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

[User] [Amazing Spider-Man 2] The NYPD sniper doesnt shoot at Electrohow does this change things in the long run?

[Assistant] I think Spidey manages to talk Electro down and seeks help, bringing him to the only people he knows who can deal with someone if this caliber: Harry Osborne and Oscorp. This, of course, doesn't sit well with Electro, and so he lashes out and we see similar events to the rest of the movie.


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

[User]
[40k] Is there any joy or any peace in the Warhammer 40k universe?

The Imperium of Man controls 1 million planets. Surely on some of them, there is no war. There is peaceful countryside. There are shopkeepers and accountants, scientists who aren't focused on war and police who aren't glorified thugs. How do you pay tribute and your taxes if you don't have a functional economy.

Even if the empire is constantly fuelled around war, there must be some peaceful world's where the war is far away.

Surely.....right?

[Assistant]
Yes, of course. but you don't hear of the planets where nothing happened, or whose PDF force fends of a pirate warband or the regular Ork skirmishes. It is just that it never makes the news compared to the more dramatic stuff.

It's for the same reason the Space Marines always seem to have to save the Imperial guards ass. Because the Space Marines obviously are not deployed to situations the Guard are handling on their own.


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

[User] What are researchers and scientists primarily doing on Antarctic missions? What have been the most significant discoveries or advancements from this study?

[Assistant] One of the most historically significant discoveries made in Antarctica was the work of Joseph Farman (and many others after him) on the ozone hole over Antarctica and its relationship to CFCs. Farman begin collecting ozone readings in Antarctica in 1957, although his work was largely dismissed by the scientific community at the time. It wasn't until 1974, when two American scientists showed that CFCs could destroy ozone in the stratosphere that anyone begin paying attention and a dangerous ozone hole was theorized. In 1985, Farman and colleagues published a paper in Nature showing that ozone levels over the Antarctic had decreased by 40% since 1975, and that the ozone hole was a very real problem. The discoveries of Farman, and many others over the years, lead to the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty intended to phase out the use of ozone-depleting industrial compounds. The Montreal Protocol was signed by 24 countries in 1987, and has been signed by more than 200 today. The story that begins with Farman's work in Antarctica and ends with the Montreal Protocol, which has effectively eliminated CFCs and stopped the expansion of the ozone hole, is one of the greatest success stories in the history of modern science.


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

[User]
If the US adopted universal healthcare, what would the economic effect be when all the health insurance companies collapse?

Private health care and insurance is a huge market in the US. How many jobs would be lost there if universal healthcare became the norm? Would it be enough for a noticable recession? Is there a way to do this without any ill effects on tbe economy?

[Assistant]
Universal healthcare implies nothing of the sort.

Universal healthcare in of itself means exactly one thing, that everybody has *access to healthcare*. It tells us absolutely nothing about the actual design of the healthcare system.

For the US, that could very well mean a vast overhaul and complete shift to a publicly owned healthcare system, or just an expansion of the existing one with relatively minor changes.

Does universal healthcare imply the loss of jobs? No. Is it possible to have a system of universal healthcare that would cause substantial job losses? Sure. But that could be the case for a non-universal system as well. The actual implementation matters.


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

[User] ELI5: I know many rice cookers use fuzzy logic (or fuzzy math?) So it cooks the rice the right amount of time. How does this work?

[Assistant]
The basic ones are a bit simpler than fuzzy logic.

Water can only stay liquid up to 100 degrees C.

While there is liquid water in the cooker itll have a max temperature of 100C. Any excess heat put in gets used to turn the water to steam.

When all the water is absorbed or evaporated the temperature can climb above 100C

The cooker has a temperature sensitive strip on it that triggers just over 100C. This could be fancy circuits or it could be a bi-metallic strip with the right thermal properties.

When all the liquid water is gone and the rice temperature goes above 100C the sensor trips and turns the cooker off.


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

[User]
[DUNE] If the Worms of Arrakis were territorial, why didn't the Fremen have to worry about attacks from other Worms while they rode on the back of another Worm?

It's been several years since my last read through of the series, but I remember the point that the Worms were often territorial and would attack other worms who wandered into their area.  So why wasn't there a constant fear of attack when riding a Worm?

[Assistant] You don't know that the fremen don't have to worry about worm attacks, you've just never seen it happen. Although it's also possible that worms avoid one another's territory to avoid trying to feed from ground already fed from, it may not require confrontation.


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

[User]
ELI5:How did individuals become royalty and start a legacy?

How did an individual be determined as king?  What was the process used to make or determine someone as royal?

[Assistant]
The basic recipe to becoming a monarch is military power plus succession.

In terms of growth, they start off convincing a bunch of their mates to go intimidate and kill enough of their neighbors that everyone around agrees to go along with whatever they wanted.  Then they use that power to round up a bunch of soldiers and go threaten to kill a bunch of people from the neighboring village until they go along with the whole scheme as well.  Repeat this over and over, conquering more areas, forging alliances with other leaders, and so forth, and eventually they end up commanding a significant amount of military power.

All that can't usually be done in one lifetime (though sometimes it can), so you also need succession.  In other words, when they die, someone needs to take over their position and have everyone agree that the new person gets to have all the power the old leader accumulated.  This is frequently done through children, but sometimes an advisor or someone similar will end up in the role instead (whether by plan or by treachery).  In any case, this means that the power that's been seized doesn't disappear when the leader dies.

Once all that is sorted, then they just need an appropriate opportunity.  Sometimes they just have a pretty big area under their control and declare themselves king.  Sometimes a kingdom nearby is weak, so they march over there, defeat the king's forces, and claim the throne.  Sometimes the kingdom they're nominally a part of has a monarch that dies childless or with only weak children, and so they march their forces over to the palace and tell everyone that they're king now and anyone who disagrees can talk to the big men with the swords.  Sometimes they're part of a democracy or republic or something but they think that's dumb, so they march into the capital and tell everyone that they'd all be better off (ie, not dead) if they switch to a monarchy instead.

No matter how you slice it, though, it pretty much always boils down to having enough people who are willing to kill anyone who disagrees that they're the monarch that nobody disagrees.


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

[User] ELI5 why do arrows need to have the feathers on their ends?

[Assistant] The idea behind this is to make the arrow more stable as it flies. Imagine the arrow as it flies. One would generally imagine it flying straight, but no one's perfect so imagine you just chucked it ( or yeeted if you prefer) ahead of you and it tumbles slightly end over end. The end with the feather has more drag which will slow the tumbling as it catches more air. On a smaller scale, this is what happens on a normal shot. The feather causes drag to enact a force on the back of the arrow turning the feather end away from the direction the arrow is going.


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

[User] ELI5: Why cant "offshore shell corporation" tax avoidance methods used by the wealthy be used by the working class? Is it just because it's cost prohibitive to set up?

[Assistant]
1. It isn't cost prohibitive but it isn't inexpensive. The cost might run into the thousands per year at the lowest level so if you're not saving that much in taxes, it makes no sense.
2. The right kind of income. Domestic wages and salaries cannot be hidden. So if that is where you're earning most of the income, no luck there - rich or otherwise. On the other hand, holding foreign investment assets and properties, then maybe. Domestic investments and trading income - harder to avoid.
3. Know your end game. Lot of these arrangements are about avoiding estate taxes and such which is relevant if your idea is to pass down a lot of assets. If your end game is living off your investments domestically, these arrangements might be less beneficial.
4. Your own sophistication level and resources. Scammers, fraud etc abound. You do lose protection of domestic laws as well. So there are risks involved and ongoing maintenance. Not for the ignorant - you'll need lawyers and accountants, trustees etc.

Bottom line though, generally speaking this sort of makes sense if there are tens of millions of dollars of assets in play.


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

[User] ELI5: Non-HD TV looks worse than it did years ago. Have I just adjusted to HD or is the quality actually worse?

[Assistant] A lot of TV channels are more and more heavily compressing their signals in order to run more channels. For example, here in Australia, 7 used to run at 10Mbit, then they switched to 7Mbit on their main and 3Mbit on a secondary channel, and now 4Mbit/3Mbit/3Mbit across three channels, all of which look a lot worse. It makes them more money.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] If time travel is so easy, why isn't it used more often? Who regulates time travel?

In the 29th century, the Federation has dedicated timeships to monitor incursions and alterations to the timeline, but during the 24th century no such timeships exist. It would appear that one could alter the past without anyone noticing. How does the Federation prevent this from happening? I remember hearing that Captain Sisko of DS9 was questioned about some sort of time travel incident, but I assume that's only because he reported it.

[Assistant]
the nice thing about time travel is, that once you develop it, you can...travel time.
the people of the 29th century monitor all of the time stream, thus the argument that the 24th century does not have such an organisation does not apply. it has one, it is just not been founded yet, and still is monitoring us.

the fun of time travel.

edit:
also something to think about:
the fact that the 29th century does have a federation means that up till then, no one before that date has went back in time to stop the federation, otherwise that organisation would not exist.
though our knowledge of that future might change the future, which is why all information on that matter is classified.


