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

[User] Why does it spread germs/illnesses to leave a bathroom with hands unwashed, yet oral-genital contact is not regarded as a surefire way to get the same illnesses?

[Assistant]
Washing your hands after using the bathroom is not just about the germs gathered during the time using the bathroom. Ingraining that habit into people while they are at a sink with water gets them to clean away other germs they may have picked up without having to make a special trip to wash.

Human fecal matter is the real germ problem, not the human genitals. The genitals themselves, if clean should carry no more germs than the rest of the skin. Ineffective wiping however leaves fecal matter, and potentially it ends up on the hands. Washing removes it. In reality a male standing to pee, or either gender who doesn't wipe at all shouldn't be gaining any more germs on their hands than from any other activity. Its just easier to train people to always wash after a bathroom event so the bases are covered. It has the added benefit of removing other germs gathered before the bathroom event.


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

[User]
ELI5 Turtles longevity

Can you explain why turtles live very long ? And if we know why cant we learn from their bodies and use this in research to promote longevity in humans ?

[Assistant]
Turtles have a very low metabolism, their heart beats slowly, they breathe slowly, they process food slowly. This was advantageous for their evolution as they were able to sustain long periods of drought or hunger and survive.

This slowed pace allowed them to live longer lives, as the stress of situations wasnt as impactful to them.

For humans, most people have kids between 20-30, in older times it was earlier. Their genetic material has already been passed on so its not as important for humans to live longer.


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

[User]
[Full Metal Alchemist] So what *did* the Elric brothers and Izumi summon if it wasn't their loved ones?

Just finished watching the show for the first time yesterday. I was a little bit curious by that plot thread -- it seemed like the fact that the skeleton for Trisha and Izumi's baby weren't consistent for them would've been a bigger deal, but it doesn't seem to go anywhere. Or did they answer this more subtlety and I wasn't paying attention?

On a similar note: is Rebounding a bigger deal in the manga? They introduced it as a concept pretty early in the show, so I figured it was going to be an important rule of alchemy that would be used in the show but they never really address it again either.

[Assistant]
They didnt summon anything, they just made a twisted mass of flesh out of the ingredients provided.

Imagine it like a LEGO set put together by a child not reading the instructions. You might get the general shape out of it but its not going to be right. Same deal.

Im assuming you mean Brotherhood, the original anime takes a very different route.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] Why do most Federation ships have a neck?

The Star Trek Federation ship has an iconic look. A saucer, a long thin neck, a core, and two huge engines. I am not a professional engineer, but the neck connecting the saucer to the core seems like it would be a structural weak point. Especially when newer designs (Voyager) and some of the earliest designs (the First Enterprise) do NOT have this feature, AND when you also consider that no other civilization seems to have copied this design.

So why would the Federation build their ships this way?

[Assistant] The hulls of most starships are reinforced with force fields called structural integrity fields. While its engines are running, no part of a ship is a structural weak point. The typical shape of a federation or Klingon ship is designed for optimal warp geometry. To put it another way it's "aerodynamic" for the fabric of space-time.


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

[User] ELI5: What happens on a global ecological level if the Great Barrier Reef is entirely bleached and dies?

[Assistant]
The Great Barrier Reef is a zone which indicates a relative diversity of life on Earth, like Rainforests. The more diverse life is on the planet, the better, as we humans like to harvest things. Imagine if rubber trees didn't exist? Or if the fungi that made up immune suppressants didn't exist? Diversity is really good and when one of these places loses its diversity, we see that most other places are losing diversity too. Furthermore, an estimated 375 billion dollars are generated from food and tourism related to reefs, with about 500 million people dependent on their survival. Animals that depend on these corals for food go too. Entire food chains are disrupted. Imagine no more snapper, grouper, clams, or oysters! Fish rely on corals for protection from larger predators.

About 70% of Earth's oxygen comes from the ocean, from the smallest organisms to the largest kelp forests. Losing life in the ocean directly impacts our world's ability to sustain life. If the reefs, which are some of the most fragile ecosystems start to die, then it's an early warning sign that things are going to get worse.


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

[User]
Why do dogs have a "wet dog" smell?

I have had several dogs over the years and it does not matter what kind of fur they have they all have that same or similar smell that just stinks. What causes this?

[Assistant] Dogs have sweat glands, just not for the purpose of thermoregulation. The distinct "wet dog" smell is from apocrine glands which are associated with every hair follicle on a dog. The purpose of these glands is to seal the outer layer of the skin (which is why it's an oily secretion) and also acts as a pheromone.


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

[User]
[W.A.L.L-e] Why was Auto so stagnant?

Wall-e himself, a relatively simple robot built for a relatively simple task, became over 700 years of life his own person with complex emotions, thoughts, morals, and the will to abandon his sole directive without a second thought for Eve.

Eve, age indeterminate, was just the same way falling in love with Wall-e and not even wanting to bother with the plant just to hold him in his dying moments.

The Malfunctions Robots revolted against the ship's stewards singing Sunday Clothes as their anthem.

So why, in 700 years of taking on the extremely complex directive of managing the Axiom, was Auto so stagnant in his reasoning and incapable of comprehending that his A113 was a mistake?

[Assistant]
The Wall-e robots were designed to be highly adaptable, in order to clean up the Earth without human supervision. This allowed him to form his own personality. EVE is similar.

Auto, however, was functioning exactly as he was programmed to. He was designed to follow his directives, not to alter them, to keep humanity alive at all costs, taking no risks. It's likely the designers of the ship didn't anticipate humanity becoming so obese that they couldn't easily override his control manually if need be.


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

[User]
[Game of Thrones] How did Daenerys know that Randyll Tarly was a lord?

At Blackwater Rush, Randyll and Dickon are among the few people who dont kneel, but Daenerys calls Randyll forth and addresses him as my lord. We dont see anyone tell her about him, and when Dickon comes up and says youll have to kill me too, she doesnt know who he is, even though she has a little context and could deduce that is his son.

[Assistant]
Considering that Varys was still serving her at the time, he would probably make a point of briefing her about generals serving her enemies, particularly the ones switching sides. Even as a second fiddle to the Tyrells, Tarlys are a very powerful house. Probably would't bother describing all of his children in greater detail.

Even if that wasn't the case, Tyrion would probably at some point after the battle have mentioned that they bald idiot they captured is actually Randyll Tarly, patriarch of one of the most powerful houses in the region.

But even if they both are actually terrible at their job, It doesn't change the fact that he's significantly older than the average soldier and wearing a significantly more expensive armor, so addressing him as a noble is a fair assumption.


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

[User] ELI5:Why does crime proliferate in poor neighborhoods? wouldn't it make more sense to burglarize affluent areas, since it would be more lucrative and less destructive?

[Assistant]
* People tend to commit crime near where they live.

* Presuming the burglars are poor, they would tend to stick out in affluent areas (different cars, different clothing), drawing police attention.

* It's likely easier to burglarize a poor person's home due to poor security/lack of alarm.

* The wealthy will have more resources to track down a burglar if need be.

* Burglars are dumb.

* Sad but true: the cops/City Hall will crack down MUCH harder on crime if it is occurring in affluent areas.

* Getting back to a safehouse after the crime would take considerably longer and is thus more dangerous.

Late edit/addition - there are many more poor people than there are rich people.  There's just not as many targets.


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

[User]
I (19F) am scared of majoring in my true passion

I am a first year college student and at a point in my schooling career, where I am a little lost. At the moment, I am a biology major. I am doing great in bio, chem and physics and am getting A+ s in all of these classes. That was also the case in high school, which is why I decided to major in bio.

Nevertheless, In the last couple years I have realized that I really adore math. Going to math lecture makes me happy and I love studying proofs and really understand the deeper meaning. I am currently in all the weeder math classes and am scoring inthe top 5%. So I am doing alright, but I cant help to be very scared of changing my major. I used to be really terrible in high school (up until 10th grade) and hence, never took myself seriously. People also seem to underestimate me mathematically as I am the opposite of a math person. in high school, the math people always looked down on me and labelled me as this popular, fake science girl. The only people who really pushed me were my math TA, math prof and high school math teacher.

How do you decide if I can manage to risk my college experience? If I stay in bio, I will do great, but I am not very passionated abt it. But if I do math.. who knows if Ill do good in upper division classes?  Do you guys have any advice in how I can figure this out?

[Assistant]
You should absolutely major in what you love, especially since Math is the M in STEM--that is, a high-demand field.

If you want to make yourself really marketable, you could pick up a minor/double major in computer science, economics, finance, or some other field that applies quantitative reasoning.

Enjoy!


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

[User] [Cowboys and Aliens] Why do the aliens want gold?

[Assistant] Gold is a useful element. It is a great conductor of electricity, though ironically it makes a poor superconductor, which an advanced species would require. However gold can also be used as part of an alloy, in materials and applications we can't fathom yet. While gold may be able to be mined from asteroids, perhaps it's exposure to cosmic radiation makes it unviable for their purpose. Earth's magnetic fields protect our gold deposits, and makes it desireable to mine.


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

[User]
CMV: I think that some biblical characters were high on perception altering drugs.

