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

[User] [startrek]The only Petty officer I can recall was a murdered Bolian in DS9 and I can only think of a handful Chief petty officers besides O'Brian, on the other ends I can think tens of Lieutenants and commanders. Are enlisted people less career minded or is advancement actually harder for them?

[Assistant]
It is not that they are more or less career minded, it's that the focus is traditionally made on those in the command structure instead the enlisted structure. Many enlisted make up lower ranking positions. As with most military history, focus is made on the generals and captains instead of the ranking soldiers in the holonovel propaganda Starfleet releases.

Fact of the matter also is that a chief petty officer is of lower ranking to that lieutenant.


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

[User]
How does toxicity evolve in animals?

Ive asked this question somewhere else before but only got lackluster responses with the catch all answers 'evolution the end', figured experts might have better answers.

The question is this, how does being toxic to eat evolve in species? Say you are a frog and thanks to a random mutation your flesh is now toxic to eat (even though this would likely be more incremental over genetations?) It seems to not be terribly beneficial to have this trait if it only does something once you've been eaten. I understand how its helpful once the trait is established and predators know your not good eating, but all traits have to start somewhere and I'm curious as to how something only posthumously beneficial gets passed on as beneficial.

Addendum: Why don't we see more animals (i.e. mammals) with this kind of adaptation if its generally helpful not to be eaten.

[Assistant]
Toxicity, like all adaptations, evolves through small modifications on an existing template, selected for because it increases fitness.

Your sticking point seems to be in understanding how something not directly beneficial to your own survival can be selected for.  That's a great question.

The answer is that you don't need to ensure your own survival for natural selection to act.  You need to ensure the survival and propagation of your *genes*.

So, if you sacrifice yourself and kill a predator before it can eat your babies, well done!  If the predator - after having had several members die after eating your species and not having a chance to reproduce - evolves to no longer eat species that look like yours...even better!


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

[User]
ELI5: How were recordings taken during WWII?

I've been watching some TV and noticed that a lot of the camera angles are ahead of the moving tanks, even when they are firing, like there are dedicated camera men in battle. Same thing goes with planes. It seems like recording footage would need a dedicated group because you shouldn't be recording mid-battle.

[Assistant]
Militaries have members who's duty it is to record and photograph combat and other activities. They are collectively referred to as "Combat Camera."

A lot of the footage you see in documentaries is also staged footage of exercises and demonstrations for propaganda and training films.


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

[User] ELI5: The Bah' Faith.

[Assistant]
-Monotheistic (One God)

-About 6 million of them

-Three main principles

- Unity of God

- Unity of religion

- Unity of humankind

The head of the religion between 1921-1957, Shoghi Effendi, said this as a summary of the uniqueness of the faith:

The independent search after truth, unfettered by superstition or tradition; the oneness of the entire human race, the pivotal principle and fundamental doctrine of the Faith; the basic unity of all religions; the condemnation of all forms of prejudice, whether religious, racial, class or national; the harmony which must exist between religion and science; the equality of men and women, the two wings on which the bird of humankind is able to soar; the introduction of compulsory education; the adoption of a universal auxiliary language; the abolition of the extremes of wealth and poverty; the institution of a world tribunal for the adjudication of disputes between nations; the exaltation of work, performed in the spirit of service, to the rank of worship; the glorification of justice as the ruling principle in human society, and of religion as a bulwark for the protection of all peoples and nations; and the establishment of a permanent and universal peace as the supreme goal of all mankindthese stand out as the essential elements [which Bah'u'llh proclaimed]


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

[User]
Stars, Photons, and the continuum.

So I've been thinking about infinity recently, and I said, well a star can only emit so many photons per unit time, because their energy flux is finite.  However, there are an infinite number of directions for these photons to go.  Would this result in gaps in coverage of the star's light?  Would it but only so far away that the inverse-square law would make the star too faint to see anyway?

[Assistant] What you're describing and the faintness caused by the inverse square law are the same thing. Far objects are dim because fewer photons reach you than if you were to stand nearer. Stand far enough away and you can shrink the photons per unit area as small as you want, within reason.


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

[User] Eli5 how come fast food is loaded with salt, but you don't taste the over saltiness?

[Assistant]
Fast food isn't always loaded SUPER excessively with actual table salt (sodium chloride).  But a lot of fast/processed food is high in SODIUM (the only thing they actually measure on the nutrition info), but it can come from things like monosodium glutamate (aka MSG, used especially in chinese food, but also a lot of fry seasonings), sodium citrate (used in cheese dips/nachos, american "cheese" slices), and dozens of other sodium-based flavorings and preservatives.

Normal table salt is there as well, but not typically in proportions greater than you'd use at home for the same dish. For example, a hamburger patty made at home would need roughly the same salt content to taste good to most people. Same for french fries. These are just generally really fatty and unhealthy foods no matter where you get them from, and high salt is just what's needed to make them taste good (by usual american standards.) As others have pointed out, this is often a matter of being used to it. Get used to a low sodium/salt diet, and fast food WILL be horribly salty by comparison. Conversely, if you make burgers and fries at home, and eat other processed foods, you'll get used to higher sodium/salt content and still want to ADD salt to your fast food fries.


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

[User] [Zoolander] Can Derek Zoolander turn left when driving? Or can he only not turn left when walking?

[Assistant] Certainly post-Malaysian Prime Minister incident he's implied to now be an ambiturner. Prior to that, however, I'd say he could turn left while driving; it's not that the concept of "turning left" was foreign to him, he was simply incapable of doing so with his body. He could rotate his hands to turn a car, though perhaps not safely if he couldn't turn his head to check his blind spot.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do we get sleepy on rainy days?

[Assistant]
Your brain uses certain colors of ambient light to keep track of daytime/nighttime, and to maintain your normal 24 hour rhythm. Most significantly, intense blue light - similar to that of the sky - stimulates the brain to stay awake.

When it's rainy and overcast, you're getting less of that normal daytime light, and your brain interprets this as a sign that it's time to go to bed.


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

[User]
[Peter Jackson's LotR Adaptation] When Isildur cuts the ring from Sauron's finger, Sauron 'explodes' and everyone around him is knocked over by the shockwave. What is actually happening here?

My question basically boils down to: Why does Sauron explode?

He lights up, like he's suddenly overflowing with power. Is this risidual power from the ring that is now too much to be contained without it?

But the blast seems physical in nature seeing how it affects those near. The ring's power is never seen as physical at any other time, why now?

So instead maybe it's more magical in nature beyond just the ring? Is it his 'spirit' escaping? Or perhaps the blast is a result of another power intervening to protect Middle Earth (by straight up exploding Sauron) now that he has been weakened enough. The Valar?

(This is in reference to the PJ Fellowship prologue, I do not know if Sauron explodes like this in the book but in universe answers from both are appreciated!)

[Assistant]
Sauron used to be a shapeshifter whose go-to MO was assuming a very "fair" form and tricking people into trusting him and then bending them to his will. This is the trick he used to turn the men of Numenor evil and use them to assault the abode of the gods (and elves) in the second age. When they intervened and sank Numenor, his corporeal form was lost and he only escaped as a spirit.

Luckily for him, he had put of a lot of his power into his ring and he could use that to bind himself into a human-ish shape. This is what you see at the start of the film. When Isildur cuts off his ring, all the energy used to maintain that form must've escaped violently, causing the explosion. It took centuries for him to gather himself together but without the ring the best he could do is form the eye that you see in the trilogy.

In the book it's a bit different. He isn't beaten by fluke, the alliance had laid siege to Barad-Ur for many years and he only enters the fight as a last resort. The king of the elves and Elendil (Isildur's father) take him on and defeat him in combat at the cost of their lives. Isildur then uses Elendil's sword (that was broken in the fight) to cut the ring off Sauron's downed body. His spirit escapes, but not as dramatically in the film.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Whats the point of Boba Fetts towel cape thing?

[Assistant] A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar bounty hunter can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of the Hoth system; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Corellia, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Tatooine; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy Solleu River; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Gamorrea (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you); you can wave your towel if your jetpack misfires as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.


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

[User]
[X-Men films] Apocalypse can enhance mutant abilities--he did so with his horsemen. What would his enhancement ability do to other prominent mutants?

I.e. Quicksilver, Jean Grey, Scott Summers etc.

[Assistant]
Jean Grey is already a god, and not much can improve her, maybe she can control it better?

Quicksilver probably would gain much more speed, or even extend his control of time further past himself.

Cyclops probably would have a Super Powered variant of his laser.

Beast would be Bigger, Faster and Stronger.

Mystique could probably be able to maintain forms without any effort, its shown that she has to concentrate a lot to keep them up.


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

[User] [The Matrix] What happens if I take both the red pill and the blue pill?

[Assistant] The blue pill is an amnestic. The red pill is a virus. Your Matrix code is altered and the machines read you as dead, so they dump you where morpheus can pick you up. When you wake up aboard the Nebuchadnezzar, you've forgotten the past two days and don't believe morpheus when he explains the Matrix. You're dropped off in zion where you'll slowly accept the reality of your situation, yet amount to nothing of note in the city.


