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

[User]
ELI5: What is the difference between the edible mold that appears on blue cheese and the regular mold that's usually harmful?

And also; how are cheesemakers able to age cheese in such a way that only the harmless strains of mold are able to develop but not the regular ones? Is this molding process unique to cheese?

[Assistant]
>And also; how are cheesemakers able to age cheese in such a way that only the harmless strains of mold are able to develop but not the regular ones?

Basically, yeah!  Cheesemakers inoculate their cheese with cultures, usually of a strain of *Penicilium roqueforti*, which was named for a major blue cheese.  That mold is specific because it doesn't create any byproducts that are toxic to us - so we're just left with that funky, strong taste that some people like.  That mold can keep other molds or bacteria from forming for a time, too, because those new ones will have to fight the Penicilium to start growing. Though your cheese will still pick up bad molds if you leave it around for too long.

>Is this molding process unique to cheese?

Similar processes are used for some other foods.  Some traditional salamis and other cured meats, for example, allow a specific mold to grow on the outside.  And for a similar reason - if we grow a mold that won't poison us, it'll protect the food inside from other, worse stuff.  The powdery, white mold around some salamis is totally edible, though some people prefer to cut it off.  It's a preference thing.


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

[User] ELI5: When an infrared non-contact thermometer is pointed at a target, how does it measure the target's temperature and not the temperature of the air column in front of the target?

[Assistant]
I never got a satisfactory understanding of one of them. But regardless of exactly how the work;

They measure temperature by capturing the infrared radiation of whatever they're looking at. How much a thing radiate infrared depends on something called 'emissivity' and i think most of tbose thermometers have a setting to correct for it; its 1 for what we call 'black body' and 0 for mirror like or white things, with most real things somewhere in between.

Now your scenario; air is mostly transparent at the wavelength used by the thermometers, so it would only really see ir radiation from the object it is looking at. Meanwhile the transparency also means that the emissivity is nearly 0; it doesn't radiate much radiation, even if it were hot. More accurately, its just that there are far fewer air molecules flying around to emit anything at all, compared to a solid object; if you clump up enough gasses and heat it up, it would emit like a black body. (Stars! And thats how you tell how hot they are too). Finally, in most measurement scenario, the thing you are trying to measure will be by far the hottest thing within the column of air in the visual field of the object, so even if the air was denser and had higher emissivity, it wouldn't emit much.

This would be why its not affected by the air temperarure you are looking through.


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

[User]
CMV: Poor people having more money through Sander's policies (cancel student debt, free health care, $15/hr minimum wage) is good for the economy, not bad

1. Student debt

We bailed out "crooks" in Wall Street during the '08 financial crisis to save the American financial system. There's evidence that some schools have been issuing "predatory loans" to capitalize on milking students. The cost of college has gone up while the quality of the education you receive really hasn't skyrocketed. Erasing student debt sucks and a ton of Americans will pay (through taxes/debt/GDP loss/however) for the mistakes of others, but overall that money will trickle back into the economy.

2. $15/hr minimum wage

I was always "conservative" and I thought the idea of giving people some random made up number would crush small business who can't afford to pay people such high minimum wages. After some research, I found that minimum wage would be higher if it kept up with inflation (let alone productivity gains). I believe it is hard to argue that all of the profit/wealth has made its way to the top, but not the bottom. Re-calibrating the minimum wage to $12/hr or $15/hr (or whatever math shows it should be) would immediately enable poor people to spend more in the economy.

3. Free health care

America is one of the only countries without a strong public healthcare offering. When poor people/immigrants in the country don't pay their medical bills now as is, who pays for it? I'm going to guess tax payers because hospitals/ambulances/medical companies/doctors don't just eat the loss. If poor people didn't need to worry about the burden of healthcare, they could buy more stuff (boosting the economy).

I'm no Bernie fan. I think a lot of his stuff is pretty radical and a lot of his fans are pretty deplorable (they just read what they are told and regurgitate it and sign up for a "political revolution" with little to no though). However, poor people being laden with student loan debt, un-adjusted-for-inflation wages, and paying huge costs for healthcare isn't great for the economy when the majority of America is poor.

[Assistant]
> Student debt

Is mostly held by middle and upper middle class people.

> We bailed out "crooks" in Wall Street during the '08 financial crisis to save the American financial system.

Those bail outs where loans with full interest. Are you suggesting bailing out student debt by giving them more debt?

> America is one of the only countries without a strong public healthcare offering.

They are also responsible for most medical innovation and investment.

> When poor people/immigrants in the country don't pay their medical bills now as is, who pays for it?

Over 90% of americans have their health care paid for by their employers.

>  If poor people didn't need to worry about the burden of healthcare, they could buy more stuff (boosting the economy).

Their money does just as much for the economy spent on health care as it does on anything else.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Why didn't Grindelwald fear Voldemort when he came to visit him?

Also he calls him Tom.

Isn't it established that voldemort is the most powerful dark wizard? So wouldn't it make him stronger than Grindelwald?

[Assistant]
The fuck's he gonna do?

Grindlewald has been locked, seemingly powerless, in a miserable room for decades and has nothing really to look forward to except being locked powerless in a miserable room for the rest of his life.

What's voldemort gonna do? Hurt him? Kill him? he's already a suffering old man with no chance of escape. Go for it. He's the first person whose life's hit rock bottom enough that voldemort can't really threaten him, and without the metaphorical gun to your head, voldemort is actually kind of pathetic.

So Grindlewald isn't scared. All Voldemort brings to the table are different ways to hurt or kill you. Without them, he has nothing to offer, and grindlewald has no interest in this cackling madman's plans.


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

[User] [Star Wars] How do astromech droids get up and down stairs?

[Assistant]
Down is easy....

Going up, some have rockets, or they can "walk" with their 3 legs kind of like crutches. It's not fast. Or elegant. They would fare better if our dear Emperor passed the Imperials With Disabilities Act.


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

[User] Im starting a philosophy club at my High school, any tips or advice?

[Assistant]
Reading excerpts and discussing them is an easy to prepare and useful activity. Also, try to diversify the positions you talk about. If people find themselves unable to relate to the positions because they are all too similar they may be put off, and similarly if everyone agrees on everything then it's not much of a philosophy club!

Edit: Also, if you are going to look at historical works rather than contemporary philosophy (which is probably wise), try to get a discussion going about how the ideas can/can not be applied to modern society. Historical context is important, both for appreciating past breakthroughs that seem obvious now and being able to see how past works can still be useful (most obvious examples being Plato & Aristotle)


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Could Voldemort have made anything a horcrux? Like Hogwarts Castle or a mountain?

So Voldemort can turn a ring, a locket, a cup, a diary, a diadem, a snake and a boy (even if inadvertently) into a horcrux..

But what about something thats got a little more lasting power?  Like a mountain for instance?  Almost guaranteed to live on forever there

Or the Castle?  I know its incredibly magical, but so was everything else that he turned in a horcrux, so Im not sure if that should automatically negate it.

[Assistant]
sure but consider that there for sure a lot of unknown factors about the process. For example, the diary proves that the process hardens any material used, but how much? is that hardening consistent or is it effected by how magical something already is or its size or its other properties?

Like, imagine that he made a mountain a horcrux and the hardening is constant but only a small amount of damage is required to "destroy" the horcrux. Everyone knows there is something wrong, that mountain started spawning monsters and stopped eroding so now a piece of black marble the size of a mountain is just sitting on the English country side. Harry finds out that it is a horcrux and destroys it with a basilisk fang thrown out a car window because he only needed to make a scratch.


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

[User]
[Game of Thrones/ASOIAF] Did Tywin mainly hate Tyrion because he's a dwarf?

I always thought the main reason was because Tyrion killed his wife and the dwarf/licentiousness behavior was secondary.

[Assistant]
The death of his wife is absolutely the main reason. Tywin is a bit of a rarity in that he married for love, not power. His marriage had no political gain in it whatsoever, and he never remarried even though he was still in his prime when she died. Even if Tyrion had not been born a dwarf, Tywin would probably still have treated him worse than his other children, though probably not to as large of a degree, because he would see Tyrion as the thing that took away the love of his life.

The dwarfism ultimately is just a convenient reason he can give out, something that pretty much everyone would understand, whereas owing to how awful Westeros can be and how nobility is, if he gave the public reason as being the death of his wife there would no doubt be some people who say "Well, why not just remarry?"


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

[User]
Is there dark matter in our galaxy or even solar system?

If dark matter is everywhere it stands to reason that it is also in our galaxy, possibly in our solar system and even near or on planet Earth.

[Assistant]
Theory and observation suggests that dark matter seems to form in roughly spherical galaxy-sized blobs. There may be some amount of smaller scale structure, but the most established part is that there's something going on at a galaxy scale - even if you go with modified gravity instead of dark matter, these modifications need to take effect on a galaxy scale rather than a solar system scale.

The idea is that dark matter particles don't bump into each other, and therefore can't lose energy through collisions, so there's a limit to how far it can collapse. If you start with a uniform soup of dark matter, gravity will cause the dark matter to start to pull together into clumps. As the dark matter is accelerated into clumps, it speeds up. You reach a point where the dark matter's speed balances out the gravity of the dark matter clump, and the dark matter particles are basically all buzzing around in orbit within their common gravity. This balance happens at around the size of a galaxy, and is basically why galaxies are the size they are.

