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

[User]
ELI5: WHY are the symbols for power on / off "|" and ""?

What are/were they meant to represent? When were they introduced? I can't find any consistent reliable sources. I'd really appreciate references if anyone has any!

[Assistant]
The International Electrotechnical Commission standards organization define it as open/closed as many others have stated.

The line is on.  The circle is off.

Yes, the numbers 0 and 1 are used for on off sometimes , but the symbol is a line abd circle and they were originally chosen as a language neutral representation for an open and closed circuit.


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

[User]
How quickly can food "run through you"?

I hear people say,  "oh man that food is running right through me"  as they scamper off to the bathroom 20 mins after they ate.  Is there any truth to this?  I guess the question is how quickly can the body consume, digest, and expell a meal?

[Assistant] Food generally takes about eight hours to pass through you.  More rarely, it can take only two or three hours.  But if someone is running to the bathroom within just a few minutes, then that is because the food they just ate caused the intestinal tract to start convulsing to move food through it, which caused an increase need to move what was already sitting in it.


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

[User]
ELI5: does vacuuming slower really pick up more dirt, why or why not?

I've always heard it does, but I have my suspicions.

[Assistant] It gives the vacuum more time to pick up debris. There is a point of diminishing returns, where more time spent on one spot does not significantly increase debris picked up, but you will get more stuff off your floor if you spend 5 seconds/meter versus 1 second/meter.


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

[User] ELI5: How do gut bacteria actually make it to your intestines with the hydrochloric acid produced by the stomach in the way?

[Assistant] The hydrochloric acid in your stomach is usually heavily diluted in the first place, and only long-term exposure can erode their membrane away. Most, however, reside in your gut lining, which has a nice, thick layer of mucus to protect then from your stomach fluids. Some of the mucus gets washed down when the contents of your stomach move from your stomach to the small intestine, where bile acts as a general transmitter for bacteria to your large intestine. Basically, your gut bacteria spreads throughout your GIT due to pure luck. Pretty good luck for the both of you, too, because you have a mutual symbiotic relationship.


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

[User]
[General Harem Anime] Why does this guy have to live with us? What can I do to get him out of here?

Im the Student Council President at the all-girl Moriyama Academy, a safe place for girls with psychic powers to hone their abilities in a safe environment. A few days ago, a new student arrived at the school: A boy!

From what the headmaster said, this guy is a super-powerful psychic, so even though this is *supposed* to be a *girls* school, I understand why he needs to be here.

Still: Does he have to live in our dorm?! Cant he stay with one of the male teachers in *their* home or use one of the empty rooms?

This dope has already walked in on several girls while they were changing (the doors dont lock, btw, I should talk to the headmaster about that) and gotten into several compromising situations.

Plus, hes sharing a room with my twin sister and her friends, and none of them are comfortable with the arrangement.

I recently complained to a teacher, and he just said that we should suck it up and deal with it, the dweeb is more powerful than all psychics in history and destined to be the Holy Ruler Of blahblahblahblah i stopped listening.

Im not one to give up, so Im asking for an outsiders perspective.

Why does he have to live with us girls instead of being trained by, I dunno, monks on a mountaintop or spooks in a secret government lab?

I dont want him expelled or anything, but how can I get him to move out?

[Assistant] Distribute nude pictures of his mother around school, so every time he uses his powers to read anyone's mind there's a greater than zero chance he'd see his own naked mom. After a few weeks of that, he'll put in for a transfer.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does staring at something bright leave a black spot on your vision even when you close your eyes, and how does it go away later?

[Assistant] When the light is too bright, those photoreceptors get over stimulated and remain active for a while even when there is no light source. However doing this for a wile can damage the photoreceptors an cause a condition called Solar Retinopathy.


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

[User]
[Marvel] What does being a registered mutant entail?

I assume it works like being a registered sex offender, like you can't get certain jobs, you can't live at or near certain areas, you have to inform your neighborhood, etc. Whenever it comes up, it's treated as something to avoid. What are all the ramifications of registered mutant status?

[Assistant]
Just being on the list is enough to close certain doors, even if your power is smelling like cupcakes.
But not being on the list means you better not get in any trouble with the law.
Similar to undocumented immegrants.


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

[User]
[Marvel Comics/MCU] What happens if local law enforcement gets to the scene before S.H.I.E.L.D?

What stops the local police from making their way to a location before S.H.I.E.L.D gets there? What happens if they make it there after S.H.I.E.L.D? Do they just kick them out? Pull rank in the government somehow?

[Assistant]
Shield monitors police lines, so when something unusual or superpowered is being reported to the police they know.

Police may still arrive sooner on scene, but shield would have jurisdiction over the extraordinary cases. Shield could also contact the police and tell them to back off if somethings dangerous for them to respond to.

This is before Winter Soldier when they still had authority though.


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

[User] [All] What's the strongest material in all of fiction?

[Assistant]
Univeral Hulls from the Ringworld series.  A ship's hull made of a single, giant molecule which is literally invulerable to everything.  The only to destroy it is to unravel the molecule, but that is so very rare that it might as well not happen.

Adamantium from Marvel is another contender.  Literally idestructible once hardened.  It loses to the hull molecule above because a strong enough magnetic field can pull it apart which isn't really that hard to do if you know it's a possibility.


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

[User]
Does the universe as a whole have an orbit?

I know its expanding- but does it have a rotation? Our planet orbits our sun, which orbits our super massive black hole it seems like rotation is the standard. So does the universe as whole have a spin? And if not why?

[Assistant]
Orbit usually means traveling around something else. Since the universe is "everything there is". It can't be orbiting anything else.

Rotating (like spinning) would mean there is a center or an axis of rotation. At the broadest scale, the universe is isotropic (the same in all directions), which it wouldn't be if there was a spin (the direction towards the axis/center would be markedly different from the rest).

So: No, it doesn't.


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

[User]
Why does lighting a cigarette cause a constant amber instead of a a flame?

Why can't I actually just light a cigarette on fire (like I could light a stick on fire and cause a dancing flame)?

Second cigarette related question....why do wet cigarettes smell stronger/worse? I just smoked a cigarette in the rain and it got a few drops on it. Now I'm noticeably smellier than usual.

[Assistant]
It has to do with the design of the paper in the cigarette. There is a surprisig amount of engineering wit cigarettes. The paper contains a chemical called titanium oxide which controls and sustains the burning of the paper. Also on the paper are 'burn rings'. These rings are spaced along the paper to slow the burn rate between tokes.

Wet cigarette smell might have to do with the ammonia in the cigarette which is there to control the delivery of the 2 mg of nicotine.

Source: chem MSc, drug/med Chem lectures, smoker!


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

[User]
ELI5: What is the Loudness War and what side am I on?

I hear the term "Loudness War" with respect to recording, but I don't understand what it means. Should I be for or against Loud? What has Loud done to me?

[Assistant]
The Loudness War is defined as a trend in recorded music that has gotten generally louder and louder over time. Early records were relatively quiet; later records would record at louder volumes; compact discs set a digital limit that sound engineers would come up against through different compression techniques, and so on.

As time goes on, it seems the louder music wins out as being the more popular music of the day. Many consumers don't seem to care as much for sound quality as they do for the loudness of the music, as that can grab their attention.

As for what side you're on? Well, that's a personal question. Do you prefer more dynamic sound with good quality, or is it all Top 40 hits at max volume for you?


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

[User]
[Marvel] What's the difference between the magic Dr Strange uses and the Magic Dr Doom uses?

So I have no idea why but it just clicked to me that the magic that Dr strange and Dr Doom uses are EXTREMELY different. But what is the difference? Is what Doom have a different type of magic? Is he just extremely advanced? Or is it just like the same but in a different form? From the way I see stranges magic seems to be reality bending and warping powers and tricks while dooms magic is completely for offensive mostly like lazars. But that aside what is the technical difference between these two's magical powers'?

[Assistant]
Strange studied classical magic tomes, memorised the spells and incantations, and basically became a living encyclopedia of magic after some point.

Doom studied SOME magic  from different sources, whatever he could steal, buy, spy or reverse-engineer, and then used his brilliant scientific mind to analise magic like it was TECHNOLOGY, simplifying, improving, and changing stuff to suit him better.

Strange is a surgeon turned sorcerer; his magic is about going by the book very precisely, neatly and with great skill, and he knows most of the books of magic by rote.

Doom is basically smashing spells with a hammer, looking at their base components, and then building rugged and useful spells out of it, DIY style.


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

[User]
[Dragonball] Who exactly is Freeza selling planets too?

Is there really a buyer for something as grand as a planet? What does Freeza do with the money anyway? Not like someone with a reputation for galactic genocide and cruelty can walk into the Space-Mall with his Space-Friends and grab a Space-Soda and go Space-Shopping for some new Space-Pants - HE DOESN'T WEAR PANTS GOD DAMN IT!

Edit: AAAAAAAAAAAAAA I USED THE WRONG TOO! I'M STUPID!

[Assistant] What really makes it confusing is in DBSuper Whis alludes to the fact that there are only like 28 populated planets in universe 7. If that's the case then it makes it REALLY confusing as to how there is even a market for planets at all.


