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

[User]
I believe that Creationism is the only explanation for the existence of such diverse life on Earth. CMV

Hello, here's my two cents before everyone gets started. Please let me know if I have any information wrong or if I could be posting this in a better place:

* I am a Catholic, however, I would like this to be a discussion of pure science. I realize evolution does exist to a certain extent. I am questioning that extent.
* From what I understand, the commonly accepted theory of evolution *(please tell me if I am using the incorrect word)* is that life, not necessarily as we know it, but life nonetheless was a happy accident due to faults and fractures from rocks.
* From that, it is my understanding that these fractures formed the simplest of life--that of a single-celled organism. I would find it harder to believe that rock fractures could create a multiple-celled organism that was on the surface of the planet (above the crust, underwater counts as surface)
* Continuing, I find it incredibly hard--if not downright impossible--to believe that this single-celled organism was able to survive, let alone reproduce and become populous enough to evolve into so many different classes of animals (from birds to fish to insects).
* In essence, I suppose my question is about how a single cell was able to evolve into so many different types of things, or why it would be bothered to evolve, because single celled organisms still exist.

Thanks to any reponses.

Edit: I unfortunately have been called in to work. I will be back in about 5 hours.

Edit2: I have returned and read through many of your responses. I'd like to thank you all very much for taking the time to respond and provide me with some great information on the subjects I was questioning; this is exactly what I was looking for. As of now, my view has not been changed due to much of this being over my head. However, as I read and research more, you fine people may well  accomplish your goals. Thanks again to everyone.

[Assistant]
I don't think evolution talks about life coming from rocks. Evolution talks about the origin of life being self-assembling proteins and amino acids that were able to induce copies of themselves. It started with self-forming lipid micelles that went on to absorb these proteins. The longer proteins increased the osmotic pressure of the micelles, making them larger. Larger micelles "eat" smaller micelles when they come into contact. This were the first "cells." Eventually, the proteins that were larger and "coded" for longer proteins were selected for, and at some point the replication mechanisms became more and more complex.

Once we had the first single-celled organism, it continued to spread and replicate. As it spread to different environments, different traits were selected for. The first colony-type cells began to develop. Herd behavior as well as signaling developed as cells that shared genetic material helped each other survive so that their "brothers" would pass on their genes. This is the origin of altruism.

Eventually colonies evolved into the first complex organisms, with cell specialization. Each cell had the same genetic information, but signaling affected which genes were expressed in an individual.

From there, the multicellular organisms also spread throughout the world and all the environments, and as they were separated by huge distances, diversity began to appear. Since evolution is a random process, there were millions and millions of adaptations that occurred in one organism but not another. This is the origin of the great variation we see today.

Your last point is interesting--why evolve into an animal if being a bacterial cell seems to work out just fine?

Well, its about niche. The way things are now, there really isn't any more room for bacteria. The "microspace" is all filled up, and in order to break into it, you'd have to be a more efficient bacterial organism. So instead, bigger organisms are favored for their ability to gather resources and survive. However, as these new organisms moved into "unclaimed" ecospheres, they filled these up too. Its why we have insects, birds, fish, plants and humans. Each is able to survive because for the most part, they do not compete with each other for the same resources. Think about it, plants primarily consume sunlight, but animals do not. So both an exists in the same square meter of earth without getting in each other's way. They can even work together to survive better. Just like humans and the bacteria in our digestive tract can work together for mutual benefit.

The bacteria don't exist because its "better" to be a bacteria, they exist simply because they can.


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

[User] [Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny] Would Dio have been able to beat Bealzibub in a rock off?

[Assistant]
Well if you believe Tenacious D themselves they beat The Devil during their confrontation but he still got pissed, said their jams suck, and was gonna take Kyle.

So Dio might have been able to beat The Devil in a rock off but he'd still throw a fit.


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

[User]
Is google scholar enough?

Taking my first steps as an undergrad in academia and research (looking into an internship) and I have quick question. I need to know if Google Scholar works like I think it does.

Let's say I want to research topic X. If I go to google scholar and search for X (and any other relevant tags), will it search for X on every (or at least most) journals or most of them aren't indexed and I should go to their specific sites and serch for X there (after using GoogleScholar then go to Cell, Elsevier, Journal of Whatever and search X).

How do you do your bibliography research? Any tip that might help me is welcome.

[Assistant]
Google scholar indexes a lot of stuff, and in life sciences at least the problem with it is that it indexes too much: phdf and master theses, presentation abstracts, not-peer-reviewed books, etc. So the problem with GS is usually that it give you too much stuff, not too little.

Therefore if you want to have more pure results, you could also try pubmed. Some people only use pubmed for this reason.

Searching journals directly is only useful if the paper was published a few days ago and isn't yet indexed.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why was the world so shocked at Edward Snowden exposing the NSA and its practices?

I ask this question since the majority of the world knew on some level from previous acts and sources before Snowden, that there's a high probability of the U.S. devoting programs like the NSA to fully unrightfully spy on citizens.

[Assistant]
In the United States, most people didn't realize (more like not pay attention or didn't care) of the scope of surveillance that was done on citizens in the United States, in the name of security.

The governments of the world realize that the United States spied on them (maybe not on the level of scope that they did) and it's nothing new.  The same is done by the Russians, Chinese and even our allies, the British, Germans or Israelis on the United States.

it was *tolerated* because there wasn't much else you could do and they were doing the same.  When Edward Snowden revealed to the media what the United States had been doing, the governments couldn't just ignore it because of the political backlash it had created.


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

[User] ELI5: What are Microplastics? How did they spread everywhere? Can they harm animals/Us?

[Assistant] Microplastics are just tiny bits of plastic. They are the result of plastic breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces. Sometimes they are created intentionally, such as when they are added to hair products. Imagine this: Almost everything made of plastic slowly releases this dust. This dust is scattered by wind, people, and water. It spreads to oceans, lakes, rivers, and pools. It also appears in sealed plastic bottles, since it is formed of the plastic the bottle is made of. Is it bad? Maybe. We don't know, but we sure hope it isn't, because it is inescapable at this point.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does a company know if their TV commercial has been successful?

It seems like companies spend so much money on TV commercials. But how do they know if a commercial has been successful or not?

[Assistant]
It depends.

Some commercials that have phone numbers use a special one just for the commercial.  Thus, any calls you get to that number are attributable directly to the commercial

For others, they will look at purchase behavior before and after the commercial airs.  If it goes up, it can be assumed to be due to the commercial

Sometimes they air commercials in specific markets.  Like the previous example, if a market with the commercial spikes, it's probably due to the commercial.


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

[User] ELI5:Why is cold water more thirst quenching then warm water?

[Assistant]
The blood vessels around the roof and base of your mouth, and the lining of your esophagus,  are extremely thin and sensitive compared to most parts of your body, making it very susceptible to temperature. When you take a mouthful of cold water, the cold water rapidly cools off the blood passing through the vessels around your mouth and throat, and that cooled blood then circulates throughout the rest of your body.

This process provides a faint cooling sensation to your whole body, not just your mouth.  Thus a cold glass of water seems more "refreshing." Although it may cool you off a little, you actually digest warm water faster than cold water. Thus, if you are suffering from dehydration and have not have a drink in several hours, warm water will actually help your system recover faster.


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

[User] Is it even theoretically possible for everyone to be wealthy and goods and services be cheap?

[Assistant]
In the short run, no: trying to make everyone wealthy will only result in inflation (expensive goods and services), because of real constraints on the economy.

In the long run, yes: increases in productivity could result in higher real wages, which would make everyone wealthier even with cheap goods and services.


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

[User] ELI5: Where does oxygen for astronauts come from? Are we just constantly sending rockets with tanks of oxygen up to the ISS?

[Assistant]
It's pretty self sufficient.  There's no way they could keep running up everything they need constantly so the ISS recycles a lot.

Oxygen can be made through electrolysis.  This is where using electricity you can turn water into oxygen and hydrogen.  The hydrogen can then be combined with the carbon dioxide the astronauts breathe out to turn back into water...... and some methane.

The air filtration systems remove the moisture from the air (from the astronauts breathing and sweating) and recycle it for either drinking or turning into air.

Water is also reclaimed from the waste that the astronauts produce.  Shower water is also reclaimed.

This severely limits any resupply runs they may need.


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

[User]
How do we establish elevation on another planet that has no ocean, ex. Mars?

Do we pick the lowest point on the planet and call that zero? Or what do we use for "zero" elevation, when there is no ocean?

[Assistant] On Mars we use atmospheric pressure to determine at what elevation water molecules would no longer be stable if they WERE present (6.105 mbar) and use that as a reference point thats similar to our sea level. Its called the Mars areoid.


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

[User] ELI5: What is DRM, why is it hard to crack, and how does it prevent third party programs/apps to make use of the DRM-protected item?

[Assistant]
DRM stands for **D**igital **R**ights **M**anagement. There are many, many different types of DRM, and many of them (in fact, the vast majority of them) *have*, in fact, been cracked - that's why people are always coming up with new types and methods of DRM.

How exactly each DRM works varies from case to case. In the Olden Days there was a certain type of copy protection which required that you have the original floppy disk in the drive, and the program would access a section of the disk that would appear as damaged to other programs.

