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

[User]
CMV: Using toilet papers is utterly disgusting

Being bought up in India, I've always used a jet spray to clean after poo. It was a huge cultural shock when I found out westerners don't use water for cleaning, and instead just wipe it using paper. Take a plate, put some chocolate sauce on it, now try cleaning it with a paper. Would you eat on that same plate? Now try cleaning it with water. Which method is much cleaner and hygenic? My uncle had a terrible time in switzerland when he wasn't able to find a jet spray, he said, 'I didn't get satisfaction' and was uncomfortable for hours, until he took some water in glass and did his business.

If you got shit on any other part of your body, would you be satisfied with a paper towel? Hell no, you'd scrub with soap and water and possibly even hand sanitizer as well. Just because your ass isn't exposed, doesn't mean you should walk around with feces residue in your butt cheeks. Especially on a hot day. I fail to see how wipes haven't caught on as the norm.

I mean, it's understandable, in older times due to freezing cold it was impractical to use water, but people should now change for cleaner alternative.

Also, I've herd about toilet paper shortage and how toilet paper is much more water intensive and resource consuming than water jet.

[Assistant]
Remove poop without using hand. Thats the objective here, regardless of method. Whether you use wet or dry, as long as your hand is sanitized after using soap and water or alcohol youve accomplished the goal.

Your butt isnt a plate. Your hand isnt a tongue.  Your hand sheds skin while your butt is a self-sealing semipermeable mucous membrane if youre healthy. If youre eating without washing your hands, youre doing it wrong.


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

[User] ELI5: The "Dot Com" Crash. What happened, When, How, and Why?

[Assistant]
Imagine it's the late 90's or early 2000's. The internet started getting popular, and various internet company startups were born.  Some startups made money, some didn't, but it was a brand new world at the time. Imagine a time where the internet didn't exist, and then all of a sudden everyone started using it and discovering how useful it is.

Most of these startups didn't make money, but it didn't matter, because it was the chance for everyone to invest in companies from start. And that in the future, all these companies will be blooming and ruling the world.  Lots of hype around these companies, even though in reality most of them weren't making profits.

But in the world of stocks, as long as the stock price goes up, it means that you're making money.  So imagine there's a new startup company called pets.com. They are going to deliver pet food through online orders. Everyone was buying the hype for internet companies, so tons of people started buying shares of pets.com.

All of a sudden, the stock price jumps from $1 to $2 in a span of weeks. Then in a few more weeks, it jumps to $4!  That means that if you had invested at $1, you would've made a 3x return in a matter of weeks!  These internet stocks are exploding!  Better hop on before the price gets too high.  So more demand drives up the price even higher.  It's sort of like herd mentality.

All of a sudden, shares of pets.com are now sitting at $20/share, and people have invested billions of dollars into similar companies.  Then one savvy investor looks at the actual accounting figures, and they realize that pets.com is actually losing tons of money and not making any profits at all.  And now everyone is trying to sell their shares of pets.com as fast as they can, as well as other similar internet companies.

That is the Dot Com crash.

TL;DR: tons of new internet companies were born, everyone thought it was the future, herd mentality drove up the stock price, and then when people realized most of the companies were useless, everyone tried to sell their shares as fast as they could.

Fun fact: there was an actual company that ran pets.com.  It lasted about 200-some days on the stock market.  Hitting over $11/share before crashing and selling for pennies.


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

[User]
[Avatar: The Last Airbender/LOK] what is metal?

So in the show, metalbenders arent really bending the metal itself, instead bending tiny pieces of earth trapped in the metal. So, that means that metal is different than earth. So what is it?

[Assistant] It's an element (of the periodic variety, not the bending variety), perhaps most likely iron. The metal itself is too pure for earthbenders, who have control over rocks which are composed of minerals which themselves are composed of multiple elements.


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

[User]
[Warcraft] If Guns are so prevalent, why are armies still using Swords?

Just watched the historical Warcraft documentary from 2016 and this army in platemail and shields just charged some orcs, then pulled out pistols and shot them. Wouldn't they realize that staying at a range would be advantageous, you don't just run up and shoot someone when you have the tactical advantage. For that matter, wouldn't armies evolve to using ranged weaponry at this point? They don't even seem to be utilizing archers, which is bizarre when they have access to gunpowder based weapons.

I'm talking in terms of armies here, spellcaster shenanigans aside.

[Assistant] Most people might not realize, but when guns were first introduced in the real world it was many centuries before they were the primary form of weapon on the battlefield. Long reload times, low accuracy, and low reliability made them useful only when paired with defensive formations. Add that to the fact that in Warcraft actual magic exists and you have many reasons not to value the gun so much higher than other forms of weaponry, even if they far outclass the forms of guns in the real world (dwarven engineering)


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

[User]
Is natural lump charcoal ash with no additives good for your garden?

Google has a mess of answers that aren't helpful whatsoever. Everything from "Yes, it's great for the PH in the soil" to "No, the ash will turn into lye in the ground".

[Assistant]
It depends on the acidity of your soil. There are ancient Amazonian groups who increased the charcoal content to decrease the leaching and reduce acidity of Amazonian soils . It's called terra preta.

 However, you don't want to add too much or it becomes to basic.


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

[User]
ELI5: Is sitting 'bad for you' even if you get enough exercise?

I see all of these articles about how sitting is so bad for you, and raises your risk for heart disease, etc.  Is this true even if one gets enough exercise?

[Assistant] I read something that said standing all day is also bad for you. So people who got standing desks at work should also not stand all day. The key is that the body was meant to move, not be in any one position for long periods of time.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How was Savage Opress able to be such effective warrior immediately after Mother Talzin's spell, without any training, and why weren't more people using such a spell to become more powerful?

He started killing Jedi immediately after the procedure.

[Assistant]
The thing is, he's not really that great of a warrior - he's just really, really fucking strong now. Rather than defeating enemies through sheer skill, he simply overpowers them.

That spell was nightsister magick, a dark side trick that gave him a huge boost. Two reasons why it's not used that often - one, it's a Nightsister thing, not a generic ability, and most Force users can temporarily boost their strength as it is anyway. The second, is that it's a dark side thing - so "light side" traditions aren't going to use it.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Surely they must have a way to just regrow lost limbs by this point, right?

We've seen so many robotic arms and by this point, these wars have spanned 3 generations of a family. Are you telling me medical technology hasn't progressed in like 60+ years across any planet when there's already science like near lightspeed transportation, etc?

[Assistant] They have bacta, which promotes stem growth and has been shown to regenerate damaged organs. But the amount and time needed to regrow an entire limb (and the complications and readjustment period afterwards) would not only be prohibitively expensive but also require Luke (or Anakin) to cease being involved in military operations in a desperate time.


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

[User]
ElI5: How is it that binoculars magnify things only when viewed from one direction, but both sides of a magnifying glass are magnifying?

Optics confuse me.

[Assistant]
Binoculars line up two lenses (one pair for each eye), plus might have some mirrors in them to adjust light path length. One of those lenses on either side is large to gather lots of light, the other is small to focus it for your eye. So it's not symmetric, meaning you can't flip it around and the light will work the same way.

A magnifying glass is only one lens, and it IS symmetric. So you see the same image from either side if you flip it.


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

[User] [The Flash t.v.] Do all speedsters time travel once they run at a certain speed? And what speed would that be?

[Assistant]
It's not simply a matter of reaching certain speeds - there seems to be *intent* required as well. Barry has gone faster on the treadmill, and Wally on the racetrack, than Barry has gone when traveling through time, especially that first time.

The same goes for traveling to other dimensions.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why can't astronauts "wash" their clothes by purging the bacteria into space.

My understanding of why our clothes stink is because of bacteria eating sweat and dead skin.

So why in space can't they just "wash" (Edit: By this I mean sterilize.) things by exposing them to the vacuum of space? Wouldn't the extreme cold and vacuum cause all of the bacteria in the fabric to die out?

I know this is some NASA level stuff but I hope someone can atleast dumb it down to ELI-15 level for me.

[Assistant] A few reasons. First is that not all bacteria will die when exposed to space. Second is that exposing clothes to vacuum doesn't remove any dirt or grime, so clothes aren't actually getting clean. Third is that there's not really any place to do that. Between visiting spacecraft and spacewalks taking place, the station's airlocks are mostly in use. Also, it's a waste of air to have to depressurize and repressurize an airlock every time you want to do this, which again, won't actually clean anything. It's really just more effective to do it the way they do it now, which is to wear clothes until they're done and then dispose of them and replace them.


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

[User] ELI5 why are people so against automation in factories if it makes things safer and produces more goods? is it just that people are losing jobs? but there are different jobs that open up.

[Assistant]
Often there are different jobs, but not the same amount.

Picture a factory with 10 workers. They replaces those 10 people with a machine. The new jobs that will open up will be machine maintenance, which is 1, maybe 2 roles?

Potentially the machine does so well that it's started to increase the workload. So now the company might need an extra person when the goods come in and one when the goods go out.

So you created 4 roles, which still leaves 6 people out of work.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do people design the save game feature in large/complex games?

The save game feature seems simple but it's mind-blowing how it can return the exact state of a game with all elements/events organised in the correct order. Can anyone explain how it works?