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

[User]
[The Incredibles] Why didn't Syndrome fight back against his own Omnidroid?

Doesn't he has the Zero point energy glove that can immbolize anything? Why didn't he use it against his creation when it went rogue?

[Assistant]
He was genuinely shocked that it happened so he froze up, and before he could get his bearings back together it had already KO'ed him.

Remember, the entirety of the actual fight is the Omnidroid knocking the gauntlet off, Syndrome turning around in shock, and then him dodging laser blasts until one fucks up his leg jet, causing it to send him into a wall. This all lasts a grand total of 8 seconds, half of which is him in a uncontrolled flight.


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

[User] ELI5: How do eyes move together?

[Assistant]
Much like how a birds head stays completely locked in place when their body moves and for the exact same reason, your eye muscles are largely reflexive muscles.

So, just as the brain tells your lungs to move, it tells your eyes to move. And it tells both of them to move at the same time to maintain your binocular focus, either on whatever you were looking at if you move your head, or whatever direction you are shifting your gaze to look at if you move your eyes.


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

[User]
[MCU] Why were terrans basically the only people fighting Thanos?

Sure Thanos decimated Xandar, but destroying half of all life is somewhat of a universal problem. Why didn't planets get together and hunt him down before the stones were taken? Even if they didn't know his specific plans they knew he was hunting for the extremely dangerous weapons.

It seems like both stands against him were raged on Earth without much assistance. Couldn't the Guardians have petitioned an army from an alien species, or shouldn't some army have just gone without request - given what was at stake? Why, in the entire universe, were only like, 30 people trying to actively stop him?

[Assistant] First off, nobody knew his true plans. Second, people were fighting back against him, and losing. Third, when he launched his quest for the Infinity Stones proper, it was a blitz operation conducted only when he knew he could get all six in a matter of days - far too quickly for anyone to effectively rally an opposition against him.


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

[User]
What is with the whole death of the American mall thing and why isnt the same happening in other countries?

I hear a lot about how American malls are dying and struggling when they used to thrive. This is interesting to me as someone in Denmark where malls are still very much thriving, we have so many in the Copenhagen area alone. What is happening in the US that causes this and why isnt it happening in Denmark?

[Assistant] Most malls in europe are in city centres, not in suburbs where you need a car to get to them. Malls outside cities in Europe also aren't doing well - they were built for a car culture that's (thankfully) dying.


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

[User]
ELI5: any reasons certain companies hire and train from scratch while others doesn't?

Especially those professional levels one that needs certs like engineer dentist accountant developers. I mean, if some companies does that, what make certain companies do it while the norm isn't that? Been trained to do cyber security from scratch work before and yet cyber security is a professional level work.

Also if the company expecting cert and not from scratch training sounds very normal to people, these also ask for a certain level of Foundation instead of just "knowing something".

[Assistant]
It's mostly company culture/philosophy. Some companies want a higher retention rate, so they invest in the employee early on and train them on their system/integrate them into their business. In theory this should lead to higher morale and productivity/reduced error rates. It can also be a case of a very niche business and they need to train since most people wouldn't have the necessary experience that is required.

Some companies have very generic business that doesn't require any special training. Some companies operate in a "lowest cost possible" manner and are willing to have a high  turnover to save on employee costs.


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

[User]
ELI5: What makes a good interviewer i.e. Charlie Rose, Larry King?

I've been watching Charlie Rose interviews recently and aside from his asking questions that stimulate discussion, I was wondering if there was something more that makes him good at interviewing?

[Assistant] These kinds of people are very intelligent and well-informed. They do their best to learn as much as they can about what they're interviewing them about, so they come up with genuine interesting questions in that research process.


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

[User]
Why do people have different kinds of laughter?

Like, why are some laughs funny and others aren't?

If there has been another ELI5 post, it would be great if someone would redirect me, i couldn't find any.

[Assistant] Lots of factors. Some of them are physical - people have different pitched voices, different body sizes and differently-shaped insides, and that changes the way anything that comes out of their mouths sounds. And some of it is psychological. Some people, perhaps through shyness or social convention or just a habit of keeping their mouth tightly shut, actually stifle the laugh so it comes out as a snort or a pffffft sound. Someone else might be a big brash extrovert and let out big belly laughs. A lot of people will also have a fake laugh when they feel they ought to laugh at something out of politeness, and that probably just sounds like whatever their idea of a normal laugh is.


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

[User] Is it possible to orbit a planet/star at its escape velocity?

[Assistant]
No, in Newtonian circular orbits, escape velocity is about 41% greater than orbital velocity. In highly eccentric elliptical orbits, the orbital speed at the closest point in the orbit (periapsis) can get pretty close to escape velocity. However, you must remember it's called escape velocity because it's the velocity that lets you escape.

There is also the case of photon orbits around black holes, which are technically at the black hole's escape velocity but it's a different set of physics.


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

[User] ELI5: What causes the refrigerated taste food can get when it is uncovered in the freezer too long?

[Assistant] All the food inside is drying out and all the moisture takes smells into the air with it. The fridge is closed and small, so all that smelly air is trapped in there. Over time, food left in there a long time will have a dry crust and the humid smelly air will start to go back into the dry crust. The yucky taste and texture is all those mixed smells and dried out crust combined.


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

[User]
What is the difference between Anthropology and Sociology?

I've done a Google search, but in general they seem to say they are in fact quite similar, with the difference that Sociology prefers using statistical data, and Anthropology prefers fieldwork but that hardly seems to do much identify what seems to me very different methods, vocabulary, and key figures in the two fields.

Was wondering if someone could elaborate further on the difference, or at the very least, on a university curriculum basis?

[Assistant] Look in the etymology of the words in order to get a better view of their meanings Anthropology=science of man; sociology=science of society. Anthropology studies cultures, religions, small-scale interactions (in tribes or collectives or small groups), and mainly uses ethnography (field work), narrative studies and qualitative methods. Sociology, on the other hand, studies politics, economics, macro-relationships, social interactions, the influence of concepts such as power, ideology, class, etc., forms of organization, etc. Sociology tends to rely more on "classic" theory (linguistics, philosophy, politic economy, marxism, etc.


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

[User]
Why don't electrons crash into the nucleus of an atom?

If electrons are attracted to protons, what keeps them from falling into the atom's nucleus?

[Assistant]
They do basically fall into the nucleus, in a sense. In the lowest energy state of hydrogen there is zero orbital angular momentum: you can't really say that the electron is orbiting at all. In this state there is a nonzero chance to find the electron inside the proton. A classical analog would be the electron perpetually falling though the proton, coming out the other side, then falling back in again... except this is Quantum mechanics and so you've actually got this smeared out wavefunction along that whole path plus smeared along all possible orientations so it's spherically symmetric.

What keeps the electron from being able to be confined to the nucleus is the uncertainty principle: the smaller a volume you try to confine an electron to, the higher it's spread in possible momentum becomes until it has a high probability of escaping. If you try to confine an electron to the region of the nucleus (10^-15 m) then the electrostatic binding energy is like 1 MeV while the uncertainty on the momentum of the electron is like 100 MeV (give or take factors of 2). Clearly the electron will just escape in this situation.


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

[User]
[Alien] What if the Xenomorphs were intelligent enough to set up their own advanced civilization? What would their society be like?

Xenomorphs are extremely clever, but they are basically still animals.

If they evolved to develop human-like intelligence, the ability to invent spacecraft/cities/tech and the ability to communicate intelligently with other alien species (without immediately killing them), what would they likely be like as a society?

[Assistant]
Do we know that they're just animals? We don't really get much of a chance to attempt communication with them, and there's only ever a few of them around. We've seen queens, however, and we know they at least build pretty huge nests, they organize the workers under them and clearly communicate with them. Hell, even the regular drones can clearly observe, learn, plan and implement actions with clear goals - observe the escape in Alien: Resurrection.

Their structures don't look like ours, and their goals don't seem to be much like ours, but how do we know they *aren't* intelligent?


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

[User]
[Halo] Why was the UNSC Sabre program such a top secret mystery?

I mean all they were doing was developing ship to ship fighters right? I get that you don't wan't the Covenant finding out, but three seperate administrations dismissing at as preposterous rumor? Why?

[Assistant]
It was the fact that the Sabre had shields. While the UNSC had a decent enough understanding in how shields worked, power generation was always a problem. No UNSC vehicle could be fit with a power source capable of generating enough energy to run the shields while also being small enough to actually fit in the vehicle. At least not without making it witheringly expensive.

The Sabre was the first time they cracked that problem and, as such, the UNSC went ham on the security for the program since it was such a game changer for them. Getting the shields working on the Sabres would lead to getting them working on larger capital ships, including Infinity, and closing the technology gap between UNSC and Covenant even more.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do different car manufacturers have similar vehicle designs?

I saw a post awhile back comparing a Subaru BRZ and Scion FR-S and its stunning the similarity. Is there more, and why?

[Assistant]
Those are literally the same car.

Subaru, Toyota, and Scion (which is a division of Toyota) all sell the same car under different names.

Plenty of other car companies do this.  Nissan sold the Ford Ranger under thier badge.  The Mitsubishi Eclipse was also sold as the Eagle Talon and Plymouth Laser.


