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

[User]
CMV: The panic buying of gasoline within the southern United States is a direct consequence of the 24 hour news cycle.

That is the view I want changed, because I cannot help but believe that if the news of the ransomware on the pipeline had gotten here later, we would not be getting the reaction we are getting.

Individuals are told plain as day to not panic buy and hoard gasoline, yet you still see people going to the pumps filling up anything and everything that can potentially hold a liquid with gasoline with absolutely no reaction to the fact that 1) they were told not to and 2) they were also told that the situation will fix itself in just a few days.

So please change my view that the 24 hour news cycle isn't to blame for this.

[Assistant] The panic buying seems to have started a few days after the first news broke about the pipeline being temporarily suspended. Its just a simple tragedy of the commons scenario, most people understand that there wont be a significant interruption, but they also know that others are panic buying, and that if they dont follow suit the panic buying may lead to them not being able to access gas for a few days.


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

[User]
[X-Men] How representative of the general mutant population are the X-men and their foes?

Ok, so you've got the ridiculous guys- your Pheonixes and your Magnetos who could singlehandedly level cities. But they're explicitly called out as Omega-level supermutants. They're abnormalities so we can ignore them

But what about the rest? People like Shadowcat and Blob and Colossus and Mystique- not city killers, granted, but powerful enough to hold their own in the superhuman community. Pretty solidly more powerful then a normal human by quite some margin.

Is that what most mutants are like? Do most of the mutant community have the power to become superheroes/villains if they wanted to? Or are most mutants, like, able to control cheese or something and the X-men and foes are just the cream of the crop?

The comics seem to vary on this and i was wandering if there was a more definitive answer.

[Assistant]
I'd say that the X-Men are to regular mutants what professional athletes are to regular people.

The X-Men will be the best of the best, for for every one that makes the cut there will be countless other mutants that have powers that are useless, extremely limited in use, or even detrimental.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does food get freezer burnt when left in a freezer for too long?

[Assistant] Expanding ice crystals pierce and shred the cells that make up the food in the freezer. Longer stuff is in the freezer, the longer these ice crystals can grow. Essentially, when thawed, you've lost all cellular integrity. Freezers also are very dry. Moisture is wicked out of the food stuff as rhe cell walls are pierced. This 1 2 double whammy is what people call freezer burn.


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

[User]
CMV: Death is terrifying and I have a hard time believing in an afterlife.

I'm 23, feel like I wasted my time even thought it wasn't my fault, one day I feel like this wall I put on myself to prevent stuff from affecting me just crumbled after a dream where I ''died'' and that day I hugged my grandma, my grandpa, my mom, my sister, kissed the head of my puppy and just couldn't stop crying, I fully integrated into myself ''I'm GOING TO DIE'' and I'm getting psychological help, but a simple prayer from my grandpa somehow also makes me feel a little bit calm aside of taking anti anxiety meds, its ''My Lord, My God, be your will not mine'', I truly want to see everyone again after death, my family, people I loved, maybe you who is reading right now, but being a person of science I just can't, things have a place in our body, and consciousness is proceed by neurons, I can't imagine how spirits could exist, I can't imagine how an afterlife could exist, so far the only solace I get is seeing that there is investment and research on making us live as long as we want but at the same time it might not happen on my life time, please do CMV.

[Assistant]
Death is only as terrifying as you let it be. If you aren't religious, you've spent 99.9999999% of existence, simply not existing. It wasn't bad, and IMO that's what death is like.

The sooner you accept death is going to happen, the sooner you can get on with living your life and not worrying about the fear of dying.


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

[User]
ELI5: What are whataboutisms?

Edit: thank you guys for the quick response!

[Assistant]
It's also worth noting that in this situation, whataboutisms are inappropriate or false equivalencies, meant to push the person arguing a point away from this point and towards another one. This removes energy and focus away from the thesis and towards a secondary claim that often has little or nothing to do with what is being originally argued.

A good example would be something like police brutality. Conversations about police brutality and it's disproportionate use against Native and Black people are often met with "what about black on black crime". So instead of actually talking about police brutality, the conversation is now about black people, and the original person now has to defend and address black crime. It's a derailing tactic.


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

[User]
[Fate Series] Can a Servant make me pregnant?

So, 2nd rate Magus here and been thinking of conceiving the child of a hero in hopes that I can have them get some of those powerful traits. Divinity is kinda of a good thing to have and a Dragon core if I can get my hands on a Dragon theme servant. Now the question is can they actually conceive children? Some of them have some pretty impressive feats on getting woman pregnant and some were known mothers so any chances that those legends get crystallized in their servant vessels?

[Assistant] Unlikely. Their bodies are essentially fake, a constructs of prana, provide by the Holy Grail. That's why they can dematerialize and appear at-will. F/SN Saber is somewhat unique in this regard, since she appears in the War with her actual body, but then again she's a woman, so it's unlikely he'll get you pregnant without heavy sorcerous assistance.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do people cry when they're sad/happy?

Is there any purpose/biological reasoning behind it?

[Assistant]
We are social animals.  The biological NEED for tears is simply to keep a smooth sterile surface for us to see out of.
Somewhere we developed an emotional link.  It makes sense for social animals.  When you show outward signs of distress (crying, yelling, cringing), the others in your group will respond by trying to identify the cause.   So crying works to get help removing the bad things and to share the good things.


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

[User] [The Boys] It's been said multiple times that homelander is indestructible on the outside and the same as the rest of us in the inside, could the boys hypothetically kill Homelander in a similar way they killed Translucent?

[Assistant]
Translucent's power was his skin. He could turn it invisible and it was impenetrable.

HL is all-around strong like SB and likely Maeve. Even when Maeve stabbed that metal into his ear it mostly just annoyed him. If he was "human" on the inside then that would have caused some serious damage.


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

[User] [Marvel]I'm an African-American citizen living under segregation in the USA and I hear rumors of an African Utopia named "Wakanda"; could I immigrate there?

[Assistant] No. Why? Because they dont care about your problems. They dont think of themselves along lines of skin colour, or regional descent, they simply think of themselves as Wakandan. Thats their identity. Concepts like Pan Africanism, and racial solidarity mean nothing to them. Why would it? Their people have never been enslaved, or conquered, there was no ideological need to.


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

[User]
[The Shawshank Redemption] Is it possible that Andy was actually guilty?

Some of the evidence against him is pretty iron clad. He buys a gun the exact caliber that the murder was committed with.

He sleeps through eight fuckin' shots while "sleeping it off" right in the driveway of his house. Those murders seem pretty personal. What's it to Elmo Blatch to reload and fire two more shots right into their heads? Seems like a crime of meditated and furious rage.

He buys dishtowels for no reason while in a drunken stupor. What is he using those dishtowels for? You can muffle a gunshot with dishtowels.

He has the motivation, he has the opportunity, and he was there.

If Andy didn't do it, why is it called the Shawshank *Redemption*? To me, it's Andy growing past his callous and sociopathic nature.

So, is it possible that Andy was lying about being innocent, just like everyone else at the prison?

[Assistant] Because we know that Elmo Blatch was the one that did it. He served as a busboy at the country club of the guy Andy's wife was sleeping with to collect information on wealthy guests. He would then later burgle said people's houses. If he were bluffing he wouldn't be so clear about the details of the case.


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

[User]
Why do lights always flicker when watched from very far away?(like a city on the horizon)

I have no idea what flair i should choose.

[Assistant] What you are seeing is the disturbance in the air in between you and the light source by wind or heat(convection). The reason this only seems to occur at great distance is because you are looking through a larger portion of the atmosphere at your target, therefore the light has to travel through more turbulence than a close light source. This is the same reason that stars "twinkle", as anytime you are looking at an object in the night sky, the light is travelling through the entire atmosphere before it gets to you.


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

[User]
[MCU/Marvel] What makes Odin and Thor more 'powerful' than your average Asgardian?

Thor can control lightning even without mjolnir, and Odin has all sorts of abilities. What in universe reason is there for them being able to do that? Could you take any Asgardian and teach them to control lightning, or is it just Thor?

[Assistant]
in the comics, its the odinforce. powers odin has for being the head of the pantheon. all skyfathers (godleaders) are more powerful than your avarage god, and odin more so becasue he absorbed the power of his brothers. thor is the son of odin and the elder god Gaia (literally the earth) and got a lot from that bloodline. even without the odinforce or his godly powers, he is stronger than avarage asgardian due to his elder god parent. example of this is ragnark, where all his godly powers vanished but he was still superior.l

as for the movies, we dont know yet, since they dont seem to be acutal gods, just magical, extradimension, superadvanced aliens. could be that odin just knows magic the others dont, since he is the king and the oldest asgardian there, royal knowledge and power.

thor, being his son, probably got a share of that power.


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

[User]
[Fullmetal Alchemist] Why doesn't Al draw transmutation circles on his armor for quick alchemy?

At the beginning of the story, Alphonse cannot do clap-alchemy and must instead use a transmutation circle. The majority of alchemists also have this limitation, but they partially circumvent it by using gloves, gauntlets, tattoos, etc, that already have a transmutation circle, allowing them do use alchemy during combat without pausing to draw an array.