[Assistant]
Games have flags (kind of a checklist) of all the possible action you need to do in the game (in the sense of "complete this quest", "find this object", "unlock this part of the map", etc.) And also a bunch of variables to indicate your location in the game, what equipment or item you have in each slot (+inventory).

The save will just be a backup of all those flags and variables and which state they were in at a point in game.

This is a bit of a simple answer and will vary a little depending on the type of game.

Bonus: this is how cheats work too. People will analyse game memory and find where these flags/variables are and offer you to edit the value. Like find the variable "health potion in inventory" so that you can add 99 of them if you like.


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

[User]
ELI5: why do phones charge faster from a lower percentage compared to nearly full?

It seems to take a much shorter amount of time to charge between 30% to 40% for instance, compared to 90% to 100%

[Assistant] The stadium effect is in effect here. Imagine an empty baseball stadium that holds 60,000 people and outside are 60,000 fans waiting to get in. Those people are the electrons looking for a seat in the battery. The first people can sit anywhere they want as fast as they want. As more people enter it becomes harder to find a seat. Thus, they have to walk around for a bit until they can grab an empty seat.


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

[User] [MCU] Screw "double resources". Why didn't Thanos make infinite resources? Permanent solution?

[Assistant]
The same reason why Thanos is termed the "Mad Titan", not the "Totally sane and rational Titan".

It's less about saving the Universe and more about proving to those morons on Titan and himself that his plan to commit genocide lottery would've totally worked.


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

[User]
[John Wick] Would John accept someone's surrender?

So other than Francis, (who John seems to be familiar with) has John ever shown mercy? Like during a gunfight if some random russian goon saw 38 of his co-workers die, then decided "Screw this" and threw down his gun and put his hands up. Would John still put him down?

[Assistant]
Yes John would spare someone surrendering or fleeing.

On a practical level no reason to waste rounds or energy going after non combatants on a personal level he doesnt want to or need to kill every single person, just those in his way.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does the US have military bases and constant presence in other countries, but other countries don't have military bases in the US?

[Assistant]
In Germany and Japan, it has to do with agreements that the Germans and Japanese agreed to when the peace treaty was signed to end World War II.

In countries or areas like Britain, Diego Garcia, Australia, Spain, Italy, it is because the bases are usually a joint-alliance agreement (e.g. NATO).

In countries like the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, it is because the United States has negotiated agreements with those countries to have a presence there.  Usually the United States pays a monetary amount or agrees to provide something (military aid or defense) in return.

In countries like Iraq (very small presence now) and Afghanistan, the answer is because of military action.

It should also be noted that even though countries don't have military bases in the United States, there are many foreign service members in the United States under joint agreement for training with US military forces.


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

[User] ELI5: How is it that very complex 10-hour seasons of TV shows can be produced in a year's time, yet 2-hour movies so often take years to produce?

[Assistant] A lot of it is setup that takes place before any production begins - hiring people, finding actors, locations, etc. A tv show has to do that just once - just like in movies, except they get to reuse all of those resources in every episode.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is cold water from the sink clear, while very hot water from the sink is cloudy white?

[Assistant] Unlike solids and liquids, gas has an inverse relationship between solubility in water and temperature of the water. This means the warmer the water, the LESS gas it can absorb! The water is entering your hot water tank cold, then being heated under pressure, preventing any dissolved gasses from escaping (yeah, your hot water tank is kind of a pressurized bomb, but anyhoo). The water is kept under pressure until it finally emerges from your tap, where it encounters an aerator, designed to introduce even more gas into the water. So, predictably, the gas comes out of solution quickly, causing the bubble you see!


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

[User]
[DC] Why do Lanterns bother with elaborate constructs over simple forms?

What is the benefit of a Green creating a giant fist to punch  Sinestro, why not just a beam of concussive force?  Why make a green brick wall to block the heat vision of Zod, why not just a force field?  Is there any advantage to using fancy constructs as opposed to just simple beams and bubble/plane shields?  You would think it would be better to keep constructs simple so you aren't constantly thinking about interesting ways to send green sharks at your enemies and can concentrate on more important things.

[Assistant] It's more to do with how the user thinks, than the effectiveness. Kyle Rayner makes beautiful, artistic constructs. John Stewart makes solid constructs - animals with organs, machinery with gears. Hal Jordan makes giant boxing gloves or scissors or nets. Guy Gardner projects abstract force. All are effective.


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

[User]
The most powerful earthquake in recorded history had a magnitude of 9.5... Is there a maximum number that an earthquake could realistically hit?

Could we see an earthquake with a magnitude of 15, for example? And what would be the effects of an earthquake with a magnitude of, say, 30?

[Assistant]
Terrestrial earthquakes are limited in magnitude by the strength of rock. No known rock can sustain stresses (and build up energy) to produce an earthquake greater than around 9.5. However, as noted below, impacts can generate much larger earthquakes because the energy is externally derived.

Edit: spelling.


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

[User]
Why two electrons with same spin cannot co-exist but protons can?

I dont have proper knowledge about particle physics and Quantum mechanics but from what i know I would like to ask that if 2 electrons of same spin cannot exist in the same orbital (pauli exclusion) then how can several protons exist in the nucleus together (and neutrons too)?

Please do provide some links from where I can get more knowledge of this field. Im 16 btw.

[Assistant]
They also cannot. Nucleons in a nucleon are placed in "nuclear orbitals", and being fermions two identical ones cannot be in the same "orbital" with the same spin.

However, the forces binding the nucleus together are much larger than the EM force between nucleus and electrons, which means these nuclear "orbitals" are much smaller in size than atomic orbitals. So from the point of view of atomic physics the nucleus looks pointlike, but if you zoom in all the nucleons are actually in different states (where being proton or neutron is counted as part of the state).

(the above is approximate)


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

[User] Ive been perusing Wikipedia pages on hurricanes after Michael and have found detailed accounts of hurricane development for storms back in the late 1800s. How were these accounts recorded and/or constructed?

[Assistant] Mostly by observing the change in barometric pressure of a passing storm from multiple locations along with witnesses and damage when and if it came ashore. All ships carry a barometer and depending on off it is falling and the direction of the wind you can tell which quadrant you were in and which direction the storm was heading. Also with no radars ships would not have advance warning so there were more instances of ships being caught in and around storms thus more reports of pressures. It was a very imperfect science and lots of people died.


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

[User]
[Independence Day] Wasn't president Whitmore in any contact with leaders from other countries when the space ships were approaching Earth?

This was happening all over the world, I'd think that the leaders all over the world would be trying to figure out what to do when these things were coming.

[Assistant] The president was notified ~20 minutes before the ships entered the atmosphere. It's unlikely there was time to set up a global plan of action. Then there was less than 24 hours before cities started getting destroyed. Prior to the initial strike there was no clear evidence of hostilities, so there was likely no international plan beyond wait-and-see and once the destruction started it was too late.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do electrical plugs with two prongs have a certain orientation for a socket in lieu of making them symmetrical?

I was plugging in my blow dryer this afternoon and I noticed it.

[Assistant]
Electrical outlets are typically set up (in the US) with a hot side (carrying the actual voltage) and a neutral side (which is essentially no voltage and the same as ground)

The third pin (if present) is also ground and 0 volts. However, the polarized plugs youre referring to wont have this pin. The blade width difference is to control which wire of the two carries the actual power. (Old-school plugs have blades the same size)

It is typical for manufacturers to tie the neutral to the chassis of the device to save on wiring costs (for two-wire devices). The danger is if the chassis is hot  as a result of flipping the plug - you could get a shock just by having your body in between  the device and any ground channel (I.e. a plumbing fixture).

The narrow blade of the plug is specified to be the hot in this case; and allows users and manufacturers to consistently ensure the connection is made without energizing the chassis.


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

[User] ELI5: How did we know that the Big Bang existed? Why can't the universe exist before the Big Bang, just at a smaller scale and expand forever since?

[Assistant] The Big Bang doesn't say what you think it does. It simply states that some point 13.8 billion years ago the universe was in a incredibly dense state. At this point the universe rapidly expanded and took on a new form. The forces that govern our universe like electromagnetism and gravity would become distinct thing, along with a distinction between matter and energy. Nothing before this point matters because it is outside the scope of science. We know that expansion happened because we can see evidence of it today. Both in the continued expansion of the universe and in the cosmic background radiation. We know when it happened by running back the clock back. We can roughly guess at what the universe was like immediately after T=0, but anything before that doesn't have to follow the laws of physics. The Big Bang only cares about the things immediately after that first moment.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is the difference between the cyclical climate change seen during the Ice Age and the climate change we see today?

EDIT: look guys, I don't want to hear the climate change deniers. I just want help fleshing out comparisons between the Pleistocene and now.
 I'm a history major with little more than laymans knowledge on the subject but as a part of my internship with the school's museum I'm running a booth for our family day Earth day this weekend and my focus is on Pleistocene megafauna because we have casts of a Columbian mammoth femur, atlas, and humerus that were found nearby. As a part of earth day I'm also comparing climate change then and now but was having difficulty consolidating my thoughts and making it understandable to the people coming through.

[Assistant] A really tall building always sways back and forth a little bit because of the wind but lately it's been swaying further than usual because the people inside keep running back and forth against the walls.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why will water start to taste bad when you leave it in a glass for too long, but will taste fine when you dispense it out of a tap where it's been sitting for months?

