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

[User] [The Thing] Windows successfully transmits a message, detailing the location of the alien spacecraft & the presence of a shape-shifting alien entity loose in Outpost 31. Both American & Russian authorities receive it. What happens next?

[Assistant]
This was during the Cold War, remember.  Likely it would be interpreted as disinformation or some kind of coded message implying Russian interference.  A high-altitude flyover would confirm that the camp was destroyed and likely the location of the alien craft.

From there the US would deploy a special operations team, probably Navy SEALS launched from a ship, to reconnoiter and report their findings.  The team would encounter the various iterations of the critter and, one by one, become assimilated themselves.  The last man to go down would scream incoherently, ineffectually unloading his final bullets into the arctic void.

After 12 hours with no contact, a spotter on the Navy vessel would see a lone man staggering along an ice floe at the coast.  A rescue dinghy would bring the man aboard and take him to sickbay.

Once aboard, the Thing would quickly infiltrate the ship via pipes and air ducts and eventually assimilate the entire crew.  It would use the advanced electronics and machine shops available onboard to construct several usable spacecrafts.

As soon as they were spaceworthy it would launch itself off of this stinking frigid rock with its odd-tasting native life.  At long last it would get to return home and see its beloved mate.  However, it wouldn't reckon on the passage of so many millennia when it was trapped in the ice.  Its homeworld would have long ago been destroyed in a cataclysmic war.

Ultimately alone in the universe, the last of its species, it would drift in space, its many eyes and sensory organs staring blankly at infinite field of stars.  Perhaps as a remnant of its recent encounter with humanity, a bead of saline solution would form at the edge of one of its ocular stalks.  The liquid would slowly roll down its misshapen face, a final tear shed for a bygone race.


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

[User] [Arthurian Legend] Which sword is Excalibur? The sword in the stone? Or the sword from the Lady in the lake? Are they somehow the same sword?

[Assistant]
There are about as many versions of the legend as there are seats at the round table, so there isnt a true canon.

That being said, some modern versions that try to square the Lady of the Lake version with the Sword in the Stone version will have them be two separate swords. In these versions the sword in the stone is Caliburnus/Caliburn (actually just an archaic name for Excalibur) which he pulled to prove his worth as king, and he later received Excalibur from the Lady.


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

[User]
ELI5: If Russia is denying that the troops in Crimea are theirs, why would it be an international incident if someone attacked them?

Why all the WWIII and New Cold War fears if Russia isn't even claiming them?

[Assistant]
Russian Law allows their troops to be deployed internationally if Russian Passport holders are killed in foreign countries.

A lot of Crimean citizens have Russian Passports as well as Ukrainian, and you can bet these "Ukrainian Civilians" have them on them.


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

[User]
[The Suicide Squad 2021] Waller blackmailed by Bloodsport question

Quoting wikipedia, Bloodsport forces Waller to release him and the surviving squad members in exchange for keeping the contents of the drive confidential.

Why doesnt Waller just execute the four remaining members instead of giving in to Bloodsports blackmail? If Waller detonates the bombs in their heads, whos left to leak evidence to the press?

[Assistant] I think he uploaded it to a secure server that would release online if Bloodsport didnt stop it in a certain amount of time. If Waller did blow their heads no one would be able to stop it from uploading.


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

[User] To check whether or not an integer is even, I assume that checking its last binary digit is faster and more effective than performing the rest of division operation. Is there any language that takes advantage of this?

[Assistant] C *may* optimize `bool is_odd(int x) { return x % 2; }` to do exactly that, yes. Whether or not the optimization is performed is an implementation detail, and is dependent on the compiler used and the optimization flags passed to the compiler.


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

[User] ELI5: interval workouts are often recommended. Why is a 20 minute interval run peaking at say 80% better than running at 70-80% intensity for the full 20 minutes, which will probably result in a greater distance covered? What is the benefit of the short breaks?

[Assistant]
HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) takes advantage of how our bodies use energy. When we keep our heart rate high for too long, we begin to use glycogen as our main source of energy. Utilizing the rest period fluctuates your heart rate up and down, so we can continue to use stored fat as our main source of energy. This kind of exercise is super good for burning calories and creating a strong cardiovascular system, but not very good at building muscle mass.

HIT (High-Intensity Training) is better for overall strength training. However, it is a LOT harder on the body, and a LOT harder to accomplish for most people. It isn't so great for burning calories, and it puts a lot of stress on the cardiovascular system, so if you haven't done your due diligence in working up to that point, it's probably not that good for you.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do shampoo and conditioner work?

I was under the impression that hair was just dead cells. Do shampoo and conditioner actually have and affect on the cells? How do shampoo and conditioner differ in formula/purpose? Are some shampoos better than others or is it just marketing?

Anybody have any insight that isn't just what the shampoo companies themselves say?

[Assistant]
If you tried to wash your hair with water, not all of the oil would leave. This is because oil and water do not mix together. When you add special chemicals called detergents, the chemicals that clean things, they can fix the problem. This is because a detergent has two ends. One end likes water and one end likes oil. So, all of the ends that like oil gather around the oil. The ends that like water stick out of the outside of the ball, and water can wash them away.

Also, did you ever notice how water stays in a pile when you spill it on a table? Water is attracted to itself. Chemicals called 'surfacants' help the water get through your hair more easily because they make the water like other things more than itself.

There are also chemicals added to keep the mixture together called emulsifiers.

Shampoo also has a lot of stuff in it that makes it pretty and fun to use. Some shampoos are shiny and you can't see through them. There are chemicals that do that too. Titanium dioxide is used to make it harder to see through things. It is even used in sunscreens because the sun can't get through to hurt your skin.

But sometimes,when you clean your hair with detergent, you get rid of the good oils as well as the bad oils. This makes the hair brittle and makes the hair want to stick together. Chemicals like silicone in conditioner cover hair. Two strands of hair would stick to each other, but two hairs covered in silicone are slippery to each other.

Other chemicals can make a protein called keratin stronger in your hair. Like covering a broken brick wall in glue. There are also chemicals that add missing keratin to your hair like hydrolyzed proteins. It's like going over to a broken brick wall and putting bricks where there are bricks missing.

Different shampoos use different chemicals to do different things. So the best shampoo for you may not be the best shampoo for other people.

Marketing doesn't always tell the truth in a clear way. Like, if you broke a lamp and said 'it fell off of the shelf.' Technically, it did. But you bumped it causing it to fall. Marketing companies could say shampoo A cleans with chemical B. People think that means that chemical B cleans really well. But really, legally, it means that shampoo A cleans and shampoo A has chemical B. Sometimes, words are used to trick people on purpose.

So, some are better than others, but it sort of depends on what you like and what you need for your hair. A girl with lots of curly hair would use different shampoo and conditioner than a guy with short straight hair. The guy would have a lot of oil coming off of his scalp onto not a lot of hair so he could need more detergent. The girl with curly hair would be worried about her hair getting frizzy because of how curly it is, so she would want better conditioners that make her curls better. But that kind of conditioner would be a wasteful thing for the guy to buy.


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

[User]
ELi5: Why do things (walls, paper, art, etc) turn yellowish as they age? Why not blue or red or black?

Earlier today I was looking at an old newspaper that had become yellowed and I wondered why most everything I've seen left to age fades the same. Sometimes more pale yellow and sometimes a stronger yellow but I never see anything age in a different hue.

Is there a specific reason for this?

[Assistant] Colors are the product of chemicals that have many staggered double bonds in them.  When light hits a compound with these double bonds, it reflects a specific color back to you.  Over time, these chemicals oxidize and when light hits that oxidized chemical, you get the yellowing.  Yellow is the most oxidized compound reflecting light back whereas the darker colors are the least.


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

[User] [Community] If the ass crack bandit was caught what legal consequences could they face?

[Assistant] In a normal court, sexual harassment and sexual assault. Possibly some menacing and stalking charges too. In a greendale court expulsion, death penalty, and academic probation or being forced to attend summer school.


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

[User] ELI5: How can modern aircraft fly on just one engine if the other one fails? Shouldn't the torque produced by the functioning engine make the aircraft yaw?

[Assistant]
Yes, the aircraft will naturally want to yaw due to the asymmetric thrust. However, this can be compensated for by the controls turning into the yaw to keep it going straight.

There is a speed, called minimum control speed (Vmca), where there aerodynamic forces from the controls are not powerful enough to counteract the yaw if the aircraft is allowed to slow below this.


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

[User]
Can you climb a rope on a spinning spaceship?

Here's a more fleshed-out version of the question:

Let's say you're on a wagon-wheel-like spaceship that's spinning such that the (sorry) centrifugal force inside the 'wheel' (where the crew would be) is equivalent to 1G. Now let's say you're climbing around the outside of the wheel, using handholds that you're tethered to with a metal cable. If you fell off, you'd be hanging off the wheel by the cable, spinning 'below' the wheel relative to the center of the wheel. In this circumstance, would you still be able to climb back up the cable, or is there some weird interaction with vacuum or spinning reference frames or some other weird space thing that would prevent this? Thanks!

[Assistant]
I don't see why not. The rope would be a little J shaped due to Coriolis effect, but you could climb it just fine.