Example: Moses was on mount Sinai. On this mountain you can find plants containing a strong hallucinogen called Dimethyltryptamine (combined with MAOIs, which makes it orally active) that causes intense visual and auditory hallucinations.

* It's known for causing profound religious and spiritual feelings (eg talking with a higher being)
* causes mind beding time dilation (he talked about a burning bush that didn't seem to burn down but kept on burning)
* Moses also said that his skin was glowing with some sort of aura (visual hallucinations are known to make everything glow and increase brightness and saturation).
* He also said he heard thunder noises and trumpets and "god" speaking to him and commanding him stuff (also very common for people under the influence of DMT)

At this time people probably didn't know exactly how these drugs work and are prone to believe what they experienced was real.
This is the closest to a logical explanation I've heard so far.

[Assistant]
All the symptoms you mentioned could be caused by combinations of extremely common factors: physical brain disease, mental illness, sleep deprivation, starvation, religious practices, poorly-kept food...I would assume you just have a personal interest in DMT that's biasing you in this direction. Even if he was on a hallucinogen, it could have been ergotism as easily as DMT.

Not to mention, what makes you think he literally had those experiences while waking? He could have been describing a dream, his imagining of God, or been speaking metaphorically.


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

[User] Why is it much more costly to make antiprotons than positrons?

[Assistant] An antiproton has 1836 times the mass of a positron, so _at minimum_ the collisions necessary to create the particle-antiparticle pairs must have that much more energy. More energetic collisions require bigger, more costly equipment.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does being out in the cold make your nose run?

[Assistant]
Cold, dry air can damage the mucous membranes in your nose as well as the bronchioles (the thousands of delicate little sacs that fill with air when you breathe!) in your lungs. So to prevent this damage, your mucous membranes make extra mucous that both warms and moisturizes the air you breathe in through your nose. This extra mucous is what is running and dripping in/from your nose.

Edit: Condensation is also a secondary contributing factor to your runny nose. When cold air hits warm air, the reaction produces moisture (essentially water). That condensation mixes with the hyper-drive mucous being made and adds to your flow/drainage.


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

[User]
eli5: how do noodles retain their shape in liquid for so long?

I just opened an oldish can of soup and the noodles have been submerged in liquid for months yet the flour and stuff in the noodles doesnt disintegrate into mush, yet when you try to chew it there's zero resistance and it feels like you're chewing nothing, why?

[Assistant]
Noodle starts as solid piece, very thin (Usually wheat).

Noodle becomes full size when it absorbs water content.

Noodle (in soup) is mostly water. Water does not have much resistance in this context therefore noodle also has little resistance.


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

[User] [eli5] Why do babies laugh? Are they capable of finding things funny at such an early stage?

[Assistant]
With laughter it's important to understand it's a very deeply seated evolutionary mechanism to form social relationships. You can't force true laughter, and you laugh alone much less than in groups (approximately 97% less likely).

Adults usually laugh at things that are amusing. However, babies primarily laugh during social interaction or when experiencing new things. Thus, it is likely to be an evolutionary benefits. The adult is flattered because they think the baby thinks they are funny. The baby laughs in order to illicit attention and learning from adults.

Essentially from an evolutionary perspective they are mimicking adults to increase their own chance of survival.


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

[User] ELI5 how India has more than 1 billion people and has only won 4 total medals in the Olympics.

[Assistant]
A lot of what takes an athlete from 'naturally really good at a sport' to 'able to win a medal at the olympics' has to do with the infrastructure surrounding the sports and support for semi-professional athletes.

So where the US China or Russia spend hundreds of millions of dollars and make efforts to ensure that children have access to quality coaching and structured activity, this is less of a priority in India and that is reflected in their success.


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

[User] How does an electron drop to a lower energy shell (upon emitting a photon) if it is forbidden from occupying the space between the two shells?

[Assistant] This is what's meant by the phrase "quantum leap." Believe it or not, a quantum leap is actually a very very *small* change. But the point is that the electron jumps straight from one *energy* level to the next *energy* level. Now energy levels *can* occupy the same space, they're not orbits like planets, they're just a volume where the electron has some probability of occupying.


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

[User] [Fallout] Is the Vault Dweller / Chosen One / Initiate / Lone Wanderer / Courier / Sole Survivor at an advantage or disadvantage by wearing a Vault Suit?

[Assistant]
At first, absolutely at a disadvantage. Most wastelanders think vault dwellers are soft and wholly unprepared for life in the wasteland, this assumption is usually correct.

Later, once the aforementioned assumption is proven woefully incorrect, the blue suit becomes an omen of imminent death, striking fear in the hearts of raiders and mutants alike, at that point, it is most definitely an advantage.

That is assuming you don't change, but why would you? Nothing you can find in the wasteland is as stylish as a genuine Vault-Tec Vault Suit !


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

[User]
ELI5: how come when I get down really low, rub my fingers together and say "psspsspsspss" nearly all cats will come to me?

*Edit*
Holy shit, front page!
You guys have popped my front page virginity!

*edit2*
CHERRY! I meant cherry! Have mercy....

[Assistant]
Any kind of scratching noises attract them because it sounds like a mouse.

Getting low to the ground makes you less threatening and smaller - notice how they run away when you stand up at your full height.

Holding your fingers out makes you less threatening because they can come close and smell you to learn your scent, and by staying at the limit of your reach they're safe from being picked up suddenly.


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

[User] ELI5:What causes 'stage fright' AKA the inability to pee when standing next to someone else at the urinal?

[Assistant] This is known medically as paruresis. Basically, micturition (peeing) is mediated by the parasympathetic nervous system. When you are nervous, your sympathetic (fight or flight) system takes over and inhibits parasympathetic functions, thus making it hard to pee.


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

[User]
ELI5: How are we certain that the laws of physics are true for the WHOLE universe and not just our Earth/solar-system?

The ways in which we observe the rest of the universe (by telescopes, hadron colliders, etc.) are all done here on Earth, so how are we so sure these laws are so accurate for the entire universe?

[Assistant]
I was reading Three Body Problem by Liu CiXin and a very good theory was presented. Turkey Theory, there is a barn full of turkeys, but one of them is very smart. He is science turkey. He noticed that every day at 1:00 pm the farmer would come out to feed all of them, so he made it into a law. We get fed every day at 1:00. Until thanksgiving day when the farmer came in and slaughtered them.

It could be that the laws we know are subject to abrupt change in the future. What we see as a pattern, could just be a fluke.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do liquor bottles sometimes have those thing that make it pour really slow?

[Assistant]
They are to measure the fluid.

Barkeepers need to measure a lot of fluid in as short of an amount of time as possible.

I don't know the exact figure, but they pour at around 1cl per second, so if the drink asks for 2 cl you pour for 2s. That is much more accurate than having an open bottle and just guessing how much you pour.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Were regular force-sensitive citizens targeted during and after Order 66?

Say Im just a dude on Coruscant thats trying to live my life. Im a mechanic and I have this weird ability to sort of move stuff around with my mind. Im not really sure how it happens but I mostly just use this power for mundane tasks like fetching tools from across the room and tidying up. Ive never even heard about the Jedi or the force since they were forgotten about after the clone wars ended.

Would I have to worry about Darth Vader showing up at my door to execute me or would the empire let me go about my business if I didnt pose a threat?

[Assistant]
Order 66 was specifically for the Jedi.

But "mundane citizens who can use the Force" don't really exist. Either you are found and raised in a Force tradition and you hone your skills, or your talents subside as you grow older and manifest more in greater competency at a certain skill or set of skills. Your average Force-sensitive who doesn't have training certainly won't be using telekinesis except as a very young child, if even then.


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

[User]
Consciousness and/vs experience

I am intrigued by the distinction between consciousness and experience, if there is one, or how they may interact/inform each other.

Some inquiries, for instance: do we experience consciousness? Or is consciousness what shines the light on experience, so to speak?

A potential application: if you are in a coma, it may be said that one is unconscious, but that ones body is still experiencing the world.

Anyway, kind of two really vast concepts, so Ill just leave it at that for now for discussion.

[Assistant]
> in a coma [...] ones body is still experiencing the world.

That's not conscious experience though. It's really a different sense of the word "experience".

That's something to watch out for in philosophy - in colloquial language we use words that often have several closely related senses, and it's easy to confuse or conflate them without realizing it, resulting in invalid arguments. The equivocation fallacy addresses this issue.


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

[User]
[Pikmin] how many pikmin would it take to carry me and how many pikmin would my body create?

So im wandering around in  a post apocalyptic earth and i stumbled onto what i thought was an insect swarm but was actually a small colony of pikmin.

They started attacking and i tried to fight back but ultimately my health bar went to 0 and my soul drifted away. Now they're surrounding my lifeless body with the intent to carry it back to the onion to spawn more pikmin.

I'm a 6'0 man weighing 250 pounds.  How many pikmin will it take to carry my body and how many pikmin will my body produce?

Bypassing the 100 pikmin limit for the game i feel like there's a conversion formula i just can't figure out.

Please help me this question keeps me up at night!

[Assistant]
It takes 100 of the 10x purple Pikmin to lift about 1 kilogram. So 250lbs is 113kg, or 113,000 regular Pikmin.