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

[User]
[DC Comics] How many DC heroes are suspected of having double identities by the public? When Superman's cover was blown recently, a lot of people were shocked that he even bothered with being anything but Superman.

How well understood is it in the DC universe that many of the heroes maintain double identities like that? Is there any serious speculation about what Batman or the Flash do on their off hours, or is it assumed that they do hero stuff full time? If a hero with a more mundane day job got outed, would people find it odd that a superhero was living incognito like that or is that the general assumption that they do so?

This is confused by the fact that many heroes at DC *don't* maintain dual identities- Wonder Woman is very openly Diana Prince of Themiscyera, Arthur Curry is a hometown hero in the part of Maine he grew up in, and Atom IIRC openly lectures about his scientific experiences as a superhero.

[Assistant]
Batman wears a mask, which implies he doesn't want you to know who he is, which implies he has a secret identity.  Wonder woman doesn't wear a mask, which implies she doesn't care if you know who she is, which implies she doesn't have a secret identity. Reasonable (and accurate) enough so far. If it looks like someone is hiding their identity, they presumably have a secret identity. Otherwise, they're probably a full time hero.

Superman is weird because he doesn't wear a mask but he *does* have a secret identity. This is why people were confused. If someone is flying around the city with their face visible on national tv, you assume they have nothing to hide, and are probably very confused when you learn they A. do and B. succeeded at doing so for years.


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

[User]
Warhammer(40k) Does the Imperium have any sort of navy?

Is there any kind if waterborne assult? Destroyers, Subs anything like that? Do any other factions have a sort of navy. I am aware that all of the space ships conventional ships might not be as practical but the warhammer universe has such an array of cultures and worlds there would probley be some sort of navy somewhere right?

[Assistant] There are planets with water-based defences, particularly on Death Worlds where there are dangerous aquatic creatures, like the sea serpents on Fenris. However, in terms of waterborne assault, there is pretty much nothing, since in practice spacecraft and aircraft blow anything else out of the water, if you'll pardon the pun.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Why are governments so focussed on trying to recreate the Super-soldier serum? Wouldn't it be easier to recreate a super powers like the Fantastic Four?

Just send a bunch of astronauts into space, intercept some cosmic rays, and you are done. It works on anyone, gives you a variety of different powers, and doesn't appear to have side effects (apart from occasionally turning into a pile of rocks)

It worked by accident for the FF, but was successfully recreated by the U-Foes. Reed Richards probably knows enough about cosmic rays by now that he could recreate it on Earth.

[Assistant]
In order for a programme that creates superheros to be *really* useful then the process of creation is best if it is reliable and repeatable. The superhero serum was a huge, ***huge*** success, turning a weakling into an incredible person - it also was designed to be able to work on everyone. If it had been able to go into production then there would have been whole *armies* of Captain Americas storming across the battlefields, winning wars easily.

Now as for why they do not go down the route of cosmic rays, using mutants etc, it's because the changes are seemingly random and powers are unpredictable. Sometimes you'll get something useful, sometimes you'll get a guy who can eat any amount of chilli without needing to drink milk but each takes a vast amount of resource and money to create.

Mutants (another option from cosmic rays) are also unreliable in their creation and have massively varied power and usages. Each different power needs to be explored, analysed and carefully worked on and this takes time - you want an army and you cannot have hundreds of thousands of different powers which each needs investigating and controlling. Some will need special equipment or training and basically it's a huge hassle.

Super serum gives you strong and reliable results and no need to special equipment or training. That's what you want in an army. Sure there will be more powerful people out there but you can see what Captain American can do, if you have a few thousand of them then they'll be able to take action against almost any threat and you still have mutants/lucky one offs as well for really high tier stuff in the Avengers.

Finally, if one Super Soldier gets out of hand it's not impossible to stop them. If, say, someone who controls the weather decides he wants to cause trouble then you have a much bigger problem.

TL:DR - it is repeatable, regular levels of power and it is controllable.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] How does the Borg hivemind work when the vast majority of drones don't want to be there?

Wouldn't they eventually just "outvote" the assimilators so the Borg stops trying to assimilate everyone, and starts trying to find a way to end the hivemind?

[Assistant]
I always assumed that when you are first assimilated, the hivemind overpowers you, and it's like brainwashing.  Imagine being part of a hive for the first time, and there are billions of voices shouting over yours that being Borg is good, that assimilation is good, and that resistance is futile.  They never stop shouting, and you can never hide from it.  How long would you be able to keep saying that they are wrong?  Against that kind of pressure, your old life eventually feels like a dream, and before you know it, you are part of the group shouting down the next to be assimilated.

There must have been a critical mass of Borg long ago who believed in it and who could keep control after the first batch of assimilated drones joined.  After that, they could never be outvoted.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do we cover our mouths when we are shocked by something?

When something very surprising happens, people cover their mouths with their hands.

Why do people do this?

[Assistant]
Covering your mouth is a passive, not instinctive, action.

Instinct is: shock > make noise to call for help or scare.

Secondary/ passive actions: realising you don't actually need help/ to scare means you just open your mouth. It's considered poor etiquette to have an open mouth in most cultures so you put your hand up to cover.

Having an open mouth can be seen as threatening (think a dog showing it's teeth or a baboon shrieking), hence the covering. Maybe the reason for us covering our mouths when we are shocked, or even when we yawn.

Very counter intuitive.


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

[User]
What happens to an eyelash when it disappears behind your eyeball?

Does it dissolve? Additionally, what about other objects such as sand?

[Assistant]
Nothing can ever go behind your eyeball.  The entire circumference is attached to the muscles that move the eye.  So whatever gets in simply stays trapped somewhere, usually up under the eyelid.

And no, nothing ever dissolves.  You keep producing more tears to flush it out until it's gone.

Source: going on 11 years as a certified optician.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does exercising reduce blood pressure and cholesterol to counter stokes/heart attacks.

I was wondering how exercising can reduce things such as blood pressure? Surely when you exercise the heart rate increases to supply blood to organs and muscles that are working overtime, meaning the chances of strokes and heart attacks are higher. So how does this work because wouldn't doctors advise against this to prevent these events from happening?

Edit: 31k Views... Wow guys, thats crazy...

[Assistant]
The heart doesn't work alone to pump blood.

When you exercise, a lot of other systems kick in to help blood get through the body easier and recycle to the heart more efficiently.  Movement of other muscles and one-way valves pushes blood along and veins dilate and contract to direct flow.

Exercise makes those systems more efficient, taking load off the heart.

ELI5: working out starts turning the bloodstream's gravel roads into paved highways so the heart doesn't have to force blood through with so much pressure.


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

[User]
How is it that Han's Tauntaun, an animal indigenous to Hoth, froze to death after a day of walking?

Surely they've evolved to be able to withstand the conditions of their own planet right?

[Assistant] Tauntauns are well-suited to the harsh conditions of Hoth, but they're not invincible. They retreat into caves in the wild, or they're sheltered when they're in captivity, to allow their core body temperature to return to normal. If they go too long without doing this, they freeze to death.


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

[User] ELI5: What would happen to a person who has cancer but doesn't treat it? Would they feel it slowly killing them or would they drop dead one day?

[Assistant]
Basically, there are only a few ways to actually die of cancer:

* Pure volume: That is, it blocks/destroys surrounding tissue, if that tissue happens to be important, it runs down to slowly losing this tissues function ( liver stops working, lung can't expand enough, certain brain regions stop working, etc)

* Nutrition: If a tumor consumes more energy for growth/subsistence than the body can provide, the patient starves

* Blood loss: Some cancers ( breast cancer, for example ) become a huge, bloody mess after a while and lead to profuse bleeding, which sooner or later kills the patient.

* EDIT: Secondary infections: As Clovin69 mentioned " secondary infections (especially pneumonia) from reduced white blood cell levels", ELI5 this means, you get sick because the cancer weakens the immune system

Keep in mind, that many cancers are not "directly deadly", prostate cancer for example is pretty harmless as long as it doesn't spread. But if it does, the metastases will do the actual killing.


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

[User]
[Kung Fu Panda] Do the Furious Five have actual names?

In Kung Fu Panda, all of the Furious Five are referred to by their species name: Mantis, Crane, Monkey, Tigress, and Viper. However, everyone else in Kung Fu Panda has an actual name like Po, Tai Lung, and Shifu. Do the Furious Five have real names?

[Assistant] They aren't called their species name, they're called the name of the style that they've mastered, like how Po is the Dragon Warrior. It just so happens that they've all mastered the styles that coincide with their species. Which makes sense. Of course the person best at crane style will be a crane, and the person best at tiger will be a tiger. The styles are designed for them.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that, over time, we can begin to like tastes that we previously did not?

[Assistant] It's because taste buds decline with age. As kids we have a much sharper sense of taste and we tend to dislike certain flavors. By the time we are adults we've lost (presumably) half of our taste buds and we can tolerate a wider range of foods.


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

[User]
[Wendigo Lore] Could Wendigos be militarized in any way?

Hello. I am a general in the US military. I recently learned that Wendigos are real while on a hunting trip.