As far as reference, if you're holding onto the rope it would just look like the spaceship weren't spinning the the universe around you was, just like on a merry-go-round.

The only real strange thing is the spaceship would need an equal counterbalance exactly your weight+the rope's weight or it would have a funky rotation as it spins.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do you sometimes get tiny muscle spasms in specific places, like a tiny spot on your thigh or a finger twitch?

[Assistant] The body fires an electrical charge through your nervous system as your brain commands for movement. No one is quite sure what causes a twitch or a cramp due to the randomness of it happening (Hard to investigate in a lab). But the theory behind it  is that these electrical charges are being randomly sent off to affect the muscle to move. Due to your self not wanting to move it it dosn't fully contract.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do my fingernails need trimming much more frequently than my toenails, do they really grow like 5 times faster?

[Assistant] They do grow much faster. A lost fingernail will grow back in about 4-6 months while a toenail will take up to a year and a half to grow back. As for why, no one's 100% sure, but it's believed to be due to greater usage of fingernails (more wear and tear) and the hands being closer to the heart (more nutrients).


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

[User]
[Marvel/MCU] Why isn't Captain America able to wield Mjlnir?

Why isn't Captain America able to wield Mjlnir? It goes without saying that there was obvious comedic value to the scene in Avengers 2, but of all the avengers it would seem to me that Cap is the most moral.

Could it be because the hammer can sense that Cap's patriotism might skew his perception?

[Assistant] Captain America could be able to wield Mljolnir, there is no "half worthy" that allows you to budge the hammer. Cap is just really modest and didn't want to upset Thor, the look of defeat on his face when he "can't" lift it looks pretty forced.


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

[User]
Since gender is a social construct, does that mean if the construct didn't exist, gender dysphoria wouldn't exist?

Hey guys, there's a lot of confusing terminology for a lay person flying around lately, and I'm trying to piece together everything I've been hearing about gender and related issues.

I've heard that gender is a social construct, like race, meaning that the category distinction (male/female/etc) is socially constructed and maintained and separable from physiological facts. And that category membership transcends physiological facts by informing behavior and societal treatment and things.

Does this mean that if our culture lacked these categories and the social structure that surrounds them that gender dysphoria wouldn't exist? Or would there still be issues stemming from brain-body mapping (as I have heard that gender dysphoria is predicated on)?

[Assistant]
Something being a social construct does not stop it from being loaded with meaning both to others and to the individual who operates within that category. That meaning could be a positive attachment or a source of stress if the label does not quite fit.

In Judith Butler's book "Gender Trouble" the author makes the argument that if we detach the symbols from a shared coherent meaning we would be freer to act as we wish without the constraints that those categories impose on us.

So if there was no male or female these categories wouldn't mean anything. So an individual with gender dysphoria would be free to behave  in a way more closely aligned to their own preferences rather than in a way that follows a set of norms.

To illustrate:
Alex has gender dysphoria. Alex was labeled male at birth. Alex likes to bake cupcakes, wear mascara, and read to children. As it stands Alex faces social sanctions for engaging in those behaviors because of the label. Taking away the label of male should then take away the norm and the sanctions for violating that norm.


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

[User]
CMV: Wanting to defund the police is misguided

Police brutality is no less possible when the police have less funding. If anything, police will feel more afraid with fewer resources and potentially more likely to use aggression. Instead, police need better training. They need to learn about de-escalation. they need to have fact finding missions at other western police forces like in europe. They need to spend time and money introspecting and developing into a protect and serve force. They need to watch these videos of how police could have done things differently and give officers continual training on situations that they consider to be high risk. they need to listen to external speakers come in and teach them on psychology and race relations etc. what they don't need to do is have money taken from them simply because they've performed poorly. That's not how public services should work.

[Assistant]
If schools can have their budgets reduced for not performing, so can police departments.

If spending in schools doesnt correlate to better education results, then so can spending in police departments not correlate to better policing results.

If a police department enjoys unchecked power and an extraordinary budget, the quickest way to put their power in check is via the purse strings. This is also the power that congress wields, and their primary means of control over government. Sometimes they cannot control the actions of people, they can only remove the funding for those people to do those actions on government funding.

The same applies to a police department. If they think their actions will have real consequences through a reduced budget, they will naturally work to fix those issues and get their money back. Money is a powerful motivator, and withholding money sends the most powerful message many states/local bodies can send.


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

[User]
CMV: as a parent it is your responsibility to care for your child to the best of your ability even after they turn 18

When you make the choice to become a parent, you are choosing to take on responsibility for another human being in perpetuity. That child did not choose to be born, you chose to have them and as such you owe them your care to the best of your ability. You have to feed them, house them, clothe them, not just until theyre 18 but until you have done what you can to adequately prepare them to take care of themselves and you cannot and should not make them feel guilty for that. Kicking your child out at 18 because theyre an adult is wrong. Turning 18 doesnt magically make you responsible enough to care for yourself. I also think you have an obligation to educate them to the best of your ability. If you can afford to send your child to college, you should be paying for it. College helps prepare kids to be self sufficient and independent and as a parent its your duty to help your kids become those things. Obviously people have different financial situations and not all parents can provide the exact same support to their kids as others might be able to, but to the best of your ability you owe your kids support, financial, emotional, physical, etc. Also quite frankly, its normally parents who do have the financial means to support their kids that are the most stingy. Theyll say they want to teach their kids to work hard, but are making life for them unnecessarily difficult. This is especially true of rich parents who deny financial support for things like college, but because of their financial means are disqualifying their kids for aid theyd qualify for if they were on their own.

Now if you have done everything within your power to prepare your child to support themselves and they are still expecting a hand out that is one thing, but otherwise, you chose to have a child, you need to take care of them.

[Assistant]
>You have to feed them, house them, clothe them, not just until theyre 18 but until you have done what you can to adequately prepare them to take care of themselves

A good parent will have adequately prepared their child to take care of themselves by the time they turn 18 and graduate from high school. So long as they've done so, then by your own logic the parents don't have to continue taking care of the kid beyond 18.


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

[User] [Avatar 2] Left with no choice the humans return home and amass a more powerful force to return to Pandora. They move away from the slow tactics that lead to there defeat. What weapons and tactics do they bring back to defeat the Navi.

[Assistant]
Tactical orbital bombardment of major Navi settlements and drone strikes. There is absolutely no need to go toe to toe with the Navi, and in fact it's quite dangerous to do so. Nuclear weaponry would be unlikely for several reasons. One is that it would make unobtanium harder to mine if the landscape were irradiated. Two is that large numbers of nuclear strikes could have disastrous effects on the planets weather patterns. Remember, there are a LOT of Navi, and nuking all of them would be send the planet into a nuclear holocaust.

Conventional bombing would do the trick. The Navi live in trees for the most part, and don't have much of a defense against standard bombing. They're not about to run into a cave system to take shelter, at least not at first. On top of that they have no defenses against bombs whatsoever. None. They can't shoot the bombs out of the sky with ordinance of their own. If bombs are being dropped from high enough they won't even have the capacity to reach the bombers themselves (as everything they fly on can only do so whilst there's an atmosphere for them to do so).

Drones would be ideal at mopping up survivors. They'd move faster than any of the Navi rides and would have a shitload more firepower. On top of that they can fire from miles away with exceptional accuracy. The Navi wouldn't stand a chance.

The real issue would be that eventually the humans are going to want to mine for unobtanium. If they don't eradicate *all* the Navi (and they won't be able to as it's a big planet) then there's a high likelihood of reprisal from the survivors. This is where the real issue comes into play for the humans. Fortifying the mines would be difficult and costly, which means they're going to want to limit the number of mines that they have.

In all likelihood, the humans would bomb the crap out of the large unobtanium deposit, which is the big soul tree thing, to kill vast numbers of Navi there, and then land and start mining it. They could spend a lot of resources on fortifying that area while still maintaining a cost effective project. Any Navi that come close would be subjected to bombardment and drone strikes.

After destroying the cultural center of the Navi, the humans would attempt to subjugate the remaining survivors. After a few generations in the Navi would have lost a lot of their will to fight, and lost a lot of their old culture. Broken Navi would be used as labour in new mines. Humans would attempt to get Navi hooked on something that only the humans could provide. Drugs, booze, something like that.

Essentially it would be cultural genocide through the initial use of overwhelming force, and then through cultural trappings and re-education. Humans would sell the whole thing as trying to make the Navi civilised.


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

[User] What is the position that what is moral is what is legal?

[Assistant] There is no such position with any currency in ethics, because such as position is transparently hopeless. It would mean, for instance, that there could never be unjust laws, but one of the paradigms for moral wrongness is unjust laws.


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

[User]
Why are there pills for some allergies but not others? Example: there are pills for seasonal allergies but not for peanut allergies.

Got my first mosquito bite of the summer today! Itches like a mother lover. I applied some anti-itch cream which seemed to help, but I couldn't help but wonder why we have pills for certain types of allergies and not for, say, a mosquito saliva allergy.

Am I missing something here? Are all allergies really that different? If so what makes them that way?

[Assistant]
There are.

