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

[User]
[Star wars/MCU] Could Yoda absorb/redirect Thors lighting like what he did with Palpatine?

Can Yoda only control Palpatine lighting because its Force lighting or could he control any force like an explosion?

[Assistant]
The difference here is orders of magnitude. The most we see Palpatine do with Force lighting (in Disney canon) is electrocute some people. Meanwhile Thor's lightning took down many multiple giant space whales and he was using it to punch through Thanos' landing craft.

Yoda has not shown the ability to redirect firepower of that magnitude.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Im probably gonna anger like 90% of you here, but what were the other 65 orders and why did it take Grievous 66 tries to get what he wanted?

[Assistant]
There hadn't been 66 different attempts to kill the Jedi.

Order 66 was specifically the "Jedi have gone bad" order.

There were actually 150 different orders, none related to each other. In fact, order 65 was the removal of the Chancellor.

Order 66 was just stuffed in there with the other 149 orders, hidden in the middle as a way to make people just gloss over it.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] if general grievous was a really good fighter but susceptible to the force from higher up jedi warriors, couldn't Dooku or Palpatine stand back and protect him using their force?

Well if he can't use the force and he has a lot of trouble fighting obi wan or really any experiences Jedi, why doesn't he get some force backup from a force user on his side?

[Assistant] Well yeah, they probably could. But that's like sacrificing your Queen or a Bishop for a pawn. Grievous is that pawn for Dooku; he was made to be disposed of by Palpatine. And while he may not have a "Darth" title, he was as much a Sith as a non-force user could ever be. In *Clone Wars,* Dooku gives the location of Grievous secret base to the Jedi as a test for Grievous. And in *Revenge of the Sith,* Palpatine gives up Grievous (and Dooku, btw)  as soon as its convenient for his plans. And most importantly, if Grievous can't operate as an anti-jedi agent without someone there to hold his hand, his Sith masters won't shed a tear.


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

[User]
How do you make a golden age?

I was wondering if there's any cause and effect that creates a "golden age", where output of art, science, and philosophy are heightened. Are there general government policies that, over time, foster such growth? Does a boom in the economy start off a golden age?

This came up in conversation and we were wondering what kind of variables have to align that created things like the Elizabethan Golden Age and the Athenian Golden Age.

[Assistant] There isn't a rigorous definition of a "Golden Age", precisely because it is not a product of the time itself, but rather of later times looking back. For example, in terms of sheer technical virtuosity, quantity of output and diversity the Hellenistic period was superior to the Athenian "classical" period, but later ages decided the Hellenistic was a degeneration of the glories of classical Athens. So it isn't a product of production, but rather one of reception.


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

[User] Why does the uncertainty principle have real life repurcussions rather than just determining how accurately we can measure the location/momentum of something? Should the particle not still have a definite location, we just can't tell where?

[Assistant]
>Should the particle not still have a definite location, we just can't tell where?

Not really, no.

Something interacting with the particle is essentially performing a measurement on it (because the outcome of the interaction depends on, say, the particle's momentum). So the uncertainty principle must have a real effect on the behaviour of a system.

In fact, in most interpretations of quantum mechanics (including the most widely used, the Copenhagen interpretation), a particle often _doesn't have_ a definite position, momentum, or energy. Rather, it will have some probability of being within a certain volume, or within a certain range of momenta.

Whichever interpretation you use, however, the physics is the same.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why have the salaries of athletes, actors, TV personalities, musicians way outpace salaries of traditional occupations over the past 100 years?

In the peak of his career, Babe Ruth (highest paid at the time) made $80,000 a year in the 1930s which is equivalent to a little over $1 million in today's dollars. Today the highest paid baseball players make $30 million+ a year.

In 1937, the highest paid actor was Gary Cooper and he made $370,000 which is equivalent to about $6 million today. In 2016, Dwayne Johnson was the highest paid actor making $65 million in one year.

This is while the average salary (adjusted for inflation)for traditional jobs hasn't risen much in the same time frame.

[Assistant]
Increasingly, salaries are tied to how replaceable we are rather than anything about how hard our job is or how much work is involved. Cleaners work very hard and long hours, but you can get someone else in to take over a job immediately with little training if someone quits, so they are paid crap money. Doctors/nurses/teachers are always in high supply because they are jobs that people want to do regardless of the pay, so they don't get paid much either.

Celebrities that bring in lots of money for companies because of who they are as individuals are quite hard to replace. If you don't pay Dwayne Johnson enough to do the job you can't get another Dwayne Johnson. With movies, particularly, up until around the 60s (not exactly sure) there used to be a studio system where an actor/musician/director/writer etc. would sign a contract with the movie studio and they couldn't do a film for another studio until their contract was up or the studio allowed it - it's a bit like comic book movie franchises at the moment. Because actors were contractually tied to studios they couldn't demand ridiculous salaries or threaten not to make the movie, and when there are only a handful of studios the bidding wars can't really get that high when contract renewals come around.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How could the Rebel Alliance allow an untrained pilot to partake in one of the most important battles of the civil war?

This question is in reference to the first Death Star battle. How could the Rebel Alliance allow Luke Skywalker, an untrained pilot, to fight in the battle against the Death Star?

Think about it. Here's quite possibly the most important battle of their entire campaign, and they're allowing a newbie to fly an X-Wing. How did they know he could fly it? Or, that he wasn't a spy? Wouldn't they have wanted their best pilots for the task, and couldn't Luke have really screwed things up if they were wrong about him?

[Assistant] Because there is is no such thing as formal training for terrorists. A pathetic criminal organisation such as the rebel alliance will make use of any yahoo who claims to have the ability to use a gun regardless of the risk or the conveniences. It was luck that Skywalker was as good as he claimed to be, as many of his compatriots weren't.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do noise cancelling headphones work?

Been using them on plane trips recently and impressed by how much sound they cut out - how does it work?

[Assistant]
So as you know, sound is just energy causing vibrations in the air at a specific frequency. That frequency can be expressed as a wave with peaks and valleys. These waves will interfere with each other in a few ways put for our purposes there are two ways, constructive and destructive interference. Constructive interference is when the peak of one wave meets another peak, thus the energy adds together and makes the energy grow. Destructive interference is when the peak of one wave meets the valley of the other and the energy cancels out.

Noise cancelling headphones work on destructive interference. They use a tiny microphone on the outside of the headphones in order to detect outside sound. They usually focus on deep bass sounds as they have the best chance of penetrating the headphones. Then they play a sound at the frequency of that bass into the headphones which then cancels out the energy, thus silencing the bass and the noise produced to cancel the bass.


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

[User]
Why do stoplights flash red after a power outage instead of just restarting their program?

They apparently have power.  I dont understand.

[Assistant]
They very short answer is that they're programmed to do that.

In some areas, traffic lights are operated centrally or cooperate with their neighbors to maintain good traffic flow through a corridor.  If a light comes back up and can't communicate, whoever runs it may program it to allow traffic to flow on the major road (flashing yellow) and force the side road to stop (flashing red).  This allows nearby lights along the major road that are able to communicate to operate as if the "dead" intersection isn't an intersection at all.

Some intersections can't be allowed to have one direction flow continuously because visibility from the other is inadequate.  In those cases, the light is programmed to flash red in all directions, converting the intersection into a four-way stop.

Lights that run autonomously and haven't lost their programming will come up and operate as normal.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does a government "shut down social media"?

I often hear that during times of unrest or insurrection, a government will "shut down social media." How do they selectively disable parts of the internet.  Do they control all the ISP's in their country and rely on their cooperation? Is there an infrastructure issue? Thanks for enlightening me.

[Assistant]
In countries which practice broad Internet censorship, the government controls crucial parts of the network infrastructure--either directly or with the cooperation of Internet service providers. The government can direct domain name servers in the country to return no or the wrong IP addresses for certain domains, or direct ISPs not to allow connections to a blacklist of IP addresses.

Both methods can be bypassed (e.g. using DNS and a proxy outside the country), but they may still be widely effective when the majority of people do not know how.


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

[User] If inflammation is an immune response, then why are so many medicines that we take anti-inflammatory?

[Assistant] Typically it is to decrease the inflammatory responses in cases where it is inappropriate or overly strong. Sometimes immune responses can be so strong locally that they end up having systemic effects, which can result in non-productive inflammation that doesn't help in alleviating the disease or in healing tissue damage. You might also take a steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to help alleviate allergic responses or autoimmune responses, as another example.


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

[User]
What do tree-like beings like Treebeard or Groot "eat"?

Since they don't root, they would need to get what they need for photosynthesis from another source.

Actually, do they even do photosynthesis?

[Assistant]
Treebeard gets much of his nutrition mostly from Ent-draught, a somewhat magical concoction brewed by Ents. What it's made from is unclear, but it's likely that, like lembas, its additional properties are infused into it by the person making it, and that it is chemically indistinguishable from normal water.

Now, he also spends a good deal of time with his feet in place, taking in the sun, but it's unclear whether that's necessary or just something he likes.


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

[User]
[Destiny] just how powerful are Guardians?

Its hard to tell just from playing the game, as the lore is not exactly presented to the player in any meaningful way, but as the player is able to kill all manner of alien gods and what not, I'm assuming pretty damn powerful.
So how would the Guardians stand against other comparable figures?

