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

[User]
[V for Vendetta] What happened to the Royal Family?

So Norsefire won over 80% of the vote, in an overwhelming landslide. The Queen is supposed to give the command to Adam Sutler/Susan to form a Government. What happened next?

[Assistant] Queen Zara is merely a puppet figure for Norsefire. At the time of V for Vendetta, she would have been sixteen years old, meaning that most of the monarchy probably died beforehand. Either way, she's no longer important to anyone in England, save as a figurehead.


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

[User]
[The Mist][Punisher] How would The Mist be different if Thomas Jane's character in The Mist were replaced by his version of the Punisher?

I always wonder how movies would go if different characters played by the same actors were swapped.

How do you guys figure this movie would have been?

[Assistant]
I can see it going two ways.

1. He goes outside and gets killed, at which point the little boy is killed much earlier by the religious woman.

2. He stays in the store, but he has pretty much everybody under his control within an hour. As soon as the religious woman starts talking shit, he'd take her aside and 'convince' her to calm down. He'd then get as much information out of the soldiers as he can, while getting everyone else to follow his strict instructions. Under Frank Castle's leadership, nobody else dies apart from that one dude at the beginning, they don't need to go to the pharmacy, and the military shows up as normal to sort shit out.

The Punisher is exactly the kind of person to get control of a bunch of untrained civilians, especially since in the comics, The Punisher is near (but not quite) Captain America in terms of strength. He could very easily overpower anyone in that store, and his knowledge of dealing with the mob would allow him to pick out and disable threats before they become threats, even going so far as to torture and kill them without mercy.

The only major weakness he has in this situation is that he's about as vulnerable to the monsters outside as anyone, so if he chooses to confront them, he might put up a better fight, but he'd still die.


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

[User]
CMV: A person should not be able to be charged with a DUI or DWI unless you are actually driving.

When I was in college a roommate went out drinking one night, got in an arguement with someone in the bar, and decided to leave.  He realized that he had had too much to drink, so he called a ride.  It was mid August and super hot outside, so while he was waiting on his ride he sat in in his truck and ran the A/C.  A police officer saw him and took him in for a DWI and he was convicted.  It effected his employment and schooling for the next couple of years.

I never liked the guy much, but I always thought he got a raw deal. He was doing the right thing and got the same penalty as if he decided to drive home.  You should be able to sleep it off in your car without fear of consequence.

I have heard the argument that if the officer saw a drunk sitting in their car and just walked away from it, the person could start driving at any moment.  I argue that it would be just as easy to take the person home as it would be to take them to jail, and it doesnt ruin their life. The police could even take them to the jail to dry out for the night just to be sure, but there is no reason to suspend their license, fine, and imprison a person for simply sitting in their car with the keys in their possession, or even sitting in a running vehicle.

To head off the first argument I see coming, this doesn't apply to a vehicle in a lane of traffic, obviously if you are passed out at a stop sign or something you deserve a DWI.

Update: After reading tons of comments my view has been changed marginally to believe that what he did should not be completely legal.  I believe that there should be some form of moderate traffic citation with a fine associated with it along with a ride home or a night in the drunk tank.  That way the police can prevent tragedies while not making the assumption that the person was definitely going to drive and ruining the person's life.

Dont expect any more replies from me, I have the day off with my family and I'm not spending any more time on my phone. Feel free to discuss amongst yourselves.

[Assistant]
We have to draw the line of "operating a motor vehicle" at some point, and sitting in the seat with it powered up seems like a pretty dang good one to me.

The point of not allow machines to be operated while drunk is that you you 1. are less physically coordinated and prone to making mistakes and 2. have impaired judgment.

With that perspective isn't someone sitting there shitfaced with a powered up car and their hands by shifter and feet by pedals pretty dang risky?

If you say "not really" then you're almost certainly going down the route of "wasn't really too drunk to drive" and "most people are capable of safe operation even when above the legal limit" and a bunch of other stuff we know is just generally not very true.


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

[User]
I think that you need college to be successful in life.

I think that in order to have a successful life you need to go to college. If you do not and you are planing on having a family in the future you will not be able to support them and you will stay in poverty or lower middle class. I do not want to here about the lucky few like Bill gates or Simon Cowell who did not go to college and are now millionaires the chance of this are 1 in a million.

[Assistant] A man has two kids, a wife, and a two bedroom suburban home. The family doesn't have much to live on so the two kids have to share their bedroom until they leave the house. Their dad works a construction job because he didn't get a degree in college. They don't live an extravagant life, but they enjoy each others company and play outside. Is this man successful?


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

[User]
[DC] [The Boys] [Superheroes] How does heat/Laser vision work without hurting the user?

For heroes like those in the "Super" Family (Superman, supergirl, Superboy) and "heroes" like (and I use the word "heroes" loosely here) Homelander, where does the heat/laser vision come from? Is there a part in there brain/behind their eyes that produces the energy for the heat/laser? Are they channeling it from some energy dimension? (I think X-Men cyclops and Havoc is this though I'm not sure, may be confusing) And how do their eyes function/have evolved to deal with this? Are they burn resistant? Harder to squeeze or crush?

Can anyone think of a way they do it without visual harm?

[Assistant]
Regarding Cyclops. It's not actually a laser & the only heat it will generate is from friction.

Scott Summers produces a concussive beam of force. You won't burn if he hits you, it's more like being punched by hard light (Albeit strong enough to blow away mountains).

One explanation offered is that his eyes are portals to an entire dimension of this energy. Another is that his cells absorb ambient energy & convert it into this.  Or he absorbs energy to keep the portal open.

The reason he doesn't die when he uses it (Or blow his eyelids off when he closes them) is that his body is naturally immune to the effects. He produces a psionic field that is immune. Ruby quartz is similarly protected which is why it's used in his lenses.


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

[User] ELI5: Why can taskmanager close my running programs when I'm not able to close them manually?

[Assistant]
Closing the window from within the running process is trying to call a function of the running process whereas stopping it from task manager uses an operating system call to kill the process instead of the process trying to close itself.

I hope that makes sense.


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

[User]
I'm afraid of death

Hello!

I succeeded in beating an existential crisis with philosophy (free will) but I'm still scared of death in spite of Epicurus and stuff like that. I generally beat my fears through reasoning but this one is the hardest by far (it was one of my first fears as a child when I was around 3 when my grandpa died).

What scares me the most is not being, not existing, just not be here or there.

I read some things about Parfit's account of personal identity and it seems to be reassuring to me. I mean from what I understand, my yesterday self died, and I'm going to die by going to sleep etc. Maybe I should read Reasons and Persons.

So, I'd like some insights about this issue that may help me! Thanks in advance!

[Assistant] Great question. Heidegger is quite good on death. Death is the experience that FORCES you into a radical re-valuation and examination of life and its meaning. Try to remember that death is the limit experience forcing you to confront life. You won't necessarily find a "solution" to this problem, but your search might change the context and meaning of the problem.


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

[User] ELI5: Why was 911 decided to be the shorthand dial for emergency numbers? Why not other combinations that are easier to remember (e.g. 111, 123, etc.)?

[Assistant] Back in the day, we had rotary phones. Rather than pushing a button for each digit, you had to pull back the dial a certain amount based on what number you were dialing. (Hence where the term "dial" comes from.) On a rotary phone, 911 was a number that was both easy to dial, but also pretty much impossible to dial on accident.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] Was there ever a vulcan-human hybrid raised on earth?

Spock was raised on vulcan and was vulcan personality wise, so could there have been the same only reverse with a hybrid and earth like personality?

[Assistant]
There was a guy who was 1/4 vulcan (but it was later revealed to actually be romulan) and was raised on earth. Also tasha yar had a daughter who was half romulan and half human, raised on romulas.

Genetically with the vulcan and romulans, they're near indistinguishable so I'd say yes it's happened.


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

[User]
Do fish make friends with eachother? Do they make friends with fish that aren't the same type of fish as themselves?

Like, especially in a school of fish such as neon tetras, for a simple example. Do they have certain members of the school that they like or dislike, do they make friends and enemies?

[Assistant]
"Friend" might be too complicated of a concept for fish, and there is a huge difference in behavior between different species.  But...

Yes, in general there are a lot of fish that will at least look like they've made friends with other species.  Hang out in the same cave with each other, follow each other around and so on.


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

[User]
[Transformers] Why does every new Transformer created by the Allspark seem to be a Decepticon?

Or at least evil.

[Assistant]
As Agent Simmons pointed out, most Earth technology was created based on information gleaned from "NBE-1," also known as Megatron.

Because of this, when animated by the Allspark, the devices emulate their "forefather."


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

[User]
ELI5: What is the big reason that we NEED a manned Mars mission?

I don't understand the necessity of putting a man on Mars. We've sent numerous probes and rovers, what else could a human find that is so necessary? There's nothing valuable there we know of and costs really seem to outweigh whatever benefits there are.

[Assistant]
It's science for science sake.

This is exactly the type of endeavor we should be making.

We came down from trees.  We came out from caves.  We climbed mountains.  We crossed oceans.  We took to the skies.  We went to the moon.  Why should we go to Mars? Because it's there.  That's what we do.


