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

[User]
ELI5: Airlines rules against using electronics before 10,000 feet and having your seatback in the upright position for takeoff and landing

So I just got off a flight where something that completely dumbfounded me happened. I sat down in my pre-selected aisle seat on American Airlines and my seatback would recline by a little more than an *inch* when I put weight against it. Before takeoff the flight attendant asked me to bring my seat up and I told her that it wouldn't stay. She made me move seats, *because of that one inch*, to one of the only available middle seats in the back of the plane. She wouldn't even let me go back to the seat when we were in the air. She also got in someobody's face because they tried to hide their phone which was left on.

So what is the rationale behind these rules? Are the seats so unsafe that if they are reclined they pose an actual risk of injury during takeoff and landing? If electronics are left on do they pose a risk as well? Please ELI5 why we still have these rules and why we haven't been able to come up with better seat and electronic technology.

[Assistant]
1. Takeoffs and landings are the most potentially dangerous parts of the flight. Electronics reduce focus during safety briefings and awareness during the takeoff/landing. Reclined seatbacks and ajar tray tables reduce passenger mobility in the event of an emergency, when the ability to evacuate the plane are of utmost importance.

2. Flight attendants are so adamant about enforcing the rules (even to the point of moving you from a malfunctioning seat) because they can personally be held liable if a passenger does not follow these rules.


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

[User]
Are President Biden's policies responsible for America's high inflation?

Ok so it? President Biden is getting blamed by many. I thought it is another effect of coronavirus. I don't blame his policies. I also thought that if Trump were president, he would be facing similar inflation rates.

[Assistant]
Simple version: its due to Fed Monetary policy and mostly due to global supply chain issues caused by the Pandemic.

Presidents will always be blamed/praised for ongoing financial climates despite having much smaller impact than most believe.


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

[User]
Would the USA accept European approvals for Novavax (and other vaccines), or does it still require US trials?

Are there scientific differences in how EU vs US trials are performed?

Does the FDA allow this in exceptional times (like the current pandemic?)

[Assistant] You don't really have "US trials" or "some other country trials".  You run clinical trials on a representative subset of the population (because there are genetic differences based on ethnicity which can have clinical relevance).  The data from all of those trials goes into your application for a new drug (in the US this is called an IND application).  Those data are then evaluated by the regulators for approval in their domain (e.g., the FDA for approval in the US, EMA for approval in the EU).  Those regulators then determine if you can market your drug in that region.  There are some smaller countries that will allow regulatory approval in another country to grant you access to their market, but that is NOT how the industrialized nations operate.


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

[User] [DC/Marvel/Harry Potter] J. Jonah Jameson is transported to the DC Universe runs the DC version of the Daily Bugle. How does he feel about the heroes and villains? Alternatively, Jameson works for the Daily Prophet, what kind of headlines does he dream up about the events from 1991-1998?

[Assistant] He despises Batman and Gotham in general. The former for being a masked vigilante with a record of using child soldiers and saddling taxpayers with sky high hospital bills for convicts with severe electric burns, blunt force trauma, and the occasional shattered jaw.


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

[User] ELI5: How is our posture not damaged when we sleep in weird shapes everyday?

[Assistant] Because we move around, we don't sleep in that same posture forever plus when you're stood up that's weight of your body acting down on you where as when you sleep you often lay down and so the weight is spread out better.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does a food company determine what a serving size is?

For example, Kraft peanut butter's serving size is 15g. Why not 10 grams or 20 grams?

[Assistant]
They're required to put the nutrition on their labels, but after that it's fair game.  They typically want to put a nice number on there for calories but will disguise by dividing it and calling it a "serving size".

People will see "100 calories" and like that part, even if there are 10 servings and the whole thing is about 1,000 calories.


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

[User]
Do "non-stealth" technologies exist? And are they used in practice?

Over the past 40+ years so stealth technologies have been developed to minimise radar cross sections, heat signatures and noise, to lower the signature of objects to different detection techniques.

However, do the opposite technologies exist?  Are there technologies which purposely make aircraft, ships etc.. more easily detectable or appear more substantial or more numerous than they actually are?

I can imagine various possible uses for such technologies,  both military and non-military. So if they actually exist, are they used for any practical purpose?

[Assistant]
Yes, in fact they bolt a radar reflection enhancer to the F-22 when not in wartime. Similarly, the B-2 has deployable reflectors on the wingtips.

As far as non-military use, they use similar devices on life rafts, small boats and navigational buoys to make them more visible to surface search radar.


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

[User] This might be stupid, but is there a speed of smell?

[Assistant]
Yes.  Assuming there is no flow the speed will be dictated by the diffusion constant. The characteristic timescale for diffusion is equal to the characteristic length scale of the system squared divided by the diffusion coefficient. A co2 molecule, whose diffusion coefficient is about 16 mm^2 /s(Wikipedia), will diffuse 1 m in about 10000 s or about 3 hrs.

Clearly diffusion is slow. In many cases though, flow will be present and the characteristic timescale for transport will be governed by that flow.

Hth!


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

[User] [startrek]Why aren't non medical personal allowed to have Medical tricorders?

[Assistant]
It's probably just pointless. They already have their own equipment to deal with, and there's really no reason for them to carry something *they don't know how to use*.

It's kind of like asking why bus drivers aren't "allowed" to carry a stethoscope.


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

[User]
Would Mars and Venus look like they could support life if we found them as exoplanet?

It seems like every few weeks there's a news story about new exosolar planets discovered that could be Earth-like. If we were in another solar system and detected Mars and Venus, would they appear to be "goldilocks" planets? If not, what are we detecting in the exoplanets that makes them different from our neighbors?

[Assistant]
When an exoplanet is reported as being in the "Goldilocks" or habitable zone, or potentially life supporting, that does not mean they've found any evidence that it actually supports life. All it means is that it's within a certain range of distances from its star where liquid water might be possible, provided it has the right kind of atmosphere.

If we were to detect Mars and Venus as exoplanets, Venus would be reported as being too close to the Sun for liquid water, and Mars barely in the habitable zone, but probably too small for an atmosphere or liquid water. Of course we have the benefit of actually having Mars and Venus in our own solar system as examples, and that's partly how we decided where the habitable zone is in the first place.

There has only been one terrestrial exoplanet discovered in the habitable zone (Gliese 581 g, the existence of which has not been confirmed), and a couple others in the same system (c and d) which are right on the edge of the habitable zone, so these discoveries are not really happening every few weeks. But we're not detecting anything about those planets that tells us they can support life--all we know is how far from their sun they are, and about how massive they are. Their surface conditions could very well be similar to those on Mars or Venus.


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

[User]
Has Hegel's philosophy been surpassed?

Is devoting time towards studying Hegel's Science of Logic, Phenomenology of Spirit and Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences worth all the effort? Has Hegel's conception of the world been surpassed? Does it still hold true to some degree?

Does his philosophy have any serious flaws? Is there an aspect(s) of his philosophy that has been criticized into oblivion and can no longer be taken seriously? I hear/read oftentimes that philosophy is not "obsessed" with system-building anymore. Does that mean Hegel's system is way too flawed?

And if Hegel *is* ultimately flawed beyond repair, how can that even be, considering he was well acquainted with all those philosophers whom he criticized in his Lectures on the History of Philosophy, while trying to show us how they all kind of converged and led to his System and his understanding of the world?

I find Hegel's conception of nature (which he inherited from Schelling if I am not mistaken) to make a lot of sense. It helps me deal with the mechanistic conception where endless motion of mindless particles that are jumping around aimlessly, somewhere during that mindlessness creates a mindful consciousness which is meant to just evaporate together with the rest of the Universe. Excuse me, what? On the other hand we have mysticism inspired by quantum physics and its breakthroughs, which is just as non-sensical with its constant jumping to conclusions and magical explanations.

In my mind, Hegel is too big to fail, I have put a lot of hope in him in my pursuit of understanding the Universe. What are the main objections to his System coming from philosophers since Hegel's death in 1831 to this day in 2022?

Sorry for my English, and thank you very much.

[Assistant]
>What are the main objections to his System coming from philosophers since Hegel's death in 1831 to this day in 2022?

I mean... even in Hegel's lifetime there were plenty of philosophers who opposed his philosophy. Schopenhauer is a good example. Hegel is a tricky one because so many of his critics simply disregard his philosophy as charlatanism or nonsense. So, you'll need to find texts that engage with Hegel on his own terms. Adorno's *Hegel: Three Studies*, Catherine Malabou's *The Future of Hegel*, and Marx's *Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right* are all excellent.