Nowadays many programs attempt to contact a server on the internet to validate permissions to run.


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

[User]
ELI5: When trying to carbon date an ancient man-made object, how do you differentiate between when the object was created and the age of material that was used to create the object?

Example: An ancient sword can be made out of cast iron. When you carbon date it today to find its age, are you finding the age of the iron or are you finding the age of the sword?

[Assistant]
> When you carbon date it today to find its age, are you finding the age of the iron or are you finding the age of the sword?

Carbon dating is only used on biological material in comparison to the levels in the atmosphere at the time. So in your example we would date the leather wrapping on the handle to see when the cow died and assume they didn't use leather from a cow who died hundreds of years prior.

The reason it works is that some carbon is radioactive and when it is tied up in an organism it rotates through them regularly. Once they die it doesn't go anywhere and the radioactive atoms decay at a known rate, so by looking at the different proportion we can know when the organism died.


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

[User]
Why is there no "electron radiation"?

As I understand it, there is radiation that is made of particles (protons/neutrons/neutrinos(?)). But I have never heard of a radiation that would be made of electrons. There is probably an obivous reason for that, but I can not see it (yes, I tried google).

[Assistant] Electrons are emitted by beta^(-) decay of nuclei. They are also emitted by other kinds of nuclear decays like internal conversion, internal pair creation, and electron capture (via the Auger effect).


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

[User]
[Portal] Why are portals elliptical?

Given that circles appear everywhere in physics, but ellipses appear relatively rarely, why do portals turn out elliptical?

Is the elliptical shape a product of the phenomenon used to form portals; or could portals be any shape, so long as both sides match?

[Assistant]
Circles are generally the most energy efficient shape. However, much of that energy would be wasted because of the general humanoid shape of being taller than we are wider.

There may have been a net gain energy efficiency to make the overall area of the portal smaller even by using a less energy efficient shape.


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

[User]
ELI5:How Google can search the internet in a fraction of a second but Windows takes five minutes to search for a file on my computer?

How Google can search the internet in a fraction of a second but Windows takes five minutes to search for a file on my computer?

[Assistant]
Google doesn't search the Internet.  At least not directly.  Google operates by searching their locally-stored, highly-optimized index that they slowly construct by having their bots crawl the Internet 24 hours a day.  So your search results are based on what Google has seen over the last several days/weeks/months, and not on what is currently there.

Your computer can do the same thing.  Windows can index files to make searching faster.


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

[User]
How fast would i have to throw a hot dog to have it be cooked by wind friction when it lands?

Lets say I could throw anything at any speed, how fast would a hot dog have to travel to end up cooked by the time it hits the ground.

[Assistant]
The energy generated by air resistance will be the same as the energy lost by the hot dog. It'll need to be well above terminal velocity to cook, so we can ignore gravity, so the energy lost is basically the same as the KE it starts with: 0.5mv^2

Let's say m=100g.

If you put two in an 800W microwave, they'll (kind-of) cook in a minute. Esimating 33% efficiency, that means each one absorbs something like 8000J when it cooks.

If we put 0.5mv^2 = 8000J, we get v=400m/s, which means you have to throw it at 895mph. Round it to 900mph, because it's all very rough.

I've assumed that all of the energy generated by air resistance goes into the hot dog... in reality this won't happen. More of it will probably heat the air than the hot dog. If we guess that a quarter of it heats the hot dog, then we need to generate four times as much energy, and we'll need to throw it at 1800mph.

Of course it won't be cooked very evenly. It'll be scorched on one side and a mess on the other. If it's in a bun, the bread will ignite, so that'll give the meat a bit more cooking... it ain't gonna be pretty.


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

[User]
[General Horror] If I refuse to leave the bed to investigate a strange noise, would the ghost leave me alone for the night?

I'm really tired.

[Assistant]
In most horror settings with ghosts, the ghost feeds off your fear to become more powerful.

This is why they do escalatingly creepy things before they can kill you.

If you just ignore the weird bumps, the ghosts power will never grow beyond that.


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

[User] ELI5: Where do shells come from?

[Assistant] There are animals that lived in them at one point (or still do) and they create the shells around them out of minerals they consume the same way you grow hair. Sometimes those animals move onto bigger shells later, abandoning the small ones, and sometimes they stay in them till they die and the shells just keep getting bigger to accommodate them.


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

[User]
Why did Plato despise Democracy?

I understand he thought it would always regress into mob rule, and he held the people of Athens responsible for the death of Socrates. But surely, it was not the fault of Democracy itself, but a poorly educated mass and the rich privileged demagogues who excercised immense power through manipulating them.

[Assistant]
Plato does use the ship / captain analogy in the *Republic* - a criticism of mob rule, wherein all the more aspirational crew members

>spend all their time milling round the captain and doing all they can to get him to give them the helm.

\- Plato, *Republic*

Another way of considering his distaste for democracy is through his craft analogy, which goes a little something like this:

>Ruling, like medicine, navigation, or even farming, is a skill. A special training is necessary, and not everyone is naturally capable of even acquiring the skill. Just as medicine should be left to the experts, and a medical training given to those most suited, so should ruling, and a training to rule. Any other arrangement will lead to worse results, and consulting the populace will lead to disaster.

\- Jonathan Wolff, *An Introduction to Political Philosophy*, when discussing Plato's views on who should rule.

Plato also lays down where he believes these rulers will come from. He proposes a system of education for 'guardians': people that are trained their entire life to eventually rule. Educated in literacy, music, maths, military and physical education. Philosophy is taught at the age of 30 for five years, followed by 15 years of military service, before a permanent return to the study of philosophy, a repose interrupted only by taking one's turn in the 'weary business of politics'.


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

[User]
I think unmarried fathers should have the right to absolve themselves of responsibility to their offspring. Please CMV.

In many countries, non-custodial parents can be sued for child support - and in the majority cases, the plaintiff is a mother seeking payment from the child's biological father.

An unmarried mother has the option to absolve herself of responsibility to the child by postcoital contraception, abortion, or adoption; in many cases without the consent of the father. In contrast, the father has no such opportunity.

I think it's only fair he be given the option to absolve himself of responsibility to his offspring (perhaps by signing away his rights as a biological parent).

***

As a pre-emptive retort to the idea that you 'reap what you sow', and that the father has a responsibility to use contraceptives:

* Contraceptives are not 100% effective. Whether through malfunction or incorrect usage, mistakes do happen.

* The mother has those same responsibilities, but has the *extra* option of absolving responsibility after conception.

 Unwanted pregnancies do occur, and in those situations the father should also have the opportunity to absolve himself of responsibility.

***

Please change my view.

[Assistant]
The reason why noncustodial parents have to financially support their children is not to punish them or to equalize the contributions of each parent, but to ensure that the child is adequately provided for.

In many instances, the financial resources of a single parent will not be adequate to raise a child. In those cases, there are only a few options: 1) let the child starve/go without clothing/schooling/etc. 2) have the state provide assistance 3) have the absent parent provide assistance. We have decided that it is better to require the absent parent to provide assistance than to let the child go without or to require the taxpayer to assist. In both of those cases, a completely innocent party has to suffer.

In essence, you should ask not whether it is fair that the father has to provide support while the mother can choose to abort/adopt, but whether it is fair to make you and me support the child instead of the father.


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

[User] ELI5: What is "hard" water, and how does adding salt to it make it "soft?"

[Assistant]
Hard water is caused mostly by two common positively charged minerals, calcium and magnesium.  These minerals can react with soap and detergents in such a as to precipitate (fancy word for remove it from solution) and make the soaps less effective.

Salt water is used in water softeners.  Water softeners contain a resin that can bind with the sodium in brine during charging.  When in use, hard water is passed through the the resin.  Calcium and magnesium bind more strongly with the resin then the  sodium and as they bind with the resin,  sodium is released into the water while the the calcium and magnesium are removed.

Unlike the calcium and magnesium, sodium does not bind with nor  precipitate soap or detergents so they remain just as effective and the water is considered softened.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] So, why exactly did the Senate blindly believe the evil looking man declaring himself dictator after murdering all the Jedi as traitors without a trial?

The Jedi who had served them loyally for thousands of years, mind you.

[Assistant]
Unseen in the movies there is a whole propaganda war going on which painted the Jedi as warmongering psycho-monks with magic powers who used the war against the separatist to grab control of the newly established military arm of the republic without any correct oversight.

People were getting tired of the war and Palpatine was manipulating that in to a resentment against the Jedi. The only Jedi the public still liked and saw as a war hero was Anakin but the rest were seen as stuffy old geezers grabbing for military and political power through the war.

With that as a basis, it was easy enough to spin the Jedi attack into a traitorous action. With the populace against a continuation of the war to Palpatine could push through a formalisation of the Empire by promising that with his sweeping new powers and authority he would get as Emperor the war would end. Which it actually did only hours after the Empire was made official, so people were happy to live in a dictatorship, at least in the beginning.

Also, not to forget that at this point Palpatine didn't need to hide his force powers anymore with the Jedi gone so it isn't completely out of the question that he simply manipulated the minds of the Senators as he was speaking to them.


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

[User] ELI5: How do they deal with dead skin in the air, cough spatter and other small flying things in space stations?