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

[User] Why do our bodies seemingly waste water through urination when water is essential for life? Is there not a better way to excrete urea than wasting something crucial to our survival?

[Assistant]
Yes, water is essential for life and yes, too much water can kill you.

That being said, the kidneys are incredibly efficient at saving water and they respond to several feedback systems in your body to help regulate this.

Nitrogenous waste can be excreted as urea or uric acid. Urea is water soluble while uric acid is not. Birds and other animals that lay eggs excrete nitrogen waste products as uric acid since this is not water soluble and takes less space (in an egg, the developing embryo is going to need to dispose of wastes and has limited space and water to do so). The trade off is that converting urea to uric acid is more metabolically expensive.

In humans uric acid can build up in the disease process of gout. We run into problems with uric acid forming crystals in our bodies due to the low solubility. These crystals can deposit in joints or other tissues leading to pain and deformity.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does connecting to a hidden service over tor work?

I've heard it explained a million times but it never clicked. Perhaps it's the cryptography part im struggling with. It's pretty easy for me to get overwhelmed by the technical terms.

To be clear, im talking about how a client running the tor browser manages to anonymously connect to a .onion webserver.

[Assistant]
Okay lets just say brackets mean you encrypt something. Only the correct receiver has the key to unlock it.

Regular encryption would then be

"adress (message)"

You encrypt what you're saying, but you can't encrypt who you talk to (because the ISP needs to know to route the message correctly)

Tor simply routes through multiple relay points. So the message you send looks like

"adress1(adress2(adress3(message)))"

From the outside it looks like you send an encrypted message to adress 1. But that isn't the final destination. Relay server 1 opens the first layer of encryption and finds an adress, so it sends the remaining encrypted message to adress 2, who has the key to open the second layer of encryption. And so on.

In the end noone in the chain knows who the final destination is. So even if one of the servers gets hacked/raided they only see a bunch of encrypted messages getting forwarded, without any idea if the adress is just another relay or the actual receiver. (And also no information who the original sender is, they can only see one step in the chain)


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

[User] ELI5: Why do we often feel tired after low-energy activities such as sitting on a plane?

[Assistant] Well, that particular example inflicts quite a bit of stress, both emotional (lines and such, even assuming you aren't afraid of heights), and biological (altitude change, uncomfortable seats and restricted ability to move, persistent noise, and the like). Driving is another good example, again emotional stresses (if you're not occasionally getting mad while driving, you're probably not paying attention), and physical (restrained seat with limited ability to shift positions, sustained effort and concentration).


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Does the blade of a light-saber weigh anything significant?

Does the wielder have to account for it's weight during combat, or is it more or less the same as when the blade is retracted?

[Assistant] The blade is weightless.  All of the weight is in the hilt, which makes wielding it incredibly dangerous and disorienting to the non-trained.  The extreme gyroscopic effect of the blade makes wielding it by someone without Force sensitivity very dangerous to all involved.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are eyewitness testimonies used and taken so seriously in court if peoples memories have been proven to be bad?

[Assistant]
I strongly encourage you to read transcripts of a court case to get a real feel for what an eye witness testimony looks like.

It's more than just asking a person that they saw Jim shoot Bob. Most often they will use multiple people to build context on the crime.

When people testify, the lawyers are often referring to pieces of evidence to jog their memory and they use the witness' testimony to validate the physical evidence. If a video is available the lawyers will play certain clips over and over while asking the witness about details that you can't see. They will also use it to poke holes in their testimony.

To answer your question

> **eyewitness testimonies used**

Because a bloody knife is much more compelling if someone saw Jim holding it.

>**and taken so seriously in court if peoples memories have been proven to be bad?**

The reliability of eye witness testimony is only taken as serious as the person giving it. If Sweet old Betty who has nothing to do with the crime said she saw someone that looks like Jim jump the fence to Bob's yard that's a pretty compelling piece of evidence.

Most importantly of all, you never ask a witness a question you do not know the answer to.


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

[User]
CMV: mm-wave 5G is impressive technology that is not, and probably will not be, useful for cellphone use

The title should tell all. My position is that 5G on millimeter-wavelengths is a super cool technology that may have several uses in the future. I don't know where (cars seem the most likely to me), but probably somewhere.

What I'm pretty sure is that mm-wave 5G is not useful for smartphone use, nor is it likely to be useful in the future. I have two main reasons for this.

1. mm-wave signal can easily be blocked, to the point where the only way to have a sustained 5G signal is to be, at all times, at most a couple 10 meters away from a transmitter. Even then, the signal will often be blocked by trivial things like trees being in the way. Basically, unless you have a direct eye-contact with a transmitter that is relatively close by, the chances of a 5G signal getting through to the phone are minimal.
2. Mid band 5G can transmit far more data than is required for any cellphone use, and there is no technology on the horizon that would require more than the 400Mbits per second that mid band 5G can already offer (enough to carry 16 streams, all in 4K). In fact, the 400Mbits is far far far more than any cellphone use needs at the moment, and is therefore more than likely future proof for several years.

The way I see it, for mm-wave 5G to be useful, several things must happen:

1. An infrastructure must be built to provide reliable mmWave signal at least in major cities. This would require the construction of at least several thousand transmission towers in all cities, which while possible, is difficult in the near future.
2. Cellphone use must change so that mid band 5G speeds are not enough any more. This is unlikely because 1) net speeds currently far outpace the processing power of the phones and 2) the most prominent data guzzler, video streaming, is already capable of providing 4K video (more than most phones can display) and is unlikely to continue to grow exponentially.
3. Most importantly, the points above must happen **soon,** that is, before some alternative to mmWave is proposed.

I don't see how the three points above could all come true.

[Assistant]
This is essentially the "people will never use cars because there are no paved roads and horses are faster" argument. Millimeter wave technology wouldn't be useful *now* where the infrastructure just doesn't exist and the software side hasn't caught up, but once this new bandwidth is available within cities (especially along dense thoroughfares and in high capacity venues like concert halls and sports arenas) the applications will catch up.

If anything, we should just be excited with what people will be able to do with this. Instant high quality video download would be slick of course, but we will probably get far cooler things like amazingly responsive wireless AR and the like.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Were other countries affected when 'Voldemort' became a taboo word?

Like, when Harry says Voldemort's name, the death eaters instantly know where he is. Did that taboo apply to other countries like Bulgaria where a student at Durmstrang goes "That Voldemort Guy is pretty cool!"?

[Assistant] Most likely not. Voldemort was more focused on a specific group of people who were localized in England, specifically the three main characters (only one of whom would speak his name). With Dumbledore dead, Harry was pretty much the only person alive who would say "Voldemort", so some random kid in the middle of nowhere saying it on a dare wouldn't really bother him.


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

[User]
I want a PhD in humanities. But I'm not a strong candidate and in my last year of undergrad. What can I do?

I recently had tough extenuating circumstances. I have poor GPA from a completely different major (STEM) that I started out with. I am essentially rushing to finish my new major this year. I do however work closely with my professors, will have research, good grades on my major classes.

Conventional wisdom is to get a masters and then apply, yet there's no way I can afford to pay 50k/year for a masters program. How would I improve my chances?

(the field I want to study is film studies/cultural studies)

[Assistant] Would you work at a CC in rural Arkansas to pursue this dream?  Would you be willing to move every year or so as an adjunct, being paid less than your college graduate friends without PHDs?  Unless you passionately want to do the career, I'd think hard. And not just because you will have trouble getting into a leading program.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are USB Flash Drives so slow if SSDs are based on the same technology?

I know SSDs uses a different kind of Flash Memory, but regular USB flash drives are even slower than ordinary HDDs, and costing much more per GiB.

So, why they're so slow if SSDs are so fast (and vice-versa)?

[Assistant]
The main cause of speed differences are the controllers. The controller allows the storage on the drive to talk to your computer. If the controller is not fast enough the speed of the connection to your computer does not matter. This is why an external USB hard drive will be faster than a flash drive. However, you can buy flash drives which have SSD grade controllers on them and transfer very quickly, but they cost a lot more.

As for the cost factor, there are two major things which affect storage costs. The first is the cost of the controller, and the second is the cost of the storage chips. A 256 GB flash drive will have 256 GB of storage in a very compact space. However, a 256 GB SSD will have more room for the storage, reducing its cost because there are (for example) 32 8GB chips instead of 2 128GB chips on the flash drive. However, the more expensive controller on the SSD increases the cost compared to the low cost flash drive controller.


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

[User]
Why is the impact from being hit while wearing a bulletproof vest so much worse than the recoil from a rifle?

From my understanding, recoil is the force the bullet exerts on the mass of the gun, and the impact felt by the person being hit is the energy of the traveling projectile, spread through the mass of the vest. The force of the bullet is the same in both cases, so why is the reported damage so different?

[Assistant] The butt of rifle is designed to spread the foot pounds evenly across the shooter's shoulder. Conversely, the bullet is intended to concentrate all of its force in a very concentrated area. Even with a bulletproof vest, the force is distributed unevenly, strongest at the point of impact. In short, the bulletproof vest does not distribute the foot pounds as effectively as the butt of a rifle.