[Assistant]
One important thing to remember is that the Guardians who are tasked with killing the upper leadership of Earth's enemies or attacking the Vault of Glass are the absolute best of the best there is. They're equipped with the absolute strongest (legendary) gear the tower has to offer, which is so rare it's given out sparingly only to Guardians with the skill to earn it. Some of them even have unique one of a kind (exotic) equipment which can't be found anywhere else.

The average Guardian isn't anywhere near as powerful. There's a reason humanity is confined to the Last City by the fallen, and rightly fears a new Hive invasion.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is there such a large architectural diversity in Detroit?

Why are some parts so built up and others so run down? I read somewhere it used to be a booming city.

[Assistant]
Detroit used to be the world's primary hub of automobile production with the big three US automakers (Ford, GM, and Chrysler) based there and building almost all of their cars there. In the first 2/3 of the 20th century this made Detroit a booming city, as you put it.

In the 60's and 70's, foreign cars -- particularly Japanese -- became more popular because of cheaper car prices, comparable or better quality compared to US cars, and better gas mileage than US-made cars (which was super important during the oil crisis of the 70's). Because of the competition, it became difficult for the big three automakers to keep all their manufacturing in Detroit. All of their expenses -- particularly labor and real estate -- was expensive and they needed to figure out ways to produce cars more cheaply to compete with imports. So all of that manufacturing business from the Big Three began moving to other places in the US that had cheaper labor (and weaker labor unions) or moving out of the United States altogether.

As Ford, GM, and Chrysler started moving manufacturing out of the Detroit area, that really decimated the area economically.

Today, large swaths of Detroit and surrounding areas are abandoned like a ghost town because there is no longer the economy and jobs to support what was built there 50-100 years ago.


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

[User] ELI5 If lab created diamonds are becoming cheaper than real diamonds and are a lot more durable than glass, why aren't things like watch glass and phone screens made from diamonds?

[Assistant]
Lab grade diamonds are relatively cheap, but making one big enough to cover a phone screen would still be prohibitively expensive.

They are also not more durable than glass - at least not like you're thinking. It shatters instead of bending, even more so than glass.


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

[User]
[Marvel/MCU] Let's say that I was injected with the Super-Soldier Serum -- and it was successful. How would my everyday life change, and what would I have to watch out for?

Somehow, I end up becoming peak Marvel/MCU human, which is blatantly superhuman in comparison to real-life humans. If I were to go about an average day, what would I have to account for -- and what would happen if I didn't adjust accordingly?

E.g. I wake up, go to the gym, go on a run, meet people with a handshake etc. Would I crush the hand of the person, if I'm not careful?

[Assistant]
You'd really just be...better at everything you do now.

No crushing handshakes, or anything like that. You'd be bored at the gym, since there's probably not enough weight in that room to push yourself to make gains, and you could do cardio for hours without getting winded.

Most drugs, including trivial ones like nicotine and alcohol are filtered out so quick they don't work. Good news? Withdrawal is super short and not too uncomfortable.

You'd need a new wardrobe, since you're likely much more jacked than you were before. That costs, obviously. But you do have supermodel looks and infinite stamina so you can put yourself in position to afford it.

Not to mention the change that comes with flawless looks, skin, etc. You thought you could dance before? Now you have the grace of a ballet dancer.

Sex. Better. Enough said.

Life would basically be on easy mode going forward. Still not bulletproof so you have to be somewhat careful, but all the things that scare normal people you can do with confidence, and if you do catch a scrape it will heal literally as fast as humanly possible.

All-in-all, it's pretty much wins all the way around.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do I have to eject an external disk before unplugging it?

[Assistant] Little Jimmy is coloring a picture with his crayons. If you yank the piece of paper away from him while he's thinking of what to draw next, it won't cause any problems.  But if you happen to pull the piece of paper away while he still has his crayon touching the paper, you'll ruin his picture.


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

[User] ELI5: How can a recession see a drop in profits and a rise in poverty? Where does all the money go, if not to the businesses or people?

[Assistant]
You're focusing on the wrong metric.

In a recession, there is less stuff being demanded. Businesses and consumers want to buy less stuff. This means people whose job it is to produce that stuff lose their job and then demand for stuff decreases further. We can measure this loss of productivity in dollars, but it's not that the dollars are going somewhere else. The stuff is just not getting made.

More generally, there is not a fixed amount of money. Banks create money through lending (which slows down during a recession) and central banks can also, in effect, create new money (which they generally do during recessions).


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Is the Millennium Falcon the fastest ship in the Galaxy at sublight or hyperspace speeds?

Can it outrun TIEs or Star Destroyers in combat without jumping to lightspeed?

[Assistant]
According to Han Solo, absolutely! Granted Han is also known for exaggerating a little bit. Though he really isnt that far off.

In Hyperspace the Falcon is among the fastest ships possible, in fact it just may be the fastest. Somehow Han got his hands on an experimental Class 0.5 Hyperdrive. Although Hyperspace is fast, it still takes real time to travel through it, and the Class of Hyperdrive determines just how fast. A good Hyperdrive are Class 1.0 or thereabouts, so that would mean the the Falcon is substantially faster. Now there are other ships with Class 0.5 Hyperdrives, but they tend to be bigger ships with bigger reactors. The Falcon is a much smaller ship with a much smaller mass shadow, and with the tweaking and modifications Han and Chewy have done means it can travel closer to gravity wells in Hyperspace without being pulled out, so it can take routes larger ships or those with less powerful Hyperdrives can't, in essence, it can take shortcuts others can't. So in that case, the Falcon is outstandingly fast.

Now as for sublight, again Han and Chewy have made some surprising changes. The Falcon is a YT-1300 light freighter. Essentially it is a cross between a big rig truck and a tugboat. Neither are known to be very fast or agile. But that is what sets the Falcon apart. Han has modified it to have very powerful sublight engines and superior maneuverability. It flys like a dedicated military snubfighter. Now TIE Fighters, especially Interceptors and Defenders will be faster and more agile, as will A-Wings, but the Falcon compares very close to an X-Wing, and for a freighter, especially one with armor plating that can stand up to a capital ships firepower for a bit, is amazing.

So maybe it isnt exactly THE fastest ship in the Galaxy in anyone area, but put all together Han definitely has an argument, and can unabashedly boast about it.


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

[User] [Star Wars] What sorts of political parties existed in the Republic prior to the events of the movies? What were their aims and platforms?

[Assistant]
Yes there were political parties, but they were not as regimented as the parliamentary or congressional parties you may be familiar with, as the Republic was a collection of sovereign systems instead of a government with direct rulership over various territories. Because of this various blocs of systems with similar goals and ideals would form for a period of time with shifting "members".

For instance long before the events of TPM several systems who's entire economy was based on singular segments of industry or trade were able to band together and demand representation. This led to the formation of the Trade Federation and the Banking Clan and the TechnoUnion.

Later on, a large portion of dissatisfied systems banded together to form a party that became the Confederacy of Independent Systems. They didn't start out as Separatists, but rather a group of like-minded systems that wanted reform in the Republic governance.

Even after the Empire Era and into the New Republic there were unofficial parties that cropped up. While officially each system was independent, generally speaking many were organized along 2 ideological lines, the Populists, who wanted a more libertarian approach to how the Republic was run, and the Centrists, who wanted a more centralized, stronger government over the systems. However, even those general party lines were not exactly united in their thinking.  For instance, the Populists had a sub division of an extreme right and left wing, with one wanting open voting to the general population and the other wanting to abolish the Senate and the Republic altogether.


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

[User]
[General] Is there any piece of fiction where teleporters are only used in absolutely crucial scenarios?

Now, I'm thinking of the old fashioned version of teleporters where they disassemble your molecules and rearrange them somewhere else. And in this process....we'll you're going to die, no way around that. What comes out on the other side is essentially just a perfect clone of who went in.

Now, is there any fictional setting that actually pays attention to this and treats it as an actual worry? Where if you want to teleport you know that where you need to go is worth your life.

[Assistant]
I remember a short story that did this really well.  Only data could go faster than light.  So they basically teleported a person to another planet to learn for 20 years.

The main character was the technician who had to push the button to "dispose" of the original.   The aliens who brought the tech didn't understand our problems with it.  For them the original would just commit suicide to balance the equation.

One day there was a glitch.  They didn't get the confirmation notice right away.  The original had left and wouldn't go back into the room.  So the main character pushed her out the airlock.


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

[User]
ELI5: What exactly happens in our brain that makes us "get over" an emotion like sadness or grief?

The question says it all. Human emotions (sadness, grief, happiness, etc.) can be very strong, but they also "fade away" over time. We explicitly remember all the details surrounding the emotion, but the emotion itself isn't felt any more. What really happens in our brains to make this happen?

[Assistant]
Our brains learn to dismiss stimuli in order to search for new stimuli. The same thing which makes us stop seeing the eye 'strands' that we randomly develop or not see our noses even though many people have their noses in their field of vision works on pain (sadness and grief being pain). This likely evolved to 'see tigers through the trees' kinda thing.

Put another way: our brain kind of goes 'ouch ok that's noticeable' then after a number of times it just goes 'oh yeah that thing' and eventually doesn't even notice it.