[Assistant] They have a fully functional ventilation system just like any office building. More serious then dust is the risk from pockets of stale air which can build up with dangerous gasses. The ISS is first and foremost a research laboratory and does therefore deal with some potentially nasty chemicals. But any gas can cause suffocation even if it is not poisonous. The problem with space stations is that hot air does not rise so you do not get any natural air flow. So the ventilation system have to provide all the air flow and can not miss any spots. This does also collect any dust and other particles in the air. The air vents have filters in them that collects most of it. They do have a regular vacuum cleaner that they use about once a week to clean the vents. There is also regular filter changes to make sure all the dirt gets removed from the filters and that no mold starts to grow on them.


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

[User]
ELI5: To whom did the shares bought by the public during an IPO originally belong to?

I understand that the public is able to buy shares of a company during an IPO. What I don't understand is to whom did the shares bought by the public during an IPO originally belong to.

I know that at each point in time in the history of a private company there cannot be non assigned shares which are reserved for a future IPO and the pie chart of the investors always totals 100% so are IPO really just a way for founders, VC and intial investors to cash out? Wouldn't that prevent them from having skin in the game in the subsequent phases?

[Assistant]
They didn't exist.

What happens is you take the value of the company and break it into chunks. It might have been owned previously by a single person, a family, a consortium of financiers, or some other type of group. But 100% of the company was once 'owned' by named people or groups, and there were no shares at all, just some sort of legal company definition.

Now you create a whole bunch of little bits of the company that are each worth something, called "shares". These are then sold in an Initial Public Offering to anyone that wants those bits, and the company gets their purchase price. So you sell 100,000 shares at an average price of $10 each, say. That's up to 100,000 additional owners of your company now (although the original owners will probably keep a bunch of those shares for themselves) each having a $10 stake in it, but you've created $1M in cash for your company to use in return for losing some control over what the company does.

On ownership: The previous owners CAN cash out and transfer all control to the Board of Directors, sure. But they often get some shares in return for surrendering part of their ownership, and that they will want to (or in some cases must, for a period of time) hold onto. If a company was successful enough to IPO, stakeholders are usually going to want to keep the people responsible for that success from leaving, so they incent them to stay with extra shares and stuff.


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

[User] [Wolverine 2: Wolverine Goes to Japan] We see that depressed forlorn Logan has long hair and a beard. Does this mean his typical scruffy stubble muttonchop appearance is actually the result of careful grooming and manscaping?

[Assistant]
Yes.

Clearly in Wolverine 3: Wolverine Needs Glasses, the evil scientist dudes decided that their Evil Clone Wolverine with the fatal weakness to having most of his head blown off should be similarly manscaped, just for the style of the thing.


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

[User]
[Fallout] What sort of damage can power armor take?

So I just for suited up in this power armor stuff the brotherhoods always using. Cool stuff, but I'm curious as to how big of a step it is over standard combat power armor? What kind of a beating can it take? What sort of weapons are ideal for penetrating it?

[Assistant]
The T-51b is one of the best suits you could manage. It can take massive impacts (2.5k Joules!), the eye slits are bulletproof glass, it's resistant to laser and radiation damage due to a silver layer, and its microfusion pack (with ten THOUSAND years of power) gives you sixty thousand watts of power pumping through the hydraulics of the suit.

In short, you need massive explosives to reliably do damage to it. Otherwise, very little in the Wasteland will pose a challenge to you.


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

[User] [Star Wars] What is "life" as a force ghost like?

[Assistant]
A Force Ghost is like a droplet bouncing back up out of a lake.  It takes a lifetime - or a significant portion of one (or, y'know, being The Chosen One) to retain one's individuality *at all* after death, because your personality is just this microscopic blip in the Force as a whole that you return to upon physical death.

So what is it like?  It's like momentarily coalescing around a shatterpoint.  Obi-Wan wasn't watching Luke take a dump on Hoth, and neither was Yoda watching him jerk off to his own sister in his downtime on Endor.  They didn't give a shit because it wasn't important.  Rather, they as Force Ghosts would only "coalesce" - which is to say differentiate themselves from the Cosmic Force - long enough to guide him through the most extreme, galaxy-affecting circumstances.  Once those moments had passed - to one end or another - they'd reunify with the larger lifeforce of the Universe itself, until another shatterpoint emerged.

And it seemed to get harder over time - or at least Obi-Wan and Yoda seemed to give less of a fuck as time went on.  Yoda only ever appeared to Luke once - and that was only after he'd won.  Obi-Wan appeared or was heard a few times after Endor by Luke, but pretty much after the Ssi'Ruvi Imperium was knocked out he joined the Cosmic Force permanently.

They are an echo of a personality, something that will inevitably fade with time, but can be amplified momentarily by the most extreme circumstances.  They are the entire Universal Force momentarily rendered discrete and the personality of the Jedi who learned to channel that ultimate power.

In short, there is no "life" to that existence.  It's just a momentary apparition before they rejoin something far larger than we could possibly imagine.

Followup: it may also be notable that the Force Itself seemed to have realized the cosmic necessity of such a seemingly aberrant occurrence round about -20-0 BBY.  The very idea of persisting as a discrete entity post-death was considered absolutely impossibly by the Jedi Order - even by Yoda who'd had 800+ years to have seen such a thing.  Neither in the time or Revan, nor Surik, nor any time other than the Galactic Civil War had Force Ghosts ever seemed to have been a thing outside of incredibly localized darkside ghosts haunting the tombs of their deceased corpses.  There was no universality to that, only individual will.

But all of a sudden - literally on the eve of the almost-total extermination of the entire Jedi Order and the ascendency of the Sith - the Force Itself divulges the secret to training a new generation of Jedi even beyond death.  Convenient, no?


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

[User] ELI5: how come drinking cold water feels refreshing, but cold water on your skin is shocking like a cold shower?

[Assistant]
Cold water in nature is *generally* cleaner (don't go out drinking water that happens to be cold, please), whereas tepid water has probably sat and may harbor dangerous microbes.  Drinking tepid or warm water is unpleasant, likely due to an evolutionary "memory" and preference for cool/cold water.

Conversely, there's never been an evolutionary advantage to jumping fully into cold water--probably a contraindication even.


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

[User]
[Sesame Street] Why does the sun rise in the west?

During the introduction, we see what appears to be the Brooklyn Bridge leading to a Manhattan skyline - with the sun rising from behind the buildings.

That's west. The sun is rising in the west. Why?

[Assistant] It's a result of the universe they live in. Sesame Street is in the same universe as  the Daily Show where the earth rotates in reverse. This means that everywhere that Sesame Street makes a cameo the Earth also rotates backward.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are doctors and nurses encouraged to work such long shifts(like 14hrs +) Wouldn't the quality of care be of utmost importance, and decrease as staff get tired?

[Assistant] To some degree having them work longer shifts reduces the frequency of hand offs which is where a significant amount of medical errors are generated through specific details about a patient being left out and the incoming doctors ignorance of the detail possibly leading to a bad outcome. Its a trade off though as the shift gets too long the work fatigue itself can impair the providers/staff functioning. Also lot of people like the longer shifts because then they can work 3-4 days a week instead of the "standard" 5 days a week from "the prototypical work week".


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

[User]
Why do people's faces turn red when they're embarrassed?

Exactly as the title says.  The body's natural reaction to embarrassment is to flush with blood and turn red.  What mechanism or survival instinct causes this and why?

[Assistant] Any sort of stress increases adrenaline production in the body.  Adrenaline opens up your blood vessels, allowing you to be temporarily faster or stronger, which is usually helpful in the face of a threat.  You have a lot of blood vessels in your face near the surface that open up causing your face to get red.


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

[User]
ELI5 - How did we verify that gravity has a speed?

Gravity apparently travels at or near the speed of light, but how do we know that?

[Assistant] It was a theory that came out from general relativity. When people started to apply the new theory of general relativity on different mechanics to see if they could find a flaw it was discovered that the observed motions of Mercury were much closer to the calculations if you used the fact that gravity were limited to the speed of light. This was one of the first big observations that would help make general relativity accepted.


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

[User] ELI5: Epinephrine/EpiPen is used for treating anaphylaxis, so why is the panic from having an allergic reaction not enough adrenaline to treat the anaphylaxis?

[Assistant] EpiPens contain a much larger dose of epinephrine than our adrenal glands are capable of rapidly pumping into our blood. This higher dose overcomes the effects of anaphylaxis (lung constriction, low blood pressure)


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

[User] ELI5:Why do 20fl oz bottles of Diet Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash have 10 calories while 2L bottles and cans have 0?

[Assistant]
Nutrition facts are based on serving sizes. Servings with fewer than five calories can be labeled as having zero calories. Servings with fewer than 50 calories may be rounded to the nearest 5 calories. Servings with over 50 calories may be rounded to the nearest 10 calories.

For your question specifically, the drink contains just a few calories and the serving sizes are different for the different containers, which leads to differences in rounding. The serving size for the 20 fl oz. bottle is larger than the other two bottles and when the calories are rounded to the nearest 5 calories, you get 10. The other two serving sizes have fewer than five calories, so they can be labeled as having zero calories.