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

[User] ELI5: How does wasp killer spray kill on contact?

[Assistant]
For the RAID type spray, the chemicals are a nerve agent (for the insect) that penetrate through their skin and cause paralysis and nerve damage.  They can't move, they can't breathe, and they die (painfully).

For other insecticides, the chemical may cause uncontrolled muscle movements, or prevent the insects from growing from the egg stage, or destroy their digestive tracts.  These are longer-term insecticides, and are less harmful to humans.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are our teachers forced to teach to a standardized test instead of truly teaching? And how can we fix this?

I know we want to make sure the kids learn but we're handcuffing our educators.

[Assistant] Because test scores are tied to the amount of funding a school gets in many states. And as long as money is tied to scores, administrators will attempt to get as much money as possible, and cut teachers whose classes are underperforming. So teachers are constantly in fear for their jobs.


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

[User]
[Star Wars Legends: Hand of Thrawn] What would have happened if Thrawn's clone had successfully been created?

Would he have joined the Empire in its current state?  Would he have been successful in bringing them back to power?  How different would the Yuuzhan Vong war have been?

[Assistant] The clone would not have been Thrawn for the same reason that every single clone trooper was not the best bounty hunter in the galaxy. How would it have been educated? Flash-learning has been established numerous times as no substitute for quality training and experience. In all likelihood, Thrawn intended his clone to be a figurehead creating the impression that he had never truly died, while Voss Parck and his other subordinates did the real work.


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

[User]
Why are clouds often discrete?

Especially those stereotypical bunny clouds on a windy day. Are all clouds big enough that each one represents a pocket of air where the conditions for condensation are right? If so why isn't the upper air more uniform?

Are individual clouds sometimes directly from individual lakes, or other smaller isolated geological features? (not mountains or coasts)

I've never really been satisfied with my understanding of cloud formation, but I get the theory (i think). There was a similar question on yahoo answers, but the answer wasn't very helpful for me.

[Assistant] Clouds appear to have a very well defined boundaries because of a property of optics. If you went to a cloud an measured the density of water vapor you would find that at the boundary between the cloud and not cloud changed a little but not a lot. This is because the opacity of air is proportional to exp(density of water vapor), so that a small change in the density of water vapor will lead to a dramatic change in the opacity. If you could go up close to a cloud you would see a small transition region, but from far away it looks like a really sharp transition from transparent to opacity. This is what causes clouds to have their distinct shapes and features.


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

[User] ELI5:What is the financial benefit to EA for not selling games on Steam?

[Assistant] Valve takes a ~30% cut of every game sold on Steam. That 30% is a whole lot of money when you're settling millions of every game you put out. It's so much money that the expense of creating and maintaining your own distribution platform STILL saves you money.


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

[User]
Does lightning impart momentum onto an object it strikes?

What if lightning passes through an airborne body?

[Assistant]
The shock wave of expanding air will certainly push against the object.  If the target is a flat surface, the air pressure would generate quite a bit of force.

The actual impact of the electrons isn't going to do much...


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

[User]
Why are so many medications something-hydrochloride?

Meaning, is there some metabolic property (for example) of HCl. Or some sort of chemical stabilizer?

[Assistant] Some medicines are organic compounds that are unable to be dissolved in water or acidic solutions (like the environment in your stomach). Whenever you see the hydrochloride, it means the pharmaceutical company has converted the insoluble drug molecule into a hydrochloride salt to increase its water solubility so it can actually be absorbed in the body. Other salts can be made, such as fumarates.


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

[User]
Does quantum indeterminacy affect macroscopic events?

Of course it affects some macroscopic events (such as the behavior apparatuses used in physics experiments), but in general does quantum indeterminacy filter up?

Suppose I were to drop a bagful of marbles. Would there be a non-trivial chance that they would have landed in noticeably different locations?

[Assistant]
Nope. Quantum behavior doesn't 'filter up'. The heavier something gets, the less 'quantum' its behavior is. By the time you've gotten to things as heavy as entire molecules, they don't behave very quantum-mechanically. For instance, you use x-rays and determine the positions of atoms in a crystal to within fractions of an ngstrm, which is basically an 'unnoticable' distance on the _chemical_ scale, (much less the macroscopic one).

Besides mass, the other thing that affects whether something acts quantum mechanically or not is the extent its able to interact with the environment, since that's what constitutes a 'measurement' quantum-mechanically speaking. If something is constantly being measured, it can't evolve into a quantum superposition state (aka the 'quantum zeno effect').

So we see quantum mechanical behavior when you're dealing with light objects, such as subatomic particles. And you can see those objects acting together in large-scale quantum behavior when you're dealing with a system that doesn't interact much with the environment. For instance, the electrons in a superconductor (which are typically cold, rigid substances). Or superfluid helium (which is obviously very very cold). The main reason why it's so difficult to build a quantum computer (which works off superpositions) is precisely this - it's difficult to scale it up and still keep it isolated enough to preserve the superpositions.

If a bag of marbles at room temperature could act quantum-mechanically to any significant extent, we'd have discovered QM long before we did. But some quantum superpositions were in fact found before QM, although it wasn't known at the time. For instance, the bonds of the benzene molecule form two possible structures, which Kekul described as 'oscillating' (in modern chem terminology 'resonance structures'). But they're actually a quantum superposition (or at least can be viewed as such - what qualifies as a superposition of states hinges on how you define your states)


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

[User] [Star Wars] My planet just got invaded by the Vong. What can I expect will happen to me and my fellow planet-dwellers?

[Assistant]
Slavery, torture, dismemberment and death.  A ban on all technology, especially fire.  Lots of physical pain, having you're organs yanked out to be grafted on Vong who may be going up in rank.

Shoot you're friends, family and yourself.  You'll be better off.


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

[User]
[D&D] I'm in a group of Wizards who all know Planar Shift and just made a big mistake. Could we travel through time by going through the Planes in a certain order?

We know how time is distorted on the various Planes, is it possible for us to go visit different Planes and, by staying in each one for the right combination of time, go back to fix our mistake?

[Assistant]
First off stay calm. Second off, do NOT plane shift to the clockwork plane of Mechanus, and do not seek out a Secundus named Long-cog Sevenfinger and do NOT try to steal the rising hourglass which he leaves unattended for 15 minutes at midnight while he rewinds his coil.

Im asking you not to do this, because you and your friends have tried 7 times, and it is getting very frustrating to clean up after you.


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

[User] In a theorized multiverse, how are "universes" separated from one other and can they influence each other?

[Assistant]
Which 'multiverse' are you talking about?

One view of the multiverse is that the big bang was a point origin of our universe, but there may be other point origins far removed from ours.  This is the **Ergodic** multiverse.  These universes are separated from each other by immense distances.  They can never influence each other.

In the **Many-Worlds** multiverse theory, the universe branches off every time a quantum effect settles on a random number. (Or possible only certain quantum effects.)  This is where you find your parallel universes where anything that could have happened somewhere did happen.  They are not really separated from each other; in this theory, all possibilities exist somewhere, but we humans are only able to follow and understand one of time's infinite threads.  There may be faint interactions between these universes, and we can speculate that may lead to one possible universe being able to influence another.

The **Brane** theory leads to a multiverse separated by distance in one of the ten dimensions of space-time, as described by certain quantum string theories.  They do influence each other, sharing some gravitational wells and possibly other phenomena -- recently it's been speculated that dark matter is a brane interaction.  But these other universes are alien and probably without the same physical laws, so it's not as if you'll see people living there.

And then there are theories where all these possibilities (as well as other multiverses, such as the holographic universe) are all true *simultaneously*.  When the theory gets that complicated it's impossible to say what can and cannot interact.

tldr; We don't know whether there is a multiverse, or which of several theoretical multiverses may actually exist.  Some allow interaction between universes and some don't.


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

[User]
Help understanding Kierkegaard's "Pleasure disappoints, possibility never."

"If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. " - Soren Kierkegaard

How can pleasure disappoint? Wouldn't possibility be disappointing without some sort of reward (ie-pleasure)?

I can understand that the seeking of pleasure is disappointing, or the aftermath of it...but not pleasure in itself, no more than possibility is disappointing without pleasure.

[Assistant]
Here, Kierkegaard has equated "Pleasure" with "wealth and power"- obviously meaning material pleasures.  This is a true-ism we see time and time again in literature.  How many stories are there of people who strive for wealth and power, only to find those things empty and unfulfilling.  The joys brought on by material pleasures are shallow, fleeting, and in the end, the are never as good as you THINK they will be. They are chocked to death by our disappointment that they do not live up to what we thought they would.  The potential.

It's that joy in the potential that is greater.  It pushes you forward, ever expanding.  The joy of the potential is that joy of hunger, of future, of striving. After the realization of that potential, the doors are closed, and you can never go back again.

Imagining the feast is always a better feeling than having consumed the feast.

Kierkegaard is talking about hope. Living in the passionate sense of potential is living with hope.  And hope dies when potential dies, especially when that potential dies by achieving material ends.  Hope ends with fruition. It never endures.