Of course you might get a particularly strong stimulation and re-notice the pain.


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

[User]
Does the human immune system weaken in the short term if you are not around the normal minor viruses and bacteria of other humans?

On a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Bro Scientist Joe Rogan theorized that the lockdown is weakening immune systems by instituting Social Distancing due to essentially "not exercising" the immune system, and could potential make Covid-19 infections worse.  What do we have for research that would dispute/confirm this?

[Assistant] None. If a person managed to isolate themselves for a couple of...decades, really, then yes, they might have a slightly weaker immune system than the average joe on the street, assuming everything else is the same. Your body is dealing with bacteria and viruses on a continuous basis, all the time. They're on your skin, in your hair, in your lungs and blood. If you shut down your immune system, through drugs or stress, then it can become weaker, and infection becomes much more likely and dangerous, but not necessarily because of exposure to new pathogens.


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

[User]
Why do I need infinite energy to keep a spring compressed, but a vice doesn't?

If I take a big strong spring and compress it between my arms, it takes a continuous amount of energy for me to hold it there.

However if I put that same spring in a vice and use some of my energy to close the vice, it'll happily sit there closed without me needing to add extra energy to the vice.

What's the difference here? Why do I seemingly need an infinite amount of energy to hold the spring closed but the vice doesn't? Where is that energy from me going?

[Assistant]
A vise can apply a constant force forever without expending energy as long as nothing's moving (and therefore, no work is being done).  Think of a ladder leaning against a wall - the ladder is exerting a constant force on the wall, but if the wall doesn't move, no work is being done and therefore no energy is expended.

But your skeletal muscles require constant chemical energy just to remain flexed, even if they're not moving.  Simply applying a constant force with your muscles means that you're burning ATP in your cells and will eventually weaken and tire, even if you never moved anything a millimeter with the force you were generating.


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

[User]
ELI5 How the hell the Nintendo Duck Hunt gun works!

Ok so on Nintendo Entertainment System the game Duck Hunt has always stumped me.

It has a gun, that plugs into the system, and you point at the screen and shoot ducks. How the hell does the gun register where you are shooting without some sort of sensor like the Wii or playstation eye toy deal?

All it does is plug into the system, it doesnt connect to the TV or anything else, how the hell?

[Assistant] When you pull the trigger the screen goes black for a split second, and then puts a white box where the duck is.  There's a very basic camera in the barrel of the gun, and if it sees that white box it registers a hit.


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

[User] [The Incredibles] Did Bob ever try to become a police officer or firefighter, so he could feel like he was helping people more directly?

[Assistant] He was supposed to be hidden and no one was supposed to know he was the former Mr. Incredible.  Just like Dash doing track, it would probably be much more difficult for Bob to hide his superpowers if he was working a job like police, firefighting, or military.


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

[User]
ELI5: Since it's illegal for children to purchase cigarettes, why isn't forcing 2nd hand smoke on them also illegal?

Specifically in the home,
where they have no choice but to breathe it in.

[Assistant] It's not illegal for children to buy cigarettes. It's illegal for shops to sell cigarettes to children. In other words, you can't make money off of children consuming tobacco.The difference there kind of defeats the parallel you were drawing.


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

[User] If irrational numbers cannot be expressed as fractions, then why can we measure pi as circumference/diameter?

[Assistant]
An important addition to the first part of your question is that irrational numbers cannot be expressed as fractions of **integers**. You can express an irrational number in many different ways as a fraction if you leave that last part out. For example, you could write pi as pi / 1.

And this immediately brings us to the answer to your question, while you can express pi as the ratio between the circumference of a circle and the diameter, at least one of those two values will be an irrational number. So the fraction "circumference / diameter" is not a fraction of integers.


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

[User]
CMV : I don't see the point of having a luxury watch (2000$+)

See, I'm a watchmaker and I can't really make the idea that having a luxury watch has a point. I can't think of dropping such money for a luxury timepiece, and I often fix them.

Some say it's an investment but to be honest the only "investment" to be made buying watches is in the really high end like Rolex Daytonas with Paul Newman dials, the ones worth to invest in are in the 400,000$+ Range and even then, it's not a sure investment and it probably wont get more then a 2-3% price increase per year.

Is there a reason to buy such a watch ?

[Assistant]
Well, the reason is quite simple really. The people who buy luxury goods (not just watches) do so because they can. For someone with millions in the bank, 2K is change. Quite literally change. And that change buys you a nice thing that comes with the added bonus of being a status symbol.

Now, not all rich people care about luxury goods, of course.

You can also find people who aren't that well off and still buy them because, once again, it's a status symbol thing. Ego. Showing yourself and others that you can (even if realistically you shouldn't).

Human nature is a curious thing.


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

[User] [Star Trek] Is the Federation's Klingon ambassador a really soft-spoken and diplomatic person like the other ambassadors? Or is he a massive badass who takes absolutely no shit, because the Klingons really respect those traits?

[Assistant] Well, there are three Federation Ambassadors to the Klingon Empire that we know of: Curzon Dax, K'Ehleyr, and Worf. All three of them, from what we've seen/heard, are capable of both being tactful and diplomatic, or bold and aggressive as the situation calls for.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is everything so much scarier at night, even ordinary stuff?

[Assistant] Humans evolved to be scared to venture out away from the group and fire at night. Humans have terrible night vision, and when we were evolving basic instincts we could easily be ambushed in night by predators. Those who were too scared to leave the safety of the group were more likely to survive and reproduce.


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

[User]
what are the large voltages described in particle accelerators measured against?

in press releases from the LHC, proof of the higgs was demonstrated by evidence occurring at huge voltages. what potential differences are these particles being measured against? and we read claims of gigantic voltages made in reference to the overall power of particle accelerators. what source are these voltages measured against?

[Assistant]
If you're referring to measurements in "electron volts," that is a unit of energy equivalent to the energy gained by an electron dropping through a potential difference of one volt. The mass of particles is often described in electron volts per c^2 , but the c^2 is usually ignored and we say that the electron has a mass of 511,000 eV, the proton about a billion. The particles in the colliders have a kinetic energy, also described in eV. When they have the same kinetic energy as rest mass energy, they are travelling at 86% the speed of light, and when the kinetic energy is much greater, they are going very close to light speed. The protons in the LHC have about 7 TeV of kinetic energy (in the rest frame of the collider), about 7000 times their rest mass energy, and in the center-of-mass frame of each collision they have about 13 TeV (I think it's designed to go up to 14 TeV).

The protons are accelerated to those speeds using electric fields, and those involve the extreme voltages you're talking about.


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

[User]
[The Expanse] How/why do maneuvering thrusters work?

Are they just jets of superheated stream? How could a Donnager-class battleship be turned around in any reasonable amount of time with just jets of steam?

[Assistant] Steam power can so thing like propel locomotives on earth, turning even a big ship isn't energetic a task given only it's own inertia to overcome.  Ever seen a steam cannon?  Same thing.  Real spaceships don't uses anywhere near as much fuel in orbit as they do going up a gravity well.


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

[User]
[Warhammer Fantasy] How easily tricked are the Skaven?

Let's say, hypothetically, I snuck into a heavily populated Skaven den, shouted at the top of my lungs "FREE WARPSTONE!" and then went back into hiding. Could that trick a great number of the vermin to storm that area, rioting and killing one another for Warpstone that is not even there?

This is all *hypothetical*, of course. I am most certainly not setting traps for Skaven to cull their numbers in Sigmar's name.

[Assistant]
Skaven are self-serving, cowardly and petty but they aren't exactly dumb. In fact they tend to be very cunning. They are masters of ambush and make the most advanced and dangerous weapons (dangerous to both target and user) known to man.

So generally no you aren't going to trick them. And they will probably find and eat you.


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

[User]
eli5: how are buildings with a rotating top floor wired?

i know this is random but its driving me crazy trying to figure it out. so there is a building in my city that the top floor rotated 360 degrees. how does the wiring, piping, etc. work? wouldnt it get twisted up or break as the top floor spun but the rest of the building stayed in the same spot? (obviously it doesnt but i just want to know how its done). if someone could explain this to me that would be fantastic and save me from hurting my brain lol. thanks.

[Assistant]
Because the floor looks like its rotating doesnt mean it does 100%. Usually its the outer portion with tables and eating area, to give customers the best view. This can be simply rotated via a disc mechanism under the floor. This is also not external. Its all done inside.

The Center portion of that area is usually fixed and does not rotate. Kitchen, bathroom, elevators, all are fixed. Also the ceiling is fixed where all lighting and air ducts go.

So you basically have a fixed enveloppe with a moving turntable disc with a hole in its center.

Its called a rotating top floor but its really overall fixed (would be super dangerous in windy situations) with an internal rotating mechanism.


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

[User]
Are there planets orbiting stars in between galaxies?

I heard that they are lone stars that are in between galaxies and I was wondering if it was possible for these stars to be solar systems. If yes, is it also possible for these planets to be habitable?

[Assistant]
Yes, some of those rogue stars will have planets, and there's no reason why those planets couldn't be habitable.

Some rogue stars are ejected by three-body interactions with supermassive black holes which give them an enormous velocity and send them flying into intergalactic space. These systems might have been gravitationally disrupted during the interaction, which could disrupt planetary orbits and strip them from the system entirely.