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

[User] ELI5: we all know that when someone tells us to breathe naturally, we're suddenly aware of our breathing action. What is the physiological and psychological difference between our normal breathing cycle and the active deep breathing that we do deliberately?

[Assistant]
We definitely have a great understanding of the general mechanisms of breathing, but it's pretty advanced for ELI5. Essentially, there is a small part of the brain, deep and in the back, near the top of the neck, that controls unconscious breathing patterns. To condense decades of research into a single sentence, it's essentially just a self activating, pulsing brain signal; on = breathe in, off = breathe out (or vice versa, it's been a while).

The conscious mind can send signals further down the neural pipeline to override that gentle rhythmic pulsing, allowing you to hold your breath, breathe slower or faster, and deeper or shallower.

The pulsing region itself can be modified by the environment and semiconscious efforts; sleep and relaxation drastically reduce breathing rate, while stress and excitement increase it, while still having your breathing under unconscious control.

In terms of actual breathing, AFAIK there is no difference in things like air volume or flow rate that can be solely attributed to conscious vs unconscious breathing.


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

[User]
ELI5. How do they restore old movies to HD.

how are they "restored" and put on DVD in 720 and 1080?? Wouldn't they have had to be filmed that way in the beginning?
Thanks (watching an old movie - *Leon, The Professional* and wondering.)

[Assistant] 35mm is actually very high resolution. It was made to be projected on those huge movie screens and look good, so it should look good on your TV. The information is there on the original masters and/or prints, so studios usually go back and compare a couple of prints, scan in the best parts, do some digital magic, and then it can be exported at 720p or 1080p.


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

[User] Would it be possible to build a large double slit experiment to examine the behavior of gravitational waves? If so, would that be proof that gravitons exist?

[Assistant] No, even ignoring the technical challenges of building such a contraption, it couldn't be used to prove the existence of gravitons. The reason is that the double slit experiment is most directly related to the wave-like properties of a field. For example, the general properties of light as a wave, including things like interference and diffraction were known far before we figured out that light was made up of discrete bits of energy that we now call photons. Similarly in the case of gravity, we now (as of a week) can safely say that it can propagate through waves, and theoretically we know that these waves should also interfere with each other. However, observing such effects can't directly prove that gravitons exist.


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

[User]
Why do we need advanced options pricing models if we have the Black-Scholes formula?

Specifically, where is there emphasis on the development of robust options pricing models (finite difference, finite element, etc.) for the Black-Scholes PDE if we have the Black Scholes formula that we can use to evaluate the value of an option for any time, volatility, etc.

For context, I am a senior applied math undergraduate student in the US. I am not *super* familiar with a lot of econ/finance topics.

[Assistant]
The reason is simple - Black-Scholes is simply a popular *attempt* to model option value and does not, by definition, reflect actual option value. In practice, different assumptions about the underlying are often false and this is particularly evident over longer periods of time.

Naturally, the *actual* value of an option depends on the subjective probabilities of the individual market participant and their notions about the future price of the underlying over a given period of time. This naturally leads into probability theory which, to complicate matters, has a non-mathematical "logical of probability" branch.


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

[User] Is it possible to "add" protons to an atom in a lab/accelerator and discover new elements? And why does an atom having just an extra proton than another atom make the two completely different elements? What property of protons causes this, if any?

[Assistant]
Atoms, for us humans anyway, are fundamentally electronic in nature, their nuclear structure more or less doesn't matter.

Take a pile of positive charge and stack up electrons in standing waves on top of that positive charge, and you get atoms. Electrons arranged in orbitals (spherical harmonics) basically stacked on top of the positive charge as densely as possible. Because they are waves they have a characteristic minimum size which is a standing wave of different periodicity et al that we know as orbitals. From our perspective it almost doesn't matter what is in the nucleus of an atom. It could be made of anything, as it happens compact positively charged clumps of baryonic matter is actually stable according to our Universe, so atomic nuclei are possible. They naturally attract electrons to them due to the strength of the electrostatic force, and then you have atoms.

The reason why different amounts of positive charge on the atomic nucleus makes such a big difference is because it impacts the structure and behavior of the clump of electrons that is attempting to sit on top of the nucleus. As the spherical harmonics increase in the number of lobes they have you also increase the number of different orientations that are separate from each other, and these essentially form a set of different places where electrons can "live" in an atom. Each of them end up with naturally different energy levels, and because of the nature of spherical harmonics this means that the energy levels are not evenly spaced.

This is where orbitals and shells and chemical behavior comes in. Each spherical harmonic can essentially hold two electrons, because electrons have spin and if their spins are opposite each other in the same spherical harmonic that means they still end up with different quantum numbers overall. If they attempted to be in the same spherical harmonic around the same atom (the same orbital) with the same spin orientation then they'd have the same quantum numbers, which isn't allowed due to quantum mechanical reasons (electrons are fermions and obey the Pauli exclusion principle).

Anyway, what this means is that you end up with different behavior of the electrons around an atom depending on the charge of the nucleus. For example, if you have a nucleus with a charge of two (like Helium) then two electrons can sit on top of that atom in their standing wave orbitals and exist quite happily in the lowest energy state for those electrons possible, the 1s orbital. Helium is a very stable and non-reactive atom precisely because any changes to its electrons would require a lot of energy. In contrast, Lithium has a nuclear charge of 3, so a neutral Lithium atom would have not only those 1s electrons in a tightly bound spherically shaped orbital but another electron in a larger 2s spherical orbital that has a node at the center. The outer solitary 2s electron is much less tightly bound to the Lithium nucleus so the amount of energy it takes to ionize Lithium to Li+ is comparatively little. In fact, it takes 4.5x as much energy to ionize Helium as it does to ionize Lithium. This is why Lithium will more readily form ionic bonds, because it's relatively stable in a configuration where it has a solitary positive charge.

Depending on their electronic configuration, atoms can sometimes end up sharing electrons with each other. This is where the "electron standing wave" (in this case a molecular orbital) encompasses two or more atomic nuclei. So, for example, if you have two Hydrogen atoms, each with a nuclear charge of 1, they can form a molecular orbital together (a so-called sigma s-s bond) which is effectively equivalent to overlapping 1s atomic orbitals. The single molecular orbital can house 2 electrons (because of the opposite spins thing) and that ends up with an "average" of only one electron per atom, leaving the molecule still neutrally charged. This forms a bond because if one of the nuclei at one end of the molecular orbital were to move it would experience an electrostatic force. If it were to move closer to the other nucleus then not as much of the electrons would shield the positive charge of the other nucleus and would experience a repulsive force due to like charges repelling. If it were to move outside of the molecular orbital "electron cloud" (or electron wave) then the other nucleus plus the two electrons would be overall negatively charged, which would result in an attractive force toward the other nucleus. This is how molecular bonds keep atomic nuclei "connected" to each other even though they are nestled inside electron waves.

These mechanisms give rise to the entirety of chemistry. Differently charged atoms result in different forces and different energy levels for electrons in various atomic and molecular orbitals, and that's what favors or disfavors the formation of ions, covalent molecular bonds, or the behavior of "noble gases".


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

[User]
How betting websites (like sports and elections) calculate the odds?

I know that in elections there are a lot of election polls by which the platforms can rely on.

But specially for sports, where there are a great diversity of bets to be made (like # of goals, # of corner kicks, # of penalties and so on), how are the odds calculated for each of those bets?

I'm not looking for a straight answer, but rather for a notion of what is the logic behind it. All I can think of is that the companies must have tons of sports data and somehow calculate the odds for each bet from bayesian modelling perhaps?

Thank you all.

[Assistant]
There is a model involved obviously, but the thing the other poster didnt mention is that the odds are unfair and adaptive.

Unfair in the sense that the total odds dont add to 1, and if you bet on every outcome you would still lose money. If there is a match and the two teams have equal chances to win, the odds will be something like -110 for both teams (see MLB odds for Baltimore and Texas tonight, at the time of writing). If you bet $110 on both teams to win, you would lose $20 no matter the outcome.

They are adaptive in the sense that oddsmakers are not trying to predict who will win the event, but adjusting the odds to balance the money being gambled on either side. This is what is happening when the betting line moves. This, in addition to the unfairness of the odds, means the oddsmakers basically always make money no matter the outcome, without needing to make the most sophisticated models possible. Modeling things like this is hard and has potential to be wrong, but with this method, the house will always win.


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

[User]
[general] If I had mind-control powers, apart from manipulating villains, how could I use my power for good?

Lets say Ive got mind-control powers, what ever I say to you, you will do, no matter what (like Kilgrave from Jessica Jones)

Now mind-control is such a classic power set for villains, but how could I use it to be a good guy? What would my best methods be?

Im going to rule out mind-controlling villains as the answer because thats obvious, I want some alternate methods to be a superhero with said powers.

[Assistant] Assume we have a high risk, high fatality scenario that requires absolute calm to survive. For example, there is a bunch of civilians that in order to get out of firezone have to remain absolutely calm, don't run to the sides and don't panic. Your powers can do wonders here.


