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

[User]
[Fallout] Radiation Dissipation and Vaults

Two questions here.

1) The Control Vaults (And select Test Vaults) were designed to reopen after only 20 years. At first that sounds pretty reasonable, but fast forwared to 2277, 200 years after the bombs fell. Some areas are still irradiated. The sky even has a radioactive green tint to it in the D.C. Area. What gives? Was it all part of the experiment or was the planet really habitable after 20 years?

2) About the Vaults that were intended to stay closed longer, or even forever in the case of 101; Could a Vault really continue to provide for citizens and remain secure for that long? Let's say 500 years, even. Vault 101 had been closed for 200 years and I'd assume they'd begun to have at least some problems, right? Vault 13 suffered a breakdown severe enought that the inhabitants were forced to open the Vault. Is that a fluke, one time deal or would that have happened to every Vault eventually?

[Assistant]
1) It's reasonable to assume Vault-Tec wasn't aware of China's actual nuclear capability. They probably assumed that, in the post-resource wars world, China wouldn't have been able to deliver such a massive and apocalyptic nuclear strike on US soil. So 20 years was a nice round number to reassure the paying general public that they'd be safe but still able to walk out of the vault within their lifetime. Plus, the attacks on DC were especially vicious because it's the seat of the American government. It's likely vast stretches of North America look closer to what we saw in California or even the Mojave. Less craters and green radiation, but still total devastation and other post-apocalyptic horrors.

2) Long-term vaults would have had, by necessity, more storage for replacement parts and other maintenance needs. They might have had slightly different construction to allow better access to the life-sustaining machines to ensure they can be reliably maintained for centuries. Of course, people assigned to live in these vaults would have some EXTENSIVE education programs to make sure as many people as possible knew how to fix their machines. Also, it's probably not expected for these sealed vaults to actually remain functional forever. Just for a few centuries max. By then either the company would not exist anymore or nobody would care about the experiment as all the people inside slowly (or quickly, depending on what failed) died.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Does Iron Man try to stop all researchn into power armor or only stuff that's explicitly a rip-off of his own tech?

From what I remeber Tony only trusts a handful of people with his suits, and he often fights against people who use similar tech for evil, but aould he be cool if he found out a perfectly normal company was developing something like the CRYSIS suit or Fallout's microfusion cell powered suits for the military?

[Assistant] He can't. Iron Man 2 says they're only a few years away from nations developing their own Iron Man suits. What he does do is stays years and years ahead of the curve, which means no one is able to catch up to him. Besides, the amount of alien tech floating around on Earth is more valuable for R&D purposes, we see in Spider-Man that they're even selling alien equipment out of the back of a truck. We don't see all that much of governments in the MCU, but it looks like they're constantly in a political war with Stark and Stark Industries.


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

[User]
Why do nuclear reactions emit electromagnetic waves?

Mass converted to energy through e=mc^2 is in the form of kinetic energy and electromagnetic waves, now my question is why they form electromagnetic waves?

[Assistant] Disturbances in electromagnetic fields manifest as electromagnetic waves. It's usually the movements of electrons that we associate with these disturbances. Protons, being charged particles, can also disturbe electric fields when they move/change in nuclear reactions.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Is there any practical reason to not carry a double bladed lightsaber? Two lightsabers? Two lightsabers that connect to form a double bladed lightsaber?

Understandably for many Jedi the lightsaber is not an everyday tool, it's a badge of the office and perhaps a traditional weapon more than anything; but like modern day cops they hopefully don't actually have to use the thing that often in combat so one single bladed lightsaber is probably fine? However for Jedi in the midst of a war like say the Clone Wars or for the Sith who prioritize combat readiness much more than the Jedi do is there any reason to favor one single lightsaber? Even if you're most comfortable using one lightsaber why not at least give yourself the option? One lightsaber can be kept on a belt (securely if need be in case of force pickpocketing) and double bladed lightsabers can be configured to ignite only one end at a time giving you the option to switch. So why isn't that more common than the nearly ubiquitous single blade that every Jedi and Sith in the galaxy seems to favor with a handful of exceptions?

[Assistant]
Most Jedi at the beginning of the Clone Wars were generally trained to make use of one blade because one blade is enough for ninety-nine percent of the situations a Jedi was expected to find themselves in, and this didn't change once the war broke out.

A lightsaber's such a superweapon that extra blades and weird hilts are only really an advantage when you expect to fight other lightsaber wielders, a situation that wasn't really common enough to push most Jedi into learning to use them, even during the war. Look at the weird lightsaber users from the movies - Maul's dual saber, Dooku's fencing saber,* Kylo's crossguard saber. The Sith use these because unlike the Jedi, they expect to fight Jedi that'll be caught off guard by their fighting style.

\* Dooku's not a great example because he learned saber fencing as a hobby when he was a Jedi, and coincidentally turned that hobby to deadly purpose as a dark lord of the Sith.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are some radio stations louder than others even when playing the same song?

Is someone checking to make sure they are roughly at the same level as other stations?

[Assistant]
The answer has to do with something called **audio compression**.

Here's a quick ELI5 on Audio Compression:

* You're a teenager watching a movie late at night in your room.

* The loud parts are too loud and you mom keeps hassling you to turn it down. But when you do, you can't hear the dialog.

* So you buy a strange pet monster from the internet. The monster comes with magic headphones that allow him to listen to the sound from the movie a fraction of a second before it goes to the speakers.

* You train the monster to turn the audio down just for the brief loud parts and otherwise turn it up so you can hear the dialog.

* That's audio compression.

The more you compress the loud parts, the more you can raise the level of the whole signal. That makes it appear louder to the listener.

However, compressing too much will make the audio start to sound weird so you can't do it *too* much.

**TL;DR** *The reason some radio stations are louder is because they compress their audio more than others sacrificing quality.*

**Special Note!** Audio compression is **not the same** as data compression that is used to create MP3s.


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

[User] Does blowing on a hot liquid actually make it cool down faster?

[Assistant]
Yes.

Air has a low ability to absorb and store heat. So the air touching your soup heats up at the expense of the soup. Hot air rises. New air then is in contact with your soup....

This convection happens naturally. By blowing on the soup, you have soup and air flowing against each other, greatly increasing the heat exchanged between the two.

You might want to read up on conduction, convection and heat exchangers.


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

[User] [DC] How does Golden Age Flash's helmet stay on with no chin strap?

[Assistant] The Speed Force grants speedsters a great deal of control over their momentum, and frequently a degree of control over that of anything in contact with their person. Jay most likely takes advantage of this ability (probably subconsciously) to keep his helmet balanced.


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

[User]
Eli5: how do water bombers not noseplant when refilling in a body of water?

Water landings are said to be near impossible to pull off for anything but hydroplanes (see also: the Hudson miracle) and yet water bombers do it as a matter of routine. How do they keep from crashing (or at least, losing so much speed that they can't just climb again after scooping up the water) as soon as they hit water?

[Assistant]
First of all, most of these planes are water planes.

They only ever kiss the water and operate in the same speed regime as speed boats, where most of the hull never actually touches the water (not unlike the way a hydrofoil does it). The scoops are located in a way, that they still are submerged during that.

When taking off in a water plane from a standstill, it is acutally more engergy-intensive to lift the body out of the water, to a point that it is only "kissing", than actually fully seperating from the water.

Edit: The difference between this and the Hudson is the shape of the fuselage. Water planes bottoms are shaped much more like a boat hull, while a passenger airliner is much more straight, basically "sucking" the plane down as soon as it touches and thus slowing it down fast (so fast in fact, that most of the time they get very seriously damaged).


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it hard to breath while wind is blowing in your face?

Thought of this cause I was sticking my head out of the window due to car sickness? I am probably dumb but like I somehow thought maybe it would be easier to breath because the air is already like being pushed into you? Hahaha idk.

[Assistant] Its instinct left over from infancy. Babies wont breath underwater, they hold their breath as soon as their face is submerged. The pressure from the wind makes your brain thinks your face is in water, so it wont let you take a breath.


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

[User] ELI5: why does drinking water immediately quench the thirst, even though it hasn't reached the necessary body parts yet?

[Assistant]
Thirst, just like other sensations like it, are just signals. You are not necessarily dehydrated, or in the case of coffee to pepp you up when tiered, is the body and brain telling your  consciousness that you need to refill something - soon.
So when the receptors in your month feel H2O, it signals the brain that "hey, what you ordered is on its way - be kind to the body now please!"

Or drinking coffe/sugary drinks gets you less fatigued even thou sugar and coffee needs to metabolize in your liver which usually takes half to a full hour before real effect.


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

[User] [Vampires] Do you think a vampire would have to worry about cavities and other dental problems like plaque build up?

[Assistant] More than likely no. They're dead so natural bacteria build up wouldn't happen and while blood is capable of growing a number of nasty things its unlikely to pose a problem. Eventually their teeth will become brittle and break like a normal corpse but the virus/curse/mutation causing vampirism seems to make their teeth grow as fast as they wear out like a sharks or just remain preserved.


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

[User] ELI5: The world is in recession and gas prices are still relatively high.  Does this mean that gas prices will skyrocket once a strong economic recovery occurs?

[Assistant]
Perhaps rise, but most likely not skyrocket and could fall.  Lots of factors going into this.  Most basic is supply and demand.

