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

[User]
[General Horror/Sci-Fi] Why are so many superior species who eat humanity so mean?

A common trope in sci-fi and horror is the idea of a separate, superior species that live among us.

They look naturally human (not shapeshifters), but they arent, and they eat humans.

The 80s horror movie *Society*, *30 Days Of Night*, *Supernatural*, *The X-Files*, they show up everywhere.

My question:

Its one thing to hunt and eat your prey, and if your method of eating is painful, I suppose that it cant be helped.

Its entirely another to taunt your food, toy with them, give evil monologues and laugh wickedly when its time to actually eat.

If they genuinely think of themselves as other species, they wouldnt care about causing fear, theyd just butcher and eat. Imagine if people went up to pigs and cows and went, Haha! Were gonna eat you! You cant escape us! Let me give you a speech about my villainous motivations!

If I was a hyper-evolved superpredator, Id go, Hey, this isnt dinner theater. I came here to eat, not watch you audition for the part of a pantomime villain.

What makes them so mean?

[Assistant]
Ever meet a cat?

Generally speaking, you don't need to be an asshole to kill and eat something, but it certainly doesn't discourage being an asshole. If anything, being an asshole would be a competitive advantage, since hemming and hawing over how you're treating the food could result in increased costs and lost opportunities that an asshole would exploit without hesitation. Especially in cases where the predators started as humans, going full-asshole may be the only way to overcome any pre-existing mental or moral blocks on killing and eating their former brothers and sisters.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What kind of fuel goes into Star-Ships anyways? Is it expensive?

This is a question that I've always wondered. What do I need to fuel my star-fighter? Do I need different fuel to go to Light-Speed? Do different ships have different parsecs-per-gallon? If so, what ships are most efficient in this way? How expensive is this fuel? Is it a major expense for a professional ~~trucker~~ smuggler like Han Solo?

[Assistant]
There are a number of different fuel types common in the Galaxy, ranging from exotic reactive compounds to tachionic matter found in hyperspace to 'plasma' that gets mined on planets such as naboo.

It's not specified anywhere I've seen what fuel costs are, but by virtue of being an economy that the Intergalactic Banking Clan had interest in, it is clearly profitable. Conversely, given how common personal spacecraft are, it's clearly not a prohibitive expense.


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

[User]
What would happen to a poor country, if it sets the retirement age to 55?

Will this country succeed in brining down unemployement and stimulating the economy by injecting millions of new workers (customers) into the economy? or will the pressure imposed on the retirement system be much hard to handle?

[Assistant] Could you clarify what you mean by "set the retirement age to 55"? You mean that the government mandates that no one older than 55 works? Or that it lowers the pay-out age of it's social security program (many poor countries don't have these) at 55?? Or something else?


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

[User]
Why don't women out-populate men?

I know that technically they do; ~51% of the population is women, and 49% of the population is men. But my question is from an evolutionary standpoint, and is this:

If our ability to reproduce is limited by the number of females in the tribe (9 months per birth, and women would only have been living for a few decades), why wouldn't our reproductive systems lean more heavily towards female births? Why aren't there 60% or 70% females?

It's easy for a single man to impregnate hundreds of women (hypothetically) but the limit is going to be capped at how many females are in the tribe. Why wouldn't tribes consist of mostly women in order for there to be more births.

Also, as an aside, are there any animal species who do show gender trends like this?

(I'm feel liek I'm doing a poor job of articulation my question, but I hope you get the idea.)

[Assistant] Let's assume that you are in such a world. There are almost no men and mostly women. Whenever a woman gives birth to a man, her genes (through her child) are spread out far and wide, making her successful. From this, it is obvious that birthing a male is hugely advantageous. Therefore, any female with a higher propensity for birthing men will have her genes propagate more. Over time, more and more women would give birth to more and more men. Each time, it gives a little less advantage as before, but still an advantage. Eventually you arrive up at the distribution we have today.


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

[User]
[The Walking Dead] Can Humanity Bounce Back?

There's very little known about the CRM, but a prominent fan theory is that they're using gene-therapy to create a new strain of humanity that's immune to the virus. Say they're successful and they have a few isolated communities with a few hundred immune people apiece. Where do they go from there?

They clearly have some limited manufacturing ability as well as the ability to maintain high-end equipment like helicopters, but they're still isolated in a world overrun by zombies as well as the roughly 15 million living humans who still carry the virus. If the goal is to rebuild civilization from the ground up, where would you even start?

[Assistant]
Going off comics canon, probably.

By the time of the final issue (set about twenty years after the main events of the comic,) they'd gotten to the point where people had a pretty good handle on how to safely handle the recently dead, and they were able to industrialize the process of killing the existing zombie hordes, to the point that living zombies are now a rarity you have to pay money to see. They got that far without anything as advanced as Gene therapy.


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

[User]
If the speed of light is static, can we use it to determine the speed of other things?

This question obviously stems from ignorance of the topic at hand and may be worded improperly, but I'll do my best:

Since the speed of light is constant, could we theoretically then just "point" light in various directions, measure its speed relative to us, and use that to determine how fast we are actually moving through the universe?

Example: I'm moving forward at 1mph, I launch a projectile forward that moves at a constant 2mph irrespective to me, therefore it appears to me to be moving at 1mph. I then launch it directly backwards, and it therefore appears to be moving 3mph away from me.  Knowing the speed of the object I can then calculate my actual speed - 1mph.

Or, is this question completely moot because we already know exactly how fast we're moving through the universe? Or is it moot for some other reason?

[Assistant]
When we say the speed of light is constant, what we mean is that light travels in the same speed in *every* frame. So, no matter how fast you're moving with respect to other things, if you shine a light ray in any direction you will see it travel at the speed of light in that direction. At first you might think this would lead to contradictions, because observers in other references frames should *also* see the light ray you fired travel at the speed of light in any direction. But it turns out in special relativity that's just the way things work; different observers don't agree on the relative velocity of moving things, and this is very counter intuitive for us.

Directly, the answer to your question is "no". There is no way to determine how fast things are "really moving" in the universe, and special relativity tells us that no such concept exists.


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

[User]
Are all of the heavier elements (Iron and up) in our solar system from a single supernova?

Have there been thousands of supernovas which have fed the planets of this solar system or was it a single giant star which was here and went supernova?

The expected age for our sun is 10 billion years but the age of the universe is only 14 billion years so it doesn't seem like there has been enough time to have lots of supernovas in this spot to give rise to our elements.

Were there just a lot of supernovas that happened all at the beginning and then the rate just slowed down or do we have a really slow burning sun?

[Assistant]
So, a few things to keep in mind here that may or may not be confusing you:

1) Our Sun is somewhere in the middle-to-smallish range of stellar masses. Stars come anywhere from about 120 times more massive, to about 12 times less massive.

2) Just like celebrities, the bigger the star, the faster it burns out. (Lindsey Lohan: burned out quickly. Foghat: still probably touring somewhere in Des Moines.) True, our Sun will last somewhere in the ~10 billion year range, but the very massive stars may only last about 1 million years - i.e. 10,000 times shorter lifespan than our Sun. There's plenty of time for lots of those to have occurred over the age of our universe.

3) Only large stars (about 5 times the mass of our Sun) end in the explosive Type II supernovae and seed a wide portion of the rest of the galaxy with heavy elements. Smaller than that, our Sun included, and stars will end as planetary nebulae, quietly shedding only their outer hydrogen layers to the small local neighborhood.

4) It's only in supernovae that the really heavy elements are produced. Beyond iron, fusion becomes endothermic (it requires energy to produce heavier elements instead of releasing energy), meaning that you need a huge release of energy to make those reactions occur.

With all that said, there are a few other stellar life-cycle considerations here. Really massive stars that go supernova in only a few million years haven't had time to leave the stellar nursery. In fact, this event - the first supernova from the most massive star in the group - is usually what cuts short the production of new stars in star-forming regions.

Moreover, there's good evidence that the first supernova can often trigger more supernovae from stars in the region. The combined effect of multiple supernovae can produce a "galactic fountain", producing enough of an over-pressure to pop these heavy elements out of the plane of the galaxy, and subsequently raining this material down over a very wide area.

Whether the bulk of the heavier material in our own solar system came from just one such event or multiple fountains isn't terribly well known. The fact that our Sun is unusually metal-rich (as are most stars which support planetary systems) may indicate multiple such events.

**TL;DR**: Our Sun burns quite slowly compared to the massive stars that actually produce supernovae. Chances are there are quite a lot of supernovae that went into creating the heavy elements in our solar system.


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

[User]
[Titanic] The 3rd class Irish woman who put her kids to bed

So while the Titanic is in the middle stages of sinking, we see that the Irish woman with her two small children have gone back to their room instead of trying to escape.  She told her children a story and put them to bed.  What was the woman thinking?  Wouldnt the kids eventually wake up to the room filling with water, which would be really traumatic?  Do you think she smothered them in their sleep as a mercy killing of sorts?

[Assistant]
Intuition. And what she felt was best.

