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

[User]
Why do clouds clump together rather than an even spread as the molecules are free to move?

Is there cloud tension? Is it just London forces?

[Assistant]
Anywhere that you see puffy discrete cumulus clouds is an indicator that there was rising warm, moist air. As that air was lofted upwards, it expanded to match the local pressure, cooled, and some of the moisture condensed out to form a cloud.

You can't have these rising warm convection cells everywhere. For an atmosphere to be stable, every rising mass of air must be matched with an equivalent mass of air sinking. Besides, there's generally only enough heating for this rising air to occur in a few discrete locations. (Note, however, that for unstable escaping atmospheres found on hot, low-gravity planets you actually can see the entire atmosphere rising in a process known as Hydrodynamic Escape...but that would be very bad if it ever happened on Earth.)

So, cumulus clouds tend to form as clumps wherever air is rising, and there generally tends to be cloud-free conditions between them wherever the atmosphere is stable or sinking.

With that said, some clouds are more stable than others, and can diffuse out over time. Very high wispy cirrus clouds are formed off the top of thunderstorms, and tend to diffuse across the sky as the upper level winds winds carry them away from their originating storms.

**TL;DR**: Clouds are localized because rising air currents are localized.


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

[User]
If you were to walk on mars wearing normal clothing (temperature appropriate) and a breathing device, could you survive for any length of time?

I realize the pressure would be the biggest problem. Would it be possible to go into an airlock or something and lower it slowly until you could walk outside?

If not, lets say hypothetically the pressure is not a problem, would the different atmosphere cause any problems even though you're breathing normal air?

[Assistant]
If you're wearing a breathing device that delivers compressed air to you, the pressure is not immediately a problem.  You'd want to decompress slowly to avoid decompression illness.  Your skin would start drying out pretty quickly, though you could probably mitigate that temporarily by smearing your skin with vaseline.  You'd want a full-face mask to keep your eyes wet and working right.

So yes, you could survive for some amount of time.

But let's talk about this "temperature appropriate clothing" thing.  Mean Martian surface temperature is -63 C.  So you'd need some really good temperature protection... why not just wear a space suit?


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do candles smell strongest when you blow them out?

Some context, I was sitting in my bathroom doing my business when I realized it didn't smell so good. I considered lighting a candle but in my head I thought, "What good is it? It's not going to do anything until you blow it out."

[Assistant] The scent is often oil based. If you burn the oil, you destroy the scent. But blowing it out, allows it to smolder thereby vaporizing the oil scent and filling the air with droplets of scent. (The same principle with incense sticks when you light them on fire, they smell stronger when you blow out the flame).


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

[User]
How do Ants Actually Eat?

I know that ants can suck up liquid food like sugar water and bug guts and then return to the nest to share the food through trophallaxis.

What I want to know is what ants do with the breadcrumbs and meat fragments that they drag down their anthills. How do they get the bits of bread and meat into their bodies?

[Assistant] You can more or less assume that insect digestive systems are the same as ours for most generalised purposes. They have mandibulae and maxillae just like we do, which break solid food up to make it fit into our digestive tract. They gave a long tube that goes from mouth to anus, they have gut bacteria, and they poop just like us.


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

[User]
[The Matrix] What happened to the Merovingian when Agent Smith took over the Matrix?

After Agent Smith went rogue and started multiplying himself he seemed to be capable to assimilate both humans and other sentient programs, including the Oracle, the only apparent exception being the One himself.

When Neo is confronting the God of the Machines he states clearly that Smith conquered the entirety of the Matrix and soon would have expanded in the City of the Machines and he is not contradicted.

In all of this what happened to the Merovingian? Did Smith assimilate him alongside with the other program or was he capable to escape from that fate? He seems to have resources that go beyond every other program in the Matrix and he claims to have survived all the previous reboots so he could have used some way of escape. Is there any reference to that?

[Assistant]
The Merovingian shows up in later media like The Matrix Online, and >!he's on the cast list for the Matrix 4!<, so we can assume he survived.

His entire claim to power was his ability to hide and smuggle exiled programs, so it would be very odd if he couldn't use that power to hide himself, or smuggle himself out of the Matrix before Smith took over everything.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does your stomach know when the food is bad and decides to stop processing and starting pushing it back where it came from?

After a night of hurling (non alcohol induced) I had plenty of time to wonder about it...

[Assistant] Our stomach doesnt know the food is bad. Instead, the cause of the food spoilage is bacteria. When the bacteria contact the environment in the stomach the organisms break open and spill their cellular contents into the stomach. Those contents act as an irritant to the GI system, leading to nausea and contractions of the stomach and esophagus that lead to vomiting.


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

[User]
CMV: English and North American countries should teach sign language as a compulsory second language.

European and North American countries should stop compulsory teaching of a second spoken language in schools\*, and should instead teach **one** **common****^(3)** sign language (maybe ASL, but an alternative would be a language designed from the bottom up to be easy to learn).    Advantages would be:

\- It would get used regularly by everyone in situations where spoken languages caused problems (crowded bar, across a crowd, in a library, talking to grandad when he's forgotten his hearing aid, foreign travel, communicating with people who are completely deaf\*\*).

\- As a result enough people would be good enough at it that it COULD be used for international communication.

\- If the above countries started it, almost certainly other countries (at least those with significant trade or tourism links with them) would follow - it would be a lot easier to learn than the current option!

\- Europe rather needs a new lingua Franca (and yes, I do love the irony that it almost certainly won't be French!) unless it wants to give the UK the satisfaction of continuing to use English (although there are of course benefits to the current generation of diplomats of continuing with the status quo)

Disadvantages would be:

\- Foreign language teachers needing to retrain.

\- Possibly slower verbal development in kids if their parents don't prioritize verbal communication even when sign language is more efficient.

\- Less demand for the skills of those who can already speak foreign languages (although I'm not sure this would actually be a big issue given older generations would likely be slower to pick up the new language).

\*I'm not saying don't teach other foreign languages at all and there might be exceptions where you'd want to make one compulsory (I imagine teaching Spanish to Californians would make sense, for instance) but it makes sense to me to let (eg) UK kids take French as an option the way they would German or Spanish.

\*\*I realize that this might seem to be belittling the impact on the deaf community.  I don't mean to do that, and in fact, I'd hope that they'd get a lot of benefits.  However, in terms of a policy that you might get not only governments but also their citizens behind, I'm inclined to appeal to the self-interest of the average voter, who doesn't specifically want to talk to deaf people but does want to be able to chat to their mates in a noisy bar while holding (and possibly even drinking) a pint.

3 Added, because I just realized that I hadn't been clear that I was aware that every country has its own version (or versions) of sign language.  Yes, you'd need to either pick one or make one from scratch.

[Assistant]
Aren't sign languages specific to each country?

There are at least 300 different sign languages according to Wikipedia.

Learning north american or english sign language doesn't help internationally because it will be a different sign language in India and China.


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

[User]
[The Jaunt] Why does a person who Jaunts while awake suffer immediate physical symptoms?

I get that the mental stress of experiencing the Jaunt awake drives them insane, and that the shock could eventually turn their hair white, but why did Ricky's hair grow in the brief instance his body experienced the Jaunt?

[Assistant]
> The thing that had been his son bounced and writhed on its Jaunt couch, a twelve-year old boy with a snow-white fall of hair and eyes which were incredibly ancient, the corneas gone a sickly yellow.

It doesn't seem to me that his hair *grew* necessarily, only that it managed to change color (along with the eyes) during the Jaunt.  The same was true of Rudy Foggia, the prisoner - his hair had turned snow white, but no other physical changes were noted - specifically, his face was unchanged, though it gave off an air of incredible age.

So all that we can say for sure is that the shock of a conscious Jaunt causes enough of a reaction in the body to turn hair white and give a sickly color to the eyes, though no other physical changes are apparent.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do public busses have no seat belts?

[Assistant]
A number of reasons:

1. Physics. Most vehicular collisions isn't really going to transfer a lot of inertia to the bus. A fully loaded bus is between 20,000 and 30,000 pounds. A SUV, comparatively, is maybe 4 to 5,000 pounds. Unless that SUV is traveling at *grossly* excessive speeds, a collision isn't going to cause the bus to do anything much more than jolt a bit.

2. Bus speed. Related to the above, most city buses don't go on highways, so speeds are generally confined to 45 MPH or lower.

3. Ease of evacuation. If something does go wrong, then it's easier for everyone to get out quickly.

4. Passenger arrangement. Non-school public buses aren't just sitting only, many have both seats and poles/handstraps for standing passengers. So you're already not securing every passenger.


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

[User]
ELI5 Why do you sometimes take a nap and wake up in an even worse mood?

Sometimes when you take a nap you wake up feeling rejuvenated and refreshed but sometimes you wake up feeling miserable and agitated...why?

[Assistant]
You are probably "napping" too long, and actually falling asleep for a longer period of time. Rapid eye movement (REM) occurs about an hour and a half after you fall asleep initially, which when woken up in the middle of, will often cause grogginess and lethargy.

When taking a nap, you don't need to fall asleep; your aim ought to be to simply relax, clear your mind and let your body physically and mentally rest with your eyes closed. If you fall asleep, your body will jump into a highly taxing rejuvenation mode.