If you accept Hegel's philosophy on his own terms, this means that you have to recognise that his work is now outdated. His philosophy was a product of his time and so must be modified to account for the current age. His own philosophy says as much. This is what Hegel's biggest supporters are doing. Zizek is about as Hegelian as they come and he is adapting Hegel's work to be relevant to contemporary life, and in accordance with the latest philosophical movements and scientific discoveries. That said he does this by asking what in Hegel is still relevant **and** by asking what the present age means for Hegel. To quote Adorno:

A historical occasion like the 125th anniversary of Hegel's death could have elicited what we call an "appreciation." But that concept has become untenable, if indeed it ever had any value. It makes the impudent claim that because one has the dubious good fortune to live later, and because one has a professional interest in the person one is to talk about, one can sovereignly assign the dead person his place, thereby in some sense elevating oneself above him. This arrogance echoes in the loathsome question of what in Kant, and now Hegel as well, has any meaning for the present-and even the so-called Hegel renaissance began half a century ago with a book by Benedetto Croce that undertook to distinguish between what was living and what was dead in Hegel. The converse question is not even raised: what the present means in the face of Hegel; whether perhaps the reason one imagines one has attained since Hegel's absolute reason has not in fact long since regressed behind the latter and accommodated to what merely exists, when Hegelian reason tried to set the burden of existence in motion through the reason that obtains even in what exists. All appreciations are subject to the judgment passed in Hegel's preface to the Phenomenology of Spirit on those who are above something only because they are not in it. Appreciations fail from the start to capture the seriousness and cogency of Hegel's philosophy by practicing on him what he called, with appropriate disdain, a philosophy of perspectives. If one does not want to miss Hegel with one's very first words, one must confront, however inadequately, the claim his philosophy makes to truth, rather than merely discussing his philosophy from above, and thereby from below.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why can't most adults remember the exact order of letters without reciting part of the alphabet?

It seems odd that despite seeing the entire alphabet in front of me over and over again throughout my life I am still unable to immediately recall what order the letters are in. Instead, I have a fuzzy grasp of which letters are near each other and need to mentally  recite a group of 2-4 of them in order to know their precise order. This seems to be true for most adults. Why is this?

Edit: to clarify, I am wondering why part of the alphabet needs to be recited in order to know where a single letter stands relative to others. This is opposed to the numerical system, where the order of numbers can be recalled immediately - I need to think about whether S follows R but not if 8 follows 7.

[Assistant]
Because the order is completely arbitrary.  There is no relationship between K and L that would put them next to each other, and no reason K should come before L.  There are also not a lot of situations where have to go directly from K to L, so there is little reason to know this any better than "H-I-J-K-L".

Contrast this with number, which have all kinds of real relationships between them, and which you practice counting up and down with all the time.


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

[User]
[LotR/Hobbit] Are wargs inherently evil or could you raise one with love from a puppy and have it be a decent mount as a human?

Like if a human found a puppy warg and raised it like a dog and eventually a mount for himself.

[Assistant]
They're inherently evil to begin with, but there's nothing preventing you from raising one with love and kindness. One of the themes Tolkein preferred to avoid was evil being permanent, and that evil creatures could not be redeemed with good, which is why he was in a bit of a bind when it came to the orcs, since they were either so evil that they could not redeemed, or that they were good things that were corrupted to be evil, which is something that he also wanted to avoid.

In theory, you should be able to do it, but there's an argument to be made about whether you'd want to ride it into battle if you cared for it so, or whether you'd be more likely to try and keep it safe.


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

[User] ELI5: How can a lawn survive a full winter covered by snow, but start dying and turn bright green from 2 days of being covered by a tarp (or something similar)?

[Assistant] This is all about temperature. In the cold the grass is dormant, most processes shut down. In the summer, the grass is going full tilt with its biological processes- covering it with a tarp is like putting saran wrap over someones mouth while they are trying to run a marathon.


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

[User]
If we know that the CMB was emitted when the universe was approximately 380,000 years old, why don't we know the precise age of the universe beyond its current estimate of 13.7980.037 billion years?

Shouldn't we be able to know the precise age of the universe within a few hundred thousand years. Not within tens of millions of years?

[Assistant]
how long after the big bang was the cmb created and how long it's been since then are two different questions.  the first is explained with particle physics, while the second is verified through observation.

plus error bars of 10% are considered decent in many fields of astronomy, especially observational cosmology.  so the result you quoted is pretty damn good.


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40k] What is the cabal what is their origin and goal?

I've read that it's a secret organization againts chaos itself? Where do they come from what are some thing that they accomplished?

[Assistant]
They are a secret organisation that have allegedly been around for longer than mankind has existed, made up of hundreds, if not thousands of xenos races from across the galaxy. Their ultimate goal is to once and for all wipe the existance of Chaos from the Empyrean. They do this by predicting the future and steering the intelligent races of the galaxy toward said goal.

They had a hand in the Horus Heresy, where they actually tried to steer it towards a future where Horus won, therefore extinguishing humanity from the galaxy, and as such, the Ruinous Powers would no longer have the psychic emanations of mankind to live off of, eventually disappearing completely. This failed however (obviously) and now mankind has fallen into stagnation, the Chaos gods only grow stronger. Because their machinations failed, they then predicted Chaos would overrun the galaxy sometime couple of thousand years after the end of M41.

Their plan to help Horus win involved them manipulating the Alpha Legion into fighting for Horus, despite their staunch loyalty to the Emperor, because it would be what is ultimately best for humanity. The Alpha Legion acceded to the request because they believed it is what the Emperor would have done if faced with a similar decision.

Another one of their plans was during the Istvaan Drop Site Massacre during the Horus Heresy. The Cabal came across the information that Corvus Corax and the Raven Guard would acquire a highly valuable secret asset of the Imperium, one that could turn the tide against Horus' Rebellion. samples of the original, undifferentiated Primarch gene-stock engineered by the Emperor for the original Primarch Project, and related information about its use and function. The Alpha Legion, with the help of the Cabal, stole the gene-stock, ending that threat to the Cabal's plans. To this day it is unknown what the Alpha Legion did with it.

One notable member of the Cabal that most fans of the 40k lore should recognise was John Grammaticus, a genetically-engineered Perpetual who brought about Alpharius-Omegon's turn to the powers of Chaos.


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

[User]
ELI5: What happens when a country like the UK leaves the EU?

And why do they want to leave the EU?

[Assistant]
Some British would like to leave the EU because they believe their decision's frame is getting narrower, as the EU takes decisions with all the 28 countries without focusing on one. Plus, they feel they shouldn't be paying loans for other countries.

Now, no country has left the EU, ever. It's hard to tell what would happen. The UK is a special case, since its currency isn't the euro nor is it a country receiving EU's development loans. On top of mind, the UK and the EU would have to sign some treaties: free exchange, the future of the Schengen Zone, etc. The aftermath would be hard for both of them, the UK having to renegotiate commerce treaties with countries, since the previous ones were made by the whole EU. The EU would need to renegotiate the payments of each country to fulfil the hole left by the UK.


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

[User]
[Futurama]Why couldn't they just clone anchovies if they knew that they were highly valuable for robot oil?

I know that the Decapodians ate all the anchovies to extinction, but why couldn't they clone anchovies before that happened? Mom knew that anchovies were good for oil, so what about other people before her and why did nothing ever come of this?

Even with all of the Professor's crazy inventions he couldn't somehow fabricate an anchovie from archival DNA? I figured this would be completely easy for someone to do.

[Assistant]
As Mom pointed out, anchovy oil would put a significant dent in the oil industry. The oil barons hushed this fact up and lobbied against preserving the species.

If it were common knowledge, then the entire Planet Express crew would know the significance. At the very least, Professor Farnsworth would have known.

However, Mom was the only person to know. Even her sons, who have worked for her their entire lives, didn't know this fact. That points to information about anchovy oil's properties being suppressed.


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

[User]
[Kung Fu Panda] Was the whole Prison built for Tai Lung alone?

I assume yes because i don't remember seeing any other prisoners, but if so, where did they have Tai Lung until the prison was built?

[Assistant]
>No way, eight-point acupressure cuffs? Just like the ones that held Tai Lung, the more you move the tighter they get. These are **the best** cuffs.
-*Po*

This quote suggests that at first Tai Lung was simply held at bay with acupressure cuffs alone, replaced later on by a tortoise shell device designed by Oogway which filled the same role - lock movement and chi of the prisoner. And yes, Chorh-Gom prison was built for Tai Lung alone, he was kept there for years while the prison was getting more and more security measures installed on top of the existing ones, but as we know it wasn't the prison that was holding him back - it was the Oogway's device.
After the escape, destroying, and rebuilding the prison was made fit to accommodate more people since the main goal couldn't be filled anymore.


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

[User]
Could Black Holes leave our Universe deserted?

So my question is can at some point in an unimaginable amount of time could all matter in our Universe be devoured by black holes? From what I understand there is only a set amount of matter in our universe and no new matter can be created, and I know black holes basically absorb anything and everything within a close enough radius. So with these two bits of information could all the matter in the Universe be slowly sucked up and sent to the unknown or does the constant expansion of the Universe make this highly unlikely or is there something else I am missing?

[Assistant] so one thing people seem to misunderstand about black holes is that the only thing that differentiates them from any other body is their density, *not* mass. if our sun were to suddenly compact itself so as to have a radius of a couple kilometers it would become a black hole. the earth would continue to orbit around said black hole, the only difference would be we would no longer be receiving sunlight.


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

[User]
[Toy Story] Why did Buzz have memories of his lore but Woody did not?

Buzz clearly has memories of his experiences in Star Command and the Academy, as he references them several times. As these only existed in his TV show, why didn't Woody remember the lore from his show?

[Assistant]
Buzz was new and fresh from reading his packaging.

Woody had already been through soooo many adventures and his packaging is long gone, as is his sidearm. If he ever did know of the others, he had forgot it long ago.


