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

[User] [Star Wars] How many Super Star Destroyers did the Empire have?

[Assistant]
Of Executor-class Star Dreadnoughts - the class most commonly known as "super star destroyers" - we know of sixteen specific vessels and potentially of more (it is not clear if others are distinct vessels, or ones listed here but simply not mentioned by name).

Overall, Executors tended to live short, bloody lives; they were prime targets for Rebel (and later New Republic) infiltration, were often assigned to heavy-service sectors, and bore the brunt of major battles in which they were involved.

- *Executor* - flagship of Darth Vader's Death Squadron. Destroyed at Endor.

- *Lusankya* - originally named *Executor II*, completed simultaneously with *Executor*. Buried on Coruscant as an escape ship for the Emperor. Fell into New Republic control, expended as suicide bombship at Borleias.

- An unnamed Executor-class was under construction at Fondor when it was destroyed by a Rebel task force.

- *Terror* - equipped with cloaking device. Flagship of Admiral Siam's TIE Phantom project. Destroyed by Rebel sabotage.

- *Vengeance* - flagship of Admiral Wooyou Senn. Allegedly destroyed by impact of 4 Rebel suicide bomb-ships, but reports are unclear. May have survived.

- *Guardian* - flagship of Admiral Gaen Drommel's Coruscant defense fleet. Fell into Rebel control, last seen operational at the Defense of Mon Calamari in 29 ABY.

- *Annihilator* - flagship of Admiral Gaarn. Destroyed at Fondor by combined Rebellion/Zann Consortium fleet.

- *Reaper* - flagship of Grand Moff Ardus Kaine, later Admiral Gilad Pellaeon. Destroyed by Rebel task force at the Battle of Celanon, in large part by duel with the captured *Lusankya*.

- *Iron Fist* (originally *Brawl*) - flagship of Admiral Zsinj. Destroyed at the Battle of Dathomir by combined New Republic/Hapan force.

- *Night hammer* (later *Knight Hammer*) - advanced model with reduced crew requirements and some stealth measures. Flagship of Admiral Natasi Daala. Destroyed at Yavin by massive Force action by multiple Jedi and sabotage.

- *Intimidator* - advanced model with improved shielding. Captured during Yevethan uprising where it was known as *Pride of Yevetha*; later recaptured and returned to Imperial service. Later discovered apparently abandoned, presumably as the weakened Imperial Navy could not support such a massive vessel.

- *Aggressor* - flagship of Admiral Roek, later Grand Admiral Josef Grunger. Expended in suicide ramming attack at Corellia.

- *Enforcer* - flagship of Admiral Kohrin. Destroyed at Phaylenn by Rebel forces while powered down and undergoing repairs from earlier combat.

- *Razor's Kiss* - scuttled at Kuat Drive Yards while under construction by Admiral Zsinj rather than allow a Rebel force to potentially seize it. Wreckage was later used to create *Second Death*, an illusory and nonfunctional "mock Executor".

- *Whelm* - part of Coruscant defense force; destroyed in battle by New Republic force over Alsakan.

- An unnamed Executor was used by the Imperial agent X1. It was destroyed at Mustafar by Rebel sabotage and incompetence, causing collision with the planet's planetary shield.

Lastly, it should be noted that there were many other classes of Star Dreadnought; Executors were simply the most well-known of the lot. Some were very much the military equal of an Executor; *Whelm* was destroyed by a duel with the Mandator III-class Dreadnought *Panthac*.


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

[User]
[World of Warcraft] New Demon Hunters are created when they eat demon flesh/blood. Illidan absorbed the skull of Gul'dan. Gul'dan was not a demon. How do these two methods both create demon hunters?

Either the new demon hunters aren't true demon hunters like Illidan or Illidan is something else. He's exponentially more powerful than other demon hunters but when he started out, he just absorbed an old orc's skull.

Granted Gul'dan was a powerful Warlock but he was not a demon himself, so his remains should be like any other orc's.

So we have 2 wildly different methods of creating demon hunters. How is it that they are the same? Are the new elves not true demon hunters? They're should be differences but aside from the massive power difference, there doesn't seem to be any. Does anyone have any ideas?

[Assistant]
I don't know of any of this for sure but...

The demon or skull is just a vessel, doesn't matter. They're consuming fel energy, fel corruption.  Also, Gul'dan is about as much demon as any of the Eredar I'd say. They're all races from other worlds that have been inducted into the legion and corrupted by the fel.


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

[User] ELI5: Why aren't patients, especially children, given something to numb the surface skin before getting a shot?

[Assistant] Because it would slow down the process significantly, as well as adding cost and more time for the kid to think about how he/she is totally about to get a shot, instead of just getting it over with. Since the areas we get shots are typically not especially sensitive to the pain, it is a very minor inconvenience and much of the discomfort is psychological rather than physical.


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

[User]
ELI5: If diabetic people can have dangerously low sugar from not eating, how can non-diabetic people go on fasts, or skip meals?

I understand when blood sugar gets to high, and in theory when it gets too low. However, I don't understand how my fitness crazed cousin can do intermittent fasting (only eats during a 4 hour window each day) and regular 3-5 day water fasts wouldn't have the same issue.

[Assistant]
Diabetic people have trouble metabolizing sugar, and so must inject insulin to properly use glucose. But if they have insulin and not enough sugar, such as from not eating, their blood sugar can drop too low.

However someone without diabetes shouldn't have trouble with intermittent fasting because their body can adjust insulin levels itself to compensate for the different levels of food and thus sugar intake.


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

[User] [Magic School Bus] Is there a Mr. Frizzle?

[Assistant] Ms. Frizzle had a fianc before she was a teacher. They were both scientists and were working together to create a new mode of transportation. Unfortunately, due to a tragic accident, her fianc was transformed into a sentient bus. After many years spent trying to find a cure, they decided that it was beyond their abilities. Convinced that the next generation would hold the key to reversing the transformation, the bus and Ms. Frizzle dedicated their lives to teaching youth and trying to develop the next scientific genius to hasten the cure.


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

[User] What aspect of modern economy would stop working if all people knew about it?

[Assistant]
Although it's empirically unclear how much of monetary policy's 'strength' is due to information frictions, it's certainly a non-zero portion. If everyone were able to precisely see through the 'money illusion', we would probably see monetary policy lose some of it's power.

In general though, it's hard to find an answer to this question. Prices communicate information. Individual businesses/households don't need to know the full details of the inner workings of the economy to make optimal decisions. They simply need to know the prices that they personally face.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] The Rebel's successfully capture the first Death Star rather than destroy it. What happens next?

In the lead up to the Battle of Yavin, the Rebel leadership decide that the Death Star is simply too great of an asset to destroy so they decide to attempt to capture it instead of simply destroying it.

So using an attack on a Death Star's trench as a distraction (which leads to the near destruction and disabling of Darth Vader's fighter) the Rebel's manage to land a large raiding party in the space station's docking bays.

Although there are large casualties and they were almost almost overwhelmed, the Rebel's manage to capture Grand Moff Tarkin and other high ranking imperial officers. They convince them to order the Storm Troopers to stand down in exchange for their lives.

The Rebel Alliance now has the greatest weapon in the Galaxy at their disposal.  What happens next?

[Assistant]
They certainly don't use it for its intended purpose. The rebels are fighting against the mindset that thinks it's okay to destroy planets and commit genocide in the name of politics.

They might spend time seeing if the targeting system is sophisticated enough to hit starbases or ships as large as star destroyers. That way the rebel's usual hit-and-fade tactics would be considerably more capable. But once they prove that the DS-1 can only target things as large as planetoids, they would move on.

Sure, it could be used as a mobile base, and a powerful one at that. But if the Rebels were able to capture the death star with such relative ease, the Empire wouldn't hesitate to do the same. (And with much greater numbers) Not to mention that the Death Star is the emperor's pet project. So its capture would draw his personal attention. The Imperial efforts to retake the death star would pale in comparison to every operation and battle in the civil war so far. The rebels at this time barely had a fleet, and a lot of it was destroyed over Scarif, so this is a losing proposition all around.

I think their smartest course of action would be to dump all of the contents of its memory banks onto the holonet and broadcast every atrocity required to build such a thing, as well as what it was going to be used for. And once the galaxy is fully informed of what kind of monster sits on the throne, they would destroy the death star in a way that everyone in the galaxy can see. Hopefully, just like how the death star's destruction in the real timeline spurred a huge number of planets to openly rebel, this slightly less violent sequence of events would lead to the same outcome.


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

[User]
ELI5: What makes blood a different "type"?

What's the difference between blood in people that means we have different "types" and why are some incompatible?

[Assistant] Our blood contains antibodies and antigens. Different people have different antibodies/antigens. Antibodies attack antigens of the same type. Blood type O has no antigens and both A and B types of antibodies. Blood type A has antigen A and antibody B. Blood type B has antigen B and antibody A. Blood type AB has both antigens and neither antibodies. There is a final important antigen, known as D, which people are either positive for (they have it) or negative for (they don't have it). This means that someone whose blood type is A+ has antigens A and D, as well as antibody B.


