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

[User]
ELI5 - how is dry ice an industrially effective cooling method?

i would think that whatever equipment you used to get the carbon so damn cold would be more effective as a refrigerant than ice that rapidly evaporates, so why is dry ice used to cool things down instead of a freezer?

[Assistant] Dry ice is used to keep things cool when you don't have a freezer - for example when you transport things. The main advantage of dry ice is that it *sublimates* - while normal ice goes from solid to liquid, dry ice goes straight to gas, without transitioning to liquid first. This way, whatever you cool remains dry (hence the name "dry ice").


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

[User]
[House] Is there anyone House won't be rude too?

Seriously is there any way you can get this guy to act like a normal person to you?

[Assistant] House doesn't see "rudeness" as disrespect but as a way to challenge people and push them in ways to get what he believes is right. He greatly respects a number of doctors on the show, just not always for what they want respect for. He actively comments on who is the best surgeon, who is the bleeding heart best able to get through to the patient, who is most willing to break rules.


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

[User] ELI5: Why would anyone want to buy Berkshire Hathaway's stock if they never pay dividends?

[Assistant] Instead of paying dividends, the company reinvests in itself, so therefore you would expect stock prices to rise faster than a company that does pay dividends. So the value you get from the stock is the increase in the value of the shares you own over time, instead of a cash payout of dividends. As mentioned, Berkshire Hathaway's stock has, historically, performed extremely well so it is a valuable stock to own.


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

[User]
When we say that a rotating gyroscope's axis is 'fixed', it is fixed relatively to what?

Certainly not relative to Earth, as we can actually use gyroscopes to detect Earth's rotation. But does the gyroscope stay stable if we rotate the entire galaxy? What if we rotate the entire universe: will we, from inside the universe, observe the gyro rotating in opposite direction? The more I think about it, the more gyroscopes seem to violate the laws of relativity of frames of reference. Help!

[Assistant]
> gyroscopes seem to violate the laws of relativity of frames of reference

This applies to linear motion, not to rotational motion. There is no "absolute zero velocity", you can always pick another inertial reference frame to change the observed velocity of all objects.

But there is an "absolute zero" for angular velocity. Any object in uniform circular motion (eg an atom of the gyroscope) experiences an acceleration that grows with the square of angular velocity. Only at zero angular velocity does that acceleration go to zero.


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

[User]
My local highway passes through farmland, and a lot of flying bugs die hitting our windshields. By killing all these bugs, could our cars be exerting evolutionary pressure? Note: there is a grass median between the north & south lanes -- a sort of island ecosystem.

Second time asking (with revised text) because no answers the first time.

[Assistant]
Actually, there was a study done in western Canada on the wingspan of swifts that lived near highways. Over a period of time (I believe a few years) the swifts wingspans shrunk. Mostly because manoeuvrability was more important than being able to fly long distances (as the human activity also meant lots of food nearby).
TL;DR yes.


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

[User]
I can understand how natural selection for traits works. But how do complex processes (such as metamorphosis) come about through evolution?

My friend and I were discussing evolution and we don't understand how processes that are so complicated and dependent on sequential events come about in the first place. From the molecular level (e.g. metabolic pathways) to the physiological level (e.g. metamorphosis), are there any general principles to explain this?

[Assistant]
This is probably better suited to ELI5.

If you look at insects as a whole, the extent of the change between nymphs and adults (and the duration of pupation/metamorphpsis) is highly variable.

Some animals do not undergo metamorphosis at all.  Some pupate but are not significantly changed and it essentially serves as a method of hibernation through cold and/or dry seasons.

Which establishes the baseline adaptation upon which all other changes become available and radical differences between nymph and adult form can begin.

After a time, some of these species would be present in areas where the hibernation aspect was unnecessary, and a new range of changes becomes available.

And, eventually, you arrive at today where folks assert that intermediate steps are an impossibility.


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

[User]
Could a refrigerator be replaced by a chamber that periodically irradiates food?

So a refrigerator keeps food cold to inhibit bacterial/fungal growth and I know that some foods like fruit are irradiated before transport to increase shelf life. My question is if instead of keeping food cold, we had a radiation chamber that would periodically turn on to kill any foreign contaminants, would that be more or less effective than refrigeration? Does refrigeration protect against food spoilage that isn't caused by biological contamination? Would irradiation be more or less effective at inhibiting bacterial and fungal growth? Would radiation cause adverse health effects once the food was eaten?

[Assistant]
It would inhibit a lot of bacterial growth, which is a major cause of spoilage, but do nothing with the other major one, oxidation. You have to remember that we are living in an environment with a highly reactive, somewhat toxic compound that slowly burns/rusts many things it comes into contact with, oxygen. It is why butter becomes rancid and why fruit becomes discolored.

Another effect, desiccation, would also be negatively affected. Basically, since fridges fundamentally affects all chemistry, they are the most economical way to keep a variety of food unspoiled for longer.


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

[User] [General Sci-Fi] Since the human brain does not stop developing until a person is in their 20s, does that mean a child who becomes immortal will never fully mature?

[Assistant]
Depends on what kind of immortality you're talking about.  The sort of return to a set template after injury type would seem to freeze a person at whatever level of development, but it's a poor sort of immortality that can't tell the difference between growth and damage.
Most kinds actually can tell that kind of difference, and so don't run into this kind of problem.
That said, it's all down to the rules of whatever specific universe you're looking at.


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

[User] ELI5: When the Milky Way and Andromeda collide, what will happen to their supermassive black holes at their centers?

[Assistant]
The chances of them colliding with each other during the initial collision is extremely remote.

It's moderately likely that they will absorb one or more stars during the collision before they, like 99.99% of the other stars in each galaxy, pass out the other side unscathed.

The courses of all the stars and massive objects in the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies will certainly be distorted heavily and the shape of each galaxy disrupted as they slowly ocillate between 2 distinct galaxies and a single amorphous galaxy. Over many millions of years the 2 galaxies will eventually completely merge and it's likely the 2 black holes will one day merge after they eventually come within an very small distance (~1 light year which is tiny on a galactic scale) but there is no certainty that the 2 will end up in the exact same region until many millions, even hundreds of millions of years have passed.


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

[User]
ELI5: If prepared foods should not be left unrefrigerated in the "danger zone" for extended periods of time for fear of bacteria growth, why do we treat baked goods differently?

Is it some property of baked goods that prevents leaving them out from being problematic? Or do they still pose a risk but we just treat them differently due to the fact that refrigeration tends to compromise the texture of baked goods?

[Assistant]
For sweet baked goods, the sugar added functions like a preservative to prevent mold growth.

For non-sweet baked goods like bread, baking generates a crust where the water has been baked out. The lack of water makes it more difficult for mold to grow. You'll find that mold grows much easily once you cut open the bread and that the mold often grows on the white part of the bread where it is much more moist.


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

[User] Since paper comes from wood (and trees are obviously cellular lifeforms), could you look at a piece of paper through a microscope and see plant cells, or does the process of turning it into paper destroy or cover up these cells?

[Assistant]
Nope, no cells left. Paper is mainly just cellulose fibers, and doesn't have to be made out of wood - historically hemp, flax, cotton and others were used, and rag-and-bone men would collect old rags to sell to paper-makers. Making paper out of wood didn't come along until the 19th century, first with mechanical pulping and then chemical. 'Pulping' being the process of breaking down the wood and getting the fibers.

Unlike plants, wood contains lots of the substance lignin, a massively branched polymer which is basically the defining difference at the cellular level between wood and other plant matter. Chemical pulping involves breaking it down to liberate the cellulose fibers from the lignin. High quality paper has all the lignin removed, because it's the lignin that degrades and causes paper to yellow, not the cellulose. (So mechanically pulped wood paper in a book from 1840 has typically yellowed much much more than cotton paper from 1740, all else being equal) Anyway, in the Kraft process used to make paper today, wood is first broken into tiny chips, and then boiled in a digester full of hot lye and other chemicals that break down the cells and lignin and other stuff. (which is usually recovered and burned to power the process; paper mills are often self-sufficient on energy)

So in an electron microscope, paper just looks like a mess of fibers, there are no cell structures visible since there's nothing left of the cells after digestion.


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

[User]
[MCU] is it really so hard for Bruce Banner to believe the Avengers broke up?

In Avengers infinity war Bruce Banner is in disbelief after Tony Stark tells him the Avengers are broken up (like the Beatles). This is pretty weird considering the last time he saw the Avengers together they were pretty upset at him and Tony for creating Ultron.

Not to mention then Bruce himself was ready to leave the Avengers and bring Natasha with him. When Bruce left the Avengers, they were pretty close to breaking up, he really shouldnt be that shocked.

[Assistant] Yeah, but remember, he's waking up two years later after having just made up with Natasha and settled things with the Avengers. They left on good terms. The last thing Bruce would remember is falling into a pit, and by that point things were okay.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Is there ever any discussion about other galaxies throughout the universe?

I've watched all the Star Wars movies numerous times throughout my life and I've read up on a lot of the lore, so I would say I'm kind of an intermediate Star Wars fan.  However, it only just dawned on me as I was playing Mass Effect Andromeda that Star Wars all takes place within the same galaxy, rather than across multiple galaxies.  That blew my mind a little bit.

