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

[User] [General] If someone was born with technomancy based powers before computers were invented how else might their powers have manifested themselves? For example Victorian times or earlier?

[Assistant]
Depends what you mean by technomancy.

Supernaturally intelligent/technological intuition? Computers ahead of their time.

Metal/heat/electricity manipulation? They control steam-powered stuff.

Can talk to machines/machines like them? They make an excellent engineer/grease monkey/powder monkey.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are eyes generally bigger on bigger animals and smaller on smaller animals? Can't they be small for all animals?

Birds, for instance, have small eyes (relative to a human) and can see better than us.  So why do our eyes need to be so "big"?  I feel like if they were small like a bird's eyes, wouldn't they be less vulnerable?

[Assistant]
I think a lot of it depends on what the animal uses its eyes for. Also, it might surprise you to know that eagle eyes and human eyes are about the same size. While owls have tube shaped eyes larger than humans. Also, elephants, the largest land mammal, has eyes only about 1/2 an inch bigger than the human eye. So, in a sense, your initial feeling is right. There is no inherent reason eyes have to get bigger or smaller with body size.

Animals with especially large eyes, like the giant squid live at incredible depths where they need to be able to collect as much light as possible. Bigger eyes usually have more light-collecting cells and therefore can see better in the dark. Other differences in eye size can be typically be chalked up to how they're used or (for smaller animals especially) the eyes just fit what the body size will allow.


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

[User] [Fallout: New Vegas] How does Mr. New Vegas find out what's happening in the Mojave for his news segments?

[Assistant] He gets his info from Mr. House, who in turn is getting info from Securitrons, informers in his casinos, and NCR radio intercepts. The latter is the source of most of his news outside The Strip, and generally keeps him up to speed on the goings-on in the greater Mojave in real time. Sometimes a Securitron will be sent to follow up a radio intercept lead, like when the new Sheriff of Primm is given an interview via remote.


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

[User]
ELI5:why do we assume that " aliens" consist of the same building blocks as life on earth and that they need the same energy sources?

Isn't it possible that they do not need sunlight and live of energy that is considered poisionous or dangerous for life on earth?

[Assistant] Yes, it is possible, and we've explored a few possible types of life that don't exist here on Earth (silicon-based instead of carbon-based is probably the best known). But if we're going to look for aliens, we have to look for *something*, and we may as well look for the one set of conditions we know work.


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

[User] [WH40K] Is it possible for Orks to populate a planet that has been devastated by Tyranids?

[Assistant] A full scale decimation of a planet by Tyranids ends in the planet being a dead rock without an atmosphere. No resources, no plants, no shelter, just bedrock being burned by its suns radiation due to a lack of atmosphere. Now if the orks were able to fight off the Nids before full scale purging of the planet then they could probably survive on it depending on how much damage had been done.


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

[User] [Batman] Does batman not saving Ra's al Ghul count as killing?

[Assistant] Ras has the skill, cunning, and intellect that Bruce does plus a couple hundred years of experience. Bruce doesnt ever need to save him. If Bruce leaves Ras in a dangerous situation and he dies, thats on Ras.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What would have happened if they firedfired the Death Star's main cannon at the gas giant at the end of the original movie?

Would the planet tank it? Would it give the presumably metallic hydrogen core enough energy to temporarily light up?

I'm guessing the former since making a planet go boom isn't nearly the kind of power needed to JumpStart a gas giant into a freaking Star.

[Assistant] The energy given to Alderaan was about 10^38 joules. If the gas giant is the size of Jupiter, its gravitational binding energy will be about 2X10^36 joules, 500 times less. So, it won't tank the explosion. However, the gas giant will explode slower, at an average speed of about 300km/s.


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

[User] [warhammer 40k] What are some of the biggest weaknesses the tyranids have?

[Assistant]
The big one is that they are vulnerable to biological weapons. A specific hive fleet has very little genetic diversity within it's ranks (all of the creatures of one type are basically clones) so it is possible to engineer specific toxins and bio weapons that are extremely effective against a hive fleet. The downside is that these weapons tend to only be effective against a single hive fleet so there's a lot of effort needed to deploy them.

The second one is their lack of controlled planets which is both a strength and a weakness. It's a strength because it means that they don't have any supply lines to attack but a weakness because it's possible to starve a hive fleet. If a hive fleet attacks a planet and is defeated then it has lost biomass for no gains. This creates a downward spiral where the now weakened fleet needs to go after less well defended planets meaning it has less opportunity to replenish its forces. Over time if a hive fleet can be prevented from feeding then it can be reduced to impotency due to a lack of biomass.


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

[User]
Why is it that if pencil lead is made of graphite, and graphite is electrically conductive, we can't just draw circuits on paper and put real batteries and circuit components onto the pencil lines to create working electrical circuits?

I saw this video on Circuit Scribe just now and I was wondering about tihis question. Can anyone help me out here? Thanks! :)

[Assistant]
This is absolutely possible. It's even rather easy to demonstrate at home with a 9V battery and an LED or two.

Graphite isn't the world's best conductor, however. It has an electrical resistivity of around 10^(5)  m, compared with around 10^(8)  m for copper.


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

[User]
ELI5: For some people, why do their shoes crease more noticeably over time when wearing their correct size? How can it be prevented when wearing the same shoes everyday and not walking like a penguin?

On the train, on my way to work I have seen leather shoes that look like as if they've had them for years because of the wear and tear, but no crease whatsoever. And I cant go 6 months without my leather shoes looking like wrinkly old farts.

[Assistant] Lots of care.  Consistent cleaning and oiling, visits to the shoe shine guy, etc keep shoes looking new.  There are also different grades of leather that will age differently.  The $50 pair of slip-ons you can get from a department store are going to crease a lot compared to a higher end shoe that has better materials and has a better anatomical fit.


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

[User] I have heard that the first human to live to 1000 has already been born. Is this possible?

[Assistant]
When people make statements like this, what they are saying is that they expect the pace of medical advancement has outpaced the rate of aging. So that somebody who was just born and is lucky to live to a 100 years or so, will then be able to take advantage of hypothetically advanced medical science to extend their life even further. If you keep that thought process going, they can reach a 1000.

Its all speculation and BS, and doesn't mean anything.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why aren't Bidets popular in the U.S.?

Outside of America, bidets are more commonly found in washroom. In America, we instead opt to use toilet paper rolls. Not only is it more wasteful, but it's not as clean.

So why doesn't the U.S. adopt the use of bidets? Seems like it'd be a win for everyone. Less wasteful, more comfortable, and more clean.

[Assistant] American here, we don't like anything new near our buttholes. New things scare us, anything to do with buttholes scare us. We may be the best country in the world but we are very shy about our buttholes.


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

[User] ELI5 The Iowa Caucus and why it is or isn't important?

[Assistant]
You're in school. It's recess time. You're a 4th grade kid who runs around at recess. There are other kids like you running around and playing games and having all kinds of mayhem.

That boy over there has a Gameboy. Those girls are playing Hopscotch. This kid is playing with a Furby. That other group of kids is playing Cops and Robbers. You and your friends are playing tag.

One day, a kid shows up with something new. He brings with him Pokemon cards. His friends come up to him. They ask him what those shiny cards are. The Pokemon kid shows them. His friends are blown away. From now on, you seem them in that same corner playing Pokemon cards during recess.

The next day, other kids come over to see what the fuss is all about. They see this exciting new Pokemon game and they're all fans now. The Pokemon kid who first brought in the cards is a hit. He's the center of attention and everyone wants to ask him what the rules are. He's getting popular. The Pokemon kid is the heart of the group, and he no longer even has to welcome other kids into the group - his new fans from the previous day do that for him.

The next day during recess, the Pokemon gang, now a huge group, is taking a huge turf. A kid shows up on the other end of the field. He has something new. They're Digimon cards. A few people come up to him. He shows them what these Digimon cards are. He shows them how to play. It has its own little quirks. Its own style. Some kids scoff and head to the Pokemon side. Some kids are blown away and become Digimon freaks. They are now part of the group of kids who plays Digimon.

(And some kids just weren't able to decide between the Pokemon group and the Digimon group, and so they go back and forth)

There is now the Pokemon group. There is now the Digimon group. Some of the Pokemon group switched to the Digimon side. Some of the Digimon side switched to the Pokemon side. The diehard Pokemon fanatics run around the entire playground though, trying to bring new kids into their group. The Digimon diehard fanatics run around trying to bring new kids to play in their group.

One kid shows up, says fuck you all, and whips out a motherfucking Yo-Yo.

This kid with the motherfucking light-up glow-in-the-dark Yo-Yo walks around the playground. The motherfucking Yo-Yo is swinging around. The motherfucking Yo-Yo is sliding on the ground. The motherfucking light-up glow-in-the-dark Yo-Yo is awesome. It's unlike anything else there.

Several kids run up. They want to try the motherfucking Yo-Yo. They ooh and aah, and are blown away. Each one goes up there. They like what they see. They're hooked. They become the Motherfucking Yo-Yo Brigade.

The Motherfucking Yo-Yo Brigade has its fans now running around the playground. They want to get other kids to see the motherfucking Yo-Yo. They get many, many kids come over. Many kids try it out. They like what they see.