Al could've used a similar technique and drawn transmutation circles on his armor, but he doesn't. Instead the rarely uses alchemy during combat; when he does, it typically requires Ed to distract the foe for a few seconds while Al draws the circle. Why?

[Assistant] One major thing about Ed and Al's alchemical combat is that they don't have a go to move, but instead change it up. Mustang uses his fire, so he has a circle for that. The muscly dude (it's been a while, okay?) uses his to convert rocks to projectiles, so he has that specific circle on his gauntlet thingy. Al would need to either pick one specific method of fighting with alchemy or to have many circles scratched all across his armor to fight effectively.


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

[User] ELI5: How do they get the model ship inside the bottle?

[Assistant] The individual pieces that make up the ship all fit through the mouth of the bottle. The builders use specialized tools to build the ship inside the bottle. It's a technical challenge that those with the hobby enjoy. You can probably search to find videos of people assembling them.


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

[User]
ELI5: Phi, or the Golden Ratio - Why is it so prolific? What about the number makes it so useful? And why do we observe it so often?

I know that Phi is the approximate number you get if you divide each term of the fibonacci sequence by the previous one, and I know that the fibonacci sequence as well as the golden ratio can be observed in living organisms, music, architecture, aesthetics and mathematics.

But why?

[Assistant] There is a reason it applies in some biological organisms (eg. It allows for more sunlight when leaves on a stem are arranged in this manner), but the idea that this ratio is especially prevalent, or meaningful, really isn't true. Of course, you can see it everywhere - if you are looking for it, you can find it (particularly if you're not too concerned about the exactness of the ratio)


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

[User]
[Bioshock] How much do outside people knew about Rapture and Columbia?

Also, what could have changed to stop Rapture from going FUBAR?

[Assistant]
Everyone knew about Columbia. It was a great feat of engineering that was advertised by the American government and had been involved in putting down the Peking rebellion. So everyone in that universe knew about Columbia.

Rapture was probably not as well known. World governments knew about it for sure,  because Jack is accused of being KGB or CIA by Ryan. So yeah,  some people knew about Rapture but it probably wasn't a daily conversation piece. It was Probably extremely well talked about in the intellectual community. Doctors,  writers,  scientists,  etc.

Rapture was doomed by not being a police state from the beginning. Columbia could have been something great if not for the racism and classism. It was essentially the Industrial Revolution in 1912.


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

[User]
If I'm driving at 60mph with the windows down, is the air entering through the open windows equivalent to a 60mph wind reported by meteorologists?

This came up during a discussion while driving, of course. If on the weather channel a meteorologist says a storm produces 60mph wind gusts, is that equivalent to what I feel while driving 60mph with the windows down?

[Assistant] You would feel the 60 mph wind by sticking your arm way out from the car to get away from the flow of air going over your car, which would be slower than the 60 mph, although probably not by a lot. The air coming in your car is substantially slowed for a number of reasons (it is already slower because it's from the inside of the flow, and it's hitting essentially non-moving air inside the car).


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

[User]
[MCU] Where is SHIELD getting its funding?

Seriously, jet fuel and bullets are expensive.

[Assistant]
Now, in a post-Fury world?

Do you think all of SHIELD's assets were on the books?  Off-shore holdings, cash drops, safety deposit boxes, and the like all could easily hold quite a bit of "slush fund."

Chances are, they were previously earmarked for agents in trouble, but Coulson, as director, commandeered them.  Hell, it's still a valid use, he and his team are agents in trouble, just some of the last ones.


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

[User]
[Star Trek/Star Wars/Mass Effect] In what areas are the Star Trek, Star Wars, and Mass Effect universes more advanced than the other two? If there was an exchange of technologies between the three settings, what can each setting bring to the table to share?

Instead of a war-time scenario, the three civilizations come together to exchange tech to help each other out.

For example, I'm sure the Trek universe can trade replicators with the other two universes because of how useful they'd be. What can Star Wars offer to Star Trek species, and what can Mass Effect offer to Star Wars and Trek, if any?

[Assistant]
To add on to what others have said:

Star Trek has very advanced androids; Star Wars droids seem to be sentient but nowhere near where Data and the like are, especially physically. But Mass Effect synthetic life forms are fully fledged races in their own right.

Biotics are powerful and wide-spread in Mass Effect. While weaker than the Force (which doesnt seem to have an upper limit), they are a lot more accessible to a lot more people.

Both Star Trek and Mass Effect display considerable mastery of genetic technologies that are absent or downplayed in Star Wars.

Nobody in either Star Trek or Star Wars can so bold-facedly endorse so many stores on the Citadel at once  as Commander Shepherd.


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

[User]
[Stephen King] What would happen if Randall Flagg met Pennywise?

1. Could they exist in the same realm at the same time?

2. Would they be in inherent conflict with each other if they had to share a reality and/or physical space (like, say, Derry)?

3. Is it possible that one could best the other, and if so, who would win?

[Assistant]
1. Yes. In fact, they *have* existed on the same level of the Tower at the same time.

2. Hard to tell. IT and the Crimson King have a similar ethos, and Randall Flagg serves the Crimson King. Both would probably try to use the other to their own ends, and as such Flagg would end up being a go-between between the two. IT's ultimate end goal is not really known, but it probably wouldn't be opposed to the Tower coming down.

3. IT wins easily. IT cannot die.


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

[User] What exactly gets ruined when you put sugar in a gas tank, and why?

[Assistant] The sugar leaves residue in the cylinders and exhaust and it clogs up the injectors and any other things that have fuel them. Also, it won't do much if you don't dissolve it in something like alcohol first because sugar doesn't dissolve in gasoline.


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

[User]
[Buffy the Vampire Slayer] Would it be possible to curse every vampire with a soul?

Angel was cursed by gypsies with a soul until he reached a moment of true happiness i.e. ploughing. Would it not make sense to give every vampire a soul but not have the caveat? Or have the spell broken by something really obscure like climbing Everest or something they couldnt do like staring into the sun with binoculars.

Did Spike also have a way of removing his soul or did this not count because he chose to have a soul?

[Assistant]
The Roma priestess did it as a "fuck you," and Willow was able to do it *while hospitalized* without suffering ill effects, so yeah, probably. Though it is a *curse*, specifically, so the anguish it causes might be necessary; the price of the spell is the vampire's pain, rather than something paid by the caster.

I think Spike's soul was a permanent fixture, as it wasn't part of a curse.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why are American politicans/judges/ect allowed to accept financial contributions (for example campaign donations) in exchange for their support (or the opposite) of issues/laws/judgements? What is the legal justification for this when bribery is illegal?

Bribes are illegal yet 'donating' in  exchange for things is not. Why is this the case?

Edit: thanks! y'all really came through on this!

[Assistant] There can be no *quid pro quo,* per se, attached to a campaign contribution. Otherwise, that would indeed be illegal. (wink, wink). The party line, and they're sticking to it, is that you contribute to support those you feel share your ideology and/or viewpoint in the *hopes* (wink, wink) that he or she will vote or rule accordingly, with no guarantees. However, the pragmatic fact of the matter is, the likelihood of having your personal interests served increase proportionally with the size of your contribution (whether you're a wealthy individual or a multinational corporation).


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

[User]
[Fairies] How do fairies fly standing up?

Their wings are on their backs, so if they just push air down the fairies would fall over. And they tend to have butterfly wings, which shouldn't even be getting lift from that angle. Do the ones with non-butterfly insect wings also push back with the lower wings and forward with the upper wings to provide torque? Why not just fly horizontally? It seems so much easier.

[Assistant]
Fairy magic.

No seriously, it's just fairy magic.

Fairies don't have much in the way of a physical form, they're more magic mixed with flower petals than living creatures.

They barely exist in the same realm at mortals and so everything about them runs on fairy magic.


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

[User] [Pirates of the Caribbean] Why is Jack Sparrow's soul worth 100 others?

[Assistant]
Back before his pirating days, Jack was hired by Beckett to transport a shipment of slaves. Jack freed them instead. In retaliation, Beckett branded Jack as a pirate and burned and sank the *Wicked Wench*, his beloved ship.

Jack made a deal with Davy Jones to raise the *Wench* and make it the fastest ship in the Caribbean. This he did, and Jack renamed the ship *The Black Pearl* due to her now charred and blackened hull.

In exchange, Jones would allow Jack to captain the ship for 13 years before joining his crew. Why did Jones want 100 souls in place of Jack's? That was the number of slaves Jack freed.


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

[User]
Cologne, After shave, deodorant? ?

What's the difference between all of them? Like, what're the physical differences and the differences in application?

[Assistant]
Cologne is how perfume is marketed for men.

Aftershave is for preventing infections after shaving. It may have ingredients that numb skin a bit (so it doesn't hurt that much) and almost all have some fragrance.

Deodorant is for killing body odour caused by bacteria that eats sweat. Antiperspirant is a type of deodorant, that clogs sweat glands.

So basically - cologne for going out, aftershave after shaving and deodorant if you expect to be sweaty.


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

[User]
[Superheroes] Why are superheroes not more generally traumatised?

This was inspired by that question about how the flash copes with long periods of isolation from his perspective. And that's a valid question. But moving on from that, there's the general question of the fact that, well, being a superhero is horrific. Remember that time everyone's dead loved ones came back as horrific rotting monsters that kill you if you feel any emotions?  That sounds like it should *maybe* leave some more scars that it did.

