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

[User] ELI5: Do we have any idea what is happening physically and/or chemically in our brains when we lose a "train of thought" and then are able to "relocate" it?

[Assistant]
Nice question! German medical student here, currently working in the field of cognitive neurology and memory consolidation:

While nearly everyone knows the feeling you described, it is also one of the symptoms very often experienced by parkinson patients and therefore there are several mechanisms in discussion. In general: Whenever an unexpected event occurs, it appears to clear out what you were thinking. This happens by strong neuronal activation of brain areas that are needed in order to perceive this event (It could be a sound, something you see or a new thought). This event is usually processed with stronger neuronal activation than the train of thought you had before and therefore has priority. Additionally "the brain" sends a stopping order (similar to the stopping of a movement) that leads to the disruption of your thought. Physically it is of course electrical activation of neurons and a chemical communication through synapses that leads to the experience of "thinking". All this is initiated by a structure  of the brain called the "subthalamic nucleus". It is also involved in some particular symptoms of Parkinson's - the inability to change focus easily as well as the inability to initiate motion.

Now, when you "relocate" your train of thought you usually use your short-term-memory. A stimulus can activate a spatial pattern of activity across neurons in a brain region. As these neurons fire they represent a certain information by "population coding" which functions as a memory trace. If you mentally go back in time and start to think, the same patterns are activated by similar/or the same neurons that fired before and you are able to relocate your train of thought.

You may ask yourself "why do we experience this in the first place?", because it is kind of annoying and useless. Well, it all comes down to attention and alertness: In order to react faster to an event (like a lion jumping out of the bushes or to react in road traffic) you need to overwrite your current perception with a new focus.

So i hope this was kind of comprehensible and helpful.


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

[User] f(x) = e^x, f(x) = sin(x) and f(x) = 0 are functions which arrive at itself again when derived (multiple times). Are there more such functions? Is this a relevant class of functions?

[Assistant]
You are looking for functions that satisfy the differential equation

> f^([n]) = f

for some positive integer *n*. For each *n*, this is an *n*th-order, linear differential equation. So the solutions form an *n*-dimensional vector space. In particular, there are only finitely many linearly independent such functions for each *n*.

The equation has constant coefficients, and so it can be easily solved. If *_n_* is a primitive *n*th root of unity, then the linearly independent solutions are

> f*_k_*(x) = exp(*_n_*^(k)x)

for k = 0, 2, 3, ..., *n*-1.

For n = 1, we get just e^(x). For n = 2, we get e^(x) and e^(-x). For n = 3, we get, after taking suitable linear combinations,

> e^(x)

> e^(-x/2)cos(3/2 x)

> e^(-x/2)sin(3/2 x)

For n = 4, we get e^(x), e^(ix), e^(-x), and e^(-ix). So after taking suitable linear combinations, we can get sin(x) and cos(x). If you are wondering where 0 fits into this, remember that, for any *n*, we can take linear combinations of such functions to get another such function. The zero function is a linear combination of *any* function.

You can then take it from there.

---

Also, as a side note, the English word meaning "to take the derivative of" is "to differentiate". So we don't say functions which arrive at itself again when derived", we say ".... when *differentiated*". While it's true that the nominative and verbal forms of "derivative" have the same root in many other languages, they don't in English for some reason.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does the USA subsidize the production of corn?

Update: Holy hell, I appreciate all he feedback from everyone. Ive tried to read about his subject a few time but I seem to have a hard time retaining information from all the different sources. Thank you all very much.

[Assistant]
1) In the 19th century, we found out through long and bitter experience that leaving farmers to the free market was a bad idea--the wild fluctuations of farm prices made it very hard for them to do business. And we liked family farms and thought their existence was important to our national well-being, independent of the food they produced. Down-home virtues and all that.

2) In the 1930s (the New Deal), the government stepped in to more or less run the market. It smoothed out the swings in prices and made it much easier for farmers to get by.

3) In the early 1970s, a bunch of factors combined to create shortages of some foods. Plus, inflation was making food in general more expensive.

4) The government changed its policies from smoothing out market swings to subsidizing maximum production.

5) These new policies favored BIG farmers, not the regular old family farms. "Get big or get out," said Earl Butz, Secretary of Agriculture. The family farm started dying and is now essentially dead.

6) Big farmers, like any other big organization, are bureaucratic, slow, and stupid. They weren't about to select the best crop for every acre. They could only plant one thing everywhere and call it a day.

7) That one thing was often corn, which is better suited to big, dumb agriculture than other crops (except soybeans, which are also suitable).

8) Because we had so much corn, we wound up finding new uses for it--corn syrup, cow feed that makes cows sick but who cares, ethanol, and whatever else. These uses were often subsidized because when a big corporation has a problem (in this case, corn they needed to sell) it becomes the government's problem.

9) So to review, the old-style farm supports had become subsidies for big agribusiness, and big agribusiness is too useless to do anything but the simplest thing--plant corn everywhere. (It also sterilizes the soil with herbicides and pesticides, then fertilizes it so the corn will grow. This is not a good idea in any larger sense, but it does simplify things).


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

[User] eli5 What does it mean to be "upside down" on your home loan and how does it happen?

[Assistant]
Imagine you buy a house for $100.  You pay $20 up front and take a mortgage out for the other $80... so you still owe $80.

After a few years you've paid down another $5, so you still owe $75, but in that time the housing market took a hit in your area and your house is only worth $70 now (nobody would buy it for more than $70).  Since you owe MORE than its actually worth... you're considered upside down on the loan.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How good IS Thrawn?

As a complete commander, including tactics, strategy, leadership, resource management, everything, just how good *is* Grand Admiral Thrawn?

[Assistant]
Thrawn is extremely competent, without being superhuman (ironic, since he's an alien).  His two biggest strengths are that he is careful at gathering subordinates who are competent (and listening to their advice) and is careful to gather vast quantities of information without giving up much.

These two factors combine to make him a frightening foe.  With information on his enemies, he is adapt at exploiting blind spots and weaknesses in their strategy, political schisms, poor commanders, or just basic military weaknesses.  He is also adept at manipulating his enemies.

With trusted subordinates, he has a lot more freedom to split his forces, allowing bluffs, pincher attacks, hit and runs, harassment, and general superior tactics - very similar to the ones that worked so well for the rebels.

Resource management, generally decent.  He doesn't needlessly waste materials, and his logistics are solid, but he's not some master manufacturer.


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

[User]
Do any animals other than humans like spicy food?

Especially since its a pain sensation rather than a taste, Ive wondered why humans ever came to seek spicy food.

[Assistant]
Spiciness, caused by the chemical Capsaicin, appears to be an adaptation of plants to prevent mammals from eating their fruit/peppers.  Birds, which are immune to Capsaicin, appear to be the intended consumer of these fruits, which is understandible considering they fly and can, thusly, disperse the seeds over a wider area.

As to why some humans have developed a fondness for Capsaicin, there's some evidence that Capsaicin inhibits bacterial growth and, in this way, helps preserve freshness in food.  Spicy food is less likely to make you sick than non-spicy food due to this quality.


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

[User] [MCU/Ben 10] If Ben Tennyson existed in the MCU what would be an appropriate starter set of 10 aliens and how would he fit into this continuity?

[Assistant] I guess asgardians can count as aliens for one, whatever Gomora is, skrull, kree, the thing guardians fought at the beginning of volume two, a celestial, frost giant, dark elf, mantis. He'd probably be treated like a Peter Parker style character.


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

[User]
CMV: There is no point in calling out your edit if nobody has replied to you.

All over Reddit, I see this:

>Yes that's a good point, I agree.

>Edit: spelling

....but nobody has replied to them. What's the point of calling out your edit in this case?

I understand why you'd call out an edit if people have replied to you pointing out the spelling error, so you're acknowledging the correction so they don't look wrong. But if nobody has replied to you, why call out the edit?

The only answer I've ever seen when I ask is, "So people know what I edited and don't think I was being dishonest and changing something significant."

But if you were being dishonest, you could also just lie about what you edited, so still, calling out your edit doesn't accomplish anything. Either people will see that you edited the post and trust you that you didn't change anything significant, or they will think you are being dishonest. If they think you're being dishonest, they will just assume that you are being dishonest in what you claimed to edit, too. You *could* significantly change your comment and lie and say "Edit: spelling" all the same.

So what's the point of it?

[Assistant]
When you edit a post, it gets a little \* next to it, indicating it was edited. If someone subsequently replies, it allows other readers to see that your edit didn't change anything to which the replier has replied.

In addition, if you write a post and then start editing before any replies appear, it might get replied to while you are drafting your edit.


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

[User] ELI5: Is there a reason that only uranium and plutonium is used in nuclear weapons? Could other radioactive elements be used just as easily?

[Assistant]
Nuclear engineer here.

These elements are chosen because they are fissile.

Fissile materials have the special property that they can have a self sustaining chain reaction on their own.

There are many elements which can fission, but only heavy elements release energy when they fission, and only a small number of these heavy elements can have a self sustaining chain reaction, and only 2 of these elements are accessible/available for use (uranium and plutonium).

It actually has nothing to do with radiation. Uranium and Plutonium are actually very weak radiation emitters and can be held in your hand with no deleterious effects (they are more toxic as a heavy metal than they are dangerous as a radioactive material). Radiation does not cause nuclear fission reactions, however nuclear fission reactions do cause radiation, and also generate radioactive waste which emits even more radiation.