As for how many Pikmin you would produce, that's harder to say. There's no consistent conversion available, although it would probably be at least the amount required to carry you.


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

[User]
[Invader Zim] Why would the Irken regard it as necessary for an invader to take over a planet before commencing an organic sweep? (At least for relatively primitive planets like Blorch and Earth.)

I guess I can understand why the Irken might send a spy/scout type to a planet in case there are any useful technologies/life forms that the Irken could exploit, and I guess I can understand why they might try to use infiltration and subversion against an advanced planet with planetary shields or artillery that might pose a problem for the Irken Armada, but it seems like as far as actual conquest goes, there's no reason they need invaders to actually take over planets that are primitive enough that they couldn't resist anyway: they could just go straight to an organic sweep with their armada.

So why bother with sending invaders against backwards planets like Blorch or Earth?

[Assistant] Because it isn't an act of war for them, it is entertainment. The armada could wipe all life off of any planet they want or mind control all of the inhabitants with the flip of a switch, forcing them to mine all of the planets resources before killing themselves but instead they send one trainee with a robot slave, a ship, a command center, and a backpack. Why? Because it is more fun that way, for one invader alone with only what you would give someone for a camping trip to conquer an entire world is a challenge and proof of their worthiness.


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

[User] ELI5: why does you heart "flutter" or skip a beat when you see someone attractive?

[Assistant]
It is an over stimulation of the vagus nerve caused by moments of anxiety or other stress.  In moments of high anxiety your body releases adrenaline and other hormones that excite autonomic functions such as heartbeat.

It is when you encounter that person you are keen on unexpectedly your brain plays out what seems like 100 scenarios simultaneously.  Your body senses stress and "Fight or Flight" mode kicks in by your brain flushing your nerveous system with adrenaline and cortisol, each of which are powerful stimulants.

The vagus nerve is like an interstate highway for your nerveous system.  It connects most autonomic functions such as heartbeat, breathing, and digestion.  In reality, it's not JUST heart palipitations you experience, but other disruptions such as breathing, digestion, endocrine (sweating) and basically all other body responses.  It's just that in that one instant you are more likely to notice your heart beating out of sync than your digestion slowing or breathing differently.


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

[User]
[ATLA/LOK] Does God exist is ATLA/LOK?

In the ATLA episode The Waterbending Scroll (and probably other episodes that Im too lazy to look for) Katara says Oh my gosh gosh being an alternative to God. In LOK I believe there was an episode where Tenzin blesses the food. So is there some kind of god in the Avatar universe or some kind of spirit that they worship?

[Assistant] They worship (although in this context "worship" seems more akin to respect/reverence) various spirits and spiritual deities. Spirits range from the very powerful like Raava and Vaatu, which represent harmony and chaos respectively, to minor nature spirits and there are various ones in between.


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

[User]
Is it theoretically possible to come up with a code that is impossible to crack?

The excellent Numberphile videos on the WW2 Enigma machine got me on this line of thinking. Enigma was extraordinarily complex, with something like 5 quintillion outcomes, but it was broken relatively easily once the machine and the 'key' were acquired.

If one has to construct a code, then logic follows that the code can be deconstructed. But what if we use the 'bake a cake' analogy... ingredients are used to create the cake, but the cake cannot be reverse engineered to yield the original ingredients. Can the same be true for a code? Can the 'ingredients' for creating the code be combined in such a way the result is truly indecipherable?

[Assistant]
Yes. A "One-Time-Pad" is perfectly secure if you never reuse the key and if the key is generated randomly. What you do is generate a random key that is equally as long as your message and then XOR your message with that key. To decrypt, simply XOR the ciphertext with the key. The ciphertext can be decrypted into *any* message with a given key so there is no way of knowing what the correct key was.

Nobody ever uses this scheme (except weird cases with spies) because you can never reuse a key, sharing the key is hard, and the key must be as long as the message you wish to send.

EDIT: Many people seem to be confused about why this cannot be beaten by brute force. Consider some particular ciphertext of length L. **Every** message of length L could have been encrypted into that ciphertext if you just use the right key. So this means that you could "decrypt" the cipher into any message of length L. In addition, exactly one key will cause a given message to produce that ciphertext. This means that if you see a particular ciphertext L and the key was truly random then **every** possible message is equally likely to have been the true message. This means we don't even get a hint about what possible messages were more likely than others.


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

[User] How come we never have the red eyes effect on pictures nowadays? What changed in cameras?

[Assistant] The red eye in pictures is due to light reflecting off the back of your eyes, when you're on a dark room your pupil dilates to allow more light in, this causes the flash to reflect off the back of your eye, so one way that newer cameras reduce this is by having a pre-flash that constricts your pupils before the main photo. It's likely that your camera also has red eye reducing software in it too and uses this.


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

[User] ELI5 , What are the pros of having mosquitoes on earth? what would happen if they all disappeared?

[Assistant]
Not all mosquitoes bite, but eliminating all those that do, or at least the most common disease transmitting ones, is widely considered by researchers to be beneficial. Not only that, many researchers consider it an achievable long term goal.
Their place in the ecosystem would probably be replaced other mosquito species.


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

[User] ELI5: Water is a great conductor of electricity, salt water is even better. So how come lightning strikes in the ocean don't kill thousands of fish daily?

[Assistant]
First of all, water is a *terrible* conductor of electricity.

Saltwater is a better conductor, but you seem to think it's some kind of superconductor. If saltwater could carry a current the way you're suggesting, we'd be using it instead of copper wiring!


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

[User] ELI5: How do countries with nukes know they'll still work if tried to be used? Is there some kind of shelf life?

[Assistant] The half-lives of fissile isotopes of uranium and plutonium used in many such devices are on the order of millennia at the low end. While hardware failures in the missiles or warheads might be compromised, the material actually used in the nuclear reactions will not "go bad" for a very long time.


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

[User] ELI5: What happens when a program freezes/stops responding?

[Assistant]
There are many different ways in which a computer can be said to "freeze" and there can be many different reasons, but it's generally down to 2 things.

1. A poorly programmed application.

  Usually when we say that a program has frozen, we mean that the user interface has become unresponsive. This may also refer to the desktop or shell, which is itself just a program.

  When you move the mouse over the window of an application, click somewhere within it or press a key while the window has focus, these are called *events*, and the application is informed of these events. The application will then have a central event handler whose job is to decide what to do about certain events. For example, if the window receives a mouse move event, it will work out what is underneath the mouse cursor (e.g. a button) and then pass the event to that component. That component may then change some internal state so that it draws in a different way (e.g. a button might now draw with a glow effect to show that it's ready to be pressed).

  In order for a user interface to remain responsive, it must handle events in a timely manner. If it takes too long to deal with events, then the events might start to arrive faster than they are dealt with and begin to queue up. This can lead to noticeable delays, which gives the appearance of a laggy and unresponsive application, and if it gets bad enough, the application may appear to have completely frozen. One of the important events from the operating system is one telling the window that it must redraw itself. When these events aren't handled, the window will go blank, or display old images (e.g. of the window that used to be on top of it).

  The most common cause of this is down to poor programming, when the program starts some work that may take a long time (e.g. opening a file or connecting to a server over the Internet) while responding to an event. This lengthy work blocks the processing of any further events until it's completed. You'll most often see this when a poorly programmed application tries to connect to a server that's down or where the Internet connection is extremely slow; the entire application will freeze for several seconds before displaying an error. The correct thing to do is to schedule the work to be completed in the background (in a separate thread of execution), freeing up the application to continue to respond to events.

2. High resource contention.

  When many applications becomes unresponsive, or everything does, rather than just a single application, this is usually because the system is lacking some resource, the two most common of which are CPU time and memory. For example, if the system is running out of memory, then it has to spend a significant amount of time swapping data between memory and the paging file on disk (which is very slow in comparison).


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

[User] ELI5: Why does distilled water not work in a keurig machine?

[Assistant]
Coffee makers rely on boiling water to pump the water by gravity. Basically, a column of boiling water containing bubbles is lighter than solid water, so the water in the column can go higher than the water level. This allows it to act like a fountain.

In order for the pumping effect to work properly, there has to be smooth, even boiling.

A problem can occur with very pure liquids and very clean surfaces. Bubbles tend to form more easily on impurities. In pure water, it is difficult for bubbles to form. This allows the water to become superheated (heated to more than the boiling point but without boiling). When a bubble suddenly does form, you can get a chain reaction where bubbles start forming on bubbles, leading to a sudden explosion of boiling which can spray water everywhere. This sudden and erratic boiling is called "bumping". It doesn't always happen, but it can happen and be a problem, so it's best avoided as far as practical.

By using tap water, it is much less likely that you get this "bumping" and instead get smooth boiling which causes a smooth supply of water to the coffee.

It's the same reason why distilled water is not recommended for use in clothes irons. You want a steady supply of steam. Bumping boiling risks sudden spurts. The minerals in tap water help stop this happening.


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

[User]
Eli5 when someone gets an injury that requires a skin graft, how does the area they take the graft from recover?

Im assuming they stitch it but cant stitch the original location for some reason but I still cant wrap my head around it?