Discovering loved ones are actually malicious shapeshifters, being nearly beaten to death by supervillians, watching large chunks of cities burn, being mind-controlled into attack your friends, having loved ones mutilated and put in fridges...all of these things should leave a *lot* more mental damage then is portrayed. Everyone seems fine. Even Batman seems traumatized by his parents and *only* his parents, not the multiple times some weirdo has trapped him in a painful deathtrap over the years.

So what gives? Why are superheroes so mentally well?

[Assistant]
DC just did a comic about the super therapist.

Marvel shows that there are a lot of mutual support networks for the heroes.  We see the Avengers, X-Men, etc hanging out over a few beers, playing baseball etc.

Also, heroes have a lot of ways to work out aggressions and get positive feed back.  A few keys to the city really massage the ego!


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

[User]
Is there an upper limit to the power of a nuclear weapon?

I know that Russia tested a 50MT bomb (and had plans for a 100MT). They had to scale it down so that the plane could actually escape the blast radius.

I understand that if the bomb is large enough there would be no way you could deliver it to a target, but would it be possible to build a massive stationary one? (say big enough to destroy an entire state / country / continent)

[Assistant]
For a design like most modern multi-stage thermonuclear devices, there isn't a limit, you can keep adding secondary stages until you get to the yield you want. the tsar bomba was a 100mt design, but one or two of the secondary stages had the plutonium replaced with U-238 to make them inert

typo fixed, thanks!


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Did any Jedi *actually* follow the distress signal and return to the temple after Order 66?

Order 66 simultaneously and instantly killed most of the Jedi around the galaxy. A few (eg. Yoda) felt the disturbance in the Force and were able to avoid the attack. Others escaped by other means and circumstances.

But did any of them really say, "Hm. My troops just turned on me, and I can't contact any other Jedi. Guess I'd better follow that distress call and return to the temple that's on the same planet as the governing body of those soldiers who just tried to kill me!"

Did the clones really think that setting up a signal trap was going to work? (I know Obi-Wan and Yoda returned to *disable* the trap, but did any other Jedi fall *into* it?)

[Assistant] Any Jedi separated from the chain of command in the grand army may have fallen for the trap.  This includes ones away on missions or in training groups or just out in the galaxy moseying around.  Given the time span between order 66 and obi wan and yoda disabling the signal i doubt it would have gotten any Jedi other than those on coruscant that weren't at the temple already.  It wasn't meant to lure in any generals or those with clone troopers but instead get anyone that was spared by the initial order 66 and unaware of the events taking place.  That said it was more an afterthought than a necessary part of the plan.


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

[User] [Looney Tunes] So, I went rabbit hunting, and seem to have angered a grey spirit of vengeance, chewing a carrot. I just wanted some dinner - how fucked am I?

[Assistant]
That depends on what you do next. The Grey spirit focuses on acts of malice or ego, not acts of ignorance. If it turns you away, heed it's warning and leave before it declares war.

Take the story of the hunter, the duck, and the rabbit. Duck tries to convince the hunter to kill and eat the rabbit, and as such the rabbit focuses it's wrath on the duck and spares the hunter. The hunter's sin was ignorance, the duck's sin was malice.


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

[User]
ELI5 why printers seem so old or faulty compared to other modern technology.

Why is it that printers seem so archaic and fax-like compared to other technology?

One thing is that it's been over a year since I've even been near a printer, so I'm probably out of touch but seriously, do they just seem antiquated to me or did they just not progress at the same rate as other tech in recent years?

If the latter, why?

[Assistant]
Putting aside that printers are pretty phenomenal nowadays compared to where they were 10-20 years ago...

Moore's law doesn't apply to everything (and, in fact, for virtually all of human history essentially nothing has improved as quickly as semi-conductor tech).  There are physical limits to how tiny an ink drop you can make, or how fast you can move the print head without tearing the machine apart, or how powerful of a laser you can use before you scorch the paper, etc.


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

[User] ELI5: why have convertible cars fallen?

[Assistant]
Man, there are a lot of reasons. If you are asking why there are fewer now than back when they were really popular in the 50s and 60s, that has a lot to do with the invention of AC, and the fact that most cars back then were body on frame, and now most are unibody, and unibody are more difficult to convert.

But more recently, it's a combination of worse gas mileage (and car companies are in a pinch to produce more efficient vehicles), the fact that cars are going extinct and being replaced by crossovers, and (I don't know, but it's a hunch that) it might be tied to the decline of the stickshift. roadsters are endangered. Those cars just aren't what people want. They're easy to break into, not as convenient of a back seat, totally inefficient, in an era when car costs are insane, and people want the most efficiency they can get.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why dogs are so finicky about where they poo?

My dog didn't shit for three days because every time he found a spot he'd curl up, realize it wasn't good enough, and cancel the poo.

My tiny brain cannot compute the evolutionary need for this.

[Assistant] Poop has a very distinct smell depending on the diet and predators can smell it from a long ways away. He couldn't find a spot that would be safe, and therefore he did not poop. It's why dogs eat the poop that their pups make.


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

[User]
What did Heidegger mean when he said that "Being escapes us"?

I'm reading a secondary text about Heidegger (goddamn Being and Time went over my head, planning to revisit another translation one day...) and he describes two things that went over my head: how "being escapes us", because once we focus our attention on it the thing has already changed, because we have put on it a frame of perception.

If I'm understanding correctly, Heidegger saw this as a critical problem in the analysis of Being, and his solution was "phenomenological hermeneutics", which seems eerily similar to Husserl's "epoch".

Now, if "phenomenology" is "letting things show themselves in themselves" and we can arrive that by nullifying any preconceived ideas about what we're observing, and hermeneutics is the frame by which we interpret things, aren't these two concepts in direct contradiction? And how is this frame any better than all the other frames that came before it, the ones that have "general ontology" instead of "fundamental ontology"?

[Assistant]
I see a few problems with your line of thinking:

For Heidegger, we cant arrive at Being by any mode of nullifying or erasing or eradicating at all. This attempt is always already a return to the metaphysical tradition, the positing of Being as a being, in this case, equating being with the leftovers of this peculiar eradication.

Indeed, Heidegger shows time and time again in his essays that the only way to get at being is *through* our average, everyday understanding of being, which offers a starting point of our thinking. Heidegger does not start at nothing, but rather his thinking proceeds *through* what we already believe about being in an average and vague way. If you read the opening pages of The Origin of the Work of Art and The Question Concerning Technology you will see how he does this in a much clearer way than in Being and Time. The phenomenological hermeneutic does not start out with nihilation as its starting point, but rather averageness.

Secondly, you should really read just the introduction of Being and Time again, in which Heidegger says that what hea moving toward is to be in a positing of asking the *question* of Being, which has been lost in the tradition. He is not trying to solve Beingto say, ah finally, we know that Being is _______ because to do that would be to revive the tradition of metaphysics. What Heidegger wants instead is to better be able to ask the proper *question* concerning being, and as such there is no nihilative move at the beginning of his phenomenology.


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

[User]
[SPIDERMAN] what is Green goblin goals and motivations?

I'll admit I don't really read much comics, 90% of what I know of Spiderman are from cartoons I watched as a kid and the movies, but in all of those I don't really remember GG having any goals apart from being a dick to Spiderman just because, and maybe "getting rid" of Nosborn problems by violence, but apart from that why does he do what he do?

[Assistant]
Varies depending on the medium. Most of the cartoons and movies center around Normans mental instability and desire for power going over the edge when exposed to the Goblin formula, turning him into a supervillain to achieve those goals. And when Spider-Man starts stopping him, Green Goblin grows to hate the wallcrawler and want to crush him under his heel.

In the comicshonestly, he kinda just outgrew that phase by now. Norman flat out admitted to Peter that their conflict was the only thing that ever really made him feel *alive*. Not being a father or husband, not a successful businessman and scientist, not having the respect of everyone, or even being a supervillain ready to take control of the criminal underworld, but having a genuine opponent who hated him as he hated them, but neither could fully defeat or break the other into gaining victory.

Even in Dark Reign, when Osborn objectively won against the superhero community, whats at the end of his wish list and the only thing he truly has passion for throughout the time? Killing Spider-Man. What does Norman do when he loses all that? Shrug and go back to fucking with Peter. The man doesnt care about power or anything outside of how it can be put to utterly crushing Spidey into the dust.

TL;DR: Green Goblins character development is becoming Spider-Mans Black Manta.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does an instrument sound so bad when it's not tuned but when people talk without being in any sort of key it sounds fine?

[Assistant]
When people talk their voices are modulating through a range of tones for very short periods of time.

Get a lot of people talking and you get short tones at random frequencies; this is very similar to white noise, so our minds don't really assign any tone to the human voice at all.

But get people singing, where people are holding a single tones for more than ~20 milliseconds, and our minds can pick out harmony (good sound). And discordance (bad sound).


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

[User] ELI5 Why is it that hair on most animals are always at a constant length, while our hair will continue to grow unless we cut it?

