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

[User]
CMV: A graded luxury tax system would be a better alternative to the current system

The UK has VAT, which a 20% tax on all luxury items. There are of course some rules which I don't get, e.g. chocolate covered cakes are not luxury items, but chocolate covered biscuits are, which is why there was a fight over whether Jaffa Cakes are cakes or biscuits.

There is one big issue I have with VAT being charged though, and also an additional tax which works the same way, and I'll discuss it first.

Tampons and sanitary towels are charged a "luxury rate" of 5%. I understand both sets of logic over whether this is fair or not, but I think the tax is a good thing, just not in its current form.

VAT on clothing is my big issue. Children's clothes are not charged VAT, which I'm indifferent on. Adults' clothing, however, is charged VAT. Despite the fact that it is more social acceptable for there to be a naked child than a naked adult, and adults can be arrested for being naked in public. This means that a legal necessity is luxury.

I propose a graded scale of VAT.

Let's say your basic tampon is some cotton and a string, plus an applicator. That would be tax-free. Now some companies offer tampons with silk interwoven with the cotton, others have specialist applicators. These would be charged 5% tax as there is no need for silk to be mixed with cotton, and that, IMO at least, is luxury.

Clothes would be approached differently. Let's say there are 5 different suits on the market. A=100, B=350, C=600, D=850, E=1100. With the current VAT set-up, these would cost 120, 420, 720, 1020 and 1320, or 3600.

My proposed model for this would be to have bands. A (lowest priced 5% of options), B (options which make up the bottom 25%, but aren't in A), C (the middle 50% from top of B to bottom of D), D (the highest 25% which isn't in E) and E (highest 5%) which would be charged tax of 5%, 15%, 20%, 25% and 30%. In the suit scenario above, the suits would now cost 105, 402.50, 720, 1062.50 and 1430, or 3720 total tax revenue.

So not only would it ease the burden on lower income individuals and families, it would actually generate more tax revenue for the government. That's why I think my idea is an improvement on the current model. I'd like you to change my view, please.

[Assistant]
Something like this would have to be re-evaluated constantly.  Stores set prices.  How would you decide what the "lowest 5%" are?

Say you're looking at suits.  What does the lowest 5% mean?  The lowest 5% of all suits?  (What counts as a suit?) The lowest 5% of suits in that store?  (What if all the suits in that store are the same price?)

Add this to the fact that there are hundreds of places around the UK that sell suits, and can change their prices whenever they want.

I don't see how something like this could ever be practical.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does stale bread get softer when you warm it up? Shouldn't the heat evaporate whatever water is left and make it harder?

[Assistant] Bread doesn't go stale because it dries out, it goes stale because the starches crystallize. If you weighed fresh vs. stale bread, you'd find the stale bread retains most of it's original weight, meaning it retains most of it's water. Weighing fresh or stale vs. dry would show a significant difference in weight, but dry bread isn't stale, and is delicious drenched in oil and spices!


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

[User]
Im curious about the reason of this.

I was messing around with sin, cos, and tan on a calculator and I wondered what would happen if I input 360 into them.

It came up with this:

sin(360 degrees) = 0

cos(360 degrees) = 1

tan(360 degrees) = 0

I was confused why the cosine was the only one that equaled 1 and pretty much why the whole thing was happening. Because I was confused, I asked my teacher and he responded with, We arent working with angles over 90 degrees. (which I thought was annoying) He also mentioned that it wasnt multiplication which is also confusing.

[Assistant]
If you start at any point on a circle, and then go 360 degrees around it, where do you end up? At the start, of course, which is the same as travelling no degrees at all. Therefore, the value of any trig function (with frequency 1) for 360 degrees is the same for 0 degrees. cos(0)=1, therefore cos(360)=1 also. Ditto for sin and tan.

If you want to know why sin and tan are 0 at 0 and 360 degrees, look at a circle on a grid centred at the origin. If you start at the point where the circle intersects the x axis, then the cosine at that point will be 1 and the sin will be 0, because cos and sin measure the x and y coordinate of a point on the circle. tan is sin/cos, so at 0 degrees that's 0/1, which of course is 0.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does leftover food get soggy when you seal it? Theoretically there's just as much (realistically probably less) moisture as there was when you sealed it.

[Assistant] I don't think it's that more moisture is added, it's more that the moisture is dispersed, like pizza, the sauce will eventually make the crispy crust soggy.  Where foods like potato chips are crispy, and there's no moisture present in the bag, so if you keep the bag air tight they don't get soggy (Like the weeks/months they spend on shelves)


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

[User]
ELI5: why would PC beat a console in cross platform gaming?

if PC gamers were paired up against console gamers (with the PC gamers on PC's and console gamers on console) in a theoretical x-platform game (any genre of game FPS/etc) and say it was in teams of PC vs console, why would PC win? what advantage would the PC players have over the console?

[Assistant] The keyboard and mouse is a lot more versatile and accurate than a controller.  Console FPS games come with cheats turned on (auto aim is one of the big ones) just so console players won't die all the time to the AI.


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

[User]
Where does heat go in space?

Imagine you had a bottle of water (somehow not exploding in a vacuum), would it cool down after a while? and if so, how does it lose its heat?

[Assistant] The main way to lose heat in space is through the light which is emitted by any object which has a temperature above 0 kelvin (absolute 0). For temperatures below several hundred degrees Celsius, this light is mostly emitted in infrared and not visible with the naked eye.


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

[User]
[Tremors] How do the people of Perfection Valley survive out there? (Monetarily)

With only fourteen people that live there how does anyone stay in business or make a living? There doesn't seem to be any real businesses there or enough people to keep one afloat.

[Assistant]
Melvin and Mindy are kids, they live with their parents.

We already know that Val and Earl are handymen. It's likely that they were drifters that somehow met and became friends, either before or after they came to settle in Perfection. They sleep in the truck which means they don't pay rent or mortgage, which also means they don't have a permanent residence and likely don't pay taxes.

Rhonda is only a Grad Student, and doesn't live there. But she travels to Perfection to work on her assignment. The low importance of that assignment and desolate environment (she's the only one there) suggests a close proximity to a large enough city to have a college.

We know that Walter owns the store. He stocks pretty much everything, suggesting he supplies Perfection as well as the occasional passer-by, a person traveling through either to or from the nearby city.

Old Fred is obviously a sheep farmer. He farms enough to feed himself, and sells wool and mutton.

Wallace and wife are a retired couple, building their own house and living off savings.

Nancy is an artist. She probably sells to the occasional tourist passing through but also likely sells in Bixby, putting her artwork in a consignment shop.

Jim is a doctor, for the town but also likely for a large surrounding area.

I don't recall the rest, but there were jobs even back then by which you could "telecommute", or that were high paying while still allowing for an incredible amount of time off. Engineers can design at home and then lease their work to agencies.


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

[User] ELI5 - Why I have to eat fruits and vegetables everyday to stay healthy, but an Inuit can go his whole life without ever seeing a vegetable?

[Assistant]
From wikipedia:

>While it is not possible to cultivate plants for food in the Arctic the Inuit have traditionally gathered those that are naturally available. Grasses, tubers, roots, stems, berries, fireweed and seaweed (kuanniq or edible seaweed) were collected and preserved depending on the season and the location.

>Because the fats of the Inuit's wild-caught game are largely monounsaturated and rich in omega-3 fatty acids, the diet does not pose the same health risks as a typical Western high-fat diet.

>Vitamins and minerals which are typically derived from plant sources are nonetheless present in most Inuit diets. Vitamins A and D are present in the oils and livers of cold-water fishes and mammals. Vitamin C is obtained through sources such as caribou liver, kelp, whale skin, and seal brain; because these foods are typically eaten raw or frozen, the vitamin C they contain, which would be destroyed by cooking, is instead preserved.

tl;dr: They do have access to some kind of plants, and many of the vitamins we usually get from plants are also found in the animals that they eat in abundance. In addition, Western diets require more of the nutrients in healthier foods to help the body deal with the higher amount of saturated fat that we eat relative to Inuits.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is charcoal dirty and at the same time so good at filtering?

[Assistant] Active charcoal can be made by producing regular charcoal through pyrolysis (heating it without oxygen, which leaves behind the carbon) and then introducing hot oxygen which burns away impurities. So in a sense, it is cleaned charcoal.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is the South so proud of losing the Civil War?

[Assistant]
The South isn't proud of *losing* the Civil War. What they are proud of is that their states had the courage to stand up for their rights in the first place.

Note that this is only possible because the reason for the Civil War is spun (in the South) as a states' rights issue instead of the slavery issue it actually was.


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

[User] ELI5: How does lack of good sleep affect physical performance (weightlifting, running, etc.)?

[Assistant] when you lift weights, in order for you muscle to grow you make micro tears in the muscle tissue, when you go to sleep you body will fix the tears by increasing the thickness basically so you get bigger muscles. for the optimal results of recovery your body needs food, hydration and sleep so if youre not getting enough quality sleep your body cant repair itself and you can get infured or just stay sore.


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

[User]
[DC] What prevents Killer Croc from being rehabilitated?

He doesn't seem like the person who just loves to kill like the Joker or other inmates around arkham.

