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

[User]
[DC] Clarification of Martian Manhunter's powerset?

Which of his powers are inherent to his Martian physiology? All of them?

Are any related to his being a Martian that lives on Earth specifically (as with Superman and the sun)?

Are any just inherent to him alone? I.e., would he still be considered a "superhero" in any sense if he were still on Mars, among Martians?

[Assistant]
All of his abilities are inate to Martians. So yea if he were with a bunch of Martians he wouldn't technically be super.

He'd probably be like their Batman though because he's still hyper competent and badass.


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

[User]
ELI5: Does acceleration matter in a car crash?

Scenario 1: A vehicle is simply maintaining speed and crashes at 40.

Scenario 2: A driver is accelerating fast in a high-performance vehicle from zero and crashes at 40.

Are they the same thing?

[Assistant] As far as the energy involved and the impact is concerned they are exactly the same. However the car will twist and pitch under acceleration and braking. So the crash might turn out differently. If you accelerates then it is possible for the crash structures of the cars to miss each other and the accelerating car climbs over the other car and can get launched into the air. This will often lead to rollovers and secondary collisions which can be far more fatal. But if the car is braking then the oppsoite might happen, the crash structure of the braking car might go under the crash structure on the other car. The car may therefore slide under the other car and the majority of the impact will be to the cabin of the car and not the front crash structure. This too is more fatal then if the crash structures hit each other. The dangers of these types of accidents is why modern cars and trucks comes with multiple bumbers at different heights that is designed to catch each other and prevent any one of the cars from sliding over the other. These bumpers are often covered by aerodynamic panels but you can often see how modern cars have a taller front then they did a few decades ago when they had more pointy front. You can also see this in trailers as they have gotten stronger and more numerous crash protection so cars will not be able to go under the trailer in the case of a crash.


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

[User] ELI5:Do bacteria have bacteria?

[Assistant]
Bacteria *are* bacteria.

I am not sure what you mean by "have bacteria". Do you mean "have bacteria on them"? If so, bacteria often climb over each other and interact directly with one another. But they don't have tiny bacteria living on them, just like elephants don't have tiny elephants living on them.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is 13 an unlucky number in Western culture?

[Assistant] The Last Supper, the last meal Jesus Christ shared with his 12 apostles, had 13 men total attending it, the 13th of which betrayed Jesus. So 13 was then felt to be an unlucky number by Christians because of it.


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

[User] In which courses do computer science majors learn type theory?

[Assistant] The basics would usually be covered in courses with names like "programming languages", "types and programming languages" or "programming language theory". Possibly something mentioning lambda calculus. It would also be covered in courses about formal proofs / theorem provers. And obviously, if there's a course titled "type theory", you can be pretty sure that will cover type theory in some detail. Maybe also compiler construction (though that doesn't usually cover type theory).


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

[User]
[The Purge] how does Canada and Mexico react to the purge?

I imagine millions of american will seek to spend purge day outside the USA for safety.

How would this two countries react? Maybe they would require visas from americans?

And what happens when the purge starts and there are still long lines at the border crossings? Imagine desperate families trying to enter Canada while people at the back of the line are already killing each other.

Would Canada/Mexico just close the border and machine gun anyone that tries to cross it?

[Assistant] It's never directly touched on, but it's suggested in Election Year that the borders are locked down by the NFFA to prevent anyone from leaving the country in the days leading up to the Purge. Essentially, Mexico and Canada can't actually do anything about people trying to cross the border because *nobody can-* all to ensure the maximum amount of casualties during purges.


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

[User] (Warhammer 40K) How do you think the Imperium of Man would have turned out if the Emperor wouldn't have been wounded?

[Assistant]
Mankind would have conquered every other race in the Warp and in the Milky way quite easily. The Tyranids, on the other hand... they have multiple galaxies of forces, what you see in 40K is just a scouting force. So a massive war between Psychic/SuperAdvanced/Enlightened humans led by a virtual demigod who have Warp Travel and an insanely huge biological force of Space Dragons who can adapt to almost any situation.

So pretty awesome.


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

[User]
How to read Plato?

Hello all!

So I'm struggling with reading Plato.  Not in terms of what he is actually saying (I think he writes fairly clearly) but it's more specifically with what exactly Plato's trying to accomplish.  In some of the dialogues Plato clearly has ideas that he's presenting as arguments: for example, in the *Crito* he presents his an argument for whether Socrates can break the laws of Athens (and the state).  But in others, like *Laches*, he never says what he thinks courage is.  Typically when I read philosophy I can take notes on the authors main idea (or ideas) and support for said main ideas, how they develop the main idea, etc.  But in the *Laches* I don't really know what to take notes on or what I'm supposed to do with it.  I'm going to read Leo Strauss' thoughts on what Plato's actually doing but I wanted to get your thoughts as well.  Thanks!

[Assistant] He's exploring issues, not just trying to convince you of something. It's not even clear what Plato's view in the *Crito* is, if he has one: there's no character named Plato, after all, so how do you know what Plato thinks?!


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

[User] ELI5: what does caffeine actually do your muscles, especially regarding exercising?

[Assistant]
Research by the American College of Sports Medicine has shown that ingesting 3-9 mg per kilogram of body weight (2-6 cups of regular coffee) approximately 1 hour before exercise can increase endurance or help with short intense exercise (around 5 minutes) where the person is working at near maximum.

The belief is that it has an effect on muscle contraction during anaerobic exercise  remember though this was tried on well-trained athletes in a laboratory environment.

Studies on elite distance runners and swimmers did show an increase in their performance times after they had ingested caffeine. The Australian Institute of Sport team found that caffeine triggers the muscles to start using fat as an energy source rather than carbohydrate sugars.

Certainly the enhanced performance using caffeine has been well documented and the Olympic Committee banned athletes from having more that 12 mg/ml in their urine samples. This equates to approximately 4  7 cups of coffee consumed within 30 minutes.


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

[User]
When the sun eventually expands and consumer Earth, will it expand all at once in the blink of an eye or be a gradual expansion over a long period of time?

How embarrassing... Typo in my title.

I don't know how many billion years from now, but at some point in the future the sun expands.

Will this be a slow process where the sun grows larger over a period of.... Some amount of time.

Or will it be more a 'boom' and in the blink of an eye puff up to a larger size?

[Assistant]
Gradual process. Has to do with the expenditure of its fuel causing it to progressively expand until it collapses under its own weight. We happen to live within its potential expansion area, but the radiation, heat, and solar flares will bake the planet dry ( literally) well before we fall into its surface.

We will be well dead before it swallows us up.


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

[User] ELI5:Why is air invisible to infrared cameras? Why isn't the entire image the temperature of the air? Also, what is the relationship between infrared light and heat?

[Assistant]
Infrared light is just like any other color of light, its just below the level that we can see. Heat is a measure of how much motion particles have. We know that hot things give off light- this is why metal glows when it gets hot, or why the sun is bright. Things that are not quite that hot also give off light, it just doesn't have enough energy to be of a color that we can see. Infrared cameras take a look at that light, and then shift the frequency to be a color we can see.

Just like all other light, infrared can only be detected when it bounces off of something. Air does a really bad job of bouncing light (of any color) back at us, so cameras don't pick it up well.


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

[User]
[MCU] Why is the floor of Avengers tower so strong?

Why would Tony have built the floor of his penthouse in Avengers Tower strong enough that Hulk could smash something as durable as Loki against the ground repeatedly and only damage the tile?

[Assistant] Rewatch Iron Man for your answer. He was testing out a suit and soon as he turned off propulsion he fell through the floor and wrecked one of his hot rods. He probably reinforced some of the structure after that.


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

[User]
If you were stranded in the desert and all you had was a bottle of Tums...

I'm learning about acids and bases in Chemistry right now and one of the most common examples of how to tame an acid is taking antacid tablets (such as Tums which is Calcium Carbonate). These tablets will turn the HCl in our stomachs (which causes heartburn) into water (and salt). My question is, if you were stranded in the desert with no water, but happened to have a  bottle of tums, would the water produced in the reaction be sufficient enough to keep you from becoming dehydrated too quickly?

[Assistant]
No. Gastric acid is partly produced from the reaction: CO2 + H2O -> H2CO3 -> H+ + HCO3-. The neutralization of the acidic protons in stomach acid with antacid would produce bicarbonate, which can be converted back into water and carbon dioxide by carbonic anhydrase. In other words, this is the opposite reaction of the above, and the net reaction yields no excess, "new" water.

edit: also, stomach pH is homeostatically regulated, so the increased gastric pH by antacid consumption will cause the production of more gastic acid, which will probably wipe out any potential gain in net water by the neutralization reaction.


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

[User]
What does Slavoj Zizek believe about God?

I am confused by Slavoj Zizek's "Christian atheism". Now, I have not _read_ Zizek. I have only watched some interviews with him. If I understand these fragments correctly, Zizek believes that there _used to exist_ a literal, personal, supernatural God. This God incarnated into Jesus, died and turned into an immanent Holy Ghost (a state of being resembling pantheism).

Is this correct - meaning, is this what Zizek believes?

The core of my question is: Zizek apparently believes that the life and death of Jesus was a very important event. What was the world and God like _before the birth of Jesus_ according to Zizekian theology?

