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

[User] ELI5: How come armpits and feet have their own unique bad scent? (onions vs Fritos chips?)

[Assistant]
The armpits have what are called apocrine glands.  These are special scent/sweat glands which have a high protein output. Bacteria thrive here, breaking down this protein, creating one type of body odor.

Feet do not have this type of gland, but due to wearing shoes and socks, the warm sweat sits there, and sits there, and sits there. This is also a very bacteria friendly environment, but the bacteria that thrive in this condition are feasting on a totally different diet, making a totally different smell.


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

[User]
ElI5: Why do you double over or hunch over when you have a stomach ache or have eaten too much?

Why do you hunch over when you have a stomach ache or have eaten too much? And why does groaning kind of make your stomach feel better when its aching? Could you be hunching to take pressure off of it or something..? But then wouldnt groaning put that pressure back on??

[Assistant]
Your body's natural response to pain is to contract muscles. On the same token, your body also compels you to apply pressure to injured areas because of survival instincts telling you to reduce bleeding.

It turns out that entering the fetal position 1) allows you to contract your muscles without needing to stretch them and 2) applies pressure to painful areas by contracting your muscles.

Your body works in a strange way where your nerves are very easy to saturate with a signal, so your best bet when in pain is to apply pressure because the pressure can essentially help to reduce the pain that you feel. The fetal position is just a natural response to apply as much pressure as possible to your groin/stomach area.


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

[User] If you were traveling forward as fast as a bullet, what would happen if you shot a bullet towards the direction you were heading?

[Assistant]
Assuming you're on a normal Earth environment, it would initially move forwards twice as fast *relative to the ground* as a bullet fired from a gun that is stationary *relative to the ground* would. Basically, the gun has no way to "know" that it's moving - the bullet comes out at the same speed relative to the gun no matter what.

However, the bullet will slow down more quickly, because it's going faster relative to the atmosphere, and will experience more drag force.


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

[User]
[Superman] What if superman were to eat huge quantities of food.

So I assume superman could handle ingesting large quantities of food with ease relative to a human. Say for example if he let someone force-feed him massive amounts of food. So what happens to the food? Would he expand and stretch out like a ball or would he keep his shape and crush the food down into a tiny space inside him? Does superman poop? What would happen as the super dense material left his body, would it suddenly expand? That'd not be a nice bathroom to go into...

What if whilst it was inside him he was exposed to kryptonite? Would his powers being turned off cause the huge amount of food to expand and suddenly cause superman to explode in a mess of body parts and food? What the hell would Lex think had just happened if that occurred?

[Assistant]
I wonder if you fed enough food to a constipated superman, would the food get so dense that it creates a black hole in his digestive track?

**OR**

It's likely that Superman's anatomy can process foods better than we can. It's likely that he utilizes close to 100% of the food as a form of nutrition eliminating the need to poop.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Does the Punisher ever consider his methods cause more crime?

Like, lets say Punisher kills a thug trying to hurt someone in an alley. Great. But what if that thug has a kid back home. Now that kid is fatherless and gets indoctrinated into a gang and becomes a criminal. Punisher helped create that criminal.

Does he ever stop to think about th implications of his actions? Or does he truly only care about punishing people, and not the greater ramifications of his actions?

[Assistant]
> But what if that thug has a kid back home

Someone tried using a line like that with him, something around the lines of "I HAVE A FAMILY, they're innocent!" and Frank has a flashback to his family and responds, "...so were they"


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

[User] ELI5: Why is Mercury poisonous? What exactly is it doing to the body, and why can it not be resisted?

[Assistant]
TLDR: It prevents your cells from repairing themselves from everyday damage, and it's very hard to flush out of your system.

Mercury like many other toxic heavy metals accumulates in your body over time. Your body has a difficult time flushing it out so even if the source of Mercury poisoning is small, if it persists then it will accumulate over time, possibly reaching poisonous levels.

No amount of Mercury is considered safe (The background level in humans is zero, so ideally you should avoid exposure) but you can have a certain amount of Mercury in your system without any ill effects. Which is why you are able to safely consume certain fish like Tuna that naturally have tiny amounts of Mercury in the meat.

Mercury is not a disease and therefore your immune system doesn't fight against it. Your body has to rely on organs like the liver and kidneys to flush the toxin out, but it happens that our bodies aren't really good at that so it takes a long time to flush mercury out.

Mercury poisoning can cause a variety of problems including muscle weakness, hair and nail loss, kidney dysfunction, etc but is most well known for causing neurological problems including memory loss, difficulty sleeping, and in bad cases insanity.

Mercury causes damage in various ways, but one of the most significant is it prevents your cells from repairing themselves from oxidization damage which constantly occurs by our bodies nature. Since the brain uses more oxygen by mass than any other part of your body, the damage to the brain is most severe.


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

[User]
ELI5: the difference between liberal and conservative views in the US?

What are the major differences between liberals and conservatives in the US?

[Assistant]
First off, the exact uses vary by location, and elected officials rarely stick firmly to ideological guns over what's politically practical. That being said:

Liberals generally (claim to) favor:

* Permissive social policies, including legal gay marriage and abortions.
* An active government role in the economy via welfare programs, subsidies, and regulation.
* Legal protections for groups perceived to be disadvantaged: minorities, women, the poor, etc.
* More active government involvement in private/business life, like environmental or health regulations.
* Generally anti-war policies.

Conservatives, on the other hand, generally (claim to) favor:

* Traditional social values, usually including banning abortions and gay marriage.
* A relatively hands-off government with respect to the economy, including reduced regulation, subsidies, and welfare programs.
* Lack of antidiscrimination laws, on the basis that they infringe individual freedoms (that is, if you choose to be racist or sexist, you should be permitted to do so).
* Less active government in private or business life.
* Generally pro-defense sector policies.

For example, someone far left (very liberal) might want to ban hamburgers to reduce obesity in the name of a healthier population; someone far-right would generally argue that people should be able to live unhealthy lifestyles if they so choose.


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

[User] ELI5: Car engines often have similar displacements for their configuration (ex. 2.0L I4, 5.0L V8). Why don't we see any manufacturers making large displacement I4's or small displacement V8's?

[Assistant]
When the displacement gets bigger without increasing the cylinders, either the diameter or the stroke of the pistons has to increase. Too big a diameter makes it hard to have a controlled progression of the flame through the combustion area, and too big a stroke restricts the maximum rpm because of the stresses put on the con-rods, big ends and little ends when they change direction if they're travelling too fast. So more cylinders is better for large displacements.

As for having more cylinders for smaller displacement engines, it would simply add cost, with no benefit.


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

[User]
If we disregard energy costs, could we synthesize any element in nuclear reactors?

Like the title says, if we had some theoretical limitless source of energy, would it be possible to synthesize any element in the periodic table?

Could we, for example, take hydrogen and have it undergo fusion a bunch of times to create significant amounts of rare earth metals?

[Assistant]
Not any element, but almost all of them.  The super heavy elements would not be made.  All the other elements would be made via fission or neutron capture on the fission products and reactor parts.  Hydrogen is already in a reactor, it can theoretically undergo numerous neutron captures to become a rare earth metal.  It would take a long time though.

*I do want to add that you would not get significant quantities of those rare earths.  At least not from starting with hydrogen.  You would get a bunch from fission.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Is there a ranking of powerful Wizards?

I'm doing my Magical History NEWT in the new Lupin wing of Hogwarts on powerful wizards throughout history. I know it's lazy but my Quick-Quotes Quill is broken and I've got 7 inches to write. Is there a list of wizard power levels published recently?

Obviously Merlin would be at the top, Hogwart founders in the middle somewhere and Grindlewald, You Know Who and Dumbledore under them. Are there any I'm missing and are there any rankings in literature I'm missing?

[Assistant]
Merlin is not mentioned much in HP, but is one of the greatest and famous wizards, plus he invented order of merlin, so to be able to create such an honour would mean he would have to be amazing

Also, in book 7, Albus says that the Peverell brothers were very powerful. They managed to create the Hallows, which makes anyone the master of death. Even though they arnt featured very heavily in the books, they are still very powerful brothers.


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

[User]
[MCU: Ant-Man and the Wasp] Why did Hank and Janet make the Wasp suit objectively better than the Ant-Man suit?

It's clear that Hank was deliberately withholding the flight and Pym Particle blaster gear from Scott out of either pettiness or a lack of trust, but why didn't he use that tech himself in the 80s? Does the Ant-Man suit have functions that are incompatible with the Wasp suit's functions?

[Assistant]
Wasp hasn't been shown to be capable of growing large, or controlling ants. The technology for both might interfere with each other in some way.

Ant-Man might be more heavily armoured and frontline compared to Wasp providing long range support with wings and blasters.

Or maybe Hank Pym just has a shitty dexterity score and is  *really* bad at flying and aiming blasters so he didn't bother making an Ant-Man suit that could do those things.


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

[User]
Why is Hegel's phenomenology considered so distinct from proper 'modern phenomenology'?