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

[User]
What happens if we artificially stimulate the visual cortex of someone who has been blind from birth?

Do they see patterns and colors?

If someone has a genetic defect that, for instance, means they do not have cones and rods in their eyes and so cannot see, presumably all the other circuitry is intact and can function with the proper stimulation.

[Assistant]
If they ~~were blind from birth~~ developed without a retina or optic tract then it's likely they wouldn't experience any visual phenomena. This is because in order for your brain to be able to represent a particular visual phenomenon it first needs to experience that [kind of] sensation and then encode the statistical patterns that are associated with it. Your brain basically starts out knowing nothing about the visual world and through visual experience builds a dictionary of various visual features. The beginnings of this are initiated before birth through so called retinal waves, which induce the initial organization of primary visual cortex into so called feature maps (orientation maps being the most studied), but this process has been shown to require actual visual experience to stabilize.

To answer your question then, it depends on the source of their blindness. If the individual had an intact retina before birth they might have a faint visual experience during direct stimulation of the visual cortex, while those missing the retina entirely would most likely not experience any visual sensation. There is also a chance that given enough time the visual areas of the brain would look for new inputs, from different senses, such that even if they had early visual experience the visual areas of the brain may have been rewired to process other sensory modalities.

Source: PhD student working on computational modelling of the development of the early visual system.

Edit: Corrections.


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

[User]
Why does cold temperatures dry clothes?

In a rainy day, if I leave wet clothes in a bedroom with a heater, they will dry.

And if I leave wet clothes in a bedroom with cold air conditioning it will dry.

Why?

[Assistant]
Important part is the that liquid water will always just spontaneously evaporate with speed depending on a number of factors like: temperature, humidity of the air, and airflow over the surface.

An AC lowers the air temperature, slowing down evaporation, but also lowers humidity, speeding up evaporation. AC also creates a draft in the room, speeding up evaporation.

Once you get to freezing temperatures the water will solidify and no longer evaporate.


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

[User]
eli5: what is an electron made of?

ELI5: I'm wondering what is the 'material' composition of any fundamental particle? If electrons (and other particles) are simply energy, and are not made of matter, then how does matter exist? I know mass and energy are interchangeable but I'm unable to wrap my head around how different elementary particles, which are made up of energy give rise to different elements that we can touch, feel, see etc. How does nothing (energy but not material) give rise to something that has distinct properties?

Edit: thank you all for your time and explanations. I found them very helpful! Much appreciated.

[Assistant]
We don't know. We consider them "fundamental" because it appears (as far as we can tell) that they aren't "made" of anything simpler. There are hypotheses that fundamental particles are made up of something simpler (such as strings in String Theory) but nothing with any empirical evidence.

They *are* made of matter if simply for the tautological reason that we have defined matter to be the thing that gives them mass.

The properties of the fundamental particles arise from differences in mass, charge, and spin.

The differences in elements come from the numbers of protons, neutrons, and electrons, with emphasis on how the electrons are organized about the nucleus. This determines how stable it is and the kinds of bonds it forms with other elements.


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

[User] ELI5: What is the difference between a stock, share and stake?

[Assistant]
Stock is just a way to split up the ownership of a company. A company could, for example, split up their ownership into 1000 pieces. Each of those pieces is a 'share' of the company's stock. A 'stake' means you have some reason to want the company to do well.

Apple's stock, as a whole (as in, all of the shares of Apple stock) is listed as 'AAPL'. One share of AAPL basically means you own one tiny, tiny piece of the company. You don't own ALL of Apple's stock, you just own your one share (or however many shares you purchase).

Your 'stake' in Apple is just how much interest you have in seeing the company do well or not do well. If you own shares of Apple stock, you have a stake in seeing Apple do well, since your stock will go up if Apple makes more money than expected. If you own $5000 worth of Apple shares, you have a $5000 stake. You can also express stake as a percentage of the total, so if you own 500 shares in a company that has 1000 total shares, then you have a 50% stake in the company (meaning you own half the company).


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

[User] Why did we evolve ears? How did it happen?

[Assistant]
Ears (the meaty flaps), or hearing?

The hearing evolved from otoliths in fish, which it was used to maintain balance/heading. These evolved to become vibration sensors in the jaws of reptiles, before migrating up through the skull into the system we have today. Various refinements happened along the way, such as the middle ear muscles that we have (but which birds don't), which clamp down when we chew, allowing us to eat food without deafening ourselves.


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

[User] ELI5: How did we measured the radius of earth and sun?

[Assistant]
The circumference (and by extension the radius) of the Earth can be measured by comparing the angle of shadows of vertical objects at different latitudes (same longitude) at identical times.

The radius of the sun was a little more complicated and there are a variety of methods. One was to measure the ratio of the distance to the moon and the sun (using trigonometry during a half moon).

Based on this ratio, and the size of shadow the Earth casts upon the moon during an Eclipse, you can estimate the size of the sun. Similar and different methods have been used over the years, but they basically boil down to: shadows and math.


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

[User]
Is there a limit to how acidic (or basic) something can be?

I have heard of an acid with a pH of -24. Can anything go past that? What about alkaline compounds?

[Assistant]
The way we calculate pH is by taking the concentration of H^+ ions in a solution and inputting it in this formula:

pH = -log[H^+ ]

So in theory as long as the concentration of H^+ is high enough negative pH is possible. The same goes for alkaline compounds (though there you're concerned with the concentration of OH^- ).

The problem comes in practical applications. Measuring a negative pH is very difficult as the glass detectors can't measure the very low  pH correctly and will therefor return higher values of pH than might actually be there. Further complicating matters is the facts that at very high concentrations even the stronger acids (for example HCl) don't fully dissociated (release their H^+ ) so calculating the pH from the concentration of HCl wouldn't yield the correct pH either.

In short, theoretically there is no maximum to how high or low a pH can go, in practice, you'll find yourself limited in being able to measure the actual very low or high pH's and less than full dissociation at high concentrations.


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

[User]
Why do my eyes turn bloodshot red after smoking cannabis ?

After smoking, my eyes turn bloodshot red, not your usual milky red, I'm talking as red as the fire of a thousand burning suns. My vision remains fine though, and there generally is itchiness and swelling. Usually a bit of decent eye drops does the trick. Right now I can't upload a pic since I'm not under the influence, but I will ASAP for clarity.

[Assistant] This is extremely common and well known to occur after smoking cannabis. The main compound in cannabis that gets you high, THC, is a powerful vasodilator! This means that THC lowers blood pressure and widens the veins and capillaries throughout your body, including the ones in your eyes, allowing for more blood flow to these areas. This dilation of blood vessels is also why many people experienced a flushed/red face when high on cannabis, and the drop in blood pressure explains why many people may feel dizzy while high.


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

[User]
[Stargate] Why were the ancients so opposed to instruction manuals

Throughout the series technology left behind by the ancients is a running theme. The stargates themselves are a prominent example, as are Atlantis and the Destiny.

However much of this technology is rather dangerous and left without instructions or safety markers. The only Stargate with a forcefield to prevent the kawoosh from killing people is Atlantis-- other locations don't even have a safety zone.

Ancient repositories of knowledge can just grab your head and murder you with knowledge.

Obviously this is danger stuff to leave around-- the goauld exploited the stargates for centuries to enslave humans. However even with a DHD there's no interface that lets you speed dial your favorite planet by name, or even a phone book.

I seem to remember some dangerous stuff in Atlantis getting accidentally switched on, while useful things like zpm factories and Stargate plans are hidden.

[Assistant]
The Ancients didn't exactly plan out their own extinction.  They were suffering from a plague that killed every ancient in the Milky Way.  The Atlantis ancients fled to Andromeda to escape the plague, and ended up pressed so hard by the Wraith that they fled *back to the Milky Way.*    As a result, most surviving ancient technology is in the state it's in as an accident

Manuals probably  existed back a million years ago at the height of ancient civilization.  So did on the job training, safety measures, controlled access, and so forth.  These are all things we do in modern society to safeguard people against the machines we have that can very easily kill a person.  Most of that simply hasn't survived thr passage of time and lack of planning.


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

[User]
What determines the frequency "mix" of emitted photons that make white light?

Since there is no such thing as a white photon, what mechanism in a white light determines the "mix" (production) of other photons appropriate to make the output white?

Crudely, does a white light think "a few red ones now, a few blues one now, add a little green here" etc...

[Assistant]
> Crudely, does a white light think "a few red ones now, a few blues one now, add a little green here" etc...

There is no mechanism in white light that determines mixing or producing photons to make the output white. It literally is just your eye that, when it sees the appropriate proportion of different wavelengths of light originating from *roughly the same angle* that interprets it as white. No joke. Just put a red, green and blue light close together and it will look white to you.

Of course, when humans make something like a white surface, then obviously the surface material is deliberately selected so that it diffusely reflects in a reasonable proportion all frequencies of visible light in order for it to look white.

Check out computer pixels at close range.


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

[User]
[DC] So the entire race of martians were godlike beings as powerful as Superman before their extinction?