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

[User]
I am sorry if this is inappropriate to ask but are PhD salaries enough to sustain your living?

I am so sorry if this is inappropriate to talk about but especially in the US, are PhD salaries enough? If this is inappropriate, just tell me and Ill delete the post.

Or do I might need a second source of income?
And if so, how would it be with the visa? I think 20hrs/week is given by visa and would just working in the uni be enough?

And for other countries, how is the situation there? Please answer the question just depending on PhD salaries and no other source of income (no family backup etc).

Ive been hearing PhD salary wont be enough for you to live your life there(being the US), you need another income; you cant afford going there etc so I thought Id ask for people who have experienced this.

Edit: I reaally really appreciate your answers! You dont have to write down the numbers, or the city, area you live in. I just want to get an idea of living abroad and studying PhD. To be more clear about your answer, Id appreciate if you say I live in a coastal area; I live in a big city; I live in rural areas... and Id appreciate if your salary is enough or not. I know it depends on certain things but I just want to get an overall idea. Thank you so much!

[Assistant]
It can depend a bit on field and where the school is. In general, if youre getting a salary from the school, its intended to be enough to live on, but, especially in big cities with a high cost of living, it can be a bit short. It may mean living with a lot of roommates far away from campus to find an affordable rent, or living on cheap food, or needing family to pay for a trip home.

In many cases, a second job isnt allowed. A PhD student is being paid, in large part, to focus on their research, so a second job would be a conflict.  When the PhD salary isnt enough, some people take out loans, and the truth is that a lot of people make up the gap with a little help from their family (which, obviously, is a problem for people whose families cant afford that).


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

[User]
[World War Z book] how long is the reconquest of America going to take?

The book describes the US government regrouping on the west coast and building a war economy in order to take back the country.

How long is this going to take? Ten years? Twenty?

Will people's grandchildren still be fighting zombies?

I think the problem with America is that it's way too big. By the time the government can reach the East coast there is going to be hundreds of small kingdoms already running all over the place besides the zombies.

Also, the book describes the first battle against the zombies as a British style square where soldiers shoot until they are walled inside mountains of corpses.

Is that really the most efficient way to take zombies out? Hundreds of soldiers means a lot of food, ammo and fuel for their vehicles.

I would have rigged abandoned cars with fog horns and TNT. Once a sizable horde shows up just make it explode remotely.

[Assistant]
Zombies are going to be a fact of life *forever*; all it takes is one wandering out of a cave or onto a beach to start a local incident, and if the initial response is botched you can have a big problem on your hands in short order. Constant vigilance becomes the price of civilization.

RE: Car bombs, you're going to liquify the closest zombies, leave the surrounding zombies maimed, and the ones behind those intact.  Assuming you wait for maximum density around the bomb, the ones in front serve as a meat shield for the ones in back, protecting them from blast and fragmentation.

Fighting squares aren't glamorous or fancy, and if a square breaks the body count is atrocious, but they get the job done. Each Z gets a headshot, no muss, no fuss, no combing through a pile of shredded long pig to find the Zs that just have fractured spines or torn-off legs.

Independent kingdoms? That's what the tanks are for. Any survivor community that doesn't want to play ball gets an object lesson in combined-arms warfare that they are not equipped or trained to cope with.


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

[User]
Why do prisons exist?

Today I remembered some middle-school philosophy teachings about John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau; and I've been wondering about the perspectives of each of these philosophers on various prison-related issue.

The first issue is that of prison as an institution. I was thinking Locke with his concept of a "blank slate" and Rousseau with his idea of society corrupting individuals would view prison as a rehabilitative measure--something that would encourage one to see the error in their ways, or provide them with time away from the corrupting influences of the outside world. Hobbes, who views people as inherently good or bad, would instead see prison as a permanent residence for evil folk, so that they can be prevented from committing any more heinous acts on innocents.

I was also thinking about how the justice system (in the US) currently works and which parts of it align with which of the three philosophers. I think the most extreme sentences--like the death penalty and life in prison--are most in alignment with Hobbes, as they assume the person is wholly bad and cannot possibly be recovered in any meaningful way. Lesser crimes with lighter sentence are more in alignment with Locke and Rousseau (in my opinion), as these are more temporary measures intended to bring about changes in behavior.

 I have a couple of unanswered philosophical questions from these three perspectives:

What if a person in prison permanently loses all of their memories? Are they still liable for their previous but forgotten criminal actions?

What if a hacker loses their fingers while in prison? If their primary means to commit crimes is no longer available to them, should they remain in prison?

A common phrase that former convicts use is "I've paid my debt to society." This phrase suggests that a criminal act is like a loan that is to be paid off in the form of a prison sentence. How does this viewing of the prison system as a societal transaction agree/disagree with these three philosophers?

[Assistant] An accurate answer to the question of why prisons exist will have to take into account not only modern attempts to provide philosophical justifications for their existence, but also an account of the history of their formation and the ideological conditions that brought them into existence. Probably the most famous work of philosophy dealing this this question is Foucault's *Discipline and Punish*, but an even better place to start would probably be Angela Davis' *Are Prisons Obsolete,* which builds on Foucault while being more accessible and more US focused (you mentioned the US justice system).


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

[User] ELI5: How did they determine the weight of the Earth, and other bodies in the Cosmos without a scale?

[Assistant]
The weight of the earth was determined by first measuring the force of gravity between two 1-kilogram weights (Henry Cavendish performed this experiment in the 18th century).  From there, you can measure the force of gravity on any object to determine the mass of the Earth, and if you know that, you can calculate the mass of the Sun from it's gravity, which lets you calculate the mass of the other planets.

For other stars, it's just estimation.  If they're close enough to another star, you can use the observed gravity to calculate one or several possible answers for their masses.  You can get an idea of what a star is made of and how dense it is by the light it emits, so with enough examples it's possible to get pretty good estimates just based on the size and color of the star.


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

[User] ELI5: How does the 'good bacteria' in Yogurt or Sauerkraut survive gastric acids? what percent of it is alive before reaching the gut?

[Assistant] The bacteria in question have adapted to live in acid environments and even make their environments sour in order to kill off other bacteria so they can consume all the nutrients. So they have an easier time getting through the gastric acid then most bacteria. And you are right that the gastric acid is not fully efficient and some bacteria will get through. It is hard to count these and there are a lot of variables involved. But some bacteria might be in a clump of yoghurt that does not dissolve before it goes straight through your stomach. Or the bacteria might be able to hide in the crevices of the musli you eat with it. On the other hand adding sugar or grain to the yoghurt before eating it can get the bacteria to come out of hibernation and take down their protective shell making them less resistant to the acid. But the stomach is not the only thing protecting you from bacterial infections. The existing gut flora will attack any new bacteria. So when the stomach acid have gotten rid of most of the bacteria the rest will be easy for the gut flora to handle. So even though yoghurt might help replace a weak gut flora we would not expect it to have any effect on normal people.


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

[User]
Is it possible to use multiple satellites across space to speed up space communication?

Reading about the Webb teleacope amd it sending info back at 25mb a sec, i was thinking abput if it were possible to put satellites throughout space as relays. Kinda like lighting the torches of Gondor. Would that actually allow for faster communication?

[Assistant]
The area you probably want to look into as part of signals and systems is Shannons Theory. It states that you can trade signal power (or strictly signal to noise ratio, SNR, which is effectively the same as power as long as the noise floor on the channel remains the same) for bandwidth.

As signal power drops off with distance, it follows that for a given broadcast power at a certain distance, with a given noise floor, there is a bandwidth limit. Adding relays that rebroadcast at the same power but closer to the telescope could help as the reduced distance effectively reduces the SNR but because space is hard we dont do that as orbital mechanics says we cant have satellites orbiting (stably) at different altitudes moving with the same orbital velocity.

So in some sense you are right. In fact sub-sea fibre optic cables use this very principle to ensure good SNR and thus maximise bandwidth. They have repeaters every so often powered from copper wires inside the fibre bundle to retransmit the signal.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is the vertical axis represented with a Y and the horizontal axis with an X and not other letters or symbols? Does it have any history or reason to be?

[Assistant] From wikipedia: The axes may then be referred to as theX-axis andY-axis. The choices of letters come from the original convention, which is to use the latter part of the alphabet to indicate unknown values. The first part of the alphabet was used to designate known values.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do we feel relief after we hit or break something when we are mad?

[Assistant] Aggressive reaction syndrome (ASR). It is commonly found in primates and is a response of the enlarged amygdala. When we get angry it's essentially the amygdala taking over and telling the brain it's time to get physical and assert ourself. Since we're social animals with complex hierarchies it's important to show others that we're strong and capable.


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

[User]
[The Culture] How would the Culture react to Dr. Manhattan?

Let's say some roaming GSV wanders across the Big Blue himself sulking on Mars or something. How would it proceed? Would such an anomaly be a bit under the pay grade of SC, or would he be something worthy of an Excession title?

[Assistant]
Very much an Excession. His ability to teleport alone would make him an object of extreme interest, and his 'outside the frame of reference' in regards to time would make him too valuable to leave alone, only to be picked up (or manipulated) by some podunk 3rd level (or worse, an equiv-tech) civ.

