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

[User]
ELI5:Why does the US Federal Reserve consider a 2% rate of inflation to be the sign of a healthy economy?

NPR today was discussing the US Federal Reserve and the fact that they were unhappy that the rate of inflation was below 2%. Why?

[Assistant]
Negative inflation is a disaster for an economy.

Let's say you have a dollar: in a low-inflation scenario (ie, the economy we have, around 2%) you can invest it and risk losing it but it might gain value, you can put it in a bank and get a little interest to balance out inflation but you probably won't lose it, or you can put it under your mattress and it will gradually lose more of its buying power. This encourages you to save in banks and investments where your money will go into the wider economy and circulate. Banks make safe loans hedged by spreading them out between a lot of people (ideally, anyways - of course the financial crash showed that wasn't always true) and investments put money into businesses at the risk of the business failing, but either way the money keeps circulating around.

Now, consider a scenario with deflation. If you stick it under your mattress, it will gain value with no risk of losing it; if you give it to a bank, they might have to charge you to hold onto it, because nobody would borrow money from a bank then unless the interest rates were nearly zero or negative, and investing is pointlessly risky since you risk losing all your money. That means everyone else will probably stick their money under their mattresses too, which means there isn't any money available to spend anywhere in the economy... which further increases the value of money relative to goods, and encourages more people to take their money out of the economy. That continues to get worse until either the government prints more money, or the system collapses.

High inflation is bad too, for slightly more obvious reasons - if money loses value fast, the cost of borrowing gets higher, prices on everything go up, take-home pay becomes worth less, etc... but it tends not to turn into a self-reinforcing spiral. So, ideally we want inflation to stay at low, safe, predictable levels.


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

[User]
[FATWS]

Is Buckys 1940s super soldier serum the same as Karli and the Flag Smashers or are they stronger then Bucky? Could one of the FS had used his hand to stop the shield from coming down on him at the end of the episode with his strength?

[Assistant]
Dr. Nagel specifically says that he derived his super soldier formula from blood samples (many suspect this to be from Isaiah's blood) and he "optimized" it. Isaiah would have been given a serum based on Steve's blood and whatever notes the US government had from Erskine.

Bucky is strongly implied to have been given his super soldier serum while under experimentation by Zola who would have had a different imperfect formulation based on Red Skull's blood and older notes from Erskine. Remember, Erskine further refined the formula after coming to America.

So, it's a different formula that's been refined extra and it's really not clear how they stack up in terms of raw strength. But there's other things than strength that determine the victor. Bucky has a lot more training and experience than Karli and her followers.


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

[User] [Diablo 2] So, I practice a strange and ancient faith. I'm a necromancer. I was hired by these rogues to kill this dead rogue priestess who is raising dead rogues... Apparently it's an "abomination" to raise the dead rogues. And they want me to stop it... I uhh... Do they not see the irony in this?

[Assistant]
To the Priests of Rathma, Undead are a tool. The Necromancers use that tool to fight against those that would disrupt the balance of mortal existence, and subvert mankind to their own ends. The Demons use that tool TO subvert.

There's no more irony than stopping a Smith from forging weapons for the enemy by using one of his own swords.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do injured people cough up blood?

It's often seen in film/books/etc. that when someone receives a chest injury, is smashed against a wall or similar, he coughs up blood or has blood coming out from his mouth. Does this actually happen? Why?

If the lungs get damaged it makes sense that blood gets coughed up, but what about injuries that affect other organs?

[Assistant]
They don't unless there's some lung damage.

But if you show how real injuries look, viewers whose minds haven't been warped by the far edges of the internet get grossed out.

Even then, making practical, believable injuries for the camera is expensive and takes a ton of time to set and reset. Plus, if you don't get it all done in one day, then the makeup folks have to make sure tomorrow's injury looks JUST like yesterday's.

Coughing blood just requires the actor to crunch a blood capsule in their mouth, and cleans up with paper towels. Plus, movie culture has already accepted that as a shorthand for "Internal/Critical Injuries".


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

[User]
[Futurama] How did Fry not die from 100 cups of coffee?

I've had 5 and I feel like I'm about there.

[Assistant]
He drank past the point of morality. You don't die instantly from a caffeine overdose. He killed himself with coffee and then kept drinking more coffee until he was more coffee than man. Then he reached a state of total coffee enlightenment, blurvana if you will, and at that point his body was sustained by pure spiritual energy (read: caffeine).

By the time that was all over the coffee level in his blood had returned to survivable levels.


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

[User]
Why is ADHD more common in boys than girls?

I realize that this can be hard to answer because a lot of the stuff I've read about ADHD mentions that scientists haven't narrowed down the roots of ADHD. (Especially concerning genetics.) However all reliable answers are welcome and appreciated. :)

[Assistant] There's debate on whether it is more common or whether it's just more easily detectable. Boys tend to manifest their ADHD physically, what we think of as typical signs of ADHD, while girls are more "mentally hyper" - they tend to be daydreamers or otherwise mentally checked out of what they are supposed to focus on.


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

[User]
ELI5 How Boomerangs work?

What about its shape allows it to return? How about the material? Does that change its trajectory?

[Assistant]
essentially a boomerang is just a pair of wings attached to a gyroscope, so, you know how when you try to turn a bike wheel while it's spinning the wheel resists your attempts to turn it? when you throw a boomerang it spins and has this same effect, the wings are pointed in such a way that one side pushes up and the other side pushes down, this makes the boomerang want to flip over, the spinning of the boomerang resists this action turning it into a vertical rotation.

the material is mostly irrelevant (except for the weight) it's mostly the shape and the spin that makes it come back.


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

[User] [Star Wars] How did Yoda lose to Palpatine despite having centuries worth of experience over him?

[Assistant]
I told him to his face: Pride.

The Jedi had spent a thousand years resting on their laurels. Even by the time Yoda was born (or hatched, or budded, or what-the-fuck-ever), the Jedi had taken to bragging about how they had defeated the Sith forever, and nothing would challenge the peace they had brought.

They didn't train to defeat us. They trained to show off how they had defeated us. They were showboats. And they were completely unprepared for battle against an enemy that wasn't just sparring in their Temple.


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

[User]
Is the threat of bacteria becoming fully resistant to antibiotics real?

What are the ramifications of this if it were to happen?
What are solutions?

[Assistant]
Yes

While the vast majority of bacteria are resistant to some form of antibiotic there are some strains that are being selected that are extremely resistant or completely resistant.  For example, Acinetobacter is a particularly viscous bug that tends to colonize burn patients and runs rampant in burn ICU's.  This bacteria is probably the best example of a microbe that is forming resistance to all antibiotics and is not uncommon in hospitals.  In the case of these patients we try combinations of less typical antibiotics in a last ditch effort to treat such infections.  Things like colistin and rifampin are combined and while they may not be effective to eliminate the bacteria on their own they may combine in a synergistic effect.  Other times they may provide enough of an effect to just prevent the bacteria from expanding in the body and allow the body to work to kill the bacteria itself.

On of the downsides of this is that while it may prevent death there are lots of side effects as a result of the inflammation from this damages the tissue surrounding.  I've had burn patients with Acinetobacter pneumonia after a burn that we managed to get through the infection despite it being fully resistant but as a result they developed pulmonary fibrosis and have very poor lung function.

Other bacterial like Staph. Aureus (MRSA)  have variable resistance patterns and is slowly and progressiveness becoming resistant to antibiotics due to selection.  Better education of patients and knowledge of the importance of taking a full course of antibiotics to prevent formation of resistant strains is helping to slow the progression.


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

[User]
CMV: If your goal is to limit your carbon footprint you should be buying old used cars and not new "eco-friendly" ones.

Buying hybrids because they're better for the environment really seems like a disingenuous action to me. If your main goal is to reduce your carbon footprint, then why are you supporting the manufacture of new products when used ones are still available?

The civics/geos/sprinters/metros of the 90s and early 2000s rival current hybrids with mpgs in the 40s.

A large portion of emissions generated through a vehicles lifetime come from the initial manufacture and transport too, so why wouldn't you just buy something that already exists and drive it till the wheels fall off?

[Assistant] Purchasing new hybrid and electric cars promotes the development of new eco-friendly technology. The people who bought the Tesla Roadster gave Tesla the capital to build the Model S. The people who bought the Model S gave Tesla the capital to build the Model 3. This support fuels innovation for the future.


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

[User]
I believe any argument for or against the existence of a god or deity based on scientific knowledge is irrelevant. CMV

My argument is as follows: a. The whole point of a God or Deity is that they are supernatural. b. Science deals with learning things about the natural world. c. Therefore, scientific knowledge of the natural world cannot be applied to argument in a debate.

Of course, my argument does not apply to any belief that relies on a God who, in order to exist or be consistent with itself, *must* have done something that has been proven wrong scientifically (for example, if the Christian god *must* have created the world in six literal days for him to exist (which I disagree with, although that's another CMV entirely), then the Christian god simply does not exist based on scientific knowledge).