Just like with the Captain going down with the ship, the old couple who stayed in bed, the musicians who kept playing and the other people frantically fighting for a chance to live, the mother knew they'd be better off sleeping and their last moments being calm instead of being in a state of being so frazzled that they ALL would be in such a panic. With them being in a state of peace beforehand (cos we don't see anything else) she gave them the grace of gently going to their death instead of violently.


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

[User]
[Fairy Tale] The princess was bruised by sleeping on a pea even through 20 mattresses. Just how fragile is she and how is she alive?

It sounds like just the weight of wearing clothes would put such a strain on her skin and bones that she would crumple into a pile of dust on the floor, if the force from a pea through 20 mattresses could bruise her.

[Assistant]
She wasn't bruised, just uncomfortable.  And that was probably due to the large spiked mace the queen put under the top mattress.

(She wasn't getting any younger, and she wanted some damn grandchildren.)


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

[User]
ELI5: What causes Birthmarks?

Are they really caused by birth or something during pregnancy? Or something more sinister?

[Assistant] Ya know how tattoos are drawn on a deeper layer of skin and therefor never go away?  Well sometimes your body accidentally spills something called melanin which controls how tan your skin is.  It gets spilled on the same layer of skin.


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

[User] [MiddleEarth] The fact that Saruman "bred" orc-men means that orcs can have kids. So if an elf raised an orc infant, would they still grow up to be evil? Are orcs just naturally bad, or are they culturally bad?

[Assistant]
While word of god waffled, Tolkien finally settled on saying that orcs can probably grow up to be good- they're sapient beings, not machines, and they clearly must have some good traits, like loyalty or bravery, to be any threat to the people of middle earth.

Both biologically and culturally they have  strong forces pushing them towards evil, but they have souls and free will so an individual orc *can* make the choice to be good. Salvation is available for all, even if it is harder for some then for others.


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

[User]
[SW] Is it ever stated in-universe that you need to be a force sensitive to use a lightsaber?

Because I call bs on everyone on the internet claiming you'll cut your hand off if you're not.

[Assistant]
Sure, there are examples of non-force sensitives using a lightsaber ( Pre Viszla, Grievous).

However they are both world class fighters, so they aren't a good sample. A random person off the street who picks up a lightsaber will invariably cut themselves, simply because the near weightlessness doesn't go well with a super hot beam of plasma.

As well,  a lightsaber is a clunky weapon if you are not force sensitive, so that is why you only see Jedi use them.


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

[User]
Are normative statements ('I ought to do x, or I should do x) future tense or present tense?

That is, are they saying something about the future or the current moment in time? And if they are future tense, does that mean that we cannot have certainty about normative statements, given that we can only predict the future?

If I say 'I should wear a raincoat because it is raining outside,' am I talking about my behavior in the future, or am I saying something more timeless and universal-- like a declaration of a general rule that is to be followed under certain conditions?

[Assistant]
This is interesting. Ought is an auxiliary verb that doesnt have tense variations; the tense of the statement is given by other features of the sentence. Consider the following statements:

1. You ought to push the red button.
2. You ought to be pushing the red button.
3. You ought to have pushed the red button.
4. You ought to help old ladies cross the street.

2 is present-tensed. 3 is past-tense.

1 and 4 are interesting, because it seems grammatically that they should be the same tense, but 1 is future-tensed, and 4 more universal. This seems to carry over from the generality of the action. Notice You ought to read Plato could be read like 1 or 4 depending upon context.

Also, 2 seems most naturally read about the near future. Compare

6. Next week, you ought to push the red button.

I note that we can say You ought always x and You ought never x, which both are general like 5, but you wouldnt say You ought always help old ladies cross the street, whereas you could say You ought always help those in need. Im not sure whats going on there.

Finally, It will be the case that you ought to push the red button is grammatically correct, so think, but doesnt sound like something anyone would say. Im not sure whats going on there either.


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

[User] Why does a room go dark when you turn out the light - what happens to the light?

[Assistant]
The light emitted by light sources such as lamps is absorbed by the objects in the room. We see these objects because they reflect part of the light that hits them, but every time they're hit a significant part of the incoming light is absorbed. If there's no active light source, it takes no more than a microsecond for almost all the light to be absorbed.

The absorbed light is turned into heat, so the objects in the room are heated up very slightly by a light source.


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

[User] ELI5: If the mass of the sun is great enough to draw the earth into its orbit, and the mass of the earth is great enough to hold me to its surface, what particles are small enough that they are being held to me or in my orbit because of my mass?

[Assistant] Theoretically you would have a microscopic orbit filled with particles too small to see if you were out in space isolated from any large masses. However when compared to the earth's, your gravitational field is so tiny that anything that would be in your orbit is "stolen" by the earth's orbit.


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

[User]
Why do my car windows fog up in a way that I can't wipe it off?

I googled and understand the basic gist of why it fogs in general (humidity, temperature, etc) and that all makes sense.
.

But what I do not understand is why sometimes it seems to fog up...differently? I wipe off the outside with a rag and then wipe off the inside with another dry rag. My common sense then tells me that I should be able to see clearly. Yet, there is seemingly some phantom fog that can not be wiped on either side of the windows regardless of how hard I try to wipe it off. Only when I start to turn on the heat/AC or open the windows does it gradually begin to disappear.

.

Why does this occur? Everytime I drive I make a mental note to myself to ask ELI5 but I always forget!
 My car is an old car if it makes a difference (i noticed newer cars seem to fog less, but I don't know why that is the case)

[Assistant] The chemicals produced by human breath (due to diet as well as environment) go beyond what natural evaporation is capable of.  Speaking anecdotally, try purchasing some Rain-X anti-fog wipes and cleaning all of your internal window surfaces.  You will not be disappointed.


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

[User]
How do I learn scripting languages?

The title pretty much says it but for some context.. I'm relatively proficient in Java and have a decent understand of OOP in general but when it come to scripting languages such as JS and python it seems to be a completely different paradigm that I just can't wrap my head around. When it's simple scripts like FizzBuzz I don't have any issues but as soon as I start to work on more complex applications I start to get lost or don't even know where to begin for individual tasks. Recently, I've been trying to develop a React app and I find as soon as I start to write some code I'll just get lost in a mess of my own spaghetti code. Any ideas or suggestions as to how I can get better at this style of programming would be greatly appreciated.

[Assistant]
What you're really asking is how to structure an application. This is more about understanding and incorporating different design methodologies than understanding the nuts and bolts of a language (though there is considerable overlap.)

This is actually where things get tricky, because there is no exact right answer for how you should make an application. If we think functionally and imagine our application as taking some input, doing something with it and producing a desired output, that "doing something with it" part could be done in a bunch of different ways. Some of these will be efficient, some of them will not be efficient, some of them will be following "best practices" and some of them won't. To be sure, if you would ask someone on the internet what the best way to it do was, you would get about 30 different opinions each one claiming to be correct.

Ok, that's depressing to think about, at least it is for me, sometimes it's nice to have a clear cut, easy to follow path! However, this is essentially what makes computation non-trivial. Learning a language is not difficult in the grand scheme of things, it's using that language to solve problems and furthermore developing a skill set to understand the concepts of computation and computer organization so that you can do it efficiently that is difficult.

This is a process you will be refining and perfecting your whole career. So where to start? As they they say, imitation is the best form of flattery, and a good place to start it's reading other people's code seeing how they structure it. The cliche is true, you will spend far more time reading code then writting it. There are also countless books and tutorials about this very topic, some with a much more general flavor and others that are more specific towards particular languages like JavaScript or Python as you mentioned those are the languages that were giving you trouble.

One thing to keep in mind when you're beginning is that it's okay if your code is spaghetti and a mess. Obviously you want clean, efficient and readable code, but that's a skill and it takes time to develop how to write that way. Just getting the stupid thing to work and produce the correct output is a fantastic first step. However, don't get lazy and just stop there! Refactoring your code is really important for developing good habits. You got it working, fantastic! Now go back and start cutting out the fat, un-spaghettifi it so to speak. As you learn new methodologies and design principles, go back again and try to incorporate them in your old code.

It's a long process, with many pitfalls and suggestions of what it the best way forward, but if you keep at it you will find success.


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

[User] [Terminator] Say Skynet win the war. What next?

[Assistant]
Depends... Skynet has never really been portrayed as the Singularity. Rather, it's an adaptive military AI that's just targeting threats. Humans are the source of war, war is a threat, thus humans are a threat. There doesn't seem to be any higher reasoning to it's actions, and in most cases it's really just following it's programming.

If that's the case, it's possible that, having eradicated humanity, it would simply go dormant. With no visible threat, it would conserve resources, possibly do basic maintenance or consolidate it's fortifications, and just... wait.


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

[User]
Why does the Apple password manager format passwords the way it does?

Using the built in password manager on iPhone/iPad I realized the passwords created by the system are always in the format of xxxxxx-xxxxxx-xxxxxx, where x is mostly lower case letters, theres always exactly one capital letter and one number.
 There are also no special characters used, except the minus signs which are always at the exact same spots.

Id think these passwords would be way harder to crack if theyd be more random.
Is there a specific reason that justifies these restraints?