SC would most definitely be in play, as his powers go beyond "an interesting anomaly" and into the realm of potentially upending the power balance of the galaxy. And if subtle cajoling, manipulation, or outright controlling doesn't work, they'd destroy him.


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

[User]
CMV: Removing or changing Apu in The Simpsons isn't constructive to South Asian stereotypes

This post stems mainly from the developments around Hari Kondabolu and his view of Apu (in essence, for those unaware, he made a documentary called "The Problem With Apu", where he and a bunch of guests talk about their experiences of Apu and how it affected them). He talks about the fact that Apu should be made less of a stereotype and given more character development e.g. via getting ownership of the Kwik-E-Mart, as well as not having racist undertones e.g. Hank Azaria voicing him, being replaced by a South Asian actor instead. Also worth pointing out here and now (not that it should change anything) that I'm also of South Asian ethnicity, living in the UK.

So my view is this: focusing on the "Apu problem" entirely misses the wider point on racism and stereotypes. Almost every character on The Simpsons is satirical, being an exaggerated version of a real-life archetype. But we aren't having the discussion about the "Fat Tony/Luigi problem" or the "Groundskeeper Willie problem", or the "Bumblebee man problem". The list goes on basically forever. So why is that? Maybe it's because those are coming next. But I'm thinking it's because (to use the Fat Tony/Luigi example) other archetypes have representation in a non-caricatured way in popular media (or at the least, in a more varied way - think "The Sopranos"/"The Godfather" for more gritty representations, through to "Happy Days" for benign comedy). South Asians, on the other hand, have very few. When Apu first appeared on screens, there was virtually no other representation; nowadays, there are more actors representing (e.g. Kal Penn/Aziz Ansari/Mindy Kaling). Even so, the characters tend to be either outright plays to the established tropes, or in comedy roles. It's also relatively unusual to see South Asian actors/actresses on screen in roles that don't showcase their ethnicity.

So, in essence, my view is this: Apu is a caricature on a show full of caricatures. The reason we get racist slurs as a minority (the standard "thank you, come again" etc.) is because there is little to no representation outside of comedy, as with other ethnicities/populations. Removing Apu/editing him serves no purpose here, and misses the point of The Simpsons; the way to improve things is to make characters that aren't just ethnic props. CMV.

Edit: Woah this got a lot more attention than I expected! Thanks so much to everyone for keeping it civil. I'm falling behind on replies, but will try and get to you all eventually.

[Assistant]
You argument is very haphazardly explained. Basically is it this: Apu is not a problem because the racist slurs it raised against Indian-American children in the 90s and 00s was really due to a lack of other (better represented) Indian characters on TV?

Well how can Apu cause stereotyping if Apu didn't exist? Grade school children don't regularly interact with many bumbling Indian convenience store operators.


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

[User]
ELI5: why does plastic dishware (Tupperware) not dry in the dishwasher as well everything else ?

Every time I open the dishwasher everything is dry except for the plastic containers we take for lunch etc. Why is this?

[Assistant] Generally speaking modern dishwashers dry things off with a heating cycle, which needs to be gentle enough not to damage anything, but still drive off moisture. Your plates and cutlery being metal, ceramic, stoneware, etc... get pretty hot (as you might notice if you try to unload the washer immediately). Essentially the water is cooked off the surface, but plastic and the like are terrible conductors, and don't do the same job.


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

[User]
[MCU] How far apart is Titan from Earth?

Tony, Strange and Peter didn't spend an awful lot of time in the spaceship which doesn't seem to be traveling at FTL or wormhole. Likewise, the bifrost beam that carried Banner also seemed pretty slow.

[Assistant]
It isn't addressed on-screen, but Word of God is that Guardians of the Galaxy takes place in the Andromeda Galaxy, so that's probably where Titan is.

That's about 2.5 million light-years away, so ... yeah, there's doing some FTL travel.


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

[User]
ELI5: Is it possible to heat up an object by playing a loud enough sound? If so how loud would it need to be?

[first post in reddit] Going on the basis that sound is a wave of vibrating particles and when particles vibrate they heat up. Could you get the object to vibrate enough due to the sound to heat up? How loud would this object then need to be?

[Assistant]
It's not a matter of volume (amplitude), or frequency really, it's "total sound energy". Higher frequencies can deliver more sound energy at a given volume, so the choice to be louder or higher-of-pitch depends on the immediate goal (e.g. what exactly you are trying to heat).

So there are lots of "ultrasound" medical devices and some are designed specifically to deliver heat to deep tissue.

And "ultrasonic humidifiers" add _heat_ to water without raising its temperature in order to create that "cold mist". This one is particularly tricky to understand since most people think heat and temperature are the same thing.

So the truth is that _all_ sound delivers _some_ heat energy to everything it touches. How much is delivered and over what area is a whole bunch of math.

There are some good articles and youtube movies available if you google "sonic heating" and "Thermoacoustic".


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

[User] Why do the Mars Rovers move so slow?

[Assistant]
I want you to imagine you have a car, which you can only control via remote, and there's a 7 minute time delay between you sending it an instruction and it performing what you want it to do. Also, you've only got a few cameras strapped to it for you to survey the area. And the area it's in is a completely unconditioned off-road surface. And in the back of the car you've got $2,500,000,000 worth of breakable glass. And you really really want the thing to still be working in 10 years time. So hopefully that explains the caution aspect.

Also, you're trying to move about one ton of material with a 110 watt power supply.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do water temperatures feel different before, during, and after swimming?

You get in the pool and the water feels cold. Then you get used to it and it no longer feels cold. Then its time to get out of the pool and it feels warmer in the water than it does outside. I dont understand.

[Assistant]
Your body can only sense the difference in temperature, not the actual temperature like a thermometer.

You can try this out by having 3 bowls containing warm, room temperature, and cold water. Put one hand in the warm water and your other in the cold water for about a minute. Then move your hands into the room temperature water.

The hand in warm water will feel cold while the hand cold water will feel warm despite the fact that your hands are in water of the same temperature.

The same happens at the pool. Your skin temperature is normally higher than the water temperature. When you first dip in, your skin feels the huge temperature difference and it feels cold!

But over time, the skin's temperature adjusts to the water's temperature and you don't feel any difference. You still have to move around and generate more heat from playing and swimming. Remaining stationary in cool water can lead to hypothermia as water can remove heat faster than air.

Getting out of the water feels cold because of evaporative cooling, the same effect where sweat cools you down. The pool water on your skin starts to vaporize and carry heat with it, cooling the skin. If you get back in the water, it stops this effect, making you feel warmer. Drying yourself off also stops the evaporative cooling and can also make you feel warm despite no changes in air temperature.


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

[User]
Is it possible for genotypes to "converge" over time, as phenotypes sometimes do in different species?

I used to be a docent in a museum, and one of my favorite things to point out on tours was a set of ichthyosaur fossils next to a picture of a dolphin skeleton, showing convergent evolution.

I understand convergent evolution on the phenotypic level, but I never really thought about what's going on genetically. After so many random mutations in the genetic code, is it possible for the genotypes of different organisms to "converge" like this over time? Or is that really what underpins convergence on the phenotypic level?

Another part to the question: we hear a lot of comparisons of genomes between species, like how we share "X.X%" of our genetic code with bananas, chimpanzees, etc. I was wondering if it's possible for convergence on the genetic level to confuse our phylogenetic analyses in a way that would make us believe two species are more closely related than they truly are.

[Assistant]
While it would, in theory, be possible, it is extremely unlikely. For a certain phenotype there are loads of different combinations of mutations that could give rise to it. For example, say a certain nutrient needs to be digested more. It could be that the enzyme that digests it is mutated so it's more efficient. It could be that a different gene which upregulates this gene becomes more expressed, or a gene that downregulates it becomes less expressed, etc.

Not to mention that different species have different genes to begin with, so the changes that are necessary will also be different, since even the same mutations have different effects.

In fact, this difference in genes is usually what can clue us in to whether a feature evolved before or after a genetic split. If, say, two related species are both poisonous, but the gene(s) for that poison is different (not just the same gene with a couple of mutations) then it is likely that the poison evolved separately in each species, after they split from their last common ancestor.


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

[User]
[MCU] So what exactly stops Tony Stark's armors from getting confiscated by the government?

I know that they (kind of) answered this question in Iron Man 2, but ever since I watched Civil War, I was wondering that if the governments of the world were so concerned about The Avengers, wouldn't they just create some new law or some trumped up charge to just take away Tony's suits(Or Ant-Man's suit, or Hawkeye's bow and arrows, or Black Panther's costume, etc)?

[Assistant]
They could probably take away the gear of Ant Man, Cap, Widow and Hawkeye. They're just agents after all.

No go for Tony or Black Panther though. The world runs on money and power. That's something that Tony and Panther have quite a lot of. Tony is ahead of basically everyone in technology. Tony supplies the entire US government all their best stuff. He's too rich and influential to be stopped without causing huge problems for the government as well, since they depend on him so much. They want to control him, and influence him, of course. But to stop him? That's not possible.

Panther is the prince/king (not sure) of Wakanda. That's a separate country altogether, not only that, Wakanda is literally the most powerful country in the world. They have all the world's vibranium. They have the best technology. Wakanda is stronger than America by quite a bit, so their government has no say in what the prince/king of Wakanda can or cannot do.