Other rogue stars are ejected through tidal interactions between galaxies. This is a much gentler process as far as the stellar system is concerned, and probably will not put the planetary system in any real danger. These planets could certainly be habitable. In fact, being away from the galaxy lowers your chances of getting hit by a nearby supernova.


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

[User] ELI5: Why has my town installed dual traffic lights at a busy roundabout, I thought the point of a roundabout was to keep traffic flowing and replace traffic lights.

[Assistant]
Roundabouts work very well when the traffic on both roads is approximately equal. Vehicles turning off one street create gaps in the traffic to let vehicles from the side street on, allowing an even use of the intersection.

But if one road dominates with only through traffic, then side street traffic has no opportunity to get onto the roundabout. So occasionally they need to put stoplights on the through street, to allow cross-street traffic onto the roundabout and clear.


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

[User]
Can hot tubs kill sperm?

I know that sperm can only survive at a temperature lower than the normal body temperature.  So then, does sperm die when someone is submerged in hot ( >100F) water?

[Assistant]
It won't completely die, not immediately anyways. Although the water is warm it doesn't mean that the gametes will just fall over dead. It depends on the temperature of the water, the pH, the salinity, how long it has been in the water for, and so on. Eventually it will die if left in the hot tub, because of osmosis and the majority of it's enzymes being denatured, not immediately though. Saying that don't spread your gametes in water, you're not a Pteridophyte. If you were wondering if "having sex in a hot tub" is an effective means of birth control; the answer is no. While the hot tub maybe hot enough to eventually kill the sperm, her vagina is not. The hot tub will not make you temporarily infertile either, because you're body does a good job at maintaining homeostasis, so the sperm will still be fertile.

TL;DR - Having sex in a hot tub is not an effective means of birth control.


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

[User]
What do you think about the new Netflix show The Chair?

It's about all/most of us. Thoughts?

[Assistant] I've only watched the first episode and got quite irritated at how dysfunctional, lacking in self awareness and disorganised most of the characters were, which probably means it's a fairly accurate portrayal of your average university department.


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

[User]
[DBZ] If mere humans were able to make a being as strong as Cell (as well as the other Androids), why was Frieza a threat to anyone?

Trunks was able to casually kill Frieza, his father, and all their henchmen, and yet he was powerless against Cell and the Androids. There is obviously a very significant power gap between Cell and Frieza and, yet, Cell was made from technology available pretty much anywhere in the universe.  If a backwater planet like Earth can create machines infinitely more powerful than the ruler of the galaxy, why did it take so long for Frieza to be dethroned?

As it stands, a good amount of the most advanced technology on Earth is based (at least in part) on Saiyan/Frieza tech salvaged from the various shuttle pods that landed, as well as a little Namekian technology.

[Assistant]
I believe Dr. Gero, their creator, was a genius.  He used his abilities to enhance himself, and then used his enhanced abilities to further modify himself, etc.

Cell was dangerous because Dr. Gero was able to analyze literally the most powerful fighter ever, and incorporate that analysis into his creations.  It isn't out of the question for other people in the galaxy to have his level of expertise, but nobody else gets to have Goku running around in their backyard.


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

[User]
[Doom 2016] Who did the ancient buildings uncovered on Mars belong to?

I havent beaten Doom 2016 (got pretty far but stuck on one of the bosses in Hell) nor played any of Doom Eternal, but its okay if someone here spoils either game for me in this explanation.

In the second(?) level of Doom 2016, we enter the Martian landscape where theres a lot of machinery and archaeological dig sites and what appears to be ancient buildings with carvings on them from a past civilization that are mostly partially buried in the Martian sand.

As far as I got in the game, I dont remember there ever being an explanation for what civilization built these, if known at all. Is it known or explained any in the game?

[Assistant] 2016 doesn't ever really explain it beyond implying it's parts of an ancient civilization that used argent energy. Eternal better explains it's a former sentinel prime city that's buried deep inside mars with a few outposts near the surface.


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

[User] How does the chemical reaction in glow sticks work?

[Assistant]
Well, firstly in terms of the history of glow sticks... Interestingly, it is probably the US Navy that was the first significant and major user of glow sticks (used as an underwater light source for divers)!

The US Navy had also invested money in the overall development of glow stick technology.

As for how it works, there are 3 major chemicals:

--------------------------------

Chemical 1: the liquid inside the glow stick.

Chemical 2: the chemicals sealed inside the glass bubble, floating in the glowstick liquid.

Chemical 3: Colored dyes.

--------------------------------

So... when you break the glass bubble inside, chemicals #1 and #2 intermix, and a chemical-bonding reaction takes place.

That chemical bonding reaction then releases energy.

The energy then gets absorbed by chemical #3 (the dye molecules).

The dye molecules then almost immediately settle back down to a less energetic state.

--------------------------------

BUT... In order for the dye molecules to get less energetic, and more calm once again, they MUST somehow release some of that energy they absorbed from the chemical reaction.

So the dye molecules release that excess energy as photons of light.

Photons which then get emitted and hit your eye ball!


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

[User] ELI5: How do those infrared thermometers work? How does flashing a red light on someones head give you their body temperature?

[Assistant]
The red dot is just a laser targeting tool, allowing you to easily see what you are measuring the temperature of.

They work by having a sensor that detects infra-red light. Everything gives off light, it is just that unless they are really hot, that light is too low in energy for us to see - it is infra (that is, below) red light. You can feel this, however, because it still shines on your skin, and is able to warm it up.

The sensor detects the amount of a certain 'colour' of infra-red light that is being given off, and the hotter something is, the more light it gives off. From that, the computer inside the device can calculate and display a temperature.


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

[User]
ELI5: How can black and white footage be colourised?

Im probably a brainless jacket potato asking this question but it has always intrigued me. Recently there was some footage posted with an old lady making thread or something and Ive seen the footage get upscaled and colourised etc and Im wondering how, if the footage is black and white, it can be transformed.

Side note:

Thank you all so much for your answers and comments! Also a massive thank you for my first ever award! Very much appreciated honestly  This really lends perspective on how much work people put in to colourising old videos!

Side note 2.0:

Thank you for the second award! Never thought that my curiosity would net me all this information or awards! You guys are all champs

[Assistant]
If you're assuming its computerized you should know its main done by human artists. The artist makes reasonable assumptions about what color a particular object is and then uses the brightness information that the photo has.

In some cases you might find works where a machine learning models was been trained to make a best effort.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that when I chew minty gum, I cannot chug cold water after without my mouth getting ridiculously cold?

[Assistant] Mint tricks your nerves into feeling cold when it's mixed with water (that's why holding mint gum doesn't male your fingers cold). Drinking a lot of water activates the mint excessively. Cold water makes it worse because its cold on cold.


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

[User] Why is the music so much better when you listen at high volume?

[Assistant] Fletcher Munson equal loudness contour curve. The optimum frequency response of your ears is around 85dB of loudness. So below that the bass frequencies seem quieter in relation to the higher frequencies. At 85dB it still isn't near flat or perfect, but it's as good as your ear gets.


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

[User]
[MCU] How and when did Thor find out about Loki being an adopted frost giant, and how did he react to that revelation?

At the end of Thor, Loki knows the truth, and Frigga knows that Loki knows, but at no point does Thor find out the whole truth. In The Avengers, Thor says "He is adopted," so he must have learned the truth sometime between the events depicted onscreen.

Did Odin and Frigga have a civil heart to heart family meeting with Thor? Did Thor have feelings of confusion and betrayal about the lies that he had been raised believing? How did that all go down?

[Assistant] Odin probably just told Thor in between the events of Thor and The Avengers. It seemed like it was kept a secret more for Loki's sake than anyone, so once he found out it wasn't really a secret anymore. By the time of Thor: Ragnarok it appears to be public knowledge.


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

[User]
[The Flash - TV] How does Flash know how fast he is going or how far he has gone? Spoilers from this week's episode

How does Flash know how fast he is going or how far he has run?  In many episodes he asks how fast he has to go, but it is unclear how he knows his speed, especially when they aren't reporting his speech to him.  This week he ran 5.3 miles without GPS / backup, then runs exactly 838 mile per hour seemingly without any external confirmation of his current speed.

[Assistant]
He's been shown to have an extremely analytical mind, to the point he's able to accurately measure wheel width without the use of any kind of measuring device.

He's been running on the STAR Labs treadmill, so he's gotten a feel for how fast he's able to cover ground at certain speeds, and on top of that he was running inside a city, which has standards for the sizes of city blocks. That takes care of the distance.

Speed is also likewise pretty easy - accelerate as hard as he can until he finally breaks the sound barrier, then accelerate a bit more until it "feels" like the right speed.

There's also the fact that, while not explicitly named, he's likely got access to the Speed Force which grants some degree of intuition on the speed the runner is going. Every time he gets up to a certain speed or readies a new stunt (see the train rescue from a few weeks earlier), his eyes crackle with electricity - and of course he's often trailed by similar lightning while running.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How was Darth Vader introduced to Palpatine's new government?

Obviously his identity as Anakin would be closely guarded, as that'd make Palpatine's handling of the Jedi inconsistent to outside viewers. The general public could never know Palpatine was a Sith Lord, thus making Vader's position...odd. Was he instantly Palpatine's right-hand to everyone, with some BS explanation, or was he slowly introduced over time?

