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

[User] [LOTR] Why did everyone just allow Isuldur to walk out of Mt. Doom and keep the ring instead of forcing him to destroy it?

[Assistant]
[Doylist preamble: Keeping in mind that this is only a problem in the films as they never went into the Chamber of Fire in the book,]

Force him how, exactly?

Push him in? The presumptive leader of the army of Men present whose father and brother already died in this war? Already a survivor of the destruction of his birthplace due in no small part to Saurons machinations? The (many times removed) nephew of the highest ranking Elf present? How is that going to go down?

Take it from him by force? What makes you think that whoever takes it from him would be able to destroy it either? How well do you think someone who the Rings got its hooks into would take that?

The only one who saw him take the Ring is Elrond, his uncle mentioned previously [and Crdan the shipwright in the book]. There really wasnt much of an everyone to get involved in the first place.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do men go bald solely on top of the head as opposed to on the sides or on the back?

[Assistant]
There are different levels of "why".

There is something different about the hairs in that zone that makes them more sensitive to a particular hormone called DHT. There is a whole series of inflammatory events that slowly kill the follicle.

Now, why are the hairs in one spot more sensitive than the hairs in another spot? No one knows.


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

[User] [Avengers Endgame] Odin himself told Thor that Mjolnir was just a tool, an instrument to focus and channel his own latent powers. Cap has no powers beyond the enhanced human abilities granted to him via the super solider semen, so where did the lightening powers come from when he wielded it?

[Assistant] Whoever wields Mjolnir, if theyre worthy, gets Thors powers. Thor has them naturally (save for the time Odin stripped him of them and exiled him to earth) but the hammer gives other people a copy of them.


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

[User]
ELI5: How come Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States all use the dollar, despite having all been colonies of Britain which uses the pound?

I've always found it odd that those countries don't use the pound.  Did they use the pound when colonies and then switch after gaining independence and of so how long after and why?

[Assistant]
I'll answer for Australia

Australia originally used the British Pound as their currency but in 1910 (not long after federation) converted to using the Australian pound - but still based on the empirical system.

In 1966 Australia decided to decimilise their currency - the new currency was originally called the Royal but this wasn't a very popular name. Dollar was simply chosen out of a list of possible names - not 100% sure why but given that the US was strong economically at the time this was likely to be a big factor in the choice.

In Australia although it's commonly shortened to just Dollar, the currency is actually known as the Dollarydoo (that last part isn't true, but should be)


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

[User] [LOTR] Why can't Frodo stay in teh shire after the ring is destroyed?

[Assistant]
Because existing *hurts* him. The burden he bore, for so long, weighed down his soul, and he has trouble living from day to day with the memory of it.

In the Undying Lands, he had peace, for a time.


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

[User]
[DC] How does Aquaman propel himself through the water?

Aquaman is reportedly the fastest thing in water, and is shown swimming faster than hypersonic jets, torpedoes, i think he swam faster than the flash once. He can't be doing that by kicking his legs, can he?

[Assistant]
It's mainly kicking his legs. Atlanteans are already incredibly strong, and his mixed heritage makes him even stronger. So while he is usually the fastest thing in water, Superman or someone like him could--with practice--match or exceed his speed.

It's leg and arm strength, combined with a natural affinity for swimming and a lifetime of practice.


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

[User]
[MARVEL] Musical Instrument made from vibranium.

Could any sort of musical instrument be made from vibranium, trumpet, metal drum, guitar strings, etc.

Edit:  So it looks like the consensus is not a very good instrument, though maybe a good quiet practice one.  I guess I save the vibranium for something else.

[Assistant]
Vibranium absorbs and redirects energy, so yes. But it's not going to be great. We see Cap's shield makes a sound when it hits things or is hit, so there's our first suggestion.

You could create a drum from vibranium, providing the drum's skin isn't vibranium, and it would probably be good.

Not sure how vibranium would work on a piano (as either the strings or hammer), i presume not very well.

As a wind instrument i think it may be very good though.


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

[User] Why is Turing completeness the criterion for determining whether a given computer language is a "programming language?"

[Assistant]
It is a criterion if it is a _general purpose_ programming language, not if its a programming language (which might be special purpose like a DSL) or not.

And it is because "general purpose" means you can do everything (even if it might be a pain), and turning completeness guarantees exactly that (in fact iirc it is the smallest set of requirements that you need to do everything)


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

[User]
Is becoming a tenured professor at an R1 institution still extremely difficult for PhD graduates from top universities in their field?

I know becoming a tenured professor is insanely difficult, but how are the chances for PhD graduates from the very top universities of a particular field (i.e. MIT, Caltech, UC Berkeley, Harvard for chemistry)? Do these graduates still experience great difficulty breaking into academia?

[Assistant]
Short answer: yes.

Long answer: yeesssss.

They're still competitive. Chances are better if you come from a top university, since you're more likely to have had the research backing to be productive, but still not easy. And you have lots of colleagues to compete with.


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

[User]
[Meta] Reminder: Do not put spoilers for recent works in post titles.

Twice this week I've had things spoiled for me about the latest X-Men movie.

Please be mindful in your submission titles, and remember to indicate spoilers in recent works, as per the sidebar.

[Assistant]
Agreed.

Could we try having a stickied post for all questions about each big release for 2 weeks after they come out? This would solve the spoiler issue, and it would also help reduce the number of duplicate questions.


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

[User] Is the density of black holes constant, since adding or removing mass only affects the size of the black hole?

[Assistant]
The mass of a black hole is all in the singularity, so it gets weird if you talk about its literal density.

But you can define a sort of effective density using the event horizon radius. This "density" would be rho=M/(pi*(4/3) R^(3)), where R is the radius of the event horizon, and M is the mass of the black hole. Taking out the constant terms, this "density" is proportional to M/R^(3).

However, the radius of the event horizon is directly proportional to the mass. It's R=2GM/c^(2). If you plug that into the formula for "density", you actually get the density is proportional to 1/M^(2) or 1/R^(2). That is, the "density" of a black hole actually *decreases* as you increase the mass. Each time you add more mass, you increase the volume by a larger factor than you increased the mass by.

This is related to why supermassive black holes have "gentler" gravity than smaller black holes. While the total gravity from a big black hole is of course bigger, a smaller black hole will tear you apart before you reach the event horizon, while you could actually survive passing the event horizon of a supermassive black hole.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] My kid put my wife's teacups in the replicator and recycled them, what do I do?

Our daughter decided to have a tea party with her dolls and got into my wife's teacups. They're something like 400 years old and have been in her family for literally centuries. Apparently my wife caught her just as she put them in the replicator and hit the recycle button.

Can we get them back? Is there an undo on this thing? Would they even be the same teacups?

[Assistant]
Yes, you can get them back. All replicators have a pattern buffer which will store the matter stream of recycled objects before they're broken down (or objects requested to be replicated before they're materialised) so it should be as simple as asking the computer to reintegrate whatever is still in the buffer. Do note, though, that a standard home replicator's buffer is likely to be wiped after each use, and it'll be purged automatically after a certain amount of time even if not used. So if the cups were recycled one at a time then you're only going to get back the last one. But if they were all recycled together at once, you should be able to get back everything.

Replicators work on the same principles as the transporters and when you transport someone, it's the same person who comes out the other end. Same atoms in the same configuration. However, on the other hand, replicators aren't nearly as accurate or studious when it comes to putting things together. They don't have to be. That's why replicated food never tastes *quite* the same as truly organic food to some people. So for the cups it would be more like the same atoms in *mostly* the same configuration.

Whether or not that makes them the *same* cups as before is more of a philosophical question at that point.


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

[User]
Say I move a large pile of rocks. Will I burn the same number of calories no matter how I do it?

For instance of I move them all in one day or do it over several days, or if I use a ramp to move them or a pulley system, is the amount of energy used the same no matter? Would I see differences in muscle development depending on technique?

[Assistant]
In terms of mechanical efficiency, it will take different amounts of energy to slide the rocks across the ground or pick them up.
It also takes different amounts of energy depending on how high you lift them, and whether you place them down, or just let them fall using gravity.

In terms of your body, it depends on a massive number of things.
For example, some people would be better off taking all the rocks at once, some would be better taking a few at a time, and some would be better taking only one at a time.
Taking many rocks at once would put a higher stress on your muscles, since more fibres need to activate at any one time in order to carry them. Taking one rock at a time wouldn't use many fibres, but would be more stressful to your cardiovascular system, if you are doing them one after the other.
There is no real way to say how a person would use more energy, because it totally depends on the person, how fit they are, how strong they are, and what type of prior training they have done.


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

[User]
A woman with a long history with major chemical corporations told me yesterday that CO2, Diamonds and Pencil Lead were Organic, is she right?

Now to Clarify I work with this woman, L (chemist with history at major chemical producers)

I'm in the IT Department, we had dinner last night with another colleague (PhD environmental biology). Now during the meal they were chatting chemistry and L's work history and such, I wasn't paying full attention because I don't know anything about chemistry.