The problem with some allergic reactions eg peanuts, is the rate of onset of the reaction.  This is mostly due to either the concentration of the the allergen or the host's sensitivity to a particular allergen.

Your seasonal allergy medicine is designed to work against a relatively low level of physiological reaction (low concentration of antigen or lower immune response).  Meanwhile, high dose epinephrine (eg. EpiPen) can counter the inflammatory response to a high level allergic reaction.

The main reason that we don't take those medications on a continual preventative basis is that the side effects include all sorts of bad things up to and including cardiac arrest.  So most of the time, people are better off waiting until they start having a reaction and then taking their medicine, if they have a known allergy problem.


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

[User] [HHGTTG] Arthur eventually figures out how to fly, or well, not hit the ground. For anyone that might spot him on Earth, this is a superpower. What other such superpowers are available in that universe?

[Assistant] Later in the series (I forget if it's the books or the radio drama) they find a planet with a monumental statue of Dent throwing a tea cup. It's explained that the tea cup is suspended by "the power of art". As long as people consider it art, they don't need to understand how it works. Perhaps a charismatic artist could do the same, building contraptions that defy regular physics, sneaking by under the banner of Art.


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

[User]
ELI5: What does it mean when physicists say the Universe is flat?

Currently in an astronomy class i took for fun (not nearly as fun as i thought), but many interesting concepts come up such as this one. How is the universe flat?

[Assistant]
Essentially, it means that the universe mostly follows the principles of Euclidean geometry except in localized areas.

That is to say--a triangle light-years across will have internal angles that add up to 180 degrees. If the universe was not flat, this would not be true and what appears to be a straight line would actually be a curved line.

More practically--this means that if you look and see a star off in the distance, you can be reasonably sure that the star is actually in that direction and the light isn't following a curved path to get to us.

Gravity, particularly extreme sources of gravity, can warp space-time into non-flat sections; that's where you get stuff like gravitational lensing.


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

[User]
What ways can a your software development/computer science knowledge make money?

Outside of a job working for a company or freelancing online as an employee or contractor.

What other options are possible for a software developer to make money using their programming/computer science skills/background?

[Assistant] Build a pure API SaaS. If you are familiar with building Serverless applications, on AWS, you can start off spending $0 and scale up with your income from said App, pretty much zero cost of entry except time spent developing. Some quick ideas like product ratings/reviews, appointment management, reminder service etc. would be quick enough to build out.


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

[User] [Transformers]Why is Soundwave so loyal to Megatron?

[Assistant] He is a zealot and sees Megatron as a prophet. Most of the Decepticons were treated as second class citizens in their home world, sent to do what no one else wanted, specifically being expendable soldiers, and later gladiators to entertain the elite masses. Because of this, we can assume they didn't had a good life, which led to their rebellion. One day, he hears about this guy Megatron that talks about equality, and even has some "middle class" with him, like Optimus, and decides to join them. When the group turns hostile he finds an outlet for his pent up anger and a "productive" way to use his skills, so he finds a style of life that he feels comfortable and thinks he is doing a difference, helping in any way he can to the magnanimous Megatron against those treators Autobots.


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

[User]
If a recently deceased human corpse is placed in the sun will it get sun burned?

And if so when is the average cutoff time where the process of skin becoming sunburned will cease to take place?

Edit: since there seems to be a lot of confusion not physically inside the sun but on earth in direct sunlight.

[Assistant]
The redness of a sun burn is caused by blood rushing to the surface in an attempt by the body to save the injured skin.

The damage is caused by the sun

So a corpse would get a sun burn, but their skin wouldn't turn red like it would while the body is alive.

Essentially whether or not your heart is still pumping would be the main variable in whether or not you get red skin in the sun.


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

[User]
ELI5: How closed-source applications can exist.

Shouldn't it be possible to reverse-engineer the source code of anything? How can computers execute code that they can't see?

[Assistant]
Think of a program as being like a house. A house needs to be built from a blueprint so the people working on it know how to built it. However, even if they've seen a similar house before, they don't necessarily know how to build it just by looking at another one, even if it's exactly the same as the new one is supposed to be.

A source code is the blueprint of a program. When it goes through a process called "compiling", the computer turns the source code into an executable program much like how the construction workers change the blueprints into a house. However, the executable doesn't look just like the source code, as the source code is built to be a human readable code equivalent to what the computer can read while the executable is what it looks like after it is translated to the computer's own language. This makes it so other programmers don't know how to reproduce it just by looking at the executable program.

Reverse engineering is theoretically possible with anything, but it isn't always easy, as you are trying to build a blueprint based on looking at the final product. It's kind of like figuring out the instructions on a piece of furniture that you didn't get assembly instructions for: possible, but it'll take some time to figure it all out and you probably won't get every step worded exactly like the original instructions.


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

[User]
ELI5: why I can't use a mechanical pencil on the ACT/SAT.

Also, why can't I just work at my own pace instead of starting and stopping?

[Assistant]
The pencils are restricted to make sure that the machine that grades the tests can read it.  It's also possible to hide stuff inside a mechanical pencil, which they want to avoid.

The sections are timed so that the exam is standardized between students.  Each student spends the same amount of time on each section.  It also prevents you from spending too much time on the first parts and running out of time on the others.


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

[User] If we are able to interact with objects in 2 or 3 dimensions, could something in a fifth dimension interact with our fourth dimension without us knowing?

[Assistant] Imagine a piece of paper. Everyone in Paperland knows only those two dimensions, not the third. Imagine that piece of paper is placed at the center of a spinning wheel - centrifugal force would cause everyone in Paperland to be pulled away from the center of the paper and toward the edges, but *nobody in Paperland would know why the hell this was happening!*


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

[User]
[DBZ/S] Have the z-fighters actually learned any new hand to hand techniques lately?

I know they've powered up immensely but i don't recall them learning new hand to hand techniques. Their sparring seems no different at the end of series than beginning. I know that goku had displayed the peak of hand to hand technique during his fight with raditz: full Nelson.

Have they maxed out fighting forms so now all that matters is ki power ups? I never see them grapple much either.

[Assistant]
In terms of raw hand to hand, they're honestly not great. Oh, Tien's got technique and Yamcha's got good moves, but they all moved on to focus on harnessing ki rather than improving themselves early on.

Hell, the Turtle School doesn't actually *teach* any martial arts techniques. Roshi didn't teach any of his students how to punch, kick, or throw. They came to him knowing the basics and he didn't enhance that any. What the Turtle School *does* do is turn you into a superhuman by forcing you to undergo insane physical training to the point where a teenager can move several tons, jog to every house in an island town without getting tired, and tank mighty blows. Of the named Turtle School physical techniques that Roshi, Grampa Gohan, and Goku all used... Well, they're all jokes. A rock-scissors-paper punch. Pretending to be a mad cow.

No, the Z-fighters aren't skilled melee fighters. They're considered skilled fighters because they're *insanely fast, strong, agile, and durable* while using the basics of martial arts. When you're fast enough to block or dodge anything that comes your way, though, it's easy for someone to think that it's all skill and that you've left no openings. And, while your defense has no openings, it's because you're fast enough to see any attack coming and react accordingly. Not because you've got a stance or any special technique that makes it impossible to attack you. It's like saying the Flash is a skilled fighter because there isn't a martial artist alive who can clock him on the jaw.

Of course, once you factor in ki techniques, they're all fucking *geniuses*. Prodigies on a scale that the world's never seen before.


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

[User]
[Cyberpunk 2077] Why do so many people seem to want to come to Night City, it sucks here?

I met these two guys, I think their names were V and Jackie, and after they brought back my stolen pistol I talked with them a bit.

V apparently was a nomad, and he always wanted to come to NC.

Jackie grew up in NC, and he said he couldnt imagine being anywhere else.

After the two obviously insane individuals left, I tried to wrap my head around their mindset. I couldnt, so Im asking the Net.

Why the hell would *anyone* willingly live here? Corpos can do whatever they want, every single cop is corrupt as fuck, gang members face little resistance, cyberpsychos are relatively common, etc. I only live here because I was born here, Im trying to get out before I get skewered by some psycho.

[Assistant] Have you seen what else is there? Wastelands, there are other cities, but pretty much everything in between them is inhospitable, if you want even a chance at a good and comfy life, Night City is your best shot.


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

[User] ELI5: why do clothes get hard if you hang them to dry?

[Assistant] There will be a little bit of residue in the water left on the fibres in the clothes. As they dry, that residue, soap scum, salts from water hardness, etc will dry out and weakly glue the fibres together so they don't slide over each other easily. A bit of wear or handling will break those bonds.  Starch does the same thing when you deliberately want something like a crisply ironed shirt.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do games come out later in Europe even if that's where they were developed?

[Assistant]
A lot of it will come down to the translation. For a game to be released in the whole of Europe, the game has to be translated into many, many different languages. Whereas in America, you maybe have just Spanish and French alongside the English.

Another interesting trend to note is that games are often released on Fridays in the EU, and Tuesdays in the USA.

But mainly, it's down to localisation. The cultural differences are much wider in the EU, so more changes will have to be made.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why pee is yellow

I mean whatever we eat or drink our pee is always yellow. So makes our pee yellowish...