I believe the biggest "bang for your buck" kind of napping is about 20-25 minutes at a time, where you will get the most benefit for the time spent napping. More than that, you risk being groggy, still tired, etc. when you awake, and any less than that (e.g. 5-10 min.) might not be worth the effort as much.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How did Obi-Wan never link the clones to Dooku?

At the end of Attack of the Clones, Obi-Wan knows that Jango Fett was the template for the clones. And he didn't just donate blood a few years ago to make clones; he lives on a facility in Kamino, and presumably helps train them.

Obi-Wan also knows Jango Fett works for Dooku, who is evil, and kills Jedi. Jango Fett leaves Kamino to do jobs for him; he is working with the clones and Dooku at the same time.

Why did Obi-Wan never connect the clones to Dooku? I know in the Clone Wars TV series, they find out Dooku commissioned the clones, but all the evidence was there from the start!

[Assistant]
I think they did, but do to the circumstances of the situation they wrongfully assumed that they had sabotaged his plan and used it against him.

Everything, from deleting Kamino off the Archives to using a bounty hunter as a template, made it seem like the Jedi were never meant to find the Clones.

From their perspective it was only through a slip up from Jango on an unrelated mission that they were able to uncover this conspiracy.

**They through that the Clones were made for the Separatist and that they managed to seize them from Dooku.**

However it was of course all part of Palpatines plan.


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

[User]
CMV: In the Star Trek DS9 episode, Rules of Engagement, Worf was not wrong to fire preemptively

As a quick recap of this episode, Worf is put on trial for firing on a civilian transport vessel that de-cloaked right in the middle of a battle, right in front of Worf's ship, which had been constantly fired upon by ships that were continually cloaking and de-cloaking.

It is during the trial that it is uncovered that the ship was intentionally placed in harms way and also that it did not actually have any passengers on board.

My view is that, contrary to the lecture Captain Sisko (Worf's commanding officer) gave at the end of the episode, that Worf had no reason to believe that the ship that started de-cloaking right in front of him, was anything other than one of the Bird of Prey ships that had been constantly cloaking, moving, de-cloaking, firing, and re-cloaking for a good while before that.

My reasoning is that a civilian ship, had no business flying into an active battle and war zone, let alone de-cloaking anywhere near it, especially right in the line of fire.

It would be like an ocean liner sailing into the middle of the Battle of Midway. It's completely negligent on that the civilian captain and that should have been the main focus, and not whether or not Word should have taken that shot.

In the heat of an intense battle, you don't always have the luxury of just waiting and fully identifying such a vessel. While it may be good to do so, you're also making yourself a target for the other vessels that have been established in the area while you take the moment to verify that it is a hostile ship.

Also, even the ship in that scenario was a civilian transport ship, it cannot be known what its purpose for being there might have been, in harms way, as no sane captain would be there.

For all Worf or anyone else on the Defiant could have known, it could have been a ship re-purposed and armed for war. It's just not feasible to determine all of that with the second or less time you have to make the decision that Worf had to make.

It is my view that it was reasonable for Worf to assume that the ship de-cloaking in front of him, in the heat of a battle, had hostile intent and had to act quickly, and perhaps also that Sisko's lecture after he trial was largely unnecessary.

[Assistant]
The entire point of Starfleet is that they hold themselves to the highest standard, even when doing so puts their own life in jeopardy.  They choose to risk life and limb in order to uphold a set of ideals.

You aren't wrong about any of your tactical assessments, but a Starfleet capitan doesn't fire on a ship that isn't a threat - full stop.  Even if waiting for that ship to fire first puts them in danger, they still don't fire.  They don't weigh probabilities or think about how that ship might tip the balance of an offensive - they must know for **certain** that life is in danger from that ship before a shot can be fired.

To put it plainly, hostile _intent_ isn't enough.  It must be hostile _action_ to justify lethal force for a Starfleet officer.  That is the oath and ideology they signed up for when they signed up for Starfleet.


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

[User] We encounter static electricity all the time and it's not shocking (sorry) because we know what's going on, but what on earth did people think was happening before we understood electricity?

[Assistant] The scientific community (including Ben Franklin) thought of electric current as some sort of invisible fluid. "Positive" objects possessed a surplus of this fluid and negative bodies didn't posses "enough fluid" to be "balanced."


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

[User] What about rabies makes it to where a blood test cannot determine if an animal or person is infected?

[Assistant] The rabies virus does not circulate in the blood. It takes hold in muscle tissue, and from there goes to the nerves, and starts working along the nerve tissues. No detectable amount breaks loose to float around in the bloodstream.


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

[User] Electromagnetic Waves: How is the transparency/opacity of materials defined?

[Assistant]
I think that you are confused about the permittivity. High permittivity generally means that a substance can become more polarized. The conductivity of a material is a completely separate measure.

Classically, a good conductor will reflect light, as the incoming waves cause charge to move freely in the material, these charges oscillate with the fields, effectively destroying the incoming wave, and producing outgoing waves with most of the energy.

So conductors, such as most metals, are generally shiny.

The permittivity of an insulator generally determines how much it refracts light. Materials with high permittivity such as diamond have a higher index of refraction, and bend incoming light more than something such as glass.

So conductors are shiny, and insulators transparent. Materials that we think of as dull or opaque are typically insulators with some irregular structure causing the light to refract in various directions and become scattered. To understand this, take a transparent piece of quartz crystal, and then smash it into a fine powder, and the resulting powder will be opaque.

Permeability also affects the index of refraction, although the permeability of most insulators is so close to the vacuum permeability that it barely makes a difference and is typically ignored.

Hopefully this clears up a few questions. This is a topic about which a lot can be written!


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

[User]
If you pour cold water on hot glass, it breaks, but what if...?

Unfortunately from experience, I know that pouring cold water on hot glass will cause the glass to break rather violently, but is it purely because of the drastic change in temperature? Or would the same happen if you poured hot water on hot glass? Alternatively, would really cold glass break if you poured very hot water over it?

[Assistant] It's the change in temperature, not the temperature itself, that causes this to happen.  So water the same temperature as the glass won't cause it to break, but water of a different temperature will.  The water raises or lowers the temperature of the glass it encounters, causing it to expand or contract relative to the rest of the object.  Because glass is brittle and not very elastic, this can cause it to break.


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

[User]
Why is tetracycline bacteriostatic whereas streptomycin is bactericidal?

Don't both of the antibiotics work by preventing translation by disrupting the 30S ribosomal subunit?
Why is tetracycline considered bacterriostatic while streptmocymin is considered bactericidal when they inhibit the same process?

[Assistant]
Damn, this is an important question but where do you begin. Basically, the notion that whether an antibiotic is bacterio-static or -cidal is defined by its mechanism of action is incorrect.

They are blanket terms describing what you see on your petri dish as a microbiologist. Bacteriostatic means no new colonies forming but existing colonies persist, and bactericidal means bacteria dying.

As you increase the concentration of any antibiotic starting from zero, that antibiotic will exhibit bacteriostatic effects (inhibit growth in-vitro), then bactericidal effects (kill bacteria in-vitro).

Before going on to the clinical definitions of bacteriostatic and bactericidal *agents*, here are some terms:

Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC): Concentration at which 99.9% of the bacteria are killed (in-vitro)

Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC): Concentration at which bacterial growth is inhibited (in-vitro)

A bacteriostatic agent is defined as one where MBC is much greater than MIC, meaning that an extremely large concentration is needed to achieve a bactericidal effect. A bactericidal agent is one where MBC is only so much greater than MIC, such that you *don't* need an extremely large concentration to achieve a bactericidal effect.

So in summary, as a generality, a bactericidal drug means "at a safe/practical concentration, this drug will exhibit bactericidal activity" and a bacteriostatic drug means "at a safe/practical concentration, this drug will exhibit bacteriostatic activity".


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

[User] [Pokmon] If Ditto, apparently, can turn into any shape and make offspring with any Pokmon, can it produce offspring with a person?

[Assistant]
Pokmon are very different from humans. We talk about different "species" of pokmon because it's convenient, but deep down they all have very similar DNA and reproductive systems, hence why wildly different-looking pokmonsuch as Skitty and Wailordcan produce healthy offspring.

Humans, on the other hand, are nothing like pokmon. Trying to reproduce with a Ditto would be like trying to screw a tree.


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

[User]
What happens if you cut Wolverine perfectly in half, created two symmetrical pieces?

Could it create two Wolverines? If not, which half would regrow?

[Assistant] Regenerators like Wolverine and Deadpool have a sweet spot, which is a thing the size of one cell that is what causes there body to regrow, so which ever side has the sweet spot regrows, but Wolverine specifically always tries to get the two halves of his body to reattach because the part of his body that regrows would not be adamantium.


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

[User]
[The Matrix] Was Morpheus potentially under the impression that Cypher was the one at some point?

We know for a fact that Morpheus had been searching for the One for some time. While its possible any number of the crew members he picked up could have fit the mold, I was thinking perhaps he thought Cypher was the One but for w/e reason (probably the Oracle's urging) decided that he was not.