[Assistant]
I suspect it's done that way to create passwords that are easier to read and manually type out without making a mistake. This would be helpful if, for example, all your passwords are on your phone but you want to access a password-protected service from your PC.

A random 18-character long password is not made any less secure by inserting extra hyphens into it, but that does make it more readable.


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

[User]
[The Incredibles] In the first movie, had Helen and the kids died in that plane attack, what were the chances Mr. Incredible turned into a villain?

Villains are frequently born out pain and anger.  He went to a very dark place after he thought they were all dead, even going so far as to nearly choke out Mirage.  Could he have turned?  Or is he inherently good?

[Assistant] None. Remember that he believed they died and yet still couldn't bring himself to kill, even when he had nothing to lose. This was a pretty significant moment in the first movie that Syndrome even explicitly commented on.


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

[User]
[Skyrim] Why is some random prisoner that escaped Helgen and sided with the opposite faction allowed to walk up to The Jarl or Solitude or Ulfric Stormcloak without being forced to Kneel or be arrested.

If you side with the Stormcloaks at the beginning you can somehow take a carriage to Solitude, walk up to the Jarl of the Capital of Skyrim and they are totally cool with that. Why?

[Assistant] He wasn't on their list of prisoners, Helgen Keep was destroyed and few Imperials escaped. Skyrim has no mobile internet, unless the Last Dragonborn actually tells people no-one would know and as he wasn't actually a documented convicted person it's not clear that formal Imperial law would allow his arrest in more civilised environments than an ad hoc battlefield execution.


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

[User] Eli5 Why isn't the centre of our galaxy the brightest thing in the night sky?

[Assistant] The reason is because you can't see the galactic core with the naked eye.  There is too much dust and gas in the way which visible light can't penetrate.  However, in infrared it's quite bright because infrared can get through.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] If episodes 1-9 take place a long time ago what is the Star Wars universe like now?

Thats obviously the past: what is the Star Wars galaxy like now in the present?

[Assistant] We don't know, but given the tendency for the dark forces to resurge again and again, and build bigger and bigger guns, it's probably mostly unpopulated due to massive radioactivity after someone fired a superweapon at the central supermassive-blackhole and caused it to explode.


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

[User] ELI5: When an animal species reaches critically low numbers, and we enact a breeding/repopulating program, is there a chance that the animals makeup will be permanently changed through inbreeding?

[Assistant] When the population gets so low, the genetic diversity is *definitely* reducedno chance about it. This makes the species more susceptible to problems in the future even if the population comes roaring back. They are more likely to all die from the same disease, for instance. The genes are so similar that it is less likely for a few members of the population to have immunity.


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

[User]
[Lord of the Rings] Why was there such a huge discrepancy of power between First Age and Third Age?

Even Gandalf was afraid of Balrog, a terror of First Age, why is this? Was everything in First Age better? So the world is always....devolving?

Please explain.

[Assistant] Yes. The story of Middle-earth is the story of magic leaving the world and the fading of the Elves to give way to the dominion of Men. The Elves and Men of the First Age were considerably more powerful than anyone in the Third, even Aragorn. The glories of the First Age like the Two Lamps, the Trees of Valinor and the Silmarils could not be recreated by even the Valar. Also, fighting a Balrog was a dicey proposition even for the most powerful in the First Age: they're fallen Maiar, angelic spirits from before the beginning of time that were corrupted by Morgoth. They could only ever be mastered by the most powerful, and even that was no guarantee: Feanor took on Gothmog and lost. Gothmog and Ecthelion fought each other during the Fall of Gondolin and it was a mutual kill. Likewise for Glorfindel and the Balrog he fought while protecting the refugees from Gondolin.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does garlic smell good to us when its cooking, but as soon as its on someones breath its revolting?

[Assistant]
Garlic's pungent, but generally pleasant smell is due to a variety of sulfur compounds.  As these are broken down by bacteria and our digestive systems, these sulfur compounds convert into much less pleasant smelling ones.

This is only partially what makes garlic breath so pungent.  Some of the metabolic products enter our bloodstream and are subsequently volatilized through our lungs.  This is why no amount of mouthwash, brushing your teeth, or chewing gum can get rid of garlic breath (these only mask it temporarily).


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

[User]
How would an anti-matter black hole interact with a matter black hole?

What would happen if a black hole from a matter star collided with a black hole made from an antimatter star? Would they explode normally? Would there be odd gravitational fluctuations? Could it warp space-time so drastically that it would create a wormhole?

[Assistant] There is no difference between a black hole that arises from a matter star or a black hole that arises from an antimatter star.  If two black holes collide, they just become one larger black hole and, in the process of coalescing, emit a whole lot of gravitational radiation.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Why does Spiderman use such non-spidery colours? I've never seen a red and blue spider

This  octopus emoji looks more like the Spidey symbol than this spider emoji.

[Assistant]
He was originally working as professional wrestler to pay his bills, and professional wrestlers tend to like flashy flagrant colors.

More historically, it was done to evoke images of superman, who also dresses in red and blue.


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

[User]
How does the coronavirus outbreak affect your research?

Hi all,

After a few emails from coauthors this morning stating that they were prioritising online lecture prep over revisions and cancellation of data collection plans for a funded study (Im in social sciences), I was wondering about the effect of the coronavirus outbreak on research productivity. Are you considering any changes to your work? Are your universities/funders/colleagues adjusting expectations in any way?

EDIT: Well, this has turned into a very interesting exchange of experiences (and RIP my inbox, but totally worth it).

[Assistant] This came up in a meeting yesterday. For many of the TT faculty in our department, research requires travel (domestic and international) and in some cases travel to other universities for fellowships and archival research but now those other universities are closed. The university has focused exclusively on addressing covid-19s impact on teaching but were all wondering how were supposed to do research and whether the tenure clock will be adjusted.


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

[User]
Is it true, that someone with depression has less motivation to put effort into anything because they are not gaining mental energy from enjoying life?

My theory is that someone with depression doesn't enjoy life, so they lose motivavion to work hard. Because why would you put effort into a life that gives you nothing back? I'm not talking about CBT here, I'm assuming someone is depressed but keeps trying to enjoy their hobbies, but still doesn't enjoy them. Would that make it harder for this person to stay productive at things like work?

What is there to say about this theory?

[Assistant] One of the core symptoms of major depressive disorder is anhedonia. This is An inability to experience pleasure from activities usually found enjoyable. This includes hanging with friends and family, food, and sex just to name a few. 50-75% of people with MDD have this symptom. Imagine feeling no enjoyment from eating your favorite food. Or going out with your friends to the movies. Your theory is right.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What were the Rebel soldiers doing while their commanders were fooling around with the Ewoks?

Were they freaking out that their commanding officers disappeared?

[Assistant]
Military task forces are usually set up to function in the absence of leaders. The attack force on Endor was well-briefed in advance. They knew the mission was to seek out the bunker and take out the shield. This involved scouting the area, finding an attack position, and developing an attack strategy.

When the team had its first run-in with scouts, some of the leaders took off to take them down. Leadership responsibility passes to the next in command. They set up a temporary rendezvous point, kept in contact with their leaders, then later met up again and checked the speeder wreckage for corpses. These actions were coordinated by the next-in-command who was in contact with the leadership on Endor.

Later, the groups split into squads to investigate and track Organa. One of those groups met up with the Ewoks, and the other remained on the ground. Again, the ground team knew the mission and had a next-in-command to run things in the absence of the top group. Even so, they later re-established commlink communications and set up the attack on the base.

So, they may have worried about the absence of their commanders, but they would have had a next-in-command to direct their efforts to accomplish the mission, and coordinated with the leadership group by commlink when they could.


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

[User] ELI5: What does Russia's interest rate hike to 17% mean?

[Assistant]
They hope to stop the flow of money from russia into foreign currencies. This move is designed to increase interest earned on rubels kept in a russion bank account. If less money leaves for other currencies or more money flows *back* to russia, the exchange rates for the rubel will stabilize (hint: they're in free fall right now).

*However* what the 17% also mean is that Russia is fucked. Intrest rates go up. Creadits become more expensive. Spending and investing money in Russia just became a lot harder. And a decided lack of invested money has plagued Russia even before this move. So in all likelyhood, the Russion economy will tank even harder now.


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

[User] Genetics:  Is genital/boob size/shape wholly inherited from the respective parent? (hopefully not NSFW)

[Assistant]
It tends to be a mix.

For girls you inherit an x chromosome from each parent, usually one of them is silenced randomly (so you don't end up with duplicated gene expression) and you also have recombination events between both chromosomes. In the end it is a mix.

As for boy, they only have one x chromosome from The mother (so it is not silenced) and one Y from the father so the likelihood of direct transmission of features is higher.
There are still some genes that y chromosome shares with the x chromosome, for those you will still have random silencing (it can be from the mother or the father).


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why are clones mentally mature?

I know they are artificially aged and go through rigorous training but a lot of them seem to function like normal adults when only being a couple of years old. A couple of years of education surly wouldnt equal maturity and life experience. Are they uploaded artificially memories?

[Assistant]
It's simply part of their genetic programming. Their age/maturity is accelerated in every sense, physical and mental.