I should make it clear, I'm not entirely sure of my own religious beliefs. I put myself around a 5 on Dawkin's scale from The God Delusion. However, the growing reliance on scientific knowledge from both sides of the debate is something I'm starting to get annoyed with. Many religious people (namely Christians Muslims and Jews) use creationist arguments to debunk evolution and therefore prove God real. On the other hand, we have a lot of arguments against religion that are based on scientific knowledge themselves. What I want, in the long run, is for everyone to just be objective and seek the truth, and that means stopping arguments based on false premises (from either side of the debate).

[Assistant] If God does not have a measurable effect on the world, then in what sense does He exist at all? If he does have an effect, why preclude efforts to measure and study that effect in order to understand Him better?


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

[User]
[The Expanse] Why get Martians problems when they look up at the terrestrial sky?

I understand that the change of gravity affecting strongly on their stomachs and well being. I don't understand why they should not to look at the terrestrial sky since they also have a Sky on Mars...

[Assistant]
Martians have only ever seen their sky through a window or monitor. They've grown so accustomed having a thin layer of glass separating them from the outside world (that they've always viewed as dangerous) that not having it can be overwhelming to their senses.

Martians and Belters both have a degree of agoraphobia.


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

[User]
[Star wars] Why does in the star wars universe where technology is heavily advanced land battles takes place like Napoleonic wars?(Ex-Attack of the clones)

In a universe where fte travel is possible and accurate guns, missiles and rockets are available why does the land battles look like something out of Napoleonic wars.

[Assistant]
Different eras and battles will have different answers. As for the early clone wars it's due to unfamiliarity with true warfare by both sides. The CIS used superior numbers and terror against weaker opponents to subdue them. Sending a thousand battledroids in formation was simply more effective at their goals than actual combat strategies which led to rushed programming during Geonosis and the default tactics used. On the opposite side the Jedi had hoped they could surround the droid starships on the ground and capture the CIS leaders at the arena. They had no contingency plans as they had only a handful of masters in charge that had even seen battle let alone a war before. They overestimated their own tactics and underestimated the CIS defenses.

Another example is the battle of Hoth where admiral Ozzel had screwed up the planned attack and forced a grueling advance under fire to bypass a large shield generator while a ground to orbit canon kept their star destoyers from being used.

There's plenty of good tactics used however the films cover larger battles that had extenuating circumstances involved. Most wars are fought with intelligent commanders involved and tactics from war colleges and veterans. The march slowly towards the enemy is an oddity not a normality.


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

[User]
[Marvel] What gave away that Forge was a mutant?

Instead of just a really amazing engineer. What did he do that made people think he was genetically different, rather than just great at building stuff?

[Assistant]
He can't explain how his inventions work.  They do, and he has to have a goal when trying to put them together (e.g. make a gun that launches squirrels), but when he gets the squirrel-o-tron working, he can't explain where the squirrels come from, nor how the "grey/red" selector works.  It just does.

Also, isn't he from the Days of Future Past timeline?  When all there were left were mutants?


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that normal pencils will rub off with an eraser, but color pencils won't?

[Assistant]
Color pencil pigment is carried by wax, which only smears around when it's written on something and then erased. You're essentially writing with a form of grease that carries a coloring agent, and like rubbing your finger across a greasy frying pan, doesn't remove it that well without some other form of chemical help (which would likely destroy the paper it's written on in the process).

Pencil leads are made largely from graphite, a naturally black carbon form that transfers very well to paper in a tacky powder of sorts. Because it doesn't require any sort of glue to stay in place, and because it doesn't need any sort of wax to carry a different pigment (which is composed of different molecules for different colours), you only really need pressed graphite in the lead.

Tacky rubber or plastic erasers remove graphite from paper very well because that substance sticks to graphite better than paper does, so it lifts it off and removes it in the little flakes that come away from your eraser as you use it up.


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

[User] ELI5 what causes antlers to become larger as a deer ages, even though they're shed and regrown every year?

[Assistant] Part of it is genetic. The antlers is designed to fork more as the deer ages. But it is also based on how much stored up energy the deer have. The bigger the deer the bigger their antlers will be regardless of how many forks they have.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does the shape of pasta seem to effect the flavor?

Is it just my brain playing tricks on me or can the shape/structure of a food alter it's flavor?  If it can alter the flavor, does this have something to do with the different ratio of air:food that's hitting your taste buds?

[Assistant]
The air content of food can definitely affect its flavour, yes.  A good example is milk foam on a specialty coffee's top where you have added air to make it frothy.

But that's not so much the case of identical pasta that's formed into different shapes. There it's more about the water content and the size and consistency of the chunks you are eating. A large-unit pasta like a linguine has bigger chunks of pasta and less sauce than a small-unit pasta like orzo (essentially rice grains) or couscous (essentially tiny pellets). Generally people don't chew pasta much when they eat it so the larger types are generally preserved until you swallow them.

Eating is a whole experience that doesn't just involve taste and smell. There's texture and mouth feel and moisture content too, and all of these things can affect the flavour you perceive. Even without sauce, a mouthful of very overcooked boxed spaghetti tastes very different from a proper 'al dente' plate of freshly made spaghetti, for example.

(Finally, some pastas like whole wheat spaghetti and egg noodles really do have different flavour because they're made with different additions and different types of base grain.)


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

[User]
[DC] I know there are different types of kryptonite, but what would physically happen to me if I touched them?

In some continuities, kryptonite is radioactive. Would the different colors mean something, at least radiation wise?

[Assistant] If you're a human, there is no difference. It increases your risk of cancer, but Luthor wore a kryptonite ring for years before it manifested, so even that risk is low, compared to plenty of mundane elements we have on earth.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why filling a cup at the soda machine the fizz doesnt overflow but when filling a cup from a 2 liter the fizz is very volatile and over flows easily and both drinks taste like the same carbonation level.

Wow so many different answers to this question and a lot sound like they could possibly be correct. So tonight Im going to test the cold beverage theory. Will poring cold soda into my tumbler full of ice result in less fizz bubbles. Up until now Ive only pored warm soda into the ice fill receptacle.

I will also test the suggestion to used watery ice instead of the cold dry ice right out of the freezer. Will the watery warmer ice result in less fizz. I will use my warm soda along with watery ice to see if I get a different result.

[Assistant]
Because the soda you get form a machine isnt quite the same as the soda from the bottle.

Restaurants get packs of the soda syrup that they hook up to the machine, which the machine then mixes with water and adds the carbonation right then and there as you push the lever.  This means that the carbonation is less throughly mixed/dissolved in the soda. There is less carbonation in soda from the machine than bottled soda.


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

[User]
[Aliens]can queens coexist?

On a shower thought post today about changing gender roles in movies what is the outcome.
A comment suggested Aliens but all the xenos morphed into queens and it got me wondering if more than one queen could coexist in a hive. Has more than one queen ever been in a comic or book?

[Assistant]
I don't know about the canon, but there are Earth-based colonial organisms that can have multiple queens when the colony gets extremely large.

Probably something similar would occur with xenomorphs in a prey-rich environment.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is there only one evolutionary tree on earth? Doesn't this mean that life is extremely rare?

As I understand it, scientists believe that all life on earth has a common ancestor, which formed through natural processes billions of years ago. Why is it that this only happened once? Just like there are different species, why aren't there different, unrelated trees of organisms that originated in a different time/place? If life really only sprung up once on a planet as fertile as ours, doesn't that mean that it's probably extremely rare throughout the universe as well?

[Assistant]
There are a couple of possible scenarios:

A)  Life formed only once

B)  Life formed multiple times and we've failed to differentiate because it was too similar (example, mDNA could have originally been a different life form which has been incorporated, or viruses may extend from a completely different origin point)

C)  Life formed multiple times and we've failed to differentiate because we have not yet detected the radically different life (example, silicon based life existing within the mantle)

D)  New life forms often, but since first life is abundant, the "new" life is regularly consumed by existing microorganisms.


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

[User]
ELI5: When you rotate a glass of water, why does the ice stay in its original position?

I assume this is a physics question?

[Assistant]
The ice cube isnt moving because you are actually transferring very little rotational momentum to the ice cube.

There is a tiny layer of water between the ice cube and glass that lubes the surface so that there is very little friction.

Remove the water from the equation and that layer of water exists to a much lesser extent if at all. So then the friction between the glass and ice cube is sufficient enough to transfer the rotational momentum to the ice cube and so it moves.


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

[User]
Why do transformers change into cars?

Wouldn't they change into something more useful to something on their own planet while they lived there?

[Assistant] When they first arrived on Earth they saw it was covered with machines like their home. They took local disguises to blend. It wasn't until later they realized it was the organic life that ran things here. On planets without machines they simulate organic fauna. (Beast Wars)


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

[User] ELI5: How did castles with deep moats and drawbridges get invaded?

[Assistant] The invaders constructed ladders and bridges over the moat and up the walls of the castle.   Or they stood outside and murdered everyone who came to the castle until eventually the people inside had no food.


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

[User]
ELI5: What impact on employment opportunities do the equal opportunity questions in job applications have?