I understand that there is stronger correlation between the use of the term "phenomenology" as it is by Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, Sartre, etc. compared with Hegel's usage. What strikes me as odd is the almost total lack of mention of Hegel's use of the term in the large articles on wiki or SEP. There almost seems to be an effort made to ignore any possible correlation between Hegel's use of phenomenology in his system and Husserl's use of it in his own.

Would love to have this explained to me or be pointed at any papers or talks that explain it. Thanks!

[Assistant]
>There almost seems to be an effort made to ignore any possible correlation between Hegel's use of phenomenology in his system and Husserl's use of it in his own.

It's because Husserl's use of the term is radically different thanif not completely separate fromHegel's use prior. Take the IEP definition of Hegel's phenomenological method:

>In a sense Hegels phenomenology is a study of phenomena (although this is not a realm he would contrast with that of noumena) and Hegels Phenomenology of Spirit is likewise to be regarded as a type of propaedeutic to philosophy rather than an exercise in or work of philosophy. It is meant to function as an induction or education of the reader to the standpoint of purely conceptual thought from which philosophy can be done. [Furthermore]... in the later sections the earlier series of shapes of consciousness becomes replaced with what seem more like configurations of human social life, and the work comes to look more like an account of interlinked forms of social existence and thought within which participants in such forms of social life conceive of themselves and the world.

Now contrast that with the IEP article on phenomenology as a philosophical movement:

>The discipline of phenomenology may be defined initially as the study of structures of experience, or consciousness. Literally, phenomenology is the study of phenomena: appearances of things, or things as they appear in our experience, or the ways we experience things, thus the meanings things have in our experience. Phenomenology studies conscious experience as experienced from the subjective or first person point of view.

Hegel's method is primarily concerned with the development of concepts with phenomenal consciousness. Although this process begins with phenomena as considered by the practice of phenomenology, it eventually develops to something much grandernamely, the socio-metaphysical conception of Absolute Knowing. Conversely, phenomenology in the Husserlian tradition relegates itself to phenomena as perceived by consciousness. Although both deal with phenomena (that is, what is phenomenal to us), their uses of the term as well as their methods are incredibly distinct from one another.

edit: it's also worth noting that both authors inherit the concept of phenomena from kant, who basically just means it as what is able to be perceived in the object by human consciousness. while hegel takes phenomena to be the whole of what may be understood in conceptual thought, husserl (and subsequent phenomenology) relegates it to our self-conscious experience.


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

[User] [Constantine] When Constantine went to hell for 2 minutes, as he'd alluded to in the film, what did he experience? He said it was "an eternity" in itself.

[Assistant] He said it was a lifetime. There's no telling what exactly he experienced, but he mentioned "being ripped apart over and over again in agonizing pain" and from what we see in the movie it also sets you on fire while keeping you alive, and the atmosphere is burning. Time doesn't fully stop inside this hell but its so slow that its barely measurable, so two minutes in hell for him as a child was long enough for him to have lived out the rest of what would've been a normal human lifespan. Possibly longer.


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

[User]
How do you know which coding tools are the right ones for your project when working with a developer?

Hello AskProgramming,

I'm not a programmer and I don't play one on TV. I am a guy trying to start a side business with a toolset geared towards my industry. I have been interviewing software development companies and doing my own research on what tools/codebases/stacks (insert proper term here) to use in making a cloud driven backend with macos and windows 'native' desktop front ends, maybe an iPadOS branch but mobile is not really important for this kind of tool.

I know there are so many options here but as the person funding the project how do I know the developer I am working with is picking the appropriate toolsets for what I am looking for. It's not easy for me to figure out what some of my reference applications are made with and I also don't know if things like ReactNative/Flutter, which have been recommended by the Dev Cos, are right for this?

I have googled my eyes out on this and still feel lost. Any tips, advice or input would be really appreciated!

[Assistant]
The short answer is: it shouldnt matter that much to you, it matters to the developer. If you can pick the right person who can demonstrate skills having built something similar to what you want built, you should let them use the technology that they can most efficiently build that thing with.

Also of note is that the frontend and the backend can usually be conceived of as separate problem spaces. There is usually some benefit in building them out at the same time, but if you have a solid backend that meets all requirements and a bad frontend, you can throw away the frontend and have someone else build the frontend in whatever technology.


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

[User] eli5: Why is a Planck length the smallest possible unit of measurement?

[Assistant]
It is a *theoretical* limit because at sizes smaller than Planck length, our current models of physics begin to break down and produce nonsensical answers. It is not known if it represents a *physical* limit.

Basically, you have a rule with 1/16" markings. That makes 1/16th of an inch a theoretical limit to your ability to measure things because below that you can't measure reliably. But that isn't a physical limitation: you can get a measuring stick with finer increments.


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

[User]
I think Google is dangerously large and powerful, and should be avoided. CMV

Really, change my view.  I want to love Google, but it intimidates me with how much bad potential it has.  The idea that someone, somewhere, has more data on me than I'll ever know is scary.  But I admit that they have some really great things to offer.  So convince me why I should get over my paranoia of Google.

[Assistant]
Companies only have as much information on you as you allow them to. Google does indeed store certain information on you and your internet habits, but only what you let them.  Many of the stuff they store and use by default can be disabled in your account settings.

Do you use customer cards at any stores?  They are tracking your purchasing habits and using it to manipulate you into spending more money.  Do you have a TV subscription? They are probably storing your viewing information.  Do you have a debit or credit card?  They can use the information they have on you to map out your regular movements, spending habits, etc.

Information is being gathered and stored on you in all aspects of your life and the only way to avoid it entirely is to live off the grid.  Google provides services and gathers information from your use of them to sell you or develop other products, just like everything else in your life.  There are a couple articles out there where the government has requested information from google and they have refused. If you trust everything else tracking you in your life, why refuse the access to google?


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

[User] [Star Trek] how educated or intelligent is the average Federation citizen?

[Assistant]
Very well educated compared to 20th century humans.

Every citizen has access to very high quality education and job training as well as access to medical technology that can level the playing field in terms of alleviating disabilities that otherwise would have had that citizen restricted from pursuing an education or work.

Imagine a world where all colleges are top tier, its completely free and you can research anything you want to pursue.

Its created a society of artisans and intellectuals.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is there internet in space but not in the middle of nowhere in Iowa?

[Assistant]
Somebody somewhere decided ISS internet is worth the money it would take to do it so they went and made a plan, got the budget approved and got it done.

Nobody has done that for the middle of nowhere in Iowa. It's probably not worth the money.


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

[User]
Can a circle be drawn to fit any three points?

If you draw three dots on a page is there any situation where you can't make a circle to intersect all three points? Will a circle of infinite size cover three dots in a perfect line?

[Assistant]
If the points are not collinear, yes. You can choose any two of the points and draw their perpendicular bisector, and do the same with another combination of two points. The two bisectors intersect at the center of the circle.

A straight line can be thought as a limiting case of a circle when the radius goes to infinity, so under that perspective you can say that a circle can be drawn to fit any three points.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Joking aside, Is there an actual reason why stormtroopers have such horrible accuracy?

[Assistant] Jokes aside, they do not have horrible accuracy. In the skirmishes people love to point out, on the First Death Star and Skywalkers infiltration on Cloud city, the Stormtroopers were under orders to pursue the Rebels and make it look real. The amount of people who believe they were actually trying to kill them goes shows how good they are at making the chases seem real, even with their lives at risk.


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

[User] [Death Note] If Light had never fallen for L's trap and therefore failed to kill 'Lind L. Tailor', then what else could 'L' have done to trick Kira into providing information about himself? Was that broadcast ruse potentially L's only truly promising play in the early days of the Kira Investigation?

[Assistant]
L already suspected that Kira was in Japan based off of his operating hours. Killing the fake L was just the plan that worked; he would have had other plans ready to go in case it failed.

It's L. His plans upon plans upon plans would make Tzeentch smile.


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

[User] ELI5: what is it about riding a bicycle that people never forget how?

[Assistant] It's a learned motor skill that, once mastered, becomes a procedural and almost entirely automatic process that we don't need to consciously control. It's very hard to truly forget a procedural memory.


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

[User]
Why do we assume water is necessary for supporting extraterrestrial life?

I constantly hear about these new planets that are being discovered that could harbor life because there may be water present on them. I understand that all life on Earth needs water, but what evidence do we have that shows every living being must require water? Couldn't a form of life on a different planet  evolve in a way that uses some other liquid as it's base? Or is there something that proves that every single living being, no matter its origin, absolutely must have water?

[Assistant]
Polarity is, to use the technical term, pretty big shit, and gives rise to properties of water that [help] make life possible. Water is an incredibly good solvent, allowing transportation of ions, larger molecules, cells, etc. It can transfer electrical signals, especially when aided by dissolved ions. It reacts with all kinds of stuff. It dissociates into protons (H+) and hydroxide ions (OH-), which are themselves reactive and chemically interesting/useful. It's also liquid over a fairly wide range of temperatures due to hydrogen bonding.

There are other molecules which can do some or most of these things, but nothing does it nearly as well, or is as chemically simple. Also, with only one data point, it's the only thing we *know* of that can support life. There are other possibilities (ammonia and ethanol come to mind, ask a biologist if this is actually reasonable), but we don't actually know. Look for what we know.