One clone even remarks at one point that his growth acceleration chamber had a leak, which possibly made him hyperactive. It's possibly just a figure of speech but it kind of reflects how this works.

Edit: even fully mature clones aren't considered experienced. It's why "shinies" are ribbed for being rookies. So it's not the accumulation of memories that builds mental maturity, it's the physical maturation of their brain, plus the rigorous training, and then they mature more when they acquire their own experiences out in the galaxy.


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

[User]
CMV:(too much) Immigration hurts a country's culture

As a german, especially in the city I live, there's honestly too many turks and muslims here.

My old school was 80% turks/muslims/guys from eastern europe, which seriously lead to germans being made fun of, *for  being german, in their own damn country*

But that's not the only example, when I go out, I see as much, if not more, foreigners on the streets.

And by 'foreigners', I don't mean anything like scandinavians, or people from developed countries for that matter, I mean all the muslims/turks/romanians, etc.

A little immigration doesn't hurt, that's for certain. But if there's more immigrants than natives in any place, something's not right.

^^^^I'm ^^^^not ^^^^racist^^^^

[Assistant] So, what exactly are the 'harms' to culture that occur? You must understand, if you read the statements you've made from the perspective that 'turks and muslims' are people with exactly equivalent value to any other human, like Germans and Scandinavians; then things like seeing them outside and having them in your school are not actually harms. So maybe you could clarify the concrete negative effects (to culture in particular, since you mention it) that would not occur if these individuals were German instead of, say Turkish?


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

[User] [DC/Marvel] If Superheroes were allowed to use lethal force under the same standards as police officers, which, if any heroes do you think would?

[Assistant] The ones that already do. Most superheroes aren't super concerned with the laws of the land and they generally don't have to answer to anyone if they don't want to, so those that kill will , and those that don't, won't.


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

[User] eli5: Why cant F1 tires be made so that they can last the whole race instead of lasting for a few laps?

[Assistant] They can and they have. They reintroduced tyre changes as they found that drivers had to do so much to protect their tyres that it made races boring. That is why we now have the minimum two tyre compounds per race.


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

[User]
CMV: Living standards will decline in the future

The past century is overall a success for humanity, as poverty rates declined while literacy rates and life expectancy improved. However, we face multiple challenges in the future that I believe will negate improvements in our quality of life due to development and technology improvements.

The first, obvious challenge is climate change. While it won't end humanity, it would certainly exacerbate existing problems. It is quite likely parts of India, the middle east, Africa and Central America will become nearly uninhabitable due to heatwaves and water shortages. This will trigger more conflicts and likely a refugee crisis that would make the ones in Europe and the US southern border look tame.  At the same time, countries will have to deal with rising seas, which threaten some major cities and would cause severe economic damage. If this was the only of our problems, we may be able to handle it but there are several more which the media do not adequately discuss.

The current period of economic expansion will eventually end. However, most countries do not have the maneuvering room they did in 2008. Interest rates are already low and most governments are running a deficit and have high debt, so there is also less room for fiscal stimulus. In fact, it is plausible the US or some other major economy may be faced with a debt crisis since their aging populations force them to spend an increasing amount on pensions and healthcare. In all, it seems the next economic crisis will be especially painful for my generation as it would be more severe and have a slower recovery.

Automation is also a concern. The technology improvements would boost the economy but would also displace millions of workers such as drivers and cashiers. It would probably further increase inequality as well. From the research I have read, it is disputed whether automation will result in a net gain or loss in jobs but either way, the job displacements will be a huge social crisis which needs to be addressed within the next decade.

These challenges requires competent governments. Unfortunately, authoritarian governments need to control the narrative to survive so they are unable to deal with their mistakes. Western democracies are crippled by increasing polarization so they have difficulty making reasoned, informed decisions. Instead we get populists who advocate policies that are "neat, simple and wrong".

The combined effect of these problems may be enough to reverse the gains we have made. I try my best to remain optimistic but thinking about these problems make it difficult. What have I missed in my analysis that would make the future seem less grim?

[Assistant] Book recommendation. Factfulness by Hans Rosling. Hes the guy that, after 14 of consulting with the World Bank, finally got them to stop using the term developing countries. It is the USA and other nations at the top of the inequality curve that are grappling with living standards, and we project our histrionics on the globe. The book goes into perceptual biases that are obscuring phenomenal progress globally overall. Check it out? Stand in a bookstore and read the introduction?


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

[User]
ELI5: how did the people hundreds of years ago discover planets?

If I look into the sky and I see two yellow dots its all stars for me. Then I hear one of them is mars and Im like ok, still looks the same. How did the people hundred of years ago discover whats a close planet and whats a far away star?

[Assistant]
Stars are very far away, to someone on Earth they move as one across the sky like dots on a dome being rotated overhead.

Planets are much closer, they moved in a direction that was different from the stars and could be seen over time doing so.  They even at times appear to go "backwards" against the motion of the stars.

"Planet" is itself derived from a Greek word for "wanderer"; this included the moon and sun as well as the visible planets since they also did not move with the stars.


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

[User]
ELI5: If heat is just atoms moving quickly, why does it hurt us?

For example: I put my hand in hot water (water with fast moving molecules) and I become burned and experience pain.

Why?

[Assistant] Because those fast moving molecules bump into your slow moving molecules, causing chaos at the molecular level, which is interpreted by your nerves as pain. If the skin is allowed to heat up enough, the molecules might get moving so fast that cells shake themselves apart, and your body has to send the immune system to clean up the mess (a blister)


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why are Sith Lord names so vaguely menacing?

Why isn't there a Darth Ted? What if someone just really liked their name before becoming a Sith Lord? It's weird that in a philosophy that stresses freedom, everyone agreed to go with most evil sounding name they could think of.

[Assistant] Sith Lords want to intimidate from the start, they want to intimidate everyone well before they ever see them. The scary name allows them to seem scarier when people tell stories about them.  Darth Plagueis invokes thoughts of plague and suffering, Darth Ted you would just assume is a dick because he's Sith, but it doesn't really scare you.


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

[User] How does a Glucometer actually measure my blood glucose level?

[Assistant]
Glucose in blood reacts with glucose oxidase in the test strip, forming gluconolactate. This then reacts with ferricyanide to form ferrocyanide and a resulting electrical charge that's measured by a sensor in the device. The current created is proportional to the amount of glucose in sample.

Similar in principle is the colorimetric measurement of glucose in urine and in blood - glucose oxidase, in the presence of glucose, forms hydrogen peroxide, which reacts with a chromagen that changes color to indicate glucose concentration.


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

[User] ELI5: How do countries that have no natural resources and completely rely on import even survive economily?

[Assistant] They buy in raw materials relatively cheaply, add value by manufacturing facilities and expertise , then sell at a profit. Britain used to be known for manufactured goods based on imports from empire/Commonwealth sources.   Japan also, they are not well endowed with natural resources, one of the factors leading them into wars of conquest before and during WW2.


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

[User]
Are human beings individuals or "dividuals"? What consequences does this have?

In his book _Homo Deus_, Israeli historial Yuval Noah Harari describes the ideology  (or "religion") of _liberal humanism_ as the idea that individual humans and their freedoms are the most important things in the world. Harari then argues that science has shown that human beings are not "individuals" in the sense of some atomic whole. He argues that humans (or human minds) should rather be thought of as "dividuals" - i.e., a human mind is composed of multiple parts, often conflicting, and the "self" is nothing more than a _story_ that we use to make sense of the world.

Harari argues that we should therefore reject the notion of free will because there is no "self" whom we can reasonably credit with making free choices - rather, the components that comprise a human mind have been proven to be highly manipulable.

Now, Harari is more of a historian than a philosopher, and many will probably find his philosophy to be thin cup of tea. But I think he asks an extremely interesting question, and I am sure that more accomplished philosophers have pondered it: Is it better to think of humans as "dividuals"? What are the arguments for and against this? And even more importantly, if we do reject the "self" as being a mere abstraction, _what consequences follow from this_?

Thanks in advance!

[Assistant]
>Harari then argues that science has shown that human beings are not "individuals" in the sense of some atomic whole. He argues that humans (or human minds) should rather be thought of as "dividuals" - i.e., a human mind is composed of multiple parts, often conflicting, and the "self" is nothing more than a story that we use to make sense of the world.

I think the story is a lot more complicated than this. The idea that human minds are not atomic wholes has been prevelant at least since Nietzsche (and tbh we could probably trace it back to the ancients), but became standardised by Freud. Even biologically we are composed of lots of different parts, but all the parts exist together in an integrated system. In fact, we could go as far as saying that the individual is precisely the relational process the connects the disparate elements of a being together.

Now what that means for free will is a whole different matter, but it's a question that philosophers like Alfred North Whitehead, Gilbert Simondon, and Gilles Deleuze have written about a lot. Simondon's whole thesis is based on the idea of individuation as a process, whereas Deleuze, who was influenced a lot by Simondon, talks specifically about 'dividuals'. Might be worth looking into those guys if you want a more detailed answer.


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

[User] ELI5: ...how much trouble are we in with the Ebola pandemic?