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

[User]
CMV: Lifetime appointments for judges are a terrible idea.

In the aftermath of RBG's passing, many people are scared about what the appointment of a conservative justice would do the Supreme Court. I'm watching all of this from Australia, where our federal judges legally have to retire at the age of 70, and state and territory judges retire from the age of 62 - 72 depending on the local laws.

It is common knowledge that people deteriorate mentally as they age, and that it is much harder to learn new skills and information later in life. It makes no sense to give elderly people the power to reshape society, or to expect them to move with the times as social mores change. It makes even less sense to lock them into those positions until they die.

The idea that the death of one person can put hundred of millions of people's rights at risk is crazy. If you had judges retiring at 70, not only would the court be more balanced, you wouldn't have to pray that an 87 year old with cancer clings to life to guard against your political opponents.

These rules were written when most people could not reasonably expect to live to 87. Medical science has made the idea of lifetime appointments obsolete, and in my opinion, dangerous.

[Assistant] Both sides of the aisle in America would likely agree with this to some extent, but an agreement on an alternative would be near impossible to come by, and it's also near impossible to ever change anything about how the government works in America.


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

[User]
ELI5: why are right angles 90 degrees instead of 100 degrees? Wouldn't trigonometry be much more intuitive if full circles were 400 degrees?

I am sure that the ancients had a great reason for using 90 degrees to describe perpendicular angles, but it seems that we should be able to make math simpler by evolving to a "metric" system of measuring angles.

EDIT: Thanks for the replies! A history of angles, like the one you all just provided, would make taking trig classes so much more interesting.

[Assistant]
360 has a *lot* more factors than 400, so it's actually more flexible and intuitive to use.

Factors of 400 -

1 x 400

2 x 200

4 x 100

5 x 80

8 x 50

10 x 40

16 x 25

20 x 20

Factors of 360, on the other hand:

1 x 360

2 x 180

3 x 120

4 x 90

5 x 72

6 x 60

8 x 45

9 x 40

10 x 36

12 x 30

15 x 24

18 x 20

We only really use base 10 (that is, you count from zero to nine before adding an additional digit) because we have 10 fingers. It's actually not the most intuitive numbering system at all.


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

[User] ELI5: How can an atomic bomb cause a shadow to forever burned into a surface, like what can be seen at Hiroshima?

[Assistant] Basically, the people/objects absorbed some of the radiation and acted as a shield. The 'shadow' is the part of the surface behind them that was shielded by the body/object and not burned as much as the rest of the surface.


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

[User]
ELI5: Does the heart ever develop cancer?

It seems like most cancers are organ-specific (lung, ovary, skin, etc) but Ive never heard of heart cancer. Is there a reason why?

Edit: Wow! Thanks for all the interesting feedback and comments! I had no idea my question would spark such a fascinating discussion! I learned so much!

[Assistant]
Cancer more or less only develops in cells that are dividing. And then mostly so in cells that are (1) dividing a lot and (2) exposed to some sort of toxins (the sun, smoke etc). Heart muscle cells do not divide at all, and the other cells in the heart only divide very sparsely, plus they are not really exposed to any kinds of toxins.

But still, they can become cancerous, it is very rare, but not impossible. It's called cardiac sarcoma and mostly come from the connective tissue of the heart (so not from the heart muscle cells themselves, but from the random other cells in the heart that help them).


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

[User]
What is happening when we "get used to" a smell?

Basically, just walked into a public bathroom and someone was taking a poo. When I first started peeing, I couldn't bare the smell. When I was finishing up, I realized I could no longer smell his poo.

What is actually happening for me to not be able to detect the smell as "bad" anymore?

[Assistant]
Your brain getting used to a smell is an evolutionary advantageous trait that allows you to recognize differences in your environment more keenly.

In the same way that human eyes can detect motion from farther distances than a stationary object, the same holds true for the sensation of scent. For scent, strong and highly varying odors will be flagged and highlighted by your brain. It is then up to you to determine and assess whether or not it is actually a hazardous environment for yourself to stay in. If you choose to stay in it, then you have probably figured that the smell of a skunk or the smell of pungent perfume isn't necessarily a harmful environment. Your brain then tones down the highlighting of that smell and dials it down to "get used to" levels such that when another scent comes along, your brain is ready to detect it at a moment's notice and to redetermine if the new environment is healthy environment to stay in.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is paper used to substitute plastic (such as paper bags, paper cups, paper straws etc.) if it costs our trees? Is it more eco friendly?

[Assistant] Trees are renewable and can be harvested sustainably. Plastic comes mostly from oil products and is limited. Paper will degrade pretty rapidly in the environment where plastic does hardly at all. The last point is important, as paper will eventually give us more soil whereas plastic needs to be stuck in a hole for an eternity.


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

[User] ELI5: If we are so much happier when we are doing tasks (ex: exercising, reading, etc.) why is our brain programmed for us to be lazy?

[Assistant] Our brains are programmed to be efficient. When you're trying to survive, energy is valuable, and you don't want to use any more than you have to. So you hunt, get your food, and then use as little energy as you can until the next time you need to. For us hunting now constitutes going to the fridge.


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

[User]
Theoretically is it possible to play my music on shuffle and it will play through the playlist just by chance in the exact order it is in?

assuming that the random selection just so happens to be the next listed song in the playlist for the entire playlist? Or is there a feature in the randomizing code that prevents the next listed song to be played adjacent to the current song?

[Assistant]
The actual answer will depend on how exactly the music player software was programmed. If the developers added a condition that adjacent songs may not be played after each other when the shuffle-mode is used, then that's that.

However, it seems most likely that the songs are simply randomly selected without any further prerequisites other than that the song hasn't been played yet. In this situation, it's possible for the playing order to perfectly match the playlist order. The odds of this happening decrease the longer the playlist is.

The first song played has to be the first song on the playlist. With N songs, the probability of this happening is 1 / N. For the second song, N-1 songs remain and only 1 song is the correct outcome, so the odds of the second song being the right one are 1 / (N - 1), etc...

So the combined probability of the entire playlist being shuffled in the correct way is:
1 / N * 1 / (N - 1) * 1 / (N - 2) * ... * 1 / 2 * 1 / 1.

Another way to express this is to realize that there are N! possible shuffled play orders (the ! in N! means "factorial" or the product of all natural numbers up to and including N, so 1 * 2 * 3 * ... * N). Out of these N! options, only 1 has the desired order, for a probability of 1 / N!.

This probability decreases very quickly as N increases. With N = 6, the odds are 1:720 (about 0.14%). With N = 9 you're down to about 1:360,000 and with 12 songs the odds are all the way down to 1:500,000,000.


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

[User] ELI5, If you take a random ant from a colony and put it 20 meters away, will it find way "home"? Also, if you put an ant so far away from the colony, that it won't be able to go back, will it survive on its own?

[Assistant]
20 meters is possible to get back home, the ant will wander until it crosses the trail of chemicals that other ants from its colony leave behind (so they can get back home).

If you take an ant really far, it will never get back. it will try to find food and water, and he will keep looking for its home until somebody eats it.

Edit: the ant is now an "it". As many people said, worker ants are female, but gender has nothing to do with this behaviors.


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

[User] How do computers/calculators find the square roots of numbers?

[Assistant]
The most basic method is to use Newton's method. This is essentially a smart version of guess and check, where you use calculus to figure out what to guess.

To use Newton's method, first you must phrase your question in the form of "given a function f, which value x satisfies f(x) = 0". In this case, if we're trying to find the square root of c, we want f(x) = x^2 - c, because if we plug in the sqrt of c, we get f(sqrt(c)) = sqrt(c)^2 - c = c - c = 0.

In order to perform Newton's method, then we need f', the derivative of f, which basic calculus tells us is f'(x) = 2x.

Then, Newton's method has us choose a starting guess, x\_0, and then make our next guess be x\_1 = x\_0 - f(x\_0)/f'(x\_0). If we repeat this equation over and over again, we will get closer and closer to the right value. Let's try an example!

c = 7

x\_0 = 1

x\_1 = 1 - (1 - 7)/2 = 4

x\_2 = 4 - (16 - 7)/8 = 2.875

x\_3 = 2.875 - (2.875^2 - 7)/(2*2.875) = 2.65489130435

Now the actual value of the square root of 7 is about 2.64575131106, and you can see that we've gotten pretty close after only 3 iterations of this algorithm. There are other methods that computers use, some of which are faster, but they mostly all use this principle using derivatives to make better guesses.

There are other algorithms, but they usually are only used in cases where speed is so important that it's okay to sacrifice accuracy.


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

[User]
How (un)healthy is it for one to work nightshift?

I used to work a few weeks of nightshift at a time and always wondered what psychological and physiological affects it has on ones body?

[Assistant] Working night shifts has the many negative affects on the body. It changes gene expression, protein levels including hormone levels in many organs, including the heart. The processes that happen in your body at night and during the daytime are very different. During the day you are more active, need to eat, etc, this includes higher blood pressure and heart rate during the day, but when activity levels are low during the night the heart rate and blood pressure decrease. By staying awake during the dark, you are forcing your organs to work harder when they are used to working lower, and they aren't particularly flexible in that way. Eventually, cardiovascular diseases develop as well as depression. This field is termed circadian rhythms.