[Assistant]
Hi! Just to clarify somle stuff, grafts can have various components:

1. They contain the full thickness of the skin that consist of all layers from epidermis( the outer part of the skin which contains mostly "protection" cells of you will) + All layers of Dermis( the inner part of the skin which will actually be responsible for the sustainability of the graft as it has the blood vessels required for it to keep living)

2. All layers of the epidermis + the outer layer of the dermis

3. Epidermis + Dermis + any other tissue

Usually there r parts of the body that can have some skin removed without any major consequences and can deal with the loss of the skin, in which you take the skin and by closing that wound it will heal easily and not be "bothered" by the skin slowly covering up the area again by stretching a bit while the underlying area of the skin being filled with scartissue

Usually the site from which the donor skin is taken is selected by where you want to replace the skin, thinking that it should match it's new site as much as possible, as skin is is not the same width all around and can have more or less hair and "oily" follicles

Don't know if that made sense so let me know!


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

[User]
What happen if an electron is struck by a photon that is more energetic than the amount needed to get to the first orbital but less energetic than the second?

I know that electrons can only jump to higher energy levels if struck by a photon at the frequency equal to the difference in the initial and final states. However, what happens to an electron in the ground state (lets say) if struck by a photon with the energy of 4eV if the energy needed to get to the first energy level is 3eV. The electron cannot exist between orbitals, and yet it has enough energy to get to the next orbital. How does the electron "know" it cannot exist in certain "heights"? And if the electron cannot jump to the next energy level, then what happens?

EDIT: Lets assume that it takes 4eV to get from the ground state to the first orbital, and 1eV can be absorbed to account for all the energy lost in heat and other factors. If I send one 6eV photon to one electron in the ground state, then what happens? Assuming that it takes 7eV to get to the second orbital. Can electrons absorb 5eV of the 6eV that was sent by the photon or does that violate the photoelectric effect? Also assume that we are talking about one atom.

[Assistant]
In the most straightforward case, the photon won't be absorbed.
Because of this, we see absorption 'lines'; if absorption happened "at energy X or more", we would only see the edge of the longest-wavelength (lowest-energy) absorption line, and everything above that energy would also be absorbed (giving a sort of 'absorption rectangle' that goes up to arbitrarily high energies).

There are processes by which the energy from a photon can be distributed among more than one 'effect' -- ie, moving an electron between orbitals and at the same time creating another photon of lower energy, or pushing the atom around (and creating heat/phonons), etc. These are less likely to occur than the one photon -> one changed orbital transition, but they are still fairly influential in determining the absorption spectrum of most solids and liquids, and some gasses.


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

[User]
Would a system of measurement based on the planck scales be a viable alternative to the metric system?

For example, all length would be measured by the planck length multiplied to powers of ten, and all time would be measured by planck seconds multiplied to powers of ten.

Also, what would the speed of light be in this system?

[Assistant]
Whether it is a viable alternative depends on your application. For every day use, the Planck units would be horribly inefficient, because we'd have to use large powers of ten for essentially every single quantity. There's a reason that the units we use are the way they are (mostly): They're convenient.

However, for various branches of physics, the Planck units aren't just viable, they're the units of choice. And the reason why is connected to your second question:

> Also, what would the speed of light be in this system?

1

The Planck units are defined in such a way that a number of natural constants, including the speed of light, have value 1 when expressed in these units. This is rather convenient, because it means that equations can be simplified since these constants drop out in many places. This makes it much easier to see the structure of the formula and the relation between the various variables it expresses without as much clutter of constants.


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

[User] eli5: What is a bonsai tree? How do they work?

[Assistant] Almost any tree can be a bonsai tree. It's a way of growing trees rather than a type of tree. You keep the tree planted in shallow soil, occasionally trim the roots, and train the branches to grow in interesting ways using wire.


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

[User]
ELI5: What happens to wildlife in a blizzard?

Animals that do not hibernate, like deer: how do they cope with 2-3' of snow, and drifts?

[Assistant]
More deer do die during really bad winter conditions, but it's surprising how ridiculously tough they are. During the end of fall they undergo a number of bodily and behavior changes: they eat way more food to pack on insulating layers of fat, they shed their summer coats and grow a winter hide of hollow fur that traps air and insulates them further. During particularly bad weather they actively seek out shelter and herds/family groups conserve energy by not moving much. Like two thirds of their time or more is just spent bedded down sleeping.

Smaller mammals tend to go underground in the winter.


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

[User] [Ghostbusters/Marvel] Let's assume Tony Stark wanted to team up with the Ghostbusters and they kindly gave him access to their designs and tech to use and improve upon. What would Iron Man Ghost-Buster Armor be like if he made it?

[Assistant]
Phase 1: Tony incorporates the proton pack technology into the regular design of the suit, including the proton wand into his arms. A trap is added to his chest plate, allowing him to hold the ghost steady and capture it directly.

Phase 2: Tony massively strengthens the proton pack, meaning the ghost is held fast, unable to move or fight against the beam. The chest trap is increased in power and range. Sensors have been upgraded to detect PK energy.

Phase 3: The beam is further strengthened and the containment field imroved, so it is less wavy and more direct, making it easier to aim. As the beam works by dissipating psychokinetic (PK) energy which ghosts use to manifest themselves, some weaker ghosts are now 'dissolved' by a simple blast from the beam. Larger and stronger ghosts are weakened to the point where they are immediately helpless and easily trapped. The chest trap now can capture multiple ghosts, storing them in a secondary unit, allowing for fast containment of large numbers of ghosts.

Phase 4: The beam and containment are now combined, leading to weaker ghosts being destroyed and stronger ones being caught and dragged into the suit in a single shot. the suit now taps into PK energy as a secondary power source, meaning that the heads up display can show real time PK energy and movement, allowing Tony to see the spirit world and track ghosts over long range.

Phase 5: Wide scale PK tracking now allows for trapper drones to quickly reach hot spots and remove ghost activity before it reaches any kind of level where ghosts are able to manifest. The few that do Tony can track and reach immediately. Tony has upgraded the traps to allow for cross dimensional storage, meaning that ghosts who are caught get transferred into storage right away and he never needs to empty the "trap".


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

[User]
ELI5: What are encryption backdoors?

I'm not sure what all the news is about and I don't really understand what backdoors are, and why the NSA wants them, or why they are bad.

[Assistant]
Think of it like an office building, each individual has a key to their own office. Well security has a single master key that can open up all of the offices. Now the thing is when it comes to lets say an encrypted file. You are the only one that should have a key and that key if you set it up correctly should be impossible to replicate. With that in mind you should be able to trust your most sensitive data to stay secure. Well the government is saying that terrorists are using encryption to relay information about planning attacks so they need a "master key" to bypass any encryption so that they can spy on those groups. So it's like you have the key to the front door and they have their own key to your file, like a hidden back door. The main concern with this is obviously now it's not just you with a key to your most sensitive data so does someone else. People not only do not trust the government with that key but another concern is that an individual or group could possibly figure out how to use that back door and use it for malicious reasons.

TLDR; This kills your privacy. Now you gotta put all your nasty porn on a USB and actually lock it up in a safe.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Could the Galactic Empire have risen if Palpatine wasnt force sensitive?

[Assistant]
Well... In theory MAAAAYBE? A lot of his influence was won through mundane means of machinations and corruption.

However, the establishment of the Empire was a culmination of a nearly thousand year evil plot by evil Force-Users, so if Palpatine wasn't a sith, he likely wouldn't be able to capitalize on all that scheming and pulling strings on both sides of the Clone Wars.


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

[User]
Why does our hair continue to grow?

I was told our hair is what's left from fur after evolution. But why does our hair continue to grow whereas animal fur stays roughly the same length (and regrows to the same length after cutting it). Also: Are there any animals that loose their fur with old age?

[Assistant]
Hair length is regulated by controlling the timing of hair growth (anagen), cessation (catagen) and rest (telogen).

During anagen, the hair root dives into your scalp, giving your hair something to hold onto as it grows.

During catagen, that hair follicle (which produces the hair) becomes attached to the hair and forms a "club" at the end that prevents more growth.

Telogen is the last stage, when growth has completely stopped and the hair just sits there, waiting to be forced out by another hair growing from below, or pulled out by the elements.

In reality, scalp and facial hair don't grow endlessly; for most people, hair can only grow for 2-7 years; the exact length of time is genetically determined in large part. The reason our hair seems to never stop growing is because we are always cutting it before it can reach that maximum length.

Hairs on the rest of your body have much shorter cycles. Fur is similar; it grows for a much shorter period of time, so their hair length is defined by that length of time.

Hair loss/alopecia does occur in other mammals, often having to do with illness. But even men with severe male-pattern baldness maintain their body hair, and often their facial hair. In that sense, we maintain most of our "fur" but lose only a small portion atop our heads.


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

[User] ELI5 how do frisbees work?

[Assistant]
2 forces are at work
1) gyroscopic stabilisation -- the fast spinning keeps the frisbee flat and steady. If the frisbees 'lip' was any thinner, there wouldn't be enough material to maintain a spin.
2) aerodynamic lift -- the frisbee has about the same curvature as the top of an airplane wing, so the movement through the air causes lift. If the frisbee was flat on top, it wouldn't fly as well.


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

[User] ELI5: What stops people in the patent office fron rejecting an idea and patenting it for themselves?