[Assistant] If by "we" you mean Americans, not much. The CDC is controlling the two citizens that are infected closely, and our climate and lifestyle isn't really conducive to spreading the infection. If you mean everyone on earth, a little more, bit still not much; ebola doesn't spread as easily as a lot of other diseases, and we're catching this outbreak fairly early.


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

[User]
eli5 how are soaps able to clean away germs when washing things?

Hello everyone. I have always wanted to know how exactly are dishwashing soap, hand soap, cleaning soap are able to kill or remove harmful bacteria from whatever we are using it for?

[Assistant]
Many bacteria and viruses have an outer membrane that's made mostly of oil molecules (lipids).

Soap in hot water breaks up oils and carries them away.

Not only does this help remove the germs from surfaces, it also causes some of the germs to just pop and die; all their insides come out and are washed away.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why does the Emperor want to rule the galaxy? What are his political goals?

He doesn't seem to want to turn everybody into Sith, so why would he be interested in controlling the galaxy?

[Assistant] The Emperor is a pure Sith. He wants power. And he is patient to get the ultimate power. He doesn't want to have to much competition, so he kills most force sensitive people. He keeps some for miscellaneous uses, but none powerful enough to overthrow him.


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

[User]
[Dr Strange/X-Men] What is the difference between astral projections?

Dr Strange enters the astral plane through magic, Telepaths such as Professor Xavier and Jean Grey use telepathy. Are these two types of projections or merely two ways to enter the same realm?

[Assistant]
Astral projection through telepathy and astral projection through magic are two physically different mechanisms by which the same functional goal can be achieved.

When a telepath like Professor X astrally projects their consciousness out into the universe, their brain essentially acts like a very powerful radio transmitter that beams out the information that forms their consciousness over "telepathic waves".

When they make a telepathic connection with another consciousness, it's like using Wi-Fi to connect two computers over the internet. With telepaths, that connection simply happens over "telepathic waves" instead of radio waves.

In the Dr. Strange movie, the Ancient One tells Strange that magic can be described as the ability to alter the "code" of the multiverse through "programs" called spells.

So, when a magic user like Dr. Strange astrally projects, they're essentially using their "admin privileges" to search the multiverse's "database" to find and communicate with whomever they're looking for.


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

[User]
ELI5; Why/How did some countries end up rich and prosperous while others became poverty stricken?

So what I mean is, why is it that America, England, Australia etc became 'first world countries' and places like India, Vietnam, Sudan etc are poor and decades behind in technologies?

[Assistant]
Most answers so far have included resources as a factor, which is far less important than most people think for the prosperity of a nation. There are many nations that are rich in natural resources but can't seem to get their stuff together (Mexico, many African nations). Natural resources definitely help (Norway has given itself the highest standard of living in the world, mostly thanks to how much oil it is sitting on) but nations can become rich on very limited resources.

The two most important factors in an economically successful nation are *property rights* and *rule of law*.

If a country has a fair system of propert rights, that is, a fair system for the distribution of resources and property, it will be successful. The most successful countries on Earth all employ free market economics to distribute and divy up resources. Choose any two nations that are in close proximity and have similar attributes; the nation with the freer economy will always grow more prosperous in the long run (North Korea vs. South Korea, East vs. West Germany, Chile vs. Argentina).

Rule of law has to do with how stable and easy to interpret the legal system of the given nation is. Nations with a constantly shifting political environment will never grow or attract foreign investors (Somolia, many nations in the Middle East or Central America) because people are scared that the legal or political conditions will change after they make their investment.


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

[User] [Spider-Man 2] Why is the AI of Doctor Octavius' robotic arms hostile/"evil"?

[Assistant] I think the interactions with a human brain that experienced trauma them processed them in a way Octavius perceives as malice and ill intent, possibly even just manifestations of his own darker desires he never came to terms with.


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

[User]
Will Voyager 1 eventually slow down/stop due to drag caused by gas and dust in interstellar space?

I was reading about Voyager 1 today, and found out that it is quite close to leaving the heliosphere, after which it will come into contact with interstellar gasses. Is this likely to slow it down? Or even stop it?

[Assistant]
1. interstellar gas is almost non existent (a few atoms per meter)  so there is very little matter to actually interact with.  Think of the mass of these few atoms vs the entire mass of voyager - many orders of magnitude different.

2. If you mean slow it down relative to its current direction of travel something would have to act on it fairly significantly for this to happen (eg run into a planet/stars gravity)  it wouldn't stop, its velocity would be changed in either direction or magnitude by this.


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

[User]
ELI5: how does keeping a journal help people with depression, food disorders etc.

ive heard that this helps with things like that but my question is how? or is this wrong?

[Assistant]
Journaling can be useful in a few different ways. It can help providers track behaviors (with regard to food disorders or even things like headaches) to help nail a diagnosis or find a spot where one treatment or another will help the patient the most.

Another way is that journaling can be a helpful coping strategy. When lifes stresses bother us, it is important to channel those feelings towards something that isnt self harming. In this sense, journaling can be something that a therapist recommends to their patient to write down their feelings. The patient can talk about those feelings with their providers if they feel comfortable doing that.


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

[User] ELI5: How do noise cancelling headphones work?

[Assistant] They contain microphones that "listen" to the environment, and send a signal to the speakers in the headphones that are 180 degrees out of phase with those sounds. That is, they are the "opposite" of each other. If they do that quickly enough, and at the right volume level, the two sounds mostly cancel out.  This doesn't work all that well for some sounds (like human speech), but for things like the hum of airplane engines it can do a pretty good job.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What was Darth Vader's motivation to stick with the dark side?

[Spoilers Ahead]

I'm super new to the Star Wars Franchise. I just saw the first 6 movies this week. My question is, I know Vader was motivated to join the dark side in order to save his wife. After she died, and he was told that he had killed her in a fit of rage, I would've imagined he would see no point in sticking with the dark side.

Padme was the sole reason he joined them in the first place - in the hopes of preventing her death. If he finds out he got her killed cause of his fascination with the dark side, why on earth would he stick by it? Wouldn't he rebel? Wouldn't he be furious at the dark side cause it got his wife killed and brought about this mess in the first place?

I just fail to see his motivation here. What the hell was he doing for 20 years when Luke and Leila were growing up? Just being a slave to the empire and doing generic evil shit just because? Did he start thinking like a robot when he started looking like one? To me, Vader didn't seem to have a personality until he protected Luke at the very end.

EDIT: Just added a few more thoughts after reading your responses. Thanks for the answers folks!

[Assistant]
He's basically in too deep by the time he realizes he's been duped. Vader helped destroy the Jedi and topple the Republic, burning any bridges he had. He's not able to challenge the Emperor directly (hence him wanting Luke to join him). Serving as the Emperor's enforcer is a better option than trying to disappear as a guy in a black life support suit.

He also pretty much destroys everything he cared about, reversing course after something like that is hard. Humans don't like admitting they're wrong, and it would be difficult for him to acknowledge the atrocities he committed were a mistake. It's easier to live telling yourself you did what you had to.


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

[User]
What actually happens when someone drinks water and it "goes down the wrong pipe"?

I've blindly used the expression hundreds of time without ever learning what it represents.

[Assistant]
It means that instead of water going down your 'food pipe' (the oesophagus), you inhale a little bit of water down your 'air pipe' (the trachea). These two pipes both open in the back of your throat and there's a little flap which closes over the top of your air pipe when you eat or drink, sometimes that flap doesn't close quickly enough so food or water gets into your airways.

Inhaling water is bad and so you start to cough to get it out of your airways. As you're in the process of swallowing water at the time, sometimes this can make you choke, which can feel frightening but you'll be fine once you've coughed up any inhaled water.


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

[User] ELI5: How can a conversation have an effect on you that can cause you to break in to a sweat, get very dizzy, sick to your stomach and almost make you pass out?

[Assistant]
You have a nerve that communicates with your stomach (and many other organs)--the Vagus nerve. It is in the back of the neck, but from there, it attaches to every major organ--vagus means "wanderer" in Latin. (Edited spelling)

When you experience emotion, like in an intense conversation, that nerve communicates with stomach, diaphragm, and other organs and you can feel that "nervous" feeling in your stomach or butterflies in your belly.

Once you feel it, you can grow anxious about the feeling (What's wrong with me?) and get more anxious. That creates the experience you talked about, where you almost pass out.

Or, you can respond to the feeling your brain is giving you and try and find a situation (either through a change of situation or a change of your mind/thoughts about it) where you have less stress and anxiety. Then you'll feel better and not get that sick feeling.


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

[User] ELI5:How do music royalties work? If I play a song for 5 seconds and then skip it, does the artist get paid the same as if I listened to the whole song?

[Assistant]
That depends on which service you're talking about and what their particular agreement is with the record labels.

For example, Spotify requires you to listen for at least 30 seconds before it counts. Once you hit 30 seconds it doesn't matter if you skip the rest or keep listening.


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

[User] At what point in human evolution did we develop a dominant hand? Is this a trait found in other primates as well?