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

[User]
ELI5: When you're learning a new language, you translate every word back to you mother tongue in your head. But when you've mastered the language, you don't need the translation anymore. How does this work?

I often watch television without subtitles with my mom, and she sometimes asks me to translate the difficult words or sentences. But since a few years I have had difficulty trying to come up with the right translations, and especially after I studied in an English speaking country. I know exactly what the words means, can describe it, and can think of synonyms, but have trouble with finding the right translation in my mother tongue.

I lately realized that I don't need to translate English in my head, and was wondering if this causes the trouble with translating.
So how does this work? Is your brain just translating it so fast you don't notice it? And if so, where does the trouble with translation of words and sentences in my mother tongue come from?

[Assistant]
Words are a kind of symbolic algebra. When you really learn a word it is a natural meaning. The word represents a native thought.

So when you think the word "cat" it evokes a series of ideas. Furry. Small. Sharp. whatever... Whether you like cats or hate them the word itself evokes and invokes the the ideas and images as a primitive.

So then you start to learn a second language. You learn "gato" is "cat, but in spanish". It's an indirect. It's a step away. You have to turn gato into cat. And you have to turn cat into gato. Each in terms of the direction... new to native or native to new.

Eventually, with familiarity, you stop thinking "gato is cat in spanish" and so gato directly invokes the same things as cat. Furry. Sharp. Small. The two words are proper synonyms. Neither has primacy so both are equally available.

At that point the "is versus are" translator is in charge. You know when to use the word "is" and you know when to use the word "are" based on context. Both have the same meaning, but one is slightly more correct than the other depending on what other words are around it.

Further, in some languages there are unique verbs or tenses or whatever. In one languages it takes one word while in another it takes two. But the same thing eventually happens.

So just like you can learn to use a fork as a spoon or whatever, the interchange of tools, once you can use both tools, is just a context and technique issue.

So basically the difference is naturally-accessible versus takes deliberate thought.

Once something is naturally accessible to your brain then it's naturally accessible to use.

Language is just a tool at some levels. It's an inherent means of information at another. But the brain is incredibly plastic. So the change is a result of that plasticity.


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

[User]
[The Culture] Can anyone in The Culture be transformed into a Mind or drone? If so, why wouldn't everyone?

We've witnessed mind uploading in The Culture, so it doesn't seem much of a stretch to think that they could alter someone enough that they could function as a Mind or a drone. As far as I can tell, there are no downsides to being a mind, and few for being a drone - so why would anyone remain human?

[Assistant]
The Culture is philosophically opposed to trying to get "more" - more life, more power, more resources.

The desire to live forever, or own your own moon, or modify your body with a thousand dicks so that you can have As Much Fun As Possible, are all (the Culture would argue) manifestations of a childish type of thinking - usually born from a society that doesn't have enough resources, and so cannot conceive of what to *do* with power or lifespan or intellect once they have it, except to use it to acquire even more.

In the Culture, these aggressive instincts are managed by a combination of the Sapir-Whorf-like effects of Marian, and the simple unfashionability of such a goal - you might eventually *succeed* in persuading a Mind to grant your wish, but everyone would look at you funny while you were doing it.

>Why do you care so much? What's wrong with you that causes this driving obsession to be perfect? It's not as if there's anything you could *do* in your improved form that a Mind couldn't simply do for you.

____

With that said, strictly speaking "human" Culture citizens are only human by the merest technicality, being heavily engineered. It's not really *inferior* to your standard civilian-model 1.0-level Drone, just tailored to different preferences.

And there *have* been periods where nonhuman forms were more in fashion:

>Ulver Seich's had been one of the Rock's Founding Families; she could trace her ancestry back through fifty-four generations on Phage itself and numbered amongst her ancestors at least two forebears who were inevitably mentioned in even one-volume Histories of the Culture, as well as being descended from - as the fashions of the intervening times had ordained - people who had resembled birds, fish, dirigible balloons, snakes, small clouds of cohesive smoke and animated bushes.

>The tenor of the time had generally turned against such outlandishness and people had mostly returned to looking more like people over the last millennium, albeit assuredly pretty good-looking people, but still, some part of one's appearance was initially at least left to luck and the random nature of genetic inheritance, and it was a matter of some pride to Ulver that she had never had any form of physical alteration carried out (well, apart from the neural lace of course, but that didn't count). - Excession

___

EDIT:

By way of metaphor, a Culture citizen would view this question much the way you'd view an ancient Greek warrior asking why *you* haven't pursued the earth-shattering martial prowess possessed by modern-day armies.

The honest answer is that our society just doesn't value warrior spirit the same way his does.

The Culture doesn't value *anything* the way he does.

No point improving yourself, Minds are better. No point doing good, everyone is already perfectly happy, and Contact already has all the applicants they need. No point trying to build cool things; we already built it bigger and better 150 years ago, and someone built a VR version 8000 times better. There isn't even any point pushing the bounds of hedonism; here's a drug that makes you feel perfect bliss, your brain can produce it at any time, here's a VR simulation of having sex with 500 supermodels, here's 500 actual supermodels who are bored and willing to have sex with you, here's the form for grafting 500 dicks onto your body so you can have sex with them all at once if you'd like.

There's no such thing as *success* in the Culture. There are popular people and less-popular people, and which is which is determined mostly by fashion.

Right now, it's more fashionable to go skydiving without a backup to revive you if you die than to be immortal.

Who wants to jump out of a plane with me?


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

[User]
[Marvel] How do the citizens of Latveria view Doctor Dooms supervillainy?

Are they critical despite how well he runs his country?

[Assistant]
Alright... this is very complicated. Very complicated.

Dr. Doom came into power after a long line of tyrants. The people of Latveria aren't exactly strangers to that kind of thing. And under Doom they've gone from being some little nowhere in the Balkans to a global superpower. So if you asked the average Latverian, they'd tell you he's a great and benevolent ruler... but since they're always being watched, it's anyone's guess how sincere they're being. For his part Doom cares deeply for the people of Latveria (and he's remarkably forward thinking on the Romani people), but believes firmly that living under his absolute rule is better for them than affording them any freedom.

Here are some specific instances you can look to for evidence:

* Supervillain Team-Up #3: Namor arrives in Latveria and is given a personal attendant who speaks of Doom in glowing terms, which stuns him.
* Four issues later in the same title, we learn that Latveria still practices the custom of Droid du Seigneur, and Doom demonstrates this by storming into someone's house and demanding the company of their daughter, who seems pretty terrified by the whole thing (he's interrupted before things go too far, though)
* Loki: Agent of Asgard #7: opens up with some blue collar Latverian schmoes, one of whom is sullen and scornful of Doom (and from his dialogue, it seems Doom's atheism is a point of friction between him and his more conservative subjects) while another speaks glowingly of him but that seems partially out of fear they're being watched.

So... yeah. Complicated.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why are we still making pennies when it costs 2 cents to make one?

I've heard that in the last year the US Mint lost around 60 million dollars in profitability just from the manufacturing of pennies. I've heard Canada got rid of pennies in their country. If we're so worried about our national budget, then why do we still continue to make these coins when we know we're gonna lose millions of dollars in the process?

[Assistant]
A penny does cost more than one cent to make but it is used more than once, so it that way it has a much greater value to the economy than its one cent face value.
For the same reason the US tries to bring out a dollar coin every ten years or so, even though a paper dollar is much cheaper to make.  The coin stays in circulation much longer, because it's reused more roi on a coin is much better(the face value doesn't really matter).  Americans just don't seem to like it very much.  That's why Canada uses 1 and 2 dollar coins.


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

[User]
[MCU] Why didn't people start flocking to major cities after Infinity War?

This has bothered me ever since the movie came out.

After the

>![5 YEARS LATER]

flash forward, New York and San Francisco look like they're still basically abandoned. I've always assumed that after that kind of cataclysm, people would flock towards cities, since, and I could be wrong, there would be a "stockpile" of food and water. And rent would probably be a whole lot cheaper. Am I overlooking something, or did the screenwriters just not take this into consideration?

[Assistant]
Cities don't really maintain a "stockpile" of food. Especially nowadays, with many businesses doing their best to operate on a "just in time" logistics model, most stores aren't equipped to go more than a few days past their regularly scheduled deliveries. During regular disaster scenarios, resources tend to be stripped in short order, with panicked rushes to beat the stocks being sold out creating a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy, leaving bare shelves everywhere.

That's during a normal disaster. The Snap affected every square inch of the Earth, took out half of the truck drivers and merchant mariners on the planet, and left every road jammed with 50% of it's regular traffic in abandoned cars. It would take some harsh measures just to get the roads clear enough for emergency vehicles (think less tow trucks, more heavy-duty construction equipment being used to physically shove the cars off the road), let alone restore the critical transport systems responsible for bringing resources into the cities.

If anything, you'd probably see a further drop in urban population after the Snap, as people abandon the cities for what they see as safer locales. Once a few years have passed and things have settled down a but, there'd be some return, but some might hesitate, either because they've established themselves somewhere else or don't want to roll the dice on being stuck in a city again if another calamity happens.


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

[User] Would we see Rosetta like probes on Asteroids (or Comets etc.) that fly through our solar system?

[Assistant]
These probes are very small and faint. Our telescopes are not capable of either spatially resolving them or detecting the faint light from them.