[Assistant] Our hair does not continue to grow forever either. Every type of hair has a certain life expectancy if you will. For eye lashes it's a few weeks or months, for hair on your head it's a few years. After that, the you lose the hair and the animal does, too. The life expectancy and the speed at which the hair grows determines the maximum length.


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

[User]
[DBZ] Why is Frieza so strong?

We never see him work or train but his whole family can stand toe to toe with a Super Saiyan (for limited time). Where do they get this power?

[Assistant]
Some people are just naturally strong.

Also, we barely see anything from Frieza or his life beyond the destruction of the Saiyans, Namek, and his final death at the hands of Trunks. We honestly don't know any of his history. For all we know he spent the first few decades of his life undergoing absolutely brutal training regimens. There's just not enough information.


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

[User] ELI5:What are some basic concepts of musical theory that will make people better appreciate "good music"?

[Assistant]
Assuming by "good music" you mean western music:

Consonance and dissonance would be a good place to start.  Generally  notes that are very close sounding are dissonant while notes that are well-spaced apart are consonants.

Dissonant tones will have a beating sound to them which is generally displeasing because the frequency of the pitches.  Play them all the time and people think you don't know how to play at all!  Dissonance creates "tension" that needs to "resolve" to consonance.  These chord resolutions can be inward (two tones move closer to reach consonance) or outward (move further apart) depending on how they are composed.

Start with listening for tension and resolution in music.  Listen to how the composer/author plays with these two conditions.  What emotions do you think the composer is trying to create in you as the song moves through these conditions?


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

[User]
[Harry Potter/Fantastic Beasts] Why was Harry Potter not an obscurial?

Outside of the more likely _they hadn't thought of those yet,_ I feel as though under the Dursley's tyrany and oppression Harry would be a prime candidate to develop an obscurus. Furthermore, at 11 years old, he should have a pretty powerful obscurus to have survived that long as most obscurial's die in the single digits.

[Assistant]
The Dursleys never acknowledged the existence of magic and while Harry did do weird things at times he never believed it was because he had magical powers. So there was never really any suppression of magic to the point that he would become an obscurial.

JKR said it best here

>An Obscurus is developed under very specific conditions: trauma associated with the use of magic, internalised hatred of ones own magic and a conscious attempt to suppress it. The Dursleys were too frightened of magic ever to acknowledge its existence to Harry. While Vernon and Petunia had a confused hope that if they were nasty enough to Harry his strange abilities might somehow evaporate, they never taught him to be ashamed or afraid of magic. Even when he was scolded for making things happen, he didnt make any attempt to suppress his true nature, nor did he ever imagine that he had the power to do so.


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

[User] ELI5: Does packaged store-bought milk come from multiple cows? If so, why are disease outbreaks not as common in milk when compared to other animal produce (like salmonella in eggs)?

[Assistant]
Milk is heated and treated before it reaches you.

Raw Milk does often have bacteria in it, hence why it's illegal in most places. The milk you get in the store is not raw. Eggs are raw as there is no real way to treat them without cooking them.


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

[User]
Would it be 'moral' to restrict voting on the basis of intelligence and/or knowledge?

No Background in political philosophy, but this question came to me yesterday. I figure that in the modern world, since knowledge is readily available, there should 'theoretically' be a minimum 'knowledge requirement in order to vote. However i'm not sure about restricting voting on the basis of intelligence, Thoughts?

[Assistant]
Some thoughts:

* What is that minimum set of knowledge?
* Who determines that minimum set of knowledge?
* How do you test for it?
* How does it include or exclude?
* Can such a system be manipulated, if so, how, and how do you protect against it?
* Can you justify asking for taxes or any other form of payment, homage, etc. while then excluding those from voting if they fail to meet minimum requirements?
* Does your system account for structural/social/ dynamics that reduce the capacity for people to meet a minimum set of knowledge that are outside the direct control of constituents?

Such a systemI would holdwould rapidly descend into aristocracy/technocracy. Personally: improve education generally. (:


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

[User] ELI5 How did the North Sentinel Island people get there?

[Assistant]
The other person saying likely either by boat or now-non-existent land bridge is correct.

You also need to remember that we currently suspect the Sentinelese have been by themselves on that island for 50,000 years (!!!). So it's nearly impossible to know for sure how they got there. Even they themselves wouldn't know for sure, and even so they don't talk to us.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What happens to Cloud City/Bespin after the events of Empire Strikes Back?

I watching ESB for the 300th time last night and I got to wondering what happens to Cloud City after its mayor, Lando, just up and leaves to join the rebellion without so much as a goodbye?

What happened to Lobot and everyone? Lobot seemed like Lando's loyal right hand guy. Last time they saw each other he told him to take the captured troopers into custody and then he runs off with Leia on the Falcon.

Did Vader leave that stormtrooper garrison there like he threatened? Did the Empire occupy the city for the rest of the war?

Its never touched upon or mentioned ever again in the movies. If my towns mayor just bounced and left me and my citizens to occupation I'd probably be pissed.

[Assistant] Imperials take over the city, and continue to occupy Bespin until the months after the Battle of Endor. Lando eventually puts together some forces to retake the city, and the last Imperial holdouts surrender to him. (I think it was detailed in Aftermath 3)


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

[User]
Got rejected to the phd project I wrote myself. Do I have any rights, anything I can do?

Context: I contacted a prof in a uni in the UK and talked to him about my ideas (aug). He was very positive, asked me to find funding and write a phd proposal. I was not able to find any funding but wrote a nice proposal and sent him (sep). Later he sent my proposal to department (oct), project proposal was liked (dec) and shortly after the uni advertised (jan) a fully funded phd project using the introduction part of my proposal in the ad. I applied using the same proposal and got rejection letter today saying "we received a large number of applications but we were unable to offer a place to everyone who applied".

Immediately I sent an email to the prof I was in contact with, who is also the dean, about the situation and asked for help. I don't know if there will be a change in situation but if not, is there anything I can do?

Edit: I got the rejection mail half an hour ago and my hands are still shaking so I'm sorry if I wrote the post like a 6 year old.

Update: Got an answer from the professor that says "It looks like none of my applicants were accepted. Sorry!". Project/funding is cancelled, which is sort of expected considering the uni is already struggling to pay their existing workers after opening a failed Dubai campus as I've heard from friends.

Thank you all for advices and your time. I hope none of you live something like this. I'm not going to delete the post because there are some really good advices in comments.

Final edit: some people asked name of the uni. Although I have strong negative feelings towards the university I have no problems with the prof. He's a good man (afaik) so I won't be giving any names here. As for what I will do: This entire thing did cost me a large chunk of money, a funded phd offer I had to turn down, roughly a year and a bunch of gray hair so I will probably follow a different career path.

[Assistant]
If everything was sent via university email, there will be a paper(?) trail leading back to your proposal. You have evidence.

Edit: Send this evidence to whoever is in charge of ethics at your uni, or send your situation to the funding source along with the evidence. If all else fails, get publicity for your case.


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

[User] ELI5: How do people running for presidential office keep up with their current political office while spending a seemingly full-time job campaigning?

[Assistant] Many of them have separate staff for their office and campaign. So they have one set of staff running the office, doing everything they usually do except they have to get answers by phone instead of in person. If there is an important vote, or a bill that needs signing, they can schedule a few hours back where they actually work, and then they are back on the campaign trail.


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

[User]
[Rick and Morty][Spoilers] Alien gewgaw

Given the amount of technology the President had access to, why even bother calling in Rick and Morty to deal with what is effectively a rabid raccoon stuck under the porch? Wouldn't a single invisitrooper armed with that telekinesis gun be able to make fairly short work of it?

[Assistant] As we learn from Rick & Morty during the episode, the president has become overly reliant on Rick and Morty.  It's not that these soldiers couldn't necessarily resolve these issues, it's that the Government/President has decided that this is R&Ms job, and so they call them as the first resort. Why risk their own resources when they can just get them to come in and do it for them, after all.


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

[User]
Why do airplanes need to fly so high?

I get clearing more than 100 meters, for noise reduction and buildings. But why set cruising altitude at 33,000 feet and not just 1000 feet?

Edit oh fuck this post gained a lot of traction, thanks for all the replies this is now my highest upvoted post. Thanks guys and happy holidays

[Assistant]
There are generally a few reasons.  One of the biggest being that higher altitude means thinner atmosphere and less resistance on the plane.

There's also the fact that terrain is marked by sea level and some terrains may be much higher above sea level than the takeoff strip and they need to be able to clear those with a lot of room left over.

Lastly, another good reason is simply because they need to be above things like insects and most types of birds.

Because of the lower resistance, at higher altitudes, the plane can almost come down to an idle and stay elevated and moving so it also helps a lot with efficiency.

Edit:  Forgot to mention that weather plays its part as well since planes don't have to worry about getting caught up in the lower atmosphere where things like rain clouds and such form.


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

[User] ELI5: How do animals that camouflage themselves know what color are they? E.g. how do brown moths know that they are safe on brown surfaces and not white ones?

[Assistant] They don't ~~chose~~ choose the colour, the colour ~~choses~~ chooses  them. If a type of moth likes to rest on dark brown bark, then moths that are naturally dark brown will be more likely to evade predators and survive while the other colour moths are eaten. Over time, only the dark brown moths will remain on the dark brown bark due to natural selection. Thus, moths that rests on dark brown bark are dark brown.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is the cost of housing prisoners so expensive?