Some of those kids were from the Pokemon group.
Some of those kids were from the Digimon group.
Some of those kids were ones that never had a group.

The whole time, you have been trying to start a group based around playing Tag.

You love tag. You adore tag. You've played tag everyday of your life. But, your friends who you used to play tag with are gone. Tony went to the Pokemon group. David and Eric went to the Digimon group. Henry joined the Motherfucking Yo-Yo Brigade. Other friends went back and forth. The gang is gone, all of them are gone, all of them except you and your best friend Mike.

You and Mike realize that you are never going to have a group based on Tag. The Pokemon group is too large. The Digimon group is too loud. The Motherfucking Yo-Yo Brigade is too cool. And so, reluctantly, achingly, you and Mike decide that it's not worth staying around playing tag with so few people. You turn to Mike and ask him what he thinks:

"Mike, what do you think we sh-"
Out of the corner of your eye, you see Mike in the Motherfucking Yo-Yo Brigade swinging a Yo-Yo around and walking the dog.

Your world comes crashing down. You know the inevitable has come. You are now alone, you and your once loyal base of Tag players. It's just you now, with the Pokemon and the Digimon and the Motherfucking Yo-Yo Brigade taking up the entire playground. There's no room left for you. Nothing left for you.

And so, achingly, you shuffle your feet, head down, and slowly head to the other side of the playground, to lay to rest your hopes of playing Tag and putting your dreams to rest.

---

The original kids who brought in the Pokemon cards, the Digimon cards, and the Yo-Yo are the candidates.

The other kids who are in the Pokemon group and the Digimon group and the Motherfucking Yo-Yo Brigade are the voters.

The growing base of each candidate shows how they attract attention to their campaigns.

The rules of each respective game (Pokemon, Digimon, the Yo-Yo) are the platform of each candidate.

The interchange of kids going from the Pokemon to the Digimon to the Yo-Yo groups represent undecided voters who "cast their votes" for the party.

You represent a small, weak, third-tier candidate, Tag, who never had a chance against the big money and the powerful Pokemon and Digimon and Motherfucking Yo-Yo Brigade groups. The caucuses narrow down the field, as we saw tonight, to just a few candidates, just like the playground.


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

[User] ELI5: When registering to vote in the US, why are you asked what party affiliation you would like to be associated with and does it matter?

[Assistant]
Membership in a political party allows you to do things like vote in primaries. Election boards need this information to determine who can vote in what primaries.

I would imagine it's also done at the request of political parties to ensure membership.


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

[User] ELI5: WHY does someone else's seat feel warmer than your own when you switch places?

[Assistant] Because your own ass and your seat has found equillibrium in terms of temperature and heat will not move either way, but the other persons seat was heated to accommodate their ass which might be a bit Warmer/ cooler.


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

[User] ELI5: How come Venezuela is in such a poor state if it has nearly 300 Bn barrels of proven oil reserves?

[Assistant]
All oil producing states too a hit when the price per barrel tanked. Venezuela in particular has a few problems. Theirs is high in impurities, which increases refining costs. Plus they were selling it for pennies on the dollar to their own citizens as well as key allies like Cuba.

Venezuela's is what would be classified as a "banana republic". That is a country which is nearly entirely dependent on a single industry. Over 93% of their economy is tied to oil. Any shocks to this industry can have a catastrophic ripple effect.

Adding to the problem is that Venezuela is not agriculturally self sufficient. Most of their food has to be imported. These goods are purchased from suppliers using US dollars, but are then purchased by citizens with the local currency. The Bolivar is not only worthless, but extremely volatile. The country's inflation rate is expected to reach 481% this year. If you started with an item that costs $10 on January 1st, it will cost $48.10 by December 31st. When you consider the average wage is $20 a month, a nearly 5 times jump in price is crippling. Stores are taking in less money than they paid for their stock, which means they have less money to buy new stock, and so on. Which is what's causing shortages.

Those who can get their hands on US dollars instead chose to buy goods on the black market. Criminals are taking big time advantage of the social breakdown, which is why the murder rate has become so high.

On the government end, corruption has been running rampant for years now. Maduro and the other heirs of Chavez's Bolivarian Revolution are desperately trying to cling to power. The government also owns a big portion of the failed oil sector. Maduro will keep trying to blame capitalists and the US, but that will only go so far. Things aren't likely to end well for him.

Incidentally, this is also likely the reason behind Cuba choosing to negotiate with the US government. The island nation was heavily dependent on Venezuelan economic and political support during the Chavez regime. Havana doesn't want to fall back to the dark ages of the 1990's after the Soviet Union collapsed.


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

[User]
[Doctor Who] What are the Weeping Angels, really?

I have thought about this a lot, and come to the same conclusion that many have, which is that Weeping Angels are disgraced Time Lords, who have been made the way they are as some sort of punishment.  How this was done is a mystery, and unfortunately, there isn't a lot of hard evidence.  This theory came into being during The Master's second grab at power, when the Time Bubble was briefly opened, and a few mysterious Time Lords were seen maintaining the weeping pose.

It makes sense in the fact that Weeping Angels have time based powers and feed off of time energy.  In their first appearance, they seem to instinctively know that the TARDIS contained large amounts of time energy.  Is this because they recognized it, or is it because they have some sort of time sense?  Neither option excludes the possibility of their being Time Lords.

On the other hand, this theory can be problematic.  If they are Time Lords, why are they all identical?  Why are they all female?  And most frighteningly, why do they have *fangs*?  A transformation brought on by this punishment?  Or, are they really just a different breed of time based species?

[Assistant]
During The End of Time when the Time Lords vote on whether or not to destroy the rest of reality, two time lords stand opposed. They are forced to maintain the weeping angel's pose, as a form of shaming. The exact quote is "as monuments of their shame, like the Weeping Angels of old"...

The pose is a reference too, not the cause of, weeping angels.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do many of pop music's biggest names (Rihanna, Katy Perry, and Jason Derulo) need a group of writers and producers for each song, even though their songs are so simple, lyrically and musically?

It feels like the lyrics to most of their songs could be written by a single person. And the beats, too.

[Assistant] Today's pop hits are constructed. Separate elements put together to create a whole. One guy does the beats, one guy sorts out the sample, one guy does the main melody, another person might chip in with an idea for the lyrics, Rihanna herself might be responsible for the main body of words and another person will probably be doing the vocal melody lines. And a rapper might be involved, so he'll be writing the rhymes. That hypothetical track alone already has seven co-writers.


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

[User] Why do tuning forks need two prongs?

[Assistant]
The fork has to be symmetrical, otherwise it wouldn't hold the note for as long. If only one prong were used, the energy would be transmitted from the prong to the handle, which would then be absorbed by your hand. Because two prongs are used the oscillation sticks between the two prongs, and develops a node at the interface between the fork and the handle. This node reduces the amount of energy being delivered to the hand.

The reason you want the note tuning forks create to last longer is because you have to have time to tune whatever it is you want to tune.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why can't Jedi fly?

Couldn't they just use the force to fly? Especially if someone is as powerful as Anakin was. I see them use it to help them jump high. Why can't they use it as a constant force to actually stay in the air?

[Assistant]
Some can.

It requires a large amount of power and concentration, however, and if you're distracted for even an instant you wobble and fall. Most Jedi avoid doing it because it seems like showing off.


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

[User]
[Judge dredd] Are the judges right in their immediate execution of criminals?

So we know the judges are basically fascists but you look at the cities and they are all run by violent gangs. So is it acceptable to have the judges be so brutal?

[Assistant]
From a statist and utilitarian point of view it can be said that as the legal system is overwhelmed, they are trying a different take on the proper legal process, with the ultimate aim of maximizing the benefit to society and minimizing the cost of criminal activity, which appears to be spreading at an unprecedented rate.

From a libertarian point of view it could be said that if such a scenario existed people should be allowed to form volunteer militia to police their communities and protect their life and property, according to their own conception of the law.


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

[User] How fast would I have to launch a radio for the Doppler effect to allow me to see the radio waves?

[Assistant]
Do you mean to ask how fast a source emitting radio waves would have to be directly traveling with respect to you for you to detect the waves as visible light? If that is your question, then since visible light has a higher frequency than radio waves, the source would have to be traveling *toward* you at some speed *v*. So forget about launching it away from you. (Unless you reverse the situation: consider the source to be emitting visible light which is detected by you as radio waves.) Let *z* be the ratio of the observed frequency to the source frequency. Assuming that *z* > 1 (as in the case you describe), the speed of the source is given by

> *v*/*c* = (z^(2)-1)/(z^(2)+1)

This is a monotonically increasing function of *z*. For FM radio, the highest frequency is about 300 MHz. The lowest frequency for visible light is about 430 THz. So the smallest possible value of *z* is about 1.4 x 10^(6). For large *z*, we can Taylor expand to write

> *v*/*c* = 1-2/z^(2)

The radio source would have to be moving toward you at at least a speed that differs from light-speed by about 1 part in 10^(12).


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

[User] [Matrix] How long did each version of the Matrix last? What date is it really?