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

[User]
[US, HCI/Cog Sci] Starting Ph.D: How can I begin getting ideas for my dissertation?

I will be starting my Ph.D. this Fall. I've been wondering, how did you guys gain the knowledge in your field to know what was a dissertation worthy topic? How did you realize what areas needed more work? etc

I have 2-3 months in quarantine, trying to start with my feet on the ground if possible.

[Assistant]
This is the preliminary knowledge that your first two to three years in the program will provide. You complete advanced coursework, engage in ongoing discussions with your peers and advisors, and prepare for your qualifying exams. That's also why, in the U.S., the MA is earned after those initial exams, en route to the PhD.

There are no shortcuts. If you're bored in quarantine, you can certainly read new (or canonical) scholarly texts in your field and start tracking some of the major debates taking place.

Congratulations on your acceptance and good luck with everything.


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

[User]
[Deus Ex / Ghost in the Shell] What's the argument against cybernetics?

This might be a terrible place to ask. It may be suited for a more philosophical subreddit, but I can't think of one that blends philosophy with science fiction.

I know Deus Ex and GitS ask deep questions about cybernetics and AI. However, I feel like the nuanced debate has gone over my head. In Deus Ex (at least Human Revolution), the public is split 50/50 over augmentations. Bystander will give their opinions why they love/hate about them. They can replace missing limbs, but on the other hand, they're expensive, separate the rich from the poor and the augmented from the non-augmented.

However, those issues aren't specific to, or the fault of augments. Cheap medicine for malaria and diarrhoea haven't made their way to Africa and permanently solved those issues. The other argument that it takes away humanity is subjective. A person with cybernetic arms and legs would still in my eyes be a human. It seems logical that it would extend to cybernetic torsos, and heads.

In GitS, cybernetics are accepted by everyone. While Motoko's cybernetic body is extensive, even in that universe, there's no question over whether or not she should have it there. I also think that so long as the brain is organic, she is human. If modifications were made to her cortex, making her think 50x faster than a regular brain, I would still classify her as human. The film makes it clear that she's a human brain in a cyborg body, as opposed to an AI.

If that's the case, where is the argument that humans who augment themselves with cybernetics are creating a new race of humans. A person isn't born with cybernetics, and they don't pass it on to their children. I would think that genetic modification, going beyond disease removal, would be a much bigger deal. Even then, disease removal through things like selective abortions are controversial. However, from Halo to Warhammer, genetic modifications is lauded, seen as creating the ultimate soldiers, which players look up to and aspire to be.

You could debate whether an AI is a sentient being and a person. I could see it as sentient, but there is a clear distinction between it and a human. The same can be done for replicants, although the line is so thin I couldn't even distinguish between them and humans. But I can't see the arguments in GitS, and especially DE about why cybernetic implants make you less of a human, or how having a human brain in a cybernetic body questions our humanity. I can see why some may be upset, but I can't see more people crusading against it than say, stem cells.

[Assistant]
There's few common arguments against augmentations.

1. Unnatural - messing with the common order, God's will, ect

2. Only for the rich - out of reach for anyone not willing to sell themselves body and mind to a megacorp

3. Human weapons - they're building supersoldiers to take our jobs!

Those are the most common arguments, and most anti-tech groups blend in a bit of both of all three.


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

[User] ELI5: What is the difference between baking powder and baking soda?

[Assistant]
The top comment is correct, but in case it's too technical:

Both baking powder and baking soda are used to create a rise in baked goods. The chemical reaction they cause makes bubbles that puff up the dough. Baking soda needs an acid added to the dough to make that reaction happen (like your grade school volcano). Baking powder is baking soda plus an acid that activates when it gets wet. Which one you use depends on the recipe (is there an acid?) and how much rise you want (baking soda is stronger but  too much of either powder can affect tastes so sometimes you want a big rise and you use both).


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

[User] ELI5: Why do we get goosebumps when listening to music that moves us.

[Assistant] Goosebumps are an evolutionary vestige from a time when we had fur. When hairy mammals experience events or stimuli such as mating, competition or defense (adrenaline spikes), the skin pores that hold hairs stand more upright making animals appear larger. Cold weather also triggers this response, the hairs stand more upright capturing more air in between each hair creating a natural insulation like a parka jacket.


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

[User] If heat is just the motion of particles, could temperature be measured with something like a very fine-tuned radar?

[Assistant] You can use a laser to measure thermoreflectance. Since for low excitations, the index of refraction linearly changes with temperature. you can thus relate temperature change with a reflective change.


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

[User] [Marvel Comics] Whose death would effect the people of Earth the most?

[Assistant] The world would mourn Captain America the most, Iron Man would likely be felt the most in the daily life because of Stark's impact on industry, Thor would have tons of long term consequences as the Guardian of the Nine Realms, and Charles Xavier's death could trigger a mutant war if it happens under the wrong circumstances.


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40k] With all the issues and threats in mind, what will Warhammer 80k be like?

Or rather, which species will be the last one standing?

[Assistant]
Dead. Wh80K will be dead. A dead galaxy. The nids are probably the only one who will survive, and by then they will have left. When they come, and they will come, they will devouver the galaxy, if we cant stop them. Even chaos will not survive, as chaos requiers living minds. The only chance we have is the Emperor.
But, even **if** he wakes up, **if** he wipes the warp clean, **if** he sets the imperium straight, **if** he removes anything that can spawn new warp gods, **if** he conquors the galaxy and **if** he defeats the nids, (thats a lot of ifs) who knows what the next 40 000 years will bring. If the nids are out there, something else must be out there too....


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

[User]
[Game Of Thrones] If Jon had been born with certain different features, how would Ned have gone about concealing his true parentage?

Namely, silver hair and purple eyes. It would be a dead giveaway that he's Rhaegar's son. Would Jon have to dye his hair black all the time?

[Assistant] In the books, Ned had a crush on Arthur Dayne's sister Ashara who had "haunting violet eyes". She's one of the women people suspect as Jon's mother. If Jon had purple eyes Ned would probably have to say that Ashara was his mother, and people would buy it. And although Ashara herself had dark hair, some of the Daynes did have platinum blond or silver hair.


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

[User] ELI5: How are the amount of calories and nutrition facts in food determined?

[Assistant]
A food calorie is 1000 calories, 1Kcal, or a Calorie, spelled with a capital.
In an aluminum calorimeter, a weighed sample of the food is burned in pure oxygen and the amount of heat produced is determined, per gram of food. While it is true that not everyone digests and absorbs equally, that is how the table of values is determined. The label amount is an average.


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40K] I find myself stranded on a planet about to be besieged by a Tyranid Hive fleet. How likely am i to survive if i somehow hide inside, for instance, a very well hidden, deep underground bunker ? What if i am a Blank individual ?

Let's say i got words that a Hive fleet of Tyranids is attacking the other side of my planet, a simple planet with a few garrisons. I happen to have a deep underground bunker with nobody inside and a relatively hidden door. Can i lock myself up inside and hide until the Tyranid hive fleet has devoured the planet entirely and leaves ?

What if the bunker is independant in terms of air production and food / water supplies ? What if i decided to bring my friend who is a Blank individual ?

[Assistant]
You could possibly survive the initial attack, yes. They don't physically destroy the planet. They do mine into the ground but if you're lucky they'll miss you. They don't go everywhere, and if you're away from underground life or mineral deposits, you might well make it.

You would then be trapped on a completely barren planet stripped of all biomatter and resources including water, with all infrastructure utterly destroyed, that everyone else in the galaxy assumes is completely lifeless, in a small bunker with a person who's supernaturally unpleasant to be around, under a culture with decent odds of considering you a traitor for hiding rather fighting the Xeno threat.

You might survive the initial invasion, but not long after. Honestly, it'd probably be quicker and kinder just to walk into the swarm.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do electronics manufacturers use a Red and Green LED in their products when 1% of world is colour blind?

As a colour blind person, I can't tell the difference between the Red and Green LED that are used in products to depict on/off or charging/non-charging etc. Why are they used when at least 1% of the world is colour blind (8% of men in Britain). I would say I'm mildly colour blind compared to others, and I have issues.
Why not Red and Blue?

[Assistant]
Red LEDs were the first and easiest to make. As they researched on, they found out how to make green, and worked out orange and yellow. The process for all of these is cheap, and close to identical.

Blue LEDs are only a relatively recent invention. Their components are expensive and construction is difficult. So blue LEDs are much more expensive.

Add to that the 'stop/go' indication that is deeply entrenched in our brains, and there is plenty of reason to continue using red and green. If enough people complain there may be a change, but id doesn't look likely.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do mammals require so much sleep?

[Assistant] Sleep is not yet perfectly understood scientifically. Yet it is well documented that absence of sleep results in slow deterioration of all our physical and cognitive abilities and ultimately death. It is thus theorised that sleep is necessary to recover both physically and cognitively.


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

[User]
ELI5: How come you will start getting brain damage after 6 minutes with no oxygen, but the world record for holding your breath is 22 minutes?

Thanks for the replies!