The only way we can "see" Rosetta is from radio signals that it transmits towards us.


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

[User] ELI5: How do people create these amazingly looking space/Milky Way photos? I can barely see a few stars in the nights sky.

[Assistant]
Long exposure is one way to do it, yes, but astrophotographers also use a technique called "stacking", where they stack multiple layers of shorter exposure pictures over one another.

Some people prefer to use this method over taking a single long exposure because it's usually easier to fine tune your picture. For example, if your camera runs out of battery, or something moves in shot that shouldn't be there, or you accidentally bump the camera, it's a lot easier to edit that in post processing and simply remove those frames rather than have your whole long exposure ruined. Also, this method might cut your shooting time in half.

But stacking isn't better than long exposure or vice versa and it's really all up to the person taking the picture to decide.


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

[User]
[Mass Effect] Are all the races descendants of the Leviathans?

According to what I can gather from the back-story, the Leviathans created the Reapers in order to maintain a balance between synthetic and organic life, but I'm not sure if this implies that xenocide was intended. Perhaps the Leviathans alone expanded across the galaxy and then when the Reapers systematically wiped them out to (near) extinction, the separate Leviathan factions evolved differently based off the environment of their home planet.

This would explain the humanoid similarities between the races, and simplify the existence of nearby mass relays without the Reapers having to do major reconnaissance work.

[Assistant]
No, the Leviathans were the race that created the Catalyst AI to resolve the problem they had of constant wars between organic Leviathans and synthetics (robots/AIs).

The Catalyst created the Reapers, a fusion of organics and synthetics.  The Leviathans were the first harvested by the Reapers.  Almost all Leviathans but a small group, hidden away, were wiped out.

50,000 years later, new species had arisen and also fallen into conflict with their synthetics.  So the Reapers harvested them too.  The Citadel and Mass Relays were built to make harvesting of future races easier - if you give species an 'easy way' to expand, most of their population will expand along those lines.  Thus their location and tech level are predictable.

The Leviathans stayed hidden away - there aren't enough of them to carry on a population.  They are relics - each generation suffering more and more inbreeding damage, if they breed at all.

In the Prothean Cycle, everything went as it had in all previous cycles. One race arose to dominate all the others.  In their final throw of the dice, the Protheans meddled with the Asari, intending to turn them into the conquerers of the next cycle.  They also closed the Citadel Relay, intending to make it harder for the Reapers to begin the next harvest.

But something went wrong.  The Asari didn't become conquerers.  They became mediators.  The Asari cycle didn't have one galaxy-spanning empire, they had an alliance of dozens of different species - each with their own leadership, own forces, own technologies.

The Reapers's job became much, much harder.  But even then, too much was centralised on the Citadel.  Too much technology was based on the 'easy way' of the Mass Relays.  And ultimately, too much time was wasted after Sovereign's attempt to open the Citadel Relay.

The Asari cycle was also doomed.  Until a last-ditch effort by the Alliance and a Special Forces soldier called Commander Shepard managed to attach The Crucible to the Citadel.  The Crucible was essentially a huge power cell and processing databank that allowed the Catalyst to calculate a different solution than the Reapers.


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

[User]
[Marvel Cinematic Universe] How did HYDRA maintain its infiltration of SHIELD for nearly 70 years?

I'm not asking how they avoided being exposed in that time (Zola answered that), but rather where all these younger people, like Sitwell, who would have been too young to even remember WWII. was it a chain reaction of "I can trust this guy; I'll recruit him as another HYDRA plant" starting with Zola and continuing to the present? Or was it done some other way? It's not easy to sell a conspiracy that robs the world of its freedom.

[Assistant]
You start by choosing people carefully. Based on their political and moral views. You gain their trust and get to know them and make you and other hydra members most of their social circle, re-enforcing their views by sharing them, pushing them further slowly.

Then get them to agree to the fact that the current system is flawed and that they need to make a change if they are to actually achieve what SHIELD is meant to do. They agree, suggest that there needs to be some sort of SHIELD within SHIELD that is dedicated to protecting mankind even above their own survival, that they don't care about how the world sees them or if they ever get recognition. They are the true heroes, willing to be seen as criminals for the greater good, not like the Avengers who took the easy route of adoration and celebrity status.

Once you have them on board with the idea you tell them whatever they need to know. You don't even have to tell them about HYDRA at this point. They are just a secret group within SHIELD that are willing to break the law and even the rules of SHIELD to see the goals and aims of SHIELD met. Eventually you can reveal that HYDRA weren't as bad as they were made out to be. That they wanted the same thing, but, went about it all the wrong way. They tried to enslave mankind and joined with the Nazis which was a wrong decision. It's not like HYDRA supported the death camps or the extermination of Jews. They just happened to form in the territories of an empire that was led by a man who was elected into power that did have those views.

Just like how we work within SHIELD, not following their beliefs or rules entirely, so did HYDRA work within the borders of the Nazis in the same way. HYDRA do what needs to be done, regardless of our individual desires or concerns. We sacrifice our own ideals, or own souls, our own morality to see that the world survives. We are the heroes the world deserves, just not the ones it needs right now...


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

[User] ELI5: Differences Between Soft Water and Hard Water

[Assistant]
Hard water: lots of minerals (typically calcium and magnesium) dissolved in the water.

Soft water: less minerals dissolved in the water.

Now, why does it matter? Because minerals dissolved in water can sometimes crystallizes and no longer be dissolved in the water. This process is called precipitation. If it does it in your pipe, faucet, shower-head etc, it can accumulate and damage the pipe and the faucet.


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

[User] During a tsunami, does the energy of the wave in the deeper ocean cause any damage before it surfaces? Basically, does the energy jostle/push fish, whales, etc... or does it harmlessly pass through them?

[Assistant]
The energy of a tsunami starts out as volume of water displacing a very small amount vertically. This is different from a normal wave which is a surface phenomenon. In a surface wave the water that goes up in one place is compensated for by water that goes down right next to it. But in a tsunami most or all of the water from the floor to the surface is displaced a small amount as the wave travels. But this can be a very small amount in the open ocean and probably doesn't cause any damage.

As the wave approaches shallower water the energy of the displaced water has less water to displace and so ends up displacing the water by a larger distance to make up for the smaller vertical volume of water available. By the time you see the wave from the shore the water is moving quite a bit, causing a lot of damage to the floor.

If you ever see video of a tsunami hitting the shore, one thing you notice is that unlike a regular wave that sort of hits and slides back, the tsunami just keeps coming and coming and the water just moves on up the shore. That is because a regular wave is water on the surface moving up and down until there isn't any water to move, which causes the last little bit to essentially fall over, washing up to the shore, but with a tsunami there is actually a large volume of extra water in a bump on the surface. This water hits the shore and all of the energy dissipates and the water behind it keeps pushing it further and further up the shore.


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

[User]
[Stargate (all?)] How exactly do the stargates "work" at the practical level?

My s/o has had me watching SG: Atlantis recently, since I could not be arsed to get through all of SG-1. I've seen a fair few seasons of SG-1 already, plus of course the film, if that has any bearing. I don't mind necessary spoilers for explaining points, just try to steer clear of huge arc- or reveal-type spoilers if possible.

We've been idly (and occasionally more fervently) discussing and debating the specifics of what's plausible but just "more advanced tech" (such as various naquada-based effects just being akin to "more potent uranium", unless I'm terribly mistaken) and what's literally hand-waved "the Ancients did it"-type magic that is made to appear like tech.

One of the early episodes in SG:A features a conundrum related to their stargate's operation, re: getting stuck mid-transit. Now, I recall SG-1 and so on already revealed that anythin stuck halfways across the event horizon when the gate powers down gets cut off (at the molecular/atomic level?). But how exactly, point by point, does gate-transit work?

As far as I know, the event horizon has some properties that allows them to open gates into e.g. hard vacuum without the air from their end rushing through the wormhole, and it generally acts like a "wormhole-based fax-machine", not totally unlike the basic idea behind Crichton's *Timeline* transporters, right?

The above-mentioned SG:A episode mentions that the gate only transmits "discrete entities" (as opposed to acting like e.g. the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Gun, where travel is instantaneous and the affected surfaces are just made spatially interchangeable). But what does this actually work? I think my main question is:

- How does the stargate "know" what a "discrete entity" is?

I've some basic understanding of hard sciences, but it just seems so baffling that the gates can "sense" what a discrete entity is, and how it avoids e.g. leaving vacuum in people's internal cavities when they're transported. Like, how is the differentiation between each "entity" handled, physically speaking? Does it act like modern image-manipulation software, where "contrast tendencies" between molecules or something is used to define an outline, akin to how Photoshop can approximate shapes in a complex image?

Of course there's a lot of "the Ancients just made *that* advanced tech" involved, but the physical possibility of differentiating between "entities" feels off, including the plot-convenient transit of whatever gear you're wearing and whatever air you're containing, despite all of that technically being separate entities or non-entities.

[Assistant]
SG-2's Science Officer reporting in.

When the Stargate activates, it creates the unstable vortex, colloquially known as the "Kawoosh". This has 2 purposes:

First, it disperses the excess energy used to establish the wormhole. This is the primary reason.