[Assistant]
The coloring in your urine is primarily caused by the pigment urochrome.

Urochrome is created when your body processes dead blood cells in your liver, and exits your body mostly through your urinary tract.

The more water you drink, the more diluted the  urochrome will be, and thus makes lighter colored pee. Keep in mind that there are a *lot* of factors that contribute to the color of your pee; vitamins, minerals, hormones, and diet are just some of the things that can change your urine color.


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

[User]
[evil dead] what makes ash unpossessable

What makes ash unpossessable

Or can he be possessed?

Im not sure he is either very lucky (sunlight purifying him) or very powerful (chopped his hand off) but even then

Why didnt the sun purify citizen deadites that were in the sun?

[Assistant]
It's mostly Ash being a sort of Chosen One. Whether being the chosen one adds an extra layer of resistance on top of his will power or he's the chosen one simply because of his will power is unknown. But the sun did help.

The first one hit him the hardest, because he was not only blindsided by it, but also because he hadn't quite "snapped," yet. But deadites are shown to largely, if not exclusively, function in the dark. So its certainly possible sunlight is some sort of bane to them. In Ash's case, it was enough for him to fight back and subdue the darkness within him.

After that, the darkness around him tried to torment him. Not only out of fun, but to break his will. When he wasn't breaking the way it would like, it concentrated itself in his hand, in an effort to kill him and take over his corpse. This backfired, as after finally snapping, his will was as strong as ever.

After that, it was established that although the darkness may be able to affect his body (such as growing an evil twin from him), it's not powerful enough to ever take full control of him. And anything the darkness does to affect his body clearly hasn't been worth the effort.


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

[User]
Since Covid-19 can cause heart and neurological problems, could other corona viruses (or common cold bugs) cause similar damage?

Is Covid-19 that different? Or are we more focused on the affects?

[Assistant]
The primary difference between betacoronaviruses (SARS, MERS, and SARS-COV2) from the other known coronaviruses is their effect on the vitamin D receptor in the lungs that sets of a rampant systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). It is this inflammation and the free radicals associated with it that can do so much damage to our nerves, blood vessels, and multiple organ systems.   Source: Im a physician in the USA.

Any infection that causes such an extreme response  from our body ( for which some people are genetically  predisposed ) will result in many of the unusual outcomes as in covid-19: blood clots, retina damage, amputations, etc.


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

[User] [General Fanstasy] Why does everyone keep their swords on their back? And how do they pull them out?

[Assistant]
there is actually a clever trick to that. While you pull your sword up with your dominant hand, you reach back with your other hand and pull the scabbard *downwards*, thus, shortenning the distance you have to pull the sword.

Also, you might have noticed that it is mostly the people who fight and travel on foot, who carry their swords that way, since it does not clank against your hip, like when the sword is attached to your belt. Cavalarymen are more accustomed to drawing from hip.

Another aspect is that sufficiently long swords (like a zweihander or a claymore) are very awkward when hung from a hip, since the tip drags on the ground that way.


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

[User] ELI5: With China's population why do they not give away the housing and property in their "ghost cities"?

[Assistant] China has a complicated political/economic system; the reason "they" don't give away the houses is that China *does* have the concept of ownership and the people who own the properties don't want to give them away.


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

[User] [Star Wars] How has Captain Phasma not been demoted? She gave the Rebels the codes to disable the shield and failed to deal with a single rogue stormtrooper.

[Assistant] From the novelizations, 1) she has a very tight relationship with Hux, 2) she found someone else to throw under the bus, and 3) she hunted down and destroyed the surviving evidence of her screwup. The latter two gave her a credible out, the former meant that her story wasn't put under a massive amount of scrutiny.


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

[User]
[WH40K] Is Adamantium just Titanium?

While going through an ancient manifest, I noted the existence of a metal known as Titanium. This is the first time that we've come across said metal but at the same time there are no records of the holy metal known as Adamantium. I pose the question as I believe this may in fact be a similar situation as Promethium and Petroleum.

[Assistant]
=I= Thought for the day: Knowledge is to be feared! =I=

It is dangerous to attempt to draw parallels between our past metallurgical processes and those sanctified by Our Holy Emperor. Even if it the metals seem similar, be not fooled! Adamantium is the only substance strong enough to meet His will, and its formation is a much guarded secret by the Adeptus Mechanicus. The appropreate data charts from the Administratum (forms L-213-[REDACTED], L-214-[REDACTED]) show that the foundries that produce His Adamantium require several minerals and compounds. It is possible that the ancient and unknowable processes for this.. Titanium.. are used as a base, but Adamantium is far more than a mere alloy, and it draws strength from our very faith!

Promethium is not Petroleum. Petroleum is but one substance that may be used in the production of Promethium, blended and refined by Tech-Priests for use in the mighty engine that is Imperial progress.


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

[User]
What is the bench-press equivalent of a push up (%body weight)?

Is this a stupid question? I don't think so, because the answer isn't your body weight because of weight distribution being partly/largely on your feet.

Standard push up, X body weight. It will vary with time (i.e. the angle you are currently at), and would depend on your particular weight distribution/height/etc. ... but ballpark, what would be the range of weight you would be benching for an average person of weight M and height H doing a push-up?

If you were evenly weight distributed (nope), then at the bottom of the push up you would be supporting about half of your weight (not factoring in the additional moment formed form your head being above your arms.

I want to know a ballpark, it would be useful for those who don't have gym access and want to translate their results (or want to move their work out routine from push ups to the gym)

**TDLR: my title is my question**

[Assistant]
Are you asking how much weight you push when you do a pushup?

Get a bathroom scale, put your hands on in while doing a pushup and watch the numbers. Put a book or something under your toes to make you level like when you do a pushup. From there it would be easy to see what % and amount.


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

[User]
ELI5: Which way should I tilt my head to stop a nosebleed, and why?

I've heard very different and conflicting opinions on this throughout my life, so I'm asking f/eli5 to settle this once and for all.

[Assistant]
Forward, while applying pressure of the bridge of your nose or using a cool damp, clean, cloth to slow the bleeding by holding to your nose.

Leaning backwards may cause the blood to drain into your nasal sinus, down into the pharynx, and into your esophagus. Too much blood ingested might make you sick to your stomach and vomit.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does bruising a fruit make it go bad?

[Assistant]
When you get a bruise on your arm, your body reabsorbs the blood from damaged vessels through various means.
If you cut your arm off, theres no immune system or circulatory system available to respond, so the blood in the bruise rots and spreads to the rest of your arm.

Its kinda like that.


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

[User]
[Marvel/DC] Have there ever been any major heroes or villains who have died and stayed dead?

Since one of the Battleworld posters, for Years of Future Past, has shown that wolverine most definitely is not going to remain dead for much longer, I was just wondering whether there were any heroes or villains in either universe which never made some form of ridiculous come back?

[Assistant]
Captain Marvel died of cancer back in the 80s; he has stayed dead. (They were acting like he'd been brought back a few years ago, but it turned out to be a Skrull sleeper agent.)

Also, Jean Grey has stayed dead for a surprisingly long time now - it's been more than a decade since she died in Morrison's New X-Men.


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

[User]
What do the chemicals in Fracking do?

Why do they need all the chemicals? Can't they just frack with regular water?

[Assistant]
Some of them are surfactants, or in other words, soaps. The water really don't want come in contact with oil-soaked rock, so pure water would not enter the smallest cracks. As the sand is carried by the water, this means that the sand would not enter the smallest cracks, and they would collapse once the pressure was removed, so gas could not flow through them.

To avoid this, surfactants are added, which are basically molecules with one water-like end and one oil-like end. The oil-like end can coat the oil-soaked rock, leaving a water-like surface that the water can wet. This allows the water to enter the small cracks, and they are thus filled with sand and can't collapse.

On a different note, using pure water would not solve the problem. A lot of fracking fluid leaves the well though the bore hole once the pressure is removed. This fluid have been in contact with oil-soaked rock, and will contain plenty of oil hydrocarbons, even if we started with pure water. Dealing with this water is one of the big environmental problems with fracking.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What was the point of building the Death Star's shield generator on a planet?

Pretty straight forward question. Was the planet somehow more defensible than the station? Was it impractical to build a shield in space in if not inside the Death Star? Was it a temporary measure until it's completion? From a strategic perspective, it seems harder to defend a section of the planet from being bombarded from orbit or a ground assault given that the Empire can't bombard the area around it's generator. I can understand if it's a circular defensive where the Death Star syncs with the planets rotation to defend generator and the generator shields the station, but what's the point when the Death Star jumps to other places?

[Assistant]
The shield generator was the first thing they built, to protect the death star during its very initial stages of construction. It looks like a small installation but remember Han Solo used only the back door (heh) of a massive underground installation.

It makes sense from a strategic point, the shield generator engulfs the outpost as well as the death star, so an orbital bombardment wouldnt destroy the base, the only way to destroy it is to sneak in and disable it. So long as the native creatures dont think your droid is a God...

When the Deathstar is finished it would have been able to provide its own shields.