[Assistant]
If they patent it themselves, aside from the difficulties they would have in explaining it to others or higher ups at the office, the original claimant can present his receipt and dated file that shows exactly how and when he came up with the idea, the implementation, and the submission date/time.

These two would be more than enough for the immediate firing of that clerk.


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

[User] [The Orville] If Moclan males can become pregnant and can impregnate others, whats makes them males instead of hermaphrodites?

[Assistant] External genitalia is seperate from their sex. All mochlans are technically hermaphroditic by their reproductive capabilities but their external genitalia is culturally made to male. By earth standards they are hermaphrodites but for cultural and diplomatic purposes they are assigned the male terminology despite it being inconsequential from a biological standpoint.


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

[User] ELI5: How does Decaf coffee work? Like isnt caffeine naturally in the Coffea plant?

[Assistant] There is indeed caffeine in coffee beans. And when you brew coffee you extract all the caffeine with the flavors and colors in the beans. But there are some solvents which will only dissolve caffeine and not any of the flavors and colors in the beans. So if you brew using these solvents instead of ordinary boiling water then you only get the caffeine. What you are left with is coffee beans with all its flavors and colors but with only trace amounts of caffeine.


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

[User]
How does my phone know how much battery is left?

What is the phone juice people?

[Assistant] Two ways: the first is by measuring the voltage. Batteries slowly decrease in voltage as they discharge. So, by knowing the voltage, you have a rough estimate of how much energy is remaining. The second is a coulomb counter. By measuring how fast energy is leaving every second, and adding it to a running total, you can get a very precise measure of how much electricity is in the battery.


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

[User]
Where were The Avengers on 9/11?

Less specifically, how did the Marvel Universe deal with 9/11?

[Assistant]
The first plane strike looked like it may have been an accident; it wasn't until the second was too close to stop that it was absolutely apparent it was a deliberate attack. That was not a lot of lag time. Marvel does have superheroes that could still have stopped the latter planes (even with the very short response time), but those that were active (Sentry, Thor) were not in the area. The capes in NYC and DC (ex., Captain America, Spider-Man, Daredevil, possibly Luke Cage) are great heroes, but "stopping a hijacked airliner" was out of their capabilities. They did, however, do a great job aiding the police, firefighters, and medical personal responding to the disaster.

[Also look at Amazing Spider-Man #36]


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

[User] ELI5:Why do scarecrows scare crows?

[Assistant] They trick crows and other birds into thinking a farmer is out in their field so they avoid it. It's less about scaring them off more scaring them from landing in the first place. Their effectiveness can very though.


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

[User]
ELI5 Why do we still have Daylight Savings Time?

I've been to Arizona, and they refuse to recognize this ridiculous time travel.  So why do the rest of us put up with this?

[Assistant]
This is a really loaded question, but I'll allow it because it raises an interesting point.

In the future, don't ask about something and call it "ridiculous" and something we have to "put up with" in the body of the post.


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

[User] Why can my PC run Skyrim at 80fps but lags the first time it opens a gif?

[Assistant] Your browser begins playing the GIF before it's fully downloaded, much like you can see parts of a static image before the whole thing is finished downloading, so the first loop may be laggy, but the rest will run smoothly since it has finished downloading and is now playing from disk. It isn't a matter of your local resources -- if you can get 80 FPS on Skyrim, you can certainly handle a GIF, so that would be an effect based in the network connection.


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

[User] [Raimi Spider-Man] How does organic web-shooters Peter make some of his webs sticky and others not? He catches bad guys in big sticky spiderwebs, but he and MJ relax on a big web and it's not sticky at all.

[Assistant]
Spiders have different types of silk, with different properties.  Some are sticky and some are not, some are elastic and some are not, etc.  They're produced by different glands inside the spider, and they each serve different purposes.  For example, a spider's web has "spokes" made of non-sticky silk, while the lines within the spokes are sticky.

Similarly, we've seen Spider-Man produce different types of webbing from his wrists, including variations of sticky and non-sticky, as well as firing the webbing in small compact balls.  So it would appear Spidey also has some degree of control over what type of web he wants to secrete from his organic web shooters.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Why is the jedi uniform the regular look for those on Tatooine?

[Assistant]
The Jedi are supposed to wear simple, humble clothing. It just happens to be similar to the simple, cheap clothing that folks on poor planets like Tatooine wear.

Think of the simple robes or other clothing worn by monks and priests in many religions on earth, which are often similar to what poor people wore a thousand years ago. It was and is meant to remind the clergy that they are servants, not rulers.


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

[User]
ELI5: How did a fly survive being microwaved?

Yesterday morning I woke up and proceeded to make my instant coffee as usual.  I filled up my mug of water, put it in the microwave for a minute and a half, and stared out my window.  As the timer was getting close to going off, I turned my attention to the microwave and noticed something buzzing around.  Upon closer inspection, I see that there is a fly inside the microwave flying around.  It took me a few seconds of staring at the darn thing before I realized that I must have shut him in there when I put the water in (I wasn't being cruel, this was pre-caffeine).  I opened the door and it flew out.  Grabbing my cup of water, which was quite hot, I was left pondering why the microwave boiled my water and not the fly.  Is there something about their exoskeletons that protected him?  Did I just create a fly version of Peter Parker?  How was the buggar still flying?  Is he sitting somewhere in my house plotting his radioactive revenge?

[Assistant]
Fear not, you have not created a fly version of Peter Parker.

A microwave works by firing waves of energy into your food. There is basicly a series of ray gun death zappers in there. Anything that gets in the way of it has its molecules shaken around, this motion creates heat which is why you got to enjoy a hot coffee.  Because they are shooting the energy in pretty much straight lines, the microwave includes a tray at the bottom which will spin your coffee around. It does this to ensure that the coffee passes through the rays to maximise its efficiency. If your coffee just sat there not spinning, it would take longer to get hot as it wouldn't bump into so many of the rays.

However, our fly friend is pretty small - certainly much smaller than a cup of coffee. He is actually small enough to avoid the death rays. Also, as he can fly, he can buzz around and avoid the death rays. Thus he can survive it as he will never go into the beam of death.

The same is true of an ant. If you were to put an ant into a microwave (and please dont, its mean) with no tray, he will be fine. He will wander over to a space where the death rays are not hitting and stand there and lol at your attempt to zap him. However, put the same ant in again, only this time on the spinning tray of death, and he cant move fast enough to avoid the rays and will get zapped. Thankfully, our friendly fly has aerial manoeuvrability on his side, so he foiled your spiney tray of death and lived to buzz another day.... without turning into SuperFly.


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

[User]
[Avatar: The Last Airbender] Is the avatars bending more powerful than normal?

For example is Aangs airbending as the avatar more powerful than it would be if he wasnt the avatar? And is his fire water and earthbending more powerful than other benders of that element?

[Assistant]
I think the potential is there (for example, Aang picking up the Waterbending Scroll techniques faster than Kataraa - admitting that water and air share some amount of technique or philosophy), but a large part of it is training. Most Avatars live for hundreds of years (EDIT: or at least 100, most of which is not spent under the "distractions" of a normal life) and that is a lot of time to hone their skills, and the mere fact that they are the Avatar usually implies a higher quality and quantity of training.

We also see Avatars after being found are usually whisked off for decades of training and thus have no need to spend time learning to farm or craft like your standard Earth Kingdom peasant. Being the Avatar's teacher in a certain element is also a great honor (more so Pre-Sozin when it was more standardized) so their quality of education would be high as well. So while some Avatars are less proficient in some elements (particularly the opposite one of their birth, such as Aang and Earth), they have much more opportunity, time, and quality of training to overcome this, even more than those conscripted into various militaries of different nations.


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

[User] [The Incredibles] What happened to Gazerbeam? How did he find out about Kronos?

[Assistant]
Gazerbeam was, like Mr Incredible, not satisfied with life as a Civilian and was easily found by Mirage and recruited into fighting the Omnidroid robots, destroying the 4th version, before being killed by the 5th.

Syndrome needed to ensure that Mr Incredible would not be able to match up to the Omnidroid and so he wanted to test it against only the best Supers. Gazer, having destroyed the 4th version, was too valuable to let go and so after his victory, he was imprisoned, before being let loose to be hunted by the 5th.

Supers are incredibly skilled at getting into secret lairs and finding information and Gazer, while fleeing from the Omnidroid, managed to do that, getting into Symdrome's lair and learning the password KRONOS before fleeing with his knowledge and eventually being cornered in a cave, where he carved it into the rock. He most likely overheard syndrome discussing Operation KRONOS while in the case, as Syndrome was prone to falling for old-school villain mistakes, like monologuing.


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

[User]
[Overwatch] How did Gabriel Reyes reload before he became Reaper?

So we can excuse Reaper's magic shotguns with nanomachines bullshittery, but I highly doubt the same was the case with Overwatch Reyes. So what practicality was there to dual-wielding shotguns that only held 4 rounds each?

[Assistant]
I suspect Reyes didn't use dual shotguns while in Blackwatch, but in his current form the weapons represent his violent, brutal way of fighting.

The nature of BW also could have meant Reyes didn't need to starting firing often.