If you leave water in a ceramic, glass, or cup it will start to taste bad after a day or two, even if it's covered with a lid. However, when we pour water out of a tap into a glass it will taste fine, even though it's been sitting for days/months in a water reserve tank. Why is this the case?

[Assistant] Normally, water has a bunch of dissolved gases in it, as well as dissolved minerals that can react with oxygen. Inside the pipe/tank, those gases have nowhere to go and there's no oxygen to react with, so the water doesn't really "age". As soon as you sit it out in the open the dissolved gas mix changes and any reactions that need oxygen to proceed can get going. There's enough of that going on in most water to change the taste enough to notice.


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

[User]
Does thinking require calories?

Obviously your brain requires calories to stay alive and to function, but does increased concentration require an increase in calories?

[Assistant]
Increased brain activity increases metabolic demands and burns more calories, yes.

However, you have to be careful - thinking brilliant or difficult thoughts may not necessarily be the thing that increases brain activity the most, you may get the same effect by thinking about a sports game or fantasizing about sex.

 Indeed, the process of 'concentrating' usually involves shutting down potentially interfering thoughts so you can only engage the parts of your brain needed for a  particular problem, and therefore may actually decrease overall brain activity.

So the answer is, yes it does, but not in an intuitive or predictable manner.


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

[User] ELI5: can someone explain Dr. Hawking's concept of "Imaginary Time" like I'm 5? What does it exactly mean in laymen's terms?

[Assistant]
Okay,  think about it this way.

Imagine that you want to specify exactly where and when something happened.

So, first you have to put it somewhere on earth:

You need  longitude (how far East or West from a specific place)
and latitude (how far North or South from a specific place).

So you have two separate measurements you need to take to put something at a particular place on the earth's surface. (also up-down, if you want to worry about being above sea level).

For time, we usually have only one line we worry about : Past-Future.

What Hawking is saying is that in order to do certain kinds of physics, it might be useful to have a second line that *behaves like* our normal time-line, the Past-Future line, but is as distinct from it from it as the East-West line is from the North-South line.

So, just like the East-West and North-South lines are sort of similar in how we interact with them, but perpendicular to each other (but very different in behavior from the time-line) - the regular Past-Future line and the "Imaginary Past-Imaginary Future" line would be similar in the way they behave, but treated as "perpendicular" to each other in calculations.

Why "imaginary"? Because there's a kind of numbers called imaginary numbers, and you work with them by taking the normal number line, and putting another number line perpendicular to that, which is called the imaginary "axis" (another word for line).

So now you're probably wondering what it would "feel like" to deal with two different kinds of time ... at the same time.  And there's no real answer to that, because we're only made to experience our one kind of time, and this "imaginary time" is mainly talked about to help understand certain physics calculations about the beginning of the universe - it's not something we could experience ourselves.


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

[User] How does an individual hear voices/noises in there head that aren't actually there? (auditory hallucinations)

[Assistant]
When you actually hear sound, the nerve endings in your coclea in your ear is stimulated by waves trasmitted to it through the bones of the middle ear, the eardrum, and the air.  These nerve endings then transmit nerve impulses to your brain, where the primary auditory cortex analyzes them and produces the sensation of sound.

In the case of auditory hallucinations the auditory cortex is activated without imput from the ear due to any number of possible factors (physical damage to the cells, stimulation from another part of the brain, etc.)


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

[User]
ELI5: how muscle memory works.

I find it fascinating that our fingers can type out words without a keyboard. [5]

[Assistant] When you perform a sequence of one or more actions your brain will begin to associate those actions with each other. There's a saying that goes "Neurons that fire together wire together", which can be interpreted in this context to mean that if you perform two (or more) actions in sequence often enough, the motor neurons responsible for the sequence of actions will become directly connected. Performing the first action will excite the neurons responsible for the second action and make them more likely to 'fire', those excite the neurons responsible for the third action, etc.. Each time you complete this sequence of actions the association between all the neurons involved in completing that sequence grows stronger. Essentially your brain has to work less hard each time you complete that sequence of actions, playing a scale on an instrument for example. This applies for all neurons though, not just motor neurons. Pretty much, if anything reminds you of anything else it is a product of this phenomenon. Your brain associates things when they occur simultaneously or sequentially.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] How does Star Trek explain the Fermi Paradox?

For those who don't know, the Fermi Paradox is the question of why, in a world with trillions of planets, no other life has been detected. There's various explanations- most life hides, most life dies out, most life is on worlds unsuited to technology, so forth so forth. The issue is, though, in Star Trek, none of these are true.

The absolutely *are* major galactic civilizations flying around everywhere, colonizing planets, sending out signals, and not infrequently outright coming to earth and wandering around. It's thee best case scenario for determining the existence of alien life.

But from what we can tell, before first contact, humans didn't know about aliens.  How did no evidence of multiple galactic powers show up?

On our world, the question is "where are all the aliens?". In star trek, the question is "how did we not notice all these aliens?". So why was there a Fermi Paradox in star trek?

[Assistant] The answer lies in the Prime Directive. While officially a Starfleet law, even factions not aligned with the Federation seem to have agreed that interfering in any way with pre-warp civilizations is highly unethical at the very least, if not outright evil. While there are a number of cases where this rule has been violated by Starfleet officers, it can be assumed that the rule is held to well enough by most of the spacefaring factions that we on Earth remained blissfully ignorant until the invention of the warp engine, when the Vulcans revealed themselves to us.


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

[User]
ELI5: How did some animals (lizards etc.) get an ability to regenerate limbs evolutionary?

I mean what was the process to aquiring that ability? And maybe the best example is Turbellaria for their amazing ability to divide.

[Assistant]
All species have the capacity for regeneration, some to a higher extent than others.

What you are referring to is called autonomy (self amputation) and in most cases it was developed as a defence mechanism that allowed an animal to escape by sacrificing a limb and then regrow a substitute one (albeit imperfect one in most cases, as they can and do regrow differently to the natural ones, e.g. Deformed in some way).

A good example of this are certain lizards that will leave a part of their tail as a decoy (it will continue moving after becoming detached) to flee from a predator. The tail will grow back, however it will not have the same bone structure as the original one as it will be mostly replaced by cartilage.

Edit: a very good example of this in humans is liver regeneration. A human liver will regenerate back to its original size even if 80% of it is removed.


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

[User]
Why my phones touchscreen sometimes registers a touch when in reality my finger is millemeter or two from screen?

My guess is static electricity since it only happens once in a while and randomly but i am hoping for more insightful explanation.

Edit:
It also usually happens in the middle of typing. It never happened, for me, on first letters I typed. And, I am sure my finger did not touch the screen in a way i just did not feel it. When it happened i was surely away from screen, that is why it always jumps out when it happens. It is always unexpected.

Edit2:
I can surely replicate phone registering very soft touches (without me feeling actually touching it) but those random ones I am experiencing are different, the finger is always a lot further away than when i can register a touch without feeling it by testing. A lot may be very relative term but that is how it feels to me, i am not really sure how far the finger actually is because it usually happens really fast and its hard to measure so small distances with feelings. So, there is a small chance that i am imagining it.

Edit3:
I am using Redmi 5A if that makes any difference.

Edit4: I searched my phone but did not find any settings that increase screen sensitivity or glove mode or anything like that. It is an android 1.7.2.

[Assistant]
Yes modern day phone touchscreens work on the fact that human skin conducts electricity and can act as small capacitor. That's why you can also touch with your earphone wire.

Early touchscreens(not too long ago though) used to be pressure based when you needed to press hard.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that your brain does such a good job of removing your nose from your field of vision normally, but once you think about your nose being there you somehow cant not see it, that is until you forget to think about it being there again?

[Assistant] Your brain does this all the time! youre breathing subconsciously right now arent you? Well not right now anymore because Ive brought it to your attention, but dont worry youll forget again soon. And probably while you were thinking about your breathing you forgot your nose was there.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What happened to all the light sabers?

So immediately after the storm troopers killed all the Jedi, there would have been hundreds or thousands of now ownerless light sabers lying around. Did the Empire melt them all down? Did the light sabers wind up in some sort of black market like Nazi paraphernalia after WWII?

[Assistant] It stands to reason that the Emperor and lord Vader would systematically gather and dispose of such objects. We can't allow people to use the weapons of the Jedi traitors against the glorious Empire, or perhaps worse, worship their belongings!


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

[User]
[Marvel/Hulk] Where is the line between The Hulk and Bruce Banner?

I'm reading through Immortal Hulk and it got me to revisit a question I've always wondered: how different is The Hulk from Dr Banner? They seem to refer to each other as "the other guy", and some comics have identified them (through magic or science) as completely different entities with different souls that happen to share a body. But, at the same time, when push comes to shove they seem to share a lot of their subconscious mind and knowledge, and other comics have implied that Banner either has DID or is in negation about the Hulk just being who he is deep down. So where's the line between the monster and the doctor? Are they two completely different entities? Are they two personalities resulting from Divisive Identity Disorder? Is the Hulk just who Banner really is deep down?

[Assistant]
It was kind of answered with The One Below All. So it turns out that Hulk was indeed a separate personality brought out due to Banner's incredibly abusive childhood. He also has other ones, but the one we're most familiar with is what we'll focus on.