From observations, it's only on a galaxy scale that we see gravity deviating from what you can explain using general relativity plus the assumption that only visible things like stars produce gravity. So that also confirms the biggest effect seems to be going on at these big scales.

So yes, there is dark matter spread all throughout the galaxy.

However, even though dark matter has more mass than the stars and gas and stuff within our galaxy, its *density* is low. Stars and planets form from gas, and gas particles *can* bump into each other and lose energy. This causes gas to settle down into a disc, which is the least amount of motion you can have without breaking angular momentum. The stars then form within this gas disc, to form a disc of stars - although afterwards stars can get stirred up to form a fatter disc, or even a spherical "halo".

So what we have is a huge puffy ball of dark matter, and a thin dense disc of stars. When you're within the stellar disc - as we are - the mass nearby is totally dominated by stars and stuff. Dark matter has a lower density, it's just more spread out, which means that it adds up to more mass overall.

So yes, while there is dark matter within the solar system - it's spread out everywhere - the mass of dark matter within the solar system is less than the mass of the Sun.

Additionally, because dark matter is spread out smoothly over such a large scale, even if the density of dark matter was really high within the solar system, it wouldn't affect the Earth's orbit or anything very much. Instead, dark matter pulls the whole Solar System by the same amount - the Earth and the Sun are pulled the same amount - which means that, from within the Solar System, you don't notice any difference to your orbits.


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

[User]
[Rogue One] Why does Darth Vader live in a castle at a lava lake?

Shouldn't he have at least a little bit of PTSD, being afraid of lava, fire and heat?

[Assistant]
Being in a place that is so painful to him keeps him in a very dark mental place. And while he's shrouded in darkness, he can meditate and connect more with the Dark Side of the Force. Mustafar is pretty much the ultimate dark side battery for him, recharging his self-hatred and malice every time he starts to lose his passions and hatreds. Spending a lot of time meditating and mentally flagellating himself at the site where he lost everything makes him immeasurably more powerful.

So basically, the more he exacerbates his PTSD, the stronger his force powers get. That's one reason among many why the dark side is so dangerous.


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

[User]
If hormones in food can cause early puberty then wouldn't they also affect aging? If so, how?

I've heard that hormones in food production are suspected of causing early puberty and other hormonal issues in people.  I've never seen anything about these same hormones and how they may affect aging.  If the hormones can cause early puberty, for example, how would those same effects translate to an older person?  Could they delay normal aging  or otherwise affect that process?

[Assistant]
Hormones are only suspected of causing early puberty by non-scientists. Growth hormones require receptors in order to be taken into cells, otherwise they are broken down by the digestive system like any other peptide. rBGH cows are treated with Bovine Growth Hormone not Human Growth Hormone. Humans lack receptors for it.

Like Idzman218 said early puberty is directly linked to body fat percentage not hormones in food production. Although with everything in the body, not all systems and biochemical pathways are marked out so you never want to be absolute.


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

[User]
How successful was Heidegger In redefining Ontology in his quests to understand Being?

This question was derived from reading A guide to Heideggers Being & Time (Magda King)

This is my dissertation question. Any thoughts and references would be greatly appreciated.

[Assistant]
I dont think his goal was to redefine Ontology so much as to recover Ontology as a separate (and more foundational) field of study, distinct from Metaphysics. He explicitly argues in Part 1 of Being and Time that the merger of Ontology and Metaphysics, with Metaphysics overtaking Ontology and Ontology forgotten, was completed with Scholasticism and runs through all modern philosophy. Relatedly, he thinks theres something about the Latin language contra Greek that helped facilitate this development. All this explains his interest in Plato, Aristotle, and the Pre-Socratics, trying to read them in a way that brackets the interpretations of Scholastic and Modern philosophers, to recover/demonstrate the primacy of Ontology.

I dont really know to judge success in this case. On the one hand, if you come across the word Ontology, youll soon come across Heideggers name. But he didnt really have a research project that survived him, though Dreyfus and Gadamer did expound on his work outside of Germany and applied it with some success to fields like AI. Obviously Derrida was also influenced by Heidegger and his project was in some sense ontological, but Im not sure Heidegger would necessarily agree that Derrida understood him correctly.


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

[User]
Why do you lose consciousness in a rapid depressurization of a plane in seconds, if you can hold your breath for longer?

I've often heard that in a rapid depressurization of an aircraft cabin, you will lose consciousness within a couple of seconds due to the lack of oxygen, and that's why you need to put your oxygen mask on first and immediately before helping others.  But if I can hold my breath for a minute, would I still pass out within seconds?

[Assistant]
Because when the air pressure drops, the partial pressure of oxygen in the air drops lower than the partial pressure of oxygen in your blood - and as your lungs aren't strong enough to hold pressure in, the pressure in your lungs drops to be about the same as the outside.

So the oxygen diffuses out of your blood and into the air. At the same time, the carbon dioxide does, too - which means that the acidity sensors that tell you that you need to breath don't trigger, so you don't realise that you need to breathe.

By breathing air enriched in oxygen, the partial pressure increases, allowing oxygen to diffuse into your blood as it should.


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

[User] [Mulan] Why didn't the Great Stone Dragon wake up when Mushu struck the gong to awaken him?

[Assistant]
Because Mushu was doing it wrong. That's the simple answer. It seems unlikely that waking up a creature turned to stone is going to be as simple as hitting a gong. There's probably a specific cadence that needs to be met. He has to play a sort of song. All that Mushu did was bang the gong like nonsense. There might also need to be intent. The gong banger might have to really want the dragon to wake up. Mushu didn't care. He wanted to go and didn't want the stone dragon to go.

Another possibility is that Mushu was meant to be the dragon that went. It was destiny that Mushu helped Mulan.

Another possibility is that the stone dragon was just stone and that the ancestors were batshit insane in thinking that the stone dragon was anything more than just a decoration.


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

[User] [General Superhero] How isn't unmasking and identifying all superheroes with a hidden identity the #1 priority of all super villains and bad guys everywhere? Wouldn't that help them more than landing some punch ever could?

[Assistant]
Do you want Identity Crisis?  Because that's how you get Identity Crisis.

The reason some villains avoid it is because it turns the entire hero/villain game very *personal* and dangerous.  Flash probably represents the best version of this.  Flash's villains consist of a guy with a cold gun, a guy with mirror tricks, a guy with boomerangs, a guy with gag gimmicks, etc.  If he wanted to outright murder every single one of them and reduce them to subatomic red paint smears, he could do it.  Why not?  Well, it turns out some of the older rogues actually do know who he is and who his relatives are.  There's a literal agreement between the two sides to put a cap on how far they're willing to go to get away with/stop crimes.  Flash can even sometimes call on his rogues to help if Keystone or Central is at risk from bigger threats.

Identity Crisis and several of its follow-ups is a story about what happens when the villains suddenly discover that the heroes have been breaking those rules for a while.


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

[User] If someone touched one of your internal organs, could you possibly feel their touch?

[Assistant] Depends on what organ, and what sort of touch. Different types of touch (pressure, friction, heat, cold, sharp pain, dull pain) are detected by different types of receptors, and not all organs in your body have all of these receptors. Most notably, your brain itself has NO sensory receptors at all.


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

[User]
I have a ball of rubber bands in my desk of radius 5cm. How much force is bound inside it?

Its made up of rubber bands that are 26cm in length (when cut), and will stretch roughly 3.5 times that length. They are all stretched as much as possible.

[Assistant]
Insufficient data for meaningful response. We'd have to know how much force is needed to stretch a band by that much. You can find this out by attaching one end securely and then hanging weights on the other end. How many grammes do you need to add to fully stretch the rubber band?

It would also be helpful to know how many rubber bands are in the ball. If you don't know, you can find out by weighing both the ball and a known number of bands with accurate scales.


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

[User] ELI5: If light is made of photons and if photons are particles, how can it pass through glass or any medium??

[Assistant]
Although particles (sort of), photons are *massless*, so the only thing that really prevents them from passing through solid objects is if they get absorbed by an electron along the way. Electrons can only absorb specific amounts (called *quanta*) of energy, so they only absorb photons that contain that same amount. For transparent objects like glass, the specific quanta that their electrons absorb are outside the range of visible light; therefore any visible light passes straight through.

The amount of energy a photon contains is related to its *wavelength* (because photons are also waves, for... reasons). Visible light photons have wavelengths between 400 and 700 nanometers.


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

[User]
[Marvel] How would Odin react if he saw Captain America holding the Mjolnir?

In the comics Odin isn't fond of the mortals. How would he react to a mortal holding a sacred weapon of the gods?

And what about mcu odin?

[Assistant]
Odin is a little bit speciesist - he called Jane Foster a goat or something when Thor brought her to Asgard - but he's also pragmatic.

The worthiness enchantment was placed *by* Odin, and corresponds to Odin's concept of worthiness, so the fact that Steve Rogers was able to life Mjolnir in the first place would go a long way towards overcoming and bias Odin held.