[Assistant]
The air you inhale is ~21% Oxygen the air you exhale is 13-16% oxygen, Hold your breath for 60 seconds with a blood oxygen meter on and you find that there is zero change in the amount of oxygen your blood is carrying. Hold for another minute and your blood oxygen level will only drop a few percent. The urge to breath becomes intense very quickly because your body doesn't actually have anyway to sense the amount of oxygen in your blood but rather senses the build up of CO2, as your oxygen level drops your body will start to restrict blood flow to the extremities this (not the actual lack of oxygen) is what causes your fingers or lips to tingle when you are extremely out of breath.

Your body can also power many systems anaerobically (without oxygen) your muscles can use more energy less efficiently and with more waste (lactic acid) for quite some time the only vital part of you that lacks this ability is your brain. Now all this adds up to the ability to hold your breath for about 7 or 8 minutes with proper training, the record you are referring too is a pure O2 record where the diver holds their breath after breathing pure medical grade oxygen which again doesn't reduce the feeling of needing to breath at all but does allow you to hold much longer.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is French seemingly so different from other Romance languages?

Spanish, Portuguese,  and Italian more or less pronounce words how they are spelled with very few exceptions or silent letters (I would add Romanian in here but Im not quite as confident in that statement). However, French seems like chaos in terms of pronunciations in comparison. What happened along the way that made French so different from the other major Romance languages?

[Assistant]
French nouns come from the Old French oblique case.

Latin had a variety of case endings, with the nominative being the one given in a dictionary and used when the noun is the is subject of a sentence. The other cases were used when the noun was an object or indirect object, instrument, or possessive. All those other cases merged into Old French's oblique case, which was used whenever the noun was _not_ the subject of a sentence, leaving Old French with only a nominative and oblique case. Then, as that oblique/nominative distinction fell away, Modern French took the oblique case as the usual form of the word.

Most other Romance languages have nouns descended from the Latin nominative case.

In terms of spelling and pronunciation, earlier Old French was pronounced much more closely to how it was spelled early on. By the later Old French period, many of the modern pronunciations began to develop. The spelling didn't keep up, but it didn't need to. Everyone knew when a word-final consonant was silent, but it was silent in a consistent way. It's not chaotic. There are rules, and French is fairly consistent with those rules. They are just different from the rules of other languages that use the Latin alphabet.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Can Anakin make the kessel run in less than 12 Parsecs?

[Assistant]
In all likelyhood, yes. He's just as much of a daredevil hotshot pilot as Han, if not more due to his overconfidence and cocksure reliance on his Force prowess.

If you told him that General Grievous was about to blockade Naboo, and the only way the Republic could stop him would be to somehow do the Kessel Run in less than 12 Parsecs, he'd shorten the distance by navigating through hazardous space. On a really ballsy day he might do a 10 Parsec Kessel Run if needs be.


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

[User]
Watts, Voltage, and Amperes What are they?

The title is a bit misleading as I do know what they are but I don't entirely understand them. I have a test in Science class soon, however, taking a look back at my notes, I feel like I overcomplicated everything and am feeling confused.

I understand that Watts is the outcome of power or J/S.
I know that electrons actually move slower than snails but what we generally mean is the voltage drop.
I know that Voltage*Amperes=Watts

I'm not sure what volts (or voltage) are.
I'm not entirely sure what a voltage drop is, is it a constant burst of energy or is it just electricity moving?
Are watts per second?
If I left a 20W lightbulb running for an hour and I have to pay 18c per kWh, how do we figure out how much money that costs?

**EDIT:**
Thank you to everyone who helped, I read everyone answers. I do feel I have a bit more of an understanding and could definitely relate this back to my notes. I do still have one more question though, is voltage constant?

[Assistant]
The easiest way to understand the relation between the Volts, Amperes, Joules and Watts is using an analogy that, while not accurately representing the physical situation, provides a decent insight into how these quantities interact.

Imagine an electrical circuit as a road with trucks traveling on it. On this road, there's a truck depot that serves as both the start and end point of the road, as well as one or more stops along the way.

At the depot, the trucks are loaded with cargo and they will drive the entire road, unloading some or all of their cargo at each stop they encounter so that when they reach the depot again at the end, all cargo has been unloaded.

The stops along the road are the places that use the cargo and they determine how much cargo is needed. There are two ways to manipulate the amount of cargo being driven around on this road: Either by changing the number of trucks that depart from the depot or by changing how much cargo each truck is loaded with.

The total amount of cargo that this network uses per second is then equal to the amount of cargo on each truck multiplied by the number of trucks leaving the depot every second.

Now, back to electricity. Using the example above, the amount of cargo loaded on each truck represents the Voltage. The voltage is a measure of the difference in electric potential energy between the start and the end of the circuit. In simple circuits, that is between the + and - pole of the battery / power source. This quantity is measured in Volt (V).

The number of trucks leaving the depot per second represents the Amperage. The unit Ampere (A) is a measure for the amount of current flowing through a (specific point in a) circuit.

The power, measured in Watt (W), is computed as the product of the voltage and the current. This is represented in the example by the amount of cargo delivered per second. Power itself is a quantity that expresses energy per second. The unit of energy is Joule (J). But rather than always speaking of J/s (Joules-per-second), we use the shorthand term quantity Watt, where 1 Watt is equal to 1 Joule per second.

So if we have a device that uses 20 W, that means that every second it uses 20 J of energy. In one hour, that means it uses 60 * 60 * 20 = 72,000 J of energy.

Since these quantities can become rather large quickly, we often express an amount of energy in a different way, namely as kWh or kilo-Watt-hour. 1 kWh is, as the name implies, the total amount of energy used by something that uses 1 kW of power and runs for 1 hour. 1 kW of power means 1,000 J of energy per second, so running that for 1 hour or 3,600 seconds means that 1 kWh is 3,600,000 J of energy.

The aforementioned 20 W device uses 0.02 kW of power. That means that in 1 hour it will use 0.02 kWh of energy.

Note: The trucks/cargo analogy is not an accurate representation of the underlying physics of electricity. As you remarked, the charge carriers in an electric circuit, electrons, move rather slowly and it is not the case that you have electrons racing around the circuit dropping their energy at devices ("stops") along the way. To make things more complicated, if you use alternating current, the direction of the electron flow changes rapidly (50 or 60 times per second depending on where you live) and that obviously doesn't translate very well to the truck/cargo analogy. However, the analogy does clarify the relation between the various quantities reasonably well (at least for simple circuits) and can be used to gain an understanding as to how these things relate to eachother.


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

[User]
[In The Matrix Universe] if two people plugged into the matrix conceive a baby... how is the baby born in the real world? if the two people never even touched?

This Plot Hole always bothered me since i first saw The Matrix... if a guy and a girl who are connected into the simulated world of the matrix fell in love, and have sex... then the girl gets pregnant and a new baby is born... how the hell is the baby born in the real world if the two people are probably miles away from eachothers bodies and they can't even move from their cell... how does the machines manage to match the new born baby avatar to a new born human body in the real world?

[Assistant] We can artificially induce pregnancy when the parents haven't even ever met. It would be a rather simple thing for the Machines to collect sperm from the father and transport it to inseminate the mother.


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

[User]
[Stargate SG-1] Why do we never see a Goa'uld controlled planed with the AG-3 satellite system?

Daniel Jackson is given a vision of what would happen if he had the genetic knowledge of the Goa'uld.

In it, we see that in the span of a couple of years using earth's relatively primitive technology he was able to build and set up a network of AG-3 satellites that are able to destroy *any* approaching mothership as well as do pinpoint accurate strike on the planet able to vaporise major cities in seconds. In effect given him perfect control and hegemony over earth.

The clear message of the vision is that while powerful the Goa'uld knowledge is inherently corrupting turning one of the most empathic figures into a tyrant in the span of a couple of years.

The issue is though, that a Goa'uld wouldn't have such a problem, and slave labour makes things cheap, so why exactly don't we see any Goa'uld-controlled planet have such a satellite defence system? Especially since it can also be used for strikes against the planet itself giving easy control over the populace as well as an option to fight enemy Jaffa incursions.

I don't buy the 'it's not a real technological possibility it was just a vision' explanation since Shifu was an honest child that wanted to teach Daniel a true lesson and lying about the technology possible would go against that.

[Assistant]
I think there's four aspects here.

First, Daniel is a genius. He and Carter between them make up probably two of the sharpest minds on the planet. That combined with the knowledge of the Goa'uld, without the controlling impact of a Goa'uld mind, has enormous potential.

Secondly, it isn't just any Goa'uld knowledge - Jackson got this knowledge from the harcesis, who by his very nature is considered a threat by the Goa'uld because of the fact that it combines the knowledge and genetic memory of two bloodlines. The last harcesis born, in the 1930s, was killed instantly by Ra to prevent such a threat arising. That amalgamated knowledge is greater than any individual Goa'uld's power, excepting Anubis.

Thirdly, Daniel is motivated by more than the usual Goa'uld motivations of power, domination, and ego. Daniel lost the love of his life to the Goa'uld, and his hatred and determination to defeat them gives him a focus that they lack. They're usually focused on political maneuvering, and on oppressing less advanced species into a chattel race, not on actively standing up to an equal or more powerful race. His motivations to defeat the System Lords and protect Earth from them focuses all that knowledge in a way that the Goa'uld don't typically have. Remember, until Earth's first proper Stargate mission in the 90s, when Jackson himself first decoded the gate, the System Lords were united under Ra's rule. There was very little infighting. Their only major enemies were the weaker races they enslaved.