[Assistant] Well, you have to feed and clothe them and ensure that they are kept in conditions that don't constitute cruel and unusual punishment. In addition, they have to be guarded. All of that adds up. Why would it be cheap? Paying for someone else's housing, healthcare, food, and security all while they don't perform economically useful work is expensive.


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

[User]
If you have a single molecule of a substance, what state of matter is it in?

If you had say 1 molecule of water is it a solid, liquid, or gas and how do you tell? What is the minimum number of molecules required for something to be classified as a solid liquid or a gas?

[Assistant]
There seems to be a lot of dicussion about how to define temperature and pressure for a single molecule. Though the simple answer is that it would be in a gas phase. Why? Well consider an ideal gas is defined as the particles having *no* intermolecular interactions, it's not that big of a stretch to realise that when you have only a single molecule you actually have an ideal gas.

The temperature in such a single molecule in a box would be defined based on entropy and energy. The entropy (S) is proportional to the logerithm of number of available quantum states at a fixed energy (U), and the temperature is then given by T=1/(dS/dU). The pressure could be found through similar paths, but the easiest is just to assume an ideal gas and take p=n R T/V, where we know both n and T.


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

[User]
[The Walking Dead] How does the heard work?

Why (and how) the walkers seem to travel on groups, and why some of them don't care at all with it and stay alone in open houses?

[Assistant]
Walkers operate on instinct alone: Their priorities are 1. Get food, and 2. Go to food. They're attracted to noise and movement because those things often signify people, AKA food. Other times it's other walkers, which are still people, but not food. So they start to follow each other around because movement is a stimulus they're attracted to. They start to form pairs, which turn into clumps, which merge with other clumps and sometimes become herds. This happens anywhere there are large numbers of walkers roaming around.

The ones in houses, buildings, etc. are often ones who were created from people who died in there, or they're walkers who wandered in and either couldn't get out or aren't stimulated enough to find their way out. To you and I, normal humans, an open house is an easy thing to navigate. We can reason and navigate obstacles, etc., but a walker can't. They're purely instinct driven so a house might as well be a labyrinth to them.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why did Andy Kaufman get so much negative feedback?

My friend recently introduced me to this performance artist and I found him really quite entertaining. He was unorthodox and eccentric but I thought his sort of comedy was a very unique type of art form.

I investigated him a bit more and learned about a lot of people writing articles demanding he be banned from television. SNL banned him for life after taking a vote from their viewers.

Why did his odd style of comedy make people so upset?

[Assistant]
1. Audiences never knew what they would get from a Kaufman performance. While sometimes that meant a comedian would go onstage, be funny, and take you out for milk and cookies, other times it meant he would read the Great Gatsby from cover to cover, all night long. Or maybe he would show up, start a fight with a heckler (his pal, Bob Zmuda), and end the show after stalking off in a huff. Or Tony Clifton would show up, Andy's alter ego, tell some out-of-touch slightly offensive jokes, and leave (and sometimes Clifton was played by Bob Zmuda). Imagine trying to buy tickets for that.

2. Promoters and event bookers never knew what they were going to get out of a Kauffman performance. See all of the above, and then try to figure out a. how to schedule around that, and b. how to easily monetize that. This was pre-internet, mind you, and even with national exposure on Saturday Night Live and Taxi, very few people in the US were hip to the gag, especially considering how out-there and esoteric his exposure was. And given that the producers of Taxi a. were required to hire and feature Tony Clifton in order to secure Andy, and b. weren't allowed to tell anyone Andy was Tony, no one even knew they were watching him half the time (and sometimes, again, it was Bob Zmuda as Clifton).

3. His friends never knew what they were going to get from Andy himself. It's unclear exactly how many people knew Kaufman was Tony Clifton, but it wasn't many, and even fewer knew Zmuda would take on the costume and perform as Kaufman, as Clifton.

4. He was often genuinely offensive, and never said, "Hey, it's just a joke!" Before his dedicated friends came out and explained what was up after he died, the public just thought he was offensive, rude to women, unpredictable, and basically an internet troll pre-internet.


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

[User] ELI5: Why it's legal to be drunk in a bar, legal to be drunk at your home, but illegal to be drunk anywhere inbetween.

[Assistant] Public Drunkiness. Your home is private property, the bar is private property, and in between is public. Since you're not allowed to be drunk in public, you can't be drunk on the streets. But since the bar isn't public property, you can be drunk there all you want with the owner's permission.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does Google have a searchable version of the internet that isn't the same size as the internet?

I just what how can this machine even work what is this a school for ants?

[Assistant]
In the same way a book has a index which is much smaller then the size of the book but allows you to find which page something is on, Google has a index of Internet.

First of all the Google Search Database does contain a large portion of the text of the internet but is less concerned with the video, and pictures which is where most of the actual size comes from.

It then creates a index of the data allowing the search engine to quickly search the internet, and then compresses the crap out of the webpage making it small and manageable enough.


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

[User]
[Marvel] What is happening "behind the scenes" of Sandman's power that he's limited specifically to Itty bitty pieces of stone? Why can he manipulate as much sand as he wants, but when it comes to gravel and rocks he just can't do anything?

Side question.  Could he crush rocks and gravel into sand, and then be able to control it, or is it still earmarked as "not sand"?

[Assistant] He has a very unique form of geokinesis, whereby the total force of his power dwarfs almost any other geokinetic, but the force he can exert on any one object is miniscule. He has very little strength, but lots of fine control, which allows him to manipulate millions of little bits of sand in complex ways, but stops him lifting anything much bigger than a few grains stuck together.


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

[User] [Star Trek] If the Darmok aliens just sent over a copy of their historical database along with their language, wouldn't it have been really easy for the Enterprise's translator to make sense of all their cultural/historical references?

[Assistant]
The only problem is their historical records are going to read something like:

>Darmok, on the ocean. Tanagra, on the ocean. Darmok at Tanagra. Jalad on the ocean. Jalad at Tanagra. The beast at Tanagra. Darmok and Jalad on the ocean.


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

[User]
[Star Craft] How much of a threat does Humanity pose to the other 2 races?

In comparison to the Zerg and Protoss humanity just seems out gunned when compared to the swarm, or the Golden Armada.

Is Humanity punching above their weight? Or are the odds more even than I believe?

[Assistant]
Humanity combines things in the other races which will eventually make humanity incredibly dangerous.  (1) Humans breed and spread way faster then the Protoss.  Not as fast as Zerg but in a short while they have really colonized a lot of planets. (2) Human tech is increasing very quickly that our bodged together Battle Cruisers can rival Carriers and a few of our siege tanks are as devastating as colossus.  (3) Humans have psionic ability and certain members like Kerrigan (even pre infestation) can rival Toss. (4) Humans adapt really quickly.  We are constantly improving our methods of war and have also intgrated the discoveries of our enemies.

So right now Both the Zerg and the Toss could probably wipe out humanity but if given time Humanity will become dominant in Korpulu.


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

[User] [Lord of the Rings] I know it can only be speculation,but what were the Blue wizards doing in the east that was so much more important to them than defeating Sauron?

[Assistant]
Prof Tolkien's research at first lead hin to believe they failed in the mission they were given, and started cults and the like. Later he amended his postion. He concluded they must have had some success in thwarting Sauron's attempts to dominating the East (by inciting rebellion/resistance).  His reasoning was that if Sauron did indeed have full control of the East (and all its resources) there is no way he would not have utterly dominated the West.

(This is not speculation by the way. It is fact about the Proffesor's research.)


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

[User] [DC] Considering Bruce Wayne recovered from his broken back relatively quickly, why did it take so long for Barbara Gordon to recover?

[Assistant]
His back wasn't completely broken.  He still had limited use of his legs. He also had a doctor with powers that she used to accelerate his healing, but he was still on the way to recovery without that.

Barbara's spinal cord was completely severed.  She never recovered in old continuity and when the N52 reboot happened, it was experimental surgery that allowed her to recover.  Surgery that wasn't available until 3 years after she was shot.


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

[User] Why cant we remember much from our infancy?

[Assistant] Short term memories are formed by transient synaptic plasticities and Long term memories are formed from these short term ones by Long Term Potentiation (its the most well accepted neural correlate for memory formation as of now). The short term memories are formed in the hippocampus which is very robust starting early age but the frontal cortex (also called as the neocortex where most of the long term memories are thought to be stored) develops even until the mid-20s in humans. From this perspective, infants may not consciously remember anything as the short term memories cannot easily get translated to the long term memories and get stored in the brain (we dont truly know the chemical/physical nature of memory yet).


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

[User]
ELI5: How does a sail boat go back to shore where it came from if the wind is blowing against it?

Or further, how does a sailboat go east if the wind is blowing west?

[Assistant]
Triangular sails are held at an angle to the wind. So if the wind is moving west, it might push the boat southwest.

Good sails can make the boat go even faster than the wind at a right angle to the wind. So if the wind is blowing 20mph to the west, the boat might go 30mph due south. Think about stepping on an ice cube. It will squirt out to the side faster than the speed your foot was pushing down on it. You might say a boat traveling at a right angle to the wind is "squirting" out from in front of it.