Thanks in advance!

[Assistant]
Regardless of what Zizek actually believes about the divine, the story of the suffering of Christ is according to Zizek interesting because of God-as-Christ's realization about humanity.

God-as-Christ's experience of human suffering makes it impossible for Christ himself to believe in God, hence the faith in God as a potent, all-mighty other collapses for Christ. God is reduced to nothing more than a passive, impotent spectator, and therefore an unreliable absolute for humanity to put their trust in. The holy ghost therefore becomes the path forward. Co-operation inherently between humans, and not between humans and their creator.

In this way, it is not like God existed before Christ, and then the being suddenly dissappeared. Rather, the idea of God was revealed as a great paradox in the supposed God-as-a-Human's suffering. God could no longer function as a fundamental *big Other*.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why scientists have not been able to develop seedless mangoes and avocados?

We have seedless banana's, oranges, grapes and other endless number of fruits that once used to have seeds. If scientists were able to get rid of seeds in them, what are the challenges being faced by them to get these fruits to become completely seedless?

[Assistant] Most seedless varieties of normally seeded fruits are mutations that don't produce seeds and get propagated by grafting.  It could be such a mutation hasn't been seen in those fruits, or that it's not viable when it happens.


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

[User]
How high could mountains on Earth grow? Is there evidence of higher mountains in the past?

Given what we know about plate tectonics, erosion and so on, is there a maximum height mountains could grow to?

Could a range like the Himalayas reach 5-10km higher in time and do we have any evidence of this in the past?

[Assistant]
Mountains have mass, which means that they have weight.

The higher a mountain gets, the more the force of its gravity pushes back against the force of the converging tectonic plates.

At a certain point, the weight of the mountains will equalize with the force of the pushing plates and will stop the motion. Usually this means that the forces are redirected outwards from the center of the range and larger foothills emerge, but the highest mountains stop.

The height that corresponds with this point would depend on the size of the plates that are converging and the forces involved, plus the composition of the mountains.

The reason that the Himalayas are so high is that, in prehistoric times, the plate corresponding with continental India hit mainland Asia with considerable force so it took a lot of height in the mountains to stop the impact.


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

[User]
[The Incredibles] What happened to super villains while the supers were away?

During the period of time where being a super was banned what happened to all the super villains?

[Assistant]
From the looks of things I'd say most super villains were either caught well before the lawsuit. Leading to Heroes having less work and therefore resorting to rugby tackling suicidal men through skyscraper windows or chasing petty thieves across rooftops.

A second theory is that the hero ban put villains out of work. A lot of the time with no heroes to make it fun, super villains find it hard to get enough motivation to do any real villainy, and when they do they probably just got gunned down by the police or maybe even eventually just stopped trying.


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

[User] [Quantum Leap] What happens to Sam Bekett if he fails to accomplish the goal of a leap?

[Assistant]
There are a few possibilities:

- The question is irrelevant; it is not possible for him to fail. God/Fate always places him in the exact right place at the exact right time in the exact right body to put right what once went wrong. He is only sent to events that he will fix. After all, it's not as though the leaps are random.

- He would be stuck. Since he doesn't complete the task, the next leap does not trigger.

- He leaps out when the window of opportunity to put things right closes. As soon as it is no longer possible to save the day - either things have already gone wrong, or else there's no possible timeline that averts things going wrong - he leaps.

I lean towards the first option, which accounts for his excellent track record.


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

[User] Are there complete galaxies of dark matter in our universe? And if so, can they see our matter?

[Assistant]
There *may* be "dark matter galaxies", but they won't have "dark planets", "dark life" etc.

Dark matter makes up most of the mass of matter in the universe, so when gravity causes dark matter to condenses into a galaxy-sized blob, it pulls the normal "baryonic" matter along with it - stuff made of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Baryonic matter can interact with itself in complex ways, and these interactions allow baryonic matter to cool, condense, and form complex structures like planets and monkeys.

However, dark matter does not interact with itself with the same strength and complexity. Reactions involve giving or taking energy, and that energy has to come from or go to somewhere, and some of this energy would come out as electromagnetic energy: light (visible or invisible), radio waves, x-rays etc. That is, if dark matter were capable of forming things like humans and telescopes, it would not be dark matter, it would have to be visible in some way: there is no such thing as "dark light".

This means you can't get galaxies of planets/stars/coffee etc consisting entirely of dark matter.

*However*, while baryonic matter *tends* to pour into blobs of dark matter, this isn't a fundamental law of nature. If there's not enough baryonic matter around, or if the gas and stars have been stripped off some other effect, then it is perhaps indeed possible to have a "dark galaxy" - a big blob of dark matter without a galaxy of stars and gas in it. But this is just an blob, it doesn't contain substructure and can't develop life.


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

[User] [Star Wars] When they sent those TIEs after the Falcon when it escaped from the first Death Star, presumably they must have told those pilots "go and chase that ship, miss all your shots, and die intentionally." Were the pilots actually cool with that?

[Assistant]
They weren't told to go die. They were told that extremely High Value Targets needed alive were on board that ship so they needed to harass the ship but NOT damage it (to prevent any possibility of the death of the targets) until the Death Star could project an interdiction field to prevent it from escaping and tractor it back.

It just so happens that they managed to escape right before the interdiction field could come online/weren't told that the tractor beam was currently disabled.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does hitting the remote a couple times make the batteries work again?

[Assistant]
It doesnt.

However, often the problem is caused by the contact between the battery and the terminal.

Percussive maintenance moves the battery within the battery compartment creating a better connection.


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

[User]
What is the speed of light in a non-inertial frame of reference?

I recently watched a VSauce video where they said that light travels at a constant speed for everyone as long as you aren't accelerating. So what happens when you accelerate? Does the speed of light change, and if so how can we calculate the new speed?

[Assistant]
This is the thing that is the case: if a beam of light moves past you in your immediate vicinity and you have the ability to measure its speed as it does so, then you will measure its speed to be c.

That's really *it*. That's the only completely relativistically correct thing you can say about the speed of light. In general relativity there just isn't a concept of the speed of an object that's far away from you. Or, which is the same thing, there are a whole infinity of different concepts you could choose from to try to replace the intuitive pre-relativistic one and no strong reason to prefer one to the other.

Speed is not a scalar in GR. It's only built out of the spatial components of the four velocity. So it is a coordinate dependent quantity. You can always choose coordinates that are *locally* Minkowski and see that the speed of light is c (via SR) for light in your "locale" (and therefore that you would measure it as such even if you decided to use other coordinates). But you cannot necessarily extend those coordinates any great distance from yourself so you can't apply the same argument to light that isn't moving right by you. The speed you would assign to distant light (or anything else) depends on which coordinates you choose and even on which paths you imagine moving your rules and stopwatches across the universe along to actually do the measurement. There's no one choice that could be regarded as canonical. So it's fair to say that the speed of a distant object just isn't a thing in GR. At least not without first choosing enough conventions. (Kinda how cosmologists have different conventions for distance--angular diameter distance, luminosity distance, etc. These would all be the same in a Newtonian universe (or even an SR universe), but not in reality.)


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does more sound also make sound louder?

For example, why does ten people talking sound louder than one person talking, instead of just being the same noise-level, just with more types of noises?

[Assistant]
The amount of "loudness" is determined by the amount of energy that is shaking your eardrum. The more energy, the louder it is. There's a difference between how loud the same energy level of different pitches seems, but for now we'll just consider two people talking which is close in pitch so we can ignore that factor.

Coming out of each mouth is a pattern of pressure waves, they pass through the air and shake your eardrum. The thing is that they interact - adding together. If the pressure bit of both meet you get more pressure, likewise with the low pressure bit, if the opposite bits meet you would get less variation.

Because the sound of the two people talking isn't a constant, uniform wave, we don't just get cancellation. We get a more complex combined wave pattern shaking our eardrums that has more energy. So it seems louder.

The pattern though is not "twice the energy, twice the volume" it is more of a "10 times the energy, twice the volume" thing.


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

[User]
CMV: It's not the fault of the video game companies, when your kid is using your credit card to buy games, skins and loot boxes without your permission

I see variations of this story pop up on Reddit a few times: parents shocked to find that their children have been using their credit or bank card to make purchases without them knowing. People debating in the comments as to who is more at fault here, the "predatory" video games publishers exploiting kids, or their "irresponsible" parents. In my view, the fault is almost always, and almost entirely, on the parents for leaving their card details on the devices, only to be accessed by their children.

I personally don't think the concept of micro-transactions or loot boxes are necessarily a bad thing, there are non-gambling addicts who do enjoy so-called "surprise mechanics". Modern phones and consoles have built-in parental access features to prevent unauthorised use of their cards. And if you're computer savvy enough to put your card details on a games console, you shouldn't find it any harder to find the options to prevent kids from abusing it. It does not matter how enticing publishers make their games to young people, or how often they are bombarded with adverts, it's the parent's responsibility to keep their bank cards out of reach, and to pay attention to suspicious outgoings on their statements. Ignorance cannot be excused either, there have been stories about this going as far back as at least 2011.