Lastly, in the Stargate Universe, Humanity is Special. Within a few years of gaining access to advanced scientific ideas through the gate, they're able to develop technologies that should otherwise have taken centuries to invent. They carry within them the potential to succeed the Ancients, and even to ascend. The Tau'ri of Earth show not only intelligence and determination, but *creativity*, creativity that the Goa'uld lack, thanks to millennia as a stagnant and arrogant society, dependent on slavery and utterly convinced of their own superiority. The Humans' ability to think creatively and to come up with clever and unexpected solutions is ultimately what defeats the System Lords, turning the tide of a struggle the Tok'ra had been limping through for centuries - and Daniel represents some of the best of that ability. That creativity, combined with the amalgamated knowledge of the harcesis child, leads to new innovations, something the Goa'uld haven't had for centuries, and only really ever seemed to have under Anubis and Ba'al.


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

[User]
[Nightmare on Elm Street] Since physical strength and skill seems to carry over from the real world into the Dream world, is there a certain level of strength were the victim can just outright negate Freddy?

For example when Freddy pulled Jason or a martial artist into the Dream world, he had some trouble with them, he was straight up frustrated with Jason until he figured out his water fear.

Freddy pulled someone like Saitama or Superman, would he even be able to do anything to them?

[Assistant] Both examples you mention involved Freddy getting his ass kicked until he could figure out their fear-at which point he bitched them. Plus hes immortal, and cant truly be killed. So Freddy *would* be able to do shit to Superman or Saitama but only when he figured out what their fears were.


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

[User]
[Game of Thrones] *SPOILERS* Wildling battle strategy?

How we survived the first night of assault from the Wildling horde is mysterious indeed. I only recently took the Black as a recent outcast from the South- for reasons I will keep to myself. I may be new to the wall, but war is an older thing- far older than I, and I was born into it. My own experiences leave me troubled with tonight's result. How are we alive?

Whether the Wildlings knew it or not, they had us outnumbered by the thousands. We counted barely a hundred strong. Any commander worth his salt, Wildling or otherwise, should have known that attacking the main gate of the wall meant attacking the Watch's most heavily guarded position- yet they cast their army against it like waves against the rocks.

I've heard frightened whispers that they were only testing our defenses, but even in doing so- would they not have attacked the wall from multiple positions? The wall is said to be 300 miles long, and guarded tonight by mostly lit torches and empty parapets. The fools scaled the wall in the only place they could have possibly failed, thank the Gods. But why?!

They must have known that attacking from the South would be much more effective than attempting the gate from the North-side, for they sent a small, skilled unit of warriors that nearly accomplished taking Castle Black by themselves! Why not test the wall for less fortified areas and amass a larger force to take the gate from the South?

Do not misunderstand- I am overjoyed to take breath- I simply question why. Do these wildmen have any strategy or command structure in place? Were they simply instructed to do what comes naturally to them- to grunt, and to roar, and bash themselves against the enemy until the blood was dry? Perhaps they view a tactical approach *cowardly* in their simple, tribal minds- and prefer the pride and vanity of a full frontal assault against our main force.

Their strategy seems horribly flawed, though it is early yet and indeed there are far fewer of us now than when the night began- but can anyone explain how this attackplan made any sense at all?

[Assistant] It's not just an army, it's an exodus. The wildings have women, children, the sick and the old with them, and most can't make the grueling climb. They need a gate, and the only open gates are the Shadow Tower, Castle Black and Eastwatch.


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

[User]
[The Matrix] How would the news cover all the carnage happening within The Matrix?

motorway car wrecks, dozens of explosions, fire fights on the street, deaths/missing people, super human feats, would this all be hidden, somehow, by the machines? Or would it be seen and covered by news agencies?

[Assistant]
Of course there is no reason for the humans to even realize any of this is happening. Changes to the status quo, especially on such a scale, would cause a massive desychronization with the Matrix programming. Those who died in the carnage would simply be erased from existence, and witnesses would simply wake up in their own beds with the oddest feeling of deja vu and no memory of the event.

What makes you sure the news is even run by humans?


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

[User] ELI5: Why do lots of places only accept a passport or a driving license as identification when some adults don't have either?

[Assistant]
Generally, the legal risk of selling to the wrong person is much higher than the risk of alienating the few customers that don't have either of these things.

For example, alcohol. Serving to someone that's under age in Texas can get you thousands of dollars in fines, and can get the business tens of thousands in fines or even a potential loss of liquor license, which pretty much shuts down the business.

Compare this to the risk of pissing off a customer that doesn't have the time or money to get a government issued ID, which costs like $25. That person is never going to be your best customer, so there isn't a whole lot of incentive to make a risky exception for them.


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

[User]
[Halo] Does the average citizen of the UNSC know of the Flood's existence?

Did survivors of Voi spread the word of the existence of the Flood? Or did ONI run a massive campaign to cover up their existence?

[Assistant]
Because of the nature of the incident, it wouldn't require a massive cover up campaign by ONI to keep the knowledge locked up. By the time the Flood touched down, Voi had been in Covenant hands for nearly a month. Between the obvious evacuation the UNSC would have attempted, the terrible treatment of civilians by the Covenant, and the Flood's need for biomass, there would be few if any potential civilians to spread any news of the Flood. That means the only people encountering the Flood and living to tell the tale would be UNSC military who can obviously be ordered not to tell anyone about the Flood and punished harshly if they do.

That said, there was almost certainly a cover up. Regardless of whether or not there were civilian survivors, a part of Earth getting glassed is a huge deal. Keep in mind that at the time of the glassing of Voi the Covenant Separatists had been on humanity's side for a little over a month, and after 25 years of war the average civilian would have neither the ability nor the desire to tell the difference between a loyalist and a separatist. Can you imagine the outrage if the general public found out that UNSC leadership had given the go ahead for part of Earth being glassed? The only possible way for anyone involved to not be hounded to their graves by the media and the public would be to announce the involvement of the Flood and hope that the populace sees the threat posed by a race they've never heard of before. From the standpoint of ONI and the UNSC, it's better if the glassing goes down in history as Covenant Loyalists starting the glassing process.


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

[User] ELI5: When a fire occurs and the fire department taps into a fire hydrant, does the water pressure in surrounding buildings drop?

[Assistant] It really depends on where they draw the water from. In a big city, most buildings have their own water tanks/pumps, so they won't be affected. In more suburban or rural areas, it depends on the local infrastructure and if the system is built to handle that kind of flow.


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

[User]
What if the Fed didnt exist?

How different would the American economy and the world economy be if the Fed suddenly stopped existing? What if the Fed never existed? (Im American) Do other countries have a Fed-equivalent within their economies?

[Assistant]
If the Fed didn't exist, everything from interest rates to inflation would be determined by the market, which would most likely make recessions longer and more severe.

The fed is also responsible for tons of regulations and things of that nature, overseeing the banking sector to a degree and making sure the economy has enough capital. Without the fed there's nobody making sure banks have appropriate liquidity.

The list of things the fed does to increase economic stability is long and we'd most certainly be worse off without it.

And yes, most countries have central banks (I actually can't think of one that doesn't) and most western central banks generally act like the fed does.


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

[User]
[Doctor Who] Can a TARDIS take any form?

So, the Doctor's TARDIS has taken the form of a police telephone box to better blend in with modern society. But, what are the limits of a TARDIS' forms? How often can it change? Could a Time Lord appear in, say, the telephone box form, change its form to a smaller pocket-size version and carry it around and have it shift back when needed?

[Assistant] IIRC, *ideally*, it arrives somewhere, scans the environment to determine what would be least conspicuous, then transforms into whatever that is.  What the Doctor's Tardis does is arrive, scan the environment, determine what would be least conspicuous, and then just turns into a police box anyway.


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

[User]
ELI5: Can a cowboy quickdraw and shoot from his hip as accurately as they do in western films? If so, how?

I'm guessing it's probably just for flair in the films but I'd like to know if there is some form of technique for shooting from the hip.

[Assistant]
> Can a cowboy quickdraw and shoot from his hip as accurately as they do in western films?

Yes. Real champions can do it even faster than in the films. Check out videos of Bob Munden for examples.

> If so, how?

Just like any skill - practice, practice, practice. Again, if you look up the name above, you'll find several slow motion videos that show his technique.


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

[User] [DC Comics] If Superman were completely depowered, what could he still do for the Justice League?

[Assistant] Superman is actually a pretty good fighter.  He knows kryptonian martial arts and has trained with Batman and Wonder Woman.  He of course won't be the powerhouse he was before, but it's not like the league has never had powerless people on the team.  Plus he has access to a lot of kryptonian technology.  Additionally his charisma, journalism skills and connections he's made, both as a superhero and reporter, would still make him a great face for the league and a good choice to handle their public relations.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is it exactly that alcoholics become addicted to?

I can understand addictions like Gambling, drugs and food, because the experience is a high. Alcohol is a depressent though, so I've never understood why people feel compelled to drink. Is it purely chemical, or is it conditioning from past good experiences (like drinking at parties etc)?

[Assistant]
There are several types of addictions.