Follow-up question; did anyone (especially high-ranking military officers) see the disconnect of Vader openly using the Force and Palpatine's history of the Jedi?

[Assistant]
Vader didn't have much of an official position. People in the Imperial military obviously followed him, but he lacked the official position of Tarkin.

Vader was the Emperor's personal boogeyman. No one knew what he really was, but the (relatively) few people that knew of his existence knew to not get in his way. If you were an Imperial, you were fine as long as you didn't question him. If you weren't, you better hope that he doesn't know of your existence.


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

[User]
[Hulk]Can Banner die of age?

Now, hear me out. I know that he is killable, from the one where Bruce gives Hawkeye a special arrow to kill him in case he goes wild (and he kills him). However, we all know that transforming into Hulk heals Banner. In Thor Ragnarok, he is bloody devastated on that bridge, but then Hulk kicks ass and Banner is alive again.
Dying of age simply means (aside from disease cases) that your organs are failing you. Just like having them squished on a bridge. Would turning into Hulk bolster his failing internals and have him live forever? Live longer, at least?
Now, I believe (I've heard but not personally read) that there's a comic that Banner dies of age and Hulk takes over permanently. But does that mean Banner is there, just unable to come back out, like he was for a while in Ragnarok? Because we saw on the bridge of Thor that the transformation can bring him back.

I hope you understand my poorly phrased and convoluted thought process.

[Assistant] The comic you mentioned is *Hulk: The End*.  At the end of the story, an elderly Bruce dies of a heart attack.  The Hulk, determined to stay alive despite Bruce's desperate pleading to let go and rejoin all of their loved ones, keeps going anyway.  Judging by Bruce's total lack of presence post-heart attack and Hulk's closing monologue, it seems like Bruce is well and truly dead, and if the Hulk ever reverted back to Bruce again, he would die as well.


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

[User] eli5 How people make fireworks that explode in certain shapes?

[Assistant] The chemicals determine the colors, but the key to achieving a certain explosive shape lies in how the firework's stars are aligned inside the shell. To make a shape in the sky, firework technicians simply set up the same pattern with the small pellets inside the packaged shell before firing it.


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

[User] [Warhammer 40,000] Would it be possible to make an Imperial understand why the Nazis are so despised, given how cruel, hateful and vicious the Imperium itself is?

[Assistant]
The imperium would probably think that the Nazis were dumb to waste ressources to mass kill peoples who were perfectly fine humans while they were loosing humans.

You could probably point the irony of them doing the same thing to everyone that reject the imperial cult while in a constant state of War.

They would probably tell you that unlike the nazis they kill in the name of the Emperor so its fine.


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

[User]
ELI5:What happens in the background when you click on the 'Safe to remove hardware' button in Windows?

And is it important that one does that before ejecting a drive? I have seen people who just yank their USB drives off their CPU once they're done without 'safely removing it'. And that doesn't seem to harm the drive or the computer.

So what does that 'safe to remove button' really do?

[Assistant] The safe removal function instructs the operating system to wait for all processes accessing a filesystem to finish and then "dismounts" the filesystem, preventing further read/write operations.      If this step is not taken, there is potential for read/write operations that have not completed or are waiting to fail, which has the potential to cause data loss.


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

[User] ELI5: What is Pi? Why does it exist? Why was it created? And why is it "infinite"?

[Assistant]
Pi exists because circles exist. Draw a circle of whichever size, measure its circumference, and then divide that value with the length of its diameter. The value so obtained is always a constant (as long as the measurements are accurate) and is called pi.
Pi is not infinite, because, as said above the ratio of any circle's circumference to its diameter is what is obtained as pi, and is a universal constant.
However, coming to the value of pi, it is true that pi has an infinite number of decimal places. We say that it is an irrational number. For calculation purposes, we use an approximate value of pi, that is 3.14 or 22/7.
Check out videos of vihart on YouTube on the same.


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

[User]
ELI5: if brain damage occurs after about 4 minutes without oxigen, how can the world record for apnea be almost 25 minutes?

I'm first year in med school but I'm afraid this is physiology, which is a subject I haven't started yet. Feel free to explain this like you would to a first year med student instead of a 5 year old if you want lol. This is probably a really stupid question, but I really don't get it.

What exactly is the difference between not breathing because unconscious (so brain damage after about 4 mins without O2) and apnea/free diving while conscious?

You're still not breathing but your tissues and brain are obviously still absorbing oxygen from your blood flow, gradually decreasing the O2 concentration. Without new oxigen intake, you should still run out of blood oxigen in a couple of minutes, and surely taking a deep breath before holding it isn't enough to make it another 20+ minutes? What's so different then from being unconscious, and why the two times are so widely different?

[Assistant]
People train very hard to reduce their body oxygen consumption and at the same time increase their lung capacity and blood oxygen absorption. So while for a normal person brain damage occur after 2-4 minutes the worlds best free divers with all their training and preparation can stay under water in calm conditions for about 10 minutes.

When you talk about 20-25 minutes that is not unaided. In order to do this the divers prepare themselves by breathing pure oxygen to fully saturate their blood and lungs for hours before attempting the dive. And still it is possible that the world records have only been possible using a variety of drugs to help increase absorbed oxygen and decrease oxygen consumption.


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

[User]
ELI5: What's actually happening when my stomach is 'rumbling'?

I'm fasting for a capsule endoscopy and my guts are going off.

[Assistant]
Because there's not much solid material in your intestines, it's basically gas and liquid getting pushed around when they move (which they do regularly, to mix your food and to move it 'down the path').

You're hearing the gas/liquid gurgling through digestive tract as this occurs, which is louder than squeezing and squishing the semi-solid mass if you had food in its place.


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

[User] ELI5: If two-legged dinosaurs evolved into birds, what happened to four-legged dinosaurs?

[Assistant] They went extinct, as did almost all of the two-legged dinosaurs as well. Not all theropods evolved into birds, only a single line that then branched out into all the species we know today. All the others, like T-rex or allosaurus, were simply dead-ends and have no living descendants today.


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

[User]
ELI5: Can someone please explain to me how exactly a 3-D printer works? My mind simply cannot grasp the concept of a printer that can make an actual gun that can shoot real bullets.

Edit:  Thanks for all of the useful information.  The concept is much clearer, even if I still don't totally get it.  And thanks to those who spoke up about not understanding as well.  I don't feel quite so old and out of touch.  :)

[Assistant]
First imagine if we could put a gun onto a deli slicer.  Then start making slices of the gun that are very thin.  1mm or less in thickness.  The 3D printer works in the reverse of this.

It will take something that is in liquid form, but will solidify when lowered to room temperature and exposed to air (like liquid latex, cyanoacrilate, heated up plastic).

So it lays down the first slice.  Then the next slice on top of it, and so forth until you have the gun (this is greatly simplified, but illustrates the concept).

To shoot real bullets isn't terribly difficult.  It just requires a hammer to strike a firing pin.  You could make one out of papier mache as long as you had a hammer (not taking accuracy or rifling into consideration)


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

[User] [World War Z] How would the Battle of Yonkers play out against a competent army/commander?

[Assistant]
A competent commander, with the resources present would have placed infantry on rooftops (to be evacuated by air) and had the  numerous armored vehicles drive around in formation and just crush zombies under treads en masse. They wouldn't possibly kill all the zombies but would effectively stall, distract, and thin the zombie horde, buying more time for evacuations to escape and allow for an orderly withdrawal of the military.  Also prevent the crushing effect on morale that the complete rout had.

If they had *really* prepared for it properly **in advance** instead of putting on a milspec circus, there just be a huge killzone of fortified firing positions and spotlights with ~~20~~ 40 million rounds of 5.56 to go around and catering and reserves for like 72 straight hours of fighting outside the city.


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

[User] [Heroes] What was it about the solar eclipse that triggered some individuals' superpowers?

[Assistant]
The Eclipse that we saw was not a natural eclipse.

At most, a total eclipse will only be visible as a total eclipse within a few hundred thousand square miles on the Earth, beyond that becoming a partial eclipse. The Eclipse that we witnessed was visible as a total eclipse everywhere on Earth in view of the sun, simultaneously, which is physically impossible. Also, The Eclipse that Hiro witnesses when he goes back to 1600s Japan is not in any records, nor does it coincide with the natural cycle of eclipses. On top of all of that, The Eclipse lasted much longer than a natural eclipse would.

Even though the moon might physically be there causing an eclipse, The Eclipse that we see cannot be caused by the moon

So there is something else going on. Something that could be argued to be supernatural in some way.  We do know that supers all over the world, for an incredibly long time, have heralded the coming of The Eclipse as an incredibly important event. These special Eclipses have some direct connection to the powers of individuals on Earth, but unfortunately we have no idea why. We see the effects, but not the actual causation.


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

[User] ELI5: what is Keynsian economics?

[Assistant]
In classical economics its all about supply and demand. If supply is higher then prices go down. If demand is higher then prices go up.

Keynes added the actions of a central government to the model, allowing management of overall demand, and preventing extremes of recession and inflation.