Even Kryptonians weren't powered beings on their home planet. Only after exposing to the yellow sun were they given powers. But were Martian Manhunter's race all super powered shape shifting beings on their home planet?

[Assistant]
They were.

And one of the major schisms between Green and White martians is that White Martians came to prehistoric Earth and fucked with our genetics (Removed the meta-gene from most of the gene pool) and kept humanity from becoming superpowered, similar to Kryptonians.

Only a few humans left actually carry the gene thanks to the Whites. And the Greens were outraged they'd go screw with the DNA of another race.


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

[User] [X2]How did Magneto switching metal plates in the recreation of Cerebro change its search function from mutant to human?

[Assistant] Cerebro works as a mental energy resonator, enabling the professor to amplify his power to a world-reaching scale. The plates look plain on the outside, but on the inside they hide highly sophisticated circuitry. Their geometric arrangement specifies a certain "frequency" of mental energy; by default they're arranged to be tuned into mutant minds, but they can be switched around to tune them into non-mutant minds.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why can your heart beat constantly and not get tired when skeletal muscle gets tired after a relatively short period of time?

Your heart beats 60+ times a minute every minute from before your born untill you die, why can it beat without getting tired when skeletal muscle gets tired after a few hours of work? Why cannot skeletal muscle do the same?

[Assistant]
Thats because the hearts cells have much more  mitochondria than any other skeletal muscle. Since the heart has so much power from the mitochondria, it doesnt need to rest. And as its working, it keeps recieving different nutrients from all the blood thats pouring into the heart.
Hope that helps!


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

[User] [DC] Kryptonians are superpowered around our star, but what are they like/were they like physically around their own home star on Krypton?

[Assistant] Iirc because of the high gravity on krypton the peoples bodies became extremely durable. And their dying red star forced them to evolve to metabolize solar radiation more efficiently. With these two limiting factors, they acted no differently than a human on their planet. It was once they got out of their solar system and onto a younger, smaller planet, that their adaptations got to shine.


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

[User]
How do hibernating animals survive without drinking?

I know that they eat a lot to gain enough fat to burn throughout the winter, and that their inactivity means a slower metabolic rate. But does the weight gaining process allow them to store water as well?

[Assistant] The metabolic breakdown of fat produces not only energy, but a lot of water. When you put that together with the slow metabolism, body temperature and breathing, they end up needing less water than normal and they are able to survive.


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

[User] ELI5: What happens internally when someone loses their voice (from either overuse or illness)

[Assistant]
Your vocal cords in your throat are controlled by muscles. It's much like like playing a musical instrument.

If you play an instrument too long, your hands can get tired enough that you can barely get any sounds out of the instrument.

Overuse of the instrument can also wear it down over time so that it doesn't sound right. Proper maintainence is needed. Luckily our bodies can self heal with enough rest but excessive use can cause permanent damage.

If you are sick, parts of your throat can get sore or swell. This is like playing an instrument that is not tuned or assembled properly so you can't make the correct sounds.


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

[User] ELI5: What is the biology behind the chameleon' s ability to alter it's skin colour?

[Assistant]
Just to get it out of the way. Chameleons only occasionally change color to blend in, mostly it's to communicate with other chameleons.
Chameleons have tiny crystals in their skin.
These crystals cause light to bounce around and get interfered with.
They the have muscles that control how far apart the crystals are.
This changes how the light gets bounced around and interfered with, changing the color.

Incidentally this is different from how the octopus and the cuttlefish change color.
They have many different color spots, and have muscle to cover or uncover them, thus changing the overall color.


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

[User]
Where are vaccine "memories" stored?

If I understand correctly, vaccines work by exposing the immune system to a weakened, or even dead foreign body.  The immune system is trained to "recognize" this.

Where is this "memory" "stored"?

Forgive the quotes, but I know these words are likely not appropriate for the reality of the answer that is likely to come.  ;-)

[Assistant]
These are not memories in the way you remember what you had for breakfast this morning. The way the immune system recognizes non-self particles (like bacteria) is by identifying particular components of protein on the surface of the foreign body, typically called an epitope. As a part of the immune response, your body identifies a foreign epitope and ramps up production of cells in the immune system to destroy them. These cells include T cells and B cells.

Most of these cells are shortlived, and do not stick around once the infection is eliminated. On the other hand, a small subset, called Memory T cells and Memory B cells, have much longer lifespans.

One of the slowest steps in the process of fighting off an infection is recognition of an epitope common to most/all of the pathogen causing the problem, this is necessary in order to create cells that will target the infection.

Memory T and Memory B Cells make that process MUCH MUCH quicker allowing for rapid creation of cytotoxic T (killer T cells) which kill a pathogen more directly and B cells or B Lymphocytes which create antibodies which recognize the specific epitope and "mop up" the bacteria so that they are clustered and can be ingested and destroyed by macrophages (macrophage is greek for "big eater", these cells eat up the bad stuff, essentially)

To directly answer your question / tl;dr vaccines expose your body to just enough of a potential pathogen to cause generation of the memory cells but not to get you sick.

Fun fact: some pathogens, bacteria, but especially virii, change their epitope frequently. This is why last year's flu vaccine is not good this year. The flu vaccine is engineered against whatever happens to be the most common strain for that year.


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

[User] [Batman] How does the Joker fund his schemes?

[Assistant]
Crime. He's the Crime Prince Of Crime, after all.

Joker's Gang is a legitimate, if bizarre, criminal organisation, with all the drug dealing, protection rackets, smuggling and so forth that implies. That's his *job.*

What you see in the comics is his *hobby.*


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

[User]
How close to a perfect sphere is a black hole?

Is there much variation in the surface of a black hole? I'd imagine because of its relatively small size and huge mass black holes would be very close to a perfect sphere.

[Assistant] A black hole with zero angular momentum has perfect spherical symmetry. But any realistic black hole will likely have *some* angular momentum. In that case, it's not longer spherically symmetric but rather axially symmetric about the axis of rotation.


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

[User]
[MCU] Why did Iron man fair so much better than The Hulk 1v1 against Thanos?

Apologies, as I am probably not the first person to ask this. IIRC, Thanos had all but two gems when he fought Iron Man, and only one gem when he fought The Hulk, but he seems to mop the floor with The Hulk, and Iron Man manages to actually cut him. What gives?

[Assistant]
Hulk is not really used to fighting above his paygrade. He's lazy, used to just being able to punch his foes into submission. He wasn't prepared for Thanos being someone he couldn't punch. Had he known, had he been prepared, it's possible that Hulk would have actually put effort into it beyond brawling, but nope. Hulk Smash wasn't enough.

Tony was already briefed that Thanos was a BIG DEAL and is used to having to be smart to fight above his paygrade. He had the benefit of knowing who he was fighting and that he couldn't do anything less than 100% effort.


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

[User] What is the real genetic probability for a four leaf clover?

[Assistant] According to Wikipedia's sources there are about 10,000 3 leafed clover stalks for each 1 four leaved clover stalk.  This means that they are actually not so rare, but they can be very hard to find.  A decent sized patch of clover will easily have 10,000 stalks though, so if you see a big patch of clover chances are there are one or two in there somewhere.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Why couldn't Harry just not enter the tri wizard tournament?

Everyone clearly hated it including Harry so why not just not let him join?

[Assistant] Apparently your name being in the Goblet invokes a "magically binding contract". It's never explained what exactly that means, though. Presumably refusing to enter would have consequences no one is willing to consider.


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

[User] Why do ice cubes freeze together when in a glass of water? Isn't the ice melting, not re-freezing?

[Assistant] Overall the ice is melting, but in small areas it can be refreezing. So where the ice is predominantly surrounded by the much warmer drink, it will be melting; but where two wet ice cubes come very close together, small amounts of the water may be isolated enough from other warmth that the sub-zero temperature of the ice cubes may cause it to freeze between them.


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

[User] ELI5: without ever looking in a mirror, how do animals know what species they belong to and not mistake themselves as for another one?

[Assistant]
It depends on the animal.

More complex creatures like mammals and birds learn it.  Birds imprint on the creature that raises them.  Mammals have a childhood and exposure to their parents and possibly siblings.  From then on, anything that looks/smells kinda like that animal and acts about the same way gets treated like one of its own kind.

Note that many animals don't have a distinct recognition of their precise species.  Many species can interbreed and will readily, but simply don't because they are geographically separated.  These are cases of seeing a different species, but it being close enough.

Some animals don't have this recognition ability.  Most insects treat those of their own species like they would most any other insect (whether that happens to be).  When mating season comes around, it's a combination of smell and "playing along" (if you're a male doing your male courtship thing, and another creature about your size comes along and starts doing the female thing, it's probably your species, and probably a female).


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

[User]
CMV: A prenuptial agreement, in regards to division of property, is a perfect valid agreement, and shouldn't have a negative stigma.

I find that this can be seen upon as greed or egotism, hower I simply see it from an economical standpoint.

When you're in a relationship, and you split up, you normally divide things by who it belongs to, even if there is a major difference or similarity in income. I bought the TV, I should keep the TV. You bought the couch, you should keep the couch.