Now the real question is: If you need an elite small team strike force to disable the station why the fuck would you pick the smuggler, our own princess, a random wookie smuggler, some guy who just says hes a Jedi and the princesses bro, and two droids not designed for that terrain?


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

[User]
Why don't people who are going through cancer treatment also lose their fingernails and toenails?

I was at the zoo one time, and learned that rhinoceros horns, finger/toenails, and human hair are basically made of the same substance. So why don't people who are going though radiation treatment also lose their nails?

[Assistant] The nails aren't completely unaffected. You can sometimes see the effects of chemo "banded" in the nails. The growth during the time of chemo may be evident in the character of the nail while the growth before and after may look "normal." It can cause discoloration and can affect the nail beds and cuticles as well. Google image searches turn up some of the more dramatic examples.


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

[User] ELI5: How does some plastic and some nail polish hardens with UV?

[Assistant]
Here is one way to do it....simplified ELI5.

The chemical you use is just a little bit unstable.  Molecules of this chemical want to be attached to other molecules but they need a little push of energy.  THat push of energy can be UV light (other types of light don't have enough energy to 'activate' the molecule).

The UV light causes the molecule to get active enough to attach to another molecule.  If you do this enough, you wind up with all of the molecules hooked to each other in a giant mesh, so its one big solid network rather than lots of smaller individual molecules.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do I get lightheaded when I stretch my body?

Even stretches where my head doesn't go below my waist, like having one leg up on a beam and leaning forward, I always get lightheaded and have to stop. Why is that?

[Assistant]
Stretching tells your body to put more blood in a certain area. This decreases the pressure in other parts, like your head. Imagine your body is a long, semi-inflated balloon that's almost completely deflated at one end. When the balloon sends some of the air to the deflated portion, the rest of the balloon bets slightly less inflated as a result.

The lightheadedness is caused by a slight drop in blood pressure. Eventually, your brain gets used to it and you get back to normal thinking abilities.

IANADoctor, so there's probably a more in-depth explanation, but this is ELI5.


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

[User] [Wheel Of Time] If taveren are made by the Pattern, why do people constantly say they can change it? Isnt this just predestination?

[Assistant]
This is explained in the books.  Free will exists.   The pattern allows people to make their own decisions and wave them into the pattern.    But only so much.  A farmer who decides tomorrow to become King is almost always just SOL.  Unless there is a Ta'veren involved

It chooses to make a ta'veren when it needs to.  Their choices are both more limited in that the pattern has twisted fate around them, but the scope of change their decisions create in their life is far greater than that of a normal person.

More, a Ta'veren causes the fate of other people who have crossed their path.   Their fat e is sharply altered, the array of choices before them greater.

Finally, the worlds accessed by the pillars show that alternate patterns exist.  There are worlds of could have been.  There, events different than the one we follow play out.  We only see one example one of a damaged and fading world where Trollocs won centuries ago.

Like Fixed Points in Dr Who, the pattern has fixed points.  Yet everyone has different destinies in front of them to chose from.

One explicit instance when Rand meets the monarchs of the borderlands in a place where he cannot channel.  They slap him and ask him a question, and have been given a prophecy to slay him if he cannot answer true.  The pattern has prepared at least two paths for him.  One if Rand had given up and turned to the Dark One.  One in which he embraced the light on the summit of the dragonmount.   And it left the monarchs the choice to try to slay him or not either way he answered.

The What If tales in Randland occurred, we will just never know them as the narrative we has is built of the choices people there made.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it impossible for a human/animal to breed with another species?

Bit of a weird one, just would like to know the science behind it.

[Assistant]
Your genes are basically a recipe for making you, and are created by combining the recipes for making your parents into a new receipe.

When two recipes are close, like German chocolate cake and red velvet cake, when you combine them together, you are skill likely to get some kind of cake, even if it is an unusual one no one has seen before.  But if the recipes are too different, like German chocolate cake and chicken cacciatore, all you will get is some inedible mess.

Your genes work the same way, you can only make a new creature if the recipes for the parents are very similar.


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

[User] ELI5:Why are there no nuclear-powered spaceships?

[Assistant]
It is technically possible and most space vessels already have a small nuclear reactor called Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG).

The reasons why we are not using them exclusively for propulsion are mostly political. Project Orion did research a nuclear powered spacecraft and was canceled due to the Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT) of 1963 which prohibits any nuclear tests that are not underground.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why is a "cocktail" of 3 drugs required to put someone to death when a pet is euthanized with and OD of anesthetic

Is the anesthetic considered cruel and not suitable for a human?

[Assistant]
Mostly, it's considered unreliable.

In the cocktail, the first thing administered is an anesthetic, and it is more than enough to OD and kill. They use about 14 times the normal dose. Even without the other two parts, they wouldn't live. They are knocked out within seconds from this first drug.

Next is a paralytic (makes muscles stop working, like the ones used to breathe). Again, more than enough to kill is given.

Finally, a drug is introduced to stop the heart.

The final two are very unpleasant unless you are first knocked out, but they are sure-fire ways of killing. The anesthetic is a humane way to knock them out first, and will kill on it's own, but is not reliable enough to be used by itself.


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

[User]
[JRPGs] Why are eastern heroes such a larcenous lot?

I mean, what's the deal with these guys? Every JRPG hero you come across, from Link to the Luminary (and a whole lot of other letters besides) races through town smashing pots and barrels and rummaging through peoples closets and drawers, grabbing everything that strikes their fancy (including undergarments from time to time).

I know that Western heroes do the same from time to time, but they typically have the stench of evil on them, a criminal archetype to them (that, or a penchent to slaughter/reload). And the guards typically respond if they're caught. But these JRPG heroes come through town striding tall like they're they're the heroes of the world, and then they go around and steal everything that isn't nailed down... and nobody pays them any mind.

Why is this?

[Assistant]
Are you going to say something to that guy with that massive sword, his big black friend with a minigun arm and that red lion or whatever that thing is and who can also summon shit like bahamuth. Ifrit or Knights of the round when he takes your  undergarments ?
I know i wouldn't.


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

[User] [Magic: The Gathering] What exactly is "The Roil" on Zendikar?

[Assistant]
It's a traveling volitality of extreme climate and geographical upheaval that moves across the plane as a result of its unique mana. Weather rapidly changes, land rises and falls, and oceans fill and dry in its wake. It's the primary reason why Zendikar remains so wild and untamed; you can't even reliably map the place for long, let alone settle it in any but the most fleeting sense.

It's also why Zendikar is such a great prison for the Eldrazi.


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

[User]
[DC] what stops Superman and The Flash from having the atoms in their body convert into energy why they go at translight speeds.

From what I understand one of the obstacles with Faster Than Light travel is that the atoms in the object will have so much energy they will collide and fuse with other atoms causing a huge explosion. Basically accelerating an object to light speed just turns it into a nuclear bomb.

[Assistant]
The Flash has the speedforce, which protects him from the deleterious effects of speed *if* he wants it to.

Superman has a powerful tactile-telekinetic field, which encircles things he touches and helps him lift them. It's why things don't crumble when he lifts them, and why he can fly. This same field, I'd reckon, holds his atoms together and apart, and grants them resistance to these effects.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do smelling salts wake you up after youve been unconscious?

Also as a side note, could you sniff them to keep you awake?

[Assistant]
They release ammonia gas. Ammonia is an irritant that triggers an inhalation reflex, which also increases heart rate. This cancels the physical effects of fainting - a reduced heart rate, breathing and metabolism in general.

It won't keep you awake, but it can keep you from passing out in certain situations.


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

[User]
[Trials in Tainted Space]Why does the Planet Rush seem to mainly extend to planets populated by sex-crazed species?

Yo, the name's Jules Steele, you've probably heard of me. Anyways, my old man's last wish had me chasing through the current Planet Rush in pursuit of my inheritance. Not that I mind, I get plenty of tail after all~ What bothers me though is that any planet I come to seems to have at least one (mostly) sapient species which is more or less obsessed with breeding or sex in general. No big surprise in places like New Texas, but seriously. It seems a bit odd, even to me, and I'm definitely not the smartest.

[Assistant]
Buddy, we're on the edge of known civilization. All there is to do out here is fuck or watch some quality television. Which is just Galactic Hunter Steph Irson getting fucked. Other than that, it's day in day out boring shit to survive, either because you're on some kind of deathworld populated by super-predators, or maybe you're on an ice moon that's -300 C on a good day, or hell, you're just trying to make ends meet, living credit-to-credit in the hopes of buying a ticket to get off whatever desolate rock you're on.

Well you know what? I'd be pretty hot and bothered too if that's all life had to offer.


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

[User] Cats can shake their head at a surprisingly rapid rate. How do they avoid whiplash and concussions while doing this?

[Assistant]
Whiplash is normally caused, in humans, by rapid acceleration and deceleration of the neck in a front to back motion. It causes extreme stress on the cervical spine as it can form an S-shape instead of the resting C shape it's normally in.

Cats shake their heads side to side and have much smaller muscles than a human, so a whiplash of their own doing is unlikely considering those smaller muscles cannot produce enough force to put extreme stress on the spine. Their spine is formed differently than a human spine as well, which is not to say that they cannot suffer concussions or whiplash, but from a simple shaking of their head? It may seem fast to humans in comparison to our own head anatomy when they shake, but the smaller anatomy allows them more flexibility.