The odd love for Trinity, the resentment against Morpheus, and the weird tension/jealousy he feels against Neo seems to indicate that he at one point was the "star child" that would go on and fulfill the prophecy. To be led on that you could be the One only to be like:

"Sorry kiddo. You're SOL, looks like its gonna tasty wheat for the rest of your life. Sorry we pulled you out the Matrix. But hey you can help us find the real One!"

[Assistant] Yes. There's a line in there (sorry, can't find it now) where Cypher mentions that Trinity used to look at him [Cypher] the way she now looks at Neo. Trinity was told by the Oracle that she was destined to fall in love with The One so it would make sense that at one point they thought he was The One.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do some lawyers help bad people? (Question from 8-yr-old)

Hey everyone,

Could you help me explain this to my sister in a way she can understand. Her exact words were 'why do some lawyers help people who have done horrible things, like killing lots of people or hurting their own kids? do the lawyers feel bad about helping them?'

[Assistant]
1.) Because some lawyers believe in equality of representation. Everyone deserves a voice in our society, no matter what they have done.

2.) Some might actually be innocent. The small chance that someone might be innocent is enough for you to fight for them. It is better to let a 100 criminals go free than to condemn an innocent man. Benjamin Franklin said that. He was a wise man.

3.) Money. You make a lot more in private practice than you do being a public defender.

Some lawyers have a conscience, some don't. Lawyers are not magically moral, they are humans too.

ELI5: If your little brother was caught doing something bad, and you got blamed for it, you would want to fight for yourself, right? Even though everyone thinks you did it. Without our laws, you wouldn't even get a chance to tell mommy your side of it. If you did do it, maybe you had a good reason, and would at least want mommy to hear it, before she grounds you.


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

[User]
Why is the separation constant for the radial equation of the Hydrogen atom in the form of L(L+1)?

Hello everyone,

I know that solving the Schrodinger equation for the Hydrogen atom requires separation of variables. When doing this, why are the separation constants of a particular form? E.g. the separation constant for the radial equation is l(l+1), rather than just, say, l. What is the reason for this?

Thanks.

[Assistant]
If you write the Laplacian in spherical coordinates, you find that the angular part is proportional to the **L**^(2) operator. And from the angular momentum algebra, you know that **L**^(2)|L M> = ~~h~~^(2)L(L+1)|L M>.

Since the Hamiltonian for the hydrogen atom has spherical symmetry, the energy eigenstates are also angular momentum eigenstates.

So when you separate the TDSE into the angular and radial parts, the angular part works out to that constant, and so the radial part must also equal that constant.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are glass knives not commonly used to bypass metal detectors?

[Assistant] Glass is very good at cutting, but it's very subject to chipping and breaking, so glass knives have a *lot* of limitations. In short, you'd need to be extremely skilled to reliably kill someone with such a blade, and evidence suggests you could slip a bomb or a gun past TSA... so why would you try a blade?


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

[User]
Are there any texts that describe why some people are drawn to deeper meaning? Im thinking of the scientist/artist/philosopher.

It seems ultimately more painful to follow an innate curiosity for the unknown. But for some reason, many are drawn down a path that requires a confrontation with the undiscovered to reach some kind of fundamental truth.

[Assistant]
There are two psychological traits that might be relevant to your question.

The first is Openness to experience, one of the Big Five personality traits. People who are high in Openness are naturally more curious and likely to seek out new experiences and knowledge. Part of that trait is a greater tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity. That, in turn, might contribute to greater interest in questions that typically lead to uncertain or ambiguous answers, compared to low Openness individuals who bow out when things get unsettling.

The second is Integrative Complexity, which is a cognitive trait reflecting a tendency to see things in black & white terms or shades of grey. High IC individuals are able to tolerate more uncertainty and seek out more information before making decisions. Low IC individuals prefer quick decisions but avoid uncertainty.

There are interesting evolutionary perspectives on why there is a diversity of tendencies around these traits that have been maintained over generations, mainly because there are trade-offs with all of these traits.

In short, there's a selection bias that weeds out people with low Openness and low IC from being scientists or philosophers (not sure about artists). For them, there's less 'pain' in the unknown.


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

[User]
Why is it that toothpaste and other minty things alter the tastes of foods such as oranges, but don't alter other foods such as bread?

I'm drinking some fresh squeezed orange juice this morning minutes after brushing my teeth. It's so tart I'm having a hard time drinking it. However, my slice of toast hardly changed in terms of taste except for the subtle backdrop of mint.

What is it about mint that changes your tastebuds and make orange juice so tart tasting?

[Assistant] The chemical that makes toothpaste foam up also blocks your taste buds that detect sweet things, so your toast (which is not sweet at all) tastes the same but your orange juice (which is a log of sugar = sweet, and acid = sour) tastes much more sour/tart.


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

[User]
[Dungeons & Dragons] What are Ioun Stones, and what do they do?

I've seen Ioun Stones floating around in D&D and Pathfinder and stuff, and I still don't quite...get them? I think they come from Jack Vance, but my memory's hella fuzzy on all of that.

So...what's the deal with Ioun Stones?

[Assistant]
The initial mention of a IOUN stone is Rhialto the Marvellous. Rhialto is sent on a journey to find Morreion, who is looking for magic-annulling IOUN stones.

Interestingly, the invention of Ioun stones is Congenio Ioun, who was one of the first wizards of the Realms to enchant items of any kind.

**Doyalist:** Because it should be said, Gary got the permission of Jack Vance to incorporate Ioun stones into D&D, and they were first introduced in The Strategic Review #4 in 1975.


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

[User] Why is black and white vision more adventageous for predators than color vision?

[Assistant]
Your eyes have two receptors - - rods and cones. One dealswith color, but the picture is not very 'sharp'.
The other sees black and white but is very sharp.

So black and white vision tends to be sharper accurate than color vision.

Also black and white receptors work better in low light. Which is obviously good for predators hunting at night.

This is why you can sometimes see stars in the sky better by looking through your peripheral vision than dead on.


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

[User]
[General Vampires] If I stood behind a vampire and look in a mirror, would I see myself?

It's established knowledge that vampires don't have reflections, so I guess I'm wondering if there was a mirror on the wall and a vampire stood between me and the mirror, would I still see my reflection?  Or would the vampire obscure me, preventing me from showing up in the mirror?

[Assistant] You would not see yourself in the mirror because the vampire would be blocking your view of the mirror. But if you could see around the vampire, you would see yourself in the mirror. If you can normally see what's behind a vampire, there's no reason why you wouldn't be able to see yourself behind that vampire (and it isn't blocking your view).


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

[User]
[GTA V] Why are civilians allowed to buy tanks and other military-grade hardware so casually?

It seems like any random twit can walk into a shop and purchase guided missile launchers or squad machine guns without as much as a criminal record check, not to mention online purchase of fully armed and equipped tanks. How is this possibly legal?

[Assistant]
It's a natural part of the libertarian ideals that permeate the culture of the GTA universe.

Wanna drive down the freeway at 300MPH on the other side of the road? Go for it, buddy. Wanna walk around with a rocket launcher and grenades? Hell yeah, this is San Andreas! Heck, this great nation even has a city NAMED after Liberty!

That said, that level of freedom is kept in check by the rapid escalation of police / NOOSE / military response to any acts of violence. If you start shooting up the place, they're not going to waste time trying to arrest youthey'll just gun you down as quick as they can.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does it feel good to cry when we're sad?

[Assistant]
Crying is the bodies way of ridding stress hormones/chemicals from the body is a fast manner. Tears shed from stress/sadness are higher in manganese, potassium, certain proteins, and stress hormones like cortisol. There is also an endorphin release to further boost crying's mood altering effect.

This is why it's actually very therapeutic and beneficial to let yourself cry when you're upset :)


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

[User]
Faculty members who work at teaching colleges, what kind of cover letters are the most appealing to you?

What do they contain? Any advise is appreciated.

[Assistant]
I highly recommend having someone read the letter to make sure you don't mix up advice and advise.

Also, read the job listing. What are key skills we're looking to fill? Do some research and tell us why you want to work at X school.


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

[User] when surgeons cut open the abdomen, wouldnt the serous fluid leak from the peritoneal?

[Assistant] Theres not typically fluid within the peritoneal cavity - but if there is reactive inflammatory fluid or ascites, its suctioned. Little bleeders in the skin and subcutaneous tissue are cauterized on the way in. Hope that helps.


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

[User] Why does a boomerang come back?

[Assistant]
A boomerang works the same way an airplane wing does.  One side is flat, the "outside" as viewed in its flight curve.  The other side has an curved shape, this is usually done down each leg in a shape called an airfoil.  As the air moves over the airfoil, a low pressure is established over the airfoil, pulling the boomerang in flight.  As it moves forward, this creates lift, but because it is thrown upright, instead of going up, the lift is in a sideways direction.  Over most of the flight path, this creates a right to left curve for right handed throwers, and a left to right curve for left handed throwers. (Left handed boomerangs are constructed slightly differently).

Many boomerangs used by aborigines in Australia were not designed to come back to the thrower.  Inland, they were shaped more like clubs.  They could actually skip along the ground and stun prey.  They did curve in flight, which is pretty smart because the target may be looking more at the hunter than a sharp edged stick flying in from their side.  Boomerangs that returned were used more in coastal areas where they were used to drive birds towards the hunter on its return flight.