This suddenly change when you enter marriage. The division is now 50/50, even though the contribution could be 90/10.

I come from en economic background, so I just see it as asset placement. The one who contributed the most, should have the most in a settlement.

I know there is such a thing as an enabler. If one partner allows the other partner to work more or be more effective, this can contribute to the overall utility of the home. I.e. the example of the 60's family where there is a houseworking woman and a working man. The woman does all the work at home, so the man can focuses on his work, bringing home income. However this model can't be accurately projected into the present world, where both men and women work equally and split house chores.

So I would find it completely valid if a woman, on average over the period of the marriage, contributed double what her husband did, she should receive double the amount of assets as him. The same goes the other way around.

Take an example of a firm on a stock market. There are 100 contributors to the firm (100 shareholders), 90 of these hold a total value of 9% of the firm i.e. 0.1% each. The remaining 10 hold a total value of 91% of the firm i.e. 9.1% each. If the firm closes down, the assets of the firm shouldn't be split in 100 equal parts. No, it should be split by contribution to the firm. The same goes if the firm produces a dividend, the dividend should be split according to contribution and not equally. This is also how firms legally work.

By splitting it equally it removes the incentive to invest more, why should I invest more than the bare minimum if I'm only able to receive the average under all circumstances?

Now take this back into the relationship, if my spouse produces x amount of income and "invest" it into our shared life (Contribution), why should I invest 2x or 100x? I know it's an extreme example, but it gets the point across. Only if I know that I can keep the difference, I have an incentive to invest. Everything else is irrational.

Please take in mind that I'm not up for the "You bought this, you keep this" mentality in a marriage, since you could have split your income in-equally i.e. I buy groceries for the month, and you buy the table and chairs we need. If one only buys all the necessary items like food and general supplies, this should be seen just as much of a contribution as buying a table and chairs, under the assumptions that these equal in cost. I'm only focusing on contribution.

As I said, I've not taken any sociologic or politologic assumptions into my thoughts, only the economical aspect.

Hope you can help me out here. I've presented my views to friends and family over the years and most of them sees this as greed or like I have egotistic views. I simply can't see why I should contribute with twice as much as my spouse and expect to share equally. Or how I cannot feel guilty by contributing half as much as my spouse and expect to receive equally.

This is clearly hypothetical.

[Assistant]
Problem is that a lot of contributions are difficult to assess.

House chores has to be done. How much should this be taken in account in the "full economical" point of view ? Hours at minimal wages ? Hours at your current wages in your work ?

What if you got children ? You both wan them, but it's obviously the wife that is going to be pregnant, have to take some maternity leave etc. Maybe she'll miss a raise because of that, can you account it in contribution model ?

Basically, the 50/50 split is saying "we both contribute to our family in different ways, and as quantifying it is really too complicated, we consider we do half each".

*TL;DR*
If both of you are persuaded that one partner is going to contribute way more than the other, then a prenuptial agreement will be necessary. But people tend to consider than a relationship where there is a main contributor and a "freeloader" is not a healthy relationship, thus are retro-propagating this impression onto the agreement, which looks like "ok, we are marrying knowing that we are in a dysfunctional relationship", and it looks weird.


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

[User]
Is it actually possible for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle if it goes fast enough, or do I just
not understand relativity?

Because of length contraction under special relativity, if we accelerate a camel at a high enough speed, shouldn't we be able to make it go through the eye of a needle (theoretically)?

[Assistant] Length contraction happens in the direction of travel only. A high-velocity camel going past you forwards would be observed not to be very long from nose to tail, but just as wide and as tall as the more common nearly-stationary camels.


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

[User]
Why is it that fish or other aquatic life can suddenly appear in secluded ponds or lakes?

My friends dad is a landscaper and he recently made a 2 acre pond. Now, about 5 months later after is completely filled up, I can see fish in there. I don't know how this can happen since this pond is so new and it is at least 50 miles from the nearest body of water (a medium sized swamp/marsh lands).

Thank you all for the replies.

[Assistant]
a 5 month old pond with fish in it was probably stocked, more often than not pond owners go with fish that specialize in eating mosquito larva and live mosquitoes. they also go with fish that help to maintain the ecology of the pond, and sometimes (depending on the size of the pond) they add sport fishing species (bass, catfish, etc...).

aside from stocking the pond, ducks/geese are common carriers for fish eggs. they spend a lot of time walking around in the shallows looking for something to eat, picking up eggs on their feet and underbelly. when they fly to the new pond and splash down, the water often dislodges the eggs and drops them off in their new home.


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

[User] ELI5:Why do words sometimes begin to "sound weird" or not like words at all, after we repeat them over and over in our heads or out loud?

[Assistant] This is called semantic satiation.  It's basically your brain messing up slightly due to certain things up there happening repeatedly at a fast pace.  The Wikipedia article has more a lot more if you want to dig deeper.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are dvd players that connect to TVs so much larger than ones in laptops, computers, and even USB DVD players? What's the difference?

[Assistant] The DVD player in a computer just reads the data off the disk. The rest of the computer decodes it and generates the video to display. With a standalone DVD player, it has to do everything in the device.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do car companies assemble their cars in their own countries instead of China?

Aston-Martins are assembled in England, Lamborghinis in Italy, Nissans in Japan, why is this? How come they don't assemble them in China where everything else seems to be made?

[Assistant]
Sometimes there are certain import restrictions or it is more expensive to import the whole car than it is to import the individual pieces.

Additionally, by assembling in their own country, they can put 'made in England/Italy/Japan' on it which can be an important part of their brand identity. If you, for example, have a car that you are portraying as THE Italian car made for and by Italians, nobody is going to buy your portrayal if there is a sticker on the car that says 'made in China'.


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

[User] [The Mask/MU] Would it be plausible for the Mask of Loki to have contained the Reality Infinity Gem given the powers it has?

[Assistant] I like to imagine the Mask is actually Loki's try to copy the power of the Reality IG, as you can see it appears to be flawed, it's powers, even reality altering, aren't totally under the user's powers and it brings out the unconscious of the person.


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

[User]
[DC] What is the difference between the Speedforce and the Negative Speedforce?

I've heard that the Negative Speedforce is a parasitic entity, but what exactly is it/does it do differently from the Speedforce?

[Assistant]
Mostly, it acts same for Eobarde Thawne as the Speed Force does for regular speedsters (the Flashes, Jesse and Johnny Quick, Max Mercury).

Something about the Negative Speed Force basically *subtracts* from the Speed Force (as the name implies), causing pain to speedsters that try to use their powers. The only exception being Barry Allen, who generates the Speed Force and was able to counteract the effects the Negative Speed Force causes.


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

[User]
ELI5: If just a couple "specks" of fentanyl is enough to kill a person, and one can overdose merely by touching it, how is it that people are able to ingest it without dying?

I'm hearing more and more about police officers and other people who have came into contact with it and have either died, or nearly died of an overdose, just by touching it. So how are people even able to ingest it without immediately overdosing? I remember an episode of *Intervention* and this girl was addicted to prescription fentanyl "lollipops". Obviously, the answer is that there must be an extremely small dose in them, but if you can die from a "speck", what kind of dose are we talking? 1/100th of that?

[Assistant]
As always, the dose makes the poison, and your mileage may vary. Fentanyl patches are meant for patients receiving large chronic doses, as in cancer pain, where tolerance is already high. If a child, weighing a third of what the intended patient does and never having received opioids, sticks the patch on, there's risk. But plenty of people would take that same dose without dying. Lethal doses are usually given as the amount required to kill 50% of people, because it's just not predictable for any individual.

In a controlled medical setting, giving a one tenth of a milligram of fentanyl isn't much different than giving ten milligrams of morphine. For that matter, we use botulinum toxin (Botox) for all kinds of medical purposes, and it's one of the deadliest substances by weight in the world! As long as you can be sure the dose is accurately tiny, it's mostly an arbitrary number. On the flip side, taking 500 milligrams of Tylenol is very safe by any measure. Yet precisely because people aren't afraid of Tylenol, and because it's so widespread, it's a leading cause of liver damage.

The other thing is that opioids usually kill by shutting off your drive to breathe. In an intensive care unit, where most patients are on ventilators, they don't get that option. High doses of fentanyl are used safely every day in the ICU for pain control and sedation.


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

[User]
[The Good Place] What happens to children and babies that die?

I would think there would be something akin to the religious idea of an "age of reason," meaning that anyone too young to understand the consequences of their actions isn't considered morally responsible for their "sins." So I would think a young child who dies would get a pass into the good place. However, we know canonically that no one has gotten into the good place in a very long time.

I also thought perhaps that if kids are too young to earn points, they would be at zero when they die, no good and no bad, so maybe they'd go to a medium place. But we know from the show that Mindy St. Claire is the only person to ever get sent to the medium place. In addition, she got there because she had an amount of points exactly on the border between bad and good, so obviously she didn't have zero points. An adult who actually had zero points would go to the bad place.

So the only conclusion I can come to is that there is some area of the bad place where millions of little kids are being eternally tortured. Perhaps their "torture" isn't like the horrific things that happen to adults, but things that would really bother a child, like having a candy bar just out of reach forever, or being forced to kiss their ugly old grandmother (a la Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey).