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

[User] [DC] Is the Joker actually happy doing all these horrible things, or does he do it because he's done far too much to just back out now.

[Assistant]
He does so because he finds it funny.  That said, in moments of lucidity, its clear that Joker has absolutely no illusions about who or what he is.  These moments, however, are few and far between; not nearly often enough for an in too deep mindset.

The underlying psychology is as multiple-choice as his past, ranging from one bad day to medium awareness.


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

[User]
ELI5- Why do cellphones that are very small seem to have specs that rival much larger PCs?

I'm not saying top end PCs, but a lot of cell phones seem to have incredible specs in such a small package, 8gb ram and processors at around 3ghz?, in such a tiny device? How is that possible? The only thing I don't think they have is Graphics cards, is there a difference in 8GB of cell phone RAM and 8 GB of PC RAM? Or 3ghz in a cell phone vs 3ghz in a computer? Are they actually on the same scale?

[Assistant]
The ram is roughly the same as in a PC, but mobile processors are far less powerful.

The GHz of a processor just tells you the cycles per second, but not how much work is done by each cycle. Imagine you've got a kid with a spoon and a bloke with a shovel, both digging once per second; they're both going at the same 'speed', but going to shift vastly different amounts of dirt.


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

[User]
[Rick and Morty] Rick's memory plothole?

During the events of the Evil Morty episode we find Rick crying over baby Morty. Yet in the season 5 finale, we see that he meets Morty for the first time in Season 1 when he crashes his ship into his house. So where did that memory come from?

[Assistant] Just because Rick met *a* Morty doesn't mean that he met the Morty we see in the show. Rick C-137 killed a lot of Ricks, maybe one of them happened to be around their young grandchild. We know that Rick at one time of his life thought that living with alternate versions of Beth was weird but Rick has also seen enough Ricks and Beths to know about Froopyland.


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

[User] ELI5 Why does the hair on my face grow so much faster than the hair on my head?

[Assistant] I would suggest it is more likely that the growth of facial hair is simply more *noticeable* since it is often shaved clean off and the reappearance of stubble is quite obvious. It's also generally shorter, so equal amounts of growth contribute more noticeably to the whole of facial hair, where it represents a greater portion of the overall length.


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

[User] ELI5: Despite having 150+ songs on a playlist (iTunes, Spotify, etc.), when I listen on shuffle it seems like the same set of ~20 songs play. Why does this happen?

[Assistant]
You're not crazy.
I can't find a source atm, but i recall reading that when Apple was first developing the iPod a common complaint about the shuffle feature was that it wasn't "random" enough. In fact, the original version *was* random, or as pseudorandom as possible.

They reworked the shuffle function to weigh highly played / recently added tracks more than seldom played / old tracks, so the songs you love most or just discovered got played first. This rework tested much better with focus groups, and is the version released.

i wish i had the article though...


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

[User] [MCU] how did Bruce Banner survive the fall onto the Bifrost Bridge?

[Assistant]
Death isn't instant. It's not like a switch that just turns off, it's a gradual process. So when Bruce landed, he likely would have died in the coming seconds.

But he transformed into the Hulk sooner than he died, which comes with physical regenerative abilities. In fact, the Hulk's desire to live can outspeed the process of death, as we've seen with Banner's suicide attempt.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do some countries still struggle to make nuclear weapons?

We hear pretty often than Iran is attempting to enrich uranium and make nuclear weapons. The same has been said of some other countries and there are countless other nations that would like nuclear weapons but cant make them.

How is this the case when this is 80 year old technology at this point? If we could make them in 1940, shouldnt even technologically behind the times countries be able to make their own now? Was 1940 America really more scientifically capable than large African or middle eastern countries are today?

[Assistant]
Its not a matter of scientific difficulty, the process is well known and you can look it up online.

The difficulty is mostly in procuring the materials and equipment against the will of the international community.

You need enriched uranium and a large number of centrifuges to refine it to weapons-grade, but these arent easy to come by.

When your geopolitical enemies embargo these items and dispatch spies to disrupt the process, youre forced to procure equipment through other unsavory channels and try to do this work in secret.

Iran has a lot of very powerful enemies and very few friends, and they cant just go buy nuclear weapons equipment.


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

[User] This may be a dumb question, but how does a Lion know he can kill me, but a duck doesn't?

[Assistant]
Lions have evolved to have the instinct to attack certain kinds of prey or in certain situations where they feel threatened. Humans are relatively slow and defenseless on their own.

Ducks actually can be aggressive, but they have evolved to fear larger animals which they sense to be a threat.


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

[User] [Friday the 13th] I've never been to camp before, and I have some concerns; I'm 17-years-old, don't drink, don't do drugs, and am a virgin with no intent to ever have sex outside of marriage. I should be fine, right?

[Assistant]
Are you:

a) insufferably smug about all that and constantly moralising at your peers?

b) black?

If a then you're probably the second or third person killed. If b you might be lucky enough to make it to the middle of act 3.


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

[User] [Avengers: Infinity War] If the Soul Stone has "a certain wisdom" that it uses to judge sacrifices, does that mean it has a mind of its own? Could that mind be manipulated with the Mind Stone?

[Assistant] No, that would not seem to be the case. The MCU hasn't exactly made it clear what the distinction is between their definitions of "mind" and "soul" is, so one could have wisdom in one, both, or neither for all we know. Since we get confirmation that the Stone has a soul ("a soul for a Soul") and none that it has a mind, it makes more sense to assume that this wisdom Red Skull is talking about is a trait of souls rather than minds.


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

[User]
[Marvel] How do Celestials feel about Omega level mutants?

Is their existence indicative of success for the celestials. Do they consider psychics like Jean when bonded to the phoenix force or reality warpers like legion a threat. Or do they view them the way we view insects? Im especially interest in how much value they place in storm considering the inherent nature of her abilities.

[Assistant]
Honestly, in most cases, they're powerful enough that "omega level" doesn't really much to them- to a Celestial, Legion, Storm and the guy who can grow tiny spikes out his hand are at roughly the same power level.

To quote another incredibly powerful being regarding a very similar topic, "the world's smartest man means no more to me then the world's smartest termite".


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

[User]
When fossil fuels are forming, what makes the dead stuff become oil vs coal vs other fossil fuels?

Is it the type of organism deposited? The conditions? How does this work?

[Assistant]
The process of transforming organic matter into hydrocarbons is controlled by 2 main effects: temperature (itself controlled by depth) and the composition of the organic matter.

In the case of marine sediments, the majority of the organic matter is derived from plancton. In this case, thermal maturation results in a process called catagenesis, whereby the organic molecules are progressively streamlined and shortened as temperature goes up. At first, assorted radicals are flushed out and replaced by simple hydrogen. Further along the process, long chains and cyclic molecules begin to break down into alcanes; this point would correspond to the oil window where liquid crude is produced. Further along yet, alcanes break down into progressively shorter molecules and result in natural gas (gas window). Beyond this point (about 2 km), the hydrogen bonds become unstable and the organic matter "cooks itself" into mineral carbon species (graphite).

In the case of continental deposits, the majority of the organic matter comes from trees, moss and peat. This flora has an overall different bulk chemistry, in large part due to the abundance of lignin. So this stuff matures into coal following a similar progression from peat, to lignite to bituminous coal to anthracite.


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

[User]
ELI5: With the Neanderthal genome sequenced, how can scientists bring one back into existence?

My understanding is that multiple full Neanderthal genomes have been sequenced.  I have wondered for a while whether or not it would be possible to bring one back into existence, possibly using a human as the surrogate mother and viruses to modify human eggs and sperm.  Has this been discussed before?  Is it possible in the near future? What is the likely scientific process that would be used?

[Assistant]
Assuming that they could accurately reconstruct the DNA in physical form (possible, but expensive), they could do it.

Of course, then you come to the ethical dilemma of making a human woman carry a non-human fetus, and then if the child is born, raising a possibly human-intelligent non-human as the only one of their kind.

tl;dr it's doable now but it will never happen because of ethics.


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

[User] ELI5: The difference between AC and DC current and why there was a whole big debate between what was better. What role did Edison and Tesla play in it all?

[Assistant]
Just one thing, most people have something wrong.

The ability of electricity to travel efficiently has to do with its voltage. It's more efficient to transmit high voltage than low voltage. In fact, high voltage DC is much more efficient than high voltage AC over long distances.

The issue is that we don't use high voltage power for most applications because it's dangerous, so we need to step it down. AC power can be stepped down really simply with a device called a transformer, which converts the high voltage into current, and (in theory) is perfectly efficient.

Stepping down DC is easy too. You use a bigass pair of resistors. The issue is that the excess voltage is lost as heat. It's not efficient at all.

There are efficient DC to DC converters but they are much more complex to design and the technology didn't really exist during the debate. AC was chosen because of ease of use over long distances, where they could use a few large power plants outside the cities whereas Edison wanted many small power plants in the cities.

Today, really long distance power lines are used with DC transmission because the efficiency on the line outweighs the inefficiency at the neighborhood where an inverter converts the DC into AC. These lines are used in really remote areas and undersea cables.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do opera singers put so much vibrato on everything? Is it the only way to get the volume they need?

Or just convention?

[Assistant]
Voice major here...

