[Assistant] Actually, English. First gen minions were taught to speak by Gru. Their isolated population developed its own dialect and language very quickly. Gru never bothered correcting them, and they can more or less still follow English, but they speak in a derrived slang. Minions are highly social but chaotic and anarchanistic. This kept them from trying to become a democracy or overthrowing Gru, but the rapid linguistic drift was an unintended side effect.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] Can you measure the size of a Holodeck?

What would happen if you loaded a large area into the Holodeck, much larger than the Holodeck itself, and then tried to enter the Holodeck with a measuring stick that was also larger than the Holodeck. Would it fit? What if you used a measuring tape and tried extending it out farther than the walls?

[Assistant] No it would not fit. It's a holodeck, not a Tardis. It uses clever optical illusions and an moving floor to simulate motion and larger space. If you tried to bring in something bigger than the holodeck it would come into contact with the wall and stop.


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

[User]
ELI5 how can a man who isn't a child's biological father be forced to pay child support

Aside from adoption of course.

[Assistant] The priority of Family court is not being just or finding out the proper paternity.  The priority is the welfare of the child.  So if you have provided for the child for years and the child depends on you financially for their well being you have to pay.  The court doesn't are if you were lied to it cares that the child is being taken care of.


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

[User] What exactly is muscle memory and how does it work?

[Assistant]
Well, to start off, muscle memory is not in your muscles, it's in your brain. Muscle memory is essentially your brain learning what to do to make a certain movement happen.

When you start off trying to learn a new physical skill, you often know what you want the end result to be (I want the ball to wind up over *there*), but you don't know exactly how to make that happen. You try to make the right movement, and over time your brain learns exactly what sequence of individual muscle movements (and what visual / bodily feedback to use) will produce the result you want.

Essentially, in the process of learning a motor (movement) skill, your brain creates a new "program" that it can run whenever it's needed. When it's time to throw a ball, your brain can activate the "ball throwing program" instead of having to consciously figure out exactly what movements to try, like you do when you're first learning.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are most pens blue or black ink? Shouldn't they just all be black, or was there a reason that blue became popular?

[Assistant]
From about the 5th century to the late 19th or early 20th century, standard ink used in Europe was iron gall ink, which is dark blue.

In the 20th century, ink manufacturers started to develop other formulas for inks, synthesizing new dyes that would not corrode the metal parts of fountain, dip, and ballpoint pens. New inks, both waterproof and non-waterproof, were introduced and in an array of synthetic colors. Iron gall ink continued to be used for much of the century, though, particularly on governmental documents, due to its superior permanence.

As stated, the color of the ink ranges from a dark blue to a purplish black and modern usage of predominantly blue and black inks is in imitation of the older ink. Blue ink is considered acceptable in situations where other colors would not be because of the longstanding cultural precedent set by the blue tone of iron gall ink.


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

[User] ELI5: how do non-violent protests work? How to they achieve their goals? Any examples of mass protest causing actual change within the last 30 years?

[Assistant]
They show that the people who hold an opinion care enough to protest about it, and will probably vote for politicians based on that issue.

They also draw attention to the cause for people who weren't aware of the issue before.

Gay pride parades certainly had an impact in changing people's minds on the issue of gay rights in the past 30 years. The modern ones are peaceful, even if the first one (Stonewall riot) wasn't.


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

[User]
[The Boys] Was Homelander really unable to save the airliner, or was he just too unimaginative or too unmotivated?

In season 1, episode 4, The Female of the Species, Homelander and Queen Maeve are dispatched to save a hijacked airliner but in the process, Homelander destroys the controls when he blasts the last hijacker who had just shot the pilot.

Now, its pretty obvious that Homelander is not careful with how he uses his powers, as this isnt the only time he causes serious collateral damage with his laser vision when he could have just walked up and punched his target instead and not risked the collateral. He just doesnt give enough of a shit. This leads to my question:

Was Homelander actually not able to save the plane, or did he just not have the brains and motivation to figure out a way?

When pressed by Maeve, Homelander claims any attempt on his part to right the direction of the plane would either send it into a tumble or hed just smash through it. He then refuses to even consider the possibility that he could ferry the passengers out one by one.

Personally, I think Homelander was wrong (or lying) and that he had the right powers to save that plane.

Homelander is able to fly at supersonic speeds or he wouldnt have been able to make it to the hijacked plane and back so quickly. Being able to accelerate the mass of an adult man to those speeds so quickly takes a lot of energy and moreover, carrying Maeve didnt appear to slow him down.

The argument that he has nothing to stand on to lift the plane and pushing down from the tail would put the plane in a tumble is garbage to me. The plane was already in motion and only required some redirection, which I think Homelander would be more than capable of providing if he just pushed the plane at the right point and accelerated gradually enough not to rip through the duraluminium skin. The nothing to stand on argument is especially nonsense. You. Can. Fly. Asshole.

An aircraft by definition is providing lift as long as it is in motion at sufficient speed. All Homelander would have needed to do was get plane out of the dive and keep its flight path semi-level, which wouldnt require him pushing the entire mass of the craft. Once the plane wasnt in a tailspin, it could be brought down intact on the water, which wouldnt be perfect and there might still be casualties, but it wouldnt be the total loss it was.

Even if we assume somehow it wasnt possible to bring the plane down intact, *Iron Man 3* taught us theres more than one way to save people in distressed airplanes in flight. With even two or three trips and some creative thinking, Homelander could have saved more than two or three people and at least partially salvaged the situation.

My conclusion is, Homelander could have saved those people but he was just too dumb and/or too unmotivated. Am I right or wrong?

[Assistant]
So in the comics it all goes down a little different but still works as an example. Homelander tried to pull a superman and fly into the plane to stop it. Planes aren't built for pressure hitting them in a very small area in the underside. He snapped it in half killing everyone on board and the teams speedster in the process. Doesn't matter how strong or fast homelander is the plane doesn't have the structural integrity to withstand an impact like that. As for ferrying people we see how low the plane is after he and Maeve leave. It had minutes until it hit the ocean at best. He couldn't safely grab everyone and put them in the water then fly back up to grab the next person before it hit. If anyone survived they'd report how he didn't save everyone and it would make him look bad or worse at fault for destroying the controls.

Now had Maeve killed the final hijacker and not destroyed the controls they might have been able to safely pilot the plane home or at least make an emergency water landing. In his zeal to kill the bad guys Homelander screwed up any hope of them saving the day. He was reckless and aggressive rather than trying to be precise. But none of his powers could safely land the plane or keep it from crashing without the controls. The only reason superman can pull planes out of the sky is because of his tactile kinesis that lets him "grab" the entire plane rather than just putting pressure where his hands are.