Odin might still think of Steve as a particularly talented animal, but he would recognize that Steve was, by Odin's own standards, something special.

And Steve only took up Mjolnir when it was absolutely necessary, with the literal fate of the universe hanging in the balance. Odin isn't petty enough to complain that a human was wielding Mjolnir when the alternative was the literal unmaking of all reality.


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

[User]
should I use websockets for a site, when only my server wants to send updates ?

I'm creating an attendance app using Nodejs as a backend, I want to update the number of currently checked in users in real-time, my question is which connection should I implement ? as only the server wants to send data to client.

[Assistant]
Server-sent events (SSE) accomplish this exact task, but I'd still say use secure websockets.

They're lightweight, they have great support and tooling, and there are some annoying SSE limitations that could bite you.


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

[User] Won't the moon eventually fly off into space since it is getting 1.5" away from Earth every year ?

[Assistant]
No.
The moon's orbit is being raised via tidal pumping. The energy to do so comes from the earth's rotation, slowing it down and lengthening the day.  The earth will ultimately out of angular momentum, with one side of the earth always facing the moon and a day as long as a month ("tidally locked").  This will happen before enough energy is transferred to the moon to get it to escape.


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

[User]
What's the difference between vitamin A, retinol, and retinoids?

I've been looking into skin care products and became interested in retinol for its supposed benefits. Something that's confusing for me though, is why couldn't I use pure vitamin A oil for the same purpose? It's generally only marketed as a dietary supplement, but it's often *much* cheaper and without all of the extra ingredients. Everything that I've read says they're basically the same,  but doesn't really explain how they're different.

Why couldn't I just use the vitamin A oil directly on my skin and reap the benefits without spending the extra money?

[Assistant] There are a bunch of different compounds in vit A called retinoids. Retinol is one of them. Your skin undergoes reactions that converts these retinoids into other compounds until it becomes retinoic acid. The more retinol or other product on your skin, the more your skin will be affected by the treatment. One of the most effective retinoids is tretinoin or retin-a. It's 20x more potent than retinol. There just aren't enough concentrated retinols in vitamin a to make that much of a difference. Retinoids work by increasing rate of cell turnover in your skin so if you don't have a lot of these molecules doing work you aren't going to see the results.


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

[User] ELI5: How did the Kim Jong family Un's family obtain total control of North Korea?

[Assistant] Because his grandfather, Kim-Il Sung had soviet backing during the WWII and the Cold War.  He was set up as the leader of the Korean Communist Party and given control of the soviet-occupied territories in Korea, AKA North Korea.  He was able to consolidate his power, and his family's been in power ever since.


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

[User]
How can everyone use one ethernet simultaneously?

Ex. There are gaints cables stretching across oceans. How can millions of people receive signals from a single ethernet cable simultaneously? Shouldn't only be possible to send one single at a time per ethernet cable?

[Assistant]
Long explanation is long, but short explanation:

How can everyone use one postman? Shouldn't each package need its own courier? The principle is remarkably similar - "packets" of information are encoded with information about their destination. They travel on the cable like cars on a road - they merge, travel together, split apart. But if the data has the right address, then sooner or later it is delivered to the right computer.

The word "simultaneously" is misleading, as it often is when human timescales meet computer timescales. A cable can have a lot of data on it at once, but ultimately that data is serial, so technically it's "concurrent" rather than "simultaneous". That seems like a minor nitpick, but it's actually crucial - bits of data are sent one after another, but the machines are so fast it *looks* like they all go "at the same time". Undersea cables are generally multicore, but each point on each core will only have one single bit of data at a given instant.


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

[User]
Is a neutron star a perfect electrical insulator?

Neutron stars don't contain any electrons, right? Does that mean that they have precisely zero electrical conductivity? Or is it more complicated than that?

[Assistant]
On the contrary, they are very very good conductors.

Neutron stars are in 'beta equilibrium.' This means that there are a small number of protons and electrons. If you have too many neutrons, it is energetically favorable for some of them to beta decay and become protons and electrons. It's somewhere between a 10 to 1 or 20 to 1 ratio of neutrons to protons.

The protons in the core are under such enormous pressure that they form Cooper pairs. This basically means that protons pair by spin, like electrons filling atomic orbitals. This produces a 'superconductor,' a conducting medium which supports enormous electric currents and magnetic fields.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are American police generally despised while the military is very highly regarded?

[Assistant]
The military don't take actions against the citizens of the country, they're regarded as protecting the interests of the nation as a whole.

The police are active in the community to serve and protect, this leads them to having more contact with the individual citizens and the perception that they're the enemy because it's an entity that is easily associated with preventing people from doing something they want to do.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What was the usual process when a Sith Master was looking for an apprentice to teach?

Did they do months or years of research on possible candidates before deciding? Did they wing it and just be like "hey kid, wanna learn some fancy voodoo powers"? Speaking of kids, did they try to find younger people to train, or was it just anyone who could show promise. Was there a lot of situations where the Master killed the sucker and started over, because hey, this just isn't working out?

Etc, etc.

[Assistant]
In *Darth Plagueis*, it's stated that Sith avoid training children (with exceptions, Plagueis himself was one and so was Maul). There was probably not one set method, Plagueis just told Sidious to always keep an eye out for Force-sensitives during his travels. If they find someone who is strong in the Force with lots of anger (or the potential for lots of anger), they will be considered for Apprenticeship.

Before Bane, there was a Sith Academy.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does it seem that most tropical countries are poorer than most temperate countries?

I could be completely wrong, but it seems that most tropical countries are poorer by a considerable margin than most temperate countries.  What gives?

[Assistant]
Nice observation!

One theory is that tropical environments are hindrances on building up robust societies, namely because of two reasons:

1) The tropics are harsh environments that contain a lot of various diseases, causing life expectancy to be very short.

2) Temperate climates provide for much greater agriculture. In the tropics, agriculture is less efficient and bountiful.  Building large and powerful societies requires a strong agricultural foundation and you just don't have that in tropical countries.


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

[User]
ELI5: why there is no thunder when it snows but only when it rains?

Or at least less thunder during snowing time.

[Assistant]
The air is dryer in the winter, and also the storms tend to be more stable. Without these two ingredients lightning doesn't form.

Though to answer the question of thunder (in the case of there is lightning) snow acts as a sound dampener. Go outside after a snow fall and notice how it's eerily quiet. That's because sound waves get trapped in the nooks and crannies in the fresh fallen snow.


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

[User] Eli5: How are gunshot wounds treated if it goes in one end and out the other? Seems like you'd have something undesirable form out of coagulated blood even if it did get "patched up." Even worse if internal organs/arteries get involved.

[Assistant] they patch up whatever the bullet passed through and stop the bleeding.  then the body will sort itself out.  if it only passed through soft tissue and no organs, then that's the best outcome.  if the bullet passes through any sort of major artery, you're at risk of bleeding out, if it passes through a major organ then you're at risk of just dying, if it hits bone, then you can survive, but might be a cripple, if it hits a nerve, you might lose some function.


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

[User] ELI5: What keeps blood "alive" after we donate it?

[Assistant] A part of you body that's separated from you like blood, or a severed limb, doesn't simply die instantly. All the cells that don't suffer some kind of direct damage simply keep on doing their jobs like normal until they run out of sugars, oxygen, or simply die off through their normal processes. If the cells are no longer connected to you, the first thing they're likely to run out of is oxygen. However, they only use up their oxygen when they're working - when they use energy to perform slcell functions. That's usually all the time, but if the cell is brought to a very low temperature safely (there are special techniques to make that happen), the cell's functions slow down and it doesn't use energy - and oxygen - as fast. That means the cells are still alive when they get put into another person.


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

[User] [Star Wars] How do the Jawas and Tusken Raiders feel about each other?

[Assistant]
In legends they have an uneasy coexistence on their shared world. Trade is frequent between some groups but so is conflict between others. Jawas avoid sand people holy sites but will trade resources with tuskens for their plunder they don't need.

In canon it's much the same but jawas aren't native to tattoine and face harsher relationships with the tuskens. Trade is still possible but more limited. Most tuskens treat the jawas as foriegn invaders but the jawas that respect their traditions are allowed to travel and trade in peace.

To a tusken a jawa is an outsider and capable of mutual respect. To a jawa the tuskens are simpleminded primitives ripe for exploitation in trade but also dangerous.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are camera lenses round, but the photos that they produce are square/rectangular?

[Assistant]
Making round lenses is easier than square or other shapes.

The thing that actually captures the image (whether its the CMOS/CCD in a digitial camera or a piece of film) is still square or rectangular - the size of the optics are chosen to be just larger than the extents of the film frame/sensor - thats why on some viewfinders you actually have a rectangle (especially if you see a movie camera) - thats showing the cameraman/photographer what part of his view he will be capturing on fim/digital.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does the James Webb Telescope send pictures to earth from so far away?

Title. Also maybe more extreme, but how is the Mars Rover sending pictures to earth. I cannot grasp how this works over such a long distance.

[Assistant]
With high powered radio transmitters.

The same way you can use your car radio to tune into a radio stations miles and miles away.

Big radio receivers here on earth can pick up the signals that those space craft are sending out.