I am currently searching for a job, and on every application that I fill out they always have the questionnaire at the end that asks about race, gender, ethnicity, veteran status and disability. Do these get factored into the hiring process? Does putting down that you are multiple of the classes increase your chances of employment? Does selecting the "choose not to answer" choice give you a better chance rather than selecting "male" or "white non-Hispanic"? I need some explaining on how this all works, thanks!

[Assistant]
In many companies it's not used in the decision; it's just used by an inspector later to determine that there was no pattern of bias against certain groups.

Some companies with an "affirmative action" policy will actually make a special effort to hire people from certain minorities and/or whichever gender they have less of.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are coins in the U.S. not sized according to their values?

Would it not have made sense for the coins to have been sized from 1-5-10-25 instead of 10-1-5-25? Do other countries also do this?

[Assistant]
Because their values used to be based on their metal content. Quarters and dimes were silver, nickels were nickel, and pennies were copper.

That became too expensive, so all the silver-colored coins were switched to copper-nickel and the penny was changed to zinc, but they kept the old sizes so the new coins would look the same.


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

[User]
[Thin Lizzy] Where did the boys go to in the first place?

We know that the boys are back in town, but why did they leave? Where did they go?

Were they arrested, since in Jailbreak Phil says that the boys don't like being in prison? Are they the same boys? But then wouldn't they be on the run from the bloodhounds in their trail?

[Assistant]
So the song was written in Ireland. In the UK and Ireland theres a tendency to call the city centre (or the cities cultural centre) town. For example Im going into town or Im going for a night on the town.

The song is referring to the latter I.e the boys have gone for a night out to enjoy the nightlife. So the boys havent actually gone anywhere (other than home hopefully), but they are going back out into town.

Does that make sense?


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

[User]
How much heat does the earth lose to space?

I hear a lot about global warming and it got me thinking that the earth must naturally lose a lot of heat out into space over any given period, so how much are we losing?

[Assistant]
The rate of heat lost by Earth is given by the Stefan-Boltzmann law. It states that the rate is proportional to the fourth power of temperature of Earths surface, multiplied by a constant and a physical quantity called emissivity, which is the ratio of energy radiated compared to a perfect object. With an average temperature of about 15 degree Celsius, or 288 Kelvin, as well as an emissivity of 0.7-0.9, the heat loss is about 270-350 W m-2. This roughly balances the incoming solar radiation, averaged 340 W m-2. Multiplied by the surface area of Earth, 4pi x 6370000^2 that is roughly 1.5 x 10^17 W. Compare this to 1000MW generated by a typical nuclear power plant, that is about 150000000 nuclear power plants generating the same amount of heat as the Earth loses.

EDIT: Interaction with atmosphere like scattering and absorption makes the real amount of outgoing radiation very close to the amount of incoming solar radiation. However, the order of magnitude would be still the same.


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

[User] ELI5 What would happened to someone if they signed a legally binding contract in one country and breached the terms by escaping to another? Can you be sued internationally for breach of contract?

[Assistant]
"Can you be sued" creates a lot of confusion here.

In one sense, they obviously can. You are in fact legally liable for your debts under the contract (or whatever it is you owe) even if you leave. The creditor can sue you in a court with the correct jurisdiction (either specified in the contract, or else governed by where you are/live or where the contract is performed. The rules of jurisdiction are well established.).

In a second sense, it depends if they "can" sue you because there are practical realities that involve more than just filing some papers in a court. The plaintiff would have to either locate you to serve you the complaint (which is hard if you're in hiding abroad) or else meet other criteria - some places let you sue someone if you publicize the lawsuit in newspapers where they are expected to be, some places let you serve family if you can establish they're in touch, etc. But generally, to sue a person, you more or less have to locate them so you can serve them papers. And even if you do that, if they're in a country that doesn't want to enforce your lawsuit, they won't. If they escape to Somalia, and Somalia's court system just doesn't feel like finding them and handling the suit for you, there's not much you can do. You could probably find a way to get a so-called "default judgment" at home: meaning, you properly notified them of the lawsuit but they never showed up, which means you win. But then you'd have to collect from them, which would be difficult if they don't have property in the country you're in. (If they do, the court can order the police to seize it for you). Some foreign countries will enforce this judgment against the debtor; some won't, and it's rarely a high priority anyway.

To sum up, you can get away with this the same way you can get away with a crime, but you can't make it disappear.


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

[User]
[eli5] why do waves go towards the shore at the beach?

and are they always going towards the shore far out into the ocean. if not why they go randomly?????

[Assistant] Waves slow down once they enter shallow waters. When a wave approaches a shore at an angle the nearest (to shore) part slows down more making the waves align to the coast. Offshore, waves are not necessarily aligned with the coast, amd they can  originate from wind fields far away (e.g. the swell in Mexico come from storms in the Southern Ocean)


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

[User]
[Tolkein] Elves seem like they're better than humans in every way. So, why do the armies of humans and elves seem like they're of comparable power?

Throughout the series, the armies of men and elves have seemed like they are comparable. They help each other in battles, and they sometimes act like rivals. Is it correct of me to think that their forces are relatively even?

If so, I don't understand how that can be the case, considering that elves seem better than humans in every way. They're faster, smarter, and deadlier. They have super human abilities, they can craft advanced weaponry, and some of them can use magic.

Shouldn't the humans be considered utter inferiors to the elves? Why don't the elves rule Middle Earth?

[Assistant]
Elves (especially the Noldor) do generally consider Men as inferior. In fact, Melkor/Morgoth tried to create a rift between the Elves and Men by playing on the fact Elves were nigh-immortal to fuel the jealousy of Men.

However, Men vastly outnumber Elves, and Orcs vastly outnumber both of them. So while Men may not be as skilled in combat, when united by a common cause the Elves could rely on Men to show up and fight. And so a friendship/respect between the two races was born.


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

[User]
Why is Internet Explorer considered a bad browser? What makes Google Chrome or FireFox better?

Edit: Thanks for the explanations everyone! I feel like I understand it much better now.

[Assistant] Imagine that you want to build a house. So you go to a guy that designs houses and he gives you a piece of paper with the house plan. Now, you have three builders in mind: Fred Firefox, Chris Chrome, and Evan Explorer. For the sake of the example, let's say you want to build the house three times (for whatever reason) so you give the same plan to all three of the builders. You watch over Chris Chrome and you notice that he understands the plan perfectly and finishes the house within days. You watch over Fred Firefox and notice that he also understands the plan perfectly, but takes some more time to build. but that's OK since it takes only a couple more days to complete. Now you move on to Evan Explorer. You notice that although you gave the same plan as the other two builders, Evan has difficulties understanding the plan. So you have two options: The first option is to let the plan as it is, in which case Evan Explorer would do as he pleases leading to an ugly house, not as you wanted it. The second option would be to go back to the guy who gave you the plans and tell him that Evan Explorer needs a plan different from the others, in which case you would lose the designer's and your time, plus the designer would need to be paid extra to complete the new designed specific to Evan Explorer, so the house can be the same as the ones built by Fred Firefox and Chris Chrome.


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

[User] [General Sci-Fi] Which alien race would be the best choice (for humanity) to reveal themselves to modern day Earth?

[Assistant]
The Culture.

Whatever the Culture Minds decided to do with us and what they intended as the result of revealing themselves, it would almost certainly result in an improvement of our society.

Edit: explanation added.


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

[User]
CMV: The "credit reporting" industry is a complete scam

I've been thinking about this off and on for years.

The "credit score" industry:
* Has a proprietary formula for calculating credit scores
* Obtains your personal financial information without your consent
* Is prone to errors in your personal information
* Is prone to hacking
* Will charge you extra money for a subscription so you get "more accurate" data
* Will deduct points from your score for paying off loans or closing credit card accounts

A good "credit score" is required to get decent rates from banks or lenders.

How is this industry allowed to exist? How did they get permission to obtain all of my financial information? Why can they seemingly deduct or add points to my credit score for whatever they feel like? Why is there no standardization for their proprietary formulas or regulation for their security protocols?
Everything about this feels wrong and has felt wrong for the last 10 years I've been aware of these companies.

edit: why does reddit formatting not work?

[Assistant]
Well, to start off, they **do** have your consent.  When you sign up for a credit card, loan, apartment, etc. there is a little provision in the contract that says they will be sharing your information with credit monitoring agencies.  Now, we can argue whether or not this is _fair_ given the way the market works and how you don't have many options where this clause isn't included, but you still agreed to it when you signed the paperwork.

The idea of a "credit score" isn't a bad one.  Lenders need to know how big a lending risk you are before they decide whether or not they want to lend you any money (or at what interest rate they should give you).  To determine that, they need to know you _history_ with other lenders.  If you have a habit of not paying anyone back (on time or at all) then you are a bigger lending risk than someone who has never missed a payment a day in their lives.  It is _fair_ that a person with good borrowing history get better rates and higher loan amounts than someone with a poor history.  Since there are so many lenders out there, you need someone to aggregate this information - it is too big a burden to ask every lender to maintain the records of _every other_ lender out there.