[Assistant] In Morpheus' speach in the second movie he mentions several times "After 100 years", we can assume it takes about 100 years for each new the one anomaly to appear. Neo is the 6th one to appear, so it has been at least 600 years. We can't know how long the heaven and hell versions of the matrix lasted but the way the architect talks it sounds like they didn't last very long. It is probably somewhere between the years 2600 and 2800.


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

[User]
Why some stars in the night sky look like they are changing colours or flashing light rapidly?

I just saw one today in the clear night sky and was wondering. Sorry if its a silly question. Thanks!

[Assistant] Small fluctuations in our atmosphere cause the light to refract and can appear as focusing, diffusion, or slight colour changes. Observatories are built as high as possible on mountains to try to reduce the amount of atmosphere they have to look through, and the Hubble gets a very clear view because it is in space. Modern observatories have adaptive optics which counter the effects of the atmosphere and they use a reference 'star' created by a laser shining high in the atmosphere and calculating how the light is being affected.


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

[User]
[Dungeons and Dragons] Why is the Necromancy school of magic considered evil, but Enchantment isn't?

Yes, Necromancy involves channelling negative energies to, among other things, cause corpses to rise as mindless servants. It's certainly disrespectful of the fallen.

But Enchantment is about subverting the will of other people, either making them more pliable or outright taking control of them. It's the school of magic roofies and slavery, and there are very few excuses for law-abiding people having anything to do with either.

So why does Enchantment get a pass?

[Assistant]
Necromancy has bad publicity due to its association with the undead. Depending on your setting (please consult your DM before making general assumptions about your world) various types undead are likely to be some of the most dangerous common monsters that people are likely to encounter, and rogue-necromancers are some of the most common villains who might cause trouble for the village.

Rogue-Enchanters on the other hand tend to be much more subtle in their villainy. They would probably seem to most people to be just an especially successful burgermeister.


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

[User] [40k] Since we know true love between a Chaos Space Marine and a Dark Eldar is possible, as a couple what would their relationship be like for this bizarre pair?

[Assistant]
The Dark Eldar would likely be the dom(or domme) when they participate in bdsm activities. The marine is more capable of dealing with pain while the Eldar is better at inflicting it. The Eldar learns new and creative ways to inflict pain, and the Chaos marine gets to pray to Slannesh continuously.

It'll almost certainly end in a horrible death for both of them. So a perfect Chaos love story.


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

[User] ELI5:What exactly is going when a ballpoint pen seems unwilling to write in one area of a piece of paper but writes just fine elsewhere?

[Assistant]
You have to get the ball rolling so to speak.

The way ball point pens work is by rolling a ball through ink then onto paper. Pen ink dries when exposed to air, this lets it flow onto the paper then stay there without smudging or making an outright mess, the ball serves not only to transfer the ink in a controlled manner but to seal the unused ink from air. The seal isn't complete though since there needs to be enough space for the ink to get out. When this ink dries it takes a fair bit of friction to break up the dried ink and free the ball to roll and the ink to flow. Even without dried ink there is still a minimum amount of friction that is needed to roll the ball, sometimes there are parts of the paper that are too smooth where as the rest of the paper is fine.


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

[User]
ELI5: Since Norovirus is not a food-borne illness, why does Chipotle seem to have a disproportionate number of outbreaks within the past year as compared to other chain restaurants?

I figured maybe the number of these cases that have been highlighted recently seem high as a result of skewed media coverage. But if not,  doesn't the problem lie with sick workers coming into work rather than a fundamental problem with how Chipotle serves their food?

EDIT: Also, I was mistaken by saying it was not a food borne illness. I meant that Norovirus was not the result of a bacterial food poisoning like Salmonella where the bacteria is reproducing on the food itself (like under cooking chicken or improperly stored shellfish etc).

[Assistant]
Cilantro is the reason.

Cilantro is an essential herb for Mexican dishes but the farms do no provide proper sanitation for their workers. If you are familiar with Cezar Chavez and the California grape industry its more or less the same struggle with migrant laborers today. One big issue is they're not even providing porta-potties and hoses to wash hands so they go in the fields.

Poop on food and you get noroviruses.

Other major contributing factors may be other produce as well. But tomatoes are more easily cleaned and grows on trellises above ground, lettuce is a major food stuff across the US and more easily farmed via tractor and avocado grow on trees, not the ground.

In 2015 the FDA banned cilantro imports from Mexico from certain Mexican States because of human feces in the fields from farms linking them with outbreaks of E. Coli in the US.

Cilantro is a leafy plant that is also difficult to clean.
---
Everybody asking me about whether or not they should eat Cilantro, yes. Food from Mexico is just as safe with the same standard of quality as the US. that being said, there will always be places where those standards falter because some one wa rs to shave a few bucks off their operating costs and the result is bad.

Mexico is not some third world hell-hole and there are places all over the world where bad food is fed to some one because somebody else got greedy. Don't immediately blame the workers, blame the people who won't give them an outhouse.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] The Borg don't develope their technology?

In the episode ''The Best of Both Worlds'' when Picard was captured, the Collective said to him they want to improve themselves. But through out the series, it seems The Borg only uses the assimilation and adaptive technologies at their disposal. So what's the point of assimilating all these technologies when they don't use them? Or do they?

[Assistant]
They do use the tech they steal, but by the time they hit the Alpha Quadrant they were so well equipped that a lot of the stuff they pick up isn't really better than what they already have (or at least isn't good enough to justify significant modifications to their drones and ships in order to implement then). For instance, say a cube takes a Federation ship intact; none of the weapons or shields are really superior to the gear already on the cube, meaning the ship is more valuable as a source of raw material and information than it is as a tech source. The databases get copied, the crew gets assimilated, anything the Borg can use gets ripped out, and they move on.

But when they find something good? Yes, they take that tech, disseminate it through the Collective, and make the Borg collectively more dangerous. For instance, some species they assimilated way back in the day had adaptive shielding tech, so they stole it. Then, they found another species that could make that shield tech small enough to fit on individual drones, so they stole that and started upgrading the drones. This happened repeatedly, every time they took down a species, until they became the killing machines they are today.


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

[User] How can foods labeled "Refrigerate after opening" stay on a shelf for extended periods of time without spoiling but then must be refrigerated after opening to prevent spoiling?

[Assistant]
The short answer: exposure to air (and external moisture) after initially opening many food items often jump starts the growth of bacteria and/or mold.  Many foods are vacuum-sealed; removing excess air/moisture other than that present in the food itself.  Temperature is another major factor for growth of bacteria.

Interestingly, while almost all foods shelf-life does benefit from being refrigerated, its not always necessary even if labeled to do so.  Jams, jellies, and preserves are a good example; certain dairy butters are another.  If you go through a jar of jelly or stick of butter in say, a month, you dont need to refrigerate it.


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

[User]
[Watchmen] Why did Doctor Manhattan choose the hydrogen atom as his logo?

When he was asked to pick a logo for himself he said to himself that he chose a symbol he had a lot of respect for. Why is it a hydrogen atom?

[Assistant]
Hydrogen is the most important element, maybe? It makes up water, it's the reason stars exist, it's the most abundant element in the universe, etc.

(Edit: Of course, the Bohr model of the hydrogen atom is also the model people most recognize and learn about in school, and he is a superhero. He was probably talking about the fact that he respects atoms in general a lot.)


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

[User] [Batman Arkham Asylum to Knight] how does the Riddler even find out when Batman solves a riddle (not a trap, a word riddle)? How did some of these riddles even end up so far out from the city in random places?

[Assistant]
How Riddler Knows: He essentially has Batman under constant surveillance in the Arkham Games. Like at all times. He's also Hacked Batman's comms in each title, giving him an even closer view of what Batman is seeing.

How the riddles/trophies got where they are: Riddler spends months or years setting up each of his major plans for Batman. Plus, he's far more capable than even *he* gives himself credit for.


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

[User]
ELI5: How did psychedelic drugs get popular during the 60s?

Who started this trend? Was it just rock bands taking it that caused this movement?

[Assistant]
A huge cultural revolution caused by a variety of social effects happened to coincide with the advent of LSD by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann and the proliferation of it by Harvard professor Timothy Leary and American bands like The Grateful Dead. Initially, the movement was spearheaded by clinical trials within medical circles and academia. LSD was primarily restricted to these circles throughout most of the 60s but began to "leak out" as the 70s drew nearer. The "leaking out" was created by many of the academics and medical professionals who sought to proliferate the drug as a spiritual mission. The Vietnam War and the Nixon era created incredible social tension between genders, races, classes, and generations for which there was no clear path of mitigation. This perfect storm created a youth backlash against the statu quo which was largely characterized by an isolation/"fuck your values" type of movement rather than the more nuanced "let's sit and align our values" type of movement. Not without good reason, IMO.

There was just a whole lot of uncertainty, and LSD and music had a grand opportunity to offer an escape.

I recommend looking up Albert Hofmann, Timothy Leary, and The Grateful Dead. These forces mixed with Nixon, the Vietnam War created the revolt.

EDIT: Awfully pathetic that the only valid answer is getting downvoted while "oh because it's cool" is at the top.


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

[User]
Would a laptop operate in space?