Now, if it were a case of an older child (15, 16, 17 or whatever) going out their way to steal their mum and dad's cards, I'd feel sorry for the parents, but that kid could just as easily spent that money on almost anything else. It's still not the fault of Nintendo, Sony, MS, Epic, Valve, EA, Ubisoft, Sega, or whatever.

[Assistant]
American civil law does not really emphasize personal responsibility.

In theory you could make a lawn mower with no guard, where the blade was just exposed. And you could say "obviously anyone can see there's no guard. If they cut themselves it's 100% their own fault."

But our courts don't see it that way. They see it as unacceptably negligent to make that product.

If you're profiting off kids stealing their parents' cards; you know that's where your income is coming from; and you take absolutely no precautions to prevent it - then the legal argument "it's their own fault" doesn't get you far.


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

[User] [Marvel] Is insurance expensive in cities like NYC? Do insurance companies even exist? With the number of superheroes and multiple villains the destruction just seems way too much. Does fighting like this cause mental health/financial problems in normal citizens?

[Assistant]
The increased destruction is helped by the increased ability of repair- advanced tech/magic/helpful mutants/etc can fix a devestated city much easier then a conventional construction team, and luckily after a super-fight there tend to be helpful superhumans around to do so. (Indeed, it might even be part of their obligations to keep acting as superheores).

This helpfully prevents the premiums getting too high.


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

[User]
How did Voyager 1 send back images of earth? Film or digital?! lt always bothers me

I'm not suggesting it ejected a film c canister back to earth....but how did it convert an image to signal and then transmit it?

Edit: Thank you to all who contributed below. You have genuinely surprised me  and taught me a great deal. Love this community so much!

[Assistant] The Voyager spacecraft were equipped with Vidicon cameras. These cameras operated by scanning a photosensitive plate with a cathode ray tube and recording the differences in charge density. This is an analog technology, but the images could be stored on the spacecraft's tape memory and transmitted by radio.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do we toss and turn/constantly reposition ourselves during our sleep? What makes one position suddenly stop being comfortable even when we are not fully conscious?

[Assistant]
Usually this is due to ischemia- lack of blood. When you're sitting in a position too long your body tells you to move, whether or not you realize it, to get the blood flowing back. If blood is robbed from an area of your body for too long, the tissue dies.

If you don't move, you get something called a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers have four stages and a last stage called unstageable. They are not pretty sights (do a google search). People get these because they cannot move when their body tells them to. Thus, the blood flow stops and the tissue in the area dies. In the hospital, we have turn schedules for our paralyzed patients to turn them every hour or two so their flesh doesn't die.

When you're sleeping, your body is unconsciously moving to keep that blood flowing all while you rest peacefully.


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

[User]
Is it possible that the human race will keep getting taller in the future?

Speaking in a sense that the average child keeps getting taller and taller. Is it possible that in the future the average human will be 7-8ft? Provided that they have the right nutrition?

[Assistant]
There is a limit to how tall humans can get:
Mass increases with the cube of the size, but bone strength increases with the cross section of the bone and thus with the square of the size.

At some point we would be so heavy we could not move without snapping our legs.


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

[User]
[General]Why do Doomsday devices have a "cancel" option?

It can summarized by 'lazy writing' I suppose but I wonder if there is any 'logical reason' behind putting a big red "You know what fuck this, I think I kinda like this planet" button.

Especially Doomsday devices that will destroy EVERYTHING! Why would anyone put a cancel button on a let's say.. satelite that will destroy EVERYTHING on Earth?

I understand the whole countdown thing, probably a "5 minutes until Earth's destruction, enough time to wank while thinking about all the child deaths you will cause" thing.

So basicly, is there any logical reason? Is there any story that said "There is a cancel button because.." ??

[Assistant]
Any person smart enough to build a doomsday weapon is also smart enough to realise there will be extenuating circumstances when they may need to pause or stop it.

For example:

1. Negotiations go well

2. the heroes play their trump card, which is what you want

3. chaos ensues and the world destroys itself

4. your getaway plan fails and you don't intend to die

5. Mittens got in the way of the doomsday machine and is playfully swatting at the targeting laser

All this question proves is that you are not ready to own a doomsday weapon.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why would anyone want to ban using cameras to catch people who block intersections?

> "It doesn't hold a threat to anyone if there are signs but nobody is there," he said. "We either need cameras (not allowed by state law) or people to get some order. Some people don't learn until they get burned" with a ticket.

So why would California pass a law against such a sensible and useful policy?

[Assistant]
Traffic cameras are often set up and maintained by 3rd party companies. The local police or municipality gets what's basically a kick-back to mandate them. Then, the company sets them up and gets most of the money (profit!) from the tickets.

They can also contribute to rear-end accidents as people slam on their brakes because they aren't sure when specifically they'll get a ticket for going through the intersection.

If there's a spot where someone is blocking an intersection that seems like a trivial matter for the police to fix. That tends to be cheaper and less extreme solution for what would likely be a short term problem.


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

[User]
Why can't salt water fish breathe in fresh water and vice-versa? It's all water right?

I feel like I should have learned this at some point but I haven't.

[Assistant] saltwater fish are less salty than their surroundings to stay physiologically stable so they constantly drink saltwater to keep hydrated while using chloride cells in the gills to excrete excess ions. continuing this process as needed keeps their body osmolarity stable. on the other hand, freshwater fish are hyperosmotic to their surroundings and will have water diffuse across skin and gills directly to their system. to keep from swelling up and dying they have advanced kidneys that allow them to quickly get rid of this excess water. salt and freshwater fish cannot live in each others environment without having the others adaptations. This however has nothing to do with breathing as they will both receive the same amount of oxygen across the gills from either water supply. fish who are brackish have features of both and can go into either system.


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

[User] ELI5: This whole Inkjet Scam people keep mentioning.

[Assistant]
Have you ever bought razors? A new Gillette razor would cost you about 12 dollars. But the replacement blades (or whatever you want to call them) cost you around 26.

The same goes with Inkjet printers. It's very common for companies to sell a base product for fairly cheap and make serious profits on supplementary products. The printer itself can be sold for relatively cheap but the replacement cartridges will start to cost you a fortune.

You'll see it in video games as well. Lots of games are becoming "Free To Play" and then the company will sell you hats as a way of making profits.


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

[User] Why do cars with petrol engines need gears but electric ones don't?

[Assistant] In a word, torque.  An internal combustion engine only generates usable torque between a relatively narrow band of rotational speeds and so needs gears in order to keep the engine inside that band to deliver torque to the wheels.  An electric motor generates maximum torque from virtually zero RPM, tailing off as RPM increases.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do we divide the days of the year into 7 months of 31 days, 4 months of 30 days and 1 month of 28/9 days?

Wouldn't it make more sense to take a day off two of the months of 31 and add them to February so that it has 30 days in it? Then we would have 5 months of 31 days and 7 of 30 days. And on leap years we would have 6 months with 30 days and 6 months of 31 days. 28 days in February just seems weird.

[Assistant] There's an argument about actually having 13 months all with 28 days. Which would be 364 days. The last day of the year would be a single day under no month. Then when there is leap year there will be a additional single day at the end of the year that is not part of any month either. What this would do is it would make every day for every month fall on the same numbered day. (i.e. The 1st would always be a Sunday and and the 4th would always be a Wednesday)


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

[User]
ELI5 - If electrons are constantly losing energy while being in an atom, why don't they fall to the nucleus?

So our physics teachers asked us this question and I found many different answers to it, here and on different sites. It doesn't fall into the nucleus because it is in a state where the kinetic energy equals the potential energy, but that wasn't an enough answer for him. He said the electron is still losing energy, but he is getting it back somehow, how? I tried finding an answer but nothing seems logical enough or clear enough :/

[Assistant]
Big objects, like the sun, planet, and baseballs, behave how you're describing. They would lose energy spinning in circles. Electrons though are too small. They don't obey classical laws. They obey quantum laws. (Quantum means really small.)

Electrons aren't really spinning around the nucleus. They're doing something else that we can't really describe classically. We sometimes think of it in probabilities. Sometimes it's in one position and sometimes it's in another and the shape can look like a ring around the nucleus.

As for losing energy, we have to talk about "quantum numbers". When we put an electron in a potential (like a nucleus) we restrict what energy it can have. In a very very simple case, (the 1D infinite square well) electrons could only have energies if 1,4,9,16, and so on. An electron of energy 9 "spinning" around a nucleus can't lose 9 energy and crash into the nucleus, it can only lose 5 or 8.


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

[User]
[WH40k] Is there a process for Rogue Traders visiting Imperial worlds? What kind of reception will they receive?

Say a Rogue Trader has gone out beyond the fringes of The Imperium, come back alive, and now finds the need to restock their ship with supplies before going back out again. Supplies that can only be found on Imperial worlds.

The Rogue Trader is from one of the old dynasties, with their Warrant of Trade signed by The Emperor himself. They're also extremely well armed, walking around in power armour when not on their ship.

Given the power of Rogue Traders, what kind of reception would they receive on an Imperial world? Are there any special precautions they have to take for fear of getting in trouble with the wrong people?