After returning home, I studied up on Wendigos and learned that they used to be humans who became monstrous creatures after succumbing to starvation and cannibalizing their companions.

That got me wondering: Couldn't we starve some prisoners of war/convicted criminals and turn them into Wendigos, and then use those monsters on the battlefield? It seems like we have the perfect killing machines available to us right here!

Would it be possible to replicate the "Wendigo creation" in an artificial environment? Would a Wendigo be capable of following orders or at least be able to be "directed" at enemy forces?

[Assistant]
You're talking about creating a terror weapon here. Even putting aside the public horror at how they are created, you would turn the whole world against you.

There is no practical military purpose for doing this even if you could somehow control evil cannibalistic spirits from beneath the ancient ice. What can a Wendigo do that other weapons cannot, besides be a deniable civilian-killer?

All those weapons and rations - they come from somewhere. You are reliant on the people who make them continuing to do so. This is the kind of thing that might actually convince them not to.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What would have been Palpatines endgame?

More out of curiosity than anything else. Palpatines goal throughout the entire series was more power for the sake of more power. Where would that have led him, if no one was ever able to stop him?

What else could/would he have done or corrupted in his quest? How far could he have gotten, knowing everything we know about the Force and his willingness to corrupt it?

[Assistant]
After destroying the Jedi order, his goal was immortality and total domination of the galaxy. Not so much as nitpicking every decision every living being made, but on the level of everyone worshiping him as something akin to a god-emperor and the entire galaxy bowing to his every whim. Palpatine's whims mostly included studying ancient sith knowledge and delving ever deeper into the dark side. This was one reason he largely disappeared from the public eye once he crowned himself emperor, since the Empire was largely built to give him the resources necessary to keep plundering the galaxy of its darkest secrets.

If he could have found a way to make himself into an actual godlike being, he would have certainly pursued it. And MAYBE then he'd get into the business of nitpicking every individual decision everyone ever made just to ensure it was to his benefit.

He was never interested in extinguishing all life in the galaxy, since the force flows from life. He just wanted to control it.


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

[User]
[Prometheus] Why did the Engineers want to kill humans? Why did the last one attack? Why did they make the black ooze? What was it? Where did the animals come from?

(Out of character disclaimer: I essentially didn't understand the entire last half of this movie.)

What were the urns? What was that giant head? Why did the murals start changing? Where did the Engineers go? How does all of this relate to the Xenomorphs? Did the Engineers create them or discover then? Were they trying to exterminate them or make more? What was the black goo disease that made Holloway sick? What was the squid creature that was cut out Dr. Shaw and attacked the Engineer? I have so many questions on the information retrieved from this expedition. Do we have any answers at all?

[Assistant]
The best source seems to be from behind the scenes explanation, but the general gist that Scott and the screenwriters were trying to imply was that the Engineers seeded Earth with human life, checked in on us at some point in our history and saw that we were misbehaving quite a bit, and decided we should be wiped out before we spread out of control and ruined the planet and the rest of the universe.

The planet that the crew ended up on was the Engineer's equivalent of a weapons lab/military outpost. The black goo was a biological weapon they developed for the purpose of cleansing planets by seeding them with Xenomorphic creatures. They were about to launch a ship filled with the goo to bomb Earth, but the creatures got loose, and everything went into lockdown/hibernation mode until the Prometheus crew arrived.

Scott has said that the more specific details he had in mind, was that the Engineers tried to set us back on the right path first by sending an emissary to Earth about 2000 years ago to help guide us. That emissary would be Jesus Christ. Unfortunately we end up crucifying him, and the Engineers back home are like "Holy shit" and decided we were beyond saving at that point and decided to go with the extermination plan. This is why a timeframe of 2000 years is specified in the movies.

He did stress that this isn't set in stone as the final canon though, cause basically him and the screenwriters merged different ideas together, and left thing open ended as the true story so they could elaborate on the details in a later chapter (probably in Covenant) or just let the audience come up with their own interpretation if they never got around to it.


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

[User]
Would a Facehugger be able to impregnate a Xenomorph? (Alien)

Simple as the title says. Is it possible, or is it just a big no-no due to super alien inbreeding.

[Assistant] It is possible, but unlikely. The face hugger would not trigger on a sister, they stay in stasis until they sense a target. If the xenomorph is from a divergent enough line it could well trigger a face hugger, but can easily fend one off. Since this is their means of reproduction they MAY allow themselves to be impregnated, much like some cannibalistic insect males are killed mating.


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

[User]
[MCU] How would Killmonger feel about Magneto?

Magneto is a Holocaust survivor and his actively using his powers to benefit Mutant kind. Would Killmonger feel sympathy for him since he's also part of a oppressed minority, or would he view him as another privileged white hero?

[Assistant] Killmonger might understand where Magneto is coming from, but ultimately would see him as an obstacle. Killmonger cares about his own people, not mutants and certainly not mutants whose goal is to gain supremacy over *him.*


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

[User]
ELI5:What is making the sound of my voice when I think to myself?

I wanted to know what exactly is making the sound of my voice when I think to myself. What is the brain doing and are the ears involved in any way?

[Assistant]
Because the same neural structures activate for speaking, listening to somebody else speak, and thinking thoughts without speaking them. You can think of it as if thinking to yourself is just taking to yourself without using your mouth: thinking in words is a type of talking, rather than the other way around.

In fact, according to the theory of Articulatory Phonology, you understand speech by "pretending" that you are actually the one talking, and then relying on the fact that this phenomenon that thinking causes words can run in reverse, allowing you to reconstruct what you would have meant, had you said the words.

A similar phenomenon is what are called "mirror neurons," which are responsible for contagious yawning, etc.

Edit: Note: yes your brain can recognize the difference between real and imagined sounds (usually/unless there's a problem), but it's important to realize that that means that it is _recognizing_ that the sound it _already heard_ didn't match up with input from the ears.


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

[User]
[Dragon Ball Z] Why does Frieza sell planets after wiping out their residents? What does he need money for?

He was the most powerful being in the universe (as far as he knew). Surely if he wanted anything, he could just take it and kill whoever tried to stop him, right? Whats the point in buying or selling anything fairly?

[Assistant]
Professional pride. Frieza is nothing if not proud of himself and his accomplishments. Also, running an empire requires a lot of capital.

Besides, if he simply ran around killing whoever and whatever for minor reasons like money, he would've drawn Beerus' unfavorable opinion rather than just his disinterest.


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

[User]
CMV: Working for small businesses is no longer good for working class people.

As time goes on, I realize how grateful I am that I work for a good company with a potential retirement path. Large companies are excellent for people looking for health insurance and other benefits. I have several friends that work for smaller places in either my industry or ones like it, and they seriously get the shaft on EVERYTHING. Less pay, no health insurance, no paid vacation, no 401k, no guaranteed pay raises, the list goes on. My company offers all those and many more. It really factored into my decision of where I decided to work for a career.

Nowadays the worry of social security failing in the US is very real, it may not be there when I retire. Working for a small business guarantees that you HAVE to save up on your paychecks that may not even be good enough just to be able to live when youre older. I understand some smaller places might pay good, but having no benefits or retirement plans really ruins the whole gig.

[Assistant]
>Less pay, no health insurance, no paid vacation, no 401k, no guaranteed pay raises, the list goes on.

Really all of those are just forms of pay. So your view is 'Working for less pay is not good for working class people compared to working for more pay'.

Is that your view?


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

[User]
Why does it feel so good to have my back scratched, and so not good to have my front scratched?

(And why can't I scratch my palm?)

[Assistant] You have less nerve endings in your back skin than your front skin. Scratching your front stimulates more nerve endings and is easier to over stimulate. Same reason you can scratch your scalp and have it feel good, but scratching your genitals with the same force would hurt.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does fast charging work compared to regular charging?

When I got my phone it came with a fast charger. I think it takes about 2 hours to charge if I used the charging base that came with it, whereas if I use another base that doesn't use fast charging, it takes much longer to charge.

How does fast charging work and why is it faster than regular charging?

[Assistant]
Power = current x voltage.

Fast chargers can increase the current or voltage.

If you read the label on your power connector itll say something like 2A/5V, or 2A/19V.   So the 2a/19V charges faster.

When you plug in a cable the phone and power adapter negotiate what speed to charge at.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] If a Mandalorian tries to forcibly remove the helmet of another Mandalorian, could they be killed with no repercussions?

I just finished episode 3 of The Mandalorian and everyone seemed pretty chill that the two baddest motherfuckers in their home were legit trying to kill each other.

[Assistant]
Let me do some math... hardcore warrior culture... intense honor code... deep rooted (and frankly justified) paranoia about information leaks...

Yeah, if you want to touch a Mandalorian's helmet, even if you're a Mandalorian yourself, you should probably be ready for a fight. And since that fight is against a trained killer armed with anything from a knife to a squad automatic weapon, you should expect that fight to be to the death.

As far as consequences, the one who did the killing is probably going to be chewed out. They weren't *wrong* to defend themselves, but given the critical state of the Mandalorians in the post-Endor galaxy, any losses are a problem.