It is also worth nothing that the "score" itself isn't all that meaningful - it is a distillation of all the information the agencies have into a number that is understandable to you as a consumer.  People who actually _use_ this information don't go by the score - they go by the history of transactions you have with other lenders and use the individual transactions to assess your risk level.  The "formula" is meaningless in the world of real lending.

Now, there is a real discussion to be had about the security measures that should be in place to protect this data, both because of the Equifax hack and the general level of credit fraud in this country.  However, this is a discussion about how to make the industry more secure, not about its value to the lending industry as a whole.


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

[User]
[Mass effect] How did humanity conquer space that fast?

During the events of mass effect 1, it's been mentioned that humanity made contact with aliens 26 years ago. Obviously it helps to establish people from before and after meeting aliens but there's some narrative problems. How much of a planet do you have to explore before you can say that you have conquered it? How did humanity take control of entire criminal organizations, syndicates, economies and advertising when the Volus who have been around far longer couldn't? 26 years just seems too short of a time for humans to make peace with aliens.

[Assistant]
Humanity first made contact with aliens 26 years ago, but they'd already been an interstellar civilization for a long time prior to that.  Humans had discovered the Charon Relay near Pluto, and was using it to travel to other solar systems and establish colonies on other planets.  In fact, first contact with an alien species happened when a turian patrol came across a human ship activating a dormant mass relay, which was forbidden by the Citadel Council, because that's the kind of recklessness that led to the Rachni Wars.  So the turians destroyed the human ship, and then beseiged the nearby colony of Shanxi.  Then the humans sent more ships to liberate Shanxi, and both the humans and turians started preparing for all-out war, but the Council stepped in before things could get out of hand and brokered peace.

As for why humans could expand so fast, that's basically what distinguishes humanity from other species in the Mass Effect universe.  Humans are ambitious, determined, and incredibly versatile.  Humanity's rapid expansion has surprised everyone, including all the other alien species and probably many humans themselves.


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

[User] [Skyrim] How/Why are there beggars in Skyrim when there's so much loot available: anyone can literally pick up berries from a bush, butterflies from the sky, or even a bucket laying outside of a cave and sell it for money?

[Assistant]
Leaving the safety of the cities isn't exactly an amazing idea when you're poorly clothed and unarmed. Sure you can catch bugs or collect berries within the city limits, but they sell for very little. Probably around the same income as how much they'd get from generous people if they just sat in the market all day. They're certainly not going to make enough to pay for a room in an inn, especially when they also need to pay for food and drink to survive.

Then of course add in that many beggars have substance abuse issues through either alcohol or skooma.

You might be able to make enough money if you spend every waking moment picking up errant items (unowned otherwise you're stealing), ingredients and insects. But when you're running on probably one minimal meal a day, likely dehydrated with minimal sleep under your belt, are you really going to have the energy to loot all manner of minimal value items to barely pay for the essentials (and maybe make a 20 gold profit a day)? Or are you going to sit somewhat comfortably in the market where people may take pity on you, gifting gold, food and drink?


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

[User] ELI5: How do solid state drives (SSD) store and retrieve data?

[Assistant]
On a very basic level, an SSD is like a large plastic sheet covered with a grid of those bumps that you see on soda-cup lids. To write a file to the disk, you pop and unpop the bumps to represent the file in terms of 1s and 0s. To read from the disk, you run your finger across them and feel the pattern of popped and unpopped bumps.

These bumps are called flash memory cells, and there can be billions or trillions of them packed in several tens of layers on a silicon chip. They consist of microscopic transistors and capacitors, and they're 'popped' and 'unpopped' by applying a positive or negative voltage across them, which either stores a tiny amount of electric charge or releases it. To check the state of one of these cells, you can measure the voltage across it to see whether there is charge stored in that cell. A controller chip on the SSD receives read and write commands from the host computer and applies the necessary voltages to the right rows and columns of cells to write and read blocks of several thousand cells, called 'pages'. The exact format of the data on the disk is entirely up to the controller and may not be consistent across different models of SSD's -- so long as the controller implements a common protocol (SATA or NVMe, for example), the computer doesn't care.

These cells aren't perfect, and repeatedly writing and erasing a cell causes it to wear out and lose its ability to store charge. When this happens, the controller can no longer read from those cells, causing data loss. To combat flash memory wear, an SSD controller is smart enough to spread out the reads and writes across the many billions of cells at its disposal. This process is known as 'wear-leveling'. Even with this algorithm in action, a disk has a limited amount of read-write cycles before the probability of a data loss incident becomes more than negligible. This quantity is usually expressed in write cycles, where one write cycle consists of using every cell on the disk once. Because of this, larger-capacity SSD's take longer to fail on average.


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

[User]
Preferred Name Fiasco

I am 41 with a BS and an AS. I am in school for a certificate and for the first time ever have an instructor who refused my preferred name and insists on the name on the roster.

Now, I'm cis and my preferred name is just my middle name - I have gone by it and that's never been an issue. I never legally removed my first name because I don't hate it and again it's never been an issue.

If it were as simple as him misremembering, no big deal. If he never called us by name, also no big deal. But he does call us by name to answer questions. Personally, I assume it is part of his general rudeness and distancing himself from students. I am however tempted to bring it to the college's attention - someday someone will be deadnamed and have to fight with him. Universities in this area have preferred name policies to address exactly this.

Curious how academia is viewing this issue, and thoughts on taking any action.

[Assistant]
You've mentioned that you've asked multiple times that he use your preferred name. Have you asked in writing (via email)? If not, do so. Forward the instructor's response to the chair of the department along with a brief explanation that you've asked multiple times verbally & now in writing and the instructor continues to ignore your request.

Often, a policy at the institution level isn't developed until an individual situation brings the issue to the attention of administration.


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

[User]
Are physical computers Turing Machines, even though they only has finite amount of memory?

One of the definitions of a TM is that it has infinite memory. Since no physical system has infinite memory, does that mean that no TMs exist?

Edit: Grammar mistake in title, can't fix. Now I sound like a bumpkin :/

[Assistant]
Even if a physical computer had infinite (or unbounded) memory, that might make it _the equivalent of_ a Turing machine, but to _be_ a Turing machine, it would have to function in the specific way that a Turing machine does, by reading and moving a tape and executing state-based instructions.  A modern computer can simulate a Turing machine, as long as you're always willing to cough up more USB drives, potentially without limit, whenever it asks for them.

In practice, Turing machines aren't very interesting to actually run.  Modern instruction set computers are much better at doing real work.  Turing machines are interesting because they provide a mathematically tractable definition of "whatever a computer is, it must be at least this," and so we can use them (conceptually, not actually) to prove things about computability.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are objects floating in water attracted to each other?

[Assistant] It can depend on what kind of objects you use.  If you've looked at a glass of water from the side you see the water creeps up the side of the glass slightly (meniscus) from the surface tension.   If you float something less dense than water the meniscus will curve up.  Put two objects in the water and the floating objects want to go 'up' the hill. So they float together.  Heavier objects like paperclip will float if placed correctly on water but these have a downward meniscus. They fall towards each other for similar reason.  Put a floating object next to a paperclip and they repel each other.


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

[User]
Are using Median and IQR better than Mean and Standard Deviation for non-normal distributions?

I want to see which of my channels, Facebook, Google Search, Instagram, etc, have more or less order value variance. The idea here is channels with more variance are less desirable as my income would be more volatile.

[Assistant]
Better *for what purpose*?

Medians and means tell us different things, as do IQRs and SDs. What do *you* want to know about the data?

To carry this to an extreme, if your purpose is "I want to report the median and IQR" then that will always be better than the mean and standard deviation.


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

[User]
[Captain America] Howd that whole Cap is Hydra thing shake out?

I dont care enough to read the stupid comic but I wanna know.

[Assistant]
Still happening. It was caused by Red Skull using a sentient Cosmic Cube that's a little girl (don't ask) to change Cap's past to make it so that his Mother was a member of Hydra and he became one as well. The last real development was Hydra-Cap deciding Red Skull didn't represent Hydra's ideals anymore and that he was going to work from the inside to remove him from power.

So yeah, even Hydra Cap is enemies with Red Skull.

edit: Also Red Skull has Professor Xavier's brain and telepathy powers, once again, don't ask.


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

[User]
[Dragonball Z/Super] Is Whis faster than Instant Transmission?

In DBZ, Goku says he travels at the speed of light when he uses Instant Transmission. In DBS, Whis says he's the fastest being in the universe. Does Whis go faster than the speed of light? how does he travel?

[Assistant] Goku's Instant Transmission is literally instant, not lightspeed. It was a translation error when he said that in the anime. So it is much faster than Whis' lightspeed travel. However, Instant Transmission can only take Goku to another ki source (another person). He requires conventional travel or flight to get somewhere without anyone else. This is why he sent the self-destructing Cell to King Kai's planet, as it was the most remote place he knew of with someone living there.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is breakfast the only meal where it's socially acceptable to only eat a dessert? (Doughnuts, pancakes, cinnamon rolls, muffins, etc.)

[Assistant] Those aren't breakfast foods, those are foods that accompany coffee/tea. As our lifestyle has evolved to where we no longer eat a full breakfast, but rather we caffeinate and maybe eat something to go with it, pastries have evolved into de facto "breakfast" foods.