[Assistant]
A Rogue Trader, in general terms, is a big deal. Half bold adventurer, half robber baron, they own and operate a ship in a universe where a good ship is a very rare commodity. The Warrant to be a Trader isn't too far off from a noble title in many ways.

On an Imperial world, a Trader and their personal retinue can expect to rub shoulders with the elite, up to and including the Governor of the planet, without much hassle. Every political player on the planet is a potential trade partner or enemy (or both, simultaneously or alternately), since a Trader can be a connection to resources that are rare, illegal, or both. If they choose to slum it, they've got enough firepower to head to the wrong side of the tracks with good odds of making it back across, and enough cash to shift the balance of power in the shadows with a few big buys.

As far as precautions, the big ones to be wary of are A) rich people looking to screw them on a deal or B) poor people hoping to shank them and rifle through their pockets. The former is a constant threat when moving among the Beautiful People, who would no doubt spend literally *years* bragging on how they got a Trader to sign a lopsided contract, or lowballed the shit out of them on a priceless artifact. The latter is pretty much a constant threat, since to a Trader "poor people" can be nearly anyone.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it not racist to have all black organizations?

[Assistant]
This can be a very volatile topic, with lots of points of view.  This is mine, so take it for what it's worth.

Black organizations exist to provide services that are available in non-segregated organizations, but which blacks have difficulty in accessing because bias has caused these services to be provided to those in the majority (i.e., whites) out of proportion to the majority's population.  One way of providing services to the underserved minority is to have organizations which limit their services to only the minority.

For example, let's assume a university has a population composed of 70% purple students and 30% green students.  However, the non-segregated fraternities on campus have a membership population composed of 90% purple and 10% green.  The assumption is that this difference is due to some bias in the process of becoming a member that favors purple over green students.  To fix this bias, one could enforce any number of policies.  For example, an offer of membership must be given to 3 green students for every 7 offers to purple students.  Maybe everyone in the fraternities must attend training that explains why there shouldn't be any differences between purple and green students.  Maybe green students should be given preference over purple students when all other criteria are equal.  Lastly, fraternities could be created that allow only green students in so that the opportunities for greens to join fraternities is greater than the opportunity for purples, which balances out the disproportionate membership selection.  Perhaps a combination of these policies will achieve the desired result.

Another factor that enters into the mix is that of meeting the unique needs of the minority population.  The thinking behind this is that minority populations have issues that are not faced by majority populations because they are the minority.  For example, in our Mardi Gras university, maybe being green has been associated with very high academic performance.  Until recently, most people thought, "Let the greens solve the hard science  problems, that's what they do."  A fraternity that has historically been composed of members of the purple majority is not likely to be able to offer good advice to green students on handling the pressures of these expectations.  However, a greens only fraternity would, in theory, consist of people who understand and can advise others because of personal experience.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do animals avoid inbreeding? Do they even?

I know humans are animals, but in this context they aren't.

Do animals even attemtp to avoid inbreeding?

Inform me!

edit: If you don't have a good answer, don't respond!

[Assistant]
There are a lot of animals around here... So the question isn't really precise and has quite a lot of answers.

A lot of animals don't really care about inbreeding, for example as far as i know there are a lot of replite populations which inbred for many generations and are still doing it.

Some animals living in groups kick out young males when they become pubescent to avoid inbreeding.

Others again are able to recognize kin and won't pair with eachother. And so on...

Too many animals, too many different behaviours.
It would be easier if you ask about the breeding behaviour of a special kind or simply google it.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do the armed forces generally require men to wear a short haircut but allow the women to have a long haircut?

[Assistant]
It used to be common for men and women to wear their hair long. The main exception to this was that soldiers would wear their hair short for hygiene reasons. (Lice aren't fun.)

In the 1910s, and again in the 1940s, we fought two major wars, where (pretty much) entire generations of men would go to the army and have their hair short. (In the UK, and much of Europe, we then had compulsory national service for a while afterwards to further make sure all men had short hair.)

Around this time Hollywood emerged, and the short haired, war hero look became fashionable.

Women didn't really join the army until much later. (They could, but not on equal terms, and certainly nowhere near the front line.) By the time women were working in the field the need to enforce short hair was gone, as general hygiene improved.

As for why short hair on men was maintained: pure tradition. The army is very stuck in their ways.


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

[User]
[General Sci Fi] Planetary defense against relativistic kinetic weapons?

Relativistic kinetic weapons (also known as relativistic kill vehicles or RKVs) are a hypothetical means of interstellar warfare. An RKV is simply a heavy mass (say a car-sized hunk of steel) that is accelerated to close to the speed of light and aimed at a planet. Each such object will have a COLOSSAL amount of kinetic energy and, depending on its mass and speed, will hit the planet with the energy of a nuclear bomb, a dinosaur killer asteroid, or worse. Hundreds or thousands of these could be fired at a planet. Their small size combined with their extreme speed would make their interception or even detection exceptionally difficult.

RKVs are featured in a novel called *The Killing Star* wherein Earth is the target of a massive RKV attack. It does not go well for the earthlings.

My question is **how do you defend a planet against relativistic kinetic weapons?**

[Assistant]
Large gravitational forces would be your safest bet.. Say objects the size of the moon placed between you and the incoming attack could exert enough gravitational pull to cause the weapon to miss but you'd need to have that object dangerously close to earth or be able to deploy it after the weapon is targeted and fired but before it can be adjusted to compensate which would be unrealistic. If you have the technology to move a moon sized object to redirect gravity it'd be easier to use that tech to stop the incoming weapon than to move a moon.

Second option would be to intercept the incoming weapon with either one of your own or possibly a large object with enough density to alter it's course.  Either shoot a similar enough object to halt it's momentum at a safe distance which being near light speed would be only a few moments to notice the incoming weapon target it and fire at it which is possible but highly unlikely.  You could fill the space around earths orbit with massive shield objects or ships but you'd need to anticipate where it was coming from or fill the entire orbital path with objects and you'd still have massive holes in coverage.

If technology is available create a blackhole the size of a softball in orbit around pluto it's gravitational pull should interfere enough to make extrasolar targeting near impossible without causing too much damage to our solar system in the next thousand years.


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

[User] ELI5- why do most honour killings involve murdering the victim? Why not kill the rapist instead?

[Assistant]
In such cultures women are viewed as property, to be bought, sold, or traded. The honor killing is in retribution for the perceived dishonor of allowing themselves to be raped, as it damages or destroys their value to their male owner.

It is fucked up.


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

[User]
Does switching a light on and off damage the bulb more than just leaving the bulb on?

I'm curious because one light in the house, which is turned on and off dozens of times an hour, seems to go out slightly more often than any of the other lights in the house which are left on pretty much all the time.

[Assistant] I would think that for metal filaments in light bulbs, being turned on and off repeatedly would lead to repeated episodes of thermal expansion and contraction, which would eventually lead to metal fatigue and fracture of the filament.


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

[User]
ELI5: Do Classical Composers Make Money off of their music today?

As an example, Bach has approx. 6 million listeners monthly on Spotify. Who gets those royalties? Are they profit for streaming services? Donated? Given to a trust?

[Assistant] The composition is public domain, anybody can use it. The performance is the copyright of the performer, though, so they get their royalty if you play it (unless they specify it's royalty free or are getting screwed over)


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

[User]
[She-ra] Why does Adora still wear her horde uniform?

Adora defected and is on our side now. That's cool. So if Adora is fighting the good fight now, why is she still wearing horde colors?

[Assistant] She did ditch her Horde insignia and replace it with a Brightmoon one.  But, her Horde uniform is comfortable, hard-wearing, easy to clean, and combat ready.  Say what you will about them, Hordak's people know how to make sturdy, practical clothes for their soldiers.  She also just feels really weird asking for things, and it probably hasn't occurred to her that she could get new clothes if she wanted them.


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

[User] Eli5 The heart pumps blood, the the liver filters stuff, the immune system protects us but what in our body produces the constant heat?

[Assistant] Metabolism.  When your body burns energy - when it converts those hydrocarbon chemicals (carbohydrates, proteins, and fats) and oxygen into carbon dioxide (and water and waste products), the process is not 100% efficient... and the lost energy is heat.  Just existing requires energy, and burning energy releases heat.


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

[User]
[AvP] How did the Yautja captured a Xenomorph Queen?

I mean, Queens tend to be rather large and vicious. The Queen appears to be undamaged, so it's not like they hacked off her limbs and then chained her up.

[Assistant]
Very carefully?

Snarky response aside, we know that the Predators are a technologically advanced race, so it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that they have all kinds of gadgets designed specifically to capture something like an alien queen. Maybe some kind of quick-hardening but easily dissolved foam, combined with a drug/gas to render the queen unconscious or inert for a time? Either that, or something involving lots and lots of really strong nets, flamethrowers and space tazers.


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

[User]
ELI5: When jump starting a car, why do instructions say attach the jumped cars negative cable to the frame?

Because that has never worked for me, in any car I've ever jumped.

Every instruction I read, it says attach the negative jumper cable for the car being jumped to unpainted metal on the frame. Every time I've done that, in every car I've ever jumped, nothing happens. It's as if nothing is connected at all. When I attach the negative cable to the negative terminal of the battery being jumped, it works. When negative is connected to negative, the car being jumped indicates it's receiving some power.