So, my question is, is there anything (either in the EU or cannon) about aliens from other galaxies, or just anything about other galaxies at all?  Can Force users sense life from other galaxies?

[Assistant]
In legends, there is a massive invasion by the Yuuzhan Vong, pain-worshiping aliens from another galaxy. This was a huge part of the legends continuity- the empire was built to prepare for their invasion, and their attack dominated the post-empire continuity.

However, in Canon, they appear to be gone, and Palpatine's motivations are very different. Apart from the technicality of the Rishi Maze, a dwarf galaxy just outside the main one, in Legends there seems nothing of interest outside the galaxy.


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

[User]
[DC] Why does the Flash not fly off the Earth and into space when he accelerates to near light speed?

The Earths gravity is not enough to keep him grounded. He has to be pushing down on something, or be able to control his own Higgs field...

[Assistant]
The Flash's powers are completely misunderstood, which have led to some confusion. If he was actually running at .99c, the friction from the air would strip is skin and turn his skelliton into plasma after the first few steps - not to mention the g-forces, which would crush his body into a liquefied mess the width of a hair.

Flash obviously does not move very fast, but only appears to from a non-Flash frame of reference. The Flash's actual power is the localized  manipulation of time - specifically the Planck constant. Flash essentially creates a tiny universe which contains him and his immediate surroundings, and which has different physical constants, allowing him to break many (but not all) universal laws. Gravitrons interact with his universe as normal, but other particles, like the photon, do not. This creates a very interesting situation where he can completely break the universal speed limit (c, E = / =mc^2 ), as well as vibrate through solid objects (atomic electrostatic forces in his body no longer strongly interact with those in our universe, allowing him to pass through the empty space which make up 99.99999% of matter) etc but not fly into orbit at top speed.

The Flash is an extremely underrated hero, and has the potential to become the most powerful of them all. His powers are much less defined than most others, and he is likely capable of many things which it simply has not occurred to him to try.


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

[User]
[Black Panther] What did the CIA want with a little chunk of Vibranium?

It didn't seem like they knew it's potential outside of an indestructible metal.

[Assistant]
>It didn't seem like they knew it's potential outside of an indestructible metal.

That on it's own sounds like a perfectly reasonable reason for trying to obtain said material for future research.


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

[User]
Eli5: When a cold is "going around," how does the first person get sick?

I'm struggling to phrase this right. If cold viruses are transmitted from person to person, then who infects "patient zero"?

[Assistant]
What we call the common cold is actually caused by hundreds of different viruses, they all just happen to have similar enough symptoms that they get lumped together.  Further, those viruses are around basically all the time, you can find someone (and probably lots of someones) somewhere in the world who has one of them.  Conditions such as time of year, climate, etc. can affect how widespread the cold is or when different areas see more cases.  Further the viruses can mutate, so a strain that isn't currently causing much symptoms might get stronger and cause more symptoms as it goes around.

Stepping away from colds to answer the general question, for new diseases the first person to get infected is going to get a mutant version of a previously existing virus, either they catch a version from someone else that mutates within them, or they catch a version of a virus from another animal that has already mutated to be able to now affect humans as well.  The latter are called zoonotic viruses.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do some fabrics get softer when they're washed a lot, while others get rougher?

[Assistant]
It depends on the textile. With wearing and use, some materials relax and become softer and looser because the thread is bent, pulled, and twisted through mechanical motion, much the way that crumpling a sheet of notebook paper over and over makes it very soft. Wearing the clothes often contributes more to this than the washing by itself.

However other materials may contain oils, waxes, and other materials naturally present in the fiber such as lanolin. Washing, and especially bleaching, removes these soft, greasy, fatty substances which can make the fibers dry, scratchy, or cause them to begin to fray or lose their water proofness. The primary purpose of fabric softeners, is to help replenish these substances, but it's always a downhill battle short of soaking the clothing in lard or oil.

Lastly, some synthetic cloth can become brittle with use, similar to the way that bending a plastic spoon back and forth in the same spot will cause it to snap. The fabric begins to get creases and folds in it that don't come out with ironing. They don't exactly get scratchy, but they become stiff like folded paper, and don't bend and take the shape of the body as well.

As fibers wear and break and tear, it has an effect of reducing thread count. Thread count is the number one thing for comfort up close to the skin, with higher thread count cloth feeling softer and silky versus lower but thicker thread count like a knitted sweater which can feel rough.


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

[User]
[DC] How does Batman prepare his young sidekicks for the grittier, more macabre side of crime?

Batman is (usually) not a total ass; he is one of the most compassionate heroes. That being said, he also mentor young sidekicks, who he has few qualms fighting hardened criminals.

But what about the more gruesome, macabre side of crime, e.g. crime scenes, rape, murder etc.? Does he teach them how to handle it in the field, which is arguably the best place to learn? Or does he wait until they're older/wiser, even if that gives them comparatively less time to learn?

[Assistant]
It usually depends on the Robin, iirc.

Dick took to crime fighting *super* easily. He was genuinely just kind of a prodigy in a way that the others weren't; in line with this, it's likely he took to the grimmer parts of the job just as well. Seeing his parents die also likely hardened him, so the death and misery he saw in the field weren't quite as much a shock.

Jason wasn't quite as naturally skilled as Dick; this was a problem, because Bruce made the mistake of treating them the same. This meant he neglected Jason in some key ways because he assumed he'd take to it just as easily. But, Jason instead just had rage and fury; partially, the reason he's considered Bruce's greatest failure is because he *didn't* prepare him properly.

Bruce barely wanted Tim to be a Robin in the first place, but he insisted and basically forcibly earned his way in, thinking that Bruce needed a Robin to keep *him* from growing too dark. He was already an amateur detective, and got the position by deducing Batman's identity. Bruce was over-cautious because of Jason's fate originally, and tried to keep Tim in a support role, but eventually let him into the real stuff once he proved he could handle it.

Stephanie Brown's father was a supervillain, and she was already pretty engrossed in the nitty gritty by the time she was a Robin.

And Damien... Uh, he's gonna be just fine with all of it. Maybe a little too fine.


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

[User] What experiments would help science progress a lot but aren't conducted because of ethical problems?

[Assistant] Directly testing products on humans would speed up drug therapy development, the process is very long and tedious to even get the drug to clinical trials... but frequently the animal model is not similar enough to humans and the drug fails immediately in trials after years of successful experiments. We've cured cancer many times in rodents...


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

[User]
Progesterone Cream (USP) is rubbed into skin to be absorbed into the bloodstream in an hour. With this understanding of skin permeability, is it known if chemicals/bleach used in hair dying could also get into the bloodstream, or react with skin in some way to be absorbed into the body?

I recently learned that many women rub Bio-identical (USP) Progesterone cream into their skin, to get it quickly into the bloodstream, blowing my mind, as I thought skin was way more impenetrable than that. Now, all the various strong chemicals people (especially women in pursuit of beauty) put on skin seem scary. Which ones can be absorbed into the body?

[Assistant] Rule of thumb is that chemicals comprised of small-ish fat soluble molecules penetrate the skin more easily when applied with a fat-based medium, like cremes and pastes. The more water soluble a substance is, the larger the molecule is and the less fat based the medium is (either water based or solid/dry/powdery), the less likely it is to actually penetrate the skin, enter the blood stream and act throughout the entire blood system. The larger the skin surface you rub it in the more will penetrate, and the more damaged the skin is (wounds, inflammation, infection for example) the more will penetrate, the thinner the skin is (skin at the back vs skin on the scalp) the more will penetrate. That being said, we're still talking about trace amounts entering the central blood stream in either case, as the skin doesn't actively resorb substances, instead substances have to diffuse throughout the skin into the blood stream. Rubbing a large surface of your entire body with progesterone cream (progesterone being entirely fat soluble and a small enough molecule; the body doesn't need much overall progesterone at all) is a different story than putting a bit of dry make-up on a couple of select few surfaces on your face. The main component in bleach based hair dying products, hydrogen peroxide, is constantly produced and metabolized in the body in trace amounts already, and the miniscule amount added by resorbing through the skin (which can lead to skin irritation and chemical burn) is metabolized before it can even hit the blood stream in meaningful quantities. Additionally, in some legislations cosmetic products have legal limitations in how deep their main components are allowed to be able to penetrate the skin.


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

[User]
CMV: It is ok for a person with non-mainstream tastes in music to impose their music on people who like mainstream-music, since the world imposes pop-music on everyone, regardless of their taste.

Of course it's "ok" to do this in the grand scheme of things. That being said, when I have house guests, or I am driving other people in the car, I feel that in order to not be rude I should play music that most people will like. When this happens, it is almost always music that **I** don't like.

Example situation: Let's say I am a fan of heavy metal (which I am). I am having a party and my friends want me to play Despacito and other "songs of the day". I politely say that it is my party, I am tired of listening to Despacito, and I would prefer to play Motorhead. Perhaps one guest complains throughout the night that the music is annoying, or "hurting their head". I argue that changing the music to pop-music will simply transfer the annoyance and "head hurting" to me, instead of them, and since it's my party I get to choose what music we listen to.