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

[User] [X-Men] Cylcops looks up and takes his glasses off. Opens his eyes for a quarter of a second and shoots a quarter second long beam at nothing. How far does it go? Has that ever been addressed? It has to have been, right?

[Assistant] Goes to low earth orbit and dissipates.  His eyes don't shoot light they shoot pure kinetic force from the force dimension.  His beams aren't hot and follow the laws of physics so eventually they will run out of forward motion and disperse into the surrounding area harmlessly.


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

[User]
CMV: Bartenders should be able to refuse liqour service to pregnant women.

Bartenders in Canada have the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason, except for protected classes. For absolutely every other instance I believe that pregnant women should be a protected class.

Where I come into conflict is that I could not in good conscience serve someone a drink if that drink is proven to be likely to cause harm to another. The law even states that I am responsible for patrons who become intoxicated and hurt someone or them selves.

I would feel personally responsible if I somehow found out I served a pregnant woman some tequila and her baby was born with birth defects or a miscarriage.

An important note is that i do not think it should be illegal to serve them. This would mean that if a pregnant woman wants to get drunk, there are litteraly hundreds of bars and chances are someone doesn't care enough to lose out on a few bucks.

What won't change my view is the whole "my body my choice" angle, because you can get a drink without making me responsible. Such as lying and saying "I am not pregnant", because I would have plausible deniability. Or the idea that this would result in non-pregnant women being refused service,  Because of the sheer number of bars and the nature of competition.

[Assistant]
There's a major problem with this in that it's *often* not crystal-clear who is pregnant and who is not until very late in pregnancy, and at that point a drink is far less likely to affect the fetal brain.  What if a woman is refused service because the bartender claims she's pregnant, but she insists she isn't? Should she have to take a pregnancy test in the bar to prove she isn't pregnant?

This ends up being bartenders being able to discriminate against women, period.  And we know from looking at pre-Civil Rights Act stuff in the US that market forces *do not* make people serve demographics they want to discriminate against.  Otherwise there would be no need for the Civil Rights Act.


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

[User]
Observed Light Speed from a Rocket Never Changes?

Hello all, I've tried finding answers to a question I have on google but can't seem to find any that make much sense to me therefore I've chosen to write here for some clarification.

Say a rocket moves away from Earth at 99% the speed of light and I then shine a laser towards that rocket. Once that laser catches up to the rocket, will it be observed to travel at 1% the speed of light since we are already moving at 99% the speed? I understand that the speed of light remains constant for everyone but if we observe it to travel at 100% the speed of light from the rocket, doesn't that mean that it is technically moving faster than the speed of light? I know my last point isn't true but I'm just having a hard time wrapping my head around the concept of light speed remaining constant regardless of your speed. Thanks!

[Assistant]
This is basically why time and space have different rules in special relativity. There's a couple of things going on here, but the big thing is that events that are simultaneous in one frame of reference aren't simultaneous in another frame of reference, and the time gap between events can be different in different frames of reference.

So yeah, you're travelling at 99% of the speed of light away from Earth, and Earth fires a laser at you. From Earth's perspective it takes a long time to reach you, because the distance between the laser pulse and your spaceship is shrinking at only 1% of the speed of light.

From your perspective, the Earth is moving away from you at 99% of the speed of light, and then fires a laser at you. From your perspective, you are stationary. This laser approaches you at the speed of light, and should reach you quite quickly. For this to add up correctly, what happens is that Earth fires its laser at a different time from your perspective! Earth fires its laser *later*, so even though the distance between the laser pulse and your spaceship is shrinking more rapidly than from Earth's perspective, you still agree about e.g. how old you are when the laser hits you.


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

[User]
Why is ritalin used as a placebo in psilocybin trials?

Not sure if this falls under psychology or neuroscience, but how is ritalin considered a placebo for psilocybin? I was reading How to change your mind by Michael Pollan when I came across this little tidbit of information.

[Assistant] Psilocybin feels quite speedy as you start feeling the effects. Your extremities get clammy, your heart rate increases, etc. Perhaps using methylphenidate is a way to provide a placebo that is at least in some way similar to the experimental group.


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

[User]
[Super Mario Odyssey] Could Peach possess creatures like Mario does using Tiara?

In the game *Super Mario Odyssey*, Mario, with his new friend and ally Cappy, who is part of a race called the Bonneters, go off and save Princess Peach.

Cappy has a special ability where he can make it so Mario can possess the bodies of other people, creatures, or even just stationary objects. The game has this as a main mechanic.

However, in the game, Peach also has a Bonneter companion as well, Tiara (which so happens to be Cappy's younger sister). By what I could tell, she has a lot of the same abilities her brother has, including shapeshifting into hat form. Could this potentially apply to possessing other beings as well?

Discuss.

[Assistant]
We don't know if all Bonneters possess a capture ability, or if it's something that Cappy is specifically capable of for some reason. However, at the risk of getting a little Doylist in order to make a Watsonian argument, since Bowser was originally planned to have an evil Bonneter allowing him to capture things when the game was in its development stage, it seems that the developers at least originally intended for the capture mechanic to not be something that only Cappy could do.

Therefore it is likely that Tiara is potentially capable of the same feats. However, as she is on the younger side, this may be a skill that she hasn't yet learned.


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

[User]
Does having a psychiatric illness increase the chances of developing more psychiatric problems later on?

Im a paramedic and I've noticed that almost all patients with psychiatric disorders have at least two. For example Bi-polar and schizophrenia.i see those together a lot but is it from common symptoms or some other correlation?

[Assistant]
What you have described is called "comorbidity."  Two psychological disorders that co-occur.  There are some psychological disorders that are often correlated with other psychological disorders; for example, people with major depressive disorder often also suffer from an anxiety disorder.  People that suffer from personality disorders also often have a comorbid mood disorder, as do those with psychotic disorders; this is usually because they realize that they are perceived as "crazy" or "not normal," and this causes the development of a mood disorder.  There is even a unique category of disorder for someone who expresses schizophrenic symptoms and bipolar symptoms, as you have described:  That is called "schizoaffective disorder."

So to answer your question, it is usually from a correlation between the disorders, although many comorbid disorders will share some symptomology.


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

[User] [DC] When Superman flies at beyond hypersonic speeds, does he feel the world go around in slow motion?

[Assistant] Realistically, he has to have enhanced reflexes that let him perceive time slower, otherwise, he would keep crashing into stuff. He doesn't have access to the Speed Force that enables speedsters to do the bullshit things they do.


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

[User]
A standard internal combustion engine burns fuel and oxygen, which burns to produce a greater number of gas molecules as well as heat. Assuming that both of these produce power, which one produces most of the power? The heat excess or the stoichiometric excess?

At a simple glance C8H18+13.5O2=8CO2+9H2O, or 14.5 gas molecules into 17 gas molecules. Is this the greater cause of pressure in the cylinder, or the heat given off and the resulting expansion (roughly online with the ideal gas law)?

[Assistant] Additionally, there's not just O2 in the cylinders, for each O2 there is roughly 4N2 that are non-reactive but still absorb heat and expand. The increase in temp/pressure is driving power transmission from the cylinder.


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

[User]
How do I come up with a research topic for my PhD?

I want to start a PhD but I am having trouble with coming up with a research proposal. I have a vague idea about what I want my research to be about but I can't come up with a concrete research topic. All suggestions are welcome!

[Assistant]
Hello there!

Research is a matter of momentum (or inertia if you will), topics will come to you by themselves while you keep reading literature. You can't find a topic by sitting on a desk and asking yourself what to write. If you ask your mentor, you'll probably end up with a topic you aren't really curious about (and believe me, curiosity is very important for a PHD thesis!).

Think about a general topic in your area, even an abstract one. Start to read without a real purpose, just read what you want to read. If something catches your attention, go deeper. Rinse and repeat. Keep doing this and you'll have *more than one* topic in no time and these will not be just any topics, these will be the ones that keep you interested!

Edit: Thanks for the hug! :)


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

[User]
What actually happens when a sperm and an egg of two different species meet?

If two beings that are genetically different enough that they cannot produce offspring actually mate, what happens?  Do they (the sperm and egg) not react at all?  Do they attempt a fusion but fail somewhere down the line?

[Assistant]
Even if sperm were able to penetrate ovum, there are a host of issues past that.

First would be discrepancy in chromosome number. This would lead to cells with different numbers of chromosomes after mitosis. These cells would be unlikely to "work together" when it comes to signalling, chemotaxis, etc.

Secondly, different species express different genes at a genetic level. If you were to create some zygote between species different enough the gene expression would most likely result in cells unable to function, and it'd be a miracle if they progressed past a clump of cells.


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

[User] ELI5: Why can we see veins on the outside of our body but not arteries?

[Assistant] Arteries tend *not* to be on the outside of the body, because if they're damaged it is much more dangerous than witha vein, due to the higher pressure. So evolution strongly favours moving arteries to the inside of the body as much as possible.