The other reason for this is the clear the area immediately in front of the gate so the gate can determine baseline environmental conditions. It uses this to determine how much force to exert outward to prevent atmosphere/water/vacuum from entering the wormhole.

In effect, it creates a weak force field at the event horizon.

With sufficient force (generally very little), objects can enter the event horizon. When objects are partially through it, the gate can detect the disruption to the field at that point. When the object has passed through completely, there is no longer a disruption to the field locally and the gate instead senses normal environmental conditions. This is how the gate knows to send data.


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

[User] [Captain Planet] Where did he come from?

[Assistant]
> Our world is in peril. Gaia, the spirit of the Earth, can no longer stand the terrible destruction plaguing our planet. She gives five magic rings to five special young people. [...] With the five powers combined they summon earth's greatest champion - CAPTAIN PLANET!

That's really all there is to it. Captain Planet is a physical manifestation of the five elements that make up our world - Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, and Heart. The elements are focused through the rings, and when they combine they form into Earth's hero.

It should be noted that the Captain can actually be partially formed with a few of the elements in certain circumstances. At a minimum, he seems to need Earth to give him form and Heart to give him spirit. His other powers are linked to the other elements - for example, without Wind he can't fly.


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

[User]
[Game of Thrones Novels] Youre a peasant who finds a stack of ancient Gold Bars. The stack is as large as a Walmart. How can you cash in without people simply killing you and stealing it?

youre a peasant.  no royalty or nobleman.

how can you actually get credit for the gold without simply getting murdered?

[Assistant]
Take one or two bars first. Go to a major city, pretend to be an investor from far away who moved here and wants to buy a business. Exchange your gold bar for a small business.

Over the next few years, take occasional trips to your stash, alone and disguised. Bring back a few at a time.

Buy a gold smelting kit (gold melts pretty easily, it is not too complicated a setup), and melt the new bars into more generic gold bars or trinkets.

Pretend that you earned all the gold through your business. Bu more stores and businesses so it's impossible for someone to track exactly where your money is coming from.

Do this for several years, expand your "business" empire and become the richest man in the city. To any observer you will seem like a shrewd businessman who made a fortune by investing into a variety of businesses.


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

[User] Where did all the sand in the Sahara Desert come from?

[Assistant]
The sand is primarily derived from weathering of Cretaceous sandstones in North Africa. When these sandstones were deposited in the Cretaceous, the area where they are now was a shallow sea. The original source of the sand was the large mountain ranges that still exist in the central part of the Sahara. These mountains are volcanic and intrusive, and the granite rock weathers out to leave behind quartz sand grains that are carried by rivers to the sea. These sand deposits eventually formed into sandstone, and as they were uplifted began to weather and break down into sand again.

Only about 10% of the Sahara is actually covered by sand, and parts of the Sahara are in fact covered by soil. More than half of the area comprises soils known as yermosols, with shallow profiles over gravel or pebble beds. These soils have been developing over the past 50 million years.


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

[User] ELI5: When someone has hemorrhoids, what keeps fecal matter from entering the bloodstream, potentially causing infection?

[Assistant]
For the most part, your fecal matter isn't particularly dangerous to you.  Yes, you generally don't want the stuff that's in there to go anywhere but the toilet, but the real fear behind fecal contamination is that OTHER people's poop is very bad for you.  Additionally, poop is very attractive to bacteria and is a great host for growth.  Just like if you leave cooked food out, poop will grow bacteria that is all around us and make it get to unhealthy levels.

This in addition to other factors like positive pressure, and the simple fact that it DOES enter the bloodstream sometimes, but your body is constantly fighting off bacteria that you may not even realize.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Do slaves on Tatooine really have explosives in their bodies preventing them from leaving the planet?

[Assistant]
The Disney continuity seems to treat them as implicitly true via Anakin's line in Episode One; the Expanded Universe showed us more of them explicitly. They were simply referred to "slave tracking devices"; despite the name, they did not actively track the slave's exact location.

Implantation, from what little we saw of it, was a relatively quick and simple process - not requiring an extended surgery or anesthetic to prevent overwhelming pain. It may have been carried out by inserting an intact chip via hypodermic implant, similar to how livestock are given RFID chips today.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do monitors use red green and blue pixels, rather than red green and violet?

It seems to me you could produce a wider gamut of colors if you used a violet subpixel rather than blue. Since our eyes can see at wavelengths below blue, by using a blue subpixel there exist colors of shorter wavelenths that simply can't be reproduced on a display.

Violet is a truly stunning color, and can't be displayed on a monitor. The closest approximation you can get is some hues of "purple" which really aren't anything close to true violet.

[Assistant] When they originally started developing color monitors and TV's, there did not exist a mass produceable phosphor that produced a violet color.  So color TVs used blue.  Broadcasts used data streams for red green and blue colors and so storage media (like VCR tapes) also stored RGB data.  If we were to introduce a violet pixel now instead of blue , you could color convert the r-b data into r-v data, but you would still be missing the deep violets that you want since that color wasn't stored in the original media.  If you wanted to develop this you would need to develop monitors that had a violet pixel instead of blue, cameras that recorded the violet color and storage media that could store it (although todays hard drives are pretty agnostic as far as that goes, so thats a minor issue).  So yes, you could do it but you would need to replace all of the infrastructure that now exists, so it would probably remain a niche market like all the things for "audiophiles" but in this case would be for "videophiles"


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

[User] If inflamation is a response of our immune system, why do we suppress it? Isn't it like telling our immune system to take it down a notch?

[Assistant] There are two reasons, one was covered here in the comments, that the inflamation is often an over reaction and your symptoms are a result of the response more so then the pathogen. The other reason is that inflammation can also cause serious problems. The recruitment of the immune cells and the activation of T cells that results in even more cytokines and a stronger response could have lasting  damages. it could results in unwanted response to our own cells (Most autoimmune diseases are associated with chronic inflammation) and it could lead to increase mutation rate in healthy cells (yes, cancer is also associated with chronic inflammation).


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

[User] ELI5: If I was safely floating through space in a spacesuit, and a Star Destroyer closely passed by me going 99% the speed of light, would I even notice it?

[Assistant]
It depends. If we consider it to be a perfect vacuum and the ship was just cruising through space, then probably not. However there are some other issues to consider.

If it isn't a perfect vacuum then the ship will need to push oncoming particulate out of the way or smash into it. Either way is likely to result in a sudden burst of high energy particles blasting at and likely through you. This might be noticeable as a flash in your retina, or depending on dosage maybe even heat. The suit radiation sensors would probably have a fit.


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

[User]
Why was Caesium picked to define the second on?

What's special about Caesium?

Wouldn't it make more sense to define the second based on an element more abundant and commonly found around the universe? (Hydrogen, Helium, Carbon - easily found on/in the person who needs it)

[Assistant]
In a nutshell, reproducibility.

Standards need to be reproducible, so that any lab anywhere can re-create the standard on their own. Caesium has a few properties regarding its hyperfine transition that give it advantages over other elements. Additionally, nearly 100% of the caesium found in nature is a single isotope, which nearly eliminates isotopic purity concerns.


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

[User] ELI5: How is closed-source software possible? What prevents the computer from showing me all the lines of code that it runs?

[Assistant]
The lines of code aren't what runs on the computer. Your computer only understands binary commands.

Human readable code is translated by a compiler into machine code wich is just a very long list of basic instructions. (Basic math, jump to line, compare numbers, read/write memory cell X)

You can reverse that, but the result is usually incomprehensible. And it can be deliberately made harder with obfuscation. (Helpful comments are also lost)

It's a bit like trying to reverse engineer a recipe from a finished cake. Ingredients are possible. Instructions are basically lost.


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

[User] ELI5 Why are some words, like "mama and papa", similar in many languages?

[Assistant] Apparently it has to do with the fact that M and P are two of the easiest phonemes the human mouth can produce, as well as the phonem A. That make both of those words two of the easiest sound combinations a human baby can pronounce, therefore, really common words that, being some of the first said at such an early age, can be related to parenthood.


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

[User]
[Cowboy Bebop] Where did Faye learn how to fight so well?

She wakes up at age 20 with no memory about her life or knowledge of how the world has developed for the past fifty years. By 23, she can hold her own alongside Spike and Jet at shooting, zip-craft piloting, and unarmed combat, and she's a professional card shark to boot. Where did she learn how to do all this cool shit? And how did she do it so quickly?

[Assistant]
A slight re-evaluation of her situation post-coma will reveal the answer: Faye had to climb up from the absolute-bottom of then-contemporary society, surviving and outwitting every dreg and abuser with eyes only for her body. The fact that she *did* manage to break through into some semblance of freedom and autonomy implies that she took self-defense, marksmanship, and cunning incredibly seriously. If she hadnt she wouldnt be where we find her.

(Basically, the anthropic principle, but specifically for Faye.)


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] What is the conversion rate between muggle money and wizard money?

A thought struck me, how do muggle born children like Hermione buy their books and school supplies for Hogwarts?

[Assistant]
I'll tell you what it is, for anyone who can move between the Muggle and Wizard worlds: an opportunity to make a *killing*, thanks to a magical power few wizards have ever mastered: the power of commodities trading.