Is this a straw-man? Well, in reality I would absolutely compromise. I would stop playing Motorhead because continuing to do so after explicit complaints would be rude. Perhaps I would put on something less aggressive, like Black Sabbath. Or perhaps something soothing like Opeth's Heritage album (the actual bands/songs don't matter, just the general idea).

However, I feel that even the compromise is wrong. Living in a society where pop-music is forced upon you (stores, restaurants, radio, bars, clubs, tv, advertisements, facebook etc), and you don't like it you're experiencing an aural assault that makes me feel culturally out of place and uncomfortable. There is little reason why others should feel entitled to avoid this discomfort when a large proportion of the world is basically catering to their musical tastes.

[Assistant]
Pop music is designed to be inoffensive and catchy. Heavy metal is designed to be loud, aggressive, and dissonant. Being a good host is about making your guests feel comfortable, and in a mixed crowd bland pop music is better at doing that than heavy metal.

Consider another example: you've been asked to make dinner for a group of white, American friends you barely know. Do you prepare:

* Hamburgers / veggieburgers (the safe option)
* Korean kimchi (a flavorful food that has a powerful odor if you're not accustomed)

If you get the buy-in, then kimchi and heavy metal would make for a fantastic party. But as a host, you need to make compromises. It's not just politeness--people are more likely to trust you if they find you're flexible and caring. Maybe then they'd be willing to give new music a chance.

From the perspective of a music fan: did you get into heavy metal because it was forced on you, or did you explore on your own and discover what's great in a safe, trusting environment?


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

[User] [Fairly Oddparents] Do kids with developmental disabilities get their fairies at 20 or something?

[Assistant] The ones who get teased heavily, and are aware enough to suffer because of it do. Usually, as there aren't enough fairies to go around. The main thing is that most of those kids then wish that they were "normal" and then no longer get teased and don't need fairies anymore.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] I'm a Grey Jedi stuck in a room with Palpatine. What happens?

Does he try to convert me into a Sith, or do we just chill?

[Assistant]
He won't try to "convert" you to anything.

You're either powerful enough to warrant becoming his apprentice or not. Most likely not. There are only ever two sith and if he already has an apprentice that is worthy of the mantle then he cares not for you.

He may decide you have some skill and decides to dominate you and turn you into a servant of the new order.

Most likely though...he will kill you without a second thought, he doesn't tolerate rivals.


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

[User] [SW] Hey everybody! Just got out of The Academy. Cant shoot for shit, but they made me a Stormtrooper anyway. Just arrived here at the second Death Star. The thing isnt even complete yet, and Im a bit nervous because of what happened to the last one. Any advice to calm my nerves or kill time?

[Assistant]
I guarantee you that is the safest place in the universe. Do you REALLY think that the strongest governing body in the universe would allow the terrorists to hurt them again? The new Death Star has external shielding AND is protected by practically the entire fleet.

When a restaurant closes down due to a bug infestation, the only time you can be 100% it's clean is right when it reopens. The emperor himself is going to be joining you soon. So you better believe that it is fucking impenetrable.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does "hard resetting" seem to fix just about anything like phones or gaming consoles?

[Assistant] All computers have memory. When they start up they copy the instructions they need to run into memory. If something goes wrong, the instructions in memory can break. Computers don't work when following broken instructions. When you turn off the computer, it removes all the instructions from memory. When it turns back on it copies the correct instructions back into memory, and everything works again.


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

[User]
ELI5: How much of what we say do dogs actually understand?

Is it only basic words like their name, out, food, treat, ect; or do they understand more of what we say?

[Assistant] they associate sounds with a result. let's say cookie, they know they will get a treat to eat, but don't understand the actual meaning. If you say "nookie" instead of cookie, there is a big chance your dog would still act like there is a treat coming.


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

[User] What percentage of Starfleet is human?

[Assistant]
Starfleet separates ships based on life support requirements. A Tellarite will be able to survive on a human ship but they will never be comfortable. (And the loud mouthed pig nosed grass eaters will let you know about it too.) Conversely a human will be uncomfortable on an Andorian ship for reasons entirely different then the make up of the air.

Some species life support requirement are inimical to other species, such as sentients from ultra high gravity worlds, or those from worlds where intelligence developed in water rather then on land.

As such, you tend to see mostly humans on an Earth designated ship, Vulcans on a Vulcan designated ship and so on and so forth. Although there are usually exceptions especially among the hardier species, such as Vulcans, that can live in a wider range of environments then humans and generally make few concessions to comfort.


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

[User] ELI5: How are naked four-legged mountain goats successfully able to traverse mountainous cliffs, while two-legged humans require climbing gear?

[Assistant]
Well, they're not naked (they have hair) and they've got four feet instead of two... which is a help, not a hindrance.

They also have uniquely designed hooves to help them balance and climb over rough terrain, and they're far more dexterous than we are. They're also acclimated to the habitat.


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

[User]
[Marvel/DC] With all those heroes that can do impossible, why isnt either Earth basically a paradise?

I mean, if you have reality warpers , insanely smart people , why no one goes and cure cancer, deal with famine etc.?

[Assistant]
In general, the heroes are too busy keeping the world from falling apart from cosmic beings going awry, alien invasions, attempted world conquering events, and sitting down to make a plan to fix the world and make it a paradise just doesn't happen because as soon as they get started, here comes a supervillain team-up.

Likewise, when an incredibly hero tries to make the world a paradise, they usually go too far and the other heroes end up having to stop them and restore the world back to its original state.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is the existence of a middle class important in assessing the strength of an economy?

Is it because they spend their money while having some saved up in case there is a downturn? Or is it something else?

[Assistant] That's a big one, yes. Compare an economy where there is a middle class to one where there's only very rich people, and very poor people. How will the economy continue to perform when the poor masses have little to spend to fuel it, and the few rich even though they can buy a lot probably won't do so, purchasing only what they need in terms of necessities and perhaps hoarding money instead of spending?


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

[User] Can you create a sonic boom underwater?

[Assistant]
According to Frank Heile, P.h.D. Physics, Stanford University:

"Yes, there will be a sonic boom if an object travels through water at faster than the speed of sound in water. Even though water is relatively incompressible when compared to air, it does transmit sound waves and therefore it will indeed have a cone shaped sonic boom emitted from the leading edge of any object that is moving through the water at faster than the speed of sound.  At 20 C and 1 atm of pressure, the speed of sound in air is 768 MPH or 1236 km/hr whereas the speed of sound in water is 3316 MPH or 5336 km/hr so it is almost 4.5 times faster than in air.

One difference between an object moving through air versus moving through water is that when the speed of sound is exceeded in water there will be supercavitation - there will be a region behind the nose of the object where the water pressure is below the vapor pressure which causes a bubble of vapor pressure to form behind the object.  This can greatly decrease the skin friction of the object since only the nose of the object will be in contact with water."


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

[User] ELI5: Do we actually sweat out toxins? What are these so-called "toxins" and does our body do it with alcohol as well?

[Assistant]
No, sweat is just water that's a little salty.  Almost all of the toxins your body takes in are expelled in urine.

Anything that could do damage to a cell is called a toxin.  There is an endless number of them, but some well-known ones are alcohol, cyanide, arsenic, mercury, caffeine, nicotine, chlorine, and many animal venoms.  Notice how most of the things on that list can kill you? That's why it's important to get them out.

Your kidneys filter them out of the blood, and they are sent to the bladder, where they are mixed with water and urea (a natural byproduct very similar to ammonia, this is why urine is sterile) which dilutes and denatures the toxin, and then expelled using the orifice preferred by your sex.


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

[User]
Do the planets aligning actually do anything?

You always hear how the planets aligning causes things like changing tides, changing the tilt of the Earth, or others more fantastical things, but do planets aligning have any effects even if they're minor?

[Assistant]
Scientifically speaking, the only way they could affect us is via gravity. But they are so small and so far away, that the net effect is zero no matter what.

They actually do something when they are aligned: they provide a beautiful view in the evening.


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

[User]
I think world news are useless to me. CMV

I live in Wroclaw, Poland and I think that almost every news I see is useless to me (eg Syrian Civil War, Fukushima toxic leak and even any news about Polish government about recent vat raise, I will pay it anyway) because I don't really have any influence on those things. I will never be politician and I have no interest and/or ambition in changing world.
Infos about my family, what's going on in my city(traffic, parties)   etc. are important to me, because they have direct influence on my life. Change my view.

[Assistant]
World War 2 happened when Germany invaded Poland. When one country in Europe invaded another in Europe. This would be considered "world news" in England. In the US. In India, in Australia, in Japan, in Italy.

Yet it affected all those nations equally. It was not any kind of sudden thing, either. Thousands of small factors, and plenty of big ones, combined to be the cause of the Second World War.

The butterfly effect is why it is all important. The Syrian Civil War is important because if the USA decides to act, it could have very, very, far-reaching consequences. Fukushima toxic leak being important is debatable, but the fact that a nuclear reactor is leaking is definitely very important. Considering that nuclear energy is fully likely to be a huge energy source, which will directly affect you as you'll probably have to pay less.