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

[User]
CMV: Spelling and grammar errors are unprofessional.

Ive frequently seen people online with the viewpoint that spelling and grammar errors should just be ignored. They say things like some people are dyslexic or learning English, so spelling and grammar dont really matter. I disagree. If they make it known that they have a disability then accommodations can be made, but if you dont tell people they arent doing anything wrong by holding you to the same standards as everyone else. If you are learning English you can just tell them that, and as you learn you will get better.

For some reason it seems as though less and less people care about spelling and grammar. Ive found spelling and grammar errors on signs in business. These show just how little the business cares, seeing how they either hired someone who doesnt know how to spell or didnt get someone to spell check the sign.

Spelling and grammar errors on resumes, cover letters, and similar professional papers are just as bad. If you cant take the time to check through your work or have someone do it for you then I dont feel bad if you dont get the job.

I dont expect everyones spelling and grammar to be perfect in non-professional settings (such as on social media), but if you want to be taken seriously then learn proper spelling and grammar. I believe people who say otherwise are just making excuses for people and businesses who dont even bother trying.

Is there some valid reason Im missing here?

*Edit: I understand that, especially when typing, a mistake here or there is understandable. Im mainly talking about things that should have been proofread, such as rsums, signs, and official papers, or things written by hand.

[Assistant]
>For some reason it seems as though less and less people care about spelling and grammar.

It would be grammatically correct to use fewer in this sentence instead of less.  You use fewer when what youre referring to is countable, e.g. people.  To relate this back to the discussion, do you think this error makes your argument any less convincing?


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

[User]
[John Wick] How much of a "civilian world" is there in this universe?

I was recently rewatching the trilogy in prep for JW4 and a lot of the stuff that happens leaves me very curious about...well, the existence of ordinary civilians. Take for example the Red Circle shootout. Were there normal people in there as well or was everyone an undercover secret assassin-for-hire? Cause if a massive shootout happened in one of NY's most luxurious night clubs, with that many people inside and that many victims, I doubt there'd be any way to cover it up like John does with the home invaders. Then there's the bust in JW3 where two armored buses clearly marked with the Table's symbol park outside a luxury hotel and unload scores of armored soldiers...where was everyone? Did none see or hear the litteral battle that was going on? And then there's the scene where Winston gives the order and everyone in Central Park stops dead on their tracks and stares at John. Like...i get that they may have put all of their men in position but at least A LOT of civilian people would still be in the park and would keep walking only to be very surprised when everyone else just stopped and looked at some bloodied guy.

Like, I get that after a while these films are not supposed to be taken very seriously. But at some point you just have to stop and ask...is this really an undercover society or is it an alternate universe where everyone is a secret assassin?

[Assistant]
For the Red circle it's a mob owned nightclub. Plenty of those exist in our world and while a shootout might make headlines it's not exactly something people will be shocked at. Everyone there would be at least tangentially connected to the Russian mob or someone in the mob. Though a few civilians might be there to help make it appear more legitimate as a front.

The attack on the New York Continental happened very late at night in a place that isn't really open that late. The flatiron building it's located in is surrounded by offices and businesses that operate during the day but not at night. While the ruckus would carry a bit it's not implausible that no one was around the immediate vicinity other than janitorial staff and the odd office over achiever.

That all said the High table certainly has enough influence and pull within the civilian world to make anything disappear. Like we saw earlier when John covered in blood and standing by dead bodies waves off a patrol officer with just a few words.


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

[User]
CMV: Edgy atheism/antitheism and blind hate for other religions is just toxic and unfruitful

I'm a Hindu by faith and have devotion to several deities like most Hindus do, but I don't let that interfere with what is practical or scientific. Faith has its own place within our hearts n our homes, bt it doesn't dictate how I view scientific facts. That does not mean I'm not religious, bt I understand there is a time a place fr each.

What I hate is that these atheists n antitheists always demeaning religious people, making lewd memes n comments of deities n festivals, constantly telling people that whatever they believe in is fake all in the guise of being 'scientific.' For example, I have serious differences w/Islam's teachings personally, bt I don't endorse lewd memes n cartoons abt the Prophet, nor do I like edgy blasphemy pages showing nuns as in a lewd way.

Also, acc. to me criticising religious beliefs is ok as long as it's respectful n done in good faith, bt not the way these edgelords do it.

[Assistant] If you came to me and told me you had a theory about something and you had pages and pages of data and you'd done experiments and verified things surely Id respect your point of view more and be less likely to mock you than if you just told me magic is a thing you believe in on faith alone. You can say whatever you want about letting other people live their lives but you must also understand that the majority of edgy athiests are people born and forced into theism for a good amount of their lives/childhoods and they are rightfully angry that they were told lies about the world.(even if you are religious a good amount of any religious book is known bs that even practicing members ignore and pretend doesn't exist)


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

[User]
CMV: Average US citizens have become complacent and powerless.

Have you been alive long enough to remember a time when US citizens could actually come together and bring about social and political change? (Civil rights movement, protesting wars, etc.)  It seems that long gone is a time where standing up for what you believed in actually got results. These days there are many protests, walk-outs, occupy movements, and sit in-s for all types of issues, but very little ever changes. People are quick to forget about it as soon as the next distraction occurs. I don't know if it's the imbalance of power shifted in favor of the wealthy or the deterioration of the middle class that has caused an epidemic of complacency. On social media, there is a non-stop conversation about racism, gun violence, mental health, politics, taxes,  corporations, financial criseses, social injustices, climate change/pollution etc., so I know that many people are frustrated. It's just sad that the people don't seem to be able to do anything about it. Like a child with no say in what happens to them, when we try to make our voices heard, we do not succeed. When we as a people are kept powerless for long enough, complacency flourishes.

[Assistant]
>Have you been alive long enough to remember a time when US citizens could actually come together and bring about social and political change?

Yes. Gay people can now marry each other in all 50 states.


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

[User]
[Obi-Wan Kenobi Spoilers]

In episode 1 of the series, Bail Organa contacts Obi-Wan via a Holo zoom call. If Bail had this means of easily contacting Kenobi at a moment's notice, why didn't he or Leia call him that way instead of sending a message via R2? Surely if there was the risk of the message being tracked, wouldn't that also have been a problem 9 years earlier.

[Assistant]
The important thing in A New Hope was the Death Star plans; the message was only there to explain that R2 was carrying them.

We saw in Rogue One that it takes several minutes to transfer the Plans over a dedicated connection, so transferring them over the holonet would presumably take hours/days, which Leia didn't have because her ship had just been captured.

She probably could send a message without R2, but a message by itself won't achieve anything.


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

[User]
ELI5: How come water has a taste I can't explain?

There is nothing to compare it to, well, because everything else has a trademark flavor- it's supposed to taste *like* something.

But water...

[Assistant] Distilled water doesn't taste like anything, but regular tap or bottled water often contains trace minerals that contribute to taste. You can't really explain that flavor because there's nothing else you consume that has no flavor besides trace minerals.


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

[User]
[FFVII] Why did sephiroth take the form he did in the final battle?

Was there a reason he took that "one-winged angel" form?

[Assistant] He took the Seraphim Form (He actually has 7 wings.) as to declare final judgment on the party and join with JENOVA to create a new world. In other words, his form is just how he views himself as an angelic being righteous in destroying the current world and the creation of a new world. Basically, he's a mind-controlled narcissistic [EXPLECTIVE REDACTED].


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

[User] ELI5: the United States' for-profit prison system, and how it may relate to incarceration rates.

[Assistant]
States want to make their operations easier, so they outsource the building and running of prisons to private companies, which may or may not be cheaper than having the state do it themselves. However, these companies will require a minimum occupancy, like 85% of cells in their facility (they are paid per inmate housed, so they don't get much money with an empty house), or they may impose breach-of-contract fines or cancel and leave the state with a ton of inmates and no guards to incarcerate them.

The incentives are obvious. States must bring in lots of inmates and retain them for as long as possible to keep their minimums. This means more prison time for a wider variety of offenses, as the number of long-sentence inmates (murderers, rapists, child molesters, etc.) will not sustain the high quota they must reach. Small drug possession cases, which should call for diversion to therapy, gets shifted to increasingly long prison sentences. Mandatory minimums for petty offenses are becoming common.  This isn't good for the American people.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is happening physically to cause the clenching, sinking, contraction in your chest during a jump scare

Wife just asked this exact question while almost being merged into driving down GA 400. Trying to bring her the joy of Reddit this holiday!

[Assistant]
It's your body reacting to the sudden release of hormones like adrenaline. It causes may reactions in your body, making it ready for fight or flight. Eyes dilate for better vision, heart rate increases to get blood pumping and your muscles tense to convert your body into a loaded spring ready for action. We all now these sensations, just like you described.

The next question could be: how is the body able to release hormones so suddenly? These are processes in the "older" parts of the brain, older as in "evolutionary older": the brain stem and limbic system. Processes in these parts bypass cognitive neocortical thinking and can recognize dangerous situations pretty well. This process is also totally involuntary, you can't suppress it. This process can also be fooled, for instance by an exciting movie or a fast moving object you notice in the corner of your eye that is actually just a fly or something else that is harmless.