Supply first.  The world is awash in new sources of oil.  While these are more expensive to extract, the sheer amount of new oil sources (Tar sands in canada, shale in the US, off the shore of Brazil, etc) should keep oil from skyrocketing.  Though their is always a risk of unrest in the middle east that could cause short term spikes.

Oil, also, isn't the only energy source.  Some countries use natural gas instead of oil, we use part biofuels in the US for gas, and all over the world renewable sources are coming online.  Especially with fracking in the US, price of energy is dropping to stable as more non-oil supply also is being found in large numbers.  So, increased supply in oil and non-oil energy sources should limit price increases.

Demand side.

Increase in GDP should go along with an increase in demand for energy.  It isn't a 1 to 1 ratio, but yes increase in global economy should increase demand, and with everything else being equal should drive prices higher.

However, there are some longer term bearish trends in gasoline demand.  Some analysts have called a top in gas demand, at least in the US.  First, cars are getting more efficient so thus using less gas for each mile driven.  Second, Americans are driving less miles and seems to be a function of demographics than a short term economic shift.  Young people are putting off owning cars relative to their parents and living in cities which drops the number of miles driven as commute times are lower.

While economic growth in the world should in general increase demand for oil and all energy goods especially in the developing world, the drop in gas miles driven in the rich world as well as improved fuel efficiency should offset some of that demand.

Essentially, the future is unknowable, but the trends in supply for gas and in demand for gas should prevent any skyrocketing increases in the near future.


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

[User] ELI5: Why the Black Lives Matter protesters shut down Bernie Sanders twice?

[Assistant]
Because it's undirected anger.

There's mounds of evidence for institutional discrimination against African-Americans, and the prominent shooting deaths of unarmed black kids has been a focal point for a lot of pent up anger. If this was the 60's there'd be a few well known leaders of the black community to help direct this anger to something productive (like supporting candidates or legislation, trying to get changes made in the way police train shoot/no shoot drills, etc). But there are no major leaders of the black community at the moment.

So, this is what you get, a lot of anger with no one to focus it somewhere productive. Which leads to the misdirection of that anger to someone who is probably interested in helping.


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

[User]
[Fallout 4] It's been 200 years, how is there anything left over from the apocalypse?

I thawed out a couple of weeks ago and only just got this "VAULTNET" thing working on my terminal. I've been scavenging the Commonwealth for food and ammo and dodging bullets in the meantime. This shit is EASY! I don't get why everybody's starving and complaining all the time about how hard it is to survive (boo-fuckin-hoo! boy is this generation soft, those shiftless bums ought to pull themselves up by their bootstraps instead of smoking Jet all day and lookin for a handout!)

I mean, I'm not one to tempt fate but I'm still finding preserved junk food in *refrigerators* and flat Nuka Colas in vending machines (not to mention perfectly good guns and ammunition, or 200 year aged bottles of wine for that matter), but I'm livin off the fat of the land over here! Just the other day I shot up a couple of ~~dirty pinko-commie rat bastids~~ "raiders" fighting over a dog carcass outside Red Rocket. Seriously? It must've died weeks ago and it looked like the molerats had already got at its face. There's food everywhere guys and you're killing each other over roadkill?! Shit I can't walk 5 miles down the road without knocking over a suit of power armor just standing in the middle of the goddamn road, or tripping on an open box of hand grenades (I use them as Christmas ornaments, deck the halls and hit the deck amiright?). I've got like 5 suits of the T61s back at Sanctuary Hills, and they were frickin prototypes back when I was in the Service!

Hell you'd think people would have at least had the initiative to chop up all these dead trees for firewood, or melted down the cars for steel (I seem to recall there being a perfectly functional *steel mill* just down the road). Am I the only one who thinks of these things? As of yesterday I'm the biggest steel and lumber baron in Massachusetts, unlimited growth baby! That's what a little hard work and a proper can-do attitude will do for ya! And then these jokers keep tryin to pay me in bottle caps for christ sake - I mean Jimminy Fuckin Cricket there's bundles of cash just lying around everywhere! **WHAT IS THIS CHINA?!**

I dunno, this whole nuclear holocaust thing ain't so bad.

[Assistant]
Radiation cooks more than your 'nads kiddo. You're probably the smartest person alive in a thousand miles in any direction.

The good news is it basically makes you a god to these morons. Bad news is the clock is ticking and the prize at zero hour isn't an all expense paid trip to the Baja Peninsula, it's you dribbling blood out of the corner of your mouth and your hair coming out in clumps because 200 year old rad-away and rad-x does squat other than pep you up for a few hours. *BECAUSE YOU ARE EATING TWO HUNDRED YEAR OLD IRRADIATED TV DINNERS.*


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

[User] ELI5: How do dryer sheets remove wrinkles and/or reduce static if it's just the small sheet? Wouldn't it not be touching all the clothes in the load?

[Assistant]
Dryer sheets are fabric squares soaked in fabric softener (either quaternary ammonium salts or silicone oil).
 As the dryer blows hot air through all the clothes and mixes them around, the fabric softener very lightly coats all of the load. This thin coating of softener gives the laundry the nice scent and the positively charged chemicals (cations) help equalize the electrons building up from all the clothing rubbing against each other.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are switchblades illegal?

I mean they deploy only slightly faster than spring-assisted knives. I dont understand why they're illegal, and I have a hard time reading "Law Jargon".

[Assistant] In the 50's switchblades became associated with criminals due their portrayal in films and television.  Greasers, mobsters and other thugs were commonly seen carrying them and it led to a public scare and the subsequent passing of the USA Switchblade Act of 1958.


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

[User] eli5 - Why do cream infused liquors like baileys and kahla not require refrigeration and have such a long shelf life?

[Assistant] Alcohol is a natural preservative. The more alcohol is in something, the harder it is for anything else to grow in it. (In fact, this is why stronger drinks have to be distilled - there's only so much concentration of alcohol that fermenting yeast can live in, before it kills itself)


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

[User]
eli5 Why does powder mixed into liquid create clumps? eg: hot chocolate or coffee mixed into water.

Bonus follow up: is it better/easier to pour the water over the powder, or the powder into the water?

[Assistant]
Cacao power contains fat (cacao butter), which is hydrophobic (repels water). This makes such powders clump together.

Best way to make hot chocolate:

1. Add Cacao in mug
2. Add a **very small amount** of water/milk. (Hot liquid is better.)
3. Mix. It will be sticky, but smooth.
4. Add additional water/milk.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do programmers merge code and visuals in video-games?

I know how the code works for basic games (Snake, Flappy Bird etc.) but can't understand the mechanics behind the games like Tomb Raider or Call of Duty.

[Assistant]
They follow the same general logic. The only real difference at that level is just the complexity of the different parts. There's still a main game loop that updates game states and handles inputs. There's still a rendering loop that draws the visuals and so on.

Take a look at Unity. Unity has been used to build games from super simple ones to complex AAA titles. They all follow the same general pipeline. It's just a question of how much the game has to do between updates.


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

[User] [Dune] When shields get him by a lasgun beam and create a nuclear detonation, how big of an explosion are we talking? Does a single person's body shield blow up in a small area like Fallout's Fat Man launcher, or is a city-sized mushroom cloud like Hiroshima?

[Assistant]
Completely random.

It could be highly localized and just vaporize those who triggered the effect, or it could cause an atomic explosion that level cities.

The unpredictability is why it is not really used by anyone, either as small scale bomb or as atomic weapons.


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

[User]
ELI5: If exercise is so good for us, why do we not feel motivated before we commit to doing it?

I've been having trouble finding motivation to go to the gym lately, and I know it's great for physical and mental health, but I feel like shit when I think about even going.

[Assistant]
You ever wonder what Willy-Coyote would do the day after he catches Road Runner?

He has spent decades, his whole existence, building elaborate traps and now the reason for doing it is gone.  You think he might build traps (or design them) for old times sake?

That is you.  We won the evolution game.  For our whole existence food was scarce, physical exertion was common and burned precious calories (and was to be avoided wherever possible).  Our evolutionary success came from using our brains to figure out how to be lazy and build a pipeline to a river instead of carrying buckets of water back and forth all day.

And now, we have caught and eaten the road runner.  We can eat anything we want whenever we want.  We can spend days laying on the couch watching tv.  We are masters of our world...

And so we do... But it turns out it isn't good for us.  We weren't supposed to win we were supposed to always keep struggling for the unattainable.


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

[User] Why can bull sharks survive in salt and fresh water but other species of fish can't? Why haven't most other fish evolved beyond this stage?

[Assistant] Some other species of fish can  salmon and some eels would go extinct, for example, if they didn't transit from salt to fresh water to breed  and it requires major changes in body chemistry to do it. It's a biologically expensive process, and there are better alternatives for the majority of fish, which is why the majority tend not to do it; in other words, for most fish there's a biological imperative to specialise in either salt or fresh water, so they don't have to put in that big investment in changing how their cells handle changing osmotic gradients. When there's no pressure to evolve, because of that big biological demand and the ability to get everything you need from your current environment, there's less likely to be evolution in that "direction".


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

[User]
ELI5:Why were wars like the American Civil War and the American Revolution fought using Volley Fire and not guerilla warfare? Wouldn't it have resulted in less casualties if all soldiers weren't lined up like sitting ducks?

I've always had a hard time grasping why exactly volley fire is even a thing. You're pretty much a sitting duck and if someone was to ambush you, you'd be dead.