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

[User]
Is there any way a planet can rotate so that the sun would rise and set on the same point at the horizon?

In World of Warcraft, the sun will rise in the west, then at midday turn around at the zenith and set back in the west. It drives me crazy and I need to know if there is any basis for this to be possible in astronomy. Thank you!

[Assistant] Yes, there is. The Earth rotates in such a way. At 66.56 degrees north and south of the equator (the polar circles), the sun rises and sets on the same point at the horizon (due north) once a year, at summer solstice.


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

[User]
[Star Wars Legends: KotOR] Why arent there more wounds in the Force? Alternatively, was Malachor V really *that* bad?

So the use of the Mass Shadow Generator caused the the creation of a wound in the Force. My question is if that was really enough to create one shouldnt they be a lot more of them? While the planet itself was devastated the sapient toll doesnt seem to have been especially high: from the best I could tell from my preliminary browsing of Wookiepedia the planet didnt have any significant permanent population, so the casualties would have mostly been limited to the fleets in orbit at the time. The Star Wars Legends have no shortage of atrocities, and while nobody would notice if the empty space that used to be Alderaan was haunted, comparable atrocities have occurred that have left intact planets (the nuclear bombardment of Serroco by the Mandalorians, Darth Malaks razing of Taris, and the devastation of prehistoric Tatooine by the Rakata come to mind). How come none of them created wounds in the Force the way Malachor V did?

(Having thought about it while writing the question I came up with the possible explanation that it requires a high proportion of Force-sensitives to be among the dead, but Id like to hear any other ideas).

[Assistant]
Because the Exile was already unique before Malachor V. That's why Revan sent her there - he knew she could become a threat to his future plans, because of her power.

All Nihilus did was follow in her footsteps - until someone else is born who can form connections the way the Jedi Exile could, you won't find any more wounds. It's not just about the casualties.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] How would adult, abstract fears like failure, loneliness and not living up to one's potential manifest in a boggart?

[Assistant]
Failure: We already saw this with Hermione in PoA.

Loneliness: Probably yourself, surrounded by miles of empty space.

Not living up to ones potential: Possibly a version of yourself thats either homeless or a junkie.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does electricity heat things up?

[Assistant] Due to the wires having electrical resistance, which means that they resist the motion of electrons, the electrons bump into atoms of the wire, and some of their kinetic energy is given to the atoms as thermal energy. This thermal energy causes the wire to heat up.


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

[User] ELI5: How does a laxative work?

[Assistant]
It depend on which type of laxative. There are osmotic, stimulant, lubricant and bulk agent laxatives.

Osmotic work by forcing water to stay inside the intestine. It also attract water from the surrounding tissues, therefore increasing the water content. Adding water increase the volume of the stool triggering a reflex. When nerves in the intestine sense that it's almost full, it trigger the need to go to the toilet.

Bulk agent have a similar mechanism of action but, it use dietary fibers. Since we can't digest these fibers, they pass through our digestive system unchanged. They also absorb water which increase their volume. Adding more volume trigger the same mechanism described earlier.

Stimulant laxatives are irritating to the intestinal walls. The intestine react by increasing its peristaltism as a way to get rid of the irritating agent as fast as possible. Peristaltism is the mechanism by which muscles along our digestive tract force food (and stool) down the tube until the undigested remnants are pushed through the anus.

Lubricant laxatives act by coating the intestinal walls with an oily substance. Since it's oily, it's also slippery making it easier for the stool to go down the tube.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are Republicans in the US congress so opposed to Obama's decision to hold nuclear talks with Iran?

[Assistant]
They're not at all opposed to the talks.

What they want is for the result of the talks to be submitted to the Senate for ratification like any other treaty.  The Administration wants to conclude an "agreement" that isn't a treaty and doesn't require Senate approval.

What they are worried about (and it's not just the GOP - there is bi-partisan support for a Senate ratification process) is that Obama would rather get a deal done even though the deal may not be a good deal.  The concern is that he's just not tough enough to force the Iranians into a compromise that can actually do what the negotiations are supposed to do - end Iran's quest to make a nuclear weapon.


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

[User] [X Files] Why does Scully show intense interest in her missing baby in the mythology episodes but none at all in the normal episodes?

[Assistant] She is being professional. It's still on her mind, but she focuses on the task at hand, namely, what kind of crazy asshole murdered that family using clawed gloves and the help of a trained wolf to dismember them.


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

[User]
Explain like I'm 5, Marcus Aurelius

Explain the brief life story, the impact, and why he has such great quotes.

[Assistant]
Marcus Aurelius was a philosopher/warrior.  The unique point of view he got from commanding the massive roman war machine as its emperor during it's most powerful era gave him the ability to reflect on life and the workings of government and its function to the people.

Later in life, he took public speaking lessons from 3 great Greek teachers and this allowed him to convey his musings to the masses in a way that stands the test of time until today.


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

[User]
(district 9) How dose Wikus and the M.N.U. understand the prawns

The prawn language seems to be made up of a series of clicks how do humans understand this?

[Assistant] You don't get an alien species showing up on earth without having it be absolutely _swarmed_ by linguists.  After having hundreds of graduate students in linguistics do their theses on topics related to prawn language, there were pretty good translations available.


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

[User]
[General] If someone who's been lobotomised gets bitten by a zombie do they turn or just die?

In most zombie fiction you just damage their brain a bit and they 'die', so what about people who were lobotomised, their brain gets scrambled with an icepick, can they no longer become a zombie?

[Assistant]
Lobotomization does not physically "scramble" the brain. A lobotomy only physically effects the frontal lobe, wherein many connections to and from the lobe are "scraped" away.

The Frontal Lobe is used mainly for cognitive thinking, so as long as the "Reptilian Brain" is left undamaged, the person would no doubt turn into a regular zombie.


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

[User]
[Transformers 4] SPOILER: If the All-Spark was the item that gave life to all the Transformers. . .

What was the whole point of the All-Spark if the 'creators' (could they be Quintessons?) were the ones that built Optimus Prime and the other Transformers.

[Assistant]
I hope this is ok with the rules of the sub.

I don't quite remember the older movies that well, but it's possible the creators used the all spark to give them life.

It's obvious the creators are far from gods/omnipotents, so they would need something to build the transformers.


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

[User]
What is the meaning of the concept of time at the beginning of the "Big Bang" before cesium existed to measure the length of a second and while the Universe was expanding faster than the speed of light?

Currently we measure the length of a second as the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium 133 atom at rest at a temperature of 0 Kelvin. Since cesium did not exist in the early Universe, and the Universe was supposedly undergoing a bizarre expansion how is it meaningful to apply the concept of time to that early Universe?

[Assistant]
You can define a second as ~1.85E43 times the square root of Planck's constant times the gravitational constant divided by the speed of light to the power of five.

Cesium has nothing to do with the flow of time, its oscillations are just regular enough that they can be useful for reconstructing the second.


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

[User] Do deaf people still feel pain when they're exposed to really loud sounds?

[Assistant]
The discovery of how we get pain from loud sounds is surprisingly recent--like 2015. There's a separate set of nerves that run from the hearing organs in the inner ear that seem to just be for reacting to sounds loud enough to cause hearing damage. We don't really understand how it works.

There are many, many causes of hearing loss. Any of the causes that don't damage these fibers or stop whatever process makes them fire would presumably leave this response intact. Hypersensitivity to sounds is actually a symptom associated with some kinds of hearing loss!


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

[User] ELI5: In a carbonated drink, how do the bubbles spontaneously appear, why don't they all escape at once.

[Assistant] a gas like CO2 can be dissolved in a liquid just like solid sugar or salt can be. The bubbles are CO2 coming out of solution to reform a gas. They don't all escape at once because the rate of CO2 leaving (and the rate of new CO2 entering the water) is dependent on how much CO2 is in the drink relative to the surrounding air and other factors. Under normal conditions a good deal of the CO2 (but less than they actually put into the drinks) will stay in no matter how long you let it sit.


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

[User] ELI5: Why cant we freeze humans and unfreeze them 100 years later? Is the freezing the problem or the unfreezing? or both?

[Assistant]
Humans are mostly made of water.

Water forms crystals when frozen.

Those crystals are sharp and cut apart the human on a cellular level.

All the ways we know to stop water from forming crystals when cooled to freezing temperatures are toxic to humans in the concentrations needed.


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

[User]
[Dune] So the Sardaukar are the Emperor's personal forces, and each house has it's own private guards/militia. But is there like an actual army that belongs to the Empire itself?

Is there an army that doesn't directly belong to the Emperor or any of the houses? Maybe used to conquer new planets and fight hostile alien life they find on them?

[Assistant]
No, its just the Emperors Sardukar. There is no central force of the Imperium besides that of House Corrino, so who would they answer to?

Anyway, there isnt any sort of alien forces to defeat. There are no intelligent aliens anywhere in the Dune universe. So who would this hypothetical army fight? And on whose behalf?


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

[User] CMV: If you support abortion rights because "It's her body," you should have no problem with a woman smoking or drinking during pregnancy.