The mars Rovers can be a bit more complex, since this radio communication needs a direct line of sight so if earth is on one side of arms, and the rover is on the other side of mars, then mars itself blocks our radio signal. So the rovers will first send their signal up to a satellite orbiting mars, and then that satellite will pass the information back along to us.


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

[User] What is the diameter of a lightning? They are always seen like some cm of diameter, but can it be just a diameter at the scale of atoms? Does they get bigger if they have more energy?

[Assistant]
Normally air is not conductive, but when a large enough voltage is applied it becomes ionized and conductive. Lightning is just a narrow path of air becoming ionized and allowing current to flow.

Air's resistance drops as more of it becomes ionized. Assuming that all lightning produces the same ion density, then the current capacity of the lighting would scale with the square of lightning diameter. For example a lighting with 4x current would only have 2x large diameter.

However lightning with larger voltage differences would have the ability to ionize more of the air. So in reality, a high voltage / high current lightning strike would probably see have a smaller increase in diameter than one would expect from the current alone.

High voltage/low current lightning would have a small diameter. Low voltage/high current lightning would have a large diameter. The composition of the air makes a large difference too. So it is not as straightforward as powerful lightning = bigger diameter.

Typical lightning strike diameter is 1-2 inches to give an idea of scale.


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

[User]
ELI5:If I hurt my dog on accident, do they know it was unintentional?

I got out of bed and stepped on my dog's tail on accident. He yelped and I spent about three minutes petting him. Will he know that it was an accident and not intentional?

[Assistant]
To answer your basic question: dogs do seem to sense when you hurt them on purpose vs by accident.

Note that when you accidentally step on their tails, they yip at first, but usually come right back to you with wagging tail.  Conversely, when you're angry with them and bat their nose or something for biting or whatever, you'll notice that they will lower themselves to the floor with their tails between their legs.

This says that they can generally tell your intention, however, if you're truly alpha dog (which you should be), then they won't be upset if you do it on purpose, but assume that they did something wrong and grovel.  If your dog isn't grovelling, they probably know it was an accident.


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

[User] ELI5: We can manipulate an organism's DNA to emphasize several traits. What would it take to make a DNA from scratch, creating an entirely new organism?

[Assistant]
For some definitions of "scratch", we have already done this.

We can build bacteria DNA from scratch, insert it into an existing bacterium, and have it use that DNA instead, building new bacterium as it divides.

That synthetic DNA is mostly just a copy of the original bacteria DNA, but they did intentionally make changes.

The real challenge is making truly novel DNA.  We understand the letters and a few words, but we are still far enough away from understanding its language to do more than copy it.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is actually so amazing about the pyramids, and is their construction well understood?

I see so much stuff around "well the Egyptians couldn't have possibly built them with those tools therefor aliens/awesome science/ other conspiracies". Whilst the are spectacular and visually amazing, I dont understand what it so difficult about there construction outside of the raw physical labor side of things.

Any insights on this would be cool, no anecdotes or opinions if possible; im looking for something objective, a journal or something.

[Assistant]
No, you've got it right. There's nothing specifically miraculous about their construction, beyond the enormous focus of a society's resources on a single project. The architectural and logistical elements are impressive, but nothing that would have been conceptually unusual. It's just that they actually followed through.

To some extent - we obviously have the technical ability to build perfect replicas now, but we don't, still, because of how much sheer manpower the task involves. That doesn't make it impossible, but it does make it remarkable.


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

[User] [Star Wars] If I'm a shitty, weak Sith apprentice who poisons my master's food, or pours poison in his ear while he's asleep, doesn't that completely screw up the rule of two? Is there anything in place to prevent this kind of thing from happening?

[Assistant] If your master allowed himself to be killed like that, it means he became soft and stupid. You were completely correct in killing him, and now can claim his knowledge and power. If he wrote it down, of course. Otherwise you might be kinda screwed, and will have to continue the research on the secrets of the Dark Side on your own.


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

[User]
ELI5: how does simultaneous incoming calls work

A house phone can only receive a call in or send a call out. If line is busy then other people can not use it.

When you call different businesses, whether a vanity number or not they are able to receive in multiple calls at one time and line don't normally go busy. Having thousands of people call in simultaneously how does that work but house phones only accept a call at a time?

[Assistant]
The only reason house phones only receive a single call in at a time is because you're only paying for that service. Most phone companies can and will upgrade your home's number of lines if you want them to, or sell you an appliance or service that allows you to handle multiple calls at once by placing one on hold. But most people don't need that, and don't want to pay the extra cost for it, so a lot of people aren't aware it's an option.

The technology is easily there to allow you to have a multi-line phone that places your call in a queue until someone can get to it. Then it transfers you to an individual other phone line at someone's desk as soon as it detects that the person at that desk has hung up from their previous call.  This is how call centres handle their volumes.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do some things cut better with a serrated knife and others with a straight blade?

[Assistant]
It actually depends on a few factors. What you are cutting, the type of knife or blade you are using, and other things like temperature of the knife and the object you are cutting.

The biggest determiner, is the thing you are cutting. Soft, malleable things like loaves of bread, or very loose meat, don't cut well with a sharp edge because you don't have enough tension in the material you are cutting to press against the blade and create an even cutting surface. Tomatoes and Bread are excellent examples of this. Only the sharpest of sharp knives can even hope to cut cleanly and evenly through some breads and most tomatoes without issue or mushing.

Serated blades, seek to change this by adding in the serrations, tips and points that act to tear and have sharp points that press into what you are cutting and pull small sections, like a saw blade and tear bits and pieces instead of cutting cleanly and straight through.

Very, Very hard things also have the same problem, like bone or frozen foods. The ice makes the object to cut so hard and dense, that a sharp knife is almost useless. A serrated knife on the other hand, can cut by ripping and tearing its way through the object where a standard blade could never perform.


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

[User] Eli5 - Why can't we draw what our brain tells us to?

[Assistant]
Your mind and thoughts aren't very good at being precise. They don't need to be. Comprehension of ideas and recognizing patterns for example are bigger priorities and the focus there is abstraction over precision.
You can apply this to both the main processes involved in drawing something that you have in mind:

The actual act of visualizing what you want to draw doesn't have a lot of detail to it. Even when you think it is, your brain is only holding a few details in mind and you are perfectly content with it.

The act of physically drawing a detail that you can visualize is also difficult. It takes a lot of practice to get good at art in general. Imagine you literally had a picture in front of you and you wanted to copy it in your own sketch. You don't have to use your imagination or memory any more, and yet someone untrained might not be able to do a very good job.


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

[User] Eli5: Why train wheels dont slip on the rails, when both the wheels and the rails are made of metal?

[Assistant]
They do.  What makes trains so energy efficient is that the friction between rail and wheel is very low.  So power has to be applied very gently to stop the wheels spinning, and braking gently otherwise wheels slide.

In about 1835 they came up with the idea of dribbling dry sand onto the rails to create a bit of friction for starting and braking, and 187 years later they still do.


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

[User] Why is Mars sky opposite of Earth (red during day, blue at sunset/sunrise) ?

[Assistant]
TL;DR:  Earth: Rayleigh scattering by gas molecules in thick atmosphere = Blue daytime sky, red(dish) sunset.  Mars: Mie scattering by fine dust suspended in thin atmosphere = Red(dish) daytime sky, blue sunset.

^(^.)

The Earth has a thick atmosphere composed of nearly 80% N and 20% O.   As light passes through the Earth's atmosphere a portion of it is scattered in random directions by encounters with its gas molecules and atoms.

This is known as **Rayleigh scattering**, which approximates how light is scattered by particles which are small relative to its wavelength.   The wavelength of visible light ranges from about 390-700 nm.  The molecular sizes of diatomic Nitrogen or Oxygen is about 150 pm,  3 orders of magnitude smaller.

There is strong wavelength dependence of Rayleigh scattering (~^4) meaning that shorter (blue) wavelengths are scattered more strongly than longer (red) wavelengths.  This results in the indirect blue light coming from all regions of the sky.

At sunset, sunlight must travel a much longer path through the atmosphere to reach an observer.  Each meter of the atmosphere that the light passes through preferentially scatters more and more  shorter wavelength light, gradually reddening the light that ultimately reaches the sunset observer.

Because Mars has a much thinner atmosphere, the amount of Rayleigh scattering is much less.  But Mars also has a dry, dusty surface, and weaker surface gravity, so its atmosphere is often filled with fine dust particles.  Were it not for this dust,  the Martian  sky would be nearly black.  However, these dust grains are comparable in size to the wavelengths of visible light, so most of the light is scattered by **Mie scattering**.

One of the main differences between Rayleigh and Mie scattering is that Rayleigh scattering tends to occur in all directions, while Mie scattering varies with scattering angle: longer wavelengths (reds) tend to scatter more uniformly, while shorter wavelengths (blues) tend to scatterat slight angles.

Put simply, with Mie scattering, blue light tends to be deflected **less than** red light  the opposite of Rayleigh scattering on Earth. This means Mars can have a dusty reddish daytime sky, and a blue sunset.


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

[User] [DC/Marvel] Is it common for other civilized planets to be weirdly PACKED with superpowered beings like Earth is?