[Assistant]
I can't believe the answers you're getting.  It's all in the physics, not about honor at all.

Up until the civil war most soldiers used muskets. Muskets were smoothbore guns which had a practical range of a hundred yards at most.  Most of the time they were fired at a range of fifty yards because they were so inaccurate.  They were not designed to be aimed.  It took massed ranked fire to produce real effects from that kind of weapon. So soldiers lined up shoulder to shoulder, and everybody aimed in the general direction of the enemy and fired upon command.  It was considered more important to fire all at once than to fire with accuracy with muskets for the shock effect.  Add to that the generally short range of voice and musical instruments used to command soldiers back then and you wanted tightly grouped ranks of men.  Add to that the fact that most musket volleys were backed up by the bayonet charge to break the enemy, again by massed ranks of men, and you wanted your guys held together for mutual cohesion and support. Some troops were issued rifles but they were specialists. And some troops shook out into open formation but they were a tiny part of the formation known as skirmishers who were intended to prevent the enemy quickly overrunning your main formation.  When lines of battle formed they quickly moved into the main line as regular troops.  There are other reasons but within the scope of ELI5 this is good enough.  Basically, the guns used demanded close rank formations.

It wasn't until the civil war when the rifle was adopted by rank and file that formations opened up, and even then it took a while to adopt new ways of command and movement that allowed troops to work in open file as a general thing. Pretty much all the way through the Civil War rifles were still used in large massed formations to blast away at each other at close range.  Mostly it wasn't until the Indian Wars that troops adopted open ranks with their repeating cartridge rifles.

You are right, by the way, that guys hiding behind trees and rocks and sniping at ranked units (or attacking from the woods) could be deadly.  The militia in the American War for Independence hammered British troops in formation by fighting this way, until the British could stand in the open and blast away at them.  Fighting in formation like this has distinct advantages, but also distinct weaknesses.  In the fRench and Indian Wars, the French and Indians favorite technique was the catch British columns in the woods and bushwhack them.


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

[User]
[Mcu] [infinity war] why didn't doctor strange just look longer?

Basically I had an idea for a funny bit about strange seeing multiple successes but maybe he died or someone else did in those possible outcomes so he kept looking. But then I wondered, why'd he stop at the first one he saw that would succeed if it meant a death. Like he searched that many possiblities in what seemed like 10 minutes (if I remember correctly). Why not just keep going until you found the best one?

[Assistant] The thing is we don't know that he stopped at the first winning future he saw. He might have seen that one as one of the first visions, and just kept looking for thousands more and couldn't find any other ways to make it work.


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

[User]
ELI5: why do judges rely so heavily on precedent? can't they make their own decisions?

no two cases can be exactly identical. just because a judge ruled something in people v. whoever, does that mean that whenever circumstances are similar to that case that every future judge has to rule the same way?

[Assistant] Because it's important that the law be predictable.  If a judge ruled something in people v. whoever, now the citizens can know (to a certain extent) that whatever that ruling was applies to them in similar circumstances.  If judges could construe the law however they wanted in any given case, nobody would no what the law is.


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

[User]
If a much larger planet collided with Earth, would we be sucked into its gravitational pull before it actually hit?

So in other words, if I were standing on the point of impact, would I just be crushed by the incoming planet, or would I be sucked 'upward' into the planet and then be sandwiched by the two planets?

**EDIT:** Also, if anybody wants to jump in and explain any other more impending factors involving this sorta death (e.g., friction, atmospheric pressure, poisoning from the other planet's own atmosphere, changes in temperature, weather, etc) please feel free to do so.

[Assistant]
Depends on the density of the larger planet.  If it were a low density, Hydrogen/Helium planet like Jupiter, the Earth would crash into it before things fell off the surface of the Earth.

If the planet had a higher density than the Earth (some kind of Super-Mercury), then once the Earth crossed the Roche limit, the tidal shear of it's gravity would be sufficient that objects of the Earth's surface would fall faster than the Earth as a whole, and would leave the Earth's surface, and impact the other body.  You'd die from impact the other planet before the Earth caught up.

The Earth isn't a particularly solid body in context (it's made of broken rocks, and a lot of interior liquid/easily deformable bits, so it probably wouldn't just be surface bits that fell off - the upper layers would break into small pieces and also fall apart faster.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do only certain commercials write "dramatization" at the bottom while other sometimes more extreme commercials don't?

[Assistant]
A consumer doesn't reasonably view extreme commercials as being real, however more real commercials (or animations depicting a more life-like process) are more likely to be taken seriously, and therefore have the "dramatization" disclaimer. Without it, they are more likely to be found liable for false advertising if sued (and if the animation or video is false)

*Disclaimer: This is not legal advice*


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

[User] Why can other mammals stay underwater for so much longer in just one breath?

[Assistant]
For the same reason most of them can't hang from branches, run 40kilometers or open a can of beer with their fingers and drink it.

They are specialised to stay underwater and we are not.

There are a number of methods they use,

1Lowered metabolisms, sometimes only for the dive duration, cutting down of the blood flow to 'non essential' components. lowered heart rate etc.
Weddell Seats can go down to 4 heartbeats a minute.

2 increase of oxygen-carrying capacity in the blood, making their blood very viscous.

3 the ability to store large amounts of oxygen in their muscles as well, sometimes huge amounts more than 10 times what humans can hold.

4 Extreme efficiency in swimming and diving, their streamlined bodies take little effort to move through water and deep dives are more a matter of falling through the water than they are 'swimming' (Human deep divers do the same thing, using weights to fall).

They can also get the bends if theyre not careful.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does your body's immunity tank with sleep deprivation?

[Assistant] When you don't get enough sleep there is a decrease in the number of T cells (major player in the immune system) and an increase in the factors that cause inflammation. Inflammation without reason can lead to tissue damage, which also makes it easier for pathogens to start an infection because part of your immune system will be concerned with damage and not so much with other areas of the body. T cells along with a lot of other proteins and hormones are made while you sleep, and if you don't sleep long enough you will not have made enough of these cells and molecules.


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

[User]
Can trees get cancer/tumors? And how does radiation affect them?

I'm watching chernobyl right now, and I know some of the effects radiation has on people (both high and low amounts) but once the show did a shot over a forest i wondered what the effect on plant and tree life would be.

[Assistant] actually they can grow tumors, but they have decentralized anatomy, which means that no part is necessarily vital for them. And because the fact that they have no circulatory systems, no cell is mobile so cancer cant metastasize. So they can grow tumors but they are not dangerous for them.


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

[User]
[MCU] Seriously, why the hell isn't anybody else dealing with The Hand?

How is it possible that two otherwise average citizens like Luke Cage and Jessica Jones could just stumble upon a worldwide secret society that has fingers in everything, but not SHIELD or The Avengers? Why doesn't anybody know about them?

[Assistant]
The Hand stay under the radar. They have links to organised crime and business, but they don't try to destroy the world or fire blue lasers at the sky; they work low-level, on the streets of New York (and a thousand other cities around the globe). Their latest scheme would have destroyed much of New York, but it would have been the first such major act of devastation by them since Chernobyl.

If the Avengers or SHIELD were in the habit of investigating street-level crime, they'd have found the Hand fairly quickly. But they were too busy saving the world and fighting HYDRA.


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

[User]
[Dune] What kind of processing power does a mentat have?

Mentats basically have their minds transformed into supercomputers. So, what kind of specs would thy be having in terms of processing power, memory, storage, et cetera?

For instance, would a mentat have like a 5 gHZ processor with something ridiculous like a terabyte of RAM and like a petabyte of storage?

[Assistant]
It's very difficult to do that kind of conversion in any kind of explicit numbers.
That said, they're not shown to have radically larger storage capacity than baseline humans.  They seem to take in information in roughly the same way as baseline humans, and seem to do it in response to the problem at hand.  In essence, they use external storage.  Figure on about 100 terabytes of internal storage, on the high end of normal people.
A clock-speed doesn't really make sense for the way a brain works, but even an average human brain performs many many more calculations per second than even the fastest known computers.
A Mentat may gain some boost in physical ability via the sapho juice, but it's more likely that the Mentat's training instead allows them to better focus and direct the already existing processing power of their brains, and the sapho juice accentuates that focus and ability, rather than physically altering the speed of their brains.
So, a Mentat's brain probably isn't that much more 'powerful' than a baseline human, it's that their operating system and processor is much better.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is tickling essentially torture? You would think something that doesn't "hurt" and makes us laugh would be a good thing.

[Assistant]
The laughter from being tickled is not because of happiness or amusement. It is a reflex response to a sensory overload and if it expressed itself as crying or shrieking in pain we wouldn't think it was harmless fun. We associate laughter with fun and happiness so we think tickling is "nice" even though experience tells us it is unpleasant.

The main thought going through your head when being tickled is that you really want this sensation to STOP. It does hurt. We just react to that particular type of hurt by laughing which sends really mixed messages.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do some people gain weight in specific places (i.e. bottom heavy or primarily in the stomach) as opposed to proportionally all over the body?

[Assistant] A lot of it is genetic, but generally the biggest difference is hormones.  Estrogen causes fat storage primarily below the waist, testosterone causes fat storage in the abdomen.  This explains "beer bellies" being more prevalent in men, etc.