[Assistant]
So let's say a woman gets an abortion. A collection of cells which are not yet an autonomous human being dies. The only individual that endures physical suffering under this circumstance is the woman, who has chosen this path and thus accepted any physical suffering it may incur.

Now let us suppose a pregnant woman consumes alcohol and tobacco. In several months time an autonomous human being will be born with a greatly increased risk of health conditions that would cause them harm. Now an individual has been harmed by the decision who did not and could not agree. Hence the woman has directly harmed another human being, thus bringing about the moral issue.


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

[User] How exactly does having lots of people visit a website all at once, crash the website?

[Assistant]
Responding to a request for your website takes some amount of time, during which some amount of resources on the computer(s) responsible for serving your website are used for that purpose.

Eventually the computer(s) run out of resources and are unable to respond to any more requests.  Hence the website crashes.


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

[User]
Why do O/S ever hang? Why don't they prioritise the basic UI operations so you can close things down?

I was using Linux today and the browser took up all the CPU cycles to the point where the mouse and keyboard weren't even working. I tried to switch to a terminal screen so I could terminate the offending process but they key-sequence didn't do anything.

It's not just Linux though, I've had exactly the same problem on Windows.

Why aren't there some basic UI activities that are given processor cycles above all others? For Windows it would be mouse, keyboard, window operations (but not repaints), menus, power management and task manager. For Linux it would just need to be mouse/keyboard, window operations and power management. In Linux if you can switch to a terminal screen you can usually interact, if slowly.

[Assistant]
A full system lockup is not usually because of the CPU being maxed out, it is because something critical in the OS has crashed and taken everything else with it. Rendering windows and handling inputs is a much more complicated process nowadays, involving multiple devices communicating that might even partially bypass the CPU, like with composited window rendering.

The mouse and keyboard *are* prioritized over almost everything. If your web browser caused them to lock up, it probably was a bug that caused the xserver (responsible for drawing windows as well as the mouse and keyboard on the screen in Linux) to crash. You get similar effects on Windows or MacOS if the process responsible for drawing the screen or handling input crashes.

This is not quite the same as a kernel panic (where the core of the OS itself crashes, AKA a blue screen on Windows), though they can be related.


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

[User]
ELI5: How was Thailand able to avoid colonization when every other Southeast Asian countries got colonized?

Literally everyone of its neighboring countries was colonized by the West for centuries except them. How were they able to succeed in maintaining their independence when everyone around them took years of political struggle to be free?

[Assistant] I read a article about this. The King at the time played both sides. When dealing with the British he would drop hints that he was on very good terms with the French and if he was ever attacked that he could count on them for support. When dealing with the French he told them how he was on very god terms with the English and if attacked if attacked that they would come to his support. That is the short version, but basically he very shrewdly played both sides against each other.


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

[User] [Westworld] How do the park security prevents guests from stabing each other or throwing each offer off a cliff, maybe confusing each other as hosts?

[Assistant]
The knives are probably made of the same magic technology as the can't-hurt-a-human smart bullets.

For other kinds of attacks in the wilderness there is probably always a host nearby "being a guide" or just even the guest's horse.


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

[User]
[Fullmetal Alchemist/Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood] Exactly how many Extra lives do each Homunculus have? i.e. how many times do you have to kill them for them to stay dead.

OK so in the Brotherhood Canon Father took the entire population of xerexes, and made them into two philosopher's stones. One for himself and one for Hoenheim. He then divided his half of the souls in seven for each SIN Homunculus.

In the 2003 canon Homunculi get their souls by eating "incomplete" philosopher's stones.

In addition in each canon The amount of times Homunculi need to be killed seems to vary considerably. Gluttony and Sloth in brotherhood for example have a LOT of durability but Envy and Lust seems to have less.

Is there a way to determine the exact number of souls each have.

[Assistant]
It's a tough question to answer, because it likely depends on how much damage/what kind of damage is done to the body.

The Philosopher's Stone doesn't technically bypass equivalent exchange - it substitutes those human lives for alchemical reactants.  We can assume that it takes less energy to fix a bullet hole in the head than it does to rebuild a burned body, even though each of those injuries would be a single "death."  Which would mean that Mustang's flame alchemy would be a much more effective weapon against a Homonculus than a gun or a sword, simply because there are more cells that need repairing, and a greater toll on the Stone's energy reserves.


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

[User] Why do investors buy Japanese debt even though its approx. 280% debt to gdp, whilst investors sold out on Greek debt when it was only at 110%?

[Assistant]
The debt to GDP ratio is not really the main deciding factor there.

Japan has a ultra educated population, productive working force, high consumer market, powerful geo strategic allies, low criminality, anecdotal corruption, high value exports, etc. All those factors make up a very stable economy and a very stable country. This leads investor to believe that whatever debt they buy will keep its value

Greece may be part of the EU which gave them a very stable geopolitical position at the time ( we all know how that is evolving nowadays... ), but they have no noteworthy export except tourism. Add to that hey also had officially very high unemployment rate which was mainly due to the prevalence of undeclared work, which translates to tax inefficiency and missing revenue at every level. Corruption was rampant, and the lack of control over their own currency further decreased the confidence of investors into the stability of Greece and it's response to an eventual crisis.

The crisis did happen, confidence was shaken, some started to sell, and history happened.

Basically, it all boils down to confidence, which is why investors might buy Germany debts even with a negative interest rate : it's just so stable that overtime it is a good investment to safeguard your assets.


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

[User]
[Death Note] (Possible Spoilers) What are some of the wider socio-economic and political impacts of Kira's crusade against crime? How does the civillian world change during and after the bulk of Kira's killings?

Obviously, Kira's mission to eliminate all the world's heinous criminals has a major effect on global crime over time, as mentioned by many characters and all throughout the lore. And in general, we are given glimpses of how the systematic extermination of the world's criminals inspires feelings of fear, hatred, or admiration among regular people, depending on who you ask.

However, the manga, anime, and movies don't go into too much detail about how Kira's work affects the day-to-day lives of everyday people, the day-to-day work of the government officials in charge of them, or the prosperity of society's various businesses.

**So, in what unspoken ways does general society in Kira's world differ from ours? What are the mundane differences that the lore just glosses over?**

***For example:*** Do the world's police forces atrophy from a newfound lack of challengers? Do certain businesses prosper in the light of Kira's new world, while other's crumble? Does Kira's existence  affect the policies or priorities of political or municipal administration? Do science and technology fields prosper nowadays, now that the world is 'safer'?

**Talk about whatever comes to mind.**

[Assistant]
That's a very wide question asking for very narrow answers, but in all likely hood, not much would change.

We know from his worshippers, that despite his methods, Kira's plan *worked*. Some may have feared a God of Justice with no mercy, but it's no question that people felt safer.

But that doesn't translate economically. Crime still occurs. Laws still get broken. The police are still around to pull over speeders, respond to domestic issues, and fill out reports for burglaries. Kira only focused on the worst crimes. Murder, rape, torture, terrorism, assault.

Cops might be in even more danger. Crimes of passion still occur, but with death the only outcome, criminals might fight to the death to keep their names out of the system. Hit your wife? Officer might demand you be in therapy the next day, else he tells Kira.

But none of that really effects the world economically. There aren't an important number of businesses that would be affected either way. Gambling and Prostitution are still strong, though pimps will probably die.

Kira could stop war by killing the war merchants, and any generals that call out for it. But nothing shows that Kira had done so. Maybe it was his next step, maybe not.

Socially, people would become even more exclusive. Staying in smaller gatherings, trusting others less. This would fall along normal lines; money, race, age. Eventually this would break down, after all, if that family from (somewhere else) were bad, Kira would have killed them. But it would take a good while, and constant pressure from Kira, to end that way.


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

[User] If you could have any philosopher become the next president of the U.S. who would it be and why?

[Assistant]
Marcus Aurelius seems like an obvious choice. Actual experience as head of state, experience with the multinational politics of war and empire, skilled legislator and legal theorist... his experience and skills alone would be invaluable compared to almost any other philosopher.

But there are also his political and ethical theories, strong sense of duty, relatively liberal and humanist views, restraint and respect for the institutions of law & government, broad tolerance of opposing opinions. Temperamentally he seems almost born in the wrong century.

I have some question whether he would accept modern democratic principles, but assuming so he would likely become a globally transformative figure as President. And luckily, he wouldn't be able to choose his successor.


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

[User]
[Gilmore Girls] How come the Gilmore Girls aren't fat?

I know it's a running joke on the show, but seriously- with the way they eat, it's some kind of miracle Rory and Loralei aren't the subject of a sad drama about a mother and daughter struggling with their morbid obesity. They pointedly never exercise or eat fruits or veggies, yet their skin and hair glows like Audrey Hepburn. What gives?

[Assistant]
A few theories.

We don't see them 24/7. Maybe they      exercise but tell people they don't to keep
up appearances that they effortlessly                                  maintain their figures.

They eat healthily but hide it from each
other because food is a thing they bond
over so each doesn't want to make things
weird for the other.

They are both tragically suffering with bulimia and enable each other.