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

[User] ELI5: how is hashing a one way process (not reversible)?

[Assistant]
You can think of it like a shadow of a object. If you only see the shadow you cannot have the original object, but if you have the original object you always can create the exact shadow.

This is the reason you just save the shadow of a password in the database and compare the shadows.


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

[User] [Star Wars] can anyone simplify the clone wars an why the CIS was fighting the republic?

[Assistant]
The "official" reasons was disgruntlement (a good portion of it legitimate) from outlying systems at the Coruscant based Republic. They felt that the bureaucratic hurdles, corruption, and system of government left many of the systems in the CIS (mostly from the mid and outer rims) without a voice and suffocated out by the strong influence and wealth of the inner core worlds.

Officially the CIS wanted to form their own government that better represents them and were willing to fight for that independence.

Edit: Thanks for the silver.


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

[User] ELI5: How does a Ponzi scheme work?

[Assistant]
You start off with 10 people in your kindergarten class. You see they all have candy. Now, you have some of your own, but nowhere near as much as they do. But you, being the clever 5 year old you are, think of a plan. You promise each of them that if they give you, say, two pieces of candy today, in a month you will give them all 3 pieces of candy. Now that you have 20 pieces of candy, you go to the other classes about two or three weeks later and offer them a similar thing, but you ask for more and promise a greater return. As a result you get more candy, with which you not only pay off the old investors, but with which you stuff your pockets with because the extra investment outweighs what you owe. You now have a reputation as someone who makes good on their promises, so you take it to other classes, and even other grades. You perpetuate the cycle, putting more and more money in your pockets without anyone finding out.

That is, until you stop getting new investors, or if you are otherwise unable to make good on what you promised.


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

[User]
A feather and a hammer fall at the same rate. Wouldn't this be false at larger scales?

Galileo posited that objects fall at the same rate regardless of their mass. But if we were to scale this up to planetary size, for example; The Earth, The Moon, and an Asteroid, this shouldn't hold up.

If we "drop" the Moon onto the Earth from a standstill, shouldn't it hit the Earth quicker than an astroid dropped from the same distance, due to the fact that the Moon is also pulling the Earth toward itself?

[Assistant]
Yes, but the same is true for the hammer and the feather too. It's just that the distance the Earth travels to meet the hammer or feather is, for all purposes, just 0.

(Also, objects with different masses *do* fall at different rates near the surface of Earth, but that's due to air resistance.)


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

[User]
[Rick and Morty] are Mr Meeseeks all knowing?

What do Mr Meeseeks know, if I asked one to teach me a few cords on a guitar, or to help me pass a physics exam, would he already know how to help me, or would he have to go study himself first?

[Assistant]
No, but they're nearly there. Meeseeks have been around for a while, and in this time, they've picked up a lot of different skills. That's why they can't perform paradoxes or extremely difficult/impossible tasks.

Think of Meeseeks as summoning a self-help guru that happens to be an Olympic triathlete with an Ivy League education.


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

[User]
If I put two things in the microwave instead of one, are they both going to be heated slower?

The scenario is the following: I have a microwave that operates at 1000 W and I have two cups of water.

I noticed that for the same amount of time spent in the microwave, a single cup of water will get warmer if it's in there alone. If I put both cups in there, I also habe to spend more time.

So is the power being "shared" by the cups, and if so, do they share this power based on volume / mass / position?

Do both cups of water receive 500 W each?

[Assistant]
A fixed amount of radiation is bouncing around in there. Not all of it will manage to be absorbed by the item.

So there is some loss and some of it transfers to the heat you want. So multiple items are indeed sharing the same amount of energy. But the exact proportions of heating, how much loss are a complex matter of the shapes of these items, their position the exact design of your microwave and things like that. It probably wont work out that 2 cups takes exactly twice as long as 1 cup.

But thats the principle.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Do bounty hunter droids hunt for their own desire or are they owned by someone?

For example, the IG units in ESB and Mandorian. Are they hunting of their own volition, as in they accepted the contract and if they'd succeeded, would've received the paycheck themselves to spend as they wanted?

Or were those IG units owned by someone and if they had succeeded, the person who owned the droids would receive payment?

[Assistant] In legends most droids were owned and maintained by a corporation or various factions that wanted a perfectly loyal killing machine.  Some like ig 88 were sapient or nearly sapient and ig88 hunted for personal profit and used said profit for self improvement.  Ig 88 planned on becoming the perfect machine but that may be different from other droids that operated without a master.  In canon it appears that all ig units are operated by a singular company or group for bounty hunting.


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

[User]
ELI5: What happens inside that big block thing halfway down all my power cables?

My game consoles and laptop all have them, but I never understood why.  My TV and monitor don't need them, but neither does my desktop computer which I'd imagine would need it if my laptop does.

[Assistant] Power from the wall is very strong (high voltage) and goes back and forth really fast (alternating current). Big block takes a little bit of that power and makes it weaker (low voltage) and go in one direction only (direct current). Electronics need power that is weaker and goes in one direction only, and small devices don't have room for the big block inside them.


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

[User]
When you get cancer, is most of the pain focused on the area that you have cancer in? Or does the pain spread out across the body regardless of the origin of cancer?

I understand that the pain is, in general, throughout the body. However, is it "more" painful in the specific area that the cancer originated? For example, would colon cancer have more pain in the colon area than the rest of the body?

[Assistant] Excepting brain cancer, pain in cancer is frequently due to disruption of the normal anatomy which produces local pain that may be so severe or vague it feels like its spreading. For example, liver cancer can stretch out the sac that surrounds the liver (its capsule) and produce excruciating pain, but since the nerves inside your body arent as god at locating pain as the ones in your skin, the brain could misattribute that pain to pretty much the whole belly. As another example, bony metastases from prostate cancer usually cause pretty bad local pain in the bone theyre invading, which is worsened by injury to said weakened bone.


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

[User] ELI5:If you have two objects moving at the same speed, the one further away appears to be moving slower than the one which is closer. Why?

[Assistant]
They're covering a smaller distance across your eyeballs.  Visual degrees per second is the factor here, not their linear speed.

A baseball whizzes past at 100 mph and you can barely see it, because it's blown bast 180 degrees of your vision in a fraction of a second.

The moon is hauling ass through space at *2300* mph but appears to barely move because it's so far away that it's covering only a fraction of a degree of your visual field.


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

[User]
[Dark Souls] Why does the player claim the souls of those he kills, but his become a bloodstain upon death?

Shouldn't the enemy who killed you claim your souls?

[Assistant]
Ok, so a fundamental thing about Dark Souls is that the Hollows have lost everything. Are you still playing the game? Congratulations, you're not Hollow. You know how if you kill a bunch of hollows, you can take their fragments of humanity and make a whole one? They can't do that. Once you're hollow, souls and humanity, they mean nothing to you. Those souls lying on the ground? Why would you want them? You can't even think of having them, you're so gone.

Your souls just chill there because you're one of the only ones capable of actually containing the souls.


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

[User] Is it possible to get a different combination of quarks than uud or udd? Do there have to be three quarks or could you have a combination of, say, two or four? Why/why not?

[Assistant]
Yes, there are lots of them. Mesons are made of a quark and an antiquark, baryons are made of three quarks. Then there are tetraquarks and pentaquarks.

You can have baryons with uud, udd, uds, etc. Theres six quark flavors, combine them any way you want.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do fancy people touch shoulders when they shake hands?

[Assistant]
There's a lot at play psychologically. Crusco and Wetzel (1984) found that a touch on the hand or shoulder significantly increased patrons' tipping. The effect was particularly strong when the touch was relatively unobtrusive. This was dubbed "the Midas Touch". The influential aspects of touch also include getting things for free. Researchers have demonstrated that bus drivers are more likely to give a passenger a free ride, if they touch the driver while making the request (Gueguen & Fischer-Lokou, 2003). Touch is very persuasive.

Placing a hand on one's shoulder, or cupping one's hand in both of yours during a hand shake, are subconscious alpha signals which show superiority. People who try to shake hands with their hand coming from a high position down to your position, with the hand pointing down, are also asserting superiority. Think "Big Hoss" on Pawn Stars. He is subconsciously but physically showing that he is an aggressor personality, prone to egotism and likely to crave control. Body language speaks volumes whether we know it or not! It's a good practice to return the gesture when someone touches your shoulder with a handshake, otherwise you physically assert that they are dominant in that situation. Likewise, take the hand of the "Big Hoss" handshake and turn it directly parallel with your own hand. Mimic a hand on your bicep or hand on your shoulder handshake in the same way, it levels the playing field whether you know it or not.


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

[User]
CMV: "Extra Time" on tests is a broken system which artificially hides weaker applicants on account of their conditions, while not getting at the core issue of ineffective testing.

Firstly, to explain my biases I'm thinking about this primarily from the perspective of people who are studying things that they will go on to use in their careers. Specifically I'm a STEM major who will be going on to get my PhD in my major, and have been doing research in my field.