But basically it came up that anything that contains Carbon is organic. So, being curious I asked L if a diamond would be organic. She says yes, anything that contains carbon is organic. I ask if there's a difference between the term "organic" to a chemist as opposed to a biologist, she replies that "organic is just a Marketing term" but doesn't really answer my question and just acted a bit  condescending about the fact that I don't have a chemistry background.

I asked a friend of mine who took high school chemistry and he said he'd never heard of it and that I should ask her if CO^2 is organic, she says it is...

So my question, because she was rude and I wasn't interested in asking again, is

> Is the term Organic meaning anything with carbon in it a term only used as such in chemistry?

I had learned that organic meant that it was an organism, that it had lived at some point or another.

**TL;DR: My coworker told me that any carbon containing compound is organic, but I always learned that organic meant that it was once living.**

[Assistant]
The term "organic", in chemistry, is defined somewhat arbitrarily. Some define it as compounds that were at some point part of a living organism. A more common definition is a compound with a carbon in it, but excluding a few groups of compounds such as carbonates, carbides and simple carbon-oxides (such as CO2). Almost all organic compounds contain carbon-hydrogen bonds (C-H).

You'll note the repeated use of the term 'compound'. The definition of a compound is a molecule consisting of atoms of at least 2 different types. By definition, this means that diamond is not an organic compound.

Ultimately, this question is not so much a matter of absolute truth or falsehood, but rather of what the definition of the term "organic" is that one works with. There is no unifying property that separates organics from inorganics that everyone agrees on.

However, the most commonly used definitions consider things like diamond and carbondioxide to be inorganic.

Note that the chemistry notion of organic is unrelated to the agricultural/biological notion. In agriculture, an organicly grown crop is one that has not been treated with artificial products. Again, you can quibble over the exact details (and people often do).


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

[User] ELI5: What makes us forget what we were literally about to say?

[Assistant]
Our brains are poor data-storage and retrieval devices because it didn't make the difference between life and death in the food chain.

Consider all of the things that *did* make the difference and look how well developed they are:

 - You have excellent front-facing colour vision that can quickly adapt between high and low light environments.
 - You can tell where sounds are around you because you have excellent spacial-awareness and audio positioning.
 - You have opposable thumbs for gripping things delicately. And associated well-refined muscle groups for manipulation, allowing you to craft tools and get the most out of your food.
 - In an endurance race, you can out run nearly *all* other animals on planet earth.
 - You have built in parental instincts that make you want to nurture something with a cute face and large eyes, because it incentives us to protect our offspring.
 - You have built in senses of revulsion to things that look diseased, rotted or otherwise wrong to stop you from consuming it and becoming ill.
 - You have a lack of hair on your body to make parasites easier to detect.
 - When another human vommits you feel compelled to do the same to preemptively flush out the same poison.

Complex conversations with other apes however? For hundreds of thousand of years, nobody ever died because they took 2-3 seconds to remember the name of that thing they saw once. So it wasn't all that high on evolutions *things to adapt* list.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why isn't malaria found in Florida?

There's plenty of malaria in Central America. And there's a canal in Florida that runs from Fort Myers, through the Everglades, across Lake Okeechobee, and on to the Atlantic. It sure seems to me that some mosquito larvae must hitch a ride from time to time.  What's keeping malaria out?  Bonus points for Louisiana and east Texas, too.

[Assistant] The government (the CDC specifically) actively worked to eradicate it from the US through massive application of DDT. Malaria actually did exist in the southern US until the 1940s.  And if it were to get reintroduced now, it would probably be extremely hard to get rid of again, seeing as we have much stronger environmental sensibilities now than we once did.


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

[User] How can astronomers tell if a star is first generation, second generation, or later?

[Assistant]
First generation stars have only hydrogen and helium with trace amounts of lithium. During the star's life, it fuses hydrogen into helium. If it's big enough, when it gets old, it can fuse elements up to iron. Heavier elements are created only in sufficiently large supernovae. The nebulae from these explosions forms a second generation that has trace amounts of the heavy elements. Each successive generation has more heavy elements, but those heavy elements still can only form in stellar death.

We can look at a star and see gaps in its color spectrum that tell us what elements are there. This is called spectroscopy. More heavy elements means a later generation.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are prions considered infectious agents instead of toxins or other kind of hazardous material?

[Assistant]
Prions are misfolded proteins that clump together in the brain and cause problems.

The reason they're considered "infectious" is because they cause other proteins to be misfolded as well. This is something we don't fully understand, but we know that introducing a small number of prions into an otherwise healthy brain will cause more and more proteins to be malignantly misfolded. The initial prions don't replicate like a bacteria or virus, but they force other proteins to start misbehaving like they do.


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

[User]
How exactly do big, heavy snakes like boa constrictors and anacondas catch prey that is so much faster and heavier than they are?

I always see documentaries where big constrictors have caught antelopes and are trying to swallow them, but how on earth do they catch them in the first place?

EDIT: Maybe it's just because I usually frequent less popular subs, but lol my inbox is overflowing. Thanks for all the info!

[Assistant] Same way crocodiles do it. Ambush. They stealthily get close and wait for the prey to come to it. Don't underestimate the power and speed of a big snake. Think of it this way, a big snake means it's good at being a snake. He's about that snake life.


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

[User]
Citing evidence that I found in a review article - should I cite the review as well?

I'm confused if it's bad form to not include a review article as a citation when referencing studies identified by the review article. On one hand, the review article is less relevant to the reader - who only needs to see that I support my argument with direct evidence. On the other hand, I wouldn't have found this evidence without the review article.

What's the etiquette here?

[Assistant] I would not assume that the author(s) of a review paper are accurately representing all of the studies they cite. It is always wise to read the source that is referenced, and cite that original paper, not the review.


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

[User] Would a 70 year old brain transferred into into an 18 year old clone body,still die of old age? Also what is the biggest obstacle to performing this procedure?

[Assistant]
First, the clone would die of old age. Our DNA has telomeres at the end of it, and every time your DNA is copied for a new cell, these telomeres shorten, which is theorized to be somehow related to aging (the idea is that one these telomeres get too short, they can no longer work as protective caps on the DNA so it won't copy anymore and that cell has effectively died). Since a clone comes from a cell from the 52 year old body, in 18 years though the clone body will be 18, the cells will have telomeres the length of a 70 year old's.

With the brain itself, this problem likely wouldn't be quite as dramatic, because neurons divide much more slowly than the rest of the body, and so the brain's cells probably aren't physically nearly as old as any other cells in the body. If you could indeed transplant a brain, it may be able to outlast many bodies (robot bodies, anyone?).

Though the brain is covered by an outer layer that is connected to the inside of the skull at a few points to keep it from sloshing around too much, the biggest obstacle to moving it from body to body would be the spinal cord. With today's technology, it is impossible to reconnect that many nerves accurately, not to mention that the surgery would take so long that the brain would die- it wouldn't be a surgery like a heart transplant. We can reconnect things like the tips of fingers and have decent success in attaching enough nerves and muscles and blood vessels to allow it to work, but we aren't advanced enough for brains.


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

[User] [Marvel/DC] Do Superheroes find Supervillain cosplayers super offensive in-universe?

[Assistant]
Yes, but there are nowhere near as many of those because people are actually getting murdered by supervillains in their universe.

It's the difference between someone in our universe cosplaying as The Joker or Dylan Klebold.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do I get tired when I'm not doing anything?

[Assistant]
i have answered a lot of questions this way today, but I'll explain it in this context.

Your sense of "energized" and "tired" are a direct result of the balance in your ANS (autonomic nervous system), of which there are two branches, sympathetic (stimulatory) and parasympathetic (inhibitory). Usually both are partially active and your level of alertness is the balance between these two.

So, when you are engaging in stimulating activities (reading, running, whatever) your sympathetic nervous system activity increases and overrides your parasympathetic making you feel more alert. Conversely, the exact opposite is true during periods of inactivity.


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

[User]
Do all questions have answers?

Quaerendo invenietis (?)

[Assistant]
Nope. Some don't have answers because they are meaningless:

Why do colorless green ideas sleep furiously?

Some don't have answers because they cannot have answers---not even in principle:

What's the largest even number?

Some don't have answers because they are rhetorical:

How many roads must a man walk down before you can call him a man?

Some don't have answers because it's practically impossible to answer them:

How many atoms comprise the earth's atmosphere right now?

There's probably other examples?


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

[User] [Marvel] Are characters like Spiderman/Fantastic Four considered as mutants?

[Assistant] Mutants are people born with the ability to develop superpowers. Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four gained their abilities from an outside source, and so they are not Mutants. They are a different sub-species called Mutates.


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

[User] [Punisher] Would 'The Punisher' kill Jessie And James(Team Rocket)?

[Assistant] No. He might break their hands or beat them up a little but they haven't crossed the line into irredeemable by his standards. If they start raping or killing or torturing he'll kill them otherwise they're not worth breaking a sweat over.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do sea captains "fight" a storm?

On shows like Deadliest Catch, when there's a storm, the captain is showing struggling to keep the ship afloat and (I assume) in the same position. What is he actually doing at the controls to make this happen?