Everything that happens in the world affects you. You might think it's useless, but the horse that lost its shoe thought it was nothing to worry about.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why are lights standard in refrigerators but not in freezers?

Pretty much every refrigerator has a light in it, but freezers hardly if ever do. Why?

[Assistant] An incandescent bulb regularly going through such temperature changes would probably greatly increase their rate of failure, and they generally aren't as large or accessed as frequently as the refrigerator.


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

[User]
ELI5, How Do Compression Socks Work?

Im curious as to how compression socks help your legs when you have bad circulation. What is the science behind it that allows you to be on your feet without getting fatigued and swelling when you wear them.

[Assistant] Due to the compression, the arteries can relax and the veins get a boost. It's important for people at risk for circulation problems. It's highly questionable whether it improves blood flow for athletes, but it doesn't do them any harm, and it may have a psychological effect.


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

[User]
Why do whales die when they're beached too long? What is it that kills them?

I have always wondered this.

**Edit:** Thank you for your responses, everyone!

[Assistant] It's not dehydration or starvation, which would take a long time, but suffocation. Whales are normally supported on all sides by water, which means that they don't have to support their own weight against gravity. When they are beached, the weight of the parts of their bodies that are above their lungs is pushing down on their lungs. They will have to work incredibly hard to expand their lungs to breathe. Eventually they don't have enough energy to expand the chest cavity to draw in air, and they suffocate. This is the same mechanism by which people would have died through crucifixion. Holding your body up by your arms forces you to work hard to breathe and eventually you can't do it any more and you suffocate.


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

[User] [General] Is a vibroknife (with vibrating blade) worth the fuss? Does it cut better, faster, or deeper?

[Assistant]
A vibro-knife works using the same mechanics as a chain saw. Instead of having to press down with immense strength, the knife cuts 'for you' through a powered high-frequency vibration.

In effect, this makes the blade 'sharper' in that it requires less effort from the user to cut through stronger/more dense materials.


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

[User] Why doesn't the universe carry an overall positive or negative charge?

[Assistant]
As far as we know all interactions in the universe conserve charge. So for the universe to have overall positive or negative charge, we'd have to look at the initial conditions of the universe, where a lot of our current models tend to break down or lack predictive power.

As for why charge should be conserved, it comes about as the result of a particular symmetry associated with the electromagnetic field.


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

[User]
Where does the energy for exchange particles come from?

The weak interaction uses a W boson to transfer momentum, but it's much heavier than a proton and seemingly spontaneously comes into existence for the purpose of the interaction and then vanishes. I'd like to know how this complys with the conservation of energy because it doesn't really make sense to me.

[Assistant]
You are correct. If you interpret virtual particles as things that literally exist, you are led to nonsensical conclusions.

The mass of a W boson is much too large for a real one to be produced during beta decay of a nucleus.

Virtual particles don't literally exist; they are just an artifact of certain calculation methods in quantum field theory.


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

[User]
[futurama] Coud Fry just... you know buy robot hands?

I mean maybe not quite as good as robot devil hands, and fry is poor as shit anyway, but it seems like robot hands wouldn't be out of reach at all and then he could go back to being a musician?

[Assistant]
True, but if they don't meet the standards of the robot devils hands, they might not let him play what he wants.

And even if they did, Fry is unbelievably stupid, so there's no reason to assume that just because something makes perfect sense he'll do it.


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

[User]
Imposter Syndrome overdiagnosis

To start out - I fully believe that imposter syndrome is a real thing that qualified programmers experience.

That being said, I've seen multiple posts here and in other communities where people list an extremely shaky list of credentials (e.g., I just finished a bootcamp), express concern of job-preparedness, and finish up with something to the tune of "man, my imposter syndrome is really flaring up right now."

I'm a full-time software engineer at my dream company. I worked damn hard to get where I am - I went through formal CS education, took 6 internships/residencies, and programmed full-time for 2 years at a startup before finally landing my current position at one of the companies I've always wanted to work for.

It feels like people expect to go through some basic training (a bootcamp, a 2-year degree without on-the-job training, etc) and be fully prepped to enter into one of the highest-paid, most-in-demand professions out there. Then, when the reality of their unpreparedness starts to set in, they've already been conditioned to think of it as "just imposter syndrome" when in reality it's a perfectly reasonable response to being under qualified.

I'm not saying this is the fault of those under qualified individuals. The programs and boot camps are the real villains in my mind. Regardless, I just wanted to express this sentiment and see if any other professional coders feel similarly. This hyper-pervasive "imposter syndrome" sentiment has really soured my experiences on programming forums recently.

[Assistant]
The main issue here is boot camps and programs like them tend to over promise on the kinds of opportunities they can provide. There isnt anything inherently wrong with the concept of boot camps, getting enough training to start doing basic coding work and then building upon that foundation later is fine but it becomes an issue when boot camps are promising people serious engineering roles after a few months of training.

Unrealistic expectations are set to justify the prices they charge and then people finishing those programs assume they must be doing something wrong or just arent really confident enough to get the positions they were promised.


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

[User]
[Pokemon] What exactly IS hyper-beam? What is hyper about it?

It's a beam of energy, right? What kind of energy? What is it about the beam that causes damage? Can it be created in smaller amounts? Hyper is a level of potion along with "super" and "max". Is there a "max-beam"?

[Assistant] Hyper Beam is an incredibly dense ray of light that slams the target with incredible force. As to the size, it probably requires a break-point to reach the appropriate levels of density, but width and diameter of the actual beam would remain unaffected. So a larger creature could focus a "wider" beam than a smaller creature, without sacrificing the intensity of the beam.


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

[User]
[WH40K] Okay, Abaddon here, I can't figure this thing out

Yo, fool. Yeah, I bet you thought I'd be speaking slightly differently. Well, you were correct, lowly moral. Continue to cower behind your pict screen, you may yet survive another pitiful night in your broken Imperium (*spits*).

Before I conclude with flaying you alive in the Garden of Slaanesh for an eternity...I have a question for you. Answer correctly and I shall grant you a quick death. Why then, during the Siege of Terra, didn't Horus the beloved Warmaster, simply launch virus bombs and destroy the loyalist fools with ease? If I recall the events correctly, we were in control of the air and we must have had access to virus bombs or at the least enough firepower to destroy Terra from orbit.

My question is, why did we subject ourselves to a prolonged siege when there were other options?

[Assistant] Do you have any fucking idea how important Terra is? You want to virus bomb that?! You don't take the Emperor's Golden armour then proceed to go "Yeah.. They'd make good toilet paper." You fucking wear it! You own Terra and it's people, in tact, you own the universe. No wonder they call you Failbbadon, you'll never amount to anything Horus was, especially without your arms.


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

[User]
[Marvel]How did the ancient Wakandans extract vibranium?

The material is strong enough to deflect modern bullets and survive explosions.

[Assistant] Vibranium isnt indestructible until its processed. We see that unstable Vibranium needs the sonic railway to be transported safely, and produces the kinetic loading in Black Panthers nano-suit. So unprocessed Vibranium has different properties than stabilized Vibranium.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do banks know that its not you using your card when they send out those fraud alert messages?

So I just woke up this morning, made my coffee and was scrolling through Reddit.. And I got a Fraud Alert text from Chase telling me they declined a purchase of $153.60. I buy stuff *all* of the time with my chase debit card.. online, in store, sometimes run it as credit.. and I never get those fraud alert messages.

But, the first time that someone somehow stole my card numbers and tried to make a purchase, they declined it and flagged it as fraud. And thank god they did.. but how did they know it wasnt me?

[Assistant]
The credit card company knows a good deal about you.  They know where you live, where you usually shop, what you usually buy, etc.  If they detect a purchase that deviates from your patterns, they will flag it as potential fraud.

So, if you normally buy food, gas, groceries, etc. on your card in one particular part of one city, then someone buying electronics in a different city is going to raise flags.


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

[User]
If an object is producing a pitch of, say 440Hz, and is moving away from you at the speed of sound, is its perceived pitch 220Hz?

And how fast would the object have to travel towards you for there to be a perceived pitch of 880Hz?

[Assistant]
Yes, the pitch is 220 Hz for an emitted frequency of 440Hz moving away at the speed of sound. Moving towards the speed would have to be 171.5m/s for it to be perceived at 880Hz.

The frequency perceived by observer is determined by f=(1/(c+-v))fo where f is the perceived frequency, fo is the emitted frequency, c is the speed of sound (~343m/s in air) and v is the speed of source (+away -towards).

Note that the equation is no longer valid when moving towards faster than speed of sound. This is because you won't hear anything until the source arrives and goes past you.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are breasts often considered sexually attractive and private?

Just a drunk thought...

[Assistant]
Breasts are a sexual characteristic of human females. Other mammals only have breasts when breast feeding, otherwise they are small and look the same as the male breast of the species.

Scientists are still trying to work out the specifics, but the attraction is thought to lay in something about youth (old people=less fertile=worse looking breasts), nutrition (need fat reserves to make nice ones) or simple weird sexual selection (think peacock's tail, not very useful but the ladies like them).

Unlike what many people say, breasts are sexualized across cultures, but the topless ethnic women we see have a different culture on what is considered "nude," not what is considered sexual.