He has voluntarily given himself up to go to arkham in times of defeat.

He has shown to have quite the caring nature under his thick skin.

So what's the deal Waylon? Why haven't you stuck your landing yet and went out to go help Batman make gotham a better place?

[Assistant] Pre-New 52 at least, he was basically just getting dumber and more feral as time went on. He started out as a moderately intelligent mobster with a skin condition to a full-on reptile monster that ate people.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] Whats stopping me from owning two wands at the same time? And can I use both of them at once?

[Assistant]
Wands are expensive and there's no real reason to have more than one, but nothing odd would happen if you did.

You can cast the same spell with multiple wands simultaneously and it will be more powerful, as demonstrated by Harry in the Deathly Hallows.


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

[User]
ELI5: When is 1, 2 ,3 gears in an AUTOMATIC car used?

I always use D when I use an automatic.

Every time I ask someone about the 1,2,3 gear I get a different answer.

Anyone can explain with justifications and sources pleasE?

[Assistant] Transmission mechanic here. When you shift your vehicle into 1, 2, or 3 you are manually shifting the transmission into said gear. 1 will put it in first gear and 2 or 3 will put it in the optimal gear based off vehicle speed, engine load, etc up to that gear you selected. This will allow you to have more torque to your wheels as you are in a lower gear. This helps you if you are trying to move a heavy load or if you are going down a long downgrade. Selecting one of these gears will help you slow down as you are causing engine braking. Do not use these selections if you are going above 30 as it will burn out your transmissions Hope this helps.


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

[User]
[Star Wars]Would it have even mattered if Vader did or did not betray Palpatine in Return of the Jedi?

I mean as a factor to the whole battle going on. Lando and the X-Wings were entering the Death Star as Palpatine fell, so regardless if Vader did or did not save Luke they still wouldve blown up the Death Star. Clearly they didnt check to make sure Luke was out of the Death Star before it blew, as evidence by Hans Im sure Luke wasnt on that thing when it blew line. So the only person Vader saved was Luke, and if he hadnt fulfilled the Chosen One prophecy then Lando and Wedge wouldve killed both Palpatine and Vader anyway.

[Assistant]
Everyone seems to assume Palpatine would have just been killed on the Death Star when it blew up.

But Luke Skywalker was able to escape the Death Star before it blew, despite being surrounded by hostiles, not to mention DRAGGING the body of Darth Vader.

Palpatine, on the other hand, was surrounded by loyalists who would save him at all costs. He also would not have been dragging anyone with him. He would have escaped from the Death Star before it exploded.


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

[User]
Does the temperature of a fluid affect its flow rate?

Assume you have two containers containing two identical fluids at different temperatures, you puncture a hole in both of them, same size and place, will the colder fluid flow out slower than the hotter one or will they flow out at the same rate?

[Assistant] Yes, viscosity of liquids is strongly temperature dependent and decreases with temperature. You can easily see it if you take a liquid at the high end of viscosity like molasses. It holds true for other liquids like water, too. And with lower viscosity, you get higher flow.


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

[User]
What 'connections' is the brain actually building when you learn something?

Everything I've learned about neuroscience so far has made this statement not really make sense.  What about the synapse is actually changing?

[Assistant]
Here are some properties which can change at the synapse:

1) The sensitivity of the post-synaptic membrane, making it require more or less input to respond with an action potential at the axon.

2) The amount and type of receptors present in the post-synaptic membrane.

4) Production of neurotransmitters in the pre-synaptic terminal.

3) The branching of axons in the pre-synaptic membrane e.g. after nerve damage you can get axonal sprouting of one axon into a now vacant section of dendrites.

The precise physical basis of memory is still largely unknown.


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

[User]
During the decay of hadrons through weak interaction, why isn't strangeness always conserved when other quantities such as charge and lepton number etc. have to be conserved?

A Kaon (strange) for example decays into a pion (not strange), an electron (not strange) and electron anti-neutrino (not strange).

Lepton number, charge, baryon number etcetera are all conserved so why isn't strangeness also conserved?

[Assistant]
In short, because the weak interaction does not conserve strangeness, but the strong force does. The strangeness of a ~~hardon~~ hadron is just the sum of its constituent strange quarks minus the anti-strange quarks. The strong interaction can't change one quark into another, all it can do is create or destroy strange/anti-strange pairs. The weak force, on the other hand, can change one type of quark into another via a W boson.

The concept of strangeness was invented to explain why some particles created in cloud chambers were so long-lived. If they decayed via a strong interaction you would expect them to live only a short time, similar to the lifetime of other particles that decay via the strong force. Since the weak force is weaker, it takes longer for particles to decay weakly. Thus, if there was some conservation law that the strong force obeyed but the weak force didn't, it would explain why these weird particles lived longer than expected (since they wouldn't be able to decay strongly without violating the conservation law). None of the details of quarks or the weak force were understood at the time that this concept was invented, so it was created as a heuristic way to explain what might be happening.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do cameras, or their lenses, auto-focus?

At first I thought that maybe the concept was a little similar to our eyes in that it tries to get as much of the incoming light on one point, the middle of the sensor, and so adjusts the focus ring until it finds a position with the largest amount of light on this spot. However, this doesn't explain (to me, anyway - maybe I'm just being thick) how a lens will be able to refocus on objects based on distance.

[Assistant]
2 ways:

- You digitally analyze the frame to figure out the least blurry lens configuration. Least blurry means sharpest color transitions between neighboring pixels. Only works in certain types of digital cameras.

- You measure the distance between the camera and the target, and figure out an appropriate lens configuration.  Little IR sensors can be used to measure the distance.


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

[User] ELI5: What makes stringed cheese stringed and other cheese sticks just cheese?

[Assistant]
From Huffington Post:
> "String cheese is just mozzarella cheese that has been heated to 140 degrees. At this temperature the cheese becomes very stretchy and the milk proteins move around and line up together in a row. It's this alignment that makes string cheese so stringy!"

Other cheese sticks are just cheese because they're a different type of cheese with a different flavour, and because there's a market for "regular cheese sticks" in comparison. This is simply because a lot of people don't like the consistency or flavour of the stretched mozzerella as much as they do other types like cheddar.


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

[User]
How do I know if Computer Science is right for me?

I am starting University this September and thinking of changing my degree pathway to Computer Science but not sure if it's right for me.

Apart from coding/programming what does a CS degree entail?
I have been looking at the Uni modules but don't really understand them as there's a lot of new stuff.

I just started learning to code with Python and enjoy it so far and I like Maths in general but how do I know whether or not I will enjoy a CS degree and the jobs that come after

Edit: Thank you for all those who reply and give advice, much appreciated.

[Assistant] CS itself is a mathematical discipline, but tends to teach programming as a tool along with a bunch of theory that's useful for writing efficient software. Some degree programs lean toward the theory and math, but the exact focus is going to depend on the program itself.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do we get bored?

[Assistant]
Dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, GABA, and other neurochemicals. We get a boost of dopamine from novel and stimulating activities. Eventually, or body produces less of it for the same experiences repeated over and over again, so we no longer get the same satisfaction that we had before.

Basically, new experiences are exciting and fun because our brain makes chemical soup to reward us for trying new things. Eventually our brain quits giving us the same chemical soup and changes the ingredients, so we get bored.

It's essentially drug withdrawal.


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

[User] ELI5: Why can juicy fruits like watermelon be grown in regions of the world that have horrible water pollution, but it doesn't seem to affect the people who eat it?

[Assistant] Plants absorb water through ultra-fine membranes made of plant tissue. Some chemical pollutants can indeed get in and poison the plant. But the most common pollutants we worry about in our water -- things like bacteria -- are way too big to make it in through that membrane.


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

[User]
Getting rid of the minimum wage?

Since the goal of every corporation is to maximize profits, if we got rid of the minimum wage, would we see businesses reducing the wage of their workers?

[Assistant] Wages tend to be sticky. If an employer currently has someone working for $7.25/hour and then the minimum wage law is removed, the employer could try lowering the wage of the current employee, but that employee likely will not accept a wage reduction. What could happen is that the employer finds a new employee at a lower wage (if such a person exists) and replaces the $7.25/hr employee. However, it should be noted that companies usually look to maximize profits which is not the same as minimizing costs. So, while an employer can replace a higher-waged employee with a lower-wage employee, the employer has to consider the relative productivity of each of the workers. If the high-wage employee's productivity is more than the higher-wage, then the employer would not switch to the lower-wage worker.


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

[User]
Professor overstepping personal boundaries?

I hope this is okay to post here. Im a female grad student in a class with a male professor who is also on my thesis committee. This is my second class with this professor and he has always been extremely nice, professional, and encouraging. However, recently Ive picked up on certain behaviors that give me some pause.

A few weeks ago he began to text me on my cellphone on the weekends. I did not give him my number - he presumably got it from my email signature. He has kept it mostly school related but did call my cellphone and ended the conversation with random personal questions. He has also recently added me on Facebook. Additionally a male classmate and I had to have similar one-on-one meetings to discuss our final projects and I told the male classmate to expect to field lots of personal questions from this professor (since that was my experience in our meeting). My classmate came back saying that did not happen at all. However a female classmate of mine also experienced the same treatment as I did with lots of questions and compliments in the second half of the meeting that were off topic from the project.