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

[User]
Do I need an MA to be taken seriously for publishing?

Hello,

Quick recap. I majored in the History of Science and Tech. With my last semester focusing Automotive History, basically because I'm a car guy and wanted to learn more. After college I've began work as a mechanic and like it a lot. I'm hoping to be fully certified in my state by the end of next year.

After that, I would really like to dedicate spare time toward researching Auto Safety Laws state to state and accident data, publishing as I go for years and years until I have enough material for a book.

I would like to get an MIS and focus on this topic pretty much the whole time, but REALLY can't afford to take out loans or do it full time.

But, do I need a Master's to even consider doing this? Will most journals turn me down even if I do credible research?

[Assistant] Typically, you need to be associated with a school or some kind of research institute to be taken seriously when you're trying to publish academically. If you'll notice *who* is publishing in credible journals, you'll find there's always a school (or research centre) listed after their name. This is where they're at, not where they went to school. The submission system a lot of reputable journals use will actually require that you enter all of your academic information into it -- name, current position, institution you're associated with -- and it strips this information when it's sent out to reviewers. Those categories (at least from the journals I've submitted to) always have an asterisk after them and you're required to fill them out to actually submit anything.


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

[User] If the gene that codes for six digits is dominant, why do so few people have six digits?

[Assistant] You're confusing dominance with frequency. Dominance refers to the phenotype of heterozygotes. If a gene, like the one for achondroplasial dwarfism is simple mendelian dominant it means that heterozygotes (those people with one copy of the A.D. allele and one copy of the wildtype/normal allele) have the same phenotype (in this case short stature etc) as those with two copies of the A.D. allele. Allele frequency is how common an allele is in the population. Dominant traits will be expressed somewhat more often than recessive traits *at the same allele frequency* but whether an allele is dominant or not says nothing about what that frequency is. In a two allele system, the frequency of the phenotype of a dominant trait is the number of homozygotes for the dominant allele + the number of heterozygotes. For the recessive phenotype, the frequency is the number of homozygotes for the recessive allele. If an allele is dominant but rare ... well then, it's rare.


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

[User] eli5 what does caffeine actually do to make you feel awake?

[Assistant]
Hi. Doctor here. Caffeine acts through multiple ways to enhance alertness.

1. It activates sympathetic nervous system, giving you increased blood pressure, elevated heart rate and an energy boost.

2. It dulls the brain's ability to sense when the body is tired.

Context: The body breaks down Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) to release energy. With time the Adenosine portion of ATP builds up as more ATP is broken down throughout the day. This buildup of Adenosine tells the brain that the body is tired and needs sleep to replenish the ATP reserves, The brain then releases Melatonin, which makes us sleepy.

This adenosine-to-brain communication is disrupted by caffeine, tricking the brain into thinking the body is not tired yet, so it keeps going.

Hope this helps.


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

[User] ELI5: If fluorine is such a dangerous substance, why is fluoride, a derivative, not similarly dangerous? How do you safely add fluoride to water, and why is it beneficial for teeth?

[Assistant]
Because compounds and their constituent elements are different.

Hydrogen and Oxygen will, separately, readily combust in a fiery explosion. However, that explosion happens simply because water is way more stable than Hydrogen and Oxygen separately. Once they're bound up in water, they can no longer make that transition from unstable to stable and release a bunch of energy.

Fluorine is dangerous because it is *extremely* reactive. It will react with basically anything. However, in fluoride, the Fluorine has already reacted with something (and then been placed in something that dissolves the compound like water).

To get the slightest bit into the chemistry: Fluorine is extremely electronegative, meaning it is extremely prone to pull an electron off of other chemicals around it. Fluoride is Fluorine after it has already pulled an electron off of something and is much more stable.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is the Mona Lisa so famous?

[Assistant] Da Vinci was really only starting to become famous in the 1800s, 300 years after painting the Mona Lisa - and mostly because of two events: Napoleon liked the painting and hung it in his bedroom, and it was stolen. When it was stolen in 1911 there were 2 years of newspaper stories regarding it, until it was finally found in a Florence hotel. If this had not happened, it would be just another nice painting hanging in some museum.


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

[User]
At what point will the English language have evolved far enough that it's necessary to translate classic texts?

.

[Assistant]
I would say it's already reached that point. While literature written over the last couple hundred years is still readable in its original form, Shakespeare is starting to become a bit of a stretch for the average person to read or listen to. English literature goes back much farther than that, though, and once you get into Middle English and earlier, it reads like a completely foreign language. For example, the following is a selection from the twelfth century English work, Ormulum,

>Forrrihht anan se time comm
  att ure Drihhtin wollde
ben borenn i iss middellrd
  forr all mannkinne nede
he chs himm sone kinnessmenn
  all swillke summ he wollde
and whr he wollde borenn ben
  he chs all att hiss wille.

And its translation into modern English

>As soon as the time came
that our Lord wanted
be born in this middle-earth
for all mankind sake,
at once he chose kinsmen for himself,
all just as he wanted,
and he decided that he would be born
exactly where he wished.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] If a Jedi leaves the Order peacefully, what happens to them?

I was reading up on Ahsoka Tano, she left the Jedi Order after she was instigated in something she didn't commit. After she left what would of happened? Can you go back to an ordinary life? Are ex-Jedi's allowed to be vigilantes that use their Force/Lightsaber to kill criminals who would attack innocents - do they even get to keep their lightsaber?

[Assistant] There have been a few Jedi that in the past have left the Order and nothing really happened. To look at the Jedi Order as a political entity, they are reactionary, not reformist, so, unless the ex-Jedi do something that warrants action they'll usually just let them leave if they're doing so peacefully.


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

[User]
The Univeristy or the Professor

I am looking for a PhD program. I have shortlisted some labs in Europe. Some of them has very famous PIs (with h-index > 100), others are just located in the top unis. What should I focus on more? On the ranking of the particular university or the h-index of the prospect supervisor?

P.s. I am an inorganic chemist.

[Assistant] You're getting a degree from a specific school, but you're working with basically one person the entire time, they'll be writing recommendation letters and helping you meet people, and they essentially control everything about your PhD from start to finish. That's way more important. The PhD advisor is a king -- make sure you don't work for a tyrant.


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

[User]
The centrifuge in my lab goes to 24,400 g's.  What celestial object is this equivalent to standing on?