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

[User]
Why is the Richter scale logarithmic?

I wasn't able to find a good explanation online.

[Assistant] This speaks to many such scales, but logarithmic scales benefit from allowing you to catalog similar events of very different magnitudes in a very compact way. There is the added bonus if there is exponential behavior in the data, logarithmic plotting gives you a linear result.


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

[User] Everyone knows that sharks can smell blood in the water. But are there any air-breathing animals that can smell underwater? Or water-breathing animals that can smell in the air?

[Assistant] Otters blow bubbles with their nostrils underwater as they stick their nose in potential food. They then suck the bubbles back in, in-order to smell if the thing they are investigating will be tasty. Its pretty cool.


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

[User] Do forests have natural life cycles, or will they go on indefinitely without interference?

[Assistant] Trees, yes. Forrests, maybe not how you are thinking. Theyare referred to as "stochastic". Trees fall, other species move in for a bit, old tree type returns. Fire wipes out a patch, grasses, followed by bushes reclaim, but the Trees come back. Over a long enough time scale, because of Tectonic motion, the Trees may end up at a latitude they are not well adapted to. The forests that once grew on the land thar is now Antarctica certainly got well and truly screwed.


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

[User] [Super Mario Bros.] When Mario warps ahead from World 1 to World 4, what becomes of the Toads still trapped in the castles of Worlds 2 and 3?

[Assistant]
Presumably the Toads remain trapped until Bowser is overthrown, at which point the minions that are using magic to impersonate Bowser in the Worlds 2 and 3 castles flee those castles allowing the Toads to escape.

So the Toads still escape, it just takes longer for them to do so.


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

[User]
[{40k}]Who's running the show?

so the emperor is dead, the primarchs are missing, who's in charge now?  is it a chaotic morass of competing interests or does humanity have a hierarchy that is fairly constant.  is there a class of space nobles?

[Assistant]
The 13 High Lords of Terra rule the Imperium in the Emperor's Stead. Though the occupants of each seat are not set, common inclusions into the council are;

The Fabricator General (leader of the Machine Cult)
The head of the Departmento Munitorum (Probably spelled that wrong, essentially the head of the Imperial armies)
The head of the Administratum (the bureaucrats)
The head of the Ministorum (theeee Space Pope!)
Someone from the House of Navigators.


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

[User]
[ELI5] Why are there so many sorting algorithms?

I'm watching these videos on YouTube of sorting algorithms sorting 200 bars by height, and I'm absolutely bewitched.

But what's the difference? I see that there are two important pieces of information: comparisons and array accesses. Some sort the data with more comparisons than array accesses, some will do it the other way around. Some will have only a few thousand of each, others will make tens of millions of comparisons.

I can also see that there are different ways to sort. Some are very careful and methodical, some start out kinda fuzzy and get more precise with the sorting as it goes on. Others sort into chunks and then sort those chunks together. One of them seemed to hold on to a chunk of values and move it around as it sorted the rest of the data.

[Assistant]
The main difference is efficiency in two categories time and space (how fast it is and how much memory it needs).

BUT there are way less algorithms in daily use as there are in some videos or wikipedia.

You can compare it roughly with how to tie shoelaces. There are many ways to tie. Some are for beginners, some are very fast (take a look at youtube), but most of the time you make your normal tie and it fits your needs.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do zero calories soft drinks work in relation to weight gain/loss?

Is it safe to drink non-sugary drinks (like coke zero) while on a diet? Or do the artificial sweeteners just make you fat in some sneaky way?

[Assistant]
Welcome to the wonderfulworld of nutrition, where we can't test people in labs, so we don't know very much for sure.

Some people think that drinking a zero-calorie drinks makes you feel like you did something "good", so you let your guard down and end up eating more food later as a reward. Some people also think that too much artificial sweetener makes the good germs in our tummies sick, which isn't good for us.


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

[User]
Why do tires on cars when doing a burnout give white smoke, but a pile of tires burns black?

Just woke up to this post blown up. Thanks everyone!

[Assistant]
You're not actually setting the tire on fire when you do a burnout. You're superheating the rubber and it's vaporizing, then condensing in the cooler air, but not combusting.

It would be more technically accurate, though less cool, to call it a steamout. ;)


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

[User] Why does your mouth get all cold when you drink water after eating a mint?

[Assistant]
Because chemicals in the mint change the behaviour of the proteins in your mouth that sense cold. These proteins/ion channels (primarily one called TRPM8) normally are activated when you mouth gets down to around 12 degrees. However, methnol directly activates these channels, causing your mouth to seem cold. It also makes the channels more sensitive to cold, meaning that they open at warmer temperatures than normal.

This is also exactly what happens with chillis/capsaicin but just in the other direction. Capsaicin makes heat sensing channels more sensitive to heat, meaning the open at closer to body temperature.


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

[User] ELI5: Why doesn't the US want Palestine to gain statehood?

[Assistant]
Well, you see, the people who live in Israel are mostly Jewish.  When someone is Jewish, this can refer to a certain group of people, a follower of a certain religion practiced by those people or both.  The Jewish religion is the religion that was like the mommy for the Christian religion and, in fact, the early Christians were also part of the group of people who call themselves Jews.

The Jews used to live in Israel a long time ago, but around the first century AD, when Christians believe that Jesus Christ lived, the Romans moved into Israel.  The Romans told the Jews that they owned the country now and that they were going to be part of the big country, or Empire, that the Romans controlled.  As you can imagine, the Jews weren't very fond of this and fought the Romans to make them leave.

Pretty soon the Romans got so angry that the Jews kept fighting them that they decided to send them all to separate timeouts in different places in the Roman Empire.  Some people call this the "Diaspora".

For almost 2,000 years, the Jews lived in different places throughout what we now call Europe, Russia and Northern Africa.  All of the people who lived in these places before the Jewish people moved in practiced a different religion than the Jews though and in some places, like Europe, people didn't like the Jews because of this.  This wasn't helped by the fact that Jews handled a lot of the money for the Kings and Queens in Europe especially and many became wealthy because of this.

About 80 years ago, things started to get pretty bad in the world because of a big fight that a lot of the countries in Europe had, called World War I.  A country called Germany lost this war and had to pay back a lot of money to the other European countries because of it.  Because of this, a lot of the people in Germany became poor and started to get angrier at the Jews because they thought they were hoarding money.

After a while, things started to get a little better and Germany became powerful again.  The anger against the Jews didn't stop though and eventually the leader, or Fuhrer, of Germany devised a plan to *kill* all of them and to try to take over Europe once again.  Because there were a lot of people who didn't really like the Jews throughout Europe, no one really stood up to stop the Fuhrer right away and him and his men killed lots and lots of Jews.  Eventually the Fuhrer was defeated though and the war was stopped.

After this though, the Jews were pretty sick and tired of not having their own country and not being able to rule themselves.  Because of this, many Jews began to buy pieces of land in an area that was informally known as Palestine, but was really their old homeland, Israel.  They couldn't just move everyone over there though, because the people around Israel were believers in Mohammed and Islam (which is also a child of Judaism, like Christianity) and didn't like the Jews either.  They needed to have help from another country to move back into their own country.

Meanwhile, there was a big country that you probably know of called the USA that *had* the power to help the Jews, but didn't have a whole lot of reason to use that power to help them.  Within that country there were a few people who had some power that believed in Christianity.  In these people's belief, their deity, Jesus Christ, was going to return to Earth to cause the Earth to end.  Now this may seem like a bad thing, and for many people it probably would be, but these people believed that when Jesus came back that they would be sent to a really nice place to live with him, even though everyone else would die horrible, horrible deaths and suffer forever.  Because of that, they wanted Jesus to come back soon.

One of the things that had to happen, these people believed, was for the Jews to live in Jerusalem, Israel's capitol, again.  So they started raising money and asking the government to help the Jewish people move back into Israel.  Eventually the government of the USA ***did*** help the Jewish people resettle Israel and for their help, got a really good friend in a place where they didn't have a whole lot of friends before.

There was a problem though.  In the time that the Jews didn't live in Israel and Jerusalem, other people moved in.  For the Jews to be able to move back, these people had to move out.  They had no place to go though!  So they've been living alongside the Jews since they came back in 1948 and haven't been all too happy about it.

Occasionally they will lash out and try to kill the Jews, but because they are poor and have no real military or government, they don't do it very well.  The Israelis (as we call the people who moved back to Israel) have the power of the USA behind them, which gives them access to lots and lots of powerful weapons.  So for every person that a Palestinian kills, Israel will kill 10 or 50 or 100.  Obviously this is no way to live.

So there are people who want the Palestinians to have their *own* place to live so that they don't have to fight and die any more and maybe they won't be as poor either.  There are two groups of people who have a lot of power who don't want that to happen though: hardline Israelis and hardline Christians.  And the end of the story is that these two groups have A LOT of money and make it so that certain politicians don't support the separation of Israel into two states.  The first group doesn't want to because they don't want to have to give up their hard earned land, and the second group doesn't want to because then they might have to live on this Earth and the people who don't believe what they believe will get to live their lives too, which has always been a source of contention among them.

Edit: Some minor flow things.