[Assistant] There are a few strategies. Usually they revolve around keeping the bow (front) of the ship pointed toward the waves. A wave on the side can much more easily roll the boat. If you've ever seen surfers paddling out through waves it's a similar concept. Nose on the ship is designed to cut through water. Anyways the seas can come at odd intervals and directions and keeping the boat lined up can be difficult work.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are there many plants that can be grown in a greenhouse, but some, like ramps and truffles, that can only be grown in nature with conditions that cant be mimicked in a greenhouse?

[Assistant]
Truffles are the mushroom of a fungus that is symbiotic with the roots of certain trees (most notably oak and hazel).  They take up to a decade to become established (and you have to grow the trees too).  this obviously requires a rather large space and oak trees need temperature variation anyway so being in a greenhouse wouldn't really help in the first place.  Truffles can be cultivated, and are cultivated, but they are cultivated in forests not greenhouses.

Ramps (and wild ginseng) are slow growing specialists in forest understories.  The bulb/root takes several years to mature and (in ginseng anyway) is considered more flavorful/powerful because it has matured slowly in the relatively harsh conditions of the wild.

You could raise these in greenhouses but....first of all, like oak trees (and many other fruit trees and berry bushes) they are adapted to seasonal climates and need to be cold in the winter to mature properly.  The whole point of a greenhouse is to keep things from getting cold, so there's not much point.  You can grow them in a suitable patch of forest after sowing them there, but you have to wait for them to grow to maturity which takes up to a decade.  Also farmed plants can lack the marketing power of wild ones (wild ginseng sells for much more)


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

[User]
[LOTR] What happens to Gandalf after his battle with the Balrog?

What actually happens to Gandalf when he transforms from Gandalf the Grey to Gandalf the White? How does the transformation occur and what is the substantive difference in his powers? Does he somehow replace Saruman? What does Gandalf mean when he says he has been "sent back"?

[Assistant] So, Gandalf is a Maiar, which is basically a demi-god. He's immortal, but as one of the conditions of coming to Middle-earth, he was bound to a mortal body and a lot of restrictions on his power (the last time they didn't do this, they accidentally sunk a continent, so they were a bit more careful this time around). He died, his soul was released from his body, and he returned to Valinor. There, the Valar gave him permission to return again, in a new body with somewhat more power (moving from the Grey to the White) and a new mandate that included taking down Saruman.


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

[User] If light has no mass, why does it travel slower in water and other substances?

[Assistant]
A good rule of thumb is that light travels as a wave but interacts with matter as a particle. This means that any interaction with matter - absorption and emission- must occur in discrete quanta of energy. Things get very messy if you try to use the particle picture to explain how light travels.

Since your question is about how light *travels* through a material, it's most appropriate (and perhaps least confusing) to use the wave model of light.  Basically, the electrical and magnetic properties of the material given by the permittivity and permeability of the material (epsilon and mu) determine how fast the EM wave travels through the material.  Epsilon and mu are determined by things like chemical composition, the bulk material structure, how tightly the electrons are bound to the atoms in the material, etc.  The speed of any EM wave is determined completely by the permittivity and permeability, which varies from material to material.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Are Muggles sent to St. Mungos? What if they need an 'extended stay'?

As far as I know, St. Mungos is for magical related illnesses and injuries, but I've never heard if Muggles go there or not if they get hit with something magical somehow.

And what if an 'extended stay' is needed? Something like what happened with Nevilles parents might not warrant a stay there (possibly a Muggle mental health facility), but something that might take weeks/months to cure/treat...that is, if there is anything they can get affected with that lasts that long.

[Assistant]
Yes, muggles go to ST. Mungos, if they are magically afflicted. There is a specific ward set aside that looks like a normal hospital, but staffed by witches and wizards with specialties in both muggle care, and memory charms.

There is a separate facility for long-term magical mental health patients. A witch or wizard with mental health problems can be extremely dangerous, even without a wand (the ability of underage wizards to cast spells in times of emotional distress proves the point that wands are focuses, not sources of power. Because deteriorating mental health can make for extreme emotional distress, it is necessary to have an extremely locked-down facility, with spell-absorbing walls, in addition to basic precautions.


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

[User] ELI5: In America, public elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools are all free because of taxes. Why are public colleges different?

[Assistant] Because higher education is not compulsory. It is fully optional. It is also much more expensive. Now public Universities do get some tax money to lower their costs, but it is not enough to make it free and the discount only applies if you are a resident of the State you are attending college in.


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

[User] ELI5: How do aircraft/fighter jets know that they are being locked on by an anti aircraft system or by another fighter jet?

[Assistant]
So there are radio receivers on different parts of the plane.  These can detect when radar hits them.  Different radar systems do things differently so it can also tell the difference between different radar systems.  It can tell when the aircraft has been locked on rather than just pinged by radar because a radar lock on is an intense beam of radar energy that continuously tracks the aircraft.  So it's constant and high powered.  A radar lock does this so it can feed very accurate positional data to the weapon system.  Normal radar, which will be sending out a wider beam and so less intense for anything it's hitting on gives more general direction and range.

However, this doesn't tell you anything if the system locking onto you using infrared (Heat Seeker) because that's a passive system so nothing from that is hitting the plane.  It's just looking at the plane and detecting the plane's heat.


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

[User]
[SG1] Can a Goa'uld maintain full control of the glowing eyes and deep voice or is it involuntary?

It seems there are two main times when a Goa'uld will do the glowing eyes and deep voice thing -

1 - To willingly show off they're a Goa'uld or intimidate.

2 - When they appear to lose control of their emotions such as times of anger and rage.

Is this an involuntary action they can't control?

Can they glow their eyes for longer periods of time say to function as a torch in a pinch?

[Assistant]
One instance comes to mind that might throw a third possibility into the mix. During apohis's first attempted invasion of Earth, a recently awoken Klorel was fired upon with missiles. All he had to do to defend himself was raise the shields, a simple task. However, his host Skaara was apparently resisting quite valiantly, and his hand stopped short of the controls. It wasn't until Klorel's eyes glowed that he regained control.

I personally expect that the glowing eyes are not just for show, but actually signal a realise of hormones or chemicals which increase the symbiote's control of the host. This is why it is often seen right before they do something really cruel, or immediately after taking over a new host.

This is also why you never see a Tokra use the glowing eyes.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it considered rude when you reject someone offering you food/beverage in their home?

I install ac units, so I'm working in someone's house everyday.  I have noticed that this doesn't not happen all of the time, or doesn't not seem to be any specific type of person.

But why is it considered rude?  At times, even when I sincerely thank, but deny someone's offer, they seem to be a little hurt or irritated.

Thanks in advance Reddit!

Edit:  thanks for all of the responses guys!!

[Assistant]
warning: i am going to make blanket statements and sweeping generalizations in the interest of keeping this brief.

when you see someone working on your behalf you want to help them somehow. even if you are going to pay them you feel like you should be doing SOMETHING. holding a flashlight, handing them nails, something. you see they are sweaty, they might be thirsty, so you offer them a beverage, just something to help. and then they reject it and you find there is NOTHING you can do to help, you feel powerless, helpless, worthless. this guy is fixing something you broke and you can't even help him with his thirst.


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

[User]
How many GPU's?

I'm trying to teach myself the basics of how a computer works. I was going down a path of videos called CPU Explained, GPU explained, etc.Though I got confused when i got to the graphics card. The graphics obviously works with a GPU but what's not clear to me is whether or not it has a seperate GPU reserved for the graphics card or if it uses the same GPU as the main RAM-related chip that works with the CPU aswell.

Thanks in advance for the help!

[Assistant]
There are two main kinds of GPUs: integrated and discrete

An integrated GPU is just part of the CPU designed for graphics processing and must run at the same frequency as the CPU while also being subject to the CPU's strict size and thermal limits. This is fine for rendering a website or word processor or even simple 3D games.

However for tasks that require much higher amount of graphics processing a discrete GPU is used as part of a device we call a graphics card. The card has an extremely fast connection to the CPU and hold its own memory specialized for graphics as well as the discrete GPU itself. This GPU is generally physically larger, clocked to a lower frequency, and provided with a lot of cooling. The graphics card also includes a whole circuit board to manage everything of course but the GPU and VRAM and the brains of it.


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

[User] [Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt]. Kimmy is seen as a strong willed optimistic individual. Would she be worthy of wielding a Green Lantern Ring? What about a Blue Lantern Ring?

[Assistant]
I definitely see the Green Ring over the blue. Kimmy is optimistic, but not necessarily hopeful.

But when she sets her mind to something, it doesnt break. She loves, but it doesnt define her, shes certainly compassionate, but is that her central feature. She certainly isnt greedy, fearful or hateful enough to qualify for one of those rings.

Green makes sense.


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

[User]
In Euclidean space, is there any set of three points that can't all be interested by a parabola?

Now that I think about it, if they were in a straight line they couldn't be parabolic.

Can a set of three points all be intersected by two different parabolas?