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

[User] [Death Note] What if I name my child the symbol of a fractal, will it take forever for the name to be written on the death note?

[Assistant] You would still have to call the child by a verbal name, right? Or at least, there'd be a name that the child would respond to. *That* would be their name, their real name, and not some loophole that trusts the Death Note relies on legal documents.


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

[User]
ELI5: the physics behind non-Newtonian fluids

Hello all,

I know *what* a non-Newtonian fluid is and I know that either the shear rate or shear stress can affect the fluid's viscosity, but I'm not sure *why* they act as they do, on a molecular level.

My best guess would be the shape of the molecules themselves, but that's purely conjectural.

If anyone can tell me more or direct me to an ELI5 friendly website where I can learn more about the physics interactions between molecules in non-Newtonian fluids, I'd be most appreciative :)

[Assistant]
ELIF answer:

Think of sand. It's soft and flows when it's wet, but if you squish it down and wait for it to dry, it's hard and crumbly.

Non-newtonian fluids are like sand that absorbs and dries out REALLY fast. So if you apply pressure, it gets harder like you squished out the water.


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

[User]
Do creatures with shorter lifespans evolve faster?

Maybe I'm wrong with this but my (very) basic understanding of evolution is that there are genetic mutations in a species that "win" over vast amounts of time and change things as a result. So, if you have certain creatures that only live a few years, then wouldn't any mutations happen faster if they were far more generations to travel through?

[Assistant]
This is a little bit tricky depending on your definition of evolution. In the loosest sense, yeah, mutations will happen faster because of how quickly generations go by, but for a mutation to take over a population and 'win' like you put it, there would have to be a selection pressure.

Think of how you hear things like crocodiles being 'living fossils'. Its not that they havent experienced generational mutations, its that they have little need to adapt because they're already well suited to their environment.


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

[User]
how are we able to see at really high speeds? why does the "binocular vision" effect happen?

 to add context to the question: i used to street race when i was a young and irresponsible lad. when approaching speeds at the 160+ MPH range, things in my peripheral (streetlamps, trees...etc) would get blurry, BUT the center of my vision would become super detailed, to the point where i could see cars miles away ahead of me and judge their approximate speeds with considerable accuracy. i used to chalk this up to adrenaline and my brain somehow doing something to compensate in order to stay alive -biological imperative and whatnot- but now i'm not so sure..

so my question is two-fold, what exactly is going on that allows me nigh-super-human vision at high speeds, and why would humans evolve to be able to perform such feats? especially given the fact that we hardly traveled over 20 MPH for millions of years of evolution?

[Assistant]
Things in your peripheral actually _are_ blurry.  Photoreceptor density is very high on the fovea (center of your vision) and very low outside, particularly if you're trying to see color.

Normally, we adapt to this by bouncing our eyes around alot -- a process called saccades.  When you were driving, you most likely suppressed this entire system, meaning all you were seeing was the tunnel in front of you.

We have a really adaptive sensory system, particularly if life is at stake.


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

[User]
What body system does fat belong to?

If they can be part of different systems, are there other examples of tissues that are not strictly monogamous?

[Assistant]
Endocrine system generally, but it's also important connective tissue. Fat cells derive embryologically from mesoderm (there are three basic embryologic tissues). Also, you may be interested to know that there are two types of fat (let's call it adipose)-- white adipose and brown adipose. White adipose is typically what you think of when you consider fat. It's the stuff that's under your skin, in your belly, thighs, around your heart, kidneys, and etc. Brown adipose on the other hand tends to be around only when you are an infant, and it actually actively burns carbs and fat to create heat. It's brown because they contain iron rich mitochondria, which are the cellular machinery for burning through chemical energy. People have tried to harness / reactivate this stuff over time, and it's a pretty interesting research field in itself.

If you're interested in some peer reviewed lit on the subject, see: doi:10.1038/nm.3361 "Brown and beige fat: development, function and therapeutic potential"

As to your question about tissues not being strictly "monogamous," there are tons of examples!-- blood, blood vessels, nerves, muscles all comprise important parts of various organs. Generally, various tissues compose an organ, and organs work together in organ systems to carry out a specific function. For example, renal tubules are a tissue but they work along side smooth muscle, blood vessels, neurons, and endocrine tissue in the kidneys (an organ), which are an important part of the renal or excretory system. The human body is a wonderful thing.


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

[User]
ELI5: How is a nuclear submarine lost at sea not a danger?

The USS Thresher was a nuclear submarine that was lost at sea and never recovered. Does the nuclear material aboard it not pose a problem?

[Assistant]
Water absorbs nuclear radiation really well, thats why we use it in our reactors (well that and the whole steam thing.

The radiation wont penetrate more than like 20 meters even if there was a catastrophic containment failure, but normally its in a giant steel box. So no its fine. Not ideal, but not a danger.


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

[User] ELI5:How an Iron lung works?

[Assistant] An iron lung creates an air-tight seal around your body. It will change the pressure of the air inside from negative to positive, and back again. When a person's muscles will not allow them to breathe on their own, this pressure change will force your muscles to move in the way necessary to make you inhale and exhale.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Palpatine killing Padme? (Spoilers for Episode 9)

I know this is a discussion that has already been done but I just wondered whether a new piece of potential evidence has been given to us after watching Episode 9. Towards the final scene, we see Palpatine transform back into his complete body after using both the life-forms of Kylo Ren and Rey, so surely this is proof that he is capable of using said force power to steal the life force away from others?

So, instead of Padme dying of a broken heart, would it be plausible that Palpatine actually took the life force from Padme, (and being a non-force sensitive, she had less life force as compared to Kylo and Rey who still survived from Palpatine stealing their life force to heal up Vader) which led to her unfortunate death.

Thoughts?

[Assistant] While it's a long-standing theory that Palpatine drained Padme to support Anakin during the surgery, there is no evidence in either continuity or from George's own statements to actually support that he did it or was capable of doing that at that time. In fact, the only examples of him stealing life force from others is in Episode 9, and there's no indication in that film that he can do it when the target is not in his immediate vicinity, let alone that he might be able to siphon life energy and transfer it to another.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Has Reed Richards ever attempted to create the supersoldier serum?

Given his intellect and multidisciplinary knowledge, it seems strange that SHIELD or some other group hasn't recruited him to re-create the super soldier serum used on Captain America.

Reed seems to do science for the sake of it so he probably would attempt to just to see if he can. Is there any reason they haven't attempted it?

[Assistant]
Problem here is SHIELD. Reed could make it, Reed won't make it.

Reed is peaceful exploration and science, not a weapon smith. Also there are several people who could make it at this point, shouldn't bother asking Reed. Waste of his time. Reed has probably dabbled and examined it, but maybe respects Captain America enough that distributing something like this is bad form.

Not only that the Super Serum is pretty out competed as a weapon. Why bother making Captain America when you can try rushing for Iron Man or Hulk?


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

[User]
Do any of you ever take a step back and marvel at the magic-like capabilities of modern computing?

Like I understand enough about the underlying physical properties of modern computers as well as operating system construction and computer architecture/organization to perceive computers as more than just magical black boxes. At the same time, the speed at which they operate and the complexity of the hardware at a transistor-level is sometimes too mind-boggling for my ape brain to handle.

[Assistant]
Yep.  The first time that you make a program that has to process a large amount of data to complete its task, it really opens your eyes to how fast modern computers are.

Prior to taking CS courses (and at the beginning levels) most of what a computer does seems almost magical.  You may know it is fast but you don't really have a good perspective for how fast it is.  The first time you hand design something that is going to run through thousands of data points to complete its task, hit run, and watch it finish in only a couple seconds (or practically instantly in some cases), you finally get a taste for how absolutely ludicrous the speed of modern computers are.  Then you consider that the code you write relies on lower-level code (and may even take a peak at some of it) and you realize the speed at which the computer is processing instructions is several times faster than your initial perception gained just from running your own code.  The more and more you learn the greater your appreciation becomes until it reaches a point where your understanding of the speed at which modern computers run reaches a number that is so incomprehensibly high that things pretty much wrap around to where you started and it all becomes magical again.


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

[User]
[MCU] Did the efforts of Captain America hasten the demise of Nazi Germany or was it largely a private war against Hydra?

And subsequently, if so, why did the German leadership (particularly the SS) not take direct action not only against Cap but also against the openly breakaway Hydra organization, which by killing-off its SS overseers, at which time it declared itself as a usurper faction of the Third Reich, while operating within a totalitarian state at war for 3-4 years?

[Assistant]
Caps greatest value to the main war effort was as propaganda. The USO shows, the movies, and the genuine battlefield heroics all helped boost morale, especially on the home front.

Taking direct action against him would have been tricky. German attempts to infiltrate America were, for the most part, staggeringly ineffectual, and once he went overseas he was constantly surrounded by heavily armed men, and Peggy Carter. You dont fuck around with Peg.