[Assistant] Scientists (myself included) are still trying to figure this out. The current evidence suggests Neanderthals exhibited handedness and it appears to be roughly the same ratio as most modern humans: ~ 90% right handed. However, hand preference, that is consistently using one hand or the other for a particular behavior, has been found in several of our closest living relatives like chimpanzees and bonobos. But these apes are different from humans because they do not consistently use the same hand across different tasks whereas humans do. In short, it looks like handedness has evolved in the last few million years of our evolution but is likely at least half a million years old.


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

[User]
[MCU] Is the Eye of Agamotto gone for good?

Dr Strange surrenders the time stone, which in the MCU is also known as the Eye of Agamotto. Thanos destroys the stones. Avengers go back in time and use the stones, then put them back. But aren't they still destroyed? And if they're gone won't the horrible timeline the Ancient One spoke of begin? Is Dr Strange still Dr Strange without the eye?

[Assistant]
The Eye of Agamotto, as in the artifact used to house the Time Stone, was destroyed by Thanos on Titan. It's gone for good, and it's unlikely that anyone currently alive has the skill necessary to create another one.

The Time Stone, as far as "our" timeline is concerned, was reduced to atoms by Thanos as part of his second snap. Given that the stones are a fundamental aspect of reality itself, it's possible that they will reconstitute themselves, or that someone of sufficient power could cause them to be reconstituted, but neither is a guarantee, and it might be millenia before they're seen again.

The Time Stone that was retrieved from the Ancient One was returned to her by Steve Rogers, and this is where it gets interesting. The Thanos from that timeline died in New York during *our* timeline, so the events of *Infinity war* never take place. *Their* timeline is now divergent from ours; their Stephen Strange still has the Time Stone and the Eye, their Tony Stark is still alive, and their Steve Rogers never goes back to Peggy (and is probably still angry at Tony over *Civil War*).

Theoretically, someone with a Time/Space GPS could jump over to that timeline and grab the Eye, but they'd have to take it from the Ancient One or Doctor Strange, and, well, good luck.


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

[User] ELI5 Why do we instinctually shake our hands when we hurt them, like when we punch something?

[Assistant] Okay.  So when you hurt your hand, nerves send signals to your brain that somethings wrong. We perceive that as pain.  When we flail our hands, your nerves feel more stimuli, drawing the affects of pain away from your brain.  To dumb it down even more.  Shaking your hands is essentially **masking** the pain with more nerves sending signals.


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

[User] [Naruto] What is the difference between kaguya's byakugan, hamuras and the hyuga? Like why does hamura and especially kaguya have such powerful other abilities that the hyuga apparently can't do ?

[Assistant]
The world of Naruto has a pretty severe, if slightly unstated, issue with degradation.

*Everything* is getting weaker as time travels further from when the Otosuki brought chakra into the world. The Sharingan for example is a devolved version of the Rinnegan. If you compare the first Hokage's generation, which is filled with people like Madara and his brother, they're head and shoulders above pretty much every ninja in the modern world.

Sure, there are occasionally geniuses that are born that overturn that assumption, like Itachi or Guy, but overall, stuff is just not as strong.

So presumably when the Hyuga clan, or the precursor that had the byakugan first existed, it also had all these powers. Time passed though, and they started going away.


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

[User]
[Pacific Rim] Are mecha suits the best approach to fighting kaiju, as opposed to tanks, aircraft, and artillery?

I mean ... we have developed a pretty boss weapons infrastructure over the years, and any kinetic or energy strike a mecha can deliver can surely be delivered by a howitzer at a distance, right?

[Assistant]
The main thing a Jaeger can do that conventional vehicles can't is physically contain the kaiju outside of populated areas. They can stand and brawl with the bastards offshore, where civilians are out of harms way and any released fluids won't contaminate dry land. And while they brawl, they can thwack the beast with missiles, cannons and exotic melee weapons as well as or better than a conventional vehicle.

Conventional vehicles, by contrast, are either so small that they can just be swatted aside, or are too slow to keep up with them.


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

[User]
My professor wants to use one of my assignments in his next textbook

My econ professor from last year emailed me today asking if he could use one of the assignments I turned in for his class as a way to open his new Econ textbook (MBA)

I'm not opposed to this, curious if there's any sort of compensation/credit/something else that would be reasonable for me to ask for in return? What is standard for this sort of thing?

[Assistant] I would expect your prof would identify you by name and give credit, but theres zero chance youre getting authorship on the book or the chapter. Id also be very surprised if you got any money. Your prof should write you a terrific letter of recommendation if that is helpful.


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

[User]
ELI5: how serious is the Russian economic collapse, and does it have implications outside Russia?

I DID SEARCH. I don't want to know what caused it. I get that. I want to know how serious it is. Whenever I hear anything about it, it sounds like they're in the middle of a total collapse, but it doesn't seem like it's getting much coverage as it should be if that was the case. Wouldn't the collapse of a nation as big as Russia have implications for everyone? Is it mostly just hype?

[Assistant]
It is certainly far more serious for Russia that for the rest of the world economy.

The effects on Russia's economy are well documented: a decline in the rouble which has caused inflation (as imports are more expensive) and a destabilisation of the Russian financial system (due to difficulty meeting foreign debt obligations).

However, this should have a limited DIRECT impact on the world economy for two reasons:

1) Russia wasn't producing great growth before hand - the fact that Russia is now entering recession won't hit global growth too greatly as it has never been a great contributor to global growth

2) Russia has steadily cut ties with the global economy - the effects of sanctions on both sides (from the US/EU on Russia, and from Russia on the EU) have already greatly reduced trade and investment. As such the deepening crisis in Russia is limited in the extent to which it will impact other economies.

Hope that helps!


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

[User] ELI5: America does not like Russia and vice versa. How come they meet in space in their space programs and they look like best mates?

[Assistant]
The American government doesn't like the Russian government, and politicians deign to fight for any number of reasons.

Scientists, on the other hand, are interested in science, and realize that people from all walks of life, all cultural backgrounds, and all nationalities can equally contribute to science and scientific progress. Science has no borders, after all.

It is with that sole fact in mind that scientists from all over the world can come together and discuss, experiment, hypothesize, and collaborate, with little-to-no issue.

Also, being in close proximity with another person for 6 months or more at a time breeds intimacy, as shown by the Proximity Principle in Psychology. The Proximity Principle shows that people in close proximity tend to feel and think more favorably toward each other. This is likely an unrelated note.


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

[User] [General] An extensive research has found that every fictional world eventually manifests itself into becoming a reality in the general multiverse, together with its creatures, technologies and physical laws. Which worlds have now become the biggest threats to the fabric of reality?

[Assistant]
World's that permit movement around the multiverse, as they can spread theur catastrophes.

Marvel is probably the biggest risk.  It has scenarios that destroy parts of (And the whole of) the multiverse,p and multiverse travel is very common.

Magic the gathering could be risky too as 'planes' can be collapsed for energy.

Oddly enough, utter grimdark settings like 40k have never shown much interest in spreading to other realities, but that might change with the option being there.


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

[User] Why does the conversion from energy to mass "need" the speed of light in the equation? I don't have trouble conceptualizing the necessity for some huge constant, but how the heck does light speed coincidentally fit the bill?

[Assistant]
You seem to be hung up over why a constant of light waves appears in the energy equation of particles. But the thing is there is nothing special about lights speed itself.

Rather, Einsteins theory special relativity, says that there is some constant 'speed limit' in which only massless particles can travel at (and that it's the same in every reference frame).

From this point of view, it's then  not really a surprise why this speed limit constant appears in our equations of motion and the energies of particles.

Basically, it's only for historical reasons we call this speed limit constant "c, the speed of light". We could just as easily call it the speed of glouns, or ludicrous speed... or whatever.


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

[User]
ELI5: Given the amount of lint that comes out of the dryer, are my clothes slowly disintegrating with time? Would they eventually disappear completely?

Sometimes the sheet of lint that comes out feels pretty substantial.  It's surely a non-negligible amount of fabric.

[Assistant]
Yes, the intense heat and friction in dryers causes the fibers in your clothes to shed their external layer. This is why pants or bedsheets become shiny-looking over time, and also why the lower back of hoodies and tee shirts (where fabric rubs against chairs or backpacks) begin to form pills, or little balls of lint.

This is why air-drying increases the longevity of your clothing.


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

[User] [Game of Thrones] Did the Hound actually ever feel any affection towards Sansa and Arya?

[Assistant]
He loved those girls.

 He loved those girls more than killing. He loved those girls more than wine.
He loved those girls more than he would love to see his brother die.

But he was trained to kill. He knew how to drink. He practiced killing his brother.

He had no idea how to love. So he did what he knew how around them. Killed people who got in their way, and drank copious amount of wine.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] Does the Federation ever use replicator technology as a means of economic warfare/coercion?

Replicator technology has the potential to be a powerful economic weapon, especially against less advanced civilizations.  If the Federation wanted to couldn't they use replication to flood markets and ruin economies?

[Assistant]
The Prime Directive keeps them from interfering in any economy that isn't already involved on an interstellar level. They COULD if they wanted to, but the Prime Directive is there to keep them from exploiting worlds that aren't yet ready to join the interstellar community.