Really good sails and hull combinations can harness wind blowing at a small angle. So if the wind is blowing west, the boat travels southeast. A boat can never travel straight into the wind, but always has to at least sort of be traveling across it.

So, to go east into a wind traveling west, first you go southeast, then northeast. You're always traveling across the wind. Switching back and forth like this is called "tacking".


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

[User]
Would anything in science change if we referred to protons as negative and electrons as positive? Are negative and positive only human names or do they have more meaning?

If scientists decide tomorrow that everything that was positive is now negative, and everything that was negative is positive is now negative would anything change?

To clarify, I am just talking about charges.

[Assistant] The choice of what we call positive and what we call negative is merely convention.  There is no intrinsic meaning to those, although there is intrinsic meaning to saying that protons and electrons have oppositely signed charges.


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

[User]
[Elysium]Shouldn't there be hundreds or thousands of ships constantly going to Elysium?

I never understood why there was only one place on the whole planet that was capable of sending ships since it seemed pretty routine.
What was everyone else doing?

[Assistant]
It's easier to control what comes and goes through one port than thousands. Funneling stuff through a single port is also not an issue - ground transport is cheap comparatively.

Remember, this station was one of complete paranoia about immigration - so much so that they would destroy ships with extreme prejudice for attempting to enter illegally. Having only one origin point just makes the filtering process that much easier.


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

[User]
[Doctor Who] What is the most advanced time machine in the universe besides a TARDIS?

And is a TARDIS even the most advanced? I know the Doctor has a type 40, but surely the Time Lords have a more advanced machine?

[Assistant] As to the Time Lords having better: the Doctor took his TARDIS from the repair bay, where it was apparently being restored prior to being placed in a museum of obsolete models. His type 40,mk III is roughly the equivalent of running around the universe in a Ford model T with a slightly dickey transmission.


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

[User] ELI5: How come when you squint at a bright light, light beams seem to appear on the top and bottom of the source?

[Assistant] What you are seeing is the diffraction of light through your eyelashes. As light passes by the barrier of your lashes the light is bent and the sum total of this interaction is the light "beams" you describe, actually called "diffraction spikes".


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

[User]
[DC] What if joker was placed in a truely inescapeable prison?

Bribery, threats, and incompetence can only go so far, at this point i personally think the abilty to sense weakness is a power of the jokers. So what would he do if batman placed him in a truely inescapeable prison?

[Assistant] There are a number of Comic book solutions to the Joker. Exiled to a parallel world where humans never evolved. The Atom could make him microscopic and leave him to drift forever. Sent to the far, far future where his madness could be cured, or even have a geas placed on him by Dr. Fate, Zantanna: a sort of Asimov's Laws made by magic, cast by the most powerful sorcerers that ever existed.


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

[User]
How big can a molecule be?

How big can a molecule be? Could you hypothetically create a large meter by meter super molecule or would it break into smaller molecules?

[Assistant] Perfect polymers are one molecule. So think like a perfect tire, a perfect window. Technically these things could be one molecule. It's why rubber and plastic are so strong; there are relatively few individual molecules given their mass.


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

[User]
Do you know any other Neurophilosopher other than Patricia Churchland?

Someone who is comfortable with this title (identifies themselves as such), or just who works on the borderlines between philosophy, neuroscience, and psychology.

[Assistant] Honestly, that sounds like most people working in philosophy of mind that aren't purely armchair, especially in 4E stuff. Enactivism might be of interest to you. Look up Shaun Gallagher, Alva Noe, Evan Thompson, Dan Hutto... there's too many to list, but that's a good start.


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

[User]
[MCU/What If] How in God's name...

...was Ultron able to kill Thanos so easily when it took a literal galaxy-wide army to defeat him, and even then it was only by the skin of their teeth?

(Spoiler mark just in case)

[Assistant]
It didn't take a galaxy-wide army to defeat Thanos, it took an army to defeat Thanos's army. Wanda was about to kill Thanos by herself. Steve, Tony, Thor, Wanda, and Captain Marvel were the only ones who fought Thanos directly.

Thanos is still a flesh and blood organic being, an Infinity Stone laser will fuck him up like any other.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do people get dark circles/bags under their eyes when tired or sick?

[Assistant]
It is fluid buildup under your eyes. Since the skin around our eyes is the thinnest skin in our bodies, it shows fluid retention more than other places.

There are three main reasons why this might happen:

1. Salt. Osmosis means that fluids in your body travel from low-salt areas to high-salt areas. So if you're crying, those salty tears will cause puffiness.

2. Sickness. Fluid buildup due to colds or allergies will also cause those areas to bulge with liquid and expose the fine veins beneath.

3. Irritation. Rubbing your eyes or leaving makeup on overnight causes minor injury to the skin there, and fluid rushes in to cushion the area, the same way an injury will swell.


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

[User]
If I were to have a completely blue shirt in a pitch black room, and i shone every other color in the color spectrum at said shirt, would I see the shirt?

So say if i have a blue shirt, and i had some lights that could shine a very specific light out. And i emitted the colors Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Indigo, and Violet. Only those colors would come into contact with the shirt, would the shirt be visible?

[Assistant] If the shirt was a perfect absorber of every non-blue color, then no, the shirt would not be visible under any light except blue. However this wouldn't happen in practice- what we see as a blue shirt is still reflecting those other colors to some extent, it just reflects blue a lot more.


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

[User] [Back to the Future] If Marty wanted to get some good money without betting on sports/lottery, what could be bring to the 50s that while valuable, won't raise suspicion on him?

[Assistant]
The trick is to take things to the future, rather than the past. You could get a lot of cash for a mint condition piece of memorabilia from the 50s.

This is the trick used in Goodnight, Sweetheart to great success. The protagonist of that show actually ran an antiques shop in the future, which was stocked with an astonishing array of items all in perfect condition, almost as if they had stepped through a door (technically a wall) from the past just that morning.


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

[User] What is quantum "spookiness"?

[Assistant]
This refers to something Einstein wrote in 1935 where he referred to quantum entanglement as "spooky action at a distance." It refers to a phenomenon where if measurements are made on two entangled systems, the measurements will have correlated outcomes, even if the measurements are performed instantaneously and there isn't enough time for the information from one experiment to propagate to the other, seemingly faster than light.

There is a misconception that this can be use for faster than light communication, but it cannot because both sides still just observe random information and have to compare it later to see if it's correlated.


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

[User]
[LOTR] What the fuck is up with Radagast and the two blue wizards?

I've only watched the movies so I might be missing bits but the 5 Wizards sent by the gods were supposed to help fight against Sauron, Saruman went all evil so we know that, Gandalf does fucking everything while Radagast does nothing in the woods then there is these two blue wizards who aren't really covered, Why isn't Radagast or these two blue wizards doing anything? ***Fucking Radagast***

[Assistant]
Tolkien's early research into the Blue Wizards indicated that they had failed or been corrupted, but later discoveries implied that they were responsible for weakening the Easterlings, which in turn weakened Sauron's forces during the War of the Ring. The reason we have so little is just that Tolkien was working from a set of documents heavily focused on the West, on Gondor and Arnor in particular, and thus did not record their actions.

Radagast cared for the flora and fauna of Middle-earth, the *olvar* and *kelvar*. Originally these were watched over by the Eagles and the Ents, but the Eagles were growing more reclusive, and the Ents were dwindling, so Radagast was sent. While Gandalf and Saruman were to focus on fighting Sauron with the Free People, Radagast saw his role more as preserving the good against Sauron's corruption, and focused on the natural world rather than the Children of Iluvatar.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why don't people run out of air in a submarine?

It makes perfect sense in an airplane or car, but how does it all work underwater? Do submarines have air conditioning? Is air recycled or does it have something to do with the water?

[Assistant] Modern subs have machines called Electrolysers.  Basically, these machines take seawater, and split up the hydrogen and oxygen molecules and the oxygen is then stored in tanks for use.  Subs also have scrubbers that remove CO2 and recirculate the oxygen from when we exhale.


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

[User]
ELI5: Please explain how Al Sharpton owes 19 million in back taxes and isn't in jail

It seems that everyone goes to jail over tax evasion except him. Does anyone know why he doesn't go to jail? Is it because he was an FBI informant and they are still using him? Just seems odd.

[Assistant]
1) He doesn't owe 19 million in back taxes.

2) Typically, people are arrested for tax *evasion*. By all accounts the IRS is very good at providing payment arrangements to those who owe back taxes. After all, their primary goal is to collect their money and it's hard for inmates to pay off their debts.


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

[User] ELI5: How do we know we aren't seeding life on Mars when sending probes there?

[Assistant]
Simple answer, we don't, we actually assume at this point in time that this is exactly what we have done.

NASA has already stated numerous times that some of the equipment that was sent was not completely sterile, due to mistakes and errors and that they believe that they could have contaminated the soil.

They believe that the life that they found, was in fact from earth.


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

[User] [MCU] I wonder if War Machine armor still has he icing problem?..

[Assistant] War Machine's first armour was modified from the Mark 2, so it likely would have suffered from the icing problem. However, his later armours were purpose built by Tony so he probably fixed the icing problem on those.