[Assistant]
It depends on what you mean by a parabola.

If you mean a function y=ax^2 + bx + c with a not equal to zero, then three points in a straight line can't all be intersected by a parabola. If you let a=0, that is, let a line be a "degenerate" parabola, then it's fine.

The other question is: do you allow rotated parabolas? For example, curves of the form x = ay^2 + by + c? If not, then if two points have the same x coordinate, it won't work.

So if you only allow functions y=ax^2 + bx + c, regardless of what you allow a to be, it won't work. However, if you allow everything I've mentioned above (rotations and a=0), then you can always find such a parabola.

More detail if you know a little bit about matrices and if you're interested:

You can actually write the problem as follows. Let's assume for simplicity that the x component of all the points are distinct. If not, rotate your coordinates so that they are; this can always be accomplished. This step is why we have to allow rotations of "standard" parabolas.

Now, what you want is numbers a, b, and c so that for each of your points (x1, y1), (x2, y2), (x3, y3), you have y = ax^2 + bx + c. You can write this as a matrix equation: [y1, y2, y3]^T = M [a b c]^T , where the T means transpose, and M is a 3x3 matrix with ith row [xi^2, xi, 1]. You should check that this is in fact the condition we need to satisfy. Now, a solution for [a,b,c] definitely exists if M is invertible, because then we can just multiply the equation above on the left by M^-1 . You can check by computing the determinant of M and finding that it's not zero that M is always invertible because we assumed x1, x2, and x3 were all different.


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

[User]
ELI5: Is depression and self-harm more common in humans than in other species? If so, why?

I know other animals can develop depression and even commit suicide if it gets bad enough, but I feel like every other person I know has gone through a point in their life where they were legitimately depressed, not just very sad. Sometimes I think it's even normal for people to go through depression at least once in their life. Especially when their teenagers. Is this a thing for other animals too?

[Assistant]
One of the reasons may be that we are much better problem solvers than any other species. We have a broader view of the world around us, we are attentive to detail and we have the ability to come up with effective solutions to many problems. The drawback to this is that when there is something that is troubling us and affecting our well-being and we cannot find a solution for it, some of us get stuck in some sort of exhausting mental loop that makes it progressively harder to make progress. Sometimes, chemical imbalance in the body can also make the problem worse.

That's why it's always a good idea to seek help when you are legitimately depressed - talking to other people can give you a different perspective on the matter and different ideas on how to solve the problem. Other times, medication can also help you stay in the right mental state to figure things out and improve your life as a result.


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

[User]
[I am Legend, Movie] How did Dr. Nevel get around in the winter without being traced back to his home?

He lives in New York, how does he not leave tracks?

[Assistant]
The plague victims were only gradually regaining their intelligence.  During the events of the movie Dr. Nevel remarked on every new sign of critical thinking as a new, unexpected development.  Certainly he was slow to realize what was happening due to his biases, but it seems likely that they were legitimately at an animal or childlike level of intelligence for several years before recovering from the plague and adapting to their surroundings.  They just wouldn't have thought to track him by his footprints in the snow in prior winters.

Alternatively, he might have just been staying inside all winter, because cold.


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

[User] Whenever I look at a pic taken from space, I can't help but notice the lack of stars. Can someone explain this phenomenon?

[Assistant]
The stars are very feint, and the objects in the foreground of the pictures you are talking about are comparatively very bright. Cameras have a limited "dynamic range", that is a limited range of brightnesses that you can squeeze into the same picture. If the camera were adjusted to be able to see the stars, the other objects in the image would be a white blur.

You can try this yourself: Aim a camera at the moon and adjust the exposure until you can see the craters -- the stars should be gone. Then adjust the exposure until you can see the stars clearly -- the moon will be a single white smudge.


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

[User] ELI5: How did the word sanction come to have two completely different meanings: 1. to approve something and then 2. A threatened penalty?

[Assistant]
It comes from the root (Latin) sncti, meaning "a law or decree that is sacred or inviolable."

The **verb** sanction still essentially means the same thing for the positive or negative - to 'sanction' something is to give it official approval.

So technically the **noun**  also means the same thing - a rule or decree that has official approval - even though this rule can be a positive or a negative.


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

[User]
Is the conception of god innate in humans? If you could link me to any works on this topic, I would be highly grateful.

I was recently going through Chomsky's work on Generative Linguistics... which is influenced by rationalism. Can this view of rationalism be extended to religion?

[Assistant]
Two early modern figures that are good to look at for this are Descartes and Locke.

Descartes argues in his 'meditations on first philosophy' that, since everything has a cause, and nothing can come from something less than itself (a ball cannot travel further than the ability of the thrower) we cannot generate our perception of God (something perfect cannot come from something inperfect). We also do not perceive him through our senses, so the only way that we know God is through an innate sense (this is his 'trademark argument', meditation 3).

Descsrtes is especially interesting concerning rationalism extending to religion.

In contrast to him, Locke argued that all our knowledge comes from experience, thus we are a tabula rasa - a blank slate. He argues this in his work 'an essay concerning human understanding' where he notably points out empirical examples of societies that have developed without the idea of God, thus it cannot be considered innate.

Hope this helps!


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

[User] How would omniscience or omnipotence work?

[Assistant]
Omniscience is something far beyond the mortal ken.

You are currently experiencing the world around you at the moment. You have memories and you have expectations for the future. Now replace those memories and expectations with concrete experiences.

**You will simultaneously experience every single moment of your existence at the same time.**

And it's not limited to a single timeline.

**You will also experience every moment that could have happened as well.**

Add to that the horror of knowing absolutely everything in the universe (from what excrement tastes like to what it feels like to walk on the sun. From what people around you are thinking to what it would feel like to make love to your high school crush.) and you've got something beyond human comprehension.


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

[User]
[LOTR] Who in the LOTR mythos would not be corrupted by the One Ring?

Is there any being that could resist it's power, would the upper echelon, the Gods, be able to resist the One Ring?

I understand compared to the rest of the pantheon Sauron was a lesser being, but would the ring still entice them?

What about Dragons? Would Smaug have any use for the ring, or would he ever succumb to it (I'd guess so)?

I know Gandalf, who is the most powerful being we see in the series aside from Sauron himself, would not be able to resist it, so who could? Other deities? Or no one?

And if a God were to be seduced by the ring, what would the ring offer them that they cannot already do themselves? Or is it more of just a corruption?

[Assistant] Tolkien actually already answered this question in his books. The only one who could wear the Ring and not get corrupted by it is a man named Tom Bombidilo. For him, the Ring is just like every other ring. In fact, in the book of The Fellowship of the Ring, the Council of Elrond actually proposed that the Ring be given to Tom outright to keep it safe from Sauron's gaze. That idea was nixed, however, due to Tom's nonchalant attitude towards the Ring and the fear that he'd just throw the Ring away due to it being just a little bauble, a mere trinket, to him.


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

[User] [ELI5] The possibility of the world's nuclear powered submarines surviving an asteroid that would end humanity.

[Assistant]
The strike, sure.

The aftermath, like the loss of all higher life on the planet, not really.  Where would they resupply?  Where would they get more food?  They would be fine, maybe for a year, but is that really "winning" this scenario?


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

[User] [man of steel] Why didn't Zod just start new krypton on Mars ? or better yet just live on earth like it is with superpowers and just start the kryptonian people over on earth or wherever they wanted to go after they all got powers?

[Assistant]
Couple of reasons:

1 Terraforming a life bearing planet, that could already support kryptonians like Earth, to be ideal, is much faster, and easier than terraforming a lifeless planet with a weak atmosphere like Mars.

2. Even with Terraforming Mars is not as suitable for life as Earth is. Especially given that to terraform Mars would require sourcing all the water, oxygen etc. That Earth already has in abundance. Yes, it's relatively easy to do in the grand scheme of things, but it's a delay that a military type like Zod wouldn't want to deal with. Easier to conquer and adapt a world than build it from the ground up.

3. Kryptonians could live comfortably on Earth while it was being terraformed, they could not live comfortably on Mars until the process was mostly complete.

4. He wanted revenge on Jor-El. Since Jor-El is dead, he could get revenge on Kal-El (superman) by taking away his adoptive home.


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

[User]
[Spirited Away] What would have happened if Shihiro stayed in the car?

In the beginning of the movie, when they find the amusement park, Shihiro is afraid to go through the tunnel and her mom says "Shihiro, just stay in the car."

What would have happened if she did?

[Assistant] Assuming they'd gone on to the park and still ate the food, they would have been transformed into pigs and she might have never known. Plus with time working differently in the park versus out, maybe that would be the last she's see of them even if she attempted to follow later.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do graphics drivers become outdated? Why is it that games that have received no updates also face graphical issues on outdated drivers?

We've all been there before - you forget to update your graphics driver when a new update comes out and get all the graphical wonkiness that comes with it. But how do these outdated drivers cause issues on games that have not also been updated? Today this happened to me on Minecraft, I was playing the same version that I have always played on, but I was still forced to update my driver to correct some issues. The way I see it, I was playing on the same Minecraft and driver version that I had been for the past 2 months, how does one magically become outdated with no external changes?