The attention does not feel sexual in anyway but does feel excessive and gender specific. Should I say something to someone in the hopes that it doesnt progress or should I just stay observant and not make a big deal? Has anyone experienced this?

I received another text from him today asking why I wasnt at an on campus event I had registered for. It all seems fairly innocuous but I feel sensitive to it.

UPDATE: Thank you all for your feedback, its very helpful. I am removing my cellphone from my email signature, I completely agree that if I dont want people to contact me I shouldnt provide it. Ive had my cellphone on my email signature for years without issue so this is new territory.

I also want to clarify that personal questions varied from, Do you have siblings? What do your parents do? to How did you pay for your undergraduate degree? to Why are you wanting to live in that city after graduation, do you have family or a boyfriend there? What made them more unnerving is that they came out of nowhere with no prompting. We would be talking about something related to work and then he would jump to asking me a fairly specific question about my personal life. When we talked on the phone he asked me if I was going to a music festival and if I knew how he could get tickets. It seemed more like a question for Google than for me. The conversation also had no urgency at all and I was going to see him in class the next day. Like I said, they are fairly innocuous but I do not have a strong personal relationship with him and this strikes me as a strange way to build one. I have had good friendships with colleagues and professionals before but this is not how I experienced forming those relationships.

As for the small sample size, I understand that not a lot can be gleaned from the experience of three people. However, I can say that the other female independently arrived at a feeling of discomfort in her interactions with him as well. I would say the three of us are equally engaged and ambitious, so theres no reason I can see that the professor would have to not offer the same treatment to my male classmate.

[Assistant] Document, document, document, but also be clear about boundaries you would like to have. If you don't want to get texts about academic stuff on the weekends, say that. You can frame it as "work-life balance" or whatever you want, but make it crystal clear.


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

[User]
[Chrono Trigger] Why is every date in the game followed by BC or AD, when Christianity doesn't seem to exist in the Chrono Trigger universe?

I've been playing through Chrono Trigger recently and have noticed that all the dates in the game are followed by either BC (Before Christ) or AD (~~After Death~~ Anno Domini). The problem is that the game doesn't seem to take place on Earth (at least not as we know it) and there are never any other references to Christ or Christianity.

Additionally, in the game's story Crono is a figure analogous to Christ, who dies to save humanity and is later resurrected, seeming to further suggest that Christ wouldn't exist in this universe.

So where to the BC and AD used to denote dates come form? And before someone says that BC stands for "Before Crono", I should point out that Crono sacrifices himself 12,000 years before year zero.

[Assistant]
Just a quick clarification, 'AD' doesn't stand for 'After Death'. It stands for Anno domini, which is Latin for 'Year of Our Lord.

There isn't a 33 year long gap between 1bc and 1ad *(there's also no year 0)*


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

[User] ELI5 Why does switching around the dying batteries in my remote make it work again?

[Assistant]
It doesn't. Not pushing the buttons while you're messing around with the batteries makes it work again.

Your standard remote has 2 AAs or 2 AAAs in series. That means the supply voltage of the remote is the sum of the two batterries' voltages. It also means that the position of the battery makes no difference, even if they're in a different state of charge.

However, most remotes have a supply capacitor that gets charged by the batteries and that supplies the remote with power. Basically a tiny buffer battery. As the batteries get weaker, it takes longer and longer to recharge the capacitor to a level that allows the remote to function. If the batteries are weak and you use the remote a few times in quick succession, the capacitor will be discharged completely and the remote will no longer work.

The batteries are still recharging the capacitor, just very very slowly, and if you keep pushing buttons, it'll never get to a sufficient level of charge. When you switch the batteries, you're not pushing any buttons, so you're probably giving the cap 20-30 seconds of charging time, and that may be enough for it to power the remote again (for a few shots).


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

[User] ELI5: what is the process of going into shock?

[Assistant]
Paramedic student here. When we speak of shock we are talking about inadequate tissue perfusion- basically, for whatever reason, oxygenated blood is not reaching the patients tissues. There are 5 major types of shock-

hypovolemic (loss of blood volume, ie, the patient is bleeding out)

cardiogenic (there is an issue with the mechanical activity of the heart pumping blood to the body),

neurogenic (there is an issue with either the brain controlling the heart, or the electrical system in the heart itself)

anaphylactic (life threatening allergic reactions, or other adrenal issues affecting perfusion)

septic (massive systemic infections)

In pre-hospital care (when you call for a paramedic), we can manage some of these. For hypovolemic, we can give you IV fluids to replace lost blood volume, but we have to balance that with making sure theres still enough actual blood there to carry oxygen to the tissues. For septic, we give fluids as well, but in the hopes of diluting the blood- theres very little we can do in the field to actually combat septic shock. For anaphylactic shock, we can give medications to mitigate and lessen to bodies reaction to what ever triggered the event. For neurogenic shock, we try to control heart rate and BP, without letting the system crash. For cardiogenic, we try to get you to the hospital as fast as we can, cause theres not much we can do for you in the field.

Another issue with shock is that theres 3 levels of shock- compensated, decompensated, and irreversible. Compensated shock is the early stage, where the patient is sweaty, pale, and has a rapid heart rate. This is the stage that is easiest to manage. Signs/symptoms can include agitation or anxiety, fast heart rate (tachycardia), fast breathing (tachypnea), nausea and/or vomiting, and a weak or thready pulse. Decompensated shock is the mid stage, where the patient becomes mentally altered (seems intoxicated, or passes out entirely), has no pulses in the extremities (but still has a carotid pulse), labored or odd breathing, and a falling blood pressure. This is the shock stage that we throw everything we have at, in order to keep the patient alive so we can get them to a doc. The last stage, irreversible shock, is just that, irreversible. If you hit that point, youre gonna die. Medics and doctors will do everything they can, but at that point, its a losing battle. Patients in this stage have lost the carotid pulse, theyll have very shallow and irregular breathing, very low blood pressure (hypotension), and theyll be unconscious.

Our ultimate goal, regardless of the type or level of shock, is to get you to a hospital, or definitive care as we call it. Medics, despite all the tools, techniques, and meds at our disposal, are bandaids. We can stabilize, but it takes a doctor to fix the problem. So if you call 911, and the medic says you need to see a doc, go see one. Ideally, the medic will take you, but not every fire service does their own patient transports.


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

[User] What is the difference between a Sea and an Ocean?

[Assistant] To a large extent it's just a matter of what we call them, but the major ocean basins overlie a different type of crust than most inland and nearshore seas. Oceanic crust is basaltic, formed at mid-ocean ridges, and denser, so it floats lower on the mantle. Continental crust is andesitic, formed by subduction zone volcanism, and lighter.


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

[User]
[Bioshock] why do some people become sploicers while our protagonists do not (possible spoilers)

It seems that all of Rapture, and some of Columbia is plagued with sploicers, while the protagonists, in all the games is not affected. Jack/Delta doesn't show any adverse affects, neater does Booker or Elizabeth. Each of these protagonists, take massive amounts of adam/vigors. Also most sploicers seem to only have one ability, while our protagonists has many. By the end of the game our protagonist should be really messed up!

[Assistant]
*Splicers.

Anyway, becoming disfigured is an effect of long therm ADAM abuse. Jack and Delta wasn't users for very long, and since both left Rapture, they basically had to go cold turkey, getting over the addiction.

Anyway, we don't see their faces at the endings, so they could still be disfigured.


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

[User]
[Spiderman] Concerning the origin of Spiderman's outfit in the original movie

One of the things I was interested in about the original Spider-Man movie with Tobey Maguire, was where he got that nifty costume. After having seen the suit in the trailer I was curious to see how they would explain it's origin. Sadly, they completely glossed over that part in the film. He starts off with homemade outfits and then they just cut to him with his final Spiderman suit out of nowhere. Where the hell did he get it?

[Assistant] In the novelization, it's explained that when Peter was wrestling and kicked Bonesaw's ass, he met a wrestler who was so grateful that Bonesaw was beaten, especially after Bonesaw had almost crippled him. He told Peter that his brother was a tailor who did all sorts of costumes, and they hooked him up, though he wore a mask when he picked up the costumes.


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

[User] ELI5: How does bonsai tree cultivation work? What makes them appear like a perfectly scaled down regular tree?

[Assistant]
Mostly, it's a matter of trimming the roots and branches of the tree in just the right way to keep it small. That, plus the small pot size, prevents the tree from growing as big as it would in the wild.

Additionally, the species of tree is often chosen to be one that has naturally small leaves or needles, so it helps with the sense of scale.

There's also various techniques to get the tree to have the specific shape the artist wants it to have, such as grafting a branch onto the tree or using wires or clamps to push/pull branches into growing in a certain direction.


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

[User]
Which topics are trending in contemporary political theory/philosophy?

I'm particularly interesting in *novel* issues which are being debated *now*, rather than merely during the last decade or so.

[Assistant]
Some new and interesting work is being done on the moral limits of markets. For instance, even if certain transactions are entirely voluntary, some philosophers hold that there are certain moral limits on what can be bought and sold.