It bugs me that the common instructions for this procedure have never ever worked for me, and that what has worked is something folks say to specifically not do.

Clearly I'm doing something wrong, but don't know what.

[Assistant]
It's mostly for liability purposes.

By jumping directly to the positive and negative terminals, you increase the risk of igniting potentially flammable gasses coming from the battery via the spark that often happens during the connection. These gasses can occur in certain scenarios, though is much more rare in this day and age.

If they tell you to connect both the positive and negative, and you cause an explosion, they could potentially be held liable.

If you find a CLEAN ground, you *can* successfully jump a car in the manner described, and it IS safer.   But it is often hard to find a clean ground inside an engine chassis on a vehicle that needs a jump.


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

[User]
What benefit is THC to a Cannabis plant?

My friend asked was asking two questions last night

1) For what reason does plants contain THC? What is the benefit to the plant?

2) Why do they contain so much?

I was stumped by question one, but in regard to Q two, I figured it was probably human selection/interference considering the HUGE increase in strength in just a few decades.

I'd love to know the answer to #1 and if I was right about #2.

[Assistant]
This question has been asked before, so I'll tell you what has been said in the past but the answer to both of your questions is the same.

Animal eats Cannabis.  Animal 'trips hard'.  Animal learns not to eat Cannabis.  Cannabis thrives!

Now imagine our herbavoire stumbling across some wild cannabis and trying to make a meal out of it.  The amount of Cannabis injested to make a 'meal out of it' would likely even render our animal unconscious, which would make it easy prey.


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

[User]
[General Superheroes] I've come into some Mid-tier superpowers and I've decided to moonlight as a superhero. How do I structure my vigilante activities so that I'm legally in the clear?

There are other capes out there, but I'd be the first one around here . I'm inhumanly tough, strong, and fast, but not to the point that the cops couldn't take me down if they decided they really wanted to. So I'm interested in knowing how to go about this in a legally unimpeachable manner. I feel like good Samitarian laws cover stuff like muggings and general rescue work, but staking out suspected hideouts feels iffier. Where is the line drawn?

I'm also concerned about chain of evidence, fruit of the poisoned tree, and so forth- if I tackle bigger crime rings, how do I ensure that the tied up thugs are actually prosecutable?

 Lastly, If it's impossible to be an effective cape without crossing legal lines, what are some good strategies to make it *too much trouble* for the cops to bring the hammer down? Either PR strategies, or cracks in police protocol I could slip through?

Thanks!

[Assistant]
No one-size-fits-all answer exists to this question.

Discuss with a local lawyer with expertise in this area.  Different nations,  jurisdictions, and time periods will handle this differently, as well as different universes.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] I've just been thrown back in time, what can I do?

Ok, I was a member of the rebel alliance, and we were checking out some abandoned tech that we couldn't identify. Next thing you know I'm 30 odd years in the past, Vader is just an annoying kid, Palpatine is a democratic political figure and the Jedi are still around.

Assuming I don't fade the moment I try anything, what can I do from here to damage the future empire? I mean, I could murder baby Vader, but I don't know if I could kill a kid, and explaining that one to the Jedi would be hard.

Actually, I could tell the Jedi, but would they believe me? Time travel is unheard of after all.

And there's no way I could take on Palpatine directly. Maybe I should get rid of Jar Jar, but then he'd just find some other idiot to grant him emergency powers.

I think my best course of action is to get close to Anakin and try to keep him on the straight and narrow, maybe keep him away from the soon to be chancellor and assure him that Padme will only die in childbirth if he does start murdering padawans, not the other way around. But how can a non-force sensitive hope to get close to a Jedi? I have some military experience, but when their army comes along it'll be clones lead by Jedi.

[Assistant] Easy. Tell the Jedi Council you know where Sifo-Dyas wemt. Tell them about the Clone army grown on Kamino and that someone deleted the records from the Jedi Archives. Invest in Sienar Systems, Rothana Heavy Engineering, and Kuat Drive Yards.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does my electric company know what exactly is using the electricity?

Looking at my electric bill, there's a section saying "this percent came from \[ex: Air conditioner, major appliances (fridge, oven), etc\]". How do they know that?

[Assistant]
Depends.

Some of it may be reasonable guesses (your base usage on days you wouldn't need AC vs the spike on hot days).

Some of it may be based on load monitoring and what that tells them. e.g. The compressor coil for your fridge and AC are going to have identifiable start up characteristics, and then the increased draw of them can be extrapolated vs the background levels of things like lighting that's relatively static. They may not be able to tell a toaster from a curling iron, but with a clever enough meter they can probably tell a blow dryer from a toaster based on the motor.

Utilities have used (and use) both methods, as well as smart appliances that "talk back" to the grid for those sorts of things.

The smart appliances are usually "big" appliances like your AC or water heater that you've agreed to letting them turn them down/off at periods of peak demand.


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

[User] [Avengers: Infinity War] Immediately after the snap heard 'round the universe, you wake up on Earth in the company of Thor, Cap and the other survivors. You retain all your Marvel knowledge. How do you proceed to help the others defeat Thanos and, hopefully, undo the snap?

[Assistant]
Step one is to tell them that antman is trapped in the quantum realm, Fury paged Captain Marvel, and she'll be here soon, and Tony is potentially trapped somewhere between Earth and Titan.

Basically just give the incredibly brilliant tacticians and scientists information and start things moving quicker.


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

[User]
CMV: Only the last 10 minutes of a basketball game are important to watch.

I cant see how watching anything but the last 10 minutes is useful or interesting in a basketball game. If the game is a blowout, its over already. If its close, then the only time that actually matters is the last 10 minutes.

There is so much scoring and back and forth, it makes the earlier parts of the game feel meaningless. A team can be down by 20 at the start of the fourth quarter and still come back to win. You might say this means the comeback is interesting to watch, but its still only happening in the last 10 minutes. Particular baskets being made in the earlier parts of the game might be interesting in and of themselves, but theyre not really important to the final result.

Please help change my view so I can find a way to enjoy basketball games in their full.

Note: I dont feel this way about other major sports because scoring isnt as frequent as it is in basketball. Its so frequent that its almost guaranteed with each possession. This desensitizes the excitement of scoring and playmaking for me.

[Assistant]
I mean, if you don't enjoy basketball, you don't enjoy basketball! If you find basketball boring, but for some reason care about the results, even the last 10 minutes might not be interesting. Just check the final score on ESPN. But if you enjoy watching basketball, you'll probably enjoy the early parts of the game as well. But you don't have to like basketball!

To put it another way, if all you care about is the score changes, you can get that entirely from the live scores on the ESPN without watching the game at all. If you're a basketball fan, you enjoy watching people do layups and dunk and make 3-point shots, and do cool little pivots and passes, and probably just enjoy the visceral *sound* of the game. The squeaking and the bouncing and all of that. But if you don't, you probably just don't like basketball, and that's okay!


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

[User] ELI5: Why do black widow spiders have such strong venom, when they only eat insects?

[Assistant] In nature, it's often advantageous for predators to minimize the time it takes to kill their prey so as to minimize harm, i.e. the longer the prey is allowed to struggle and fight back, the greater the possibility of injury to the predator. Therefore, many predators develop stronger and stronger venom.


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

[User] [DC/Marvel] Marvel's version of the Green Lantern Corp is the Nova Corp. Marvel's version of Superman is Blue Marvel. Marvel's version of the Flash is Quicksilver. What are some other examples of similar characters across universes? Who is DC's Reed Richards, for instance?

[Assistant]
DC's Reed Richards may surprise you:

In Adventures of Superman #465-468, they did a story about a genius named Hank Henshaw, who flew an experimental rocket into space with his wife Terri and two friends. While in space, they were struck by a solar flare, and crashed to Earth.

One crew member mutated into a horrific rock monster, one got a body made of pure radiation. Terri began to phase out of existence entirely. Hank's body decayed away entirely, leaving his disembodied mind capable of possessing and controlling computers and other technology.

The first two crew members went mad and committed suicide; Superman was able to help save Terri, but when confronted with Hank's new robotic body, she freaked out and jumped out a window, killing herself as well.

Distraught, Hank beams his consciousness into the Fortress of Solitude, and merges with the Kryptonian Birthing Matrix (the ship that brought Kal-El to Earth), using it to shape a new vessel which he uses to leave Earth.

Out in space, he eventually goes mad and comes to blame Superman for the accident in space. He dedicates himself to destroying the Man of Steel - to which end, he uses the technology of the Birthing Matrix (and some left-over kryptonian tissue from when Kal-El was a baby) to grow a cloned, cybernetic Superman body. But by the time he gets to Earth, Superman has already been killed by Doomsday...

Yep - DC's Reed Richards analogue is the Cyborg Superman.


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

[User] ELI5: What happens to all the bullets fired AFTER a war, battle, or a shootout? I mean, is there a bullet recycling center somewhere? They can't go all to waste right?

[Assistant]
Short answer: no.

Long answer: Hell no.

Yes, imagine bullets fired throughout war. On a ballistic trajectory.