Now, at first it was dissociative identity disorder, but then the gamma radiation incident occurred. When Banner's experiment got screwed up, the gamma radiation in the bomb woke up a being called The One Below All. If this name sounds familiar, it's because he's the counterpart of The One Above All, who is essentially Marvel's God. Where TOAA creates, TOBA destroys. He saw how incredibly destructive Bruce's Hulk identity was and gave it life. So now Hulk is a fully separate entity to Bruce, with his own soul and everything, but they share his body.

Bruce is closer to who he really is than the Hulk, but all of the various Hulks are still aspects of him and his deeply negative emotions.


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

[User] ELI5: Different degrees in martial arts, what does it mean to be an 8th degree black belt?

[Assistant]
In most of the modern martial arts that use a belt system (judo, karate, taekwondo, etc), a black belt signifies an advanced student - not yet an expert, but someone who has a good handle on the basics and is ready for more advanced training or beginning-level teaching.  It makes sense to think about it like a bachelors' degree in that sense - you've done real good, and now you're really ready to start learning from the best.

Higher rankings  or degrees (called *dans* in karate and judo, not sure about the rest) are used to signify greater advancement - in many styles, a new black belt may assist teaching classes, but may be teaching their own classes after reaching the 2nd or 3rd degree.  Many styles will call practitioners of around the 4th or 5th degree onward "masters" of the art, but that's not a hard and fast rule.

Past a certain point, attaining a new degree tends not to be about passing a test, but is bestowed more as a sign of respect from the martial arts organization, in recognition of a master's achievements and dedication.  So at the upper levels (like 8th degree), there are usually going to be very, very few (if any) people holding that rank, and they're likely to be very old, very well-respected teachers.


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

[User] ELI5: How Islam spread so quickly after it started?

[Assistant]
* When a bunch of people conquer your town and say you have to pay taxes if you want to worship some other faith, it has a way of making you want to abandon your old faith.

* When that bunch of people say "Hey god said to conquer the huge entrenched empire your town had been a part of for hundreds of years" and then they actually do it, it makes a pretty compelling case that they might be on to something.

As far as how they were able to conquer so much of the Byzantine and Sassanian empires was due to a combination of having good military leaders, luck (the Sassinians had been devastated by a plague shortly before the Muslim conquest), and the fact that the Byzantines and Sassanians had been constantly fighting one another.


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

[User]
[MARVEL] WHY PUNY HUMANS NOT LEAVE HULK ALONE?

HULK WANT LEFT ALONE!

[Assistant]
Hulk is big.  Hulk is strong.  Hulk is durable.  Hulk is determined.

This makes Hulk either useful or dangerous, depending on your point of view.  So as long as Hulk is big, strong, durable, and determined, Hulk will never be left alone.

You want to be left alone?  There's only one possible solution: become puny.


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

[User] ELI5: How come chewing gum prevents or lowers the effect of your ears popping when flying?

[Assistant] The reason your ears pop is because there is a small tube that connects your middle ear to your throat, called the Eustachian tube, that fills with pressure. The tube naturally opens when you open your jaw, so chewing gum prevents pressure build-up in the tube. When you pop your ears, you are releasing the pressure in the tube.


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

[User]
[Kayfabe] Why do finishers work in wrestling?

I mean they're just normal moves that the wrestler gives a name, are they more powerful because they practice them a lot?

Because the DDT was a finisher once but now that everyone does it it lost it's power what happened?

Is it because the opponent is usually exhausted before they do it? If so wouldn't any other hard hitting move do the same thing?

[Assistant]
Wrestling moves are very much subject to power creep. Back in the day Jake the Snake Roberts would finish somebody with the DDT and there was no defense. You were down, done for, over.

But over time wrestlers developed ways to defeat the DDT, they learned how to do it, more importantly they learned how to survive  it. Another big factor is the wrestling corollary to Moores law which measures the the logarithmic rate at which wrestlers improve over time. This is expressed in Hogan Ear Cuppy Gestures in which the famous wrestler indicates that his awesomeness has grown so great it's blocked up his ears making him unable to hear the audience.


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

[User]
[LOTR] Could/did Sarumon defend himself magically from the Ents?

Was there no spell available to fight them? Fireballs, etc?

[Assistant]
In the books he did kill several in traps that lit then ablaze. This only pissed off the other ents to the point where they began tearing the fortress apart.

If he had prepared or anticipated such an event it may have been, but he was arrogant in thinking they would stay deep in Fanghorn and avoid the outside.


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

[User]
ELI5: Is it possible for an area to be fully saturated with photons?

Under the right circumstances could an area (volume of air/water/vaccum) become fully saturated with light photons, to the extent where no more could physically exist in that area?   Has this/does this ever occur in either nature or a lab?  What would the effects be (would it have weight etc.)?

Thanks in advance!

[Assistant] There's no fundamental limit with photons the way there is with electrons (e.g. electron degeneracy pressure)--however, photons have energy, so the energy contained within your space would keep increasing so long as you keep stuffing them into it. Assuming this concentration of energy doesn't destroy whatever reflectors you're using to keep the photons in place, eventually the energy density would get so high that it would collapse into a black hole.


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

[User] ELI5: What is gentrification and why is it so bad?

[Assistant]
Back in the early to mid 1900s non-whites could only live in certain neighborhoods. So minorities bought houses where they could. Those homeowners (if they didn't move) may be anywhere from 70-90 years old.  As areas change and areas that people thought of as undesirable become more desirable, older houses get bought and significantly renovated or knocked down for larger more expensive houses. This causes values in the areas the rise, and property taxes in the area to begin to spike significantly. All of a sudden, the way the neighborhood used to look changes. What happened to all the people that used to live there?

 As those areas change, we start seeing the neighborhood lack the diversity that it once had and it has the appearance that those individuals who once owned in there we're pushed out. Often, this is why so many people think gentrification is bad. Studies have actually shown that gentrification has little to no effect on the decision of the  70-90 year old Grandma who lives in a gentrification neighborhood.

Now, where gentrification has its challenges is actually for renters. These are the individuals that are most likely effected by these neighborhood changes. These neighborhoods with lower property values tend to have a lot of landlords with renters. When the area gentrifies, rents that were now $800/may jump up to $1,000, then to, $1200, eventually $1500/mo, pushing out renters who work various jobs in the area. These are the people who nobody really cares about during the gentrification process. Once these neighborhoods have $500,000 houses in them, the community and investors stop thinking about the guy paying $800/month because they can make more money servicing wealthier clientele.

Gentrification is a complicated issue. Taking a rundown house and making it nice isn't inherently bad. What we struggle with is, what should we do as a society to provide reasonable housing options for renters who get priced out of their neighborhoods?


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

[User] [WH40K] Do Chaos Marines still have to eat/sleep/etc. ?

[Assistant]
Depends on the Chaos Marine and level of possession and corruption. Fairly uncorrupted marines have to eat and sleep as much as normal marines: very little.

Fully corrupted or possessed marines can draw energy directly from the warp or the daemon. Like anything Chaos: it varies.


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

[User]
[DC COMICS] Who do you think can beat Dr. Manhattan in a man to man fight?

Because in both the comics and the movie he didn't really face someone with real superpowers.

[Assistant]
In the DC universe.

The Spectre or the Phantom Stranger have unspecified levels of power.

Seeing as both these individuals are tools of fate and Dr.Manhattan has been shown as being unable to change or affect the future in any meaningful way then he might not have the will to defend himself against these individuals.


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

[User]
ELI5: Losing fat, how does it work?

I heard from someone that you fat goes away from certain areas of your body at a time in a certain order. For example, I can do workouts that work all parts of my body but I will only start to lose fat in one area first (I think it's the neck) and then the next area after the first area is fat-free and so on and so forth. If this is true, what's the best way to exercise to lose the most amount of fat in the shortest allotted time?

Edit: if that's not how it works, then how does it really work?

[Assistant]
"Spot training" does not exist.

So if you do ab-workouts, fat will not burn from your belly. You will certainly build muscle, but it will exist *under* the fat.

To lose fat, the best thing you can do is calorie reduction. This is actually the ONLY thing you need to do. Get an app on your phone like MyPlate LIVESTRONG and keep track of everything you're eating. There's a massive database of virtually any food you'll come in contact with. When you start, you will type in your information (height, weight, age, sex, activity, etc.) and the app will tell you how many calories you need to eat per day to lose weight. Usually, if you need 2,000 calories to maintain, you should drop about 500.

You can start easily by cutting out all sugary drinks and replacing it with unsweetened tea, black coffee or water. Avoid diet-drinks because they tend to be bad for you in high-amounts for other reasons. Replace cooking oil with 0-Calorie Cooking Spray. Anytime you have the option of getting a sandwich, get it in a wheat wrap. Avoid cream-based soups and go for broth. Order chicken/fish instead of red meat (unless its Bison. Bison is very lean and has 2/3 less fat than chicken). Note: hot sauce is really good because its basically 0-calories.

Also, this is probably the toughest thing, but instead of doing 2 or 3 meals a day - try doing 5 *small* meals throughout the day, starting with breakfast. This keeps your metabolism *constantly* in action.

Again, this is the ONLY thing you really need to do to lose fat.