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

[User]
Shouldn't time dilation prevent the creation of a black hole?

Because of relativity, the effects of time should almost stop at the event horizon. Doesn't that mean that a black hole takes an infinite amount of time to create?

[Assistant]
The time dilation that goes to infinity at the horizon is meant between two observers that remain at a certain fixed distance from the black hole. To do so, they have to accelerate so as to fight the BH's gravitational pull. This necessary acceleration for not falling in becomes infinite at the horizon, another presentation of the fact that you cannot escape.

The surface of the collapsing star that forms the black hole, instead, is not doing this. It is (essentially) freefalling down, not fighting, and does not experience this particular time dilation. It does measure time dilation with respect to a distant observer, but it is milder and it does not go to infinity at the horizon. So the black hole can form in a reasonable sense.

Still you can imagine insisting on using an array of hovering observers watching it happen and relaying to you far away (this coincides with using the standard Schwarzschild coordinates). What you would see then is that the falling surface of the star slows down as it approaches the horizon and pancakes above it, never overcoming it and getting more and more redshifted; in the meanwhile the horizon grows pushing along the pancaked star outwards. The final result is a proper black hole with a "film"  of star dimming exponentially fast. However, this is just one (partial) representation of facts, following from a choice of arbitrary coordinates.


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

[User] [MCU] So, much of Norse mythology is true. Then, does Valhalla exist? And can humans go there when they die?

[Assistant]
Valhalla, like, the mead-hall where the Einherjar party and Odin gets drunk a lot?

Yes, that exists. They serve a very good pork-pie.

Well, it *did*, but then Ragnarok happened and the Einherjar fought the good fight and Asgard was destroyed.

As for human going there when they die, well, that would seem to be about as "true" as the legend about Odin being killed by Fenrir by being swallowed whole, or the serpent Jrmungandr and the Jtun being part of the Big Fight.

The legends were apparently built on a lot of accuracy, but were definitely still *legends*, and played fast and loose with many details.


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

[User]
[Stat Trek] Antarctica

Provided global warming didn't take hold, lol. Are there any settlers on this continent now that there are more than just humans on the planet. Maybe Andorians?

[Assistant]
***Stats, the final frontier***

***These are the voyages of the stat-ship Calculator***

***It's continuing mission is to explore strange new figures,***

***To seek out new analytics and new mathematicians,***

***To boldly save information and display it in a comprehensive and concise manner like never before***


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

[User]
ELI5: Baseball Signs

I just want the general basis, but here's some questions too.

How do they work?
What do the 10 or so different hand signs the catcher makes standing for?
How are they different from team to team?
How come it isn't easier to steal signs with so many players getting traded and moving from team to team?

[Assistant]
Simple answer is, it could mean a lot of different things. The idea of having signs like in baseball is so no one knows what your plan is. For example, say a team's sign for the bunt is to touch your belt. A coach may go through a bunch of different motions, touches, etc, touch his belt somewhere in the middle, and there is the sign. Those are normally for 3rd base coaches to the batter and/or baserunner, who will both look for the sign in between pitches. The catcher gives signs to the pitcher, normally putting down a certain amount of fingers to indicate what pitch to throw. A catcher can also give signs to the infield to indicate how they want to approach the situation defensively. For example, the catcher may touch different areas on his arm to let you know what to do in case a player steals. Team's signs vary, for example Team A's sign for steal may be a swipe down the arm, Team B's may be to touch the top of your head. A sign could also involve more complicated progressions, for example, the sign for a hit and run may be the coach has to touch his ear, hat, and elbow, in that order.

To answer your question about why it isn't easier to steal signs, sometimes it actually is, although it is an unspoken courtesy in the majors to not steal the other team's signs. However, many teams change up their signs often, sometimes even every game.


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

[User] ELI5: why are there almost no video games with sex even though we have 18+ rating and gore is ok?

[Assistant] All video games released to the public in North America are  required to be reviewed by the ESRB before it is allowed to be distributed and sold. ESRB gives videos games the ratings E, E10+, T, M, or AO (Adults Only). However according to Wikipedia, "all three major video game console manufacturers (Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony Computer Entertainment) refuse to allow AO-rated games to be published for their platforms." So releasing an AO-rated game in North America would make no money since literally no one will sell them. Thus, that is why there are no AO games in North America. Japan, however, where ESRB does not regulate, is a whole different story.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why, in the UK, do cars have white front plates and yellow back plates?

I just noticed today and am super curious

[Assistant] The reason for a yellow plate at the rear and white at the front is because it is illegal to show a white light to the rear at night, and that the law includes reflectors in its definition of what constitutes a light. This was before the days of reversing lights, for which the law was amended so that if you are reversing you can show a white light in conjunction with a red light.. Also Yellow & Black are the boldest contrast you can get and thus enables them to be read at the greatest distance.


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

[User] [MCU/marvel] Is there a power 'difference' between the mainline stones and the MCU stones in strength?

[Assistant]
In some regards, yes, the MCU stones are weaker.

* The mainline stones are an integral part of the universe and cannot be destroyed. (EDIT: Or at least, not easily.)
* When mainline Thanos has the stones he is, essentially, immortal. In MCU he is almost killed with all of them.
* In MCU the stones have some rather nasty feedback.

I don't know enough to judge individual uses of them, though.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does spinning a bullet make the bullet more accurate?

[Assistant]
A spinning bullet has angular momentum.  When a thing has momentum, it resists changes to its momentum.  By spinning the bullet along its "long axis" it resists changes that might cause it spin along its "short axis" thus keeping its nose pointing forward.  On top of this, the spin causes gyroscopic precession - that is, a spinning object is resistant to changes in its orientation, again, keeping the nose forward.  Since bullets are not perfect, imperfections can cause areas of higher drag that may cause it to flip, increasing its overall drag/lowering its aerodynamics.

Ignore the downvote.  It's a fun question that's more complex than it seems on the surface.  This explanation is only a surface scraping, but gives the overall idea.


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

[User]
What is rent seeking behavior, and what are good examples of it?

I'm so dumb that the Wikipedia article couldn't even help me.

[Assistant]
Rent seeking is using non-market power (e.g. political power) to extract value in excess of the value you are creating. This can take many forms from getting direct payments to reducing competition and raising prices. The general rule is that if an entity is seeking to force others to choose in a way different from what they would choose in a free market, then it can probably be described as rent seeking.

It is part of a study in the interactions between politics and economics and is a term used mostly by those who are skeptical of political involvement in markets.


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

[User]
Does a prism break up all of the light spectrum, such as ultra violet and radio waves?

Or is visual light special in some way?

[Assistant] Yes in fact this is primarily how infrared light was discovered.  William Herschel was attempting to discover if the different colors of light would register different temperatures on a thermometer.  He set up a prism, and put a thermometer within each color of light to determine which was the warmest (turns out its red.)  His control thermometer was placed at the red end of the spectrum (but outside the actual red light.)  He expected that it would be cooler than the ones in the light (room temperature) but discovered that it was actually even warmer than the red, and inadvertently discovered infrared light.


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

[User]
ELI5: Please explain "negative entropy" (negentropy)

I just do not understand negative entropy.  If I were a creationist (I am not) I'd think scientific, reality-based people were just making up something to explain how life arises and fights entropy (fights disorder) to organize itself and continue to live.

Life eats entropy?  Negative entropy?  Something like that?  It sounds like a bullshit explanation that nobody knows how to explain. I really hate that.

[Assistant] There is no law requiring a local system to have monotonically increasing entropy. What keeps all of the oxygen molecules in a well mixed room from moving spontaneously to one side of the room? Nothing does-- it can happen, but it would be tremendously unlikely. Through random paths each molecule takes, we're overwhelmingly more likely to see an unmixed room transition to a mixed room. What if you put an oxygen concentrator in the room? Now you can create an "ordered" state at will. Have you eaten entropy out of the universe by doing so? No, since it takes energy to force that state (at least as much, and actually more than the energy that state holds). In essence, life can arise randomly and continue a process of creating more energetically complex states without taking entropy out of the universal system.


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

[User] ELI5 Why does common advice stipulate that you must consume pure water for hydration? Won't things with any amount of water in them hydrate you, proportional to the water content?

[Assistant]
>ELI5 Why does common advice stipulate that you must consume pure water for hydration? Won't things with any amount of water in them hydrate you, proportional to the water content?

Not if the body needs to expend more water to separate that water content from the other ingredients. Salt water has approximately the exact same "water content" as fresh water or even distilled water - the differences are rounding errors. Yet it will not hydrate you since your body does not receive those resources in neat separated piles - here's the H2O, here's a pile of NaCL - but has to do all the processing itself. And your kidneys can only concentrate salts in your waste to a certain degree, not arbitrarily. So now the body has to *expend* water to dilute the salt water in order to get rid of it.


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

[User]
Why does mars have ANY surface features given that it has no plate tectonics and has wind storms?