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

[User]
[Infinity War] (small spoiler) Why did Doctor Strange's sling portal...

During the fight between Ebony Maw and Doctor Strange, Maw "shapes" some bricks into points and launches them at Strange. Strange opens a sling portal in front of him to intercept the points. He then looks at Wong who opens another sling portal in front of him and the points fly out back at Maw.

When a sling portal is opened, it's opened in two places at once (at the entrance and exit). When Strange opened the portal that intercepted the points, the other end of that portal should have automatically opened at the same time  and would have probably best been opened above Maw so that he wouldn't see it coming.

So why was Wong needed to open a second portal? And where were those points in the second or two between when Strange's portal took them in and Wong's portal spit them out?

**EDIT:** Solved, unless a better explanation comes along.

[Assistant]
The bricks probably entered the same place that Loki went when Strange dropped him and he fell for "30 minutes". They were plummeting for the second or two.  Wong and Strange set this up as a contingency for combat situations like this.

Wong had to locate the projectiles in the falling dimension or estimate their position and then open a portal in front of them with an exit point aimed at Maw.  Ideally he'd put it right next to his target so there would be no time to react, but it's a complex maneuver, so just getting them going in the right direction was a victory.


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

[User] When a person gets into an accident of some sort and gets an open wound, that dirt, gravel, sand, etc. then goes into, how do hospitals clean the wound and stop infection?

[Assistant]
It's actually the same process they recommend you do at home just more sterile. They will use saline or distilled water to "irrigate" the wound, which is just a fancy term for wash out. If the foreign body is really embedded they may have to physically extract it with some forceps (tweezers) or other instruments, then they irrigate the wound. From there they apply antibiotic ointment or iodine around the wound and close it with bandages, sutures, staples, etc.; Whatever is as minimally invasive and still effective.

Tl;Dr it's the same process you do at home for something minor, just with more technical names and sterile tools.


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

[User] Do people suffering a Persistent vegetative state sleep while in coma?

[Assistant]
Well technically no as they're not in a coma.

A persistent vegetative state is not a coma they are not interchangeable terms.

At the most basic level in a coma the person appears to be asleep but can't be roused whereas a person in a persistent vegetative state appears to be awake but is non responsive to to any stimuli. In a coma the higher brain functions still exist whereas in a persistent vegetative state the more complex areas of the brain are dead and gone.

Do they sleep? Yes as complex thought, reaction to stimuli, intelligence and personality are not needed to sleep. What's left of the brain can handle sleep as technically amoebas sleep.

PVS is different to brain death as some of the brain is still functioning and no there is no hope of recovery as what makes the person themselves is dead and gone.


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

[User]
I hold the view that homosexuality is biologically backwards. CMV

For the record, I harbour no ill will to anyone gay, nor do I care to restrict which two people can decide to love each other and marry. People should be able to do whatever they want as long as it doesn't impact anyone else. My point is that homosexuality seems to defy biology and evolution.

[Assistant] While it may seem counter-intuitive, there are over 100 species in nature which practice some form of homosexuality. That and the fact that there is no "desired end state" for evolution, it is actually impossible to "devolve." In that sense you're simply evolving again, just this time different attributes are being selected. So one could say there is no purpose to evolution, it merely exists as a process. It meanders where it will. Now going against the principle of natural selection/propagation of species? Maybe. unless there is some benefit that allows individuals to live longer. Maybe bisexuality is the ultimate strong adaptation...procreate when available, fraternity when you can't procreate?


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

[User]
How come when ice is in my cup, and i rotate the cup, it stays in the same position?

This isn't really a joke post, ive always wondered and its so annoying when the ice is in the back of the cup, you have to put the cup down and walk around it OR put your finger in the cup, which isn't that nice.

[Assistant]
It is Newton's first law, the law of inertia, that you can use to describe this situation: The ice will remain at rest until an external force acts upon it.

If you move the cup from side to side, you're pushing on the side of the cup, the cup is pushing the uncompressible water on one side and pulling the water from the other side, and it's the water that's pushing on the ice, so the ice moves as well. However, when you turn the cup, the cup isn't really pushing on the water. Every bit of cup is moving into an area previously occupied by more cup.

Now, you probably impart a little bit of motion on the water as some water is dragged along the walls of the cup as it turns, but it's a much smaller effect. This works much better with thicker fluids.

If you want to move the ice to another side of the cup, try moving the cup in small circles (without rotating it) for a while. The motion of the walls of the cup will impart momentum on the sloshing liquid, moving it in a circle.

[edit:sp]


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

[User]
ELI5: With all the advances in technology, why have we not even come close to replicating exoskeletons like the Iron man suit?

I know exoskeletons do exist out there, but most of them are impractical or really limiting in one regard or the other. What is limiting our ability to make something as efficient?

[Assistant]
A power source with a great enough power-to-weight ratio is one thing. The best we got is gasoline, but gas and combustion engines are heavy unless you're on the scale of a weed-wacker.

Next after that is power transmission: taking energy from the motor and putting it in your arms and hands. Either this is done with relatively slow electric actuators, or very heavy but highly efficient and fast hydraulics. You could do it with electric motors and transmissions, but that would require far more electricity than what's portable for even an exoskeleton.

Iron Man's suit appears to function with the power and accuracy of encoded induction motors comparable to CNC machine tools, but small enough that they have a form factor like a wrist watch or kneepad. This is far out of the reach of modern technology and may be that way for some time. Problems like these aren't matters of making things smaller like in computers. (So Obadiah Stane was wrong on at least one front.) Mechanical issues like these are matters of increasing pure material properties like energy density in batteries, conductance in wires, and compressive strength in structures.


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

[User] [Star Wars] if Stormtroopers are so infamously horrible with their aim, and Ben Kenobi explains that the blast points on the side of the Sandcrawler are "too accurate for Sandpeople", how are Taken Raiders landing potshots on Podracers going around 400mph?

[Assistant] its not WHAT they hit, it's WHERE they hit. Any Tusken with a rifle can take potshots on a moving speeder or racer, but they are uneducated. The shots on that sand crawler accurately disabled the craft with precision shots at weak points. Clearly not the work of some desert marauders, but of trained troopers.


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

[User] For Marxists, is morality tied to class?

[Assistant] Could you be more specific about what you mean? Marx definitely thinks that our ideas about right and wrong are determined by the mode of production around which society is structured, such that capitalism (for instance) makes it morally wrong to steal property from the capitalists, etc.


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

[User] ELI5: what makes different blood types different? ie; O neg. and A pos.

[Assistant] Different blood types are based upon things called antigens, these are found on the surface of the blood cell and help your body know the cells are your own. There are two different (major) blood cell antibodies leading to four different (major) blood groups - A, B, AB, O - A blood group has A antigens, B blood group B antigens, AB blood group has both A and B antigens and O has no antigens. The compatibility of blood groups is based on antibodies (the things that show that your antigens are your own). A antibodies attack A antigens and B antibodies attack B antigens. blood group A produce B antibodies, B produces A antibodies, AB produces no antibodies and O produces both A and B antibodies. This means that any blood group is compatible with itself as well as meaning that O is a universal donor and AB is a universal acceptor.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do antidepressants cause suicidal thoughts?

Being that "thoughts" come from external influences, I find it confusing that a medication would influence a thought.

[Assistant] A person in the midst of a deep depression can have no will to rise from the bed. If the antidepressant works well enough to get them out of bed there is still the chance that this renewed energy will be devoted to a final solution. It did not cause suicidal thoughts. It lifted spirits enough for a plan to be conceived and acted upon.


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

[User] ELI5: (or more accurately ELI11) Why does masturbation clear my sinuses?

[Assistant]
The vasodilatation that helps the blood enter the penis to get it erect also dilates the arteries on your nose epithelium. The heat it releases helps to calm your symptoms.

It will not help though if you fap and come fast.


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

[User]
ELI5:How do spray bottles produce a mist

How do spray bottles produce such fine mist instead of just spraying water everywhere? What makes something spray super fine and something less fine?

[Assistant] The holes in a mister are very small. As liquid gets pushed out, the stream tends to break up because its so thin that surface tension is significant. So the stream quickly becomes tiny blobs of liquid suspended in air: a mist.


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

[User]
CMV: I can't help but believe that the belief that humanity won't last another 1000yrs (or even 100yrs) is a form of generational hysteria. I think we will be around for tens, if not hundreds of thousands of years.

Why do I think this? Well in simple terms, I've don't think I've ever heard a good reason to think humanity will die out...I know that we are amazing survivors and have reached incredible levels of success and security, especially in the last 200 years.

Factors such as our initial rise from cave dwellers to todays societyit is an incredible testament to what we achieved especially in the face of adversityour bounce back from the plague to the renaissance is one examplein an era where other diseases and wars were rampantmuch worse than todaythen the massive almost world ending eruption in Indonesia 75,000 yrs ago (the Toba catastrophe) couldnt wipe us out when we were at our infancyOur most vulnerable and ignorant ancestors pulled throughThen there is our ability to preserve food, cultivate food, tame animals, harvest plantsour diet is incredibly diverse, our ability to live in almost any earth bound climate is also incredible.