In other words, it recognises that governments arent exactly the same as other market participants, essentially because they also make the rules of the market.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do drug stores have tons of reading glasses in varying intensities (for farsighted people), but no pre-made glasses for nearsighted people?

[Assistant]
If you are nearsighted, you can see close up but not far away - so to do something like driving that requires good vision means that you need an accurate pair of glasses to fix your far vision. If you have the wrong strength of glasses this means that you won't be able to see correctly at distance. As you may not be able to always change the distance between your eyes and something far away enough,  the prescription needs to be perfect to see (think about trying to look at a landscape where everything further away than 50m is blurry because your prescription isn't perfect).

Being farsighted means you can see things far away, but your eyes get worse looking at objects close up. If your eyes are such that you can see well a meter away, but cannot read a book sat on the table on front of you, a pair of reading glasses will correct your vision so that you can clearly see something that is closer to your eyes. The differing strengths will alter this distance to different degrees, so a weak pair of glasses will allow you to read 20 cm closer, a stronger pair 50 cm closer, and a pair that is too strong may adjust your eyes too far and make them worse. With something like reading however, you can easily adjust the distance between your eyes and the object you are reading - so while a pair of glasses that are slightly wrong may not allow you to read something 30 cm from your eyes (such as a book laying in bed), they may adjust your eyes just enough to read a book 40 cm from your eyes, so you can just hold the book 10 cm further away to compensate.
So if you find you need reading glasses, it is not so necessary to have a perfect prescription, and you can happily use glasses from the pharmacy (which are typically sold in half steps of strength, where prescription glasses can often be sold in far, far greater accuracies - steps of 0.01  rather than 0.5)

An optometrist will test you and prescribe reading glasses properly too, just this accuracy costs money and many people will happily make do with store bought generic glasses.

One other thing to mention is how people wear glasses and how easily damaged they will be - short sighted people tlypically wear glasses permanently, so when you put them on in the morning you wear them for the day. Far sighted people however will only wear glasses when reading, and will take them off when using distance vision (such as driving). Because they are taking them on and off regularly there is a far greater chance of losing then, forgetting them, or sticking them in a pocket and breaking them. If you have to replace them regularly then the cost of prescription glasses will add up very quickly, so cheap generic glasses will save your a lot of money. For a near sighted person that will often wear the same pair for years at a time without losing them the cost is far more justifiable.


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

[User]
Why aren't RISC architectures like SPARC, Alpha and PowerPC used anymore?

A while ago, large companies selling non-PC workstations and servers switched to RISC CPUs, with some developing their own. Sun moved from 68k to their own SPARC. DEC moved from VAX to their own Alpha. SGI moved from 68k to MIPS. Also, IBM made PowerPC and Apple moved from 68k to PowerPC.

Back then people said CISC was obsolete and RISC was the future.  Right now SPARC, Alpha and I guess PowerPC are dead. MIPS is only used for embedded systems. Meanwhile, x86 remains extremely popular, though now running 64 bit code.

Why did all those RISC architectures fail?

Seems like besides x86, ARM is the only other really popular and architecture used on many different devices. It's used in countless embedded and Android devices, there are ARM systems you could use as a personal computer, and now Apple is switching to ARM.

Are there technical reasons why things turned out this way?

[Assistant]
I wouldn't say they failed you just don't see them as much in mainstream desktop / laptop machines. ARM / tensilica / AVR and their ilk's complete dominance of pretty much any embedded device goes to show that in many ways RISC won war.

On the consumer front i'll bring up one 1 technical reason and 1 non technical reason. On the non-technical front "Win-tel" (Windows + Intel) dominated the early PC space That combination outcompeted others. It became unprofitable to try and market something customer's that wasn't Win-tel

On the technical front. Intel made that lumbering dog that is the x86 ISA really shockingly performant. Under the hood these days most x86 chips are actually a good deal more RISC like then they'd admit as each of the larger x86 opcodes is broken down into RISC like "micro-ops" that are what the CPU actually executes.


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

[User] ELI5: Why isn't Braille just the actual letters instead of the format they use now?

[Assistant]
Many letters would feel extremely similar to other letters.

Even if you use all caps: E F, or C O G Q U D, or N M W, or Y V, L I.

Having six dots in a regular pattern that are either filled or not is much easier to discern.


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

[User] ELI5: Gases in space, do they form little spheres like tiny planets or move like earth clouds. How do they keep themselves together?

[Assistant]
The short answer is gravity. Gravity exists between any two objects but it is weak unless there is a lot of mass. In the absence of any other forces a gas, or any other material for that matter, will form a sphere because of those gravitational forces.

If the cloud is small enough it will be subject to other forces and won't be really spherical, but with enough size it will keep its shape more. Jupiter would be a good example of that.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Why is Harry Potter so famous?

So Harry accidentally rebounds Voldemort's killing curse, destroying said evil lord of darkness, but then he's whisked away by Dumbledore and company to live out a life of isolation with Muggles.  So how does everybody know about what happened?  Did Hagrid get too drunk one evening and spill the beans?

[Assistant]
Harry is the Lindberg Baby. He is what would happen if Amanda Smart Shat in Hitler's Eye but then disappeared again.

Imagine you are a wizard, living in fear. Then suddenly, the news comes out. You remember where you were, everyone does. This is the best news that you have ever heard. Your life is not forfeit, you can survive, and its all because a baby killed Voldemort. A Fucking Baby.

Butterbeer for *days*.

And then what? You don't get to meet the baby, you don't get to know who he is. All that is reported is that the kid has a scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt. THen he disappears.

So its 8 years on, you've got your life back, you are walking into a muggle store because you want, for once in your goddamn life, to have a jellybean that actually fucking tastes like some kind of jelly, not like earwax. You are walking out, not finding jelly beans you decide to buy lemon drops instead. You know, ones that don't swell to actual lemons when you put them in your mouth. You walk out and you see a kid with broken glasses and black hair. You almost walk past but his hair slips and you see a scar. A lightning bolt scar. So you stand there for a while, trying to figure out what to do. You briefly entertain whisking him away, but instead you walk up to him and hand him a lemon drop.

10 years later, that kid you gave the lemon drop to has just killed Voldemort for the last time.


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

[User] If someone has allergies does that mean their immune system is weak, or if they do not suffer from allergies, their immune system is awesome?

[Assistant]
Not at all.

An allergy is a complex immune response to a specific stimulus in which the body over-reacts.

Trying to quantify the strength of an immune system is also difficult.  It has a number of factors that comprise it, and can excelt at one type of protection, and suck at another due to diet, genetics, location, stress and other factors.


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

[User] [Star Wars] If Order 66 villianized the Jedi and made them seem like murderous traitors, why did Luke seem to idolize them when Obi-Wan mentioned them?

[Assistant]
Because they're ninja monks with laser swords. What's not to like?

Serious answer: the outer rim worlds probably didn't buy into the empire's line about Jedi too much. Anything "authority" says needs to be treated with suspicion.

Plus, Luke did have a relationship with Ben before ANH. They knew each other a bit, and probably told him a few tales.


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

[User] ELI5: A subnet mask and what it's used for.

[Assistant]
Here's a real ELI5 instead of the ELI30 the rest of the responses post:

Think of network packets like letters in the mail. Your address says which house you live at on the first line, and the zipcode tells the post office what general area you live in and what post office should service you. Subnet masks are the zip codes and tell a network device if you're in the same neighborhood or not. If you are in the same zipcode, mail doesn't need additional help to get to you. If you're in another zip code, your mail will go to the nearest post office to be routed appropriately.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What is the actual 'Jedi way' of dealing with an unarmed enemy?

In ROTJ, the Emperor told Luke to strike him down. I assume he's provoking Luke to tap into the dark side of the force by killing an unarmed opponent in hatred. Let's say Vader does not turn to the light side and kill Palpatine for him, what is he going to do? He cannot kill an unarmed man as that would bring him ever closer to the dark side, so is he going to talk the Emperor to death?

I'm sure during the Clone Wars, this weakness was exploited by their enemies again and again. So what is the correct way of dealing with this scenario if the situation is critical?

[Assistant]
First, your premise is flawed. The Emperor was never unarmed. He can shoot lightning from his fingertips and move massive objects with a thought. Just because he doesn't have a lightsaber or blaster in his lap doesn't mean he's unarmed.

As for the text of your question, the Jedi would arrest the enemies of the Republic or the council.


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

[User]
[MCU] Why did Sitwell mention Stephen Strange as a target of Project Insight?

Twofold question here.
1) Why was Strange a target in the first place? At that point he was just a douchey neurosurgeon who didn't seem like he'd be much of a danger to anyone. Both his power and his moral turn only happened because of a specific series of events that couldn't be predicted.
2) Why would Sitwell mention him by name? Strange was certainly famous *for a surgeon*, but there's no real reason for people to know his name. Even if Sitwell did because he was a significant target, it doesn't make sense to use it as an example. Was he somehow a household name? The only IRL neurosurgeon I could personally name is Ben Carson, and that's because of his political exploits, not surgical.

[Assistant]
On point one, violent purges are nothing new, Insight just automated and compresses the process. Instead of ganking all the rival politicians and non-compliant military leaders in the first round, the philosophers and artists in round two, and the skilled trades/intelligentsia in round three, Insight murders them all *right now*. The algorithms determined that Strange, even without magic powers, was smart enough, flush enough and arrogant enough to serve as a nexus of political resistance if left alive, so it resolved to not leave him alive.