* Social addiction; a mental addiction,  to the atmosphere or social interactions associated with alcohol or venues/situations where alcohol is served. Can be parties, night clubs, sportspubs, or whatever.
Alcohol often used as a social lubricant or catalyst, or to reinforce the emotions, but for some people in this category it may even be something that's just "forced" upon them since it's just "expected" to drink in the situations.

* Mental addiction; Drinking to get away. Keeping your mind on something else than... something.
A way of "fleeing reality" and responsibility...
(For some, simply being afraid of the since long postponed hangover.)
Not necessarily drinking alone, that's just the stereotype.

* Physical addiction; after a long time of abuse, the body "adjusts" and doesn't work properly without alcohol.
Various byproducts from metabolic breakdown of ethanol accumulates in the body, but is being "kept in check" by the constant refill of alcohol.
Sudden abstinence may cauce hallucinations, severe nausea,  convulsions, vomiting, etc... May be life threatening in severe cases.

Often some type of combination. An addicted person may have a little bit of *this* and a little bit of *that*. Of course there are also other types and subsets of alcohol dependency, but well...


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

[User]
Why a dog's leg twitches when you scratch the sweet spot.

I have always wondered why they do that.

[Assistant] Their 'sweet spot' is basically equivalent to a human's ticklish area.  When you scratch let's say an area of your dog's tummy and starts twitching/kicking, the dog is just trying to scratch the sweet spot.


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

[User] Why is it when you close your eyes in a dark room, you can still see colours moving or swirling around?

[Assistant]
Your brain is always looking for patterns, so in the absence of any input at all, the complex pattern recognition systems of the visual cortex create "meaning" as they amplify the neural noise always present.

It's between V1 and V2 that there is the strongest feedback, so this means that the visual perception that is spontaneously evoked is mainly morphing "blobs", the only discernable factor being contrast, as is their function.

If you would injest a 5-HT2A agonist like psylocybin, you might see the even more complex interactions of the higher visual complexes, which manifest as alterations in spatial perception and very elaborate geometric patterns.


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

[User]
How the US education system works.

Following on from a post about the British education system I saw a few days ago, how does the American system work? In particular: What is the SAT and the ACT? How does the college admissions system work? AT how old do you leave high school?

[Assistant]
The details vary by school district (which can be as small as a few dozen students in one school to hundreds of thousands of students in dozens of schools), but generally:

Ages 5-10: Elementary school (called Kindergarten through 5th grade)
Ages 11-13: Middle school or (less commonly now) junior high school (called 6th grade through 8th grade)
Ages 14-18: High school (called 9th grade through 12th grade)

There are other options, such as private schools (you pay tuition for your kid to attend), charter schools (you sometimes pay tuition, sometimes it's district-funded), religious schools (mainly Christian, but there are variations), magnet schools (schools draw from a wide region to bring in the students they want, often with a specific interest like science or arts), and homeschooling.

At 16-17, all students that want to attend college take the SATs. It's a long standardized test that tests writing, math, and reading skills. It's used so colleges can compare students from different schools on the same metric, which they can't do with GPA because schools make up their own formula for GPA, grading varies by teacher, and high schools vary by academic rigor.

The ACT is a similar standardized test, though it's not as widely taken, it's not mandatory for pretty much any school, and the grading scale is different.

For college admissions, you pay a fee to each school and submit your GPA, SAT scores, various essays, demographic information (race, religion, nationality, etc) and a resume of achievements and extracurricular activities. They wade through thousands of these applications and pick a group of people to admit, a small group to waitlist, and then everyone else is rejected. As the accepted students make their decisions, a few people from the waitlist are offered admission. Once they have the class size that they want, the rest of the waitlist is rejected. Some schools also hold interviews, but that's less common now because there's so many applications to get through.


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

[User]
If we could see UV light, could we see new colors?

Since every wavelength we can see is a different color, and UV light is a completely different wavelength (obviously) wouldn't that mean that we could see some brand new colors that aren't a mixture of other colors?

[Assistant]
It depends.  The different colors are not a direct result of the different wavelengths, but rather, of how well each wavelength is absorbed by each of the 3 types of color-sensing cone cells in the human eye.  Every color we see is due to an interaction between these 3 types of cones cells. So, the answer to your question depends on *how* we become able to see ultraviolet light.

 If we did so by obtaining a 4th type of cone cell that was sensitive to those wavelengths, then yes, it would probably create a whole spectrum of new color experiences, as well as changing our color experience of the wavelengths we can already sense now.

If, on the other hand, we did so by changing the absorption characteristics of the 3 existing cone cells, such that they responded to a wider range of wavelengths including UV, then it's likely that we would still see the same set of colors, although probably in response to different wavelengths than before.


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

[User] [Fallout] What is life like in other areas of the world? Is Europe also destroyed? What about remote African lands? Is everything nuked to shit?

[Assistant]
Europe had already been at war over resources for decades before the bombs fell.

The European Commonwealth was at war with the Middle East for an indeterminate amount of time until the oil fields of the Middle East all dried out. Europe then promptly collapsed into a huge civil war.

It is unknown is this might have actually spared Europe from nuclear destruction, since they were irrelevant to the bigger nuclear exchange between China and the US or if this resulted in European states nuking each other way before America or China did.


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

[User]
If you had access to more dimensions than just three, could you turn a left hand into a right hand? That is, making two chiral objects become achiral.

With three dimensions, you can turn a perfectly two dimensional object into its mirror image (For example, you can turn a "b" into a "d", by rotating them with the third dimension). Could you do the same with a three dimensional object? How many more dimensions would you need in order to do so?

[Assistant]
One more dimension would suffice.

Rotations and refelections in N dimensions are represented by so-called *orthogonal matrices*. Rotation matrices have determinant +1, while reflections have determinant -1.

So if we have a 3-dimensional reflection that implements the transformation you want, you can embed the corresponding 3x3 matrix into a 4x4 matrix that has the 3-dimensional reflection matrix in its upper left, a -1 in the bottom right corner, and zeroes elsewhere.  This 4x4 matrix is a four-dimensional rotation, but on the original three-dimensional subspace, implements the original reflection.


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

[User] ELI5: If water can be a conductor for electricity, why doesn't a lightning strike in the middle of the ocean instantly kill everything?

[Assistant]
Two reasons, the first of which is that the energy will dissipate as it goes out, much the same way as heat from a candle. Think of a lightning strike as rush hour for electrons, at 7 in the morning there are too many electrons at home and not enough at work, so they all leave to go to work (from the cloud to the ocean) then once they arrive they go to their desk and stay there. The electrons aren't eager to run around the city, they just fill the gaps that existed, which rapidly decrease as you expand outward.

Also, water doesn't conduct electricity, the minerals in it do. They are what build up the excess or lack of electrons.


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

[User]
Plastic coke bottles (with minimal liquid residue) will, with the cap screwed on tight, develop a partial vacuum (negative pressure) inside over time. Why?

I've unwittingly been conducting this natural experiment in my dorm room for two years. My girlfriend hypothesizes that whatever chemical or metabolic event taking place in the liquid residue has used the air constituents to form smaller molecules, which results in the negative pressure.

Edit: tomaattisose (and others) has hit on a likely explanation:

> Fluctuations in temperature cause changes in pressure. When the difference in pressure is positive, the air slowly escapes (I bet you don't screw the cap back as tightly when the bottle is already empty.) When the "gauge pressure" is negative, it pulls the cap closing it tighter and thus hindering the flow of air. Also the lack of internal pressure allows the bottle even out the difference by collapsing.

[Assistant]
Fluctuations in temperature cause changes in pressure. When the difference in pressure is positive, the air slowly escapes (I bet you don't screw the cap back as tightly when the bottle is already empty.)
When the "gauge pressure" is negative, it pulls the cap closing it tighter and thus hindering the flow of air. Also the lack of internal pressure allows the bottle even out the difference by collapsing.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why does English do this?

We love to use opposite terms to describe things.  For example:

"The alarm went off." = "The alarm came on."

Or, if you will tolerate a dirty example, angry hetero males routinely ask each other for gay sex before a fistfight. Example:

"Suck my c*ck!"

Think about that request. The granting of that wish would mean a bad day for both parties.  I can't think of many other languages that celebrate such opposite expression.

[Assistant]
> "The alarm went off." = "The alarm came on."

Those are phrasal verbs, and they don't mean the same as the literal translations of their component parts. The alarm doesn't literally go to or come from anywhere.

To be honest, "The alarm went off" is much more usual: it means "was triggered". We use this of, for example, guns and bombs: "He picked up the grenade and it went off in his hands." We use it for alarms because we're thinking of something triggering it: depending on the type of alarm, it might be because a preset time has been reached, or because somebody pushed an emergency button, or because the system detected a fire, or whatever.

"Come on" means "begin to function". When we flick a light switch, the light (hopefully) comes on: electricity flows through it causing it to glow. We can only use this for actions that last a long time: guns and bombs explode instantaneously, so we can't say that they "come on". Talking about an alarm "coming on" isn't usual, but since the alarm sounds for a long period of time (until it is switched off), it's certainly possible.

So, "the alarm went off" means "the alarm was triggered"; but "the alarm came on" means "the alarm began to make a noise". It just so happens that in the case of alarms, those two things mean pretty much the same thing.