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

[User] Why are drinks carbonated with carbon dioxide instead of another gas?

[Assistant] CO2 was the first form of gas dissolved in soft drinks.  When you make root beer from scratch the yeast will consume the sugar to produce CO2 as a waste product.  When in a sealed container, the gas will dissolve into solution.  It made for a nice effect, you open the container and the gas release would create a fizz.  When soft drinks moved to the soda fountain it made sense to recreate the fizz.  CO2 was the logical gas of choice because the additional 'bite' created by the carbonic acid formed from the dissolved gas in the soft drink.  This kept everything the same as individually made soft drinks and resulted in the continued popularity of soft drinks.


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

[User]
Questions from a grade 3/4 class!

i have used ELI5 explanations to share simplistic answers to complex questions with my class in the past.  They were excited to hear that there is a place they can ask "Big Questions" and get straight forward answers.  I created a box for them to submit their questions in and told them I would make a post. I am sure many have previously been answered on the site but I am posting the list in its entirety.

**EDIT:  Thanks so much for all the answers!  I didn't expect so many people to try to answer every question.  The kids will be ecstatic to see these responses.  I will try to limit the number of the questions in the future.**

Below are all the questions they asked, some are substantially easier to answer than others.

1) Why do we age?

2) What do people see or feel when they die?

3) Why are there girls and boys?

4) How do you make metal?

5) Why do we have different skin hair and eye colour?

6) Why do we need food and water?

7) How do your eyes and body move?

8) Why do we sleep?

9) Why dont dinosaurs live anymore?

10) How are dreams made?  How do you sleep for so long?

11) How did animals come?

12) Who made up coffee?

13) Did we come from monkeys?

14) How does water have nothing in it?

15) Who made up art?

16) Why do we have eyebrows?

17) How do you make erasers?

18) How big is the universe?

19) Who made up languages for Canada?

20) Why is a doughnut called a doughnut if theres no nuts in it?

21) Why did the dinosaurs come before people?

22) Why is the universe black?

23) Why do we wear clothes?

24) Why would the sun keep on fire if there is no air?

25) How long until the sun goes supernova?

26) How did Earth get water on it if it came from a fireball?

27) How was the Earth made?

28) Why are there different countries?

[Assistant]
I'll take this one:

>Why would the sun keep on fire if there is no air?

For a long time, people though the sun was just a big ball of fire in the sky. And it's true that the sun is very hot; hot enough to burn almost anything. But actually, the sun doesn't shine because it's on fire. If it did, it would have gone out already, because even the sun isn't big enough to burn for that long. Instead, the sun shines for the same reason that nuclear bombs explode.

What happens in the sun and in nuclear bombs (some of them, anyway) is that it squeezes atoms together. In the sun, the squeezing is from gravity; in nuclear bombs the squeezing is from normal bombs that go off in a circle around the nuclear bomb. Anyway, it squeezes the atoms together enough that they get smashed into a single atom, like if you push two balls of play-dough together. Now, it takes energy to hold something together: like if you had two dogs on leashes it would be hard to keep them from running away from each other, right? Well, it turns out that for some type of atoms (like hydrogen getting smashed into helium) it takes less energy to keep the new big atom together than it did to hold the two old atoms together. So the extra energy comes out of the smashed atom, and one of the ways it comes out is by light. And the light shines out into space and that's why the sun shines. In nuclear bombs the extra energy comes out as an explosion (and also light). Just like a nuclear bomb is bigger than a campfire, there's a lot more energy made from smashing atoms than if the sun was just a big fire, so the sun will keep shining for a very long time.

Bonus:

> How long until the sun goes supernova?

The sun will probably never go supernova, because only really big stars go supernova, and scientists think the sun isn't big enough. However, in about 5 billion years it will turn into a huge red star and swallow the Earth. And then a few billion years later it will turn into a small, cool star and gradually fade out.


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

[User]
When I stretch a piece of red plastic wrap over the end of a flashlight and turn it on, what is really happening to the light?

I don't really know how to ask this, but is it being filtered so that just red light is coming through, or is it doing something else? How is it doing what ever it is that it does, and what causes this to happen? I have a fairly solid grasp on quantum mechanics at the particle level, but this has just never quite made sense to me.

[Assistant]
The "white" light coming from your flashlight is leaving the bulb and traveling towards the red plastic.  White light is of course all colors of light traveling together.

When this white light hits the red plastic, the part of the light that is red continues through, but all of the other colors of the rainbow are blocked and absorbed into the plastic.


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

[User]
DHCP communication: How does the client communicate with the DHCP server without an IP?

How does the client communicate with the DHCP server without an IP?

I read that it is done through "broadcasting" which means it'll send the DHSPDiscover message to everyone in its local network. But can someones explain it in a bit more detail? How does DHCPOffer message reach the client?

[Assistant]
1) Client sends a broadcast message to the broadcast MAC address. Every machine on the network receives it (theoretically).

2) DHCP server responds with offering an IP address and targets the MAC address of the specific machine. Only one machine receives it (again, theoretically; others are supposed to ignore the message).

3) Machine accepts the IP address and other config and lives happily ever after.


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

[User]
CMV: If a grilled cheese sandwich has anything other than some kind of bread, cheese and butter/mayo/oil, it is no longer a grilled cheese sandwich.

I see people all the time call things grilled cheese that aren't and I don't understand it.   How the hell is a sandwich with ham, turkey or even brisket a grilled cheese when the primary ingredients are not cheese.  Cheese cannot be an after thought or an accent in something something called "grilled cheese sandwich"  anything other than primary cheese bread and butter/mayo/oil is a sandwich with cheese or some kind of melt.  Help me understand this absolute insanity.

This is a pretty light hearted CMV and is inspired by the fact that I keep seeing these giant meat filled sandwiches with cheese on them being called things like "brisket grilled cheese sandwich"  and to me that is a sandwich yes but it shouldn't be called a grilled cheese.

Maybe I'm the crazy one but a half pound or pound of meat on bread is just a sandwich even if it has cheese on it.

EDIT: I have been informed that apparently restaurants and trendy internet people love to toss around the term "grilled  cheese"  its apparently seen as a fad or a fancy item now.

EDIT 2: Did anyone realize that by my own definitions two pieces of  chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting could be considered a grilled cheese sandwich?  I just did  hours later.  This is quite an interesting thought.

[Assistant]
I will argue a middle ground:

If there is enough cheese and few enough other ingredients that the sandwich sticks together from the melted cheese after being grilled (aka, you don't risk losing a slice of bread flipping it on the skillet or while eating it) it can be a grilled cheese.

It seems a safe line to draw for me. Bacon bits, some pickles, a handful of chopped chicken or a tomato slice are more enhancers than focal points. They don't magically make a grilled cheese a different thing.

This ignores melts, of course, which do stick together but have other things co-starring with, instead of enhancing, the cheese.


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

[User] ELI5: Is it possible that our solar system/galaxy is an atom/molecule for a larger organism?

[Assistant] The more important question is what reason do we have to believe it to be true? In science, we assume things to be false (referred to as the null hypothesis) until there is evidence to show otherwise. Sure, it is *possible* that the solar system exists within another system we can't detect but the far more parsimonious solution is that it doesn't. It is possible that an invisible pink unicorn is sitting in the chair next to me right now but it's much more likely that there isn't one.


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

[User]
[Batman] What's the Joker actually diagnosed with?

Yes, Arthur Fleck is genuinely quite mentally ill. But the other incarnations just seem like, well...assholes.

He's not delusional or hallucinating. He's fully in control of his emotions and actions when he wants to be. He has a reasonably undistorted view of reality. He's got normal mental capacity (above average, indeed). He doesn't have compulsions or depression or such like. Apart from some empathy issues (and even then, he clearly understands other's emotions and personalities and goals on a deep, non-superficial level), guy seems pretty *sane*, just weird and dangerous.

He's a violent, murderous prick, sure. But that's not a mental health condition- you can't get the insanity defense just for killing people, that's absurd, and simply dressing like a clown doesn't count.

So what's his actual medical diagnosis? What's the condition he's getting the insanity defense for?

[Assistant]
Oh...  oh no.  An actual diagnosis would require a trained psychologist to spend a great deal of time listening to him in order to make the diagnosis.  Historically that sort of thing has not ended well.

I suppose Dr. Quinzel could have put in a diagnosis before she snapped, but those notes have been destroyed.


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

[User]
Has any significant problem of modern philosophy ever been "solved" in the sense that most scholars agree on one position, or is it always an ongoing argument and a multitude of opinions?

edit: thank you to everyone for your answers! Many interesting takes and references.

[Assistant]
If you take a theory/position in philosophy X and ask "Is X true?", then that's arguably a problem in philosophy. And if X has received some amount of attention in philosophy it's a significant one. So you'd 'only' have to look for positions which are incredibly unpopular, then most scholars agree on the position that "X is false".

