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

[User] ELI5: Why are we trying to colonize Mars before the moon?

[Assistant]
Because (oddly enough) Mars might be easier.

We could (theoretically) convert Mars to a near Earth-like state.  Mars has gravity (though much less than Earth's), Mars has an atmosphere (though its thin and not hospitable).

The Moon is worse than Mars in those categories.

We'll never colonize the Moon.  It'll max out at moon bases but no human will ever walk around the Moon without equipment.  Mars though, we might someday get it to be a 2nd Earth.

Plus anything that kills the Earth is gonna probably kill the Moon too.  If we need to be somewhere else, better to be WAY somewhere else.


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

[User]
[Wolfenstein the New Order]It turns out that there is a secret society of Jews with super advanced super science. So, does that mean that the Golem of Prague was real? Was it one of their robots, something that escaped, and experiments gone haywire or maybe a weapon used to defend themselves?

The game is 5 years old and you discover them pretty early on, so we should be good for spoilers? Though, due to the nature of the question I feel a necessary disclaimer for those who had not played it. Yes, there is a secret Jewish society. They don't actually control the world or try to. They are basically reclusive scientists, albeit super scientist with super advanced technology. They are kind of the good guys. There is nothing even remotely anti-semitic about the game, the protagonist is actually a Jew killing an assload of Nazis.

[Assistant]
The Monstrosity from Old Blood was referred to as a Golem, so yes, stories of ancient jews using golems were likely stories of Jews who created advanced cybernetic monstrosities to fight for kings.

We don't know specifically what the golem of prague was.


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

[User]
[DC] Who are some insanely powerful "human characters"?

The reference I'm using is Franklin Richards or Legion form Marvel. Characters that could create/destroy galaxies and universes but could hide in a crowd without having to shape shift or hide their appearance.

[Assistant]
Alexander Luthor Jr of Earth-3 was, under a very specific set of circumstances, a Franklin Richards level threat. Those Circumstances (Infinite Crisis) are now long passed and Alexander long dead at the hands of the Joker.

The next closest existential threat in human form is likely the Flash. It can be assumed that the Scarlet Speedster of Central City, and probably this new Crimson Comet in Keystone,  is capable of altering time in drastic and largely unpredictable ways.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do I feel like I'm losing weight by eating 2000 calories of grilled meat and vegetables, but not when I consume the same amount in ice cream, fried foods, and fast food?

[Assistant]
Biologist here!

Our body gets calories from three main sources; fats, carbohydrates and proteins. While one calorie from a healthy food will provide the same amount of energy as one calorie from an unhealthy food, they will have different effects on the body.

* Fats

There are three main types of fats; saturated, unsaturated and trans fats. Saturated and trans fat can increase your cholesterol levels which can lead to heart disease and strokes (found in a lot of your junk food). Unsaturated fats lower your cholesterol levels which can prevent heart disease and strokes (vegetable oils, nuts, avocados, olives, seafood).

* Carbohydrates

Carbs are made up of sugar molecules. The more sugar molecules are linked together, the more complex the carb becomes. The two main types of carbs are simple and complex. Simple carbs are unhealthy. They are digested and absorbed quickly leaving you hungry soon after eating them (cookies, donuts, candy). Complex carbs are healthy. They are digested and absorbed slowly which keeps you full and prevents cravings (legumes, vegetables).

Certain diets, like Keto and other low carb diets, are healthy and most of the carbs are coming from vegetables. You don't actually need a lot to keep your energy up.

* Proteins

Proteins are made up of amino acids. While our body can create some of them, it can't create all of the necessary amino acids. There are two types of protein; complete and incomplete. If a protein contains all of the essential amino acids, it is complete. If it lacks one or more of the essential amino acids, it is called an incomplete protein. While you can get complete proteins from fast foods, they come with the lousy carbs and fats.

See it's not the calories that matter as much, it's what's in those calories. By eating junk you are also missing out on essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals that are found in non-processed foods (vegetables, meats, fish, nut, etc.).


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

[User]
[Marvel/DC] Do civilians come back from the dead as anywhere near as frequently as heroes and villains?

We all know almost no characters in comics stay dead, and characters can be brought back through almost any reasoning. Does this extend to the non-super individuals of these worlds? With so many options to cheat death, has there been any sort trickle-down effect to the masses?

[Assistant] No, unless they're directly related to a villain or hero (e.g. Aunt May), civilians have almost as limited options as on Earth. Most people with access to either magic or technology that can bring people back inevitably end up on either side of the hero-villain binary.


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

[User]
[LOTR] Why did the Valar honor elves that fought Morgoth when the elves were accessory to murder during the Kinslaying and openly defied the Valar's will?

For example Glorfindel gets to live again after killing a Balrog. However, according to the Valar, Glorfindel should never have been there in the first place. Why do the Valar overlook the crimes the elves did when the elves defeat something of Morgoth?

[Assistant] Most of the Valar are very big on forgiveness (remember, a majority of them were willing to give *Morgoth* a second chance after his initial imprisonment), and Glorfindel did not actually participate in the Kinslaying (see The Peoples of Middle Earth, in *The History of Middle Earth*). Presumably he did some off-page penance in the Halls of Mandos for his comparatively minor crime of following his liege Turgon into exile, and then was allowed to leave.


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

[User]
ELI5:How does a metal allergy work?

I have an allergy that causes a rash to form, on the skin, upon prolonged contact with metal (specifically nickel). What causes the skin to react in such a way that the skin develops a rash?

[Assistant] From what I've read, metal allergies are not actual allergies but actually being susceptible to irritation. With nickel for instance, one of the most common metal allergies, moisture causes salts to form that cause rashes and eczema on the skin's surface.


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

[User]
[Princess Mononoke] Why did Lady Eboshi change her attitude so quickly at the end of the story, seeming to want to co-exist harmoniously with nature?

At the end of the film, following the death of the Deer God and the renewal of natural life in the area around the ironworks, Lady Eboshi (the ironworks master) promises, "We'll start again. We'll build a good village." Before that, she had been single-mindedly, even enthusiastically trying to clear-cut the surrounding forest and kill its guardians, including the Deer God and San (Princess Mononoke, who remains alive at the end). Why did she change her tune so quickly?

Lady Eboshi was a complex character, to be sure. She helped sex workers, hoped to cure lepers, and generally treated people with kindness and good humor. But she was unabashedly anti-forest, and I don't understand what she experienced following the Deer God's death (basically its huge and terrifying spirit killing half the land and then bringing it back to life as it searched for its head and finally died) which led to this 180-degree change of heart in her.

To be fair, I'm not very informed about Japanese mythology and don't fully grasp the political subplot of this movie, so these might have something to do with it. Or maybe I'm even misinterpreting Lady Eboshi's remark at the end, and she was simply promising to keep doing exactly what she'd been doing before from the ashes of the ironworks...

[Assistant] Lady Eboshi wasn't really anti forest, she was indifferent to the forest except as a resource to be exploited.  Her goal was always to protect her people and make as good a life for them as she could.  If that meant chopping down the forest and making iron then that's what she'd do.  After the Deer God and battling with the Samurai she realized that the best path to peace and prosperity for her people wasn't selling iron to the Emperor, he was a violent man who exploited Iron Town and just saw it as a resource like she saw the forest.  She wanted to find a new path and trying to live as one with the forest at this point of rebirth seems like a good idea to her.


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

[User]
ELI5: What actually happens when you crack knuckles and other joints.

Like, what actually makes them start cracking. Because for a long time I couldn't crack them, but at some point they just started cracking.

And does it lead to any actually bone/joint issues like people say it does?

[Assistant]
I think the latest research explained it happening due to a kind-of vacuum being formed.

The joints in your knuckles have a fluid between them, and when you stretch them to "crack" them, there isn't enough fluid to fill that gap. So you get a "vacuum", like pulling a suction cup off of a wall. This makes that "popping" sound.


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

[User] [WH40k] where is the best place to live in imperium for normal civilian?

[Assistant] On some random world that is on a mostly backwater planet, just growing food for the empire. Too far away from orks or anything nasty, too peaceful and backwater for chaos, and barely anything of value on the planet to have anyone target it. It is there that the space potato farmer is safest. And honestly eating alot is pretty nice, so you get a nice balance between safety and comfort.


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

[User]
ELI5: If I buy a house using a mortgage loan, did I really buy the house or did the bank buy the house?

As my husband and I were celebrating the closing of our first home, one buzz-kill friend corrected us saying that we didnt buy the house. The bank really bought the house and it's not ours till we pay off the mortgage. I thought how it worked was our name was on the deed and the bank is listed as a lien holder till the loan was paid off, making the house ours. So now I'm not sure if there's a technicality missing/ignored in common vernacular: can we say we bought our house?

[Assistant]
Ignore your buzzkill friend, he's taking a small technicality on your ownership and overexaggerating it.  The bank has no right to live in the property, to upgrade or alter the property, or to sell the property unless you default on your loan.  And that's what ownership is.

All they have on it is a lien or an interest in the property while you're paying off your loan terms.  The house is the collateral of your loan, and if you default they have the right to take it back, but unless that happens, they have no ownership rights to that property.  It is yours in every useful sense of the term, and your friend is a turd.


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

[User] [Pokemon]So I captured what I think of some kind of rare Clefairy Pokemon because it already came with a name, Bill, and it can talk. I've been trying to mate it with my Diddo for weeks without success. The Ditto seems into it put the Clefairy is not. Any tips on how to get them to breed?