My issue is with the idea of providing "Extra Time" on tests for those with learning disabilities, attention disorders, and other permanent conditions. My reasoning is that these students are being helped in ways that do not reflect their effectiveness in the field. While there might be a system through which they can get extra time on a test in school, the point of education is ostensibly to provide the skills for a career, along with providing employers with an idea of an applicant's capabilities. If there are two students, one who used extra time and one who did not, and they are equally qualified for a given position, in most situations the applicant who can perform quicker would be preferred. However by giving people with these conditions a boost that they will not receive after graduating, you are doing their employers a disservice. In my research, for instance, my PI might ask me to do a certain calculation for our meeting the next day. If I work significantly slower than someone else, I would be less suited for my position, yet this difference would be hidden by the "Extra Time" system.

In a similar vein, I think this system hurts students who do not work quickly for other reasons. There are a number of students who might taken longer to do a problem, due to either working slowly or not being as talented in a given field, however if these traits were considered deserving of extra time they would do better. Yet we consider some issues medical conditions worthy of assistance, and others not.

In the end, I realize that some will argue that if two students can both reach the same answers, the time taken does not matter. I disagree with this point in that I think reaching an answer quicker is always preferable if both are correct, however if this is the stance taken then I would argue that the issue is with timed tests in the first place, and extra time does not adequately fix this problem for others who do not qualify, yet still run into the time limits for whatever reasons they may have.

**Clarification: I'm primarily considering the case of higher education, and the scope of disabilities I have issue with are primarily mental ones. The arguments above could be easily extended for physical disabilities as well, but physical disabilities can generally be worked around to a good degree.**

EDIT: A lot of comments are coming in, so I might take a while to respond or miss a couple. Sorry! I'll try to make sure and respond to any significantly novel viewpoints.

EDIT 3 (12:38 PST) : Going to sleep for the night. I'll try and get to anyone I missed tomorrow. Thanks for your responses!

[Assistant]
It's really pretty rare that the "problem solving" part of an engineering job is constrained by limited time. "Timed tests" on the scale of an hour or two are really a very poor model for the real working world.

And even if it were, so what? Engineers are paid on a salary, and people are given tasks to accomplish. If someone takes a little longer at their job, and therefore they have to work slightly longer hours in order to accomplish their set goals, or takes fewer coffee breaks, that's not really a problem for the company. It might be a problem for the employee, perhaps...


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

[User]
How does Hawking's area theorem reconcile with Hawking radiation?

Hawking's area theorem says that the area of a black hole's event horizon can never decrease, only increase, similarly to entropy. Further, the radius (and hence, the area) of the event horizon is determined by the mass inside the horizon. At the same time, Hawking's theory that quantum effects near the event horizon can cause Hawking radiation implies the black hole can evaporate.

I suspect I'm missing some simple nuance of one or both of the theories that reconciles the two, but if the event horizon can never shrink and the area of the horizon is determined by the hole's mass, then how can black holes evaporate through Hawking radiation?

[Assistant] Hawking's area theorem applies with a positive energy condition. Hawking radiation creates a negative energy condition. Without the black hole absorbing additional mass the energy condition is negative due to the Hawking radiation, Hawking's area theorem doesn't apply, and the black hole evaporates.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do some cultures have a lot of spicy food and others dont? Europe and european rooted cultures seem to have very little spice while india and central america (also mexico) have lots. Is it just about availability of peppers in the environment?

[Assistant] Most of it has to do with the fact that spices, including peppers, do not grow well outside of tropical and subtropical climates. Europe did not have any access to spices for most of its history (thus a cultural use of herbs instead) and did not have easy access to spices till modern transportation.


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

[User] [Ghosts] If someone is killed during a haunting and becomes a ghost, will their ghost continue to be haunted?

[Assistant]
That's pretty dependant on your source.
By most accounts, the death of the person being haunted usually resolves the issue for the first ghost and they move on.
By some other theories, now both parties would be in the spectral realm and be able to communicate and resolve their problems among themselves.
Either way, 'haunting' is pretty much a ghost/human relationship.  Ghost to ghost would be something else.  Stalking maybe.


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

[User]
Can we treat identity in the late stage capitalism, as a commodity?

It seems that the identities a person acquires in life share the same mechanisms of market commodities, and that commodities and brands are becoming part of our identity. Can we treat identity in the late stage capitalism, as a commodity by itself?

[Assistant]
Class is a form of identity that is not (necessarily) tied to wealth but grants social opportunity and a level of status within a society that be viewed as a non-fungible commodity (a useful and/or valuable thing). Class can and does supervene on other aspects of identity such as religion, race/ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, and gender identification.

The British-Ghanaian philosopher and law professor Kwame Anthony Appiah explores this in some of his works. *See* The Lies That Bind Us.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Did Voldemort affect the rest of the world.

There are wizards all over the world, why was an alliance not formed and the Death Eaters dealt with? With enough country's wizards helping it wouldn't have taken too long.

[Assistant]
I think that its implied that Voldemort was the start of something big.  He never hit Grindelwald's effect (which was World War II) but he had the potential to be a world wide threat.  Fudge tells the Prime Minister that his counterpart is speaking to the US President at the time the PM and the President were supposed to have a phone call.

One of the main issues is Voldemort was selling something a lot of wizards wanted.  Having a tyrant isn't too different from having to hide your magic in a small enclave.  More day to day freedom is a great cause for many people, regardless of long-term implications.

But in the long-term the Salem Witches would have outfitted a Seal Team and other branches of the US military and the wizarding war wouldn't have lasted long at all had it gotten much worse.


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

[User] ELI5: Explain to an Australian: What is lobbying? Is it true that it's similar to bribery, and if so, how is it legal?

[Assistant]
Basically, lobbying is benign in its first instance: it's when a group hires someone to try to persuade politicians on their behalf. So, you're a businessman, maybe you hire a guy to go to city hall to sit in on meetings and ensure your viewpoint is heard and your interests protected. It starts to get sketchy about when he figures out he can get more influence on the council by donating to campaigns and the like.

Lobbying is not bribery, because bribery in the US requires an explicit exchange, called "quid pro quo." That is, "I will give you X if you give me Y." Lobbying is more "I threw that great fundraiser for you last month that got you $X. Now, I'd really like to talk to you about Issue Y..." They're technically unrelated, but there is the understanding and assumption of future potential contributions.


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

[User]
[Assassin's Creed] Why do the Assassins dress like Assassins?

It seems like being a whisper in the wind and an invisible blade in the crowd would be difficult while dressed in trademark robes. Why don't the assassins use less conspicuous garments while in the field?

[Assistant]
They actually didn't. Remember, the Animus isn't a 100% accurate simulation of history, it's a representation of certain individuals' memories. Altair, Ezio, Connor, Edward - being an Assassin was a huge part of their lives. In their own memories, they were always wearing their Assassin's robes, from the day they joined the order. Most missions, they dressed to blend in with the crowd.

The only exception to this would be missions in which they had to wear a specific sort of disguise (for example, one occasion where Ezio had to dress as a minstrel). Since wearing a specific outfit is an important part of that memory, it sticks out.


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

[User]
[Dune] So, the entire House Atreides apparently consists of Leto Atreides, his concubine, Jessica, and his one son, Paul, without any sort of extended family. How did the House come to this? Shouldn't this be of great concern to Leto?

At this point, Paul is the only Atreides keeping the entire house from extinction.

[Assistant]
You have to remember the importance of breeding in the Dune universe. The Atreides not in charge of managing their own bloodline.

The witches of the Bene Geserit have been arranging and manipulating the bloodlines of the great houses to their ends for hundreds of generations. These plans came crashing down when Lady Jessica bore a son instead of a daughter, as she was instructed to do by her superiors. Multiple children could dilute the genes the Bene Geserit were cultivating through the Atreides and Harkonen bloodlines.


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

[User]
CMV: We need to put much less of an emphasis on labels in terms of gender and sexuality.

I honestly barely see any benefit in figuring out which labels best describe your sexuality and gender. The only benefit I can see is that it makes people feel better to know that there is a name for how they feel. For example maybe if youre asexual you feel very weird about it until you find out that its not something wrong with you its just called being asexual. I get that, but I really think if we just taught that everyone falls somewhere on a spectrum and it is normal to be attracted to everyone, no one, just men, etc. Like the only reason people need to be reassured that theyre normal is because until now people have been basically taught youre straight or gay.
- I just read a post about a 10 yr old who recently came out as trans and has been having social anxiety because of it, but then made some friends who respected it. To me this is very sad because a 10 yr old shouldnt have to worry about the label or coming out as trans or anything. What would make a 10 yr old girl think theyre really a boy before even hitting puberty? Being masculine? Wanting short hair? Wanting to play with boys? I just feel like thats almost going backwards and if we just taught kids that girls can dress like boys and cut their hair short and whatever then there wouldnt be children feeling this anxiety. When youre older and you feel that you are transgender that is a completely different story and totally your choice.
- I also recently saw a 13 year old post about coming out to their parents as Aromantic Asexual and the intense anxiety theyve been having about coming out. At 13???? Its totally normal to not be interested in sex/dating/whatever yet. You probably will be when youre older, and if youre not then cool! No need to attach this label to yourself. If your parents are asking you about dating just say youre not interested in it.

[Assistant]
What is the functional difference between saying "I am asexual" and "I don't have sexual feelings or inclinations?"

If this is how someone understands their internal sense of self, why shouldn't they describe that sense with whatever terms they prefer?

