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

[User] ELI5 why is the German state of north Rhine westphalia so largely populated? are there any agricultural or climate factors as to why it's as populated as it is,?

[Assistant]
Several reasons actually.

1. From 12 thousand coal miners in the mid 19th century, the region grew to 400 thousand coal miners in the early 20th century. It's a lot easier to build factory right next to where the coal is, so that's where a lot of cities that grew in size as industry grew, jobs were created and this attracted people from the rural area. Coal in that area was also very close to the surface, making it a lot easier to find and to exploit.
2. Rivers always played a big role in trading and this region have a lot of them, especially two big ones. The industrial region is called the Rhine-Ruhr for a reason, as those two rivers cross right in the middle of a dozen of big towns and cities. The Rhine especially is one of the biggest river for commerce in the region and finish in the Netherland where you can find the biggest trading port of Europe, Rotterdam. The rivers and coal are also the reason why the low countries are so densely populated.
3. The Sauerland and the Bergisches land are two hilly region just South-East of the the State. There is Iron mines there, but of low quality. That said, the hilly nature of the geography meant that these region had a lot of rivers with high water power. These made them very useful for some industries like metallurgy and textiles.
4. A bit more south of the Sauerland is the Siegerland, which is at the border of the State. This is a more mountainous region and here you can find a lot of high quality iron mines. So the iron was mined there, then it was transported along the rivers to the Sauerland and Bergisches land region for processing, then transported again via the rivers to the Rhine-Ruhr region where all the industry could use the iron.

The region had some decent agricultural land, but this isn't the reason why it's more densely population. Region with a lot of Arable land tend to be less populated. North-Rhine Westphalia is the German State that import the most food.


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

[User] ELI5:Why do people hate DLC so much?

[Assistant]
People have nothing against dlc. Remember fallout 3? No one bitched about those.

Problem are day 1 dlc. Preorder dlc. That means it's jsut a cash grab. Because the dev developed dlc alongside the game, so you actually get a game with "cut" content presented as paid dlc.

If the dlc comes after the release you don't feel cheated like that. Blame publishers for it.


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

[User] The joker gets the one ring. What happens?

[Assistant]
It corrupts him as it would anyone else, the ring would convince him that he could mess with batman allot more if he used the ring.

Really his insanity probably makes him more susceptible to the rings power.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do so many old displays/indicators particularly use red lights? Are/Were white diodes harder to create?

[Assistant] Yes, the red LED came first in 1962, then the green, and some yellow-ish colors. The blue wasnt invented until the 1990s, and it won the guys who did it a Nobel prize in physics. White LEDs are related to blue. In fact, most red LEDs now are made like blue ones, not the original technique, so you dont really see the ruby-red look anymore anyway.


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

[User]
How can "c" be in m/s if the meter is defined by c?

How can light speed be defined by distance over time, if the units for distance are defined by the speed of light?

I'm asking because I read that the meter is now defined as the distance light travels in some ridiculously short time.

[Assistant] Its not;, the speed of light has units of m/s where, currently, the second is defined by periods of radiation in a Cesium isotope and the meter is defined as " length of the path traveled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299792458 of a second". So a meter is whatever distance gives the value that we define as the speed of light.


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

[User]
What would happen if you froze water that had an electrical current running through it?

Also, to avoid creating another post;

Can you add an electrical charge to water vapor? Is there a limit?

[Assistant] Everything is technically conductive, the only thing that changes is the degree.  (Metals have a conductivity around 10^6 S/m, for example; Deionized water has a conductivity around 10^-6 S/m.)  Passing current through the water will heat it up; as long as you can remove heat from the water faster than the current can add it, though, the water will freeze normally.  Once the water is frozen, it'll still have current passing through it, but quite a bit less unless you increase the voltage to compensate.


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

[User]
How cold would a pint of ice cream have to be for it to become a caloric deficit when after eating it?

Let's say I'm 125lbs (57kg)

[Assistant]
Your weight doesn't matter, all that maters is the calories per gram of ice cream.

According to google, a 66g serving of ice cream contains 127 Calories, also known as 127 kilocalories, or about 2000 calories per gram. Assuming that the ice cream has the same specific heat as ice, this would bring us to about .5 calories per degree per gram. This means that to overcome the calorie deficit, we would need to warm the ice cream by 4000 degrees C or K.

Notably, body temperature is at 310 K, so even if the ice cream were cooled to absolute zero, you would still metabolize much more energy by eating it than you would lose by warming it up.


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

[User]
[One Punch Man] Could Saitama somehow handicap himself to give him a challenge again?

Inspired by another question, the general consensus was that he doesn't go easy on opponents because that wouldn't be fun. It'd be like, to quote one of the answers, solving puzzles made for kids.

However, couldn't he do something like Zaraki from Bleach, where instead of going easy he just makes his own rules to follow, so that winning within the constraints of these new rules is the challenge, rather than the opponent who definitely stands no chance. Like solving a rubix cube blindfolded when you already know you can beat the world record.

[Assistant]
He does handicap himself: He's pulling his punches constantly. A Serious Punch split clouds and redirected a planet buster (and he was *still* holding back!)

Turns out even handicapped Saitama is too much for anyone.


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

[User]
[Fallout 4] How did the people of the Commonwealth get so good at discovering synths?

 I just came across a group of 3 people in the north eastern part of the Commonwealth. They were threatening to kill what seemed to be a synth who had infiltrated them for weeks. I, being the benevolent savior of Boston that I am talked them out of such a heinous act.

 Buuut curiosity got the better of me and one quick save later it turns out they were right! Jules had a synth component on him! It got me thinking. Most of the time when an accusation of a synth took place they were, more often than not, right with the Mayor and the Caravan leader's daughter being prime examples.

 So how can the people of the Commonwealth tell that their loved one has been replaced by a synth considering the difference the technology invested in the Institute?

The closest thing would be the Covenant who have a test of sorts but they've even said it's still under development so they can't have given out to the public. Also, honestly the test itself is just the S.P.E.C.I.A.L test from fallout 3 which puts an even bigger shadow on it's validity.

[Assistant]
We really don't know if they're that good at it.

Sure, that one group was right, but how many were there that were wrong? For every real synth there are who knows how many innocents killed for being suspected of being a synth.

Not to mention people are already super paranoid, so any sort of unusual behavior will set people off and make them think "synth!"

And the Covenant test is garbage. For every synth they find there are three normal people who get a false positive. And we have no idea how many synths managed to pass the test. So it's actually worse than just flipping a coin.


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

[User] ELI5: Social security numbers represent everyone in America with only 9 digits, yet every single account I have - cable, phone, gas, etc. - has at least 12 digits. What purpose do the extra digits serve?

[Assistant] Ability to parse data specific to a region, segment, type, etc.  Utility for instance might want to segregate commercial from residential, service areas and other business needs.  Having these identifiers in the account number allows data to be sorted quickly and accurately.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do we never see any of the thousands of satellites when we see images of Earth?

[Assistant]
Because they are tiny.

Remember that when you see an image of Earth, it's about 8,000 miles across. A satellite is about the size of a car. So, really, it's the same reason that when you see a satellite image of the United States you can't see any people.


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

[User] CMV: A congressman shouldn't be able to head a committee unless he has the appropriate degree or experience in that field.

[Assistant]
There are three problems with this view:

1) This standard would mean that unless you had the proper experts in the respective houses, you could never staff the committees.

If it just so happens that you don't have enough degrees in climate science in the senate, maybe you don't have discussions in the Senate about climate change.  Not enough veterans?  No Armed Services Committee.

2) It invites ideological polarization.

How many defense projects will be cut by an Appropriations Committee composed entirely of former generals?  How many financially unfeasible measures to combat global warming will be approved by a committee of climate scientists with no financial management experience?  Depending on how you define proper expertise, you're really inviting a one-dimensional view of any given field.

3) It introduces a political gatekeeper.

Whenever we have some sort of standard that defines who can participate and in what capacity, that standard becomes a point of fierce contention that undermines the democratic process.  An example would be gerrymandering: some of the hardest fights in government are over how we determine districts.  Those district boundaries are often more important than actual decisions or political platforms, so political parties will fight to establish advantageous borders.  A very similar fight would probably spring up around the continually evolving standard of what constitutes experience or expertise in a given field.  Parties will fight to establish standards that allow more of their own to occupy seats on committees, and in the end those standards may not really have anything to do with actual knowledge of the field.

It makes more sense to allow representatives to be advised by experts who know more than they do.


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

[User] [Watchmen] How might events have turned out differently if the USSR had been successful in creating their own version of Doctor Manhattan?

[Assistant] Maybe Comrade Manhattan does some damage for a little while, destroys a few citizens and whatnot. But at the end of the day he suffers the same fate as Dr. Manhattan. He gets a God complex and distances himself from humanity.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does having water dumped on your head make you lose your breath?

[Assistant]
It replicates the sensation of falling into a pool of water or the ocean and provokes an unconscious reaction to hold your breath because you will drown if you breath in the water.