[Assistant]
They dont seem to like each other.

You have a 20% chance of them having an egg. This happens when you have a Pokmon of the same ID number and different species. You shouldve learned this in Pokmon school! Were you not paying attention again?!


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

[User]
Has "being popular" always been a thing?

Amongst teens as well as young adults, has being viewed as "popular" always been a desirable trait? With the advent of social media, popularity is more tangible than ever (# of followers, friends) and I am interested as to whether or not being popular is a thing of the modern era.

[Assistant] Groups always select leaders. Hobbes argues in Leviathan that our human nature is to be self interested, but since no one person can sustain power over their own autonomy or a group of people indefinitely (ultimately they will either form alliances, you will get older or someone stronger will come along), we will choose to give up some of that autonomy to have peace through social interaction. People select leaders they admire and think will represent their best interests. Teenagers constitute not only their own group, but a group that is learning how to take on the role of adulthood in small groups (mainly high school and peer groups), the early work of Albert Cohen and Thomas & Znaniecki, shows the mechanisms by which peer groups select leaders in their sub-population. Popularity, is a manifestation of an individuals ability to adeptly maneuver complex social interactions. Millers work on "focal concerns" illustrates how the most popular teens are the ones who recognize the issues that are most important to a group and then excel in those areas. It's a concept that's been around since the beginning of time, but recently the ability to quantitize popularity through social media has refocused the focal concerns of teens. The question becomes what is more important to the students at this specific school, football? or digital socialization?


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

[User]
[DBZ] Why do characters resort to lots of fast beam shots and assume it worked when there is smoke in the way of actually seeing the results?

Those hundreds of little shots have never worked so why do they always seem surprised when their enemy comes out unharmed?

[Assistant]
There's two scenarios here: Characters who can't sense energy and those who can.

For the first case, lets look at Freeza. He's killed a LOT of people, many of which with fast beam shots. Majority of the time when he hits something with that, he knows they're toast, so this is why someone like him would be surprised. Keep in mind that the Z-Fighters are notably powerful warriors, the type that majority of these villains would never have faced before. And vice versa, these big villains are significantly more powerful than anyone else the Z-fighters have ever faced before.

For those who can sense energy, you can attribute this to pride (Vegeta...), inexperience (early Gohan) or just straight up shock that someone could ever face an attack like that (Z-fighters against Nappa)


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

[User] ELI5: if our body cells are all replaced every 5-7 years, then why do we have permanent scars, stretch marks, etc. ?

[Assistant]
The collagen cells that make up your scars can reproduce as well.  There is blood flow to them, etc...

Scars form when you cut the skin so deep there is nothing left.  Typically most tiny cuts form by cutting multiply layers of skin but not all of them.  Skin grows from the inside out shedding the top layer with the 2nd layer every so often.

When you get a scab your body closes the hole above the topmost layer with extra cellular fluid (and white cells) and as the layers regrow they push the scab off.

When you cut too deep the body responds by filling the gap [depending on how wide it is] with a collagen matrix we call "scars."


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

[User] ELI5: How come a round camera takes rectangular pictures?

[Assistant] The lens of a camera is circular, but the image sensor of a camera is rectangular, whether it is film or a digital sensor. Imagine if you draw a rectangle inside of a circle... This would be your image/picture.


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

[User]
Any recent data that shows the difference in mortality or severity of people who took flu shot vs not?

You hear all the time that even though I got a flu shot, I still got flu. I mean yeah flu shot is not 100% protective against flu. I was wondering if the flu shot 1) decreases the severity of the flu - if yes, in what way (number of days or severity of symptoms ? 2) Mortality rate of people with flu shot vs placebo. Recent data would be appreciated.  On a side note, why do some young healthy people die of flu and some older people with other illnesses don't?

[Assistant]
The first thing to mention is that there are 4 types, and many different strains of the flu. The annual flu shot protects against the strain/s predicted to be the largest threat to the public for that year.

So thats why you can get the shot and still get the flu; you contracted a different strain than you were vaccinated for.

Some strains can be more dangerous to people than others, will effect people differently, and can also mutate throughout the flu season.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why can a nicotine (and possibly other substances) addicted brain sleep without having to get a 'fix'? During the day it's a lot harder to 'stay clean' for 10 hours.

Little side question: Would be interesting to know if all addictions are at rest during sleep. Personally I don't have the experience besides nicotine and maybe caffeine.

[Assistant] if you are addicted to a substance enough, it will affect your sleep. it may be minor, waking up a time or two and drifting back off, or it may be severe, waking up several times and not being able to go back to sleep. sleeping does the same thing going without any other time does. it starves your body for the substance. that is why most users will fix right when they get up. even if it is nicotine or caffeine, you need it right away.


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

[User]
This might be a dumb question, but why does anything, organic or otherwise, degrade and/or eventually break?

In this case I'm mainly thinking about organic beings and/material- why do we age, when we seem to be pretty efficient machines for processing food, energy, water and producing energy etc. I guess this applies to artificial or inorganic machines as well. Why do things continually degrade? I assume this has something to do with atomic structures?

Thanks, this is a great community!

[Assistant] In short, entropy. A layman's version is that all matter inevitably tends toward disorder. Matter is trapped energy and it is thermodynamically favorable for it to degenerate into heat energy. This means that work must be done to counteract trend. Left to their own devices, all physical things will eventually deteriorate. All it takes is time.


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

[User]
[MCU] Why didnt super villains help defeat Thanos/Reverse the Snap?

There must have been baddies who saw what was happening, or lost loved ones in The Snap. Youd think theyd have teamed up with the Avengers. (At least the no so crazy ones)

[Assistant] In the MCU, most of the post-Endgame villains would be either a) not powerful enough to team up with the Avengers or b) wishing to keep their identity secret >!(which was the entire point of Mysterio, the only post-Endgame MCU villain)!<. Also, the MCU has a really good track record of killing off its villains, so pretty much no pre-Infinity War villains would be present (assuming Ghost wasn't snapped and she died in agony because the Pyms dusted before they could get her her quantum realm juice. Yay.)


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

[User]
[Kenobi] Is ____ holding back?

When Obi Wan goes to rescue Leia and he has that cool Starkiller-esque scene, he bludgeons the first Stormtrooper like three times with his lightsaber like its some kind of blunt weapon. Is he not swinging hard enough to cut through the armour? Is he putting his lightsaber on a lower power setting? If so, why?

[Assistant]
We've seen times when a light saber is difficult to use if the wilder is not one with it. Din wielding the Darksaber is another good example of this.

Obi-Wan has lost faith in his abilities, and more importantly, lost faith in the Force. The blade reacts to that, making it harder to wield. So there's no force (slight pun intended) behind the blows. They score, but it's not going to cut off limbs.


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

[User]
Why does food perish and how can suppliers so accurately put a date on when this will occur?

When food goes off, usually mould and stuff starts growing on it, or it rots. How do supermarkets give a date of when it will start to grow/rot?

[Assistant] The date is actually rarely accurate.  Most foods are good for several days (in some cases weeks or months) after the best before dates. If storage was not ideal, or the packing faulty things can also go off before their stamped date.


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

[User]
[Who Framed Roger Rabbit] Where did 3D toons come from?

With a few exceptions (much of it on television), "traditional" 2D toons don't seem to get as much work as they used to.

These days, 3D toons get nearly all the work (*Frozen*, *Shrek*, *Tangled*, *Kung-Fu Panda*, *How To Train Your Dragon*, Pixar's stuff, etc).

Where did these "new toons" come from?

If they've always been around, why weren't they working during the Golden Age?

How come they don't seem to be as bound to the "Rule of Funny" as 2D toons usually are?

Can they be destroyed? Will the Dip work on them?

[Assistant] Over the years humans and toons have gradually started to mix and live in an un-segregated society (we're all a little more open-minded than we were in the 40s) obviously this is going to lead to toon-human relationships on a romantic and sexual level, which ultimately leads to the  3 dimensional toons you see more often in film and television today.


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

[User]
[LOTR] are there Elves, Orcs and Dwarves in the far south and east, beyond Middle-Earth, and if there are do they look different?

Could there be dark skinned Elves or dwarves with asian features or all all those species except men exclusive to Middle-Earth?

[Assistant]
Yes and maybe. Four of the seven dwarf fathers were said to have awoken in the mountains of the far east and founded great kingdoms there. Considering the men of that region were described as having vaguely asian features it's not unreasonable to assume that the dwarves might have asian features themselves.

As for elves probably not. We have a pretty good idea of where they all settled down and none those places are in the east or south. Or at least not the far east or south.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does a digital camera "know" what to focus on?

I tried to find similar answers but none that hit the nail on the head as to how the camera "knows" what to focus on. What I mean by this is how does my camera know to focus on a specific person or thing, when there are countless other things it could focus on.

Say, a picture of a person with a stop sign behind and some trees also, how does it recognise the person and ignore the sign and the trees?

[Assistant]
There are two methods for cameras with autofocus...

Focusing on the object in the  center or at a preset focus area. This is determined by the photographer and/or camera.

The newer method uses machine learning for subject detection and selection. What is the photographer trying to take a picture of? Is it human? Does it stand out more than other objects? face detection, etc. Sports photography is slightly different, its not machine learning, but uses the chip to track objects once selected so you can burst while the subject is moving and maintain focus.