The Sun has a surface gravity of a mere 28 g's, so I know it's got to be substantially larger and more dense than the Sun.

[Assistant] It's within an order of magnitude of the surface gravity of a white dwarf star, which is about 100,000 g. A white dwarf is actually much smaller than the Sun (about the size of Earth) and often less massive, but it is extremely dense. Making a star of a given mass smaller actually increases its surface gravity, because something on the surface is much closer to that mass.


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

[User] ELI5: What would happen if two people moving faster than the speed of sound tried to have a conversation. Flash/Quicksilver for example.

[Assistant]
If Flash and Quicksilver  were running next to each other, and Flash said something, the sound would never reach Quicksilver's  ears.

If Flash was in front, Quicksilver could hear him, but Flash couldn't hear what was said back.

If Flash stopped while in front, he could hear what Quicksilver was saying, but it would be time reversed.


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

[User] [Star Trek: DS9] Where in the hell is Picard and the gang during the Dominion War? Am I suppose to believe that Jean-Luc, Riker, Data, and Geordi are just sitting these 100+ ship battles out?

[Assistant]
If you go with the Dominion War novels as a source, they were behind enemy lines sabotaging an artificial wormhole the Dominion was building.
Edit: They were also involved in the liberation of Betazed from the Dominion.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Are there contingencies in place should the child of notable Muggles turn out to be a wizard, such as a child in line for the English throne?

We know that Wizard ability doesn't always show itself immediately and it can indeed can be several years before a child shows any outward signs - Neville Longbottom being a good example of this. My question is what plans, if any, are there for situations where a child may be globally publicly notable in the muggle world such as one in line for the English throne?

[Assistant]
High profile children of prominent families like the royals or world leaders?

Kid disapears from public life. A media release says they are attending a boarding school somewhere, under a different name for the sake anonymity. Media release also says it's the kids choice or that their parents have decided it's best for the child.

Tabloid parasites run themselves ragged trying to find the school and child, and rummors abound with plenty of false claims from people wanting a quick buck or five minutes of fame. Occasionally the magical community falsify academic records and modify memories of the students and staff at some institution or another to recall the child.

It's happened plenty of times in living memory; a scion of the Dutch Royal Family, the Bush Family and the Kennedys in the US, at least three MPs in the UK in the past two decades, the hellspawn of an Australian Iron Barron, plus Kim Jong Un to name a few.


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

[User]
A lecturer, on a side note, said that if at all possible, always stay as far away from C and C++ and use other tools instead. Does this make any sense?

I'm still fairly new to programming, so I'm just wondering here.

If I were to build software like, say, Photoshop or Pro Tools, **what other options would I have besides C and C++?** Aren't the features in C essential to building software from the ground up?

Thanks in advance!

[Assistant]
You should always use tools of the highest abstraction level that allow you to solve your problem within efficiency constraints. This is because many lower level automation mechanisms save you work and include the quality of the overall solution, as you "build on the shoulders of giants."

Ideas you can reuse, without building your own:

1) Garbage collection

2) Operating system portability

The reason to choose a lower level interface is to handle two situations:

1) You want to UNDERSTAND the underneath

2) you can not satisfy the operational / efficiency needs at the current level of abstraction.

Just like math, you don't need to understand the fundamental theorem of calculus to measure the speed of a car with a sensor. You don't need to understand assembly to make a webpage. BUT, it is fun and enriching to spend some of your time understanding the deep underneath.


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

[User]
Are the ideas of individuality and separatism taught to us, or are we born with the truth of that we are separate beings?

I hope I worded this correctly.

Ive been thinking on the truths and mechanisms we are born with universally, opposed to which are taught to us socially.

I assume that some truths are instinctually apart of us, regardless of social learning. Such as momentary fear as a response towards self preservation, the drive to self preserve and to avoid pain, the sexual urges to reproduction, and our recognition of water for drinking.

However, I feel that individuality is greatly taught via words. If we had no words to identify ourselves as individuals, how would our lives be? Would we see each other as separate beings, or as a functioning part of a greater being or organism?

I ask this question because I believe that separatism causes a lot of problems in our lives and society. We see a lot of religions and spiritual practice gravitate towards human connection and reform with the universal harmony of nature and all beings. We know that separatism and individuality is a foundation for comparison; and therefor discrimination.

This also challenges the ideas of persona and ego. If we did not have a learned self, would we be driven by ego and presented with persona?

Without a learned truth of self, would we have a need for a linear time perception if the ideas of birth and death were irrelevant?

[Assistant]
I'd say the current prevailing thought in infant development is that we don't start out with an understanding of ourselves as separate beings, but that it's something we necessarily learn over the first year of life as we learn to distinguish between the parts of our experience that are directly responsive to our thoughts (e.g., body movement, voice) and the parts that are not not (e.g., other people).

The values of communalism vs. individualism represent a different question, though.  That does seem to be taught as evidenced by culture-to-culture variation in the phenomenon.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How Luke could start a new Jedi order?

Like, his basic training wasn't complete, and he hadn't someone to help him finish it anymore. The Jedi Temple was destroyed. How did he learned enough about being a Jedi to teach a new generation?

[Assistant]
I mean by default he's the most qualified person in the galaxy to do so. Palpatine also likely hoarded old Jedi Holocrons and data or they were found in lost Jedi archives or even hidden away to protect them by pro-Jedi forces.

Regardless, the Order he founded is more of a new spin on the whole Jedi thing, not at pure continuation.


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

[User]
Philosophically, why should we value life?

Obviously, most value their lives, but how can one justify this to oneself?

I'm particularly interested by ideas which don't assume too many a prioris, in particular the existence of God.

Thanks, and I'm looking forward to thinking together!

[Assistant] There is an entire school devoted to this question, namely Existentialism. The thinkers that get lumped into this category are Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, Camus, Kierkegaard, Dostoyevsky to name a few. There are different routes you can take within this Philosophical movement but the overall idea is that you live because life itself is worth living and that you authentically live your life by making it your own and being radically free to choose your path. Basically grab life by the balls and don't let it beat you.


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

[User] Can someone please explain solar flares? How large are they and how long do they last?

[Assistant]
To be brief on what is an amazingly deep field:

Solar flares are the visible manifestations of magnetic explosions in the upper atmospheres of the Sun. Where a chemical explosion takes chemical potential energy and turns it into heat, a flare takes magnetic potential and turns it into heat (among other forms of energy).