[Assistant] No. Earth is a hub of weird shit, magical confluence, alien experimentation, and general cosmic shenanigans. The Skrulls have commented that any civilized planet would have culled their mutants by now, and the survivors of a crashed prison ship (Annihilation: Prologue) were panicking because Earth is such a weird mix of "tech level is too low for us to steal a space ship and escape" and "the defenders of this planet will absolutely beat our eyes out "


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

[User] ELI5: Why is Chicken Pox so much more deadly in adults rather than children?

[Assistant]
Honestly, we don't know yet.

The current theory is that there's a difference between a child's immune system and an adult's. A child's immune system prefers to eat up bacteria and viruses, while an adult's prefers to shoot bullets at bacteria and viruses (antibodies). Some think that the "eating" method is just more effective against the chicken pox virus.


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

[User] Is there a lagrange point at a binary system's center of mass?

[Assistant]
If the two masses were the same, it (the center of mass) would coincide with the L1 Lagrange point, but otherwise no. An object passing through the center of mass would have to orbit the heavier body faster (in degrees per second) than the lighter body, and so could not remain at the center of mass.

The center of mass is not (unless the two bodies are the same mass, as above) the point where gravity from the two bodies cancels out.


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

[User]
[Communication] Term for managing relationships by way of not making oneself a threat?

I can't think of a way to describe this - so I'll give an example or two.

1) Intentionally downplaying your experience to prevent an employer from believing you to be "overqualified", and not wanting to hire a "flight risk".

2) Intentionally downplaying yourself in politics so as to not appear a threat to leadership.

3) Intentionally downplaying your intent to seek office to prevent incumbents from organizing against you.

Essentially, taking action to reduce risk/threats. Wondering if there is a term for this in communication so I can look up literature/do some research. If not I think it might be interesting to research generally!

Interpersonal threat management or interpersonal risk management would come to mind but the latter deals with being rejected and the former did not turn up anything.

Appreciate replies in advance!

[Assistant]
The international relations term for this is "assurance" or "reassurance."  It plays a role in alliance politics and the security dilemma.  The main authors to read on assurance in alliance politics would be Jeffrey Knopf and Glenn Snyder.

I often find that diplomacy and alliance management literature is relevant to personal relationships


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

[User]
Overcoming Nihilism

I've been struggling with moral and existential nihilistic thoughts recently.  There seems to be no evidence to the contrary of these views, and they seemed to be favored by parsimony, but they require me to draw self-invalidating conclusions (the world described as such seems an abjectly horrible place for living beings of our type to exist in, but that is a problem of my perception, not of the world).  This moves forward to antinatal conclusions.

It seems like the proposed solutions to this crisis that I've flirted with (Nietzsche, absurdism) all require some form of self-delusion, which is not acceptable to me as part of a coherent philosophy.  Note I definitely have not done a deep reading of any of these subjects and would love to be corrected in a constructive manner.

Edit: More responses, perspectives, and support than I could have hoped for.  Thank you all.  This has helped buttress some things I should probably talk to a professional about.

[Assistant]
> It seems like the proposed solutions to this crisis that I've flirted with (Nietzsche, absurdism) all require some form of self-delusion

For the record, Nietzsche and absurdism explicit reject self-delusion as a solution to nihilism.


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

[User]
Does the amount of chewing and final mush of food affect in any significant way the speed of digestion and metabolism of said food?

I've been wondering this as I'm a very fast eater and have also noticed that it takes me a very long time to become hungry again. I know I'm getting older and metabolism slows down, but am wondering if I can help this with chewing my food more?

[Assistant]
Yes, it does. Indigestion as the result of not properly chewing food is a potential cause of heartburn.

When you chew food, you increase the amount of surface area that enzymes and stomach acid can come in contact with. Thus, the food is more easily absorbed. By improperly chewing food, you run the risk of exacerbating digestive problems. Your stomach will have to work harder to break down improperly chewed food. That can eventually lead to esophageal and intestinal irritation, even stomach ulceration in extreme cases.

Chewing slowly can also make you feel less hungry and thus eat less overall as it takes time for your stomach to send the signal that it's sated to your brain. By eating quickly, you will probably end up consuming more calories than if you were to eat more slowly as a result.

If you're worried about packing on the pounds, but don't want to change your diet, you can simply add activity to your lifestyle instead. Eating more nutritiously in addition to this is obviously the best choice, but if you want to eat garbage and not end up like complete trash, working out is something you can do.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Does Professor Xavier allow students to order pizza to the mansion?

If so, where does the delivery guy drop it off?

[Assistant]
Evidence strongly suggests the answer is yes. Most of the time, Xavier's school pretends to just be a fancy boarding school for rich and gifted kids, and thus as long as no one is outside using powers when the pizza guy shows up, there shouldn't be a problem.

During the times when the school is openly known as being for mutants, the pizza guy can just drop it off.


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

[User]
Where did the fish in volcanic crater lakes come from?

I've seen two volcanic crater lakes in Southeast Asia - Lake Toba and Lake Taal. Both have fish, but both are isolated and cut off from other bodies of water. Since they're volcanic crater lakes wouldn't the eruption would have killed all the fish? So where did the fish in the lakes come from?

[Assistant] Mostly from migratory Birds. A duck that goes from Lake to Lake will often carry eggs on its feet. All it takes is a few and with them traveling so much it's about the only way that you can have a species of fish that spans multiple areas. Otherwise every Lake would end up with a unique species due to a lack of genetic mixing. Some are also intentionally introduced by fisherman or government projects.


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

[User]
Why is fiberglass safe vs asbestos?

They're both made of tiny fibers. What is the difference between them?

[Assistant]
First of all, the premise of the question is wrong: fiberglass is not safe, especially if it is made out of exceedingly thin fibers. Inhalation of fine fiberglass dust will probably lead to silicosis and other unpleasant health effects.

The difference in harmfulness between fiberglass and asbestos is due to the different chemical composition and the ease of forming ultrathin, fine airborn dust. Asbestos is a mineral that naturally separates into fine, fragile fibers. Fiberglass is produced by drawing glass fibers out of a melt. They are much thicker and much less fragile than asbestos.


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

[User]
[STARGATE] How Intelligent are the Goa'uld

I mean they're basically glorified slugs aren't they? their brain is has to be the size of a walnut, no?

I was thinking about it as i watched Ba'al get extracted, i mean in his last moments outside of the host, is he still Ba'al? or just a parasite looking for a host? does this slug have some kind of megalomania, it's own personality?

or does it all come from the host, does the host provide the mental capacity? how would a brain scan look, would the slug have activity even after symbiosis have been achieved?

if the mental capacity and intelligence come from the host, why didn't the Goa'uld just nab more clever people for their host?

Then there's the issue with Anubis, he partly ascended, what happened to his host during the process?

[Assistant]
The slug is still Ba'al.  The Goa'uld will even go so far as to tell you that nothing remains of the host after implantation, but the Tok'ra put the lie to that.
Still, to the point, regardless of apparent size, the symbiote has a sufficient neural structure to facilitate the typical range of human-ish level intelligence.


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

[User] ELI5: How come the US Postal Service is going out of business despite a huge rise in online shopping culture?

[Assistant]
The financial problem it faces now comes from a 2006 Congressional mandate that requires the agency to pre-pay into a fund that covers health care costs for future retired employees.

Under the mandate, the USPS is required to make an annual $5.5 billion payment over ten years, through 2016. These prepayments are largely responsible for the USPSs financial losses over the past four years and the threat of shutdown that looms ahead  take the retirement fund out of the equation, and the postal service would have actually netted $1 billion in profits over this period.

If any business in the private sector was required to do this as well, it would go bankrupt very quickly.


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

[User]
[General Sci Fi] I am attempting an invasion of Earth. Where would the best landing site for my Expeditionary Corps be?

A little about ourselves:

We are the 1st Coalition Expeditionary Corps and we are hoping to take back the Earth. We have 30,000 military personnel at hand and have advance technology (such as aircraft that can be flown in both space and within a planets atmosphere and advance 3D printing/artificial resource production technology).

So where in the entire world would the best invasion site be to establish a foothold for the rest of our force to come and help assist us?

Edit: I forgot to mention that *we* are humans looking to reclaim our home. Earth has been ravaged by war waged by our great grandfathers against giant monsters called Kaiju. The earth is populated by no one but colossal sized monsters the size of sky scrapers who are essentially biological terrestrial walking/breathing WMDs.

[Assistant] Nowhere. You have the ultimate high ground already. Destroy all hard targets from orbit, where you can easily evade any possible retaliation. Secure surrender from all relevant parties and send only small delegations to the surface to transition to your absolute rule. Don't build a surface base until the situation is stable and has been for a long time.


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

[User]
[Aliens] I think this Xeno likes me. Should I be worried?

A drone Xeno has been hanging around me and is rubbing it's head against me like a cat. It hasn't tried to attack me or gone more than 20 feet away from me at any point. I have no memory of getting facehugged or eggs or anything like that or gaps in my memory, and this has been going on for the past few days. It also seems to be patrolling my home and, while I can't be sure, I think it's been killing rodents on my property.