My 9 year old daughter asked this question today. I googled and found that mars definitely doesn't have plate tectonics. Wouldn't everything get corroded overtime to make the planets surface very smooth? But we know it has valleys, canyons and mountains. Is that due asteroid imapcts?

Sorry, if this sounds like a very dumb question.

[Assistant]
Mars used to have both running water and large amounts of volcanic activity, and that formed a lot of surface features, many of them extremely dramatic. Today those features don't actually have a terrible lot to wear them down.

The wind does some erosion, but with such a thin atmosphere remaining and no rain, the erosion rate from just the wind is going to be low compared to here on Earth. Consider taht Olympus Mons is 2.5 times as tall as Everest. It's gonna take a **serious long time** for the wind to flatten that thing out.

Plus it does still get hit by meteorites, and with such low erosion levels the craters stick around for quite a while too.


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

[User]
[Rick and Morty] Why does Rick have a car and a portal gun?

I'd imagine having instant teleportation to anywhere in the multiverse would diminish the need for a car.

[Assistant]
Portal gun runs on something. Presumably it might actually be really expensive or difficult to charge easily. He might have limited resources of whatever powers it.

Plus Rick isn't always going out to a specific destination, he likes the journey and enjoys things like looting (Auto Erotic Assimilation), and random detours onto other planets (Look who's purging now).

You play fallout or elder scrolls or a game like that. Do you always fast travel to your destination or do you enjoy going off the beaten path sometimes to see what you run into? Sometimes the journey is even better than the destination.


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

[User] ELI5: why do disposable razors with 5 blades not cause razor burn compared to a razor with 2-3 blades?

[Assistant]
Good blades and good shaving practices will usually help you avoid razor burn, moreso than the number of blades.

But generally speaking, pulling, tugging, and scratching are the basic causes of razor burn. This can be on hair or skin.

Friction is one of the main reasons why this happens. While increasing blades increases the friction, it also increases surface area. This increases surface area decreases pressure placed on the skin at any one point of the blade, making it run smoother. Think of using your fingernail to scratch versus using your fingertip. Your nail is much thinner and applies that pressure in one specific spot, whereas your fingertip spreads that pressure over a larger area.

Perhaps the other important reason is that more blades increases the amount of hair that can be trimmed and stuck in the blade, decreasing the need for passing the blade again in the same spot (means less dry skin to blade contact). This also helps the blades to not wear out as quickly (less usage each day).


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

[User]
[Game of Thrones] Is technological progress in Game of Thrones better than the real middle ages ?

I know this is a very stupid question but I am curious as to if Westeros has better technological progress than the real middle ages. Architectural and Construction Capabilities in Westeros appear to be much more advanced than the real middle ages. I know the wall is magical i'm referring to places like the Eyrie and Red Keep which are super impressive castles that seem impossible for there time.

Ive always theorized that fantasy medieval castles like the ones shown in Game of Thrones could have been possible if medieval societies had a greater understanding of certain types of math, is this also true ?

[Assistant] No. It's much more stagnated. Those castles are impressive but most of them were built hundreds or even thousands of years before the events of the series. In all that time westeros hasn't progressed much at all in technology or architecture.


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

[User]
Is an unripened fruit nutritionally identical to a ripe one?

You'll remove a fruit from it's plant, and over time it ripens.  Is anything changing nutritionally within the plant during the ripening process?

Example: Does a green banana have less sugar than a yellow banana?

Something along those lines.

[Assistant] Fruit ripens because of enzymes converting starch and other polysaccharides to sugars. So while an unripened fruit will be high in starches (the banana example has been mentioned already) a ripe fruit usually has a significantly higher sugar content.


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

[User] In shows like Kitchen Nightmares, they often change the name of a restaurant. Is this something that's done easily, or do they have to change it for taxes, loans, etc.?

[Assistant]
A business can have what's called a fictitious name (also known as a "doing business as" name), which doesn't affect it's actual legal name.

For example, "A&B Company, LLC" could legally do business as as "Bob's Italian Bistro" through a simple filing of a 1-page form with the state.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do some sites check my browser before giving me access to it ?

[Assistant]
Cloudflare is usually the one doing this. The purpose is to lock out "users" that the site doesn't want. Usually bots, web crawlers, and things of that nature. It also protects against things like DDOS attacks and other web based denial of service stuff.

Or, super TLDR version, it's making sure you're an actual user with an actual browser, not a script sending traffic.


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

[User] [MCU] How advanced is Stark and his Technology considering the fact that he created a suit for peter parker after just days of discovering him on the internet in Civil War or that he applied the theory of mobius strip for time travel in Endgame?

[Assistant] Not sure what you mean.  It seems like you went and answered your own question.  "How advanced" is a measure that requires a basis of comparison, but generally speaking you could just say "time-travel advanced" and a rational person would respond, "that's pretty darn advanced."


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

[User]
[batman] where does batman shit while he's out in patrol?

High protein diet plus a long nightshift. Does he hang off the side of a building or hold it for 12 hours? Batmobile bat toilet?

[Assistant]
Wherever he wants.

Is there any lock he can't pick? Any building he can't enter? Is there anyone as ninja stealthy as him? Why, he's just finished using *your* bathroom and he's standing behind you! Turn around! Too late. The Batman's too quick for you; he's disappeared. Now you know how Commissioner Jim Gordon and most of the JLA feel.

But surely, you say, the Batman has never, *you know*, on the street. Are you unfamiliar of his disguises as a homeless vet or bag-lady? How far do you think he's willing to stay in character? It's not like he's *obsessive*, is it?


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

[User]
[The Lego Movie 2]: Can the Lego characters move on their own or do they simply interpret humans playing with them differently?

I saw all the Lego movies and I saw the recent The Lego Movie 2 just now. I am confused as to what is really taking place.

Is it that the humans are playing with the Lego items and the Lego characters are interpreting that to be something different? Or do the Lego characters have the ability to move on their own will?

[Assistant]
Everything in the Lego world is just a more interesting way of showing how the real family is interacting. The justice league going off and never coming back is the sister "borrowing" the set without asking.

Rex Dangervest is a second emmet purchased with the Express intent of a "time travel story" that the brother talks about when fighting with his sister. Each character represents miscommmunication from either side and any attempts by the characters to move or sing is the individual coming to a realization as they mature and change.

Even the vision Emmet sees is just the thought the brother has in the back of his head that if he doesnt play nice he will lose his lego which ultimately doesn't stop anything as his sister's sticky fingers send him into a temporary rage.

The family has a very good imagination and are excellent story tellers.


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

[User]
Would a star thats about to supernova release an excess of gamma rays?

In the time leading up to the supernova of a star would it release lots of gamma rays as it is collapsing?

[Assistant]
A star will show little activity as its death begins- there will be a whole lot of business going on with gamma rays and such when it goes off bang, but for a few hours before the actual event there is one marker we can detect of the coming supernova: neutrinos.

Since they pretty much ignore matter altogether, when the star's core starts to collapse in the cascade that will lead to the big explosion, the neutrinos will have already escaped the star and gone zooming off into the Universe. These days we can use our neutrino detectors to pick up the sudden cascades of the things, allowing us to predict were a supernova will be going off a short time before any other hint of the event reaches us.


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

[User]
ELI5: The "Old Math" in Tom Lehrer's New Math

If you haven't heard the song, he describes the way they used to do math as follows:

>Consider the following subtraction problem, which I will put up here: 342 minus 173. Now, remember how we used to do that:

>Three from two is nine, carry the one, and if you're under 35 or went to a private school, you say seven from three is six, but if you're over 35 and went to a public school, you say eight from four is six ...and carry the one, so we have 169.

He then proceeds to the song, which explains regrouping, the way I learned to do math growing up in the 90s. How did they teach it before?

[Assistant]
Before regrouping, arithmetic was taught as a mechanical procedure to follow and practice religiously, without any regard to why it works.

     3 4 2
    -1 7 3
    -------

When subtracting a larger number from a smaller number, you'd pretend there's an extra 1 before the larger number, so 2 - 3 becomes 12 - 3. Then after writing down 9, you'd "carry" that extra 1 to the next line. Then you can either subtract one from the top number, or add one to the lower number - they're equivalent, and continue.

It's pretty much exactly the same as regrouping, but the idea of "carry the 1" doesn't really give you any insight into how it works.


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

[User] ELI5: Israel's Iron Dome.

[Assistant]
There are 2 yards back to back with a fence. One yard is Gaza and the other is Israel.

The Gaza side throw basket balls over the fence and they break things in the Israel side. The Gaza side can't over the fence so they don't know where to throw the balls. This causes them to randomly throw balls onto the Israel side.

The Israel side doesn't like it because the balls break their stuff. So the have a team of people working to take the balls out of the sky(the iron dome system). This team has a two people in it. One spotter who watches very carefully for and in coming balls and where they are going to land. If they see any balls that will hit something important he quickly tell the other half of the team, the pitcher, where it is coming from. This pitcher is very very very good at throwing a base ball. He hits as many of the basket balls as he can which knocks the balls in a different direction and away from anything important.


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

[User] Can a photon achieve a stable orbit around a body of mass?