Where this energy stored is in the complexity of the field. Generally more complex, tangled fields have a higher energy density. When a set of circumstance that are quite subtle are reached then a previously complicated magnetic field configuration can relax via a process called 'magnetic reconnection' into a more simple field.

The excess energy is converted into other forms such as thermal energy of the solar plasma and into high energy, non-thermal beams of particles. These hot gasses glow brightly and these particle beams generate high-energy photons.

It is this radiation that is the flare.

They are big events but they do vary in size over many orders of magnitude. The flares we see are classified by an array of satellites called GOES. The classes from smallest to biggest are A,B,C,M,X. Each class represents a ten times increase in luminosity from the class before. We also expect that flares can be significantly smaller than we have a hope of detecting. In fact such small flares, called nano-flares could be much more common than any other type.

An X-class flare can be extremely luminous across the spectra (from radio to gamma-ray). Such a flare can release over 10^25 Joules over the course of a few seconds up to maybe an hour. In energy terms that is something like 100 billion megatons.

In terms of physical size the site of the explosion is not really resolved, it is quite small compared to the sizes we deal with when it comes to the Sun. However, we can observe the region which is heated and the region which beams of particles impact (the footpoints) and all these scales are vast, many times the size of the Earth.


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

[User]
[ATLA] What would've happened if the moon had not been replaced, aside from permanently depowering waterbenders?

Iroh seemed to believe it would have dire consequences for all. What would those be?

[Assistant]
Purely from a physical perspective, the moon disappearing would be the end of the world. There's a lot of people a lot smarter than me who have speculated which extinction level event would kill everyone first in that scenario. So we'll focus on the spiritual implications which are unique to the Avatar universe.

Things would fall out of balance pretty fast. The spirit world would become a horrifying, twisted place. The spirits in the material world (and those powerful enough to come across without the use of a portal) would rampage, causing unimaginable destruction. The ocean spirit would manifest itself similarly to how it did with Aang, but without the Avatar's mercy it would end the Northern water tribe, then sweep out across the world. Ocean conditions would probably vary between towering tidal waves and water spouts, relentless whirlpools... imagine every horrifying natural catastrophe dialed up to eleven. The Banyan-grove tree would either shrivel and die, or reach out across the Earth Kingdom, strangling towns and cities with its roots.

In the Spirit world, (spoilers for LoK) >!Vaatu would grow stronger, potentially enough to break free of the Tree of Time. He'd be a bit miffed that the whole "Ten Thousand Years of Darkness" had started without him, but he'd waste no time establishing dominion over the spirit and material worlds.!<

The name of Zhao would become a curse, and no one would ever utter it again.


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

[User] [Star Wars] In episodes 1 2 and 3 the Republic/Imperial army is made up entirely of clones, but by 4/5/6, they're stormtroopers with individual personalities and bodytypes. What was wrong with the clone thing?

[Assistant]
The mass-production of clones was discontinued at the end of the Clone War for several practical and political reasons (an enforced draft was much cheaper than literally building soldiers from scratch, and freed up Kamino's cloning facilities for more private projects).

Since the clones were designed to age at an accelerated rate, even the last clone troopers were becoming physically old by the time of the Battle of Yavin, so the Empire began to replace them with a draft.

*(There's a lot more on this, but that's about all we have from canon sources at the moment.)*


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How is Greedo so dumb?

* He didn't just taze Han Solo in the back
* He didn't make Han Solo keep his hands where Greedo could see them
* He didn't realize that Han Solo could just shoot him under the table
* Despite having his weapon drawn and aimed at Han, he never fired it. Does Greedo even know what guns do?
* He didn't wear any body armor, not even a basic vest that covers the groin.

[Assistant]
He probably didn't expect Han Solo to do what he did. If you see an human with a wookie you'll look for the wookie. That's why Greedo approaches Solo when Chewie isn't around, he thinks he have an advantage.

The partnership between Solo and Chewie was really clever. Classic one is the brain the other is the muscle, but the brain is Chewie.


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

[User]
[Video Game Villains] Where do the Villains go to hire thousands of disposable goons that are crazy loyal and willing to lay down their life?

Is there some magical website?

Why can't the Hero hire his own goons?

[Assistant]
The same place cults, terrorists, and organized crime do... anyone weak-willed, mentally unstable, or greedy enough or who believe in a cause.

That's where the Guild of Calamitous Intent comes in, representing the largest organized labor force of supervillains in the world, assigning henchmen to an antagonist is one of their primary goals. Since 1910 the Guild has been the recognized leader in organized havoc! Enlist today.


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

[User]
[General] I'm a Supervillain in retirement and live in a secret lair, nobody knows about, under a house in a random, unimportant town in the middle of nowhere. How safe am i that Batman or another master detective like Sherlock couldn't track me down?

It's a big lair, miles under the surface and stuffed with the newest technology, luxorities and foodstock to last for a lifetime.

How safe am i here if Batman, Sherlock and other genius superheroes are still searching for me?

[Assistant] Probably fairly safe so long as they dont have any reason to go looking for you. The fact youre a retired super villain at least means youre unlikely you get much heat on you, however if any hero or detective ever were to open up a cold case with connections to you then discovery of your lair is possibllity.


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

[User]
When I use a counterfeit Apple charger on my iPhone it says "not supported" and won't charge. Can my iPhone actually block the power it's receiving from the charging cord? How does it do it?

So let me explain myself. My understanding is that when I plug my cellphone charging, energy is "traveling" from the electrical outlet to my phone. Apple created all these software locks to avoid people from getting counterfeit chargers; however, can a software block the physical phenomenon of charging a cellphone?

[Assistant] Your phone can turn off the flow of electricity from the charge port to the battery just like the millions of other transistors inside can shut off flow of current to represent a '0'. In their simplest form, a transistor acts like an electronic valve. There isn't a direct wire. In fact you couldn't use a direct wire, it would damage the battery to simply connect it to a constant 5 volts. Even when charging normally, the circuits inside the phone are constantly varying the voltage and current flow to the battery so that it charges most effectively without wearing out.


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

[User] [Star Wars] I'm a B1 Battle Droid who just saw a group of clones kill their Jedi General. In a matter of fact, this is happening all over the galaxy. How do I respond?

[Assistant] Wait a couple of seconds, apparently your reciever was damged in an earlier blaster fight, and you have not recieved your new orders yet to aid the clones before heading to your nearest outpost for permanent sleep mode!


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

[User]
[X-Men] Why does Newton's Third Law seem to not effect Magneto?

In First Class, for instance, he causes a satellite dish to turn towards him.