Debra Satz from Stanford has a book called *Why Some Things Should Not be for Sale* (2010). Sandel has *What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets* (2012). Brennan and Jaworski have a defense of markets in *Markets without Limits* (2015).


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

[User] (in theory) Could you create a fission reaction with any element if its brought to an near unstable state or isotope?, and what would you need to use to create this reaction for different elements?

[Assistant]
Any nucleus with A > 1 can be made to fission, it doesnt have to be unstable, and the reaction wont necessarily be exothermic.

But if youre asking in the context of a multiplying fission chain reaction, not just anything can be made to do that. You need something *fissile*, which means that it can undergo neutron-induced fission with neutrons of arbitrarily low energy. Whether or not its unstable isnt really relevant to whether its fissile, but it happens that all fissile nuclides are heavy enough to be unstable.

So that limits your chances to a few actinide/transuranic nuclides. But if the half-life of the desired nucleus is too short to gather it up as fuel, then its not practical to use for this purpose.


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

[User] Could elements heavier than 114 be produced naturally in blackholes or other sources of tremendous gravity?

[Assistant] It's possible that elements much larger than uranium are created in supernovae but decay so quickly that we never detect them. Black holes aren't really good engines for nuclear fusion, although the high energy in accretion disks around them could conceivably lead to the production of large nuclei.


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

[User]
ELI5: Every news organization is saying Obama "killed" the Keystone XL pipeline, what exactly did he do?

Everything I am finding about the 6 Nov decision just states that it was "killed" or "quashed" by Obama. No elaboration on what exactly this means.

I know he has vetoed a number of bills in the past regarding the Keystone XL, but this was not the case in the most recent development. The last bill that was proposed in Congress was vetoed in February and the veto failed to be overridden. This recent "killing" seems a more final decision on the matter preventing anything being proposed later.

President Obama's announcement stated that the State Department concluded a study which did not find the pipeline to be in the best interests of the US and that he agrees with this conclusion. This study appears to have been concluded in 2013.

So, what exactly did Obama decide to "kill" and how did he go about "killing" it? Why does this prevent Congress from proposing any further legislation on the matter or individual states from granting eminent domain applications to TransCanada?

[Assistant] It's the state department's call as whether or not to approve the pipeline. Though it would be expected that the President could just tell the state department to approve or deny the application so theoretically he could have the final say on it hence the language in the media. The application for the installation of the pipe is what was denied. If there hadn't been so much push back from Republicans the application for the pipeline would likely have been denied back in 2013. The argument against it from the report was that it would have negligible impact on oil prices, would benefit Canada's economy instead of ours, create very few permanent jobs, and cause a unacceptable risk to the environment given that the pipeline would stretch across the whole country.


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

[User]
What is your team's practice for new coding standards?

I'm on a small team that has been struggling with communication and formal processes for the last few months while we grow and get more pressure from a growing startup.

We need a formal code standard process to be able to 1) introduce code standard proposals, 2) decide on whether to implement, 3) make sure the team knows what the code standards are.

My thinking is to have just that: a form of some kind where people can propose them, and every period of time we get together as a team and discuss them (maybe every week or before we start the next sprint). But I was curious if there are any other processes out there that people have liked on their teams.

Edit: for clarity I'm not really asking for "use linting" - we already do that, we also already test builds for PRs and all code goes through code review. I'm asking for if your team has a process or there's a process you've used in the past for code standards that aren't linting rules. E.g. "Single responsibility functions", UI layout, when to put an index on a table, naming conventions, etc. We also do use best practices for the stack when they're available, ie our naming conventions for Postgres come from Postgres best practices -- however, just because *I* know something is a Postgres best practice doesn't mean everyone on the team does, and we need to put that information somewhere. Currently we don't have a process to literally say "Hey this is the best practice for this, let's commit to it as a team" and agree on that and put it in a place everyone can easily find it.

[Assistant]
Use a code formatter. Use a common format across the entire team.

Use some kind of static analysis tool if the language you work with has one.

Use types addition if you are working with a dynamic language and find yourself fighting types often.

Establish a naming convention for common actions. When do you use get vs fetch vs retrieve? When do you use set or make or build?

Hold sprint post-mortems. What worked well, what didn't. What can stay, what needs changing.

Setup what rough boundaries that is allowed by individuals devs without discussions. A new language feature? New lib? New service? How much refactoring is too much? Write that line in the sand so you don't have devs introducing too much new stuff in code reviews, blindsiding reviewers.

Reduce your API surface. Expose as few functions as possible and make it known that certain functions are called only by internals. Make it easy for other devs to how and where to extend existing functions.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is hair growing out of moles thicker than other hair?

I have three moles that seems to act like fertilizer to my hairgrowth. This "superhair" is similar to beard, as it is thicker and stronger than normal hair, and grows annoyingly fast.

[Assistant] Moles are basically a tumor. The unusual cell cluster pushes on the follicle, making it grow hair faster than usual. They're darker because of the extra melanin in the area from the mole. It's actually a good thing if your mole grows hair because that's a sign it's not cancerous.


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

[User] [Minecraft] The Nether is filled with Zombie Pigmen. Whatever happened to the living Pigmen?

[Assistant]
There never were any normal pigmen, only ever pigs.

Pigs, when they get hit by lightning, turn into Zombie pigmen, without ever having gone through the in between stage of having been a normal pig man. There is also no cure which can reverse this process.

Originally pigmen came from the overworld, pigs were hit by lightning and turned into Zombie Pigmen and roamed the land, turning more pigs into Zombies (I mean, they *are* zombies, so presumably can bite a pig and turn him too).

The plague grew worse, hordes of pigmen wandered the land turning the hugely prevalent pigs and growing the horde. Eventually something had to be done and the villagers banded together, created portals and drove the pigmen into the nether.

Now the pigmen have adapted to this hellish world, developing immunity to the heat and plotting to one day return to the overworld, where they can destroy their foes and once again taste the sweet flesh of their brethren.


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

[User]
ELI5: When I'm several stories up and I look at the ground why do I feel like is want to jump knowing it would kill me?

If I'm at the top floor of a building why do I feel like I "need" to jump?

[Assistant]
There is a theory that Lappel du vide (call of the void) is a result of our base brain still recalling a time when we lived in trees and, like monkeys, would jump out into open space without hesitation to get to another tree or escape an obnoxious proto-human who was hassling us.

That may actually be partially the reason for fear of heights. There can be a painful cognitive dissonance between a curious urge to jump to freedom, and knowing it will kill you.


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

[User]
Why cant you double dam a dam for more energy generation?

This might be a troll question, but once a ex-roommate said it to me in a drunken stuper,  I havent been able to think of a way you couldnt do this.  Why cant you double dam a dam for more energy generation?

Granted, dams serve multiple purposes only one of them being energy generation.  However if you could regulate the flow from the first dam into the 2nd one and on and on, why wouldnt it work?  Also I realize that dams are placed in very strategic places often not even allowing for the idea to be done.  Just assume you are in a perfect passage way with multiple staple places to place a dam if you wished.  You wish to place one dam in front of the other regulating the flow and letting gravity do its work.  could you double/triple the output of a green energy source?

[Assistant]
The energy is completely derived from the gravitational potential of water behind the dam (high elevation) compared to the elevation of water after the dam (low elevation). That amount of energy will not change as you add dams.

If you have two dams far apart (more than one dam height in elevation difference), than you can harvest the energy again. This is done actually, though not so close.

If two dams are closer together (let's say 10 feet apart), then either the second dam will produce almost no energy (water will be at a low elevation behind it, so no potential energy to harvest), or the first dam will produce almost no energy (if you let the 10-foot space between dams fill up with water). Water is driven through a dam by the pressure behind it, and if there is equal pressure in front of it (in the 10 foot space between dams), then you get nothing.

Of course, you could "lift" the water at the bottom of the first dam to the top of the second dam - but that would require more energy than what you will get from the same water.


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

[User]
[Squid Game] So for the Second Game (Spoilers)...?

Why did Sang Woo mislead his teammates about the nature of the game and which shape they should pick?

Surely if you have 3 other allies willing to listen to you, it'd vs better to keep them around rather than sabotaging them to potentially have them killed off. Then you're left with no allies.

It'd be extremely easy to say "hey guys, let's all go triangle". I get that you want more players to lose so the total increases, but doing it that early on with 187 players still active is just mind-bogglingly brain damaged. Ali saw Sang Woo almost like a saviour, and Gi-Hun treated him as the coolest childhood friend and smartest guy ever. Both of whom could fall for a misleading prank/trick at a more critical time in a later round.

[Assistant]
Dude just had a really selfish nature. He probably always knew that he'd do anything to win the money once he knew what the stakes were.

Any opportunity to minimise everyone else's chances was something he had to take, in this zero sum game.

Might not have occurred to him he'd need solid allies for future games, or maybe he was confident that he'd be able to trick anybody, if it came to that.


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

[User]
[LOTR] If Sauron had won, would he eventually have been able to free Morgoth from the Timeless Void?

Was freeing Morgoth ever a goal of Sauron, given that he instructed men to worship Morgoth which suggests Sauron still had respect for Morgoth? Sauron even had a Temple of Morgoth built in the Numenorian city of Armenelos. Would Sauron tolerate being subservient to Morgoth after conquering Middle Earth? Or was Morgoth worship a trick since people would be suspicious if Sauron explicitly said "worship me" and Sauron no longer had any loyalty to Morgoth?