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

[User]
What determines which areas of the brain are damaged during hypoxia?

When the blood and oxygen supply is cut off to the brain what determines which regions of the brain are damaged? Does the motor cortex tend to be more susceptible to damage because in states of hypoxia the body is trying to move?

[Assistant]
Generally the areas damanaged depened on two factors

* metabolic demand
* blood supply

The first factor should be obvious. Neurons that have high resting metabolic demand are going to run out of energy first. Note that the brain *depends* on aerobic energy production and can't really get by like muscles do with anaerobic respiration.

The cortex and cerebellum along with the thalamus and pons are some of the most demanding regions.

Blood supply is important because areas that are served only by fine terminal branches of cerebral arteries are more likely to be deprived of oxygen if the cerebral blood flow decreases.

>Does the motor cortex tend to be more susceptible to damage because in states of hypoxia the body is trying to move?

Not really. The motor cortex is pretty active even when the body doesn't try to move. And in cases of anoxia, consciousness (and hence conscious movement) will be lost within 10 s in most cases.


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

[User] ELI5: How can an American president with radical ideas achieve anything, if congress remains at status quo?

[Assistant] Well you've hit the nail on the head, though. The American president isn't SUPPOSED to make radical changes, typically. He's the head administrator, not the dictator. In general, the American system of government is supposed to be a horrid cluster fuck, with intentional divisions between governing bodies and a system designed to put politicians at odds with one another.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Millions of years in the future, when the sun explodes destroying the Earth, will all the wizard ghosts be doomed to an infinite solitude in the pitch black of space?

From where I'm sitting, seems like a pretty bleak future.  Is there any silver lining for Nearly Headless Nick, et al?

[Assistant]
Ghosts are vulnerable to some forms of attack. They can be petrified by a basilisk, and controlled/ repelled by some spells. It's quite possible that the sun's expansion might be enough to destroy them.

Failing that, a lot of muggle legends claim that ghosts are tied to a physical object relating to their death, such as the building they died in. Perhaps there is some truth to this, and the destruction of Earth will also destroy the ghosts.


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

[User]
[General Horror/Fantasy] Has anyone ever had a purely positive experience with a Lovecraftian monster?

Not a situation where they made a deal, enjoyed some benefit for a certain amount of time, and then paid the price; just a straight-forward, 100% good experience.

Surely not all eldritch abominations view humans with contempt. And I'm not counting the Deep Ones; even though humans have successfully mated with them and their descendants have more-or-less become members of that race, for every 'success' there were a number who didn't live to experience that underwater life due to biological reasons.

[Assistant]
The Yithians (who aren't really *monsters*, but are scary and alien enough by human standards) are generally benevolent towards humanity and get along with us pretty well once we get over the biological and culture shock. The fact that they are literal body snatchers doesn't help either, though they are gracious enough to at least give it back when they are done and let us use their bodies in the time being.

Other than them, there is the pact the citizens of Innsmouth made with Dagon, who effectively saved their town and industry by providing them with gold and bountiful fishing in exchange for mating with his Deep Ones. Not exactly benevolent really but its not like Dagon HAD to fulfill his part of the bargain. Taking what he wanted wouldn't have been difficult.

But in general, most horrors do hate humanity for one reason or another. Or maybe hate is a strong term. Many view us as cattle, wheat to be reaped at their whim. Or pawns, pieces to be manipulated in some incomprehensible eon-spanning machinations. Maybe even simply a congregation, worshipers to feed some horrible alien ego. Or even less than that, they regard us as insects, below their notice. We don't care about ants until we step on one, and we don't regard them until they bite us. And then we proceed to exterminate the whole hive. Such are they with humans.


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

[User]
[The Last Airbender] Why didn't Zuko's left eye go blind?

The scar was so big to seem like the burn was deep in his face. It possible to keep your eyesight when you get a burn like that?

[Assistant]
This is an interesting question  is there actually any evidence in the series that he *could* see out of that eye?

If there is  its entirely possible that his father, a supremely talented firebender, specifically aimed to make the scar disfiguring rather than actually destructive. He seems like exactly the kind of asshole to brand his son as dishonored and also make sure he can perfectly see everybody around him judging him for it.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does putting clear (scotch/packing) tape on a frosted window let you see through it?

[Assistant]
Frosted glass is simply glass with a (chemically) roughened surface which causes the light passing through the pane to diffuse in all directions, instead of letting straight through.

(Scotch) tape is essentially a clear plastic surface coated with a thin layer of transparent adhesive. When you stick it to frosted glass the adhesive fills the small cavities on the glass surface which were made by the chemicals used to frost it. The adhesive thus smoothens the surface, counteracting any diffusion.

This also means that the tape trick only works on chemically frosted glass, or mechanically frosted glass with a fine texture, because the thin layer of adhesive can only smoothen out relatively small cavities in the glass.

Edit: thanks for the silver!

Edit 2: and thanks for the double silver and the gold!!


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

[User] What is scientifically the most filling/satiating food to eat before a fast?

[Assistant]
Of the three macronutrients, protein is generally the most satiating, followed by carbohydrate. Fat as such is not as satiating as the other two, but a meal's fat content does delay gastric emptying, which may or may not prolong the sensation of satiety. Also fiber.

The optimal carbohydrate source would likely be something with a low glycemic index. The postprandial elevation in blood glucose will then be reversed gradually, as opposed to a prominent spike in blood sugar followed by a rapid crash under the baseline level, potentially triggering another bout of hunger.


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

[User] ELI5: What is our body / immune system trying to accomplish through the stages of a cold (fever, sore throat, hoarse throat, stuffy nose, runny nose, sneezing, cough)?

[Assistant]
Fever - Make the body less hospitable to whatever's infecting it

Sore/hoarse throat - This isn't intentional. This could be caused by a pathogen infecting the throat tissue causing pain and imflammation, or from post-nasal drip running back down the back of the throat enough to cause irritation

Runny nose - A pathogen has infected sinus tissues, so your sinuses are generating a ton of extra fluids to literally flush them out.

Stuffy Nose - Pathogens or too much irritation from fluids (see above) can inflame the tissues, closing up your sinuses.

Sneezing - See above

Cough - An infection in the lungs is being attacked by the immune system and is supported by increased mucus generation, which then needs to be expelled. Or, post-nasal drip is going down the wrong hole provoking a cough reflex to clear it out.


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

[User] ELI5: How can astronomers tell how 'old' light is? In other words, how can they tell if they are looking at an object 10 light years away or 1009 light years?

[Assistant]
for close objects you can use parallax, which is the same way you get depth perception from binocular vision. Only with stars, you take images about six months apart, so the distance between your "eyes" is about 2AU. Basically, how much do the foreground stars move in relation to the background stars.

For more distant objects you can either estimate based on how fast the object is moving away from us(redshift), or you can calculate based on how how much light reaches us vs how much light an object of that type is supposed to make(standard candle).

Once you know how far away something is, you know how long light took to get from there to here, because the speed of light is known.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Do Superhumans Require less sleep?

Do people like Spider-Man, The Hulk, and Captain America need to rest as often as regular humans? They have superhuman stamina and metabolisms so would they get tired at the end of day or would they be able to stay up for days at a time? And if they do need sleep would they be good on less than the average amount?

[Assistant]
It *would* actually make some sense if they didn't need sleep as much-  that actually resolves a lot of timing problems like "how does Spiderman find time to do his job and patrol New York" and does make sense with superhuman stamina.

They do need sleep sometimes- we've seen them sleep- but them needing less is a pretty solid guess for a lot of things.


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

[User] ELI5: why even when youre dehydrated, do you sometimes have to wake up to urinate in the middle of the night?

[Assistant]
Dehydration is your body not having enough water, that doesnt mean that your body does not have any water. So you can still drink water, have you body ingest the water, and urinate even if youre still dehydrated.

Your body urinates all liquids you drink regardless of whether your dehydrated or not because dehydration is the result of an amount, or unable to reach that amount.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do we tend to listen to a new song that we like over and over again and then we cant stand hearing it anymore?

[Assistant]
Music taps heavily into the pattern recognition centers of the brain. Basically our brain loves trying to predict the next note, next verse, when the chorus will hit, etc. and the brain releases endorphins (feel good signals) every time it either guesses a new pattern correctly or is pleasantly surprised by a brand new sound.

The more we listen to a song, especially on repeat, the less surprises the song will hold and easier the patterns are to predict or remember.

Fun fact: this is also why if you get a song stuck in your head listening to the entire song 2-3 times in a row will usually get it out of your head.


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

[User]
[Lovecraft Mythos] What's the fall out off all this stories about ancient aliens in newspapers and scientific journals?

In more then one story the protagonist is left alive and with detailed reports of all ongoings with scientific accuracy (At the Mountains of Madness was a scientific expedition conducted and documented properly, leaving lots of details, evidence and at least one witness), or they even have flat out evidence for there stories (A Shadow out of Time ends with the protagonist having a millennia old book made out of unknown metal and paper written in modern English, confirming his account) and more often the stories end with a remark that further exploration and evidence gathering will be happening.