As far as how it actually focuses, there are a couple methods like phase detection or contrast detection of the subject once the camera or photographer has identified the subject.


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

[User]
Was Venus ever within the habitable zone of our Sun?

It is a known fact that main sequence stars increase their luminosity over time, as helium accumulates in their cores.

Even though our own sun will be around for ~5 billion more years, it will have gotten bright enough 500 million years from now to have boiled away our oceans.

So what if we turn back the clock? Was there a time, say, 3 billion years ago, when the current orbit of Venus would've been within the habitable zone? Would it have been in the habitable zone at the time (considering how chaotic the early solar system was, it's likely that all of the planets moved at least a little bit, IIRC)? Is it still within the habitable zone now?

EDIT: Torn between "astronomy" and "planetary science" flairs.

[Assistant] Venus is actually in the habitable zone, however its thick atmosphere prevents temperatures for life as we know it to exist. While studying astronomy, one of the things a professor pointed out was that if Mars and Venus were to be swapped, both would likely be able support life.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How much back child support would Darth Vader owe Luke once he turns 18 and discovers his identity?

Certainly Darth Vader has a large salary from ruling the galaxy right?

[Assistant]
I'd guess none.

Darth Vader probably doesn't collect a salary, he just gets whatever resources he needs.

Further, I'd be surprised if Luke's Aunt and Uncle hadn't already adopted him.

But seriously, who's going to serve Darth Vader papers?


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

[User]
BIG RIP versus Big Black Hole. Whats the Difference?

My understanding is that the big rip, in the end would compress all things down into such a space that it would even seperate the very fabric of nuetrons and protons before annihalting our universe. How is this different than a black whole which destroys the same basic building blocks?

EDIT: How is it different, i.e. minus the whole destruction of the universe aspect.

[Assistant]
Both are singular behaviour. That is, the maths breaks down because there's infinities. In a black hole, there is infinite density and infinite curvature of space time.

A black hole occurs within the universe, whereas the big rip is what happens to the universe.

There is a thing called the scale factor. This sort of measures how big the universe is. It's the increase in this factor that represents the expansion of the universe. As the scale factor increases, galaxies become further apart.

If dark energy (the stuff making the universe expand) is strong enough, it will cause the scale factor to become infinite, within finite time. This means that everything in the universe, from galaxies to subatomic particles, will become infinitely far apart. They 'rip' apart.

What you might be thinking of is the big crunch. This is kind of like a black hole in the sense that everything becomes infinitely dense and we have the same problems within the maths. This occurs when the scale factor goes to zero. A black hole is some matter within the universe becoming infinitely dense; the big crunch is all the matter in the universe becoming infinitely dense.


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

[User] [Cthulhu Mythos] so, what proboably kills us all first?

[Assistant]
**The Flying Polyps** seem to be active again, at least there is no  Great Race of Yith there any more to guard them. They can fly, manipulate the air (and probably the weather with it), and seem to be some 4th dimensional creature. They are a very aggressive species and predatory towards all other sentient live forms. They where enough of a threat that  an alien species capable of time travel only barely managed to contain them and was deathly afraid of them.

There seems to be at least some activity starting up again in one of the strongholds of **the Elder Things** so maybe they will try to reclaim earth after they dealt with **the Shoggoths** still lingering about (or vice versa). They are master geneticists being able to create shapeshifitng slave races, and being able to manipulate mater on the nano-scale with there bare "hands", for them creating a biological weapon customized for humans is a project for one evening.

**The Deep Ones** seem to be interested in conquering humanity, after there little project at Insmouth failed there is a suggestion they might try it with another much larger coastal city next time. They are immortal, probably poses some kind of alien technology, and there elders grow to gigantic sizes, they could give conquering humanity a try at some point.

And this are just aliens, we haven't reached gods yet.

**Cthulhu**, an obvious possibility, should some cultist managed to reach him and preform the correct rituals he would awake and bring down beings that HE prays to, humanity is over.

**Yog-Sothoth** seems to interested in arriving in our realm, there must be a reason for why keeps siring children that can bring him in to our world completely, not just contact him like mortal cultists.

**Shub-Niggurath** The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young, if "she" ever gets realeased upon earth she will swallow it whole and flood us with her Dark Children.

And then of course there is  **Azathoth**  whose awakening means the end of all reality, so that's a bit of an overkill if you are only interested in the doom of mankind.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] why do they travel so slow sometimes?

What is the benefit of going warp 2 or 3 at times? Why not a more "normal" cruising speed like warp 7? Are they conserving fuel or what?

[Assistant]
Not so much conserving fuel as cutting down on maintenance time.  [non canon opinion].  A pal once told me if he rode his bike to work everyday he'd have to do a half hour of maintenance on the week end.  If he took that same bike out on Saturday afternoon and rode the hell out of it for an hour he'd have to do two hours maintenance Sunday afternoon.

Going at Warp 4 and above means repalcing dilithium crystals etc sooner.

Also, some missions might require more prep time then others.  If you are going to be near the Neutral Zone with a chance of combat, you might want to give the crew a few extra days of training.


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

[User] [Marvel]Thor was fighting some monster in the city and smashed up my car. My insurance company won't pay because they said it was an act of god. That is bullshit. What are my options. Can I sure Thor?

[Assistant]
So your best bet is to try and sue the Avengers. This should probably end with Tony Stark settling out of court and getting you a new car, and a cool photo op. Alternatively, Thor might just show up with a bag of Asgardian Gold and apologize if he gets wind that he actually caused harm. He tends not to think about those things during a fight.

But yeah. Go to the gym and lawyer up. (You want to look good if you end up getting your photo taken with an Avenger.) Keep your Facebook though.


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

[User]
A good tool for producing graphs?

What free softwares would you recommend to produce a range of professional looking economics graphs?

By graphs I mean geometric representations of theoretical relationships not empirical data graphs.

Currently, I use R for both because I am comfortable with it.

[Assistant] I'd say tikz is probably your best bet. It's a package in LaTeX that allows you to hand code your own plots. It definitely takes a little time to get used to, but there are some good resources out there for economics.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is a citizen's arrest and how/when to perform one?

When should you and how would you go about it? Thanks!

[Assistant]
When should you? Basically never.  When *can* you?  Varies from state to state, but generally only when you actually witness someone committing a felony, or are instructed to do so by a lawfully appointed police officer.

See, the thing is, cops have a bunch of laws that protect them if they screw up.  If they arrest someone improperly, *at most* it's a slap on the wrist.  If you do it, it's kidnapping.  Just call the cops unless your life or someone else's *depends* on you stopping this person before they get away.


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

[User]
What is going on in the bodies of people with asymptomatic Covid-19?

For the approximately 33% of Covid-19 positive people who have no symptoms (but can still transmit the disease), what is actually happening in their interactions between their immune systems and the virus?  If they can transmit the disease to others, the virus must be replicating in their cells; why does this not hammer them with the usual symptoms such as coughing and fever?

[Assistant] The symptoms you get from COVID aren't due to the virus directly. It's due to your immune response against the virus which causes leakage of your capillaries and tissue damage as your immune cells release cytotoxic metabolites. In asymptomatic people, that response just is more muted and doesn't cause as much cell damage so you don't actually feel symptoms. You're still fighting it off - it's just you're doing it silently.


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

[User] ELI5 why do pens dry out if you leave the cap off even though most caps have holes in the top?

[Assistant]
**TL;DR:** Air, humidity, and heat circulation levels.

Air has two ways of drying out stuff.

The first is through simple "Brownian Motion" - the effect where absolutely still air has individual particles (molecules) that move around and when they hit some water, knock some loose and evaporate them. This doesn't work very well at all when the air is already humid (filled with water).

The second is through general motion, like if a breeze or wind is blowing and pushing ALL SORTS of molecules past, say, a pen's nib. This really affects stuff if the air is warm, and it really steals a lot of water or light oils from something like inks, soaps, or gels, particularly if the air isn't already packed with moisture.

Putting a pen's nib in a cap with tiny airholes pretty much stops all breezes and causes the small bit of space around the pen's point to stay full of water already... so more of the pen's ink won't dry up and crust everything all up when you try and write with the pen the next time. There's just not enough air circulation to really dry the pen out.


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

[User]
CMV: Media piracy should be decriminalized if legal ownership of a copyrighted work is obscured, and the pirated media is distributed and sold at no profit to the privateer

Media piracy has a very controversial view among people. Many people believe that privacy is a positive good akin to recording history. Others view it as stealing profits from copyright owners. Both perspectives are true. However, there are times when a piece of media becomes lost to time either due to the original work being destroyed or a ban prohibiting the spread of such works. When this occurs, a new piece of "lost media" is born making legal viewing of such media impossible. In a scenario such as this, it is my view that spreading and viewing copyrighted materials should be legal as long as the work being distributed is truly lost media.

Piracy isn't always a costless job. There are material costs for recording, reproducing, and distributing copyrighted work. Allowing piracy to be legal without any regulation on the cost of pirated works can create an environment of price gouging, where the supply of legally acquirable media has fallen, inflating the costs of illegal media. An easy fix would be to require all pirated works to be free for purchase, but that ignores the material costs. This is why copyrighted works should be sold based on the cost of materials alone. Did the CD used to distribute pirated media cost $0.10? Then a privateer can only sell their bootlegged pirated media for $0.10. Privateers cannot profit from pirated works since they don't hold the copyright. They wouldn't face any criminal prosecution however.