So basically if an astronaut went outside the ship for a spacewalk, could they take the laptop out or are there consequences of the temperature and vacuum that would cause it to malfunction?

[Assistant] If one was built properly, yes. But the average consumer grade laptop would have serious issues. For instance, the liquid crystal display (LCD) would freeze solid. The hard drive bearings would vacuum weld. Plastics would outgas and become brittle. So, not good.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is this house spider doing?

Currently pulling an all nighter for work, and this spider bro is just crawling around the same area. It's been going on for like 30 minutes now, just crawling around the same 5 foot diameter area on my wall, is he exploring the paintings I have hung up? What's this lil dude doing? Also what can I feed him, he looks a lil hungry.

[Assistant]
it could be nesting behavior, it could have a disease or parasite, it might just be too simple minded to cope with the human-made environment it's found itself in.

unless you live in australia or particular parts of africa, your spider bro probably eats smaller insects. house flies, crickets, etc. though, if you really want to take care of this thing, your best bet is most likely to move him outside, preferably to a bush or shrub.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] If I was an abandoned wizard born baby in muggle society and placed into a mental health facility to cope with the unexplainable stuff in my life. But upon adulthood realized/accepted I was a wizard and got out, would I be able to obtain the equivalent of a magic GED?

Sorry I know that is a super specific scenario. Was just curious though what would happen to someone if they weren't able to be brought into the know of the wizarding world as a child/teenager but still had magical potential.

[Assistant]
This is, roughly speaking, the storyline of Creedance Barebone in *Fantastic Beasts*.

Judging by this example, if the muggle mental health facility compels you to hide your magic, you will likely become an Obscurus by the time you're 18.  If the mental health facility *doesn't* do so, then you will show up on someone's radar long before you reach the age of 18, and whisked away to be given a proper wizard instruction.

If you don't become an obscurus and are also never found, your place in wizard society will be determined entirely by the good graces of the people you fall in with.  There is no official way of dealing with cases like yours because it is so vanishingly rare.


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

[User]
CMV: police need tons of training, constantly

What needs to happen is we (the US) need to have enough cops to have half on duty and half in training at all times.

Said training should include some form of martial art (I vote BJJ), all forms of deescalation in all situations, and much more Im sure Im not thinking of.

I have to watch the same videos every year and I just work at a grocery store. So why should the requirement for people who actually encounter life-threatening situations more than once a month (making false pints, relax) receive minimal training, once?

It doesnt makes sense to me why this isnt happening. Its completely possible.

This is a change my mind because apparently their are better method me out there. But those methods are largely used in countries that dont have firearms legalized and are much smaller than the US.

[Assistant] Training in de-escalation isn't going to change their practice if it's not part of their work culture. How many "sensitivity training" workshops have people attended just to complain to each other and roll their eyes about them afterwards?


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

[User]
ELI5: What exactly is imposter syndrome?

So I have my issues (much like anyone else), but someone described them as having imposter syndrome and Im not exactly sure what that is. A cursory google didnt really explain much so here I am!

[Assistant] It's when you don't believe you are where you are because of your knowledge or talents.  Like you don't deserve the job you have or the position you are in.  Another way to think of it is when people like you, but you think it's undeserved (you're an imposter).  The feeling your own merits couldn't possibly be the reason good things happen to you.


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

[User] ELI5: How do people program/teach random algorithms to actually be random?

[Assistant]
Algorithms are not at their roots random. They are predictable because an algorithm is just following a sequence of steps and following steps exactly doesn't result in random behaviour.

That said, algorithms can start with unknowable information and use that to produce random-looking data that can't be reasonably predicted without knowing that information at the start. For example: an operating system might measure how fast a spinning hard drive responds to read/write operations - a process that involves waiting for the spinning disk to line up with the drive head - down the the nanosecond and use that time as an unknowable and not reproducible value. Now you have a little piece of chaotic information available and can produce something unpredictable, and "unpredictable" is generally a satisfactory definition for "random".

So, software can't be truly "random", but it can be anywhere from difficult to nigh-impossible to predict and that's good enough.


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

[User]
Is it possible to raise a family- and really focus on the kids- with both parents in academia?

My husband and I are both scientists at heart and we are both finally applying to PhD programs this fall. We are both thinking of going into academia.

We always knew we wanted kids eventually but a few weeks ago I had an ectopic pregnancy which really changed my mindset. I now also want children sooner rather than later in addition to wanting to pursue my career. But Im terrified of the work-life balance in academia and I dont want to choose which is more important to me.

Im really fortunate that my husband is so supportive of me. We have had a lot of conversations where he made it clear he sees parenting as truly a partnership between us both and would never expect me to do most of the parenting work (very different from what I had in my home growing up). Hes very encouraging of my career goals and would also be an involved parent.

Is it possible for both partners to focus on their family and careers in academia? We are even considering starting a family during graduate school- does anyone have experience with this?

Is industry a better option for researchers who want plenty of family time?

[Assistant] Id be more concerned with the poverty wages as PhD students than the work-life balance. Have you looked into the stipends PhD students get? Do you feel that you could support a family on two of those?


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

[User] ELI5: If a piece of food goes down your windpipe (E.g. A grain of rice) and coughing didn't manage to remove it, would it end up rotting in your lungs? How does the body expel offending food particles that didn't get coughed out?

[Assistant] Have you ever had bronchitis? You start wheezing and coughing up phlegm. Heavy smokers often wheeze and cough up tobacco tar and phlegm. Inhaling an antibody would irritate lungs, inflammation would cause phlegm to accumulate so that immune system can disolve the particle/tiny object and if not, you get that heaving inducing cough that seems to not cough up anything until it does. You wouldn't cough up the entire thing, every cough gets rid of some particles of the food piece.


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

[User] ELI5:The EM drive as spaceship propulsor; If they don't (exactly) know how it works and the force is produces is too small to measure on earth. How did they discover it?

[Assistant] The guy that invented it had a theory on how it worked. His theory is wrong, but when they tested it it really did apply thrust. Now no one knows why. It is more likely it's some interaction with the local environment than being some sci-fi tech though.


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

[User] ELI5 How are rainbows formed. I know it's about refraction from water droplets, but shouldn't you see many tiny rainbows instead of one big one.

[Assistant]
Each drop if water is sending out all the colors, but in different directions. Where you are standing you see all the red from those at the correct angle from you. That's why it's a circle. all the red part of the rainbow is at the same angle from you just a different direction. Same for each of the other colors. The sun is behind you so the rainbow shifts a little bit when you move but not too much.

Every person sees a different rainbow. You aren't even seeing the same rainbow from moment to moment. it's all just an interesting effect of lots of little water drops in the sky refracting and reflecting to your eye.


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

[User]
What does graphene feel like?

Suppose the material science genie grants me three wishes, and for one of them I ask for a 1x1m graphene sheet. Not, mind you, graphene flakes embedded in some matrix, or multiple bonded layers, or anything like that. Just a single, 1x1 meter hexgrid of carbon atoms. It this even physically possible? What would the strength be like? What would it look like? Would it be brittle and stiff or ridiculously flexible? Etc, you get the idea.

Thanks!

[Assistant] Graphene by itself is not stable, it curls up upon itself. It is always bound to some substrate like copper or silicon, and small windows can be made in the substate to suspend small areas of graphene.


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

[User]
Could a standing wave of visible light be formed with a laser and well-reflective surface? What would its properties be?

I know standing waves can form with radio and microwaves, however they're fairly basic as they have macroscopic wavelength. Could you theoretically have a standing wave (of macroscopic size) with visible or near-visible light? I assume they'd have some interesting properties if they did exist.

[Assistant] You don't even need the mirror. Almost all lasers have an internal cavity which contain a standing wave. The configuration you described with the laser and mirror often is used  to trap atoms in a one dimension optical lattice. Studying such systems is a pretty large field of study.


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

[User]
[Time Bandits]If I traveled back in time to steal priceless artifacts, would they still be considered priceless today?

Let's say I went back in time to the Ming Dynasty and stole a whole bunch of ceramic vases and bring them back to current times, would I be able to sell them as authentic Ming Vases?

My assumption would be that they are just a few years old (since they time traveled) instead of 700+ years old....so if they were carbon dated, it would look as if they were recently made - thus destroying their inherent value.

Or if I went back to 1776 and stole an original copy of the Declaration of Independence then jumped back to 2015. It wouldn't look aged and it wouldn't be dated as aged.

Does this make sense?

[Assistant]
You're exactly right. Any testing on those items would call them forgeries, since they'd seem too new.

Either steal them in the past and hide them someplace you know they won't be disturbed until the present, or steal things that no one bothers dating, like gold.


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

[User]
CMV: Cultural squeamishness about bare feet in public is irrational and arguably responsible for the majority of foot problems

I grew up in a country (South Africa) where bare feet are much more acceptable in public. Children are widely allowed, even encouraged, to attend primary school barefoot. The same situation applies in New Zealand and possibly a few other countries. Yet the vast majority of cultural norms elsewhere in the world dictate that feet should be hidden away, locked up in shoes ('little coffins for the feet' as someone once described them) - a sweaty, bacteria-rich, damp and cramped environment that creates unpleasant smell and often long-term problems of painful and unsightly deformities. That's led to a sort of vicious circle, where people are ashamed of their feet because they smell and/or look ugly, but they smell/look ugly because.. they're cramped up in shoes because.. they're ashamed of being smelt/visible in public, and everybody will judge you etc. etc.