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

[User]
CMV: Companies should not be bailed out; they should be nationalized or go bankrupt

So it's likely we are gonna see another around of bailouts across the board. Maybe there in argument to be made this time around it makes sense cause it's by natural disaster. Ok so maybe this time it is ok.

But I am gonna make a general comment about bailouts.

In the past 40 years bailouts have become more common, as a result government services have been extensively cut back.

I believe before a company is bailed out, it should first go through the bankruptcy process.

If the company is sufficiently necessary to the wider society that it's failure would cause a cascading failures in the wider economy, then that company should be nationalized not bailed out.

**Bankruptcy != Liquidation**

Before you say dead corporations, and lost jobs, you should realize this is not true in all bankruptcies.

Bankruptcy is a process by which a company can restructure its debts, and move forward as a leaner and healthier company.

Liquidation is where a company has failed.

Businesses go bankrupt all the time. Those businesses which still have a viable market can emerge stronger from the bankruptcy process. They'll have less bad debt and will have another opportunity to grow.

Those which do not will go into liquidation, and they will either be replaced by its competitors or that market will disappear.

Businesses regularly recover from bankruptcy.

During that short period where the company is struggling, sure employees suffer, but in the long run, employees are better off.

For example if the company had a pension, the pension fund usually takes a greater stake in the company and as a result employees end up owning more equity in the company.

Equity trades can also be used in exchange for benefits or changes to the contract to reduce the corporation's operating expenses.

While those that don't, yes they die out, but maybe they are meant to die out and create room for new companies to fill the void.

What should be clear in a bankruptcy the parties which always loose are unsecured creditors. These are usually large institutional investors who take a risk in investing in the company. If the risk pays off the investors get rich, if it does not they loose their investment.

**If a company is too big to fail then it should be a public utility not a private company**

The crux of my argument is this, public utilities work on a different social contract than private companies.

Public utilities run at a loss in exchange for the social benefit. The underlying premise being, the social benefit greatly outweighs the loss.

Attempting to run the public utility profitably would destroy the social benefit and that's why public utilities are subsidized by the state.

For example public transit the deal is it operates at a loss, but in exchange we get , less pollution, an effective means of transportation and less traffic. If we ran public transit profitably we might have to cut routes which are less profitable but still necessary for a functioning city.

When I hear the argument too big to fail, that makes me think that company should be run by the state. I mean if it's failure would cause bigger problems then it's effectively public utility.

**Bailouts are destroying the social contract for private investors**

Private investors invest in large corporations and when they do, they sign onto a different social contract.

The social contract is simple, we want you to take some risk, so that we can grow the business and create real meaningful value in the economy.

In exchange for taking that risk, we have offered you certain benefits:

1. if the business does well, you get to keep the profits with favourable tax treatment; and
2. If the business does poorly, you are not personally liable for the outstanding debts of the corporation.

But it is understood you always loose what you invested in the company when the company fails.

If we keep bailing out bad investments, we are actually destroying that social contract.

Now when the risk pays off the investor keeps a greater share of the profit and enjoys favourable tax treatment. But when the business fails the investor is bailed out.

This is encouraging investors to make even worse investments. If the company is big enough it wont be allowed to fail investors take more risks with the companies they run. If the the risk pays off the investor gets richer, but I'd it doesn't the investor is nailed out and is no poorer.

It is also creating a set of zombie companies. Those companies are saddled with bad debt, and are constantly and are paying off that bad debt. As a result, few companies can afford to make investments in the company itself such as giving their employees higher wages or hire new employees.

As a result it's creating more wealth inequality between those who have money and those who do not.

**Public services are suffering as a result of government bailouts**

As governments bail out more and more, government debt rises. As governments try to finance that government debut, public services start to suffer, which again affects those of us at the bottom the most.

[Assistant]
What stops this from being artificially manipulated? The government could do something that it knows would specifically harm an industry, and then nationalize it.

Also, the government doesn't lose with bailouts. Those are loans. The Obama bailouts actually made the government a profit.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are motorcycle engines capable of running at such higher RPM than car engines?

[Assistant]
They are smaller and don't have as much metal to sling around. Since they have less mass in order to create the forces required to move it has to have higher RPM's. When you get up to the larger high speed diesel engines 1300RPM - 1500RPM is usually a max rating. Then the even larger medium speeds will typically max around 600RPM -800RPM. Any higher RPM's from these large engines will literally tear the engine apart.

Edit: A really ELI5 metaphor would be to think about throwing a punch. You can throw a lot of punches pretty fast. If you are holding a weight it would slow the punches down but have more force with each punch. If you attempt to punch too fast while holding a heavy weight you could dislocate your shoulder.


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

[User]
[DOOM/W40K] If for some reason, Doomguy arrived in the W40K universe, would the Imperium consider him the greatest warrior ever?

I would imagine *literally invading Hell* would grant some kind of admiration.

[Assistant]
Only by the people out in the field. Some might think he'd be a lost primarch, not many can invade ~~hell~~ the warp without blessings and come out uncoruppted.

Those in offices would hate him, or even try to brand him a heretic, due to his habit of telling people to fuck off when told to do something not related to demon slaying.


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

[User] Uncertainty principle - why is the ability to measure the location and movement simultaneously a violation of the laws of physics instead of insufficiently advanced measuring tools?

[Assistant]
An ELI5 explanation would be that the uncertainty principle is a statement about the structure of waves. Position uncertainty basically corresponds to how spread-out a wave is, and momentum uncertainty corresponds to how spread-out the wave's frequency spectrum is. These two things are inversely related to each other.

It may be helpful to consider the two extreme cases. On one hand, you can have a sine wave that repeats infinitely in both directions. That has the maximum possible spread, but contains only a single frequency. On the other hand, you can have a spike at one point, which has the minimum possible spread, but contains _all_ frequencies. This should at least make it seem plausible that the spread in position space and the spread in frequency space are inversely related, though of course you need to get into some math to actually prove it.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] if during young Anakin's first test at the Jedi council he speaks like Yoda, has no fear and shows maturity like Yoda, would he council still object to his training in the first place?

Plus Anakin giving no fucks to his mom.

[Assistant] They might reject him on principle, The Order relies on their Jedi having zero personal connection with the outside. By being raised away from the Anakin has had time to make friends and grow close to family that don't quite agree with the strict rules of The Order, and therefor will be a troublemaker either way.


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

[User] Why is cold water better for removing blood than hot water?

[Assistant]
Hot water 'sets' a blood stain since the heat will partially cook the proteins (denatures the protein) changing them to an insoluble form. Just like you can see meat juices (even though not blood) mix in water, once you cook the meat, the juices congeal and won't dissolve.

Rather than cold water, tepid water is better for removing blood from cloth. Soapy tepid water with hydrogen peroxide is best.


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

[User]
Why cant we raise taxes to lower inflation ?

Government spending can lead to inflation by raising demand over economic potential. Can't taxes do the opposite?

[Assistant]
The short answer is that we can. Im not sure where OP is from but we are effectively doing this in the United States by not extending pandemic-related aid. Expansions of the child tax credit, child care tax credit, and earned income tax credit ended at midnight on New Years Day. Health insurance subsidies also expired.

Raising taxes even more could reduce spending demand and slow price growth, as you say. Some taxes, such as consumption taxes and income taxes on low earners, impact short-term demand more than other taxes do.

Falling demand means people make less stuff (in other words, output falls) and some workers lose their jobs, hours, and raises. Policymakers may choose not to raise taxes because they think the cost isnt worth the benefit. Other less-strictly-economic reasons would be if tax increases were politically unpopular, or if policy changes are hard to execute in a system with many veto points, such as the United States.


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

[User]
Why are buns and weiners sold in different numbers?

Why are buns and weiners sold in different numbers?

Wouldn't consumers prefer to buy the same number of each?

[Assistant]
Meat is sold by the pound. Wieners usually come in 10 packs at 1.6 ounces each.

Bread is more easily baked in clusters of 4 rather than 5.

Nobody really complains about it to manufacturers so they don't have incentive to package a 1:1 ratio of bun to wiener.


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

[User] ELI5 The science behind feeling like you're being watched?

[Assistant]
Your "gut" is generally your subconscious taking all the variables available to it and making a prediction.  Your subconscious is amazingly good at this and then bumps that prediction to your conscious mind to be evaluated for accuracy.

The better your subconscious is at this, the more likely you are to survive when threatened by variables that do not have your conscious focus.


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

[User] [Nolan Verse] Wouldn't the two engineers working on the Bat be curious as to why Batman was using Wayne Enterprises tech?

[Assistant]
What were they gonna do? Blackmail one of the wealthiest, most powerful men in the world, who is secretly a vigilante who spends his nights beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands?

Good luck.


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

[User] [The Grinch] If the Grinch's heart was two sizes too small, and it grew three sizes in one day, it's now one size too large. What health complications result?

[Assistant] Its possible the Grinchs heart isnt really a heart like we have in that its job is to pump blood. What looks like a heart may actually be a separate bit of the Grinchs brain, specifically the part of the frontal lobe that regulates things like social awareness, empathy and decision making. In humans, damage to that part of the brain can lead to inability to form relationships, not being able to understand how your actions affect other people and a tendency toward impulsive, destructive action. These all seem like problems The Grinch was dealing with so a spontaneous repair could lead to over correction to try to undue any previous damage.