[Assistant]
I dont recall it ever being said that Sauron ever considered this an important goal. Whenever hes talked about it seems hes always happy to try and dominate the world for his own gratification

(It must be said he would not be able to do this if Morgoth came back and destroyed everything)


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

[User] [DC] I'm a prisoner in Arkham City. What would incentivize me to join, say, Joker's gang rather than Two-Face's? Or Penguin's?

[Assistant] Joker is straight crazy, if you're a member of a rival gang, he sees you as fair game.  He'd think nothing of killing or maiming or torturing you.  If you're in Joker's gang, Two-Face or Penguin wouldn't touch you, they don't want to have Joker turn on them.


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

[User]
ELI5 : How do stocks work ?

If you had a lot of money, could you not buy a bunch of shares of a (usually stable) stock, which would cause the share price to rise (cause of a surge in demand caused by all the shares you just bought) and then sell your shares at the new price, making a bunch of profit. Rinse and repeat.

[Assistant]
As soon as your big sell order hits the market, people see that and the prices offered to buy will start to drop.

If you split your order in multiple small orders then the execution of those will similarly make the price start to go down.

You can't just buy or sell an arbitrary amount at the current price, only whichever volume is on offer at that price at the moment.

So what doesn't happen is:

Step 1) Buy 1 million shares at 10 USD.
Step 2)  Price goes up.
Step 3) Sell 1 million shares at 12 USD.

It's more like:

Step 1) Try to buy 1 million shares at 10 USD.  You get some at 10 USD some at 11USD some at 12 USD some at 13 USD some at 14 USD and some at 15 USD.
Step 2) Try to sell at 15 USD?  You get some at 15, some at 14, some at 13 etc.

Net profit: Nothing.


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

[User]
Lack of alternative of Critical Theory?

Im at university and notice while critical theory plays a huge part in how we understand our world, but in my attempt to learn both sides and to avoid the trap of only being exposed to a single side, there seems to be a lack of critics and theory that oppose critical theory.

Why? Have I missed something? Are there no serious opposition to critical theory? Because I havent been able to find books, essays or anything serious that argues or offers alternative ways of understanding our world.

[Assistant] Read Toril Mois *Revolution of the Ordinary*, Rita Felskis *The Limits of Critique*, and Amanda Andersons *The Way We Argue Now*. All three come out of a dissatisfaction with the dominance of Theory and all propose philosophically informed alternatives.


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

[User] ELI5: How does light pollution work?

[Assistant] Air is made of tiny particles that can absorb and bend light. When there are lots of lights in one area the air bends the light in all different directions. You see this bending as a faint glow around cities that overpowers the ambient light from stars.


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

[User]
ELI5: How can concert tickets and big clothing drops seemingly be already sold out at the exact same second they go live?

For context:
Was just attempting to get Anderson .Paak tickets from TicketMaster however their site was already displaying that they were sold out at the exact same second they went live.

[Assistant]
Either someone had access to buy before that, or a lot of buyers were just faster than you.

There's many examples of employees buying the entire stock before the sale goes live. And there's also many examples of people making software to buy tickets as fast as possible (seconds) as soon as sales opens, leaving little chance to people who buy manually.


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

[User]
[General] How did adding mass to planet-wide cities affect their gravity?

In our multiverse, there are dozens - perhaps hundreds - of planet-wide cities teeming with many billions of sentients. Most of these cities were built with imported construction materials and have led to planets bulging with impossible structures. On some of the more improbable planets, entire mountain ranges have been dwarfed by city blocks. Entire planetoids have (probably) been mined out of existence to add to these cities.

So... how has gravity been affected on those planets?

[Assistant]
The impact is almost non-existent.

Even if you added a *solid* five-kilometer layer of matter on top of Earth, that added layer would only increase Earth's volume by about 0.2%. The increase in mass - and therefore gravity - would be similarly insignificant, unless you used materials of ridiculous density.

On top of that, a city is nowhere near a solid, there's plenty of empty space(ie. rooms) and it's rare for buildings to exceed that height, even in very advanced settings.

All in all, even if all the matter came from outside of the planet, the average inhabitant of the planet wouldn't even notice the difference. You'd need proper equipment to measure it.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that the 80s, 90s, and many other decades in the 20th century had such distinctive personalities, but the last 15 years seem to have been a blur that we don't refer to by any particular name?

[Assistant] Partially because of how far removed we are from them.  It takes a fair deal of distance to actually analyze something like that. Additionally, digital media have allowed niche cultures to become far more prominent, leading to each decade to have less of a uniform character.


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

[User] [300] How long would the Spartans survive if they had not been betrayed and outflanked?

[Assistant]
People are overlooking something crucial. The Spartans crushed everything thrown at them.

Everything.

Cavalry, monsters, grenades, immortals.

Xerxes had no more aces.

He can do two things. Throw more slaves at Sparta. These slave warriors don't cause casualties.

In fact, the longer the fight goes on, the more intimidated the slaves get.

They did and will again rout.

The Spartans don't get overrun.

It's a game of attrition, right? WRONG.

People here who have no understanding of history and the movies forget about the parallel battle going on at sea.

Athens was battling with Persia at the same time on sea! With 50 warships.

They begun fighting while Leonidas was still going strong. They learned of his demise after they've fight battles already.

And remember what happened next in Rise of an Empire? Gorgo, the most badass woman of ancient Greece (also in actual history), wife of Leonidas, comes to join and win on sea. So, on the Sea you have Athens, Sparta, Delphi, Acadia, Olympia, Thebes.

Leonidas is probably getting bored of slaughtering Persian slaves when the Greek armies come in to finish the job.

Ephialtes, the gollum of Sparta, ruined it big time.


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

[User] Is the sweating response localized? If you warm one of someone's legs, will the other start sweating?

[Assistant] Sweating response might be localized, but body temperature is systemic. Yes, maybe the warmer leg will sweat first, but eventually you're going to warm the body systemically. Here's a simple test you could do. Jump in a hot tub, but don't submerge your head. Eventually your face will turn red even though your head isn't in the water.


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

[User] [Star Wars] How was Count Dooku seen after the Clone Wars?

[Assistant]
Largely the same as he had been during the war. A traitorous Jedi who joined the separatists and seemed to want nothing more than the total destruction of everything the good people of the Republic/Empire held dear.

The Empire made sure to twist the narrative into such that many people believed that Dooku never left the Jedi order at all, and that he was largely responsible for turning all of the Jedi against their former allies. Granted, his name also largely disappeared from the records as the Empire worked to erase knowledge of the Jedi and their history from the galaxy.

Decades after the war, only the most hardcore students of history would remember him. Luke pieced together a few scraps of Dooku's life, but not the whole picture.


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

[User]
CMV: Cop cars should have to dim their lights at night to a noticable, but less intense level. [US]

I work at night and 90% of my driving time is after the sun is down. At least twice a week, there is someone pulled over and the cops lights are so bright that it's blinding to a point where I cannot tell which lane they're in - if they are even in a lane - or if they're on the side of the road. It's more of a hazard than anything. Especially in rural areas with little to no street lights and construction zones with people working.

I'm not sure if they have the capability to dim the lights, but they should be able to.

Change my view.

[Assistant] The point of cop flashers is for people coming to slow down. There could be a wreck where both sets of headlights were broken, or where there are not easily visable hazards (black car parts at night most usually) so cops need to be able to have their lights seen far and potentially over nearby hills at night. You aren't supposed to be passing a cop with flashers above 30 mph in most states anyway, so the need to slow down is kinda purposeful because if you're zooming by a cop and hit a car that lost its lights, well now it's just a bigger wreak than they were called out for in the first place. Pulling people over the lights brightness just means that there is no denying that you know when a cop is pulling you over even if you have your radio so loud you can't hear sirens. It's functional for what it's supposed to do, and that just so happens to be grabbing everyone's attention with an annoyance.


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

[User]
CMV: English speaking nations should do away with "Miss" and "Mrs.," and only use "Ms." instead.

Miss means a young or unmarried woman.

Mrs. means a married woman.

Ms. either means an older unmarried woman or can be used for any woman.

For men, they all just have Mr. regardless of age or marital status.

It is much simpler and more streamlined to just have one for all women as well: Ms.

It's sexist and demeaning to divide women by age and marital status, and has a huge potential to insult since often the speaker has to make a judgment call as to how to address a woman by assuming her age range.

Many married women idealize "Mrs." but that's only because it's something that currently comes exclusively from getting married and it makes sense that people latch onto traditions and customs pertaining to a significant life event for them. But once Miss and Mrs are eliminated and women only go by Ms, then marriage won't often come with that Miss to Mrs change that many women desire so the emotional attachment to Mrs will go away. Just because some women enjoy a sexist custom isn't justification to keep the custom.

[Assistant]
It is a useful distinction if the married woman took her husband's last name.  That way you know it is not her maiden name.  Whether or not a wife should take her husband's last name is another argument, but it happens very often, so whether or not it is right has little effect on this argument.