"Labels," which seems like a loaded term you don't really explain, doesn't seem distinct from "descriptors" or any other terms we use for "characteristics."

Who are you to make determinations about how people, especially young people, relate to themselves and express that? On what basis can you justify telling kids what they should say to their parents over what they want to say?


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

[User] ELI5 how ivy, poison ivy, Virginia creeper, any other fast growing vine or plant, don't take over an entire area and destroy a forest?

[Assistant]
Every living creature has a limit of size produced by the  physics of their biology. While the capillary effect can transfer water very long distances with minimal resistance,  the transfer of nutrients becomes a different story.

If you wanted to transfer supplies a long distance,  it requires resources just to maintain the route,  so your need to carry resources for maintaining the route along the way and the evolutionary infrastructure isn't quite capable of that.  Especially since they're competing for resources to grow further in the process.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are all videos not available on mobile youtube?

I am wondering. I see these messages like "This Video is not available on your device."

The fuck it isnt! There used to be a way around this, but youtube fixed it.

ELI5 why the hell google does this.

[Assistant] Uploaders can choose for each of their videos whether or not to enable mobile viewing. Google implemented this choice because the mobile Youtube apps used to not be able to display ads, and some uploaders might not want to lose out on that ad revenue. That reasoning is obsolete now, since ads are shown during mobile viewing. Maybe Google hasn't removed it yet because there are other reasons. One guess that comes to mind is for channels like Vevo which have ads on the webpage all around the video player.


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

[User]
[LoTR] Why werent the orcs who discovered Frodos body in Shelobs cave even the least bit surprised to find a hobbit up there?

Im referring to the Peter Jackson movies. Two orcs wandering in Shelobs cave come across Frodos paralyzed corpse and shrug it off to the effect of looks like shes been having a bit of fun, and take him away to pilfer all of his stuff. Are the orcs too dumb to recognize that Frodo is of a different race from hundreds of miles away? Do random humanoids often randomly wander up thousands of feet of sheer cliff into her cave?

[Assistant] Most creatures of Middle Earth don't know what a Hobbit was. By this point in the film, Sauron thought Aragon had the ring, so he was no longer focused on his army bringing in any Hobbits. To them, it was just a small man that was attacked by Shelob.


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

[User]
[General] What would happen if a human tried to forcefully drag a vampire into my home?

Like, say someone picks my lock and opens my door. They grab a vampire and try to drag it by its limbs through the door and into my house, but I never gave the vampire permission to enter. Can it just not enter the perimeter because of some sort of magical barrier? Does it somehow die? What happens?

[Assistant]
So this changes on the type of vampire.

In some  they look like they are hitting an invisible wall. This proposes interesting questions if say they were standing on skylight when it broke.
In some they get pushed out like a force.
In some they lose the magic so the start to decompose or fall apart.


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

[User]
What determines when we have to pee?

When we pee we don't excrete the same amount of fluid each time, so the procces of determening when you have to pee can't only rely on when the blader is full can it?

[Assistant] Many factors go into the volume of your urine when you need to go. There are little stretch receptors in the bladder that signal the brain when it needs to go but there are also other signals that can trigger it when not completely full. Stress and anxiety and cause muscular tension that can make someone have to pee.  Fear and the fight or flight response can also cause someone to release their bladder. A full bladder isn't always the cause of the signal to the brain and it can definitely happen at different volumes.


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

[User] ELI5: What's going on with the FCC and wifi?

[Assistant]
Many WiFi devices are actually fairly capable 'software defined radios'. They are capable of doing much more than transmit at low power on the small range of channels that are assigned to WiFi. So someone could create new software for them to make them transmit on other channels, including channels that FCC has exclusively licensed to other people.

FCC wants to prevent this by legislating that any device with a WiFi transmitter be built so only the original software can be run on it. That is making the rest of us angry, because the original software on these things is always insecure rubbish, and manufacturers almost never provide updates, even for serious security holes. We need to be able to replace the software, to fix problems ourselves.


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

[User]
Doctoral Student: Should I purchase my own supplies?

Hey AskAcademia,

My adviser and I have had an extremely rocky relationship, including some sexual harassment shit in the lab that didn't go over well... I was harassed, he sided with the guy, later apologized for not handing it well, but then started to give me an extremely cold shoulder. I successfully completed my comps and had my proposal approved by my committee (and him), but now he is ignoring my emails and will not purchase the supplies I need to do my research. I have about $3,000 worth of supplies needed to complete the analyses on the samples I collected (which was extremely difficult to do). I'm toying with the idea of taking out a loan or putting it on credit just to get the supplies I need. I know it isn't a cost issue for him since he has been spending loads of money on frivolous stuff that the lab doesn't really need. My other committee members seem very supportive. I'm determined to get this degree. Should I do it? What ethical issues may make this a bad/good decision? I can use all the advice I can get.

[Assistant]
One of the main purposes of the supervisor is to provide you with working conditions. If the groups has money and it's something needed for your thesis, don't stop until you get him to buy it. Save every instance of communication in case there's shit after, and see if you can get some of the supportive committee members to help.

Don't let the cheap bastard have his way, PhD salaries are low as is, it's really not your obligation to buy lab supplies. Depends on the University, but here in Europe we have quite a lot of mechanisms to report the unproffesional behaviour in superiors...


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

[User]
[Alien invasion fiction] You are an alien species invading Earth. You don't invade for water or gold or any similar resource, as that would be incredibly stupid as those are readily available on asteroids which don't have monkeys with nukes on them. In your fictional work, why are you invading?

This is not asking why your reason is best, but you can certainly say why you think you have a great reason! It is just asking why different examples that are not stupid. Because invading for any sort of natural resource readily available on other rocks throughout the solar system which don't have nuclear weapons on them is really, really, really, stupid.  Because why bother? Then you need to go through one extra step to get all the radiation off of your natural resources.  Even if the defeating the natives is trivial, why bother with the extra effort? Maybe you hate them. That is a reason. Maybe you are just a giant dick. Being a giant xenophobic dick is a reason.  But coming to earth for water or rocks is not a reason. That is stupid. Very, very, very stupid.

This question was inspired by me having just been forced, almost at gunpoint to watch Independence Day 2. Wherein, the aliens invade to steal the energy from the Earth's molten core.  Which I think is probably the stupidest reason I've ever heard of in any fictional work!

**Actually you know what? Part 2 to the question!** What is the stupidest reason for an alien invasion from a fictional work? And if you are member that species, why was it not so stupid?

[Assistant]
Say there is a small Wasp's nest in a tree in your yard. Are they hurting anyone? No. Are they a threat to anyone? Probably not, but it's possible they might sting you in the future when you're out mowing. So you go out with a can of raid and take care of them before the near gets too big.

Wasps don't have valuable resources, they aren't worth attempting to communicate with, they're just a nuisance to take care of before they become too dangerous.


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

[User] ELI5: can someone please explain why it takes so long from the point someone is sentenced to death row to the actual date of execution?

[Assistant]
A death sentence is irreversible. So we go to extremes to make sure the person is really guilty. There have been actual cases of people who were discovered to be innocent after 15-20 years on death row.

Which do you think is a bigger injustice: for a guilty person to sit in jail for decades instead of being promptly executed, or for an innocent person to be executed for something they didn't do?


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

[User]
[DC] When Batman finds a fatal weakness in one of the other heroes, how does he decide whether to tell them or keep it for if they go rogue?

Like, say Batman notices that Superman prefers to tank bullets rather than catching them. He could tell Superman to catch all the bullets just in case, or he can prepare a bullet with a kyrptonite core to shoot Superman with if he goes rogue. I know he has plans for everyone, so presumably they all have at least one fatal flaw he hasn't corrected. But does he just leave it at one? Does he never tell them? How does he decide? I mean, it would suck if Superman dies because Batman never taught him to catch bullets and then a bunch of people die because Superman couldn't save them.

[Assistant] It depends on the incarnation, but in general the weaknesses are things they can't do anything about.  For example, not only does Superman know Batman has a Kryptonite bullet for him, he's the one who provided it.  On the other hand, Wonder Woman does not know that the plan Batman has stashed away for her is an empty box.


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

[User]
ELI5: How did soldiers on medieval battlefields tell each other apart? Was 'friendly fire' common?

I know knights etc probably wore some sort of colours that would mark them out as being on one side or another, but particularly among the infantry who were often just peasants dressed in no particular uniform it seems like it would have been extremely hard to tell who you should be fighting.

How did they do it? And are there many historical accounts of soldiers fighting the wrong people?

[Assistant]
The giant, chaotic, disordered, melees you see in movies werent how most battles were fought.

Disorder = death.

If you were in a battle and your side wasnt in a tight and disciplined formation things were about to look very very bad for you. Better hope a no quarter order hasnt been given to the folks who are about to butcher you and your buddies.

These battles were all about being able to outmaneuver and flank the other side to get them to break formation. The opposing shield/spear walls were much more effective defensively than offensively so while everyone kept in position casualties were low. But once one sides formation fell apart battles turned into a very one sided bloodbath.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Almost all the droids we've seen are no larger than an ordinary human. Are there instances where a droid is, say, the size of a ship? If not, what is the reason for the limit?