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

[User] [Comics] What is the simplest superpower that could be used to take over the world?

[Assistant]
The ability to create anti-matter at will. Hold the world hostage.

Telepathy. Find the secrets of the most powerful people and use it to hold the world hostage.

Super Attractiveness. Make everyone love you.


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

[User]
How would you explain the rows of a Linear Transformation matrix to a 5-year-old?

I am not good at math.

I'm trying to understand linear transformations intuitively.  So far I understand that the columns of the matrix are the transformations of the standard basis vectors, and I understand why that's the case algebraically.

What I'm struggling to understand is how to interpret the rows of a linear transformation matrix.  What does each row *mean*?  Why do you take the dot product of each row with an input vector?

Is there any way to explain this without referencing the columns of a linear transformation?

[Assistant]
A five year old is not going to understand linear algebra lol, stop wasting your time, you'd be torturing them.

If this is a serious question, keep it 2D you'd have to draw some triangles and circles and squares and show them what they looked like sheared and rotated and mirror imaged and expanded.  Everything 2x2 matrix be decomposed in terms of those.


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

[User]
ELI5: What's the point of assigning people more than a lifetime sentence in jail?

What's the point? If someone has more than one life sentences for their crime, they can only ever serve 1 of those life sentences. If it's just for saying they'll never make parole because of their crimes, wouldn't it be better to just say they've been sentenced to life sentence w/o parole? It seems rather stupid as a symbolic gesture because it feels like it's nonsensical.

Edit: I just realized that after I hit submit that assign is the wrong word, and sentencing would be better :/

[Assistant]
Suppose John Killer goes out and brutally murders three people in three completely separate incidents.

Scenario 1:

He gets caught and the police have evidence for all three crimes, but the prosecuting attorney says, "Look here, the first crime is heinous enough to put this dude on death row.  It's a certain-win at trial.  Let's save the state the cost of presenting evidence for the other two crimes, because the end result is the same, John Killer ends up on death row."  So they try him for the crime and he lands in prison.

Scenario 2:

He gets caught and the police have evidence for all three crimes, but the prosecuting attorney says, "Justice must be served.  We understand that the first crime is adequate to put him on death row for his entire life.  But the records must show that he was tried and found guilty for all three murders, and he must be sentenced accordingly."  So he's tried for all three crimes and receives the death penalty for all three crimes, and he's put on death row.

At this point, you might say, "Exactly!  Dude is on death row!  He can't die three times!  It's a waste of time, money, resources, and in the end it makes no difference!"  And in a lot of cases, you could be right.

But suppose that ten years down the road some new evidence surfaces.  It turns out that John Killer was framed for the first murder by Matt Mobster, who went out of his way to leave John Killer's DNA at the scene.  Then some eye-witnesses recant their testimonies of watching John Killer take out the victim.  And it turns out there's a video of John Killer across town at the time of the murder.  In fact, there isn't just a preponderance of evidence, there's an overwhelming level of evidence.  So naturally John's lawyer gets the first conviction thrown out.

Now, in the first scenario, John would be freed from prison, because he was only sentenced to death once for the first crime.

But in the second scenario, John remains on death row, because he still must answer for the second and third murders.


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

[User]
I've been out of high school for years now, but I distinctly remember my high school bio teacher telling the class how we're living paradoxes, something to the matter of "It's incredible how destructive oxygen is, yet how dependent aerobic organisms are on it."

I tried rationalizing it as being something akin to rust, that eventually oxygen binds with too many elements in the body, and prevents certain processes from functioning properly. But I never did get a straight answer out of my bio professor. Did she mean that, in general, O is destructive, but it's a force for good in life? Or did she mean that it's destructive, and we battle it's destructive properties to utilize it for its life-giving ones?

I wish there was more context to give; it was just a high school biology class.

[Assistant]
Oxygen  is very reactive. As such, it can be both destructive and useful.

Your bio teacher seems to have found this remarkable. Looked at another way, though, it's not unusual that many of the most useful things are also the most dangerous.

Consider the opposite case: a totally inert substance that doesn't react with anything is not as useful, but it's also not particularly dangerous, for the same reason.


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

[User]
[General Cyberpunk] Are there any cyberpunk settings that feature high-tech swords that aren't katanas?

Like, say, a Longsword or a Messer? In a setting with vibroblades and superalloys, could the cruciform guard of a longsword give it some advantage in a duel against another melee weapon?

[Assistant]
System shock uses an electric rapier.

The cruciform guard can be useful depending on circumstances(for instance, I'd say Kylo Ren's guard is more useful offensively than defensively because you don't catch a sword directly on the guard and lightsabers don't slide.)


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

[User] [General] Do zombies actually want to eat people, or do they simply want to bite people to spread the zombie disease? If they want to eat people, wouldn't the spread be fairly slow, as most people get eaten, and therefor not as many zombies are created?

[Assistant] It's kind of like rabies. It makes them more likely to attack people, and attacking people helps spread the disease. But it's not like they want to spread the disease. It just evolved some traits that help it spread. Also, the zombie virus is fairly new. Maybe if it sticks around for awhile it will evolve to make people attack other people without killing them.


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

[User]
How does Communism decide *what* to produce?

I'm broadly aware of the practical reality of how communist countries decided what to produce; five year production plans based on input-output analysis.

I am more interested in the philosophical basis of these production plans. That is, communist ideology has a fairly clear prescription for how goods should be *distributed*; workers should receive the profits of their labor in accordance with the Labor Theory of Value. But the LTV can't help you decide *what* the economy as a whole should produce. At best it tells each person to specialize in whatever they are most productive in, but if that's the only criteria for the production plan then it is quite easy for peoples' basic needs not to be met (you could end up with a country of artists, or toothbrush manufacturers). So the question is: Does Communism have some way of basing production decisions on the LTV, or do they have some other system for deciding what an economy should produce? Or did they just not care and produce whatever seemed like a neat idea at the time?

Thanks for any responses.

[Assistant]
>Does Communism have some way of basing production decisions on the LTV

There are many problems with the LTV (primarily that it has proven useless for explaining real-world economic phenomena), but two traditional problems are worth noting because they undermine the notion that the LTV could be used for resource allocations even if it was true as a theory of value.

First, it doesn't sufficiently account for the use of natural resources, and second, it doesn't sufficiently account for the heterogeneous characteristics of labor. Because of this, attempting to calculate costs / benefits solely in terms of labor time will result in serious misallocations of resources, as the values are systematically leaving out certain kinds of information that needs to be accounted for.

>...or do they have some other system for deciding what an economy should produce?

Essentially they have to substitute political ways of allocating resources for economic ways of allocating resources. Generally, without money prices, producers have no way to reckon the opportunity costs of the various technologically feasible methods of production relative to the economic value they add to the economy, so you get all sorts of productive and allocative inefficiencies.

Depending on the political institutions in question, it's quite likely political incentives will not align neatly with social welfare, so you get corruption, abuses of power, rent seeking, bloated bureaucracies, and so on. And the historical record seems to indicate these problems are quite pronounced when we're dealing with countries that subsume sufficiently large portions of their economies under political direction rather than market direction. So in short you have both informational problems due to the lack of reliable economic calculation and you have incentive incompatibility issues with political processes.


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

[User] ELI5: How do ceiling fans collect dust when they're constantly in motion?

[Assistant]
The air moving over the blades actually creates a static electric charge.  Like rubbing a balloon against a sweater, this creates an attractive force between the charged blades and dust in the air.

This build-up of static charge is the predominant effect causing the dust to collect over time.


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

[User]
ELI5: If you put energy into a closed system to reduce its entropy, you will have increased the entropy outside of the system. How does that work?

I've heard that if you put energy into tidying a room to reduce its entropy, you will have increased the entropy outside of your room as a result?  Is that true?  If so, I don't get it.  I have tidied up a room and not caused rooms outside to get less tidy.

Edit:  Thanks for taking the time to answer.  Makes more sense now.

[Assistant]
In order to clean your room, you had use some of your own energy. That energy ultimately came from plants (either directly by eating them or by animals which ate them). The plants gained their energy from the sun which is gradually increasing in entropy as it radiates its energy.

You need to look at the entire system, not just a small portion.


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

[User]
If you gathered enough neutrons to be seen, what would it look like?

IF it were possible what would it look like.

[Assistant]
It wouldn't really look like anything, because light has minimal interactions with neutron. It would essentially be a diffuse gas. There would be a lot of beta radiation coming from them, so if you put all the neutrons in water together you might see a blue glow.

If you had a neutron star, it would look very bright due to its extreme temperature.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Was knowledge that Luke Skywalker could use the Force public during the Galactic Civil War? If so, when did it become known?

[Assistant] Yes. After the Battle of Yavin Luke served with the Rebellion in several missions and rumours of his abilities begin to spread, he was able to do things the Jedi of old were able to, so of course people began to talk. After he went to Daggobah and trained with Yoda, he openly refered to himself as a Jedi Knight. And after the war was over he made it known that the Jedi were back and that he was looking for Jedi relics and more knowledge of the Force, all culminating into him starting his own training temple, and gathering students to train in the ways of the Force.