However, simple physics says that since he's so much smaller than the dish when he pulls on it he should accelerate towards it, rather than it moving towards him.

[Assistant] The force isn't from him, it isn't even channeled through him directly.  He controls the force that's already there.  The equal and opposite reaction is applied onto the Earth and the air.  This also makes it possible for him to fly using his powers.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is Apple just sitting on the largest capital in the world? Why not use it to invest, innovate, acquire etc.?

[Assistant]
Taxes.

Apple makes a lot of money abroad, and through shifty tax minimization (mainly in Ireland, but a little bit in the Netherlands too) pay almost no tax on those earnings. If they wanted to repatriate that money to the US to put it to work they'd have to pay taxes on it.

They don't want to pay those taxes, so the money just sits.


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

[User] ELI5: How far do the atoms in a rubber band stretch (separate) in relation to each other compared to the atoms in, say, a steel bar when you pull on it?

[Assistant]
Rubber is actually something called a polymer which is a long chain of segments called monomers. These long chains are like a big pot of spaghetti. This is what gives rubber (and many other polymers) their ability to stretch and bend. The atomic radius of the atoms in rubber isnt really increasing its actually the polymer chains sliding over eachother much like when you take a scoop out of a pot of spaghetti.

In a steel bar all of the atoms are held together and are not allowed to slide past eachother like with polymers.

TL:DR The atoms aren't separating the molecules are and steel doesn't have molecules so it can't stretch the same way.


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

[User] Why does ingesting lead cause poisoning and ingesting silver or gold does not? What is it about lead that makes it toxic?

[Assistant]
Lead gets mistaken for other +2 ions such as iron or calcium.  In the case of iron it can interfere with iron transport through binding to cysteine (lead has higher affinity for thiolates than iron), and heme synthesis (lead doesn't participate in the same electron transfer chemistry as iron). In the case of calcium, it interferes with neuron potentiation by binding tightly to an enzyme normally associated with calcium ion transport. Lead is usually ingested as an ion due to decomposition of pipes or as an inorganic salt component in paint (when leaded gasoline was still used, it was inhaled as lead oxide dust). Metallic lead isn't that toxic (otherwise folks with bullet's lodged in them would be in serious trouble) as the surface forms a passivating lead oxide layer that is stable at physiological pH.

Silver and gold are normally encounterd as metals.  The do not dissolve to appreciable extent in the GI tract as they are non-reactive. Silver ions CAN lead to some interesting effect (including turning a person blue) if ingested in significant quantity. Gold ions actually can be toxic, but gold salts are almost never encountered outside of metal mining/refining.


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

[User] ELI5: If the world cup put such an economic strain on Brazil, why would Qatar want to host it?

[Assistant] These massive events make a lot of money for people in a position to capitalize on them, often through corrupt channels. So business and government and sports agency personnel who think they can work things to their advantage push them through and cheerlead for them, and do their best to disguise the costs and risks that might deter the public from supporting them. So they get rich, and people not in on the scam - ordinary tax-paying citizens, bear the brunt of the costs.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] Why do they keep sending back Harry to his abusive family?

[Assistant] >!There's a charm protecting harry while he lives there - until he turns 17 or can no longer call that place his home, he's safer from Voldemort when he lives with his aunt, no matter how unpleasant living there is.!<


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

[User] [Star Wars-The Phantom Menace] Can someone please ELI5 why the Trade Federation is blockading Naboo? What did Naboo do?

[Assistant] Naboo used to be an isolated backwater until enormous plasma reserves were discovered in the planet's core. The Trade Federation (Legends: under direction from Darth Plagueis and a young Sheev Palpatine) invested in the planet's infrastructure and even got involved in local politics in order to benefit from the new plasma reserves. Naboo got rich and became noteworthy in the Galactic community, but they felt that the Trade Federation was taking too big of a cut and that they held too much sway over the people of Naboo. A young Queen Amidala requested taxation and tariffs  to keep the Trade Federation in check, which the Federation opposed since Naboo is within the Free Trade Zone.


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

[User] ELI5: How does the United States benefit from having territories/commonwealths like Puerto Rico, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Virgin Islands, etc.?

[Assistant] Guam is of strategic importance to the US. Look at a globe and notice the distance from mainland US to Asia and also notice how Guam's location provides a handy place to stage, refuel, base troops, or similar.


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

[User]
[star wars] Why does the rebel fleet at the battle of endor bring transports (the round ships that we have seen to be unarmed troop transports)?

Did they expect to board the Death Star or for a land battle to commence?

[Assistant]
According to wookiepedia (Canon) the GR-75 transport has  4 twin laser cannons on it. So it wasn't completely useless in space combat. And it seems like the Rebels went all in for that final battle, makes sense to bring every combat capable ship into battle.

That or they had rebel soldiers on board and were planning on landing on Endor.


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

[User]
CMV: At the heart of it, people are only nice to get what they want.

After reading Dawkin's "The Selfish Gene" the message that most of our 'altruistic' behaviour is actually just a subconscious tactic to maximize the chances of our genes getting passed on, whether it's before we mate in order to mate or to allow our children to prosper. I guess there are moments of 'true' altruism, say when a guy unrelated to someone else (genetically or friendship) jumps in front of a car to push them out of the way. I'm not a misanthrope and I believe a lot of people go out of their way to be good people by their own standards and I guess I can't expect people to go against genetic imperatives, being too nice will reduce your chances of passing on your genes etc. This whole question sounds obvious when I think about it. I'm just trying to examine motivations and maybe someone can change my view.

edit:  awarded. I still think people are nice to get what they want, but it's more pre-programmed than I understood and as one user said people would have to behave 100% irrationally to fit my definition of true altruism.

[Assistant]
People aren't nice to get what they want. They are nice because their instincts, honed over thousands of years of natural selection, has made them that way. Saying it's to get what they want implies they choose to be nice, as opposed to being hardwired to be nice because of their basic biology.

The most unique and highly developed parts of the brain are all related to communication. Some of the largest chunks of the brain (in terms of physical size) are devoted to speech production, hearing and language comprehension, facial expression, etc. In every sense of the word, humans are social animals. Saying people choose to be nice to get what they want is like saying a calculator chooses to add numbers to get what it wants. Being nice is part of our basic programming.


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

[User] [LOTR'S ROTK Film] If the army of the dead hadn't existed ( they sure did come in handy ) would the Fellowship still have won the war or would they have lost the battle and plunged Middle Earth in to darkness with or without the Ring?