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

[User]
ELI5: Was Pangaea an accident or necessary?

Clarification: Is it impossible to end up with multiple continents unless they start out as one super-continent? Or could many different continents have developed independently of each other?

Note: I'm not asking whether it's possible that we could have ended up with our seven continents without a Pangaea step in between. I'm asking if it's possible in general to end up with multiple continents without having a Pangaea first.

[Assistant] Sure it would be possible for there to be multiple continents without having a Pangea first. It is possible to have a world with absolutely no active tectonics. In fact Earth may be very unusual in this respect, we don't know yet. A super continent is in no way a prerequisite for separate continents to eventually exist, it is just the way it happened on our planet to the best of our knowledge. Also our separate continents may eventually combine again to become a second Pangea.


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

[User]
[LotR] What would have happened to the Fellowship if the balrog hadn't interrupted the army of goblins surrounding them in Moria?

In the movie, the Fellowship is completely surrounded by an army of goblins before the balrog shows up and scares them all away.

They were hopelessly outmatched. Even if they'd never stopped killing goblins, they'd have eventually been buried in their corpses. What would have happened if the balrog hadn't shown up?

[Assistant] Goblins are cowardly beasts, and Orcs not much better.  We've seen them retreat once already after the death of the Cave Troll, and we can assume they'll retreat once again after enough of them have been killed.


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

[User]
[Warhammer40K] How long does the Journey of An orc spacecraft take?

For example if ORCs would have a legendary WAAGH, with tens of thousands of spacecrafts and a mothership like the space hulk. How long would these ship hop from system to system? I haven't read anything about them using warp drives etc. Or did i misread and do they have some kind of way to Traverse the warp?

[Assistant]
They do use Warp technology. It's crude, but shockingly effective - and being orks, they are notable for being on e of the few factions crazy enough to bring it to the battlefield, in the form of the Shokk Attack Gun, which fires snotlings through the Warp to materialise inside their extremely surprised target.

Their standard mode of travel is a Space Hulk or Rokk (basically an asteroid with a warp drive nailed on), which travels through the Warp fairly randomly; unlike humans, they don't bother with protection from the entities that dwell within the immaterium, because they're A) functionally immune to daemonic possession and B) always up for a scrap if any daemons feel like climbing aboard their ship.

Ork navigation would appear to be nonexistent, but probably functions as an extension of their powerful gestalt psychic field - the thousands or millions of orks on the craft *believe* that they are travelling to a good fight, and thereby subconsciously navigate their way to a location where there's somebody worth having a go at.


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

[User] Why is it that semiconducting materials have lower resistances the hotter they get?

[Assistant] A material that conducts electricity well (a conductor) has lots of charged particles that can move around, allowing electrical current to flow. A material that doesn't conduct electricity (an insulator) has no movable charged particles (either there are no charged particles, or the charged particles are locked in place). A semiconductor is in between these two. There are some, but not many charged particles that can move around. One common way of having this condition is to have a medium-sized gap between the energy level of the highest energy electrons (in the ground state) and the lowest unoccupied energy level. If the gap is very small, then it's easy for electrons to jump up and move around, so you have a conductor. If the gap is very large, it's incredibly difficult for electrons to do so and you have an insulator. But with that medium gap, you have some-but-not-lots of electrons that can make the jump. Increasing the temperature increases the energy that the electrons have and therefore increases the fraction of electrons that can successfully make the jump up. With more electrons able to move around, electricity flows easier (resistance is lower).


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

[User] ELI5: Why do we have to cook food in the oven for 20 minutes, but we can cook it in the microwave for 3 minutes?

[Assistant] Different types of energy.  Convection is limited by diffusion.  Microwaves have far greater depth of penetration and spin all of the water molecules in food.  The resulting kinetic energy of the spinning molecules gives off heat.


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

[User] How come otorhinolaryngology is a single discipline if it concerns three different body parts? Are these connected in some way? Are there other examples of specialties that include multiple minor subspecialties?

[Assistant]
They are connected, literally, through the Eustachian tube (part of the middle ear)
Because of this connection, illnesses or infections to one of these body parts often affect the other.

Also explains why swallowing/chewing can ease the painful feeling in your ear when taking off in an airplane.


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

[User] [Superman] How does Clark Kent/Sups deal with the guilt of letting so many people around the globe die every single day knowing that he could have saved them but chose not too?

[Assistant] How do you deal with the guilt of knowing every time you buy something that isn't absolutely essential to your survival, you could have instead donated that money to impoverished kids in third-world countries but chose not to?


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

[User] ELI5: Why do people choose to lease a car that they will never own? You pay a couple grand down payment, make monthly payments - just like buying your own car...but you never get the satisfaction of paying it off and actually owning it. I don't get it?

[Assistant]
I'll share one philosophy -

Some people don't want to own a car.  They want a "new" car every 3 years.  So they lease a top of the line model and a few years later they get a new one.

Not everyone seeks the satisfaction of owning a car.  Many people are perfectly happy to give it back in exchange for a new car and a new lease.


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

[User]
CMV: There's no good reason we should expect alien life to be organic

I've seen this thinking for a long time now, scientists explore the cosmos looking for conditions that could support organic life as we know it. Like planets being at the right distance from a star in order to hold liquid water.

Why do we assume aliens are going to be organic? I think it's way more likely they are a hive mind or AI running on machines instead of biological bodies.

We already know organic life needs plenty of condition to go right at the same time to flourish and it's extremely delicate. Anything from a droight to cosmic radiation can kill it.

It seems to me like a sentient being running on a robotic body has a way better chance at survival.

[Assistant]
>Why do we assume aliens are going to be organic?

Because assuming chemistry operates uniformly across the universe, it is the most probable way for complex chemicals to form based on the known properties of the elements. The stability of carbon combined with it's ability to form an enormous array of compounds makes it the most likely candidate.


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

[User]
If black holes do not emit any light. Why isn't it obvious if there is a super massive black at the centre of a galaxy? Surely there would just be a massive region of space with absolutely nothing present?

I may be wrong but I'm almost certain I read somewhere that black holes are hard to detect. Given the above reasoning I can't understand why, hopefully you guys can explain this to me?

[Assistant] You can blot out the sun with your thumb, right?  This is because of perspective.  Things look smaller at greater distance.  Well, the sun is only eight minutes away.  The center of the Milky Way is 28000 *years* away.  The reason we don't see a big black spot in the sky is because in those 28000 lightyears, there is a *lot* of other stuff in between here and there.


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

[User] [The Purge] Since once a year... you know. Is there such a thing as a divorce attorney?

[Assistant]
Yes.

Purge is one night a year, although most divorces are now amicable as people are a lot more cautious with who they marry, given the love of their life may murder them for whatever reason come purge night. When bitter divorces do happen, as part of their cost many lawyers arrange to have their clients protected during the purge - you can't bill a corpse.

If anything, the purge protects the sanctity of marriage.


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

[User] How fast would a zebra have to run to look completely gray from the human eye?

[Assistant]
Your eyes can track the zebra as it runs, so it won't.

So suppose there's a fence in front of it, and you can only see through one slot, and thus can't track it.

Standard incandescent light bulbs turn on and off 120 times a second, yet they look steady to most people.  Similarly, CRT monitors at 75 Hz look steady to most people.  Many people will see them flicker at 60 Hz, however, especially out of the corner of the eye.  So, we need to get the stripes to alternate around 75 times a second.

At widest, I'd guess they're about 4 inches wide.  8 inches, 75 times a second is 600 inches / second  is 34 mph is 15.25 meters / second is 55 kph.

Take this with a grain of salt.  The stripes are not vertical on the ends, they may be wider than 4 inches, different people's visual systems have different tolerances, etc.


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

[User] How do phones keep cool with small heatsinks and no fans?

[Assistant] They have a lot of surface area and they throttle their performance if they are too hot. This is a major constraint for mobile VR, phones have a lot of computing power but they can't use it at 100% for extended periods due to heat.


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

[User]
[MCU] Who legally owns/has the best claim to Captain Americas sheild?

Rewatching Falcon and the Winter Solider and they mention the shield is a legal gray area and it made me wonder who would have the best claim.

Howard Stark and Stark Industries made it but I imagine they were commissioned to by American military so it started out as their property. Cap uses it during WW2 and continues to when he comes out of the ice but I don't think soliders own the weapons and equipment they use during service and until Sheild collapses Cap is still working for the government. He continues to use the shield until Civil War with the government's permission so do they lose rights to ownership by letting him use it for so long without contesting it? After Civil War Tony takes possession of it and keeps it for around 8 years. It's now in Sam's possession so is it his?

So in summary does Stark Industries have the biggest claim since they built it and Tony had it in his possession for close to a decade? Does Sam own it because he currently has it? Do the US government have a claim since they likely paid for its construction? Do the Wakandans have a claim since its likely made out of stolen Vibranium? To further complicate things the original sheild was destroyed so are there two separate owners? One for the old shield and one for the new.

[Assistant]
The original shield is destroyed in the final fight against Thanos.