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

[User]
[StarWars] Lightspeed and HyperDrives

In regards to the hyperdrives in Star Wars, what method of travel are we supposed to assume? Miguel Alcubierre's proposed theory of faster-than-light travel is all that I can come up with. He suggests FTL travel by encapsulating the vessel in a "time bubble," compressing the space in front of it, expanding the space behind it, and jumping the gap. Where I'm lost is when we see stars fly past the craft, we are led to believe that they are simply moving through space faster than light. This is difficult for to rationalize. My only reference is the Supercruise theory from the game *Elite: Dangerous*.

Question: How does SW FTL travel work and how are HyperDrives powered?

[Assistant]
When a ship goes to lightspeed, they are doing exactly that: the ship is accelerated near instantly to the speed of light by its Hyperdrive. For this moment the ship is still in real space, which is why they sort of 'zoom' off when you look at them. This would obviously cause a ton of G-Forces, which is why intertial dampers were absolutely necessary.

The Hyperdrive then shunts the ship into Hyperspace, which is sort of a paralel dimension to realspace, where position is contiguous (that is, where you are in space is related to where you are in Hyperspace, and vice versa) but everything moves at superluminal velocities. This allows ships to traverse the galaxy in days, depending on how fast the hyperdrive can go.

When exiting Hyperspace, the ship would simply slow down back to lightspeed again and the Hyperdrive would allow them to transit back into realspace, and would then quickly deccelerate the ship to cruising speed. However sufficiently strong gravity wells (like planets, stars, and Interdictors) could force the ship back into realspace uncontrollably, which is why the hyperspace lanes needed to be carefully mapped.

As for the hyperdrives themselves, they're typically powered by either antimatter reactions, fusion generators, or hypermatter reactors (hypermatter being a form of matter harvested from hyperspace and very, very energetic).


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

[User]
My daughter wants to be an astrophysicist... help?

I got through some college level science just fine but forgot most of it.  I am an attorney and architect and so I can't help her much in way of astrophysics although I am pleased the alliteration can continue.   She is very bright and I want to encourage her to follow her passions so a few questions.  What resources should I provide a 13 year old?  What is the practical application of it, are you doomed to be an academic? Do you go to work for NASA I just have no idea if it is remotely practical.   Anyone have a suggestions?

[Assistant]
(1) It's great that you're encouraging her to aim high and follow her interests.  That's the most important thing.

(2) She's 13, so it's pretty likely that her interests will change before its time to make any big decisions.  In the mean time, exploring physics, space, etc. is an excellent way to develop general scientific and academic skills.

(3) To explore this now, you might looking into space camp, astronomy camp, physics camp, etc. if you can afford it.


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

[User]
If Rayleigh scattering is responsible for the sky being blue, why is the atmosphere as seen from space still blue?

Rayleigh scattering isn't absorption, so it would seem to me that the "non-blue" photons still survived. If down on Earth we get mostly blue light, where did the other wavelengths go, if not to space?

The only idea I have is that they get scattered perpendicularly up, so we can't really see the effect since we're looking straight down on Earth (and this see the ground mostly).

[Assistant]
They get scattered at much lower angles. In particular, they make the sun look yellow/orange/red when it is actually white, because the blue gets scattered away (covering the rest of the sky) and the reddish hues do not.

The non blue photons *do* survive, but because they didn't get scattered at large angles they don't deviate much from their straight-line path, i.e. you only see them when you're basically looking in the direction of the sun. The red light does make it to the surface (*better* than the blue light if anything) but it doesn't do so *from all directions in the sky*.


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

[User] [Batman] I'm a poor schmuck with very little options left for employment while my wife has just informed me she's pregnant. I did an interview with Arkham Asylum despite its notorious reputation and guess what...I got hired. What's the best course of action while working to keep from the lunatics?

[Assistant]
I would take a page from Barney from the Hannibal Lecter novels; just try to be polite and cordial.

Some of them (Nygma, Isley, Quinzel, Wesker) are perfectly capable of holding down a polite conversation if treated respectfully, and probably won't harm someone just because they're there.

Others (Crane, Tetch, Dent needless to say is about 50/50) are on the less predictable side, and may very well be fucking with you if they seem to be acting reasonably. Be civil, but keep your guard up.

And needless to say interact with Joker as little as possible. If he makes a crack that involves less than fifty dead orphans, maybe a polite chuckle is in order, if you can do it without coming off as patronizing.

But among the more rational residents, they may be insane but they're likely sane enough to prefer working with someone who's respectful, and if they harm you then your replacement might be someone worse. Count on them at least to look after their own self-interest.


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

[User]
Is there a particular shape coffee/tea cup that keeps the beverage hotter, longer?

I'm a pretty slow coffee drinker, so it tends to cool off quite a bit before I get to drink it all.  So, usually, it's not palatable by the time I get around to wanting to finish it off. I got to thinking this morning, is there a shape of cup in which the surface area or distribution of the drink would allow it to stay at a higher temperature over time?

I am fully aware that I can use a cup with a lid or a thermos, but I'm more so curious if anyone with a knowledge of Thermodynamics (or whatever field this would apply to) would have an answer to the best shape coffee mug for retaining temp and why it would do so.

Thanks!

[Assistant] Spherical. A sphere has the least amount of surface area per volume, and the surface is where the heat transfer happens. Less surface area means less heat transfer is possible. Since a sphere is not a practical shape for a mug, the cylinders we use now is probably the best comprimise.


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

[User] ELI5: How does fiber make you have a better bowel movement?

[Assistant]
Your body is very inefficient/incapable of breaking down the fibers. So they pass through your body and collect/soak up some of the bile from your guts and then it acts as lubrication for your bms.

Too much fiber also acts as a sort of (delayed) laxative, which will cause you to shit your brains out. So don't eat a whole box of fiber one in one sitting on a lady Sunday morning.


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40K] What are the odds of an Imperial Guard trooper ever returning home after shipping off-world?

From my understanding, the Imperium's bureaucracy is extremely convoluted and could very well bounce a regiment from brushfire to brushfire and then forget where the hell their planet of origin is. Which assumes they survive at all. Do those poor bastards even get leave?

[Assistant]
Well forgetting where the troopers came from shouldn't generally be a problem, most regiments wear the name of their home planet as a badge of pride.  Even if the bureaucracy forgets (and even they aren't likely to forget where the "Cadian 8th Shock Troops" came from) the troopers sure won't

But no, generally speaking once a trooper is inducted into the guard they will never see home again.  Many will die in the first action they see, those that survive will often end up reforming new regiments with other remnants, generally from the same home planet.  On occasion, an especially decorated regiment might be given leave to retire upon a planet at the end of a campaign, often the last one that they fought on.

It is just too much work to ship whatever is left of a regiment back to their home planet.  It won't be much benefit to those who survived anyways; while they would enjoy seeing home again, they aren't really from their anymore.  Most of them have spent over half their years away fighting The Emperor's wars, seeing all sorts of horrors.  Their might be some residual cultural similarities, but they would come back very different people than they left.  Kinder to let them start anew.

As for your last question, perhaps a surprising amount of a guardsman's life is downtime. They will generally get a month or two of rest and relaxation after seeing action, waiting for their next orders or helping the populace rebuild.  Once they get their new orders, they must wait for appropriate transport to be arranged (because the navy and army are kept strictly separate), and once the ship picks them up, they will have anywhere from a week to many months confined to hull while they travel through the warp.  A fair amount of all this is spent training, but a good amount is also spent other ways.


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

[User]
[Percy Jackson] How exactly did the Gods come into existence?

So, as far as I am aware. The books confirm that the Gods are manifestations of human culture, meaning that the Olympians exist purely because people believe they do. In Greek Mythology, however, there is a complex relationship tree for the Gods. Olympians are the children of the Titans, Kronos, and Reha and the Titans are the children of Gaia and Ouranos, the sentient Spirits of the Earth and Sky respectively.

So, in the PJO Universe, is the family tree of the Gods in actual effect, or are the Gods, Titans, etc. Just conjured into existence by human belief without any true genetic relationship to one another?

Basically, what I'm asking is, we know the Gods are conjured into existence by human belief but are their origins manifested by human belief as well? and how does this work with gods from other cultures who have radically different ideas of what gods exist and where/how they were made?

[Assistant]
When the gods were thought into existence, their history came along with it. If humans believe in a god that's been around since the beginning of time (like Chaos), then that god will have "been there the whole time".

It sounds confusing, but when you're messing with the fundamental forces of the universe, silly things like time and history don't matter as much.


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

[User] ELI5: How do companies like sharper image or Kirkland work? They seem to make everything.

[Assistant]
They don't make anything -- they buy from the same manufacturers, but without product labeling, and label it as their own.

They save money by not advertising, using cheaper packaging, etc., so they can sell for less than the other sellers of the same item.  Sharper Image used to be more high-end electronics and trinkets, but have gotten more low-end with the generic gadgets.


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

[User] ELI5: How do calculators solve complex problems like matrices graphing etc. do programers have to write out every solution or are there shortcuts?

[Assistant]
Ingredient 1: Computers are machines that perform simple operations VERY fast.

Ingredient 2: Most complex math can be decomposed into (or approximated by) simpler math. For example, imagine that you know how to add 2 numbers. Well, with that tool, you can also multiply numbers (by performing several additions) and even calculate exponentiation (by performing several multiplications, which we already mentioned you can do with addition).