[Assistant] It's not a real xeno, someone has created an android version of one and gotten its programming wrong. The only times we've heard of a xeno not attacking someone is when they've been told not to do so by a queen or if someone is already implanted and in those instances they still acted aggressively.


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

[User]
How are transformers passive devices?

I know that a transformer uses magnetic induction to amplify the amplitude of voltage in AC sine waves. How is energy conserved, if the transformer is a passive device? Where does the energy come from? I know that V =/= E, but it seems to pull these high voltages out of nowhere.

[Assistant]
Yes, transformers are passive devices, and they do conserve energy.

The voltage across the primary coil is V, and the current running through the primary coil is I.

The power is P = VI.

The voltage across the secondary coil is V', and the current is I'. The power P' = V'I'.

If you work it out, you find that P = P' for an ideal transformer.


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

[User] [Vampire Lore] What is it about drinking human blood versus animal blood?

[Assistant]
That's a hard question to answer, everyone seems to have their own theory and even the vampires can't agree why it is, but there are a few that make more sense than others.

One is that because vampires were originally human then human blood is just the most compatible or nourishing. Either because it's the same kind of blood that once flowed through the vampire's veins, or because humans have a bigger/stronger 'soul' or life force to feed off of.

Sometimes the act of feeding is an almost sensual act, with both (the feeder and the food) feeling pleasure, to a point where it is an almost sexual experience. Since most (if not all) vampires come from a culture where bestiality is taboo, it's safe to assume this taboo could carry over into feeding.

And then you've got plain old arrogance. Vampires are usually very prideful and see themselves as superior to, well, pretty much everything else. They're to top of the food chain, so why stoop down to the very bottom when you could just grab a snack from the rung right below?


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

[User] [Gundam-verse] what is the benefit of having heads for the mobile suits when the cockpit is most often in the chest?

[Assistant]
The head houses the main camera (though there are cameras mounted all over the body), various other sensors, communication antenna, vulcan cannons (small caliber cannons used to intercept missiles or damage soft targets), and cooling vents.

In the 'Future Century' era, during the Gundam Fight competitions, the destruction or removal of the Mobile Fighter's head was one of the ways for a fighter to be defeated.


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40k] those Orks sure have a lot of fun. Any way they'd accept me as an honorary Ork?

I'm tired of these routine patrols and these shit rations, I want some action! And not the kind that involves me dying in a trench or a doomed charge. If I just rolled up to the Orks and told them I wanted to help them kill Imperials for fun, you think they'd let me in?

[Assistant]
The only way Orks would accept you is if they deem you Orky enough, which is significantly harder than one might expect.

Theirs is a truly brutal culture in which violence is the most effective form of communication, your position within the hierarchy is your most defining feature, and an insatiable lust for combat forms the basis of a majority of their actions. You would have to become the most over-the-top, hyper-masculine, overly-aggressive person possible, and you'd have to be able to constantly and consistently prove your superiority to everyone around you. If you were to falter in this for even a second, you would likely be killed.

So, as to your question about just "rolling up and saying you want to kill imperials", that wouldn't work. You would have to be able to stand out to them over time, probably over many engagements, until they respect you enough to allow you to speak.

Needless to say, accomplishing any of this would be nearly impossible.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are atoms with 8 valence electrons so stable?

[Assistant]
Think of it like having a complete set of cards (Pokemon, all cards of a suit, whatever). The outermost layer is like your pile of cards. Those players with a full outermost shell have a full set. They have no incentive to play the game.
However, if youre one of those players that is missing just one card from your set, youre going to try to win/steal that remaining card from another player.

Since your goal is to catch them all you have two strategies:

A: Steal that card from a player who has only one card in their hand. You steal that card (electron) from the other player (atom) and now you have a full set of cards (outermost shell). Youre happy! But because you feel guilty that you have one extra card than youre supposed to, and the other player is angry he has one less than he should, you guys stick around one another (ions with opposing charges- ionic bond. Ex: NaCl)

B: A friend of yours who is also short one card decides to share a card with you. You both can behave like you have a full set, but you guys always stay by each other so you can continue to share the card (covalent bonding Ex: H2 hydrogen gas)


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

[User]
[General Fantasy] ELIBarbarian: What is "hit points", how does it help me slay my enemies

Our clan, the mighty Bear's Maw, long glory to its name, recently raided and pillaged the rival Wolf-gaze stronghold, whose name is now dust.  In the clutched hand of a slain warrior, I found an amulet, which I claimed as my battle-prize.

Our shaman is wise in the ways of magic, but also speaks strange words.  He speaks that the stone's magic will "increase my hit points".  Perhaps sensing my confusion, he further explained that it would "increase the damage I would be able to endure until my death in glorious battle".

I know of battle damage; my steel is sharp, my axe-shaft strong.  With a clean strike, I can often fell my enemies in one blow, spilling their entrails or severing a limb, spilling's life's-blood.  How exactly does this amulet's magic allow me to take on more damage?  Will my skin be as steel?  (It does not feel any stronger.)  Will it curse me to live with open wounds or sores?  Will it create new limbs or eyes if I am to lose them in battle?  The more I try to understand this madness, the more I curse all wizards and their coward-spells.  To the hells with this amulet!

[Assistant]
Think of Hit Points as your life-force; it is a measure of the overall state of your body, as well as its resilience to pain and injury as a whole.

Someone with low hit points is likely physically weak. A solid punch, a hard fall, a glancing blow, or a even just a hostile environment can all lead to a quick death for someone with low Hit Points. It is a measure of "how much punishment you can take".

Because you are a great warrior, you have a lot of hit points. This means that the attacks of lesser men often have little overall effect on you. They punch you, and you get angry. You punch them, and they explode into a red mist. An arrow in your shoulder, a gash on your leg, or a hit to the head don't stop your whirlwind of carnage, and only when injuries begin to pile up does your stamina falter.

When your shaman says that you can be endowed with more Hit Points, he is simply stating that you are going to become even more resilient in battle. You are going to become an even more potent warrior, not because you can hit harder, but because you can take more hits.

May the Bear Maw Clan prosper.


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

[User]
Why are some alleles more dominant than others?

This has always confused me. Why is a brown haired gene more dominant than a blonde hair gene, etc? I know that when it comes to human genes, there's a lot of multi-alleled non-Mendellian stuff going on, but I'm just curious as to why some alleles are dominant and some are recessive.

[Assistant]
The dominant gene codes for a functional protein.  The recessive gene codes for a non-functional protein or no protein at all.

Brown hair is brown because there is pigment because there's a gene that codes for a protein that makes the pigment.  If there gene doesn't code for a functional protein, no pigment makes it to the hair, so it is pigmentless, aka blonde.  The gene is dominant because if even just one allele codes for the functional protein there's still pigment being made.  Same thing with blue/green eyes vs brown, yellow peas vs green, etc - the 'colored' version is the dominant trait as a result of a single or double copy of a functional color-producing protein while the 'colorless' version is the recessive trait from a complete lack of color-producing protein.


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

[User]
[Batman] How much does Gotham suck?

The Batman lore in this is very varied and sometimes inconsistent.

At times it seems that Gotham is unredeemable, and the decades of the Bat's crusade have been essentially useless, in fact perhaps made it worse, with the explosion of costumed supervillains taking inspiration from the city's first mask, namely the Bat. There are countless stories in which old-fashioned mob bosses complain that "ever since the bat came along this town has gone crazy."

Other times it seems that Wayne's crusade is bringing some results. I remember one story, Batman 24h I think, in which an off-duty cop went out for a walk with his wife, leaving his gun at home, saying "there's a rumor going around that Batman is watching this neighborhood tonight. It may not be true, but it's enough for criminals to go elsewhere."

In short, what is the condition of Gotham like after so many years of Bat-family activity? Still the same shithole where the Wayne's were murdered or has it improved? One explanation may be that Gotham, like all big cities in the world, has good neighborhoods and badder neighborhoods. The Bat Crusade has made it so that, living in the quiet areas, it is much harder to turn down the wrong alley and get killed just outside one of the main theaters. And even in the bad areas things have improved a little bit. It's just that, of course, the stories focus on those and we get the impression that Gotham always sucks.

[Assistant]
Gotham is cursed - literally. As in, Zatanna and other people have actually found several of the curses Gotham is under. Once or twice a curse has been lifted. It just doesn't help much, because there are, at all times, multiple curses active.

This is why Batman's work hasn't shown the effect it should have. In any other city on earth, Bruce Wayne's many charity works and Batman's crime-curbing efforts would have rendered the city peaceful and prosperous. It CAN'T work in Gotham, because of the curses... but if Batman wasn't around to hold the cursed city in check, things would be SO MUCH WORSE. And it would spread.


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

[User] [Legend of Korra] Similar to how contact sports like football and rugby can cause a number of complications for its athletes later in life, what kind of common permanent injuries and damage can happen to pro players in Pro-Bending after playing it for so long, even during retirement?

[Assistant] They are flinging rocks at each other and while they are wearing helmets and other protective gear accidents do happen so you are probably looking at similar issues as we have in professional sports, however they do have access to healers so the damage is greatly mitigated.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What is the retirement and benefit plan for Stormtroopers?

Obviously Stormtroopers get a stipend and medical coverage while they serve the Empire, but what happens when they reach retirement? Do they get a pension? An allotment of land? How long do they have to serve before they are eligible?