Steve travels back and time and shows up with a new shield, which he gives directly to Sam. Without knowing the exact history of THAT shield, Sam seems to have the best claim for ownership.


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

[User]
[Arrow] How in the hell would Laurel or Sara, daughters of a police officer, become friends with young Tommy Merlin and Oliver Queen?

How would the children of billionaires have become friends with someone from such a different life? When or where would they even have met?

[Assistant]
Likely highschool, sure tommy and oliver could have gone to private school, but their fathers likely wanted them to be better adjusted to living with and talking with non billionaires.

Send them to public school and hire private tutors to make sure they get the best of both worlds.


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

[User] [ELI5] What chance is there that two humans with absolute no genetic connection in immediate family to have as close DNA similarity as identical twins do?

[Assistant]
There is a lot of DNA that doesnt change from human to human.  Despite that, each humans DNA differs by about 6.4 million base pairs.  For any given pair to be the same is a 50/50 shot, so for all 6.4 million pairs to be the same would be like tossing a coin 6.4 million times and getting the same result every time.

The odds of this are so astronomically low that its basically 0.


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

[User]
Does a meteorite moving half the speed of a meteorite weighing twice as much have the same destructive power?

I just had a crazy dream where small, fast meteorites were landing all over the place and just making a little impact. But then a huge one flew in slowly, or slower, and it caused a huge, atomic bomb-like, explosion killing me in the process.

This got me wondering what had more destructive potential. Twice as fast or twice as heavy?

Let's say, for this exercise, they are made from the same material, perhaps iron.

[Assistant]
Because kinetic energy scales linearly with mass, and to velocity squared, a meteor weighing half as much as another but moving twice as fast will have twice the energy.

KE = 0.5 * Mass * Velocity^2

So if mass is halved, and velocity doubled, kinetic energy doubles.


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

[User]
ELI5: When and why did the image of what is attractive move from a little bit of fat to very low body fat percentage?

It seems like painting from a few hundred years ago always show slightly chubby women and men, whereas current art and images are always of ripped and skinny people? I get that chubbiness was considered attractive as an outward indicator that a person was wealthy/able to feed a family, but why did this change? Why is is considered attractive? Is it a new sign of wealth that you can have a low body fat and therefore be indicating that you can afford to *not* stockpile fat for survival - that you can always just buy more food? Or that you have the free time to exercise? Was that image of beauty simply imposed by society/the media? Is something else at play where physically seeing muscles simply conveys an image of strength?

[Assistant] I think you have most of it buried in there. At that time, wealth meant being able to eat regularly (and with fatty enough stuff) that you could get plump. Nowadays, anyone can get that amount of caloric load, so it's no longer special. Now, special is having the time and money to not only exercise for health, but do it in such a way as to sculpt your body into the popular shape. And yeah, as we move away from raw physical strength being an automatic indication of lower class (nerd rule ftw!), the upper class has taken it up in some show of old-school power.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why are loading screens so inaccurate?

The bar "jumps" and there is no rate at which it constantly moves towards the end. Why is that?

[Assistant]
Loading bars usually reflect some count of the number of things being loaded. If there are twenty things, the bar might be broken up into twenty sections.

One problem is that the loading bar is often only updated when an item is complete, so instead of moving smoothly from one end to the other, it waits for each item to load and then moves the entire distance immediately.

Another problem is that not every item takes the same amount of time. If you have a bunch of textures which each take a fraction of a second to load, but then come up to a complex light map which takes a couple of seconds to load into memory, it will suddenly look like it is making no progress at all.

Other complications involve loading dependencies, where loading X requires loading Y and Z, and those might have their own dependencies. If the programmers don't traverse the tree before-hand and use that to set up the loading bar, then it becomes even less obvious what is happening.

Loading bars can be improved by estimating how long things are going to take and using that to make the bar be feel better for users, but this is usually a *very* low priority. The most common response to user complaints is to simply get rid of the bar and have some simple loading animation which provides less information as it is easier than making the bar actually useful to users.


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

[User]
[Star Wars- Canon] What was the importance of the Separatist's attack on Kashyyyk?

Specifically, why was it important enough that Ki-Adi-Mundi brought it up as though it were an elephant in the room?

[Assistant]
The Wookies are long-time allies of the Republic, and Kashyyyk is closer to the core than any other mid-rim territory. It also seemed like the droids were dedicating a large amount of forces there. If they had taken the planet, it would have been both a tactical victory and a political one. And since no one else had mentioned it, Ki-Adi-Mundi decided to interject.

It's worth mentioning that Ki-Adi-Mundi wasn't a brilliant strategist, or even all that brilliant. Just look at his track record: He dismissed the idea that Count Dooku would attempt an assassination out of hand. When Qui-Gon contacted Yoda through the Force after death, he again dismissed the idea that such a thing was even possible, and he and the Council had Yoda imprisoned for fear of Dark side influence. He refused to send help to Duchess Satine, leading to Mandalore falling to Darth Maul. And right as the war was coming to an end, he made sure Yoda went to Kashyyyk (leading Anakin to have no one but Windu to confide in, which ended really well for everyone)


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

[User]
Do I need to know any programming basics in order to go to college?

I have just started learning Python and thought that it might be a very good idea if I went to college next year (I'm in 12th grade now) and study programming. But I have some questions: Do I need to know programming basics in order to pass the admission exam for college? Or do universities not require you passing any admission exam and you just start to learn about programming in college?
I know it depends on the university, but I would like to go to one that will offer me a good education and will enable me to find a job as a programmer after graduation. I don't want to spend 3 or 4 years in college just to learn how to say "Hello World" and then to work for Mc Donald's.

I would be very grateful for productive answers.

[Assistant] No, you don't need to know programming basics in order to go to college or to major in computer science when you get there. I've never heard of colleges having a programming exam for admissions, but you can check with the colleges you would be interested in attending. However, it definitely helps to learn as much as you can on your own before you go. Most importantly you can verify that it's something you're really interested in further pursuing. Then of course there's the added benefits of learning to teach yourself (an essential skill in CS imo) and giving you a solid background that will put you ahead.


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

[User]
ELI5 what's going on in Libya right now? What was happening that led up to it?

Thank you!

[Assistant]
Right now, the Libyan rebels are reclaiming the city of Tripoli and beginning to wind down the war.

Here's what happened before:

Gadhafi was the dictator of Libya for several decades. He's basically crazy; he has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of his own citizens, he was implicated in a case of terrorism or two, and more. Earlier this year, the entire region erupted in peaceful protests over dictators like him (but usually not as terrible) and economic conditions (there was lots of unemployment). In some countries, the government responded peacefully. In others, they cracked down. In Libya, the protesters fought back.

The eastern part of Libya was taken by the rebels rather quickly, and they set up a capital in a city called Benghazi. Then, there was a long stalemate during which U.S. and European forces bombed part of Libya in an attempt to help the rebels.

Recently, the rebels mounted an offensive on in the west, where Gadhafi was still powerful. From some mountains near Tripoli, they slowly fought their way to the city, and then found that their opposition melted away as they took it.


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

[User] ELI5 how do Inuit people survive without vitamins from fresh fruits and vegetables?

[Assistant]
They eat organ meat that folks eating the current western diet usually don't eat. Things like livers and hearts have tons of vitamins that muscle meat does not have.

By the same token, carnivorous animals don't just eat muscle meat - they eat organs, marrow, and stomach contents.


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

[User]
ELI5: what is visa? (not the credit card)

Context: I want to ride the bike from Austria to Australia. 35.000km. 365 days. Obviously, I have to cross a certain amount of countries between. (More infos on austria2australia.com/)

So: what is a visa? I was born with Schengen, I never had to apply for a visa, and the whole concept of it is strange to me. I honestly have no glue about visa.

[Assistant] A Visa is a document giving you permission to enter another country. Some countries require that you get permission before entering. They offer different types of Visas, depending on how long you are staying and for what purpose. You will usually need to visit that Country's embassy in your nation to fill out the application and in most cases pay a fee to get the permission to enter.


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

[User]
[Titanfall] What exactly is the advantage of pilot mode

Playing TF2 for the first time and BT not only seems fully sentient, but incredibly competent without a pilot operating him. Tactically it makes more sense to be out of the mech to offer another angle of attack, and I get sometimes you would need to put the pilot inside to protect him, but what exactly is the advantage of letting them control a titan rather than letting it do its thing?

[Assistant] Pilots are better at thinking outside the box and often come up with angles of attack (both for yourself and for the enemy) better than Titans can on their own. BT even comments that his performance rating has gone through the roof since linking with you for much this reason.


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

[User]
ELI5: If not steroids/PEDs, how do we continually set world records in running, swimming, etc.?

I understand the basic idea that we can run faster today in the 100M or swim faster than 100 years ago or 50 years ago because of improved techniques, nutrition, better training and sports science, etc. But at a certain point and time, it would seem that we have hit the fastest time possible, unless a super human specimen is born tomorrow that trumps everything.

So barring the ubermensch, how can we break some records from the very recent past by a few SECONDS? Are we really still improving sprinting and swimming technique and training methods that much? If not, how is it that the gifted athletes of today are just better than previous gifted athletes? Or is the answer, just the obvious steroids/PEDs are better and more potent now than even 5-10 years ago?