If you want to add to it, aerobic exercise is best. You don't have to "feel the burn", just get your heart rate up and sweat. 140 minutes a week is recommended.  That's 20 minutes a day, or 40 minutes every other day. Jogging, Jumping Jacks, Biking, Rowing, etc. You know what you can do? Buy a PS2 and a copy of Dance-Dance-Revolution from your local used-gameshop and do that for 20 minutes everyday.

The rule for losing fat is "Last in, first out." So if you've had a gut for a long time, it'll be a while before you notice it going. But don't let that discourage you: it WILL go.


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

[User]
Why doesn't the flu vaccine contain more than four strains?

So I get that the flu vaccine is a quadrivalent vaccine and it's made up of what the doctors hypothesise will be the top 4 variants/strains.

But why only 4? Why not the top 5 most likely? Why not 10?

Is there a logistical issue for the flu vaccine to contain more strains? Is there concern for greater potential impact on the body if the vaccine had more variants/strains in the same vaccine?

[Assistant]
There are 4 strains because that's what you need to cover all the circulating viruses.

Humans are infected by two subtypes of influenza A (H1N1 and H3N2), and 2 families of influenza B (Victoria and Yamagata). If you add those up, they equal 4. Seasonal vaccines contain one example of each.

There's essentially no cross-reactivity between H1N1 and H3N2, and very little between B-Vic and B-Yam strains, so you need one of each. Within each subtype/family, you have strains that change moderately every few years (3-5 years on average for A, longer for B).  It's those strain differences that need to be matched within the vaccines, but even if you miss the strain a little bit you'll still get some protection. (Even though it takes several years for each strain to drift, because there are the 4 subtypes in the vaccine the overall vaccine often needs annual updates.)

Flu vaccines used to be trivalent, only containing one influenza B example. Originally there was only one fluB type, and when Yamagata and Victoria diverged in the 1970s it was usually possible to guess whether B-Vic or B-Yam would be most common. But that was always a little tricky, so it was easier to just cover both, in a quadrivalent vaccine.

Why not include additional strains? Mostly, flu scientists are pretty good about predicting the most abundant strains. You only see a miss -- in one of four strains -- maybe once a decade or so, so if you included backups for all four components then 39 of 40 times they'd be a waste of time and money.

(There are rumors that B-Yam may have gone extinct because of the lockdowns/masking associated with COVID, which have suppressed all flu cases very dramatically. If that turns out to be true, in a few years manufacturers may be able to go back to trivalent vaccines.)


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is Burger King buying Tim Horton's a big deal?

My work place forces us to watch CNN while we work (and it's not the worst part of the job). As they only have three topics to talk about over a whole day, I've seen this a lot, but I don't understand why it's a big deal. There are McDonald's in almost every country, why is Burger King going to Canada, or buying a business in Canada such a big deal?

[Assistant] People are unhappy that they're moving the headquarters. For BK it means much lower taxes, which means the company makes a greater profit. For the state that used to be home to the headquarters it means a loss of revenue. Some people are angry because they think the money should stay on the U.S. while others simply see it as a problem with the taxation of businesses in America. Either way it's completely legal and simply a smart business move meant to increase profit in the long run.


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

[User]
[The Magic School Bus] Does Ms. Frizzle have the parents permission to take their children on these bizarre field trips?

Also, has there ever been a PTA meeting addressing Ms. Frizzles unusual teaching methods?

[Assistant] She has permission to take them on field trips, but she's not specific on the details.  She just says "taking kids to aquarium to learn about the life cycle of the clown fish" not "taking kids to aquarium and turning one into a sea anemone, one into a shark, and the rest into clown fish."  none of the kids are narcs (not even Arnold) so so far no PTA meetings about it.


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

[User]
[Terminator] What would life for the Human race be like after defeating Skynet?

Would their dealing with Skynet spur technophobia among the survivors?

[Assistant]
The survivors used fairly advanced technology, which is what allowed them to survive, so they wouldn't reject it.  Some purists might preach a back-to-basics lifestyle, but most wouldn't get rid of their tech.

There *would* be an aversion to AI initially.  Robots and thinking machines are deadly.  Even that would fade through the generations, though, despite the cautionary tales of the past.


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

[User]
[The Expanse] Why hasn't humanity colonised other systems?

Mild spoilers for Leviathan Wakes and Caliban's War below

When the Roci and her crew approach Tycho Station after leaving Ganymede, one of the crew notes the construction of the Chesapeake, the OPA ship designed to catch up to and retrieve the Nauvoo. It's noted that the Chesapeake is capable of a sustained acceleration of 8G for a month.

That period of acceleration would result in the Chesapeake traveling at ~0.7c, meaning that it could travel to other star systems with relative ease.

With this in mind, why is the Nauvoo the first major mission to another system? It seems that the technology to travel elsewhere is firmly within Humanity's grasp at this point.

[Assistant]
Money and the willingness to go.

You didn't note that the Nauvoo was funded by the Mormon church and was a generational ship. People motivated by religious fervor might be willing to embark on that kind of a trip, but even people on Basic would probably want to stay at home (or wouldn't be qualified/desirable for a colony mission).

Not to mention you'd be cut off for *long* periods of time from Sol and the commerce/people/resources thereof. It'd be a huge, expensive risk that you (as a colonist) would likely not have a fun time participating in, unless you thought it was for some higher purpose.


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

[User]
British Nobility : What are the different titles, what is their meaning  and which are more/less important

(i.e.: Dukes, Earls, Barons, etc.)

It's been bugging me for a while. I guess we don't learn this at school from where I'm from. Thanks in advance!

[Assistant]
Baron is the lowest rank in the British Peerage; a baron holds a barony.

An Earl (who holds an Earldom) is a higher rank than Baron. It's the equivalent of Count in many other systems of Peerage.

A Duke (Duchy) is the highest title of the British Peerage, second only to the monarch.

There's also a few Viscounts, which are between a Baron and an Earl, and ~~Marquees~~ Marquesses, which are between an Earl and a Duke.


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

[User]
[Terminator]Had The T-800 succeeded in its mission to kill Sarah Connor, what would it have done afterward?

Would it have had a secondary mission to hold up in an isolated area to wait for Skynet to be created?

[Assistant] It would probably go into hiding or destroy itself. The more it changes to the timeline it makes, the more it risks accidentally preventing Skynet from being created in the first place. As a straightforward example, if it happened to be captured people would eventually figure out that it's a killer robot from the future whose components are based on Cyberdyne Systems' research. Cyberdyne would lose their contracts, and Skynet would never be developed. Any number of actions could have similar unintended consequences, so the Terminator would be programmed not to do anything beyond the scope of its mission. Even going after Sarah Connor was a risk, but it was a desperate move.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does noise cancellation software work?

Hi, you have noise cancellation apps on laptops like Krisp. I'm curious about how they work. I know about Active Noise Cancellation on headphones and how it works, but could the same be achieved by this software. And how does the app know which part of the sound wave is noise and which is useful audio?

[Assistant] So there are microphones on the outside listening to what's around you. Sound waves behave like other waves, if two of equal and opposite size meet, they interfere with each other and cancel each other down to zero. So the software listens to the environment around you, makes a waveform of the sound, and plays it's inverse with the music you're listening to. The inverse waveform "destroys" the waveform of the sounds getting to your ear through the headphones.


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

[User]
ELI5: how are microplastics getting literally everywhere?

The ocean I unfortunately understand, what with all the plastic we throw in it. But I just read it was in fresh fallen antarctic snow! How?

[Assistant]
Rain and snow are naturally full of microscopic crap.

Storms and winds whip up crap like dust, pollen, spores, and (now more recently) plastic microparticles into the air.

Then atmospheric winds carry that crap all over the planet.

Then water vapor in clouds condenses around the crap to form rain drops and snow flakes, and then the crap falls back down to earth.


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

[User] [WH40k] Have the Orks and Tyranids fought one another before? What's their score count between them?

[Assistant]
Well, the Imperium had the bright idea to steer a Hive Fleet into a WAAAGGH in the Octarius system.

The resulting conflict has already spread throughout the system, and as both species thrive on war, it's still up in the air as to who wins. According to The Shape of the Nightmare to Come, the whole galaxy loses.


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

[User] [LOTR] where are the rings that were given to the Elves, Dwarves and Men in the intro of the movies?

[Assistant]
The three given to elves: still held by the elves: Elrond, Galadriel, and Gandalf (okay, hes not an elf, but they elves secretly gave him the ring cause they know hes special)

The seven given to dwarves: four were destroyed by dragons, and the rest were lost as their kingdoms fell. They were probably taken to Sauron afterward, who didnt have a good use for them, but was glad to keep them out of the hands of the dwarves, who proved to be less susceptible to corruption than other races.

The nine given to men: Sauron has them. The men who were given them eventually fell to corruption one by one and all turned over to Saurons side, becoming the Nazgul. Whether the rings are still worn by the Nazgul or are in Saurons tower is unclear.


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

[User] ELI5: Scientifically speaking, how do severely immobile people become fused to their furniture?