[Assistant]
Well, if nothing else we do know from the short ~~story~~ documentary "The Perfect Weapon" that Imperial-era Stormtroopers did have retirement homes, which indicates that they were treated decently when they were unable to continue trooping.

Not sure that First Order Stormtroopers have that to look forward to. Considering that they're brainwashed into the role, they're unlikely to be seen by command as needing such luxuries.


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

[User]
[Daredevil] What's Fisk's big plan for Hell's Kitchen, anyway?

He's obviously got some kind of gentrification scheme underway. Is he trying to do a Times-Square-in-the-80s cleaning of the streets so the wealthy will have their playground, or is he planning more of a Bugsy-Malone-in-the-desert open city for vice profiteering... or is his vision something else entirely?

[Assistant]
Fisk seems to actually love his city. One of *Daredevil's* overarching themes are that Matt and Wilson are both trying to fix things, just in very different ways.

His main goal is to revive the Hell's Kitchen area. He wants to take it from slum to oasis, and he's willing to do pretty much anything to accomplish that. Lie, cheat, steal, make deals with Russian gangsters, and muscle old women out of their rent-controlled apartments.

His secondary goal is to prove his asshole father wrong. He wants to be the biggest, richest, most important man in New York, even if nobody knows his name.

He is at heart a criminal, and he wants to gather all criminal activity under his purview. He probably believes that doing so will also make the city a better, safer place. Rather than having a half dozen feuding, fighting gangs unleashing havoc, there's one nice, polite criminal empire keeping the trains (and drugs, whores, and sex slaves) running.


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

[User] ELI5: In England all energy providers provide energy from the same grid, how comes they are all able to sell the exact same product at differing prices? And why is there competition between them?

[Assistant] They basically just keep track of how much energy they provided to the communal grid, and how much their customers drew from the communal grid.  They can produce it at a certain price, and prove their customers drew that power out the other side, so it doesn't really matter where the specific electrons came from as long as they provided enough for their customers' use.  Make sense?


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

[User] ELI5:Why doesnt the EU just drop Greece from the Euro?

[Assistant]
If that were to happen, people would lose confidence in the EU.  It would appear to 'not work' and lose credibility.

Further, a lot of people have invested in Greece.  Other people have given loans to Greece.  Other countries have given loans to Greece.  Greece leaving would lead to a lot of people losing a lot of money which has a cascading effect on other people.

Further, people inside Greece will panic and attempt to withdraw all their money for fear of it losing its value.  That in turn will make the banks collapse and that can also have a very large impact on the economy.

All in all, the world financial market is complicated and delicate and it's not as simple as dropping a country.  It was probably more beneficial to help bail Greece out.


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

[User]
Why did the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster happen, in terms of the physical processes, and what did nucleate boiling have to do with it?

I know that a test to see if the turbine could bridge the gap between a power outage and the startup of energency generators had been scheduled, and that the power output was way below what it should have been to safely run the test, but I don't quite understand what exactly happened. Why was the low power output an issue, why were the control rods taken out, and what generally went on?

[Assistant]
The design of reactor at Chernobyl required actively pumped water to cool the reactor, even when "shutdown", as the fissile core continued to produce heat (normal for that generation of reactor). This meant using external diesel generators, but those took almost a minute to come online. So, they wanted to use the remnant energy in the turbines produced by the reactor to power the pumps.

But the reactor was too low power when the test started (due to poisoning from radioactive elements produced during the power-down, which normally would decay, but they shut it down to fast). That meant they needed to remove control rods to increase reaction speed.

The low power itself was not a cause of the problem, but they had removed almost all the control rods that slowed the reactor down to increase power output. That meant when they tried an emergency shutdown, all the rods got inserted at once. A design flaw meant that *increased* reaction speed at the bottom of the core (since the rods took a few seconds to fully insert, and they displaced coolant while doing so). That meant the bottom of the core could overheat, since again they'd removed most of the control rods, and that lead to the rods getting stuck only part way in, which resulted in the explosion.

Boiling was an issue with the water-based coolant because steam doesn't absorb neutrons as well as liquid water does, and neutron absorption is one of the major factors in slowing nuclear reactions (thats what the control rods do). The boiling happened because they had too few control rods in, which resulted in rising temperatures, which wouldn't have been an issue had they steadily inserted new control rods, but since they inserted them all at once (why is unknown), displacing a bunch of coolant, the reactor spiked and overheated.

At that point, the reactor went into a runaway reaction, there was a steam explosion, and things went very very badly.


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

[User]
CMV: The lower amounts of attention for New York protests in reaction to the Eric Garner Grand Jury decision in comparison to the Ferguson ones in reaction to the Michael Brown GJ show how riots continue to be an effective protest tool.

So this is SUPER subjective, but I noticed how reddit is not really discussing the NYC protests on the same level as the Ferguson protests last week. Two days after the Darren Wilson No True Bill, it COVERED the front page, but here we are after similar protests from a similar case and there seems to be barely any mention.

Obviously, a lot of the reaction to the Ferguson protests was extremely negative, but if the purpose of protests is to bring attention to an issue, doesnt this suggest that the violent ones that erupted in St. Louis were more effective than the peaceful ones last night?

I don't mean this post as a moral validation of violence, but merely a question of efficacy. I do not support the destruction of other people's property, whether it leads to awareness or not.

[Assistant] The Michael Brown case had more national attention both in terms of breadth and intensity from the very beginning.  It is not unusual its fallout would too, especially considering the time that has since passed in each case (Garner's proceeding being further removed from the incident.)


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

[User] ELI5: Why does cold air smell fresher than regular/hot temperature air?

[Assistant]
Because it is easier to detect the taste/smell particles in warmer air/liquid/solidaterial.
In the same way that if you eat or drink something cold, you don't taste it as strongly. The same particles may be present in cool air, but you are less likely to detect them.

Also, in warm environments, bacteria etc are more active and may contribute additional smells etc.


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

[User] How is water able to evaporate if it is below the boiling temperature?

[Assistant] The temperature of an object just relates to the *average* kinetic energy of its molecules. Some molecules have higher energy than the average and some molecules have lower energy than the average. Think of closing your eyes and giving little pushes to a child swinging on a swing at random moments in time. Sometimes, your push is at the right time so that is goes in the same direction as the swinging motion, thus adding to it and making the child gain energy and swing higher. Sometimes, your push will be at the wrong time and oppose the motion, causing the child to lose energy and swing lower. But if your pushes are truly random, there will be an equal amount of helpful pushes and hurtful pushes, so that on average, the child will have a constant energy/swing height over time. Randomness causes the individual energy values (i.e. the peak kinetic energy of the swinging child from one minute to the next) to be distributed widely about an average value. In a material, molecules are constantly colliding into each other randomly and exchanging momentum. Just like the case of randomly pushing the child on the swing, this causes the molecules of an object in thermal equilibrium to have a broad distribution of energies about an average value. Some of the molecules in a liquid get enough energy after a collision (like you pushing the swinging child at the exactly right moment) to break free of the chemical bonds that were holding it in the liquid and zip off into the air, thereby evaporating.


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

[User] When an immune system encounters a new threat, how does it know to produce a new type of anti-body, where does it get the instructions to do so?

[Assistant] I'll give a SUPER basic summary, and let me know if you'd like details. A number of cells (dendritic cells, macrophages, some T cells) go around collecting debris and presenting it to B cells. Inflammatory responses from an infection tell B cells to make tons of random antibodies. When these "presenting" cells take a piece of debris that appears to be foreign, and it matches an antibody produced by a B cell, the B cells specializes in making just that antibody and produces TONS of it. Essentially, when an immune system encounters a new threat, it knows to produce antibodies, and when one matches, it produces tons of it. It knows to do so due to chemical signals sent by other responding immune cells. (Again, this is a VERY broad description, let me know if you would like some detail!)


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

[User]
[DC] Why are The Bat Villains so Well Educated?

I was noticing how many of Batman's villains have either doctorates or are well educated is there something about Batman that makes highly intelligent people want to kill him or challenge him?

[Assistant]
Part of it is the cruel irony of their origins. Dr Victor Fries was working on cryogenic freezing when his experiment was sabotaged by his employer, turning him into Mr Freeze; it's unlikely anyone else who wasn't as educated would have been in his position. Kirk Langstrom was experimenting with genetic manipulation when he accidentally turned himself into Man-bat. Harley Quinn came about because she was a qualified (but naive) therapist who wanted to try and cure the Joker.

Many of the rogues wound up becoming the villains we know them as due to their (sometimes dangerous) experiments that lesser qualified (and slightly more sane) individuals might not have attempted.

Another point that can't be ignored, *there's likely something in the water*. In many incarnations of the Batman universe, there's naturally occurring Lazarus Pits underneath Gotham, and the toxins leeching into the groundwater likely make everyone just slightly crazy. Sometimes the city is under a very powerful curse that drives people slightly toward madness. Perhaps that slight push is enough to push more people toward villainy, but the more educated and socially mobile villains are the more likely ones to make a name for themselves.


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

[User] Why does your skin give off more heat when you have sunburn?