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

[User] What are the characteristics of good academic research collaborators?

[Assistant]
* Communication.  Nothing works if the parties involved don't talk to each other. It can't be a one-way street - if you find yourself always following up on emails that haven't been answered - it is a less than ideal collaboration.

* Sharing the workload.  Ideally you want collaborators that help you move around your position in the author list.  You can be the driving force on some papers, and end up first on the list, but you also need "team player" papers, and then a chance to be a mentor and show up at the end of the list.

* Honesty.  Get yourself out of any collaboration where you don't trust all of those involved.  Everyone makes honest mistakes, but deception can be hard to recover from.

* Complementary skills.  If you are good at writing papers, try to work with people who can produce data, but who may be poor writers.  Find a team member who can program, or make amazing graphics.  Even the person who lives to correct grammar is important.


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

[User]
[Rick and Morty] How did dust and mildew settle on Jerry and Beth when Rick froze time?

How would anything grow if time was stopped?

[Assistant]
Clearly not everything was stopped. If time was stopped down to a molecular level then Rick, Morty, and Summer would be immobile since they're surrounded on all sides by paused atmospheric particles. Instead all air is able to part when they walk by, and is also breathable. That's where your dust particles come from.

Presumably, in order to avoid dead air, the device exempts plant life (at least in the immediate area of its users) as well as air in order to cycle out carbon dioxide. As part of the immobile ecosystem, fungus gets to go along for the ride.


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

[User] What is a buffer overflow, and how is it used to exploit programs?

[Assistant]
Imagine a choose-your-own-adventure book (i.e. "If you choose to go left, turn to page 10.  If you go right, turn to page 20).  You have sneakily inserted a page 30 which tells the reader to give you all your money.

At the start of the book there is a blank page where the reader can make notes.  That's your buffer.  If you write in a bunch of text on that page, and the reader is too dumb to notice it's happened, you could make your text overflow onto page one, and overwrite the text already there.

So now, page one says "If you choose to go left, turn to page 30.  If you choose to go right, turn to page 30".

So the reader turns to page 30, and follows the instruction to give you all their money.  You have overflowed the buffer to make the reader go to a page of your choosing rather than the legitimate pages.

The book is your program, the blank page is the buffer, and page 30 is the malicious code.  The text you dumped onto the blank page is your exploit code.


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

[User] ELI5: How does AI (Bots) work in video games?

[Assistant]
AI in games has to have a couple things first; you have to have a designed goal for the AI to do first, and allow it access to stuff to achieve that goal.

In a video game this might turn out to be something like a standard fighting game; where the AI is designed to win the match, and is given access to button combination inputs to achieve that.  If they want to get a bit into it with difficulty settings, they could change which moves/combos the AI can execute, or how quickly it reacts.

In something else like a strategy game, they tend to give the AI certain goals to hit before launching an attack/defending an attack.  IE: Have 10 builders/harvesters, 20 attackers, and 2 defensive structures; then issue commands to move attackers across the map toward a target destination.

How that all is built is basically programming the AI, although depending on what you want the AI to do, it might range from just mashing buttons to figuring out pathfinding for a giant army.  And in plenty of cases, the person programming the AI might let the AI cheat a bit.

Now in cases where people argue they want difficulty to mean something more than enemies become bullet sponges, while the player hits like a wet noodle.  They want the difficulty increase to mean enemies are smarter too - but that comes at a cost in programming & CPU cycles.  Is it really worthit to add in more in-depth AI that checks whether one room is good to hang out in because it has a lot of cover (and having all the programmatic checks and balances to go with that), or use those precious spare moments on the CPU to push out a few more frames per second?


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

[User] [MCU] Is vibranium common in space?

[Assistant] In the comics, vibranium exists in space, although its source is unknown. "Common" is probably relative, but it's a stable transuranic element evidenced in certain asteroid mineral deposits - that suggests some very weird circumstances for its creation, probably involving supernovas under unusual conditions. Yet it *is* stable, and in the comics abundant enough that at least a few alien technologies exist involving it (the Inhuman echotech, for example), and on Earth it's been successfully synthesized  (albeit in an unstable isotope). So while not *common*, there are probably regions where it is relatively *abundant*. Given the size of the Great Mound, we can assume that when vibranium is produced naturally it is done in relatively large quantities, and there might be similar-sized chunks of vibranium ore adrift through space, remnants of certain supernova explosions.


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

[User] ELI5: If sweat cools down our body... Do we sweat under hot shower?

[Assistant] Yes, sweating is an automatic reaction triggered by feeling heat. So you do sweat under hot shower. The shower washes the sweat right away, but since you arent actually getting cooler, you just sweat more. You can eventually dehydrate this way under the shower or even while in a hot bath, despite being surrounded by water.


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

[User] ELI5: People today are able to produce paintings that are indistinguishable from photographs. Why couldnt artists in past eras achieve this level of realism?

[Assistant] Quality of materials, (paints, brushes, canvas) time, painting detailed pictures requires a lot of time and you have to be able to afford to spend that much time on a single painting, lack of photographs as reference, until Vermeer, who may have used a kind of pinhole camera to create their pictures still images of the subject were not available.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does travelling, even when it is essentially sitting still, tire you more than sitting still in a stationary place?

[Assistant]
When sitting stationary your body exerts effort just to keep you upright in your seat.

When sitting while traveling, your body exerts effort to counter every motion of the vehicle you happen to be in. Vehicle slows down, your core muscles react to keep you pressed back into your seat, and you dont recognize this as anything more than still sitting down. Same for every turn, your core reacts to counter the centripetal motion to one side or the other.

So sitting while traveling gives you an unconscious core workout that you never recognize.


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

[User]
[Kingdom Hearts] So why could Roxas feel?

I thought nobodies were supposed to not be able to feel, but it was *really* obvious he (along with Axel, I assume because of long term exposure to Roxas) were able to feel emotions.

I know Sora was unusully stronger in the heart than the normal victims, and Roxas wasn't created conventionally, but neither was Xemnas, and he had the emotional range of a Cactus.

[Assistant]
In 358/2 days, Roxas could feel because Sora was never really gone, and he was leeching off of Sora's feelings and memories - his heart. This is part of why Roxas *had* to go for Sora to come back.

In 3D we learn that Nobodies only lack a heart for a short time after creation. Their interactions with others produces a heart, Xemnas had just been corrupting Organization XIII's budding hearts so that everyone would be a huge shitlord.

So a combination of leeching off of Sora's heart, and developing his own through interactions with Axel and Kairi-sue.


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

[User]
Are states obligated to protect only their own citizens?

Hello, I have a debate tournament coming up(about democracy promotion in the Middle East if that's relevant) and I've been looking for literature on this topic.

After a quick search on the SEP, IEP, google scholar, and this sub, I didn't come up with anything.

If you can just point me to some works related to the question for further reading I can go from there.

[Assistant] The name of the idea that states have a duty to protect more than just their citizens is known as the "responsibility to protect." A good place to start is Gareth Evans's book *The Responsibility to Protect* and *Responsibility to Protect*, edited by Cooper and Kohler.


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

[User]
[Dead Space] Why do the Necromorphs attack Isaac?

I just finished the first Dead Space and I have to say that I do not understand a lot of things, for example how Nicole could interact with consoles if she was just a hallucination. Also how Isaac was so stupid to think it was the real one. And, If she could control the consoles etc, why didn't she bring the Marker back to the planet herself?

But most important: The Necromorphs are all controlled by the Hive Mind. And as I understand it, Nicole was the Marker and Nicole tried to bring the Marker back to the Hive Mind, where it belonged. To make the Marker and the Hive Mind whole again. But why would the Hive Mind then attack Isaac? He did everything the Marker and the Hive Mind wanted? And why did the Hive Mind seemingly attack Nicole?

If the Hive Mind doesn't want the Marker to come back why the whole Making-whole-again thing?

I just cannot wrap my head around that. Could someone please explain this to me?

[Assistant]
As for the consoles, its possible it was just another crew member that Issac was hallucinating as Nicole. Or it was time to an automatic cycle once someone used the trolley.

The ultimate goal of the Markers is to achieve convergence. That is, to surround themselves with so many Necromorphs (modified human DNA) that it triggers a special event, where the mass of flesh is converted into a giant spehere (called Bretheren Moons) and the Marker is absorbed, creating a being that can travel the stars and continue its mission to to absorb all life in the galaxy. While the Ishimura had a lot of biomass on it, it wasn't enough to achieve convergence. To achieve that, it needed to go back to the Colony, which is had already managed to transform (hence the giant monster at the end).

As for why the Necromorphs attack Issac, its not really sure. Perhaps to expedite his mission by keeping him jumpy and on his toes, so he won't question the Marker's orders? Maybe the Markers don't have individual control over individual Necromorphs until they reach Bretheren Moon status. Attack "Nicole" is obviously just a ploy to throw off suspicion, as it needed Issac to trust her so it could manipulate him.


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

[User]
What about a lack of oxygen makes a cell die?

Why does a lack of oxygen kill a cell? What is changing that causes this?