[Assistant] OS updates exist on all gaming platforms, and are going to be separate from a game's files and your driver's functionality. So while your game or drivers may stay the same, the way your drivers interact with your operating system may be affected.


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

[User] ELI5: The French colonized Canada, the English colonized USA, and Spain colonized Mexico. Why is Mexico the only country whose population is not predominantly Caucasian?

[Assistant] The Spanish took a more "integrate as opposed to eradicate" approach toward the natives in Mexico than the French and English did toward those in North America. That's not to suggest natives in Mexico weren't brutalized and subjugated (Aztecs say hello), but intermarrying and exchanging culture was seen as acceptable and sometimes even encouraged, while the same thing was much more of a taboo among the French and English in North America. Mexican culture is essentially the melding of Spanish and Native Central American heritage. To this day there are stereotypes in Mexico around the upper class and government being descended from the Spanish and whiter, and the lower class having more native heritage and darker skin.


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

[User] When they say an inch of rain, does that mean cubic inch?

[Assistant]
An inch of rain means that if you would catch the rain on a flat surface, it would reach up to an inch in height. To properly measure this, you need to make sure that the water can't flow away or dissipate into the ground, so you'd need a waterproof box with an open top for the rain to fall in. The amount of water it takes to reach a certain waterlevel obviously depends on the surface area of the measurement box. However, so does the amount of water entering the box via rainfall, so that evens out and ultimately it means that the size (and shape) of the measurement box is not important.

1 cubic inch of water will raise the water level in a 1 square inch box to 1 inch.


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

[User]
[Batman/DC] How effective is Arkham Asylum at treating your average, non-violent patient?

I'm about to be admitted into Arkham's non-violent wing for treatment. I haven't committed any crimes or anything. I just hear a lot of voices in my head. What can I expect from my doctors and treatment facilities in the non-violent programs?

[Assistant]
Wow, you must be special!  Arkham Asylum is the only known mental ward to boast a 137% recidivism rate.  Yes, it is the facility where even perfectly normal doctors and guards turn to crime after spending time there.

Based on past experience, your traumas will be exploited and manipulated until you have a theme costume and are ranting about humanoid bats.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do we sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and close our eyes or sleep for what feels like 2 minutes, but when we wake up a couple of hours have already passed?

It used to happen to me when I was young. I'd wake up around 2 am then close my eyes on what feels like a 2 minute sleep or nap. Then i'd open my eyes, and see that it's past 6 am.

What makes this happen? Most nights are not like this. It felt like i was time traveling.

[Assistant]
You feel the rate of time by the amount of thoughts/your memory of your own recent thought processes. Your brain just assumes you think at a constant rate and you use that to measure what seconds, minutes, and hours feel like.

But you don't think at a constant rate.

This is why time can fly by while you are "in the zone" (muscle memory actions without thinking about them), and why it goes by super slowly when you are anticipating something (constantly thinking about time)

So, when you are in non-REM sleep, you aren't remembering your own thoughts at all, so when you wake up, you feel that no time has passed.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] What is up with the enterprise???

I'm a Star Fleet Cadet who's just been cleared for an on ship tour of duty aboard a ship called "Opportunity". As part of my prep they have me reading this series of Captain's logs starting with a guy named Kirk and continued by Picard, who's ship the Enterprise has a similar mission to Opportunity but...

A planet where the Greek god Apollo lived? A man who turned himself into an Android? A Sentient Holo-suite character in the forms of James Moriarity? THE GODDAMN BORG?

What is this craziness?  And more importantly, are these things experienced ONLY by the enterprise, or should I be very, very concerned for my safety aboard Opportunity.

[Assistant]
Any ship exploring the wild edge of the Federation (or going beyond it) is going to encounter things that will test their willpower, intelligence, and ability to work together with the rest of their crew.  The *Enterprise* lineage has been the image of that exploration effort, and has seen things that have expanded the Federation's knowledge of the galaxy.

Asking for an exploration assignment will put you into harm's way, though depending on your mission it may be more or less than the *Enterprise*.  If you want a boring assignment shuttling diplomats and cargo from station to station, those ships are available too.  There are even diplomatic vessels who spend their entire careers scooting around 'interesting' events in the Federation.

But none of those boring assignments will expose you to the wonders and bizzare nature of the galaxy.  It's an assignment for only the best of Starfleet.

Are you able to live up to that standard?


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

[User] ELI5: What is the difference in formulation between hand soap, shampoo, body soap, dish soap, and laundry detergent?

[Assistant] Dish soap is generally formulated to heavily remove oil/grease because that is what you are most often cleaning out of cooking pans etc Dawn is actually pretty often used to clean animals trapped in oil spills etc because it is so effective. A shampoo is kind of on the other end of the spectrum formulated to not remove as much oil because removing all the oil from your hair will damage it. Laundry detergent generally contains some form of bleach because it is most effective at cleaning fabrics it's also formulated to not make soap suds/bubbles. If you've ever put dish soap in your clothes washing machine you will know what i'm talking about lol an uncontrollable amount of suds will soon be flooding your house.


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

[User] ELI5:Why can't LGBT people form a religion that says that gay marriage is allowed and then sue the government for religious discrimination?

[Assistant] Legal marriage is not a religious process.  No one is stopping gay couples from having a wedding ceremony in a church.  That is, and has always been, legal.  They just cannot obtain a marriage license from the government, and having same-sex marriage as a religious doctrine will not change whether or not the state will issue them a license, because a marriage license is a legal contract, and is not directly related to the ceremony.


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

[User]
If everything is made out of particles, wouldn't words written on a piece of paper eventually shift?

Wouldn't the particles move around causing the ink/lead to shift?

[Assistant] There are materials in which the particles are free to shift around arbitrarily; they're called fluids, and we don't generally write things in them that we need to last. What makes a material solid is that the particles *aren't* free to drift however they please, but constrained by the particles around them, offering a much better environment for lasting writing.


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

[User]
How does a black hole adhere to Pauli's Exclusion Principle and Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle?

I was just watching Brian Cox's "A Night with the Stars" on BBC 2. He talked about how white dwarfs are limited to not exceed a certain mass as it would get too dense to support the two laws. Pauli's Exclusion doesn't allow it to get too compact as then the electrons would be forces to the lower energy levels together. Also, they can't be forced into too small a space (Heisenberg). If this is so, how do black holes get to the mass and density that they are at without breaking these laws?

Also, I was a bit distracted at the time, but I thought he said that Pauli's Exclusion Principle states that no two electrons in the universe can have the same energy at the same time. As a consequence, if I was to effect a bunch of electrons (e.g. burn a piece of wood), all the electrons in the universe would have to adjust to this. That just sounds so outlandish, I thought I must have misunderstood.

As a side note, if anyone wants to get a simple summary of quantum physics, it was a very good lecture for anyone with very little knowledge of physics.

[Assistant] The Pauli exclusion principle does provide an outward pressure that can balance the gravitational force, but it's not an infinite pressure, and gravity can overcome it. Any white dwarf is also made up of protons, which is necessary in order to balance out the electric charge of the electrons. Once a white dwarf is massive enough, the gravitational force is enough to push the electrons and protons together to form neutrons. The Pauli exclusion principle also applies to neutrons, though because they're more massive they can be pushed tighter together than electrons, resulting in a neutron star. If the neutron star is massive enough, gravity will also overcome the Pauli exclusion pressure for neutrons, forming either a quark star (which is still hypothetical) or causing a collapse to a black hole. All these rules of quantum physics go out the window once you've collapsed an object inside its Schwarzschild radius, or its event horizon, because it's impossible for a physical particle inside an event horizon to go anywhere but straight to the center.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How did Binks become a Senator?

He was promoted to General in a very impromptu fashion yet even his service in the coming war is shown to be considerably poor. By comparison to others in his position he is shown to have next to nothing and easily surrendered.

His actions before all this almost got him executed so it can be seen that his contribution isn't worth keeping him around for.

Yet this Gungam of all others gets promoted to represent his race and by extension Naboo in the Senate. How?

[Assistant]
He's not a Senator.

He's a Representative (an actual title) of a minority race on a Republic planet. This was a position given by Naboo to the Gungans as a way of showing their support. He has no voting power unless the Naboo Senator grants him that power in their stead.

And it was given to Jar Jar by the Gungan leader Boss Nass to *get him the fuck out of here.* (oh and he's a war hero and all that)


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

[User]
I believe that a lot of forms of abstract art are pointless and shouldn't be funded in museums with tax dollars. CMV

You can look at some paintings like the Mona Lisa, or Starry Night, and say "those are beautiful works of art".  I agree, however, that beauty is subjective.  But, there comes a time when you cross a line, especially when federal money pays for their upkeep.  I've heard of a man who took photographs of flaccid penises, and then blew them up to cover entire walls.  This apparently was supported financially by the National Endowment of the Arts.  There have been other things considered "art", such as a couple dots on a canvas, poop in cans, and gallon milk jugs tied together.