On point two, Strange managed to brand himself something of a rock star miracle worker by A) being that good and B) carefully picking his cases for maximum 'wow' factor and minimal chance of public error. He's managed to snag headlines with his antics, quite likely via self promotion; much like how people know Carson because he put his name out there, Strange also craved the applause and would seek out the spotlight, making him more than just some random neurosurgeon in the public eye.


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

[User] ELI5: How is US the world's largest economy but still in so much debt?

[Assistant]
Because the US government is not like a household. That debt is not like a person's personal debt.  Start by thinking about this question:  where does money come from, in the first place? Which leads to realizing that the government makes it. The government makes money. But if the government just held on to that money, then what? How would people get the money they need? How would businesses  function?

So the government has to spend the money to get it out into the economy. It's called debt...but maybe we should call it something else?

Also,
Most US government debt is held in Treasury bonds, which are bought predominantly by US citizens. So, we are 'in 'debt' to ourselves.


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

[User]
ELI5: I went to a dueling piano bar on Saturday night.. How do those guys know all those songs?

The basic set up is two guys playing pianos, you give them $5 with a note of what song you want to hear and they play/sing it.

How do they know so many songs? I get knowing the classics, but it seemed like they were pretty up-to-date on new stuff as well. Not only did they know the piano, they also seemed to know every single word. Like, the actually lyrics, not "every single word" in the way I know the words to songs.

I know that at least one of them had an iPad by their piano, which I'm sure was helping in some way, but even so to play, sing, and read off an ipad at the same time seems insane. If you can do that, you shouldn't be in a bar in Long Beach.

I guess more generally my question is: Is there some trick to this, or are they really that insanely talented?

[Assistant]
The best way to explain this is to say that they take shortcuts. Most pop songs revolve around a fundamental "cadence" or "flow of one chord to another" these cadences are founded in music theory, so if you have a good understanding of music theory you can play the backbone structure of a song in no time. You ever heard the 4 chord song by axis of awesome?

Go to YouTube and type in "4 chord song axis of awesome" you'll see how it works.


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

[User]
[Disney/DC] Would Scrooge McDuck be a force of good or bad if he had the Orange Power Ring?

Scrooge is, of course, known for his greed; however, he's also known for his honesty and his belief that money should be earned legitimately.  Could his moral code help him to become a "positive force" of greed (perhaps with some help from the blue lanterns)?

[Assistant]
Without the blue lanterns, the Orange light would overwhelm his normal personality. Money should be earned legitimately, and money needs to maintain it's value but he would crave it endlessly.

This would lead him to be more aggressive than ever with his business. Corporate take overs and monopolies are legitimately earning to him.

Eventually, the world would be ruled by him and his corporation. After he acquires all the money in the world, who knows where his desire will turn or how much he will squeeze his workers for (he is known to be incredibly cheap).


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

[User] [Batman] Just how dangerous really is the Joker?

[Assistant]
The Joker is willing to do anything.  Joker once wanted Batman to come to Arkham so stabbed a girls eyes out with a sharpened pencil while on the phone with him. Joker is one of (if not the most) dangerous person on the planet. He is a tactical and strategic genius, a very accomplished chemist, a master manipulator, he fears nothing (Scarecrow sprayed him with Fear Toxin and the Joker proceeded to beat him with a chair), finds genuine humor in violence and death, a surprisingly agile and competent hand to hand fighter (sometimes Batman forgets just how fast he is), and the most dangerous thing about him is his drive. He will stop at nothing to get the last laugh. He doesn't need to kill you to win, instead he will set your family on fire in front of you and roast marshmallows and then move on to your friends and THEIR families. He'd rather destroy a person from the inside out.

Well at least Batman.


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

[User] [General Post-Apocalypse] Why is everyone wearing what appears to be a combination of fetish-gear and football equipment? Were the only two buildings left standing a bondage club and a sporting goods store?

[Assistant] Football equipment is readily available lightweight armor. As for the fetish gear, people with a high pain threshold were more likely to endure and make it through the apocalypse, some people had those leathers for years before the bombs dropped.


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

[User]
Advice for philosophy undergrad

Hi, Im about to start my undergrad in philosophy and just wanted to know if anyone has general advice for this, thanks in advance.

[Assistant]
* Do the reading.

* Use the library.

* Take notes in the margins of your books in pencil.  If you write in pen you're going to go back in 2 years and call yourself a dumbass.

* Organize your notes, if you use notebooks.  One notebook per class.  DO NOT take notes for multiple classes in the same notebook.

* Use office hours.  Visit your professors during office hours at least once a month.

* Try to learn the systems of each philosopher before criticizing them.  Make internal critiques of the authors you read, not external critiques.

* Join reading groups.  Form a reading group.  Talk to students in your class outside of class.

* Undergrad is likely going to be the best years of your life.  **Enjoy it.**  Talk to people.  Leave your room.


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

[User] [Hulk] What are Bruce Banners most impressive feats done without the Hulk?

[Assistant]
Well, he's a super genius. He regularly invents things that are inconceivable to regular scientists. In the comics he invented the Gamma bomb that turned him into the Hulk. (It wasn't nuclear, but with the same initial destructive capacity and zero fallout) In fact, the only reason he had the accident was because an enemy spy working in the lab didn't halt the countdown. He was considered dangerous enough to assassinate. On top of that he built a bunker to contain the Hulk (back when he transformed every night) and device to transform himself into the Hulk. (It worked the other way for a while as well, but the Hulk built up a tolerance.)

That's just his first fifty issues or so. Since then he's gone full Super Genius; He stands up to the Son of the Hulk with a personal shield that feeds on Jr's powers. (He can also use it to augment his strength quite a bit) and he carries a personal teleportation device. And of course he does the whole hacker routine every now and then.

Oh, and basically any anti-Hulk tech that's every actually worked, Banner helped with.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is the sand in the Sahara desert not like regular soil, and where does it come from?

[Assistant]
Because no sand is like regular soil. Soil is from the decomposing of biological matter. Sand is from the erosion of stone, and the breakdown of corral by angel fish and other corral eaters.

The Sand in the Sahara come from when it was the bottom of a shallow sea, and the wind erosion of rock outcroppings.


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

[User] [Spider-Man] If Spider-Man got his powers by being bitten by a radioactive spider, and Spider-Man has radioactive blood, what happens if you get bitten by Spider-Man?

[Assistant]
Back in the Spider Island story, Mary Jane was unusually resistant to the disease that was turning people into spider-people.

Being bitten by a radioactive Spider-Man might be analogous to a vaccine against developing powers.


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

[User]
[Doctor Who] How did Captain Jack Harkness turn into the big head?

Also, how did he manage to live for so long without the Doctor realising who he was?

[Assistant]
I assume the power invested into him by Bad Wolf faded over time, and his immortality similarly faded after dying so many times.

With partial regeneration and immortality, scars and wounds would start to persist, and the most vital part of the body, the head would be the least damaged, and the most protected.

Eventually, the scars and equipment keeping him alive would have heavily disfigured him.

As for the Doctor not noticing, the Face of Boe has existed for a *long* time.
Long enough so that everyone had forgot the name Jack.

And the Doctor knew Boe for a lot longer than he knew Jack.
Boe was likely just saving the knowledge that he was Jack for a rainy day.
It's easy to keep a secret from somebody when you know their future.


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

[User]
[Dragon Ball][Marvel][DC] Is there a comic equivalent of Mr. Satan?

Im talking about someone who just straight-up doesnt believe in superpowers, no matter what. Someone who would say that Superman actually hangs from a wire , or is wearing secret laser-emitting contacts. If they were in Marvel, they might think that Thor uses smoke and mirrors to make it look like hes controlling the weather, or that the Hulk is just Bruce Banner piloting an animatronic from the inside.

Does this character exist?

[Assistant]
Not exactly super powers, but DC has a character who refuses to believe in Magic. Dr. Thirteen spends his time trying to prove that magic doesn't exist. He even dated Zatana for a while, and still thought she did everything with smoke and mirrors.

The fact his belief is so strong makes him slightly resistant to magic. Basically he thinks it's fake so strongly that magic actually stops working correctly around him.


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

[User] If a caterpillar loses a leg, then goes through metamorphosis, will the butterfly be missing a part of it?

[Assistant] No, as long as they keep their gene plates they should be fine. When a caterpillar goes into their cocoon they almost completely liquefy. Using these gene plates that are inside the cocoon to reform the genetic slurry into a butterfly.


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

[User]
Does unconsciousness offer the same effects as normal sleeping?

If I were to be knocked unconscious by force for several hours, would I come out of my unconsciousness rested as if I slept for the same time or is it a completely different thing?

[Assistant] By virtue of the fact that you underwent traumatic loss of consciousness would make being knocked out different than normal sleep. Regardless of this fact, loss of consciousness is not the same as sleep. Sleep consists of 5 stages, I, II, III, IV, and REM. Each has a specific pattern of brainwave activity and a specific function in terms of brain maintenance and housekeeping. Unconsciousness does not have these organized processes.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Echo got his nickname for repeating orders, Fives got his nickname because of his birth number, why did Cody get his?