By combining the two ingredients (a set of simple operations and knowledge on how to decompose complex math into simpler math), you get a machine that can perform complex math.


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

[User]
[DUNE] What if Yueh didn't betray Leto?

Dr Wellington was instrumental in the downfall of house Atreides. His wife was held hostage by the Baron. What if Yueh had warned the Duke about the impending attack?

[Assistant]
If Duke Leto fought back, then the Emperor would have manufactured another excuse to take him down. It all comes down to money - and specifically, control of CHOAM revenues.

The Landsraad and the Emperor maintain their power and finances through control of CHOAM.
Combine Honnete Ober Advancer Mercantiles is the vastest corporation in human history, with a complete monopoly on interstellar trade (with the exception of its permanent contract with the Spacing Guild). The Imperium is technically privatized, with all revenue collection and government services done through CHOAM.

The Emperor holds a controlling interest, 51 percent, in CHOAM, and so he is simultaneously the Padishah Emperor and the CEO of CHOAM. The head of each household in the Landsraad is a director of a local CHOAM subsidiary, and this is why the Great Houses control worlds with large exports - Giedi Prime's hydrocarbons, Caladan's agricultural products, Ix's machines. The size of their interstellar trade directly impacts their subsidiary's revenues (and thus their own revenues).

The heads of the Great Houses are appointed to CHOAM's Board of Directors. The Landsraad is composed of all stockholders in CHOAM. All voting stock is held by the heads of Great and Minor Houses - House Corrino holding 51 percent of said voting stock.

House Corrino has, for countless years, never allowed any of the other Great Houses to hold a permanent directorship for CHOAM exports from Arrakis. By keeping the directorship of Arrakis technically temporary (the Harkonnens are governing the planet on contract, and their brutality is a direct result of trying to run the place on the cheap), the Emperor can keep most of its export revenue in CHOAM's general funds and therefore under his control.

This has been a point of contention for millennia, because all of the Great Houses want part of that money and they also want to keep it out of the hands of the Emperor. Shaddam IV has been bullying the Landsraad and skimming CHOAM profits, raising tensions (all, of course, due to Bene Gesserit manipulation).

All Directors are enjoined from taking action that harm the company, including feuds, wars, and other forms of conflict which would reduce CHOAM profits. This is why the forms of kanly are so rigorously obeyed. This is why the Emperor must work so quietly and deviously against House Atreides.

As the Emperor's popularity faded and that of Duke Leto rose, as the Emperor's contract with the Harkonnens came under increasing fire in Board meetings with threats of an internal CHOAM investigation rising, the Emperor used the Directorship of Arrakis as his ace in the hole. Giving up Arrakis (and voiding the Harkonnen contract) looked like a significant defeat. It gave Leto enormous wealth and made him the second-most powerful officer in CHOAM - not just the greatest of the Dukes, but someone with great influence over CHOAM's internal appointments and governance.

Great danger came with this appointment, however, because accepting the Directorship of Arrakis also made Duke Leto personally responsible for any violations of CHOAM bylaws. This happened shortly after he assumed office, when he made contact with the Fremen. By violating the CHOAM monopoly on the spice melange and cooperating with smugglers, the Fremen were outside the law - and when Leto allied with the Fremen in hopes of building a military force capable of going head-to-head with the Sarduakar, he was outside the law as well.

In a legal sense, as the Emperor announced it, Duke Leto had violated his legal obligations and, under CHOAM bylaws, had therefore voided the terms of his employment and the license under which he'd held voting stock in the company.


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

[User] What exactly does a Britta water filter do to my water?

[Assistant]
A Britta filter contains Ion-exchange beads and activated charcoal. Ion-exchange beads essentially switch out any heavy metals (copper, lead,...) with sodium or potassium. *They also swap out chlorine with sodium to take away that "chlorine" taste tap water usually gives.*(Not sure about this part, but the other parts are spot on).
Activated charcoal is basically manufactured carbon that has little "pores" that catch impurities in the water.

So basically your Britta filter is going through chemical reactions using the beads to *swap out sodium from the resin on the beads with the calcium, chlorine, ect... *(again not sure about this). Leaving the elements you don't want in the water stuck on the beads. It is also being ran through little carbon pores which should catch the bigger molecular impurities.


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

[User]
Do articles or books ever become dated in philosophy?

This is more a question for people who have gone to graduate school or are otherwise involved in academic philosophy at a high level.

In the sciences, articles that were written a certain length of time ago are considered "dated" and no longer valid, although they may be interesting for historical reasons. My question is whether this ever happens in philosophy.

My impression is that it doesn't, because philosophers often appeal to arguments from philosophers who wrote hundreds or even thousands of years ago. Still, maybe academics treat older works differently in some way.

(To be clear, I am not casting aspersions on philosophy by comparing it with science. I love philosophy, I am majoring in philosophy, and in some ways I consider it superior to science.)

[Assistant]
The vast majority of articles and books are dated. If you cite John Bramhall or whoever without a *really* good reason, people are going to look at you weird. It's only a tiny (*incredibly* minuscule) handful of philosophers earlier than, say, 50 years ago whom we still regularly cite.

Even then, the older the philosopher is, the less likely it is that someone cites them to appeal to their argument and the more likely it is that someone cites them to locate the first appearance of a type of argument.

For instance, plenty of people cite Plato or Aristotle, but it's much rarer that they cite them in terms of endorsing an argument. Usually it's just a matter of explaining the genesis of an idea to help the reader what you are saying, not citing an authority to back up your own argument.

If you have examples of people citing older articles as good arguments and not just as historical footnotes, and you think this happens more than in, say, math, you're welcome to post the examples.


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

[User] How do concentrated salt solutions kill bacteria?

[Assistant]
By sucking them dry through osmosis. Bacterial cell walls are permeable to water, so when placed in an aqueous solution with more junk than is inside the cytoplasm of the bacterium, the water inside wants to get out and dilute the solution.

Some bacteria like saltwater, but you can always dissolve more salt in the water until it's hypertonic relative to the cytoplasm.


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

[User] ELI5:When people drink alcohol, cravings for and use of cigarettes is increased greatly. Is there a scientific basis for this, or is it purely habitual?

[Assistant]
Alcohol is a depressent, nicotine is a stimulant, the two go very well together.

Alcohol also lowers inhibition and impairs judgement, meaning you are more likely to give into a craving, and less likely to care about the implications of doing so (stinky breath, cancer, ugly looks from non smokers).

Mixing things that slow you down, with things that speed you up, is seen in a lot of situations.

At a certain level, smoking while drinking is a very light version of speedballing heroin with cocaine.


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

[User]
What kind of philosophy is useful for self improvement/life in general?

Would something like stoicism be a good place to start? Basically looking for philosophers or "genres" of philosophy that look at the way we live our lives.

[Assistant]
This depends on how you define "improvement".

Do you wish to find meaning in a seemingly meaningless world? Look at existentialism.

Do you feel conflicted internally and wish for balance? Look to Plato and the allegory of the chariot.

Do you want to overcome desire? Buddhism might be interesting.


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

[User]
ELI5 Why is it ok for a bariatric surgery diet to consist of 1k cal or less/day, but for women/men without surgery the minimum is 1200/1500?

Are these very limited calorie restrictions not harmful to the body in the same way it would be for some non surgical patient? (Especially when they are not absorbing everything anyway.) How is this method of weight loss any different from a starvation diet ?

Edit:Sorry for the poor wording in the original question. Im  talking LONG TERM, such as a year or two down the road from post op day 1. Are these surgical patients able to go back to eating enough calories to maintain their new body weight? Or are they forever limited by their new digestive system to eat smaller amounts? If so, does that have any toll on the body?

[Assistant]
RD who used to work in bariatric surgery here!

People are often advised to consume >1200-1500 calories for a couple of reasons. First, lower calorie intakes can lead to decreased metabolic rate as an adaptation response, which can result in easier weight regain (see Biggest Loser studies). Secondly, eating less than this makes it difficult to get enough micronutrients, especially in the absence of medical advice/supervision.

These things are also true of people who have had bariatric surgery, but the decreased metabolic rate is not such a big deal since their reduced stomach capacity makes it more difficult to eat more than this/regain weight anyway. It wasnt unusual for me to see patients 2+ years post-op who quite comfortably maintained their weight eating 1200 calories per day, wayyy less than youd expect someone their weight to need. They are also advised to take lots of vitamin supplements and get regular blood work to screen for nutrient deficiencies!


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is the Windows Explorer so bad in calculating time?

Again I am copying files and Windows Explorer estimates that it will take roughly 1 hour although it is copying with a stable speed. The copying took 10 minutes which I could easily calculate using simple math.

[Assistant]
In the beginning of a file transfer, you're not really sure what speed you're going to get. As a result, the opening estimate is usually terribly wrong.

As you get more information on the actual average speed of the transfer, it'll make a better prediction. However, since hard drives may not have linear spaces open, the speed can fluctuate quite widely across the entire write.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does duct tape remove warts?

I know it's accepted that duct tape removes warts. How? Is it a certain chemical? Does it suffocate it? I can't find the answer to this anywhere.

[Assistant] You're having trouble finding an answer because there just isn't a lot of good medical information about this topic because it is a home remedy. The most popular theory is that a chemical in the ductape triggers a response from your body's immune system, which then attacks the wart.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is a slow resting heart rate good, when it is also healthy for your heart to beat fast during exercise?