[Assistant]
* Better health and nutrition worldwide means that a greater fraction of the population is able to live up to their genetic potential.  100 years ago, Michael Phelps might have gotten polio or barely survived a famine.

* A more developed, mechanized world means a greater fraction of the population is wealthy enough to spend the time become an Olympic athlete.  100 years ago, Michael Phelps might have been working 18-hour-days as a farm hand.

* A larger world population gives us more chances to roll the genetic dice and get lucky.

* And finally, even if nothing had changed, sports involve a lot of random chance.  Every time we hold a new Olympics, there's a new chance for someone to get even luckier than before.


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

[User]
ELI5:If salt is so bad for cars, why do we use it on the roads?

As the title states, why do we use it? is there no other option or what?

[Assistant]
salt is good for not dying in car crashes and car crashes are worse for cars then salt.

Some places use other things, but salt is really cheap compared to most alternatives, although sand is pretty good.


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

[User]
[MCU][Doctor Strange MOM spoilers] When someone in the MCU takes a nap...

What happens when they have a lucid dream???? Can they take control of their variant like dream walking? Are they causing Incursions? Or do lucid dreams just don't exist in the MCU.

[Assistant]
They just think they're in control, but the other version of them is just having a slightly-dissociative episode.

IOW, ever had those moments where you do something that you didn't necessarily choose to do consciously?


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

[User]
[Vampires] If you suck all the blood out of a vampire, would that kill them?

I know it definitely depends on the fiction, and age/power of the vampire. Their power comes from blood, their identity is in there blood. Some fiction says you are turned by drinking the blood of a vampire, and in turn forever bound to them. So if you drank one dry would that kill them, or merely incapacitate them?

[Assistant]
In some cases, it might. Although currently more popular portrayal (like in Underworld or World of Darkness) is that vampires that are liberated from blood would instead hibernate and can lie like that for ages. In Underworld for example the vampire elders are preserved like that and infused with blood to wake them up. And in new world of darkness vampires who have no blood left in them just don't wake up and can spend years like this in torpor, slowly losing their power until they're disturbed, in which case they can wake up in a frenzy.

Other kinds of vampires, like ones in Blade would probably just die.


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

[User] ELI5:Is a irrational decimal number also irrational in a different base numbering system?

[Assistant] Provided that the other base is an integer base, yes (it is possible, with some modifications, to work in 'base pi', but in base pi, we write pi as just 1.0 [ed: 10, not 1]). A number is rational if and only if it can be written as a fraction with integer top and bottom, which doesn't depend on base.


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

[User]
[LoZ] Why do faries heal Link after he dies, despite him imprisoning them in a bottle

Seriously, what's up with that level of stockholm syndrome... I'm suprised The Fairy Queen puts up with Link with his rampant Fairy abuse.

[Assistant]
Dude its the Hero of Time and he is here to save the world.

The bottles keep them from dissipating immediately after leaving their fairy fountains. Those little bastards are the manifestation of healing and love and caring or some such bullshit. They are compulsive healers to the point where if an injured man is walking by they will kamikaze him trying to heal his wounds. If you lock them in a bottle they will try as hard as possible to get out and revive that person from death, they have severe ocd.

The fairies that heal you are not like Navi (First off they know when to shut the fuck up HEY HEY HEY HEY) they arent intelligent they are life force leaking into this world via fountains or other gaps in the material world. Its important to note that they will dissipate if they are not in a container.

They are an extension of the fairy queens and the fairy queens seem pretty down to help the hero of time, because you know if he fails then the world kinda ends.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is so much food packaged in plastic? I understand it's probably cheaper than using wood or metal or other forms of packaging but it's just so wasteful. I think people would prefer more "premium" packaging materials as well.

[Assistant]
Not only is it lighter than metal and more durable than glass, many types of plastic packaging also extend the shelf life of perishable foods, which reduces food waste.

Before modern packaging and refrigeration a lot of food was wasted because it didn't survive being transported from the farms to cities. Also, people used to get food poisoning more frequently because of food spoilage and poor sanitation.

For instance, a head of lettuce will wilt very quickly after it's picked. If it's put in a completely sealed container it won't wilt but it will start to rot after a couple of days so you need lots of holes for ventilation. Plastic clamshells keep the lettuce at just the right humidity plus they prevent the leaves from being crushed.

Meat packaging is similar. Vacuum sealed plastic bags keep oxygen away from the meat, which keeps it fresh longer and plastic wrapped trays are often filled with nitrogen or carbon dioxide to displace the oxygen for the same reason. Paper wrapping isn't airtight and wouldn't work the same way.

From a producer's perspective, if $50 worth of plastic packaging means an extra $1000 worth of food gets sold instead of rotting in the truck or on the shelf, it's worth the price.

Right now about 80% of people live in cities and there just isn't enough room in and near cities to grow enough food for all those people. Food has to be transported from the places that have enough land and water to grow it to the places where people live. And without a good market for their food in the cities, many farmers wouldn't be able to stay in business. Making transportation more efficient means a lot more of that food gets eaten instead of being thrown away.

Source: Ag major in grad school.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] Why did Ron wear faded robes to school instead of his parents using a color changing charm to make them look new?

[Assistant] His parents knew that the second Ron wasn't paying attention that some asshole from Slytherin would break the charm and humiliate him in front of his peers, just as they did to his brothers in their first year.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it important to let an engine warm up in winter?

What could happen if someone doesn't let an engine warm up?

[Assistant]
Back when engines used carburetors, cold engines would need to be warmed in order to get the proper fuel-air mixture for sustained ignition/combustion.

Nowadays, however, it's entirely unnecessary; engines have fuel injectors and sensitive instrumentation that adjusts the mixture for optimal combustion.


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

[User] [Terminator] Kyle Reese claimed Terminators couldn't be bargained or reasoned with. Given what we have seen of their intelligence is this statement entirely true or might it be possible to negotiate within the parameters of their existing programming, for example offering them a higher value target?

[Assistant] There isn't a higher value target than the one they've been assigned. Even if you could talk them into going for them, it would only ever be as an "I'll kill them as well". You'd have to remove the core programming that points to the target to, quite literally, change their mind.


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

[User]
Why do right wing libertarians hate Immanuel Kant

I have seen many right wing libertarians (for example, Ayn Rand (Or at least more of her predecessors) and Stephen Hick) painting Kant as some type of anti reason, relativist, feudalist philosopher (with Hick going as far as to paint his philosophy in his book "Explaining Postmodernism" as a predecessor to postmodernism)

This is strange considering Kant was one of the most important philosophers of the enlightenment (a movement that many libertarians owe (or at least claim to owe) a lot from a political and philosophical preceptive.)

So, why is this?

[Assistant]
> why is this?

Rand seems particularly to take exception to Kant's position that we have responsibilities to other people, such that what is good is not reducible to what is in our self-interest.

> This is strange considering Kant was one of the most important philosophers of the enlightenment (a movement that many libertarians owe (or at least claim to owe) a lot from for a political and philosophical preceptive.

Significantly, Rand doesn't have significant debts nor commitments to characteristically Enlightenment-era thought, and it is characteristic of her thought even -- the present case is a prominent example -- to emphatically repudiate the former. So that the issue here is less that Rand dislikes Kant *in spite of* Kant's significant involvement in characteristically Enlightenment-era thought, with a more closer approximation being that she dislikes Kant *because of* Kant's significant involvement in characteristically Enlightenment-era thought.


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

[User] [MCU] How are War Machine and Falcon seen in the eyes of the public? Are they thought of as sidekicks of Iron Man and Captain America?

[Assistant]
War Machine took a big hit with the Iron Patriot rebrand. They learned their lesson and brought back War Machine, but he's still probably a joke to a lot of people.

Falcon is "that guy with the bird costume" to the people who arrested him, so his PR could use some rejuvenation, too.


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

[User] ELI5: if the human body can go up to a month without food, why does it become so uncomfortable after just a few hours?

[Assistant] Your body doesn't *want* to go without food, and unlike animals that comfortably go long periods of time without eating (like reptiles), going without food is merely possible, not normal.  Your body starts to show signs of not having eaten way before it completely kills you.  So that's your body telling you "I'd really rather be eating right now: if you can find food, you should."


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

[User] ELI5 - What is lateral thinking?

[Assistant]
Lateral thinking is approaching a problem in a creative or unexpected way to solve it.

For example, imagine that a person has been stabbed, and the police sealed off the building and are investigating everyone present.

"We passed everyone through a metal detector and no one is carrying a weapon."  "Well, metal detectors only detect metal.  Could there have been a knife made out of wood or plastic?"

"We frisked everyone, and no one is carrying a weapon."  "Does anyone have a prosthetic leg or other accessory they could hide the weapon in?"

"No one does."  "Is it possible the weapon no longer exists?"

"How could a solid weapon disappear?"  "Perhaps it is not solid anymore.  Is there a pool of water anywhere that was left behind by a knife made of ice?"