[Assistant]
I disagree that almost all the droids we've seen are no larger than an ordinary human.

Droids are generally built to sizes according to their usage. Those that are built to interact with humans are built around the same size as a human, which makes perfect sense. So R2 units are much smaller, and information carrying mouse droids even smaller.

But there are also bigger droids. While most of the CIS' forces during the clone wars were standard battle droids, there were also the larger and more intimidating heavy battle droids, commando droids and Magna droids built at the larger end of the humoid scale (think wookiees or tandoshan sized) to intimidate. And of course even larger droids, such as the Spider droid or the huge seafaring droids seen in the assualts on Mon Cal and Kamino, the NR N99 droid tanks, and the Vulture droids.

So while most of the droids we've seen have been around human size for ease of interaction, it's by no means close to all.


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

[User]
[Breaking Bad] Why does Hank have such a hard on for finding Heisenberg from the get go?

He is way more involved than trying to find Heisenberg than anyone else in the DEA, he goes to extreme lengths to find him and when he does (spoilers for season 5b) he doesn't care that it will tear the family apart.

So what is the deal? Did is drug dealer scam him when he was 17?

[Assistant]
Hank is a political animal, at least to a degree, and Heisenberg would be a career-making case. The source of the best meth ever seen? The growing kingpin of New Mexico, America, and eventually the whole freaking world?

And he's a cop. Cops don't like to lose. They don't like the bad guy to get away. Hank kind of assumes that him catching Heisenberg is the natural order of things, and when that doesn't happen, it upsets his sense of how it ought to be. Basically, it quickly morphs from "job" to "obsession."


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

[User] ELI5:  The difference between nuclear bombs.  Nuclear, Thermonuclear, Hydrogen...

[Assistant]
A nuclear bomb uses the principle of fission.  Basically, it splits atoms, which creates a large amount of energy.  A nuclear bomb is also known as an atomic bomb.

A thermonuclear bomb uses the principle of fusion.  Instead of splitting atoms, it smashed them together, which produces even more energy.  A hydrogen bomb and a thermonuclear bomb are the same thing.


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

[User] [The Matrix] Why does Trinity look away when an agent is killed?

[Assistant] Keep in mind the Agents are also possessing other people in the Matrix.  So while she's killing an Agent, she's also murdering some random schmuck who probably didn't deserve it.  I'd view her looking away as not wanting to see the 'real' body underneath the Agent so she can go on.  It's a coping mechanism for her, not confronting the innocent human she just killed.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why don't we inhale close to (or all of) our lung's capacity worth of air when we breathe naturally?

In other words, why isn't every breath a deep breath if our lungs can handle it?
(Assuming we don't put a great deal of consciousness into breathing.)

[Assistant] Life has this tendency to want to do the thing that takes the least amount of energy(for the same result). It takes a lot of work to fill your lungs to capacity, and it isn't like all the air gets used by your lungs in either case.


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

[User]
ELI5: How come when shaving coarse hair (such as the pubic area) I get a smooth shave after not shaving for a week, but get bumps and nicks after shaving a day or two later?

I've tried finding answers on both Reddit and Google and everything says that if I moisturize every day I'll get less nicks, but I can't seem to find anything explaining WHY this is the case.

[Assistant]
Bare with me. This is easy to visualize with a picture, but hard to describe verbally.

When you shave, the pull of the razor on the hair causes the hair in some cases to get cut so short that they are actually lower that the surface of the skin. When the hairs continue growing, they poke at the inside of the pit it is growing out of. Picture the earliest stages of an ingrown hair. In most cases, if you wait a couple days the hairs will work themselves out, but if you shave too soon, you have some hairs that are not really exposed yet, they are actually just poking small regions of skin up into your razor.


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

[User] [Zombies] While I'm barricading this door, can you explain to me why we never call these things the Z-word?

[Assistant]
Because these things are *not* zombies. "Infected", maybe. "Ghouls", probably. But we are not in an old movie, and behaving like we are is going to get us *dead*. It's a little reminder.

also, it's just *tacky*.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is heart cancer so rare?

The heart's an organ just like the brain, right?

[Assistant]
This is because muscle cells (also called muscle fibers) don't divide, and cancer is most common in cells that divide a lot. Dividing cells are primed for cancer because:
1) a lot of the machinery needed to divide rapidly is already present in the cell so not a lot extra is needed to make it grow uncontrollably into a tumor/cancer
2) the more a cell divides the more chances it has to make errors. DNA replication isn't perfect, and over time these errors can accumulate into dangerous mutations (this is also why cancer is more common in the elderly)
This is why we see a lot of cancer in tissues with a high "cellular turnover" rate - skin, liver, colon, etc. Cells that never divide (muscle fibers, neurons) almost never get cancer. Brain cancer is usually caused by a special type of brain cell that can divide (but not signal) call neuroglia, which forms the cancerous "glioma."
Bonus biology fact - because muscle cells fibers don't divide, you have the same number your whole life. Arnold Schwarzenegger has the same number of muscle fibers now as he did as a baby, they're just more packed with the good stuff.
Source - biochemistry major, medical researcher.


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

[User]
If sound is the vibration of the air, and the state of matter is determided by how much it's molecules vibrate, can sound melt something?

Even if you'd need a impossibly high pitch, is it theoretically possible? I feel like I'm forgetting something very important about how heat works.

[Assistant] Yes, ultrasonic welding is a method of solid state welding where the material such as plastic between two parts are melted together. The sound vibrates at a high frequency, at the low kHz, to heat up the plastic where it is pressed together in a vice or a press. No glue or soldering needed to meld them.


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

[User]
[DC] How does Superman feel about the death penalty?

Superman has always been vehemently opposed to killing even the worst of the worst of his enemies, or even allowing them to perish. However, how does he feel about a criminal or villain being sentenced to death after what he considers a fair trial?

[Assistant]
He's personally opposed, but he's not going to actively stop it- he recognizes that this is, at least nominally, the will of the people, and he won't generally interfere with humanity's right to self-govern.

He doesn't see himself to have the moral right to assign punishments, being ultimately just a helpful private citizen, and instead hands criminals over to those he considers legitimate authorities. He doesn't necessarily approve of the state's decision, but he respects that this *is* what they chose.


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

[User]
[Dark Souls] Why are there so many souls?

For defeating enemies you seem to get rather large amounts of souls out of single bodies; are souls worth so little that people need to hoard them? What's up with that, and how much are souls even worth?

[Assistant] Think of a single soul as the soul of something insignificant, like an ant or something. The soul of a hero is worth like 1000 of those, and so when you use one it will be represented as 1000 ant souls. This changes with the strength of soul of whatever's killed, so a boss soul is worth 40,000 etc. It's represented as that as it's easier.


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

[User]
[Marvel/DC] You're an A-list, world-class superhero near the end of your life. What do you do to ensure your afterlife isn't interrupted?

You've just been targeted by Kryptonian cancer rays, or been exposed to a debilitating virus, or maybe it's simple old age. Point is, you're looking forward to your afterlife, where you will be reunited with your family, lost loves, etc. Your secret identity is known to a dozen-odd fellow superheroes, and maybe your arch-nemesis. What steps do you do to make sure you're never summoned from the grave, reborn, reincarnated, or retconned back among the living?

[Assistant] train a protog with similar powerset, male or female dosent matter much, just make sure they are ready to take over once you step down, or possibly transfer your powers to someone else and train them(see: capian marvel(mar-vell), he is dead and not coming back anytime soon)


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

[User]
The 'book detector' when I walk in/out of my university's library causes a high pitched sibilance in my earphones. Why?

On entry or exit at my university's library, stock standard iphone 5 earphones let out a high pitch noise while listening to music. Why?

[Assistant] The book detector is emitting a radio signal which would energize and RFID chips in the book detector tags. Your earphones are acting as antennas and picking up the signal. You can sometimes get the same effect if your phone is sending/receiving a lot of data near some speakers.


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

[User] [Satan] Why does Lucifer sometimes appear as his angel form and other times as a more monster- like thing?

[Assistant]
It's whatever suits him best for his purposes at the time.

Need to be intimidating and show power to get what he wants? Bring out the horns and the bulky form, growl and shit. This is usually saved for the weak willed.

Can't get what you want by threatening to eat it or cause destruction? Put on your pretty face for a night on the town, time to infiltrate and plant a thought wisp on their shoulder to whisper things into the humans' ears -- basically any time they deal with vain people, or people in general. Beauty is good in the minds of society, so that's usually saved for business deals with higher ups.

Good thing too, you wouldn't want to see him in the morning without his glamor. No, seriously, you don't, he'd burn your retinas out.


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

[User] How is Titan able to have an atmosphere pressure similar to Earth when it's gravity is so much lower than Earth's?

[Assistant]
Cold makes sticky.
Titan can hang on to so much atmosphere even though its gravity is much weaker, because the cold temperature means the collisions of gas particles are less energetic. Thus less likely to bounce hard enough that Titans gravity cant recollect them.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Could there be a trace or taboo on Unforgivable Curses?

In The Deathly Hallows, saying Voldemort's name immediately lowered all defensive enchantments and lit you up so Death Eaters could get you.