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

[User]
Is Piketty's 'Capital in the 21st century' comprehensible to non-economists ?

I'm an engineering student and I don't know much about economics. I was thinking about reading Piketty's book. How hard would it be for me ?

[Assistant] Generally, yes it is very accessible. In the introduction he specifically states that he wrote it in such way that it would be readable for people without a background in economics. Just make sure that you read the first two chapters on the economic history of the world, as it is essential to understand his main argument.


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

[User] Why are painkillers so huge while it only contains a couple milligrams of the active substance?

[Assistant] Since over-the-counter medicine is sold directly to the consumer, certain safeguards must be put in place to avoid/deter any tampering that could lead to over-doses or abuse. Using a large amount of binder in a pill is one way to avoid someone accidentally taking too much.


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

[User] Wouldn't implanting young DNA compatible cells that replicate normally without being targeted by your immune system be the "cure" for old age?

[Assistant] This may be true if all cells in your body continually divide, but there are important cells (such as almost all your neurons in your nervous system) that are post-mitotic and will accumulate DNA damage over time.


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

[User] ELI5: How come we can't just add X amount of gears to a transmission and have one of the most efficient cars ever?

[Assistant] We kinda did. Early cars had 3 speeds, and now we have 10. We also have CVTs with infinite ratios. At the end of the day it won't help much. Adding more gears would make it possible to go faster while maintaining low engine rpm but at some point air will make it too difficult to reach those speeds with such low engine output. You could design those gears to be used at lower speeds to keep the engine in its efficiency zone but then your gearbox would need to constantly shift gears. Even 10 is too much really and it's often annoying to drive. And even with infinite ratios CVTs are only slightly more efficient so there's not much to be gained anyway.


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

[User] [Marvel] Can the Winter Soldier feel pain on his prosthetic arm?

[Assistant]
Spoilers for Civil War:

When on the run from the German Special Forces, Bucky jumps from a ledge and uses his metal arm to grab a railing to stop himself. It appears to hurt, as he does cry out, but it might just be from the connection point of arm to chest being stretched.


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

[User] ELI5: what physically determines the speed of a processor?

[Assistant]
Good question :-)

Processors are large collection of transistors coupled together by small metal (copper? gold? aluminium? magnesium?) paths in new and ingenious ways, as such we need to understand how their physical behaviour:

A transistor works by saturating a part of it with enough electrons or removing enough electrons from that part so that the other part of the transistor will start or stop conducting. This takes time, but the smaller the transistor the faster it goes. But the smaller the transistor is, the more weird quantum related issues show up.

The paths which connect everything are laying next to each other or crisscross over each other and the magnetic fields generated by these paths can interfere with the other paths. The smaller you make the distance between the paths, the more interference. So you need enough space there.

The clock signal on which the processor works needs to be everywhere more or less at the same time, otherwise it could be that your transistor logic is getting confused and 1 + 2 ends up as 4. The faster the clock signal, the less time you have to get it all in the right state, so overclocking is not guaranteed to be a working scenario.

The smaller the transistors are, the less they are able to deal with heat. For a faster clock speed, more heat is produced. The lower the working voltage, less heat is produced. But the lower the voltage, the less tolerant the transistors becomes to interference.


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

[User]
CMV: Private Businesses Should be Allowed to Discriminate Against Anybody they Want to

Earlier today, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the *Masterpiece Cakeshop* in the landmark case *Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission*. I have read pieces of the ruling as well as the dissent, and I understand that this ruling's scope is very narrow and mostly applies to religious views and freedom of expression; it is not a blanket ruling that allows businesses to choose not to serve gays. However, I have been thinking about this topic a lot today, and I personally believe that private businesses should be allowed to discriminate against whomever they like. If a private business does not want to serve people of color, or Jewish people, or whomever, they shouldn't have to. The United States is based upon a free market capitalist system \(albeit with some restrictions, so it's not really true free market economy, but I digress\), and if a business wants to turn people away and lose money simply to uphold their personal views \(even if they are largely unpopular views\), then I think they should be allowed to do so. If the public really thinks that this is wrong, they will simply stop going to that business, and sooner or later it won't be financially sustainable and will go bankrupt.

Think of it like this: let's say there is a small business who refuses to serve Jewish people. Once word of this got around to the general public, people would be upset and would boycott this business. Eventually, it would lose enough money and would have two options: a\) 'stick to your guns' and continue to forfeit money in order to uphold your personal beliefs, or b\) renounce your prior views and begin serving Jewish people again. The free market makes discrimination an unfavorable business model, and if people are really opposed to discrimination, they will punish the businesses that engage in it by not giving them money.

I understand that this viewpoint is not particularly popular, and I am very interested in finding out why. Please try to change my view!

[Assistant] This view is predicated on the idea that the exclusion of certain social classes would cause an establishment to lose money, but history has shown us that quite the opposite can happen and exclusion of social classes can be quite profitable. Jim Crow is the most obvious example. White customers desired the exclusivity, so businesses were more than happy to serve those interests. Do you think there aren't certain areas of the country where discrimination against certain groups of people (LGBTQ+ individuals, Muslims, Atheists) could be a draw for certain demographics? And what do you think happens when people see public discrimination rewarded? Well other establishments start doing it too, and marginalization of certain classes becomes a norm, which encourages further discriminatory behavior.


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

[User]
[Back to the Future] Marty McFly runs into someone who recently discovered time travel. Does he try to talk them out of it? Give advice on how to handle things? Tell them it improved the lives of him and his family/friends and to definitely do it? What are his feelings on the subject?

Sabotage the whole thing before any damage can be done?

[Assistant]
Considering how dangerously close he came to cockblocking himself out of existence, and the more or less entirely accidental nature of his improving his life, he'd probably do his best to discourage any more time travel. There are few ways to do it "right", and countless ways to fuck up in a way that could screw your health, your life, or your entire town.

Sure, in the end things worked out, but before they did there was an entire alternate timeline where Biff ruled Hill Valley with an iron fist. The damage may have been undone, and relatively inexperienced by "our" Marty and Doc, but the pain and suffering of the people in Biff's 1985A was very real.


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

[User]
[WH40k] Assuming someone was able to genophage the Orks' rapid reproductive capabilities, would Orkish culture of aggression and warfare change in any way?

Assuming it was possible that a virus was able bypass Orkish natural biological defense mechanisms and stabilized their birth rates to that of something similar to humans. Even though they're naturally militant since they were originally created as bio-engineered super soldiers, they are still sapient creatures, so would any part of their society change as a pragmatic response to this reality, or would they just completely go extinct.

[Assistant]
Orks are more of an autonomous weapon system than an actual living thing with a culture that reflects their environment and upbringing.

Orks grown from spores that have no exposure to other orks still end up orky.


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

[User]
Are new viruses spontaneously mutated? In one million years will humans be immune to all viruses on Earth?

(If Earth is still habitable in one million years)

[Assistant] Long story short, yes, they are. Since viruses reproduce so quickly and stuff is always trying to kill them, they evolve on a much more rapid scale. Otherwise we would have been immune a long time ago. It's also why it's so hard to find suitable cures for some viruses, because they can become resistant so quickly.


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

[User] [The Expanse] Its 2017 and the full moon is bright white and lights up the night. In 2350 when Luna has been colonised how will this change?

[Assistant]
Very little.

Luna doesn't have an atmosphere, so it is subjected to very intense solar radiation and any surface colony would have to protect against  this and micrometeorites.

Fortunately Luna is seismically dead so we can dig tunnels and not worry about them shifting or collapsing due to moonquakes. Also the rock will protect from those pesky micrometeorites and radiation.

So for the casual observer from Earth, Luna will look much the same because you won't see the tunnels. Sorry for the *boring* answer.


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

[User] ELI5: What function, if any, does that indent/crease thing between our nose and lips serve?

[Assistant]
In humans it doesn't have a function (as others said).  In animals like dogs (the "split" in their nose pad is their equivalent of this), it traps odorant (particles), and this allows those particles to make their way down into the mouth, where they have additional scent organs that can detect smells that aren't volatile (smellable out of the air itself).

It forms because when an embryo is developing, facial tissue (skin) starts growing from five "lobes": one around your forehead which grows down to your upper lip, two around your cheeks, which grow towards the center and also help form the upper lip, and two around your jaws which grow towards the center and constitute the lower lip.

The ridge is basically the leftover of the "seam" when your face skin grew together as a baby in your mom's womb.  How exactly they grow together is responsible for conditions like cleft lip/palate, but also everyday variation like a widows peak (because the two sides didn't overlap enough to make a straight hairline), or a cleft chin (same reason but with those bottom two "lobes"), or a unibrow.


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

[User] ELI5: How did Lance Armstrong able to manage test negative for doping for so long?

[Assistant]
Because the tests aren't perfect, can't detect some drugs/treatments, and are sometimes pre-announced.

One of the 'drugs' Armstrong used was called 'blood doping' or erythrocyte supplementation. He took perfectly matched donor red blood cells and injected them until he had 2.2 times the normal human number of red blood cells. (which gave him massive endurance)

2.2X regular human RBCs is the limit imposed by the international doping agency and Olympics, because 2.2X is the maximum amount of red blood cells detected in an un-doped natural human. Which is to say that some people naturally have 2.2X RBCs and they are super-men for endurance sports....so it's common practice to bring your level up by doping so you can compete with these supermen. Otherwise you don't stand a chance.