[Assistant]
There's a scene in *Rebels* where Rex mentions that the Empire was still using security codes that he and Cody came up with during the Clone Wars - maybe Cody was really good with codes. *Code*-y.

Or maybe he just really liked the name Cody. \\\_()_/


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

[User]
ELI5: How is AOL still a company?

Is it still used as an ISP?  I saw something in the elevator at work today (they have screens that have little news blurbs) and it mentioned AOL buying some other company for over $400 million dollars.  I haven't even thought of AOL since the 90's, how is it still a company and how does it make money?

Edit: Answered, thanks everyone! It boggles my mind how much they still make on subscribers.

[Assistant]
> Is it still used as an ISP?

Yes. Believe it or not, there are still places in America without access to broadband. Also, some people cling on out of price or other concerns.

> it mentioned AOL buying some other company for over $400 million dollars

They acquired the Huffington Post about 2 years ago for over $300M (almost all cash). They've been snapping up media companies for the last few years, essentially reshaping the business from an ISP to online content and advertising.

> how is it still a company and how does it make money?

From the 'pedia: "The company's business spans digital distribution of content, products, and services, which it offers to consumers, publishers, and advertisers."

Keep in mind it was part of AOL-Time Warner until 2009, so it wasn't exactly suffering through the last decade on its lonesome.


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

[User] What is this newly discovered state of matter called supersolid?

[Assistant] You are probably referring to recent experiments with cold atoms claiming to have found a supersolid phase. Such a phase combines crystalline properties with superfluidity. In an ordinary superfluid, such as a cold Helium-4, there is no such crystalline underlying structure.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do some people think it's beneficial to "alkalize" the body?

[Assistant]
A sufficiently charismatic snake-oil salesman convinced them of it.

Most people don't have much understanding of medicine, biology or science in general.  If some huckster starts tossing around fancy sounding words, it's easy to convince them that he's right - especially if it's loosely connected to some actual facts.


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

[User]
Help with Feeling Incompetent over Homework Assignments, and How to Approach Challenging Coding Tasks

Hey all, Im a Computer Science student at my university, and Im struggling with homework assignments, specifically for object-oriented Programming, and computer organization.

The first assignments for these classes were relatively easy, to the point where I could wait a couple days before it was due to start if I wanted to. However, the learning curve has spiked, as we have moved on to pointers and heterogeneous lists in OOP, and working with complex assembly programs in CO. Im sure Ive gotten dismal grades on my last few assignments, and this loss of confidence makes me scared to start these assignments now.

The current assignment I have for OOP asks is to make a heterogeneous list using file I/O, and there are so many intricate parts that it makes me feel panicked. This assignment is due Wednesday, and I have no idea where to start from.

Thus, I arrive at my point: I dont want advice for how to complete the assignment at all, but instead I want general advice on how to approach a coding task when you dont necessarily know what to do, especially if that coding task is so interconnected that its hard to know where exactly to start. Additionally, how do you come back from defeat over making a couple of bad programs and regain confidence and feelings of competence?

Edit: Im pretty bad at saying thanks to people individually, especially because I feel like it feels fake when I do it repeatedly, so Im editing the original post to say thank you to everyone who commented. I appreciate all the advice youve given me, and have implemented it as Ive been working on my current assignment. Its still rough, but its easier after breaking it down further into laughably small parts. Thank you again for all the advice, its really helping :)

[Assistant] The biggest skill you can learn is how to break the problem into small tasks. Then break those into smaller ones, etc. until youre at a point where you can complete each relatively easily. Code is built, not born, and every part relies on another part. Start small, make a list of tasks if you need to (Trello, Notion or physical sticky notes help here) and just go step by step.


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

[User] Since the W and Z bosons that mediate the weak force are not massless, does that mean that the weak force does not propagate at light speed?

[Assistant] "Weak force" is a bit misleading anyway. It rarely has effects that look like a classical force. "Weak interaction" is a better term. The large mass means it does not have a long range and (combined with the short lifetime of the bosons) no radiation, these would be necessary to assign a meaningful speed value to it.


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

[User]
Can a photon be slowed down/stopped?

Could scientists slow down a photon or even stop it in order to inspect it?

Secondary question: Does a photon accelerate to get to light speed upon its creation or is it instantly traveling at light speed the moment its created?

[Assistant]
No, photons (and indeed any massless particle) are constrained to *always* travel at the speed of light, even at the moment of their creation.

The fact that photons always travel at a constant speed in any reference frame is the basis for special relativity, and the basis for most of the confusing and non-intuitive results of that theory.


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

[User] [Evangelion] How did the writers of the dead sea scrolls come to knowledge of such cosmic prophecies?

[Assistant] The scrolls are Extraterrestrial in nature, left behind by the same race that created the Seeds of Life, Fruit of Knowledge, and the Lance of Longinus. They were presumably left behind as an instruction manual on how to use them.


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

[User]
CMV: A housing crash isn't coming, and hopeful millennials are about to be very disappointed

(For the record I'm a millennial)

I think people think that since inflation is out of control, interest rates are high, and we are by definition in a recession, that what we are experiencing is anything like what happened in 2008. That every recession guarantees a crash in housing prices. The cause of that crash isn't anything similar to what's going on now. What we are experiencing now is an unprecedented series of events and circumstances.

There's still a huge inventory problem, a general lack of new homes being built, corporations and foreign buyers buying up ridiculous amounts of real estate. To disrupt the lack of inventory new houses would need to be built in a time where no one wants to buy and you can't find enough contractors.

No one who bought a house in the last 2-5 years is going to be stupid enough to sell right now, not when interest rates are 6%, if you're locked into a low interest mortgage you're going to keep it, unless you're in a situation where you're forced to move.

I see demand going down until interest rates come back down, and maybe you won't get into a bidding war. But I don't see a lot of people selling. I checked my area and there's only about 4 houses going for under $500k listed, 2 years ago there was a decent selection in $200-300k range, could be anecdotal evidence but I doubt people who got those good prices and rates are leaving anytime soon.

[Assistant]
Your title is in two parts. Ill change one of them.

No, a housing crash isnt coming. Prices arent about to magically hit pre-pandemic levels.

However, its highly likely that the RISE in prices is going to slow or even level out, which means that people saving for their first down payment wont keep having the goalposts moved on them. In other words, say theyre trying to hit a 20% down payment in two years but based on current prices. Well if they started that goal two years ago, prices would now be out of their range. But now?  Now, they might have a fighting chance.


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

[User]
[Pacific Rim] The Portal

How exactly was the portal created, and what's stopping the Kaiju from making another one?

[Assistant]
Not a thing, as far as we know. The nuclear explosion that closed the portal on their side may have, hopefully, damaged whatever equipment they used to create it, but given that this isn't even the first portal they've made there is no reason they likely can't just make a new one.

That's why we are keeping our Jaegers on standby.


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

[User]
Why are halogenated chemicals so dangerous to living organisms?

It seems like most halogenated chemicals (Cl2, Br2, HF, HCl, PCB's, organohalides, etc) are harmful to living organisms in some way.  Is there a biological/biochemical explanation for this?

[Assistant]
They don't have to be. For example table salt is NaCl and it is actually necessary for staying alive. So is having some iodide around for thyroid hormones.

Elemental halogens are nasty because they are very reactive and very electronegative.

HCl is a strong acid and is actually harmful because of the H+ it makes, not the Cl-.

Halogenated organic molecules aren't always harmful, but often are similar enough to existing molecules for living things to get them mixed up. Because halogens are comparatively rather electronegative, they change the electron distribution causing the halogenated molecule to act a little differently in a biological context. This is very useful for designing drugs, actually.


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

[User] ELI5: Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in the morning, sailor's warning.

[Assistant]
It's related to the fact that the Sun sets in the West and rises in the East, and that most weather in the mid-latitudes (especially around Europe) where the traditional sailing routes are tends to move from West to East.

In order to get a red sky, two things need to happen.  There need to be water-laden clouds (which appear red when lit from their underside), and there needs to be clear skies over the horizon so the sun can light the underside of the clouds closer to you.

If there is a red sky at night, that means there are clear skies to the West, so the approaching weather will be clear.

If there is a red sky in the morning, that means there are clear skies to the East, but the sky closer to you is filled with clouds.  And since the high pressure system (the clear skies to the East) has already passed, it's likely those clouds are going to be followed by more clouds from the West.


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

[User]
Is there a universal bone marrow donor type?

There is a very rare blood type called Rh-null that basically all people can receive without having a bad reaction to it. Only 43 people have been reported to have it. Is there something similar for bone marrow?

[Assistant]
What makes people good bone marrow donors is that their cell surface markers that the immune system recognizes (MHCs or major histocompatibility complexes) are similar enough to the recipients that the recipients don't have to be on immune suppressants for much longer stretches of time for their body to not reject the transplant or for the recipient to not have really bad graft-versus-host disease (GVHD).

Some cells downregulate MHC expression if they are cancer cells or infected with certain viruses to evade the immune response. The drawback to turning off the MHC genes is that if those cells become cancerous or are infected by a pathogen, then the immune system won't be able to recognize and kill off those cells to prevent the cancer or infection from spreading.