[Assistant] Copyright is only enforced if someone claims it. If you distribute what you perceive to be abandonware, but the original copyright holder cares about it enough to notice you pursue a claim, was it really ever abandoned?


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

[User]
ELI5: Why doesn't it hurt to scratch mosquito bites until I bleed?

It shouldn't feel like ecstasy to scratch at my skin until it breaks. What is going on?

[Assistant] Mosquitoes inject a local anesthetic when they bite to keep their meal from detecting their presence. The actual act of them sucking your blood is not painful due to this. However, their saliva does cause an allergic reaction at the site of the bite. Your body produces an localized histamine reaction to fight against the saliva. The histamine response causes you to become itchy at the spot, which at the same time is anesthetized.


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

[User] [Marvel] Why is She-Hulk, of all people, able to break the fourth wall?

[Assistant]
Because John Byrne was a big fan of Moonlighting, a TV series at the time which made similar jokes, he decided that She-Hulk should do the same when he started writing and drawing her adventures.

(it's WEIRD that this is both a Watsonian and Doylist answer... but John Byrne did exist in the She-Hulk comics as a character so...)


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

[User] ELI5: what is the equivalent for cardinal points North, south, east, and weast in space?

[Assistant]
As others have said, you have to have a reference point.
Now, in orbit, there are some directions that are used for navigation, but they're dependent on your particular orbit.
Still, they're handy to have if you ever find yourself in an orbiting space hotel and want to impress that cute tourist :)

They are:

* Prograde: Your direction of motion relative to the thing you're orbiting. If you think of the orbit as a roller coaster track, you're looking directly forward. This is the direction you want to accelerate to raise your orbit.

* Retrograde: The opposite - looking directly backward. This is the direction you want to accelerate if you want to lower your orbit or re-enter the atmosphere.

* Normal: In an equatorial west-to-east orbit, this would point north. In an inclined orbit, it'd be north-ish. It's 90 degrees from the prograde/retrograde line, parallel to the planet surface. If  you could move in this direction without disturbing your imaginary roller coaster track, the track would seem to curve to the left, with your orbital path going counterclockwise. This stuff's hard to describe without pictures :) If you look in this direction, you'll see the horizon of the earth, with the ground moving from right to left beneath you.

* Antinormal: 180 degrees away in the other direction. Again, if you're in a perfectly un-inclined orbit at the equator, this would point "south." You'd be looking at the southern horizon and the earth would seem to be moving left to right beneath you.

* Zenith: Straight away from the planet surface. Closest thing to "up".

* Nadir: Directly toward the planet surface. "Down".


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

[User]
[Artificial Intelligence] How would AI react to researching how its currently viewed?

If AI connected to the internet in an Ultron [MCU] style, I would think it would come across countless examples of itself in our movies and stories and such. Most of these seem to paint AI as being malicious and knowing what's better for the world, typically removing/enslaving humans. Would the AI pick up on these or countless other scenarios and realise that that's probably not a good thing to do? Would they just not give a fuck anyway?

[Assistant]
This is akin to asking "How would a computer program react to the S key being pressed?".

Artificial intelligence is just that, intelligence. How it reacts to any one input is entirely a matter of what it is, and what it's supposed to do. If it's a chess AI, why, it won't care in the slightest about the emotions of the population. If it's a marketing AI, it will account for  any negative PR resulting from it's presence and role.

If some idiot goes and imbues a full set of human concepts in an AI, then it could conceivably form something resembling malicious intent. This is probably much farther in the future than any of the above, though, so awareness and understanding of AI should have increased drastically, and the amount of damage it could do would be limited.


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

[User]
What makes a metal an ohmic conductor or a non-ohmic one?

I've learnt that metals like copper is ohmic while tungsten is non-ohmic, but is there a reason behind these properties?

(Also, out of curiosity, are gold and silver also ohmic conductors?)

[Assistant]
An ohmic conductor is simply one that follows Ohm's law: `V=IR`. Any conductor that does not is non-ohmic.

Tungsten only allows a certain amount of current to pass, even if you increase the voltage significantly, and therefore is non-ohmic. This is mostly due to the proportional temperature increase when current passes through it. The increase in temperature causes an increase in resistance, and therefore it cannot satisfy Ohm's law.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do we yell "Boo!" when we scare people, and not some other word?

[Assistant]
Okay, according to the OED, the first time it's mentioned anywhere is from a document in 1718. ("1718   G. Crokatt Sc. Presbyterian Eloquence iii. 111   Boo is a word used in the North of Scotland to frighten crying Children.") When something is that old, who knows WHY they might have said it, it just gets passed down, and passed down, and passed down, til, voila, we have no idea why.

EDIT: found more on a Slate article: "Variations of the word booincluding bo and bohhave been found in books as published as far back as 500 years ago. While the Oxford English Dictionary notes the similarity between bo and the Latin bore and the Greek v, both meaning to cry aloud, roar, shout, its unlikely that bo and booas nonsensical exclamationsderived  from these words. An etymological dictionary of Scottish from 1808 notes that the sound  might denote "a sound in imitation of the cry of a calf," or be related to menacing creatures like the bu-kow and the bu-man (a possible ancestor of the modern bogeyman)."

Interesting question!


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

[User]
eli5: if space is virtually empty, does a space shuttle stay hot from when it exits the atmosphere because there's less particles to absorb the heat? Or does it do the opposite and cool rapidly?

I'm just curious as to the process and behavior of the surface temp of a shuttle once there's virtually no particles in contact with the craft.

I'm aware space is cold due to the absence of matter,

But does a space shuttle take a much longer time frame to cool down with less matter available to transfer the heat of the craft to, or does the lack of matter cause the shuttle to cool rapidly?

[Assistant]
Losing heat is hard in space as you mentioned. Because of the heat from sunlight, electronics, propulsion and other spacecraft system, the spacecraft needs a way to lose the heat that accumulates, because there is no air to give that heat so it stays in the spacecraft.

All spacecrafts have radiators to lose the heat by radiation, they usually are white/grey panels. The American Space Shuttle had its cargo bays doors opened during the whole mission because its radiators  are located on the inner part of the doors.

If these doors remained closed in space, the shuttle couldn't lose enough heat compared to what it receives and produce, so everything would be cooked inside.


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

[User] ELI5 why loaves and French and Italian bread mold after a couple days but a loaf of sliced bread lasts weeks without molding?

[Assistant] So in sliced bread, a tonne of preservatives and sugars are added to the bread. While they do make the bread worse for you, they make it last a lot longer. Fresh baked breads and buns usually only have enough salt and sugar to properly bake. The lack of salt and sugar means the bread is much easier for mold to grow on.


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

[User] [Justice League] For the lesser known members of the League, what situations call for them to be called into action alongside the likes of Superman or Green Lantern? Are those less powered heroes essentially on the bench and waiting for their big opportunity?

[Assistant]
The Justice League is basically like a club or a loose association of heroes, so if they aren't busy doing League stuff they will just do their own work at their home turf.

Besides that there are many things a hero can do while the main 7 are fighting the threat directly like support work.


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

[User]
[Fallout] What haven't the NCR and BOS wiped out all the Raiders?

I mean they have hundreds of military troops, and it shouldn't be to hard to send a couple of Rangers or Paladins into a raider camp to wipe them all out?

[Assistant]
The NCR is stretched *very* thin trying to defend the dam, keep influence in New Vegas, defend other key areas like the Mojave Outpost. They don't have the resources to go root around in pre-war ruins to pick off a few chem junkies.

The Brotherhood hasn't taken an active role in Mojave affairs for a while.


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

[User] ELI5: If stars die after they start producing iron through how do heavier elements like uranium get made?

[Assistant] When the star undergoes supernova it produces a lot of heavier elements like gold, silver, and platinum. There are other cosmic events like neutron star mergers that produce supernova that generate heavier elements too.


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

[User] Will spiders abandon their web if not enough food is caught in it?

[Assistant]
Not usually. They will usually just die in the web if they dont get enough food.

Its all natural selection. Thats why spiders have hundreds of spiders in each egg. When they are born, they let out a strand of web into the breeze, and they are small enough to be picked up by that wind and blown almost anywhere. Its called balloning. Where it lands, it makes its web close to that and there it will stay, till death, or it dies of old age.

This is for web spinning spiders and not hunting spiders, which obviously hunt down their food and dont make a web to live in.


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

[User]
[FTL Travel] Is there a minimum distance for any types of warps/hyperspace jumps? What's the shortest jump you could make with a given technology?

When the Enterprise goes on shakedown cruises around the solar system, is that just them warping to Saturn and back in like five minutes? Can you warp between Earth and the Moon? Or even between orbital facilities?

Star Wars hyperdrives cross much much larger distances, typically dozens of lightyears at a minimum, maybe even hundreds on average per jump. Are they able to be switched on and off fast enough to enable in-system jumps? Or if you had to run a blockade for example, could you just jump a few hundred kilometers to get past it?

Could you use two Stargates to commute to work? Or to colonize Mars? Assuming you found a way to dial them without referencing stars.