No one would ever leap immediately to the idea of an ice blade, or a leg prosthetic, or a wooden blade.  It requires thinking creatively and questioning your own assumptions and biases to see how an unexpected situation could have occurred.


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

[User] [Stranger Things] In the aftermath of the mall being destroyed, how come the government weren't suspicious/interested in Eleven's power and how she is involved with all the issues in Hawkins?

[Assistant] The government, or elements within it, already knows what's up with Eleven. They've just been persuaded to back off and leave her be for now, at least. Probably because as dangerous as she might be, the Mindflayer is clearly a bigger threat, and the last thing they want to do is eliminate, or worse yet, piss off, the only proven line of defense they have against it.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are pickup trucks, even ones with more than 100k miles, so expensive?

I understand there is a demand because contractors need them to run their businesses, but is that all? I'm in the market for a truck and a new, mid-sized, 4wd pickup is $30K minimum.

[Assistant]
Pickups are used heavily by small businesses, small businesses don't tend to upgrade until they have to - in this case "until they have to" usually means "until it's not economical to repair the truck"

Unlike with a family car, which you may change every 2-5 years, a company will generally buy a pickup either new or nearly new, then just run it until it doesn't go any more... it's only being used to haul stuff around, there's no upgrade requirement: it either runs or doesn't, and by the time it doesn't it's usually scrap.

This means there aren't many running high mileage trucks up for sale. Combine this with good demand for used trucks (because they're useful enough that at $3000, everyone would just get one) and the price goes up.

In short: lots of people want a truck, and nobody sells theirs once they have it. Low supply and high demand pushes prices up.


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

[User]
ELI5: How is it that during the day I can see the moon and the sun, but on the opposite side of the earth it's night time and the moon is clearly visible?

Might be a bit of a dumbass question, but I was just sitting here enjoying my breakfast staring at the moon thinking, "what the fuck?".

**EDIT:** Ohhhh, I see.. So the moon is just above the horizon right now, so because it is so far away it will just be starting to be visible to other parts of the world?
I just never understood before..

[Assistant] If the moon is directly above you, the it will NOT be visible on the other side of the earth. It will be a dark, moonless night for them.  If the moon is to your left, it will appear to the right in the sky of someone on the other side of the earth from you.  The moon is high above the earth. Therefore visible to a large part of the earth simultaneously.


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

[User]
How can I spark a philosophical interest in evangelical Christians?

I am around evangelical Christians on a regular basis. I have no problem with evangelical Christians; my only problem is with the poorly thought out arguments they present to me on a regular basis. My parents are evangelical Christians who desperately want me to avoid an eternity in hell. They offered me a book to read (presumably to convert me). I agreed on the condition that they read a book of my choosing. I have no desire to de-convert them, however I would like for their beliefs to be more internally consistent and for them to realize that the truth is not as obvious as they make it out to be. They will speak ill of philosophy and then engage in it when they discuss theological matters! I honestly think they just do not understand what philosophy is. I would appreciate a book recommendation along with any other advice you all would be willing to give.

[Assistant]
Perhaps you could give them something like "Fear and Trembling" from Kierkegaard. It centres on Christianity and was written by a Christian. It'll give them familiar imagery, while still providing a different perspective and hopefully broadening their view of themselves and their religion. It's unlikely to de-convert them, but as you say - that's not the point.

Whatever you choose, remember to read it as well. And perhaps you can find a version of whatever you choose, which comes with a good intro/outro to help understand the book.

And remember to go to their book with an open mind, and not viewing it as payment for getting them to read your book :)


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

[User] Total beginner on LaTeX - what do I do to go from scratch to complete proficiency?

[Assistant]
Is anyone completely proficient at LaTeX?

One of the nice things about LaTeX is that it's relatively easy to learn incrementally.  Find a template you like, start writing in it, and as you want to solve specific problems or do specific things, google for solutions (which you'll basically always be able to find).


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

[User] Why, when I hear lighting from 8 miles away, does the thunder sound longer?

[Assistant] The sound from the thunder takes many different paths to you. When it's close, the path differences are so small that you receive the sounds close together. When it's far, the distance difference between the different paths become much greater and you receive the sounds over a longer period of time.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are different types of alcohol (vodka, gin, whiskey, tequila, etc.) associated with different moods of intoxication (violent, mellow, happy, crazy, etc.)?

I know alcohol affects everybody in many different ways; my question is about why tequila is associated with wild partying (for example) but gin is not (though you can obviously get just as drunk on gin as you can with tequila).

[Assistant]
It's because of the situations in which you drink them.

Not a lot of people sit quietly at home and sip tequila while reading a nice book - that's more of a thing for wine or brandy, so we associate those with a quiet or a thoughtful drunk.  We drink tequila at parties (or good tequila at a nice dinner or something) so we associate it with the more fun, happy drunk.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do dryer sheets work?

I've always been curious how a tiny piece of fabric is capable of removing all the static from your dried clothes. Thanks :)

[Assistant]
If you touch a dryer sheet, you'll notice it's oily or tacky, and basically it's fabric softener spread on a sheet. The sticky feeling is from a surfactant. The word "surfactant" comes from "surface active agent". They have molecules that attract and stick to both oils and water.

Surfactants are useful in detergents (they stick to oils and let them get rinsed away) and in salad dressings (they keep the oil and vinegar from separating).

Laundry detergent uses surfactants to do the cleaning. These are usually "anionic" surfactants, which means the water-liking side has a negative charge. These are great at pulling dirt and oils out of fabric and then forming a little cluster, making sure the oily dirt stays suspended in the water in a little bubble. This prevents your clothes from getting dirty in the laundry water.

A dryer sheet in your laundry spreads another kind of surfactant all through your clothes.
The surfactant used in dryer sheets has a positive electrical charge on the water-liking end, it is "cationic", so it sticks to negatively charged clothing fibers like a magnet. It cancels out static electricity from the fabric rubbing together. It also adds a layer of oil to the outside so the fabric doesn't easily rub together well enough to build up any more static charge.

The water-liking side sticks to your clothing fibers and the other oil-liking end points outward. The dryer sheet also contains a lot of oil or silicone to coat your clothes and make them feel really soft.

Because each molecule has a positive charge sticking outward, the fibers repel one another and feel extra fluffy when they're dry.


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

[User] [avatar] Out of the big three Firelords (Ozai, Azulon, and Sozin), who was the worst? Why?

[Assistant]
They're all pretty bad.

Overall fucking things up would go to Sozin. He started the Hundred Year War, forbade any history before his reign to build a cult of personality and banned all queer relationships. He also successfully wiped out all but one airbender.

If we're talking straight body count, Azulon wins. He made the most progress with the war by being a ruthless leader and kick started the industrialism boom to build machines of destruction. He later attempted to genocide the South Water Tribe.

Attempted body count, Ozai by a mile for his attempt to genocide the whole world. He was also an abusive father who scarred his sons face and exiled him for talking out of turn.


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

[User]
ELI5: why is it legal to bet on horse races, but illegal to bet on sports?

Watching clips of the Kentucky Derby - they show, and even promote, betting and odds on the horses.  Why/how is this acceptable and different than other sports, where I hear about people being fined for betting?  Is it horses vs humans, or something more complicated?  Thanks!

**edit:** Okay, so I guess there isn't actually a simple answer.  I'm speaking in terms of the U.S, I understand that other countries have unique laws on the matter - hell, each STATE here has a unique view on the matter, from the sound of it.  I appreciate you all taking the time to *try* and give a simple explanation to a complex situation.  I appreciate the effort.  *I'm still confused.*

[Assistant] Here in the UK you can almost bet on anything, be it sports, racing, politics, or whatever. Most every street in any city that has shops in will have one where you can go in and place a bet (providing you are over 18)


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

[User] [Samurai Jack] Why does Aku keep messing with Jack?

[Assistant]
By the time Jack appears in the future, Aku has been easily reigning supreme for centuries. Nobody even came close to opposing Aku in any real way, which leads to one result for Aku: mind-numbing boredom.

Any time we see people worshipping Aku, he seems bored to tears with it. He lives to crush opposition, but it's no fun when it can't fight back. He even began to expand beyond Earth, and *still* was just steamrolling everything he found.

So then Jack reappears, and for the first time in ages, there's a *challenge*. Not so much so that Aku can't handle it, but enough that he can't just stamp him out, either. Finally, there is a problem that requires his personal attention.

Aku *enjoys* having a nemesis. Jack is the closest Aku is ever going to have to a "friend", sad as that may be. Even when Jack frustrates him, it's still more mentally invigorating than just another day of sitting.

...Of course, there's no saying that his interest will last forever. If his dance with Jack goes on too long, he may grow bored of that as well. At which time, the game will change.


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

[User]
ELI5: What does "horsepower" mean for an Engine?

I'm confused about the meaning of this word. Is it how much a horse can pull translated into how much the engine can pull? Also, what is the actual "metric"? Why do we still use this? It seems archaic.

Also, what type of horse was originally used to get the measurement?

[Assistant]
Before steam engines, horses were used to pull plows and cranes and mills.

When steam engines started displacing horses in these applications in the 1800s it was necessary to measure the working capacity of these machines in a way that people understood.