There are of course many situations in which you \*would\* want shoes.. if it's cold, for example, or if your feet genuinely need protecting from sharp or falling objects, such as on a building site or on a rocky trail. But shoes in those situations are like protective gloves. And we don't wear gloves at all times in public do we?

One might counter this by saying that surfaces you walk on are worse than those you touch with your hands, but this is largely untrue. There are far worse things on door handles than there are on a clean sidewalk or in a mall, or in an office. And when you walk barefoot, you look where you walk, and avoid stuff if you need to. It isn't difficult, and the risks are far outweighed by the benefits.

My view is that we're long overdue for a rational change of our cultural biases on this subject (those biases originating at various points in history e.g. associations of poverty, or 'those damned hippie liberals' etc.) and just come to terms with the fact that we'd be far healthier and happier without shoes most of the time.

Update edit:

Brilliant to read everyone's responses, it's fascinating and thanks for engaging (sorry I've not replied to all..)

No deltas awarded yet though because as far as I can see, loads of folk are just posting here about their (mostly unfounded) fears about what they might tread on, which doesn't acknowledge the point I made in my OP: in any \*real\* risky situations (of which there are plenty) then yes shoes are needed - but much of what people think is dangerous or risky really is imaginary. Or at least very much overhyped/catastrophised - including in city environments, by the way. South African schools know this. They wouldn't allow kids to school barefoot if they thought it was a significant risk.

But it seems to me what we \*don't\* have is a universal cultural environment in which each person can judge the dangers/inconveniences and make their own decisions on being barefoot in public or not without being on the receiving end of disapproving stares, tutting, 'no shoes no service' signs and the like. In other words, it's gone beyond a rational, personal, practical decision and become a \*cultural taboo \*- even at the expense of foot health problems. But a taboo only in certain countries. That's what's interesting to unpack.

[Assistant] But shoes were invented in the purpose for reasons of practicality. You don't usually *want* to be walking outside barefoot. Even if you tried to make the world accepting of bare feet in public, no one would do it, because shoes are just more comfortable, especially if you live in a relatively high latitude country where the floor is always fucking freezing. For the record though, most countries take their shoes off at home, either replacing them with very loose slippers or just going fully barefoot. America is the weird one on this.


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

[User]
ELI5: How come the slightest typo on a flight ticket means you won't get on the plane/admitted into the country?

Even correct spelled names in the in the wrong fields won't do, like first name in surname and vice versa. Where does the problem occur? Cause you have like atleast 5 - 10 customs agents and flight staff manually watching your passport/ticket, and they should be able to conclude that the ticket is yours. Or?

[Assistant]
In statistics we worry specifically about the "cost" of "false positives" vs. "false negatives".

In this case lets allow "cost" to the result.

Let's also say our assumption is that a typo on a flight ticket is always the result of deliberate malice, a person is trying to illegally sneak on a plane as part of a criminal act.

If the person is totally innocent and it's just a typo and we prevent them from getting on the plane, that's a "false positive" and if the person is a criminal but we let it slide, that's a "false negative".

The cost of a false positive is inconvenience to a person, they have to get their ticket corrected, or prove their identity and that's a darn hassle, but only for that person. The cost of a false negative is the person is committing a crime and going to commit a criminal act of some sort.

By definition security will seek to limit false negatives as much as possible (prevent crimes) and it doesn't really care if false positives get swept up in their process.


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

[User] ELI5: Texas is running out of lethal injections- how/why, can't they order/make more?

[Assistant]
The pharmaceutical companies that make the drugs for lethal injections no longer are interested in continuing their production. Many see it as bad PR for the company as a whole or for some drugs that they sell since they can be used for legitimate medical purposes as well as in executions. Would you feel comfortable using a substance used in executions regardless of if your doctor ensured that it was ok at "this level"? That kind of association is bad for business.

Some states are looking into hiring smaller firms to custom make the drugs for them.


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

[User]
How do we measure the age of ice?

I'm explaining (poorly) how climate change is not only real to my grandfather but explaining in laymen's terms how we can measure it. This led to me pointing out a few receding glaciers and he seems to think that ice just comes and goes. How do we know a glacier is old?

E; added *is*

[Assistant] It's similar to how we know a tree is old by counting the number of rings. When you take a big core out of thick ice, you can see how each layer was deposited year by year, and use this to see how old it is.


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

[User] How old is Earth's oldest ice? What was going on when it froze?

[Assistant]
The oldest ice is 1-2 million years old and is from very, very, deep in Antarctica. Scientists have just drilled some pieces of it and are currently analyzing the ices compositions as well as the pockets of air within the ice. They hope to learn new things about he climate from 1-2 million years ago from these measurements. What do we know about the climate of 1-2 million years ago from other measurements is that the planet was in an ice age (ice caps existed) which transitions between a glacial state (tons of ice, probably covered all of Canada and northern U.S. in an ice sheet a mile thick) and an interglacial state (very little ice, somewhat similar to the climate of the 1000s-1800s). The interesting thing is that the planet would switch between these two states roughly every 40 thousand years and then around 800 thousand years ago something changes and since then the planet has switched between the two states every 100 thousand years. The reason for this switch is still a huge open question in paleoclimate.

The main reason we dont have any ice more than 2 million years old is because there was probably no (or very little) ice on Earth 2.5 million years ago and the planet was a bit warmer than today.


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

[User]
Are free school lunches provided by the government private or public goods?

i just gave my alevels economics exam and this question has left a lot of the students divided with the answers so i would appreciate it if someone could help me understand this.

[Assistant]
The answer *really* shouldn't be hard.

"Public" good doesn't mean "good provided by the government".

Public goods are goods which are non-excludable and non-rivalous.

A school lunch is excludable, you can't just walk into a school and get it, and it's rivalrous, if one person eats a meal, that meal is gone.


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

[User]
ELI5: If it's so bad for humans to carry a child at such a young age, then why are we capable of it so young?

I saw an 11 year old who was pregnant, and carrying the baby almost killed her and the baby.

[Assistant]
Because evolution isn't perfect. 'Good enough' is good enough. If it were extremely common for girls to get pregnant while not in good shape to do so, and there were a reasonably ready mutation that came up by chance to correct it, then that'd have worked out.

As-is, though, there's not enough need.


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

[User]
ELI5: How can words people use all the time "not be words." Who decides when something is a word?

I was talking to my dad and I said "I must be misremembering." He said "That's a word invented by Roger Clemens. It doesn't exist."

But it does exist. I just said it and he understood the meaning of the word. Same with a word like conversate, apparently it's a combination of conversation and converse but conversate is not a word. Yet, if I were to use it in a sentence everyone would follow.

WHAT'S THE DEAL?

[Assistant] when enough people think it is a word, it is a word. The fact people understand it without explanation just helps it along to becoming a word. You have to realize, no word ever existed until people started using it.


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

[User]
[Doctor Who] (SPOILERS!!!)

Does this mean we are going to have to reorder the Doctors now that they even called Hurt the "Doctor"? Are there now, actually, 13?

[Assistant]
Hurt never called himself the Doctor, even at the end. He had done many bad things during the Time War and just because he didn't go full genocide after all doesn't mean he deserved the name of The Doctor.

In fact he pretty much regenerated because he was ready to become the Doctor again.

To break the 4th wall, here's the official explanation from Moffat:
>"Ive been really, really quite careful about the numbering of the Doctors. Hes very specific, the John Hurt Doctor, that he doesnt take the name of the Doctor. He doesnt call himself that. Hes the same Time Lord, the same being as the Doctors either side of him, but hes the one who says, Im not the Doctor. So the Eleventh Doctor is still the Eleventh Doctor, the Tenth Doctor is still the TenthTechnically, if you really counted it, the David Tennant Doctor is two Doctors, on account of the Meta-Crisis Doctor [in Journey's End] Its not a matter of counting the regenerations, but of counting the faces of the Time Lord that calls himself the Doctor. Theres an anomaly Doctor slotted in somewhere, thats all. In the script to The Day of the Doctor, Matts Doctor was called the Eleventh, and Davids was called the Tenth, so the numbering stays exactly the same  and we call Peter Capaldi the Twelfth Doctor."


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

[User] What are good reasons for one to not procreate?

[Assistant]
1) Procreation always entails a possibility of suffering of the child. It doesn't matter how small the probability of suffering is, the mere possibility suffices. To procreate is to gamble with someone's life.

2) To say that pleasures and joys of life are worth some amount of suffering is fallacious for two reasons:
  a) What certainty do you have that the child will enjoy life more than he/she suffers?
  b) Pain and pleasure are not symmetrical. Any amount of pleasure does not compensate or 'Erase' pain. Would you be willing to experience 1 minute of best pleasure you can think of followed by 1 minute of worst pain imaginable?

3) What certainty do you have that the child would not inflict pain on other sentient beings?

4) Procreating is allocating the existing resources to a newly created life rather than using those resources for betterment of children who already exist and don't have a home i.e. orphans.