I really don't want to believe that any of this is what happens to kids. Obviously they don't deserve it.

So, help me out here. What does happen to babies and little children who die before they are old enough to choose to do good or bad things?

[Assistant]
Everyone went to the bad place since 500 years ago. We don't hear of any exceptions, nor does the hyper judgemental system seem like one likely to have them.

We can pretty safely concluded that, yes, Babies go to hell.


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

[User] ELI5: How did Russia become so much bigger than any other country?

[Assistant]
They conquered *a lot* of sparsely populated land in Northern Asia.

Much of the landmass of today's Russia is still very sparsely populated and inhospitable. Prior to the 16th and 17th centuries (when Russia began to conquer the small polities that existed in these areas) no major nearby settled state (e.g. China*) had a particular strong interest in these areas.

*In Asia, control over populations was generally viewed as more important than control over land, whereas European states tended to be all about controlling new lands, even sparsely populated ones, in that time period.


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

[User]
(LOTR) What would have happened to Sauron if the Ring had never been found?

Say Gollum accidentally dropped it in the lake in the Goblin caves, the likelihood of any one finding it deep down in the waters of those dark caves would be slim to none.

Would Sauron have ever fully recovered his power's with out it?

[Assistant]
They debated this in the council of Elrond. There are a few things to consider:

* The Ring has a will of its own. If it wants to be lost, it will be lost. If it wants to be found, it will be found. It may take a long time, but either through its own will, or by influencing surrounding creatures, it would eventually find its way to Sauron;

* The only feasible place to drop it to ensure it being lost for the maximum amount of time would be a deep ocean. A mere lake wouldn't cut it. Anyone carrying the ring anywhere was risky (Sauron was already looking for it);

* Sauron was staged to conquer middle Earth with or without the ring. Yes, he wanted his ring - desperately - but he was already in a place of supreme military superiority over the rest of Middle Earth. It was his own fear and paranoia that kept him at bay. Eventually he would have said "Fuck it" and invaded and there really isn't any force that would have been capable of stopping him.

Ultimately, "losing" the ring would have been worse. Sauron would have conquered the whole of Middle Earth anyway, and so long as the ring exists, Sauron is immortal. Any uprising would be futile because Sauron would just rebuild his form and keep coming back.


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

[User]
ELI5: What in the world does Gateway Timed Out mean?

I mean, what the heck is a gateway in the first place.

[Assistant]
When you contact a website, you rarely make a connection directly with the server you're trying to get information from. Your connection is often routed through a series of intermediary servers that "route" the traffic, they serve different purposes such as load balancing, filtering out spam and serving faster traffic in different locations, these servers are referred to gateway servers, as they are just "gateways" on the the way to your destination.

If one of these servers fails to contact its destination, but you managed to make a connection to the gateway, it will respond with a 504 Gateway Timeout.

This just means the gateway responded to you, but was unable to help you connect to the next gateway or destination.


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

[User] [Blade Runner 2049] Why did someone put Anas real memory into K in the first place?

[Assistant] Ana makes fake memories, and uses her own as a basis for them to feel more real. So K just got a bit from her real memories in the whole cocktail. She likely didn't expect him to actually go investigate his fake childhood.


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

[User]
Is building dams a learned behaviour for beavers?

They seem to start building dams. Is it passed down from parents to children or genetically coded into their DNA?

Followup question: What is the evolutionary reason for this?

[Assistant]
Genetically coded.

They build dams instinctively to create a pond/lake which they then construct a nest (lodge) in.  The nest has an underwater entrance, which keeps predators out.  The point of the whole shebang is that underwater entrance.


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

[User]
ELI5: Since most communication can be done with a wifi connection, why haven't Internet service providers put cell phone companies out of business?

You really don't need cellular service in order to communicate nowadays with apps like Skype or Facebook calling. Why not make wifi the new cellular service?

[Assistant]
The *whole point* of cellphone service, originally, was to ensure that you send send and receive calls from almost any place, even while moving around. You can't connect to the local coffee shop's wifi if you are in a car, for example, because you'll be out of range in mere seconds. Wifi doesn't have much range, and there is no common system for uninterrupted switching from one wifi provider to another as you move along.

You might ask "why doesn't someone just make a more powerful version that fixes these problems?" They have. It's called cellular.


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

[User]
How are neurotransmitters in a brain measured?

I've heard things like "adenosine increases while awake and decreases when sleeping". How is adenosine (and other NTs) measured in a living human? My understanding is the only way to measure neurotransmitters is to cut open the brain, which you can't do on a living person.

[Assistant] You can measure circulating blood amounts, which sometimes, but generally isn't very accurate at reflecting brain amounts. You can also measure levels of metabolites. Generally though you just can't measure them which is why psychiatry is a rough adventure to find meds that work for each individual and is almost entirely based on self-reporting.


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

[User]
Could dark matter be made of neutrinos?

So what I've noticed is this: Dark matter cannot be detected directly, observed directly, captured, contained, or be measured in any way other than the way it's mass affects gravity. All of those rules are also properties of neutrinos. So could this mean that neutrinos are actually extremely abundant in interstellar space?

[Assistant]
Yes, neutrinos are a perfect candidate for Hot Dark Matter (HDM). There is a distinction between Hot and Cold Dark Matter (CDM) based on whether the particles involved are traveling at relativistic or non-relativistic speeds.

However, based on observations of structure formation in the early universe, we now know that most dark matter is not HDM, but has to be CDM. So, if neutrinos are dark matter, there's still needs to be lots of other dark matter that isn't neutrinos.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do cats always lift their butts and their tails way up in the air when you scratch them right in front of the base of their tale?

They also get really really excited.

Edit: I am having a hard time imagining how you would scratch a tale, unless that would mean slang for rapping to your cat. I meant tail, not dropping sick beats on them.

[Assistant] It's an instinct that comes from kittenhood, specifically grooming. When a mother is licking clean her kittens, raising the backside of their body allows greater access to that part of the body from the mother's tongue.


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

[User]
[General] Why does shutting down tend to be the equivalent of death for conscious machines?

Usually, when there's a sentient robot character, android or suchlike, them being shut down/taken offline is usually treated in the same way as someone dying. This is despite your phone or computer going offline, or being shut down doesn't mean that it is rendered inoperable. You can just switch it back on again.

[Assistant] Because death is the closet equivalent description. Yes it's possibly temporary but it's not like going to sleep. They're aware of themselves turning off and losing access to pieces of themselves before nothingness. Humans dream in sleep and we know parts of ourselves are still there despite not feeling them while unconscious. For a machine it's like being amputed from their body before nothing. Imagine feeling parts of yourself ceasing to be then not knowing if you'll ever wake up or if those parts ever come back.


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

[User]
What is the ironic in Albert Camus' death?

I have read the myth of Sisyphus and The Stranger and I feel like I have a general overview of Albert Camus and absurdism. Yet I feel like i missed this big point. If I remember correctly Albert Camus was going to take the train but changed his opinion and took his car instead. I have numerous ideas to how this could be "ironic". Such as our choices generally being meaningless so it doesn't matter if you a or b, but in the case of Camus it wasn't a meaningless choice. Or perhaps it has something to do with the inevitable death that the absurd man must await. I feel like I am missing something. Would be nice if someone definitively explained how it is ironic.

[Assistant]
It just shows how absurd life is. Had he taken his first option (caught the train) that day he would have possibly lived. Yet he decided to catch a lift with his friend, and thats what resulted in his death

It shows that there is no inherent meaning in life. It was a random decision which resulted in his death. It wasnt something he could control, it was just incredibly unlucky. It shows the complete meaningless of life - which was his entire philosophy.

Edit: its more so an example of the meaningless of LIFE and the freak occurrences of life, than Camus decision. One could do all the right things in life - and still be met with tragedy.

Youd expect/hope the world to have some sense of justice, but the world doesnt work like that. This is the absurd.


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

[User] CMV: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" is a horribly written novel.

[Assistant]
> The coup at the Ministry of Magic was remarkably unrealistic and stupid. Okay

Or Rowling was going darker than you imagined. We only see the war through the lens of a small segment of society inspired by a highly unorthodox though charismatic individual. In fact, several in the group are known to be shunned by the rest of society (i.e. the Weasleys). The simple, dark explanation is that the majority of the Wizarding world was amenable to the coup, after all they weren't going after pure bloods.


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

[User]
Does the amount of time it takes an ice cube to melt directly proportional to it's temperature?

Would an ice cube that had been stored at 0 degrees F melt more slowly than one that had been stored at 10 F?  If so, what's the mathematical nature of this relationship?
Edit: Apologize for the grammar in my title.

[Assistant]
It's not directly proportional.

There are two things that need to happen for ice to melt:

1. The ice needs to be heated to the melting point of 0C
2. The ice then needs to gain energy to overcome the enthalpy of fusion, in a similar way that boiling water needs extra energy to go from a liquid at 100C to a gas (steam) at 100C.