While some people may be able to find meaning in these things, I have a problem when federal money is used to support it.  Why should my tax dollars go towards funding some of these things?  CMV!

[Assistant] I guess the real question is why *any* of it should be considered art.  If someone came up to you and said exactly what you've just said, but about the Mona Lisa, what possible rebuttal would you have that would convince him it was "actually" art?


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

[User]
Why stem cells can divide endlessly ?

Specialized cells have telomers which protect their DNA from damaging, but when cell divides, some telomer is lost and daughter cells have it less than parent cell. After some time, DNA is complitly un protected and so, cell dies. Why then stem cells can divide endlessly ?

[Assistant] Theres some research to suggest that stem cells preferentially keep the original copy of the DNA or whatever is in the best condition so that they are less affected by transcription errors and the like. Also, telomeres are NOT the only thing that affects cell aging. They are one factor but not the whole picture by any means.


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

[User]
When you shine light at a mirror, does the amount of light in the room change?

This seems like a dumb question. But what if you looked at the light and it's reflection in the same visual frame? Then would the amount of light be double?

[Assistant] The number of photons emitted - what you perceive as "light" - would be unchanged.  The mirror would only distribute them differently.  So the perceived increase in brightness from the reflection in the mirror is offset by the shadow the mirror casts.


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

[User]
ELI5: What's the point of the UN if the US can conduct strikes without the UN's support

I understand the UN does a lot more than just decide if military action is required, but why does the US ask the UN first?  Also, does going against the UN have any negative impact on the US?  Thanks!

[Assistant] Think of the UN like a marriage counsellor, except instead of 2 married people trying to make their relationship work, it's a whole bunch of nations. In theory, everyone wants the relationship to work, but everyone has different needs and wants. The counsellor (UN) can suggest that the married couple (the sovereign nations) try different things to make their relationship run smoother, but can't force anyone to do anything. It also gives the married couple (nations) the ability to freely discuss their issues with one another, like their children (smaller allied nations), money (economic policies), and mistrust due to infidelity (sanctions, embargoes, etc.).


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

[User]
How do phones become slower?

I bought a new iPhone XR in December. One thing I noticed really early on was that Snapchat it took pictures instantly upon touching the capture button. Coming from an iPhone 6, this was an sharp contrast to what I was used to. Just the other day I was using Snapchat and realized that there is now easily half a second of delay on photo capture. By this I mean if I move my phone after pressing the button it captures what I moved to - not that its just slow to actually show me the image.

Im mostly just curious about how this and other delays and hang ups become a prevalent on a once healthy device. I havent jailbroken, much as I want to and Ive got acres of storage space left. I just wonder what causes this?

Side question: Is there somewhere I can view memory usage or is that just naive to ask?

[Assistant]
OS and apps can get less responsive for any number of reasons ranging from shared resources to the new code doing additional work (sometimes computations, sometimes hanging on uploading all your personal info to the cloud).

In the long term, a weaker battery means poorer performance.


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

[User]
ELI5: If getting an air pockets in your blood vessels can cause you an embolism, how can people with big, open wounds survive with all the air getting through that wounds into vessels?

Edit: Thank you everyone for the answers! I will make sure to read and understand them all. You have also saved a full class of 11th graders, haha.

[Assistant]
Your circulatory system is under pressure due to the heart. You'll be pumping out blood and bleeding out before you start taking in air.

Imagine a hose spraying water. Does air get into the hose?

So yes, sometimes it does get in, especially with veins returning low pressure blood to the heart, but it's not going to happen with your average cut or wound.


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

[User]
CMV: Comments are usually littered with spelling / grammar mistakes. Do they really need to be pointed out by a reply? The short answer is no.

Most people have at least made one error in grammar or spelling. Having a reply containing only the correction does not add relevant value to the context of the OP comment.

These comments usually contain a correction of one word. How does this add value to the conversation? This is social media. What do you expect?

If a post is just littered with spelling and grammar mistakes that make the context and talking points incomprehensible, then point out that it does not make sense due to enormous number of mistakes and leave it at that.

[Assistant] It doesnt help the post as the idea is still expressed and understood. It helps the author in subsequent posts though. Having proper spelling and grammar in written form expresses understanding of the language and adds a sense of surety to the statement. It can also lend a further understanding of the language to the author if they were unaware of the mistake. Some people appreciate this as it helps them in the professional world where mistakes like this could potentially cost them money or reputation.


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

[User]
ELI5: How is a Lizard able to detach its tail on reflex?

I saw anothers post on here showing a detached lizards tail. Its amazing to think theyre able to do this instantaneously and wondered what enables them to do this? If theyre able to continue living a reasonably normal life? How long does it take them to regrow? Any info would be much appreciated ))

[Assistant] So this is called Caudal Autotomy, it differs among species but the basic idea is that a lizards tail will be grabbed by a predator and, due to an intentional weakness in the lizards vertebrae, the tail will rip off allowing the lizard to escape. It doesn't bleed to death because sphincter muscles contract at the wound and prevent blood loss.


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

[User] Why does a reactor meltdown, such as with Chernobyl, create a much longer lasting exclusion zone than a nuclear warhead detonation site?

[Assistant]
It fundamentally comes down to quantities.

A modern nuclear warhead may contain *at most* a few hundred kg of fissionable material, likely less.

A typical reactor core contains **100 tonnes** (200000 kg) of enriched Uranium (and other radioactive species if the fuel assemblies have been in use for a while).

There's just vastly more radioactive potential present in the reactor core.


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

[User]
Could you smell the difference between the atmosphere today and a thousand years ago?

Would there be more pollen in the air? Would the increase in trace chemicals - sulfur dioxide, etc - be enough to smell?

EDIT: Eliding regional differences. Assuming, for the point of the question, you could find a magical bottle of "average" air for both times.

[Assistant] The "average" air would smell the same throughout millions of years. Over 99.99% of our atmosphere is completely odorless gases, that hasn't really changed. Even pumping CO2 in the atmosphere since the industrial revolution is irrelevant, as that's an odorless gas. The things you do smell largely come from local sources, if you consider these local sources completely and entirely dispersed in the atmosphere to become an "average" they wouldn't make any difference in your perception.


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

[User] [Dragonball] With the World tournaments with Roshi, Goku, Piccolo. The moon being destroyed twice. the creation of capsules, and other things made by CC. TV/Psychics showing what was going on etc. Why are people so easy to believe Mr. Satan about smoke and mirrors.

[Assistant]
The world tournament was a niche thing for really serious martial artists until the already famous Martial Artist Mr Satan won his match. Nobody really payed attention to it aside from a couple of people, like the king of the world.

So in essence a niche event that hyped itself up that was clearly just lying until the hero of the world Mr Satan proved himself superior to all these phonies.


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

[User]
CMV: nepotism is fine outside of government and publicly traded corporations

the reason why nepotism is bad inside government and publicly traded corporations is that the person who gets the job is rarely, if ever, the best person for the job. when a person is appointed to a position of authority and control because they are family or close friends, there is damage done to the owners. in the case of the nation, the person is doing damage to the taxpayers. in the case of publicly traded corporations, the damage is done to the stockholders.

that is not the case in a privately owned business or in trades. preferring family and close friends is good for you, your family, and your culture. it is good for your family because it provides your offspring with what they need to be successful. it is good for your culture because it gives everyone in the community an additional reason to be close and to share.

[Assistant]
>good for you

To the extent that you care about the success of your business, it may not be good for you since, as you point out, you may not be hiring the person most qualified for the job. Managing a family member also comes with its own set of potential difficulties which may cause you more stress.

>good for your family

Combining work and family can often cause rifts and broken relationships. Certainly it works for some, but it is devastating for others. Having a falling out with an employee or business partner is a whole lot more complicated when they are also your family.

>good for your culture

Nepotism encourages complacence, because people have a opportunities without actually having to have earned it.


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

[User]
[general] How do nonverbal gestures to minions never have unintended results?

The minion has a sword to the neck of the hero. The hero is negotiating for his life, and the bad guy nods to the minion. Somehow the minion knows that this means, "Let him go," and not "Time to kill him." How is the context of such a dynamic situation taken into account to facilitate clear unambiguous communication by gesture?

[Assistant]
I had a beastmaster with a jaguar. Whenever he introduced himself he would point his thumb behind him and the cat would make his big-cat noise.

One time he was giving directions and pointed behind him..."Raaa Rwrow!"


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

[User] ELI5: When people die of old age, what causes their body to shut down seemingly spontaneously - what is the trigger that results in the body deciding that this is the end?

[Assistant] Death from old age is a legal classification, not a medical one.  It means than an elderly person passed away without any suspicious circumstances, and no purpose is served by investigating further.  They die of *something*, heart failure, stroke, asphyxiation, it is just not terribly important to figure out exactly what.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Why does Harry not care about how fucked up the Wizarding World is?