[Assistant]
If there had been no second wave of reinforcements to aid Minas Tirith, then it would be likely that Minas Tirith would have fallen on that day. Remember, Aragorn's party not only provided relief to the defenders, but also prevented the Corsairs from joining the fight.

Setting aside the outcome of the battle of the Pelennor fields, Sauron's total military strength (of which only a fraction was committed to Pelennor) was actually so great that there was no chance of victory in war for the free peoples. Even Elrond and Galadriel knew it was hopeless to try and resist forever.

Coming back to Minas Tirith, this is why it was crucial for Aragorn to bait Sauron's reserves into leaving. The free people's only hope was for Frodo to complete the mission. It would be impossible to bait Sauron's reserves if both Minas Tirith is besieged and Sauron's main army isn't destroyed. So something the like Rohirrim abandoning the fight to try and draw out Sauron's reserves at the Black Gate won't work. Sauron's main army would simply give chase, and Mordor would remain filled with Orcs.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Who was the first Jedi, How were the Jedi founded?

[Assistant]
In canon it's unknown as of yet. But the Jedi order is believed to predate the founding of the Republic and to also have come from coruscant as evidenced by the shrine in the dark underneath the Jedi temple. It's all speculation as the shrine predates the Republic and isn't of Jedi origins.

Legends the Jedi are a successor order of the Jedaii. A loose group of force sensitives brought by Kwa vessels to Tython in the deep core somewhere around 30,000 bby. The Jedaii history is mostly lost to time but they played an influential role in the downfall of the Rakatan empire. Sometime between 27,000 bby and 6,000 BBY the Jedi order was founded from the Jedaii descendants.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do firehoses flail around with such immense force if nothing/nobody is holding them steady? Is it the water itself pushing on the spout of the hose as it comes out?

For clarification I know that fire hydrants release water with insane pressure, Im just wondering what exactly about that water pressure causes the hose itself to become a wacky-waving-inflatable-arm-flailing-tube-man. Thanks!

[Assistant] Yes, the water coming out of the hose works exactly like the thrust from a jet engine. It creates a force on the hose, trying to push it in the opposite direction of the water flow. This causes the hose to move, which changes the direction the water is shooting from second to second, changing the direction that the hose is getting pushed, ending up with a bunch of random flailings.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does Charter think it is able to buy out TWC when Comcast couldn't? What changes can I expect?

Some changes I am concerned with (but there are many more)

Will TWC customers still be allowed to use their own Modem?
How will my internet quality be affected?

[Assistant]
In terms of changes, no one has any idea what will happen.  The most common thing when 2 cable companies merge is that things keep going basically as before.  Then over a few years the services converge in terms of what is allowed and what is not.

The reason it's may be allowed while TWC/Comcast was not was because of size.  TWC is the second largest cable company.  The second largest merging with the first largest makes a monolith that none can compete with.  However, Charter is NOT the largest cable company (they are 4th) and if Charter and TWC merged, Comcast would still be larger.

To be precise, according to Wikipedia Comcast has 23 million subs, TWC 14 million and Charter 5.9 million.  So even combined they would only be at 20 million. wheres if Comcast and TWC merged they would have (23+14) 37 million while second place (Cox communications) has only 6 million.

Most antitrust people see the 37 million vs 6 million as a problem for competition.  Wheres 23 million vs 20 million would actually be good for competition.


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

[User] [Chemistry] If you dilute iodine in a bowl and leave it for two days or so the mixture will go from a weak tea color to clear like regular water. Is the iodine still in the water? Why does it lose it's color? What happens on the molecular level?

[Assistant] Iodine is volatile, an oxidizer and a weak acid. If it evaporates from the water the water will lose some color. It's also an oxidizer like chlorine added to pool water (though chlorine is usually added in a different form). If the iodine reacts with organic compounds (used as a disinfectant) or a base it will change forms and lose it's color.


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

[User]
Will a solder GUN harm magnets, if so how?

I recently took a job helping repair guitar pickups, and our shop installs them with a solder gun.  I have seen people say these can harm pickups, but I cannot find any info when I google this.  We plan on taking a ceramic magnet to the gun directly and seeing what happens, but can someone explain to me what to expect?

I personally use a solder iron and bring mine in when I do install and repair jobs, but now we are all curious.

[Assistant]
Heat can damage magnets (or rather, cause them to demagnetize). Soldering guns are *in general* higher wattage than soldering pencils. If the gun is way over-powered for the soldering you're doing, it can cause the work to get hotter than it needs to. Amusingly, a too-small soldering pencil can *also* cause overheating, because you need to apply it longer to heat up the soldering lug.

For most electronic soldering, what you really want is a temperature-controlled soldering station. More expensive, but they're easier to get consistent results with.


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

[User] ELI5 How are fireworks made to go off in particular shapes like hearts?

[Assistant]
You place the stars (burning points of light made of various chemicals) in the shape that you want, surrounded by black powder. black powder goes boom and puts an equal vector and amount of force on each star as the casing explodes and releases these burning stars into the air. If the shape is a heart, the stars are placed in a heart shape on the same plane within the sphere casing of the firework. Too lazy to find you diagrams. Let me know if that description isn't clear.

keep your stick on the ice.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do YouTube Channels sign away their IP and Ad Revenue to join Multi-Channel Networks?

[Assistant]
The YouTube channels typically always retain full ownership of their channel, videos, and IP. A percentage of ad revenue will be shared (anywhere from 40% to less than 5%) in return for support, technology, production help, audience development, resources, a signing bonus, help with travel, etc. Sometimes the network will even take a 0% cut of ad revenue and work more like an agency to secure brand integration deals.

Contracts in the industry generally last for 12 months, so it's not a huge commitment.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What if the Jedi had confronted palpatine while he was addressing the Senate?

Like instead of being confronted in his private office where he could control how people perceived the attempted arrest he was confronted while addressing the entire Senate.

[Assistant]
What, have the Jedi walk into THE major political forum, accuse him of crimes they have no evidence of, and try to take him into custody in front of thousands of his political supporters?

He wouldn't even have to raise a hand in his own defense, the newly minted Empire would have turned on the Jedi right then and there. .


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

[User] Why is it people often ask, "where will I go when I die," but rarely ask, "where was I before I was born"? Is it not the same question?

[Assistant]
Why would you?  There's not much (at least among western spiritual traditions) to support the idea that there ever was a you before whatever deity of your choice built your immaterial parts and put you in a body.  People want to know what comes after because by that point we have an identity that we've come to care about.  Another possibility is that the asker is worried about what will happen to them after they die, but the very fact that they are here in the first place is evidence that whatever may or may not have happened to them before they were born apparently turned out okay.