How did society react to the fact that apparently a race of ancient aliens lived and colonised the Earth millions of years ago?

[Assistant] In Lovecraft's stories, the encounters usually render the narrator insane, so the rest of society probably just ignores them. How could you believe in such unfathomable, impossible creatures without seeing them with your own eyes? And even then, you would still not understand them.


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

[User]
[Ant-Man/Iron Man/MCU] Hank Pym scoffs at the Iron Man suit but the military is obviously envious. Seems like engineering vs. 'pure' science. But what powers Pym's suit? Is it the particle? Furthermore, could Hank Pym have engineered something as good as Tony's suit? (spoiler)

When Scott Lang compares his suit to Iron Man's, Hank Pym literally scolds him for making such a comparison - basically suggests Tony's suit is just a child's toy. So he seems like a 'pure' scientist making fun of a (seemingly) brilliant engineer. Got that.

But... what is an actual comparison of the two suits like? What formulations make the Ant Man suit, which must have some sort of power source (talking to ants, activating the Pym particles, powering his discs I guess....), necessarily better or more powerful than Iron Man's? What is driving Hank Pym's opinion here - just that Tony is always a businessman first and an engineer second - but not necessarily a scientist?

Is Hank Pym unaware that Tony literally constructed a new element - or does he not find it very impressive because it was just his dad's work?

In Endgame (spoiler alert) they use the Pym particles to construct a time machine and then go back in time and wreak havoc. In that scene we see the time machine hooked up for extraordinarily powerful capabilities, thus allowing it to activate the particles and launch them into the Quantum Realm.

What powers Pym's suit, and (presuming the Arc Reactor provides more power because Tony's expends a lot of power, and also because it takes an obscene amount of really rare materials, and also because Tony would have had access to similar if not better technology than Pym - at least, would have had something similar?) what is the overall power difference present in the two kinds of batteries?

[Assistant]
>What is driving Hank Pym's opinion here

"Can the Iron Man armor ***shrink?!?***  No? Then it sucks. End of story."

Plus, Pym has a history with Howard, and he's fairly petty, so anything Stark-related is going to suck in his eyes.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why don't Jedi carry stun batons or blasters set to stun?

I get why they wouldn't carry a traditional blaster, as those are offensive weapons, but given they are supposed to seek violence as a last resort, wouldn't they carry SOME kind of stun-based weapon as part of their traditional "kit".

A blaster set to stun seems REALLY effective, and seems to do NO damage to the target at all -- it seems like technology the Jedi would embrace. Instead, if a situation comes to blows, the Jedi is going to have to use a massively damaging (albiet precise) lightsaber, which seems way more violent than disarming the situation by using a stun weapon.

[Assistant]
It's a matter of choice. For most Jedi, maintaining and carrying a blaster would be of little benefit. Jedi are generally precise enough to disarm and disable their opponents without killing them when they choose to. And they're fast enough that blasters aren't really speeding things up. (just making more noise)

Of course, some Jedi do use blasters; Ezra built a stun gun *into* his lightsaber, both for versatility and stealth. (relatively: it helped him avoid being identified as a Jedi, at least)


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

[User]
[DC] Does Batman also scare the Police?

We know that Batman uses theatrics to scare the more superstitious criminals, but what about the Police he works with? Are any of them genuinely afraid of him despite him working with Commissioner Gordon?

[Assistant]
Some, sure.  It's part of being Batman.  It also helps keep the cops honest.

Most of the good cops are fine with him.  You know he's on your side and everything, and then one night you're talking about a murder case to the Commissioner and *Batman's right behind you and how the fuck did he get there, the window's not even open???* and Gordon talks to him like he was there the whole time, and he asks a couple questions, and you answer, and then you turn around *and he's not there anymore* and Gordon just says "Yeah, he does that" like it happens all the time.  So you just try to pretend like it doesn't scare you, but you know it does, and you know that Gordon knows, and you're pretty sure it scares him a little, too, but neither of you is going to talk about it.

Later, the guy who did the murder is found on the front steps of the police station, beaten unconscious, tied to a bag full of evidence, and you know, deep down, that if Batman ever decided that you went bad, there's not a damned thing you could do to stop him doing the same thing to you.

When Batman started out, there were maybe six honest cops in Gotham City.  Today, it's at least half, and the ones that aren't honest aren't nearly as open about it.  And, once in a while, a cop shows up at the hospital with a story about falling down stairs, and there's one more honest cop in Gotham.


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

[User]
[Death Note] Can you abuse the misspelling rule to gain Death Note immunity?

Per: "If a Death Note owner accidentally misspells a name four times, that person will be free from being killed by the Death Note. However, if they intentionally misspell the name four times, the Death Note owner will die."

Obviously, I can't misspell my own name on purpose but what if I took an illiterate person for example and told them that they are writing down my correct name while giving them four misspelt versions of it?

The person would think they are honestly writing down the right name, so it would be not a purposefully misspelling, they don't even need to know for what purpose since the Death Note works regardless of the users intention.

[Assistant]
I feel the deathnote would treat it as intentionally misspelling if it was done by someone you were ordering around or that was talking instruction from you.

If you tricked someone who actually wanted to kill you into misspelling your name 4 times, it would definitely work for you.


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

[User] ELI5: How is it that the remains of dinosaurs and other ancient living things were able to escape the fate of being consumed by scavengers, and decomposed by bacteria long enough to become preserved as fossils?

[Assistant]
It's very rare. Fossilization is an extremely uncommon process that involves a lot of specific circumstances, including quick protection of the remains from scavenging and decomposition, such as by burial in a mudslide, not to mention certain forms of preservation like gentle, mineralized water flow (as one example) to gradually replace the original organic material with hardier substances that can persist through the ages.

The reality is that the *vast majority* of dinosaurs and other ancient living things were *not* preserved, not any more than modern things will be, but were destroyed by scavengers and decomposition. We only find the extremely rare cases where they were not.


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

[User]
Would paddling a canoe work if water had no viscosity?

Viscosity is the frictional force internal to a fluid.

What would happen if one was paddling a canoe in a fluid with 0 viscosity? Would it just be the equivalent of throwing water molecules through a vacuum?

[Assistant]
There are forces at work here other than fluid to fluid drag (viscosity). As you're swinging the paddle through the water, each water molecule in its path needs to somehow get on the other side of the paddle. Since the water has mass, and thus inertia, moving around the paddle requires some force. Specifically, getting out of the way of the way of the paddle requires positive pressure (to push the water out of the way), and filling the void behind the moving paddle requires negative pressure.

None of these processes require viscosity to operate. It's similar to the heating of the air in front of a space capsule entering the atmosphere, where the heating is not due to friction in the air as much as the air's inability to get out of the way fast enough.


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

[User]
[40K] What lifespan can a human have in the 40k universe?

Do humans have a longer potential lifespan than? I assume for many human inhabitants of the Galaxy in the 41st millenium have a pretty short/normal life span by our standards - living in the bowels of a hive or on a death planet doesn't lend itself to a long and lasting life.

But what about humans that live on pleasure worlds - do they have a longer 'normal' lifespan, i.e. 200 years etc?

Or can humans receive implants that extend their lives for hundreds of years (not including the Adeptus Astartes)? Inquisitor Veritus is said to have lived for over 1500 years, supported by power armour and arcane technologies. Is this something that senior members of the Imperium/rich planetary governors would also have access to?

[Assistant]
Depends. Most people won't live very long given the poor treatment. Nobles and major members of the army can live centuries.

Tech priests and psykers have the longest lifespans potentially reaching the thousands of years. We know Malcador lived possibly over a thousand years during his service with the Emperor, we don't have much knowledge of how much longer he was around before his service.


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

[User]
[MCU/Infinity War/A4] What happened after... (IW spoiler]

After the decimation, its stated that half of all living creatures were gone. We dont know how many creatures live in the universe, some planets will have many more or way fewer creatures than Earth. Since half were snapped away, is it possible that fewer than half of Earths population was snapped or more than half was snapped? I doubt it was exactly half on Earth alone.

Or was it half on each planet?

There are billions of ants and other insects on Earth, is it possible that insects may have taken a larger hit than Humans?

[Assistant]
We know from Endgame that it was half of ALL creatures, which means nearly all ecosystems are now whacked, and the universe is rapidly going to be decimated further by that.

Rare, slow breading, long lived creatures are now near extinct since they wont be able to find partners.

Fast breeding, short lived and common creatures will now rapidly take over due tot he lack of competition/predation from the slow breeders.

The universe belongs to Insectoids now.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do humans tend to open their mouth when they are surprised?

[Assistant]
Human gestures are dominated by two functions: Reflex and social cues.

The gasp is likely a reflex inherited from distant ancestors who out competed others by quickly breathing air as an automatic response to surprise. They were perhaps better able to survive a flood, or were better prepared to outrun a threat. Who knows?

For whatever reason, we are descended from gaspers who gasped when surprised.