The specific heat capacity of ice is ~2.1 J g^-1 K^-1. In other words, to raise 1g of ice by 1C (or 1K) you'd need 2.1 joules to do it.

To turn 1g of ice at 0C into 1g of water at 0C you'd need to add 334.774 J. This is approximately 160x the amount of energy needed to heat it up by 1C. So unless the temperature difference is very high, the difference in the time to melt will be fairly insignificant.

You've also got to consider other factors, like the fact that heat exchange will depend on the surface area, as well as the temperature difference (a larger difference will generally mean more rapid heat transfer).


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

[User]
[MCU]Where are all the criminals using chiitauri tech?

So we know that Adrian Toomes made some money selling chiitauri tech since the attack in New York. We also know that there are vigilantes fighting crime in NY such as Daredevil or the Punisher. Finally we know that there is an evil criminal organisation called the Hand trying to rule New York.
Why don't they buy the stuff made by Toomes Salvage Company? If I had to rob a bank, I'd rather use a gravity gun and a laser beam to get out as soon as possible since I don't want to meet that weird guy with a yellow glowing punch or the big black guy who doesn't care about getting shot.

[Assistant]
Diamondback is selling the mob specialized bullets made from the alien alloy found in New York.

The issue is this shit is insanely expensive, so much so the government has it on pretty heavy lock down.


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

[User]
[Flash] If his suit prevents friction from ripping him apart then why does it have a big mouth hole?

Should the suit not be air tight?

[Assistant]
The Flash's protective aura mitigates most of the negative effects you would expect superspeed to create. Theoretically he could do most of his action while naked! (and he has in some alternate futures!)

Basically, the suit helps, but isn't necessary, and having a mouth hole makes him more comfortable.


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

[User] [MCU] The lady from Civil War blamed Tony for the events in Sokovia. How much does the public know about the AI called Ultron, and Stark and Banner's role in creating it? Did Tony ever face an official sanction or punishment when/if the truth came out?

[Assistant] The weird thing about that scene was that she doesn't seem to be talking about Ultron himself.  Rather, her criticism is rooted in how the avengers engaged the drones, as one of them destroyed the building her kid was in during a fight.


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

[User] [Plants Vs. Zombies] What's so Special about the Player's brain that Zomboss is going all these heights just to kill him?

[Assistant] Scarcity. There really aren't that many people left (since most of them don't have access to militarized plant-life, and thus are now zombies), and, well, it's [PLAYER] or Crazy Dave. Not much of a selection, really.


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

[User]
Eli5 what causes the pain we feel with food poisoning?

I'm uhh... No feeling so great and curious as hell.

[Assistant] All food has bacteria all over it. When you wait too long to eat some food, food that isn't cooked properly or is left at room temperature too long after cooking, there's some extra stuff on the food. This is because the bacteria poop on the food.  When you eat bacteria poop,  the bacteria that breaks down food in your stomach tries to break down the poop and releases gas. A lot of it. The gas puts pressure on your stomach and intestines which can cause a lot of painful  tummy aches.


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

[User] [Doctor Who] "Yes because there are laws, laws of time. Once upon a time there were people in charge of those laws"/"Time can be rewritten" - Laws set in stone or just do whatever you want. So which is it?

[Assistant]
That's the thing with the Doctor, he's a huge hypocrite at times.

The Time Lords were able to, once upon a time, deal with and fix the paradoxes caused by tinkering with time, but even they had rules as to what they were willing to allow themselves to do.

The Doctor is the last Time Lord. He knows of the rules they made for themselves, but sometimes he is willing to break them for his own reasons.


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

[User] [MCU] How would the fallout from the ending of Infinity War play out for the population of Earth?

[Assistant]
Chaos. Most governments have continuity plans so they shouldn't  fall apart, although in the short term figuring out the chain of command at all levels, everywhere, simultaneously will result in delays to any action. Any governments in precarious positions might see power grabs, coups, etc.

With modern supply chain management "just in time" practices the disappearance of half the workforce causes massive shortages. Thankfully, with half the population disappearing, there are plenty of supplies to raid from absent neighbors in the short term.

Those reliant on others for care; children, the elderly, those in assisted living, hospital patients, and so on probably experience issues, depending on how many caregivers vanish vs how many patients do.

Travel becomes difficult; planes are grounded until they know what caused the phenomenon, as are trains. The roads are cluttered with crashed cars from vanished people. Large cargo ships might needs crews sent out to them.


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

[User]
eli5: Why does sand which is a bunch of tiny rocks, turn into glass, but we cant turn big rocks into glass?

Im very tired. Please help me understand this.

[Assistant] Rocks consist of lots of different minerals, most of which dont make good glass.  Sand consists mainly of quartz, which does make good glass.  And not all sand will work: Glass makers need to find sand thats almost pure quartz, and filter out the other stuff.


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

[User]
CMV: The Senate should require a talking filibuster to block a bill.

There was a lot of hubub this week when Sen. Manchin indicated an openness to requiring a talking filibuster supported by affirmative votes of 41 members of the Senate.

I think this would be a positive development, better than either the current status quo, or total abolition of the filibuster.

In particular, this would allow the majority to push through legislation very occasionally, but they would pay a substantial price and would not be able to do it all the time.  In particular, overcoming a talking filibuster would cost the majority time, probably a week or several weeks of the Senate being unable to do anything else, as well as the bill in question being at the center of national attention (since it would be a huge spectacle to have the Senate doing a 24h talkathon).

Realistically, this could be done once or twice a year maximum, so almost all legislation would still need supermajority support.  But if you're willing to put your chips down and spend that time on it, you should be able to pass it with a majority.

Likewise, the minority party would have more incentive to make a meaningful deal, because their position is strong enough to get concessions, but not so strong as to think they don't need to make concessions of their own.  And of course a filibuster is costly to the minority too - they have to do the talking, so they wouldn't want to whip it out unless they really cared about blocking the bill.

[Assistant]
>better than either the current status quo, or total abolition of the filibuster.

How would that be better than total abolition? Why is it good that a minority party can paralyze the senate or even bully the majority out of a bill the country elected them to pass?


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

[User] [League of Extraordinary Gentlemen] Who would be members of a present day (2000s-2010s) League.

[Assistant] Given that the original question that prompted the league was "what would a superhero team look like in the 1880s," the odds are good that it would just be conventional superheroes, except they're introduced in the year they were first published and then exist in real time after that.


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

[User]
ELI5: At a subatomic level, and from a physics point of view, what is charge? What is the difference between positive and negative charge?

In most explanations of charge, a positive charge or a negative charge is just the state of positive or negative particles outnumbering their counterparts. But in regards to the positive or negative particles that determine charge, what determines *their* charge?

[Assistant] The charge of individual particles is a fundamental property of the particle.  All fundamental particles have charges that are multiples of 1/3rd the elementary charge unit, which is the same amount of charge an electron or proton have.  Insofar as can be determined, this value never changes, attempts to change it change the particle not the charge, and all particles of the same type have the same charge.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why do YouTube ADs buffer perfectly and instantly, but the actual video is slow and low quality?

Do they give bandwidth preference to advertisers?

[Assistant] Ads are typically served from different servers (often local caching servers), so they tend to load faster than the main videos (which may be served off remote servers where there is more traffic congestion and heavier server loads).


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does everything hurt more when you're cold?

I was wearing sandals in cold weather, stubbed my toe and thought I was going to die - it hurt way more than when I'm just hanging out in a room-temperature place. Why is this so?

[Assistant] Things (well, things that aren't water) constrict when cold, becoming more rigid and inflexible. Impact injuries are softened if there's enough flexibility to spread the pressure of impact around (in an extreme example, a kevlar vest "spreads" the force of a bullet impact). In this case, if your toe were constricted and inflexible because of the cold, the force of stubbing it will be much more concentrated on where it hits.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How much of the Death Star was actually utilized?

There seems to be a skeleton structure that seems like it'd be inhabited/crewed.

This occurred to me while thinking about Gravity on the Death Star, like where the center of gravity would be.

Either Death Star I suppose.

[Assistant] It was all used. Much of it was superlaser and reactors. The rest was facilities for legions of troops, star destroyer dry docks, etc. It wasn't only a planet killer, it was a weapon that alone could make the galaxy too fearful to rebel. Hence why it was such a priority target.


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

[User]
[General] Assuming the human population was reduced to 2 people, what would be the most efficient and safest method of controlled breeding to repopulate it?

Major squick warning!

This assumes that via your new culture you can convince any of the offspring to mate with anyone in the family tree. I'm guessing this would be necessary? Genetically speaking, is it "safer" for a parent to procreate with a child versus two siblings?

Or what if you have four children, two males two females, would it be advantageous to have them pair off and remain separate, or all interbreed as much as possible?

[Assistant]
I forget what the number is, but it's somewhere around 1000.  If the number of humans is dropped to bellow that, there is pretty much no chance for survival.
Genetically speaking, which is safer depends on how the genes spread.  You are guaranteed to have 50% in common with your parent, but could technically be anywhere between 0% and 100% with a sibling.  Genetic defects would likely destroy your attempt at repopulating pretty damn quickly.