Vibrato ensures a continuous airstream from your diaphragm. It's an easy way to keep your muscles from gumming things up in the throat/jaw area, which can change the sound. Having your muscles truly loose and relaxed while singing makes for a truer more beautiful sound, and vibrato ensures that the muscles don't mess up the airstream. It's a healthy way to sing that will preserve stamina, something opera singers need to get through 4 hours of Wagner.

True ELI5?

Vibrating their voice like that forces them to keep their muscles loosey goosey, which makes singing easier and more beautiful.


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

[User] ELI5: What are 'fuzzy mathematics' and what are its applications?

[Assistant]
'Fuzzy' is a term used to indicate that you're treating normally discrete phenomenon in a continuous manner.

For example, consider classic set theory. Let's say you have a classification scheme of 'fruit', 'vegetable' or 'meat'. You look in your refrigerator and sort everything you see into one or more of those categories. Each item you sort is fully within a category or fully outside of it. If something is a 'fruit', it is 100% a fruit.

A 'fuzzy' version of this would be to permit something to only be *partially* within a category. So something might be '50% a fruit'.

In terms of its applications, that's harder to say. 'Fuzzy math' is pure mathematics rather than applied mathematics. It's an intellectual framework for discussing such phenomenon. As a result, you can describe all sorts of different systems with fuzzy math, but almost no one actually uses fuzzy math to build those systems.


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

[User]
What makes one type or species of wood harder than another?

On a cellular level, why are woods like oak, rock maple etc. so much harder than others like pine or cedar? Is it a different amount of lignin, or smaller cells packed tighter together? Do softer woods have thinner cell walls or weaker connections between the cells?

[Assistant]
Don't know about the cellular level.

But trees that grow slower tend to have denser wood grain. I'd also venture to say it has Todo with environment. Drier, colder climates slow the growth rate. Heavily wooded areas will make a tree grow upwards instead of outwards, meaning more resources are dedicated to growing the main trunk instead of more branches.


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

[User] [General] What are some examples of characters that, despite eventually becoming evil, are mostly remembered for the good they did before that?

[Assistant] Harvey Dent in the Dark Knight trilogy, although the water is muddied by the the fact that Batman and Gordon covered up his villainy for seven years. However , while Bane may have outed him by reading Gordons draft speech about him, a lot of people would probably dismiss that as the lies of a terrorist once the crisis ended.


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

[User] When a text shows up hours after its send time where has it been that whole time?

[Assistant]
The delay could be network or the phone. When you send a text, it goes to the tower and the tower sends the message to your recipient. SMS messages are treated with lower priority than voice and data.
I read a research somewhere which showed around 5% of text messages are never delivered.


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

[User]
[Dune movie] What was that "pet" exactly?

In the scene when the sister asked the Harkonnen for a thing they had some "pet" that looked like a huge black spider but it had human hands on the ends of it's legs... What was that and what is up with it?

[Assistant]
Might be something the Bene Tlielax made. They're these creepy fleshcrafter guys who will become important in the sequels if they're ever made.

Among their other creations are the Face Dancers, ghola (clones) and the Chairdog, which is exactly what it sounds like.


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

[User]
Should I put my small online business on my CV for graduate program application?

Hello,

Do you ever apply for a graduate program while you are unemployed or doing your own small online business? If so, how do you put it in your CV for a graduate application?

I plan to apply for a graduate program but I don't have degree related jobs since I've got my MSc. This is due to Covid and the political unrest in my country. The companies stop hiring. All are closed. The industry is not running anymore and thousands of workers are unemployed at the moment. I am no different. All I can do to earn is doing my own small online delivery business from time to time. I don't think I can find a proper related job any sooner.

So can you please give me some advice on how to put this period in my CV?

[Assistant] You can list your small online business as work experience. It would be even better if you could relate some of the soft skills you acquired from this experience that relate to this program in the cover letter, if applicable.


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

[User] Is it possible to get two different colds at the same time?

[Assistant]
Well i depends, if youre taking about the common cold you could get to different colds at the same time, but that would be highly unlikely. The common cold consists of over 200 different virus strains, the most common being Rhinovirus. Even Rhinovirus have almost a 100 different serotypes.
But usually what happens is that one particular virus strain is moving through places. This means that when everybody in town gets the cold, almost everybody have gotten the same cold from the same virus. That why you see that a virus is in season.
So it would be very unlikely to get two colds a the same time. However not impossible.


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

[User] Can a recessive trait become a dominate trait over time?

[Assistant]
Recessiveness and dominance are relative.  So allele X can be recessive when paired with allele Y, but dominant when paired with allele Z.  And then there are codominance and incomplete dominance.  Not to mention that many many traits don't really follow simple Mendelian rules, and many visible traits are polygenic (height or skin color) so the interactions get a bit convoluted.

But if the question is "can trait X, which has been recessive relative to Trait Y, come to be dominant over it?" then, no.  Recessive traits are often just the absence of something (like antigens in the blood groups).   Any presence would be dominant over them.

Were a "trait" to go from being recessive to dominant, it would actually be a different trait that maybe appears similar, but is a different gene than the recessive one.

All that being said, a recessive allele can become "fixed" within a population.  If all dominant alleles disappear from the population, all individuals present with the recessive phenotype.


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

[User] ELI5: why can't we just use complex sugars in snacks than simple sugars?

[Assistant]
Well for starters, table sugar - sucrose - is a complex sugar consisting of a glucose molecule and a fructose molecule bound together. In any case, one problem is the body's inability to digest complex sugars. For example, people who do not produce enough of the enzyme *lactase* are unable to digest milk sugar *lactose*. Instead, the lactose *is* able to be digested by lactobacillus bacteria in the intestines, which leads to bloating, cramping, flatulence, and diarrhea. Sucrose and lactose are pretty much the only disaccharides we can digest, and we can't even digest lactose all that well into adulthood. We can't properly digest *any* sugars larger than disaccharides.

Much larger sugars like cellulose are an important part of our diet to feed important gut bacteria, regulate moisture in our stool, and bind together stool into solid pieces. Basically: fiber makes you poop better. The flip side is that cellulose doesn't *taste* like sugar.

So there are the first two problems: we may not be able to digest it, which may cause gastrointestinal problems; and/or, it may not be sweet, which defeats the purpose of using it to replace the fattening simple sugars.

The other problem is where to get the sugars. The sugars that are commonly used are common for a reason: a whole bunch of stuff already naturally makes it. Even in the case of genetically modified crops like corn to make high-fructose corn syrup, scientists didn't make the gene for fructose from whole cloth, it was borrowed from organisms (like fruit) that make a lot of fructose naturally. Unless we can find a crop that's easy to grow in abundance that already produces that sugar, or the genes are easy to insert into an easy crop like corn, it has to be manufactured artificially. Finding a way to chemically synthesize a complex sugar can be prohibitively expensive, especially when you run into the downsides already mentioned above.

Fructose is itself very popular among manufacturers because by weight it tastes sweeter than either glucose or sucrose. That means they can use less of it to sweeten their products (which saves money) *and* label it as having (marginally) fewer calories (which means people are more likely to buy it) *and* it's super cheap to get, because corn.

There are already artificial alternatives, like sucralose which tastes very sweet but isn't able to be digested so it gives no calories. The problem is that it's way more expensive (in the quantities that manufacturers use) than even natural sucrose, and people complain that it's not natural and avoid it. The other alternative is left-handed glucose. That is, glucose can turn one way (the natural form, dextrose) or it can turn the other way. Pretty much nothing on Earth makes left-handed glucose. We can't process it, so again no calories. BUT also again nothing on Earth makes the stuff naturally so it is also relatively expensive.


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

[User]
How do metal detectors work?

I understand they work based on magnetic inductance, but I dont understand how the detector is able to identify the presence of a metal and its magnetic field?

[Assistant]
In a single coil metal detector, a pulse of current will generate a magnetic field around the coil, which will induce eddy currents in any ferrous objects nearby.  This will cause the ferrous objects to temporarily produce a magnetic field, and the detector quickly switches over to sensing any voltage induced in its coil by *that* magnetic field.

With multi-coil detectors, any ferrous object in the vicinity of the detector will cause a change in the magnetic coupling between a driven coil and a passive pickup coil.


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

[User]
[General Superhero] How could a group of superheroes whos identities and actions are public knowledge, keep their families and friends safe?

I had an idea where they could be part of a much larger hero organization and anyone who threatens or endangers their family members would be punished to the full extent of the law, government as well as the other heroes. But I can tell more would be needed.

[Assistant]
It depends on the universe, but there so seem to be some common trends.

* In some universes hero organizations are a part of a governmental branch or are privately owned with federal backing. In those situations it would be like attacking the family of a police officer which would mean the rest of your natural life would be hell as every other supe that sees you is going to beat you senseless, prison guards might beat you once or twice on a good day, and now anyone you care about is in jeopardy as well.

* When the organization is ran by and funded by heroes themselves, then it's worse. These guys have no rules they follow and who's to say one of the loose canons they employ won't seek some justice regardless of the wishes of the guy who lost his family.

* When they're by themselves with no larger backing then you've got a very dangerous situation on your hand. This is a guy that regularly pummels you while keeping themselves and others safe and without maiming you. When you take away everything from them who's to say they'll continue to hold back? Just look at Spiderman, he regularly deals with street tier villains, but he's fully capable of just grabbing their head and ripping it off their bodies.