[Assistant]
In theory yes, in practice no. Normally mass in orbit has the ability to slow down and speed up, and this enables objects to be in non-perfectly circular orbits. A photon could theoretically be in an orbit around a black hole. However, because any real-world black hole will have some spin there is only one precise orbit where that would be possible. So a photon would have to be in the right position and be aimed in precisely the right direction to be in that orbit. Also, because black holes do not retain constant mass (at the very least due to ingesting energy from the cosmic microwave background) that orbit will not remain stable for long.

So the answer is: theoretically yes, though it's possible it has never happened even once in the history of our Universe.


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

[User] ELI5: No one I know, including myself, clicks on YouTube ads. Most say they skip/close immediately. How does this seemingly flawed system generate so much money if no on ever responds to the ads?

[Assistant]
Despite that you quickly click to close them, you still see them. That's what count, that's what the companies pay for.

Some companies pay for 15 second ads, some companies pay for 15 second ads with 3 second click away, some companies pay for "just a small banner".


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

[User] ELI5: Why does thunder sound like a crack close up but a roll from far away?

[Assistant]
The up-close crack is direct from the lightning epicenter to you.  The roll has bounced off a few things along the way.

Possibly helpful analogy.  Imagine dropping a pebble into a swimming pool and watching the ripples.  When the ripples hit the side of the pool, they get reflected, and intermix with themselves.

Now imagine that the pebble is the lightning strike that created the thunderclap.  If you're in a place where you hear the unreflected clap, what you hear is pretty simple.  If your vantage is somewhere so you don't hear it till it's reflected (by, say, the ground), then what you hear is more complicated and mixed up.


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

[User]
ELI5 Why you blow on a flame to make it bigger and you blow on a flame to put it out.

Yes I am high, but I am still asking :)

[Assistant]
When you blow on a flame gently you add more oxygen to the fire which makes it burn hotter.

When you blow on a flame hard even though you are adding more oxygen, you are also cooling down the flame because your breath is relatively cold. If you get it cold enough quick enough it stops burning.

Its basically the fire triangle, you're adding oxygen, or removing heat, fuel remains the same.


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

[User] [GTA] Which hairstyles can be classified as "Yee Yee Ass" hair?

[Assistant]
All of them.  It's not about the hairstyle, it's who the hair is attached to.  Lamar was pointing out that Franklin's too busy pining over Tanisha and lamenting his circumstances that he's not doing anything to improve himself and make himself more attractive.  What woman wants a guy who's always going around whining about being stuck in the hood, right?  Instead, Franklin should start by maybe getting a hairstyle that looks good and gives him confidence, and then perhaps go out and meet some women and possibly even look into winning Tanisha back.

Of course, Lamar being Lamar, he expressed his message in a really bizarre way, which is why Franklin could only react with a bewildered "Wut?"


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

[User] ELI5: Why do you have to be over 18 to buy WD-40?

[Assistant] Apparently some genius decided it would be a great idea to inhale the WD40 fumes and get high that way. A bunch of people picked up on it, and so stores set up a policy that only allows adults to purchase these aerosol items. Which is kind of dumb, tbh. As soon as you turn 18 you suddenly stop being stupid? Not bloody likely...


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

[User]
Why is it so easy to convert electric energy to heat, but so hard to convert heat to electricity?

Pass current through any conductor (but not a superconductor), and some of that energy will be converted to heat.  Some conductors are better at it than others, but if you have electric energy and want to make heat, it's pretty dang easy.

Conversely, it's almost impossible to convert heat directly into electricity.  Yes, there are peltier junctions, but those only work off of temperature differential.  They don't convert heat itself into electricity.

Since there is a material that gets hot when you force electrons through it, it seems to me that there should also be a material that gets cold as it creates electron flow.  Obviously such a material doesn't exist, or all of our cooling (and energy generation) problems would vanish.  So why is this?  Why does the heat<>electricity process only want to go one way?

[Assistant]
>So why is this? Why does the heat<>electricity process only want to go one way?

Because heat is essentially the physical representation of Entropy, and total entropy always increases during any process.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are the glasses shaped differently for red and white wines?

[Assistant]
Red wines tend to have stronger flavor compounds and tannins that soften when they "breathe" or decant.  The wider bowl of a red wine glass is believed to allow for more contact with the air, which means these soften a bit more and allow a greater distance from your nose to the wine so that the aromas aren't so intense.  The widest red wine glasses are Bordeaux glasses, because a lot of Bordeaux are high-alcohol and high-tannin, so the very wide shape allows both of those to mellow out much more.

White wines, on the other hand, tend to be a bit softer with less intense flavors - the smaller size is because they don't usually need to breathe, and they let your nose get that little bit closer to pick up the subtle aromas.  Many white wine glasses also have slightly longer stems, because white wine is often served chilled, and that keeps your hand away from the bowl so that you're not warming up the wine with the heat of your hand.

At the end of the day though, these are minor things and they're all generalities.  I've had people insist on serving specific white wines in wider red wine glasses because they were higher-alcohol than is common, for example.  And there have been studies that show that for most people, the difference is negligible between glasses, and even for experts there are disagreements about the "best" glass for a particular need.


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

[User]
Visiting Assistant Professor at alma mater versus elsewhere?

Hello all, I'm a fresh PhD with two job prospects and I'd like some advice. Both jobs are visiting assistantships lasting one year, with similar enough levels of pay that the financial situation doesn't make much of a difference to me. My alma mater is higher prestige than the other place. Does taking the job at my alma mater look problematic for future tenure track employment? I want to set myself up as best as possible for the job market when I hit it again next year. Is the higher prestige of my graduate alma mater nullified by the fact that I got my PhD there?

[Assistant] If you want a tenure-track position you will need publications in top-tier journals, an extraordinary amount of luck, and ideally real teaching experience. That said, you should almost always favor publications. Take the VAP where you're most likely to be productive in your research. Good luck!


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

[User] ELI5: Before electronic banking, how did wealthy businessmen keep track of their earnings?

[Assistant] They had an army of accountants writing things in ledgers.  Double-entry bookkeeping was invented to accurately keep track of the money flowing in and out of various accounts, and it was common for large businesses to have entire _floors_ of accountants whose job it was to keep track of those entries.


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

[User]
Would the price of consumer goods decrease when inflation gets under control? Or will prices just not increase as fast?

Say a TV was $500 pre-pandemic and now is $700, could it drop to $600 once inflation is under control?  Or is it unlikely and they will just continue selling the TV at $700?

[Assistant] Inflation is the rate of increase in the aggregate price level. If the yearly inflation rate is x%, it means that consumer prices are on average x% higher than a year ago. In other words, if a consumer price index had the value 100 last year, with 10% inflation it would be 110 this year. If inflation rate dropped to 3%, it would become 110*(1+3%)=113.3 next year. So, low inflation does not mean lower prices, it means slower price increase on average.


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

[User] ELI5: If a disease needs a host to live, then potentially kills the host will it eventually become extinct once everyone is either immune or dead? What is the benefit of killing the host?

[Assistant]
Most diseases keep the host alive long enough to multiply and spread.  Youll often hear of diseases that are communicable for several days before the host shows any symptoms.

Continuation of the genetic material is the only pressure or driver, diseases dont plan to kill or sustain the host.

Youre right that if a disease kills the host very quickly, then the outbreak will flame out on its own.

At the other end, if you think of colds, they dont kill very many people at all and can keep cycling through a population, pretty much indefinitely.

So, there is no benefit because earlier generations of disease are not sentient.  They either spread well due to delayed host death or they spread poorly because they kill the host early.


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

[User]
[General fiction] I've recently developed powers beyond humanity's limits and as a result, I now have a physique of a Greek deity. How do I hide my newly-muscular body from my associates without raising concern?

Due to an incident which I am by no means going to divulge here (as I don't wish to be identified and explaining my predicament in detail could help others figure out my identity) I have started to develop superhuman powers. By some stroke of luck, I have been on my legally-mandated vacation and so I was able to quickly leave town in order to go into seclusion and learn to understand and control my powers.

In short run-down, I can now fly at mach 5; punch through rock; lift a junk of stone twenty feet wide with only one hand; casually toss said rock thirty miles away with a flick of my finger; run 500mph; get struck by the twenty foot-wide rock with no injury; shoot lasers from my eyes which can melt rock in less than a second; and submerge myself in lava for several hours (and without damaging my hair follicles).

As of right now, I am uncertain whether to become a superhero, either as a volunteer or as a government-backed agent and would much rather enjoy my privacy for now... except I'm due back to work next Monday and I happen to have grown from a scrawny nerd to a highly muscular frame somewhere between the realm of "Mr Olympia" and "Strongman competitor".

My question is simple - what are some easy and affordable ways to hide the fact that I've gained, at the very least, two-hundred pounds of muscle?

Edit: Also, how do I do so without my powers possibly damaging my clothing?

[Assistant]
"Yeah, the workout routine is a bitch, but it's really paying off right now. It's weird, but you're the first one to say something..."

Unless you've never worn anything less than a 3-piece suit around these people, someone's going to notice. Which means the answer is to gaslight those fuckers.