Buried in the earth, buried in the walls, buried in rock, floorboards, trees, sandbags... Anything resistant enough to bullets turns said bullet into a spray of shards. Most bullets end up as misshapen lumps.

To 'recover' bullets for later use, you would have to get the bullets from a war ground, where live ordnance may still be an issue, endangering people's lives, and then somehow collect all these bullets *from inside the scenery*, and send them all to a depot to be sorted, melted down, and made into new bullets.

The only way that will ever happen is if humanity becomes *desperate* for metal. Until then, it's not viable from both time, and cost effectiveness.

Not to mention it would all be getting rusty out there in the elements...

There's just no way to make that viable.


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

[User]
[General]Are all of the poor commonfolk the Villain killed proof they were not good enough, real friends to invoke the power of friendship? How come the antagonist is never smart enough to recognize the mystical power of friendship and exploit it to conquer the world?

As to the power of your love, something which can overcome any obstacle and defeat any foe.  Is the fact that the kindly old couple who was married for eighty years unable to stop throwing evil soldiers from burning down their home and butchering them proof they they never REALLY loved each other, or at least that they did not love each other enough?  After all, if they did, shouldn't they be able to summon mystical love powers to protect each other?

[Assistant] The "power of love" or "berserk button" that manifests when someone gains power to save a friend/avenge a friend's death is usually just unlocking some latent power they already had but couldn't or wouldn't access. It's not going to turn a regular person into a super human. Maybe the 80 year old couple swung their canes at the evil soldiers slightly harder, but that's still not enough to make a difference.


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

[User]
ELI5: why do we need dietary iron?

If our body is unable to excrete excess iron, and iron from old RBCs are recycled, why do we continue to need dietary iron/iron supplements?

[Assistant]
I don't know how efficient the RBC recycling is, but no system is perfect, so we'll always need some miniscule input.

But more importantly, you will lose some blood at some point. Some people more than others, and more regularly, so proper iron intake is particularly important for menstruating women. But suffer a significant enough injury, and you'll also suffer from low iron levels.


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

[User]
Science Teacher: If two objects of different weights are dropped from the same height in a vacuum,they will both hit the floor at the same time. Yet given, two sleds of different weights , the heaviest will always come first. How come?

This question was asked by a girl i teach in grade 5. I couldn't answer.

[Assistant] The sleds are being slowed by friction, both with the ground and air. Remember the example with the rock and feather, and why they fell at different speeds in an atmosphere? It is the same general concept.


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

[User]
Why is it that cutting an artery often leads to immediate blood loss and death, but amputating an entire limb carries a high survival rate?

Or at least that's the way it's often portrayed in the media.

[Assistant] When a limb is completely amputated, and an artery is completed transected, this allows the artery to spasm, close up, and retract back into the wound. This is why even complete traumatic amputations may not bleed as much as one would expect from such a severe injury.


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

[User]
[James and the Giant Peach] Why did a rhino eat James's parents?

Are they carnivorous in this universe? Was it just this particular rhino that decided that plants were no longer enough?

[Assistant]
I don't think it was really an actual rhino.

James and his parents were at the beach watching clouds and picking out shapes when a sudden storm rolled up on them. James thought the thunderhead looked like a charging rhino.

The rhino eating his parents was simply the storm's winds sucking them up or sweeping them out to sea. James, being a small child, thinks the Rhino 'ate' them. James' aunts are cruel enough to tell him that's true, and that every thunderstorm is the rhino coming back to get him, so James sees every thundercloud as a rhino from that point forward. It's a projection of his inner fears.

Alternatively, James's parents probably weren't actually eaten by a rhino, instead they likely died in some sort of run of the mill tragedy. James was probably young enough that he misremembered the accident - maybe they'd just gone to the zoo and seen the rhinos, or they'd read about rhinos.

A vehicular accident seems very likely, especially a train, given the sparks and sound effects that accompany the rhino's appearances in the movie, and the way it seems to spew black smoke like a smokestack. James' aunts, being cruel, nasty people, went along with the rhino story to torment and terrify little James.

Or maybe a rhino really did escape from the zoo and killed his parents, and his aunt's, again being cruel and nasty human beings, told him it ate them to scare him.


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

[User]
In a crazy amount of movies, the hero is knocked unconscious and awakes hours later in captivity. How long does being knocked unconscious last?

In an unbelievably large amount of fiction, someone is knocked out often for hours by a blow to the head. However, I've heard somewhere that being knocked unconscious only really lasts a few seconds; any longer than a few minutes probably means brain damage.
Given how often I see someone knocked unconscious in movies, television shows and books, I can't help but wonder if any physical attack could render someone unconscious for a lengthy period of time.

[Assistant]
Depends on why you're unconscious.

If one was hit around the head  and just had a concussion ( Traumatic brain injury ) then you would expect  to regain consciousness initially rather fast, in the order of minutes, although it wouldn't be unusual to be impaired somewhat for hours, days  or longer afterwards.

On the other end of the spectrum if the trauma was more substantial and you had an intracranial bleed, you may not regain consciousness at all and just keep bleeding until the increased pressure rose high enough to cut off blood perfusion of the brain and you die.

neverinvalid mention the GCS scale, which is a useful clinical measure of severity if impaired conciousness, but time doesnt factor into it. If you drop less than 8, youre in trouble, with a potentially compromised airway, so may end up being intubated etc.

Its most useful as a system of triage, but isnt useful on its own to predict outcomes unless its a disease specific population as a GCS of 3 might mean a huge stroke which will lead to death, but may also simply be a seizure who will walk out the door tomorrow.


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

[User] Why do fingernails turn white at the tips?

[Assistant]
Nails are actually semi-transparent. The pink color is the color of your nail bed showing through.

Edit: the underside of your nail is rough-textured like frosted glass and the topis smooth, so it's white kind of like frosted glass if it's not attached to the nail bed.


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

[User]
Why can't we just "bleed out" lead poisoning victims who can't afford the full treatment?

I'm sure I must be missing something really obvious here, but I keep hearing about kids in underdeveloped countries who are dying from lead poisoning because they couldn't afford treatment. but since lead poisoning is just dangerous concentrations of Pb in blood, couldn't a cheap form of treatment be to bleed out the patient a little bit every ~2 months or so, just enough to keep them healthy? Wouldn't the volume of blood eventually be restored between each procedure, thus increasing the ratio of "pure" blood to contaminated blood and decreasing lead concentrations?

Or is the lead not actually in the blood, but absorbed by organic tissue?

[Assistant] Its toxicity comes from being absorbed by normal tissue, not just the amount that's free in the blood.  Most of how they treat it is chelation therapy, where you give people chemicals that bind to lead, and then they excrete it.  Also, bleeding people is a bad idea when one of the main symptoms of lead poisoning is anemia.


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

[User] [Avatar] Were they really no interbreeding or rape in the 100 years war that if Zuko and Iroh were caught firebending theyd HAVE to be guilty of being fire nation?

[Assistant]
I doubt this, but remember being a fire nation national isn't *illegal* per se- there are undoubtedly fire nation refugees or fugitives from years of protracted battle who ended up on the wrong side of the war zone, it's almost guaranteed that back-and fourth fighting near the Colonies has lead to some people being caught in the crossfire, and so on.

But consider: The earth and water nations of the ATLA verse have essentially been losing an all-out race war with a *gleefully* genocidal opponent for a hundred years. Being fire nation might not be a *crime,* but chances are a lot of people might want to kill you for it anyways. People like Jet's gang were willing to destroy a whole village of fire nation civilians, those who witnessed Zuko's fire-bending in *Zuko Alone* reacted with hatred and fear, and the lines between "combatant" and "civilian" are already so blurry that nobody bats an eye at bender *children* fighting and dying to protect their nations.

So in a dark, twisted way, a lot of the Earth Kingdom's peasantry is gonna play it safe.

(...And in Ba Seng Se, there's a different issue: Even if they aren't spies, they might raise questions about a certain war. And, well... there is no such thing within the walls, eh? Better to pretend as though the fire nation, and it's people, never existed to begin with...)


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

[User]
ELI5: How exactly does a parrot "speak"?

It's amazing...

[Assistant] Parrots have a rather remarkable voice box- they can make two tones at the same time.  They do not speak the same way that we do- with their tongues- but instead "whistle" all the things that they say.  The reason that they do this is because they want to talk to us- really!  Most talking training relies on the parrot wishing to have a strong bond with its owner.  Some parrots, like Alex, an African Grey, are thought to use words intelligently- they don't just mimic, but can have conversations and respond to questions and stimulus.


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

[User] [Skyrim] The Imperial army just tried to have me executed, do they really expect me to join them without even apologizing?

[Assistant] They don't force constript you. You don't have to join the imperial legion, in skyrim particularity they left it as a volunteer system so as not to make the situation worse. If you believe in the empire And its values, if you truly love Talos (the empire's founder), and if you can understand that without the empire the elves would start rolling in the now divided regions then you should join the empire and put down that murderous traitor.


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

[User] ELI5: what makes bleach such a powerful pigment remover?