[Assistant] Skin is not a solid substance. It is made up of cells and layers. If you press skin down with enough weight, the fibers of a fabric can become entwined in the skin. This doesn't happen with every fiber or every boundary of skin cells, but it can happen enough that it appears that the two are intertwined. This is especially true if the weight on the skin exists over an extended period of time, and since morbidly obese people are often in the same position for a long time, you can see how this happens. This is much less likely to happen with smooth fabric, but since all fabric is made up of fibers, it can happen anyway. Just think. Press down on a slab of skin with a pressure approaching 100lb/sq in. over a long period of time. Would you expect anything else?


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

[User] ELI5: Why does exercise help anxiety/depression?

[Assistant] There are a few reasons! On a purely physical level, exercise increases blood flow to the brain, which influences the hypothalamus, adrenal glands, and pituitary gland. These glands produce hormones, and increased blood flow changes how we react to stress. There are also several psychological factors. First of all, it can simply serve as a distraction. It also increases are sense of self-efficacy, which is the degree to which we believe we can do something. In other words, people who can motivate themselves to exercise are more likely feel like they have control over other aspects of their lives as well.


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

[User]
What would happen if we installed artificial poles on the moon to protect astronauts from solar flares?

Would creating an artificial electro-magnetic field around the moon cause any adverse effects? Would it be useful for protecting astronauts from solar flares or would lunar regolith radiation shields be more effective and economical.

[Assistant]
Solar Particle Events (SPEs), usually triggered by solar flares, are indeed dangerous to astronauts. The high flux of particles would deliver in a day or less a high dose of radiation, which would result in radiation sickness with a non-negligible risk of death after a few weeks.

However, the energies of particles during SPEs is low enough that they are easy to block. Generally 20 g/cm2 are enough. In case this is too heavy for a spacecraft flying to the Moon (most likely it is), you can still design a small radiation shelter. It is acceptable for astronauts to be confined to a small space during an event because they are rare and they don't last more than a day or two (sometimes even just 8h).

So, all the cost and design effort of an artificial magnetic field is not needed. But most importantly, in engineering, passive techniques are more *reliable*. Artificial magnetic fields can fail for a variety of reasons. A thick layer of a shielding material will never stop working.

Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR) are a different story. In this case it's a low flux of particles, so it won't kill the astronauts, but they can cause a cancer in the long term. They are permanent, they don't come in events. And the energies of particles are so high that they will traverse almost anything. Generally speaking, shielding against them in open space is unrealistic. Artificial magnetic fields are under research, the technical term is *active radiation shield* in case you want to google it.

On the Moon's surface, however, regolith is an abundant and cheap resource as you correctly assumed. I'd definitely go for it instead of complicating things with an active shield. A lot of it will be needed, probably 2-3 m thick. But low gravity makes things easier in case you want to put it on the roof of the spacecraft or habitat.


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

[User]
Why do flies rub their arms together?

Whenever I see a fly sitting somewhere, they always seem to rub their hands together, as if they're about to have a fantastic meal. Does the action stem from them sensing something to eat? Or is it a cleaning mechanism that they use? Or, more likely, is it something completely different?

Thanks!

[Assistant]
It is them cleaning themselves.  This is very important because the olfactory sensors of their bodies are on their limbs (the legs and the antennae), so if debris builds up they would lose their primary sense for finding food.

Likewise they rub their legs along their bodies, because they breath through holes in their sides, and those getting clogged up would cause them to suffocate.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does it seem like the first half of my gas tank gets more miles than the second?

For example, when the gas gauge is at 1/2 I am at 250 miles.   But when my gas light comes on I'm at 420 with a range of 30.

[Assistant]
Gas tanks are not perfect boxes. They are usually odd shapes so where it is wider, more gas is needed to be used to drop the level compared to where it is narrower.

There is a float the determines the fuel level but you can fill the tank beyond that level so the first bit of gas used doesn't even make the gauge budge.


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

[User]
CMV: I don't think men being raped should be played for laughs in media (usually movies)

Examples: Wedding Crashers, 40 days and 40 nights, how "squeal like a pig" is printed on t-shirts and meant to be funny

This isn't to say rape should never be brought up in movies at all, just that it shouldn't be used for comedic affect.

Not to say which is worse, but seeing a person get raped on movie and it's meant for laughs (especially in a pg-13 movie) gives me about the same feeling as if mutilating a dog or cat was meant to be funny in a movie.

I just can't see any value to society from doing this. Certainly comedy can be used to bring up dark subjects that otherwise wouldn't be talked about. But generally that is done via stand-up comedy, and not in movies. The way it's done now, there is no overall point to it besides "haha that guy is getting raped isn't that funny!?"

[Assistant]
At least in those two specific cases, it's very much not played for laughs (at least in the immediate scene).  In both cases it's played as a pretty significant violation of bodily autonomy.

In both cases it's *flawed*: in Wedding Crashers it ends up being undercut by Vaughn's character ending up with his rapist; and in 40 Days and 40 Nights the guy ends up being blamed for his violation.  But I'd argue that in neither case is it really being played for laughs as much as being played for discomfort.  There's a difference between the kind of laugh that comes from humor, and the kind that comes from nervous discomfort.

I'd also point out that both movies are *not* rated PG-13, but rather R.

As a final thought, at least for 40 Days, is it possible that the reaction you're having is kind of the point?  That here you have a character who is violated against his will, and then himself blamed for being violated, and you're intended as a man (who can empathize with that character perhaps more than you could with a woman) to see how fucked up that is?  Especially since the woman is pretty clearly shown to be awful.


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

[User]
[Batman Beyond] How Much Was Bruce Paying Terry?

So the official story for Terry hanging around elderly Bruce Wayne all the time is that Terry is Bruce's assistant/go-for and mentee. Terry's own mother was very supportive of this job for her young son without a father figure, and while I am sure she didn't necessarily haggle with Bruce, the extra income would help the family. All that being said, what was Terry's actual salary from Bruce? It had to be more than Terry would make flipping burgers, but it also doesn't quite feel right for Bruce to pay Terry to be Batman.

[Assistant] I doubt Bruce actually minded paying Terry given the fact that hes a literal multi-billionaire. Realistically Terry prolly got paid maybe $20 an hour. You have to remember Terry wasnt being paid to be Batman, he was being paid to care for an elderly Bruce Wayne. Terry wasnt getting stacks on stacks on stacks (I mean it was an after school job), but he was getting paid decently since he did work for a very wealthy man.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Does Human racism exist in the Galactic Empire?

Its well established that the Empire had Human-Supremacist tendencies, with positions of power being limited for the most part to Humans (with exception of highly valuable individuals such as Grand Admiral Thrawn and several alien Inquisitors). There are also indications (at least in the Legends continuity) that male-chauvinism is also prevalent in the Imperial power structure. But has there ever been any indication of racism within the Empire the way we understand it in modern day. For the life of me I cant recall any instances of non-white Imperial officers, but absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence. So is there any record of the Galactic Empire having discriminated against humans on the basis of race?

(Also, although it isnt exactly what I was wondering about, feel free to mention any instances of discrimination based on planet of origin).

[Assistant]
To quote Terry Pratchett, black and white teamed up against green.

Fascist Regimes go for the easiest scapegoat. If they'd totally wiped out or subjugated all non-humans, sure, they'd probably start turning on "impure" humans to cement their power. But until then, no. It's Humans Vs Everyone Else.


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

[User]
CMV: Men should have the right to decide whether or not to support a child financially, if women have the right to abort, in certain situations.

So in the U.S. we all know that women have the right to abortion in most states. The men have 0 say in the matter. If a man says he wants to keep the baby; the mother has no obligation to actually listen to him and can go receive an abortion with no consequence. Which is fine.

On the other hand if the mother-to-be decides to KEEP the baby; the biological Dad is on the line for child support regardless of the fact whether he wants the child or not. Maybe its a situation where neither person wanted a child. Maybe it was a 1 night stand that both agreed upon, but a baby was conceived that the Dad wants no part of. Maybe the mother decides to keep the child even though they agreed not to have children jn the first place, etc..

In that situation why shouldn't a dad be allowed to opt-out of paying child support?

Now the most common argument against this that I have heard is that it will create a bunch of single-mothers having to bear the financial burden of another human being alone; and why should they have to do that if the Dad helped conceive the baby?

My response, "well why don't we get a say in terms of abortion in the first place?"

The response then usually is, "well that is because you are arguing about a biological function of a women's anatomy which a man has no right to; as opposed to financial support which has nothing to do with sacrificing a man's body."

Which I then respond with, "Well there are states and instances where child-support payments can be exorbitantly highly which absolutely kills the ability for the father of the child to make any sort of living. Many states well in-fact jail a father for not paying child support even; or not paying the full amount. So now you have destroyed the life of an adult human being, with little capacity to further improve himself, and if he is in jail. You are now getting ZERO child support as opposed to even a small amount of support. Or at the very worst; the same amount (zero, as he was giving you previously), but with the fact he is now in jail."

This is typically where the argument breaks off several times without many convincing arguments.

I think what I have described in the title would fix both issues, and I actually believe that dead-beat dads wouldn't be nearly as prevalent as it is assumed they would be, and there is nothing stopping someone from publicly shaming them to support a child. Especially useful in the age of social media (assuming it doesn't turn into a form of bullying).

So i'd like someone to try and change my view.

[Assistant]
This literally gets posted once a day.

The arguments are always the same.

There is no freedom over your finances. There is freedom over your body.

It is the same logic used to say that you can be compelled to pay when you are sued, but you cannot be forced to give up a kidney.