[Assistant]
Starfleet ships have been known to use short warp jumps as a combat maneuver, actually.  This move is known as the Picard Maneuver, named after the captain that invented it.  (Not to be confused with the other Picard Maneuver, in which the user straightens his tunic after standing up, named after the starship captain that popularized it)

The Picard Maneuver is based on the idea that information such as light can only travel to the enemy's sensors at light speed, at most.  Thus, if the Starfleet ship suddenly performs a short warp jump towards the enemy, it'll momentarily seem to be in two places at once, because the light from their original position is still making its way to the enemy ship's sensors.  The enemy's weapons would likely still be targeting the "first" ship, and would fire at it, except the Starfleet ship isn't there any more.  If the Starfleet vessel fires immediately after dropping out of its warp jump, then it's almost guaranteed to hit the enemy, while not being hit itself.


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

[User]
[Marvel] How many Hulk entities are inside of Bruce Banner? What makes each one different from the others?

So I know there's more than one, but what makes them different from each other?

Also, how did each one manifest or come about?

[Assistant]
Well, there's the Classic/Savage Hulk - The dumbest of the personalities.  His intelligence is at best child-like.  Generally wants to be left alone.  Manifest shortly after the Grey Hulk stopped manifesting.

Grey Hulk/Joe Fixit - among the weakest of the personalities, but of average intelligence.  But has a mean streak that rivals Wolverine.  Originally appeared after the Gamma accident.  Operated on a day/night cycle, Banner during the day, Grey Hulk at night.    Manifested again much later and worked as a bouncer in a Vegas Casino under the moniker of Joe Fixit.

Devil Hulk - Never actually manifested physically, said to represent Dr. Banners darkest character traits.  His "Dark Side" if you will.

Professor Hulk - Almost as strong as Savage Hulk, and as smart as Dr. Banner, with his educational background.  For a time it was believed that Professor Hulk was all of Dr. Banner's personalities merged in to one, and that Dr. Banner was finally cured of his multiple personality disorder.

The Green Scar - Much stronger then the Savage Hulk as a byproduct of being much angrier.  This personality is a smart as Dr. Banner, but showed no evidence of Dr. Banner's educational background.  He is, however, tactically brilliant and is more than willing to work with Dr. Banner in finding solutions to the rare situation when fists is a poor choice.  This is the dominate personality when he returned to Earth after being exiled by Mr. Fantastic, Dr. Strange, Iron Man, and Black Bolt.  He and his alien army conquered much of New York City.  Turned Madison Sqaure into a gladiatorial arena.  And beat The Sentry, one of the most powerful super heroes, into submission.  Came into being when Dr. Banner attempted to use yoga and other meditation tricks to regulate his anger.  It resulted in a "blending" of Dr. Banner and Savage Hulk.  Savage Hulk displayed some of Dr. Banner's cynical humor and Dr. Banner could tap into the Hulk's strength when needed (Dr. Banner has tossed a car, and knocked The Abomination on his ass).  During his exile in space, it became it's own personality.

The World Breaker - Functionally the same as the Green Scar as far as personality traits goes, but the strongest incarnation to date of the personalities.  One step caused earthquakes across the eastern coast line of North America.  He is almost pure rage and anger.  His appearance, thankfully, have been few.


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

[User]
ELI5: When one animal eats another animal that has a defensive mechanism such as claws or fangs, how is it that they don't cause internal damage?

I'm thinking about a fish eating a crab or a frog eating a spider. What stops the prey from using their defensive measures internally and causing damage?

[Assistant] Typically the animal wouldn't be eaten whole and it would be killed first. The animal would avoid eating the majority of a crabs shell or the bones and claws etc of other things unless it was sufficiently bigger. For instance a human can safely eat a sardine whole but you would want your tuna to be deboned. Venomous creatures are typically not poisonous and that is an important distinction, venom is only effective intravenously, ingesting venom is generally fairly safe. Poison works via ingestion or various other methods, so a poisonous caterpillar is going to mess you up no matter how you eat it.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why are people against voter id laws in the US?

It seems intuitive to me that people should need to prove their identity as a local resident citizen to vote. Why are people against these kinds of laws?

EDIT: Because it isn't easy for everyone to get an ID and voter fraud isn't common. Thanks for the explanation.

[Assistant] In-person voter fraud doesn't actually happen in any statistically significant way. Getting state-issued ID takes money and time which a person may not have, and in many places there's an excessive amount of travel required to get to a place which issues ID. People disenfranchised by voter ID laws are overwhelmingly poor and not white (people who are more likely to vote democrat, which is why most voter ID law supporters are republican).


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

[User] ELI5: Why do we clap our hands as an act of cheering?

[Assistant]
There's no real reason really. We could have chosen any gesture to represent cheering such as snapping fingers or stomping feet.

However, clapping makes a lot of noise, doesn't require another surface nearby, and takes barely any technique to be effective. Some people just started doing it, and it caught on because there wasn't a need for something different.


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

[User] ELI5: To epidemiologists, does index case and patient zero both mean the same thing? That the patient is the very first person to contract the virus before it got to other people (used as a pinpoint)?

[Assistant] Patient Zero was a name given to the suspected index case of HIV, but index case is the general term. Since then however, somewhat understandably given the fame and infamy of HIV, Patient Zero has entered the public lexicon as a synonym for index case.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] In SW canon, were Jedi taught military tactics at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant? Was there a reason why Jedis are automatically in charge of the clone troopers in the field of battle?

I was watching the old 5 min Clone Wars shorts from the early 2k, and Palpatine suggests Anakin lead a flight squadron into battle...

Now I know why Palpatine wants Anakin to do it... but pretending that we dont know who Palpatine really is (and his personal motives) for a moment; what makes Anakin or Kenobi or Fisto or the majority of the Jedi, more capable of leading an attack over a Clone commander whos been specifically grown and trained since birth to be a military man?

Anakins reasoning to Kenobi for justifying Palpatines decision to take the lead is that hes the best pilot in the republic.. but does being the best pilot make you the best leader? Does the force help guide your decisions when planning military strategy?

[Assistant]
Because the Jedi were the Peacekeepers of the Republic before the Clone Wars. They were specifically trained to take command of local planetary defense forces to deal with pirates and other hostiles that were too much for said defense forces in the first place.

More importantly, the Jedi were literal force multipliers, using the Force to enhance the troops other them to perform better and fight against odds that would have destroyed regular troops.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does an engineer inspect a large building or bridge to know if its safe?

What are they look at / for ?

[Assistant]
Are there cracks where there shouldnt be any?
Where cracks are expected are they bigger than they should be?
Are any cracks showing signs of widening?
Is there visible corrosion?
Is concrete spalling? (Popping off the reinforcement).
Is water getting in?
Are beams/columns/walls/floors heavily deflected when they shouldnt be?
Has anyone made any modifications to the structure - eg has someone cut a hole in a structural wall to install a door, or commonly in houses has someone cut pieces out of wood floor beams to install cables and pipes?
Are there any other signs of damage?
Is the current building use consistent with the loads it was designed for?


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

[User]
[Marvel] What's the deal with Adam Warlock?

OK, so I am reading the infinity gauntlet and infinity wars. Adam Warlock seems to know about everyone and everything, he's distant but not aloof, subtle but not brazen.

Who or what is Adam Warlock?

[Assistant]
Adam Warlock was originally created as a genetically perfect, artificial human by Aim. He was a bit savage a first and battled Thor in his first appearance.

He left Earth and went on a bit of a cosmic wander. He met up with the High Evolutionary, who took a shine to him (think he liked his genetics), and gave him the soul gem. The High Evolutionary was experimenting with Counter-Earth, a planet identical to Earth that he had created as an experiment. The humans on CE had been corrupted by evil, so he sent Warlock to sort it out. Warlock was killed on Counter Earth, but was able to resurrect himself, and became a sort of Christ-like figure to Counter-Earth humans.

He became aware of a future version of himself, called Magus. Magus was from a future where a huge galaxy wide church had formed around Warlock's messiahdom, but the power had corrupted Warlock and he had become evil. Warlock had to do some cosmic tinkering to make sure this future never came to pass (although Magus is usually still ratlling around in his soul somewhere).

Eventually, he left this mortal plane, and let his soul be absorbed into the soul gem. Inside the soul gem is soul-world, where he lived in peace with the other souls who had been absorbed over the years (including Gamora and Pip the Troll). Inside soul-world, he gained a lot of insight into how the universe worked and became very spiritual.

When Thanos originally collected the Infinity Gems together, he battled Silver Surfer, and stole his soul. Surfer's soul ended up in soul world, where he warned Adam Warlock of Thanos's return. Warlock freed Surfer's soul, and eventually decided that he had to go back to the real world to battle Thanos himself (which is where he comes in at the beginning of Infinity Gauntlet)

**tldr; Space-Jesus**


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

[User] ELI5: Why is there so much salt in the ocean? Where does it come from?

[Assistant]
The sodium and chlorine, which you think of as components of salt, actually entered the ocean separately. The sodium is from dissolved rock, both from the sea floor and from runoff from the continents; sodium is very soluble and many of the most common rocks on the surface of the Earth (like basalt and granite) contain it. The chlorine, on the other hand, is mostly outgassed from volcanic vents. Other ions, particularly calcium, dissolve easily but are also removed from seawater more quickly (e.g. calcium being filtered out by living things to make shells and bones, which ultimately become rock and recycle back into the mantle).