[Assistant] When sunburned skin looks pink or red, it's not because the skin's surface itself is burned, but because blood has concentrated in that area to repair and replace skin cells damaged by UV radiation. That concentration of blood just below the skin's surface is also what causes it to feel warm to the touch.


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

[User]
[Armageddon] How would the world react after the events that take place in the film?

i.e. politics, world affairs, the astronauts lives, etc.

[Assistant]
The drillers become media superstars for a year or so; each of them winds up rich through book and movie deals. Some fade away into general obscurity, but others become permanent media personalities.

NASA's budget grows exponentially, since every nerd in the last century who has been saying humanity needs to expand beyond the Earth is suddenly vindicated. Space programs around the world suddenly have to deal with millions of applicants.

The oil industry becomes incredibly popular. Any suggestion of regulation is shot down pretty quickly.


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

[User] At what point does the atmosphere get so thin that describing speeds in terms of 'mach' or relative to the speed of sound becomes pointless?

[Assistant]
The Karman line at 100km ASL represents the "boundary" between atmosphere and space, because a flying object would need to travel faster than the orbital velocity in order to derive lift to support itself. So pretty much by that point you're in orbit moving at orbital velocities.

There is still a fair chunk of atmosphere at 100 km and the orbiting object will almost surely reenter the atmosphere on that pass. You can still measure velocity in Mach up there, but it won't really make sense.


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

[User] [Red Dwarf] why are all popular culture references from late 20th century when the time they were born from was much further in the future ?

[Assistant] Because there is only one human left and that is what he liked to watch. Well that 0g football, rastabilly skank, and bad horror movies (which he lists a huge number of) and AR games. He also talks about how they remade a lot of movies over and over.


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

[User]
(40K) So some questions on Guardsmen casualty figures.

As my battle-brothers and I prepare to bring the Emperor's cleansing light to the heretics and demons on the planet below, I see many of our guardsmen allies being given what seem to be last rites. I began to wonder how many of them would fall in our coming battle. I know millions die in any given engagement, but how many is that in comparison to their total number? A mere 5% or a devastating 95%, and if the latter how is this system sustainable? I know that average life expectancy of a guardsmen is 15 hours in a combat zone, but surely not all their great number are in a combat zone, some must be fortifying positions, or running supply runs, or in positions away from the front line providing support. Please enlighten me on these subjects.

[Assistant]
The 15 hours statistic is one often-quoted by cynics and borderline heretics.  Guard your mind, guardsman!

In truth, this statistic only applies in certain circumstances.  Against certain xeno species (non-feral Orcs, Tyranids, Eldar, Dark Eldar, Necrons, Tau, etc), and in the case of a major warp incursion (where Traitor Space Marines and/or daemons) are present, it is quite true that a guardsman's life expectancy is quite low (though victory is always assured if one keeps the Emperor foremost in ones mind!).  However, such battles only constitute a small fraction of Imperal Guard operations.  The guard is truly an elite fighting force, when compared to its normal enemies.

Planets serving traitorous governors gone rogue, epidemics of feral orcs, nascent chaos cults... all these things and more constitute the vast majority of the guard's combat history, and in these cases, both your training and your equipment will let you far outclass your opponent.  Think back to your home planet's PDF forces.  Whether you grew up on a feral world, feudal world, imperial world, hive world, or any other type of system loyal to the Emperor, your planetary PDF was, while properly pious and brave, far inferior to the Emperor's Imperial Guard, and enemies of that quality are going to be your standard foe, guardsman.

So have no fear!  Take your lasrifle in hand, face forward, and boldly stride into battle!  You are the point of the Emperor's sword, the flat of his shield!  You will be victorious!


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

[User] [Witcher] What are some notable examples of The Law of Surprise going wrong? Can a Witcher unilaterally invoke it if they don't want gold at the time?

[Assistant]
Define "wrong"...

In the books, witchers _do_ invoke it very, very often -- that's basically the main method of "recruiting" new witchers. So basically any time it's invoked and the person _doesn't_ get home and find a new baby boy, it's gone wrong.

One may very well say that Ciri _very much appears to be an example of it going wrong.


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

[User] ELI5: How is fruit flavor essence captured? If soda water is unsweetened and zero-calorie, how is the flavor added?

[Assistant] Essence is created by heating the fruits and their skins/rinds, hot enough that it produces vapor. This vapor contains microscopic oil particles that have the flavor of the fruit, so when you collect that vapor, you're collecting some flavor. It's like fruit flavored steam. Then you can add that collected liquid to all kinds of foods and drinks to add a subtle fruit flavor without adding actual chunks of fruit.


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

[User]
My friend is convinced that, assuming earth is the only thing is the universe, if you threw a ball in space it would eventually stop and come back. It would go on forever, right?

Title ^

[Assistant]
Depends whether it's going faster than its escape velocity. If it is, it goes on forever. If it's slower, it falls back down. If it's at its escape velocity, it stops right at infinity.
Set kinetic energy + gravitational potential at earth's surface to zero, solve for v to find the escape velocity.


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

[User]
ELI5: What makes non-native English speakers sound foreign when they have good grammar?

By "when they have good grammar", I mean that it's good enough that the grammar itself wouldn't be the tipoff that they're not a native, so what is?
Edit: I meant over a text-based medium, so also excluding audio tipoffs.

[Assistant]
Native speakers of English tend to use a lot of words and phrases that are native to the region or culture that they learned English in.

As an example, a native English speaker from Australia might use the phrase "they're right cunts" to describe a group of people that were being unruly, whereas an English-as-a-second-language speaker from Germany might call them "hooligans". It's these phrases and words that form the backbone of our language skills. Another easy example would be an American describing a punch from out of nowhere as a "sucker punch", but an Australian would call it a "king hit".

It's the same language but used differently. Depending on where and when you learned the language, your choice of idioms and words will be slightly different, and it is incredibly easy to spot when compared to your own native culture.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does sperm know what to do?

How does it know to seek out an egg?

extra credit upvote for: How do atoms know to form a sperm in the first place (and particles know how to form those atoms)

[Assistant]
It doesn't. It is a great and common misunderstanding that cells know to do things, or that atoms have intention. They do not. A cell is a machine. A complicated machine, but a machine nonetheless. It reacts to stimuli because those stimuli trigger changes throughout the cell, which often form chain reactions to induce, say, movement, or a difference in cell transcription, or death. In the specific case of sperm, they respond to chemical signals produced by the egg, which cause them to move towards the egg. When they reach the egg they bind to it, which triggers further changes and causes the sperm to start attacking the outer layer of the egg by producing chemicals called proteases.

An atom also doesn't know anything. Every atom obeys physical laws. Those physical laws sometimes cause atoms to stick to each other, for a variety of reasons in a variety of ways. As they stick to each other to form molecules, further reactions occur, which then trigger yet more reactions and so on. This explains everything that is in the universe, just atoms obeying the most fundamental laws there are.


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

[User]
Eli5: how do power strips work?

Like how does each socket get the same amount of power from one socket that the strip is plugged into?

[Assistant]
A power strip is a very simple device. It's just a series of parallell connections that share the power from the same wall socket.

The reason why this works is that most of the time you only plug in one device that really draws a lot of power. Your average wall socket is rated for about 1500-1800 Watts.

So if you plug in your computer you have a 850 Watt power unit, you have a computer screen (80 W) a laser printer (400W) and a lamp (60 W if you use an old glowbulb). Total of 1420 W. Safe.

However, if you try to plug your hot water kettle and your microwave into the same powerstrip....more iffy. Most water kettles use up 1500W when they're running (yeah, it takes a lot of power to boil water quickly) and the microwave can be another 1000W on top of that. So never use those at the same time (or better yet. Don't plug them into a powerstrip and instead use different outlets) unless you want to burn out your fuses.


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

[User] [Star Trek/The Expanse] What would Starfleet's reaction & response be to discovering protomolecule within the Sol system?

[Assistant]
In the Expanse universe, the protomolecule is the first evidence of alien life, a nearly magical substance that defies all human understanding of the universe.  It is the direct cause of sweeping social and technological changes that alter the course or history for mankind.

For Starfleet, it's Tuesday.


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

[User]
Why does multiplying two negative numbers make a positive?

Weird, but I got asked this by a primary school kid, and couldnt think/find a satisfactory answer. Its just something I took for granted for so long.

[Assistant]
Let's say you are playing a game involving black and red chips. At the end of the game, for each black chip that you have, you receive one dollar (+1). For each red chip that you have, you have to pay one dollar (-1). Now, these chips are packed together in bags of five, and say at some point in the game you've got several bags of black chips and several bags of red chips.

If someone gives you three bags of black chips, then you gain 15 dollars. (3)(5)=15.

If someone takes away three of your bags of black chips, then you lose 15 dollars. (-3)(5)=-15.

If someone gives you three bags of red chips, then you lose 15 dollars. (3)(-5)=-15.

If someone takes away three of your bags of red chips, then you gain 15 dollars. (-3)(-5)=15.

The key idea is that negative numbers represent changes, not amounts. It doesn't make sense to say that you have -4 slices of bread. It does, however, make sense to say that you ate 4 slices of bread, and therefore the change in the number of slices you have is -4.