This reaction can also be seen in babies. When people say "babies can swim", what actually happens is when the baby goes into the water, they hold their breath until they resurface and are able to breath.

In evolutionary terms if you fall in some water and continue breathing, you will drown. People who developed this reaction survived to pass on their genes.


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

[User]
[Elder Scrolls] Which of the provinces offers the highest standard of life?

Which province offers the best, highest standard of life ie Healthcare, Religious Tolerance, Social, Economic etc etc.

[Assistant] Cyrodiil, it's the center of the Empire and the most cared after because of it. It's also fairly temperate in temperature so living there is comfortable as well. It has the Capitol of the Empire built around the white gold tower. It's also the center of trade of the Empire as well. It's the most protected by the Imperial army. It's generally the best place you'd want to live unless you had specific cultural concerns.


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

[User]
[Black Mirror] In Nosedive, are there any personnel who are outside the ratings system?

In a society like that, would there be people who can function as a part of society without ratings? People like royalty or public servants, maybe?

[Assistant]
People at the very top, and the very bottom, are essentially unaffected by the ratings system.

If you're incredibly wealthy to the point where you can afford anything you want and don't have to work, your rating doesn't really matter.  If you're content to work as a truck driver or whatever, you similarly don't have to give a fuck about it.

For the solidly middle class though, if your rating drops too low you'll lose your job, get evicted from your housing, and get ostracized by your former friends.


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

[User]
[ATLA] Why doesn't Azula break out of the ice when she's trapped by Katara?

In the finale, Katara encases both Azula and herself in ice, then melts it partially so she can chain up Azula. However, it should have been easy for her to escape. Zuko was able to blast apart the ice ball Katara trapped him in and even melted through a thick sheet of ice when he was underwater. And this was all done in a cold environment detrimental to firebending.

So why couldn't Azula break out when she was in the Fire Nation and had a massive power boost from Sozin's Comet? I would have expected her to blast apart the ice in an orb of blue fire, not be helplessly trapped and chained up.

[Assistant]
Reason 1: the instance you mention of Zuko being trapped by Katara didn't include Zuko being completely enclosed in ice, but just being inside of a big hollow ball of ice. We know this because Zuko has both the space and air to taunt Katara while being inside of the ball. This is very important since we know that both movement and breathing is very important in firebending, not being able to move at all or even breathe (like Azula when trapped by Katara) is a big problem for a firebender.

Reason 2: already mentioned by another user, Zuko spent more time dealing with firebending in cold weather, Iroh even reminds Zuko to rely on his breathing for heat before he goes to capture Aang in that episode, suggesting that Iroh also probably trained Zuko in cold weather firebending techniques. We know Azula is a prodigy but for all we know she never even went to the water tribes in her life, cold weather techniques may be unkown for her.

Reason 3: Azula wasn't in her prime at the moment, maybe she knew a way out of the situation but her state of mind didn't allow her to think of that.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is dust grey? When it settles it seems to be one homogeneous colour and texture.

I was under the impression that it was made up of a wide variety of different things from skin to dirt. Why does all dust look the same?

[Assistant]
Do you remember in school, when you mixed 5-6 different kinds of paint together? It becomes this mucky grey colour.

Dust is like that, lots of different colours all mixed up. But when you see it from a distance, it looks grey.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] I mugged someone for a few sickles in Knockturn Alley. Am I going to Azkaban? Is there a lower security wizard jail somewhere?

[Assistant] Nope! Off to Azkaban for you! The Wizarding World has some really outdated notions of justice, and apparently shoving anyone who has done a crime ever into the same prison is just how things are done.


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

[User] What are some natural experiments playing out during the pandemic that could lead to significant economic discovery?

[Assistant] Working from home. Lots of companies are getting their first glimpse at the effects of having a remote workforce. Unfortunately, it is happening in the middle of a global pandemic where productivity is going to take a hit and make it look less attractive than it really is.


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

[User]
[Halo] Did the covenant know about the flood before the events of Halo: ce?

In the opening of Halo 2, when the soon-to-be arbiter is on trial, the hierarchs confidently say that it wasnt a mistake to prioritize destroying the flood over the humans, and dont seem very surprised or unsettled by the revelation that their holy rings were infested with such an evil creature. Did they already know about the flood? Had they encountered them in other forerunner ruins at some point? Were the flood included in their legends of the great journey?

[Assistant] They knew about the flood from bits and pieces of the forerunner history they had uncovered. Not enough to understand how grave the threat was but enough to know that the flood was the proverbial demons to the forerunner gods. They didn't have much concrete evidence of them existing but were aware of them much like how we know the word for bear is lost to history since our ancestors were even afraid of saying it.


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

[User]
What is actually going on when you have a "crick" in your neck?

What is happening physiologically that causes that feeling of stiffness/soreness in one's neck?

[Assistant] Some of the muscles around the neck or shoulder area have become tight and shortened so that there is no longer enough space in the neck for the vertebrae to turn freely. There are endless different factors that can cause the muscles to shorten.


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

[User] eli5: What Exactly Is Happening When A Program On Your Computer Is "Not Responding?"

[Assistant]
Programs interact with the operating system using a "message queue". When you interact with a program (click the mouse, press a key) the OS sends a message to the program through the program's message queue. After the program handles the message, it responds to the OS saying the message was handled.

"Program not responding" happens when the OS is not receiving confirmation that the messages were handled. This can happen when the program is too busy to handle all the messages.

This shouldn't happen in a properly written program - the part of the program that handles the messages should be separate from the parts that do the heavy work, so if the program is busy it should still be responsive.


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

[User]
[Alien:Covanant] why are the colonists so eager explore an unknown environment obviously teeming with unknown life forms without helmets?

I really enjoy this franchise but this one thing messes it all up, this is the only sub that has a chance of filling the plot hole.

[Assistant]
This is set in a world where interplanetary colonists are a thing. We don't know how many times people have gone to planets and it's been fine.if there have been thousands of other colonies that have been fine then they wouldn't feel the same need to wear a helmet.

Also they have presumably have scans of the planet, the scans could give them a flase sense of security.

Also remember they are colonists not scientists, there goal is to live on that planet for the rest of there lives, that will inform there risk/reward decisions with the helmet.


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

[User] Eli5. Why are old paintings painstakingly restored, but other antiques lose their value when the patina is removed?

[Assistant]
As an antiques restorer,

most paintings need cleaning and often removal of the 'varnish' which was the last coat applied by the artist.

Because old varnishes had linseed oil as part of the formula, and linseed oil darkens when exposed to sunlight.

The point of the exercise is to return the painting to its original hues and appearance without removing the artist's brush work, and then to conserve or stabilize the painting in that condition.

When it comes to furniture and other objects, some of the 'patina' has been described as validating the item's passage through time and use.

So a restoration would include repairing damage, cleaning to a reasonable degree without disturbing the long term accumulation of wax, darkening oils, dirt and wear spots.

A restoration to the original as manufactured condition would remove the accumulation of all that evidence of the passage through time and present essentially what would be a new appearing thing much like a modern copy visually, which lowers the value of it as an antique.

And then there is the fake antiques biz, a whole level of artistry above mere copying an old design. And fun too. Depending on the ethics of sale.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does sex take so long? Why doesn't the male simply insert his penis, deliver the goods, and then withdraw? Why all this thrusting?

[Assistant] It's thought that it's a method to extract rival male's semen. The thrusting and deep penetration allows the penis to essentially scoop out the offending fluids, before he then deposits his own. This is also an explanation for the shape of the head of the penis.


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

[User] [Star Wars] What happens when the Death Star fires the Superlaser at a gas giant?

[Assistant] There are several competing forces at work. First lasers disperse rapidly in atmosphere. But given that it isn't trying to get through solid matter, it should be easier for the laser to reach the solid core of a gas giant. That core is a lot denser than that of a rocky world, requiring more energy to penetrate. But if it does manage to penetrate then the force of the explosion will be much greater. Chances are you'd obliterate the gas giant and have a much more powerful shockwave as a result of all the compressed gas. There is even the chance of igniting  a fusion reaction, causing the gas giant to burn like a star, if only temporarily.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why could retro cartridge-based games not save player data without a battery backup? Why do modern cartridge-based systems not let you do this as well?

I assume with retro systems there was some kinda tech limitation. But if the game data could be saved on the cartridge why could a small rewriteable section of the cart not allow player data to be saved on it that wouldn't require a battery? I know batteries are used to hold data in volatile memory on things like cartridges but yeah why could you not save to Non-volatile memory?

Furthermore with the advancements in storage and us now having SD cards the size of ones fingernail why cant player data be stored on a a Nintendo 3DS/Switch cart? (...I assume, I dont actually own either.)

[Assistant]
Technology like the Non-volatile memory in SDcards didn't exist yet, or at least not in a commercially viable form. If the classic NES was made today the system would contain either a hard drive, an SDcard slot, or a portion of non-volatile memory on the motherboard.

The Cartridges used on older systems like an Atari or Nintendo were ROMs. Read-Only-Memory

The chips were created at the factory without the ability to be modified so there was no way to store dynamic information on them.