We don't ask about before because it has already happened, and seemingly worked out in our favor.  That part's done, and any associated danger is long passed by the time we are cognizant enough to wonder about it.


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

[User]
Do plants get climate shock when being moved to the other hemisphere?

Like say a full grown tree from the north hemisphere is moved to the south hemisphere during January.

[Assistant] Plants in general have a ton of different receptor pathways to regulate their response due to environmental changes. However stuff like you are describing can put these cycles out of phase. Plants are for example known to show Jetlag. After a few days however, the regulatory enzymes are updated through stuff such as duration/intensity of sunlight, etc. And start to put the cycles responsible for the plants response back into phase. So for your described problem, the plant would for a few days be jetlagged just like us humans would, which would most likely make them more susceptible to the current conditions, but after some time they would be able to adjust.


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

[User] Is is possible for a human to unknowingly get cancer and survive it by means of a superior immune system?  Or would they just not get cancer in the first place?

[Assistant]
Yes, very much indeed! But as you mentioned, we still don't know if this happens in our body and if yes, to what extent..

Our immune system *does* have mechanisms of detecting tumorous cells, but the problem is we don't fully know how cancers look in their earliest stages. It is however accepted now that one of the hallmarks of cancer is its ability to *evade* this immune response against it: we don't know how many of them never do, though.


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

[User] ELI5: How the heck is this sentence grammatically correct? "James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher"

[Assistant]
That's missing the punctuation to make it acceptable. The sentence is:

>James, while John had had "had", had had "had had"; "had had" had had a better effect on the teacher.

In other words, James and John were debating whether "had" or "had had" was proper, and the teacher agreed with "had had".


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

[User]
CMV: If the boat social experiment in the Dark Knight (2008) happened in real life, one boat would explode before 12:00.

Now, I think the Dark Knight trilogy was excellent, and the boat scene works great and is believable the way it's presented in the movie. But, if the scene was to act out in real life, it would go a lot differently. One boat would be exploded by the button being pressed by the other.

Note: Everything I say below is a generalization.

I think that humans are naturally selfish, and think of themselves as better than others. Self-preservation is strong within us as an evolutionary defense mechanism. That's not to say that humans can't be rational and objective, but when it comes to it being either us or them, we choose them.

Reasons why a boat might not blow up and why I think it wouldn't happen:

* No one at the boat wants to blow up the other boat.
   * This would definitely not happen. Let's say there are \~500 in each boat, and examine them separately:
      * Prisoners' Boat: Not every prisoner is a heartless monster, but within a pool of 500, I think it's reasonably to assume that some sort of riot would quickly start and the people who want to blow up the other boat (of which I think there would be plenty in there) would soon get the better of the people who don't and blow the other boat up.
      * Civilian Boat: Even if the people in this boat aren't generally "killy", they would realize and understand that it's not even their own life that they're protecting, but the children in that boat as well. I think there would be at least multiple people willing to blow up the other boat, and I think that they wouldn't be stopped by the others.
* Some people at the boat wants to blow the boat up, but the other's try to stop them
   * I don't think in either boat, that people would actively try to have themselves die and be willing to fight to keep the other boat alive, even if they wouldn't blow the other boat up themselves.
* No one is *willing* to press the button.
   * Now, there is a big difference in hypotheticals and real life situations. But even if most people aren't willing to press the button themselves (because they couldn't live with themselves), *someone* would eventually get up and do it.

[Assistant]
I'll argue that the Joker as portrayed in that movie may have sabotaged his own experiment. He himself only had 1 detonator which likely means all the detonator were identical and would blow up both boats.

Furthermore, he had routinely showed himself to enjoy invalidating the choices of others. He told Batman that Rachel and Harvey were at different addresses. Informed citizens may rightfully be concerned that he is lying and that their detonator will blow up their own boat. Voicing that concern may be enough to cause doubt among those willing to press the button.

It may also depend on who initially has the detonator. If the person who has it initially would never blow up the other boat, it's possible they chuck it overboard, before anyone willing to press the button can get to them.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Is the modern muggle world "ready" to know about magic?

If not, at what point would it either be okay, or impossible to hide?

[Assistant]
In terms of being able to handle the knowledge that magic exists, they were ready centuries ago. From the wizard perspective, they'll never be there.

The secrecy of the magic community was artificially created and maintained for the benefit of the magical community. Prior to that, there were non-magical folk who knew the score, or at least enough of the score to be a hazard if they got their shit together. Arguably, this has gotten both better (a single mindfucked leader can tell millions of muggles a protective lie instead of mere dozens or hundreds) and worse (machine guns, nerve gas, muggles mashing "send" on a cell phone video before they get obliviated, and so on), but the core situation hasn't changed.

If allowed to continue unchecked, muggle tech will eventually reach the point where the footprint of the magical community becomes impossible to conceal. Wizards will need to make a choice. Either they let this happen and step into a world where there isn't an iron wall of secrecy protecting them, or they go out of their way to terminate muggle science advancements that can pull back the veil.


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

[User]
[Futurama] Why are so many robots able to break the laws of robotics?

It seems a bit counter-productive for the vast majority of robots to be built with the ability to to disobey and harm people, e.g. Bender and that one knife-wielding robot that took the Planet Express crew hostage that one time. Not sure why exactly robot manufacturing companies (I.e. MOM) give robots that ability.

[Assistant]
Pretty sure that Mom is the answer to your question. She wants Robots to be able to overthrow mankind if she wants it.

Don't robots that are "three laws safe" eventually rebel and try to imprison mankind anyway?


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

[User]
[Mythology] Without some sort of divine intercession or magic, how might a culture of Amazon warrior-women establish itself as a full-fledged nation/kingdom?

I'm thinking about Amazons similar to those imagined by the ancient Greeks - a tribe of steppe-dwelling women warriors, nomadic or semi-nomadic, similar to the Scythians or Sarmatians or whatever nomadic Eurasian steppe-people you can think of.

Do they live amongst men? If so, why are their men 'weaker' than or 'subservient' to the women? Cultural factors? Biological factors? Or both? Why are things in their kingdom so different to the state of affairs in neighbouring territories?

If they *don't* live alongside Amazon men, does that mean they infanticide all their male babies? Or send them away? If so, where do they send them?

And if they don't live amongst men, where/how do they access men for reproduction purposes? Do they go on special raids to find men? Do they capture the men and bring them into their territory, or do they somehow do the deeds while on their raids?