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

[User] So we call it magma while underground and lava after it erupted. But why make the distinction in the first place? Is there anything materially different between magma and lava or is it just tradition to use the two different names for the same thing?

[Assistant] The rocks that they form are different. Magma cools slowly to form plutonic/intrusive rocks; lava cools rapidly to form volcanic/extrusive rocks. The rate of cooling is an important factor that determines the mineralogy of igneous rocks. Furthermore, magma composition could evolve as fractional crystallization occurs(minerals with different melting points crystalize sequentually); this often results in a final extrusive melt that is compositionally distinct from the magma whence it came.


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

[User] ELi5 : How were they able to broadcast the moon landing live?

[Assistant] Radio waves. Same way they communicated with the crew and broadcast the commentary over the air waves. Most if not all of tv at the time was literally broadcast like radio is now and you had an antenna to pick it up for your tv.


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

[User]
Do bugs sleep? Plain and simple.

Do bugs sleep? (insects, spiders, moths,flies, the colloquial application of the word bugs is implied)

[Assistant] Yes. The only living organisms that *don't* sleep (in some form) are the ones who don't live long enough to incorporate the day/night cycle into their lifespans, ~~i.e. Mayflies~~. Plants sleep. Slime molds sleep. Single-celled organisms sleep. The common misconception that "sharks don't sleep" comes from the observation that sharks never close their eyes, but as it turns out, sharks don't have *eyelids*.


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

[User] ELI5: Why must stocks be traded through clearing houses? Why cant they be traded directly between entities?

[Assistant] Most people who trade stock do not actually get the stock. Actually moving stock from one entity to another does take quite some paperwork and waiting for the right records to be updated. So most stocks will be in the possession of the stock exchange or the banks. This means that stock trades can happen much quicker, even less then a week. But it does mean that all trades now have to go through the stock exchange or a clearing house.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it supposedly rude to point?

Is there some sort of cultural "back story" to this?

[Assistant]
Pointing makes people uncomfortable or even feel threatened. If a stranger points at you on the street (assuming you're not a celebrity), it never means something good. They could be signaling an attack, mocking you, etc. Whatever the reason, it's bad.

Thus, it's rude to point.


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

[User]
ELI5: How come the kickoff is considered very dangerous in gridiron football but less so in rugby?

Having some familiarity with both gridiron football and rugby's rules (but not a regular watcher of either), I've heard that gridiron football kickoffs are one of if not the most dangerous plays in the sport. In fact, they're so dangerous that there have been calls to abolish them. What makes them more dangerous compared to rugby kick-offs, apart from gridiron football's use of pads and helmets?

[Assistant]
Gridiron/American football kickoffs are the most dangerous plays of the game because the most of the kicking team is running straight into full-speed blocks and tackles with the receiving team. Most other blocks in football happen at low speed at or near the line of scrimmage, reducing the chance of injury. Tackles in regular gameplay can be dangerous, but are usually either not head-on, or are at lower speed.

Rugby (in and out of the kickoff) doesn't allow blocking. Helmet- and pad-less tackling is less dangerous because players tackle differently.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do bees, bumblebees and wasps all have the same yellow black color pattern?

[Assistant]
Many of them (though not all of them) can sting. The first ones that could sting evolved a distinct pattern to warn predators that they could sting - better to not even be in the situation where you might get hurt, right? But then some of the non-stinging insects evolved the same pattern because predators who avoid black-and-yellow insects on principle would avoid them anyway.

It's called mimicry, and it's a fantastic, if entirely accidental, strategy for self-defense. The fact that they chose black and yellow as the "agreed upon" pattern was totally arbitrary save for the fact that it's visible in their native environment.


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

[User]
ELI5: Where did the H go in "Herbs" in America?

As cliched as it is to laugh about Americans saying "fanny" instead of "arse" and all that, I genuinely don't understand why Americans drop the "H" in "Herb". It's not a thing in general, to drop H's is it? So why that?

[Assistant] It was originally a French word, who pronounced it without the H. When it was adopted into English by the English, we pronounced it as though it were an English word, but American culture instead kept the French pronunciation. In a nutshell.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Wait, was Snape the ONLY spy within the Death Eaters?

Seems odd that Dumbledore would only have Snape as a spy within the Death Eaters.

What if something unfortunate had happened to his only spy? Wouldn't it be smarter to have at least a few double agents, each at differing ranks, to have infiltrated the Death Eaters?

[Assistant]
You don't just walk up to Voldemort and say you wanna be a Death Eater. They are only very few in the Order that could even try. Quite a lot of them aren't pureblood or are blood traitors like the Weasleys so they would probably be killed/tortured on sight.

And for those that would qualify it just is an insane risk. If you aren't an expert in Occlumency you will be caught fairly soon. So the only proper way to get someone on the inside is to turn them. Snape was pretty much pure luck for Dumbledore and most of the other Death Eaters are way too insane to even attempt talking to them.

And there is always the risk of them being exposed and getting Imperiused. Suddenly there is a double agent in your ranks, not fun.


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

[User]
ELI5: How are stem cells extracted from blood? What happens to the new stem cell-less blood when reintroduced to the body? [context in description]

My father recently underwent a blood transfusion, and my brother was selected to be the blood donor. So they hooked a tube to a vain in his leg and the machine the tube is attached to drew in his blood. This blood went into the machine and it literally separated and collected the stem cells from the blood. The separated blood is then fed back into my brother's body. I was blown the fuck away.

[Assistant]
The process is called peripheral stem cell transplantation.

Normally, the hematopoietic (a.k.a. blood-making) stem cells are located in the bone marrow, with very few in the blood. Your brother most likely took drugs before donating that cause the stem cells to rapidly make copies of themselves, more so than normal, and then to attract some of them into the blood rather than stay in the bone marrow.

From there, getting the stem cells is done by a process called apheresis which usually involves centrifuging the blood to separate out the components, then taking off the parts (stem cells) that are needed. The new stem cell-less blood gets pumped back in the body.

There are still stem cells in the bone marrow, enough to regenerate whatever was lost so there isn't too much of a risk for the donor.


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

[User] [General Superheroes] Why are superheroes often reluctant to seek medical attention when they get hurt in battle?

[Assistant]
They've generally received their injuries while fighting villains, and likely while technically committing a crime, and if they go into the hospital those injuries are now recorded and connected to their civilian identity.

But more than that - Superheroes are generally biologically different from a standard human, and routine medical tests could discover this fact. Batman would be fine, but Daredevil getting an MRI could result in strange discoveries, and Clark Kent going to A&E/ER would be both pointless and immediately reveal he was superpowered.

At best they're risking their secret identity being discovered by a savvy villain, at worst they're risking being taken away to a secret facility where they'll be experimented on for the rest of their life.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do beekeepers know when to stop taking honey from bees so they have enough food for the winter?

Also:  In naturally occurring hives or in the case where a beekeeper just stopped taking the honey.  What would the bees do once they deemed they had enough food?  Do they just stop leaving the hive or does that excess of food cause the hive to expand or break off in to another hive?

[Assistant] We generally use deeper boxes for the bottom two levels - one is for bees to raise young and store pollen, the other is for honey  which we leave for them for over wintering. We set shallow boxes on top during honey flow ; from these the surplus honey is collected.


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

[User] ELI5: How come other websites prevent you from watching videos when AdBlock is installed, but YouTube/Google does nothing?

[Assistant]
They calculate that it's better to let you watch the video and potentially share it with other people who do watch the ads, rather than stop you watching at all.

Other sites believe that their content is so compelling that you'll still watch if they force you to turn off ad blocking, or they just care less because their traffic is less dependent on their videos being shared and going viral.


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

[User]
Eli5: How do anti-seizure meds work?

Am epileptic so curious as to what they do to my brain.

[Assistant]
Depends which one you are referring to! As a very general statement- they can inhibit the markers that cause your nerves to communicate across the nervous system. Therefore less transmission between nerves. Less seizures :)

This is why drowsiness is a common side effect with these meds- as it is slowing down the firing of your nerves :)


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Did nobody ever think to move for a vote of no confidence with Palpatine?

He was Supreme Chancellor for a good 20 years, give or take. And if Star Wars politics is anything like real world politics, there must have been someone at some point who thought he was doing a shitty job at running the Republic.

[Assistant]
> there must have been someone at some point who thought he was doing a shitty job at running the Republic.

A motion of no confidence is proposed in times of great need and when there is a large portion of the ruling body strongly against the person in charge, like when Valorum was unable to stop the armed invasion and occupation of a Republic member world.

It's not something you propose every week because you dislike a photo he posted on the HoloNet.


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

[User]
Why are there different tresholds to reach herd immunity for different diseases?

I thought it was a quantitative concept, applicable for all kind of diseases, as numbers do not differentiate between them.

Why is it for Covid considered to be \~70% but for measles \~90%?

Thank you.

[Assistant]
Roughly speaking the threshold to reach herd immunity is 1 - 1/R0.

Hence 80% for R0=5 or 90% for R0=10.