Use the rest of your vacation to study up on physical fitness, cram school style. Be ready to shoot off information on nutrition metrics, recovery times, cheat days, who has the best price on creatine powder, and so on. When you go back to work, when someone says something, you look them dead in the eye and tell them you've been on a super-hardcore health regimen for about half a year now. When you're around someone every day, gradual changes go unnoticed, and it's a lot more plausible that you've been slowly beefing up than you going from the "before" pic to the "after" pic in a Charles Atlas ad in a week.


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

[User]
[Payday: The Heist] (URGENT) OH MY GOD WHY ARE THERE SO MANY COPS

I was expecting some sort of hostage negotiation situation, but they just keep sending beat cops and SWAT teams in here to get slaughtered! We have civilians in here but they're just charging in, Gung ho, guns blazing! Hordes of them too! We're using police corpse piles for cover! My crew is almost out of ammo, what are we supposed to do? Why aren't they being more careful!?

[Assistant]
They are literally summoned from the elemental plane of cops, a dimension full of over the top law enforcement officials hell bent on getting in on colossal goatfucks - it's why they all look and sound the same.

Makes complete sense given that the Payday gang can heal fatal wounds by shouting at eachother - DC Police stopped sending their own after the forth massacre.


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

[User]
When creating gravity for astronauts in space why do the shuttles go end over end instead "barrel rolling"?

In all the videos I'm seeing about a mission to Mars the ship is traveling sideways(x-axis) while going nose over tail(y-axis)to create an earth-like gravity. it's quite interesting considering the lack of resistance in space.

However, it seems like a waste of fuel to have to re-orientate itself to 'rocket' shape. Why not spin on its x-axis? or is 'barrel rolling'  just not able to create the proper g force?

[Assistant]
The acceleration due to circular motion is r * omega^2 where omega is the angular velocity of the rotating object, and r is the radius of the circle. So one problem is that a smaller radius of rotation would require a much high rate of rotation to achieve the same acceleration.

The second problem is differential acceleration. Suppose that you circular motion has a radius of 3 meters. If you are 1.5 m tall then your head experiences an acceleration that is half that of your feet. Further, the high rate of rotation in order to generate a significant acceleration for such a small radius would play havoc with your inner ear.

Compare this to a radius of 100m. This time the differential acceleration is about 1%, and the rate of rotation is about a sixth of what the smaller radius required.


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

[User]
Eli5: what is SWAT up to when theres not like a hostage crisis or something?

Obviously those types of things don't happen everyday so like what do they do ?

[Assistant]
Depends on the agency.  In many, SWAT is a part-time job, so they're regular patrol or detectives until there's a call-out.

In bigger agencies where they can afford full-time SWAT, they generally operate much like the fire department - training, working out or other administrative duties until they're called out, and then they go to work.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why arent there universal parameters for online passwords?

How is it 2021 and password parameters are completely site-dependent? Character limits, no special characters/special characters required/only certain special characters, etc. I feel like the various rules makes it more likely people will use bad habits like writing passwords down, or making less complex passwords more likely?

Edit: Upon further discussion in the replies, with many good points being made, I realized my real question should have been: why do some sites set password parameter limitations? I should be able to input a 25-character complex passphrase with letters, numbers, special characters if i want whether its for my Netflix account or Bank account. What I dont understand is my bank being like, Nah, you can only use 12 characters, and you cant use @. Thats my frustration, and was more my questions because I figured there was a technical reason behind it likely.

[Assistant]
Because that would require a singular, universal authority to come up with such a thing and no such thing exists. And it is unlikely to ever exist because there isn't universal agreement on what the parameters for passwords should be. In fact, just about the only thing that is agreed upon with regard to passwords is that they suck and should be replaced with something else.

And even if there was a "universal parameter", people wouldn't be forced to learn it or use it.


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

[User]
[Toy Story] Under what circumstances can toys break the "rules" and reveal they are alive to people?

If Woody and the gang went far enough to expose themselves to Sid just to save Buzz's life, would they do it under other circumstances?

If their owner was about to die and it was in the toys power to save them, even though the toy revealed itself to the owner in the process, would they still do it?

How much do we know about the "rules" of Toys?

[Assistant] There are some conditions that need to be met before a toy can reveal themselves as living. First, and most importantly, there can only be one human around. Secondly, this human must have personal experience with the toy or toys, whether this experience is good or bad. Thirdly, this human must be in a consistent state of mind where their claim of living toys will not be taken seriously.


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

[User]
CMV: There are two genders - mental illness is what makes people deviate

I believe that everybody can say whatever they like about themselves, no matter how small or big. But is gender not something physically defined?

In addition to this, there seems to be (don't have sources right now) a strong correlation of suicide and depression amongst transgender people - could it be that this isn't due to environmental factors such as unacceptance, but actually the mismatch in identity itself? Is there any credibility in the view that to be transgender is a mental illness and should be treated as such to prevent the depression linked to it? We wouldnt convince the world that everybody can have multiple personalities just to make people with MPD feel like they don't have a problem.

[Assistant]
> But is gender not something physically defined?

No. It's not.

Sex is biological/genetic/physical. Sex is defined as male, female, or intersex.

Males are people who are chromosomally XY and have penises and testicles.

Females are people who are chromosomally XX and have vaginas and ovaries.

Intersex people are hermaphrodites, and people who are chromosomally XXY or XYY and therefore have genetic characteristics of both sexes.

Gender is largely cultural and/or social. Meaning it is based around where you fit into society and how you are perceived by others. This is why it is generally seen as a scale going from masculine (traits generally associated with males) to feminine (traits generally associated with females).

You could argue that there are only two genders as those are the two ends of the spectrum, but it would only be as accurate as saying that there are only two political ideologies in the USA. In reality it is a spectrum on a line and there are as many or as few points on it as you have time and willingness to define.


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

[User]
Did epistemology devastated modern philosophy?

I was reading Story of Philosophy by Will Durant. In Spinoza chapter he stated that- "now began the great game of epistemology, which in Leibnitz, Locke, Berkeley , hume and kant waxed into three hundred years war that at once stimulated and devastated modern philosophy" what does he mean by this?

[Assistant] Durant is probably referring to a kind of move towards greater and greater skepticism about the external world that people see (correctly or not) in especially Hume but also in Kant's turn away from the noumenal.  One thing to remember though is that Durant has a very specific axe to grind, he's a pragmatist so as far as he is concerned they were running philosophy into the ground.


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

[User]
ELI5: scientifically, Why do we fall in love with people?

I asked it wrong. Why do we fall in love with a specific person. Is it something with chemicals in our brain or what?

[Assistant]
Your spit and stank smell good to each other cause it's making baby time.

Attractiveness is primarily impelled by finding someone with a complimentary immune system so you make baby strong like bull.


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

[User] [Avengers Endgame] When they went thru time, the Avengers all wore nanotech armor that transformed into their costumes and gear and allowed them to shrink/grow. So during the final battle with Thanos, couldn't they have all just grown to giants and attacked Thanos' army like Godzilla leveling Tokyo?

[Assistant]
Not everyone can just grow to be a giant and still be able to operate for more than a minute or two. Goliath couldn't grow anywhere near as large as Scott. And Scott took quite a while to be able to grow and be able to fight.

This is like when people ask "why doesn't everyone have a pair of Falcon wings" - because most people would kill themselves using it.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does a car in 1st gear stall when the clutch is released too fast/early?

[Assistant]
To reduce it to its simplest terms, there is an explosion in the cylinder that pushes a piston down which, through various gears, pushes the car forwards. If the resistance to the car  moving is greater than the force on the piston it doesn't move and all the processes that depend on the engine turning over to get ready for the next explosion don't happen.

Too little accelerator before you release the clutch puts less fuel in so less force. Too fast and enough little explosions that add up to overcome the car's mass to get it moving haven't had time to happen.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does national debt actually effect the lives of normal people?

Can someone explain how national debt effects the lives of normal people? It seems like almost every developed western nation runs massive billion dollar deficits every year, and that seems to be totally fine. Nothing bad ever seems to happen. Occasionally you hear old school conservatives saying we need to balance the budget, but why should we if every country is in debt with seemingly no negative effects?

[Assistant]
Politicians love to equate Government finance to personal finance scaring people into believe that any kind of debt is bad and that the government has out of control spending, when in reality operating the Government has far more in common with corporate finance that personal. Corporations and Governments operate in debt all the time and it's perfectly normal and healthy.  The catch is making sure that debt is sustainable.

In the case of Governments money should be borrowed during times of economic recession. It may seems counter intuitive but government spending and borrowing helps drive the economy which in turns gets you out of the recession. Government cut backs and austerity actually make the economy worse.

But that debt has to be paid back. If it's allowed to grow out of control eventually it could cause an economic collapse, but that is doom and gloom scenario.

Politically speaking more often than not austerity and lowering government spending has more to do with lowering taxes than actually reducing the deficit. While increasing the debt (politically speaking) is about not having to raise taxes and making the politicians unpopular.

The average person isn't really affected by government debt in the same way as increased taxes, which is why the government borrows so much.