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

[User]
[The Inheritance Cycle] Selena using the word 'heal' to kill.

So it was mentioned that Selena, Eragon's mother was once taught the word for 'heal' in the ancient language and pitted against a bunch of deadly assassins. She managed to defeat them by healing them of all that drove them to kill. However if she was proficient enough in magic to do that, surely she had to know quite a bit of the ancient language. Why didn't she just use another way? The only thing I can think of was that some kind of restriction was imposed forcing her to use only the word for heal. However then why wasn't that specified? saying that she was 'taught the word' seems to imply she didn't know the ancient language, in which case her proficiency in magic seems absurd.

[Assistant] Magic in Alagaesia is somewhat intent based. It was linked to the ancient language so you couldn't get a result that contradicted what you said, but the intent of what you were trying to do still matters. The implication in the book seems to be that Selena didn't know more than the word for heal, but it's possible that with the right intention and concentration, that word could be used to have an effect that seems counterintuitive as long as the caster sees the link between what they say and what they want to happen.


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

[User] [Sonic X/Sonic Adventure 2] How was it that in 50 years no one on Earth noticed a rather large spherical object ( the space colony Ark ) a little left to the moon in space?

[Assistant] It's big, but not *that* big really. Probably small enough that most people just assume it's a comet or satellite - and if they used a telescope they'd just see a big piece of rock, the cannon part was covered up at first after all.


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

[User]
ELI5: How are roaches completely unaffected by mircowaves?

Alright, so we've got a *tiny* roach infestation right now, and they like to scurry around anyplace dark and cramped, like our microwave oven. Even when it's running.

I know that microwaves work by vibrating the particles of whatever's in them to create heat with friction, but why doesn't that work on roaches? I mean isn't fire super-effective against bug?

[Assistant]
Someone mentioned this in a post not too long ago. Basically this guy was cooking food and noticed a cockroach running around in the microwave. Freaking disgusting but anyway.
The microwave doesn't heat food evenly. That's part of the reason for the rotating platter. The roach senses this and runs to areas of little to no radiation.


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40K] What happen if you put Orky bits inside a human?

Let's say an insane and extremely good Chaos Apothecary, some insane Dark Eldar with fetish for surgeries or a deranged but good Painboy decided to place Orky bitz inside a Humie and maybe some tech to atleast stablize it. What would happen if the human somehow survive? Lets assume some good dose of WAAAAGH! Energy was added to the mix as well.

Will an Ork grow inside his body and come out like a chest buster? Would the fungi assimilate the human flesh and in turn make the Humie orky or would it create an insane Frankestein of Man and Ork?

[Assistant]
The human would almost certainly die.

The Orkoid species is violent and dangerous at every level. Even single celled orkanisms are capable of putting up a fight, and so the human would likely be destroyed by microbial Orks, leaving its body to rot and feed the miniature Ork ecosystem now gestating in its corpse.


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

[User] ELI5: Why isn't Herbalife considered a pyramid scheme by the SEC?

[Assistant]
Because they have skirted the edge of the legal definition of a pyramid scheme by claiming they are selling a product and not just recruiting more salesmen.  But in reality once you are in, they drill home that you need to sponsor massively more and more people to sell the stuff.  And once you have paid, you feel like a chump to just walk away and admit they suckered you.  So you give it a try because...well maybe this will really work.  But it doesn't.  And by that time, you've grown bitter and just want to get away from it and it is too much trouble to try to get your money back and you tell yourself it was worth the money you spent to learn that lesson.

And while that may be true, they still have your cash.  Multiply that across the globe and boom - Herbalife is rolling in the shit while you are left feeling like you were mugged.


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

[User]
[Dune] What would such huge creatures like sandworms actually eat?

So if I remember right the worm produced the spice... But how can the worms survive themself? Being insanely large the sandworms must have consumed tons of biomass not to starve... But in their habitat there was only... Sand, wasnt it?

[Assistant]
The sand worms primarily eat sand plankton, which are actually the first stage in the sand worm life cycle, which is hypothetically trophically contained.

1) Sand plankton are microscopic organisms that feed on melange. Sand plankton mature into an adolescent form called a "sand trout" or "Little Maker".

2) Sand trout are free swimming "half animal, half plant" creatures that hoard water in cisterns underground bound by their own bodies. Given their half plant (even though they're mostly away from sunlight) nature, they are likely the autotrophic portion of the system and are said to contain a sweet syrup. Melange grows as a fungus within the underground cisterns feeding on trout excrement, and a spice blow happens when the build up causes the cistern to rupture (this kills the majority of the trout involved, but apparently not all).

3). Sand trout mature into sand worms, who presumably spore sand plankton.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it hard to open a refrigerator door right after you close it?

[Assistant] You just closed a bunch of warm air in a box of cold things.  The air cools really fast and the pressure drops forming a vacuum.  It takes a few seconds/minutes for the few gaps in the door seal to allow enough air in to equalize the pressure.


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

[User] ELI5 The concept of making your bed, only to mess it up again.

[Assistant]
You see, it's like this:

Say you don't make your bed in the morning. Then a fire breaks out, and the fire department responds. they go through every room of the house, and when they get to your room they see your bed isn't made, and then they go "hey look! brandana doesn't make his bed!"


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

[User] Does the fuse of a bundle of TNT set off all of the sticks at once, or does it trigger one stick which explodes, causing the others to explode?

[Assistant]
Former EOD tech here.
Short version: The fuse itself does not initiate the TNT. The fuse (either electric or black powder) initiates a very sensitive primary explosive in a blasting cap. The explosion from the blasting cap creates a wave of heat and pressure that initiates the TNT which it is inserted into. This chain reaction (shock wave) expands outward from the point of initiation (the blasting cap) at approx. 6,940 m/s through the rest of the TNT.

It appears to happen all at once but actually happens like a wave, similar to dropping a pebble in a pond.


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

[User]
Ive heard that the ratio in size between the human body and the smallest subatomic particle is equal to the ratio in size between the size of the known universe and the human body. Is this true?

I've heard this multiple times in my life, and I can't seem to find any concrete evidence of it's truth. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Assistant]
An elementary subatomic particle does not have a size.  Classically, they may be estimated to have a certain radius, or may be assumed to be point-like.  But in reality, spatial descriptions of elementary subatomic particles are described by their wave-function, which is defined for all space.  It can be interpreted that an electron, for instance, or some other elementary subatomic particle, is actually smeared throughout all of space.

Elementary subatomic particles are not baseballs.  So the comparison is really nonsensical.  But, lets talk about protons for a minute, something that isn't an elementary particle, is still considered subatomic, and is quite small.  The diameter of the known universe is on the order of 10^26 m.  The diameter of a proton is on the order of 10^-15 m.  We are on the order of meters.  So, really, if we consider the proton, we are much closer to the size of a proton than the size of the observable universe!  As far as muons, electrons, quarks, neutrinos, etc... there is no comparison.  They are different critters all together.


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

[User]
At what point does the randomness of quantum mechanics become irrelevant?

I've heard that the Determinism theory was disproven because there is a complete randomness associated with quantum mechanics. However, some things, such as the motion of an object, can be predicted nearly exactly. At what point does the randomness become irrelevant and determinism takes over?

[Assistant] one useful rule of thumb is whenever the system is (much) larger than its characteristic wavelength. Since wavelength is inversely proportional to momentum, higher momentum objects often have very little quantum behaviour.


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

[User]
If I am on, or near a ship, and it sinks, will I be sucked down with the ship, or will I remain on the surface?

If I am in the vicinity of a sinking ship, will the current and pull of the water pull me down?

For the sake of argument, would the result differ depending on the rate the ship was sinking, or if the ship was very big?

[Assistant] There is significant turbulent mixing created as a large object sinks.  There will be areas above the ship where surface water is subducted. However, since the sea surface remains relatively flat, that subducted water is replaced by rising water; the net effect being zero.  In any case, you don't want to be directly above a sinking ship.


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

[User] ELI5:What makes that 'pewww' sound, as fireworks get shot into the air?

[Assistant] As far as i know it is a pyrotechnic mixture called whistle mix. The two main components are potassium perchlorate and sodium salicylate or sodium benzoate. The powdered mix is pressed into a tube carefully (as it is sensitive to impact and friction) and when ignited acts like a rocket propellant which creates a high pitch whistling noise as the gases escape from the bottom. Titanium powder can be added for white sparks and iron oxide can be added to catalyse the reaction. The size and shape of the tube can change the sound of the whistle.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why, mainly in the past, only the women changed their surnames when married

What is the story behind this?

[Assistant]
Traditionally, the woman leaves her family to join her husband who is now the head of her new family. It would follow that she takes the name of her new family.

Edit: this is why the father of the bride gives away the bride at the start of the ceremony. If the father is not available, typically, another male member like a brother or paternal grandfather will give away the bride.


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

[User]
What happens to bees separated from their colonies?

A bee flew into my car when I was on the freeway home, and decided to just chill on one of the closed windows. When I got home, about 20 minutes away, I let him out and he flew away.