To get around this cartridges would have a small amount of NVRAM (Non-Volatile Random Access Memory) that could store variables (like what level you are on, your life total, which weapons you unlocked, etc) even if the power was shut down.

NVRAM can only keep its contents if it has a constantly power source, which in the case of Nintendo games was a small watch battery inside the cartridge.

> Furthermore with the advancements in storage and us now having SD cards the size of ones fingernail why cant player data be stored on a a Nintendo 3DS/Switch cart?

They total could, they just don't :D

There is no reason that Nintendo couldn't use common SDCard technology to release video games for a portable system, other than they don't want to. Probably for anti-piracy reasons.


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

[User]
CMV: Quoting the amendments is not a valid deciding argument in a discussion about what laws should be.

I have seen in many CMV comments sections, highly upvoted comments where their entire point boils down to "but the x^th Amendment" (where x is usually the first or second). I do not believe this to be a valid argument when the entire point of the CMV is about what the laws *should* be. Yes, what the laws state now is relevant in the sense of gauging the difficulty to transitioning to ideal laws, but it isn't a counterargument to the validity of a new idea.

The amendments are, after all, merely some special laws. They have been added to, changed and some repealed, thus proving that they are not the be all and end all.

An analogy for my point would be if there were a discussion along the lines of "I believe that chess would be better if you could only castle on your queen's side" and somebody replied with "The rules state that you can castle on either side." Yes, they do say that. However, this is a discussion about what the rules should be, not what they currently are.

Similarly, "The x^th Amendment says y" is not a decisive argument when discussing what laws *should* be.

[Assistant] In the US all law must comply with the Constitution. If it violates the constitution it is not valid as a law. Therefore it is absolutely valid to quote that amendment and the rights it protects as a reason for the law to not be made. In other words if it violates the constitution it should not exist.


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

[User]
Is the shape and general make-up of sperm identical, or at least similar, amongst all sperm producing animals?

While watching a program on television documenting creepy sea creatures, they filmed a sea cucumber producing sperm in hopes of it finding eggs. I know the shape and make up of individual human sperm, I would assume it would be similar in chimpanzees (but maybe not?), but what about in animals such as sea cucumbers?

[Assistant]
Oh man, not even! For example, some species of fruit fly have sperm tat are multiple times longer than the fly itself. Some species have heterogeneous populations, some being incapable of fertilization but serving as 'blockers', some even being hunter killer sperm!

Check out Sperm Wars. It's a rad book.


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

[User]
What am I seeing when I look at fire?

What makes up the yellow/red/orange flames I see? I was told once they are excited photons?  Does the heat they emit correlate to the wave length of light they reflect into my eye.

[Assistant]
You are seeing soot that is hot enough that it is less dense than the air around it and therefore rises through it. The makeup of that soot changes depending on what you are burning, which is why some things burn different colors.

The reason something burns different colors has to do with how many energy levels the electron falls when it return from the excited state which was caused by the heat.

So yes, you are seeing photons, but explaining it that way is about as good as saying that you're seeing light. It's would be worse than telling someone that plants make food from the sun and not explaining anything passed that.


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

[User] [The Stand] Randall Flagg has established his Dominion in Las Vegas, acquired the nuclear stockpile at Indian Springs, and destroyed the burgeoning settlement at Boulder. What does Flaggs civilization resemble a decade hence, and what is day to day life like?

[Assistant]
The regime is harsh, but not fair.

You have the right to remain tortured for kicks.

Anything you can, think, or do, will be accountable in a court of Flagg, under the Justice, President, and God-King, Flagg.

If you wish to waive your rights, which you don't have, you may not be beaten before your crucifixion.

District Attorney Lloyd Henreid has a conviction rate of 100%.

Flagg has several kids, all jockeying for the role of successor.

Flagg doesn't seem to age though. He outlasts his kids. Several failed assassination attempts, several people *severely* "punished".

When he gets too old to plausibly still be alive, he fakes his death and assumes the mantle of which ever of his children looks most like him.

Then he repeats the cycle, going to war with any of the survivors in other countries.

Maybe there's a pocket of Buddhists, or Falun Gong who haven't seen the Randy Flagg way of life.

It's Flagg's way, or the high-way.

Guy rides the waves, and if the wave isn't about to crash, he keeps riding it.


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

[User]
Why do we continue to give high-stakes tests, especially when they are counter-productive to both students and professors?

While this may seem like a cringingly naive question to ask this, however, the consequences of colleges that continue to unquestioningly to give hair-pulling exams aren't. It becomes more costly to the school and to the student to retake a class and postpone their graduation date, and extensive grading of these exams take away research time from professors and graduate students trying to get their foot in the door, and not to mention that even the most well-motivated students can succumb to life-tragedies in their semsters that cause them to bomb the exam entirely, thereby repeating the first sentence.

[Assistant]
The language around high stakes testing didn't originate around finals, but rather achievement/qualifying exams like the SAT, ACT, and GRE.

Midterms and Finals in college courses are excellent assessments but not the totality of assessment. When paired with other forms of assessment and designed well, they offer a way to gauge student performance in one of the environments best suited to mitigate cheating.

For that reason, they are unlikely to ever go away.


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

[User]
What is the role of the default constructor and why do we need more than one constructor?

I still dont understand the idea behind constructors. What does the one that doesnt take any value do? And why do some other constructors less say, one takes two parameters and the other might take two parameters of the first one plus a third one.

[Assistant]
Say you have some default settings you want to apply for a given class. One way you can do that is create the class, then apply those settings in however many lines of code needed.  For example:

    Rectangle r = new Rectangle();
    r.setWidth(2);
    r.setHeight(4);

But what happens if you have that in multiple places? That's annoying! Better put it in the Rectangle class:

    public class Rectangle {
        // assume fields and setters are here
        public void init() {
            setWidth(2);
            setHeight(4);
        }
    }

Then you can do this everywhere, and your values are in one convenient place!

    Rectangle r = new Rectangle();
    r.init();

But wait, that's still an extra line of code that you have to remember to do. Bummer. Let's do a constructor instead!

    public class Rectangle {
        // assume fields and setters are here
        public Rectangle() {
            setWidth(2);
            setHeight(4);
        }
    }

Now you can create a rectangle with default values in one easy line.

    Rectangle r = new Rectangle();

One more step: let's say you want flexible values on creation, but you want to be absolutely sure that those values are provided. Make your class look like this instead:

    public class Rectangle {
        // assume fields and setters are here
        public Rectangle(int width, int height) {
            setWidth(width);
            setHeight(height);
        }
    }

That will work with this line of code:

    Rectangle r = new Rectangle(2, 4);

But this old line will not compile, because no constructor matches that signature (input parameter types, in this case (int, int))

    Rectangle r = new Rectangle();

If you have no constructor at all, the default is used at all times and you'll have all values set to null, 0, or 0.0 depending on the data type.

Hope that helps!


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

[User] ELI5: why do cats love lazer pointers so much?

[Assistant]
Cats generally play-hunt laser pointer dots because they are relatively similar, to a cat's brain, as a small red insect crawling on the ground.

Pretty much all play for cats is them mock-hunting in one way or another. Laser pointer dots are just similar enough to the things they actually hunt that it triggers the "oh, there's a bug, let's pounce on it" part of their brain and so they like playing with them.


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

[User]
Is there any way to determine the age of a person without knowing their date of birth?

Did a quick Google search, saw some ideas about dental analysis or carbon dating, but nothing very concrete. Does anyone know of any way to come up with a somewhat accurate determination of human age?

[Assistant]
In football (or soccer if you like) there has historically been a problem with players falsifying their ages so as to appear younger than they really are, particularly in countries with poor record-keeping.  The player benefits because if they're perceived as younger they're more likely to be signed by a better team and the national association benefits because they can field more experienced and physically more developed players in youth tournaments.

This was fairly widely known and suspected for a few fairly big-name players so after a few incidents of alleged fielding of overaged players in youth tournaments, particularly by African nations, FIFA introduced MRI scanning of the wrist at the Under-17 level, with the degree of bone fusion being used to determine player eligibility.  They say it's about 99% accurate and plenty of people have been caught out so far.

Anyway, it's a bit of a narrow application but it's what sprung to mind.


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

[User]
ELI5: If Butter is just churned Cream. Why does Cream go bad very quickly, but Butter lasts a long time?

Butter can sit out on the counter for ages. I've never actually seen butter go bad.

But Cream, if you leave that on the counter for a day or two it starts to smell.

[Assistant] When you churn cream, the butterfat separates from the buttermilk.  So the butter isn't all of the cream, just the butterfat part, with much less water content.  It's the buttermilk part that ferments.


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

[User]
Is there such a thing as a Union of Concerned Programmers?

When it became apparent that nuclear weapons might destroy mankind, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was started to educate the world and preferrably try to stop the whole thing.

When it dawned on earth scientists that antropogenic climate change _is_ destroying our human habitat, the Union of Concerned Scientists was formed to try and turn things around.