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

[User]
Computer science teachers (and still working older programmers/developers): What has changed in the last 20 years?

I cut my teeth on coding as a high schooler banging out class/HW exercises in turbo PASCAL.  After taking your typical 3 semester lower division intro CS classes in college, I never really touched any code at all unless you count some scripting-type stuff in MATLAB.  The main threads of what I remember in broad strokes from my c/c++ based programming I,II, III consisted of string operations, data structures, and object oriented principles and practices.  It's all a blur.  Everything I'd used to work on, including the IDE itself (such as they were in the pre-graphic days), fitted on a floppy.  (<1.44 MB for those not in my target audience.)  I lost a lot of sleep back in the day, but I confess I regard Borland fondly and with nostalgia.

Fast forward to today, I am completely overwhelmed by what I see.  Python seems to be the teaching language of choice for many structured courses.  not too scary.  However, the IDEs in use, such as MS Visual Studio, appear absolutely monstrous compared to text based and command line environment I used to work on.  People now talk about "code refactoring"(?) and it isn't rare for collaborative project assignments involving the use of CVS code management tools, which I was aware of as a young student but was never required to learn.  Similarly, competency with debugging tools/techniques appear to be a must.

I feel like I'm functionally starting from scratch, as the total mentality and attitude in writing code and software development has evolved beyond what I experienced as a young student.  (edit: Or maybe I just received a REALLY bad education without the real world experience to realize it.)  The rise of mobile devices appear to have made languages like Objective-C & Swift popular for aspiring developers in the Apple camp.  In that vein, I've been given lots of "advice" from those with specific goal-oriented motivations in acquiring programming skills/experience.  I don't necessarily want to help build the next release of "Call of Duty" or engage in commercial work.  I'd like to think I'm seeking to be a well-rounded generalist with a good set of core skills.  But it *would* be nice to become proficient enough with parallel programming techniques/methods to use today's modern hardware to crunch pattern matching problems.  Until I realized how rusty I'd become on the basics, I foolishly believed I could pick up OpenCL, CUDA, and OpenMPI without too much trouble.  Such as things are, I need to spend some time "learning to walk" again, so to speak.  But it sure feels like I'm an Earth-born Terran navigating an alien planet with toxic atmosphere and a different gravity, lol.  I have no idea how much effort is really involved ahead of me at the moment.  But if there is anything you can offer that can help me get a lay of the land to better get from here to there, it would be much appreciated.

**tl;dr**:  Trying to brush up after taking classes but never using programming skills since the 2000s.  Not a complete N00b, but feel like one given the changes in the last 20-ish years.  seeking advice.

[Assistant]
We all need to learn how to walk again sometimes. A lot has changed since the early 2000s, most notably, we have moved away from the need to know the inner workings of lower level programming as much as we used to.

A lot of top level languages abstract most of that stuff away from us, unless absolutely necessary. You mentioned the use of IDEs and how you would be more comfortable with Console or Text based editors, and you can still use them, but the advanced IDEs come with a number of benefits (IMO) over terminal/console & text based editors. Namely the use of syntax highlighting, linting and the like.

Youre right, programming has come a long way, and is a lot more involved or complicated than it used to be, but its also gotten a lot more simple in other ways. The type of programming guide that youre looking for is like looking for a part to a broken family appliance, its possible to find it, but it would be much easier to throw it away and find the newest edition.


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

[User]
Since water displaces energy evenly throughout its body, could you survive a long fall by being in a mid-air body of water or a container full of it? My 9 year old asked me something similar to this and I didn't have an answer.

EDIT: This got a lot bigger than I exected. Wow! Hard to believe a casual conversation from DND lead to this. I want to thank everyone who has answered and responded. There is a lot of science to learn here and I am grateful for all of it!

[Assistant] The shock wave could kill you. Look at this problem from a different perspective, if you were in a container at rest full of water and sealed then the container was impacted with say a train, but not damaged, the shock wave inside the container would kill you. Water does actually compress under extreme force. this is how sound is conducted and shock waves. The ripple of "sound" in a shock wave would tear your tissues apart. You would be intact but dead.


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

[User]
eli5, why do truck trailers have smaller tires then trucks?

I see a lot of very large trailers being pulled by large trucks, but the tires on the trailers are super small. ELI5?

[Assistant] To lower the load height of trailer while not inhibiting inside with wheel well arches. It's most efficient to have completely flat floors inside semi trailers, but loading docks are a certain height, fork lifts are safer lifting to a lower height, people have to climb up into trailer, etc.


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

[User] [Batman] What if Blackgate, Arkham Asylum, and other Gotham penitentiaries began enforcing the death penalty? Would Batman still try to apprehend criminals on the same side as the GCPD?

[Assistant]
Yes.

Gotham does, in fact, support the death penalty. In fact, they still use the electric chair. And Batman has no problem with criminals being killed, as long as it's done LEGALLY. Tried by a jury of their peers, etc. The Joker almost got the chair once, when a court found him competent enough to be executed. However, Batman stepped in and proved that he was framed, halting the Joker's execution at the very last second.

As a note: Arkham Asylum cannot enforce the death penalty as they are a mental institution and not a proper prison.


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

[User] During normal thought, does that "inner voice" actually create vibrations on your vocal cords?

[Assistant] Just to clarify, no one creates vibrations of vocal cords, it's air exiting your lungs that drives the vibrations, and your voice sound. You merely modulate some geometrical parameters of your vocal system (including the tongue, mouth, etc), producing different sounds from the same excitation. The question is still valid of whether we partially reproduce those modulations during thought.


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

[User]
ELI5 why were sending another rover to Mars in 2020 instead of risking a mission to Titan? What new, groundbreaking discoveries can be gleaned from Martian blueberries and rocks that are so much more interesting than (let's just say) the possibility of some sort of life in Titan's lakes?

Is the environment there so much more difficult to handle or why is this no priority? Just curious. :)

[Assistant]
As pointed out, Titan would possibly difficult to land on and much harder to get to. It also may not be the right time, as long as we rely on the "slingshot" method to get craft to other planets and moons. Using Mars or Jupiter for a gravity boost would do no good if Saturn and Titan were nowhere near where that ship is going to wind up in however many years it takes.

There's another reason to send another rover to Mars, though, and that's to build on what we've learned. It goes something like "We think that thing A may be evidence of past life on Mars, but it could just be a natural phenomenon caused by B. We can't tell that with instruments X and Y on the current rover, so we need to send up instrument Z to be absolutely certain."


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How could Obi-Wan Kenobi be turned to the dark side?

Guy seems pretty much incorruptible, but I don't know that I've ever seen anyone make a sustained, targeted effort to get him to turn. What would be the best approach to take to recruit him to team dark side?

[Assistant] Give him something that he couldn't protect, make him choose between protecting one person over a thousand, and do it over and over. Obi-Wan has always been a man who valued protecting others and aiming for the best solution, but force him into enough trolley paradoxes and the man will break.


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

[User] ELI5 : Why did the ELI5 subreddit start off being full of extremely dumbed down, easy to digest, concise explanations when it started. Now all the answers are like I'm reading doctoral thesis? What happened?

[Assistant]
Several things to consider.

1) The easy and obvious questions have been asked to death. Simple questions are greeted by answers to just Google it.

2) The expanding user base has brought in experts in many fields. These people are able to provide much more accurate answers, at a reading comprehension level that fits better with the rules of the sub. These experts don't write answers for literal 5 year olds.

3) The automod is a little overzealous sometimes when it comes to deleting short posts.

4) A good question shouldn't have a very simple answer, as there are always matters of opinion buried within the OP's question.


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

[User]
How does water traveling up a dry rag not break the laws of thermodynamics?

When you dip a rag in water, how can the entire rag become soaked over time despite fighting gravity? Where does the energy come from to allow the water to travel up the rag?

[Assistant]
There is potential energy resulting from intermolecular forces.

If it is energetically more favorable for the water molecules to be adhering to the molecules of the rag than to each other (because the attractive intermolecular forces between the two are stronger than those within just water) then water will be pulled into the rag. This will continue until the gravitational potential energy gained by increasing in elevation balances the reduction in potential energy that comes from sticking to the rag.


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

[User]
[Naruto] Why didn't the Third Hokage financially support Naruto?

Despite being a:

1. Son of Fourth Hokage, who's basically a war hero

2. Possible great asset/threat to the Konoha

Sounds like an asshole to me.

[Assistant]
He was a single child living by himself with no parents, but yet he had a house! Some of the manga books had pictures of his room, and it was preety nice.

Naruto never really needed money, he always had some, remeber Pervy Sage had to borrow money from a young naruto for gambling!

 Naruto definitely had money.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is W usually styled as a double-V and not a double-U?

[Assistant]
V and U used to be the same letter and did not differentiate until *after* W was introduced. W originated as a "UU"/"VV" digraph in the 7th or 8th century, and U and V only became distinct letters in the 14th century.

Note that some languages do call it "double V" instead of "double U" (including: ~~German~~, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Icelandic, Czech, and Finnish).


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

[User] ELI5: Why are some gases odorless (like helium), while others have strong odors (like ammonia)?

[Assistant]
The exact mechanisms of human olfactory detection aren't too well understood but essentially certain molecules fit better into receptors of a particular shape in your nose.  We have evolved and also learn to notice certain smells and find them attractive or repulsive.