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

[User] ELI5: How does a flat tax favor the wealthy?

[Assistant]
Lets say rich guy makes $1,000,000 a year, and poor guy makes $25,000, and then lets assume a 10% flat income tax rate. Rich guy will pay $100,000, which is much more than poor guy's $2,500. Rich guy, however, is still left with $900,000 which is presumably more than enough to cover his necessary expenses plus a good amount of luxuries. Poor guy has $22,500 left, which might not cover all of his necessary expenses. That $2,500 that poor guy pays in taxes has a more substantial effect on his quality of life than the $100,000 that rich guy paid because at that income level virtually every dollar he gets goes to sustaining his home, food, medical insurance, etc. Rich guy on the other hand still has more than enough left over after taxes to buy not only what he needs but most of what he wants, and every extra dollar he receives would most likely go to savings and investments rather than subsistence.

Edit: Also, in the specific case of the US, many of the flat tax proposals that have been made would lower the current tax rate for those in the upper tax brackets and offset it by raising the tax rate for those in lower tax brackets. Also, capital gains (income made from capital investments), is generally taxed at a lower rate than normal income, and that is how a good portion of the income of the wealthy is generated. The poor/working class on the other hand generally don't make enough money to make capital investments and therefore can't benefit from the lower tax rate of capital gains.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do some terminal patients appear to show a marked improvement toward the end, within days of ultimately succumbing (especially cancer patients)?

[Assistant] The term for it is "Terminal lucidity" and we don't have a great grasp of why it happens.  The explanation I've heard is that it is the body burning everything it has to keep going, effectively spending all of its reserves to return to something closer to regular operation.  Once those reserves run out, the person dies.


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

[User]
[Umbrella Academy] Spoiler?

Why bring klaus to the bank robbery?

[Assistant]
Because he'd been given extensive combat training.

Vanya wasn't kept out of training or missions because of her alleged lack of powers, but *because* of her powers. The mix of adrenaline and heightened emotional state of a stressful combat situation risked triggering Vanya's powers, even through the drugs and mental suggestions. So Hargreeves used "she doesn't have powers" as a rather flimsy excuse to keep her under control.


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

[User]
[Halo] Questions about UNSC small arms.

1) Why does the UNSC not replace the MA5 series with the Battle Rifle? The latest model, the MA5D, only has 32 rounds, has 7.62mm ammo, and is terrible at range. On the other hand, the Battle Rifle has 36 rounds, shoots 9.5x40 mm rounds, and can shoot up to 950 meters.

2) Why hasn't the UNSC use plasma weapons after the war? They have a lot of the stuff lying around, and can reverse engineer it with the help of the Hugarok.

[Assistant]
1.) The MA5 fills the urban/close combat roll. Usually loaded with shredder rounds, the MA5 can take down an entire squad of elites in only a few short seconds. It's automatic fire and large spread is key in close combat. The burst fire nature of the BR just is not efficient enough in a close quarters environment.

2.) The UNSC has a an abundance of ballistic weaponry already, and it just isn't worth the cost and hassle to re-arm the entire UNSC military just yet. Although the technology is available, it needs to be completely redesigned to fit the UNSC's needs. Plasma weaponry is currently built to cater to the strength and grip of covenant forces, where it just is too bulky, heavy, and uncomfortable. The plasma technology is already seeing limited use in the UNSC's ships and fleets, it has not yet been manipulated to be used effectively by troops.


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

[User]
[Raimi Spider-Man films] In the first film, in his fight with Flash, Peter experiences the fight in slo-mo. Does this mean throughout the series his enemies were extremely fast?

Peter could literally see Flash's punches in slow motion.

So how was he perceiving his enemies? Did New/Greengoblin, Doc Ock, Sandman, Venom, all of them fight at extremely fast speeds? Technically they shouldn't be able to land a hit on him.

[Assistant]
I mean there is a fairly large difference between fighting a teenager with no formal training and a beefed up soldier in advanced armor, a brilliant scientist with AI controlled robot arms, A man made of sand or a space alien where spidy sense cant detect him.

Have you ever played guitar hero or any other rythm style game? You can very easily get overwhelmed by a series of rather slow inputs if they come at you in unusual ways, like say from robot arms or suped up speeds from a super soldier esqe serum, sandman doesnt need to bend according to physiology he just generates columns of sand to punch you with.


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

[User] ELI5:How do STD's travel from one body to another in the various forms of sex?

[Assistant] The anus is particularly dangerous because it leads right to where your body actually takes up all of its nutrients from food. That track leading up to your bowels is after the food has been broken down enough that the nutrients can be picked right up and handed off to the blood vessels directly. If any of the hiv virus is being released by a carrier into that track the chances of the other person catching it will be very high. The gay community didn't protect much in the past as it didn't have as much use. Now that people know more about hiv and the dynamics of sexually transmitted disease protection is stressed more then ever.


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

[User]
If sound travels best through solids, why is it harder to hear things when there is a wall between?

Sound travels best in solid objects. Given this fact, why is it harder to hear somebody or something when there are objects or walls in the way?

[Assistant]
Sound travels nicely through the wall.  It doesn't like the barrier between the wall and the air.  It doesn't like to change from wall to air.  Some is lost to reflection, etc.

Put your ear up to the wall, pressed against, and knock on the wall.


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

[User] [WARHAMMER 40K] I'm a Rogue Trader on the edge of the galaxy. Just a minute ago, scanners picked up an armada. Speaking in an old tongue from the Dark Age, they say they're a battlefleet sent to the next galaxy to make a haven from the Men of Iron, but their warp drives shut down. What do I do?

[Assistant]
You play your cards right and you get a seat at the big table with the High Lords of Terra.

Seriously, you are an extension of the Emperor's will with a mandate to explore beyond the reaches of the Imperium and bring back valuable goods.  You have just found quite possibly the most valuable asset imaginable.  You inform the commander of your station, inform him that the Men of Iron have been defeated, and lead the fleet directly back to Holy Terra.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does it take so long for the body to kill a virus?

Specifically the Influenza virus.

[Assistant]
Unlike body cells or other types of cells, a virus isnt alive in the same way that a cell is. Its a bundle of RNA (a molecule similar to DNA that can hijack a cell and make it produce more virii) inside a protein casing. A cell can be starved so that it is no longer able to sustain itself, but a virus will remain intact unless it is disassembled by enzymes, usually in an immune system cell.

What usually happens in the body is that the virus hijacks your cells and start produce more virii. Once there are enough virii in the body and the immune system cells start to figure out what's going on, they activate the bodys inflammatory response (this is when the fever and other symptoms usually kick in; its your body going into martial law and assigning more resources to fighting the infection).

At this point it's a matter of time until the immune system cells figure out how to produce the enzymes that can break down the virus; this is a process that can take many days, because cells that have not detected the virus yet are still vulnerable.

After that, it takes a while for the immune system cells to seek out the virus and break down every last one of them. Or for every cell in your body to figure out how to detect the virus and prevent it hijacking them.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are rainbows always curved?

[Assistant]
Rainbows are actually circular, however, ol' earth gets in the way. But there's more to it, too.

The sun's light has travelled so far that it's coming basically straight at us, there are droplets of water in the air that splits the light apart into colors, and bounces them back towards you. However, there's only a certain area where the water can be where it's perfect for this.

The real reason, however, is because water droplets are round. So since when they're at a certain distance with light coming in at a certain angle, any droplets in that circle will project those colors to your eyes.


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

[User]
ELI5: What exactly is "processed" food?

And why is it bad for people?

[Assistant]
"Processed" food means the food has undergone some mechanical or chemical manipulation or "processing" to reach that state it was that would/could not occur naturally. For example, Reddiwhip/Coolwhip are oil based whipped cream products that undergo processing to reach a state where they have the texture of whipped cream.

The reason they may be bad for people is that a lot of the processing involves adding chemicals which are not necessarily optimal for human consumption as opposed to eating naturally occurring food items.


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

[User]
CMV: The House of Representatives should add an additional seat so the electoral college is a odd number of votes preventing ties.

The system to resolve ties in the US Electoral college is a very terrible and unfair method (if you are unaware, each state gets one vote for president, and each senator votes for vp, so you have 40 million Californians getting one vote for president, and so do the 500,000 people in Wyoming.) Now the electoral college has been debated to death on this sub so I wont get into it, but considering how hard it would be to change the electoral system, I believe there is some merit to improving individual parts of it. This would include adding a house seat/electoral vote to prevent ties/having no candidate in the majority in the electoral college. Now this is excluding the factor of faithless electors but I believe that is another issue that could be fixed and therefor has a minimal effect on my post.

TLDR; if were stuck with the electoral college system, at least for a while, why not fix major issues such as ties? And a fix for ties is adding another house seat so the number of electoral votes is odd and cant be tied (ignoring faithless electors which can also be eliminated).
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Edit: the main focus of my post is that we should have an additional electoral vote so that assuming no faithless electors (lets assume theres been a law preventing it), then there cant be a tie. Saying its unlikely to happen is not changing my view so stop saying it. And also please read the comments before commenting. People keep saying the same alternative solution.

[Assistant]
>if were stuck with the electoral college system, at least for a while, why not fix major issues such as ties?