The obvious point of comparison is the horse theyre replacing, so the unit horsepower was developed to approximate the working capacity of a draft horse.

This isnt a horse at full sprint or max load, its what a working horse can calmly do all day long.

One horsepower is the power to lift 550 pounds by 1 foot per second in a horse-drawn crane.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do dry cleaners work?

Im dumb. Ive always wondered how dry cleaners clean clothes and why cant you just clean them yourself?

[Assistant] Dry cleaners aren't dry. They use washing machines that work with liquid chemical solvents instead of water. They are way more complex than the regular washing machine and the chemicals need special handling.


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

[User]
[Borderlands] How does a functioning economy even exist?

So the Digistruct is apparently able to make anything without limit. How exactly does money still exist? It's not like this is a special new tech because it's so deeply engrained that even the worst, most uncontrollable planet in the known universe has it. And why does Scooter have a garage to repair vehicles that shouldn't need to be repaired?

[Assistant]
Hyper-controlled 32,768-bit DRM keys for anything that can be digistructed, selling an item also sells your DRM key for that object and purges it from your local hardware.

[A lot of this also comes down to game mechanics, the respawn mechanic for example is also not a canon thing in the setting.]


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

[User] ELI5:Why is it hard to remember dreams?

[Assistant]
It is difficult to remember dreams, because dreams take place in the brains pre-frontal cortex whereas memories and movements are stored in the cerebral cortex. Lucid dreams occur when our dreams drift into our cerebral cortex. This is the kind of thing that you learn in Neurology 101!

Fox, Mason T. "Christopher A. Walsh, MD, PhD Research Abstract | HHMI.org." HHMI.org. Penguin Publishing, 17 Jan. 1997. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] Voldemort seems like a squishy Wizard. Why didnt he use magic to give himself enhanced physical abilities?

[Assistant]
Arrogance, and a different ideal self. Wizards don't have the same "Ideal self" as muggles, as their power comes from their magic, not muscles. They don't view physical strength or looks as important, only their magical power is judged.

Also, he never really needed physical power, none of the magic used against him would have been stopped by a six pack, so no need to waste the magic to amp his own physique.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does tan plastic like used in phones and office equipment fade to that nasty yellowish color?

[Assistant]
Those plastics (and modern ones) are made with anti-combustable materials. Over time and being exposed to UV light, those chemicals leech and coalesce at the surface of the plastic. Some computer parts also emit Ozone, with degrades to Oxygen, both of which are corrosive. Given enough time and exposure to these things, those plastics will turn yellow, then brown, and also become brittle.

All colors of plastic with be affected, but it's on white and tan that they are most noticeable.


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

[User]
Do any animals show a tendency to be left or right "handed"?

I was wondering if any research has been done to show if other animals have a dominant hemisphere of the brain, or if it would be some kind of disadvantage in the natural world.

[Assistant]
A lot of animals are right or left "handed" its been proven multiple times.
Most untrained horses will lead with their right leg as most are "right handed". Therefore many racing tracks are counter-clockwise to favor "right handed" horses. Also many trainers put blinders on the left eye of their horses with left limb dominance to help them with their disadvantage.

Even snails can be left or right dominant which can give them advantage in nature. For example some sea snails have shells that are spun in the direction of their dominant side. This makes left side dominant snails a harder pray for the crabs that have claws more suited to break open shells that are spun in the other direction.

Many other animals like dogs, cats, parrots and polar bears have been proven/showed signs of laterality.


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

[User] ELI5 How does a coffee maker make water very hot so much faster than boiling water over a burning stove?

[Assistant]
A typical drip coffee machine has a set of tubing that runs from the bottom of the reservoir, into the burner below the coffee pot, and back up to above the grinds.

When water goes down this tubing, it passes a one-way valve, so that the water that gets heated never mixes back with the reservoir. This means that at any point in time, the coffee maker is only heating a little bit of water, which is significantly faster than boiling the entire thing.

That hot water is pushed up the tubing by the boiling action, and drips into the grinds. The reduction in pressure means the one-way valve will open up again, allow more cold water in, and more heating happens.

Essentially, coffee makers are faster than a pot because they heat the water sort of 'sequentially', since only a small amount is needed at any given time.


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

[User]
ELI5: atheletes and their lungs and hearts

What is the effect of regular exercise (athelete) on the
1.resting tidal volume
2.  Ressting Breathing rate
3. Resting Ventilation rate (minute ventilation)
4. Resting Cardiac volume
5. Resting Heart rate
6. Resting Cardiac output
Please only reply if you know, dont post your predictions

Edit: please note im asking about the athelete that is resting and relaxed, not while exercising. I want to know how exercise will affect his body permanently not at the moment of exercise.

[Assistant]
Athletes have had their heart pumping at greater speeds for longer periods of time than most people, and have thus worked harder to pump more blood than most. When you work out a muscle harder, the cells grow, which is called hypertrophy. Athletes hearts slightly hypertrophy and thus can pump more blood in one beat than before (higher stroke volume). However their resting heart rate will be lower since the heart no longer needs to beat as fast when it pumps more blood per beat. Overall cardiac output = (stroke volume x heart rate) so as heart rate increases the cardiac output increases during excercise, and although stroke volume decreases slightly it does not decrease enough to decrease cardiac output until you reach a very high heart rate as you no longer give the heart time to fill. As far as breathing goes, when you heavily excercise your metabolized Co2 goes up and oxygen goes down due to consumption for ATP, thus increases breathing is required to breathe off co2 and breathe in o2. To do this more efficiently you take deeper breaths rather than faster ones to give air time to get to the alveoli and for gas exchange to occur. Thus tidal volume is increased and resting ventilation is lower.

Source: Med student with the most basic/minimum understanding of physiology.


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

[User]
CMV: Political polls are easy to manipulate, political in nature (not 100% unbiased), and are generally used more for "spin" than to actually relay anything factual.

Some of you will say no shit Sherlock, but political polling has become so politicized in the current environment, that now is almost completely unreliable information, and I believe it's main purpose is to influence undecided voters to vote one way or another. i'll make a few points:

* Hacking voting booths, outright cheating and gerrymandering have muddied the waters so much politically...how in the world could a poll be THAT accurate

* It is known that polls can be "skewed" to make a point seem more valid. For example, asking a polling question about Hillary at a Republican or Trump rally will get you a certain set of results. Conversely If someone was asking Trump questions in San Francisco, where most voters are Democrat, it would show an unfavorable result for Trump

* Even more, the actual results of a poll can be reported any way they want you to see them. Meaning if there's an unfavorable aspect to a candidate in the results, but more favorable in another aspect, then the pollsters will highlight the good fact, but make no mention of the other fact. Polling organizations are supposed to be neutral and just conduct the research.

This post came about because political advocates LOVE to tout a poll that supports their view, but then point to all of the inconsistencies when they don't like the results. The last general election in the US proved that between cheating and spin, no polls can really be trusted. My little caveat to add is that we should all have done enough personal research to know who we want to vote for, regardless of some inaccurate and biased poll.

[Assistant]
> The last general election in the US proved that between cheating and spin, no polls can really be trusted.

That is the wrong conclusion to make based on the 2016 results.  First, polls have an error margin and the actual results were largely inside the error margins for the polls.

Next, there was a mistake that pollsters made which was not adjusting for education level and they've fixed that going forward.  If they sample 100 people and 60 of them are women and 40 men, but they know the demographics of the area they're targeting is 51% women and 49% men, what they'll do is their weight the responses of the sampled women by the ratio of 60 to 51.  They use this to adjust for gender, race, age, but traditionally have not used education level to weight their results.  In the 2016 election where one particular candidate got a huge response among voters with low levels of education it makes your polls very susceptible to error especially if you're polls don't happen to capture a perfectly representative amount of people at each education level.

They've learned from this and have made polls better going forward.  But it isn't necessarily possible to adjust for every possible factor and part of it is just learning as we go and respecting that that is part of why polls have error margins.

And especially when you have sources like 538 that takes the polling data and:

* Figures out if the polling company has historical bias and adjusts for that
* Figures out how reliable the polling company is and gives them extra weight or diminished weight based on historical accuracy
* Aggregates the polls together to assemble a result with a much larger number of sampled people.

And, at the end of the day, 538 used that data to come to the conclusion that Trump had a 30% chance of winning.  And that is exactly what happened.  People often jump on them saying they got it wrong.  But if the candidate you say has a 70% chance of winning wins every time, that isn't what a 70% chance looks like.

I'll grant you that if their underlying data had been better and had adjusted for education levels, they would've had an even better prediction that likely would've had Trump at a higher percentage chance.  But that is why they also consider historical accuracy when making their models.  They know exactly how often polls get it wrong and to exactly what degree they got it wrong and use that as a basis for their calculation going forward.


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

[User] [Lotr] What did Sauron do with the Dwarf rings that he recovered?

[Assistant]
Nothing. He has kept them.

Keep in mind that Sauron would have no influence over the Rings of Power without the One Ring, so that may be one reason he didn't use them for anything. Perhaps he had some plans for the rings after recovering The One, but that's impossible to tell.