Are we as programmers organizing somewhere to stop Big Data, or poorly thought-out software in service of the public, or ill-secured software in general, or social networks hijacked for nudging whole nations, from fucking civil society up for good?

[Assistant]
Almost a year ago, Google shut down Google Plus. During this time, some kind of weird mistake happened that took YouTube down for several hours. The combined screaming of the general population was loud enough to get E.T.'s parents to come pick him up.

I guess people say they want good security but they don't want outages that are necessary to apply a great deal of these security fixes, many of which are not backwards compatible with less secure versions of the software for obvious reasons, so you can only go forward, and if you make a mistake, oh well. Shoddy security is going to be a problem so long as people continue to have unrealistic expectations about the availability of websites. Now maybe Google is a bad example because they can clearly manage it just fine--but most companies don't. The joke about how the backend is held up by duck tape, spit, and prayers is pretty much true for most smaller companies (as well as some larger ones), particularly marketing and affiliate companies which are the ones to have the most digital fingerprinting data.

So the first hurdle to overcome would be convincing the customer that not being able to unsubscribe from an emailing list for several hours is worth some kind of a guarantee that their e-mail address won't be stolen. You'll find that a far harder sell than programmers who want to implement better security.


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

[User]
Is bone damaged or strengthened by repeated blunt impacts?

Example: If I whacked my elbow/forearm up against a solid object once a day for 20 years, would the underlying bone become stronger to compensate for the impacts or would it be left in a weaker more fragile state?

This is mentioned in martial arts movies frequently. Masters have trained punching trees/iron in order to develop "Iron Fists", which supposedly would be more deadly.

[Assistant]
laminar  bone readjusts its structure in such as way as to be strongest along the direction of the force most often applied. This is why weight bearing exercise is important for long bones to calcify and strengthen longitudinally.

I dont know if hitting your elbow off a wall every day is enough to cause this restructuring, and you would have to consider the soft tissue  changes also - which could vary from a thickening and strengthening , to chronic inflammation, calcification or rupture if you over exerted and injured yourself.


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

[User] [TES] Can a random Daedra declare himself "Tony, the Daedric Prince of Potted Plants"?

[Assistant] He could, but it would only be as good as his ability to grant favors to those that choose to serve him, and his ability to defend that position against any other Daedra that scheme for that prestigious title.


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

[User] [Toy Story] Why does Bullseye act like a normal horse (if somewhat more intelligent), but a lot of other toy animals like Slinky Dog and Hamm can talk and are just as intelligent as human toys?

[Assistant]
There are 2 principles at play.

1) Toys share the personality of the characters they are based on. This is why Buzz Lightyear believes he is an actual Space Ranger when he is taken out of the box. ALL Buzz Lightyear toys believe they are Buzz Lightyear. Even after he realizes he is a toy and not a real Space Ranger, Buzz retains some of the personality and traits of the Buzz Lightyear character. So from that we can see why Bullseye acts the way he does, because the Bullseye from Woody's Round Up wasn't an anthropomorphic, talking horse, but a regular horse.

2) Toys also take on the personality traits assigned to them by the imagination of the kids who play with them. There are a lot of generic toys that have personality. For instance Hamm. He's just a piggy bank, however Andy plays with him as a character that is intelligent and can talk.

Now these "rules" are hazy and not absolute. It also seems like there comes a point where a toy's personality becomes cemented into place regardless of who they were modeled after or how they are played with. As an example, Slinky Dog, when we see Andy play with him at the beginning, he is imagining him as an electrically powered guard dog, yet he has intelligence and speaking ability. Perhaps early on Andy or someone else played with him as a speaking dog, and that cemented into place.

Now back to Bullseye, he was never a talking horse because his character never was one, and everyone who played with him, Andy included, imagined him as a puppy like horse that doesn't talk. That is what became his personality. Much like how RC is a toy car that also can't talk, because no one played with him as one that could.

Edit: small addition to point 1 about retaining character traits.


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

[User]
CMV: FWB/casual relationships are mentally unhealthy.

Talking here about the type of relationship that is purely about sex, long-term, not a one-night stand. Label it however you like. The reason for thinking this is that I havent heard a compelling argument against how these situations are essentially two people agreeing to use each other, and even if its fully consensual, I still dont think using someone, for anything, is healthy behavior. I wouldnt be comfortable with having a friend who owns a cool video game, and we have an agreement that the only time we hang out is to play that game. Its pretty clear I value playing that game, not my friend, and even if they were fine with it, it still feels wrong.
  The most common justification I hear for this is that if both people have no issue with it, then who is it hurting? And I dont have a good answer to that. It has been my observation that people claiming this are simply turning to an available vice to alleviate loneliness or insecurity, then using sex positivity as a shield. I should mention there are studies that show relying on sex for attention, validation, treating loneliness, etc., is correlated to poorer mental health. But perhaps Im just imposing my morals on others.

Further speculation based on anecdotal evidence leads me to believe that engaging in this type of relationship encourages a selfish mindset, while degrading self-worth. Despite knowing a fairly large number of people who have/are involved in such a relationship, I cant say any of them are secure/comfortable with who they are, however, I acknowledge how subjective that statement is.
 Please, CMV.

[Assistant]
FWB isn't a case of chain one night stands, it's people who have a friend relationship, but also have sex. They want the intimacy of friendship, without the baggage of forced romance. It's honestly like a normal relationship, but you try to keep the insecurity out of it. It isn't using people, it's a different definition for a friendship. It's like a friendship+: hang out and sexy time.

It sounds like the types of FWB relationship you've encountered were toxic in general, not because they were FWB, but because they seemed to be Benefits **without** friends.


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

[User] When paper dries after being wet, why does it dry wrinkled instead of drying flat?

[Assistant] The paper expands to some degree when hydrated. When drying, different parts of the paper dry at slightly different rates due to slight differences in the surrounding area and the slight randomness with which water evaporates. As it finishes drying, these variations become fixed.


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

[User]
[The Matrix] What was up with the mirror?

After Neo takes the red pill he is taken into another room with a broken mirror where they disconnect him from the matrix. As Neo watches the mirror fixes itself. Is this normal for everyone or is it because he's the One?

[Assistant]
The red pill disrupted Neo's input / output carrier signal, allowing his location to be pinpointed. That broke down his body's mental connection to the Matrix just enough to make his Matrix "reality" weird, but not enough to instantly severe it and kill him.

Think of it as noise or disruption on the line between his body and mind.


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

[User]
CMV: Being fat/obese/severely overweight and being okay with it with no desire to change is a form of self harm.

If a person is severely overweight and they can change it just by eating less and working out more but are choosing not to, they are deliberately harming themselves.

Whenever an overweight girl uploads a picture to a site like instagram or twitter and her friends comment stuff like "Slayyyy" or "Yasss queen"...they are encouraging this behaviour.

These people need help just like everyone else self harming. Think about how we would perceive a person who uploads a picture with slit wrist scars on instagram or twitter and their friends were encouraging it and saying stuff like "looks beautiful" or "wow that's amazing"...we would think they are delusional.

[Assistant]
Do you believe this applies to all forms of poor health? Smoking? Not exercising? Not getting enough sleep?

And does this apply to people who eat to the point where they are clearly using food as an emotional crutch, or does it apply to all fat people who are ok with their body's? Even those trying to have a healthier lifestyle?


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

[User]
Fun questions for coders?

Hello, everyone! I hope this doesn't violate any rules... I am hoping to pick your brain as programmers.

I work for a social media agency and one of our clients is a coding event. We are tasked with shooting interviews with attendees and we would like to make it fun for them by asking them engaging, light hearted questions such as:

* Music or no music while coding?
* What's your biggest coding pet peeve?
* Tabs or spaces?

I ask for your help to help us come up with more questions similar to these please  What are some other fun, engaging questions would you like to be asked or ask fellow coders?

Thank you so much!

[Assistant]
What is your favorite HTTP status code and why?

If you were a data structure, what data structure would you be?

What is the greatest thing you have ever cached?

If you could spend an hour pair programming with one celebrity, dead or alive, who would it be?

What programming language keyword sounds the funniest?

Does P=NP?

What developer tool or library has the least pleasant-sounding name?

If you were the author of the world's next "it" Javascript framework, what would you name it?

If you were sucked into the computer like in Tron and met anthropomorphic versions of the programs you wrote, how would they feel about you?

If the files in your codebase were places, what would be the filename of the best vacation spot?

What terminal command is the most romantic?

If you could run one database command on any server in the world without any risk of personal repercussions, what would it be?

If your child came home one day and told you that they were engaged to a UI widget, which widget is most respectable and which widget clearly has ignoble intentions?

If you were stuck on a desert island and you could only bring one editor plug-in, which one would it be?

If null pointer exceptions, out of memory exceptions, and segmentation faults had sound effects, what should they sound like?

If you had to write a line of code on your tombstone, what would it be?


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do Cystic Fibrosis patients have to stay 6 feet apart from other CF patients, but not anyone else?