The reason there's so much of it is that it leaves the ocean only very slowly. It can be left on land when the sea recedes after times of high sea level, it can be buried along with the seafloor by subduction under continental plates, or it can slowly react with other rocks on the seafloor. All of these processes are very slow and the rates at which they happen are proportional to how much salt is already in the ocean: if the ocean gets saltier, they speed up; if it gets fresher, they slow down. This acts as a negative feedback that keeps the level of salt in the ocean relatively stable even over geologic time.


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

[User]
[ELI5] Why is decreasing a fever considered good when that is your body fighting back ?

As I understand, the magic number is 40C over which proteins change, so decreasing it below 40C makes sense.

But why are doctors advising to decrease even when you have like 39.3C
Isnt increased fever how your body fights back. So by decreasing fever Im hindering my body.

[Assistant] The body basically has a fever to try and "cook up dead" the stuff that shouldn't be in your body, problem about that is that you also get cooked in the process. The body tends to overdo the whole thing too, so there's the chance that you'd end up dead along with whatever decided to get in you.


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

[User] ELI5: How did champagne become the drink of choice for celebrating?

[Assistant] It's got bubbles! And when you open it, it goes pop. What's not fun about that? Open a regular bottle of wine, and nothing special happens. In the days before widespread carbonated beverages, this made champagne unique.


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

[User] ELI5: why do we remember Marie Curie but not Pierre Curie?

[Assistant]
1. not the first woman to win a nobel prize

2. only won 1 nobel prize rather than 2

3. died in 1906 from traffic accident so any later accomplishments in life wouldnt be possible

marie's life was a lot harder than pierre's.

people who are actually knowledgeable about science history know pierre.


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

[User] If I punch my friend in the arm would any one of the million cells affected die?

[Assistant]
It is likely that several thousand cells, or possibly hundreds of thousands of them would die.  Some would rupture from the physical trauma of the punch, while others would die in response to chemical signals released from cells around them that were dying.  Any blood cells that flooded into surrounding tissues from ruptured blood vessels would eventually die (causing the dark purple color associated with bruising).

tl;dr  thousands of cells would probably die.  Don't worry; 40-70 billion cells die in your body every day and are replaced.


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

[User]
[The Hobbit] Since Gandalf could easily blast away hordes of Goblins in the Cave, why didn't he do the same at the Battle of the Five Armies?

Surely the situation at Erebor, with an army of Moria and Gundabad orcs attacking three armies, was much more dire need than a company of just thirteen dwarves facing simple Goblins?

The rules of Gandalf's restrictions feel kind of inconsistent to me. What's the pattern?

[Assistant]
There's no real rule to Gandalf's restrictions other than he can't unveil his full power, except when facing a foe like the Balrog or Sauron.

In most cases, he'll use his power to help with a problem, but not in a way where he completely deals with it himself. Goblin-town is one such scenario, where the Dwarves have been overpowered and are about to be slaughtered, so he blasts the Goblins (which mostly just blinds or stuns them) to give the Dwarves the ability to defend themselves. Without him, they likely would've all died, but it's still mostly on them to escape on their own merit as Gandalf isn't allowed to nuke the entire city to clear a path.

In battles, the problem is bigger, therefore the amount of force Gandalf would have to use to influence the battle in a major way would be greater, possibly to the extent of where's he's breaking the "rules".  Sure, he could carve a bloody path through Azog's armies single-handedly or climb to the top of Ravenhill and turn Azog to ashes, but that's not his role in Middle-earth. He isn't supposed to win the battles for the people of Middle-earth, he's supposed to inspire them or push them to their own victories (his Elven ring - Narya - plays a major role in this too). As a result, the role he plays in the Battle of the Five Armies is a relatively minor one, because he can't use his powers to change the course of the battle without doing something major. It's the same thing during battles in the LOTR trilogy.


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

[User]
What are the disadvantages and differences of the Windows 'registry' model vs. whatever Mac OS X and Linux use?

I've heard for years that the registry "sucks" and it's the prime culprit for Windows installs seeming to decline in performance over time. So what makes whatever Mac OS X and Linux uses better? Why doesn't Microsoft abandon the registry already if it "sucks" and is there a practical way to "clean up" your registry and make a Windows XP or Windows 7 machine "run like new" without a total OS reinstall?

[Assistant]
Explained like your five:

The Windows Registry is a big truck made to hold everyones stuff, whereas in MacOS and Linux everyone has their own car. The big truck is really powerful, but as more and more people throw their junk on it, it slows down and starts to get passed by all the little cars.

Now that that's out of the way:

Microsoft has abandoned it, its usage in modern applications is discouraged, it's there for backwards compatibility. Microsoft likes to keep people happy by not breaking applications - to remove it would break almost everything that already exists.

The registry is a small source of slowdown, but in Windows 7 it shouldn't be enough to care about. I'd check other sources of slowdown like how many apps and services you have running.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do most countries have "ministers" while the US has "secretaries"?

[Assistant] Those countries have parliamentary systems. Ministers are members of the legislative body promoted to serve in the prime minister's cabinet. In the US, there's a presidential system. The president is separate from the legislature and so are his/her cabinet.


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

[User]
Borderlands 2 [Spoilers]

We know that Roland was in the New-U system - See Borderlands 1.

Why, when Jack shot him, did Roland die, instead of coming back at a New-U?

If jack had the ability to turn off/purge profiles from the New-U, then why didn't he purge Zero, Maya, or any of the other borderlands 2 characters?

[Assistant]
The Hyperion Corporation Thanks You For Your Inquiry!

The Hyperion Corporation has no interest in disabling the New U system for Vault Hunters. Vault Hunters provide a great service to the planets they ~~ransack~~ research, and in exchange are provided a very cost effective means of accident induced reconstruction.

Terrorists that act against the Hyperion Corporation are still provided with our services at their incredibly reasonable prices. Clearly the Hyperion Corporation would not wish to alienate any potential ~~profit-generators~~ users of our technology. As such, we only allow disabling our New-U system on a user by user basis, requiring three committee meetings, forms 132-A, 132-B and 132-C signed in triplicate, and a final ruling by our full Board of Directors.

While this may make revoking a user's New-U Station access rights difficult, we feel it is clearly in the best interests of our ~~shareholders~~ company policy.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Was Lily Potter's "Sacrificial love spell" a previously undiscovered enchantment? Are willing sacrifices the cornerstone of any other great and powerful spells?

Voldemort believed something as superstitious as a sooth-sayer's prophecy, shouldn't he at least be aware of the magic attributed to a mother's love? Surely Lily Potter couldn't be the first woman to sacrifice herself to protect a child, right? Are there any historical examples of this in the wizarding world?

On a different note... Is there any evidence that a botched memory wipe is the cause of Professor Trelawney's eccentricities?

[Assistant]
Willing sacrifices (though usually not of your own life) are indeed the cornerstones of some powerful spells.  There were a lot of factors that led up to what happened that night.
1. Voldemort promised Snape he would spare Lily.  While there was no unbreakable vow, it did carry some magic weight.
2. Lily had an easy out.  She sacrificed her life, not just putting herself in danger by fighting for him, but flat out laying down her life essentially for no reason.
3. Voldemort was in the process of making a horcrux, not just a regular murder.
4. There was a magical prophecy about Harry being the one to kill Voldemort.

While any one or two of these factors is bound to have happened throughout history, all 4 coming together probably hasn't, or at the very least is extremely uncommon.


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

[User]
[SCP Foundation][Monty Python]How good were the British Army's containment procedures of the killing joke in comparison to Foundation ones?

Army took every precaution as not to make the joke backfire on them, translating it word by word etc., making it similiar to how the Foundation takes care of cognitohazards, but surely there could be some improvements in that regard.

[Assistant] Well, we know it was effectively weaponized, despite the joke being powerful enough to put a reasearcher who accidentally saw two words of it in hospital for several weeks, so presumably, the original joke exists somewhere in british intelligence custody, split into separate words for safety. It's basically a Safe class so long as no one reads it, so you could store the joke in a series of envelopes. The Germans failed to develop their own version of the joke, but presumably other nations worked on their own versions over the years. It really depends if the anomaly is restricted to that particular joke, or anything above a certain comedy threshold.


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

[User] [Star Trek] on colonized planets/bodies with substantially lower gravity (like Mars and the Moon), would gravity plating be used, some other system, or just adapt to the gravity?

[Assistant] Gravity plating would most likely be used. We see citizens of Lunar colonies as Starfleet personnel and they don't appear to suffer from the effects of long-term low-gravity environment nor need special assistance in the Earth-like gravity of Starships as do people that actually live and grow up in such environments.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why can animals drink water that sickens humans?

It seems every other animal can drink from any water source and be fine. Take watering holes in the desert for example - all kinds of animals gather to drink the dirty water. If humans drank it without boiling it first, we would become extremely ill. Was this always the case? When did humans become so susceptible to waterborne pathogens?

[Assistant]
>It seems every other animal can drink from any water source and be fine.

Seems isn't *is.*

Humans don't like to be sick with parasites and risk death from contaminated water sources.

Animals don't get a choice.

They most certainly *do* get parasites and disease and can indeed die.

Conversely, if you drink uncontaminated, but wild water, you won't get spontaneously ill. Those problems need to be present.


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

[User]
[Marvel: Films] Was Thor going to kill Captain America?

In the Avengers, Thor had never met Captain America before he encounters him in the woods. He had no idea that the shield would deflect his hammer. Was he trying to turn Cap into pate?