Wouldn't that sort of spell be pretty useful for the Ministry of Magic in tracking down Death Eaters? Sure, unforgivable curses can be said without words, but non-verbal spells are supposed to be hard to cast, and unforgivable curses are hard enough already.

Then there's the Trace. If the Ministry of Magic can detect when a minor uses magic, why can't they detect when an unforgivable curse is used?

[Assistant]
There's no mention of taboos before Voldemort placed one on his name, so it's possible he created the spell.

The Trace is more of a general magic detection system. It's put up near Muggle areas and goes off whenever it detects *any* spell. That's why Wizarding children can technically use magic outside of school, so long as they're doing it where adult wizards tend to be.


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

[User]
what is president bidens role in causing and mitigating inflation ?

So I have heard that at least 20% of the existing money supply was printed  from 2020 to now, which leads me to ask, did President Biden drive inflation by signing coronavirus relief/stimulus packages into law? to what extent is the Federal Reserve to blame for inflation (due to the maintenance of low rates to artificially keep the economy going).

[Assistant]
Inflation in the short run changes according to the total amount of demand in the economy (aggregate demand) vs the economy's productive capacity (aggregate supply). Inflation will tend to accelerate if the economy is overheating (aggregate demand exceeds aggregate supply), and will tend to decelerate if the economy is in a recession (aggregate demand is less than aggregate supply).

There have been two factors driving inflation. i) Aggregate Supply has been reduced by the various COVID related production and supply chain issues - not President Biden's fault. ii) Aggregate Demand has increased in the last year, partly by the reopening of the economy and partly by the various coronavirus relief and stimulus packages. If Biden had not supported or had vetoed the various coronavirus relief and stimulus packages last year, inflation would be lower this year. On the other hand, people would have suffered more, unemployment would be higher, and the economy would not be booming today.

The Federal Reserve has contributed to the inflationary environment by being dovish and signaling that interest rate will not rise for some time. On the other hand, inflation had been below target for some years and they were strongly motivated to raise it. They may have been overly dovish in retrospect, but central banking is not an easy task, since we can only know the past and not the future. It can be compared with trying to drive a car while only looking in the rearview mirror.


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

[User]
ELI5: What exactly is a major in Women's and Gender Studies?

I know that this is a more versatile degree than people think. I've heard it can be used for a job in marketing, writing, PR, and other general humanities jobs, but what exactly will you be in expert in with this degree?

It seems like an odd major. Not just because that it's use isn't readily apparent, but because MOST colleges seem to offer it. A lot of liberal arts degrees seem to be kind of hit or miss when it comes to which universities offer them, but WAGS seems to be a constant.

So... what is it?

[Assistant]
There is a perception, particularly among feminist groups in the West, that a female perspective on all subjects (history, philosophy, economics, political science, psychology, sociology, geography, etc.) is lacking.

Women's studies is a broad category of studies that reinterprets these subjects and others through the lens of gender.


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

[User] ELI5: Since most animals have some sounds that they can make and most members of a single species make the same sounds, why do humans have so many very different languages and is there a single language that is the most natural for humans to speak?

[Assistant]
Your question sort of answers itself.  Humans use the same library of sounds to construct many different languages.  In that way, we are the same as animals.

We know that birds and whales can learn different songs depending on the region where they live.  That would be analogous to different human languages.

Is there a human language that preferentially uses the best sounds or the fewest sounds?  That is difficult to answer definitively.


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

[User]
Why does my pulse feel "stronger" on an area of my body that I recently injured?

By "stronger," I'm trying to convey that it feels much more noticeable.  For example, I broke in some new shoes, yesterday.  This caused a blister on the back of my foot, which burst and exposed the raw skin underneath.  Afterwards, I noticed that sensation that the movie "Elf" described (rather well, actually!):  "My finger has a heartbeat."

[Assistant] Inflammation is a response to injury; and that inflammation is due to increased blood flow to get nutrients and materials to the damaged site. More blood flow is what allows you to feel the stronger pulse.


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

[User]
[Star Wars]What has given people the impression that the clones were terrible at aiming and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn?

It's commonly joked that the Stormtroopers can't couldn't shoot fish in a barrel... But they actually are the elite troops of the Empire, so is it some resistance PR that they can't hit anything (which doesn't make sense since if you are up against the elite, i would imagine you'd want them to know and not try to take them straight on, but to use tactics in order to preserve the strength of your troops...)

So where does this false information come from and why has it stuck so well?

[Assistant]
Rebel, sorry, *New Republic* propaganda holovids. They gloss over the point that they were ordered not to shoot them, but to make the chase seem real.

It takes dicipline and skill to disregard their own lives in such a manner that the chase seems real. not to mention that they shoot near them without accidentally hitting.


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

[User] How efficient are our best solar panels compared to the leaves of plants at converting solar energy?

[Assistant] Plants usually have an efficiency around a few percent while the best laboratory devices have an efficiency of over 40%. A commercial solar cell will probably be closer to 10%. So in conclusion even a "bad" solar cell will usually be better at extracting useful energy from sunlight than plants.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is a 50lb dumbbell so easy to pick up, but a 50lb bag of salt feels like it weighs 100lbs?

[Assistant]
Theres rigid weight and then theres dead weight.

A solid mass like a dumbbell has a constant center of mass and you just have to lift from the center of mass.  Its also designed to be grabbed.

A more gelatinous object is dead weight and will shift the center of mass as you move it, forcing you to continually attempt to adjust to the new center.  The more unstable the material is, the more pronounced this effect becomes.  Lifting a 50lb bag of liquid is almost impossible because it offers no easy grip points and wobbles everywhere.


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

[User]
[Pokemon] What happens to a wild Pokemon if I poison it and run away?

I'm really curious as to what the effects of poison could be on a wild Pokemon. What would happen if I poison one and run away and it can't get to a poison curing berry in time, would it faint or suffer a painful death? I've had a few Pokemon faint due to poison while battling before but they were fine after I revived them, no trace of poison at all, I was pleasantly surprised but I'm not really sure how that works, how does fainting get rid of the poison? I would experiment but it seems unnecessarily cruel so I was wondering if anyone had done it before and published their findings. Thanks.

[Assistant]
Poison will naturally dissipate if a pokemon isn't under a high stress situation like a battle. Often this only occurs when the poison has taken them to the brink of fainting. So if you ran, and the pokemon didn't have to battle anything else, it'll be weakened but will recover.

For the other question, a revive is a very strong medicine, and like most of our other medicines, cures a lot of things. Ever wonder why a Hyper Potion will heal cuts, bruises, and other such injuries without needing to specialise? But wait! If it's the revive that cures the poison, why aren't pokemon being poisoned while they're fainted? Fainting brings a pokemon's metabolism way down, slowing all functions, and thus the poison won't spread to deadly levels.


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

[User] ELI5: If an addict goes into a coma for enough time to get it out of their system, would they still be addicted when they wake up?

[Assistant] They would have no physical addiction. They would go through withdrawal while unconscious. But they'd still be addicted psychologically, much like a person who quits for awhile--they will still crave the substance, but not become physically ill when not having any. It's actually a thing to put people to sleep so they can detox while unconscious.


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

[User] ELI5: why do babies in the womb not get head rushes even though they are suspended upside down?

[Assistant] The head rush comes from how much pressure is exerted by gravity pulling all that blood into your head. The amount of pressure the blood exerts is proportional to the weight of the blood thats directly over your height; which is proportional to your height. Babies are really short, so not a lot of blood directly overhead, so not a lot of pressure, so no (or very little) head rush.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do TV episodes, albums and scripts get leaked, and why does it seem to happen so often?

^

[Assistant]
Writer, publisher, .... Will send them to himself via email. Or friends and family. And from there someone will leak it.

Or grabs a USB stick. Leaves it at caffee. Noasy waiter who knows a studio is nearby grabs it..

Or as a part of marketing. Some speculate the Iphone[whatever number] wasn't leaked- But staged, so it ets publicity for example.


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

[User] ELI5 if someone were to "stand" on Jupiter at the great red spot, what would the storm look like?

[Assistant]
Reddish cloud everywhere.

Depending on your depth/altitude, you wouldn't be able to see much, you'd be lost in the fog. High enough and it looks like... you know... how we see it from space.

Close enough and all that detail fades away as the gaseous nature of the atmosphere blurs it all together. Like how clouds look like solid beautiful things from a distance, but as your plane is flying through them it's just whips of fog.  Same thing on Jupiter, just a heck of a lot more of it.


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

[User]
What fact most changed your view of the world when you learned it?

Was there something that you struggled with because it doesn't fit with a layman's "common-sense" view of the world?

[Assistant] Cleopatra (As in THE Cleopatra) lived closer to man landing on the moon than to the Great Pyramid being built. That always gets me, because it shows, to me at least, just how long things have been around for...


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

[User] ELI5:If I shoot a basketball, and miss, 1000 times in a row, would I get better because of repetition or would i just develop bad muscle memory?

[Assistant]
Practice doesn't make perfect, practise makes permanent.

If you have enough understanding and feedback to refine the movement, you'll improve.

Missing one thousand times would suggest you weren't improving the movement, either because you're moving randomly (not so bad) our because you're repeating a movement that is ineffective/wrong (bad, because you'd have to train yourself out of the bad habit, which is harder than training it in the first place)