I cant find ANYTHING about this on the internet. What makes CF patients so dangerous to other CF patients that they have a distance requirement, but with people who arent sick, you can be as close as youd like?

[Assistant] Cystic fibrosis, among many other things, causes very thick mucus to build up in the lungs. This creates an ideal environment for certain types of bacteria that aren't normally found in people's lungs, such as specific strains of *Pseudomonas aeruginosa*. CF patients staying away from one another is to stop these specific bacteria from passing between them.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do these tax loopholes work for the rich?

Specifically, carried interest and capital gains. I've tried comprehending these articles online but they just don't make too much sense. I remember hearing about these loopholes from the Paul Ryan vs Joe Biden VP debate.

[Assistant] For capital gains.. You have some assets, and you sell them for a profit. You get hit with a capital gains tax. Seems reasonable, right? Well, they're taxed lower than your income from working a 9 to 5. That's why people call it a loophole. If you are wealthy enough, you can generate a lot of income off trading assets and pay a smaller tax than you would if you made that same amount of money at a job somewhere.


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

[User]
Why dont vaccines carry over genetically?

Just curious with everything going on why vaccines dont essentially pass down to our children genetically if weve been immunised. Is it purely because we didnt genetically start with that or purely down to the synthetic (well atleast not made naturally by the body) nature of the vaccinations?

[Assistant]
1) Vaccines do not alter your genetic information, i.e. those in the form of RNA (the new ones, because up until today they were protein based) do not integrate into the genome.

2) even if RNA vaccines could integrate into the DNA, you still wouldn't pass them on because vaccinations are injected into somatic cells, not into germ cells (inside testicules or oocytes, for instance...nobody would want that tbh). To pass genetic information on you need to alter the DNA of germ cells.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] What happened to those poor souls that got sucked out of the ship when the USS Vengeance attacked the Enterprise while in warp?

The died without question but would it be feasible to mount a recovery effort for their bodies so we can give the families of those brave individuals some measure of closure?

[Assistant]
Their bodies were ripped apart by the unmoderated transition between ~~subspace~~ the subspace bubble created by the warp engines [where warp travel happens] and realspace [everywhere outside said bubble], and their atoms were scattered across dozens of lightyears.

**tl;dr - There's nothing left to bury.**

**edit: screw me for trying to keep it simple...**


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

[User]
Who changed the definition of racism to power + prejudice... And why?

In the dictionary, where laymen get their words, its: The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others. And Discrimination or prejudice based on race.

I recently heard a POC say she cant be racist when she was certainly saying some bigoted stuff regardless. She said racism is scientifically defined as power + prejudice - that confused me.

Like, a poor white family in a rural trailer park doesnt have more power than The Obama Family.

How is this new definition helpful? Seems to just burn a lot of bridges.

[Assistant]
the purpose of power + prejudice was to move discourse away from the idea of being racist as a personal failing, and instead focus on structural oppression and the material reality of minority groups.

Basically liberal society largely seems to have conceived racism as 'being irrartionally mean', but for people with a materialist anti-racist perspective, that definition isn't productive or insightful and the lack of material, tangible progress for black people post-civil rights made it clear that there needed to be more focus on power dynamics and historical context to combat racism.

I'd reccomend Beverly Tatum's work , her perspective is very informed and compelling imo.


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

[User]
ELI5 - why do trains care what you charge in their power sockets? Does it make a difference if i charge my laptop or my toothbrush?

I'm currently on a virgin train in the UK and they have a sign next to the power socket which reads "laptops and mobile phones only".

[Assistant] Laptops and mobile phones draw relatively less power than something like a hair dryer or electric space heater. If several passengers used such devices it is likely circuits would be overloaded and breakers popped. Passengers are dumb so they restrict it to a few examples.


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

[User]
Why do cells have a copy of the whole genome instead of only the genes they need?

It isn't energetically expensive to copy ALL the DNA when the cell undergoes mitosis? Neurons use a very different set of genes than, for instance, hepatic cells, or muscular cells. Why not just have a copy only of the genes they need?

[Assistant]
First of all, since an organism evolving multicellularity would already have a mechanisms for silencing genes in response to it's environment, these mechanisms are probably the easiest way for different cell types to evolve. This is what we see when we compare the silencing mechanisms in say yeast, to humans. Yeast have only one cell type, but the systems they use to turn off say, their sporulation genes, are related to what we use to switch off brain genes in our muscles. Elimination of DNA would require some complex, reliable targeting mechanism not present in single cells. No sense evolving wings from scratch if you can just repurpose your arms.

It's also worth noting that some ciliates (single celled organisms unrelated to plants animals or fungi) DO eliminate some of their genome, when they create a second, larger 'Macronucleus' (this nucleus does most of the work in the cell, but is never replicated. they have a second smaller germline nucleus which is used to reproduce).

This mechanism hasn't evolved in complex organisms, and one could speculate that a complex organism has too much to lose by re-arranging it's DNA. Broken DNA can lead to random re-arrangements and deletions, so one slip up could lead to a cancerous cell and kill the whole organism.

Remember as well that the DNA exists in only 2 molecules per cell -replicating it might not offer a large energy saving compared to maintaining a complex system of proteins to do the genome elimination.

Also note that genes can get re activated - such as when amphibians regenerate lost limbs. Simpler animals are even better at this, so it may have been important even if humans have lost it.

It's possible of course that if we could run evolution on again a few thousand times we'd end up with complex genome eliminating organisms some or even most of the time. Evolution just builds on the first solution it hits. This isn't necessarily the only solution it could have hit, or the best possible.


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

[User]
ELI5: What's going on with the Chinese stock market plunging?

I've read that the Chinese stock market has plunged by trillions of dollars in the last couple of days.
What is actually happening?
What's causing it?
Is it serious?

[Assistant] The Chinese economy was built on export, with little consumption.  When the limits of export were reached, it continued to grow by local consumption that consisted almost entirely on investing in production capacity or speculative growth, such as building new cities that did not have enough demand for the housing to fill.   The lack of return on this investment has now limited growth in this area as well.  Much new investment has gone into the stock market, driving it way too high.  Unless China and quickly create consumer demand to replace the speculative investments, the economy is headed for a major slowdown.


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

[User] If you had a frictionless rope, would you be able to tie knots in it that would hold? Are there some knots that would hold and others that wouldn't?

[Assistant]
That depends on what you mean.

If you take a rope, loop it through itself, and pull on both ends, that won't unravel. It will just get tighter.

But, if you take an end of rope, and tie it to something, eventually leaving the end free -- then you're relying on friction.

Same thing for taking two ends of rope and tying them together (eg shoelaces).


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

[User] ELI5: How does lowering the volume on a device actually work?

[Assistant]
Simple version:

You turn a knob, and a coil is wound/unwound which increases the resistance of the electrical current by increasing the distance it has to travel through the coil. This resistance drops the power(volts&amps) which causes less energy to be transferred to the speaker.

The same process happens in a digital device, but it's instead controlled by a digital potentiometer, which regulates the current that passes through it, instead of a mechanical coil.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Jango Fetts helmet and why Boba Fett has it

In Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Boba Fett uses Jango Fetts helmet as a detonator to assassinate both Mace Windu and Anakin Skywalker, Yet in The Mandalorian, Boba Fett says This armor belonged to my father.

[Assistant] Real Mandalorian armour is made of Beskar and would not be so easily destroyed by even a sizeable explosion. The only way to reliably even melt or damage it for forging is a special technique only known to Beskar forgers of Mandalore. **If** that was the real helmet then it would have survived (or at least the pieces would have been big enough to collect) but it's far more likely to be a replica made from a much cheaper base metal.


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

[User]
I believe that sports drinks are just overpriced substitutes for water and dont help performance. CMV

I am an american football player on the college level and for all of my life we've had controversy over water vs gatorade and we were never allowed gatorade at the games because are coaches said that it had no real functionality and was just a placebo, what proof shows that they benefit/ are needed?