What happens now? Does he die without a colony? Will a new colony adopt him?

[Assistant]
Depends on the bee. If it was a social bee, like a bumble bee or honey bee then she (almost all bees are female) will die.

On the other hand, some bees are solitary, so something like a mason bee might be able to find a suitable place to lay her eggs.


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

[User]
ELI5: What prevents infections settling in cuts?

When I was a kid I often got a lot of cuts unattended. I never had any bad infections, but I do have a lot of scars from some of the bigger cuts. What prevented my body from getting a life threatening infection?

[Assistant]
Your circulatory system is pressurized, so blood flows out of injuries instead of bacteria flowing *in*.

Then the blood hardens into a protective shield.

Some bacteria do get in, but you have a personal death squad of millions of cells who patrol the body for interlopers.  Any cell that can't produce the correct paperwork when asked gets executed.  The cell police don't play games.

Usually the combination of the outflow pressure and the police is enough to prevent any serious bacterial incursions, but they can happen if the germs are tough enough or the immune system is weak enough or unable to reach the infection site.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it safer to turn off the engine/remove keys from the ignition when fueling a car?

[Assistant] Fuel emits a very flammable gas with a low ignition point. All you really need is a spark. On a windy day, when these fumes are dispersed quickly, it's generally ok. On a warm, humid, stagnant day, this can be very dangerous as your car is generating electrical energy while it runs which can easily spark enough to set off the gas.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does the world feel quieter when it snows?

Just a Canadian waiting for the bus when it dawned on me how quiet it was.

[Assistant]
It's harder for sound to travel through the air when there is snow in it. Same thing is true when it rains (but you might not notice it as the rain itself makes a lot of noise)

Also the snow already on the ground also works like sound dampening. As the sound can bounce much easier on the hard ground than the soft snow.


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

[User]
[Marvel Comics] How different would Earth-616 be if a young Magneto had joined the Invaders?

In this scenario, assume that the classic Invaders (Captain America, Bucky, Human Torch, Toro, Namor) liberate Auschwitz in 1944 with the help of Erik Lensherr whose powers are developing. They convince him to join and aid their cause as Magneto, Master of Magnets.

1. In general, how does this shift history?

2. Magneto discovers that his teammate Namor is a fellow mutant. How does this change the way mutants are regarded by the rest of the world?

3. Alternate version: Magneto misses his chance to escape in 1944 during a revolt and instead is found by the Russians in 1945 when they finally liberate the camp. What changes for the USSR of they have Magneto on their side after the war?

[Assistant]
1. There's a chance Magneto doesn't become a villain if he's developed as a hero alongside Captain America, and he sees that there are people who will go out of their way to defend those who are different than them.  Of course, Namor might convince Magneto of his superiority but probably not.  Magneto would make sure the Invaders went to free the other Concentration Camps, and he'd be an extraordinary asset - particularly with Cap and his shield.  He could have also saved Bucky from Zemo's rocket, preventing Cap from being super bummed when he was unfrozen and preventing the Winter Soldier from happening.

2. Magneto would publicize his and Namor's achievements in WW2 and they'd be regarded as heroes by the Allied propaganda machine.  Potentially leading to a deeply religious country declaring that mutants were gifts from god to defeat the Nazi menace.  Good early press lowers the amount of persecution they suffer later.

3. Magneto would probably treat Russia the same as he treats America in mainstream comics.  He would of course have to read communist works if he were brought into the USSR government, and the Communist Manifesto talks a lot about alienation from your labor and exploitation of the worker.  Magneto would see the USSR taking credit for his successes and then see that they're exploiting him for his mutant abilities.  He would then become a mutant supremacist terrorist in Russia.


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

[User] [Arthurian legend] How would King Arthur feel if he returned to defend modern Britain as foretold, only to find that it is now overrun by the Anglo-Saxons he supposedly fought?

[Assistant]
I actually think he'd be quite pleased.  The assorted tribes of Britain are no longer soaking battlefields with blood to resolve their differences.  Human rights and the celebration of human dignity have come a long way since before the Magna Carta, and that is what some of the British tradition celebrates the most (like with the whole concept of a round table).

I honestly think that the hardest thing for him (if you use the continental and Christian traditions, like Chretien as a starting point) would be the secularization of his kingdom.  The quest for the Grail would be met with more of a "meh" today.


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

[User] ELI5: Why as you increase the speed of a song, the pitch gets higher.

[Assistant]
Sound is basically vibration in the air. Our brain detects slow vibrations as lower notes and fast vibration as higher notes. For example on a guitar if you don't have you fingers on the string the entire string vibrates causing it to make slower vibrations. If you place your finger on the stringer and strum the guitar the sound becomes more high pitched because the vibrating part is smaller and thus vibrates faster cause it's smaller.

If you speed up sound like on a record, your effectively speed up the vibration in the song. Because your speeding up the vibrations you brain things the song is playing faster.


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

[User] ELI5 why can't we produce blood and have to donate it from real people?

[Assistant] Just because it has one name doesnt mean its one thing. Like a car is make up of lots of parts, Blood is also made up lots and lots of different pieces that are super tiny, so small, you cant even see them, and they have to be fit together in exactly the right way for it to work. Its still too hard for humans to put the pieces together in exactly the right way, but were working on it.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do they get water up large skyscrapers

I've always wondered how they get water up massive skyscrapers like in new york or in india, please help!

Edit:  Thanks for all the answers and videos! I appreciate having my question answered by a great community! and made my Front page! Thanks again!!!

[Assistant] with pumps! the pressure that is supplied by the water main available in most cities is usually only adequate to get water up around 6-8 stories. any building higher than that needs to supplement the water pressure in its system with pumps.


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

[User] ELI5: How are ovens able to cook at a lower temperature /faster by being fan assisted?

[Assistant]
that is the difference between a conventional oven and a convection oven (one with a fan). the fan does two things. The first is it mixes the air in the oven, so you get a more even temperature throughout. This helps things cook more evenly. The biggest difference, though, comes from the flow of air through the oven. Moving fluids, be they gas or liquid, transfer heat faster that stagnant fluids. Stagnant air is often used as insulation. Conventional ovens do have some airflow due to the slight temperature differences between the top and bottom of the oven and having a heating element on the bottom, but this is minor compared to convection ovens.

TL;DR faster moving air transfers heat better than slow or non-moving air so a convection oven cooks faster than a conventional oven.


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

[User] ELI5: How exactly is a pulse ox able to detect the amount of oxygen in the blood?

[Assistant] It shines a specific color of light through your finger. That light has it's color changed by the blood in your finger and is then received by a sensor on the other side. The amount and type of change depends on the oxygen content of your blood. (Which is also why veins appear bluer than arteries.) From that it's a simple formula to give an accurate enough measure of blood oxygen.


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

[User]
Andromeda Collision

I've been told that the Milky Way is on a collision course with the Andromeda galaxy, but I've also heard that all the galaxy's are moving away from each other, how does this work?

[Assistant]
Cosmological expansion only causes things that are already sufficiently far apart to expand away from one another. For things that are relatively close to one another, like the galaxies in the Local Group, the behavior is much more closely approximated by the standard picture of attractive gravity.

In other words, gravitationally bound systems (like galaxy groups) don't experience cosmological expansion. It's only when you consider widely separated galaxies that you find the distance between them increasing due to expansion.


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

[User]
Will Build Back Better add to inflationary pressures?

I read that some believe the >$1trillion spending package wont add to inflation. I was wondering how we can know that? What does add to inflation?

My thought is: if we take money from people/companies not using as much of it (via higher taxes) and spend it on infrastructure where much of it goes into raw materials and worker pay (who are more likely to use it), it seems like it should put more pressure on inflation? Especially in such huge volumes of money.

So, does it seem like it would be more or less likely to put additional pressure on inflation?

[Assistant]
It's not a matter of BBB not adding inflationary pressure all together, it's more a matter of scale. In this case, if the current 1.5 Trillion dollar plan is passed, that would represent 150 billion/year in new spending, or a bit over 0.5% of the GDP on these social programs. They could have a broader effect than those simple numbers, but it's not likely that it will significantly add to inflation.

It's important to keep in mind that the bulk of the inflation we're seeing now is a result of supply chain constraints being tested and not the monetary/fiscal policies of governments, and we likely wouldn't be considering the potential for inflationary pressure for such a bill in most other contexts.


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

[User] Eli5: In this day and age how the hell can people escape from prison?

[Assistant]
At the end of the day, a prison is a building with a security system limiting what goes in and out of it, and security systems are subject to flaws unforeseen by those who create them.

Consider how often we hear about security breaches in million dollar, professionally built computer systems. Hackers look for flaws in those systems to exploit and gain entry. In a similar vein, those who are able to escape from prisons have simply found a way to hack the prison's security system. Perhaps a door that must be manually locked is forgotten or missed by a lazy or tired guard. Or poor maintenance has led to a section of fence which can be pushed open.

When you have an imperfect security system being analyzed on a daily basis by a group of people who would like to break through it, sooner or later one of them will succeed.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is SpaceX attempting to land a Rocket on a drone ship?