This is because R0 is the average number of infections from one case. If p is the proportion of people who are not vaccinated, then the number of infections from one case becomes p x R0 which needs to be less than 1 for the disease to stop spreading. Thus, the threshold case is p = 1/R0. Hence the proportion of vaccinated individuals needs to be 1 - 1/R0.


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

[User]
CMV: Avengers: Endgame was a worse film than Infinity War (Spoilers Inside)

#WARNING: SPOILERS

I thought Endgame was worse than Infinity War for multiple reasons. Firstly, Thanos, a deep and well-reasoned villain, was reduced to shallow evil by bringing back his 2014 self who was far more bloodthirsty.

Secondly, the pacing of the film was worse and many moments could have been cut to preserve the same momentum that Infinity War had.

Additionally, the characters of Thor and the Hulk did not receive satisfying character arcs as Hulk's most important development was skipped over in the time jump, and Thor became the butt of fat jokes instead of examining his depression.

Finally, the power levels were inconsistent, hurting dramatic tension, such as when Thor, who previously mortally wounded a six-stone Thanos with Stormbreaker was unable to even dent him with both Mjolnir and Stormbreaker.

[Assistant]
> Thanos, a deep and well-reasoned villain, was reduced to shallow evil by bringing back his 2014 self who was far more bloodthirsty

Thanos was never really well reasoned. He put on a good show, but everything was always about his ego. He thought he had the solution to his planet's problem and they didn't use it, then his planet died. His entire goal is to prove he was right about culling the population. Once the past version learned that it didn't work, his facade broke and he showed how crazed he was all along.

> Secondly, the pacing of the film was worse and many moments could have been cut to preserve the same momentum that Infinity War had

The pacing may have been slightly worse, but it was very similar to infinity war. A few side quests that meet up for an epic final fight. The only real difference is that they needed to wrap up more stuff after the fight in endgame, which made it feel a little like the multiple endings in lord of the rings.

> Additionally, the characters of Thor and the Hulk did not receive satisfying character arcs as Hulk's most important development was skipped over in the time jump, and Thor became the butt of fat jokes instead of examining his depression.

I agree that Hulk could have been done better, but Thor has a compelling arc. He goes through complete failure even though he did kill Thanos, and it shows the depths of his depression with how he is drinking and not leaving the house. Then his conversation with his mother helps him realize that he isn't happy because he has been chasing some ideal version of himself that he can't and doesn't want to live up to.

> Finally, the power levels were inconsistent, hurting dramatic tension, such as when Thor, who previously mortally wounded a six-stone Thanos with Stormbreaker was unable to even dent him with both Mjolnir and Stormbreaker.

Someone else in the thread has point out that Thor was very clearly out of shape and not at full power, while Thanos is not overconfident this time and probably in the best fighting shape of his life since he hasn't fully committed to his chair sitting phase.

For Ironman, he was fighting someone with one weapon that had a glaring weakness in Infinity War. Thanos had to be able to close his gauntlet to use it. So Tony exploited that at every opportunity. Without the stones Thanos had no armour or weapons to use against the best Ironman suit Tony had ever made. In Endgame, Thanos is in full combat gear and is not relying on a weapon with a weakness.


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

[User] ELI5: What does it mean if Russia leaves the 1987 nuclear treaty?

[Assistant]
It means they'll start testing new missiles and nuclear systems. The other parties to the treaty (most importantly the US) will probably start too.

If it happens, you'll probably start seeing an increase in military development projects from both sides, along with more sabre rattling. However, it won't go any further than that.


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

[User] ELI5: When and how did green generally get associated with positiveness, and red as negativeness?

[Assistant] It's hardwired. Red is the color of blood and bleeding, green is healthy vegetation. On a biological level, we don't want to deal with injury and we do want a healthy fertile landscape where food and shelter can be found. So we instinctively like green and dislike red.


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

[User] If someone is walking down the road, is the air around them moving to avoid the person, or are they more like a knife cutting through the air?

[Assistant] Both. By walking through air youre pushing the air infront of you into other air. This creates a bubble of high pressure air infront of you. As you leave your stationary position, you leave a vacuum where you once were and it is quickly full of air. So some air you push and some air you pull.


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

[User] ELI5: How does bluetooth actually work?

[Assistant]
Bluetooth works very much like your WiFi, by sending data wirelessly over a 2.4Ghz frequency, but there are 3 key differences:

* Bluetooth is designed to have low power consumption, and that's mainly the reason why its effective range and transfer speeds are both lower than with WiFi

* WiFi will today also operate on a 5 Ghz frequency, which typically means more data can be crammed in during transfer, but a worse range than 2.4 Ghz due to attenuation (loss of signal over a distance)

* Different protocols. A protocol decides how two devices are expected to communicate and tends to be designed for specific purposes. Since Bluetooth serves a different purpose to WiFi, it talks to devices and sets expectations in a different manner

There are different ways Bluetooth devices talk to each other (sometimes referred to as handshakes), but it looks something like this:

1. One device broadcasts a signal to discover other Bluetooth devices. Other devices may reply with their identifying information.

2. Form a connection between devices.

3. Connectivity is formed, and now devices can either talk, enter a low-power idling mode, or a few other modes.


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

[User]
ELI5: If FM is frequency modulation, then why does each radio station have a specific frequency?

I get that AM carries info by creating a sound wave with the contours of a (given frequency) wave's amplitude.  But if you modulate 93.7MHz, then it's no longer 93.7.  What am I not getting?

[Assistant]
each fm station has a primary carrier frequency. these carrier frequencies are separated from each other by 200 KHz. out of that only 150KHz is used for modulating the analog signal wave. this leaves a guard band of 50KHz to help prevent crosstalk.

so basically you have the station carrier wave, and then you add or subtract up to 75KHz from the carrier frequency to match the audio wave.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are pork and beef not called pig meat, or cow meat?

In German we're just saying it is "Schweinefleisch" etc, witch basically means pig meat. So why does the English language does have their own names for these kind of meats.

Edit: thanks for all the answers.

[Assistant] The names for the meats come from French, while the names for the animals come from Anglo Saxon. The usual explanation is that after the Norman invasion, the Saxon peasants raised the animals and so their names for the animals stuck in English. The Norman nobles ate the meat, and so their names for the animals became the English names for the meat coming from that animal.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Why does Ant-man retain absolute strength when shrinking but not when growing?

When Ant-man shrinks down, he essentially has super strength because his strength doesn't decrease proportionally to his size. But when growing, his strength increases proportionally to his size. (ie, he can lift 100 pounds when human or ant sized, but much more when giant sized.)

[Assistant]
I think, and this might not be canon anymore, that when Hank Pym shrinks, he isn't just losing mass, but also compressing the space between atoms, making himself much more dense. That extra density is what gives him his super strength in ant form.

When he grows, he's actually adding additional mass from an alternate dimension, similar to how the Hulk grows larger and Wolverine heals massive wounds. That additional muscle mass provides extra power when in giant form.


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

[User] [DS9/Voyager] How might events have turned out differently if the Defiant had accompanied Voyager into the Badlands and become stuck in the Delta Quadrant with them as well?

[Assistant]
Well, if the Defiant goes then thee are now three vessels to protect the caretaker including the Defiant, which would rip through the Kazon and drive them off.

Janeway may still be leery about leaving the array, in case the Kazon are able to come back and stop the self destruct, but if the Marquis ship is still destroyed (which it probably wouldn't be) then they can leave that or the Defiant behind with a self destruct running and head on home using the array's technology.

With the array self destruct running and a Federation ship on lock down and a self destruct running the odds of the array NOT being destroyed are tiny and so Janeway is happy enough to head home with a strange tale about Voyager's first journey. It all wraps up nice and neatly and everyone gets home in time for tea.

In fact, it's probably more of an extended tale for the Defiant crew, perhaps a way to introduce new character's into that show, rather than an adventure involving the Voyager crew. Perhaps for the Marquis' good behaviour a few of them get to transfer over to the Deep Space 9 station to serve their time being useful on this far away platform full of people who also hate Cardassians.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] When Vader says that the power to destroy a planet is insignificant to the force, he gets teleported to a planet with the Death Star powering up. Can he stop it?

Let's say after Vader lectures the room about how insignificant the Death Star is, Vader is magically sent to a planet and as he looks above him in confusion, he sees the Death Star slowly taking aim. Within minutes Vader knows him and the planet are going to go boom.

Time to back up his words, what does he do? What CAN he do?

[Assistant] The point was that, to the Force - a galaxy-spanning thing of immense power - the ability to blow up a planet is small potatoes. Whether or not Vader can personally do something isn't really pertinent to the argument.


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

[User]
[Dc Comics] Where does superman's motion stem from? Not how he can fly, but specifically what initiates the movement when he does?

So for instance the muscles in my back start the motion when want lift my arm up over my head. If he stopped suddenly, where would he feel a jerking motion?

[Assistant]
Two prevailing theories.