[Assistant] Bleach destroys molecular bonds. Pigments (in order to function like a pigment) tend to be quite precise and complex combinations of atoms. Compare it to turning a car into nuts and bolts, except at the atomic level. This is also why bleach works on *most* stains, but not stuff like rust stains (as this is simply a combination of 2 or 5 iron/oxygen molecules depending on the state of iron)


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

[User]
[Stargate Atlantis] What are the qualifications to become a member of the kitchen staff or janitorial staff in Atlantis?

It's well known that the Stargate program takes the best scientists, soldiers, engineers, and medical doctors from around the world to take part in the extraordinary job of exploring the Pegasus galaxy and protecting Atlantis.

Are the cooks/kitchen staff in the top of their fields as well?  Considering the high levels of secrecy in the program, as well the necessary level of martial skill or scientific knowledge possessed by all other members of the team, are the kitchen staff as well versed in one of those disciplines as well?  Or are cooking duties rotated among lower level Marines assigned to security in Atlantis?

What about janitorial work?  Is that divided among lower level soldiers as part of their duty or does the SGC recruit the absolute best janitors in the world to work in Atlantis?

[Assistant] Atlantis is so advanced that the researchers do the janitorial work. You don't want a janitor cleaning systems they don't comprehend. Apart from that, military staff are probably on some sort of rota for kitchen and menial jobs.


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

[User]
[MCU/General Spider-Man/NO FAR FROM HOME SPOILERS!] What is the Tensile Strength of Spider-Mans Webbing Material?

Honestly numbers wouldnt give me a good realistic idea. Could Peter tear it apart himself if he wanted? How about Cap, or Iron Man in his suit? At what strength level do you need to be in to tear apart Spider-Mans webbing?

[Assistant] The web line's tensile strength has been estimated to be 120 pounds per square millimeter of cross section. The 300 p.s.i. pressure in each cartridge is sufficient to force a stream of the complex web pattern an estimated 60 feet. (It goes significantly farther if Spider-Man shoots it in a ballistic parabolic arc.)


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

[User] ELI5: Why is water a liquid at room temperature, yet hydrogen and Oxygen, which are the elements water is made of, a gas at room temperature?

[Assistant]
Hydrogen and Oxygen are both positive, but oxygen is more positive. Therefore the oxygen atom in water holds onto the electrons most of the time. Because of this, the water molecule looks little bit like a magnet, with the oxygen side being more negative (as it holds onto more electrons) and the hydrogen side being more positive.

Because it is slightly magnetic, water molecules will be more strongly attracted to each other, and so it takes more energy to keep them apart. More energy means it takes a higher temperature before they become a gas.

This idea of hydrogen holding onto less electrons and becoming positive is called hydrogen bonding.
Interestingly enough, this is also why ice is less dense than water - When water freezes, because the molecules are like little magnets, the water molecules want to arrange in a specific way, which takes up a large volume.


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

[User]
Why does it take some people longer to achieve an orgasm?

To elaborate, what are the differentiating factors (physical vs. mental) that determine how long it takes for a male or female to achieve an orgasms? Like, if there was a scientific formula, what would it look like?

[Assistant]
There are a lot of different hormones, neurotransmitters and cell wall receptor sites that are involved with orgasm in males and females:
Testosterone
Estrogen - estradiol
...
Prolactin - too low or too high - no joy
Dopamine
Seratonin
Oxytocin

Also, innervation of the relevant tissue - there is not a fixed number of nerves per unit of area in humans - add in life experience, drug use, epigenetic and genetic factors - you're going to get some variance.


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

[User]
[Alien vs Predator Requiem] Why do the Predators only send one Predator to deal with the Xenomorph problem?

Isn't it supposed to be a cleanup operation and not an honorable hunt? Wouldn't they want sufficient forces to handle any type of Xenomorph situation with overwhelming force and not risk the Xenomorphs to spread past the one town?

[Assistant]
The Yautja know how dangerous the xenomorphs are and they also seem to be pretty intelligent when it comes to hunts and decision making. But there is still pride involved.

The distress signal was sent to the Yautja homeworld and the predator, named Wolf, that recieved it sets out alone. Wolf probably could have got a massive hunting party assembled to travel to Earth but decided to go alone.

Another reason could be that Yautja try their best to keep their presence unknown. Sending a whole hunting party to a planet with sentient beings with the ability to reverse engineer Yautja tech may be against protocol.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are humans the only creature that needs help in giving birth?

Aren't we supposed to be superior?

[Assistant]
This is only partially true - many animals die in the process of childbirth, and could use a lot of help during it.

But the reason it is harder for humans is because we evolved to have bigger brains and larger heads.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do americans seem to be so friendly towards others in contrast to many european countries, where it's rude to talk to complete strangers?

I'm just wondering where this comes from. I know this is not everywhere the case and I don't mean to insult anyone! But i think it's safe to say that americans are overall friendlier towards strangers and will more often strike up small talk with people they don't know or have just met. It's downright rude to randomly talk to people you don't know where I'm from, because it makes us uncomfortable, I guess? I have no Idea why to be honest, we just keep to ourselves.

[Assistant]
On the other hand I've noticed that Americans often just pretend to be friendly. Like, they'll ask how you are, but if you actually want to answer they're really not interested.
Human social behavior around the world is weird.


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

[User]
Why do coniferous trees only seem to proliferate in mountainous or northern environments?

I live in the Eastern United States. The only time I ever see conifers or "pine trees" is at Christmas or in the occasional wild grove or landscaping area. Yet out west in the Rockies, British Columbia, and everywhere in southern Alaska, conifer forests dominate, even at low elevations. Why is this?

EDIT: Thanks for your responses! Although, let me be clear, I am fully aware that coniferous forests exist outside of the regions I provided; my Dad's family grew up near the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. All I was saying was that in Alpine environments and Northern regions, coniferous trees dominate.

[Assistant] Conifers can grow just fine in temperate climates, but they'll usually get outcompeted by those faster-growing broad leafed deciduous tree like oak, maple, etc. But they have adaptations which allow them to do much better in colder climates than their broad-leafed competitors: their sap contains antifreeze like compounds; their small, wax-coated needles are less vulnerable to damage from cold weather, and can retain moisture well when liquid water is in short supply; since they don't have to drop their leaves, they can "wake up" from their winter slumber and start photosynthesizing before deciduous trees even start to bud.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why did modern household drones take the form of quadrocopters?

It seems like it'd be more efficient to use the design of helicopters, having to power just two rotors instead of four ones.

[Assistant]
Helicopters don't change the speed of their rotors to fly, they change the pitch of the blades. As you can imagine, that's kind of complicated.

Quads *do* change the speed of the rotors, not the pitch. That requires a lot of coordination between motors, but far fewer and simpler moving parts. Computers do all the flying for you. The average person can't come close to flying a conventional helicopter, but anyone can fly a quad because of the simplicity of the controls after the computer does all the heavy lifting.

Efficiency is odd...quads are actually pretty efficient. When you scale then up, they become far less so. Among other things, electric motors are very efficient at small scales, but the size of the rotors and how fast they can increase or decrease speed also matters.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] If the galaxy is so large how is everyone of note related to each other?

Is it just coincidence that so many people from random corners and walks of the galaxy who end up being crucial to the fate of galaxy turn out to be skywalkers and palpatines?

[Assistant]
The Skywalker Saga as it's been dubbed is just that... the Saga about the Skywalkers.

However there exist hundreds upon hundreds of other stories that follow the fates of completely different characters that don't even touch upon the Skywalkers nor the events of the almost 70-ish years between Anakin's birth and the end of the saga.   Some are ages before any of that... some take place parallel to those moments... but they are indeed different stories.


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

[User]
CMV: Recycling should be easier.

With the current recycling there are 6 types of recycling: Glass recycling, paper recycling, metal recycling, plastic and textile recycling and finally electronic recycling. With each having its own sub categories: most noteably plastic: with 7 sub types of plastic.

With there being at least 13 types of recycling, the current methods of recycling are broken due to the public not understanding the intricacies of the system. Also, with no direct recycling options most people know that they can recycle metals leading to recycling bins having non-recyclable materials simply because the system is complex.

In my option, and please change my view, having machines that can directly recycle a few things like pop bottles, or prescription bottles, we can simplify the process and lead to more and better recycling. Please change my view.

[Assistant] It's not that you "make it less complex" you rather decide where you're going to handle the complexity. For example do you handle it at the individual level where you teach people through idk PSA or other public campaigns how to recycle stuff or do you force companies or government agencies to provide centralized facilities that sort out stuff into the different categories, each has it's own pros and cons.


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

[User] [Xmen] How come Captain America cant get drunk with his superpowers but wolverine can get drunk even though his healing powers are much faster?

[Assistant] Logan drinks because its his security blanket. His healing is always on haywire because it doesnt know whether to attack his adamantium skeleton or not, so it attacks the alcohol too. He cant feel anything other than a light buzz. Cap cant drink because his metabolism breaks down the alcohol too quickly.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What if Darth Maul killed Obi-Wan instead of Qui-Gon?

**SCENARIO:** Obi-Wan's eagerness to prove himself causes him to push forward in the battle with Maul. After being separated from his master by an energy barrier, he is left alone with Maul. Though he puts up a good fight, even dealing a near fatal blow to Maul, he succumbs to defeat. With the barrier released, Qui-Gon is able to defeat a weakened Maul.