[Assistant]
Basically, oxygen is required for the formation of ATP in cells. ATP, in turn, is responsible for most of the energy requiring functions that a cell performs. And life, to the extent that it can be meaningfully defined, might be considered the development and maintenance of homeostatic conditions at temperatures, ionic concentrations, and electrical potentials that are inconsistent with the environment that surrounds them, resulting in the ordered information that is capable of self-replication. (Note, though, that a duracell battery meets many of these criteria.) All of those differences from the environment require energy to generate and maintain. Without that energy, the cell will lose its instructions and generally whittle down into a non-functional bit that will hopefully be engulfed by a neighbor. Otherwise, it might explode, damaging nearby cells

(not good)


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

[User] Why should you not buy a house during a recession? Surely house prices are low then; buy low sell high, right?

[Assistant]
I'll give you two simple examples of why people might not buy during a recession.

a) If a recession is causing a decline in house prices, it's hard to know whether that decline has further to go.

b) In a recession, you have a higher chance than usual of losing your job and it might be some time before you find a new one. Probably not the best time to take on a big financial responsibility.

One of there reasons the business cycle exists is the way that bad economic news feeds into people's beliefs about the future and the risks they face which often drives more bad news.


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

[User]
[Assassin's Creed 1]How was the Battle of Masayf Altair's fault?

At the start of the game, the Templar's attack Masayf after the Assassin's retrieve the Apple of Eden.After the Battle Altair is stabbed and demoted for breaking three tenants of the order, with Al Mualim(the leader) saying 'every man lost today, was lost because of you).How was it exactly Altair's fault?If he hadn't killed the innocent at the start of the game, prehaps he would have blabbed to the guards, but ill assume the guy could have been knocked out.The second tenant he breaks is not being discreet, when the Templars seize the apple,How could he have been discreet?, if Altair hadn't gone straight for them, the Templars would have seized the Apple unnopposed, there was no discreet option, it was a single room with only 2 exits.Third Altair somehow compromises the Brotherhood by attacking the Templars and the Templar attack is blamed on him, but the leader(Robert) says at the start that he was already planning on attacking Masayf, Altair made no difference.If Altair hadn't attacked them, the Templars would have the apple and could just enslave Masayf unopposed and the Assassin's would have lost before the game even started.I just started the game and already it is confusing me haha.

[Assistant] You're forgetting in the beginning he launched a moderately unsuccessful attack on a Templar operations that cost one of his brothers and arm and incurred the ire of the Order. The Order attacked the stronghold because of his blatant disregard of the rules.


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

[User] What makes a gas a greenhouse gas? For example, what are the molecular properties of carbon dioxide (CO2) that allow it to retain heat, that nitrogen (N2) lacks?

[Assistant]
Greenhouse gases absorb and re-emit infrared radiation. This means that instead of passing through the atmosphere and directly into space, some of the infrared radiation is re-emitted back toward the surface of the earth, increasing the net heat on the planet's surface.  If it were re-emitted in the same direction that would be no problem, but the absorption and re-emission randomizes the direction of the light, effectively bouncing some of it back to the ground. Like a greenhouse does, hence "greenhouse effect".

The molecular property you're looking for is frequencies of vibration. The ability to absorb and re-emit infrared comes from a molecule that has a change in energy of vibration frequencies that corresponds to infrared energies. They absorb the photon, vibrate at a higher frequency, and re-emit that photon as they return to their less energetic state. Vibration frequencies are characteristic to each molecule, and in fact are often used as an analytical tool to identify unknown ones. So, the gases with vibration frequencies that can be perturbed by infrared radiation are greenhouse gases while gases like nitrogen, oxygen, and argon are not.


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

[User] ELI5: How do body organs remain in their place without plopping to the bottom of the belly (for humans) and crushing themselves?

[Assistant]
Connective tissues.

Think of each organ as also kinda having a net around it. Each organ kinda hangs off of the other in a chain from your skeleton. It would be like taking a bunch of ball nets and tying them together, then hanging them from a rafter or the like.


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

[User]
[DC] So what exactly IS the Anti-Life Equation? Is it knowledge? Is it an object?

In some continuities it seems to be something that you can give to someone and something that someone holds, but in how its described it seems to be more like something that you just know.

[Assistant]
It has been portrayed in different ways but generally it is just an mathematical equation outlines the truth and proves the futility of life.  Which gives you full control over any sentient being.

As to why it is depicted differently and often not at all like how we would write an equation, is because of our limited human perception.  This isn't  just a formula like 2+2=4, but gives absolute truth all know universes and beyond.

The New Gods live outside of the universe we are familiar with.  There is only one true Darkseid that sends Avatars to interact with the 52 known universes.  In his true form he is more powerful and somewhat beyond human understanding.  And just as Darkseid is a being beyond our understanding the equation is beyond our understanding.  Just as new mathematics had to be invented to describe the movements of heaven, mathematics we haven't even dreamed of are required to understand the Anti-Life Equation.  And it can't just be written like a formula we are used to, it has to be represented differently.


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

[User]
eli5: How can a tv show make ten episodes lasting 10 hours every year while it takes 2 years for a 2 hour movie?

Has it got to do with that a tv show has a bigger team or has it to do with movie theaters? I have absolutely no idea please help.

[Assistant]
One reason is that they have already gathered the parts. For a new movie, you need to get a script, cast all the parts, find all the locations and create all the sets before you can film it. Each movie is pretty different and its likely that anything you build or any actor you cast is just for the purpose of shooting that movie.
Whereas in tv, once you have done all the same set up, you can just get filming without putting in the same effort for every episode. You have a base of sets that are likely to be re-used. The actors will be the same, the characters the same. It basically requires less work to keep something running, than it does to start from scratch every time.
I think thats a large part of it anyways. Theres probably a lot more to it that ive not even considered though.


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

[User]
ELI5: What's the actual, non-conspiracy-theory explanation for why World Trade Center 7 fell?

Googling this leads me down so many rabbit holes.

[Assistant]
It had a huge gash torn out of it by one of the other towers. That included some support structures.

Further damage from fire led to the tower being too heavy for the remaining supports to hold up. And the gouged portion basically "tugged" the standing portion down when a crucial pillar (79) couldn't hold up further.

Edit: had a wrong piece of info. Added the exact failure point for the major collapse.


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

[User]
[Terminator] How would T2 have gone down if both Terminators were T800s?

So we had Arnie protecting John Connor, and another T800 send from the future to kill John (doesn't have to be Arnie: Model 101) how would the movie have played out. Since both robots are physically equal and I their "programming" is also the same, the only difference being one has to protect and one destroy. Would the "evil" Terminator have the edge because he just has to think about killing, whereas the good one would be at a disadvantage because he has to keep John alive also? Would be able to pre-empt every move the bad Terminator would make?

Also, question 2, what if the roles in T2 were reversed so that the T800 was sent to destroy and the T1000 to protect? It seems to me like the T800 is better at protecting since he can absorb gun fire without much effect whereas T1000 is downed after a few shotgun blasts (yeah I know Arnie is downed by a shot gun in Terminator 1 but he seems more robust in T2. Thoughts?

[Assistant]
I think the guardian T-800 would have had a much easier time protecting John against another T-800.

For one thing, it still would have had the element of surprise as the assassin didn't expect to be facing off against another Skynet android.

Also, the guardian T-800 probably would have an intelligence edge as well, because John would still unlock the full capacity of it's neural chip, which  the assassin T-800 wouldn't have, which would keep it pretty predictable to John, Sarah, and the guardian T-800.

Between the three of them, they probably would have come up with a plan to take out an assassin T-800 quicker than the T-1000.


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

[User]
How does antibacterial soap kill bacteria?

I understand mechanical agitation and good ol water can wash away bacteria, but what exactly does antibacterial soap do. Answers that involve organic chemistry are welcome!

[Assistant]
Most antibacterial soaps contain triclosan, which inhibits one of the chemical reactions required for the production of fatty acids that are used to make cell membranes. In high doses, through this and other mechanisms, this causes bacteria to die. In low doses it causes bacteria to stop growing. Humans also make fatty acids and cell membranes, but our chemical pathway for it is different enough that it is unaffected by triclosan (we do have other molecules in our body that are affected by triclosan, but only at much higher doses than you get from washing your hands with it).

As a side note, antibacterial soaps have proven totally unnecessary for ordinary daily activities. The point of washing is to get the bacteria off your hands - it doesn't matter if you kill them on their way down the drain. The only time you should want to aggressively kill all the bacteria on your skin is when you're going into surgery (either as a patient or a doctor), or have just been exposed to something particularly dangerous.

This is all (both the mechanism and the lack of necessity) totally different from hand sanitizer, as in the stuff you rub on your hands that quickly dries by itself. Better to just wash your hands, but it has a convenience factor over soap. Most hand sanitizers are just good ol' fashioned alcohol, mixed with some gelling agent.


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

[User] Can you be an "expert" in a field without its highest academic distinction e.g. Ph.D.?

[Assistant]
Getting a PhD in a field doesnt make you an expert either.

Becoming an expert or even anything close to that takes years of learning and dedication and having a constant thirst for the knowledge one is seeking.


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

[User] ELI5: How do electronics know what battery percentage they have?

[Assistant]
In short there are two ways, sometimes combined.