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

[User]
CMV: Andrew Yang's Freedom Dividend is Nearly Flawless

Andrew Yang's campaign fuel of "Freedom Dividend" allocates 1,000 a month to every American citizen over the age of 18. The way this is payed for is a system called a value added tax. 10% tax is added to all products that are not sales tax exempted. This is specifically good because we will see better currency equality. We will get the majority of money out of large corporations and monopolies and into the hands of consumers. There will be obvious improvement in poverty rates, but we will also see an increase in small business which is crucial to American economy. There are MANY reasons why freedom dividend will be the pivoting movement in the economic well being of the American population.

Extra Info: I am a freshman in high school seeking input on this topic for a congressional debate speech and cannot think of solid negative arguments. Thanks ahead of time.

[Assistant]
>  There will be obvious improvement in poverty rates

How so? Americans in poverty are by and large reliant on welfare programs, to varying extents. The "freedom dividend" will remove those. That leaves the poor no better than before, except they're now competing in a housing market where everyone else can affort to pay more, so landlords will likely try to exploit the situation.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does our stomach seperate stomach acid from other fluids we drink and controls what gets into our bladder?

I've wondered about that today. I found no answer to how that's possible, can someone please explain how our stomach achieves that?

[Assistant] It doesn't, really. Everything from the stomach enters the intestines, and there the stomach acid is neutralised by the addition of bicarbonate produced by the pancreas. That reaction produces carbon dioxide, salt, and water, all of which your intestine is fine to absorb.


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

[User]
[The Six Million Dollar Man] Wouldn't Steve Austin's spine collapse if his bionic arm picked up something too heavy for it?

.

[Assistant] The simplest explaination is that while Austin didn't need a full body replacement (obviously beyond 1970s bionic technology), his skeleton and connective tissues were enhanced.  His spine, hips, shoulders, and likely ribcage are all lined with a titanium alloy to strengthen their resistance.  His connective tissues in some places are supplemented by titanium filaments.  His spinal discs were replaced by an advanced foam rubber.


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

[User]
[Warhammer Fantasy] Do human mages choose which Wind they're gonna master?

As in the title, is it explained anywhere in the lore the way a human mage choose his Wind?

Is it a free choice?

Does the Empire have any say on it? (Like, "we need more Fire Mages")

Do mages have a Wind they're naturally more inclined to master? Is there a system to identify it?

Or is it the Wind that chooses the mage altogether? (lol)

[Assistant]
Generally,  each mage is drawn to the Wind that suits them best. It's even codified into law in the Empire that a Magister must take a candidate to the appropriate College of they don't  match that particular Magister's Order.

In some cases, however, they may be forced to accept training in a different area than their aptitude due to other factors, such as availability of trainers.


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

[User]
ELI5:Hong Kong's Occupy Central

UNBIAS VIEWS PLEASE.

[Assistant]
Short answer is China wants to "vet" the candidates for an upcoming elections which basically amounts to no democracy.   The kids don't like this

More in depth is HK is a dog that was freed long ago and refuses to go back under China's slave whip.   Nobody in HK likes Mainland rule except the bureaucrats that directly benefit from it.


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

[User] [Night at the Museum] How far does the table's influence extend? How does it determine what gets brought to life and what doesn't?

[Assistant] It seems to have power over "the museum", regardless of the size of said museum and how many buildings it has. Obviously, the Smithsonian is a massive and spread-out collection of museums, but it animated them all with as much ease as the New York museum.


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

[User] ELI5: If 50+ SPF is best, why are there sunscreens on the market with much less protection?

[Assistant] The SPF rating tells you how much UV light the product blocks. Higher numbers means it blocks more UV light. UV light is also what makes skin get tan. So, some people use lower SPF sunscreens to both protect their skin somewhat and still get a tan.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Can a bunch of force-sensitives use their TK abilities together to lift and move massive objects? For example, could a dozen Jedi working together lift those massive stones in the Yavin temple, just like enough humans working together can lift a car?

[Assistant]
Yes, Jedi can combine their powers but they don't do it all that often.

In *Clone Wars* we see Obi Wan and Anakin combine their powers on several occasions. Anakin will perform a Force jump and Obi Wan will propel him even further to obtain a goal. We have also seen them combine a massive Force push to try and incapacitate Dooku, but he jumped over it. We also once saw Anakin, Windu and Obi Wan combined their powers to try and break Cad Bane's mind, which was resistant to Force persuasion. In *Rebels* Ezra and Maul combined their powers to lift a heavy stone door, and we also saw Ezra, Kanaan and Asokha combine their powers to activate certain Jedi artifacts.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Would there be a cost for using Avada Kedavra continuously?

So I understand in order to use this spell, you must really **mean** it - aka having the anger/hate within you. Providing you did mean it, could you continually cast it with no physical/mental/magical cost? Does this apply to all other spells?

[Assistant]
> Providing you did mean it, could you continually cast it with no physical/mental/magical cost?

Yes- most dark wizards do.

(think of it less of a magical cost and more in the same way that you can't use a gun if you don't mean it- no matter how technically skilled you are at shooting, if you aren't willing to kill, you can't point it at someone's head and pull the trigger)


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] When Harry Potter characters use polyjuice potion to become a different gender, will a female to male transformation allow the new male to impregnate a woman?

When Harry Potter characters use polyjuice potion to become a different gender, will a female to male transformation allow the new male to impregnate a woman?

It seems silly but this is a serious question I was wondering while watching HP.

[Assistant]
No. Let's say that Hermione, after turning into Harry in book 7, seduced Ginny for some reason. Even if she were producing sperm cells during the transformation, and even if one successfully reached one of Ginny's eggs, the magic would wear off and the very young fetus would suffer spontaneous existence failure. Even if Hermione continued to take potions after the fact, the sperm cells wouldn't be affected once they left her body.

Likewise, an alternate scenario (I dunno, some creepy kid turning into Ginny to try to have Harry's baby) would play out the same way. It takes time to ovulate that a single dose of the Polyjuice Potion doesn't give you - and the umbilical cord doesn't carry the potion with it, so prolonging the experience with potions doesn't matter because the material used to create any fetus in the first place would collapse back into sperm cells (from Harry) and other material (more sperm cells?) from the potion taker.


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

[User] [Futurama] What is the purpose of Hedonism bot? Who built him?

[Assistant] He was clearly built to help get one, or possibly several, of the parties started, in lieu of actual professional party-initiators. It was determined by Mom's leading roboticists that they could achieve with artificial intelligence a level of festiveness higher than that previously reached by party animals derived from lemur stock or Slurms McKenzie, by an order of several megabambataas.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Why would someone employ Filch at Hogwarts and for what purpose?

Anyone got a reasonable explanation what a grumpy, bitter, old and frail Squib is doing at Hogwarts? He certainly can't one up the literal army of house-elves... or anyone else with magic for that matter. Is he just there because dear Albus is overwhelmed with pity and forgiveness once again?

[Assistant]
The house elves are slaves, literally. Except for Dobby. They have to obey their masters and do the cooking and cleaning.

Filch, on the other hand, is a caretaker. A custodian vs a janitor. His job isn't to clean, it's to manage that army of house elves and to argue for his department in cases where the house elves could not.


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

[User] ELI5: How does money laundering work?

[Assistant] You stole $5 from Mom. Mom will definitely know if you buy something from it. You tell Mom you walk the neighbor's dog for the weekend. You walk the dog, earn $5. Tell Mom you earned $10 walking the dog.


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

[User] How rapidly (or not) does a newborn star "ignite" once it reaches critical mass? Hours, days, years?

[Assistant]
It happens so gradually there isn't a clear moment of "ignition".

Protostars are glowing hot long before any fusion starts. As they collapse under their own weight they heat up, as any gas will when you compress it. At this phase, the protostar is converting its gravitational potential energy into heat, which provides the pressure that slows its collapse.

As the core continues to compress and heat up, it gradually approaches temperatures where fusion reactions start to become possible. Over many thousands of years, fusion slowly becomes the dominant energy source, replacing the collapse in heating the star. This causes the surface to stop contracting, and the star achieves a stable equilibrium where the fusion at its core produces enough thermal pressure to exactly balance the weight of its gas. This lasts until it runs out of hydrogen to fuse.


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

[User] [Star Wars Trilogy] The Empire ruled for almost two decades, why did it suddenly feel the need to keep building Death Stars when there was no need prior?

[Assistant] Death Stars don't get built overnight, basically they had been in progress since the beginning of the Empire.  We see the basic outline being designed, at least rough blueprints, during the prequel era.  Testing and planning take time, and more so if you need it to be in secret.  It basically took those 20 years to get the first Death Star going, they'd wanted it since the beginning.


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

[User]
[Jumanji/Zathura] Who is developing or making these games?

It seems like these games would be very expensive and hard to make. Where do they come from? Also if someone dies in the game and your friends complete it, would you come back to life?

[Assistant] They probably came from one of those stores run by an old person that sells magical objects tailored to the buyer to teach a moral lesson. You know, like the one that you never remembered being on that street corner? And when you went back the next day to return the thing it was just an abandoned space for rent?