Given that helium is inert, non-toxic and unlikely to appear in any significant concentration anyway, there is little evolutionary drive to have receptors that can pick up hydrogen.

Ammonia, on the other hand, is produced in many decompositional processes, can be found in cat urine in large quantities, etc.  Not really something you'd want to be hanging around if it's there in large concentrations.  Thus, we have a benefit from being able to detect it.


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

[User]
[Marvel] With so many superheroes operating in New York, why are there still so many criminals in the city.

The Punisher alone kills hundreds or thousands of criminals per year, and each borough has a couple of heroes protecting it. So why is there still so much organised crime in the New York City of the Marvel Universe?

[Assistant]
You know what happens when the Punisher guns down or cripples some thug in the middle of a crime?  He doesn't know about their wife, gf, kids, brothers, sisters, who are now stuck without a means of support and a serious hard-on for revenge.  As for other superheroes, they spend most of their time fighting supervillains, or taking down mob bosses.  They take down a few bodyguards on the way in, but the boss is the main target.

You know what happens when you take out the cartel leader, but a few of his lieutenants escape?  They split, found their own cartels, and go to war over the now-open territory, recruiting guys with a hard-on for vengeance against the Punisher, that's what happens.

Superheroes are great at beating up supervillains and taking out bosses, but absolutely terrible at strategic, organizational-level crime fighting.


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

[User]
eli5: Why are we attached to toys?

What is it about toys that we like very much? Irrespective of the difference between the country or culture, there are toys being used for kids since ancient times. Why do kids become attached to their toys? Even animals develop an affinity for their stuffed toys, is it something hardwired in our brains?

[Assistant]
For kids - i think it helps focus imagination and play. Fun activities.

For adults - Tokens that help trigger memories to simpler times / fun times ... times with no thought of adult worries / stress / anxiety.


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

[User] eli5: How do Pop Rocks work?

[Assistant]
Carbon dioxide, the same gas that makes the fizz in pop, soda or more correctly carbonated soft drinks is pressurized (forced) into the candy when its formed from milk, sugar, flavourings.

When the candy melts in your mouth (or a trendy cocktail) the carbon dioxide escapes with a popping action.


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

[User]
[STAR WARS] Physical bullets versus Jedi/Sith

Out of curiosity, could a number of Storm Troopers, or really anyone, utilise conventional earth-like weaponry against a Jedi/Sith or other Force User to defeat them?

Considering the rate of fire and rate of movement of a plasma shit from a blaster (1-2 rounds per second for a ROF of 60-120 Rounds per minute) meaning that a Jedi can deflect the rather large blaster projectiles with a lightsaber.

Now, taking this into account, even a relatively small rate if fire from an AK-47 is 600 rounds per minute, an M16 can be up to 950 rounds per minute, and something like a GAU-8 can reach 1,800-4,200 rounds per minute.

Why is it such a leap of logic to think that no one in the SWU has gone backwards, or invented, "conventional" type weaponry to defeat a force user?

[Assistant]
The most basic Jedi ability is the power to move physical things with their mind. So even your most basic Jedi is "Neo in the hallway". But remember what a huge, big deal it was when Kylo managed to stop a bolt? That's not common.

And that's not taking into account the other common abilities in Jedi Knights... the jumping, the speed, the precognition.

As we've learned to our horror, any overwhelming numerical advantage, coupled with complete surprise and heavy firepower, can bring down a Jedi. But if you're on your own against them, you're not any better off with a sniper rifle than a blaster.


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

[User]
[Team Fortress 2] How does Medic's healing work?

Uber is an entirely different beast, so we won't go there. I'm also not going to talk about how it doesn't restore Demo's eye, or anything like that. I'm also not asking about how sometimes with specific loadouts you can jump with solider.

Medic's basic healing seems to be  done by some sort of beam that attaches itself onto a person, injured or not.

So how does that work? Is there lore about it? Is it magic?

[Assistant] According to an early version of the Meet the Medic video, the healing formula is made from Jarate, a Sandvich, a medkit, and blood, all of which has been electrified. The Medi gun seems to aerosolise this formula and direct it towards people.


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

[User]
I think weight loss is more complex than calories in, calories out. CMV

I think it comes down to the kind of food you eat and how much of it you eat.

Sam Feltham ate over 5,000 calories per day for 21 days. His diet consisted of eggs, fish, meat, nuts and green vegetables. After calculating his BMR he estimated he'd put on 13 pounds by the calories in/calories out, but only put on 2.8 at the end of 21 days. His daily exercise routine did not change. Why did he not gain 13 pounds? Why did he only gain 2.8 if calories in/calories out is how simple weight loss is?

Mark Haub lived on a diet of basically only junk food for two months and lost 27 pounds. Twinkies, Doritos, hostess cakes, etc. However, he restricted his diet to only 1,800 calories per day. If he would have eaten 5,000+ calories per day of food like this, do you think he would have still lost 27 pounds?

I think calories in/calories out oversimplifies it. Eating natural foods like Sam Feltham did don't cause as much weight gain as junk food.

[Assistant]
One thing you need to understand about "calories" is that (human) nutrition actually uses fairly inaccurate figures, from a real-world-effects standpoint.  The number that you see in the nutrition label is determined by how much energy can be taken out by completely burning it in a furnace.  As an extreme example of how this can be a bad measurement, sugar and sawdust would show (approximately) the same calories by that test, despite sawdust being completely indigestible.

Whole and uncooked foods fare better in that system, as people can not digest them as fully or as easily.

Calories in/out works, as long as you account for the losses due to some being indigestible and the metabolic costs of digesting the food.


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

[User] ELI5:How fast can anyone physically gain body fat?

[Assistant]
Less than 30 seconds.

If you drink sugar after fasting for 12 hours, that sugar will appear as fat in your liver 30 seconds later.  It probably happens faster than that, but that's how long an MRI scan takes.  Essentially if you drink a big glass of sugar water on an empty stomach, some of that sugar will be fat before you finish drinking.


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

[User] [S.H.I.E.L.D.] Which real life intelligence agency does SHIELD most resemble? Is their a minimum age or education requirement to join SHIELD? How long does it take to train in SHIELD?

[Assistant]
In real life, the CIA is the closest parallel to SHIELD. They're both espionage and intelligence agencies with a history of covert paramilitary action. The biggest differences is that while SHIELD was founded by the US Government, it became an arm of United Nations with a great degree of independence from the US.

>Is their a minimum age or education requirement to join SHIELD?

Are you valuable to SHIELD is all that matters. Most agents either have a background in the military, espionage or superhuman abilities.

>How long does it take to train in SHIELD?

It's not standardized. Quake (Daisy Johnson) reached level 10 (the highest rank possible for a SHIELD Agent) at just 17 years old.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Did Darth Vader lose his testicles when he got burned on Mustafar?

Based on his position relative to the lava I feel like he must have.

[Assistant] Well, his pants didn't burn away... could have smoked the sausage for sure, but most of his (non-lightsaber related) injuries were burns to whatever flesh was exposed by the fire that consumed him briefly, or the noxious chemicals he breathed in while lying there on the bank.


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

[User] ELI5: I know that caffeine blocks adenosine receptors without activating them but I didn't understand the language of why that stops us from feeling tired, how does that work?

[Assistant] When you're awake, that adenosine builds up and when the receptors sense enough of it, it slows down neurons and other things so yo8 get tired. However, when the caffeine blocks these receptors the brain doesnt know that its tired. Sort of like when your sprained ankle hurts and you take advil, it just blocks the pain receptors so they dont tell your brain you're in pain (even though whatever happened to your ankle is still affecting it like a bruise or fracture).


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

[User] ELI5: How do helicopters with large guns on them not spin when they are being fired?

[Assistant] In addition to the previous correct answers: the more powerful helicopter-mounted guns are typically mounted near the center axis (so they don't create a large turning force) or twinned (so the two sides fire simultaneously, counterbalancing each other).


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

[User] (Superman) What would happen if Superman where to be locked in a kryptonite cage and then flown into the sun?

[Assistant]
Superman lives due to a variety of outcomes:

* On certain occasions extreme exposure to solar energy has given Superman the ability to quickly overcome the dangerous effects of krypotnite. As he draws closer to the sun, he gains the strength to break free.

If he cannot gather enough energy to break out...

* Superman has been shown to be able to enter the sun and survive. Kryptonite isn't known to survive such extreme conditions. Depending on which area of the multiverse you're in, it will either **A.** Turn into black kryptonite, allowing superman and his evil clone to easily break free or **B.** Melt.

If somehow the sun doesn't alter the cage...

* Superman has a long life span. At least a million years long. Kryptonite's half-life is substantially shorter than that. The cage's ability to harm superman will gradually reduce over time, and his  powers will be restored.

If somehow the same solar energy that makes pieces Krypton poisonous to its former native inhabitants indefinitely prolongs its decay...

* Certain instances of Superman have been known to become immune to Kryptonite after constant exposure from villain after villain getting their hands on a piece. Long term exposure to the cage speeds up the process, and he breaks free with one less weakness.

If this immunity never develops because his exposure is constant...

* Superman is saved by Batman, because Batman has prepared for everything. *Everything.*