With 540 electors the chance of a tie is low enough not to be one of the main problems with the system.

Why not first fix the "all or nothing" principle and split electors from a state between parties as the proportional votes suggest. That might help the 2 party system problem, and also makes every vote matter, and not only those in swingstates. Under the current system a Californian elector basically means nothing because everyone knows it will be Democrat.

So why fix an issue that happens once in a blue moon when the same effect (votes being more valuable in certain states) is there all the time already?


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

[User] How come the electron and the proton have exactly the same but opposite charge, when they are made from different building blocks?

[Assistant]
Why the proton and electron hae charges that are exact opposites isn't clear, especially since the electron is a fundamental particle but the proton is composite.

However, we can address what's going on a little bit.  The proton is made of two up quarks and a down quark, so if you can find a relation among the various particles' charges, you can begin to answer this question.

The one definitive condition that we know of that is relevant to this question is called *anomaly cancellation*.  Every fundamental force arises due to some symmetry (a mathematical transformation that leaves the equations of motion unchanged).  If the charges of the electron, the up quark, the down quark, and the neutrino (which is electrically neutral) did not balance as they do, those important symmetries would not hold, and the theory would be neither consistent nor sensible.

On the more speculative side, there are two things that can lead to the quarks and the electron have charges such that they are all multiples of some basic charge.  One is *grand unification* -- if the electromagnetic force and the weak and strong forces are all unified into one big force, the mathematical properties of unification force this to occur.  The second was noticed by Dirac about 80 years ago, and it is that if a magnetic monopole (an isolated north or south pole) was found to exist, again, any electric charges that appeared would have to be multiples of some basic charge.  (Interestingly, grand unified theories generally predict the existence of magnetic monopoles, so these two speculative approaches can work side by side.)


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

[User]
what is physically happening to Li when a Li-ion battery is charged under load (while on)?

I understand that the battery does not charge and discharge simultaneously, but rather there's a net charge due to opposite polarization. But does this mean that Li is diffusing slower towards the cathode?

[Assistant]
Possibly. The Li diffusion rate is directly proportional to the charging current. The charger circuit may or may not be capable of varying the charging current. It depends on how things are connected, but it's possible to use a power supply that can support charging at the maximum rate regardless of other system load. Some devices will design the charging circuit to only use "free" power (such that total power draw never exceeds some number), and some circuits will just have everything always run off the battery, and the charger may or may not charge it (in this configuration the charger might send current to the battery but a portion of that current goes to the power supply and never enters the battery).

But if the battery is charging slower, it's because there is less charging current going to the battery.


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

[User]
Are there stars that orbit perpendicular to the galactic plane?

In spiral galaxies, there is commonly a galactic bulge of light. As most of us know, stars usually orbit around the plane, but is it possible for a large number of stars to orbit at (at least close to) a 90 degree angle relative to this? If so, how would that formation process have occurred?

Or am I overthinking it and the bulge is simply a result of the massive light output from the high density of stars?

Edit: just to clarify, I know that there are irregular galaxies that are composed of stars in a cloud of sorts, like the Magellanic Clouds. I am referring to conventional spiral galaxies for this post.

Edit 2: by large number, Im referring to a significant portion of the total number of stars. Maybe 0.1-1% of total stellar count or mass. Something along the lines of 0.1-10 million stars at least.

[Assistant] Sure, in the bulge or the stellar halo of spiral galaxies, the orbits are *basically* random, so you get orbits in every direction (some bulges resemble elliptical galaxies in some ways). Whether it counts as "a large number" is up to you.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why did humans develop complex emotions?

Edit: Some clarification. I'm asking why we evolved emotions beyond the base ones (happiness, sadness, fear, etc.) We now have anger, shame, pride, etc. And yes, plenty of animals demonstrate both simple and some complex, but not as much or as deep as humans.

[Assistant] No source but I've read somewhere that emotions were an evolutionary result of communication before languages were developed. Think about it, the voice in your head speaks to you in your language (English for me) but before that, your mind used emotions such as fear, anxiety etc to communicate with you.


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

[User] Do giraffes vomit?

[Assistant]
Someone's been reading showerthoughts this morning ;)

Yes, they do. There are even videos of them doing it on Youtube if you're so inclined.

They also regurgitate their cuds to chew them like cows do, but that's a bit different from what we humans think of when we think "vomit."


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

[User]
[DC] Is Lex Luthor right? Does Superman lead to the end of human innovation?

Title basically. Ive seen a few thing that show Lex as being great without Superman. Does Superman cause humanity to stop striving for greatness because we have a god living amongst us who can do anything? If we had a Superman to rely on for big problems how would the world react?

[Assistant]
Nope, that's what he tells himself to justify his hatred/jealousy.

The future trajectory of the DC-verse Earth is usually kind of a known quantity because of the exploits of the Legion of Superheroes in the 31 century, who occasionally travel from the future to the present.

Their time period shows that humanity eventually evolves into a full-fledged member of a greater galactic community, filled with heroes from as many worlds who believe in the same values that Superman inspired and fought for in the present. The members of the Legion directly cite him as their inspiration despite being separated by a few millennia from his legendary exploits (other than the times they visit him in the past or take him to the future).


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

[User] What if somebody at the space station requires a surgery?

[Assistant] I don't know the answer to the question, but it is actually possible to send someone back from the ISS "on a whim".  There are always enough Soyuz spacecraft docked to the ISS to evacuate it in an emergency.


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

[User]
Reviewer pointed out non-existent grammatical mistakes, the best way to respond?

Just got reviewers' comments from a journal submission. Interestingly, one reviewer pointed out "grammatical errors and misuse of language" in the manuscript, and listed a few problematic sentences. However, our PI and two other native English-speaking colleagues don't find any problems in these sentences.

In this case, what's your opinion on the best way to politely respond to this comment? Should I rewrite these sentences even though they are grammatically correct?

Thank you very much.

[Assistant]
If the reviewer has actually elaborated on why some of the sentences are problematic, you could just easily disprove them, if the used language is indeed correct. If they have just pointed out that there are misuses and errors without giving you specific examples, then you can simply state, for instance: "We do not understand what the reviewer means by these comments. We have double-checked the manuscript for grammatical errors and have not found the kind of mistakes pointed out in the comment."

Not every comment warrants an action, especially if the comment in vague or otherwise lacking in quality, which the comment you pointed out sound like.

It would help if you could share the original comment.


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

[User]
ELI5: What was the point of the Gunpowder Treason and Plot and why do people celebrate it if it was a failure?

Also known as Bonfire Night, Guy Fawkes Day, the Fifth of November, and so on.

[Assistant]
In the 1600's, England was ruled by a Protestant Christian monarchy who didn't take kindly to Catholics.  A small group of Catholics (Including Guido "Guy" Fawkes) decided to blow up part of the Parliament building, killing the King and making it easy for them to put a Catholic Friendly leader in charge.  They rented out a cellar underneath the building and filled it up with gun powder.

Someone in this conspiracy sent an anonymous (heh) letter to a catholic who would have been in Parliament that day, telling him to stay away.  This guy went to the authorities.  The grounds were searched, and Guy Fawkes was found guarding the gun powder.  They took him in, tourtured him, got the names of all the conspirators, brought them in, executed them, and nothing blew up.

They celebrate because Parliament didn't blow up.

It'd be like if we stopped the 9/11 hijackers and made a holiday out of it.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is an execution by firing squad seen as "more honorable" than being hanged?

[Assistant] Hanging is how common criminals were executed whereas soldiers would have be thrown up against a wall and shot by other fellow soldiers.  By instead being given the noose they would be seen as nothing but a common criminal not worthy of a soldier's death.


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

[User] ELI5: How breathing into a brown paperbag calms people down?

[Assistant]
It's a little counterintuitive. When you're hyperventilating, the danger is that you're going to run out of carbon dioxide because you're trying to push it out of your system too fast. If the amount of carbon dioxide in your blood gets too low, your blood vessels tighten up, and it's harder to get oxygen to the brain and muscles.

Breathing into a bag makes sure that you're inhaling some of the carbon dioxide back, so you don't run out as easily.


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

[User] ELI5: If our stomach (organ) is up near our rib cage, why do we feel full more in the area of of our small intestine when we overeat?

[Assistant] When you overeat, there are several different feelings you might be feeling. One of them that is near your small intestine is the buildup of gas which comes from gut bacteria digesting food for you. There are other feelings which are in different parts of your body, such as upset stomach, indigestion (dyspepsia), and regurgitationthose last three often caused by acid reflux. You could also feel distention, or bloating, which is also caused by gas.


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

[User] ELI5: How do glow-in-the-dark things work?

[Assistant]
Imagine a piston, with a hole at the bottom to let fluid in. Pump in a bunch of water, and the piston rises up; let go, and the piston will drop, squirting water out of the bottom of the piston.

With glow in the dark materials, this piston is an electron, and the water is photons (light particles). When a photon hits an electron in a material, that electron gains a bunch of energy - like the piston rising up - and the photon is absorbed. When the electron eventually "falls down" back to its original energy level, it releases a photon at a particular wavelength (color).