That being said, the Ferengi are notorious for this.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter/General RPG]How well would pure elemental combat mages fare in the wizarding world?

In the Rpgs. Magic never have a civilian use. All you have are combat spells and healing spells. So how well would Rpg mages fare?

[Assistant]
They'd probably wreck shit, fur rill.

Seriously though they'd probably be either the best Aurors or incredibly destructive Dark Wizards.

If you're talking like a mage who is some what proficient with all elements they'd be tough as hell to kill considering most RPG mages have shields/bubbles they can protect themselves with and they don't usually have to have wands and only a staff that boosts there power but isn't a strict necessity.

Since their magic is indeed combat oriented they are already fast thinking and have a variety of spells to deal with other wizards of a similar nature let alone HP wizards where the majority of spells aren't directly combat related. And if they are in the same universe at that point it's likely they could also learn how to cast all the spells taught at Hogwarts and possibly without even a wand.

There are some powerful spells in HP but few come close to the pure destructive/offensive nature of those found in RPGs. Think of all the AoE spells where it's literally just fire/ice encompassing a large area around them.

If they couldn't learn spells like the HP wizards they might even be considered a separate "being" entirely. Sure they can't learn all the weird some what gimmicky spells and the more subtle useful ones but what they excel at they really do well.

So to answer your question more directly: They'd fare quite well, quite well indeed.


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

[User]
[Halo] What happened to the brutes after Halo 3?

I didn't play halo 4 except for the multi-player,but I'm plying Halo 5's story now and I noticed that there has been no mention of the brutes. Did they just hide away after the war was over?

[Assistant]
After the Great Schism and the dissolution of the Covenant, the Brutes mostly returned to their homeworld with the few Prophets that were left. They waged something of an asymmetric war against the Elites for a few years until the Prophets all went into hiding. Without the Prophets to keep them in-line, the Brutes fragmented into smaller tribes and fought each other as well as the Elites.

For the most part that's where things are at now. Their civilisation has essentially collapsed into a multi-fronted civil war. The tribes that remain space-faring mainly just raid Elite settlements for food and resources, but they'll hit human or Jackal or other Brute places just as readily, if they're in range. A few of the tribes have joined up with the Covenant Remnants, and a few more are lurking out in space trying to build up strength.

There's also a handful that have actually remained loyal to the Elites, though their presence is controversial. They mostly serve as security guards and servants. It's also likely that there's at least some Brutes doing mercenary work for whoever pays the most, like the Jackals.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do dogs like playing fetch with things? (Sticks, tennis balls, etc.)

[Assistant] It satisfies their instinctual urge to hunt something down and then pounce on it. Remember, wolves are powerful predators, and though we've bred most of that out of our cuddly friends, we can't get all of it.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do really light feathers and dust seem to be attracted to people even when you move away?

[Assistant] Air pressure. Really light floaty particles especially are very sensitive to air currents and waves. When you move in a direction, you create a temporary low pressure space in the air where you were. Air rushes in to fill that space dragging light particles floating around in it with the air. This effect is pretty small since humans can't move particularly quickly and our bodies aren't big enough to create a ton of drag, but it's signifigant enough for dust.


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

[User] [Star Wars] If someone were to shoot at a Jedi/Sith with a minigun, would they be able to block it or would they turn to swiss cheese?

[Assistant]
They would die, quickly. Even if they could bring their lightsaber around to block the projectiles in time (A difficult feat even with their precognitive abilities and reflexes) they would end up being coated in globs of molten metal.

Blaster bolts travel at a significantly slower speed than modern day projectile weapons, and while it's possible a sufficiently skilled Jedi could dodge them, they would be unlikely to be able to keep it up for long giving to a high fire rate.

Slugthrowers (as they're called in Star Wars) are perhaps one of the most useful weapons a Jedi hunter could own as while it doesn't negate the Jedi's abilities, it significantly reduces them.


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

[User]
[Superman] Does Superman's disguise work?

I had this conversation with a few friends the other day and I supported that it does actually work under the correct circumstances. I will post my explanation  here and I want to hear your opinions as well:

The way this works is if the individual has 2 personas. It's absolutely necessary one of the personas to be extremely more famous than the other.

Example:

Let's say one as said above has 2 personas. One of them is a world famous chef and the other is an IT student (let's call him Matt).
Obviously everyone have seen the chef (on TV etc.) but they know Matt and his background and he does not have any indications of being a famous chef and he of course denies it. So they think its just a coincidence.

Now if someone who knows the chef personally just happens to be walking around the city and sees Matt with his friends immediately they (the friend of the chef) will go up to him and recognise him as the chef because they are only aware of the existence of 1 person with that face not multiple.

[Assistant]
Christopher Reeve was able to go around without being recognized after he played Superman in a movie. He put on a suit that was a bit too loose, slouched a bit, and he wore glasses.

Simpler disguises have worked. Terry Pratchett just took his hat off to go from being recognized as a famous author to being unnoticed as a bald man with a beard.

Superman could disguise himself fairly easily because everyone knows his real name is Kal-El, he lives in a fortress in the Arctic, and he always dresses the same way. Nobody looks for Superman in disguise because his identity is public knowledge.


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

[User]
[Mortal Kombat] is there any explanation why everyone can sustain such physical trauma?

Through out the entire game (cutscenes and gameplay alike) character get there limbs broken, body parts cut off, stabbed, shot, and more. Yet after a few minutes they act like nothing ever happend. Why?

P.s. I know the entire point of Mortal Kombat is to be a way over the top fighting game and I love it for that. I am just curious if an explanation was ever given or if its just like that for the shock value.

[Assistant]
You seem to thing these people are "normal."

I mean, among the fighters you have:

- a dead person
- more than once cyborg
- a dragon avatar
- a god of thunder
- a few robots
- a waterbender (well, ice)

I mean, these aren't just your run of the mill humans here.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are beer bottles usually dark green or dark brown?

[Assistant]
Brewers started to use glass because it kept beer fresher, longer. However, there was one serious issue, if the beer was left in the sun too long, brewers found the beer would smell and taste skunky. Literally, it smelled just how a skunk smells. Scientists discovered that Ultra Violet rays from the sun break down the alpha acids in hops which then react with the sulfur present in beer to form a chemical that is almost identical to the chemical that skunks use to spray predators. Those damn UV rays. The solution was to tint the beer bottle to protect it from UV rays. Similar to how sunglasses help protect your eyesight; the dark brown beer bottle helps protect the beer from going bad.

Why the green beer bottle then? Green beer bottles offer very little protection from the sunlight. Though, slightly more than a clear bottle, it does not help protect from UV as much as one might want.

Around World War II, brown glass rose in demand and many companies had to forfeit their brown glass for their country. Unfortunately that meant companies with higher quality beers had to use clear glass, which made their beers look like cheaper, clear glass beers. Higher quality brewers solution was to sell their beer in green bottles so a consumer could tell the difference between a regular beer and a higher quality. The green beer bottle became a status symbol for many European breweries. These days, theres not much of a reason to sell a beer in a green bottle other than for marketing and aesthetic.  Lucky for us, glass suppliers are able to apply clear, UV protected coats to glass that help keep beer fresh no matter what kind of bottle it is in.


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

[User] ELI5 how movies made in the 1970's, 60's, etc. can be re-released into HD format nowadays? (Like the Star Wars blu-ray super pack)

[Assistant]
Film is analog, so you can't directly compare it to digital resolutions, but the quality that you get on physical film is much much higher than standard definition (SD) and still more than enough for a high definition (HD) picture.

When they put Star Wars onto VHS they reduced the quality of the picture a lot in order to fit it onto the VHS format. When the released it onto DVD they still had to reduce the quality quite a bit, but less than on VHS. Now they're releasing it for Blu-Ray they're still reducing the quality, but a lot less than for DVD.

If you watched it on a film projector, or at the cinema with a modern industrial digital projector (not like at home) the quality would still be higher than Blu-Ray.

Just looked it up. HD is about 2 mega pixels (2 million pixels in each image). Wikipedia says that 35mm film equates to about 20 mega pixels (20 million pixels in each image).


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

[User]
[Dragon Ball] How many generations will it take before Goku/Vegeta's descendants can't turn into Super Saiyans?

I'm uh... asking for a friend. Definitely not planning on destroying Earth once I know there aren't any super saiyans left.

[Assistant]
It's not really known. In DBGT, while not canon, Goku and Vegeta's great, great, grandsons can turn into Super Saiyans. The most impure blood we've seen in canon is the quarter Saiyan, Pan, who at the current point in canon, hasn't turned into a Super Saiyan.

It seems to me though, that if the parent has achieved Super Saiyan, the child is able to reach that level fairly easily. Gohan took quite a bit of training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to become a Super Saiyan, and Trunks had been training with Vegeta since he could walk. Goten, who was conceived after Goku's ascendance, achieved this form easily.

So, you know, I'd pick a different planet. Maybe one *without* apemen  with the ability to destroy planets at a whim?


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

[User]
Do quasars still 'exist' or have they all disappeared?

Considering the nearest quasars are still billions of light years away, and because we have not documented any quasars close to us, would they have become extinct by now?