One Galleon is worth exactly 17 Sickles; or, to be a bit more precise, one Galleon's worth of gold is worth exactly 17 Sickles worth of silver. No more, no less. Many wizards assume this is the same as in muggle currency, where, for example, one dollar is worth exactly 100 cents. But there is a key difference. Muggle money, in and of itself, is worthless; it is a medium of exchange, but has no value on its own. Gold and silver, on the other hand, *do* have their own value, and in the muggle world, they are independent of each other. On one day, one Galleon's worth of gold might be worth 17 Sickle's worth of silver; on another, it might be worth 16, or 18, or 20.

So what does this mean for the enterprising witch or wizard? Well, one could walk into Gringotts with 10 Galleons, and ask for change; the goblins there are perfectly happy to provide 170 Sickles in exchange. The wizard could then stroll out of the Leaky Cauldron into the muggle world, and sell the Sickles for *11 Galleons* worth of gold. Or perhaps he sold 150 Sickles for 10 Galleons. Either way, our witch or wizard made a tidy profit with nothing but a little buying and selling. No trickery necessary. And what should he or she do with her profit? Why, turn right around and do it again.


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

[User]
ELI5: What happens when you melt a magnet.

I know that even if you keep cutting a magnet in half, there is still a north and a south pole. What I was wondering was, what happens when you melt a magnet? Does it become non-magnetic, or does each little molecule in the liquid each have their own poles.

EDIT:**poles** not piles.... Can't believe I didn't catch that.

[Assistant]
LI5: The magnet will stop behaving magnetically once it hits a certain temperature (sort of). Then it'll simply behave like a piece of metal and melt

LI20: Let me know if there is interests, not typing an explanation for the hell of it, though it's not extremely complicated.


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

[User] [Marvel] Has Logan even been shown to have conscious control of his powers? For example, suppressing his healing factor temporarily to prevent giving himself away or speeding up the healing of one part of his body over another when he suffers massive trauma?

[Assistant] He has no control of it, otherwise he'd be wasted 24/7 because the guy's an alcoholic. Also there was that one time he was infiltrating Hydra and he was caught because his beard kept growing out within the space of an hour.


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

[User] [Star Trek] I'm just a low-tier security officer, but my buddies and I are seriously starting to wonder why the highest-ranking crew members keep going on all the dangerous away missions. Isn't that our job?

[Assistant]
You think Security should make the first contact with new civilizations? That's what the Captain is for. You think Security should investigate strange phenomena? That's the Science Officers job. You think Security should take on the unknown disease that wiped out a spaceship? That's what the Medical Officer is for.

When they need to fight, they're gonna take Security along, don't worry.


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

[User]
What happens if you place Medusa's (decapitated) head face to face with a Weeping Angel from Doctor Who?

and then blink/turn away?

[Assistant] The weeping angel would be turned to stone, permanently. Despite what other people are saying, Medusa's gaze does not turn people to stone. That is the Basilisk's power. No, gazing *upon* the Gorgon's horrifyingly ugly face is what turns people to stone. As soon as the Angel saw Medusa's face, it would turn into a stone.


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

[User]
[Marvel: Wolverine Goes to Hell] Whats up with hell?

So i just read Wolverine goes to hell, and I'm a little confused.  Where is Mephistopheles?  Why is this hell so different than its other depictions in 616?

[Assistant] There are many dimensions of "Hell" in the Marvel universe, each ruled by a different "devil". So Mephisto has his own hell, just as Dormammu or Marduk Kurios have their own realm. Wolverine might of have gone to a realm that doesn't belong to Mehpisto.


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

[User] eli5: What about the taste of wine actually gets better with age? Articles online describe flavor can improve over time, but not what about the flavor changes.

[Assistant]
It depends on the wine, but generally red wines get less sharp and lessgrape-juicy. They can develop undertones of earth, berries, nuts, truffle, etc. These flavors exist in younger versions of the wine, but they can be less pronounced and harder to find in a younger wine. Again, it really depends on the particular wine in question. Some wines age and dont really change all that much or even taste worse, but that also depends on how they are produced and ultimately storedand on the drinkers preferences.

Flavor in general is a delicate thing, not just in wine.


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

[User]
ELI5: how do they monitor speed by aircraft on highways?

I did a lot of driving recently and saw this sign frequently that says something like Speed Enforced by Aircraft.  How does that work?

[Assistant]
There are marks painted on the pavement a known distance apart. The vehicle in question is timed from when it crosses one mark until it crosses the next mark. Divide the distance between marks by the time measured and you get speed.

Then they radio down the details.


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

[User] If the universe was formed in a single event, why isn't it homogeneous? As in, why do stars and planets have vastly different compositions if they originated from the same point?

[Assistant]
The leading theory is that during the period of cosmic inflation, in which the universe expanded much faster than the speed of light, quantum mechanical fluctuations were collapsed and then magnified as they expanded, which lead to the fluctuations that caused galaxies and the like.

Planets and stars have different compositions because they did not originate from the same point. The first generation of stars would have all had the same composition, but once they fused heavier elements (up to iron and heavier in big star collapses) and then supernova'd them into the universe, new stars formed from their remains and so have different compositions.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does our saliva taste different when we are down with illness?

Like a cold or fever.

[Assistant] Usually you are dehydrated and have more mucus than usual which will taste different. Also if your nose is stuffed, your smell ability is different. If you have a bacterial infection, there will be an odor from bacteria. And finally, antibiotics and other medicines can give you a strange taste in your mouth.


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

[User] Assuming, as per mainstream consensus, the purpose of urine is to remove waste products from the body - why can't poop just do the entire job?

[Assistant]
> why can't poop just do the entire job?

It does, if you're a bird. Birds eliminate everything through the same hole. But still, they do have kidneys that produce something similar to urine. So, in reality, they just mix it all up, then eliminate the result.

The real reason is that these are two different processes. Fecal matter is the waste product of digestion. It's what comes out the other end of the digestive tube. Urine is the waste product of cellular metabolism throughout your whole body, and it's produced when blood is filtered by kidneys. These are very different things, and of course the results are different.


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

[User]
Quantum fluctuations after big bang?

I was just wondering what the actual mechanism of these "quantum fluctuations" that ive read about are. As i am understood they are some how responsible for fluctuations in particle density in the very early universe which caused stars, galaxies etc. to form, and i was just curious what they actually are. Thank you.

[Assistant]
Have you heard of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle? This is the idea that, on extremely small scales, smaller even than atoms, you can't measure things like distance and velocity with exact precision. Actually, the statement is you can't measure *both* of those precisely - the more accurately you measure some particle's position, the less accurately you know how fast it was moving, and vice versa.

You'll usually hear this phrased in terms of position and velocity, but it's a much more general principle of *quantum mechanics*. In quantum mechanics, all sorts of things are subject to uncertainty. When we talk about quantum fluctuations, we're referring to the randomness inherent in that.

In the case of quantum fluctuations after the Big Bang, we mean fluctuations in the *density* of the Universe. In particular, we mean in the density of a type of matter called the "inflaton" which dominated the Universe shortly after the Big Bang, during cosmic inflation. "Density" here means the energy density, how much energy inflatons have in some region of space. It turns out that energy has an uncertainty relation with time. That sounds a bit weird, but it means that the less time you use to make a measurement, the more uncertainty you'll have in your measurement of the energy.

The thing about cosmic inflation is that back then, the Universe was expanding on steroids. The expansion rate was *accelerating*, so that very small things quickly blew up to enormous sizes. Scales which were ruled by the strange laws of quantum mechanics became larger than the observable Universe in an instant.

So let's take some small region of space during inflation. After a very short period of time, it's suddenly of a cosmic size. The density of the patch of Universe contained in that cosmic size depends on the density of the inflaton when it blew up. But because this blow-up happened so quickly, the uncertainty principle tells us that there's uncertainty in what that density was. The actual value that nature picks is then up to random chance.

What you're left with, as you can imagine, is a bunch of regions of the Universe all with different values of the density. Inflation pushes these regions apart faster than light can reach them, so they lose contact. But after inflation ends (still only a fraction of a second after the Big Bang), they slow down and start to come back into contact with each other.

After a while, the observable Universe is made up mostly of gas, and contains a whole bunch of these regions, all with (slightly) differing densities. Eventually, in the denser regions, the gas is pulled together by gravity until it starts to collapse on itself, forming stars and galaxies. This is how quantum uncertainty in the very early Universe is thought to have lead to the cosmic structure we see today.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are local mechanics considered better than corporate? Couldn't a corporate car shop easily have great customer service/care if they wanted?

Jiffylube, Meinke, Midas, Pep Boys, etc are all shit in my experience. Wait time is disgusting and customer service is non-caring at best. Hell before I knew how to change oil myself this one time they forgot to refill it with oil. It's just honestly nothing less than pathetic in the dozen or so times I took my car to a big business.

However, with local mechanics I never have any problems. Price be damned they actually care for your car as if there's something on the line. I just don't understand why there isn't *one* corporate car chain that has consistently good reputation or seems to even try. Maybe AAA?

[Assistant]
Chains are considered mediocre but reliable & have a big corporation backing them if they fuck something up.  If they fuck something up, the manager doesn't care because giving you a freebie is just his job.