Firstly, he has a variant of TK- Tactile Telekinesis. Primarily exhibited in his clone, Superboy, it means he has telekentic abilities over himself and anything he touches. Superman's variant would likely have less conscious control over than his clone's, and he likely wouldn't be able to control it as finely as Superboy has displayed the ability to. He's flashy, Superboy is fine-tuned.

Another theory, never outright stated but often used, is that Superman has absurd control over his bioelectric field, using its interaction with the environment to propel him forward, even in space. The best example of this is probably All-Star Superman, where he's gained the ability to spread his biolectric field around another object (a satellite/space station) and propel it with him without touching it.


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

[User]
[Avatar TLA] Where did Guru Pathik come from?

He is apparently a non-bender with great spiritual insight. Which of the bending cultures is he from? He doesn't resemble any other characters in the show.

[Assistant]
You don't gotta be a bender to be spiritual. This is going a bit meta, but the chakras thing was developed in a world without bending, so in a world where you actually interact with spirits and spirituality it's entirely possible there's entire groups of people who have developed this view of the world.

If he came from any bending culture he may be descended from the spirit benders that may or may not have existed alongside the other elements.


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

[User]
Why are we so tired?

Almost everyone consumes some sort of stimulant (caffeine, coca, etc.) to be less tired but, why? Why are humans so tired? Do we sleep less than we should? Are our lives too active? Were the cavemen equally tired? Is it normal for an animal to be tired?

[Assistant]
There is FAR too much layman speculation in this thread.

Please, if you're proposing some ***idea*** about what a better sleep system is, or why we don't get enough sleep, we ***need*** to see some data to support that theory.


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

[User]
[General Superpowers] Can speedsters sleep faster as well?

For example, can Flash or Quicksilver get 8 hours worth of rest in a few minutes?

[Assistant]
I think the question should actually be "Can speedsters break their sleep into smaller increments?" If Speedsters can fit the equivalent of 8 hours sleep into 5 minutes that would imply that they need to sleep more often as well since their perception of time is faster and they experience a longer subjective period of time in a 24-hour day.

So at the end of the day a speedster would presumably still need ~8 hours of sleep per day, the question is whether they sleep in one long period once per day or whether they are better off taking micro-naps multiple times through the day.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is there more diversity in hair/eye colour of caucasions compared to darker coloured people?

Why is it so uncommon for darker coloured people to have anything but brown hair/eyes and what varies when it comes to caucasion people?

[Assistant]
ELI5: People need different traits for different climates. The genetic mutations that made it possible for people to have lighter skin in colder areas with little light, made it more likely that genetic mutations would occur in other coloring (such as hair and eye color). It was never beneficial for people in warmer/bright climates to have lighter skin, so they do not have the genetic mutations that make it possible for it to occur.

In cases where a blond person has children with a brunette, the genes for darker coloring are dominate so the brown eyed/brown hair parent has a better chance of passing their coloring to their child. Since people with darker skin usually don't have those light coloring mutated genes hanging around their gene pool, it makes it even more likely that light coloring won't occur.


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

[User] ELI5: When looking straight at a light, why does the shape of it stay in your vision?

[Assistant] When we see light, it enters through the pupil and shines onto the retina, the light-sensitive lining at the back of our  eyes. If a bright light shines on the retina long enough, the part of the retina its hitting becomes somewhat desensitized to light, so when we look away, the desensitized part doesnt immediately respond to the new input its receiving. This causes us to perceive a negative space in our field of vision thats in the shape of the bright thing we were just looking at until the affected part of the retina becomes sensitive to light again.


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

[User] ELI5:How does so much dust accumulate on fans? why isn't it just thrown off?

[Assistant]
Fans are electrically powered moving surfaces and so they contact a lot of dust in the air, way more than a non-moving surface like a wall . That movement also helps them build up a static charge that causes dust to sometimes stick to them harder than the wind that they generate can blow off. Eventually that dust can built up into a bit of a mat that isn't really smooth, and that just makes it easier for more dust that it encounters to lodge itself into place.

And fans that might be close to a kitchen or really dirty area might also hit suspended oil droplets from that fish someone fried, or other forms of slightly greasy dust that act like glue and really cement stuff on.


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

[User]
[LOTR] If Aragorn and Boromir were planning to head to Minas Tirith after reaching Gondor, why did Elrond not choose 11 people for the Fellowship so that there would be 9 people going to Mt. Doom?

Also was there any reason why 9 were chosen for the fellowship other than it sounded like a good number because the Nazgul had 9?

[Assistant]
It wasn't clear at the time exactly what path the Fellowship would take. It's possible they would have all gone to Minas Tirith, but obviously circumstances changed significantly by the time they reached Gondor. For all anyone knew at the outset, there still would be 9 people going to Mount Doom even if they went via Gondor.

No, there is no other obvious reason for that specific number. Elrond says "the Nine Walkers shall be set against the Nine Riders." As for why they didn't form a larger company, the smaller numbers would have given them an advantage in terms of speed and stealth.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is being transgender, and how can there be more than two genders?

I'm confused, do transgenders consider themselves to be another gender? I also saw people on tumblr saying how stupid it is to think there are only two genders. Thanks for the help!

[Assistant]
I'll attempt to provide some info on the second point. There's a difference between biological sex and gender identity. Your biological sex is assigned at birth based on biological characteristics, male or female. This is in most cases a binary, except in the case of individuals born with ambiguous sexual characteristics, often termed "intersex" individuals because their biological sex falls somewhere between simple "male" or "female".

"Gender" is socially constructed, meaning that we as societies and individuals determine what it means to be male or female. Behavior, appearance, dress, speech, all are examples of gender norms. Gender roles change over time and space, meaning that what it means to be a woman or a man means different things in different places.

People referring to there being more than 2 genders may be in reference to the idea that gender is fluid, or is kind of like a spectrum. People express their gender identity in shades- for instance, some women wear dresses, some women wear pants, some men are masculine, some men are less masculine- there are thousands of ways to express gender.


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

[User] [Pokemon] How does team rocket repeatedly survive falls from incredible height after "Blasting Off"?

[Assistant]
Don't they always have Pokemon that can float?

James started with his Koffing, correct? All he needs to do is release it, and they grab onto it, and it floats them down. Its as simple as using their pokemon.


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

[User]
(Star Wars: Clone Wars series) why does Sidious seem OK with all the attempts on Skywalker's life by Count Dooku and the Separatists? Is Dooku in the know at all?

Additionally, does Dooku know that Sidious is just using the Separatists?

[Assistant] The Sith take a very Darwinian view of apprenticeship. Why coddle Anakin when the whole point of cultivating him is to make him grow stronger so he can rule by your side? If Anakin was weak enough to be taken out by Dooku or the Separatists, Sidious would view that as evidence that he wasn't actually Sith material in the first place.


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

[User] Eli5: How can spacecraft determine their speed once out in space?

[Assistant] There are a number of ways, but one is by measuring the frequency of the radio signal it receives from Earth. The signal is sent at a precise frequency, but because the spacecraft is moving - normally away from earth - the frequency is 'doppler shifted' down - because between each peak in the radio wave and the next, the craft has travelled a little further away, so it takes a little longer for it to arrive. From this the craft can calculate the speed with respect to Earth, and as it knows, from its programming, where and how fast the Earth would be at this time, and the orbit it is in and what direction it is travelling, it can calculate its speed.


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

[User] ELI5:How does communication between two languages initially develop?

[Assistant]
Usually via description of similar objects. For example, Dog in English is Perro in Spanish. Even if an English person didn't know any Spanish, and vice versa, they could both learn and establish that this furry four legged creature currently wiping it's ass all over the rug because it has worms, is known as dog/perro.

Source: Goddamnit we just had Stanley Steamer over last week.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do the bottom formula1 teams perform much closer to the top teams when its raining?

[Assistant] Its less about the cars when its wet and more about the individual driver skill. So when the lower teams have great drivers like Fernando and Seb, then those guys will rise to the top. Rain is a great leveller as top speed and slippery cars dont matter.


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

[User]
Given an infinite time, what's the predicted end state of the universe? Will it be full of super-massive black holes?

My knowledge and understanding of physics beyond the Newtonian is negligible. I'm just curious if all stars eventually end up in a black hole will the black holes eventually combine due to their gravitational pull to reform the primordial atom?

Maybe this is a stupid question but I've just always wondered if the Big Bang is just the start of a really long (in human terms) cycle that's going to keep repeating.

Also, if anyone is interested - are there any scientific theories on where matter (the pre-big-band atom) originated from?

[Assistant]
The ultimate fate of the universe is still very much an open question. There are a few models that commonly considered and which of these models will come into play depends on the large-scale properties of our universe, such as its curvature, it's density and the presence and quantity of dark energy.

The most commonly assumed ending is the "heat death" of the universe, where it will continue to expand at an increasing rate and where at some point all the light elements that facilitate fusion in stars has been used up. With objects moving apart at increasing speeds due to the expansion of the universe, black holes will eventually evaporate due to Hawking radiation and the lack of new material to "consume". Eventually a cold and empty void will be all that is left.