It is also useful in dating, because it is often the man who does the asking out, and having a woman referred to as mrs. indicates that she is automatically not available.

These are a few ways that the title can exist without being sexist, because it has a functional use.


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

[User] Does Earth's rotation affect our weight?

[Assistant]
Yes.  The centrifugal force you experience will slightly reduce the effective gravity.  By how much?

**~ 1/300 Cos[Latitude].**

Where does this come from? The centripetal acceleration, a_c, is (*omega*)^2 *R, where R is the distance from the axis of rotation (radius of the earth) and *omega* is rotation of the earth in radians per second.  The earth makes 1 rotation / 24 hours.  So we need to do some unit conversion:

*omega* = (1 rot / 24 h)(2 PI radians/ 1 rot)(1 hour / 3600 sec) = 2 PI / 86400 rad/sec = 0.000072722 rad/sec

a_c = (0.000072722 rad/sec)^2 (6.3675 x 10^6 m) = 0.03367 m/sec^2

a_g = 9.81 m/sec^2 (gravitational acceleration at the earth's surface).

a_c/a_g = 0.03367/9.81 = 0.00343 ~ 1/300

This last bit gives the ratio of how much the centrifugal force affects us versus how much gravity affects us.

Lastly, you have to take into account that when you are at the equator, the centrifugal force is more potent than when you move towards the poles of the earth.  Basically this is taken into account by remembering that *omega* is determined by the distance from the axis of rotation.  At the equator, this is the radius of the earth.  As you move north or south, your distance from the *axis* of rotation (not point at the center of the earth) decreases.  The formula for this is:

R = R_earth Cos[Latitude]

Using this as R in the formula for *omega* gives the result in bold above.


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

[User]
Why did Nietzsche eventually break with Schopenhauer's philosophy?

What caused him to lose faith in it, so to speak?

[Assistant]
Not inspiring enough.

N and S were both interested in philosophy as a way of life or ways of being human. N's doesnt deny S's philosophy but rather takes it to the next level. It is like S 2.0.

 S's proposed way of life was basically taking walks, viewing art, and doing philosophy-which was fine, until N wanted more. S was a pessimist, N actually wasn't satisfied with pessimism- he wanted more. Contrary to popular conception, N was no nihilist, he was just drawing attention to nihilism. Nihilism was the very thing he was fighting against. N didn't want to just view art, he wanted to make his life into a work of art and become everything he could be.  In short, S's philosophy wasn't life affirming and inspiring enough. It was very passive.


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

[User]
Why do microscopic images have to be artificially colored?

Why do images of bacteria or other tiny organisms particles have to be provided with color? Can telescopes not pick up their natural colors?

[Assistant]
Bacteria don't have much color on their own, so often they're stained.  Things inside a cell, minus, say, chloroplasts, have almost no color at all, so those are almost always stained with a reagent that makes the feature of interest stand out.

When you get down to, say, single molecules (yes, we can see single molecules with a microscope) the amount of signal you're dealing with is very, very small.  To have a color camera you must divide the signal by at least 1/3, plus extra losses for additional filters, so it's prudent to use a detector that can see all light that hits it in a single channel and use filters to isolate the signal that you want.

False coloring for multi-channel imaging for interpretation is very useful, as well.  By falsely coloring the signal from images of the same sample taken with multiple filters we can see where the signals overlap more clearly than if we used true coloring.

If your question is actually about electron micrographs - they don't see color at all.  The color has to be added after the fact, largely for artistic effect.


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

[User]
CMV: Condemning somebody to hell for a sin is hypocritical because everybody is a sinner, so by that logic you are condemning yourself too

I was browsing the CMV and I saw a post stating that homosexuality is wrong and you will go to hell for engaging in it because it is a sin. By that logic, isn't everybody condemned to hell then? Isn't everybody a sinner? I remember I had a conversation with a guy trying to convert me, and he states that its not about good deeds or even avoiding sin, its about accepting Jesus..because if you accept Jesus you wont want to sin anyway. So accepting Jesus is a get out of jail free card it seems like. Everybody sins no matter what, so accepting Jesus automatically absolves you of sin? It also doesn't make sense to judge others for their supposed sins, because if you sin you are in the same boat. Or is it the amount of sin. I will brag and boast because I sin less than you. Oh well, at least I try not to sin. Or maybe people keep a tally of sins and then compare each others scores? It all seems to very hypocritical. Original sin , we are all sinners, so one shouldn't judge anybody else for their sin, and yet so many do.

[Assistant]
>Thus Jesus said, "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. Luke 17:3

Rebuking is not the same as condemning. We are all our brother's keeper and holding each other to a standard while forgiving those who repent is one of the foundational parts of Christianity. Only God can condemn. I.E. decide that the person who sinned hasn't repented and been cleaned of that sin.


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

[User]
CMV: People become more conservative over time because they change, not because the issues change

A big part of this opinion comes from my experience of having a liberal left-wing father turn into a Trump supporter, so  here's a bit of background information about what happened. My father lived under Maoist China as an adolescent and immigrated to a Western country (not the US) when he was a young adult. Needless to say, he became fascinated with politics since he was a teenager, as a result of living under a country where political ideology permeated every part of everyday life. As a result, he's always had quite a bit of cynicism towards socialism but that's another story...

Anyways, when I was growing up since the age of 8/9, he would tell me stories about history and politics and we would watch the daily show with Jon Stewart quite regularly. Even though I didn't quite understand everything that was talked about, my dad was always a huge fan of Jon and that greatly influenced me with me being a liberal democrat currently (used to be a big social democrat)...

He hated Bush Jr (still does btw, he remained consistent on that), and loved Obama. He would show me clips of Obama speaking with his inspiring "yes we can" slogans, and he even tried to help me with my public speaking problems/stage fright, by showing me tips Obama gave on addressing an audience. When Jon was nearing retirement, we'd watch the last week tonight show with John Oliver together instead.

 But I could see over time, that his appreciation for liberal ideas lessening. He became more and more disillusioned with Obama, going from slight disappointment, to seeing Obama as a weak willed failure and a sell-out. Around this time was also when Trump first announced his run for presidency. We both took him as a joke originally, but as time went on and the Republican primaries went down to just a few candidates, my father became more and more sympathetic and supportive of Trump. We'd have endless fights over it, with me feeling a little betrayed that my father had abandoned the ideas and values he had raised me on.

After Trump won the presidency, my father only became more and more of an ardent supporter but he knows that me and him disagree so he tries to bring it up as little as possible. However, every once in a while, the topic comes up at the dinner table, and it usually ends with both of us steaming off and not talking to each other for the rest of the day. I've tried to become more calm about it and so has he.

We've talked about why he really supports Trump, and a lot of it just comes from this jadedness and cynicism towards the system that he projects from a lot of the regrets of his own life and a lot of the dreams that never came to be as he grew older....I confronted him about that, and he just replied "you wouldn't understand, until you've lived a life where all the dreams and optimism you currently have now, are shattered when you get to my age". For him, he supports Trump no more than he sees Trump as a protest vote, a way to say f\*\*\* off to the establishment and the political elites and a system that he fought for in his youth, which only abandoned him when globalisation came around. A middle finger of sorts to the upper class liberal establishment that advocate for political correctness and telling people what to say, think or who to vote for (as he puts it)....

I asked him why he doesn't support Bernie then, and he said basically Bernie didn't have strong enough views on social issues and he didn't like how Bernie called himself a socialist...He thought it was insulting to all the suffering people under past socialist regimes had to deal with. (Father's very anti-illegal immigration, doesn't really like multi-culturalism but is very pro-choice on abortion, very pro gun-control, and about as tolerant of lgbtq a boomer from socially conservative china can be) He almost swapped sides because of Trump's refusal to do anything on gun control...

Sorry if this was really long, and if it came off a bit like just venting...but I've been thinking about this a lot and it just seems to me most people don't have any fixed political beliefs and rather just position themselves according to the where the Overton/normal discussion window is currently. A progressive who fight for the goals of today, will still fight for new progressivist goals if they were born after all the current day goals have already being met.

Similarly when someone gets older, they change, they care more about stability and security, become more cynical, jaded and no matter which  direction the issues have shifted in comparison to their youth, they will align themselves with the conservative side of the overton window. (Not talking about everyone, just commenting on how quite a majority of the demographic become more conservative as they grow older)

[Assistant]
It seems your father wanted change and was upset when Obama didn't fulfil that promise.

Now he seems to be supporting Trump for that very reason.

That doesn't necessarily seem like has become more conservative, more that he feels Trump is more likely to deliver the change he wants.

In the end though, he's ultimately going to be disappointed.

Maybe try approaching it from that angle?


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

[User] [Steven Universe] Who manages The Big Donut? Who's the boss of Lars and Sadie?

[Assistant]
The big donut is a corporate franchise, with Sadie acting as manager. It's a small town and the books always line up (Sadie's production orders are on point).

With low overhead, two employees and no accounting funny business, corporate lets the place run itself.


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

[User]
How many galaxies/stars do we visually lose every year due to them accelerating and passing through the cosmological event horizon?

I was reading about dark energy on Wikipedia and this question had me pondering on a bit.

edit:

Hello everyone, I appreciate all the feedback received from this post and I'm grateful for such well presented answers. I realise that this sort of question can raise many different answers due to the question being too general.