Since seeing them as they were ~10 billion years ago, would any still "be around"?

[Assistant]
The closest quasar to earth is 3C273 which is about 2.4 billion light years away. Although this sounds far, it is small compared to the size of the observable universe. Most of the quasars we observe are much farther away. And the density of near by quasars is a little smaller but not spectacularly smaller than the density of quasars in the observable universe as a whole.

Although, the rate at which quasars occur has decreased somewhat from the maximum rate a few billion years ago, there are still plenty of quasars in "our neighborhood." And as the universe evolves the rate of quasar formation should continue to decrease, quasars will still be visible from Earth for a long time to come.


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

[User] [MCU/Marvel/General Physics] Does the Iron Man suit create a sonic boom louder than a supersonic aircraft, and how much does he have to pay in FAA fines for his hypersonic shenanigans in US airspace?

[Assistant]
I think the severity of a sonic boom is directly related to how much air is being displaced by the object causing it (basically, the bigger/faster the object, the larger the boom). Iron Man is a fraction of the size of even a small fighter jet, so it's unlikely any boom he generates would be very loud, at least in comparison to jets or similar objects.

I doubt he would have to pay anything. More likely, he just messages the FAA and tells them he'll design an AI air traffic control system that will be 500% more efficient than human controllers in exchange for free, unimpeded flight around US airspace.


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

[User] ELI5: when my phone is connected to my cars audio system via Bluetooth, how does the person talking not hear themself through my speakers?

[Assistant]
Your car stereo uses active echo cancellation. It know what signal it's sending out of the speakers so it compares the signal it's picking up on the mic to the signal it's send out the speakers and tries to remove anything that is the same in both.

This is the same technology that works on your cell phone and on modern table stop speaker phones.


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

[User] ELI5: What is the problem with paying student athletes if colleges and nonprofits like NCAA are profiting billions off of their work?

[Assistant] They say its so the students dont "sell out" or something equally wholesome.  But the real reason is college athletics is a perfect buisness model that basicaly makes a ton of money, its tax exempt and they have to pay very little to maintain their capital ie the students.  The NCAA is horibley curropt and fight tooth and nail over the smallest minutia, like you cant give your players bagels with topping ir its considered bribery or some shit.  They are very cruel with their players in order to make sure none step out of line.  Literaly every decade there is a rebelion of people trying to get rid of them.  They use the whole, you got to play the game and go to college, as a cop out.  Most of the players are students on paper but are really there to play.  Very few ofbthem actualy get a degree with value.


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

[User]
Let's say I'm lost in the woods and am an expert at identifying plants.  Would it be better to eat "non-food" plants than nothing at all?

To rule out the "don't eat random plants because they could be poisonous", let's say I'm an expert at plant identification and can say with 100% certainty that any given leafy plant is non-toxic.  I'm lost in the woods, and there are no berries or whatnot in the area.  Would I gain any energy from eating leaves or grasses?

If not, then what makes plants like cabbage and lettuce nutritious, but  grass or other leafy plants not nutritious?

[Assistant]
Even if a leaf isn't poisonous, it might not be good to eat.

Poisons in a plant are an example of what is called a qualitative defense.  It is a chemical that directly interferes with an herbivore's metabolism.  These are things like caffeine, cocaine, quinine, nicotine, etc.

There are also quantitative defenses.  These don't necessarily directly act upon an herbivore's metabolism, they just make the plant difficult to consume.  Tannins are a good example of this.  If you ate oak leaves, you wouldn't get any good nutrition from them because tannins block your body's ability to absorb nutrition.  The cells walls of plant cells are made of cellulose and hemicellulose, and you don't have the enzymes to break such large sugars down into calories, so they would be indigestible.  It wouldn't be worth eating them.

Leaves that we can eat are generally lacking in defenses.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is baking soda and why is it universally so good at cleaning?

People even brush their teeth with it. I don't understand why it has so many useful applications.

[Assistant]
Baking soda is a chemical called Sodium Bicarbonate. It does two things when cleaning. One, it chemically reacts with acids and greases to help break up dirt and grime. Two, it is a soft crystal, meaning it can scratch away at trouble spots without scratching the harder surface underneath.

The second property is why it works so well for teeth.


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

[User] [Altered Carbon] Why do people hate AI hotels so much that Poe didn't have a single guest for 50 years?

[Assistant]
AI hotels are rather kooky.

1.) They overly personalize the stay for their accommodation, to the point where it can disturb a guest. It goes from a satisfying service to a literal invasion of privacy.

2.) It feels too artificial, because it's too perfect: accommodations are so perfect and adjusted that it stops feeling satisfying and starts feeling artificial. Everything will also remain that way, with no distinction or tiny details. This is similiar to the food replicator issue from Star Trek: the food is great, but nothing is distinct nor memorable. Every chicken steak is great, but each one is *exactly the same.* Human element leaves distinction, reality and comfort through small imperfections that we grew accustomed.


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

[User]
CMV: People complaining about the NFL protests are deliberately misinterpreting them because conversations about racial injustice are uncomfortable

Basically I feel that for some people there will never be a right way for black people to protest. They will always find a reason to silence them and regain a moral highground.

1. The protestors have come out openly to discuss the reasons behind it.

2. Kaepernick altered his method of protesting after a discussion with a veteran to be more respectful.

3. Historically (and recently), there is always someone telling black people that their protest is the wrong way to send their message, it doesn't 1matter what method they use.

4. The flag represents all US citizens, not only veterens, including people of color, the protestors themselves, and victims of racial discrimination.

5. Advertising or wearing clothes with the flag is not called out as disrespecting veterens.

6. The president said "some [protesters, that included nazis and white supremacists] are very fine people" despite the protest turning violent, but but peacefully protesting black athletes as "SOBs who should be fired."

Responses to some common critiqes:

"I just want politics out of football"

This protest did not make football political.  The playing of the anthem, military flyovers, giant superflags are all political. Many were introduced in the 60s to garner support for the Vietnam war.  Peoplr don't want politics they don't like in football.

"People always criticize protests"

With the exception of violent protests, the criticism should be and usually is of the message not the method, that is the difference I'm highlighting.  Look at Charlottesville, ignoring the fact that it did become violent and some of them were nazis, people were criticizing the protest because of the message that we should allow confederate memorials to stand.

"The flag is a symbol of our country and kneeling during the anthem disrepsects that symbol and therfore the troopz because they fight for the country"

This isn't really an argument against my point it's just restaing the complaint, I'm calling out for its hypocrisy.  If it was really about respect for the flag and the troops these same people would be outraged that people marched with confederate flags, nazi flags, and defended confederate monuments. Maybe there are people out there who agree that both are wrong, but if you look at the way news outlets covered both issues, there is a strong overlap of people saying the NFL protests are disrespectful, but the march on Charlottesville is people defending our history/defending their first amendement rights/not all nazis also good people.

"The players are protesting on NFL time as employees and it would be okay if it was on their own time"

1. If the NFL as an employer does not want this message then that is an issue the business should address internally.  The sitting president using his influence to encourage employers to silence a peaceful protest is at the very least a questionable use of that goverenment influence.

2. As a customer of the NFL is is perfectly within your rignt not to patronize the business because you disagree with the protests. I'm not calling out people who disagree, I'm questioning the way they are disagreeing.  By subverting the conversation to one about the troops/flag they are avoiding an important, but uncomfortable one about race in the US.  If you think their interpretation of race is wrong then that opens up a dialogue about race relations which is what the protesters are trying to do.

3. Steph Curry said he didn't want to go to the white house, he said it in an inverview, on his own time, and acknowledged that he couldn't speak for his team. He was still blasted for being a whiner and referred to as classless and disrespectful by, again, those same news outlets. I admit this isn't a perfect example.

[Assistant]
Most people complaining about NFL protests don't want to have to deal with politics when they watch football.

They're not misinterpreting anything.  Kaepernick is stating a political position that America's police and justice system is racist.  Many people disagree.  Are they not allowed to voice any disagreement, or complain that they don't want to deal with a political debate when they're just trying to relax on a Sunday?


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

[User] ELI5: In regards to high end headphones, what does a higher ohm set mean compared to lower ohm sets and what are the differences in sound quality?

[Assistant]
A high impedance on a set of headphones generally just means it requires more power to drive them to an acceptable volume.

Portable devices, walkmans, ipods, phones, will generally favour a lower impedance because they require less power.

Old hifi gear, for example, tend to be built with higher impedances in mind, so using a modern set of low impedance earbuds on a hifi amp would probably mean you can barely nudge the volume off the zero stop before it'd be too loud to be tolerable.

The main advantages of a high impedance in headphones, really are more about situations that you wouldn't encounter as a home user, or out and about.

High impedance headphones are less affected by differences in output impedance on an amplifier, and you can connect a bunch of them to an output without overloading an amp.

TL;DR: For home use or out and about, you'd be absolutely fine with low impedance ones. There's no reason for the average Joe to go searching out high impedance headphones. For most the only difference you'll note is that they're expensive, and you have to nudge the volume up a bit further.

There are plenty of examples of very high end headphones that are low impedance.