[Assistant]
journal of sports medicine abstract
>The effectiveness of commercially available sports drinks.
Coombes JS, Hamilton KL.
Source
Centre for Human Movement, University of Tasmania, Launceston, Australia.
Abstract
The purpose of this review is to evaluate the effectiveness of commercially available sports drinks by answering the questions: (i) will consuming a sports drink be beneficial to performance? and (ii) do different sports drinks vary in their effectiveness? To answer these questions we have considered the composition of commercially available sports drinks, examined the rationale for using them, and critically reviewed the vast number of studies that have investigated the effectiveness of sports drinks on performance. The focus is on the drinks that contain low carbohydrate concentrations (<10%) and are marketed for general consumption before and during exercise rather than those with carbohydrate concentrations >10%, which are intended for carbohydrate loading. Our conclusions are 3-fold. First, because of variations in drink composition and research design, much of the sports drinks research from the past cannot be applied directly to the effectiveness of currently available sports drinks. **Secondly, in studies where a practical protocol has been used along with a currently available sports beverage, there is evidence to suggest that consuming a sports drinks will improve performance compared with consuming a placebo beverage.** Finally, there is little evidence that any one sports drink is superior to any of the other beverages on the market.

here is another
>Dehydration rates and rehydration efficacy of water and sports drink during one hour of moderate intensity exercise in well-trained flatwater kayakers.
Sun JM, Chia JK, Aziz AR, Tan B.
Source
Changi Sports Medicine Centre, Changi General Hospital, Singapore. jermie@singnet.com.sg
Abstract
INTRODUCTION:
The aim of this study is to investigate the amount of water loss and percentage dehydration experienced during 1 hour of paddling on the kayak ergometer so as to help coaches and athletes tailor a suitable and adequate rehydration regime. Also, rehydration efficacy between water and a well established, commercially available sports drink (Gatorade, Quaker Oats company, USA) was investigated in this cross-over study. Materials and
METHODS:
Ten national flatwater kayakers were monitored in a controlled setting while paddling the kayak ergometer for 1 hour at an intensity sustainable for long distance marathon. They rehydrated themselves ad libitum with provided beverage. Post-void towel-dried body mass was measured before and after the exercise with percentage dehydration calculated. Body core temperature (tympanic temperatures), ratings of perceived exertion and thirst index were monitored every 15 minutes. The amount of fluid consumed, urine output and urine specific gravity were obtained after exercise.
RESULTS:
**The results [mean +/- standard deviation (SD)] showed that kayakers underwent 1.10 +/- 0.52% dehydration while rehydrating with water as compared to 0.72 +/- 0.38% while rehydrating with Gatorade. Also, athletes on water rehydration had higher rating of perceived exertion (RPE) at the 30th and 60th minute mark of the exercise. Overall, athletes undergoing water rehydration lost significantly more body mass (0.70 +/- 0.39 kg) as compared to rehydrating with Gatorade (0.46 +/- 0.27).**
CONCLUSION:
**Although the hydration efficacy of Gatorade proved superior to that of water, the athletes' hydration habits with either fluids did not provide adequate hydration.** It is recommended that specific strategies be developed to address dehydration and rehydration issues of kayakers in Singapore.


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

[User]
ELI5:When dying naturally, does the body manually shut itself off, or does the person's life just end abruptly?

The concept of death has always boggled my mind, but if their is anything that's always peaked my interest, it's death by natural causes. When someone dies naturally, what exactly does that mean? Does the body just manually shut it self down for no reason? Or does the body just cut off, like pulling the plug on a PC? I'm curious because the term "natural causes" has always befuddled me. What exactly constitutes something like that?

[Assistant]
It doesn't shuts itself off. This would serve no evolutionary purpose.

When someone dies of natural causes, they suffer a major failure of a critical system that they require to continue living (e.g. a stroke or a heart attack). We refer to it as "natural causes" because as people age, it becomes inevitable that eventually one of these systems will fail, so it's considered a natural part of the life cycle. But the human body doesn't intentionally shut anything down; it just succumbs to an increasingly likely system failure.


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

[User]
ELI5: why is the "s" sound more predominant when people speak quietly?

also happens when the volume of a tv is low for example, i can only hear "ss s s... s... s s... s s s s... s"

[Assistant]
It's called "sibilance", it's just a property of sound and how humans form speech. There is a class of sounds made forcing air with the tongue, against the teeth. In English it's the class of sounds like "**s**illy" "**z**one" "**sh**ip" and **"G**enre".

These sounds are just naturally louder than the rest of speech and due how recording technology works, they are artificially amplified in microphones and speakers.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why haven't we as a society moved away from 40-hour work weeks with the advent of technology?

We are more productive than ever, yet we still spend majority of our time on this planet working. Not only are we still following a 40 hour workweek, many individuals work much more than 40 hours to make the ends meet.

[Assistant] With the advent of technology what happened was that we reduced manpower rather than reduce work hour. If you hired more people, with the technology we have today, we could reduce the 40 hour work week but that would mean reduce pay for most people.


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

[User] ELI5:How come 911 works when there is no cell phone service due to being in a remote area.

[Assistant]
"No service" on your phone actually means:

"There is no signal from a carrier that recognizes that you have an active, billable account allowed to make calls."

However, since an active, billable account isn't required to make a 911 call, you can make a 911 call from a cell phone as long as there is any provider in range who has the technical ability to receive your phone's signal.


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

[User] [Warhammer 40k] Is there a reason outside of plot why all xenos must die?

[Assistant]
The Emperor of Mankind wanted to create a stable and safe galactic empire for mankind (hence the title). This involved a lot of things, including minimizing or eliminating the impact of Chaos on humanity (from which springs the prejudice against mutants, who for some reason were thought to be more prone to chaos than 'pure' humans), and removing any alien threat.

Now, in the Emperor's time, this did not mean death to all Xenos. It meant death to Xenos like the Orks, since brokering a peace is literally impossible. Humans would either leave Xenos alone (this being their primary relationship with the Eldar), try to negotiate with them for shared access to resources, or to take needed resources from them by force if negotiations broke down.

However, the Horus Heresy and the entombment of the Emperor upon the golden throne galvanized humanity. In their fear and desperation they became ignorant and aggressive. The Emperor had always intended for humans to be at the top of galactic society, but with humanity now rabid with fear and reeling from the massive wounds of the Heresy, this changed to mean that humans should be the *only* part of galactic society.

And thus, out of fear, arrogance, and ignorance, the Imperium of Man's infamous mantra of death to all Xenos was born.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do turtles have such long life spans?

[Assistant] Part of it is that turtles can reproduce for their entire adult lives. Turtles with longer lives can produce more offspring, since they live through more mating seasons. "Long-life" genes are selected for in this manner.


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

[User]
[Fallout] What would happen if Vault-Tech/Enclave made actual vaults?

By that I mean if they invested all there time, effort, and resources into creating vaults that legitimately preserve humanity and protects them from the nuclear hellscape known as M. A. D. how many people could they save?

[Assistant]
They did. They called them controls. They made a lot fewer than they probably should have, but the real problem is that they only made one of each experimental vault. They should have decided on a few things to check, then made 50 or so control vaults and experimental vaults for each thing. What they did was bad science.

Do you want to know how many people they'd save if all the vaults were controls? There's 1000 people per vault, 122 vaults, and of the 17 known controls only one failed. Given that, they'd save about 115,000 people. Though that's assuming you only count the people in there at a given time. If you're counting everyone who lived and died in a vault as saved, it would be much higher.

But if they spent more on vaults, and maybe made larger vaults that couldn't function as independent in a trial, then maybe they could have saved more people.


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

[User] ELI5: how does chamomile tea make you calm/sleepy?

[Assistant]
It might not. A quick glance at studies and suggestions online for chamomile tea are full of phrases like "may help", "might promote better sleep" and "could possibly make you sleepy". Nothing concrete or definitive.

It's a herbal blend tea that smells sweet and gentle and is associated with calmness. It might be a placebo effect.


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

[User]
ELI5: In old video footage, why do people running seem like they're moving really fast?

I was watching Ken Burns Baseball PBS documentary the other day, and the players look so fast running around the bases.  Why does this happen with grainy, old video from the early 20th century?

[Assistant] You mean film? The current standard for film is to shoot at 24 frames per second. Back in the day, film was shot closer to 16 frames per second. When we transferred this media to modern formats, the motion appears sped up because it is playing back 24 frames in a second, when in actuality what you see is more than a second's worth of filming.


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

[User]
CMV: I believe that political experience is necessary for impactful legislation and high profile political roles and that USA's idea that an outsider will bring change is completely wrong

The 2 arguments behind my view are

1. Intuition - You need to understand how institutions work from the inside to use them to your advantage
2. Historical Precedent - For the last hundred years, the most lasting legislative impact has been cast by politicians who have had tons of experience

**Positive Examples Of Experience Being Useful**

1. FDR - had 22 years of political experience and was able to make a lasting impact through Social Security and the New Deal.
2. LBJ - Had 36 years of experience and make a lasting impact through Medicare, Medicaid, and the great society.
3. Richard Nixon - had 2 terms as vice president in the Eisenhower administration ( Eisenhower was a political outsider and was getting old; thus, the vice president had more hands-on experience) and his policy on drugs ( whether we agree or not), China and the EPA has remained almost intact.
4. George H.W.Bush ( Slightly different example here) - Had over 25 years of domestic and foreign policy experience. Stabilized the world in a post Coldwar era i.e. avoiding any political vacuum that might have caused ISIS type instabilities in eastern Europe and successfully restored American Spirit in interventionism by winning the 1st war against Saddam Hussain

**Negative Examples Of Inexperience Failing**

* Robert Mcnamara ( Businessman, Veitnam)
* John F Kennedy ( zero experience, bay of pigs)
* Jimmy Carter(no experience, Iranian Hostage Crisis)
* Bill Clinton (6 terms Governor and no Washington experience, inaction during Rwanda genocide)
*George W Bush (3 term Governor, Iraq war amongst so many other quagmires)
*Barack Obama( Junior Senator, political vacuum in Iraq leading to rise of ISIS)
* Finally, Trump and Rex Tillerson(it may be too early but so far... Zero political Experience, not filling bureaucratic appointments leading to hollow and inefficient government and state department)

Some background on myself to help you CMV

* I am not an American but have been following American politics for a couple of years now, so there may be historical blindsights/ on the ground reality related blindsight in my perspective.