EDIT: So several answers have come in, but I'm not sure my question is being understood.  I'm asking, if it's healthy for your heart to beat fast during exercise, why isn't it healthy for it to beat fast(er) during rest?  Wouldn't a higher resting heart rate almost be like a mini "workout?" Making it stronger?

[Assistant]
its about strength and efficiency.

Your question is quite valid... Why can't we just do Cocaine or drink caffeine to increase our heart rate for "exercise"? Or just be panicked (increasing our heart rate) to get a good workout?

It takes a little knowledge to come to a good conclusion. Ahem.

There's an upper and lower limit to your heartrate. Everyone's different depending on age and health. We've established some "normal" ranges. About +- 70-85 BPM at rest is normal; then the top number is dependent on some factors that you can look up on your own.

Anywho, the heart is a muscle (duh) right, and it's activated and regulated by the bodys need for it's service (pumping blood). During stress it increases it's rhythm for both psychological (anticipation), and physical (sustaining, survival) need. More on this in a min.

So depending on how your health is, the body prefers a sorta calm state; (feelsgoodman.exe), your average resting heart rate lies in this realm. Anything above this indicates *some* sort of stress on the body. There's healthy stress and unhealthy stress. Unhealthy stress includes: unnecessary psychological anxiety/fear, drug use, sickness. While good heart stresses are things that lead to better states like: exercise to "look better" or strength to protect yourself, or even light activity like getting some food from the store (food endorphins bruh). Regardless of what you do, your body is reacting in harmony with what will sustain you.

So it's like just because your HR is high or low doesn't mean it's good for what you're after. Like a higher BPM is normal in sick people but your body is battling something which is good but if you lay around sick for months your muscles waste away because of lack of use . The body is always changing according to automatic (unconscious) and consious need.

Understanding the hearts basic role then leads  us to better answer your questions. You **gain** something from the **right** high heart stresses which are reflected in your heart rate. Consistent exercise (along with healthy eating and habit) nets gains both physically and mentally "look good feel good" (dopamine bruh). The bodies equal reaction to being well all around is a lower HR at rest when calm.

There's plenty more to look up about heart health that's awesome. You can get a baseline of your health with your sleep HR vs resting HR vs exercise HR vs rebound to resting HR after exercise, this is almost a sure way to indicate overall health.

Hope this was helpful.


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

[User]
ELI5: The Russian monetary crisis.

also, is the West panicking the Russians with money the way Russia is panicking their energy consumers via gas exports?

[Assistant]
Essentially:

Russia's economy is built and tied to the price of oil. Russia has a lot of it. Russia sells a lot of it to people.

Recently, America has been able to quell it's dependence on oil through fracking.

The middle east has made available a lot more of its oil resources recently as well.

As such, with some of the major players no longer purchasing as much oil, and ad more and more oil stock up and becomes available. Supply and demand kicks in.

The price of oil starts to drop.

Remembering that the Russian economy is tied to oil. The economy in Russia starts to go belly up as does their dollar.

Normally when this sort of thing happens. Other nations set in and provide support. Lending assistance and helping to return the economy of said nation to a stable state.

Enter Crimea. Russia decided to declare an illegal war on Ukraine and invaded Crimea. The West and the UN decided this was not to be tolerated. And instead of going to war with Russia over Crimea. They imposed sanctions. Sanctions which stop anyone from helping russia.

Further, Russia could potentially in a last ditch effort attempt to stabilize its econmy through exports other than oil. However, again, sanctions.

TL;DR: Russia invaded Ukraine and by doing so ruined relations with the outside world. Russia didn't care because almost all of Europe depends on russia for oil. Months later. Several world developments eased the words oil needs and suddenly no one really needed oil as much anymore. The price of oil fell and with it came russias economy. No one is allowed to/wants to help them because everyone is pissed about ukraine.


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

[User]
[Vampires, general] I've recently been Turned; what's the most ethical way to get a significant amount of blood?

My SO is a vampire, and converted me as part of our engagement. I prefer to not drink the blood of living beings, as I've always been squeamish; would I be able to strike a deal with, say, a blood bank? Or maybe a butcher's shop?

[Assistant] Butcher's shop would be your best bet,  especially if you need fresh blood and a, lot of it. Blood banks would probably have only frozen blood or blood components like plasma. You could also provably pay people to donate to you,  depending on how much and often you need it (you can donate blood about one every 90 days i believe). Slaughterhouses might let you buy the runoff if you know someone or work there.


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

[User]
[Batman Begins]Lucius says the bat suit was never mass produced because the military didn't think a soldiers life was worth 300,000 dollars. I get that generally but wouldn't there be like special ops missions where it would be worth that much?

like suppose you were sending in someone to like assassinate the leader of a terrorist organization or a rouge nation, wouldn't you pay the money to make them practically invisible and totally bullet proof?

[Assistant]
>and totally bulletproof

It's not bulletproof. Fox tells Bruce "anything but a straight shot"

That means it's only resistant to grazing. Which makes it worse to the current body armor, albeit current armor is much heavier and thicker to be bulletproof.

So no. The government wouldn't see $300,000 each worth it when the various special forces of the military get by with stripped down body armor with extra thickness in key areas instead of a full suit that wouldn't stop a pistol round, let alone battle rifle rounds.


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

[User] Besides lightning, what are some ways that fire can occur naturally on Earth?

[Assistant]
A Volcano can start a fire.

Rotting vegetation can get so hot it start to smolder and thus catch fire.

Obscure - but technically the impact of certain rocks onto other rocks as part of a rock fall could cause a spark that could start a fire.


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

[User]
Do potted plants actually "aerate" rooms to any significant degree?

I see it mentioned in some books and movies and such, but does a single potted plant make much of a difference in a room at all? Or perhaps in large numbers?

[Assistant]
It will make essentially no difference.  The effect will be, in any event, generally much smaller than the effect you have of depleting the oxygen in the room in the first place.  Which, unless you happen to live in a sealed environment for a long time, is very small.

And of course the plant also respires, so if there's not enough light at a given moment the plant actually takes oxygen from the air also.


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

[User]
The three-body problem and why can't we solve it?

Firstly, do I understand correctly that the three-body problem is solving exactly how 3 celestial bodies will interact with each other gravitationally?

If so, can you explain why we cannot solve it?  It "sounds" easy to me, as a layperson.  Assuming the two body problem is solved, why can't we add one additional body that exerts gravity?  Instead of 1 force acting on a body, there are 2.

Is it some cyclical problem where movement due to gravity of one body affects how it affects the others, and then in turn how it affects back to itself, etc etc. such that there are too many infinitesimally small movements and forces that need to be calculated?

[Assistant]
When people say there is no solution for the three body problem, they mean there is no general analytical solution in terms of algebraic expressions*. No one formula which works in all cases, unlike for the two-body problem.

It is entirely possible to solve the three body problem for a specific case, both numerically and analytically.

The two body problem can always be split into two one-body problems -- e.g. the motion of the centre of mass, and the bodies around it. The three body problem in general can't be "factorised" in this way.

*There is a very complicated general analytic solution (to the n-body problem in fact) in the form of a converging infinite power series, but it is useless for all practical purposes like calculating a solution for a specific case.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do some people regularly sneeze a specific number of times whenever they have to sneeze?

For example, almost every time my dad sneezes they always come out in pairs, A coworker sneezes in trios, and I know of a guy who sneezes 8 times every time he has to sneeze. Why is that?

[Assistant]
Sneezing is usually caused by nasal irritation.  Once the signal is sent from the nose to the brain and the rest of the nervous system, a sneeze develops as an automatic response across many parts of the body.  One good sneeze may be enough to get the irritant off the nasal mucosa, but the nervous system may still think it needs to sneeze, as the chemicals that sent the signal (histamines) may still be sending the signal.  If so, it will keep making a person sneeze involuntarily until the signal finally stops firing.

In many ways, especially when nerves are involved, your body can have a mind of its own sometimes.

Given that the body may have a common amount of time until the signal stops, some people may commonly sneeze a specific number of times on average.


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

[User]
The UAE has one of the lowest Gini coefficients in the world, how is this possible given its slave labor reputation?

Does Gini not take into account migrant workers? Wouldn't that make the measure totally invalid if so? Apparently 7m of the 9m people in the UAE in 2013 were migrant workers.

[Assistant]
The statistics recorded were probably based off of the reported income of citizens, not immigrants/expats. People born in the UAE are not entitled to citizenship, it is only given if theyre parents were citizens at birth, as a result the population of citizens is very small (roughly 1.15M and 11% of the population) and foreigners make up the overwhelming majority of the UAEs population.
It would make sense that the distribution of incomes among actual Emirati citizens would be very equitable but if the incomes of foreigners/immigrants were recorded as well the coefficient would be much higher and the Lorenz curve would be extremely deviated from the 45 degree line.


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

[User] What happens to a gravitational wave when it crosses a black hole ?

[Assistant]
The same thing that happens to everything else.  It falls into the central singularity.

Gravitational waves are impacted by gravity in the same way as all other waves.  The difference being that gravitational waves are only impacted by gravity, and nothing else.


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

[User]
Is there a term/concept for the way unrelated political beliefs are tied together? Like taxes/abortion.