Private mechanics can be hit or miss and, if you have a dispute about a job or a bill, you're arguing with the owner who has to take the loss out of his own pocket.


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

[User]
[DC] What are the goals of the various Lantern Corps?

I generally understand the motivations of the Green Lantern Corps, Sinestro Corps, and Agent Orange; but never quite understood what motivates the Red, Blue, Indigo and Star Saphire Corps.

What are their end goals?

[Assistant]
Now keep in mind, the farther from green the color the more the ring is in charge, but:

Red - is focused on Rage but seems to be leaning toward righting injustices.  Rage against injustices being what motivates their founder (like the Guardians killing off a few planets worth of beings)  But rage tens to take over.

Blue - They bring hope, that's about it.

Indigo - These rings usually force themselves on psychopaths and force Compassion upon then.  Short of reforming some stone-cold killahs it's not clear what they do, although Abun Sur see,s to have something to do with their founding.

Star - The core of Love seemed to run about the galaxy saving people in love from perils.  But they have a cadre of Oan Females they all obey.


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

[User]
[Watchmen] Why aren't there more people like Dr. Manhattan?

He was turned into a semi-omnipotent being that won wars for the USA and was used as a living breathing nuclear deterrent, all through 'existing' technology (the intrinsic field chamber).

He wasn't special, he wasn't chosen, he was just a guy that got stuck in the chamber when the timer was almost done,
so why didn't the USA, who founded his research facility, tried creating  another super being they can more easily control, or at least someone to even him up if he started going crazy?

Or the USSR, for that matter. Or China, or any other country or powerful organization - we know the technology existed because Ozymandias had used some kind of intrinsic field to try stop him.

And while I'm at it, does that mean there's a blue hairless lynx that can control subatomic particles somewhere?

[Assistant] Jon Osterman was a watchmaker's son. From a very young age he had a complete understanding of time and mechanics and spent many hours disassembling and reassembling time pieces. His brain had been wired to do this so well he could do it blind folded and tell how many micro seconds a watch was off just by listening to it briefly. What happens after the accident could only be described as the quantum entanglement of his life force with what he held dear in this world; Janey. Using his knowledge to reassemble the parts, Jon Osterman slowly but surely reappears as Dr. Manhattan. Certainly, any one could have their intrinsic field removed and become vaporized, but not everyone had the understandings of time, physics, mechanics, and an emotional bond to this world.


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

[User]
[Game of Thrones] What difference would the Lannister army have made in the battle against the Wights and White Walkers?

Cersei puts down the wine and realises they all might die, finally sending her armies north to support Winterfell.

Bonus round 1: All the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros unite and ralliy at Winterfell/The North, bringing supplies and food from the South

Bonus round 2: The Free Cities of Essos, realising they might be next, try to play damage control in Westeros and help stop the undead invasion at Winterfell along with the united Seven Kingdoms. Night King doesn't fall for Bran's trap, can the Westeros-Essos coalition win on numbers alone?

[Assistant]
Considering the military feats Team Cersei pulled off in Season 7?

>!Instead of a dumb frontal charge like the Dothraki, the Golden Company cavalry goes on a deep flank and assassinates all the White Walker lieutenants watching from afar. Euron shows up with the Ironborn carrying the Iron Fleet ships 200 miles inland where they spit jets of Wildfire Byzantine-style, consuming the Dead in a green flame. When the Night King arrives on Viserion, Qyburn launches Gregor out of a trebuchet and he cleaves Viserion clean in two with a giant Valyrian steel greatsword forged from Red Rain, Nightfall, and Lady Forlorn. The Night King falls hundreds of feet and does a superhero landing, but he turns around and Euron lops his head off with a giant Valyrian axe. Then Euron pulls the Night King's pants down and mocks the size of his member.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do I have bladder shyness?

Just can't get a stream going in front or around others. Not ashamed of my dick size, people have walked in on me changing or peeing before and I don't freak out, but in front of others peeing is nearly impossible.

[Assistant] when you are nervous, stress causes your adrenaline glands to secrete adrenaline, creating fight or flight mode. During this mode, your body gets ready for the situation by tightening up the urethra so that you don't accidentally wet yourself in times of crisis. Ergo, cant pee cause your unknowingly nervous.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does salt water help your gums heal after a deep periodontal cleaning?

[Assistant]
Osmosis. During a deep periodontal cleaning, the water jet blasts lots of bacteria and other debris off your teeth and into your gums, creating lots of micro-abrasions in the process.

Salt water creates negative osmotic pressure, which draws water from your blood and lymph fluids through those micro-abrasions and cleans all the junk out of them. Clean wounds heal faster.


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

[User]
[Fallout New Vegas] Does Mr House plan on eventually having peaceful relationships with both the NCR and the Legion, or does he think he can defend his territories against them?

It would be ideal for him to be on at least neutral terms with both groups, but he made an enemy of both of them after he took Hoover Dam. It's very likely both groups will attempt counterattacks in the future.

[Assistant]
House thinks that he, a pre-War genius, can play off these post-apocalyptic tribals easily. He controls the water from Lake Mead and the electricity from Hoover Dam, giving him unparalleled negotiating power against the NCR, and he dangles the threat of the Legion in front of them, offering himself as a buffer state between the NCR heartlands and the savage Legion. His idea of a peaceful relationship with the NCR is economic warfare, wringing out concessions with his clean water and plentiful energy, taking in NCR money through its rich tourists, and wooing them and the best and brightest to his side until he gets what he wants.

Meanwhile, he sees Caesar's Legion as a big threat to the NCR... but as an entity he can manipulate or have few concerns about due to his technological advantage over them. With his upgraded Securitrons, he has such a material advantage in warfare compared to the inferior tribals that they represent little concern to him. Especially because if there is a war, the NCR will be forced to deploy on his side and provide meat shields for his robots since the NCR can not afford Lake Mead or Hoover Dam being ceded to the Legion. His biggest worry is that Caesar will die and that the Legion will implode, galvanizing the NCR to rebel against his wishes.

And most importantly, House thinks that this is the only option. He does not really consider that people will go against his plans, that he has underestimated his foes, or that he has overestimated himself, because he thinks he's the smartest man in the room every time.


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

[User]
Will a solid eventually "evaporate" given sufficient time, like a liquid sitting at room temperature will?

I know that the molecules in, for example, room temperature water all have different energies. Some of the particles have enough energy to escape the liquid and phase change into vapour causing the overall mass of the liquid to decrease. Does this also occur with solids, albeit at a dramatically reduced rate? Do solids even have molecules at different energies in the same way liquids do?

[Assistant] Yes.  Solids also have nonzero vapor pressures and evaporate (this process is called sublimation).  One example of this can be found in your freezer: ice sublimes easily, so you can probably find "corroded" looking ice cubes and ice crystals/frost that have redeposited elsewhere in the freezer.


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

[User] Eli5: How can YouTubers afford to bend, blend and burn expensive electronic devices?

[Assistant]
A good rule of thumb for Youtube is that 1 million views = $1000. If a phone costs $600, then you only need to get 600,000 views to make your money back.

Many of the drop-test style channels get millions of views, meaning that they make several times that in profit.

The smart ones will also fix the screen and case themselves ($150 ish), and resell the phone as a used product for another $300 profit.

I imagine that companies like Apple probably give a number of handsets out for free for the exact purpose of these videos too. Also some of these videos are done using defective/broken phones.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why game consoles (e.g. ps4, xbox) are not designed to be used also as a PC?

They have powerful hardware... if they could run windows or linux, people would have more incentives to buy them.

[Assistant]
Sony and Microsoft actually *lose* money when you buy a PS4 or Xbox One. Quite a bit of it. They only sell the machines to encourage people to buy the games. The games are what makes them money.

If they let you use the PS4 or Xbox One as an ordinary PC, then people might buy them to use as ordinary PCs, rather than games machines. That would cost Sony/MS money.


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

[User]
[Death Note] Is it possible to kill people indirectly through the Death Note?

Say you want to take out an entire criminal organization. You write:

 "Joaquin Guzman gathers all his guns and methodically kills every single high ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel after calling a massive meeting to get those he will kill in the same room. He survives every bullet wound until he kills himself 24 hours later in front of the Supreme Court."

Would it work?

[Assistant] No. Rule 10.2 of the Death Note states that "Whether the cause of the individual's death is either a suicide or accident, if the death leads to the death of more than the intended, the person will simply die of a heart attack. This is to ensure that other lives are not influenced".


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

[User]
[MCU] If the Infinity Stones did not exist or were otherwise inaccessible did Thanos have any other options available to him for achieving his goal of balancing the universe?

The universe is a big place. So big that that Mad Titan realised he had to make long term plans to acquire the Infinity Stones in order to realise his vision of halving the population of the universe within a reasonable timeframe. Now, if the Infinity Stones had not been an option for him then were there any other practical means available to Thanos or would he be doomed to an endless and practically impossible objective by doing things with his armies the hard way?

[Assistant] I think that Thanos was hoping Gamora would eventually see the Mad Titan's logic and, once Thanos died, take his place. Thanos could never bring balance on a universal scale without the Infinity Stones. Thanos' only hope would be that his teachings would be passed down by Gamora and the rest of Thanos' children, who would carry on their father's mission to the best of their ability.