But we are also born into a community of gaspers. We often want to tell others that our feeling is authentic surprise - which really can't happen if all we do is say, "I am surprised." Performing elements of our shared gasp reflex (dropping the jaw, opening eyes wide, inhaling, etc) is a way of telling others how you feel be cause both sender and receiver inherently understands what a gasp is.


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

[User]
If you remove a part of your internal body or organ, like a large tumor or kidney, what fills that gap they left?

Semirelated side question- if the air that entered the body cavity during surgery or in that open gap, does anything happen to it or do you just have a bubble of air in you now?

[Assistant] I can speak to the second question, the water in your body is pretty good at dissolving air. So small bubbles in the body just get absorbed into the bloodstream, and you eventually breathe it out. For example, the bends that divers get decompressing are caused by the dissolved air in the blood.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why has public distributed computing for medical research been greatly reduced?

5+ Years ago there were a bunch of research projects that let the general population 'fold' protein units to help find possibly links to preventing cancer but now those projects have gone. What happened?

[Assistant]
Usually, lack of interest over time.

These kind of projects don't have many funds (even not at all) to promote themselves. People who join don't compensate for the people who left.

However most of these projects are still active due to a dedicated community with a lot of computing power - and a good part of them are actually colleges, universities and research labs all around the globe.

Also, coin mining took a fraction of the people who leave their computer on for calculations.


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

[User]
So, any mass which is compressed past the Schwarzschild Radius becomes a black hole, but...

does that break down when you get to very small masses? Since a massive particle is a point and has no volume, does is have no S. Radius? Is is already beyond that point in some strange quantum way?

[Assistant]
> Since a massive particle is a point and has no volume, does is have no S. Radius?

I wouldn't call it a point, or even a particle, but just a 'quantum object' that has some behaviors that are analogous to what one intuitively thinks of as a particle, and other behaviors that are analogous to what one intuitively thinks of as a wave. To know when one can reasonably apply either analogy can be difficult without a very thorough understanding of quantum mechanics.

Your question is a good one, though.

General Relativity is an inherently classical theory. It describes the curvature of spacetime as calculated by the energy density and flow in some region of space. Mass can be considered just as internal energy, so massive objects curve spacetime to create what we perceive as gravitational attraction.

However, the equations of general relativity are not set up to determine the curvature of spacetime from quantum objects or fields. Instead, they only work for the classical approximation of large objects, such as stars, planets, and rocks, which have very well defined energy densities.

One can do quantum mechanics, and determine the behavior of a quantum object, such as an electron, in the presence of some spacetime curvature from a classically treated object. So one can work out what might happen to quantum objects near something like a neutron star or black hole.

What currently tested and accepted theories cannot do is answer questions like yours, which is how is spacetime curved by quantum objects? This is an important question, as all big classical objects like stars are ultimately just large collections of quantum objects.

There are many candidates for a full theory or even just a framework for a theory of how gravity is produced by electrons and other fundamental particles, ranging from string theory to semi-classical theories. The naive way of getting this all to work which was done for electromagnetism didn't work for the equations of general relativity, so this is really one of the biggest open questions there is.

Because the gravitational curvature produced by such tiny objects such as electrons is expected to be so small, it is exceptionally difficult to get any sort of experimental signal that would allow one to determine what theories of quantum or semi-classical gravity are correct or false.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does the president moving into the white house work?

Okay,  so like how long after being sworn in does he move in?
 Does he bring all his stuff from home
or does the white house provide it all?
  Does he continue paying for his personal house during this?
  Does he pay for bills in the white house ( water, electricity, etc.)
 Can the white house be painted (inside) and decorated differently to suit personal styles?

[Assistant]
The move is accomplished very fast - during the inaugural ceremony, in fact.  The idea is the old president will leave the White House as it was in his term - and a few hours later, the new president will enter a White House full of his family's possessions, ready for a decorator to begin immediately.  No time is lost.  It's quite a feat of logistics.

The first family, usually FLOTUS, is expected to redecorate certain parts of the White House to their style quickly.  Other parts, like the rooms on the tour, stay mostly the same.  Depends on the tastes of the family.

Edit:  The tour rooms, and public areas, do change but it's mostly an issue of circulating existing pieces and motifs.  Also of note, the National Gallery makes much of its collection available for temporary loan to the White House for the decorating of the Oval.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How much did Clone Troopers and Battle droids cost?

Since both forces are essentially "manufactured", you could  hypothetically calculate each battle as good or bad in the long run  based on credit to kill ratios; so if that's the case how many droids  does each clone have to destroy to have a positive dollar to donut ratio? How many credits does it take to grow a clone, equip him, and get him on the battle field? how much to manufacture a droid and his blaster?

[Assistant]
Given how prevalent droids were in the Star Wars universe it's a pretty good bet an army of them was far cheaper to mass produce than an army of grown/fed/trained/equipped clones. Even with rapid aging would still take years to manufacture them in large enough numbers.

Droids would be great for planets with toxic atmospheres, significantly higher gravity or when you want to drop 20 million killing machines around a major metropolitan city for an extended period of time. Clones would be far better suited for special operations, spying and intelligence gathering behind enemy lines.


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

[User] How is it that Hawkings Radiation can escape the clutches of a black hole when light cannot?

[Assistant]
Well first of all, hawking radiation is light.

Second of all, the radiation originates due to quantum mechanical effects from a point near, yet nevertheless outside, the event horizon, so it does not fall into the black hole.


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

[User]
ELI5- Why are propellors made of bronze?

I just saw a video about Nimitz Class aircraft carriers and it mentioned that the propellors are made of bronze.

What makes bronze better than the alternatives?

[Assistant]
They use a nickel aluminium bronze alloy for a few reasons;

Corrosion resistance is better than alternatives.

The surface finish lasts longer, helping with efficiency.

Resists breakage better on impact.


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

[User] ELI5: How do electronic cigarettes work?

[Assistant]
Electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) are actually very easy to understand devices!

Most e-cigs consist of a round lithium-ion battery with a "demand switch" built in. This switch turns the battery on when the user sucks on the e-cig.

The battery is connected to a filter-looking thing called a "cartomizer."

The cartomizer is filled with polyfill (like cotton) which is saturated with a suspension of nicotine in polypropylene glycol. This is referred to "e-juice."

In the middle of the polyfill there is a tube that the nicotine solution can flow into and air can flow through (via a tiny vent on the cartomizer) and an atomizer--which is basically just an electric filament like what is in a light bulb surrounded by this tube...from the bottom of the cartridge to almost the top so it can vaporize a LOT of e-juice.

When you suck on the e-cig, the battery turns on and sends power to the filament. The filament glows, and its heat vaporizes the e-liquid that has seeped into the atomization chamber from the polyfill and through the tube.

The "air" you inhale through the cartomizer is then mixed with the "vapor" that contains nicotine that was developed by the atomizer's filiment. You then inhale this vapor and not crave nicotine.


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

[User] [Fallout] Why does the East Coast BoS use inferior T45-d power armor when the West Coast BoS uses T51-b power armor?

[Assistant]
Power armor is rare. You use all the suits you have. After all, both are WAY superior to a combat armor.

The Brotherhood of Steel is based out of the ~~East Coast~~ West Coast, so they usually get all the fancy stuff. the far-off chapters have to make do with the remains.

Edit: Mixed up stuff.


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

[User] ELI5:How is it that sperm and eggs can be frozen for years to be used later but we can't freeze a living person without killing them?

[Assistant]
People, like strawberries, are huge and soggy and fragile. If we try and freeze them, the water inside starts growing bigger, which pops loads of the little balloons that we huge things are made of. Some of those little balloons are really important, and if too many of them break, the strawberries turns into mush.

Tiny things like human sperm and eggs don't have much water in them, and they are small enough that we can freeze the whole thing at once.


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

[User]
[The Matrix] Do cats exist anymore, or are they all just code?

A couple of cats appear throughout the Matrix movies and Animatrix, and it recently occurred to me... Are they even real? It's hard to picture a cat being hooked into the Matrix, so I've got to assume they're all dead. And if that's the case, are they just programs? What about other animals? What purpose do they serve for the Machines?

[Assistant]
There may be feral cats somewhere out there in the real world, but it's likely that they are all extinct.

The Matrix is only inhabited by the human cyborgs that have been grown in the baby farms of the Machine cities.

Apart from the BluePills, everything inside the Matrix is just code. The purpose of the code is to create a system that keeps the BluePills docile and enslaved.


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

[User]
[Community] who's paying for all this?

What jobs is everyone doing? Ie how are they paying for everything?

As far as we know,

Britta has a job, a bartender or waitress.

Pierce is rich.

What about Shirley (in earlier seasons before she has her shop), Troy, Abed, Annie and most importantly Jeff?

The job a fraud lawyer is now doing after being disbarred should have come up sometime.

[Assistant] Troy and Abed lived with family. Annie and Jeff lived on savings, although Jeff probably liquidated IRAs and tapped into lines of credit. Shirley was newly divorced and likely receiving alimony and child support.


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

[User] [Star Wars] How much did Vader hold back during his duel with Luke on Cloud City?

[Assistant]
Probably quite a bit. He was trying to turn Luke, trying to impress him with the power he could have if Luke turned to the Dark Side.