If you look at the often cited philpapers study, you can find a couple of positions which the editors deemed significant enough to list as an option but have less than 5% support, so presumably >95% would answer "no" to "is X true?".That would include skepticism about the external world (4.8%), idealism about the external world (4.3%), relativism about knowledge claims (2.9%), and something called sense-datum theory about perceptual experience (3.1%).


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

[User]
I think that advertisement should not be allowed in schools, as it detracts from the learning process, among other reasons. CMV

I feel that advertisement in any form should not be allowed in school, with a captive audience, because it will detract from the learning process and cause distractions among the peers. Not only this, but it encourages the spending of money in a work-like environment, which decreases productivity, and makes for a less formal/professional environment. When you are at school, you should be learning to further your career, not learning about the latest soda pop or energy drink that the school's vending machine sells.

Statistics taken by the Harvard School of Health show that 2 in 3 college students include a sugar added drink in their lunch. Having ads in schools will only raise the rate of this statistic. Cutting down on sugar added drinks should decrease the rate of obesity, as proven when a school in Arizona banned advertising in their school and over 2yrs of studying the eating behavior of the students the obesity rate dropped over 31%. I think putting advertisements all over the school would serve as an even bigger distraction in addition to those factors. I also feel that it would make a school seem kind of... Trashy, but that is just my opinion

Marketers want to get in front of kids to build customers for life, they brainwashed them into consuming ... The underlying message of nearly all marketing is that the things people buy will make them happy! Nonsense! Moreover ads directed at children are frequently for unhealthily food products that cause obesity.

Research shows that children are easily persuaded by advertisements. In fact in some curriculum's they deliberately teach about advertising so a better informed view can be established in the child's mind. School is not the place for advertisers to manipulate children's mind. We need to give children an informed opinion not a distorted one.

Change my view.

EDIT: Since everyone is confused on how schools are advertising, here is the definition of advertisement.

Advertisement: A notice or announcement in a public medium promoting a product, service, or event or publicizing a job vacancy.

So it could be commercial or school services. The debate is on whether or not we should allow all forms of advertisement in the schools, or none of them at all.

[Assistant] I guess the strongest argument to have advertising in schools comes down to funding. While the situation may be less than ideal, couldn't it be worth exposing kids to some ads if that means a school will be able to retain teachers or programs it would have otherwise been forced to cut?


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

[User] ELI5: NASA's announcement today. What is Boeing and SpaceX and why is it all important?

[Assistant]
Boeing is a major aerospace company, meaning they make spacecraft (and airplanes but let's stick with spacecraft), but they make them for governments. SpaceX is a newer company that is trying to manufacture reusable spacecraft that are affordable to private businesses.

Two important parts: Right now, the US doesn't have a space shuttle, so we have to rely on other countries to get our astronauts up to the space station. Since the country we've relied on is Russia and things are a little awkward right now, we're kind of stuck on the ground. So having a SpaceX craft operated by private companies would restore our ability to send our own astronauts up.

Second: think about the discovery and development of the New World. The original expeditions were funded by governments -- Spain, England, The Netherlands, etc. It wasn't until privately funded expeditions started heading out that it became possible to have long term colonies and regular trade between the Old and New Worlds.

Same thing with space. Once it's affordable for non-governmental entities to send missions and people up there, then we'll start to see things like bases on the Moon and Mars, mining of asteroids, much more extensive exploration, etc., and all of those things have enormous benefits both down here on Earth and for the future of humankind.


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

[User]
[Frozen vegetable advertising]Where does the Jolly Green Giant come from? Is there a race of jolly green Giant's? Is he magical construct? A magical creature? Was he a normal guy became Giants and green somehow? How did the end up becoming spokesperson for a frozen vegetable company?

What are the nature of his powers and most importantly **HOW CAN HE BE KILLED!?**  These are the questions which keep me up at night!  Please, someone tell me and make the voices stop!

Edit: Before you ask why the Jolly Green Giant must die, he knows what he did and if you are reading this I am coming for you, you jolly green BASTARD!  She was my WIFE!

[Assistant]
Good news, killing him is easy: Six minutes in the microwave, let cool for one minute, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a little garlic.

Badnews: He appears to be a reincarnating nature spirit, so you'll have to keep killing him.  Mr. Clean and the Michelin Man can help you salt the earth where Green Giant stands.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is actually happening during an orgasm that makes it feel so good?

I get all the chemical stuff, what's the actually feeling that happens. Someone pointed out muscles contracting, is it just muscles that aren't ever used? Could one figure out how to "flex" these on command?

[Assistant]
Endorphins - natural morphine, also produced by strenuous exercise (runner's high).

Oxytocin - not to be confused with oxycontin, oxytocin makes people cuddly and prone to trusting and bonding with eachother.

Prolactin - does a bunch of things in the body including shutting off sexual response for a while so people stop to take a break once in a while.


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

[User]
[DC] Superman is made of matter. Is he vulnerable to anti-matter? Couldn't an enemy that didn't care about the resulting extinction of humanity just plant a trap where Supes was tricked into touching a bunch of antimatter?

Braniac might be a good choice. Anyway, assume that the villain can obtain enough antimatter because that's how comics work.

[Assistant]
You could, but it would take a heck of a setup to fool Superman. Let's assume for a minute that he's unable to recognize antimatter just by looking at it. Whenever dust or air from our universe touched the antimatter, there would be tiny but very intense bursts of energy that he would easily detect. To pull off the trick, you would need to isolate it from all matter whatsoever without using an elaborate containment system that tips him off to it being something dangerous.

The other problem you would face is the "water droplet on a griddle" effect. Superman's hand touches the antimatter, and it annihilates a small patch of skin off his palm. Right then and there, the resulting explosion would immediately blast him away in one direction and the antimatter away in another direction. Only a very small piece of Superman would actually cease to exist before he was blown back at extreme speed, so depending on which Superman this is, he might survive with a slightly hurt hand and a concussion.


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

[User] [MCU] Why Kangs from different timelines fight each other, but from another universes that exist in the multiverse don't?

[Assistant]
Each universe has a timeline.

There are multiple universes in the Multiverse.

The Multiverse has its own timeline.

He Who Remains was the Kang that defeated all the Kangs in all the universes and now sits at the end of the Multiverse Timeline running the TVA to prune timelines in other universes that produced Kangs.


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

[User] ELI5: How can some people smash through concrete blocks without breaking their hands?

[Assistant]
Simple physics.

The force of the smash must go somewhere. It is transferred from the hand to the block, and if there is enough force it breaks causing more of the force to distribute into the "breaking" of the block.

If you fail to break the block, then the force has nowhere to go but into your hand.  If the block is hard enough (or say if you stack enough blocks together), and you don't break them, then you CAN break your hand.

Same principle applies to how cars are designed.  Notice how in a lot of head on collisions with modern cars, the car will completely crumple.  This is by design, because the crumpling of the car absorbs the force of the impact.

Old cars made of solid steel would not crumple.  So in a head on collision, the force of the impact would get transferred to its occupants, causing nasty results.  The crumpling effect is similar to the block breaking.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] What items from the Wizarding World could be resold into the Muggle world for profit by an enterprising Muggleborn without arousing suspicion?

Let's assume a *barely* capable wizard who still has solid connections to their Muggle life decides to take advantage of their access to the magical world to earn enough to live a life of comfort and luxury there?

**Bonus Question:** Is there anything from the Muggle World they might be able to market to Wizards in a similar fashion?

[Assistant] The exchange rate between gold and pounds fluctuates.  The exchange rate between pounds and galleons does not.  One could buy galleons, melt them down, sell the gold, and then buy more galleons when the exchange rate is favorable.


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

[User] ELI5: How our brains decide which thing to remember or forget?

[Assistant] They dont. Things that are reinforced by multiple connections (because they were emotionally impactful or because you have been consciously reinforcing them), and recalled often get more ingrained, there are multiple ways to access them so the memories are stronger.


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

[User]
[Coco] How did Miguel prove Hector was the true artist of La Cruz's work?

Think about it. What if some kid showed up tomorrow claiming that their great-grandparent was the true writer of Elvis Presley's music? Elvis is no longer around to confirm or deny these allegations and the kid has no evidence to show for it other than their word. Would we all just roll with that claim? What proof did Miguel have to support this? Coco kept letters and poems from him, they could just crossreference his handwriting to the songbook right? Sure, but did they have the songbook? Yeah he had the photo of Hector with the guitar, but if him and Ernesto had matching uniforms why couldn't they have matching guitars? Hell, even Miguel had a matching guitar that his abuela smashed. "They got de la Cruz to confess!" Yeah, in the Land of the Dead. The Living never heard any of that. Miguel would have to do quite a bit of digging to make a strong enough case to transfer all credibility back to Hector. Also, even if he did find enough handwriting evidence to make his case, how would he prove the murder bit?

[Assistant]
Postage marks.

There's an idea called "Poor Man's Copyright" where you can prove the date something was written by simply mailing it to yourself, since the Post Office will stamp the envelope with the date.  Now, this wouldn't actually give the family copyright, but it would be enough to prove that Hector wrote the lyrics first.

Hector wrote the lyrics for most of de laCruz's best songs as poems for his young daughter, which he included in the letters he sent home.  She saved the letters and, crucially, the envelopes they arrived in.  Each envelope has a date on it corresponding to the date that Hector mailed it to her.  Those dates prove that Hector Rivera and not Ernesto de laCruz originally wrote those songs.