Anyway, RBC supplementation is virtually impossible to detect as what you are injecting are perfectly natural normal red blood cells. You can't even use genetic testing - often they'll donate their own blood when they don't need it, collect the RBCs, then re-inject it when it's competition or training time.

Also there are rules as to how many times in a season you can be tested for drugs. Once you've hit that limit you can dope as much as you want until the end of the season and clean up in time for the next season.

And they are coming out with new drugs all the time that may not be detectable by existing tests.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Why can't a "ship that small" have a cloaking device?

[Assistant]
Two possibilities:

Cloaking fields are a massive power draw and only a capital ship's reactor would be able to support one.

Space is big, and a cloaking device would be redundant for a ship that small at the range most space battles happen at.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are the French able to inaugurate their elected president a week after the election, but the United States doesn't inaugurate their president until months later?

[Assistant]
The US uses the electoral college, so technically there's an entire election that has to occur after the first election.  The US also has 4-5 times the population size, and because it's divided into 50 different, individual races, there are more opportunities for disputes and recounts.

In practice, though, a lot of it's just a matter of what the rules say.  The US Consitution says when elections take place and when the inauguration takes place.  If the inauguration was written to be a few weeks earlier, the president would simply take office a little bit earlier without issue.


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

[User] [DC/Marvel] Which single superhero is the most successful at reducing crime? Who saw the most significant drop in crime rate after donning the cape?

[Assistant]
Some superheroes have done really well by managing the symptoms of crime.  For example, Kingdom Come's Flash micro-managed his entire city, constantly patrolling it at high speed.  Crime disappeared because the Flash was omnipresent in preventing it.

Other superheroes have done a lot to manage the causes of crime.  For example, Red Son's Superman crushed crime in his Soviet Union by expertly managing the economy and 'reprogramming' anyone who still resisted the rule of law.


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

[User]
[Dragon Age] What are the Chantry's positions on sexuality?

For the general population, not members of the priesthood.

[Assistant]
In the Dragon Age universe sexuality and gender preferences are things that they are remarkably progressive about.

The current Divine (their equivalent to the Pope) is either a lesbian or bisexual, like Leliana, her right hand agent. Empress Celine of Orlais is a lesbian and was carrying on an affair with her handmaiden/spymaster Briala. When that relationship got exposed, it caused a scandal not because Briala was a woman but because she's an elf, cause as accepting as Orlesian society is about genders and non hetero relationships, they make up for by being extremely racist and classist. Those seem to be the main prejudice affecting Thedas.

The only civilization possibly not tolerant of non hetero relationships or binary gender roles would be the Qunari since they have been shown and said to strictly structure their society along gender lines, with men and women exclusively allowed to fill certain roles. Any added complexities someone might try to bring into their way of things would probably be looked down upon.

Then again Tallis was a devout follower of the Qun and bisexual. She didn't seem to have any issues, so maybe they just figure that as long as you do whatever job they tell you to, you can be who you want to be in the bedroom.

We just don't know enough about them at this point.


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

[User] ELI5: why do some vaccines confer life long immunity while others just a few years?

[Assistant]
Vaccines work by presenting an inactive version/element of a disease causing agent (antigen) to the patients immune system, allowing their immune system to develop antibodies against said antigen. This is analogous to police posting wanted posters of a criminal's face around a town the criminal is likely to hit. The people in the town will know what he looks like and will be able to respond appropriately if they see him.

Microbes, however, will evolve over time at different rates (the flu virus evolves quickly as it passes quickly from host to host but other viruses, such as HIV, evolve more slowly). Sometimes microbes will evolve so much that the antibodies in a person's body can no longer accurately detect and fend off their assault. This is like the criminal in the above example receiving some type of cosmetic surgery to change his appearance. Now the townsfolk won't recognize him and he'll be free to steal their women and rape their cattle.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it that if my headphones are pulled slightly out of the port, the vocals will be cut out but the instruments can still be heard clearly.

When I use my iPod sometimes the headphone jack will be pulled very slightly out of the headphone port. This causes the vocals or one instrument to go silent while the other instruments remain at fill volume.

[Assistant]
It's to do with something called 'phase'.  Imagine that the following characters are an image of a sound wave:

nunununu

The noise that wave makes sounds identical to this wave:

unununun

It's the same wave,  we just started it in a different place.

The funny thing is that if you add these waves together,  they cancel each other out.  The peaks and the troughs of the wave add up to zero. This is because they are precisely 'out of phase' with each other.

When you pull out your plug a bit,  it reverses the polarity of the electrical signal to one ear,  which inverts the phase and so the waves cancel each other out.

But why doesn't it just go silent? Good question. Because you're listening to a stereo signal,  the waves for each ear are different.  They can only cancel each other out if they are an exact copy,  exactly out of phase.  In most music,  the only thing that is not in stereo is the vocal,  which tends to be in the center of the 'sound image'.  That means that it's waveform is the same in both ears.  When you invert the waveform by pulling out the plug, it's the only thing that gets cancelled out!

Actually,  you'll sometimes notice the bass line disappear, or other instruments that are centered in the sound image.


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

[User]
ELI5: What would happen if you purposefully held in going to the bathroom?

What sort of damage would you cause or would you eventually just involuntarily go?

[Assistant]
You would probably involuntarily go.

Before that - the immediate problem people tend to get when they delay using the restroom is bladder infections. But that's if you just routinely put it off for too long.

If you could hold it against all of nature's urges... Eventually you would either rupture something from too much pressure, or the pressure would start to back up the system, causing your digestive track and kidneys not to function properly.

Anyway, it's bad. Just go!


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

[User]
[Marvel] How would history have been different if the super soldier serum hadn't been lost?

Let's say the assassination attempt on Dr. Erskine had failed.  He continues to work for the Allies and produce super soldiers.  Further, he leaves detailed notes on his method.

How does history change?

[Assistant]
World War 2 ends. The Cold War begins, and the US and Russia both amass small regiments of their super soldiers. The cost of producing them is still prohibitive and has a high failure rate (due to insanity, health issues, and other problems), and the screening process is very intense. Each side doesn't have more than 100 on active duty, and metahumans with other superpowers are collected to bolster the ranks up to 1000. The Russian propaganda machine claims tens of thousands of super soldiers, but the US clairvoyants know otherwise and can easily prove that the Russian psychics are charlatans.

The program's cost skyrockets for both sides, nukes are amassed, new aircraft are developed, wrongful death lawsuits from family members of the failures succeed in the courts, and politicians begin to question it. The Army decides they don't want anything to do with the program. A breakout of discipline problems closes the deal, causing half the corps to be disbanded. No jail can hold the troublemakers, and most escape. Russia undergoes a new civil war sparked by similar issues arising from disenfranchised people with superpowers who find that their non-superpowered families have been held hostage to keep them in check by the politicians. The USSR falls in the 90s, splintering into several nations.

In the 00s the US, Wakanda, and Latveria sign a peace treaty and agree to start trading vibranium and enforce each others' patents. The Middle Eastern economy collapses as the western world transitions to "free energy" reactors (a misnomer because you do have to replace the core every five years or so). The US finally recognizes the Geneva Convention and capitulates to the supers ban. To alleviate the recession the program is sold off on a regional basis to state governments, city governments, and private organizations. They turn their efforts towards fighting crime and stopping supervillains. After the alien invasions of the 80s and the crime sprees of the 90s, the program is generally well-received by the public. Supers wore bright customized uniforms as part of regional propaganda, which turns into a lucrative merchandising industry.

But most importantly, in the year 2015 supers are finally banned from military service (having been banned from active duty for the last decade). Which is *exactly* what the Illuminati wants.


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

[User]
[Batman: Arkham Knight] Where are the female rioters?

So I'm on the streets of Gotham rioting and I notice there are no females rioters among us. Are all the women In Gotham, besides the big bads like Ivy, Harley, and Catwoman of course, opposed to crime?

[Assistant]
Actually if you listen to the thugs right before you run them over with your goddamned "tank", one of them mentions that he can't stay out rioting too long because it's his turn to watch the kids while his wife goes out tomorrow.

The events of scarecrows invasion of Gotham just happened to coincide with guys night out.


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

[User]
Why do Americans spell words with "er" at the end when in other countries they spell it with "re". Center vs. Centre?

There are many examples: one is listed in the title.

[Assistant]
Many of these words come from French, where the -re ending is pronounced differently than in English. It's more like their "r" with a tiny "uh" at the end. So the spelling sort of makes sense for them.

When these words got brought to English they got mutated to the "-urr" sound, but they kept the spelling. Fast-forward to colonization and the spread of English around various parts of the globe.

A Connecticut man named Noah Webster, who did a lot of other things as well, published the first American dictionary (which was one of the largest, most comprehensive dictionaries of English at the time and one of the most important ever. He also believed that words should be spelled more simply and closer to how they sound, so he dropped the U from "colour" and similar words, and altered the -re to -er, among other changes. These spelling reforms became widely used through the success of his dictionary.