But as I understand from most of the replies... The reason the light from those stars will never entirely vanish is because even when the star/galaxy passes the cosmological event horizon, the space between us and them is only expanding and so the light that was sent before the star/galaxy passing the cosmological event horizon will only stretch due to the expansion and continue to reach us but through other spectrums of light as it continues to redshift. Would this be correct?

I would also like to bring forward a question that has been brought up by a few other redditors. However as it may seem there is no exact answer to it, I'd like to ask a question similar to it:

Which stars/galaxies have most noticeably redshifted or faded from visual light? I'd definitely like to read up on this topic so any names or articles would be great. Thanks again guys!

[Assistant] We don't visually lose them. The light that they emit now will never reach us, but the light they emitted before will take longer and longer to reach us, so they'll just gradually get dimmer and more redshifted, but never completely disappear.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Is the galaxy too big to be effectively governed by one government?

[Assistant]
Yes, of course. The Republic suceeded for as long as it did by mostly preserving/respecting local authority and not interfering much outside of inter-system disputes. But the needs/wants/troubles of Coruscant, Naboo and Bespin are VERY different, and trying to put them all into one top-down fascist system worked *terribly.* They needed a freakin' PLANET-DESTROYING LASER to keep *their own people* in line. And it didn't even work!

The larger the system of government, the worse it will work. The galaxy is simply WAY too big.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do CPUs and GPUs need fans and intricate cooling apparatuses, and where is the heat coming from?

[Assistant]
Electrical resistance. They get hot for the same reason the heating elements in an oven do.

However, there is an additional factor involved. Calculation is, on a fundamental level, a form of work. You're flipping physical bits from one to zero and back, and that has a cost. In this case, that cost is expressed in the form of waste heat. Entropy will always have its price.

You need to cool them down both because they could get so hot the circuit boards melt, and because increasing the local temperature increases the minimum amount of energy necessary to flip a bit. The computer will get slower at higher temperatures, so keeping it cool is also keeping it functional.


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

[User]
Are there any human bloods types that we know of, that no longer exist?

Please forgive the grammatical error in the title.

[Assistant] Blood decays without a trace quite early in the process of decomposition, well before any fossilization sets in. It would be a stroke of pure luck to find remains even from a few hundred  years ago, let alone hundreds of thousands of years on which the bllod type can be determined.


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

[User] [MCU] Can Ironman not being in winter soldier be explained by the fact that he destroyed his suits in ironman 3?

[Assistant] The events of Winter Soldier mostly happened over a few days. The only point where Tony would have been involved was potentially when SHIELD began the manhunt for Steve, but its unlikely that the corrupt SHIELD leadership wanted to get any of the other Avengers involved as it increases the chance of discovery and could potentially give Steve more allies to fight against them. Tony likely saw what happened in the news after the helicarriers were destroyed, got confirmation from Steve what went down, and decided to sit this one out in order to keep Pepper happy since it appeared Steve/Nat/Nick had it handled.


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

[User] How does an elephant move its trunk if the trunk doesn't have any bones to support the muscles?

[Assistant]
Beep.  The elephant trunk is an example of something called a muscular hydrostat.  Other examples include the tongues or ordinary mammals such as ourself, the arms of cephalopods, and the wiggly squiggly bodies of roundworms.  The tissues of which these structures are made are effectively incompressible, so such a structure's volume is effectively constant.  Muscles arranged in longitudinal and circumferential patterns can be selectively contracted to shrink some dimensions, which causes that volume to redistribute: squeeze the structure around its circumference, and it lengthens as it gets thinner.  Squeeze along its length, and it shortens while engirthening.  Such complementary, opposable sets of muscles are referred to as "antagonist muscles," though we personally do not know whether this word use is limited to muscular hydrostats or applies to other actuator types.

You might also like to know that muscular hydrostats are a type of volumetric actuator, a more broad category of hydraulic mechanical stuffs, which includes some of the more powerful means by which arthropods move their limbs, including grasshoppers' and jumping spiders' powerful limb movements.  Boop.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are there different glasses for different drinks, and why does a beer glass make it taste any better?

[Assistant]
Different glasses achieve different things.

Wine glasses have long stems to keep you from warming the wine while holding it, as wine is usually sipped.

Scotch/Whiskey glasses (drams) are short and wide, to allow for a couple of ice cubes (on the rocks), but also allows a wide opening for the drink to breath. This also allows you to smell (nose) of the drink.

Beer glasses are generally thicker glass, which allows the beer to stay cooler, longer. As beer is usually consumed in quantity (more than a couple of ounces) the size is larger.


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

[User]
[Fallout] How's the rest of the World holding up?

I'm a bit shaky on my Fallout lore so I might seem a little naive. I understand North America is now an irradiated wasteland after the nuclear exchange with China but what kind of state are the rest of Earth's countries in? Is China just as desolate and lifeless? Has the entire world become barren due to the effects of the nuclear warheads? More importantly is England okay?

Edit: Furthermore, is civilized society still in existence elsewhere in the world?

[Assistant]
Well Europe and the Middle East had limited nuclear exchange before the rest of the world. So they're probably twice as irradiated.

If you look at China in Mothership Zeta (if we consider that crap cannon) than we see a glowing crater. No hope there.

We know Mexico is mostly irradiated from Raul.

Another thing to remember is that only the US had the Vault Program.

Overall not good, I'd say.


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

[User]
Why do Microwave ovens set to low cycle high/off in intervals instead of steadily using lower constant power?

I have always wondered when microwaving foods why operating at 50% power for example the food is cooked at 100% power for 50% of the time instead of 50% power 100% of the time.

Is it a functional effectiveness? cost saving?

Why not supply 500w instead of 1000w?

[Assistant]
Microwave ovens utilize a device called a cavity magnetron to produce the electromagnetic radiation used to cook your food.  The basic gist of how this device works is similar to how blowing air past the top of a bottle creates sound, only with electrons instead of air.  If the voltage isn't high enough, then the resonance required for it to operate doesn't occur.  Cutting the voltage in half will result in a device that just produces a little heat, and no radiation.  Cutting the operating cycle in half produces the desired effect.

Pulsed operation is very common in electronics as a means to produce varied output, as it's generally easier to control.  However, there are always side-effects of doing this, like noise from the pulsing itself.  Your food doesn't care about this noise, so it's considered acceptable.


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

[User]
ELI5: Postmodernism

EDIT: What's with the mass downvoting going on in this thread? :/

[Assistant]
There were a group of artists and writers that grew up during the first large scale wordwide modern war (WWI) and also lived through the second World War.  This generation of creative people witnessed so many horrible things that the art that they made was really trying to make sense of all those awful, evil parts of life.

These writers and artists are called "modernists" and they really invented a lot of the ways that we tell stories today and how we decide whether something is a good or bad story.  This is because the "modernists" really wanted to unite all of the evil they had experienced, with all of the good they knew that people could do.  After all, these people saw so much killing and war, but they also saw people inventing so many wonderful new things.  Think of if people were all riding horses now, but by the time you're finished with High School most of us have cars!

It was too bad though that none of the "modernists" ever really felt like they *were able* to tell one story that explained all of the bad things and all of the good things together.  They never figured it out, and thought that they failed.

The artists that came next are called "post-modernists" only because they came *after* the "modernists."  They saw that the "modernists" weren't able to come up with a story that explained all the good and bad stuff humans could do, so they decided that there was *actually no way to explain it*.

That's why a lot of "post-modern" artists don't really try to create anything that is totally new and original.  They figured that if the "modernists" tried so hard to tell this story they've pretty much tried everything that can be tried.  The "modernists" wrote every book, painted every picture, and sang every song trying to "figure out" what life was all about.

tl;dr (and you're over 5): Modernists tried to unite humanity with one grand narrative, but couldn't.  Post-modernists decided the reason that they couldn't was because there is *no* way to unite the entire story of humanity in a grand narrative.  Since there is no way forward we're stuck just regurgitating the art of the past, forever.

"Post-modernism" is based on "quoting" and using other works of art as a way of coming to terms with the fact that there probably *is* no way that we can explain why people can do so many great things, but can also do so many really bad things at the same time.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do we determine if an animal has feelings, is self aware, or is sentient?

On the topic of animal cruelty... I feel like it isn't bad to eat animals, and birthing an animal just to be eaten may seem harsh, but are the animals even aware of their own existence?

Edit: Wow! Thanks for all of the responses, I have read many but I'm gonna start reading the rest! I'm starting to feel guilty for my opinion up there, but I know you all just wanted to help!

Edit 2: I came here to see if I should feel bad eating a burger... Now I'm back to the question my sentience phase. Thanks Reddit.

Edit 3: While I would like to get more comments if anyone has anything to say, but I feel as though this has been answered the best it can. I got a little ethics lesson in as well.

[Assistant]
This is an interesting question and there is no single answer. It's not really a question of is an animal "self aware" or "not self aware" and more, "how self aware" is an animal. Even though it is a bit more complicated than this you can think of there being levels of self aware.