1) Measure the battery voltage and compare this against a graph that you obtained through calibration. This will tell you at what voltage, what the battery SOC (State-of-Charge) is. This will not be a linear relation. (being halfway between two extremes does not imply being half charged). Generally this is the *least* accurate way to measure, but it isn't affected by long-term errors.

2) You measure the current going in and out of the battery. You know how much energy a battery will hold if full. Current can describe how much energy escapes the battery every second. Therefore if you measure half the energy has left, the battery is half full. This method is affected by errors over long periods of time, but is much more accurate on shorter periods.


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

[User]
I'm interested in doing a philosophy degree, but not keen on the types of jobs that you can do with it, other than maybe research. What sort of research does a philosopher do and to what extent would I be able to work on my own theories?

Also how much do the researchers make?

[Assistant] Just one opinion from a person with a philosophy degree, only do it if the satisfaction of learning is enough. Philosophy can lead you to more creative thinking, which is helpful in any job, but it wont help you GET the job. Unlike pre-med, or engineering, a philosophy degree isnt really the start of a career path.


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

[User] ELI5: If you gave me the name of any movie, I could tell you if Ive seen it or not. But I couldnt list all the movies Ive ever seen. Why is that?

[Assistant]
**The quick**: The brain is less like a filing system, and more like a bunch of interconnected webs built on top of and next to each other.

If it was a filing system, you would just go to the "movies" folder and retrieve all the movies you have seen.

Since it isn't a file system, the first movie you ever saw maybe connected to an embarrassing event that happened in fourth grade. This is why memories can be "triggered".

It is easy for a brain to trigger a memory when someone asks, "have you seen Star Wars?" Star Wars is a term that is related to a set of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures. If someone asks, "what are all the sci-fi movies you have seen?" that is a harder task for the brain. There is no master index or master list.

**Further Information**
Benedict Carey's "*How We Learn*" is a book that looks at how the brain learns and stores information. It is very interesting if you are into this stuff.

Also, this triggered recalling is the basis behind *Sherlock*'s "Mind Palace" technique. People are extremely good at remember experiences and locations, not so good at remembering statistics or "data" (no context). The technique behind the Mind Palace is that you create a literal palace in your head, with visuals, sounds, smells, textures - and then you "store" information around the palace. You visualize storing your credit card number in your palace mailbox - then every time you need to recall that information you imagine walking up to your palace, opening the mailbox, and pulling out your credit card number.


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

[User] ELI5: How does bug spray affect an insect?

[Assistant]
Bug spray is usually nerve gas for bugs.
Depending on the exact compound it causes the nerves to fire constantly, randomly or not at all. In any case it's not firing when it's supposed to or firing when it's not supposed to. The bug then suffers something like a heart attack or stroke.


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

[User]
ELI5: How come online banking transactions still follow bankers hours if it's all computerized?

How come I can't pay a credit card bill that's due on a Saturday, on a Saturday?  How come it still takes 2-3 days to electronically pay bills online when I can download pretty much anything from anywhere in the world instantly?

[Assistant]
#1
Many systems that process banking transactions use Mainframes which process transactions in batches and more recently in Real-Time using CICS. Most banks uses software that processes banking transaction that were designed back in the late 70s-80s and still work great today.  For instance, cashing checks, although there might be an online system that displays the transaction in Real-Time, ultimately it needs to be processed and balanced in a mainframe batch by each bank at the end of their day. So, the Federal Reserve bank or ACH (Automated Clearing House) sends transactions to banks every 4 hours and then there is a delta or EOD file sent at the end of the day, say 6 PM, for banks to process all their transaction in batches; normally mainframe batches run between non-operating that start around 8PM-7AM. This is why SWIFT (same day) money transfers are expensive, they don't use the ACH system rather they use a Real-Time messaging network run by the SWIFT Organization.

#2
Technology was designed a long time ago and modeled around how the human transaction worked and limitation around hardware. With the advent of microcomputers (your PC) and the internet, people expect transactions to happen instantaneously which requires a major overhaul of the software banks use today. That means it costs banks a lot cash in order to redesign the systems and a lot of risk given the systems work well today. For a bank it's not worth the expense and risk to make these transaction live.

#3
By banks keeping the system rigid they can more easily garner fees from its customers as Net Interest Income drops because of the low interest rate environment and losses to other fees based on regulations on capping overdraft fees and late payments. So, a bank could lose millions by allowing its customers to pay, say a credit card bill past 5 PM the same day or allowing the cash to show up in one's account the same day rather than the next. By removing the 5pm rule, they would lose out on all the fees they charge customers that do this. The bastards.


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

[User] ELI5: How are new digits of Pi discovered?

[Assistant]
There are some infinite series that equal .  The most well-known is

>  = 4 * (1 - 1/3 + 1/5 - 1/7 + 1/9  ...)

Computers calculate an arbitrary number of digits of  by just calculating more and more terms and adding them up.  In practice, they don't use the series above, they use a more complicated one that converges more quickly, but the principle is the same.


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

[User] ELI5: What causes grade inflation at universities such as Harvard to get so bad?

[Assistant] The opinion in society that every student should be capable of getting an A in a subject. In the actual design of the system an average student should be getting a C (or 2.0) in a class, above average getting a B (3.0), students gifted in the subject should be the only ones getting an A (4.0). But society has seen fit to assume all students should get an A in a subject if they do the work and that means that the standards to get an A have to be lowered.


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

[User] ELI5: What makes Earths core hot? Why isnt it just a cold blob made up of metal and minerals?

[Assistant]
Two major reasons:

1. The earth was formed as a result of accretion. Small particles  gradually attracted each other due to gravitational forces and formed bigger objects. This process accumulated a lot of heat; when two objects collide, heat is generated. And as a majority of the heat was retained and never lost, the earth's core remained hot.
2. However, a majority of the heat (>90%) is produced through the **decaying of radioactive elements**. The nucleus of unstable elements like U238 (Uranium) gradually break down, releasing energy.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do restaurants make their fajitas sizzle so much?

The waiter can walk through the whole dining room and those things are sizzling with the fury of a thousand suns. When I cook something, it stops sizzling as soon as I take it off the heat.

[Assistant] Chili's: Meat and veggies cooked on the grill or whatever while the cast iron skillet stays over an open flame, staying super hot. Then, when all the other food is ready, the server tells the cooks to send the fajitas out. The cook puts all the meat and stuff on the skillet, squirts "sizzle sauce" all over it (soy sauce, oil mostly) so that the sauce begins to boil and steam, and the fajitas are then IMMEDIATELY brought out to the table before they calm down.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is a car brand like Volkswagen still in business after we discovered they've been lying to us for years and years. Why are we still trusting this company and why hasn't it gone bankrupt?

[Assistant]
Losing a third of shareholder value, getting massive negative PR, massive fines, and possibly having a number of executives held criminally responsible isn't enough?

Why would you expect this scandal to completely bankrupt the largest company in Germany?


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

[User]
Should I learn C and C++ before Python

Hi there. I had started to learn Python and then I found a curriculum of MIT and some other sources said that one should learn C and C++ first to be a good developer. Do you think this is really matter what language to learn first? I would like to do it properly in the long term. And what else should I learn from the very beginning except of programming language and math (I learn Calculus)?

[Assistant]
Honestly, it does not matter. Depending on area of programming you like, C/C++ might not even be relevant to you. It's barely used in web. A lot of scientific computing uses Python.

Python can be a decent first language for the simple reason that there are a lot of resources using Python for new programmers.


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

[User] [Fallout - New Vegas, Old World Blues] Between Robert House's setup, the Trauma Override Harness and whatever the Think Tank have become, how can I extend my natural lifespan and/or cheat death?

[Assistant]
Via removal of the brain/head and storing it in a medi-gel resivoir, there are many people who have survived over 200 years. (See robobrains, Think Tank) Brains in medigel has the disadvatage of having your brain removed, which has problems, such the surgical procedure possibly failing, your brain being damaged, becoming brain-dead, and cognitive degeneration. The brains in robobrains were from death row inmates and people from chineese internment camps. The brains were just efficient processors for the robots, they were wiped and tortured so that the personality of the "donor" would not come back. Brains thet were not wiped properly seemed to suffer from depression, sucidal thoughts and actions, and a variety of other conditions. It will keep you alive but not nescessarily sane.

An alternative is Mr House's setup. You are kept in a coffin hooked up to machines for 200 years. This of course will keep you alive, but you will not be healthy and happy. You will look like and have the immune system of a 200+ year old, with 200 years of atrophy. You will be alive, sane-ish, but requres an extensive setup and lots of go-betweens for interacting with the world.

Cryogenics are another choice. You freeze yourself and have a computer or timer decide when to release you. Bonuses: you will be perfecrly preserved, and can have some fun VR while you are waiting, but things might not ever get better and the life support could fail.

The trauma override harnesses are just suits with dead bodies in them. They were made to carry wounded people to medics even if they were unconscious, but they also work when the person is dead

Becoming a ghoul could also work, but you could go feral.

FEV can make you live much longer, but you will likely loose intelligence and be horribly deformed.


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

[User] ELI5: When we start reading a piece of text, how do our brains know to read it in such a way that accounts for both the upcoming punctuation and sentence structure that we haven't gotten to yet?