The new world of wizarding in which harry is put into has so many fucked up things like slavery, extreme torture, racism, an extremely corrupt government, etc. For example he doesnt really seem to care about how Hagrid is mistreated for heing a half giant and doesnt question how cruel Azkaban is. Even though lots of these things also have existed in the normal world, theyre way more socially acceptable in the wizarding world. Herminone is the only character who thinks that elves shouldnt be enslaved, but everyone just mocks her for this view. Why does this heroic character see nothing wrong with all these awful things? Even if he cant do anything about it why is he at least not disturbed?

[Assistant] He comes from a dysfunctional family. He lived in a cupboard under the stairs before Hogwarts. Shitty situations were normal for him and most of what he experienced was an outright upgrade for him. Like in your Hagrid example, Hagrid had his own house, friends and pets which is infinitely better than where Harry came from.


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

[User] Dropbox takes up 146 threads but its cpu usage is 0.5%. What does this mean?

[Assistant] there are 146 threads allocated, most of them filesystem observers and connections to dropbox server for eventual syncing and internal  operations. but they do nothing. that's why the cpu usage is very very low.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] Why did the current Enterprise triple in size compared to Enterprise Prime?

Did Nero's appearance in the *Narada* cause Starfleet to bulk up their ships in size, armor and weaponry?

Or am I seriously misunderstanding the size of the current Enterprise?

[Assistant] When Nero showed up and attacked Kirk's ship, it created a sort of worry in Starfleet regarding unknown aggressors with vastly superior technology. It's not dissimilar to what happened to Starfleet in the unaltered timeline when they encountered the Borg. Ships became more militarized and weaponized. The same happened with the Dominion war. Nero's temporal incursion merely started this process sooner so that the new Constitution class ships of this altered timeline are humongous and generally more ready for a military role than a scientific one.


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

[User]
Establishments that donates $1 with every purchase of something. Why don't they just donate it themselves, or the consumers donate it directly to charity?

I see that McDonalds at my country is now having a campaign, where they will donate $1 to your local charity for every purchase of a certain burger set.

Why don't they just donate the money outright, or why don't the people who actually care about this sort of stuff donate their money to charity anyway? The campaign feels a little scummy to me.

[Assistant]
Marketing.

It makes the company appear like they're being socially responsible to many consumers. It also skews consumer perception to justify in their minds a purchase that they otherwise wouldn't have made.

As for feeling scummy about the idea of it, you're not alone.


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

[User] ELI5: What makes some objects clear (glass, water, etc.) and others opaque? What goes on at the atomic level?

[Assistant]
Atoms are 99,99...9% nothing inside. So lets assume that all stuff is transparent. Then you should ask yourself the question why certain things are opaque.

Well, it has to do with the reflection and absorption of light. Light travels in packets of certain size depending in its color. (Technically the color is a result of its size, btw).

Now lets assume that the atom is a sieve on the inside. If the holes of the sieve is smaller than the packets, they wont go through. But if the holes are bigger, the light packets will go though.

Different materials have different hole sizes of their sieve. Opaque material has very small holes, preventing any lightpackets from going through.


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

[User] ELI5: How does the human body rises its temperature in order to cause a fever?

[Assistant] The part of your brain that controls your body temperature is called the hypothalamus. One of its jobs is to basically function as your body's thermostat. Your normal temperature is called a set point (around 37C, or 98.6F), which is the normal temperature the hypothalamus maintains. When you're sick, the hypothalamus can raise the set point in order to cause a fever. This is basically like turning the heat up on your thermostat at home.


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

[User] ELI5: What does DEF fluid do and why is it only for diesels?

[Assistant]
Diesel engines burn fuel at a much higher temperature and pressure than gasoline engines. The heat allows them to be more efficient, but it also increases the rate at which oxygen reacts with nitrogen in the air to form nitrogen oxide, one of the major pollutants in car exhaust.

The big problem with nitrogen oxide is that you can't use a regular catalyst to remove it from the exhaust. And that's where the DEF comes in: It's a solution of water and urea, a combination that decomposes into highly reactive ammonia gas when you heat it up. They inject it into the hot exhaust before it goes through the cat, and inside the cat the ammonia reacts with the nitrous oxide into harmless water and nitrogen.


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

[User]
[Resident Evil] What kinds of political and legal channels would have been needed to authorize the destruction of Raccoon City?

Obviously there was no realistic alternative, since as far as we know, everyone besides the main cast was infected.

But my question is: Which government bodies would have had to propose, argue, and then sign off on that decision? Did they send anyone into the city to determine that there was no alternative?

[Assistant]
Most spin-off entries discuss this, and we get a hint in Resident Evil 3.

The US army went in when reports of a pathogen started to come out of the city which was causing mass infections of the populace. Now, at the time the US government already knew of Umbrella's research since they were trying to make a deal with William Birkin so they had intelligence.

We see a squadron of soldiers were killed by a Tyrant that they also felled, one of the Mr X models. And in spin-off games such as Operation: Raccoon City (sorry for bringing it up) that Umbrella had their own mercenaries killing them as well to keep the US' intelligence limited.

Having seen that the city was completely lost and was crawling with zombies and other monstrosities, the President brought the matter before Congress in order to get the authorization to drop a nuke on the city. Oswell Spencer, head of Umbrella, tried to sue to delay or cancel the weapon strike (both to get battle data and to ensure that evidence of his company's involvement was erased) but the President used an executive decision to force the vote under the grounds that they needed to contain the infection.

Once that happened, the order was sent to a nuclear base and once it had been validated and verified, the nuke was fired at Raccoon City, but not before a final warning for civilians to evacuate was issues in the hopes that someone got out.

After that, the US government got to the legalities of holding Umbrella responsible. Once the city was destroyed, they sued the company for negligence and froze their assets, even going to other countries to get their cooperation. They also got witnesses such as the Outbreak survivors and Claire Redfield to testify in court as well as getting Jill Valentine, Barry Burton, Chris Redfield and Rebecca Chambers to testify about the Mansion Incident.

They would also prove that Umbrella kept operating even against the court order due to the Rockford Island, Antarctica, Sheena Island and Spencer Rain outbreaks.


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

[User] ELI5: Are police in the US really so trigger happy against African-Americans, or does it just seem this way to an outsider as such news is more widely proliferated since the Trayvon Martin?

[Assistant]
You've framed the question in such a way that neither answer is correct. Cops don't just go around looking for black kids to kill, and the media only report on it because they know people care about it and they'll tune in.

It's probably most accurate to say that the black population in America is stuck in a cycle of crime and poverty, which in turn causes them to have a disproportionate amount of encounters with police, which in turn engenders racist resentment among both the police and the black community.

If black people weren't committing such an enormous chunk of America's violent crime, they almost certainly wouldn't be getting shot by police so often, but it they weren't having their families systemically ripped apart by federal drug policy, they almost certainly wouldn't be committing so much violent crime in the first place.


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

[User] Why does Windows install drivers for my mouse again when I plug it into a different USB?

[Assistant]
Windows attaches a driver to the usb manufacturer product id and port. So when you plug it into a new port it is a new device as far as Windows is concerned. Linux mostly identifies USB devices by usb manufacturer product id only so it does not matter what port the device is plugged into.

I am not sure if it is a legacy thing or just how windows drivers work in case you have more than one of the same usb device plugged in.


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

[User]
CMV: Workplace cafeterias should not make a profit.

I'm not very knowledgeable about the topic, but worked in a hospital cafeteria in high school. The food they served to staff and guests was (and still is) extremely overpriced, and they always made moves to cut staff hours in favor of profit - even when those extra staff members were helpful. Don't companies already make enough money from other areas? I feel they should charge lower prices for food rather than making money from employees and guests.

I may be convinced of the argument for making enough money for shipping supplies, paying cafeteria workers, etc. Even then, it seems those expenses could come from other areas instead of from the company's own staff. In my experience, however, most workplaces try to make a profit from selling their food, not just pay necessary expenses. CMV Reddit!

Edit: Thanks everyone for your replies! I'll try to respond to you all as soon as I can.

Edit2: Sorry for poor wording. I didn't mean to say say food should be free for employees in the post, just at a reduced price to not make a profit. Then, if food prices truly needed to be high to keep the cafeteria budget neutral, maybe it would be possible to pull profit from other areas in order to provide employees with lower priced food. These were my original thoughts, hope that's more clear now. Thanks for the great discussion.

[Assistant]
In large corporate enterprises each division or group usually had their own budget. The people who run those are typically rewarded in bonuses for the profits they make and staying under budget.

Also, these cafeterias are offered as a time saver IMO. It's like paying more to get something today locally than order.

So the employees can eat sooner and enjoy a longer lunch basically. It's not like they are forced to eat there.

You must also consider if it's owned and operated by said company too. Many times they hire another company. And that one is there to make a profit.

It's something I've been watching due to being in IT. Where we're looked down upon as a cost and not a profit generators.


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

[User]
Why do some flowers close their petals at night?

I was leaving for work this morning in the early hours as usual, and the flowers in the planters were all closed up as usual, but it has never occurred to me before to wonder why.