* Social media influencer heroes are kind of an eclectic mix of the previous examples, so any one of them could really apply.


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

[User] [BioShock Series] Why did Rapture fail, and how long did it last before it failed?

[Assistant]
It failed because somehow everyone who heard Andrew Ryan's objectivist tirade about sweat ownership and how a man is entitled to what he creates missed the implication that when Andrew Ryan built an underwater city he would feel perfectly justified in taking anything and everything created by *his* city for *himself*.

Fontaine was a clever business rival but under Ryan there was no need for rivalry, he could just raid Fontaine's businesses and seize the plasmids and Adam for himself. Naturally.  This appalled his security forces and everyone else who hadn't made the connection that Rapture's promise of individual freedom to do what's best for one's self meant that Andrew Ryan would do what was best for himself, with no concern for ethical business practices, justice, or anything else a society might expect.

Thusly cornered, Fontaine used his influence with the lower classes and considerable stores of Adam to arm a revolt of superpowered splicers to rise up and overthrow Ryan's Me-ocracy. He also took a child from a whore Ryan frequented.

By the time Jack Ryan arrived, the fighting was stalemated and most of the inhabitants were dead. Fontaine was in hiding under the alias Atlas, and using programmed mind controlled phrases he directed Jack to assassinate Andrew Ryan before commanding him to just die himself.  Jack resisted the commands and eventually confronted and killed Fontaine.


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

[User]
Gravity. Gravitons and The Einstein model?

Hi!

I recently read about the three other forces exchanging values by "trading" particles and that it is thought gravity work the same way by trading gravitons.

I have a hard time reconciling this, or imagining it with the Einstein model where space is curved and how that causes attractions.

Does one exclude the other or am I just confusing the concepts?

Would really appreciate if someone could explain a bit how this works together. Thank you!

[Assistant]
Particles being traded back and forth isn't really a good description of what's happening (magnets do not look like lightbulbs). There are fields that permeate the universe, and when sources of these fields undergo a discrete change, that change propagates through the field. So, two objects can interact with each other through perturbations in a field, and these perturbations are described by same languages as excitations (particles), but it's not like electrons are literally playing photon ping pong.

Anyway, imagine you have an atom with an electric field around it, and the electron in the atom undergoes a transition to a lower state. Its electric field is now different, and information that this field is different can only propagate outwards at the speed of light, and this discrete propagating change in the electromagnetic field is the photon. The same would be the case for the gravitational field around an object, except the gravitational field here is the curvature of spacetime. If its source undergoes a discrete change, the gravitational field changes discretely, and this is called a graviton. If the change in the source is not discrete, it would be an electromagnetic wave in the first case and a gravitational wave in the second, as are emitted by rotating electrons in a magnetic field or co-orbiting neutron stars.


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

[User]
[Marvel and DC] Does Doctor Doom actually respect anyone? Does Lex Luthor? Do they have any real friends?

Did they ever?

[Assistant]
Doom has a rough respect for Richards, but still views him as inferior. He also respects Doctor Strange as a mage, and Magneto, Namor, and the Black Panther as fellow kings. Or he DID respect Magneto while he ruled, but that might not be a thing anymore. He also respects Stark's technical ability, though little else about him.

Luthor respects Bruce Wayne and honestly wouldn't mind being friends with him, provided Bruce quit finding childish ways to try to get a rise out of him. He likes Clark Kent, but doesn't respect him. He does have a respect for Lois Lane.


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

[User]
[40K] How come Khorne is not dominating chaos god?

Khorne is the chaos god of war and murder.
How is it that he is not able to kill the other chaos gods? (i know he hates slaanesh).

Are he not the strongest of the gods in the grimdark of 40k? Given that his strength comes from violence and war.

[Assistant]
The only thing that can kill a god, is a mortal. By that, i mean that the Chaos Gods cannot destroy eachother, because of the totally timeless state they exist. If Khorne were to kill Slaanesh, then Slaanesh would never have existed for Khorne to kill. That's how the Warp works.

But it gets even more complicated than that.

The only way to actually kill a god is for the source of their power, Mortals, to be cut off, or the flow of emotions to shift. The Eldar Gods became weak because the Eldar became decadent, but those emotions that sustain their gods persist, and so do their gods. Sort of.

In order for Khorne to 'beat' Slaanesh, 'he' would have to consume 'her'. The Chaos Gods, remember, are not physical beings, but nebulous amalgams of thought and emotion and concept and belief. In order for one God to defeat another, they must be able to take their power into themselves. So, to defeat Slaanesh, Khorne would have to become Slaanesh. This is how Slaanesh was able to consume the Eldar Gods, because she is a dark reflection of the same concepts. But because their domains are opposites (minimalism and martial prowess vs Excess and self indulgence) that would require abandoning his own nature, which would just re-birth Khorne as the Blood God.


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

[User]
If an experiment were conducted outside of an academic environment (e.g., in a home-based DIY laboratory), could the results still be published in a peer-reviewed journal?

**tl,dr: see post title. For further information, keep reading.**

Let's pretend that a *previous* mentor (ex-mentor) has recently retired, offering you some of his/her outdated laboratory equipment. However, you cannot install this equipment in your *current* mentor's laboratory due to space constraints. Thus, you suggest setting up a home laboratory - in a garage, basement, shed... wherever - using the donated equipment.

You used this equipment daily while working in your ex-mentor's laboratory, so you can use it and troubleshoot it like a pro. Once it is installed, calibration and diagnostic checks demonstrate that the devices are in optimal condition. To be on the safe side, you replicate an experiment you previously conducted in your ex-mentor's academic lab space. You find that your newly-collected data is identical to your previous data, suggesting that the changed setting has not impaired the reliability of any facets of experimental design. You have a novel research question that can be adequately explored with the type of data collected by your [fully armed and operational] home lab. After some intense brainstorming, you derive four hypotheses that are capable of directly supporting your research question.

However, you don't yet have adequate "street cred" in your field of study. You are currently enrolled as a graduate student, although you have co-authored several publications, including one "first author" article. As well, your current mentor is a new assistant professor; a great mentor, but still trying to make a name for him/herself in your field of study. Additionally, your institution is not particularly prestigious... but this may be irrelevant to the point, given that the research would be conducted outside of your university.

Given all this information, I'd like to see what others' opinions are regarding how such research would be seen in academia, and in particular, by journals. If you submitted a manuscript on the basis of data collected in your home laboratory, would they even give it the time of day? Do editors and reviewers have to see an institution on a submission before they'd consider spending their time on it? Keep in mind that I am not trolling for a debate on "how the academic publishing system is so fucked up, blah blah." If it helps, this is another way to frame it: What is the probability that research conducted in an "informal" environment would be accepted for publication by a journal, given that you can demonstrate the reliability of collected data, and that those conducting the research have academic credentials?

[Assistant] In the field of Astronomy, there are a number of papers published by those who aren't affiliated with a major research facility.   In many cases, it's variable star research, although there have been some publications on asteroids and comets as well.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Does Yoda struggle with the seduction of the Darkside? Has he ever had a close call?

To me, he seems like the epitome of the lightside and wouldn't even consider it. But I'm sure there is some EU story out there?

[Assistant]
Yes he has. And it's canon.

In season 6 of the clone wars yoda goes on a quest to learn how to become a force ghost. During that quest he has to confront and battle his dark side. He also had to go through a vision of all the Jedi being dead.

Yoda had an attachment. It was too the Jedi order itself  and he had to comfront and overcome those fears so we can achive inner peace.

So yes yoda has confronted Te darkside before and he has beaten the darkside in the very same encounter.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Why didn't they toss the Horcruxes into a volcano or something?

So, it's established that Fiend's Fire is *hot enough* to destroy a Horcrux regardless of any other protections it may have.  Not *magical enough*, mind you, hot enough.  Why wouldn't that also be true of magma/lava?

Or, since they established that there were physical means of destroying a horcrux why didn't they dump them into a vat of acid or something?  Basilisk venom isn't inherently magical, as far as I can tell it's basically just acid + poison, and it did the job fine being a purely physical substance.

So, why didn't they think of other ways to destroy the horcrux?  I could be mistaken, if so please set me straight, but it seemed like they went through a lot of unnecessary trouble to me.

[Assistant]
I assume it would have something to do with the Horcrux's built in defenses.  Fiendfyre is an insanely difficult and powerful magic.  Possibly hotter than lava in some cases.  Also it's magical properties and the ability for it to be controlled could have something to do with it's effectiveness.

A Basilisk was a creature bred by dark wizards and is inherently tied to magic.  "The strength of the venom is one of the few substances known to be capable of destroying Horcruxes, causing them fatal damage that cannot be repaired."

The venom's potency is likely due to it's link with the world of magic.

Throwing a horcrux in lava would probably make the horcrux fly itself out of it, or sink down deep into it so as to prevent anyone from finding it.  A better question might be 'why didn't Voldemort just throw his horcruxs in volcanoes to protect them?"


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

[User]
Undergraduate Economics student here. For the money it costs, is a Masters degree worthwhile? Does it significantly increase job opportunities?