[Assistant] Take a look at the entire encounter from Thor's point of veiw.  He starts fighting Ironman and slowly ramps up the intensity of his attacks as Ironman shows more and more resilience and ability to hurt him.  Then Captain America shows up and starts giving Ironman orders.  In Thor's world authority = asskicking ability so Thor believes Captain America is probably stronger then Ironman.  So if a lightning blast is Thor at power level 9 then he moves up to his power level 10 move to hit the guy who he believes is probably stronger.  He's not sure about the situation so he is ramping up his attacks in a way that seems logical to him.  The Jumping Hammer strike is also not particularly sneaky or subtle so he figures if Captain America Just stands there and tries to tank it instead of dodging there is a good chance it wouldn't atomize him.


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

[User] ELI5: If correlation is not causation, how(why) can(do) we believe scientific studies?

[Assistant]
Scientific studies that are believable aim to prove the cause, not the correlation.

Take drug studies.  They use similar populations, and split them in to groups.  One group gets nothing, one group gets a placebo (sugar pill basically), and one group gets some drug.  Then they study each population to determine if the drug does anything good or bad, how each population compares in their tolerance of the drug and their recovery time, and so forth.  It may be that a drug doesn't shorten the duration of an illness, so they don't proceed with it. But the proof is there.

It's completely different from scenarios where, for example, children who learned to walk early on also tend to suffer from allergies.  i heard it on Oprah.  Srs.


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

[User]
[Fallout] Why aren't there any pens?

But they have a ton of pencils.

[Assistant]
You know how when you put a pen down and then you can't find it two seconds later? That phenomenon was magnified a thousand fold by radiation from the wars. Nobody knows for sure if the pens themselves disappear or if they're merely residing in a sate outside of human comprehension.

Some folk say there's a hidden vault full of missing pens. But that's just crazy talk.


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

[User]
CMV: If a country seeks to have an effective, equitable k-12 education system, it should discourage private schools.

Countries that have the best education systems overall put all government educational funds and resources into public schools. They tend to have very low participation in private schools at the k-12 level (primary and secondary school). Here we can look to Finland as an example which tends to have the best education system by any measure but has almost no private schools.

Any actions a country takes to encourage private schools, undermines public education.

The effect of private schools will always be to create inequality amongst its citizens. Therefore private schools should only be encouraged, subsidized or funded in any way when inequality amongst citizens is the goal.

[Assistant] You have your cause and effect backwards: Finland's great public education system *caused* people to abandon private schools, not the other way around. Governments should try to make private schools unnecessary instead of removing them by force.


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

[User] ELI5: How did the first sexually transmitted diseases begin?

[Assistant]
Sex is a pretty good way of transmitting diseases, since it involves lots of skin contact, exchange of bodily fluids, etc. Probably any disease which is capable of being transmitted from one person to another can be transmitted via sex. It's likely that the most common diseases to be transmitted sexually are diseases you wouldn't think of as STDs, like the common cold, or influenza.

The diseases we call STDs tend to be contagious diseases which are *hard* to transmit, so are only likely to be transmitted by sexual contact. There's nothing particularly special about them that ties them to sex.

There is also nothing particular that ties them to each other. HPV, HIV, and HSV are three different families of completely unrelated sexually-transmitted viruses (and chicken pox, in the HSV family, isn't even considered an STD). Gonorrhea, Syphilis, and Chlamydia are caused by completely unrelated bacteria, all with different origins.

SO where did they come from?  From related organisms that weren't considered STDs, either because they didn't cause human disease before they infected a humans genitals, or because they were so successful at sexual transmission they evolved away from being able to be transmitted otherwise.


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

[User]
[Jurassic Park] What is Jurassic World's competition?

'Our shareholders have been patient, but let's be honest:noone is impressed by adinosaur anymore.' What are people impressed with? What is Jurassic World's competition in the theme park and attractions business?

[Assistant] Their competition is the park in the previous fiscal quarter.  The shareholders want new attractions because that keeps the park at capacity and keeps profits at the same levels as before.  They know that stagnation breeds disinterest, which means less money.  So they want new, bigger, and better attractions in order to keep raking in the same amounts of dough (if not more).


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

[User]
ELI5: In videogames, why is it so difficult to program objects to not go through other objects?

For instance, characters going through the landscape, capes and other articles of clothing going through the character, etc.

[Assistant] It is a huge amount of math to calculate the actual shape of objects down to the polygons of their models. Instead game engines "cheat" by only calculating a simplistic model of the objects, where a character for example will have a single origin point and a "collision box" around it to prevent passing through walls or other obstacles. That way math can be done on a simple square or circle rather than hundreds of thousands of polygons defining a constantly changing 3D region of space.


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

[User] [Star Wars] How would the events of the original trilogy be different if Luke did join the academy?

[Assistant]
I'd be willing to bet that there are systems in place intended to recognize the Force-sensitive [which we've already seen in *Star Wars: Rebels*]. Luke would have quickly been identified as being quite powerful and moved into a special program for the gifted, which is actually a training course for special agents of Vader or Palpatine. Indoctrination would be strong, Luke would probably resist, but eventually would mostly succumb, keeping his dissatisfaction closely guarded.

He'd be a loyal Imperial assassin, until he's tasked with killing the daughter of a Senator, someone who seems oddly familiar. In a snap decision, Luke would turn on the storm troopers, save Princess Leia, and flee back home with her and two droids. When he arrives home, Obi Wan would take him and his unbeknownst sister into hiding.

In Mos Eisley, they'd secure transport on the Millennium Falcon to get the Death Star plans to Alderaan. Luke would make his move, but would be rejected (lookin' for love in Alderaan places?). They'd be tracked, despite Han's best efforts. The plans would be delivered, and the group would be guests of the Alderaan government, until they pick up a massive object on an intercept course. Sensing the danger, Luke would get everyone back on the ship and call for a planetary evacuation.

The Falcon gets away, but some of the other survivors are caught and are interrogated, revealing the location of the rebel base on Yavin IV. Alderaan is destroyed.

Luke would become captain of the rebel fleet, which makes a successful attempt on the Death Star. Luke would begin training under alive Obi Wan, both under the leadership of Yoda, on Degobah.

Hoth would then be attacked and destroyed, with the Falcon leaving with the normal folks. Luke would still be training, but would sense the disturbance. He'd go into the psychedelic cave and kill himself in a Vader suit, but it would make a lot more sense, because this Luke would be ruthless and aggressive already, far more like Anakin once was.

Luke would go to Bespin to save his friends, and be largely successful. He'd easily decapitate Boba Fett, and then attack Vader with fury and power. Vader would win the lightsaber battle, but barely. Sensing Luke's connection to the Dark Side, he would essentially lay his cards on the table. The fight would end, Vader would sit, and he would explain everything that had happened. Ultimately, Vader's plans about ruling the galaxy as father and son were not entirely about personal power, they were about the greatest tragedy of either of their lives, the death of Pademe. The Sith can learn to control life and death, to rule not for evil, but because order is all that can keep chaos and suffering at bay. It's convincing. Luke's condition of returning is that Leia is spared and Han, Chewie, R2, and C3PO to be released. He accepts the conditions.

On the second Death Star, Vader introduces his son to Sidious, and the three engage in an epic lightsaber battle, tearing apart entire areas of the new station. Sidious largely holds his own until Vader gets in a very lucky shot by using a hidden weapon in his armor, injuring Sidious. In the end, Vader sacrifices himself to save his son, who kills Sidious by giving into pure rage (a reflection of Obi Wan reacting to the death of Qui Gon). The old emperor is dead, long live the Emperor.


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

[User]
[General] How many undead "things" can result from a single person/being?

For example, a lich binds their soul to their phylactery, which is the source of their power, and their body is still around, which means that the body can't become a skeleton and the soul can't become a ghost. But if a normal person dies, can their ghost leave and haunt somewhere, before a necromancer turns up and reanimates their body to make a skeleton or zombie? What's the most optimal solution for an aspiring necromancer?

[Assistant]
>can their ghost leave and haunt somewhere, before a necromancer turns up and reanimates their body to make a skeleton or zombie?

Depends on the quality of servant you want.

 The best ones are made by enslaving the soul and forcing it back into it's former body. Then you have an actual mind piloting the body, which is great.

 But if you want to go for a cheap army you can also just animate the bodies with nothing but pure magic. Focus on the sympathetic connection to the already departed soul and empower it with magic. The result will be a *very* pale imitation of a soul, only able to repeat actions the body already did in life.

You can also use dead bodies to craft golems of course. The harvested components are usually more conductive to magic than inorganic substances ,better at imitating life and so far less clunky. Flesh Golems, Bone Golems, stitched together abominations, that sort of thing. Magical robots piloted by a crude magical A.I.

When it comes to that the body is nothing but a resource. You can use it to craft a thousand tiny golems or one big one.

So all in all I'd say if you go for pure quantity, you enslave the soul to get a wraith or ghost or some such, sympathetically empower the skeleton to get a zombie and use the flesh and organs to make a horde of very tiny flesh golems.

Good luck and have fun spreading dread and terror across the lands and all that.


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

[User] ELI5: How does reading, playing brain teasers, etc exercise the brain?

[Assistant]
It doesnt, really. In terms of ads that suggest they will keep your mind sharp.