[Assistant] They're trying to develop a rocket that can land vertically and be used again. Due to laws regarding airspace and (mainly) safety regulations, they can't try this over land, so they built a barge out in the water where they can legally develop the technology.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do some programs crash/become unresponsive when minimized?

Skyrim is a huge example for many people. Why can't some programs do this?

[Assistant]
Let's say your computer is a line of students (programs) in primary school waiting to be served lunch (processing resources).

Skyrim, the school bully, has the notorious reputation of beating other kids up to get the Fullscreen pass which allows him to cut in front of the lunch line so he gets the highest priority for the food.

A new teacher, Mrs. Minimize, notices the bullying and forces Skyrim to the back of the line. Since Skyrim is always used to getting the highest priority for food, he gets extremely upset. If he isn't first in line, then no one should be! He charges through the cafeteria, crashes the table of food to the ground, and stomps his way out.

Summary: Some programs are used to getting high priority for processing power. When minimized, they switch to low priority which could cause processing issues, causing them to crash or become unresponsive.


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

[User] Eli5: Is there any explanation why when we sleep it seems like time is so fast? For example, ive been asleep for 9 hours but it feels like just a minute.

[Assistant]
Time passes inconsistently based on how aware of it you are. Five minutes doing something unpleasant feels a lot longer than five minutes doing something you love, because you are keenly aware of the time passing when you're waiting for it to reach a certain point.

When you're asleep you aren't counting the time, and therefore it doesn't have the slow down effect.


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

[User]
[Incredibles] What happened to all the villains that were around?

 Assuming the Supers world worked like our own comics then every Super has at least 3 villains that they fight. When the Supers go the villains presumably wouldnt. Did the government just go the way of the Syndrome with them?

[Assistant]
We never see any super powered villains.  They're all mundanes with gadgets.

Without superheroes to oppose them, they don't need super gadgets.  They just returned to using guns and crowbars like the good old days.


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

[User] What if in the future space mining become true, think about Federal Reserve Bank of New York, all funds that are stored in gold and other metals are now priceless (if prices of gold and other metals drops). How would that affect the global economy?

[Assistant]
Some data.

* The US Government has a gold reserve of about 11 billion USD.

* The US GDP is about 19 trillion USD per year, or 52 billion USD per day.

* The US federal government revenue is about 3.6 trillion USD per year, or 9.9 billion USD per day.

So the US government has a gold reserve that is about:

* 5 hours worth of GDP.

* 21 hours worth of federal revenue.

Even if all the gold vanished overnight, it would be little more than a footnote in the US government budget. If we had a technology that made it inexpensive to mine gold and bring it back to Earth*, whatever that imaginary technology might be would have an effect on the global economy many orders of magnitude greater than the value of the now worthless and abundant gold.

_________

\* Which, spoiler alert, we probably never will, because of the laws of thermodynamics.


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

[User]
CMV: Celebrities do have it easier.

I always hear celebrities saying stuff about how fame wasn't what they expected and how it's gotten to them and if they could do it all over again they wouldn't have chosen the fame. I get that maybe the attention might be too much but at the end of the day you're rich and famous and can get what you want, etc. I think the main thing is that it seems like they forget everyone struggles. Like they think all of their issues will disappear and they'll have a perfect life without the fame. Everyone else has a lot bigger problems than they do, especially in terms of money.

[Assistant] Id say thats absolutely true...until you have struggles. Imagine if you will, the experience of drug addiction as a celebrity vs. some no name joe q citizen. The entire world gets to experience (and comment) on your downfall...thats something none of us could possibly fathom. Its certainly a much higher mountain, but god help you if you fall off it.


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

[User]
CMV: Portraying fit/attractive actors as characters that eat junk food all the time and never work out is irresponsible and damaging.

I really started to take diet and exercise seriously and found that to reach certain target body types, it's massively more challenging than I expected. I partly put this down to TV constantly portraying these young, attractive, fit, successful people as eating junk food all the time and never working out. I don't consider myself a particularly naive or impressionable person so I don't consciously form my views on this from TV but over time it happens subconsciously.

It happens with most characters in TV, sitcoms especially but lets take Joey from Friends as an example. He's eating pizza constantly, he eats an entire turkey, the meal for 6 for 1 etc. He's seen to be working out once I think, immediately hurts himself and says 'why did I have to start lifting weights again?' - indicating this isn't something he normally does. Despite this he's a good looking guy and in good shape.

By contrast I'm a similar age and height/build and only after a solid year of working hard in the gym 3 times a week and eating right am I starting to look like that. (Starting point was just 20-30lb overweight). By the standards set on TV and adverts for 6 week abs etc., even after considering that those standards aren't reasonable and adjusting my targets accordingly, I was still disappointed with such a minor change. I think TV in general wildly misrepresents what lifestyle you need to lead to achieve a certain body type.

I understand why they do it for TV. If someone is attractive, they are immediately more likeable. If they also like junk food and lying around on the couch, they are more relatable - making them more likeable again. I'd just like to see more shows address this, I think it's harmful for people's body image and very demotivating when they see what they perceive to be slow progress.

Maybe I'm in the minority though, I've never heard anyone express this view before, I'm open to changing my mind. What do you guys think?

EDIT: Thought of another good example after posting. Look at Jake and Terry from Brooklyn Nine Nine. Jake looks in pretty good shape but is portrayed as a guy that eats junk and never works out, in reality I'm guessing Andy Samberg is pretty careful about what he eats and probably goes for a run regularly. Terry is portrayed as a guy that just eats right and exercises whilst working a job and having a wife and kids. In reality his body type is only possible if he uses steroids and spends probably 3-4 hours a day working out - virtually impossible alongside a full time job, wife and kids.

EDIT2: Maybe I didn't make myself clear because a lot of people seem to have misunderstood. I'm not asking for TV shows to show these people working out or eating healthily. I just don't want them to actively portray that they regularly to do the opposite like the Jake and Joey examples.

[Assistant]
This isn't a problem with tv, it's a problem with human biases.

Consider two friends that you eat lunch with every day at work/school (you know back when that would happen...). One is fit, and eats whatever looks good from the cafeteria. The other is trying to get fit, and eats a small, undressed salad every day. From your perspective, it would seem that the  salad eater should at least be trending to being more fit, while the other trending to being less fit. But you don't have sufficient information to make that assumption. We actually have no clue whether each friend consumes more calories per day than they burn, we only know how many calories they chose to consume at lunchtime.

TV is like just seeing someone during lunch. No tv show gives you 24 hour-a-day access to a character's behavior. Not even 24. Taking the behavior you see in the tv show and assuming that extends to how that character acts 24/7 is to make the same fallacy as assuming your trying-to-be-fit friend has a healthier lifestyle than your fit friend.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What would have happened if Obi-Wan Kenobi had escaped the Death Star alive?

Let's assume group escapes without needing Obi-Wan to distract Vader. Obi-Wan goes to Yavin IV with Luke on the Millenium Falcon as the Death Star approaches.

How do the events of the series unfold from there?

[Assistant]
Obi-Wan and Luke both pilot X-Wings during the Death Star assault.  Vader barely makes it out in time to survive the explosion, but is in no shape to dogfight Luke or Obi-Wan.  Wedge survives.

Luke still heads out on Hoth, but being more adept in the force, the wampa attack is detected sufficiently in advance that it becomes a simple dismembering from tauntaun-back.  Luke reports in that there are space-bigfoots about.  When Han reports that an imperial probe blew up, Obi-Wan immediately declares that they must abandon Hoth.  As a result, Vader's fleet arrives to find an empty and abandoned Hoth.

Obi-Wan and Luke both go to Dagobah, and Luke's training isn't interrupted to save his friends since... they don't need saving.  Luke manages to become a full Jedi and divines on his own that Vader is his father.  Yoda and Obi-Wan teach Luke how to handle force-lightning.

Return of the Jedi plays out pretty much the same, except that Luke easily bests Vader in combat without succumbing to anger, and isn't immediately roflstomped by Palpatine.  Sensing a real chance at victory, Vader turns on his master (this was his plan as indicated in Episode II) and the two of them dismember the emperor without much incident.

Vader fails to take command of the Empire, and is unwilling to join the rebellion.  Yoda still dies from space-flu.  The empire, without a strong leader, begins to unravel itself and an emergency senate is created in a final hope to restore order.


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

[User]
[LoTR] its my understanding that the Istari were forced to limit their involvement and use of their abilities in Middle Earth. If Gandalf were allowed to go ham on the forces of Sauron, how much damage could he have done?

Could he one-shot any of the Nine?  How powerful would an unrestricted Gandalf be compared to Sauron before the end of the Third Age?

[Assistant]
We saw Gandalf the Grey go all out against Durin's Bane. Because he is confined to a living body (even if it is much more than a simple old man's frame), he is still quite limited in terms of raw magical power. The last time forces beyond Middle Earth intervened against evil, continents were shattered, species were wiped away, and the entire world was quite literally reshaped. (from a flat plane into a sphere)

Gandalf the White had a little more leeway given how desperate the situation became. But even then, the majority of his influence still came from his ability to inspire and lead, rather than cast divine fireballs at the enemy. With a slightly more powerful figurehead to rally behind, the armies of men had more hope, and thus fought a little harder than they might have if Gandalf had somehow remained in his original incarnation.