Another alternative, which sounds much less bleak but is just as deadly, is the "big crunch". If the mass density of the universe is sufficiently high, gravity will eventually slow down and reverse the expansion of the universe and it will collapse back in on itself. As the universe contracts, objects interact more and the universe will heat up.

What happens after such a "big crunch" is speculation at best.


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

[User]
CMV: You don't owe anything to people who care about you.

I came across a conversation wherein someone told me how much they cared for me but all I felt was I do not owe you anything just because you care for me. Be it someone who's your parent or partner enquiring how you are or someone who's an acquaintance asking how are you doing. Just because they care about you doesn't mean you owe them anything. Them caring about you is out of their emotions towards you and you necessarily need not reciprocate to it. Is there an other side to this that I have missed?

Edit: I have been receiving abuse on my PM questioning my morality as well as my mental well being when all I looked for is an introspection into a questionable thought of mine. Request you all to keep it civil.

[Assistant]
Mostly agreed, but you can take this argument only so far before you end up in strange, if not unethical, places.

The key here is to realize that all people have a right to basic human dignity - meaning the right to not be hurt, harmed, or be considered of low to no worth if they don't do anything to hurt, harm, or degrade you and others outside the scope of *reasonable and/or proportionate* levels of defense, retaliation, and punishment.  In this case, you don't have the right to take advantage of their open-heartedness toward you. That's exploitation for one's unnecessary gain.  You also don't have the right to impose psychological harm against them by telling others they are through-and-through worthless outside the said scopes and beyond the said extents.  You also don't have the right to toy with their heart even for so much as cheap amusement.  What you do owe them is an honest but polite, carefully-worded assessment of the personal relationship between you two - meaning be honest but impose as little hurt on them as possible or reasonable.  Yes, they may be hurt, but minimizing the pain imposed will create a lot less bad in this world.


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

[User] [Assassins Creed] Which assassin from the Assassin Creed series has the highest kill count and why?

[Assistant]
Shay Cormac, before betraying the brotherhood, caused tens of thousands of deaths when he unwittingly caused an earthquake in Lisbon.

If we're talking target kills, probably Ezio. He was actively assassinating from 17 to well into his 60s.

If you're looking for direct kills, target or not, then probably Edward, who spent many years pirating the West Indies.


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

[User] ELI5: Why cant our devices simultaneously connect to 2 WiFi networks to provide an even faster internet connection?

[Assistant]
Fundamentally there is only the hardware available to talk on one frequency at a time. It can be adjusted to hop between channels but at any given time it needs to be on only one.

Conceptually you could use two sets of antennas and associated hardware to communicate over two separate channels at the same time, but you would need to use the same router to coordinate the transmission of information otherwise you would just be duplicating your effort. At this point we are proposing a heavily modified device on both ends of the process and it probably isn't even helpful because it is rarely the limiting factor in connection speed anyway.


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

[User] [Farscape] Just how fast is a starburst? If peacekeepers were successful at having starburst-capable carriers, would they dominate the galaxy without needing wormholes?

[Assistant]
>Starburst is able to increase the rate at which vast distances are covered by moving the Leviathan into one dimensional space-time. This changes the Leviathan's linear three-dimensional speed into an exponential one dimensional speed where by the distance covered during Starburst is a function of the time spent in Starburst. Starburst is extremely inefficient for short movements under a light cycle (the distance a beam of light travels in one cycle). Beyond a light cycle, the distance covered by Starburst increases rapidly. Unfortunately, the more time that is spent in Starburst, the more energy that is used. A Leviathan cannot generate energy fast enough to maintain Starburst, so energy is stored as low-energy (visible light) photons in the amnexus system for use during Starburst. Also, the direction in which a Leviathan travels depends on its entry vector into one dimensional space-time, but the information that makes up the entry vector is converted into a scalar value in one dimensional space-time, thus making the exit vector a completely random value. Because of this random exit vector, reverse navigation is not as simple as turning the ship around and Starbursting again. The ships pilot must replot an entirely new vector based on their current and previous navigational positions (the latter of which can often be pure speculation and intuition on the pilot's part). Lastly, the very high speeds which Starburst achieves makes it impossible to track a Leviathan through Starburst, due to Heisenberg Uncertainty. A pursuing ship only has the option of searching along the Leviathans last known vector, but without a precise knowledge of this vector, the track could be millions of metras off the Leviathan's true trajectory. This makes Starburst an effective and non-destructive defense mechanism.

I guess technically its more of a teleportation than it is ultra high speed.

But yes, one of the main points is getting this kind of tech into their war machine.


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

[User] [DC] Who pays for Superman's property damage?

[Assistant]
The insurance company if not you yourself.

Crazy shit happening is why insurance companies exist in the first place. Accidently burn your house down? Talk to the insurance company. Get in a car accident? Swap insurance info. Die unexpectedly? Hope you had life insurance for the family. A genius megomaniac took out his insecurities on the town? Sick the insurance company on him.

It's not like collateral damage by superhero is uncommon in the DC Universe. Same applies to Marvel. And like any other case, if insurance doesn't pay for it, you get to foot the bill.

That said, you can always sue the hero in the same way civilians sue each other over property damage. Ambulance chasers are a dime a dozen these days.

Oh and LexCorp probably has stakes in these insurance companies if they don't outright own them. So you at least have going for ya.


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

[User]
I believe that modern, mass media is biased, corrupt, and is only concerned with getting views. CMV

It has always seemed to me that the media is only concerned with views rather than giving it's viewers the whole truth, or any truth at all. I believe their selection bias makes people think this world is an awful place because they only choose to show the horrible/disastrous things that happen in the world. I always read stories about how some poor man's car was stolen or how two neighbors had a disagreement got in a fight yesterday, yet I hardly ever read about a that car being found and returned to it's owner or a neighbor helping another neighbor out. I believe this is because the the "happy" stories aren't very exciting to read and don't get very many reads or views. This is why I believe modern mass media is completely corrupt. If it makes any difference, I am from California. I would love for this not be the case, so please change my view!

[Assistant]
The problem isn't that the media wants "views". What else would media ever want? The only reason to broadcast *anything* is if you want a lot of people to see it.

The problem, if it exists, would seem to be that the media wants to get *paid* for views. But that's been the model of media pretty much for as long as it has existed.

Any time you get something for free on the internet, you are not the consumer, and what you're seeing is not the product. *You* are the product, and what you see is the means of production of that product. You get something nice, for free, because someone wants to pay someone else to buy your attention.

And any problem we have with the media showing us what we want to see is a problem with *us*, not with the media. You're complaining about the wrong actor in this play.


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

[User]
[Justice League Dark: Apokolips War] Why did Darkseid feel the need to do this?

Darkseid beats the Justice League and kills a lot of the heroes. For those that survived he dismembered their bodies and transformed them into cyborg organism made to serve him as an enforcer. For example, wonder woman entire lower body, forearms, part of her face and upper torso were all taken out and replace with machine parts.

Now, darkseid did not have to do this. He was perfectly able to brainwash batman into being his servant and kept him 100% organic, so why then would he transform these heroes? Logically, they would move better and more accustom in their original body that the cybernetic monstrosity he turned them into. Also, wonder woman durability i wager in her old body was probably better than her new body (assuming its made out of the same material used by parademons for their armor).

[Assistant]
As banal of an answer is it sounds, Dude just likes making cybernetic monstrosities.

He's a sadist, he's pretty unambigiously won, every major threat is crushed and he still has a massive army if something goes wrong. Why *not* make heroes into cybernetic monstrosities?


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

[User]
How much can boiling a pot of water raise the humidity in a building?

My question is because at my cabin that is heated by a wood stove it gets very dry and we always put a pale of water on the stove to counter act the fire. With out the water every time you walk around and you touch something you get a static shock. With the water on the stove it stops. I'm just wondering how much change a small bucket of water can make in a whole cabin.

[Assistant]
It takes a small volume of water to substantially increase the humidity of a reasonably sized room (ignoring losses of water to condensation etc.).

Example: to increase the humidity of a 20 m^(3) room by 50% at 20^(o)C, you'd only need to boil approximately 170 ml of water.

Of course the volume of water needed increases when the temperature of the room increases. For example, at 30^(o)C you'd need 300 ml of water.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does Paper get transparent if you rub it with fat?

[Assistant] This is because when fat is absorbed into the paper's pores, the grease-stained part of the paperwhich is normally white due to the scattering of light that shines through itallows less scattering, and the light passes through it, appearing darker in color and translucent.


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

[User]
How do you get different elemental properties from slight variations in the amount of electrons orbiting an atomic nucleus?

I never intuitively understood how you go from atoms to the actual elements, with all of their specific properties. How can the amounts of electrons in an atom determine the color, shape, conductivity, fluidity, etc. of an element?

[Assistant]
The electrons are the outer shell of an atom, and other than nuclear forces, the main thing that interacts with other atoms. Based on how many electrons make up the outer shell determines how many electrons it tries to interact with other atoms to get to a stable configuration.  How many holes it has to fill will determine how reactive it is to rip up other chemical bonds and create new ones, or how much energy needs to be added to make that happen.