So in the US there's only two major parties so that there's a divide set up on every issue, right? So is there a term for the way that Democrats vote in a bloc like pro-choice, more social programs, gay marriage, more taxes, no death penalty?

I just want to do more reading on that topic, but don't really know how to Google it.

[Assistant] You may want to search for cleavages (persistent divisions within a voting population), alignment (the formation of a coalition of interests behind one party), and dimensionality (the number of axes/spectra/predominant conflicts needed to explain a country's party system).


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

[User] ELI5: How does an athlete using smelling salts work?

[Assistant] Smelling salts release ammonia gas. If you breathe in this gas, it irritates the insides of your nose and lungs to such an extent that it stimulates your sympathetic ("fight-or-flight") nervous system. This is an autonomous part of your nervous system that, when activated, has all sorts of arousing effects on your body, releasing adrenaline, increasing your heart rate, opening up your lungs, increasing blood flow to your skeletal muscles (while decreasing it to your digestive system), and generally preparing your body for action. For athletes, these effects may be desirable and performance-enhancing, although perhaps especially so for athletic feats that require quick bursts of action. Smelling salts have also been used to revive athletes that have been rendered unconscious (e.g. boxers), because their arousing effects counteract the fainting response.


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

[User]
ELI5: Can someone explain how we determine cause of death?

For instance, if someone is obese and is in a car crash and dies, most people say the cause of death is the car crash. But sometimes it's not as clear. For example, suppose someone is obese and gets an illness, and they die. However, they only died because their body was weaker because of their obesity. So if they hadn't been obese they would have survived. Equally, if they hadn't gotten the disease they wouldn't have died. What's the cause of death? Obesity or the disease? Intuitively I want to say the disease, but I feel this has more to do with the fact that diseases (with high mortality) are rare but obesity is not. If everyone was getting this disease, but only obese people died, and obesity was rare, then surely we would say obesity was the cause of death?

[Assistant]
That is exactly why in a death certificate, reasons for death are listed out.

Immediate cause,
Antecedent cause,
Underlying cause,
And other significant condition that could have contributed to death but not related to the disease/condition that caused death.

This will be written like death due to A condition, which is due to B condition, due to underlying C condition, with D condition contributing to it.

This will paint a vivid picture to anyone wanting to know the reason for death of an individual.


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

[User]
When physicists say that the fabric of spacetime will be torn apart if the Big Rip model is true, what does that mean?

Could someone elucidate the idea of spacetime getting ripped apart by accelerating expansion? What would be the physical description of this scenario? Does this mean that time itself would cease to exist?

I know that there are certain fields inherent to space, such as quantum and Higgs. What would cause these fields to be destroyed instead of just stretched out?

[Assistant]
Technically, it means that the scale factor becomes infinite in finite time. The scale factor describes the expansion of the universe. Right now, the scale factor is 1 by definition. There was a time where it was 0.5. Pick two arbitrary distant galaxies. Their distance was only half of what it is now at that time.

Similarly, there will be a time where their distance will be twice of what it is now.

When the scale factor becomes infinite, strange things happen. Observers will be causally separated. Eventually, atoms will be torn apart and even the confinement of quarks will be broken up. Then it's the end of everything.


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

[User] [ATLA] Did Aang do anything to end the corruption in the Earth Kingdom after the Hundred Year War?

[Assistant]
The issue actually is that Aang and the Earth King did.  To deal with the issues created by Long Feng and the Dai Li, the Earth King dramatically centralized power with Ba Sing Se around the throne; to deal with the issues revealed by the War, he centralized power throughout the Earth Kingdom around Ba Sing Se.  This would prevent a repeat of the War, where a divided Earth Kingdom fell bit by bit to the Fire Nation with no organized opposition, but laid the groundwork for the issues of Korra's time.

By putting so much authority back into the hands of the monarch, the Earth King ensured that, as soon as he died and his spoiled daughter took the throne, the Earth Kingdom would again fall victim to a corrupt autocrat.  By centralizing so much authority and building the necessary communication and transportation network to enforce it, he gave her the tools needed to subjugate the Earth Kingdom to her petty demands.

So much authority rested in the hands of the Earth Queen that, when she was murdered by Zaheer, there was no organized bureaucracy prepared to take over and ensure a smooth transition of power, nor even anyone in place to run things during the interregnum.  Instead the Earth Kingdom collapsed into chaos within a matter of months, as virtually every facet of its government was routed through the Palace.


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

[User] [Godzilla] the US army transports a giant television screen with four helicopters, flies it right in front of Godzilla, and plays the tape from the Ring movies. Would Samara kill Godzilla in seven days?

[Assistant]
There are certainly insects and animals that watched *Ringu*. Think of how people watch television or videos with their pets. Samara has never made it a point to kill said creatures, just humans.

Even if she came after Godzilla, she wouldn't be able to frighten or possess him as she would horses and the like. Godzilla doesn't understand fear. He's never been afraid. He's Godzilla. Godzilla!


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

[User]
[DC Comics/Naruto] Could Swamp thing control Chakra users?

(spoilers ahead for later Naruto plot points)

So it is my understanding that chakra users are granted their powers from being descended from a woman who ate a fruit making her part God Tree. Since the God Tree is a plant, does that mean Swamp Thing could control chakra pathways within people?

Tangentially related: If Swamp Thing found the God Tree could he recreate it and use chakra himself?

[Assistant]
Swamp Thing is a plant elemental, and has shown limited ability to interact with plant-based humanoids. For example, he was never shown able to control the Floronic Man despite the latter's plant-affinity, so chakra users (and, probably, Devil Fruit power holders) would probably be beyond his control. (Those users would still be vulnerable to Animal Man, however, because he is connected to the Red.)

As far as interacting with the God Tree itself, again, Swamp Thing has had mixed results. When he encountered a piece of wood from the Garden of Eden, for example, he was unable to affect it directly with his powers, but he was able to *graft* the piece to his form. Presumably if he encountered a piece of the God Tree he might be able to do something similar, and thus gain access to chakra in that manner - although, as with the piece of wood from Eden above, the access would be dependent on the physical integrity of the graft (i.e. if he formed a suit of God-Tree armor, sufficient damage would destroy it. Swamp Thing would survive this, since his elemental spirit is not tied to a single physical form, but he'd lose access to chakra when he re-grew a new body.)


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

[User] ELI5: What is it about printers that make them so prone to errors?

[Assistant]
Unlike most things attached to computers, they have a lot of moving parts. Additionally, assuming you're talking about consumer printers like ink jets, there are nozzles that can get clogged, requiring constant automated maintenance.

Because printers rely on physical things like the paper being present (and thus requiring a way of detecting that it is), any small misalignment can halt the printing process. Printers live in the physical world, rather than the world of abstract electronic representation, so everything they do is messier and more prone to error.

Beyond that, consumer inkjet printers are designed to rake in money by reporting theoretical problems even when none exist. For instance, saying that because the ink cartridge is old, it must be replaced--even if it still works.

Furthermore, when buying printers, people usually focus of the physical aspects like speed, price, and printing resolution. Few people buy them based on having good drivers. As a result, printer drivers are often only good enough to ensure people don't ask for a refund. This means they tend to be poorly written and prone to errors.


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

[User] [Doctor Who] What do the various levels of Gallifreyan society think about the Doctor?

[Assistant]
The Time Lords consider the Doctor to be a renegade and generally a nuisance who needs to be reined in and stop being so... independent. The Doctor thinks the Time Lords are a bunch of blinkered old dusty coots who need to stop being so stuffy.

During "The War Games" the Time Lords strand the Second Doctor in the 1970s or 1980s as a form of parole/house arrest, then force him to undergo regeneration, which is an extremely traumatic experience analogous to death. All this is because he stole a TARDIS that we later learn was just a creaky museum piece to start with.

By the Doctor's own account, he/they/(no idea) were a very rebellious youth who refused to accept his preordained career in the army, and once accepted into the Academy was a careless and lazy student, often sneaking out of class to fool around with the Shobogans, nomadic bohemian wanderer free-spirit types.

*The Doctor was ostracized from other Gallifreyans as a youth. We don't know why, though at one point it was canon that the Doctor was half-human; this detail has been relegated to probably-not-canon for well over a decade at this point.*

To the Time Lords' frustration, the Doctor keeps playing a hugely important role in their affairs, which neither party is particularly happy about. For example, the Doctor has been elected President of Gallifrey on one occasion (as part of a more elaborate and wacky scheme by the bad guys). And on another the Doctor was the only one on hand to defeat the evil renegade Time Lord Omega, and they were even forced to break the sacred First Rule of Time to give him the edge needed to win.


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

[User]
[space militaries] How do militaries that utilize suspended animation or who don't account for relativity calculate retirement accrual?

In less technologically advanced societies you could be in stasis for years or if you are sloppy with your relativity management you could end up with a private who has been in the military over 40+ years as far as HQ back on earth is concerned.

What about situations where stasis is not part of routine travel like ship wrecks and it's taken decades to find you?

[Assistant]
I'd bet there's a tiered system:

Actual time, which is, time spent not in stasis yet in military service. This counts the most towards retirement and/or time served.

Stasis time, which is accrued for some kind of consideration, though likely at a lower rate of "pay" (for whatever compensation is given) since you're being divorced more and more from your family, friends, and culture.