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

[User]
[SCP/Marvel] What kind of containment procedures could be put in place to contain the hulk?

Aside from the obvious "Keep him calm" option. Drugging him would probably be simplest, but what're the options for if he transforms?

[Assistant]
Sometimes the obvious solution works best.

Give Bruce Banner a tranquil, calm, and relaxing cabin next to a mountain lake. Allow him to go hunting and live off of the land as he pleases, in tune with nature. Provide him anything he requests, any food, any beer, whatever he needs. Provide him an easel and paints so he can spend the rest of his days painting happy little trees.


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

[User] How is the concept of Monopsony and the minimum wage or other defacto price/wage floors such as a sectoral based collective bargaining agreements related?

[Assistant]
Great question. So the classic example of Monopsony is if you had a small town and the only employer is a local Amazon warehouse. This will result in Monopsony power because there is only a single buyer of labor. This concept, just like monopoly, can be extrapolated to more complex situations however. Imagine you are an Econ professor. Wherever you live, it's unlikely there are more than two or three employers for your specific human capital. So although you could move, the frictions keeping you from relocation cause the employers to have some Monopsony power over you because you don't have many other options.
Now, since Econ professors make solid wages, this isn't a super big problem. But if you're a welder, or a construction worker, or have some specialized skill and there aren't many employers in your area, those employers may have Monopsony power. This is why collective bargaining and wage floors in different sectors can be helpful. It can work to push back on the power the employers have on the employees in that sector.


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

[User]
[Starcraft] Why can't/don't zerglings mine minerals or become evolved to do so?

Is there some reason Drones are superior to Zerglings in any aspect besides being able to morph into buildings? (Using in-game mechanics, they do about the same amount of damage, and zerglings move and attack faster and even hatch in pairs. I doubt that naturally occuring minerals are tougher than e.g. marines' battlesuits. What gives?)

[Assistant]
"Wasteful to spin unnecessary adaptations. Complexity bad."

The Zerg are all about efficiency and specialization - the drones are designed to be the most efficient at mining and transporting minerals as possible. They don't need to fight, they've got zerglings for that. Likewise, the zerglings are designed to fight, adding adaptations that would allow them to mine efficiently is a waste, because they've got drones to do that.


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

[User] ELI5 Olympic gymnastics scoring. How is it scored to the thousandths?

[Assistant] Normal deductions can only go in increments of .05 but there are multiple judges for each routine.  The scores of the judges are averaged which can cause the score to have different numbered thousandths values.


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

[User] ELI5: When looking at a glass, why are we able to choose between seeing our reflection and seeing through it.

[Assistant]
You can focus your eye to see a sharp image at different distances by adjusting the lens.

Try holding your finger at arm's length before your face. Focus on the finger and the background is blurred, focus on the background and the finger is blurred.

Exactly the same thing happens with your reflection, which is in focus at twice the distance between you and the glass, while whatever is outside it usually further away.


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

[User]
[Spider-Man 2] What powers Doc Ock's tentacles?

No power source is ever mentioned, and there don't appear to be any batteries, fuel cells, or other source of energy.

[Assistant] Wasn't the story that he built a fusion reactor, and due to an accident the manipulator arms he used to control the plasma became welded to his body? Perhaps they're powered by that reactor now - could it be hidden inside him?


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

[User] Are there still things we could learn by experimenting on humans but haven't because the methods are seen as immoral?

[Assistant]
Yeah like raising children together with no adult contact and seeing if they develop language.

Or breeding two olympic weightlifters together and then giving the kid steroids from day one and seeing how strong it is when it grows up.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why was Luke able to bring Anakin back to the light when Ahsoka couldnt?

We all know the story. After finding out Vader was his father and resisting the dark side, Luke Skywalker managed to bring Anakin back into the light. Son redeems father. Galaxy is saved.

Heres my question: why was Luke able to sway Vader when Ahsoka, his former apprentice, couldnt? In Twilight of the Apprentice the two face off. Ahsoka tells him she wont leave him again. Vader is silent for a moment, perhaps torn by what shes saying, but ultimately doubles down on the dark.

So what gives? Luke is obviously Vaders son but Ahsoka was like a little sister to him. Luke had more time to try to convert Vader. If Palpatine had zapped Ahsoka, would Vader have been swayed and acted as he did with Luke? Or did it have to be Luke, specifically, that saved him? If so, why?

[Assistant] Ahsoka, as a Padawan who left the Jedi, is a symbol of Anakin's failures. Luke even existing, on the other hand, is a positive reminder of his successes; the exact sort of thing to break the loop of fear and torment that Palpatine had stuck Anakin into.


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

[User]
CMV: African-Americans shouldn't get a 'pass' for vaccine hesitancy, and are just as guilty of anti-social behavior if they use that as an excuse as White Americans.

It is well-documented that 20th-century medical experiments in the US used African-Americans as guinea pigs in the Tuskegee syphilis study while telling them falsely that they were getting important medicine.  This has been broadly cited as a reason that African-Americans do not trust the government when they tell people they should get vaccinated, and specifically recently with regards to the Covid-19 vaccines.

However, this is not a rational excuse in this case, because everyone across the country (and the world) is getting the vaccine.  African-Americans are able to see through any mainstream news source or in their own community that White people and other non-Black people have been getting the vaccine for well over 6 months.  There are no clear systematic racial differences in adverse effects from the vaccine.  This includes Black doctors and nurses.  Further, it is possible for potential vaccine receivers to talk to many vaccine workers who are African-American, who presumably would not give a shot that they didn't trust to others.  Therefore, any remaining hesitance on their part is no more legitimate than a White American who lacks critical thinking skills.  Further, policy-makers should not be deferential towards African-Americans based on the flawed reasoning explained above.

This does not change the laudable goals of compassionate and empathetic outreach towards the unvaccinated.  I am in no way saying anyone should specifically criticize African-Americans any more than anyone else.  I just believe that race shouldn't play a role in how we are approaching the current situation of aiming to get more people vaccinated, because race isn't the problem to start with.

[Assistant]
I think, that for one to be a rational human, they must be skeptical and question most authority, especially the government. Black people have the most right to be skeptical about the government and the health care system, considering in days past, black people weren't free and couldn't vote, and were regularly discriminated against by doctors. This would lead any self-respecting black person to, rightfully so, be more skeptical about a system which has for centuries, for lack of a better word, screwed over their ancestors.

Additionally, even in today's world, an argument can be made that black people (and minorities in general) are discriminated against by both the healthcare and the federal government.


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

[User] [Spider-Man: Homecoming] Why wasn't Toomes compensated for his city contract?

[Assistant]
Contracts often have a *force majeure* clause in them, which addresses events that are out of the contracted parties' control, but could still affect the execution of the contract.  Examples of *force majeure* events include natural disasters, wars, civil unrest, etc.  What to do in the event of *force majeure* depends on how the contract is phrased.  Some contracts might say, "In the event of *force majeure*, this contract shall be suspended until the *force majeure* event is resolved, at which point both Parties' obligations to this contract shall continue."  Alternatively, a contract might say, "In the event of *force majeure*, this contract shall be terminated immediately, and neither Party shall have any further obligation to the other Party."

If Toomes's contract with the city included the latter type of *force majeure* clause, then the city could argue that the federal government stepping in and taking over was completely out of their control, and therefore counts as *force majeure*.  They'd then be able to wash their hands of Toomes, completely legally.


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

[User]
[The Office - US] Is Michael Scott good at any aspect of his job, ever?

I'm bingeing the US Office and obviously the comedy comes from the times when Michael is outrageously incompetent. But is there any hint in the show of his being good at his job, in any way?

We learn at one point in season two that he won sales awards, but at no other point have I seen any evidence that he has been successful in any way, certainly not enough to make him manager.

[Assistant] He was a good salesperson.  He's a good leader, now.  Not to much a good manager, per se, but he's a leader of the branch.  Somebody they can rally around, sympathize with, joke on.  He's the heart of his branch.


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

[User]
ELI5 : There are documented cases of people surviving a free fall at terminal velocity. Why would you burn up on atmospheric re-entry but not have this problem when you begin your fall in atmosphere?

Edit: Seems my misconception stemmed from not factoring in thin atmosphere = less resistance/higher velocity on the way down.

Thanks everyone!

[Assistant]
The terminal falling velocity of a human body is around 200 kilometers per hour. The orbital velocity at 242 kilometers up is 27,359 kilometers per hour. So someone falling from orbit is going about 136 times faster than someone just falling at their terminal velocity!

Most of the heating comes from compressive heating, where the air in front of the falling object just doesn't have time to go anywhere and builds up in front of the object.


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

[User]
[The Thing] How exactly would the Thing know whos who, and how does it know what to attack without attacking its own kind?

Throughout the movie Maccready and the human crew has to be wary of who is a Thing and whos still human. But would that have to be the same to the Thing, would it have to be aware of whether or not it attacks itself?

[Assistant]
The Thing only has to fool human senses.  That leaves quite a large range of options open for communicating between itself - spectra above and below the wavelengths visible to the human eye, infra- and ultra-sound, scent markers, etc.  They could mark themselves with a big infrared X on their foreheads and grow the appropriate rods and cones in their eyes to detect them on each other, for all we know.