*  I happen to lean center of the left and may have confirmation biases here and there too.

**Edit -** I seem to have changed my mind on quite a few issues from the scope of the presidency to the unknown achievements of many presidents. All in all, this was a good learning experience, thanks for keeping it civil.

[Assistant]
It seems like your only metric for analyzing success and useful is "I can think of something good for these experienced people" and failure as "I can think of something bad for these inexperienced people".

 _Surely_ you have to have a basic understanding of confirmation bias such that you aren't actually really satisfied with that?

How are you constructing your terms and analysis such that is Vietnam a hit against McNamara but _not_ LBJ?


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

[User]
[Halo] Why have the UNSC not incorperated covie tech into their ground vehicles.

For instance, why haven't they made a hover hog yet. Also why no energy blades for melee weapons. Why are they still using metal knives?

[Assistant]
In direct answer to your question, the UNSC has a reliable tested and true set of equipment and in the midst of a total war scenario it is much more cost and *life* effective to use comparitively cheap and simple to produce technologies. Hover-hogs and Energy Knives are not going to radically improve ground battle performance, coupled with the depressing fact that almost all ground victories are followed by an orbital defeat further enforce staying with what we know instead of using experimental technologies.

The UNSC has been in a state of total warfare against the Covenant hegemony for 27 years, during that time various technologies have been co-opted, adapted and improved by our scientists and technicians. The most notable example of this would without a doubt be the personal energy shield technology famously employed by Spartan 2 assets, intriguingly this was derived from the energy shield gauntlets employed by Kig-Yar auxilliaries as opposed to the energy harness employed by Sangheilli infantry. A similar technology was concurrently developed by the beta-5 division of ONI, known as the "bubble shield" which is all but invunerable to any munitions commonly employed in ground combat with the covenant.

More recently since hostilities have ceased after the dissolution of the Covenant hegemony, and the aquisition of Forerunner Huragok, colliquially known as engineers, the UNSC has been able to provide shielding to Charon class light frigates as well as the new UNSC flagship - Infinity. In addition 2 single occupancy vehicles have energy shields equipped, the YGGADRASIL Mk. 9 Armour Defence System AKA the "Mantis", and the F-41 Broadsword Space Superiority Interceptor.

However energy shielding is only one of the many technologies the Covenant possessed which the UNSC did not. We have since discovered that the aforementioned Huragok in conjunction with the San Shy'uum produced and maintained almost all technology employed by the other Covenant species. The destruction of high charity heralded the extinction of the San Shy'uum, and any Huragok not destroyed have disappeared from the remaining species' grasp, this turn of events has shown us how the remaining Covenant species have extremely little to no understanding of how their own technology works. (This fact *will* be exploited for human benefit.) Further conjecture suggests that almost all Covenant technology is adapted and modified Forerunner technology, so now the UNSC has a population of Huragok (Both Ex-Covenant *and* original Forerunner) we will be able to apply technologies used by the Covenant into both military and civilian life whilst making sure to avoid the pitfall of the Covenant and learning for ourselves what the Huragok are actually doing.


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

[User] Why do humans and most other animals have a soft "underbelly?" Why doesn't our rib cage protect our digestive organs as well?

[Assistant] The rib cage isn't just for protection.  The rib cage's most important purpose is to inflate and deflate the lungs.  The muscles between the ribs help them to expand and retract which brings air into and pushes the air out of the lungs.  The diaphragm, which attaches to the inferior border of the rib cage, also helps this purpose.  There is no functional need for ribs below the diaphragm.


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

[User]
[LOTR] How did Sauron recover the One Ring if his body died during the Nmenorian invasion of Valinor?

Wouldn't he be wearing the One Ring and when his body died, the Ring would have sank to the bottom of the ocean if he was on a ship or be buried under rocks if he made landfall? And if he left the One Ring in Middle Earth, why didn't someone try to steal it (such as one of his soldiers)?

[Assistant]
His body was destroyed but his spirit was still powerful enough to bear it that time.

The reason the Ring was lost during the War of the Last Alliance was by that time Sauron was weakened to the point where his spirit couldn't keep the ring. The Ring was pretty much all he had left of his original power by then.


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

[User]
[Justice League Dark] What did Constantine mean by your souls in the clear?

Minor spoilers ahead.

In the DCAMU movie Justice League Dark, a group of heroes including John Constantine and Zatanna get into a fight with wizard and asshole extraordinaire (Constantines words, not mine) Felix Faust. During the fight, Zatanna loses control and tries to kill Faust, only to be stopped by Constantine, who by then had figured out that Faust was not responsible for the mystery they were trying to solve, and stating that if no blood is spilled, youre soul is in the clear.

I cant find a definitive answer for this, so what did Constantine mean by that?

[Assistant] Magic works on intent as well as power, but the effect can have a... magnified reaction on the soul. Since Zatanna tried to use lethal force on Faust, even 8f his immortality prevented his actual death, if he spilled blood as a result of her attack then her soul would be destined for Hell as a result.


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

[User] ELI5:What does it mean when people say we share 50% of our DNA with our siblings vs. 99% of our DNA with chimpanzees?

[Assistant]
We don't actually share 50% of  our DNA with siblings, half of our DNA came from each parent, but there's no assurance that your sibling would get genes in a way that you'd share exactly half of them (in reality, a vast majority of your DNA is "Default Human" DNA that everybody shares).  It's just a convenient shorthand when talking about human to human genetic relations.  The actual amount of DNA you share is random.  It's possible, although *extremely* (like extremely, extremely, extremely) unlikely that you and a older/younger sibling could get the exact same genes and be genetically identical.  It's equally unlikely that you could have none of the same DNA at all.

The "99% with chimps" is more like the overall human genetic structure (think of it like the "average" of all the humans) is very similar to the "average" of all chimpanzees.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] Did Petunia hate Harry the same way Vernon did?

[Assistant]
It's complicated. She loved Harry, because he was, after all, still her nephew and her own flesh and blood. The problem was that Harry represented all that had happened to Petunia's sister Lilly, which caused her intense emotional pain. Lilly had gone away from their family and come back different, which led her down a path that ended with her being brutally murdered, all because of her magic. Whenever Petunia looked at Harry, she thought of everything that could have been.

Vernon hated having Harry around because he was an annoyance, an outsider, someone he had no emotional attachment to. Petunia hated having Harry around for the exact opposite reason.


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

[User]
[MCU] Doesn't Thanos just need the soul and power stone to wipe out half the universe?

I mean the soul stone could kill anyone with just a thought and with the power stone couldn't he just kill half the universe?

[Assistant] No, achieving effects beyond a single world are difficult without all six stones. Long range powers can't be done without space, changes are hard to maintain without the reality stone, time is needed to keep those changes long term, mind is needed to guide it and keep it selective. And beyond that, they augment and reinforce the powers of the others.


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

[User] ELI5: How come after giving birth women have trouble holding their pee?

[Assistant]
After delivery, women will fairly often have trouble with urinary continence (holding their pee) due to the weakened state of various muscles of the abdominal and pelvic regions. Additionally as the pelvic and abdominal muscles (hopefully) return to their original state along with the internal organs, the freshly deflated uterus tends to sit on the bladder, increasing pressure and making it harder to hold urine. It usually gets better with time, from several weeks to several months, depending on age and the number of successive pregnancies, but every woman is different. Lingering hormonal changes can cause constipation and additional pressure on the bladder as well.

It is possible to retrain the bladder and related muscles with kegel (pelvic floor) exercises and by intentionally using the restroom more often than needed and slowly increasing hold time between visits to the restroom. Constipation can be addressed with dietary changes and sufficient fluid intake.


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

[User] ELI5: What happens in the brain when you blackout from drinking alcohol?

[Assistant]
Your brain is filled with special cells called neurons. At the end of the neurons, the neurons shoot out special chemicals called neurotransmitters to talk to the next neuron.

Alcohol is a type of drug called a depressant. It lowers the number of neurotransmitters thereby making your brain work slower. The part of your brain that forms new memories is called the hippocampus. When you drink too much alcohol, the neurons in the hippocampus move too slowly to save new memories.

Alcohol affects certain parts of the brain more than others. The frontal cortex, which controls judgement, the cerebellum, which controls balance, and the hippocampus, which controls forming memories are affected earlier than other parts of the brain, such as the reticular activating system, which controls whether you are awake or not. That's why you can still be awake, but not saving new memories. When the alcohol level is high enough to take out the RAS, you pass out.


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

[User]
[Star Wars]How long would Palpatine be falling for after Vader threw him down the death star shaft.

For extra context It is the equivalent of falling down a hole dug through a moon that was 160 km in diameter. I believe the shaft went all the way to the center of the death star.