Now to the obstacles we may facewe could face famine due to overpopulation, but it seems obvious that this is an argument for short term population decline, not eradicationsame for any pandemicsnow back to the bubonic plaguethis was by far the worst pandemic weve experienced and it gave rise to the renaissance due to more resources being available p/person afterwards... It also doesnt take into account modern medicine that would make the plague very hard to top.

Now climate change: Is climate change that bad that all of humanity would starve? How could this be? This I feel is where I'm less knowledgeable...but in the event we had multiple crop failures the human population would simply decline until the point where the food available can sustain the present populationWe see this cyclical pattern play out in nature all the time. I see no reason that we couldn't grow crops...it could just be that we grow them in different parts of the world to a lesser extent where it was historically too cold etc.

Then there is the issue of timethis wouldnt be a fast occurrenceit might start with some crop failures, then increased prices for staples and knowing how people areonce the developed world needs to sacrifice luxuries to afford bread and butter you can bet your last dollar shit will get done to mitigate the issueI cannot see it reaching the point of worldwide starvation.

Will we blow ourselves up in war? Hard to say for sureI can definitely see a catastrophe of some sort occurring, I can see nuclear disaster wiping out most of us but I still find it unlikely (think of the steps it would take for that happen and then consider how likely each step is on its own and then combine the probability of all of those things happening) Now if it did happen then I think the American paranoia during the cold war has taught us that people fucking prepare for that shit. Hideouts, bunkers, years worth of tinned food etcWe could at our own hands cause a dystopia, but it wouldnt last forever. Wed surely bounce back like we always have.

Lastly, a celestial event / MeteorIMO the only plausible way to destroy our species (if its big enough) These extinction events have wiped out the majority of life a few times every 100 million years or so, but life continued anywayThe idea that we are less equipped than dinosaurs is honestly bizarre (to me).

Even If I maintain the belief that we will last longer than 1000years, hopefully someone can CMV so that I don't think the 'Doomer' mindset is simply hysteria as it is a very pervasive belief.

[Assistant]
I dont think the concern is humanity dying out in a sudden mass extinction.

The fear is societal collapse and a dramatic step backwards, with the easily accessible resources (fossil fuels) squandered and the next level resources (renewables) too high up the tech tree in a much less hospitable world.


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

[User]
[DC] What is Hunter Zolomon's power.

What does altering time relative to himself mean?

[Assistant]
The equation for velocity is speed = distance / time. The Flashes alter the first part of the equation, while Zolomon alters the third part - while they move fast because they increase (S)peed, Zolomon alters the (T)ime part - effectively making himself faster by reducing the time element of the velocity equation.

In other words, instead of making himself *faster*, he makes the time it takes to do something *shorter*.


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

[User]
[General][DC/Marvel] Which character has the highest kill count *only taking named characters into account*?

So obviously there are countless heroes and villains that (intentionally or unintentionally) blow up planets and universes in their battles pretty regularly. Even those who mow down civilians as collateral damage in their grand battles. Each character has a list of everyone they have killed (directly or indirectly), even iterations of Batman and Superman have a kill count. But say we removed all the random civilians and goons, all the "technical"  kills (such as animals, microbes through healthy hygiene practices, etc) and focused on the characters named by the media they appear in.

Who has the most? I would figure Deadpool due to his massacre of (one of the iterations of) the Marvel Universe, many of his alternate selves and numerous literature figures. However, I have to wonder if someone has beaten that.

**Bonus (to avoid spamming the subreddit with another question too similar to this)**: Who has the most *onscreen/comic visible* kills to his or her name?

[Assistant]
Galactus.  :)
and... not to be picking on a What If? kinda question but Deadpool is meant to be snarky/out-of-canon stuff in a lot of the books... should you limit your question to just "in-continuity" stories?


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

[User]
[Man of Steel/Aquaman] Did the Atlanteans notice the effects of the World Engine during Zod's attack? If so, what was their reaction? Would they have tried to stop it? Could they?

Title.  It seems like that whole episode would have been hard for them to miss.  Considering how pissed they are about surface-dwellers polluting the oceans, it seems like they'd be even more put off with aliens dropping a giant gravity machine in the ocean to terraform the whole planet.  This should have been just as damaging for them as for us.

Granted, the incident didn't last very long before Superman stopped it, but I'm interested in what kind of response we may have seen if this wasn't the case.  Did they notice it's effects?  Did they realize what was happening?  Did they have any realistic chance of stopping it?

[Assistant] Maybe - Lex has footage of Aquaman. It's possible he acquired the footage when Aquaman came to investigate the location of the world engine that was pounding the Indian ocean, now the site of a LexCorp mining project.


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

[User] Why don't more larger animals have stingers like hornets or scorpions do?

[Assistant] Stingers are evolved from ovipositors, which are generally only useful in smaller creatures - once the egg gets to a certain size, it becomes impractical to extrude them like that. And without that underlying structure, larger creatures have no base from which to evolve stingers.


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

[User]
Will electrons switch places in an orbital? Does this even matter if electrons are identical?

To keep it easy, lets say you have a helium atom with just two electrons in the orbital. Will they ever swap spins? As in the one that is spin up will switch to spin down, while the other switches to spin up? Can you even tell if this happens if electrons are identical?

[Assistant]
>Does this even matter if electrons are identical?

No.

The total state vector for a multi-electron atom consists of a totally antisymmetric combination of all possible permutations of electrons.

So to say that "electron 1 in state 1" and "electron 2 in state 2", "swiched places", doesn't really mean anything.


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

[User]
[X-men] What are the properties of organic steel? When I hear "organic" it makes me think it has cells, DNA, etc...

... I guess a follow-up to this is; if it truly is organic, can Mystique or other shape shifters who can change their appearance down to the DNA level replicate this? Would it be true organic steel not just in appearance but in strength?

[Assistant] I assume that Organic Steel refers to normal steel (or some exotic supersteel alloy) that is created by organic processes. Mystique can only alter her appearance superficially, so there is no reason to believe she could reproduce Colossus's powers.


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

[User]
ELI5:  Why did we evolve our tails away?

As an outdoorsman, I feel like it would be so beneficial.  I could balance better when wading across slippery rocks and crossing logs, and I could smack away flies when I've forgotten my DEET.  In everyday life it would be pretty cool too.

[Assistant] Quadrapeds (four legs) use their tails for balance when walking, and as a rudder to stear while running at high speeds. Bipeds (two legs, two arms) like monkeys use their tails for balance as well as an extra gripper while climbing. Upright Bipeds (only walks on two legs) have a totally different balance to maintain; if we had tails, we would need to have them between our legs to keep from falling backwards. A tail that would maintain balance in an Upright Biped would be so short that it would not be useful for your needs, being maybe half a foot long.


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

[User] If you're underwater and shoot a gun, would the sound be louder in your ears than normal?  If so, by how much?

[Assistant] It would not be louder, but the sound would reach your ears faster because of the medium. The speed of sound in water is around 4x faster than in air due to particle density and vibration transferrence.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Who or what cleans up after large space battles?

The remains of ships and other debris must be dangerous floating around a planet or in the middle of space. Is there someone responsible for clean up?

[Assistant]
If it's near a large planetary body, gravity cleans it up. Most of the debris should burn up on atmospheric entry, and that's not even taking into account planetary shields or salvage crews.

Even if the battle takes place "in the middle of nowhere", salvage crews (from both sides) are still a thing. Whoever wins the battle gets control of the (former) battlefield, and is free to recuperate the costs of the battle by salvaging the remains of the ships. Also, third-party salvage crews, often consisting of smugglers and pirates, will definitely jump at the chance to get their hands on military-grade hardware.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do I get the uncontrollable urge to slap my knee or hit nearby object when I'm laughing really really hard?

It's only when I'm in a fit of stomach-hurting-nearly-pissing-myself-laughter. Why does it happen?

[Assistant]
Probably because is a learned behavior you picked up on as a kid. You saw your parents or other adults doing it. And like most kids wanting to be like their parents, or someone they admire, you likely copied them. Over time, it became a part of who you are.

Source: some dude who does the same exact random little things as an adult that his father does.


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

[User]
[Avatar] Is Katara the best water bender in the world?

I was thinking this over, and I don't think anyone except for Yakone and his sons really comes close.

She easily is ahead of Master Pakku who was supposed to be the best water bending teacher in the world.

Has Katara reached the top?

[Assistant]
Very likely, not counting either Aang or Korra. Within the span of a few weeks or a month, Pakku had nothing left to teach her and her waterbending was *still* more refined than Aang's by series end.

The only characters that might challenge her are Yakone and his family due to a technique that allows them to bloodbend without the need for a full moon.


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

[User] ELI5:How did people used to wake up early before alarm clocks?