There also may be "tells" that humans could notice, but would take no note of.  A code of sorts.  Repeated syllables, finger signals, sequence of blinking, an odd texture on a patch of skin, etc.


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

[User]
Sartre and Hume on Consciousness

I'm currently reading Sartre's Transcendence of the Ego, and as I understand it Sartre is essentially arguing that there is no universal, underlying ego that exists behind consciousness, no transcendental self, just concrete consciousness that's unified via intentionality and past experience.

This seems very familiar with what Hume says about personal identity, that our identity is (as I understand his ideas) just a stream of impressions. Is this comparison an apt one? What are the differences between Sartre's view and Hume's?

[Assistant]
While it's true Sartre argues that

>there is no universal, underlying ego that exists behind consciousness, no transcendental self

it does not follow for him that the self is

>just a stream of impressions.

This is because, for Sartre, the self, while not something presupposed by the structure of experience, is still a genuine object of experience that shows up when consciousness reflects on itself. Once this reflective process occurs, consciousness begins to treat each phenomenal event as part of an intended unity to which they are now perceived as belonging; this, for Sartre, is a perfectly valid process, and the self, though not presupposed by the structure of experience, is nevertheless a real object of experience. This is why the ego is *transcendent:* like any other object of experience, it is an intentional unity constituted out of a manifold of experiential snapshots, though not completely present in any individually.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are cartoon movies colored differently than their TV counterparts?

When comparing episodes of a cartoon TV show (ex. Spongebob or Hey Arnold) to their respective movies, the coloring (and sometimes even the art style) doesn't look quite the same. What is different about creating the artwork for movies?

[Assistant]
1. The medium: they are going to be viewed on is different. A movie screen is substantially different than a tv screen and a different aspect ratio. This requires higher quality picture

2. time: they have more time and funding  to complete their task. Cartoons made weekly or biweekly have a tight schedule, a lot of corners are cut to expedite production to meet deadlines.

3. Funding: the source of income for a movie is ticket sales, the source of funding for a show is however much a studio appropriates depending on how much they can get for commercial time. Films in theaters tend to make money best when quality is high and quality cost money. Shows require new content, people want to tune in to the newest episode thats good for selling commercials. So cranking out new episodes is more important than quality.


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

[User]
ELI5: I've always heard that multivitamins aren't very beneficial because your body can't absorb all the vitamins at once and the excess is excreted. Could your body absorb more of the vitamins if you cut the multivitamin into pieces and ate it throughout the day, instead of all at once?

Holy crap, my Inbox. Thank you everyone for all your responses. There are a lot of good explanations here. Looking through all these replies, it looks like the answer to my question is a resounding "maybe."

[Assistant]
Vitamins aren't like magic substances that boost your body's stats. Most are enzyme co-factors, which means that they are required for the enzyme to work.

It's sort of like keys to a car: if you have a shortage, that is a real problem since the car won't work.  Having 500 car keys doesn't make the car work any better than having 1 car key though.


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

[User] [Masters of the Universe] In an old episode, I remember Adam transforming into He-Man in front of others including Ram-Man. I assume Ram-Man knows his secret identity. What episode was this?

[Assistant]
That was when Orko, Ram-Man, and Cringer had to "Quest for He-Man." Skeletor erased He-Man's memory and sent him into another dimension. They seek out Zodac (a cosmic enforcer) to help them out.

And Ram-Man never witnessed He-Man transforming; he was already He-Man. But he doesn't seem to notice that he left with Cringer, and came back with Battle-Cat. Ram-man doesn't know / didn't realize He-Man and Adam are the same person.

But as an interesting caveat... Zodac does.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are WW2 era factories depicted as having a sawtooth style roof?

Did they really have roofs like that?  Why is this style popular?  What benefits are there to making a building like this?

[Assistant]
Yes, they really had roofs like that.

The sawtooth design had the advantage of being a good way to get a lot of natural light into a big structure without letting in direct sunlight that would heat the building up too much.


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

[User] [Mission Impossible] "Your mission, should you choose to accept it...". What if nobody accepts it. Then who do they send? Who's crazy enough to accept something IMF thought was too hard?

[Assistant] There is no actual "choice" - make no mistake, it is a mission assignment briefing. Despite this the wording is intentional: it provides an additional layer of deniability should it be needed by being able to say that participation was voluntary by all parties. Saying it, and actually meaning it are two different things but Phelps/Hunt can read between the lines.


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

[User] ELI5: How has technology advanced so quickly within the past 100 years than it has in any other point in history?

[Assistant]
Communicating with others became easier and easier. Carrier birds, messengers/prophets, post/snail mail, and ultimately the Internet. Sharing information became such a breeze we do it ever so effortlessly nowadays.
Inventors became heard, and investors backed them up, turning their ideas to products. Companies were spawned, giant corporations grew larger and R&D teams became more and more effective at producing new ideas and products.
It all comes down to sharing information.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why are the vid players on some "big" sites so unreliable?

It's gotten to the point where I hesitate to click on any vid not from youtube, simply because the user experience for other sites is so iffy. Vice videos seem to take forever to load on both my (admittedly ancient) laptop and my snazzy new iPhone. CNN, Twitter, ESPN all range from unreliable/slow loading to occasionally actually crashing my computer. Watching videos on Vimeo is absolutely torturous, which is unfortunate because they have a lot of good, exclusive content. These are companies that are focused on video and have a decent amount of funding. What is youtube doing differently that these companies aren't able to do?

[Assistant]
YouTube processes every single video that is uploaded to the site to use the exact same file type with the exact same settings. This particular file type is heavily compressed. Compressing the video file causes a loss of quality but it loads faster. Vimeo uses a slightly less compressed file type which looks better but might take longer to load if you have a slow internet connection.

The other things that can affect your viewing experience is the physical location where the video is stored, how many people are trying to access it at once and how capable they are of accommodating the traffic. YouTube has spent a ton of money placing data centers all over the world with enormous bandwidth to accommodate the incredibly high site traffic that they have. So going to YouTube might be like traveling a mile on a six lane highway, and going to CNN might be like going a hundred miles on a winding back country single lane dirt road.


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

[User]
How beefy of a computer would you need to run a single-user ChatGPT node?

Could it run on an expensive laptop? A cheap laptop? A cell phone?

[Assistant]
I recall reading that models of a similar scale to gpt-3 require 45gb+ of VRAM, which is almost double the spec of the most powerful consumer-grade GPU. It is not currently realistic to run these kinds of models on consumer hardware.

Even if you could obtain a rig capable of running it locally, you would not have access to the model used for ChatGPT as it is not publicly available.

There are some open source alternatives, but none that approach the quality of gpt-3 are fit to be run on a local machine. Large language models require specs that far exceed typical consumer hardware. You would need to host it in a cloud service (probably running you >$1k a month).


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

[User]
ELI5: How can a program/IDE be written in the programming language it has to compile?

I was looking at the task manager today when I started netbeans and it runs in a Java environment. How can Java compile Java?

[Assistant]
Your computer doesn't understand Java or C++ or any other programming language. It only understands machine code. A compiler is a program that takes in program code and turns it into machine code (or, in the case of Java, turns it into a low-level byte code that gets transformed into machine code by a separate program on your user's computer).

In order to have a programming language compile itself, you need to do it in three steps. First, write a program to compile that programming language in a different language, one that you can already turn into machine code (the first programming language compiler had to be written in machine code). Once you compile your first compiler (say Java-written-in-C), you have a program on your computer that you can use to compile your language (Java). So then you write a Java program that transforms Java programs into machine code programs and use your already-translated-to-machine code compiler to turn that into machine code. Now you have a Java program that can compile Java programs.


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

[User]
[Star wars] What is preventing me to make a light saber with a really really long blade?

They didn't weigh and that massive range it's a huge advantatge.

[Assistant] There's nothing stopping what you're talking about. However, the Jedi specifically took steps to make sure people couldn't figure that out after a Jedi named Oo'b engineered a sniper lightsaber that could create a hundred-yard beam for a split second. They thought it was a perversion of what lightsabers are for, since you can basically only use that for killing as opposed to blocking, cutting through doors and the host of other non-lethal functions.


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

[User]
Eli5: Schrdinger's cat theory

Anytime I read about it or when I hear people using it to describe a situation I feel stupid as shit. And how is it can be used to quantumcomputers?
Help a dumbass out. Thanks.

[Assistant]
When you get into Super Crazy Physics, there's a theory that says a thingie can be simultaneously Possible State 1 *and* Possible State 2. Whenever it interacts with something, *then* it becomes either Actual State 1 or Actual State 2 - but until then, it's *both* possible states at the same time.

Weird, right? A physicist named Schrdinger also thought it was weird. He came up with an example of just how unlikely he thought the theory was. He said: "So OK, you're telling me that if there's a cat inside a box, and there's a device inside the box that will either kill the cat if it goes into Actual State 1 or let it live if it goes into Actual State 2, then if nothing opens the box to interact with it the device is in *both* Possible State 1 *and* Possible State 2? But that means the cat is both dead *and* alive simultaneously until we open the box? What the fuck, you guys? This idea is dumb."

Over time, it became misunderstood as him using the "cat in a box" to *explain* the Super Crazy Physics when actually it was him facepalming at the idea.