Even when Saruman abandoned the mission, he was still in his living body, and his magic was mostly in his voice. And he died to a dagger in the back, so he wasn't some sort of all-powerful being wading amongst the mortals.


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

[User] [Psych] - Was Shawn naturally talented or was his ability through training from his father? If a combination of both, did his father train him because he knew about the gift or would he have raised him that... rigorously if not?

[Assistant] Henry had trained himself to an extremely high level of skill, so he knew that it could be done for anyone (Henry being a dedicated cop, but knowing he was nothing special). So he trained Shawn, hoping that he would be a cop, and knowing that he could be taught, irregardless of Shawn's initial skill level.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it important to serve different types of alcoholic drinks in different styles of glasses? Does it affect the flavor somehow?

[Assistant]
It can - some large volume glasses like a wine glass or brandy snifter are designed to create a large bouquet that you inhale when you stick your nose in the glass.

For most though, it comes down to presentation and volume.
A single whiskey on the rocks would look like nothing at all in a large highball glass. Conversely, drinks with ice and lots of mixer require a larger glass.

A stemmed glass (or a martini glass) is designed so you can hold the stem, yet not warm up the chilled drink contents, yet has enough open mouth so you can smell the bouquet.  Or hold 11 olives if thats your thing.


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

[User]
We say the universe is roughly 13,75 * 10^9 years old. Given that time is relative, from what perspective is this measured?

Edit: After reading a bit about cosmic time I think Coin-coin answered my question in the point I was looking for. Thank all you guys for your contribution, didn't expect that much feedback.

[Assistant]
It's what we call **cosmic time**.

In our model, the Universe is homogenous and isotropic. So there is a special frame: the one in which the Universe is isotropic. If you move in one direction in this frame, you will notice that the Universe doesn't look the same in your direction of movement as in the other directions.

The reference time is the time measured in this special frame.


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

[User]
[MCU] Did anyone get snapped peacefully in their sleep and then get brought back in their same bed unaware of what happened?

As the title says like would they have tried to get their work day started Shaun of the dead style totally unaware of the chaos around them?

[Assistant] Statistically, absolutely. Though it's unlikely they could remain blissfully ignorant for long, given things have significantly changed in those five years. If you're lucky, you find your home still owned by your family, who are shocked to see you. If you're not, it might be owned by total strangers who take you as a home invader, or it might be abandoned or demolished. In any event, you're very confused and in an unexpected chaotic situation.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is the No Child Left Behind Act considered a failure.

Throughout my entire life I have heard people put down the No Child Left Behind Act but from what I could tell by a simple google search the act was intended to provide educational opportunities to many kids who would not have previously had them as well as raising national education standards. Was there something in it that was fundamentally flawed or did it simply just fall short of this goal?

[Assistant] Schools could only get more money through testing, which resulted in multiple grading scandals.  It also forced kids through the system who were maybe not ready to advance as quickly as they did.  This would set back students who were testing at grade levels.  It essentially dumbed down everything, forcing all students to learn at the lowest-performing levels.  Besides the funding issue, it seems like an ideal thing, to not let kids down no matter what, but it ends up holding others back.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Does Captain America need to exercise?

In both the Avengers and The Winter Soldier they show Cap exercising, first by hitting a heavy bag and then by jogging.  With the super soldier serum does Captain America actually have to exercise?  Is it just recrational for him?   A habit he picked up when he was scrawny and never stopped?  Or does exercise actually increase his physique beyond what the serum did for him?

[Assistant]
He excercises to maintain. The serum gave him very rapid muscle growth and in general boosted his physical upper limit. However to stay there he has to excercise like every other person. If he stops his muscles will start atrophying like they do for bodybuilders who quit.

Besides it gives him something to do with all that pent up energy.


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

[User]
Becoming part of academia in a foreign country?

Hello everyone, in the future I hope to obtain a PhD in Psychology (specifically Clinical Psychology) from here in the U.S.

My question is what are the opportunities of being apart of research/academia at a university in a foreign country?

[Assistant]
It depends. Some countries are more closed than other. And within those countries, some universities and departments are more closed than others.

If it comes to a you being 100% qualified for a job and McLocalface being 80% qualified, in many cases they might still hire McLocalface.


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

[User]
Intimidating Advisor

Doc student in a STEM field here.

I saw numerous posts on similar situations like this  but I am wanting to hear some direct thoughts on my situation.

My advisor is a well-respected scholar in the field. We havent had any conflict yet, but I am having doubts about whether I should continue to work with her. I dont know why, and maybe this is on me  but I get so anxious around her. Its to the point where I have to take my as needed anxiety medication whenever I speak with her. Her presence is intimidating, even when we are just talking about our daily lives.

She is a highly ranked professor in my department, which also means that she has a lot of $ and power. She can fund me on different projects that other faculties may not. One thing to note though is because of the political environment in my department, there are faculty members who are on the opposing side of my advisor. I didnt know politics in academia can be this bad until I entered one. I thought about switching numerous times, just because her presence is so intimidating to me for some reason. The way she talks can be short sometimes, and whenever I share my interaction with her with other students, they often think I am not being treated properly. I personally havent felt like I was being mistreated until others started pointing it out to me. I dont know if Im seeing her with rose-colored glasses because of all the opportunity that comes by working with her. The only other faculty I will be interested in working with is my advisors worst enemy. How do I know? She made it clear to me on day 1, that if I were to ever work with the other faculty, I will not be working with her anymore. I am afraid to change advisors as I dont want to lose the opportunities. But its taking such a huge psychological toll on me. How would you all go about this situation?

[Assistant] Its hard to really know what is happening here but many busy people are short when they speak. They didnt become a top professor by spending the day chitchatting. That in itself doesnt seem a problem but its impossible for us to know the real picture.


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

[User]
[MCU] Had Thanos tried to collect the Stones peacefully, would anyone have even noticed or cared?

Let's say he collected the stones through trades, money, favors, etc. Without using any violence at all.

Without telling anyone he had already collected the previous ones.

Could he have done this and completed his mission successfully without anyone caring or even noticing?

[Assistant]
He only knew the Space stone was on Earth because Loki told him, the Reality stone was revealed after Dark World and was in the hand of the collector, who wouldn't trade it for anything because there's literally nothing rarer. Time stone was in the Sorcerer Supreme's hand and she's not insane to give it up. The Power stone he tried getting in secret, but Ronan betrayed him. The Soul stone's location was only known by Gamora, and nothing but violence would get her to talk.

Even without those factors, he was infamous for his half-genocides that he can't move around without the galaxy looking at him. He only decided to attack when he knew where most of them were and could reach them before anybody could react.


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

[User]
Any literature/guidance on writing a purely theoretical master's thesis?

I'm currently a master student of sociology and decided with my mentor to write a purely theoretical thesis. However, I couldn't find any good guidance besides Umberto Eko's "How to Write a Thesis", everything I found was research-based  (theoretical framework, method, results, discussion).

Any help would be welcome, even your own advice.

[Assistant]
Rather than books - which may be entirely unapplicable to your specific situation - ask your advisor for examples from their past students, and find relevant examples for yourself.

Pretty much every university out there puts masters theses online, usually through the university library.  Go find some examples of the kind of thesis you're doing, in similar fields, for the same type of degree, and from whatever country you're in (since the standards/expectation for masters thesis vary a *lot* by country and type of degree).  Skim through several.  Look at how they're structured, how the work is introduced, how much depth there is, how the different sections are related to one another, etc etc, and go from there.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that when walking home I moderately have to pee, but upon reaching the door and stepping inside it feels like I'm about to piss myself?

[Assistant]
This will be an example of trained reflexes in your body. If you are out and about there is not going to be a toilet anywhere, so you're not in the situation you'd usually be in if you were to pee. Your brain registers this on a subconscious level and tells your body "don't piss right now". Obviously you have to piss eventually, so your bladder will let your brain know that it's pissing time and you'll feel a little need to pee.

When you get closer to a piss destination your body will be all like "hey yo it's pissing time let's do it" and start prepping your peehole for pee pee, thus the need to piss gets bigger. It's just you associating home with being able to piss that makes it seem more urgent.


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

[User]
CMV: were all a bit racist

And thats ok. Nobodys perfect. Being racist can be as little as being judgy. Have you ever been judgy? Sure you have. We all have and thats ok. Itd be seen as a bit scummy but ok. But once you judge a race, thats seen as racism. Try it, I dont think you could find a topic you could judge on without seeming racist. I also dont believe thats true racism but its just seen as that. I feel like Im going to be judged for this but if I was a race thatd be racist.

What Im trying to say is that were all racist cause we all judge and if we judge another race at all thats seen as racism.

[Assistant] Hypothetically, if there was a person who lived their whole live on an island where everyone was the same race, and had no exposure to other races existence, and didn't even know the concept of race, could that person possibly not be racist?