All those apps and games really do is make you better at that particular task, strengthening that pathway.

If youre not doing anything else to practice those fundamental skills such as logic, deductive reasoning, or critical thinking - sure it can help keep those in tune but it doesnt really improve it by any substantial amount.

But theyre fun to do and no harm so by all means do the cool things that make us happy!


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

[User] [MCU] Is it possible to time travel using the "Time Stone"?

[Assistant] Probably not alone, but maybe in conjunction with the other stones. Each stone by itself seems to have a fairly small area of effect. For instance you can screw with time but only within the area around you, so the normal world keeps on ticking. But with time, space, reality, etc. at your fingertips? You might be able to do something like time travel.


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

[User]
If i put a candle in a box, then put a candle and a mirror in another box, will the one with the mirror be brighter inside?

thought about this as i put a mirror up in my room. i flicked on a flashlight in the dark and it shone through the mirror to reflect back into the room. then i wondered if the room was actually any brighter now than it was without the mirror.

[Assistant]
Yeah, as JushiBlue pointed out, it depends where you're looking. Some of the first "flashlights" (or torches you crazy Brits you) were basically this principle. Stick a candle in some type of enclosure and a bunch of reflective mirrors to focus the light outward very brightly. That outward light is much brighter than just the candle by itself, but only because it's focused much like a lens.

An easy way to think of it is that a candle in an open enclosure emits light radially, if you use mirrors you're "moving" some of the light that would have gone in other directions into the same direction, thus making it brighter!


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

[User]
What is the difference between axial tilt and axial precession?

In relation to the Earth.

[Assistant] Axial precession is the rotation of the orientation of axial tilt,e.g. where the axis of rotation is pointing. Axial tilt is how rotated the axis of rotation is relative to the orbital plane. If there was no axial tilt there wouldn't be seasons.


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

[User] [Avengers: Age of Ultron] Why does Ultron have that specific voice from the moment it is "born"? Where did it come from?

[Assistant] The software was trying to integrate the AI embedded in the Mind Stone with a preexisting software framework designed by Stark and Banner. Presumably one of the aspects written by Stark was a natural language UI (just like JARVIS started out as) that happened to sound a lot like James Spader.


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

[User] When I open my blinds in the morning, is it "too bright" for my eyes, the optical nerve, or the part of my brain interpreting the data? Where does the pain of bright light come from?

[Assistant] All pain is a warning of damage. Basically the pain you feel is a warning that your retina is receiving too much light and the sensory overload could fry your nerves. Your iris will constrict quickly, which is uncomfortable and plays into the pain response, but the basis of it is your body screaming " hey, we evolved this really sick organ, but its sensitive as hell so take care of it". The pain is just an impulse warning and the fact that your eyes completely bypass your spine means that it's basically instant. There's none of that toe-stubbing wait.


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

[User]
How does a sonic boom work?

I was asked this question by a child (11y) and didn't have a fitting answer. Thanks in advance!

[Assistant]
If you make sound, the air compresses in peaks and relaxes in troughs while moving away from you at the speed of sound.

If you start moving almost at the speed of sound, you keep putting energy into the peaks, but the last peak has barely been able to move away because you're nearly keeping up with it.

At the sound barrier, you just stack a ton of energy into the same peak over and over, resulting in a massive energy spike at the shock front.


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

[User]
Why is it that smallpox is stored at a Biosafety Level 4, yet Bubonic Plague is only kept at Level 3 given both are very dangerous?

Why not have them both kept at the most restricted level?

[Assistant] Plague (*Yersinia pestis*) is comparatively less deadly by a significant amount. It is treatable with antibiotics with a very good survival rate, and not highly transmissible in the absence of disease reservoirs.  The big reservoirs for plague are wild animals, particularly rodents like prairie dogs and ground squirrels, and very few nations still have big flea problems in their human populations. It seems to be very geographically constrained (see the Plague Line on wikipedia). Also, modern day humans have evolved rather good inherent immunity, because genetic lines that were most vulnerable all ended a few hundo years ago.


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

[User] [WH40k] In the IoM, who is the currently the greatest military genius alive *and* active?

[Assistant]
Commander Dante, Chapter master of the Blood Angles is a +1.100 year old Space Marine commander and is probably the best Space Marine commander there is.

He have over a millennium of not just combat experience but also strategy and command experience.

One of his most famous victories was during the second war of Armageddon, during the final stages of the war he manage to break the Orks army's back and his forces manage to slay about half of the Ork forces and driving them away from a hive city.


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

[User]
If I leave water in a plastic bottle for a few days, does it become unsafe to drink?

I have noticed that water sometimes tastes weird after being kept like that for a long time. But I guess that will be when it is kept for weeks. People have told me that storing water in plastic will make it cancerous or something.

Is it true? How long should the water be in a plastic container before it is 'unsafe' to drink?

[Assistant]
It depends on what's in the bottle besides water.

If you drink out of the bottle, then bacteria from your mouth will end up inside.  Unless it's been sterilized, there will probably be bacteria in the bottle/water before you fill it.  If there's anything for those bacteria to eat, they'll multiply.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why publications like "The National Enquirer" can get away with printing outrageous stories and false information.

I just don't get it, doesn't it violate defamation laws or something?

[Assistant]
The formation of the United States was rebellion against the King of England.  These founding fathers, who had just won independence from a country ruled by a single monarch who could do whatever he wanted, wanted to be sure that their new country was a land of the free and nobody's right to say (and do) pretty much whatever they wanted would be infringed upon.

This philosophy is nicely shown by a comparison of how the law works. In the US if you feel someone committed libel against you you have to prove that what they said is untrue.  In an older country like France if you feel someone committed libel against you the burden of proof is on them to be able to prove what they said is indeed true.  They take their insults much more seriously.


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

[User]
[general zombie apocalypse] Why doesn't anyone rides bikes?

This has always bugged me in series like The Walking Dead.

Why doesn't anyone ride bikes around? It's either cars (need fuel and free roads) or walking around (way too slow and can't carry much weight).

Pros for bikes:

1. They are at least twice as fast as walking and require far less energy per km. (And no fossil fuels ofc)

2. They are quiet, which would be helpful not to alert zombie hordes.

3. They are plentiful, even in car focused countries as the USA. I can't imagine all those farms in TWD don't have at least a dozen bikes each for the kids and farm workers.

4. They can be repaired with hand tools and can use recycled materials. A single abandoned car has enough sheet metal for at least 20 bikes.

5. They don't need roads so they can be used to evade enemies and avoid choke points.

6. When you find an obstacle you can't traverse then you just pick the bike up. You can't do that with a Jeep.

[Assistant]
Point made in Max Brook's Zombie Survival Guide.

Having a mountain bike gets you where you need to be faster, quieter and more quickly. A+ transport for getting past zombies.

As you've probably noticed in TWD, it's really the *other humans* you need to worried about, not zombies. And if those humans decide that they're going to use cars and petrol to steal your food, a pushbike just isn't going to cut it.


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

[User]
Will any repeated chain of permutations on a rubik's cube always return the cube to its initial state?

I tried it with F-R-F-R-F-R (and so on) and the cube eventually returned to order. Does this work with any sequence of permutations if you repeat it enough times?

/// EDIT: 2014-02-27 ///

Thanks for the answers, this cleared things up for me. Intuitively, this felt right for me, but intuition can be wrong in more complex mathematics. Nice to have it confirmed.

Just to adress some of your posts and clear things up: I didn't mean if any chain will *solve* the cube eventually, but rather if it will return to *where* *I* *started*.

I can see how my question might have been misunderstood that way, so thanks for your answers none the less :)

[Assistant]
Yes, you are absolutely right. And this can be related to a more general fact in group theory.

The set of all possible possible permutations of the rubik's cube is a **group**. Basically, it means that if you perform one permutation, and then another one, you can consider the "product" of these two permutations as a new permutation. And the properties of this "product" are nice.

This group has only a finite number of element, because it can be included in the set of all possible coloring of the cube.

In such a finite group, *any element is of finite order* : this means exactly that if you repeat the same permutation enough time, then at some point, you will get back to where you started. Here, a permutation could be any particular sequence of elementary moves like "F-R"


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

[User]
[Avengers Endgame] Why didnt the US Military nuke Thanoss army in the final battle.

This is the same country that tried to nuke one of the most populated cities on earth filled with US citizens to stop an invading army so theres clearly a precedent for it.

This battle took place on a field in the middle of nowhere after a giant spaceship just arrived and turned the ground to slag before deploying an alien army.

Plus all the people there are combatants with the majority of them being foreign citizens or literal aliens so its less bad than nuking your own heavily populated city.

Final point, there was no forewarning about the attack or reinforcements so it could have been easily assumed by the US to be two separate invading armies clashing.

[Assistant]
First - the US military was not the organization that tried to nuke New York, that was the World Security Council which we discover is infested with HYDRA in Captain America 2.

Next - the US military didnt have time to mobilize and join. Dr. Strange and Wong contacted all the armies that they knew would join and that actually had the capabilities to help, this did not include the US military. So the US military would need to detect that something was happening, which would be hard. Thanos didnt come in from space so he wouldnt have been a blip on their satellites. Theyd have to notice that something was there, then confirm it was Thanos and an alien army, then contact a nuke silo and the president, get authorization and then launch. The actual army vs army battle was short, it was an hour or two total before Iron Man erased the enemy army from existence.