The standard test is called the mirror test.  It's very simple but really clever.  You put a mark on an animal (when it is asleep or not paying attention) in a place that it can't see it, like on it's head. Then you put the animal in front of a mirror.

If the animal sees the mark in the mirror and reaches up and grabs the mark then it recognized that the animal in the mirror was itself. If it doesn't do that then it doesn't realize that the thing in the mirror is itself and then probably doesn't even have an idea of "self".

You can look up lists of animals that can pass the mirror test.  Great apes can definitely pass it.  Elephants can, probably some types of birds but it is a little less easy to test a bird.

There are some other tests too, some are "easier to pass" than the mirror test meaning they show a lower level of self aware, and some are more difficult.


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

[User]
This may seem heartless, but don't take it that way:  How did 16 people manage to die in NY as a result of Sandy when they had days to prepare/evacuate?

Just wondering.  Was it the flood waters? Loss of power/life support?  What was it?

[Assistant]
Almost always its auto wreck related. Sometimes its people begin hit by large chunks of flying debris.

And there are always people anywhere who will ignore warnings and stay in a dangerous area. No body thinks it could happen to them until it does.


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

[User] [General Superhero] How do companies keep NDAs with super-hackers, psychics, and the like? Good compartmentalisation? Do they train important employees against stuff like that?

[Assistant]
They do whatever is necessary to keep secrets - ridiculously strict security, ban on external media and internet connections, no cell phones in protected areas...

And mandatory psychic defense training. We see in Inception that CEOs can be trained against extraction which royally screwed Cobb's first on-screen job since his researcher failed to know this.


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40K] Why does the Imperium use servitor skulls?

None of the original brain matter is used, just the skull itself, so the entire exercise seems pointless. Wouldn't it be easier to just build a regular metal casing instead of disfiguring a corpse?

[Assistant]
Skulls are a important symbol in the Imperium, you find it everywhere.

Does not mater if you were born on Cadia, Kreig, Catachan, Macragge, Mars or Holy Terra, you all have the same skull.

And to continue serving after death is seen as a positive thing too.


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

[User]
[MARVEL] If Black Panther's vibranium suit absorbs kinetic energy, how can T'challa kick it across the room in a mannequin?

I just realized this when rewatching Black Panther during the scene where Shuri introduced T'challa his new suit. There is no resultant force if the suit takes in all the energy, so how does it fly away?

[Assistant] It's been a while but it's possible the suit, without being worn by a person, responded in that way just to showcase the ability. Remember Shuri works on her tablet then begins recording, so she could have toggle the ability on/off.


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

[User]
ELI5: What does Facebook have to gain from buying Whatsapp for $16 billion?

How does buying Whatsapp benefit Facebook? How can they make money from it and how could it possibly be worth $16 billion?

[Assistant]
The main benefit is Whatsapp's client base - Whatsapp has roughly 450 million users.

Facebook, like many other companies, earns its revenues from ads and selling premium services, so now they'll have 450 million more clients earn money from.

Also, Whatsapp, being a chat application and essentially a social network, is in direct competition with Facebook. This allows Facebook to eliminate the competition.


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

[User] Do humans make bodily or vocal noises above or below the human hearing (20Hz to 20,000Hz) threshold?

[Assistant]
Anything that causes a vibration causes a sound, because that's what sound is. While it may not be audible, pretty much any movement your body makes technically makes a sound.

Waving your hand frantically may cause vibration of a few Hertz, for example, even though it's probably very quiet too. Of course, that's just an example you could easily mimic on purpose.

Short answer is yes.


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

[User]
[Ender's Game] Question in main post due to spoilers

At the end of Ender's Game, Ender finds the Queen's egg in a replication of the Giant's Game as he played it. How did the Buggers manage to find the image? Even if they could read human minds or hack into computers lightyears away, how did they know Ender was the one human they needed to find?

[Assistant]
The humans have the ansible, which is how the communicate over distances of light years.

It's based off of the hive mind of the buggers. Because of this, it's assumed that this sent information that somehow got picked up by the hive mind, such as the contents of the Game, messages about Ender and so on.

Ender's actions, which showed him to be an innocent but capable person that didn't harm others out of pleasure like Peter, didn't act out of pride like Bonzo, but also wasn't timid like Valentine, or subservient like Dumper. But most importantly, he was capable of existing as his own person able to put the needs of a species he was told to hate, in front of his own, which Alai couldn't do (seeing as he was elected as Caliph after returning to Earth), Bean wouldn't have worked, as he even realizes that even though he will always save the supreme commander, he will never be the supreme commander. It's because of these and his ability to think outside the box, and of course realize the true nature of war, that led the Buggers to select him to help them.

This allowed them to recreate the Game and hide the egg in a place they knew he would find it. And know that their only hope of survival was to have Ender take the egg to a suitable planet and allow the species to regrow.


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

[User]
ELI5: Are showers better for our hygiene than baths?

How true is the fact that when we bathe we sit in water full of our filth? Is it more unhygienic because of that? Or does the dirt perhaps gets diluted in water and all those facts are really myths? Is there any scientific paper about this topic?

[Assistant]
Say you have one dirty spot on you. A shower washes away the dirt because of the flowing water.

A bath dissolves the dirt and spreads it evenly all over you as you soak in the dirt containing water.

It is obvious what is more hygienic.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are some plastics so strong until a tear is made?

[Assistant]
For the same reason that some knots are so strong until you cut them.

Plastics are long tangled and branched carbon chains, with the hardness of the plastic determined by the length, "tangledness", and "branchedness" of the chains. Once a cut or tear is made, you now only have to cut or pull out a few chains along the edge instead of cutting through the whole mass.


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

[User] ELI5 why nuclear bomb tests dont cause nuclear winters and other effects from nuclear bombs?

[Assistant] They do cause all the same effects as a nuclear weapon dropped in war. The only difference is one of numbers. It is anticipated that if nuclear war ever occured that the involved nations will launch all of their available weapons. In the case of the U.S., Russian, and China this total will be in the thousands. There have been quite a few nuclear tests performed over the last 80 years, but they were spread out over time and still don't approach anywhere near that total.


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

[User]
CMV: There should be an age cap that prevents politicians over 70 years old from holding public office.

Im from Britain, but this applies to any country.

As the age of retirement in the UK is 60-65, I believe it is entirely reasonable to stop politicians from serving over the age of 70. In any industry, the retirement of the older generations makes room for others to progress into more experienced roles and new people to enter into the new vacancies. But in politics older politicians, who may have entered in their 50s but have stood for re-election over the next 30 years, continue to serve into their 80s. In the UK, there are multiple politicians who only enter politics because they have retired from their previous careers.

Though it is unquestionable that there have been great older politicians, it is well known that older people generally tend to hold on to values and beliefs from their younger years, and this means politicians in their 70s and 80s are holding on to values and beliefs from 30-60 years ago. Is it any surprise that younger politicians often support modern movements (climate emergency, LGBT+ rights, womens rights, etc.) more than the older generations?

Out of 650 members of Parliament currently serving in the UK, there are 81 MPs aged over 65, a total of 339 over the age of 50, and only 14 that are aged under 30 (all of whom are unknown because they are in the back benches). Parliaments role is to do what is right for the country, currently and in the future. With just 2% of MPs aged under 30, how can we justify politicians over the age of 70, who realistically have a limited future, shaping the country that the younger generations must live in?

[Assistant]
> Though it is unquestionable that there have been great older  politicians, it is well known that older people generally tend to hold  on to values and beliefs from their younger years

Why is it an issue in a democracy? Either people will agree and vote for them or they wont.


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

[User]
ELI5:How does your body decide when it is time to start puberty?

I undestand that puberty is caused by hormones like testosterone and estrogen, but what causes these hormones to be released? Does your body measure time and decide to release testosterone after a certain amount of time?

[Assistant]
Adequate levels of leptin, released by fat, causes the hypothalamus in the brain to release gonadotropin-releasing hormone. This hormone causes the pituitary gland in the brain to release follicle stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone.

Both of these work in the testes/ovaries to begin sexual maturation and production/maturation of sperm and egg cells, and the release of sex hormones like estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, etc.

So basically, your body does monitor its own growth to decide when to start the process of puberty.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do some bruises turn yellow or green after their purple phase?

[Assistant]
The black / purple stage of a bruise is blood soaked into the tissue under the skin, due to ruptures in the capillaries.

Oxygenated blood is the red colour you're used to seeing.

Deoxygenated blood is darker and lacks the red, so you get the purple colour.

As the bruise heals the first thing that happens is your body absorbs the iron in the hemoglobin.  The rest of the red blood cells are broken down into biliverdin (which is greenish), which is in turn broken down into bilirubin (which is yellowish).

Because the process is consecutive you all ways get the same sequence of colours, though how quickly it happens will vary.


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

[User] [Marvel/MCU] Has Thor seen Point Break by the events of Ragnarok? He obviously realized what his code name is to activate the Quinjet but he seemed annoyed by it. Did he understand the reference?

[Assistant] Yes, and for the same reason that I've absolutely adored Thor's personality shift over the course of so many movies: he's fully-embraced his position of authority over the people of Midgard, which requires study of the local culture. Hence Thor's adopting of the modern lexicon, and expletives like "son of a bitch" even if it takes a second for him to translate.