Now, pretty much every material in the world does this, but glow in the dark stuff is special. When that electron rises up in energy, it gets stuck there - quantum mechanics says it shouldn't be able to fall back down, although it eventually will anyway. That's why glow in the dark material can "store" light for a while - the electrons are stuck in a high energy state, and slowly drop back down (releasing light) over time.

TL;DR electrons absorb and store light energy, and later release it.


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

[User] [Doctor Who] Ashildr is made immortal by technology from an alien race living during the Viking times. Why has no other race recreated this?

[Assistant]
Well the Mire are incredibly advanced, even by futuristic standards of other aliens, and incomparably so when next to the viking era peasants.

Likely there are two reasons for why they aren't more prominent. Firstly it's possible that the Mire hit the "Coca Cola" of repair kits, in that there's a decent alternative around (albeit also rare), but most other efforts are trash, barely capable of being classed as the same thing. The Mire repair kits are significantly more successful than other healing means, but of course remember that the Doctor had to tinker with them in order for them to work on humans, which would suggest the Mire kits are specifically for Mire alone (unless you have a super smart alien around to customise it for you).

Then there's the possibility that other races *do* have similar kits. But due to any number of reasons (from BigSpacePharma wanting conventional meds to sell better, to resource shortages, to laws against them) they are incredibly rare and hard to find. Then other races aren't exactly the most chemically and biologically minded. You wouldn't have the Daleks figuring this stuff out in a lab, just like Sontarans would rather stumble upon an enemy that's making these and then claim them as spoils of war (rather than producing them themselves).

It's also extremely likely that the Mire are the *first* race to make something like this. Without sharing the knowledge of that one thing that makes the kit work, other races are scratching their heads for that missing piece of the puzzle and how to find it.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why couldn't The Republic afford to lose Kashyyyk?

I have been wondering about this for a while. Why couldn't they afford to lose the system, as Obi-wan said? The Republic is dealing with the civil war, and as they can't afford to lose it I assume that it is of immense strategic value. Does it have to do with the Wookies themselves, or is it soemthing else?

[Assistant]
At the time of the Battle of Kashyyyk, the Republic was winning the war: they had the major hyperroutes leading into the Core Worlds secured, and they were besieging the Separatists' holdings in the Outer Rim Territories. Kashyyyk was a major navigation hub for the eastern quadrant of the galaxy, sitting at a nexus of the lateral hyperlanes linking the Perlemian Trade Route and the Corellian Run, as well as dominating the ancient routes running from Hutt Space towards the Core Worlds. The Kashyyyk hyperlanes, though slower than the main routes, represented the Separatists' best chance of outflanking the Republic in the Outer Rim or penetrating the Core Worlds.

Additionally, the Wookiees were long-rumoured to possess knowledge of secret hyperspace routes: the Claatuvac Guild, based out of the city of Kachirho, had a long tradition of training hyperspace scouts, and both Republic and Separatist intelligence agencies were determined to claim their archives.

Finally, Kashyyyk had long been considered a model of Republic influence in the Mid Rim, with the Wookiees being representatives of the Republic in the otherwise-dangerous Mytaranor sector and on the edge of Hutt Space. To lose Kashyyyk, a major species homeworld and representative of the Republic's "civilising mission", would have been a political disaster.


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

[User]
Is there any element that can form 8 or more covalent bonds?

Or is the maximum permissible bonds seven like in IF7?

[Assistant]
IF7 is not covalent in nature.
Iodine is extremely loosely bonded to its valence electrons and would easily shift the electronic cloud density towards an aggressive electronegative element like F.

IF7 is somewhat polar in nature, ( FAJAN'S RULE OF BONDING ).

Having 7 covalent bonds would mean having seven valence electrons in your valence shell. Bigger elements like bromine can make such bonds with extremely electropositive compounds but then again the bonding nature will tend towards polar.


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

[User] [Star Wars] In Episode 6 Return of the Jedi, the Empire was building another Death Star. Did they learn how the 1st one got blowed up so easy? Dis they fix the loophole Achilles Heel?

[Assistant]
Actually, yes they did. Not only did they learn about what happened from Vader (the sole survivor) but in the Legends canon at least, Palpatine made sure that mistake would never be made again... by repeatedly torturing the lead engineer to death and resurrecting him via Sith Alchemy.

It's why the rebel resistance had to destroy it before it was finished, in case there was no new flaw.


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

[User]
How do molecules have such unique properties just being made up of atoms?

I dont get how molecules can tuen out to have such radical properties, when atoms themselves are so bland? Like if you put a bunch of lego pieces together it'll still be a lego conglomerate, but if you put a bunch of atoms together you get an interesting substance. Its like making a lego set from bland legoes but afterwards when the set is done it magically glows or suddently becomes liquid at room temp. Like lets say pure carbon is just pencil lead or a diamond. Then you add a bunch of hydrogens to it, which is literally just adding a few more protons and you get oily fuel. Or you get the synthetic smell of bananas. Just by adding some atoms to it.

[Assistant]
The simplest answer is that atoms themselves *aren't* so bland. Atoms on their own have different properties, and for the purposes of your question those differences are most noticeable when you stick different ones to each other.

Imagine each different colour of Lego brick had different properties, like how strongly they stick to other bricks or whether they're totally hard or kinda rubbery. Also imagine that they're not all the same shape of brick, some colours are the bigger bricks and some colours are the smaller bricks. Also also, imagine that some colours have room for connections on the side, not just top and bottom, and some are even all outies or all innies. The shapes you're able to make, how big they can be before they fall apart, how flexible they are, these now depend on which colours of bricks you use.


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

[User] [general fantasy] of elves are more or less immortal, why aren't they impossibly more skilled than say humans or dwarfs?

[Assistant]
In many cases they are. They weave cloaks so intricate that they allow wearers to blend into the landscape, bake bread so tasty and nutritious you can eat it exclusively for months and not tire of it, and craft blades so strong and sharp they don't lose their edge after millennia.

Humans call this "magic", though elves would characterize it as exceptional craftsmanship.


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

[User]
ELI5: The Pirate Bay

What are the risks of using it? How does it work? What the hell is seeding and leaches?

[Assistant]
Here is a rundown of what Torrenting and ThePirateBay are. The two of them are two different things.

First off, "Torrenting" is an alternative way of downloading files. When you normally download something like an MP3 from a website, you are getting the file directly from the websites computer. For example, if you buy an MP3 from Amazon, you click the download button which then your computer asks Amazon's computer for the file, then Amazon's computer send it directly to you.

Torrenting is a little bit different. To start getting a file by torrenting, you need a program that gets the file. This is called a client. Some examples are utorrent and Bittorrent. When you want a to get a file by torrenting, you need to first tell your client where the files are. While torrenting, many other people who have downloaded it before have the file and there is no one computer where the file comes from. You first go to a website like ThePirateBay. When you find what you are looking for, you click the "magnet" link for it. This tells your client (utorrent, Bittorrent) where the files are and you become a "leecher". Your client then connects to other clients on other people's computers who have that same file and begin sending different pieces of it to you. When you finish getting all of the pieces you become a "seeder" and start sending pieces of that file to other people who are trying to download it.

The pros of this method are that sharing the files are almost impossible to stop, because once many people are "seeding" it, authorities cannot just simply turn off one main sharing computer, they would need to turn all of them off.

The cons of this process are that if nobody is seeding the file (Either people are greedy and immediately stop the torrent after they finish, or demand for the file has dropped), the download becomes very slow or does not start.

ThePirateBay is not a torrent, but a website where your client can get the info to start a torrent. There are many alternatives to ThePirateBay, like Kickasstorrents and isohunt, but ThePirateBay is so popular because of their resistance to authorities and large variety of torrents.

As for risks, it is actually pretty safe. Whenever you start seeding, your client will only reshare the files if they match what others are sharing exactly. If the file gets infected with a virus, the client will no longer share it. However, people can create a new torrent that has a virus in it. Always check the comments of a torrent on ThePirateBay and see what other people are saying about it before downloading.


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

[User]
CMV: I don't think we should care more about pet species than other animals.

Let me start off by saying I don't have any dogs or cats and that I don't agree with burning dogs alive. But I also think that pigs shouldn't be burned alive.

It seems like most people are against eating dogs while they are fine with eating pigs and cows. I feel like just because people have dogs in their house instead of pigs is no reason to view their entire species as more important than pigs. I'm fine with people saying we shouldn't eat any animals or that you shouldn't eat other peoples dogs.

I do think that some animals should be held to a higher regard than other animals but not because some look cute but because some animals are smarter/endangered but dogs, cats and horses aren't anywhere near extinction or smarter than some farm animals. There are also other good reason to not eat something like their environmental impact or stuff like that e.g.  I try to minimize my consumption of cow products because they are terrible for the environment.

[Assistant]
If others give us moral consideration, we are obliged to return it. As a pet dog might well give its life for me, that ought to increase its moral status. Not only for the owner (though especially for the owner) but also for humanity in general.

Domesticated animals are more likely to have moral regard for humans, to see them as part of their social world, to look to humans for help. Weve conditioned them this way. We altered the course of their evolution, through eugenics, to make them dependent on us. That ought to come with some responsibility on our part.