I'm entering my last year of undergrad and I'm not totally sure what field of Econ I'm interested in working in yet, but I am interested in Development and Environmental Econ and I've interned previously for a Damages Consultant. If I don't have a specific research objective beforehand, is a Masters degree something I should consider? I'm not sure if this is accurate but I heard from a mentor figure that "Masters are what they give the people who didn't finish a Ph.D" so I'm wondering if within the field of Econ it isn't seen very highly? Right now, my plan is to look for RA positions where they are available when I graduate. I know some basic Python and Stata skills.

[Assistant]
Yes it does, almost any data analyst position will require a masters and there are plenty of those jobs out there.

Your mentor figure is either joking and you took it as serious or seriously wrong or out of touch with the doors that having a MA in economics opens for you.

Also Stata is pretty useless outside academia, learn Python, R, and/or SAS(if going to work for a bank or finance), also maybe learn tableau or power BI.


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

[User]
[MCU/Jessica Jones] [Spoilers] What did Jessica Jones mean when she...

What did Jessica Jones mean when she shook her head in disagreement when Luke Cage asked her if she was controlled by Kilgrave when she killed Reva?

That part lost me and it's bugging me whenever I do a rewatch. I don't remember this being addressed at all.

EDIT: Thanks for the really detailed answers, everyone! It's pretty cool to read this stuff mid re-watch as it adds more depth to the show.

[Assistant]
If memory serves, the bus incident in which she realized she could escape Kilgrave's influence took place immediately after she killed Reva.

So it may have been just that. She had just broken out of his control and killed Reva due to the habit of obeying him, or more likely she blames herself because if that had happened just a moment earlier, Reva would still be alive.


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

[User] [Dark Knight Rises] How would the clean slate work if the cops had a physical copy of your file, wouldn't that defeat the purpose?

[Assistant]
Given the level of tech Batman has access to, I'd assume the physical file was more of a symbolic gesture if anything, and Bats had alrwsdy erased all other records.

Some dudes buy their girl flowers, yknow?


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

[User] [Cabin in the Woods] What monster would be the worst to face off against? And reversely, which one would be the 'best', meaning highest chance of survival?

[Assistant]
Highest chance of survival is probably standard zombies.  In the Cabin setting, there's not enough people to get the "critical mass" where zombies are truly dangerous.  In a roughly one-on-one fight, zombies aren't very threatening.

By far the worst possible monster you could face is Kevin.  Dear sweet God, you never ever EVER want to face Kevin.


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

[User] Eli5: why when you take pictures with your phone (for example, of a beautiful sunset) the colours and proportions dont look as good as with the human eye?

[Assistant]
Most answers here seem to neglect the main reason why we can't capture sunsets quite like what our eyes see: Dynamic Range.

Dynamic Range is basically the ability to see both dark and bright spots at the same time, and it's measured in stops. Each 'stop' is a doubling of the light value of a spot. So if you have a dynamic range of 10, you can tell the difference between a bright spot that is a little more than 1000 times brighter than the dark spot.

The best cameras in the market have a Dynamic Range of about 16 (which is a ratio of 1 : 65,536), while our eyes have a dynamic range of 21. That's a contrast ratio of 1 : 2,000,000.

So when we capture something, even with the best DSLR out there, there's a lot of detail that gets lost that our eyes can perceive. The best example would be the moon. You can quite clearly see the moon and the details on its surface in the night with your eyes while also being aware of your surroundings. But as soon as you try to take a picture of the moon and the landscape with your phone, the moon just morphs into a bright blob on your screen. That's because the moon is really bright, much brighter than anything else that's usually lit in the dark, even in a city full of street lights.

And the reason for that has nothing to do with our eye lens or the camera lens, but the image sensors themselves. Camera sensors just aren't as sensitive as the cells that capture light in our eyes.

Then there's the problem of screens themselves. Most LCD screens only go up to 10 stops, which is about 1 : 1000. TV's go up to 1 : 4000. So you have to further compress the details in order to show them on a screen, losing details that live between those stops further.


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

[User] Before modern medicine, one of the things people thought caused disease was "bad air". We now know that this is somewhat true, given airborne transmission. What measures taken to stop "bad air" were incidentally effective against airborne transmission?

[Assistant]
Malaria is literally Italian for "bad air".

They thought that the bad air from swampy areas was the cause, because especially in more northern lattitudes, malaria was more prevalent near swamps where mosquitoes prospered.

They didn't know it was mosquitoes, but rather the bad air from the swamp. Where the mosquitoes incidentally bred.

The solution was to get rid of the swamp by diverting the water to dry it out. That, of course, eliminated the breeding ground for the skeeters, so it was a very effective way of controlling malaria, even if they got the root causes wrong, their attempt to destroy the wrong vector incidentally destroyed the right vector.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does your vision turn blurry/weird when you feel overwhelmed or anxious?

[Assistant]
Back before you were born, your eyes developed as an offshoot of your brain. And like your brain, your eyes require a large amount of energy transfered by bloodflow.

When you are anxious or stressed, your fight or flight response sends hormones through your blood system to divert blood to your muscles. This allows you to act by fighting or fleeing. This diverts blood from elsewhere including your brain (can't think with full capacity) and your eyes (can't see at full capacity). This can result in blurred or weird vision.

Nowadays, stress and anxiety are caused by things that often cannot be fought off or completely escaped from. We have to remember we are not at full thinking or seeing capacity when we are stressed or anxious.


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

[User]
[Path of Exile] How does anyone survive Wraeclast?

Is it even possible to form an established community without the black spirit and the undead corrupting your entire world? Like wtf?

[Assistant] That's kinda the point. Exile to wraeclast is a death sentence to all but the most capable (which you as the character are). The reason that oriathans still are exiled is that piety uses the bodies to practice her gemmancy stuff and feed more miscreations to dominus. Meanwhile Malachi is doing some wonky shit that we aren't really sure about, but we kill him anyway to be safe.


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

[User] ELI5: why isn't forest predators, like tigers and lions, fur green?

[Assistant]
Mammals simply do not have the genes to produce green pigments.

All mammal fur and hair is pigmented with some combination of only two kinds of melanin:

* eumelanin makes brown and black fur
* pheomelanin makes yellow and orange fur
* White fur has no melanin.

Those are the only colors of fur that any mammal is able to produce, period.


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

[User]
ELI5: How can companies like Ancestry tell your "exact" ethnicity mix from a DNA sample?

I understand that there are probably some genetic markers that would indicate that one of your ancestors was part African, or Irish or from some region of Asia, or something like that. However, how is my friend able to get results that say he is 8.9% black (or something like that I can't quite remember)? Or are these test all just complete BS?

[Assistant]
Exactly how these percents are calculated depends on the model the company uses. Essentially they all boil down to "what percent of your mutations corresponds to that group". So if you have 3 mutations that are seen in populations in populations in the Congo and one mutation that is seen in populations in Japan, you would be 75% Bantu and 25% Japanese.

However, there will often be corrections based on statistical significance. For example, if a mutation is usually seen in Japan but occasionally shows up around the world, it would probably be weighted less than a mutation that has only every been seen in Japan. Similarly a mutation that *all* Japanese people have would probably be weighted more than a mutation that only some Japanese people have. Ancestry has a huge data base of genetic data and performs lots of analysis and data science to build the most accurate model.

As for if they're BS, they're not BS, but they're far from perfect. Genetics is incredibly complex and involves billions of base pairs, but there are only so many people in the world that you can gather data from to build a model with, and Ancestry only has a tiny fraction of that data to work with. The test could easily be off by few percent points. Generally they're very good for a big-picture general idea, but any number less than 5% or so should be taken with a grain of salt.


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

[User] ELI5: How can a battle be a called "tactical victory" for one side, but a "strategic victory" for the other side? What is the difference, and who actually won?

[Assistant]
Generally, a tactical victory means a victory on the small-scale, while a strategic victory is on the large-scale.

Imagine that it's WWII again, and Germany and Russia are engaged in war. At a city on Eastern Front, the Germans and Russians have a battle. This is a hard fought battle, but the Germans win after pulling in reinforcements from elsewhere. The Germans have won a tactical victory. The Germans then take the city.

However, by pulling in reinforcements from elsewhere,  the Germans have weakened themselves at other points along the front. This allows the Russians to advance and break through at several other points. This allows them to completely surround the city, trapping the Germans there. The Russians have thus won a strategic victory.


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

[User]
What would happen if we just let the price of toilet paper float for a while?

The stigma and punishment for price gouging has led to shortages, and a couple sellers on amazon selling for really high prices.

If we normalized surge pricing, wouldn't that discourage hoarding and make all this go back to normal much more quickly?

Or if not, what's a better way to discourage hoarding?

Could there be a lending library where people give a roll today with a promise to receive two rolls in a week?

[Assistant] The quick answer is that the price of toilet paper will rise, likely to a pretty high price. Typically, a rise in price will lead to an increase in the quantity of toilet paper produced and supplied, but this may not occur in this scenario because it takes time for suppliers to ramp up their production. Furthermore, toilet paper is typically considered an essential, and allowing the price to float may lead to problems of equity, wherein people who cannot afford the higher prices cannot obtain toilet paper, even though it is an essential good. which isn't exactly fair. IMO the best way to discourage hoarding in the present situation would be to impose quotas on the number of rolls/packets that can be bought.


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

[User]
[Witcher Netflix] Mild spoilers Yennifer's party

Why did Yennifer ensorcell people into having an orgy?  I understand her bewitching people so they wouldn't bother her but why a Eye's Wide Shut Style orgy with her gawking in a mask?