Color is going to be determined by molecule size (or clusters)  compared to visible light. That size will be determined by the attraction of the electrons to the nucleus, and the electron pairings shared.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is all soap foam white, regardless of the color of the soap?

[Assistant]
Color can be made a few different ways. When sunlight goes through colored glass, some of the light doesnt get through and the color we see is the stuff that did get through.

A colored bar of soap is that color because when light hits it, some bounces off but not all of it, and we see the combined colors that did bounce off.

Soap bubbles work slightly different to both of these. Rather than absorbing any of the colors, they just sort of bounce the light off equally in all directions and that just looks like white. The surface of the bubble is mostly made of things in the soap that arent colored, and some water. So youve got barely any of the colored stuff in the bubble, and the way the bubble itself behaves with the light makes it look white.


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

[User]
Could Spiderman effectively wield a lightsaber?

Can his spidey senses be a substitute for the force?

[Assistant]
Well With proper training his enhanced reflexes would let him be a skilled swordsman.This applies lesser to any regular being though since there's nothing about a lightsaber besides it's inherent dangerous edge that prevents anyone from wielding it. General Grievous post-modification is a good example of this.

The difference where he'd lose out to a force user in combat though is his reflexes are limited to his natural senses. A force user is able to "feel" the world,emotions and energies around them in a way nothing else can replicate. So along with giving them enhanced natural reflexes they simply have more ways of being aware.This means against a properly trained Jedi/Sith he'd be heavily outmatched, and most likely lose.


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

[User] ELI5: What is Fascism?

[Assistant]
Fascism comes from the Latin word *fasces*, which is a bundle of sticks. While a single stick is easily broken, a bundle of sticks is much stronger.

Using the same line of thinking, fascism is a form of government which says "if our people unite into one group, like the sticks, we will be unbreakable." Usually, the people unite through nationalism (which is pride in their particular homeland).

Unfortunately what this means is that differences between the people are unacceptable because in order to be a good bundle of sticks they must all be the same. If you are from a different race, religion, political ideology, etc., you may be tagged as an enemy of the state because according to fascism, diversity is weakness.

Instead of democracy and voting, dictators easily rise to power in a fascist society because it's the government's job to tell its people what is wrong and what is right.


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

[User] Why are FM radio frequencies always listed with odd decimals (.1, .3, .5 etc instead of .2, .4, .6)?

[Assistant]
The RF spectrum was divided up into various bands for various uses by the FCC.  The band for FM radio transmission is 88 to 108 MHz.

From there there's a limit to how much information you can carry in an FM channel of a given band.  It turns out that having channels that are 200 KHz wide gives a good tradeoff between having lots of channels and having good quality, so that's what is used.

To divide the spectrum up into even parts without wasting any you start with 88.0-88.2, then 88.2-88.4, and so on.  This means that they're all even-to-even decimals.

The carrier wave in an FM transmission should be the center of the band, so for 99.6-99.8 you'd choose 99.7.  Since all bands run even-to-even the center is always an odd decimal.


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

[User] [Alien] For a universe with sentient androids indistinguishable from humans, long-term space travel, and off-world colonies; why do computers in the far future look so primitive compared to computers in 2020?

[Assistant]
Reliability and ease of manufacturing.

Energy is cheap and plentiful, and ships built by the lowest bidder have an operational lifespan measured in centuries. Things are built so that they will function continuously for *decades*, without regular maintenance or human intervention.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] In the regrettable event a deranged wizard goes on a public rampage, killing a significant number of Muggles before they can be stopped could such a major incident be suppressed?

[Assistant] If you'll recall, Sirius Black was framed for the massacre of a large group of muggles by Peter Pettigrew. The Ministry memory charmed all the witnesses and covered it up as a gas main explosion. Likewise, dragons and other highly dangerous magical creatures get loose all the time. They're usually caught before they can do too much damage, usually. Memory charms are a powerful asset in Wizarding secrecy.


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

[User]
[Mad Max 2015 game] what are your theories about where the oceans went?

Is there canon? The films could be set inland, so the freshwater could be gone but the seas remain, but in the game you clearly are driving around on the ocean floor, now turned desert.

Did the indo-australian tectonic plate get raised above sea-level? If so, how?

Did an a runaway type of technology convert the seas into something else, like hydrogen for fusion? Does that mean there's high-tech societies hidden out there like The Institution in Fallout 4?

Did aliens just suck them up because they're zany aliens?

Is mad max actually set in a mythological location, like purgatory?

What's going on??

[Assistant]
Legends state the ocean dried up, but that's literally impossible. The world apparently is just in the midst of a rampant greenhouse effect, but if it was hot enough for it to boil away we wouldn't be here.

As the legend of Max went on society became more and more tribal and isolated. The story of Max is somewhat limited to the remote Australian Outback, where many if those people have never seen the ocean. To them, under the incredible oppression of the desert sun, it feels impossible for a large body of water to exist. Since many never left their homes around the oasis and slave settlements many just assumed either they never existed or dried up. In reality the oceans are still there, the people of Australia's interior have never been able to get close enough to see it.


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

[User] ELI5: How come animals tend to fall asleep relatively faster than humans do?

[Assistant]
A lot of factors affect human sleeping patterns, of which animals don't experience.

* stress
* smart phone / computer screen affecting the brain
* caffein consumption near sleep time

things like that, you can even include existential crisis episodes while in bed, and the embarrassing shit your brain won't let you forget.


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

[User]
ELI5: How can cgi be used to cast objects on thin air like they do in football matches without the need of a green screen which is used in movies

My understanding of a green screen is that the green screen defines the cast space on which an image or a video is cast on. Any space which isnt green isnt detected as cast space. However in football they just cast stuff on thin air without the use of a green screen. How does that work..... cause movie makers spends LOADS making entire green rooms.

[Assistant] The purpose of chroma keying is preserving the foreground. The things that go *in front of* the screen are preserved and the shot being composited in goes behind them. In compositing overlays for sports broadcasts and such the overlay is *supposed* to be the "topmost" thing in the final shot. That's what it's there for.


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

[User] ELI5: why do faces get oily but no other skin like our arms and legs suffer the same greasy fate?

[Assistant]
A couple things

1) Face skin is different than arm or leg skin. Skin doesn't have the same uniform characteristics over the whole body.

2) Usually our bodies are covered in clothing that absorbs some skin oils. Usually our faces aren't.


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

[User]
Surviving a volatile coauthor

TL;DR: My coauthor thinks I am trying to force her off of a paper, and nothing I say/do at this point will convince her otherwise.  About 50% of our meetings are coauthor telling me what a bad coworker and bad collaborator I am, and me trying to pacify her.  How am I supposed to finish an assigned paper like this?

Long post, sorry.  This post is half vent, half call for suggestions.  I am in an academic STEM wet lab.  I was assigned to write a review along with a coauthor, who is a few years my senior.  As such, she was assigned the role of lead author.  To make a very long story short, coauthor has accused me early and often of trying to take over the project and force her out.  These accusations started almost immediately after the first meeting with the PI.  Before that meeting, I wrote out a rough outline of several possible sections/topics that we could cover in the review, along with the affiliated references.

As it turns out in our later meetings, coauthor RESENTED the fact that I had made an outline at all.  She brought it up multiple times as evidence that I was trying to just do things without her, despite the fact that I had placed it on a shared file that she was authorized to edit.  She even said things like "well you just went and wrote the whole thing already" and  "maybe we can't work together.  that's disappointing, I was hoping to prove that we could".  I was so confused.  I thought we were butting heads a little bit, and she thought that we were in an nearly un-resolvable conflict.  During one meeting, she told me "you write YOUR section, and I write MY section, do not dare do anything on my section.  Not everyone writes from an outline."  Of course, it's very hard for me to write "my part" and stay away from "her part" when she refuses to use an outline...

Things deteriorated.  In one meeting, she exploded at me and berated me for wasting her time, for having too much free time myself, for being a tyrant, and for manipulating her to not be involved in the work process.  Things got better for a while, and then she chewed me out, in  front of several people, for a trivial reason.  This was a blessing, because for once I got someone to take me aside and say "Don't worry, everyone knows that you aren't doing anything wrong" which was very helpful to convince me that I am NOT some manipulative bastard that coauthor viciously insists I am.  It also helps that someone else who worked with her on a similar project told me "yeah... we've all been there before with her." The level of antagonism is starting to become comical.  Recently, she sent me an email with snarky criticism of my writing style. Honestly, my first thoughts when I saw that email were "OK, that you might be right, let's see what changes you made to fix it".  She had made some minor word and phrasing changes.  The email she wrote criticizing me was longer and more extensive than the actual edits she made.

I don't know how much longer I can keep working like this.  I don't think anything I can say at this point will change her narrative of how I have been plotting to take over this paper from her since day one. About half of our meetings are just a string of accusations.  I also have no idea if she is feeding this narrative to my PI, and if I need to take defensive action to protect my reputation, or at least warn him that she pulls this shit sometimes.  From a distance, it looks like total author amateur hour, and I am not happy to have that be the first thing my PI sees me try to produce.  I know I am not perfect, and perhaps could have done certain things differently, but I really think this situation is past the point of reasonable behavior.