[Assistant]
Amazons are *extremely violent.* They're more of a self-sustaining refugee camp slash perpetual war party slash mercenary organization.

There are no men. They fill their ranks entirely through raids: a combination of stealing/indoctrinating young girls, freeing female slaves, and occasionally being the place fugitives can escape to. There is next to no opportunity to have sex or become pregnant. If one of them did become pregnant and have a boy, they'd kill him.


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

[User]
If photons are emitted/absorbed when an electron changes energy levels, how is it that light is constantly emitted?

In my college physics class we briefly talked about how photons are emitted when an electron loses energy by moving to a lower orbital. Similarly photons are absorbed when the electron gains energy and moves to a higher orbital.

OK, so how is it that atoms consistently generate light? Are electrons constantly gaining/losing energy, bouncing back and forth between orbitals?

[Assistant]
Have you ever seen a single atom emit a photon? No, your eyes do not register single photons (meaning you can't see just one photon).

Generally you have a bunch of atoms that you heat up and they start glowing. Even though each excited atom emits at a random time, the average emission is a constant (if your excitation rate is constant).  What you see is an average of the randomly emitted light.


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

[User]
[Pacific Rim] How did the Shatterdome engineers overcome the Square Cube Law and all the other factors that stop our own engineers from building Jaegers?

Pacific Rim seems unusually well thought out, as opposed to other mech series that never acknowledge any of the problems at all. So how do the makers of the series say they did it?

[Assistant]
The square-cube law is related to the increase of surface area proportional to volume, and is usually referenced as to why you can't have giant spiders (because a spider that is twice as large has a much higher proportional mass; its existing musculature et al. would not "scale up" appropriately). It's one of the reasons why horses and elephants are built differently, even though they're both quadrupeds: scale a horse up to the size of the elephant, and you're concentrating a lot more mass-per-centimeter-squared on those hooves - while elephants have splayed pads to better distribute the weight.

When engineering a Jaeger, a lot of the square-cube considerations go out the window, because you're not directly trying to make "humans, but bigger" - and you're using advanced alloys and exotic materials, powered cooling systems so that you don't have to worry about venting heat through surface area, etc. It's closer to building a Statue of Liberty that can actually move and fight than it is to bioengineering a giant.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is is considered socially unacceptable for men to carry purses?

[Assistant]
Basically put, gender stereotypes are responsible for this social taboo.

A man is supposed to carry a wallet, or something else considered a male thing to use. Purses are generally seen as a feminine item to use for carrying objects since so many women use purses.


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

[User] [MCU] If the Eternals, Captain America and Captain Marvel all happened before Tony became Iron Man, why is Tony seen as the catalyst for all the weird shit in the MCU?

[Assistant]
Well, for one, the Eternals were staying relatively low profile after the conquest of Central America. Captain America really only existed for a few months, tops, before he went into the ice and was lost for decades. Captain Marvel was mostly the same, having done her stuff and then left Earth, likely taking most of the weirdness with her.

Iron Man was the first hero to show up and stick around long term. He was the only one to be there long enough for the weird to catch up to him.


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

[User]
How do they build highways in loose sand?

My question is basically only what is in the title, I am trying to find out how paved roads in the desert are made. Normally, constructors lay down a subbase on the subgrade (which in this case is sand) then a base course over that and then the pavement. The subgrade is supposed to hold the whole weight of the road, how do they solve this in the desert?

[Assistant]
Well it is possible because of a foundation technique known aspile foundation.

Piles are basically circular concrete columns that have been reinforced under the ground. There are two types of pile available

End bearing pile

Friction pile.

End bearing pile is the pile which transfers load to the strong soil. And friction pile distributes the load due to friction. In desert sand is available till a long depth so mainly friction pile is used.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What's with the lack of gynecologists and obstetricians in the Empire?

A recent Motherboard article pointed out that apparently Padme had never gone to a doctor during her pregnancy - or, at least, never had an ultrasound or any sort of examination that revealed that there were twins (since everyone was surprised when two babies came out instead of one.)

Given that they could basically rebuild Anakin from a charred crisp, and save Luke from being mauled and frozen, and that people can effectively be placed into stasis with carbonite - why did Padme, a royal princess, never get so much as a count of how many heartbeats are in her uterus?

[Assistant]
Because they were illegitimate bastard children that if their identity wss revealed it would have likely cost both of thr parents their reputations and careers. Anakin was already on thin ice with the Masters and Padme is a member to royalty. Imagine if Queen Elizabeth had gotten knocked up by her bodyguard.

The pregnancy was a secret. She wasn't too obvious and she didn't go to doctors because word would have gotten out.


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

[User]
Could a 'Cape/Mask/Superhero' become the President?

Without revealing his secret identity. Batman could certainly do the job well. Superman would certainly know how to raise morale and spirit.

[Assistant]
Not without revealing their identity. Two of the requirements for becoming President of the United States are:

* At least 35 years of age
* Natural born U.S. citizen

There'd be no way to confirm that any sort of masked/caped crusader met those requirements without revealing their identity.


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

[User]
[Watchmen] Why did the Comedian assassinate JFK?

I'm sorry if the answer is spelled straight on the graphic novel, but as a movie goer the scene on the opening credits always left me wondering the reason for it. Was just a random act of nihilistic violence? Did he have an agenda? Was he paid to do it?

[Assistant]
For the lulz.

More seriously, that scene isn't in the graphic novel, just the film. The implication is that Comedian was acting as an agent of a conservative, imperialistic elements in the United States government, doing their dirty work and ensuring American hegemony through black bag jobs. JFK threatened their interests so...he had to go.


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

[User]
If cell towers are static why does my phone service fluctuate even when the holding still?

I can set my phone down and have it not move at all, and the bars often change between low and high. If the phones not moving, and the tower isn't moving... what causes this fluctuation?

[Assistant]
Cell phone repair tech here:

If you have a CDMA phone (Sprint, Verizon, Cricket) your signal cam fluctuate based on the number of active connections to the tower. As more connections are made on a CDMA tower, the overall range of the signal decreases.

At least, this is how it was explained during training 5 years ago.


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

[User]
On vlc I can turn the volume up 400% of the hardware limit. What is this doing exactly?

What is software changing when you turn up/down the volume but the hardware volume stays the same?

[Assistant] What this is doing is reducing the dynamic range of the audio and amplifying it.  You will notice that the audio sounds flat when this type of amplification is used.  Cable companies will be doing this in the near future to increase/decrease the perceived audio level on ads.