[Assistant]
I think they were trying to portray her as both power-hungry and listless/directionless/bored - and also to make it an interesting and grabbing (no pun intended) scene, of course.

So what does an extremely powerful mage do when she realizes her goals (court, influence, being *seen* by the other magic users) are hollow and unsatisfying, what does she do?

Just arbitrary, power-abusing, hedonistic stuff, right?

Take total control of an entire small town because the Mayor disrespected you. Treat innocent things like porn puppets because you're bored. Not participate yourself because it's all just so boring and unchallenging.

Then contrast Geralt. Enters the situation, not *as* disinterested as her, but still not very phased by his surroundings. Not as easily toyed with as the others. Catches her attention enough that she discards the rest.

This immediately establishes a power dynamic between the two, and contrasts them to the 'regular people' to raise the heros up as special and interesting.

tl;dr Yennifer did it because she's so bored and unchallenged - because she's come to believe her long-held goals are hollow and meaningless, and her new goals are unachievable - and so she wollows without purpose, doing impulsive and hedonistic things to try to find a spark of passion or joy.


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

[User]
[MCU/Captain Marvel] What are Skrulls made of?

Even in the 90s we pretty much knew the whole periodic table already. If whatever element is substituting carbon is completely unknown it is likely a transuranial element, or something formed by exotic matter (instead of protons and neutrons).

What could possibly create complex life and not violently react with the water/oxygen combo of Earth?

[Assistant]
The MCU periodic table is different from our own.  In Iron Man 2 Tony synthesizes a new element to power his Arc Reactor.  Very specifically it is called a new element, not an isotope or compound.  Meaning it has to have 119 protons or more.  But, any element with this many protons more than likely would have a very short-half life and be very unstable.  Essentially not acting at all like the element that Tony made.

And at natie120 mentioned there is Vibranium which is an element whose properties don't make any sense based on our periodic table.

The only possibility is that while there is a lot of overlap the physics of their Universe is different from our own.  The Skrulls are just made of Skrullium or something, with physical properties that we can't understand.


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

[User] ELI5: How did we decide that Saturday and Sunday would be our weekends and not any other days?

[Assistant]
In the Judaism religion the Sabbath is the day of rest and seventh day of the week. Since Judaism was the precursor of Christianity they took that over. And since the European civilization was mostly formed around the Christian traditions and their colonies in the Americas, Australia and Africa as well, they all took the Sunday as the resting day.

It isn't until earlier in the 20th century that the Saturday wasn't  a normal working day any more and as such Saturday and Sunday became the weekend.


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

[User] [TheCulture] In use of weapons there's race who Special Circumstances predicted would only just now be using crossbows and steam engines without external help. Is it plausible a society would develop (useful) steam engines before firearms?

[Assistant] Sure. Completely separate technical advances, physics vs chemistry. Steam happens once you figure hour that heating water and trapping it can produce work. Gunpowder happens when you mix charcoal, sulfur, and saltpeter, grind them and dry them. As a discovery, it's genuinely not easy to come by, and once you do discover it, it's easy to keep the formula secret.


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

[User] Eli5:Why is it that cell phones , with their tiny antenaes are able to download files at LTE speeds inside concrete buildings from cell towers kilometers away yet getting wifi to work behind a corner is an exercise in frustration?

[Assistant]
Power and contention.

1. A cellular tower transmits with a power level several thousands of times higher than your wireless access point.  A typical cellular tower will transmit an ERP (effective radiated power -- the actual transmission power, with antenna gain factored in) of 100-500W while maximum power for a 2.4GHz wifi access point is 100mW; the transmission power of the cellular tower is 1000-5000 times higher.  At a range of 1km the signal from a 500W cellular tower will fall to 0.5mW thanks to the inverse square law.  Your wifi access point falls to the same level at a distance of just 30m.  This is all in open air with no obstructions.

2. It's likely there are dozens if not hundreds of wifi hotspots and a few times that many client devices around you fighting for space in the radio spectrum, unless you're well out into the countryside.  There will be a half of that number or less of cellular clients though, and less than a dozen cellular towers, and everyone on the cellular network is cooperating to share the space through the protocol.  Meanwhile wifi clients on the same channel but talking to different access points are fighting with one another, causing collisions and retransmits that slow down throughput.


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

[User]
[Marvel Comics/Xmen] Are the original Xmen dead?

So a central conceit of the House of X/Powers of X storyline is how Professor X is using the five (Hope Summers, Egg, Proteus, Elixir, Tempus) to revive any mutant when they are killed in some way. They essentially do this by mixing that mutants DNA with these big yellow eggs, that then hatch and spawn the dead mutant in question good as new.

According to Wikipedia, the five have done this to at least Cyclops, Jean Grey, Wolverine, Angel, Nightcrawler, Mystique, and M, though probably to many more as well.

The comic seems to regard this as actual resurrection, like the five are truly bringing mutants back from the dead. My question is, isnt this just cloning though? Like arent the original Cyclops and Jean Grey still dead? Its not like they retrieved their souls or anything, they just made copies of them. In other words, from this point on in Marvel comics, will we only be following clones of the original Xmen (because as far as I can see the writers dont appear to recognize this as an issue), or is there a plot element that makes them the real versions of these characters?

[Assistant]
Don't get into souls and clones.  Ben Riley (Peter Parker's clone) apparently has a soul. He has died and been recloned dozens of times and this has has an impact on his "soul"

How does a clone have a soul? How is it the same soul over and over again if it's still clones???

Also what about Multiple Man. His "original" died and it's one of his dupes that's alive, what kinda soul does he have?


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

[User] ELI5: Why do babies going through a severe stranger anxiety don't seem to be bothered by stranger kids? At what age/height/weight/other factors do they internally differentiate between kids and adults?

[Assistant] Simple, its the human instinct to be alerted in front of threat. Babies constantly learn about the world around them, and to realize which are potential threats. In the babys mind, adults only mean larger animals; thus this alert system kicks in. Some babies still afraid of other kids, however most of the time the kids mind see those as mangable threats, so the system signals the babies to chill out.


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

[User] ELI5: How did the cow, chicken, and pig become the staple meats of humanity?

[Assistant]
I know this isn't an answer to the question, but goat is more commonly eaten than beef or pork, and by quite a bit.  Pork is eaten hardly at all in a vast belt from Indonesia to Nigeria, and beef is much more common in N America and Europe than in the rest of the world.

The real worldwide staples would be (if you don't count fish) goat and chicken, probably, with pork and beef being of lesser import.


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

[User]
How does the US Treasury work and why is the US Treasury and federal reserves not owned by the government but is private?

Also why does the US have to pay interest and debt if the US government has no money in tax money but have to ask to federal reserves to print money and have to pay the interest and debt on it.

[Assistant]
> How does the US Treasury work and why is the US Treasury and federal reserves not owned by the government but is private?

Who told you this? Anyway, they're wrong.

The Treasury is a part of the government, it is not private.

The situation with the Federal Reserve is more complicated. On paper the Fed is owned by the member commercial banks. However, control is spread between member banks who vote for some board member and the government who choose others. Despite being "owned" by the member banks the majority of profits are paid to the government.

> Also why does the US have to pay interest and debt if the US government has no money in tax money but have to ask to federal reserves to print money and have to pay the interest and debt on it.

The Federal Reserve is pseudo-independent. It will not create money if another branch of the government asks it to. It does it according to it's policy and the opinions of the FOMC. Even the president can't tell it what to do.


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

[User]
[Marvel][LOTR][Deathnote][Star Trek] What would happen if we sent an item like Mjolnir, One Ring, Soulsword, Deathnote, etc. through a transporter? What would happen if we tried to make copies using a transporter?

Title pretty much says it all.

I've got a transporter and:

Mjolnir from the 616 Marvel universe

Sauron's One Ring

Illyana Rasputin's Soulsword

A Deathnote.

???  If you're thinking about some other more-than-natural item then discuss that too.

1)  Is it even possible to transport these items?  If so would they still be the same after being transported?  Would the One Ring just be an ordinary non magical ring?  Mjolnir just a hammer?  Deathnote just an ordinary notebook?

2)  We attempt to use the transporter to make two copies of the item.  What happens?

[Assistant] They would appear intact and functional at their destination. Except for Mjolnir which can't be moved once dropped by Thor.  Any attempts to replicate would result in physical duplicates with no supernatural abilities.


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

[User]
How is it that the human body, which is full of bacteria and germs, can produce sterile fluids? For example, I've heard that the fluid inside blisters is sterile and so is urine.

Edit: Thanks for the fascinating discussion. I'm learning a lot. Still reading.

[Assistant]
There aren't bacteria **inside** a healthy human body. There are bacteria in the lumen of the digestive tract, which is part of the outside world.

Think of the digestive tract as a tunnel running through the body from the mouth to the anus. The inside (lumen) of that tunnel is continuous with the outside world, so is not actually inside the tissues of the body. Similarly, your skin is continuous with the lining of your digestive tract, all of which forms a barrier that protects your body from invaders (bacteria, etc). If bacteria breach that barrier, your immune system responds to destroy the invaders.

That's why most body tissues and fluids (including blood, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, and the blister fluid you refer to) are normally sterile. They've never been exposed to the outside world and its menagerie of bacteria.

(Edit: words)