[Assistant]
Given that there was some kind of explosion visable a few seconds after he fell in at which time his screaming stopped, its safe to say the shaft isn't empty.

So he hit whatever is in it, probably exhaust gases, and wouldn't make it all the way to the bottom.


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

[User] ELI5: What is the slow motion effect we experience during car accidents or other traumatic events?

[Assistant] I've read that it's not really about increased perception, it's about increased memory formation. While adrenaline does create a heightenbed state of awareness and alertness, time really only seems to slow down in your *remembering* of the event, since your body created detailed memories of every instant of it (a snapshot every quarter second, as opposed to one every second, for example) to help you learn from it and increase future survival chances. thus the density of memories you have of the event makes it seem in retrospect like time was moving slowly.


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

[User] eli5.. if light has no mass, why can't it escape from the gravity of a black hole?

[Assistant]
Ok so General Relativity says space-time is curved. So let's imagine that we're dealing with a specific chunk of space-time, represented by a trampoline. Now let's put a lead ball in the center and say that represents our Sun. That's creating a distortion in our chunk of space-time, so if you put any object with mass near enough; it's going to roll/slide down that distortion in space-time right? And that's essentially gravity.
But photons have no mass right? Yes, BUT they still follow the geometry of curved space-time. So as light passes by our lead ball in the center, it follows that distortion in space-time and so its path of travel is affected.
Now with a black hole the trampoline example doesn't work so well, because space-time is 4 dimensional and a trampoline is not. But if you can imagine a lead ball so dense that it causes space-time to distort so much that it folds over on itself, now any light that enters the black hole can only travel around in the black hole (think of it like a loop, although it's not really that simple), but it cannot escape because the curvature of this chunk of space-time created by the distortion caused by the singularity is so great.


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

[User]
What can I do, as a volunteer undergraduate lab assistant, to help the laboratory and make the most of the position?

I've just finished my first year of college, and, while I take a summer course, I'm working as a volunteer undergraduate lab assistant at a neuroscience laboratory whose work I find incredibly fascinating. While I am unpaid, I understand that I am still taxing the laboratory's resources (training, etc.), and, therefore, I want to be as helpful as possible.

How do I make the best impression on the lab? How can I appear helpful? What does success look like in this type of position? In the future, I would like to apply for a undergraduate research grant which would allow me to be paid and work on independent projects in the lab, but how do I, through my actions as a volunteer undergraduate lab assistant, convince the PI I am ready for independent research?

[Assistant]
(1) Always try to do more than what you were asked to do, but don't screw things up. (2) Ask questions and be eager to learn, but don't ask the same stuff twice. (3) Learn to be organized: keep notes, write reports, response to email promptly, etc.
I also started as a lab volunteer and eventually got the PhD offer from the PI. Congratulation, and good luck.


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

[User]
What happens to meat if it is heated in the absence of oxygen?

Is there anything special? Does it still cook?

[Assistant] The cooking of meat doesn't occur via combustion. Instead the proteins (and some other biomolecules) that make up are denatured. This basically means that they are twisted and contorted out of their original shapes. There are probably a few reactions that occur on the surface, but the main factor is the proteins being denatured. This is a process that does not require oxygen and so it still happens and the meat should still cook.


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

[User]
How would you respond to these vague negative journal review comments?

I shouldn't be surprised about vague negative journal paper review comments at this point in my career, but they still drive me crazy. Just received this set of comments from a reviewer on a journal paper:

*"My comments:*

* *Abstract must be rewritten. It does not read like an abstract in a research paper should.*
* *Introduction must be rewritten completely.*
* *Background must be rewritten completely.*
* *Methods must be rewritten completely. I do not understand that the author is talking about.*
* *Results have informative figures, but the text must be rewritten completely.*
* *Discussion must be reformulated and made more relevant.*
* *Recommendation: Reject, since the paper must be rewritten completely to be acceptable for publication."*

That was the entirety of their review. Comments like these drive me nuts because there's like no good way to respond to them. Also this person has a penchant for wanting things "rewritten completely" but no guidance on towards what end. Finally, discussion must be "made more relevant" to whom or what exactly?

Fortunately there was a second reviewer who was very positive, so we got a major revision decision from the editor.

How would you approach responding to these comments in the revision?

[Assistant] We once responded to a review by saying Reviewer 2 needs to up his dose.   And nothing else!   In this case, Id just say, Unfortunately, Reviewer Twos comments are not specific enough to be actionable and leave it at that.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How common is space travel for the average resident of the galaxy?

Is it like taking a bus to the next city over or booking a flight to the other side of the world?

[Assistant] I think is pretty common, similar to take a flight or a ship in our world. In Episode II when Padme is the target of assassination attempts, her and Anakin go on Naboo using a civilian ship and disguised as common folks to distract attention. We can infer that space travel should be a relatively common thing for the average person if you can disguise among the people doing that.


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

[User]
Andrew Yangs $12,000 A Year Question

So Im sure all of yall have heard that Andrew Yang plans on giving all American adults 12,000 dollars a year. He says he plans to get this money from taxing companies like amazon, google, and Uber, but whats stopping these companies from simply relocating outside of the U.S.?

[Assistant] His plan is not to tax them directly through the means of a tighter corporate tax( in which case where a company is located matters), his plan is to put in place a VAT (Value Added Tax ); which is basically a tax on every point of a production chain including sales. It is much harder to avoid a VAT because it is directly correlated to the sales for a company like amazon.


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

[User]
ELI5: What goes into the process of designing an automated factory?

How are they designed? Who is involved? Do companies buy machines from other places or do they build them themselves?

[Assistant] Lots of engineers involved. Assuming the company is already making a product by hand, a process engineer will determine how to convert the process to an automated one, an industrial engineer will determine how to efficiently set up the process, and mechanical engineers will make physical tools for each new subprocess. All this is performed simultaneously under the direction of a project engineer.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does putting a plastic bag or receipt paper over the magnetic strip of a debit card allow it to swipe easier?

[Assistant]
A magnetic strip is just encoded data. So normally the card reader will read the distance between the "lines of the code" as you swipe it no problem.

But if the card is scratched a card reader might see that scratch as an extra line or bit of code. [Rather the scratch isn't read as code, but read as incorrect code. The damaged code can't be read as well if there is more distance. This increases the chance that the correct information is read. (credit available_username2 below)]

The plastic bag or receipt increases the distance between the card reader and the magnetic strip. This is kind of like adjusting the focus on a camera. Too close and the card reader will read both the scratch and the legit code, but move the focus back a little and the card reader will only see the code.


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

[User]
[Superman] How would one go about killing Superman?

It's for ummm... *academic* purposes. How would somebody go about killing Superman without using kryptonite?

[Assistant]
Other than kryptonite, Superman is also vulnerable to magic. A magic infused attack will hurt him as much as it would hurt a human under normal conditions. He also seems to have some vulnerability to electricity. (The villain Livewire has hurt him using it.) He can be hurt by Parasite's power draining ability. There are some beings with enough physical strength to hurt him (Kryptonians such as General Zod, New Gods such as Darkseid and Kalibak, Doomsday, and so on). Darkseid's Omega Effect (a power beam shot out of his eyes) can also cause serious harm to him. Superman is also vulnerable to mental manipulation; he has been put under mind control by Darkseid before, and Manchester Black once gave him a seizure using his telekinesis to bend the capillaries in his brain.

tl;dr: Superman's known weaknesses are kryptonite, magic, electricity, power draining, superhuman strength, the Omega Effect, mind control, and telekinesis.


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

[User]
How to do my best to avoid being an adjunct for the rest of my life?

Hi all,

I'm a senior in high school going to college this fall, and I'm confident that I want to teach. I've heard the horror stories of the 12k/yr adjuncts who never get to study the stuff they want to, and I'd like to know A) the truth (if anything) behind that and B) the best ways to avoid that scenario. I'm majoring in English lit, if that matters.

[Assistant]
I'd say consider switching from English lit to be brutally honest.

The factor that decides the number of crappy teaching positions is the **ratio of learners to researchers.** For english lit, a lot of people want to learn, but not much research gets done because nobody wants to fund it. So there are a lot of adjunct teaching positions. For something like computer vision, there's a lot of research going on compared to the number of people doing it for undergrad.

If you do want to get to the top of your field in English lit, you just have to work insanely hard and beat everyone else.


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

[User]
ELI5 Why do big companies like McDonald's, Coke, Geico, etc. spend so much on advertising when they are already universally known?

I see commercials for Coke and Mcd's all the time (new ones, not repeat ones), and I can't help but wonder why they bother.  I mean, why spend so much money on an advertising campaign when practically everyone knows about your product and everyone universally buys it?

Same thing with PR campaigns for these big companies, what's their incentive?  Why do these big companies keep pumping out new ads?

[Assistant]
Market share.

Everyone knows about McDonalds and Coke, but if they don't stay at the front of your mind their competitors will start to erode their market share.

All the other players in those markets advertise heavily, if the market leaders don't some of the less devoted consumers may drift off to their competitors.