Qui-Gon is in charge of training a young Anakin Skywalker.

How would this affect Anakin and the series?

[Assistant]
*  Qui-Gon already had shaky relations with the Jedi Council like Anakin, so he could have related more as opposed to Obi-Wan.

* Dooku said Qui-Gon knew the council was corrupt/authoritarian, and could have related more to Anakin's concerns as opposed to Obi-Wan.

* He was also known to disobey the Jedi Code, and could have related more. Obi-Wan said this was a major reason as to why Qui-Gon wasn't on the council.

* He also had a master that became a Sith, and could reason with Anakin not to turn towards that path on a more personal level had he lived to see Dooku's Sith reveal.

* He was also the only one initially not skeptical that the Sith had returned. So he had wisdom where others did not.

Basically, imo, Qui-Gon would have related to Anakin way better than Obi-Wan did. Obi-wan was more of a strict, anal older brother, while Qui-Gon was more of a guiding, wise, and understanding father figure.

I honestly think he could have stopped Anakin's downfall and Anakin would have just ended up like a younger replica of Qui-Gon.


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

[User] ELI5: Why planets and moons have been on their orbits for millions of years, but James Webb Telescope needs fuel for only 10-20 years of orbiting L2?

[Assistant]
The orbits of planets and moons *do* change over millions of years, but they'll still be orbiting around their respective primaries (stars and planets). For instance, the size of the Moon's orbit around the Earth is expanding about an inch per year.

The L2 position is unstable. Webb is orbiting around the Sun, and it will continue to do *that* indefinitely, but it'll wander away from L2 without repeated corrections.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are most commercial solar panels only 25 % efficient?

[Assistant]
Photovoltaic solar panels *in general* have an efficiency limit of about 33%, enforced by physics and how electricity behaves, and is known as the Shockley-Queisser Limit. There have been efforts to go beyond that limit using things like lenses and mirrors to focus sunlight, but even then the world record of efficiency is only around 46% or so.

After that point, modern commercial cells are capped at around 25% because that's the point at which increasing the efficiency starts to get particularly hard, and thus particularly expensive.

More importantly, thermodynamics puts a hard limit on most of these kinds of energy processes, and the limit is essentially just a function of the difference in potential between the high-energy state and the low-energy state in a reaction. The simpler way to see this is in heat engines, and the efficiency is capped by the difference in temperature between the ambient (low-energy) and the inside of the engine cylinder where combustion happens (high-energy). With solar cells trying to focus in on an area of the sky around the size of our sun, the *absolute* limit for solar cells is around 69%.


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

[User]
The early Confucians said that it would be unethical for someone to testify against their parent in court, even if the parent is actually guilty. How would this statement hold up in the Western tradition of ethics?

From *Analects* 13.18:

> The Lord of She instructed Confucius, saying, "There is an upright man in my district. His father stole a sheep, and he testified against him."

> Confucius said, "The upright men in my district are different. Fathers cover up for their sons and sons cover up for their fathers. Uprightness lies therein."

*Mencius* 7A. 35 also says:

> Tao Ying asked, "When Shun was Son of Heaven [emperor] and Gaoyao was Minister of Crime [a mythical time of perfect justice in Chinese history], had Shuns father Gusou killed a man, what would have been done?"

> Mencius answered, "Gusou would have been apprehended, thats all."

> "Then Shun would not have prevented it?"

> "How could he have prevented it? It would have been
Gaoyaos mandate."

> "Well then, what would Shun have done?"

> Mencius replied, "Shun would have viewed casting away rule of the world like casting off a worn out shoe. He would secretly have borne his father on his back and fled until he came to dwell by the shores of the sea. There he would have lived out his days in joyful contentment, having forgotten the empire."

What would the Western tradition of philosophy say about this?

[Assistant] There is at least one comparable legal right in the West, that of spousal privilege which protects an individual from being called to testify in proceedings relating to their spouse. Maybe looking into the justifications for this right would answer your question.


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

[User]
Why is Hitler's popularity rising in India?

Would it be a situation where they said, "He didn't do anything to us so why should we care?" Or are they just really impressed with his social manipulation abilities?

[Assistant] Rather than looking at Hitler as an evil figure, the Indians view him as more of an authoritative figure who was very stern and demanded discipline. The phrase "oh. So and so is like Hitler" is fairly common in India. This line has nothing to do with the holocaust whatsoever. It just means that the person is very authoritative.


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

[User]
[Deadpool movie] How does Sister Margaret's work as a business?

I haven't read the comics, if there's an explanation there feel free to bring it in.

From the movie, it's a dodgy bar in Canada.  Mercenaries hang out there, and people looking to hire mercenaries go there and put money in some sort of escrow account until the job is done?

We also see Weasel tell two newcomers that they're not allowed behind the bar, and have everyone draw guns when he says that.  We don't see why the patrons respect that rule.  He thanks them by saying, "thanks fellas for having my back."  We don't see any actual bouncers, other than the clientele.

So, how does Sister Margaret's maintain its place?  They have a wildly-illegal assassination-for-hire thing happening, a room full of (we can assume) volatile, violent people, lots of money passing through the place, and no obvious security to speak of.  How does it not get robbed or shaken down by the cops for protection?

[Assistant] Because it's where the jobs are posted and the clientele like it. If someone started busting up the place and scared off/killed the owner, then they would all have to find a new hub to hang out in and pick up jobs.


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

[User] [Legend of Zelda]Who placed the keys in all the dungeons, and why?

[Assistant] The land of Hyrule is full of ancient temples and strange crypts no one has visited in a long time. Many of these places have strong connections with the royal family or high religious leaders, so knowledge of prophesies and stories of heros would be commonplace. Just in case the need arises, things necessary to access the temple would be hidden in the various parts of each location as a way to aid future saviors of Hyrule.


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

[User]
CMV: It's perfectly acceptable to stop being nice to someone who is/starts treating you horribly

So my roommate has been treating me horribly for awhile, she has thrown my freezer food outside, smashed my electronics, thrown my shoes over the neighbors fence, stolen stuff like my water jugg ect.

Almost everyday she does something horrible to me. It use to be she'd get drunk blame me for something I didn't do (like taking her phone when she or one of her friends moved it and she can't immediately find it) throw a fit but apologize and try to make it right. But the whole apologizing and trying to make it right part went by the wayside a bit ago and she started going out of her way to hurt me for reasons I still don't fucking understand and surprise surprise I stopped being nice to her and giving her any consideration (like being quiet in the morning or letting her use my stuff that would be reasonable for a roommate to use) this of course made her act like more of a bitch and act like I was being the unreasonable one.

My response is perfectly acceptable but more to the point of this CMV, how many "nice guy TM" accusations from girls is this kind insane shit? Like if someone is nice to them and you're a bitch to them yeah they are going to get upset and do something not nice depending on how much of a bitch you are they might even fully snap and do something criminal, while I don't think a criminal response is acceptable pretty much anything legal that's not nice is. It doesn't make someone a "Nice guy TM" if they were nice and you're mean to them and they stop being nice, it makes them a fucking human being who get understandably upset when they are trying to be nice to someone who ends up just shitting all over them.

If a guy holds the door open once, asks you out and you politely decline and they throw a fit that's one thing but I don't think that kind of circumstance is the reality of the situation in the majority of cases. I think most of them is the guy trying to be nice, the girl shitting on them and then when they react like a human would the girl then shits on them some more by using their being upset as kind of bullshit proof they were secretly an asshole... it's perfectly acceptable to be an asshole to someone who has treated you like shit it doesn't mean you're not a nice person nor does it mean you weren't genuinely trying to be nice.

[Assistant]
The way you are generalizing your current situation with your roommate to male/female interactions, and the way you are doing it leads me to conclude there is more to this story than is being shared.

Not going to comment on it for that reason beyond this.

Keep in mind that someone trying to be nice doesn't mean what they did actually was.


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

[User] ELI5:How can Amazon issue so many no-questions asked refunds, in many cases not even requesting the product back?

[Assistant] They have to take into account the cost of the return shipping, re-certifying the product (in some cases), re-stocking the product, etc. If it costs less just to write it off, that's what they do. But if you abuse the system, they will start demanding that you return everything; it only works if people are honest, on average.


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

[User] ELI5 Why is a repetitive motion, such as drumming a finger on the table, annoying for others but not for ourselves?

[Assistant] Those type of actions are about soothing or entertaining yourself. You get positive feedback from the noise or motion. Other people just get an annoying click, tap, or track suit rustling as you bounce your leg up and down in 3rd period noise. Great for you as it works out your nerves, not for others because it's just a noise or motion.


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

[User]
[Star Wars canon] Where did all these Jedi and Sith come from?

In the original movies there were only three jedi and two sith, but now there are inquisitors and and that one jedi in that Rebels show.  Where did they all come from?

[Assistant]
At the end of episode 3 Obi-Wan let out a distress signal telling Jedi to not return to the Temple turned meat grinder. A handful survived. In fact the only Jedi that were shown in Rebels were just former padawans. It's also worth noting that Rebels is still pre episode 4, so that number may drop.

The Inquisitor isn't a sixth, he is trained in their ways but he is only a dog there to make sure that number dwindles.