What would also require calculation is one's usefulness to the military. Unless interfaces and training stay relatively static or can be quickly learned, a soldier that's been asleep for 100 years probably isn't going to be as useful as the one that just came out of boot camp when it comes to understanding current-gen hardware and tactics. They might "retire" a soldier at a certain stasis-year just because they're not of any use unless they decide to re-enlist and re-train.


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

[User]
[Archer] Does Cheryl have fourth wall awareness?

Like Deadpool in Marvel, Cheryl is the eccentric figure that seems to know more than she's lettings on. In Sea Tunt, she even acknowledges musical cues and looks around to see where they're coming from. Clearly no-one else can perceive these cues or accompanying music (e.g. Mallory with the tense music cues) and Tiffy even calls Cheryl crazy when the latter angrily yells at "John Williams" when the dramatic music kicks in.

I did think perhaps that was all coincidental as she was overacting to get a confession from Cecil, but she even tells herself (when no-one else is around) that the musical cues are just non-diagetic (sp?).

[Assistant] A common joke in Archer is all the characters are somewhat aware they are in a show. Many will mention how they can't seem to remember the date because the show takes place in a stance world mixing modern and Cold War era events together, like how the KGB still exists in an era of smart phones.


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

[User] Some vegetables will cause sparks in a microwave. I have read that this will damage the magnetron, but I cannot find a description of the mechanism that would cause such damage. Is it true?

[Assistant]
As long as there's something in the microwave that can be heated no damage will be caused. You can even melt silver in a normal microwave you just have to put your melting pot in sand so the heated silver doesn't destroy bottom of the microwave.

Running a microwave empty (and assuming the oven does not have a high temperature shut off) will damage the magnetron. Simply because the energy that is supposed to heat the food will no heat up the circuit. But usually it's some other part of the circuit that would get damaged since the magnetron is already operating at high temperatures and has heat sinks and very often a fan as well.


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

[User]
ELI5: Where does new water go when it enters a container that already contains some water?

While giving my daughter a bath, she asked if water sinks or floats and I wasnt quite sure on how to answer. Where do the new water molecules end up when it joins with other water?

[Assistant] You can answer your daughters question through a simple experiment. Add dye to the water you will pour in then pour the coloured water into the other bottle filled with plain water. Youll see some interesting patterns form as the water continues with the same momentum then eventually all the water will be the same colour.


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

[User]
ELI5: The benefit of spending millions/billions on acquiring another company, rather than starting one themselves.

I mean like Amazon buying Audible in 2008 for $300 million or Walmart buying Jet.com for over $3 billion.

Why couldn't Amazon just start their own service rather than spending money on someone elses? Walmart has $3 billion to spend, why not invest that in themselves and make their own version of Jet.com?

[Assistant] You get their workers, machines, software, facilities, and customers in one transaction.  Sure, you could get those things separately in a thousand transactions, but that does it cost to execute those 1000 transactions?  When it's cheaper, you start a new business.  Plus, when you buy someone, there is not an additional competitor diluting the market niche.


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

[User]
Why is the imaginary number defined as i^2 = -1, rather than i = sqrt(-1)?

In case of i^2 = -1, there are two possible outcomes for i. So why wouldn't you just define i?

[Assistant] By starting with i^2 = -1 you are basically extending the algebra of reals with an object i that has that properity that is defined in terms of the operations of that algebra but if you start from the sqrt you have to deal with the fact it's multi valued.


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

[User] What state of matter is fire?

[Assistant]
_Fire_ is most accurately described as a _reaction_ - an event - and therefore is not a state of matter. While there are components involved that are in the solid, liquid, gaseous, or plasma states, fire is more than just the sum of the components. It is also a chemical reaction - that is, these components are undergoing combustion reaction, and releasing heat in the form of atomic or molecular emission, and black body radiation.

The analogy I've always used is this: what is a _foot race_? Well it's not just a bunch of people on a track with a starter's pistol. It's an _event_. The people are _doing_ something, and there is sound, light, and all that stuff going on. So asking "what state of matter is fire" is akin to asking "what type of building is a race?"


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

[User] ELI5: Why do announcements from the Emergency Alert System sound like they were recorded underwater in the 1920s and look so shoddy with fuzzy white letters on grey backgrounds?

[Assistant]
Because the law required them to be back-ward compatible with anything and everything ever invented. And people expect them to look a certain way, so they keep it up. And because it's a lot of time from Very Important Useless People (congressmen) to change the law for something that's really not that important.

America has a lot of laws that only exist because changing them is too hard. Did you know it's a felony to own a migrating bird feather?


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

[User]
[Diablo] Could the angels have invaded the Hells as effectively as Diablo invaded the Heavens?

When Diablo invades the High Heavens, his attack actually goes well until the player intervenes. Cancerous, evil growths are erupting; you're attacked by "corrupted angel" enemies; he makes it to his ultimate goal and drains the strength out of even the archangels.

Of course, Diablo has a big advantage. He combines all the Evils within himself, while Heaven has neither Malthael nor Tyrael fighting to defend it. So it makes sense Diablo would win.

So what about the times prior to Diablo 2 when the Prime Evils were off the board and the archangels were still all present and united? Could they have attacked the Hells and won against the outnumbered Lesser Evils? Could they have made the pretty blue heaven trees erupt out of the ground and force demons to fight for them? Could they have fought their way down to some ultimate weak spot and destroyed it?

[Assistant]
I'd say it's unlikely, even if the entire council had agreed to follow one voice and follow (most likely Imperius's) will for the entire campaign. The angels have always seen the eternal conflict as a defensive war, always pushing the tide of evil back into the pits it spawned from. They don't have the same motivation to fight that Diablo did once he was reunited as the prime evil. When all seven heads of the dragon Thathamet were as one, they were intent on ruining the last vestiges of Anu and wiping it from creation. Unfortunately, there's no way for Anu to resurrect in a similar way. At least, not without the extermination of the council and uniting their souls into a new soulstone. And that's not something anyone is willing to do.

Plus, Diablo's new form held literally all evil in all the universe, a spear point that no force could hope to stop. Even when the Angiris council fought together, they were not as united, nor did they hold the collective force of good that Diablo did in the opposite way.

It should be noted that angelic boots have trod on hell's domains countless times in the past. And there have been times it seemed like Heaven was on the verge of final victory, only to have the prime evils snatch it away at the last second. (that Diablo 3 animated film is a good example) But that's just how it goes when you're locked in a war called the Eternal Conflict.


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

[User]
Which animal species came the closest to going extinct and then successfully recovered?

Based on what I could find, the species that came the closest to extinction is the Laysan Duck (Anas laysanensis) which reached an all-time-low population of 12 Individuals and then rebounded to several hundred according to the IUCN. Im curious if there are any species that came closer to going extinct than this one.

[Assistant]
Cheetahs were likely down to a single breeding pair at some point, probably near the end of the last ice age.

All the cheetahs that are alive are virtually identical genetically, leading to a lot of problems with genetic diseases and abnormalities.  They're basically completely inbred.

That said, there's a debate open as to whether they can be considered to have "survived" or not, since they don't have adequate genetic diversity at this point to adapt to anything.  The first disease that comes along that kills one of them can kill them all.


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

[User]
How do those 99c-and-free-shipping items make any profit for the seller?

To clarify: I mean on eBay.

These sellers tend to be Chinese and have very similar layout/designs as each other.

As a five year old - how do the Chinese kids down the road sell their lemonade at a really low price while still making money even though their prices don't seem to cover costs.

Edit- although economies of scale might be one answer, there are some items which are even lower than .99. IIRC PayPal already takes .3 + a certain percentage as fees and just counting eBay and PayPal fees, the user is already selling at cost.

[Assistant] These items are also often used to gain five star ratings. If they sell a few thousand items for $1 and get a few thousand five star ratings, it makes them a trusted power seller. That way people will be okay with buying their more expensive items.


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

[User]
What does the coronavirus vaccine effectiveness rate mean?

What does it mean that (the coronavirus) vaccine is XX% effective?

As I understand it, after the vaccine is administered, the body produces antibodies. So why is one vaccine 60% effective and another 98% effective? Does this mean that after the administration of the former vaccine, only 60% of the patients produce antibodies?

If so, does checking the antibody test at the appropriate time after the vaccine confirm that the person is protected and that they are in the right percentage of vaccine efficacy?

[Assistant]
Lets say you have two different vaccine formulations; Vaccine X and Vaccine Y, and you want to test how effective they are.

To test the vaccines, you give 1000 people vaccine X, another 1000 people Vaccine Y, and another 1000 people a placebo. The placebo is just salt water, it does nothing.

You follow the 3000 test subjects for a period of 6 months, and you count how many in each group get infected during that period of time.

Of the 1000 people who got the placebo, which does nothing, 100 of them eventually get infected with the virus. This forms the baseline against which you measure effectiveness of the vaccines.

Of the 1000 people who got Vaccine X, only 5 of them get infected. 5 instead of 100 is a 95% reduction in new infections compared to placebo. So the vaccine is 95% effective at preventing infection.

Of the 1000 people who got Vaccine Y, only 40 of them got infected. 40 instead of 100 is a 60% reduction in new infections compared to placebo. So the vaccine is 60% effective at preventing infection.

Both vaccines are clearly effective at reducing the chance that a person will get infected, but Vaccine X has proven to be more effective than Vaccine Y.