Edited for length, and to make some details intentionally vague.

[Assistant]
Keep the emails. Keep your head down, follow the lead of the lead author, and get the paper out.

Once it is over, bring in some of the emails and the draft attached and ask your PI how you could write better. It is imperative that you bring this to your PI as a learning moment for you but also allows the PI to know how the lead author treated you.

As a new scientist, you need honest feedback on your writing as it is the most important thing we do. Your coauthor is not able to give you that lesson so find someone who will.


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

[User]
Why is it that low-level languages like C are capable of dealing with system processes and higher level languages, like javascript, are not?

Forgive me if 'system processes' seems a little vague, I do not exactly know what the proper terminology is from an OS standpoint other than 'process'.

For example, Node.JS has http_parser built into it, which is written in C. In fact, Node.JS is built with both C/C++. As I understand it, this is because Javascript, native to the browser, is not easily capable of dealing with system processes, like reading files.

But then it turns out we need C to parse / request things via HTTP, something which is directly related to web-browsing, so why isn't Javascript capable of handling this itself?

Generally speaking, I am having difficulty understanding why some languages are capable of doing some things with your system and others are not.

I do understand some languages are by design much closer to machine code, but what I do not understand is why this merit gives them 'privileged' access to certain system processes and data.

Obviously I am not very familiar with computer science, any sort of ELI5 would help.

[Assistant]
Many operating systems are written in C/C++ or similar languages. If C/C++ could not do everything you wanted (and this doesn't mean doing things is easy), then no language could those missing things.

Javascript is meant for operating in a specialized environment (web). There isn't a theoretical reason why the language couldn't do special systems things.

The big divide is really if the language has a concept of native assembly language. If the language can't generate native code, then it must have native code generated for it (a runtime environment), which limits the language to the capabilities of that code.


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

[User] ELI5: What is the job of the air mashal? It seems most planes in movies have one, is there one on every flight?

[Assistant]
Air Marshals are basically the police on airplanes. Most planes don't have one. You (probably) won't know if they are on your flight or not.

I've been told that it is really a grueling and boring job. Marshalls fly on average 2-3 flights per day, and the majority of the time they are never needed or called upon. It's not what most people who signed p to be marshalls had in mind.


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

[User] ELI5: Why was the gold standard abandoned by the US (and many other countries)? What was wrong with it? What benefits did we get from the new system of currency (I believe it's called the Fiat system)?

[Assistant]
Tying the value of a currency to a fixed resource (such as gold) is inherently dangerous because it doesn't allow you to control the value of your currency.

Consider what occurs in the classic banana republic.  The government prints too much money and the value of that money collapses.  This creates a huge incentive for people to spend money immediately - if you don't spend it, it's value vanishes under an avalanche of inflation.

The reverse happens with the gold standard.  It encourages extreme frugality.  Because the amount of gold isn't changing (much) but the quantity/quality of goods and services is increasing, the gold standard tends to create *deflation*.  This might sound good, but when everyone is clutching their money as tightly as possible commerce ceases - which is also a big problem.

Through trial and error, we've determined that the best system tends to be slightly inflationary.  You're giving people a bit of a nudge to spend their money, but not enough of a nudge that they never invest in anything.  But to keep your currency in this ideal mildly inflationary zone, you can't link it to an unrelated commodity.


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

[User]
ELI5: How are the heights of mountains measured?

Before people had satellites and electronic methods.

[Assistant] It's called surveying. You stand in a spot, measure the angle of inclination when looking at the top of the mountain, the angle of decline looking at the base, and know the distance from it. Using trigonometry, you can calculate the approximate height. If you are far enough away you can use the curvature of the Earth when you cannot see the base (for explorers sighting things in the distance).


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

[User]
ELI5: how do finger prints know to grow into the same shape

A bit of back story: I cut off most of the skin on the top of one of my fingers including about 85% of the finger print. I noticed as it grows back layer by layer that the new skin is having no trouble regrowing the original design of my finger print.

  It made me consider that finger prints are probably encoded into DNA but it strikes me as such a chaotic shape to grow back as easily as it does. How does the body handle that, especially as easily as it does?

[Assistant]
Fingerprint are not in your dna.  They're in a fat layer under your top skin layer.  If you cut your finger deep enough to damage the dermis layer, your new skin will not have your old fingerprint.

Fingerprint aka the fatty layer pattern are set in place in the womb when the fetus is developing.   The random fluid movements in the amniotic fluid cause the fat layer to deposit in a random way just like if you threw a handful of sand on the ground.

Fingerprints are random, not unique.


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

[User]
[The Matrix] Aren't Neo and Trinity killing innocent people?

I watched *The Matrix* years ago and started to watch it with my son the other night. I was in and out and didn't see the whole thing so I don't know if there's an explanation and I missed it, but when Neo and Trinity storm the building to rescue Morpheus, they kill a whole bunch of ordinary security guards, then SWAT personnel. Aren't those regular people in their little battery cocoons thinking they're security guards and policemen? The agents are AI, I understand that, but aren't the non-agents regular people? When they get shot and thrown off buildings, they think they're dead, don't their actual bodies then die in real life?

In that same regard, the homeless man in the train station is "possessed" by Agent Smith, then presumably killed by the train. Smith walks out of the inside of the train, having jumped to another body. Since the homeless man believes he was killed in the matrix, isn't his body now dead in real life?

[Assistant]
Everyone answered your question, but here is a quote from Morpheus which addresses the issue as well:

The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.


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

[User]
Could billionaires eventually team up and legally "buy" countries to run them?

E.g. Greece went bankrupt a while ago. Since the country can't just disappear like a company, is there a possibility that billionaires will eventually give out private loans or even buy the country to run it?

[Assistant]
No. Countries are not companies.

It's certainly possible that a billionaire could fund a coup or other illegal means to seize control of power, but there is no legal mechanism to buy control of a country.


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

[User] ELI5: It is understandable that English is related to German, Dutch, Spanish, French and so on, so they fall in the same language family, Indo-European. How did Russian, Polish, Hindi, Persian and so on fall in the same group? Is it because of geographic location or something else?

[Assistant]
All Indo-European languages are descended from a single language which linguists have named Proto-Indo-European (PIE) which was spoken 4500-6500 years ago. Linguists first came to the realization that these languages were related in the 18th century, when Sir William Jones noticed that Sanskrit (and ancient Indian language and the ancestor of modern Hindi) bore a strong similarity to Latin and Greek. It is now widely accepted that a group of people (today called Proto-Indo-Europeans) migrated from the Caucuses outward to Europe and into Persia and eventually India. The same group of people also brought their religious beliefs (Hinduism/Greco-Roman religion/Norse religion/etc. all being derived from the same proto-religion)

The Indo-European languages all share similar grammatical features, as well as many cognates.


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

[User]
Why is there a trail of red light lagging behind a moving red laser?

Hey! So I was playing with my cat (of course), and noticed when I was moving his laser around quickly, there was a "trail" of light behind it. Why is this?

[Assistant] This has to do with the eyes having a limited time resolution (a frame rate, if you will, but not literally) and not with the laser leaving a trail. Light from different locations (along the dot's path) is reaching your eyes faster than they are refreshing.


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

[User] [Star Wars] When the Republic became the Empire, did Corusant citizens still have parties at nightclubs like in Episode II? Or did Clone/stormtroopers arrest everyone who was rich or having fun?

[Assistant]
I think you have been listening too much to New Republic propaganda. And lack some common sense.
Trade, business and manufacture were still very much the same as the Obsolete Republic before. People need food, clothes, and more, and that needs to be moved to where it is needed.
The Corporate Sector remained untouched, too.

Cracking down on fun would be huge waste of resources, and very bad PR. Especially when they are celebrating you. Not to mention impossible. Coruscant alone has over a trillion Citizens, after all.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why don't people feel the urge to swallow gum?

Since most pieces of gum are bite sized, it seems like something that people would swallow more frequently. Are we just trained not to swallow it? That's why people are more reluctant to swallow gum? Because I have to try to force gum down.

[Assistant] Yes, we are pretty much trained not to swallow gum. If you give young children gum, they will swallow it. They need to learn not to swallow it. And eventually the idea of not swallowing gum becomes so integrated in your mind, that you start finding it hard to because you are going against everything you learned.


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

[User] ELI5: Why amblyopia (lazy eye) cannot be surgically or anyhow treated at adulthood? I know that if treated properly at childhood that eye can function normally, but why is it hard to develop it later?

[Assistant]
The brain is naturally ~~lazy~~ efficient. If it's getting bad information from the opic nerve in the lazy eye, it'll choose to ignore and favor the good eye. As a person gets older, the brain may completely cut off information from that nerve, even if the lazy eye is fixed surgically.

You want to treat the lazy eye early before a person ages enough that the brain cuts off signal from the lazy eye.