[Assistant]
The structure of our language syntax accounts for this, usually. There is also a lot of implications involved, sort of 'read between the lines' type stuff that's supposed to be inferred.

Are you reading this with an upward inflection as to create the tone of a question?

The first word of the sentence set it up to be a question. You know this inherently, but you probably can't site any specific rules off the top of your head for how or why this is.


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

[User] [Monsters Inc] What made the monster world believe that kids were hazardous?

[Assistant]
So, monsters inc (the company) went into full production in 1895. Which means we know at least one thing that happened shortly after they began exploring the human world in earnest.

The Spanish Flu.

One of the deadliest pandemics in human history, infecting a third of humanity and killing 60 million people.- and that was humans who were used to flu viruses. Imagine how devastating it would have been for a species that had no prior experience.

As scare workers came back dead from being around humans? Well. "humans are deadly to be around" isn't a wildly unreasonable conclusion for a panicked society to reach. It should be noted that it seems the higher ups are aware they aren't dangerous- they know its was a pandemic now over- but the common perception is harder to erase.


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

[User] How do you use "a priori" properly in a sentence?

[Assistant]
There are a few ways of using it.

* "'2+2=4' is a priori knowable" : here it works like an adverb, meaning independently of experience.
* "'2+2=4' is a piece of a priori knowledge" : here it works like an adjective, meaning piece of knowledge, which is independent of experience.


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

[User]
ELI5:What is the "Dove Foundation", and why do they endorse awful kids movies?

I often see a lot of knock off animated movies that have a Dove " Family Friendly" logo, why do they ALWAYS have this logo?

[Assistant] The Dove Foundation is one of those groups that review movies/media for "family friendliness" (which really means "adherence to conservative Christian morality"). Few mainstream movies usually hit these groups' ideal for "perfect" family friendliness, so the ones that DO (and get the seal) are usually ones made and marketed directly towards that market: smaller markets, smaller budgets, specifically targeted market = "awful" movie.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is it that gives us the feeling of sleeping on clean sheets?

Definitely a dumb question BUT, sleeping on fresh sheets is one of the most satisfying things. Why does it feel so nice?

[Assistant] The sheets smell like detergent rather than your own sweat and body oils. They also feel clean since detergent washes away your dead skin cells and body oils. They're a fresh canvas for you to make gross again.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is 3D printing becoming seemingly more viable for creating mechanical and moving items (such as prosthetic limbs) compared to whatever existed before 3D printing?

[Assistant] It allows for there to be specific parts made a certain size without having to make a mold to create it in. Quality prosthetic legs are created to fit a persons body part perfectly, and having a 3d printer makes it as simple as designing something with a computer program, and having a 3d printer. The materials and labor involved are almost nothing compared to what used to be done.


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

[User] Economics student here. One thing I do not understand is how a bond is different from a loan. Can someone explain this to me?

[Assistant] Nothing at all separates a bond process from a loan process, including the payment plans, because bonds and loans both can have any kind of structure to them. It is commonly used as a debt instrument for companies or governments to raise money. But a bond can be thought of exactly as a loan, because it really is the same thing.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does it seem like it's more the single women who get "accidentally" pregnant and worry so much about becoming pregnant, but it's the married couples that have to "try" really hard?

[Assistant]
* A married couple gets pregnant. Nobody is surprised.
* A married couple can't get pregnant. It's really sad.

* A single woman gets pregnant. It's probably sad news.
* A single woman doesn't get pregnant. Probably nobody cares.

Make sense? Nobody cares about a dog biting a man. But if they hear about a man biting a dog, then everyone tells that story!


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

[User]
[Logan] Question inside. (spoiler)

Can't Xavier just wear a helmet like Magneto's to avoid killing people with his seizures?

[Assistant] Theoretically, yes he could. The problem is that Logan has no way of getting hold of one, either the original or a new one. He can't leave Xavier alone for more than a few days, he has no resources to call on, and anyone who could or would have helped is most likely dead.


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

[User]
ELI5:How can films shot in the 80s look amazing in hi-def today?

In honor of the passing of Roddy Piper, I re-watched They Live in HD and the picture was amazing. It looked even better than I remember watching it in the theater, and most definitely better than the many times I watched it on VHS/on cable. How is this possible?

[Assistant]
Movies were historically shot on film; film doesn't really have a "resolution" in the sense of "high definition" what have you. Film is an analog medium, and it holds a LOT of detail. When you watched it on VHS or on TV historically, you were watching a low resolution digital scan of the analog film; when HD technology came around, they rescanned the film at high resolution.

What we now call HD doesn't even capture like a tenth of the actual detail on 35mm film, however. 4K, which is about four times the resolution of HD, only captures about one fourth of the resolution that 35mm can really capture. To get a scan of ALL the detail of 35mm film, you have to go all the way up to about 8K. You can keep scanning past that, but without much additional returned for it.


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

[User] [Star Wars] What is the difference between a Dark Jedi and a Sith?

[Assistant]
A Dark Jedi is an individual trained in the way of the Jedi who has fallen to the Dark side. A Sith subscribes to the Sith philosophy but doesn't necessarily have to have been a Jedi previously.

When Anakin Skywalker fell to the Dark side, he became a Dark Jedi. Once he accepted the mantle of Darts Vader and became Palpatine's apprentice, he became a Sith.


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

[User] ELI5: How is it that I receive spam emails trying to get me to open a file, but if I try and send a reply to the address, it gets rejected?

[Assistant]
When you have control of a mail relay (or find an unsecure one), you can pretty much list whatever you want as the source address. Sometimes spammers intentionally use fake addresses, and many times they don't know how to configure their own software so they leave it as the default. Looking at the headers can reveal the actual return path.

That said, **do not reply to those messages**. Don't even open them. Just delete them immediately.


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

[User] Where do the photons go after the light is turned off in the room?

[Assistant]
They get absorbed by the surroundings! Photons are electromagnetic waves, so when they come to matter, they "wave" the electrons in the matter around, so the photons lose their energy are are absorbed. This is why a wall in the sun feels hot! The light is being absorbed by the wall and all energy goes into the wall feeling hot.

As a side note, this is a simplification. Like mirrors don't absorb light, they reflect it. For that matter, most materials reflect some amount of light, that's why we can see them. But all materials absorb light, even in small amounts, so eventually all the light would be absorbed by the material.


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

[User] How come Stephen Hawking is still alive and kicking (aged 69) even though sufferers of ALS usually succumb in their early 30's?

[Assistant] Most ALS suffers die when their motor neurons degenerate to the extent that they can't carry out essential bodily functions such as breathing ~~and digestion~~. Stephen Hawking's ALS isn't as progressive and has only had neuro degenerative effects on his muscular side rather than the **respiratory side he needs to live.**


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

[User] [Videogames] When a powerful bad guy is defeated, why does their base/island/asteroid/planet explode? And why does defeating a good guy not also cause things to explode?

[Assistant]
This is usually because the villain has somehow become linked to their base of operations in some way or form. Sometimes this is intentional, other times it is just a by-product for whatever magic/technology they are using to further their plans.

For the first, its not entirely out of character for certain villains to consider their own lives worth more than anything and everything else combined. To that end, they could deliberately rig their base to fall apart in the event of their death. A sort of 'taking you with me' ploy for one last chance to take out as many people as possible. Or even just as a gambit that they hope never comes into play. "If you kill me, this whole place will explode and all your friends will die" is a good incentive for the hero to make sure you survive.

For the second, which is much more likely with magic-based villains, sometimes they just become so linked to their base that its existence literally depends on theirs. Particularly if the villain used said magic/technology to create the base in the first place. When the villain dies, the will that kept the place existing is gone and the whole base falls apart. Or explodes.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that the majority of sinks dispense aerated bubbly water rather than a smooth uninterrupted stream? Is this done on purpose? If so why?

[Assistant] Yes it's done on purpose, the tap of your sink has an aerator on it.  If you look at it from below, you can see the little mesh screen, and you can unscrew it if you really want to.  It's in place to reduce the amount of water you use because you will almost never need a solid column of water.  It also helps to keep the water from splashing all over the place or coming out at weird angles.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are Banksy's paintings, grafitti, and other artwork worth so much money?

[Assistant] Honestly, because people are willing to pay that much for them. That's why most things cost what they do.  As to why some artists take off while others stay penniless, nobody has ever come up with a good way to explain fashion trends.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do old emulated games still suffer from slowdown and lag when they run on modern computers?

[Assistant]
Old consoles have CPU running synchronized with video and audio chips. Some games depend on the exact time of code execution to issue commands in the right time. Games can, for ex., change graphics settings in the middle of frame drawing - this can produce visual effects, that the video chip cannot do on its own. Emulator, of course, have to simulate all delays, because they can be meaningful.

Example: Super Mario Bros. has scrolling levels, and a status bar, which does not scroll. But NES' video chip can only scroll the entire screen. So, the game sets 0 scroll, waits until the last line of status bar is sent on the TV, and then changes the scroll. But for that the program on the CPU must be able to keep the time somehow. NES doesn't have timers, so the game can only rely on instruction timings for timekeeping.