Whether Ernesto saved the original songbook or not, and even if he did it's unlikely his estate would want to give it up for an analysis of the handwriting, the letters would be enough to prove that Hector was the real lyrical genius.

Similarly, photographs from the time would show that laCruz's distinctive guitar originally belonged to Hector Rivera.  There could also be photos of both musicians in local newspapers, as they were touring at the time.  Hector owned the guitar first, Ernesto came into possession around the time that his partner died.  Seeing as he clearly stole the lyrics, it seems he also stole the guitar.

Proving murder would be harder, but given that Hector's last letter would also indicate that he was giving up on touring and returning home, as well as the town he was in, it might be possible to find mortuary records from that town.  If the records went back far enough, the Riveras could find proof that a musician matching Hector's description died of "food poisoning" right around the same time.  Not proof, but very suspicious along with the above.


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

[User]
[General] Can superheroes testify at trials as material witnesses?

Lets say Luthor kills someone and immediately transports all evidence to another dimension. Superman witnesses the crime, captures Luthor, and takes him to jail.

At the trial, Superman is the only witness that a crime even occurred, and Luthor has the right to face his accusers.

Can Superman take the stand? He is likely to give his real name, Kal El, but Kal El does not exist in any Earth database nor has a birth certificate. He also does not have an address, simply "The Fortress of Solitude." Unless he gives up Clark Kent, he also has no work history or credit rating. He might not even have fingerprints or a dental record.

In essence, would a superhero like Superman even qualify as a person, in the legal sense? Would Batman be allowed to take the stand if he refused to give his real name?

[Assistant] Actually, in DC Comics there's a bill that *does* allow heroes to testify in court under their superhero identities. Since he cooperates with the local police department, it's not that hard for him to be subpoena'd to testify in legal cases.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do anti-fatigue mats work? (commonly found in service industry jobs)

I've worked many service-industry jobs (bars/kitchens/back-of-house type stuff) and realized working on surfaces covered with anti-fatigue floor mats allow me to be on my feet all day without really getting tired.

Searched the sub and couldn't find an answer. Would love if someone could ELI5!

[Assistant] Standing in place on a hard surface creates a lot of pressure on your joints and veins. An anti-fatigue mat adds a bit of cushioning between you and the floor. It also absorbs some of the impact when you move around on it. Finally, it helps improve circulation by reducing pressure. Runners who run on concrete get injured much more quickly and often than bikers (a low-impact exercise) or runners who run on a trail for the same reason.


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

[User] [Jurassic Park]suppose it came out (as some fans have speculated) that the "dinosaurs" InGen created were actually just genetically modified birds & lizards. Do you think it'd effect the park's intake (I'm assuming this is a couple years before the last movie)?

[Assistant] From a practical standpoint, there's not much difference for the park guests between a T-Rex and a two-story chicken that looks and acts exactly as a T-Rex would be expected to. Either one would be exciting to watch in its paddock and would eat you if it ever got out.


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

[User]
Is it possible to choose a random number from the set of (-, )?

Is it possible to have a set of (-, )? Technically, 1/ is zero, so it should be mathematically impossible, but common sense would say it is.

[Assistant]
If by "random number" you mean a uniformly random number, then no. There is no uniform distribution on the real numbers. If there were, then each of the sets [n,n+1) would have the same probability, for each integer n. Suppose P[n,n+1) = p, so then

> 1 = P(-, ) = P{ union of all sets of the form [n,n+1) } = p+p+p+...

If p = 0, then we get 1= 0. If p is non-zero, then we get 1 = . So no such distribution exists. (Similarly, no uniform distribution exists on a countable set.)

If by "random number" you simply mean chosen randomly from *some* distribution, then sure. There are plenty of probability distributions, both trivial and non-trivial, that exist on (-, ).


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

[User] [Cow & Chicken] How was it possible for two humans to produce a Chicken and Cow?

[Assistant] Does the show ever mention that Cow and Chicken are the biological children of their parents? I'd say their situation is closer to adoption, possibly they were rescued from a slaughterhouse or something like that.


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

[User]
[Alien/aliens] Why are the aliens so different in 1 and 2?

So the first film the alien is an smart predator hiding in the shadows and picking people off one by one. But in the second film there are scenes where the marines just mow loads of them down because they decide to just charge them instead or by running into turrets. Surely if its the same species they would act similar to each other?

[Assistant] I always assumed that the alien in Alien was stealthy and sneaky because it was on its own and when they have the numbers they happily swarm enemies with no regard for loss of life. Maybe when they are alone they are instinctively subtle and just hunt to eat and clear the area of potential threats before hibernating, and they only become super aggressive because of a queen commanding them.


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

[User] [Terminator] Why do the Skynet Terminators ever walk when they're pursuing a human target, ever? Why aren't they booking it at all times?

[Assistant]
1} Infiltration. Hard as fuck to sneak around the past looking for a target (whilst not risking the butterfly effect screwing up Skynet) if you're a sprinting robot like some Usain Bolt Cyberman. You might look like Arnie, but people will be able to tell that you weigh the same as a family sedan while charging over cities at 50mph looking for a specific person in an abrupt manner.

2} Conserve power. Shifting that 1000kg+ body is already going to be a hassle. Slap on a disguise, many heavy weapons and ammo, and then make all of that movie at sprinting speed. Yeah, doesn't work out well for power use.

3} Don't need to. Frankly the Terminators have just been getting unlucky due to the future humans sending back people to warn and train/protect the valuable target. Honestly with all the data at their disposal, it should be a clean case of "go back, find target before they're aware of me or Skynet, kill them and secure Skynet's future.

4} Fear. Fear can fuck things up big time especially when it comes to the cat and mouse game Terminators tend to play. So if you're a buff dude walking towards someone, you're much less likely to draw concern from them than if you were to robotically charge at them, stone faced. You don't wanna spook the targets, that's how John lived in Terminator 2.


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

[User]
[Marvel] what happens to clothing or objects that mystique sheds?

Like when she turns into wolverine, but her claws get sliced off because they're not adamantium, do they stick around or do they disolve or something?

[Assistant]
To clarify the question as people seem not to be answering it I'll propose a situation.

1. She transforms from her naked blue self into a guy wearing a suit.

2. She takes off the suit.

3. She transforms back into her blue naked self.

What happens to the suit? Is it still there? Does it disappear when she takes it off or when she transforms back? What effect does this have on her?


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

[User]
ELI5: How are some game apps, such as "Words with Friends" and "Trivia Crack" able to get away with blatantly ripping off existing board games?

i.e: words with friends/ scrabble, scramble with friends/boggle, trivia crack/trivial pursuit, draw something/ pictionary...

[Assistant]
Many things which people think are protected by copyright law are not and board games are one example of this. While the actual words used to describe a board game and any artistic assets are protected by copyright, the essence of the board game is not.

You might notice, however, that in a game like words with friends, the game board is changed. The design of a board is a bit of a fuzzy area in copyright law and it is often best to avoid a non-essential risk.


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

[User]
[The Man In The High Castle] Why did the Nazis put a neutral zone over the US uranium deposits?

While the extent of uranium reserves was a surprise, the surface deposits were known about, and the Japanese actually did the original pre-war surveys.

[Assistant]
Maybe both powers want the uranium, and open conflict is not an option. German Empire vs. Japanese Empire is basically the new Cold War, since the US and USSR aren't in the game anymore.

Look how US and USSR were "Allies" during WWII, but became enemies later. The alliance of Japan and Germany in the alternate universe is more amiable, but still they both want the whole world.

They just can't risk to go into open conflict, so the neutral zone is established, and no one gets the uranium. For the time being.


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

[User] ELI5 : Why are water towers shaped the way they are ?

[Assistant]
The sides are round because that's the most efficient/biggest volume you can get for that amount of material.

The bottom is round so you can put one drain in the middle.

The top is round so that rain and eldritch horrors beyond your comprehension will roll off the top and not pool in the middle.

Then you raise it up enough to get the pressure you need.

Then you make it wide enough to be stable at that height.

Then you make it big enough to hold all the water you need.


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

[User] ELI5 What makes it difficult for mute people to speak?

[Assistant]
People who are mute generally fall into three categories -

1) Physical damage or malformation of the speech organs. Something like not having a tongue, or damaged vocal chords. They literally *cannot form speech.*

2) Mental damage or malformation of the brain in the areas required to process or form speech. Anything from a stroke that affects the nerves controlling the mouth/vocal chords to a more severe cognitive disruption that either means the person can't mentally process language or how to "form" language. Our ability to process and form language develops during childhood and we have unfortunate examples of "feral" children who missed that developmental stage and despite having no physical or mental handicaps at birth, will never "learn" how to communicate or process language.

3) A related disorder such as complete deafness. A person who has a perfectly functioning set of speech organs and a healthy brain for language, yet is born profoundly deaf will never be able to speech "normally" because they can't hear speech in the first place. As our modern medicine has really improved many hearing disorders this is getting much better thankfully. But long story short, a person with no ears will never speak "normally".