[Assistant]
1) **Drinking water** - It used to be a common plan that when someone needed to wake up before sunrise they would just drink a great deal of water.  Full bladder would mean you'd wake up having to urinate.  History is full of pre-dawn raids and military attacks that used this method.
2) **Clepsydra** - Water clocks have been used for thousands of years.  They weren't clocks so much as timers.  You'd have a container that would leak a small amount of water, and then a floating bob would strike an alarm when the water lowered to a certain point.
3) **Knocker-Up** You could pay someone to stay up all night and then wake you in the morning.  Large factories often employed Knocker Ups for their employees.  And you could be guaranteed they wouldn't stop knocking until you were up.


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

[User]
ELI5:How does a mirror of a video make it harder to takedown?

On places like putlocker and other streaming sites they have mirrors of videos where the video is reflected horizontally. How does that make it harder for copyright infringement?

[Assistant]
These horizontally mirrored videos that you speak of are effective at evading many automatic detection systems that are designed to fingerprint copyright source material and automatically detect similar (potentially infringing) content that is posted to the site.

When the (audio) pitch is altered slightly and/or the video is mirrored horizontally, the 'fingerprint' of the original source material is no longer sufficient to identify the altered mirror video that is posted, thus these videos can remain on the site longer and evade detection until they are manually reported or discovered by one of the site's operators or content moderators.


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

[User] ELI5: It is said that children are (almost) immune to motion sickness up to the age of 2. Why?

[Assistant]
The main reason for motion sickness is our body has trouble reconciling the visual cues for no movement with the physical sensation of movement.  The difference causes our bod to freak out, and we throw up to expel whatever apparent poison we've consumed.

Children don't have the history to realize there is a discrepancy yet.


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

[User] Can the brain hold infinite information, or does it have a finite capacity once reached max you will have to start "forgetting/deleting" some of those information?

[Assistant]
As some others have pointed out, there is probably a theoretical upper bound for the information capacity of any amount of matter, brains included. More practically, the brain does have a vast ability to store information, but much of the time this involves condensing memories down into more efficient forms. For example, you probably don't have a very clear memory of most of the birds you've seen, but all of those experience have contributed to your representation of birds. Episodic memories (memories for specific events) are reconstructed based on cues, rather than stored in their entirety - this process leads to many of the well-documented biases in our memory.

Our ability to search our memory may impose more limits on what we remember than what the brain can actually store. To use an analogy, compare memory to the internet: to find something we input search terms into google (or bing, if you're Spider-Man). However, if our search terms aren't specific enough, we'll be drown in unwanted results. As more and more memories pile up in our brain, certain mnemonic cues will become less and less effective. This model of competition between different memories with the same cues is perhaps currently the most accepted theory to explain long-term forgetting. It also explains why suddenly receiving an unusually specific cue from the external world can trigger a vivid involuntary memory.


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

[User]
Does reduced volume increase rate of cooling?

Suppose 2 beakers filled with hot water.
Both have the same initial temperature.
The beakers have the same dimensions.
Beaker A contains 200 ml water and Beaker B contains 160 ml water.

Would Beaker B have a higher rate of cooling?

[Assistant] Yes, because the heat transfer is going to be a sum of all heat fluxes over surface area, and overall cooling will be balanced over volume.  With the same initial gradient, B has a higher surface area to volume ratio.  In this particular case most of the heat will be convected away by air, so the important surface is the circle on top (assuming cylindrical beaker).


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

[User] Why is it that my flight isnt any shorter when I'm travelling in the opposite direction to the Earths rotation?

[Assistant]
Because the atmosphere is rotating with the earth, and as a plane gets it's propulsion from sucking air through their engines, the rotation has no effect.

However, thanks to strong winds at high altitudes, called jet streams, sometimes a flight can be considerably quicker in one direction than the other for some routes.


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

[User]
How fast would one need to accelerate a container of air to make it bunch up to one side, creating a vacuum on the other?

Back when railroads were new, alarmists feared that the speed of the carriages going as fast as 20mph would create a deathly situation for the passengers.  This was obviously quite wrong.  But how quick of an acceleration WOULD be needed to start heaving the air in a contained space over to one side of it?

[Assistant]
For something like a planet with an atmosphere, you can define what's called a *scale height* which is the height at which the density is reduced to 36%. For planets, the simplest expression is h=kT/mg where m is the mass of the molecule, g is the gravitational field strength, k is Bolztmann's constant and T is the temperature. For Earth, this is roughly the height of Mt. Everest.

For a train you can replace g with the acceleration, and if you want h to be 10 meters, the acceleration would to be about 1700 g's.


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

[User] [DC] Did the Kents have to take any special precautions to keep baby/toddler Clark from killing them with his powers accidentally?

[Assistant]
In most timelines, Clark's powers grew gradually over time, so he wasn't a threat as an infant or toddler.

 But, in the timelines like Earth-1 before the Crisis on Infinite Earths, where baby Clark had powers, they also included super intelligence, which for a toddler was just enough smarts to not be a massive nuisance to the Kents.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does the color on my laptop monitor change when i look from a different angle?

[Assistant] The screen is made up of tiny little red green & blue lights that are meant to be seen from straight on.  When you start looking from an angle, some pixels show brighter than others causing the colors to shift...


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

[User]
ELI5 How do fruit flies just appear?

ELI5, Where do fruit flies come from? You have fruit that is between the over ripe and rotten stage and BOOM, 10,000 fruit flies. How did they get into my house?

[Assistant]
The fruit fly momma laid the eggs on the fruit before it was picked.  The eggs hatch when the fruit is over-ripe.

If you had eaten the fruit you would have eaten the fruit fly eggs.  This is perfectly normal, there are bug eggs in many things.  If bug eggs made us sick we would have never made it as a species.  Washing the fruit helps wash the eggs off.


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

[User]
How do we distinguish between sounds in our head and sounds in the real world?

Example: Say you thought of a song, Psycho Killer for example, and you think about that song in your head. You can sort of hear the song in your head. How do we tell the difference between these sounds and sounds we hear in the real world?

[Assistant] There are a large chain of neurons from the ear to the auditory cortex. Cochlear nucleus- olivary complex- inferior colliculus- medial geniculate body of the thalamus- auditory cortex. While these are a two way street in some regard, thinking of songs in your head would have less activation in the first three nuclei than actually hearing sounds do. These brainstem neurons are also what's responsible for the startle reflex, which bypasses the rest of the pathway and gets us moving in less than 50ms as opposed to the ~200 that the normal pathway takes. Therefore they have a direct signal to some part of the brain that basically says "sound coming through ear". Source M.S. Neuroscience. If you want actual sources try principals of neuroscience by Eric kandel. It's like three dictionarys strapped together though.


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

[User]
[Encanto] Nobody searched Bruno before?

How come Mirable was the first one to find Bruno broken prophecy in his room? It was just on the floor there, literally glowing. Nobody even tried to look in his room when he disappeared?

[Assistant]
The whole idea behind "we don't talk about Bruno" is that they don't want to know any prophecies.   They've confused cause and effect, and thus think that if they don't see a prophecy, it won't happen.

So, the one thing they'll absolutely not do, is search Bruno's room.  And if they happen to catch a glimpse of a glowing stone on the floor, they will very carefully and intentionally look the other way and ignore it.


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

[User] [Star Wars] I am a freelance slicer in the Star Wars universe. What are some cool use of my abilities outside of hacking trash compactors and finding prison cells?

[Assistant]
star wars is a wired, air-gapped society. They use unencrypted radio and intersteller data transfer only for basic coms, it seems.

What does this mean?

It means getting into security camera systems and turning them off, looping them, or redirecting their feeds. It means cracking doors and reprogramming droids and overriding starship locks and ownership checks. A good slicer can make any system theirs with just a little work. This includes the AT-AT attacking your base, if you can get up to the cabin's external maintenance hatches and hold on well enough. 0

What this also means is that slicers have to be present to do the work. a slicer can work miracles with any large, interconnected system, but there isn't a way to get into it from outside. You want to get into the grand Moff's office and steal his shit? You have to have a team with the right kind of people to physically get you inside. You want to steal the emperor's prized Naboo-an star yacht? gonna need you a pack of well trained idiots with a death wish, and preferably someone with a lightsaber.


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

[User]
[Game of Thrones] What House has the best shot of surviving as a democracy?

Empires rise and fall all the time. The ruling houses can't mantain feudalism and monoarchy going forever.

[Assistant] I would say House Stark pretty easily. The Starks are beloved in the North and have been for the last thousand years. The Starks have always been good, fair rulers of the North and the North remembers.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do some web pages don't go back to the previous page unless you continuously click the "previous page" button.

[Assistant]
Because what you think is the "previous page" isn't. In many cases, when you click on a link to a page, it redirects you to another page. Often this happens so fast you don't even realize it. Let's take three web pages:

* Page A - Contains a link to Page B
* Page B - automatically redirects to page C
* Page C - Final web page.

You start on Page A, click the link to Page B, it automatically redirects you to Page C. You don't even realize Page B is there and think Page A is the "previous page" when it is not.

However, your browser knows that Page B is the previous page. So when you click the "back" button, it takes you back to Page B, which just redirects you back to Page ~~A~~ C. If you repeatedly click the "back" button, you'll be able to go back to Page A because the browser will process the "back" request before processing the code on Page B that redirects you to Page C.