I tried searching for an answer, but can only find explanations of the mechanism (*nyctinasty).* I can't find any explanation of the benefit of doing so. There must be some energy expenditure involved, so what is the payoff?

[Assistant] It is to preserve the pollen for the time periods when that particular plants preferred pollinators are most active. The pollen represents an evolutionary investment of resources by the plant to propagate its genes. Making the pollen available during peak pollination times helps maximize the chances of successfully passing on its genetic material. You can also find examples of night blooming flowers that are doing the same thing where the preferred pollinators might be bats or moths as another example. This is common in some cacti as well - the likely pollinators are active at night in that biome. You can even find flowers that only produce fragrance during certain times of the day for the same reasons. Nature is pretty clever.


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

[User]
[The Flash] Could The Flash he killed by a sniper?

* Specifically, a sniper using a suppressed rifle taking a shot at an unsuspecting Flash that is standing still
* I ask this because if Flash is standing still and perceiving the world like a normal human, than wouldnt he not be able to see or react to a snipers bullet?

[Assistant]
The answer is probably no. Wally got shot while watching a movie and he didn't even know that it happened until he saw everything around him had slowed almost to a standstill, then reached back and felt the bullet at the back of his head.

While it's true that unlike Quicksilver, the Speed Force users can tune their speed so they're not constantly living life picosecond by picosecond, it's also been shown that the Speed Force can often kick in to protect them without conscious effort.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Lightsaber physics: What would happen if you stuck a lightsaber in the wall and left it on?

Would the lightsaber stick to where it is? Slowly slide directly down the wall? Slide down and out with the hilt's weight, eventually falling out of the wall when enough of the blade wasn't in the wall anymore?

[Assistant]
You try sticking it in wood, concrete, steel, lead, and it cuts through like butter. You need something stronger, so you find a durasteel wall.

Uh-oh. Lightsabers pretty much all have safety switches that turn it off as soon as you let go. So your first try it stays in for a fraction of a second before it just falls down.

You duct tape the switch on, just like your lawn mower. You jam it good into that durasteel wall.

It sticks! Yay! The blade's plasma circulates causing a gyroscopic effect that resists movement.

But wait! The handle is starting to droop! The plasma weighs basically nothing, so all gravitational force is acting on the handle. The blade slows the rotation, but doesn't stop it.

And now it's falling... and just your luck it lands blade down on the floor. The carpet catches fire and the saber slips right through the floor. You really should run and get that! It's stuck on and the smoke alarm is starting to ring.


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

[User]
ELI5: In the morning, why is the side of my car that faces the street covered in dew, while the side that faces the grass completely dry?

Edit: the front on my car faces west, the dew side appears on the south side of my car.

[Assistant] I assume you it is not the grass or street that is changing the dew but probably the sun. Look at which side of the car the sun is hitting. It is probably the side that faces the grass since that dew has evaporated.


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

[User]
Why are certain electrons only excited by specific wavelengths?

I was reading about why glass is transparent to visible light. The stated reason was that photons of visible light don't have enough energy to kick the electrons within the silicon atoms up to a higher orbital, so they instead pass through the atom.

Thinking about this from a chemistry viewpoint, this lines up with what I was taught.

But thinking about this from a physics/engineering standpoint, I'm a little confused.

Visible light is just an electromagnetic wave with a frequency of several hundred terahertz. Electromagnetic waves being a propogating electric field and magnetic field at 90 degrees to one another. Electrons are influenced by both electric and magnetic fields.

So it doesn't make sense to me that an electromagnetic wave of a particular frequency would just be ignored by an electron. Surely even these frequencies that 'don't interact' with the electrons still impart SOME energy, right?

Can someone please shed some light on this for me?

[Assistant]
Electrons obey quantum mechanics, and if you have a quantum system confined to some finite region of space (for example, atoms, or lattice sites in a crystal), there are quantized energy levels. That means that the electrons can only exist at certain discrete energies. So if you want to excite an electron from one state to another, you have to provide just the right energy to reach that higher state.

In reality since the system is constantly interacting with external electromagnetic fields, its not really a closed system, and it can be shown rigorously how that leads to energy levels not being infinitely sharp. There is some natural linewidth associated with each energy level, so if you supply the atom with 0.99E rather than E, where E is the energy required for some given transition, you may still observe the transition anyway. But thats just a technicality, the important thing is that bound quantum systems have discrete energy levels.

Now if you take a macroscopic piece of material with several 10^(23) atoms in it, the levels get smeared out, and what you end up with is some continuous absorption spectrum, but you can still see remnants of the microscopic quantum structure in resonances in the absorption spectrum. While the material still absorbs light off-resonance, the absorption might go up by orders of magnitude on the resonance.


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

[User]
Is there a minimum segment of time?

Speed or distance as well. It seems strange that the universe apparently has a constant time. It doesn't occur in clicks of time does it? I'e several hundred thousand clicks per second.

Because time is directly related to distance and speed. If there were minimum segments of time there would be minimum distances and a lowest possible speed wouldn't there?

[Assistant]
There is not, to the best of our knowledge, a fundamentally "shortest" period of time.

Some people have gotten the mistaken impression that "Planck time" is such a fundamental unit, but it's really not (or, at least, there's currently no reason for us to *believe* it is; some models suggest that it might be, but they remain entirely speculative). Planck units are just a set of "natural units" that you can get out of certain fundamental constants. It *is* true that the Planck time is the amount of time it would take a photon to travel one Planck length, but the Planck length *also* isn't a fundamental minimum distanceit's just representative of the scale at which both quantum and relativistic effects should both be significant.


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

[User]
[skyrim] what is the dragonborn's effect on society and the economy?

Every time they roll into town they flood the market with gems, leather bracers, and masterwork-quality enchanted armor. Every merchant down to the flower-seller now stocks Rings of Sneak and Carry Weight. It's a crime wave waiting to happen! Except nobody has any cash.

[Assistant]
Massive deflation. When the Dragonborn comes, he sells so much loot and hand-crafted daggers of health absorption that the local community *runs out of gold*. In a few hours, there are only a few pieces of coin left.

This causes deflation: The rapid fall of prices. Why? Because as gold runs out, each individual coin in the area becomes more valuable, so you can get more for each coin you spend. But since everyone knows prices are falling continually, no one wants to spend money - they all figure that if they wait, the price of what they want will get even lower.

In other words, the Dragonborn's visit causes a total economic shutdown for a while. What happens next?

The Dragonborn usually ends up buying real estate. This means the local Jarl collects almost all that gold personally, just for giving up some house last owned by a dead person. Now the Jarl has all the cash. What do they do?

They give it back to the people! This the only way to resuscitate the local economy. They buy up the Dragonborn's loot at a discount from the merchants, thereby earning a reasonable profit as jarls and also collecting most of that dangerous gear. They can reward their retainers with choice items, and the rest they gift to commoners when they die - which keeps the Nord tombs full of random loot while also temporarily removing such crazy things from the economy.

That's why so much treasure is buried underground: The economy can't handle it actually being circulated. It's most efficient to hide it every time a new tomb is built. This also happens to lure disruptive adventuring types far from civilization, where it's hoped they get killed.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why the Mona Lisa is so famous?

It just seems like some painting to me, why is it such a big deal?

[Assistant] Well, to start, the Mona Lisa was painted by one of the most iconic figure in the times of the Renaissance which is Leonardo DaVinci. His anatomical studies of humans by examining and dissecting human cadavers and the Phi ratio (eg. the Vitruvian Man) has been used in his paintings, accurately representing the human body with near-perfect anatomical accuracy. It also introduced the three-quarter pose portrait layout. Previous paintings looked more stiff while the three-quarter pose used on the Mona Lisa looked more lifelike. Also, prior artworks had the same level of detail of the background and the subject. In the Mona Lisa, the background was more out of focus and the level of detail is significantly lower than the level of detail used on the subject, thus making it look like it was painted in the painter's POV.


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

[User] ELI5: So, how exactly are electricity and magnetism the same phenomena? If they are the same thing, what causes them to act differently from each other? Or, is this just a concept that we accept and don't question?

[Assistant]
They are both manifestations of the same force, Electromagnetic force.

They aren't the same thing, they occur on perpendicular axis to each other, that is why they act differently.

When a magnetic field moves (magnetism), it causes electrons in atoms to be pulled along with it, if the electrons move (Current; electricity), they cause the magnetic field to move with them. They are coupled.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Absolute Limit of Magneto's Powers

In the Brotherhoods attack on Alcatraz, Magneto is seen dislocate the Golden Gate Bridge, connecting the island to San Francisco. In the most recent trailer for the new X-Men movie, the younger Magneto is seen lifting an entire Soccer/Football stadium. My question is, what is the true extent of Magneto's powers? What is the absolute limit he can lift/stop before the weight/force becomes too great?

[Assistant]
The answer: There likely isn't one. Remember, Gravity is the weakest of the four fundamental forces (Weak Force, Strong Force, Electromagnetism, Gravity). Magneto manipulates electromagnetism, the second strongest of the Forces.

As far as he's concerned, gravity may as well not exist.