I also sort of see it like how dogs play with puppies. They're just rough enough that the puppy has to work at it but not so much to harm them. Sure Luke lost a limb, but Vader had lost 3 (or all?) of his, so a robot arm doesn't seem to big of a cost.


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

[User] ELI5: What exactly is the Bermuda Triangle? Why do ships supposedly get lost within it?

[Assistant] The Bermuda triangle is just a region in the Atlantic ocean that has a higher than average amount of traffic.  It is one of the busiest shipping areas in the world, and also has a higher than average concentration of flights passing through it.  As a result the total number of ships and planes that have gone missing there is higher than most other regions, but the number of missing per 10,000 ships/flights passing through that region is about the same as anywhere else.


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

[User] ELI5: How does a group of animators split the load to produce a uniform film when each one of them draws differently?

[Assistant]
For non-digital works they typically use templates and strict divisions of labor. One person (or small group) draws the outlines, another group fills it in, another group does the shading etc.

For digital works different animators are responsible for very specific items and then share their work. One person (or small team) will collectively create clothing or hair or skin textures. Another group works on the skeleton that you then put the textures on. Another group then works specifically on the motion and movement. Another group on lighting and shading.

They're using the same items (assets is what they're typically called). Skeleton team saves a model and all the other ones can download it for their use. Texture team saves clothing or skin or what not and every other team can download it and use it so that the digital assets are the same across everyone's department.

FINALLY there is editing that happens, just like a movie. Just like in live-action there are editors to make sure everything makes sense and that people look the same between shots, there are the editors for animation that ensure that there isn't noticeable deviation between frames.


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

[User]
Why a lot of software engineers say "javascript is garbage"

aside from not having a type system, why do you think js is an ugly language, be as detailed as possible, I genuinely want to know

Edit: I'm so glad that I posted here, since Javascript/ts is the language i use on daily basis it's so valuable to hear other people who are familiar with many programming languages share their opinions, so thanks everyone!

[Assistant]
Javascript is not a well designed language (but that can be said about a lot of popular programming languages). Few examples:

* variables are global by default
* the way objects and "inheritance" work is way different any other language in use (ES6 classes improve things, but they are just a facade on the old system)
* how `this` keyword works is pure insanity
* many operations that you expect to work do crazy things, like adding two arrays produces a string
* some operations are plain missing from the language - comparing two arrays means writing a loop yourself, comparing two objects is something you probably need an external library for
* there are not even integers in the language, all numbers are floating-point (that is usually not a problem, but when it starts to be, you are in for a ride)
* the ecosystem is quite terrible, installing hundreds of dependencies is considered normal, there are libraries for single line of code

However, if you want to learn javascript, go for it, don't let me and other people discourage you. There is a famous quote from the creator of C++:
> There are only two kinds of languages: the ones people complain about and the ones nobody uses.

and javascript is one of the most popular languages.


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

[User] How does a compass work on my smartphone?

[Assistant]
With a device called a Hall Effect magnetometer, which is a solid state device that produces a voltage proportional to the strength of a magnetic field (such as the Earth's) along a particular axis.

By having two sensors at right angles, the phone can determine its heading/direction relative to the Earth's magnetic field.


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

[User] ELI5: How come ice cream is soft when frozen but after you melt it and freeze it, it becomes ice.

[Assistant]
It has to do with the size of ice crystals.

Large crystals are uniform, and very hard.

Small crystals are just as hard, but not really connected to their neighbors. since there are so many cracks and seperate crystals as a whole the ice cream is soft.

So manufacturing wants to control the size of the crystals and prevent then from binding to their neighbors.  This is fine with two methods.

1) as mentioned in other posts, stirring the batch.  It introduced air, breaks up forming crystals, and prevents forming bonds to neighbors.

2) rapid freezing.  If you freeze the mix rapidly then the molecules don't have time to organize into perfect patterns.  And the crystals start to grow everywhere rather than just from the cold spot.

The refrozen Ice cream had neither of these, and so forms large uniform crystals with no weak spots.

Edit:. Boobs changed to bonds.   There is always an autocorrect you miss.  This was a weird one.


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

[User]
[Star Wars/Marvel/DC] What single character inserted into Star Wars a year before Episode II most disrupts Palpatine's schemes?

They arrive just on their own, with whatever gifts and tools they normally would have, on Coruscant. For things dependent upon setting like a Green Lantern ring/battery or Speed Force assume they just work.

Show your homework on how they annoy Palpatine's plans or die trying.

[Assistant]
Anyone with a solid handle on telepathy who gets close to the Senate could probably divine that Palpatine is up to no good, assuming that Palpatine's machinations don't affect the mind-reader the same way that they affect the Jedi, limiting their powers.

Force users can usually just read surface thoughts and emotions, with concerted effort to read much deeper than that. Someone like Professor Xavier or the Martian Manhunter would be quite adept and have shown abilities at mind-reading far better than any Force user has ever shown.

Mages like Doctor Fate and Doctor Strange could, depending on how their magic interacts with the Force, determine that something was seriously wrong with it, and might be able to use their powers to find the source of the issues.


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

[User]
Has Judith Butler's notion of performativity ever been defended as an analysis of race or other social constructs?

Can one argue on similar grounds that motherhood, race, or other kinds of constructs are performative?

[Assistant]
Required disclaimer: not philosophy (lurking sociologist)

For more on this you might enjoy the works of Erving Goffman, specifically *The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life*

Many other sociologists since have taken on performativity/dramaturgy in relation to a variety of social roles. However, Goffman is more purely theoretical than most contemporary American sociologists who tend to focus on empirical work and mesolevel theorizing.

When it comes to classic theory, "grand theory", and historical theory there is some interdisciplinary crossover. You may also find some useful cross over from Critical Theory frameworks.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is English the default language in the world?

I mean I know the British Empire was vast, but how come it did so well when there were Dutch, Spanish, Danish, French fleets that were just as advanced at the time?

[Assistant]
For 300 years British Empire had a lot of colonies where English was language of government and trade.

Then, in second half of 20th century, as British Empire disintegrated, USA took dominance on world stage.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it so difficult for companies to sue Chinese companies for copyright/trademark infringement?

I know it has to do with sth called shell companies. What are those and how do they avoid getting sued?

[Assistant] The chineese court system simply does not care about copyright claims. This is similar to how the American court system handled the matter a hundred years ago. So any lawsuit in the chineese courts regarding copyright will often get dismissed, especially if it is a foreign company suing a domestic company for copyright infringement. This means you have to sue the chineese company in a different country which have the problem of enforcement as a court can only enforce the laws within its countries boarders. And if the chineese company does not have any assets in other countries this does not help.


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

[User]
CMV: A US/NATO ground intervention against ISIS would only make things worse.

Syria is in a state of total chaos and destruction. With many different factions fighting each other, the war has no clear solution, and a NATO military intervention would ultimately only bring more bloodshed and despair. Even if we somehow managed to destroy ISIS, there would almost certainly be hundreds of thousands of mostly innocent people killed in the proccess, which could result in a major backlash (just like in Iraq), and ultimately create an even stronger and more radical fundamentalist group. Meanwhile, even if ISIS is completely wiped out, not much will change. The numerous rebel factions, other Islamist groups, the government forces, Peshmerga etc. will continue to fight each other, whether ISIS exists or not.

[Assistant]
ISIL is in terms of military power smaller and weaker then Iraq was in 2003. It therefore, seems likely that military intervention would have at most similar casualty numbers to Iraq. You are most certainly correct that this number would probably be over a hundred thousand. However, the war has already caused significantly more then that number with no sign of slowing down. It seems reasonable then that by stopping a war that currently shows no signs of stopping that the casualty numbers would be reduced.

You are correct that the humanitarian costs of intervention would be huge. However, the humanitarian costs of not intervening are almost certainly going to be much higher.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does water make some things more slippery(like condensation on glassware) and some things less slippery(like wet jeans)?

[Assistant] It all depends on the material you are working with. Water is actually a very polar substance, it's why it's a terrible lubricant. Meaning it has a high likelihood of being attracted to and sticking to most other materials, including itself. The one big exception is non-polar materials, which includes most glass and plastics. In these cases the water is trying not to Interact with the surface to the point where it will bead up and roll off.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do rockets go straight up instead of taking off like a plane?

In light of the recent launches I was wondering why rockets launch straight up instead of taking of like a plane.

It seems to take so much fuel to go straight up, and in my mind I can't see to get my head around why they don't take off like a plane and go up gradually like that.

Edit - Spelling and grammar

Edit 2 - Thank you to everyone who responded. You have answered a life long question.

[Assistant]
Airplanes have air breathing engines (edit: and wings). This is great, since it means they don't need to carry their own oxygen, but it's not as effective at producing thousands of tons of thrust with a smallish device and they can't run in space.

Rockets don't use air breathing engines (edit: or wings) because they're too heavy, not powerful enough, and don't work in space. As a result, they don't benefit in any way from being in the atmosphere, and since the atmosphere has air resistance they'd like to get out of it as quickly as possible - especially the lowest, thickest, parts of it.