For the average person government debt doesn't affect your directly, only indirectly.

If you have a retirement plan or a pension there is a very good chance that much of that money is invested in Government bonds, which is loaning the government money. This is generally considered a very safe investment because the government is highly unlikely to default on the debt and pays decent interest rates. Worldwide retirement and pension funds actually rely very heavily on government debt to work.

Another factor is that debt keeps your taxes low. One of the main reasons to borrow money is to pay for government programs, infrastructure, and wars without raising taxes.

A percentage of your tax dollars is used to pay back debt though, so it's give and take.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Were there REALLY only two sith?

So the rule of two states that there are only two sith, master and apprentice.  But the existence of sith holocrons seems to indicate that even long dead sith could continue to "teach" new apprentices.

These sith holocrons are scattered throughout the Galaxy.  Therefore, isn't it entirely possible that the sith could have more than one cell of master/apprentice at a time, each one drawing the source of its sith philosophy from one of these ancient holocrons?

[Assistant]
The Jedi and the Republic hunted down all the Sith they could find, with Darth Bane being the last known Sith Lord before the Clone Wars. With the deaths of Darth Sidious and Darth Vader, the lineage of the Sith has come to an end. Most of the Sith Holocrons and knowledge was kept away from those who would use it, the Jedi hid a number of holocrons in a vault in the Coruscant Temple. Palpatine's own personal collection, housed in the *Scimitar*, was destroyed between the events of ANH and ESB. There might be other collections out there somewhere, but that doesn't mean that there are any other Sith.

Legends had Sith from other traditions that didn't follow the Rule of Two, and thus the Sith never truly went away in that continuity.


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

[User]
CMV: No matter how taboo your bad thoughts are, youre not a bad person, only acting on it can dictate that.

Example: if someone has the desire to rape someone they arent a bad person unless they act on it.

This statement definetly sounds more directed towards people with an illness wether psychotic, narcissistic, pedophilic, or maybe even an injury or mutation that causes them to think abnormally but it also applies to everyday situations

Thinking about hooking up with someone and cheating doesnt make you a bad person either.

Like I said your thoughts / desires no matter how bad dont make you a bad person, only the way you act can determine that.

[Assistant]
The only thing which might change your view is when a person doesn't act.

For example, if you and a friend are sitting in a room quietly thinking about rape (which certainly isn't good), and then your friend proceeds to bring home a person to rape. If you don't participate, but allow it to happen even if you think to yourself what your friend is doing is wrong , a.k.a. not act, then, yes, you are a bad person.


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

[User] [DC] What is the structural integrity of something welded by Supermans heat vision ?

[Assistant] A lot of the time he's either using it on something that's designed to be welded (like when he's using it to modify/build the watchtower in space) or the weld is intended as a patch job that only needs to last until the immediate crisis has passed. And, broadly speaking, it can be assumed to be effective or he wouldn't keep doing it.


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

[User] ELI5: How does Post Nut Clarity work? Why do all the horny thoughts and feelings seem to disappear instantaneously?

[Assistant]
It's at least partially related to your brain releasing the "gotta get fuckin" lock on your cognitive function.

When it comes to more basic/physical drives like arousal or adrenaline response, it tends to override the more cognitive portion of your brain in order to conserve/control resources. Before you go to town, you've got some base level horny swirling around and affecting your cognition, but not to the max. Once you reach post-nut, it wipes the slate to say "alright, you busted, now you're on recharge" and that ends the override and opens your cognition back up, hence giving that sensation of clarity.

It's the main reason people recommend that if you're missing an ex, or considering something down-bad, go and have an orgasm first. It clears all the arousal flags from your brain and allows you to think clearly. Should you actually get back with your ex? or were you just horny and wanting someone to get busy with.


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

[User] [Deathnote] Can a user prolong his or her life by writing a death for themselves to occur significantly into the future?

[Assistant]
No. You cannot extend a person's original time of death. What will happen is that the cause of death you put wouldn't be physically possible to achieve, and will cause the death to default to a heart attack/or you will simply die of whatever cause written in the note at your original time of death.

However, if you kill someone that will in the future do something that shortens your life span, (Killing someone that plans on killing you in the future for example.) killing them will extend your lifespan. But there's no way to know since you can't see into the future or see your own time of death. Also, killing someone can do the opposite, and cause you to die at a sooner rate in the future. (For example, killing an important family member that would have taken you to the hospital for a disease you will have in the future.)

Killing someone with a death note won't cause their death to directly cause death to another person though, just changing the future's of affected people in a way that may increase or decrease their lifespans.


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

[User] ELI5: How do cartridge style video games work?

[Assistant]
carts had all of the data on chips that were mounted on a circuit board with connector strips on it (similar to pins but flattened).  The gaming system had a reader where those connector strips attached and it was like the whole system was a big circuit board.

Think of it like if you had one game on a thumb drive that auto-executed when you plugged it into your USB drive.  That's not much different.


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

[User]
[Starcraft] What are the implications of cloning Sarah Kerrigan?

I run a salvage crew that has been digging through derelict Confederate bases on Tarsonis.  Recently one of the drones stumbled upon a catalog of dna samples that belonged to the old military forces.  By activating an old adjutant that was in charge of this dna database, we think we've found one that belonged to Sarah Kerrigan aka Queen of Blades.  Before I put this out on the wave to all interested parties for a nice sum of creds, what can we expect if someone decides to clone Kerrigan?  Will the clone in question have the same psi abilities as the original?

[Assistant]
Probably *not*. First, the clone is going to come from the same genetic stock, but the active recombination is essentially random - you won't be making another Sarah Kerrigan, you'll be making someone else that SK could have been.

Secondly, predictors of psi potential are so insanely, infuriatingly hard to predict, that her clone having any talent whatsoever is still a total crap-shoot. If it even *is* tied to genetics (which... it seems like it should be, but even those correlations are aggravatingly close to being inside the statistical margin of error.) then you're dragging the psi-potential up from 0.01% to 0.011% or something. If there were any better indicators of psi potential than the wait-and-see method, then the Confederacy wouldn't have had that state-wide child-kidnapping "Ghost" program.

As for the Weird Zerg Shit that bumped her up from "pretty good" to "psionic demigod" levels, that's not happening again.

If you mean you have genetic stuff from her *after* infestation, then nobody knows what to do with it. Whatever chrysalis procedure made that mess of alien-human hybrid genetics and spat out a living organism (instead of a pile of writhing tumors) can't be reproduced in any lab.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Why did Palpatine work so tirelessly to turn Anakin away from the Jedi and into his apprentice? What made Anakin any more important than Maul or Dooku?

[Assistant] Neither Maul or Dooku had the potential to become more powerfull than Palpatine. Anakin had almost twice Palpatine's potential due to being force Jesus and would have become the ultimate Sith if Kenobi hadn't turned him into a walking slab of burnt bacon on Mustafar.


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

[User]
ELI5: How is it that, seemingly every time I drink out of a mug, a small drop of the liquid within manages to avoid my mouth?

Edit: For reference, the liquid I was drinking at the time of asking was tea.

[Assistant]
Capillary action.

Surface tension of your liquid is broken by your lips, or you'd never get any of the liquid in your mouth. The liquid now has access to your skin, and the forces of capillary action causes it to travel along the connection between your lips and the mug, and find it's way down your cheek. Pressing the mug more tightly against your face only gives more liquid an opportunity to follow suit. So, don't tilt the mug as much, or wait until it's a little cooler to drink, and use a straw. Or sip noisily.


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

[User] ELI5: why is it freezing in space if there is no matter in the vacuum to transfer body heat into?

[Assistant]
Heat can be transferred two basic ways.  One is conduction, like when your body is in contact with cold air. As you realize, you need something to conduct the heat *to* for this to work.

The other mechanism is radiation.  Your body is constantly radiating infrared light, carrying away heat energy.  (This is known as "black body radiation".) Black body radiation isn't all that fast, so freezing in outer space will take a bit of time.

All objects that have a temperature above absolute zero will emit black body radiation, so this process will eventually freeze you, probably after you've died from some other issue like running out of oxygen to breathe.


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

[User]
[Lord of the Rings] What was Aragorns tax policy? Did he maintain a standing army? Did Aragorn pursue a policy of systematic genocide and kill the remaining orcs? Even the little baby orcs, in their little orc cradles?

Stolen from George RR Martin.

[Assistant]
Aragorn maintained the previously existing standing armies, we are told that he and omer rode around the East and South beating up what was left of their foes for several years.

The orcs weren't completely genocided or anything, mostly they just scattered throughout the lands and ceased to be an organised threat. (Though, yes, a lot of them were obviously killed in the process).

Aragorn's tax policy is undiscussed but it can be assumed it's a relatively normal (European) medieval/pre-medieval flat percentage or something.


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

[User] ELI5: Why isn't blood pressure a determining factor in defining whether if someone is dead or not?

[Assistant]
It is. Having a heartbeat causes predictable fluctuations in blood pressure. When you check for a pulse, you're checking for fluctuations in blood pressure big enough that you can feel it with your fingers.

Perhaps you meant to ask about some nuance of blood pressure?